Fourth of July

The Fourth of July holiday is over, for us anyway. It was actually kind of a bummer this year. The kids bugged me for fireworks, which I bought, and which they didn’t use long enough to really enjoy. Early this afternoon I let them do the smoke bombs and snakes, because you can’t really see them at night. Zach was more concerned with getting to light his own stuff with the punk. What the fuck? Enjoy the fireworks and don’t worry so much about lighting them. Ty was enjoying lighting the snakes, and Dolly was directing her friends, “Guys, move back while I light this.” Needless to say, they went through everything really fast just because they were excited about lighting their own. Whatever.

Later in the evening we were going to do sparklers. I got everything together – sparklers, punks, and a pan full of water. A group of kids surrounded me to get their sparklers. Had Zach not been such a shit about HAVING to light the sparklers with the punk, things might have gone a little smoother. I was just going to sit with a punk in each hand, holding them out for the kids to take a sparkler and hold it to the flame. Because Zach insisted on lighting them with me, we actually had to light the sparklers one at a time and hand them off to the kids. With the wind picking up, that wasn’t the best idea because Zach was to my right and the wind was blowing right at me. I didn’t get burned but was in great danger of having my hair set on fire even though I had it in a ponytail.

I made Zach stand further in the yard, away from me, and as each kid was handed a lit sparkler they were told to walk away from me. When the sparklers went out, they were to be put directly into the pail of water. Everyone was happy until one neighbor, who’d bought a butt-load of fireworks, started setting them off in the backyard. At that point, all the kids wanted to go watch them so we were done with the sparklers. That was fine with me since I like my hair long. However, now I’m stuck with a LOT of sparklers that probably won’t get used – ever.

At any rate, we went behind my neighbors’ townhomes to watch this fireworks display and I was taking a few pictures (I’ll post some on Facebook tomorrow) but they kept setting off the same two types of fireworks so it was getting really boring. Then it started to rain – it was supposed to all day but held off for a long time. It wasn’t a downpour or anything, just enough to annoy me. I was done taking pictures, the kids were bored and Zach’s fever had come back. The acetaminophen I gave him brought it down but then he was complaining of being itchy and his stomach and back hurt and felt pokey – ah, prickly heat. Gee, Zach, I did tell you to sit and relax for a while, but you chose to ignore. So I slathered him in corn starch, gave him some ibuprofen, and sent him to bed.

Now all three kids are in bed and Zach is already asleep. Dolly and Ty are still awake but they’re staying in bed so I get some quiet time to myself without them constantly interrupting me. There are still loads of fireworks still going off outside, some of them about 50 feet from my front door, but there isn’t anything I can do about it. Technically, midnight is the cut-off time, but that’s pretty unlikely also. As long as I can go to sleep when I’m ready, that’s all that matters.

Other than the “celebration,” today wasn’t too bad at all; it was just a relax-and-enjoy kinda day. I didn’t even do much packing today. You didn’t actually think I would go without updating you on my packing, did you? I went to Sunfresh first thing this morning to pick up the boxes they saved for me. I have to sidebar here, though, for a quick funny story. I showered before I ran to Sunfresh. Dolly waited outside the bathroom for me to dress then entered. While I went to put my pjs back on my bed, she got two Q-tips for me. She handed them to me and said, “Here, Mom, I got you two ear picks.” She was so adorable; and I’ve never heard them called that before but I like it better than Q-tips so I think we’ll use it all the time. Anyhow, I got the boxes then I came home, did a few other things, and packed only one box in the kitchen. Tomorrow I’ll repost my ads and, since the holiday will be over and people all have the day off, they’ll be looking for furniture and will flood me with offers. I can’t wait. Everything will sell and I’ll be on my way to owning almost nothing. How many people do you know are proud of that, huh? Just me, right? See, I knew I was special. My cup runneth over with that simple fact. I’ll update you tomorrow on how much of my stuff sold. It should be a great day; I can’t wait.

Until next time…peace to all.