Paul runs for fun

I took Matt and Hayley with me to volunteer at a 5K/half marathon race this morning. Paul ran in the 5K and Matt, Hayley and I were course marshals--we cheered the runners mostly. I think we were also sort of making sure no one took a short cut through the parking lot. Here are Hayley and Matt, manning our post. See our lime green volunteer T-shirts?

We had a treat before the race started--we saw a fox! He trotted (fox trot!) down the sidewalk and across the street.
He checks to make sure no cars are coming--we must always be safe!
The half marathon started first and I saw a friend of mine in that race. I cheered her on. Matt and Hayley were sort of embarrassed to cheer at first but soon got into it when they realized that the runners really liked the encouragement. I got a high-five from one runner, and lots of thank-you-for-volunteering!s (NO APOSTROPHE NEEDED) from the runners.

Then we saw the runners start for the 5K and Matt kept pestering me, saying "What if Paul wins?" and I pooh-poohed the idea. Of course Paul wasn't going to win. He's a kid.

I wanted lots of pictures so I took this picture of the lead car. Uh, those feet behind the car look familiar.
Whoa. It's Paul. In the lead! Go Paul!
I was so shocked.

Here he is on his second time around. The 5 K runners ran by us twice. There is nobody around him. Yes, he was still in first on his second lap.

As the rest of the runners ran by on their second lap, I saw two other friends of mine who ran the 5K, Stephanie and Marla, and they stopped briefly to tell me that they saw Paul finish the race. He had lapped them at the very end and they were able to report to me that Paul won the race and that his time was 19 minutes and something! !!! !!!! I wish I could have been at the end of the race, but I did my job at the post I was given. At least someone I know saw him finish.

Finally, the race coordinator biked by releasing us from our duties and I drove off to find Paul. Here he is, Mr. Winner of the Heart of the City 5K Fun Run!
He won a $25 gift certificate to a store that sells running gear. He has plans for his money already!Congratulations to Paul and to all the other runners! Hip hip hooray for Pam for running the half marathon, and to Stacy, Hope, Marla, and Stephanie for the 5K!

Summer plans

Oh yes, I have dreams of a fabulous summer, in spite of not going on any sort of family vacation. I dream that I will be able to sit out on the deck in my chaise longue (YES that's how it is spelled. Well, one way. The way I spelled it in a Modern American Usage class and the professor thought it was wrong, BUT IT WASN'T. FACE!) with a cheesy sci-fi book and a refreshing glass of ice cold Tang, with the wind playing gently (not gustily or lustily) and warmly (but not to hotly) across my modestly unclad legs (shins). No child would dare disturb my peace for at least an hour. The children in the house behind us would play inside all day. I wouldn't have to babysit. No cars would drive past, revving engines and speeding through the stop sign. The bugs would all be on vacation in Iowa or Wisconsin. The fragrant smell of petunias from the hanging baskets would perfume the air and sweet peace would wrap me in a blanket of bliss!

Right.

No, it is beyond any child's ability to leave a parent alone for that long. There is always some dire, urgent, pressing need to be filled only by mother--Mom! The refrigerator light is out! Mom, there's a bug on the wall! Mom, can I have a yogurt? Mom, do we have any bread? Mom, can Annabell come over? Mom, how do you fill out this form? Mom, guess what would happen if I made really loud popping noises with my mouth all day? (I would tell you to stop and I would try really hard to refrain from kicking you) Mom, can I? Mom, can you? Mom, mom, mommommommom....

And the neighborhood children will all be outside, engines will rev, stop signs ignored. Bugs will bite and pester, the petunias will shrivel and die from the heat. The Tang will be warm and the chaise unable to be wrestled into perfect relaxation form. The wind will be either too hot or too cold, the air too stifling or too chilly. And the book, despite my love for cheese, will be grating and unreadable.

And this will be the summer of road reconstruction along our street. Yessir, I can look forward to three solid months of asphalt-chewing madness. Three months of gassy trucks belching blackened spumes of throat-clogging smoke in my neighborhood. Three months of bouncing along a pitted gravel obstacle course to get to my driveway (uh, we're one of the lucky ones, actually, since we live right on the corner of Road Construction Ave and Not Road Construction St. So we only have to go about 30 feet through the pits of minor heck). Three months of a 7 a.m. wake-up call from diesel engines and hydraulic machinery. No need to play music when we have the whine of jackhammers, punctuated by percussive thumps and bumps of chunks of street falling into the dumptruck. Oh joy. The countdown to road construction is the same as the countdown to the last day of school. They start the day the busses don't run.

