Must. Write. On. Blog.

Hiho. Groovy here.

At least now I'm here. I was there. And there and there and there. We also would have gone there, but we ran out of time.

We got back from the big trip last...um (Groovy gets up to look at the calender) Tuesday night. Yeah, that's it.

I wanted to write about the trip as soon as we got back, but we took a bazillion photos and I can't download (upload?) them onto my computer because my hard drive? She is overloaded with more than 6,000 photos. The photo program is starting to shake her head and screech at me if I even try to look at what's already on there. Kinda makes me scared to try to add more.

And when I try to upload (download?) photos from my 'puter to an online photo developing store, my browser freaks out and shuts down. Not a good sign.

So we ordered an external hard drive to keep out pics and music on. It should be here very, very soon. I will move all our photos over to the new drive and organize them so I can remember what the heck they are pictures of. But until then I shall have to go on without showing you all photographs of our fun and exciting trip.

Instead, I shall give you this highly condensed recap of our trip:

4,500 - the approximate number of miles we traveled ( 7242 kilometers!)

9 - the number of different hotels/motels we stayed in. (We stayed in the one near D.C. for 2 nights.)

1 - the number of motor homes we saw hauling helicopters behind them on trailers. ;-)

Entertainment of Choice? Hours and hours (and hours) of Adventures in Odyssey. We never get tired of them! For variety we also played the alphabet game and did a scavenger hunt that I had printed up prior to the trip. Silly-head also tried to get photos of every state "welcome sign" we passed. Sadly, there wasn't one in Texas...

Items I forgot to pack: Our family devotion book (That was OK, Girly-Girl led us in a Bible study every day in the car instead.), my make-up (Had to buy more before the weddding!), bandaids (Good thing they have them at most hotels), paper plates (we brought alot of our own food), bread that does not crumble (Vacuum time!), laundry soap (Those little one shot dispensers are expensive!), a fanny pack for touristy walk-abouts (This would have effectively prevented the BHE's Washington Monument fiasco...)

Sights and Experiences: Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, Scout's and LittleMiss's (now LittleMRS!) Wedding, href="http://www.thealamo.org/visitors/overview.php">the Alamo, the River Walk in San Antonio, the amazing Aquarium in Dallas, the Hermitage, and, of course, Washington DC where we rode the Metro in to see Ford's Theater, the International Spy Museum, the Washington Monument (yes, we went up...), and the Air & Space Museum (part of the Smithsonian)

Food Fun: (None of these restaurants are located in Maine, so they were a treat for us!)

- Eating gator at Razzoo's

- Incredible BBQ at Rudy's

- Cracker Barrel!!!!

- Sonic burgers

- Milk shakes at Steak and Shake

- Krispy Kreme donuts! We got them at gas stations both times, but they were fresh and oh-so-heavenly!

Surprises:

- There are no yield signs in Kentucky or Maryland - at least, not on the interstate on-ramps,

- an orange teddy bear riding on the side of a dump truck,

- Charades is (are?) very difficult to play in the car - especially at night,

- Girly-Girl threw up on the night after our DC visit.

- I slept incredibly well every where we stayed (except or the night Girly-Girl was sick)

- We had no car trouble whatsoever on the trip, but the tire went flat the day after got back. =O

- All of us had good attitudes for the entire trip!

And that's about it for now. More on the wedding once I have my photos available! I'll catch you all later!

Mediocrity Strikes Again...

Well, at this point in time, I should have written 43,000+ words on my novel. I have not. Currently I am at 16,178 or 16,104, depending on which word counter you choose to believe. Either way, I would have to write about 8,500 words per day to get caught up.

Ain't gonna happen.

I'm a very busy and distracted person. I am SO not a focused, drive-'til-it's-done personality. I'm the same with almost everything from dieting to writing to guitar playing to remembering to drill my girls on spelling.

I'm pretty good at flossing and brushing though. And I work very hard to keep myself reading the Bible and spending concentrated time in prayer. Unfortunately, everything else is pretty much a crap shoot...

I'm a little disappointed, but not overly discouraged. I will write some more today and I AM making real progress on my story. Not only that, but I just received a challenge to write 250-500 words per day. 250 words is nothing. It takes 10 minutes on a tough day. I can DO that! And on a good day I can keep on writing. One thing I have learned from NaNoWriMo is that I can write for extended periods of time when the conditions are right. So I am not quitting. I'm going to keep plugging away at Molasses Swamp until it is FINISHED. Then I'm going to edit it and submit it for publication - even if it takes me two years.

So there.

In other news, we postponed our family Thanksgiving celebration until tomorrow because the BestHubbyEver had to work yesterday and today. If you see a fireman, policeman, medical worker, EMT, paramedic, or convenience store employee, be sure to thank them for working through the holidays!

Because of these plan changes, the girls ended up spending all day and last night with GrammaJ. They're making memories by decorating her tree, making gingerbread houses, watching Christmas movies and probably eating way more sweets than I want to know about. ;-)

I'm supposed to pick them up this morning, but the weather is quite slickery. I may have to wait until this afternoon to go get them.

Since the BHE worked all day and the girls were gone, I had the whooooooooole day yesterday to myself. My original plan was to use that time to write. I cleaned instead. My house is all sparkly now! That way, it'll be all ready when the girls and I put up the Christmas decorations on Sunday/Monday.

