Terry's 3M's

I've let out a sigh of relief. It is difficult, if not sometimes downright impossible, to keep four kids quiet in order to let an adult on the graveyard shift to sleep.

The sigh is because the house is finally quiet. Three of the kids have gone to a friend's house to play. And the other is quietly reading in her room as her punishment for removing the screws on a switchplate (besides the lecture on the dangers of electrocution from such action), the punishment being to spend the rest of the day in her room.

I really got some exercise yesterday. I promised John a visit with his father. This is the first time in over a year that I haven't had a male adult from my family there to help supervise. It went quite well, actually.

G called and said that he would be arriving at the park about an hour earlier than originally planned. After hurriedly getting ready, we set out for the park which is maybe half a mile away. I rode my bike, cringing as my knees have been bothering me all week. John was wearing his rollerblades. (His roller blades are white because they were Carrie's. He traded 11 ice cream bars for them.) Stephanie had decided for some reason that we needed blankets. She was PUSHING the big wheel with the blankets riding on the seat. Bryan was running and Carrie was on her bike.

G got to see John do things that he hadn't seen him do before: riding a bike and skating. Since the other visits were all at a different park farther from the house, we had always gone in a car and there was no need to take other wheels with us.

There was much bustle as G had stopped by Von's (a western US chain supermarket) for sodas, potato salad, bologna, and bread. So we had an odd breakfast of those things.

The kids played and played while G and I tried to think of things to say to one another. Eventually the kids roped him into a game of sponge war. There are three large plastic tubs and perhaps about a hundred sponges. They would get the sponges wet in the tub and then throw them at each other. It looked like fun and it was a way to cool off in the 100+ degree heat. The next time we go to the park, I will wear something other than a white T-shirt so that I can play, too.

After the visit was over, I had the kids take me to the house of the friend that they visit often. Unfortunately, they took me a back way that was mostly uphill. Johnny had decided to ride the big wheel and Stephanie was using his roller blades. About half way there, Stephanie decided that the roller blades were just too uncomfortable to skate in because they were too big for her. So, I ended up carrying them in my canvas sack along with the silverware we had taken with us, a book, and various odds and ends. I couldn't stand to pedal up the hill with the sack on my shoulder because it made me too unbalanced. Besides, by this time I had to slow down because both girls were on foot. And when we got to the house, no one was home.

The kids decided to see if their friend had gone to another friend's house, but, I told them that I would meet them at home. The way home was the easy way from our house. But, I am totally out of shape and I was huffing and puffing and dripping wet with sweat (of course, I would have been dripping anyway as hot as it was yesterday--107) when I arrived home.

Later, the kids (especially my son) were lecturing me about smoking again. I don't think it was so much about concern for my health (at least not yesterday's lecture) as it was that their friend's mom won't let him spend the night here anymore because I smoke. Apparently she hasn't read the latest studies about lung cancer. It is not always smokers or those who inhale secondhand smoke that get lung cancer. The newest take is that it is a lack of trace minerals caused by a diet lacking in vegetables--especially green vegetables. In other words, Alan, who smokes and loathes green vegetables is much more likely to develop lung cancer than I am. I would add Delton (a non-smoker) to the list of likely candidates except that he takes vitamin/mineral supplements to replace the nutrients he lacks because of his distaste for green vegetables.

But, I made a deal with the kids. If they can manage to behave much better for a period of two months, I will give up smoking. Smoking is not the best way to handle stress, but, it is one of my coping mechanisms. I will try to get a little bit of a start on this by not smoking while my hands are busy with other things--such as a game control pad.