The Damn, Dam

See this child. She and Love Man went to Nevada to help move his mother into a smaller assisted living apartment. She had fun. Sam, naturally, came along to provide entertainment

to the residents of the assisted living and LM's mother.

I have previously reported that although the expansion bridge is beautiful from a distance.

You can not see anything or even tell you are in the bridge when you are crossing it. I am

talking about Hoover Dam.

LM and Blonde Girl, aka the child with the purple hair, drove around the dam and back and forth across the bridge. Love Man said, "stand up and look through the sun roof, and you will be able to see." Evidently they crossed the bridge several times.

I just happened to phone during this moment.

I guess as they drove back and forth, people were waving at Blonde Girl.

Blonde Girl wanted to know why people were waving at her. He said, "because you are a cool kid." She said, "no, it is because I have a cool dad." Okay, it was a moment.......

While I was talking to LM, I heard a loud chirp and he had to get off the phone.

You know what happened. They were pulled over by the police and given a lecture about the

safety of their actions. Blonde Girl started crying a bit as they were being pulled over. It took some time to get their lecture, as they had to finish driving across the bridge and pull over into the limousine area.

By the time the policeman starting talking to them, BG was crying. He said to Love Man,

"do you know this is a $300 ticket?" Love Man just said, "no, I didn't".

"Well, I am not going to charge you this time, but do not do it again."

By the time, they called me, Blonde Girl was sobbing. And I had to talk to her about peer pressure even if it was from her own father. "Listen, if someone says look out the sun roof and

see the view. You have to think is this a good idea, is this safe, will I get in trouble and then make your decision."

Honestly.

Smarty Pants

Spent the day, going through old files and organizing stuff. I am now going through my pants for

uggh, I hate to say it, the start of school. I too, do not want to go back to school. Oh God, I can not talk about it.

Anyway, they are all fine. I am still primping up my side of the closet.

TTYL.

Sun Shine

It is going to be stormy this week. We have this dog, Abby, who is terrified of thunderstorms and lightning. She hates all forms rain and such. It rained and lightninged Sunday night and she was all over us. Love Man, his patience worn out, carried to Purple Girl's room. I am she she was consoled.

If there is such a thing as reincarnation, you will want to come back as a dog or cat in our house.
Maybe a fish, but sometimes the feeding schedule is forgotten. I would go with a dog at our house.

Purple Power

I made Miss Thing comb her hair and come outside for pictures. Poor thing, it was 9:15 in the morning and she was barely awake. But, she did it. The color will wash out by the time she goes back to school. In fact, it gets lighter every time she washes her hair.

It looks really purple here in the sunshine. She loves it so much.

Veggie Tales

I ordered and paid for a phone on ebay for Blonde Girl. It was a deal and was supposed to be here by now. But, it has not arrived. I emailed the person who sold the phone and have gotten no response. So, today I called the conflict resolution center of Bill Me Later, a form of Pay Pal for you non-ebayers out there.

I love ebay. It is very nearly my favorite place to shop. And, the reason is you can get exactly what you want - you just have to know what it exactly is. When I spoke with the representative over the phone, I had to answer some questions so he knew who I was.

My name, address and telephone number were the easy questions. Then, he wanted to know the last five numbers of my pay pal account. That was difficult as I shred everything and just as I was looking it up on pay pal account, my computer went dead. I think there was server trouble because Love Man's lap top did the same. I was able to get that for him after fiddling with my computer for a bit.

Then he said, "what was your last purchase?"
"Ummm, this is embarrassing." Pause. "It was a rectangular, green brush for celery."
He laughed.

Omg, let's just scream "I am a freak".

Here is the deal. Many years ago my mother bought me the carrot, mushroom, potato and corn brushes. They were sold out of the celery ones. Well, these brushes are FABULOUS. Friends
that use them wonder where I got them. I have always wanted a celery brush. So, one day I was using the carrot brush and I thought, "I can get this on ebay. I just have to be able to describe it as a rectangular green celery brush." Voila. Soon it will be mine. But, look at the
picture. Evidently there is also an asparagus brush.

