Eat Your Heart Out, Matt

I'm trying to be like Matt. Isn't it an artistic pic? No, it wasn't taken in Amsterdam, Japan, or any other crazy foreign country he's been to or is going to.

I've been a reading machine lately. My tastes in books are strange; the majority of books I read are considered children/young adult novels. It's really because the science fiction/fantasy genre for young adults is in a golden era, so to speak. You can thank J.K. Rowling for that; there were a lot of great Sci-Fi kids' books written before then, but it's popularity has exploded since.

Ironically, Rowling's United Kingdom seems to churn out the most sci-fi/fantasy authors. It's not easy finding popular books as such written by Americans. Don't get me wrong, there are some great books. But for read-alouds to kids, having a book written by an author with the same dialect and verbal mannerisms as our popular culture does make a difference.

Right now I'm reading the Shadow Children series, by Margaret Peterson Haddix. In short, our government has become totalitarian after a huge food shortage, and one of the "rules" they came up with is to outlaw having more than three children, which is punishable by death (the whole family, that is). The lead character is twelve, a third child, and has lived his life being blinds and in an attic. It's very big brother 1984-ish. And not something you'd consider a plot to a children's series.

Check out my link for www.goodreads.com. It's fun, especially if you like to read.

Collin Grows Some

That is what Collin and I went on when we spent the evening at Cedar Point. From 5:00 to 10:00, we stood in lines and rode five coasters, including the Top Fuel Dragster, which launches you from 0-120 and shoots you up 420 feet in the air, before falling face first back down again. No food; only one stop for bathrooms. We were on a mission. And Collin loved it; this was one of his favorites (the other was the Raptor, which dangles your feel while corkscrewing and flipping all over itself.

At some point between us last going to Holiday World and now Collin has grown from a kid afraid of his own shadow to someone willing to try THAT. And it is enormous; we stopped at a lighthouse on the other side of the bay, and the view of the park was impressive from there.

All in all, it was a fun time. Griffin's meltdowns were a bit unnecessary, especially in a campground where there is no good place to hide a screaming kid. Now we're back in town (be afraid).

BTW: For all of the Byers' kids friends out there...do you do any babysitting? Yeah, I'm shameless. I'm looking for help on Monday, August 4 (I have an inservice) and Wednesday, August 6 (the 2nd grade teachers have a workday).

Our Travel Plans NEWLY REVISED!

Read Zookeeper's blog to find out her feelings about the upcoming trip changes. Here's an article about what I'm talking about.


TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. -- Hundreds of pounds of household garbage has washed onto Lake Michigan shores in the past couple of days, leading to an investigation by the Coast Guard and the temporary closure of a public beach. Trash that apparently came ashore overnight Sunday was strewn along a 10-mile stretch in Mason and Manistee counties in Michigan's northwestern Lower Peninsula. Junk piles up to 8 inches high were reported at a beach in the city of Manistee.
Garbage also washed onto private beaches Tuesday in Holland, more than 100 miles south of Manistee. It was not immediately clear whether the two were related, Lt. Kristie Cabanting, a Coast Guard spokeswoman in Milwaukee. A helicopter was undertaking flights to try determining where the garbage came from, she said.


I was still ok about going up (kind of), but Steph is very much grossed out about this, especially the whole syringe in the sand idea. So we're instead heading to Putinbay, Ohio. I'll post later. Now I'm off to the Microbrew Fest!

Camping Time

Here is our little camper that we'll be using on our vacation to the coast of Lake Michigan and Manistee. We really don't get to use it all that often; our weekends have become very busy, what with boy scouts and karate tournaments. It will be interesting to see how the twins will do with camping; they are getting older, but Erin is still fascinated/terrified of any and all insects. Griffin, on the other hand, loves outside, but he our camper is not sound proof to the occasional outbursts he exhibits. Or to Erin's either.

At least we have Mr. Davy Crockett himself, Collin. He's all about spending time camping and doing woodman-type things. Heck, the camper might actually be too civilized for him.

So today will be spent prepping for our camp-out. You know, getting things packed, doing laundry, cleaning the house up, etc. Still working on the shed; I'm in the middle of priming it. And I've been working on school-related things, too. Oh, and reading a pretty good book. Tough life as a SOD.

