One of those days

Yesterday was one of those days. Angel #2 wanted to go to the fair and we told her we'd give her $20. Wristbands for unlimited rides were advertised for $20 and she decided to put all her money into getting a wristband and use her own savings for necessities like cotton candy and caramel apples. You can't buy wristbands at the fair, you have to get them online and once I finished jumping though all the stupid hoops to buy the dumb thing and having to pay all their stupid extra fees, that her $20 ticket ended up costing $25, what a rip-off.

That afternoon, I decided to check on the sheep and discovered that Claudia had gotten her rope rapped around a branch and was stuck tight to it. I couldn't untangle her and decided to just break the branch off. As soon as it snapped, Claudia freaked out and started running around the tree - effectively tying ME to the tree in the process. I honestly couldn't get out and every time I'd try to lure her closer so I could untangle myself, she ran again. Thank goodness WE was home and he could hear me yelling for help or I would have been wrapped around that tree for who knows how long. Dumb sheep.

Later on, I went to do a load of laundry and noticed the floor was wet by the washer. We'd just fixed a leak there, so I knew the floor should have been dry. Then I noticed that the 'water' was blue. I know that in all the pictures of Hawaii, you see beautiful blue water, but my laundry water looks just like yours, water-colored. Turns out one of my big 64oz bottles of laundry detergent sprung a leak and 3/4 of one was all over the floor, under the washing machine and running down the wall from the shelf where the bottle was. I wasn't sure how to go about cleaning it up, then inspiration struck. Our basement is open, so I figured I'd just drag the hose down there and hose off the detergent, sending it right outside. I started spraying and building up a pretty good sudsy foam when I noticed that despite the fact that we live in hurricane and flash flood country, the person who poured our basement floor never thought to pitch it at an angle so any water there would flow outside. It was all building up in a very hard to reach corner of the floor. After a bit of broom contortioning I finally got it cleaned up, but the floor is still a bit damp down there and now I'm out almost an entire bottle of laundry detergent.

Whenever I'm writing something on the computer and don't know how to spell something, I click on Google and start spelling it to the best of my abilities. Google, intelligent program that it is, figures out what I'm looking for and offers the correct spelling. I figured that was how most people cured their spelling problems now days. Not Hubby though, he's been writing something tonight and kept asking me how to spell things. I would do my Google thing, then give him the correct spelling. After the 4th interruption though, I told him to just Google the blasted thing and leave me alone. He told me that I should want to help him and make life easier for him. Angel #2 (who'd also helped him spell some things) finally gave him these inspired words of advice: Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day, teach him to Google and maybe he'll learn how to spell. Words to live by.

This entry is getting long and I still haven't told you all the latest news around here. I'll have to fill you in on WE's spy mission tomorrow if I remember. One more funny thing though. Remember a while ago I told you about the man named Dick Boner? I was talking to someone the other day and ol' Dick's name came up and my friend said he'd seen Dick the other day at the store, but couldn't remember his name so he avoided him so he wouldn't look stupid. My question is: How can you forget a name like Dick Boner?

Huh?

This is an actual map the local paper had in explaining a detour going into effect next week. Is it just me, or is everyone else confused? Thing is, from what I read in the article, they're just reenacting the exact same detour we'd all been using for the last 6 months. Why not just say that? They'd opened the repaired road recently are are now reclosing it so they can put up power lines - though why in the heck they're just getting around to that now is anybody's guess. I read in the Wisconsin paper from where we used to live that the bridge construction they were doing was finished and they were going to open it two weeks early. Imagine that, EARLY! This little Palani Road addition they did, which involves about a half mile of road, has been in the works since 1997! Yep, 12 years to fix something that really only needed a stoplight put in in order to be more efficient. Some things never cease to amaze me.

The ducks discovered the water catchment tank in front of our house yesterday. It's the same big cement tank the kids swim in, and it's big - the size of an actual swimming pool. The ducks totally loved it, for the first time in their little ducky lives, they could swim and dive to their little hearts content. They even slept in it last night - it reminded me of when the kids were little and we'd stay at a hotel and have to drag them out of the pool at the end of the day. It was fun watching the ducks swim around, the problem is they're very verbal, even when they were just floating around if they weren't outright quacking, they were making that grunty kind of noise ducks make. The tank is under our bedroom window, so the ducks woke us up very early this morning. Poor Angel #1's bedroom door is about 5 steps from the tank (he sleeps in an enclosed area in our open basement) and was up at 5:30am yelling and throwing stuff at the dumb quackers. Of course, that didn't solve anything and he ended up moving his pillow and blanket up to WE's room and spent the rest of the morning sleeping up there. The ducks are going to get penned up tonight...it's either that or it's duck l'orange for supper tonight.

going to the fair

The fair is in town this weekend and the Angels are planning on going. It's not much, as far as fairs go. They're not even having animals there this year, so they can't call it the Big Island Family Farm Fair anymore, so now it's just the Big Island Fair. As Angel #2 said, it's just not the fair without a llama. We usually just dump the kids off there and have them call when they're ready to come home and we're going to do the same this year. Being at a hot, noisy, dusty fair isn't my idea of a good time - especially if there aren't any llamas.

