The Horror of Not Having the Internet

Our Verizon Internet was disconnected about a week ago so that we could switch over to Bright House. Bright House is already so much more lame because they cannot come and hook up the Internet service until July 1st. This has made for pretty much the most uncomfortable 2 1/2 weeks of my life. I realize that pretty much everything that I do, all the information I need- recipes, reciepts, coupons, weather radar, movie times, EVERYTHING is on the Internet. I am completely lost without it. Not to mention that I cannot post to my blog. Even now I am at my very kind Mother-in-law's house to make this post. But alas, I can't even put a picture with this! Well, not one of my own anyway.... I can't waste time with online games, I can't use instant messenger to see what everyone is up to, I can't read the MSN homepage every morning while I eat my cold cereal. It is basically my newspaper. No Facebook to publish a status change, no logging into my bank website to make sure we didn't go over the budget, no being allowed to see if I have library books overdue, no way to get thier phone number if I need to just, gasp!, actually call them! Oh, yes, life without the Internet is just plain awful. I feel so disconnected, so out of touch, like I am living under a rock!! I mean, what am I? A missionary??!

The Big 30 Has Never Looked Better!

So Jacob is thirty years old today and in the best shape of his life. I couldn't be prouder! I am, however, a little worried by the fact that if he is thirty now, this means that yours truly will be 30 years old in a mere 7 months! Time is inevitably passing way too fast for me. But the good news is that 30 still feels really young. When I was younger and thought about being 30, I imagined myself as a totally lame adult. One that didn't listen to current music, only watched PBS, was kinda out of shape from having kids, ate oatmeal every morning for breakfast and didn't let their kids do anything even remotely fun. And yet here I am on the cusp of being right there and I find myself married to a DJ who has the latest top 40 music shipped to him each month, watching all kinds of movies every week from Netflix, training 5 days a week for a sprint triathlon, eating waffles, cocoa pebbles, and lucky charms whenever I want for breakfast- which sometimes means for dinner, and my kids each have their own harleys and tatoos. Okay, not really, just checking to see if you were still with me and paying attention. Seriously, my kids have dance parties with club lights for FHE- Cindy has been to Hawaii TWICE and she is 4- and they both stay up past their bedtime pretty much 7 days a week. So I am not your boring, hum-drum 30 year old pantywaste! No sir-ee bob! (although using that phrase would tell you otherwise) I am rockin out', renegade, wolf in sheep's clothing 30 year old! So take that, world! I gotta get to bed now, though. It is after 9 o'clock!

Well It's About Time!

Summer in Florida is the "rainy season"- or so it is supposed to be. Right here in the interior section of the state is the hot zone- the sweet spot where the eastern and western seabreezes collide each afternoon to produce torrential downpours and keep everything nice and green. It seems we are being punished as of late, however, because for the last 4 days we have literally watched the thunderclouds part around our house and drift off to drench the subdivision down the street. But yesterday we finally got the free water we were hoping for- and Luke got to experience his first thunderstorm. Cindy of course was in her bathing suit by the time I looked out the window and said "I think it might..." They had a great time running in the driveway, splashing and Luke was fascinated by the thunder, which he could never quite find the source of.

FHE Dance Party

Finally, our kids are starting to see the benefits of having parents that are DJs. Almost two weeks in a row we have had "dance Party" be the official Family Home Evening activity. The music gets cranked, the swirly multi-colored lights come out and we have a great time. Cindy is the biggest fan. She can sing Hampsterdance, Cry for You (by September), Please Don't Stop the Music (Rihanna) or Happy Working Song (from Enchanted~ the movie about her) with the best of them. Last night we did some country swing and she really enjoyed the swinging part. The first time we plugged in the light with Luke, he stood there in total awe and then put his hands in the air to try and "catch" all the swirly's that were covering the walls and ceiling. Classic. I often wonder if the neighbors know about our secret Monday meetings or if they can feel the bass at about 8:30pm. Regardless, we must be the coolest family on the block.

AUGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just took this photo moments ago out in the garden. Yes, that would be a very long snakeskin protruding from a small crevace near the drain pipe from my washer and dryer. And yes, that does mean what you think it means. There is probably a snake in my garage waiting to get me. Thanks.

