Stars

Guy and I watched Amelie the other night. It was at this happinin birthday party out in a yard under the stars. I love yard movies and I love sitting out under the stars. I wish I had a snazzy projector and I'd have yard movies all the time! Anyway, Amelie was great. It was really artsy and I don't mind reading subtitles. The company was wonderful and I even got to see an old student of mine. Cute kid. But not so much kid anymore. And the candy, soda and sugar was delish. Too bad I missed Carina's meat pies, but that's what happens when you're late to the party because you had your own bbq in your own yard with your husband's mission companion from Canada and their five kids (very fun people, by the way...too bad they live in another country).

After Amelie I sat up and rubbed my left calf. Something slimy and smushy rolled up under my finger. Ewww. I went over to the light by the house to confirm my suspicion. Sure enough...



When I was up at the Homestead a few weeks ago doing a workshop we stopped in at Snake Creek Grill. No, Compulsive, I didn't have the sea bass. We were just checking on menus to see if we could bring our group of teachers to dinner (turned out a little over our meal budget so we ended up somewhere else, darnit). As we walked up to the door, I passed and smiled at this fellow who was awfully familiar--and yummy. I kept trying to think where I knew the guy from. Then I decided he was just better looking than most of the people I encounter during my regular daily activities, and that he must be someone famous. Great smile and eyes, nice dimples, and rather short. He looked like this:



Once inside the restaurant, I not-so-subtly asked the waiter if there was a famous guy out there (real classy, Lorien) and he told me who the fellow was. That was my star sighting. Only one ever, I think.

Hotch Hotcher Bee Watcher

This morning as I was considering doing my desperately needed housework, I began thinking how lucky I am because I have so many AWESOME friends. So I forgot about the housework and sat down to blog (wouldn't you?). How cool are all of you? And how lucky am I that I feel I can consider you my friends? Last night I got to pick up my good friend Compulsive and we went to meet Bek and see her three yummy children. I got to see Marie-in-Chick-filet ala Lisa V. I got to love Luckyred's camera and eat some of Carina's real food (oh yum). I got to hug ~j and admire her joy in carrying a child. I saw old friends and made new ones. I laughed till my face and gut hurt. These are the times in life I love. I came home refreshed, ready to love my family more and give the mundane another go. Thank you, friends, for being wonderful. I love you!

Did I ever tell you how lucky you are? When I was quite young and quite small for my size, I met an old man in the desert of Dryz. He sat in a very prickly place, yet he sang with a sunny, sweet smile on his face. He sang me a song I will never forget. At least, well, I haven't forgotten it yet. He said to me, Ducky, when you feel sour and blue, when you start to feel sad you should do what I do. You should say to yourself 'Ducky, you're really quite lucky. Some people are muchly, oh ever so muchly, so muchly much much more unlucky than you.' ...Think you're unlucky? Think of poor Ollie Sard. He has to mow grass in his uncle's backyard. And it's quick-growing grass, so it grows as he mows it. The faster he mows it, the faster he grows it. And all that his stingy old uncle will pay for shoving that mower around in that hay is the piffelous pay of two dukles a day and Ollie can't live on such piffelous pay, so he has to paint flagpoles on Sundays in Gruze. Now aren't you glad you don't live in his shoes? -Quoted as I remember it from Dr. Seuss' Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?

Where Do They Get Their Good Looks?

I've made a goal to take the blogfiber Julie recommended and become more regular. I'm going to try to make an entry at least once a week. We'll see how it goes.

So I was trying to think of something to blog about, and thought my photo album might be a good place to start. I ran across this photo of my kids. It's a picture we took for Grandma on her birthday. Grandmas can be hard to do gifts for because at that time in their lives, they either already have everyhing they want, or if they don't, they go out and buy it. But I came up with a good one this time. I took these great photos of the kids and we made button fridge magnets (a neighbor has a pin-button maker) with this and a couple of other photos. Darling children, aren't they?

