"dude! i need some wicked cool shades..."

so today . . . was a perfect day in the o.c! and lucky for us, once again the planets aligned juuuust right so that we could go to the swap meet!

(i am just going to warn you, this is probably going to be a photo-heavy blog. so if you don't want to see a thousand pictures of sunglasses, you might want to log off right now.)

as you know, we love the orange county swap meet. i don't know why--it just sucks money out of our pockets. but we always have a fun time. and we always have an agenda...

today's agenda was mostly rollie's. he went to the eye doctor last week and is giving contact lenses a try for the first time. they are giving him fits, but he is doing his best to adjust to them, because he is concerned about his ability to see the basket when he plays basketball. (you notice his reason has nothing to do with anything even remotely humanitarian. it isn't like he is going through all this agony to save the world...) and so, now he needs sunglasses--really cool sunglasses--(which i think might also be a factor in the whole contact lenses vs. glasses debate.)

before we made it to the end of the first row at the swap meet, he had already bagged four pair of sunglasses, diandra had three pair, and even i had one. (i only bought one, because they were 2 for $10 and diandra had an odd number...)
it wasn't as easy as it sounds though. we had trouble before we even left the driveway. somehow diandra was in the car first, but when i walked out, she was already making a sad face. i whipped out my camera to take a picture... only to realize i didn't have my camera! thankfully, we were still in the driveway. i went into the house, retrieved my camera, and pointed it at her. but by then she was smiling... i tried to get her to make the sad face again, pressed the shutter on my camera... and nothing happened. as always, i pressed it over and over and over again, before finally giving in to the thought that my batteries must be dead. so, i went back into the house for fresh batteries... which also didn't work. now i was starting to get worried. i took the batteries out and put them back in again. i turned the camera off and on and off and on. and then i finally realized... my camera was set for viewing photos, not taking them.

maybe i should just choose a care facility now...

we finally made it out of the driveway, stopped at mcdonald's for an unhealthy breakfast, and made it to the swap meet by about 9:30--which may be the latest we have ever arrived at the swap meet. ever.

we have a set pattern for shopping the swap meet, but today when we walked in, there was a booth with sunglasses right in front of us. so instead of turning right and going up and down the rows in an orderly fashion, we went down the center aisle! i would have thought rollie would get hives over such a brash move, until i realized that we were following him straight to the center aisle...

at the first sunglasses booth, he was like a kid in a candy store. when you have worn glasses to correct your vision for your entire adult life, wearing regular sunglasses seems to be an unattainable luxury. you look at the cool sunglasses in the store, knowing you will never be able to wear them, (unless you are me, in which case you try to make the cool sunglasses fit over your regular glasses... with mostly disastrous results.) and so this was his first opportunity to put sunglasses directly on his face.

it was hysterical. he would put a pair on, look at us with a big smile on his face and say, "what about these?" to which one or the other, or sometimes both of us would reply with some form of "no." he had some very specific ideas about what he wanted, but we were mainly concerned with how they looked. rollie was all about function, and we were the style police. then diandra said, "here, try these!" this worked much better. we would choose glasses (and when i say "we" i mostly mean diandra,) and then rollie would try them on to see if he liked them.

by the end of the first row we had purchased eight pairs of sunglasses, (well, when they are only $5 a pair...) i had spent all my money (not just on sunglasses,) and diandra was ready for a soda. this was not our typical day at the o.c. swap meet!

rollie and i sat at a table while diandra bought a soda, and this is what happened.doesn't he look happy?did i mention how excited rollie was to have normal sunglasses? and lest you think he went a bit overboard, he was quick to inform me that each pair of glasses served a different function--one was for very bright light, one was for partially cloudy days, one was for driving the convertible on the freeway (the wind, you know...) and the last pair? ok, that was just because he liked the blue lenses :)

these are my new sunglasses. it is kind of hard to see it in this picture, but the side edges are all sparkly!! let me just say that i succumbed to peer pressure when buying these glasses. first of all, i do not wear contacts, so sunglasses are an issue for me. but these fit pretty well over my regular glasses, they were jeweled, and diandra said, "come on mom, get them!" so i did. (have i mentioned that i have very little sales resistance? especially on items costing less than $10?) and yes i was wearing a tank top--it was a beautiful day! rollie even wore shorts!!

as soon as we got home, rollie left to do an errand.
i think maybe he just wanted to take his favorite new sunglasses for a test drive...

it's all in the eyes . . .

so today . . . when i drove into the church parking lot, this is what i saw:i pulled out my phone to call diandra and tell her that she had better hurry up and get there, or she might not get to park with the other jeeps :) (incidentally, these are the boy's jeeps--diandra's is way cooler AND has bigger tires! i guess that means she wins!!) but instead of calling, i decided to text her and send a photo. when i opened up the camera app on my phone, this is the picture that appeared:which brings me to my blog for today.

it is time (probably past time) for me to get new glasses, so i've been shopping around. last time i went to costco, because they had good prices and i found frames there that i loved! this time, i thought i would look around a bit for frames, buy the ones i liked, and then take them to costco and have lenses put in. sounds simple, doesn't it . . .

it wasn't. it was so confusing. there are sales and specials, but they are different at each location and nearly impossible to compare. i don't even know where to begin to make a decision. the only thing i know for sure is that i really do need sunglasses. as much as the sun shines here (and considering my car) my eyes need the protection as well as the ability to see clearly when i am out. so i started looking for sunglasses as well.

i went to target to check out their optical department, and that is when i saw the sunglasses pictured above! do those look perfect for me or what?!?!? they are tortoiseshell frames with tiny little rhinestones on the earpieces! i am in love!! so i picked them up thinking, they are sunglasses--they'll probably be about $50. but they do have rhinestones, so they might be a little bit more. try $129.00!!! just for the frames--add in the progressive lenses that my aging eyes need and the bill now tops out at $304.00--and that is including my 30% off AAA discount!! i was stunned!! for sunglasses?!?!?

so i start adding numbers up in my head--just guessing, because again, all those different deals are hard to sort out--and i am thinking that if i replace the lenses in my current frames, get another pair of glasses (for back up and variety) and sunglasses, even with the special deals, i might have to sell a kidney. as i am kind of attached to my internal body parts, i think that is not a solution.

it just irritates me to have to spend that kind of money on something that i am going to have to replace every couple of years. and yet, we replace our cell phones at least that often, as well as our other electronics and that doesn't annoy me. so why do i hate having to spend money on glasses?

i don't know. but i do sort of enjoy seeing . . . and reading . . . and not having headaches . . . so i guess i had better figure out something. besides those sparkly sunglasses are calling me . . . julie . . . julie . . . julie . . .

another day at the o.c. swap meet

so today . . . we went to the orange county swap meet.

the planets have to align in just the right way in order for us to make this happen, because usually our family scatters on saturday mornings--rollie plays basketball, diandra usually has plans, and i generally sleep in.

