Dragons, mystery melons and found art

Today was unusual.  No one had to work, be at school or do anything for anyone.  This rarely happens.  Andy and I made plans to go to the $ theater to see How To Train Your Dragon.  I have to say I was surprised at how much we both enjoyed the movie.  Since it was just the two of us, we got hot dogs, popcorn and a soda to eat while we watched.  Honestly, this was one of my favorite movies in a long time.  It was funny, smart and a little scary at times (granted, I'm a wimp).  We were in a packed-full (on a Monday afternoon, mind you) $ theater and everyone cheered and clapped at the end.  Kind of fun. 

When we got home, Andy headed off to play with his best friend.  I headed out to the dregs of my garden.  Yes, here in Florida, good gardening days are just about gone.  We had a great run this year.  We've harvested lots of green beans, gallons of tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers.  The black beans were a fun experiment - how in the world they sell bags of them for so little money in grocery stores is beyond me, though.  The watermelons are hanging on for now and we have some additional peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes coming, but mostly, it's just too hot for anything to grow.  I think once I tear everything out of the garden, I'm going to plant a ton of sunflowers, just to see what happens.  For some reason, sunflowers grow insanely well in that part of our yard.

In the midst of the garden, Andy discovered what can only be called a mystery melon a few weeks ago.  It was growing in the middle of the black beans.  Not a cucumber.  Not a watermelon.  I hadn't planted anything else melon-ish.  We have been letting it grow.  Today, Andy could no longer stand it.  I let him pick it.  Once I saw the bottom of the melon, I knew 1)what it was and 2)we should not have picked it just yet.  But, now we know that cantaloupes grow quite well in our garden.  I guess there was a seed in the compost.  I can't wait to try growing them on purpose!

Ian and Tim both spent their days with friends.  Dan was home but busy tying up loose ends to his Eagle Scout project.  He hit Goodwill in search of a frame for a generous benefactor to this project.  He found a beautiful frame and put a picture of himself with the completed project into the frame.  He pulled the most amazing picture out of the frame and I found it on the kitchen counter when Andy and I got home today. 

It's a beautiful, tiny watercolor painting with no signature.  To me it's remarkable in its scale and detail.  I'm "artsy" but I have no patience for wee things and I'm not huge on teeny-tiny details. However, I truly admire people who are.  It makes me sad that someone just gave this little treasure away, but I'm happy to have it.  Crazy thing is, though, I'm going to have to go to the thrift store to find a suitable frame for it. 

Sigh ... it's really going to end.

No secrets here; I'm a Harry Potter nerd.  Tonight, I was doing laundry and the boys called me inside to watch the newest Harry Potter trailer -- from the seventh book.  I'm excited to see what they do with the movie (and the trailer certainly looks promising), but I found myself (surrounded by the four boys) getting all ferklempt.  After all of these years, all the anticipation and excitement and fun we've had with the books, the audio versions and the movies, it's all going to end and everyone (except me and Andy) will be grown ups.  Talk amongst yourselves . . .

Happy Monday!

Or not.  Me?  Mondays are kind of eh ... even though they're much the same as the rest of my week.  Maybe a leftover feeling from school and working?  Who knows . . .

Still, Monday aside, we had a fun weekend.  On Saturday we went to the beach.  Mike, the early riser, wanted to head out at 7 am.  I get why he wants to do this, but the fact of the matter is that, as a family, we are all the color of paste.  I don't care what or how much sunscreen you have, I don't care how many umbrellas you have, I don't care about any of that . . . if you are the color of paste to start with you cannot compete with summer sun in Florida.  

After much discussion we agreed to leave the house at 1 pm.  We packed up a couple of loaves of bread, cheese, pepperoni, drinks and some peaches and watermelon and headed to the coast.  It was kind of weird because we left Dan at home, he had to work at 4.  Our family is slowly fragmenting . . . :::sniff:::

We arrived around 2 pm and saw all the horribly sunburnt people leaving.  Mike, Tim, Ian and Andy hit the water (surprisingly cold) immediately.  I jumped into the water to cool off but headed right back to the blanket and my book and the food.  It was an easy and perfect day.  

