A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people. - Thomas Mann

Now I remember, Thomas Mann is the one who wrote "Death In Venice". I have to go to the library and re-read that book. The scene on the beach when the guy is dying and he is literally melting under that beach umbrella is the image I get when our neighbors, Co-Cheese and Shim, sit outside in their plastic chairs under their plum tree drinking iced tea that they have on a little rattan table. I'm not close enough but I can imagine that Shim's make up is melting off in the sweltering summer heat. Co-Cheese on the other hand goes shirtless practically everyday and each day you can see he is getting skinnier and skinnier. When they first moved in and we became aware of his loooooooong arrest record I warned Samantha not to go around him but now I'm not worried at all, she could so take him.

Anyway I have to go to the library next week and return "An Inconvenient Truth" (after I watch it) so I think I will get "Death In Venice". I was # 175 on the waiting list when I put "An Inconvenient Truth" on reserve and it came in last Friday. I have not had any time to watch it because John's dad and his wife are in town this week. Now that John Sr. is retired they can spend unlimited time traveling around the country in their RV. This week they are at an RV park across from the fair grounds for a car show. John Sr. is always fixing up some sort of old car, then selling it and starting on a new one. This time he has a 1972 Dodge Demon with him for the show.

I find the RV park totally fascinating. Yes, I am quite easily amused. This RV park is different than the one he stayed in last year. That on had people like John Sr. with their big fancy RV's as well as people who lived there and people who summered there. I half expected to hear banjos as we drove in to visit him. I made John Jr. drive really slow so I could look at everything. But this RV park has 95% car show people who have really fancy RV's and 5% banjo slinging carnies workers. When John Sr. got there he was the 2nd one to arrive because he got here early to visit with us for the week before the show. The other inhabitant was Sweetness as we will call her. Sweetness, her husband and their dog live in their van in the RV park for 6 months out of the year and then spend the other 6 months in Florida working as carnival workers. When I said van I really meant van... it's like a 1980 Ford Econoline van... There is no bathroom so they have one of those green rented port-a-potties out back and it has no kitchen so they have a table with various kitchen elements set up out front. There is a kiddie pool, a rug of fake grass and various chairs and stuff around the van and this is how they live. Fascinating. Oh Oh, I forgot to mention the golf cart and the hover-round motorized wheel chair. (I think the whole disabled thing is more of an overweight thing than an actual handicap.) Then there is the dog. He is a beautiful Golden Retriever with the cleanest, fluffiest fur. Very very strange. There are also some other make-shift RV's with carnival workers but I lost interest in them after seeing the sea of really fancy RV'S. These "car people" go all out on their RV's which range from a couple hundred thousand dollars to the million dollar ones. And, they all have trailers in which they pull their cars. I call these their garages. So, it's like this whole sort of sub-culture. We've spent some time there visiting John Sr. and his wife, Lita this week and I am totally into the whole RV thing. I don't think I would want to travel that way but visiting is way fun. We usually sit out front on the "veranda" in lawn chairs and then we take a walk and check out everyone's cars.

Yesterday Samantha spent the day with grandpa and Lita while I worked in the morning and John Jr. went to Cleveland. When I picked her up I sat and watched 2 guys polishing the one guy's car. It took them over an hour (after an hour I lost interest) and other guys would come by and watch for a while. Then we watched other people doing RV things. One couple had a huge TV that pulled out from the under belly of their giant RV and others had kiddie pools and patio lights and flag poles.

John Jr. went to Cleveland yesterday like I mentioned. He went to a police expo to with some other officers to check out some new equipment. Well, on the way down they all fell asleep. Yup, all of them. Thank god nothing bad happened. Although, he was "on duty" so I would have gotten the big payout. You know, more than if he bites it falling off a ladder in the garage at home or something. I do have help lined up though if that happens... all we have to do is dress him in his uniform, drive him into work and plop him in a police car.

Now on to something cheery: Susan said she read in a travel magazine about a vacation to China where you can hug a real panda. You get to HUG it! Oh my god, I am so saving up for that, screw Samantha's college fund. She can do a loan or something, I'm going to China to hug a panda! I think this trip is going to the top of the list where Mongolia had been, yup, pandas here I come!

Mom and Dad are coming this weekend to visit and Mom said today that she want to go to church on Sunday. She said she wouldn't be mad if I decide I don't want to but that she wants me to consider it. Well, that is so not true. She will be furious if we don't go. It's not so much church that I don't want to go to, it's being forced to do something because she thinks I should. Going to church does not make one more spiritual than another and I don't want to go.The church right next to our neighborhood has a "drive-in" service where the service is broadcasted on the radio. I wonder if that counts. I suppose I will have to find a service somewhere to attend on Sunday because I really want to go to Lily Fest and Mom doesn't. Well, if I go to church, you go to Lily Fest. Lily Fest (www.lilyfest.com) is wonderful. It is on the most beautiful site in the Hocking Hills and the art is very very good.

The other day I was playing cards with Samantha and she said, "wow, I have good fingers!" I said, "do you mean you have a good hand?"

The FBI showed up at our door the other day. It really surprised me but it turned out he was doing a background check on one of our neighbors for his security clearance. He kept mentioning my husband the police officer and finally I said, "so, how do you know my husband is a police officer?" I sort of wanted him to admit to some top secret FBI data base but he said, "your neighbor, Joy, told me." It was funny but a little disappointing.

Samantha has discovered www.YouTube.com and loves looking up hamster videos. I told her if see clicks on anything that looks inappropriate to come get me right away. I wonder if the cartoon farting hamsters should be considered inappropriate?

Thursday evening we went for a bike ride at Pickerington Ponds and got rained on. We were about 3 miles, half way, into our ride when it started and we were completely soaked by the time we got back. It was also weird because we heard ice cream truck music almost the whole way before the rain started. It was so weird because we couldn't imagine where it was coming from. There we were riding along and I kept imagining that the music was coming from some alien ice cream truck and little green men were going to jump out of the bushes and abduct us. Then Samantha asks if I could hear the music. She thought it was just in her head which made it even creepier. We must not have been white trash enough to be abducted though be cause we made it back fine.

On Friday Tara came over for a play date. When John was leaving for work he called out to Samantha to come out and get her hug. Well, Tara came running out of the playroom and up to John for a hug. It was so funny because as she came around the corner she realized what she was about to hug John and she stopped.

Then Friday evening I took the girls into town for the concert in the park. The girls saw Hope and we all walked down to Dairy Queen. When we got back Kelly, Tim and the boys met us for the rest of the concert. Afterward we went over to their house to sit on their new patio. The way their house sits facing East it is difficult for them to enjoy their backyard in the late afternoon and evening because the sun is so hot so they built a patio in the front. Kelly also thought since the kids like to play out front with their friends that she can watch them better. They put out a patio table and chairs and they got a fire pit that is exactly like ours only miniature. So, we had a fir at their house.

