Happy 4th of July!

Well I must admit that this is not how I expect to spend my 4th of July.

Growing up, we would get up and do all the "dirty" work, such as any laundry, housework, yardwork etc before it got too hot. At the same time that we kids were doing the grunt work, Mom would be making coleslaw, potato salad, deviled eggs, and some sort of yummy dessert, like Strawberry Rhubarb something-or-other with our home-grown fruit! We'd have a normal lunch, but would spend the day hanging out, playing games, splashing in our wading pool (when we were little), or just staying cool in the house...around 5 or so, Dad would fire up the grill, and Mom would start laying out the spread, with help from us kids. We'd have watermelon that had been sitting buried in the cooler under 20 pounds of ice (give or take), deviled eggs, potato salad, baked beans, coleslaw, delicious rolls of some sort depending on whether we were having burgers and brats, steak, or fried chicken...we'd eat, and drink, and talk, and hang out, and eat some more.

As dusk approached, we'd set up our chairs, light up the sparklers, load up on bug spray, and wait for the fireworks to start. We never had to go, because the house I grew up in was close enough to where they did the show that we could watch from our yard. It totally rocked being able to sit in my own yard, not deal with stinky cigarettes or beer, or mean people, or traffic...after the fireworks were over, Mom and Dad would shoo us off to bed and we'd lay awake all night listening to the families that were lucky enough to have parents that let them buy bottle rockets, black cats, cherry bombs, smoke bombs, fountains and the like...

Since marrying BB, we've been out of town, out of town, watching from a parking lot trying to see through trees, being new parents, and hanging out in the cul-de-sac with a bag of firecrackers for the neighbor kids, not able to see the fireworks the City puts on.

Last year, BB went with the neighbor to play golf, the girls went shopping, and we met up for lunch and an afternoon of swimming at the local outdoor pool...it was nice, but still not quite the same as the giant family picnic with tons of food and loads of neighbors...

This morning, we got up, bathed and dressed the kids, loaded up BB clubs, and sent him on his way to play a round of golf, while I am sitting at home, with a load of laundry to fold and put away, one in the wash waiting to finish so I can toss it into the dryer, and one waiting to be washed.

Tiny Princess is sleeping, Captain Chaos is whiny and cutting his molars for real this time, I need to go to the fabric store to buy fabric to make my drapes for my dining room as it is on a HUGE sale this weekend. I have already swept, mopped, vacuumed, scrubbed my bathrooms, my kitchen, washed my floors, cleaned the inside of the first floor windows, watered all my plants, fed all my plants, treated my roses for aphids (stinking little bugs!), pulled about 800 weeds from around my yard, and made half a gallon of vanilla custard ice cream, a double batch of "Asian Coleslaw", and am sitting here wondering if the new show on Soap "MVP" is going to be in any way redeemed based on the fact that it revolves around an ice hockey team...

BB planned this golf thing without talking to me, never thinking that perhaps I'd like to pack up a picnic lunch and go play at the park with the kids, or go up to the mountains for a day of dealing with tourists, campers, and the like...of course, this is also after he took a third of our savings account and purchased stock without discussing it with me first...he only told me because said stock dropped several dollars a share...

I am not happy with him to say the least, made even more so based on the fact that he told me at 10pm last night about the fact that he was golfing today...

I suppose that the old adage "If you want to keep a secret from someone, tell their spouse" is really true...all I know right now, is that I am sitting on my couch waiting for Tiny Princess to wake up, hoping it will be prior to the setting in of the 96 it is supposed to reach today so I can buy 7 yards of black fabric for my dining room windows.

I truly hope that the rest of you get to have fun today with the people you choose to spend time with on days like this, and that you are safe, happy, and well-fed...because at 7pm, the neighbors are getting together to say farewell to a young man that is off to join the Marines on Monday...and then we'll light sparklers, and go to bed sometime around 10 because we won't be able to see the fireworks from where we live.

Next year, I'm putting my foot down that we WILL be spending the day together doing something as a family with family...my parents are actually spending the day away from their grandchildren, away from their children, and when I invited them do something they were like "No, we don't want to impose"...how can you impose when you are invited?!?!?!?!?

AUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!