Once I looked up (with my contacts, no less! Oh, how I love being able to see on the beach!) to see Mike and the boys all catch a giant wave at the exact same time.  Because I'm weird, I started to laugh.  It looked to me at that moment like David Hasselhoff's interpretation of Bonanza as the four of them bounced along the top of that wave.  

(Of course, I made the mistake of mentioning this on the way home and it was a bitter fight over who had to be Hoss.  Gah!  Curse Mike and his wicked antique television shows that turned my boys against each other.)


We're all home and fine now.  I think.  No sunburns.  No decision on who was Hoss in my fleeting funny moment.  I think Dan is still a little ticked off that we didn't all stay home while he worked - to do what, I'm not sure, but . . .

Great Way to Start Your Day

I'm not a huge soccer fan, but this was awesome!

Summer 2010, So far.

It's funny to me how long you can go with things being the same to the point of boring and then *poof* they change.  Last night, I went to bed not thinking once about Al Gore.  This morning I woke up to headlines about him being a sex poodle.  Gah.  While I'm no fan of Mr. Gore, this is kind of over the top.  And, I'd actually pay for a subscription to a newspaper that did not make me have to even consider Al Gore with no clothes on - just blech, ewww, gah.  I have no clue as to what is the real story, but if it's not real, WHY would someone bring it up in such a public (lol, I typed pubic the first time) way?????   Ew!EW!Ewwwww!!!!!  

Sorry, just had to get that out of my system.  

As our summer commences, Ian is practicing with the local high school golf team.  He already golfs with my dad and has had some lessons from the pro at my dad's golf course. Ian loves, loves, loves to golf.  For that, I apologize to his future wife.

That said, it absolutely amazes me that my kids are my kids.  I will do almost anything to avoid talking to a stranger or asking a question or, God help me, having to return something to a store.  It takes all of my energy to get the nerve up to even consider such a thing.  Ian?  Not so much.  

Mike has been emailing the coach of the golf team and coach encouraged us to send Ian to the local country club to the team's informal summer practices.  If he does well, they'll put him on the team.  Fair enough.

Well, if you've read here for any length of time, you know that we, as a family, do not spend a lot of time at country clubs or golfing or anything like that.  I was sooooo nervous taking Ian to that first practice.  He was wearing nice shorts and a shirt with a collar.  He had his golf clubs (my dad's old set), golf shoes, sunscreen and jug of water (it was nearly 100 when I dropped him off).  We pulled into the country club and I asked Ian if he wanted me to come with him to meet the coach (while I silently prayed I would not have to meet the coach lol).  

Nope.  He got his stuff out of the car and as I climbed over to the driver's seat (Ian drove us there), he gave me a wave and walked off to the greens looking every bit a part of the scene. (Since I am his mom, I have to say he looked way handsome in his khaki shorts, cream golf shirt and brown and white golf shoes.) Where does that kind of bravery come from?  I sure don't have it.He's been to a couple of practices now and seems comfortable with the coach and the other kids, though maybe not so much with his swing.  I tip my hat to him. 

Tim is going to join the high school's track team this fall.  The track coach is more of a stickler than the golf coach.  Until I can do the paperwork for the next school year, Tim cannot practice.  I can't do anything (not honestly, anyway) until August.  In the meantime, Tim has been running and running and running.I don't get why a person would run if they weren't being chased, but Tim enjoys it. He even runs with some of the kids on the track team.  They run and then come here and eat everything not nailed down.   It's fine with me, so long as I don't have to run with them.  

Dan finished his summer term with A's at Seminole State College. He's really happy to have a break and was not happy when I suggested we start making plans for the next (senior!) year and beyond this evening. He'll be 18 this fall.  We're taking what will likely be our last family (our family, my sister's family, my brother and my parents) vacation at the beach this August.  Dan was five when we started that tradition!!!  Now, I'm nagging him about what he wants to do when he graduates.  

Andy seems, for now, content to hang out here and eat and grow.  And grow.  And grow.  At this rate, we're going to need suspenders to keep his pants up. He's just getting taller and thinner.  What's really weird is how much he looks like Tim.  If I could age-up Andy or de-age Time, they would look far more like twins that Tim and Ian ever will.  It's strange.

