Yes, I Was That Groovy Blur You Saw Zipping Past You

HiHo. I am back.

Actually, I was back from vacation a week or two ago. But now my brain is back here in Blogland too - very important if I am going to write.

So, what did you miss? Oh not much, just a funeral where I screeched into a parking place, sprinted across the cemetary and arrived breathlessly - just in time - to sing the opening hymn (Can you say "embarassed"?), followed by a looooong drive to a Navy military training ground deep in the heart of Maine to learn survival skills in a cold, steady rain (fire, anyone?), a looooong drive home for packing/Mother's Day/Silly-Head's preliminary birthday celebration (Look, Presents! and Pictures! and Insanity!) followed by a road trip to Rochester, NY, Silly-Head's next birthday party at the illustrious Chuck E Cheese (Yes, that LOUD, excited screaming that is causing all the patrons to stare would be my daughter; my 26 year-old daughter!), a road trip (Krispy Kreme - Woot!) to Richmond, IN to visit friends (Fun!!!) and buy a fabulous used tandem bicycle (Daisy, Daisy, Give me your answer, do...), a day trip to The Creation Museum just south of Cincinatti (I just KNEW the Garden of Eden was in Kentucky!), a road trip back to NY (more screaming and insanity), a visit to the Lilac Festival (the big butterfly scoop!) and Niagara Falls (Don't forget your cheap tourist sandals!) and a road trip home to Maine (Are we there yet?).

Let's see, then we were home and there were 4,000 urgent emails and a pile of snail mail that went to the ceiling and an ant infestation and a garden that needed planting and a husband who wanted (and still wants) help fundraising for the Trek Across Maine and the American Lung Association. There were families who needed meals and orthodontist appointments and piano practices followed by the big recital and there was, most exciting of all, an actual deployment for Search and Rescue. Yep. Last Saturday evening I got the call that our SAR team was on stand-by. I packed my gear and paced until we got a further call that were definitely being deployed. A hiker was lost in Baxter State Park and an all day search on Saturday had failed to find him. NavyGirl (AnnieOakley's teen daughter) and I met the rest of the gang near midnight and trekked out to the state park. We got there around 3am. There wasn't a ranger in sight, so we decided to try to sleep in our 3 vehicles (4 people to a car!) until the briefing in the morning. We had tents, but thought it would be too much trouble to set them up...

You may commence laughing now.

After about 2 hours of sighing, swatting mosquitoes, listening to classic rock, sticking legs out windows, growling at those who snored and shifting position every 12 seconds we all gave up and started patrolling Millinocket for anywhere open at 5am that might have bathrooms, food and coffee. It may have been the first time, as an adult, that I was glad to see a McDonalds!

The rangers and other searchers arrived around 7am. By the time we were all briefed and made the long drive to Mt. Katahdn it was 8:30am. We broke up into groups and basically scoured the area assigned to us for 12 hours. And by scour I mean scaled rocks and forced our way through puckerbrush while peering over, around, and under rocks and trees and stream beds yelling "Michael"!

35+ searchers on the mountain all day long and no luck. Not a sign of him. One searcher did get hurt and had to airlifted out amid much ado, but no lost hiker. We were exceedingly tired and somewhat discouraged when we plopped into our tents that night. The next morning we all headed home, glad there were fresh searchers to take our places.

I was so relieved when I got the news that he was found the following afternoon - injured and bug bitten and embarassed, but very much alive. I cried as I watched the video of him talking from his hospital bed. Hopefully, the publicity and Michael's humility will help other hikers to avoid his 3 major mistakes:

1. He hiked alone - never a good idea. Even if you are familiar with the territory, it is wise for two-three people to hike together so someone can get help if one hiker gets injured.

2. He left the trail looking for a "shortcut" and he had no map. Baxter State Park is ginormous and Katahdn is the highest mountain in Maine. You NEED to know where you are going!

3. Once he realized he was lost, he kept moving. Though it is OK to move to a stream or open area where you can be seen, in most cases it is better to STAY PUT and put out something bright colored that searchers can see. If he'd had fire starters with him (he did not) he could have started a fire. The rangers would have been able to use the smoke to locate him the first evening!

At any rate, this searcher is thrilled that Michael is alive and well. I'm looking forward to our team's debriefing tomorrow!

Now, Let's finish out this whirlwind review with some photos. Enjoy!

