I spent most of my day with my youngest sister yesterday. We had planned a Mommy Free Day. She needed it to renew her sanity...I just needed it.

I used to wander around at flea markets...but the ones I went to were outdoors at old Drive-In Movie theaters. You had to walk past a LOT of crap...but you COULD find a great hidden treasure...if you were patient. Something I am not when it comes to shopping. If it weren't for my sisters, I would NOT have stayed as long as I did and found my prizes. They could outlast God! Which is one thing I have ALWAYS remembered...if they mention going to a MALL...I may pretend to agree to go at first...but the last minute I pull what we refer to as an Aunt Lois...I am suddenly afflicted with some painful unknown disease that require immediate bed rest...and off they go. They can close the mall down and STILL want more. (did I mention I HATE shopping?)

This flea market my sister took me to... There was twists and turns...it was huger and MORE confusing than Pan's Labyrinth! After 4 hours my feet were threatening to strike. (I REALLY need some better walking shoes!). I saw a door marked EXIT and I looked at her and said (in my best Chinese accent) "We be here 4 hour! We go home now!" She laughed, called me a wimp, whined that she DIDN'T want to go home but she headed for the door! God Bless HER! I almost broke into tears!

I came home with pizzas to feed the masses (becuz I really didn't feel like cooking) and after the 'boys' had scarfed it down for a while (if you open my fridge and yell...you get an echo)...I looked at them and did the Chinese guy again, "You be here 4 hour! You go home now! We have no mo' food!" They laugh. I'm SERIOUS! They took my son with them. I might see him some time today...at least I know where I can find him!

NO MORE FLEA MARKET! Although she threatened me with going there once a month. Like I don't have enough aggravation once month as it is...now I have THAT to look forward to. She tells me I haven't seen the whole flea market...YET! Lord, give me strength.

Today my house was invaded. And it was a happy invasion. Four big boys...one of which was mine...stuck their heads (and bodies) through the door into the kitchen and announced they were hungry...with big grins on their faces. I literally emptied the fridge and cupboards (luckily I had JUST bought disposable plates and such at the store). I made cookies yesterday...I 'saved' a few for my daughter! They filled their plates and went out to the table on the back porch. I brought other stuff out and my son said, "You guys are getting the royal treatment...she's bringing you stuff." To which I replied, "The FIRST time. You have been fed once...from now on you're family...you come here hungry...you know where the fridge is...how the nuker works...take care of yourself." They laughed...I said, "I'm not kidding!" They said, "Thanks!" and now I think I'm in trouble! But that's okay...this is what I've been waiting for. Next year my daughter will be adding HER friends to the household. We live like a 10 minute walk away from her school.

I think I may have to get a part-time job just for groceries.

Which makes me think of something:




The Klein Bottle.

It is actually a 4D figure of time and space that turns in on itself...with no discernable inside or outside. No REAL way of depicting it. But if you try and think about it...if you existed within the confines of the Klein bottle, your life would be forever twisting and turning, repeating itself...perhaps like reliving one day over and over...no beginning, no end...an endless loop...

I would never want that type of existence. However, if I had ONE day that I could turn into a Klein bottle...today would be a good one.

"Dancing in the Moonlight"

This song I have ALWAYS liked...and I don't know why.

A few years ago, when the daddy...um...was out of work...I worked part-time as a bank teller. The bank was right around the corner from the kids' school and the hours 'fit'.

There was this guy that came in there that always brightened my day. He looked a lot like an old bf of mine. He was ALWAYS smiling and I loved to make him laugh cuz he sounded like a seal! Seriously! It would make all the other tellers laugh and they knew I was making him laugh on purpose! One day he came in 'singing' this song at the top of his lungs...and he left singing it. The other tellers all looked at each other with that look on their face that said, "Yeah...he's flipped out." I just grinned. I thought it was GREAT! He had a very long Polish name that I could barely spell and could not pronounce to save my life. Since it started with "PI" he told me to just call him "PI" (pie). Steven 'PI'. So I always addressed him as Mr. Pi. I refrained from asking him what KIND of pie he was.... He was the cutest little thing! His laugh cracked me up and his bouncy nature was just so infectious. I tell ya...if I wasn't married...

Poor Scrawny. She has that new fangled squirrel feeder...full of food. I had to fill it this morning. It was totally empty. She was watching me from the edge of the treeline. As soon as I stepped back into the house she came scampering over.

She likes to sit on top of the railing and eat. Then I noticed ANOTHER squirrel on the ground below the feeder picking up fallen corn and nuts. Then ANOTHER squirrel hopped up onto the porch. I reached for the camera... the kids had absconded with it again so I had to go find it. By the time I got back, Scrawny had chased the other two away. One came back and this is what I learned...

If you see a squirrel with its tail straight up....don't mess with it. Scrawny straightened her tail out and that other squirrel took a leap back and then ran. The other squirrel kind bounced around nearby waiting for Scrawny to leave, but she sat on top of the feeder...looking around the yard...watching the birds flying around waiting for her to leave also.

All I wanted to do was leave her the pile of nuts on the porch in the morning. Watch her eat while I had my coffee. Now, she is going to be a nervous wreck trying to defend her feeder.

It's funny how you start out doing something nice becuz you want to. No one asks you to, or even if they do, you just do it cuz you know it will make them happy. Then things change.

Take for instance Scrawny Squirrel. I started putting the walnuts on the porch. She got used to finding them there. So, if she came by one morning and they weren't there, she took to sitting on the back of one of the porch chairs and staring in the window at us until someone came out and gave her some nuts. So, the daddy bought and put up a squirrel feeder. Scrawny uses it BUT it only has corn and sunflower seeds in it...no walnuts. I heard my daughter this morning fussing cuz the squirrel was staring at her through the window. She got up and opened the door to put nuts on the porch. Scrawny hopped down onto the porch floor and sat there looking at her like, "Do you have the nuts? and it's about time!"

Teenagers are a lot like that squirrel. You know, as kids, you do a lot of things for them. You go out of your way cuz you want to. They begin to ask you for things and you bend over backwards to make it happen. When they get to be teenagers it isn't so much just a question as an expectation. And if you don't agree to contort yourself to meet their 'needs', then they become demanding...and so dramatic.

All I know is, Saturday is coming. No one has anything on their schedules...the daddy will be home...if he thinks he's going to go play golf then he has to take the kids. Me and my van are out of here or I'm gonna 'splode stuff all over them. My youngest sister asked me to go to a big flea market place with her (she needs mommy-free time too) and I think I shall go. She and I...perhaps find a Starbucks to hide at. Cuz right today, I've pretty much had it with the whole immediate clan. I want to make it from one end of the day to the other without shoe prints on my back.