I'm trying to work out the next year in my head and on paper.  It's going to be tricky to make sure everyone is where they're supposed to be.  I don't know ... but, things generally work out and I'm using that as my fall-back plan. 

I'm off to bed hoping that no creepy, old public figures do anything gross overnight.  I might have to live under my bed if I'm greeted with such ooginess two days in a row.

It's come to this . . .

Living with five men/boys is my life.  Usually it's just fine.  But, sometimes, I just want somewhere to go where no one will bother me.  There's not a lot of room in the house.  A lot of times, I leave Mike and the boys to watch their man-tv in the living while I hide on the screened-in porch listening to a book on tape while I sew or knit or otherwise fidget.  Now that we're into summer however, I find myself seeking a retreat that involves air-conditioning.  All I've been able to come up with is the bathroom off of Mike and my bedroom.  Sure, it's a 6 x 10 closet, but it's cool and clean and I can stack books in there.  

The trick has been "HOW to keep the kids out?"  I inadvertently discovered the solution last weekend.  IF you happen to have a bra (preferably padded and totally pimped out with gold fasteners, etc), hang it on the door knob to your bathroom.  Boys would sooner eat their own livers than touch a door knob with their mom's hideously ugly, vulgar, bra hanging from it.  In fact, I've noticed that Mike has taken to using the boys' bathroom.  I may have to pick up more of these bras.  Who knows, if I find a couple of good ones, I could have the house to myself with Mike and the boys camping out back . . . Muhahahaha . . .

Think, thank, thunk

I'm going to put this weekend down as a "thinking" weekend.  Lots of thinking about things, not a lot of action.  

Saturday, Mike and I thought aloud about adding on to the house (yes, just as the boys are getting ready to move on lol).  I also thought a lot about mortality as I let Ian and Tim drive me through the hazardous streets of Winter Springs.  

Saturday night, Mike and I had a rare night out to meet friends for a birthday celebration.  Mike knew most of the folks there.  I only knew the birthday couple.  Somehow I ended up at a table across from a GIANT man with a huge beard and Viking bangs, his wife (with Pippi Longstocking braids) to my right.  They were lovely people, but the hair thing started freaking me out - beer did not help.  Mike was happily playing darts and moving around. I was stuck with two people who I just knew at any moment would start trying to teach me how to make chain mail (which would be cool if it wasn't a rare Saturday night that Mike and I were out alone).  Anyway, I did a lot of thinking last night.  (Just thank your stars this is a family-friendly blog or I could tell you stories that would make you cut your hair into Viking bangs!!!!!!)

Sunday was excellent.  I listened to Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter while I cleaned and did laundry. The premise is insane, but it was FUN!  Historical fiction/vampires/Abe Lincoln?  I dunno, the Anne Rice fan in me is ashamed to admit it, but I absolutely enjoyed the book. It was a good summer fun book.  

More driving adventures with Ian and Tim (the Chinese fire drill twins) - in a super-duper Florida thunderstorm, no less.  Gah!  I really deserve a medal or a tiara!  

We went to the grocery store, heckled working Danny as he was retrieving carts from the parking lot during a break in the storm.  Danny was really happy to see us *snort.*  Next we hit Goodwill just because we were close.  Tim found a new pair of Brooks running shoes (tags and in the box no less) for $4.  In the "surplus" department, I found a comforter, dust ruffle, two pillow sham set for our bed for $35 (again, tags and in the bag/box thing)!  

(Yes, I know I got a comforter back in December, but it's WAY too heavy for Florida summers.  Now I have a cozy winter bed set and a cool, cottony set! All for under $100!)

From there we drove (I don't think I'll ever enjoy being a passenger with any of my boys if they are driving over 35 mph!),  I continued to sweat, and finally, we reached Lowe's.  Side note, much of the driving anxiety is self-imposed because I refuse to go to Home Depot.


Yes, Home Depot is closer and easier, but I have stand my ground and if that means two more scary traffic lights to travel with the twins, I will grit my teeth and hang on for dear life.  Hah, take that Home Depot!  (I know they miss me.)


Once at Lowe's we bought some top-secret props for Ian's upcoming 4th of July magic show and I found a gorgeous rug (10x12) marked down from $250 to $50!!!!!  It is exactly what I've been looking for for the living room.  Cross your fingers that it works.  If it does, I'll take some pictures. 

