In Which Groovy Definitively Denies That She Has A.D.D.

Hiho! Groovy Here!

I have another rash. An ITCHY rash. I have no idea where/how I got it. Apparently while out shopping in Augusta with GrammaJ I touched something noxious and POWIE! It started on my chin (my chin?) and spread into 2 large spots on my right leg (How did it get from my chin to my leg?) and there's a smaller spot on my left wrist and various itty-bitty pinpoint bumples scattered about.

So, I'm back to living on Benedryl. Well, actually, I never buy Benedryl. We have "Equate Allergy Medication" which is, essentially, diphenhydramine HCL.

I knew you wanted to know that!

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We've had very, VERY few hot, summerish days in Maine to date. The cool weather doesn't bother me at all. I'd be thrilled if it was between 65ºF and 75ºF all season. Heat does not make me revel in the joys of summer. Heat just makes me cranky.

Totally off topic, let me point out that the AC in our van is shot... (No wonder no one wants to ride with me to run errands!)

What we have had is bucket loads of humidity from all the RAIN. The rain in Maine has mostly been a pain! In June, most of the state had record breaking amounts of precipitation. I'm betting July will be the same. Right now it is not raining, but the huidity level is, oh, about 320%.

So sitting here at the computer is pretty much like typing underwater. Literally!

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On Saturday evening, I always take the time to lay out whatever we'll need for church in the morning. If we're on the worship team, we will be at church from 7am to 11:15am or so. Thus packing includes Bibles, breakfast for the girlies, a snack for after first service, my regular glasses (Can't see the music stand well with bifocals), Mulletman's earbuds for drumming, and my claves.

I also lay out my clothes and jewelry and shoes and make the girlies do the same. This preparation saves us much time and energy and stress on Sunday mornings. I imagine if I worked outside the home, I would do this every day.

Yet Mulletman mocks me for my efficiency.

This Sunday, we weren't doing the music at our church. In fact, we decided to visit another local church and their one service wasn't until mid morning. Nonetheless, old habits die hard and I laid out my clothes the night before. I went downstairs to exercise since we had so much time. When I came up, this it what I saw on the bed:



At least he makes me smile while he makes fun of me!

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One thing I can say about humidity, it really enhances the smell of a rodent cage! Consequently, I've been having the girlies clean the cage more often. Our usual routine is that one child cleans and then "decorates" the cage while her sister entertains the displaced hamsters.

Silly-Head worked very hard this last time and made it through the entire cleaning process without any assistance from me. (Yippee!) Next on her training list? Bathroom cleaning!!!!! :-D

Workin' Hard!


The scrubbing is almost done...


The finished project. Didn't she arrange it nicely?


Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Girly-Girl is "entertaining" the hammies. The wooden interpretation of entertaining is "Keeps them from escaping". However, Girly-Girl always tries to exceed our expectations.

Here she is entertaining Ruby and Rebekah:


Oops, let's see if I can get her face in the pic...


OK, Can you see what Girly-Girl is doing? Here, this pic makes it a bit clearer:


Yes, she was READING to them! :-D

And here are both of the hammie caretakers with their babies:


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My BFF in South Carolina, Notcon4med, arrived here late, late on Wednesday evening with her daughter, Kerry-On. We are the early-to-bed-early-to-rise sort, so dear friends Magnolia and Peanut also came to spend the night. Magnolia is a night owl. She stayed up to let our guests in and show them to their rooms. Peanut just came because she is BFF with the girlies and hey, who wants to miss a slumber party!

I can't believe I just used "BFF" twice in the same ¶. Eeeew!

I love NC4. She loves the Lord with all her heart and is always up for Biblical discussions of epic proportions. Of course, she is WAY smarter than me, so I end up smiling and nodding alot...

She is also such a techno geek. She has an ipod, a cell phone, a laptop, a GPS, etc. I, on the other hand, as a certified techno PHOBE, have one corded telephone and one desk computer that's only on a couple of hours a day. We make a nice pair!

Some people carry their cell phones everywhere. NC4 does that, but she also carries her laptop everywhere. When I laughed at her for taking her laptop with her on a short visit to some local friends she retorted that she "might need to show them pictures or something"!

