Yep......she's delusional

They strap you in, pull you down and catapult you wayyyyyyyy up into the air.
Looks perfectly harmless at night (see that little dot of white in the middle--imagine that's where the peoples are....cuz that's where the people's ARE...LOL).....but you can hear the screams REAL good.
And she thought she was gonna get the Brit up there?
Ha.
And now she's working on ME?
No.
NO.
Absolutely NO FREAKIN' WAY am I gonna get hurled in some human slingshot above the arms that hold it upright.
Ain't gonna happen.
Nope!

In the meantime, the Brit and the other girl headed off to a 'good ol' boy' concert last evening and the other girl came back to the house singin' country. *snickering*
I knew that'd happen. LOL
She's now bemoaning the fact that she passed on cowboy boots and thinks if ONE concert is good.........two is better. :-)

GOOD girl!!

But I'm STILL not goin' on that human slingshot thingy. LOL

T(s)FTD

How beautiful it is to do nothing, and then rest afterward.--Spanish proverb

Serenity isn't compatible with struggle.

We cannot control forces outside of ourselves.

We cannot control the actions of our family or our co-workers.

We can control our responses to them.

And when we choose to surrender our attempts to control, we will find peace and serenity.

That which we abhor, that which we fear, that which we wish to conquer seems suddenly to be gone when we decide to resist no more - to tackle it no more.

The realities of life come to us in mysterious ways.

We fight so hard, only to learn that what we need will never be ours until the struggle is forsaken.

Surrender brings enlightenment.

Proof!

Apparently I don't get to take pictures of rain. But I do get to take ones of how dark it got at 7:30pm. Now, THIS dark wouldn't wouldn't seem odd, 'cept sunset happens around 8:45pm nowadays. And this is due west. I know Mr. Sun is under there...but gosh.....
And cards!
Everyone oughta make cards on rainy days/nights.
I've decided.

NOT mumbling!!

I'm not mumbling.

I'm not.

And I will not mumble.

Nope.....I won't!

*sigh*

(didn't say I wouldn't sigh!)

We got rained out.

And I mean RAINED out.

No tractor pull.........and NO FAIR.

I mean that literally....

Never, in my 18 years of living in this community, have I witnessed an empty fairgrounds at 11:00 on a Wednesday evening. Never.

And trust me......it's empty.

And boy did we get rain.

I'll have to await the official report, but I'm thinking more than yesterday's deluge.

So--no fair.

No funnel cake.
No tractor pull......

And I won't get a chance to attend tomorrow.

Friday......maybe.

But it's one of the big concert evenings and I'm not really into THAT much of a crowd.

I'm sad.

*sigh*

BUT!!!!!

We made cards.

Yep........me and the other girl made 'thank you' cards.

That was kinda cool.

And I'm more than pleased to report that I made six.....and she made two. HA!

Himself had to laugh about SOMEone being slower than I am at making cards.

I had to encourage her to take her time and be AS creative as she wanted.....cuz she's making me look FAST.

And then I looked at all the pretties on her cards.......

She made me look.........generic.

LOL

I think I can safely say that I have an inkling where the other girl's 'meticulous, perfectionistic' way of doing things comes from. LOL

TFTD

“The chief cause of failure and unhappiness is trading what you want most for what you want now.”
— Zig Ziglar

Just a bit of rain......

Uh huh.

EVERY time I have plans to colour on the patio sidewalk.......rain happens.

*muttering*

That's okay, though.

Don't worry about me down here, Big Guy.....I'll be just fine.

*rolling eyes*

And three inches in less than an hour?

I thought *I* was the one who didn't know about 'moderation'.

Oh, I don't know why I'm carrying on.......it's happened every year in the last 18 years. Fair week hits, rain happens and sultry/swealtering hot becomes the week.
And it doesn't really seem to matter to the earthlings out there.
They still show up.

And the girl is showing up tonight.
She and the other girl are gonna go hang out at the fair.
(I'm afraid!)

And there's the tractor pull.........which doesn't really involve that darn many tractors, but there you have it.
Himself seems to enjoy the roaring engines, smoke and dust.
Only, I'm thinkin' it'll be mud instead of dust.

Now THAT could be a great twist to the event.
I could deal with huge tires tossing mud everywhere!
For that, I'd want a front row seat even.

But if this rain keeps up, barbeque ain't gonna happen and I'll be forced to indulge in the evil of fair foods!
We wouldn't want THAT, now would we!

LOL I'll have the girl bring the tubes and we'll grab one of those funnel cakes as we float on by.

