What we have here is a failure to communicate.

 

For most of the really important things in life, my husband and I are in agreement.  And when I say the ‘important’ ones, I’m talking about the biggies.  

 

You know,   politics … religion… social issues… barbecue.  We are generally smack in one another’s camps about the stuff in life that matters most.  Which is a good thing, and probably has contributed to the longevity of our ‘together’.  We’ve been a couple for more than two decades (what??), and as a result (on account of how youthful we are, and all) we have been together for more than half of our lives.

But, yeah, of course there are a few things that we DO NOT necessarily agree upon.  For example, we both do NOT love college basketball.  I’ll give you a guess which one of us doesn’t.   

And ONE OF US does not like to endlessly surf Pinterest, and find adorable crafty-crafts to ‘pin’, and then never actually complete.    (Well, I guess, in fairness, neither of us actually completes those projects, so we do still have that in common.)

 

Anyway, it’s not a deal-breaker.  Some things we will never see eye to eye on, and I understand.  Truly, I do. 

Except for one thing. 

 

 

 

 

My husband refuses to love Jimmy Fallon like I love Jimmy Fallon.

 

We simply cannot agree on how amazing Jimmy Fallon is.  And it bugs me tremendously that he won’t acknowledge the absolute and utter hilarity that is JIMMY FALLON.  I loved him on SNL (Barry Gibb), and now I really like watching The Tonight Show.  I have never, ever been a late night talk show person, but I try to tune in every night to see what craziness is on the docket.  And I laugh hysterically.  (‘Thank You Notes’?   No, thank YOU, Jimmy!) 

Phil just doesn’t find him as funny as I do, y’all.  
 

Sometimes he even has the nerve to ROLL HIS EYES.  I could understand this behavior if Jay Leno was still on the show (we agreed that we hated him… it was marital bliss), or David Letterman (I only ever liked the Top Ten list, anyway), but, well… I have to admit that I have a not-so-secret crush on Jimmy.  And I think my husband might be just a tiny bit jealous, if you want the truth.  Does he feel 'threatened' by this other guy in my life that makes me laugh?  Maybe, just maybe. ;)

So, at this point, I'm not sure I’m ever going to be able to change his mind about this.  He's seemingly impervious to Mr. Fallon's charm and wit.   

And, unless I want to commit to watching ‘Finding Bigfoot’ as a trade-off, I think we will just have to agree to disagree.

Six for Sunday

1.  It was a great evening for a walk around the neighborhood.  Not too hot, not too humid.  Along the walk, we saw an adorable little cottontail baby bunny.  It was the cutest thing... and it didn't appear to be afraid of us.  It waited until we were just right up on it before it scampered back into the wooded area. 

Isn't nature just the greatest? 

So beautiful, and all... well, natural and stuff? 


So humbling, and a wonder to...









                                              EEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKK!!!!

And is there any wonder that my walking speed tripled at this point?!!

 Oh, and p.s...  I am married to a crazy man.  He just HAD to get his foot in there for 'perspective', ya know?





2.  "Operation Daily Pinterest Project" (aka 'Operation Summer Beatdown") is progressing quite nicely.  I'm kind of rocking it, but it is still early days, yet.  So, it's been fun, except for the H8TUHS  (I am just lousy with street cred, y'all)... and you KNOW who you are!!  And I am cross-stitching something JUST for you. ;)




3.  So this one time... when I evidently wasn't paying enough attention at the pool... this company that makes swim goggles snapped a picture of my kid to use for their packaging.  And we are NOT getting any royalties, or even any free goggles out of the deal.   So this clearly sucks.

 

 

4.  Today I made some Texas Caviar, and it is super yummy (and pretty).  I'm going to eat it for lunch on salad greens this week, and add some avocado to it.  I will say, though, that the recipe called for TWO jalapenos, and my husband said I should only put in one, otherwise it might be too hot.  Not sure why this Texas girl even listens to an Indiana boy in terms of how much heat to add to a dish... but it was the wrong call here.  Two jalapenos in the future!  Taste buds be damned.

