Batty!

No thanks!
Originally uploaded by CreativeExile

Took Tess to a program at the library today. We had a really great "Girls Day, " actually. E's FINALLY getting the message (plus, it's colder in the mornings now, and doesn't get light enough TO PLAY TENNIS EARLY) that after scrapping until midnight, I like to SLEEP IN Saturday morning (really?)! So he took the kids to the daycare at our gym (Becky, feel free to snort right here) first thing this morning and let me have breakfast and shower and get ready to pick up Tess and take her to this organization's program. It was exceedingly cool (until they got too close).

Tess is fascinated by bats, wants one for a pet, has a little Beanie Baby bat she takes to bed with her (and has named "Whizzie," for some reason known only to a 5 year-old). And she did great with the whole program, again, until they got a little too close to her (she came and climbed on my lap, crying, shortly after I took this photo. Poor girl).

I took many fun photos (he could have let me pet one and I wouldn't have shied away...just bees and wasps, remember?!) and put them up at the usual place. Great organization, BTW. We saw a similar presentation at Cranbrook a few years ago, with a Russian friend of E's family, but we didn't have Tess with us at the time.

Tess and I went to lunch at Dexter Pub after that, then costume shopping. Ben is wearing a recycled costume of Tess's (a cow/sweatsuit number), I'm recycling my farmer's outfit (um, overalls, basically) from that same year, and Tess wants to be a black and white (barn!) cat...not a black cat, that would be too easy, sigh. So from the suggestion of a friend, we looked for a white feather boa to cut up and sew around the neck, sleeves, and cuffs of a pair of pants for her ensemble. For a family party next week, E has graciously offered to be a pig (!) to complete our barnyard theme (seriously...his suggestion).

Speaking of cats, we may have to borrow my MIL's. Seems mice *do* poop and eat at the same time, as I found suspicious pellets ON BENJAMIN'S HIGH CHAIR TRAY yesterday. E heard (and saw) evidence (in the form of a mouse scuttling under our stove) at 3am last night, after he fell asleep on the couch downstairs while watching TV. Thank God for Chlorox wipes and D-Con traps that hide the body. Yeeeech. Wish us happy hunting.

The hazards of a (very) warm autumn

Cider mill
Originally uploaded by CreativeExile

I am so ready for sweater weather. I know in about a month I'll be bitching about the snow and ice, so I'd better be careful what I wish for.

We had an outing, Ben and I, today at Jennie's Farm Market. I'm glad I announced early that I'd only stay about an hour (Ben needed to nap, I needed to eat & get ready to volunteer at Tess's school), because -- like at the cider mill in the photo above -- there were bees EVERYWHERE.

Some of you who know me know I can take anything but bees...give me a mouse, a snake, even a big, hairy spider, I can deal, but bees -- nope. And they were really lovin' me today. I had one bumping my arm over and over, another took a shine to my glasses, several times...well, let's just say I had to come home and rest this afternoon after that morning battle. Hey, I'm just proud I lasted a whole hour. Sometimes I see a bee, and I scoot.

But I do love me some cinnamon donuts & fresh apple cider. Even if I do have to eat them in the car.