Of course, as I joke about her dependence on electronics, I realize that I am probably the oddball in this scenario. There is something decidedly anti-American about my lack of technology. Even after the tidal wave and all, I still find myself avoiding the thought of getting a cell phone...

Mostly, NC4 and I just "hung out". We ate scones from Jorgenson's and donuts from Hillman's and pizza from Korner Store and dessert from Freedom Café. And, since NC4's birthday had just passed, I made her a yellow cake with fudge frosting. We invited a few gals over and had ourselves a party! My husband, driven to the far reaches of the house by all the estrogen afloat in the air, had this to say afterwards:

Mulletman: looking a little wild-eyed and edgy How can you women stand that?

Groovy: Stand what?

MM: All the interruptions!

Groovy: What interruptions?

MM: Ever time one of you started to talk, another woman would interrupt and start talking a mile-a-minute on a totally different topic. She'd only get 2-3 sentences out and someone would do the same to her. In fact, half the time, nobody even finished a...

Groovy: ...Sentence? I never noticed...

The fact is that 2 of our group most definitely have A.D.D., 2 clearly don't, and one especially groovy one is in denial. This made for a lot of chit-chat and crossfire and, in my opinion, tremendous fun!

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NC4 and I also went to a pre-wedding Pounding for sweeties Nate and Betty down in the southern part of Maine. The idea was to give them pantry staples by the pound to start their kitchen off right. They got rice and beans and tuna and sugar and spices and penny nails and a mallet and duck tape - all kinds of fun stuff. Many of the gifts were packed into reusable grocery bags, too. Very groovy! It was a family party with hubbies and children in tow, but I didn't know that ahead of time (we kind of crashed the party) so Mulletman and the girlies missed out. There were party games - I won the eggwhite whipping contest. Whoo-Hoo!

After the shower, NC4 and I went our separate ways. She and Kerry-On and Magnolia were off to meet a youth missions team that had come up from South Carolina to help out some ministries in Lewiston and Portland. I'll get to see tham again tomorrow at a nearby BBQ, providing it doesn't rain. Again. Which it's not supposed to...

Riiii-iiiight.
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Believe it or not, I can think of plenty more to say, but I think I'll leave off here. I wouldn't want anyone to die from a heart attack. You know, from the bloggy excitement and all. Besides, I have some Squidoo lenses to work on and school curriculum to research and order and phone calls to make and laundry to do.

So, until next time may God keep you in the palm of His hand!

In Which "They" are Trying to Kill Us!!

See this clock in our living room? It was a gift from my brother-in-law, Big Guy. We've had it for many, MANY years now. Isn't it lovely?



This week I had to replace the battery in it. That's when I noticed this little warning label on the back.




No wonder I have asthma!!!!

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Me Again...

Hiho,

I'm back in the saddle again. Sort of.

Yesterday, I rode my bike for the first time in several weeks. That went well, but my allergies are about to drive me into insanity. My sinuses are going haywire. I've had some minor allergy problems before, but this year is awful! I'm doing the whole sneezing, stuffy/runny nose, itchy eyes, hoarse throat thing.

Worse yet, my face and neck (and sometimes my arms) are still swollen every morning and they are still itchy. I have a gen-u-ine allergy to the sun. Oh yes.

You can't imagine how special this makes me feel. Now I can live in Maine and miss the sun 12 stinkin' months a year. O lucky me.

Vitamin D and St. John's Wort, here I come!

Actually, I can keep most of myself out of the sun. It IS the face and neck that are tricky. I had this reaction even after using 45 spf sunscreen and constantly wearing a hat. Now I'm going to switch to sunBLOCK. No, not the lovely white zinc oxide - although that does have possibilities if I put together a miming routine. I thought I'd try the more translucent titanium dioxide. Aubrey makes an all natural sunblock with TiO2, so I'm gonna give it a try.

OK, enough about me. Now it's time to talk about...um...ME, because it's my blog!

