Jury Duty

The Skabelund-do-be-do-be-dooblunds are visiting. Not much time to post with all the sitting around, relaxing we're doing--not to mention the eating! I will post more later but thought I'd better let you know the King has FINALLY been chosen to be on a jury. He's NEVER even been in a jury pool, and this past year was pulled into 3 court pools. He's been called a couple of times, but they've always been settled. He was finally able to show up for selections Monday. He proudly became Juror #3! More when the trial's over, but I will say that they should begin deliberating today, and he might even get a free lunch in the bargain! More later...

Farewell Azul

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Betta. The princess is in mourning. But do not despair. We'll soon have a replacement and will update you promptly. Your prayers and well-wishes are greatly appreciated.

This compliments yesterday's blog post!

Summer School--week 1

The best thing about summer school is that it's only for 1/2 a day, and we only go Monday-Thursday. So today was really FRIDAY!! Yippee!!!

There is MAJOR construction going on in our school right now so getting the kids safely from point A to point B is sometimes challenging.

We have had issues with the Middle School kids stealing milk during lunch and stupid stuff like that, but mostly I don't have to deal with them so that doesn't affect me. Otherwise, it would really make me re-think if it's worth the money.

I usually work with 3-5th grade, so working with K-2nd grade has been kind of fun. My favorite moment this week happened yesterday when the kindergartners came into my lab. There were already 3-5th graders in there so I told Allona (she's beautiful, by the way) to sit by Jake--a 3rd grader.

She just stood there.

I told her again.

She just stood there.

I finally said, "Allona, go sit down."

She whispered, "I don't like boys."

I rolled my eyes at the other teacher in the room, got down on eye-level with her and said, "Yes, they stink. I don't like them either. But we're at a school with boys and girls so today you're going to sit by a boy."

She wasn't happy about it, but she did it. Oddly enough, she was absent today. I hope it wasn't that stinky boy. And I really hope it wasn't me!!

Work, work, work

I went back to work today. Summer school. Three weeks. NO AIR CONDITIONER!!!

But a funny thing happened when I left the kids home this morning. I called about 11:30, told them I had to attend a meeting and would be home later than planned. I told them to eat lunch and then go take care of the neighbor's yard (the kids are watering while they are out of town.)

So I get home around 1:00 and they are out front, having a water gun fight. They are both SOAKED and laughing!

What strikes me as odd about this are these two things:

1. They never choose to go outside but have to be sent out.
2. They never choose to have fun with each other but are sometimes forced to.

So I say, "Looks like you guys are having fun."

The prince smiles and says, "Well, we locked ourselves out of the house so had to find something to do!"

They'd been locked out for about 1 hour! Funny! Good thing the weather was good and no one had to use the potty!!!

Tomorrow they'll be at Grandma's in the morning...we'll see how it goes Wednesday when they're home again!

Hilarious!

We had lots of fun yesterday with a bbq at the king's sisters--yum--followed by more food and swimming with all our old neighbors and other friends later. The highlight for the kids was the 2+ hours of lighting fireworks. There were about 11 kids fighting for their turn to light and that more people did not get burned by wild punks is quite amazing! The funniest thing I heard all night happened at the end of the night and went like this:

Pudgy girl: I burned my thumb on a punk tonight.

Skinny girl: I did that last summer, but the worst burn was the time I burned myself when I was making donuts with my grandpa.

Pudgy girl (with real concern in her voice): Yeah, but were the donuts good?

Today we're off to look for good deals on clearance shrubs and trees and maybe take in a baseball game tonight. How about you?

Happy 4th of July!

Happy Birthday

If my dad were alive, he'd be turning 66 today!

You can bet there's a party going on in heaven today!

Busy Week

So far this week we've...

had pizza and played in the park,
went mini-golfing and then
played at the arcade,
went to the lake to cool off,
and that was all by Wednesday!

We're not on vacation (technically), but you wouldn't know if by all the fun we're having! I'm making a little Amish Friendship Bread today--anybody need a starter?--and then tomorrow there are more big doings: a bbq, swimming, and fireworks. Saturday we'll probably take in a baseball game, and Sunday we might hit the waterpark. Did I mention we're NOT on vacation! What are you doing to celebrate the birth of this great nation???

