Back at it

Oh, I mean... "my back is at it again"... I have back problems, no way of getting around it. I can go months with no major problem at all and then BAM! I get hit and hit hard. Yesterday was the beginning of a "hit hard" period, I guess. I actually had to ask my daughter to see if Mr. B's other babysitter could stand in for me today (she did - yay!). My problem is the result of a fall off a horse when I was 10 years old. I broke a vertebrae but - oh don't you just love a kid's way of thinking - told no one because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to ride the horse anymore. So, of course, as I'm getting older... the back problem rears it's ugly head more and more often. The doctor explained that the vertebrae healed incorrectly and causes problems with the nerves which go into my hips. So every now and then I get an inflammation in my hip. I'll be fine - it will go away after a few days of taking it easy, heating pads and ice, and some anti-inflammatory meds. But meanwhile... I'm SO excited that SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE is coming back on - May 21st! I'm also an American Idol fan, but SYTYCD is my all-time favorite TV show. AMERICAN IDOL - I don't want Adam to win, though he's obviously the most talented. Why? Because his career is already a given. I'd like to see Danny or Kris win. I'm sure Alison or Kris will go home tonight. How talented are these kids??! HELL'S KITCHEN - If you watch this show (which we do), be sure and also watch GORDON RAMSEY'S F WORD on BBC so you can see what a fun, happy, very loving dad the guy is vs. the hardcore, f-word flinging, larger-than-life demonic guy you see on HK. SURVIVOR - Will they EVER smarten up and get rid of Coach? My goodness. He'd have been my first vote! And have you googled him yet? Yes, he actually HAS done all those things he keeps talking about. He actually holds the world's record for ?kayaking? for something like 6,900 miles and HAS been attacked by pirannha! LOL I thought he was making it all up. JT is my choice for winner - but the nice guys never win on this show, do they? The funniest show on television - THE BIG BANG THEORY (Monday nights). We DVR this and never erase the episodes because they are SO funny and worth watching again and again. I peed my pants when Sheldon drank coffee for the first time. I hope this show is around for a long time! We never buy DVD's, but bought the first year's episodes (just so we could have more room on the DVR!) and have the 2nd year on pre-order on Amazon. NASCAR - Any NASCAR fans out there? I love what Darryl Waltrip said about Kyle Busch - "They want him to win like Richard Petty, drive aggressively like Dale Earnhardt, and be nice like Mark Martin." It took me years to find a new favorite driver after Dale's untimely death, but Kyle Busch is it. THINGS I'M LIKING RIGHT NOW ALONG LIFE'S HIGHWAY blog. Too funny. Stuff you see in people's yards. YES, two of my photos made it in -- they are the homemade lawn airplanes. Funny site and fun game to play! - Pomegranate tea. If you're a tea drinker, find some. A bit reminiscent of a raspberry flavored tea, but different. (Oh, that's a great description - not!) It's going to make a great iced tea this summer! Jodi Picoult's newest book Handle with Care. Wow wow and more wow. Story of a family with a disabled child and the ripple affect of a court case. One of the best surprise endings I've read in a book -- and by "best" I mean - you really don't see it coming until you're in the middle of it. Unabridged Audio Book - THE AMERICAN WIFE by Curtis Sittenfeld - read by Kimberly Farr. The story is great and the reader does it justice. What more can you want in an audio book? AND ONE LAST THING... OK, so what if I told you there was something you could do the next time you go grocery shopping that will help the economy? Ready for this? GO BUY PORK, PEOPLE! The pork farmers are suffering terribly because of this SWINE FLU frenzy and because people are scared to buy pork. The SWINE FLU DOES NOT COME FROM PORK!! So go help the pork farmers and have pork chops for dinner this week! It's that easy...

