Dog days of summer . . . . .

I'm so glad summer is almost over. I was elated to see snow this morning on the tips of our mountains! I know it won't last but it's a good sign.

However, this is how I spent most of my Saturdays and I will miss it tons!

I'm really not old enough . . . . .

Check this out.

Hanging with the kids . . . . .

As many of you know, I don't particularly care for large groups of kids. They smell, are noisy, are dirty and usually touch things they shouldn't.

Not sure what compelled me, but I agreed to "babysit" Eris' kids EVERY Tuesday evening. In the past it was Mondays, nice to get it done for the week. I think this time will be different. As I have aged, I have become more tolerant of these little demons.

The Littlest disliked me from the beginning. It wasn't until an Easter miracle a year ago that this changed (sure it had nothing to do with the bubbles I was blowing). I needed to pick her up from "school" today and I wasn't sure how she would react, she did cry when her dad dropped her off this morning. She was excited, took my hand and said "Do you have a car seat for me?" How grown up! She chatted the entire time it was just the two of us. Her brother got in the car and they started bickering.

As always, I don't cook, I make it extra special and the kids get whatever they want for dinner. Tonight it was Wendy's, ice cream and all!

We ended the evening with a friendly game of Wii bowling, Little and Littlest battling it out. Littlest was in the lead until Little bowled a spare in the tenth frame, Little won by 4!

Their father showed up at 8:30, the first thing out of Littlest's mouth was "I don't want to leave". This almost put a tear in my eye. I walked her out to the car and since I forgot to show her our twinner backpacks walked her back in the house for a quick peek. I gave her a hug and reassurance that we would play again next week. She reluctantly left.

I enjoy these kids more than my sister will ever know. It's so different being around small ones when a. they aren't yours and b. I'm this much older. I now understand why my friend, who is 56, amazes me with how he deals with his kids that are 13 and 10. Thanks sis!

My Olympic boyfriend . . . . .

I've been happily married for over 14 years. This is somewhat of an accomplishment in my family.

However, when I go places I get new boyfriends. I met a golfer, that was easily the same age as my dad, on a flight from SLC to Las Vegas. We shared quiet moments on the plane, both of us reading until the final approach, it was surreal. He is my St. George boyfriend.

My boss referred to himself as my Las Vegas boyfriend once while talking to my husband, it's a complete joke. He is also happily married with two beautiful daughters, let alone a gorgeous wife!

I have a subcontractor who brought me flowers, my husband was standing right there! He was good with it, glad to see I am appreciated. A co-worker calls him my boyfriend.

I would like to introduce you to my Olympic boyfriend. His name is Alexandre Despatie. He is a Canadian diver. Jubee has her own, American diver Troy Dumais. Hmmm, all I can say is Eh? YES!

Takes more than one to win a RELAY . . . . .

Just have to get this off my chest. Yes, Michael Phelps is amazing. But the coverage of his last relay award ceremony has me super bugged!

First, a team of swimmers made the preliminaries. Not just him.

Second, some bonehead reporter had the nerve to ask the anoother swimmer how he liked earning Phelps his gold. Hmm, I think they all earned it.

Third, all swimmers on the relay team swam the exact same distance. But who was talked about more?

Here is what I'm bugged about. During the award ceremony they showed the men as a team briefly. Then, they focused in on Phelps the entire rest of the National Anthem. All men had an equal share of the work, all men should have been treated equally in the award.

Crazy is as crazy does . . . . .

We all have that special someone in our life that is certifiably crazy. It could be a mother, an uncle or a neighbor. I live in an older area with not a lot of space between our houses.

Here is what we get to look at from our back yard.

Let's not forget the signage that was posted a few years back.

Are you serious? We have never done this!

I don't mind if Lily barks anymore as he's far more annoying and she is clearly scared.

ps - be sure to click on the scarecrow pic to get the full effect!

Held hostage by my zipcode . . . . .

For years my Lobster has more than disliked my zip code. She complains that to get to many places you have to drive through it, with only two streets in the entire city maxing out at 30 mph. I like it for these two reasons. Until this week.

Ugh! I had internet issues Tuesday night. I did what all others would, called technical support. I spoke to someone who's primary language was English, go figure, for 45 minutes. He couldn't fix my problem. Amazingly he put me on hold and disconnected the call, he had my number, I didn't have his. The next morning I call again and this time the girl wanted to troubleshoot before she sent out a tech. Can't do this, I'm at work, she doesn't get this point for quite some time. Also, I can't call from my house as my phones are down too! I call Qwest to get internet service and this is what I get "I'm sorry ma'am, it's not available in your area. We don't know when, or even if, it will ever be." SHIT. I'm stuck with the dimwits. Call provider back, DEMAND a tech, apologize for being a not so nice person, get a tech, kinda fixed.

THEN THIS . . . . . SAME NIGHT!

We have lived in this house for nine years, pretty much know what our monthly bills will be. Opened the water/sewer bill normally around $60 and it's freaking $236!!! WTF!!! The meter read that we used 30,000 gallons of water! Being the filer that I am, I pull all this years statements, we average 10,000. I requested a re-read. They came out this morning and re-read the meter, it matches. However, we have only used 4,000 so far this month. The nice lady from the city called me tonight and all but told me that I'm screwed. The water went somewhere is what she continually told me. Really braniac? But where? We have no soft spots in the lawn, no leaking faucets/toilets, no pool, no swamp cooler, no garden, where in the hell did all the water go? I told her that I don't trust my jerk neighbor and wouldn't put it past him to sabotage us. Now we have a guy coming tomorrow and looking things over to see if there is an issue somewhere. Hmmm, don't you think we have already done that? Then they can MAYBE take it to the City Treasurer for a possible adjustment. Great.

Another one bites the dust . . . . .

So, the kids went to Lagoon today. D-Rock went to console a friend. The race was a road course, not a good nap race. Hmmmm, what to do.

As many of you know, we are great with starting projects, not so great on getting them completed. Well, as the others were out, I completed a project!

I designed, painted and installed our new "coat closet" into a media mecca. It houses all our dvd's and Wii games. Props to D-Rock for getting the wood cut. I freaking love it!

I will be hosting tours if you are interested.

What can I say . . . . .

Done with the book. Not sure how I expected it to end. How do you end a series like that? Everyone always wants a happy ending! Unless you're my mother!

I'm glad it's done. I have never been one that reads much, but I get into a book/series and get sucked in and the rest of my life gets put on hold until I'm done. For example, I spent the night in Las Vegas Tuesday, flew home on Wednesday. What did I do in my spare time? READ!!!

I would agree with others stating that it wasn't as intense and exciting as I expected. It really couldn't have ended any other way. Seriously, how could she have written anyone out of the book? Just not possible to have anyone important die and still have a happy ending. We all have our favorite characters, some other than Bella and Edward!

Some of us prefer keyboard players, not lead singers.

Can't . . . wait . . . must . . . . read . . . .

Couldn't wait, bought my own copy of Breaking Dawn. This is the first book of the series that I have owned, my Lobster and her family have so graciously let us read, and re-read, the first three. I have a multitude of people I can borrow this book from.

However, I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one that was anxious. My Lobster had ordered one from Amazon, yet to be delivered. A book "accidentally" fell into her shopping cart at the devil store yesterday.

Following Eris's words, don't call and don't visit. I'm gonna be busy for the next few days, I don't read as fast as Eris.