FYIs to self

"You can quit asking 'what's WRONG with me?!' --and start asking 'what's RIGHT with me' any time now!."




"That’s the problem with truth. The truth is relentless. It won’t leave you alone. It keeps creeping up on you from every side, showing you what’s really so. That can be so annoying."

Hail wind and rain

Black eyed Susans. They grow wild in our ditches around here. It's always a sign that summer's here.
Add those with the cicada's, crickets, sweetcorn and humming birds--I counting summer as having officially 'arrived' in this little corner of Iowa.
And tornados. Geeze.....can't forget tornados.
It's fair week.
We always get storms during fair week.
And we always get humid, hot weather during fair week.
We've got 'em all and the other girl sat with me last evening and watched the storm roll through.....from the safety of our opened garage door. LOL
We're so brave...*snickering*

No way does this do a good job of depicting how dark it actually got, how weird the sky was. It's one of those 'you can feel it' kinda storms. It's the kind that causes a bit of wandering unrest. You wander from windown to window, keep looking at the sky and you just know someone's gonna get it--
We got a whole lotta thunder, rain and hail--driven in very quickly along the storm's front. But no tornados (thankyouverymuch!).
Two happened south of us about thirty miles away.
Of course the other girl was excited and wanted to see one.
Himself remembers that same sentiment and assure her he thought he wanted to see one as well.......and probably wouldn't mind seeing one several miles away. LOL I'm with him on that one. If'n it's gonna happen, let it be in an open field away from me.

Pitch black--humid.....and sultry without a breath of air moving.
*sigh*
And we're forecasted for another day or two of more of the same.
I'm hoping the other girl took the instructions seriously.
I'm sure the dad will make positive she does.

He's good at nagging her like that. LOL
And I'm thinkin' that lightening strike and tummy rumbling thunder that happened REAL close was enough to get her attention.
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!! It's summer!!!!!!

:-)

Let a joy keep you. Reach out your hands and take it when it runs by.--Carl Sandburg

QOTW 7/16

What are your top five gripes/grumbles?

This week? ;-) They change ya know.....

• Lateness.

I'm an on time person. If I'm not at least 15 minutes early, I'm feeling late. People eeking it on the dot make me nervous, but being chronically LATE......makes me grumble.

• The 'do as I say, not as I do' mentality.

It never worked for me as a parent. It didn't work for me as a child when my father preached what he didn't do. And it's certainly a major interference in being effective in teaching/parenting to have one expectation for yourself and another for the one's your teaching. Say what you mean and mean what you say, please!

• Absence of gratitude.

Okay......so it's not the pentultimate--but really, let's take a look at what you really DO have and what you DON'T have.
Cuz I'm clear and I do know--it could be a whole lot worse.

• Taking things/people for granted.

A bit of recognition goes a long way. A simple 'thank you', a kindly smile...recognition of the effort someone put into making something happen is NOT that much work. Make the time to let 'em know cuz you never know how much a person might need that today.

• *sigh* Use of the 'word' "irregardless".

STOP USING THAT WORD...it's NOT a word. It makes me cringe! Auuughhhhh!!!!!!! LOL

Repeat after me:
Regardless.
Regardless.
Regardless........

Parental moments......

Oy.

I'm such a mom.
I am.
And himself is REALLY, REALLY a dad.

We sent them out at 12:30p.m. for the river float. The girl, the other girl, the other other boy.....all of 'em went for a six hour float.
Well, it's SUPPOSE to be a six hour float.....leastwise that's how long it takes when the river's at its lowest---and it's pretty darn low right now.....

7:30p.m. and I'm assuring himself that they probably took that hour to fart around and eat those sandwiches on the sandbar.......no worries, they'll be back before dark.

8:00p.m. I'm ringing the cellphone with a mom message....of course you don't take a cellphone on a river float. DUH.

8:45p.m. the sun's setting and I'm ringing again with the second mom message. JUST in case they DID take the cellphone--they're young and foolish like that........

9:00p.m. himself is getting in the Jeep and going to the pick-up point to see if their truck is there ............ And the mom is wondering how you make arrangements to get someone to drag the river.
Yes.
I am a mom.

9:15p.m. the girl rings cuz she's gotten two mom messages. YIPPEE!!!!!
They started late and it was a really slow float.....she's getting the truck from the drop off point to return to the pick-up point and load up the tubes.