Little blog tidbit

I finished my Creative Writing assignment and I have turned it in!

On to joust with poetry. Poetry looks a lot beefier and more muscular when up against it in a college class with a time limit breathing down my neck. I hope it doesn't kick my sorry procrastinating butt.

Ten things for a post with nothing to say

1. I'm up, I'm up!
2. But I haven't had breakfast. I can hear Matt eating cereal and it's making me hungry.
3. Servo is freaking out. He does this for about 10 minutes every morning.
4. It's fun to watch. He thinks he has something on his back.
5. Geez, there's a lot of laundry to fold. Whine.
6. My main goal this week is to submit another Creative Writing assignment by the weekend. I'm getting close. Blogging will be rather less than more until then.
7. And it really should be that way until I get this class done. I've taken WAY too long with it.
8. Poetry is next.
9. I don't get poetry.
10. Unless the poem in question is a) a limerick, b) penned by Dr. Seuss, or c) about flowers.

Have a happy Wednesday! Tomorrow, I've got another picture of my miniature garden--I've added a bench, a watering can, and some little mushrooms.

Because I haven't blogged enough about Paul

Memorial Day. I have no thoughtful post about honoring those who fought for our country. I should, but I don't. I'll just be grateful all day long for the men and women who have lost their lives defending and serving our country.

I spent the morning in a fruitless attempt to find Paul among several dozen other marching banders. All the band parents were playing "Where's Waldo?" and mostly failing. Unless they were the parent of either a flag twirler (no hats so you can easily pick out your child's face) or the parent of the drum major (been there. :) ) and you have the benefit of looking for the one person in the whole band who doesn't look like everyone else. Even knowing that Paul was one of only three French Horn players didn't help. And I always pick the wrong side of the street to stand on--the French Horns were on the north side of the band and I was waiting with my camera on the south side of the street.

I did catch up to him eventually at Memorial Park and got a few good pictures of him in his uniform.
He seemed to be having fun.
Katie, we missed you in the band! This is the only picture I was able to get of Mr. K.
We are now off to the church picnic. I hope the lemon bars are cool enough.

The last track meet

This a post about Paul. It is a long post and it has lots of pictures. This is a post about Paul in his last track meet of the year. It's the JV conference meet. He ran varsity all his other meets, but for conference, the varsity team needed only four distance runners and he was #5. Paul didn't seem to mind. I didn't either.

This is Paul with his JV track friends. They like to hang out together in the middle of the field.

This is Paul and the other milers approaching the starting line. Can they all find their places?
This is Paul achieving lift off. Paul, this is a running race, not a flying race! Get back on the ground!
The boys start to run! Run, boys, run! See them run. They are running fast.
This is Paul passing up two of his teammates. Go, team, go!
Paul is all by himself. Poor Paul. Is he lonely? Run fast, Paul!
Paul ran. Paul ran fast. He came in first. Hooray for Paul! Here is Paul as he crosses the finish line.
This is Paul as he waits for the two mile race. He looks like a bendy straw, doesn't he?
This is Paul as he warms up by the goal post. He is not doing ballet. He is preparing to run.
Paul doesn't dance ballet and he doesn't kick a football either. But sometimes he looks like he does both. Kick your legs high, Paul!
This is the start of the two mile race. Some people call it the 3200m. No matter how you say it, it is still a long way to run. Paul has to run eight times around the track. Can you count to eight? Good!
Paul is in front for most of the race, but not by much. Three other boys follow him closely. Will Paul stay in first? Will the other boys pass him up? Run fast, Paul!
Paul ran fast, but one boy ran faster at the end. Paul came in second. We are still happy about second place! Hooray for Paul. Here is Paul as he crosses the finish line. I bet he is glad to be done running. Three miles in one day is a lot of running!
Paul is tired after running so much. He wants to take a nap. Some of his friends are there to tell him that he did a good job. It is good to have friends.
Now Paul can finally stand up. He looks mad. But he isn't mad. This is Paul's happy grimace. He's happy he came in second place. Congratulations Paul! We hope you had fun in track this year!

Calling all elves and fairies

Hayley and I made a mini garden. It's very bare and has only three plants in it but since this is our first attempt, I'd say we did just fine. We lack miniature accessories, like a bench and some mushrooms and a watering can, but that lack will soon be unlacked.
Next year, I think I need a bigger bowl. Perhaps a birdbath would work.

