I'm BAAAAAACCCCCCCKKK

Okay, two months have passed with nary a post from me. I would like to say that I've been busy (which I have been) but really I've just been lazy. We were on vacation the first two weeks of August, and I really didn't have much time to blog about anything because Suzanne needed intense watching.

That's not quite correct--my parents' house needed intense watching. Vacation for me wasn't so much a vacation as it was a geographic move of my regular life to a point 300 miles south to Klamath Falls. Probably the most interesting part of it all was watching Suzanne systematically crack every door and lock on the property. There is no room or area that Suzanne can't get into in that house, except my dad's bedroom because the door is slightly crooked and sticks. However, if Suzanne gets a little taller and shoves a bit harder, that door will be cracked as well.

I'm thinking that safe cracker or locksmith might be a career path for my little girl...

Oh, wait...I just realize that I've been experiencing selective memory. Suzanne did get into that room once. She was in there just long enough to flush Grandma's toothbrush down the toilet and clog up the works. This is why you should ALWAYS have a house with two bathrooms. On the upside, we discovered that the Roto-Rooter man lives just down the street and is willing to make a 6:55 housecall. Now that is good service!

Greg and I also attended our 30th high school reunion, which was a lot of fun. I was pleased to discover that in comparison, I look pretty fabulous for a 48 year old, as long as you don't count Judy Alexander who looks absolutely no different than she did on the day we graduated. It is Suzanne's influence--if you want to stay young, have children in your 40s. If the shock doesn't kill you, you actually get younger...

We are now back in school, hooray! I do have to write a stern letter to the school district chastising them for cutting Suzanne's program from 4 days to 3 days a week. I have a conspiracy theory, but it would only be sporting to let them try and explain why this happened and they didn't see fit to notify me earlier than 3 days before school started. As Kirk likes to say, I am dis-happy. I will not rant yet, but I will say that this is actually making me growl whenever I think about it. Grrrr....

All in all, the school thing is going well. Suzanne has established herself as a leader and her favorite job this year is as the teacher's helper. She really enjoys finger painting and I have many pictures that are all done in yellow, the color of the month. In fact, she made an art project the other day--yogurt ala rug! She snuck upstairs with 4 cartons of yogurt and put 2 on the floor in my room and the other 2 in her room. Then she proceeded to finger paint on her carpet. The funny thing is that I could tell it was actually an attempt at painting and not just a big mess. There was an actual design to it, very similar to one of her other paintings. Fortunately I discovered her before she could get started in my room and we spent the afternoon shampooing the carpet. If you want to see her fine work, come on over--you can still see the faint outline of raspberry yogurt if you look closely!

One of these days I'm going to be able to write the definitive book on cleaning carpets, walls, and other household surfaces! I have always thought I'd be famous for something, but master cleaner was not really what I've imagined...

One more hour of freedom...