Harry Potter Summer

This summer I read the Harry Potter series. I hadn't read them until now because I don't generally care for the science fiction or fantasy genres of stories. Plus there was the way that "everyone" was "always" talking about Harry Potter This and Harry Potter That. I think that God was secretly keeping me away from the books so that I wouldn't have to wait between reading them. I timed them perfectly... I started the first one just as the last one was released to the public. My biggest problem at that point was trying not to hear any news of the plot of the last book, or even what characters were still around. While it's not hard to surprise me, my enjoyment of a story is pretty much ruined once I know what's going to happen.

I liked the series a lot and even found myself noticing that the author had a good way of writing. That's the way English majors describe good literature, no?

If you haven't read the books yet, I suggest giving the first one a try. You won't lose out on anything by trying it but you might find yourself happily sucked into the story on page 2 the way that I did - kinda like falling into a pensieve.

Mama, it doesn't matter

I'm sometimes a bit of a control freak. I fretted over Kevin's lunch items when he started kindergarten because he can't open most of our plastic containers. Before purchasing some that he can open, I accidentally packed him regular containers one day without thinking about it. Then I worried because if I'd been unable to open my lunch items, I would've just put them back in my Pigs In Space lunchbox and not eaten. Kevin, on the other hand, asked the lunch room monitor for help. Huh, how about that?

The second day of school, he asked to buy lunch. In all my years of school, I never bought my lunch. And I haven't seen how Kevin's school does it, so I didn't know how to tell him to proceed. I agreed to let him buy lunch after all but tried to explain how it might work.

"You probably have to pick up a tray and then tell the person behind the counter-" Kevin interrupted me to inform me, "they're lunch ladies." I wasn't sure that was a politically correct label but I guess it is. I continued, "You'll have to tell the lunch lady what you want to eat - tell her cheese pizza. Then you need to pick out a fruit-" He asked, "Will they make me?" I said, "No, but I will. So you have your tray and your pizza and your fruit and then you can pick your milk. Hmm... Maybe the milk is at the beginning of the line. Well, either get your milk at the beginning or the end, I'm sorry, I just don't know."

Kevin replied nonchalantly, "It doesn't matter," as if he had some inkling of the earthquake of uncertainty in my soul, and he grabbed his backpack and bounced out of the house.

Stylin'

 

Kevin has been asking for "crocs" for awhile now. Today I told him we could do something special for him (he has the day off from school) if he was good while I shopped for clothes for the wedding reception I'm attending this weekend.

His pair is shaped like race cars. On the back, where the taillights are, they actually light up (feel free to roll your eyes - mine haven't stopped since I handed the cashier my credit card.)

 

This is a close-up of the pair that Kevin picked out for me. I said, "But they have skulls and crossbones on them." He answered, "Just ignore them."

Kindergartner

 

No tears from anyone when he got on the bus but I admit I'm nervous about some little things like him not knowing that he can ask to use the bathroom whenever he needs to and how to open all of his lunch items himself (although I used mostly all ziploc bags today because I didn't think to test him on our plastic containers.)

I don't have any worries in the grand scheme of things - he'll be a pro in a few days and I think he'll do well in school and enjoy it.

It's canning season

I canned strawberry jam early in the summer but now it's time for peaches and tomatoes. Applesauce is still to come.

 
Yummy, simmering peaches just before putting them into jars

 
Tomato leftovers - the skin and seeds left after mashing the rest of the tomatoes through the food mill to make tomato sauce

More vacation pictures

 

This is the man who designed and makes the Christmas Trees at Simon Pearce. It was amazing to watch him make them.

 

Our twilight canoe ride at Deep Creek Lake State Park

 

The living room of the cabin/house we stayed in

 
Dad and Andy enjoying our last few minutes of vacation

Vacation pictures

Surprisingly, I didn't carry my camera with me much on vacation and I don't have many pictures. I'm hoping to snag some of my dad's to supplement my inventory.

Here are a few I did take.

 

Dianne, Kevin, Andy in the freezing water at Tolliver Falls in Swallow Falls State Park

 

Kevin being silly

 

Dianne, Andy, Kevin, Dad, Mom on the trail to Muddy Creek Falls in Swallow Falls State Park

 

Kevin with Skunky, his new stuffed animal that he asked for 8 times a day after we first saw it at the Discovery Center in Deep Creek Lake State Park

We had the best vacation

Do you know how I know we had the best vacation? The day we left to come home, we wished we could've stayed another week. When we got home, we wished we weren't here. The next day, we still wished we were on our vacation, exactly as it was, and not here.