Re: various things

Van with no name: Now fine. Didn't cost us a cent. It was the part that we thought was not working (or rather it was the part that we thought was not working's twin. There are two. One was replaced a year ago. Now the other one was fixed. We didn't know there were two. And fortunately the twin was under warranty too.) I was not in fact losing my mind when I brought the car in THE FIRST TIME TWO WEEKS AGO. They said they couldn't find anything. They didn't hook it up to the diagnostic computer. They just took 5 minute joy ride in my van. I saw them. I was waiting for Jimmy to pick me up. The joy rider CAME BACK before Jimmy even GOT there.

ANYWAY.

Sergei the Serger: no word. I hope he's OK. I miss him. In his absence, I used my other serger to hem cloth napkins. Yes, I have another serger, but it's only a 3-cone serger so I reserve him strictly for napkin hemming. Yes, I realize that I have too many sergers, when there are people out there in the world without any sergers at all.

Heat: gone. Just in time for Matt to enjoy Fun in the Sun at school today.

Other various things:
I should be on a walk. I need to take some ibuprofen. I have to iron 2 shirts today. My camera needs to be put away in its case. Paul umpired again last night. I'm wearing a kerchief despite several impassioned vows in my teenage years that I WOULD. NEVER. WEAR. A. KERCHIEF. Especially when I'm out shopping. Mother, I am sorry I ever cast a dispersive eye on you for wearing yours when we went to Dayton's to buy jeans. I wore mine to the grocery store. And I hadn't showered or brushed my teeth. I DIDN'T EVEN CARE!

The summer of my discontent

I know it's not summer yet, technically, but darnit if yesterday wasn't an early taste of one thing that I don't like: heat. The temperature got up to 97 degrees, fully 25 degrees hotter than the upper level of my comfort zone. Bleagh.

To add to my woes, my serger, Sergei, make a loud metallic clunk and passed out yesterday afternoon, just as a sewing fit came over me. So instead of sewing up some pants for my sister-in-law and some shorts for Hayley (who had to wear jeans in 90+ degree weather), I had to load Mr. Sergei into his stretcher and cart the ailing machine off to the sewing machine doctor in the crippling heat.

THEN, my van, who has no name (like the horse in the America song), decided to go into LIMP mode while on my way to the sewing machine doctor. Usually I can pull over somewhere, stop the car, turn it off, wait a few seconds, turn it back on, and it'll work fine. But not yesterday afternoon. I stopped and started it three times and it would not drive in any mode except second gear. I was half way down the main drag to the sewing shop and had to turn around. Halfway from there back home, the van finally got with the program and started shifting. So I took advantage of it's sudden return to health and turned around (again) and headed for the repair shop.

Jim took the van into the mechanic last night. Luckily, the part that we think is causing the intermittent inability to shift gears is one that is under warranty (watch; now that I blogged about it and said it's under warranty, that won't be the cause of it and we'll have to shell out another grand to get it working again. Pray for my van!) So I have no vehicle (and I can't drive a stickshift pickup truck, not that Jim would leave it here for me anyway because then he couldn't get to work. And Jimmy is already gone with the white car) and I have no serger. What am I supposed to do today?

Don't bad things happen in threes? What other appliance with potentially lethal repair bill cost capabilities will go out in the next week? Furnace? It's old, one would almost consider it ancient. Another car? The computer? It's been slow lately. The TV? Actually, I would almost welcome that breaking. I want a new TV anyway.

Rim shot

So you all remember that Paul is a little league umpire, right? He has two games this evening and I suggested that since it's a teensy bit warm here today, he should take a water bottle. He just got a new one from his orthodontist (braces in July). He asked where the water bottle was and I told him it was on the coat rack in the entry way. He stood there for several minutes, whining that he couldn't find it. Finally Jim had to point it out to him, sitting as it was only inches from his nose.

Paul is perfectly suited to be an umpire.

Can't sleep

Sleep ran off to be with someone else tonight.

I heard an owl though. First time I've ever heard an owl. Actually I heard two. One nearly scared me because it was so close to the open bedroom window.

My eyes are burning from lack of sleep and from staring at the computer screen.

I'm going to try to catch up with sleep and hope it wants to be friends again. I don't know what I did to scare it away. Sleep, please forgive me! Come back! I'll try to make my head stop spinning if that's what scared you away! I'll try to stop obsessing about things over which I have no control! Just come back!

