Happy Friday! Here’s what happened this week in our neck of the woods —

I’m happy to report that Mom, Dad, and Simon had a quick and positive trip up to the  Mayo Clinic. Simon said it was eerily similar to the way it was a few years back when I had all my surgeries. All reports were great for Dad, and now everybody’s safe at home. Which is great, because I really can’t deal with severe weather season all by myself.  We’ve been on high weather alert all week and I am OVER it.

The news around the US seems to be really confused about why Oklahoma homes don’t automatically have basements. It’s true – most don’t, and it has something to do with our soil composition I believe (correct me in the comments if I’m wrong). But storm shelters are on everybody’s mind these days, mine included. While it doesn’t thrill me to think about climbing into a tiny box underneath our house, I’d do it to be safe. But maybe I’m going to need to paint it with stripes just in case? And go ahead and stock it with some Xanax to calm my nerves? Please and thank you.

About a month ago Jude underwent a routine hearing evaluation at school, and it stated that his hearing in the left ear was significantly diminished. Hmm, I thought. Well that’s weird. He hasn’t been sick, I think to myself. But …That might explain how sometimes he says “Huh???” when I ask something. Or how sometimes he doesn’t respond to me at all. Or how he keeps doing That Thing That Drives Me Nuts even though I’ve told him to quit it.

Well, I think you can see where THAT’s going. So off we go to the ear doctor. In typical style, I waited til the last minute to tell him where we were going, which is Standard Operating Procedure for All Medical Appointments here, so as to minimize all freak-outs.

Side note: I learned this special method from my dad, who was really good at it. Cross reference with: the time he waited til the day before to tell me I was having my wisdom teeth removed. I was 18. And really livid.

Brilliant, right? Right. So off we go to the ear doctor, with bribe reward promised and me fully expecting to be notified that no, he isn’t simply disobeying me. HE CAN’T HEAR ME, THE POOR ANGEL BABY (in all caps, of course, because I’m shouting SO HE WILL HEAR ME). So we go, and he’s quaking in his flipflops, but then, in a weird twist, it turns out that no, it’s not his left ear – it’s the right one. And it’s not some weird rare disease – it’s the result of an ear infection(!) gone awry. So not only am I mother of the year, but my kid’s had some festering ear thing for awhile. WELL GREAT.

But! The doctor said it should remedy itself and that if it doesn’t, he’ll probably need an ear tube. Or two. But only at the end of the summer so we can swim for months on end without fear of further injury.

So now I guess we’ve gotta work on that discipline thing since we can’t blame it all on some rare congenital ear defect. 😉

Finally, some links for you to check out this weekend!

Amber Housley Inspired is coming up in August. I’ll be a speaker and I’d love to see you there!  Early bird rate of $729 ends June 16th — it’ll go up to $1229 then!

I love Design Crush’s list of fashion and beauty Tips & Tricks.

I’ve been pinning images of tile like crazy, in anticipation of redoing the backsplash in our kitchen. Got a favorite?

Pippin and Pearl is working on a painting for me and she just finished a redesign of her own site. LOVE.

Oh! Kathleen just did a redesign too!

This is crazy.

Jen Hatmaker nailed it with how she feels by the end of the school year.

Liz Stanley’s posts on her four-year journey with secondary infertility are a balm for my soul. Keep on writing, brave sister in infertility!

Elembee wrote a couple of great posts on how to do editorial calendars right.

Cutest measuring cups, possibly ever.