The Sounds of Summer.....

Nothing says "summer" quite like birds chirping, cicadas doing what they do......unless you live near me.  In which case, every Wednesday night courtesy of Mohegan Sun you hear fireworks and courtesy of Neighbor C, you hear drunken rantings and attempts at singing love songs to your baby mama that ultimately end up with fighting and a felony arrest.  Ah yes, summer on Nordon Ave. 

Anywho, last night, as you guessed, Neighbor C was arrested.  I thought maybe for being drunk and disorderly but I don't know.  All we heard as we were NOT purposely listening through Lilly's bedroom window, was "Come on man...itsjusta breach of peace man", to which the officer replied, "Try a felony dumbass."  I really kinda want to know what in fact, he did.  Then again, in situations such as this, less is sometimes more.  Ya know? ((I tried to find the police log on this arrest but it's not in the paper - must have booked him after midnight))

Also last night, on a completely different topic, my dog did the strangest thing.  She "tells us" all the time she has to go out.  She'll come up to either me or my mom and kind of half bark half whine and that means "Open the door, I hafta poop".  Well last night she did it but when we went to the back door she stopped cocked her head, made the noise again and walked over to Gram and nudged her leg.  I thought this meant, "You come too" because the Sun had just set off their fireworks and maybe she was scared.  Nope.  It meant "I want to go for a run".  WHAT?  Yup.  She ran tot he front door where she has a long leash tied to the porch so I hooked it up and wen ton the porch with her.  Well, she kept pulling at it and looking at me like 'come down here...to the grass" so I untied her and took her to the yard.  Mind you, I was in pajama pants and a t-shirt...no shoes....no glasses...  Well, Maddie started walking toward the road so I thought well, a little stroll around the block will be fine.  And then she started running.  And wouldn't stop.  Until we RAN barefoot around the block and home again.  Once home and inside she curled up on the couch and went to sleep.  Darn dog wanted to go running!  Who woulda thunk it?!

A Day at the Beach with the Littles

Lilly relaxing in the "beach chair"

So I was fortunate enough to have from Friday at 5pm until Tuesday at 1pm off from work and with Lilly.  I was going to overload the schedule with fun summer activities but then I thought about it and really, a few days of kicking back without a schedule and just going with the flow sounded more like exactly what we needed.  Friday evening, it was still blisteringly hot so Lilly and I thought we'd "hide" in Stop & Shop.  As it turned out, the power at Stop & Shop ALSO thought it would hide...as it was no where to be found.  I did manage to pick up some items but ended up leaving without a majority of what we needed and had to come back Saturday morning.  No worries.  After the trip to the store Saturday, which I went on by myself because little Miss HATES grocery shopping, she decided she was going to cook me lunch.  So cute right?  Together we had found this fun website for kids cooking called "Play with Your Food".  Lilly (with some help from me with the over) prepared "Dinosaurs in the Trees" - dino chicken nuggets, broccoli 'trees' and broccoli slaw 'grass'.  It was delicious.  That afternoon, our neighbor and fellow firefighter Bill invited us over for a dip in his pool.  Ahhhhhhh.....so relaxing.  Much better than trying to paddle around in Maddie's plastic kiddie pool ;-/

Sunday, was a great day.  With the extreme temps and sweaty kids (we borrowed the Littles) the only place to be was at the beach.  So Lilly and I prepared some tasty eats the night before and packed it all up in the cooler along with towels, blankets, sand toys, sunscreen, and all the other beach gear, threw everyone in the car, and headed to Rocky Neck for the day....where the sun didn't shine....at all....even for 5 minutes....until we got on 395 heading home at quarter after 4 in the afternoon.  Figures. 

Ham and cheese roll-ups and PB&J roll-ups.

Olive penguins, ladybugs on a log, and pepper butterflies.

Fruit flowers and citrus boats.

Corn flowers.

Living the good life - 10:15am on the beach.

Fruit break.

"Discussing" how they were going to construct their castle.  It never got built.

Dana and Lilly gave up and went swimming while Emily sat and thought about it for just a FEW MORE MINUTES.



The sun finally came out.....6 hours later...on our way home.

Back on the beach though, I took some photos...some require an explanation as to their importance...some are self-explanatory.  Here are a few:

The woman in the blue tank top and black spandex, while covered, neglected the bra portion of her outfit....thank God she's facing away....next to her is a young lady with black shorts on the read "BITCH" across her rear-end -- classy.  All the way to the right is another lady wearing black spandex, a red tube top, and a black bra.  Ugh. 

Not sure where this woman's boobs ended and the back began....go ahead....zoom in...you'll see...

Ah yes.  The family reunion.  In more than one sense.  You see, the family of about 72374 all met on the beach today.  And then the woman hugging the young boy, lost the young boy, and proceeded to stand in the water yelling his name out for almost 45 minutes.  Obviously this worked in some way because here they are hugging....but really?

Monday, Lilly and I both slept in until about 9 and after breakfast went to the library for an hour or so.  She took out this CD titled "Hop, Skip, Sing Spanish" to play in the car so she could learn Spanish.  It's great.  Perfect for children to follow along to, fun for the whole family.......unless you think like a I do occasionally with your mind in the gutter.  There is a song, supposedly a traditional Spanish song sung to babies and small children, about a box.  There are surprises int he box too.  What's in your box?  Also, chestnuts and little chestnuts.  Oh dear.  It's interesting.

Anyway, after Lilly's appointment in Old Lyme, we surprised her with a trip to Buttonwood Farm for their annual Sunflowers for Wishes fundraisers.  We took a hayride through the pasture and fed the cows, through the fields of sunflowers, and had huge portions of ice cream which, according to Lilly, is the best ice cream on the planet because they make it "RIGHT THERE!" 

