My almost tattoo

These days, I never know what the days will bring. (Not like I knew everything before, but when you are going through a time like this, you start to notice more things.)
Thursday our neighbor Bikeboy came for a regular visit. He is 8. He doesn't have many friends because he moved here over Christmas from Louisiana, but he enjoys riding his bike. So does Kate. Although she is a long way from 8, he likes to watch her ride bikes. She knows his name and is very excited when he comes over. He's not allowed to come inside, (He has a good mama-no going inside "stranger" houses) so I have to go outside when they play. If you have ever been south of McComb, MS, then you know that we are in gnat season. Please don't ever complain about love bugs, because these gnats are annoying and they bite. Their happy hour is 5 pm, so starting at 430 you really can't enjoy being outside anymore.
At about 4 I heard a knock on the door. Bikeboy was there, and his pant leg was stuck in the chain of his bike. Hmm. I didn't think he should take off his pants, I wasn't quite sure what to do. The pants were really really stuck. I took an assessment of the situation, and I told him that I could fix it. He said, "Um, I really think a man should do it." I said, "Just watch and I am going to rock this out for you." I went inside and found my monkey wrench, and I told him what I was going to do to his bike. I was going to take the wheel off so that the chain would loosen so then his pants would be free. Then we could put it back on again. He did not want me to but I said, "Just let me do it." So I got to work, and once he figured out my game plan, he wanted to do some. So I taught him one of the best things my dad taught me-"Righty tighty lefty loosey." And it took him a few tries but he figured it out. We successfully removed the wheel, and he was free. We reattached it and all was fine. I think he was shocked that I could do it. I won't lie, I was too. It was awesome to have real grease on my hands and I almost felt like getting a tattoo or something to commemorate the day. Maybe something with a chain on it or some fire coming out of a dragon. Those would be pretty fierce. But I decided not to do that.
Yesterday I went on a home visit. This is where you go visit someone that has either come to church or knows about our church, and you just hang out with them. I went with two other staffers and this was my first one. I only said a few words because the conversation was dominated by the homeowner, and since we went to listen to him, I decided to listen to him and not input. He was very loud and his house was very smelly and there was vomit on his bed but halfway through his loud talking I looked at him, and thought, this guy is a person. He probably doesn't have many people come see him. He needs love and he needs attention just like we all do. He may not have it all together, but who does? He hurts and he is sad just like everyone else. He lost everything he had in the storm, and he is so thankful to have a house. He's not supposed to be living in it because he doesn't have a certificate of occupancy, but how frustrating that would be-to have to wait for the city to come tell you that you can sleep in your bed and not your camper!
Bikeboy came over again yesterday at 5, and I could not take the gnats so Kate and I had to do our mid month grocery run. I wanted to get her some play-do, and I did not want to make some because by the time I bought food coloring, it would be more expensive than the real kind. But it was only $1.72 for four cans. I think that is beautiful. I wonder how much it was when I was a kid. We made frogs and cows and ducks out of play-do and K thought she was in heaven. I would have taken a picture but I don't think yall would think it was as good as K thought.
Still potty training. (again, that's K, not me.) She will usually dirty the diaper and THEN take it off and bring it to me, sometimes in the process dropping things, so we have to make sure none fell out. But she did quote the rule to me. "don't touch a dirty diaper with your hands." I said, "that's right." She replied, "Only touch it with your booty." Well I couldn't argue with that, because that is true.
Last night she didn't want to go to sleep because she took a late nap. I woke her up from the nap so she would go to bed at a decent hour. (Babysitter did not know my 4 pm rule-no sleep past that.) About 830 I said, "let's go to bed!" and of course the usual fuss. "No. I not tired." But she did go, and she stayed awake a bit doing who knows what in the dark, but she does stay in her bed. At about 9 i heard her crying, crying, so I went in, and she just wanted me to rub her hair and pat her tummy. When I put my hand on her tummy, she put her hand on top of mine. I knew that was a sign of what she wanted me to do. So I loved on her and left the room, no more peeps or chirps coming from her. I thanked God even though I was so tired, so worn out, mad, grumpy. I thanked God because He gave me one more cuddle for the night. And it was just right.
I have a lot of pregnant friends right now. Some of them just had a baby, some are just about to. I want one!
I will write more about today's events later. That way you have something to look forward to. I'm not supposed to end a sentence with to. But now I just did it again and I didn't mean to.