Category Archives: summer

noodle magic

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One thing that I have definitely learned living on preemie time with Daniel is to sometimes step away…let others step in…let him figure out…just trust.

Daniel still does not know how to swim. Being the person who (barely) learned how to swim in her Senior year because one HAD to swim the width of the pool in order to pass PE, I resolved as a mother that my kids would know how to swim…dammit! Mom is not water safe so my kids better be. Who else will save me if I were to get in the water.

Right?!

And so my girls learned. And they swim. They swim well….if they choose to. Daniel, on the other hand still can not even put his face in the water.

SIGH!

Sensory Processing Dysfunction Problems.

I can’t explain it in a way that “normal” folks can understand. Yes, we tried this…we tried that too…OMG, we did nothing but that thing all the time…and that, that was a major FAIL! In other words, the advice, well, unless you are living it, you don’t get it because if you were living it you would likely NOT offer advice.

Just saying.

Meanwhile, while Daniel does not know how to swim, he is at least water safe around a pool under our watchful eyes. He knows his limits and he would be the last kid to push those boundaries because…

put his face in the water?!

Are you freaking kidding me??!!

No.

Around a pool, I trust him, as we watch him.

While swimming this weekend with his cousin, whom he adores, my sister in law noticed Daniel’s cautiousness in the pool. He and Kaya are just a year apart in age so it is hard not to notice the difference between the two in the pool. One is a confident fish in the water and the other hangs out in the 3 foot side of the pool and rather than dive for objects picks then up with his feet. He has some mad skills but still, he is a landlubber, definitely.

Then Teri got in the pool with him with a noodle.

What mom can not do, what dad can not do, even what privately hired swim instructors could not do, Auntie Teri does.

Daniel can float around in the pool with a noodle!!! True, it is in 3-4 feet of water, but he is floating!

It’s like it is magic this noodle that makes one float like this!!!

Absolutely, positively, totally magic all in one a styrofoam noodle.

Magic!

Dudes, we are thismuchcloser to someday Daniel putting his face in the water. Such is life living on preemie time.

summer signs

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Of course it is not quite summer, but with temps here in our neck of the woods in the 90s and (oh dear we are going to melt) 100s coming this weekend, it may as well be summer. Other signs of summer…

Fresh berries for breakfast…and lunch …and dinner…

Swimsuits that make you feel like a mermaid and compliment your gorgeous blue eyes.

Splashing in the pool so that everyone gets wet…whether they want to or not.

Summer haircuts

Blinding white runner’s legs…oh the trials and tribulations of being a ginger…and the Runner’s World Summer Run Streak.

Flip flops and dirty feet with toes desperate for a pedicure.

Yay, summer!!!

on the first week of summer vacation my mommy gave to me…

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Title of this blog post should be sung to the tune of Twelve Days of Christmas if you choose.

On the first week of summer vacation mommy gave…

her nasty, raging, snotty cold that for her became a pretty bad sinus infection. Really I tried not to share my sickie germs with anyone. I washed my hands raw…as a NICU nurse does. I quarantined myself as much as possible yet five members of my circus act managed to get sick and were in a pretty bad way over the Memorial Day weekend. They’re blaming me…of course they are. Never mind that it seems that pretty much everyone here in my neck of the woods is suffering from the colds and flu season’s last gasp of just one more nasty virus. This, my friends, is all on me as far as my clowns are concerned.

Whatever!

directions

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Last week under the Big Top it was hot. It was hotter than it usually is or expected to be the first week of May with temps in the 90s nearing the century mark. Yes, I am well aware that in other parts of the country people were shoveling snow…in May!

I know!

I’m sorry.

Unfortunately I can’t control the weather. It is not part of my job description as the master juggler around here…no matter what my kids might think.

Still I did my best to keep the Big Top cool. Hurray for the window tint I got for my birthday. It worked…it really worked!!! I also, after careful research…which came after discussing it with the wise folks on Twitter, changed the direction in which all of our ceiling fans were turning.

Counter clockwise was the overwhelming consensus that a fan must turn in order to produce a cooling wind chill effect by the downward air flow.

As predicted it did not change the thermostat but the living room and kitchen area, as well as the bedrooms did indeed seem to be significantly cooler…oh, and I didn’t have to turn on the ac until the day we hit the century mark last Thursday late afternoon. I liked that. I liked that a lot.