On Saturday Kelly did a ride-along with John. She wanted me to go but since he can't have 2 riders in the police car I rode with Keisha. It was a busy night so Kelly got to see a lot. The first call Keisha and I went on was a girl who had moved out and needed to get back in but the former roommate was threatening her. The roommate had thrown all of the girls belongings on the front lawn. So, we get out of the car and I follow Keisha up to see what's going on and oh my god, the roommate had this neck brace on. It was the dirtiest thing I had ever seen. Picture a really ratty flea collar and that's what it was like. The girl seemed slightly normal but the roommate was something else. She went on and on about how the girl had warrants out on her (she didn't) and how the girl had stolen checks from her. Then another officer shows up and oh my god, the roommate asks him if he remembers her. She tells him that she was the one who had called in about the friend who had called her looking for someone to hire to kill his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend. Oh my god, it was like being in some kind of hillbilly hell.

Next we got to go pick up a prisoner from another agency and take him to jail. I find going to the jail (as a visitor) fascinating. They were quite busy and there were lots of bad guys in the one cell with the window. It is so creepy how they look out at you like caged animals in the zoo. Then some heroin addict came in and when they had him take off his shoes to be searched the fun ended. The guy's feet stank so badly.

Next we went to a Latino market that had just been robbed and the robbers had fired 2 shots. that was cool because we got to drive their with the lights and sirens as well as going rally fast. When we pulled up John was standing by his car with the shot gun aimed and ready to go. This bothered Kelly slightly but I told her I was used to seeing him like that. Then I realized what I was saying and how horrifying that I found it not that disturbing at all to see my husband standing there with a gun chasing bad guys. The bad guys in this case were nowhere to be found so it was on to the next call.

Kelly got to see some really trashy homes so that was interesting to her to see how some people live as well as why some people call the police. We went to one apartment where there was a drunk chain-smoking 40-something guy and a 80-something old man on oxygen. The old man said that the drunk hit him. John said that they are over there about once a month when these 2 get into it. The apartment was disgusting complete with a bed pan of urine on the table.

It was quite a night that ended with a traffic stop where one of the people asked who Kelly and I were and John told him that we were doing a ride-along. The guy asked if he could do one and John said no. He asked why we got to do one and John said, "because they are doing community service. That one sells crack and the little blonde is a prostitute."

Sneezing Panda

Panda Escape

Everyone loves a parade! The 4th of July is my favorite holiday for several reasons. It's in the summer so it's warm out. There are decorations but you don't have to decorate like Christmas. And, it's a whole day of activities, parades, picnics, carnivals and fireworks.

We went to the parade in the morning. It was great because everyone loves a parade but this year there was an added bonus. John made me swear we would never speak of it again because he was totally pissed off but I can't help myself, it is just too dang funny. There we were, sitting in lawn chairs in front of Rose's house watching the parade, our family, Rose and John's sister Linda and her family, when a float went by with kids & water guns. One boy aimed his water gun on John an got him. He got him so good and kept the stream of water on him until he was completely soaked. John just sat there with no expression on his face. Samantha and I just about died it was so hysterically funny. Linda and Rose just sort of stood there. I think they weren't sure whether they should laugh or not because John doesn't really have much of a sense of humor when it comes to things like that. So, John doesn't say a word and after the float passed he got up and went in the house. I told Samantha that the really funny thing was that the kid had no idea he just drenched a cop. Had he known I'm sure he would have been the hero of all kids with water guns. After the parade on the way home I kept erupting in laughter. That's when John proclaimed we would never speak of the water gun incident ever again.

Samantha was mostly wanting to watch the parade so she wasn't paying too much attention to Rose. I got a little annoyed because she went inside and came out with a bribe, a Webkinz, to get a hug and a kiss. But, that's what grandma's do...

It rained during the afternoon while Samantha and I were cooking all the food for the picnic. We were worried because it was an awful storm and there was a tornado warning on the television. The warning expired at 5pm and the weather man was right on because it cleared up at 5pm and the sun even came out. Every officer has to work on the 4th and they are divided into 2 groups: officers in the park and officers on the street. John is always an officer on the street and every year some of the wives get together and have a picnic at the station for the officers on the street, the clerks and guys in the radio room. This year it was Janice and myself. Janice brought several homemade lasagnas and brownie. Samantha and I brought 2 kinds of pasta salad, cheesy potatoes and Oreo truffles. The Oreo truffles were a new recipe I tried and they were a big hit. After the picnic Samantha and I went over to the park. We always try and get the first or second parking space because it is the perfect spot to watch the fire works. Success, we got the fist space and got everything set up. We laid out a blanket in the back of the Element and had some pillows and all. Samantha and I played cards, rummy. It was so cute, several of the officers in the park would come by periodically and help Samantha with her hand. Luckily we had bribed the vice squad with Oreo truffles so the card games continued until the fire works started. They were really amazing and there were a few new additions this year. Our Element was covered with fall out form the fireworks. It was great. We had a lovely day and can't wait until next year.

Last night we went in to the carnival but there was no one there except the carnival workers so we didn't stay. Every carnival worker was calling out to us to come play a game: "bring your little girl over and she gets a prize every time..." It kind of creeped us out. Several of the officers John works with were camped out at the carnival so we stopped to talk for a while.

For dinner we went to Sonic. I've been through the drive-thru for a drink but have never eaten there for the full Sonic experience. It sure was something. We felt like idiots because we didn't know how the whole thing worked. But, our waitress was really nice. Oops, I mean our car hop. It certainly was interesting but we totally don't get the whole thing... the food wasn't that good.

After Sonic we went by the new Wal Mart and oh my, the place is totally trashed. It was awful, sort of frightening. There were boxes waiting to be stocked strewn everywhere and stuff from the shelves thrown on the floor and then there were the people. Oh the people... there were all sorts of trashy people in there but one family in particular totally fascinated me... their child, about 7, was barefoot. Barefoot in the grocery store. And she was all dirty. You know the kind of dirty kids get after eating a popsicle and the dirt sticks to the part that dripped all over them. People totally fascinate me, I could sit in a place like that for hours and just watch. Oh, and then there was the woman in the checkout line who's little girl, maybe 3, was out in the exit part where everyone was pushing their carts out of the store. The mom was paying and completely ignoring her kid who had thrown herself down on the floor in front of the 25 boxes of watermelons and was kicking and screaming. So, everyone had to maneuver around her.

After we got home Jess and the kids came over. Nick likes to chase cars. I always ask him if he is a dog. Well, the girls joined him and all 3 of them would run off down the sidewalk chasing cars and barking. A bunch of crazies I tell you. They didn't stay long because I had to watch the new episode of "The Closer". This season is the best. I loved the first season but then wasn't so into it last season but this one is really good and last night's episode was one of the best.

