looky!

You know how when friends go on a trip? Then they come back and bore you with stories and photos? Let's do!

Yes, we just got back from our first road trip of summer. Did some camping, some hiking, some museuming, some fishing, some swimming, some general getting on each others' nerving... all in "The Land of Enchantment"... oooooooooohhhhhh, (uhm... that would be New Mexico)

The menfolk, playing with their weenies

Wolfgang, under a B-52

Me and da bomb (replica of Fat Man)

Meego and Magnum at the top of Mt. Capulin Volcano.

So many fisherman... so little fish

McDonalds, I'm lovin' it, even in the middle of nowhere.

All in all, a good time was had by all. Mt. Capulin was very cool despite being SO high up. I'm glad I didn't know about the height factor beforehand - wimpy acrophobe that I am.

And we just totally geeked out at the Nuclear Museum.

And I mean totally.

Wish you were there.

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what about the van?

We're planning a little road trip. Nothing major, just a getaway to have it officially feel like summer.

So as I brush the cobwebs off of our big butt van, I'm thinking it needs a little personality. The best road trip vehicles are vans, of course, and the more personality the better.

Our van is just your basic monocolored Econoline. No curtains, no Christmas lights, no outer embellishments.

Maybe it needs a little customization to make it more roadtrip worthy?

Any suggestions? I was thinking maybe...

Or how about...

Okay, maybe not.

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hairy carey

I'm not a fan of the mohawk. Y'know, the hairdo.


There's a certain small window of age where it's okay in my opinion. Late teens to early twenties maybe.


"mohawked shadow boxer"

Anything outside that window, and they bug me. I don't like seeing little kids with mohawks. Makes them look like trouble. Older guys with mohawks? Hmm mm.

I have a mom friend at the elementary school. She had a mohawk for a good two years. She's a total butch, and for the longest time, before I got to know her, I (and many others) just assumed she was one half of a two-mom couple. Turns out she's married to a not-too-shabby guy. So much for appearances. When I did get to know her, she explained that she'd lost a bet. The mohawk was the consequence. She gave her old hair to those wigs for cancer. So then, why not just let it grow out?, I queried. Well, she started having fun with it. She'd dye it for school activities. Green for St. Patrick's Day, hot pink for Valentine's day, etc. Soon, she was known as the volunteer mom with the neon hair.

So my neighbor, Neighbor Flanders (no, she didn't get a mohawk). She and her family were gone for about a week on a little vacation. She has 4 boys. One of them is Chaco's age, and he came home from the vacation sporting a mohawk.

Now this kid is a good kid. Hard working, pious, responsible, gets good grades... I can honestly see him being a pastor some day. So the mohawk, I nearly didn't recognize him. He said, "It started out as an accident".

He was giving himself a haircut, and one side was shorter than the other. He kept trying to even the sides up and... well...

So I'm getting over my hairdo prejudice. Could just be a lost bet, or a charitable act, or just a home haircut gone bad.

Or maybe they just want to try something new. Like young Flanders, I'm thinking. I'm thinking he likes it.
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day 2

It's been just over a month since our last big snowstorm. Really, I went into the archives and checked. And I do remember that we've had some snow since then too.

Well, yesterday, we broke the record for high temperature. It got up to 96 new-record degrees. ACK, I'm dealing with this weather moodiness as best I can. It was a pleasantly breezy 60 degrees this morning. A lovely run I had, yes I did.

Okay, enough talk about the weather. I see this is "Day 2" of the seige summer. Yes, the kids were officially released from school last Wednesday. Yes, there wasn't a whole lot of schoolness in the days just prior to that. But I was still with the busy work schedule last week, so for me, summer break didn't really start until yesterday.

So yesterday we made some lists. One, a fun list. Two categories: "Adventures" and "Projects". Oh, I can't wait to begin! The other, a not-so-fun list?

See, I think my kids have been slacking on the helping-out-around-the-housery. I'm cracking down. We listed things that need to be done daily as well as weekly. Then we made a third category, which I labeled "$pecial" - to indicate that they would actually get paid for doing things from that category - and also to indicate that they would NOT be getting paid for the other two categories *cackles evilly*.

