Some work but mostly play

Since summer vacation started I’ve done a few paintings and projects, but if we aren’t at a baseball game or practice, we spend most of our time just hanging out.  That is what summer is for!

Living in Cicada Hell

If you are like us and living in the midst of cicada hell, you have my sympathy.  If you are not, you are very, very lucky.  Here in Central Illinois, we have our once-every-thirteen-years visit from the cicadas.  They are disgusting creatures.  There are billions and billions of them.  They are huge—about 1 inch long and extremely ugly.  They don’t bite or sting (thank God!) but they are terribly loud  and they fly right into you.  They come out of the ground, mature, mate, lay eggs and die.  Then their rotting carcasses start to stink.  Yuck.  Just yuck.  Mowing the yard is a little step into hell for me.  They are attracted to the hum of the mower and they just go crazy.  I walked around my yard and took some pictures.

These are the shells.  They come out of the ground and shed their exoskeleton.  There are piles of them everywhere.

I promise to do better

It is a pet peeve of mine when bloggers drop off the face of the earth.  That makes it that much more ridiculous that I did that very thing.  Except that I didn’t exactly drop off the face of the earth, I just dropped into summer vacation!  I lose all sense of time.  The kids get up at 9:00 and don’t go to bed until 11:00.  Lunch is at 2:00.  Dinner is….well, if there is dinner it’s a hot dog at the ball field.  I’m never the most structured person, but summer is absolute chaos! So….in an effort to get back on track, I’m promising to be a better blogger!

I have to wear lipstick.  Have to.  I feel naked without it.  However, when I’m just going to the pool, it seems a little ridiculous to wear it.  And I MUST, MUST wear sunscreen on my lips or I am practically guaranteed to get a cold sore.  That’s why I am thrilled with this find!

It’s really lightweight, but has good color and sunscreen built right in.  Walgreen’s had Buy One, Get One 50% off and I had a $5.00 off coupon on two which made my grand total $7.00 for both. 

Sometimes, simple little things like this can really make my day!