Just Because I'm Whining Does Not Mean I Need Anyone Throwing Me A Spaghetti Feed

Although I have the most supportive friends and family EVER, the absence of Vince has started to dramatically take it's toll on me. It's either that or my period is about to start or Irene will be gone for a month or... or... or...

Suzanne and Karen invited Marina and I to lunch with them today. I don't think I was very entertaining company. We went to Two Sisters http://twosistersbakes.blogspot.com/, you know my favorite place, even after all these years. Marina was happy! Playing around outside with Sam in the yard. They were working hard. Going to Two Sisters for lunch is kind of like going to 'Cheers' for me. I know everyone coming and going, I cracked up the crowd with the story of Falcom at the dentist, "They put Shit in soda?!" even people who I did not think were listening were laughing. Suzanne is going to be joining the teaching Sorority. Lucky Amy B! Karens husband went on the field trip from McNeil school yesterday and they hadn't gotten to Fritz Creek when a kid totally puked on the bus. Don was a trooper dealing with it. That reminded me of Aunt Carolyn's puking school Thanksgiving story. I decided I needed to share that and then Sharon scolded me, "This is a RESTAURANT!"

We didn't get to go into detail about the serious things that twiddle away at our minds... next time.

By the end of the meal, I had to laugh because we were in some conversation reflecting back to a by-gone month and Karen said, "I think you missed that party because you were on your cruise." or maybe when I was mentioning that I am sick of this weather and that I'd like to move from here and live in Saipan for a while because I've been itching to visit Kuala Lampur. I can't remember, but whichever it was they both looked at me with rolling eyes and I said, "God, look at me. I have the most kick ass life and yet I still complain. Just because I'm having a whiny day does not mean you need to throw me a spaghetti feed, OK?" They looked at me and laughed because they totally know how it is to have such a nice comfortable life and still be able to complain about it. And that these complaints are not real complaints, you know?

I did eat this delicious sandwich, and I enjoyed every bite and I have no idea how many points it has, but I told myself it was OK because it was a hummus sandwich. Not having meat somehow made it OK. It also had broccoli. That had to take off a couple of points for fiber, right.

Got a call last night that L.R. showed a video of Falcom at the Jubilee to all the kids in her classes at the middle school yesterday. Kaylene says it was a positive experience, and that everyone is loving Fal. I really had to take a sigh of relief. Also, L.R. has a good video of the performance. She's going to copy it for me so that I can put it on YouTube. We'll see.

Irene wrote Mindy H. a letter today telling her that she was bestowing upon Mindy temporary best friendship of me from May 2 until May 28 (when she returns from Vietnam). She said that I'm, "High maintenance, but well worth the effort." It was a very cute, funny, sweet letter that kind of made me cry a little. Hurry home friend!

• Marina is in a full blown missing Vince funk. She can barely stand another day. She has been so naughty, fighting with everyone. She cried herself to sleep.

• Falcom had a total melt down because Brooke White got the boot from Idol. He also has gotten three very nice comments from people of YouTube from his video from people we don't know. That is making him happy.

• DeeJay has been following me around sniffing his stuffed up nose. I asked him if he has thought of blowing instead of sucking and he just said "it doesn't work". Oy. He also asked me to drive him to McNeil in the morning to catch the bus and I was like, "What's the problem with standing on the road?" Now that the snow is gone and the sun is out, I'm not seeing the problem. He said, "I don't like standing up. Dust. My bag is heavy. The cord to my Ipod freezes... um... " and then he smiled. I think he will be walking to the bottom of the road tomorrow.

I made pancakes for dinner tonight because I could not get my mind around anything else AND I did not want to heat a frozen pizza. What has more points? Pizza or pancakes? probably a toss-up.

I got this new (to me) desk at a garage sale this weekend and DeeJay, the dear, helped me set it up. I am loving this desk! Yea, I'd been looking at the expensive corner dest, but this one fits great...AND it was only $5. I'm going to paint some flourishes on it and I'll be set for a life of blogging.

Regular Tuesday with Irene - Goes Remote

Today, we find ourselves in Regular Tuesday with Irene, while she gets waxed. It's a full on full body wax job. Many gracious readers will be surprised to learn that behind my hot and fashion forward exterior is a woman who knows nothing about the process of waxing for grooming style. Since I've never seen something like this it was fun to be the un-silent observer. What a fascinating ritual! What a great way to get all those great endorphins without having to become a cutter! We were out at the Lands End Spa. I'd never been out there before and what a delightful place. Very warm and tranquil. It was just beautiful and the practitioner was a delightful and down to earth woman who was gracious to answer all my many questions. I learned so many things today, I don't know where to start... Maybe I should just start with the list....