Last weekend we camped at Smuggler's Den Campground on Mt. Desert Island. That's pronounced Mt. "Dessert", even though it is spelled "Desert". This drives me bananas, but apparently, no one cares.

It was a lovely campground and we had a (mostly) lovely time. Unfortunately, I was doped up on Benedryl for the entire time, so I may not be remembering things accurately. We camped Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. Then we packed up Sunday morning and visited Calvary Chapel in Orrington Maine on our way home.

We hiked, helped the girls ride their bikes (they're still a bit shaky), went to the coast to look for tidal pools, found some groovy rocks (I LOVE rocks!), and went to an over-priced, but quaint little oceanarium. (ie. we had a "school" field trip!) We also swam in the freezing heated (supposedly) outdoor pool with the girlies several times a day.

Actually, Mulletman swam. I sat in the shade like a good girl and zoned out watched.

Here are the requisite camping photos that I know you are just DYING to see so that you'll be firmly convinced that we had mounds of fun while you sat home twiddling your thumbs:

Here's our home away from home:



Now it's pool time. Aren't those BRAVE girlies? Isn't that a cute Mulletman?




There was the coolest cemetary right in the campground:



One of the tombs was for Jacob Lurvey who was a hero from the Revolutionary War. He was a prisoner of war twice, but he lived to be 92! Unfortunately, the inscription on his tombstone didn't show up the photo very well. The stone next to it belongs to a couple of his later relatives.



Oh Look! The Groovy Fam, having school during vacation! (They're SO dedicated!)



What can this be? Is it an actual photo of a female swollen-faced groove? Note her her colorful, sun-reflecting plumage. Note also how her "bill" hides her face!



And here are two cuties goofing off after a grueling search for tidal pools. We found crabs, barnacles, snails, millions of rocks (beautiful rocks!) and a dead jelly fish.



We'll be off again either tomorrow evening or Friday morning, depending on the weather. We'll be tenting at the Windsor Fair Grounds for Maine 4-H Days. It's all free and it's reportedly just LOADS of fun. Besides, if the girls make it through a couple of goating classes and shows and help sell snacks in our Caprine Crew's snack shack, we can call it "school".

It works for me.

We'll be coming back late Saturday. I'll have Sunday for church and recovery, then Mm has his surgery on Monday followed by TWO MORE weeks at home with us.

The anticipation is almost more than I can bear!

In the Meantime...

I'm not feeling great. I had (sigh) an allergic reaction to the sun (double sigh) and my face swelled all up and itches, etc.

I also started my period early (ie. unexpectedly), WHILE WE WERE CAMPING, and I'm bloated and grouchy and foggy and weepy and moody and... (triple sigh). Here's a pic of the camp from our tent site. If you look REALLY hard and use a magnifying glass you'll see a building WAY off in the distance. The bathroom is beyond that (quadruple sigh).



The only thing that saved my sanity was the absolutely incredible 4 serving brownie from Heaven that I bought when I was out scavanging feminine supplies.

Yes. I ate the whole brownie by myself.

All of it.

By. my. self.

In ONE SITTING.

Get over it.

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I'm sure I'll be back to my excessively chipper self quite soon, but in the meantime, here are two new products our family took on our Benedryl laden camping trip. They each received 8 thumbs up for texture, taste, and overall awesomeness.

You'll definitely want to try them - not at the same time, though. Maple syrup and garlic/herb is not a Groovy approved food combo.



By the way, I als have a BAD case of husband-on-vacation. I don't get much 'puter time when the Mulletman is home. For some strange reason he thinks I should be paying attention to him. Go figure!

That reminds me...I need your HELP.

Mulletman is scheduled for surgery on July ninth for a repair job on a failed hernia patch. This means he will have even MORE time off AND he won't be able to lift or do anything strenuous. He is going to DRIVE ME NUTS be bored, Bored, BORED!

This is a man who is either busy or asleep. He has no in-between setting.

I need some "busy work" for him while he's recovering. He'll be able to do suduko and play guitar and fold laundry.

Any ideas for some more productive couch activities I can give him so he won't make me crazy he'll feel like a useful member of the family?

THANKS!!!