Who won? Why Supermom, Of Course!

Quick update - the supermom side of me won out after my last blog and I blew through that pile of dreadful rocks in no time, with the help of Chris Lee, who caved at the measly offer of five bucks to hire him out. I'm sure there's a child labor law against it, but I have to say, I loved working side by side with him, both of us covered in sweat and gnats. That's some serious mother/son bonding folks! Now the pile of rocks is gone, and our house looks like a veritable fortress with all the stone walls around it. I think the best part of it all - aside from counting the rock hauling as my workout, was knowing that Travis wouldn't have to face it when he came home. I think he was pleased. I'll add a picture later.

Suffering From PRLD . . .

That's Post Recital Letdown Disorder for those of you who don't know. It's one of those times when you build something up to be huge - and it is huge - but then afterwards you are left wallowing in this state of exhaustion and weirdness. Weird because now you don't have to practice two hours a day, and because the nerves are all gone.

The recital went very well. Chris and Hannah each played their two songs without any mistakes. Hannah was super cute with her hair all curled and in a dainty white dress. Chris was macho and cool, as usual. Soren was a holy terror, but I'm going to refrain speaking about it any further because it is his birthday tomorrow. :)

My first song, Ocean View, was just lovely, as planned. The second song (harder, longer, trickier) went okay. I made two mistakes, but was able to fudge my way through them well enough. I had several people come up afterwards and tell me how amazed they were that I would do this and how inspiring it was. I just laughed - especially when two teenage girls both played songs MUCH MORE DIFFICULT than me. Anyway, I totally noshed on the yummy refreshments after it was all done, riding that "recital high" . . . I swear there was some major adrenaline pumping through me.

Now it's Monday, and I don't want to do anything, but I have SO MUCH to do. Soren's birthday is tomorrow and I still need to get out and do some final shopping - which has been near impossible, because he is with me all the time now. Travis' business trip has been extended, which means he won't be here tomorrow. I am very sad about it, but have to press on and not dwell on it. I just want the RedDog to feel special.

Laundry is going, Father's Day gifts are being made, it's the last week of softball and piano, and the last full week of school. Got to get my summer plan into place. And, the dreaded albatross around my neck right now is that there is still a huge pile of stone in front of my house just waiting to be made into a wall along the side of our garage (see picture above). The "supermom" half of me wants to have it done before Travis gets back so he doesn't have to do it. The exhausted half of me is just thinking there is NO WAY IN HADES!

Tomorrow's blog (if I haven't dropped a rock on my hand) will tell which half of me won out.

Look What I Can Do!

Please say the above title with the voice of Stuart from MADTV.

If you read my last blog, you'll see that I had a momentary lapse in reason as a parent. It is usually in moments like this that I become completely frustrated with my abilities to keep my life under control and do all the things I should be doing as a mom, wife, person, etc. I know - silly - but it's just part of my type A, please everyone, anal retentive personality.

So, it comes as no suprise to me, and to those of you who know me I'm sure, that yesterday I decided to have a Supermom Day. A Supermom Day is a day where I try to go above and beyond my human capablities and accomplish five million things at the speed of light while simultaneously adoring my children and cooking a fabulous WHOLESOME meal.

I almost feel like I should start from the end of this story and tell you that I collapsed into my bed at about 8:45 pm last night and I don't remember anything that happened until about 6:30 am this morning. That in itself is a feat for me, since I usually am up at least 2 times a night with either a kid or a full bladder.

Now to what "did me in" yesterday. As you know, I killed and removed the Spiderbush last week. The bare remains of its former home are an eyesore in our yard. We had already begun to take action, ordering rock and planting a lovely dogwood tree in it's place. But now we'd reached a standstill. Not content with staring at the pile of stone sitting on our curb waiting to be transformed magically into a retaining wall by my traveling husband, I decided to take it upon myself to do the job. Three hours of seriously hot manual labor later, I had a wall, a smashed finger and a very sweaty body.

Unfortunately, the wall was only the beginning of my day (started it at 8:15 am). After the wall, I also did the following - all before 5:30 pm :

Dig up and transplant two azealia bushes.

Trim the rose bushes.

Dig up and transplant a lariope plant and 4 petunia plants.

Mow the front and back lawns and bag all yard clippings for recycling.

Wash and fold three loads of laundry.

Unload and reload dishwasher.

Clean kitchen.

Make 4 beds.

Care for one sick child.

Go visit my mother for one hour.

Have lunch at Subway with my father.

Catch up on all email.

Practice piano for one hour.

Plan and execute delicious, wholesome meal. (seriously)

That may not seem like a lot - but believe me, IT IS A LOT!!!!! I finished up the retaining wall project today with a couple bags of mulch and some gorgeous perennials called balloon flowers. I think it all turned out really nice. (Enjoy picture above) And the most satisfying thing about it all, is that I didn't know I could do it - let alone all the other things I accomplished along with it. Lucky for me, Supermom Days only come along once or twice a month. For the rest of the time, I am just regular old mom - bum wiper, boo boo fixer, and disciplinarian extraordinaire.

I Killed The SpiderBush . . . YIPPEE!

I really want to write about the beach, AHHH, the beach, but first, I have a joyful confession to make. (Pause for dramatic effect.)

I just spent the past hour ripping out the most horrendous bush from my front yard. It was this huge, low-lying juniper shrub that covered a nearly six by four foot area of our front yard and was lovingly known as "Spiderbush" to our family because all the local spideys love to spin their thick, stringy webs all over it. Spiderbush was ugly, prickly, smelly, strangely mound shaped, not that green for an evergreen, and well, if you can't tell, just downright unliked by me in particular!

The best part about destroying Spiderbush, aside from hacking it into tiny pieces, was imagining what will go in it's place. We are thinking about a lovely dogwood tree (Virginia state tree)that will shade part of our yard and give amazing pink blooms in the spring. Take that Spiderbush - all you gave us was prickly pines on our toes and sap.

The husband doesn't know that I've done away with Spiderbush. We've talked about it for two years. It has been my heart's desire. Maybe that is why my sweetie pruned it into the shape of a heart and jokingly told me that Spiderbush represented our love for one another . . . think "How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days" - only bigger, uglier, and with much deeper roots. Said husband is in Costa Rica on business and will be overjoyed at the demise of Spiderbush, if only because he didn't have to do the dirty work.

So now I have to go take a shower and get all of the sap and needles off/out of me- a parting gift. Rest in peace Spiderbush.

Stay tuned for my BEACH TOP TEN tomorrow. I can't really look back on my trip with fondness until I've done all the laundry from the trip and unpacked the suitcases...