Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Well, I had more important things to do than look at the calendar

I forgot to mention yesterday that when I was helping Angel #2 fill out the form for her drivers license, she pointed out that I put down the wrong date for her birthday. Oops

Today, she asked me if, when they're all grown and out of the house and if they all lived an equal distance from me, whose house would I visit the most. I told her I'd move across the country. Mother love is wonderful, eh? I couldn't help it, I had a rough morning today. Because of Angel #4's half hour long shower last night, we were all out of hot water this morning. (we've got solar water, so when we're out, we wait for the sun to come out). We DO have an electric water heater, but I hate use it if I don't have to. But, I went in to turn it on so I could shower - while I was in there, I discovered that #4 and her friend had been playing in the shower and I found 3 empty cans of shaving cream lying in the tub. To top things off, when I finally got into the shower, I discovered that someone had taken the 5 clean towels I had put in my bathroom yesterday and left this nasty brown and yellow one I keep around for desperate measure - I had to use the nasty towel this morning. Grrr I'm going to get color coded towels for each of the kids and they'll only be allowed to used their particular towels from now on. Desperate times bring desperate measures.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Not another teen driver

Angel #2 passed her test for her driving learners permit. It was a written test and she only got one wrong out of the 24 questions - much better than Angel #1 who failed the 1st time and barely passed the 2nd time. BUT, the single question #2 got wrong was What does a green traffic light mean? It was multiple choice and she picked answer D which was "Both B&C" Answer C basically said "you have the right away and cyclists and pedistrians have to get out of your way". She claims it was a brain fart, but the whole ride home whenever we saw a pedistrian, we commented that they'd better get out of our way or we'd run 'em down.

Angel #1 got his Senior pictures taken today. When I was in high school, senior pictures were a big deal, it doesn't seem that way here. They're done right at the school, the kids just line up and get their pics done. The photographer provides the clothes they wear and the kids I saw didn't even have a comb with them. I can remember primping for hours before getting mine taken as well as making a special trip to the mall for a new senior picture outfit to wear. Actually, I'm glad we don't have to go through all that stuff - it's a lot less stressful and cheaper this way, it's just sort of an anticlimatic beginning to senior year though, imo

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Hairy Situations

I have long hair, it goes down to my butt. I usually keep it up in a twisty bun sort of thing and frequently get asked (usually by check-out girls at Walmart) how I get my hair up like that. Problem is, I can't do anything besides comb it out when it's wet and I hate hair dryers, so I usually keep it hanging loose for an hour or two after I shower so it gets dry enough that I can do something with it. I hate my hair hanging down because it tends to get in my way - I don't know how many times it's gotten rolled up in the car window. But I had a new one yesterday, I was hanging up laundry and actually clipped my hair to the line with the clothespin. Angel #2 always keeps her hair hanging down and someone came over the other morning and commented that he was surprised to see me out of bed already and called by #2's name. I looked at him oddly then he said he'd never seen me with my hair down and had thought I was her. He was doing real well until I said that I get mistaken for being 15 years old all the time and he responded with a VERY sarcastic "yeah, right". I gave him stink eye.

Church was pretty empty this morning. Not only was hubby not there, but a different family didn't make it either. Turns out they were running late and got a speeding ticket. The cop wasn't impressed by the fact that they were hurrying to get to church on time. By the time it was all over, it was too late for them to make it and they ended up going to someone else's house for church instead. Moral of the story, Thou Shalt Not Speed

Saturday, July 25, 2009

A hot time in the old town tonight!

We live in a small town...really small. We've got one road, no stop signs, a post office, elementary school, a bright pink painted hotel and a couple art galleries. Oh, and Paul's Place, what I guess you might call a convenience store - but without gas pumps, or coffee machines or, anything else you'd probably associate with a convenience store. Maybe it would be more descriptive to call it an old fashioned general store with about 4 parking spaces. Anyway, this evening I stopped by the post office to get the mail. It's right across the road from Pauls Place and there was a group of about 6 people milling around in front of the store. I figured there was some excitement going on there - and I was right. Six people were all standing around watching a guy fill his pickup trucks tire with air. Yep, things get pretty darn wild around here on Friday nights - and that was only about 5pm, imagine how crazy things are going to get around 8! If someone decides to change their oil or really cut loose and jump start a battery, there's no telling what might happen.

