This and That Thursday

This is our 'last' week of summer! School starts in earnest on Monday and, even though the public pools remain open until Labor Day, there will be precious few hours left to enjoy swimming. So we convened a caucus of cousins for a late night swim! Nothing like a little dark to change the routine swim and even 'cooler' to be herded out by the life guards at the end of the night. Of course these two were all over the idea from moment one! This shot turned out so nice that we tried one with as many of the cousins as we could lure to the side of the pool...Mairead proved to be quite elusive! I'm pleased with the result! Then we tried to get some of their antics on film...er chip. By the end of the night Mari finally figured out how to get both legs up while holding her nose with one hand and pushing on the bottom of the pool with the other hand. Peggy got that shot and we've not shared files just yet! Patrick declined to suit up. He wouldn't miss the family time but actually has little fondness for water and avoids it when possible. You should see some of the shots we got on the boat ride in NC with him diving for a life vest the minute his foot hit the deck!! My work-free summer is coming to an end too :( Just thought I'd let you see the swell digs that I've been provided with in order to get to all the nooks and crannies of our county. Had to get it from this angle in order to not get the line of patients waiting patiently for me to clock-in... and I was 45 minutes EARLY!! Times are tougher than I think a lot of my peers realize. The spacious 'office'! Sarcasm is really unwarranted since it's a FAR SUPERIOR work environment than the dark musty church basements or the tiny suffocatingly hot janitor's closets where I've been assigned in years past! This day was reserved for DCFS foster children who, because of their public aid status in an upper middle class county, are denied dental care by the county's private dental practitioners. Without a dental exam the children are denied admission to school. Lovely cycle isn't it? Those self same dentists are the ones I must clench my teeth and listen to at society meeting hissing and pissing about those "lazy, resource sucking, public aid patients"!!!! How do a whole segment of our society make it to adulthood without realizing their complete ignorance on how another segment of our society lives????? The mobile unit has it all!! Root canal anyone?? Just KIDDING.....because those resource sucking public aid patients or HORRORS of HORRORS those who dare to subsist without ANY medical/dental coverage are the only ones we treat on the 'truck' and root canals are not a covered treatment! Like the 23 year old foster mother who we saw....the one who's stepped up and took on her 11, 10, 5, and 4 year old siblings! Nope, she gets NOTHING for the monumental job she's assumed on behalf of the state....coverage is only for the minors! Yeah, I'm always in a cranky state after a day in which I'm reminded of the poverty all around me in one of the wealthiest counties in the country...one where CEO's bring home multimillion's for screwing up our economy and have no money to help keep children fed and healthy but thousands upon thousands of dollars to support their lobbyist of choice. GRRRRR!!!! Sigh, sigh, sigh. Okay, I move on now to my next stress inducer. Today the middle school had a "walk through", a.k.a. orientation, for incoming sixth graders. I'm so not ready to be the Mom to a middle schooler!!! In a vague memory of being very embarrassed by having my Mom follow me around the school on "walk through" day, I offered Mari the opportunity to invite a trusted upperclassman to handle the nitty gritty while I promised to hang out by the PTA table. So the "almost high school" cousin...who's starting 8th grade on Monday... was drafted. It was a good choice!! Alyssa even prepped by studying Mari's schedule ahead of time to make sure she would have the period by period route mapped out to actually WALK Mari through her school day. Something happened this summer to Mari and Alyssa's usual relationship....Mari, the Guatemalan, passed Alyssa (who's oh so done growing!) in height! So here they are with the supplies in tow and ready to head off to the middle school........ okay, so I made her come back for a few more shots! This girl just may rule the school!...and then she asked me to come too!!!!!!!!!! As long as I 'kept my distance' that is! She got a real good feel for how crowded the halls will be during passing periods! Then it happened.....AGAIN!!! She gets another young man (according to this old lady!) as her homeroom teacher. Nothing like her old private school where the only man was the janitor! Alyssa was all over the locker set up! By this point Mari was glazed over and in a deep case of sensory overload. Then the REAL first test of middle school...learning how to work a combination lock! This would be the look I got after the fifth unsuccessful attempt! I got the hint and backed away. While I was reading the poster on her homeroom door she finally took the advise of her practically perfect Aunt Peggy and managed to open her locker by herself.... Ready or not world here comes one little girl in a hurry to grow up despite her Mom and Dad's best efforts!

