Taking Care Of The Little Long Leggers

Today was a MerMer day. I picked up those two young gentlemen from school and took them home for a pre-treat snack and bathroom break, and then we loaded back into the car to go to the Goodwill bookstore. I had discussed taking them to the library with Jessie yesterday but she'd told me that August's teacher had suggested that maybe August would like to have a journal to write whatever he wanted to in. I take it that in math he is off the charts (go figure, right?) but that he seems to be impatient with writing assignments. Knowing that the GW bookstore has a shelf or two of notebooks and journals, I thought we might check there to find something he liked. And he did! He picked out a pink journal (again- go figure) with golden edged pages. Very fancy. I don't think a word has ever been written in it before. It looked to be pristine. I think a lot of people give journals as gifts and the recipients of those journals never get the urge to set anything down in writing. And I know for a fact that many people buy themselves journals, positive that they will write poetry and observations and deep, deep thoughts, and never follow through. 
Ask me how I know about this. And don't we all keep our favorite journals for the really good stuff and none of our stuff ever seems good enough? 
So Levon too, found an unmarked journal, his with a more staid marbled gray cover. I think he liked the seriousness of it. There was one with a goofy dog on the front but he rejected that immediately. 

I also let them pick out a book apiece and August got a game and Levon got a puzzle. 

And THEN, I had promised them a real treat, a sweet treat so we had to go off on search for that. I really wanted to stay in the little strip mall where we were, so we checked out Big Lots because they used to have an ice cream treat freezer up front by the cash register. Turns out that was years ago. But the boys did enjoy testing the sofas. 
I told them to act like they were old guys, kicking back, watching the game. Levon immediately got the idea, as you can see in the picture above, and August was portraying an enthusiastic fan cheering on the team. 

I thanked them for the photo shoot and said, "You know, I only take care of you guys so I can get pictures for my blog."
"We know," they said. 
This is so not true. I often forget to take any pictures at all. 

Since there was no ice cream at Big Lots, we decided to try the Checkers hamburger place right across the parking lot. We went to the walk-up window and by golly! They have a nice selection of ice cream treats! If by nice we mean no doubt toxic but also tasty. 
They made their choices and we were served.

August opted for the strawberry/vanilla swirl cone and Levon wanted a chocolate milk shake. 

Those were the small sizes. 
Ooh boy. I kept reminding them that they did not have to finish it all but they did. Of course. This took about twenty minutes. At least. I told them that not only were they not going to want any dinner tonight, but that they might feel sick. At that point I felt really guilty for letting them eat that mess. I even told them that I was never going to get them treats like that again. 
"Probably a good idea," said August, finishing up the last drips of his cone.

On the way home we discussed different terms for vomiting. I really hope they don't. That is the last thing Vergil and Jessie need tonight. 

I have not felt my best today. Not sick, just sort of low energy and achy. I am blaming the weather. We were supposed to get rain today but all we've gotten are sodden-looking gray clouds, heavy and dense and an occasional drop of water. My weather widget says that there's a 100% chance of rain at 7:00 p.m. tonight. 
It is 7:00 p.m. There is no rain. Just a deep sense of not-rightness. A feeling of the air pressing down in a most uncomfortable way. 

Maybe I miss my husband. I don't know. I talked to him today and he sounds so happy. So far he has seen deer, antelope, coyotes, and many, many birds. He told me there are six in his party and that he really likes them all. It makes me feel very reassured that one of them is an ER doc. 

I told him to enjoy himself and not worry about anything here. We are fine. 

So it's been a good day, really. I had a good discussion with August on the way to the bookstore about taxes and universal healthcare versus what we have here in the United States. I guess it's sort of silly to talk to an eight-year old about these things but he's smart. He asked good questions too. I am always surprised at how kids can grasp things that we would think are way out of their ability to decipher. 
And then, you know- the word "barf" can make them laugh so hard and a good burp can please and delight them like nothing else. 
As I said to Jessie yesterday, "God. Kids are so weird. It's like they're just little humans or something."

Yes. I think that's about it. 

I believe I'll go cook some supper. 

I wonder what tomorrow will bring. We shall see.

Love...Ms. Moon