Attention Span?

(Written last week)

What on earth is wrong with me? I'm sitting here, attempting to organize the bills and sort out some papers. Actually, I am doing that. But I'm also reading emails, checking out some fellow class participants for the Through The Lens class, and jumping up to do laundry, take bread out of the oven, or go to another room to do something.

WHY CAN I NOT BE FOCUSED ON ONE THING???

I seem to get worse and worse about this with every passing year. By the time I reach 50, I'll be wandering aimlessly all the time, accomplishing ZERO. I'll forget what I'm doing continually. I can hardly remember now, it seems.

So I look at a few pieces of paper, do a little triage (shred, file, throw away), and turn and do something at the laptop. Type a sentence or two, read an email or three, and it's back to the paperwork I'm supposed to do.

Sure, the logical answer here would be to do the paperwork away from the computer. But then I remember that I need to email a friend to ask her a question. Or I need to update the checkbook on the computer. And then I'm sucked back into my online life. Until I catch the stack of paper in my peripheral.

It was no different earlier today. I was baking sourdough, washing dishes, drying sheets, talking on the phone, and IMing a friend. ALL AT THE SAME TIME! Sheesh.

Attention span? I have none. Zero. Zip. Nada.



Disclaimer: Okay, okay, SOMETIMES I'm capable of focusing on one thing - hyperfocusing, that is. It's at the other end of the spectrum. I forget everything else as time stands still and I'm utterly engrossed in something. Where, oh where is that elusive balance?

A Test of Patience

Back at the end of January, we were surprised and excited to be approved to buy a house. I anticipated being moved by probably April or May, at the very latest. Apparently, my timing and God's aren't quite the same. Here we are, over five months later, having made offers on five different houses, and nothing in the works.

In the beginning, people said, "Oh, it's a great time to buy a house. It's a buyer's market!" As I mentioned previously, it's really not exactly a great time, it's a weird time. Our situation is also a little different than some, so that has added to the strangeness.

Typically, when I find out that I'm heading in a certain direction, I want it to happen and I want it to happen now! Or at least as soon as possible. Since I assumed we'd be moving fairly quickly, I put my life on hold. After all, why would I invest time in anything here and now? Just wait until we move, and then proceed with life. I didn't initially realize I was doing that, but as time went on and we had no contract or house to move to, I became frustrated. Not merely because we weren't moving, but I couldn't live my life, having put it into limbo.

God in His sweet and quiet love, kindly pointed out that His will is not for me to be so focused on where we may live, while completely neglecting the life He's given me today. In fact, in Psalm 118:24, He says,

"This is the day which the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it."

And in James 4:13-15, He says,

"Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit'; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.'"

He's given me this moment of this day to live. He promises nothing further as far as life on this planet. The only future promise I have as a believer is eternity with Him. In the meantime, I have to trust that He has our best interests at heart. Even now I can look back over these five offers and see His hand at work:

1. The garage door at this house was probably not tall enough to accommodate our Jeep. Taking the hard top off and airing down the tires just to get it in the door is not very convenient.


2. While this house was right across the street from a best friend and our kids' best friends, and in the neighborhood we'd like to live in, there were some BIG sump pump problems within a couple weeks of the new owners moving in. The roto-rooter trucks (2 of them) were there for a very long time. We've "been there, done that" at our old house. No thank you.


3. Nothing particularly evident for this one, but that's okay. God is good. Always.


4. Our house payment would've been much too high, stretching us to a financial place we shouldn't be (and don't want to be).


5. The last house is a little further across town than we'd like to be ideally. Maybe God is going to let us live in the area we most want to be. We'll see.

Does that mean that I have to see the reasons behind why God does what He does in my life? No. He calls me to obey.

"Then Samuel said: 'Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold to obey is better than sacrifice.'" 1 Samuel 15:22

But I think He gives us a glimpse sometimes. There are a lot of things He doesn't really have to do, but He does, because He loves us and I believe He enjoys blessing us, encouraging us, building our faith, and sometimes, He just blows our socks off. Just because.

I know that He can be trusted. I know that He knows better than I do where we should live. So when an offer isn't accepted, I have to know that He really does have my life in His kind and loving will.


"Call to Me, and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you do not know." Jeremiah 33:3

Excuse Me?!?

