The Big DumpTruck

I am sad that summer is over. I say this every year, so you don't need to hear me go into my perpetual whine about missing out on summer fun, going to the beach, etc. If I could afford it, I'd go to the beach this weekend. Screw the weather, I just want a room with a view of the ocean. And preferably something with some heat, because that's pretty much unavailable from nature any more.

I'm glad autumn sort of eases in, because if it just dropped from perfect beach day to perfect apple picking day, I would spiral into an out of control case of the dumps. I'd be down in them. But the way it works out, but the time the trees are all turning, I'm excited about it, and I get to have my camera handy to try to take The Most Famous Photo Ever (tm). I have yet to do it, but man, this year is certainly going to be my year. I just know it.

Labels: beach, fall, fireplace, summer

I'm not sure how it happened. I thought I had put June in my purse, next to my wallet and my car keys, but then when I went to look for it, it wasn't there. I checked the counters, but you know, they are a bit messy at my house. I have plenty of bits of this and that on the counter, bags of doggie treats and little boy treats, but no June. As hard as I looked for it, it simply wasn't there.

I looked in the trunk of my car, under the folding chairs, baseball equipment and kites, but there was no sign of June; none at all.

It's as if June up and disappeared on me. I suppose I will just have to get resigned to the idea that June is missing and won't be found, and focus my attention on July. I really don't want to lose July the way I lost June so I'm going to keep closer watch on it. Starting tomorrow, when I take an extra day off to spend some quality time with it. Just me and July, maybe going for a road trip, buying ice cream, listening to some tunes. I think July and I are going to get along really well.

Labels: humor, summer, Vacation

Lots of reasons why, but the least of which is that Target did not have my deodorant in stock when I went in there last week. That is NOT COOL. I will be swinging by CVS to see if they still carry it, and if they don't, all hell is going to break loose. I CANNOT wear baby powder-scented deodorant. It does not and will not work for me.

Also, my right foot hurts. A lot. I don't know what I did, it feels like a combination of a muscle problem and a bone spur or something, but it's impacting my ability to walk like a normal person. Unless normal people have an inability to walk normally because one of their feet has raging heel pain. That could be, I really don't know.

Lastly, I'm mad that last year at this time, we were just starting our Cape Cod vacation. Seven glorious ocean-view days. It's breaking my heart to not be standing in that living room, looking out at the sea right now. And I haven't even been to the beach since it officially became summer, just that one trip in the spring. I sat in one of those little chairs you use at the edge of the ocean, you know, to dip your toes in the water, but I had no reason to buy one, even if it was comfortable. Sad. Very sad.

So yes, I'm cranky today. It's Monday, and it feels like it's been Monday for a couple of days in a row.

Labels: cranky, sad, summer

I have reached the alarmed point in the summer...July is almost over, all 500 days of it, and I have not yet done anything X-treme. As you all know, normally by now I have done enough X-treme activities that I am left happy and content for the rest of the year. But I have not jumped off any buildings, ridden any rocket sleds, or roller bladed down an interstate holding on to the back of a semi. None of those things. No being shot out of a cannon, flagpole sitting or being set on fire for a movie stunt. Nothing. I have done the drone-like "go to work" thing and then the "go watch your kid play baseball" thing, but at no point did I wrestle sharks or attach balloons to a lawn chair and to go for a celestial spin.
I feel like the entire month of July was just a waste, and now I'm going to be all mopey because that's a month I'll never ever get back. I completely blew it.

Labels: fun, summer

We're staring down the end of vacation now, and I'm starting to get depressed. I don't want this to end. I don't think we've done everything we wanted to. I don't ant to go back to my routine. Shocking, of course, given how fabulous this house and the location and the ocean and the tacky gift shops are. Who wants to leave that behind? I'm typing this on the deck, rootbeer at my side, looking out at the tide coming in and the sun going down. The sky is glorious (photos to follow, maybe later tonight or tomorrow) and if you know me at all, you know how much I love a glorious sky. Clouds fascinate me, sunsets thrill me. I have both tonight. I don't want to go home, because I can't see the sun setting on the ocean from my house, damn the luck!

Sorry, I didn't mean to rant. I know a lot of people who didn't get to go to the beach this week, and I know I should just keep my woe-is-me good fortune to myself. But I'm still really sad that the week is winding down. I want to start all over from the beginning, damn it!

Labels: beach, summer, sunset, Vacation

I told you we had good seats! Actually, when we got the tickets we assumed we were in the 6th and 7th rows. However, when we got there we realized the rows started with C, not A, so we were in the 4th and 5th rows.

So that was two Sundays in a row we went to Spinners games. What the heck am I going to do *this* Sunday, now that it's a habit?

