The Big DumpTruck

Last night at about 9:15 I heard the tell-tale diesel engine sound of a fire engine. In front of my house. This is the kind of sound you want to hear when you call them, and you don't want to hear when you haven't. I flew out of the house to see if there were flames shooting from the roof. None. (whew!)

Apparently several people (not me) had called to report the strong smell of smoke, which was VERY obvious when you were outside, and mildly obvious inside. I had noticed it, but was ignoring it. I guess mentally I figured those backyard fireplace thingies are getting so popular that this isn't a fall/winter smell any longer.

So the fireguys wandered around my property (I have a lot of brush on my property - we only cleared half of our lot when we built the house) and then wandered down the street. Eventually they figured out a house around the corner had a small fire so they could "make s'mores". Cripes, way to scare the whole damned neighborhood! Can't you make them on your barbecue? Do you have to build a fire?

Last day of June. Crap. I experienced some good June activities, but I don't feel like I took advantage of anything. It was kind of cold for June, maybe I thought it was still April or something.

Tomorrow is July. I guarantee in 31 days I'm going to be freaking out about July being gone. I should make a list of things I want to accomplish in July.

I love working, making money - don't get me wrong. But when I was unemployed I really experienced spring and parts of summer. The parts where I wasn't working. I got my current contract in June 2003 and I've worked almost every day since then. A day off here and there, but even a lot of holidays I work, because no work = no pay. I would love love love to be able to take a week off and sit around my sister's pool, go to the beach, hit an amusement park. You know, do summer stuff. Well, maybe next year.

My son has been introduced to the joy that is dodgeball. Not the Ben Stiller movie, which I have heard is pretty funny, in a BASEketball kind of way. I loved BASEketball, so I'm sure Dodgeball is right up my alley.

No, Junior's introduction was via the Leominster Rec department's playground program. We call it "camp" at our house, cause that sounds cool. He seems to like the game - apparently they played it three times yesterday. Here are the rules

1. If it hits you, you are out and you have to get out of line.
2. If you throw it and someone catches it, you're out and you have to get out of line.
3. If you get hit and you don't get out of line, you're cheating.

"So, how did you learn about the cheating one? Did someone forget to get out of line?"
"I thought it only counted if you got hit between here [points to neck] or here [points to belly] and I got hit here." [points to feet]
"Ah. So next time you'll know, then."
"Ya, and one time I thought I got hit in the back so I got out of line but it wasn't someone on the other team, it was someone on my team. [Laughs]"
"Ahhh, the old Friendly Fire hit. Did they let you stay in line?"
"Yup."

See, now that's how it should work in real life. If you get hit by Friendly Fire it shouldn't kill you.

I'm just sayin.

Joined up with the Littleton contingent to attend a Lowell Spinners game last night. Great night, fantastic ball park. Eventually the players might get some kind of rhythm that marks them as pro ball players. Okay, that was kind of snarky, and it is a single-A ball club, but there were some plays out there that screamed tee ball. Granted, I couldn't hit a 89mph pitch (the pitching was excellent, from where I sat) but geeeeeeez, the fielding could use some help.

All the kids had a blast, and the only disappointment was that they made big announcements that at the end of every Sunday game the kids can run the bases. So they all line up at the bottom of the 8th, only to be sent back to their seats because the game went into extra innings. It was getting late, and by late, I mean 9pm on a "school" night. The game had started at 5. We left after the 11th, and told the kids we'd try to come back to another game so they could run the bases. They eventually lost, 4-5 to Aberdeen, the team Cal Ripkin owns.

And must to Mr. Dump's delight, Junior is now more into baseball than ever.
"It says they are going to play the Yankees."
"Ya, they play them next. I don't know if it starts tonight or tomorrow night."
"Oh, me and daddy are going to be watching that."
"And you are?"

Had Junior's graduation ceremony at the daycare center today. It was mostly for the kids who did Preschool there, but the kindergarteners were a part of it too. They sang songs and got a diploma - it was all very sweet.

The off to the mall to look for tie sneakers for him. He's been obsessed all week, so I assume something came up at daycare. We had his graduation lunch at Bertucci's (any excuse to eat at Bertucci's, really) and then walked the mall. I spent the rest of my birthday money at Talbots, where they were having their semi-annual sale. Got a kicky pair of pants, a yellow hat and a matching bag. I know it sounds silly, but we are going to Florida in the fall, and I'm trying to stock up for then. I look silly in baseball hats, so finding this one, which can be rolled up, was fantastic. Of course, the hat and bag look great with the pants, so now I want to be a "ladies who lunch".

