So a lot of things have been happening this last week or so.  And we expect EVEN MORE stuff to happen during this week and over the course of the next 3 weeks. Really, it’s pretty cool.

I just finished the Spring semester with 2 Bs, both counting toward my major GPA. That’s not bad, considering that I already had 2 A’s. As you know, originally I was convinced I was going to have to take a C in my English Comp I class, but my English teacher corrected me by saying “your writing is too good for your grade not to reflect it.” So I went ahead and turned in the B paper. I went ahead and told her I couldn’t do the A paper because I was sure I’d hang myself from a tree if I had to do anymore writing this semester. She accepted the B paper, and was so enthused by it that she put at least 3 o’s in “so.” As in “sooo good!” My English teacher was so excited about my work, she butchered the language in the same way a  teenage girl would. She’s still awesome, and apparently so am I.

My birthday is on Thursday (ahem) and my gift to myself was a new bike. Of course when I told Vance about my new bike, he immediately had to have one too. Then we couldn’t both go biking without Deven, and he can’t ride his tricycle yet, so we had to get a trailer for him to sit in. And then Vance read this story about a guy who hit his head and had to have half of his head scooped out, so we had to get helmets (duh), and water bottles, and then he just absolutely NEEDED to know how far it is from here to the park and back, so we had to get an odometer. Yeah. Expensive hobby, but FUN AS SHIT. It’s a little hot to bike during the day, but we’re waiting for it to cool down so we can go for an evening ride. I didn’t even tell you the best part about my bike: IT’S A GIRLS BIKE. It’s for older girls, so no princesses or Hannah Montana, but it’s still pretty girly. I am very short, too short for the full 26″, so I had to pick a more ambiguous looking 24″ girl’s bike. It’s blue and it has purple and white swirls. I find it rather attractive, but you’d probably laugh at me. I’ll post pictures later.

I’m going out to dinner on my birthday at my favorite Mexican restaurant with my friends. I vow not to get sick and cancel on them at the last minute. I also vow to have fun and drink a margarita or two. I don’t plan on doing anything during the day, unless I have some money. I might go buy an outfit, or just my text book for the summer. Or I might just stay home and chill until dinner.

Lots of cool events coming up: Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage starts is showing here in Austin on June 10. I already bought my tix. Of course, being a huge Rush nerd, I am shaking with excitement. June 12 is Iron Maiden and  Dream Theater in San Antonio. And then Sept 23rd is Rush in San Antonio. I know that has nothing to do with the next month, but I AM TOO EXCITED NOT TO MENTION IT. We got good seats. Presale seats.

And then the summer semester starts June 1st. Intro to Psych. One class sounds like a freakin break to me.

Vance and I have taken on positions in the Williamson County Libertarian Party. Watch yo self!

Exciting stuff.

1. My child is OBSESSED with flags. It all started with his grandparent’s American flag they had hanging off of their porch. They let him play with it once, and ever since then it’s been his passion in life. I finally ordered for him a few miniature flags to play with. I got him a Texas flag, an American flag, and a German flag. I got him the German flag because he’s like 1/2 German, quantitatively, with my husband and mine’s blood put together, and it pairs perfectly with the Texas flag because my dad’s family is actually German Texan. I gave them to him today and he seriously WOULD NOT PUT THEM DOWN. He is asleep with them right now.

2. Babies. Very cute documentary film about 4 babies from 4 different parts of the world. Vance took me to see it this evening. Sweet movie, but not one I would recommend seeing in theaters, especially if you are bothered by other people adding dialogue to movies.

3. Family. We loaded up the van and drove down to Houston for the weekend. We hung out with Vance’s mom and step-grandmother. We ate rich, delicious pork, watched premium satellite, and got drunk. And Deven played with flags.We returned home early this afternoon, and we are EXHAUSTED. It was fun.

4. Restaurants are impossible on mother’s day. We ate at Chili’s. All I wanted was a bowl of soup, and I swear, Chili’s CANNOT do soup. All they have are these funky southwest-style soups that are just gross. All I wanted was a bowl of Minestrone or something light for my ailing tummy.

5. My hubby is not feeling well, but he still managed to make Mother’s Day a good day for me. I know he would have preferred to see Kick-Ass or Iron Man 2, but he didn’t even so much as protest when I told him I wanted to see Babies. Other than that, he’s just plain great. I’m so very lucky to have him around

Happy Mother’s Day, y’all!

The weather this spring has been amazing. It only rains in the evening, and the days are full of clear skies and high temps. On Tuesday I was THRILLED to find  out that the Brushy Creek Lake Park sprinklers opened again on the 1st of this month. It’s been hot enough to remind you of how awesome it is to be completely drenched in chlorinated water.

I packed Deven and all of our supplies into the van and headed down that way. I didn’t take any pictures, because I am an asshole, but I will try my best to the day justice with just the written word.

First off, once you pull into the parking lot,  you notice how many mini-vans and SUVS there are. And then you realize, duh, this is where bored stay-home-moms and homeschoolers take their kids when they are desperately clinging on to their sanity (like me!). Since it’s barely May and school is still in session, hardly anyone was there. There are still several little boys and girls running around the sprinklers like meth heads. Like last time, several of those little boys tried to stop the fountains with their butts. I still don’t understand why.

I also didn’t understand, at first, why I am usually the only mom who jumps in there and runs around with my kid. All of the other moms are off on the benches or on the fence watching their kids, but I am the only one who is soaking wet and chasing a two year old. But on this day, the weather was only about 90 degrees outside, which is still hot, but not quite hot enough to warm the water circulating through the sprinklers. That stuff was COLD. It felt nice to just find a sunny spot to try and warm up again. Also, once you’ve gotten over that whole “helicopter mom” phase, it’s kind of cool to just sit off to the side and read while your kid burns some fuel.

But for the love of God, that does not mean you should stop watching your kids! I swear, some parents just dump their kids off just so they can zone out. I get the appeal, but some kids need watching. One little boy, about 8 or 9 years old, actually filled a bucket with water and dumped it on my 2 year old’s head. Just came up behind my baby and dumped water all over his head. I couldn’t scream at the kid, although God knows I wanted to. All I could do was try to comfort my kid who was shocked and choking on the water. Luckily, Deven isn’t a wimp and got over it pretty fast. I was the only one with hard feelings. But seriously, WHERE WAS THIS LITTLE SHIT’S MOM? My kid would never pull a stunt like that on another small child without serious consequences, because, you know, I WATCH MY KID.

Another little girl was digging around in the mud, like she actually dug up a part of the park’s grass, and was dragging the mud into the play area. She was getting mud into the water, which everyone is playing in, potentially exposing everyone to God knows what. And then she took her little muddy hands and rubbed the mud off onto the bars of the fence. Here’s the kicker: THE LITTLE TURD’S MOM WAS RIGHT. THERE. She was watching her kid drag mud all over the place and not doing a god damn thing about it.

Okay, so the obvious downside of this place is other people’s kids. But when do you not have to deal with that? I was really proud that my kid was one of the best behaved little ones there.

But other than that, the park is an excellent alternative to the community pool, especially if you have little ones. They have the room to run around with their shoes off and play in the water with other kids, without the risk of drowning. Deven doesn’t get a whole lot of socialization, so this is an excellent way for him to learn to interact with other kids. I have to admit, there is something about the way the sprinklers are set up that totally just makes me want to jump in them and run around like a crazy person too. It’s an awesome way to spend an afternoon that would otherwise be spent watching netflix and pulling a small child out of knife drawers. Now I know our summer won’t be so boring.

Why am I writing this and not my b-paper?