One Escape, Two Escape, Red Escape, and a NOT Blue Escape!

We have made it past the weekend of mourning. As Irish a wake as could be had was had to the nines! My sister-in-law is one of those genuine GOOD people who never has anything bad to say about anyone EVER and counts everyone she meets as a friend. Just her 'friends' would have made one heck of a crowd paying their respects but Jim and Agnes have five children who are teachers, nurses, and Local 399 Engineers (like their Dad was and uncles all are!) and Jim has five siblings living here in Chicagoland, AND Agnes has I can't even remember how many siblings living here too. As he walked by those waiting in a line stretching out of the funeral home and down the block, one passerby asked if a politician was being waked! My brother glanced at his watch as he joined the line and informed us that it had taken a full 45 minutes before he could pay his respects. My dear Patrick held up well and in true Irish fashion spent those long hours shaking the hundreds of hands offered in condolence along with many a great chat about days past. The church was so full the priest said he wished he could draw as big a crowd on a Sunday! There were smiles streaked with tears as the grandchildren read scriptures and we were all reduced to tears as his eldest daughter played his favorite Kerry air on her tin whistle as the pall bearers lead him back out of the church. The threatening skies held back their load as we conducted the graveside ceremony. The great Irish entertainer Joe McShane was in attendance and at Agnes' request he played his guitar and sang "I'm Going Home To Castleisland" as the coffin was lowered. Ever so softly the deep Kerry voices of my brothers-in-law and my Patrick could be heard joining in and with that I was over the edge.....it took a three hour nap to shake the migraine. So here I sit in the wee hours of the morning. My sleep cycle is a wreak. I guess I might as well get to that post I promised about our mini-vacation to North Carolina!!!!! So Auntie Peggy had this 'clunker' of a minivan....sort of. A vintage 1992 Caravan that she calls "the blue beast" which, due to her ownership of a Sebring convertible, only sees the road during the winter months. The 92,000 miles in 17+ years left it perfectly usable but with the chance to get $4500 from the Cash for Clunkers program she decided now was as good a time as any to trade it in for something a little newer....okay ALOT newer!!! Since we needed a new car for Patrick (remember the deer????) we all piled in and headed to Charlotte where my uncle has a Ford dealership....and a lovely home on the lake....get the picture?!?! After many road trips to Grandpa's house in Sarasota these two are pros when it comes to passing the hours. There's always a lot of lounging...along with a little horseplay.... The digital age makes for a lovely quiet back seat!!! With their own playlists loaded on their own Ipods we solve the 'who gets to pick the next song' argument. One wake up call for my pampered princesses was the realization that vintage 1992 minivans did not come with built-in DVD players :) So while one slept the other used the portable DVD player! Along with sufficient munchies to last oh, say about two weeks, we made it to Charlotte in 15 hours. The next morning brought us into the dealership where in an Intro. to Economics 101 the girls sat in with us as we handled the paperwork. We've decided they NEED to be more aware of where our money goes and just how much the 'things' they take for granted cost. Auntie Peggy, meanwhile, was off doing her own purchase! Some how I don't think a handshake with Uncle Bill is going to be sufficient with the Ford honchos?!?! So here she is in her shiny new 2009 RED Ford Escape...with a stow away because hers comes with Sirius radio where the Radio Disney