Ohio, the heart of it all

I must say I really appreciate bloggers auto save. I loaded all of these pictures and the electricity went out. With dial up, uploading these pictures takes a little while and I am so glad it auto saved them so I didn't have to do it again.

Yesterday we did our 10 hour road trip (which turned into 12 with SH drinking way too much coffee and the outlet mall) to get DD back. As a bonus we got to bring my niece back for a few weeks;-)

We started out early, before 6 and drove east. The bad thing about driving east early in the morning is that you are driving into the sun. Then we turn around in Cumberland and start back, we follow the sun west. The good thing about yesterday morning was the fog bank that was overhead. It wasn't one of those foggy mornings that makes you hate to drive because the fog stayed up high and blocked the sun a good portion of the trip. It almost looks like clouds in this picture taken in Charleston WV, but it is just good old fog.

We live in Southern Ohio in hilly country. There is a lot of flat land, but a lot of hills. When we start east through WV the hills get larger, and larger until they turn into mountains. The entire trip to Cumberland is spent either going up a mountain, or coming back down. We stopped at a road side rest right after this picture and SH tried to make some extra room in the car and put my camera in the trunk.....he thought just because I was driving the rest of the way I wouldn't take any pictures. I didn't realize he had put it there until I was driving 75 MPH up the next mountain.

DD had a nice trip to see my sister. They went to so many interesting places, but one of my favorites would have to be this one, ground zero. I still think it is a place people should see and remember so we don't let it happen again.

She also got to see some less important sites, like the naked cowboy. I've seen him on tv but didn't even think about him when she was going to NY.

She also bought some yummy handbags in Chinatown. I don't have a picture of them though.

On the way home I got my camera out of the trunk and took this picture.

I think someone was trying to tell me something. I wasn't sure what until I looked in my rear view mirror and realized what a blessing it was to have DD back safely and to get a little bonus too!

Tuesday blues

We made our trip in 12 hours yesterday (including a couple spent shopping at the outlet mall.) SH got himself some new tool thingy and we got our DD back, with a niece for a bonus.
It's Tuesday morning and that means back to work for SH and me, it is our Monday. I'll put up some pictures from DD's trip later.

These are the days of our lives

I spent today helping superhubby at one of his little old ladies houses stripping and painting old iron railing. It looks great when it is done but stripping the paint off that stuff is a horrible job. This iron railing had layers and layers of paint from many years past and it has a design of hundreds of flowers and stems. This is the second of his little old ladies that have wanted this done this summer and both jobs were time consuming and tiring. Superhubby has been working on this one for a week, the last one took 2. The temperature today was upper 80's, but the humidity was sky high. We both spent most of the day wiping sweat out of our eyes. We got the first layer of paint on and he will have to finish it himself Tuesday.
Tomorrow we are getting up at 5 and going to get DD. We are hoping to only have to drive to Cumberland, MD, but if my sister doesn't want to meet us there SH says we are going all the way to NJ and back, in one day. That would be a at least 20 hours on the road, which I don't want to do. I think she is about to agree to meet us, which may be due to the fact that DD told her she had to get home tomorrow. I'd like to say she is homesick for me, but I think it probably has something to do with a certain boy she is missing. There is a small outlet mall about halfway between here and Cumberland that we would like to stop at on the way home. They have a tool outlet, a Rue 21 outlet and Correll and other cooking stuff outlet. SH can look at tools while DD and I look at more important things....like clothes.
I think I need to go make SH get to bed, it is a little over 6 hours until time to get up and he needs some rest after today. I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Not my proudest moment

I am smarter than 72.67% of the rest of the world.
Find out how smart you are.

I took this as superhubby was telling me a story, a long story that I listened to instead of reading as slowly as I should. I guess I still did ok, but not as well as I could have.

