Back to School

I just finished sharpening 50 pencils. Yes, 50. Before that, I labeled boxes of crayons, markers, colored pencils, pink erasers, glue sticks, white glue, you get the idea. Sure, I've got a month left. But, I loved doing it. Caty wasn't home so I got to do it all by myself. If she was here, she'd certainly want to help label her stuff and what fun would that be? I mean, she got to pick out the backpack, right? At least I should be able to take some part in that back-to-school excitement. I love it. Can't get enough. I can remember going shopping for school shoes. I can even picture this stupid tan pair with stacked heels. Oh, man, what a big deal it was when you got to 7th grade and were finally allowed to wear heels to school. That meant you had arrived. We didn't have to wear jumpers anymore. Instead, we paired our gray and green plaid kilts with hunter green polyester vests. It was so cool. The vests had pockets too, so you could put your pens in there. Pens! Not pencils. Not crayons. Real, honest to goodness pens. Going to Catholic school meant really not worrying about what you would wear. The only difference was your shoes and the style of your knee-high hunter green socks. Would you get the think, hose like ones or the patterned wooly ones that got pilled after a few weeks of washing? Oh, and the shirt. Would you wear the pointy collared white shirt or the Peter Pan collar? Decisions, Decisions. While Caty did seem jazzed about the idea of getting new stuff, she isn't really excited yet about going back to school. I can't imagine why. I wasn't even a good student and I loved going back to school. I know, I'm rushing it. Summer isn't over. I'm just so excited. Pretty soon, it will get darker earlier, the leaves will be on the ground and fall will be here. Sorry to ruin it for you summer lovers. That's just me. Maybe I'm high on glue fumes.

Peace?

I saw a bumper sticker today: "World peace begins at home. Be nice to your kids." I didn't know if I should hug the driver of the car or try to shake some sense into that hippie!

Frogs

My kids are obsessed with getting a pet. They want a dog and a kitten and a turtle and a guinea pig and hamsters and hermit crabs and frogs. I think that's all for now. Oh, a chinchilla too. So, a week ago, we're at a local farm playing with the animals and getting a horse ride, when the kids (mine and the two I babysit) find a frog or a toad or something. I tell them to leave the poor thing alone. We're driving home and Caty keeps asking me for a fish tank in her room. I tell her she already has an aquarium, but she can get a betta fish or something. No, mom, I just want the tank she says. I shudder. "Caty, is there a frog in the car?" Vicky, my charge, says "NO!" but my honest girl says "Yes, momma." They took the frog/toad from the farm so she can keep it as a pet. It was so precious to hear them making plans for the poor thing. They were going to take care of it so well. Then, we stopped the car and got out and frog/toad was nowhere to be found. All I can say is I hope he escaped. And, I'm glad the car was a rental because I don't need to be finding a frog skeleton one day while I'm in there cleaning! Caty was so upset about the loss of her beloved pet, that I promised to get her another one. Why I would pay for a frog when I can just wait for one to jump in the pool, I don't know. But I did. I bought two African Fire Belly Toads - one for Caty and one for Sabrina. They have nice little houses with cool rocks to chill out on. And I have to feed them live crickets, which is a bit icky, I must say. The things moms do for their kids. The girls want me to hold the things for them every day so they can pet them. Okay, really? I take care of the tropical fish and now I'm taking care of toads? This is ridiculous. Now you can understand why we don't have a dog!