Second Blooming

Camp Mama 2013 Week Six: Good Boys

It's been our week to drive the carpool to Jude's Junior Lifeguards. This entails loading up the car with kids in their little lifeguard uniforms, driving an hour to the beach, then waiting around for 3 hours before driving them back to the drop off point, which takes between an hour to an hour and a half because of traffic. So you can understand how very much I appreciate this carpool! Out of the 5 weeks of the Junior Lifeguard program, this is the first time I've been the driver. I'd driven out to Will Rogers State Beach a couple of times to check out what the kid was doing, but I had yet to be privy to the whole carpool experience. Which I must admit I was intrigued by.

You see, Jude has been coming home every day totally pumped up and full of silliness, because as much as he's loved the running and swimming and surfing, he's loved the carpooling every bit as much. Because he's been riding every day with two 13-year old boys, Lucas and Cullen, who are full of all sorts of what Jude deems "inappropriate stuff".

This had been worrying me a bit. I didn't know these boys at all, they don't go to his school. I'd met their parents, who seem lovely, and one of the boys, Cullen, has a brother who is in Jude's Cub Scout pack. But I really had no idea just how inappropriate "inappropriate" meant. And Jude, as much interest as he seems to have in "inappropriate" things, is really terribly sheltered. I mean, he still spells out "bad" words, like "S-U-C-K-S". It's sweet. And every time anybody talks about girls in a provocative way, he giggles like crazy.

But I figured these boys were good for him. He doesn't have any older siblings or cousins, in fact, he's around adults ALL the time, but never teenagers. So I have been looking forward to finding out just what these boys, who he spends a minimum of 2 hours a day in a backseat with, were really like.

Well guess what? They're GREAT! Just the nicest boys. And what's more, they seem to really like Jude. Even though he is a full 3 years younger than them, they seem to genuinely enjoy his company. They seem to think he's cool and really funny. They are respectful of his age and naivety, but they don't look down on him or tease him or treat him like a little kid. He's one of the dudes. They have started calling themselves the Three Musketeers. Cullen, who has the same shaggy blond hair that Jude has, even tried to convince him to start telling everybody that they were brothers, since they look so much alike. They keep complimenting him, telling how fast he is and what a good swimmer he is. Lucas is completely impressed with the kid's knowledge of old rock and roll lyrics. And these are cool guys too. They're both cute as can be and have great senses of humor.  Lucas plays guitar in a band, and they're both always texting girls.

It's silly how happy this makes me. I guess I was worried that he would be the dinky little kid, the one that the bigger boys were forced to put up with for this whole carpool thing. But that just couldn't be farther from the truth. The three of them now have endless inside jokes. They tickle and wrestle and noogie each other for the entire car trip. Jude's in big boy heaven.

And it's made me relax a little, and realize something new about my son. Though I'm now pretty outgoing, and can generally get along fine with new people and new situations, when I was Jude's age I was NOT. I was shy, and deeply insecure. I can't imagine that I would have done as well with two older girls. I would have been afraid to speak for fear of humiliating myself. But Jude completely holds his own. And even though I always think if Jude as being so much like me, I have realized that in this instance, he is not. However, he is just like...Jimmy. Who'd a thunk it? Jimmy was that little boy who always hung out with the older kids. I've heard this over and over from his friends and relatives. Jimmy always hung out with the older boys in the neighborhood, and his older cousins because they thought he was cool.

I'm thinking that this entire Junior Lifeguard experience is going to be very empowering for Jude, and a great growing up period. Not only is he now able to swim 100 yards into heavy surf, haul a drowning person out of the water and give them mouth-to-mouth, but he has learned how to hold his own with a group of bigger guys and talk about girls and what to do if some guy gets "handsy" with your girlfriend and how during puberty your balls drop and neat stuff like that. Win/win!

The Backup Plan

A couple of weeks ago, I went to a funeral for a nun.