Things overheard at Wal Ma*t

I mentioned yesterday that I went for a quick run to WM last night. I was there only a short time but I did hear some interesting conversations.
Conversation #1 was between a family that consisted of mom (m) , dad (d) and a boy (tyler) (t)about 7 years old.
m - Tyler get over here
t- giggle as he doesn't move
m- Tyler get over here or I will bust you a**
t- giggle giggle
m- tyler put that down or I will bust your a**
t- giggle giggle (never putting anything down)
m- tyler put that down or I will bust you a**
t- giggle giggle
d- tyler you know what will happen if you don't put that down
t- giggle giggle keep playing with stuff he should not in grocery section
m and d keep talking to each other then after a few turn around to see if t is still around
m- tyler come on or I will bust your a**
t- giggle giggle but he did follow because we were all at the end of a row.
next row...
m- tyler get off of the shelves or I will bust your a**
t- giggle as he keeps climbing
m- come on tyler lets go down here
m- tyler I am going to bust your a**
I think you probably get the picture..I finally walked away and skipped a few aisles so I didn't have to listen to tyler giggle and his mom threatening things that would never happen.
Conversation 2 was between a young mother(m) and her about 3 year old daughter(D).
D- mommy I want a buffon like you
m- What honey?
D- I want a buffon like you
m- What is a buffon?
D- You know,I want a bufftong like you.
m- Sweetie I don't know what a bufftong is. Think about it and tell me again.
D- (very loud) I WANT A BUTT THONG LIKE YOU!

Pre-empty nest syndrome

Pre-empty nest syndrome is probably not real, but I plan on inventing it after this week of being alone. I am surprised at how well I seem to be handling being alone, but I am spending way too much time on the internet. I am getting to chat with a few blogger buddies I met through this blog and that helps pass the evenings, but I need to learn to be alone without the internet. I guess I can wait until my kids actually leave home for good before I do that.
I have learned a few things this week.
1. No matter how many times I swear I will clean the entire house this week, it isn't going to happen.
2. I am much braver than I thought. When my dog starts barking, which usually means someone is here, I go outside to see. Maybe I am stupider than I thought because I have no really close neighbors to yell at. I just hate to sit and the house and wait to see if anyone knocks on the door. I have been outside looking twice in the last 15 minutes and I finally figured out that someone is coon hunting in the woods and my dog hears their dogs.
3. I hate going to Wal Mar* alone. I left home at 8 and was through the store and starting back home by 8:50. It is a 25 minutes drive to Wal Mar* from here. I got a few groceries and some shampoo and was outta there.
4. I do not eat well when I am alone. I don't eat like I should anyway but Tuesday night, which was my first all alone night I had cheetos and marshmallows for dinner. Wed. night I made spaghetti just so there would be something here to eat. Tonight I was going to get something and bring it home and couldn't make up my mind so I am eating nilla wafers. I am going to eat a banana in a few minutes just to say I ate something worth while.
5. When my kids were young and I was a stay at home mom I had friends I talked to every day on the phone. I don't talk on the phone now much at all and I really don't miss it. I do have one friend I talk to sometimes and that is nice, but I don't miss that everyday stuff. D would call, then K would call then I would have to call someone else and I spent hours on the phone. I can not figure out how I did that. I guess now that I have teens they use the phone most of the time and I do not miss it.
6. I need a hobby. I used to do craft stuff and that doesn't interest me at all anymore. I do love taking pictures but you can only take pictures so much at home and who wants to drive somewhere every day to take pictures. Gas is so high and my mini van gets 10 miles to the gallon or something like that.
7. I have also learned that I was right when I decided years ago that I wanted to be a stay at home mom. I have worked since the kids started school but with my job I have always been able to work hours that coincides with their school time. In the summer I can work mostly when superhubby is home and of course it doesn't hurt them to be home an hour or two alone now.
8. When the kids are gone I need to try to work more hours when superhubby is working. The evenings are way too long without him here.
9. I guess the biggest thing I have learned is that I can be alone and it won't kill me, though sometimes when I think about being alone permanently I get this little pain.....

