It's Monday...

I'm sorry I can't hear you, I have a banana in my ear.

(To the curious, this phone connected to the ear bud jack of my cell phone did actually work) 

Or.

I'm floating in the pool and can't be disturbed, because...I've still got a few days left on my summer hall pass. 

Springfield Adventure

I woke on Monday morning, started a load of bath towels in the washing machine, unloaded the dishwasher, made a cup of tea, read a few pages in my book and thought--I miss my M. I then grabbed my phone, clicked on my calendar and saw I had a wide open week. Then I set out solo on the open road. I love that my summer hall pass allows me the freedom to be so spontaneous. I also love that M is more available this summer than she has been than in the previous two summers. Last summer she had a full load of summer classes and the Cardinals and the summer before that she was in New York doing an internship. My timing was perfect because the Cardinals home stand wasn't starting till Thursday. 

I arrived at M's apartment around 2pm. We chatted about life and such, then headed to the grocery store to stock up. We had plans to grill steaks, but you know Mother Nature this summer, she's just evil. And so it rained. Again. We opted for our Tuesday dinner plan of spaghetti and salad. College kids can have great dinner conversation too: "if you could change one course in history what would it be?" I loved listening to these young adults and how they wished the world wasn't such a place filled with hate. We then gathered in the living room to finish watching the Netflix series Grace and Frankie before setting off to bed. 

M and I woke on Tuesday excited to check something off our bucket lists--Laura Ingalls Wilder's house. First, we grabbed a coffee, because every great adventure starts with a dose caffeine and a Snap Chat to the sisters and King Ralph. 

Then we headed down a highway we had never traveled before...trail blazers of sort, exploring an unknown section of our state. I loved watching the local Amish riding on the highway's shoulder in horse and buggy. One buggy was even spotted hitched at McDonald's. As my friend told me, "even [they] like french fries." When we finally arrived at our destination we were like giddy school girls. We snapped lots of photos to remember our "Field Trip Tuesday." 

(Nice hunk of gum in the mouth Jodi) 

(M runs around in the front yard of Laura and Almonzo's Rock House)

We had lunch in the picnic area across the road from the original house 

Mother Nature was in our favor so we took to the backyard of M's apartment and transformed into the 

Wednesday we woke with a plan for adventure. It was misting a bit, but that didn't stop us from walking to the corner gas station, grabbing a coffee and then strolling around the university campus. It was quiet and peaceful, void of student activity, and I hadn't been to the campus since I took D for a college visit her senior year of high school. It was nice seeing the improvements [my money] is helping to make. (Wink wink) 

(bumped into M's sorority little during our stroll)

In mid May a new outdoor restaurant, with a bike theme, opened across from the trails. It was quickly decided we would try our hand at a tandem bike. We rented the bicycle built for two. 

What a device and lesson of team work...every work force should have a tandem bike day. It was quite the work out! It had challenges along the way too, but totally fun despite.  We ate lunch el fresco on the patio of the Sequiota Bike Shop, had delicious sandwiches and sipped well deserved adult libations. 

In the evening we decided on one last escape. Last week the St Louis Post ran an article about fifteen unique attractions in Missouri.  Just happens #13 was right there in ole' Springfield, MO--World's Largest Fork.  So off we went on a scavenger hunt to find the "absolute must-visit" attraction. It was a bit of a challenge spying it, as it hides on the back side of the building, as did the address placard. M spotted it and we felt like champions! To celebrate having seen such a marvel it was off to Pineapple Whip for a refreshing summer treat.  

I woke on Thursday kissed my M goodbye and headed home, but with my heart full. Don't worry middle, I'll be back again soon! 

Arm Wrestling With Mother Nature

"Some old-fashioned things like 

fresh air and sunshine 

are hard to beat"

~Laura Ingalls Wilder 

We had planned and plotted the long weekend get away for months: The Cousin Camp -n- Float Trip. Mother Nature thought differently. We, however, refused to be beaten! 

