Mom's Big Day

Today is my mom's last day as a working stiff! She officially retires from the United States Post Office after too many years. She has endured spider nests in rural mailboxes, delivering mail in snow and ice, nasty Napoleon-complex co-workers, served famous people like Grethe Cammermeyer(famed National Guard Colonel and gay rights activist), Carl Weathers (Apollo Creed from Rocky), and who can forget Cat Man?
After working with the "general public" for so many years (the stupidity of the human race never ceases to amaze me), my mom is taking off for a two week cruise through Alaska with her new fella. I think it's a wonderful way to decompress and celebrate this new adventure in her life.
The kids asked me what Grandma was going to do now that she won't work anymore. I told them she was going to "Sit around on her rump" which made them giggle with glee and they can't wait to ask her how her rump-sitting is going!
A quote for my mom:
"Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted."
Love you mom, a million congratulations!

Me and my white trash A/C

I don't care how ghetto I am, I'm hot as hell and am willing to try anything to get some relief on the cheap.
So I've got our big fan blowing full blast with a bucket full of ice water in front of it. I googled it. This form of po' mans air conditioning even has it's on Wikipedia page!
Otherwise we've been out and about this week seeking different forms of cool: We went and stood in the river at Hovander Homesead, we slipped and slided at the neighbors house, we went up to Semiahmoo and played in the pool for a few hours (and I have to say, I've never seen so many "perky" boobs on so many women over 50... that's what having disposable income gets you I suppose), and today my kids played at a pool while their friend did his hippotherapy (I got to work in an air conditioned office which made working so much more pleasurable).

91

Says the thermostat IN my house.

YBB

After a long overdue visit with Tracy today (it was wonderful to see your face and hear your voice) we headed down to Boulevard park to watch Yogoman Burning Band. Unfortunately as we were pulling into the park, the thunder storm rolled in. We all said "What the heck" and took our umbrella (that only hours earlier we were using for shelter from the sun) and joined the 150 other Bellingham nut-jobs and danced in the warm summer rain.
We found our friend Joe half way through the concert and were treated to a fantastic lightning storm along with the music of one of Bellingham's finest bands. Once the storm passed, the concert finale was back dropped with the fiery sunset I've seen in recent memory.
I took some pictures that captured the fun, hippie-esque night we had, but am still unable to download pictures. Harumph.

Oh! During the pouring rain, thunder and lightning, Brady managed to get stung by a bee! I think he screamed louder than Yogoman could play! Luckily a little coddling by mom and a sting relief stick I had in the glove box of the car seemed to soothe his sore toe, poor guy.

Magic

Computer is still down, so I'm blogging on the fly. Hopefully a repaired computer is Larry's anniversary gift to me today (Thanks for 9 wonderful years, honey! Love you!)

Natalie is really into magic lately. She likes to drink "potion" (water out of a water balloon) and make herself disappear, she crams yarn into her fist and "magics" it out, pulling it like the old scarf trick. One of her favorites is taking 4 spoons and "magicking" them into one, then splitting them again.

So...Natalie got a new haircut last week, it has layers. It's not my favorite, but it's new and different. Yesterday I looked at her and thought "I'm really not liking this haircut, it's not growing out nicely at all". Then I went in to the computer room (a place I haven't been in 4 days) and saw several clumps of beautiful blonde hair. She "magicked" her hair because "she can grow it shorter and longer with magic!". Her bangs now end at her ears.

My daughter gave herself a mullet.

Children's software sucks

So our computer is effed up again thanks to Brady's games. He uploaded a simple, reputable CD and now all our computer does is constantly reboot itself. Fun.
So here I am on the laptop, unable to download the photos of our fun today. We headed out to Lake Padden today to watch the Skyhoundz Frisbee contest. It was fun and full of Collies and Heelers. Mom met us out there and we got to visit while the kids played. Natalie made 2 fast friends and their combined imaginations kept them very busy running around the playground. Brady held court as the oldest boy and he and the youngest boy played Billy Goat Gruff's as they chased and threatened the girls as they tried to run across the bridge on the playground.
I also got a dozen greeting cards made this morning, which was fun and productive, however my house looks like a tornado went through it. A dog, a 60 quart Igloo cooler, a vacuum, 2 dozen hot wheels and track pieces, a fleet of construction vehicles, and a half dozen stuffed animals lay in my living room right now. How am I supposed to keep up without being a tyrant?!

A friend with a pool is a wonderful thing

Can you tell where the sun was?
Brady was a very convincing shark.

