Chivalry is Dead in NJ

News flash: Chivalry is dead in New Jersey. Done. Finished. Finito. No more.

I take pride in the fact that I can do a lot of things myself. I have no problem hanging a picture, putting together furniture from IKEA, mowing the lawn, going to the dump and pumping my own gas. However, if someone wants to do this for me, go right ahead. If I waited for my husband to do all these things, hell might as well freeze over.

So today, in my independent fashion, I took the girls and the dog to run some errands in the Ford F150 (yup, I don't mess around). First we went to the town hall so I could sign some 'important' school comm. documents, then I put gas in the truck (self serve), then we went to the rental house and collected 5 barrels of trash (yuck! I don't mind my own trash, but handling someone else's trash is gross to me), picked up the mail, went to the dump (actually the PC way to say it is Transfer Station) then went to the place where one gets gas for the grill in a commercial park. I really should have taken a picture, because it is basically a shack and a big gas tank with barbed wire around it and they only take CASH.

I pulled in to the driveway of said gas "store" about 3 minutes after an older man from New Jersey. I hauled my ass out of the truck, dropped the tailgate, grabbed the tank and spit my chew on the ground (ok, I exaggerated on the last point). The very nice, slightly overweight man who runs the place came to my aid and grabbed my tank. Not necessary, but very nice. I said hello to the the NJ man and silently wondered who bought him his tshirt. I really, really tried to find you a picture of it. Think white tshirt with blue outlines of lighthouses all over it. Yeah, you got it. Not just one lighthouse, but about 40.

NJ man leaves, it's my turn. After gas tank is full, gas man says to me,
"Well I guess chivalry is dead in NJ."
"How come?" I ask.
"Because when I went to grab your tank, Mr. Lighthouse says, 'let her haul her own damn tank over here'."

And to think I smiled and said hello to Mr. NJ Lighthouse.

I think I will make the gas man some brownies and bring them to him tomorrow.

Weddings 6 and 7

Small World

A newbie stopped by my blog today and commented on the 4th of July parade. I always like to say thanks and check out a newbie's blog when they've traveled a ways to mine. Especially when the blog is called Wonderful World of Wieners. Now get your minds out of the gutter, it is about dogs people!

Well, come to find out after a few innocent comments.......

we lived about 5 houses away from each other during the summer in Ogunquit, Maine!

And her brother dated my sister!!!!

I know, crazy right?

It's a small, small blog world!

4th of July

What a wonderful (hot) weekend! All 4 of us were in the big town parade. K rode her horse and DH, B and I were on the Women of Fishing Families (WOFF) float. Our symbol is a big pink boot. I have a video on the making of the float, the float, the parade, the beautiful house we were parked in front of during the parade line up, the boot on the boat and the trip to the beach with the boot on the boat, K and my cousin Allycia, B and Grandma and the beach. So, sit back, maybe grab a glass of wine, some popcorn and enjoy. Hope your weekend was fun too!


4th of July

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th blog world! Have a fun and safe weekend! Ours will consist of a huge parade, beaches, and eating everything in site! (as long as it is chocolate!) I will fill you in on Monday!

Milestone

We hit a milestone today.

My baby went on her first babysitting job.

It's ok, you can weep. I almost did. I mean I would have if I let myself have 5 minutes to think about it.

She went with my friend who has twins that are almost 2, to the beach. She was the "mother's helper". Mind you this friend of mine, we used to live together, we have drank together, we have been through much together. It was a little surreal, her picking up K and taking her on a "job".

K came home with the biggest smile on her face and it wasn't just because of the 20 bucks. Nope, she had a blast! She played with the girls in the sand, in the water, with bubbles, ate lunch...it was like a dream come true for her. I think she even came home a few inches taller!

As proud as I am of her, I am a little sad for myself. It just doesn't seem that long ago that she was 2 and B was 6 months and I had Jillian (a friend's daughter who was 11) as a Mother's helper. No matter how hard I try to live in the present, time just flies by.... I am still trying to decide what I want to be when I grow up for Pete's sake!

Lesson for the Day

My friend, Claire, who could have at one point been my mother-in-law (that's another story), was having trouble with her cell phone. She took it to the cell store and told the salesperson that it wouldn't work. The salesperson said, "Well, it must have gotten wet."

Claire insisted that it did not get wet.

Salesperson, "Well maybe you left it in the rain, maybe you dropped in a puddle...."

Claire said, "No, it goes from my car, to my purse, to my counter. It most definitely didn't get wet!"

The salesperson opened up the phone and in the back there is some little button that glows red when it gets wet. Well, it was glowing pink. The girl said, "It definitely has some condensation in it, are you sure it hasn't been near humidity, sweat, water or any kind?'

The proverbial light bulb went off in Claire's head. "Well, if I don't have a pocket or my purse, I sometimes keep my phone in my bra."


There is your lesson for the day... If you are going to keep your phone in your bra, make sure you are not sweating.