On Saturday, I received the Rainbow Resource homeschool catalog which is nearly as big as our phone book!!!  I've been thinking about finishing up the older boys' schooling and what to do with Andy.  I've been thinking, it's been a long journey - that kind of passed in a flash.  Huh? Still lots of thinking to do here.


I've been thinking about next year and the years to come.  Not much to report on that front, but I'm thinking.  


Hope you all had a great weekend!











 

20/20

Today, I sucked it up and went to the eye doctor.  I've gone two years without contacts and I've hated every minute of it.  I especially hate summer in Florida without contact lenses.  Wearing my glasses in the humidity and extreme heat only means they slide off my face any time I try to do anything - say weed a garden or pull laundry out of the dryer.  Wearing my glasses at the beach is even worse.  I love to swim and go boogie boarding, but I don't like either of those activities when I cannot see more than two feet in front of my face.

So, why, you ask, did I go so long without the contacts?  Mostly, money.  There was always something else that had to be paid for and as soon as I would set aside the money, something would come up.  This year I decided I was getting the contacts.  I asked Mike and the boys if they were planning to outgrow or wear out their shoes, clothing or the pantry this month.  When they said no, I made them swear and I made the appointment.

To Andy's delight, he got to come with me.  I saw a new doctor today.  I loved her.  I want her to be my friend.  She was funny and interesting and we talked about toenail polish, kids, feeding kids, my insane fear of having my eyes dilated, her fear of dentists and even books. We talked way too much and I'm sure my appointment put her behind for the rest of the day. 

I failed the eye exam the way I always do.  I can't see past my wrist.  The best I can do is tell you there is a light on in the room and that I know about the big "E" on the wall.  The good news is, my extreme nearsightedness is a plus as I get older.  No bifocals in my near future.  I didn't think there was a problem, but after seeing so many of my friends having to get bifocals lately (not to mention Mike), I wondered.

The doctor let Andy look in on her end of things a couple of times and he thought it was pretty cool.  Then she showed him the drops she was putting in my eyes.  In the best of times, my pupils are big.  I have light blue eyes and it's an interesting effect.  Dilate my pupils and people stare.  Andy watched in horror.  When my eyes were fully dilated he said "You look like Homer Simpson when he licked that frog."  Thank God the doctor is a fan of The Simpsons, she and Andy howled and mocked me through the rest of the exam - the receptionist even joined in the act.  (I got a glimpse in the mirror and their mockery was justified. Spooky.)

In the end, it's all good.  I have contacts!!!!  My eyes finally returned to normal around 9 pm.  It feels so good to have the glasses off of my face and to have peripheral vision again.  

Now everyone say a little prayer that no one outgrows their shoes, shorts or anything until July.  

** That is not my eye in the picture, but close enough.

How Many Candles??????

Or, more to the point, why even have a building full of gorgeous young firefighters right here in the middle of town if they can't come to my birthday party?  Do you see this picture?  Do you see the flame 45 birthday candles make?  It's a wonder my hair didn't catch fire.  Yet, no cute firemen showed up.  Just Mike and the boys.  I guess that's fine.  






The boys made a four-layer-cake today. The cake was so pretty you'd never know how much abuse and violence was involved in it's making! :::sniff::: 

Mike came home with beautiful flowers and a mini-sushi tray just for me.  He then proceeded to make dinner for the rest of the family.


I have to say, one year of having your family forget your birthday makes subsequent birthdays way more fun.  ;)  Sure, it's better if they never forget, but, trust me, if they do ... it will never happen again.


The boys gave me the Diamond Anniversary Scrabble.
Mike gave me a Scrabble Dictionary.  Pure nerd heaven.  The scrabble board has wheels and spins in any direction!  It's crazy.  Everyone played tonight, but I'm sure I'll be left on my own again soon.  It's ok, with my new board-on-wheels, I can play Scrabble with myself like the old guys playing chess in the short film before Bug's Life.  Winner gets to wear the teeth for the day.  Here's the link to the short, called Geri's Game.


All-in-all, a great day to celebrate. 













 

 

Well, why not?

