Boston Bound

In a few hours hubs and I are driving up to the Boston area. We've never explored Boston, so it's pretty exciting. We look forward to a lot of walking and some great meals. I should have a lot to blog about when we return.

Poison Ivy again

Hubs and I worked in the garden yesterday and I got exposed to poison ivy yet again. Although I showered and scrubbed within an hour of exposure, I still have a few rashes. Great - set the calendar for another 3 weeks. It's funny, I don't care about the poison ivy. I'm terrified of the erythema multiforme again. I don't want to go through that again. I dumped Round up on all the poison ivy I could find. I'm making some homemade weed killer next weekend to tackle what is still alive.

I am so sick of this reaction. I can't live cooped up in this house. I have been smart about avoiding the known areas while working in the garden. The cats get in it, come in and sit on my lap, the couches, our bed. I won't know if I get exposed that way until it's too late. What bothers me most is Hubs absolutely refuses to go near the stuff. I think it would be nice if he took one hit to protect me. I am out of sick days and can't even imagine what I will do now.

Real Men wear pink or nothing at all

I had the pleasure of walking with an every day hero today. I also had the pleasure of seeing this man naked. It was tastefully done, of course. I am talking about the 60-Mile Men.

I walked with Mr. August. His wife is a 23 year survivor. She was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. One dr. told her to get her affairs in order. The next dr. told her she had a 5% chance of survival with a new protocal. She survived. He walks and poses nude to raise even more money. Last year the 60-mile men raise $20,000 on calendars. Incredibly, they each still have to raise their $2,300 for each walk they enter. The $20,000 is dispensed to each member based on how many calendars they sell. They are issued checks made out to the 3 Day and hand them out to people who are having a hard time with the fundraising.

I wasn't able to get my signed calendar today, but I think I'll head on over to his store and get that, and maybe a T-shirt saying, "If you are going to stare at them, give me money to keep them healthy."

Camp Grandma Grandpa

The Devine Ms. Em


Trinks


The boys in the back

The kids left this AM and the house is so quiet. They are on their way to the Shenandoah Valley for a week of hiking, swimming and getting on my parents' nerves. And they are with their cousins, so my parents have five times the fun.

Total Eclipse of the Heart

This is my favorite cheesy 80s song. My mom wrote into the radio station and asked them to play it on the morning of my 13th birthday. She even set the radio up to tape the event. Somehow I never saw this video. Freaking hilarious

And I fully admit to taking this from a Facebook post.

Spare Change

I decided it was time to cash in my various change jars. I was hoping I had enough for a new pair of sneakers. I already wore off some of the tread of the ones I got in May. Hubs took my change to TD Bank and I ended up with $110. I have enough to buy my new sneakers and have $15 left over. Go me!!

S has a recital

S had a Tumblebus recital today. It was his first opportunity to perform in front of an audience. He was so excited and so proud of himself. He's a pretty good tumbler, too. We took Trinks out of camp to attend this 15 minute show. She almost missed her bowling trip to support her brother.

Good bye, Verizon. See you in hell

Except we're getting Fios in about 2 years, and we have Verizon Wireless phones, and we kept the absolute basic landline. It took me 30 minutes to cancel the phone yesterday with Ryan The Tool. I told him what I wanted. He tried to sell me stuff. Every option he tried to talk about, I interrupted him and repeated what I wanted. I grew weary of this game and demanded a manager at which point he gave me what I asked for, cursed me (in his head of course), and transferred me to the internet department. It was 5:55 and those lazy idiots already had their phones turned off. They are supposed to be there until 6! The online chat person Ratchit called me Mr before saying he couldn't help me. I had to call them today and use the world's worst Voice Response Unit before I could talk to a person. The machine did not accept "I HATE YOU" as a reason for cancelling. Thankfully Ms Wright saw no point in arguing with me and promptly closed my account. I thanked her and let her know she was way more helpful than Ryan The Tool.

Microwave resurrection

Hubs seems to have fixed the microwave. I'm still not 100% convinced it's fixed, but we have used it about 5 times with no more fires. I guess we don't have to find the money to replace it.

I must be a God damned genius, Gump

I set up the wifi all by myself. Let the screaming at Verizon begin!!!! This is faster than DSL!!! Love it!!!

Happy Father's Days

This article struck a nerve with me. I agree that Father's Day is the often forgotten holiday. Daycare rarely does anything special for the dads because so many kids are being raised by single mothers. It truly makes me sick that fathers are depicted as bumbling idiots on TV. They can't remember to put the lid on the blender, the wife comes in with a condescending smile and calls Stanley Steamer. The husband can't spend a day alone with the kids and fix a healthy meal for them. All he can do is lament, "Where is your mother?"

My husband cooks better than I can. He takes the kids to the grocery store. He can be alone with the kids for a week when I travel on business and they are well fed, emotionally well adjusted, and adequately rested. Do they miss me? Sure. But they can handle being home alone with Dad and having fun with him. His kind of fun is different from mine. He plays blast off with the kids. If I'm in the car for Blast off, I get nauseated. Bedtime includes learning lyrics to Rush songs. He lets them watch more TV than I do. The list goes on.

