FYI - I am Royalty

A good friend of mine asked me the other day how I was doing since my mother passed away. I said I was ok… doing ok… and then they asked me if I was going to be one of those people that had to be medicated.

Nope, I said, I plan on being just as bitchy as ever. And I haven’t even hit menopause yet – just warning you… (hey that kind of looks like me too!)

Since I've Been Gone....

Today is Monday if you didn't realize it I am here to slap it to ya… yep… its Monday and I have a few things cover since I have been gone….

1 - We spent a lovely 4 days at the beach for our son’s 5^th birthday. The ocean was so rough the first day we couldn't even get in it and as we are guarding the 5 year old from going too far out (his knees is too far out by the way) the waves beat us to death and we go back to the house like war refugees. The next day it was even worse and the poor kids didn't even need any scolding about the water… they sat on the edge of the waves and sand.

I never have to worry about getting too much sun that is for sure… I think the maximum stay for everyone (not me) is about 2 hours and they are ready to do something else. I obsessively lather my kids in sunscreen so thank God they have never experienced a real sunburn. And I usually only half way protect myself and on many occasions ended up with the zebra stripe on my leg where I missed a whole line with the sunscreen. I did good this time though, no zebra stripes.

We have a kiddie pool for our son and fill it up for him to play in after we get back from the beach. For some reason he thinks that is the place where he rinses himself off and inevitably ends up naked while playing in his little pool. He could care less who is around. Knowing this is designated “naked time” we try to position the pool so we can limit his exposure to neighbors. But when we aren't watching his every move he is liable to jump on his tricycle and peddle to the dock and back. I think it is a little boy thing… a couple of years ago we had neighbors with young boys all under the age of 8 and they thought the return from the beach was naked time too. One of their sons about 5 years old was fascinated that he had body parts that would fit through the knit on a hammock. Swinging, dangling and giggling at himself.

2- I love my deck… I love the tree that completely covers my deck. I hate that the damn tree sheds like a hairy dog in the summertime and there are leaves everywhere. We came home from the beach and my deck was covered in dried leaves. The plants were half dead and apparently I need to figure out what to do with the dry cat food because we now have a fly problem. I spent a small fortune on deck furniture…and I am NOT going to sit there and swat stupid flies all summer. I still have about 10-12 boards to paint on the damn deck on the upper part and the entire lower part which isn't much and I can do that in the fall to be honest. I will bust a move this week and get those last boards done. This first picture is the tree that shades the whole deck. It is an amazing thing this black walnut tree... and when the end of the summer comes you better be sitting under an umbrella cause it will toss huge black walnuts at your head. And they hurt.

                                     

3- I miss paper books. I get everything I read now via ebook and I truly miss a paper book. But I don’t have any more room in my house for a paper book. I have too many books as it is and now I have too many ebook on my Nook. I know it is old school and I have progressed with the times – but I still miss the smell of a real book, the turning of the pages in a real book and the feel of holding it in my hands. But if I had a paper book I might never finish even one… I can read my ebook on my phone, Nook, iPad and laptop anywhere at anytime. I can’t carry a paper book with me everywhere so I can get a chapter in if I have some downtime at the Doctors office.  Sometimes technology sucks.

4- Next year I will have a pool. Period. With my deck extended and around it.

OMG – I just realized I will have to paint that damn thing too. 

The Discovery of Jack Bauer

I have just discovered Jack Bauer.

And I could just pinch him. 

I started watching this new season – 24 Live Another Day and I ended up obsessively watching it until I was completely caught up and current. I go home at lunch and watch an episode. I stay up later than everyone else and watch an episode.

                                

And me being the kind of person that reads all the books in a series in the correct order; I now have to go back and watch 8 seasons of this damn show- 192 episodes, or I will go completely insane wondering how he got to where he is with this new series.

But when I told Miller about it this was what he said:

Me – We have to watch all the episodes of 24 – 8 seasons – 192 shows… from the beginning.

Miller – Why

Me – Because I discovered Jack Bauer and I just love him

Miller – He is too short for you

Me – He doesn’t know that

Miller – You just love him cause he is a “lost boy”

Me – Oh my I am sure that is part of it… my first vampire crush…

Miller – Yeah… Jamie Gertz was hot

Me – Whatever (eye roll) …where is the remote? We have to get started…

192- 43 minute episodes should only take us the rest of this year.

Miller – you know that show comes on Monday night… I’m not giving up Monday night football

Me – Like I would give up Monday night football! That is why God invented the DVR.

  

Thank God also for Amazon Prime… all seasons … free (not really but sort of)… on my TV, Nook, computer and even my phone. So…it is ON now!

Friday was the 70th anniversary of D-Day.

On June 6, 1944, more than 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline, to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which, “we will accept nothing less than full victory.” More than 5,000 Ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day’s end, the Allies gained a foot-hold in Continental Europe. The cost in lives on D-Day was high. More than 9,000 Allied Soldiers were killed or wounded, but their sacrifice allowed more than 100,000 Soldiers to begin the slow, hard slog across Europe, to defeat Adolf Hitler’s troops.

The youngest of these brave men are now at least 87 years old. Every year in the month of November I have the privilege of being able to spend about 24 hours in the presence of such men. They are from all walks of life and they have so many different stories to tell. When they see the WWII Memorial in Washington DC for the first time it is a moment to remember.

Their stories are so amazing - I can barely get my imagination around the challenges these men faced at such a young age. So many of them lied about their age so they could enlist in the army and defend freedom. This was a world war.. it spanned most of the world as we know it and these men fought it on foot, in the air and on the sea.

160,000 allied troops landed in one spot, on the beach and much like the front lines of the British in the revolutionary war, when one went down on the front the next guy stepped in his place. They just kept going, stepping over their fallen comrades to begin the march to defeat the Nazis. They knew so many of them would never make it off that beach alive. They knew it ahead of time, yet they did it, as young as they were, sacrificing themselves for the freedoms we still have today. I read somewhere recently that Eisenhower was terrified of the decision he made, he couldn't hold his cup of coffee and even debated it until the morning of June 6, 1944. He saw no other way. He knew the casualties would be high but he also knew that this was the weak spot and it was necessary to go in with the unbelievable show of force and will needed to gain an advantage with a foothold in Europe.

God bless them and every soldier that defends the freedoms we have in this great country.

They are truly the greatest generation.