I dropped hubby off at the airport today. He's on his way back to Wisconsin for a 2 week trip. He's going to do some hanging with friends, go to the EAA (the Experimental Aircraft Association) Show, the biggest air show in the world and a few other things. He's also planning on spending the first week of August at the day camp for mentally handicapped adults our family volunteered at when we lived up there. We're all jealous - but I think I'm going to be working at the special olympics bocci ball tournament on Aug 1, so I've got that to look forward to.

I made potato salad last Saturday and it turned out really good. For some reason, I'm inordinately proud of that fact. I've never made potato salad before since everytime I've had it I either love it or hate it and I've been afraid to make it in fear that it'll turn out to be the yucky kind and we'll be stuck with this huge bowl of awful tasting potato salad. So when we went to a potluck last Sunday and I was asked to bring a salad, I figured I'd cut loose and try to make it. I found a recipe at allrecipes.com, my favorite recipe site, had to improvise a bunch of ingredients because I thought I had them, then found out I didn't in the middle of making it. But, even with all my substitutions, it turned out really good - Angel #2 even asked me to make it again, which is amazing in itself because she's like Mikey from Life cereal, she hates everything. But Mikey liked it and so did I. I can make great bread, pies and cookies but edible potato salad just thrills the pants off me. It's those little victories in life, ya know?

Friday, July 24, 2009

got talked into it

Okay, I did it. I got suckered into going to Target today. It wasn't too busy, relatively speaking. I'm sure it'll get much worse after the grand opening this weekend. I didn't buy much, just some milk (which was the best price in town) and a few other things that were on sale, including school supplies (that's coming up pretty darn quick). I won't do any real shopping there for a couple months when they start having things on clearance - I usually never buy things at retail if I can help it. And yes, Alaine, it does have a Starbucks in it, though why we need a third Starbucks in town is beyond me. It's also got a Pizza Hut, so now I know where to take the kids to use their Pizza Hut coupons they got from the library's summer reading program.

Another yes for Alaine. I visit Awkward Family Photos just about every day. I show the worst ones to my kids so they know that we aren't the weirdest family in the universe, despite what they think. I also go to Epic Wins and really get my nostalgia meter running.

Angel #2 and I got a hip-hop exercise video at the library this week. So far we haven't lost any weight or toned our muscles. We also haven't even broken a sweat, but that's probably because we looked at the cover and decided that the lady running the exercises looks mean, so we havn't taken it out of the package yet.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

desperate for shopping

You'd never guess our economy sucks if you check out our local Target. Our island's first Target store is holding its grand opening this weekend. Last night, they opened up for the first time, only to those who received special tickets. There was a line to get in the store. Today is what they're calling a soft opening, which means they're getting employees geared up for the big grand opening coming up. I hear they ran out of room in the parking lot and people had to park on the street. According to the paper, the next couple weeks at Target are going to be like Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving as far as shoppers are concerned. Angel #4 wanted me to take her there, but I may be nuts, but I'm not crazy. There's no way I'm going to fight with 3000 other people for the privilege of spending my money - I'll stick to Walmart until the fuss dies down. Once the kids go back to school in a couple weeks, things should settle down some and I'll go check the place out. Until then, no way.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

we can't do anything like normal people

Last night, as a sort of experiment, I kept track of the tangents our family went on during our nightly family Bible study. We had (in no particular order) lobotomies, head lice, if Angel #4 should shave her head and what event WE could enter in the special olympics and not get trounced by a legitimate special olympian. These are just the ones I can remember.

Yesterday, Angel #2 and I were moving a stove and in an attempt to make sure the Angel didn't get hurt, I ended up dropping it on my toe. I can say, without fear of contradiction, that it hurt like the dickins. After I finished icing my toe, I went to town to catch up on some bookkeeping. While working with some customers deposits, I noticed one of the customers names was Richard Boner. I wonder if his nickname is Dick? I think his parents hated him, cause that's just rude. (yeah, it made me giggle, wouldn't you?)

Friday, July 17, 2009

royalty arrives

Yesterday, the emperor and empress of Japan were on the island visiting. I was reading about their visit on the online version of our local paper. But, the paper didn't get the correct pictures posted. Over a caption identifying the royal couple, was a picture of an emergency medical worker giving oxygen to an inflatable rubber doll from yesterdays news story about the hospital's emergency evacauation drill they'd held on Saturday. Either that, or the Emperor is just full of hot air.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

WMD's have been found

WE has developed a new weapon. He set it off in Angel #4's bedroom today, but I don't think it has much of an effect. WE has invented - are you ready for this? - Fart In A Bag. Yeah, it's exactly what it sounds like. A few days ago (I think it was the day we had bean burritos for dinner) he took a white garbage bag and went to work. He rubberbanded the top and it bounced around the house for a couple days, until this afternoon when he opened the bag in his sister's room. I don't think it did much besides get her upset, so he's back at the drawing board.