Jude's dear, sweet, beloved second grade assistant teacher, Sister Lydia, had unexpectedly passed away. His whole little Catholic school has been very deeply saddened by this loss. Sister Lydia was the epitome of what a kindly nun should have been. I don't believe I ever saw the woman without a smile. The children all adored her, and she was a constant source of hugs and comfort. And fun too, she had a terrific sense of humor.

So the turnout for the funeral mass was big - the church was packed. And because she was a nun, the first few pews on each side of the church were reserved for the nuns from her order. There must have been 50 nuns there, all sitting right in front of me. And I found myself watching them for the entire service and during the reception afterwards

Now I realize that most of you non-Catholics picture nuns in old-fashioned habits a la The Sound of Music...

...but nowadays few orders actually wear the old habits. Here is a blurry picture of Jude's principal, Sister Maureen with Jude, who is dressed up as her for Halloween...

 

Jude, dressed as a nun, and a real nun who is a really good sport.

And that's pretty much how they all dress. Modest, clean, simple, functional. Sensible shoes. And one thing that we all noticed, and an unusually large number of people at the funeral commented on this to me, is that they all seemed to have the same short, functional haircut. It varies slightly from nun to nun, depending on their hair texture and color, but it's all about the same. My theory is that there must be one nun at the convent who is the hairdresser and has a chair in her room, you know, like the beauty salon in a women's prison, and they all just go to her and she just gives them the "nun cut".

But the main thing that I noticed about this group of religious women was that they all seemed amazingly happy. Even though it was a funeral, they all were filled with smiles and joy and love. It was really kind of mind-blowing. These women seemed to be living an incredibly happy life. I looked around at the other women in the church, many of whom I knew to have extremely privileged lives, and extremely happy marriages, and I have to say, they just didn't seem to be as happy and joyous as those nuns.

What exactly accounts for this joy and happiness? Certainly, the whole married to Jesus thing is a huge part of it. But I can't help but look at the other aspects.

No worries about money. No concern about what your future looks like, you will always be taken care of.  No fretting about your looks - who cares if you have forehead wrinkles, or gray hair or belly fat? You'd get to wear comfortable shoes all the time.

A nun's life seems so simple. And specific. And gratifying. Especially this particular order of nuns, who are all teachers and dedicate their lives to caring for other people's children.

And I can't help but think that Jesus must be a really good husband. Certainly, he doesn't snore, or leave the seat up or the cap off the toothpaste. Which is probably a little cavalier, but true. And the whole sisterhood aspect is so appealing - these women really seemed to love  and take care of each other.

So I'm thinking...if Jimmy were to die? I could do it. I could become a nun. It's not a bad life. I bet they've got healthcare. And a good choir that I could join. I'm sure I could be a useful part of the community.

Granted, I would have to forgo my usual inappropriate cleavage. And it would be extremely difficult to keep myself from using a little product in my "nun cut". And they might frown upon my excessive Netflix binging.

But I think I would like it. Very relaxing. Super gratifying work. And I bet those nuns are pretty fun when you give them a couple of highballs.

So what do y'all think? How do you think Jude would like having a mom who's a nun? He wouldn't have to worry about putting me in a nice nursing home, those nuns are set for life. Anybody else in?

Spin Cycle: The First Post

This blog went live on May 25, 2009 with this post.

It was intensely personal. And sweet. But I clearly hadn't found my "voice" yet. Maybe a bit. It feels like a school writing project of some kind, and it was PACKED with exposition about myself and my life. It's also in this peculiar font - I don't even know what that is, except that I was so afraid that I would somehow accidentally publish the post before I was ready (ha!) that for the first few months of my blog, I composed my posts in Microsoft Word and then copy and pasted them into Typepad.

But I must say, I think it was a nice start. Something to build upon. And it's one of my favorite stories.

So please enjoy...

Jude

One thing I’ve always known for certain, is that I was going to be a mother. I didn’t have a “need” to be a mother, or a “desire” to be a mother. I had what I felt was an actual knowledge that this would be part of my life. So when I woke up one day and realized that I was 40 years old and had still produced no offspring, I decided that I couldn’t just wait around “knowing” it would happen, but that I had to actually get off my ass and make it happen. So my husband, Jimmy, and I started actively trying. And trying. And trying. Which is difficult when you have a husband who only wants to “try” when it’s wild and spontaneous (something which thrilled me in our earlier days together). I was forced to hide the basal thermometer and feign “spontaneous” enthusiasm for “trying”. My husband never caught on as to why I was oh so very frisky at the exact same time every month. He did, however, enjoy it tremendously. 