Interesting.

Casa Loco

I can not show you the picture, because as usual, I am out of fresh batteries and only the fresh batteries will work in my camera. I did take photos of this event, but they are on my phone.

Here is the deal. Yesterday, Blonde Girl got purple streaks put in her hair. Yes, purple streaks and they are all over her head. We had them done professionally as I did not want to screw up her hair. We also cut her hair before we went, so that is all taken care of. Miss B and I cut
it across the bottom and cut off a few inches. We can cut straight and that is it. Donna said we did an awesome job. She snipped the ends to give it a better edge as she said her scissors were probably better. Better? I am sure, as my good hair cutting scissors were shamelessly used by Love Man to cut tags and these are from the Dollar Tree.

Luckily, because she is Blonde Girl, they did not have to bleach her hair first. The colorful person who did her hair, was able to put the purple on her hair without bleaching it. This will last about a month and the day before school starts, I will have her shampoo her hair with this marvelous chlorine out shampoo that they sell at the Walgreen's. You can get suspended from elementary school for alternative colored hair.

Oh, she LOVES it and thinks she is fabulous. Funny thing is that is makes her blonde hair look dark. She is to shampoo it tonight and I am sure that will lighten up the blonde a bit. I like it,
but feel it makes her hair look too dark. Whatever.

Sad News

We just returned from Henderson, Nevada.
Love Man's father died on Friday morning.
We were originally leaving Friday morning,
but a call from Love Man's brother prompted us to leave on Thursday.
The girls were in Phoenix with a college student,
who is very nice.
It is sad,
but not entirely unexpected.
Love Man's mother is sad but doing okay.
Love Man is doing fine as well.

Taco Seasoning Recipe

We made this one day after realizing that we were out of taco seasoning.
We will NEVER buy the packets again.
It is healthier and better.



Taco Seasoning I Recipe - Allrecipes.com:

Ingredients

1 tablespoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

Directions

In a small bowl, mix together chili powder, garlic powder,
onion powder, red pepper flakes, oregano, paprika, cumin,
salt and pepper. Store in an airtight container."

Civic Duty

Miss Brunette and I are in this charity for mother's and daughters, NCL. We like it. We spent most of Saturday working at the Back to School Clothing Drive. We worked like dogs.

Today, we are picking up bagels and taking them to this dining hall. Einstein Bagels gives them to the hall for free at the end of the day and our volunteers deliver them.

We are also working again this week on the Back to School Clothing Drive.

It is like this: Miss B must have 24 service hours for confirmation at church, a minimum of 10 hours for NCL and 10 worship notes in each confirmation year. We get busy and get it done so we don't have to stress about it during the school year. We are almost done.

Blonde Girl isn't old enough to be in NCL. But, she does have to do community service hours
as part of her Life Guard Discovery program. She will finish them this week as well.

Girl Friday

On Friday, I spent the mroning at jury duty. I did not get called up. No one did. But, I did get the entire year's worth of lesson plans updated and done. I worked on them for 4 hours, while
listening to a movie and texting Love Man, Amy and Miss G. It was fun.

I also drank Coke Zero in the twenty-ounce bottles and ate monster cookies. Kind of like being on holiday, really. I also ate an apple and chips. I was going to eat my sandwich, but I changed my mind.

When I got home, LM and girls were getting in the car for the "cheapie do" lunch special at our local pizza place. It is a large slice of pizza and a drink for $2.

I went with them, naturally. I did not want to be rude.

"You sent me twenty-five texts," was Love Man's comment.
It seems to me that he replied to all of them.

Oh well.

Summer Movies

We have seen a ton of movies. Here's our take of the latest flicks:

"Transformers" - Love Man did not love it, but the girls did.

"Judy Moody, Another Bummer Summer" - Blonde Girl thought it was great. I went to be nice.

