those were the days

10, 2, and 4

Oh I wish I were an oscar mayer weiner, that is what i'd truly like to be......cause if i were an oscar mayer weiner, everyone would be in love with me.

two, two mints in one

open wide for chunky

things go better with coco cola, things go better with coke

a little dab will do ya

my dog's better than your dog, my dog's better than yours, my dog's better cause he gets ken-l-ration, my dog's better than yours

double your pleasure double your fun with doublemint, doublemint, doublement gum

please don't squeeze the charmin

brisket and cherry diet coke

Saturday's are........well, Saturday. They are much anticipated at our house. No work for some, no school (unless assignments aren't completed during the week), no set routine usually, and sleeping in. The last one is what I look forward to. However I woke up at 6:00 a.m. this morning. Now I didn't say I got up; I just woke up. I promptly looked at the clock, sighed a sigh of relief, and went back to sleep.

I was sooo tired last night. It was another nonstop day of activity. I dropped Hannah off early at enrichment classes, ran five errands (yes, I counted), brought some stuff back home that needed refrigeration, ate a quick bite of sandwich, and headed back to enrichment classes. Between times I cooked what I was taking to our Celebrate Recovery meal last night. If you didn't come all I can say is you missed one of the best meals I have ever had. It was DELICIOUS~!

After we left Donald took me by Taco D. for a Cherry Diet Coke. They have the best cokes in town~! One night Donald was in line behind Bethany and Rebekah. After they pulled off and he pulled up to the drive-through window he heard them talking about our girls. They said they thought they had a brother and were all really nice and always got cherry cokes~! He wanted to let them know they were his kids, but refrained from doing so. I absolutely love compliments about our children; especially those like I just mentioned. It's like God encouraging us. To think that God loves His children and delights in us even more than we do our own children just astounds me~! I love how He gives us examples that we can totally relate to.

Back to last night. We got a coke and one for Bethany who had been home alone for several hours. Now with seven people in the house that is quite a desirable thing. If you have time check out her blog "The Pink Tealetters" at http://pinktealetters.blogspot.com/. She is such a good writer and a delightful young lady. BTW she has written a children's book that she is going to have published at some point in time. She met the founder of a publishing company last year and he read and loved her story and told her when she got ready to publish it his company would do so~! She is taking art lessons for illustration purposes and I am so proud of her.

Once again, back to last night. After we got home I took a bath and got in my comfy pj's and Donald and I watched NYPD Blue reruns. I absolutely love the humor on that show. Andy Sipowicz is our favorite character; he has been in 261 episodes from 1993-2005.

Now it's Saturday and I have had my diet coke and updated my blog. I'm off to a good start.

it can Really happen

Those of you who know me also know that I am NOT a hair person. I do not have a knack for doing hair. Heck, I had trouble with my daughters' ponytails when they were young. I'm afraid this has also affected my own appearance. Now to be honest I guess I haven't really worried about it too much. I had perms for years so all I had to do was wash and go. That is definitely my kind of hairstyle.

But I finally got tired of perms and since my hair was damaged I let it grow out and opted for a shorter look. Now this was okay, but it did require much more care on my part. I learned to use a curling iron and only burned myself a number of times. Lately I have just let my hair grow and honestly didn't know what I wanted to try to do with it. I have experimented with Rebekah's straightener or whatever you call it.

I had an appointment with Nancy yesterday. She has done my hair for 20 years at least. She is awesome and really knows what she's doing (not at all like me). I went in and told her I didn't know what I wanted except I didn't want a perm. I also told her I had been experimenting with the straightener. She looked at me and said something that I am still marveling over. She said," I am impressed. It looks good." Now she has never ever said anything even similar to that over the past 20 years~! So she did a little bit of cutting around my face so I would look "sassy" and I left in a rather smug manner.

So now here I am with a look I'm not even sure I can handle. I'm not even sure I can pull it off. Life is good.

Did I Really Say That?

Two hours ago I said in my last post that I didn't have anything to say. I really didn't. But it didn't take long to discover I was mistaken. I do have something to write about~!