Froggybaby asked for this

These socks are done. And they are FABULOUS! The picture makes them look stripy, but they aren't so much in real life except in one place where the yarn must have broken and the manufacturer just cut out a piece and wove the two ends together. But they still look FABULOUS! Katie gets them. Her tootsies get cold at night, says she. Kate, when you get these, take a picture of them on your feet and post it. Otherwise, I will reclaim them when I come out to visit.

Grand plans in a miniature post

Miniature garden, something like this picture. I have some miniature plants to make one and I have a bowl and some little rocks. I want to get a little tiny bench to put in it too.

Knitting another felted purse. But first I have to finish Katie's shrug (same pattern as Hayley's). And I have sock yarn to knit up too. And then the monthly dishcloths...

Clean my sewing room. I never really finished unpacking it after the Great Room Switch. I should really sew something for Hayley too.

And I still have to finish my Creative Writing class. The poetry unit is coming up, and I just want to warn you that I might subject you to some pretty bad poetry efforts. So stay tuned (or stay away).

The Umpire Strikes Back

(Sing to the tune of the nursery rhyme "Little Boy Blue")
Big ol' boy blue,
Come call out "Play ball!"
The pitchers and fielders
Are awaiting your call.

Where is that boy
who calls "foul" or "fair?"
He's still in the car,
He's combing his hair.

Heehee! This has been another installment of bad poetry coming to you courtesy of the bad poetess, Shoebox Princess, to mark the occasion of Paul's first stint as a paid umpire for the local Little League.
Paul, of course, was not late. He didn't waste time primping before the game, as the poem implied. He got there early so he didn't have to rush. He spent several minutes at home trying to decide which shorts to wear, finally settling on one that had belt loops so he could wear a belt to hold up his little blue pocket thingie that holds his pen, game card, and a couple extra baseballs.I only watched for a few minutes--fake child wanted to play at the park and I figured I didn't have to stick around for the WHOLE game. I just caught a half an inning, which was enough to see that he was doing a fine job. He sounded confident, he was on top of the game, he called out his judgments clearly, and pointed and gestured as animatedly as he ever gets, which, granted, isn't VERY animated, but he did just fine. He'll send in his game card and they will send him a paycheck.

Updated this morning: So last night Paulie diligently got his umpire card filled out and addressed the envelope so he could send it in. Too bad he addressed the envelope to HIMSELF and put the Little League office as the return address. FOREHEAD SMACK. The child doesn't know how to address an envelope! How have I neglected educating him in this particular area? He had to redo the envelope. Thank goodness he hadn't put the stamps on it yet. Honestly, he's almost 15 and he is woefully unprepared for the simple act of mailing a letter using the United States Postal Service! What else have I neglected to teach him? Does he know how to fill out a deposit slip at the bank? Could he pay for groceries? Will he be able to figure out a metropolitan mass transit route?

If my purpose was to keep my daughter a little girl, I have failed

I think I have just added two years to Hayley's age.

The Yesterday Hayley:
The Today Hayley, complete with new haircut:
My little girl is no more. My big girl has moved in and replaced her.

Hayley has been bugging me for a haircut for ages and I've been too busy to fit her in. But yesterday I promised her that today would be the day. And I kept my promise. I hacked and hacked. Wads of hair fell to the floor. I cut off more hair than is probably left on her head. And as I cut, I saw shades of Katie. Hayley has a bit of her sister in her. Her hair might not be as thick or wavy or as dark, but her head shape is similar.

Hayley loves her new haircut and has been playing with it all evening. She normally just sticks the odd ponytail holder in a random spot on her head but tonight, she was trying out new looks. She said it feels good to have less hair on her head too.

She swished her head back and forth for the camera. (Yes it's blurry. It's SUPPOSED to be blurry. It's arty that way) (as if)

Follow the green-lettered link!

I might have to try this. It's just too weird to not try it. I'll bet my kids would eat it. Would yours? Would you?

Band and Mother's Day and track, oh my!

Another Mother's Day has come and gone. To celebrate Mother's Day, I told each of my children that live in the same house why I'm glad that I have them as a child. I'll have to tell the other child, the one who doesn't live here, in a letter or a text message or something. I am glad to have each one of them.

Because of Katie, I learned how to be a mom. She was the paver of the way for me. Good thing she helped out the process by being a child who didn't seem to mind coming to me with problems rather than hiding them and pretending all was well. I know she hid some things from me, but for the most part, she asked lots of questions and reported the good and the bad. She still does.

