Rites of Passage

I was talking to Jacki yesterday about the need for a continuation of rituals and acknowledgments for various milestones.  Yay, first steps and driving a car and first job.  But what about-first long ass chin hair from nowhere?  First gray pube?  Or what set the whole train of thought off for me-a long ass chin hair on my neck!  WHY?

There are many-first time your joints pop after sitting for more than 10 minutes, first time you realized you should have started using moisturizer sooner.  The first time you actually totally forget something and don't just say you did to get out of going. The first time you thought, "Eh, that's fine." when looking at your outfit that is more comfortable than fashionable.  Okay, well, that's been every day of my life so far, but for some-stretchy pants and a loose top are a revelation.  Or that day you look in the mirror and realize the stretch marks from having babies have faded to silver stripes all over your tummy and decide that it's fierce.  Like a tiger.  rawr.  A ghost tiger.  boorawr.  Practically a Marine.

When you first realized you will never be able to retire. When you looked at your child and they are the age you were when you were pregnant with them.  And they are so, so painfully young and mostly naive and you wonder how you both made it out alive.  Or wonder what the hell you were doing having sex at that age in the first place.

For Matt it's been the amazing crop of hair on his ears.  We named his first grey mustache hair after my mother, the second after an aunt and then there were too many.  He used to pull them out, but he'd look mangey at this point.

I dyed my hair (usually) back to it's natural field mouse brown until I was 40.  I did go off the rails a few times and hit red and in the summers it goes blonder by itself, but brown for the most part.  It's about 30% gray now and I can't decide which way to go.  I actually really like the silver, but silver and light brown are not pretty.  So I am adding the first time you decide to just leave it be for a while. Rest is healthy.

There are firsts for 20 and 30 year olds, too.  The first time you cleaned the whole house and it wasn't for company coming over.  The first time you got up early and got going on something for real instead of thinking about it.  The first time you saved up for a vacation and planned the whole thing. The first time you ended a relationship because it wasn't healthy any more.  The first time you realized no one really cares.

So, there are all kinds of rituals and traditions for all kinds of firsts.  But really-no one wants to see a pic of your scary eyebrow hair gone awry or anything else to do with aging because none of it is cute, at all.  We need some occasion markers!  I suggested rum and Coke and a nap for most events.  I am open for other suggestions, though there's little room for improvement there.  If it's early in the day, I guess vanilla syrup in Coke and a couple episodes of something not at all educational would suffice.  As long as the laundry is done.  I have yet to have my first, "Oh, that can wait" laundry moment.  The main thing is, plain Coke isn't enough.

Celebratory food suggestions: grilled cheese with pickled okra.  Tomatoes with goat cheese and arugula tossed in vinaigrette.  Brownies made with Red Stag in the place of water.  Corn chowder with rosemary crackers, chicken salad with grapes and spinach,  Baked fish and tater tots.  Okay, well, that's actually just my lunch menu for the week.  Though really, you can't go wrong with a grilled cheese and speaking of which, I met a friend for lunch last week in Athens and we ate at LuVicis and they grill their cheese in butter, it was ridiculously good.  Also, sweet potato fries. Afterward we went next door to the mercantile and I touched 500 things.  I don't have OCD (that way) I just like to touch stuff and they had a ton off it.

I will be thinking of ways to mark these uncelebrated firsts as I head out this afternoon for another 'first',  My very first set of bifocal glasses.

Early Spring

Saturday we headed to Lowe Mill to eat at Happy Tummy and hang out with the Bothwellians.

I had a sandwich I can not remember the name of.  Turkey with spicy strawberry spread and spinach.  I like the Leave Me Provolone (grilled cheese on cranberry bread) but have been TRYING to not eat JUST grilled cheese.  Take today for instance-headed to the park later, I packed spiced tuna quesadillas.  See? Growing.  Also, yesterday, finally bought a quesadilla maker.  I married a man who can not make grilled cheese or quesadillas in a frying pan or electric skillet.  This thing has a light.  Light goes green-it's done.  It's not that he's incompetent in the kitchen (as he does 75% of the cooking), just that he really can't judge when to flip them.  I had a grilled cheese maker and it got dropped and the hinge busted.  *sob*  That was 10 years ago at least.  I have been flying solo since, so it's good to have some cheese melting backup again.

After lunch we walked all three floors of artists at the mill, stopping to look whenever the mood struck.  We planned a hike, but the temps were not going to get above 42 and no one wanted that after a streak of 60 and 70 degree days.  So the mill was a great alternative for hanging out, even if it wasn't really exercise-heavy.