So far, it's working wonderfully, and the household is running like a well-oiled machine.

The floors are swept, and in some cases, mopped(!). Lawn's mowed. Weeds were pulled. Car was washed, vacuumed, and is set for a morning waxing today. In all this zeal, China the crazy dog underwent two good rubdowns and rinsings.

Who are these children?
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Silver Liningness Sunday

Happy silver liningness Sunday to all! It feels like summer.

As previously mentioned, the kids FINALLY had their last day of school this past week. Talk about beating a dead horse. They all managed to not get held back and will be advancing a grade next school year. For now, however, we are on summer break.

In a somewhat related note, I taught the final session of a class on Tuesday, and finished the final hours of tutoring for my one tutee yesterday. My work schedule is now officially wide open! That has not happened in a while, and it feels kinda nice. I plan to cut back on the work hours somewhat over the summer. Gotta love that flexibility.

Still, while I'm not currently teaching anything, 3 of the 5 classes I do teach are undergoing major reconstruction, so we've had lots of workshops and trainings and such like going on. I appreciate that I can attend these things live online. No need to commute, dress presentably, or apply deodorant.

<-- And AND, I can doodle away without the presenter knowing that I'm doodling away (Yes, I'm listening and taking notes too!), while getting paid.

In movie notes, I finally saw Avatar. I liked it better than I thought I would.

Lots of rolling around on the bicycle this week. That's always a good thing.
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trail

*POOF* it's Friday! Already Illustration Friday! This week's illustration prompt is "trail". So, why the smoking chick?

Well, thing is, years ago, I used to smoke. Not a whole lot, mind you. It started out innocently enough. I worked in a restaurant where it was very common to smoke around the break table. Cooks did it, waitresses did it, dishwashers did it, and eventually I did it.

And it didn't just confine itself to the work break table. Soon enough, friends and I were smoking when we'd go out together for fun. One thing though, I notice that I always only smoked in social situations. Never alone. I guess that counts for something.

This may seem kind of a surprising revelation to people who know me now and perhaps think of me as a bit of a health nut. Well, they're only half right.

Compared to many "quitters", I smoked relatively little. When I stopped, I just stopped and went on. But still... still to this day... over two decades later, I still feel like lighting up now and again. I don't, but sometimes I catch myself just staring at someone who is smoking. Just staring and staring and getting lost.

Lost in that enticing, alluring, mesmerizing, slow, deadly trail of smoke.
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galerie de abbynormal

You know how, if you have young schoolkids? How they're always bringing home some sort of "artwork"? Some people plaster the front of their fridge with these masterpieces, but I have never been much of a fridge plasterer myself.

Some of them get sent straight to the trash (those that I'm pretty sure won't be missed), others are put into a binder.... er.... portfolio, and still others reach the distinction of framage and wall adornment.

( I really don't own anything else to put on the walls, and I'm not into "Twilight"/Justin Beiber posters.)

It's occurred to me that, while I occassionally display my own artful attempts, I have not given a thorough walk-through of our art adorned domicile. Join me in the living room?

The photo above shows a lovely composition of a large fish and mountain vista. First grade Chaco and third grade Meego respectively.

And here we have a lovely abstract piece from pre-school Meego (note the unplanned effect of gravity!) on the left, with an exquisite second grade Wolfgang iguana.

Nextly, what a treat of military prowess! Yes, that is a fifth grade Chaco "Crimson Guard" on the left with an intimidating fourth grade Wolfgang Samurai on the right. Pardon the glare.

And lastly, the Wall o' Muscle. This particular display involves some 3-D art in the form of a Plymouth Roadrunner model in blue; a Dodge Charger model in black, and a Plymouth Superbird model in red. The 2-D art, clockwise from top left, is a Ford Mustang of unremembered year (it has the year on the drawing, but I'm too lazy to check), yet another Plymouth Superbird, a wood carving of Speedy Gonzales (what is he doing there?), topped off with - yes you know it is - an oil of Optimus Prime.

Thank you for joining me on the tour. Who says we are uncultured?
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