Summer Update #2

I don't know why it's so hard to write.  It's not like my days are jam packed, but everyday I look at the blog and instead I choose to nap, read or do nothing.  This really has been the summer of a whole lot of nothing.  I'm not saying that's bad, it just doesn't give me much food for the blog fodder.
So, summer update #2 -

#1 - We have almost completed our Dorm room shopping.  Personally I believe that they should give out medals for this event and I totally earned a GOLD medal.  We got 90% of everything on her list....in one day... and no one died!!!  Not only that, but no one got cranky, no one cried and no one yelled.  This is even more amazing if you consider the fact that we stood in front of the Target towel display for I KID YOU NOT... for over an hour!  Who knew that the choice of towel color was so CRITICAL to college success.  But I was patient, I was tolerant, I was even helpful. And eventually the choice (hallelujah!) was made and we checked out.  But it didn't end there, no the amazing shopping performance of me continued because we moved on to IKEA and comforters.  I know you know how this story goes... the only difference is that I actually picked out a pillow and lay down on the floor while the great comforter debate raged.  But again, no one cried, no one sulked and no one died and we left with a comforter.  All that's left is the easy stuff, cleaning supplies, school supplies etc...  She got her dorm room assignment and roommate.  Muse Dorm, room 124B and Samantha Wooldridge.  They actually met on Facebook and have been messaging back and forth over the summer.  Hopefully that will give them a leg up over doing just random selection.  3 more weeks and we head down to check her in.

#2 - For the first time in probably 17years, we no longer have a room devoted to toys.  The Toy Room is no longer.  John has a very cool Man Cave/Home office.  He's got the computer, a TV and a lazy boy.  It's a nice little retreat for him.  It's weird not to have a toy room.  Zack has taken over the basement and Brenna is in limbo until she leaves.

#3 - The heat has been atrocious!  Almost too hot to do anything except hide in the house.  We've done plenty of swimming and movies.  Added Xmen First Class (awesome) and the last Harry Potter (sad, but good). Captian America and Cowboys and Aliens on the To Do list.  We (really Brenna) spent a couple of weeks mourning the last Harry Potter.  They were there for the midnight showing - actually about 3 hours early.  Zack and I saw it a bit later.

#4 - Visited Buffalo for a couple days.  It's always a nice trip, but tiring.  We flew Brenna and Melanie there about 4 days early and then we drove up and met them.  It made for a very interesting car ride up with only Zack in the car.  The boy can sleep!  We finished up breakfast at 630am and that boy slept until Erie, PA!  That's about 8 hours in my estimation.  Made for a very quiet trip.  So, we were worried about the ride home with all 3 kids.  Love me some teenagers!  Melanie slept the entire trip and B and Z slept all but 90 minutes of it.  YEAH!!!  Sure beats the days of "she's looking out my window!"  "He's chewing too loud!"  Oh yeah it does!

#5 - Zack is still sleeping like a champ... record so far this summer... 4pm!

Waiting for the heat to clear and starting to get geared up for the new school year.

Plant Porn

*****UPDATE*****  I just went out to help my plants have sex and only the boy flowers were awake and ready... TYPICAL!!!!



Here is the first bounty from my initial stab at gardening.  Can I say, I am pretty proud of myself.  I almost hate to eat them, I just want to leave them out for everyone to look at and admire.

Sadly though I must report that my zucchini and squash are not having sex!  They are all dressed up in beautiful flowers, but not getting any action.  Now if these same flowers were my teenage children I would pat myself on the back and consider it a job well done, but...they are not...

So that is how I find myself on Sunday morning googling for plant porn which believe it or not I found here.  I love Google, I hope those Google boys are rich and happy, because you can find ANYTHING on Google!  Anyway, so now I am prepared to go forth and molest my zucchini's and hopefully that will result in lots and lots of babies!

Really, no one has thought of this yet?

If we can put a man on the moon or at least fake it so well everyone thinks we put a man on the moon.  If we can carry computers in our cell phones, watch TV in our cars and map the entire human genome.  Why o' Why can't we invent silent dental tools?  I'm just saying....

5 Question Friday

1. Do you think cursive writing is overrated? (Schools in Indiana have now voted to take teaching cursive writing out of their curriculum.)

Totally overrated!  How many of us write in cursive now?  How many of you actually still write and don't type or text or whatever.  I use some sort of cursint... printing mixed randomly with cursive.  I think my boy spent 10% of 3rd grade half-heartedly learning cursive and then never bothered again.  Let's add more art, music or PE instead of cursive.

2. Do you still use a pocket calendar or notepad or do you keep your info on your smart phone?

NO smart anything here.... I love my 3 different calendars.... back off technology whores!

3. What 3 things would you save if your house was burning down? (family & pets are already safe)
I actually already discussed my fear of fire..what-would-you-take-make-it-good

So, let's see...no family or pets...45 year old plant handed down from Lala Simpson,  Laptop,  Something Star Trek...

4. Country Mouse or City Mouse, err Person?
Country, definitely country.  This would probably surprise most people, but since I generally like animals better than people and I would rather be flogged than go shopping... I think country.... provided the country has a bathroom, shower and high speed internet!

5. If you could pick ANY reality show to go on, which would you pick?
Top Chef.... but only as an eater, NOT as a cooker!


There you go...

Summer Update #1

We are 2 weeks into summer vacation and it's been both busy, busy, busy and very quiet at the same time. So... what have we done?