 

But alas…no pregnancy.  At 41, I faced the fact that I should probably get some professional help, and went to a fertility doctor. And being the aging Catholic that I am, I started lighting a candle to St. Jude every Sunday. Jude is the patron saint of hopeless causes (and fittingly, actors, which my husband, Jimmy, and I both are), and I thought he would certainly be my go-to guy.

We got pregnant! And lost it. Hmmm. Okay, let’s try again. Only this time, I realized it was time to marshal the forces. Our health insurance would only pay for one more go with the fertility treatments. This was my Waterloo. My Alamo (we Texans LOVE Alamo analogies!). I needed to bring out the big guns. So…I sent out a plea to all my spiritual-minded friends, and they came through for me in a big way. Catholic friends had novenas going across the country, Christian friends added me to their prayer chains, Buddhist friends had their meditation groups chanting for me, a friend on a trip to Europe lit a candle in every cathedral in France, Japanese friends performed Jorai healing over my womb to get it prepared to welcome the child. And then I decided to play my trump card. I went back to St. Jude, and this time, I promised him that if he’d help us have a baby…I’d name the kid after him. Big, right?

And it worked. It worked! We were blessed with a healthy, thriving pregnancy. My fertility doctor loved me because I was a 41 year old woman who got pregnant TWICE, thus skewing his success rate nicely. And my Italian-American in-laws were overjoyed to learn that it was a masculine child.

    

 

Now…how to tell Jimmy that I’d already named the kid by making a vow to a saint. Oh no. Jimmy does not like being told what to do. Oh no. He does not like having decisions made for him. Oh no. And even though Jimmy's spiritual beliefs have now taken a sharp turn Eastern, he is still enough of an old Italian Catholic to know that you don’t screw around with a vow to a saint. Oh no, no, no. A vow to a saint is very serious stuff.

We bounced around a few names. Jimmy wanted Vito (I know. But Jimmy’s an Italian actor and has a Godfather thing, and anyway, Vito means “life”, so…). I suggested Levon, for Levon Helm of The Band, a mutual favorite of ours. All the while, I was getting up the guts to make my confession about the wacky vow-to-a-saint thing.

So one night, when I was about 6 months into my pregnancy, we decided to meet for dinner at a local Italian restaurant. When Jimmy got there, he was very wound up and excited (people who know him know that he is usually this way, but this time he was particularly so), and as soon as he sat down he  announced “I know what we have to name our son!” Oh NO!! It was now or never. I had to make my confession. “I was driving in the car” Jimmy continued, “And ‘Hey Jude’ came on the radio. How many millions of times have I heard this song? But today, I felt like I was hearing it for the first time. And it hit me like a ton of bricks that that’s what we have to name the baby. Jude.”

Now, according to Jimmy, I got a look of joy and relief like nothing he’d ever witnessed before, and my eyes welled up with tears. “Yes!” I blubbered, “That’s his name!!” St. Jude had fixed it. And on May 6, 2003, my one perfect, silly little boy, Jude Antonio, was born, and since then I’ve been Jude’s Mama.

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More Rerunners...

Kendra at Life in the slow lane

Vandy J at The Testosterone Three and Me

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Next week on The Spin Cycle...

Nothing

That's right, I'm taking a break. A summer break. In a week, Jude and I are heading to New York for a THREE week visit with the in-laws, so prepare yourselves for some Mommy stories. But I don't want to have to worry about the spinning while I'm gone.

So have a fun vacation. And the Spin Cycle will return in about a month. If you want me to add you to the Spin Cycle reminder email, let me know!

 

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Camp Mama 2013 Week Five: Helpful

Jimmy has had a sudden interest in being helpful.

This ought to be a good thing. But it's not.