Canada Day

I sometimes "blog hop" as I like to call it. Just hit "next blog" up at the top and away I go. I see people I'll never meet in real life and now and again, I see a "naughty" blog, so I don't recommend this for children. Mostly I look for cool things on other blogs and how to incorporate them into mine. As you can tell by the blog, it's slow going! However, as I was blog hopping today, I learned that yesterday was Canada Day. They are 141 years old. Don't you just figure they've been around as long as us? I know that's egocentric, but it's what I have always thought. I know Mexico's been around longer, and I know the Native Americans will say that they've been here longer, but in my own little mind--emphasis on LITTLE--I just figured Canada and the U.S. were the same age! Huh!

Bestest Gosh Darn Kids

These are just the bestest, gosh, darn kids in the whole kingdom. It seems I have a lot of work to do this summer--cleaning and whatnot. (Where are those darn servants and peasants when I need them?) So a few days ago I had the prince and princess help me to empty out all the kitchen cupboards, wipe them out, and put everything back. Yeah! That's one icky job down!

Thanks kids!!

Loose Tooth

Umm... I don't know. I think, when you can push the tooth into a perpendicular angle from the gum, it's probably time for the tooth to come out! She SWORE it wasn't ready. But after a few more hours of playing with it, it finally came out.

PHEW!!

Silly girl!

Cow funny!

S'more Fun

When the symphony got rained out the other night, we came home, got out of our wet clothes, put on our PJs and decided it was time to make s'mores. This is definitely not what the king intended when he bought the fire pit, but it's absolutely what the princess had in mind!

Fish Watch--Day 4

Poor Azul is still hanging at the bottom of the tank. He's maybe only 1% better than he was a few days ago. He does respond a little when we flick the side of the tank. We put food in the tank every couple of days. He doesn't swim up to the top to eat but I figure eventually the food gets water-logged, sinks to the bottom, and maybe he eats a little. I wonder though, can a fish get a bed sore from being on the bottom of the tank? Poor Azul.

Golden Oldies

Hey Cool Cats! That's where it's at! Can you dig it? Groovy, Man!

Yep, I'm a child of the 70's. No denying it. Do you remember hula-hoops, Tang, Holly Hobbie dolls, GI Joe, and banana seats on your bikes? How about Starsky and Hutch and Little House On The Prarie? Those were my favorite shows.

Oh yeah, and what about Wolf Man Jack and the Saturday Night Special. I used to watch that on weekends while I babysat. It was on pretty late and I remember watching it and wishing the people would get home so I could go home and go to bed. I made $1/hour for babysitting, regardless of the number of kids I was watching, and with that money I would go right down to the record store and buy the latest, greatest 45 lps! You did too, you know you did. They cost about $1. I had well over 100 of them by the time I switched over to 8-tracks and then cassettes. You did too--maybe not 100 45s, but you made the switch!

I kept my 45s in two little carrying cases like the one above which you can buy for $15 on EBay. They made the move with me 13 times (I counted it up) in my youth and young grown-up life. I haven't had a record player in YEARS, but somehow I just couldn't part with them.

Last summer, when we made the most recent move, I plucked those records out of the garage--where they'd been for over 12 years--and wondered what to do with them, but moved them again. When Shelley came to visit, I passed them on to her because she still HAD a record player. Someone might as well get some use out of them, right? Plus, they were her memories too, and probably some of those 45s even belonged to her!

Imagine my surprise last week when she said she was mailing a "surprise" to me. I was scared because she'd recently taken a really ugly photo of me, and I thought she was framing it or something. But alas, I was wrong.

In the mail came 7 CD's jam-packed with all those songs from my 45s!!! For Father's Day, her husband got a record player/CD burner thing. She burned all those 45s for me!! How great is she????? I have been sliding down Memory Lane every since!

She burned 159 songs for me! She also said she had to listen to both sides sometimes to figure out which side was the hit, and she still wasn't sure she had it figured out. Amazingly, after all those years in the garage where temps get to -20* in the winter and over 100* in the summer, they weren't warped or damaged too much. What was really cool was that, when she would record them, she put them on the turntable, and then I can hear the scratching noise those records made before the song started. Remember?

"What did I listen to," you are now asking? Well, thanks for asking. First of all, in my town we listened to Major Dan Miller's radio show in the morning, on the way to school, to hear all the latest pop hits. And on the weekend I would lie on my bed and listen to Casey Casem's (sp) Top 40 Countdown. Ahhh, good times.

