Not Quite Hot Enough

It's pretty hot out but it's not quite hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk. How do I know?

The neighbour kids are out there trying it.

The Ants Come Marching........

One by One..... Hurrah, Hurrah!
NOT!!!
Can you get ants and other critters by osmosis?
There I was talking to Little Sis about her sugar ant problem.....Everywhere BUT in the Kitchen.....in the laundry, E's bedroom, even under her computer keyboard and in her scrapbook paper in the office. Yuck!
I'm thinking how glad I am that I don't have little kids about so I can spray the bug killer very liberally anywhere in the house I want. She has to be careful of not only E getting into everything but also the DC kiddos.
We finish talking, hang up and I'm watching a movie with the Frog (who is asleep and snoring loudly) when there he is.....
ANOTHER FOUR LEGGED LONGTAILED LITTLE VARMIT!!!!!
Crawling about on my nice clean, unsticky, freshly mopped kitchen floor without a care in the world....totally ignoring the loud and obnoxious snoring of the Frog and the blare of the TV, he meandered all along the baseboard disappeared for a moment near the dishwasher then took off under the stove. Since I learned my lesson in the last couple of encounters with his little fiendy-eyed friends I neither panicked and broke my foot , nor threw the phone and broke it. I merely got out my arsenal and set traps. This morning nothing.......
Then I got to thinking, since traps were just set a few of weeks ago in the basement when we had the place sprayed to get rid of my sugar ant issues. Where had he come from?
Then I hear it...the almost incessant dut dut dut of the jackhammer outside that has now become such a familiar soundtrack to our life that I've blocked it out.
Of course! the little guy has been evicted from his perfectly nice little burrow in the barpit next to the skunk family between my backyard and the road they've been working on for eternity. Mr & Mrs Skunk of course had the good sense to take my advice and move across the road and get a few of the more annoying cousins squished by cars during their move. But no not the Mousecowitz Family! Who knew they would be extra brave and go East instead of West? Didn't they pay any attention to little Fievel at all? I'm off to rent An American Tale 2 just incase he comes back during movie time today.

Life, and Other Miscellaneous Interuptions to It

Ever really really wanted out of a committment?

Ever thought it won't matter someone else will just pick up the slack?

Not around here. Five! count them 12345 Five meals Monday for different members of the neighborhood . Four on Tuesday and at least 2 more in the next couple of days. Not fun! But considring I only got one traumitized call I think it went okay. I ended up doing the same family both last night and tonite but they really are special to us and I just called for Pizza for them. I hope everything went okay with everyone else.

It's either feast or famine...we go for along while without anyone needing anything then we have a short burst where everyone needs something and they always seem to conflict with my schedule. I like my calling in the church just not tonite.

Not while I have a headache anyway...... which BTW has been ongoing since early Sunday. Ick. On the bright side I managed to get 6 scrapbook pages done at our crop the other night and that was alot of fun.

1/2 Over LIFE

So here I am 45 + 4 days old and I've been telling people all weekend that my life is now officially 1/2 over. Sort of Funny weird, since I truly never think too far ahead...too many years of the Frog not feeling well once a Big Day arrives so then we cancel.
but I figured it out and if I average out the lives of both Grandmothers I'll live til I'm ninety, which means that at 12:17 pm on Friday July 7 2006 I was officially Over the Hill. Since I feel like I've been crawling up it on my belly hand over hand for so long maybe now I'm eally over it I'll gently roll downhill thru the rest of my life.....NOT!!!

I had a really good Birthday though and got the wonderful gift of seeing my family over the weekend at Little Sis's. I even met some of her friends, since after dinner and fireworks we crashed in on an Idaho Scrappers Crop then went to Breakfast with a bunch of really fun ladies! BTW Shari's Stuffed Hashbrowns rock!

The Fabulous Fourth

There I was hair in pigtails, juicy watermelon dripping from my chin, the part in my hair and top of my ears staring to redden up from the hot sun...and having the time of my life!
It was my birthday and I had the best parties in the world! My day would start with jumping in the car and hurrying to get the best spot for the parade. There were floats and bands and beautifully dressed girls waving, horses, cops on motorcylces tossing candy to the crowds lining the street and goofy clowns mingling and etertaining us with balloon animals. It was the big parade! Coming from Connell, anything with more than 2 marching bands and 4 floats was a big deal.

