Queen Of The Castle

Mike left at 7:00 this morning for a gun show in Springfield, MO with my Dad and my Dad's old fart crony, Pat. Shael is gone for the entire day so here I am, alone once again. What to do, what to do. The laundry is pretty much done, I could do a couple loads, I suppose, like sheets and towels and delicates. The dishwasher needs to be ran and the counter tops straightened out. The trash needs hauled off and the kitchen floor swept and mopped. I made Shael clean the living room and vacuum the floor on Wednesday but she was kind enough to trash it all up again Thursday night while she was packing for her one night away from home.

She was so excited, she wanted to take the suitcase for an over night trip. I saw all these teenagers getting out of their parents' vehicles with these little bity ole backpacks and nothing else and Shael gets out with this big leather suitcase that has seen better days. It's not like it was crammed full of stuff either, just clothes for the next day, a night gown and her toiletries. At her age, toiletries include shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrush, hairbrush and deodorant. I reckon in another year she'll be into the whole make up thing. I thought she was going to start there for a while, but it didn't last more'n a week. If I could only teach her the subtle difference between tasteful and Mimi.

So, I think I'll spend a couple hours on house work so I can devote the rest of my day to sewing. I let Shael pick out the pattern for this year's Green Corn dress. It's actually a very pretty dress that I could dress up with some soft gauzy fabric, but I'm looking forward to making her "Indian dress" as she likes to call it. I'm finally getting a head start, not like usual when on the first day of Green Corn, I'm rushing around to get the finishing touches done in time to make it to the naming ceremony before I miss anything. Last year I actually missed seeing my two nieces get named and I was so freaking HACKED at myself. I hadn't even hemmed my dress I was in such a hurry to get there. The one time they start on time and not Indian time and I missed the sole reason for me even going.

This year I'm even going to attempt to make my brother and nephew ribbon shirts. They'll be getting their names this year. I need to wait a little bit on Nikolas because I don't know what size he'll be wearing by then. He's so cute, but he's a super chunk and his size 12 month clothes are getting pretty snug. He's seven months old now, that hardly seems possible. Last year at Green Corn, my sister in law was miserable pregnant and actually had him during Green Corn week. I was there when he was born and I took pictures and showed everybody that night at the visitors night dance. Everybody was all "OH! She had him!" and excited for them. If she'd had him a day sooner she could have brought him to Green Corn to show him off.

Our family hasn't had a Green Corn baby in soon to be 33 years. Me. Back then, Green Corn week was determined by the full moon, not like today where out of convenience it's always the first full week of August. My parents were camping, my Mom was feeling poorly and the Aunts were insisting she go to the hospital but my Mom didn't' want to, this wasn't her first baby and she thought she knew what she was doing. Finally Tuesday she went in to the hospital and wada ya know? She had me. My Mom's little sister was in high school and was sleeping out in the car when my Grandpa came out and told her it was a girl. "Another girl, huh?" she said and went back to sleep. How loving of her. By Thursday my Mom was back at Green Corn, new born baby girl in her arms. I like to think that I was passed around from Aunt to Aunt and maybe even a few Uncles scattered here and there. I like to imagine that my Grandma got to hold me a while and looked at me trying to decipher who I looked like. No one has ever told me, all they would say, year after year was, "How old are you, Stace? Boy, I remember when you were born. Right during Green Corn. Your Mama had you during the week and brought you to your first Green Corn when you were just a couple days old" (Now, I imagine we'll be doing the same for baby Nikolas). A year later, I celebrated my first birthday during Green Corn and my Mom, ever the woman to try out new things in the kitchen, decided to try her hand at baking a cake in the camp fire like they'd learned to do at Girl Scout camp when she'd gone with my sister that summer. There's pictures of this pitiful looking chocolate birthday cake with single candle sticking out of it, sitting on a picnic table. There's no pictures of me eating it, chocolate icing smeared across my face like the typical one year old. No, Mom says it was the worst cake ever made in the history of cakes being made. She said it tasted like the camp fire ash. Everybody tried to be polite and pick at their piece of cake until she took a bite and nearly gagged. Then she went around gathering up everybody's plates laughing at how terrible it was. Then watched in horror as my Uncle Jeff demolished his piece and asked for a second. She still laughs to this day when she thinks about that awful cake and how he not only ate one piece but two.

Now I'm getting excited about Green Corn. Five months to go.