Feelin' Better Friday Fragments

I woke up this morning with a headache and stuffed up sinuses. I immediately realized what the problem was. I haven't participated in Friday Fragments in a while. All of the random thoughts must be backed up in my brain. No wonder I am not feeling 100% today! Please join me in thanking Mrs. 4444 for encouraging us to take all of those little bits and pieces of thoughts and assembling them into one post. Join in the fun and you will feel better too!

This has been an eventful week in our household. On Tuesday, my boy-o returned home from a trip to Germany, Switzerland and Austria. He and ten other classmates and five brave adults were gone for 8 days. He had a great time. We got a few facebook messages from him while he was gone which was a nice surprise.

On Thursday, boy-o celebrated his sixteenth birthday. Where has the time gone? Birthdays are not nearly as much fun as they used to be, however. I loved the days of birthday parties and the gifts that made him so excited (Red Sox tickets or a Gameboy). All he wanted was money this year and the birthday party went by the wayside a couple of years ago. Part of me would love to go back to the when he was younger. However, my cousin summed it up when she said that she misses her kids when they were younger but she wouldn't go back because there were some young adults that she would miss way too much. I feel the same way.

As of 4:30 pm, I am officially on vacation for a week. For the first time in several years, we are doing a staycation. We already had a nice cruise vacation so this time we are staying close by and doing some day trips. Even though we lived in Maine (AKA Vacationland), most of our day trips are planned for out of state. How ironic is that? Revised - my boss just told us that we are closing early today. The vacation begins at 3:00 pm!

My son got a package in the mail yesterday from a friend of his. They had a disagreement a short while ago and she wanted to apologize. She went out and bought a children's book called "Do you want to be my friend?" and made a few minor modifications. For example, she amended the back of the book where it said from ages 3 to 6 so it read from 3 to 16 and she circled the name of another book by the same author called "The Secret Birthday Message". Finally, she wrote a message on a blank page to ask forgiveness. She got his mailing address somehow and make sure that it would arrive on his birhtday. What a classy young lady and what a cool way to apologize.

That is is for today, folks. Happy Independence Day to my American readers! May sure you go check out Mrs. 4444 and the rest of the folks clearing out brain clutter today.

Twofer Tuesday is suspended for this week

Twofer Tuesday is suspended for this week because...... (drum roll please)
I won another award!! Yeah for me!! Thanks to the academy and all the little people.... Wait, it isn't that award? That's right, its a happy award and that makes me pretty darn happy! The kind (and crazy) Annie D is the one who gave me this honor. Make sure you check out her blog because she always makes me smile!


The rules for me accepting this award are:

1. Copy and paste the award on your blog.

2. List who gave the award to you and use a link to her blog (or hyperlink).

3. List 10 things that make you happy.

4. Pass the award on to other bloggers and visit their blog to let them know!

I am passing this award on to:

1) Melissa

2) Angie

3) Debbie

4) Nichole

and

5) The reason Girls' Nights Out make me happy, Mary Ellen




10 Things that make me happy:

1. My amazing boys, both of them (yes, husband does usually make me happy)

2. My dog when she put her head on me and looks at me like I am her favorite

3. Vacations (my next one starts on Saturday!)

4. Humpty Dumpty BBQ potato chips. That is my "OMG, I have had a bad day!" food. If you see me with those AND peanut M & Ms, you may want to leave the premises. Just sayin', Don't say I didn't warn you.

5. When my evil co-worker is on vacation. 'Nuff said.

6. Girls' Night Out

7. Sincere compliments

8. My kindle

9. Karate Class

10. New comments and new followers on my blog!

Here's to Annie D!

Have a great Tuesday.

I need books, books and more books....

Those of you who follow this blog may remember a previous post about "the-best-Christmas-gift-ever" also known as my Kindle. I LOVE to read. You also know (and are probably sick of hearing about) that I am going on vacation in 11 days (not that I am counting). When I go on vacation, I usually read multiple books. I am very excited to take my Kindle with me this year instead of a bag bulging at the seams with books.

So, ladies and gents of blogdom, I am looking for recommendations of good books to read. I will be on vacation so I am looking for books on the lighter side as I don't want to think too much. I have gotten a couple of book recommendations already from reading blogs (thanks, Hallie, for the last one!) and I just know that you all have lots of ideas to share.



Here's to reading!

Mostly Wordless Wednesday

The awesome Sara over at http://www.ordinaryandawesome.com/ hosts Mostly Wordless Wednesday where participants post a photo with a brief explanation. Check out all the other great photos. The bloggie world really has some talented photographers!

