Up on the roof top, on Mother's Day

Before I start this post, a couple of things. 

Lynn----  I am delighted that I can confuse you, simply by changing the background of my blog!  : )

Bruce is home, so I'm not delusional, in addition to being, ummmm, un-cautious.  Having Bruce home is also why I'm writing this at 2:30 a.m.  I'd forgotten how loudly he snores.  I'll be going back to sleep in the arms of the cuddly, snugly, be-witching chair, once I'm done with this post!

Now, about my Mother's Day!  I had an awesome day!  My face, upper chest, and arms are a bright and cheery red from the sunshine, but not so red that it's going to be an issue.  I have an absolutely amazing start to a Farmer's Tan!  I got all of that by simply sitting on the patio, in the sunshine, playing cards and Scrabble with my mom and the boys.  It was so fun!  A beautiful day here on the shores of the Mississippi.  We planted some flower seeds and hung out in the great outdoors of the back yard most of the day.  Once we were home from church,  the outdoors was calling our names, and we listened!!!

We gave my mom a new out doors chair, which she enjoyed.  The boys gave me a new fire pit, complete with some fire wood, which I enjoyed last night.  I've been wanting a fire pit for ages, so I was one happy, happy camper with that gift!  (I also received an engagement picture of Chris and Amy, an awesome necklace, and fresh picked, home made chocolate dipped strawberries and the world's greatest cards!)  I have the best kids, and the best Mom, ever!   Thanks so much guys!!!

My mom also received a set of solar powered, outdoors, party lantern lights, from my brother and his wife.  They are as cute as can be!  And Mom wanted them hung up right away yesterday. The only place to hang them at her house was on the front porch, and none of us spends much time in the front yards when it's dark.  We hang out back, on the patio, at our house.   So, Mom decided that she'd like the lanterns hung on the side of our laundry room, which is a one story addition to our house, and is right out side of Mom's back door.  She doesn't have a back porch light, though she does have some motion sensor lights in the back yard.  So, a bit of additional light outside of her back door is a good thing.

We went into "hang the lanterns on the laundry room roof line mode".  Jordan got the step ladder out of the house and set it up beside the house where the lanterns were going to be hung.  Mom and I worked on assembling the lanterns.  They are a string of 10 brightly colored, small lanterns, with a solar panel at one end of the string to provide power for the lights.  We had no problem hanging the lanterns.  However, deciding the best place to locate the small solar panel was another story. 

There is plenty of wire/string available so that the panel could be staked in the yard or placed a fairly good distance from the last lantern.  Staking the panel in the yard, between our two houses, with critters and people walking over and around them on a regular basis, didn't seem like a good idea.  So, we looked up.  The roof.

Now, Jonah's bedroom overlooks the roof of the laundry room.  Jonah was already on the roof, making sure that Jordan, on the ladder, didn't need any assistance in hanging the lanterns along the eaves of the roof.  But, being the brilliant figure-er-outter that I am, I decided that Jonah needed help on the roof to try to figure out where to mount the solar panel.

So, I went up to Jonah's room and some how managed to squeeze my large self through the small window and out onto the roof.  Once I was on the roof, and Jonah was done freaking out about the fact that I was on the roof, we set about trying to figure out where to mount the solar panel.  We found lots of nice places to put it, but not a good way to fasten it to anything up there.  After Jonah and I spent a while messing around on the roof, the folks on the ground found a place to mount the panel on the side of the house.  We lowered the panel to them and started to head back inside. 

Jonah darn near demanded that I go in first, so that he could make sure that I was ok.  I started in the small window feet first, and got sorta stuck.  I managed to extract myself, get back out onto the roof, and try again, this time heading in head first.  Oh good grief!  Small window.  Big Dawn.  Drop from the window to the floor.  It hurt.  If it hadn't of been so painful to just hang there in the window, if Jonah hadn't been asking me a hundred times a minute if I were ok.... I might have just stayed where I was, contemplating the pain that was surely going to come once I moved on through the window and hit the floor.  I finally told myself that it was just plain going to hurt, though how I thought it was going to hurt more than my legs were hurting, by being crammed into the different levels of window parts, I don't know.  I finally forced myself to push on though the window, fall to the floor, and get into the house. 

And, being the truly awesome Mom that I am, I was so shook up  that I immediately got up off of the floor, went down stairs, and sat on a chair, gathering myself.  I did not think to ask Jonah if he needed help getting off of the roof and into the house.  I didn't think of it at all, until Jordan came in the house and went upstairs to help his brother through the window and into the house.  I guess I thought that if I managed to get through that window, twice, Jonah would have no problem getting back in.  However, I  didn't think that seeing my attempt of re-entering the house would cause him to re-think his window climbing abilities!  Thank heavens for big brothers!

So, after the window/roof adventure, we grilled out, had an awesome meal on the patio, tried out the new fire pit, and checked out the colorful lights from the lanterns.  Bruce grilled some really yummy chicken and we had lots of good food.  The momma squirrel that hangs around here was coming right up to the edge of the patio getting peanuts and giving us a thrill.  It was truly a super Mother's Day!

However, this morning  (because no matter how early it is, it IS morning) my legs are colorfully decorated with lines, designs, and masses of blue/purple bruises.  The tops of my feet and toes are skinned from dragging across the shingles as I re-entered the house via that not-so-graceful fall.  My back is really hurting.  Probably from both being stuck in the window and being contorted to get me unstuck, and from the little fall from the window to the floor.  My arm is a bit stiff and sore, too.  Most likely, again, from re-entry!

But, you know what?  I'd do it again!  Mom has the lanterns hanging where she can see them from her house, rather than on her house where she couldn't see them from inside.  The boys know that, despite how I look, their Mom can still manage to do some things that they think that I can't.  It was Mother's Day and I wanted to be on the roof with Jonah, so that is what I did.  Not the smartest thing I've ever done, but ya know what, it's not the dumbest, either!  Heck, who knows, some day I might even convince myself that I'm almost 50 and really in no shape to be a roofer, but I doubt it.  Some things you just gotta do!

Now, having taken some Tylenol and having had it kick in, I'm either going back to bed or am going to snooze in this chair.  Then I'll be up and at 'em and seeing what new adventures I can find to get into with my sore and colorful body!

I hope that you all had a great weekend and an awesome Mother's Day!  Thanks for stopping by!