I just heard a pin drop

The Myers household is way too quiet this week. I am amazed myself at how loud the birds are outside. It sounds like a jungle. I think there are storms all around us tonight and the birds must be congregating in the woods around my house until it blows over.

A week or two ago I accidentally stumbled onto a family tree type site and clicked on inquiries from our county. I found someone there asking if anyone had ever heard of a cemetery that happens to be right up the road from me, way out a dirt road in the woods. So yesterday after work I drove up this road...

Then up this hill to the cemetery.... Isn't this a peaceful looking place?

And I took a bunch of pictures like this....

I've spent a lot of last night trying to decifer the words and dates on these. I sent her a bunch of pictures and she was excited to see them. She thinks one might be her Great- Great grandmother. We are still trying to see the date of death on the tombstone to try to get the dates to collaborate. DS and I are going back up this weekend and see if his slightly younger eyes can see the dates better.

I spent a really nice hour there, matching tombstones to names and taking pictures. There is absolutely nothing around there, just complete wilderness. I think I will enjoy going back this weekend with my DS just for the surroundings. I wonder if anyone else thinks I am weird to think that this old cemetery is a nice place to spend an evening?

Oh the weather outside is frightful

Finally after a very dry, hot summer we are getting rain. We are, of course, getting it all in one day, but beggars can't be choosers. My pool was about 2 inches too low, getting close to that level that won't let you run the pump and today the rain has filled it way too high, so I will have to dump some water. The storms started with a major hailstorm. DS called me while I was at work and I could hear the hail hitting the house. Thankfully nothing was damaged, though I haven't made it out to check the garden yet. The temperature has dropped drastically and right now it is 65 outside and raining once again. The end of the week is supposed to start another heat wave, so I am enjoying it while I can.
Today starts my evenings alone. I haven't been alone for more than a couple of hours for 19 years and I prefer it that way. It is way too quiet around here. I guess it's good practice for when the kids move out. In the middle of that last sentence my SIL just called and said they were going to stop by. Not necessarily a good thing.
Today I am going to tell you about my honeymoon......no not that part of my honeymoon. I don't remember too much of my honeymoon after almost 22 years other than the things that happened in that honeymoon hotel couldn't be repeated today or we would both be in the hospital, or dead. I am going to tell you about the hotel we stayed in. We didn't have a lot of money so we opted for a small, honeymoon hotel about an hour away. The brochure boasted rooms that ummmm shall I say tweaked the imagination. Round beds, mirrors on all the walls and ceilings, hot tubs in all the rooms, 24 hour porn movies (pay close attention to this one, it will be relevant later), a small kitchenette with everything for 2 and champagne. We arrived at this place and right away were a little frightened by the outside. It looked a little run down and seedy, but not so much that we turned around. We did ask to see our room before we paid. In those days you could make a reservation and pay when you got there. The rooms were a little better than the outside so we decided to stay. The first night I drank the entire bottle of champagne by myself and that round bed spun in circles, or maybe the room did but I didn't try that the next night. The hotel stay was interesting, and gave us a few good stories to remember for our honeymoon. The funny part didn't happen until a couple of years later when a friend of mine was getting married. She was doing some research on this hotel and found out that it had been closed down because THEY WERE TAPING THE PEOPLE STAYING THERE AND SELLING THE TAPES. Yes, somewhere out there probably is a superhubby and me tape floating around. She joked that if they opened back up she was going to ask for the superhubby and me special. The good news is the fact that I am much larger than I was back then and no one would actually recognize me now. The bad news is there could very well be a tape of me flying around out there.
Do you have any funny, or interesting memories of your honeymoon you can share? Just the ones that are ok for public viewing please!

Deleted comments

I deleted a comment on here that wasn't from anyone I know and wanted me to go to a site where the commenter said they "made extra money." I deleted the comment and figure it is probably an ad from a bot because of course the link to their profile didn't work. I hate that and I hope it doesn't happen again because I don't want to moderate comments....

