Sights Around Town

The town we live in is shaped like a circle. The river forms a huge letter C around the north, west, and south sides of us. On the other side of the river are big hills. We have some gentle hills inside town, but the bigger ones are across the water.

So we live in a secluded hilly valley. I'm sure that this is one area of the country that most people associate with redneck hill-billies. And they would be right for the most part. There are lots of 4-wheelers and bass boats around. Everywhere you look there is U of A paraphenilia with the occasional Auburn bumper sticker thrown in. College football is IT around here.

But looking beyond the obvious embellishments of the Deep South, there is a lot of beauty around here. And it's sort of comforting to know that the landscape is cradling you in a natural protective way.

Sorry the pictures aren't that great. Hazy today.

Ah, Books!

My favorite thing to do is read. I have some books I read over and over, but I especially like finding books I've never read before. They are like treasures. Sure, I've found several books that looked like they were going to be interesting, that eventually turned into duds. Some are like Skittles candies: cheap and not any "nutritional" value, but still irresistable. Those are my secret treasures that I probably won't share just because I don't want to be judged for reading such non-literature.

Buxton Village Books--too cute!

Right now I'm reading Peyton's Place and Return to Peyton's Place (both in one edition). I had never heard of this book. I thought it was a TV show of the 50s (it was) and therefore put in the same class as Leave it to Beaver, Andy Griffith, and those other black and white shows they still show late at night. Boy was I wrong! There is sex, drinking, scandal, and a whole host of skeletons in every closet in town. What I find that I relate to with the book, is the need to put a pretty face on everything. Just ask Hubby how I am. One night we were having a heated disagreement and I said maybe I would blog about it. He just laughed and said, "No, you like everyone to think your life is perfect. You wouldn't write anything to show it otherwise." And he's right.

In Peyton's Place the characters are the same way. And I can relate to that. I want them to keep their secrets. I don't want Allison to find out her parents were never married. I don't want anyone to know about Selena's trouble caused by her stepdad. I like the tidy little town, all clean and safe-looking. But at the same time I want the characters to have their problems. I don't think we should live in a Stepford world, I just don't think people need to go around airing their dirty laundry in public.

Peyton's Place reminds me a little of Empire Falls. Another one of my favorites. I like the small New England setting and characters. Maybe because they are so different from what I'm used to.

Update on latest project: I laid 65 square feet of tile today (I am sore!) and the AC is back up and running.

No AC

The floor project has been put on hold due to the fact that the blower on the AC went out last night. In the dark, there wasn't much Hubby could do to fix it. Right now it is 91 inside. If only it would rain, we would get a little relief.


Hubby plans on ordering the part and waiting for it to arrive, possibly several days before it gets fixed. I plan on taking the part number to the local HVAC store and seeing if they have it in stock.


Here is a picture of Mr. C cooling off on vacation. If only we had our own pool...

Why is it that when things are good, they are very good, but when they are bad, they are awful? There's a Mother Goose rhyme about a little girl who acts like that. I can't remember how it goes but I think she had curly hair. I'm sure my mom knows the rhyme I'm talking about; she used to recite it to me.

M is making chicken salad for dinner. Yum!

Another Project

Despite the heat we have taken on another project. Since the bathroom floor turned out so great we are doing the kitchen. Here's the before.

The floor looks fine the way it is so why bother? Well, when we moved in we bought enough tile to do the bathrooms and kitchen (including the hallway down to the laundry room). When we added on the breakfast nook we put down self-stick linoleum tiles as a temporary fix, while we got up the nerve to work with ceramic tile. And this is where the tile has been since then.

So over the weekend we started by putting some backerboard down. Then Hubby went off to work and told me not to touch anything until he was home and could work on it. Since he's planning on going out after work tonight to celebrate someone leaving to go work at VW, the floor would have to wait until Tuesday night. That would be totally inconvenient for me--the fridge is out in the middle of the kitchen floor. So I've started laying the tiles!
Here is the dry fit. Starting in the middle of the floor, with everything squared up.

Time to break for lunch.

I'll probably be able to finish all the full pieces today and then Hubby can do the cut tiles tomorrow.