I of course followed that up with a pair of pajamas from Target, because once the birthday money was spent, I was back to the Jody budget.

Oh, and we haven't yet found the right tie sneakers. We'll go to Payless tomorrow.

Photos from today at Crane's Beach.

Man oh man, it's 30 degrees warmer at home than it was at the beach. Not what we had planned when we set off this morning. So now we're all settled in my sister's pool, the way God intended.

I'm at the beach right now. It's 58 degrees.

Is this really what Yahoo! Movies: Movie News meant?

Mary Shomon's latest book, The Thyroid Diet : Manage Your Metabolism for Lasting Weight Loss is due out in September, and it's already #75 on the Amazon.com sales list! I'm pre-ordering my copy today. I saw Mary two weeks ago and she looks great.

Remember to pre-order from my link to help support the Big DumpTruck. In Q2, folks only used my links to buy 5 items from Amazon, which is going to net me a whopping $5! I've already earmarked it for lunch in the cafeteria...

I had a bowl of Lucky Charms for breakfast this morning. You'd think that would have set me up for a great day, what with them being lucky and all. Well, nothing spectacular to report so far, and in fact, I forgot my security badge at home which is actually a strike against it being a lucky day.

But I continue to maintain my chipper attitude and look forward to all the luck in store for me today.

There's a link on the Banana website back to an early issue of the dump, because one day I happened to write about eating banana number 4077. This was back in 1997, kids. When it was cool to be a banana eater. Check out the link, if you will. Dig that groovy page design! And if you're on a high rez monitor, dig my inability to do a background correctly! (I'm better now, really).

I was reading the first part...I don't remember the treadmill ever being in the living room, but if I said it was, it was. But I'm guessing it didn't last long before being shuffled to the basement.

More thought pebbles. I know you've been sitting by the warm glow of your monitor just waiting for them.

• On the drive home from work late last week, I was behind a jeep that had one of those customized license plate holders. Not unusual. Some advertise the dealership where said vehicle was purchased, some root for a school or sports team. This one said "I'd rather be at a Journey Concert". Oh Lordy, that's quite a statement to make, my friend. Are you sure you want to admit this to strangers who happen to be driving behind you?
  
  


• Nobody's come through with ten thousand dollars yet, so it looks like I'll be stuck working all summer. Hey, can't blame a girl for trying.
  
  


• Scorecard in effort to pink-ify my life: I am sporting pink nail polish today, and I grabbed hot pink folders out of the supply cabinet. Hey, it's not like the guys were going to use them. There is a nagging feeling that I could be doing more, and that it has something to do with capri pants, but I'm just not ready to take that plunge right now.
  
  


• It's the first day of summer. Shouldn't we be allowed to go home early today to celebrate it with our families? No? How 'bout tomorrow, then?
  

To all the dads out there - biologically or emotionally - have a great day.

We'll let you watch sports and we won't even complain about it.

Well THAT was fast. Tee Ball is done for the season, and next year Junior will probably be good enough for instructional league, which is where they start getting a little more serious. We're going to practice throwing and catching this summer, which is where he could use the work. His batting is actually pretty decent. Must take after his dear old mom!

Junior is on my case about me staying home with him all summer. Which sounds great to both of us, but, well, unless the bank fairy wants to bling me with $10,000 (give or take) to cover the time between now and when he goes back to school, I'm afraid I'll be going to work every morning.

Trust me, there is nothing I want more than to be able to stay home with him this summer. I am aware that the older he gets, the less likely it will seem like a fun option to him. But I can't talk about that because it's too depressing.

So instead, I tell him if I don't go to work, we won't be able to put money in our Disneyworld fund, which has more of an impact on a six year old than "we won't be able to pay the mortgage," if you can believe it.

So if any of you were thinking of sending me a lot of money, now would be the time to do it. I just wanted to put that out there.

Well, the boy finished kindergarten. Not a lot of tears to be seen by the kids, and the moms I saw were holding it together. The kids are so excited about going to first grade that I don't think they're sad that they won't be going back to kindergarten.

I'm still amazed at how fast the year went by...

Today I met Junior at the elementry school he'll be attending next fall. They bussed all the kids over from the kindergarten, but there wasn't room for parents.

I get so emotional over things since becoming a mom. I mean, it's a tour of the school, and I could feel the sniffles starting with just some things they were saying about moving from the current school to the new school, and showing where he'll eat lunch, and where he'll have gym, and I'm looking at the kids going there thinking "but he's just a baby!" Except he's not. He's 6.5, he can play tee ball, he can read (pretty well, I must say), etc. etc. He is ready for first grade, doesn't want to have to wait all summer to start. Me, I could wait a few more years.

