I'm on vacation!

I'm Cape bound! Please cross all of your extremities that:

1) Jocelyn is as good, if not better, than she was last year
2) No one we know dies while we're there (last year we had to come home for a friend's dad's wake)
3) Mommy and daddy don't catch whatever Jocelyn has - and whatever Jocelyn has goes buh-bye
4) Mommy and daddy can manage to go most of a week without grandparents
5) Mommy and daddy can go a week without fighting (love you too blankety blank)
6) There isn't a lobster shortage
7) The sun shines all week(c'mon Uncle Hy!)
8) The hydrangeas are as beautiful as last year
9) Mommy's new bathing suit looks good on her
10)Mommy doesn't eat herself into a new dress size

I'll post pictures soon!

Cheers, S.

My thoughts on tag sales...

For those of us who have tag sales (myself included) to make some extra money... I pity you.

My neighborhood had a tag sale last weekend. Dave and I "made" (for the sake of my bad math skills.. let's round up to an even number) $300.

Now... let's be realistic. We spent from 9-4 outside in the sweltering heat. If we made $300 that would be an average of about $42 an hour. Not bad. Even if it was REALLY hot.

Divide that by the number of people that were outside "selling" which was about 2 per hour. So now we're at $21 an hour. Okay... not horrible.

But still there was prep time. Hours spent gathering junk. A room in my house dedicated to be the "tag sale stuff room" for an entire season...embarrassing moments when guests came to my house and saw the "tag sale room stuff" filled with tag sale stuff a/k/a junk...There were the "no kiss goodnight" nights filled with fights over what I consider fit for sale and what my husband (love you too!) considers collectible. There was the broken license plate brackets for when I pulled into the garage and hit the "collectibles" I hid in the garage..because the"tag sale room stuff" pile got to be too much that you couldn't see the floor...

Get the picture?

Then after the tagsale we have to clean up... throw away all the "collectibles" that no one wanted to buy - another hour or two of labor... then feed the babysitters....which means about $200 at the grocery store.

So I don't think we really gained anything... except for a sunburn... some tired feet and more "collectibles" from another neighbor's tag sale.

Where is the logic in this?

Cheers, S.

Rain rain go away... come again some other day!

(This was taken on July 3)

Well Uncle Hy brought us great weather for the 4th. While it wasn't sunny - it didn't rain during peak party hours and it was humid as heck so the cool pool was just what my sweaty skin needed.

I have to hope that we've seen the end of the rain and we can get back to the hazy hot and hellish days of summer that I love and dream of the other 8 months of the year. I can't tell you how miserable I've been staring at the rain pouring into the pool all spring and summer. I feel jipped. Maybe we can make up the time and have a hot like hell September and October..

Or maybe it's time I think about getting a heater for my pool. Or a hot tub. Or a rich husband since I know my current one is probably shaking his head reading this.

Pout.

Cheers, S.

The story of Uncle Hy...

Every family has weird traditions... Some are downright obscure to outsiders. I think my family has one like that...

My mother's family has a belief that one of my great Uncles has a power far greater than mother nature. You want rain... he'll give you rain (WHY!)...if you want sunshine...all you have to do is ask Uncle Hy.

How this started is still somewhat of a mystery...some of my mom's cousins said it started at the beach when they wanted good weather and Uncle Hy just said "Have faith it will be nice..." and it was... and wallah...

This tradition continues to this day and there is now a 4th generation of believers in Uncle Hy's "almighty" power. Jocelyn wrote this poem this a.m;

I hear different stories on every TV
About what tomorrow's weather will be.

Some say storms... some say haze
I think those weatherman are in a deep daze!

Uncle Hy will listen, because I said please twice
Not to have sunshine tomorrow wouldn't be very nice!

So have faith in UHF cuz he knows the plan
That's why we count on him as our sunshine man!

For example, remember my trip to Richmond? It was supposed to rain. I asked Uncle Hy (who is in heaven now) for good weather and while the weathermen said it was raining -- I came home with a great tan. It was gorgeous.

He's never let it rain on Jocelyn's bday YET - and I have faith he won't let it rain this year.

I know it's a lot to ask considering the crappy weather we've been having all summer... but I was hoping he could let us have a few good hours tomorrow afternoon for a summer barbeque. I usually have at least 2 by now and so far I've had zip.

So let's all have faith that the rest of this summer is warm and sunny - cuz so far... it sucks!

Cheers,

S.

Edited 7-4-06: God let it pour at 12:00. Uncle Hy stopped that nonsense at 12:58... 2 minutes before my barebeque began - despite the weathermen's predictions for a stormy afternoon. What do they know! Thank you again, Uncle Hy...now let's focus on making August 26th a bright, sunny and hot day for the 3rd year in a row!