Ugh.  I ended up working late the last two days, no interest in blogging.  I guess I do need to write something though considering my last post was from before camp.  That turned out to be an enjoyable experience which I’ll write about shortly.  We left the morning of Sunday the 20th and returned last Friday.  I could have stayed another week had it been a two-week experience, but then again the possibility exists for a trip with my OH friends next winter so I wouldn’t have wanted to get in the way of it.  So this week we started work on two new stores.  There are actually four, but someone else is doing the other two.  In fact, I won’t be doing these stores for more than a couple months because I’m training someone to hopefully take them over if the two who have been training don’t snatch them up first.  In addition, I am now in charge of the equipment and so had to order some yesterday.  They attempted delivery today- that’s quite the service but too bad nobody was home.  I’ll have to call them tomorrow to find out how to proceed, whether they will try again or I’ll have to pick the packages up- I know nothing about this delivery company.  Today’s training went s-l-o-w by the way.  I started the morning with a technical glitch that cost me almost three hours to fix, and then was only able to do one store afterward.  Hopefully the other store won’t be too upset.  I wanted to call them but it seems that I have misplaced the business cards they gave me.  Sigh.

.

Sorry- more positive ramblings next post I hope!

He is our puppy and he’s cute.  But still, you’ve got to appreciate the idiocy of this puppy predictament – a delicious scent awaits in the baby’s playpen.  What is one to do?  Why, get stuck in a moron’s photo opp, of course…

Since 1941, my favorite Amazonian princess has undergone slight changes in her costume.  However, beginning in the 6ooth edition of the Wonder Woman comic book, Diana’s costume will dramatically change.  In the beginning, she wore basically the same outfit that millions of fans would come to recognize with one difference, her blue, white-starred lower half  was a skirt.  By the ’50s she was in the short short version which Lynda Carter would famously adorn for three seasons over a 40 year time period on the television series.

I see a certain logic in this I guess.  Who would take a gorgeous female Amazon fighting crime in a skimpy outfit seriously?  On the other hand… why mess with tradition?

Let’s look at Princess Diana over the years:

And finally…

So… what do you think… classic or new look.  I seem to have forgotten how to create a poll.  So comments will do!  I just discovered how to add a poll so here we are:

[poll id=”20″]

Something to put on my birthday list?

The White Castle slider-scented candle.  That’s right…  if you are familiar with White Castle restaurants and their famous products, be warned –  they have made a White Castle-scented candle.  Yes, the steamed onion scent of the famous little burgers can now be brought into your home!

According to an article that ran on nydailynews.com:

“The candle has a top note of diced sweet onions and crisp pickle, the middle notes are beef patty, cheese and ketchup, and bottom note is a warm burger bun. It all comes together to create this amazing aroma of a White Castle Slider.”

Ok, so I don’t really want the White Castle scented candle for anything other than a conversation piece.  I am curious about how it smells, but for my birthday I would much rather have a terrifically fun weekend, which is always probable thanks to my wonderful family and the awesome local 4th of July events that are usually planned.  On my birthday, the 3rd of July (please don’t remind me that I share my birthday with one of my least favorite actors), we will probably catch some fireworks somewhere, as that is one of my favorite thing to do every year.  Since the 4th of July is on a Sunday this year, we will be going to church, so we have to find a way to get out to the airport as well for the annual fly-in breakfast which is always a lot of fun.  After church, probably during the little dude’s nap, we have a lot of packing to do for a super-fun week in the woods of southern Indiana with the extended family – more about that when we return in a week or more.

HAVE A VERY HAPPY AND SAFE 4TH OF JULY WEEKEND!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!!!

