My Circus Life

Dear Tooth Fairy,

This is my very last baby tooth. So this is also my last letter to you. Although I might say hi in some of Sweet Pea and Buddy’s letters. I would like to ask you just a few more questions:

1. Do you have any brothers or sisters?
   
2. Do you knit, sew, or weave?
   
3. What is your favorite hobby?
   
4. How old are you?
   
5. Do you celebrate holidays like we do?
   
6. Do you have a big family?

Lots of things have changed since I first started losing teeth. I have braces now. I’m going into 6th grade, and I am 11. (I will be 12 in November. My new cousin will be 1 on the same day.)

Hope you can answer my questions!!

Sincerely,

Punkin

P.S. I have 2 more questions

1. Do you keep track of all the teeth each person loses?
   
2. How many teeth have you collected so far? (You can guess if you have to)

Years ago, Punkin began writing letters for the Tooth Fairy each time she lost a tooth. The first letter was sweet and shy with a couple of questions you would expect a little girl would ask of a fairy. “What color is your hair?” and “Do you have a pretty dress? What color is it?”

Awww, right? Punkin’s letter was answered the next night by a typed note from the Tooth Fairy, complete with Tooth Fairy logo stationery. Punkin was thrilled.

The next tooth/letter asked more specific questions about the Tooth Fairy’s house and “Do you have any pets? What are their names?”

Creative thinking/writing cap on, letter answered (after finding another graphic of the Tooth Fairy because the logo from the first letter couldn’t be found). In another typed note, the Tooth Fairy told Punkin that her favorite pet was a puffball named Mr. Tibbles.

Since then, the questions have become more specific and tougher to answer creatively. After leaving a couple of “form letters” from the Tooth Fairy (of the “I have so many letters from so many kids, I can’t always get to all of them” variety) the last two or three of Punkin’s letters have gone unanswered.

Hubby just laughs. I should have seen this coming, huh?

Punkin is a sweet girl. She is eleven years old and is going into middle school in the fall. She has been asking questions about Santa and The Easter Bunny for well over a year now. She is “not sure” about Santa. (Apparently Santa screwed up last year and gave the Chipmunk CDs *she* wanted to her brother and sister, leaving the “less cool” Chipmunk CD for her.)

All of Punkin’s questions about the Easter Bunny were answered honestly because I/we am/are not the Easter Bunny, and because she never came right out and asked “Who IS the Easter Bunny?”

As for the Tooth Fairy, Punkin is “sure” I’m not the Tooth Fairy because (and she has told me this) there is no way I could have come up with a pet puffball named Mr. Tibbles.

Her ‘last letter’ to the Tooth Fairy is above, and I am truly torn about this.

I do not want the other kids to think she is a baby or weird because she believes, nor do I want to stomp all over her beliefs.

On the other hand, it would be kind of fun to include her in on the magic that is the Tooth Fairy. I know she would protect that piece of information from the littler clowns, and that she might enjoy being included in the “grown up” stuff.

Yes, yes, yes… I know she’ll “figure it out on her own”, and I think she may already have. This seems like a good opportunity to reveal it to her, by answering her last letter to the Tooth Fairy.

Thoughts?

Life seems to always get in the way of my blogging lately…

I still have some projects in the works (both offline and online) that are going along slowly (my friend Doug’s tribute, losing some weight/getting in better shape, self-study book-learnin’ for work)– as I said, life and it’s many directions get in the way of my plans.

There are no ‘Trace-chasin’ adventures planned, but I’m hoping to get in at least one concert this year. (Hear that, Trace?!)

The clowns are in the throes of wrapping up the school year.

In a matter of a few months…

• our youngest clown will be starting Kindergarten
  I am ok with this — mostly because it means after 11 years (E-LEV-EN YEARS), we will finally be done paying the daycare center a monthly arm and leg to care for our children. (We’ll still have “care costs” for the clowns, but the cost will go down to only one limb a month instead of two) Buddy is excited about starting Kindergarten, and routinely asks how many sleeps until he can go there.

• our middle clown will be in Second grade
  Our toothless Sweet Pea (those little baby teeth keep falling out to make room for the great big monster permanent teeth she inherited from my set of genes and will most likely need orthodontia to align those suckers in a few short years) is more excited about summer vacation right now, then she is about being in second grade in the fall. She has learned so much this past year. She’s become a good reader and writer with a sharp wit and wicked sense of humor. Who knows, maybe she’ll be a famous author one day.