Things I Learned From A Professional Waxer:

1. Thongs are a bacteria superhighway
   
2. They are not called armpits, they are 'underarms'
   
3. The wax used is a magical secret recipe that enhances the ripping experience.
   
4. It's not a butt or an ass, it's a buttocks
   
5. It's not bleeding, it's just irritation. So when your practitioner says, "You are experiencing some irritation." What she is really saying is, "You are bleeding."
6. There is a style in hairstyles. If you catch my drift.
   
7. There are two kinds of wax and the one that is used in places where the paper won't fit looks a lot like Silly Putty
   
8. No, she does not mind seeing all these naked privates, and no she does not remember them.
   
9. You have to try to imagine the places I might be talking about.
   
10. The Hair needs to be a certain lengh for maximum elimination from the body.
    
11. One of the questions she is frequently asked by new clients who have been regular waxers at other establishments, "Do you use your hand?" This is a pain moderation technique where the practitioner uses their hand to apply pressure to the location in the hopes of taking the sting out. Yes, she uses her hand.
    
12. She is a private person who is not very social and so she does not run into people that she has Brazilian waxed around town. ( I personally think of this as a selling feature).

Irene is very tough and so she made the waxing look very easy, almost like a advertisement. Those Vietnamese ancestors of hers had a pretty high pain threshold! Especially when they were putting that silly putty in some of those nooks and crannies.

WATCH THIS MOVIE FOR AN AUDIO REPRESENTATION OF THE WAXING EXPERIENCE

I was able to get this video of a wax pull from her arm pit. In the video, you will hear her tiny scream, which I felt was very mellow compared to what mine would have been. I mean, the woman is so not of German Polish ancestry. She had like, 4 hairs on the backs of her legs. For real.

In summary, I would highly recommend the Land's End Spa for all waxing needs!

What else happened today? We went to the dentist. Everyone has great looking teeth. Jenny told me that she said to Falcom; "Do you know why soda is bad for you?" and he said, "Caffeine?" and she said, "yea, but I was thinking more of something that was in the soda." And he looked at her without knowing, and she said, "It starts with an S" and he said, "They put shit in soda?!" Made her day.

Today Marina also got to pet cats at the shelter. The cats are always so grateful to the hands who will pet them.

10% Goal Attained!

Here is a message to my sisterhood of the WW. It can be done! I have attained my 10% goal at Weight Watchers.

This is me with my beautiful comrades in forks before the weighing. Of course, anything could have happened at that scale because they gushed so kindly about Falcom before I weighed in that it was lifting my exhausted heart. But, it turned out to be even better than that, because I lost exactly what I needed to loose to meet my 10% goal.

This is me meeting my 10% goal and celebrating with Suzanne. Can you imagine that Suzanne did not loose or gain an ounce this week? How did that happen? Taking off her jewelry didn't even help.

Because it had been my birthday and it was also another big birthday year for J.B., and because I reached my 10% goal and because Suzanne promised, we sang the first Lyric to the song she wrote me for my birthday to our friends at W.W.

Come gather round fat cells
Wherever you hide
And admit that the
waters
Are flushing you bye!
Accept that it’s over
And time for you to
fly.
For the scales they are a-changin’.

Ah! We were both totally buzzed after the meeting. Thanks to everyone in the group who is so supportive and encouraging! And that don't kick us out because we are out of control sometimes! We don't thrive alone...

Here is my new 10% key ring. Isn't that fun?

Yes, I have a setting hen in my basement! We had to get her out of that coop because she was getting so harassed by the other hens and so now, she's in the basement. And what is she doing down there? Harassing me! She'd better hatch an egg and make a chick.

MY PARTY

Jolene and Me

This morning I called Irene first. I asked her if it was just me, as Falcom's mother, biased toward his awesomeness. She said, "Alana, you know I've been hearing him sing his whole life. I've also seen his videos. But, until I saw that live performance last night, I did not understand completely what we are talking about. He took that stage like he owned it. He sang that song like he wrote it. He was f*** ing unbelievable."
Germaine and Mindy

So it was all true and not a dream. The day was spent with the phone ringing off the hook with encouraging words and love. Each trip to town was filled with people stopping us to tell us how he was a show stealer. He was on cloud nine for the entire day.