In non-baseball chatter, anyone doing anything fun for the 4th? We're going to just roll out of bed late, fire up the laptops and the grill, and relax. I suppose if I were really awesome like Chuck (http://flickr.com/photos/plastereddragon/) I would have planned a day out taking photos, complete with maps, GPS and a field guide to small bugs and flowers. Maybe I'll just take more photos of my feet, as they are creepily very popular and got a lot of people into my photo stream. (My foot picture is actually of gumballs, with the feet used as a reference for the size of the container.) If I'm going to do that, I'm going to have to put a new coat or two of nail polish on my toes. Too bad I don't own white and blue, I could make little flags!

Labels: baseball, feet, holidays, photos, summer

[This is a good test to see if my sister is paying attention.]

The other day we were at the new Best Buy in Leominster and I found a "bargain" video set that I bought to bring on our trip to the Cape with my sister's family. The last time we went down, in 2005, I brought down two collections of movies - 13 hours of 1950s and 60s Monster movies and another set of 13 hours of Sci Fi movies from the same era. That's some damned good entertainment. The boys became enamored of Gamera and some of the Sci Fi movies. One that comes to mind has the astronauts stepping outside of the spaceship with nothing to tether them to it, they just hover on the outside like they are standing on the ledge of a tall building.

This time I'm going to be bringing down 3 hours and 50 minutes of Classic Commercials. Oh ya, it's going to be a hot time in the old Cape House in August!

Labels: commercials, movies, summer, Vacation

Hi kids!

Just popping in with a quick one so you won't think I've fallen off the roof or anything. Up to my armpits in stuff to do, and BDT has suffered greatly. Let me just share with you then, that in the past couple of days I have gone to Canobie Lake Park, a baseball jamboree for a league we aren't in, our final playoff game, a Lowell Spinners game, in addition to doing laundry, mowing the lawn and grocery shopping.

I assume eventually we'll get into the "lazy" days of summer, but so far, no go.

Junior started camp today, so we have that routine to get used to. He's already left something behind; I wish we had set up some kind of pool on how many days in it would take for him to not bring all his stuff home. We also could have set a value as a tie-breaker. The item left behind, his water bottle that you put in the freezer overnight, was worth about $4. So, because I didn't have a pool set up, I can official say I won!! My prize? Finding something else to freeze to send with him tomorrow because it's going to be 95 flippin' degrees.

Labels: baseball, camp, summer, weather

As you can see, Junior is attempting to milk the big fiberglass cow at Sturbridge Village. You can see it in the cow's eyes...she's not happy. Not happy at all. The boys, on the other hand, thought this was great. In fact, we made three trips to Ye Olde Milking Station. Bossy was full of water, and on a hot day, if you aim it juuuuust right, you can spray each other. Now that is a great way to make sure the bus loads of 9 year old boys will tell everyone they had a great time on the field trip.

I have to say, they have made a lot of improvements at Old Sturbridge Village since the last time I was there, and although I'm greatly saddened by the fact that they have apparently closed the restaurant, they are making improvements to other buildings. Do me a favor, and schedule a trip down some time this summer. I know they've had financial issues and I'd hate to see such a great place close. Plus you can milk a fiberglass cow.

Labels: Cow, fun, junior, summer

We had baseball games on Saturday and Sunday this week. The difference between Saturday's sauna game (I thought I was going to pass out at one point - I can't imagine how the boys in their polyester uniforms and knee socks handled it as well as they did) and Sunday's wearing-three-layers in the drizzle game was staggering.

Interestingly, the IFO (because after a minute it was no longer a UFO) incident happened on Sunday, when it would have seemed more appropriate for the hot day.

We were standing, watching the game, when suddenly we saw a "balloon" take off from the neighborhood behind the ball fields. We quickly realized it wasn't a balloon, but more of a flying donut with strings or something hanging off of it. I decided (and others agreed) that it looked like a flying pool toy - our assumption being that someone had a helium tank and had filled up an inflatable pool ring with helium, turning it into a balloon.

What an odd site. I would have killed to have my camera. Or to be on hand when the thing finally landed somewhere and people have to figure out how they ended up with a pool ring on their roof.

Labels: baseball, summer, toys, weather

I'm sitting out on my deck, drinking a Coffee Coolatta, and I can't think of a better way to spend the afternoon. Well, okay, I can think of a couple of better ways, but those cost money and involve being inside a mall. The breeze is what is making this a great afternoon to sit out on the deck. I highly recommend you run out and get the things mentioned in the subject of this post, and then you can write to me to tell me how great it is at your house!

Unless you live in the southern hemisphere, in which case I'm really sorry, I don't mean to make you feel bad.

Labels: happy, laptop, summer, weather, wireless