Yesterday, WE was sitting down at the end of the driveway. He could hear cars blowing their horns in the distance, but didn't know what was going on. The horns kept getting closer and closer, until he finally saw what was causing the ruckus. There was a guy pushing a shopping cart down the middle of the road, just whistling away. Cars would come up behind him and blow their horns, but it didn't seem to phaze him. People are weird.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

some stories are just too good to keep to yourself

You've heard me talk about our friend Mark before. He's Angel #4's best friends dad. The guy who had a heart attack and got hit by a car in the same week. If something weird's going to happen to someone, it'll happen to Mark. So, he was over here today and he said, did I ever tell you about my pet parakeet? Know Mark, I KNEW this was going to be a good story. He didn't disappoint. When he was a kid, he had this parakeet, named Petey. One day, he let Petey out of his cage so he could fly around the house a bit. Petey flew around Mark's bedroom for a while, then ventured out into the rest of the house. Petey flew into the kitchen where Mark's mom had the deep fryer going, making fried chicken. Petey flew over, perched on the edge of the deep fryer and toppled right in. Mark's mom started screaming and the oil was boiling like crazy. Poor Petey got deep fried and the family went out for dinner that night. I about wet myself I was laughing so hard. (oh, come on, it was funny!) I'm getting the giggles right now just thinking about it. As funny as the story is, I wasn't really surprised, these kind of things just happen to Mark.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

I should've just stayed home

I was going to go to Walmart and the grocery store today. I had to take Debbie, the car. Last time Debbie was driven, she sprung a leak somewhere and overheated, so before I left, I made sure all her various orifices were filled with water and a jug of extra water in the trunk. Then I jump in and turn the key. *click* Dang, I hate that sound. So, Angel #1 and I got Debbie jumpstarted and let her run for awhile to make sure she was properly charged and wouldn't start spewing liquids indiscriminately. All was good, so I headed on my way. After a few side errands I get to Walmart and buy my stuff. I get in the car to head to the grocery store and, wouldn't you know it *click* Yep, dead again. Of course, I didn't have jumper cables. Unfortunately, the guy loading his truck next to me didn't either. But, unlike the people at the airport a couple weeks ago who came up with lame excuses as to why they couldn't help me, this guy went the extra mile. He actually took the battery out of his truck and put it in my car so I could start it up. Then took it back out once my car was going and put it back in his truck. I didn't even know you could do that! That incredibly sweet guy spent a good 15 minutes helping me get my car started. After thanking him profusly, I said I hope good karma comes back at him and he just said, it always does. I guess it does - about a year ago, I helped someone jumpstart their car in that exact same parking lot. What goes around comes around. Needless to say, I skipped my grocery shopping and headed home.

But, my story doesn't end there. As I was heading up the hill toward home, Debbie started overheating again. Steaming water started spurting out onto my right foot as it was pressing the gas pedal. I couldn't pull over and let the car cool down because I'm sure the battery would be dead again. So, I just punched it and cruised the last mile or two home as fast as I could, ooohing and ouching all the way as my foot was getting scalded. Debbie isn't a very nice car. I got home okay, but I still don't have groceries.

Also, last night, Angel #2 and her friend went to see Transformers - the movie. I had to drive them and started singing the Transformers cartoon theme song, which they thought was weird (me singing, not the song - though that's weird too). I just found it disturbing that I can't remember where I put my cell phone, but I can remember the Transformers theme song, especially since I never even watched Transformers.

Monday, July 13, 2009

no name, just a post

The baby chickens have graduated to two seperate rubbermaid totes now. It's nice that they're getting bigger, that just means they'll be outside soon. But, in the mean time, two big blue totes sitting by the door is a big pain.

Angel #4 went to a boogie board competition yesterday, and despite lathering on sunscreen twice, got absolutely fried. She's doing a lot of whining, but maybe she'll learn her lesson and be a bit more cautious in the sun from now on.