It's official now. I'm the only one in our family who is unemployed. Everyone else has a job of some sort and pocket change of their own. Now wouldn't that be nice?? The only time I have been semi-employed in the last twenty-seven years was when we cleaned some offices and a beauty shop. Now since that was needed to meet our financial obligations I didn't really have any money to blow. Wouldn't it be nice to have more money than bills (the kind you have to pay each month)?

So I've been thinking maybe I can begin to charge for washing each change of clothes, charge a standard fee for each meal I cook and they eat, and maybe even charge Donald for ironing his jeans and scrubs. Now I don't iron any one's jeans except Donald's. That would be like ironing underwear in my mind. But my dear hubby likes his jeans ironed and I like to make him happy so I iron them. Nah, I don't think I'll charge him for that; that would take all the fun out of it for me. Maybe I'll just charge for the scrubs that he wears to work.

Another thing I thought of that I can mention was my lapse of memory yesterday. The reason I thought of this was because of a conversation I had with Connie. Maybe I need to talk to her more often if our conversations give me ideas to write about.

I got up and proceeded to take all the trash out to the curb. I even emptied all the wastebaskets in the house. It was a beautiful morning and I enjoyed being out in the cool air. Later in the afternoon I noticed that ours was still by the curb, but our neighbors' trash was gone. I thought maybe the truck just hadn't come by our side of the street yet. So I waited........and waited. I decided they had forgotten our trash~! I even went outdoors to look on our side of the street. They definitely had forgotten ours~! Then I remembered. It was Wednesday and they don't pick our trash up on Wednesdays. Now I knew it was Wednesday all along because I was looking forward to church last night. Why did I set out the trash?? I have absolutely no idea. At least I was ahead of the game as I just left it all out and got an early start on today. Now I am absolutely certain that they pick up trash on Thursdays on our street. Don't they????

Maybe having nothing to say doesn't happen as often as I thought.

Meet Mordecai

I went to the pet store today for dog food and came home with a fish. My very own fish, my first fish ever, who belongs totally to me and me only. I named him Mordecai on the way home, and he is very beautiful.

He seems to be very happy in his new home which is much larger than the little cup he called home at the pet store. I have proudly displayed him on my cabinet and have introduced him to each of our family members. Welcome home, Mordecai.

Year Number 23, But Who's Counting???

Today was the first day of our fall semester home school enrichment classes. Hannah was very excited to get to see all her friends again and could hardly wait for me to get out the door. In true first day back fashion, I forgot a bag of things I needed for class. Now I had it laying out on the cabinet with the rest of the stuff I needed to take, but somehow it became invisible as I hurried out the door. I dropped Hannah off for class and ran back home to get it and was only a few minutes late. It's a good thing I don't live far out; I would definitely have to be better organized.

My favorite part of the classes is "Mom's Room." Each of the mothers are allowed one hour of the classes to visit in "Mom's Room." Susan leads it for us although her sons have already graduated. She has a grandson whom I'm sure she'll help school. Anyway she asked us to fill out a questionnaire about homeschooling. It was quite thought provoking for me. I realized all over again how blessed I am to be able to teach our kids at home. Now I wasn't always on the bandwagon; God has definitely changed my heart from the Jezebel woman who screamed at her husband that she would never even consider homeschooling. (If you haven't figured it out yet... I am that woman~!) Now here I am twenty-three years later still eating my words, and happy to do so.

One thing I've definitely learned is to NEVER SAY NEVER!

Practicing the Presence

I receive several different emails from Crosswalk.com and today's was "Upwords from Max Lucado." The title of it was Practicing the Presence. I think that's pretty practical because I definitely have to think about God and make choices every day. It's not like I always get up and bam there He is. Now I know He is with me every day and He will never leave me or forsake me; it's just some days I tend to go my own way and think my own thoughts and leave Him out of my life. That is until I get in a jam or something upsetting happens and then I cry out to Him. I love the days I wake up and my first thought is, "Good morning, Lord." I love the days when He gives me a song to sing.

