A Dinner Treat

Röbert was scheduled to leave for a hiking trip with his friends after dinner tonight.  It has been a while since he has gotten away like this, and I have a babysitter and plans for tomorrow night.

He arrived home from work with a lil’ surprise; Stefan is back in town for work and decided he would pick up Röb so they could drive up together.  Fortunately I always look pretty great, because I wasn’t dressed as if I were expecting a guest!

I sent the children right up to bed with a lil’ extra something in their juice.  They all fell asleep like angles.  Röbert made us some delicious chicken and rice and Stefan threw together a salad while I was upstairs.  Stefan and I didn’t have a second alone, but he kept staring at me and even texted me a couple of times.  Naughty boy!

He looks so handsome in his work clothes and his play clothes.

After dinner the men changed and went out to Stefan’s SUV to load up their stuff.  After they were gone I heard someone come back through the door: it was Stefan.  He said he left his phone behind in purpose, kissed me for a minute or two, and left again.  I can’t believe he did it with Röbert right outside in the truck.

What to Do, What to Do?

Sometimes I think that I am too empathetic a person.  When I see a friend in danger I just want to save them.  I just put my littles to bed early with some Benadryl and Cokes, so I can try to figure out the best thing to do to help my buddy Ty, without ruining our friendship.

This afternoon I let the mother’s helper watch the kids alone for a tiny second, so I could run over to the other end of town and buy a chai at the cute shop Ty showed me a long time ago.  I was surprised to see him there, but even more surprised that he was not alone.

Everyone knows that I have always hoped that Ty would meet a nice, respectable young woman and have a little fun.  He is a hard working young man and has so many great hobbies that I am sure many gals would be more than happy to be escorted around town by him.  I would, of course, miss our easy camaraderie if he started dating, but I know he would always make time in his schedule for Lah Lee.

But what if he started dating someone less than respectable?  I had never thought that was even possible because he is such a sensible person.  But today I saw him in the company of Renata, the bitch who treated Hummus so cruelly at the gym.  And he introduced her to me as his girlfriend.

She is not even pretty and I didn’t see a bit of chemistry between them!

She is a foreigner!  I wonder if she is even living here legally?  I wonder how you find something like that out?  And she is so, so cruel, abusing small children!  There was supposedly even another woman at the gym who complained about her and who was so crazy that she caused Renata to be scared for her life.  I don’t want Ty to be mixed up with a mean person who isn’t even American and has a stalker!  He is Merlin’s teacher and Merlin deserves a teacher who is not dating someone so awful.

I hope she is living here illegally, because then, problem solved.  Should I tell him that she is the one who hurt Hummus?  What should I do?

 

I Save the Dog Again, Of Course

Once again, I have saved Beefeater’s life, but for you to understand the story, I need to share a lil’ background info.

Beefeater was actually Röbert’s dog originally, and he really loved that animal.  Beefeater was his hiking buddy and the two of them spent a lot of time up in the mountains together.  Unfortunately, when Beefeater was not in the mountains I started to see some signs of allergies in Starling.  It was never anything that we had diagnosed (Röbert wanted to take her to a doctor, I didn’t think it was necessary) but she was just “off” when he was in the house.

At first, Röbert was resistant to getting rid of Beefeater, but then I thought of my dearest friend at the time, my next door neighbor, Karen.  Her youngest had just left for college and she was a lil’ down, so I gifted her with the dog.  Surprisingly, Röbert seemed fine with her keeping him so it worked out for everyone.  And Karen just loved him to pieces, until recently.

When I showed Röbert the picture of Beefeater yesterday, he was shocked.  He immediately went over to Karen’s and I went out back to check on the garden near our fence line.  I happened to overhear a significant argument about Karen “pulling herself together” and lots of crying and weeping and sobbing from her.  LOL.  Later, I could tell Röbert was upset, so I ordered in his favorite dinner and let him watch ESPN for half an hour.

This morning I heard a knock on my kitchen door and I went outside to discover a fat golden retriever with note tied to his collar (with a messy bit of twine.  If I were to tie a note to a dog’s collar you bet your stars it would be with some pretty gingham ribbon!).  The note said,

“Dear Röbert,

I just can’t bear to have the dog around to remind me of old times.  Please treat him as he deserves.

Karen”

I guess Beefeater must remind her of Mitch and her failed marriage.  I burned the note, brought poor Beefeater inside, dosed Starling with some Benadryl and called Cari to pick up some doggy weight loss food on her way over for coffee.

Merlin has been playing with him out back all afternoon.

Let’s face it, the dog is still fat, but at least he is getting some exercise. I hope Merlin’s joyous laughter didn’t disturb our neighbors.

I can’t wait for Röbert to see him when he gets home tonight.

Nearly a Tragedy

Merlin probably did really well at they debate thingy earlier this week.  I kind of zoned out while he was telling me about it.  It is so boring. But to each their own, I guess.  I want to catch up with Ty and ask him how it went sometime soon.

Today Merlin wanted to practice bow and arrowing again.  I know it is a weird sport that is bound to get him bullied and teased, but he likes it so I figure as long as it is in a place where no one can see him it will be fine.  I helped him set it up behind our house and he was shooting at a target but he never ever misses.  It is crazy, he is very accurate at shooting that thing.  I kept moving him back further and further from the target.