After lunch and a popsicle from Suzy's Pops, we wandered outside and out of the wind and in the sun, it was nice.  So the kids played a while and ran around and the parents sat soaking up the rays.  There may have been truffles involved in the sitting part of the day.

First, Prison Puppy
This may be Nia's new friend. 

Ben really super wants one of these.
And he wants a 7/8 guitar.

Inde took this one!

And these two!

This is Alex's cigarbox guitar.  Ben plays it every chance he gets.  Poor Also Cornbread is so big.
He says he wants one tuned like a uke.

Truffles.  They are SO pretty.

I love this child.

I took a pic so she could see herself, she said, "not so bad" about her caramel chin.
Her truffle was called 'sexyback' and it was a little disconcerting to hear her run around saying she got a sexy back.  I am ever a bit of a prude.

I think I ROCK the Snape Look.
hahahahahahahahaha!

This mural is called (locally) 'Eggbeater Jesus'

Up at Katy's, we (she) made our first aid kits in an Altoid can.

We did not have enough individual Neosporin packets, so Ben helped me make some with straws and a lighter.

Just fill the straw with goo, pinch the end with the pliers and melt closed with a lighter.  

All packed and the exploded view

We still need Tylenol and moleskin.  Those tablets are organic arnica tabs.  Which basically are like taking polite British people for a headache.  "I say.  Would you mind terribly moving along?  It's just that we'd like to get on with the day is all."

I had a Tequila Mockingbird truffle, named for the lime whang.  I have never had tequila, so Kurt gave me some in this TINY champagne glass, which I declared I would never drink out of anything else for the rest of my life.  So, a couple hours later, I had mead in the same glass.  :)  Then water, then Inde saw it and after I washed it, drank chocolate milk out of it and she got a tiny umbrella as well.  

This mead is made and sold in Savannah.

I kept the fire warm while the dads grilled out dinner.

I can nurse a drink!

The dads, kids and Mars went to play Chalk the Corner.  This was all that was left of a huge piece after an hour long game.  

It was getting late, so we did the only logical thing-the dad's drank scotch and Katy shaved Kurt's head.

These are blurry because I could not stop laughing. 

We talked him into keeping the goatee for a little while, though I don't think he loved it as much as the rest of us.

.

Spiders

We were all set to head out and have lunch and go jump at Shakalaka today when Jake mentioned his right ear was hurting.  I looked in it and then around it and behind his ear up at the top was a dime-sized mound of pus with a hole in the middle and rimmed in red.  I immediately concluded it was a brown recluse bite and rushed him off to have a hot shower before rushing him to the doctor.  I have, honestly, never seen a bite that nasty, I was scared.  I should have taken a picture, because when he got back from showering, it had popped and even though I cancelled everything and have looked at it every 20 minutes all day long, it's just a gross bump now.  I (do I even need to say it) covered it in antibiotic ointment.

So, just like the time I lost Chandler for the longest few minutes of my life and later reflected on what to do, I ended up spending a couple hours today investigating bug bites and being beyond grossed out by photos of bites.

I decided to do this post in case I had the issue in the future, mainly to keep me from seeing what I saw ever again via searching for spider bite info.

THIS is a link to a large chart showing 6 US spider that bite, plus what their bites look like (don't look while eating), what medical treatment is needed and a map of where they live.  Here's a tip-5 of the 6 are located in Alabama.

I also DID find a few useful charts and pics that did not leave me wishing I had seen Slenderman instead.
As with any of my photos, you can click on any of the following info sheets to make them larger:

I love the way it assures me the wood stove is what did it.

from venomous spiders dot net
Mainly posting this because they used the word venomous, not poisonous.

Another 'all over' chart.  Usually pest conrol sites

sent to me, no info

from about 60 sites, could not find the original

Still not totally sure what got Jake, Matt has had several theories but none are horrifying enough for me.  Infected follicle and rampant pimple are just not satisfactory after looking at dozens of bite photos and besides-there's a bite hole!  I am thinking Parson spider.

So, if you suspect spider bite, avoid the search engine and come here and merely scar your brain at the one link above that has all the info you actually need, there is no need to see the same 'exposed bone via necrosis' shot I have seen at least 15 times today.  Or that one shot with the bright red swelling that was the same size as a baseball.  Or the one...okay, well, just be glad I am sparing you (and future me) the UGH of research.

Well, okay, I will post ONE terrifying spider bite picture:

from various prepper sites

I am not enlarging it, if you want to see it better, click on it and do it yourself.

Jake's ear-thing was the 18 hour stage x3 in size and scare.
Knowing what 36 hours looks like, I did not want that happening!  aaaaaaaa