I chose the above photo simply because it makes me smile and it makes me remember a wonderful family vacation.

School's out for the summer....

My son has one final today and then is officially on summer vacation! It is also the last week of Babe Ruth baseball. YEAH! That means, in concept anyway, more free time for all of us. We will see if that ends up being the reality.

Summer vacation benefits me because I can sleep in a little later since I won't have to drive him to school. Usually the boy scout troop takes the summer off but some idiot recommended that we have a summer program and planned activities all summer long. Yup, you guessed it - that idiot was me! Actually, I think that the summer activities will be fun as we are doing everything from a tidal pool exploration to a history walk to a trip to an IMax theater to see Harry Potter.

My son does have some exciting things happening this summer. He is (gulp) turning 15, taking drivers ed and starting his first job. He will be bussing tables and washing dishes at a local restaurant just down the street (no need for Mom to transport him to work!). He is also going to band camp for a week (you can save the "one time at band camp" jokes - I have heard them all) and we are going on a family cruise.

I remember the last day of school back when I was a kid. We got out much earlier in June and always tried to go swimming on that last day because it was a half day. A short distance from my house was a saw mill that had a pond and a small stream. I remember going down there swimming with my best friend Betty-Lu. Sometimes, we took the younger neighborhood kids with us. No grown-ups anywhere nearby and two girls under 12 "in charge". Hard to believe that 1) nothing bad ever happened and 2) no one thought anything of letting us go swimming by ourselves. Summer vacation seemed to last FOREVER because it basically meant we were hanging out in our small town. No summer camps or activities were even offered. Our big family vacation was camping for a week with another family and we were one of the few families in our town to even take a vacation. Times were certainly different back then. I do think that it was nice to have some real "down time" where we weren't on a schedule and we didn't have obligations. Nowadays, kids are almost overbooked. My son just told me this morning that he has to write 2 papers over summer vacation in addition to doing the summer reading. He wasn't impressed by that and I can't say as I blame him. He is also going to review the outline in a computer applications course in hopes that he can test out next fall. He was selected for the School's WorldQuest Competition team so he will probably be studying for that competition over the summer also. Whew. It makes my brain tired to think about all that.

Here's to summer vacations.

Following the Crowd - Friday Fragments

I am still learning this blogging stuff but one great idea that I am following along with is Mrs. 4444's Friday Fragments. You can see the original Friday Fragmenter over at http://www.halfpastkissintime.com. Her post is always one of the highlights of my Fridays.

I had my second "me" event of the week last night. A dinner out and a play with a girlfriend. We have season tickets and have been going to these plays on and off for the past 14 years. Portsmouth NH is a great little city when it comes to the arts. If you are ever in the area, I suggest that you check out the Seacoast Rep. Usually, the dinner out is secondary to the fun time my friend and I have catching up. Last night, however, the meal was outstanding. We both had Steak Pizzaiola and it was one of the best meals I have had in a long long time. We both wanted to lick our plates it was so good. Luckily for the rest of the restaurant -goers, we managed to restrain ourselves. So, if you are in Portsmouth and do check out the Seacoast Rep, consider trying Rosa's Restaurant before or after the show.

My 14 year old son read my blog and took offense at my comment that sometimes he is 14 going on 4. I tried to explain poetic license and all that. He didn't buy it. You will note that I didn't change it. He wasn't horrified by the rest of it which is surprising

My son is taking finals and is down to two more days of school. His freshman year is almost over. How could a student who was spot on the rest of the school year be so forgetful this last week? I was a proud mama a few days ago when he came home with two academic awards - including one for academic excellence in Pre-Calculus. Not bad for a freshman in a class of juniors and seniors! He just gave us information about a program where he would spend his senior year away at Clarkson University in New York. I am sure he will be ready to go away to school then. I am just not sure I will be ready to let him go!

Another rainy day in Maine. I am so tired of this. I am participating in the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life tonight and tomorrow. I hope the rain lessens up for that. In a moment of insanity, I signed up for the 6:00-8:00 am shift tomorrow morning. I have to drive 45 minutes to get there too! I am soooo not a morning person. What was I thinking?

The next time you are watching a Cialis ad check out the chemical name. The first 4 letter are TADA. I think that should have been the name of the drug. Just think of the ad possibilities!


63 days until vacation - not that I am counting.

Here's to a great Friday!