Weekend Happenings

Good Friday morning!

The Gallery Pic is of Josh's new (used) car in the daylight, AND a strange new bush I've come in contact with during my walks with my friend, Kim. I am strangely attracted to this bush because of the autumnal color, but also because I have no idea what it is. I'm not a bush expert in any way, shape or form, but at this time of my life, I've seen a lot of bushes and this one has totally eluded me all of my 48 years. Does anyone know what the heck this thing is called? Anyone?

RANDOMNESS - Mike, Josh and I were at Chick-Fil-A yesterday eating our FREE Spicy Chicken Sandwich (which is pretty good, by the way). Sitting at the table beside us was a Mom, a three year-old boy, his older brother (maybe five) and older sister (a mature seven or eight). They were a cute little family.

While we were eating our FREE sandwich, the Chick-Fil-A cow came into the dining room and started making the rounds from table to table. The children sitting at the table behind us turned away from the giant cow... understandably so. He made a stop at our table, and we smiled and gave him the obligatory fist bump. After our encounter, I would probably have never remembered him again. I mean, a teenage boy dressed in a cow costume was not the most thrilling thing in my day. (Well, it actually turned out to be a highlight, but I was still hopeful for bigger and better things as my day wore on. Heavy sigh.)

As the cow approached the table beside us, the mature older sister, Mom and the five year-old brother all fist bumped the cow... but the little three year-old stood up and wrapped his arms tightly around the cow's midsection. The cow gently patted his little head, he let go and the cow moved on.

The little guy crawled back into his chair with a huge grin on his face, took a big bite of his sandwich and said, "Could this day get any better, Mommy?"

Oh, to really see life through the eyes of a child. That little boy absolutely made my day!

TOPIC OF THE WEEK - HUMIDITY AND THE THEME PARK

I have more of these stories, but I'll end today with Humidity and the Theme Park... which is a completely different story from Humidity and the Raven Concert (even though that was definitely a Theme Park experience.) Have you noticed theme parks and humidity seem to walk hand-in-hand.

Mikie had a conference at Universal Studies several years ago, and as you can imagine, we jumped all over that trip. It was July in Florida (Code for HUMIDITY TIMES A MILLION).

I took all the necessary precautions. I buzz cut the boys' hair. I made sure they wore gym shorts and matching shirts the entire time to prevent chaffing (another awful side effect of extreme humidity if you're walking around in khaki or denim all day). Roxie's clothes were lightweight, and she had a short little bob haircut. Mikie and I kept the majority of our hair, didn't wear gym shorts, but we dressed as comfortably as humanly possible. And I packed lots of extra deodorant... not just for me, but for any poor soul who happened to stand too close to me in line not smelling as sweetly as I thought they should. A little squirt over here, a little squirt over there... they would thank me for it one day.

As it turned out, our trip happened to hit Florida during the monsoon season. I know what you're thinking. I didn't know Florida had a monsoon season either, but it rained four days and four nights so what would you call it? And when the rain stopped for very short periods of time, steam rose from the concrete paths we were walking on... thick and sticky.

Since we didn't want to waste any of our precious time waiting for the rain to stop, we decided to don our Wal-Mart rain gear and enjoy our time in the parks. An hour or so after walking in pouring rain with plastic stuck to every part of their body (including their ears), the kids decided to "be free" and removed the awful rain parkas. They ran around wet and happy the rest of our trip.

At one point, I looked at Mikie (who had taken his rain gear off after hour two of torrential rain) and said, "I feel like a mayonnaise sandwich. I'm greasy, sticky, hot and I'm swelling as we speak. I'm going to have to walk around wet, too."

Ahhh. The relief of peeling that plastic thing off of my body was indescribably good. I let the rain pour over my face, my clothes, my legs. Here is where PROBLEM NUMBER ONE appeared.

I am NOT a good-looking wet person. I know people who are. I've seen them at the pool. They come out of the water. Their hair is totally slicked back off their face. They don't have on a stitch of make-up... and they don't need it. I have to be honest. I don't like them when they are wet, and I usually refrain from speaking to them in that condition. When they are dry, I'll be their best bud... but not until then.

I tend to look very undone when I'm wet. And since I'm a "bang" girl, the slicked back look hasn't ever worked for me. I'm at peace with that. That's why when you see me out and about, 99.9% of the time I am dry. Have you noticed?

PROBLEM NUMBER TWO popped up soon after I removed my rain gear. The on-again/off-again rain storms that persisted the four days of our trip meant we experenced EXTREME HUMIDITY and then NO HUMIDITY... but total wetness all day, every day. When we arrived at the hotel at the end of each day, our fingers and feet looked like prunes. And it never failed. One of the kids would say, "Can we go swimming before we get ready for bed?"

Mike and I, being the fantastic parents we are, told them to go ahead and jump in as we walked by the pool on our way to our room. No sense getting our nice, dry bathing suits wet. It appeared that was the one garment which was going to be dry enough for us to wear on the way home.

It may sound like we didn't have fun at Universal, but we did. Mike and the kids fell right into the "I'm going to be wet for four solid days, but I'm going to go with the flow" mode. After the end of day two (and one more check of the forecast for the remaining two days), I decided to get on board.

And while I took pictures galore, there's not one single picture of me. Not only do I have to be photographed being looked down upon from the top of a stepladder, but I must also be dry... and coiffed... and have on a full line of make-up... and not be swollen... and be in a good mood. As the mother unit of the Faulkner Five, I don't think that's too much to ask. Do you? (And I'm not asking the good-looking wet people out there. You know who you are!)

Weekend Happenings

The main event taking place in the Faulkner household this Friday is the return of ROXIE! She has been in the mountains this week with Grandmother and Zac, and today she comes home. We've had a very different family dynamic these last few days, and I'm ready for her to step through the door and stir things up a bit! (I'll be sorry I said that in a few hours, I am sure.)

Saturday I will be taking six new chicks in the Big Gold Van to three mystery destinations on another Mystery Bag Party. I should have some things to report Monday in the Weekend Review, as well as some pics for the Gallery. (These parties are always good for some good stories and photos!)

The guys are excited about a Sunday football game... and I'm excited for them. Really, I am. The idea of running, sweating profusely and trying to knock my friends to the ground just to grab a dirty ol' football doesn't appeal to me personally. (I might do it for a pair of cute Yellow Box Shoes, but that's not considered "socially acceptable" in most circles.)

Mikie is going to be working off and on during the weekend, and I imagine we'll make our first appearance at the pool pretty soon. At this point, we are definitely in "summer mode" big time... and I wouldn't have it any other way!

That's the plan (written in ink) for the Faulkner Five. (And I'm secretly hoping at some point I'll be able to say, "Could this weekend get any better?")

Have the best summer weekend EVER! I hope you have a wonderful time with family and friends. Beginning Monday, A Simple Life is ALL about summertime... where the livin' is easy, Baby! I also have a new Topic of the Week called "Neighbors." Be sure to visit again.

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

Sincerely,

The Enchanting Belinda