Our health insurance provider is kind enough to send a handy little flyer that details all the preventive care you should receive and when you should receive it. Now don't get me wrong. I believe that some preventive care is very valuable and should be done. Not all of what they list, but certainly some of it. While perusing the flyer, I came to the very last heading for the adults:

Alcohol Misuse Screening and Behavioral Health Counseling Intervention

WHAT?!? I mean it's not as if I don't know what "misuse" of alcohol is. And I can probably figure out the BHCI. But here's the interesting part. The frequency of this particlar screening?

Routinely - 18 years and older.

So once I'm past 18 (already there), I'm supposed to "routinely" be screened for alcohol abuse misuse and have my mental behavioral health checked out, in case I might be in need of some intervention?!?! What, exactly, constitutes "routinely" anyway?

I certainly mean no ill-will towards anyone who struggles with alcohol or mental issues. But I also do not believe that everyone needs to be routinely screened for such things. For one, I don't drink alcohol. At all. Not that I never have, but we're talking many, many years ago. An entirely different life and lifetime. Kind of hard to have "alcohol misuse" when you don't drink the stuff.

And depending upon the day and certain hormonal issues, I'm sure that someone may think I need some intervention occasionally. I doubt I need to be screened in order to know that some days I can be moody or grumpy. And I certainly don't want any potentially negative things stuck in my medical file over some absurd "routine" screening.

Sorry, health insurance folks. I won't be participating in this particular screening.

Wordless Wednesday - At The Lake

For more WW participants, go here, here, and here.

Twisted Silver Jewelry Giveaway

Dawn at My Home Sweet Home is hosting an awesome jewelry giveaway this week. Click on the image for your chance to win a pair of those beautiful earrings!

I was just over at Twisted Silver perusing the goods and they are funky, fun, and gorgeous! In addition to the contest, there are a couple of coupons available at Dawn's place, if you'd like to purchase some Twisted Silver of your own. Maybe you'd like to start some early Christmas shopping. Maybe you'd like to send something to me. Or maybe not so much.

Funnel Cloud

While you're anxiously awaiting the new blog look, you can check out my photos of a funnel cloud over at my photoblog.

Enjoy!

Redesign

I've been working on a redesign for my blog over at my test blog. I'm hoping to get it up and running, even though there are still changes I want to make.

All this to say that if you come over here and things look strange, or something is missing. I know. I'm working on it. Worst case scenario, I'll go back to my cookie cutter format until I can work out the details. In the meantime, I'm praying that this comes together. I'm pretty excited about the new design.

Wordless Wednesday - Friend's Flowers

It's true, I'm on a flower bender.

Go here, here, and here for more WW.

Check out my photo blog here.

Stuff Diet

While you may be tempted to think that says "stuffed" diet, it doesn't. It means STUFF - you know, the clutter, junk, ephemera, and things that make their way into ones' house? Before you know it, you have rooms that look like this:

This is not a good thing. In fact, I've found that all this STUFF is dreadfully bad for you. You can't find what you want, you trip over it in the dark, it makes your head whirl with overwhelmedness, and increases your blood pressure and guilt level every single time you walk past it.

Therefore, I am on a serious STUFF diet. I'm being very ruthless and really paring down. Significantly. My mantra right now is SORT and PURGE. It began with the pens, pencils, and other writing instruments. I mailed part of it off to some other homeschool mom friends, and still have a few to go. But it's sorted and I'm keeping only what I believe we really will need and use.

Next up was the nail polish and acoutrement. It all fits in one sweet little basket. I don't even polish my fingernails much, if ever, any more. But in the summer I do polish my toes. Actually my toenails. That would be weird to polish my toes.




The makeup is also down to a nice small basket. I do have some additional items in a makeup bag (extra mascara, etc), but it's much less than it once was.




Cleaning the makeup also necessitated cleaning up the top of the dresser. So that was a good thing. It's much more peaceful to walk in and see dresser surface than a chaotic mess of things, many which don't even belong there.

Up next? My bedside table. The one that's been BURIED in books and magazines and pens and journals and whatever else has found its way to this perch. Now it, too, is peaceful and tidy. (insert big sigh here)

The latest purging venture is the cookbooks and recipes. I don't tend to use cookbooks very often, although I do use recipes that I acquire from other people. Actually, I would use my cookbooks more, but they've been hiding out in the bottom of a cupboard in the dining room. Out of sight, out of mind. I did a pretty good cookbook purge about 2 1/2 years ago, but needed to weed it out even further. I purged about 2/3 of my cookbooks, leaving me with this calm scene last weekend (or was it the weekend before?).

