IMTOAD

Hi all.  On our way back from Vienna's first birthday party,  we passed a motor home with a small car in tow.  I noticed the vanity plate had IMTOAD on it.  I thought who is calling themself Toad? Then is it I'm Toad or I am toad?  I asked Brooke if she saw it and when I told her what it was she got it immediately and said that's cute. So it's I am towed.  This shows what a ponderous clod I am.  I'm thinking of getting a t-shirt with the slogan IMTOAD on it.  This is my reality.  In every relationship, someone is the driver and someone is toad. 

That's my new approach to getting ready for this wedding.  I just don't care anymore.  I'm standing by for orders from Control.  We'll get there and all will be fine.  I only hope the woman from Craigslist calls back and buys one of these damn couches.

The US can't beat Ghana in soccer and England couldn't get it done against Germany.  We've learned a goal is not a goal and a foul is not a foul until the referee says so.  The game is in their hands. 

Friday Free-for-all

We have so much to do to get ready for Emma's wedding.  Where will people stay?  Do we need to paint?  What does the yard need?  The cars need to be reliable.  Should we go to garage sales today?  What? 
Let's go to a couple of garage sales and then we'll get busy on wedding plans.  Okay, that's how we do things in this family.  It just so happens that there are more garage sales this week-end than at any other time this season.  We were really in the mood to buy and found some great bargains.  We bought two book shelves, one for $5.00 and another for $40.00.  We found A Thomas the Train set for $4.00 !  A Montesori  school was moving and Brooke got some toys and wall posters dirt cheap.  Dirt cheap is us!
You won't believe it but we bought a nice leather couch and love seat for a total of $200.  When you come over and luxuriate in these, you won't believe what your body is feeling, and no smells.

Now we have to arrange pick up plus get rid of our old couch.  How we will deal with this is unknown. Please come by and see our bargains though.

Our "European Vacation"

My bride and I decided to take a short vacation to "Europe" this week-end.  Two of Brooke's siblings are actually going to Europe and so as not to be left out of the fun, we decided to travel to Toronto, Canada.  It is very much like Europe.  There is London, Paris, the Thames river.  One needs a passport.  There is a border crossing.  It's quite wonderful and foreign.  Of course our favorite person in the world is there.  His picture is part of this blog, in case you were in doubt.  We took Gabe to a park with some neighbor twin girls and their Grandfather.  He speaks Serbian.  Very little english.  How European.  We also took Gabe to a very nice pre-school drop-in center.  This place was great!  Clean, very well organised, nice people in charge.  I was in a nice frame of mind(those drugs are great) and my mind set seemed to match that of most of the adults there.  Similar drugs?  The place reminded me of the pre-school center we took Jake and Emma to so many years ago.

We also went to a nice coffee shop that Brooke had discovered on her previous visit.  It has free wi-fi and very nice tables and chairs plus book shelves and some decorative items.  Very pleasant.  On Queen Street there is one shop after another and quite varied.  Many countries of the world represented.  We took a walk down a side street off Queen and found beautifully landscaped yards.  The houses are close together and all somewhat different.  They were really interesting to see and it would probably be a nice place to live.

One thing I noticed, since the last time I was there, was the people from the Community Center have these electrically powered vehicles that they ride up and down Queen Street on.  They are customized with rear-view mirrors and headlights.  The people from the Center park in front of the Salvation Army Store, sitting on their "rides" and conversing.  I'm sure if we visited more often we would get to know more about the habits of the people there.

I was alerted to the fact that someone had thrown out an oriental rug.  It is common practice to recycle no longer wanted items by leaving them in certain areas where others can inspect and retreive them if desired.  I was too tired to go out that night but the next morning we chanced by and the rug was still there.  It was in excellent condition, but had been cut in half.  It wouldn't have lasted twenty minutes if it had been whole.  But, no one wanted a half-rug.  I left it also.  Later when we had returned I decided to take it.  It could be used somewhere.  Maybe in the camper.  Maybe in the side bedroom.
Whats left of it is in great condition...beautiful deep colors and little wear.  I've been thinking about getting an oriental rug for a while, so this could satisfy my desire.  The price was right.  John suggested that I use it with a mirrored wall so with the reflection one would get the effect of a full rug.
Wonderful idea.  We returned home fully energized and at a bargain price.  Caio!

World Cup Woes

I joined a World Cup Group that J-youknowwho started.  It is similar to NCAA Touney Brackets but is  complicated by the playoff format.  Plus you get points for guessing the goal differential for each match.  I'm at the very bottom of the pack.  There is a long way to go.  I also picked USA to win the whole thing.  It does give me a reason to watch more soccer.
I also have bought a cordless string trimmer.  I like my gas powered trimmer but it needs more attention than I am willing to pay for right now.  I'll let you know the thrilling outcome of the new trimmer's performance in a future episode. 

Touch-a-truck

Who knew that little boys and girls too, want to get close to big trucks?  Close enough to touch them.  We took Gabe and some friends to Bush Park to see the trucks.  One also finds that the slides and swings are very interesting.  And Trains are bigger than trucks.  When the train went by,  everone looked at the train.

It's Trash Day!

That's what I told Gabe last night before he went to bed.  Trash day means the big truck will come by and the guys will wave at us.  The little boys seem to just love trucks.  Big ones especially. 

I like trash day because they take away a weeks worth of trash and we can start over again with a clean slate.

Gabe and Emma are here and things are being accomplished.  I'm so grateful that I don't have to plan a wedding.  I'm so grateful that I don't have to plan anything.  I do have to get measured for a tuxedo and that has caused stress.  I've started removing wall paper from the side bedroom.  We were going to fix it up for the Summer's festivities.  It may be too late for that, now.  I need a big jolt of energy but if I really got one I'd probably squander it on something else.  Without rereading my old blogs, I don't remember if I mentioned the old maple tree in the back yard.  We had it removed(except for the stump).  We have also got the garden looking much better.  Thanks to the work of other people as well as us.

Again, this is boring...my life revolves around my string trimmer.  Jman has produced a World Cup Bracket in order to make the games more interesting, so I entered that.  Best wishes to all of you from the slightly dingy Sidebedroom.

HGTV

Over the long week-end I watched some TV.  It usually doesn't take too long to get thoroughly depressed or angry with what you see there.  At that point I will turn to the sports channels or history or even HGTV.  Happily this time there was a Hoarders Marathon going on.  By the second show we had had enough.  The people who horde probably should (if they are ready) see an hypnotist.  The hypnotist would solve their problem in about 30-45 minutes.  The remaining 15 minutes could show the clean-up or explain the changes in the persons mind.   I will have to finish this in a few minutes because Nolan is visiting today and we are going to walk on the treadmill for a while.

The thing that caused me consternation about the one episode of hoarders was when the camera showed the woman who couldn't throw away food, she was wearing the identical Crocs that I wear.  There are other incidents like this on the tube.  Futurama has a scene showing a future mutant group of people and they too are wearing Crocs.  I wonder if the leather shoe lobby is paying for this.

Today on the same channel a guy was being "helped" with his wardrobe.  He basically dressed like me and 90% of people.  He went along with the program and at the end, the scene showed him with his family and friends.  He looked a little out-of-place.  They all had on their slob clothes.  He looked okay except for a shirt with a raised collar.  He didn't look comfortable in that.  Maybe he should have changed friends as well as his wardrobe.

Hope you are all enjoying this wonderful weather.  We had a nice little thunderstorm earlier today.