More sun-in-your-eyes pictures.

Natalie settled down and enjoyed her freedom of roaming the pool independently.

We headed down to Glenhaven (our old neighborhood) to play in the pool with my friend Chris and her kids (the kids I watch).

I lived in the pool as a kid. We'd head down before lunch, play for a couple of hours, go home to eat then back to the pool until dinner. My mom had ample time to work on her tan and get through her stack of Woman's Day and Family Circle. Our kids played for 3 hours, it was wonderful. And there wasn't any fighting about food at dinnertime since they had burned so many calories! Double score!

It's been such a hectic week around here, hopefully my life will get back in order and I can resume my standard state of crazy.

Seattle to Portland

Larry at the half-way point in Centralia (100 miles). Apparently I'm the #1 Support Vehicle!
Feeling fine at the finish. Next year I told Larry he needs to wear a yellow thong to go with his banana (hammock) jersey.

I'm too tired to post, but am feeling blogger guilt for not posting for almost 4 days. We woke up at 1:45 am on Saturday morning and was officially on the road by 3:00 for Seattle. The men were suited up and on the road by 5:15.
Larry was the only 1-day veteran (his 11th), with Dave the only other with experience of riding 200+ miles (he did STP last year in 2 days).
Joe was the oldest at 51, and he completed his longest ride ever and did it 30 minutes better than his goal time (he wanted to finish under12 hours and finished in 11h 34m).
Larry finished in 10h43m, almost a personal best time (that's averaging about 22 miles an hour by the way).
Dave P was first to finish, and he said next year he'd like to try to do it without rest stops. He's a sick-o. But I was always happy to see him, he was the first to show up to ease my boredom of waiting for the crew to show up to each rest stop.
Scott was 3rd to finish, and his longest bike ride ever prior to this was 80 miles. He seemed pretty uncertain at the 100 mile mark, but recovered and finished well. Dave H and his two friends Mischa and Damond were having an excellent ride until they entered Portland and crossed wheels, promptly breaking 3 spokes out of Mischa's wheel. They were on bridges at that point so I couldn't backtrack to them to give them a new wheel, so they had to walk the last several miles (in bike cleats). They were wiped out but happy to have finished. I teased them that STP is not a Duathalon.

I met up with my college friend Shu in Longview, we had a brief but nice visit. Sometimes it's nice just to check-in face to face with each other. But inevitably, immature behavior arises when two girls are surrounded by 3,000 hot, sweaty men.

The ride home is when things fell apart. It was 10:30 by the time we got out of Portland and found some dinner (men that have been up for 18 hours and rode 202.5 miles tend to get a little punchy without food) thanks to OR DOT deciding to take I-5 down to ONE LANE. With full bellies for the men and me with 2 cups of coffee and 2 glasses of iced tea in me, the men settled in and started snoring (as well as a much-appreciated "Stop!Stop!Stop!" from Joe in his sleep. Nothing shakes up a van full of sleeping people more than that!)

At this time I'd like to apologize to my passengers for my midnight karaoke and also thank the following artists for helping me get my crew home safe and sound (at 4:30 am, yes 26 hours after we left): Michael Jackson, The Beach Boys, 10,000 Maniacs, Sly and the Family Stone, and my old school rap compilation.

I also need to thank Tracy for helping with the kids (even though you gave Larry a panic attack), I hope they were well behaved for you. And thank you and I'm sorry to my mom for taking the kids for 2nd half of the day plus 8 hours of unexpected delay. I feel so bad, we thought we'd be home at 9-10, then come home 8 hours late?! I think I might be grounded, I feel like I was abusing my mother by rolling in so late, but at 4:30 am I wasn't equipped to offer a proper apology and I don't think she would have been equipped to accept it. So... I'm sorry mom, I really, really appreciate it and I won't ask you to stay up until 4:30 watching my children again... until you're retired. Which is in like 17 days. I think a 2 week restriction is reasonable, no? I promise to reign in my curfew in the future too. Love you!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Call me Mama Leone

Tonight we had a spaghetti feed for the fellas that are doing STP with Larry on Saturday. I have to say (and I know at least Kate can relate) that nothing feels better than having your company happily devour the meal you made for them.
I made the sauce and meatballs from scratch (both first time recipes and both unbelievably good), salad, grilled zucchini, and garlic-cheese bread (also from scratch). They all had at least 2 servings and there wasn't a drop of food left. Success.
I also tried my hand at making homemade protein bars, an attempt to make a preservative-free, tasty supplement. Larry thought they were OK (he had a corner piece, so maybe the sides were a little drier than the rest) but Joe and Dave loved them. Dave rode his bike up our hill(s) on a single gear bike, so he was very hot and sweaty when he arrived and ate 3 of the bars as soon as he arrived. Then he asked for the recipe. Awesome.
And then... the headache that I've been staving off with narcotics all day started to rear it's head. So I went out for a run and just got out of the shower. It's at bay, but I can tell it wants to be a doozy. I really don't feel like driving to Portland and back with a headache!