5.  I had a dream last night that it was the first day of school, and I showed up ready to go, only to find out that they had decided to move me to teach kindergarten... KINDERGARTEN! :O

 And that my classroom was being renovated...


...because it was an old run-down barn.  


That's right, a BARN, y'all. 

With rusted farm equipment, and splintered wood everywhere, and horses just running in the fields around the 'school'.    In my dream, I couldn't find my class list, so I just kept rounding up kids that looked like they might be kindergarten age, and I was trying to keep them from playing in the horses' droppings.  I had the brilliant idea to get everyone settled onto bales of hay while I read a story. I think it is a little early in the summertime to be having these types of 'school anxiety' dreams.  I blame the glass of wine right before bed. 

 

 

6.  I thought that I could muster 'Six for Sunday', but... yeah, I got nothin'.   Have a great week :)

The Cycle of Summer

 It is officially summer!  Can I get a ‘hallelujah’?!!

We’re trying to keep busy around here… okay, I’m trying to keep busy around here. 

Because who am I kidding?  Given half a chance, my three little sloths would lie on the couch all day, watching Tom & Jerry reruns, eating cereal straight out of the box.  Which I 100% guarantee will be most of August, but right now? 

Well, right now, these are the bright and breezy (or hot and humid… whichever) days of JUNE, and I am motivated.  I am excited.  I am Julie, the friggin’ cruise ship director for the ‘Love Boat’, and I have big plans.  Big plans and CAMPS…  oh heck yes, we have camps.  Strength & conditioning camp, lacrosse camp, Boy Scout camp, twirling camp, dance camp, Algebra camp (um, admittedly not as popular), and summer band. 

Wake up, kids!   We’re not wasting these mornings… we’ve got stuff to DO.  Trips to the library, lunches out, summer reading lists to tackle, playdates, VBS, preparing for the State twirling competition, and basically catching up on everything that didn’t get done during the school year.

I’m not entirely delusional, though.  I know how it is … soon the bright and breezy days of June will give way to the scorching, 100+ degree heat of July.  And our well laid plans of crafts and cooking projects will be replaced with sleeping late, lazy afternoons by the pool, too much computer time, and snow cones for dinner… and that’s fine, too. 

Then August will roll around, and I’ll start putting my ‘teacher hat’ back on, thinking about bulletin boards, professional development, lesson plans, and setting up my classroom.  As a mom, I’ll be thinking about haircuts, and new school clothes, and new shoes, and school supplies, and wishing that I’d taken care of more of that earlier in the summer, instead of reading yet another Jen Lancaster book at the neighborhood pool.  And the sloths? Well, they’ll be watching Tom & Jerry, or whatever happens to be on Cartoon Network, and eating frozen pizza while they wait for me to get back from my 17^th trip up to my classroom.

Even before I went back to teaching, it was pretty much the way things worked around here.  We (once again, 'we' = 'I') start the summer with great intentions, and eventually taper off until I'm frantically labeling composition books and backpacks the night before school starts. 

It’s my summertime cycle…  I know it, I’ve lived it, and I’m destined to repeat it.

And I’m okay with it. 

Amen, y’all.

Sweet dreams aren't made of this...

Getting ready for work this morning, and my husband mentions that he had a terrible dream last night.

Him:  “It’s one of those that wake you up out of a dead sleep, and you are practically hyperventilating because you are so freaked?”

 

I’ve had those.  I hate those.  Usually my dreams are of the la-la- loopsy variety… you know,  they are difficult to explain,  but seem perfectly logical at the time?  The dreams that I try to tell to Phil, only to have him say really supportive things like, “Wow, a psychiatrist would have a field day with that one.”

But because I know freaky dreams, I was far more supportive and fabulous, and just nodded and said gently… “I hate those.  Was it about the kids?”

Him:  “No.

Me:  “Oh.  Well, then was it about me?”

Him:  “No.”

Me:  “Were there velociraptors in it?”

Him:  “No!”

So, let’s just say that I’m starting to feel a little less supportive.   Because really, if you are going to have a terrifying dream, I’d like to think that it might POSSIBLY involve something happening to the person you are planning to spend your golden years with, or at least feature a scary dinosaur with razor sharp claws.    Otherwise,  I’m failing to see what the problem is.