but today, rollie did not play basketball, because they are laying new carpeting in the gym. and diandra was home, because there were no weddings and javier is training in kansas. and i, well, i agreed to get up at 7:30 so we could go to the swap meet!

we had a time deadline today, so we skipped mcdonald's and headed straight to the fairgrounds. once again, we each had goals--rollie needed a new belt, some folding scissors, and maybe some cherries. i was looking for the ever elusive perfect handbag and some sunglasses. and diandra? well, i am not sure what she was looking for . . .

at our first stop there were hairclips, earrings, headbands on sale at 3/$5. diandra found two pair of earrings and i found a hairclip. as diandra was pulling out her money to pay, i opened my bag and said, "i think i have a dollar in here . . . no, wait. i guess i left my dollar in my other purse!" diandra looked and me, and then she laughed. "you left your dollar in your other purse?!?" for some reason, she found this to be hilarious . . . maybe because i did have birthday and mother's day money to spend. but i didn't have a single dollar!

diandra soon decided she might want a sparkly cell phone cover. she considered having the crystals applied directly to the phone, but eventually decided on a jewelled snap-on cover.

we moved on. and i saw this:

this is daisy. you never know what to expect at the swap meet, but a dog in a stroller was definitely a surprise! i've seen dogs in handbags and back packs and front packs, but this was my first sighting of a dog in a stroller. and if ever you wanted to be bitten by a dog, you want to be bitten by this dog. this dog has a $3,000,000 liability insurance policy. yes, you read that right. three million dollars. daisy is a therapy dog for a local hospital. and the reason she is in a stroller is that they have to be very careful where she walks. she could pick something up on her feet that would be toxic to the patients she visits. so when she goes to the swap meet, daisy rides.

(i petted her, but she refused to bite me. which is kind of too bad, because i could use three million dollars.)

i was still thinking about daisy in the stroller, when i saw this:

yes, those are doggie sunglasses. and while they are currently on a fake dog, they were being sold to people for their real, live pets! i don't have a problem with dogs wearing sunglasses, but i'm pretty sure my dogs are not going to wait to go outside until i position their shades correctly . . . and, if my dogs are going to wear sunglasses, they are going to have to come up with something a little less goggle-like . . .

and speaking of dogs, look at this hat!

really? who would put this on a child?!? it looks like the husky is having diandra for lunch! (well, it would if she had tied the thing under her chin. but doesn't she look cute? even with a dog on her head?? she is such a good sport when we are at the swap meet, and i say "stand there! hold that! put this on your head!")

i had to backtrack to the bathrooms, because even though we didn't stop at mcdonald's this morning, i did bring a drink . . . and when i got back to rollie and diandra, they were standing just where i had left them--in front of a cookie stand! and they were both holding bags which i soon discovered held cookies and fruit. for some reason, we were going backwards today and had started with the food row, which is where we usually end our day. they looked pretty happy about it. sadly, i did not take a picture . . .

rollie's quest for a belt started out a little rocky. at first all we could find were studded and embellished belts, and after seeing these sunglasses, i was a little worried about finding what i was looking for too!

but we continued on. rollie got sidetracked at a booth with stuff for laker fans, and diandra was trying to discourage him from making a purchase. we told the vendor that we were blazer fans, because you can take the girls out of oregon, but you can't make them cheer for the enemy. rollie gave the vendor his most heart-wrenching "see what i have to put up with" look as he was eyeing the beverage containers. diandra pulled him away and said, "dad! those are beer mugs!" to which rollie replied, "no, it is just a mug. it isn't a beer mug unless you put beer in it."

as all this was going on, i was still looking for that perfect handbag. after our search last week, i think diandra had sort of given up on me finding one and had just given me money for mother's day. so i had cash, and there were several booths with lots of choices . . . you would think it would be easy. but it was not. there were so many choices! and it isn't like you can buy a bag, take it home and put your stuff in it, and then return it if you change your mind. so we looked, and discussed, and looked some more . . .

rollie said, "why don't they ever put the places selling couches next to the places selling purses!" i think he was maybe getting a little tired of standing around while we debated the merits of one strap or two, zippered openings or magnetic, colorful or neutral . . .

but rollie was finally rewarded when he found the splatting tomatoes.

and yes, i have video, but you know i am having trouble getting my videos to post. maybe tomorrow i can make it happen.

as is usually the case, rollie finished up before diandra and i did, but we weren't too far behind him. all of us had found some of the things we were hoping to find, and we had a great time together. on the way to the car, i made diandra pose for one last picture in front of some beautiful bougainvilla plants.

the sun finally came out, and it turned out to be a beautiful day. we went home with some treasures, but the good news is, we didn't find everything we were looking for.

and that is good news, because it means that we will have to go back to the o.c. swap meet again. of course, we will have to wait for those pesky planets to align . . .

new glasses = a big smile :)

so today . . .  i got new glasses :)  actually, i got three pair of new glasses :) :) :)

i've had issues with my eyes since i fell and broke my glasses a couple of year ago.  before that, i would get my eyes checked, get a pair of glasses, wear them until i noticed i couldn't see anymore, and then lather, rinse, repeat...

but that cycle was broken when i fell and broke my glasses last year.  my new glasses just didn't seem to work as well as the old ones.  but the problem was, i had my glasses made at a different place than i had the exam.  so, who to blame?  were the glasses made incorrectly?  was the exam faulty? or was the prescription written incorrectly?

 i sort of have my suspicions...

i sort of think that perhaps there was a mistake with the prescription.  but by the time i realized that there was maybe a problem with the glasses and i wasn't just adjusting to a new prescription, it was too late to get anything done.  and i really loved the glasses, so i learned to live with it.  but i was determined that when i was ready for another eye exam, i would get both my exam and glasses at kaiser (where i have insurance.)  then, if there was a problem, i could get help.

so, i made an appointment for an eye exam at the beginning of march.  my plan was to keep my frames (which i love) and just get new lenses.  i had the exam.  i was the first appointment in the morning, because i am convinced that my eyes are worse in the morning.  the doctor said there wasn't much change.  this should have been my first clue that things were not going to go smoothly...  i know i have trouble seeing, especially close up, so when he said there wasn't much change, i should have realized that something was wrong.  but it was early, my brain wasn't really percolating yet, and i needed to get back to work.

i went out to see what it was going to cost to get new lenses, only to discover that my insurance benefit wouldn't kick in until november.  november.  that's seven months away!  and that wasn't the only problem.  the bigger problem was that i only have this one pair of glasses, and since kaiser sends their glasses out for lenses, i would be without any corrective eyewear for two weeks.  which is just impossible.

clearly, i needed a new pair of glasses.  right now.  i took a few minutes to look at kaiser.  i pulled the frames off that i had seen the day before (apparently the woman i helped decided to go another way...)  i asked about the price, and decided nearly $600 was too much for a back up pair of glasses.  because, again, i really like the glasses i have!  i needed another solution...

