Where do the shoes come from?

Ooooh, Look!

Another day of 90 and sun!

*sigh*

*****

Can someone explain to me how there get to be so many shoes on the side of the road?

I noticed a ton of them early this spring, and then this morning, there was a woman’s sandal in the middle of the road in the village and a tennis shoe on the side of the highway.

What exactly are you doing to lose a shoe on a road?  Why would you not go back and try to get it?

These are the things that intrigue me.

*****

So much for the workout bandwagon.

Mr. Boo had been complaining of a headache since Sunday evening and was just not his normal little self last night and I was tired for some unknown reason, so I spent the evening after dinner corraling urchins into bathtubs and reading stories.

Mr. Boo made a super-cool snake at dayschool (they used old ties.  Nifty!) and I remembered a story in a collection book that The Mom gave him for Christmas a couple years ago about a snake, so we started with that one (“Crictor” for anyone playing along at home) and the Critterbug even seemed interested.  Then we moved on to “George Shrinks” and ended up with “Goodnight Moon”.

I was noticing Sunday night as I tried to clean up their room a bit (which is as much of a disaster as the rest of the house and I am actually anticipating being inside to do a massive clean-up/throw out) that it’s probably time to get rid of a good number of the board books.  The only problem being that most of them are Boyton books and I truly Love Them.  Love them in that irrational, “I will put you in boxes under the guise of having them for grandchildren and totally forget about them and they will become moldy and I will then throw them away, which I totally should have done in the first place” kind of irrational way.

Can I keep them for a while longer under the guise of ‘the urchins will enjoy reading them themselves once they are able to read’???

*****

I’m also struggling with what, exactly, to do with all of the Stuff that I am planning on getting rid of this fall.

I have proven that the whole ‘garage sale’ concept doesn’t work.  (Although I may attempt to drag it down to Mizzou-rah land again this year to see if I can pawn it off on their major garage sale that netted me almost $200 last year.)

And I do have a bit of a problem with the whole consigment shop thing, knowing that they get the majority of my profit, and I would prefer to just Give it to those who would appreciate it.

Which brings me to whether to give it to the dayschool, which could certainly use it, as it’s not like their making a ton of money off of their rather high tuition prices (When you actually sit down and do the math), or what I sometimes think I’d prefer, which is to find a daycare in a less-well-off area and give these things to Them.

Getting rid of stuff should Not be so difficult.

*****

Tomorrow is August.

Which seems like the end of the road, but in reality, if the weather continues like this, it’s another 31 days of summer.  (I really don’t care if you’re going back to school.  I haven’t had the summer off, so if the weather fits…)

And then September and October are generally excessively pleasant, so there really isn’t any need to fret about impending winter for a couple more months, at least.

All I know is that I woke up around 5am this morning and was not blinded by sunshine.

It gave me a moments pause, but overall, it’s nice to know that I will not have to deal with blinding sunshine at 5am and that I will be able to get urchins to contemplate bedtime closer to 8pm, because ‘the sun is shining’ is their main argument to it Not being bedtime.

They’re sneaky, those urchins.

*****

Never believe an underwear package (that isn’t granny pants, and even that is questionable) that claims that there will be no riding up and no panty lines.

Just sayin’.

*****

I think that’s about it for today.

I’m going to continue basking in the absence of tptb.

It’s the little things…

ak

Yup. Still Hot & Sunny.

I’m just about at the breaking point.

Remember how happy I was this spring when it was cloudy for about forever?

All I’m asking for is a single day of clouds and maybe, if we’ve been extra-special good, some rain.

The Village has somehow miraculously missed out on most of the passing rainstorms this summer.  There have been a few, I hear, and I remember seeing ominous clouds north (and south), but we’ve managed to get only a few sprinkles here and there.

The Ba claims that there have been many attempts of forecasting those downpours, what with the sun covered by clouds and lightning bolts on the forecasting websites, but I nixed that one by telling him that if you actually Read the forecast, it generally stated there was a 10%-40% chance of actual precipitation, and they Had to put something other than a big fat SUN on there so that we didn’t lose hope.

Seriously.

Hot and sunny.  A few clouds here and there that Never seem to block the sun.

We ended up just hitting the beach on Saturday (after finally making it to the niece’s soccer game with about 15 mintues left, due to our lack of knowledge of Canada and various road-closings and my silliness in letting the Ba be in control of How To Get There) and it was hot and sunny and the urchins had a ball playing in the water and the Critterbug (who may soon become the Itsy-Bitsy, as that is her current nickname, just so you are aware) finally trusted me to catch her and was jumping off the dock, just like a Big Girl.  And we trudged home and the Critterbug immediately fell asleep in front of the tv (not to awaken until yesterday morning, as all that jumping wears a Bitsy out) and Mr. Boo had a wonderful time playing new computer games on the computer from The Mom that I finally got a new tower for (did I mention that particular calamity?) and got it set up with nary a  problem, and now I just have to get a timer so that we learn that the computer is cool and fun but cannot occupy All of our time.

