Rain Puddles and Special Moments

I played in puddles today. It rained most of the day up at my parent's house and my daughter was outside in it helping Grampy plant trowels in the garden. Yes, you read right. Trowels. So after she came in all wet, I decided on an impromtu puddle-jumping session. Now, normally I'm a bit picky about the puddles I jump in, but I wasnt' today. The biggest puddle was the dip in the gutter at the end of the driveway. So my mom, my siblings, and my daughter and I were splashing icky water all over each other until we were completely soaked, and we didn't mind a bit. The pants I have all are a bit too long, so they hung partly over my feet and acted as perfect scoopers to send big waves of water when I swung my leg through the water. It was fun! Their dog Miko, a white Miniature American Eskimo with a curious patch of yellowish fur low on his back, was more gray than white by the time we were done. So while the kids trooped into the house for baths, I gave the poor dog a bath with the hose outside. He did not appreciate that AT ALL. And he kinda looks like he's been through a losing battle with a blender. All his fur is matted so bad you can see clear down to his skin. Poor puppy.

Anyway, so that was probably the highlight of my day. Earlier we watched a movie I've added to my Must Get list. It's called Leap Year and has Amy Adams and a guy whose name I cannot remember, and it was really cute. So I now have 5 movies currently on my list, at least until I remember any other ones. Blindside, Shrek 4, Benny and Joon, Leap Year, and the new Alice in Wonderland. I just saw that one with my sister-in-law this week and I liked it. I don't like most of Tim Burton's movies, and I haven't seen a lot of them, but I love Johnny Depp so I went for it. Johnny Depp may just be my favorite actor of all time. There is not a role he cannot play, and the more crazy and over-the-top, the better. He is simply amazing. And freaking hot as well, which only improves things.

Also today I made chocolate covered strawberries with my sisters and youngest brother. We had fun, and it has been decreed that I am the master at chocolate covered strawberries and making garlic bread (yes, the garlic bread was a completely random point, but I made that tonight too and I have my own "secret" recipe for the perfect garlic butter topping). Also, I have invented a new delicacy. Strawberry Volcanoes. That's when you cut the tops off of strawberries, put a circle of melted chocolate on a flat surface (like a pan or something), set the berry flat side down on the chocolate so it covers the bottom of the berry, then with a spatula or fork or whatever, drizzle chocolate over the top of the strawberry generously. It kinda looks like a volcano. And Chocolate Strawberry Mountains are just the topless strawberries dipped in chocolate. Hey, the more chocolate the better! But none of this cheap, crappy chocolate you get in the baking aisle that come in those plastic bags that have pictures of different candies on the front. You must use a really good chocolate. My favorite is the plain chocolate Symphony bars. Hershey's chocolate chips or bars, or if you're of a mind to be a tad more expensive, Lindt Extra Creamy bars would probably work fabulously as well. Add that chocolate to perfectly perfect strawberries, and you have achieved heaven in a candy.

Let's see, other than that, I went to the store with my mom and sisters today and finally bought a new floofah (my lingo for loofah). One of the dogs chewed up my old one two weeks ago (the turds) and I've been needing to get one ever since and I finally did! And I got an extra for my travel bag. Yay me!

Oh, and I have two more things to report. The first is that when we were out playing in the rain today, a train was coming by the house. My parent's house is right across the street from where the train tracks are, and my daughter loves to watch it go by. So my dad took her over closer to the tracks to see it better, and it was just the perfect photographic moment. It was raining, so the light was soft and pretty and bright colors stood out great. They were holding hands and watching the train, and one thing that is kinda cool is that my grandpa, my dad's dad, loved trains. He had a model train set put up in a room in their basement with a whole landscape that he built, and it was wonderful. Trains were his thing. So we got a great photographic moment there. Grampy and granddaughter watching the train go by, holding hands. It was so cute. I think there's a good Father's Day present right there.

