Just a Little Gripe

It's still raining. My children are really tired of the inside of our house. Hell, I'm tired of the inside of my house.

Apparently, every parent in Austin also has the same feelings, because on the rare occasion that I try to take the kiddos somewhere kid-friendly, it's packed to the gills and miserable. Not to mention, loud. Very loud.

What makes it worse is that we have not 1, not 2, not 3, but FOUR parks within very easy walking distance of our house. Not to mention the almost-completed-except-for-the-roof (STILL) playscape in the mosquito-infested back lawn. I just want one freaking day where I can take the toddler duo to the park and not worry about getting caught in the rain or, be still my beating heart, the chance to take them to the very local, very nice, very inexpensive water park.

Oh, yeah. And that "why don't you get together with some other parents" thing? Well, we're all work-at-home parents except for one, who works out of the home second-shift. Scheduling these little monkeys is a nightmare. Not to mention that due to the RAIN, Mr. Robincat is driving the mom-mobile to work on Mondays and Thursdays instead of the motorcycle that he should be using. Therefore, more scheduling nightmares.

Toddlerette is begging to "please find me some friends." She's decided that if she proclaims that "it is dry park day today," that the rain won't fall. It hasn't worked yet. Nothing is sadder than driving past a park and hearing, "Where did all my friends go??" At this age, everyone is her friend. God forbid we go to the bank, which is (in dry weather) conveniently located en route to the house of her friends with a pool. Then I get to hear the whole exposition on "Today is swimming day." Uh, no sweetie. You hear that loud noise and see those bright flashes? That's lightning. Not to mention the whole "One needs to wait until one is invited," thing that 3-year-olds just somehow don't get.

Uberboy is just all around grumpy. Of course, those new teeth aren't helping any.

On a lighter note, they both have haircuts now. I'm almost scared to post pictures because Toddlerette's is SHORT. She said she wanted hair to match her daddy's, and we decided that it was just hair after all, so I took her to have it cut short. She loves it. I love it. Mr. Robincat wasn't too sure at first, but once he realized that it only takes 4 seconds to wash now, he loves it. My mom is going to freak, though. Uberboy's hair is shorter now, too. I cut it today with the handy-dandy Wahl shaver with a #2 guard. He looks bald now, but he wears it quite well. Don't worry, people. I didn't shave mine off. It still looks as dowdy as ever.

But in the good news section.... I finally found a swim top that fits!!! And not a tank, either. It's a real bikini! I had to go to Macy's and search and search. And pay through the nose. But it has real cup sizes! (You gals from the knittyboard will understand why this is such a big deal for me.) Of course, no pictures because I haven't gotten a nice day and car on a day that the local pools have been open. At this point it would take an act of God for that to happen. Oh yeah, I bought some shorts, too. For the first summer in 4 years, I have shorts. Yes, like the kind that actually show leg. Not that they'll do me any good with the constant friggin' rain, though....

Tired of me whining? Yeah, I am, too. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming....

beep. beep. beep. beep. beep. beeeeeeeeeeeeeep.

First commenter who knows what the above line is gets ...uh.... hrmmm.... a knitted dishcloth? Yeah. That's it. A knitted dishcloth. (Robin is immediately swamped by wildly guessing commenters. *insert sarcasm*)