Packing the camper was extremely difficult because all it did (or should I say does this summer) is rain. Rain. Rain. Rain. When Wednesday came it was quickly decided that setting up camp in the torrential rain just wasn't going to be any fun. Instead we kicked it at home, trading BBQ and a campfire for an Imo's pizza and our own bed. Thursday morning I starting stuffing gear into the camper in my not-so-usual organized fashion. It was a day that was predicted to have a bit more rain...we gambled with evil Mother Nature and headed southwest to a popular Missouri state park. The entire day was georgous! King Ralph and I biked around the park for over an hour under a canopy of blue skies. The river; however, did not hide the ugliness that Mother Nature has cursed upon it. The river was swelled to the brim thanks to the relentless summer storms. We had hopes that the water levels would drop, along with the swift current, in time for our cousin float trip and the few visible rocky beach banks would multiple or widen.  

Then it started. The rain. Again!  Five hours of rain over night on Thursday into Friday. The rain beat long and hard on the camper, which I likened to a baby that cries all night. You know the kind of irritation that you must embrace, but cannot ignore. We took a short drive into town to find a Redbox (which turns out was a blue Redbox...still trying to figure out that color pallet) to rent a movie for rain alternative fun. Then we woke on Friday to mini ponds surrounding our campsite and a river that had risen higher and was clearly unsafe for water fun. The river was closed for business. It was swift, but quiet.

Saturday, the day of our planned cousin float still had hope and the makings for family fun. 

Friday King Ralph and M went zip lining.

I enjoyed reading outside , as the day was georgous. By evening Princess A, her Prince Charming, D and the dog joined us. We grilled burgers, sipped bourbon   limeaide slushies and made a roaring fire.  Then we slumbered with our hopes high that old man river would drop.  

Saturday, we woke to partly sunny skies and a phone call that the river had rose seven feet over night...no floating, the river was ordered to have yet another quiet day. The cousins began arriving, pitching tents in nearby campsites, unloading coolers and yard games.  That is when the alternative cousin plan went into full swing.  Princess A and my niece purchased prizes at the nearby dollar store and the "Family Olympics" were born.  We stood unified in a family circle, hats were removed while D and I sang the National Anthem.  We sang loud and proud, no cares if surrounding campers thought we were nuts.  We had events like corn hole, croquet and bocce ball. 

We played in pairs, but with an odd number the dog got a spot on the team...and was teamed up with me. 

 Once the dog forfitted her spot, I was assigned to select a teammate from the losing team when my round came into play. How I came to get my croquet mate felt like a version of Abbott and Costello's "Who's On First." I just quit trying to understand, instead I gave it my all and was the real loser of the "Family Olympics." There was medal preparations...some raised hands in a show of champions, while other sipped a drink from their mini golden chalices.

We broke for lunch, bike rides, beer and booze, a quick dip in the shallow somewhat-still portion of the river, 

before the patriarchs of the cousindom took to being the grill masters, while the matriarchs prepared side dishes. It was a good ole' tailgate buffet! 

Some cousin engaged in deep conversations, some of us played Yahtzee (where I reined the winner--a loser no more). There was desserts of watermelon and s'mores. There was music and some break out dances. There were men smoking cigars around a campfire...even cigar smoking lessons to the young cigar virgins. Quiet hour struck and cousins scattered to tents, park motel, and to a nearby homestead. 

We woke on Sunday, prepared a morning feast, sang a somewhat on key Happy Birthday to one cousin, hugged good-bye with hopes for a float trip one day and a guarantee that the "Family Olympics" will happen again! 

Breaking Free!

For months, I MEAN MONTHS, our street, neighborhood, has looked like this. Uhg. Sigh. 