You know the joke about the old timer giving someone directions by saying that you should turn right where Smith's barn used to be? For the first time ever, I heard someone give directions like that and he was serious. He told them to turn at the building after the one where Standard Kitchen Supply used to be. I about hurt myself laughing.

this doesn't happen every day

I got paid to go shopping today. How awesome is that? Of course, it would have been even awesomer if I had something more exciting than carburator cleaner and motor oil on my list, but hey, can't argue when you're paying with someone else's money.

Winter's coming. I had to put a sweatshirt on this morning when I got up. Mid 60's is a bit chilly when you're used to warmer temps. Things got warmer as the day when on though and I was sweating again before you know it.

exciting bonus entry

I've mentioned before that I've got really long hair. After a shower I have to leave it hang loose for an hour or two so it dries enough for me to do something with it. This morning while it was hanging loose, I decided to transplant a couple pepper plants from the pot to the garden. I accidently buried some of my hair, people.

I do not recommend this as it defeats the whole purpose of showering in the first place. The End

Cops on Top

Yesterday afternoon Angel #4 and I did the Cops on Top fundraiser for the Special Olympics. There's a 20ft scaffolding set up in front of our local Safeway - and 4 or 5 of our guys in blue volunteer their time to spend Thurs morning through Saturday night on top, coming down only for stretch and bathroom breaks. The rest of us hang out down on the bottom and collect donations from shoppers. The guys have a sound system up there and played disco music the entire day - why disco? I dunno, but we were dancing to YMCA and Carwash, shaking our buckets and shaking down grocery shoppers for their cash. They also made use of the microphone, talking to people in the parking lot. One of the single cops was making it a point to talk to all the pretty girls - telling them if they want to call him to just dial 9-1-1. Yeah, he's a smooth operator all right.

Angel #4 collected about 5 times more money than me, she flashes that little blond haired blue eyed girl smile and, I'm not making this up, people would walk past me to put the money in her bucket. No surprise really, she's had 10 years experience getting things out of her father using her manipulating skills - at least now she's using her powers for good.

A damper was put on the festivities when we found out that one of our Big Island Olympians had died that morning. I don't know the details, but we decided to not tell the other atheletes working with us yesterday the news yet - I'm sure they were told last night after they got home.

WWTP

There's a sign on the highway directing us to the WWTP. The road it points out doesn't seem to go anywhere (it's unfinished gravel with a gate across it - but for some reason, gets its own left turn arrow). Anyway, Angel #2 and I have enjoyed trying to figure out what WWTP stands for. Where Would Travis Pee was one of our suggestions, if you were wondering. But, ultimately, we've decided it stands for Whoa, What The Poop? Yes, we're juvenile, but we have fun.

I've got a busy week in WWTP land. Last night, after #4 have violin lessons, #2 and I headed out to the high school to participate in the drivers ed lottery. There are a limited number of spaces available and if they have more kids than spaces, they hold a lottery. Last year, there was room for 30 and 35 kids showed up, but fortunately, Angel #1 was one of the chosen ones. This year, there was space for 60 and 57 kids showed up. For some stupid reason, there has to be exactly 30 kids in each class or they won't hold it. A couple more kids trickled in as the meeting progressed, so it looks good. Angel #2 starts drivers ed the end of September. She's got to be to school by 7am, which will be a bit of a challenge for her, but it's only for a month and a half, so we should be good. Tonight is elementary PTO, which I somehow got myself involved in, after that is Bible Study. Tomorrow, I've volunteered to help with Cop on Top, which is where they erect scaffolding in front of the grocery store and cops hang out up on top while volunteers (aka me) stay at the bottom and collect money for the Special Olympics. That should be a fun time. I talked to one of our bocce ball players yesterday and he told me he and his partner took third in state a couple weeks ago in Oahu - so that was cool. I didn't feel so bad that he and his partner kicked my butt in bocce last month at a picnic we were at.