A Few Random Things

Oh my goodness, the pollen! It's so thick that breathing is hard and that sickly sweet smell-why can't privet bloom every OTHER year?  Or never.  Jake announced he was moving to an inner city so he doesn't have to be exposed ever again.  I can't say I blame him.  He's decided to be a private investigator, which is fine with me, but then he asked for help finding out how to become one.  That's ummm...well, I think you should be able to find out how to be a PI in order to be a PI!  Without asking your mama, that is.

I discovered a thing this week called Body Glide that is made to keep skin from chafing during exercise, but if I put it on my heels, they don't do that 'barely rub' thing.  I think blisters may be a thing of the past!  I have to get bigger boots for my toes-they need lots of room.  That makes them loose on my heels no matter what I do.  I am actually a little excited-foot lube!  hahaha

Murphy Jones is finding his footing here.  He got COVERED in mud (likely Nia told him to do it) and had to have a bath.  He wanted RIGHT back out and I said no, so he pooped in Chan's room.  Lesson learned. That has been his only in-house potty, so I am not complaining-just learning that when Nia wants out after a bath it's to roll in the mud again while she's still wet enough to get even more dirty.  When Murph wants out, it may not be for such nefarious reasons.

He is a BUNDLE of energy, I recall a few weeks of Nia being a morning dog before her devotion to Jake led her down that slippery slope of staying up late and sleeping until 10.  He runs around like his butt is on fire and she growls from her bed.  He hops in his bed and tries to be quiet while his front legs are stomping up and down and his whole body shakes.  She snorts and rolls over and he FIRES out like a bullet and runs all around the room grabbing everything and dropping it.  Laundry and shoes and even rugs get grabbed and dropped during his circuit, giving the whole room a swirly off-kilter look.  We have nearly moved him to just the dogs toys being under cyclone attack, but the rug has this knobby bit...it needs badly to be chomped, really.  

Totally random things happening of late:

My Mother's Day card, Chandler calls me 'Mama Llama'
See how the middle llamaling has freckles?  

Katy arranged a tour of Curse, a Huntsville-based gaming company.
It looked a good bit like Katy's house!
In the top pic, the kids are looking at the real-time stat board for the company.  They get a LOT of traffic and have just rolled out Curse Voice for gamers to talk to one another.  It's independent of the game itself, so you don't lose contact info if you leave that particular game.

Of course we stopped by the Asian store!

Our usual pastry roll and yogurt drink.

We got Gina juice and dried squid to try this time  The juice was bitter and the squid was very oily/fishy.  I hated it!  The dogs LOVED it and so did Matt.

Various weather.  Taken over a 2 hour period.

No falls!

Got home and Murfer and Nia had dug little holes in the 2 gaps in my new rock/paver thing by the sidewalk.  Grrrrr!

Tomorrow is Lake Day 2.0 to make up for missing it a couple weeks ago when Birdie was sick.
Thursday I am going to look at the Cahaba lilies!

Spent MOST of today cleaning up/out my camper.  It's for sale and we had a guy pester the snot out of us to come see it and when the time came to come see it-he changed his mind about wanting one.  More Grrrrrr!  He did not even let us know, Matt finally called and his mail box was full, so he paged our number and dude called to see who we were!  Obviously NOT the right person for Poppy, but still-I bailed on a hike I really wanted to do today to get the camper cleaned up to sell and nada.  Disappointing.

Anyway, someone else wants to come see it next week, so maybe she will be the right one.  I got a better vibe from her e-mails anyway.  Keep your fingers crossed, Poppy really needs a family that will use her more, she's going to fall apart sitting out there only used a few nights a year.

Major Announcements!

Or, you know, just things pertinent to me, hahaha!

Number One:
I am letting my hair grow..I am 95% on this one.

Number Two:
We are finally getting our passports!  Or, at least finally have the stuff printed out and filled out.  Waiting on April to come and go first so we will have the money, them things ain't cheap.

Number Three:
As soon as the current crop of wheat products is consumed, we are going gluten-free for at least the 6 week trial period.  I have a feeling it will make a difference.  And if not, 6 weeks without gluten will hardly harm any of us.  We will be totally GF by the 15th and until then, will be transitioning.  I thought about either storing or giving away the gluten food we have, but it's SO much food, I can't afford to just replace 2 weeks worth of groceries simply to try out a theory.

Number Four:
I entered us into a family make-over (camping) contest and heard back today that we are in the running!  I think it's probably because I already take photos and blog about our trips and that we homeschool, so scheduling for publication and getting photos is no issue for the magazine.  But it's still kind of exciting.  And I don't know how many other families are also 'in the running'. 

Number Five:
We FINALLY replaced the Crock-Pot!

None of these have anything to do with one another, just all new developments in my world.

Wandering Around Outside

Jessie!  Are you okay, you are sitting down.

Yes, Kuma, I am okay.  I am a little tired.

Okay, Jessie.  You rest and I will take care of things.

East end of a west-bound dog pack!

 The rain early today bled color from the morning glory as it dried.  They were beautiful!

The pollen was so white, it was glowing inside the flower.

The Japanese beetles are already at the leaves around here, I hate those things!

 The blackberry are ripe a full month ahead of schedule this year.
We usually pick them around the 4th of July.

 

The Buddha pot on the porch is looking a little full! 

Of eggs!

We grilled this afternoon, brats and hot dogs and corn.  I made cherry cobbler on the coals.
I also made mac and cheese in the oven and used curry.  It went over very well!  Matt kept screaming, "I can smell the Universe!"  We all had to run blow our noses a few times, very warm.  But not the same warm as peppers, it does not make my stomach hurt.  : )

In all, a lovely Friday off for Matt, spent at home with some glorious weather, the high today won't hit 80.  We have the windows open and the fans going, everyone is full, the sun is warm, the kitchen is clean and the laundry is all put away.  I love easy days at home, when the most significant thing to happen is finding eggs in a bird nest or watching your elderly dog scamper and play, even if it's just for a little while.  All those little memories that I don't ever want to take for granted.

City Girl

It's not a secret that if a chance came to move to Nashville or Savannah, I'd go.  I love big cities with all they have to offer.  I just don't like traffic.  I do enjoy living out in the country, with no neighbors mainly, and with the relative quiet, but I would love to live in the heart of a large city and be able to just walk outside and there would be new activity and experiences every day.

Yesterday, I found a papasan chair in Birmingham on Craigslist, so Chan and Ben and I headed down to pick it up.  It is a small chair and now I need ANOTHER size cushion, but I really, really like it, so it was not a total bust.  We went to a couple stores, had lunch at Whole Foods and walked around in the drizzle at Sloss for about an hour.

 

Well, Ben's all sorted out!

It was a good day!