Me:  “Well, what was it?”

Him:  “I dreamt that I was in the kitchen talking to you (so clearly I did make it into the dream) and I felt something drip onto my arm. 

Me:  “Ew.”

Him:  “And then I felt another drip… and I looked up and there was a huge puddle of water gathering onto the ceiling from a leak upstairs, and it was starting to drip… drip…drip…  And then by the time I got to the stairs, water was flooding through the playroom, and starting to pour down the stairs!”

I may or may not have screamed when he got to this point.  I’m admitting nothing.  But after dealing with water damage in our house this spring, and all the chaos that went with it, I can see how this would now qualify as a ‘horrifying’ dream for my husband.    

 

Even without the velociraptors.

 

Camp Queasy...er... Cuisine

Next week, all three of my kids are going to camp.  Not at some far away, exotic destination, or even one of those ‘park ‘em for a day, so momma can take a nap’ camps, but a rigorous Boot Camp a little closer to home. 

 

And by ‘closer to home’, I mean REALLY close to home.  Like, in my kitchen.  Or starting next week, THEIR kitchen.  Because I have just about decided, friends, that my cooking days are limited for these hot summer days (long on sunshine, but far too short in number). 

So starting next week, each child is responsible for one lunch, and one dinner during the week.  They choose the day, they select the menu, and tomorrow afternoon, they will actually be doing the shopping for their items.  I, of course, will still be the one whipping out the debit card to pay for said items.  Plus, HEB won’t let them buy wine, so I have to make an appearance anyway.

The kids are very excited to take the reins on this… at least for now.  Well, at least until I mentioned that they are responsible for kitchen clean-up, too. 

I didn’t give them many restrictions, other than that we needed to have at least one fruit or veggie with every meal, and that they needed to find at least one coupon to use for their meal planning.  (If you’ve never seen two siblings arguing over a 30 cent coupon for frozen Birds-eye veggies, it’s truly a sight to behold). 

Next week’s menu may not be the healthiest… we’ll work on that.  It may not be the most creative… hot dogs and chili mac, anyone?  But this ‘camp’ is designed to teach some necessary skills, and most importantly, save my summertime sanity.   And maybe, just maybe, my kids will be able to cook something beyond Ramen noodles and macaroni & cheese when they get their own apartments one day. 

 

Call it a lesson in independence.  Call it a lesson in maturity.   

Heck, let’s call it what it is…  the lesson that this momma is not your maid, or your short order cook.

   

And if that’s not a lesson for the future, I don’t know what is. ;)

THIS LETTER IS A CARBON COPY FOR YOUR RECORDS

With a new job comes all sorts of new, strange, and oftentimes, head-ache inducing things. 

One of those new things that came with going back to teaching was having different insurance.  For the first time in many moons, I have my own health insurance, instead of being covered under my husband’s.  When we were crunching the numbers, it just made sense financially for our household that I use one of the ‘perks’ of my new gig.

So with brand spankin’ new insurance comes crazy paperwork, keeping fingers crossed that my current doctors will be in-network, and hiring a weekly housekeeper with all that money we’re saving!!  (okay, I made that last part up.  Seems like we are quite adept at finding other places to spend that newfound cash.   Namely, the orthodontist.  And Spec’s. ;)

Fortunately my primary care physician was in-network, as well as my OB-GYN (with emphasis on the GYN, as I am ‘all-done’ with the OB part of her title.  Fo sho.)  So this is fabulous news, since I am kind of attached to those two.  Not only because I am very loyal, but also because, well, um… change?  Not so much.

But it was a fairly seamless switcheroo, as far as insurance goes.  Until today, that is. 

Today?  I got a letter in the mail to let me know that a claim is ‘on-hold’.  Evidently the services were provided for a PRE-EXISTING CONDITION, and my health care coverage includes a PRE-EXISTING CONDITION WAITING PERIOD.  (By the way, are all those capital letters really necessary??  I don't think I like being CapsLock-yelled at by my insurance company.)