channel can be heard even while in the mountains!!! Okay, we didn't do all that bad ourselves! Here we are 'closing the deal' with my uncle on our 'new' 2008 MYSTERY color Ford Escape...yep we both went for an Escape!!! Over the phone we were told it was a "white" and when we arrived it had morfed into "pearl" which looked more "oyster" to us but which when we arrived home and parked next to my sister-in-law's exact duplicate Escape she informed us that her paperwork said it was "light sage". Whatever! We love it! It drives like a dream and I'm still trying to figure out how to convince Patrick that it's his idea to trade me for my Honda Odyssey :) One happy family in their new car!....and then the girls noticed something!!!! Dear lord please don't let this be a preview of their teen years!!!Daddy chauffeuring his princesses as they hang out the moon roof waving to their peeps?!?? Business now concluded...it's time for the vacation part of the trip. Lovely lake home with a lovely pool which comes stocked with all the pool toys a kid could want...yes it was now drizzling but who cares when you only have 1 1/2 days left to your vacation?!? As long as it was warm with no lightening then swim we did! We had big girls on baby float toys..... We had little girls trying to get the floating thing under control..... We had big girls trying to get on big kid toys..... We had little girls chillin' on big girls loungers..... And we had COUSINS come too!!! Auntie Peggy is not fond of me taking pictures of her in swimsuits but I think this one will be acceptable :) Wii golfed......and no one threw their 'club'....... We went on nature walks.... We went on boat rides too!!! I actually went on this vacation...thankfully only a few nice pictures to prove the point...no blackmail...that I know of, right Peg? Auntie Peggy was soaking up some vitamin D with us as we admired the lovely homes that Mari supposed might cost $559,000,000....not exactly an A+ student in Econ. 101 but at least she's trying to get her head around just how much work one has to do to earn the money for the comforts of life. My cousin, the captain of the boat, with his two little princesses!! Hey ya'll!! (Yep we're still getting a kick out of their cute little southern accents) We also had a blast of a family get together with our Southern branch of the family at a Japanese hibachi restaurant!!! We showed off our chop stick skills acquired on our Chinatown trip from last month. And Julia, our little chef-in-training, wins the award for most adventuresome...she did not meet a sushi she didn't like that night!! Wasabi was on her 'iffy' list but sticky shrimp sushi was on her 'for sure' list!! We followed up with an al fresco ice cream social where the only little boy of the group did some serious damage to his mother's bowl of chocolate chip ice cream! Julia did some posing in her Scooby-Doo outfit for a future eBay listing that night too!!! And then it was over...just like that! Julia gave us a wave good-bye as she joined Auntie Peggy in her car for the long trek back home. The SpongeBob material can soon be seen on special little girls living in Virginia and New Orleans...hint, hint Vanessa and Rhonda. With 30+ hours of driving through NINE different states what are the odds that we would stop at a rest area only to find Julia staring out at...what else???...yes, you guessed it...a horse track!!!!!!!!! None were out practicing and I think she was hoping we would say we would stay longer to see if any would come out but it was at this rest stop where we received the news about Jim and the trip home took on new urgency. And a closing shot of what 15+ hours in French braids does to Mari's hair....a throw away shot which just gave Patrick and me palpitations over the prospect of what lies ahead...thank God she's not into boys...................yet.