Tis GrammaJ and I on Mother's Day. I gave her a much coveted morter and pestle.

Mulletman and his mom celebrate Mother's Day witha spin on the old tandem!

(The new one is WAY nicer!

The girls gave me cards and homemade fairies and - oh joy of joys

-a rearview mirror for my bike!

This picture in Erie, PA says it all. (Sadly, there are no Krispy Kremes in Maine. *sigh* So we stopped here TWICE and bought a total of 3 dozen donuts!!!)

Oh Looky! Silly-Head is NINE!

Our beautiful Silly-Head.

The handsome J-Man with Funsocksgirl (at Chuck E. Cheese, of course!)

I think the birthday celebrations wore them out!

WE had the privilege of taking Girly-Girl's longtime friend, IndianaGirl, to the Creation Museum with us. The botanical garden there is outstanding!

There was also a petting zoo there. Mulletman made special friends with this camel.

Funsocksgirl had a bit of a wardrobe malfunction at Niagara Falls.

Yes, those top four VERY wet people belong to me. I was down below with cameras and belongings and dry hair. ;-)

The Lilac Festival in Rochester, NY was loads of fun. Mulletman bought us fruit smoothies to share. We had three different flavors and loved them all .

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And let me conclude with this happy news: Mulletman did it: He raised $1,000 for the American Lung Association!

Thank You to ALL who donated!!!!

Christmas in October

No, this is not a giveaway.

There are at least three people out there who KNOW that a Groovy giveaway is a tentative event - mostly because Groovy is notoriously full of good intentions, but equally famous for her failure to follow-through. In fact, Groovy still has THREE gifts upstairs for internetty friends from last year that STILL are not finished and mailed as promised.

Groovy is very ashamed of this fact. However, in ight of her past failures, she is wise enough to make no more promises that she can't manage to keep, so this is NOT a giveaway. IF Groovy ever does have a giveaway, she will have the items in hand and ready to go (minus the address) before she even STARTS said giveaway. No more good-intentioned, homemade ornaments.

I'm not sure why I'm writing all this...Oh wait, it's because I have the magic word "Christmas" in my title. On any less mediocre blog that would mean a giveaway. That's why.

Did I mention that this is NOT a giveaway?

Moving on...

I know this will shock you, especially in light of my not-so-festive approach to the holidays last year, but we've been on a Christmas bent for the past week or two. I've even already bought and hidden presents.

Of course, I won't remember where I hid them come December, but that's part of the fun!

All this Christmas focus spawned the following:

Silly-Head: Why do we always hang Dad's stocking the highest up on the staircase?

GroovyMom: Because he's the head of our family.

Silly-Head: Does that mean I'm the feet?

:D

The girls have been VERY busy - all of their own accord - making and wrapping Christmas presents. Actually, they were bored, so they got out some of the recycling and started painting and decided their creations would make lovely and thoughtful gifts.

We're talking three solid days of painting plastic, glass, and metal trash. For gifts. See?



They're not all here, because Girly-Girl has already wrapped and hidden several. (Hopefully her memory is better than mine!) Silly-Head isn't sure where to hide her gifts yet, so they're still on the table wrapped in their pretty springtime flowery wrapping paper that is so obviously suited to ANY time of year.

The big coffee can, so skillfully (and lovingly) painted is for Uncle Pickle-Nose.

GroovyMom: That's...lovely, honey. But what's Uncle PN going to use it for?

Silly-Head: I dunno. But he'll like it 'cause it's from me.

I'm sure he will...

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!

Groovy Joins the Very Exclusive Big Mama Fashion Fiesta

This is NOT because Groovy is a big mama. no, No, NO!

It is because Big Mama of the internet world of fashion advice, has invited all 2,000 of her closest friends to join her in a "Fashion Fiesta".



See? Here's the clicky-button hooey that proves it.

Big Mama asks, "What do you wear on a daily basis? What’s your uniform? What piece of clothing can you not live without?"

Clearly, she asks this because she wants to steal our wardrobes.

Well folks. It is time for Groovy's contribution to the fashion world. My mostest favoritest, can't-live-without-it article of clothing is.................



(The suspense is killing you, isn't it?)



...................................my LLBean grey sweatery-jackety thing! Which they don't sell any more! So You can't get one! HAH!