I just finished reading a book called Queen of the Road by Doreen Orion. It's hilarious and I highly recommend it. She kind of reminds me of the way I write, only she's writing about living for a year in a converted bus with her husband and I write about my psychotic children.

Afton, I have no idea how to make a pig trap. Our landlord was trying to explain it to me, all I know is that it involves surgical tubing and macadamia nuts and, according to Auntie Violet, who knows these things, wild pig tastes best when it's smoked.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

it's not my fault, I've been busy

It all started Wednesday. We were having the ministers from our church overnight Wed, Thurs & Fri nights. They were arriving for lunch on Wednesday. I also invited our friend who works on the cruise ship for lunch since the ship was in our harbor. He asked if he could bring a friend of his who wanted to meet our ministers and I said sure, why not? The more the merrier. He ended up bringing 2 friends, which brought the headcount for lunch up to 11. Then, during lunch, angel #4's friend and her father showed up, so I had to deal with them. I also had to explain to all and sundry why there were 25 baby chickens living in our bathtub. I'd made homemade pizza for lunch and then whipped up a batch of bread so we could have fresh bread with the quickie supper of canned soup I had planned. The bread was rising in the pan when I brought the guys back to the cruise ship and I kind of forgot about it. By the time I was done running my errands, I had some huge honkin' bread dough waiting for me.

In the last few days, the following have happened: Angel #2 made a batch of fudge turned into a rock when she wasn't looking
WE was thrown in the pool fully clothed by one of the ministers (he couldn't have been asking for it more if he'd sent a request via certified mail)
the chickens have been moved to the entryway in the kitchen
I made 3 batches of cookies that disappeared before they even had a chance to cool off
Angel #4 and her friend slept in a tent in the yard and a wild pig came within 40 feet of the tent while they were out there. Jake the wonderdog scared it off. We're going to be setting pig traps before the rotten buggers have a change to get into my pineapples or something else important.
I got in touch with one of my best friends from high school via facebook. Turns out she fulfilled her dream of becoming a vet. How screwed up was my high school life that me, a member of the I hate animals club had a friend who's dedicated her life to helping the furry freaks?

It's been a busy week

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Words of Wisdom from WormEater

"I don't want to know everything about everything, because some things are really gross."


That is all, now go back to your regularly scheduled day.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

It's raining again

It rained last night. Rain is amost too mild of a word to explain what we had last night. We're not talking about the pitter patter on a tin roof, we're talking a freakin' typhoon. I don't know how long it lasted, seemed like forever, or how much we got, felt like 2 feet, but it was a lot. The noise as the deluge pounded on our roof, which IS tin, was incredible. It woke me up and kept me up for quite a while. It woke WE up too, and he came in our bedroom and scared the crap out of us. I was half out of it and I thought the thumping of his feet on the floor was the beginning of a flash flood or something. Since we're perched on the side of a mountain, a flash flood would cause quite a nasty mess. I'd hate to wake up and find my mattress perched in a palm tree in someone else's yard.

WE's been talking about building a time machine again. He's got some interesting theories about time travel, but this blog doesn't have enough room to go into it in detail. Besides, it sounds much better listening to him explain it. He decided that before he builds the time machine, he's going to need some help. Now, a normal person would put an ad on Craig's List or hire some illegal aliens, not WE. He's going to build a duplicator and make ten more of himself, so he's sure he's going to get some intelligent help. But, as he was telling us this, he paused and thought a moment. Then he says: "Can you imagine the world with 11 of me? All of me together would be a BRAIN STORM! I don't know if the world could handle it." I told him I know I wouldn't be able to handle it. I think one of him is plenty.

Today, the kids have spent most of their time in the pool. We call it a pool, but that's glamourizing it quite a bit. It's more of a great big cement holding tank. The water is green and murky, there's leaves and stuff floating in it and it's about 12 feet deep. We can't see the bottom, but we've heard there's some interesting stuff down there. The boys are now in search of a cell phone that fell out of some unknown persons pocket at some unknown time. Our landlord told them about it, so they're determined to find it. They were also doing Navy Seal training in there today. One person was in charge of handing out weapons (actually, they were crutches), the soldier would grab a crutch and jump off the porch about 8 feet down into the pool and swim for the side. I think they lost the crutches during the jump a time or two, since they were searching for them on the bottom of the pool. Yes, that's what my kids do in the pool. What did you expect, a game of Marco Polo?

