It's Official - I have the Coolest Housemom

Hi all,

Due to Karaoke and then a migraine last night (I was in bed by 8...), blogging just simply didn't happen. So...here's the run-through.

Thursday morning I wasn't able to get to the stain glass workshop because Beau had a dentist appointment. Sam can't drive (he's not insured here since he's here only 5 months), and so it fell to me to take him. Luckily, Beau was tally-ho about the whole thing, and barely rested during rest hour, he was so excited. He kept pointing to his teeth. His appointment took over an hour, so we basically just got back in time for lunch. He'd walk up to everyone and proudly point to his teeth. They do look very nice.

Before this whole excursion (goodbye rest hour in the morning...) I'd taken the neighbor housefather to go and pick up their car. It was a bad morning for squirrels...we saw at least 4 in the middle of the road. I was able to get my cell back (and had several missed calls and messages, as I hadn't blogged and had mentioned my allergic reaction...whoops), and that was nice.

I managed to conk out for 10 minutes (impressive, right?) and had a very intense dream where there was also a dead squirrel. Ah, my transparent brain functioning... This was kind of disturbing, but only got odder. As I was the only one (really... no one else was there from the work group!) one in the co-op, I lugged in the order that'd been dropped off early. As I tried to open the door - the oh-so-helpful delivery guy had gotten them too close - I see a squirrel run off. Probably the same one that jumped at my face. Anyhow, I finally get the door open and see that the clever bugger had chewed a flap on the end, slit down the tape, pried open and untwisted the plastic (without chewing a hole in it), extracted exactly 1 walnut, and had eaten half of it before I showed up. So, it was a strangely squirrel-filled day.

The other laugh I got out of the co-op was from the order sheet. I'd requested a sample, and at the bottom it stated: 4 oz sample: WTF and MUL. That's right, I got a free 4 oz sample of WTF. White Turkish Figs. It has to be a joke in the office. The MUL were mulberries, which I wouldn't recommend. Although I'd eat several ounces of WTF any day...

I missed dinner because I drove into Hudson to go to a chiropractor appointment. When it was practically too painful to get out of bed Tuesday (?) morning - I had to literally pull myself over to the chair and slowly shift to standing - I finally caved and actually called. The chiropractor set right to work - he's a spry, older gentleman who kept up the banter while giving helpful advice. Needless to say, the doctor's office has now given me fish oil...bleh, thankfully in capsule form. I picked up some packing tape for housemom at Walmart and then came home - feeling very light, as my back actually didn't hurt.

Thursday night was quite exciting. I got dressed up a little since housemom was coming out - Julia very graciously came and housesat for us. Sam was eventually able to get a car (long story...) and so I didn't need to drive. So I had a whole two drinks. Given my poor current tolerance, this was just perfect. It was also Flo's last Karaoke night, and Barry got a bit teary about it. Flo and I sang "Build Me Up, Buttercup", and I think everyone had a great time. We didn't get the typical German contingent, but there were still about 20 people there. Housemom said she'd probably never look at all the co-workers in the same light again. Need I mention that Bean sang (from memory, mostly) "I Like Big Butts"? Actually, there was a higher-than-typical amount of old-school rap, but it was still pretty fantastic.

We also pretty much dominated the scene, making quite the show for those 6-8 people clustered around the bar. Housemom mustered her courage, had a drink, and did some singing. She has a really nice voice, and a lot of people had come to hear her - and to say goodbye to Flo, of course. It was a great night.

Friday morning I was good to bounce out of bed and get the pancakes rolling. Housemom was chugging coffee all morning. I was running around like a chicken with it's head cut off, as I unexpectedly had to go to the doctor's office. Luckily, the reaction is almost gone, but I'll be taking some steps to hopefully keep it from returning. I also then did a co-op run with housemom. However, the meatballs, sauce, bread, noodles and salad all managed to get done in time for lunch. We had two co-worker guests and aside from the children being unusually loud and unruly, it was very nice.

Friday afternoon it was very busy in the afternoon with unpacking the produce order and the IGA order. I also made a UNFI order sheet, and learned how to put the order in. A very time-consuming process. Apparently you can use a scanning system (where you merely point, shoot, and request the number of cases based off the barcode and not the ordering number that you look up every time), but we haven't got it implemented. Baby steps towards electronification will be happening in the next year, especially if we end up using cards for foodstamps. Should be interesting.

I then horsed around with the 4 year old, using a shoulder ride as a bribe to get him out of the house, where he and the middle child were driving housemom up the wall. I surely paid for it this morning. My neck was SOOOOO sore. We have some topical stuff for inflammation and joint pain, and that helped, along with a heating pad. No more shoulder rides though.

Today we cleaned in the morning and had leftovers for lunch. I spent most of my resthour making calls. My house had cafe/gift shop rota, so I sat in the giftshop with Beau. We both had books (his picture album), and I tried a decaf something or another from the coffee shop (they needed practice...I thought it tasted fine, but I'm nothing that's close to a connoisseur!), and read "The Book Thief". Which I am thoroughly enjoying. It's also teaching me more slang and naughty German words - which I get to demonstrate to Sam.

We got back in time for us to prepare for Bible evening - something I've rarely done here. We had someone from outside the house come and run it, and it was a little different from how I've seen it before. Not to mention we were only 4 people. So it wasn't a bad experience at all - especially since she's quite an interesting lady.

