A good blogger would’ve posted this a few days ago, but this particular blogger has had a nasty summer cold, which started Saturday, and is still hanging on for dear life. It has been a week. It’s time for this funk to LEAVE. Out, ye demons! I vanquish thee!

…Ugh, didn’t work.

It’s Friday, which means, blog now or I miss this week. (I don’t know if you guys have noticed, but I’ve been pretty consistent the last few weeks, blogging at least once per week. Yes, I’m patting myself on the back. Good job, Christina.)

So, here is my week in review:

Last weekend we marked “make homemade slime” off our summer list. It’s a stupidly easy project, takes just a few short minutes, and results in hours of fun. We followed the directions found here.

What you do is mix a 4 oz container (1/2 a cup) of white Elmers glue with a half cup of water in one bowl. Add food coloring to this bowl–if using–and mix well. (We used a few drops of yellow and red to make this orange creamsicle color.) In another, larger bowl, dissolve 1 tsp of borax (you can buy this in your grocer’s cleaning aisle, near the laundry products) in a cup a water. Slowly stir the glue mixture into the borax mixture, and it will start coming together right away. Mix until it comes together enough that you can knead with your hands. Pour off extra water, and, voila! Homemade Gak. *Caution:  make sure your kids don’t eat this, and they wash their hands after playing with it.*

On Monday, AKA The Fourth of July, AKA Independence Day, Maggie participated in our town’s 4th of July Steam Engine Parade.

Funny story about that…I thought I was getting over my cold that started to come on Saturday (silly me) so I felt bad, but not terrible that morning, and thought, I’ll just power through. We packed the kids into the car. Dropped Maggie at the loading site, then parked further down the parade route.

We showed up to this parade COMPLETELY unprepared to sit for two hours in the sun on a hot and cloudless day. Around us, responsible adults brought things like, folding chairs, umbrellas for shade, and, oh, what else?–WATER. We just brought ourselves and our snazzy patriotic colored clothing.

And, we were situated near the end of the parade. (Or, is it the beginning? Whatever you call the place furthest from where it starts. The end, right? No, the end is the end…Ugh. I don’t know.)

About a half hour to forty minutes into the parade, I felt like I was going to pass out. And not in a “I’m so exhausted, I’m going to pass out” way, but a “I’m sick, I’m starting to get dehydrated, the sun is too hot and I’m going to faint right here in this spot and the paramedics are going to come and I’m going to interrupt this parade with my drama because I’m here and sick and unprepared, and, oh, are those stars floating around my head” passing out. You know the feeling I’m talking about. It’s when you start chanting to yourself “don’t-pass-out-don’t-pass-out-don’t-pass-out” while sitting with your head between your knees.  (I DID sit, but I didn’t put my head between my knees because that would’ve called attention to me. And I didn’t want to look silly.) John looked over and noticed I wasn’t looking so good, so he suggested we pack up the ABSOLUTELY NOTHING we brought with us to the parade, and go find some water. I was reluctant. And grouchy.

“I don’t want to miss Maggie,” I said.

“She’s so far back at the end of the parade, we’ll be back before she’s here.”

“Okay.”

So, we got in our car (AIR CONDITIONER!!!) and left the parking garage, and headed to a gas station. (WATER!!!) When we tried to go back to the parking garage–OOPS–the traffic was being directed ONLY out and not back in.

Sigh.

The ONLY thing I really wanted was a photo of Maggie on her parade float.  So, we drove to the end (beginning?) of the parade and, luckily, her float had just gotten onto the parade route. John parked on a side street, I got out of the car (at this point, hydrated again and no longer about to swoon) and walked quickly to her float. I took her picture, shouted, “havefunseeyoulater” and walked back to the car. John then took the kids and me home and drove back to meet Maggie after the parade was over.

And that was all before lunch time.

The day didn’t stop after the parade. I had two goals for The Fourth: 1.) s’mores and 2.) fireworks. That’s TWO things I wanted to cross off my silly “Summer Fun List 2016,” which has been taunting me from our bulletin board all summer. (Note to self: Put LESS things on next year’s list.)

The next day, my cold was definitely back, and it called for reinforcements. Unfortunately, I couldn’t rest. Marcy had an early dentist appointment, and, you know, I still had to do mom things like feed the kids and not let them destroy the house.  To make things interesting, I took Marcy’s pacifier away (at the insistence of her dentist) so she didn’t nap once during the week. What can I say? I enjoy a challenge. (Three pacifier-free nights later I’m calling it–we’ve kicked this habit.)

I have nothing knitted, crocheted, or sewn to share. 😦 Since this cold is leaving (please!!!!), I hope to get back to my projects and have something to share next week.

I hope you guys had a wonderful 4th of July!