i scoured the internet.  i checked out target (did you know they have an optical department?  i'm telling you, target has EVERYTHING!)  i found glasses i liked, but the prices were still too high.  and then i saw an ad for glasses at sears. (SEARS has an optical department?!?!?)  it was a screamin' deal for two pair of glasses.  so i went in.  just to check it out...

and i met danielle.  danielle is about 12 years old, and contrary to my previous experiences, didn't wear any glasses at all!  i asked danielle about the special and she explained it to me, finishing with, "look around!  see what you like, and let me know when you are ready for me to figure out the price for you."  ok, i could do that.  because while sears does have an optical department, it is about the size of my bathroom, so it wasn't going to take long...

i was by myself.  shopping for new glasses.  this is usually not a good idea.  except, i have very definite ideas about what i like, so even when someone else is with me, i am pretty much just looking for them to say, "oh yeah, i like those."  danielle was able to fill that need for me, and by the time i was done, she had written up an order for two pair of glasses and a pair of prescription sunglasses (which i have never, ever had before!  good bye fit-overs!) and all for less than it was going to cost me for one pair of glasses at kaiser...

(to be fair, these are not designer frames, and one of them was on clearance.  but i like them.  and did i mention that i also got sunglasses?!?!?  they aren't sparkly.  but, i can take them to the oc swap meet and have the lady who does the very expensive phone covers encrusted with swarovsky crystals add some bling for me.  which is my evil plan for saturday morning... and it is only an evil plan, because i am not telling rollie that i am going.  he has to work on saturday, so he can't go.  and i'm taking diandra, which means it will be fun.  but i don't want rollie to be sitting in meetings, thinking he would rather be with us at the swap meet and feeling all bummed.  so i'm just not going to tell him we are going until we get back.  and that is why i have to label my plan as evil...)

but i had to go home and think it over.  it seemed like a good deal.  and i would finally have an actual pair of prescription sunglasses with non-glare coating on both sides of the lenses--a major benefit when you have to deal with the califoria sunshine nearly every day!  but you know me,  i needed time to percolate, process, and ponder...

which i did, for over a week, until danielle called to remind me that the sale would be ending in two days!  so i quit percolating, processing, and pondering, and talked it over with rollie.  we made a decision (which included the sunglasses-yay!) and the order was placed.  which meant i had to wait.  again.  i am terrible at waiting...

i woke up this morning feeling the anticipation that new glasses always brings.  i went to work, and then i dashed to sears as soon as i clocked out.  danielle wasn't there (which is probably just as well.  she keeps telling me how i HAVE to go see 'the hunger games,' because it is 'the best movie EVER!!')  but i was still able to pick up my new glasses.  all three pair.  and i do think the prescription is better, even if it is only a little bit different...

i certainly hope that these glasses work for me, because once again, i had my eye exam at one place and puchased my glasses at another place.  and i did this mostly because i needed glasses now and kaiser has shut me out until november and sears had such a sweet deal.

but next time... next time i am going to get my act together.  next time i am going to keep track of when my insurance benefits actually benefit me.  next time i'm going to get my exam and my glasses at the same place. next time i will take someone with me to offer a second opinion...

... because now that i have my new glasses at home, i am kind of wondering if a purple sparkly frame was really the best choice...

mrs. fix it, part 2

**i took pictures to go with this blog, but i am having issues getting them from my phone into the blog, which is why this blog is being posted a few days later than it actually happened. eventually i hope to resolve my problem and add pictures...

so today . . . i planned to spend the day at home. in my pajamas. doing a few small projects, but mostly huddled up with my computer and new slippers. this was my plan. of course, it was thwarted...

my problems today actually started yesterday. with cleaning the sink. and fixing the plumbing. because during those moments when i couldn't work on the sink, i decided to recover our dining room chairs.

we got our dining room set from rollie's parents a long time ago. i love family heirlooms. they complete me :) this dining room set belonged to rollie's maternal grandmother, who i never met. we got the set from his mom, who got it from her mom. i feel lucky that we got it, because it probably should have gone to rollie's sister--you know, from mom to daughter to granddaughter--but since rollie's sister already had a dining room set, this one found its way to our house.

i love this dining room set. i love the reddish color of the wood. i love the curvy cut out chair backs. i love the way the ends of the table drop down so that it can be really small, (even though i never use it that way.) but when we got it, what i didn't love was the color of the seats. the seats were a rose colored tapestry with little blue accents. they were pretty, but they were pink. sort of. and at the time we got the set, pink was not on my list of decorating colors. i was into black and white and red! i wanted a fabric that would sort of go with the style, but not look dated. and what i found had a sort of black stripe with rows of reddish roses in between.

i loved that fabric, and it has been on those chairs for a lot of years. but over time it has faded. and i was just not loving it in this house. but i left it, because i had told diandra that when she got into her own house, she could have the dining room set. of course, i told her that before we bought this house, when i thought that we were going to downsize and not have enough room for it. but now it is in our new dining room, and it looks so good with the wood floors and the paint... so i talked to diandra and we struck a deal, and i'll be keeping the dining room set. for now. i think.

so, it was time to recover the seats! i remembered this as being a quick and easy project. i looked at my pile of fabric and found a piece that i thought would be perfect! so last night after rollie went to bed, i took the old fabric off one of the chair seats and got it ready to recover. but then i got tired and went to bed.

those chair seats were going to be my first project this morning, because rollie was playing basketball which meant i had to put the sink project off until later in the day. and doing the chair seats first had the added benefit of letting me stay in my pajamas. (in case you are wondering about my sudden attachment to wearing my pajamas around the house, i asked for flannel pajama pants for christmas. and i got some! and adorable "hello, kitty" slippers!! and now, that is all i want to wear. they are comfy, cozy, and cute.) so i unfolded the fabric... only to discover that it wasn't one big piece. it was several smaller pieces, none of which were big enough to cover the chair cushions. this was not a good start to my saturday...

i was bummed. i slouched on the couch for a while, but i finally got dressed and announced to rollie that i was going to do some errands. i had decided to go to lowe's to ask someone about my plumbing issues, but the bigger problem was going to be finding fabric. there are just not a lot of fabric stores around anymore. i had seen one storefront across from the mall that said "rugs! fabrics!" but most days they have a "going out of business" sign outside, which i figured meant a limited selection. but i was desperate, so i went in...

