I am to be flogged, tarred, and feathered, because I let an important milestone slip by without so much as a mention.

I know my circle constantly preaches the ways of The Coven, and we joke about repopulating it with Elyse, Scout, and most recently, Penelope, but I think another factor of The Coven is rarely mentioned but deserves just as much credit: we are also populating the male side of the spectrum with men who are amazing.

It helps, obviously, that our youngins have fabulous men to look up to.

Yesterday, I casually mentioned to Ra that I was looking for a local yard man.  Our yard is as big and as wide as.. my ass, really.. and it was too large an undertaking for me to mow.  Bryan managed to mow the front yard, but his allergies kicked in, and I forbade him from mowing any more. (I like using the term “forbade”.)

So I mentioned this in passing to Ra, in the hopes that some high schooler in the neighborhood needed some extra cash this summer.  I mean, we have a mower.  It’s just a push mower.  And we have the funds.  Really, we just need someone to make the grass shorter.

Then Ra emailed me: “Where are your dogs?”

I thought this was a trick question, since Mabel had been to the groomer that day and I was due to pick her up.  She followed up with, “Are they nice?” and I was REALLY confused.  Then she clued me in: “Steve is on his way with my dad’s truck and his riding mower.”

I went and picked up Mabel from the vet and, right as I pulled up in the garage, a white pick-up pulled up.  Ra’s dad jumped out, as did Steve, and they smiled and said they were the local community improvement committee. 

Now, I’m not one to just let people sweat on my behalf, unless I sleep with them or have bore them children. (Then, they owe it to me.) Since I had no children by either of these men (or the former criteria), I ran out to see if I could offer a hand.. and Steve offered the best offer I’ve had in, like, a million years: “No, we’ve got this, Sarah.  Why don’t you go inside and catch up on your blogging?”

Because my driveway is at an incline, offloading the tractor proved to be more difficult than anyone could’ve imagined (breaking my heart that these two do-gooders were sweating FAR more than necessary). 

There is an old joke about the south that says, if you’re ever broken down to just sit by your car and a truck with a guy named Bubba will eventually come by and fix it for you. (Or at least tow it to Bobby Joe’s.) Sure enough, after trying for awhile, a guy in a truck came by and helped the two angels lift the mower out of the truck.

(The black line at the top?  My blinds.  I was totally taking this from the air conditioning of my house.)

The two gentlemen were VERY kind and did an AMAZING job on my lawn, and it is so awesome to not have to worry about the overgrown grass for a little while.  And I was not allowed to help, which made me very antsy, but was VERY appreciated.

So for the fathers, I thank you.  It is a privilage to be raising a son around such amazing and inspiring men. 

(As for the father of my child, he is to be commended for not losing his shit when I broke not one, but TWO facets of our new house.  Within a 24 hour period.  More on that later.)

Penelope is here!

In case you weren’t on our mailing lists, Penelope graced the world with her presence last night at 6 p.m. at EXACTLY 6 lbs. 

When I left the hospital around ten last night, Ronda was resting in her room and Penelope was being “checked out” at the well-baby nursery and was on her way to visit with a very excited mom and dad.

Ronda was absolutely beautiful.  Although I saw her on Sunday and she was just glowing, I was still awe-stricken by how amazing she looked when they wheeled her down from recovery.  Seriously.  We should all be so blessed.

Bear with me:

When I was younger and was all into Steel Magnolias (yunno, before Sally Field’s funeral scene was the stuff of parody)(because it really was frickin’ amazing), I remember being moved by how quickly the group of women mobilized when something bad happened.  Word got out that Shelby done took a turn for da worse, and BAM! all the ladies dropped their cooking, waxing, babehs, and whatnot and started fixin’.  Fixin’ food, fixin’ child care, fixin’ problems.  I thought that was amazing because I didn’t know it really happens.

But it does.  And it SO does my heart good to know that.

She is a beautiful baby girl, which is totally unsurprising if you know her beautiful momma.  The surprise is in her fight, her perserverence, and her strength.  Which, again.. she gets from her momma.

Penelope Anne, we are SO happy to have you.

If you’re anywhere even close to the Mason-Dixon line, or if you even know what it is, chances are you’ve got major allergy issues right. about. now.

All of the south is suffering.  My husband has resorted to leaving the contacts in their cases (which a certain Coven-member finds VERY sexy, I know), and his eyes are constantly a nice shade of cherry.  My poor son’s eyes turn a soft shade of pink every time we go outside, and his congestion is still all up in his head.

Me?  I just get tired.

I’ve never had horrible allergies, even though I’ve lived in this valley of pollen for many many years.  I may have a day or two where I feel under the weather, but this year I’ve been proactive and started my generic nose spray in, like, January.  So I’m pretty covered.  I think.

But I’ll tell you what.. I’m exhausted.  I may not have been sneezing, wheezing, coughing, or sputtering much this allergy season, but I am completely and totally drained.

Went to Book Club last night and, although it was much more intimate, I had a FABULOUS time.  We tried a new thing this month where we each read our own book and then reported back on it.. GREAT IDEA!  Now I’ve got two or three books I’ll totally pick up as soon as I get time.  And we laughed a whole bunch.  And.. AND..

I know someone with three nipples.

I know.  It’s okay to be jealous of me.  You’re not the only one.

“How common is that?!” I asked.  Because, to the best of my knowledge, I don’t know more than one person with three nipples. (If I know you and you have secretly been hiding your third nipple from me, fabulous job.  I never could tell.)

“Well, at the circus I was in, there were only two of us,” she retorted.

Anyway, so I stayed out later than I meant to, but we had a “fantastic” time (quotes are for Melissa).  I drove home and we hit the sack by 10:30.  Which sucked because I have a big day today (one meeting down, two to go) and then I OVERSLEPT THIS MORNING.

And I could totally close my eyes and sleep for the next hour.  But I’ve got stuff to do.

Bryan goes in for his sleep-study tonight.  It’s me and the Binja, partyin’ like rockstars at the hacienda. 

Rockstars with a 7:30 bedtime, anyway.