Biking the Trails

Last night we took our first ride on the new bike trail that has opened about a mile from our home. It's really nice, because the roads around us are very hilly and a tiring ride, the trail is flat, freshly paved, and our 2 mile ride comes our right into the parking lot of Dairy Queen in town. Our reward for biking in the heat last night was a small cone and then back home again. It was a nice family evening.

Ice Cream Anyone?

Today was a hot, humid, rainy Monday. We had gone out this morning to run errands, which included taking the boys to the grocery store. As a treat, we bought ice cream, and this afternoon, the boys and I sat down to a dish. Steve sat on the floor and Sadie, the little beast, sat down next to him, hoping for some too. The boy held his dish away from her (it seemed to be at least a foot away from her nose) and tried to get her to lay down and be good while he enjoyed. The boys have commented for a year on how long her tongue is, it is often hanging out the side of her mouth, sometimes laying directly on the floor while she is resting. Today they saw what that LONG tongue is good for - while Steve was trying to get her to lay down, she stuck that tongue out right into his bowl and had herself a good lick!! Steve (my teenage boy who never seems to be full anymore) looked into his bowl, shrugged his shoulders, and said, "Oh, well, I'll eat it anyway - it is ice cream!"

My Husband The Spy

The people Mike works with when he travels to China are here. No, not in my house right now, that would just be rude to type about them while they were sitting in front of me. They called Mike two nights ago and invited him to go to dinner with them, so off he headed (leaving the boys and myself on our own) to meet the Chinese delegation at the Mexican restaurant (Gotta love that!). When he got there he found that the head of the American company that was sending Mike to work in China (but who has not called Mike to do anything more with that project in a little over a year) was also there - can you say AWKWARD? So, they shared a nice meal and Mike came home much earlier than I planned to see him - their interpreter had left a message on the answering machine that they wanted Mike to go out with them to share drinks of Chinese alcohol with them - some of you must remember how awful that stuff tasted, and know that it is VERY potent stuff, from when we brought some of it to my sister's birthday party last summer. On the good side, Mike's former boss ended up buying his meal along with everyone else's that night. Petty to take pleasure in that, I know, but he kept our life up in the air for a couple of years by always saying the next China trip was coming soon - then hurry up and wait. They would send him for however many weeks (every trip was different) but he almost always stayed double what we were told, and when he was working in Bejing the summer they hosted the Olympics, he had to come home 2 weeks before it started - how cool would it have been to see the Olympics in person! Last night he got another call from his Chinese friends that this time they want to meet with him, without the American company there, in the next day or two. In the past they have mentioned to Mike they might like to hire him directly and by-pass the American company. He says he feels like a secret agent meeting with the Chinese without the American's knowing!

Day 1

Summer vacation for the boys officially began yesterday. In the late morning to early afternoon things went pretty smoohly, as we ran some errands and took care of some of those dreaded (for the boys) need to do things. After we got home, Pete hit the craft bucket that I set out for summer things to do. He decided to paint (washable, water based) and he was good about protecting the floor and the table. I thought I was on top of things, when he was done, I had him dump his brush water right away. Told him to get the paint put away and throw out those paper plates he was using as his artist's palate. OK, living room looks good, don't see anything to cause an unfortuanate accident. Day 1 of vacation is a success. Almost. Add to that an overgrown Saint-Newfie puppy who likes to dig in the trash, and what do you get? Yellow paint footprints all over the kitchen lineoleum (sp?) and then in through the hardwood to the area rug.....until Mike tackled her and we could decide how to handle this mess. Pete picked up the trash spread all over the floor and got out the mop to clean the kitchen floor. Steve got out a bucket for warm water and gated off the second walkway to the kitchen. (they thought it was funny that when I saw the amount of paint on the floor, I just used the kitchen sink sprayer to get water on the floor to mop). We cleaned up the kitchen then Steve drug Sadie into the kitchen for her clean up. She was not sure why we were washing her paws with all that warm water and wiping up the floor more as we went. She was then shut into the kitchen until she dried - we could not get all the yellow paint out of her fur. Then to the tan area rug in the living room - spot stain cleaner, paper towel, the home steam cleaner, more water.......repeat, repeat, repeat. I'm so glad it was the yellow she seemed to like instead of the blue or green - the yellow was bad enough to get out of the carpet. This morning our clean up area appears to have been a success. That paint may have to go......