I imagine that many of you moms out there can identify with this problem. I am, by far, the primary caregiver of our child. I do pretty much everything. We get along fine this way. But periodically, Jimmy will decide, usually in the summer when he doesn't have as much work, that he wants to step up and take a greater interest in the care and feeding of our son. And, of course, is a big fat pain in the butt.

I guess I should say that I don't mind the help. In fact, I would love to have the help ALL the time, not just when it suits Jimmy. The problem is that Jude and I have our thing worked out, everything runs smoothly, and the last thing we need is Jimmy jumping in and trying to reinvent the wheel.

This is all further exasperated by something innate in Jimmy's family which my sister-in-law Niki has dubbed the family "Complication Factor". Any simple, logical task at hand must be worried and fretted and rethought until it becomes complicated and difficult. And then, because Jimmy is Mommy's son, the complicated and difficult version of the task must be obsessed over until everyone is driven crazy and gives in to the insanity just to maintain the peace.

Case in Point #1: The Breakfast -

I have made Jude breakfast every single morning for the past 10 years. It usually consists of a protein (bacon, turkey bacon, chicken breakfast sausages), some fruit (cantaloupe, apples, grapes) and some kind of bready food (cereal, the not-bad-for-you Poptarts from Trader Joe's, a muffin, cinnamon toast). It's easy and he gets the nutrition he needs for the day.

But Jimmy has suddenly decided (I think he saw something on that damned Today Show, the source of MUCH of Mommy's worries and obsessions) that "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day" and that Jude isn't eating enough. Believe me, he is, but...no matter.

Jimmy has decided that the perfect, more filling breakfast food for the boy is...a quesadilla. Where he got this notion, I don't know. Except that it is one of the only things Jimmy knows how to prepare.

Unfortunately, it's also my favorite go-to lunch food for the kid, but if Jimmy's making him a quesadilla for breakfast, I can't make him one for lunch. Grrrrrr.

So now, it's become a race to see who can be the first to get up and make the boy breakfast every morning. And believe me, I'd rather be taking advantage of this summer thing to sleep in every day.

The problem isn't that a quesadilla isn't a fine thing for Jude to eat for breakfast, it's more that Jimmy is suddenly criticizing the perfectly healthful and hearty breakfast I've been feeding the kid for 10 years!

Case in Point #2: The Hair -

Many of you may remember the ongoing problem of Jude's swimmers hair. As a result of that post, and the advice given my many of you, I purchased Jude a chlorine-removal shampoo and a leave-in conditioner, which help quite a bit. When Jude uses them correctly. Which is where Jimmy has stepped in.

He's driving the boy crazy. Constantly with the hair. "Did you put in the stuff?" "Did you brush it? You've gotta brush it!" Jude has actually started taking his shower and running as fast as he can into the bedroom to avoid Jimmy's questions and rethinking. "I'm good! It's good! I'm fine!" the boy shouts as he runs down the hallway.

Jimmy went to the beauty supply store just to buy Jude a special "wet brush", which is actually genuinely helpful. But now, he has taken it upon himself to try to brush and blowdry the boys hair himself. Which is a problem, because every time Jimmy blowdries Jude's hair, he ends up looking like a 1970's Disco King, which is the only style Jimmy knows how to achieve with a blowdryer. The poor kid is miserable.

Case in Point #3: The Jug -

When Jimmy picked Jude up from Junior Lifeguards a couple of weeks ago, he noticed that one of the other kids had a Thermos water bottle which kept their water cold. The kids are all asked to bring water and a snack with them every day. I always just fill a water bottle with cold water for him. Sometimes, I'll stick his water bottle in the freezer, then the frozen bottle melts as the day goes on. But I often forget to freeze it the night before. It's fine. If y'all haven't figured this out already, Jude is as low-maintenance as Jimmy is high-maintenance. The kid doesn't care if his water is cold. He really doesn't. He's easy.

