Crazy Cats, Cool Haircuts, and More

We seem to have had a case of the "gloomy day crazies" going round the house today. Bo and Harry have been chasing each other around the house, T. has been something less than dutiful about his studies (just imagine!), and Ed's back has been much worse than usual.




(When Harry hasn't been running from Bo, he's been "killing" his stuffed jaguar. He can be quite savage when attacking a stuffed animal.)


I did get the lawn mowed and the front edging done before dinner, which was when the rain and thunder started. It looks nice, at least from a distance. Close up to my flower bed, all I see is Japanese Beetle chomped leaves and buds. For some reason, they seem to find my Knock Out shrub roses, which are wonderfully vigorous and otherwise disease free, to be the perfect location for their revolting beetle orgies.


T. asked for a haircut on Sunday. I was more than a little dismayed when he told me he was going to go online and find a style he liked (I have only two styles in my repertoire -- basic short, and basic shorter), but what he was looking for and printed out was a sheet of cartoon character hair styles. I should have known. After ruling out a couple impractical hair styles ("Could you make the sides longer, Mom? And the top spiky?"), we settled on something short all around but left long on the top. I explained that we would have to shorten the top, too, if he wanted to spike it, but that we could wait on that part and see how things went.


There was a sticky moment when he looked in the mirror and said, "I thought you were going to leave the sides Long!" (so what was I going to cut, then?), but then he decided that the long hair flopping down from the top made the sides "work." I think the top should be a little shorter, but he is happy, and it is his head.























Father Blanck called Monday, with a proposal to get T. back to acolyting next week. I guess he noticed we weren't there on Sunday. We didn't skip church as a protest (at least, that wasn't my intention -- I can't speak for Ed), but between our absence and our conversation with him the Sunday before, he must have figured out that we were taking T.'s suspension, however deserved, pretty hard. Anyway, he suggested to me, and then to T., that T. could robe up again next week and take part in the procession, carrying a flower. If T. boinks a fellow acolyte with a flower, they might not even notice. T. was thrilled to be back with the other kids, and Ed and I were extremely gratified to learn that our family's participation in the church is really valued. I'm pleased (and mildly surprised) to learn that Father B. puts the feelings of a goofy eight year old boy ahead of his desire for a perfectly decorous procession. And the bishop is coming next week! Let's hope that T. will reward our faith by behaving beautifully next week, and not bopping anyone in front of the bishop, even with a flower.