Fireworks, family feuds and other American traditions...

A four day weekend has arrived and logic tells me that I should be looking forward to it. Well, I am - sort of. On one hand, I'm happy that my hubby will be home with me for the next four days. It seems like I never see him, or get to spend time with him. However, I don't have any realistic expectations of being able to spend any alone time with Brian.

Instead, over the next four days we will play a never-ending tag team game called parenthood. I don't know what it is about families and long holiday weekends that make for hell-like experiences...as if American society suddenly demands perfect family Hallmark moments...but there is nothing like the 4th of July weekend to stir up a pot of trouble. Weekly routines get thrown out of wack, tempers shorten & money becomes even more of a necessity...even though somehow we never seem to enjoy a sudden influx of it. Have you ever noticed how inconvenient long weekends really are? Most seem to always fall at the very end of the month...just in time to coincide with rent being due.

I'm not really sure what we will do this weekend, but it has already started out with a bang - er, no pun intended. My kids were up and squabbling at top volume at the cheery hour of 7AM! Welcome to your weekend! Sigh...

Currently they are ransacking my formerly clean living room with a variety of toys & games. Too bad each item only seems to contain about 15 minutes of fun before they are deemed boring and left to rot on my carpet. All of this fun will be followed by the family tradtion of me telling them to clean up and them telling me no. This goes on for about 20 minutes until I start yelling at them to clean up and they in turn will begin to yell back and then begin hitting one another. The grand finale occurs when Brian sweeps into the room like thunder and starts bagging the mess into garbage bags. The kids will continue to yell, cry and hit. Then I, as mother of this brood, will get the privelage of calming both my children and husband in order to save my head from exploding...and then in a day or two I will get to put all the toys back where they belong or spend the rest of eternity stepping over the toy-filled garbage bags in our mud room.

One thing we will do is visit my aunt & uncle at Buckeye Lake (http://vil.buckeye-lake.oh.us/). They have a new boat and we will spend some time on the water. I love being on the water - it is like a slice of heaven to me. There are many gorgeous homes along the banks...one I really love is actually on an island! It is so peaceful and beautiful - I love the cranes in particular (the bird variety - not the large mechanical ones).

I am really looking forward to this. I like the 'Dawson's Creek' vibe I get there when we boat into the little town and dock our boat so we can get some kick ass ice cream. :o) Monday is likely the day we will go so we can be out on the boat and watch the fireworks go off.

I was lucky enough to catch a ride up to the local bargin cinema yesterday. We saw the new Robin Williams film, RV.

(Watch the trailer & see more comments: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0449089/)

It was actually much better than I feared. I would actually even say that I enjoyed it even. So if you have a buck to spend and a couple of hours to kill, I'd recommend it as a harmless summer flick. If you've seen a good movie lately, I'd love to hear some recommendations. In particular, I want to see The Devil Wears Prada and Click...so if you've seen these let me know if I should bother. If you'd like to watch a nice family movie - and honestly sometimes these are great hidden gems amongst all the blow 'em up, mega-star films that Hollywood cranks out each summer - may I suggest the following two: Little Manhattan (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0412922/) and Zathura (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0406375/). My family really enjoyed these.

Oh, while waiting for Brian to pick us up at the movies, the kids and I visited Petland. Sandy the amazing Doodle Dog was still there! He had already grown some...but he was still my baby! He was marked down 30% but he'd have to be marked down to like 70% before I could even pretend to afford him. I hope someone takes him home soon. He is such a great pup.

Have a great weekend everyone...or, like me, fake it! LOL :o)