Because of Jimmy, I have learned patience and consistency. I learned not to give in as much as perhaps I could have. I also learned that despite my wish that parenting would be easy, it wasn't going to be so and I would just have to suck it up and deal with it. I also learned that hard work pays off. Jimmy is a good kid. For a while, I thought we might have a mighty struggle on hand.

Because of Paul, I learned to take a step back and find the humor. A dozen crushed eggs on the linoleum isn't as big of a problem as it might seem at first. I learned to get the camera first (for evidence and laughs later on) and clean up afterwards. I also learned that parenting more than one child requires more than one parenting style.

Because of Hayley, I learned that angels do exist in children. She is such a sweet girl. She always has a smile and a hug for her mother. She has always played well with Matt. I also learned that each child has her/his own strengths and to foster that which they have rather than trying to force that child into being great at something else.

Because of Matt, I learned that it's ok to tell a child to be quiet. Really, if I let him talk as much as he wants to, he'd never shut up. And I learned to relax. It's ok not to hover. The child will still like his mother and will still do what she says most of the time if she's not in the same room.

I have to share what Hayley and Matt gave me for Mother's Day. Matt gave me a booklet containing his thoughts and observations about me and one of the pages was a fill-in-the-blank saying, "My mother likes to _____." He got it right, I do like to knit, but the best thing about this page is the drawing of knitting. He got that even righter. You can tell he has knitted before because the drawing is surprisingly accurate. I love it!


Hayley made a clay sculpture for me. I like this because it is so Hayley. She loves art, and she loves anime-style.
One other Mother's Day present was from Katie. She cleaned her bathroom for me. It doesn't matter that I won't see it; I'm just glad to know she cleaned it. She's being responsible for herself. Thanks Katie!

Are you still reading? Because I do have more. I've covered the Mother's Day portion of this post so now I have to talk about either band or track.

Band first. Hayley had a concert last night. It was the last one of the year.Next year she won't have to go to band before school, she'll have it as a regular class. She's excited about taking summer band lessons.

Track. I don't have any pictures of Paul running in the meet last night because I had the camera at Hayley's band concert. If you would like to see pictures of Paul running, might I suggest you revisit my previous post? That has plenty. And I guarantee you that he looked pretty much the same last night as he did in the other pictures. Jim did track duty and was pleased to report that Paul finally achieved his track goal of running an under-5-minute mile. He ran it in 4:58! He gets the t-shirt! Yay Paul!

I was going to post more about socks and about mice, but I don't think I want to type anymore. I'll save those subjects for another day. Auf wiedersehen for now.

More Paul on track

'Nother track meet for Paul. He ran the 2 mile today and got his personal best: 10:58. He finally got below 11 minutes! That was his goal for the race today and he made it! His other goal for track is to get below 5 minutes in the mile. He's come close--Thursday he ran it in 5:03. I wasn't able to be there, but Jim went and he is the one who took the pictures.

Paul and a teammate:
Paul behind a guy who wants to know what time it is. (I thought this was an amusing picture)
Jim took several pictures of Paul running, but one time, he was a little late on the button-pushing. I cropped the picture down to as much of Paul as Jim got in the shot:Yep, that's Paul's leg.

I was at my mom's house for piano lessons. While I was there, I dug a hole in her yard and threw my Mother's Day present for her into the hole. Then I half buried it. That's right, I got her a bush. A Hetz Midget Arborvitae. I didn't take a picture because Jim had the camera for the meet. Mom's front yard needed a bush. She had expressed interest in having a largish plant in front of her front porch and I jumped on the idea since I had yet to come up with a way to show her my gratitude for her service as my mother for as long as I can remember. What better way to say, "Thanks Mom for not clobbering me every time I was a complete dunce, and for putting up with my tendency to stick corn on my teeth at mealtimes and thus ruin any attempt at a civilized dinner" than to plant a Hetz Midget Arborvitae for her to water for several years until it becomes an established evergreen that needs trimming? I hope I deserve to someday receive a Hetz Midget Arborvitae from my own children. It shall be the highlight of my life if I do.

A treasure trove of garage sales

Yesterday was the first time I'd cruised the streets looking for garage sales in a long time--many years. I haven't done it for a while because babysitting gets in the way. Either I've had a fake child those Thursdays when the garage sales sprout up like mushrooms in the grass after a long rain, or I've been busy doing things I couldn't do with a fake child in tow.