GREAT! Glad to hear it all went well.......but I gotta tell ya himself went to the pick-up point....please forgive himself for being parental. (note how I excused myself from that statement)

They're happy.
They're sunburnt.
They're alive!
(please note there was JUST enough relief that we didn't kill 'em......any less and it woulda been a case of where to hide the bodies....)

Silly kids....

And they've informed me that there's sand in places that sand's never been before.

THANKS for sharing.
Oy oy OY!

Sneaker shopping

And this cache--the single pile of shoes from one shoe store.
Oh--I know there are more shoe stores to go to.
And I know there's more jammies and shirts and jeans to discover.
I must say, I'm impressed by the other girl's method of shopping.
Go in, get it, get out. LOL
I like that method of shopping.
Only, what I go in and get is FAR different than what she's shopping for.
Sneaks.......Converse sneakers, no less.
She's thrilled with the prices.
I'm thrilled that she's thrilled.
And I'm considering going back for a pair of my own.
(only....where I'd wear 'em to is a whole different dilema.....but geeze, they're just too cute to pass on, though I did.....at least for today......)

Yep..fancy schmancy Converse sneaks.
And not so fancy ones.

Now, please keep in mind this is just one stack. ;-)

And keep in mind this is with her father and me in tow.
It could be a whole different story should she be without the dad.
*thinking*

Which means I need to ring the girl and see if she's interested in a shopping day with the other girl!
:-D

THAT works! LOL

Hint on the horizon

Please note it's -20 degrees fahrenheit somewhere in Antarctica.
This is my reminder to self to remain grateful for July weather!

And it's been gorgeous the last couple of days.
Last night it was absolutely wonderfully UNseasonal........so sitting on the patio with the fire going was an absolute treat.
Is this where I gloat about the seven shooting stars (aka dust particles entering the atmosphere--thanks for that Mr. GetAllTechnicalAndSpoilTheWonderFella!)?
SEVEN.
And I certainly didn't plan on seven--I was 'wowed' with ONE. I was cutting a deal with the Big Guy......'One more--and I'll head off to bed.' Mind you, that was the deal at shooting star number five and I was only gonna stay out there until I saw a second one shooting across the heavens. LOL

Seven!
I told the other girl that, obviously, G-d was letting her know I was RIGHT!

We had quite the chat on the patio last evening.
It lasted til one a.m. and we giggled a lot, debated a bit (well, she dabbled in trying to debate--but alas, I'm not so keen on debating religion and you can't genuinely 'debate' spirituality, now can ya.....)....and we ended up chatting away into the wee hours.
I think I'da still been out there, watching the heavens, were it not for the 53 degree temperatures making my tootsies cold and making her teeth chatter. LOL
So much for my wheeling and dealing with the Big Guy, huh?!

But she's kinda sorta beyond super special, this other girl.

Yup.....I think we'll keep her! :-D

And boy....she's a brave soul.
She admitted to having felt like she had the upper hand in this 'deal' with me.
Admitted to having been (and still having moments of being) bitter.
Admitted to knowing "You HAD to like me." LOL (Boy, do I remember having that ace in the hole with my step-mother. Discovering she actually DID like me and discovering I actually DID like her.......was a strange awakening.)
And she begged that I took no offense--but 'how difficult and awful it must have been to have a therapist for a mother'.......(or a mother for a therapist, for that matter...LOL).
And yes, she even pities the girl. LOL (small wonder they get along so wonderfully, eh?)

But coming here....seeing her dad where he is today, seeing how happy he truly is--listening to him talk, watching him at be so at 'home' right where he is--and seeing how he isn't today.....she's genuinely happy for him to have found what he's found.
And she can see how we 'knew' that we were suppose to do this deal.
"You two love each other so much."

Yep. We do.
Bunches and lotsa and oodles......

Nope.
I didn't know he was 'different' than what he was when he was living in Essex.
Nope, I don't see the huge changes she sees.
Yep, I do see him being able to 'relax' and yep, he does enjoy 'taking the Mickey' outta me over and over again. (it's a reciprocated deal....LOL....trust that one!)
I do know how difficult it was for him to make the decisions he got to make--but how 'simple' it was cuz for the first time in his entire lifetime he 'knew' where he was suppose to be and what he was suppose to be doing.
But 'simple' doesn't mean easy.
And 'knowing' doesn't make it not painful.

She got a bit teary eyed, that other super special girl. More than once her voice waivered. More than once she was wiping away tears with her sweatshirt sleeve.
(I assured her this was the 'private hell' of having a therapist for a step-parent..LOL!)
**reminder to self to get a weather proof tissue holder for the patio cuz that happens a whole lot out there**

"And you make him feel special..... You make ME feel special......."

