In Which Groovy Isn't Sure What She is Even Saying

Hiho.

My apologies for being such an absent blogger. Apparently, I have "a life". And by "life" I mean that I have been way busy. Way, WAY busy!

I went into August thinking I would actually have, you know, time to work on my Squidoo lenses. That's why I joined that Team One group. We planned to take the world by storm with a plethora of high quality, informational websites. I even considered (with glee) the prospect that I might become a Squid of renown for my prolific lens production.

I thought the month would bring peaceful, relaxing weeks of summer fun and joy. I envisioned relaxed time with the family by one of the nearby lakes and quiet mornings and evenings of writing.

I rather expected tranquil hours of meditation to carefully plan this next year's school curriculum.

I planned to walk and run and ride my bike. To garden and landscape and identify insects, birds, and wildflowers with my field guides. To practice my bass, attend outdoor concerts, and chill with good friends.

Silly me!

Instead I...

Attended birthday parties, farm sat, helped set up a 4-H display at a nearby fair, took GrammaJ shopping and ran errands for/with her, ate a traditional North African meal with several friends, had a meeting with several desperate moms who want me to do biology labs with their teens, tried to convince my girlies that piano lessons with a different teacher (other than their groovy mom) was a GOOD thing (They're still not convinced!), started planning my lab schedule for the school year, painted the house, painted the house, painted the house, plotted evil against the bazillions of wasps who were unhappy with our painting their house (die wasps! die! Die! DIE!!!!), planned a fabulous wedding cake for our dear friends Nate and Betty, made a 60 mile round-trip run to buy pansies for said wedding cake, baked and decorated said cake (in 90º+ humid weather with no a/c), attended the wedding 90 miles away and then spent the afternoon at the beach, tried to breathe (rather unsuccessfully - the ozone levels, heat and humidity are making asthmatic inhalations the norm around here), chatted with my son (in Iraq) on FaceBook, previewed a typing program, researched pellet stoves and shin injuries and conjunctivitis, took Girly-Girl to the Doc for conjuctivitis (wonder how much they'll bill for that 2 minute visit!!), cleaned my house and did all the usual chores, forgot to pre-buy our winter's heating oil (for the first time EVER!), found out our housing taxes are going up $1,000 this year, rejoiced in our church's baptisms this past Sunday, and I probably took a shower or two in there somewhere...

Nate and Betty's Pretty Pansy cake


Oh yeah, and we started school.

Today? I'm supposed to be painting the folks' entryway, but they're still asleep. Painting while they're both sleeping feels a little awkward because their bedroom is right near where I'd be working. So I may prep the room later this morning and then actually paint tomorrow. Later we go to the nursing home, then lunch and "chores" with GrammaJ. Then off to the town office for a hearing to contest our tax raise, and THEN some school time.

Then, maybe then - if I can breathe - I can work on my Squidoo lenses. And make an LLBean order. And clean some toilets.

Coming up? This weekend is the American Folk Festival in Bangor. It is majorly groovy and Mulletman and I try to get there at least one day each year. He has vacation next week. Since most of the painting is done, we're hoping to go camping for a day or two and then maybe hit Funtown with the kiddos. That's assuming it is cooler and that I can breathe. Breathing is GOOD.

It's rather strange, but every single time I've looked at the calender and said, "OOOooooo, a day OFF!", either Mulletman has stayed home and we've painted or someone has needed me to leave home and DO something.

And I haven't seen my grandkids for over a month. PrettyMom has been busy and we've been TOO busy. I've tried to call a couple of times, but we're just not connecting. I miss them, but every time I try to figure out when we could spend time with them it's like OK, we have an hour on Tuesday or something equally ludicrous. Folks, when you're too busy for your grandkids you are TOOOOOO busy! But how do I get off this merry-go-round? Oy!!!

Note to self: Call PrettyMom TODAY and make. it. work.

On a positive note, the house is probably 3/4 done. We still have to install new doors, paint the garage doors (ugh!) and rebuild/paint 3 sets of steps.

OK. It's time for me to go see if the folks are up yet...

Hopefully next time I can regale you with stories of Wayne and Wanda, the wasps.

Whoa...Who Am I? Have I Been Here Before?

