Congratulations to Courtney, she won the book!! There’s more where that came from; just keep checking back.

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Is anyone else doing nothing this summer? I know summer is the typical time for “vacations” and all that jazz, but we don’t have it like that to take a family vacation to Destination Somewhere this summer (or, well, pretty much ANY summer). We contemplate going up north to my parent’s cabin, but with the prices of gas, we’re looking at $250-$300 round trip in our van. That’s some crazy stuff. Seriously. So, we’ve been trying to make the best of our mosquito-infested, non-vacation taking summer. Baseball games, trips to the public pool, bike rides, etc.

Anyone else doing Homecationing? Here’s a few suggestions:

1. Backyard camping - Set up a tent in the backyard (yours or a neighbor’s, if you want to make it more “destination bound.” You can even have backyard fires in most cities. Nothing screams camping like a tent, fire and s’mores. Maybe some swimsuits and a run through the sprinkler in lieu of a watering hole.
2. Grilling out/picnicking at a local park - We’ve done this many times before. With friends or without. Having a little picnic, even if it isn’t far away, spices things up a bit, breaking the summertime monotony.
3. Rediscovering the library - For some it is an underused free destination. If you don’t go there, make a point to do so. Ours has a ton of free programs for kids with reading incentives. Carlito just picked up free admission to a baseball game and a State Park for reading X amount of hours so far this summer.
4. Movie marathon - If you have a weekend, or a couple days off (great rainy-day stuff), rent yourself - better yet, borrow from the library OR note some movie times on TV and catch a couple a day. Pop popcorn, make some fun snacks and make it a special occasion. Watch with friends, watch as a family, or watch alone. But make the event around the show.
5. Utilize the State Park - if you live in the US, there’s probably a state, city or county park nearby. Many of them have activities throughout the summer (for free or for a minimal amount). Take advantage of the trails, ride your bike or just visit a part of the park you haven’t been to. Combined with a backpack lunch or picnic really makes a mini-vacation out of a simple trip.

Most of the above things can be done for free or for less than $50, which is only a hint of what a regular vacation can cost. Putting an activity on the calendar and sticking to it, as if it were a real vacation, makes it even more of an “event,” something special to look forward to. The simple act of marking a Me Day or Family Day on the calendar and thinking up 3-5 things you’ll do special for yourself/your family, turning off email, phone and centering only on the day together is a vacation in itself.

I was reading The Simple Dollar, one of my fav-o blogs, and as I went through the posts (Note: readers sure are great for those of us who are skimmers.), one that particularly caught my eye was about clotheslines and his decision to choose not to install a clothesline because of the perceived “poverty” it (may) imply. I decided to come jot down my thoughts on the Simple Dollar’s post, before reading the comments that followed.

Growing up we always had a clothesline. I remember mom hanging out clothes in our small town house. I remember using the poles for a multitude of imaginary play (kissing the boyfriend-pole, as a soldier husband/boyfriend returning from war, twirling around the pole as a dance partner, etc). When we moved from small town house, there in the bigger city backyard was a clothesline. My first apartment didn’t have one, neither did my second. But I often hung clothes in the shower, or on the deck. Not a lot, but often enough. I was very pleased when our first house had a clothesline in back. It felt like home again.

One of the first signs of Spring is the ability to, hang clothes out on the line. In Winter I will sometimes hang clothes indoors, but it isn’t the same. I hang clothes out of habit. It is free, simple and brings me joy, the simplicity of it all. I was once told that each load of laundry dried in the dryer is about $1. I’ve seen it quoted as less, but in my head I stick to that dollar amount as motivation to hang it outside. As if I needed it. I love the smell of line-dried clothing. Sheets dried under the sun make slumber that much more sweet.

Sometimes when I’m hanging the clothes out to dry, the neighbor will tease, “When you’re done over there, you can come hang mine, too!!” We laugh about it. A friend of mine saw my lines and asked if I used them, “What a little homemaker you are, line-drying your clothes.” That was the first time I realized that, duh, not everyone hangs clothes out to dry.

Never did I think it might be a sign of poverty. Never did I think that someone might think it absurd or “ghetto” to dry my clothes on the line. I enjoy the sight of sprinklers and clotheslines, toys in the yard and people on porches. To me, it is neighborhood life. Personally, I don’t think I could live in a neighborhood where line-drying was unacceptable, and the pressure to not have a clothesline in my yard kept me from doing so. Although, I would simply overlook that pressure and do it anyway. That may not be the comfortable choice for Simple Dollar, though. But there is an alternative: an Indoor Clothesline!! Ooh-la-la. Make the neighbors happy, while being able to line-dry clothes. You miss the nice bennies of the sun, fresh air, etc. But for pure frugality? Can’t be beat.

Happy Mother’s Day, all you mothers.