#1 - I've heard "I'm bored" twice.  Maybe that's not so bad except that the first time it was uttered was on DAY ONE of vacation... Zack was the culprit.  And the 2nd time I heard it was on on DAY TWO and this time it was Brenna.  So I said to myself..."Self we need to nip this shit in the bud!"  I immediately whipped out my Summer To Do List which has delicious nuggets like wash baseboards, clean windows,  or steam clean carpet.  Surprise, surprise when given these options the boredom magically disappeared and I haven't heard a peep since then.

#2 - We made another road trip to Radford and got our girl registered for classes.  We were very excited to discover that for a Biology major she only has to take Statistics and one Math class.  That is very exciting for us - since math is definitely not her forte.  She'll skip math this year, take a refresher at NOVA next summer and hopefully zip right through College Algebra.  Stats... we'll just have to see.  She's also taking Freshman English, Biology Seminar, Bio and Lab, Chemistry and Lab, History and University 100 which is a intro to college class they ask all freshman to take.  It's a pretty jam-packed schedule but she can handle it. She has her actual schedule set up pretty sweetly for a freshman.  She only has 2 classes on Mon and the first one is at 11am.  She only has one class on Friday at 11am.  Her heavy days are Tues and Thurs with Weds being a middle day.  So it's definitely workable for her.  She also got to actually meet her roommate.  They found each other on Facebook and have been messaging back and forth - so it was good for them to actually meet and discover that they do like each other.  She is so excited and now is ready for summer to be over so she can head off to college!

#3 Zack got his traditional "cut it all off" summer "Do."

Before

After

#4 - We've hit the pool a number of times, the weather has been horribly hot and humid.

#5 - We've seen Green Lantern (heart you Ryan Reynolds), Transformers 3 (better than the 2nd one), Super 8 (super awesome) and have many more on the "want to see" movie list.

#6 - We completely cleaned out the toy room.  Since Brenna will be away at college we are going to move all Zack's game systems and "toys" down to the basement and turn the toy room into a home office for John.  We cleaned and boxed and sorted and purged our guts out!  Goodwill came and we had so much packed up and boxed around that when John came home from work he said, "Are we moving again?  I don't want to move!"   Now the toy room is empty and awaiting the installation of home office stuff.

#7 - The kids have slept in till all hours of the afternoon.  Zack got up at 230p today.  I feel weird making them wake up just because I don't think they should still be sleeping, so I let them sleep.

All in all, a successful first two weeks....

July 4th

We had a very quiet 4th celebration this year.  Most of the cul-de-sac was out of town, so the few of us that were still here got together and relaxed.  If you call keeping my eyes riveted on Zack since he seemed a little "giddy with the power" of handling the firework lighter for the first time!  Then when he broke out the cotton balls and vaseline and started to construct mini bonfires all over the cul-de-sac, then I really started to worry.  Apparently vaseline is quite flammable, this he learned on some sort of survival show on Discovery channel.

But other than that - we all survived, no one and nothing got burned up except those things that were suppose to be burned up.

5 Question Friday

So I found this blog...http://fivecrookedhalos.blogspot.com/   and I guess each Friday she posts 5 questions for everyone to answer.  Sounds good to me.  Means I don't have to sit and stare at my blog waiting for inspiration to hit.  Also means I can cross Blog of my To Do list at least for one day!  I'm totally in. So read on and let me know what you would answer...

1. If you had the opportunity to bungee jump, would you?
Are you kidding me???  I don't even like to climb up the step stool to change a light bulb.  If there is an opposite of an adrenaline junkie that would be me.  I might very well be allergic to adrenaline!
Also most bungee jumping takes place on bridges, very tall, very high bridges and I have an irrational fear of those as well.
When we lived in Prattville, AL you had to drive over this old, rusty metal bridge to get to the thriving hellhole of Montgomery and it use to freak me out every time.  I would drive across the bridge and practice how I would undo my seat belt and pop Brenna out of her car seat before the car sunk completely under the water.  Do you pop the seatbelts and harness before you hit the water and then risk impact injuries or do you wait until you've begun to sink to do it and risk drowning in murky, creature infested Alabama swamp water?   This is also the reason I asked for a Life Hammer every Christmas for years!!!  But I digress....
No I would not bungee jump!

2. Would you rather go to the movie theater or to the drive-in?
Again...duh movie theater... while in theory and in a perfect climate-controlled world the drive-in would be cool, but sadly reality not so much.
Bugs, bad sound and the worst part for us... they start so damn late!  Neither John nor I can make it through a whole movie if it doesn't start by 730pm...nevermind a double feature.  

3. Do you have your groceries delivered?
I don't even let John shop for groceries.  If the grocery people are anything like my husband you order Kraft mac and cheese and you get Hunan pea noodle bowl.  "What??? they are both noodles?"  or you order Hellman's lite mayo and you get Chipotle pimento sandwich spread!  "WHAT?  they didn't have what you wanted!"  Really they didn't have mayo at the grocery store?
Besides how would the grocery store people know I needed **NEW** giant sized gummi bears or **JUST RECEIVED*** decadent Dove bars with dark chocolate and almond sprinkles or Vodka?  Since I don't know until I get there! :o)

4. Eyebrows: Do you wax, thread, pluck, or stay au naturel?
Sadly I wax myself and not successfully, and then I pluck until I have my normal bush brows back.
But I am totally fascinated by the threading and I think we should make it a Girls Night Out one day.

5. Would the people you went to high school with be surprised by your life today?

 The people I went to high school with wouldn't even remember me since I never got to stay at high school for more than a year before we moved.  They might be surprised I was in their high school.
Actually I guess I did spend my 9th and 10th grade in the same school, but the answer still stands, who remembers anyone from 9th grade.