Burp

My Aunts house where the reunion takes place.....which is also the house that superhubby, my dad and uncle built. See that deck on the end, that is the deck that SH and my dad were on and it collapsed when they were trying to fasten the outside end in place. My dad broke his leg and ended up in the hospital and physical therapy for many months over that one. SH grabbed on to a floor joist and held on until he could jump safely and pull the rest of the deck off of my dad.

Ok, the theme for this years reunion was "cheese, cheese, say it with cheese.(not really but it seemed like it)" We had mac and cheese, broccoli casserole with cheese, hash brown casserole (with cheese) ham, chicken, dumplings, noodles, home made bread, mashed potatoes, potato and macaroni salad....the desserts were many.

My Uncle, who is the one nice enough to put up with the entire family every year likes to take the kids on a wagon ride after they eat. He uses the same tractor my grandpa used when I was little.

The young kids (and me) get really excited when the home made ice cream gets done and is ready to eat. Some of them that aren't "country people" can not believe ice cream doesn't just come in a carton from the store.

When it gets dark we all gather under the big canopy and play guitars and sing. See all of those lights, most of them are mine and every year it is my job to do the lighting. I don't know if I have ever mentioned it before or not but I belong to a very musical family. Most of the people in our family can sing or play an instrument. I don't know exactly how I missed out on the particular gene, but I did.

Now to my cousin and uncle. My Aunt and Uncle drive here from Virginia for the reunion a few days before the actual reunion. This year their daughter and her children were driving here on the day of the reunion and got a couple of hours away and their daughter got sick. I mean SICK. She finally called crying from Charleston WV and told her mom and dad (who were staying with my Aunt) that she couldn't drive any more and couldn't quit throwing up. They went to her and she ended up in the hospital all day and her dad stayed with her. They both missed the reunion and so they spent 16 hours on the road for nothing. She finally passed a kidney stone and they let her go to my aunts in the middle of the night. Her mom and dad did get to visit the day before so their trip wasn't completely a waste and her mom brought her kids back for the reunion so they did get to see the cousins they only see once a year.

Tonight is the annual after reunion pizza night but I was helping SH with some stuff and didn't feel like going.

DD is on her way to NJ, she just called from Cumberland MD. and YES I cried after she left. I did good until I got in the car at my moms (where she left from) and then I cried. I'm better now, but it is going to be a long week. DS is working evenings and so will SH later this week. I'm going to be lonely. Right now I don't have time to be lonely because SH and I haven't really been alone for many years and he is a little, ummmm, shall we say frisky. I think I had better go ;-)

Oh by the way Kim I think you would probably fit in well with our family. We have quite a few old friends of the family that come to the reunion just because they like to sit around and listen to everyone sing. They also like to eat just like the rest of us.

Reunions

I will be back tomorrow to tell you all about the food....right now I am editing and posting pictures for my family and burping a lot. We all had a great time, well exept my Uncle and his daughter who I am sure had a rotten time tonight....more on that later too!

Family

Superhubby and I are both very big family people. What I mean by that is we both enjoy being around our extended families. We had a chance years ago, when our children were small, to relocate to a place with a much better economic outlook than we have here but neither of us could stand to leave our families. My parents had 3 children and of the 3 I am the only one still around here. SH's parents had 6 children and only one ventured more than 15 minutes away and she was following her husband who was in the military. This weekend starts the family reunion stretch of our summer. This weekend members of my family will meet at my Aunts house and eat, eat, sing, play guitars, eat some more, play volleyball, horseshoes, ladder ball and then eat. We are the best there is at finding excuses to eat. When the family starts getting here from out of town, usually 2 or 3 days before the actual reunion we will start eating. We will have "welcome to Ohio" baked steak and mashed potatoes one night. We will have "thanks for helping us get ready for the reunion" wiener roast the next night. We will then have the actual reunion with 60 or 70 people cooking food. Then we will have the annual "reunions over so lets just get together before everyone leaves" pizza night. When the weekend is over my poor Aunt A, who takes most of the reunion on by herself, will swear she can't do this again next year and then she will, because she too is a big family person.

