A New Tradition For The Fourth?

Yesterday was the Fourth of July - and in our town, it was the day we held our parade to celebrate the holiday.  It.  Was.  Hot.  The thermometer in my car as I drove to the parade before 9am read 93 degrees.  It was beyond humid, and the seats I usually have in the shade near the beginning of the parade route had already been claimed, so we spent two and a half hours sitting in the blazing sun with only a periodic breeze and a couple kind marchers handing out water or freeze pops to keep us from overheating.

Of course, this year only Little Miss and I watched the parade with my parents.  Mister Man's Cub Scout pack was walking in the parade, so we convinced him to walk, as well.  He was excited about it - his first parade, he got to wear his Cub Scout uniform, and he was to pass out candy.  Knowing how hot it was, I was a little concerned about how he would enjoy it, but he insisted he wanted to go.

When I arrived home fifteen or so minutes before my husband and Mister Man who had to hike from the end of the parade back to where he'd parked his car near the beginning of the parade, I put Little Miss into a cold water bath.  She was that hot.

He was hotter.

My husband had to find a hose to spray the poor kid off as they were still walking back to his car because Mister Man was starting to feel sick.  When I asked him how he liked it, I got a dirty look. Apparently the heat was my fault.  He declared that he was never again going to walk in a parade.  I tried to explain that it wasn't normally so hot; in fact, we are having an unusually hot summer in Chicago.  Normally, we have four days in June over 90 degrees, but this year we had 20.  The 103 degree heat was only the second time in recorded history - 142 years' worth - that hit 100 or more on July 4.

He wasn't impressed.  Mom, he said, it wasn't just hot.  My feet were sore, too.

I pressed him further since we hike further than that on a regular basis.  By "sore" he meant that they were hot and uncomfortable, too.  He's still not convinced that he's ever going to march in a parade again, but I'm working on it.  Watching him was a treat for me... and here's hoping it's a little cooler for all of us.

Today?  It's still hot.  In fact, it's still so hot that it's actually too hot to go to the pool.  How are you coping with weather where you are?

It’s “Summer” In Chicago

So you know what I’ve been doing so far today?  I mean besides doing three loads of laundry that needs to be complete before I leave for Type A tomorrow (yes, it’s a #TypeAConFail).  And getting the kids up and dressed and off to summer school.  And emptying the dishwasher.  And hanging up laundry, which means trying to find hangars.  How in the world do the wee ones have more clothes than hangars – when I still have at least another load of clothes to do?  I went hunting in their closets, which turned up most of what I needed.  The last five I found?  Sitting on the bathroom floor, of course.  Isn’t that where you store your hangars?
While I was in the midst of the hangar search, I finally changed out the wee ones summer clothes with their winter clothes.  Because, you know, we’re on Wednesday of Week Two of Summer School.  And summer does officially start later this afternoon.  This is actually the not the first time I switched out their closets for summer this year.

I should know better.  We live in Chicago, so those 85 degree days we had in mid March the week before spring break?  Of course it was just teasing and spring break was spent in jackets and coats and definitely long sleeves.  When it got warm again near the end of May?  Well, yeah… that was a tease, too.  Do you see what the thermometer told me on May 31?  May 31, people!

That was at five in the afternoon. It’s not like this was the low temperature for the day. In fact, the gauge gives the high and low over a twelve hour period or so, and the highest it got that day was not even 49 degrees. On the last day of May. Hold me.

Every time I’ve switched out their summer clothes for their winter clothes, it’s gotten freezing again.  I hope it does this time actually because the 95 degree heat with the 95 percent humidity is killing me.  Literally.  And our grass, too.  It stopped growing weeks ago and is August brown.  Thank goodness for our pool pass, because that’s where I’m headed once I pick up the wee ones.  Now that I’ve finished with the Hangar Hunt take 234,642.

Am I the only one who loses hangars like this?

Hello? Spring? Hello?

There are some things that will ensure I wake up on the wrong side of the bed, the day off to a bad start before it's even begun.

Stepping into a pile of cold cat vomit

A child running into my room to announce an illness

My husband's alarm clock that he snoozed now going off loudly and repeatedly since he's gotten up and left the house

Realizing that it's a cleaning lady day and I haven't done a thing about it

You get the point. Then there's today. April 18. April, people!

I know I say this every year, but really spring? Can we not get our act together anymore? I'd like a redo.

The silver lining is that not everyone in my household feels quite the same. Some, in fact, managed to get up and ready for school early so that they could play outside in the snow before we had to leave.

Good thing I'd been procrastinating on putting away their winter gear. (hey - this snow was not my fault!)

And ahhhh yes, that is Little Miss actually leaning over on the grass to lick the snow. I have a very odd child. A very odd one. But she makes me giggle - even this morning!

6 month membership to the Math Blasters website up for grabs here
Freschetta By the Slice giveaway here

The Real Definition

We've all heard of bi-polar people. I always thought it was simply because of the extreme up and downs and some expert somewhere decided that poles were as oppposite as you could get, so bi-polar it was.

Nope, not really.

