I wish, FCM, I wish…
Need to change and start my work out, but am not feeling overly motivated.
Ok, my childhood. I grew up in a well off suburb of Chicago, but the part I was in was just being developed. We were one of the first houses on the street. There were enough neighborhood kids to make summers fun–but Margaret and I were the youngest. We played in the vacant lots-Keep Away, “touch” football, kites, a bastard version of Capture the Flag-- and in Eddie Irons “backyard” which was actually a few acres of middle growth oak forest(and which now belongs to the local Park District). We had a blast in there, climbing trees, digging underground forts etc. A creek went through my backyard. In spring, it would flood and bring stuff downstream: an abandoned canoe (not seaworthy), various old boots and once, an entire utility pole that got wedged at the bend in our yard. That summer, we hung out on on that utility pole: Robin Hood, fishing for minnows, even Christopher Robin’s stick game, talking about everything and nothing. The village came in August and took it away. Bastards. :mad: We played in the houses under construction: there are many houses on that street that I know the floor plans to quite well, despite never having been inside them as a guest.
Margaret and I ice skated on the creek in winter, sitting on the snowbanks on 12/23, The Eve of the Eve, telling what we hoped for from Santa. My dad put in lights on the banks so we could skate at night–truly magical. Plenty of other kids skated on “my creek”: Wayne, Tim, Dwight, Carter (my brother), Ed,Barb, Lisa, Greg, Annie, Jimmy etc. We had a fairly steep hill going down to the creek and the older boys (Dwight, Carter, Eddie etc) built up a ramp of ice and sledded down the hill, hit the ramp and plunged onto the frozen creek–all at night. God, we had fun. We also used to ice skate up to one of the golf courses (only with the older kids). There was an old man, with a HUGE white dog who used to shoot BBs at us as we passed his house. He would yell and swear at us for being on his property. But we weren’t–we were on the frozen water ABOVE his land. 
He was a jerk.
At Margaret’s house,we tied firecrackers to Eddie’s GI Joe (and Barb’s Barbie–or was it Midge?) and threw them off the roof of the garage (yes, we climbed out onto the roof often). GI Joe’s parachute did NOT deploy, but he survived his IED. IMS, Midge was not so lucky.
There was a bridge near my house that we liked to play under as well. There was a snapping turtle that scared us, but also tossed away goldfish who had survived in the creek, minnows and occasionally, frogs. We waded and rowed the flat bottomed boat my family owned. In summer, the creek would partially dry up so we had to tow it, while walking in the water.
In many ways, it was a country childhood in the midst of the suburbs. I rode my bike everywhere; going up to the local mom n’ pop grocery store for candy was a huge deal. . We played Kick the Can, Ghost in the Graveyard, Hide and Seek etc. (and Truth or Dare and Spin the Bottle). There were 2 girls my age: Margaret, who was cool and Susie, who was not. Susie was an only child and spoiled, spoiled, spoiled. Lil Miss Priss. We played with her, but she was so girly. Margaret and I were tomboys. Susie was afraid the tree bark would scratch her thighs or ruin her jeans etc. So we played board games with her: Chutes and Ladders, Clue, Parcheesi. Her mother was very overprotective and a PITA. Once, we three found a dead dog in the creek down by Susie’s house. We couldn’t figure it out, though–we knew the dog was dead, but it had no fur at all. A mighty puzzle for 8 year olds. (of course now I know that dog was in a state of decay; but at the time, we thought maybe someone had skinned him or he was a hairless dog!).
I could go on and on. I had a wonderful childhood, despite a messy divorce and illness in the family. Was a miserable teen, though.
Aren’t most teens miserable? I know I was. 
Dear God, please let this week pass quickly. Weather sucks and too much work to do. Grumble.
I can’t recall any real adventurous outings. Except for one where I got us all in trouble! I must have been in 6th grade and “in charge” of my 4 younger brothers. We saw smoke from what we thought had to be a huge fire and decided to try to find it.
I guess I must have put the two youngest into the radio flyer wagon and the older boys and I took turns pulling them as we trekked off in search of the fire. Only it wasn’t a near as it seemed! It was way down on the docks and we never actually reached the scene, as I determined it was too far and we’d probably get in trouble.
And oh boy, did we ever, especially me! :eek: Our parents, who caught up with us on the way home, told us that they had been planning to take us to ride on the Strassburg (sp?) railway but now that wasn’t gonna happen. So we all got punished and never did get to the railway. LOL
The two brothers closest to me in age, though, used to ride bikes with me in the summers; we’d follow the local high school band around when they did their summer practices. We never really ventured very far, though.
Four day work week this week - I’ve got a bone density scan on Friday and I’m also going to stop at the lab and have blood drawn first thing in the AM. Then it’s a holiday on Monday, so wooo!!!
Try an hour and a half. That’s what I did today. Ah well, I’ll use it Friday. Or maybe tomorrow. Tomorrow is our wonderful son’s 12th birthday. Presents are bought, cake is ordered, and he wants to go to Wendy’s for dinner.
Man, I was lazy today.
Pirate Faire was this weekend, which was fun. It was a little cold and rather windy, but not so much as to destroy anything. Didn’t really do much - that’s half the fun. Was queen of the pillow pile and there will probably be pictures up on facebook within a few days. I was really tired Saturday. Haven’t emptied the car yet.
Tomorrow is going to pretty much be taijitsu all day - lesson at noon, private lesson at 4:30, then another lesson at 5, I think.
