June 7th

160:366



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

June 7
List 8 reasons it's okay to lie.
Katrina

1. You do not ever tell a woman her baby is not cute - all babies are cute. Period.  No matter what. Or a friend's haircut is awful (or maybe you should, the mullet had to start somewhere) or their outfit is horrendous.  Basically, if it will make you look like an ass, don't say it.

2.  To protect someone, especially your kids.

3.  Santa Claus, Easter bunny, tooth fairy, etc.  Yeah, I think those are okay fibs.  They enhance magic of the holiday/occasion.

4.  For compassion.  (Thanks for your help Robert)  Telling a very sick person, that isn't going to be fine, "you're going to just fine."  But only up to a point.

5. Politics, to some people.
In usual cases beliefs should be stood up for, but occasionally you will come across some fucktard (excuse my language Granny and Grandma) that will attack you - full out verbally (and possibly physically) attack you for your beliefs. I've had this happen to me with strangers at a party who called me all sorts of bad names, but chalked that up to a fluke experience.  Recently, however, I had this happen to me and my kids (and oh boy was that person LUCKY he didn't push too far with my kids and also that he was family) so now I have the stance - politics are a nod and walk away situation with those kinds of people, and you can spot them a mile away.

6.  Playing hookie.  Not that I condone that (or ever have done it with my current job in case any of my coworkers are reading this, which I don't think they know I have a blog), but occasionally (seriously, occasionally is like once every 6-12 months; not every week) we all need a day to ourselves.  A day to unwind and take a nap or get some errands done or just some time to ourselves.

And now I'm stuck and I'm polling my facebook.

7.  It's okay to lie if you're The Doctor.  Thank you for the reminder Bonnie!

8.  And this one comes from friend/coworker Erin - to help a surprise.  Like for gifts or a surprise party.

Any I missed?

June 6th

159:366


* * * * * * * * * * *
June 6
Share a recipe or meal that is a summertime favorite.  
Amy

Our go-to meals during the summer is anything grilled/barbequed.

Hamburgers, hot dogs, steaks, chicken, ribs, vegetables (though this one is new for us so we're still experimenting with that).

And the things that go along with grilled meat and summertime staples for us - salads.  Potato salad, macaroni salad, garden salad, summer cucumbers...

The recipe I'm going to share is my macaroni salad.

1 lb macaroni noodles
2 hard boiled eggs
1 cucumber, peeled and chopped
1 tomato, chopped
Miracle Whip or Mayo (depending on your preference)
Lowry's seasoned salt, garlic salt, pepper to taste

Put eggs in pot of water large enough to add the noodles to and bring to a boil.  Once boiling, add noodles and cook until done (still firm).  Drain and rinse. Remove eggs to bowl of cold water.  Cool both the eggs and noodles.  Peeling the eggs sometimes helps them cool faster.

Peel your cucumber and chop both the cucumber and tomato.

Once noodles are cooled at least to room temperature, put in a large bowl with cucumber and tomato.  Add 1/4 cup of  Miracle Whip/Mayo, sprinkle the salts and pepper and mix.  Go light at first, it's easy to add more - not easy to take out.  This is the hard part for me to describe.  I eyeball the amount of Miracle Whip/Mayo I use.  You want it moist and very lightly coated, not swimming in it.

Lastly, dice up the boiled eggs and mix those in.  Refrigerate for 30-60 minutes.

We like it best with BBQ pork country style ribs or BBQ chicken legs and thighs.

June 5th

157:366 (06/04/2012)
Just a simple, quickie shot of Simba


* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
June 5
Come up with a new Constitutional Amendment.
Art and Soul 

Um, nope. Not going to do this one. I will not get political up in here, it is a hot topic and I get chewed out for what I believe.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
158:366 (06/05/2012)

Garden progress!

Top, left to right: Potato tower (idea found via Pinterest at this link) and my pea tee-pees (found via Pinterest and inspired by this link).  After showing Robert the potato towers he insisted on making a frame for it since he didn't feel just wire alone would be sturdy enough.  It does make it much more sturdy and I'm very excited to see how many potatoes we get out of it (please, let there be a lot!).  We planted golden Yukon.

When putting in the pea tee-pees, while cutting the notches at the top of the wooden poles for the string to lay across, Robert nearly cut his finger off.  The saw jumped from the wood to his finger and he got a good stroke in.  It bled profusely and while he thought he felt it hit the bone he still refused to let me clean and bandage it, let alone take him to the hospital for stitches (which he only needed maybe MAYBE one stitch for it anyways).  He did let me get him a clean rag to wrap around it to stop the bleeding.  After awhile, I finally stopped pestering him to come inside for cleaning and bandaging and he finally stopped playing in the dirt and went inside and cleaned it up.  I still wanted to take him for a stitch (and it wasn't long enough for more than one if that, just deep) but he wasn't having any of that.  I then went on to have dreams that night of his finger becoming infected and having to be amputated.  This happened Saturday, it's now Wednesday and the cut looks great.  The neosporin and band-aids are working just fine.

