A LOT of Random Thoughts

I've had this post open for days. I had been working on it and wanted to post it. It's not even finished. So, I'm going to go ahead and just post it, but also add this link to an old post:

My Family Tree is a Wreath

  My aunt Noemia ("Daguinha") died the day before yesterday.

So, I have been re-reading that post and looking at pictures.

Don't much feel like finishing this current post, so will just post what I had so far.

 (Check out random thought #9 - remember, that was all written before my aunt died).

Please, if you feel inclined to comment, go ahead and comment on the regular random thoughts, too.

I'd welcome a bit of normalcy.

I totally stole this right-alignment-for-random-thoughts-posts idea,

from my SIL, because she's cool that way.

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Looking for good beach reads - here's the short list so far:

This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Miss Peregrine's School for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Gone Girl by Gillian Flyn

Any other suggestions?

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Our car got egged the other day.

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I am interrupted a lot, all day long.

I decided to count interruptions during one day. 

I only made it 44 minutes before I stopped.

 I counted from 8:30 to 9:14 and I'd had 14.

About 5 every 15 minutes, 1 every 3 minutes.

Not one of those was a phone call. Thankfully.

Who's got time??

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So behind on all I'd like to blog . . . 

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It's a relief to me when my friends' houses aren't immaculately, museum-like clean.

Then it's so EASY to have those friends over without feeling 

like I should go on some kind of manic cleaning frenzy beforehand.

I like a clean house and all of our friends say we keep a clean, neat house,

 but house keeping is, admittedly, not my #1 priority

(I'd rather have a somewhat clean house and have fun with my family

than have a spotless house and pass up fun stuff).

Not that the two are mutually exclusive . . .

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Also, most of my friends are women in their 30s, 40s, and 50s

who rarely wear make up and couldn't care less about designer clothing.

That's not to say we don't like to look nice,

but we don't hurt ourselves (or our wallets) trying,

and we're all comfortable with one another,

make up or not.

I love that and feel lucky to have such easy-going friends.

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I read that The Hunger Games trilogy 

has outsold all the Harry Potter books combined.

My reaction?

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!

I think it's the result of people seeking
some kind of good-read "replacement" 

after the Harry Potter series ended.

Because though they're good books, The Hunger Games  

is NOT anywhere near as good as Harry Potter.

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I feel way too young to be dealing with sandwich generation stuff.

Byproduct of being born to older parents, I guess.

Procreators, beware.

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I'm an idealist, but I think I'm becoming jaded.

People always say, "Money talks,"

but I've always held out hope that honesty and values matter more.

Apparently, money DOES talk.

And loudly.

We've been seriously contemplating expanding our business

(it's been 5 years since we opened),

and there were some wonderful downtown opportunities available.

Mark called no less than 10 times, twice to higher management 

(to complain about not getting called back).

They knew nothing of our situation, but basically told us that 

 each of the 4 properties were already just about sold,

because those that are buying them 

are offering more than the asking price

and already have total cash in hand.

Who can compete with that?

Bleh. So discouraging. :(

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Thing 1 recently outgrew her clothes . . . again!

We all hate shopping, but she needed new jeans.

This is where my slight hoarding problem comes in handy.

I pulled out an old pair of my skinny jeans,

AND THEY FIT HER.

Yes, my 12 year old is wearing jeans I wore when I was 30.
She's getting so tall!

Every time I see her in those jeans,

it pretty much blows my mind.

Kids get so big so fast. Bittersweet.

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 I am loving Malcolm in the Middle.

It's a funny show.

I think it's made even funnier
because we know a family just like them.

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A friend of ours recently introduced us to this site:

http://dog-shaming.com/

We have spent a lot of time on it, laughing hysterically.

I don't think I would have found it funny 

before getting a dog ourselves.

We love our Scout!

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I think it's funny that people who don't vaccinate 

want their kids to wash their hands before dinner.

Not making any kind of statement.

Just think it's funny.

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We found a beach house rental for an AMAZING deal.

SO excited!

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We humans are rarely satisfied.

Heat in the winter, A/C in the summer . . .

I think there is about a 3-degree range where we feel comfortable;

(I'd say mine is 75-78).

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I Don't Have ADD, but . . .

I can relate.

(The rollover text didn't seem to come with the cartoon. Here it is: 20 balloons float away while I'm permanently tying one to a tree to deal with it for good. Unfortunately, that one balloon was "land a rocket on the moon in Kerbal Space Program." Not sure what my permanent balloon is, but it should probably be "Shoot 20 balloons with a dart gun to eliminate all traces of distractions and things to do.")

I only posted twice in August?

Go figure. Also? I'm ridiculously behind on other people's blogs, too. Also? Emails. Also? Dishes and general house keep-uppery.

Why? Well there are several reasons.

1. We started out the month with 4 straight days of house guests (8 of them). In that time, we went to Hershey Park, Hershey Park's water park, and the Renaissance Faire (Thing 2 is a BIG fan of the shire). We were all worn out after that.

2. That was followed immediately with 4 straight days of birthday parties. As a note, we had about 21 different birthday celebrations in and around the month of August. Yes, many of those included parties. No, I'm not kidding.

3. We had more house guests (4 this time) for yet another 3 days. It was filled with lots of eating and laughing and was generally wonderful and went way too fast.

4. Lots of little things - watching meteor showers, being sick, supporting our friends who are local musicians, yet another visit to Hershey Park with local friends, coordinating some fun birthday surprises, lunch out with friends, property taxes, lots of cleaning and cooking, getting together with friends, visits with extended "family" (Mark's brother Scott's wife Lindsay's brother and his family moved to the area and even though we're not related, we like to think of the kids as cousins - well, their grandparents visited and wanted to see us. It was a short, but really fun and nice visit), summer ice cream party at the tae kwon do studio, car repairs, swimming at the pool, lots of Minecraft, lots of word games and park visits with friends, beach trip planning, business stuff, and more.

5. We were lucky enough to wrap up the month with a lovely blue moon "letting go" celebration, hosted by our friend at her house/farm - it was such an interesting and eclectic group of people. We all wrote down things in our lives (burdens, doubts, trauma, fears, people, events, etc.) that we would like to release and burned our papers in a backyard fire -- letting go of the energy associated with them and making room for new, positive experiences. SUCH a neat visual and ritual. And we all felt better afterward.

6. Extreme weather. This summer has been, well, extreme meteorologically-speaking. It has either been really hot, really dry, or really stormy. Of course it's always been one or more of those things anytime we've decided to host something at our house, hoping to keep people and fun outdoors. :/

7. Being a mom is more than a full-time job. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I love it. You work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; you get no vacations, no sick days and certainly no personal days; overtime is mandatory; and you do not receive a paycheck. Sounds crazy. Thing is? Best. Job. Ever. But yeah, I have never felt busier in my life.

I saw a great comment someplace that talked about how being a stay-at-home mom (SAHM) is a grueling and exhausting job. The commenter went on to say that of course she's grateful for it, loves it, and wouldn't want to do anything else. But, she said, that doesn't mean she can't say it's exhausting. "If I were to hear Heart surgeons and Rocket scientists say their jobs were exhausting, I wouldn't think they're complaining or dislike their jobs. Neither should anyone read a SAHM's expression of it being tough work as complaining. It is what it is. I just think it shows people's ignorance when they assume that if you're a SAHM, you're not "working." Bah! You work from sun up to bedtime without breaks and without pay and then come talk to me." Great point!

Well, that's it for now. I'll do a random thoughts post soon and hopefully get caught up on reading the blogs I follow soon, too. Also? I hope to do some regular blog posts with pictures and things soon.