• and… our oldest clown will be starting middle school
  Lord help me. Our little blue-eyed baby girl has done so much growing up in the past few short months — braces and friends and middle school, oh my. (You can skim past this part if you’re one of the “anyone who will listen” that’s already heard all about how I’m having a tough time watching her become a young adult.) She’s tall and smart and beautiful and sweet… I’m so glad that she comes to me with “growing up” questions about things and situations, and I pray that she always does.

Later this Summer, Hubs and the clowns and I will attempt another Great American Circus Road Trip. Schedule and specifics are still a little wiggly at this point, but we’re all very much looking forward to it.

That’s about all that’s going on here lately…a little bit of everything. If you’re looking for a daily dose of Circus life, you can follow me on Twitter. Sometimes, 140 characters is all I the time life allows me to update!

Take care!

Hello my friends! See that lil button there? It’s there for a REASON!

Let me tell you about it…

One of our BFFs on the innernet has been going through a rough time. If you know Susie, you know the scoop. If you don’t, you can read up on the particulars over on her blog.

Now, this lady, lemme tell ya… is an absolute lovely, LOVELY human being. Caring, compassionate and funny as hell. Some of us were not content to just sit back and watch life smack her around like it has been without doing SOMETHING to help her. Unfortunately for us, we’re sort of scattered all over the United States — even the WORLD! — and not able to be by her side to prop her up, clean her house, make some dinners, or do any of the little (or maybe big) things that we could be doing to help out if we were *right there*.

In that spirit, a lil button of sorts has been set up. Would you like to send her family some meals so they can focus on “bigger” things and not have to worry about “What’s for dinner?” on top of everything else? Would you like to maybe contribute a dollar or two to medical and/or everyday costs? Would you like to send a care package? All you have to do is clicky the lil button up there to help Susie’s cup runneth over with goodwill and the knowledge that all of us goofy innernet people are thinking about her and her family and hoping and doing what we can to help them through this rough patch.

We were planning on letting Susie know who donates, but not the amount. If you would rather your name not be mentioned, that can be arranged, too.

* Questions about the button, donations or the whole process?

* Would you like to pass the word by email or by adding the button to your internet pages?

Contact Charlotte (CKHilliker2 at aol dot com) and/or Kelli (kelli3 at gmail dot com) for more info.

(Axe murderers need not apply. Void in Timbuktu and that space under your bed where the dustbunnies live)

Do you ever have those days when you’d rather be anyone else than who you are today?

I just want to run away today.

There really is no reason for it. I just want to.

No kids, no job, nothing that resembles my current life at all.

I want to relax, have no worries, no cares.

I want to drink until I’m tipsy
lounge
read
talk
laugh
eat
and not have to think about
what I have to do during lunch
or this afternoon
or tonight
or tomorrow.

What do you do when you feel like that?

What gets you through until the feeling passes?

Just a quick Sunday morning update.

It feels like I’m up early, but I guess I’m really not. Breakfast went by quickly this morning — we don’t watch cartoons with breakfast on Sundays. I guess the kids tend to focus more when they aren’t put in a Disney-induced trance.

In spite of a backache from yesterday’s efforts to clean up the worst spaces in the house and some allergies, I am feeling good. Content. That’s a good thing.

I could easily go back to bed right now, but the sun is out and there is a book that is telling me it needs to be read.

I did my best to take care of things yesterday so I could take today off a bit. I do have to hit the grocery store today, but I can do that later.

Buddy tells me the girls are playing “Bawbies” in the playroom. Behind me, Buddy is playing with a Hot Wheels toy he rescued from the donations piled in the livingroom.

The house, if not entirely quiet, is at least at peace right now. That is always a lovely thing.

Later today, we may go for a walk.

I love sunny, quiet Sundays. Especially when they reflect the way I’m feeling.

My daughter, my own flesh and blood, tried to kill me this past weekend.

Oh sure, she told me she wanted to sign up for the annual race because she wanted to win a trophy, but I really think it was her attempt to off me.

A few weeks ago, Sweet Pea came home from school and told us she wanted to sign up for the annual race.

Me: Really? Are you sure? This is really something you want to do?
(thinking “Ugh. Please no. If I sign you up, I have to sign me up, and I really don’t like running. Really, really don’t like it.”)

Sweet Pea: Yes! Mom! They have TROPHIES! I want to win a trophy!
(thinking “This is my chance to off Mom without even touching her, and in front of 300 other people, too! THE PERFECT CRIME! *mwahahahahahaha* (evil laugh)!

