The world is a vampire, sent to drain

Today is one of those days.  Some might call it a funk, some might say I’m in a bad mood and some might go so far as to blame PMS.  Whatever the case… I find myself in a grumpasaurus rex kind of way.  Nothing is seeming to go right today and if I wasn’t equipped with sanity, I would believe the world was actually conspiring to annoy me in whatever way it can.

For fleeting seconds throughout the day, I keep admonishing myself for delving into the pity party I’m throwing today.  One might encourage me to ‘look on the bright side’, ‘count my blessings’ or some

Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone

It’s just too damn cold around here.  I’m used to saying that 6 months of the year.  Winter is way too long.  The cold sucks your soul dry and the clouds will drive you to depression. 

But the reward for sticking out yet another miserable Michigan winter is the promise of a warm and sunny summer.  The heat and humidity of June, July and August is about the last thread I cling to when February’s melancholy refuses to abate.  It’s that contract with Mother Nature that keeps me sustained.  I cleave to it and count the months until my promise is fulfilled.

This year, Mother Nature

Refinement

For a short time, approximately 3yrs ago, we owned the house next door.  We already had a rental on the north end of town, but this house would be to ‘flip’.  Buy it cheap, fix it fast and sell it quicker.  We had a solid game plan when we purchased it but without a psychic friend Cabrina, we had no way of knowing

In pursuit of a family picture

We decided to take advantage of Holland’s 4th of July celebration yesterday since we are going to a friend’s party today.  I really didn’t want the kids to miss out on the big fireworks and the family time spent alone together. 

While there, we tried to take a family picture with the aid of the self timer in the camera.  We set the timer for 10 seconds & didn’t realize that it took 3 rapid shots in a row.  Now, any family picture normally takes a few tries but here is our progression.

Attempt #1

The painted turtle experience

One night in Ludington, we decided to take the kids down and build a campfire for s’mores after dinner.  Dan was reluctant to go fishing and leave me to this task alone. I think he was having flashbacks to my previous ‘camping’ failure.  After much reassurance that I could handle it, he left to go find some fish.

Now, I can do a lot of things and if need be, I’m sure I could have figured out how to make s’mores happen but