Life right now

This is a perfect picture of life right now.  From left to right:

*A fish in a vase.  Alison and Eli decided to spend their money on fish.  They each bought a betta; Alison named hers Hermine and Eli named his Star.  The guy at Petsmart said two female betta's would be fine in the same tank.  He was wrong.  Less than 24 hours after getting the fish, Alison came running into our room, "Come quick!!!  Something is wrong with Star's fins!"  After our last fish got fin rot, Alison is very sensitive to watching their fins.  We went to look and it looked like the fish had been electrocuted.  Ben realized that Hermine was literally eating Star's fins off!  It was disturbing.  We scooped Star out, made her a new home and waited for her to die...but somehow she is still alive and much happier without another fish trying to eat her.

*A very big white board schedule.  I say this with all respect to others, but I firmly believe that people who overbook their schedules are avoiding something in their life.  Point in case; I am very much trying to avoid the summer and I definitely got carried away with filling our schedule so we don't get cabin fever.  So carried away that I had to bring in the big guns so I could quit running through the daily schedule with the kids...and a little so I didn't forget.  Alison and Eli are taking piano lessons, Eli is playing basketball (3 days a week, gulp), they are all doing 2 reading programs, Alison is taking a cooking and art class and Colin still has story time.  Add to that a couple of work functions for Ben, continuing to do school and several doctor's/dentist appointments.  AND I just signed them all up for VBS next week.

*Deployment clock is set to normal time.  We are still thankful everyday that Ben is home!  Every time I look at this clock, I am reminded of all those days I looked to see if Ben was asleep or awake.  I'm also reminded that it's over and now I can just look to see when he'll be home from work.

*A bucket of dirt.  Alison planted some seeds for math.  She was supposed to measure which plant grew taller; the one in the shade or the one in the sun.  But nothing grew, in the slightest bit.  In all the planting we've done the past year, we've only grown ONE tomato!  AND Eli is supposed to do the same thing for science this week.  He's supposed to be learning about roots and stems and leaves and all that good plant life stuff and I CAN'T GET ANYTHING TO GROW!  So, the bucket is just sitting there while I'm praying for a miracle.

* A big box of kleenex.  A big cold + allergies hit me hard last week...like the first time in maybe years that I was down and out.  I was on the couch with a box of tissues and the humidifier and told the kids they could do whatever they wanted to do.  It was probably their favorite couple of days ever.  Thank you for older kids who can get themselves food!