The Secret Life of Powdered Milk

So, if you are like me you have some powdered milk in food storage somewhere. Stalking you- because you know you are supposed to rotate it, which means actually using it. Which is, quite frankly, disgusting. Powdered milk is not really milk, not even close. It is like calling a fish stick real fish. So, a while back I began an internet research project of finding out how to make powdered milk pallatable. And I think I have found the way! And the answer is in three parts:
1. When you mix the powder and water, add some good old powdered coffee creamer. This gives it a richer smoothness.
2. After you have added the water and mixed it up, add a hefty bit of vanilla extract, the more the better! This is to combat the atrocious aftertaste of powdered milk- it's fatal flaw.
3. Mix this concoction you have created with half a gallon of the real milk in your fridge (masking the aftertaste for a second time) and voila! you REALLY can't tell a difference once you have done this. The whole pyschological trick of just seeing it the real milk jug totally tricks you into thinking it is the real deal. Plus, your kids see you pour it out of the real milk jug, therefore, it is their tastebuds that are suddenly wacko- and not your fault you are giving them exceedingly sub-par leche. So there it is, the secret to using and liking powdered milk. You're Welcome. Now, I am off to eat cereal for every meal of the day. Seriously, have you tried Chocolate Chex? Amazing.

Blast Off!

So the shuttle launched the other day. By some miracle I remembered to tell Cindy about it, so I busted out the binoculars and we drove to the top of the hill here near the house and watched it soar thru the sky. The last launch gave us nothing on account of too much cloud cover, so this launch was pretty dang good to be able to see the fire and everything. One day I will fulfill a life-long dream and watch a night launch from Cocoa Beach- no binoculars needed. One day, I tell you!!

The Wisdom of Cindy

So here are some of the latest silly things that Cindy has said or done.

I explained to her the other day about car alarms and the fact that sometimes mean people try and take our cars when we go shopping. Therefore, we put alarms on them to try and scare them away. And then she told me "Yeah, cuz those Lamanites wait until you are in the store and then they try and take your stuff!" Thus, I have tried to tell her that there are not really Lamanites anymore like in the Book of Mormon, but she is adamant that they are still around and lurking about waiting to do bad things to us.

She was begging me to come outside and watch her ride her bike (named Daisey, of course). And she kept saying "Do you wanna come out and watch me?" "Do you wanna come out and watch me?" over and over. And I just kept not responding, thinking she would not ask me anymore, but then finally she said, "Mom, do you wanna come out and watch me? And then you say to me "Sure!" and then you come out and have a fun time!" Her persuasion worked and I did have a fun time.

We had a picnic in the garage the other day while Luke was napping. And who came, you might ask?? Well, Snow White (Cindy), Sleeping Beauty (Mom), and her three friends "Miguel, Tarzan and Daisey (her bike)." ???

Memorial Day Happenings

So we definitely used our time off for Memorial Day weekend to do a mighty work in our garden. We replaced the wood plank garden boxes with some sweet landscaping timbers. The left side picture is the old, the right side is the new. We ratcheted them together with some very industrial screws and so hopefully, we won't have to a garden box do-over any time soon. It was a long day of cutting, drilling, tightening, squatting, bending, and using muscles I haven't felt in many, many years. But the finished product was great. One step closer to canning our own Sweeney's Pride Salsa (the brand name I just invented). Now we just need about 2 yards of potting soil and a whole bunch of seeds.

And after working for two days on that project, Cindy and I went swimming at Grandma Sweeney's house Monday afternoon. We found a lovely little surprise on her Cinderella kickboard. Cindy was not that scared of the baby racer snake, but Daddy was our knight in shining armor and released the big brute into the backyard. We had a pretty mellow evening after that and were in bed by about 9:30. Yardwork (or homework, as Cindy calls it) is after all, WORK. So if you have a small yard, or no yard at all to maintain, give thanks!

At the bottom of the Laundry Basket- Duh!

I went thru the whole house again looking for those cursed remotes and did find the one to our bedroom television! It was in the bottom of the laundry bin for our white clothes. Seeing as how I get around to doing my least favorite chore of laundry once every month or so, we would have waited about another 2 weeks before I found it in there, so that saved us from suffering that much longer. I am so talented.