THE GOAT RODEO

Thirteen Reasons to get thee to the Michigan Renaissance Faire.

Of course there are other Renaissance Faires, but this is the closest one to me and the reasons, or most of them, apply to all of them.

1. Good ale/beer/Meade. That’s for those that must have those things. Not all faires offer these things, but many do and it’s usually good.

2. Excellent entertainment. Some of the shows are old, but still wonderful and then there are the fresh acts. Just amazing.

3. Many hotels nearby offer a discount and food tickets in a special package. Making it more affordable.

4. The big ones are legendary and worth seeing.

5. No, you do not have to come dressed up. It’s fun, but not necessary.

6. It’s history as you wish it were. People in noble garb (sometimes) mixing with people in peasant clothing. It would have never happened in the 16th century. Also, there are no lice (one hopes) and no plague.

7. The garb. Some of those people spend months, if not years on that clothing. It’s worth it to see.

8. Shopping. Not just for useless stuff, there’s some really gorgeous jewelry, among other wonderful things.

9. Jousting. Real jousting, real hot, sweaty, gorgeous men on gorgeous horses. Need I say more?

10. Sword fights. Again hot, sweaty men, albeit, different hot, sweaty men, with sharp pointies.

11. Children’s area. Faires are very family friendly and have projects and games for kids. They’re fun for everyone, of all ages.

12. You get to bow down to royalty. It’s cool.

13. If you come to the Michigan Renaissance Festival, you get to see me, acting like a doofus. If you do, please say hello. I cannot break character, but I will be thrilled to see you and sing you a song.

More Thursday Thirteen.
The Michigan Renaissance Festival opens August 16th. Nine days. Oh crud.

Mani-Nana's Spiffy New Harness

More Wordless Wednesday.

When I was about 5, or thereabouts, my sister and I were fighting, as sisters do, and she slammed a door into my face catching my upper lip with the door handle. I’ve had several root canals and various fixes on the perm teeth since then. Well, as with root canals, the left front tooth got very dark. Very, very dark. Dark to the point that people noticed and commented on it. It’s been a bane of mine for years. Here I lost all this weight, but I have this incredibly ugly tooth and I know it stands out and ages me. I hate it.

Well, today I have my first appointment to whiten my teeth and get the process going for two crowns to fix the ugly tooth and another one near it that is rapidly joining the other ugly tooth. Thank goodness. I know it’s vanity, but it really does bother me and getting my teeth to look halfway decent makes me happy. My dentist is good, professional and is working a payment plan for the amount my insurance does not cover, so it’s really happening. I can’t wait.

Manic Monday Theme: Big

Apparently, I have a big family. I don’t think of four kids as groundbreaking, especially when you have the Discover Channel covering ginormous families who can keep it together in a way I never could, but there are people who look oddly at how many kids we have, or even sort of gasp when we say there are four boys. Then share that two are still in diapers and you get the “poor you” look. I’m less likely to share that there are other issues, unless people are going to meet the boys in a was that it will be obvious.

When I really know I have a big family, is when the grocery bill hits. Good God almighty, and to think, it’s only going to get worse as they get to be teens. I’m not sure I can afford a teenage Steven. He already eats everything in sight and is skinny as a rail. I can count his ribs, for crying out loud.

“What’s it like to have a big family?”

Me? is that person talking to me? “I don’t know, I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Although, let me make this perfectly clear. There will be NO MORE! That’s for Amy

More Manic Monday.

Our rehearsal today was cancelled. That means a last Sunday to spend with Gene and the boys. I like that. It’s warm in here, but I’ve still got a blanket covering me and am enjoying the peace that is four boys and a husband sleeping in.

I forgot to take my medication before I left for rehearsal yesterday. Apparently, I was spacy, goofy and idiotic all day. Good show, Nancy. On the other hand I get all the dances now. Woohoo!

I’m up, barely, at this ungodly hour, because I have a dress rehearsal at ten this morning. I’m going to shower, do the ole hair and pick up Suzanne. Then dress the rest of the way, after we get up there. Nothing like dressing for 1569 in a parking lot.

I’m tired and grumpy, but I do want to go and am excited. I just don’t want to take a shower and all that other stuff and go into Meijer’s in what essentially is a nightgown from 1569. That should be intersting.