Well, duh.........it's cuz she IS.

He is.

All of THIS.... is.


Yep.
I'm keepin' 'em both.





And below--photos of daylight making it's way into Antarctica.
It's the blue over the building.
Another month and the sun will actually be visible.

Kinda like the awakenings that find us all........there's that hint of a tomorrow lurking on the horizon.

Yep.

It's a bit like those awakenings.....
A hint of what's to come on the horizon in the gift of the day you're in, today.........

Again!! Or is that 'first'?

Oy GEEZE!

.......k......lemme try to keep up with, here.....

Lyn wants me to play along-
Apparently you go to Wikipedia and type in your birthday (month and day) Then you write down 3 events, 2 births, 1 holiday, and tag 5 friends.
(I failed miserably at the last one--but *snickers* no worries.....I can do that twice in a row! LOL)

HOLY moly!!!! If you do that, you discover all sorts of nearly worthless things! LOL

3 events:
1961 Roger Maris whoops Babe Ruths' record of 60 home runs in a season by hitting one more home run! Go Roger!!
1962 Johnny Carson starts his 30 year run of the Tonight Show. Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere's JOHNNY!!!!! :-)
AND!!
1971 Disney World opened!
Yes, indeed...it's a good day!!

2 births: Stanley Holloway and Julie Andrews share their birthday with me. Isn't that nice? :-)

1 holiday: Last but not least....Wooooooooohoooooooo!!!!!!! It's World Vegetarian Day!!!!!

Now, how cool is THAT?

Oh......g'head and play. It wasn't the least bit painful! (well, 'cept for discovering that I also share my birthday with Jimmy Carter. LOL....that kinda made me go 'hmmmmmmm'......)

Five on Food

Mr. A. asked that I "share five something or others about food".

Dunno that Mr. A has any idea about my...um......love afair with food (or lack thereof--blech and ack!!), but because I'm pretending to be a good sport (LOL at least for this moment in time) I'll give a go at making some things up.

1. I don't like my food touching. That's correct. Gravy ought not to touch corn, meats ought not to touch your fruity salad stuff and for goodness sakes NEVER mix your corn IN with the mashed potatoes and cover it with gravy. OMG......that's just sick and wrong.

(btw, JUST for the record, my tummy DOES TOO have compartments-- so pffffffffffffttttttt!!!!!!!!)

2. Popcorn is TOO one of the main food groups.

(*sticking fingers in ears and humming to self whilest you argue amongst yourselves*)

3. The purpose of a watermelon's life is to bring us seeds to spit.

(ya'll are getting an edumacation out of this, huh?!)

4. Chickens....deserve to die. Yes, I know that's 'a bit harsh'... But anyone who's EVER gathered eggs in this lifetime/has had to deal with irate chickens KNOWS this truth. This is why there are absolutely NO religious indicators of any kind excusing chicken's from man's diet.

(k.....I made that up. LOL)

5. When in a postion of being in a strange place which serves food that have juices you CAN stick your spoon under your plate and tilt it so the juicy stuff stays to one side and does NOT touch your other goodies on the plate. It IS socially acceptable and even Emily Post says so!

AND she says that dunking at the table is disgusting and ought only be done in private.

*nodding smuggly*

(I made that up, too......but so far the Brit's bought it. ROFL)

:-D

Antarctica calling....

The other girl cut and chopped.

And then we assembled.

I helped make kebabs!

Okay.....so I didn't really 'help'...I stuck things on the skewery thingamabobs. And nope, there wasn't 'order' to the sticking. Some of this, some of that........MORE of this cuz I like more of this.... We made 18 kebabs for five people.

What WERE we thinking?!

(We were thinkin' if some is good......MORE is better? duh!!)

And we had lovely company on the patio helping us devour kebabs.

AND--Antarctica called.

How cool is it to be sittin' on the patio, gazing at stars and giggling at bad jokes only to have the phone ring and have Antarctica calling (where a gal friend of ours is until October).

3 months of total darkness--a bit of envy on Antarctica's part that the other girl was lazing in the sun getting a tan today.....while she's swearing off white sheets in fear of losing herself. LOL A bit of gratitude on MY part that we weren't doing the -52 with 120mph sustained winds that she's doing......and a bit of envy for the aurora borealis and penguins she gets to see.

And the other girl got to talk to Antarctica.....which she thought was beyond cool.

Even I thought it was beyond cool....