Yes, I occasionally over-react, why do you ask?

Bottom, left to right:  Garden fence now and just coming up garlic.  Robert shortened it about 6 inches and cut down the posts.  We just need toppers for the posts and then to decide if we are painting or leaving au naturale (leaning towards natural). The garlic I planted from cloves that had sprouted on my counter from store bought garlic I apparently wasn't using fast enough.

June 4th

156:366 - Sunday - Playing at the barn with a friend (and her horse), working Wynston.

My neighbors are awesome.  We have been incredibly lucky getting such great neighbors.  They don't throw loud parties that keep us up all night.  They respect our property.  Shoot, they even help protect it.  We were in the store shortly after moving in and I received a call from my neighbor letting me know about someone snooping around our house.  She went and ferreted out who they were for us even, the insurance people.  Not to mention, they also watch our pets and house when we vacation.

One neighbor has really become a friend. She is our dog sitter. She is awesome.  She also has a couple of horses - Wynston, a Fresian and Starlette, a Tennessee walker.  She even lets me tag along often to the barn where she boards them to help with horse related chores and occasionally to help work the horses.  I really enjoy tagging along, a lot. I don't mind mucking the stalls, and might even go as far to say I enjoy it, though I know that sounds crazy.  The sites and smells of a barn full of horses just make me happy.

Last night I got to work Wynston by myself, a feat I'm pretty proud of since I'm still learning about horses and such.  I've always loved them, and have always wanted one, but now that I'm older and not as naive, I am learning how expensive owning them can be, as well as how to actually take care of them.  One day I will own horses and when that day finally comes, thanks to G, I will know how to properly take care of those horses to keep them healthy and happy.

G and her husband are looking at moving, hopefully to a place where she can have her horses so she won't have to board them anymore.  I'm excited and happy for them, but I don't want to lose them as neighbors either.  So, I'm going to just hope and pray that they find their new home close by (don't move to Warren G!!) so I can visit often.


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
June 4

What did people tease you about growing up?
Niki

A little of this, a little of that.  Probably some of the most common things about getting teased about.

The only things that really stand out in my mind:

3rd/4th grade - being one of the few kids whose parents weren't divorced (they divorced the next year)
Grade school somewhere in there - the clothes I was wearing weren't good enough...
7th grade - for thinking girls were beautiful (thought that was really stupid thing to get teased about, still do)
8th grade - being the new girl
9th grade - for getting knocked up
10th-12th - I remember being teased, but don't really recall what for...I think weight for a little bit.

None of it really bothered me.  Yeah, I would get embarrassed but I didn't really harp on the teasing and I didn't really try to change anything.  I guess that was good of me.  But don't get me wrong, it wasn't be conscious decision to not let it get to me, I was just caught up in my own little world and felt loved by who I loved.

Well, now - way to go me!

June 3rd

155:366 - Saturday - Playing with Leia at the dog park.


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
June 3
Who are your role models?
Dana

I don't have a traditional role model.  I don't look up to celebrities or other famous or notable people.

There are qualities in some people that I respect, admire, and I want to have in myself but I don't have one or more persons that I try to model myself after.

I look up to me. I try to be a person I can be proud of, one that stands up for herself and others.  One that loves and cares for everyone, not just those that care back. And one that is a good person to everyone.

A good mother, wife, daughter/granddaughter/daughter-in-law, sister, cousin, neice, friend, and stranger...

I really hope I am succeeding.

June 2nd

154:366 - June 1st


A bee on the peony out front.

* * * * * * * * * * *
When talking about yesterday's prompt with Robert, I asked him if he agreed with my Phoebe-ness, and he does kinda.  He agrees in that I will do anything for a friend - sometimes to the detriment of myself.  And sometimes I do.  But anyways - we're not going to go there.

I asked him who he felt he identified with and after just a little bit of thought he came up with MacGyver.

Robert is so MacGyver. He can take things apart and put them back together again either fixing what ever was wrong or creating something new.  He definitely could do the whole wilderness/stressful/extreme situation survival bit.  It fits him very well.

* * * * * * * * * * *

June 2
What gives you nightmares?
Kassie

So, um. Thanks Kassie. I don't want to think about what gives me nightmares. But that's the prompt.  Okay, let's get started.

1. Spiders.  But only awake time nightmares.  I don't ever recall having a bad dream where spiders were coming after me to eat me.  They only do that when I'm awake, in real life, when I have to scream and have someone else kill them.  Or, more realistically, when I'm the only one around to fight against their tyranny and I have to be brave and put the longest hose attachment on the vacuum, hope it doesn't fall off when the spider is halfway through the tube because it doesn't fit well, and suck that thing up.  Then leave it running for 20 minutes to make sure it is a) to damn dizzy to find its way out or b) actually dead.  Guess what I did this morning?!