Jimmy, however, became completely obsessed with this Thermos water bottle thingy, which he kept referring to as "The Jug". "We gotta get him that jug!" And of course by "we" he meant "me". He even asked the mom of the kid with "the jug" where they got it, and then continued to HARP on "our" need to go to the Smart and Final store and get "the jug". He was driving me insane.

So finally, on Monday, I went to the stupid Smart and Final and purchased this...

 

The Jug.

 

...just to shut him up.

Actually, the jug is pretty cool. Water spout. Shoulder-strap. I took this picture and texted it to Jimmy. To which he answered "That just made my day. I can relax now." Uh-huh. Sure.

Let's hope the kid doesn't lose it before Friday.

So what should I do? Try to gracefully accept Jimmy's "help" until he gets busy again and stops paying attention?

Yeah, that's what I should do, I know.

But it just makes me crazy!

I must let go. Anybody have any advice?

RTT: Baby, Kidneys and PBS Hunks

 

Cheers! The young Prince of Cambridge has been born!

 

The royal Town Crier announcing the news. I love this stuff!

It's just silly how happy this makes me. I've been all atwitter. Now, I can't wait to find out the little dude's name. What do you bet? Hmm...Prince William is really William Arthur Philip Louis and Prince Charles is Charles Philip Arthur George. The Vegas oddsmakers have George (QE2's father), James and Alexander with the best odds. Maybe George Philip Arthur Charles? I'm going with George Arthur Albus Severus. What, too silly?

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All women should be made to watch this...

Warning, some naughty language...

 

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Poor me! I had a brief but sudden and painful illness this week. Aren't you all sad for me? I'd had a series of peculiar symptoms which started to snowball - weird pee smell, frequent peeing, pain when peeing (here's when the snowballing started to happen), cramps in lower abdomen...pain that felt like a knife was stabbing me in the back. I was up most of Friday night, worrying about the stabbing pain, and managed to talk my way into my doctors office on Saturday morning (whew!) only to find out it was a kidney infection! Which is exactly what I had self-diagnosed from Dr. Google. I am not a big antibiotic person, I believe that they are slightly evil, however, damn if they don't work like gangbusters when you really, truly need them. By Sunday morning, I was 100% better. I'm going to have to be better about things like...water...which I tend to forget to drink. Dang.

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This is just so completely up my alley - The 22 All-Time Hottest Hunks of PBS. It's quite a fabulous list, though I am not so sure about a few of them (Bill Nye the Science Guy? Really?).  But I certainly don't argue with...

 

Benedict Cumberbatch. Who they describe as having "Weird Hotness", which is defined as being hotter than normal hotness, and I concur.

Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews - the boys of "Brideshead Revisited"!

"Inspector Lewis"'s Laurence Fox, who all of you "Doctor Who" fans should know is married to Billie Piper, AKA Rose Tyler.

I would, however, have included my very first PBS hunk, the hunk who got me hooked on PBS

 

Simon Williams as that "Upstairs, Downstairs" badboy James Bellamy. Bestill my teenage heart!

Y'all should go over and check out the rest of the hunky list!

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I'm afraid that's all I've got for y'all today. I will, however taunt you with my plans for Friday. Michele, everyone's favorite librarian at It's A Dog's Life, is coming to visit!! Aren't y'all jealous! We're gonna spend the whole day together! I promise a thorough report and pictures!

Oh, and don't forget to keep voting for me for Circle of Moms Top 25 SoCal Bloggers! It's EASY! They don't make you join anything, or send you a bunch of emails! Just follow the link, scroll down to Second Blooming and click VOTE. Thank you for indulging me!

 

Now run over and visit Stacy and more randomizers!

Reruns

Oh yes, I did go there with my Reruns video. I LOVED What's Happening!! Though I must admit, I was more of a Raj girl, than a Rerun girl. But that Rerun could dance!

It's Reruns week here on The Spin Cycle!

When I was a kid, summer meant reruns on tv (maybe reruns of Rerun on tv!). Which was good if you'd missed an episode of your favorite show. And sometimes, there would be an episode that you LOVED and here was your big chance to see it again.