So. SLEEPY!
Trying to develop homework questions for Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. At least it’s a book that I like.
Morning all! It’s so much cooler here today, no sunscreen required! Last night I was busy - got home, fed the cats, changed the bedding, put laundry on, made syllabub, folded dry stuff ready for ironing, chopped veg, cooked dinner and watched the last part of Lost. I liked the ending, it was dealt with quite nicely but there are still so many unanswered questions. Still, it’s over now and I don’t have to waste any more time on it.
Tonight it’s taster night at Fat Club, I have made rhubarb and ginger puds and some lemon syllabub (mix fromage frais, quark, vanilla yogurt, vanilla extract, lemon zest and sweetener together, put in ramekins, chill in fridge) which I’ll garnish with more grated lemon zest before I leave home tonight. My friend is making cheesecake from a recipe I gave her that turned out quite nice when I made it, she is trying to out-lemon me though, so I think hers will be even better!
Get well soon, BusDude!
Hi.
Alive.
Busy.
On an a-social bender of sorts, I guess… :o
Did not read.
Nothing much to write, either.
Yeah, I’ve had days like that. The main reason I’m whining, tho, is I’m still on the stoopit hours - 10-6, so getting out at 6:30 has me home after 7 which pretty much kills my evening. We ate assorted leftovers because I wasn’t in a mood to cook (would it have killed one of them to heat something up?? :mad: )
No biggie. Only 2 more days of this stoopit schedule. And today is especially stoopit. Our turnover brief, from shift A to shift B, has been at noon. But today, some bigshot retired general is coming in to speak at noon, so we have to do our thing at 1115, which means B shift will effectively run longer. whine whine whine…
In less whiney news, I’ve got a load of dishes washing. **FCD **is on his way to work and daughter should be dragging her carcass out of bed shortly. I need to shower and dress slightly more professionally in case the aforementioned General happens to see me in the hallway heading to the bathroom… or something. I don’t think they can bring him into our spaces - I don’t think retired generals get to keep their security clearances. Anyway, I need to iron something for work. rah.
I should probably water my houseplants, too. Man, sometimes it’s rough to be me…
Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffienatin’. It promises to be a not as not day again today. That means low 90s as opposed to mid 90s.
Guess I should feed rumbly tummy as it’s growlin’ at me.
Happy Tuesday Y’all!
I have a headache and a half. I stayed at a friend’s house last night and it was garbage night :rolleyes: and now someone is already mowing their yard. :dubious:
Sorry, FCM - nope. At least not here. Firdays are about 3 weeks apart in these parts, sadly.
Nope, not Firday here either. I sure wish it was cause my <snerk>butt<snerk> is dragging this morning. Okay, it was really stupid to stay up and watch the season finale of Chuck. I can’t help it. S’a funny show.
Anyhoo, back to Firday. I gets to leave at 1:00 pm and and will either go shopping or get my hairs cut with the extra time. Probably my hairs cut cause I’m starting to resemble an Old English Sheepdog.
That’s all I got.
Tupug
Cross your fingers for ReboSon. He’s due in court at 8:30 this morning. My brother, an officer in the Navy, wrote a very nice letter of recommendation for him to give to the judge (as well as to the recruiter) so maybe the judge will let him off so he can join the service.
It looks like a slow work day ahead of me. Can you say boring? I’m looking forward to the 3-day weekend, too. C’mon, Firday!
Yup, understood. For me, the stoopit hours are 3:30-midnight. I hate second shift. Thankfully, my call center is only open M-F, 7am-7pm. I come in at 7am, and normally work until 3:30pm. But yesterday, I cut out for two hours for the awards program: subtracting my normal half hour lunch, I would get off at 5pm. I clocked out at 6:30pm. :eek:
Today’s a really good day so far: it’s our son’s 12th birthday. So hubby and I went shopping last night for presents. Blueberry ice cream custard cake is on order, and will be picked up after noon. And I’m making a huge sacrifice and taking him to Wendy’s for dinner. He loves Wendy’s. The good news: since I worked late last night, I can take off early today: so I’ll have more time with my wonderful son.
Speaking of sons, multiple appendages crossed for ReboSon!
Blurf. Brekkified and caffeinated. I got more sleep last night than Sunday night, when I stayed up for the end of Lost, but still not enough to suit me.
Rebo, if you’re settling for only a 3 day weekend, you’re doing it wrong.
Since I never addressed the OP yesterday, I’ll give it a drive-by mention now. My childhood was another one filled with bicycles, BB guns, parental divorce, and city kids spending time on grandparent’s farm. Actually, both sets of grandparents were farmers, but by the time I came around, my dad’s side gave up farming, and grandpa was an electrician bent on retirement.
My sister and I grew up with cousins from both sides that were almost siblings, and those bonds remain to this day. How we collectively survived childhood with only stitches and one cousin’s broken arm, I’ll never know; the societal bedwetters now would have a fit how we ran amok back then.
Rebo appropriate/inappropriate appendages crossed.
It’s cloudy out. Now if that would only mean rain cause we need rain.
Ima fire up the grill today and grill some poke chops for tonight, some chicken strips for tomorrow and some ham steaks for another night’s dindin. It’s eat off the grill week at da cave! Plus, I like to grill. 
Swampy killed the thread! Swampy killed the thread!!
Let it die again! BWAAAAAHAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAHAAAA!!!