It's Almost Over. So They Say.

I have been talking to a few friends and acquaintances lately. (Which isn't that unusual, I talk to everybody and I talk a lot.) What grabs my attention is that quite a few of these people have commented that since we are coming up on the 4th, that the summer is almost over. These friends have school age children which means that school starts around August 26th. The way I see it is that there are still 52 days LEFT of vacation. Maybe for others they are counting down the days because they aren't enjoying their vacation. Maybe with all the Summer Clearance Sales going on, maybe it makes them feel rushed. And following those, maybe the back to school merchandise that is beginning to show up on the shelves is pressuring them to start putting their brains into "Back to School" mode. I don't know. I just don't see it that way. We've had almost 3 weeks (23 days) of vacation so far. In those three weeks we've been busy. We've had some wonderful opportunities to do all kinds of summer things. Pick Strawberries, go to the pool, observe the girls at their softball games, watch fireworks. Just hang out in the back yard and dig in the dirt. In a few weeks we will be taking a road trip to Kentucky to hang out with a dear friend and her relatives. I just can't put myself into the mindset that summer is almost over.

In August, Volleyball conditioning will begin for Happygirl. Maybe by then I'll have my brain wrapped around all the back to school stuff. In the meantime I'm just going to enjoy my days as they are.

July 4th Fun on July 3rd

It started being a cleaning day to get ready for being out on the 4th but somewhere along the way we ended up going (very last minute) to see fireworks in Medina with some friends. After driving Grandma to the beautiful shop we packed up a picnic and went to Medina to pick up our friends. Fortunately, MrHappy drove the van so we were all able to ride together. (Which was fun - almost like a bus trip~the Kids thought is was the greatest thing.) This helped because we knew with Medina having a carnival at the same time, that parking would be difficult to find for one car let alone two in the same area.

So the guys in the front navigated us to this spot - away from the concession stands (YAY!) but right across from the High School. They parked the van on this one patch of grass and it was AWESOME! I mean really! The spot could not have been any better. We were able to pull stuff out of the van and not have to haul it anywhere, the fireworks were viewed perfectly from our seats, and when the whole thing was over we were able to just throw everything and everyone back into the van (which we did in 4 minutes flat) and we were back at our friend's house in 10 minutes. (It is a record. When we lived in Parma and viewed fireworks at Tri-C, it used to take us over an hour to get home and we only lived 7 minutes down the street.)

We still didn't get home until 11:30 last night but it was an enjoyable evening and something that I'm glad we were able to do. Fireworks are one of my favorite things to do during a holiday. (It ranks up there with driving all over creation to see Christmas lights, viewing my Fisher Price Nativity set, making Valentine's sugar cookies, and dressing up for Halloween.)

To Do List

• Laundry
• Dust
• More Laundry
• Dig in Closets in the basement to de-clutter junk to take to the church by dance class for donation
• Even More Laundry
• Pay Bills online
• Get all the LAUNDRY out of my Laundry room because it's driving me nuts and I can't find anything and it's really making me a little insane because I've been washing all week but the laundry never seems to go anywhere except where I need to go and it's in my way have I said it's in my way because if I didn't then I really should say that it's in my way and I can't do anything else in that room because the laundry is still there and I need the space to work in there and....
• Oh - and remind the children & my dear sweet hubby to put away their laundry.

My Garden

One of the things I've been busy doing this summer is planting a garden. We had a patch of landscaping that didn't grow anything but thistle and humongous bush/flowering plants. (Not very pretty) It did grow a few bunnies in there last summer but after I went all "Tony Soprano" on them, they became a little more cautious. (I believe they live in the field behind our house and not in our yard anymore.)



Here are a few pics of my new hobby:

In the beginning - there was only weeds and overlarge flowering bushes.

Here are the landscapers clearing the land.



This is it on May 22nd - about 6 weeks ago. I had only gotten as far as hilling the rows. I put the plants in the next day.

This was it Yesterday June 30th.
We've already picked the first "bananas" (As the princess has named yellow squash) and would've had a few grape tomatoes this week except either the wind blew so hard it broke the tomato stem where it was tied to the stake or the cucumbers behind it pulled it and broke the stem. I'm not quite sure which. So far, we've put a lot of work into it and it's been pretty satisfying. It's not too bad for a first year's effort. I swear I'm learning a lot!

More Conversation with a 4 year old at 10 PM at night...

Me: "Goodnight sweethear.....wait. (gasp)What did you do Princess? Did you cut your hair?"

Princess Happy: "Yes. (Starts crying)"

Me: "Where did you cut your hair?"

Princess: "Downstairs. In your scrappin room"

Me: "Please show me."

Princess: "Are you mad, please mommy, are you mad? Ohhhhhhhhh - your mad. I can't stand it, your mad.....whaaaaaaaaaaaa"

(This litany was wailed thruout the house as we walked to the basement to my scrapbooking room)



We arrived in the scrapping room to find several LARGE chunks of hair laying on the floor by her art desk. The biggest chunk missing is right in her bang area and will take several months to grow out (Hopefully, in time for school pictures) Needless to say, I'm not happy at this point. We cleaned up the hair, confiscated her scissors and took her back to bed. Our conversation continued.



Me: "What made you think you should cut your own hair?"

Princess: "Well, (sob) I didn't want you to take me to the evil hair shop again where they would do mean things to me like they did when I was a baby and make me cry....(sob)"

Me: "Princess, Mrs. Michelle is not mean and she doesn't work at an evil hair shop. If you wanted your hair cut, we could take you to see her."