So, today at work Beth had flowers on her desk. They were beautiful and they were from Jeff. What's up with that? Lynn said that they went out last week. Hhhmmm.... I am so curious. Our power went out and then our phone lines went out. It was somewhat annoying since I only work until 1pm in the summers and I needed to get a big head start on the trip for next week because I am taking Thursday off. I always take the 5th off because we stay out late on the 4th foe the fire works. Oh, and while I am on the topic of work I have to write about the new guy, Mark and his annoying habit of saying,"hey, what's up?". He'll say this to you about 50 times a day. Okay, so 50 is maybe an exaggeration but 25 is not. It is the most annoying thing and I never know what to say.

Well, I must say, we have the ultimate display of white trash-ness in our front yard. We have learned from the best and the students have surpassed the masters. John painted the garage floor today so he moved everything out and onto the driveway, the trash can, the tool box and the refrigerator. So, he had a bunch of water and pop in the refrigerator that he is going to take to work tomorrow for the 4th and he wanted it all to stay cold so he plugged in the refrigerator with a big 'ol extension cord right there in the driveway!

John called a few minutes ago. He is on his way to the jail with a prisoner. The funny part about that is that today is Red White and Boom the Midwest's largest display of fireworks. The riverfront is packed with thousands of people from about noon on and guess what, the jail is right there in the midst of it all. John did not see the humor in this. I told him he has a red & blue blinkie light on the top of his police car for a reason but he said it would make no difference at all. I guess there's no coming between Midwesterner's and their fireworks. Samantha and I don't go to Red White & Boom because it is way too crowded. We will watch them on TV though. And then we will go to the fire works tomorrow on the 4th which is my absolute favorite holiday.

As I already said... today is a lovely day. Work went by so quickly and I hardly even recall being there at all. And, as I also said, I am sitting in the garage keeping John company while he piddles around and I have to tell you, this is the life. I am sitting in one of those fold up chairs you take to soccer games. Actually, I am sort of lying in it all slumped down really low so my head can rest on the back of it. I have a storage tub turned upside down for a foot rest and the lap top is sitting on my legs positioned just so... just so I exert minimal movement. A paint can is my side table for my glass of water and I feel oh so hill billy-ish... but oh so comfortable. I didn't even mind so much when John asked me to hold the ladder for him because my legs had fallen asleep. I never understood that... the whole "hold the ladder for me" thing... I mean, if his big ass actually fell off the ladder all I would be able to do is stand there and watch provided he hadn't fallen on me and crushed me. Oh my god... John has a country music station on so we really are hill billies... Here I was making fun to Mr. No Shirt White Trash for "hanging out" in his driveway and here I am doing the same thing. And did I mention the big green extension cord the lap top is plugged into... there is something wrong with my battery... really there is... "Hey Romeo, let's go down to Mexico..."

Mom said Dad is going off the deep end with regards to the large squirrel population surrounding his bird feeder. He started yelling she said about how he was not spending money on good seed to the stupid squirrels and he stomped off to get his pellet gun. (Or as Mom called it, his little gun.) While he was rooting around for it Mom let the girls out (the dogs) who chased away all the squirrels. Problem solved sans violence. So, here comes Dad with his little gun and he starts yelling, "what the hell'd you do that for?" Mom just thinks it funny that she ruined his fun.

I don't think I ever mentioned that Mom said she wanted some pepper spray for protection. Oh lord! John got her some and when we gave it to her she said we were a week to late, she had really needed it the weekend before when Dad did something stupid. They seriously crack me up.

Mom's latest thing is this DNA testing they can do on dogs now to find out what kind of breed they are. She is going to have it done on Pepper. So, for the record I am putting in my bet on what she is comprised of: 1. Bearded Collie 2. Scottie and 3. Poodle. I don't know that I really think she has Poodle in her but I know it will drive Mom crazy because she dislikes Poodles so much.

Saturday night Gute and Sandy came over and we had a fire in the fire pit. I love having them over. They are 2 of the most dear people and I truly feel our lives are better for knowing them. Anyway, Sandy was telling us bout her cousin or some sort of relative who is having some mental troubles. He's been in and out of facilities for help and to make a long story short he wants to go to a rest home so that he can sit up by the front desk. Am I the only one who thinks this is NOT crazy. Okay, the guy has identified he has mental problems. He's explored the options and for whatever reason doesn't want to "recover"... he want to go to a rest home and sit by the front desk. Everyone says he should take the help. Well, he knows what that help involves and has decided that sitting by the front desk is the route he wants to take. So, why not... let the guy sit by the front desk.

Tammy is back from Ireland. I was a little worried about her because of the bomb stuff in Glasgow and London but she is back safe and sound. Well, maybe not that sound but she's back. Now Susie is in Israel until the 26th. I wish I could remember the website of the hotel where she is staying. It is beautiful. I miss her already.

Mom said that they are going to intern Uncle Joe's ashes on his birthday. They purchased the space in the mausoleum quite a while go and anytime you would ask him about where it was located he would say: "On the 7th floor next to the lingere." I miss him.

Tara came over yesterday to play with Samantha and then Kelly, Tim and the boys came over in the evening for a fire in the fire pit. The girls played with Lincoln Logs the entire time and made houses, castles and forts for Hally the Hamster. Then Sean wanted to play with Hally the Hamster so I put her in her pink exercise ball for him. Oh my god, Samantha would die if she saw what he did to her. He spun the ball around! Poor Hally the Hamster! Luckily I caught him quite quickly so i hope her vertigo wasn't too sever. The kids played okay up until Sean wanted to play Samantha's guitar and she said no.He wants to play with the girls and he wants them to play his way. Well, Samantha doesn't want to play her way and her way doesn't involve Sean. Then poor Tara doesn't really care how or what she plays just as long as everyone is happy.

Kelly saw my garage sale picture on the kitchen counter behind the fruit bowl and she said she almost bought it! It really is an endearing photograph. Luckily we got to the garage sale with the doll bed before they did. At that one she said that Sean bought an old typewriter. He is very into old things. Well, old for him but more things we would consider outdated junk. He has an old cell phone, the kind you carried in brief case and old calculators, cameras etc. He's funny.

We made smores. We had the regular kind as well as quite a variety of other combinations. Kelly brought some chocolate graham cracker, some strawberry marshmallows and some fudge striped cookies. The fire was nice until the boys got bored, the adult boys that is, and stared throwing misc. into the fire pit. Now, I know burning wood isn't the best thing for the environment but I do use "recycled" wood from trees that were already dead or old building materials but when they want to start throwing plastic pop bottles in there... well, I had an absolute fit! Oh my god, the freaking environment! I almost killed them and stuffed them in the fire pit!

Carla is back from her vacation where she and Bob took Libby to visit colleges. She had interviews at: Bowdoin, Bates, Brown and Tufts. Boy does that bring back memories. Plus, it scares me half to death thinking about when I'll have to do that with Samantha.

