Miscellany

I am very happy today. My son comes home from Boy Scout camp tomorrow. I'm ready for him to come home.

This also ends a very busy and full week for me. Thankfully the last couple of days have been more relaxed.

The Chick has classes next week but it will end with our usual trip to Arkansas to see our families for a week. So there is more to look forward to.

And the week after that will be her last week of classes.

Then we'll have about 2 weeks of real summer before school begins again.

I told Hubby it felt as if we wouldn't have a summer break this year. And that's exactly right. It hasn't much felt like one. I guess we can have a summer break next year.

Hopefully we'll be doing it with another young'un and a slightly larger house. But those are both feeling like pipe dreams right now.

So on we go. And for now we'll just enjoy our weekend. Hope yours is fun too.

Picture of the Week

I thought about posting a comment that suggested I was going back to my roots -- maybe saying I had 2 out of 3 since I'm NOT pregnant. But then I realized that this wasn't taken in the kitchen either so that would be a fib.

Looking at this picture makes me think of a story that was real popular when I was a kid so I thought about posting that. Do you remember it?

There was a man who went to bed one night. It was very dark in his room even though the moon was shining into his room through the window. Then he glanced toward the other side of the room and noticed two eyes looking at him. He didn't know what it was and he was really scared. So he said some things like "Get out of here" and finally ended it with "or else." When the eyes were still there, he slowly reached down to get the shotgun he kept leaning near the bed. He aimed and fired. The scream could be heard for miles. He had shot his big toes which were sticking out from under the blanket and reflecting the light of the moon. The moral of the story: close your bedroom window curtains.

Well. That's what I got out of it.

It may have had something to do with jumping to conclusions too. I don't know. You get the picture though.

Speaking of which, I finally just decided to post my ugly feet picture and leave it as some kind of summer thing without making any comments.

Except that I already wrote this mini-novel to explain that to you.

Man!

Nothing ever works out like planned.

Of Gypsies and Seriousness

When we lived in San Diego, I had a problem with the first place we moved into. It was a town home in a large complex. Other than the fact that the rent was one whole paycheck, I liked the town home itself and I knew it to be in a decent neighborhood. My major problem was the kids running about.

They ran in a group of about 15 to 20 children and the oldest one was probably 14 years old. The rest were all adolescents and there might even have been an older toddler or two that a sibling was supposed to be watching. No adults.

Often they would shoot past our door on bicycles or skateboards riding on the walk. Being largely pregnant and wobbly enough, I just knew that one day, I would step out my door and never know what hit me. Hubby, I'm sure, got more than tired of hearing me refer to them as "Lord of the Flies" children.

I haven't found things quite so crazy here in South Carolina where we live in a subdivision. But I have to laugh now when I see a group of children walking together. Have you ever watched them in your neighborhood?

The younger ones are much like I would imagine a roving band of gypsies to be. Colorfully dressed, twirling, dancing, a little musky, loosely grouped, often carrying a hodgepodge of odd items, and above all -- loudly talking and laughing.

While I enjoy watching them, there's not enough Advil in the world to make me join them.

On the other hand, add a few years and they start to resemble a royal procession. Everyone is stiff trying to look bored and cool at the same time. If a boy dares to attempt to get a girl's attention by imitating a monkey or doing some other boy-type thing, an observer can almost feel the disdain that is leveled at the poor fellow. An astute observer will be able to see that she is secretly overjoyed at the attention though. But they are together. Which is better than being with their parents. Ugh.

Add only a few more years and the teens are older, a little more settled in their skin, and all you'll find is a few giddy, young-looking adults. They don't really walk their neighborhoods much. Perhaps they would rather 'hang out' somewhere or maybe it's because everyone assumes they're hooligans up to no good. Or maybe they're are just becoming adults.

Adults don't tend to rove in their neighborhoods. We have purpose in our walking. It is exercise and I've got to get in this many miles. Or it is to get somewhere -- the dollar store up the hill or the convenience store on the corner or the grocery across the main street. Or it is too stinkin' hot to be walking around out there. Or cold.

