Ever notice...

...I tend to blog late at night? I'm not certain why that is.... "Back in the day" when I used to journal longhand, it was always late at night, so maybe that's it. I can just hear my child in a few years - "People actually used to use pen and paper to journal? Wow." Wait 'til I tell him I never had cable tv until I was a teenager.... That'll throw him for a huge loop.

Where have I been for 10 days? (I honestly thought I'd only been away for about 4 days. So much for the concept of telling time.) Frodo's palate expander has been put in. It's been 5 days now, and I think he's finally grown accustomed to it. Fortunately, there's been very little pain involved - only one morning did he complain about his teeth hurting while he chewed. Phew! That was my biggest fear - that he would have a lot of pain. His talking sure has been funny! But he's taken that quite in stride. Just today, he finally sounds like he only has a little bit of Trident gum stuck to the roof of his mouth instead of a whole pack of Hubba Bubba.

We went to one of those hotels with an indoor waterpark on Wednesday and Thursday. It was so much fun! We let Frodo bring a friend with him. I like his friend Matthew. He's a good kid and the two of them really get along well. I have just one complaint about him - he chews with his mouth open! Ack!!! That drives me nuts. (So take note - if you're ever with me, DON'T chew with your mouth open.) Other than the two meals I had to listen to his chewing, the little trip was great.

Other than those things, I've just been enjoying the spectacular weather! We've had summer-like weather recently, so I've taken advantage of that by doing yard work. Yay! I've raked the thatch from the lawn, cleaned out the gardens, fertilized the lawn, and cleaned out the garage. I'll gladly trade yard work time with anyone - if you want me to do your yard work, you can come clean my house. I'll warn you though - I'd totally be getting the better end of the deal!

I ended up at the doctor's on Saturday morning with an EAR INFECTION! I felt like such a little kid sitting up on that exam table, complaining about my ear hurting. It's a swimmer's ear. I felt it coming on before we even went to the waterpark, so I'm sure being in the water at the waterpark sort of hurried things along. I've got antibiotic drops and after just a couple days of doing those, I feel MUCH better.

Speaking of ears, I'm busy planning *Operation Ears*. It's T minus six days now. Frodo still doesn't know. >mischevious grin here< I've got a packing list started. The suitcase just happens to still be in the spare bedroom from our trip to the waterpark hotel, and leaving something out for a couple weeks would be NOTHING out of the ordinary in this home, so that won't arouse suspicion with him. I'm all caught up on laundry as of today. The only stumbling block I've come across is how I'm going to persuade a 9yr old boy out of bed at 5am come departure day.... What the heck am I gonna tell him as to why we're getting up at 5am? (Darn airlines changed our flight on us from 10 am to 7 am.) Aunt Jen is giving us a ride to the airport, and she soooo wanted to see his face when we told him we were going. I think maybe we'll have her come over at 5am and wake him up and tell him then so she can see it. Heh.

Let's see... anything else... Oh - Carla! To answer your question, my cat is your standard "domestic short hair". Nothing fancy. Here's a picture of her:









Yes, her ears have always looked big on her. They looked even funnier when she was a tiny kitten.

She's a good kitty. Most of the time. She had me up veerrrryy early yesterday for no discernable reason. She just decided 6am was time to stand on my chest and meow. She had food and water in her dishes. So I made hubby change the litter box. She didn't have me up early today! Hooray!

Tomorrow, however, will be a different story. Spring break will be over, and we will be back to getting up early! So off to dreamland I go!