As soon as it appears to be in re-pave state, it looks like this all over again. Except this time around it looks and drives worse. It is almost like off-roading, as you navigate past orange barrel after orange barrel, swerving left, then right to avoid large pot holes and cleanly cut squares of once concrete street surface. The Honda Accord isn't a big fan of off-roading. When leaving the neighborhood, often turning around to detour is the only option, as you are met with construction equipment and blocked street passages. Language skills of sort are heightened! There's a lot of "damn", "son-of-a-bitch" and the more flavored "mother f&@$;##*!" Walking on a beautiful morning outside is squandered by the taste of road dirt and the hum of concrete trucks. The other morning I'd had enough and took my exercise from the treadmill to the nearby nature center 

void of orange barrels and chug holes, I pumped my way down the path and through the woods. The hum of road equipment was replaced by the chirps of birds. The outdoor peace fired up a burn in me to escape farther. Soooooo....King Ralph and I woke Thursday morning and decided to head to the burbs of Chicago. We had 36 hours till we had to be at an already calendared affair.  We tossed essentials in carry-on bags and headed out on the highway.  Then we got stuck, no sitting idle in Springfield for 30 minutes because of road construction, then we continued to creep along. Uhg! No escaping what we longed to escape. And then again as we neared my Grandmother's nursing home--more road construction. Road construction EVERYWHERE!! 

After surprising my grandma, after she treated us to her stand-up comedy routine (jokes she learned at the home's beauty shop), I kissed her and promised I'd be back soon. 

Then it was off to my bestie's house. Nothing is better than a bestie fix. In a night and day we 

Sipped cucumber martinis

Hiked Swallow Staircase and Trails 

headed to the southside--for the best ice cream ever! 

(Let's see that rainbow up close) 

After dinner, and as the sun set, we headed to the backyard for a fire and marshmallow toasting.

Then we all crawled into bed, slumbered, woke, drove home and headed to a Fourth of July party. 

(Blue and white clothes in a red chair--makes patriotic attire). 

That's how we rock forty-eight hours of mostly spontaneous fun. 

M Is for Middle. M is for Madison.

I read this saying the other day that your first born child is the one who makes you parents, and it's your youngest child that makes you empty nesters. While that saying is very much the truth, what about that middle child? What does the middle child make you--crazy, perhaps? 

When our middle gets the opportunity to come home we are not left wondering if she is in fact here.  Her larger than life personality does not leave us questioning.  She always is adding humor and fire to situations. On the flip side she is always quick to show her gratitude for the things we do for her--like spending hundreds of dollars on her car to keep it in safe running condition, or reflecting on past adventures. 

She enjoys spending time with us...from getting rained on in the botanical gardens on a mom date, to infusing herself with history on a parent date. 

The middle is never left short of picture opportunity with a sister.  The middle is the meat between two slices of bread, or the pages between the cover of a book....

When it was time for our middle to return to her college town where she works for a minor league baseball team, parting was sweet sorrow.  I was back in my world of "home alone"-- which actually isn't all that terrible! (sorry kids!).  What neither King Ralph or I expected was a call that half way into her drive she blew a tire.  A tire was not part of the hundreds of dollars spent on car repair while she was she home.  Thank God for AAA.  Walmart, uhg! The place where prices drop, but the automotive department stands still in time.  Three hours later she had a new tire, and never showed for work that day.  

While she was sitting idle in Walmart I kept finding all these reminders that she was home.  

And this my friends, is how sibling wars begin! 

(The pantry white board) 

(The lower level family room) 

My thought, Princess A made us parents, and D made us empty nesters, but the middle child is the one who keeps the family alive! 

M is for middle. M is for Madison.

Rain, Rain, GO AWAY, Come Again Another Day (like weeks and weeks and weeks from now)

There is something lost in my usual summer hall pass morning ritual of sipping my cup of hot tea on the deck, grabbing the morning sun and reading a book.  There is something lost in my morning summer hall pass ritual of walking to Starbucks on Monday and Friday for a latte--exercise and caffeine all rolled into one.  There is something lost in my usual summer hall pass morning ritual when all my phone does is spit out emergency alerts that the area rivers are about to flash flood. There is something lost in my usual summer hall pass ritual of taking walks outside or bronzing my skin for an exact thirty minutes a day.  There is something lost in my usual summer hall pass ritual when I can't lunch with my girlfriends at eateries with patio dining or float on a raft in my sister-in-law's pool.  Mother Nature is screwing with a ritual that cleanses my spirit and lifts me up.