But I couldn't spend my whole day focusing on him. I also had to focus on me because it was My Birthday Party Night!

I don't know what to write about my party. So much of it falls under the category of GIPPA (Girlfriend Information Personal Privacy Act). Irene was a stunning hostess, with totally clean house and organic, sulfate free wines, and sparkling drinks. Mindy H. was fantastic as a co-host and made wonderful signs that we hung up every where. The Girlfriends! What talented and hilarious people! The fashions were outstanding. The performances were hilarious. I'm not kidding that everyone there laughed so hard they were crying. I asked everyone if their faces hurt afterwords and they all agreed that yes, they did in fact hurt a lot.

LIST OF PERFORMANCES:

• Wrinkles

A discussion of the "Syrum"

• Suzzzane Dillon
  A song written for me about weight loss
  
• Modern Big Bush Lines with Steve Himal (a take on our local radio bush lines)

The Sponser was awsome.

• Threesome

Bluegrass band sang, "Spent my last 10 dollars on condoms and beer"

• Mema Fortune

Told us our fortunes

• "I'm too Sexy"-Homer style
  "I'm too sexy for my tent..."
  
• Jacquelynn Kerouac

An essay about life prepairedness

Margarita in her most fabulous Pick n'Pay outfit

• Things to do in Church

clothing removal

• Pussycat - a song and dance
  
• 
  Favorite things - "grey hair and wrinkles..."

• A Sea Shante
• G's Song for Mindy
• A Letter to God
• Flight of the Concord -a love song
• Comedy Stylings with Irene

A History of Bitches with Irene

Here is where I got totally roasted. She dissed on me so hard. It was funny, not too embarassing, but everyone who was there knows what it means on the blog when it says, "Things you can't blog about." She dissed herself pretty hard to. Very funny!

We laughed so hard. We danced to the Talking Heads. Those women drank a lot of wine.

After a while many of them went dancing at Wasabi's. Many went home because they have small children. High Five goes out to Irene! Thank you for a great party!

Jubilee!

Note to Reader: I wrote this right as we got home from the
performance. Then the Internet went down for the weekend. So, I am
posting this, and of course it is three days late!

I know I am his mother, but all I can say is, he brought the house down. He was amazing. It was perfect. Mystique was perfect. Chasey totally was with it. Falcom was in another world.

Theresa and I both had butterflies before they went on. We were way more nervous than they were. And when we watched them we were stunned by how great they did.

After, Marina was the first to run upstage to greet Falcom and give him roses. Then the on slot began of stunned and amazed people asking him for his autograph and he was so proud and it was wonderful. I can not count how many people came to me and said, "I had no idea. I mean, I always new he liked music, but..." I feel like people thought he was going to be a comedy act, but then when he opened his mouth! Wow. DeeJay had some technical difficulties with the camera and didn't get the entire thing, but, you will get the feeling of the performance and the crowd response. I think Irene also taped it, so maybe I'll get another copy tomorrow. (I hope)

Yea, totally worth it. It looked like a standing ovation to me.

PS You know the girl who was having a hard time that I mentioned in the last post? She did great. She was unkind to our boy and rude and aloof, but Fal was oblivious. I heard she was much more lively and emoting during her performance. Honestly, I think Falcom might be the best thing that has happened to her, help her get creative about how to up her game. She'll probably never even realize it.

Dress Rehersal

(Here is a message for Vince)

We might be able to get some honey this year after all! I did it! I got dressed in everything I had and wore DeeJay's motorcycle helmet (so that I would not have an 'ear-bee' repeat while by myself). I opened the hive and removed the Diva. I got half the candy cork pulled out of the queens cage and reinserted her into the hive. The good news is that I was only bitten once and that was because I was unable to pop the lid off of her cage with the leather gloves on and so the bite was painful, but superficial. Once I got her buddies off the cage, she became very active and angry looking again (that red spot on her back does not help, it's like looking at a mood ring on her back, or black widows spot). I did my part, she's back in there and in a couple days I'll return and make sure that they got her out of her cage and then I will be done with having to bother them for the rest of the summer.

Falcom took these shots on the way home from school.