The last thing is that my hubby got a letter today. It's a letter that he wrote to himself Senior year of high school for an assignment that they said they would send out five years later. That would be now. After quite a bit of pouting and threats, he finally let me read it. And although I am sworn to secrecy about what it says, it made me smile. In it there is one part that says that he doesn't care about anything else as long as he's married to me and keeping me happy. It was kind of a blast to the past to our dating days, and I miss those days. We had lots of fun and we didn't have to be adults yet. I was talking to my mom today, and if couples didn't have to worry about money, marriages would be so much easier. It's being the adult that sucks when you get married, not the marriage or your spouse. I've said before that I was completely ready to be married, even though I was only 18. And I was. It was being a responsible adult I wasn't ready for. Bounced checks and car payments and overdue rent. The love, however, I was always ready for.

And on that note, I'm going to do my calendar (what exactly is the point of calendars if you don't write down what you do that day? Calendars have kind of become my mini diaries) and read the next chapter in my scriptures (I'm on David and Goliath, I'm excited) then kiss my husband and go to sleep. Sounds like a plan to me.

Kid Shows, Libraries, Families

Here I sit on a Sunday evening watching kid shows on TV. The temptation of scrambled eggs was too much for my daughter and she abandoned me. It is amazing how many kids shows I am now familiar with. I knew a lot before, I loved watching kids shows when I was little, but there are a lot of new ones now. My favorite is Sesame Street. Yes, you read that right, my favorite. I love the guest stars that come on for the big word of the day. I've seen Jake Gyllenhal, Heidi Klum, Jimmy Fallon, Greg Kinnear, Cameron Diaz, Brendan Fraser, Kobe Bryant, all sorts of people. It is hysterical to watch. Most of the people on that list are funny anyway, but I wouldn't think Heidi Klum or Kobe Bryant would take to puppets like that!

You know, there are four laundry baskets practically overflowing at the end of my bed, and the thought that I need to fold it all is quite daunting. And the laundry hamper is already half full again! *Wails* A parent's work is never done.

So I just left to go make myself some eggs (yes, I succumbed) and when I came back Sammy had left some notes for me. She apparently found the M for Mommy on the keyboard, then the B for Baby, F for something (fish?), V for something (violin?), and then she found the first letter of her name and I had an entire screen full of nothing but that letter. A parent's work is never done indeed. Now she's adjusting the lamp shade on Daddy's side of the bed while she gets shortbread cookie crumbs all over his pillow. Strange child.

Earlier today we were all sitting on the bed, and started jabbering up a storm and waving her hands around. It took me a minute, but I finally figured out that she was doing the action songs we taught her. The Three Little Ducks and Three Little Monkeys. She loves holding up her fingers for the ducks and monkeys, and using her hand as a beak when she says, "Quack quack quack!" And she loves doing the daddy duck quack with both arms. Her favorite part of the monkey song is when the alligator SNAPS (slap your hands together) that monkey right out of that TREE! She knows the tree part is coming and she shouts that out every time.

You know, I work at the best place. I work at a library, which I have always wanted to do because I LOVE books and reading and figured it didn't get better than working at a library. Little did I know that reading books is the last thing you do as a librarian, but hey, what did I know? Anyway, the job is only half of why I love it so much. I work with the best people in the world. And not just in my library, but all of the branches in the county. They really are awesome, and the best ones work at my branch. With all the craziness and emotions this week from my cousin-in-law's death, my work has been nothing but supportive. They've offered to move around schedules to accomodate the funeral and viewing, and everyone has asked how I, my family, and his family are doing. This cousing also worked at another library in the county, so a lot of the county employees knew him. I don't know yet, but I am 100% certain that tomorrow I am going to have an e-mail about him and a fund to send his family flowers in my inbox. It is very rare to be able to say this, but I really do love my job.

I also love my little family. My husband, my daughter, and my dog. They are all so sweet and cute and funny, and in my husband's case, handsome and sexy. We've been teaching my daughter to say and do all sorts of fun things. One of our recent favorites is she does a double thumbs up and says, "Awesome!" It comes out "Awe-dom!" but it's adorable anyway. My husband just giggles when she does it. I taught her I love you, and she can count up to five, she just never starts at one. It's always 2, 2, 3, 4, 5. We can't seem to get the concept of the word "one" across.

Ok, I think I'm done sending completely random paragraphs out into the void today. Maybe I'll try musing, I have 8 quotes or story ideas on my phone that I need to put on paper or on the computer. Have a lovely evening, audience.