*pant*pant*pant*pant*pant*pant*pant*pant*pant*pant*pant*pant*pant*pant*WHEEZE*

*pant*pant*pant*pant*pant*pant*pant*pant*pant*pant*pant*pant*pant*pant*WHEEZE*

*GASP!*

Oh hi! *pant*pant*

Groovy here. *pant*pant*

I'm still alive. But I've been busy, Busy, BUSY! *pant*pant*

Here's the short list (heh-heh) of recent goings-on. Afterward, I'll regale you with tales of our recent camping adventure:

Biking, more biking, fundraising, MORE fundsraising (Hey YOU, it's your turn to send in $5+ for the American Lung Association. See HERE for details!), yard sale, barn dance, Silly-Head's birthday, Mother's Day, gardening, gardening for GrammaJ, loads of 4H-ing, goat milking for a friend, visiting the nursing home, quilting (gotta have 'em all done before June 7!!), shopping for bike accessories, fighting asthma and horrific allergies, homeschooling, camping, alternately freezing or sweltering according to the crazy Maine weather patterns, tracking down the source of evil itty-bitty ants in the cupboard, watching the robin's nest outside our door, talking to the birds at our feeder (UPDATE: Mr. Nutty has finally chilled out.), hitting wild turkeys with our van, swatting at black flies (curse them!), doing housework (sort of), cooking, planning some "event" cakes, and occasionally combing my hair (three cheers for hats and bandanas!)

Obviously I have NOT been blogging! I think up ideas and then sit down at the computer and my brain just turns to mush. I post a quick update on Facebook -usually along with a plea for money for the Trek and then I just stare into space.

Into spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace.

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Huh? What? Oh sorry, I was drooling.

Life is good right now, but it's very tiring!

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We finally have gotten a few emails from Scout in Iraq. In his last one he said:

happy mothers day!! i know it is late but i remembered. thank you for being there for me through the good times and the bad. And being patient with me through all the rough times i put you through.
i would tell you what i do here but i would have to kill you. it's classified. i have always wanted to say that. hahahaha.
love, scout

:-D

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Silly-Head is a Mother's Day baby. This year we had a surprise party for her on (surprise!) Mother's Day. It was a great success! After our Mother's day meal etc., Girly-Girl took her down into the basement to play while we decorated and snuck in the party guests. Then Mulletman called them both up and...






My baby is EIGHT now!
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One of Silly-Head's favorite things to do is camp. So Mulletman asked for time off and had last week free and clear. We packed up all our gear and bikes and headed for a private campground near Sebago Lake. Problem was, it's NOT camping season here yet and the campground was closed!

No sweat, we turned the car toward the Sebago Lake State Park. There was absolutely NO ONE there except the camp "hosts", so we had our pick of the campsites! We got one near the sand beach and the playground.

Advantages to camping out of season:

- Rates are lower
- NO noise from late night karaoke campers! (or vehicles driving in and out, or other folks' kids)
- We get the run of the whole place.
- Clean bathrooms. :-D
- It was cold out, so the mosquitoes and black flies were practically non-existant.
- There was a veritable plethora of easily accessible downed wood for tinder and kindling.
- No security fears; the girls could run hither and yon without one of us with them all the time.
- The girls had the entire beach to themselves. They could sing, dance, build, play without disturbing anyone, without fear of someone laughing at them, or destroying their creations.





Disadvantages to camping out of season:

-It was COLD!!!!!!!!!! Cold, as in shivering and wearing winter coats!


Ironically, it is supposed to be almost 90ºF today!

-No swimming, boating, or fishing (too cold and no rentals available).

-No local restaurants were open. We usually just eat our own food at camp, but it was so chilly that we ate our warm supper for lunch on Day 2 and then had nothing but cold food left. We hoped for a local diner, but ended up at Applebees!

-No park rangers to give your money to or buy firewood from or ask questions of. We had to calculate our own fees and then go find an atm so we could pay in cash. The Mulletman had to hunt up some firewood. Lots of firewood...because it was COLD!

Highlights of the camping trip:

-We were on the way south on the interstate when a wild turkey hen ran out right in front of our van. SPLAT! She broke the front grille, the headlight mount, and one of the brackets on the bug shield. We praised God that it was a turkey and not a deer or moose!

-We saw a whole flock of turkeys AND a flock of goldfinches right next to our campsite.

-A bold crow gang tried to make off with our dirty dishes!

-We saw and heard several loons. Never heard a loon? It is the weirdest, creepiest sound you can imagine - especially in the middle of the night. The first time I ever heard them, I thought it was some strange, hungry wild animal coming to eat us. I hardly slept at all that night!

Now I find the sound soothing and lovely. :-)

-Mulletman did, indeed, almost hit a deer while on his atm and firewood trek.

-I got off track while traipsing in the woods and my 30 minute hike ended up being an hour and a half hike.

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Ok folks, believe it or not, I have many things I'm s'posed to be doing today. I'm going to try to get in a blog post at least once a week. So hang in there, I haven't deserted you! At least, not completely! Hopefully, I'll be able to get around and visit a few of you before the next 3 days are over.

Have a lovely Memorial Day!

You Probably Thought Groovy Was on Vacation, But She Wasn't...

Only my typing was on vacation. The rest of me has just been caught up in a whirlwind of spring craziness.

