Summit County Fair

For the second year, Barbara has, with mouse in hand, won Best of Show in the junior pet parade at the county fair. Last year, the prize-winning giant mouse (aka chinchilla) was Bella. Bella is of a nervous disposition - yes, they have distinct personalities - and does not do well with people in general. Including us. This year, we wisely decided to take Betty. Betty goes to the Stow-Munroe Falls Library pet show every July and does rather well, and has been at the fair, too. Fortunately, we had beautiful weather - nice breeze, a bit sunny, and the rain held off for us. Photos abound. Total winnings: two trophies and three ribbons. Fair food is excellent - swiss cheese on a stick, fried vegetables, gyros, and lemonade - and that was just for me! I'm headed for the treadmill, with an extra fifteen minutes for good measure. The ferris wheel almost made me lose my expensive lunch helpings - I wish it had. God only knows the calories involved in today's outing.

Animal Friends, Panic, Etc.

The usual Monday-ness . . .

So my mom called twice this afternoon to complain about the jeweler (who did not fix her ring properly) while I am having a program, which is essentially taken over by a summer camp group that will not behave. I cut the program time to get them out of here.

In the middle of the program, my ex calls to tell me that my daugher lost half of her loose tooth during ranch camp this morning, and he is taking her to the dentist to get it taken care of. Great, I am glad he is handling it, since the last time that he was the only parent around when she needed attention of this sort, he dropped the ball. They were in New Hampshire last summer with his mom and her people - who are nightmares personified - when Barbara shut her thumb in a truck door when at the store with her grandma. She came home with a broken and unattended-to thumb. She had a cast for over two months. Poor kid was home with me before getting an ER visit. Nice job, Dad, and what about grandma? Aren't grandmas supposed to look out for you? She started school with a huge purple cast up to her elbow. For a thumb, I tell you.

And now . . . something ate my other blog. The site that sponsors it is down, too. Both are hosted by WordPress. What is up? Maybe I should import it into this one . . . something to think about.

Good thing about today - my boss is back after a two week vacation! I love my boss. Bad thing about today - I have to go to my parents' to drop off the receipt for my mom's ring, sure to catch the blame for all the problems she has been having with the darn thing.

Animal Friends!

Animal friend randomness.

Pet Show

We brought our giant fluffy mouse, Betty, to the pet show at the Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library last night - and today, we had the animal guy here at work for the summer reading program, and he brought - yes, a chinchilla! I can't get enough of these adorable mouses.

Of course, we love cat friends, and the B found many at the show to love. Before the show, we went to my parents' house for birthday cake - here is the B putting the candles on her big brother's cake - which was called Sinfully White Cake. It is from Acme and is white cake with white chocolate frosting and white chocolate pieces on top. He only likes white chocolate, unless it is a Reese cup, in which case, he will eat, but he will take six months to eat two. He keeps his candy in the dairy rack of the refrigerator - nothing else allowed in there - and drives his sister crazy. She eats all sugar based foods within five minutes of getting her hands on them and does not understand why anyone else would not do the same. Meanwhile - she is thin as a rail, and her brother is about five times her weight - yes, he could lose about a hundred and twenty pounds, but that's a different story . . . so when I refer to them as "the large child" and "the small child," I mean that quite literally.

Six Uninteresting Things

I was tagged by Pastor Sharon to list six uninteresting things that I like, so here goes:

1. Henry James - I think he's interesting, but no one else does. It's pretty bad when I know more about him and his work than any of my teachers do.

2. Buttons - my grandma had a button tin, and I inherited it. No one else wanted it, so there was no question of my taking it. She told me to take it when she was dying, but I wasn't going to haul it off while she was still breathing - that would not have been cool. There are a zillion different buttons in there, collected over a good fifty year period. I used to take them out and play with them when I was a child, and I still do, usually when I am missing her more than usual.

3. Lemons - I adore them. I need them. I started craving them when I was pregnant with my son and I still love them. I eat the whole lemon, like everyone else would eat an apple. Skin and all. They are my Prozac. As soon as I finish this post, I am running out to Quizno's for my fifty cent iced tea refill, with all the lemons I can fit in the cup.

4. Literary agency - the history and nature of literary agency is a huge part of my doctoral dissertation. I'm in bed with it 24/7. Move over, Henry James.

5. NASCAR - Not uninteresting, but I can't think of anything else to write. Of course I find everything that I think is interesting interesting, so it's hard for me to think of something that might be uninteresting. People are often surprised at my affection for racing, so that's why I am including it.

6. Chinchillas - I adore my giant mouse friends!