I used to never sing out loud because I don't have a good voice. But now I can't help it. I love Him and I have to proclaim it sometimes. I want to be in His presence much more than I am now. I'm afraid the beginning of school has altered my thought process somewhat. I have so many more things added to my schedule and to get stressed out over. Stressing out is definitely a signal that I need Him. I need to Practice the Presence.

Hannah and I made an out of town trip yesterday afternoon. She has wanted a digital camera for a long time and that was her birthday request for November. Best Buy had the very camera she wanted $30 cheaper than Wal-Mart. She wanted to take a photography class in enrichment classes and needed a camera to do so. She decided she needed her birthday gift early. I needed some things from Sam's Club so off we went.

So now I'll have pictures I can steal for my blog. Almost as good as having my own~!

My Epiphany

I had an epiphany this morning. To make my point I'm including the definition.

3 a (1) : a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature (Toilet tissue is really important to me.) or meaning of something (2) : an intuitive grasp of reality through something (We are almost out of this essential product) (as an event) usually simple and striking (3) : an illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure (Do you realize that people actually used old catalogs for this need????) b : a revealing scene or moment

Now I realize I'm not that old, but we actually had outhouses when I was young. My aunt had one even much longer than most people. As a child I wasn't allowed to use the ones at our house. They had REALLY deep holes and my parents didn't want to risk losing me down the toilet. But my aunt's wasn't made that way. I could actually go out to her back yard, turn the little board nailed on the front to open the door, go inside, and you know........ I thought it was so neat to be able to do that. Now I didn't have to use the catalog (or if I did I don't remember). Or maybe it was so painful I have pushed it into the back recesses of my mind.

Anyway, for some strange reason I was extremely grateful for toilet tissue today. Weird, huh??

For Eddie and Connie

This is for my good friends Eddie and Connie~! We were reliving some of the good old days last night, like when you could get ICE COLD cokes in GLASS bottles~!

(For those of you too young to remember the Valomilk was a marshmallow candy in a chocolate cup; kinda like the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups of today. The pretty bottles

were fruit juice in a wax bottle. You drank the juice and chewed the wax.)

You could get a lot of candy for a dime back then. Kits came in different flavors and had five individually wrapped pieces in a package; my favorites were the chocolate. The package cost a penny. Or you could spend a nickel and get a whole candy bar~! Fruit striped gum was a big favorite of many kids also.

Cold Diet Cokes and Frozen Ice Cream

It's so hot I don't feel like doing anything. I got up and ran errands earlier this morning, but it was still hot. I know we've been spoiled with all the rain and milder temperatures, but summer has arrived in a blaze of heat.

All I want to do is lay inside under the air conditioner and drink a cold diet coke or eat ice cream. The air conditioner runs and runs and I don't seem to

get cool. The heat index is at 111 degrees. I did have a thought earlier
when I went to take the trash out into the garage.

I sure am glad I'm going to heaven and not to Sheol. It must be a horrible miserable hot place.

I was thinking about the small town grocery store where I grew up. Later on it went out of business, but when I was little they had a coke machine similar to the one in the picture. They put ice in it and the bottled drinks were so cold and good~! Cold cokes in a glass bottle are so great.

I have to go back into the hot kitchen and make the mashed potatoes. My ironing board is still in there also, waiting on me to finish the ironing. I had to take a break and dream of ice cream and cold cokes in glass bottles.