Viva La Lance

I don't know what happened yet today in the Tour de France, but yesterday in the team time trial Lance basically tied for the yellow jersey. He missed taking the Maillot Jaune by like .02 seconds.
So, since I've become a Tour Widow for the next month I thought I'd give you some cycling eye candy. I might even have to go root around in our old photo albums and find some of Larry's cycling pictures from his 20's. Spandex in the 80's was not pretty, folks!
Why Men Should Wear Black Cycling Shorts:

Can you guess their religions?

Quick Question

My friend Beka just sent me an email, and made me laugh and also made me want to see what people would answer about me. So here's the question:
If you saw ME in the back seat of a police car, what would you think I got arrested for?
Think of your answer before reading other comments!

Bob Barker PSA

We're watching a good friends two dogs again while he visits his daughter in another state. Molly the Bulldog is very stubborn, but otherwise a very sweet pooch.
Then there is Fat Boy (Fats for short).
He is a Pug. I like Pugs. But more specifically I like neutered pugs. Fats is not one of those Pugs. He is a humping, peeing, ball of nervous energy. I want to sneak him down to the vet and snip him.
And unlike my friend, I don't have the physical presence he has to curb some of Fats' behavior, add to that he is in a new environment (with another lady dog) and he's is a frothy mess.

Our 4th

Brady's first bottle rocket.
Hmmm... why are my children playing dress-up in the driveway?
Because they are geniuses, that's why! (Brady was searching for his authentic child-size gas mask, but was too excited to focus long enough and was fearful he'd miss something.)
Is it wrong that I give my children chest tattoos? I asked Brady if he wanted an Anchor or a Battleship and he said no, but he did however ask me to draw him some chest hair...again. I declined since we would be around our neighbors. Some secrets must stay inside the house.

Purple Rain was our favorite shower firework.
A man in the making: fire in one hand, penis in the other.

Daddy's girl: she is hugging a Roman candle.

A wonderful holiday celebrated with wonderful neighbors. Larry and I even made some homemade Strawberry ice cream (which Larry deemed the best he's ever had) and some Chunky Monkey, which is delish but a little too banana-y.

Semi-Ah-Moo

The kids and I headed up to see the in-laws to give Cameron his #1 Grandpa giant clothespin/photo holder (thank you for your help, Elizabeth and crew!). He loved it, he said he wasn't surprised that it said "#1 Grandpa" since that is his (coughcoughself-proclaimedcoughcough) formal title.

We brought Katie along for the ride and treated her to a salt-water spa. Brady threw rocks out into the Sound and Katie would retrieve a piece of bull-kelp that was near the splash. She thoroughly enjoyed riding the waves in. It was hard to pull her away from her fun.

Brady was very concerned that Katie was going to swim away. Honey, she's too old and too fat to put that much energy into an escape. Plus we spoil her and she loves us.

Why do dogs always try to get 3 feet from you before they shake?

We call this Grandma and Grandpa's tree. We took some photos on it for their Christmas card.

Natalie was collecting crab skeletons. She brought a small one home, but Katie ate it in the car.

My boy trying to watch Katie with awful sun-glare.

On our way out we spotted a giant Bald Eagle sitting in a snag, so we pulled up close and said hello.

I had to grab some groceries that I forgot to get while we were at Fred Meyer the day before, so we drove into Lynden and hit Safeway. My children were complete assholes in there just like they had been the day before at Freddies, it's like the air-conditioned environment sends them into a frenzied state. They were pinching, pulling, and putting each other in head locks in the bread aisle! So as soon as we got back to the car, I threatened their lives by stating VERY CLEARLY that the next time we go into a grocery store and that behavior starts up again, 5 toys each are going away forever. Then I asked them if they understood me. I got a solemn "Yes, mom" from both. I really hate that Haggen lost their play area, grocery shopping has become such a tedious chore now. Please, economy, recover quickly so that I may escape my children for 30 minutes once a week!