WHY DO I INSIST ON TAKING PICTURES AT LAGOON?

I mean seriously; obviously I am a horrible photographer and besides, what makes me think that I have a snowball's chance of catching some of these moving shots? Geez! All in all, in was a GREAT DAY! Too bad we have so few pictorial memories of it! I dare you to share your worst Lagoon photos! GO!



OKAY - SO THIS ONE IS A KEEPER.....SCARY AS IT MAY BE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DORITOES!

HEART FAILURE

Many of you know our K.T., who just turned 15 last week, is in Washington D.C. on a school trip. It goes without saying what a wonderful opportunity this is for her to be in the place that so much American History has been made. However, Wednesday was another story. Here is what happened:

Text from me: So, are you having so much fun?

Text from Katie: Heck ya! We just finished lunch - now we are headed to the Holocaust Museum

(since communication from our child has been sparse I forwarded the message on to Jim)

30 - 45 minutes later, as Jim sits down to his desk at work a CNN NEWS banner comes across the computer: Shooting at the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C.

Of course immediately he is just sick inside! Texts again, this time between Jim and Katie:

Jim: Call me now!

Katie: Not now.

(by this time he is wondering what that means....is she stuffed in a closet? Why can't she talk? What is going on?)

Jim: I need you to call me now. There has been a shooting and I need to see if you are all right.

Katie: The only shooting here is John Wilkes Boothe killing Lincoln and that is over now and is old news Dad. (ever the cynical child)

At this point he realizes that perhaps all is well.

We finally found out that night while talking with her that although they were on a strict tour schedule...... for some reason that was obviously inspired they switched the schedule at the last minute and decided to go to the Lincoln-Ford Theater first and then the Holocaust Museum. It just so happens that while Jim was texting Katie they were reenacting the shooting. Odd and bizarre timing. She had no idea what he was talking about, even though they were just across the alley from the shooting.

It is so sad that there are people out there with so much hate. This 88 year old man has been carrying this hate for many years against all blacks, Jews, etc., a classic White-Supremacist who "denies the Holocaust", etc.

There were events planned at the Holocaust Museum this week to comemmorate what would have been the 80th birthday of Anne Frank but fearing copy-cat crimes some speakers/events have been cancelled. So sad.

I am grateful that all are safe and my heart goes out to the family of the security guard who was killed in the line of duty and I am grateful that the other guards acted so quickly to protect the public and diffuse the situation quickly. It could have been so much worse.

Now that I am over my heart attack I can finally blog about this. All is well and she will be home on Saturday night! Life is short. She's getting a big hug from her parents, like it or not!

LONG LEG DILEMMA

Dandelion has beautifully LONG legs. She reminds us of a little colt. She still needs to grow into them and has not yet acquired the grace to handle them. She is still full of tumbles and stumbles due to her LONG legs, LONG feet and LONG toes. (her poor toes are constantly bleeding in the summertime!

Well, on the last day of school it was FREE DRESS DAY! Now, I have to admit that I was thankin' my lucky stars on that day that they wear uniforms because they are so opinionated about clothing right now that I would seriously lose my mind if I had to deal with it on a daily basis.

The requirement was of course that the shorts had to go to their knees. Well, Hannah's capris from last year are too tight this year and of course on her shorts are a problem - shorts that are fine on another little girl are daisy dukes on her. Buying a larger size is not an option since she is a skinny minnie. I tried to explain to her that it was okay if her shorts were not all the way to her knees; that they would understand and it would be okay (all the while hoping this was true....). However, anyone that knows her knows that she is a RULE FOLLOWER!

I was admittedly surprised when she FINALLY agreed, saying with quite a bit of spunk.......: "YEA! It is not MY FAULT THAT MY KNEES ARE IN THE WRONG PLACE!". ..... on went the shorts and out the door she went. Funny girl.

The Mean Librarian - Or Not?

Okay so a few months ago I checked out six copies of the same book for my book club, all on my card. These women are all my good friends and I trust them all explicitly. We all remember returning them to the library but of course one did not get checked in. We have all searched and searched. I have made the library search and search (since I know it was them that lost it....grrrrrrrr) I have renewed it countless times and of course it was a freakin hard bound with a $30 fine. They all graciously agree to chip in $5 then we get an idea.....My book club pals find it online at Amazon. I call the library......of course they say no replacing the book yourself and paying the $5 cataloging fee. It must be a library bound edition! So I find a library bound edition online and decide to try my luck......but I was not brave enough to actually buy it first....in case I would then be out $45 instead of $30.

So here's how it went down tonight.....here is an excert from the e-mail I wrote to my book club gals.....

Okay------so you know the REALLY REALLY ONERY librarian at the (local) library? The one we all avoid? Well I went tonight to face the gallows. My time was up. Max renewals. So I kept waiting for another nicer librarian to come up to the desk but gave up by about 8:15. I must have been a piece of work tonight. Of all the times to look put together and never-lost-a-book-in-my lifeish………… I had LOST my library card that I have had for like 8 years.

So after getting a new card I edged into telling her that I was wondering if I could have her renew the lost book ONE MORE TIME, explaining again about the book club and I told her I had found it online at Amazon in LIBRARY BOUND as required. She said NO WAY, ABSOLUTELY NOT, CANNOT DO, MUST PAY WHOLE $30. NEVER SHOULD HAVE CHECKED OUT BOOKS FOR OTHER PEOPLE IN THE FIRST PLACE RAG RAG RAG (long line behind me) then said. “I will put it on trace for you”

“What does that mean?” I ask. “It means if they find it they find it!” she snapped. “

About this time she snaps at a poor lady trying to use the self-check for the first time (snatching her card away from her and telling her she had it upside down or backwards) then she really gave it to a guy who waked in barefoot-----you can bet he will never try that again----all the while working with me. Truly eyes in the back of her head.

“Will it go back on my card if they don’t find it?” I timidly ask. “NO OF COURSE NOT!” she practically snarls at me. You now have fines totaling $5.10. I gratefully paid them in full and snuck out. Hmmmmmmm..............Did I just get off scot-free by the mean librarian? I got home and called the main library….to find out exactly what "putting a trace on it" means......and it will not go back on my card. Can you believe it? WOW?! I msut be living right!

Long story short – she is a nice lady deep down and just acts mean! (you know-the mean librarian image?) I remember once her snarling at me about a book I was checking out and asking if it was good. Maybe she just likes to snarl and snap.

Morals of this story:

1. Never judge a book by it's title (the book wasn't even that good!)

2. Never judge a mean librarian.

3. Blame it on your book club, even if it was probably you that lost it! (hee hee)