So this week is your chance to rerun your favorite blog post. It could be your favorite post ever or just your favorite post of the year, or just what you feel like sharing again. And it will be your readers chance to read something they missed, or reread something they loved. Win/win.

Decide. Post it. Let me know. I'll link it.

See you on Friday for my Reruns spin.

First up...

Kendra at Life in the slow lane

Vandy J at The Testosterone Three and Me - NEW on THURSDAY!

 

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Spin Cycle: The Little Trailer

When I was a little girl, summer vacation meant one thing. Renting the Little Trailer.

Every summer, from when I was about 4 through when I was about 13, our little family of three rented a small travel trailer, hitched it to the back of our station wagon, and took off on a two week tour of the USA.

 

Daddy and Mama with little trailer. Artsy photo courtesy of 6-year old me.

There was a trailer rental place over on I-35, and a couple of days before we headed out, Daddy and I would go there and pick out our trailer. I LOVED those trailers. They were so cute and compact - everything fit together just right - it was like a little mobile doll house that we got to live in for a couple of weeks. I remember the smell of those trailers - imitation wood paneling, formica, foam rubber. Every trailer had a little dinette area, which converted into a queen-sized bed with an extremely firm mattress, a separate sofa/single bed and a tiny kitchen that ran off that little propane tank mounted on the trailer hitch.

We had three routes we took from Austin - 1. Due north, through the midwest to visit Mama's family in South Dakota and Montana. Included Mount Rushmore, the Badlands and Yellowstone. 2. The South, a loop through Louisiana then the old South, up through the Great Smokies then back through Arkansas. Included Civil War battlefields and cool old plantations.

But my favorite trip was 3. The Southwest. We'd head northwest through the Texas Panhandle, northern New Mexico, southern Colorado, then down through Arizona and back through southern New Mexico and back home.

That Southwest USA trip was filled with magical, fanciful locations, which amazed me and filled my childhood imagination...

 

The Petrified Forest, Arizona. An entire forest of petrified trees that lived 225 million years ago.

Daddy and real fossilized dinosaur footprints in New Mexico.

Lake Powell, newly created when they flooded the great Glen Canyon by damming the Colorado River. The walls were lined with Navajo drawings.

White Sands, New Mexico. Miles and miles of white gypsum sand in the heart of Apache country.  Again, apologies for my 6-year old photographic abilities.                                                                                                                                                                                        

Daddy would write out detailed vacation itineraries, pouring over AAA Guides for weeks. He knew exactly how long it would take to get to each destination, and exactly how long we could stay there before we needed to move on. We would hit the road at precisely the time Daddy planned, stopping to eat a picnic lunch at exactly noon (I can just taste those sandwiches - Wonder bread, mayonnaise and pimiento loaf) and stopped at every single historical marker and landmark on the way.

We pulled our little trailer across America, staying mostly in trailer parks...

 

...but occasionally stopping for a couple of days to visit relatives. We loved visiting our cousins the Sommers, who had a massive ranch in Springerville, Arizona, right next to the New Mexico border.

 

Sommers family

The Sommers fascinated me, not just because they lived on this enormous working ranch, where we were allowed to dig up Indian arrowheads and pottery shards (everyone who knows anything about archaeology may now shudder), but they were also...Mormons. Which was very interesting. Every night, Mama and Cousin Nell would sit on the porch - Mama with her bourbon and water, Nell with her "Mormon cocktail"- lemonade.

I remember hours and hours of playing by myself in the backseat. Well, I say by myself, but I had as many dolls with me as Daddy would allow me to take along, and they were good company. I also had piles of coloring books and paper dolls and puzzles. And Mama was full of tons of fun car trip games. We played the license plate game and the alphabet game and something Mama called "Zip" which involved spotting white horses.

I look back on those sweet summer days driving across America with such nostalgia. And it's a little bittersweet, not just because Mama and Daddy are both gone now, but because I know I could never recreate those trips for Jude. Jimmy, alas, is NOT a cartripper. Bad back, bad patience. I keep thinking of trying to organize a moms RV trip to the Grand Canyon. Anybody up for it? I'd be happy to plan the itinerary, and I promise I'd be a little looser with the schedule than Daddy. Let me know.