Fill in the Blank

Last week was so busy. We celebrated Rebekah and Ben's birthday on Thursday night. Tuesday afternoon Rebekah and I made a trip to Sam's Club for supplies. Donald's sister and her two boys came in Thursday and spent Friday night and Saturday at our house. I spent the week cleaning, shampooing carpets, and getting ready. Friday morning we had our enrichment class planning meeting. I had to leave early so I could get home to change sheets, bake a couple of desserts, and finish cleaning. With seven people and a dog in the house we pretty much need to vacuum every day and there is always laundry and dirty dishes. Friday night we went out to eat with Annette and her boys, Donald's brother Doug and his wife and daughter and her husband and little boy. Are you following me??? Then we all came back here for dessert and conversation. Yesterday was church and later while Rebekah and Bethany were on Rebekah's birthday excursion and the kids were at a swimming party Donald and I went to Chili's and used my gift certificate that I won. We had an appetizer plate and then shared a piece of Chocolate Chip Paradise Pie. It was so yummy~! This morning I slept in until 10:10. I started to get up but wondered why I wanted to do that. I had nothing pressing today so I decided to relax and went back to sleep. I think I deserved the rest.

Pastor Paul made a statement yesterday that I am chewing on. When God told Moses to go to Pharaoh and lead the children of Israel out of Israel, Moses questioned God about His choice. Exodus 3:14 "And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. "

God does not just exist; He is everything. I AM _________. You can fill in the blank, but that is limiting God. He is so much bigger than anything you can put in there. Whatever we need, He is~!

Bacon Cheeseburgers

Yesterday was such an exciting day for me~! I couldn't decide whether to post about my invitation to try out for the Mavs Dancers or the phone call I received earlier in the day. Because I love the Mavs so much I decided the possibility of getting to dance near them was probably number one on my list. I haven't started exercising yet, but since the auditions aren't until August 11th I have a few days to relish the thought of being invited. There is a slight problem though. The eleventh is Ben's birthday; maybe he will want to go with me if he believes there is a possibility of meeting some of his favorite basketball players. Maybe he can play a little one on one with one of them while I practice my moves.

Now on to the phone call. I was outside with the dog when Hannah brought me the phone. The lady on the other end told me I had won a prize at their give away. Our cable company now has phone service in our area so I had gone up Friday to sign up. We will have our cable, internet service, and phone service all on one bill and save money also. The saving money part was the clincher. While I was there I noticed a box where you could sign up for prizes to be given away.

While I was waiting my turn I signed up.

Now the only thing I have ever won was a live pig. I kid you not, I won a live baby pig when I was a senior in high school. Now I went to a small school and we had a Halloween carnival every October. Merchants or people would donate things and we would sell chances on them to raise money for...........you know, I don't actually know what we raised money for. Anyway the school's secretary's husband raised hogs and they had a bunch of baby pigs. He donated one and for some stupid reason I bought a chance and WON THE PIG~! That is the only thing I have ever won until yesterday.

After working on Rebekah's bank statement and not being ready to tackle my own I had the brilliant idea that we should take a break and go eat Mexican food. I won't drop any names here but it's the one where Donald says he's going to sprinkle my ashes in the flower bed after I'm gone because I love that place so much. After we ate I went to claim my prize........being relatively certain it wasn't a live pig.

It was in a neat black zippered bag not quite the right size for it to be a laptop. Hey one can wish~! I couldn't wait to get home so I dug right in as soon as the car door had closed. I won the following items.....2 tee shirts with the company's logo on them, plastic cups with the company's logo on them, a pencil, pen, and neat pad with the company's logo on them, a certificate for a free month of either cable, phone, or Internet service (with the company's logo on it) and a $25 gift card for Chili's.

Now I have to decide who to take with me to eat at Chili's. I told my family I was going to have a week's contest and whoever was the nicest to me during that week gets to go. One contest calls for another, and I need to make the most of this situation.

It wasn't a laptop or digital camera, but it wasn't a pig either~! Maybe I'll have a bacon cheeseburger when I go to Chili's.

Possibilities

I haven't had anything blog worthy the last several days. Now, all at once, I have several creditable topics. I think I'll discuss this one today and maybe the other ones later.

I received an email today that could change my life. You see, I have been invited to audition for a chance to be a Dallas Maverick Dancer~! Here is just a part of my invitation......

"Attention all ladies! Want to be part of the hottest dance team in the NBA? If you are a high school graduate, at least 18 years old, energetic and love to perform in front of large crowds - the Mavs want YOU to tryout to be a part of the Dallas Mavericks Dancers."