And then, the Rehearsal. We were a half hour late, as instructed. The director informed us that she was going to have Falcom and Mystique and Chasey go on for practice at the end of the first act, and that way she would be able to dismiss all of us 'little kids'. That was great. We ended up only being there for a little over an hour. The director worked out the kinks for the last 'all together kids' bow and then she dismissed us. He sounded good to me again. It's hard, as a mom, to know that the next time he sings it he's all on his own. When we were done we returned to the Auditorium to collect our things and Falcom said, "I like the judge of this, she is really nice!" And I know that she was listening, because she was looking at us and smiling. He is a sweet sweet child.

*this is the caddiness moment in my post, and so if you don't want your day soiled by the sin of gossip do not read any further.*

At home later on, I got a call from the Radeke family. We are organizing for the weekend: DeeJay is going snow machining, Mariah is coming for an overnight. E. says, "So I hear Falcom is the star of the show at the Jubilee". I said, "I don't know...star of the show..." She said, "Mariah came home and told us that fill in the name here came to school today totally pissed. That the directors were making Falcom the star of the show, that they had the gall to make all the other kids dance back up for him, taking away from them. She felt it should have been her being the last act. She's the one with talent." E. said she was going to have to come to the show for sure now.

And then an incident came to mind. It was while we were in the auditorium waiting for our number to come up. Most of the acts were all in the audience waiting for their turns. It was fill in the name here turn to sing and she got up and tried to rehearse her song. The mics did not work. They got the problem worked out and she stood looking over at the side wall. She had no smile and her voice sounded shot. She could not put that singers warble into her infection and she could not hit the high notes. It was like the poor girl was doing scales all night. Falcom sat next to me sketching and when he finished he thought he might give her the picture he drew because he really likes her and thinks they are friends. As the girl sat taking directors notes, Falcom started belting out the chorus of her song. It's that thing he does, when he is unaware that there is a universe around him and he brakes out in song for no reason except that his head is always filled with songs. I couldn't help but notice the other young girls in the audience turn to look at Fal and one of them said, "He's singing fill in the name here's song!" I turned to Fal and said, "Babe, you need to keep your song in your head and let her keep her song in her head." And Fal just went on coloring.

When E. filled me in on the school gossip, the whole scene became very clear. The fact that Falcom is such a pure soul, oblivious to the conniving nature of humans, makes this event even more beautiful to me. That poor girl despises him. I believe this because her mother will not let her children play with us when they are in the neighborhood. (In fact, it was her mother who staged a revolt against the Tibetan Throat Singers when they came to sing at the schools that her daughter would be somehow brainwashed against Jesus by hearing the voices. You can imagine her view of us!) And now, Falcom's genuine sweetness is like salt on a slug. That the HCOA would support this odd child with his Tranny behavior! I wonder if she will perform tonight or if they will bail. Whatever...

Life as a theater mom. Wish us luck at the show!

They Say It's Your Birthday!

Moonset of My Birthday Morning

Well, it's happened. I turned 40 today. Unbelievable! Unfortunately, I woke up with dreams of being stuck in a crowded shopping mall with Falcom, in full ADHD mode, waiting for people who were antagonizing me with text messages and overhead pages like, "You know you love shopping!" and "You can wait for us another couple of hours". They were such strange and aggravating dreams that I could not go back to sleep. I'm obviously not over yesterday's aggravations. When I got to my stairway landing, I looked out the window and saw the very orange moon setting. It was so beautiful. A nice birthday gift. (BTW: I have repeated the story of the agitating phone calls three more times and I think I may have crossed a threshold. Thank you Mindy, Wendy, and Mom!) I found out later that the moon is so awesome this week because of an enormous dust storm in the Gobi Desert and wild fires in Russia. Something global for my birthday!

I started the day with this fantastic Weight Watchers Style breakfast including turkey sausage and fresh papaya with key lime. I also drank strong coffee from my Bali Coffee Cup.
Then Marina and I moved boxes and while we were at Two Sisters we decided to have a cup of coffee and a sticky bun. At this point I broke with Weight Watchers and had a chocolate bun but I only ate half. I am definitely thanking God for all the Blessings, but today mostly the Sun! Thank you God for the birthday gift of Sun. Marina and I sat together and were joined by one of the judges from the Jubilee. He knew I was Falcom's mom and he was so intense with praise for Fal. He said that he felt that Falcom was like a prodigy. I mentioned Falcom's disappointment with not getting to sing the Hallelujah and he said it was more about the song being way too adult for the kids performance. Obviously, he doesn't realize it is in Shrek. It was also not a perky song and they have so many other young performers. And he said that Fal is only 8. There is time. He was so gushing with his praise. I told him that it really helped to hear that because some days are so tough, and he looked at me shocked. I guess we put on a good show. Falcom's art is hanging around town. This piece is at Two Sisters.