"Super 8" - OMG, parts of it made me job. LM and I both liked it.

"Midnight in Paris" - I liked it a lot. I did not love it. I think the role was too meaty for Owen Wilson.

"Kung Fu Panda II" - Both girls loved it.

"Cars 2" - Both girls thought it was great.

Next up is "Monte Carlo". The girls are huge fans of Selena Gomez. OMG, I remember her from "Barney". LMOL.

The Great Dust Storm

I did not really think that we were having the dust storm of the century. I heard the wind and the rain. Rain storms are very dramatic here. We really don't have the gentle, soft rains of my youth. I was in bed. It was very dark so I saw nothing. I don't think we got it as bad as other neighborhoods.

But, this morning I was shocked at the state of the patio and pool. Miss B wiped down the
patio furniture. I later did it again. I swept this fine silt from the patio floor and chased it
away with buckets of water. I wash my patio like they do in ole Mexico!

The floor is still a mess and I need to do the entry of the house.

The play yard was pretty much a wreck. I had to clean the furniture out there and wash down my potting bench. I have a lot of palm fronds needing to be picked up. I am making the girls do that tomorrow.

Yes, I do make the girls do work around the house. They do not love to do it, but I don't think it hurts them. They worked for about three hours today, which is unusual. I bought pizza to
thank them. I would still be working if they weren't made to help.

We had a quiet afternoon. Maybe they laid low to avoid being put to work......

I Take the Fifth

We are a tad exhausted from the 4th of July extravaganza. We went to the City of Peoria's 4th of July Spectacular. It was nice. Love Man had VIP tickets so we watched the fireworks from a suite that is used for the press box when the Seattle Mariners or the San Diego Padres have spring training games. It was fun. But, a real pain getting out of the parking lot. Our family and thousands of other people left at the same time.

We are all tired this morning. Love Man was late leaving for work. Miss B is still in bed. Blonde thing pulled herself together to make it to swim team. Me, I am already anticipating a nice 44 ounce diet Dr. Pepper from the Circle K. The best deal in town for 86 cents, including tax.

TTYL.

Monster Cookies

We made these cookies yesterday. They are great. I have never made monster cookies before. In fact, as I was making them, it occurred to me that they are gluten-free. My friend, Amy, has celiac disease and was thrilled to have a real cookie after all of these years.

Paula Deen's Monster Cookies Recipe - Food.com - 270159:

3 eggs
1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
12 ounces creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup multi-colored chocolate candy
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup raisins (optional)
2 teaspoons baking soda
4 1/2 cups quick-cooking oatmeal (not instant)

Directions:

1Preheat the oven to 350°F Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or nonstick baking mats. 2 In a very large mixing bowl, combine the eggs and sugars. Mix well. Add the salt, vanilla, peanut butter, and butter. Mix well. Stir in the chocolate candies, chocolate chips, raisins, if using, baking soda, and oatmeal. Drop by tablespoons 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets. 3 Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Do not over bake. Let stand for about 3 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool. When cool, store in large resealable plastic bags.

Swimming Up the Wrong Stream

Love Man and I were at the swim meet the other night.

There was this guy who was watching his kids compete.

He was wearing khaki shorts that had an Iowa Hawkeye logo on them.

Being former Iowans that can not stop talking to other former Iowans,

we struck up a conversation with him.

As he was leaving, he asked Love Man "are you here watching your Grandchildren?"

I laughed so hard I had to walk away.

Grandchildren!

Love Man replied, "no, I am hear watching my twelve-year-old daughter."

LMOL.

Love Man has yet to recover.

The Scoop

We are doing fine. Love Man and I hiked this morning. It was a tad hot, but good. Then, I went with him to get his hair cut. Oh, have I mentioned he works four ten hour days. It is really more like four twelves. He loves it. Every Friday is the 4th of July........

Cooper is fine. Does not know his name. But, we are all confused and call him a her or Hope or Cooper.