I have also learned that I talk to myself when I am alone. I talk to myself ALOT!

In still other news, Scout is engaged and plans to be married on January 6. In Texas. And we're supposed to go.

No, we don't have a plan yet.

The original wedding date was going to be the end of January. The BHE got the dates off work and I was researching ticket prices when Little Miss (soon to be Little Mrs!) messaged me to say Scout's deployment date for Iraq had been bumped up, sothe wedding date was accordingly being changed. Right now the new date falls during an already scheduled busy work week for the BHE. He's trying to get the time off, but the hospital where he works is going through a BigUgly with nurses striking and Admin hunkering down and everyone snarling and baring teeth - Not a good time to ask for favors!

At any rate, I have to hold off getting plane tickets, etc. until we see if he can actually get off work or not. Either way Scout and Little Miss will be coming here before Christmas to see Scout's kids and visit the rest of the family. Hopefully, Funsocksgirl and the J-Man can come too, if finances allow. They're also wanting to attend the wedding in January...

So, December and January are looking quite fun and adventurous right now!

Alrighty, enough rambling from this mediocre blogger. I need to fix my pretty blog decor *cough* and actually do some writing on my novel. Hopefully I'm not going to have to shovel snow...

By the way, Many Thanks to Tara for my pretty blog header!

Groovy Snippets

Oy...Is it January yet?

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Obviously I have not been here lately. Today is a "rest" day for me - no traveling, no extra chores, no school. I should have school with the girls, but schooling has rather gone to pot (whatever that means!) since Scout got home. His kiddos have come over here almost every day to hang with him. Needless to say, it's hard for us to focus on past participles when many little people WANT your attention! Now! Please!

I am not even remotely complaining though. It's been a good visit thus far and I am treasuring this time together!

Here's Scout with 4 year-old Ji-Ji.



Grampa Mulletman with 2 year-old Cookie:



And here's beautiful almost 6 year-old Fireball busy making a card for Aunt Funsocksgirl and Uncle J-Man:



In addition to much visiting and playing, there has been much ado over music at our house.

I sang a couple of bluesy songs in a Groovy concert (and got to wear a fun outfit! and make-up!) This is a pretty lame photo because, well, that's how we Groovies DO photography! There's a wicked nice professional photo of me belting it out, but it's copyrighted, so I can't post it. If you just desperately want to see it, you can find it and a few others HERE. I'm in photos #41 (my fave!), 46 and 47, 81, and 83. Enjoy!



Speaking of photos - My regular readers will recall my past whining about my current camera. (This is where Groovy would post a link to her past whining posts if she weren't such a mediocre blogger and could actually find any of them!) Long story short; I hate it. It's a sad excuse for a camera and has horribly wounded my self esteem by making my mediocre photography skills appear even worse than they actually are.

Want my advice? DON'T buy a Sony Cyber-Shot! *shudder*

At any rate, I was failing miserably at having a properly thankful attitude - after all, some folks don't have a camera at all. At least I have one and it works (sort of). I should be thankful. Yet in spite of my bad attitude, God chose to bless us with a barely used fancy-pants camera of a magnitude we'd never even consider purchasing. My brother-in-law bought it a few years back and then sweetly gave it to the Folks when their camera broke. The problem? It IS a more elaborate camera and requires, you know, reading the manual and all. Consequently, it has sent the past year sitting on a closet shelf.

Since we'll have mos tof the fam here this Christmas, the Folks want an easy to use point-and-shoot type camera and passed the big one on to us!!!!!!

Now all I have to do is figure out how to use it and I'm positive that my photographs will move from the sad side of mediocre to fabulous! (Hey, I can dream, can't I?)

Hmmm. Back to music...

The girlies have been taking piano lessons this year and were slated to perform in a Christmas recital last week. They opted to play in a trio to hopefully bring down the fear factor. They practiced faithfully and really had the piece nailed. However, they're both quite shy and I wasn't sure how they'd fare at the performance. We got there quite early so they could practice on the grand piano before the crowd arrived. Silly-Head climbed right onto the piano bench, but Girly-Girl froze. She was absolutely, positively NOT going to sit at that piano and play! end. of. story.

So I did the Mom thing. I pleaded, I coaxed, I comforted, I identified. No progress.

Suddenly I had a flash back to her first dance classes where she froze up. It was truly an "AHA!" moment. I went from NiceMom to MeanMom and used guilt and threats.

It worked like a charm. ;-)

She played perfectly and was SO HAPPY with herself that she couldn't wait for her turn to play in front of the completely packed church. She and Siilly-Head and good friend, Peanut, did a fabulous job. It was awesome! Now Girly-Girl and Silly-Head have agreed to play another trio song for part of the prelude at church on Christmas Sunday. Woot!



Hmmmm. I wrote way more than I meant to, so I'll condense the remainder into bullets.

* I have instigated a family rebellion by insisting that we follow our Groovy tradition of eating seafood for Christmas. The seafood haters can lump it or leave it (whatever that means!).

Here's the menu:
-Potato leek soup
-garlic herb rolls
-fried shrimp
-broiled scallops
-baked haddock
-coleslaw
-greenbean casserole
-homemade applesauce
-any stuff the rebels bring

*Mulletman and I are doing a nice rendition of "I Wonder as I Wander" for Christmas Sunday. He's playing guitar, I'm singing and playing the soprano recorder.

