Ginger Unplugged

I drove behind a car today that had one arm sticking out the side hanging on to a 2 x 4 sliding around on the roof. Besides slowing down to get some distance between myself and a possible bludgeoning, I also had the following flashback. 1987 Boy of Summer #1: "You know, we rode 25 miles on our bikes to get out here and we just don't feel like riding all the way back." Best Girlfriend: "Hey, I've got my boyfriend's very small car for the week--he's in Hawaii. Can we stuff your two ten-speeds inside it somehow along with us two boy crazy girls?" (Various attempts to stuff two ten-speeds into a hatchback.) Boy of Summer #2: "Dude, it's not working." Me: "Look, a 2 x4, let's just hang the bikes on it!" The four of us lay a 2 x 4 over the hatchback's roof, hang a bike off each side, and hold on to them with our arms sticking out the windows as we drive. Somewhere along the way the question was asked if this ...

Okay, so I tried to hide away for a while tonight in the closet. That's normal, right? It's a pretty big closet. Anyway, it took THREE members of my family exactly 45 seconds to find me. They weren't even all looking together. If anyone has a better suggestion on where to hide, I beg you to send it to me.

I met chuck tonight. You know CHUCK . Like the TV show? He was fixing someone's hard drive, Jared's iPod, answering everyone else's questions and showing some lady how to make a nice web page all at the same time. Besides being really nice and knowing everything, as he took apart the hard drive he started gushing over the beauty of the design and told me how it all works...heck if I can repeat it back to you but I ooohd and aaaahd at what I thought were the appropriate moments. I'm sure he saw right through me. After fixing Jared's iPod he loudly offered me the newest iPod software package and under his breath said that he could jailbreak it (that's when you bypass apple programming and get it to run all this free software out there). Since Jared's jailbreaking was what messed it up in the first place, I just said I'd better talk to my husband. Plus, I didn't know if it was a secret plot to catch people jailbreaking their iPods. Anyway, he got me all...

My kids have been learning about their heritage for scouts (both boy and girl scouts). You wouldn't think this is fascinating for them, but it is. We are related to kings, queens, outlaws, saints, gods, people you're supposed to kill on sight, legends--you name it. Plus, they were astounded that the name Churchill is actually adopted as is my maiden name. "Who the heck are we?" they ask. And we decided that we are who we are. Here are some of the people they are excited to hear stories about in our family history: William Brewster : The separatist reverend of the Mayflower bunch. What we like about him: He did what he thought was right, even when it wasn't exactly legal. He brought a violet cloak and a box of books with him from England. (Yep, that sounds like us). Secretly printed books and pamphlets and distributed them. According to some accounts, he turned down being a political leader to focus on being the spiritual leader. He hid on the Mayflower and somehow...

I usually claim the 4th of July as my favorite holiday. Why? Here's my reasoning: You get to blow stuff up. No presents to buy. In fact, hardly any preparations at all. Got hot dogs? You're good to go. Everywhere's still open, so if you don't have hot dogs, you can still get some. No expectations other than #1. No expectations=no disappointment. Sparklers are pretty. No morphed pagan traditions to explain. I love my country and that whole Star-spangled Banner thing gets me right HERE (thumping my heart with a sparkley tear in my eye). Happy Independence Day. At the parade. Flying Monkeys everywhere. Is it just me, or do they both have the same exact expression on their faces? And, finally, the quote of the day by Butterfly who was enveloped in sparkler smoke: "I HATE it when smoke follows pretty people!!!"