Caleb has a new favorite song. He learned it on the bus and has been singing it ever since.

The first time he sang it he said, “Give me the beach ball….” Now he says, “Give me the beast boy and free my soul.” Too funny!

I turned on the water for Caleb’s bath. He stripped off his clothes and climbed in to the tub. First he dipped his toe in and then, when he was satisfied the water was just the right temperature, he scaled the edge of the bathtub. On all fours he crawled over the water spout and began drinking the water pouring in to the tub. He looked over and me and declared, “I’m thirsty” as if we’d been depriving him of liquids for days. “I ate some pencils,” he continued.

“Some pencils?” I asked. I truly had no idea what he was talking about. I did have Keaton and Justis babysit for an hour when I took Spencer to soccer practice. But surely they didn’t feed their brother pencils.

But then I remembered seeing an empty bag of pretzels on the kitchen counter. “Oh you mean pretzels?” I asked.

“No. Pencils.”

“Umm…no. You mean pretzels.”

“NO! Pencils. And they made me thirsty.”

Whatever. There’s no arguing with that kid. He is so bull-headed. I don’t know where he could have learned that from.

Remember how I’m now going for bike rides over my lunch break twice a week? Most couples who get together over lunch go to a nice restaurant to snarf down yummy burgers while discussing their day and the kids and plans for the weekend. Not us. We prefer to try to kill ourselves with a bicycle and lots of hills. Aren’t we fun?

I’d like to say the bike rides are getting easier. But that would be a total lie. I think my IM conversation with Carolyn says it all.

Me (2:09:20 PM): Ok, these bike rides are really kicking my ass.
Me (2:09:33 PM): Lee comes home barely sweating and I’m on the verge of death.
Carolyn (2:10:01 PM): that ain’t good
Me (2:10:10 PM): no its not
Me (2:10:14 PM): I’m a total wimp
Me (2:11:13 PM): I just noticed I have a cut on my leg
Carolyn (2:11:23 PM): from the bike ride?
Me (2:11:24 PM): apparently my legs are so numb from the bike ride I didn’t even feel a cut
Me (2:12:27 PM): I guess I’ll never be a trainer on Biggest Loser
Carolyn (2:12:42 PM): not going to turn into Jillian or Kim??
Me (2:13:11 PM): no i don’t think I’ll be very motivating lying on the ground, gasping for breath with my tongue hanging out
Carolyn (2:13:35 PM): lol

On today’s bike ride I had to stop, walk my bike up a hill and then sit on the curb to rest for a few minutes. Lee said, “Don’t sit down.” I gave him the look of death and said, “I have to. I have asthma.” But I did get back up and I made it all the way home. Barely.

In my defense we went up a heck of a lot more hills this time. I’ve decided I hate hills. Whose idea was it to put hills in town? We live in the great plains for goodness sake. Curse you hills.

After I got home I got a big glass of water and tried to make my way down to my desk. Only my legs were having nothing to do with those stairs. I nearly fell with each step. My legs were like rubber. I seriously considered crawling backwards like the kids did when they first learned to walk.

Yes, my name is Christine and I’m a total wimp.

Today sucked. The end.

What? You want me to elaborate? Geez, you can be so demanding, Internet.

First it rained all day today. Now I love the rain. But only when I can either (1) run through it and splash in the puddles or (2) put on my comfy bunny slippers and crawl under the covers to be serenaded to sleep by the pitter patter of raindrops. Neither of those were possible while I was sitting in front of a computer tucked away in my cubicle.

I left the house this morning wearing a short-sleeve t-shirt because it was like 80 degrees outside. After the rain the temperature dropped twenty degrees and I was shivering in the 59 degree weather on the way home.

And I had plenty of time to shiver because I had a long trip home. Since I had class tonight I left work a little early so I’d have time to grab a bite to eat. But then I got stopped by a train downtown. FOR TWENTY FIVE MINUTES. I’m thinking seriously about a strongly worded letter to the city council to rectify this downtown train during rush hour traffic situation. I, of course, say that like we actually have rush hour traffic here. Rush hour traffic here is when four cars are stopped at a stop light for 1.75 minutes.

Once the train was on its way I finally made it home with less than ten minutes to shovel some food in my mouth. Luckily Lee has a bowl of rice waiting for me when I got home.

But at home I was confronted with Justis’ mid-term grades. Saying his grades are “not good” would be a complete understatement. LIkewise, saying I was “not pleased” would also be a huge understatement. I was pissed. And I wanted to make sure everybody knew it. We got in to a big yelling match were I tried to pull rank and Justis’ tried his best to look as disinterested as possible. Yeah, it got us nowhere, but me being late for school.

I was still fuming on my way to school. But then I looked up at the car in front of me. They had a personalized license plate that read:

Seriously! Was this just a big coincidence? Or was the big man upstairs sending me a message? Either way I decided to take that car’s advice and lighten up.

So this is where I’m at now. I’m now taking advice from motor vehicles. I’m just one step away from a straight jacket.