Since you can't find it in the catalog or the store anymore, I shall show it to you so that your jealousy and envy can continue to grow. (You people need to repent!)




Why do I like it so well? Lemme spell it out for you.

A. It doesn't wrinkle. Ever.

B. It's machine washable (and it never seems to get stained - even though I wear it to cook in and clean in and shop in and eat in and garden in!)

C. It's soft and silky and comfy. So much so that Silly-Head steals it when she can get it away from me and snuggles with it.

D. It's the perfect weight for wearing around the house to keep that Maine chill at bay.

E. If I do get warm and need to remove it, it can rolled up to almost nothing and stashed in my pocketbook.

F. It has clean, classic lines.

G. It hides bloat. I cannot stress how important that is!

H. It's in a neutral color and it can be dressed up or down; It goes with absolutely EVERYTHING. See?


It's so soft I can sleep in it.




It's perfect with jeans.



It's lovely with dress pants...




It makes a sophisticated bathing suit cover.



And yes, it can even be dressed up for evening wear. Add some carefully applied make-up and a classy blue-phrog pin and you could wear it to a wedding!



Please note the careful coordination of the lipstick to the outfit.




The classy blue phrog pin I bought for a buck showing that Groovy is not only elegant, but also loves a good deal!



So there you have it, folks. Groovy's grooviest grey sweatery-jackety thing. Ya gotta love it!

And one more thing Big Mama wanted to know is what Groovy would buy, if she could, to add to her inadequate wardrobe. Folks, it would be underwear. Mine are a bit on the overworn-no-elastic-left-frayed side of the fashion planet. Groovy wants some more of those soft, silky spandexy ones that are low-rise, but not bikini.

Groovy is not going to post a pic of underwear for you though. This is a family website!

Make sure you go visit Big Mama and see what everyone else is wearing!

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And now, I'd like to take a moment to thank my photographers, Chief Girly-Girl and Warrior Silly-Head.



They actually paused a game of Mario to take pics of their crazy mother. Of course, these two wild indians (with miniature teepee) are a bit nuts themselves and completely understood why this photo shoot was SO important.

However, I must admit they thought this photo was WAY more ineresting than the fashion pics. I made eggs yesterday morning and they were cross-eyed!

Rrrrrrr Reminds Me of...

Silly-Head: You know, whenever I hear about Rhode Island I think of that witch.

Groovy Mom: Huh? Which witch?

Silly-Head: That one in Narnia.

Groovy Mom: Ok...um, and why is that?

Silly-Head: Because she says, "This is the R-r-r-r-r-ruined city" and Rhode Island and Ruined City both start with R.

Groovy Mom: Of course.

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Well, I never did get to assemble the file cabinet (though I'll go on and let Angry think I did assemble the fridge). I have this habit of starting things and not finishing them right off. So I laid out all the pieces and started putting the sides together and...well...got distracted.

Distraction Happens.

Fortunately, I am married to Let's-get-this-DONE Mulletman. Yesterday I went downstairs to put some recycling in the bins and found him sitting on the floor pushing the finished drawers into the completed cabinet.

Three cheers for Mulletman!

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I STILL love my fridge. However, Mulletman is not as crazy about it. This is because he is tall and cannot see what is on any of the shelves.

Apparently the food items have opinions too. There's plenty of room for everyone inside to have their space; You'd think they'd be satisfied, but No-oo.

Yesterday there was blood. It seems the dill pickles and the maraschino cherries had a squabble when I wasn't looking. Suddenly there were rivulets of disgusting, red, stickiness oozing under the door of the fridge and pooling on the floor. The cherries lost, a fact attested to by the shards of broken glass on the new shelf.



We will now observe a moment of silence in honor of our dear, departed cherries.



The pickles tried to look innocent, but I know better. They're a bunch of sour pusses and can't be expected to behave properly. I punished them by placing them on the bottom door shelf next to the plastic bottles where they can't hurt anyone else.

I spent the rest of the morning mopping up cherry blood!

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Well, my asthma has been particularly bad the past few days. This is a reminder to me to remind you to DONATE TO MY AND/OR MULLETMAN'S TREK ACROSS MAINE FUND FOR THE ALAME. (See my sidebar!)

Thank you!

Neurons are Firing and the Thoughts are Random

A Recent Conversation:

Silly-Head: (with great vehemence) I HATE Christmas!

Groovy Mom Goodness! Why in the world do you suddenly hate Christmas?