I have to go shopping for a few items. Here is the list of things I need in order to try out.
Half top (any style, any color)
Short shorts (any style, any color)
Nude hose (any brand)
White socks
White shoes –dancer sneakers or athletic brands

At least I have the white socks. The other items should be relatively easy to come by. At the bottom of the email is an ad for "Planet Tan" with free enrollment and a FREE Super starter kit including tanning goggles, lotion packets and moisturizer.

Maybe I better work on my tan before I leave for the auditions. I will have plenty of time because I am not required to have my own routine.......I will learn all the dance combinations at the audition.

All of a sudden my life is full of possibilities and adventure..........

This and That

The past several days have been so busy. During the school year I look forward to all the "free" time I will have in the summer. Once summer arrives I can't seem to find it~! It makes me wonder how I ever find time to home school.

I was excited to be able to spend some time with one of the friends I described in my last post. Joann and I have been friends for over 30 years. Even though we don't see each other often when we do it is always awesome~! Her daughter and one of our daughters are good friends so that makes it even more special when we can spend time together as a foursome as we did this evening. I am blessed to have her as one of my special friends~!

Yesterday Bethany, Daniel, and I spent most of the day in Sherman. Bethany updated her cell phone and I decided to update mine and Donald's. When you can get free phones and you plan on staying with the same company why not?? I now have a camera phone. It probably won't do me much good as I am too cheap to pay to download the pictures or to pay more for that option on our plan. Nevertheless Hannah thinks "we" have a really cool phone. She is convinced she needs a cell phone and I am convinced she doesn't. So she has decided she can call mine "ours."

You gotta love that girl~! And I do immensely.

I have a relatively clean house thanks to everyone. Last night I said something about I needed to clean and Bethany said to tell everyone what to do and we would all pitch in and get 'er done. I mopped the floors while the kids did various chores. I cleaned our bathroom and washed our sheets this afternoon so the house is fairly clean. If only it would stay that way a bit longer than it does. Oh well.........

As you tell I don't have any profound thoughts and really no reason to post. But it's my blog and I can post if I want to. Kinda like the old song, "It's my party and I can cry if I want to." Where in the world did that come from???

Rainy Days and Thursdays

I think we are in the middle of a summer monsoon here. Last summer we were in the middle of a drought and water rationing. At least I've only had to water my impatients a couple of times this year. I need to borrow some one's camera and get a picture of them. They are gorgeous if I do say so myself. My kids tease me about how I always kill indoor plants so it's a real big deal to me to actually grow something and have it live.

I was in a store shopping this afternoon and when I started to leave it was POURING. I mean the flash flood kind of pouring. Of course my umbrella was out in the van. It didn't appear to be lightning so I thought of the woman Bethany spun a tale about in her blog. I decided I'd enjoy the moment even if it did mean getting drenched. And saturated I got as I slowly wandered to my car; there was absolutely no need to hurry as it wouldn't of made a bit of difference. By the time I got my bags unloaded it had slowed down and the sun was beginning to peek through the clouds. I'm sure I resembled a drowned something or other as my hair was dripping while I tried to find a few napkins to wipe my glasses so I could see to drive home.

So here I am no worse for the wear and wondering if I enjoyed it as much as I could have. Who knows, I may get another chance to try it again. We have a pretty good chance of rain for the next ten days. If only it were Monday I could try to sing "Rainy Days and Mondays." But since I'm not "down" maybe I should sing something else.

Choices

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalms 118:24
The Message says it this way:
This is the very day God acted - let's celebrate and be festive!

Our three youngest kids have been gone since Sunday afternoon. They are on a youth group trip and the house is sure quiet. It's amazing how fewer loads of dishes and laundry I've done this week~! I miss having them around, but the quiet is kinda nice also. You don't get many opportunities to be "home alone" in our household. So today I have spent the morning with the dog. It seems he has eaten something he shouldn't and he has been sick off and on since early Saturday morning. Pets are awesome, but they sure are a lot of trouble and expense at times. After the vet I spent the rest of the morning cleaning carpets.