The other girl shared with Antarctica that she's having a lovely time of it--seeing all sorts of sights in America.....including the men's bathroom at the baseball game (cuz she failed to understand that stadium restrooms have two doors to the same restroom for ease of coming's and goings for the crowds). Yep......walked straight in the second door and didn't stop til she noticed the urinals IN USE.

"Right then...... now I've seen an American one of THOSE.....and out I went."

OH.
MY.

G-D!!

I was too busy losing it on the swing to ask what 'one of THOSE' she meant....

Do I REALLY wanna know?!

LOL

Ouchie, fairy!

If you keep on saying things are going to be bad, you have a good chance of being a prophet.--Isaac Bashevis Singer

Many of us have the habit of taking a negative outlook on whatever comes along.

We don't believe things will work out for us; we don't think we will have a good day; we can't accept our friends' warm feelings.

To follow this gloomy path is a strange distortion of faith - it is faith in the negative.

Any forecast, whether hopeful or pessimistic, is a step into the unknown.

So why do we choose the dark one?

We get a payoff for our pessimism, which keeps us hooked.

It creates misery, but serves our demand for control.

There is more risk in being open to something positive because we cannot force positive things to occur.

We can only be open to them and believe in the possibility.

But when we predict the negative and expect only bad things, we squelch many good things or overlook them.

Then we say, "I knew it would be this way," and in our misery we satisfy our self-centered craving to be in charge.

So.......would I rather be 'right' or be happy?

Bring on the yo-yo and get outta my way! ;-)

Yikes.....

Of course I'd love to go to a movie!
(this is the correct response, dontchaknow......even if you're one who can't sit still for 90 minutes straight---afterall, POPCORN is involved!)

Transformers.
Gosh, I remember buying those for the boy when he was a wee thing.
He's now six foot two and they're in a box of toys saved JUST for the sake of saving 'em.
The other girl wanted bragging rights for having seen the movie before it came out across the pond.

The theatre was GREAT. Stadium seating, surround sound--HUGE screen. And I mean huge--so big that you can't take in the whole scene. What the purpose is, dunno.......but obviously, if some is good........more is better! And the chairs......rocked! (I mean that literally.....they really DID rock!)

Noise---LOTS of noise.....and "AWEsome graphics" says the other girl.
(BUNCHES of noise says the mom......LOL)
The popcorn was GREAT.

And as always--I stuck around for the running of the credits.
Admittedly it's my deal.....it's just what I do. I wanna know who the negative cutter is.
(Doesn't EVERYone wanna know who the negative cutter is?)
(Mo Henry is my favorite, just so ya know.)
Himself and the other girl opted out.......forgive me, I couldn't/wouldn't. LOL Creature of habit, dontchaknow.

I NOW know why the little fella with the broom who was tidying up the theatre seemed a bit befuddled that I was sticking around for the credits to get all the way through.

I had to weed my way through near a THOUSAND Harry Potter fans who were catching the midnight showing of the newly released film.....in the very theatre I was catching the last of the credits in.
Oops?

Oh yeah......a whole lobby full--and all the way out the doors....they were playing funky card games, dressed in capes (no foolin'....LOL)--
Himself and the other girl were chatting away happily with a couple of Harry Potter look alikes when I weeded my way through the masses.

Yep...it was the accent. LOL
Silly Harry's thought it was a put on for the movie showing.

BTW--the other girl thought they were beyond silly....And that they sounded Australian. LOL

Keepin' it simple.....

Don't quit five minutes before the miracle happens.

Swimstring

Yep.....this is supposedly a swimsuit.

HELLO?
String and bitty pieces of fabric do NOT constitute a swimsuit.


Small wonder the other girl got into the swim center for FREE.
And the Brit wants to believe it was the accent??!!
HA.

"I did twenty laps."
What? No giant water puking frog? No waterslide thingy? NO tunnel of sprinkles?!

*shaking head*
Probably oughta be glad she didn't do the waterslide, huh? She'da been naked by the time she hit the pool!

And yep....she's sunburnt AGAIN.
I didn't ask where. LOL I just gave her the green goop and told her to have at it.

"Bit hard to get lost here. Everything's square."
(this after a wander about, unaccompanied)
Well not EVERYTHING....... We have a couple deadend streets, so they're u-shaped blocks.
"You can't really have a block that's u-shaped, can you. Then it's not a block, it's a 'u'."
Can't have a swimsuit that's really string--then it's not a swim suit, it's a swim string.

No worries............himself whapped me.