*In addition to playing her piano piece, Girly-Girl is singing in the kids' choir and gets to be one of 4 young ladies singing a soprano descant. :-) That girl has gone from hermit to show gal in .2 seconds!

*I bought a mystery gift for the Folks and accidentally left it in the car. It was so mysterious that Mulletman thought it was trash and threw it out. Good thing it only cost 89¢!!!

*You can burn a heck of a lot of calories shoveling/scooping snow!

*I miss Funsocksgirl and J-Man. :-( *sigh*

*Noisy toys with batteries should be illegal.

(I'm just saying...)

*I'm STILL in physical therapy. I wish they made housecalls because I need extra appointments in December about like I need a pain in the neck.

*GrammaJ is trying to kill us with cookie kindness. She made gingerbread houses with the girls and then came over to our bigger kitchen for a day of baking/decorating. THEN she's made something like 16,000 MORE cookies of varying types for our enjoyment.

Bless her heart.





So, as you can see, our December has been quite suh-weet thus far. Hope yours is the same!

Adventures at the Airport

Hiho.

I suppose, since you're here, you've noticed my tremendously lame blog decorating job. I worked very hard not to exceed anyone's expectations of mediocrity.

I think I succeeded.

Yesterday, we were supposed to buzz down an hour and a half to the airport in the big (*snort*choke*) southern city of Portland and pick up Scout at 12:34 pm. He was flying to Maine to spend his 1 month of post deployment leave.

Mulletman was scheduled to work, but managed to switch days so he could go with the girlies and I and spend more time with Scout. We set out in a festive mood and were pleased to arrive at our destination a full 20 minutes early. That would probably be an inadequate time frame if our "city" really was city-sized, but it isn't. The airport (largest in the State) only has 6 gates. There's only one escape route from the planes as they land; only one tiny bar/restaurant, only one comfy waiting place with chairs. There is a gift shop. It has 8-9 books, a few magazines and a small display of Maine souveniers.

There are, however two sets of restrooms, with totally cool and automatic everything: faucets, paper towel dispensers, blow dryers, flushes, and rotating sanitary seat covers. We are small, but we are modern!

All that is to say getting there early isn't all that necessary. In fact, this getting-there-early plan was an exception because we usually just slide in right on time or even a few minutes late when we're picking someone up.

Mulletman scanned the Arrivals board. "Which flight is he on?"

"The one that arrives at 12:34"

There was only one up there scheduled for that time, and the board told us it was running about 20 minutes late. No problem. We'll just goof around until our soldier strolls down the stairs or the escalator.



Escalator? Silly-Head was full of mischief, "Mama, what happens if you try to go UP the DOWN ones?"

Mama was full of mischief, "I dunno. LET'S TRY IT!!!"

Before Mulletman could stop us, she and I were galloping up the descending escalator. I had my purse in one hand and a soda bottle in the other. Silly-Head was ahead of me and was doing great. But I was having a tough time. It was really hard to move faster than the stairs so that I actually went, you know, UP. It was exhausting! Worst of all, I was quickly realizing that it was also dangerous and that I had put my little dumpling in danger.

Yes, sometimes this mediocre blogger is also a mediocre mom.

I kept admonishing her (as I gasped for breath) to "Be Careful!!" Mulletman and Girly-Girl were running up the stairwell next to us and he was alternately laughing and saying, "That's like something I would have done!!! I can't believe you did that!"

Somehow my little darlin' made it up safely and I was (finally) nearing the top. I was starting to get a bit dizzy from all the conflicting movement and it was getting harder to move fast enough to conquer the last little bit at the top. You know, the bit where the steps are flat and then fan out into full sized stairs? Those are a bit tricky to master going backwards!

In fact I stumbled and I tripped and I crawled (very quickly!) and finally - oh joy of joys! - I scrambled off the stairs of doom and landed right at the feet of a black booted, stern-faced, gun toting airport security guard.

Heh-heh-heh.

Mulletman was already at the top and he turned to the guard and said breathlessly, "Don't worry sir. You don't need to say a word to her. I'll take care of her!" He was trying to sound grim, but really he was just barely covering his mirth at my stupidity. The guard growled, pointed to sign that indicated only ticketed passengers were even supposed to be in that area, then crossed his arms and glared at me.

I must confess, I got down the stairs much quicker than I got UP the escalator!

And now I have 3 lovely, parallel bruises and a couple of dents in my shin and some very sore neck/back muscles that will cause my physical therapist to roll her eyes and shake her head (and take more of my money). And I totally deserve all of it!

Once we shook off that little adventure (and stopped laughing/crying), we sat down to wait for Scout's plane. Finally it was announced and the passangers started coming down. No Scout. We waited. No Scout. The airline crew came down. No Scout.

We started getting a little concerned. Did he miss his flight? Did he miss his connection? Did we have the wrong day? Did HE have the wrong day?

Scout has no cell phone and neither have we, so there was no way to contact him to ask him! Mulletman decided to check with the airline. Their counter area was closed and unmanned. He went to the airport information booth. There was no one there.

Hmmm. What to do, what to DO!??!

