7 Quick Takes, Volume 46

--1--

When Joe read my most recent blog post, he told me it was the strangest one ever.   He found the reference to geocaching especially bizarre, and, well, kinda icky.  I got a couple of very nice comments (Thank you Gardenia and Therese!  You ladies rock!) but now I'm wondering if other people found it a little wacko and just didn't say anything.  Joe teased me about it a little bit--in a nice way, of course--and the fact that he finds my love of certain chores pleasurable just a wee bit crazy doesn't bother me.  In fact, he and the boys are perfectly happy to let me do it so they won't have to.  So take a gander at this and be honest:  Am I weird?  (You won't hurt my feelings, I promise.  As long as you keep reading my blog, you can think whatever you want about me! Hah! *smiley face*)

--2--

Behold the final picture I took with my old Droid phone:

I had my windshield replaced last week, and on Friday when we had a hard rain, it leaked something awful.  Water was pouring into my car.  I don't know what possessed me to take my phone out of its safe dry spot in my center console, snap a picture, and post it on Facebook; but shortly thereafter I stuck my phone into its usual spot under the dash.  Where unbeknownst to me, there was a pool of water hiding.  (No, I was NOT driving while snapping or uploading the picture.)  On Sunday, after having spent the weekend giving my poor soggy phone rice baths and sauna treatments in the oven, I finally had to admit it was toast.  Now I have a new phone, a way cooler one (DROID 4), and it has an 8 megapixel camera.  This would mean it should take even better photos than my last one, which had 5, although I haven't taken many pictures with it yet and the ones I have aren't really any better than the old ones to tell you the truth...

Old phone

New phone

Meh.  I'm sure I'll be snapping lots of pictures with it, and perhaps I'll discover that the camera really is better.

BUT it's 4G, which means it has much faster Internet connection, and I can watch Netflix from anywhere as long as there is coverage.  Plus it has a bigger screen and better resolution and better apps for Facebook and Twitter.  And I didn't lose any of my contacts OR my photos!  

--3--

Since I was phone-less for several days, I had to rely on other means of communication, like *gasp* talking to people face-to-face.  The other day when I needed to be home to greet the auto glass company so they could fix my windshield AGAIN, I wanted to ask my neighbor who I carpool with if she could pick up the kids from school the next afternoon.  I didn't know her cell number, and she's hard to reach on her land-line phone (mainly because her kids usually answer the phone, and you know how reliable kids are about relaying phone messages to their parents...).  I had sent her a message on Facebook, and when I dropped Larry off at swim practice I decided to wander around the pool deck to see if she happened to be there since her kids are on the swim team too.  I found her, we worked out a carpool plan, and I had a chance to shoot the breeze with her about other things as well, and she introduced me to a couple of friends she was with.  I will say that while I'm happy to have a (NEW!!) phone again, and I appreciate the value of a quick text message, I enjoyed those fifteen or so minutes just chatting with my friend.

--4--

 On Sunday we returned from church to find this:

Someone had run off the road, destroyed our mailbox, gotten his car stuck in the grass, and after much cursing and wheel-spinning, drove off.  Fortunately a neighbor saw the whole thing, and reported it to the police.  They have a description of the vehicle but not a tag number.  On Monday Joe put in a new (cheap) mailbox and stand; hopefully one of these days we'll get one made out of bricks.   They may or may not catch the guy, but it's wonderful to have neighbors who look after one another!

--5--

The other day while I performed the activity described in this post, I spotted these things:

Tadpoles in our perpetual puddle.  I hope they'll eat all the mosquito larvae...

Do you still think I'm nuts?  I might need to make it a habit to carry my camera with me while I'm scooping poop.  I don't care what the neighbors might think; after almost fifteen years they ought to know I can be a little batty sometimes.

--6--

Over the weekend Moe asked to borrow my camera and telephoto lens.  He spent the better part of an hour walking around snapping photos.  Here are some of the great shots he took (mind you, these are unedited):

He's eleven.  I think I have a budding photographer in my house.

--7--

I am OFFICIALLY on my summer vacation now, and to celebrate I'm having a GIRLS NIGHT OUT on Saturday with my sister-in-law and two other friends.  We're heading to Wolf Trap Performing ArtsCenter to see GAVIN DEGRAW LIVE IN CONCERT!!   I'm super-excited.  Thanks to Dancing With the Stars (which Gavin didn't last very long on because...well...he sings much better than he dances) I'm now a super-crazy Gavin fan.  I bought all of the CDs I could get my hands on and when I saw this concert opportunity I jumped at the chance.  Mostly I'm looking forward to spending the evening with some of my BFF's! 

I won't be taking my clunky "fancy" camera with me, but maybe I'll try to sneak a few photos with my new phone...maybe.  Meanwhile here's a taste of what I'm hoping will be a fabulous night:

He can't dance, but he sure can ROCK!!   Have a wonderful weekend!