So what am I getting hubs for Fathers' Day? Today we went out to Iron Hill for lunch because we won't be home tomorrow. I tried to get hubs some sandals, but he can't seem to find "the right ones". We do have cards, so I guess that's going to have to suffice.

Thank you, Mythbusters

Mythbusters is a family favorite. The kids really get into the experiments and we end up talking about safety. Today we went out to lunch for Father's day and Trinks was happy to show off her dart gun, made with a straw and a toothpick. She proudly announced that she got the idea front Mybusters.

Trinks' first 5K

I dragged Trinks to a 5K walk to raise money to cure pediatric cancer. I knew she could do it, but wondered if she could do it without whining. She did great! We walked to support the B+ Foundation. That's not a grade, it's an attitude.

The rain threatened to drench us, but cleared in time for the start of the race. We took our time and I enjoyed seeing the sights in Wilmington from the street level. We were over by the zoo and had to climb Monkey Hill. The biggest challenge was walking past the monkey house - ugh! There was a horrible poop stench. Trinks spent the last mile splashing in puddles. We finished in good time, had some pizza, a pretzel, fruit and drinks. Then I threw a soaking wet Trinks in the car and came home.

Cooking and garden update

Last night I made these potatoes to accompany the steak and veggies hubby grilled. They came out great! I love this site. The next meal I tackle is spaghetti with tomato and basil. It's getting exciting to cook again.

Over the weekend, hubby went golfing and I took the kids out to look for a new microwave. I bought nothing until we reached Home Depot. They don't carry the microwave brand I want, so I went to the garden section and bought dill, eggplant, cucumbers and zucchini. Hubs and the kids hate zucchini, but I promised to make bread and use a bunch of the flowers in a pasta dish we discovered in Italy last year. Trinks wants to make pickles. I just want to have some dill so I can make some more spanakorizo. And eggplant is always great to grill.

Day out with Thomas

It turned out to be an awesome day. Although we drove through a torrential downpour 5 miles from the event, it never rained at Thomas. So it was hot, muggy and crowded. But we rode the various trains, bought the obligatory Thomas T-shirt, ate whoopi pies and had fun. We were going to eat where we ate last year, but we just weren't hungry. Instead, we stopped by an awesome Mexican restaurant El Sombrero, home of 31 salsas. We sampled just one and it was incredible. Both kids couldn't get enough. Dinner was nice and then we piled back in the car, watched a little TV before shoveling the kids off to bed.



This is a picture of a rainbow - yup, it's faint. We saw this on the way to dinner when both kids were asleep.

Fire!

I think we have a problem. Our 15 year old convection microwave keeps catching on fire. I don't think that's safe. I just started looking at replacements. Ugh. It's time to decide if we really NEED it, or if we can work around it. We don't use it daily, but it is a nice convenience. But should we waste $360? I imagine that will be the topic of discussion while we drive out to Strasburg to ride on Thomas the Tank.

My job

I have known for about two months that my job is changing. It's been tense because the discussions were behind closed doors and I only had rumors to go on. Today is the day I learned I am changing departments. The funny thing is, my job stays the same. I just report up through a different chain of command. So I did the only logical thing I could think of. I asked for more money.

I like that Old Time Rock and Roll

And something about stinky old soul...

The kids took a break from walking and danced while eating their candy. They did well, kept the complaining to a minimum and ended up walking quite a bit.

What does Santa do after Christmas?

He walks in the Wilmington DE Relay for Life, of course! Santa handed out business cards, which stated that the kids were nice. He cautioned Trinks to stop blaming everything on her brother and clean her room, especially under the bed. The he told S to stop teasing his sister and clean his room.

No more pencils, no more books

Good bye 2nd grade! Trinks came home with her awesome report card. And then she started summer camp in the afternoon. She will be a kung fu expert by the end of summer. Tomorrow she has her first trip - she's going to the movies to see Up.

S finished last week and has been getting used to camp. He was so surprised that there is no seatwork in summer camp. Every morning he askes if it's ice cream day.

Random pictures from this weekend

I asked S to take the picture of the garden. Then I looked out the window and saw what Trinks set up, so I asked her to take some pictures. This is what I got. And the last two pictures are from the recital.

Our garden

I wanted to build a raised bed garden like Nothing Knew has. Hubs wasn't quite on board with the idea, so I punched holes in the old sand box, put a nice mixture of dirts, and then planted the banana peppers, cayenne peppers, and tomatoes. So far it's working. The herbs I planted are doing well, too. I have mint and cilantro in my salad this week - a wonderful treat!

Trinks' big week

Go Trinks, go!

On Monday, Trinks passed her kung fu test and earned her yellow green belt. She did a great job. Tomorrow she will get the belt at the graduation ceremony.

On Tuesday night and tonight, Trinks had rehearsal for her show. She did such a great job! Hopefully she will do just as well on Saturday in front of a live studio audience.

Last night we attended the scholastic awards ceremony for Trinks. She was on the honor roll and got a certificate. Apparently she got the equivalent of straight As. My dear, sweet, goofy child has a great brain that she somehow finds time to use when she's not minding everyone else's business or talking. I am so proud of her!!!!

I should be able to find some time this weekend to post some pictures. I have been feeling overwhelmed this week from all the running around and driving.