We went over to the baggage claim area and finally found a fellow from the airline in question. He checked his records and said there was no record of a Groovy Scout having tickets for flight we had come to meet.

After much discussing and gesticulating we decided to go to lunch and then sweep back by the airport for one more look-see. Oddly, the restaurant we were planning to eat in was missing - as in leveled to the ground! So we drove a bit further to choice number two. We weren't terribly familiar with the menu, so it took us a while to order. The waitress was nice enough (though we had a bit of a tussle over chunks in the pizza sauce), but she was s-l-o-w. We were really hungry by the time our food came! Silly-Head dragged the meal out even farther by insisting on scraping every last chunk off her pizza crust.

The point being that this whole lunch idea took far longer than we would have anticipated.

Nonetheless, we did finish and we did leave and head back to the airport. We felt certain Scout wouldn't be there, but my conscience wouldn't let me go home unless we checked one last time just to be sure we'd covered all our parental bases.

Mulletman pulled up into the drop-off/pick-up zone and I slipped into the terminal. I checked the waiting area. No Scout. I looked in the bar/restaurant. No Scout. I did a quick scan up and down the length of the airport. No Scout. I shrugged sadly and turned toward the door to leave. I took 2 or 3 steps and heard, "HEY! MA!"

It was Scout. It was 2:30 and he had just arrived. If he had arrived 5 minutes later, or we had returned from lunch 5 minutes earlier, he would have been left at the airport for HOURS!

God is so GOOD!

Mulletman was seriously surprised when Scout came back out to the car with me. :-D It turns out that the drive from Ft. Hood to Austin for his outgoing flight took considerably longer than he'd been told (or his driver friend had poor directions) and he missed his first flight. He tried to call us at the house to let us know about the new flight plans, but we had already left.

Scout seems a little more relaxed and like himself than he did on that last visit. I'm sure knowing he doesn't have to shoot right back to Iraq helps alot. Hopefully he'll be better able to enjoy time with his kids, friends and family this time 'round.

And so ends Groovy's adventures in the airport. Now, let's all jump off this roof together!

In Which Groovy Discusses Suicidal Vaccums and Anything Else That Wanders Into Her Mind.

Yes...you SHOULD be frightened!

;-)

Mr Hoover apears to be having some "issues". No, no, not that Mr. Hoover. Not the one I used to lament the purchase of in older posts that I cannot locate because that was B.T. (before tags) That Mr. Hoover died long ago. I was not fond of Mr. Hoover - he was far too quirky for my taste - so I was excited to look for a new vacuum. Sadly, my dreams would never come to fruition. My frugal hubby insisted that one large household does NOT need two vacuums. We can just share with The Folks. The Folks live in an apartment attached to our house and they just happened to own Mr. Hoover's cousin, Mr. Hoover2.

*sigh*

Our first hint that Mr. Hoover2 was temperamental was when he ran away from home like a dissatisfied teen. I made an errand run and when I got home, I found Mr. Hoover2 hiding in my entryway.

(Note: In Maine, many homes have a double entrance. You go through one door and into a small porch or room or perhaps even the garage before you go through a second door into the house. This called a mud room for reasons that are quite obvious in winter and early spring. Since we're "from away" - ie Florida and Missouri - we persist in calling ours an entryway.)

I coaxed him and wheeled him back next door. Next thing I knew he was back in MY entryway! Apparently he was feeling abused over there because they made him bathe after every use and because the small but fierce Dirt Devil was taking his place far more often than he liked. So we, being the softies we are, let him stay. When Grammy needs him she comes and grabs him. He never cries, but he makes the saddest face as he backs through the doorway. And he's always spotlessly clean when he comes back. It's rather like having a groomer for our vacuum!

Then I guess he got to feeling somewhat insecure. Admittedly, I was not (am not) shy about pointing out his faults to anyone who would (will) listen. The door to attachment compartment always falls open (we've duct taped it), the attachment for cleaning hard floors will only clean about 3 square inches at a time (if that), the attachments frequently UNattach themselves, and the screen filter has to be hand cleaned - usually 2-3 times per room. Gross! He plays favorites with the dust bunnies - mercilessly devouring some while letting others off without so much as disturbing the air around them. Now the living ones are all scooching under the couch and plotting their takeover of Groovydom. I know this because I can hear them whisper at night. But back to Mr. Hoover2: The replacement HEPA filter is $30 (so we just wash ours - not as easy as it sounds!), and is a nasty, dusty, disgusting mess to clean. And don't EVEN get me started about the bagless dustbin.

*cough*cough-cough*AAAAH-Choo*wheeze*snort*

*G*A*S*P*

Can someone get me my inhalor, PUH-LEEEEEEASE??

It was Grammy who first noticed that not all was well. "Groovy, there's a hole in the vacuum cord. Do you know where Mulletman keeps the electrical tape?" Strangely enough I did know. So we got the tape and doctored Mr. Hoover2's tail for him.

A week later there was another bare spot. Then another! What was going on? Finally, after weeks and weeks of covert spying him, I discovered that the little twerp was doing it all himself!! Every chance he got, he'd grind down with his beater bars onto the cord and chew another hole. I brought him into the kitchen for a show-down.