Myself, Lil, and Gram getting ready for the hay ride.

Feeding the poor, neglected {cough..eh hem} cows.

Mmmm....hay.

Hey now brown cow.

So pretty.

Lilly and Gram.  Take 5.

I think this would be a pretty cool postcard or puzzle....



I took this one by accident...but its really cool I think.




Oh yes.  Ice cream.  Its what's for dinner.

{Technical difficulties overcome.}

We wrapped up Monday with a glance through Lilly's new Kid's Cookbook we borrowed from the library and made up a list of items I have to purchase before she returns to my house Saturday.  The list is, if you fold a piece of notebook paper in half length-wise, 3 columns long.  Just stuff for these recipes.  3 columns.  Then I added in the other stuff we need like, you know, toilet paper, tissues, MORE sunscreen....and now it's 5 columns long.  Can't wait for that bill.....coupon clippin' here I come!

In any event, Lilly had fallen asleep Monday on the way back from Buttonwood for about 20 minutes, still went to bed at 8....and I STILL couldn't get her out of bed until 9:20 this morning.  In addition to being very interested in cooking and, more importantly - eating, she's been sleeping like crazy.  Can we say "growth spurt"?  Thank goodness it's summer and we're wearing shorts......

Forgive me followers....

...for I have not blogged.  It's been 18 days since my last entry, and I have sinned many times.  WHAT THE HELL AM I WRITING???  Good Lord.  Its 11:30 at night, I can't sleep because I'm pumped about, you ready for this ridiculousness, my run tomorrow at 6:30 in the morning.  WHAT???  Who in the hell loses sleep because they're excited about going running?  Is somebody chasing me? No.  Is there a prize at the end? No.  THEN WHY AM I GOING RUNNING AT THE ASS CRACK OF DAWN???  Because I like it.  Yup.  OK, so really, I hate the sweating and the panting like a dog because I can't breathe part, but I LOVE the part when I can all of a sudden breath just fine, the pain goes away, and I feel like I could go for miles and miles....until I can't.  That's when I stop.  When the runner's high wears off - its time to STOP RUNNING! 

I've picked up some good tricks.  Keep talking to yourself.  Sing.  Sing right along with the music.  Britney Spears usually helps although truthfully, she doesn't really sing that much and it kinds of gets annoying.  Anything upbeat with lots of lyrics is good.  Also, pretend you're famous and the paparazzi are following you and if you stop running, they'll mock you and scoff at you for MONTHS!  You don't want scoffing do you? NO YOU DON'T! So keep running Sally and eventually you'll get the hang of it...or you'll keel over and someone will call 911 and save you ...either way....JUST KEEP GOING!!! 

I've gained quite a bit of other things other than paparazzi tricks though.  My legs are stronger, my ass is firmer, AAANNNNDDDD I sleep better...well, except for tonight...because of the anticipation of tomorrow....but you get the idea.  8 hours every night, a solid breakfast, and a 2-4 mile run depending on the weather/heat/time...and I'm good to go!

So, you gonna join me????

The Life and Times of a Retail Manager

**Disclaimer - there is a little profanity in here**

So, if you've never worked in retail, just like any other subject, if you don't know about it, leave your opinions and comments at the door.  Remember last week when I posted to stand by about the one-armed gorilla....and "what the eff did you just say to me?" - yeah.  Welcome to my life.

So, since I was 16 years old, I have worked in customer service in some capacity or another.  Beit Bros. Supermarket, Gap, Gymboree, (EMS and firefighting get 1/2 star each...).  I know a thing or two about customer service.  And yes, generally speaking, the customer is always right....until....you start throwing shit at me calling me a bumbling idiot who clearly doesn't have a brain and that's why I am a piss ant sales associate at some cheap, low budget, trashy store.  ((This is where the "What the fuck did you just say to me comes in...))  Now, Old Carrie would have flipped out.  I mean FLIPPED THE FUCK OUT.....but New Carrie doesn't use profanity when in a professional setting 'cause that's not the correct action to take.  Nope.  New Carrie took a deep breath and said, "Eh hmm...well, I can see that you're upset with something I either did or said so I'm going to give you a minute to cool off and find another manager to help you.  In the mean time why don't you sit down because I'm assuming you're all kinds of stressed out because I don't have jeans that come large enough to fit you because you've had 6 kids in the last 5 years and judging by the way they're running amok in the store right now and you're alone with 6 kids shopping, I'm also assuming they all stress you out because you're doing all by yourself.  I'll get ya a drink too," and walked away.  Bitch's blood HAD to have been boiling.  Amazingly the stupid ass kept shopping and actually made a purchase.  Well, I happened to have just finished up a phone call and so I was standing at the cash wrap when she checked out.  Park of my job is to sell fragrance.  It's what our company markets to EVERY customer.  Well, damned if I didn't have THE perfect opportunity to give this bitch a little more of her own medicine.  "Oh I'm so glad you found something that fit you.  You should really add one of these fun, fruity fragrances on.  The price can't be beat and after the crazy day you've had, I bet you're sweatin' a lil (wearing a crocked smile...the whole time....using that condescending, smart-ass, bitch tone) and brewing up a little funk - ya know what I mean???  I'm not sure what's in these bottles of smelly stuff though, ya know - chemically, even though I have a dual degree in Biology and Biochemistry....we never really focused on the chemical make up of cheap, low budget, trashy perfume when I was in college, nor did I have time to discover it on my own what with the heavy course load, maintaining a 4.0 average while working full-time and raising a now 8 year old.  Maybe I should do that when I get my master's.....in any event, one bottle or 2?"  Fuckin' bitch.  Get the hell out of my store.


I don't have anything else.  I think this post sells itself....no picture needed.