Today, I sorted through all the printed out recipes, hand-written recipes, etc. I'd been keeping some of them in a binder in page protectors, but the binder was too small. So I pulled out a bigger binder, more page protectors, some dividers, and have a new, organized, and tidy binder.

In front of my recipe sections are my meal planning forms, grocery lists, and a couple other master meal lists. It's what works best for me. Now I can get back on track with better meal plans (trying some new or long-forgotten recipes), grocery shopping, and cooking. Which will also allow us to eat healthier and move frugally.

Next on tap? I have NO idea. It will depend upon what strikes me. It's all been pretty small projects, but I have gotten rid of a significant amount of stuff, which feels absolutely W O N D E R F U L!!

Looking for a Photo Hunt

In case I linked someone here for the PhotoHunt today, it's over at my other place. Sorry for the confusion.

Friday's Feast #193

Appetizer

Do you consider yourself to be an optimist or a pessimist?

Yes.


Soup

What is your favorite color of ink to write with?

It's really a mood thing. Most likely blue, purple, or black. In that order. Occasionally pink or green, maybe red. But mostly my three go-to colors. And more specifically - I'm a fine point kind of gal. Mostly. I'm really ticked off at the pen manufacturers, however, for packaging medium point pens and promoting them as fine point. NO. THEY. ARE. NOT. 0.7 is medium, not fine. 1.0 is not medium - it's big, thick, and fat! 0.5 is fine. 0.3 is extra fine. How hard is that to understand?

Isn't that just like our society? Change the name for the appeasement of . . . I don't know who, in this case. It's just stupid. What the does the pen industry have against lovers of fine-tipped pens? Don't they know that we have a thing for pens and we help keep them afloat? And why don't they call me and invite me to be on a consumer panel? Then I could tell them the right way to package and market their pens.


Salad

How often do you get a manicure or pedicure? Do you do them yourself or go to a salon and pay for them?

Okay, off the soap box. I do this myself. If I do it at all. I'm too cheap to pay someone for something I can do myself. And I don't want to take the time. Although they do a much nicer job than I do. I hardly ever wear fingernail polish anymore. I just do my toes in the summer to sort of camouflage my fairly ugly feet. Maybe "ugly" is too strong a word, but I definitely do NOT have pretty and lovely feet that look nice in sandals. So I disguise them with bright polish. Then you can overlook their lack of beauty.


Main Course

Have you ever won anything online? If so, what was it?

Why, yes, I have! All in blogland. At least three books, a $25 gift card, a Shane & Shane CD. That's all that comes to mind at the moment. If I left something off, I am ever so sorry.


Dessert

In which room in your house do you keep your home computer?

The family desktop resides in our living room. We are adamant about the computer being in a public, visible location. The laptop hangs out wherever - the kitchen, living room, or bedroom. But that's under adult (or cat) supervision.

Out and About

Hebrews 12:1 “…let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”

What does the “sin which so easily ensnares us” look like to you personally? Is it sitting there on the side of the road in the race of life, looking stinky, smelly, and disgusting? I mean sin really is gross. When I think about how completely revolting sin is in our lives as believers, I picture something from a very disgusting dump with flies buzzing all around it. It most certainly smells and looks terrible.

Since I'm off and running today, you can find me and read the rest of this next door at the Homeschool Blog Awards' Thursday Thoughts.

Have a blessedly wonderful day.

Wordless Wednesday - Lanterns

You can see more WW here, here, and here.

Blessed Beyond Measure

I, along with many others, have been a member of the Commiseration Party of late as I watch the economic chaos taking place in our nation. It's frustrating that fuel costs continue to climb at an unbelievable pace, which affects everything else in our country. I cannot believe that I recently told hubby to "just put in $50" while at a gas station. Unfortunately, no one's income increases anywhere close to the cost of living, if it increases at all.

However.

I have to remember that it's not as bad as it may seem. Sure, it's not always easy, and I know there are families out there for whom this is extremely hard. But I was reading this post by Gabriel this morning and was reminded that I am incredibly blessed, even in the hard times.

We still have food, milk, clothes, and a home to live in. We are still able to put fuel in our vehicles to drive places. We might be driving a little less, but we're not relegated to walking. Yes, the cost of everything is higher. Sure, we can't just spend what we used to. But does it mean we're not being taken care of? No. God is faithful and He continues to provide - above and beyond even the basic necessities. I still have a cell phone and DSL internet service. I even went to Starbucks last night to visit with a friend, while sipping on my chai latte and enjoying a piece of lemon pound cake. Not exactly deprivation.