Yesterday; however, after a day of constant rain, I caught a burst of unexpected sunshine.  At 5pm a short break in the rain occurred.  The sky was blue, with soft white fluffy clouds and the sun poured down right onto my deck.  I grabbed my NOOK, opened my favorite chair and stretched out soaking in every last ray that was offered up in that twenty minute tease of a gift.  A girl's got to take whatever Mother Nature is willing share...or should I say spare?  While the sun was shining a gust of pleasant sweet wind blew and the rain laden maple tree leaves danced.  They danced a day's worth of water off its leaves--mimicking rain falling.  It was so beautiful, almost musical, with an encore performance.  Then as fast as the sun appeared it was gobbled up by a new batch of grey clouds and the rain resurfaced.

Once the sun set the rain stopped.  Then while we slept it started again.  And hasn't let up.  I miss the sounds of the cardinals chirping their early morning song of "birdie-birdie-birdie" and the young neighbor kids laughing in their yards.  I miss the sound of lawn mowers grooming yards .I miss the sight of my neighbor's underground sprinkler going off at the exact same time each day. I miss, I miss, I miss--a lot of thing sunshine permits us too. Ugh! ENOUGH ALREADY. IT'S BEEN RAINING SINCE LAST SUNDAY.  ENOUGH!!

Instead I am left to watching Redbox and Netflix movies, walking on the treadmill, jumping rope in the red room next to the piano, sipping tea or a latte (brewed from the Keurig) while sitting in the living room (peering out the window at rain) and surfing Pintrest for the next best thing I can cook up in the kitchen.

The grass is so tall I may have to resort to borrowing a goat or two to graze and chew down the height.  Good Lord, the lawnmower would bottom out in the marsh the yard has become.  The only sound besides rain I hear is our sump pump churning so often I fear it can't keep up.  There's a good chance that my old neighbors (and they out number us 10 to 1) are building an arc just in case the creek across the street rises and threatens to sweep us all away.

So. I plead with you, Mother Nature.  Down on bended knee, hands pressed together in a prayerful form...please, please, please, pretty please bring down the curtain on this symphony of rain.  My productivity is highly dependent on the amount of sun that shines.  The weather conditions have left me a muck, thus resulting in a bed that has not been made all week.

Think that begging was heard?  Or did that fall onto deaf ears, like when I ask my college kids to pick up after themselves?  Oh well, can't fault a gal for trying to plead with Mother Nature!        

Singing In The Rain

At the present moment I am experiencing first world problems. I have no electricity and my cell phone is dead. No landline, just a cell phone...see the problem? Being in communication with me is not an option. Opening the refrigerator is a no-no, need to keep the cool in the box, so cooking is out of the question. As is grocery shopping to restock the staples we are out of.  Just when I think the thunderstorms have passed, and natural light will flood the house, here comes yet another storm. 

Let me take you back a few hours , back to the mother/daughter date I had with M today. With just a few days left to her week home, while the minor league baseball team she is employed by is on the road, we figured some good local fun was calling us. We decided on the Botanical Gardens

where we could enjoy the lantern festival showcase pieces in the daytime.

When we left home it was a beautiful and comfortable 81*, but as we walked around the gardens it was clear the summer Saint Louis heat was catching up. We didn't care, we were spending time together. Ooooing and aaahhhing at all the things beautiful (that my black thumb could never grow), from flowers to artichoke plants in bloom. When the quickly approaching dark clouds, that I was confident we could beat, got us.

Once the rain began it came down in buckets. Once we were wet we were committed to being wet and just walked on--laughing and playfully singing the water cycle song. Honestly, what else is a soaked to the bra and undies mother-daughter duo to do? By the time we got the entrance the gentleman who graciously took our photo at the beginning, just happened to be there (soaked like us) at the end of the adventure, to snap our picture again. As you can see, like the flowers, we too got watered!

