Wild Thing Vs. the Magnolia

 or How I Earned My New Gray Hairs

We have a magnolia tree. It's an awesome climbing tree. All of my children are accomplished tree climbers. But sometime the tree wins. The picture below is not our tree, but it is very similar in height and shape.

As near as I can piece together the situation, here is what happened. Wild Thing took a piece of rope that he found in the back of the truck up the tree. He climbed up around 15 feet, looped the rope over a branch and jumped. The rope broke and Wild Thing fell.  He landed on his upper back and bumped his head. The Crafter came into the kitchen and yelled that Wild Thing fell out of the tree. He was screaming. His arms and legs were drawn up. I scooped him up and brought him into the living room. (Dumb I know.) He kept screaming and his breathing sounded rough. He said it hurt to move his arms or legs and his back hurt. I told the Crafter to pack a bag for her and Princess Pink. I put in calls to a neighbor to come help. Wild Thing said he was "churny" as he lay on the floor. I called 911.

Our neighbor got here first. Wild Thing stayed remarkably calm the entire time. I made some more calls and lined up a friend to come and get the girls. I could not get the Historian on the phone. He has changed numbers at his work. I hadn't memorized the new number yet. The new number was stored in my cell phone which was with the Historian. I tried his old number, but no one answered. The Crafter sent emails.

EMS arrived and went through their protocol. Wild Thing answered their questions, but kept getting a distant look in his eyes. One of the paramedics took me aside and said that he had put the helicopter on standby. They put a cervical collar on Wild Thing and strapped him to a back board. The decision was made that he could be safely transported by ambulance. My friend arrived and took the girls home with her. I boarded an ambulance with my son bound for the hospital. My neighbor followed us. It was tough keeping Wild Thing awake on the trip.

We arrived at the hospital. The helicopter pilot met us and said he bet Wild Thing was disappointed that he didn't get to go up in his whirly bird. I was not amused. We get to a room and Wild Thing said that nothing hurt anymore except that his back felt asleep. The Historian made it to the hospital soon after we got settled for our time of observation. Wild Thing's tests came out fine.  He had some bruising and a mild closed head trauma (code for concussion).

Thank you God for sending one of your angels to catch my son.

Wordless Wednesday--With Words

I've been battling insomnia and it's ugly friend fatigue for the past couple of weeks. I tried to keep up and continue to cook balanced, nutritious meals for my family. Today the tiredness caught up with me. I wimped out and succumbed to the temptation of an easy meal.

Inevitably the question came: "Mama, what's for supper?" The answer brought cheers of joy and dancing. What delightful morsel could cause such bliss?

I will try to not think of this as criticism of my cooking abilities.

Wordless Wednesday--T-shirt Rug

Happy Pi Day

Every year I annoy my family by celebrating Pi Day.

We shall start the day with pancakes (circles).

Then we will read Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi.

It's a cute story.  Wild Thing and Princess Pink like it.  The Crafter just rolled her eyes. She is not a math person and has a low tolerance for puns.

We will finish the day with pizza pi and maybe a fudge pie with a whipped cream pi on top. 

Mama's New Toy

Yesterday I did something that normally don't do. I bought a toy. For me. I can argue that it is for the family. I can make a case that it will make The Crafter's school work easier. I can even say that it will save money in the long run. It will. Really. And since I didn't get anything but long johns and a foam picture frame for Christmas, and Valentine's Day came and went without so much as a card from the Historian, I felt that it was time I got a present.

Do you want to know what I got? Drum roll please!

It's a Kindle!

Wordless Wednesday--Baptism

The Rabbit

The Crafter:  Look!  I see the rabbit in the moon!

 Me:  Don't you mean the man in the moon?

The Crafter:  I don't like to look at him.  He's creepy.

I think she's right.

I Am Not a Grammar Snob But...

I accept the fact that I am science and math oriented.  Writing does not come easily to me.  Literary analysis is a chore.  Poetry strikes fear in my heart.  The thought of writing a research paper would leave me curled in the fetal position for several hours.  As the bumper sticker says, "I are a scientist, not an English major."

I am not a grammar snob.  I've been known to comma splice and split infinitives nary a thought.  Double negatives have a place in my conversation.  I live in the south, so ain't works for me. I do however know a few things that it seems most Americans do not.

I know that a sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought.  It has a subject and a predicate.  A sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a period, a question mark, or, in rare cases, an exclamation point.

I know that your is a possessive pronoun and you're is a contraction formed by the words you and are.

I know that their is a possessive pronoun, they're is a contraction formed by the words they and are, and there is an adverb.

I know that its is another possessive pronoun, while it's is a contraction of it and is.

I know that a lot is 2 words.  I recently discovered that alot is a creature of many and varied talents.

I know that cuz is not a word.  Perhaps in certain company it may be a term of endearment for one's cousin. Cuz is not a substitute for because.

I know that apostrophes are used to show possession.  The are not used to make plurals.  Remember the quote "A kitten dies every time you use an apostrophe to pluralize." 

I feel better now.  Maybe I can get back to grading those lab reports.

Wordless Wednesday--Giggles

The Crafter as Giggles the Mouse

Photo courtesy of the class mom

my camera is still MIA

If I Had a Camera

I'd take pictures in the morning.
I'd take pictures in the evening
All over this house!

My trusty little camera is MIA.  I have looked everywhere, and I can't find it.  I am beside myself. Major Bradford Academy events are going undocumented.  Alas....I will have to fill in with the work of others.

Here's a list of things for which I have no pictures:
Australia books for TOG Unit 2, Week 14
The Crafter's coral reef diorama--she took pictures of this.  It was the last known use of the camera.
Wild Thing's kookabura drawing.  We watched the following video.  I did not fully consider the consequences of letting him learn about this bird.

The Crafter and Wild Thing receiving green belts in karate.

Princess Pink being cute or annoying, I can't remember which.  She said (very loudly I might add), "Mama, is this where we buy dead animals?" as we walked by the meat counter.

And the one that breaks my heart the most,  the Crafter's performance in Cinderella.  She was a mouse.  She had full mouse makeup and a tail!  I have no pictures.  Here's one another mom took.

 If the camera doesn't turn up soon, I will have to shop for another one.  Hmm...maybe this is a blessing in disguise.