A New Kind of Shampoo

Yesterday, I made a pot roast. It smelled delicious! Unfortunately, as I was taking it out of the Dutch oven to carve it, some of the juices splashed onto me. I saw the splat marks on my shirt, and quickly changed. The last thing I wanted to do was go into work,  having spots on my  clothes and smelling like a pot roast.


I ate my dinner and went to work. As I worked, I noticed that the roast smell was still quite strong. I wondered if it was just in my nose, or if it had splashed on more of my clothes and I just hadn't noticed it.


I made a quick trip to the restroom, and looked in the mirror. That's when I saw it. Beef juice in my hair! I hadn't seen it before because it was brown, just like my hair. 


I groaned and stuck my head under the faucet. After it was rinsed it out, I returned to work.


At least it didn't smell like rotten meat! That would have been really bad. So, what do you think? Would "Pot Roast" be a good scent for shampoo? If so, maybe I should market it! 

Party Crasher

Yesterday, I looked outside, through the glass doors that led to our deck. What I saw was a cat arm and paw, stretched out. And it was white. Not the color of my cat's paw. Puzzled, I went over to investigate. Sure enough, there was a strange cat lounging on my deck. I saw another nearby. Bootsy, my cat, was lounging on a chair above the two.


What should I do about this? I thought. I really didn't want to encourage regular cat visitors.


I didn't have to think long. My hundred pound German Shepherd, Schultz, came up next to me. He looked out the window and saw our two guests. He was not pleased.


He wanted out. So I opened the door. "Go get 'em, Schultz!"


And that's what he did. He busted up that cat party and sent the intruders on their way.


Guess Bootsy will have to party elsewhere!

Bobbing for What?

My son still likes the game, bobbing for apples. He gets his friends together, and they go outside to do it. It doesn't matter if it's Halloween, Valentines Day, or an average day. The other day, which was an average day, he decided fill up the pail and have a go at it.


He pulled out something from the refrigerator, filled the bucket with water, and went outside with his friends.


When he and his friends came back in the house, they were soaked.


"What did you do?" I asked. "Soak your entire head?"


My son grinned. "Those apples were kind of hard to get. They didn't bob so well."


I narrowed my eyes and went outside to see exactly what he was talking about.


I shook my head when I pulled out what was in the bucket.


I held up the thing. "Dude, what do you think this is?"


"An apple?"


"No, Dude. It's a plum."

Pokemon Go . . . Away!

You've probably heard about the Pokémon Go craze that's hit America (and maybe the rest of the world). The creators of Pokémon thought it would be good idea to have a scavenger hunt where video game players could go outside to find these little Pokémon creatures. It seemed like a good idea at the time, because shortly after the game came out, I began seeing teenagers out and about getting some much-needed fresh air, albeit with smartphones in hand.


Now, it's just downright annoying. My son has been hit with the Pokémon bug. "Mom," he said. "There's a Pokémon across the street. Can I go out and get it?"


"No," I said. "We're in a restaurant, and you're going to sit there and eat your dinner!"


When we were done, we went out and walked along the shopping center walkway. The boy stopped. "There's a Pokémon over there, at the theater. Can we walk over and get it?"


I frowned. "Fine. But no more of this!"


We walked across, he got the Pokémon, and we walked back to where we had been.


A few minutes later, my son asked, "How far is ten kilometers?"


"Too far," I said. "There's no way we're walking ten kilometers so you can find a Pokémon!"


"That's not bad," he said. "If we start walking now, we'll get there before dark."


Grrr!




Other random Pokémon incidences:  We saw a sign in an car oil changing place that announced they had Pokémon there. We saw another sign at a police station that said, "Don't even think about stealing our Pokémon!" And lastly, the LA zoo and a huge Pokémon promo day. They were not doing so well in attendance numbers, but when they announced that they had Pokémon at the zoo, thousands showed up just to catch them. What a marketing tactic!  





    

Big Expenses

"Mom," my twelve-year-old son said. "I need to save my money. I have some big expenses coming up."


I nodded. I figured his big expenses included a car. "You'll definitely need some cash for wheels in a few years."


Bubba looked at me funny. "I wasn't talking about a car."


"Then what were you talking about?"


"I'm saving money for a trampoline and a hot tub."


Oh. I'm so glad he has his priorities straight!

Question of the Month and Grill Master

Sorry for being a little remiss about being here. I've been busy with my kids. They'll be back in school next week, so hopefully I'll find a little more time to blog and visit everybody.


It is time for the Question of the Month hosted by Michael D'Agostino.

This month's question is, "What is the best beach you've ever visited?"


I've been to a lot of beaches. I used to live in Florida, and I was a SCUBA diving instructor. I haven't been to all beaches, of course, but I'd have to say my favorite is one that my family and I used to visit when I was a kid in Florida. It's called Bellaire Bluffs, and it's on the gulf coast in Pinellas  county. I loved going there in the evening just before sunset, and chasing fiddler crabs as they scurried in and out of their holes. Then we'd fish. We always caught these things called grunt. Nobody liked to eat them, except me. Maybe it was all the butter my mom used to cook them.


Anyway, what I liked about that beach, was that there was usually nobody there. We had the place to ourselves. And the sunsets were gorgeous. When the tide went out, there was a little island that would pop up. My brother and I would swim out to it, and we'd always find lots of snails in conch shells. It was so cool.


I looked online to see if I could find some pictures of it. There was one on Wikipedia. It's not great, but you can kind of get an idea of what the sunset and beach is like.

 Do you have a favorite beach?


Now for the story:


I recently celebrated a birthday. (Thanks to everyone who wished me happy birthday on Facebook!) My twelve-year-old son decided he was going to make me a special birthday lunch . . . on the grill. He had never used the grill before, so this was going to be a rite of passage.


His dad showed him how to turn on the grill, and then left him to do the grilling. Bubba planned to make brats. He put them on the grill when it was time, and then let them cook. And cook. About fifteen minutes later, the boy ran into the house, yelling, "Hey, I need a little help here!"


My husband went out to investigate. One of the brats was on fire. Fortunately, it wasn't completely out of control, and the rest of the food was fine.


When Bubba came back into the house with a plate of barbecued brats, he had a big grin on his face. "My face is red, and my hands are burned, but I made good food! I'm a grill master!"


Grill Master indeed!