Then in a few weeks we will attend the 85th (or somewhere around there) Myers family reunion. This reunion is more of a habit than an actual family get together for most. The Myers family have an old church way out in the country. When I say way out I mean way out. You go down the road from my house, turn right and drive. When you drive so far you start seeing Amish buggies and thinking maybe you drove back in time, you turn left on the next dirt road. DS and SH are the caretakers of the cemetery at this church too. For many years my SIL, her 3 children and one other old lady were the only people attending this church. I think that since the older lady got too ill to attend no one actually goes to church there. I do love this little old church even though there are no services there anymore. It sits all by itself, on a hill with nothing between you and God but a few clouds. You can walk around the dirt road without seeing a car or a person for hours. We usually spend a few days before the reunion cutting weeds down around the area. The church has very little grassy area that isn't hillside so the reunion is a little odd. There are tables that are put out in a row along the road. If a car comes and wants to go by they just have to stay on the far side of the dirt road. This year is a dry year so dusty food is normal. Many times over the years people have mentioned the idea of putting the food in the church and letting people eat there, but they are always met with angry looks, it is tradition and they don't like to break it.
The other side of SH's family has a reunion in July but it is always on a Saturday and SH has to work Saturdays so we seldom make it to that one.
I guess the entire reasoning behind this post was to mention that if you don't hear from me in the next few weeks I probably blew up from all the homemade bread, noodles and deserts. What a way to go!
Next week I'm sure I will be posting 2 or 3 times a day because DD is going to NJ to visit my sister, DS just started a new job and is gone every evening and Superhubby works evenings. Boy that lives with us but isn't mine is supposed to sign a lease on his own apartment today.....YES! I'm just not used to being alone...I am never alone.....what will I do?

Busy as a Bee

For the last few weeks I have had my niece here visiting from NJ. I love that girl like my own and we have been busy as a bunch of bees. It is hard to find time to post, let alone think about something intelligent to say (why should I try to sound intelligent now huh?) with a very active 9 year old running around that I am trying to fit months of things to do into a few weeks. Right now she and Superhubby are building her a dollhouse.

Yes she is building it in her PJ's late at night. The finished product is going to be so cool and I will post some pictures of it soon.

In other news my DS just left for his second day of his new job. It is a job that requires you to wear real clothes. He is so excited to get that 9 dollars and odd change an hour. He is already looking at apartments and grown up stuff like that. It is hard to explain to a 19 year old the cost of living on your own. They just have to figure it out themselves I guess. He says he knows he has it made living at home but he wants to live closer to Huntington WV where he works (and where his girlfriend lives.)

He always makes that face when I take his picture.....I love that boy!

Happy Bithday DS

July 14th will forever be a special day for me. Nineteen years ago my first child came into this world and my life changed forever. The day before he was born a woman dressed as a nurse went into a new mothers room and explained to her they needed to take her child down for a picture. She took that baby and walked out of the hospital with him. When I went into labor and went to the hospital security was crazy. There were FBI agents walking around and policemen everywhere. The woman who took the baby took him home to show her parents and they knew something wasn't right so while I was in surgery they brought her back to the hospital with the police officers to walk her around the labor and delivery floor to try to make her tell the truth. When I got out of surgery they took my baby, locked superhubby and myself up in our room and there were stayed all night. The fire alarms went off every 30 minutes all night, though I never could figure out why. Other than a few minutes in recovery I wasn't allowed to see my son until the next morning. I alternately dozed and cried all night. When they brought him to me in the morning I was so relieved I didn't let them have him back. Now he is 19 and I still don't want him to be away from me for long, but I'm trying to learn because that day is approaching fast.