Sunday?  It was…Hot and Sunny.  Surprise!

So we head out to the Island and I steer the Ba away from the lovely, large vacant spot between the two lash-ups that I have grown to hate, and had to remind him that if there were ten boats there Now, it was only going to get worse as the day progressed.

So we headed to another lovely open spot next to a bunch of random small boats and ended up with a bunch of Small boats forcing themselves in and around our boat, as well as a huge pontoon that showed up with it’s gas grill going and ten to fifteen adults and children on board.  Shortly after they arrived, I look over to see the matriarch of the boat with her three-ish year old son at the door of the pontoon, pulling his suit down so that he could pee into the lake.

And I’m still speechless and will allow you to fill in your own rant about the current state of society.  (Granted, my answer…to take the kid up to the shore to pee in the bushes may not necessarily be any more ecologically sound than peeing in a big lake, but…  I’m just going to stop here.)

The Critterbug has been swimming this season with an inflatable fish ‘lifesaver’ (what are those things called??) and it finally succumbed to a hole in the seam when we were in South Dakota.  I tried to fix it with Superglue and scotch tape, which made it so that I was only blowing it up every ten minutes instead of every two, but I finally convinced her to try swimming with her lifejacket.

She went as far as to jump in all by herself quite a few times (until she got tired of actually going Under and then decided that swimming around was more her speed) and it was a reasonably nice afternoon throwing splash balls and jumping onto ‘floaties’ and watching more and more boats anchor themselves on our anchor or squeeze in next to us or drive their jet skis to the pontoon boat.

I just wanted to go home and sit in the dark, air-conditioned house.

I have the feeling that the entire winter will be cloudy and there will be the Slightest possibility that I will get tired of it.

But for now?

Hot and Sunny can be done Any Time.

*****

Did I mention that Bossie-poo has decided, in his infinite wisdom, to bring in Consulants?

And then on Friday, the Mentor pulled me into a conference room to inform me that we have hired a new employee.

Which I immediately assumed was the ex-Hut-er that was wandering around last week, but was shocked to find out that, no, we have hired a new VP of Operations that will be our Operations Manager.

Which would have been a highly welcomed surprise about three years ago, but now seems to be a big ol’ helping of Too Late.

I’m not quite sure how we plan on Paying for this, nor can I figure out whether tptb really plan on relinquishing their power.

And I’m positively frightened by some of the things that were coming out of the Mentor’s mouth at this impromptu update meeting.

She seems to think that, even though we will be lucky to do Half of what we did last year, she “believes in her heart” that with all the opportunites out there, we can do over Double last year’s sales.

Which…Again, rendered me speechless.

All the pieces of the puzzle of ‘How We’ve Gotten Into This Fine Mess” just keep falling into place.

So I just spoke to Hip-Girl to wish her a Happy Birthday and ask her When we are taking the day off for the Birthday Boat Day and she informed me that they’ve redone the old Hut building (and the company that bought it is demolishing the old creative side and building a new side for themselves) and they have a new workout facility, complete with sauna and massage rooms, as they all get fifteen minute massages every week.

And I told her I NEED a job There!  (Which, Really.  Haven’t I told her this previously????)

So she says there should be plenty of things there for me and so she will start sending me postings.

And wouldn’t that be coming full-circle?

*****

I finally got back on the workout wagon last night.

But I haven’t exactly missed the whole tv scene.

It’s a love-hate relationship with Sunday nights and “Platinum Weddings” on WE.

Seriously.

A $650K budget for a wedding?  (And it comes out stealthily that it’s actually her Second wedding??) 

That, for some reason that was never explained, was being paid for by the groom’s family, because he was the baby?

It generally renders me speechless.

And frightens me for what possibly lies ahead.

Although I have to say that I don’t see the Critterbug being quite That High Maintenance.  I think she’ll be an entirely Different kind of High Maintenance.

Probably kind of like her mom.

Go figure. 

ak

Not much

For better or worse, I’m giving up on workouts so that I can finish Harry.

I feel like I could really use the workouts, but there’s no way that I can read after my workout (or if I did, I’d make it about ten pages before the words started swimming), so I’m trying to bust through about 130 or so pages a night.

You darned folks who don’t have to deal with urchins coming to jump on the bed and (actually this is a good one, as I am making time again) having to read books have it good.

I probably won’t finish until sometime this weekend.

Unless I get a bit caught up in the confusion like I did last night and stay up just a wee bit later each night.

Is it just me?  Is it because I didn’t re-read (because I don’t seem to have a photographic memory like my nieces who can recall the most microscopic details) at least book six before I started…I find myself a bit confused in places.  I will admit that I am a voracious reader and don’t always spend the time necessary for comprehension, as I am too eager for the What Comes Next.

Ah, well.

This winter I plan on re-reading the entire kit and kaboodle to see the entire story unfold over less than a dozen years.

