beach day

Ignoring my to-do list spending the day at the beach makes me feel naughty.

We left early so a portable breakfast of potatoes seemed like a good option.



Sun, sand and soccer wore them out.



The stack of shirts needing ironed, the steps that need vaccumed, the bathroom floors, the lawn and the grocery shopping can wait. Summer is almost over! :(

working on monsters

George went for his preschool assessment on Tuesday. While he did very well in most of the assessed areas, my mom was distraught that he does not yet know how to skip or recognize all 24 letters.

I spent the day shopping for lingerie with her listening to, "You have your own day care and your kid can't skip!" (How skipping and day care are connected was never clearly explained.)

I enlisted the aid of big brother Nathan and cousin Diana to help with the skipping and stopped at Marc's Deep Discount Store for a dry erase board for the letters.

Wednesday I wrote his name out and told him to work on his letters while I got a quick shower. After toweling off, I found him smiling in my bedroom. There was somewhat of a "G" on the board but the rest was covered with scribbles.


"What's all this?", I asked him. "Oh...I was working on monsters," was his reply.

google maps review

Comedian Anita Renfroe has a chapter in her book Don't say I didn't warn you:kids, carbs, and the coming hormonal apocalypse about how she is concerned her husband is considering leaving her for the GPS. She compares her loud and bossy back seat driving to the GPS's calm voice making suggestions or "recalculating" the route. I found it hilarious.

Growing up, we spent a lot of our vacation time driving around. Hours spent studying the AAA trip tiks made me into an adept map reader. In my life as a mom, I don't venture too far but when I do I depend on old fashioned maps to find my way. It wasn't until earlier this month when Kevin and I drove to the Jersey shore that I had my very first experience with computer assisted navigation. He recently upgraded to the Droid so we used the Google Maps Navigation App.

The first leg of our trip was from home to my friends house in Robinson Township PA. The app did not recognize her address as being there and kept defaulting to Corapolis PA. We dutifully followed all "her" instructions until we were told cheerfully at the dead end of a city street, "You have arrived at your destination."

I had already seen my friend's recently purchased "landmark property" and I knew darn well we were NOT there. We were close, but that only counts in horseshoes and....what else???

A quick call to her husband got us routed in the right direction. We arrived at her house a few minutes later.

The second leg was from her house to a park near Reading PA. Hubby was supposed to have run a marathon there in early June. He wanted to stop at the park for a run on our way to NJ. Same result. Close but no cigar.

She was successful in getting me to the downtown Reading YMCA. Did she know about the three strikes and you're out rule??

We continued to Atlantic City without incident.

I did OK without her on Thursday when I took the rental and drove down to Ocean City for the afternoon. My innate sense of direction and a doodled map from Kevin's boss were all I took with me. A friendly biker helped me out when I deadended at the ocean after being distracted by the fancy houses in Margate.

Coming home Friday, she routed us north in Philadelphia. It's not the way we would have chosen due to the traffic and we somehow ended up at the end of the turnpike without a ticket, but we did make it home before dawn.

Final verdict: Not too impressed. There is no substitute for being able to read a map, knowing which direction you are going in, and friendly locals to help you out.

pampering time

and I don't mean diapers.

It's common for cash to be a little less easy to come by in a step family but everybody can benefit when we step moms enjoy a bit of "me time" at the spa. Hopefully we come back less frazzled and more willing to deal with issues that come up with a smile on our face.


Cosmetology students to the rescue! I've discovered I can get the same basic services for much less at the local Aveda Institute. Services are discounted and because they are students and not employees you are not permitted to tip them. Students do get rewarded based on successful recommendation of the product line to the customer so I usually pick up a little something if I can afford it.

So far I've had a hair color & cut session (highlight/lowlight/retouch) that lasted 7 hours, a relaxation massage and a facial. Brown Aveda is just about 30 minutes away and they can easily fit me in any Saturday morning as early as 8:30 a.m. And no, the "financial aid" link on the homepage is not for clients. I was bummed too. :(

Search HERE to find your own local budget spa experience.

Today's words of wisdom...

1. An entire box of prunes eaten in one day is really just too much of a good thing. Trust me. ;)

2. When you leave for vacation and hide your external hard drive from potential thieves, write down where you put it. It's really no fun to come back from vacation and have to tear the house apart looking for it.

3. Participate in your local public library's summer reading program for a chance to win big prizes. Like the overnight trip for 6 to Kalahari Resorts that I just won!

Clotheslined

I realize the green movement has gained a lot of ground in the last decade but now there is an entire movie on the fight for the right to have a clothesline in your yard. Drying for Freedom is a film about the politics and restrictions on how Americans dry their laundry. It was much simpler and environmentally friendly when everybody used a clothesline but then the public was wowed by the introduction of the electric dryer and all the convenience that seemed to come with it. Now some people are waking up to the wisdom of the old ways to find that clotheslines aren't an option because they live in a planned community that doesn't welcome them.

My first encounter with this was during the short time I lived in Magnolia TX. We had just moved in and our dryer was not set up yet. I strung a rope in between two tree trunks in our back yard. The hot Texas sun baked my laundry dry in about 15 minutes. A few days later there was an envelope in our mailbox with the return address of our homeowners association. I imagined it was a welcome to the neighborhood greeting. I was a little put out when I opened it to find a warning about forthcoming fines and legal action regarding the Little Tikes picnic table next to the garage and the "gasp" clothesline I had hung in the back yard.

I swore I'd never buy another property with deed restrictions again but I few years later I married into one. This time I read all the fine print in the homeowners' agreement my new husband had neatly filed away in a box in our basement. In my new community, not only was I not permitted to hang a clothesline, I was not even allowed to hang items over my front porch railing to dry. I was full of newly wedded bliss at the time so I couldn't be disappointed. A gas clothes dryer was part of my dowry and hubby came with two drying racks so even with the 6 kids between us I figured we'd be all right.

I will admit it would be nice to have the option of an outdoor clothesline. Dryers do use energy and that costs money. Money that could be better spent on a new handbag or some school supplies. Line drying also saves you money because your clothes stay nicer looking for a longer time. And those clothes just smell so darn good after drying in the sunshine. Until we move, I'll just have to compromise with the same Lehman's Best Floor Clothes Dryer from Lehman's Hardware that my sister-in-law uses.

When hosting a bereaved friend...

1. Remember they can be extremely forgetful so have things like extra can openers and cork screws handy for when they leave their own at home.

2. Feed them delicious meals with lots of protein choices for rebuilding their broken hearts.

3. Wear them out with a "brisk" after dinner walk over 2 miles of "gently" rolling hills in 85 degree heat.

4. Leave a night light at the top of the stairs for when they are wandering around after being woken by the nightmares.

5. Keep a large box of tissues nearby.

6. Be prepared for tear stained pillow cases so don't put out your best linens.

7. Warn your spouse that when he is surprised in the bathroom by your friend's red and tear streaked face, a fresh cold washcloth would be just the thing to help.

8. Remember that there is not anything you can say that can possibly help. The ONLY thing even remotely appropriate is "I am so sorry." Because they know you mean it with your entire being. It's best to be quiet. All your friend really needs right now is your presence.







If you are blessed enough to have one good friend in your life, you understand what I mean when I say I wouldn't trade her for all the riches on the face of the earth.