Happy Day after Columbus Day. Are you suffering from holiday hangover, after all the Columbus Eve services and enormous Columbus Day feasts?

No?

Think Columbus wants to say, I sailed the damn ocean blue so I could discover America. Apparently there were already people here and stuff, so I’m not supposed to claim discovery anymore, but still. I did all of that for you people, and now all you do for me is complain that there’s no mail service today? By the by, nobody sends snail mail anymore, so your complaint is not valid. Oh, I may be dead, but I know all about the email and the Twitter and the Facebook. You modern people have perfected wasting time. The forefathers and explorers and whatnot are so proud. As if.

Anyway.

Aside from spending a few minutes at breakfast discussing the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria, we did not party down Columbus-style. No holiday hangover.

I do have a Shoe Shopping With Two Children hangover, though. Oh, I know. First world problems, cry me a river lady, world’s tiniest violin. I’m just saying, from now on we will divide and conquer when it comes to shoe shopping. No more trying to fit and shop for two kids at a time.

At one point, there was a child running barefoot up and down the aisles, calling, “Look at these, Mommy! And look at these!”

Meanwhile another child asked repeatedly if he could have a gumball. Re-freaking-peatedly. Since he nearly died of an hysterical panic attack the time he accidentally swallowed a regular piece of gum, I said no to the golf ball sized piece of gum. Repeatedly.

It took us 20 minutes, which is three hours in children’s shoe shopping time, to establish that nothing on the sale rack fit, or felt right, or was “super fast, like a super hero.” Two full-priced pairs of shoes later, we were back in the car with nap time on the horizon.

All that stood between us and two hours of relative peace was this:

Child #1, in a sing-songy voice. Think Wheels on the Bus, only less sophisticated.
Halloween is almost here, almost here, almost here. 
I’m gonna be a doctor.
Halloween is almost here, almost here, almost here.
I’m gonna be a cowboy.
Halloween is almost here, almost here, almost here.
I’m gonna get some candy.
Candy! Candy! Candy!*

Child #2, in a not quite singing, not quite screaming voice.
I know what I be!
I be, I be, I be.
I know what a bee is.
I know what a bee is.
I know what a bee is.

This happened simultaneously, on a continuous loop, for 20-ish minutes.

But then there was nap time.

And new shoes.

And happy kids, so who cares about my bleeding ears?

*Clearly, candy is the last thing this child needs.

***

And so ends the Fascinating Tales of My Life portion of this post. It’s been a few weeks since we talked fire around here, so here’s a quick update.

It rained – yes, rained! – over the weekend. I need to look up the official totals, but it was approximately two inches at our house. Never have I been so giddy about thunder and lightning waking me up at 5 a.m.

According to Texas Storm Chasers, we need five more “rain events” like this one to end our drought. And, of course, the fire danger is still high. Of the 254 counties in Texas, 250 are under a burn ban. The Texas Forest Service has responded to 65 fires in the last seven days.

In short, fire is an on going concern. As is rebuilding. There are countless ways to help, something for every budget and schedule. Most of the sites originally referenced in the #TXBlogFireRelief link up are continuing to update needs and ways to help. So if you’re interested in getting involved, please take a look.

Thanks for continuing to care, and continuing to support our community.