... and the angels sang! there were rolls of fabric everywhere! in every color! but you know how i am about making decisions... i knew i was in trouble. and it got even worse, because as i was walking around i remembered that i had been looking for a shower curtain for the downstairs bathroom, and i needed to recover the headboard on our bed... i was like a rat in a maze--a rat who couldn't make a decision. i put rolls of fabric into my cart. i took rolls of fabric out of my cart. i sent pictures to rollie--which is what saved me! after over an hour, i finally found my way out into the parking lot, with fabric for my dining room chairs AND a shower curtain :) the decision about fabric for our headboard will just have to wait for another day.

then i went to lowe's. i don't go to lowe's very often, because home depot is just around the corner from our house. and lowe's is at the long beach town center, AND the parking lot at the long beach town center is like the seventh level of hell--especially on a saturday. but that one last plumbing fixture was bugging me, so i decided to brave the parking lot in hopes of finding an answer to my problem.

i found the plumbing section and a guy in a red vest. whose name was NOT steve! i showed him the picture i had taken of the underside of my plumbing fixtures and he said, "oh sure! you just have to twist this piece here to tighten your fixture."

now. was that hard? no, it was not. i guess if you know what you are talking about, the solution is easy. and now i had a solution! i made a quick detour through lighting to get a new glass globe for the old ceiling fan that manuel had installed in our downstairs bedroom, and rushed home. i had a solution, and i was anxious to finish up my plumbing project. but when i got home, i was once again thwarted, because rollie was taking a nap. rollie often takes a nap on saturday after playing basketball all morning, which is fine, but today his nap was interfering with my projects!

you know how patient i am (not!) but i tried to wait. first i distracted myself by playing with my new fabrics, but i didn't want to get started on a project and then have to drop it when rollie woke up. so next i decided to change the glass part of the ceiling fan with the new one i had just bought. i took the old one off and tried to put the new one up, only to discover that it was too big. this did not make me happy! now i am going to have to brave the long beach town center parking lot again to return the stupid, non-fitting glass part of the ceiling fan!

unless it accidentally breaks first...

i finally decided i could fix the faucet by myself. i mean, i knew what to do, i just had to figure out how to do it all by myself. i poked around rollie's workbench until i found the spray stuff that would loosen the rust. because of course there was rust! the faucet had been loose which meant water was dripping underneath it sometimes. i squiggled underneath the sink and tried to maneuver the spray into position... and managed to knock the long pointy part off. which meant i had to squiggle out from under the sink to retrieve it, reattach it, and try again. which i did.

(can i just say here that it is no easy task to get positioned under our kitchen sink! there is no room to turn over or around, which means you have to go in on your back. which kills so many muscles that i can't even list them all! and then your torso is elevated about six inches from where your legs are trying to just stay out of the way, which is torturous to your back! and THEN to get out, you have to hold your torso up off the floor while trying to get your head clear of the sink, garbage disposal, and all that tubing, which makes your abdomen scream like an angry toddler. now that i think about it, it is probably pretty good exercise...)

after spraying the loosening goo, i waited a few minutes, grabbed my pliers and tried to twist the tightening piece. it wouldn't budge. but the pliers fell out of my hand and landed on my face. fortunately they didn't hit my eyes. unfortunately, they did hit my expensive glasses. i decided maybe i shouldn't be wearing my expensive glasses while laying under the sink holding a pair of pliers in my hand. so i took them off and attempted to twist the tightening piece again. and again, i dropped the pliers. fortunately this time they didn't hit my face--they hit my shoulder, which was a little too close to my unprotected face for my comfort.

i decided i needed safety glasses.

but i didn't have safety glasses! i know rollie has safety glasses, but he was asleep. so i used my sunglasses instead. i have a pair of those fit-over sunglasses that i can wear over my regular glasses. they are big and ugly, but i have customized them with swarovsky crystals, which makes them cuter... they are still pretty big, though... i was really hoping i wouldn't drop the pliers on them, since the only other pair of sunglasses i have do not have swarovsky crystals on them, and since we live in the land of eternal sunshine, i kind of need sunglasses. but i figured if i was going to drop those pliers again, better to wreck my sunglasses than my eyes...

i worked under that sink for about half an hour. i was getting nowhere fast. it finally became clear to me that this was not a one woman project--i was going to have to wait until rollie woke up. which he finally did. and no sooner did his groggy little head move his recliner into the upright position, than i was right there telling him about my morning... the fabric store... lowe's... the plumbing stuff... how we still needed to hang the bathroom mirror (oh there is a story there too, but i think i will save that for another day.) all the poor man wanted to do was watch a little basketball and let his brain wake up, but he could see that i was in "let's get it done" mode. so he came downstairs, gathered a few tools, and watched me head back under the sink.

we finally got that thing tightened! finally! i was the muscle under the sink, but rollie knew which tools would get the job done. if he hadn't handed me some sort of socket wrench with a bendy handle, and firmly held the faucet in place while i used that tool to tighten it, we would still probably be dealing with a wiggly faucet. or paying someone $500 to replace it!

i came out from under that sink today, and i felt powerful!! i felt awesome! i made rollie high five me, and i said, "WE ROCK!" (yes, to diandra's chagrin, i actually say things like that...) and so, now our kitchen sink is clean and shiny AND the faucets work properly...

...and it looks so good, that now i hate to use it.

rain = no need for sunglasses :(

so today . . .  it rained.

it rained.  here i am, with brand new prescription sunglasses...  and it rained.

the cosmos hates me...

"i'm leeeeeavin' on a jet plane . . . "

so today . . . it is nearly midnight, and i am still up. i am still up, because tomorrow i am leaving for vacation. and if you read my blog the day i left for orlando, you know what that means . . .

actually, i was doing pretty well. i had a reasonable, doable list to complete today. if i got up kind of early. and if i stayed busy all day. and if i didn't do any farming (i lost 3 fields of pumpkins yesterday, so today i am in mourning . . . ) in fact, if i stayed off of facebook totally. and if i got my packing done early (while i still had a brain.) this was a lot of ifs, but i really thought i could do it.

the one thing i did not factor in, was attending a two and a half hour funeral today. it was a wonderful tribute to a man who had affected a lot of people during his 80 years, but it was somewhat longer than i had planned on. actually, quite a bit longer. and then rollie wanted to go out to lunch. and then i had a few errands to do. so i ended up trying to accomplish my whole day's list in just a few hours.

maybe impossible, but i was willing to give it a try. so i came home, changed my clothes and started packing.

i forgot to mention that diandra is going on this trip with me. when diandra and i travel, this is what usually happens--we start talking about the trip several days early. then we make a few trips to the store to get a stuff for the trip. (i got this idea from my friend lisa. several years ago, she and her husband were making a trip, i think to disneyland, and on the weekends leading up to the trip, they would do little things to get ready. the one that sticks in my mind is when they went to buy sunglasses--that's all, just sunglasses. but it built excitement for the trip, as well as getting them ready to go. so now, when i am going on a trip, i try to do the same thing.) but then we rarely start packing until 10:00 the night before. and then it takes us HOURS to get it done, because we are so tired by then, we can't make a decision about what to take and what to leave. so finally we just throw as much as we can fit into our suitcases and hope for the best. this results in very heavy suitcases, multiple suitcases, and nothing that goes with anything in any of the suitcases! it is a terrible system . . .