Sunday, July 5, 2009

rain on my parade

Well, it didn't exactly rain on the Independence Day parade, but it did during the fireworks afterwards. We've had pouring rain on July 4th for 2 years in a row now, which is really odd since it really doesn't rain much downtown where they shoot off the fireworks. I guess it holds it all in until July 4th. We watched the fireworks from our lanai, so we didn't get wet or anything, so that was good. But, the rain shortened the life of the fireworks considerably. The parade, held earlier, was nice. Angel #1 was too cool to go, but the rest of the kids went. We bumped into our old neighbors and had a nice chat with them. We also enjoyed the live music downtown before the parade. A couple of funny parade things. The county workers had an entry, but it only consisted of a couple 13 year old girls holding a banner saying The Workers of Hawaii County, but there wasn't any workers. It was just these two little girls holding a banner. Hubby and I had a good time coming up with what happened to the workers. He thought maybe their contract only required them to walk a block in a parade, so after that, they just went home. I thought maybe they got hung up on the eternal road construction that never seems to get done. Or, maybe they weren't getting paid time and a half to march in a parade during a Federal holiday, so they didn't show up. One entry that did show up was the fire department. But, the trucks were actually were following at the very end of the parade behind some regular traffic. Turns out, they got called out to a fire and didn't get there in time to line up for the parade, so they just got tacked on in the end. The made it up to every though by stopping frequently and letting random kids get in the truck and hit the siren and also shooting everyone with the water gun mounted on the top of the truck.

I found it sad that many people did not stand up at the beginning of the parade when the American flag went by. It's like they totally forgot the reason they had the privilege of going to the Independence Day parade. Too many people have the same attitude of our vice-president who said that though it may sound corny, he's proud to be an American. I'm sorry Mr. VP, but being proud of your country is NOT corny and if you feel it is, maybe you should find a different job. People died for the freedoms we enjoy today, they should be remembered with respect as well as the people who are out there today, risking their lives so others can have the freedoms too many of us (me included) just take for granted.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

cleaning the basement - oh what fun

I couldn't stand the messiness that is our basement anymore. Today, I started cleaning it up. I started with collecting all the swim fins that were lying all over the place. We've got probably a dozen pair of the things as well as about 6 orphans. I also filled a tub with wet suits, we've got a bunch of those also. By the end of the day, I got one little corner of the basement cleaned up...but it was the important, smelly corner. Grossly enough, I found the source of the smell as well as what was so smelly when we got home from vacation. You don't wanna know.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is pretty good, though I was disappointed that poor Charlotte Lucas turned into a zombie though I have hopes that she'll eat Mr. Collins. That remains to be seen I guess. I won't tell you how it turns out on the off-chance that you're as morbidly interested in Elizabeth Bennett and zombies as I am and pick up the book to read yourself.

We took a couple of jars of canned venison home with us when we left Wisconsin and we had some for supper tonight. It had been a long time since we'd had venison and we all enjoyed it, even Angel #4's friend, who'd never had deer meat before.

Last night there was a loud breaking of branches followed by a thumping noise when we were in bed. Since I was reading P&P&Z shortly before that, I thought it sounded like a head falling out of a tree. Then we realized it wasn't a head after all, but a big old breadfruit that fell out of the breadfruit tree in the back yard. The breadfruit are almost as big as a head, so my mistake was entirely understandable.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Don't you talk to Billy Idol that way

For some bizarre reason, I had the urge to watch the very end of the movie The Wedding Singer, the part where Billy Idol is on the airplane. IMO, that's the funniest part of the whole movie. Angel #2, also a Billy fan, watched it with me (it's on YouTube). Then, tonight, I said something to her about wanting to see the scene again, just for a little Billy fix - I no more than said it than the opening chords of Billy's song Dancing With Myself came through the house. Hubby and the kids were watching Flushed Away and that song is in the opening sequence to that movie. Now, how weird is that? So, I got me some Billy w/out even having to work at it. Ain't life grand?

For its last act as my library, the book I requested came in and I checked it out Tuesday. Today I finally got around to starting it. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is every bit as wonderful as its title implies...at least the first 10 chapters, which is what I have read, is. Personally, I think incorporating zombies into the world of Elizabeth Bennett was pure genius, though that sound you here is Jane Austen rolling vigorously in her grave. Sometimes the classics, no matter how much you love the original, can use a little shaking up.

In case you were wondering, I know I was, there are 31 days left of summer vacation.