Some of the songs Shelley burned for me: (Get ready for the flashback!)

"Spiders and Snakes", "Sunshine On My Shoulder", "Couldn't Get It Right", "Rich Girl", "Blinded By The Light", "Dancing Queen", "Half Breed", "Cupid", "Heard It In A Love Song", "Feelings", "Never Been To Spain", "The Candy Man".

YOU'RE HUMMING ALONG TO MORE THAN ONE OF THOSE NOW, AREN'T YOU????

How about "Somewhere In The Night", "Have You Never Been Mellow", "She's Gone", "Weekend In New England", "Devil Woman", "Send In The Clowns", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", "Evergreen", "Bad Blood", "Lost In Love", "Ebony Eyes", and Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da"

I know, you wish you had my musical taste!!! Looking at the complete list, I seem to have really liked Barry Manilow, ABBA, Hall and Oats, and Olivia Newton John A LOT!! But let's not overlook Donny and Marie, Neil Sedaka, Shaun Cassidy, and Glen Campbell.

If only I had a scanner, I'd scan a photo of myself and Shelley from those good ol' days. You'd be totally diggin' on Shelley's Farrah Fawcet hair and my Dorothy Hamil haircut.

So Peace, my brothers and sisters. Hang loose, and have a far out day! I'll be gettin' down to some of those golden oldies that I have now loaded onto my computer and am playing on my ITunes program while I write an incredibly LONG blog post. We've come a long way, baby!

Antelope

Click on photo to enlarge.

A small herd was right by my back fence the other morning, but by the time I got the camera out and snapped the photo they had moved next door. There are babies now, too, though not in this photo. Mostly the babies aren't roaming too much yet. This is just part of the herd that roams the pasture behind us, the golf course, and all the way over to the high school and beyond. They definitely know that they were here first!

A funny!

Disney Desperate Housewives

Can you read this?

Belle says: My husband is such an animal.

Cinderella says: Mine still drives a pumpkin.

Snow White says: My husband leaves me at home with 7 little ones.

Arielle says: Mine wants me to wear fishnet stockings.

Sleeping Beauty says: I just pretend I'm asleep.

What's the right thing to do?

Hmmm...what's the right thing to do? Can you see Azul (the beta fish) at the bottom of this scary fish tank (I know I'd be scared if I were a fish and had to live in an outer space fish tank!!)? He's the black speck among the green rocks. He usually stays at the top of the water, but he's been down here for over a day now. He's always been skittish, but now he doesn't jump no matter how much we flick the side of the tank. Our diagnosis is he is dying. The princess has had him for about a year. He used to be blue (thus the name Azul) but now he's mostly blackish. Here's the real dilemma: do we flush him now and put him out of his misery, or do we wait until he actually dies? What if he was about to make a miraculous recovery right before we flushed him? What's the right thing to do? Poor Azul.

A few too many!

Not that I've ever had this experience (well at least not since I was in my early 20s!), but I thought it was kind of funny. As for you drinkers out there, you know who you are and know if the shoe fits!

THINGS THAT ARE DIFFICULT TO SAY WHEN DRUNK:
1. Innovative
2. Preliminary
3. Proliferation
4. Cinnamon

THINGS THAT ARE VERY DIFFICULT TO SAY WHEN DRUNK:
1. Specificity
2. Anti-constitutionality
3. Passive-aggressive disorder
4. Tran substantiate

THINGS THAT ARE DOWNRIGHT IMPOSSIBLE TO SAY WHEN DRUNK:
1. No thanks, I'm married.
2. Nope, no more booze for me!
3. Sorry, but you're not really my type.
4. Taco Bell ? No thanks, I'm not hungry.
5. Good evening, officer. Isn't it lovely out tonight?
6. Oh, I couldn't! No one wants to hear me sing karaoke.
7. I'm not interested in fighting you.
8. Thank you, but I won't make any attempt to dance, I have no coordination. I'd hate to look like a fool!
9. Where is the nearest bathroom? I refuse to pee in this parking lot or on the side of the road.
10. I must be going home now, as I have to work in the morning.

Tumbleweed Take-down

After almost a year of living here, the King has finally figured out how to tame those pesky tumbleweeds!

STEP 1: Get a cool fire pit from Target for Father's Day.



