so this time, we decided we were going to pack before it got dark. we always pack at the same time, so we can help each other--maybe that is part of our problem . . . to begin, we sat down and had a snack. we just needed sustenance before tackling the packing. we discussed the weather in portland, and what we thought we might do while we were there, and how many pairs of shoes we thought we needed to take (diandra decided 2 and stuck with it--i ended up with 4.) then i decided i should fold laundry first, and diandra did nothing except pack her shoes--both pair. i finally got her moving in the right direction, but when i went to check on her, she was packing jewelry. "how can you pack jewelry?" i asked. "you don't even know what clothes you are taking yet."

she looked at me blankly and said, "i'm just taking it all." you see, even in the daylight our brains are not doing their jobs. we are seriously packing challenged!

we did get packed before dark. well, she did. i have all my stuff out, but the bag is not closed yet. we took a lot less than we usually do--we can even lift the bags ourselves! and i cleaned out the refrigerator, went to the store for cucumbers and nuts and raisins and tomatoes, and then cooked some chicken breasts for rollie (so he won't starve while we are gone.) i cleaned out the refrigerator, arranged his cucumbers, tomatoes, cooked chicken, and CHERRIES (his favorite) in the clean refrigerator. i did dishes. i VACUUMED!! yes people, i actually vacuumed. and now all i have left to do is finish this blog, clean the bathrooms, throw the rest of the stuff in my bags, and i am ready to go to bed! i had hoped to be done by midnight, but since it is now after midnight and i am still up, that is not going to happen.

by the time i am ready to go, i am really going to need this vacation . . .

or maybe just deerskin pants?

so today . . . we started talking about thanksgiving at school.

it is a little hard to get into the spirit of the holiday when it is so warm outside, but temperatures have cooled slightly, so we are making the best of it...

i always start the discussion about thanksgiving by talking about native americans. four- and five-year olds tend to think of american indians as loin-cloth wearing men with feathered headbands whose only mode of communication is that sound they can make by fluttering their hands over their mouths (a sound, btw, that drives me CRAZY when my kids do it!) while riding really fast horses... so i always start out by discussing what native american life was like, and how the tribes were different.

i was explaining that where they lived determined their lifestyle--what kind of homes they had, what they ate, what they wore, how they lived. we had discussed housing (wood in the pacific northwest, adobe in the south,) food (fish and seafood for those tribes on the ocean, wild animals and crops for those who didn't live near the water,) and finally got to clothing. i said, "the people who lived where it was cold needed warmer clothes, so they would leave the fur on the animal skins they used for their clothes." we talked about that for a while, and then i asked, "so what do you think the tribes who lived where it was hot wore."

and one precious child raised his hand and said, "sunglasses!"

california kids... :)

our last big hurrah!

so today . . . was the big day! it was the day of the kindergarten end of the year field trip!

we went to the long beach aquarium, because you know those boys LOVE sharks!! diandra came with us--she usually does--and we took her jeep. that was almost adventure enough for joshua and jonathan! when we got to the aquarium, we bought our tickets and headed straight for the sharks. we spent some time at the touching pool, watching them NOT touch anything. for boys that talk about sharks so much, they were not all that brave about touching anything underwater. but diandra was very patient and finally had some success at getting their fingers in the water. by the time she got done with them, they were wet up to their shoulders and had touched baby sharks and bat rays.then we went into the lorikeet habitat. let me just say that those birds act like they own the place. really. it's like they challenge each other to see how close they can fly to people's heads. i am amazed that we all made it out without having had a close encounter of the painful kind with those colorful little birds. diandra bought nectar, but none of the birds were interested in her at all--unlike the guys guarding the doors . . .

there were a lot of kids there today, with schools and summer camps, and as we were getting out of her jeep one little kid said to his mom, "look, there's a movie star!" and she did kind of look like someone going incognito--you know, white blouse, denim shorts, boots, long blonde hair and enormous sunglasses. and we do see movies stars occasionally here. well, ok, we don't, but some people do. although we did ride a ride at california adventure with tara lipinsky one time . . . i have pictures to prove it. yes, i took pictures--i'm that person.

but back to the lorikeets . . . jonathan was pretty brave about the whole thing, but joshua looked like he thought they were going to attack him at any minute. he was not feeling comfortable at all! so he hid behind me while diandra tried to convince a lorikeet to sit on her hand and drink some nectar. she finally found a cooperative bird . . .
and then, it was lunch time. i don't know why lunch holds such importance when we are on a field trip, but it is all anyone can think about until we sit down, zip open those back packs, and eat the chips and cookies that we normally don't get for lunch. oh yeah, and the sandwiches too . . . diandra had been asking about lunch since 10:30, and we didn't even get to the aquarium until 10:00! we chose a table in the shade and started to sit down, but joshua was looking at it and making a face. i asked him what was wrong, and he said, "this table is too dirty!" so we kept looking until we found one that met his standards.

as we dived into our lunches, we realized that all of us had meat and cheese sandwiches. and chips. although joshua made the observation that the rest of us had orange chips, and his were tan with brown spots. i was thinking "yuck" until i saw that he was talking about his chocolate chip cookies. why he was calling them chips, i do not know.
as we sat munching our matching sandwiches, joshua looks at diandra and says, "so, are you 16?" she said, no, she was older than that. then he guessed 17, and again she said, no, older than that. so he guessed 19, then 20, then 21, and 22, and when she still said older, he skipped all the way to 30! she was somewhat alarmed by this! i was thinking it was pretty funny--he guessed all the way up to almost her age, and then skipped way ahead.

after lunch we went in to look at the indoor exhibits. the coolest thing we saw were divers feeding the fish in the big tank. there was one diver feeding sharks right by the window, so the boys got to see it up close and personal. i was taking pictures of them, and the diver took his mouthpiece out and smiled! it was so funny!it was a fun day at the aquarium. everyone had a great time--diandra was mistakenly identified as a movie star, jonathan and joshua touched sharks, and i got paid to spend the day at the aquarium instead of in the classroom . . . it's too bad every day can't be field trip day!

the best laid plans . . .

so today . . . it was HOT!

it was so hot, i didn't want to go out to lunch, (and you know how i love to eat!)

it was so hot, the dogs stayed in the house instead of going outside and laying in the dirt. (i don't know why they do that--they lay there and squint into the sun...)

it was so hot, i loaned my car to diandra since she had to go shoot a wedding today. (not so good if your wedding photographer shows up drenched in sweat because she chose to buy the fun jeep wrangler with no a/c instead of the pt cruiser convertible her mother thought she should get... which i am sure would have had air conditioning.)

it was so hot, i waited until the sun went down to start the laundry (so now i will be up half the night finishing it. because since i don't iron, our clothes have to go straight from the warm dryer to their hangers.)

it was so hot, i drank a whole 2 liter bottle of pepsi one. by myself. (i know i should have been drinking water or iced tea, but it was so hot and the pepsi was so refreshing.)