FHA

So, WAYYYY back in high school, I was a member of the FHA (Future Homemakers of America). In fact I was more than just a member, I was the State Parlimentarian my Senior year of high school. My Home Ec teacher from high school, who was also the FHA advisor, contacted as many members as she could to come to a school board meeting Monday night where she was going to present the FHA scrapbook to the school for the archives and then we were having a mini reunion of past FHA members. She wanted all 6 of us who had been state officers to say a few words about what the FHA meant to us. Somehow, all those years ago she saw something in me that I didn't even know was there. She made a shy, introverted teenager confident enough to run meetings and conventions, stand on stage and make speaches to large groups. And I think she did that for all of us. It wasn't a group with the primary function to make us ready to stay home and raise a family. We learned a lot of life skills, especially as state officers - I had to take ediqute classes (so I never feared the large banquets we had with McDonalds - I always knew which fork, glass, or plate to use), I learned how to stand on stage like a lady (no fig leaf pose with your hands clenched in front of your stomach, and be sure the heel of your right foot is touching the middle of your left) also very helpful with my time as a restaurant manager doing lots of presentations. Don't use non words such as UUHHHMMMM when you are speaking - practice that speach and know what you are going to say. My friends and I competed in Parlimentary Procedure, so we learned team work, taking turns, organization, and how to function when a decision needs made and a plan has to come together. I look back at that time fondly. As I was getting dressed to go to the meeting, I noticed as I was going back upstairs for someting that the hem had come out of one of the legs of my slacks. I briefly thought "what quick fix can I use?", and then "OH, I guess if I am representing the Future Homemakers of America, I should get out my needle and fix it right" I did (and it only took a couple of minutes). I had a great time Monday.

More Preperations

Today, I applied for a pass port. My first ever. This will serve several purposes - 1) To have when my parents venture off to Alaska 2) To have when we travel - my husband SSOOO wants to take me over seas someday 3) To have in case Mike's China job that rears it's head every now and then ever comes to be. That means Mike and I will both have them, however the boys do not. They are so expensive, and kid's ones are only good for 5 years instead of the 10 years for an adult pass port. If they ever need them for sure, we will get those. I looked into the pass port cards that are good for Canada and Mexico, but they are only good for driving, not flying and only for those 2 countries.

The Coffin Maker

The other day, Mike came home for a few minutes and told me he was going to take Pete with him and they were going over to see the Amish coffin maker....... I know that Pete has been getting himself into plenty of trouble lately, so this was a worrisome pronouncement. Off they went leaving Steve and I scatching our heads and wondering just how this was going to play out. They came home with the back doors of the van tied shut with string.....Oh, no, must be they bought something - what was I going to see when the doors opened? It was actually the custom baseboards for the rental house - since we made one bedroom into two, we had to trim both sides of the wall. Since we could not go down to the Home Depot to buy 150 year old trim from the lumberyard, we had to either find someone to make what we had or re-do the rest of those rooms. I knew Mike's friend had recommended someone to make it, but I did not know it was going to the coffin maker! He picked up the big parts that were ready and has to go back later for the smaller pieces. But ever since he was there, he has been talking about the great craftsmanship on the coffins and the extrememly reasonable prices. I told Mike not to waste our money, just put me in a pine box and dig a hole behind the retaining wall (we are still adding fill dirt to that area anyway!). He pointed out where this shop was to me last night on the way to Steve's band concert. I'm beginning to worry about the motives of a husband so fixated on coffins - maybe he's part Vampire, some nights he does come to bed awful late.....