Summer Doldrums Whining

It's that time of year, when the rest of the northern hemisphere gets back at the way we southerners acted during the winter. We bragged about 70 degrees. We posted pictures of clear blue skies and sunshine. We made sure you knew when the trees started blooming, all when you were covered up with snow.

And now it's 100 degrees F every day. Every single day. The sun is relentless. We've actually had a bit of rain this summer, but that just makes it more humid. Feel free to say "nanny nanny boo boo." We probably deserve it. It was 93 yesterday afternoon, and I actually said "it's much cooler today."

And school will never start. Summer will last forever. I will forever be refereeing fights over toys. No one will ever voluntarily get dressed independently again.

Wah.

Pixies, are you stuck in the doldrums? Do tell. Surely your doldrums are more interesting than mine.

Awards - like, totally!!!

Welcome to Award time pixies!

First up we have kathy a who earns the "Look! Shiny!" award this week with her request for heartwarming distractions from deceased computers and work behindness.

Kudos for excellent suggestions from many pixies.

The "Eeek! A Mouse!" award goes to QWP - at least you have all of those boxes to climb up on when the critter taunts you. 

The "You're a Big Deal Too!" award for esperanza and family who have had an epic week that included a big funeral for Mr. E (but chocolate cake for supper!) Here's hoping next week will give you all a chance to catch your breath and spend some time together.

esperanza also gets the "Old Skool" award this week for a spider bite (ew) in the worst possible place, especially when one wears flip-flops. Spiders - so inconsiderate, yes??? Also, watch those toesies in the pool. :)

NL gets the "Who Needs Mean Girls Anyway?" award for dealing with a mother and her daughter who missed an opportunity to be gracious. I hope the concert was wonderful NL!!!

The "Will the Baby's Name be George?" award goes to PK who is half way there!! 


And the "What a Week!" award goes to all pixies dealing with new and re-visited grief, grandmas being unwell, feeling icky, being uber busy, ongoing family situations, creepy email scammers and loneliness at book club.

I'm away next week, so I'll catch up when I get home. 

Newbie Host with bonus Pixie Dust!!!

Greetings pixies!

This is my first time hosting - very exciting!

A coffee conversation in our house this morning went something like this:

P: Looks like it's clearing up.
Me: Go take your pixie dust and feed it to your unicorn! It's 16 degrees and raining!
P: Okay then... (at which point we both laughed because we think we're hilarious)

It was sort of a Half Full/Half Empty or Anti-Whine/Whine sort of discussion. By early afternoon it actually did clear up and warmed up to (almost) room temperature. Ponies!

What's on your AW/W list this week pixies?

Slow awards

Ice cold, hand-churned, low-calorie, refreshing awards.  It's the hand churning that took so long.  ;)

Sue wins the Good Day, Sunshine Award for lovely weather and a personal afternoon.  Yay!  And, many thanks for joining the hosts.  And, hippo birdie, two ewe!

 Happy Anniversary to Queen of West Procrastination!  Best to you and yours with the big move.

The Decisions, Decisions Award goes to JenR, who is making some big ones.

Esperanza wins the Ain't Summer Grand Award, for broken AC in high heat, resulting in an entire festival of sibling crankiness and fights over toys.  Very old skool.

Adventures in Teething Award goes to QWP's Lil E -- may there be a breakthrough soon!

The Medical Miracle Award goes to Sue, who made the appointment, saw the doctor, got the prescription, and got back to work in just about an hour.  We think that national health care stuff sounds pretty darned good!

Many hugs to Liz and her family, and many thoughts for MIL and her husband.  xoxoxo

The Disgusting Creature Feature of the Week is:  Ticks!   Ewwww!  Ick!  Yuck!   We wish Liz's friend a swift and full recovery from  a tick-borne ailment.  ~~shudder~~ 

The Cluestick Posse will pay a return visit to Downstairs Girl, who thinks pounding around looking for her mail at 11 p.m., after she moved out, is neighborly or something.

Thanks for playing!  See you next week, when the fabulous Sue will host!

Midsummer Time

How in the world is it mid-July already?  In my opinion, July is the sneakiest month, the month when days are long, but time is strangest.  One person might be having a grand vacation that should last forever; the next person is wondering where the last 2 months went and how to move forward on the Work Albatross; another is missing someone; and yet Mama is counting the days until school starts again, already.  And so on.  Time moves so differently, depending. 

AW:  Think I'm ready to really tackle the current work albatross again!

