Bumps in the Night

Soooo -I'm just sitting here, reading other blogs. The TV is on -as always. The only time the set in the living room usually gets turned off is when we actually leave the house and even then, at times that action sometimes gets forgotten by other residents of the abode. Okay, if there's a heavy-duty electrical storm flashing around, then too the tv may get turned off. But otherwise, it plays pretty much morning, noon and night. All night! Sometimes the fact that the tv is on all night too is a soothing thing if Kurtis happens to wake up in the middle of the night and isn't fully awake, it kind of works then to lull him back to sleep. Sometimes, it works wonders that way but that is only "Sometimes!"

I didn't get much accomplished today -due mainly to the overload of posts on my reader that I had neglected since Friday evening you see. But once again, I have sworn to myself that I will not do that again unless it is because I am actually away from the house for a couple of days and just have no choice but to leave the posts accumulate.

When Maya woke up Monday morning, Mandy and Kate had already left to go do the school shopping -for Kate -over in State College. I was kind of braced for her to go off on a tantrum on me upon not finding her mother here but she surprised me and was very well-behaved (then) and for quite sometime after that today too.

At one point this morning, Kurtis had picked up the round tin -about the size of one you can purchase at Christmas time for a gift and it comes filled with popcorn (already popped) or pretzels or stuff like that. This particular large tin holds all the little toy pieces in it that go with the little play kitchen our neighbors gave the kids a couple weeks ago -a few little plates, cup, some pretend foods, etc. -even a little hand mixer too. And, for whatever reason was in his mind, he carried this tin over to me and tried to hand it to me and that is when "disaster" struck. The tin slipped out of his grasp, with the lid sliding off as it fell, upended, spilling every bit of its contents out onto the living room floor and when that happened, it made a hell of a clatter.

Kurtis jumped back! Scared himself with that spillage or maybe it was the noise but at any rate, he got frightened and stood there nearby me, crying his little eyes out.

And that was when Maya stepped forward -with no one bidding her to do this, no request to help clean up (usually, with her, anything that lands on the floor stays there unless she is threatened within an inch of her life if she doesn't start to pick up stuff) and she -quite remarkably, in my opinion, reached down and began picking up all the stuff that had spilled forth onto the floor until she got everything but one item -a pretend type cake pan I think it was -which she informed me she couldn't put it back in the tin because "it won't fit."

I was in a state of shock at seeing her do that. Especially because it was more than obvious that it had been Kurtis who had spilled all this stuff onto the floor and heaven help her if she would ever, under any conditions, attempt to pick up one itty bitty thing that her brother could be blamed for throwing around the living room floor and making a mess, ya know.

Okay -let's be downright honest here about this little "clean-up" job she did. I admit it. I was impressed! Downright impressed! And I think Kurt was in a bit of a state of shock by her actions too now that I think back on this new transaction here!

Surprisingly enough, it was probably close to 3 p.m. today before Maya asked me any questions as to the whereabouts of her mother. I told her she and Kate had gone to State College to do some shopping and she immediately wanted to know what kind of shopping they might be doing there. So I told her the were school shopping and that stopped her dead in her tracks.

She spun around, gave me a really evil look and informed me that she should have been able to go along too because after all, she needs clothes and things for school too, ya know!

I tried to cajole her a bit then by telling her that her Mommy already had bought some new clothes for starting school so she didn't need to go along today because of that.

"Well, where are they then?" I fudged a bit here, telling her that I don't know exactly where her Mother may have put her new duds but I figured they were probably put away someplace upstairs -just waiting for her to put them on for the first time on the first day of school.

She thought about that a bit and then informed me that she does need 10 things you know -new things -to start school with. Ten things, huh? Wonder what those ten things might be!

She went to bed easily enough tonight -right at 9 p.m. -out to my room, hopped into the bed and turned my little tv on out there, tuning it in to channel 30, the Learning Channel, so as to be able to fall sleep watching her favorite show -Jon and Kate Plus Eight.