*****

What an icky day yesterday was.

It’s frustrating having a NY office that you would think would be looking out for your best interests so you don’t have to.  And you’d think that we would learn after all this time that one must Always check up on things or one will get burned.  (Which has also gotten me to thinking about a number of things that I was given ‘to do’ by the Mentor, but I haven’t exactly done them.  And I have come close to getting around to them, but given our current state, I also haven’t gone out of my way to go over them with the Mentor as I should.  And the more I put it off, the more I will probably get into trouble once it is discovered that I haven’t done these things.  bleh.)

But it is interesting to watch ‘business as usual’ be the key words and occasionally figuring out Why we are in this current predicament; because it’s Not business as usual and we’re barely making our payments and payroll and it’s all behind the scenes, so we aren’t as privy to it as we are when stones aren’t being shipped.

Some days it’s just easier to ignore all of it.

Which must be exactly how tptb get through every day.

*****

I was all excited because we having NOTHING on the calendar for this weekend.

Well, until yesterday, when we found out that the goddaughter/niece will be in the state championship soccer tournament (and since we have neglected to make it to a game all, well, Ever,) we’ll be heading up to Blaine for a 9am game on Saturday, and we’ll be headed to Miguel’s for dinner either Saturday or Sunday night.

Which, again, isn’t exactly a Ton of things, but it moves from No commitments to Some commitments and you know how I am about things on my calendar…

*****

I am so ready for fall.

Or at least Clouds.

Well, clouds WithOut it being 90 degrees.

Or maybe clouds WithOut a gabillion percent humidity.

It doesn’t take much, does it? 

*****

I was hoping there would be something entertaining today, but I guess not.

I think that will be something that I will add to the ‘must do’ list for winter, too.

I really, honestly believe that I was much more entertaining when I first started this over at the other place.

I need to get back to that.

Look!  A Goal!

Don’t tell anyone.  They might expect more.

ak

Back from the family reunion

Well, I’m back.  (Funny, you didn’t even know I was gone!)

Left early on Friday afternoon, packed up the urchins and headed west to rural South Dakota for a cousins reunion.

Not My cousins (at least not That close), per se, but The Mom’s cousins.  All of their parents are brothers and sisters and their progeny have all gotten together for these reunions for years.

I can’t remember if it’s yearly or every other year, but I haven’t been for a while and it was at the family farm, so it’s my excuse to actually get out there and visit My family and also see some of the ‘older’ cousins who I always thought were the coolest.  Not to mention, expose the urchins to the farm before it goes away altogether.

The “Family Farm” is actually right across the road from the farm that my mom grew up on (which my uncle took over from my grandfather and then my cousin took over, until they leased out all the land, sold off all the livestock and got into the construction business).  On Saturday, there was a tour of the cemetery and then they got permission from the current residents to tour the old family farm.  The Mom didn’t want to go, as apparently the old barn has not been kept up and is doing what old barns do, except rather than falling in on itself, it’s shrinking.  I guess the walls are buckling under the weight and so it has been collapsing straight down, like someone has taken a big baseball bat and swung at the base.  I decided to skip, as well, to watch the urchins enjoy the tractor and atv rides with my cousin at the farm.

I don’t relish the drive out there (although, I am beginning to enjoy the rural-ness of it all–with the exception that on the way back I paid absolutely No attention to the distance and drove for about fifteen miles with my gas tank registering ‘0′ miles to empty praying for ANY kind of town that would have a gas station.  Sheesh.), but I do fondly remember going to visit the farm most summers and seeing cows and pigs being born, playing in the hay loft, catching toads and playing with my cousin, and I firmly believe that the urchins need to be exposed to all of that as well.

They had a great time on the farm and with their (getting more distant) cousin, who we invited over to the hotel pool to swim on Saturday night.

I didn’t get much opportunity to chat with the cousins, as I seemed to have to watch those urchins all the time, but the few minutes that I spent with a few of them made me realize what an amazing bunch of people they are. 

I Think the Mom is on the younger end and so the age range is probably late 50’s to 80’s.  And Many of them are still traveling the world.  I don’t know if it’s being raised in rural South Dakota or what, but these are intelligent, amazing and worldly people.  Which I think is another reason that I like going to these things…to see the gene pool. 

I just think of my immediate family, who all pretty much stayed in town, and all of these other folks, who have scattered out and around.  (Although many of them still live in smaller towns throughout North and South Dakota and Minnesota.)

It’s just terribly fascinating and, as one of the ‘cooler cousins’ stated, it is disturbing to her (and a few others) that Their children probably will not continue on this tradition.  The last extended family reunion that I can seem to remember was when I was still in college, or just out.  And it was still pretty fun to get together with all of these people that you’re related to, even if most of it is like being at a party where you don’t really know anyone.

