I'm not dead! Really! Pinkie-swears!

Yes, I know. I've been a total and complete punk. I'm aware.

However, I'm here now. And I have been a little busy ... See??

Since I last blogged:

• My mom came up to visit.
• Bucket got her ears pierced (More on that below)
• Michael and Bruise deserted us (not really) for the Father/Son Campout (Which Bucket was very saddened that she did not get to attend. She REALLY wanted to sleep in the back of the truck with her brother and Daddy.)
• I had a Stake YW Camp meeting.
• We washed the cars. I barely recognize them now.
• Mother's Day ... with the calls to grandmas and great-grandmas (Well, we did miss one. Darn time-zones!)
• I've been working out just about every day. Fear me.
• I totally pigged out Saturday on jerky, Oreos, and Doritios. So it's good that I'll be working out today. And that I still have a couple months to fit in that matron-of-honor dress.
•  ... I DID get caught up on the dishes ... and am behind again.

That's most of what all happened in the last six days.

OKAY, I promised to tell about Bucket's earrings.

Michael has always told me that *I* would be the one to take her in to have her ears pierced. He has NO desire to see her cry. BUT he was fine with doing it whenever.
(Truly, if she and Bruise had looked more alike, I'd have had it done when she was just a iddy-biddy. BUT she and her brother aren't at all identical-looking ... so I figured that I'd wait until Bucket wanted to have them done. And that happened in the last few weeks.)

The day before we went, I made sure to prepare my girl for the experience. We watched videos on YouTube of little girls getting their ears pierced. We talked about how it would feel ... and do we scream? (No.) Is it okay to cry a little? (Yes.)  Will it hurt? (It will pinch. And you have to have BOTH ears done. Not just one.) 

My mom and I took the kids over. Bruise and Mutti (my mom's nickname) played with cars out in the food court while I took Bucket in, signed all the paperwork, withstood my camera's batteries giving up the ghost before the actual piercing took place, and getting some pretty holes in my daughter's head.

Bucket chose the "purple" (fake Alexandrite/June birthstone) earrings.
She was pretty calm, holding Carl (her toy hippo) while the gal marked where the holes would be. Carl, however, was pretty nervous. So Bucket and I had to hold his hands/paws/whatever.

The first earring went in. Bucket stared for a second ... then her eyes filled with tears and she let out a little whimper. So I held her for a minute so she could find her composure ... and in went the second earring. 

If you ask her, "Were you brave?", she'll answer (and rightly so), "Yes."
"Did you cry?" "A liddle." (She was MUCH braver than I was when I had my ears pierced that first time. I bawled and hollered a bit. However, my little Bug was pretty amazing. Just tears and a whimper ... and then she was done.

It's crazy how much OLDER she looks with her ears pierced. I'd never have thought that she'd look like such a little lady due to such a small change!

But she's being really good about them. She knows that I have to clean them 3x/day (Used to be twice back in the day when *I* had mine done) ... and she won't fight too much. Unless she's tired. Then she'll whine a little. ... Until I ask her if she'd like me to take them out and let them heal up. Then she'll let me work in peace.

Mother's Day was good. The kids did wake me up around 6 AM to give me my card and a box of chocolate turtles.  (Which, when I had gotten home from my meeting the day before, Bucket was SO EXCITED about that she almost spilled the beans about! SO my daughter.)

Then Michael took them to help make breakfast and watch a video and get ready for church.
When I finally got up and was showered, I found that Michael had gotten me (and had set up) a wireless keyboard and mouse! (My old mouse gave up its click-wheel/center button ghost a couple weeks ago ... and I was using his old laser-tracker mouse, with its cord all across my desk.)

And, after he had gotten the kids ready, he did say to me, "I don't appreciate or accommodate you enough, so I buy you presents."  And I was all, "What? What are you talking about? You do tons around here!" And he told me that he doesn't know HOW I get the kids dressed and ready for church every Sunday. (I don't really know, either. It's just some miraculous habit, I guess.)
But I do like my presents.

I've been playing way too many Facebook games. (But, hey ... if you're playing Bloodlines or Castle Age or a few others ... well, you could totally add me on there. ^_^)

What else is going on? ... Um ... I vacuumed. Go me. And I did my workout today. I plan on getting more laundry washed ... and it'll get folded. Eventually. Sometime.

And I have GOT to do those danged dishes! (Again)

But for now, I'm eating leftover Spanish rice. Yay. (No, really. I like me some Spanish rice. Carbs and I are supergoodfriends. So good, that it HAS to be alloneword.)