Then, Jubilee practice. Here I must say thank you to Irene for taking Marina and DeeJay and making Chammoro BBQ for them. They had a good time. While we sat. And sat. And waited. because, I have some good news and some bad news.

Irene wanted to hear the bad news first, so I'll tell you... Falcom is dead last in the show.
Good news? Falcom is last in the show. The Grand Finale.



Good news. He is great. And so alive on the stage. There are some great vocalists out there, but he really owns it. I don't know how to explain it. But if you know him you know how it is.
We watched all the other performers. Colored. Ate. Sat and watched. The kids did pretty well, even though it was long. And then the director decided she wants to bring all the other kids out onto the stage to dance the last part of the Proud Mary. And then have the end of the song be the entire cast dancing and then bowing. Fine, I don't care. We are just the talent, whatever, but I guess I am supposed to care because many parents were complaining to the director about this taking away the end of their song. It became a really petty 'art world shit' thing and I was glad to be out of there. The kids are 8. They kick ass. No matter what happens that is what people will remember. We will see what they come up with tomorrow. Someone did say to the director, "you know for these kids it is hard to sit and watch and keep interest all these hours. Do you think they could come in later tomorrow?" She said, "Yes, instead of 4, be here at 4:30, 4:45 at the latest." Great. I'm sure that will help a lot.

And so, it was right before this Melee that Mindy H. arrived at the theater with a cake in a box and a grin on her face, saying, "I've brought the party to you!" Read my super awesome cake. I think I have the most awesome friends on the planet.

She then sat with me. Took these pictures. Helped me download about the crazy stuff again. It was such a relief to have a normal un-involved mom nearby to shake my head at in a 'wtf?' kind of way. Thank you for thinking of me Mindy. So much.

THANK YOU MINDY!

Then (after a pep talk with Jeanne and with Chasey's mom) I flashed over to Irene's, where, all the kids were happy. Everyone was sane. I got to download some more. And I also got to eat

Thank you Family Wise. I meant what I said, and I said what I meant. I am so glad I got to see you on my birthday. And I'm not just saying that because you saved my bacon, AGAIN. I love you guys.

Irene and I thought it would be funny to take dueling pictures of ourselves for our blogs.

When I got to check my email tonight I got a nice message from K.R. who is giving me some kind of vacation this year that I have to book by May 10. I can't even process that right now. My mind is so blown!

PS Marina was a doll baby to me all day gushing love out to me and telling me how beautiful I am. DeeJay is super stoked because he won these raffles at school and got a new remote control car and a new ipod shuffle! I think my birthday was great all around.

Thank you to everyone who loves me and helps me and keeps me sane, all day, everyday!

Regular Tuesday with Irene

Exciting news is developing at Greear Family Farm! Falcom observed that Jenny's one female chick is now setting! She's got 5 eggs under her this morning and Marina and I will slip a few more in this afternoon. Hopefully, she is actually setting and not just taking a time out from the roosters. The kids have named this little chicken, Veronica.

I decided that since I've lost nearly 20 pounds and our road is dry-ish, it is time to start jogging. I'm sure that it will do me some good. Marina rode a bike along side of me this morning. It felt good for us to be out in the sun. She got confused and a little upset when I used the term, "Catch My Breath." She said, "Mom, where has it gone? Are you alright?" So cute!

It was a good afternoon for my Regular Tuesday with Irene. It was an agitating morning with phone calls from various people. These calls were from people who have a history of being chronically annoying and who I will not mention here. As you can imagine, I was glad to have a listening ear to unload on.

Topics Covered Today:

• Irene's very beautiful new adoption binder with file tabs.


• My annoying phone conversations.


• What it means to be 'broke' when you are in the upper-middle class. No, it does not mean that you are actually broke.
• How the Talking Heads song; Once in a Lifetime was great back then and it is still totally great.


• How Irene will orchestrate a Haldol Revolt when we are in Long Term Care.


• Next weeks Regular Tuesday will be going remote as we will be having a field trip to Irene's body waxing specialist.