I know that I often take things for granted, or even begin to feel like life is hard, but then I read about the circumstances in Argentina, and realize that I am blessed beyond measure. I have nothing to complain about. And while I see this rapidly changing in the US, I currently have freedoms that many others don't.

Thank You, Lord, for the perspective adjustment. And I pray Your hand of blessing upon the Argentine people, as they seek to provide for their families, and just survive.

Weeding

I must say that God has a way of humbling us ME. Not that I even felt I was being particularly prideful in this particular area. But my most recent loooonnnnggggg posts both had typos. I already addressed one of them in this morning's post.

Much to my chagrin, I had MULTIPLE typos in this morning's post. You know, the one in which I mentioned the previous typo! Good grief. I believe that at last count, I was up to FOUR of them.

The great irony here is that I am the editor for a newsletter at my church for the women's ministry, the editor for the Heart of the Matter online mag, and prior to today, I would have proudly told you that I don't bother with spell check, because I am detail-oriented and I proof my work, and spell check doesn't do a very good job anyway. You know, it doesn't get the context of what I'm saying. Maybe I meant to type "your" and I type "you." Spell check just doesn't get that.

So here I sit, nibbling on a serving of humble pie, as I recognize that no one is above mistakes. Well, there is One - Jesus Christ. But He IS the only one. I may not have thought I was been feeling prideful, but those roots needed to be pulled out. Before they grew into something big and ugly.

Guess it was time for some weeding today.



PS - Thanks to Mom, Amy, and Dave for their exceptionally detailed proofing skills! Love you guys!

PSS - If anyone finds any typos in THIS post, just humor me and let it go.

Monday Miscellany

The latest issue of Heart of the Matter is out! As always, there is a plethora of excellent articles. Go check it out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We're still house-hunting. While people keep saying, "Oh, it's a great time to buy a house," we keep saying, "Oh, it's a weird time to buy a house!" A lot of people think their houses are still worth more than the market will bear. Of course, some are into them higher and don't really have a choice. Every time the interest rate bounces around, it changes what we can/can't buy. And we have seen some very, shall we say, QUIRKY houses. Okay, maybe not the entire house, but some quirky features. I think the 70's conversation pit was the most unique. That, and the very narrow, portable panty. It's definitely been an interesting adventure, including plenty of laughter. We're supposed to go look at three more this week. We'll see how that plays out.

ClayGuy is finally on the road to recovery from a nasty sinus infection. He was at the doctor last Monday, but then developed a pretty bad cough that hasn't wanted to take its leave. I thought I may have to take him back today, as he continued to run a low-grade fever and the cough was so bad. But we may actually be seeing enough improvement that we won't have to go that route. We've spent a lot of time at home since he's not been feeling so great. Although that's a good thing. It's nice to stay home. It's also cheaper to stay home, given the rising gas prices!

If you happened to have read my really long post about our nice dinner out while shopping for an HD converter box, I'd be curious if you caught this (and you're not my mom, cause she did!). I listed dry roasted SESAME SEEDS as one of our dinner items. Like people really buy jars of dry roasted sesame seeds?!?! For a snack? I could not come up with the word sunflower for some reason. It just slipped clunked right out of the back of my head! Even as I typed it, I wondered if that word was correct. But sesame and seeds went together, and I had no better replacement, so I went with it. Then I got the comment from my mom. And I had to fall over and laugh for awhile. But I'm okay now.

I'm not sure what just happened outside, but our little birdie neighbors are MAD!! They're squawking up a storm and flying all over the place. There are some squirrels doing their usual zipping around thing. I don't know if they're wreaking havoc or something else happened, but it is sure noisy out there! Even the yard bunnies came over to watch.

If things go well, you might be seeing a new design here at Bunny Trails. Hopefully soon! I'm kind of tired of this one. I'm working on it, anyway. In my "no clue what I'm doing" way, it's not looking too bad, if I say so myself.

Guess I'd better get cracking with my day. Dishes to wash, laundry to do, phone calls to make, baking to do. Pretty typical kind of Monday. Although I'm thinking we ought to get outside - especially ClayGuy - and just enjoy the warm sun, blue skies, and the beauty of creation. Of course, enjoying for me includes a camera. Or two.

Wishing you a wonderfully blessed Monday!

Wanna Good Laugh?

If you're looking for a good laugh, let me highly recommend Letters From Your Friendly Cashier, Volumes I & II. My dear friend, Carrie, aka the Gremlin Wrangler collects her thoughts as a late-night cashier onto paper for the enjoyment of many. And they are funny, funny, funny.

