a few of my favorite things: summer edition

The hum of an air conditioner on a hot summer day, popsicles dripping down a grinning face, strawberries right off of the plant, peaches and cream over gingerbread cake, grilling every night, riding bikes until bed time, going to bed with the sun, digging in the garden, eating fresh produce right out of the garden, no school, watermelon at breakfast lunch and dinner, sidewalk chalk art, late night giggles, flashlights, campfires and s'mores, camping in the back yard, warm rain, strolls in the evening, watching the stars come out and making our own constellations, Bear dog chasing the go kart, fish tacos, eating dinner on the lawn

musings of the sleep deprived

It's amazing what a good night's sleep will do for your soul, wonders I tell you, wonders. And now that I've had two in a row- I'm feeling pretty dang wonderful.

Girl Child was too exhausted to go to the last day of school, she woke up at 5:30 am starving- I think she ate more for breakfast than she's ever eaten before in a whole day, then she promptly plopped on the couch and slept until 10:30. Really she didn't miss much. Either way- it's official- summer's here and we can play and swim and do whatever we want- we don't answer to the man in the summer!

So getting back to the point of this whole rambling story I learned some things while in the throes of a sleep-deprived delirium- in no particular order:

1) Spelling and writing are hard when you've not slept, don't know why. But seriously try convenience sometime, just try it- i before e except after c and then some nonsense about 3 E's and 2 C's and some such nonsense.

2) Everything is funny after the bewitching hour of 2:45 am, it's the best time to watch random movies, like strange brew or the holy grail. I've not seen them during normal business hours- so I don't have normalcy of thought to compare it against.

3) I should not eat a bowl of reese's puffs in the middle of the night, no matter what movies is on or how late I will be up. milk + night time + smarty pants= belly ache.

4) This may be good practice for babies to come (nothing yet-no announcements here ) but it makes me less inclined to want more with reminders like this. And to the solution to second guessing is sniffing gushy babies- any variety will do, just pick one up and sniff the top of their little baby head. Magic, but don't you agree?

last year's rafting trip- flaming gorge

10 days and counting- summer is almost here- can you taste it? I have a beef though...but don't I always?

I think school should be out from Memorial day to Labor day, cause seriously what's the point of going to school for 3 days after the Memorial day break? None is what- lame all around.

It's pretty sad when parents, parents I say, can be heard singing under their breath those lines from long, long ago. You know 'school's out for summer'(Alice Cooper right?). That's when it becomes apparent that a vacation of some sort is required to restore any vestiges of sanity and mental stability.

And thanks, again, to my next-door neighbors, we're going camping and river rafting. I can always count on them to plan our family vacation - and for it to turn out great.

confession of a planning zealot

I know, I know, I'm getting ahead of myself. It's only May for crying out loud, indulge me.

Every year The Mother comes out right around the 4th of July (yes it's hot here, but it's hot AND humid there). We paint our fingers and toes up all patriotic style, we have potato salad and something or other goes on the grill and fireworks are the finale to the day. Perfect in every way.

This year there will be no Mother, sigh, and I'm on the hook for 4th of July breakfast (the YW fundraiser)- I'm just not so sure about all of this.

I'm not the best person to be in charge of things- I'm no good at delegating, so I end up doing everything and being a crazy mess before hand, and vowing never to do anything like that again after. The problem with that is that there is entirely too much to be done for me not to delegate, so I need to figure that out pretty quickly, and there are the traditions that have gone on with the breakfast for the last hundred years, and there are grumbles if anything gets changed or heaven forbid- forgotten.

So I'm already starting to stress about this thing, and it's still almost two months away. I'm slightly over zealous about planning and prep (read OCD). I don't like to be under-prepared- caught with my pants down so to speak.

So the crux of the problem is whether to organize it all now and drive everyone involved crazy but give them the opportunity to share an opinion, and chance an ulcer; or to wait on the meeting/planning frenzy, and still have everything planned without input, and still chance the ulcer. Wish me luck!

July

It is entirely too hot, July, what's up with that? Your friend June was nice and cool, a little too rainy, but none of this scorch your shorts off heat. Again I ask, July- what's the deal?

Oh I know you are full of other goodness, the 4th, fireworks, bar-b-ques, popsicles, Pioneer day. Summer would be ever so dull without you, but do we really need the 105 scorchers? I think we'd both agree the answer is no- so could you tone it down a bit?

I think I need an otter pop now, all of this typing has made it too hot to think or work any more. I just don't know that I can finish my chores, laundry will have to wait, mopping must be put off for another time. Too Hot.