• The Birthday Party and how it will be fun.


• Our Talents


• The relative cheapness of her airline tickets. She got a good deal.


• How her mother is a saint for all the help she gives me
• Things you can't really blog about.
  

From there I went to pick up Falcom from school and they practiced the routine for Friday night. Looks good. Then to Priscilla's for another cup of coffee.

Topics Covered with Priscilla:

• The annoying phone calls from today. (I'm not sure how many times I'm going to have to repeat that story before I can get it out of my system.)



• Logistics for the week and then for the boys after Irene and Matt leave for Vietnam.



• Things that give P. goosebumps.



• Sara Palin's new baby. The news of this event gave me goosebumps and made me cry. She is taking the high road and I feel so proud to have such a compassionate Governor!



• How P. says she's never seen me with goosebumps.



• How I say she's crazy, I've totally gotten goosebumps around her before.
  

It's happened! Gas is officially over $4.00 a gallon. Glad I went to get the bees yesterday. When we checked the chickens this afternoon, Veronica was in her same location. Documented by this picture. Same Chicken; different time of day. Proof that she is setting. We stuck 5 more eggs under her, so she's got 10. We'll see how she does.

Missing the WW

My early birthday present from Marina (and Falcom). See what a hot babe I am!

Because our queen was dead I drove to Soldotna on the fly to pick up that crazy girl. You know, they are kind of divas and they are very peculiar and they should not be kept cold or away from other bees. What a primadona.

So here she is. And here is where I put her. And in three days I have to drill out a bit of the candy cork and hope that she is still alive and that she can start making lots and lots of babies. The bees are active and happy and so... whatever

I stuck her right into the middle of this hunk of bees. I hope she makes it!

I am so sad that I missed Weight Watchers! I couldn't stop thinking about all my buddies and how I just love how pumped up I get from everyone there. I got home to an email from Suzanne where she told me she lost 1.4 pounds! That is so kick ass! I can't remember the last time she did that well! And I wasn't even there to cheer her on or take a picture! ARG! That Darn Diva Queen!

I did get to listen to the Talking Heads on the Ipod. And I did see swans. And lots of eagles.

Congratulations Suzanne! You rule!

• Here is where I must make a special notation thanking one of my very good friends. Priscilla, once again you have saved my bacon. And no, it is not because you were willing to help me with my children so that I could drive to Soldotna in peace. Although I really thank you for that. This thank you is for leaving your house in your pajamas so that you could drive to my moms and pick up our dog Scratch, who we forgot there in the excitement of Queen Bee-ing. (You dear readers can imagine my irritation when I was finally home and I realized Scratch was not in the car with us. How he managed to not be in the car is one of the great mysteries. How I got 12 miles away from him without noticing is not such a surprise when you think of the two kids fighting in the back seat.)
• And then Priscilla drove to Pudgies, probably well past her bedtime, to bring him to meet me. She looked great in her pajamas and sunglasses by the way.

Thank you Priscilla.

Eagles soaring on the way to Soldotna

Monday

6:30am Sunrise from my couch. Notice the blanket of fog over the bay.

9:00am Same View from My House

Ah! Alaska! I love you, but you are totally pissing me off!

All right, I'm over it.

New Technology Attempt

This is an attempt to be hip and continue my posting while on the road (which will hopefully be often). Here are some of my favorite pictures from Bali.

Alana and Marina hanging out in Pemuteran

Balanise Prince and Princess

Local girls watching stick fight

Pictures of the Weekend

Amazing Birthday Cake and Coffee With Mindy H.

Falcom and Marina play in the creek outside of Mema's window. Falcom was full on swimming in the waterfall created by the downpour out of the culvert

After drying off. (Thank you Mema!)

BEES!

This is my attempt to keep up with the farming in Vince's absence. Thanks to D.P. for the assistance. Sadly for the hive, the queen was dead when we got her out of the box. I am hoping to let them believe they still have a queen for a few more days while I wait for a replacement to arrive. No one got stung and it was very interesting to feel the heat rising off of the hive from their beating wings. I was so glad to have help when a bee FLEW IN MY EAR. That was the only time I felt at all stressed or freaky about handling hundreds of bees.

This weekend I also started Chore Charts! Different people in the family had different responses to the charts. Can you guess the enthusiastic people? No these shots were not staged.

DeeJay and Marina enjoying 20 minutes of reading