(perhaps i should mention here that we do have air conditioning. and it was on. and working just fine. but i knew it was hot outside...)

we have had a lovely, temperate summer, but it is looking like we are going to have a searing hot september. when it gets over 90 degrees, i prefer air conditioning to fresh air. so we had decided to just stay home today. i was settled in with my computer and scanner, digitizing old negatives, and rollie was watching sports or something. we were perfectly happy.

and then the phone rang.

yesterday rollie took his car in to have the oil changed. when it was done, he came and picked me up from school. he hit the button to open the trunk so i could put my stuff in, and nothing happened. we quickly discovered that the electronic locks weren't working either. so the car had to go back in so that they could fix whatever they broke while changing the oil.

it was just a burned out fuse, but it required an overnight stay at the mazda dealership--which required us to go out into the 95 degree heat at 2:00 this afternoon to pick it up. at least, that is what they said when rollie answered his phone.

i drove. i got to the mazda lot and slowed down just enough for rollie to leap out of the car. because you know, if i had stopped, the air conditioning would have quit cooling. i made a quick turnaround and headed home to the air conditioned cool of the interior of our house. but as i pulled into the driveway, i remembered that i had not taken my handbag with me--i had just grabbed my sunglasses and my wallet when we left. this meant that i did not have a house key and was now locked out. in the heat. we have a key hidden in a secret place in the backyard, (go ahead stalkers--just try to find it! even if you do, you will never make it past our vicious attack dogs. and even if you survive being licked to death, we do have an alarm system. and the police do come. even when the house is a mess...) but it was so hot, i didn't want to go all the way around the house, make the dogs bark, come back to unlock the door, go back around to replace the key... it all sounded like too much trouble. i decided i would just sit in the shade and wait for rollie to come home. he should be right behind me. he should be home any minute...

and then i thought, wait. what if there is a problem? what if his car still isn't right, and i need to go back and get him? what if he has an accident on the way home? what if the repair cost thousands and thousands of dollars, and he can't pay for it until after i get paid at the end of the month? (because my paycheck is soooo huge!)

after i sat there in the shade for a couple of minutes, thinking these terrible thoughts, i realized that not only did i not have my house key, i also did not have my cell phone... which meant if any of those terrible things happened, he would not be able to reach me.

so i trudged around the house, made the dogs bark, retrieved the key, came back to unlock the front door, and returned the key to it's hiding place... and then rollie drove up.

maybe we should have just gone to lunch...

NOT a top ten list

so today . . . did i tell you last week that some of my kids were blowing their noses again? yes, well, they were. and do you know what that means? yes, i think the evil germs are after me. again.

i am fighting them with every weapon i have, but tonight i am congested and soooo tired. i am actually hoping for allergies, because i have meds for that . . .

but i wanted to blog something tonight, so here are a few random things i realized today.

1. i can eat at jack-in-the-box two times in one day. yes, it is possible. as you may remember, i usually eat at chick-fil-a with my book on mondays. but we had a teacher out sick today, so staffing had to be shifted, resulting in the demise of my hour-long lunch. then, rollie had a meeting tonight, so we had to grab something quick if we were going to eat together. and no, i did not order the same thing for both meals--that would be ridiculous!!

2. a quiet voice spoken in the ear of a little boy having a melt-down can sometimes accomplish the miraculous. sometimes. i say sometimes, because it worked brilliantly the first time, and i was thinking, "yeah, i am an awesome teacher. look at me dealing with this explosive situation by just using a very quiet voice. i rock!" which may have been true. but the next time, it didn't work nearly as well. or at all. apparently there are no absolutes when you are five and your regular teacher is home sick . . .

3. the laundry isn't really done if it is still sitting in the laundry basket in the garage. even if it is clean. especially if it has been sitting there for a week and a half. it is a good thing we have lots of underwear.

4. my handbag apparently has a life that doesn't include me--and it is there right now. saturday night we went out, so i put my wallet and keys in a smaller bag to take with me. and that has been fine for the last couple of days, but today i needed my sunglasses, which are in my bigger bag. and it is gone. gone, i tell you! it is not where i left it, and it is not anywhere else in this house. either the dogs have buried it in the back yard, or it has gone to the mall to visit it's rich relatives at the coach store . . .

5. for small children, what they want trumps everything else! ok, i knew this, but it seems as though i ran up against this particular thinking more than the usual amount of times today. it's like they think that if they say, "but i WANT to!" i will say, "oh, ok. i didn't realize that you WANTED to! i guess it is ok then." and no, this has no bearing at all on #8! don't even try to connect them!! i am not five!!!

6. tights are hot--and i don't mean in the "wow, those are HOTT" way. (besides, i have been banned from using that particular phrase by my darling daughter--not that i ever would anyway.) but here is the thing that confuses me: tights=fall and winter, and leggings=spring and summer. it seems to me that leggings would feel way hotter than tights, since they are a bit thicker. and yet, look at the spring fashion--leggings are everywhere. i just don't get it. but i guess i had better get some leggings, because it is already may, so i can't continue to wear my tights much longer. and yet, my legs are not quite ready to be let out on their own.

7. when i sit in my car, i cannot see the outside of it. which is good, because my car is really dirty right now. my car had an adventure (without me--again, the darling daughter,) this weekend and hasn't had it's bath yet. so i just cleaned the windshield, and now i can pretend it is clean until it actually is!

8. i want to be in charge of the world! ok, maybe not the whole world, but my world. i am coping with a lot of stuff right now that is causing me stress. and as i was thinking about it today, i realized that i have control over very little of it. which doesn't make it any easier, because i still have to deal with it. and i thought, "if i could just sit everyone down, and tell them what is on my mind and how i think we should do things, and if they would respond positively, then we could all smile and live happily ever after!" why can't things work that way? i am sure everyone would be happier if they would just do things my way. really. i know i would . . .

9. sometimes, when leaving a tiny tot at preschool for the first time, it is harder for the dad than for the child. really.

and that is the end. nothing else comes to my mind tonight. which is kind of too bad, because if i could just think of one more thing, then i could have a top ten list . . .

darn these evil germs!!!

thanksgiving

so today . . . between eating bar-be-que chips and molasses cookies, i've been thinking about being thankful. i was going to post a top ten list of things that make me thankful. that was my plan. but sometimes my blogs don't go according to my plan. sometimes i sit down and write so today . . . and something totally different comes out. that's what happened today.

lately, i've been having a tough time. i've been sick. work has been frustrating. my band has been in turmoil. my stuff is disorganized. i feel gloomy. and yet, even with all that, my life is so much better than many others. this fact has smacked me in the face more than once lately.

our church has a food bank. it started out pretty small and mostly helped people in our congregation for whom money was tight. and then it grew. now on any given sunday, food is given out to probably 50-60 people--many of whom are homeless. and lately, some of those homeless people have started coming to church and attending small group bible studies. it is really cool to see the more affluent members of our church having real conversations with people who live in the park or under the freeway overpass.

