Michelle's Madness

I love a good long three day weekend. Plenty of time to putter around the house and get things done without busting my ass, and lots of time to play, hang out and be lazy, eat, and nap. But of course, the beasties need to be entertained periodically, or they'll eat us, or at least drive us very crazy. So this morning while Brian was at work, the boys and I baked some cookies. Jacob chose to make chocolate chip M&M cookies, which turned out yummy. Of course, I cannot stop eating them...




Then when Brian got home, we surprised the boys and took them to the local serpentarium. It's a museum, but you can also buy creatures and their various accoutrement. I very much wanted to take home a turtle. I love love love turtles! I loved the snakes too and I really wanted to pet some of them. I wanted a snake in high school but my then (evil) stepmother quickly vetoed that because snakes apparently represent the devil. Turns out she WAS the devil, and now she's burning in hell.... well, Arizona, but tomato, tomahto.


Larry, Moe, and Curley here were pretty funny. I swear they were posing for the camera.


And I'm not sure if these guys were showing us their butts, acting aloof, or if they were just really interested in something. Actually, it kinda looks like they're watching the game...


This snake was quite interested in Jacob. As soon as he walked up to the glass, it moved forward from the back of its enclosure to check him out.


This is the snake Brian got a call on a while back. The owner committed suicide, so he had to collect her from the home. However she is so big and heavy that her cage didn't fit in his truck. She's about 10 feet long and 100 pounds. Note the smaller snake next to her. That's her boyfriend. They are trying to mate the two. Imagine that, you lose your owner and your home and your new owner immediately starts pimping you out. Oh well, no worries, if she's really that bothered by it, she can just eat the male. That'll learn 'em.


These green tree pythons are really cool. They make me think of the book Verdi. And they're super expensive.


One more day of lounging, food and fun. The weather has cooled and the boys will probably play outside with their friends some more. We'll barbecue some burgers and do nothing. Just what a holiday weekend is for!

Last night, I experienced every working mother’s favorite situation (please note the sarcasm). Jacob was reading to me, and then I read to him, and we had a nice little chat before I turned out his lights for bed. Then our conversation turned to this:

Jacob: “I don’t want to go to school tomorrow.”

Me: “I know, I don’t want to go to work tomorrow, but it’s just one more day and then we have a 3 day weekend.”

Jacob: “I want you to pick me up from school tomorrow and on every minimum day.”

Me: “I know sweetie, but I can’t pick you up from school because I have to work. I will try to get the time off so I can pick you up on your minimum day, but I can’t promise it because I’ve taken too much time off already.”

Jacob: “Everyone else gets picked up by their moms (which of course is untrue, but try telling that to a sad, tired 6 year old). It’s not fair!”

Me, while giving him a hug: “I know it’s not fair honey. I want to pick you up and it’s not fair that I can’t, but I have to work because our family needs me to.”

Then he started crying. Just stick the knife in a little further… now a little to the left… THERE you go, right in the heart. Now my day as a working mom is complete.

I'm done with hot weather. Unfortunately the hot weather didn't get the message and it's supposed to be 106+ on Thursday. I'm overheating just thinking about it! I am definitely ready for some cooler weather, homemade stew, a fire in the fireplace, visits to the pumpkin patch, and my favorite holidays, Thanksgiving and Halloween. The boys are trying to decide what they want to be for Halloween, and of course they are very indecisive. They are flipping through a catalog and they want to be something from every page: Batman, Power Rangers, Indiana Jones, Darth Vader, an astronaut, you get the idea. But it sounds like Optimus Prime and Bumblebee are the clear favorites. That will be really cool, and they are starting to get excited too. Are we there yet?