Today is lovely. I am sitting outside with John while he works on his garage project. He cleaned all the licence plates in his collection yesterday and today he is re-organizing them and hanging them back up on the wall. Ah, we are such simple people. The neighborhood is quiet this time of day and usually it is too hot to be outside but today is nice. It's about 79 degrees and there is not a cloud in sight. I think I see a nap on the hammock in my future. Is it in the hammock or on the hammock... anyway, I am there.

Paula Deen made the best looking corn the other day on her show. She rolled several ears in butter and mayo and then sprinkled them with salt, pepper, Parmesan cheese and chili pepper. Then she cooked them on the grill. Ours didn't turn out so well. I burned ours. But, we will try again.

New Neighbor, Jess, came over an explained why they had ditched us twice. I won't write it here but now that she has explained it totally makes sense. She stayed a while and the kids played. I know she says that Nick is ADHD among other things but oh my, the kid cracks me up. He really is hyper but he is not malicious or anything. He doesn't really do anything that is bad, he just doesn't listen at all. At one point he went inside the house through the garage to use the bathroom. When he went to come back out we heard him running and then a big thud. "Pull Nick, pull, the door opens in!" I couldn't stop laughing.

Smantha and I have been taking bike rides in the evenings and we are loving it. Sometimes we go to Pickerington Ponds and sometimes we go through our neighborhood. We wait until it is cool out and then ride a few miles.

Wednesday was half price day at the thrift store and I made out! I got a Fred Segel sexy dress for half off of $12.99 and a Garfield & Marx suit for half off $18.99. The suit is a black tank dress with a 3 button jacket that is as long ad the dress. The sexy dress is black also, long, backless and has sequins on the front. Samantha whistled when I tried the sexy dress on.

Kelly and I took the kids to Skyline on Wednesday and afterward I sat at her house with the kids until Tim got home so that she could go to half price day also. I sat with Danny on the front porch. He played his Nintendo DS while the girls and Sean ran through the sprinkler. They played follow the leader and I had the best time watching them and reading my book. It was the perfect summer evening and one of those memories that you just want to freeze and experience again and again.

On Thursday Samantha went to Grandmas and Ellen and I went out for dinner. She always talks about Billy Lee's, a Chinese place in Bexley that she goes to all the time so that's where she went. It was a perfect night to go together because her son was doing a ride along with John at work. He was so excited about getting to see first hand what a police officer does. Billy Lee's was really good. I had hot & sour soup which is one of my favorites and crab rangoons and a chicken egg roll. I told John we definitely have to go there next week. I know he and Samantha will love it. After dinner we drove into the city to look at our guys in the police car and then we went to Target. Scott, Ellen's son is going to Israel in a few weeks and she wanted to get some gifts for him to take to her cousin's kids. They live on a moshav which is like a kibbutz but not so much focused on agriculture. While we were at Target we saw Cameron, Cindy's son. He recognized me and said hello. He looks great. The last time I saw him was when Cindy was with Andy. Back then Cam was not very happy because of Andy as well as because of being in that awkward teenage boy phase. I was so glad to see how happy he is now. He just completed his first year of college and has a girlfriend who Cindy says is really nice. Then after I dropped Ellen off at her house I picked Samantha up at Rose's house. When I got there she had the dog, Maggie, out and Samantha was petting her and everything. Samantha usually doesn't want anything to do with dogs that are wild like Maggie usually is. I was so proud of her. Rose walked us out to our car and we stood out front for awhile and watched the squirrels across the street at Joyce's house. Rose and Joyce put peanuts out for them every night. There is a mommy and about 3 little babies and then my favorite, the all white squirrel. I am fascinated by him and could watch him for hours.

This evening I am sitting out front while John works on his garage project and Samantha plays. She brought out her Lincoln Logs and made a house which she put Hally the Hamster in. That hamster is so stinking cute, especially when it is running around a Lincoln Log house. She put a slide and a balcony in her log house. Both of which Hally the Hamster climbed on a few times before knocking them down. Gute & Sandy drove by. We chatted with them for a bit and they are going to come back later for a fire in the fire pit. Gute asked if we had wood because he said he was fresh out of deer. (Last summer we had burned their Christmas lawn decorations when we ran out of wood one night.)

Tara came over to play yesterday and here is a conversation I overheard:
Samantha: I tried to call you.
Tara: I was at my mom's school until 3pm.
Samantha: I called you a couple of times.
Tara: I know you left THREE messages.
After dinner I took the girls to Chestnut Ridge for a walk. Those two crack me up. They wanted to see some plants at one point that were off the path a little. I told them it was okay and walked over to them to show them it was okay. They told me that you are supposed to stay on the path. I laugh but really I am glad that they are very concerned with following the rules. As we finished the rest of our walk we laughed about what a mean dog Ferrari the Daschund is. The girls also enjoyed taking turns reading the plaques about the history of the park that they have along the trails. They do really well at sounding out words they don't know and usually came pretty darn close to pronouncing the big words and proper names correctly. I'm so glad that Samantha has such a nice friend.

This morning we went to some garage sales. The first one we stopped at was the house where the woman pulled out and hit Johnathan's mom last year. I told John how I had picked Johnathan up and then sat with Michelle while the details of the accident got all sorted out. So we walk up the drive way and this woman says, "I remember you" and she gives me a hug. I told John that it was the woman's daughter. After we left John asked if I knew her from somewhere other than the accident. I said no that people just tend to remember me and that maybe it was my short blond hair. He said no, it was more like because I am a dork. Anyway, from that garage sale I got an old pitch fork with out a handle. It's my second one and I put them in my garden as art. I got a candle holder to put out on the deck and an old photograph of 3 kids on a front porch. It is probably from the 1940's and I don't care that I have no idea who the kids are, it is just a really great photo. It's one of those that was hand colored. I put it in the kitchen on the counter behind the fruit bowl. It drives John crazy. I don't know what I enjoy more, the photo or the fact that he is so bothered by it. Then we went to a garage sale out by Chestnut Ridge. The people had a lot of old stuff. They had the Fisher Price parking garage that I had 30 years ago. It even had dog teeth marks on some of the people. the woman only wanted $5 for it and as I sit here thinking about it I am kicking myself for not getting it because 1. Samantha would have had fun playing with it and 2. because it is worth way way more than $5. We did get a bed that fits Samantha's American Girl Doll, Sara perfectly. The woman said her husband had made it 40 years ago for one of their daughters.

As I sit here I can here the bird in the 3 pear trees we have across our front yard. One thing that has always annoyed me about newer developments like ours is that they are totally lacking typically in the tree department. One of the first things we did when we moved in almost 10 years ago was plant oodles of trees. Trees are great. They are good for the environment. They provide shade which is cool in the summer and keeps your grass greener and they look pretty. I just don't understand the people who buy a house, move in and never plant any trees or bushes. They just mow their brown lawns. Anyway, back to the birds. Since we are one of the few houses that has lush maturing trees we get all the birds. It sounds like there are over a hundred of them squawking around in there. John wondered how many there were so he just kicked the tree even though I told him that was mean. Yes, about 100 and now it is strangely quiet.

