SUMMER SEIGE

In 12 more days school begins a new session and I can reclaim my house.  I have to say that so far this year there has been little damage even with the kids rained in most of the time.  It obviously helped to have 2 TV's with a game system, DVD and video, 2 computers (sorry, no web-surfing while mom and dad are gone), 3 guitars, a flute, a violin, dozens of board games, decks of cards, balls, marbles, pets, BOOKS (be warned world, their favorite is my copy of Shakespeare's Insults!), and .... the telephone!  No furniture has been broken this year, no rooms flooded, no walls colored or dented, no police waiting for me at my work place, no angry neighborhood parents glaring at me through the screendoor.  Basically its been a good summer.

This year I will have children spread out all over the tarnation.  My youngest will be at the elementary school in the 5th grade, my oldest daughter is going into the 7th grade at the Junion High, and my boys will be in high school, in the 9th and 12th grade.  And of course, my oldest will be in boot camp.  I'm starting to feel like my parents when my brother and sisters were teenagers.  It scares me because my parents were always angry, and I was always grounded.

My big project this fall will be to rip up the carpeting in the upstairs.  I had hoped to do it this summer, but we got too busy being tired so that never happened.  I know the kids are going to miss the static... 'shock-tag' is a favorite game of ours in the wintertime, where you slide your feet (not bare feet... it doesn't work) on the carpet then tap someone and zap them.  But soon they will learn the joy of sock-skating on polished hardwood floors, a favorite childhood past-time of mine.  If it were an Olympic event I would have medaled for sure, I was THAT good!

Let me share a few lines from Shakespeare, and maybe give you some insight as to why he is my favorite writer....

"(Your) face is not worth sunburning!"

"You crusty botch of nature!"

"(Your) horrid image doth unfix my hair"