Married In Ohio

Despite not having the best of days, California Girl and I did mange to find time for our HNT photo session on Tuesday night. And our Two For Tuesday “after party”. Since I was worn out from working in the yard and then going for a nighttime run, California Girl did all of the work. I know that I’m posting this very late, but I didn’t want Tuesday to be all bad.

And as you can tell from the picture above, California Girl didn’t quite do all of the work. My goal for next week is to actually post on Tuesday. Enjoy. Our HNT photo will be up shortly.

I have a rule against cutting the grass or any sort of regular chore that takes more than a few minutes when I am on vacation. I would much rather spend time with the family. So, today, I really needed to cut the grass. I got out of work pretty much on time. Went home. Change my clothes and got started edging and trimming. Once that was done, I hoped on the riding mower and began the actual cutting. I had only just started when the mower stopped and wouldn’t move.

One of the drive belts had separated. So in the car and to the hardware store I go. The first person I found in the outdoor power equipment section couldn’t be bothered enough to get off her cell phone and help me. It was really frustrating trying to talk to her whiles he carried on two conversations at once. Finally, another guy came up and explained that they don’t carry a lot of parts for non-current models. He suggested I check Sears. So I get back in the car and drive to the mall. Go into Sears. Find the lawn and garden section, and discover that my riding mower isn’t even in their computer. So I get back on my car and drive to another hardware store. Their computer has my mower but directs me to an 800 number to order the part.

I give up and decide to order the part on the internet. Of course, that meant I had to cut the grass with the old as dirt push mower that I just use for trimming. So, what I had hoped would be an early evening was turning into a very long one. I worked like a fiend and was able to finish before dark; but just barely. Then I was off for a long boring run in the neighborhood since it was too dark to go to the park. It was 10:30 before I was finally in for the night. I don’t understand why hardware stores don’t carry spare parts any more. I would have paid a lot more to get the part today than I ultimately ended up paying on the internet just to avoid the nuisance. Its water under the bridge now; but I do wonder sometimes.

Although it was late, California Girl and I did have our HNT photo session. We also took some Two For Tuesday photographs too, but it’s late so I’ll post them tomorrow. Everyone have a great Wednesday. I promise I’ll catch up with everyone soon.

After The Girl’s 8th grade graduation ceremony and receptions was concluded, we all came home and got in the pool. Just California Girl, The Boy, The Girl and me. Usually it’s just the adults or there are other kids in addition to ours. So it was good for just the four of us to enjoy the pool. I put some old school music that the kids don’t mind on the stereo, turned on the outside speakers got out all of the floats. The air was warm and water temperature was perfect. The kids swam and played until they were exhausted. They raced. They threw a beach ball around. They dunked each other. California Girl and I just watched and took it all in. And I took lots of pictures. Some from in the water. Miraculously, the camera didn’t get wet. Nothing beats a day like this. The kids stayed in the water until there wasn’t any light left. The probably would have stayed longer except the underwater light was broken. Afterwards, we called out for pizza and everyone went to bed exhausted but content. It was a wonderfull beginning to the summer. Days like this don’t happen too often.

The Girl had her 8th grade graduation mass today. For some peculiar reason, she still has a few days of school next week. I wonder what they would do if someone failed a critical test or misbehaved in major way. The Girl had a soccer game right beforehand and barely had time for a quick shower. The entire way to the ceremony, she was complaining about her hair. We all were telling her that she looked fine but she was concerned because she was so rushed. She looked really nice in her new dress and everything went well despite arriving with only a few minutes to spare.

We aren’t Catholic so masses are always interesting. We usually only attend a few times a year when one of the kids is involved. The best part (which isn’t actually part of the mass) was when the girl handed us a handwritten letter which read:

Dear Mom & Dad

Thanks for sending me to St. XXX. Even though I complain about it a lot I understand that you have made many sacrifices for my education and still are. Thank you so much for all of your sacrifices. I hope one day to go to college and make you proud.

Love The Girl

Sometimes, kids can melt your heart. This was one of those times.

License plate spotted on the way back from The Girl’s soccer game today:

KIDSHO4

We know the feeling.

