The kids and I went downtown today to do the newspaper's Itty Bitty City hunt. It was fun, but cost me $100! We ate in a sidewalk cafe and then found some bargains at a store that was going out of business. So the free family fun was anything but free. I don't feel badly about it tho. The kids had a good time, and it is nice for them to see that they can have fun close to home.
We are really in a perfect place, I think. We have mountains 2 hours away, beaches 2 hours away, the nation's capital a hour and a half away, the state capital an hour away, malls within 25 minutes drive north or south, and historic Fredericksburg 20 minutes away. Oh yeah, and we live on a farm with a mile of road frontage. I love it here more and more every day. The weather this summer has been so mild it's been a joy to be outside. Today it was 85 degrees with a breeze and hide-and-seek sunshine. Love it.
We are enjoying cucumbers, lettuce, onions, and carrots from the garden, and I've now picked a couple of strawberries (nasty) and some grape tomatoes as big as my thumb. I think I am about ready to pick a spaghetti squash, and we have. Now that the flower bed has been in a year, I have a better sense of how I want things laid out. I will do some transferring of plants this year to get it looking better and symmetrical. DD has been using one of the formal garden beds as "hers" and will be disappointed to move it. I may have Jared put in a temporary bed for the kids out of railroad ties or leftover wood from the basement for the kids. We dug up the gravel and put down shingles from the house to keep the weeds down, too. It's coming together nicely. I need a statue of some description for the central bed..... I didn't see anything that suited my fancy today downtown. I also don't have anything that blooms in late June in the flower garden besides the roses. Dawna L told me about a wholesale place on 610 that I can get a flat of flowers for $10. There is also a daylily farm not far from here. I will pick up some fans to put in the ugly patch down at the end of the driveway.
I am not feeling too great. I came down with a cold or something when we went to Ohio to pick up the van this past weekend. I thought it came from the fumes in the hotel room burning my throat. I have never smelled bleach so strongly before. I taught my lesson Sunday but if any of the other Presidency had been in town I probably would have bailed. I spent most of yesterday in bed trying to kick it, and feel a little better, but I probably shouldn't have gone downtown. At least it wasn't hot.
I mailed the aunts and grandmas pictures of the kids. Hope they like them. Tuesday I put the new site design officially live. Jared fixed an error in my theme, and now it's working fine. I still have some work to do, but it's at least easier to navigate. I hope others find it easy to navigate.
I listened to Tarzan of the Apes by Burroughs this past week while I was not able to sleep thanks to the coughing fits and sore throat. Whoa - never realized how un-politically correct it is! The story is so much fun. It's a shame it will never be part of a school curriculum. The sterotypes are so dated. Tarzan, perfectly bred English gentleman, whose heredity somehow overcomes his monkey upbringing and he teaches himself to read and write grammatically perfect English AND somehow develops a noble moral character. Jane is the AMERICAN who goes native, but is still just genteel enough to suit a British noble (because we all know an Englishwoman could never go native). The Blacks are constantly referred to as barely above the apes in their primitiveness. The Negress -- fat, hilarious and emotional -- is apparently not in the same class as the Blacks, but in all ways below the whites. The trashy sailors, intimidated by the shining nobility of the weakling Brits. The nerdy professor and his silly sidekick. It's awesome. But I still love the story. Libirvox does not have Return of Tarzan out yet, so I guess I'll have to read the book again. My dad introduced me to Tarzan back when I was a kid. Forgot how much I liked it.
With Republican politicians making the choices they've made lately, I'm proud to still call myself an Independent. That Todd Sanford should be impeached. You know, adultery is one thing, but lying to your staff, running off to Argentina and "crying for days" after your lover apparently dumps you even though you "knew what the consequences meant and didn't care" and leaving the state without it's leader is beyond the pale. He left millions without protection and leadership and without a way to contact their elected official. Kick that boy out.
And what is with Sarah Palin? I have tried very hard to like her because Daddy thinks she is da bomb. But to quit out of the blue, with no warning to her staff? Again, extremely selfish and unprofessional. I am glad to see she has a soul -- that the bad press and all has affected her. But, I think you do need a tough skin to be in politics. Would she have quit as VP, too? Surely these same allegations would have come up if she were in DC instead of Alaska. I'm afraid she's lost her chance at national office. Funny that she turned out to be the loose canon instead of McCain, isn't it?
The stimulus had no effect -- as everyone with half a brain predicted -- and I am glad the Obama administration is admitting it. Certainly the Bush White House would never have done that. But, Obama & Co. are blaming the former administration for the solution they bullied the Congress into. Pretty soon that argument will get old, even for the Bush-hating media.
I'll just keep saving my pennies and hope for the best.