AW:  Daughter is making a quilt!  And sending reams of job applications!

What's going on for you?

Colorful Awards!

My my my, what a week.

Today's ceremony begins with the Cluestick Posse visiting the esteemed members of the Texas Legislature, on accounta the gentlemen are a bunch of strutting, posturing, bullying, scaredy-cats.  Confiscating tampons -- just when you think you have already heard enough insanity for an entire lifetime, thankyouverymuch.  Neighbor Lady shall lead the Posse this week, since the spectacle inflicted great crotchetiness upon her, from a great distance.

Esperanza wins the Bravery in Action Medal, for living in Texas and proving that the entire state is not particularly represented by certain of its representatives. 

The Wedding Reception Death March Award goes to Sue, who sat with 200 others in a tent, in the rain, without food, for hours -- while the happy couple yukked it up indoors.  Ms. Manners does not approve.

Queen of West Procrastination wins the Housing Lottery, scoring excellent places to move, both interim and long term!  This award comes with a complimentary frying pan, so you need never talk to Downstairs Girl ever again.  And, we also crown her Queen of the Positive Attitude!

The Julia Child Award goes to JenR, who either made jam or peach sauce, but either way, yum!

Miranda wins the Awesome Job Change Award -- great job, good boss, lots of working from home, no more Albatross -- win win win win win!

Our own Doorbell Queen, Liz, wins the  Campaigning With Style Award, for an excellent presentation.  The Posse shall visit certain supporters of the opposition candidate, who are not exactly covering themselves in glory.

The bark was brought by Esperanza this week, and she therefore wins the Automotive Cleanliness Award for removing all traces of the disaster from Daddy's upholstery.  Henceforth, there will be no fiddling with the heat knobs in the back seat by Baboos. 

Neighbor Lady wins the Workout Award, for discovering that Neighbor Boy is an excellent walking coach!

Thanks for playing!  See you next week!

Party-colored foods! Go!

Well, my favorite party-colored food is pasta salad, with tri-color rotini, olives, corn, edamame, maybe some atichoke hearts, green onions, kidney beans, garbanzo beans, bits of colorful bell pepper, perhaps some fresh mozzarella chunks and what-have-you, with a light dressing.  And maybe I'll make that again tomorrow.

But tonight is dedicated to a festive potato roast:  white, red, little purple ones from the garden, sweet potato, all cut up and complimented by white and red onion bits, garlic, sliced mushrooms, some red yellow orange mini bell peppers, olive oil and seasoning.

What party-colored foods are on your menu?

Any and all whines and anti-whines also welcome.  ;)

~~~~~~~~~
BOOK CLUB: July 10, 2013 - Les Miserables [2012 movie version]. This was PK's suggestion -- with the movie modification because such a long book seemed too much to ask.

Feel free to join in if you saw this, or read the book!

Awards! Now with Fireworks!

Ka-Boom! Cluesticks to the heat. Moderation, universe, moderation. Good job on Sue's weather, but the rest of us are hot.

Ka-Boom! kathy a gets the Old Skool award for the perennial classic, zits. Sue gets an honorable mention for same.

Ka-Boom! QWP gets all kinds of awards for camping with baby and lots of other babies and dirty diapers and uncomfortable mattresses and kids who won't sleep. You are making me glad I forewent an opportunity to take the Baboos to church camp for a week this summer.

Hugs to Sue's dad and everyone that loves him. Hoping for a quick recovery. Hugs also to kathy a and Miranda, and anyone else dealing with a family member's mental illness. Hugs to Muffin Man, on the loss of his gerbil.

Congrats to kathy a's beloved, on his promotion. Hopefully there's a celebration in the near future!

And...Ka-Boom! to everyone, in the spirit of Miranda's Girls Night Out. Let's dance and be silly.

More whining this week!

Poor Little Plastic Car

The Baboos and I just returned from a trip to the grandparents' house (hence the whining silence last week--plenty to whine about, just no computer handy).

On the way home, I ran over a large piece of tire, which beat up the front and underside of my poor little plastic car (a T0y0t@ Pr1us). Mini and I had small emotional breakdowns, but Sweet was a rock. Rolled with the punches. Extremely nice service manager at a Chrysl3r dealership pulled off the broken plastic pieces for free and made sure it was ok to keep driving. Seriously. For free. While we ate lunch. Back on the road within an hour.

Hopefully no car disasters have befallen the other pixies, but I'm sure you have whines. Let's hear 'em.