What I've Been Reading, Watching, & Drinking

I know it's much more interesting to most people to hear about what the kids are up to but I thought I'd just write about me today. A while back I posted on perspective and likened it to a peephole in a fence. I am trying to keep this a positive peephole, so sometimes it is hard to find things to write about. There are a lot of things going on that just don't show up when you are allowed to look through this particular hole in the fence. Here are a few of the things I'm willing to share.

What I've been reading.

I just finished In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson. Unlike a Walk in the Woods, by Bryson, which made me want to strap on a backpack and take on the AT, this new book made feel content to stay put and simply read about the varied offerings of Australia. It was interesting, but there were so many negatives about the country: overwhelming size, strange political system, weirdo people (Queensland), and several creatures just waiting to kill anyone stepping off an arriving plane. Plus the places that he found "nice" were comparable to places in the US. So I appreciated the read, but it didn't inspire me to jet off.

What I've been watching.

Besides the normal sitcoms/series, I watched The Last Station this week. It chronicles the last days of Tolstoy. The cast/acting was amazing. Of course I'm not a movie critic so I'm just speaking for myself. I was surprised that I had not heard of this movie when it was out in theatres. We do live in a pretty backwards area, so we don't get every movie that comes out. On a side note: Last year M's class was to go on a field trip to see The Boy in Striped Pajamas. The movie theatre didn't show it when it was released, so they ended up going to see Madagascar 2 since we had already paid for the trip in advance. That is also a view of the education system down here. Back to The Last Station. The movie cover makes it look like it's all about people falling into bed together. While there is some of that, there is more to the story.

What I've been drinking.

I just love this BearBoat wine. It tastes good, but I especially adore the bears on the label. If you can't read the picture it says: What a wonderful round, full body. Why, thank you. There are several different bottle labels. Same bears in the same position, but saying different things. On the back of each bottle, you can read the story of Mac and Zeke, who are the bears on the front label. I wish I could move to California and work at a winery. I would like a stress free job that involves spending most of my time lying in a hammock, drinking wine, and reading delightful books. If you see any job postings matching that description, let me know!

For now I'm stepping out from in front of this peephole and back into the murkier areas of my life.

Sights Around Town

The cotton is starting bloom. I think it is pretty to see the fields full of the pink and white flowers. Also, depending on where you live this might be an uncommon sight. We do have corn and beans down here too. When we lived in SC there was tobacco, but I haven't seen any near here.

I looked up the cotton production statistics for our county. The last year listed was 2007. Here are the last 7 years:

2000: 2900 bales/ 4300 acres

2001: 7000 bales/ 4300 acres

2002: 4200 bales/ 4000 acres

2003: 2500 bales/ 1700 acres

2004: 5400 bales/ 2200 acres

2005: 7100 bales/ 4000 acres

2006: 6300 bales/ 4520 acres

2007: 2960 bales/ 2400 acres

I suppose as with any kind of farming there are weather conditions and market conditions which explain the fluctuation in the amount farmed and produced.

I wish that I had a picture of a bale of cotton. They are as big as the trailer of a semi. The way cotton is harvested leaves a lot of waste. If you hand picked it you could get another bale out of most average sized fields. On a field trip in SC I asked the farmer about all the waste. He said it isn't cost effective to pick up all the left overs on the ground. It just blows away.

I'll take a picture when they harvest around here, if I'm still blogging then. It will be around Thanksgiving or Christmas, depending on the weather.

Funny Video

This is what we consider funny around here. Of course it helps that we have our own swagger wagon. Hopefully it plays... If not you can search swagger wagon on youtube. Sure, like you'll go to all that trouble.

In other news, the ceramic tiles fell out of the tree during a storm on Sunday. Yeah, no more death trap in the front yard.

We had a CityFest on Saturday. I forgot my camera, plus it was raining, so no pictures. There were probably at least 8,000 people there. That's A LOT for our town. It is held at the high school. We live right behind the school, so we could walk. There were all the regular things that are usually at craft fairs (Hubby calls them crap fairs) as well as carnival rides, food, and free concerts all day. We went to see Mr. Blackwell's Petty Thieves. They're the only local band I know. They just graduated from high school and usually play other people's music, but some of their own too. Because of all the rain delays the fireworks which were supposed to go off at 10pm didn't go off until 11:30. They were right over our front yard, so we all just stood on the front stoop in our pj's and watched them. Excellent!