This afternoon I have been cleaning, doing laundry, ironing, and listening to my play list on iTunes. I am listening to everything from Smokey Robinson's "Tears of a Clown" to The Partridge Family's "I Think I Love You." Hall and Oates (You Make My Dreams Come True), Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman," CCR's "Who'll Stop the Rain," the BeeGees, Jennifer Knapp, Three Dog Night, the Righteous Brother's "You've Lost That Loving Feeling," Third Day, The Eagles, Kutless, and even The Monkees' "Daydream Believer." And I can't forget Otis Redding's "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay." I am being festive and enjoying the day while doing my work.

I think it's so awesome that I can enjoy God's presence while doing the things I need to do. God can speak to me in whatever music I choose to listen to. I have a wide range of songs, but I believe God has much imagination and likes so many different things. Look at creation, a sunset, people.......we are all so different yet made in His image.

Like the song I'm listening to now says,
Blessed be the name of the Lord, Blessed be your glorious name.
You give and take away, you give and take away,
My heart will choose to say, blessed be your name.

A Story

I was looking through some documents on our computer and ran across this story Hannah wrote for me. It was an English assignment, and I don't remember the specifics. Although the storyline was changed and some of the circumstances, I was totally captivated by my "prince" in real life~!

Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess named Sarah. Sarah lived with her parents and her younger brother, Teddy. Although Sarah was a princess, no one could know. So she went to a normal school, had friends, and enjoyed helping her father pick cotton out in the fields. One day as Sarah was at work, an extremely handsome man entered the store. His long wavy hair flustered along his face. Sarah was in awe of this gorgeous person. His crest white smile filled the room. Princess Sarah was very sad when he left. "I wonder what his name was. such a beautiful person has to have a beautiful name.". The day ended and Sarah couldnt seem to let herself forget about this strangely wonderful man. Several days went on. She gazed at the door for several days as she was at work, but he didnt come. One day as Sarah was working with all lost hopes, suddenly this man walks through the door once more. His hair blowing with the wind. Sarah felt as if she was going to faint. Out of nowhere the man comes up to the counter, "Hello, do you happen to have any hair gel??" Sarah was so shocked, and at that moment, the man said "I'm Donald, whats your name?" Sarah could hardly speak "Sss.a.Sarah." Donald just stared. "do you want to go get some donuts on your next break?" Sarah didnt hesitate for a minute "YES! I mean, um, Sure." Donald and Sarah had a wonderful date. In fact, it went so wonderful that they had many more. One night Sarah and Donald were out on a date. Sarah had been dreading this night. "Donald, I must tell you something." said Sarah "oh, okay." "I'm a princess. I cant just marry anyone. I'm sorry, I would have told you sooner, but I just couldnt bring myself up to say it." there was a moment of silence and then "THATS WONDERFUL! See, my father is the King, and I have been dreading the night I was to tell you that I was to marry a princess." Much more was said and many hugs were given. Several months went by and the lovely couple were married! They had 5 beautiful children. God told Sarah that she was to homeschool her children. For what reason she did not know. But she was obediant and did so. Sarah has given up many things for her children. And so has Donald. Although they saw themselves in a Castle doing everything they wanted to do, God had different plans in store for them, They were always faithful and obediant to their God. And they are still living happily ever after. The End

Down Comforters

I am back at home in my own little world today. We are still officially on "vacation"; at least Donald and I are. The kids are working as they have already had theirs....vacation that is. I came home to one very clean and sweet smelling house. I paid Hannah to clean for me while we were gone. It was worth every penny I've yet to pay her~! I absolutely hate coming home from a trip to a messed up house. It doesn't take long after unloading the car to have things setting around waiting to be put in place. I used to be hyper about it and would immediately start unpacking and putting away. The first thing I did last night was come directly to the computer. We had computer access in our very lovely hotel room but they charged for it. Why spoil a "free" night by paying for something?? We also declined the valet parking for $14.00 and walked.