The twins made this for me at school. Frank set them out on the counter before he left this morning for work, and I found them there when I came into the kitchen. Very sweet.

Picasa

He also gave me a card, a cute one with monkeys on it.

And I picked 2 tulips from my yard, a sweet blessing for a “black thumb” plant-killer like me on Mother’s Day. We’re going out for dinner (my decision and my choice of restraunt). Not sure what I’ll be craving in a little bit, but happy with the idea of dinner out.

At church today, the sermon was about love, and mothers, and how even those who have no children are mothers, too. A person who gives of herself and cares for others, is like a mother. We can be a “mother” to our own parents, our neighbor’s, children, spouses, co-workers… the list goes on and on. So Happy Mother’s Day to all you care-taking “mothers” out there who give of a bit of yourself to someone else.

I’ve procrastinated. Again. Not that it is really procrastination, but probably more that I’ve overloaded myself. I’m supposed to work on and have 5 yearbook pages turned in and I have hardly gotten a start on them. Tonight was the night to do it, too. I uploaded the pictures I had and logged into the online yearbook editor, knowing that shortly I’d have to leave the house and take the twins to soccer. But I figured I’d get started on things at home and then I’d be fine. I could upload the pictures and then when I got to where I needed to be (coffee ship with free Wi-Fi), I’d plug in and get 50% done before I met up with a friend later and finished it off.

Good plan, not so good results.

I took the boys to practice (which is 1 hour, so there’s not a whole lotta time to drive off, find coffee shop, work, drive back). ‘Left the twins in the coach’s capable hands and zoomed off to (the first) Starbucks (of two on the same road). The lot was full. Literally NO place to park. The “Free Wi-Fi” sign gleaming, teasing, taunting in the window. Who cares about coffee, right? I whipped out of the lot and went drove on.

Naturally, there’s another Starbucks within the mile stretch of the first, so I pull over to that one, let there be Wi-Fi, let there be Wi-Fi. I saw the T-mobile emblem and ran inside (yeah, so I don’t know what T-mobile whatevery-whatevers are). Ordered my coffee. Asked if I needed to do anything special to connect and they told me, We don’t have internet here. Just T-mobile and I don’t even know what that is.

So now I’m sitting at a Starbucks, sucking down a half-caf of coffee that I DID NOT EVEN NEED OR WANT only so I can sit and stare at a laptop that is of, literally, no use to me. I started a ToDo list because I didn’t want to sit here and look like a fooling moron as the other laptop people clikcity-type away, probably connected to some secret society of Wi-Fi users. Clickety click click goes their knowing fingers on their keys and I type into a Word doc, sucking down overpriced “designer” coffee, pretending I’m doing something important. Suck!!! I have to leave in 10 minutes anyway to pick up my kids. I guess that’s not the worst thing. It would be worse if I had nowhere to go.

I’m not a regular laptop-totin, Wi-Fi using coffee drinker, either. I think this is the first time I’ve brought my laptop with me to use in a public place. I’m just not that cool. See me in a year when I’m all old hat at this, right? But today I’m totally a poser. By “blogging” right now I at least feel some semblance of being online even when I’m not. Look at me!! I’m blogging at a coffee shop. Whoowee. This is what I get for coming to Starbucks instead of my little local coffee house where I KNOW there’s free internet and the coffee is good. But whatever. I’ll make it through.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday 

Sal may not like the Hinna-Hin, but Freddy doesn’t seem to mind. He stood, kneading Hinna for a good while, and then finally nestled into her.

Fred is a happy, but very strange cat who, instead of eating upright like a normal feline, likes to plop on his side next to his bowl and fish food out with his paw, bringing it to the ground to eat. I’m in awe that he would seriously be that lazy, but apparently… he is.

He also likes to jump up to the table and sit on it, which I DO NOT LIKE AT ALL, seeing as we EAT there and everything. Pheenie went and snapped a photo of the evidence of his naughtiness when I’m not around. Thank you Pheenie.

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Idonotwanttogotowork. Idonotwanttogotowork. Idonotwanttogotowork.

I have just one thing to say.

Dove Chocolates. The Eggs. Only at Easter. Eight years ago the twins were born. Pre-mature  (8 weeks). Emergency C-section. Percoset put me over the edge, but Dove Chocolates sincerely helped me endure the month that they were in the hospital. If there was a shortage of those eggs in our city Easter 1999, I take the blame. At that time I hadn’t the palate for dark chocolates (don’t think Dove made dark ones anyway), so I devoured the milk chocolate eggs. They were in my purse constantly. When I ran out a state of panic ensued. Sal got really sick (some of you know that). Developed septicemia, blew every IV they put in (head, hand, feet…) and finally got a central line put in for the anti-biotics. Thank God that worked. They both came home within a month, on the same day.

Dove Chocolates, the eggs, will always remind me of their birth.

