Who Dere? Who Dat?

*walking slowly past everyone, trying not to be seen*

Oops... busted.

"Ummm... so, yeeeeaaaaahhhhh. Hey, Blogger! What's UP? Long time no see! What's been goin on witchoo?"

Do I have an excuse for not coming around hardly at all this summer? Well, of course I do!! Is it a good excuse? Yeah. But I still feel badly.

I'm THAT bloggy friend, aren't I? You know... the one who says she PROMISES to keep in touch, will post here and there, comment there and here... and then never does. I'm a lame duck blogger.

So here's the story: SUPER busy summer with work. Lots of blogging over at the professional blog. That's work-related, so I have to do that. Vacation? No, not really. Kinda sucks actually now that I think about it.

Still not a great excuse, but that's all I have. And maybe you've all moved on... and it's no big deal. We'll see. I hope to be back more very soon. Work will be calming down for a little while, and then I'll be able to catch up with you all... and find out who's having babies, whose babies are growing up, who quit the blogging gig for good, who's exchanged this format entirely for Twitter... you know, all the scoop.

Maybe We Could Just Skip Summer

Could we please be done with severe weather for the "season?" I'm about tornado-ed out.

Meanwhile, I'm also temporarily on vacation and might actually get back to blogging.

A Grumpy Vacation Pit Stop to Dave's World...

What do YOU want from your friendly gas station/Subway/local restaurant, conveniently located alongside an interstate in the middle of a very rural area? Looking for a cell phone-car charger? Got it. How about some marshmallows? Yep. Restrooms chock full of condoms? Of course! Even in the Ladies room! Funyuns? You betcha. No-Doz? Absotively, posolutely!An ice cream bar for the road? Who doesn't want some sugar for the road? This is Dave's World... and it doesn't stop there.

How about the best mullet you've ever seen? (If the dude sporting the 'do hadn't looked a little deranged, I might have asked him if I could take his picture... but alas, he looked a little deranged.) Within 30 seconds of us pulling off the highway to stop for a sandwich, Mullet Man walked in. As soon as he left, the runner-up for best mullet entered. It was mullet heaven in this place! Super business-like up front, and all party in the back. Mullet #1 put "Billy Ray Cyrus circa 1992" to shame. Maybe I'll get ambitious this weekend and draw a picture of these men, seeing as how I have no photographic evidence.

But was this the very, very best that "Dave's World" had to offer? Au contraire, mon frere. I submit that it was not.

How about decorative testicles? In HOT PINK, BLUE, TAN, and BLACK. You know... in case you want to hang them from your rearview mirror or your trailer hitch (had to look up the name of that... envy my mad Google skillz!). Okay, so I was too shy to take a picture of these. Plus Youngest Daughter was with me, and I have to pretend to be a grown-up around her.

While I'm sure that decorative testicles are great revenue-generators for Dave's World, I would probably rethink their strategic placement... smack dab across from the Subway booths. 'Cause personally? I'm not accustomed to viewing multicolored "sacks" while munching down on some of Jared's favorite meals. That particular product placement is pretty brazen, if you ask me.

So, I guess you could say that, in more than one way, Dave's World has got balls.

I'm Home... but not for long!

We arrived home from California very early this morning, and I am headed out to a conference in Atlanta very early tomorrow morning. Talk about jet lag!

Here's a quick recap of what we did in CA (I'll post more later):

6/15: arrived in Ontario (California, not Canada); drove to Menifee where brother-in-law lives. Stayed in Menifee/Canyon Lakes area.

6/16: drove the kids to Hollywood for the afternoon. Spent more time on the freeway than we did in Hollywood, but knew that was going to happen.

6/17: spent Father's Day waiting for the guys to golf and then ate dinner at BIL's house. Also spent much time being annoyed with the Farm Boy's twin. I definitely have the good twin!!

6/18: went to Knott's Berry Farm and Soak City for the day.

6/19-21: half of us sailed and half of us ferried from Long Beach/San Pedro area to Avalon on Catalina Island. Were only scheduled to stay there a day, but the sail snapped on the sailboat, and those who were sailing were stranded in the middle of the ocean for a while. Finally, they motored into Avalon. Instead of going on to Two Harbors, we stayed at Avalon the entire time. We did some horseback riding, snorkeling, beachcombing, glass-bottom boating, kayaking, eating.... you name it. The Farm Boy was able to go scuba diving with his siblings and saw the resident 300 lb black sea bass named Fred. The weather there was absolutely beautiful! I'll post some pics later!

6/22: Sailed/Ferried back to Long Beach/San Pedro. Spent some time on the boardwalk in Long Beach at Shoreline Villages... wanted to take the older kids on the Queen Mary, but ran out of time. I'm pretty bummed about that. Drove back to Menifee.

6/23: had a quick lunch at a relative's house in Upland, then drove into Ontario to the airport for the flight home. Returned just after midnight.

We had a good time, but I can definitely say that a person who is a planner to a fault (ME) will always have a stressful experience with people who decide what to do at the last minute (Farm Boy and all his family). I know the kids had a good time, as did the Farm Boy, so that's all that really matters. I will spend three days in a [NICE!] hotel all by myself while at my conference, so that's where I'll have MY vacation. ;-)

And with that... I need to get back to packing. I have lists to check off and minute details to fret over. W00T!

Sunny CA... here we come...

Not that I've been around much lately anyway... but now we're off to California for a family trip. For NINE DAYS. Can I handle being around all our kids AND the Farm Boy's family for that long??? We'll see. I don't have that much sanity left as it is. haha

I'm hoping to be able to catch a little blog time while I'm there, but who knows.

Right after we return, I'm off to Atlanta for a conference. Ugh. Atlanta in late June. My hair is already wimping out just thinking of the humidity. Oh, well.

I've been in and out of most of your blogs to see what you've been up to for the last month or so. Sounds like everyone is as busy and crazy as usual. I'm still surprised at how much I value blogging and the bloggy friends I've made. I've only ever had one "blate*," but am hoping to meet more of you someday. I don't plan to give up any of it at this point, even if I don't have a lot of time to post or read right now. So there. I'm still here to stay.

Anyway, hasta la vista, my babies. See you again soon!


*"blate" is a bloggy friend date, but I can't remember who coined the term. -R-? Stefanie? metalia? I want to be sure to credit whoever it was!