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.

Yesterday Samantha had Tara over for her birthday party. We took the girls to see "Nancy Drew", to Build-A-Bear and then to Max & Erma's for dinner. And then we went back to our house for a sleepover. I gave the girls party favor bags with a Nancy Drew theme. They had: a Nancy Drew book, a magnifying glass, flashlight, notebook for clues, sleuthing hat and a container for evidence. The girls had so much fun having me hide stuffed animals for them to find using their detective kits. And they didn't get to bed too late either, about 11:30pm and they got up this morning about 8:30am. Tara gave Samantha the cutest musical card with a hamster on it and a set of toy puppies and a book about friendship. The girls had a really great time.

Some misc. things people have said the past week:

Mom: I had the BMW out today.
(1974 2002Tii)
Mom: And guess what ran across the rode in front of me on Rout 62?
Me: A purple hippo!
Mom: A weasel!
Me: I killed a weasel once.


Samantha: B-I-R-T-H-D..... [pause]
Me: I thought you knew how to spell birthday?
Samantha: I do, I was just pausing for dramatic effect.


Me: Why do you have those littlest pet shop hamsters in the trunk of that Bratz car?
Samantha: They were annoying the Bratz so they took them for a drive. (And she threw them under the bed...)

I am sitting on the deck, listening to jazz and the sound of birds while watching Samantha play in the back yard. And, thanks to a black man and some chicken it is a lovely evening and I am in a great mood. Work sucked this week. I had a particularly difficult trip to orchestrate and everyone at one point or another pissed me off. This afternoon Samantha and I went to Wal Mart. On the way I complained to her about how everyone was acting particularly stupid, moronic and just down right dumb. We finished our shopping and as I was loading the groceries into the car I smelled some really good chicken. I looked around an saw it belonged to an elderly black man who was eating it in the bed of his beat up old pick up truck. he said hello and I told him his chicken smelled good. And he said, "I have an extra piece. Would you like to have it?" Right then and there I wanted to run over and hug him for restoring my faith in humanity. People are not stupid morons and life is good. As we pulled out of the parking lot we left him sharing his chicken with one of the Wal Mart employees who has to go round up all the carts. I hope he made that guys day too.

Dear Samantha,

Nine years ago today at this very time, 11:55am, you were born. The nurse told me I had to wait until afternoon to have my c-section because Dr. Perez had another surgery to do. I told her that this wouldn't work because I had to be out of the hospital by Sunday morning because I had a party to throw for Daddy. She did not think this was a very good reason to HAVE A C-SECTION NOW and told me the only way I could GO NOW was if my water broke. No sooner had she left the room than my water really did break. I called her back into the room and told her. She didn't believe me until she saw the puddle on the floor. So off we went for you to be born. When Dr. Perez made the first incision I didn't believe it was really happening because I couldn't feel a thing. Daddy took a picture. Then a little while later at exactly 11:55am Dr. Perez told Daddy to get his camera ready because you were about to be born. He made the final cut and you popped out butt first. You literally made a popping noise! Daddy cut the cord and a nurse took you away to clean you up, wrap you in a blanket and put a little hat on you. After I got back to our room i got to hold you and you we, as you still are, the most beautiful baby in the entire world. I love you!

Mommy

Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it. - Mahatma Gandhi

Yesterday was nice. In the evening around dusk we all went back to Pickerington Ponds to see the osprey. It was a great viewing time. We saw: the mommy, daddy and baby osprey, 3 does and a fawn, 3 egrets and 2 great blue herons. There was another couple there who knew a lot about the osprey which was great. When we got home it was about 8:30pm. John went into his den / man cave and I sat out in the hammock while Samantha played in her play house. It was a real ode to technology as John and I were IM-ing back and forth and Tammy and I were emailing back and forth yet I was able to enjoy sitting by myself in our beautiful back yard. It's perfect because Samantha likes me to be outside with her but she very much prefers to play by herself. The tree by her playhouse this evening was alive with just about every bird in the neighborhood! They all come to that particular tree at night to sleep and as they are settling down it is quite noisy. Sometimes the fight an one will come flying out of the tree madly chirping. And, Samantha said while she was in the upstairs part of her playhouse that she, every once in a while, saw poop dropping out of the tree. All the poop lands on the park bench we have under the tree. It kind of sucks but I don't want to move the bench because it looks so nice there under the tree. Tammy and I were emailing about the white trash party going on at our neighbors house, the one where the single mom lives with her frequently rotating roommates and boyfriends. She's the one who leaves her daughter home alone to roam the neighborhood unsupervised for hours on end. She is all alone during the summer as well and she's only 10 or 11. This has been going on for several years since they have lived here and it makes me so very angry. That girl is going to get into trouble or something is going to happen to her. How is a child supposed to learn how to behave and grow up with out an adult along side her... not that her mother is anyone I'd choose as a role model but... you know what I mean. When I sit out front some evenings I watch her and it makes me so sad. Anyway they were having a party... Now, most of the homes in our neighborhood have really nice backyards that have decks or patios and pretty landscaping... so, I really don't understand why the had pulled their grill around front and were having the party in their garage and driveway. All the cars were parked in the driveway and several motorcycles were up on the sidewalk. It just looked real white trash like complete with men wearing either wife beaters or no shirts. Tammy and I commented on how as icky as they are they were rather quiet.

Samantha and I went over to Jess' house to visit. It was the first time I'd been in her house and I love the way she's decorated. The kitchen and family room is a dark pink rose color. It's a very awesome color even it sounds icky when you say pink or rose... Then she has a coffee theme to the accessories. I also really liked the way she has the family room set up. The space is really long and narrow but the way she did it looks great. We had loaned her "Cold Creek Manor" which she enjoyed. She loaned us "The Messengers" and said it was similar to "Cold Creek Manor" and it shared one of the same actresses. So, about 10pm John, Samantha and I all met in the big bed and watched it. It was awesome, really scary. I think John was the most frightened out of all of us. Samantha and I thought that was really funny. Afterward Samantha kept running around like the dead people who climbed on the walls. It looked so real the way she was doing it that we both got creeped out and made her stop. That movie was really good. As I sit here typing this on Sunday I'm thinking about it again and how totally creepy it was. I need to loan "Darkness" to Jess because it fits right in there with "The Messengers" and "Cold Creek Manor".

