Something somewhere is on fire because I've been smelling the smoke. As much as I am a tree-hugging candyassed liberal hippie momma, (Redneck Ruby is a ...say it with me now...misnomer), with my asthma as bad as it is, I wish everything would burn and go away right now, especially the rabbit brush which has been blooming and kicking my wheezing coughing allergic buttochs.

However, I do have a nearly complete kitchen. Mike finished the painting last night, so I just have to put everything in place and show you all the pix. I now must scour the dishes. I also am going to have to run out hastily dressed and pull out the trash to the curb because I can guarantee that Mike has not.

My really cool thing is that Mike and I are talking about how to use gray water recycling in the desert. We are talking about a storage tank and hooking it up to drip irrigate my future fruit trees. While I'd prefer organic, it would be even neater to conserve water around here. I'd rather water the garden and flush the john with gray water, thanks, than use my fresh drinking water which is such a valuable commodity in the desert. I also prefer using the clothesline when I can, compact flourescent bulbs, and stuff like that. Of course, when it comes to black widows and scorpions, I say, whip out the chrysanthemums and gimme my pyrethrines.

Today is my last day of full-time childcare of both my kids until a school vacation time. I should be politically correct and be waxing poetic about how I'll miss doing this, but mostly, I am absolutely ecstatic about the prospect of going to work and being intellectually challenged and being around my peers. And yes, I will miss this. I will miss having my morning cuddles with Genny and having Russell report his misadventures in the chicken coop. I will miss the quiet half and hour that I lay in my bed watching the sunrise before I doze back to sleep for a couple more hours. I will miss sleeping in til 9, or the occasionally delish 10 with the kids.

Russell is having a classic transitional morning. He's sobbing and whining about stupid shit and all I feel like doing is committing random acts of child abuse. I'm not, but I feel like it. Of course, he's been up an hour and he didn't bother to take his meds, so we're also waiting for his meds to kick in. I wish they'd kick him already because I'm sooooo there. He's so horrible when he's like this and I just have a picture of what the coming week before he starts school is going to be like and it's simply NOT PRETTY. In this case, it would be really awesome to be wrong about this, so after his meds kick in, he and I are going to have a little talk about what he can expect -- to the best of my ability. I won't know my schedule until I meet with my faculty members next Monday.

It would be really nice to have the option of dropping off/picking up Mr. Boy at school, so that I only need childcare the couple nights I have class and only for an hour or so until Mike gets there.

Yeah, I sent him across the way to feed the neighbor's horse and when he came back he found the thing he was frustrated about not finding and he was a different child. I just need more time in my life.