At this point he is clear across the yard, nearly in the azaleas.

I swear I could barely even see the target, but he kept hitting it.  Then he asked if I heard a noise.  I said, “No, keep shooting!  You are like Robin Hood.  Keep shooting those arrows.  Faster!”  But he insisted that we go investigate the noise and you will never believe what we found.  It was Beefeater.  Somehow he had escaped from his house again and his leash was stuck under a rock right next to the target, but you couldn’t see him at all.  He was sleeping back there I guess.  Merlin could easily have hit him and killed him.

How on earth did he get back there? He appeared to have Benadryl on his breath as well.

I had Merlin bring him back over to the Sullivans and put him in the house before Karen got home from shopping.  No need to unnecessarily upset her.

Just Me and My Lil’ Guy

My big kids went back to school today so it was just me and Hummus doin’ a lil’ Mommy-Bebe bonding.  I was expecting a call from Joanie about where to meet for lunch so we hung out at home for 20 minutes before we headed over to the gym.

Hanging by the telephone.

It was a busy day because I had exercise classes all morning, then a shower and lunch, and then I met with my personal trainer in the afternoon.  I am glad that Hummus enjoys the childcare at the gym so much.  He just loves coloring pages, and they do a lot of coloring pages there.  I think he shows a lot of talent.  I am also a very talented artist, so it is not surprising at all that Hummus wields a mean marker.

The kid who works at the childcare said he looks cute when he concentrates on these.

These are just a few. He actually colored 57 pages today.

I think art is SO important for young children, and am very glad that he gets exposed to coloring pages at the gym. I know he is learning, not just watching videos (although they do that too!)

I ask them not to let him sleep while he is there so he is ready for a nice long nap when we get home.  Then I can relax a lil’ bit myself.

All cozy and relaxed!

The older kids seemed a lil’ lethargic this AM so I will give everyone some medicine in their juice tonight and have a relaxing evening at home with Mr. Pinot Noir.

Time to Get Away

I woke up even more upset and confused about whoever K is. I am sure Röbert would never cheat on me, but I just feel so sad and confused.

I dropped the big kids off at my mother’s but she wouldn’t let me drop off Hummus, just because he has a fever and is throwing up a tiny bit.  So he was my lil’ sidekick as I drove out of town to gather my thoughts.  I ended up in this small town next to a big state park and Just sat in front of the general store and watched Hummus sleep off some Benadryl in his carseat.

I must have drifted off too, because I was startled when I heard a knock on my car window.  You will never believe who it was!  No, not Röbert.  Not Karen or Mitch either.  It was Ty!  I had totally forgotten that he had mentioned that he was camping near here this weekend!  LOL!

His snowmobile is such fun!

What a coincidence.  I asked him if he would join me for lunch at the sweet little inn next to the river.  He took a lil’ convincing, but eventually he said yes.  I could tell he was thrilled to spend some one on one time with his favorite class mom. LOL!  Luckily I happened to have made a reservation there, so we were seated right away.  He was such a gentleman, he insisted that we bring Hummus and his carseat inside (he was still asleep) even though I am sure he would have been fine in the car.

I was glad I had taken care with my appearance, even though I was distraught. I wouldn’t want to “shock” my buddy, Ty.

After I had confessed that I was taking time to think about “things” and had no place to stay and he had checked with the inn and called several local hotels and motels to find that they were all booked, he very kindly offered to have me and Hummus stay with him.  So we all piled on his snowmobile, and off we went.

I will confess, when he said camping I was thinking more like glamping, with a big old tent and running water or even a chic, rustic Ralph Lauren cabin in the woods.  Nope, Ty takes his camping seriously and was staying in a tiny tent in the snow.  Hummus had woken up on the trip out there, and was thirsty but Ty only had water to drink.  Unbelievable.  He didn’t even have wine for later.

Can you see how small this tent is? I was really thinking it would be more like a small cozy 3 bedroom cabin.

All of a sudden I remembered something.  I was the one who had bought that ugly shirt!  It was a gift for Karen last Christmas, and then we had a fight and I never gave it to her.  I should have known who it was for when I saw how hideous it was.  Ha ha!  That explains the K on the shirt and I am sure the pajamas were just Röbert being Röbert.

Ty was, of course, disappointed, but drove me back to my car as soon as I told him that I needed to get home.  LOL, I am such a silly goose!

 

 

Visiting Santa

Röbert was out of town on business again, so I decided it was up to me, as per usual, to get the kids to the mall and get their annual visit with Santa over with.  It is hard being a single mom so much of the time.

Before we went I took Merlin over to a playdate with the twins.  We had planned it earlier in the week and I thought he would rather do that than a family activity like visiting Santa and then picking a toy out on our way home.  I guess I was mistaken, because he seemed pretty upset when he found out.  Oh well, lesson learned.

I decided to surprise the other two, so they wouldn’t spill the beans to Merlin!  Funnnnn!

Super Singleton to the rescue.