Today, Sunday, we had family clean the house day which probably sucked for John with it being father's day but it was his idea. Normally Samantha and I would have continued with whatever we had been doing and let him clean by himself but today we decided to help him. I used the handy dandy Hoover wet jet vacuum on all the floors, the one that vacuums, scrubs and sucks up all the water, and Samantha cleaned all the windows, mirrors and counters. We had invited Rose over for dinner to celebrate Samantha's birthday at 2pm but she always shows up early. She came over a noon. I don't care that she comes over early but I get annoyed because she expects to eat as soon as she gets there. None of us were ready to eat so we all went to the farm market. Everything was so fresh today. The strawberries were huge and perfectly red. The blueberries were huge. The lemons, green beans, squash, tomatoes, watermelon and every other vegetable imaginable were all amazing looking. And, all their plants were buy one get one free. We got: blueberries, watermelon, honey candy, Guggisberg Swiss cheese and some annuals. The Johnny Jump Ups that we have on the front porch are looking a little sad. They are still all in bloom but they have grown so tall that they don't stand up on their own anymore. When we got back I started dinner. I made a pasta salad last night and there was enough left over for today. I made John's favorite potatoes and I tried a new BBQ chicken recipe that I found in Rachel Ray's magazine. (I love her.) The sauce for the chicken consisted of: onions, garlic, honey, hot sauce, chili powder and lemon and you topped it off with grilled pineapple. For dessert I made a cheese cake which is John and Samantha's favorite. While I was cooking Linda, Ray and Kyle came over. Linda brought Max. He is too cute and John didn't even seem to mind having him in the house. I can never remember what kind he is... he's a Norwich Terrier.
http://www.westminsterkennelclub.org/breedinformation/terrier/norwich.html
After we ate we took Rose to see the osprey and while we were there we ran into a park ranger who told us that the baby will learn to fly around mid July. I hope we get to see that. We were going to have the cheese cake when we got home but Rose said she wanted hers to go. Sometimes I feel bad because she doesn't like to be away from home for very long. You'd think she was 80 not 66. Samantha enjoyed having her there even though it was short. She brought Samantha some Web Kinz and a kit to make your own Build-A-Bear. The kit is really neat because the animals zip up so you can re-stuff them over and over again.

Wal Mart had some really nice looking cherries and I got 2 pounds this afternoon when Samantha and I went grocery shopping. It must have been quite a site to see us walking through the parking lot, pushing our cart to the car and spitting out our cherry seeds.

It was really nice this afternoon so we opened up the windows. It was nice for a while but then it got too hot. John has a migraine so he stayed home from work. I probably made his head worse by having the windows open but it was unintentional.

We had Tammy over for bratwurst before we went for a bike ride (sans John). Tammy wouldn't eat the bratwurst, instead she brought a salad, because she thinks that they look like old man penises. So, now I have to eat bratwurst without looking at them. After we ate we loaded our bikes, Tammy's, Samantha's and mine into the back of my Element. To do so I had to put up both of the back seats. So, while we are loading the bikes Samantha says: "What about me, where am I going to sit?" Ooops, 3 people and 2 seats... But, by the time we got the bikes in, with me in the back of the Element and Tammy on the outside handing the bikes in, well, I was stuck in the back. So, I stayed where I was, Tammy drove and Samantha got to ride shot gun. We went to Pickerington Ponds and rode about 6 miles. What's really pathetic is not being able to keep up with a 9 year old on a Barbie bike! When we were done with our ride we went to the observation area overlooking the marsh. We saw 3 deer and and osprey in a giant nest. At first we thought it was an eagle but there really aren't any eagles around here. Then a woman came along and told us it was an Osprey: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osprey I can't wait to go back and see that bird again. Then we get back to the car. Samantha is already in so Tammy and I load the bikes in. I get on the inside again and she hands them in to me and oh my god, I got stuck, really stuck with my arm up over the front of my bike and the front tire of Tammy's bike in my back. Tammy asks if she should pull the one bike out but it was stuck too so I told her she'd better just get in and get home quickly before all my circulation got cut off. She tries to shut the back end of the Element but it won't close so she left it open and jumped in the Element... only she had forgotten that she had moved the drivers seat all the way up for more room so when she jumped in she jammed her knees against the steering wheel. At that point we all lost it and could not stop laughing all the way home. Samantha got on the cell phone and called John to tell him he'd better meet us in the driveway because mommy's stuck in the back with the bikes. As I sit here writing this I can feel how messed up my back is from being all contorted and I know tomorrow my legs will feel awful from the bike ride. (It took me a while to realize that when it's too hard to pedal one just needs to shift to a lower gear, duh.)

Dear Neighbor With the Cute Butt:

I'm sorry I watered you German Shepard this evening. It was totally a slip of the hose as I was watering my new lilac bush which because of the lack of rain needed a ton of water. I totally didn't see him there. I must say though he did not seem to mind being watered at all, in fact I think he rather enjoyed the shower as he stood there peeking out of the gate and din't move away. Anyway, like I said, sorry about the wet dog.

Sincerely,
Kate

The novel I was trying to write really wasn't going well, not well at all. I kept trying and trying until finally I realized that if it isn't what you wanted quit and try something new. So I did and now the story is just flowing out. I really like the main character I invented. I don't want to "be" her or anything but I really like her. It's interesting how ideas come to us. The idea for my most recent story came to me the other night when Samantha and I were sitting outside and three kids rode by on bikes, 2 boys and a girl. The idea and the whole tone just sort of came to me all at once and I couldn't get the words out fast enough.

You might be wondering why I changed from calling Samantha Snofie and back to her given name. I don't know is the simple answer. Maybe I call her Snofie sometimes and Samantha sometimes just like in person. And, sometimes she calls me Stummy.

Last night Samantha and I were out in the front yard waiting for it to rain. Tammy came by and sat with us for a while. All of a sudden she jumps up and dashes off in between our house and our neighbors. I couldn't figure out what she was doing but then I realized that there was a dog, a wiener dog no less. She had a collar on, the wiener dog not Tammy and we figured she must have just gotten away from someone. Tammy had to catch her because I wasn't going near her to get bit by another wiener dog. We walked down to the end of the block where the guy lives with Rock the Pug. We thought we might have to knock on all the doors on the block but then 2 people were frantically running down the middle of the block. They were so grateful that we had found their wiener dog Sophie. They were visiting friends and she had gotten out of their back yard. So, that worked out well. Just as we got back to our driveway it started to rain really really hard. Samantha and I didn't get wet but Tammy did since she had to run all the way across the street and down 2 houses.



Samantha is the greatest. This afternoon she took everything out of our kitchen cabinets, cleaned the shelves and re-organized everything. It looks great. On an old episode of "Reba" Barbara Jean rearranged Reba's cabinets and said she moved the mugs and tea to the area right above the tea kettle so that it formed a tea triangle. Well, Samantha showed me that she made a coffee triangle. Her memory is amazing.

Last night Samantha showed me her favorite web site: http://www.cutelittlekittens.com/ It made me realize that she is growing up so quickly. She surfs the net now! Then she told me that she had sent me an email but later decided she would just tell me what it said so she logged on under my screen name and deleted it from my in box. Oh my!