Anyhow, I should probably clean my room so I won't do it tomorrow. I think I'll do a Great Barrington run tomorrow (although I have no one to keep me company), and then berry picking if weather permits with the house. It's rained every day I think this last week, and I'm ready for it to be done. Especially since it poured for a majority of the day today.

Hope all is well,
Steph

PS. And after an informal poll, it was declared that I do, in fact, have the coolest housemom in the village.

Continuation

Hi all,

I'll just jump right back in to Wednesday evening: Cinco de Mayo. Earlier in the morning, Summer (the co-worker next door) had come over to borrow something and asked if I'd heard about the outing planned for the evening. She said: "You know, for 'something spanish'". I'd never heard the event before, and she said: "You know, it's Brazilian!".
"Oh, well, I know it's Cinco de Mayo...is it the equivalent in Brazil??" (Did they also win independence from France? Which I totally got told, so don't get too impressed!).
Summer's eyes widened as she did a mental slap.
"Ohmygosh. That's totally what I meant...what did I even say?"
I'm not sure, as I don't speak spanish or portuguese, but it was pretty funny.

Fast forward.

So, I'm piling into the 15-seater, and it's announced that we're going to a restaurant/club, but that it's a secret. The 10 dollar cover also turned out to be a secret. We ended up in Great Barrington in an authentic Mexican restaurant who were hosting an authentic Mexican band. The music was fun, the announcements in spanish (catching only "chicas...viva la Mexico...Americanos...senoritas...") and I enjoyed just sitting and taking it in. Have we mentioned Steph can't dance? (Well, a little waltzing and swing, if I haven't forgotten it...) Not that it stopped most of the rest of the group, who couldn't either. However, after being hounded by a determined Mexican (who was refused, as sobriety was questionable) and Polo, I finally caved. Humbling, as he refused to believe that I couldn't salsa and couldn't pick it up through osmosis. He then declared he'd bring in music on Friday. Thankfully, he forgot!

It was a later evening, but not too bad, and I did have a nice time.

Thursday I spent in the "Medicine Giver's" certification course. It's almost as thrilling as it sounds. Most of the terms were either already known to me, or obvious once explained. I'm sure it's a heck of a lot harder for non-English speakers though. We got out an hour early, and I snuck up to my room. I then spent the time before lunch with the youngest on the hammock talking about clouds: chiefly what they might taste like (coconut cotton candy??) and what would happen if he had a button on his knee that let him float: he'd climb up the tree and drop things on people. Very cute.

After lunch and rest hour I had to be back for the course, which lasted a mere hour. Because Polo was stranded at the co-op by himself, I took mercy on him and came by. Apparently, no one from the gardens came back - so Sam was a bit miffed to hear this. I certainly don't blame them though!

Friday came and I was super-busy in the kitchen. Yogurt, honey mustard dressing, a salad, from-scratch spaghetti sauce, bread, a rhubarb apple crisp (not planned...but impossible to pass up, right?!?), and noodles all got cooked within the 3 hours. I have to say I was pretty impressed with myself. I think our lunch guest was more impressed with the fact that I spelled his name right on the blackboard. (Poor German co-workers...).

During the rest hour, I drove out the library to pick up "Serenity" as I'd gotten Polo hooked on the dvds and I had also never seen it. It was great to watch, although I'm pissed that they killed off several of the major characters.

We got a delivery of about 900 dollar's worth of toilet paper = many trips up and down the stairs. So that was fun. Even more fun was the 60 pounds of honey that had crystallized in the container that was meant to pour out. So it got stuck in there after being neglected for several months by the workmaster and Polo. My artifact tool was highly effective for slicing it open most of the way, but it took some muscle work and Polo with a knife to get it 3/4 of the way open. Then I got to take the sludge out with a scoop and spoon - super sticky business that took me a good 45 minutes to get only 10 of the pounds out. Thankfully I have orientation on Monday!

Today was my day off and Bean knocked on my door at about 10. We'd made plans to go to a book sale at one of the local libraries. The books were priced good, and I picked up some favorites and a few new ones. Also a cowboy picture book for Beau, because he's been jealous of Franklin's books recently. That's what we're assuming, as he keeps taking them and ripping out pages. Not so cool, and Franklin gets really upset, as would I.

We got back at about 12:30 and I had the van at 2. Bean and I went to Hudson and made stops at one of the coffee shops where I picked some up for the house (the co-op orders through them, but we were out of a few types) and also got 15 burlap coffee bags. The lady behind the counter didn't seemed at all surprised by my request, and was intrigued to think I was going to try to use them for the tomatoes. The owner showed me their pile that was free to take from, and asked me to tell him if it worked. Though I think they'll slowly biodegrade, they should make it through the summer. Now I have a lot of work ahead of me with cutting them in half and making them into the bags. Plus hanging them somewhere...

Yeah. I'll let you know how that goes...

We made a few other stops and got home about an hour ago. All the villagers were out to dinner, and I ended up wowing Sam with my incredibly fattening "Eggs in a basket" which I turned into a sandwich version with sliced turkey and cheddar. Yum.

No plans for tonight except folding some laundry and a little room cleaning (yuck. day off fun?) and maybe some reading. A very nice day off.

Hope all is well,
Steph