This just proves it's not how you spend  time together that makes the fun, but who you spend time with that makes the fun!

It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

There is no greater joy than that of my work year ending and my glorious unpaid summer break beginning! It's been a year to say the least!  A year of things I've seen, heard and processed I am more than happy to forget! 

This summer break will give me time to refill my empathy tank (it's been on empty way to long), stop the self soothing eating (M &Ms I shall miss you in a 3lb bag form), clear my mind and soul, lose some pounds (M&M I blame you, but thank you for helping me through the rough spots), read, bronze my skin (poolside) and hang out with the people I love. The people that fill me with joy.  I plan to camp, sip grapefruit and cucumber martinis, chug a blueberry lager, hike, run on the tread mill, have coffee and lunch dates with girlfriends, hang out with my nieces and daughters, float the river, go on dates with King Ralph... The joyful possibilities are endless. Make homemade strawberry jam. Visit the lavender farm (on my bucket list). Go to the lantern festival at the botanical gardens. Go to a Cardinals ball game. Take a trip to the wineries. Most of allow erase the nastiness of a year of ridiculous behaviors that permeated my work space. 

Hello summer I've been missing you! 

Spring Break Part Two: Mouse Trouble

We have mouse troubles.  Twenty years ago we had a mouse in our house and we won that war. So when we found clues in our pantry that we had a mouse in the house, after I pitched everything I thought a mouse had touched, and I bleached the shit out of the space, we went in war mode.  King Ralph devised our war plan--four traps with a taste of peanut butter and a temporary thresh hold thick enough to fill the gap at the base of the pantry door (a road block of sorts).

It was Monday night around 10pm, I had just crawled into bed, when I heard King Ralph calling my name from the kitchen.  Score!  People we have a mouse.

To be on the proactive side King Ralph reset trap one and left traps two through four in place. Because where there is one mouse, there is usually another.

It was 3am when suddenly our smoke detector starting talking to us, "your battery power is low." Really?!  Could this life saving device not have considered talking to us, say at 9pm?  King Ralph got up to tend to the battery need, when he told me he had got up earlier in the night and found two more trapped mice.  He reset the traps.  After searching for a battery he returned to the bedroom proclaiming a fourth mouse had been caught.  At this point I am freaking out.  Four mice in my house.  FOUR! It is at this point that I'm about four five seconds from wild in'! We tried settling ourselves back to sleep when at 4:12am I hear slap, snap...yep mouse five was trapped.  Twelve minutes later, slap, snap, mouse six.  I babbling to the dead mice, from my bedroom, "I'm out of gold fish crackers you bastards, you ate'm all."

Morning broke and King Ralph, cop by day, was now a mouse wrangler by night.  A title he wore proudly.  Like any good mouse wrangler would do he procured a bag of "TomKat" mouse poison. He slipped the tasty sticks under the sink's cabinet kick boards--he was in it to win it. (I do believe there was a section in our marriage vows that said "do you promise to allow King Ralph to tend to all mouse troubles, do you promise to allow him to set the traps and discard of the mouse...because I sure as hell was not about to touch those devilish rodents!)

Wednesday we left for church and King Ralph set a single trap, you know, just in case.  After church we went to the movies to see Cinderella (King Ralph was thrilled. NOT!) and when we returned there was a mouse in the trap. Mouse seven.  SEVEN.  SEVEN FREAKING MICE IN MY HOUSE.  My house is clean.  Can't these rodents scurry off to the dirty house in the neighborhood?

I am happy to say we had a mouse free night.  The mice either are experiencing a dehydrating death of yummy TomKat treats or they got the idea that their army is decreasing and the mouse wrangler is winning, sending them scurrying off to another abode in the hood.

Either way, King Ralph the mouse wrangler claims victory!    