Don't get me wrong, I love my job, I really do but sometimes it is crazy. Take today for example... I worked out a schedule for next week's trip. I figured it 2 different ways since we weren't sure about one appointment and it took all morning. Then at 12:15pm Carla gets a call to confirm an appointment that we hadn't expected so I had 45 minutes before I had to leave to re-figure the whole thing and book the flight. It's amazing how in the end everything always comes together.

I DVR'd "The New Adventures of Old Christine" and I'm watching it as I write this... Oh my god, it's the best show ever. I didn't care for Julia Luise Dreyfus on Seinfeld but I love her on this show. I laugh so hard I cry when I watch it.

Samantha played at Ann's house this afternoon. She was so cute last night when she picked out an outfit to wear on her play date. Then this afternoon she asked if she could borrow my tiny Vera Bradly purse... I don't think I will ever see it again.

It is a beautiful evening and I am sittitng outside with Samantha while she draws with chalk on the driveway. So far she has made a self portrait and a carrot. I hope the whole summer stays like this, not too hot and not too cool, just right...and I'm Goldilocks.

John and I have been trying to figure out what to get Samantha for her birthday. She is of no help. Every time one of us asks her what she wants we get a long pause followed by an "I don't know". Well, we still have a week to decide. Oh my god! My baby will be 9 years old in one week!

It probably is not a very good idea to wave to you neighbor down the street and then proceed to pick your nose. Maybe she didn't notice.

From where I'm sitting I can see Jess and Mark's house and I am wondering why they didn't come to our party. Maybe they forgot. I hope they forgot and are not mad at us for some reason.

Neighbor guy just went by on his way for a run. Good Kate, I waved but didn't pick my nose this time. Oh, he has a cute butt.

I did a really good job with the hedge trimers. I used to attack the bushes with the pruning shears and they would always come out cock-eyed. Gute would stand at the end of his driveway and laugh. (He used to call me Funky Winkerbean.) When they moved he gave us their electric hedge trimmers. I used them for the first time last week and as I sit here admiring our yard I have to say: "Mighty fine job, Kate." All the bushes are even, well, for the most part, and they are all rounded nicely and everything.

There is a black cat in the yard across the street and I think it's Mr. Marshal. Samantha says it is not him. I called to him and he looked over here. Maybe it isn't him because if it was he would come running over her and jump into my arms. After all, John is the one who took him "away", not me therefore he would still like me, his mommy.

Wow, it is 7:30pm already. I can't believe how the time flies in the summer and how fast it goes by when you are just sitting and doing practically nothing.

This week at work Ellen is on vacation and so is Lynn. Today I missed not having Ellen right next to me to chat with. And, I figured Stacey would act as though she runs the office like she does when Lynn isn't there but surprisingly today she was really quiet. The whole office was pretty quiet. Ron is gone today and tomorrow for a trade show.

Samantha and Tara

Our back yard...

The last day of second grade...

The infamous spider & vase...

Time for some pictures: Our front porch

Our weekend was absolutely lovely. On Friday it looked like it was going to rain but it never did. Samantha and I went to the Columbus Art's Festival in the evening. We had a great time walking around looking at everything. Then we got a funnel cake and a giant lemonade and sat an watched the people go by.

On Saturday we had our first party of the summer around the fire pit. The guest list included:
Ty & Stephanie
Tammy
Keisha
Jeremy & Christy (Elizabeth & Madison)
Chad & Chrissy (Avery)
Jackie

Ty & Stephanie are the couple who moved into Gute & Sandy's house. They seem very nice. They have a 3 month old baby girl. she was born pre-mature and at 3 months only weighs 9 pounds. Normally I don't like holding babies but I did enjoy holding her.

Samantha had fun playing with Elizabeth and Avery. Elizabeth is the little girl who has the rare form of bone cancer. She is adorable. I guess she does not like her hair short but I thought it looked really cute. Ironically she reminded me of my cousin, also an Elizabeth who at her age had a similar short hair cut. Elizabeth brought her Nintendo DS. John and I were thinking about one for Samantha's birthday but she didn't show much interest in it. Avery is only 4 but she fit right in with the two older girls, probably because she has older sisters.

We sat around the fire until close to midnight. Ty and Stephanie left around 9pm to put the baby to bed. They seemed to have had a good time. We will definitely invite them again. I was pleased that Tammy fit in well considering that after Ty & Stephanie left it was all John's work friends. I can't wait until our next party.

On Sunday John needed to go into work so Samantha and I went with him. While he was there Samantha and I went for a walk. We were going to go to the library but didn't realize it was closed on Sunday. We walked through English Village over to Grandma's house. As we were walking there was a girl, probably 5 years old, playing in her front yard by herself. She started to come out by the road and said hi as we walked by. Because she was alone I didn't think it was appropriate to talk to her so we kept walking and she kept following us saying hi. When we didn't answer her she said: hola? It made me laugh.

There is definitely something wrong with Rose. Last week she made the comment that I never stay when I come by to pick Samantha up after a visit. Well, Samantha was there twice in the last 2 weeks and both times we had to be somewhere so I couldn't stop and visit. I though that stopping by on Saturday would be a good thing but I got the impression that she was annoyed. I invited her to a cook out to celebrate Samantha's birthday next Sunday and her response was: well, it's not Sunday yet. I'm not quite sure what that means, is she coming or not? Oh and I forgot, Samantha told her about our party Friday night. She seemed annoyed that we hadn't invited her. John told her that we have fire pit parties all the time in the summer and we don't invite her because she NEVER drives after dark. So, I know there is something going on there but I am not sure what. I'll have to email Linda and see if she has noticed.

Then Sunday evening we decided to have a family fire pit night. We started a fire about 8:30pm and roasted marshmallows. It was such a relaxing evening. Samantha decided that she wanted to tell ghost stories and that she would tell the first one. It went like this:
"Once upon a time there was a girl who liked monsters, ghosts and wizards who turned people into hairy balls..."
John and I both started laughing at the same time Samantha realized what she had said. It was hysterical!

And here it is Monday again. Am I strange because I actually like Mondays? I like the beginning, the starting of things... a new book, a new bag of chips , a new week. I like greeting the week on Monday morning with a cup of coffee and my to do list for the week and planning out each day.

Yesterday after work I went by and picked up Tara for a play date with Samantha. (For the summer she goes to Kelly's work at the preschool.) Anyway, Hottie Dad pulled up right behind me to pick up his kid. He's so hot.

