Surprise!

So, yesterday...Oh. my. goodness.

I woke up. I had a lot to do. So, coffee, wiping the blear out of my eyes, breakfast etc. and absolutely FORCING myself to do morning prayers around eight-ish. See, we are barely two weeks into the home school year and already my lazy tendencies are rearing their ugly heads and I want to lounge more than is beneficial of a morining. I am fighting it.

So, back to my story...regular start to the morning, the kids are all in their P.J.'s doing school work, when the phone rings. By some miracle I was actually wearing clothes and not my night gown. It was, after all, merely nine-ish. I think I was planning to go to Kroger to pick up the few items not available at Costco. That's why I was dressed. A woman with a purpose.

So, just for the sake of brevity (HA!), I shall share my To Do list with you here:

1. Start kids on school (a bit more complicated than saying "Hey kids, start your school work, as we do some read alouds, prayers and memory work...oooh, saying it like that makes it sound fancier than it really is!)

2. Go to Kroger

3. Get back from Kroger by 10:30 and run out to meet the farmer to buy milk, eggs and sausage.

4. Lunch

5. Bake a cake for Eric's Boy Scout Court of Awards (that's today)

6. Let it cool.

7. Practice/prepare flowers for the cake decorating class final project. (They have to dry for a few days. Ariana had to do this with me, for her cake, too.)

8. Dinner

9. An American Heritage Girl's Leader's Meeting at 7:30 pm down town.

So, that was my VERY busy day yesterday.

LOTS to do, wouldn't you agree?

So at 9:ish the phone rings. It's Fr. Justin, my former priest in Nicholasville from before we moved. He's in town and could he come by for a quick "hello" before heading back home? SURE! How can one say no to that? Why would one want to.

So, there go my morning plans. Kroger later. With joy I brew some coffee and have a chat with Fr. J. The kids are excited to see him, too, and various yo yo tricks have to be demonstrated, etc. Good times. A cup or two of coffee later and the brief but wonderful surprise visit is over. Back to my list.

By now it's time to get the milk etc, and so off I go. That went smoothly. Home. Lunch. Then to plan the cake. Review Kroger list. Realize I need to go to Hobby Lobby, for some cake supplies, too. So off I go.

Home again with stuff. We are unloading the Kroger groceries (the kids always help), when on the ground Maia spies a wee little baby flying squirrel, curled up in an adorable shivering ball. On the ground. Alone. No mama squirrel. At the foot of a very tall tree.

I had to help. I just had to. So I scoop up this adorable little creature, and inside we take her. Instantly my crack squad of eager helpers were on the spot with a cardboard box, flannel fabric, and information. (How did we ever LIVE before we had the internet?????) So baby flying squirrel go warmed up, got some electrolyte solution from a dropper and got cuddled and ooohhh'd over. We learned that it's illegal to keep a wild animal more than 48 hours, so we called the wildlife rescue hotline and got the number of a licensed rehabilitator. Called her. She'd meet us at such and such a place, sort of near where we live, she'll call us when she gets done w/ her errand and we can meet there.

Meanwhile, of course, books are forgotten, the house looks like a tornado tore through and I still have a cake to bake. So I bake a cake while the kids are snapping endless pictures of the cute little baby whom they names Sammy, after Silent Sam in the Redwall Books. (At the time we did not realize this was a flying squirrel, although I did notice that it had flaps of skin under it's arms...like a wingsuit.)

So I bake a cake and Eric was my helper. It's huge. I used the big wedding cake circle pan and doubled the recipe.

While it was in the oven the phone rang. Of course. So we took a risk and delivered the squirrel to the rescue lady. She told us it was a baby girl, about four weeks old, and that it was a flying squirrel. She also showed us a juvenile hummingbird in a box that someone else had delivered to her that day.

So, back home again, cake out of the oven. (I'm getting tired by now).

Bethany made supper. I iced the cake once it was cool, we ate and then off to my meeting (Wes was kind enough to take me there...I was too tired to drive).

So now I'm up early drinking a cup of coffee and am about to go decorate that cake before I go to an AHG training meeting from 9-2:30, rush home and then go to the Boy Scout pic nic...another crazy day. I'll put of pictures of the cake in a few minutes when it's done. Meanwhile, here's the baby squirrel.



I got a little sad last night, wondering if Mama Squirrel was missing her baby. And Eric woke up worried this morning that the rescue lady was a poacher in disguise. I assured him that she was the real deal. I wonder if the kids need a pet hamster?

Oh, and I forgot to mention that in the midst of all this craziness, Eric informs me he needs BADGES SEWN ONTO HIS BOY SCOUT UNIFORM...ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!! So. not. happening.

Comments

Unknown said…
I always wind up breaking out the safety pins and "temporarily" attaching the badges in a hurry. I don't trust the iron-on stuff anymore, too many badges lost or washed off in the laundry!
elizabeth said…
Wow! sounds like a good but different than planned day! but how wonderful to see your former priest! a real blessing!

love to you. thought of you when I was at the monastery; hope you can go sometime as God wills...