this has made me very aware of how much i have. a few weeks ago i met richard. he had just been to the food bank, and in addition to his two bags of food, he was also given a blanket. he was so excited--because even though it is still nearly 80 degrees in the daytime, it gets cold at night. he couldn't wait to show me his new blanket, and tell me how much he appreciated getting it! last week i had a conversation with richard on my way out of the parking lot. i was driving my cute car and the top was down, because it was a nice day. as i approached him, i slowed down, took off my sunglasses so he could see it was me, and said hi. i felt somewhat conspicuous in my car, but i didn't want to just drive by and act like i hadn't seen him. when i waved, he smiled, said hi, and then added, "nice car!" so we talked about it for a while, and then i went off to lunch. i left richard waiting in the shade of a tree, with his bicycle, for his turn to go into the food bank.

i have so much, and yet there are always things that call to me from the other side of the cash register. and it is ok to buy something new--even if i don't necessarily need it. (which is good, because my plan for tomorrow is shopping.) but in the midst of it all, i want to remember to be thankful--not only for all the things that i already have, but also for that frustrating job that provides me with income, for a body that is healthy enough to work (even when it isn't completely well,) for a church that lets me "rock out" during worship on sunday mornings and makes homeless people feel like they belong, for friends who read my blog for a laugh but "feel my pain" when life isn't funny, and for a family who loves me whether i cook a thanksgiving turkey or not.

another step closer...

so today . . . MY NEW GLASSES CAME!!!!

ok, well sort of. the frames came. do you remember on friday when i said i spent almost half an hour on the phone with customer service and they promised my frames would be delivered today? well, they delivered on their promise...

so this morning, there i was, slogging my way through music time. i lead music every monday. this is not my favorite part of the day. i don't think it is the kids' favorite part either, but it is part of our curriculum, so we do it--day after day after day. some days are fun. the kids really get into the music and we dance and sing, and it is kind of fun. and then there are other days... the days when all they want to do is lay on a table or talk to their friends or annoy the kid standing next to them. yeah, those are the days i dread.

today was kind of a middle of the road day. most of the kids were engaged, some of them were smiling at me, but i was feeling a bit sluggish and slow--monday mornings tend to be like that. and then the director walked in with a small box. at first i didn't know what she was saying... sometimes we have communication issues--she is chinese and has a bit of an accent, and my hearing is not perfect. and of course, this morning while she was telling me about the box, we also had music blaring. she repeated herself repeatedly, until finally i got it! my glasses had arrived!!

i was so excited. suddenly i felt a bit better. i finished up music time, sat the kids on the rug, and grabbed the scissors to open the box. we talked about when i fell and how my glasses broke. i took them off my face and demonstrated how broken they were. the kids were excited to see what was in the box, so we opened it. and inside was another box. we opened that one, and inside that was a case. we opened that up and inside that was a cleaning cloth, and then finally the long awaited glasses!

the kids all ooohed and aaaahed.

they are so great--the kids, i mean! if i am excited about something, they will get excited too. i finally sent them off to work and put my box away.

temporarily. but i kept thinking about them. and taking them out and looking at them. pretty soon, i took off my broken glasses and put the new ones on--even though they only had plain, clear lenses in them. they were so comfortable. and beautiful.

but i couldn't see very well. that was kind of a problem. so i put them back in their box and did some more work.

at lunch time i got them out again, just to look at them. i really, really like them.

after school, i took them to kaiser for lenses. i didn't get my exam at kaiser, because i needed an immediate appointment (i thought--that was a month ago! it is a good thing rollie managed to sort of fix the broken ones!) i took a number, waited my turn, and finally sat down at a desk with an optician.

he did not like me. i think he was offended that i had my exam someplace else. he squinted at my prescription. he questioned me about it. he acted like it couldn't possibly be right. i was starting to think i should have just paid $5 more and had another exam... he kept reaching into the inside of his lab coat, and i thought, "what is he doing?!?!?!" he finally came out with a pack of gum--which he then chewed. RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME! (i mean, i didn't want a piece of his gum, but i think it might have been better to wait at least until i wasn't looking...) he cautioned me that the lab might destroy my beautiful new frames (they'd better not!!!) he told me it would probably take at least two weeks to get them back, since i didn't choose one of their frames. i am telling you, he did not like me. he finally sent me to the cashier (gulp!) and then sent me on my way.

so. apparently i will have my new glasses in two weeks. i, of course, expect they will be ready in three days. which means i am going to be disappointed every day for week and a half after that, until they show up. i do not really have hope that the prescription will be right--the optician has shaken my confidence in that. and i did not get the transition lens, so i am going to have to get sunglasses. and soon...

...because we are going to las vegas for thanksgiving. and rollie says he is going to read by the pool while diandra and i run around doing wedding stuff.

diandra and i. running around doing wedding stuff. in las vegas.

you can hardly wait for those blogs, can you...

:)

vanity, vanity, all is vanity . . .

so today . . . i came to the realization that i may be just a tiny bit vain--at least, i hope just a tiny bit~

i think i am like most people, in that i try to look as good as i can. i take showers. i straighten or curl my hair, depending on the occasion. i use skin care products with antioxidants, plant polyphenols, vitamins a, b, c, and only jennifer flavin stallone knows what else. and if that isn't enough, i buy cute shoes! i am not under the impression that i am traffic-stoppingly beautiful, but i do my best to maximize the ordinary looks God gave me.

and i try not to leave the house looking dorky.

this is much easier when diandra lives in my house. i don't always agree with her opinion of my outfit, but i find that she is usually right. which is always a little surprising for me, because from the time she was 11 or 12 until she was almost 16, all she would wear were jeans and white t-shirts, with an occasional black one thrown in for variety. i tried to get her interested in something with a little more style or color, but she was having none of it! i seriously thought that i was going to have to wait and hope for a granddaughter to share my love of all things sparkly.

i'm not sure just exactly when it happened, but now the girl has more dresses than i do, borrows my jewelry, and always looks beautiful--even when she isn't trying. and she has an amazing sense of style.thank goodness she wasn't home when i got ready to walk the dogs! i changed out of my cute work clothes into my nice jeans and a top, put on my walking shoes, harnessed mia up, and put my ipod in my pocket. today was the day i was going to try using the new $3 headphones that i bought at big lots over the weekend. you may remember the problem i have with ear buds, so i thought i would try a regular (and cheap) set of headphones. i plugged them into the ipod, put them on, and immediately realized the sound was not even in the same ballpark as the bose ones my mom gave me. which, of course, was no surprise--$3 no-name headphones up against bose?!?! but at least, i thought, they would stay in place as i walked the dogs.

as i headed toward the door (and the dog jumping up and dancing about waiting to feel the snap of the leash,) i happened to see myself in the hall mirror. and i came to an abrupt halt. i had apparently purchased a very dorky-looking set of headphones. nonononono, i thought. i am not going out of the house in these!

typically when i walk the dogs, i don't see anyone--certainly not anyone i know! but at that moment in the hallway, it didn't matter, i just knew i wasn't going anywhere in those headphones. so i looked for the temporary ones i've been using that hook over my ears, and headed out the door. as i was trying to adjust them so that the huge earbuds would dangle close enough to my ears that i could hear the music if i turned the volume WAY up, it occurred to me that i had left a perfectly good pair of headphones lying on my kitchen table. and why? because i thought they looked dorky.