Before we went to kids night at Skyline we were all out in the front yard and 2 fire trucks and a squad went by and stopped at the end of the block. It's funny how everyone comes out to see what's going on when they hear sirens. Kids chase the engines like they were ice cream trucks and the neighbors you never see outside suddenly appear. It's the best time to catch up on the neighborhood gossip:

• Jennifer finally had her baby, a boy 5 days old. I think she said his name is Logan.
• The people with the pit bull who's in a cage in their garage 24/7 actually have 5 pit bulls. There is totally no reason for that. Every time I see the one in the cage with no water or anything I just want to put those people in a cage like that and see how they like it. They are idiots and one of those dogs is going to hurt someone.
• There was an attempted child abduction in the back of our neighborhood. I know this tid bit is true because Kelly said she saw it on the news and they warned parents at her pre-school. It was an 11 year old boy and a woman tried to get him in her van. He ran and hid. Denise went on and on about how her son is 11 and how heinous it is that someone is out there like that in our neighborhood. (Heinous was my word not Deniese's. I doubt she know the meaning.) Um, hello, she has absolutely no room to talk since her kids have been roaming the neighborhood doing god knows what totally unsupervised for years. Not to mention playing smack in the middle of the street. Oh, don't get me started on that...

Well, enough about yesterday and on to today... This afternoon Samantha and I went to the pool for the first time this summer. She had the best time. I read and watched people. I made several observations. One that was reconfirmed is that I don't like other people's children, just my own and Tara. Tara seems like my own. Other people's kids are icky and wild. I also noticed that a lot of kids are really overweight. I felt bad for some of the girls because I bet they get made fun of. I hope Samantha never gets made fun of and if she does she has the ability to handle it with grace. I also hope she is never one who makes fun of other kids either. That's almost as bad. I truly believe she will turnout okay because she seems like a pretty normal kid. She is not a leader but in no way is he a follower either. She doesn't seem to need approval from others and she doesn't mind doing her own thing.

Well, I'm off to watch my 2 new shows: "Army Wives" and "The Starter Wife". Tonight will be the first time I've seen "Army Wives" but Ellen assured me it is really good and then it is the second episode of "The Starter Wife" which was really good last week. Plus, I love Debra Messing.

Ugh... I need a break to wake myself up a little bit. A walk with Sue would be nice but I am totally lacking any motivation needed to make this happen. My right leg is asleep and is tingling. At work I sit like a pretzel. I tuck one leg underneath me and cross the other leg over top of the underneath one. It is surprisingly comfortable as well as giving me a slight boost in the height department. The only problem is that if you don't switch out the leg that is underneath fairly frequently both legs fall asleep. Did I mention how tired I am? I want to take a nap but I don't think I will be able to this afternoon. Now that Snofie is out of school for the summer I work until 1pm. Today we are picking up Snofie's friend Ann for a play date. I don't like to nap, really fall asleep, when Snofie has a friend over in case something were to happen. Then last night, when I was wide awake, I suggested to Sally, Ann's mom, that we go hiking at Chestnut Ridge around 5:30pm. At this point I don't think I'd make it even half way up the first hill! But, as tired as I am I suspect that John is 4 times more so... he had to be in court this morning by 8:00am and then has to work his regular shift until 11:00pm. Poor PoPo Pop.

I finally watched the first of the Pirates of the Carribean movies... The Black Pearl. It was really good. Snofie liked it too and she seemed to understand most of it which was good since I didn't and would have been annoyed had she asked a lot of questions. When I think of that movie I think of Jennifer. When I first met Jennifer, when Snofie first started her art lessons at the town hall, she had been talking to Suzy, the art teacher about substitute art teaching. Suzy mentioned that there was one school where the few times she has subbed there each time the MRDD students had been in their classroom watching the Pirates of the Caribbean. For some reason at the time we found this highly amusing. I can't recall why exactly but for months after that Jennifer and I had this whole pirate thing going.

All around the screen of my computer I have little cut outs from my favorite comic strip: Get Fuzzy. Whenever one of the characters says something really great I cut out the frame and tape it up. Here are some of my favorites:

Bucky: I'm not God you filthy, stupid moron! I'm stuck!

Bucky: Oh, sure, you can make anything into sushi with a good knife.

Bucky: I am Bucky Katt...pie master.

Satchel: Oh, how pretty my parasol is!

Bucky: Fire in the hole!
Rob: Lunatic in the hall.
Satchel: Satchel on the couch!

Rob: I'll ask you plainly: Do you believe in an infallible power?
Satchel: You mean like Google?

Satchel: Holy Fanny Feathers!

Bucky: You're a Mesopotamian Fertility Doll and I'm a hammer-wielding looter.

Bucky: Your end justified my mean.

Satchel: Your dirt bag architect bit me on the ear.

They make me smile!

On Friday evening John, Snofie and I went for a walk at Chestnut Ridge. John thought it was a beautiful as we do. He kept saying, "next time I'll have to bring my camera." That's the same thing Snofie and I said the other evening. Toward the end I gave Snofie a piggy back ride because her legs were tired and boy was that good exercise carrying a 54 pound weight.

On Saturday Kelly and I went (with the kids too) to Ciera's graduation party. Sean was so cute, he wore a suit with a Hawaiian shirt. I love how kids have a mind of their own. The party was nice even though Kelly and I didn't know anyone except Ciera.

Saturday evening John finished up the fire pit area. It looks so good. So, the last yard project this year is to put the hammock on posts instead of the huge cumbersome frame.

On Sunday we all went to Cops & Kids day with Kelly and her family and then we went to lunch at Las Margaritas. Snofie played at Tara's the rest of the day. For dinner I tried a new recipe: Grilled Greek Chicken Kabobs. You marinate the chicken in Greek vinaigrette dressing and mayonnaise and then top with lemon at the very end. They were quite yummy and I loved the lemon on top.

Yesterday was Snofie's last day of second day and I didn't cry until we got home and I was going through her book bag. She brought home her school box, her poem book, her math journal and the last of the things she had in her desk. Then I saw her report card. She got all A's just as she has all year but for some reason this is what made the tears start rolling. I stood there holding her report card, crying and I said,"come here sweet pea." She looked at me strangely and I'm sure she wondered if she had gotten a bad grade or something. I stood there and hugged her. Snofie is the best kid ever!

Snofie read me some of the poems from her poem book and showed me the pictures she had drawn to go along with each poem.

This evening we went to Chestnut Ridge park and took a walk. It is so amazingly beautiful there and all throughout the woods we could smell the wild honeysuckle. About mid-way through our walk we stopped and pinkie promised that we would come here and walk together 3 times a week this summer. It will be our mother - daughter relaxing, good for the soul & body time.

The quote up at the church says: " Where you tend roses, thistles cannot grow."

Yesterday my voice was a little hoarse and today it is completely gone. I came in to work because I feel okay but I think I have strep throat. Kim called for me and made an appointment with the doctor.

You know, sometimes I think that people who say mean things only do so because they do not feel very good about themselves. You know, those people who are always looking for attention, who are all about the drama and never have anything nice to say. Someone said something to me, in front of a group of people, yesterday that was not very nice at all. I spent a good deal of time being very angry over the whole thing. Then I talked to Kelly who, not knowing what had happened to me, started telling me about a woman she works with who never lets anything anyone says bother her. She is so confident in herself that she has no use for other's criticism. It was exactly what I needed to hear. Thus my new outlook is: I have no use for other's negativity or criticism!