As California Girl pointed out in yesterday’s post, The Girl has been guest playing in a lot of soccer games for the past few weeks. Some of the other girls on her regular soccer team are not happy that she’s playing so much with others. I think that it’s good that she’s been getting the invitations. She gets a chance to play with older players and the more game experience she gets, the better. But there has been a little friction between her and some of her teammates. In addition to her soccer skills, she’s blazing fast and a good all-around athlete so she is going to have a few more opportunities than some of the other girls. But they aren’t dealing well with that fact. And what bothers me the most is that last fall when she had the opportunity to play for other, higher level teams, she made the decision to play with her current team and not “abandon” them. Yet now they are calling her a traitor. I don’t know what they expect her to do. Girls!

She’s downstairs now in the home theater having a “movie night” with a couple of her non-soccer playing girlfriends. One of the great things about our house is that it is a “destination”. She says what her teammates think doesn’t bother her but I know she would not have mentioned it if it wasn’t on her mind. I know that she’s going to have to deal with more and worse in high school, but it their attitude doesn’t seem quite fair. The Pizza Hut pizza just arrived so now the dining room is full of chattering teenage girls. So, for now, all is right in her world. I just like to watch from afar as the kids interact with their friends. Today is a good day.

I went outside earlier today and turned on the pool heater to get the pool warmed up and ready for Memorial Day weekend. The weather has turned summery, the water is clear and looks oh so inviting, but we won’t be able to get in the pool today because The Girl has a soccer game this afternoon.

The Girlalso has been invited to be a guest player in a tournament over the weekend. The local coaches know she’s good, and she is one of thefirst kids they try to getwhen they need someone to fill in for an absent player. She was a guest player for a different team last weekend. If she gets any more of these invites, I suspect she’ll get so full of herself that her head willbe too overinflated to fit in the car.

Usually I don’t mind doing the soccer mom thing, and as Midwestern City Boy says, we have only a short time left before the kids go away to college and we should enjoy these days while our family is still in one place, but I wanna get in the pool!

California Girl and I recently celebrated our wedding anniversary. We have been together for a long time and hope to celebrate many more special days together. Even though lasts week’s theme was the anniversary of HNT, our theme for this week is celebrating our anniversary. So, we decided to take a simple photograph of us and the matching things that we always wear. Unlike many of our HNT photographs, this one is PG-13.

Can you identify all of the matching accessories in the photographs?

To find out what Half Nekkid Thursday is all about, visit Osbasso.

Its actually Wednesday evening but I wanted to post anyways. This photo is from Tuesday before I “turned into a zombie”. Life has been busy for us (especially me) but we still want to stop and take time for the things we enjoy. Our HNT photo session and the Two For Tuesday photos which we also take then is something that we both look forward too; even if I am too tired afterward to post.

After doing videos for the past few weeks, today’s post is a collage of two photographs. As California Girl likes to point out, “I like my collages”. I am not very artistic but I do like making them. So, here is a photograph of the fun that tired me out on Tuesday.

Hopefully I won’t be so late next week. Its almost time to post for HNT.

California Girl has a rash on her left hand that makes it uncomfortable to wear her rings. She can wear them for short periods of time without too much difficulty but, for the past week or so, she has been unable to wear them all of the time like she usually does. I know that it has nothing to do with the state of our relationship but, for some reason, it still makes me feel unsettled.

Generally, I am not a jealous or possessive guy (or maybe I am and just don’t know it) but I know I will be much happier when she is able to wear them again. I know that not wearing any rings won’t change the frequency that she gets propositioned. In fact, it has been my experience that I got propositioned MORE after I was obviously “taken”. And it doesn’t change where we go or what we do. It’s just a feeling. I know that many women “mark their territory”. I didn’t think that I did. Until now.

Because of what she did for a living, my mother seldom wore a wedding band and only wore her diamond for special occasions. So it is not like California Girl is doing something that I’ve never seen before. A lot of things are symbolic to me. And I know I am more sentimental than many guys. But I am wondering how other guys have felt when they have been in similar situations. I know that it is an irrational unease. But that doesn’t make it magically go away. I’m also curious what women think. Is it so unusual for men to mark their territory?