"i am vain," i thought. why does it matter if the headphones look dorky if they work for me? why do i care? wouldn't it be better to wear the headphones and be able to actually hear the music? i mean, it isn't like the rest of me is looking all that cool--i am, after all, walking the dogs!

so now i must deal with this newly discovered flaw--as if there aren't already enough! maybe i am more vain than i think . . . remember the sunglasses? maybe i should post a photo of the offending headgear to start me down the path of dealing with my issues. maybe i could overcome my mild vanity and be ok with them after all. i thought it was worth a try . . .

so i retrieved the headphones from the table where they had been flung, put them on, and grabbed the camera. and then i passed the mirror . . .

nope. not happening.

maybe i can rig up some sort of over-the-ear hooks out of pipe cleaners or paper clips to hold those bose earbuds in place . . . i think it is worth a try . . .

a rainy day at the oc swap meet

so today . . . we celebrated diandra's birthday with her. i know, i know, yesterday was her birthday. but there were complications to spending time together then, so we had agreed that we would pretend her birthday was today.

we planned to go to the orange county swap meet. it has rows and rows of stuff that we don't even know we need until we see it. it is a lot of fun!

we left around 8:40 this morning--the plan was 'rears in the rodeo' by 8:30. this is an idea rollie picked up from an episode of "everybody loves raymond," the idea being that if your rear is not in the rodeo (our vehicle of choice today,) you get left. diandra was there! rollie was there!but one of us didn't quite make it. thankfully rollie also learned from that episode, that while you might actually leave your kids or your best friend if they didn't meet the deadline, it was a very unwise idea to leave your wife . . . so they gave me an extra five minutes. and then, after my "rear was in the rodeo," i remembered that we should have sunscreen. after all, even though the sky was overcast at that moment, i was pretty sure it would clear up! so they had to wait while i retrieved the requisite tube from the emergency kit in the back. (yes, we have an emergency kit in the back--we were in rollie's car--remember? boy scout? always prepared? and yes, there is sunscreen in that kit--we live in california!!) so a bit more waiting ensued . . .
we finally hit the road and made the necessary stop at mcdonald's for sausage egg mcmuffins, (a swap meet tradition,) which had to be ordered by number--you know, "i'll have the number 11"--because rollie refuses to say silly food names like "mcmuffins." we got back into the rodeo and hit the 605 south. all was good, until we noticed it was beginning to rain. it was california rain, but it still looked like it might be a little bit damp. we were hoping that it would stop by the time we arrived, but our hopes were flattened when we saw the wet pavement at the fairgrounds. discussion ensued about the merits of waiting in the car for the rain (it was actually more of a light mist, but still, we were all wearing shorts and sandals! ok, rollie didn't have sandals on, but still . . . ) when it appeared as though it was not going to get any better, we got out of the car, leaving the unused sunscreen behind . . .

our first stop was the bathrooms--well, not actually our first stop, because on the way to the bathrooms we did stop at a booth with handbags. but right after that we hit the bathrooms--remember the mcdonald's tradition? that had also included large sodas which had worked their way through our systems . . .

i took this picture of diandra in the bathroom, because the doors were so short that when you stood up, everyone could see your whole head! it was pretty funny to see heads popping up in adjacent stalls. and since no one really noticed those short doors while they were actually using the bathrooms, the reactions when they noticed it was pretty funny. i admit some of the reaction may have been due to my picture taking . . .

the rain kept up and was soon joined by wind. it was cold. it was wet. we were in shorts. rollie thought we should head for the sweatshirt booth, but diandra and i both said no way! we had sweatshirts at home and were not going to spend our limited funds on warm clothes that we were pretty sure we wouldn't need in another hour anyway. so even though we were shivering, we walked on . . .we had to be careful where we walked, because all the booths were covered with tarps, and some were leaking. but the really dangerous ones were the ones that were NOT leaky. the water would surreptitiously build up on those, and then if some innocent, unsuspecting person happened to be walking under one at just the wrong moment . . . that water would suddenly burst out over the top and onto the person. we were spared that fate, but just barely, a couple of times. however, some pretty big drips of water did find their way onto my face under my glasses--such good aim!

one of the things diandra was considering buying today were license plate frames for her new jeep. this booth had lots of choices, and we spent some time reading them and laughing. diandra was pointing one out to rollie that said, "blondes have more fun . . . naturally!" but he noticed the one below it. i'm not going to print what it said, but it was NOT one that she was considering . . .
rollie's goal for the day was to find a bag to pack his suits in for our trip to orlando next week. we are going to attend our church's general convention, and he is a delegate, so suits will probably be the accepted form of dress. since he rarely wears suits anymore, packing was going to be a problem.

rollie is a "hunt it, shoot it, put it in the freezer" kind of shopper. he knows what he wants, he looks until he finds one, he buys it, and then he goes home--he doesn't continue to look to see if he finds something he likes better--he is done. but that process is a little more complicated at the swap meet, because you cannot return something you have purchased. and you can't just stop looking after buying something and go home, because other people may not be finished shopping . . . so after spending much time waiting for us outside of booths with handbags and hair accessories and jewelry and sunglasses and hats, he finally found a suit bag.to his credit, he did not buy the first one he saw, which btw was at the very first booth where diandra and i were looking at handbags. no, he held off until the third booth. i think that shows progress . . .he made another trip back to the car to leave his new bag, and then we had lunch. lunch is rollie's favorite part of the day. he likes the looking and the shopping, but he really enjoys the sitting down and being together and talking about the morning. and yet, it seems that no good deed ever goes unpunished, so while we were deciding what to have, he had to endure diandra and me seat-dancing. this was his reaction . .no, he is not praying for us . . . at least i don't think he is. you would think he would be used to this behavior by now. the head-bobbing, shoulder shimmying always happens whenever good music is playing. and if both diandra and i are there, it is going to be worse . . . one day he won't be able to help himself, and he will join us. but that day was not today . . .

finally he couldn't take it anymore, so he left us and got some lunch, which he said was delicious!and there's the birthday girl, eating a hot dog for lunch--sheesh--you'd think her parents would spring for something a little more special . . .as always, we had a great time--even in the rain. the sun never did come out, but we warmed up a bit as we moved around. and of course, there was a lot more hanging onto each other today. people probably thought we were a very affectionate family--really we were just sucking the body heat out of one another . . .