Dunkin Donuts!

Our Dunkin Donuts, which took, like years to build, is finally open! It's in a strip mall that also houses the best ice cream and B-dubs, home of some tasty, tasty wings and other stuff that's tasty, too. Oh, yeah, it also houses our gym, but that's like a serial killer obeying the speed limit.

What makes me happy is that it's the first donut shop that's not in Marsh or Kroger. I remember going to the Krispy Kreme store (you know, where they made them FRESH, not like Kroger's week-old versions) when I was a kid in Alabama after church. Talk about tasty. We also had Dunkin Donuts and some other place, which I don't remember the name of. But we move up to Indiana, one of the heaviest cities in the nation, and there's no bakery around. Weird. They fry everything around here, but no good donuts? And, no, bagels don't count.

I'm looking at my schedule for the rest of the summer, and it's gotten me depressed. I really wish our school went to an all-year format. Long breaks just make me dread going back. It's like starting at a new job every year. I know, boo hoo, smallest violin in the world, yada yada. Only from a teacher.

Huh? What day is it?

Is the first thing to go as you age your memory? Because I've had a horrible time with forgetting things. Tying a string around my finger? Sure. If I remembered where i put the string.

Case in point. Being the cheapskate I am, I decided that I would carry our portable CD player from inside to outside and vice versa when needed; thus saving money we don't have by forgoing an exterior CD player.

Great idea...if I remembered things like that. But alas the CD player was outside all night long. And apparently it must have either rained, or the dew was extremely heavy. Good-bye CD player.

If I would have looked into an outside system, I'd have 2 working players instead of 0. This is but one example of my forgetfulness. I've had a horrible time remembering kids' names (especially when they're right in front of me) (not mine, by the way; I'm not that bad), grocery items, location of car keys and sunglasses and parked cars, garage codes, etc. And I'm passing this trait on to my kids; my oldest had almost a dozen missing items at his boy scout camp gear inspection, and then his troop had to unpack the entire trailer so he could get out a t-shirt (which he forgot to wear).

Anyway...what was I talking about?

Handy Household Tips Courtesy of Czizek

1. IF YOU'RE CHOKING ON AN ICE CUBE, SIMPLY POUR A CUP OF BOILING WATERDOWN YOUR THROAT. PRESTO! THE BLOCKAGE WILL INSTANTLY REMOVE ITSELF.

2. AVOID CUTTING YOURSELF WHEN SLICING VEGETABLES BY GETTING SOMEONE ELSE TO HOLD THE VEGETABLES WHILE YOU CHOP.

3. AVOID ARGUMENTS WITH THE FEMALES ABOUT LIFTING THE TOILET SEAT BY USING THE SINK.

4. FOR HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE SUFFERERS ~ SIMPLY CUT YOURSELF AND BLEED FOR A FEW MINUTES, THUS REDUCING THE PRESSURE ON YOUR VEINS.. REMEMBER TO USE A TIMER.

5. A MOUSE TRAP PLACED ON TOP OF YOUR ALARM CLOCK WILL PREVENT YOU FROM ROLLING OVER AND GOING BACK TO SLEEP AFTER YOU HIT THE SNOOZE BUTTON.

6. IF YOU HAVE A BAD COUGH, TAKE A LARGE DOSE OF LAXATIVES. THEN YOU'LL BE AFRAID TO COUGH.

7. YOU ONLY NEED TWO TOOLS IN LIFE: WD-40 AND DUCT TAPE. IF IT DOESN'T MOVE AND SHOULD, USE THE WD-40. IF IT SHOULDN'T MOVE AND DOES, USE THE DUCT TAPE.

8. REMEMBER - EVERYONE SEEMS NORMAL UNTIL YOU GET TO KNOW THEM.

9. IF YOU CAN'T FIX IT WITH A HAMMER, YOU'VE GOT AN ELECTRICAL PROBLEM.

DAILY THOUGHT:SOME PEOPLE ARE LIKE SLINKIES - NOT REALLY GOOD FOR ANYTHING BUT THEY BRING A SMILE TO YOUR FACE WHEN PUSHED DOWN THE STAIRS.