I was headed to bed but I saw this story and I'm totally not getting the outrage.  I think if schools instituted punishments that were more meaningful than sitting in a dentention classrooms texting and/or listening to music kids might not end up in dentention so often?  


Mike and I are mean parents.  We do not have to punish the kids often but when we do, we try to make sure it has an impact beyond inconvenience or just boring them to death.  For sure though, I would not ask the kids to do anything I don't already do - you know, like cleaning toilets!  


For the kids in this story, I think my biggest question is why is this being treated like something outrageous?  Janitors clean toilets all the time.  What better lesson for high school kids to learn - shape up or this is how you'll be spending your adult life.  


Would you be outraged?  Maybe I'm missing something.

Married People Games

I imagine people are all the same after they've been married for many, many years.  The longer Mike and I are together, the more predictable we are to each other.  Time has tempered our reactions to what each of us thinks is insanity on the others' part, but not much.  Maybe another 20 or so years?

Last week we had two ginormous dead trees chopped down in the backyard.  The company we use for great big dead trees is owned by a neighbor.  Nice guy.  He always gives us a price and then calls back a few hours later with a better price (I can hear his wife in the background saying "Don't you remember anything?  They're the ones with all those kids!!!") It cracks me up.  I think they think we have a lot more boys than we actually do (I think there was a total of 11 boys here when he came to chop down the trees lol), but I'm good with a discount when we can get it.  

The plan was for neighbor to cut down the trees and Mike was going to chop them up into firewood (I know, I know ... those bitter Florida winters).  I suggested once or three times that those trees would probably seem a lot bigger when they were sprawled across the backyard.  But, you know, Mike has a chainsaw and what do I know?


On Saturday morning, I reminded Mike that there was no race to get the trees hacked up and that it was supposed to be 95 that day.  True to form, he nodded and smiled and ignored me.  I, too, was true to form and let him know that I would not dig out the heating pad or find the ibuprofen or offer any sympathy when he was incapable of moving on Sunday.  Keep in mind that Mike works out 5 days a week and is in remarkably good shape (I won't even add the 'for someone his age' part).  These trees were probably 40' tall each and the tree guy would have had two 20-something guys chopping them up for several hours had we asked him to do the work.


Come Sunday, I pretended not to notice Mike literally crawling out of our bed.  I pretended not to notice him rumbling through the cabinets in search of painkillers.  I pretended not to notice his sudden interest in reading quietly in the recliner all day. I pretended not to notice when he went to bed at 8:30 that night.

Monday evening, when Mike drove into the driveway after work, I did not comment on the fact that he had his seat-heaters running full speed despite the hot, humid weather.  He, in turn, fixed a smile on his face as he hoisted himself out of the truck.  

I'm sure he'll feel fine tomorrow and we can gear up for another round of "No, I'm NOT Overdoing It," this weekend for tree #2.  

We have many versions of this game; I'm sure you do too.  Some of my favorites are:  "Did you make a list before you go to the hardware store?"; "We have a perfectly good oven, you do not have to grill the chicken in a violent lightning storm."; and, one of Mike's personal favorites --  "Yes, honey, I clean that dryer lint thingie EVERY time I do a load of laundry.  I don't know how it all gets so backed up! (Sure, I do.)" 


What are your favorites?

Wordless Weekend

Oh, who am I kidding?  I can't do wordless anything. Here are some pictures Ian took over the weekend. Not much exciting happened here.  The "bigs" took the ACT Saturday morning.  Ian, Andy and I wrapped up our ugly Monopoly game last night - ugly because I lost. 

But, really, there's not too much to say tonight.  

Cool flower from our neighbor's yard.

Mint, invasive and evil as it is, can still be pretty.

Mini watermelon!  

And, there you have our weekend. Take a minute, do some deep breathing before you move on. 

Facebook

OK - my email for Facebook is ajb616@live.com - maybe some of you can find me.  I'll be looking for you guys too!

Goodwill Hunting

(totally stealing the post title from the awesome ami. mental.)

But, I really did go hunting for stuff at Goodwill today (no Matt Damon - ewww and no math - double ewwww).  I found an excellent dresser for the porch to store Andy's Lego's and the older boys weird props and photography stuff.  It's narrow and about 6' long. Perfect for $30.  I started painting it tonight (with Kilz - the humidity is so high out there, the Kilz should buy us five or so years out of the thing).  