WARNING: Do not read these hilarious anecdotes while eating and/or drinking. I read the most recent installment aloud to hubby one evening while he had some dinner. Big mistake. Made me wonder if I still knew how to do the Heimlich. Fortunately, no choking ensued, and we were able to enjoy the mirth found within Carrie's stories.

So go buy a book. Or two. Buy more and give them to your friends. You won't be disappointed. These books are looking like a number one pick for the top of my own Christmas gift-giving list.

Go here for more information and to see her contest that I've entered. You can too, if you'd like.

Because I Don't Have Enough To Do

Due to the overwhelming number of photos that I shoot and the fact that they just don't all seem to fit over here, I've started a photo blog. There I feel free to post random photos with no explanation whatsoever. And I can play with various photo memes (PhotoHunt, Photostory Friday, etc.) while still posting other drivel things here.

The name?

Photo Bunny, what else?

Photostory Friday - Numero Uno Para Mi

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

This is my first foray into Photostory Friday. A place where you post a photo that you took and tell the accompanying story.

Any thoughts?

Lest you think the romance has faded in over 21 years of marriage, I'll have you know that's not even remotely true. This was our dinner out last week. At closing time. At the big red bulls-eye store. Well, not really. We ate the actual meal in the van. Cause you know, we're so wild and crazy like that.

The menu, more specifically:

Salami sticks (for mi amore)
Triscuits with Rosemary & Olive Oil (tre bien)
Dr Pepper (not mine, amazingly)
Fruit snacks (for dessert)
Dry roasted sesame seeds (for protein's sake)
Cheese sticks (dairy and protein, all in one conveniently edible stick)
Vitamin water (yes, for me, complete with antioxidants - blueberry, pomegranate, and acai, whatever that is)

Don't you like how I put my exceptional mediocre photography skills to use in this unfocused, poorly staged, and badly lit photo of our exquisite meal?


The rest of the story . . .

Well, Carrie, the Gremlin Wrangler, and I have been talking about her wranglings with the HD converter box and the tv antenna. Since hubby's a very handy and technically minded guy, I've been trying to provide her with some of his wisdom to get it up and running out in the land of eternal flatness.

You know how it goes . . . you're talking with a friend about a thing and then pretty soon you go get the thing. In this case, the thing being the HD converter boxes that the government commands us to purchase before February of 2009 or else lose all ability to watch any television whatsoever. Unless, of course, we cave to the cable and satellite tv movement. Which we won't. So back to the HD box.

Because hubby works on RVs (recreational vehicles, not real vats, or red vapors, or any other silly thing like that), he's been dealing with HD converter boxes. Imagine our surprise when he found out that there are EXTRA channels available - for FREE - when you have an HD converter box attached to your boring, old, analog tv! RTN, for example, where you can watch all these cool, retro tv shows like Hawaii Five-O, Magnum P.I., A-Team, Hardy Boys, and Rawhide.

I just assumed we'd procrastinate wait until a little later to get our handy dandy little HD converter boxes - well, before the expiration date of the government-issued cards (called coupons) for $40 off each box. However, we decided that it was time to go ahead and make the jump. After all, if the gremlin family out in the land of eternal flatness was going for it, so would we.

Hubby called around to locate a couple of cheap reasonably priced boxes in stock. He was able to track down the last two of the model we wanted at Super Target. On the other side of town. Of course. So off we went, to purchase two black, plastic boxes that would bring us retro television and HD quality. The offspring stayed home, because 1) ClayGuy has a sinus infection, and 2) They didn't want to intrude upon our highly romantic evening out.

Well, we didn't exactly just jet off right away. We sort of hung out a little while, and then we left. So it was well past dinner by the time we arrived at Super Target. We hightailed it to the electronics department only to learn from the sweet, kind, and helpful ST electronics department employee that the two coveted boxes she had placed carefully on the counter inside the special employees only zone were gone. GONE!! She even had a little note (which was still on the zone counter) there with some words on it.

Apparently, she had gone on break while we rushed dilly-dallied out the door. Ten little minutes. I mean, really, how hard is it for those two little boxes to just sit there, patiently awaiting our arrival? Harder than I thought. While our helpful and kind employee was at her break, an annoying and snarky employee filled in for her. And promptly sold OUR BOXES to a couple of ladies who came in and claimed to have had some manager call over about these very boxes. OUR BOXES! The boxes we already drove all the way across town to purchase, leaving our sick child and his sibling at home. Hmph!

