At The End Of The Day ...

When I was little, my mother used to watch her soap opera every day at noon. Hers was "As The World Turns." These days, I do pretty much the same thing, although mine is "As Sean Spicer Speaks." In other words, around noon every day, I turn on CNN to watch Sean Spicer's news conference. And in case you don't know who Sean Spicer is, he's the the White House Press Secretary. Or one of Melissa McCarthy's funniest bits ...

Anyhow, there are several reasons I watch, none of which are in admiration of him. I watch to see what he's going to say and do. I watch to see what he's going to spin and how. I watch to see how quickly he's going to go off the rails. Sometimes I go off the rails with him. However, there is one thing that lately is driving me absolutely cray-cray. It's how often he says, "at the end of the day."

I guess this is a current phrase, as I seem to be hearing other people saying it. And I don't know why all of a sudden I hear it all the time, or why it irritates me so much. The good thing is that apparently I'm not alone.  For instance, here's the Urban Dictionary definition:

Rubbish phrase used by many annoying people. An irritating verbal crutch, indicating closure or synopsis, for morons who are incapable of finishing a sentence without incorporating at least one tired cliche.

And then in Googling this phrase, I came across this - that this is the name of a song in "Les Miserables." And so I listened to it. And after listening to the words, it brought all of Sean Spicer's words to new meaning. And not in a good way.

So I thought about what I would like to say about "at the end of the day." And here's what I would wish and pray for. At the end of the day, I would hope that ...

• we could all speak kindly and with love to others
• we could look for the things that would bring us together
• we could give up that which is unnecessary for us to gain that which is necessary for others
• we could stop hating and start loving
• we could all realize that the only way to live in peace is to work together

And then maybe, at the end of every day, we could have peace in our hearts and in our world.

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Today's blessings include: nice day to open the windows and let the spring air in; cleaning and organizing my closet

Speaking of Swings ...

In our front yard, we have a round swing (see photo - not our swing). We've had it pretty much since we've owned our home, which means it's probably 20 years old (at least). When we had dogs, the swing was in the backyard, and they would play with it. Once the tree that the swing hung on was cut down, I decided to transfer the swing to the front. Everley and Lindley had begun to play on the swing during the past year.

In January of this year, Lindley had her friend birthday party at our house. The kids played on the swing and at some point the swing rope broke (the rope holding the swing is also 20+ years old, so nylon doesn't always last forever). One of the dads in attendance tied a knot in the rope and rehung the swing. The only problem is that it was a few feet higher than it was. Another problem was that only one child can ride on the swing at a time, which isn't always feasible, if the children who want to ride the swing are not in a "sharing" mood.

After taking a look at the swing and noticing that the re-rigged rope was fraying even more, I decided to upgrade the swing. I decided to get one of those "net" swings (see photo - similar to the one I ordered). Of course I had to contemplate again which one to get, and decided to get the one that would hold 600 pounds - just in case I decided to get on it. The good thing is that several kids can ride on it at once - as long as they don't have a combined weight of 600 pounds (a math lesson that Lindley and I had as we were discussing the swing this afternoon). Anyhow, the good news is that the swing came fully assembled. The other news is that somebody was going to have to hang it from the tree.

Lindley wanted to come over, so after school she and Lynnette came over. I suggested getting take out for dinner, so pretty soon Maribeth and Everley and Emmatha also came over. We stood under the designated swing tree and looked at the swing and discussed ways and persons who might climb said tree to hang it. Eventually Lynnette volunteered, and after several attempts on various sides of the tree to actually climb the tree, she hoisted herself into place (see photo - this is actually Lynnette in tree with former unacceptable swing - first we she had to get dangerous swing out of tree). Unfortunately, our first location choice would make the swing way too high for anybody to get into it, much less the kids. We then chose to hang the swing where the old swing was. After a bit of maneuvering and clamping the ends together, the swing was in place. However, there were a few issues ...

First, the swing was still a little too high. Everley could not get on the swing without help or the step ladder (which Lynnette had used to get into the tree). Lindley could hoist herself onto the swing, but that usually caused the swing to slip and go lopsided, which was not at all acceptable. Then there was the issue of the swing being a little too close to the tree, which meant limited swinging, unless one wished to bang into the tree.

Somebody had to babysit!

With all these swing issues, interest waned after a bit, and we went inside for dinner. I ordered a "swing strap" to hang on another branch further away from the trunk and possibly higher (the strap is 10 feet long, which means the swing should be low enough for everyone to get on, which means it will be a magnet for Danger Baby). Once it gets here, we should be back in the swing business.

The only problem is who's going to climb that high in the tree to hang the new strap ...

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Today's blessings include: Lindley, Everley, and Emmatha time; Lynnette getting up in the tree and hanging the swing; take out from Cheesecake Factory

Everley's Birthday Present

A couple of months ago, Everley and I went to Centennial Park to feed the ducks. While we were there, she saw the lawn swings scattered about and announced that she wanted a "bench swing." I told her I would get one for her birthday. She was happy with that, and I was happy to get her something that wouldn't tear up in a week's time.

