~A Bitter Swallow~

Or something like that. And not raving as in "That was so awesome!" raving. Raving as in "raving mad!". And not mad as in angry- more like crazy. Or something like that.

My desire to write has just about vanished. I haven't written anything in awhile now. I've been saving my word-a-day words, but I haven't been even looking at them. They aren't even printed out. And my stories, well, I've looked at them in my head some, but that's as far as I've been motivated to go with them. Not sure where this funk came from, but it's here. It's not only affecting my writing, but all creativeness in me. I haven't crafted anything. I've made no more jewelry, although I was starting to even like the stuff I was making. I've been wearing it and everything. I do need to go pick up some wire though. I'm all out.

On a good note, my son got his orange belt after his test. It was rough, and it was hard to watch, but he persevered and he got it. He needs to study up on his terminology, but he was nervous as all hell, so forgot a lot of what I know he knew. And it didn't help that I had lost part of his study guide, so some of it he just had to remember from class- which I think he did a good job of doing. Then he got beat up for an hour or so. He got hit a couple of really good ones. One in the stomach that I thought was going to make him throw up. But he stuck with it, and went right back in. I got to snap some of my spirit into his new belt. So did his dad, Dustin, and even his Sister got up there and added some of hers. We were all really proud of him.

The 4th of July was nice. My sister's neighbor across the street owns a fireworks stand, so of course he gets his hands on some good stuff. Therefore, being the nice guy he is (or he could just be a show-off, -I've never met him personally), he puts on a show for the street each year. Then, turns out my best friend from high school's mom lives across the street next door to that guy, and BF was there, so we got to hang out all night and shoot the poo. It was cool. Kids had fun. I had fun. It was Epic Win. Okay, maybe not "epic", but at least "heroic". (If you don't get that, you aren't a gamer, and therefore disowned. Okay, maybe not disowned, but I am shaking a disapproving finger at you and muttering "tsk tsk".)

Work is chugging along like work does. I'm lucky in the aspect that I enjoy my job. I work with fantastic people, and the work I do is enjoyable. I'm still amazed at how lucky I got in landing this job. I'm so use to absolutely abhorring my work, that this is still crazy new to me- and it's been almost 2 years now. Really? Two years already? Holy cow's milk. I was in the Port Orchard Street Scramble this year , which is just running around town kind of like a scavenger hunt for a couple hours in the morning, as part of the Library Team. We were in the Parade again, but you could definitely tell that our hearts just weren't really into it this year. It seems as though there is a pall fallen over the town this year. There is just no oomph or excitement. It's okay though. It usually signals change, and while scary, change is usually good.

The kids' dental work is well under way. My son has to go in Friday to see if they can finally cement his expander in. Hopefully they will. He leaves for Summer Camp with his Boy Scout Troop on Sunday for a week. He's really looking forward to it. He is signed up for a bunch of exciting classes that he's pumped up for. He always has fun on these trips. I think it's great.

Which reminds me, I need to call and cancel his doctor's appointment for Friday. Don't let me forget!

Hmmm.... let's see.. Has anything else been going on that I can write about? I'm not thinking of anything. It's been pretty chillaxed around here as of late. So, I'm going to wrap this up with a nice pretty bow, and post it for your enjoyment. Or to numb your brain. You decide.

So, the Fathoms Of Fun Parade was this past Saturday, June 28th here in Port Orchard. Of course, the Port Orchard Library had a spot in it, and of course I got bullied into participating. Okay, okay, so I wasn't bullied. I volunteered. I got to be a book- the letter "R", to be exact. The kids got to wear their "Catch the Reading Bug" tshirts and ride their scooters behind our banner. Dustin walked alongside us, and took pictures as well as helping to hand out water when needed. Our branch manager, Kathleen dressed up as an old-schoolhouse librarian, and looked hilarious! Not to mention hot!

It was loads of fun. The walk up the hill to our starting point was worse than the route of the parade itself. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, and the crowd was great. My entire entourage of family and friends showed up, and cheered generously at our complete lack of real practice, and our flubbing of spellings. It all added to the atmosphere and fun and worked out really well for us. So well, in fact, that we won the "best" title in the public service portion of the parade!

My coworker Wally did an incredible job of dreaming up the act, as well as preparing the costumes. They were excellent! I'm sure we'll keep them for future fun!

I'll have pictures posted soon. Dustin has to upload them and get them resized for me. Then you all can see the hilarity!

It occured to me the other day that I haven't blogged on here in awhile. I'm sure there are dozens of millions of you out there just dying to know what in the world I've been up to! Ok.. so maybe I'm letting my head get a bit out of kilter, but I hope there is at least someone out there who looks at this. hehe...

Anyways.. to answer that begging question.. well, not a whole hell of alot. I've been doing a little bit of writing, albeit most of it is still in my head. I've got a snippet of it on my thaydra.com website, but be advised that the entire thing there is probably already rewritten... at least in a different context. But I think it's a pretty interesting storyline, and it's gone round in my head enough for me to think I may just get something done with this one.

We had our Ants in your Pants dance party at the library here last evening. I had to work it, but I brought the kids down, and they had a blast. I didn't even know my daughter could hula hoop! She won second place in their contest! LOL. She didn't stop from the moment we got here until the moment we left. Even when the music was not playing, she was still moving. My coworkers got a kick out of it. My son enjoyed himself too, but maybe not to the extent his sister did. But I saw him out there dancing and jumping around as well.

I'm going to be in our annual 4th of July parade this year with my coworkers. I get to be the letter "E". And I'm a book. Figure that one out. Or just come down and watch. It's going to be on June 28th, in Port Orchard. What fun it will be! And the fair will be in town, so I'm sure we'll end up there.

Ok.. that's about all the excitement I can type for right now. I have to actually go work before I go home!