MaeLyn's Musings

Can you taste numbers? Are sevens bold and brassy? Are eights soft and warm? Shower realization the other day... to me, numbers have different flavors. Individually it isn't as noticeable, but when they get piled together in phone numbers, each phone number ends up with a distinctive taste, a compilation of all the numbers in it, like a recipe being the sum of all its ingredients.  For example, my home phone number has lots of 2s, 7s and 6s. These numbers all have somewhat sharp tastes to me. My cell phone number, on the other hand, has 3s, 4s, 5s and an 8, which are all kind of homey or cozy numbers, that result in a "comfort food" kind of flavor.  Does any one else feel this way about numbers? Or am I just weird?

I just dropped Peter off at school, loaded down with a pile of gear, including clothes for two days, rain gear, and a sleeping bag. He's off to Cal-Wood , an environmental education program. He'll return home on Friday. I remember that Josh went to the same place a couple years ago when he was in 5th grade. ( See here for what I wrote about it. ) It's kind of hard to let my youngest go on an overnight adventure without his parents to watch over him. At the same time, I'm confident that this is a good opportunity for him, that he'll learn a lot, that he'll have fun, that it will be a good opportunity to strengthen friendships with his classmates.  I look forward to hearing about his adventures when he returns.

I had a dream this morning that someone had broken into our playroom/patio and stolen all the toys, tools, bikes, camping supplies, etc. that are stored out there. I was torn between being upset that all our stuff was gone, and being overjoyed because the space actually looked really nice and clean!

Something you might not know about Hannah is that she really likes Phantom of the Opera. For her birthday, one of the things she asked for was the Phantom movie on DVD, and not just any version, but it had to be the 25th Anniversary version at the Royal Albert Hall. She's probably watched it over a dozen times on YouTube already. Sometime in the last couple months, she developed a hankering for a " Wishing Dress " (the dress Christine wears when she sings, "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again") and her talented grandmother came through for her. (The photo below doesn't really do it justice, it looks beautiful.) It still seems weird to think that my little girl is sixteen years old. There were A LOT of candles on her birthday cake last night!

Happy Sweet 16 to this beautiful girl!

I hate feeling sick. It's that feeling like pressure is building up inside my skull to the point that the whole thing wants to explode that I can't stand.  It's the feeling like an alien has taken over the insides of my head and it is trying to ooze out my nose and down my throat and even out my eye balls.  It makes me sound like a wart hog when I speak and an elephant when I blow my nose. And then I sneeze and it feels like I'm hitting my sinuses with a hammer.  It saps my energy until it is a major endeavor to leave my bed to do anything. And then, slowly, it ebbs away, leaving a blotchy hallmark on my neck as the other symptoms slowly fade.  Thankfully, it is fading, and I am feeling better. 

I had to borrow Steven's pipe wrench this  morning To open the milk. (Are they gluing the lids on now?)

For Labor Day this year, we decided to go up to a place near Estes Park and take a hike. The day started out sunny and fairly warm. We piled into the car and set off on the hour and a half drive. About an hour or so into the drive, we hit some windy mountain roads and I began feeling nauseous, and set down the puzzle I had been working on. As we continued to twist our way through the canyons, my stomach flipped and flopped and all my concentration was centered on watching the road and trying to keep the contents of my stomach down. I haven't felt that car sick in years! Finally we arrived at the place where we wanted to hike. We climbed out of the car and headed over to some covered picnic tables to eat our lunch. It was as we sat down at the tables that began to notice that it was a little chilly, and we soon moved over to a table that was in the sun. We passed around the slices of pizza we had brought with us. After one bite, I realized I wouldn't be able to eat any. My sto...

I'm allergic to my wedding ring. This is in recovery, after three days of NOT wearing my ring. It is still red, dry, and irritated. Luckily, there is something I can do. This happened to me a few years ago, but I coated the inside of my ring with clear nail polish, and it didn't bother me again until just a week or so ago. I guess the nail polish wore off. So, I put another coat or two of nail polish on my ring... and when my finger heals, I'll be able to wear it again.