Lightbulbs

So, we’ve been “investing” in the new fancy compact fluorescent bulbs for several years now. Let me just say that I’m getting disgruntled. So they’re supposed to last for 6-7 years. Right?? Um…no. Ever read the box?? Down at the bottom on the back. Basically if you never use them they’ll last for a few years. Ok, so whatever that’s a bummer. But I could have gotten past that. Then I figure out that the things are laced with mercury. *Mer*cur*y*. Excuse me, HELLO!!! And I consider myself a decently informed individual. I listen to talk radio. But I did not know that these world-saving lightbulbs contain mercury. Not until one got shattered all over the floor did I notice the itsy bitsy teeny print in the smallest font imaginable. “Contains Mercury” {Is it just me, or shouldn’t that tidbit be a bit more prominently displayed??} Oh, that’s just fabulous!! Not to mention the past bulbs who obviously didn’t last the full seven years that made their way into the LANDFILL through my unsuspecting garbage bags!! I guess I’m just not seeing how that is better for the environment. It’s just a little bit frustrating when we keep hearing of these *magic* fixes to replace our awful energy guzzling whatevers, only to find out that whatever it is we’ve been told to switch to is just as bad, only in a different way. {I mean, don’t even get me started on ethanol…} And yet, my mantra seems to be: “Go Green, despite Al Gore.”

And since I’m on the subject of lightbulbs, here is an example of what can happen when you are lazy and don’t put the bulb back into the fixture:

It almost looks like a lightbulb in there, doesn't it??

He's good for something...

And just when we had removed that hornets nest,

Easy pointed up and said, "There's another one!" Good Grief!!

??

Can anyone tell me why we have commercials for
FOOD STAMPS!!!!?????

We are the Champions, my friend

Can I just say that we have had the year of all years when it comes to sports!! Red Sox won the world series, Patriots had their almost perfect season, KU won the National Championship, and now the Celtics have the NBA title. It just doesn’t get any better than this!! This is once in a lifetime stuff, here!!!
So in our attempts to soak it all in before we leave Boston, we headed downtown for the “Rolling Rally” on Thursday with the Celtics. It was kind of on a whim, because we had some passes to the Museum of Science from our neighbor that we needed to use, and so we thought we’d fill up the day with FUN.
Well, the day was full, and so was the SUBWAY!! We waited in line for a half hour just to get to the ticket machine at the train station. At this point I was wondering if we should just bag it. Then we played sardines all the way to downtown. It was an interesting ride.

When we got to Boston Common we walked for a little while til we found a spot that we could see through to the street and waited. I will say we had better luck with the waiting part than our last few parades {Plymouth at Thanksgiving was preceded by a fire and the Memorial Day “parade” was an hour and a half of waiting for five minutes of “parade”} And of course, since I am an idiot, my camera battery *died* --and I kid you not—seconds before the Duck Boats appeared {which is also the same moment that Easy remember she had to go potty} It was super noisy, which Cuddles enjoyed at first because he got to holler, then he decided it was too much. Easy was all about the confetti. She was picking it up off the ground the rest of the day. Nice.

We made a stop at BK for lunch and then hiked over toward the Museum of Science, passing by The Garden, where coincidentally, the Duck Boats were returning and we saw the players again with hardly anyone else around which was pretty cool. Except I could have done without all the cigars… seriously.
Spent the rest of the afternoon at the museum and then after we got home Cuddles saw the parade on the news and it just blew him away -- “Hey, that’s where we were!” “It’s on tv?!”
Oh, and here’s my quote of the day: MBTA General Manager Daniel A. Grabauskas "Our standard operating procedure is becoming pretty standard." Okay.
Easy fit right in with her {ahem} bottle from which to take a few swigs...And yes, I purposely dressed them to match in yellow so that I could find them easier if misplaced. {And another thing I need to do before we leave is buy some Celtics stuff...}

A Bit of Nostalgia

Luckily for us, summer has seemed to arrive a bit early this year. We’ve been trying to balance keeping the house clean to show {and hopefully sell} it {which is *so* getting old} with enjoying the sunshine and the great outdoors while we’re still here.
And it gets me thinking about the things we’ll miss about Boston. . .{people not included}
Kiddie cones at Friendly’s. {best value on the planet!!}
The BEACH!! Enough said.
History and atmosphere. You know, like living in the middle of the woods with wild turkeys in your yard, and all the fabulous old houses, so many things to see and do. There’s a distinctive character to New England that I will miss. I like to say that it’s a great place to live…if you’re rich!
The Library. I don’t know, I just really like our library{s} here.

Hannafords. It's always been a big deal for me adjusting to a new grocery store whenever we move. {Luckily this time I'll be heading back to familiar ones.}

As well as some of the things we *won’t* miss. . . {again, people not included ;-)}
Multiple-lane roads. Now these are not just the roads with more than one lane for each direction. We’re talking about the kind where you’re driving along and there’s two lanes. Driving along, Oops! Now there’s one lane… Driving along…two lanes again!!…driving along…back to one lane…
Tolls. Talk about the least effective way to collect money. I mean, seriously!! Plus there’s the times when you pass the toll booth to get off the freeway, figure out you took the wrong exit then pass the toll booth *again*-- amazingly annoying.
Driving. It’s insane!! People just make up rules! I realize that Utah drivers don’t have a great reputation either, but what it boils down to there is they just like to drive fast.

{OK, I just noticed those are all about driving...}

Oh! Here we go-- Poison Ivy and Ticks!

And then there are the things we are looking forward to in Utah:
Drinkable water. I used to think this was a given until living here. I now know what keeps the bottled water companies in business.

Provo Canyon. {Saving my pennies for some rollerblades}
SIDEWALKS!!
Restaurants. We still haven’t been anyplace where you can get such great food so abundantly. Our theory is that when people don’t down any alcohol with their meal, then the expectations for the food are higher. Our favs {and its been a while, so I’m hoping they’re still around}: Magleby’s Take-out, China Lily, California Sub, Einstein Bros. and any number of Mexican restaurants.
Proximity to things like Costco, Target or a church or parks.
Public Swimming Pools. This may sound weird, but for whatever reason, there aren’t many of those in New England. They just have swimming “holes” and believe me there’s a big difference. Plus everyone and their dog has a pool in their backyard, even though you have about two weeks of swim-worthy weather.
Suicide lanes. Never thought I would miss those, but they don’t really have them here. Maybe it’s because all the roads are so old and there’s not enough space {and basically every lane is a suicide lane…}

BYU Campus. It's not really Utah we're going for, its BYU. There's just no place quite like it.

A little confession...

Shooting Spree

Photos, that is. I’ve been a bit camera happy recently…
That, and I’ve been experimenting with the Picasa photo editing stuff {since it’s free} {and since I’m in the market for a new photo editing/scrapbooking program since my trusty Picture It doesn’t even run on my new computer…I guess it has lasted me 8 years…} So here’s a whole slew of photos from our lives of late. But don’t expect any great captions…

OK, this is taking a while and now I've apparently reached my size limit. I will have to put the rest up later. Plus some of the best ones are still on my cam. Sorry to get your hopes up, but now you have something to look forward to...

Spaghetti and Parenting

I couldn't agree more.

But sometimes you have those moments that seem to come out of nowhere, and it makes you think, or at least sparks some hope, that you are doing at least something right…I had one of those moments recently and I had to take a picture because we have been working long and hard to get from point A

To point B



As I sat at the table basking in the accomplishments of my oldest child, with his perfectly swirled spaghetti on his fork and the proud smile on his face, I glanced over to the other side of the table and this brought me back to reality.


I guess we’ve still got some things to keep working on…