New Template

In an effort to figure out my continuing problem with inserting pictures wherever I feel like it in a post and also to answer some of my aunt's (Queen Bee's) questions about blogs, I have changed my template.

This is one of Blogger's new templates they have available (for free) if you look under the "Design" tab. There are a limited number of other designs to choose from.

Marvelous with Queen Bee

Yeah!!! There is a picture in the middle of all this writing! Idid it! I accomplished something!

There is probably a way to change the html on the templates from thecutestblogontheblock.com to allow for the pictures, but I'm not that advanced. I do miss my pretty pink border.

And if my cousin, who I will name Long-lost Cousin Who Never Writes or Emails, is still wondering about blogging, look how easy it is. If I can do this anyone can.

A summer storm is brewing. I'm off to enjoy it on the deck.

Things Stuck in the Tree

I was thinking of writing about M's driving yesterday. She got the gas and brake mixed up and we almost collided with a little red car at an intersection. But then something even more interesting (?) happened.

Mr. C has a habit of throwing his boomerang into places where it becomes stuck for weeks at a time. He happened to remove it from the roof, where it has sat welcoming everyone to our house since the end of May,by throwing a PVC pipe at it. About 15 minutes later it was stuck up in the oak tree.

He tried the pipe again but it didn't work on the tree. As a matter of fact, the pipe also got lodged in the branches. So Daddy to the rescue. Kind of.

Hubby decided to use an 8 foot baseboard (to finish the bathroom, not bought just for this emergency) to knock the boomerang down. The pipe came down right away. On the next throw the board stuck in the tree. hehehe!

The picture above shows his first attempt to remove the board, by swinging the hose at it. I labeled the picture so you can see how high up the board is. The hose didn't work.

Next he decided to chuck a ceramic tile at it. After a few tries the board came out of the tree. With such success he decided to try for the boomerang. Several attempts later the tile began falling apart as it hit the ground and the boomerang hadn't budged. He still kept it up until the tile started falling apart in the tree!

Then he got out the 20 foot ladder and climbed up the tree. By now the sun is setting, just so you get an accurate picture. (I was holding the end of the ladder so I couldn't take a picture plus Hubby wasn't interested in me documenting the ordeal.) He climbed out on a limb and tried to jump to wiggle the tile pieces into falling--we don't care about the boomerang at this point in time. No such luck.

Finally admitting defeat, he put the ladder up and went out on a beer run. So now we have a death trap out front, with ceramic tile ready to fall on unsuspecting visitors. Hopefully it waits until October when the girls' friends(?) come to roll the trees. Just kidding--I wish those little vandals all the best of health and happiness (sarcasm here).

As for the boomerang, it will probably stay up there forever. After all there is a soccer ball that has been up there since a week after we moved into this house.

Mr. C Has a Busy Day

I woke Mr. C up a little before 8 this morning. This is Very Early for any of my kids to be up in the summer. But we had somewhere to be at 9: the orthodontist. Today was the day to get Mr. C's braces off. He's only worn them on his front 4 teeth for the past school year. Still it's exciting to see his big teeth again. And boy, does he have big teeth! I'm sure we'll be back for another set of braces in a few years, but hopefully we've avoided any major problems like S had when she was younger. (I consider losing a permanent front tooth a major problem.)

On the way home, Mr. C begged to go to Books-a-Million to buy The Odyssey. I convinced him we should try the library--much cheaper and you can give it back it you don't like it. We found the book and I had him try to read it. I explained that it was written a long time ago and is hard to read, like the KJV of the Bible. He looked at it and asked if there was a newer version of Homer, like the NIV Bible. The librarian found a children's version, but it's checked out. We got The McElderry Book of Greek Myths instead. He usually won't read picture books anymore, but he likes this one.

Last night we bought a Carolina jasmine vine and a trellis for it to climb up. When we got home from vacation, my Confederate jasmine had nearly taken over the deck. Mr. C thought that was awesome and wanted his own vine. He planted it out back today. See picture.

You're probably thinking, That kid is totally spoiled, his mom should tell him no sometimes. In case you weren't thinking that let me add one more detail. As I am standing here blogging and cooking spaghetti for dinner, Mr. C asked if he could have some chocolate ice cream. "Sure," I replied. What the hell is summer for if not eating ice cream whenever you want it? I promise to make him go to bed tonight. Maybe.