I have a few "recurring" dreams.  They are only slightly recurring in that the scene/situation changes, but the end result is always the same.

2.  I'm always floating away.  I start out like I can fly and I can get back to the ground, control how long I'm up in the air and how far I go up.  It quickly turns into me not being able to stay on the ground, going higher and higher each time I leave the ground, and eventually I can't get back down and I'm floating away.

3.  I'm running from someone.  Sometimes it's zombies, and then it's more amusing then scary, but I will still wake up in that nightmare panic. And hello, have you read the news lately. Zombie-ish-ness popping up all over the place.  Though usually, I'm running from a bad guy or guys.  A traditional bad guy, someone who wants to harm me.

I wonder what those dreams mean... I have my theories, especially with the running from someone who wants to harm me one, but it would be interesting to see what an "expert" says.

4.  Something bad happening to the kids or Robert.  I think these might be the worse because once I'm finally awake (and I will know it's a bad dream and try to wake myself up but can't until just the right moment - probably when they're about to die or have died in my dream) I will lay awake analyzing the dream, trying to convince myself that the situation will never happen, OR, worse, trying to plan the what-ifs it did happen. Because that makes sense.  Something horrible happens to my kids or husband and it's okay because I have a plan on how to handle it. Ugh.

June 1st

153:366  - Mmmm watermelon



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
In other news, Carus finished all of her coursework, testing, etc. today for the school year.  She is done! And done early!  She still needs to do some on her own learning stuff to be able to log attendance for state requirements, but she is still done done done.  I'm relieved just as much as she is.

In her year with K12 we've both learned a lot. I think the biggest plus she got out of this was her self confidence being built up.  She was able to see just how brilliant she is.

She would like to go back to traditional brick and mortar school next year, and because it is a new school where we won't have to deal with poor and insensitive educators, we are going to go that route. I think. I'm still freaking out over - What if we make the wrong decision and ruin her life forever! - stuff, but I know (mostly) that it's just nerves and she will be fine.

Adam is considering K12 for his next year after some issues with him getting grounded for not turning in his work/teachers losing his turned in work.  Robert and I are both fed up with one particular teacher that takes 3 weeks (WEEKS!) to post his grades to esis (where we can view assignments and grades online) BUT YET insists that we can best help her help him get his work done by monitoring esis. BEYOND frustrating.  I just wish I had started the she must sign a note saying she received your work thing a little sooner this year.  It would have saved Adam having to redo 3 assignments (assuming he didn't lie and he did do it in the first place).

Ugh, I feel like I'm ragging on teachers. I have the most utmost respect for teachers, I really do.  The kids have had some AMAZING teachers and far more good ones than bad.  I'm just frustrated with recent experiences with not so good teachers - teachers that are preoccupied by their own college coursework (don't teach honors full time to middle schoolers and go back to school for your doctorate in the same year) or teachers that pass off their job to student teachers who try out new methods of teaching the same thing each week for 3 months (seriously, why don't you confuse the children!) and that dismiss bullying with "but she picks on him too".  Those teachers.


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Reverb broads prompt time!

June 1
With what fictional character (book, movie, TV, etc.) do you most identify?  Why?
Kristen

Okay, at first I thought this one was going to be easy. I can easily feel part of a book or movie or show.  Feel that I actually know the characters, that they are my friends, but at the same time feel separate from them, and that I would just need to pick the one that I most identify with.  Then I started thinking about it and I don't really identify with them.

I feel I know them, they are friends or something, but they don't fit me exactly. Don't fit my life completely. Maybe I'm just too unique - HA!

I don't know.

Thinking of my favorite books (Outlander series - HOLLA!), movies I've seen in the past week (Letters to Juliet, Men In Black III, Bruno), or some favorite TV series currently on my docket (including, but not limited to Fringe, Bones, Doctor Who, Vampire Diaries, Big Bang Theory) and I don't see or feel myself in them - gladly for a few and unfortunately for some (I would totally run away with The Doctor).

My brain keeps coming back to the show Friends. I have no clue why because I don't feel like I identify with any of the characters - but I did/do love them. I always wish for friends like them.  Friends that close, that love each other so unconditionally and wholeheartedly.  I love all the characters, especially Phoebe.  She's my favorite, her quirkiness and acceptance for everyone. And her willingness to do and be exactly what her friends need her to do/be at any given time.

Huh.  Maybe that's why I keep going back to it, and to her. Maybe she is who I identify with, or, more truthfully, who I hope to be for my friends.  I want to be a good friend and while I know I fail often, more often than I would like, I do try.

How about you, do you identify with a fictional character?