Princess: "Oh No! Now I'm gonna be bald like daddy....whaaaaaa"

Me: "No, you won't. But now you can't complain if I have to pull your hair into a pony tail. I think we've had enough talk for one night. Goodnight princess. Sweet Dreams!"

Princess: "Good night mommy!"



I hope she didn't dream about the evil hair shop or being buzzed! I'll try to post a picture today before I do her hair. She really did a job on those bangs (that we've been growing out for about 7 months now)

Edited to include picture!

A Conversation with a 4 year old at 10:00 pm at night...

Princess Happy: "I'm wearing underpants"
Me: "Yes Princess, I see you are wearing panties"
Princess Happy: "I call them underpants not panties"
Me: "I know you call them underpants. I call them panties when they are girls and underwear when they are boys"
Princess Happy: I have fairies on my underpants. How come you don't have anything on your underpants?"
Me: "Because they are Ladies panties and not kid's panties. Why? What should I have on my underpants?"
Princess Happy: "I think you should have pictures of vacuums and grocery lists on your underpants. Oh! and car keys because you drive a lot. Maybe some dishes because you wash them and some cooker pans because you are the cooker in our house."
Me: "Giggle, maybe I should suggest those to the companies that make "mommy panties".
Princess Happy: "Okay - but I still want fairies and princesses on mine. Even when I grow up"

It's Been A While....

It's been a while since I've written. I've never been a consistent writer to begin with. (I guess the date of my last entry just reaffirms it.) So here I am - trying again to narrate my life. I'd like to say not much is going on, but I have a bazillion pictures I need to upload that say differently. Let me see if I can run down the list:

Since April 7th, we have:

Had my brother & his family out for Easter.

Went on a field trip with the Princess's preschool to the Lake Erie Nature & Science Center.
(I loved the planetarium!)

Fought with landscapers who were supposed to come and repair my lawn after the Electric Co. tore it up last fall. (I also discovered the city isn't interested in helping with this.) I ended up paying to have it fixed myself.

Went to Happygirl's Spring concert and watched her perform a solo. (Mr. Ferrante, the high school music teacher, mentioned that he can't wait till she gets to the high school so he can be her teacher)

Was drafted into a board position to the Princess's preschool only to discover that it is unlike any board position I've ever had and that they really only want people for the "free" labor that the school needs/wants. (Haven't decided which it is so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt) I have since resigned and enrolled the Princess into another preschool that offers a Pre-K class that would better suit her.

I've attended the Princess's Dance Recital - which was WAY better than the chaos that was promoted as the "Winter recital". There were a few snafu's (Mostly including "fake" hair and guests that don't place importance on being on time but prefer to sit and bs while my family is waiting for them to leave) but overall it was good.

The girls have started playing Softball & T-ball. So far, so good. Happygirl's team is really exciting to watch and she has pitched a few games. Princess Happy has decided that all her cool dance moves are totally adaptable to t-ball. They are a cute bunch and one boy was heard to describe the infield as a "desert" during one hot and sunny practice. The hilight of all the games are when they get to run the bases as a team and the snack.

Princess Happy has been to "Princess Camp" at ATB. It was a neat program that lasted a week. She learned a few princess specific dances, made a few crafts that had plenty of glitter, had a few healthy snacks, and practiced her good manners ("no thank you, I don't want any a-scusting vegetables") I - during that time - got to finish a few crochet projects since I wouldn't leave. (Just in case her highness needed someone to "wipe her butt" I just feel that Princess Miss Mo doesn't get paid enough to wipe 24 girls' behinds daily)

Happygirl has volunteered two weeks out of her summer to help instruct Kindergardeners on safety. Safetytown has been good for her. I'm very proud of her for giving of her time - especially when I know that she would rather have slept in instead of waking at 8:00 am each day. Today is the "graduation ceremony".

I've also gotten in touch with my "inner farmer". It all started with Farm Town on Facebook. I had so much fun that I decided to take a patch of weeds and plant a vegetable garden. After Squire's Four Season's came out and prepped the area, I planted (9) tomato plants, (6) pepper Plants, (4) english cukes, (18) Sugar snap pea plants, (6) squash plants - 3 zuccini, 3 summer, (2) White eggplants, a basil plant, a rosemary plant, and a cilantro plant. I've surrounded this with a flat of yellow marigolds and a short bunny fence. So far, most of the vegetables are doing well except for the snap peas, one cuke plant, and the rosemary. I think the peas are still deciding if they want to grow. Everything else has either blossoms, small fruit, or a combo of both. I have also made the mistake of killing all the plants around my pond and deck while trying to kill the grass that has invaded the beds. (Note - only the plants have died. The grass is thriving!) So now I am replanting those areas - slowly.

The Princess and I have also been strawberry picking with Lazymama & family. We've made freezer jam with the results. I haven't actually tasted mine yet because we are still enjoying the pint that Gretchen gave us. I hope it's as good. Especially since I made a lot more than what we'll use and I want to give some away. (I'm holding off until I can taste it)

The girls and I have also started trying new cuisine. So far we have tasted Thai & Middle Eastern. I like it, Happy Girl likes some of it, and the princess just stuck her nose in the air at the Thai restaurant . (Same with "MrHappy's Momma" when presented with Loobi & Pilaf from Aladin's)

We've ALL had a few playdates with friends (Scrapping, swimming, car shows, dinners, book clubs - to name a few) and we've also started catching up with a few things that have been put off (waited for more time to do them - housekeeping, dr/dentist appoitments) So far it's been busy, but it's been fun.