Summer Camp, Boot Camp and random thoughts

We're childless for another week, and once again she had no trouble sending us off on our way from her old friend (Helen) and her newly found friends with whom she'll share a Kickapoo cabin at FlatRock River Camp.

I know this is a good thing. I've encouraged her indendpendent streak. I even like it. Except when I don't.

Before she went, I asked her if she thought the boy she'd gone on a "date" with to the weekly camp dance would be there and if she thought she'd go with him again and if she thought he'd try to kiss her. She informed me that she didn't know if he'd be there, she has little interest in kissing but if she did, she wouldn't tell me because "You'll just blab it on the Internet."

She doesn't read this blog, but some of her friends do and they tell her about it. I told her that if she tells me it's a secret, I never share -- not here and not anywhere. She seemed to accept it as believable. I'm hoping so because I'm fairly certain her opinion on boys and romance is going to change. She actually brought a skirt and fancy top in anticipation of the dance, and she's lately been interested in shopping.

I've actually been encouraging the "no romance, no how, no way" concept. But I know it's only a matter of time.

I reminded her today that when she gets back from her sleepaway camp, she'll have rock climbing camp at the Jordan Y but on Wednesday she'll skip it to go to Raccoon Lake with Elizabeth and Traci. This on the heels of a week with her cousins in the country and a week in Maine.

"This is the best summer EVER!" she chirped.

Indeed. You could do worse than have the life of Alison Reed.

Next week, I've committed to a boot camp exercise class at work that I couldn't normally take and pick Ali up on time from her day camp. We normally split delivery and pickup, and Jeff's work arrival is later than mine, so he's generally the one who delivers her to wherever she's headed in the morning. I asked our fitness instructor, Kelsey, who is my friend (unless I'm in agony and cursing her) if I should plan on doing my usual Monday strength training as well as the boot camp.

"Um. Probably not," she said.

The Angie's List garden needs more weeding. "Think I'll be in good enough shape to weed after the class?"

"Um. Probably not," she said.

Great. Can't wait for that....

Random stuff:

The heat wave claimed James and David's pool in Maine. If you've ever wondered what it would take to melt super heavy duty plastic, it's several weeks of 90-degree heat in a row. Ali and I, who covet their pool, had a moment of silence.

A hawk has moved into our neighborhood and sometimes hangs out in the trees in our yard. One day, it was playing tag with another hawk from our yard to Debbie's next door, across to Jason's and back again.

I thought perhaps it was a love match, but I haven't seen Hawk No. 2 since then, so now I'm wondering if I witnesses the early stages of raptor-i-cide. Who do you call to report on that?!

Karin and I witnessed a woman yesterday who was wearing black tights that were so wrongly sized that her panties make them look like control top panty hose. Except that you knew they were panties. I've committed my share of fashion sins, and I'm sure there are more to come, but please. Even though they're called "tights" your circulatory system shouldn't be jeopardized. And panties are UNDERwear. They should be under there, not out there.

I had book club Friday and we talked about The Paris Wife -- a book about Ernest Hemmingway's first wife and the craziness that led up to their divorce. It's got me on a Hemmingway kick and I'm being encouraged to read Loving Frank, about his mistress. I'm fairly certain I'm going to need a vampire book in between. They may be biters, the vamps, but they're loyal to their mates once they find them....

Hot Child in the City

We have one more week with Alison before she flies off on another trip without us. She's going back to Camp Flatrock with her friend Helen.

When we left her at Jaime's last weekend, she waved us off without a bit of care. I knew the extraction would be difficult, so I jumped at a chance to bring Jenna with me when I picked her up. That may have been the only thing to get her unbarricaded from an upstairs bedroom.

Her time "in the country" as she calls it, was one of the best weeks of her life, she claims. Horseback riding, midnight blockbuster movies, the pool, the trampoline, the lake, even the theatre was all just magnificent. One day they made these super cool tie-dyed shirts. Ali loves hers so much she won't wear it to camp tomorrow because she doesn't want to get it dirty.

She loves the cousins, Jaime and Lee, and she's ready to either have them here or her back there just as soon as it can happen. I just hope they let her come back.

At the last party of the week, Alison was pulled into a conversation with a girl who was a year ahead of me in high school and who is grandmother to the birthday boy. Apparently my little drama queen kept going on and on about how much she loved the country -- it was so quiet and pretty and just so peaceful.

"Where in the world does she live?" Jamie was asked.

While there are few spots in Indianapolis that could be mistaken for the fabled concrete jungle, Jaime explained that while we do live in the geographic middle of the city, we have a yard, trees and even have a park nearby. I think Ali had them thinking she lives in the ghetto and is sung to sleep by the sounds of gunfire and police sirens. Oy!