The birthday boy is in the dark blue......Happy Birthday son....I love you.

Do you remember?

It's time to test your memory. How many of you remember the 1980's? I mean really remember, not just remember seeing a picture in your mothers picture album. Some things I remember....

1. Very BIG hair. I used to get up an hour and a half before time to leave for school so I could wash my hair, dry it and put it in hot rollers....every single day no matter what.

2. Pegged jean legs. How did we get those things on over our feet? My jeans (which were size 6 to 8 back then even though I don't remember what that size really looks like) were so tight ankle to waist I am surprised I didn't pass out when I sat in class. The funny thing is I don't remember ever being uncomfortable in them.

3. Music- The music was great and like every other generation we think kids today do not understand real music.

This is all to bring me to a little story. Superhubby (SH) doesn't like to get rid of anything. AT ALL! He kept clothes from when we were dating and would love to still wear them if they would fit. While SH and DS were discussing today's boys shorts (which SH swears are just pants cut off a couple of inches) SH decided to drag out a few items of clothing he remembered fondly. My DS could not resist trying them on and having a little fashion show for us....Funny how your memory changes after a few years, I could have sworn those clothes were cute on SH.

A few more bits and pieces

There were a few comments/emails I want to address.
Kim- I can't get those people from my last post out of my mind either. If it were only the adults I could shrug it off and hope they didn't fall asleep at the wheel and hit someone else on the way home but those kids, especially the youngest will not get out of my mind. I think I will go to the derby this coming Saturday night just to see if they come back.
To whomever emailed me about the snakes- I admit it I can not remember who emailed me. I have a bad habit of deleting emails thinking I will remember things and then I don't. To answer your question (which was do I know how to tell a poisonous snake from a non- poisonous snake?) I have a sure fire way I always use to tell about snakes. Some people can tell by the shape of the head, the fangs (hollow or not) or the colors. My method is much easier. I start by running away from the snake screaming at the top of my lungs and stay back until Superhubby finds out what kind it is and lets me know, usually by calling the neighbors one by one until he finds out how far I have gone.

Bits and pieces

We went to the fair again Monday night to watch those very loud truck and tractor pulls. I do enjoy them for a little while but the temperature Monday was 97 and it was still humid and in the upper 80's for this. Factor in that my niece from NJ, whom I love like my own, sat with me (or should I say on me) the entire time.

Now I think I can talk about that couple that were sitting by us at the fair Saturday night. This perfectly normal looking couple sat down by us and I didn't think anything of it until after a few minutes and I noticed they were falling over. Not just drunk falling over, something worse falling over. The woman was the worst and she sat the entire 2 hours with her mouth open, her eyes closed and one or the other of her children catching her before she completely fell. She had very obvious needle marks all over her arms. Her son, who I guess was about 6 or 7 sat beside his parents the entire night and once in a while he would say "dad" or once in a great while "mom" to which he got his head patted and no other response, because they were too out of it to respond. The daughter, who was about 11 or 12 walked by every once in a while with some friends and would stop to sit mom up better, pull her clothes on right or get her hair out of her mouth where she had caught some in her latest near fall. I was sick about them the entire night. If they want to screw up their own lives more power to them, but they have children and those children have to live with this. It is hard enough to be an 11 or 12 year old girl but to have to take care of your drugged up mother in front of your friends had to be horrible. I was daydreaming that the parents would wonder out in the road and get hit by a car on one of their trips to the "porta- potti's "while their kids were watching the derby. It couldn't be any less stressful than what their lives are going to be anyway. Instead I had to watch those children walk away with their parents, probably to get in a car one of them was going to drive home. We were sitting in the front row, with members of the local sheriff's office all around. They were watching this couple a little, but I'm sure they were as helpless as I was. I actually was trying to figure out what my chances were of trying to get a Judge to understand it wasn't really kidnapping since I was trying to help them. I knew that wouldn't go over well either. In the end I could do nothing but watch them walk away and beat myself up over and over because I didn't do something. I wish there were real superheros with real cool capes......

It ain't for the faint of heart

Country living has its perks. I love being able to walk outside and hear nothing but birds. I love sitting outside and not seeing anyone and knowing no one can see me in my shorts with holes in them and tank top. If I hear an airplane it is usually worth going outside and looking, because with all these hills around low flying airplanes are few and far between. I love looking at my dozens and dozens of plants which are quickly growing a large amount of tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelons and cantaloupe.

Country living also has its downside. I hate it if I need to go shopping. There is a small store a few miles from here that is great to grab a few groceries and they cut their own meat so I don't buy meat anywhere else. If you need much though you have to drive to town....miles and miles away. I also hate hate hate hate hate hate to walk outside and see this.......

Yes I was talking to my sister in NJ on the phone and walked out the door right beside this. My poor sister who is in NJ while her daughter is here with me and this thing. I'm flipping out because I am afraid to walk back beside it to get in the house and too afraid to walk around back in the dark to another door. I finally yelled long enough that DS heard me from the pool around back and went and got superhubby. Superhubby brought his trusty hoe and pulled it off of the porch while I ran in the house to make sure the kids didn't walk out (yeah keep telling yourself that.) Then I got my camera and went back outside to get a few pictures. Superhubby got it off of the porch(where there are baby birds in a nest- yum)

Then quick as a flash and while I was being brave (or dancing around squealing like a little girl) it jumped off of the hoe and under superhubby's car......where it remains 2 hours later. It didn't just go under the car, it went up in the engine compartment. Superhubby bravely tried to get it out but then it disappeared somewhere under that car and we can't find it. Superhubby is still out there determined to get it out from under his car. It may have been something I said, like "it will be a cold day in H*ll before I get back in that car with you." I've tried to be brave and walked around the car while he sprayed underneath and beat the car all over with his hoe, but I could still stay 5 or 6 feet away from the car and watch from a safer distance.

I still plan on posting about that couple that sat by us at the fair, but for some reason whenever I think about them I get mad, then get madder and then just get sick to my stomach. I'm working up to it.

UPDATE: I hit publish post and heard DD coming home so I walked outside just in time to hear superhubby say "I SEE HIM." Then we spent 30 minutes trying to pull him out from under the hood with pliers. I say we like I actually did anything other than hold a light from 4 feet away and scream every time it moved a little. Finally Superhubby cut the thing in half and threw a couple of feet of tail down and pulled and pulled on the rest(which was over 2 more feet of snake. It finally came loose and started striking at him until he got his trusty hoe and smashed its little head. It quit moving then but the tail wiggled around in the driveway until Superhubby finally threw it into the woods. I HATE SNAKES!

The county fair

Tonight DD, superhubby and I went to that one place all country folks look forward to all year long...The county fair. Superhubby and I are not big fans of the fair, but we do go to watch the shows a couple of times and since DD wanted to go tonight we decided to go with her. Tonight's show was the first of 3 demolition derbys taking place this week. Let me just say that no where else on earth are there so many mullets packed into such a small area. If we could get them to donate to locks of love we could really do some good. I also have never seen so many tattoos, most of which were probably done at home and some that I'm pretty sure were done while drunk. "Pearl Ann roks!" " I love my moma!" I swear I'm about afraid to let DD go by herself the rest of the week.

In case you have never been to a demolition derby they all look about like this.

Some of the unlucky ones ended up stuck on the wall like this poor guy who didn't have a chance to get back in the derby and when he was pushed up there he missed the spectators by only a few feet.

I was amazed at the group of normal looking families sitting behind me. Moms, dads and children all screaming obscenities at drivers, flipping off the flaggers and just acting like complete and total idiots. The worst was a mom, dad and young boy sitting directly to my husbands right and they were not even watching the derby, but that is a post all to itself and right now I am still so bothered by them I don't think I should get started on that tonight.