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More Summers Past spins...

Nain at View From Down Here

Vandy J at The Testosterone Three and Me

Kendra at Life in the slow lane

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Next week on The Spin Cycle...

Reruns

Okay, this is an easy one. Or maybe not, because a choice must be made (and I'm terrible at that).

When I was a kid, summer meant reruns on tv. Which was good if you'd missed an episode of your favorite show. And sometimes, there would be an episode that you LOVED and here was your big chance to see it again.

So next week is your chance to rerun your favorite blog post. It could be your favorite post ever or just your favorite post of the year, or just what you feel like sharing again. And it will be your readers chance to read something they missed, or reread something they loved. Win/win.

Decide. Post it. Let me know. I'll link it.

See you next Friday for my Reruns spin. Oh man, this is going to be hard. I hate playing favorites. Any requests?

 

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Summer Breeze

Aaaaaah. I think that cooled us off. Seals and Crofts. I'll never forget one summer when I was a kid, when Mama went to work at the State Capitol and casually asked her coworkers "Isn't a croft a little farm?" Confused as to why she was asking this, her fellow employees told her it was. A while later, she asked "Could they have built a little village inside the Municipal Auditorium?" Baffled, her friends asked her what on earth she was talking about. "Well," Mama said innocently, "I drove past the Municipal Auditorium this morning, and on the big sign is said 'Seals and Crofts'. And I understand the seals part, I guess it's some kind of a circus animal show, but why would they have the seals in a little farm?" They never let her forget this one. I think that was the same year they gave her an "Herb Garden" for Christmas, and after she devotedly watered and tended her herbs, she grew a huge box of beautiful basil, thyme and ...marijuana. Poor Mama.

Anyway...

It's Summer's Past on The Spin Cycle this week.

What was summer like for you 5, 10, 40 years ago?

Remember back when you were the one on Summer Break? Ah! Nothing to do but run around in the sprinkler, drink Cokes and eat Popsicles! Sigh...

Write up your post - and PLEASE include pictures!- Post it, let me know, I'll link it.

Come back on Friday for my post on Summer's Past and for the next week's spin topic.\

Summer Spinners...

Nain at View From Down Here

Vandy J at The Testosterone Three and Me

Kendra at Life in the slow lane - NEW on THURSDAY NIGHT!

 

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Camp Mama 2013 Week Four: The Passion

 

Jude has found his passion.

The boy is an official LA County Junior Lifeguard. He's loving it!

 

Surfer God shots of my child courtesy of my talented friend Carol.

 

And when I say "loving it!" I mean "LOVING IT!"

He is now into his third week, and every single day, when he gets home, he is over-the-moon with joy and excitement. In fact, he pretty much doesn't shut up for about an hour.

The LA Junior Lifeguard program (known in the local vernacular as JGs) is an LA institution that's been around for years - they even had JGs on Baywatch. Many of the parents of Jude's classmates did JGs when they were growing up. It's run by the LA County Fire Department, who employ all of the lifeguards on Southern California beaches, so it's serious stuff, y'all.

 

According to their website, "the 5 week program provides instruction in water safety, swimming, body surfing, physical conditioning, competition skills, first aid, lifesaving, rescue techniques, CPR and the use of professional lifesaving equipment." Let me remind you that the boy is 10. He now knows more about ocean safety than 95% of the people in the world. That's the JGs figure, not mine. So the boy is pretty pumped.

JGs runs 5 days a week for 5 weeks. At the beach. Which is not in any way close to us. But before you all think that I am the most giving and selfless mother on the planet to put in all that driving for the kid, I must confess that we joined in on an amazing carpool (which was organized by a better mother than me) and I will only have to drive carpool for 5 days. Woohoo!

I might add that Jude loves the carpool too, as he rides in a car with two 13-year old boys who are full of all sorts of what Jude considers "inappropriate stuff". Which he finds terribly intriguing and scandalous. I was concerned about this at first, but realized that the poor kid has no older siblings and no older cousins and is perhaps a little too sheltered, so I thought the slightly scandalous talk might be good for him.