Kurtis also went down easily -and very quietly for a change tonight too but he had good reason to be really tired as he had been up since about 5:30 this morning! Mandy woke up hearing him running around the living room about that hour -which didn't really make her all that happy then to have to get up and come downstairs to be sure someone was up and awake and with him at that early an hour. (I never heard a thing that's how soundly I was asleep at that time early this a.m.!

But anyway, here it was -about 12:30 a.m. and I had just read a post from tonight on my reader and it was one in which I had been given an award so I was deep in thought, trying to think of what to post about this award.

It's the "Honest Scrap" award and was given to me by Marguerite of Cajun Delights. Now if you've never read her blog before, I have to tell you it's a joy to read and also usually guaranteed to make you darned hungry (and thirsty too sometimes) as she almost always posts something about the great Cajun food (and/or drinks) that are native to her neck of the woods! Makes me think I might really enjoy a trip to the bayous of Louisianan someday -even if there are 'gators in them thar' waters, I think I would brave that just to try some of the spicy foods she loves to talk about on her blog a lot of the time. Yeah, you know mentioning food, and especially spicy, spicy food, to me is an immediate draw!


So anyway, here's the Honest Scrap award and I am supposed to pass this on to other bloggers who I think live up to this award by telling things the way it is.

Hmmmm. To whom shall I pass this award on to now?

Here then are my choices!

To Dianne -at Forks Off the Moment because she always lays all the cards out and definitely tells it like it is and especially so now with all the health and economic issues she is facing, head-on, and fighting tooth and nail to get what she needs as well as to keep what she has worked darned hard to get thus far!

To Sandi - at Holding Patterns -another great blogger and writer who tells stories from her past as well as her life, as it is today and keeps up a steady banter with serious as well as at times, stuff that is funny and silly too. But always -always -a really good read!

To Mary - at Mary's Writing Nook - for her easy style as she takes bloggers around her home area up north in Ontario, Canada, showing off her flowers all around her home, giving little tours to places of interest and always providing a good bit of history of the locations in the process.

To Maggie - of Nuts in May - who shows off many places in and around about her home over the "big pond" in merry olde England. Maggie rarely leaves her house without having her camera in tow and she uses it in a way that gives us beautiful views of the English counryside as well as many really neat bridges, rivers and yes, even the sea!

To Rune - of Visual Norway -who doesn't tell us near as much as he SHOWS us the beauty of the fjords, mountains, towns, sea and boats, in and around his home in Norway. An absolutely fantastic tour guide is he!

To Dr John - of Fortress Linna -for all the great posts he does everyday but especially for his Sunday Sermons, as well as the way he can disseminate various political issues to show how many things actually do affect the regular Joe's in this country!

and finally -to Jocelyn - of O Mighty Crisis - for her wonderful way with words and her ability to rarely leave me without at least a big smile on my face and often, to the point where I am cracking up, laughing out loud as I read her works! Check her out and just try to tell me she doesn't do that to you too!

And there are so many, many other bloggers who write in so many different styles, teaching, informing, amusing those who come visiting their places in the Blogosphere daily too. This award should really go to everyone on my blogroll because all of you do that to and for me almost every day here!

And now, I think I will head off to dreamland because a short while ago, as I was about to start this post, I heard this loud, bumping sound coming from another area downstairs here and curious, I went to check in my room to see what was going on there and found out my little Maya had fallen out of bed. But, because she is such a big, brave girl now -about to venture forth at the end of this month to begin her formal education as a member of the kindergarten class at our school here, she didn't cry at all when she fell out onto the floor. Just picked herself up and hopped back up into the bed!

After all, falling out of bed is not something she is afraid of these days. ]

But last night, before we went to sleep, she did tell me what she is afraid of in starting to attend this new and much bigger school.

"I'm just afraid of the loud flushes, Gram!"

So now we know -the trips and falls of life -on the floor, out in the yard -don't scare her, don't bother her these days. But those commodes at this school -they just better not be the kind that flush automatically or are really loud cause those things are what my baby girl, my little granddaughter here, fears more than anything.

Unlike her grandmother, who at this age, would have been petrified had I fallen out of bed onto the floor because that would have put me face-to-face with the monster I was convinced for years that lived under my bed, you see!

Nite all!