I've also been checking out books each week or so at Goodwill.  This year is our family vacation at the beach.  Two weeks where I have to do just about NOTHING - and even the stuff I have to do, I am doing while watching the surf so it never sucks.  Anyway, now that the boys are older and swim better than I do, I get a lot of reading done.  So, I've been picking books up at Goodwill as I find them.  1) I can't afford to buy that many books new and  2)It's pretty much a guarantee that I'll drop the library book in the surf.  I found five interesting-looking books today and added them to my "beach shelf."  

School stuff is cleaned up and ready for storage or donation or my "I dunno" box.  Whoo hooo.  The Desk Apprentice has been relegated to the bookshelves for the summer. I might actually put flowers or something pretty in the middle of my table for a change.  

Also at Goodwill?  I found two monster boxes of 50 birthday candles (with funky holders, no less) for $.99 each.  I have them sitting on the counter. That and the monster calendar with "MOM"S BIRTHDAY" marked on Wednesday might attract someone's attention, right?  ;)  I know you ALL have done your shopping for the big day, haven't you? 

Stoopid Facebook

I finally figured out how to get back on Facebook (no help from them, thank you very much).  Now I have no friends.  None.  If you're on FB and need a friend will you please add me?  Amy Baker.  The email name I'm using is ajb616 if that helps. I'm so lonely, I just keep updating myself.  ;) 

My awesome Mother's Day gift

This year for Mother's Day, I was in North Carolina with my dad and Andy visiting my sister.  My dad brought along two cards from my mom for my sister and me for Mother's Day.  I cannot believe I haven't shown them to you all yet.  My mom is amazing!  Today I found a frame to fit both pictures - I was so excited.  That's right, color me fancy, I have original art on my walls now.

This will give you an idea of our wild beach vacations:

Me reading at the beach:

My insane sister reading at the beach:

Cool,huh?  Our mom made us real paintings!  I dunno, I think it's pretty amazing. 

Ahhh summer . . .

Yesterday, Andy, Ian, Tim and I made a last minute decision to go to Rock Springs.  The video gives you an idea of what it's like during cooler weather (when no one is there).  For our visit add about 200 people floating in giant tire inner tubes and take the animals out of the equation.  ;)  

I think our high temp yesterday was 92, but once we set up under the trees, it was perfect.  As a result, I spent my afternoon reading a trashy novel while the boys floated and snorkeled.  It was a pretty glorious day all in all.  The only downside was the Chinese fire drill aspect of the trip.  Tim drove through low-speed, low-traffic areas and then we all hopped out of the car, rearranged the mirrors, the seat and Ian took over.  Needless to say, I took a nap when we arrived, amazingly, home.  Whew!!!!

Ian took some pictures with my phone.  Here they are.  Interestingly, he included no  water shots (see video for water).  Go figure.

Do not pass Go . . .

We play a lot of board games here.  What we play seems to go in spurts.  We'll play card games for months and months (Hearts, Uno, etc), then we move to games like Blokus.


Right now, we've been in Monopoly land.  The games go on for days and days.  Ian, Andy and I are currently involved in a game.  I left for a few minutes to flip laundry and came back to Andy making a really BAD deal with Ian.  Once the deal was complete, Andy, like most 10-year-old boys, had a bit of a melt down.  


He told Ian "Go to hell.  Go directly to hell.  Do not pass God.  Do not collect $200."  Amen.  


And, no, odds are we will never send Andy to public school to corrupt your kids.

DMHGTV

OK - Tim finally has a learner's permit.  I have to say we had the funniest DMV employee EVER as our facilitator.  This man was beyond funny - he realized early on that I "got him" and he took it from there.  At one point I actually had tears running down my face listening to his running commentary on the masses that pass through the DMV.  Funny, funny man.  

So, Tim is learning to drive. Ian has been learning to drive and he's hit the belligerent stage where he's enough in control of the car to think he can ignore his own mother hanging on the Jesus strap.  Ian is wrong.  Tim MUST learn from this or my head will simply explode. Tim won't learn.  My head will likely not explode, but I might wear a hole into the couch from collapsing after all of these driving adventures.  

