Patriotic Table and Prentzels and other Randomness

Ok. I feel as if I have to preface this post with the fact I truly love my family. I love that we can laugh at each other. What makes it different is we are the targets of our own humor - our jokes do not seem to come at the expense of others - only ourselves and I think I appreciate it. It is easy to laugh at others and poke fun at someone that is not present to defend oneself but this is not funny - it is hurtful.

So - instead of poking fun at others - we focus within and I think it bonds us together like an inside joke that I will now exploit to the world.

We are riding in the car and Ben is wanting to know about the Patriotic Table of Elements and I thought I heard "Patriotic" but knew my son would not confuse "Periodic" with "Patriotic" - yet I can see how the table could be Patriotic - with Gold and Silver - equate this with Olympic Medals and yeah....I see the connection. So - I let it slide. A few days later, Ben brings up the Patriotic table again. Did I hear him right? Did he say Patriotic?

So, my husband sets out to correct the error. This coming from a man that cannot for the life of him say "Pretzel" - he throws a random "N" in for fun - and it drives me nuts - "I'm packing some prentzels in my carry on." "Who ate all the prentzels?" WHAT on earth is a prentzel?

Now - I know I've made mistakes too - like the time on the White Pine trail when I saw a pheasant and exlaimed "Look a peasant!" - Oh - minus the "H" and when Dan exclaimed "WHERE?" We both exploded with laughter.

We've had other words like "breakfrast" (breakfast) and "gazzurt" (dessert) come into our vocab and we laugh. It is delightful to laugh at ourselves.

We are not perfect and we do not pretend we are. We live honestly and celebrate our moments together and it truly is a blessing - even when we pick up extra letters and patriots.

As for other randomness - Janis and I saved a raccoon today. We were at the track and I headed over to spit my gum out in the garbage bin and saw this big ball of fur. My brain doesn't process situations that are out of the ordinary very fast and the first thing that popped into my head was "Who would throw a dead raccoon into a garbage bin?" Then I had an immediate thought that it wasn't a raccoon because I could not see its tail or head - then dog came into my brain unitl I thought I heard it hiss. No dog. Cat? Then it hissed again and I knew it was a raccoon. The darn thing was trapped in the bin - plastic sides and nothing to climb on to get out I only wondered how long it was stuck in there.

Janis and I thought to drag the barrel closer to the grassy hill but we were afraid of being wrong - that the raccoon only wanted a safe place to sleep and that it would actually jump out and attack. So- ever so carefully and slowly we slid the barrel to the grass - all the while this raccoon picked up its head and continued to hiss.

We got the bin to the gate and slowly tipped it over and that raccoon did not waste a moment getting out of the trash. He even left food behind. I felt so bad for it - all curled up into a ball as if it had given up hope - and then when he had the chance - he fled - got to the top of the hill and looked back before he crawled under the fence to make his great escape.

Watching him run and looking back- made us both feel good - as if he need us and we needed the affirmation we did something right.

So - I think about my family and the blessings we have - the kindness and openness of our hearts and the understanding we are not perfect - but we strive to live our best and with that I can ask of nothing more.

Aqua Log

It is the final weekday of spring break and I wanted to do something different and fun with the kids so I decided to take a drive to Holland to visit the aquatic center. The place was pretty cool - diving boards, zip line, splash zone for kids, water cannons, vortex, floating obstacle course, floats, basketball and of course an aqua log.

First off - I didn't really want to go swimming but I figure I better get used to parading around in a swimming suit and jumping in cold water. So, I joined Janis on her adventures. First we saw the inner tubes and Janis immediately wanted to float in one so we jumped in the water and she floated a bit before she decided we could check out the splash zone.

Splash zone had much warmer water and it was geared toward the smaller kids - really shallow water, lots of water spurting out from everywhere, a tire swing - it was pretty cool but not really adventurous for Janis. Yet all the really "cool" stuff as Janis would say, was considered deep water and if you wanted to swim deep water, you had to swim 25 yds. A big challenge for a 7 yr. old - but not that tough - she managed to swim the entire way without stopping and as soon as she got the thumbs up from the life guard we were off to the diving boards.

Yet, I don't think Janis ever got on the diving board until we were about to leave - we got sidetracked by THE AQUA LOG.

The aqua log is a huge floating noodle - like what you see on those stinkin Japanese game shows and the idea is to run across as fast as you can without falling off. Yeah. Right. Ben showed me how it was done - with speed and grace he made it from one end of the log to the other before jumping in - he did great. Then Filippo. He managed to do it as well - but not as quick or as graceful. Then Janis - she stood on the starting block jumped on the log and got about three strides before she bounced off and into the water. Then it was my turn.

I only wish we had video because even the lifeguards were laughing and you know - I think it takes a lot to get them to crack a smile after a week of special hours during spring break. So I stood on the block and Ben is giving me advice "Just run, don't think about it - just go." So I went. The first step I took I paused and took one more and I don't even know what happened next. I think I fell on my front, bounced back and flipped somehow because I inhaled a ton of water. I came up laughing and I could only imagine what I looked like - and then I tried it again.

This time when I fell it was a bit more graceful but I still couldn't get passed pausing after the first step. Ben is adamant about saying you can just run like you are on a track and he doesn't think about the log -he just runs and that is probably the truth but I think that log and I are going to have a tougher time.

It is a mental block I have to get passed. How do I make my body go when my brain wants it to stop? I figure I'm going to have to learn to work on auto pilot at some point in my military career - that I will have to do something my brain tells me I shouldn't be doing but my body must. So I think the aqua log is just the tool I need to get my mind right.

As for parading around in my swim suit - it was ok - I look forward to the day when I'm more confident than ever - I think the Navy is gonna take care of that part for me.

All this at no charge to you!

Today I answered the phone. Not that answering the phone is a big deal, but I knew as soon as I had to repeat "hello" twice it was a sales call. This particular call was from DTE Energy and the guy on the other end of the line was trying to sell me a protection plan for my furnace and hot water heater.

He did a great job telling me if I purchased the plan protection for 13.99 a month if anything were to ever go wrong I could have someone from DTE come out and fix it all at no cost to me.

Hum. At no cost to me.

Funny thing is, the guy mentioned this several times and I wanted to laugh. If all this was going to be done at no cost to me, why on earth would I want to spend over $167.00 a year to "protect" my furnace and hot water heater. I told him I was not interested and really had to bite my tongue when he asked "Why?" I only said "I'm simply not interested."

Here is my thought - do people sign up for stuff this quick? Now, I'm not going to tell you I've never fallen for a great sales job - my husband would say I'm first to jump on a bandwagon when it deals with weight loss stuff - but when it comes to appliance protection plans - isn't it cheaper to buy a brand new appliance?

Curious, I Googled the price for new hot water heaters and they can range in price from 150-thousands of dollars. If I saved my 13.99 a month in the bank, I could replace my hot water heater at no cost to me!

So - I've decided I probably need a car protection plan, dog protect plan, shoe protection plan and possibly a computer protection plan - all so if something goes wrong I can call the right people and they will take care of replacement at no cost to me. Yeah.