Tomorrow is his last day of kindergarten. Where the hell did the past year go? Didn't he just have his first day?

Every time I blow my nose, my sinus cavity follows up with this weird squeaking noise, which I have determined is the equivalent of pulling the end of a balloon taut so the air squeals on its way out. My nostrils are serving as the end of the balloon. *blow* eeeeEEEEeeeeeee

This is probably more than you wanted to know about my nose.

I'm okay with that.

The complacency of a summery afternoon pool party was only broken by...a wild turkey wandering around in the yard. It certainly is an adventure-a-minute at my sister's house. I have some video of the encounter, including a shot of it walking out of her garage, but I haven't yet grabbed the video or done any still photos. I was too lazy last night.

(Note: I looked up "complacency" to make sure I spelled it right, and based on the definition, I don't think I could have come up with a better word. I'm only sharing this with you in case you missed the perfection of my word choice. It means "self-satisfaction accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies")

We had a group birthday party (very small, really) for three kids with birthdays at the end of may and the beginning of June, and one of the presents was a seven foot tall rocket powered by water pressure. Well, it took a long time to get it set up and launched, and when we did....it promptly lodged itself about 70 feet up in a pine tree known around my sister's neighborhood as the Charlie Brown kite-eating tree. It already had a football, a baseball, and a big green playground ball...what did it need with a seven foot long rocket?

Firefly's on Route 20 in Marlboro MA

We went to have a quick one after our department meeting yesterday - great atmosphere (especially because we were eating on their outdoor patio which is fenced in for privacy), great food, decent prices and a Mango Margarita that will make you sell your children for a second one.

I don't care what else you order, you must get the onion straws [rings]. And for the kids, 4 different types of peanut butter sandwiches (jelly, marshmallow, bananas or bacon)!

Why yes, I do have something else to say about Neopets.
First of all, why haven't more of you signed up to play? You realize that if enough of you are sucked in, er, I mean, registered, and actually play a little, I get Neopoints to use to buy things within the little Neoworld for my Scorchio, Bigdumptruck, right? Right.

I'm still struggling with trying to figure out how these people are making money, given that 90% of the on-site advertising is fake. That is, it's advertising for things on the site. Like "Come and play Game X!" or an ad for a hot dog stand in the game. It's like what the internet would be in a perfect world - no popups, not in-your-face stuff. Just "play your games and oh by the way, it's been a half an hour, remember to eat at McDonalds" in a little 1"x.5" ad. Seriously.

Junior to me, as I'm painting my toenails:

"That doesn't look as good as you think it does."

So the current Happy Meal prize is a Neopet. I bought Junior a plush one for Christmas, and we also had some little plastic ones from last year. Then friend of the dump sent me over to the Neopets Site where you can play games and stuff for free. Free. No real ads either. I have no idea how they are doing it, but can I *tell* you how much fun I'm having. Of course, it's a big time suck, but I'm still having fun so there!

Swing by, pick out a neopet, and then play some games! You'll hate me in the morning!

Finally replaced Old Shivvers last night. He was about 9 years old, and was loud, didn't work all that well, and was loud. We have an open floorplan on the first floor so we need a bigger air conditioner to cover the whole area. Back when we bought him we didn't have a lot of cash so he definitely wasn't top of the line by any stretch of the imagination.

I got a Kenmore last night that has a timer on it, so I can set it to start up about an hour before we get home. You cannot begin to imagine how great a feature this is. With the old one, if we wanted to have the house cool when we got home, we had to leave it on all day. This was a total waste of electricity.

And it's quiet. That alone is worth the [sale] price. So today we're expecting 93, and when I get home tonight...it won't be an oven!

I'm already hungry. That can't be good. I hope I didn't get spoiled with all the grazing I did over the weekend.

Actually, I weighed myself this morning and there was no change from before I left. Does weight gain show up right away after you pig out?

It was a very lightning weekend for me. I hate lightning, so you have to know it was stressful. Especially when I was driving in it.

Last night we were watching some heat lightning in this big cloud - we couldn't hear any thunder with it - that eventually starting actually arcing to the ground. Forgive my lack of meteorological terminology.