As you might have read in my blog previously, we have a pet Scarlet Macaw parrot.  His name is Squawky, although he is more ‘screamy’ than he is ‘squawky’.  Occasionally when the weather is warm enough, we take Squawky outside – he either goes for walks with our family or he gets tied to a tree (so he doesn’t fly away) to enjoy nature.  A few weeks ago, we were sitting in our dining room having lunch when we saw the man from our local pet store approaching Squawky in the tree out front with a towel on his hand.  “He’s going to take your bird!”  I said to my husband, “You have to go outside!”  I guess this is where I should get it in that I didn’t think it was a good idea for Squawky to be outside alone in the first place, but we had to give the kids lunch and Squawky was enjoying himself so we didn’t make him come in with us.  So anyway, we ran outside, and told the pet store guy that he was our bird – apparently our neighbors were unaware that we had a parrot (guess they hadn’t seen him outside before; sometimes  we put him in the backyard).  So the neighbors called the police, who called the pet store, who sent the bird-catcher.  He thought it was someone’s lost bird, and he was going to “rescue” Squawky – and lose some fingers in the process.  It’s not an exaggeration when they say that adult Macaw parrots can snap a broomstick handle with their super-strong beaks.  Check out a few of my husband’s parrot battle scars or use your imagination to see what one of those beaks can do to a fleshy finger.  Luckily we got out there just in time to save the pet store guy’s fingers, and he apologized profusely, as did our neighbors who had called the police.  The pet store guy found it unbelievable that we could have a macaw parrot (a notoriously loud bird) and not have the whole neighborhood know about it.  I told him that the neighbors on the side of the house where Squawky’s room is probably know about him, but the neighbors who called the police live across the street –  plus Squawky doesn’t scream when he’s outside.

But all’s well that ends well – as much as that bird irritates me sometimes, he has been a part of our family for 8 years now, and I don’t want to lose him.  Well, not to have him stolen or lost anyway – getting paid the going price of an obnoxious Scarlet Macaw might be kind of nice…  A joke, sort of.  🙂

I looked around for a picture of Squawky in the tree, but I guess I don’t have one.  So here he is having a tremendous amount of fun taking a bath.  He is a bit larger now because this was taken 7 years ago.

**UPDATE** – Squawky was back in the tree tonight, so this time I made sure to get a picture of him enjoying his tree:

As requested… here are a few more photos from the Relay:

Ma2’s luminaria

Aunt Carol’s luminaria.  I would have liked the full effect lit only by the glow stick in the bags, but this will do.

False alarm with Jerry at the non-functional clippers.

Amber and her new friend, Zoe.

Jen and the first clip.

I recognize the arm, but who took the picture?

Does Travis look slightly too happy about his turn?

Beth’s turn

The next Sweeney Todd?

Well that’s all I’s got.  Hope you enjoyed!  But wait… here’s one more!

I forgot a photographer was around snapping pictures and caught up with us.  He must have liked the Super hat.

My youngest is now 18 19.

Funny, I started this blog post way back in December and I only got the first line typed. I have no idea what I was going to write about. But today I will actually write about my youngest turning 19. Today was her birthday. We had some burgers, brats and hotdogs. I did my turn at the grill. There was swimming before the storms came in. And there was conversations with family.

Today was a good day. Cake and presents (at least for the birthday girl) were enjoyed. The spirits were high.

But my youngest just turned 19. She has been a legal adult for the past year. I’ve allowed her to make her own choices. I would have allowed her to make her own mistakes, I’m not convinced that she made any. 😉 She is a lovely, wonderful young lady.

Today on her birthday, I wish her all the best. While times won’t always be good (we know that don’t we.), I hope she has the strength and maturity to handle the times she has. My main job as a parent has been ‘finished’ for the last year. I only need to advise and listen. She does have what she needs to succeed or fail in life. I hope for success.
Happy birthday little one.