Let's see if I can make a random list in no particular order of all that we've been doing so that you'll be impressed and will say, "Oh my! You are SO busy!", which is what folks usually say when I make posts like this which kinda makes me think so what's the point ? but I'll do it anyway because it gives me something to say and my, oh my, isn't this an intolerably long sentence?

Whew.

- Rode my bike somewhere between 52-55 miles in 7 days. That's a good start, but I'd like to get in 70 miles this week and 80-100 miles every week thereafter. You can read more about my progress, roadblocks, and a special blessing from God HERE. You can donate to the American Lung Association there as well, or in my sidebar on this blog. Thanks for all your moral and financial support!

- Mulletman and I led worship and gave a concert yesterday at a small local church. We have an old Dylan song called "Satisfied Mind" that always gets a tremendous response.

No, I DON'T sing it like Dylan! Our style is old time, hard core blues - 'cause that's what you get when you put your trust in your bank account instead of in the God of the universe!

- We practiced and PRACTICED for the afore mentioned concert/worship service.

- We had 4-H:

Girly-Girl is working on her leadership skills, so she made a poster of how to prepare for a 4-H goat show. Then she and Silly-Head and another friend taught the info to the other children.



Here are the girls with their new goatlings. These little buggers are Nigerian Dwarfs - not my favorite breed, but they are, of course, adorable when they're kids.

Silly-Head with Zoe.


Girly-Girl with Zemmaline.


-We had the requisite Easter family gathering. After a lovely Easter church service where Girly-Girl sang in the kids' choir (sorry no pics, stupid camera!), I baked a ham and some awesome herb rolls and coleslaw and GrammaJ made dessert and Grammy cooked up lots of veggies. The guest list included the four of us (duh!), all 3 folks, Uncle Grumpy-Pants, Pretty Mom and my 3 adorable and never annoying grandchildren.

It was wonderful day!

Here's Ji-Ji. He looks a maniacal, but it's the best picture I mananged to get of him during the playing-in-Gramma's-basement chaos.

This is Cookie trying out the disgustingly dusty school desk that will be refurbished for her in a year or two.


And here's Fireball in one of her quieter moods.


Oh...and Easter? That's usually when the girlies beg me to make them Easter dresses and I wimp out, BUY them shirts, and sew them skirts instead.


-This week we also went to the nursing home and had a fabulous time leading walker aerobics.

Just kidding!

We sang to the residents and doled out numerous hugs. To tell the truth, I don't think the folks there give a rat's whisker whether Early-Bird and I come, but OH how they love all the little girls we bring; my two, Early-Bird's Peanut, and two other little homeschooled sweeties. The girls make cards and tissue paper flowers. They sing and talk childish talk and hug the residents. My girl always bring a doll or stuffed animal to show off. It's great fun! I'm starting to think of it as one of my favorite activities!

-We worked on quilts for the orphans in Swaziland. We have dear friends there who run an orphanage and work with a local church. Two other friends are planning an excursion there in June, so the rush is on to get quilts made before they leave so they can take them in their luggage. This quilt is almost finished:


-This week I also did a slew of chored for GrammaJ and took her on a marathon shopping trip and had her over here to visit on both Easter and yesterday.

-I manage to contract a stupid cold. I am fighting said cold for all I am worth with vitamin C, elderberry syrup, and zinc gluconate!

-I cleaned my house.

- I had school with the girlies.

- I wrote a song.

- I prayed for North Africa.

- I researched language programs; Mulletman and I are considering studying Arabic. Anybody have any recommendations?

- Somewhere in there I cooked and planned and talked to people, bathed, brushed my teeth, lifted weights, greeted "Aunt Flo", delivered Pampered Chef from that party I may or may not have had, and slept. Happily for me, Mulletman did all the laundry!

-I noticed that Girly-Girl had a harvest to reap! (We shall eat that WHOLE green bean for lunch today!)





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Things that I did not do this past week but hope to do soon:

- I did NOT hear from Scout. I miss him!


-I did not spruce up and refine the song I wrote.

-I did not write to Misti in China or Pinky in India.

-I did not write on either of my novels.

-I didn't take a day to just "goof off".

-I didn't dig up the veggie garden.

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OK...enough about my groovy self. In between today's to-do list I'll be by to see what YOU've been doing!
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Lastly - a take away from yesterday's sermon at the church we sang at:

Every morning when you get up, ask the Lord W. H. A. T. He wants you to do that day; ask Him to be Lord of your Words, your Heart, your Actions, and your Thoughts.

Busy, Busy...

Veggie Tales says it so well:

I'm busy, busy, dreadfully busy
You've no idea what I have to do.
Busy, busy, shockingly busy
Much, much too busy for you.

'Cause we're busy, busy, frightfully busy
More than a bumblebee, more than an ant.
Busy, busy, horribly busy
We'd love to help, but we can't!

Ta ta!