They tried to stage a coup and have next year’s reunion in the Black Hills to entice more of my generation, but for some reason it got shot down and we’ll be back, once more, in rural South Dakota.  Which again, is fine with me, but I hope that they will do their part to bring in the next generations so that we all become guilted into continuing with this tradition. 

*****

It’s cloudy.

Hotter than Hades for the rest of the week, but it’s actually cloudy. 

We won’t get any rain in the village (it seems as though every single storm that goes through does a parting of the Red Sea thing and we get barely a drop of rain), but at least there’s no sun blazing down.

I’m ready for winter.

Or at least fall.

*****

The Ba was kind enough to not make me carry through with my threat of stopping in Montevideo and Hastings to find Harry Potter (because I just don’t know that rural South Dakota would get their allotted shipment until the Wells Fargo wagon makes it through) and stopped and got a copy for me when he went shopping.

Of course, he had to call me and tell me that ‘prove to me that he had actually done his duty, he was now going to read me the last three sentences’.  He’s a comedian, that one.

I got home and stared at my copy and debated and thought.

Normally, I go back and re-read all the previous books before devouring the latest one.

But I’m so scared of being spoiled on this one, that I threw the urchins onto the porch with Sleeping Beauty and dove in.

I’m quite proud that I was so exhausted that I actually shut the book at 9:00 and went to bed.  These are the times that I find myself struggling to keep my eyes open at midnight, just to power through it.

I think that once I finish this, I will go and re-read everything again.

Mr. Boo is depressed because he wants me to read it to him.  He doesn’t understand that I can’t Start with book seven, nor am I sure that I should even start them when he’s only five.  But I did tell him that I would begin reading them to him this winter, when I can actually get them into bed before 9:00.

Keep your spoilers to yourselves, please.

*****

There is definitely more, but that will just have to do for now.

It’s amazing to me how driving for nine hours for basically one day of visiting can still make me feel like I’ve been gone for a week.

I like that.

ak

Today’s question

Can a 41-year-old mom find happiness with unwashed hair and her Critterbug’s (hand-me-down from her cousin) crystal Hello Kitty barrette?

Darn tootin’!

*****

I was so wiped after the weekend that I forewent (forewent?) the workout last night in favor of sleep.  Which would have worked even better had The Mom not taken the Critterbug to MOA to hit the [insert current corporate sponsor here] amusement park and didn’t get home until after 8:00, which means that the urchins (and, subsequently, I) didn’t get into bed until almost 9:00.  But that was still an hour earlier than I’ve been getting to bed as of late.

Late Friday afternoon the Ba calls and asks if I Really want to go to the Block Party.  *sigh*  I haven’t Really wanted to go to the Block Party for weeks, but I have been psyching myself up all day since I put on the sparkle shirt.  (And there are still sparkle trails Everywhere I was on Friday.)

He decided that he wasn’t exactly looking forward to getting bumped into by a gabillion people and having nasty 3.2 beer spilled all over him.  Makes sense to me.  So we debated and I threw out a night on the boat, and so it was decided.

And I left a little early and there was no traffic and grabbed a getting-old bottle of ‘94 Togni and met the Ba at the dock in the village and we proceeded to putt over to the hoity-toity town on the opposite side of the lake.

And we were just in time to find a spot that no one else would bother with on the front of the insufficient docks (why is it that no one on the lake wants boaters to come visit their towns/villages/restaurants By Boat?  It’s really quite ridiculous.)  and we sat and drank wine (and beer for the Ba) and chattered and walked into the hoity-toity town and into the overpriced steak house and had a ridiculously expensive (when the Hell did steak go the way of gasoline?  I remember complaining when a filet was $29 then $32 and this 9oz was $39.  Damn.) but very nice and tasty dinner.

And then we putted back the long way to the marina and it occurred to me that I could not remember the last time that I was out on the boat, at night, with just the Ba.  We’ve done a couple of evenings with other folks, but not just Us.

It was bizarre.

And really, REALLY nice.

I had forgotten how much I love my boat and my lake (when it’s not ridiculously crowded.)

*****

Saturday was the day of birthday parties and it turned out that there were a couple of other children that were doing double-duty, as well.  (And I’m Still not quite sure why some of them were at both parties.  I’m still Totally confused as to why we were invited, but whatever.)

And then the Ba rented The Road to Tarabithia.

And I cried like a baby.

Sheesh.

You expect some crazy creatured movie and you get a junior high school redux.

But the little girl makes the whole movie and I would highly suggest it if you’re in the mood.

*****

Sunday was Miguel’s wedding reception at the club where we had our wedding reception and the club that we had dinner at the night (before) Mr. Boo was born.

It was lovely and nice to see folks we hadn’t seen for a while and the urchins have decided that brunch is a Very Good Thing.

Later in the day at the Island Mr. Boo stated out of the blue that he wanted his wedding reception at the club, too.  And that he was probably going to wait a Very Long Time before he got married…at Least another week.  And I told him that once he found someone that he fell in love with that he could get married.  And he thought some more and said, “Did Daddy fall in love with you?”