We got to the mall and there was an incredible line.  I almost decided to go home and come back another time, but Starling was so disappointed and started crying very loudly.  I hate when she is upset!  Valerie from book group was at the front of the line with her three creepy little boys, so I pretended I was talking to her and just merged myself into the front of the line.  The lady behind me kept muttering things but I have learned that you have to ignore disagreeable people.

Hummus and Starling were very well behaved and charming when they met Santa.  I stayed to see the lady behind us put her toddler on Santa’s lap and I laughed out loud when he cried.  She gave me a nasty look.  Oh well, some people just don’t know how to enjoy this most spiritual of seasons.  Haters gonna hate, right?

Starling had an extremely long list for Santa.

After we picked up Merlin he started crying, but not loudly like Starling did, so it was easier to ignore.  I feel a cold coming on for all of them so I added a little Benadryl to their applesauce tonight and sent them off to bed early.  A couple of gals from Pilates are coming over to drink wine and have a serious discussion about the Serial podcast in a minute, so I have to fly.

Good News

This afternoon we had an event that made everyone happy!  Beefeater came over to play with Merlin.  I guess I really did cure Beefeater of his blood lust because he played fetch for 20 minutes and seemed like the same happy dog we used to know.  Karen is keeping close track of him now and only letting him out for short periods until he readjusts.  Apparently someone told everyone else on the street about his vicious nature because everyone else called their children in when he came out.  I guess, once again, I will be the better person and set an example for others by allowing my child to play with him.  Not Starling of course, because just imagine if he bit her beautiful face!

Beefeater seems to be better.

After dinner I let the children all pile into the bed in the guest room and watch Frozen again while I had book group downstairs.  Röbert will be home late but we have big plans for a fun fall weekend.  Now I want a lil’ more vino.

They are lil’ angles.

Another Perfect Day!

Röbert and I continue to be just so happy together as a couple.  I feel sorry for other married people who don’t get along as well as we do.  It must be hard to fight all the time or disagree about simple things like money and raising the children.  We are so, so happy!

He has been dressing differently lately, but I like his new look.

That damned crazy Mr. Williams has decided that Merlin needs to have access to a computer because he is so smart and blah, blah, blah.  Whatever. That kid is certainly not going to be given the opportunity to break my computer, but Röbert said he could use his.  See, the perfect husband and father!

Merlin sitting still. Who knew he could?

Hummus is such a good lil’ boy.  I had to run out to grab the phone, make dinner and fold some laundry while he took his bath tonight but he just played happily the whole time.  I actually had started eating when Starling reminded me he was still up there. LOL!

He loves tubby time!

The children went right up to bed after dinner.  Does anyone else ever put a tiny bit of Benadryl in their children’s applesauce?  It is amazing how much easier bedtime is when you do!

Knock, knock, I think I hear Mr. Merlot at the door.  Must run!  LOL!

Summer Fun

It really seems as if we’ve gotten into the groove this week!  Röbert was being a real grouch over the weekend and said that I needed to be careful with money because, oh who knows?  But he was pretty firm about me not spending anything.  Of course I cried but he was still all cranky about everything.  Ugh.  Men!

He does look cute in his weekend casual though!

So at least I had Starling signed up for this WONDERFUL camp this week.  It is very expensive, but I paid for it in May (it fills up very quickly) so it really doesn’t count.  I also was able to get Hummus signed up for a week at the playgroup (shhh!  It didn’t cost that much!)  but they wouldn’t take Merlin.  He is several years older than the other children, but I think she would have taken him if he wasn’t such a handful.  What a burden he can be.

Starling came home on Monday just full of the fun she had had.  She immediately wanted to show me a puppet show she had made up.  She is very creative and always coming up with the most interesting ideas.  She is also very popular.  Some creepy little girl she doesn’t even know was following her all over the place at camp but she put her in her place!  That’s my girl!

 

I had made all sorts of plans which were ruined by having Merlin home.  He is very mature for his age though, so I was able to sneak out for shopping (I found the absolute most darling handbag!) and had lunch with the girls from book club on Monday.  Tuesday I left him in the car while I ran in for pilates and spin classes and a sauna at the gym.  This afternoon, when I got home from the nail salon he actually told me that he was bored!  He wanted me to unlock the television.  He had the nerve to complain that my new “minimalist” theme in his room means he has nothing to play with.  Next thing he will be asking me for video games which I do NOT believe in and he will never get!

Of course, as usual, I had a great idea for keeping him entertained.  What little boy doesn’t love a photo shoot?  We started by letting him take a few of me at home, but the quality wasn’t as good as I need.

 

So we drove a couple of hours to a field of lavender and I spent 3 hours taking pictures of myself with my little remote I bought the other day (love it!).  I even got one of us together.

I had forgotten he is allergic to lavender so I had to give him some Benadryl and he slept the whole way home.  Boredom cured!

The one bit of family bad news is that Röbert cancelled our family week at the beach for next week.  Something about money.  Ugh!  The children are very disappointed but we will have plenty of fun at home!  I think I will tell them we are going to Disney at Christmas to cheer them up.  By then Röbert will hopefully have figured out how to make more money because this not having enough is for the birds!