Musings by Melissa

I don’t know about where you live, but the mosquitoes are terrible here.  Usually I can run from the safety of the house to the van and only 2-3 will sneak in the van.  A few minutes of swatting, and the van is clear.  Not this year.

The other day I killed a dozen mosquitoes after I had gotten in the van.  A dozen!  Gross! 

I prefer not to use pesticides, especially now that we have chickens eating our grass.  But enough was enough.  And I headed to the local drugstore for some mosquito spray.

One would think the spray would be near the door, since most people are terribly annoyed with mosquitoes this year.  But no…  I had to ask for it.  And then I was given a list of directions that was longer than our trip planner for our last vacation. 

“Go down this aisle until you see the stuffed animals.  Then go right.  If you pass the toothpaste and the over the counter acne pills, you know you’re on the right track.  Turn left when you get to the end of that row, and the mosquito spray will be on the bottom shelf behind the dishsoap.”

Argh!

Thankfully I’m pretty good at following directions.  And so, when we venture into the great outdoors of our yard, we smell lovely, and remain relatively itch-free.

Happy swatting!

ARGH!  If there’s one thing I hate doing, it’s shopping.  Shopping for food isn’t that bad because I know what I need, and I know exactly where in the store it is located.  I can get all my grocery shopping done in 45 minutes, and that includes drive time!

It’s the other shopping that drives me batty.  Shopping for birthday or Christmas gifts.  I will never understand how people can go to the mall simply to window shop or browse for gifts.  Ack!

Because of this, I love the internet.  I do most of my “other” shopping online.  I don’t spend any money in gas.  I don’t have to fight the crowds.  I can read reviews to see if what I’m thinking of purchasing is of good quality.  And it is delivered right to my door.  What could possibly be finer than that?!?

You can buy books online.  You can buy CDs online.  You can buy cookware online.  You can buy birdfeeders online.  You can buy toys online.  You can even buy cigars online!

Again, what could be finer?!?

Happy shopping!

A handful of years ago our church took out a loan to build an all-purpose room (gym) and more classrooms.  At that time it was much cheaper to put up steel buildings than  utilize typical construction.  So, that’s what we did.  We are now about two months from having the whole thing completely paid off.  Yahoo!!! 

Getting that paid off will be a tremendous blessing for our church.  To God be the glory!

I was on my way home from getting groceries, and I saw it again…

A young teenage (maybe!) girl was walking along the sidewalk, trying to light a cigarette while the wind was blowing.

Whenever I see something like that, I go through the complete range of emotions.  Anger, frustration, sorrow…

I wish I could pull that young girl aside and show her a picture of my great aunt.  This aunt was a beauty when she was young, but years of smoking and drinking made her age beyond her years.

I often wonder what young people are thinking when they begin smoking.  Are they that concerned about peer pressure?  I realize they’re not concerned at all about smoker life insurance rates, but they must know the harmful effects that smoking has on them.  They must realize how expensive smoking is.  I’m sure they all know people who have struggled to quit smoking. 

Argh.

So, why even start?

Some things I doubt I’ll ever understand…

The week before Mother’s Day I saw an ad in the paper for something I’d really wanted to see.  “The Sound of Music” was coming to a local theater for a couple showings!

Yahoo! 

Those of you who know me, know that “The Sound of Music” is one of my all-time favorite movies.  And who wouldn’t jump at the opportunity to see the movie on the big screen and hear Julie Andrews singing fill the theater?  Talk about better than a panasonic home theater system!

We weren’t disappointed!  The facial expressions were so much better than on our little television.  So many details were evident that I had missed before, even though I have seen the movie more times than I care to admit.

We took Wayne’s mother along to celebrate Mother’s Day with her.  She was very pleasantly surprised.  It was a great way to spend the afternoon.

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens…

No, I don’t have it.  Poor Justin does, but he’s well on the road to recovery now.  Last Friday it was all over his precious face.  His eyelids, cheeks, and chin were covered, as was a spot on his hand.

Normally I wouldn’t have fretted too much over it, but vision is a precious thing, and I’d hate to mess up one of our kidlets’ vision.  So, I took him to the doc.  So, he’s on some meds, and it’s clearing up.

But, it was only the first week of May!  If he keeps this up, it’s going to be a long summer.  At first, I thought maybe he got it because a chicken was in a patch of it, and he snuggled on the chicken.  But I’m thinking he may have commando-crawled through it.  Today I spotted him and Carl in the back field, on their bellies, trying to sneak up on the imaginary enemy.  Hmmm…  That could be where the poison ivy came from.

I guess when they go out to play war from now on I’ll have to make sure they first put on a mud mask so the enemy can’t see them and so the poison ivy won’t come in contact with their skin. 

Hey, they’re boys… I bet they’ll go for it!