don't call it a comeback...

...just yet, to be safe.  I'm pretty sure this last three weeks constituted the longest break between real posts since I first started blogging in full force over three years ago.  I've got stories backlogged like mad for the next NPR post, and I'd be remiss if I didn't link up to the book reviews as of late over on 5 Minutes for Books sometime soon.  Life may be smoothing out a little bit this week, especially as we got the living room and dining room mostly put back together, but there is still so much freaking work to do around here that I'm not counting my chickens just yet.  This whole ordeal of replacing all the pipes in the house as well as the main level flooring with a really beautiful and intricately patterned tile was definitely the biggest DIY undertaking by the hubby in our long history of renovation fun.  The personal to do list is growing and growing as well, with some opportunities for the review blog I launched a short while ago, and even more book reviews and 5M4B fun to share.

So, I'm going to try to get my ducks all in a row and get back to blogging.  (And I'm thinking I should cut down on the avian metaphors, as well.)  How about a funny kid story for a small comeback attempt?  Let's give it a try.

You know all about the summer slide phenomenon, right?  Last month, I had the opportunity to review this year's Summer Bridge Activities workbook, so of course, I got the 4th-5th grade book for JAM, who was immediately thrilled beyond belief at the prospect of doing 15 minutes a day of math, reading, writing, or social studies work.  Yeah.  Riiiiight.

There has been regularly scheduled whining and kvetching about the work, but if he skips a day, I am holding him to making it up.  (Remember, life has been more than a bit crazy around here with the renovations, so day to day life hasn't always been "routine.")  He had several pages to make up the other day because of his current camp session taking up most of the day hours, which was clearly the worst thing to ever happen in his almost ten years of life.  I knew he was ticked off at me, but I didn't realize just how much until I found a note that he (may or may not have purposely) left among the reno-rubble (aka all the junk that was sitting in the middle of the living room during the previous phase of renovation).  Giving me some insight into the level of horror that I am putting my oldest child through with these two pages a day was this articulate note:

"kids should never have to do homework because it is junk. I think it is junk because it ruins children's lifes. for example, it makes game cheats get kicked out of your head, and you don't remember fun game web sites."

Even more fodder to support my bid for the Worst Parent Ever title. Yup, just another day in the life.


Drowning in to do lists,