Pigeons & Planners

I am NOT a bird person.

And there is a colony (flock?) of pigeons who have taken residence in my parking deck at work.  I can't say I blame them.  Its a good 15 degrees cooler in the bottom level than outside in the 90 + degree heat. 

But they are so creepy!

Maybe one pigeon making that "woootle" sound isn't so awful, but try 10 or 20!  And the echo!  And the poop!  The the swooping from perch to floor with no warning!

So basically, I run from the steps to the my car yelling, "Please don't poop on me!  Please don't flap around my face!"

I hate them.  I'm currently negotiating with the Bald Eagles that nest in the nearby cell tower to please come eat them.  Or drive them away.  Do eagles even eat pigeons?  Who knows!  I don't think they can hear me, even when I'm at the top level of the parking deck yelling over to them. 

See him waiting for me to walk under that ledge.  So sneaky...

Pigeons, please find another home.  You completely freak me out.

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Dear Target,

Please restock the Mead 5 1/2 X 8 inch spiral bound planners with the lines pages.  I have been using the same style planner for years now and it stays with me everywhere I go.  I am now in search for the 2012-2013 version and all you have is a similar product with no lines! 

The daily entry is a big blank space! 

Do you have any idea what that does to a Type A, semi-OCD, recovering multi-tasker???  I look at the blank space and think about my day as just that, a big blank space and I am rendered useless!  I must have college-ruled lines to plan out my days and weeks. 

And please bring back the plastic pouch in the back for my random prescriptions, pictures, appointments that are too far away to be written on those beautifully college-ruled lines.

I am on the lookout for a new planner.  It must fit in my purse.  It must have lined pages.  It must go July-August and I have run out of June to find it.  I'd prefer it to also be cute, but that is slowly becoming a pipe dream since I can't even find one that meets the other very important standards.

My planner.

Trying not to panic.

Saturday and 103 degrees

Heat advisory means pool time in the morning and inside activities in the hot stuffy afternoon.  We've been keeping the curtains drawn to keep it cool in our little house of windows.  It feels a little like a cave, but it does keep it cooler. 

We had fun playing in the pool this morning.  J got in with us and we did whirlpools so well that we couldn't stand up against them.  I'm so proud of the boys and how well they are doing in the water!  Last summer, we still had to coax B in the pool at times but this Saturday morning he was jumping in from the top rung on the ladder and going all the way under!  The water level was a little low so Ty could stand up too.  He didn't even want his float.  I asked him what he would do if we lost his footing and went under and he said, "just get back up, Mommy."

We came in and got cleaned up for lunch and headed over to the fabric store to get some supplies for a headboard project.   And J bought me a staple gun at Home Depot.  I've been wanting one for a while and am so excited!  Headboard pics to come later.

It was so hot!  We had to get a little creative in the afternoon.  B built a game out of a Legos board and taught us the rules.  Pretty cool idea!   We had some good laughs especially when Tyzilla made up his own rules and broke pieces off of the board.  Oh, Tyzilla.

My Lego guy was stressed out because the rules kept changing.

Be cool, Lego guy!

Happy Birthday, America! Love, Ashland

We have lived in our little town for more than 10 years and have never attended the Fourth of July Parade.  Shame on us!  We decided this year we would be apart of things.  We packed a picnic lunch and headed down.  The crowd was small and friendly and full of families.  Right up my alley!  The parade was cute and short and the boys liked it a lot.

I wished I'd gotten a picture of the lawn chair brigade.  They were my favorite.  They did a little choreography with their lawn chairs in the street.  Very fun.

We followed everyone over to the Cultural Arts Center and picked out a shady spot under some trees to spread our blanket out for lunch.  We enjoyed a local band playing some patriotic tunes and lots of people watching over PB&Js, fruit and pretzels. 

We chatted with some friends from church and then found the snow cone line.  Rainbow snow cones for all!  Of course Tyler said he didn't want rainbow, he wanted "ALL the colors, Mommy."

There were dogs dressed in red, white and blue, food vendor stands and lots of trees to find shade in the 90+ heat.

We stayed for about 2 hours and then headed home for naps and quiet time before heading up to Montpelier to my Aunt's Judy's house for supper.  The boys and I made star cookies with red, white and blue icing for our dessert.  I learned this time to use masking tape on the wax paper sheet on the counter so the flour and cookie dough stay put while little hands mush it.

Ty learned a few new fun words for his ever growing vocab.  "Pedarade" (parade) and "lennenade" (lemonade).

And Mommy learned that we shouldn't use pine cones for the bases in kickball if little boys are going to slide into home.  Ouch!  I didn't know pine cones could tear a little leg like that!

We had a fun day with very little prep required.  Also right up my (new) alley!