The way those little ones’ minds work… 

*****

The Mentor brought in Treats of Contrition yesterday before our latest all-staff meeting.

And this morning (right as she was walking in), I noticed that where there had been about five our six pretty large, Very rich, individually wrapped bars and a couple cookies when I left at 5:00, there was now ONE bar.

And, because I am wont to notice and throw fits about such things, I pointed it out and the Mentor joined me in fit-dom, as she was the purchaser of the not-so-inexpensive treats.

And I thought that Maybe someone had taken them home (Rude), but it didn’t really make much sense.

The only other thing that I can come up with (especially after finding out that the suspect stayed late last night) is that the acctg person (the one who only eats salads [that she makes in our Very Small Kitchen Every Single Day] and yet wanders over here to grab Handfuls of candy, ahem), the whom I saw grab an entire brownie yesterday (while most of the rest of us were cutting them to split) ended up eating like Four of them.  And possibly, the CFO was here late and ate another two or so.

Seriously.

Those people are Frightening the way they graze at that treat table.

But to eat That Many, I don’t Care if you’re working late, go get yourself some Dinner, without thinking that, if there are that many left, many people didn’t get Any and would like some today…That is just plain Rude.

The Mentor was all set to send out a memo today, but I think I talked her off of that ledge.  It’s not like it’s going to serve any purpose and if folks don’t understand that they’re behavior is rude at this point, that’s probably not the best way to address it.

I’ll get to the bottom of it, though.

It’s the type of person I am. 

*****

And the staff meeting.

An embarrassingly feeble attempt to ‘rah-rah Everything is FINE rah-rah’ pump everyone up.  Except that everyone at this point Knows better and can really see through the feeble attempt.  It was odd.

But, even better?

Bossie-poo is sitting in his office with…CONSULTANTS.

Because he won’t listen to anyone else tell him this stuff, he will listen to his most-trusted neighbor who hooked him up with these consultants.

Nifty.

This is something that Bossie-poo did All By Himself.  Not with the Mentor.  Not with the CFO.  He’s been working on it for about six months.  Because it takes time finding the right consultants.

This is gonna be Good.

Stories to follow.

ak

To the Block Party

Let’s hear it for coffee. 

I was going to say ‘Let’s hear it for McD’s vanilla iced coffee’, but truthfully, today any form of coffee would be cheer-worthy.

I wasn’t even going to get coffee today.

But as I was driving, I realized that I really Was tired and really Did need coffee, so I dragged the urchins, (“Mommy?  Next time you need to drop us off and Then go get your coffee.”  “Oh.  And get that mo-fo back here so we can have some.”  Will I get thrown in jail for giving my pre-school children vanilla iced coffee?  At least they don’t drink pop.)

Anyway.  We were stuck in line at one of the busiest McD’s around for Ages and then got stuck behind the train, which also gave us time to watch the excavator and crane and dump trucks at the building site on the way to dayschool.  And I realized I will really miss all of that Stuff when I no longer have to drive that area.

Trains and machines and buildings being built?

Cool stuff, Maynard.

*****

It’s Friday, boys and girls!

Hurrah!

I’m wiped, still.  But the coffee has kicked in, so there is that synthetic energy that’s beginning to curse through the veins.  (Curse?  Pulse?  Hmm.)  {Fine, Nauti.  “Course”.} 

Anyway.

I have the ’sparkly shirt’ on today.  (After Finally finding the container that held all the t-shirts that were packed away because they no longer fit [and they Still don't fit, silly girl])  And it’s old enough that the glued on sparkly discs are falling off for looking at them, so I am leaving a trail of sparklies whereever I go today.  Which is kind of fun.

But seeing as we ARE going downtown and either doing the BoDeans (likely) or sticking with just dinner, I just wanted to be Somewhat appropriate for either option.  (Not that this is necessarily appropriate for any Nice place downtown, but it’s better than my Summerfest t-shirt [which, did I mention Still doesn't fit?] and capris.)  And I like to fool myself that a sparkly shirt and capris is kind of rock-stah in my ‘I’m still living in the 80’s!!’ kind of way.

Too bad I don’t still have the long hair to do hair band style.

Maybe I could lean towards Pat Benatar instead.

Either way, I solemnly vow that I will not embarrass myself this year by pushing my way to the front at the concert.  I’m still chagrined enough by my bad behavior that I will Never Again be chastised for acting like a jerk.

I am back to being a sophisticated (cough), Polite member of society.

Huzzah.

*****

I was thinking that there was something else, but it’s so blessedly quiet, what with the building tenants off again today and a good number of folks in the office taking the day off.  I wasn’t even cranky as I drove into a mostly-empty parking lot this morning.  Nifty.

Everyone have a lovely little weekend!

ak

Did you know I went Camping??

I really should be writing thank you notes.  Or maybe spending time with the urchins.

