She looks fairly relaxed doesn't she? She is excited because she beat most of her friends to the cabin and procured herself a top bunk! There is absolutely no apprehension about leaving us for 3 nights. She's like, "see ya". This doesn't bother me in the least, believe it or not. I'm happy that I've managed to raise her to be this independent, despite my overprotectiveness. As long as they remember to give her the prednisone as directed (and I have faith that they will) I'm good. She took her lovey bunny and I wagered $5 that she'd lose it. So let's hope I'm $5 in the hole by Wednesday. The real test for me as a mom will be when BOTH my girls go off to MBT camp. I'm still a little apprehensive about that one. Elena still struggles with aspects of independence and tends to be whiney. So I guess I'll just be sitting around the house wondering who's being driven insane by Elena... Somehow, it not being me seems a positive thing. So it seems I've gotten over the apprehension already :)

But seriously, I am so thankful for the fact that there are wonderful Christian camps which are affordable and close by for my children to participate in. I am also thankful that my stepmother is so involved in this one so I know Annelise is being looked after. Meanwhile, I have enrolled Little Britches in her swimming class for this week and she is super excited about that! It's part of the "Get Independent" program for her. I miss Ese, but I feel good about her being away for a few days.

Shock the Monkey...

Yep, that monkey is definitely shocked that I had anything to do with getting our names on it! Of course it helps that Linda and I have such high handicaps that we, along with our very good golfing hubbies, managed to shoot a net score of 27 on the front nine. (insert me doing the PeeWee Herman when the winning team was announced) The surprising thing is that we were actually able to use one of my drives! This is only the 2nd time I have played the "Nine and Dine" at KCC and the first time I got to try out my new clubs. Russ bought me a beer for whacking this sprinkler pipe sticking up out of the ground, a move which couldn't be repeated in a zillion years if I tried. Last time, he bought me a beer for nearly taking out a goose! I'm not really good at this game, but I have a very patient partner in Chris, who watches my every swing and gives me very good tips on cleaning up my act. That and Tina at the club also gave me some good advice which I shall not repeat here due to extreme vulgarity, but the advice did help. I'm learning all about using my hips, reading other peoples' putts, hitting my drive on the up swing, etc. I guess the next book I read will be Carl Hiassen on returning to the golf course after several years. I may relate best to his wit in learning this game. Apparently, they're going to shake up golf partners, so our teams aren't 'stacked' which is laughable if you ever saw me and Linda play together. So next time, I think we are actually playing with a lady who is really, really good. At this point, I have got to get over the intimidation factor. It was fun as long as I was playing with someone with beginner-skill level such as myself, we could laugh at ourselves and swear loudly after many shots. I'm not sure how it will be playing with 3 really good golfers and me being the obvious slacker on the team. But, I'm willing to give it my best; we shall see if my name ever gets back on that monkey. (also, I wonder if I owe Russ a beer, his being contingent on forces outside of KCC...)

The thief

I love her. I mean I really do love her... but she's crafty. I'm pretty certain that it wasn't the neighbor's dog that dragged my black Rainbows into the yard to meet their doom. I am fairly sure that it was Miss Lilybelle herself. This morning she had opened up the sidewalk chalk and commenced to arting on the breezeway. I really hope she doesn't figure out how to get into the playhouse, or we are in BIG trouble! Anti-lay-your-shoes-around rule is in strict enforcement!!

We also visited another of our elderly neighbors last night (Mrs. O.) who presented us with Annelise's old softball mitt and a Titlelist umbrella, both of which were brought into her yard a couple of weeks ago. This means there are a couple of crafty pooches around the hood. Might one of these be the very same pooch who pooped on the sliding board?? Too much doggie drama here at Little Colorado (I always wanted to live on a big estate with a cool name- Lil CO is the best I could come up with for our lovely 2 acre tract and I'm good with that).

"I got a problem" -Robert Cray

So here's problemo of the momento. This is the 4th year I've planted a vegetable garden here at "Little Colorado". I planted it earlier than in the past and I was still working as the plants were being established with the aid of much fertilizer. I'm no expert as you can plainly see, of course, I just stick stuff in the ground and take care of it as best as I know how. I learn something new every year. Well, obviously, grass also loves the fertilizer and because I wasn't out of school yet, I just didn't have time to get on top of this grass issue. It just plain got away from me. Then I had surgery and was unable to do anything for several days then we traveled. I tried pulling alot of it out by hand but the roots are so established around the roots of my plants, it's impossible to not destroy my bean plants, etc. I would try to chop it up with a hoe; however, with the drip line kind of stuck there, I can't really get in there like I want to. Plus it's frigging 100 degrees and quite honestly, the thought of this sort of work makes me melt into my flip flops. So I'm at the point where I'm just going to consider the grass as great shade for my plants. I feel like we all need shade these days. Is that so bad?? I feel like I need affirmation here... anyone? anyone?

Also, the new rule at our house is that you don't leave your shoes out on the breezeway. We have a flip flop thief on the loose around here. A couple weeks ago, I knew who the culprit was and now I should also consider Lilybelle as being armed and dangerous. I mean, you just never know. Today, after the lawnmower man was long gone, I found my old black Rainbows chopped up in the side lawn. How they got there is anyone's guess. I hadn't seen them in 2 days. I'm just thankful it wasn't my new pair of Rainbows.

My dear sister has really hit on something...

The one thing I miss about MySpace was my blog. I miss my blog. So The KRP has inspired me to reintroduce my blog to the world. Big Time happens to be the song that's been stuck in my head all day. I found out today that my suspicions about my neighbor being a pretty cool ol' dude were absolutely on target. The girls and I walked some garden veggies over to his place and and I finally got a chance, after 4 years of living in this hood, to sit down and chit chat with him. Mr. A. as we shall refer to him, served 3 years in World War II as a pilot and I can't wait to hear stories about that. But today's visit was an education on pyracantha bushes and Google. Google, you have made Mr. A. entirely too knowledgeable about everything under the sun!

We got a dog! We got a Lillibelle! She's soooo super sweet and I can't wait to introduce her to society! There should be coming out parties for beautiful pups! More on that later, for now, I'm late for a dinner date in Mexico with some girlfriends. Ciao!