Yard Sale Finds

Jeff and I spent Saturday hitting our first yard sales of the year. Of course, we had some great "finds"! Look at this! It's a Police Car peddle car for Mr. B! This little gem is in absolutely new condition, and has a full metal body and rubber tires and a steering wheel that steers! $15.00! Next, I found these sweet pictures for my kitchen. The colors are perfect as well as the tomato and onion theme. They are in a nice black wooden frame. $2 for the set of two. Mr. B's Uncle Jeff plays guitar. To date, Mr. B only plays "air guitar" but he does it with great enthusiasm! A few weeks ago we were at the local flea market, and a boy about 11 or 12 was playing the guitar and we stopped to watch. Mr. B didn't want to leave. I priced small "real" guitars for children, and they've been too pricey. So when I saw this one at a church rummage sale for just $1, I grabbed it. It was covered in awful Garbage Pail Kids stickers -- some WD40, a credit card as a scraper, and a lot of elbow grease got all the stickers off. It's a beauty! I did see many, many sewing machines at yard sales, priced from $40 to $200, and all seemed over-priced to me. NOT that I need another sewing machine! But I do always check them out. If anyone on a tight budget is looking for a sewing machine, I'd definitely recommend yard sale shopping. The SWINE FLU has hit our area - 6 reported cases in our part of the state. I'm trying not to worry. Mr. B and I are both so prone to respiratory problems that I worry about either of us catching this flu. I'm probably being an over-bearing mother, but I did just send my daughter the news about the newly reported flu cases here. Daycare is such a germ-ridden atmosphere. I suggested she start carrying hand-sanitizer with her and make sure he uses it whenever they are out in public. I know that's what I'm doing. I'm not in a panic about it, but I am concerned enough to stay aware -- as I hope everyone is!

THAT had to hurt…

Every time I look back at the latest trip to the “vacation house” with Mr. B, I am going to think of those words. No, no one got hurt. However, I give you fair warning – never, ever watch “America’s Funniest Videos” with my grandson. You will watch one video, and he will then pipe in with, “THAT had to hurt! I think that HAD to hurt! Do you think that hurt, Umma? I think that had to hurt. Umpa, do you think that hurt? I think that really had to hurt.” By then, the next four videos have played (of course, those are the cute ones of kittens playing and dogs chasing their tails – not the ones of the guy getting whacked in his ganochies with a baseball bat) and Mr. B misses them all. Then his attention returns to the show and he watches about four seconds of the next video. “THAT had to hurt. I think that really HAD to hurt! Do you think that hurt, Umma?……”

Aside from two hours of “America’s Funniest Videos,” we had a wonderful vacation. We are just in love with this little town in the Hocking Hills area of Ohio. On our first morning we drove to a nearby town that, in the summer, has a scenic railroad tour – a trip we took with Mr. B last summer and thoroughly enjoyed. YES, we knew the train was not running yet, but we took the trip anyway. Mr. B was not disappointed in the least when we told him that he couldn’t ride the train.  He just wanted to see, touch and feel the train, which he did to his heart’s content! The photo above shows Mr. B “driving” the train (although he was quick to point out to me that he wasn’t driving the TRAIN, he was just using the steering wheel on that one car.)

After a back-roads adventure (Men! Why is it they prefer driving on and bouncing over dirt roads when there are perfectly good highways going in the same direction?!), we had a chance encounter with a water tower. Again, it must be a man-thang because my son had the exact same reaction to water towers 25 years ago that Mr. B. has now – pure, unadulterated joy and excitement at even a glimpse of a water tower. We had to turn around near the water tower, so I asked Mr. B if he would like to get out and TOUCH the water tower. Oh my. This is pure joy on this little boy’s face as he touches the water tower.

Next, we headed to a place where we could “mine gems”. It was so perfect for Mr. B. For $5 you purchased a bag of “dirt” and brought it to the wooden trough water system, put your dirt in the screen box and shook to see if you had any “gems”. Of course, every bag has some gems, so Mr. B was quite thrilled at his “finds” and clutched his bag of rocks all the way back to the lake house.

The next day we were lucky enough to find The World’s Best Playground. That’s not it’s actual name, but it should be! This gem was tucked away on the side streets of the town. I could not fit the entire playground into the frame of one photo! Can a 3 year old spend several hours here? You bet!  And will he be SO exhausted by the time we leave that he’ll fall asleep instantly when we get back to the house? Well, no – but we were hoping.

Aside from train driving, gem mining, back roading and playground fun, the activity du jour for Mr. B was throwing rocks at anything. Spider webs were of particular interest (will the rocks stick to the web?), but bouncing rocks off the fence, the tree, the deck and other rocks were of equal fun. He would quite literally do it for 30 to 45 minutes at a time, several times a day. Rocks rock!

 

 

No, Jeff and I didn’t really get all that much time to rest and relax. Jeff is home from work for the rest of the week and we figure we’ll have plenty of time to recover from the trip relax in the next few days. We had a GREAT time with our grandson, we gave our daughter a very nice break, and just look at this face?! How could you not love spending every minute with this guy?!