May Perpetual Light Shine Upon Him

The news long anticipated yet most dreaded came to us as we drove home from our mini-vacation. Patrick's older brother "Big Jim", who had been in a long battle with colon cancer, has died. As sudden as his younger brother's death had been from a heart attack, this was the inevitable outcome for Jim for over a year now. As relieved as we are for the end to his suffering and the relief from his wife's unbearable burden in caring for him, Patrick will sorely miss him. Here's a picture of us with Jim and Agnes on our wedding day. So "Big Jim", we will all raise a frosty Old Style to the memory of a 'mule of a man' we had in you. The second son, determined to stamp your own mark on this world. The feisty boy who was bold enough to stand toe to toe with his imposing father. The eight year old who drove any tractor he was allowed and who was hired at thirteen to drive produce trucks into the city because he was so tall that no one could imagine his real age. The man who was NEVER known to ride as a passenger in any vehicle even on the 20+ hour treks to Florida! The giant of a man who spoke so low and quiet as to be mistaken for being shy but who was friends with every Irishman in Chicago. Rest now in pain free peace where so many wait to shake your hand and welcome you to God's Six Penny Bit where the 'craic' is eternal!

On the fly...

I'm on the move here!! Bags packed, food packed, maps packed, 'toys' packed, banking done, eBay sales put into the post office, appliances unplugged...well not the computer just yet, and only one more load of laundry to get dried. I'll be incommunicado for the rest of the week, as we have no laptop to take with, but the new camera is on it's trial run so expect lots of pictures upon our return!!! Just a cute parting shot of the BFF/Cousins on their 'final' sleepover before a WHOLE FOUR DAYS of separation! A big box of sewing scraps combined with some big imaginations and you have the birth of Super Girl and Super Allergic (seriously, they named themselves!!!). Oh to be so young and uninhibited to run around the front yard 'fighting' villains in these get-ups! The PC police may have forcibly retired 'Cowboys and Indians' but children WILL play 'good guys vs. bad guys' the world over!!!!! Some just do it with a little more fashion statement than others.

Drive by...

Just a quick post to say I'm still here! While snapping a few pics for eBay the other night I dropped my camera. Murphy's law was in full effect and it landed face down on the cement smashing the lens. Sigh. I have such a lovely relationship with cameras....NOT!! Now under the gun to find a replacement that fits in the budget before we take off to NC. In the kids say the darnedest things category: Since we found Mari's first family last year, Julia's jealousy has cycled on and off a few times a month. She has been very vocal on how UNFAIR we are by not searching for her first family. So a couple of months ago we got the ball rolling with the searcher who is just waiting for us to commit 100% by sending the final payment. As we sat in the bank's drive up I toss out the comment that it looked like we would have the money issues resolved this week and that we would soon be able to send the money to the searcher! From the back seat I hear a sigh and then Julia says, "Do you think I could get a new video game instead?" Ahhhh, the fickle nature of an 8 yo!!!

Food Finally!!

It's safe to say that our ancestors were a much hardier lot than us! One can only assume that the pioneers that first came to the Mid-west must have had an odd year of freakish temperatures such as we are experiencing currently. How didn't they all starve??? I guess I have to admit that the wild black raspberries, mulberries, and rhubarb have produced nicely this everlasting spring that we are having but the cold and rain are not helping with the veggies! Auntie Peggy has forwarded to us photographic evidence that our 'family garden' is only JUST bringing forth our first real 'harvest'...without the local Jewel grocery store this would have been one very emaciated family otherwise!!!! I guess our ancestors wouldn't have turned their noses up at the Bambi road kill? Green veggies....soon to be seen in our pita bread nestled alongside the gyros meat and sauce! Yummo!!!

Yellow veggies...this would be the second one-person serving of the wax beans she has harvested. Hoping to see enough for a certain family of FOUR someday???

Red veggies...cannot ever have enough of these! Unless you are Julia who has been cursed with a weird craving for them which when eaten are quickly followed by aphthous ulcers causing a week of discomfort...which my little foodie will often endure because she can't bear eliminating these from her diet!!

Not too shabby given the weather...though why my sister would feel the need to measure them I'm not sure? Thought that was only a guy thing?

So my southern friends, this is what we have from our garden so far...lame huh?!?! Bet you are already canning! Wonder if we'll have to import our pumpkins this year? At this rate they might not be ripe until Christmas! Oh yeah, I forgot! This is Chicago. We will have a foot of snow by then!!!!!

What a weekend!

Camp schedules and summer vacations have resulted in a deficit of cousin play dates! It's so nice to have the girls all together because they play so well together which gives me lots of uninterrupted time! Dress up is still a big part of their play dates! The American Girl company has been the recipient of waaaaaay too many of my hard earned dollars over the years...but at least they still play with the dolls!

Of course Julia has a recurrent theme to her imagination play! I guess my little jockey is in need of some new silks.....

...and then there is my Diva! Every once in a while she throws me a curve. Today I find her 'playing' Guatemala!!! Oh how I wanted to make it into a learning moment but I bit my tongue and let her 'play'. Speaking of playing....

Halloween fun outfits!!

More subtle Dia del Muerte too! I'm having so much fun making these outfits for the funds to feed Mari's birth family that I'm beginning to feel like the kids...dread the back-to-school moment! I start back with the Health Department in September and while I like the mobile clinic and LOVE the pay it has been fun sewing all summer....