We hadn't yet gotten out of Jaime's driveway when Alison whispered loudly and somewhat shamefully to her BFF, "My family listens to country music."

Jenna nodded, rolled her eyes and pointed to her iPod, which she'd plugged in when WFMS started playing about an hour into our drive. We'd had quite the discussion before then.

Suffice it to say that their 10 isn't the same 10 as mine was. Um, Amer, you might want to call me. I swear I didn't reveal anything new. Or much of anything new. Or. Uh. Well. Yeah, maybe you'd better call me, Amer.

When I finally got Alison home from her Saturday sleepover (she has quite the social life) she walked in, looked around and said, "I missed my house."

She then sequestered herself for a few hours in her bedroom where she unpacked, spoke to her fish and energized up the laptop. She later found Pink Bunny,. the first stuffed animal in her collection, and snuggled up with her beanbag and family room television

It's been good to have us all home. I'm soaking it up while I can.

Home alone

I'm home alone. Can't remember the last time that happened, but I have to confess that I'm kind of enjoying it.

We spent most of last week in Maine where we climbed a small mountain, went to a beach and, oh, yeah: we helped Auntie Jen get married. (more on that later.)

We got home Sunday afternoon and left from the airport to deliver Alison to her cousins where she could barely be bothered to say goodbye she was happy to be with them, their trampoline and pool. Jeff was most dismayed to see the pool because Ali has been wanting one here and I think he's afraid she won't come home tomorrow.

So it's been date night for us since Sunday. Except for last night when he left me for work and softball and more work after that. Tonight he's with Andy at a Steely Dan concert. I don't know if I'll ever see him again.

Last night, I rode my bike to and back home from work, then decided I had nothing to do so I kept on it past my stop off the Monon Trail and biked up to Nora where I signed Ali up for camp at the Jordan Y next week and then went even further to Justice for Girls and bought a birthday gift for the party she'll go to tomorrow.

All in all it was a little more than 20 miles on the bike. So I was, shall we say, ripe when I finally pedaled into my driveway.

But then, I saw all the weeds in my front yard and decided I was already dirty so I should clear a few and water the parched flowers before I showered and settled in with the Bravo network and whichever housewives were one. My neighbor Mark stopped by and I made the mistake of asking him to identify these really tall plants that were taking up some significant real estate.

"Well, those are weeds," he said, pointing and looking around.

"Are you sure? They're so big," I said, confessing that I don't remember sometimes what I plant in the fall. "I keep waiting for them to flower."

"Nope. They're weeds. And so are those. And those. And these here, too," he said. "And some of those over there."

It was after 8 o'clock before I got to go in and enjoy my night alone. I love Mark. And now I can see him and his wife Jerry if I look East. Two bags of weeds will clear a lot of air space...

So tomorrow I'm to pick Jenna up, go get Ali where I hope she'll be separated from her cousins, and deliver them both to Breanna's sleepover birthday party. Yeah. It's another date night for me and the mister. I can't imagine what we'll do. It won't be yard work, I promise you that.

But back to Maine. It was fabulous. I know it was hot here, but there it was glorious every day, and we got to spend time with almost everyone. Jen and Ali and I had a lot of girl time, and Alison was a wonderful bridesmaid.

When the bridal party was announced to the reception, Alison went first. She walked through those double doors like Heidi Klum on a runway and then channeled Princess Kate, giving a royal wave and grin to the room. Everyone else just tried to keep up.

We're so happy for Jen and Peter. The wedding was lovely and the reception rivaled one I was involved with about 13 years ago. It really was a great party, and Jen was still talking about my friend Amer, who sent her a gift AND a card to celebrate the blessed event. They've met twice, I think, but they were both memorable. How sweet was that?!

I have more photos and hopefully we'll have good ones taken by the pros soon. I'll find a way to share. Meanwhile, I should clear something up.

While en route to the beach, Ali was riding with Jen and Peter and telling them all about her plans post-wedding, which involved the cousins. She apparently felt the need to explain that while the girls are her cousins, Aunt Jaime isn't her aunt at all. She's really a cousin because Aunt Donna (who is really her aunt) was only 17 when she had Jaime and had to get married. And then Jaime was really young when she had her kids. That's why Aunt Jaime (who isn't really an aunt but is really a cousin) has kids so close to Alison's age who are also her cousins.

I'm told the saga took up a lot of the trip but at least everyone's clear on that. Except Donna wasn't an unwed mother; she just married shortly after high school (at 18) and had Jaime about four years later. Donna's 10 years older than me and I just got a late start on the family planning stuff. So. To recap. Donna is an aunt but was never an unwed mother or shotgun bride. Jaime married young too, but also no unwed motherhood or shotguns involved.

(Oh sure I have shotgun stories, but none directly related to these weddings.)

OK. I have more stories and more pictures, but this is my last night home alone. I'm sure there's some fine TV awaiting...

