Confessions of a Derelict Mom...

I just finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

I will not give away any spoilers here for those of you who have not yet finished. Just so's you know!

The girls have been fed and dressed (but perhaps not bathed...I'm pleading the fifth on that one) since I got the book in my hot little hands. They seem to have kept themselves entertained for the most part - only the occasional screech or fuss has been heard and I've happily ignored it unless it seemed like it was heading for a bloodbath. But, I have not really paid much attention to them since I picked up the mail at 5:00PM on Saturday.

Yes, I have been a Harry Potter-obsessed and neglectful mother to my three young'uns these last couple of days.

But, hey, now I know the ending! And I managed not to stumble upon any spoilers online! Yay me - and to heck with responsibilities! Right?

It appears my children survived this weekend of neglect without scars (I hope). I mean, really, Rick was around to tend to any serious needs, right? And kids need time to play on their own without adult supervision interruption, right?

Sirius-ly Seriously.

Now I can get back to my regularly scheduled life and hope my girls will remember who the heck I am.

And pretty soon they will be begging for me to read them the next book in the Harry Potter series (cuz, you see, I think the main reason they let me get away with having my "nose in that book" - yes, that came direct from R's lips - all weekend was because they desperately want to know if they are old enough to hear beyond our current bedtime story, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire)! I think I've successfully created a new generation of Harry Potter/J.K. Rowling fans in our household...

Long live J.K. Rowling!!!!!!!!!

(See? No spoilers. Now - if you haven't already - GO FINISH THE BOOK!)

How Do You Spell Relief?

T-H-U-N-D-E-R-S-T-O-R-M!

We had a pretty decent thunderstorm last night and a significant amount of rain. The plants got a good watering and we are finally getting a break in the temperature and humidity levels.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....

Feels good.


I walked with Lauri this morning and, lo and behold, we could actually BREATHE. The air yesterday was so oppressive even at 6am that it felt like trying to breathe through a wet sock. Once home, I opened a bunch of window and threw on the whole house fan (wonderful creation - a must have if one does not have central a/c!). The cool morning breezes are now flowing across me as I type and the temperature in the room has dropped by about 8 degrees in the last 10 minutes!

I might actually chose to go outside today. A good day for a trip to the park and a picnic. The girls have been asking to go to this nice big park a couple of towns over where they have the usual playground equipment but also a sprinkler park, little train ride, bumper boats, and a petting zoo. I think today might just be the day to take that little jaunt. It might actually be on the cool side for taking advantage of the sprinkler park, but we can certainly find plenty of other things to do there!

I'm very jealous of all the people who have already seen the new Harry Potter movie. Rick and I are hoping to go out for a date night next week -- it's been far too long since our last one and we still haven't been out to officially celebrate our 12th anniversary! So, the plan is to do dinner and then go see HP #5! And speaking of Harry Potter (who isn't these days with a book release and a new movie in the same month!?) I decided to go online and pre-order the new book so that it arrives at my house on the 21st. However, my one issue is that it has been so long since I read the books that I'm feeling the need to try to reread the first 6 before the release so I can keep the facts straight! Not sure I'll succeed but I'm nearly finished reading the third book to the girls and I just started the fourth book last night. I think I will stop reading Harry Potter to the girls with the end of the third book since things get a lot darker with #4. They are not going to be happy about that since they know that #7 is coming out but I am afraid of creating fodder for nightmares for one or both of them. And surprisingly (or not), I'm more worried about R having nightmares than I am about A who just has a completely different kind of personality. In fact, upon seeing the trailer for the first movie, A was very much ready to watch the entire thing - no fear - whereas R looked spooked out at the sight of the ogre and the three-headed dog in the few seconds they flashed on the screen. So, R is certainly not ready to view someone else's vision of the Harry Potter wizarding world and its varied and often gruesome creatures...

Wow - now the temperature is at a comfortable 73 degrees in this room and since I'm still sweaty from my walk I'm actually feeling a bit chilled. I just grabbed my first cup of coffee and so I'm going to finish up this post, drink my coffee and then head for the shower.

Enjoy your day - mine is certainly off to a great start!