Samurai Cape, Ornery Snake

Back at the home front, it was a busy weekend. Friday night Martha, JG's mom, breezed in on for two nights on her way up to Long Island. She spent two days killing the laundry monster. The last load was put in at 3 a.m. Sunday morning just a couple hours before she headed north again. It marked the end of the 30 efficiency-sized loads that cycled through the basket-thumping washer. Luckily the new washer and dry get here this week.

Saturday morning Martha watched the boys while I went to the Tile Shop's 9:30 a.m. installation class. After learning about all the new tools I'm going to have to buy, I studied the ins and outs of prepping for and setting liquid cement. See, the floor isn't level. With walls left to patch and paint, shower grout to remove and a window to strip next on the to-do list I excused myself from class knowing that tiling was another two weeks away.

When I got home it was time to get Edward motivated for his trial karate lesson. I almost cancelled it because he was throwing a fit about going. "Karate is not my favorite thing," he said. This is the same child who watches Samurai Jack, plays the Samurai Jack PlayStation 2 game and wears his pre-school graduation robe as a cape when he goes in the backyard with his 'katana' to fight his light saber-wielding big brother.

We arrive United Studios of Self Defense dojo and Edward goes from whiny to super-shy. He followed directions and was smiling the whole time. As soon as we got home he asked to watch his yellow belt instructional DVD.

Zachary is already a yellow belt. Unfortunately we had to pull Zachary out of karate last fall because he was struggling so badly with his homework. The school tested Zachary and found out he had a learning disability. Between the phonics tutoring through his after school program and the school making him an individual education program I'm optimistic he'll be able to manage schoolwork and his hobby. The busier I keep the boys the less time they will have to miss their Dad.

The dojo is just a block away. Right across the street from the kids' dentist. They both have their six-month cleaning this week and good timing because Zachary has a loose molar. It's driving him crazy. Therefore it's driving me crazy.

After going out for lunch the boys and I went down for a nap. I was out cold for two hours. I could have slept through the entire night. But, it was time for a commissary and base exchange trip to pick up things for the next round of care packages.

That night for dinner I made eggs, real bacon and hash browns - you know the ones you bake in the oven that looked like they came from McDonald's? Mmmm.

Sunday morning Uncle Mike and Aunt Clare came over. Mike's kids from California and my boys went to the pool with Clare while Mike and I hit Home Depot for more supplies. Industrial sized stripper, gloves, flange repair parts, two fence posts, mini piece of sheet rock, wallboard compound, door jam, nails, chalk line, tile spacers and joint tape.

Later on, after pretending to help Mike fix the hole where wall and baseboard used to be between the tub and sink, I went back to Home Depot en route for pizza. I needed a Flathead screwdriver. Only costing 89 cents I had to by the matching Phillips head. I also picked up a new razor blade tool after discovering the tile boarder around the tile was placed over sheet rock, not cement board and there was a half inch gap between the two. I need to remove the tile boarder all the way around and do something decorative that won't crack on the sheet rock.

Mike was JG's best man at the wedding. Also, a professional studio photographer Mike shot our engagement photos. (Scroll way down at the bottom of the blog. See the piggy-back photo? Mike shot that.) At our rehearsal dinner we had our family sign the matte and the next day displayed the framed photo at the ballroom's entrance to our wedding reception. It was also at the rehearsal that Clare brought me a corsage and she read us the note that JG gave to Mike and Clare on their wedding day. It was extremely sweet.

Sunday ended with feeding Indy, named after Indiana Jones, JG's ball python who is about 11 or 12 years old. He's had her since she was a baby. She had grabbed the rat in the lower abdomen and it took longer than normal to cinch the kill. I was really afraid the rat was going to bite Indy. The second rat must have just passed out. When Indy let it go to align herself to swallow him, the rat started breathing again, then stood up and started walking around. Indy didn't seem care and ignored it. Monday night, Indy finished eating without incident.