"Look," said I, "I know what you're doing. You're chewing that cord on purpose. That's naughty! You should be ashamed of yourself! According to standard vacuum cleaner etiquette you're supposed to shut off that beater bar when you are in an upright position. You know that don't you? DON'T YOU???"

Would you believe he wouldn't answer me? He just stood there with this smug little Hoover smile and kept his trap shut. Stupid vacuum!

Now he's not allowed out unless he's under constant surveillance...

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I sleep better at night knowing there is kosher salt and Mrs. Dash in the cupboard and cheddar cheese in the fridge.

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It makes me sad that I have to peel my supermarket cucumbers because they're waxed.

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The girlies have been learning to type with Mavis Beacon on the computer. Mavis does a lovely job. So much so that even I am taking lessons. I can type all the letters now and some punctuation, but I'm soooooooooo slooooooooooow (8 WPM!) that I'd go insane typing my blog entry "correctly". At least for now.

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I am excited because I got a call awhile ago from the USArmy letting me know that Scout would be arriving back in the States today. They told me the exact time he'd be landing at his home base. There's a big welcome home from Iraq party and banners and all sorts of fun festivities planned for their unit. None of which we'll be able to attend because his base is far, far, away - 2107.01 miles by car.

*sigh*

Anyway, 10 minutes after the call I logged on to Facebook and saw that he had posted only a few minutes before that he WAS IN MAINE enroute to his base. He was only an hour away at the airport in Bangor! I opened all hailing frequencies, but I couldn't get him back online.

So close, and yet so far...

*double sigh*

Oh well, I'm glad he's home from the war. He's supposed to come up here for a visit next month to see his kiddos and his friends and his groovy old parents and sisters. Then he'll be off to NY to visit Funsocksgirl for a bit.

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And now...some fun from my birthday:

First GrammaJ, knowing my near-famous love of dark chocolate, bought me these for my birthday:



Yes, that's right; TWO bags of yummy Lindt dark chocolates. Pretty Groovy, eh?

Well, it gets even Groovier because this is what I got as part of my gift from The Folks:




But wait...Then a package came in the mail from Funsocksgirl. What can it be? WHAT CAN IT BE??



uh-oh, the view is obscured by the pretty ribbons. Here, let me pull them back to reveal:



Does my family know me, or what?

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Next time Mulletman looks at our photo program he's going to wonder why there are 9 diffeent pics of Lindt chocolate packages. (Good thing I deleted the really blurry ones!)

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For some reason I am now experiencing an intense craving for dark chocolate...

Turbo Typing...

...because I want to fill you in and haven't much time to do so. First of all, Wayne and Wanda , the wasps have informed me that will write their little story for you while I'm away camping this week. (*I don't like the commas in that sentence, but I'm thinking and typing too fast to pinpoint what's wrong with them.)

Which brings me to the news that we are camping this week. A feat that will be made all the more "special" because Groovy had a very non-groovy reaction to the sun and is now rashy and itchy, though not as itchy as when these PMLE attacks were a regular occurance.

Last Friday, Mulletman's folks celebrated their 51st wedding anniversary. :-D HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, MOM AND DAD! (I have no idea why I just typed that. They never read my blog!)


Today, we did much work at home and had some fun too. Mulletman and Girly-Girl went on a tandem-bike-to-Pizza-Hut date while Silly-Head and I had an impromptu tea party. We didn't dress up, but we did talk fancy and practice our manners. Then we played several wild games of Old Maid and Connect Four. (If you don't consider those as wild games, it's only because you've never played with Silly-Head, the rule changer) And THEN we went outside and sprinted in uphill races against automobiles. I gotta tell you, the cars beat us every stinkin' time!






Tomorrow, we're off to spend the day at Funtown in Saco, ME. (That also will be made more interesting by a long sleeved sunshield shirt and sun hat. *sigh*)

Wednesday - we'll start a 3 day camping spree. The weather looks good (thus far), so we're hoping to have a lovely time.

When I get back? Many stories and photos and much silliness before we buckle down for...

A VISIT FROM SCOUT!!!

He'll be here on leave from Iraq and this Groovy Mama will greet him with MUCH HOMEMADE FOOD!. :-D

No, I'm not excited at all...

OK. Gotta run. The blueberry pie is done and Mulletman and the girlies will be back any minute now with the ice cream!

Mmmmmmmmmmmm!

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!

And it Just Got Better and Better

Wow. What a Birthday!

Thank you to all of you for your kind wishes and sweet remarks about my youthful looks. I guess it helps that I took that picture 15 years ago.

Just kidding!

Novel wise I am up to 10,748 words. That's behind target, but it's the best I can do without locking myself alone in a room and ignoring my family. I still like the story, but I am amazed how long it takes to get from point A to point B. I had to stop yesterday and remap my characters because more are jumping in and I need to know who they are. Otherwise, later on, they'll change from black to white (sans plastic surgery), or go from living in the country to in town without ever having moved. You know, those little inconsistancies that make a novel look like it was written by a drunk and her three invisible friends.

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Well, I need to get going. I've got a busy day planned, but I need to share a couple more awesome moments with you first.

On Friday, GrammaJ had some birthday plans for me too. We went out to lunch at one of my favorite local restaurants. Silly-Head was thrilled to take pictures. Fortunately, at least one of them came out fairly nice:



We had a wonderful meal with dessert (naturally) and she gave me dark chocolate; LOTS of dark chocolate. Does my mama know me, or what?