I’ve finished the dishes.  (Well, the first round at least.)  I’ve put two containers of blueberries in the freezer.  I’ve scrubbed the table so that I can write the thank you notes.

However, I also haven’t been able to update all week and there’s so much worthless drivel that it wilts and becomes even less drivel-ish as it gets old.  And I’m just kind of wiped.

It was ungodly hot here last weekend.

And we went on our first-ever camping trip.

Yep.  I went camping.

Which I used to do when I was an itsy-bitsy whippersnapper and once, kind of, when I went on a fraternity canoe trip my senior year in college.  The only thing I remember about that is the picture of me with a Dew in one hand and my toothbrush in the other.  (I also remember getting into a meat throwing fight with another couple canoes, but I’m trying to stick strictly to rememberances of sleeping in a tent.  I should go look at those pictures again.

Anyway.

Other than it being ungodly hot, it was actually a smashing success.

If you ask Mr. Boo his favorite part, it would be ’swimming’.  If you asked the Critterbug, her answer would be ’smores’.  (or more correctly, marshmallows.)  Works for me.

The weather was beautiful, thank goodness.   The first night was actually ‘cold’ and I woke up to dripping on my head.  It was raining Inside the tent.  I thought it was from all the condensation on the outside, but the Ba informed me it was actually condensation on the Inside from the humidity.  Who knew??

Saturday was brutally hot, so we spent most of the day at the lake.  Unfortunately, our lovely little secluded ‘Lake’ campsite was hundreds of yards (and rushes and weeds) from the actual lake and there were only a few trees on the west, lake side so it was a very difficult late afternoon/early evening.

We went swimming both Friday and Saturday night and it helped the cool-down process tremendously.

I’m sad to report that the main reason that I am Not a camper has nothing to do with lack of showers or peeing in the woods or hiking to the lake.  It has to do with Bugs.

This has been a blessedly bug-free summer.  But it was still icky (I just erased miserable, just so you know) and I wouldn’t even sit by the fire because I HATE mosquitoes.  And the flies were thick, too.

They left me pretty much alone, but Monday the poor little Critterbug was Covered in welts.  I have no idea when she got them, as I hadn’t noticed them previously.  But I can only imagine what the whole situation would have been like had we had a normal summer with rain.  Bleh.

Either way, there is something nifty about camping fifteen minutes away from the house, knowing that you can pick up and go home any time you want.  Although we did Not, thankyouverymuch.

I may even go again. 

*****

Work has been nothing but interesting.

I’ve run the gamut again this week as far as whether the doors are going to have to shut any day now, to ‘This is the Thing That Will Not Die!!!!!!’

At least tomorrow is Friday.

*****

And this weekend is yet another crazy, let’s not sit for a minute weekend.  (Which isn’t exactly what last weekend was, as I actually got rid of THREE magazines.  Yup.  I’m into December!!!!  *sigh*)

A mom broadsided me on Tuesday at dayschool and said, “Are you coming to my son’s birthday party on Saturday??”

And I did a ‘GUH?’ and said, “Uhh…I didn’t know about your son’s birthday party.”

And she said, “Well, I put an invitation in his folder three weeks ago.”  Which sucks, as I am really Very good about checking the folder for the various things that get stuffed in there and even after trying to dig through all of the piles of stuff here I found Nothing.  (So maybe there Is a chance that Mr. Boo’s little girlfriend never managed to get her invitation?)

Anyway, the bottom line?

I’ve been guilted into taking Mr. Boo to a birthday party he just found out about for a little boy who is in his Old room And…after Another birthday party.

Yes.  We have a birthday party for a girl in his room from 1-2:30 and then have to drive to the Cake-Eater high-falutin’ shopping center for this other child’s party from 2:45-4:45. 

Because I am too much of a…Something, to just gracefully decline.

*SIGH*

And Sunday, we’re missing ANOTHER birthday party because we have Miguel’s wedding reception.  (I did mention that Miguel finally got married, didn’t I?  But not to the woman that he was engaged to at this time last year.  Oi.  I Really wish him the best and hope this works out and is really what he (and she) wants.)

Next Friday?

To South Dakota for a family reunion.

The Mom is pushing for her coming up at the end of next month so the Ba and I can Go Somewhere for our anniversary.

And I had to try to explain to her that I have had Maybe One weekend so far this summer that I haven’t had Something going on during the weekend and all I Really want is to just sit on my ass for One Weekend.

Bleh.

We’re having the Mom babysit tomorrow night as The BoDeans are playing downtown at the Block Party.  Which is Thee Last thing I want to have to deal with (I believe the last one we attended Well Over ten years ago I stated I would never attend another Block Party) is all of those people at My Age (heh.), but there’s another part of me that just needs to Get Away from the house and the stuff that needs to get done and the urchins that I’ve basically ignored since the Mom has been here and we’ll just have to see what happens.

