Evidence that I have raised my children in a way that makes me proud

Matt just said to me as we are indulging in a weekly favorite show "The Next Food Network Star": "Hey Mom, it's funny! They just said 'Previously on The Next Food Network Star!'" He recognized the paradox (oxymoron?) and understood it enough to appreciate the humor! My 10-year-old is a language geek!

Succumbing to sap and taking pictures of taking pictures

Other Jim is going to be a senior in the fall. It's hard to get the ol' brain cells to accept that. What makes me really sad is that the memories of that little boy with the huge eyes and cartilage-less ears who could be a real stinker are fading. I know that I had a hard time with him, but for the life of me, I can't remember many of the details anymore. Some stories I remember because I've repeated them so often out loud and I hold onto those memories now like they were treasures worth more than gold--mostly because those memories are the only thing left of that little boy. He has changed so much and, according to him, that little boy never existed.

The little boy who, after I told him he was my goofy boy, he said, "I not a goofy boy, I a wacky boy." And who once told me after I asked him how hungry he was, said, "I'm a hundred hungy" (yes, no R). The little boy who once found so much enjoyment in carting his Duplo blocks one by one to the toilet and throwing them in is gone. Jimmy is gone. Monkey boy, Wonky boy--now a ghost

In his place is Other Jim. Car repairer, cart pusher, Spanish class-hater, tie hoarder, enjoyer of loud rockin' music, needler of younger siblings. I don't know how the change happened, it was so subtle. But it did.

Phhhbbt. I don't know how I got to be so maudlin.

So what brought all this on? Senior pictures. We spent over four hours in the process of capturing Other Jim's face on camera. He was a good boy. He cooperated and didn't get fussy, except for the time he thought I was serious when I suggested we take pictures of him and his friend by the dumpsters for a real urban look.

He wanted natural settings but it was a little difficult since the sun was so bright. We did find a few good spots though. Here is Jen, the photographer extraordinaire (and sister-in-law extraordinaire) with Other Jim.
Here is OJ and his friend. Jen took pictures of her too. She's wearing Other Jim's tie.
The macho side of Other Jim.
A more natural setting.
P.S. These are all pictures I took. The official senior pictures will be coming sometime in the future when Jen finishes making them look really cool.

THANKS JEN!

The first in what will hopefully be a series

Remember these from this post?
Well, now part of them look like this.
Caveats/excuses: I'm not a quilter. I have pieced a nine patch, but never finished it (Katie and Mom finished it for me 20 years after I started it). I have no plan for this, I'm just playing around with colors. It's supposed to look vaguely like a pumpkin and YES, I know the line match-up isn't perfect. I'm trying to achieve that wonky, amateurish look on PURPOSE.

(Other Jim is playing his music really loudly while in the shower. But before I get all het up and tetchy about it, I have to remind myself who used to take her $50 piece o' crap boom box into the bathroom to play Weird Al as loud as possible while SHE showered. Tetchiness fading. Not so het up now. I could even learn to enjoy the occasional concert by osmosis)

Summertime, and the living is easy

Summer checklist:

Camps: 3 down, 3 to go. Hayley goes next week. Then it's art camp for Matt and amigurumi camp for Hayley the week after. Does driver's ed count as a camp? Because Paul starts that on the 20th (NO WAY!!!!!!!)

Garden: Peas are flourishing! Anyone want peapods? (unless you're a rabbit. Then you can't have anything from my garden. Go away!)

Sewing: Have to pick up the traitorous Sergei from the repair shop this Saturday. I"ll have my eye on you, Sergei. Otherwise, I've finished two pairs of shorts for Hayley and a skirt for me. Another skirt for me is nearing completion. I also sewed a neckerchief for my brother Mike. Reports are that he likes it, while his wife does not. Oh well. Can't please everybody. Still waiting for a picture...

Senior pictures: This Friday. Bought Other Jim a few new shirts for pictures. (Don't tell anybody, but I think OJ is a clothes hound. He's very picky about clothing too. We had to find "just the right kind of brown" polo shirt--no logos, no stripes, not too gray, not too orange, just the right material...Arghhh!)

Fun: Been to the beach twice, will go again. I even took the fake child both times. And she provided the cookies (well, her mother bought them on her insistence) one of the times. That was nice. I'm going to try to go berry-picking next week.

Upcoming: visits from Katie and Jim senior! Concurrent visits, even. Kate, you'll be sleeping on the couch (not unlike when you actually lived here, so I'm sure you won't mind). Edited to add that I forgot to add Jenni to the list of visitors (I knew you were coming, I just didn't think that far in advance. My brain calendar only goes out a week at most).

Chores: Nagging is in full swing.

