05 August 2008

Fasten your seatbelts, folks. It's Ramble time!

WARNING: Readers of this post should be at least 48" tall and be in good health. If you are pregnant or have heart conditions, please check with your doctor before buckling into this ride. This ramble is subject to quick pacing and sudden twists and turns in subject matter. As always, please keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle until the ride comes to a complete stop.



Let me start out by assuring you that "Free Food Makes You Fat". That's a chapter title in Blue Shoes and Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith. Another intriguing chapter title is "How to Deal With an Angry Ostrich", but I'm not going to ramble about that one. This is because I haven't really had any dealings with ostriches for a number of years, so I have no current stories to tell.

Anyhoo, Mr. Smith apparently knows what he is talking about, because folks, this has been a week just chock-FULL of free food. Have you ever tried to diet in the midst of free food? LOTS of free food? Impossible. Especially if the food is good!

First came Thursday. The girlies and I drove down to Old Orchard Beach (in a rip-roaring thunderstorm) to hang out and swim with our friends Rick and Tamara and fam who were visiting from Indiana.

Indiana? That's one of those of those states that makes me say, "You mean people actually live there? ON PURPOSE?"

You remember Rick and Tamara. They're the ones I rescued from the evil snakes of doom. Yeah, for some weird reason they left the beauty of Maine and moved to Indiana, but now they were back for a quick howdy-do. They were staying in a large, ritzy campground resort! a modest, rustic campground near the coast. Freedom began as soon as we got there and Rick insisted on paying our exhorbitant small "visitor's" fee so we could enter the premises and cavort with their family in the 497 4 swimming pools and 2 hot tubs.

But before we swam, FREE lunch! That's right, our generous friends fed us quite well from their larder. I had a lovely wrap and fresh strawberries and two chocolate chip cookies.

It was hazy outside, but the rain was holding off, so we drove the kids 18 miles the short distance to the pool so they could swim and play and Tam and I could talk 'til our lips got numb chat. Finally we decided to round everyone up and go out to an early supper. Rick and Tam were even kind enough to treat us! We loaded up the vans (6 children and 4 adults; Rick's Dad joined us) and drove (in a rip-roaring thunderstorm) to Ninety-Nine's for a sumptuous feast.

I ordered an oriental stir-fry with lots of veggies and some fabulous beef tips. This would have fit beautifully into my diet except that the platter of food they brought out for me would have fed, oh, either 3 skinny people OR 2 slightly pudgy folk OR 1 fat pig. Groovy was busy talking and reminiscing and otherwise having a good time, but she remained mindful of her waistline she devoured the fat pig portion. AND scarfed down a mini sundae AND a pack of M&Ms on the 2 hour drive home in a rip-roaring thunderstorm.

Friday? GrammaJ had missed us SO MUCH while we were away camping and visiting etc, etc. that she insisted on taking the girlies and I out to Ruby Tuesdays. There I had yummy chicken with portabella mushrooms and mashed potatoes and broccoli. and 1/2 of Girly-Girl's awesome dessert cookie.

Saturday? We were going to stay home and behave ourselves because this groovy homemaker was WAY behind on her, you know, homemaking, but then we got a sudden invitation to a garden gazebo tea party. My friend's granddaughter was here for the week and needed some friends to play with. That's right folks, it was a tea party emergency! They needed us!

We immediately freshened up and changed for some tea party fun:




Naturally a tea party means...FREE FOOD! There were cucumber sandwiches, chicken salad, strawberries dipped in chocolate, grapes, macaroons, chocolate chip cookies, orange scones, and itty-bitty cupcakes. Good stuff, that!

Sunday? Free donuts at church..although they ALWAYS have free donuts and those don't really tempt me, so I stuck to my apples and peanut butter.

Monday? Grampy decided that he and I needed to go out to lunch. And we MUST go somewhere where he could buy me (because he wuvs me) a BIG chocolate dessert. So we trekked over to Ruby Tuesdays. Yes, again! This time I only ate a small salad and 1/2 my serving of quiche, so I'd have room for the double chocolate cake and a scoop of vanilla ice cream that was the size of my head.

Today? Honey, I've still got quiche AND a tomato/mozerella salad AND baby green beans leftover from yesterday. My double chin and I are looking forward to it!

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I didn't feel well yesterday. Nothing I can put a finger on, just extremely sleepy. I slept well the night before, but I took an hour and a half nap in the afternoon. That's a big warning sign that I'm either sick or pregnant. (Stop it. I'm NOT pregnant. Not unless God has decided to perform an extra miracle in Maine this year.) I went to bed at 8pm and had a reall tough time getting up this morning. Now it's only 8am and I'm already contemplating another nap!