Holey Moley!

We've been having a lazy weekend and it's been great. I'm having technological difficulties with transferring photos, but it's the worst thing that's happened in the last few days so I'm OK with it.

Alison woke us up at 6:40 Saturday morning reminding us that it was finally time for her to be able to take out her starter ear rings. She was soooooo excited. So up I got.

I had forgotten how much gunk and gore gets stuck on those things, and she wasn't prepared for it either. After we got over that, we cleaned them up and tried to put in a pair of earrings she'd bought weeks ago. The holes weren't quite ready.

So we let her ears go unadorned for a few hours and startd to put the originals back in -- not the best idea. It seemed they'd already started to close, but we got them in after only a bit of squeals and groans. That was me. Ali cried a little bit.

But we got through it and today she's been practicing with my Lia Sophia hoops. They don't have backs to stick on -- plus she thinks they're super cool. I figure anything metal holding those tiny holes open is good. Plus, it's practice for when she goes raiding my jewelry box for real.

We're also super excited about this weekend. Jennifer Reed becomes Jennifer Chase on Saturday and Ali and I are as ready to help her down the aisle as we can be. Jeff's figured out (heavy sigh) that he'll have to wear long pants twice -- twice I tell you -- on the trip. But we're all excited to see the family and officially make Peter a part of it.

Send all your good karma to our friend Eric, who's recovering from double transplant surgery this weekend. It's a good thing: he's been on the list for way too long. We'll be anxious to see him when we can.

I'm sure we've all shared good thoughts for our Armed Forces -- wherever they are. It's a good country we have -- we're lucky to be living here.

Cross your fingers that I can figure out the photo issue -- it's kind of a key part of the weekly shoot....

Happy summer!

Full disclosure

It's a rainy Fathers' Day here in Indianapolis, which is great because I don't think I can have one more bit of fun and still make it to work tomorrow.

I had Book Club Friday night, Jeff played poker and Alison slept over at the Ogdens.

The book was bad, but we had two bottles of champagne and other wine, one pregnancy announcement, one run for state senate announcement and one member's near miss of a threesome when she hopped across the border on weekend of her misspent youth. (I brought the champagne, not the announcements...)

Saturday morning, Ali and had what was my final fitting for our dresses for Jen's wedding. Alison's dress is nearly finished, she'll have at least one more fitting.

That afternoon, Alison had Jenna's 10th birthday party and Jeff and I went to Annmarie's 50th birthday party that night.

But first, there was The Discovery.

While she waited for Miss Julia to adjust her dress, Alison went looking for my phone in my purse. "Hey Mom, what's this?" she said, holding up a tampon.

I sighed. I knew it would happen one day, and I was happy to talk about it with her...but not in the tailoring shop. "I'll tell you in the car, honey, we're almost done here."

"But what it is it?"

"I'll tell you later."

"Why? What is it? Is it for a shot?"

"No."

"Is it medicine?"

"No."

"Is it candy?"

"No."

She followed me into the changing room. It was my fault we were lingering; I had some other clothes to adjust as well as the bridesmaid dresses.

She kept firing questions at me. Now, I'm not usually one to hold back, but I really didn't want an audience for this one. There was an older gentleman in the outer room, I'd heard the bell announce another customer, and there was also Miss Julia. None of the rooms in the place were actually rooms -just thin walls that didn't hit the ceiling.

"Is it a game?"

"No."

"Is it a gun?"

"No."

"Is it candy?"

"No. I. Will. Tell. You. LATER."

"Geeze! Is it a weapon?"

We get in the car.

"Are you sure you want to hear this?" I asked, rememering her admonition that she wanted to hear the sex talk only once. "It's kind of gross."

"Sure. What is it? Can we go to Taco Bell? I'm starving," she said.

I give her the scoop on the item she had found as well as its companion item, the whys and hows and that it will be something she'll have to deal with sometime soon.

"How does the blood get out of you?" she asked.

As Taco Bell came into view, I went into more detail.

"Huh," she said. "You know Mom, that's not all that gross. I mean, it just happens once, right?"

"No, it happens every month for a long, long time."

"Well it's just once a month, right? I know something that's way grosser than that," she said. "Wanna hear it?"

"Sure," I said, bracing myself.

Her story involved a guy who once ate so much spaghetti that it couldn't fit in his stomach and he had to scoop it out OF HIS OWN THROAT!!!! I had to admit that the pasta story was pretty gross.

Happily, the debate over crunchy, soft or double decker tacos changed the subject. She hasn't yet returned to it. I feared for a while that she'd bring it up at Jenna's birthday sleepover. I could just hear her saying, "Hey, guys, guess what's going to happen to US?!"

But I trusted Amer to spot a flock of seagulls or gazelles or something. I'd gone over there prepared to go to the gym on my way home. My hair was scraped back, I had on workout gear and no makeup.

