Assimilating

I know I've been a little, um, sparse with the blogging lately.

I'm here, I'm just...slowing down a bit--online, in real life; maybe I'm not back on pace yet after our "stay-cation."

Or maybe, just maybe, I'm getting on board with the slower pace of life down here. I'm really, really, loving this whole southern living thing. Don't get me wrong--I'm still Canadian, through and through. If you prick me, I shall bleed Tim Horton's, hockey pucks and snowflakes.

But lazy summer days drinking icy sweet tea? Yes, please.

Neighbours helping neighbours? Oh yes.

Saying thank you with a freshly baked cobbler? Life's good.

Friends bearing freshly picked strawberries? Sweet.

Baby kittens, new baby smell, evening walks and pink lemonade. This is the stuff of life in my valley.

Kisses,

Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Go Back In The Living Room

There I was, minding my own business, sitting on our recliner. Something caused me to look up, and when I did....



duh duh....



duh duh....



duh duh....




EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKK!!!!!!

That, friends, is the centipede. You know, the one that kept me from sitting on my living room couch for over a week? The one that crawled up my arm?????? Seriously. Just picture that guy on your bare arm, and see how you feel about it.

Thankfully, the Rev was home this morning. He bravely grabbed my mop, and slayed the dragon centipede for me.



He's so brave. He also insisted I take a picture of the spot, so you could all see he killed it.

My hero.

Kisses,

Miss Me?

The Rev, The Wiggles and I were on a stay-cation this past week. The Rev got caught up on some much needed sleep and down time. He also stripped the deck, because apparently nothing says vay-cay like stripping a deck.


Wiggle Man likes vacation because we go "places" (pronounced "play-cees") on vacation, and sometimes get to sleep in a hotel. I love hotels--he gets that from me.


I didn't take many pictures (well, not by my definition of "many", anyway) but here's a sampling:

We pulled off to the side of the road to take this highly important snapshot:



We finally made it to the Natural Bridge. Wiggle Man may have been more interested in the zoo (he's still asking to go back), but he thought these train tracks in the sky were cool:

Plus, it helped that we told him the bridge was like a train tunnel (incidentally, we told him the same thing about the caverns.)

Of course, Wiggle Man rarely goes anywhere without a train on hand:

We also spent some time driving around, taking pictures of just what we've come to expect in the valley:

Seriously. How could you not love living here?

It's like a post card. Or a bottle of salad dressing.

Kisses,

Happy Mother's Day!

Flowers in glass jars.



Seedlings planted in Sunday School.

Construction paper cards.

The card that Wiggle Man dictated to his Sunday School teacher:

"Delicious" seems to be one of his new favourite words. It's quite enjoyable to hear him exclaim, "Delicious!" while eating his ice cream.

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there--especially mine and the Rev's. We love you guys!

Kisses,

Beauty Is Pain

Today, I did this:

It hurt. A lot. That, friends, is the tube of nail glue attached to my finger. Impressive, no? I've been using these fake nails for a while now, and this is the first time I've managed to do that.

I also did this:

That (and this was the best picture I could get, sorry) is an easy-tab glued to my counter. I don't even understand how this happened. I can only tell you it happened sometime during the extriction of the glue tube from my finger. It's sitting in a puddle of remover.

All of that to do this:

The Claw!!!!!!!

And this:

Pay no attention to the gratuitous tub toys. Wiggle Man got to take a bath in the "big water" last night.

Kisses,

Why I Should Keep My Mouth Shut

You know that silly pound and a half I mentioned yesterday? The one that was gone this week, and I was so proud?

Well, apparently it heard me say it's name, thought I needed it or something, and came right back.

Niiiiiiice.

Good News/Bad News

Wednesday. If you read here a lot, you know the drill. Here's my glass-half-empty/glass-half-full look at life. If you'd like to join in (and please do--Camilla would love the company, I'm sure), then just write your very own GN/BN post, link back to me in it, then add your name over here. And while you're at it, check out Camilla's blog--she's strong, she's funny, she's Australian, and just all-around amazing.

So.....

The Good News? I'm already down another 1.5 pounds this week.
The Bad News? I had to add a mile to my daily run to accomplish that.
The Good News? I was only running a mile a day as it was. Two miles isn't so bad, actually.

The Good News? M&Ms come in PRETZEL FORM.
The Bad News? I'm forced to eat them.
The Good News? If I don't buy them, I can't eat them.
The Bad News? I'm forced to buy them. A magnetic field draws my hand toward them, makes me pick them up, and forces me to purchase them.
The Good News? They're seriously yummy.

The Good News? Wiggle Man is doing better than I thought he would with his potty training.
The Bad News? This forces us to keep "reward M&Ms" in the house. (See above.)

The Good News? I decided to catch caterpillars this week to let Wiggles watch them metamorph. Or whatever that verb would be. (Thanks, DH!)
The (more) Good News? I knew enough to transfer some of the caterpillars to a second jar.
The Bad News? I didn't do it in time.
The Good News? I learned something new and unexpected about caterpillars.
The Bad News? The new and unexpected thing is that caterpillars eat other caterpillars. Unless there's some other explanation for all of the caterpillars being gone except for two rather plump, satisfied looking caterpillars.

Well, with that, I'm off. The Good News there is that I'll probably go for a run. The Bad News is I'll probably look for a reason not to.

Kisses,

Insects

I'm not fond of them.

You know how I feel about Black Widows, Brown Recluses and of course, the centipedes. (Update--while the offending centipede has not been sighted since his foray up my arm, I must assume he has left the building, or perished somewhere. Perhaps a Brown Recluse ate him. Or a rattlesnake. At any rate, I have resumed sitting on/lying on my couch. I still will not use a blanket, in case the centipede is actually hiding there.)

Having spent far too long reading websites about Brown Recluse Spiders--their bite wounds, hunting habits, etc, I'm pretty vigilant about checking the sheets before I get into bed, and not leaving piles of clothes on the floor.

Feeling rather smart, if there is, say, a pair of shorts that I have worn but aren't actually dirty enough to wash (I'm not the only one that does this, right?) I'll put them on a shelf in my closet.

(Aside: I love my closet. It's not huge, but it's my first walk-in. One day I'm going to install fancy organizers, and then I'll feel just like a princess. Really.)

So, this morning I reach up to grab my brown shorts, which are safely stowed away, up out of the reach of spiders.

Or so I thought.

I noticed something jump off my brown shorts, onto the white shorts (which were up there for the same purpose.) Convincing myself it was just a piece of brown lint, I peeked up again. There, on my white shorts, was a BROWN JUMPY SPIDER!!!!!! (I don't know that they're called. You know the ones, though? Small, brown, like to jump all over the place?)

ARRRRGHHHHHHH!!!!!

There is no hiding from spiders. This is something I must overcome. And overcome I did. I calmly grabbed toilet paper and smooshed the little sucker. I didn't even get my usual chills and uncontrollable need to shriek. But I did throw his little Brown Jumpy Spider corpse in the toilet and flush. Just in case he wasn't dead. No way was I risking that thing jumping out of the trash can.

Kisses,