It's not just that we don't want to go back to work. It's not that we need a vacation from our vacation. It's that we want that vacation we just had to continue just as it was really happening.

Our honeymoon was like that to some extent, although on our way home, we had our new "normal," everyday married life to look forward to.

Not only did this vacation include our son, but we were with my parents. Staying in the same cabin. Participating in the same activities.

And it was awesome.

Just overheard from behind my chair

"You have a skunk on your face and you look like Santa Clause."

How not to respond to someone else's good news

Friend/Acquaintance: Yeah, I got married this weekend.
Me: On purpose?

I can only hope he thinks that I was testifying to the state of my marriage (which, of course, I would get myself into on purpose a million times over) and not to the state of my opinion of his husband-worthiness.

Adios, Mi Amigo

 

This was my last look at the truck while driving away from the lot where I left it tonight.

The Tour de France!

Yes, that's an exclamation point up there, because I LOVE THE TOUR. At the beginning of this year's Tour, I was a bit down about all of the doping BS (pardon my French - haha, get it? French?) throughout the past year. I survived 2 weeks of the 3-week Tour without watching a single "live update newsflash." Then things got really exciting and I couldn't help myself - I turned back into my usual Tour maniac-self. Well, let's say 80% of my usual Tour maniac-self. Here's a summary of this year's Tour:

1. A few people got kicked out of the race for doping


2. A few people got fired from their teams for doping


3. The race leader in the first set of mountains was kicked out of the race and off of his team for lying about his whereabouts during missed drug tests in the off-season


4. One guy got booted for doping on the same day that he participated in a "sit-in" against doping


5. The Discovery Channel team ROCKED THE PELOTON winning 1st and 3rd places overall - Go Disco!


6. Levi Leipheimer (who came in 3rd place) STOMPED the last individual time trial


7. The overall winner, Alberto Contador, from the Discovery Channel team, is only 24 years old


8. Discovery Channel might perhaps be wishing they hadn't already announced pulling out of their sponsorship of the team after this season

There you have it, the 2007 Tour de France in a nutshell.

Thoughts from my last day driving my old truck

I took the S-10 out for a spin today to CarMax to get it appraised to find out whether the charity I will support with it will get more money from it if I sell it and give them the cash or give them the truck outright. While all conditions they check (exterior/body, interior, frame, mechanics, etc.) were listed "as expected for the age of the vehicle" they still only offered me $250 - I guess I'm lucky they didn't try to charge me to take it off my hands. Speaking of which, Andy text messaged me while I was there and said, "Throw $20 on the floor and just walk out." Hmph.

Anyway, here are some thoughts I had while driving "Al" for what was probably the last real time.

1. Sliding into that seat and pulling out of the driveway was like slipping into an old pair of cotton fleece sweatpants - soft, comfy and worn-in in just the right spots. Sliding into the new car seat and pulling out of the driveway is like slipping into a pair of sweat-wicking, 4-way power stretch, therma-fleece running pants - also soft and comfy but more technologically advanced and designed for moving instead of lolly-gagging.
   
2. The truck accelerates as fast as a snail on downers.
   
3. Country music sounds much better in a pickup.
   
4. What with all the creaks and clunks it lets out, I'm really lucky that truck still runs and never left me (or anyone else) stranded anywhere.
   

I run like an animal

A friend invited me to do a duathlon with her in September. That's a race where you do a run, ride your bike, and then run again. I used to do them regularly but haven't done a training run or bike ride in AGES. This friend is obviously not someone I talk to on a regular basis or else she probably would have never considered asking me along :-)

Not knowing whether I can even train hard enough to be prepared in 8 weeks, I went for a test run this morning. If I can't run a mile already, there's no way I can be ready for that race in 2 months. I stole borrowed Andy's mp3 player and went out with my running shoes on this morning. I ran for 15 minutes (and walked another 15) so I'm guessing I made it about a mile (not including the walking.) I run very slowly.

I don't usually run with music on so that was a change that I think helped me to stay moving when I would've otherwise felt like I should quit. If I can't hear myself breathing like a raspy ogre, then it doesn't seem like I'm doing such a bad job. Plus, I listened to Nickelback, which is hard to sit still during anyway.

