http://splittingred.com/jamie/

I don’t really post much, so I’ve stopped. Go visit Jamie’s!

This one’s for @rob_fuel.

The first place we went was Chinatown.

We are tired.

Shaun had offered to play music with the band and I thought “hey, this would be a good chance for me to get more involved with the kids ministry at our church.” This thought, though well-intentioned, was nebulous in origin. I think I was envisioning more of a “helper” role. However, the leaders took me at my word (as they should have) and gave three bright-eyed 10 yr old girls as my charge. Me, being the veteran camp counselor thought “3 girls. No sweat.”

I forgot how exhausting just answering the questions of little kids are. The time between meal times were punctuated with questions about free time and the next meal.

Camper: When is free time?

Me: You’ll find out when I tell you.

Camper: Seriously. When’s free time?

Me: Seriously. When I tell you.

Camper: Jaaaaammmiiieee. I need to know.

Me: You need to know? What will happen if you don’t know?

Camper: I might melt.

Me: Ok. Well if you start to melt, I’ll tell you when free time is.

I also really love questions about when we’re going inside and when we can have a soda/candy.

Shaun loved every second of this because, as the guitarist of the band, he was responsible for being popular. (To his credit, he helped me a ton during his free time and meals. It helps being married to someone who is a kid at heart.) However, this also gave him ample opportunity to throw my favorite joke about wanting 6 kids (this is especially effective in group events and family gatherings) back in my face. When I was looking especially haggard or irritated he would say “So, six kids?”. Funny McCormick. Real funny. I don’t want six kids, but maybe six dogs.

You would not believe how excited Jamie gets when this show comes on.

Surprisingly, it’s not necessarily because the show makes stuff she wants to make, or has interesting crafts. Actually, it’s a pretty cheesy show with crafts so simple it’s silly. In fact, that’s the main reason she likes it. It’s kind of ridiculous something like this got its own TV show. The other day they showed how to make a bench for kids by wrapping a board of wood with duct tape and then putting two buckets under it. I’m not kidding.

Earlier today I toasted my sandwich. For those of you who don’t know, I pretty much eat the same thing every day for lunch. And I like it. (Those who are appalled at my ordinariness: sorry. It’s who I am. Ordinary.) But recently – say, the past 2 weeks – I’ve started to toast my sandwich. This, for you readers who aren’t familiar with toasting, makes the sandwich 10 million times better. That’s a scientific estimate. Nothing really beats toasted white bread with salami and turkey, covered in melted cheese, with a pinch of pepper and a splotch of mustard, with a side of Sprite and Fritos. Mmm good.

For those of you worried about Jamie’s question regarding Neopolitan Dynamte ice cream, the mystery is solved. Randalls. They sell it. We will be going there Sunday, to purchase a pint. We’d go earlier but we’ll be out of town. Tempted to get some to bring on the trip. Really tempted.

In other news, Jamie is making a print of a drumset. I love my wife.

Summer is my favorite. Except for the extreme heat – I could do with it being about 20 degrees cooler. I cope by buying a new pair of sandals or sundress whenever the temp goes over 105. It really bodes pretty well for me living in TX. Not so much for my husband.

I have been loving evenings at home this summer and having a life. Legislative session pretty much took over my life during the spring, and since June 2, I have soaked up every second of being home having a life again. I spend most of my new found freedom figuring out what to have for dinner and then what we talk about what we will do after dinner. I also like to follow Michelle Obama’s outfits. Mid-day changes are the best days.

Life in the McCormick household this lovely evening:

• We were visited early on by the lovely Ms. Laura Egliht and Mr. Barley-face. See below.
• We had breakfast for dinner, which is my favorite. One of them.
• Shaun exhausted the internet for information on black holes. This is the second night in a row. Last night at about 11:30 he told me he had a really cool video to show me. It was entitled “How to Imagine Life in 10D” or something like that. At 11:30. It was 11 minutes long and every dimension after 3d hurt my brain. Shaun’s capacity for mind-numbing mental stimulation is pretty remarkable.
• Currently, Shaun is eating Cherry Garcia ice cream. He had me fooled early in marriage that he didn’t have a sweet tooth, but I have since learned he just didn’t really feel well and now that he feels better he can’t really resist ice cream or the candy aisle. (Digression: WHAT happened to Ben & Jerry’s Neopolitan Dynamite Ice Cream???? It was the best and I can’t find it anywhere now.)
  
• I am requesting new albums that he buy on itunes. He went for the new Wilco, but is hesitating on M Ward. I will probably fight back by buying it on my computer and not letting him listen to it.
• I will spend the next five minutes back-peddling previous bullet point.

Here are four things I’m excited about this week:

1. My parents come into Austin Wed! They are only stopping through for a night or so on their way to San Antonio, but I’m excited. We’re going to celebrate Shaun’s birthday a little early and go check out…
2. Harry Potter 6! The Harry Potter movies never fail to disappoint me a little, yet I never fail to get excited. Rowling didn’t really make it easy on us by writing awesome books that the movies will never compare to.
3. Shaun and I are becoming foster parents to a little dog named Barley. His owner (and our friend), Laura, is moving to Uganda for a year (ish) and so Barley-face will be living the good life with the McCormicks. As soon as we get pics of the little guy we will post, he is a jack russell mix and the funniest little thing.
4. These posts can only get better. I hope.