It’s not so nice that we don’t get to see him much, or that he’s been pretty tired when he IS home. Or that I get to handle everything by myself. I’m the mom, teacher, relocation manager, chief financial officer, taxi driver, chef, chief medical officer, handyman, disciplinarian, and housekeeping manager. Among other things. Honey is plenty busy, too… just not here. And he has THREE plant clerks, so I’m thinking I should get some help, too. For each of the posts I cover above, I could use one assistant. Jake is the mom’s helper, so I just need a TA, secretary, cpa, chauffeur, MA, maintenance assistant, super nanny, and maid. That should do it. I could probably get to bed earlier with all that help. Maybe.
While I have been staying up later, I have not actually had time to blog. I did have time last Saturday, when I sat at a youth barbershop festival in which Jake participated all day. But, I never could get into the blog mood, and I spent the day chatting with another chorus mom. That was fun.
Other times I’ve planned to write, I’ve not had access to an internet connection, or my countrified internet was out, or I chose to look at houses online instead. Sorry.
So, I have a few things to catch up on. For starters, the gluten-filled lifestyle to which we have fully returned isn’t as great as anticipated. I have found that, while I have always loved bread, gravy, and cake, knowing that they make me feel bad gives them much less appeal. I don’t crave them like I once did, and have felt like I’m carrying a bag of heavy rocks around with me all the time. I’m tired, fussy, and lack focus. BUT, I have to keep eating it until all the testing that we’re having done is over, to rule out any real allergies or other issues. My doctor did some genetic testing that showed I am high risk for Celiac disease, so I get to have one of those fun procedures where they sedate you and put a camera down your throat, through your stomach, and into your small intestine. I’ll tell you honestly… while that doesn’t sound fun, it will be TOTALLY worth it if I get a copy of that video. I mean, how often do you get to have a video of your innards? Have you seen that episode of Magic Schoolbus called “Inside Ralphie?” That’s just my kind of thing, and to have my OWN “Inside Christy” video would rock. Then I can stop eating gluten, go back to having focus, energy, and overall good feelings, and learn to cook without flour. When I get bored with all that, I’ll just watch my video again for fun.
Two Saturdays ago, we participated in the CTRC(Cancer Therapy and Research Center) Fun Shoot for the first time as a family. Well, some of us did. The rest of us just got to watch and wait out the hot afternoon.
It was the first time both Jake and I had shot skeet (actually, sporting clays, for shooters who want to get technical), other than our one practice session the week before. You see, we had to try out our new shotgun, purchased just for the occasion.
I love how men can find any ‘occasion’ to purchase a new gun.
You know how competitive we are, but there was no competition between Honey and us this time. I won’t go into scores, but let’s just say that Honey shot, oh, almost thrice what I shot.
BUT… BIG ‘but’ here… My score was one point higher than Jake’s, so I was happy. I wasn’t about to let my 12-year-old outshoot me. Well, not and be happy about it, anyway. He’ll have plenty more years to outshoot his old mom. I just needed to win this one.
Here’s Honey shooting.
See how he fills up that box? He looks large. He has control of his weapon. He hit the targets.
Here’s me shooting.
See how I don’t fill up the box? And how it looks like that gun is WAY too long for me? I didn’t hit many targets, either.
But my visor looked cool, and I had awesome hot pink earplugs. I also carried my lipstick along so I didn’t look too disheveled after a long morning shooting. Oh, and my compact, so I could put on lipstick. And sunscreen, hand sanitizer, my organ donor card, the kids’ id cards with fingerprints, an extra pen, and my phone, of course. We had to take a backpack.
Here’s Jake.
While he looks even smaller than me, he still looks more natural in the box. If he continues shooting, we’ll get him some cooler ear muffs. He was hitting targets, but still one less than me, which is important. He did really well for his first time, though, and had a lot of fun.
He also had a sore shoulder the next day, because 100 rounds in two hours is a lot for a newbie. Had he thought ahead, like his mother, he would have carried a woolen leg warmer with him to stuff into his shirt and cushion his shoulder. But, nooooo… He thought it was embarrassing to have a large, furry, black-and-white striped growth peeking out of his shirt. Well, who had the sore shoulder? Not me! I had the sore cheek and jaw from pressing my face too hard on the gun, but that really wasn’t something that could be remedied with a leg warmer.
Here’s our team mascot.
Honey’s brother and dad also shot with us. They beat my score by a lot, too, but I still beat Jake. Not that it matters.
Team Perkins looked pretty good.
Oh, and Tim Duncan was there... shooting clays instead of baskets.
No kidding! Jake and Luke both walked right up to him, reached waaaayyyy up, and shook his hand. He looked waaaayyy down at them and smiled. Jake even asked him if he was going to shoot on our team, but it didn’t exactly work out that way. Levi said he stuck out his hand and said, “Hi, I’m Levi,” but Tim couldn’t really hear him from that far up. I didn’t take any pictures of him, though, because I felt bad for him, being mobbed and all.
The relocation is… um… going. It’s a real up-and-down business, full of surprises.
Two years ago, we were planning to take a vacation with the kids, and we even got their passports. We were considering South or Central America to do some snorkeling, or maybe Disney World, but decided that was a lot of money to spend, and didn’t go.
Today, we found out that we get to spend that much money, plus some, to put in a new septic system for the next owners of our home. That is SO not as exciting or memorable as snorkeling in South America. Not even close.
However, I hope this is just a learning exercise in patience. I am positive that the Lord will work all of this out if we continue to trust Him and wait on His timing. As Honey always asks of Him, “Lord, please help me learn whatever it is you’re trying to teach me in this situation, so I can move on!”
I’m ready to move ON… literally! Then move OUT, followed by moving IN to a house in town.
I think I should practice my clay shooting more often… like, at least weekly during this move. Shooting things just makes you feel better. And I have to be ready for next year, when I plan to break the CTRC Fun Shoot women’s best record. Well, okay, maybe I’ll just aim for hitting 50% of the targets. And beating Jake again. He can give me two years… I gave birth to him. That one always works.
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