Holiday Nails

For Eileen - the fingernails haven't held up well, but her toenails, which were painted and decorated by her friend Savannah yesterday, are quite a work of art.

For those interested - a plate race involves the mandated use of an aluminum plate to interfere with speed levels at the superspeedways at Daytona and Talladega. With it, cars hit around 190, without it, the record is 228. There were several serious accidents that precipitated this rule, but the bottom line is our boys can't race like they want. The aerodynamics at these tracks are perfect for drafting, which pulls cars along at faster speeds and requires some clever and intelligent use of physical laws. The manipulation of these laws, which vary from driver to driver and crew chief to crew chief, are fascinating.
Racing isn't as simple as it looks most of the time. The more you know about it, the more interesting it is, like most things.

Eileen - the deleted comment was just some strange gobbledygook. Whoever it was was not a native speaker of English and it was indecipherable - kind of like spam. My other blog is set for comment moderation before posting because I have a huge spam problem over there.

Swimming now, in spite of the overcast sky and cold water. Even the sand pit is cold! It's great to be outside, though, and there is a nice, gentle breeze. I wish I could go to my grandma's and sit out on her back patio. We used to have our Fourth of July picnics over there. I am sure she is celebrating in her own way.


via BlackBerry

My Favorite Holiday

I adore the Fourth of July - it is my favorite holiday. I can't stand Christmas. There are a variety of reasons for that, ones that I will probably holler about at, well, Christmas.

Lots of swimming today, then fireworks, then of course, watching the race, at Daytona. I love Daytona, but I hate restrictor plates. Plate races are frustrating, and if they are for us fans, I can't imagine how they are for the drivers. Actually, I don't have to imagine, the drivers say that they hate plates. My boy is on the pole, because he is first in points and qualifying was rained out. Go Tony! His car carries the Burger King paint scheme tonight, which will be weird, seeing as I can't stand the Burger King himself. Creep. Tony looks adorable in his BK suit, though, I could take a bite or two out of him anytime.

Happy Fourth, everyone. Long live the U.S.A.!

Order List

This week's strange order list books:

Goat Song: A Seasonal Life, a Short History of Herding, and the Art of Making Cheese

and

The Complete Guide to Upholstery

I suspect Eileen might be fascinated by the second one, but really, the first? I admit I go to the county fair every year, and we do show our chinchillas there - and yes, my son was in 4H and showed rabbits when he was much younger - but goats? Those things usually end up eating someone's clothes when we aren't paying attention at the fair (because we are busy stuffing our faces with cheese on a stick or deep fried vegetables, never mind the lemonade and fries).

I am running away from serving the public information needs this afternoon to watch my daughter's work summary dance performance. The pic above is from her WS in May - she was in the midst of a tap duet with her friend Kimberly.

Eileen - what kind of flowers are in the second pic? These are right beside the library at KSU. I always take pictures of flowers wherever I go, so I couldn't not take these. The color was very striking.

Library Magic Show

The neighbor boy looks a bit warmer in this pic. We are at the neighborhood library for the summer reading program magic show. Not like I didn't just spend day working at another library . . .

via BlackBerry

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.

Day Lilies

My parents' front yard. This is for Hit 40.

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The Baby is 18!

I can't believe my son is 18 today. He came along while I was still working on my bachelor's degree, was unmarried, and rather unfocused as to how my life was going. Many people said - and some still do - that I should not have had him. Too much responsibility, too much money, too much time and effort - all reasons why I should not have a baby at 22, before finishing school and getting married. There was never a question as to whether I would have him or not - there was a reason - or many - why he was sent my way when he was, and while it has not been an easy ride, especially with the 'autism' effect, I can't imagine my life without him.