Last night I had a dream that it was Halloween morning and my kids didn't have costumes. Now that's scary. (Around our house, that's almost as bad as Christmas without presents.) So I guess it's time to start thinking about costumes. I have yards and yards of bright pink felt (formerly a wedding aisle). I'm thinking energizer bunny and pepto bismol. How many costumes can you think of to use up the felt? C'mon. Think pink.

Summah Summah Summah

It turns everything upside down--schedules, eating habits, sleeping habits, housework, yardwork, and blogging. (Not that I've been regular for some time anyway, but still) But there are some great things about summer, and I thought I'd list a few.

1. Kids can wear whatever they want. And 99% of the time, I don't even care.



2. My yard is lookin good. I love good lookin yards. I got mine ready for a wedding, and it's just lovely (yes, that was a bright pink aisle and no, they didn't rappel from the treehouse). I should have a party. Would you come if I did? We could even have a pool party (see #5).


3. Toenail polish. Three letters, ladies: O-P-I ! This is the most amazing brand of toenail polish I've ever experienced in my thirty-some-odd summers. The stuff survives scuffs on swimmingpool bottoms, it wears for about a month, and the colors have great names. Right now I'm wearing "Charged-Up Cherry." I also picked up "Red Red Rhine" for 60% off. The first color I tried was "My Chihuahua Bites!" It was a great color, but a bit on the orange side for me. The only thing I've found that messes it up is if I hit it with my summer scent, Deep Woods Off. That kinda mucks it up and takes off the shine. So tuck the toes when scenting up for the evening. And yes, I call it TOEnail polish because I can't stand the stuff on my fingernails. Anyway, some of you may already know about O.P.I. Shame on you. How you could keep this a secret and not shout it from the rooftops, I'll never know. So now I have a new mission preachin the good word about O.P.I. Nail Laquer. If you don't have any, run (don't walk) to the nearest beauty store and getcha some sweet color for your toeseys.

4. Garden produce. Just made my first batch of zucchini bread. Mm-mm! And I love my yellow squash. And I have 2 cherry tomatoes that are orange, and have eaten one cucumber. None of the regular tomatoes are ripe yet, but my bushes are 100% better than last year (if any of you remember my last year's lament). Almost as good as my 90-year-old neighbor's.

5. Swimming. Got me one of those poor-man-swimmingpools. You know the ones. Big vinyl things with a blown-up ring to keep the top edge up. The company tries to make you feel really fancy by including a filter pump and you can even put in chemicals. We'll see how it goes, but I thought why not, since my kids are all tall enough now to reach the bottom--although I'm still fairly paranoid about kids and water. It was actually one of those keep-up-with-the-joneses purchases. I wasn't about to let my friend Neighborhood Watch have the corner on the pool market on our street. (I got the one the next size up) Plus it was on clearance.

6. Tan feet. They just look better that way.

7. Tan bodies. They look better that way, too.

8. Bedtime? What's that?

9. Bathtime? See #5.

10. Getting lost in a great book. I have always loved curling up in a chair and reading, reading, reading. The rest of the world can all just go to h___ when I'm reading (and my house usually does). I'm a shameless Harry Potter fan, and reading a HP book just seems like a summery thing to do, so since we all still have a while to wait for the final book, I took a day and a half and read #6 again. ***SPOILER WARNING*** (although if you haven't read it by now I'm guessing you just wont, which is fine) I read carefully this time through, and I think our double agent Snape will end up a good guy in #7 (Dumbledore knew about his unbreakable vow and plead for Snape to kill him, not for mercy) and Dumbledore is really and will stay dead, though his influence will still be there via his portrait in the headmaster's office and perhaps the penseive. I do wonder about all the phoenix imagery, though...***SPOILING FINISHED*** You may not be a Potter fan, but whatever your genre, I think summer is definitely the time to lose yourself in a book.

Well, there are loads of other great things about summer, but these are just the ones I've noticed in the last couple of days. Gotta go help my kid get packed for scout camp. Maybe that's #11.