Silly-Head: Because all the cups look the same!!



Hmmm. Maybe she's right!

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I went shopping today.

On a Saturday.

On the next to last Saturday before Christmas.

On a Saturday before a predicted hugely bad winter storm.

What was I thinking??!!

Actually, it wasn't that bad. We went to the Mart first to buy odds and ends. At 9am it was already packed, but folks weren't too cranky yet because it was still early. I knew beforehand that it was going to be insane, so I just decided that I absolutely would NOT complain, whine, or grump at anyone. Instead I got things down for people, helped them find what they were looking for, smiled and laughed alot (usually at myself). You know what? If you are cheerful and kind and polite it does much to encourage other folks to be the same way.

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My Mom just gave us her autoharp. I have wanted an autoharp for years and years and YEARS. I'm am incredibly tickled to have it!! She can't play it because she has some serious problems with her hands and can't hold a pick. I'm gonna tune it up so we can strum through lots of Christmas songs on Christmas Day with her!

Joy to the world, the Lord is come...

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I finally mailed the Christmas packages this morning. Plan A was to mail them Thursday, but we couldn't because we didn't have a box the right size for Scout's gifts and because GrammaJ wanted to make her peanut butter potato candy to send to him and Funsocksgirl. She has to make it here because she needs a mixer to do it and she wasn't coming over until Friday morning.

Plan B was to mail the packages friday afternoon. GrammaJ had a box that could be cut to size and her candy would be done. We got the candy made and everything packed up but then the hospital called. They wanted Silly-Head in to get her stitiches out. NOW. Apparently we were wrong in thinking they weren'r sposed to come out until Saturday. Mulletman ran out with the packages fully intending to mail them after the hospital run. But it was a HOSPITAL run, you know what I'm saying? They didn't get out of the E.R. until after supper time!

By the way, we still haven't figured out why she had to go to the E.R. to have her stitiches removed. It seems like it would be cheaper and easier to just take her to our family practicioner, but then we're just clueless peons.

Anyhoo, I DID get them mailed this morning after waiting in line behind 47,000 other last minute package mailers. So never fear, presents are on the way!

Except for the 3 sweet folks in the Ornament Exchange and the Pay-it-Forward promotions. I WOULD have mailed yours today except that your homemade (with love!) gifts are still only 2/3 made.

I bow my head in shame.

I will hopefully make good use of being snowed in and will get them done and in the mail by Monday or Tuesday.

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Speaking of gifts, looky here what Michelle made and sent to me. Ain't she sweet!!??



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Speaking of snow. Mr. Snowblower has been a real bugger. Remember this post? Well, after all that hard work and a proper breakfast and Blogger rant, I went back down and tried again (and again and again). Mr. Snowblower refused to cooperate. I kicked him three or four times and then grabbed the shovel. I shoveled out the plow line at the end of the driveway. If I didn't shovel it, it would pack down and become a horrible, immovable wall of ice that must be overcome by my van. Not likely. I shoveled for a stinking hour. I was hot, sweaty, and dizzily exhausted. My arms and back were so muscle-fatigued that I was trembling. On the way back in the house I gave ole Mr. Snowblower one last pull.

He roared to life.

I was too pooped to do the whole drive, but I did enough that we could get in and out. Mulletman finished it the next day. Mr. Snowblower started on, you guessed it, the first pull.

Mulletman: I'm not having any trouble with it at all. Are you sure you had the choke on?

Groovy: The red thingy was all the way to the right.

Mulletman: Are you sure you had the throttle on?

Groovy: That red thingy was all the way up.

Mulletman: Hmmm. Did you prime it three times?

Groovy: Three times. I KNOW how to start the stupid snowblower. I know just what to do. He just doesn't like me!

Mulletman: He?

Groovy: He and I have a complicated relationship. You wouldn't understand.

Mulletman: He?

Groovy: Never mind.

We another, smaller storm a couple of days ago. Mullletman called me down to the garage. he wanted to watch me try to start Mr. Snowblower so he could see what I'm doing wrong.

Groovy: He's going to start on the first pull if you're standing there. He likes you!

Mulletman: rolls his eyes

Groovy puts one red thingy up, the other red thingy all the way to the right. She primes the engine three times. Mr. Snowblower starts on one pull. Mulletman laughs.

Stupid snowblower!