My main point is, though,  I've been at the DMV at least 8 times in the past two years.  I have some ideas, hence the HGTV.  In the lobby or on the sidewalk at the entrance, station two (or more or less depending on that DMV's traffic) officers right in front.  Flanking the officers are pull down graphics (remember the big maps from school?) showing what you have to have to get what you want.  

No one enters unless they clear the front guard.  Once they're clear, they enter the DMV.  There's a small area for little kids to toddle around and play in - you don't need much and it would cut way down on the crying.  The lines appointment/non-appointment would move smoothly because all of the people without proper documents would have been turned back at the door.  Poof.


Inside the DMV, the walls would be a soothing blue, green or yellow color -- as opposed to the flesh-toned walls (a la Crayola).  There would be a take-it-or-leave-it basket for books, papers and magazines for the adults who are not chasing wee kids and didn't remember to bring something to occupy themselves.  


Really, those simple changes would make the whole DMV experience so much more human.  Is the world ready for a government office makeover show on HGTV?

Another butterfly . . .

Things are improving, but I'm still unable to sit still and NOT smoke. Habits suck. Anyway, this makes blogging tricky.  Plus, my mood isn't all that great. In fact, it's kind of mean. I've been on the internets (what the boys call the lining of their swimsuits) long enough to know there's enough mean out there without me adding to it.  I'm here, just mean and mobile for now. I wish you were all my neighbors so I could come paint or scrub or clean or organize for you (with your kind permission of course, I'm not a total loon).  As it stands, Mike and the boys are about ready to padlock me into the treehouse.                          

I'm kind of bummed, I'm losing the garden war. We have had more rain in the past two weeks than we normally get in two months (and we normally get a LOT of rain this time of year).  The zucchinis wimped out first.  All the purty baby zucchinis rotted away. I ripped the plants out yesterday afternoon, after I apologized to the plants for being mean and telling them it was their own damn fault for getting stinky. I think I salvaged the cucumbers and some of the peppers.  Ugh . . . 

I have a bunch of tomatoes here - what's your favorite thing to do with fresh, ripe tomatoes?  I don't have enough for a sauce, I'm thinking bruschetta (sp?) with dinner tomorrow.

Aside from the being restless with not smoking, I'm kind of freaked out about my upcoming birthday.  I'll be 45 on the 16th.  I'm ok with being 45, but somehow, I thought I would have done more in all of those years.  Let's face it, 45 is not, for most of us (particularly the ex-smoker), middle aged, it's the beginning of not-middle-aged. I expected more from myself by this age and I've let myself down. I guess now I need a new plan. It's hard to know where to start, though. Who has the blueprints? 

Anyway, I'm still here, just not feeling terribly fun or funny, though I will again, I'm sure.                                                                                                                                                                      

Facebook help?

Since FB Amy went to London, my account has been disabled. What does that mean?  Do I have to start from scratch and make a new account? I've been askeered to do anything FB related because I don't know.  Their help pages are not all that helpful.  

Any advice? 

We should all love our jobs so much!

OK - just watch the drummer.  He is having WAY too much fun. And, as one of the comments notes, he has something very Chris Farley-esque about him.  

I got a kick out of it -I hope you do too. 

Ahhhh . . .

Go ahead, put yourself right there in the picture. As you can see you have a choice of water, ginger ale or coke.  Flop down, read, doze, watch the waves ...

It's ok, no sharks this visit. Just a hazy, hot day on the Florida coast.

You're welcome to the sunglasses, but be warned they're prescription. If you get a headache, it's your own fault.

Bing, Ian, Andy and I went to the beach today.  Tim refused to wake up and Dan was just exhausted from work and school.  I was hungry last night when I was getting things ready.  The cooler contained chicken salad sandwiches (baked chicken shredded, mayo, crushed pineapple, crushed walnuts, raisins) on whole wheat buns. (The buns were awesome, but I would keep the percentage of whole wheat just under 50%, I used more and my buns were flat.  LOL)


Additionally, I made peanut butter oatmeal M&M cookies.  This is a keeper recipe.   In case of a nuclear holocaust or something, I also packed chips, apples, crackers, pepperoni, and cheese.  