If you’ve read my previous blog post, then you know that I wrote a letter of complaint to my local newspaper about our town’s policy change regarding the tornado weather siren.  Our siren is now activated for any severe thunderstorm warning, a policy which I consider hazardous since we seem to now be left without any warning of actual tornadic activity.  Ironically (or not, since the sirens have gone off no fewer than eight times this June 2010), today we got another dose of the siren.  As has been usual lately, we got an average thunderstorm, nothing more than some lightning, thunder, and rain.  I decided to videotape my street as the sirens were going off, with the intention of adding it to my blog to illustrate my point about writing a letter to the newspaper.  At the very least, the following video will help my daughter and I –  we are getting really good at doing impressions of the tornado weather siren – enough to drive our puppy crazy anyway.  🙂

All day Saturday and into the wee and lit hours of Sunday morning, I participated in the Defiance County Relay for Life and the Actors for a Cure team led by co-captains Mare and one of my favorite directors, Beth.  It all began when I arrived at the fairgrounds shortly after 9AM to help Travis in his logistical duties (read, moving benches, picnic tables, and chasing a red head pulling two garbage cans behind him while we followed with a pickup… GOOD TIMES!).

The 23 hour fest found our team and other groups walking a 1/3 mile track in order to raise money for a cure.  Don’t ask me how many laps I completed but during one session, I completed 12 laps walking with Beth who only completed 11.5.  Please leave comments if you want to hear the reason for Beth’s  .5 mile loss.

Later in the afternoon, Megan and Carol came over and we sat and enjoyed some of the dancers and singers who were part of the entertainment.  Maybe next year… The girls had to leave but would return following the city band concert and fireworks at the B-town Day in the Park for a special event.

At our teams’ table, Mare had a jar in which she collected donations (including the dollars collected from putt putt and popcorn sales).  If she raised $500 before midnight, she would sit in the barber chair and get a nice shave.  After some rather strategic donation collecting by Jen and Jerry, we topped that total and more!

At dusk, the moving luminaria ceremony got underway.  In years past, people could purchase candles that were placed around the Relay track.  For the ceremony, these candles were placed inside paper bags with the name of cancer survivors, those currently battling the disease, or to remember those who have gone.  This year, it was decided to place a canned good in the paper bag and break a glow stick inside to provide the illumination. Apparently, there were some bags set aflame in years past.  Also, a huge screen displayed the names of those honored as they were each announced.  I purchased a luminary for Ma2 and Aunt Carol.  Being my first ceremony, I was deeply moved when I saw first Emily’s and then Carol’s name.

After the ceremony, it was time for the shave.  We had a false start as the clippers brought did not work.  A beautician in the audience volunteered to go and get her set.  Good thing, because Megan and Carol had not arrived.  When the moment arrived,  Mary was placed front and center of the entertainment stage.  The entire Actors for a Cure team took a turn playing barber.

Then, Megan and I took a few laps around not only the Relay track but the entire perimeter of the fairgrounds.  I thought we had done at least 5 cycles, but my companion informed me that it was only four.  I surely walked a good 10 miles in the 23 hours.

By the time 7:30 arrived, we were all ready to load the putt putt course, tent booth, and other equipment and go home!  It has been a long time since I have gone 24 hours with no sleep, but all fun and for a good cause.

The good captain preparing for a shave.

After the cutting!

I rented a BIG truck today. I then went to the Froggy’s house and help load up things into a van, a couple of pick-ups and The BIG truck. With this thing and that thing happening, the move didn’t start as early as we would have liked. It got hot, very hot. The vehicles were loaded up and we left B-town at around 1:45.

BIG truck liked to BOUNCE. I’m not sure if I would have been sore with just moving stuff, but I was sore after driving that BIG truck. It actually handled well, but it bounce me up and down in the seat for the entire trip to T-town.

At 2:45 we were emptying the vans and pick-ups. We had more help on the unloading end, so it went much faster. We took most of the stuff for storage. That was another adventure that I may write about when I have a bit more energy.

I’m still wondering why today reminded me of George Carlin… The link is not really kid friendly, it is George Carlin on stage…

https://youtube.com/embed/MvgN5gCuLac