Friday, July 23, 2010

The Cheese Touch

If you don't know what the cheese touch is, you've obviously never read the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" books. In the book, there is a piece of moldy, stinky cheese left on the playground. When one kid touches it, nobody wants to get touched by him, thereby receiving the "cheese touch." The only way to avoid getting the cheese touch is to have your fingers crossed at the very moment your assailant tries to touch you. My kindergartners drove me a little nutso trying to pass the cheese touch from one kid to another.

But in the middle of summer, when your 7-year-old is bored, it's fun and easy to oblige. We chased each other around the house the other night, trying to give (and avoid getting) the cheese touch. There are only four people in our family, so we have unlimited potential of getting it. When I tried to give it to my husband, Jamison yelled out, "NOOOO!!!! He's lactose intolerant!!"

Sunday, July 18, 2010

A Good Day

Saturday morning chores. Yeah, I find comfort in that.
Sewing. I'm only two steps away from having a new quilt!
Lunch on the back porch. Have I mentioned there's a river in my back yard?
Craft time with my daughter. We made braided bracelets from some quilt scraps.
Family time. A trip to Home Depot, burgers for dinner, and pool time.

Ah, summer.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Say What?

The house next to ours is a vacation rental, which fills up with all kinds of people. In the winter we get ski bums and ski bunnies, all of whom seem to be disappointed that the house lacks a hot tub and a beer tap. The rest of the year we get golfers whose clubs cost more than my car. Yesterday, our newest temporary neighbor knocked on my door, introduced herself and told me they were holding a family reunion for the weekend. She asked about some of the local flavor, then asked if I lived in my house full-time. She gave me a weird look when I told her that I owned a small island off the coast of Greece, but due to the recent political turmoil there, I hadn't been able to visit this summer.

She then asked me something that I've never been asked by a stranger before. With pad and pen at the ready, she said, "Do you have wireless internet and if so, could I get your security code so that we can have internet access while we're here?"

I have to admit, I lied. There's a reason I have a security code.

Besides, if you're on vacation, unplug!

Monday, July 12, 2010

Losing It

A while back, I lost something. Contained on that something were several works in progress, including about 25,000 words of a certain novel. Please don't tell me about backing up files. Please.
However, I am happy to announce that I have since re-written about 13,000 of the lost 25,000 words. Stronger, perhaps? One can only hope.
And yes, they are backed up and saved in three different places.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

G'Day, Mate!




This super-cute girl is my niece, Megan. Tomorrow she will be on a plane, leaving for a semester of study in AUSTRALIA! I have to admit, I'm just a tad bit jealous.

"It is a great piece of skill to know how to guide your luck even while waiting for it."

Good luck on your new adventure, Meg!

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Thursday, July 8, 2010

This Week's Random Thoughts

The other day at the pool, I spotted a guy with a sunburst tattoo around his belly button and all I could think was, does he regret getting that now that he has a gut?

On Tuesday my son and his friend played "spies." In my car. I couldn't figure out why everything was all out of place. I also found a big stack of quarters that they left behind, which I shamelessly used to purchase myself a big coke - with the good ice - today.

Today someone came into my house and insulted the lunch I was eating, which was not even offered to him in the first place. And no, it wasn't the guy with the sunburst tattoo.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Satisfaction

I just spent the better part of the past four hours writing. Except for a small break to make my kids and their friends some snow cones, my fingers have been flying. I haven't done that in a really, really long time. And you know what? It is super satisfying. Remember my serial killer story? Yeah.

What gives you satisfaction? And please, no standard answers, i.e., hearing my children in laughter, a job well-done, etc. Because, while there is truth in those answers, they are the easy answers. So dig deep.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

United

It's hard to let the first day of a new month pass by without some kind of blog post. So here goes.
Independence Day is this weekend. Isn't that great? I am sooo one of those Norman Rockwell-Americana-I-Love-Summer people. Watermelon, corn-on-the-cob, sparklers, and star-spangled ribbons in my hair... what's not to love?

But if you watch the news these days, it seems there's less and less to love. There are lots of issues out there that are dividing us. Common ground and common sense are in short supply. Everyone has an opinion, but there are no easy answers. There's a rift.

Allow me to list a few things that still unite us:

Kindness: today I let a guy in a Jeep merge infront of me as we entered the freeway. His face was as brown as the hills he'd just come from, but his teeth were as white as a choir boy's robe. How do I know? Because that's all I could see as he turned to smile and wave. Ya gotta love the thank-you wave.

Hope: there's a woman from the Salt Lake area who's been missing for many months now. Yet every now and then, she'll get a mention on the local news because friends and family members keep organizing search parties to find her. They have hope. That can only be good. It's contagious. The founding fathers had hope. Hope for a country where men could be free. Today we still have hope. We hope that we can leave the world a little better than we found it. We hope that our children will have it better than we do. And we have it pretty darn good right now. Let's remember that every once in a while.

Ingenuity: don't you just love it when someone has a good idea? Even if the idea never comes to fruition, isn't it fun to cheer them on as they chase their dream? Everyone lucky enough to live in America has the same opportunity to act on their ideas. Is the playing field level? No. But ya gotta love a good challenge. And if it weren't for ingenuity, we wouldn't have 500-horsepower muscle cars, ice cream cones, television, vaccines, paper clips, or scones. And who doesn't love a good scone, drowning in butter and honey?

So this weekend, as you're watching the fireworks, think about everyone else watching the fireworks in their communities, and remember that we are all united.