Am I in my body? I'm not sure.

I have been out of the house doing programs so much lately, I am having a hard time recognizing my husband and kids.
Today's one program, way out in Batesville, Indiana,
took all day. I left at 11:00 am and got back at 5:00 pm.
Girlfriend is tired.
Some random things from my past week, in no particular order:

1. I met "Rita Skeeter" at the Newport Library.
This was one of the best costumes I saw that night.

2. This sign is on a door in Mt. Healthy, near RAPTOR. I'm not sure what it means, but it made me laugh. "No exceptions". LOL.
I couldn't figure out which store the door belonged to. There is an herb store on that block.

3. The girls found a tiger swallowtail sitting in the grass yesterday. I approached slowly, thinking it was going to bolt any second. Turns out I didn't need to worry. It was dazed and stepped onto my finger. The "tails" were missing, and it seemed to be dying, maybe having just laid eggs. I placed it in our bee balm plants and wished it the best.

4. Geoff took the girls out tonight, and I sat down after they left and turned on the lap top. I woke up an hour later. I had fallen asleep sitting up.
I have turned into my grandmother.

5. I have kidnapped two of the pipevine swallowtail caterpillars and put them in our Butterfly Habitat. This time, we will be able to watch their metamorphosis.

6. Friday night (well, Saturday morning) I fell into bed like a log. I was awake a few minutes later, pulling a tick out of my hair. I got rid of it and tried to go back to sleep. I was awakened again, a few minutes later, with one in my freakin' ear. I got rid of that one and went to lay down in one of the girls' rooms (they were sleeping over at Mom's). I was not even asleep again when another one crawled over my forehead. I was in tears at this point, not because of the ticks, but because I was so unbelievably tired.
I finally figured out that I had brought them home, in my hair, from RAPTOR. There are trees above some of the mews, and I was under them while I was putting the birds away. EWWWWW.
As we left yesterday for Columbus, I covered every sofa and floor with flea and tick powder and also blankets to keep the dust off the animals. When we came back, I vacuumed.
Haven't seen a tick since. I say again, EWWWWW.

7. I was awakened this morning to Geoff asking me if I "moved the parakeets out of their cage". That made my eyes fly open. Of course I didn't move them. Turns out that one of our cats pushed the cage off their table and one of the doors had fallen open and they had escaped. I found Lollipop in the fish tank, sitting on the filter that sticks out of the water. He was grateful and showed it by biting me repeatedly. While I was gone, Isabelle found Echo under the TV stand. Imagine how scared those poor little guys were. This is not the house for parakeets. What was I thinking?

8. Geoff's first book signing was Saturday, in Lebanon. Guess how many people showed up.
ONE. And we know her. My cousin, Mary Lou.
And the store is closing in a few days. Nice swan song, huh? Redeeming factor: Geoff went over to a nearby library, and found out that people have been coming in and asking for his book.
Thankfully Geoff has a good sense of humor. Next book signing is August 4th, at the Barnes & Noble at 9891 Waterstone Boulevard, off Field's Ertel Road. If you live in Cincinnati, come by and meet us. Please?

9. I have a few more programs this week, and then I will have a few days off to reclaim my sanity, family and maybe go see some birds for a change.

An eye-opening post about the Staff of Life and things that we can live without

Word of the Day:

malapropism \mal-uh-PROP-iz-uhm\, noun:

The usually unintentionally humorous misuse of a word, especially by confusion with one of similar sound; also, an example of such misuse.

(Hey, I do that all the time. Does that make me a "Malapropic"?)

Oh, you are all in for a treat. I made bread today.

This is a picture of it mixing.

And here's the finished product.

I have a bread machine, and though I am quite capable of making a loaf with my own two hands, it is so much easier to just throw all the stuff in the bread machine and let it worry about making the thing. I was low on regular white bread flour, so I put in half white bread flour and half wheat. I have found that a loaf of bread made with nothing but whole wheat flour takes on the consistency and weight of a large brick.

And here's a picture that just pissed me off:

I pulled into Walgreens to pick up a prescription, and saw this big Hummer parked next to me.
Oh, yeah. THIS is necessary, right? Because you never know when you may have to engage in guerrilla warfare while buying a pack of Tums.

Could we all just get a freakin' clue here? If it gets 10 miles to a gallon of gas, maybe, JUST MAYBE, it might not be the appropriate vehicle to buy?

Tomorrow, we will be back with our regular standard programing.
A RAPTORite and the girls and I will be out nest-hunting. Pictures will be taken!