Afterwards we'd eat ourselves to death on 'Tucky Chicken , coleslaw, Grandma's potato salad and have a strawberry shortcake with candles all over it just for me with homemade ice cream and a few presents to open. With all the cousins and family around to run through the State park screaming and playing tag, swimming and goofing off. Naps on blankets under the trees when were we tired and lots of cold water and "Real Lemonade" made with the Pink Lemonade Kool-aide spiked with 7-Up and sliced lemons.

Later on there was the oooh's and aahhh's of the people watching the fireworks being shot off from the park out across the lake. Their brillant colours reflecting in the water so that we could doubly enjoy them. Then being carried to the car by Daddy and falling asleep on the way home. Who could ever ask for a better party?

As an adult it's been a more quiet holiday. Still fried chicken and potatoe salad, still strawberries and icecream only it's not homemade. I still get presents... mostly from my MIL on her way home from the parade in Grantsville.

Sometimes I wake up and it's off to the park for the all you can eat for $4.00 Chuckwagon breakfast with Fast Freddie Flapjack flipping out pancakes on his famous 12 foot long griddle. Waiting for a little fun with his old friends or a cocky teenager or two. Asking them to step back, no just a little farther, a bit farther please and watching him flip the pancakes to their plates from as far away as Fifty feet. It's all a part and parcel of the entertainment. For seconds you just stand and hold your plate and magically from thin air a hot pancake lands right in the middle of your plate! Fast Freddie is the best Flapjack Flipper in all the world!
The hashbrowns, sausages and the eggs are all playing second fiddle to the Star of the show!

I watch the fireworks from the dining room window or from the back porch, with the TV playing the fireworks from New York or DC to help the ambience and so the Frog and see them. Then it's out to the frontporch to watch the neighbourhood waste their money blowing up the illegal fireworks they drove to Wyoming to get. Who could ask for a better party?

I must have been about 7 or 8 before I realized that my birthday is actually on the 7th of July but the family all got together on the 4th so that was when I got my cake and presents. B's birthday fell on Labour Day alot so he had a big extended family BBQ party too. We used to tease J that her Bday was so close to Christmas she didn't get a big blowout cuz people were too tired. But secretly I was terribly jealous because she always got to take cupcakes to school for her Birthday and I never did. But I got a parade and fireworks.

So though my official Bday isn't til Friday I'm celebrating in a big way today! I slept in, I took the longest shower ever on record, I've watched a parade on TV, and vegged out with a Law and Order Marathon. Tonite I'll watch the Fireworks from the porch and take a few pictures of the neighbourhood blowing up hundreds of dollars worth of bottle rocks while I'm running my sprinklers full blast then tuck the Frog into Bed and have some Cherry Garcia over some fresh strawberries... Who can ask for a better party?

Superman Returns

Baby Brother and his wife flew in on Friday from Colorado and we've sure enjoyed their company this weekend. I tease him unmercifully sometimes and he is just as big a tease back at me. Even after almost 3 years I think T wonders what sort of family she got herself into when she married him, but we are growing on her I'm sure. They are such a perfect fit for each other. Both are very athletic and love the outdoors, camping, hiking and skiing. TD is super lucky that he found her to share his life. Now we just need find someone just as wonderful for the other two boys.

We all went to dinner with B last nite, then the Frog and I got treated to movie tickets by T&TD as an early Birthday gift for me and we saw "Superman Returns". It was really good and I really enjoyed it. It's the first time in theatre in about 2 years. The Frog has such an awful time sitting for so long in the old ratty WC we rarely go anymore.

I was amazed at how much like Christopher Lee the guy playing Superman was. It was really a bit scary....but I think Chris would have approved. The Frog was a bit taken aback, having met both Chris and Dana Reeve a couple of different times. He was crying during one scene. No one else will ever really take his place but it's nice to know a wonderful legacy lives on.

We found out a few days ago that another dear friend has lung cancer just like Dana and it seems so unfair. M quit smoking 25 years ago and yet now he is suffering so much, but says he only has to watch S to realize what courage is and seems to have accepted he won't be here much longer. I sort of wish I was in C's shoes. Dying by inches is incredibly slow, and very frustrating to be living with and keep a positive attitude....they say M most likely will be gone in just a couple of more months.