Donald used to travel in his job and had points for a free night that he had earned. We stayed at the RENAISSANCE AUSTIN HOTEL and experienced "an authentic luxury hotel in Austin." You could even call for a turn down service. If I had known they wouldn't have charged for it I might have called; however since I have expertise in that area (and I am also on the cheap side) I did it myself. They had fancy bottled water for $4.00 if you cracked the seal. I was completely satisfied with my Diet Coke. Donald had one iced down and oh so cold for me when I woke up yesterday.

The reason we chose Austin was to see Monte Montgomery. He can play one mean guitar. I was mesmerized by how fast his fingers flew up and down his guitar the first time I saw him. I don't know squat about music, but that guy can play~! He was at the Saxon Pub and we saw another band before he came up. I enjoyed them a lot. One guy was really the entertainer and I almost got dizzy watching him bob his head. They did a fantastic job of "Jackson" or maybe that's not even the name of it, but it was great. They had my foot tapping for sure. Monte was alone and I missed his band, but he was still fantastic. If you're interested here's his web site. You can listen to sound clips from some of his albums. I didn't see my favorite on there, "I Know You By Heart." He did it Wednesday night though and it was awesome~!
http://www.montemontgomery.com/

Vacations are meant to be enjoyed. I just gave Donald one little item on his "honey do" list. He's already taken care of it for me so he can enjoy the next several days. Am I awesome or what??

Mum's the Word

We are on vacation this week~! I love not having a schedule. I'm sure I would tire of it eventually, but it's pretty awesome right now.

We went out of town today for reasons I won't disclose. I am trying to protect someone I love by not giving too much information. (I guess I do have a habit of doing that sometimes and embarrassing said member of our family.) It was a lot of fun though and I got to eat at Schlotzsky's. I love Schlotzsky's and wish we had one here. We did at one time, but for some reason they went out of business.

Maybe I'll have something interesting to write about later, but for now I'm pretty content to keep quite.

Shhh~!

Could this be me????

I just came inside from cleaning our fence. It has been over a month since I did that. There are creeping vines and vicious things with thorns all in the corner of our yard. They go wild in the springtime. They climb and coil and spread like wildfire. I have battled them each year for the past eleven years. They seem to be winning.

I would like to go to the chemical store and get some poison that would wipe it out. It would have to be safe for pets and be okay with my neighbors though. They have lots of it in their back yard. I'm not sure if they grow it or just don't battle it like I do. I am in a bad sort of mood since the last time I did it I got into poison ivy. I have never had poison ivy before and believe me I will be much more sympathetic the next time Ben gets it. A few years ago he had the series of shots to keep from getting it and he still got it. We have made several trips to the doctor when we couldn't get rid of it. Thankfully he handed me his prescription poison ivy cream which did the trick. So now I am wondering if I'll need to use it again.

I took precautions this time. I wore a long sleeved shirt and gloves and had everything covered except my face. I guess if I was a bee farmer I could have worn the big thing they wear to cover their faces. I probably would have looked pretty weird though. I think I found the creeping kind that is creeping from the fence row into our backyard. I got the bottle of poison ivy spray from the garage and doused them all. Then I came in and got into the shower immediately and scrubbed myself and washed my hair. I picked up the dirty clothes with a towel and carried them quickly put them into the washing machine with lots of soap. It wasn't a "I Love Lucy" move where the machine overflowed with suds, but it much more than I would have used under normal circumstances. Dire circumstances call for dire measures you know.

Now I am trying to decide what to do with the rest of my day. There is plenty I could do, but what do I want or need to do today? I guess I really need to finish grading a few chemistry questions so I'll be completely finished with school this year. I have books to try to sell and have to get my list ready for the curriculum I'll need for next semester. I also need to clean off the bookshelves as I do this each year after we finish school and get it ready for next year. I guess I just decided what I'll do. I'm sure it will be safer than my battle with the vines and poison ivy.