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The weather today is absolutely perfect. We've had days months on end of extremely high humidity and sporadic rain and clouds and then more humidity. You know, the sort of humidity where you swim from room A to room B. The sort of humidity where you have to wring the water out of your clean clothes before you put them on. The sort of humidity where you have to rinse your hair with vinegar so it won't mildew. The sort of humidity where your salt and spices go back to their natural states as ROCKS.

Yes, it was THAT humid!

But today is sunny and dryer and cool and...well, just lovely. It would be a wonderful day to work in the yard or go for a loooooong bike ride.

Maybe after a coupla naps...

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While we were in Old Orchard hanging by the pools, I found myself people watching. The main thought going through my mind: "That bathing suit? Eeeeeewwwww! WHAT WERE THEY THINKING????" I'm telling you, most folks would look better in these, than in what they were wearing! (And NOT just because of moral issues...)

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Aaaaack!!! The sun just went behind a cloud! NO! NO! NO!

COME BACK MR. SOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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We've been busy planning a big shindig for the folks. They'll be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary on August 21st. We're going to have a BBQ. What they don't know is that I covertly "borrowed" their address book and have sent invitations far and wide to the get-together.

Heh-heh-heh!

We seriously don't expect all the friends and family to make the trek to Maine, but hopefully there'll be a flood of cards and calls to bless their socks off. At the very least, Funsocksgirl and the J-man are coming (Whoo-hoo!) and perhaps some of the local gang. It should be a good time!

Then, in October they're planning a romantic trip to Niagra Falls...

All together now, "Aaaaaaaaaawwwwwwww."

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I think the hamsters are feeling a bit chilly (It's 61ºF). They just rearranged their cage so that all the shavings are in one giant mound right in the middle of the cage and they're curled up together underneath.

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They're still working on the property next door and the sound of heavy equipment ALL SUMMER LONG is getting rather wearisome.

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I still love my hair.

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Surprisingly, I haven't missed my microwave at all.

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I'm starting to feel hungry now...Time to dig out that free food!

(And time to get back to this losing weight thing...tomorrow!)

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, you have been busy! Loved reading the details and seeing the photos.

Wanted to thank you so much for stopping by - your good thoughts and prayers meant the world to me!

Dawn said...

I'm planning one of these all-over-the-place rambles - they're fun. I can't believe all the free food - and I LOVE those books. Just finished the latest one. It really is had to not take advantage of free food.

Kristen's huge thing is at 2:30 today, which is 4:30 your time, I think. So your prayers were in plenty of time. E-mail me if you want to know more.

Marianne Arkins said...

Yes, it really WAS that humid. I'm still chipping away at my spices.

Blech.

anno said...

Mr. Smith is a very wise man. Maybe a bit of a wiseguy, too! Your free food sounds fabulous -- if it meant you didn't have to turn on your own oven, that's a good thing, right? Love the pictures of the girls in their tea time finery -- they are just beautiful.

Carole Burant said...

Thank goodness there's always a Monday to "start the diet"! lol Don't you just love all that free food...I get days like that when I'm fed for free and it's awesome!!! hehe Sounds like a busy life you've been leading but at least it's all fun stuff:-) I love the picture of the girls dressed up for the tea party, they look delightful.

Having planned a surprise birthday party for my mom a couple of years ago, I know all the hard work that goes into planning such an event. Like you, I had "borrowed" her address book! lol Steve and I usually go to Niagara Falls in October around my birthday...maybe I'll see your parents there! hehe

Love your new hairstyle, it suits you so well!!! xoxo

Superwoman said...

Whew, I am exhausted and hungry, where's my free food???!

Corn Dog said...

Oooh, I love free food but so not good for the diet. I do miss cucumber sandwiches. No one out here even knows what they are.

Tammy said...

I love your rambling posts, Groovy...I made sure to fasten my seatbelt, so all was well!
Your girls are SO very pretty all ready to go to the tea party! Wow, I kind of wish my girls would be summoned with a tea party emergency, complete with cucumber sandwiches! :)

OK...I'm hungry now...

Lori said...

I can't believe how busy your have been. The girls are so adorable.

Anonymous said...

All of a sudden I'm feeling really hungry but thank you for such a great laugh. I really hope you're not coming down with something just feeling the need to sleep off all that free food. LOL.

Susan said...

What a delightful post, as always. So full of news and fun. Hope you feel better and get rested up.
Susan

Damselfly said...

Just reading your post makes me feel full.

I am from Indiana and my sister still lives there. The part where she lives she calls the "armpit of the world." Her words, not mine....

Anonymous said...

The girls look so beautiful in their tea party dresses!

Sounds like you've been keeping yourself busy! You must be exhausted by now!

notcon4med said...

Hey! I know that gazebo. I've tea partied many times there.