Then we betook ourselves to the Salvation Army Thriftstore and scored a brand new Britta pitcher for $3 and filters for $1 a piece!

Afterward, we decided to attend the grand opening of our local Goodwill Industries Thrift Store. They had just moved into a larger, nicer location and were throwing a big shindig to celebrate. We got there at 1:55 pm and the last doorprize drawing was at 2:00 pm.

There was a lady handing all the customers (and my gracious, there were ZILLIONS of them!) a ticket each to enter them in the drawing for the prizes. GrammaJ grabbed the lady's arm and leaned close, her voice insistent, "Today is my daughter's birthday, so you make sure you give her a winning ticket!"

5 minutes later they called out the winning ticket number. Guess who won?

Yep. Me. I got an awesome Happy Birthday Present from Goodwill!



Cool, eh?

The nifty backpack basket contained a laprobe/shawl and some very nice, brand new men's socks. They also threw in a cloth shopping bag.



The next day was extremely busy and culminated in driving down to Southern Maine to pick Scout up at the airport. Here he is with his little sisters...


A few minutes after we got back home, PrettyMom arrived with the grandkids. They had a wonderful time getting reacquainted with their daddy.

Here's Fireball, age 4.



And Ji-Ji (with a long I sound, please), who's 3.



And Cookie, at 18 months.



A couple of the pics are from a couple of weeks ago because my stupid camera from hell that I hate with all my heart was giving me ugly fits as I tried to capture the moment. I know I should be thankful that I even have a camera, but...well, I am only human! I so wanted some pics of Scout WITH them, but everyone was running and screaming maniacally and my camera was always .4 seconds too late.

Oh well...Suffice it to say we had a wonderful day.

In SPITE of my dumb, stupid, idiotic camera.

Scout has been out and about visiting old friends and hanging with his family. Next week, Funsocksgirl and J-Man will come dive into the confusion and we'll have a marathon of old memories and photo shoots (It's been a loooooong time since we've had all four kids together at once) and food.

Now, I'm off. I have school and cleaning and exercise and laundry and errands with GrammaJ and a late evening training session for 4-H in Augusta. I'd better stop blogging and start working!

!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Scout is coming Home!

Scout is coming home!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello...My Name is Groovy

Greetings, I am Groovyoldlady and this is my blog.

No really, it IS. And I DO write in it (on it? for it?)......sometimes......on occasion.....once in a while.

Actually, I cannot believe how incredibly busy I have been. TOO busy.

I have been wriding my bike instead of writing my blog. We have been Mother's Daying and Silly-Head Birthdaying and catching up on schoolwork and gathering items for our yard sale and working with goats and planning camping trips and wreading books and preparing for GrammaJ's upcoming surgery and dealing with a high-maintainance husband unrevealed family member.

Sadly, I have not been gardening. Once again I fear I have excitedly bought seeds only to have them sit in their cute little packets in the garage all summer because I never dug up the soil in the veggie garden. Perhaps I shall pretend I PLANTED those dandelions out there ON PURPOSE to, you know, eat them or brew them or something.

Nah, even I don't have that much imagination!

Oh well, at least my perennials are looking good. For the time being. Because the weeds dandelions are still so short.

I really need to get those girlies out there to do some weeding!

Speaking of weeding, I've been wreading the Tolkien books again. They never seem to get old.

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I'm still $180 short on my fundraising for the Trek and time is flying by. Mulletman is $315 short. If you can help Mulletman or me (and the American Lung Association), then click those links on my sidebar. It's painless, it really is, and you'll be helping folks with lung disease! You will also keep us encouraged to ride even when we feel like crap (which I did today - feel sorry for me. PLEASE!).

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I hope you all had a lovely Mother's Day. I certainly did. Little Silly-Head was born on Mother's Day in 2001 so we had a combo celebration this year. After church we all went out to Applebee's for some yummy food. We didn't have to wait, the service was awesome and the food was quite tasty. This was good because last year's "celebration" at a nearby seafood place was pretty much a fiasco and we were lucky that Gramp didn't make front page news by killing or maiming the waiter. Yeah - no one wants to have that much fun two years in a row.

After lunch we and all the grands converged at our house for a party. Gifts and hugs were given to all the moms. Girly-Girl and Silly-Head gave me chocolate (Way to go, Girlies!) and Funsocksgirl bought me Hubert, a blue phrog for my pansy garden.



Then, of course, we did a Mother's Day photo shoot:

Me and GrammaJ



Grammy and Mulletman



Me and the Girlies (My, what a stunning and versatile, LLBean, grey sweatery-jackety thing I am wearing!)


MORE Me and the Girlies ('cause they're so darned cute!)

Then, of course we all blew up balloons and had cake and presents for the birthday girl -my BABY - who will be SEVEN years old tomorrow. Un. be. liev. a. ble!


Funsocksgirl called with well wishes for her groovy mom and her silly sister, and her beloved J-Man sent me an ecard - in Norwegian. So THAT really made the day special.

But the crowning point was that I was hoping Scout would call and was, at the same time, trying NOT to expect him to call because he's forgetful, because he's busy, because he's such a bonehead and I didn't want to get all disappointed.

