I cannot understand why anybody would ever, by choice, run ten miles.

And getting up at 530 am to travel through crowded metro stations for the privilege is even crazier.

Not to mention the crowded metro ride back with thousands of smelly runners.

But driving ten hours each direction to get to the friend’s house where you will be staying seems even more ludicrous.

But that’s right now. Tomorrow, after rest has dissipated the aches, I might start planning for next year.

First-born preschooler:  Mama, where did the sun go?


Mama: Actually, the sun didn’t go anywhere.  The earth, our planet, is rotating on its axis.  Every day it does one full revolution.  When it faces the sun, it is daylight.  When it faces away, it is night.  See, here is a grape.  Let’s pretend it’s the Earth.  We’re here.  Now let’s pretend the lamp is the sun.  Watch how one side faces the sun and the other side is away from the sun…


*******


Second-born preschooler: Mommy, where did the sun go?


Mommy: Actually, the sun didn’t go anywhere.  The earth, our planet, is spinning.  During the day, we face the sun and during the night, we don’t.  Here, let’s spin this ball.  You see how sometimes this side has the light shining right on it….


*******


Third-born preschooler: Mom, where did the sun go? 


Mom: Actually, our planet is spinning like a top. Sometimes we face the sun and sometimes we don’t. So it looks like the sun has gone away, but it’s really that we have spun away from it…




*******
 
Fourth-born preschooler: Mom, where did the sun go?
 
Mom: To sleep.  Like you need to.
 
*******
 
Fifth-born preschooler: Ma, where did the sun go?
 
Ma: It went to the other side of the world so that they can have sunlight and we can get a good night’s sleep.
 
*******
 
Sixth-born preschooler: Mommy, where did the sun go?
 
Mommy: To China.
 
SBP: China?
 
Mommy: Yup.
 
SBP: Why to China?
 
Mommy: It’s their turn.  We’re sharing.
 
SBP: Why we sharing?
 
Mommy: Well, it wouldn’t be nice if we kept the sun all the time, right?  Now they get a chance to have some sunlight and we get a chance to go to bed.
 
(next morning)
 
SBP: Mommy, where’s the sun?
 
Mommy: Still in China.  It’ll be here soon.
 
SBP: Oh.  OK.
 
…to be continued, every day and night, for the next 3 or 4 months…

Terror threat to restaurants as Al Qaeda calls for attacks on government workers in D.C.

The terror group tied to the Ft. Hood killings and the Christmas Day undies airbomber urge wannabe American jihadis to open fire on crowded restaurants in the nation’s capital to massacre U.S. government workers.

{snip}

“A random hit at a crowded restaurant in Washington, D.C., at lunch hour might end up knocking out a few government employees,” Yahya Ibrahim writes in the 74-page jihadi how-to magazine.

Jihad how-to.  Hmm.  Never heard of a Catholic how-to kill your neighbors publication.

I’m sure, though, that this religion is simply misunderstood.  A few bad apples, that’s all.  It’s really a peaceful religion.  Flowers, hearts, doves…not scimitars and women covered head to toe with burlap. 

So glad we don’t live in DC right now.  So concerned over friends and former coworkers we have in the area.

Oh, and it just hit me…I’ll be in DC in 2 weeks to run a race.  The ARMY Ten Miler.   Yeah.  Such a warm fuzzy feeling I’ve got right now.

Just lovely.

Current temperature in coastal Georgia is 50 degrees.  And it feels so good.

I just dropped Fritz off to work on an Eagle project for Scouts.

So that he could let me know when to get him, I loaned him my cell phone.

You know what comes next, right?

First, we decide to get a “kids’ phone”. Then one phone doesn’t cut it, so he ends up with his own phone.

Then we buy a “kids’ car”. Then his own car.

Then he’s stealing our money to buy coke and we’re bailing his spoiled rotten little rear end out of jail and he refuses to hold a job and can’t pay the child support he owes on his three kids all by different women.

And all because I loaned him my cell phone.

My husband shared this article by Patrice Lewis with me. It has inspired me to learn more about brassiere holsters for handguns.

I also love the conclusion: Don’t thank us. We’re just doing our job. But please, remember to put the toilet seat down.

My next door neighbors promise me this is the hottest summer they’ve ever seen. Today is expected to reach triple digits with high humidity. The heat index could be as high as 121 degrees for a few hours in the afternoon. Fortunately, things are supposed to “cool down” on Sunday and for next week with highs “only” in the low 90’s.

Average temperatures for July and August are 89 degrees, so this truly is a hot summer that just won’t stop. I am definitely looking forward to autumn.

And I really can’t complain. Bill suggested taking a blow dryer outside and turning it full blast in my face to simulate Kuwait. No, thanks.

Hilarious.

Heading down to Florida for a few days where it is actually slightly cooler than my part of Georgia. It’s nice that going to my parents’ house isn’t quite the production it usually is. I have a gung-ho attitude that has me convinced the drive is “short,” and, while 7+ hours is much shorter than 15, there is a tiny nagging voice telling me that 7 hours in a car with a 2 year old who doesn’t like the car could easily feel like 15. I am trying to ignore that voice, prefering optimism to realism. If I weren’t optimistic I would not even attempt the drive.