Annoying and snarky employee kept trying to . . . I don't even know what to call it. I guess pacify the situation or something. He was sooo irritating!! I just wanted him to go away. But no, he had to keep running on at the mouth. "It's no one's fault. Things happen. I didn't know. Blah. Blah. Blah. I take the blame for this. Blah."

Poor sweet, kind, and helpful employee. She just felt so terrible. She understood that we drove all the way across town, on an empty stomach at dinner time, leaving our sick and possibly dying child at home with his little brother. So she called the other Super Duper Target even further across town to the north. Their records showed that SDT had plenty of the highly sought-after boxes. We really had no desire to drive further out to another store, but we'd already come this far in the journey, we might as well accomplish our mission. She spoke with a fellow electronics employee at SDT and he personally pulled the boxes from the shelf, and placed an even larger note upon them. He then set four gargoyle guards upon the boxes, with strict instructions to use their laser beam eyes to shoot anyone who dared venture near our boxes. If that didn't work, they were to beat them severly about the head and neck with their wickedly sharp wings.

Back to the van and off to SDT. Along with a call to check in on the mostly dead, feverish child at home. Fortunately, he was holding up. I think it was Super Mario Smash Bros that really helped sustain him. And his dear, loving brother was gracious enough to play alongside him, knowing how much Super Mario Smash Bros benefitted his elder sibling.

Now we were really getting hungry, as we drove into the night, in pursuit of our HD converter boxes. We hadn't eaten for days hours at this point, and were nearly famished. But we were on a mission. There would be no stops for such frivolous things as food.

We arrived at SDT, and behold, there was a beautiful and glorious sunset, illuminating the clouds with lovely pastel shades. A photo op if ever there was one. Quick bunny trail to the side of the building, a couple shots, and we're on our way in the automatic doors to the world of Super Duper Target. Across the store to the electronics department which is in an entirely different location than the previous Super Target. Fortunately, the gargoyles worked. The two boxes were there - in their cardboard glory, upon the counter of the special, employee-only area, guarded carefully by gargoyles pretty much no one. Although there was a store security guy there. I suspect sweet, kind, and helpful employee from the other store gave him a heads-up after we departed her store. I don't think she could've taken it, had she known we went to yet another store only to leave empty-handed.

We whipped out the nifty government-issued cards (aka coupons) and paid the balance on our highly prized HD converter boxes. Whew! That was quite the endeavor. Now we were really, really hungry.

Seeing how we were in a Super Duper Target, where they sell things like food, we bee-lined it for the other side of the store to locate some sustenance for our withering selves. Turns out they close at 9:00 on Sunday evenings, and we weren't too far away from being locked into a dark store, far, far away from our progeny. So we scrambled for something we could eat en route with no cooking or preparation on our parts.

I think you can figure out the rest of the story for yourself. From the picture. You know, the one you could see if you scrolled and scrolled and scrolled waaaaaayyyyyyy back up at the top of this ridiculously long story. Maybe I should stay away from Photostory Fridays in the future. Apparently, there's far too much story attached to my photos.

Who knew?

Who Comes Up With These?

So, what do you think these signs really mean?

Is this a substance that's going down into him? Or is it coming up and out? And if so, why is he laying in it? Or is it floating around his head? There's no point of reference - is he standing or laying down? Just what is the textured gray substance anyway?


Touch the shag carpet - you know you want to


Sever fingers here

And then there's this:

Do you really want snacks that come from the same machine as the soap? Does anyone ever get confused? Could you wash your clothes with a bag of Cheetos? I guess only if you wanted an orange wardrobe.


Washer-Extractors? What exactly are they extracting? And why is it an Express Lane? Is that for people who wash 15 items or less?


Oh, here's what was extracted - the water! So much so, that the towels are now glued to the drum. Good thing I brought my big, strong man with me. I may never have gotten those towels out of there.


There goes the "wash the kids while we're here" plan. Guess they'll have to get clean the old-fashioned way.


I wasn't sure if there'd be refreshment at the coin op since I haven't been to one in years (other than the time we had to wash a sleeping bag that someone lost his lunch dinner in at Boy Scout camp). I figured we'd take the BYORB (bring your own root beer) route.


Aw, he looks so sad. Like he's in trouble or something. Really, he's not. He's just playing games on his phone, while his photo-crazed wife goes wonky with her camera.

So, the next time you're bored, have dirty clothes, a bunch of quarters, and time to kill, take a trip to the local coin-op laundry and see what fun you can dig up!