Break Week Part One

Before my summer hall pass, comes my spring break pass. There is an unmeasurable amount pleasure in an alarm clock free week in March.  

The break started out with the most amazing weather; it has since taken a nose dive--but looks to be returning to that sun filled sky come Friday. 

Last weekend was spent outside on the deck. We all pulled ourselves inside for two reasons: 

1. Saturday evening at the theater...phenomenal! 

Can I just add that the parking garage attendants did not appreciate our girl quartet rendition of "All That I Am", as we paid to park. Clearly they do not fully understand how to embrace the "little-non-Broadway" folk of our fine (or not so fine these days) city. But we ripped it up! 

2. When the sun went down

Sunday we hung out on the deck with our favorite house guest: our nephew/cousin, the AF pilot. Princess A and D whipped up some homemade roasted garlic humus and fresh salsa. We sipped stouts and grapefruit martinis and played UNO. Then we grilled meats and veggies. We talked the nephew's city living dwelling options vs. the burbs. 

Monday was my quarterly coffee date with a good friend. And yes, coffee lasts no less than four hours. The sun was shining big and bright, so I took to the deck.  That was disturbed by the evidence of a mouse in the house. 

To be continued....

Shitty To The Third Degree

I basically had a shitty work last week; did 48% of a month's work in four and a half days.  I was losing faith in humanity. Then I began to feel like shit, and why not, because what goes around, comes around. It's been going around!   All my dreams of a Friday night and a well deserved glass of red wine were transformed into just wanting to come home and crawl in my bed and be sick. But noooooo. Instead I came home to this shit

A sewer back up. Uhg!!!!

It was a Friday night of sludge, shit and filthy language. Because when the culprit of the clog revealed itself, King Ralph had some choice words--for the four ladies in his life.  (I leave to figure the cause of the clog.)

Saturday allowed me a fifteen hour nap. It's exactly what I needed! I was able to soak a few rays of sunshine--nature's best medicine. 

By Sunday I was feeling much-much better. The weather was so beautiful. In one weeks time I went from snow boots to sandals 

 As I lay here waiting for the dreaded alarm clock to summon me from the comfort of my bed and back to work...I tell myself I can do this!  The reason. Next week is: spring break. Yippee! 

Brrrrr

Feels like 5*. Requires faux fur.

Ready for snow!

Fun, Love and Snow Is In the Air

February 13

I started the long weekend with a "galentine" date

where we sipped smuggled mini bottles of Merlot with Valentine straws and ate sweet tart hearts. The movie...heavy on suggestion, light on substance. Boardered on cheesy; as the audience laughter attested too. 

February 14

The way to catch a lady is with flowers.

The way to a man's heart is through his stomach. So I cooked: surf n turf. With a bit of bubbly to quench the thirst. 

Twenty-eight years ago King Ralph asked me to spend the rest of my life with him. I said yes! Best decision I ever made!! 

It was a Happy Valentines Day!

February 15 

We smoked meats. 

It seems lately when M comes home for a visit she is always having to beat Mother Nature at her weather games.  Instead of leaving Monday, as planned, she left Sunday afternoon.  I feel like we are being robbed (again) of our time to love on her.  She had to take dinner to go. 

(Mother Nature you better dump your predicted ten inches or there will be bones to pick with you!) 

February 16 

10am - The snow is still falling lightly, flakes dancing in the air. It wasn't the big snow predicted; definitely not the kind of snow that will roll into a Tuesday school snow day. Moving from the couch was a challenge, but I moved to brew a steaming, frothy cup of Joe, and splashed in a dash of Bailey's. It was my day off, after all.

Then I pulled on my long johns, added another layer of clothing, and shoveled the driveway. It was a tranquil chore. The neighborhood was void of activity. The only sound to be heard was that of my shovel getting down to concrete. 

As the evening beckoned the sky returned to it's hue of blue and puffs of white clouds, where the sun beamed in it's stage to set.  I returned to the couch where I stared at a roaring fire. Silence surrounded. 

Weekend. Success.