Before the gymn, I stopped in at Kroger and was lost looking at gift cards when I hear my name. Susie (Ann's sister) and her friend, Mary Ann, who turned out to be super fun, were there, too. We chatted a bit and I said I'd see them later.

I did shower before the party. I even had my hair down, some makeup slapped on and the magic bra that, well, was working some pretty magnificent magic. I spied Mary Ann and went to say hello. She looked at me blankly.

I said, "We met at Kroger..." She took another look and said, "You look different."

At the time, I attributed it to my hair being a crazy mess. But now, I'm thinking it was the extra cup sizes I was carrying. I think I could be a spy with that thing on.
I think anyone who wears one of those things on a first date is asking for trouble. It's really false advertising. And, bonus: there's no backpain with those puppies.

But that wasn't the only Father's Day gift Jeff got.

Alison had a couple surprises, including her trademark greeting card with singing gerbils or squirrels or some sort of furry creature. She settled on some father-daughter metal collar tabs from The Red Envelope and a sweet book, and we took him out for a late breakfast. I think they have some Mario Kart or Donkey Kong in their plans.

As for me, I'm going to finish downloading the photographs that have been living in my phone and camera and then go find a newspaper. I've unloaded enough lately...

Advancing the cause

It was such a big weekend that I didn't have the energy to sort through all the fun stuff. Alison and her Auntie Jen helped -- and hurt me -- today in that endeavor.

Jen started it off by wondering via email about whether she should change her middle name to keep her maiden name when she gets married next month. (I did that and found out later that Miss Manners totally approved.) The mere discussion sounded like a TeamReedblog entry to me, and it just got better. Of course that pushed back all the other stuff held captive in my camera and my memory, but a good story trumps everything…

I gave my opinion about Jen’s future name, and then when I picked Ali up from camp, I asked her what she thought about it. She opined that Auntie Jen's premise was without merit.

"Why doesn't Uncle Peter change his name?" she asked, truly puzzled.

We asked Jeff about it over dinner. He really wanted me to change my name when we were preparing for our wedding, and I waffled for a long, long time. I ultimately gave it to him for a Christmas present in the guise of a brass door knocker for the home we were to move into the following month.

"Back a long time ago, honey," he started.

"You mean back when we were still slaves in the olden days?" she asked, frowning in direct reference to her outrage that women didn’t always get to vote and have jobs and everything she takes for granted.

It was a fun conversation. Suffice it to say Jeff didn’t win her over.

I think Jen is taking Alison’s advice into consideration, and I totally want to be there when Peter hears about it…
Weekend highlights:

Jenna and Ali had a sleepover. They're like old women just gossiping and giggling and having fun every time they get together no matter how long it's been. At one point I had them at Huddles yogurt and they were scarfing down frozen loveliness. I skipped it because I was at my point limit.

"Is your mom still on that diet?" Jenna asked.

"Yeah," Alison said. "I don't really like it. She's not as good a pillow as she used to be."

Alex Ogden was over, too, and he got to come down to Greene County with us for a surprise party for my niece and cousin. (That's two different people for you folks who think the country is full of interesting gene pools...) We went down to one of our favorite places, owned by the family of one of my closest friends from high school. My brother and Lea Anne Blanton were destined for holy matrimony -- I could have sworn it. Every time I see her I think of him and that summer... oh my!

But anyway, we went down for the party and Jeff put on a fireworks show that only set us back a couple of paychecks. (You're welcome, Tom Vielee) We kept Alex for a little while longer Sunday when we got back. But eventually, we had to give him back. On the way home, Alison was asking when we could have both him and his sister Hannah back over.

She sighed. "I like the Ogdens," she said.

I'm sure there's more. I'm going to have to download the camera.

Three Little Rats

Alison came home from her last day of school with a grocery bag and a backpack full of stuff to go through. I like to keep a little bit of her work each year but even winnowing it like I do, I still end up with tons of masterpieces.

Among the keepers this year is My Poem Book. My personal favorite is what was supposed to be a limmerick. In case you can't read it, it is as follows:

The Three Little Rats
By Alison Reed
4th Grade

The three little rats are all ghouls,
Ice water down my neck; Not cool!!!
They like pranks and pies.
And then there's the lies.
They're my cousins on April Fool's!

I told Ali I thought she'd just written my blog for me.

"The cousins don't read that, do they?"

"Aunt Jaime does."

"Well be sure to say, 'Alison was just kidding.'" she said.

I laughed and asked why would I have to do that? Alison loves "the cousins" Rebecca, Rachael and Aleasha. She's spending a week with them this summer if she can behave herself from now until then.

"Because they might want to kill me!!!" she said.

They might want a little revenge. But I think they'll let her live...