{Virtual Coffee}

   Good Morning!!  If we were really meeting for coffee, I'd have to treat you all (whether we were at my house or at a cafe) because MY SON IS FINALLY POTTY TRAINED!!  Woo hoo!!  Little dance.... Jiggety jig... (Knock on wood, too).
   It's all because he wanted to swim in the big pool!  He just decided to start using the potty, and then he kept on using it (probably the rewards of a tootsie roll or lollipop each time he went helped, too).  Sammy loves his superhero underwear and takes great care selecting which pair he will wear.  His decision was timed very appropriately as we were hit with a big heat wave last week, and spent lots of time at the pool.
   I know that many of you experienced the same heat wave, too.  I love viewing all of your photos and reading about all the fun summertime experiences you are having.  Can you believe how fast the summer is flying by??  Of course it is a little strange for me to read about those of you who are sending your kids to school-- but its a cool reminder of how we can all be connected from different parts of the world via the internet and blogs.

Warning: the next paragraph contains toddler potty talk.

    By the end of the week, my little guy had not yet successfully done #2 on the potty, so I planted some incentive in his head:  I told him if he went #2 on the potty that we could go to the store and by a superhero.  20 minutes later... SUCCESS!!  I asked him how he knew he needed to go; his response: "My hole just felt like it." (Okay, I can accept that.)  He also likes to call his male organ "peanut".  Too funny.  For those of you who are curious, he selected Captain America.

   If we were really meeting for coffee this week, I would have to first thank you all for your concern and comments about my sprained thumb.  It is on the mend, but slowly.  I have been wearing the brace below from Walgreen's and it has been such a tremendous help.

Please notice the nice tan, and disregard the wrinkles.
Wait, no, accept me as I am-- wrinkles and all!

    It is still sore and swollen, but right now I can type with it.  I still can't grasp or exert pressure on it very well, or turn the keys in the ignition in the car-- I reach across the wheel and do it with my left hand, but I am grateful for the progress and improvement so far.  And since I can wiggle it, I know its not broken, so I opted not to go to the doctor.

    If we were really meeting for coffee, I'd ask how the kids are?  (And if you don't have kids, then how's the dog(s) or cat(s)?)  My kids have been very prolific little artists lately.  My son's drawing abilities are evolving into (somehwat) recognizable forms... 

   And my daughter has filled almost 2 sketchbooks full of drawings (mostly Power Puff Girls and other Manga cartoons)... (I just wish I could get her to use BOTH sides of the page-- we need to plant a few trees in order to compensate for the amount of paper she is using!)

   Oh, and here's a photo my daughter took of me... (I was being a little elusive and wasn't in the mood to be photographed.)

I look really mad/serious, don't I?

   Not sure why I decided to include that last one of me as it is not very complementary...

   If we were really meeting for coffee, I'd want to ask: how's your garden?  What's in bloom?  And I would have to admit that I do NOT have a green thumb.  My two tomato plants are growing big, and flowering, but every day I wait for a baby tomato to appear  :0(  And for the first time, I planted two clematis this year.  When I drive around, I notice everyone else's clematis are lush and full of blooms, while in comparison mine are straggly and wimpy and only one of them has one tiny flower bud on it.  Oh well.

   When I was watering the plants the other evening, in the sweltering heat, a little pickerel frog emerged from one of the plants.  I would love to share a photo of him/her with you, but when I went inside the air-conditioned house and came back out, the little guy was still there-- but my camera completely fogged over due to the change in temp and humidity from inside to outside.  Maybe next time.  

   Well, dear friends, it has been lovely meeting for coffee with you!  Sorry if I rambled on a bit and talked all about me, me, me-- but I do hope to hear back from some of you and read some of your lovely Virtual Coffee posts over at Amy's blog.  Please feel free to join in if you have not already done so.

   And now on to daily the busy-ness of daily life, which I will attempt to embrace mindfully!  

Have a great week!