But he called. And we talked for an hour. And it was wonderful.

I'm getting all teary now. *sniffle*

He's still a bonehead in many ways, but he's MY bonehead and I love him. *sniffle* *sniffle*

And he's going to Mosul, Iraq an undisclosed, top-secret middle eastern destination in December. *sniffle* *sniffle* *sniffle*

(Actually, bad mom that I am, I'm not all that worked up about him going to war. I'm much more concerned about his daily lack of wisdom in living than in the possibility of him becoming a war casualty. If you think to pray for him, please do! Pray that he will bend his knee before the King of Kings.)

Tomorrow the festivities will continue as we join our 4-H group on a field trip to the DEW Animal Kingdom in the morning and a camp out in our backyard in the evening, complete with hotdogs, roasted marshmallows and one of Mulletman's extra goofy ghost stories.

OK...it's been a tough day - hormones running amuck and a sinus headache and all that. I think I'm off to soak in a nice hot tub and wread about Frodo and Tom Bombadil and Aragorn. Oh, how I love me some Aragorn!

O Happy Day!

Surprise!

Funsocksgirl and the J-Man are coming for a visit...TODAY!!!!!



They're actually coming to see Grampy who is not doing well and is in the hospital, but Mulletman and the girlies and I are going to pretend they're here to see us and we're going to enjoy their company whenever we can.

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Today is also Scout's 22nd birthday. Happy Birthday, Scout! We won't get to see him, but we chatted on the phone yesterday and we sent him a box of birthday goodies.

Crawling Out From Under...

OK, I'm still feeling pretty whipped, but I figured I'd better post today or ya'll will think I died under my rock.

Lesse...Why don't we start with...

The Stressers

1. lice, Lice, LICE. We've made tremendous progress. Our extremely thorough nitpicking is now netting only 1 or 2 nits a day on the girls, none on me, and only 1 or 2 on Mulletman. Nonetheless, my head itches constantly and I am on the verge of total paranoia. A simple piece of lint is enough to make me run for the mayonaise and the tea-tree oil! It is absolutely unbelievable how all consuming an infestation can be. As you read the following, keep in mind that through ALL of this I was nit picking my own hair twice a day and worrying whether MM was doing his own head as he traveled and whether Grammy was doing a good enough job on the girls' heads.

2. Scout is gone now - all alone in his new world at Ft. Hood. He and Mm had a good trip together, but we still worry about him. We're praying for him to be wise financially, to work things out one way or another with his wife and children, and for God to raise up Godly men and/or families to take him under their wings.

3. The Big Move. I never, EVER want to do that again!

First was (were?) all the semantics of where Mom would live - I had to find her an apartment. Could she afford it? Would she like the one I picked? Was the landlord reliable? Was the neighborhood safe?

I found an apartment and went in the day before I was flying out to clean it up a bit and put in some housewarming gifts. I ended up working there for over 6 hours and finding SEVERAL things wrong with the place. It was so much dirtier than it had appeared at first and many things were not working properly. I was SO upset!

Then there was some marital discord as Mulletman struggled with being "tied down" even more than before (He REALLY wants to sell our house and go somewhere and DO something...but now his folks AND my mom are here and all of them need assistance.)

Then there were the ever changing plans: Who was flying where and driving where and doing what with whom and when and how and no, let's reaarange it all and pay more money for tickets and...ugh!

Four different men volunteered to help my mom load her truck. Only one showed up and that was after it was 95% done. Notcon4med, JessieU and I did ALL the loading. The next morning there were still quite a few odds and ends to clean and pack up, so Mom and I didn't even get on the road until noon. We had a fully loaded 16' truck and a full trailer with a van on it.

The kitties were so upset and stressed that they were hyperventilating and foaming at the mouth. Naturally this had a rather negative effect on us as well!

We only managed 5 hours the first day because there were SO many hills. The truck could only go 40-45 mph up the hills and we had to brake alot going down the hills so the trailer didn't go caty-wampus on us. We ate supper at the coveted Cracker Barrel, but both of us had upset stomachs and couldn't really enjoy our food.

We stayed that first night at a very mediocre Days Inn. We SNUCK the kitties in and then neither of us could sleep because we felt so guilty and because we still had so far to go and because we were so strung out and because the cats were stressed and kept fighting with one another.

We woke up after our fitful night and I had a complete meltdown. I had been trying so hard to be strong for my mom, but I was at the end of my reserves. I cried and cried and cried and cried!

After lots of hugs and reassurances, we smuggled the cats back out to the car (they were riding in their carriers in the back of the van) and went back in for the hot breakfast buffet waiting for us in the hotel restaurant.

It. was. awful.

Lumpy, lukewarm grits, hard biscuits, cold eggy casseroles, greasy potato whatever-it-was. The only edible food was the mixed fruit - and that was all canned! All this bounty was ours - all we could choke down -for only $9.95 EACH!!

Mom drove the whole second day. Our plan was to get past Hartford so we'd be past cities and traffic jams before we got another hotel. We decided to let the kitties be and just get as far as we could before dark. (They only seemed to get more upset when we went back to check on them, and they wouldn't eat or drink or use the litter box. They just hissed and growled and cried.) It was a great plan.

Unfortunately, Nothing ever goes as planned!.

