Baby Emus!!!

I have you scared now, don’t I? It is possible that I could have baby emus, they sell them here….but no. It’s my baby turkeys they look like emus with their body shape, long necks and bitty heads. If Mark has done his job, there should be a picture or two below.

They are so so so very cute and they have the most interesting calls, whistles, peeps, cheeps, and chirps! Although I can’t say I appreciate having them in the house at bed time because they consistently choose the moment that my eyes shut and I get relaxed to call out to me (I am convinced that it IS all about me! LOL!). Fortunately, it is short lived and the two of them intertwine necks (YES! They actually wrap their necks together – adorable!) and go to sleep. So far, I am lovin’ the turkeys!

New motto: always have a second cup of coffee…

That might have helped.

First, let me throw Mark out there. He could have used a bit of coffee, but he doesn’t touch the stuff. Maybe it would have helped him at Ikea. After work yesterday, he went to a couple of places and then made a trip to Ikea. He bought three things for his desk/office. Then he went out to his car and realized that one wouldn’t fit in his sedan. Oops! No problem, he took it back in, explained the situation and returned the item. The plan was to have him or I come back with one of our bigger cars. A very nice clerk helped him out and listened to his story. Then he gets home and opens one of the boxes. Oops! He meant to get a white storage cabinet, but instead it was neon green. Same for the second one.

So that brings me to today. Today started a bit rough. K is not easy to wake up, so I usually set my alarm to go get her going about 20 minutes before Mark leaves. Then I get her upstairs as he is leaving. The thought from there is that the dog is wound up after her breakfast and needs to go in and out of the house to take care of business, patrol for squirrels, etc, so I need her to be around so the dog doesn’t scratch the door up. Typically, she’s eating breakfast, so it works out and I can get myself ready. Well, today, my alarm was set for the wrong time, so I didn’t get her up at the usual time and I only realized it minutes before Mark was ready to walk out. I jumped up and got K up and said goodbye to Mark.

Then I started in on the dog stuff. Today there was a squirrel and a stupid one at that. It nearly got caught by the dog because it saw the dog and, instead of running AWAY from the dog, it doubled back right in front of the dog. Well, that got the dog fired up and it was a constant parade in and out of the house to check and see where the squirrel was. Meanwhile, I am waiting and calling for K and time is passing by.

Finally I got her upstairs. (Grumble grumble..) for fifty minutes the kid only managed to get her clothes (sort of) changed. Meanwhile, I am waiting to go. Now, we do still have enough time to get there, but only if I keep moving. This is now the part where she is telling me to get going because she likes to leave at a certain time and get there before the little kids she works with are there and she works with the teacher to lay out the plans for the day and, if there is bad traffic, there is buffer time to keep from being late. I (being a little vindictive at this point) decide that I will give her a dose of her medicine and proceed at a snails pace to get ready and take the same amount of time she did. She’s freaks out a little…not enough to smooth things over with me, but I got a little.

We go, she gets there right as kids are arriving. Then I head out to Ikea to clean up the neon green problem and get the third item. Ikea wasn’t going to open for a half hour, so I head over to a nearby Target to pick up some stuff. (Coffee please!) Just as I get out of my car, a light sprinkle turns into a downpour and, not being parked close to the store, I get drenched. My hair is stuck to my face because the wind was going to and I am a mess. I decide to head into the bathroom to take care of business and clean myself up. I head in and take one of two open stalls…

I look down and notice that the lady next to me has rather large feet. Said person also has some….to put this delicately…boisterous gastrointestinal activities going on. It kind of gave me pause and I sort of stalled coming out of the bathroom when the person got out and washed their hands. Now through the door, I sort of see Big Feet and Big Feet is sort of …burly..with very short hair…and OH MY GOODNESS I am in the wrong place! Then a second person comes in and it is confirmed. (Insert shriek!) For the second time in my life I am in the Men’s room – The first was by choice at a U2 concert. When the choice is an hour in line for the Women’s or snag an unused stall by the door in the Men’s room with a small group of cohorts, you do what you have to do! Even the guys understood. (Back to the immediate horror of the moment) Now two guys are in there and I am hiding. Then the first one leaves and (happily) the second one uses the stall. In the small window of opportunity, I race out hoping not to bump into the next guy. Thankfully, no one sees me and I am home free…..totally embarrassed, but free. I can laugh now, but yikes!

Now you know that no matter what stupid, embarrassing thing that happened to you today it is not nearly as bad as mine. (and if it is, SHARE!) Yes, I can laugh at myself on this one.

I quickly finished up with Target, sans anymore bathroom trips…hair out of the eyes now!… and then head over to Ikea. I pull the boxes out and get poured on once again. Then I take a number and wait to be helped at returns. I step up when I am called and the lady looks at the receipt and says, “Did you bring the bigger car?” and snickers. She was the clerk who had helped Mark out. Then she really lets the giggles out when she finds out he got the green cabinets instead of white. I finish up, pick up the new items, and then head out to my car as it starts pouring again – I swear a cloud was watching me and kicking it into gear every time I was going to or from my car. I get drenched, the boxed get drenched, but I am out of there and free of all possible ability to go into a public restroom for awhile.

My embarrassing thing makes me think of what happened to K last week. She was leading her preschoolers though the forest and they were finding frogs. First they found one that was in the middle of the path and he was not doing so well – quite stiff. (Not necessarily bad – bullfrogs are an invasive species up here and a big problem.) With the next frog that they happened on, K decided to use this as a learning opportunity. She picks up the frog and decides to get her “teacher self on”, so she holds out the frog and is talking to the kids about it. The kids want to see it more, so she opens her hands a bit more. It them jumps from her fully extended arms all the way to her face. It landed on her face! Thank goodness it wasn’t me, it wouldn’t have stayed preschool language at that point. Anyway, the kids thought it was hysterical.

I think this was also the same day that she was walking and instructing her mini crew when she was touching some plants. The teacher yelped at her because she had just run her hands through poison ivy or poison oak…I forget which we have around here. She spent the rest of their time in the forest trying not to touch anything (kids, herself, etc). She came close to trouble when they ran into another instructor she knows and he exclaimed at seeing her and put his hand up for a high five. It was close, but she fortunately left him hanging. The poison never really caused her to get a rash, so all was well.

I am sure there is more embarrassing stuff, but I will let it go for now. Time for bed and baby emus to scream their love for me!