Me: Ok. I’ll sign us up for the 1 mile race… not the 5K.
(thinking “Crap.”)

Sweet Pea: *smile*
(thinking “She’s putty in my hands.”)

And so, I signed the three of us girls up (Punkin wanted to do it, too).

Did I train? Nooo. I used to walk further than a mile several times a week… uh, yeah… 25 years ago. But, I’ve been trying to walk more, and get out more lately, so I’m sure it will be fine. It’s only a mile, right?

As the days went by, I started to almost look forward to this one mile race. As I said, I’m trying to “move” more and lose a little weight. This mile race would be a good thing for me.

Then Sweet Pea came home from school one day and said, “Mom, I don’t think I want to do the mile race.”

Me: Really? Why?
(thinking “I KNEW IT! I KNEW SHE WAS GOING TO CHANGE HER MIND! HA!”)

Sweet Pea: I just don’t know if I can win.
(thinking “I can’t appear too anxious for this race, she’ll know something is up.)

Me: Well, I’ll tell you what. We’ll do our best. We may not come in first, but we probably won’t be last. We’ll also have a lot of fun in the meantime, right?
(thinking “…and I already paid the fees…”)

Sweet Pea: Ok. Yeah. It will be fun.
(thinking “…putty in my hands…”)

Race day dawned, early - we had to be on mark at 8:00am… on a Sunday… in the rain.

Me: “C’mon girls! Let’s go! Race day! YAY!”
(thinking “I do NOT get up early to exercise EVER. ESPECIALLY on a Sunday. In the RAIN. And most especially NOT RUNNING.”)

We walked down to the race location (I thought it would be a little contradictory to DRIVE down to the race location), checked in, lined up and started warming up. There was a sense of comradery in the air. I was there with my girls, we were going to have fun… even if Sweet Pea was talking a mile a minute to cover her growing anxiety.

THREE, TWO, ONE, GO!

Off we went… Punkin and Sweet Pea raced ahead, I jogged behind. Getting more and more behinder every second.

A few hundred yards into the race, I caught up to Sweet Pea. She was already waning and didn’t want to do this and whine whine whine. Punkin was already out of sight up ahead with one of her friends.

I did my best to “cheerlead” Sweet Pea, and myself during the race…in the sprinkling rain. We jogged a little, then walked a little, jogged a little, walked a little. Sprinting a bit at the end.

Sweet Pea came in just before I did. Punkin finished a full 90 seconds before us.

We had done it! We completed the mile race. We weren’t first, but we weren’t last, and we had fun.

A few minutes after our race, when we sat down to rest a bit and enjoy the fruit, carbs and juice offered, the skies completely opened up, drenching the 5K runners.

Awards were distributed a while later. We didn’t win any trophies*, much to Sweet Pea’s disappointment (complete with tears and everything). I felt so badly for her. She had really wanted to win more than the red ribbon all participants received.

* But I *did* come in 10th in my age bracket. (The 40 year olds who never exercise and got swindled into running early on a Sunday morning in the rain by their cunning children)

The rain outside hadn’t let up by the end of the award ceremony, and after some discussion, the girls and I decided to walk back home in the rain anyway.

We didn’t just walk, though. We also jogged. And splashed and jumped in all the puddles we could find on the way home. And BOY did we laugh. Punkin noted that some people were pointing and laughing at us “So what, sweetie? We’re having FUN!”

I’m pretty sure Sweet Pea had more fun on the walk home, than she did at the race. I know I did.

Last night, I took some pain relievers and went to bed achey, tired and content.

Sweet Pea is in good spirits this morning. It would seem her plan to off me is working. I discovered this when I got out of bed and nearly fell trying to take that first step or two.

Hubs says if I keep exercising like that, it will hurt less. He says he is going to be my trainer, and that he’ll ‘train’ me from his phone. You know there’s an app for that. It’s called iRun.

Now, if you’ll excuse me. It’s nearly time for me to try to get up and walk around again… ow ow ow! Or maybe I could just wait for the pain to subside a bit… I wonder if I could get someone to wheel me around the office in my desk chair today…

Last night, I introduced my eldest daughter, Punkin to the joys of the Amazon Wish List. She loves to read, and is always coming to me with “Oh Mom! I found this book…” and “I *really* want this book, Mom” and “If you see this book, will you get it for me?”

I am glad she loves to read and is enthusiastic about books. Last night, after her request to track down a book, I clicked onto Amazon, and showed her how to find a book, look at the recommendations and — the most empowering part of all for her — add books to her Wish List.

