Ingenuity

It rained all day yesterday but we went to a barbeque anyway. As I pulled up to the house, I saw the familiar puff of smoke and smelled food cooking. I was wondering how 17 people were going to keep dry in the backyard. I walked down the driveway and turned into the yard and saw how. There were three tents all alongside of each other and a huge tarp pulled over them so that the space between the tents was covered. The tarps were then braced into the ground with stakes and bungee cords. By doing this, there was now a 30 foot covered area. We sat outside all day and into the evening, never getting wet. It shows how a bit of ingenuity and the right tools can make a big difference.

Happy 4th

Happy 4th of July. I have no idea where June went as it flew by. Many people will be having a celebration today and many more have postponed it until tomorrow. There is a bad weather system hovering around and having an indoor barbeque seems less appealing than an outdoor one. I am going to my daughter in laws parents. They are prepared with a few tents and a gazebo. Tomorrow there will be some people with one less finger than they have today. I hope everyone is careful if they light fireworks.

Sign Out

This morning when I went to write this blog, I had to sign my husband out of his email for the hundredth time. It took him years to know how to access it and he has no idea how to write an email. His main purpose is to check on his ebay orders. Any other fancy maneuvers become my problem. It isn't a big deal to sign him out, but it is a good thing he only opens his mail at home. More times than I care to remember, I have to sign out work people when they forget to do it. Leaving email open can be dangerous. I have a good code of ethics and would never look at anyone's email when it is open. That would be like checking someone's medicine cabinet. I am sure other people would love the chance to snoop. I just hit the sign out option and yell at the person who did not close out.

Best for Less

I am by no means a fashionista, but I do like to buy makeup. I have been on a year long search for an eye pencil that will not smudge under my eyes. I hate the zombie look at the end of the day. After buying most brand names and going to the specialty stores, I bought one at the Dollar Tree. Lo and behold, it is the best pencil I ever bought. L.A Colors makes the best eye pencil and it was only $1.00. As if that was not good enough, I found the best nail polish brand. I never go for a manicure as I do not like the smell of the salons. I am very sensitive to fragrances. I could be a bloodhound. I saw a beautiful lilac color polish at another dollar store and bought it. It lasted three weeks without one chip. Usually my polish chips in two days. I went back and got 2 more colors and had the same results. The polish is b.s.n. Who needs brand name makeup when you have a dollar store nearby?

The Stump

We have all heard the standing joke that when you buy a child a toy, they love to play with the box it came in. The other day I had four children at my house. I set up a few riding toys on the back lawn. I thought that would keep them busy. Last month when my husband cut down our tree, we were left with a stump. It was not able to be ground down so it sticks up about 2 inches from the grass.  I looked outside and the children were all standing on the stump. Jumping up and down and twirling. They were using it as a stage. They looked so cute on it. We took pictures of their performance.

Respect

I was at my town pool yesterday and saw the same families I have been with in the summer for the past 20 years. One family in particular is very nice, but they do not know how to interact with each other. There is yelling, screaming and nastiness. A bit of spilled juice turned into a screaming match with the mother telling the daughter that she had no common sense. She did this in front of the entire pool. The daughter has her PhD, so believe me, she is a smart girl. At my lectures I teach that we need to speak to our families in the tone and manner we would speak to strangers. We talk nicer to people we do not know, than to people we love.

Little Man

I saw a transition over the weekend. My grandson went from infant to toddler. Since the day he was born, I experienced each phase he went through with different eyes than I had with my children. The accomplishments that I took for granted with my children became milestones for him. Last night we went out to eat with him, as we have done almost every weekend since he was born. He used to sit in the infant car seat, then in his mother's arms. He was not strong enough to sit in the wooden high chairs that most restaurants provide. He would slip and slide in them. I bought a great travel highchair for him that looks like the top half of his real one. We used it for the first time last night. He sat across from me eating his baby food when he spotted his mother's mashed potatoes. He opened his mouth wide like he wanted them. She fed him mashed potatoes for the first time and he loved them. He sat like a little man for the entire dinner, eating and giggling. That is the moment when I saw the transformation.