Oy!
    24 hours ago I was on a bus to Wells, Maine for their 350th birthday parade. Because one of the members of the honor guard didn’t have the common courtesy to tell anyone whether or not she was going to be there, I was asked to bring my colorguard flags. About an hour before the parade, the bus had to leave to get to the end of the parade, and the person still hadn’t shown up so I ended up fighting with a new leather cup (I almost miss the days of the metal cup lined flag holsters) and the corps flag (which is the size of the flags I used to work with as a kid).
    About half an hour later Little Miss Rude finally shows up, bitching about being given the wrong directions. Now, I can relate to the wrong directions issue, but she has a cell phone! Would it have been so hard to call someone who came on the bus? Anyhow, she insisted on carrying the American flag and the woman who was originally going to carry it asked for the corps flag (she usually carries it so I had no problems with it). I was hoping to get a sabre, now that I had nothing, but they pulled someone out of the horn line to carry it, and I ended up borrowing someone’s Danny Boy flag, which turned out to be not too bad since I got to take off the cup, as the Danny Boy flag is shorter than the other flags in the honor guard.
    They (the corps bigwigs) told us the parade was only going to be a little over a mile. Yeah right! After an estimated 3 mile, nearly non-stop, march in the hot sun we arrived at the viewing area. We presented to Papa Lutz, who apparently had to be driven to the end because of his health, then presented to the viewing stand before heading around the corner to the official end. I feel bad for the person who was standing next to Little Miss Rude because she was bitching practically all through the parade. Apparently she was upset because during her disappearing act (she was supposed to use the bathroom and returned 20 minutes later) we moved. Hell, the parade had started! She should be thankful we didn’t leave her ass behind!
    Anyhow, after the parade we went to the Lobster Barn for dinner, courtesy of the corps. We had a great time. I heard stories about the original 27th Lancers, the 2-7 Alumni (the original name of the Light Brigade), and plans for the future. I also got to watch a grown man play with his food. I suppose it didn’t help that I said “hi” to his lobster before he proceeded to chow down on it. *laughs*
    The bus ride home was relatively peaceful–relative meaning there were three members who generally get chatty when they’ve been drinking. I was so tired I fell asleep and woke up an hour later. We pulled into the Revere Muni Lot about 6:30pm, where I waited for Glenn for half an hour to show up. Luckily I had company.
    Right now I’m quite sore. The parade was quite a workout, and holding a flag in one position for pretty much the entire parade while trying to concentrate on keeping in line with the rest of the honor guard (and trying not to bounce) tends to tense you up. So right now I’m sure it’s going to be painful getting dressed. If only I could find the heating pad!

Oh! I just have to share this, even if it’s totally unrelated to the initial post: I woke up this morning, around 4;30 to the sound of paper being shredded by tiny teeth. My first thought was “Oh shit! We’ve got another mouse!” I got out of bed and turned on the light to find Jarret’s hamster by my feet. Usually small critters run from bigger ones, so I found it amusing when she didn’t run away, and instead went back to chewing up Ben’s homework (I keep telling him not to leave it around!). What I thought was even more humorous was Amber T. Pusscat sauntering over, looking at the hamster, then looking at me as if to say “Oh, by the way, the hamster’s loose.”

Babs

Was checking my eBay sales just a moment ago. I find it highly amusing that the buyer who bumped my feedback rating to 69 is the one who bought a Tarot Erotica deck from me.

Babs

When everything seems to go wrong and then you say something like “Dear Goddess, it can’t possibly get any worse than this.”

And then it does?

*sigh* I was up all night because for the first time in years Glenn has a cold and his constant coughing was keeping me awake.

I did my weekly weigh in and discovered, that despite all my dieting and exercise, I’m gaining weight.

It was pouring out this morning and Glenn very nicely pointed out how nice it would’ve been if I was n’t so cheap and coughed up the $5 for a used, unlined rain coat for Jarret at one of last weekend’s yard sales.

While packing up Jarret’s backpack, I realized he didn’t finish his homework so we had to dash through it this morning.

I get home from taking Jarret to school and check my eBay sales. It turns out that the buyer whom I just sent a payment reminder to has gone from 0 to -1 for non-payment.