Even though I'm sure of the migraine that would accompany it, the gypsy group calls to me somewhat. That carefree enjoyment and willingness to go somewhere (or nowhere) together just for the fun of it. Sometimes the headache is worth it.

Doggy Wardrobe on the Cheap

Over the weekend, we were in our local Wally World and happened onto one of our favorite places - the clearance aisle. While perusing the markdowns, we found a doggy tank top that we all wanted to get. I have been working hard to cut back on our spending and it was marked at 5.00. I told Hubby that I would have gotten it if it were 3.00 or less but I just wasn't willing to spend 5.00 on something frivolous like that.

Don't get me wrong. Rocky will be happy for it once it gets cooler outside because wearing it to go out will let him take his time and finish up rather than running to the door as soon as he gets cold (which doesn't take long). But he already has a blanket, so he was covered (literally).

Even so, we all really thought the 'tank top' as it was called was cute and funny and fit Rocky to a 'T.' So Hubby suggested we check it at one of the price check machines they have hanging about because things don't always get marked down on the ticket as fast as they do in the computer.

I carried it along with us, just knowing that it was 5.00 and somehow we would end up paying that after all. Every minute we held on to it was one more minute we were attached to it -- kind of like picking up a puppy knowing you can't have one in your apartment building. And I didn't want to spend that five bucks.

Finally, we came to a price checker. Hubby and the kids didn't notice and kept walking. But I figured I'd get it over with and lay it down right there. It was the perfect opportunity. I scanned it. And it said:

$3.00.

Yep. So we got it. And here he is in it.

And he was pleased (which equals confused as to why I was making him sit and stay while I went around to his backside) to model the reason we thought it was so perfect for him.

Obviously, it was waiting for him alone. Don't you think?

After telling the family what it scanned at, I suggested we head over to electronics to find a television I could claim I would pay 3.00 for. Then we could scan it too.

Monday's Menu

I hope you had a great Independance Day. We, of course, joined a large portion of America and grilled some hamburgers as part of our day. I am not really one of those people who likes to grill ears of corn so we almost never do. But summer is grillin' time. So,I thought I would share this -- my totally acceptable substitute for them. I first made this as part of our Thanksgiving meal. It works quite well with most meals actually.

I readily admit that today's recipe requires some convenience items, however, you can easily substitute home made for those or, at the very least, something that isn't from a can if you like. It originally came from Allrecipes.com.

Corn Casserole

1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 15-ounce can creamed corn
1 15-ounce can whole kernel corn
1 8.5-ounce package of corn muffin mix (like Jiffy)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, stir together ingredients. Pour into a greased 1-quart casserole dish. Bake about 40 minutes or until pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Happy Independance Day!

Hope you are spending this 4th with people you love and celebrating the freedoms we enjoy here in America!

Clashing Worlds

Hubby and I watched "The Unborn" the other night. I was less frightened by it than I thought I would be. I had told a co-worker that I would probably spend the majority of the movie hiding my face in the couch cushions. That didn't happen though.

One of the comments in the movie that was made stuck with me. The main character makes the statement that she doesn't want a "Christian exorcism." I puzzled a little over that. Wouldn't any exorcism of a demonic being be a good thing, Christian or not? I'm not sure I understand that one.

Something that was made clear to me yet again, both in this movie and some other recent ones we've seen, is that the world at large, and particularly Hollywood, where Christianity is concerned simply does not get it.

And God told us that would be the case...

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing,
but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18

Sometimes, I just want to grab some of the writers and directors and shake them. Even the best portrayals of Christians tend to be suggest that they are weak-minded or blinded to reality. I wish I could just let them see for a little while what I see -- the real reality. But I suppose that is part of being an alien living in this world and knowing I really belong to another one.

I think C.S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters is probably the best example of the clash between those two worlds. I have been thinking of doing a more in-depth study with that text as my facilitator.

And I suppose if I get too disgusted with Hollywood, I can always stick with Tyler Perry movies. Even the characters with no morals in his movies only serve to provide a contrast with the very spiritual characters, who are both upright and outstanding people that anyone would be glad to know.