*****

I should go get some pictures up, but I also have to get on the treadmill.  As that is the one constant (well, with the exception of last week, which given the holiday and preparations and camping and etc, I give myself a break) that I have been very good at keeping.

And even though the three pounds that I talked about losing recently came back as soon as I began eating dinner again, there are suddenly two pounds that have disappeared and don’t seem to be coming back.

I’m up to two and a half miles running with another mile walking and I’ve moved from barely being able to hit 5.0 to doing a 5.4 sprint at the end last night.

It’s all Very Good.

I will do my best to get pictures up sometime in the near future.

Maybe it will rain someday.

ak

The one with the hair pic

It’s so entertaining when the Mentor is not in the office and Bossie-poo is.  I can’t exactly remember the last time that he was here when she wasn’t.  However, the behavior is exactly the same.

He’s a lost puppy.

And he tries very hard to suddenly take more than a passing interest in what goes on around here.

He was just shy of a raving maniac yesterday regarding outstanding stone orders, one of which has been in the system since May 31st.  And he walks around, asking what the orders are for, telling us that things have been shipped…the Wrong things (although the CFO has promptly informed us that, NO, Nothing has shipped, as we haven’t Paid them), and we Must make him a Partner in this and keep him in the loop on these orders.

/blank stare.

Yes.  Except when the Mentor Is here?  And you go to ask him a question about orders and the like?

Go ask the Mentor.

Ah, yes.

It’s such a Pleasant place to work.

*****

I know that Logic woman thinks they’re pretty nasty, but the Ba is in heaven with the new iced coffees from McD’s.

And since he didn’t Make coffee this morning, I let him buy me one, too.

Eh.

I think I have something against flavors in my coffee.  I don’t know if they have some form of sugar substitute, which I Hate and can generally taste a mile away, or if it’s just a weird aftertaste.  It’s not horrible.  Especially when you’re paying less than two bucks.

But I still prefer to just make my own at home.

*****

I managed to do most of the shopping for the Pyrotechnic Extravaganza last night.

I still need to come up with fruit for the fruit salad, as the gentleman who informed me that he could come up with some more of the cut fruit bowls at Sam’s…If I gave him 10 to 15 minutes…  Well, let’s just say that I’m not sure how long I actually hung around, but I got a bit impatient and proceeded to wait that extra time in the ridiculously long check-out line.  The one where the guy came around and scanned my entire cart, but the woman in front of me fucked up Something, causing the little Asian gentleman working the cash register to wander off to find someone else and then had to re-ring everything anyway.  And I stood there and watched all the other folks, including the large family with two carts Filled with approximately fifty bags of candy walk out before me.  /eyeroll

Some days I really dislike Sam’s.

At least with the new store it’s relatively clean now.

*****

Ok.

It ain’t great, as I had to do a self-portrait.  With my cell phone.  Which is really quite impressive, seeing as how I’ve only taken two other pictures and certainly have never emailed them.

I’m getting to be Such the techy.  /snicker.

Anyway.  If it’s any indication, the Ba called me Davy Jones this morning.  Again, it doesn’t translate very well on a self-portrait, but beggars can’t be chosers.  Keep that in mind.

If you don’t like it, you can just remember what your mom said.

Better pics (including the big poof) after the Pyrotechnic Extravaganza.

Everyone have a happy and safe 4th!

ak

Learning more about passive-agressive behavior

Huh.

I was wondering why I hadn’t received any form of comments (well, on much of Anything…hello? Is this thing on?) on last Thursday’s entry.  And basically it’s because it never got published.  Nice.  It’s there now, if you are so inclined to go backwards.

*****

It was a weekend.

Not a horrible weekend, but not a great weekend.

Saturday was Mr. Boo’s birthday and it was punctuated by a massive fight with The Mom and confirmation that I Am a control freak, as I became a caged animal when we got boxed in at the Island and couldn’t leave until one boat in the 7-boat lash up left after 5pm.

The morning began well-enough with the urchins coming into our room and all of us singing “Happy Birthday” to Mr. Boo.  I went for my run (which I probably should have skipped, as I didn’t leave until shortly after 7am) and came back to get ready to head to the boat.

We called The Mom to come over and she proceeded to bestow even More clothes on the urchins.

She came down with a cold and has been borderline whiny ever since.  So I knew that we would be out on the boat all day and that she’s kind of like a caged animal in that situation, too, so I told her that if she didn’t feel good that maybe she should just go back and lay down.  Which…Yeah, mistake.

I’m not quite sure what set off the tantrum, but she left us to go out on the boat without her.  And it’s difficult trying to explain to youngsters that their grandmother is throwing a bit of a tantrum and I know you want her to come along, but apparently, making a point is more important than setting a good example.  Not to mention that as soon as she drove out of the driveway, they couldn’t have cared less if she wasn’t coming along.  oops.

So we get to the Island super-early and get a prime spot, far enough away from the lash-up of last weekend, but still in the center of the Island, which always makes me nervous.  And with good reason.

