We had Kelly, Tim & the kids over to watch "Reno 911" the movie. Boy was that the dumbest movie of all time. Okay, there is more to this story... Originally we had been over talking to New Neighbors. John had mentioned that it was coming out and New Neighbors said they really wanted to see it. John said we should all get together and watch it. I said we should invite Kelly, Tim and the kids too and New Neighbors said how about Sunday. So, it sounds like everyone is on board right? Then on Saturday evening I went over to let New Neighbor's dog out and there was a note on the table that said "thank you and we'll see you tomorrow night." Well, Sunday rolls around. Kelly, Tim and the kids arrived and we waited about 45 minutes. Finally I sent Samantha and Tara over to see what the deal was. The girls came back and said: "they're not coming, Mark has to study." Okay. I just wonder why she didn't call. That's the second time this has happened with them. I wonder what the deal is?

I made a cake on Sunday. I made it partly to have while we watched the movie and partly as an end to Samantha's birthday week. It was so good. I made a Devil's Food cake and made my own frosting: cream cheese, sugar and Oreo cookies. I could have eaten a bowl full of that frosting.

We are going to paint the trim on our house this summer. We have been here almost 10 years and the trim, shutters and front door need a little sprucing. We have had many a discussion regarding painting the garage door the same color as the front door and shutters. John really wants to do this but I have not been totally sold on the idea. But then Joy, across the street painted her trim, shutters, front door and garage door. She used a dark brown color and it looks great. Yeah, now we're going to look like we are copying her. I told her we had been talking about doing it for a while now but I'm sure she didn't believe me. And, I guess using brown is out too. We are keeping the trim the same color because it has to match the storm door. We had a bunch of colors picked out that we liked and a couple we agreed we would not use. We decided no green and no maroon. Well, every color we had picked out looked awful when we held it up in the day light, absolutely terrible and none of them went with the color of our siding. You know what went really well and looks great: green, a color called painted turtle to be exact. Go figure.

Sometimes I watch Samantha and I am totally fascinated by her. This week she is doing a research paper on different cat breeds and is staring with the Scottish Fold. She has several books about cats and I showed her how to do a Google search. I just love that kid to pieces!

Yesterday afternoon Samantha and I were hanging around doing nothing because it was too bloody hot to do anything outside. John called and asked if we wanted to come in and play bad guys for a training scenario. Sure. It was kind of fun. He was showing 2 other officers how to be safe on a traffic stop. Wow, there is so much to it that never occurred to me. I knew that the traffic stop is one of the most dangerous things they do but there are so many little things they do to try and be safe. Everything they do they do for a reason.

Yesterday evening Samantha and I went for a bike ride at Pickerington Ponds. We went 6 miles and even though we waited until the evening, oh my god, it was hotter than Georgia asphalt in August. But, it is so beautiful there. The trails are half sunny and through fields and the other half of the trails are wooded. We saw a bluebird. When we got home Samantha looked up a bluebird in her bird book. But it wasn't a bluebird that we saw. I swear I think it was an indigo bunting. The next time we are there I'm looking for a park ranger to ask. It was the most beautiful bird I have ever seen.

We have a new rule at our house: Snofie has to brush her hair twice a day. We sometimes go a week without brushing her hair resulting in huge rats. When we go out she wears a pony tail so you can't really tell. Well, I have had enough of the rats! This week she has done a great job and we are vermin free. Plus, her hair looks so beautiful.

Now more about how cute Samantha is... She got a snow leopard at Build-A-Bear that she named Muffin. She has a diaper on it and carries it around in her doll carrier. I love to watch her play.

The Shirtless Neighbor has a bumper sticker that says: I love Jesus on his car. John and I keep joking that he probably found Jesus in prison. He so looks like he's been incarcerated at some point. I also wonder about the no shirt thing, he never wears a shirt and the one one time I did see him in a shirt it was a wife beater. Oh my goodness.

Carla lost her keys. Actually, she threw them away so they are gone forever. So, she couldn't get into her office this morning. The scary thing is Beth picked the lock. It took her about 15 minutes but she got in. I am so setting the alarm tonight!

And while I'm talking about work... we got new computers. These new ones have big flat screen monitors so my panda bear collection had to find a new home. That was only mildly upsetting but now my keyboard is wrong. It makes me type wrong. I swear I am typing the same keys for the appropriate letters that I always type but they are wrong.

The new guy is kind of weird. Ellen thinks so too. I don't know if it's because he's new and we don't like change or if he's truly weird. Anyway, his stapler annoys me. He leaves it in the middle of the desk that is "near" my area. The thing is is that it is not actually on my desk. I just can't stand that it is always right there in the middle all cockeyed with nothing else around it. I moved it a few times but it appeared right back in the middle again. And now as I realize what I am saying I am beginning to wonder if I'm the weird one.