Bi-polar came about because of Chicago weather. We always joke that you can have all four seasons in a single day, but really that's a joke. It doesn't really happen.

Right now, I'm not laughing. Today is the first day of spring. The past few days have been wonderful. I've gone outside without a coat. The wee ones have been using their spring coats. My dear friend the sun has been showing his face, and it has been glorious.

Today? Not so much. We are going from one pole to the other here - winter spring winter - and I can only hope that our bi-polar trip finds some equillibrium soon and bring me back my precious spring.

This morning when I woke up:

This afternoon, with the snow not yet letting up:

C'mon. I want my spring back. Enough with the joke. It's just cruel after a long, cold, dreary winter.

I Give Up

I live in Chicago. And I know I live in Chicago. Where we have all four seasons in a single day sometimes.

Regardless, I have certain rules about the weather. I don't wear a coat past May 1 or before October 1. I wear open toed shoes from Memorial Day through the first day of fall. I could go on, but I won't frighten you further.

Ok, I will. I also don't turn on the heat until at least October 15. My husband started pushing to turn the heat on at the end of September, but I resisted. It was sunny enough during the day that it warmed the house pretty well -- one benefit of a western exposure.

Then we went to St Louis for the weekend. And came back to a house that was 54 degrees.

*sigh*

We had to turn the heat on, and I hate hearing it kick on what feels like every twenty minutes. And I finally gave up on the idea of the wee ones wearing short sleeves and/or shorts again this year. I flipped their closets so that their winter clothes are easily within reach.

*sigh*

I do have to admit that sleeping with my mattress warmer on each night is kinda nice. Just don't tell my husband I'm already using it.

Oops.

I know, I know. It's only February 20. I think I make a pretty compelling case, however. I would like to hereby submit my application for Mother Of The Year 2009. Please see below for the details. I'm pretty sure I've got this one in the bag.

On Wednesday, we woke up and got ready for school. Little Miss gets on her bus around 8:30 or 8:40 or 8:45 or 9:05 or whenever the bus feels like showing up. I then take Mister Man to daycare by 9 to go to his kindergarten class there and begin work. From there, the school district handles getting Little Miss from preschool to daycare and Mister Man from daycare to preschool. I just need to make sure they're picked up before the daycare closes.

When I looked out the window that fateful morning, it was raining. I checked the thermometer, and it was in the high thirties. Given how hard it was raining, I decided the right call was Wellies and raincoats for both wee ones. They happily put them on, we went on our merry way, and that was that.

Exept for one small issue. By the time the afternoon rolled around, it looked something like this outside:



Just in case you can't see it too well, here's another image. Yes, that's snow. And yes, that's an accumulation on the ground. You can't see that it's now seventeen degrees.



Yep, by the time the wee ones got home, it was most definitely parka weather. But not for my wee ones. Nope, they were in their spring raincoats and wellies. Yeah....

Oops.

Next time, I'm checking the weather forecast. I promise! In the meantime, I'm a shoo-in, aren't I?

It's Winter, No Summer, No Fall, No... I Give Up

Today started out fairly cool, and I sent both the wee ones to school wearing long sleeves and coats. Of course, this is Chicago, so by the time they got home from preschool, spring was in full swing with the sun out and warmth abounding.

As I picked up Little Miss from preschool, I didn’t make her put on her coat to go to the car. In fact, we played outside while we waited for Mister Man’s bus. As he climbed off the bus, I was relieved to see that his coat was shoved into his backpack, so at least he wasn’t roasting.

Once inside, I changed them into more appropriate attire. Little Miss had on a little dress, while Mister Man put on shorts and a t-shirt. We ate lunch, read a couple books, and they headed up for naps.

When it was time to go upstairs to wake them up so we could start the next phase of our day, I started with Mister Man. As I approached his room, I could hear a noise that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Opening the door, I realized that he’d turned his overhead fan on full blast. Without even looking in his direction, my mind immediately went to two thoughts: 1) he didn’t stay in his bed as he’s supposed to, so he probably didn’t sleep and 2) he was playing with the light switches which he’s forbidden from doing (after coming into his room in the middle of the night when he couldn’t sleep one too many times and discovering his lights on, that privilege was revoked).

Then he popped out from under his covers. Immediately I noticed that his shirt was off, as were his socks. And his shorts were nearly there.

Me: Uhhh, Mister Man. You took off your clothes.
Mister Man: Well, it was hot.
Me (noting the logic of his statement as I shivered under the breeze of his fan): Apparently. Generally you can leave your clothes on though, not turn on the fan and just sleep on top of the covers, and that works just as well.
Mister Man: Oh. But Mommy, I didn’t get all the way undressed.
Me: True, but you don’t really have any clothes left on.
Mister Man: (Quite indignantly) Yes, I do. I only unbuttoned and unzipped my shorts. I didn’t actually take them off, so that doesn’t count.

Apparently, not. I’m not taking any cues from him the next time I get hot though! And of course, by the time we met my parents for dinner, it was pretty chilly again and we needed our jackets. And I wonder why no one is ever completely healthy around here!



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And I swear tomorrow will have the wedding recap, including pictures!