Of course I had to contemplate over which kind of swing to get. Should I get a wood, metal, or recycled bottle swing? Should I get the cheapest one available or spend a few $$ for a better one? Should I get one locally made or mass made somewhere? I looked at the flea market, at Home Depot, at the local patio furniture place, and online. Eventually I decided to spend the $$ and get a recycled bottle one online. I figured that it would take less maintenance and last longer, and best of all, it could be delivered to their house. However, there was one catch ...

It would have to be assembled. That also included assembling an A-frame for the swing, because Everley's house doesn't have a covered porch with beams for hanging. So I ordered both and both were delivered last Saturday, just in time for the birthday.

I left them at her house rather than wrapping them, but she knew what the boxes contained. Originally the idea was for Sam and Mathieu to assemble them (not sure Mathieu knew that plan) and then Plan B was for Molly to assemble the swing part, since she had recently assembled her own recycled bottle chairs (one of which actually came with swing hardware instead of the chair hardware). Unfortunately, Sunday's party went a little long, so nobody got anything assembled. And then came Monday ...

I'm really not the type of person who purchases things for other people to assemble. Well, most of the time. And since Mathieu was starting a new job today and Maribeth was working, I decided I would go over and assemble it myself. And so I did.

I decided to start first with the A-frame. It all went pretty easily, I was able to put things together and get them screwed together with a little help from my drill (although I had to abandon that because I really don't know the correct method for using that as a screwdriver without nearly stripping the screws), the vise grips, and the electric screwdriver (the current one I have is garbage - it has about the same battery capacity as the horrible dust busters I once owned but scrapped because their battery life was nonexistent). Once the frame was together, I moved it into place. Well, at least into Place 1.

Next was the assembly of the swing. Which looked easier than it seemed. Things did not start off well because the assembly instructions were ripped on the corner, a corner which apparently held very important assembly instructions. I spent a good portion of time attempting to assemble the page with the instructions, only to find that it started with Step 3. I searched in the garbage can for any instructions about Steps 1 and 2, but couldn't find any. I finally turned the page over and there they were - the missing steps.

Eventually through a series of comical moves and adjustments and leaning the swing on everything from the patio to the stairs to the driveway to other deck chairs, and cursing the day the Allen wrench was invented,  the swing was actually assembled. Did I mention that it was windy and the instructions kept trying to blow away? Or that my helper Everley was helping me (thank goodness, because at least she was strong enough to hold up the swing at a crucial minute, although she asked me several times why I was groaning)? Everley decided that the swing frame needed to be in a different place, so I moved it, and then had Maribeth come out to help me hang the swing. In the end, we all had a seat and a swing and decided that everything was good.

Next year I'm giving her crayons and a coloring book ...

The finished product!!

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Today's blessings include: Steve's safe travel to Chattanooga; e-chatting with friends; assembling and swinging in Everley's new swing

Happy Birthday Everley!

Today is Everley's fifth birthday. Since Maribeth was working and Mathieu had Guard duty, I went to their house early this morning. Emmatha was already awake, so she ate and then we played in her room (the safest place in the house for Danger Baby) until Everley woke up. Once she woke up, she was not exactly in a "happy birthday" kind of mood, but eventually turned the corner when I announced that we needed to go to Publix to pick out her cake. Once everyone was properly dressed, we headed to Publix, got all the food and supplies we needed, and returned to the Doik to play until the family birthday party later on. First, a little fun sister time ...

Danger Baby decided to crawl into the magna-tiles box by herself.
And I guess then decided to pick out which things she wanted to build.
Or have built so she could knock it down ...

Playing with the birthday gifts.
And/or keeping someone from wrecking the birthday gifts.

And the birthday girl blows out her candles!  Eventually!!

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Today's blessings include: grocery shopping with the Es; Lindley, Everley, and Emmatha time; family birthday party and pizza and chocolate cake and presents; watching the ladies Final basketball game

Certainly Not April Fools!

I don't do April Fools. It's one of those holidays that I do not like. So instead I shall show you some videos from last night's MSU Ladies Basketball Team that beat UConn, who was on a winning streak of 111 games - until last night! I couldn't watch the game straight through - it made me much to nervous. I kept going back every new minutes and watching a minute or two - at least until it went into overtime. It was an amazing game, and the last 12 seconds were outstanding!!

All week Robin Roberts, who is a Mississippi native, wore her maroon on "Good Morning America" and rang her cowbell. She was at the game, and spoke to the team afterwards.

So I hope you have a great April Fools Day and get by with no silly pranks - unless you like that kind of thing. As for me, I'm going to watch the last 12 seconds of the game and watch Robin - and know that it's the real deal!!

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Blessings today include: Emmatha and Everley and Lindley time