We were right on target and looking forward to finding a hotel in the next 30 minutes. My mom had been driving the whole day and she was doing great. Then we hit the traffic-jam-from-Hell between Danbury and Waterbury, CT.

3 hours on a Sunday evening of either barely moving or sitting completely still. Mom and I were both already exhausted, but we worked hard to encourage each other. We sang songs, we prayed together, we told jokes. We prayed again in case it was an accident - that God would minister to all those involved.

Finally, around 9:30 at night things started moving again. We tried one exit that promised a hotel. Nothing.

We tried the next exit and after more stress and difficulty than I could ever manage to relate (picture an overwhelmed, exhausted old lady with cataracts driving 15 mph up and down poorly lit roads with steep hills searching, searching, searching...), we finally ended up at an extremely nice Microtel around 11pm. This time Mom was up front about the cats and we got a great price and the FREE continental breakfast was among the best I've ever had.

We had both been extremely worried about the cats. They'd been in the back of the car without food, water, or a litter pan for 16 hours! I actually had visions of opening the back and finding one or both of them dead. But they were both just fine. In fact they seemed happy as could be! They explored and played and ate and drank and didn't fight at all. Mom and I just collapsed.

In the morning, Mom had a meltdown. She cried and cried and cried and cried. Now it was my turn to hug and reassure her!

We didn't get out until after 9am. We needed the extra rest and we figured there was no use in leaving until rush hour was past. We found out that one person had died and that two people were in critical condition from the horrific accident that had caused the traffic jam...

Now we were in MY territory, so I drove. The hills weren't as severe, so I picked up the pace and in some places I actually went the speed limit! While pulling a trailer! With crosswinds! While my mom held onto the truck dashboard with white knuckles!

I didn't want to stop at all. I just wanted to GET TO MAINE!! I could smell the pine trees, but Mom wanted to stop somewhere to eat. We had a lovely meal at Ninety-Nine's -although I couldn't eat much of it and then pressed on.

We finally made it into Mom's new town around 5:30pm. We unloaded just enough stuff so that she and the kitties could sleep and have some food and then headed over to my house.

Now we faced an interesting conundrum; Where could we park the truck and trailer? I had the brilliant idea to drive it across my lawn and then pull it facing outward in my driveway.

Nothing ever goes as planned!

It had rained quite a bit while I was gone and the truck sank in the mud in the yard.

We. were. stuck.

OooooooKaaaaaay.

Fine.

I can deal with this.

The van is heavy. If I just unload the van from the trailer, then the truck will rally and work its way out of the mud and everything will be dandy. After all, how hard could it be? I had watched the guy hook it up and load it...

Nothing ever goes as planned!

It was dark, I was beyond exhausted and I forgot one very necessary step for unloading the car ie. Jacking up the front of the trailer. Sooooooo, I got the car body STUCK on the frame of the trailer.

I cried and cried and cried and cried.

Then I called Mr. Tom, our very good friend and asked him to HELP ME PLEASE! because Mulletman wasn't back from his trip to Texas yet and I was a damsel in distress. Mr. Tom said he'd come frist thing in the morning.

In the meantime I took Mom back to her apartment and dumped her dropped her off. The I spent a sleepless night worrying about lice and really big tow trucks and ruining my mom's van and the fact that no one - not one single person - had contacted me to say they'd help unload the truck etc., etc., etc.

Mr. Tom was here before sunrise. I could see his flashlight bobbing in the front yard and I could here him laughing out loud.

Jerk.

He jacked up the trailer, unloaded the car (which, Praise God, was not damaged at all), and coached me as I rocked the truck out of the mud and up onto the driveway. We had it all taken care of in less than 15 minutes.

NICE jerk!

Then I put out a whiny, tearful plea on our church's prayer chain and within 2 hours time I had eight volunteers ready to meet us at Mom's at 3pm to unload. Mulletman returned from his visit to the holy land (ie. Texas) and helped too. I kissed him everytime he got to the top of the stairs :-) Those sweet folks had the truck completely empty in less than an hour!

My sweet friend, Dawna (http://blue-mysterious-crayon.blogspot.com/) brought my mom a sweet little welcome basket full of fruit and chocolate. She's expecting a new little bambino soon, so instead of hauling boxes, she stayed upstairs and chatted with Mom and put shelf paper on the shelves. Then, once the truck was empty, her husband, Matthew, "borrowed" the truck and came back with a surprise for my mom; A new bed! Mom's been sleeping on an air matress on the floor. The matress is comfy, but the floor is a tough place for someone who isn't as limber as she used to be. He carried all the pieces in and assembled the bed. We were especially touched when we learned that the bed had been Matt's late mother's.

Mom cried and cried and cried and cried!

After all the work and insanity, Matt and Dawna had all of us over to their house (just around the block!) for homemade pizza. It was a nice end to a rough trip and a tough day.

Now we're on the downside of all the stress. Mom's place is still a mess, but it's beginning to shape up and she's beginning to unwind a little.

Scout has been safely delivered to his new post and the lice are almost comletely irradicated.

We'll start school again on Monday...

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Speaking of Monday, check back then for my post: The Effects of Stress and the Blessings of God where I will wind up this tale of extreme insanity. Maybe by then I'll even be funny again...