Dissection of a different sort

We in this household aren't very good at fixing things. Sure, I can sew up a rip in a seam or turn a pair of pants with holey knees into shorts quicker than you can say, "These pants have holes in them. Where are the scissors?" But that doesn't help much when a car isn't working properly. We spend way too much money on gimpy automobiles because none of us really know how to fix them. (All I know how to do is fill the gas tank. Most of the time I'm not even aware of the strange noises that signal vehicular ailments, although I can recognize when the a/c is broken and even then, no one believes me)

And lately, we have had quite a bit of car trouble. Since May, my car has been in to the shop twice, (three times if you count the time that they didn't find anything--took it back a week later and told them where to look--not where to stick it), Jim's Little Red Rider has been in twice, and Other Jim's car once. It has not been a good summer for Evans' vehicles.

Other Jim's car (a white Chevy Lumina) started acting up again over the weekend. OJ said that it would die in the middle of driving it on occasion. He had to coast into an impromptu parking spot Saturday night. Fortunately he was close to home (like around the corner) and he and Jim were able to get it started again and get it the rest of the way home.

I was despairing--more money poured into a less-then-stellar car? We need that money for less-than-stellar teeth! We have braces starting up for Paul in August and hopefully (?) for Hayley in January.

But Other Jim has a friend who works on his own car with the help of his dad and told OJ that he knew how to put in a new alternator (for that is what Jim thought the trouble might be with the ol' Lumina). So OJ and his friend spent Monday working on the car.

Here is the proud installer of a new alternator with his project:
Look at that bright shiny alternator! Isn't it pretty? OJ learned how to take off some of the belts, disconnent the old alternator, and install the new one. His mother is so proud!
And while they were fixing the alternator, they came across another problem: rough idling. They discovered that a green plug wouldn't stay plugged in to whatever it was supposed to plug into. Some clip holding the plug in was broken. So they got some industrial strength plastic ties and jerry-rigged the plug so that it stays where it is supposed to stay. Other Jim is pointing to the plastic ties. You can't see the green plug because it is underneath the thing that the ties are on. You can see, however, the dirt and grease OJ collected on his hands from doing car repair. I was so happy that he learned how to install a new alternator in his car, and he saved us over a hundred dollars that we would have had to pay a mechanic to work on it. Yay for Other Jim! And a big ol' thank you to Dan and his dad Mark for helping Other Jim. Today OJ is going to bake them some brownies to express our gratitude.

Fourth of July water fun

We went to a party on the lake for Fourth of July festivities. The kids had a blast, there were plenty of friends, and plenty of fun things to do in the water. One was a rope swing over the lake. I was surprised to see Matt enjoying the rope swing, but he apparently does not fear the swing like I thought he would.

Here he is as he takes off.

And here is a great picture of him letting go:

Paul takes a turn. I like this picture.
There was also a floating dock that the kids wanted to play on. At first it was just kids Matt's age but then the big kids invaded. Yes, that is Matt standing, fearing for his life as the big kids claim the territory.
The big kids have fully taken over the dock. Jimmy and Paul are both there.
Jimmy exits the water.Jimmy made me make tuna salad for the potluck dinner. He wanted it all for himself though. He polishes off the last few bites.

Paul and his friend Jason almost look like twins. I hear they plan this kind of thing. In this picture, they look like they are about to play patty-cake. But I'm sure they aren't. I'm sure they are going to do something totally manly and tough.
Hayley even tried the rope swing.
Hayley and her friend Gabby played around in the water. They always have fun together.
I hope you enjoyed your Fourth of July!

Why I should not be too early to anything and a rhetorical question

Last night I had two things on the calendar. One was "drop Paul off at friend's house @ 7." The other was "Dinner exchange @ 7:30."

So, at the appointed hour, I hopped in the van with Paul and I took him to his friend's house. Now I had half an hour until I had to be at the second commitment but I didn't want to go back home because that was actually out of the way. I had packed the 5 dinners (all frozen into concrete-ish slabs) in the van so I could go straight to the person's house who was hosting this dinner exchange. As I drove to the place of the dinner exchange, I checked the time: 7:08. WAY too early.

Hmmm. What to do? I didn't want to sit outside S's house for 22 minutes, nor did I feel comfortable knocking on her door and saying "Hey! I'm way early. Entertain me!"

FORTUNATELY (or unfortunately) she lives really close to the Mill End fabric store. Well! What better place for me to spend 20 minutes?

45 minutes and $18 later, I left. I was LATE to the meal exchange. I should have gone to the auto parts store instead. I'd have saved money and been on time.

Anyway, this is what my $18 got me:
Time for the rhetorical question: WHATEVER shall I DO with orange and green fabrics?

And Jim, do NOT roll your eyes and say "Like you don't have enough pumpkin stuff."