Thus fortified, we headed out.  Ian took charge of the camera. Andy flopped in the surf.  Bing and I sprawled next to each other with our books and a bag of chips to serve as a reminder of personal space.  Really, it doesn't get better.  


Not much else to say except it was a most excellent day.  Here are some more pictures.

Bing and I eating lunch.

Andy ready to conquer the waves.

I love this picture.  Reminds me of Bing's fan-dancing days!  

The nice fisherman next to us as he was leaving.  Whatever he was fishing with did NOT attract sharks and we are grateful.

Believe it or not, it never actually rained!

Bing and Ian playing dueling cameras!

Bing and I discussing the potential of sharks, how to solve the leaking oil in the Gulf, whether or not Cajun potato chips burn more calories than regular chips and the relative value of underwire bras.  

Such a short time, so much to figure out . . . but, we're on the job.  Work. Work. Work.  It's what we do.

Ennunciate!!!!!

Today was one of those days . . . you know the days, no matter how you plan it, it ends up being kind of stupid and long and long.  Today was that day.  

Nothing bad, just too many people with too many things to do and not enough hours to get it all done.  Since Dan's had his license, we don't all travel together for errands much - all meaning me and all four boys. What used to be normal is now excruciating! We all set out together this afternoon to run multiple errands.  Oh man. Too many drivers, too many opinions, too many people.  

Dan dropped Ian, Andy and myself off so that Ian and Andy could get haircuts while Dan took  Tim to drop off some job applications and then get gas.  Of course, the hair cut place was slow, so Ian, Andy and I ended up chasing shade in the parking lot waiting for Dan and Tim to get back.  We chased shade for a good 40 minutes.    

Andy was in a chatty mood today.  I indulged him, he's not a chatty kind of kid. We talked about food I liked when I was 10 and moved onto favorite songs. This topic was narrowed down to favorite holiday songs. (Mind you, it was 92 degrees and Ian, Andy and I were fighting over the shade from one large palm frond.)  

Andy told Ian and me that his favorite Hanukkah song was "Cat's in the Cradle." Huh?  We talked and talked.  Finally, Ian figured it out.  He gave Andy a big brotherly slap on the back of his head and said "Stupid!  It's dradel, not cradle!"  

After that, we went to Wal-Mart.  Need I say anything else?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Facebook Amy went to London . . .

and I didn't even get a t-shirt.  Heck, I was in WalMart while FB Amy was emailing all my FB friends that Mike, one kid and I needed money to pay our hotel bill so that we could leave the UK.  Now that I know this works, I'd like you all to plan for our upcoming tour of Italy.   A little bit from everyone and I think my family can have a super vacation.  (Maybe I should add a tip jar to the blog?)  Who knew?  I used to think Flat Stanley was a  bargain. 

Anyway, if you're on Facebook, it wasn't really me begging for money.  I really appreciate all of you who called and emailed me to let me know what was going on today.  

Memorial Day 2010

Every year for the past 10 or so years, the boys have spent the Saturday before Memorial Day and the evening of Memorial Day putting flags, crosses and stars of David on the graves of veterans in our local cemetery - in the early morning on Saturday and taking everything down at sunset on Monday.  This year was no different.  Even though Andy isn't in Scouts, he always goes along to help.

This year, on Memorial Day, the Boys Scouts, which would be Dan and Ian, attended an additional ceremony as aides to a Memorial Day flag ceremony.  While  there, they met two WWII veterans who, according to the boys and Mike, were great and funny.  They also met some vets from Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War and even Iraq and Afghanistan.

Initially, the boys went to the ceremony because they had been recruited as scouts.  Now, I think they will attend these kind of ceremonies throughout their lives because they recognize the amazing people the ceremonies celebrate.

When asked what he did when he was dropped via parachute into Normandy, one of the WWII veterans answered, "What do you think?  I ran like hell."  Not sure where he ran but it was the right call on his part.

(Yes, if you look at this picture closely, you'll notice the other scouts - Dan and Ian are flanking the vet to the left - have sashes displaying their merit badges.  Well, they have better mothers than Dan and Ian.  I despise sewing the badges on and the glue stuff only works for a short time.   I will sew on all their badges for their Eagle Scout Courts of Honor and that's it.)