I finally hear back that my order of Tarot Erotica decks is on its way, only to find that the psycho bitch who saw how well I was doing with them and stole my graphic to sell the decks herself is back (she deliberately underprices hers so no one will buy mine).

After the payment for the decks went through I forgot that I didn’t set aside money to pay my eBay fees which are due in a few days.

Did I mention that one of my favorite hemp pieces that I crafted is being returned? So now I have to have money for the refund, too.

I originally thought I had only one item to ship out today so I wasn’t in a hurry to pack it up, then realized I wrong. I was frantically trying to fit bubble wrapped tinwhistles into tubes (because Scotch bubble wrap is much thicker than Staples’, and it isn’t recycled, either), trying to make it to the bank on time.

Which I didn’t.

The finale was returning to the car from the post office and discovering the hood was covered with dried cola and scratched (I didn’t catch it sooner because the car had been parked in the shade, nose in). Now, since it had been raining this morning the dirty deed had to have been performed this afternoon. It was also done while the asshole was on the property, since they found the bottle sitting pretty by the recycle bins. I only hope they didn’t pour any into the gas tank!

Now I think I’ll go enjoy a mug of Sencha green tea then go to bed.

Anyone want to join me? *grin*

Babs

Now that my migrane has finally subsided I can write another entry. You’d think that someone who knows they are allergic to onions would avoid eating Italian sausages smothered in peppers and onions. *sheepish grin*
    Yesterday was Town Day, for those of you who do not have the pleasure of living in Arlington. That meant the post office was closed, so I couldn’t mail any of my packages. :o)
    Glenn spent the morning cleaning up Spy Pond from the night before (can you say shaving cream?) before coming home to join us on our outing down Mass. Ave. We picked up a few used DVDs (Shanghai Knights, Drumline, Evolution and Kangaroo Jack) and added to my ever dwindling pen supply. Jarret was ecstatic that Cambridge Savings Bank still had their bubble pens and spent the afternoon blowing bubbles. Ben was bummed because Video Horizons didn’t have any video games for sale this year. Oh well their tent sale is only a few weeks away. Glenn has forbidden me to buy books at the library’s annual book sale (even if I plan to sell them on eBay) but I did manage to snag a CD of “Freeze Frame” by the J. Geils Band. That was my first J. Geils record, oh so long ago, and is still one of my faves.
    While not as fun as the “Bush for Lawn Ornament” bumper sticker I acquired a few years ago, the “Bush Lies, Who Dies?” sticker I got yesterday was worn proudly. I thought Stratton’s PTO table was very disappointing this year. Usually they have some activities for the kids in addition to the Stratton t-shirts and sweats. This time they had nothing but a bunch of junk for sale.
    I met a fellow Witch, and saw someone wearing a beautiful “Blessed Be” t-shirt (I must get out to Salem), and lost count as to how many times I was asked if I’d like a free bible.

After we returned from Town Day, we rested up for a bit and then headed out again to find three new additions to the Feng Shui Goldfish. Brofather/Bubba/Black Moe died earlier this week. *sniff* He was three and a half years old. Two new ones died shortly thereafter so I did a decent-sized water change before setting out to get the new fish. I was going to let Sanosuke take over Brofather’s job as protector of the “school” but after a close inspection I decided he was more gray than black, and only a black fish would do for that position.
    I am still thinking of names for them: A Black Moor, a silver goldfish and a gold goldfish. I can’t believe I’ve run out of anime characters to name them after! It doesn’t help that my imagination is failing me, either. Any suggestions?

Babs

Ah! Peace and quiet!
    No Jarret fighting with me over taking his pill; no Ben standing around naked, doing the “Penis Dance” (someone please tell me this is normal for an almost 13-year-old). I suppose I should be working on “2 of Rods”, especially since it’s been so looooong since I’ve done any writing, let alone posted any of it, but since I still don’t know where I stand within the writing community, I’m having trouble getting myself motivated (don’t want to keep writing if I suck, but then no one, except my betas, will tell me if I do or not).
    I could always work on updating the site.
    *Looks at Amber T. Pusscat* Nah! Right now I think I’ll just enjoy some “Kitty Time”.

Babs