She sat at my computer for a good half an hour at my kitchen computer looking at books (”Mom! Did you know you can LOOK INSIDE some of the books on here?!”), adding to her Wish List and exploring that new world. I nearly had to pry her away from the site when it was time to eat dinner. I was careful to show her how to tell if a book was appropriate for her, and told her that just because it is on this list, that doesn’t mean she’ll get it. I told her it wasn’t an order form, just a list.

I know there are other sites where she could track books she has read, and books she wants to read (GoodReads for example), but felt this was a good start for her. This also shows me what kind of books she is interested in, and gives me a chance to investigate the books a bit before she gets them in her hands.

The joy on her face as she poked around Amazon looking at books made me so happy. I know it sounds corny, but really it was incredible to see her so giddy. Mom done good for a moment. Yay!

I remember back to high school Geometry (barely). Determining what kind of a shape something was, then writing the ‘proof’. I was tempted to write “…because it just is…” or “…because I say so…” on more than one occasion.

Sweet Pea came home with a math worksheet from school today. There are several different math concepts on the worksheet. Some shapes, fact triangles, telling time, and determining what the counting “rule” is for a series of numbers (i.e. 17 16 15 14 13 would be “counting down by 1s”). Sweet Pea was able to figure out the “rules” for the next two series of numbers.

After that, the next question had to do with Writing/Reasoning: Explain how you found the rule in Problem 4

Sweet Pea’s answer: “I just know.”

You have no idea how badly I hope Hubby’s math skills kick in for them.

(SPOILER ALERT)

CLINT BLACK IS NO TRACE ADKINS.

I *love* that Trump mixed up the teams and split up Joan and Melissa. He even said “Joan, I’m cutting the chord.” HA!

Annie - GIRL! You have FOUR kids?! Holy Cow! I need to get on her diet plan (minus that extra kid, though).

Natalie - You bug me. You and your eyelashes and your pouty face and your tiny voice. I haven’t seen you rise to the occasion at all so far. Time to get it in gear, girlie.

Brian - Oh yeah… you weren’t there. I didn’t even notice.

Hershel - Great idea to put the “pop up bubbles” into the ad. Too bad that idea couldn’t save it.

What’s with all these celebs getting “time off”? Last year’s celebs didn’t do that… Oh, but I do like that they brought in some of last year’s celebs last week, though. Now I’ll have to watch to see if Trace makes an appearance. *fingers crossed*

Clint - Your idea was slightly amusing, but not “viral” funny. Did you know some jokes get less funny when you have to explain them? You should have abandoned it after talking to the executives. I think if you had gone with two of your staff mud-wrestling then washing their clothes, it would have been better. Not much better, but somewhat better. Either that or go with the the whole “No one ever shot a man doing housework” routine — have the guy doing a bunch of housework, and then “getting lucky” because of it. Now THAT is something I would have forwarded on to friends and, uh, close family…

Joan Rivers - Very much a drama queen. I knew that, but that was driven home for me a little more watching her with Clint Black this week. “I thought I was having a heart attack!” Uh, really? Pfft.

In the Board Room, Hubs and I noticed that Joan was sitting as far as possible away from Clint. Body language, anyone?

The Athena Team - Melissa, Jesse, Annie, Tionne and Brandi all seemed to work very well together.

The exchange between Don Jr and Melissa Rivers was classic.
Don Jr: “Do you think you’re obnoxious?”
Melissa: “No”
Don Jr: “Not even a little bit?”
Hahahaha! I literally laughed out loud at that!

And wow… neither of the viral ads won? Wow. I liked the ad with Jesse James way more than Clint’s. JJ’s was pretty funny, I thought, in spite of the political incorrectness. Clint’s video was just kinda weak and stupid. (Clint Black is no Trace Adkins)

Tionne fired because she volunteered to come into the Board Room? Whoa. That seemed to have come out of left field. I don’t think anyone on that team should have been fired. They all worked well together and came up with an idea that they were all behind.

I did see that Joan and Melissa made new ads, but I haven’t watched those online yet.

Khloe fired? Wha? Another “out of left field” firing, IMO. I mean, granted, she doesn’t seem to be very useful, and that could be just this task… She does seem a bit “princessy”, but fired? Sheesh. I don’t think Khloe should have been fired because of the DUI. Clint should have been fired from that team. No two ways about it.

I can’t wait to see what happens next week!

Oh, and hey… there are all sorts of fun clips and stuff online each week. You can get some great ‘back story’ to the episodes, too.