Anyway, I shot a bunch of movies with my digital camera (NOT my video camera) through the screens. If you download the movie to look at it (just over a 2 meg download in .wmv format) the clouds sort of appear to be undulating. They weren't doing that, shooting through the screen added the effect. Also, what you are seeing is me editing the best stuff from about 100meg of video into one clip. It was a pretty light show, but not that intensive.

It was 95 and sunny there, and I had a convertible to cruise around in, and I spend two days in my friend's pool. When my plane landed, it was 59 and rainy here. I'm just so happy to be back.

Oh, here's my toe. I did this on the edge of the pool.

If you know anybody who, for whatever reason, is looking for a road work detail complete with big trucks and cops directing traffic, I highly recommend the route from Leominster up through Towsend and Brookline NH to Nashua. At least 10 different spots of construction.

But I got here and all is good. Wave to me...I'll be up in the sky in about 20 minutes.

Well, other than some rain this morning. You can bet we'll be staring up at each and every plane that flies overhead, for at least the next week or so.

I'm preparing for a little weekend getaway with some friends of mine. I'll have my Sidekick, so I won't ignore you, but I can't say my posts will be alcohol-free, if you catch my drift.

When we were house shopping 12 years ago, we looked at a house on Buttermilk, but decided it was too small. The crash was further up the cul-de-sac than that house. I drove by this morning, and it is definitely less than a mile. I don't have the exact number because I got distracted by all the TV trucks at Pierce's Craft Shop. Some blonde was doing a "live" report as we drove by, so that means we were on TV.

Cops are blocking the end of the street (of course) and it's pretty wooded over there, so I couldn't see anything.

They posted the names of the victims on the Telegram website, and the name of the father sounded familiar. I'm going to have to figure out if I know him or not.

Here are more details on the plane crash. They say there were explosions but we didn't hear anything. As I type this a commuter jet just went overhead. Let me tell you, it's creepier and creepier. I'm guessing we're due for more "close the airport" public hearings, with two crashes in a week, three in a little over a year. Two of those crashs were practically in my neighborhood. I can't blame the airport, but really, isn't this above the national average for crashes? 4 in two years?

P.S. To the reporter from Fox25 last night: How exactly can you be "2 miles north south" of the airport? North south?

And dude, it's the Fitchburg airport, not the Leominster airport.

Look, I'll be brief. If you heard about another small plane crash in Leominster Ma tonight and thought of me, that was probably wise. Another small plane crash, this one about half a mile east of us, in a development down the street. We were seriously looking at a house in that neighborhood. I am fairly freaked out right now - I told you it was getting scary to live on the approach to the Fitchburg airport. Two crashes in a freaking WEEK, and this one apparently had fatalities.

We were sitting here and heard 16 different rescue vehicles fly by the street we live off of. I mean, enough to make us think something big had happened. It had. I'll have more thoughts on this tomorrow. I'll be swinging by that street on my way to work. Because it's basically on my way.

Dear Julia,
Thank God you stepped in to fill the hole created when Gwyneth Paltrow, Debra Messing and, heavens-to-betsy, Goldy Hawn's spawn Kate Hudson stopped being pregnant and became mothers. Where were we to turn in our daily need for photos and stories about pregnant celebs? I could really feel the depression setting in.

But Julia Roberts, our own little Mary Sunshine - you just said "I'll do it" and got yourself knocked up! With twins, no less! Sure, we've had twins born recently to a celeb, but she wasn't People cover-worthy. I can't even remember her name. And some other celeb twins came through surrogates, and that gets you a cover after they are born, but not a moment before.

So thank you, Julia, from the bottom of my heart, for taking on the role of Pregnancy Covergirl. I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of you in the future. A LOT of you.

In other news, I found a website that lists all old BBSes. I started out online back in 88 with a BBS called The Bat Cave, later renamed the Cannibal Cafe. I'm listed on the 80's page for area code 508. I did send the page owner an update for my listing - the CC was online through 92, and it was located in Leominster. The 508 area code didn't split off until 98, so his listings for many of the sites are slightly off. He has a bunch of Leominster BBSes listed in other townns because of the 508 thing. Go to bbslist.textfiles.com and poke around!

I officially refer to today as Tuemonday, in honor of the Monday feeling you get the Tuesday after a long weekend. Feel free to crib from me, but remember the linky love.

It's one of those days. Rainy commute from hell, a calendar that says June 1st but feels like mid-April (53 degrees? For a high?) and our mail server is apparently running on only one hamster this morning. I've had to reboot Outlook 3 times in 20 minutes. I don't think it's a problem at my end, but that's really all I can do, isn't it. Reboot. Hope for the best.

It isn't working, but at least I'm doing my part.