Campless Cookout

Good Wednesday morning!

GUESS WHAT! If everything goes well today, I will reach 1,000 hits in the month of August. Did you hear what I just said? I need 49 hits to reach my one year goal of 1,000 hits a month... And guess what else? I reached my goal TWO MONTHS EARLY! A Simple Life will not be a year old until the middle of October. I started out with 313 hits (blog talk for number of people reading the blog) in October of 2008, and today I will have 1,000, and the month isn't even over yet.

I will set my new goal September 1. Who am I kidding? I already have my new goal. I would like to have 2,000 hits a month by August 2010. But it probably isn't wise to set a new goal before you really and truly obtain the old one, so I'll be letting you know some time today if and when it actually happens.

In the infamous words of Sally Fields when she received her Oscar for Norma Rae... "You love me. You really, really love me." (Unlike Ms. Fields, I am kidding.)

UPDATE AT 10:18 WEDNESDAY MORNING - Only 22 more hits and I will have 1,000 hits this month. Did you hear me? ONLY 22 MORE HITS!!!! Continue on with your day.

No surprise here. My pictures are from lunch on Sunday. Of course, the majority of the pictures are of Roxie and Katie because 12 and 15 year-old girls love having their picture taken... again and again and again.

DON'T FORGET - Don't forget to go to Arby's and get your free sandwich today with the purchase of a drink. This deal will not be going on much longer, so be sure and take advantage of this FREEBIE!

REMINDER - Project 365 begins TODAY after 1:00 p.m. The first picture I'm putting in my Project 365 blog will not be taken until around 11:00 a.m. this morning. Another blog is born!

UPDATE AT 2:25 WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON - Project 365 is UP AND RUNNING! Just click on Belinda's Project 365 under My Blog List for the picture of the day. So exciting!

NOTE TO JOAN - I've received several comments from people experiencing their own "personal summer" as you so eloquently described menopause. It's not that I'm anxious to get to that point, but I feel like I'm stuck in the peri-phase. And I don't like to be stuck. I mean it's been EIGHT years. Eight IRRITABLE years. Just ask Mikie. (And why do they say "peri" instead of "pre"? That drives me nuts.)

Topic of the Week - 40 IS THE NEW 30... AND OTHER STUPID MYTHS

Ahhh. Things were getting a little better. Josh was a little better. We were learning as a family to live with OCD and all the stuff that goes with it when... Yep. That's right. I fell apart.

In my 45th and 46th years of life, I had three FAUX heart attacks/strokes. Overnight hospital visits, a dozen doctors (and then a dozen more), several paramedic calls/visits (using the phone or car... not yelling "PARAMEDIC! PARAMEDIC!" in my bedroom until they showed up) and for what? I was diabetic (controlled with diet and exercise) AND I was having severe panic attacks which can manifest themselves many different ways. But lucky me, it was in the form of heart attack symptoms.

All right. All right. Get a grip. All of this was manageable. More than manageable actually. There were so many other people suffering with illnesses and situations which were much, much more severe, so I decided to "put on my big girl panties" and just get on with my life. Surely my 47th year would be better. Hey... It couldn't get any worse. Am I right?

My 45th and 46th years of life are now and forever labeled "Years of the FAUX Heart Attacks... FAUX Strokes... Diabetes... PANIC ATTACKS" or "Years of Getting to Know the Gardendale Paramedics Really, Really Well." (I don't think the names are getting more creative... just a whole lot longer.)

For anyone wondering about the osteoarthritis, I was still the youngest member of that group in the waiting room. And yes, I was still peri-menopausal... and irritable. (I'm going for the Guinness World Record of Being Peri-Menopausal for 20 Years. Yeah. That's the ticket. Every woman wants her picture beside that title in the World Record book!)

Semi-Funny Story - During those two years, I had to visit a neurologist a few times because... I forget. I'm not sure why. But anyway, during one of our visits he told me to close my eyes and hold my arms straight out beside my body. He then gave me what I used to think was the "sobriety" test. "Touch your ears." "Touch your fingers together." "Touch your mouth." I was doing an excellent job. I was going to ace this test for sure!

I got a little too cocky. "Touch my nose." Hmmm. Did he say, "Touch your nose," or "Touch my nose." Hmmm. Okay.

I took my pointing finger from both hands and with my eyes closed touched HIS nose. It took a second to realize I had made a mistake. I didn't want to open my eyes, and for some reason my arms froze and I didn't/couldn't move my fingers off his nose. It went from one second to ten seconds (which everyone knows in "embarrassment time" is an eternity).

In a very nasal voice (because I had his nasal passages completely closed with my two fingers on either side of his nose, you see), he said, "Very good. You can open your eyes now."

I quickly opened my eyes, dropped my arms and tried to think of something to say. "I think you're okay," he said. And everyone knows in "doctor-speak" that means, "You no longer are welcome in my office, you Fruitcake."

Fine with me. That gave me an even eight doctors in my little entourage... and I like even numbers.

Just for the record, I am down from eight doctors to five (not counting my dentist and my NEW tongue doctor). That's right, guys. I have a tongue doctor. But that's definitely a story for tomorrow when I finish up the Topic of the Week with my 47th year... "The Year of Two Tongues."

You have to admit, that's one of my best blog teasers yet!

Wednesday Wisdom - Today's quote for the week comes from Thomas Jefferson. My "history nuts" will enjoy this one. "Friendship is precious; not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life, and thanks to a benevolent arrangement, the greater part of life is sunshine." He was a wise man, that Thomas Jefferson.

Campless Cookout

That's right. A campless cookout. For all of you out there who have never been camping, or are just too busy to go in the fall, plan a campless cookout for your family.

Luckily, I received a firepit for my Christmas gift this past year, so we can have a cookout on the little patio beside our deck. But in the past, we have hiked into the woods near our home, built a small fire (in a pre-prepared fire pit) and sat on blankets and roasted hot dogs and made s'mores. Just the five of us. For no reason at all except it was fun, simple and a nice way to spend a cool summer or fall evening.

As I stated before, have the fire pit prepared before you hike into the woods to cook. I use rocks to form the circle around the fire, charcoal and pine cones as my base, small sticks and then larger sticks for the fire itself. You can have the kids gather and stack the sticks the day before the cookout.

In a cooler (with wheels, if possible), pack up hot dogs, buns, mustard, ketchup, individual bags of chips and individual canned drinks. You'll need graham crackers, Hershey bars and marshmallows for the s'mores.

If you already have the metal roasting sticks from Wal-Mart, that's fine. But you can have the kids look for and find sticks to cook the old-fashioned way.

So let's get this straight. You take a few minutes a couple of days before the cookout and set up your fire pit. You have the kids gather sticks. You pack a cooler with the things mentioned above. You walk a few feet into a nearby wooded area. You have a great fireside cookout... for no other reason than it's fun and memorable and EASY. Oh, and the kids will want to do this one every year (or more) for sure!

Have a great Wednesday. Tomorrow I'll have some Weekend Family Fun, a great date, and I'll let you know how my first day as a 48 year-old went. (I'm guessing it will be absolutely fabulous... especially now that I have not one, but two, tongues! Check in tomorrow for ALL the details.)

Take care, and I'll talk to you tomorrow.

Sincerely,

The Enchanting Belinda