Lootie had his birthday last weekend. He turned 11. Two days before his birthday, he decided he’d like a party. So he started to invite people, calling them at a time when probably most of the kids were already in bed. I didn’t realize this because I was occupied. At any rate, having been sick all week I wasn’t up for much fanfare. Pizza and cake, treat bags. Those were my provisions. And shelter. Some balloons. He’s not picky. He just wants people to come over and have fun. An excuse to get sugared up and facilitate good fun for the people he enjoys. The majority of the kids I knew, but one was new to school.

“I have to let you know that (name of boy)… you have to know something. He’s big. Very chubby. You can’t say anything.”

I looked at him like he was a bit mad. “Lootie. I’m big. When have you known me to say things about people because they’re big? Or because of anything like that?”

“I’m just saying. People tease him sometimes.”

He left the room. Lootie’s like that. Matter-of-fact. Done. It was his way of saying, I’m inviting this kid and I don’t give a crap what anyone else thinks.

A day before the party, Frank picked up 2 Tres Leches cakes. Last year I made them. Didn’t have it in me this year.

The day of, two hours before the party, we went to Wal-mart to get plates and treats for the goodie bags. I bought 3 bags of balloons to blow up, figuring if I scattered them around the house, it would look festive enough, coupled with the 99 cent “Happy Birthday” plastic tablecloth.

The boys, about 13 of them (3 of which were mine — Dants was in Minnesota and Pheenie was at a friend’s house) plus one little sister… they had a blast. Lootie may have his “issues” at times (we all do) but he’s good at showing people a good time, making sure everyone is included. I didn’t have one report of teasing the big kid. He thought it was way cool that within a week of starting a new school, here he was at a party. (His mom, when she picked him up, was over the moon, said it made his week. Lootie has a very genuine way of doing things like that.)

Most of the time was spent running around, eating pizza. The stations of interest were: television (we rented a couple wrestling videos since most of the boys are wrestling freaks), computer — (which I had to remove them from because I thought they’d mess it up), video games. And then, the highlight of the night, running around with the Nerf guns, taking prisoners and evading getting hit by the foam pellets. I literally had to hide in Pheenie’s room for a breather. They found me though, and happily occupied that corner of the house as well.

All in all it was a swell gathering. We didn’t spend too much money. And Carlito didn’t notice or care that we didn’t give him a gift (although he went to a wrestling show back in Fall as an “early birthday present”). He said the party went too fast, and that he had a blast.

Frank was in charge of picture-taking.

You’d think it would come natural to a group of 11-year-old boys, but taking a “goofy picture” can be so awkward.

Opening gifts. He’s got no problem being excited about each gift. But then he’s also great at sincerely thanking people.

The Tres Leches cakes. Frank picked out one coconut and one coffee flavored. Not sure why he got a coffee flavored one for an 11-year-old’s birthday. But strangely enough, it was just what some of the kids wanted.

. . .

In answer to some of the comments… YES, momma uses a Neti pot (and to my brother — it was completely UNnecessary for you to post that hideous link to the sinus pictures, which is probably why you did it in the first place *thwack*). And I did get some relief from that. The major relief came from using the sinus spray in combination, though, just to get over that hump. My mouth pain was gone within a day. I love me a Neti pot, though. Those things are awesome. Suellen, not sure on the eye thing. Although, I wondered if flushing irritated my nasal passages. It was after I started flushing that I became inflamed.

. . .

Well, now I’m off to shovel snow. I need the darn exercise.

Knitting keeps me warm. Occupied. Feeling productive. I’ve been keeping busy knitting a scarf. Well, actually I have about 8 scarves started, but got sick of them, abandoned and started this one. Wanted something a bit funky and different from my regular Fun Fur festivals, and needed to use up some yarn. Here she is about 1/4 of the way done.

. . .

The feeling of a small troll, crammed between the roof of my mouth and my nose brought me to the doctor this afternoon. I guess I’ve got some sinus stuff going on. He recommended Afrin twice a day for a few days to open up those passages and let the goo drain. Attractive, I know!! I’ve been feeling intermittent goo slide down the back of my throat, and my tummy is a bit unsettled, so this wasn’t a big newsflash. I’ll admit, if I’m in my car or outside or somewhere where I’m not ashamed to show my lady-ness, I hack it up and hock it in a snowpile (or Kleenex and dispose, yes I do). I can spit pretty well, totally not proud of it– not putting it on the resume or anything. It’s just a fact. Cradle snot in a curled tongue and whuuck like a blowdart. I don’t like that crap going in my tummy. Save those calories for the good stuff, ya hurd?

I do know to be careful with that spray because, a few years back, I lost my sense of smell from the stuff for a while. It was my own fault because I got a bit overzealous with the nasal spray, using it even when my nose was clear. Foolish.

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Christy’s got a contest going on. She’s giving away an Angie Stone CD. Go check it out.