She looked so cute in her tight top, shorts and sandals. She walked with confidence through the aisles of the store and something inside me tickled the inside of my ear, “it’s not fair.” She also looked like her due date was yesterday. I don’t know her, didn’t talk to her and will probably never see her again, but there she was, full of life, hers and her baby’s and hope wearing a quiet smile. The one you have when it’s your first and you don’t know what you’re about to get into. The ignorant glow of bliss.

I don’t know what problems she has in life, or what strains, but there have to be some. None of them shown on her serene face, as she gathered material for what looked like a girl. A girl, a girl just about to enter the world and on time too.

Mostly, I don’t feel like a failure for having an incompetent cervix. It’s life, my adopted mom had one too and I guess that makes it more of a norm around here. Still, last night, it bothered me. Maybe it’s the stress I’m under, or worry about the son’s of two dear friends… Maybe it’s just one of those mid-forties pity parties. It’s not going to happen for me. There was never a normal pregnancy and there’s not going to be one. Aside from the health issues, we struggle financially, as many do, and we cannot afford another one. I’m happy with my four.

Just for a moment though, I wanted to be back in that place. That place I was before we lost Ben. The walking around pregnant and ignorant and joyous. In clothing that announced I was going to bear a child. To feel special and different, although it’s really not all that special, nor different. Maybe what I really missed was the normalcy of it. Being like most of the population. Bitching about a late birth and never watching them take my child to the NICU.

I am blessed, but sometimes, just for a moment, I want normal too.

Thirteen Things I Will Miss on the Weekends.

This week starts the weekends I will be busy both days till the end of September. Double rehearsals, media events and then the opening of the Michigan Renaissance Faire on the sixteenth of August.

1. Sleeping in on Sunday’s. I really don’t, but there is always the possibility that I might, or I could. Maybe it would have been this weekend? Yeah and maybe a rainbow would have streamed out my butt.

2. Good breakfasts. Okay, with Gene doing the cooking breakfast tends to be a wash, but you never know. I might go out…With four kids with issues…to a crowded restaurants…never mind.

3. The Sunday paper. Sure, we don’t subscribe right now, and the Ann Arbor news is paper thin and mostly written by non locals, but it could happen. All I need is exact change and the energy to walk the dog to the paper box.

4. Playing outside in the splash pool with the kids. We only need to get JJ over his fear of, “bitey bugs” and find the splash pool, which is in the shed somewhere. Then distract them from the sink and convince JJ it’s not a bath.

5. Going to Cedar Point on a Saturday, or Sunday. Just pile the older boys in the car and find someone to watch the little guys for twenty four hours. My in-laws can’t do that anymore, but how much can it cost to hire someone else? About as much as it would cost to go there in the first place. Hmm, scratch that.

6. Quiet moments at home, playing blocks with my boys, ducking and weaving as they toss them. Um, maybe not so much.

7. The joy of listening to the boys tear one another limb from limb like on that five headed snake movie from hades I saw on The Sci Fi channel. Steven Baldwin can’t act. Anyone surprised, raise your hand.

8. The thrill of watching my garden produce…that’s right, I didn’t grow a garden this year. Too many commitments.

9. The happy sound of my husband swearing as he steps on a toy.

10. The thrill of walking into the bathroom, that the little ones have turned into a water park and realizing the toilet paper is so wet it’s stuck together.

11. The allure of Saturday television. Okay, it sucks. Which is how I got suckered into watching that darn snake movie in the first place.

12. Listening to Herne repeat, “I’m going to a new school” every five minutes. He’s very excited about kindergarten.

13. Watching Mani-Nana do a very late shed. Which is basically a husky explosion all over my house.

On second thought…Can’t wait for opening weekend.

More Thursday Thirteen.

More Wordless Wednesday.

My Roo’s last day of summer school is tomorrow. He’s home till the second of September and off he goes to kindergarten. Okay, it’s a level three communication disordered kindergarten, but it’s still kindergarten.

Life is nice with a Roo around. He smiles a lot and jumps a lot, bounces really. Loves his computer games and runs by you with a purpose-driven look on his little face. A man with things to do and places to go and he has no time for you.

Sunshine and joy in my day. Today he is sporting slightly uneven bangs, because he moved when dad cut them. Which make him look even more adorable. I’m happy to see them leave for school. It’s a joy to see them come home. My little men.