Home Again, More Pictures

I'm not sure how many photos I can put up on one post. Here are all the nieces and nephew.

From top: Niece #1 (Goldilocks) with S going up into the observation tower of the Chicamacomico Life Saving Station. Goldilocks was the only one of us who could pronounce Chicamacomico. She's very bright and as a result will be going to a new school for a special enrichment class next year. Kudos to you Goldilocks!

Niece #2 (Beauty) playing in the sand. Beauty loved being in the sand! At one point she ran and flopped on her tummy, yelled "Sand Angel" and started moving her arms and legs like you do to make a snow angel.

Niece #3 (Curly) with M. When we went inside the Life Saving Station the kids had buddies to keep the little ones from touching things. Curly and M really hit it off. She's the one who fell and hit her head, but you can see from the picture that it healed up nicely.

Nephew (Boisterous) in the pool. Boisterous really enjoyed the water, both at the beach and the pool. Since the deep end wasn't very deep and all the kids could swim it was very relaxing for the adults to just let them jump in and watch. I remember those days of having toddlers clinging to your shoulders as you swim around the pool; and how loud they complain when you need to take a break. We didn't have any of that on this vacation.

More Vacation

We have been busy. Hubby and Mr. C went deep sea fishing today. We're going to eat trigger fish for dinner. Never heard of trigger fish, so not sure what to expect.

All us girls (& nephew) went up to Avon while the others were out fishing. We had an excellent lunch at the Froggy Dog. We walked out on the pier and watched a guy about to catch a big fish. When they realized it was a stingray, they broke the line so we didn't get to see it. We did see a family catch several baby sharks. They said they had caught 8! I wonder if they just kept catching the same one over again.

Yesterday Niece #3 fell off a barstool and got a ginormous bump on her head. My sister and mom had to take her to the doctor and thankfully she was fine. It was a pretty hectic time. We are very isolated out here and had to call the rental agency to find the nearest doctor's office. It was only about 15 minutes north of here.

Today we went to watch the Hermit Crab races. We had seen the sign and waited all week for the event. I wasn't sure what to expect. The crabs are put in the middle of a plywood disc (corralled inside a plastic tub) and they race to see which one comes off the edge of the disc first. The funny thing is that most of them get to the edge and then crawl around it, clinging to the side instead of dropping to the ground. It doesn't take much to amuse me.

We've had several more trips to the beach and countless hours by the pool. Our hair is all much lighter and our skin is much darker. I think everyone is having a great time.

Vacation

I actually brought my computer on vacation and have looked at it but that's about it. Since I uploaded some pictures I thought I'd share a couple.

M wanted her picture with me in front of the Hatteras Lighthouse. Some other kiddies jumped in at the last minute and she told me to crop them out of the picture. So there you have it.

We are sharing a house with my aunt, mom, sister and her family (3 nieces and 1 nephew). This is the first time my sister's kids have been to the ocean. So it was priceless to see them when we got to the beach. They aren't phased by the salty water. They just kept jumping back in.

One of the highlights of our trip was watching a turtle lay her eggs in our yard this morning. I got a video of it, but still can't figure out how to put a video on here.

Our immediate family took the ferry over to Ocracoke today. We waited two hours to get on the ferry. The island was neat, but not worth the wait to take the ferry over. When we got back we went to eat at the Breakaway Restaurant. Do not eat here if you come to Hatteras Island! The food was overpriced and not any good. My kids love shrimp, but they didn't even eat what was on their plate. Usually they wolf it down. I had scallops. They were supposed to be broiled in a butter, white wine sauce. When they came they were orange because they were covered in what I think was Old Bay Crab Boil. I tried to scrape them off, but gave up. What a bargain for $24 (sarcasm here)!

Overall we are having a great time. We can see the ocean from our house. We walk down a short cul-de-sac to get there. We also have our own pool. So we are set for swimming. We are also all getting in great shape because there are 4 floors to this house. The kitchen/living area is on the 3rd floor. Bedrooms are downstairs.

I'll try to post more pictures this week. But if I don't you'll know I fell asleep in a lounge chair at the pool.