Decal Family

I was  riding behind a car the other day when I noticed the "Decal Family". Normally it is a group of decals in size order. This time it was just two small ones. A boy decal and a girl decal. No parents, no pets. I scrutinized the window to see if maybe the parents fell off or were removed, but there were no signs of that. It was just two kids, all alone. I don't know why, but I felt bad for them.

Pool Baby

The year flew by and here it is, pool season again. Last year my grandson was an infant and he was only able to sleep in his stroller. When it got too hot I remember wrapping him in a wet  T shirt to cool him down. This year he is old enough to enjoy the summer. He is taking swimming lessons and yesterday he went underwater for the first time. He is very social and smiles at everyone around him. Since we live in the same town, all of my friends have watched him grow. He sits with us in the adult area and then will go to the kiddie pool to swim. As each of my friends arrives at the pool, they greet everyone, including him. It's nice that they make a fuss over him and include him in the group. He is the darling of the town pool.

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.