Anyway...   It did not list what the PRE-EXISTING CONDITION was,  but oddly enough, the claim was submitted by my OB-GYN’s office, and the service date was for the day that I had my regular, yearly check-up for all that regular, yearly ‘stuff’ we ladies are required to do on a regular, yearly basis. 

So, what I am getting from this is that my ‘pre-existing’ condition... is the fact that I am a WOMAN?  Yes, I guess that is definitely a pre-existing condition.  It has existed, for… well, for a pretty long time now.  

The good news is that my doctor can re-submit the claim if they can provide the information about when they first began treating me for this ‘condition’.   And if that doesn’t do the trick, then I am invited to appeal the decision.   I plan to make a couple of phone calls tomorrow to try to get this all straightened out.   I hope that it is just a glitch or technicality that is easily remedied, and that I don’t have to appeal to anyone’s common sense in terms of said ‘condition’. 

But then again, we are talking about an insurance company…  I may have to come unhinged and yell at some poor customer service representative over the telephone.  In the end… proving that not only am I, in fact, a woman,  but that I have been a woman ( and a crazy one at that), for a good long time.

WELL PLAYED, BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD.

Lessons Learned in 2012

Oh yes, the Linson family has been on quite the learning curve this year. Here are just a few of the tips we’ve picked up in 2012, and we’re passing on our newfound knowledge to you… You’re welcome.

1. No longer are we encouraging the children that they can be ‘whatever they want’ when they grow up.

Nope. We are now requiring that all 3 of them become orthodontists. With one in braces, another on the schedule to get her braces within the month, & a third with a cross bite that will “need attention”, we have discovered that becoming an orthodontist is definitely the path to serious job security.

And nice cars. Lesson learned.

2. It *is* actually possible for someone to go back to teaching full-time (after being a stay-at-home mom for 12 years), and still effortlessly manage to keep up with the laundry, the housekeeping chores, bake & decorate magazine-worthy birthday cakes, and do it all without missing a beat!

Well, I’m sure it is possible SOMEWHERE... just not around here. Lesson learned.

3. There is no such thing as‘inexpensive’ when it comes to kids’ activities. We haven’t found a single one that doesn’t require

a.) a ton of equipment,

b.) long road trips for tournaments or competitions, or

c.) an entire wardrobe of sparkly costumes.**

** Okay, okay…Davis may beg to differ that his new love for all things Lacrosse does NOT require sparkly costumes, but baton twirling and Irish step dancing certainly do.

Lesson learned.

What ELSE have we learned this year?

4. …That I was ready to go back to teaching, even with the adjustment it has taken for the entire family. And I love teaching 4^th grade at Great Oaks.

Phil’s job is going well, too…what a huge payoff for the uncertainty from last year’s job switcheroo. Change can be a GOOD thing. J Lesson learned.

5. …That our kids are growing up way too quickly (no big surprise there, though).

--Josie (12) is in middle school now, and is loving it! She continues to twirl, (she even earned another state title this summer), & is learning to play oboe in the 6^thgrade band. Oh yeah, we’ve also learned that oboe reeds are very expensive, and that after the first few weeks, we didn’t need those ear plugs after all. ;)

--Davis (10) is in 5^th grade, and is busy with sports, school, hunting, and Cub Scouts. We’re pretty proud of him, and that he will be crossing over to Boy Scouts in January, having completed all of his Webelos requirements.

Fortunately for him, Webelos does not require a ‘Clean Bedroom’ badge.

--Libby (8) is in the 2^ndgrade, and is our little Irish dancer (picture‘Riverdance!’, as performed by 7 & 8 year olds… breathtaking ;). She started taking dance classes at the beginning of the school year, and really likes it. She is in Brownies, loves to ride her bike, and keeps us laughing with her silliness.

We are considering putting her in acting classes… you know, just in case that whole orthodontist thing doesn’t work out.

6. …That we continue to be blessed beyond measure. It has been a year for some big changes, a year where we have had to focus more than ever on ‘picking our battles’,especially when it comes to choosing what on the long list of “To-Do’s” will actually get completed and put on the list of “Tah-Dah! DONE!”

And a year to remember what is truly important… our friends and our family. Lesson learned. J

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Love, the Linson family