The mongo-sized boat that anchored on our anchor last weekend proceeded to anchor in-between us and the lash-up, which seemed fine, but we were concerned when they immediately put their bumpers out.

Within a couple of hours, there were five boats tied up and another one that anchored right on top of our anchor, within about six feet of the bow.  The obnoxious guy with the mongo-sized boat proceeded to laugh his obnoxious, cigar tainted laugh and told me not to worry about it, when we were ready to leave, they’d get us out of there.

Then another Amberjack came through and parked behind the lash-up and even further into shore than us, the boat that anchored over our anchor had another boat lash up to them, they moved over slightly and Another boat joined the huge lash-up and ended up on top of our anchor.

And the two boat lash-up set up a volleyball net to the south of their boats, effectively making sure that we weren’t going Anywhere.

Because when you have that many boats tied up together, no one plans on leaving anytime before sundown.

And I spent most of the day freaking out because I couldn’t leave.  I didn’t really Want to leave, but the fact that I Couldn’t brought out a really freaky, claustraphobic reaction in me that was Awful.

I remember when I used to get pissed when folks anchored so that they were within six feet on either side and basically in front of you so that it was difficult to get past them.  But this whole “I’m going to anchor so that my boat is literally right on top of your anchor” thing is enough to make me insane.

*****

We get home to find The Mom waiting on the chaise lounge and proceed with dinner and I’m not even sure what happened until she was ready to leave and I knew it was an issue, as we had nothing for Mr. Boo’s birthday and it was a long day anyway, and the bottom line was that she did not get to give him the computer she bought for him.

And it’s not only that she did not get to give him the computer that she bought him, which was VERY. IMPORTANT. that she give to him on his birthday, but she Couldn’t because WE did not have anyplace to set it up.  She had told me a month ago that she was doing this and we were supposed to get a desk set-up and since we didn’t, she gave us plenty of links, including a particle board one that was inexpensive, that she would have bought, but after giving it some thought, the Ba and I decided we might as well get a set-up that was ‘real furniture’ that would last them, and it wasn’t something that we made time to do so that The Mom could have it to set up for Mr. Boo’s birthday.  And the fact that I am always complaining that we have no money and yet all we were looking at was an expensive ‘real furniture’ one and wouldn’t let her just buy the inexpensive particle board one… (And The Mom?  I do complain that we do not have the money to do the remodel that you continue to push on us every time you are here, and I do Not complain about the fact that you are, yet again, pushing us into spending money on something we hadn’t planned on spending money on because You bought Mr. Boo something for his birthday that you won’t allow us to just set up on the little table that you bought him for Christmas.)

And she doesn’t even want to Give him the computer, because he ruins everything he gets, and needs to be taught that this isn’t a Toy and that he can break it and she doesn’t trust us to teach him that and That is why she isn’t about to set it up on the little table, and…REALLY?!?!?!?

All of this Totally broadsided me.  I knew that she would be upset that she didn’t give it to him on his actual birthday.  I knew she was pissed that we hadn’t dropped our lives to make sure we had a desk (that we had not planned on purchasing) ready to go with HER gift.

But Honestly.

I feel slightly guilty that I am being an unsensitive daughter and really, I should have taken a bit of time to find this desk.  But then I think again and realize that she is giving these ‘gifts’ conditionally.

And I really, Really don’t think that I’m being Totally irrational.  I’m sure that I’m not handling it as best as I can (well, because it’s Me), but I refuse to be put as the bad guy in this.

Including the fact that she contiually states that she is capable of taking care of herself and doesn’t want to be a bother and can find things to do on her own, so it won’t be so much of a bother that she’s here for a month.

Except that she is Constantly sending links with things to do.  Kids concerts at MOA.  Letting me know that there is a drum and bugle corps performance in Mankato on Saturday (Um, I will tell you right now, at 1pm on Saturday, that I will NOT be coming off the lake early to drive to Mankato) and in Stillwater on Sunday (again, You are taking the urchins to a play and I have no intention of driving to Stillwater for a 7pm show on a Sunday night.  Even if you think the urchins need to see this).  And do we want to come along to the Guthrie?

I feel badly, but between birthday parties (another one scheduled for the 14th), birthdays, time out on the boat, receptions, camping trips and family reunions…We have Plenty scheduled.  And I know not all of it is With you, but I also need some downtime in my life.  And you are kind of contridicting yourself by wanting to schedule all of these things With Us.

*sigh*

I’ve found that I tend to shut down when things get too overwhelming and difficult.  And I’m afraid it comes off to others as being flippant and uncaring and insensitive, when that’s really not the case.

And we’re Definitely at that point now.

Bleh.

*****

That’s just going to have to do it for today.

It’s dreary, but we can’t seem to squeeze any rain out of the sky.

They’re threatening storms this afternoon, but as per normal, I’ll believe it when I see it.

A good old fashioned soaker might do everything some good.

ak