STEP 2: Make sure your propane tank is full.
























STEP 3: Gather up some tumbleweed.



















STEP 4: Place said tumbleweed in fire pit.



















STEP 5: BURN, BABY BURN!

























The King is loving this new system!

Green Thumb

I inherited this African Violet a few years ago. It blooms occasionally but this is by far the most blooms at once that I've ever gotten. The photo really doesn't do it justice, as there are more blooms under the ones shown and on the other side. I do nothing special to take care of this plant other than water it once a week, make sure it's in a window, and give it some plant food once or twice a year. It's BE-U-TEE-FUL!

Happy Dad's Day!

Happy Father's Day to the bestest, gosh-darn daddy

in the whole world-wide web!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day To P-Daddy Chuckie!!

Climbing Party

The prince and princess attended a climbing bday party yesterday. It was a TON O' FUN!

Cheddar

Monday the princess was asking, for the millionth time, why she can't have a dog. I finally said, "It's not that I don't want a dog. I'd love a cute little Trixie dog (the king's sister's dog), but a small dog would get out of our fence. Plus your dad doesn't want a dog, and that's just something we need to agree on." She said, "A big dog wouldn't get out of the fence (the back fence is split-rail)." "No dog," I said.


Maybe it was serendipity, but yesterday, the kids rode their bikes to a nearby park. They passed the golf course and saw a big yellow dog (lab maybe?) playing in a water trap. Of course, the dog followed them around! Then they came home and later saw the dog across the street. They had lunch and then headed over to the lake to play on the playground there, and who should they find on the way home, but the yellow dog. Hmmm....

The princess came in the house, got some paper, and came back a minute later. "We found that dog again. He's in the garage. He name is Cheddar. He's got tags and here are the numbers on the tags. What should we do?"

So I called the numbers--4 of them. First number, not in service. Second number, "No. We don't have a dog. Where do you live? Huh? Well I live about 20 miles from you. Not our dog." Third number, I left a message: "We have your dog, but I don't know how long he'll stay. Call us." Fourth number, no answer.

The kids took the dog to the back yard. Found a tennis ball. Got him a bowl of water. He really just wanted to come in the house and cool off, but I was having none of that. (He did seem like a very nice dog, though.) Then they played with him. Soon the princess comes in, "Can I spray him off? He's hot." "No. He'll drink the water if he's hot. He's tired of chasing you and that ball. Let him rest."

Five minutes later: "Can we feed him a cheese stick? (If the dog's name is Cheddar, he must like cheese.) "No. We don't know anything about this dog." "But he's hungry." "If he's still here at dinner time (I still wasn't sure he wouldn't go out the back fence, but so far he'd been happy to play) we'll go next door and ask for some food (they are vets and have 2 dogs), and then, if he's still here in the morning, we'll take him to the pound."

That's the exact moment when I broke my daughter's heart. I saw it on her face. It was pathetic! "We can't keep him. He's not ours, and his owners will come looking for him at the pound if they can't find him." "But you called them." "Yes, but we didn't have much luck with those numbers. They might be old numbers."

She went back outside. Not 5 minutes later the kids came tearing through the house. "Cheddar went through the back fence! He's chasing a rabbit (there's a pasture behind us). We're going to find him."

"Good luck," I whispered!

And that was the end of Cheddar. They spent a good 1/2 hour searching. But he was long-gone. Hmmm...turns out a big dog can get through the fence. Good to know. But it was kind of fun being dog owners for an hour!

My GREAT Find!

Okay, this is the BEST stuff!!! I had a film on my mirror that wouldn't come off with regular Windex or straight vinegar. Oddly enough, Windex with Vinegar did the trick. It's for multiple surfaces so I also used it on my stove top by the knobs and on the front of my black microwave! Worked like a CHARM!! I LOVE IT!

Vegas Shots

My Bro and the Mrs. were in Vegas overnight last week. Got upgraded to a penthouse room at Treasure Island for NO reason--just because they're awesome, I guess. Here are a few cool shots he sent to tempt me--and I'm sooooooooooooooo easily tempted!

Near Treasure Island

Beatles "Love" Promo at Mirage

Freemont Street

Wally the Walrus

Graduation

This is the royal niece, looking all "pomp and circumstance" before her graduation. Notice the red cords--that means she was graduating with honors. We're all so proud of her!