And my circus clowns came home all week to a nice, cool Big Top after their long days at work, school, dance, Krav Maga and Tae Kwon Do.

Saving energy and keeping the Big Top comfortably cool; I win!

Thankfully, by Sunday there was a change in the weather and this week has brought temperatures that are 20-30 degrees cooler along with cool evening Delta breezes. As it should be here in the merry month of May. It is then that my darling husband wonders out loud if we should turn on the ac because he is hot.

Close the blinds and open the windows and let the breezes in, honey. It is only 75° outside.

But I’m hot!

Oh for goodness sake! (opening some windows and closing the blinds to block the setting sun)

Then looking up I notice that the ceiling fan is now turning clockwise.

Um, honey?

Yes?

Did you change the direction of the fan?

Yeah. I changed them all. They’re going in the wrong direction.

Um, no! I checked. They are supposed to be counter clockwise to cool the house more efficiently.

No, they are supposed to be clockwise in the warm months. I’ve got this.

No. Seriously honey, I did some research on this. In order to cool the house more efficiently and decrease our ac usage…AND save on our energy bill, the fans need to be turning counter clockwise. It helps to cool the whole room so we all can enjoy it.

When the fan turns clockwise it isn’t cooling the whole room. It does however seem to create a mini tornado under YOUR chair when you turn the fan up to high.

As it should be.

No, it should not be that way. Look, I’m just trying to save us a little off of our energy bill. It is crazy during the summer months and every little thing helps.

Fine! (he gets the step ladder and proceeds to change all of the fans directions back to counter clockwise)

A few hours later…

You know, I have been doing my OWN research and the direction the fan has nothing to do with cooling the room. It is how the blades are angled.

And so now the fans are turning clockwise…for now.

The moral of the story is it would seem that married couples are always arguing about directions.

So…what direction is your ceiling fan turning?

living in a greenhouse

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That is what we have been living in for a little less than two years. With the front of the house facing east and the back facing west and five large sky windows offering southern exposure, the Big Top was basically a greenhouse. It has always been, depending on the season, 10-30 degrees warmer inside. Perhaps a good thing in the winter but it has been absolutely, positively unbearable in the spring, the summer and the fall. Think about it. When it is say 110° outside, which it is often anytime June through September (and October last year!) it is overwhelming inside…if we didn’t have air conditioning…which we do but the ac pretty much would have to be on from 9 AM through 9 and even 10 PM just to maintain the indoor temperature in the 80s.

Yes, our PG & E bill during the late spring, summer and fall is insane.

Yes, many people are desperate for the light and the bright, especially during the winter months. But these people have not spent any length of time here under the Big Top greenhouse.

Truth be told, I hated it. I have hated it even more than the rental white walls that are poorly painted and the mis-matched painted baseboards and doors throughout the house. It is just too damn bright. Rarely does anyone ever curl up in one of our cozy leather chairs to read or just relax in our sitting room. It is just too bright and too hot. I could not and still have not hung any of my precious photos (there are a lot of photos) or any of the art that we have (mostly thanks to our talented niece). Are you kidding me? The constant sunshine streaming in through all those freaking windows from sunrise until sunset would destroy our precious, valuable-to-us treasures. So all those treasures, photos and objects d’art have remained packed away in the little cupboard under the stairs…the long-promised playhouse for Hazel, and now, Fallon.

A couple weeks ago I got to the point that I just could not go through another spring, summer or fall living in this greenhouse. Something had to be done, I told Bill and our landlord. So Bill and our landlord together decided that yes, I was right. Of course I was right. It was decided the least expensive, easiest and best option for us and our landlord was an energy saving tinted window film.

Bill and Ben together worked on this last weekend. I told them this was the best birthday gift! The difference is so dramatic.

And so very much appreciated these last couple of March days, before the official start of spring, with bright, sunshine-y highs in the 80s. The Big Top has remained a comfortable 70°!

I KNOW!!!

Buh-bye greenhouse effect!

As for me, I have spent the last two afternoons curled up in one of my cozy, comfortable sitting room chairs reading…at four-freakin-o’clock in the afternoon!

Best.

Birthday.

Gift.