I'll update when I'm home again

  

This time last year

This picture was taken after Hurricane Cindy (so two weeks from now, last year). Lots and lots and lots of rain. The same day they were having a funeral for a kid who drowned in water like this, JB and I found Sean and the neighbor boys running around in this area. One slip and nobody would even find the body for a week - we beat his behind and yelled at the neighbor kids too. Neighbor mom was unhappy that we yelled at her sweet darlings. Anyway, lots of rain last summer.

This year, not so much. My lawn is crunchy. Must be global warming. Speaking of which, what ever happened to acid rain? Weren't we supposed to be dead of that by now?

I was just looking at last year's summer pictures and this one looked neat, so that's my update for today. I got nothin' else interesting :)

Lucky me!

I was kind of worried that my horoscope would say 'keep away from doctors' for Thursday :) 

I am so smart

This is the toaster oven, baking away on the back porch. My poor air conditioning can't keep up with the 90+ temperatures this week, so I am trying not to cook so much. I really wanted some meatballs though, so this was my solution. I 'm eating what I want, when I want since I'll be in the hospital/not feeling great probably for the rest of the summer so my goal is to see just how fat I can get before I go in.

# of boxes of Little Debbies eaten this week: 3 (the kids helped)
# of homemade strawberry cheesecakes: 2 (those were all me)
New recipes cooked: 2 (Rachael Ray again, a pan-seared tuna with lemon zest and fresh herbs and stuff. And again for lunch the next day, but with swordfish instead and brown rice cause I'm eating healthy, right?)

I am still eating my vegetables and drinking my water - I'm just eating an awful lot of crap afterwards :) JB pointed out they probably won't send me home with all the fun painkillers like last summer, so I'll lose the weight no problem ( vicodin totally makes you fat since everything tastes so good, man! ) 

craft challenge 2

Say hi to Lumpy and his girl Flora! I spent less than $5 to get the stuff. Lumpy is made of fiberfill, embroidery floss, felt, a washcloth, a dishtowel and of course...LOVE. Awwwwwwww.
They're one and the same and each one thinks they're the front. Reversible fun. So much for sewing, I am NOT sewing next week. This was all done by hand since I don't know how to thread the sewing machine - it's still mysterious to me how a straight needle going up and down on the machine can weave the thread in and out of the cloth. Steph says I don't have to understand it to use it, but I think understanding it might help me get it going.

work, and the next craft challenge.

So here's a picture of some of the work we did this week - Sean helped me fill the sacks and load it up, and commented that bad kids will be getting JUNK MAIL for Christmas this year. It's more fun if you pretend to be subcontracting for elves. It is. I promise. Although slinging the sacks over your shoulder and saying HO HO HO as you load them is only funny once, and then only if you've been up most of the night and are getting a little punchy.




For the craft this week, I know Gnat has been sewing sewing sewing all week. Here's what I've got in the textiles dept: some old buttons, a ratty pillowcase and some of these neat dishtowels I got at Kmart. And tons of mail sacks, but they are official US Government Property with a maximum $1000 fine and 3 years imprisonment punishment for misuse. Plus they're that stupid plastic fabric now instead of actual cotton like they used to be. So maybe I can make a cute country crafty waterproof mailsack pillow? No. I think I'm going to have to actually buy something for this week's craft.


Ideas, anyone? Maybe some of my thousands of loyal readers can help me out? (I'm looking at you, steph.) 

Rock Eagle - it's for real. I knew it.

JB was convinced that they made up this Indian mound just for campers, but it turns out that it was made sometime between 1000 BC and 1000 AD. Give or take a few centuries :) B went to 4H camp there and they do still tell the 'legend of the Rock Eagle' and it involves a dead princess or something. Maybe that's the made up part? I just remember hating the hike up there through 95 degree heat and poison ivy. Princess B was apalled that she had to sweep AND mop AND clean up there. I totally forgot about that, it was such a non-event for me. I guess she is a little bit spoiled. Oh well. She'll just have to marry a rich guy and get a housekeeper, right? :) (Actual scenario will probably be living in her own filth until someone makes her feel ashamed enough to learn to clean. And the someone will have to be a boyfriend. It doesn't work if I do it. I tried already. Poor future boyfriend!) Anyway, she came home hoarse and tired with a bag full of wet stuff so I'm assuming she had a great time, she'll tell me tomorrow when she gets up.


I also remember making shrinky-dinks there, and that the toast was inedible. They bake it. It's still like that now, some 20-odd years later. I also remember the stupid camp songs, and the guy we were all impressed by: he was a skinny little black kid with scabs EVERYWHERE and a little bald spot from where he did headspins, and he carried around a box and that kid could breakdance like anything you'll ever see on TV. He was awesome, the star of the camp that year. 

elephant ears

This bulb has been SO MUCH FUN to watch! The time difference between these two pictures is less than a month. And the one bulb was only like $3 - next year I'm planting a bunch of them. I'm going to add some Miracle Gro soon, and see if this thing leads to a castle in the sky :)
 

Nothing says Florida...

...like Goat Milk Fudge! We had instructions to stop at the weirdest roadside gift shop and get JB something cool, so this place looked like it would fit the bill. They had weird taxidermy, and unexplainable crafts such as the felt and cork sea captain complete with a beard and hair that were made of real fur (which was shedding furiously all over the shelf), 'Indian' artifacts, knives with super ornate handles etc. We got him a preserved real alligator head (free foot keychain with purchase!). Oh, and monkeys carved out of coconuts.

But the oddest thing was the proprietor of this establishment, with his unplaceable Eastern European accent and way of staring at us. I took a picture of Sean next to a big Indian sculpture thing and I thought the guy was going to literally pick me up and throw me out of the store! He was worried I was going to steal his craft ideas.

Word to the wise: if you see a dozen neon billboards on I-75 northbound from the Turnpike advertising Indian River grapefruit, by all means check out this weird store, but DON'T BUY the fruit! The only creatures enjoying the fruit were thousands and thousands of fruit flies. I seriously have seen nicer fruit going to the dumpster behind Kroger. And don't steal the guy's craft ideas! 

cool picture, but I can't hang it

I LOVE how this photo of the fireworks turned out. I really do. But can I enlarge it, and hang it on my wall? If I were like Steve Dallas from Bloom County, and had black leather furniture and a swingin' bachelor pad, I could. Sigh. 

Disney Trip

We had such a great hotel this time! This was the view from our window - at night it was even cooler. That's the Downtown Disney shopping area, which is as fun as I remember malls being (back in the 80s when I liked malls).
This picture is from a new ride at Epcot, called Soarin'. No g. Anyway, it makes you feel like you're hang gliding - wind in your face, the smells, everything. I actually got dizzy a few times, that's how realistic it was.
Here I am with B, in front of one of the incredible flower sculptures they had there. Those are all impatiens,if you can believe it!
Here's the obligatory picture of the castle. It was Gay Day, but I didn't see as much of the funny stuff this year. ??? So basically, it was a less crowded day at Disney, with more red tshirts than usual.

We had a blast, as usual. Thanks, Capital One!!! 

Hi Ho, hi ho....

...it's Gay Day at the Magic Kingdom! We're leaving in the morning! It's a last minute trip! No planning at all! More exclamation points!!!

Many, many pictures coming soon...until then, enjoy your non-magical weekend! Here's a small taste of what you're missing: