Yawn . . .

Not too much going on today. I've been trying to finish up the "Rearrange All My Crap in the Limited Space That is My Bedroom" project before heading back to work for the Census. My goal is to be finished before I head to Lisa's wedding this weekend . . . so far, so good.

Tuesday is Weigh In Day and I am happy to report that I was under 220 for the second time in three weeks . . . since I'm guessing each of my boobs weights at least 10 pounds, I am now under 200 pounds in my imagination. Thirty pounds to go before Thanksgiving and my 20th class reunion.

Since K and I were both going stir crazy today (and I need to get started on those 30 lbs), dinner was a picnic at Riverlands followed by a nice long walk on one of their nature trails. Other than that, today was a big old yawn.

I Really Do Try . . .

I try to be a good person . . . I really, really do . . . super secret swear. But sometimes it's just plain hard to take the high road, especially when people who have no idea what they're talking about take pot shots from their ivory towers. Then I just take a deep breath, pray for patience and remember that I generally don't care what other people think. I know who I am . . . a great mother, a loving daughter, a good friend and an all around decent person. I don't lie, I don't steal and I try to treat people better than they treat me. Sure, I can be a little snarky at times, but for those who love me, it's part of my charm. But enough about that.


K and I had a great weekend. Saturday we got to join my cousin Jim and his amazing wife Wendy as they celebrated her daughter's graduation from high school. Unfortunately, we weren't familiar with the house and no one told us there was a pool. Lucky for us, we don't stand on ceremony around here and after watching K gaze longingly at the pool for several minutes I made an executive decision that a proper bathing suit was not required to enjoy the festivities . . . especially since it would have been a 20 minute drive back to the house or 20 minutes (in the other direction) to the nearest Wal-Mart. In addition to her hillbilly swimwear, K also created a makeshift raft . . . we had swim noodles in the car, but no swimsuit . . . go figure.



Today was even better. After K and I went to church, my brother, sister-in-law and niece came up to celebrate Father's Day with me, Mom, Dad and K. Nothing beats London Broil, potato salad and corn on the cob . . . unless it's the girls playing Crazy 8s, Old Mail and Jenga while the boys slept off their supper.



To add icing to an already perfect day, K finally dislodged one of her loose front teeth. We're hoping the new one comes in before her official Flower Girl duties at Uncle John's wedding in August. Luckily, one of the few things that isn't packed away in the storage unit was the special bag the Tooth Fairy gave K to put her teeth in. She will be pleasantly surprised in a few hours to realize that, yes the Tooth Fairy does apparently work of Father's Day . . . but only because she found one of the gold $1 coins she trades for teeth in the ashtray of Mommy's car . . . we'll keep that part to ourselves.

Paying it Forward

When K was a baby, I would pray and pray every day that she have a happy, healthy life. We have truly been blessed on that front and while we have (thankfully) never needed the services of the American Cancer Society, we support them every year by going to Relay for Life. Last year two of my coworkers were high up on the planning committee so we knew what to expect. This year we went in blind . . . and loved every minute of it.

My sister-in-law and niece met us for dinner (and for the girls, dancing . . . gotta love K, she just can't help rocking out to an 80s cover band and her cousin, being 4, follows in her footsteps). After dinner we were on our own. K talked me into a $3 pony ride to get ready for her upcoming trip to Daddy's house in July and she used her allowance (5o cents at a time) to feed the llama, goats and sheep in the petting zoo. I love having a child who doesn't mind giving up a little of the money she makes each week cleaning kitty crap to a good cause. It makes me incredibly proud of the kid she is and gives me great hope for the compassionate women she will one day become. There were trips to the bouncy house and duck pond, more stints on the dance floor and an incredible booth with awesome raffle baskets we hope will be calling us tomorrow.

We got to spend time with our friends Megan and Gene, badgered an e-mail address from an HR rep to send a resume and I ran into two friends from high school. It was great catching up with the girl I graduated with and a lot of fun catching up with the still cute football player who used to take the pickles off his hamburgers at McDonald's after the games to take home to his dog. Of course since I'm apparently not supposed to have sex again until K is at least in college, I also got to meet his gorgeous wife and 9 week old son. We left after the luminary ceremony, a beautiful if somber lap around the track (in this case led by a bagpiper) once all the luminaries in honor or in memory of cancer patients and survivors have be lit. It's such a touching part of the event and it never fails to bring tears to my eyes. The two honorary chairs for the event were a recent high school graduate and a local 3 year old girl who are both battling cancer. It never fails to make me thankful for the healthy child I have.

Speaking of that healthy child, K survived her week of Math Camp . . . it included two half days at school, a field trip to a dairy, playing in a creek (her classmates caught minnows, crayfish and a leech . . . apparently he was full so they could hold him . . . ummm, no thanks), a trip to the lake and counting M&Ms before eating them. Sounds like fun to me.

School's Out for Summer . . .

The highlight of our week was Tuesday around noon. K was excited because it was her last day of school . . . I was thrilled to read her report card and see she is headed to Second Grade in August . . . there are times I wondered. The girl knows everything she's supposed to know, it's the whole "stay in your seat and be quiet" thing she has trouble with.

Since yesterday was officially the first day of summer vacation, we continued the tradition of celebrating by heading to the amusement park. The park was different (Dorney Park, not Busch Gardens like last year) but the fun quotient was the same . . . despite the rainy drizzle that continued all day. One the down side, she is still too short to ride two of the big roller coasters (by 2 inches) and the rain meant the other coasters were closed for slippery tracks. On the up side, since we were already wet we hit the water rides early and often (we usually save those for our way to the car and dry clothes). Despite the lack of any actual roller coaster time, we had a blast on the twirly rides, K had a solo trip on a big "swing you around in the air" ride (the bar wouldn't close over my boobs, so I had to sit that one out) and we both did the "take you up in the air and shot you straight down to scare the crap out of you" ride. We called it an early day and hit the mall on the way home for hot chocolate and hair accessories for the 4th of July. All in all, not a bad day.

One of the things I missed most about PA is the summer carnivals. All of the fire companies here are run by volunteers and their main fundraisers are summer carnivals. The first one started last week and we stumbled on it after a special Thursday night soccer game while we were driving through town trying to figure out what to have for dinner. Carnival fare won hands down.

We went back Friday to celebrate the last full day of school (seemed like a good reason) and just had to join my folks when they went after Tuesday's soccer game for some ham and bean soup. K is disappointed that her mean mommy won't let her buy a baby turtle from the stand in the middle of the carnival grounds, but we were both delighted to find out she shared my love of Skee-Ball.