So here it is already almost done with June, if you can even believe it.  The time is just flying by.  The kids are done with summer vacation and back to school in something like 6 weeks or so.  How long have they been out?  Lessee... 5 weeks.  We're not even half way.  In the future, I'll have to remember that the end of June is about half.

It has been a mixed blessing.  On one hand, I absolutely love, love, love sleeping in 6 days a week.  On Sundays, Jackie and I are in Diamond Springs at the swap meet, so we have to get up at o-dark-thirty for that, but otherwise, I get up around 6-7am to let the dogs out to pee, then I curl up on the couch and snooze away until 9am or so.  It's blatant luxury.  I can't remember a time in my whole life that I've done that, but for the whole rest of my life, I was always in school, working or taking care of kiddies from the top of dawn on.  Here I am about to turn 47 and this is the first time I've ever been able to sleep in for my whole entire life.  It feels good to be fully rested and does wonders for a person's mental status, let me tell you that. 

It's great having the kids around for the most part.  They've had chores this summer, so I have a lighter work load.  With the amount of homework the district insists they get, they spend plenty of hours involved with academics during the school year, so I don't have them do chores beyond keeping their rooms clean.  During the summer, they're mine.  This summer, each day I make a list of 15 chores that need to be done around the house.  #6 and #9 are always "skip a chore" because the kids get them confused all the time.  I have the original blue and white G FORCE bingo balls here, so I pulled out the first 15 of those and put them in a basket.  The kids then pull out the balls in turn and the number on the ball corresponds to the number on the chore list.  Sometimes, it's a light day and there are more "skip a chores" listed.  Sometimes, it might say, "Give Mom a hug."  Today, I wrote "Write Josh a letter" as three of the chores and it just happened that the 3 kids each got one.  Josh is their brother who is in boot camp right now.  They also get the routine chores like cleaning the doors, sweeping, dishes, vacuuming, feeding the pets, etc.  They have been great about doing them so far.  Once the drawing is done, they are allowed to trade chores if both traders are agreeable to it and then we finalize the list.  All chores have to be done by 4pm. 

I love spending time with my kids.  I really do.  I am also a Broad of a Particular Age, which means I like silence and uninterrupted creative time.  Not much of that going around lately.  Nathan is a kid who absolutely loves interaction, so he wants to visit a good bit.  Delena is up all night and sleeps all day and comes out of her cave to do chores, grab a bite to eat and get back to writing.  She's bound to have the Great American Novel by the time she goes back to school.  Dylan is just... Dylan.  Since the day he was born, he's been the most cheerful, unobtrusive kid ever.

I finally feel as though my summers are balancing out nicely with the rest of the year.

Of course, the hallmark of summer is Burger Nights and we will have our 3rd one of the year tomorrow night.  As usual, they have been just a big ol' ton of fun and Jackie and I are having a blast being the people to take the money and give people their buns and plates.  This way, anyone who eats comes through us and we get to visit with folks and cut up and act silly which is, of course, one of the three things we do best. 

We've been getting ready for the July 4th parade and have a big ol' Queen meeting planned to figure out our wardrobe and other important things.  What's nice is that we have alcohol at the Queen meetings and that means that as the night wears on and we try on more and more stuff, we get so much better looking, so really, it all works together for a positive result.  We did have a near disaster today when we could not find Eric's pimp hat, but it ended up being in the G FORCE shed.  All is again right in the world.

We really do hope to see you all out there, whether it's at Burger Night or in the parade or on the parade route or someplace along the way.  It's going to be just a whole lot of fun.

Be Particular,