I did drive out to the beach a couple of times, even though it wasn't my carpool day, because I had auditions out that way, and I kinda wanted to find out just what Jude has been going on about (and the kid does go on and on. And on.) and I got to meet his instructors, Lance and Sarah. Lance is just exactly who I would cast if I was casting the role of a 50-something California lifeguard named Lance - short gray hair, muscles, deep tan. Sarah is also kind of a stereotype - fit, young, tomboyish, zinc oxide on her nose. They say that Jude is doing really, really well - he's focused and always does his best and never complains. It's a miracle.

Did I mention that he LOVES it? I honestly don't think he's ever loved any activity this much. It neatly combines all of his favorite things - swimming, running, body surfing - and he loves that he's learning how to actually save a life, so it fulfills his do-gooder tendencies. He's completely empowered and somewhat...full of himself. He has qualified to participate in the Performance Team Trials tomorrow in two events - the Distance Run (running barefoot up and down the beach) and the Run Swim Run (running into the ocean, swimming out to a distant buoy, then running back out of the ocean - think David Hasselhoff). If he does well, he will go on the the California Surf Life Saving Association Regionals - a big deal, y'all. Wish him luck!

 

JG games

 

I have been forced to realize that despite my being such a Texan, and Jimmy being such a New Yorker, our son is 100% Californian - blond and tan and surf-crazy. He's every bit as much a stereotype as much as Lance and Sarah. Don't know how that happened.

 

But I'm so happy for him that I can't stand it. And I'm pretty relieved that he's actually learning a marketable skill - he'll always having a summer job when he's a teenager. I can totally see him sitting on the lifeguard stand, blond hair waving in the breeze, zinc oxide on his nose, girls checking out his tan. And hopefully, saving a life or two.

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Oh, and if you don't mind, pop by Circle of Moms and vote for me...

 

 

Just click the link, scroll down to Second Blooming, then hit VOTE. You can vote every day! Thank you much!

RTT: Pink Panties, Switcheroo and Spock

 

"Rama lama lama da dinga da dinga dong
Shoo-bop sha wadda wadda yippity boom de boom
Chang chang changitty chang sha-bop
Dip da-dip da-dip doo-wop da doo-bee doo
Boogedy boogedy boogedy boogedy
Shoo-be doo-wop she-bop
Sha-na-na-na-na-na-na-na yippity dip de doom
Wop ba-ba lu-mop a wop bam boom!"

Oh yes, people, I had so much fun out with the mommies at the Hollywood Bowl's Annual Grease Sing-A-Long!

 

That's my cynical Rizzo face. Please notice Pink Ladies + Slutty Sandy and Cha Cha in the back row.

 

We were hawt in our Pink Ladies jackets! And we drank quite a bit, I must say. It's Rachel's fault for concocting these rather deadly cocktails she called "Pink Panties". She is not giving out her recipe, but maybe she'll make them again next year. Something about macerating raspberries in rum and then adding vodka and pink lemonade or something. They were tasty and strong! I think every mother should have an annual excuse to dress up in a silly costume, drink too much with her girlfriends and sing at the top of her lungs for a couple of hours! Now if I can only get this Grease music out of my head!!

Go Greased Lightning you're burning up the quarter mile

Greased Lightning, GO Greased Lightning!

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Our friend Ray, the dad of Jude's New York "girlfriend" Mia, posted this on Facebook. I feel that I must pass it along to Jude for the future.

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Another cool photography site. The Switcheroo Project at Sincerely Hana. She dressed couples up in each others clothes. I can't stop looking. Some favorites...

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Just in case any of you share my ridiculous obsession with the game Candy Crush Saga, I've found this rather helpful site - Candy Crush Saga: Another 10 Killer Help, Hints and Guide to Extra Lives. Lots of thoughts and hints to get you through some of those hideous brain-frying levels that you drive yourself crazy over.

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I love this very much. And can't get over Spock's prodigious chest hair.

That's it for my Random Tuesday Thoughts. Go visit Stacy!