Gemini Rising

4th of July Adventures & Sidenotes

Well, I had plenty of weekend adventure!

Our AC went out and the AC man came by and recharged the Freon. Thank goodness. It gets stinking hot in So Cal. Nights early morning are bearable, but anything after 11 am to about 10 pm - hot and uncomfortable. After making sure the AC man was taken care I did some errands, got a new battery for my watch and got my son a watch to use at boy scout camp.

On a side note, I like Swatch watches. I suppose I'm holdover from the 90's, but I love the colorful bands and watch faces. They're expressive. I suppose being an expressive person, Swatch watches are a perfect fit for me. My son is 13. I got him a 20.00 Cashio with a simple face and a classic black band. He says he likes it, but we'll see if he wears it. I think it's more his speed than the G-Shock my husband gave him.

After my boys attended a pool party, we went home, had a bite to eat and helped to decorate the pack's float for the 4th's parade.

Another side note: I HATE cooking in the heat. I'll go broke on take out, but the heat has sucked the life out of me. I don't have an ounce of energy to cook.

The 4th was too busy. My younger son, Joe, and I were in the cub scout pack 40 float for the Newhall parade. I think the heat got him because while he was on the float he told me he lost his 4th of July spirit and I had to constantly remind him to wipe the frown off his face and wave and say "Happy 4th." Mind you my son is special needs. He has expressive language disorder and I've learned his mind doesn't work the same way as his peers. He's socially awkward and has no social skills. He has a sensory processing disorder. We've seen 2 doctors who both say no autism. He's mainstream but he's prone to meltdowns and tantrum, and while his behavior can be managed, he's not mature enough to recognize and manage on his own. I try a combo of tough love/honesty/positive reinforcement, but he's always trying to get over and I've caught him in 'little' lies. The "big" one - do you have your underwear on? Yes, he tell me. I do an undie check and BAM! No undies. I ask him, why did you lie? He says: "I didn't want you to get mad at me because I had no undies on." Sigh........

After that I watched the Germany/England FIFA game. I decided I wanted to root for England because those girls were scrappy little soccer players, even though I thought Germany was the better team.

There's something a little wrong rooting for England on the 4th of July. But, hey, 239 years have gone by and I'm over it. LOL!! England won. Good for them.

We went to the beach after that but it was a bit of a bust. The beach was cold, windy, and overcast and I didn't anticipate that so I didn't bring sweat jackets. The beach cold and windy in So Cal? Get out. True. My boys were fussy. After we managed to light the BBQ bag, we cooked hot dogs and packed up. We watched the fireworks at Ventura College and it was the best show we've seen in years. The Rotary club did a great job with it. I'd go back, but I'd definitely better prepare for it.

By the time we got home it was 1045 pm. I had to get up at 4 am to go to work. When I get home, I have to prepare for Cub Scout day camp next week.

Sigh...I have no time to write. It's driving me crazy!!

here's something that I think would make a great prompt. I saw a 3 year old feeding the pelicans flaming hot Cheetos.
Write a 500 word story that begins with:

The pelican gobbled the flaming hot Cheetos.

If I have time I'll add some more to it tomorrow.

We'll see how exhausted I am after day camp. How was your 4th?