Most of the time I have to consciously slow myself down because I can't run very long if I run at a normal pace and I at least need to get back home from wherever I am at the time. This morning I found the perfect song to match my tempo. Never before has a song actually fit perfectly with my stride/pace/cadence.

It figures that it's the song "Animals." Sheesh.

They say it's my birthday

Today is my birthday and the celebration started on Sunday with a surprise "party" set up for me when I got home from church. Amy decorated our dining room table with party plates and napkins, confetti, balloons, flowers, candles, presents and a cake while we were out.

Yesterday I spent the day with two other dear friends, Beth and Elesa, swimming in the pool and just hanging out doing not much of anything. Dinner was terrific and there was home made ice cream and cake afterward - yum!

When I got in the car to come home, I found a new CD (Rascal Flatts) with a bow on it that Andy had put in the car for me to listen to on the way home. This morning I found a card in the refrigerator which Kevin made.

I don't often feel sappy or get teary-eyed about things that Kevin does but this came close to doing it:

 

Can you see what he wrote at the bottom? "You are the prettiest and greatest Mama." Of course he should think that, as all kids do, but I don't take that for granted. Plus, when I try to make him write things, he stops at his name and asks me to write the rest. Writing that whole statement himself was an effort the likes of which he rarely makes.

Kevin couldn't wait for Andy to come home to give me presents so he had me call Andy so he could talk to him on the phone. Andy walked Kevin through the process of finding the hidden presents in the car and under Kevin's bed so Kevin traipsed outside in his pajamas and rain boots (it's beautifully sunny here today) with the phone to his ear and climbed through the car to find the pack of socks hidden in there for me. After the presents were found, Kevin asked Andy if he could tell me what we're doing this afternoon and Andy obliged. Kevin told me that we're going out to dinner and to play "MINIATURE GOLF!!" Andy says that was Kevin's idea.

It's been a wonderful few days of birthday celebration and it's more than I expected. I'm very fortunate to have friends and family who care for me.

More Kwik-E-Mart photos

Thank you for loitering. Please come again.

7-Eleven knows what they're doing, joining up with The Simpsons movie. The folks buying Buzz Cola, Squishees, Krusty-Ohs and pink sprinkled doughnuts and snapping pics with their pocket digital cameras outnumbered those who appeared to be locals at the Bladensburg, MD, 7-Eleven-turned-Kwik-E-Mart on this sunny Sunday morning.

Without studying

Honestly, though, if they call an A- "excellent," what do they call an A+? They might just be trying to make me feel good but I know better.

Le Tour. (with a period, not an exclamation point)

Yes, Folks, the riders of Le Tour de France are less than 2 weeks from lining up for the Grand Depart in London, England. England? Yup, the Tour makes its debut in London and we avid race fans are wondering, "Will car traffic be held off while the cyclists race through the tunnel?" Just kidding.

Anyway, you haven't heard much from me this year about the Tour because, frankly, there's too much drama. Unfortunately, it's not racing tactics drama so it's not exciting. Well, I guess it actually is racing tactics but it reads more like a gritty tale of drugs, drugs and more drugs. Doping is the word in cycling, yet again (still?) and the stories make my head spin. I wish I could provide a nice, clean summary to catch you all up but I can't. It's too crazy with someone like me being completely unable to know what's true and what's not. I sure hope someone comes up with a way to figure that out sooner rather than later because I'm not sure the professionals know all that much more surely than I do.

Yes, I will keep an eye on the race. Yes, I will get excited about the race. But there will be a piece of me holding back because I have that awful, nagging feeling that nothing is what it seems.

Thoughts from my first day driving our new car

Today I drove our new car to work. It was my first chance to drive it in place of my truck. I had some thoughts along the way.

1. It's hard to drive the speed limit in a new car
2. I'm no longer a cool chick in a truck
3. I'm no longer a weird and/or possibly lesbian chick in a truck
4. Feeling safer (real or contrived) feels good
5. I'm interchangeable with most other people on the road
6. I will miss my truck
7. Sitting lower than other drivers provides a new perspective
8. It takes longer to change the temperature of the air in a wagon than a truck cab
9. I should more closely consider where I park
10. Accidentally turning on the heated seats switch makes a 100-degree day feel even hotter
11. I look forward to testing the limits of the all-wheel-drive-ity of the new car
12. A shorter wheelbase allows one to drive faster over speed humps