They are watching you.....

IMPORTANT.....if you haven't read my latest whymommy post please do so, it is below this one ( a couple of posts). Whymommy needs everyones support.



Tonight we went to town to watch some fireworks. This year I decided we did not need to buy any fireworks because it is so dry around here one spark could cause a big fire. I took quite a few pictures and most of them turned out like this one.

When I loaded them in my computer I was surprised to see this one.

I guess it was just a camera trick because all the fireworks were just plain old fireworks, nothing with weird shapes or anything. I'm just going to act like it was my guardian angels watching over me.

the one where I try to make Ann Marie love me again and give me all the smooches

IMPORTANT.....if you haven't read my latest whymommy post please do so, it is right below this one. Whymommy needs everyones support.

Ok so since I am sucking up and trying to get back into Ann Maries (http://thewatermanswife.blogspot.com/ good graces I thought I would post some pictures of what is growing in my backyard right now.

See the little tiny watermelon growing in the middle? I love watermelon and in the 3 days or so since I took this picture it has about tripled in size. YUM! We also have quite a few cantelopes growing, which I can't stand but DD and superhubbby love.

See the tomatoes? We have about 50 tomatoes about this size. I don't like tomatoes at all and it's kind of a weird thing. I love things made with tomatoes but cannot eat a plain tomato to save my life. I love spagetti sauce, pizza sauce but can't eat a tiny little slice of tomato.

We also have dozens of cucumbers but I seem to have misplaced the picture I took of them and I am way too lazy to go back out in the 90 degree heat to take another one.

I know this isn't vanilla cream fruit smothered breakfast goodies but I did owe Ann Marie this, since she is working hard to get healthier and I am ruining it by talking about fattening breakfast foods.

DD and I are getting ready to go watch some fireworks with a bunch of family and friends. DS is obviously too old to go watch fireworks and superhubby has to work tonight. I hope everyone out there has a safe and wonderful 4th of July.

Team whymommy part 2

It is Sunday morning. I am the only one awake at 9AM, reading up on a few blogs, feeding dogs, wishing I had gotten ready for church instead of reading blogs and playing with dogs. I have a full, busy day today and my niece that I love like one of my own children is coming from NJ to spend a little of her summer with us. She does this every summer and I enjoy these weeks with her tremendously.
I am also taking a few minutes this morning to count my blessings. My teenagers are in bed asleep. I know they should be up and not sleeping all day, but they are teenagers and morning is not a great time for them. I feel blessed that my teenagers spent Saturday night at home. That isn't always the case but most of the time they are here or out for just a little while and then right back home. I have never had to worry about them getting into too much trouble. I feel blessed this morning that I am not the mother of a 19 year old local girl killed by a drunk driver Friday night. I wish I knew her mother because I feel like I need to help her family for some reason. I just read the paper and realize the drunk driver was someone I knew in high school. Sigh.
My biggest blessing for this morning is that I am here with my family and, at least for the time being no one in my family is facing any serious medical issues. We have had lots of them in the past. Superhubby and I have both had many family members who have had to fight the horrible monster called cancer. I hate cancer and DD and I both support the relay for life and cancer research when we can.
Today thousands of people are fighting cancer. Cancer sucks. There is no other way around it and no other words I care to use to talk about it. There are newborn babies with cancer, children, teens, adults and older people. We all need to find time in our day to do something for someone with cancer. If you've never had cancer try to imagine the panic and fear you would feel when a doctor used that word pertaining to you. Today if you read this please go to http://toddlerplanet.wordpress.com/ and spend a few minutes sharing happy thoughts with this young mother of two small children who must now fight this beast. No bad stories, no more fear or pity.....just a few lines to let her know the fight can be won and people everywhere are cheering her on in this fight.