This Thing Wanted To Eat Me...

Yesterday started out great, nice and overcast and perfect weather for tackling all the plants, weeds, devil-grass, vines, iceplant (and look, a kitten!) that has overtaken my yards. Drug out the whole arsenal of tools for the job: gloves, spades, full-size shovel, sunglasses.

I fully expected to run across my share of spiders, bugs, pincher bugs, rolly-pollies and the like. I was vigilant, cause I know there are black widows that inhabit the yard around me - know where they hang out, even. Seen 'em in the past, we eye each other warily, and go our separate ways.


See? Look...how pretty. Still only about 1/4 done, but hey, I can live with this for now.

So, the sun came out and started wiping me out. I came inside to take a break and chug some ice tea, sat down to check my email and play a mind-numbing game of solitaire while my back throbbed and my head felt dizzy.

Out of the corner of my eye, this THING crawled up from the back of my monitor and on to the top - right in my line of sight. This wasn't your ordinary house spider, the kind you blow away and move on with your business. NO! It was BLACK and FURRY and flippin' HUGE!! I swear to you that this was a tarantula. After picking myself up off the floor, I grabbed my camera and took a picture cause I knew NO ONE would believe me.
Had to go get all the boys to take a look and gawk and stare, while staying in the living room with my toes all curled. These guys? Yeah, no help at all...

Question now is: how many more are living in my office waiting to show up somewhere else?

April 25

Aaaah, what a nice refreshing, relaxing weekend. One that only involved cleaning one house. Granted, it was a house that hadn't been cleaned for two weeks, had no food in the cupboards, and had a fresh car-load of stuff dumped into it, but still... Yesterday I spent the day vacumming, cleaning upholstery in the car, folding piles and piles of clothes, moving the crap from the office to the other hiding spaces in the house, and paying bills.

I did go through two boxes of school and scouts stuff - things I pretty much forgot about, cause that's what you do immediately after turning them into the teacher. Things like MY ABC BOOK, a pile of character trait reports, ooodles of term papers and reports (that my kids never do!), art projects, and the like. I'm telling ya, mom saved EVERYTHING. Most stuff was junk, some things were classic, some made me laugh out loud.

Sample character trait report:
"At school this week, I showed Sincerity ... when somebody on the other team struck out and I didn't laugh at them." Wonder if I laughed at anyone on my own team when they struck out?!?


Earlier this week, when the boys were on spring break, Kevin and Thomas made a trek to the Vans SkatePark. They prefer to ride their bikes instead of their skateboards, but it seems a large portion of the time they just seem to hang out looking cool. Right next to the other kids who had to have their moms drive them there, too.

Weather last week was a blazing 100+ degrees for a couple days, then dropped 30+ degrees by Friday. Since that weather pattern causes earthquakes, Thursday night we had a lovely swarm of three to roll around with. Today was a little warmer, lots sunnier. The group of us Cub Scouts went out to the nature center, hiking around with all the mannerisms and the noise level of little boys. We barged right past the Girl Scouts who were quietly listening to the tour guide... yeah, that didn't work for us.... especially since the boys' homemade trail mix consisted of such goodies as cocoa puffs, marshmallows, peanuts, and M&Ms. They loved it, and asked when we were going to go back.

Easter Weekend

After the requisite amount of time was put in on such mundane tasks as house cleaning, email, bill avoidance, watering the yards, and grocery shopping, I threw the two youngest in the car while they whined and moaned about it. God forbid we waste another minute inside staring at electronic devices; we went to take a drive and a hike.

In a couple weeks Matt's cub scout den is going hiking at Oak Canyon Nature Center in Anaheim Hills. We took a reconnisance mission to scope out the place and see what was out there. (Fortunately, there are plenty of trails and things to see, and I think Matt will want to return!) The boys climbed all around, running off the trails to see what they could see, while I was looking out for things like poison oak and rattlesnakes - either of which would not make my day.

I never get to be in the shot - !

Spent Easter afternoon at Cindy's house, where we had beef brisket (aka "Jewish food"), Marcie's potatos, asparagus, deviled eggs, and angel food cake with strawberries. Oh yeah, and lots of candy from the Easter egg hunt.

The boys were goofy even before they had any sugar:

Good thing that Matt is so cute - he committed a major faux pas today regarding the Marcies. We were sitting around watching a movie, everyone feeling "me so fat..." and all, but not stopping picking at food. (You know, you've all done it.) Matt asks me if he can have some more of those "flaky things".

Huh?

Matt, if you are a member of this family, you better learn the name of the potatoes that show up at every holiday meal. And then you better learn the family joke to keep your fiance away from them. We only eat them so we don't hurt anyone's feelings.

Lotsa Scouting Stuff

Been doing lots of things with both groups of Scouts lately, now with better weather around, we have been hitting the great outdoors.

The little guys all got together and learned about woodworking tools - hammers, nails, screws; differences in pine and oak (yeah, like you can't easily put a screw in oak); and using a saw and sandpaper. Somehow they put them all together to make their own little project - and they were all in hog heaven.

A few dozen bent nails later, we ended up with some toolboxes for the kids to put their tools in. Or their Star Wars figures, they're multi-purpose kinda boxes, you know.Kevin's troop has been practicing their skills for Camporee, namely the dinner competition they will be in. The last few weeks they have been making a "feast of frugality" at their scout meetings, all working in that maddeningly slow teenager-manner. Dinners have been started at 6pm and been eaten at 9pm. Or later.

Last weekend they had a campout, and I got roped in by two other moms to come help for the weekend. We got up at o'dark hundred and cooked breakfast for the boys...right after we washed their cooking pots and pans they had... we didn't want to start off with leftovers from last month's campout. We cooked and cleaned up from lunch, and then stuck around while they cooked their "feast" one more time. It's gotten a little faster, and some things tasted a little better (but some not as good!). After dinner, we left for the comfort of our own beds for the night and let them clean up. Next morning we came back for a second breakfast - again cleaning up the leftover yuckies (and there were some doozy yuckies!!) before cooking. My hands were significantly prun-y by the end of the weekend, but I had fun hanging out with Kevin.

Tonight was the Pack's Blue & Gold, which happened to be the 50th anniversary. Lots of planning and work went into the dinner and evening's program, and we are soo glad it's over! We had a 50's theme, complete with music, decor, and photos from throughout the years. Dinner was hamburgers and hot dogs served on red checked plates with root beer floats for dessert. The picture below was taken right before the program started, and one of the moms went out and had copies printed up and framed to be given to the leaders later that night as a thank you. Wow - this digital picture thing is cool!

Field Trip

Yesterday Matt and the Cub Scouts went to the Whitaker-Jayne houses run by the BP Historical Society. We talked about what life was like in the 1800's in this area, and got to see many period items like sewing machines, meat grinders, pot-bellied stoves, and one scary lady sitting in a rocking chair.
We had a great conversation with Dean Dixon, the curator. Now I have to go see how much BP history I have around my house that I can share.