But the current fake child is now four and as long as I don't go saling for the whole morning, she's a trooper. It also helped that at the first sale we stopped at there was a white flower girl-type dress with floaty tulle for a skirt that was priced a hefty $1. And it was just her size. So now she has a "bride dress" for dress-up. She was very excited and she squealed all the way back to the car.

My original intention to sail the streets of surrounding neighborhoods was to find kitchenware for Katie. She has mentioned a need and since she works a full time job and a part time job, she can't get out to the garage sales in her area. And I refuse to allow her to buy new! She's a poor young single adult and therefore ineligible to purchase better pots and pans than her mother owns. So I thought I would try the sales in my area on her behalf.

And I was not disappointed. In less than an hour and for less than $15, I got a smallish saucepan, a medium saute pan, a tiny sauce pan (so cute!), a muffin tin, a 9x9 cake pan, and a wooden cutting board. And I can't decide whether or not to keep the Rubbermaid food containers I found or let her have them.

I also found a very cute skirt for Hayley. I need to cruise the sales next week to see if I can find a shirt to match it.

Ten things from my walk this morning

1. I love taking walks in spring! The windows in the musty attic of my lungs get flung open and a swift breeze carries out all the stale air! The only downside is that spring eventually turns to summer and the air gets stifling and oppressive.
2. Tulips greeted me everywhere.
3. I saw a bunny. I like bunnies, especially when they are not in my yard.
4. Skullcandy earbuds actually stay in my ear. And they deliver better sound. I halved the volume on iFlossie compared to when I used the earbuds that came with her.
5. I could name drop, but I will refrain.
6. Perspective is such a fickle thing. I used to get a little up in arms about unmowed lawns. Why don't you mow? I would ask the air around the long grass of neighboring yards. Now I see a potential opportunity for Paul to cash in. He needs to make some lawn-mowing flyers and pass them out.
7. It's fun trying to decipher the hot pink lines of paint on the roadway. I know some road work is in the works for this area, and I wonder what they are going to do. I think the lines on the gutters will tell the road reconstructioners what the city wants redone.
8. I managed to avoid the black hole that is the computer before my walk so I actually finished exercising at 9 a.m., when of late, I'm starting to exercise at 9:30. Oh, that I could avoid the computer every day!
9. Not completely, though.
10. My feet and legs aren't as sore as they were on Monday.

And a non-walk-related exclamation: I am nearly done with the five freezer dinners that I am taking to a dinner exchange tomorrow! I actually did it this time. Hopefully I'll come home with five delicious dinners to have in the freezer for those days that I need something quick and easy. All I have to do now is shred the chicken and add the beans and freeze my chicken burrito filling! Oh and grate the cheese. I think I'll have the kids grate the cheese. It'll give them something non-video-game-related to do. ;)

Ten things about being alive today

1. It's a smidge chilly in the basement. Ah, a window is open. Do I exert myself to shut it? Ehhhhh, I can't reach it.
2. Hayley has after-school art today. She loves herself some art. I wonder what she'll make today?
3. Paul has a track meet, but they will only run the top three, so he's going as an alternate. I want to go watch him be an alternate, but I have to pick up Hayley and I have to fake-child-sit.
4. My muscles are sore from exercising yesterday. I love this kind of sore. Stretching my triceps feels especially good.
5. I know this is drivel.
6. But I write everyday (nearly).
7. You don't have to read it if you don't want to. I won't mind if my viewership is zero. I just write drivel to write drivel.
8. Matt is getting taller. He still has a far way to go to catch up to others his age, but at least he is growing.
9. I watched Stranger than Fiction again last night. I just love the ending where Karen Eiffel narrates the bit about the little things that we think accessorize our lives, but in truth, those little things make our lives what they are (in her words, they save us). Must think about this more.
10. I know it is silly to find philosophic meaning in a rom/com.

Hap-pea!

Pea plants have sprouted and started to poke up through the dirt! My garden is activated!

Prom-a-lama-ding-dong

Subtitled: Jimmy wears a tux for the second time.


Jimmy and Jim:

Jimmy's date is Annabell. They go to different high schools (they are going to her school's prom) but they know each other from church. Yes, they are "going out." By the way, I'm not going to comment much. I just wanted to post pictures. I think Jimmy and Annabell both look very cute. Do I need to say more? Anything else would probably sound indulgent. Let it suffice that I think my son has grown up well and from what I see, he is a good kid. Annabell is a good kid too and she's a sweet girl.
One more comment: Here are Jimmy and Nick. Nick is a friend from church too. So is his date, Megan. All good kids.