Once in a Blue Moon

To start, I wanted to share Jordan's spelling sentences from this week. Thankfully, Ken got to see them before he left for his hunting trip. We weren't going to look them over, but I was curious how Jordan used the word "slope" in a sentence.  She and I had spent some time going over the definition and we went round and round about how to use it. 

So, when I started reading through her sentences, I was taken aback. Once again, she shows herself in her colorful multi-layers. 

I was very glad to see that she identified which daddy does the smoking, and I giggled like a maniac that she simply said Daddy Ken is huge. But then, she references that Daddy Ken saves her. Ken and I sighed over that one. Of course, she talks about making mistakes - which we do a lot of in this house, and Jordan says she's becoming good. I felt a tug of guilt that she said she was "the blame" and hoped that she wasn't referencing a specific event or idea. God help my adult transference and guilt for my decisions.

And then, she did both Ken and me in with her simple statement, "I have a great life." Wow! How many of us would have thought we had a great life at 8-years-old?? I remember always wanting more and wishing more. Of course, I had my mother to contend with, so there was a lot of wanting, but most children have a laundry list of things that would make their life better. Jordan, at the core, finds her life already great. How cool is that?!

Then there's the adage, "Once in a Blue Moon." Well, tonight was the second full moon of the month resulting in the fabled Blue Moon. I tried very hard to explain it to the girls, and I held off on the movie in order for them to see it.  

Mandy ran outside and started commenting on how bright the moon was, and then she stopped, turned to me and simply said, "Um, it's not blue!"  I laughed and tried to explain the origin of the name, the meaning, why it's important, and even how and what the saying means. They seemed to get that they won't see another one for 3 years, but it still just wasn't totally there for them.

Jordan kept looking around and around and around. Finally, she turned to me, "Mama? Where is the second moon? I don't see it!"  Oh lord! I started laughing and saved that statement for when Ken called me.  Of course it would be Jordan that asked. No matter how many times I tried to explain the lunar process, she just wasn't getting it.

The quality of the photo isn't great - as it was taken with my phone - but you can get an idea of how bright that moon was tonight.  Very cool indeed!

Holy Hell!

According to The Weather Channel and all of the news stations, we are currently on "Excessive Heat Watch." No fucking shit!! I took this picture at 0630 this morning:

Um, yeah, I think we should be careful today with the excessive heat! Last night, Mandy was physically ill. The heat took its toll on her, and her poor body couldn't take it. She was doing her best to stay hydrated, and I thought each of the girls had had plenty of water to drink. We even had them swim in the pool in order to stay cool since even switching from the evap to the A/C wasn't doing much good since we have had weird humidity. It's the *desert*! Why are we having clouds, dry lightening, and thunder?! Mandy commented, as she lay on the floor, that it was "just too hot to even think!" I did tell her that it would help to remove her socks, which she finally did.  (She has this weird thing about her feet not being covered.)

So, as I was still sweating at 9 pm last night because it was still over 90*, I came across this little beauty on Facebook.  Loved it!

When I woke up this morning, I realized that the evap cooler was already going. Holy Mother of God! It was just after 0600 and the cooler is already working??? That is just not right! Well, I have checked on my elderly neighbor and she is doing fine. In fact, she was headed into the Sheriff's Department to get an "extra" duty today as a Sheriff's volunteer in order to look out for the other "Old People" that were on her list. God, I love Linda!

Annular Solar Eclipse - Ring of Fire

Ken and Mandy went to the Lucerne Valley Action Pistol Shoot this morning, and they had a great time.  They were gone until almost 3 pm, and then they came home, scarfed some leftover pizza and jumped in the pool.  Taylor and Jordan joined them, and they had a great time cooling off.

Even Addie got a new pool to cool off in, but it took a LOT of coaxing for her to get in it.

I spent the morning baking some Lemon Meringue Swirls.  I wanted to get all of the baking out of the way to ensure that everything turned out OK for Thursday's staff meeting where I promised Jen Hubbard (my counter-part) and Kym Riner some yummies. The Meringue Swirls came out awesome!

I also made a batch of the B-52 marshmallows which I am still afraid did not turn out well.  I will be very upset if these are goopy after setting out.  

Luckily, I got a text message from my counter-part from work, Jen Hubbard asking me if we were watching the solar eclipse.  I instantly swore, grabbed my camera and told the girls to follow me outside.  I knew that the sunlight was really weird and dim this evening, but I hadn't watched the news in so long that I had no idea it was happening.  

I did not take the proper precautions to be checking out the sun with my camera lens, so I spent the rest of the night with a headache, but the girls were able to see it - which was totally cool!

I finished the night by making a batch of Lime Meltaways - another new recipe I found.  The cookies came out delicious!  Once I was done baking, I sat down to stitch.  I really wanted to get the Flip-Flop done - and I hated realizing that I had reversed the floss colors for the sand.  Oh well.  I am not going to change it, and I think it looks cool.  

Summer Storm

I met my friend, Martin, at Nubi's to celebrate his birthday.  We loaded up our yogurt and found tables outside to enjoy ourselves.  The weather still isn't as hot as it should be, and today was very humid.  The clouds have been moving in and out with no rain, just humidity.  However, Martin and I were (luckily) done with our yogurt and just talking, when it started sprinkling.  Then, it just came down.


Here was my drive home:

However, because we live in a desert, the rain had stopped within 40 minutes. Nothing too spectacular, and I hate using the phrase, "Summer Storm" because it really wasn't, but this is as good as we usually get.

Rediscovery

Sunday, I went down to Long Beach in order to meet with a woman who could give me insight on a possible new career field.  I want to make sure that I'm sticking with my passion, but I have started on a self-reflection journey in order to redefine myself.


On the way down, I was amazed by the storm that I drove into and through.  It gave me great pause, and I managed to terrify a couple of passing motorists by taking out my camera and capturing these images.   I was happy to see the pictures came out well despite not using the view finder and just clicking.


These photos of nature's and God's wonders made it so much easier to meet with Carol and get some incredible information.  Self-reflection is a good thing, and I'm far more motivated to do it after seeing some incredible portraits provided by Nature.

Winter Rain

I loved being able to capture this photo of the rain on the tree.  The sun hit the raindrops just right and lit them up!