Saturday night I went out to dinner with some good friends. During the meal one of them mentioned Cheese Pizza was going to be playing at a local bar later that night. I am apparently completely out of touch with all things cool because I thought cheese pizza was a really boring flavor of Italian pie. But it’s actually a fairly well known and popular band. Who knew?

I finished nibbling on my salad that was really just shredded lettuce with a couple of tomatoes and strips of grilled chicken (note to self: don’t order salad at a Mexican restaurant), we paid our bill, and headed to the bar.

There was a $10 cover charge at the door. $10. WTH?!? I know you people in the big cities are all like “what’s the big deal about a $10 cover charge. That’s cheap.” But here in the country we don’t pay $10 covers. Five bucks max, but never $10. However, I was assured that it was totally worth it.

As soon as we stepped in to the bar I wondered if that was really true. Dude. The music? It was so loud. I proclaimed, “Either I’m old or this music is really loud.” I believe the consensus was that I am really old. But seriously, do rock back have to be so damn loud. Can’t they just rock out a little bit quieter?

The warm up band played a bunch of oldies. Some Def Leppard. A little Metallica. All very loud. Did I mention it was loud?

Then finally Cheese Pizza took the stage. This is what they looked like from our vantage point.

I’m not really experienced in all things rock. When I was much younger (like junior high) I tried to get tickets to the Bon Jovi concert. But Ticketmaster sold out before my dad got home from work. Other than seeing Quiet Riot at the fair a few years back, I’ve only been to two concerts; both of them Boyz II Men. Nothing against Boyz II Men, but they aren’t exactly hardcore. So I might have tattoos (very pretty tattoos), but I’m far from a bad ass.

But here I was at a rock concert. The music was already pretty darn loud for me. Another couple years and I’ll be scowling and stomping out of places with bands playing “that ear piercing noise kids are listening to these days.” So I needed to whoop it up before I started getting arthritis and needing a cane.

I decided we needed to get closer. Be groupies. Beg for beads. Trample young girls for the slightest chance of actually touching a smelly, sweaty, cross-dressing rockstar. Every girl needs the chance to be up close and personal when a fat guy strips down to his g-string. Good stuff like that.

So I dragged my friend up to the front. Here’s a shot from the front row.

Hey, at least I was very nice about pushing people out of the way and elbowing my way to the front. I threw on a big smile and apologized to every person I stomped on. I’m such a conscientious line budger.

So now I can scratch off “become a groupie” from my bucket list.

13 Fun Things To Do When It’s Raining
Our plans to spend every day at the pool were put on a hold a couple weeks ago because it kept raining. It rained for several days in a row. As parents we all know what it means when it’s raining during summer vacation. It means the quantity of “Mom, I’m BOOOOOREDDDD!” goes up exponentially based on the number of days it rains in a row. So here are some ideas for activities to do during the rainy season.

1. If there’s no lightning go outside to stomp through the puddles. I used to love to stomp through the rain puddles when I was a kid. It’s warm in the summer so you don’t even need to throw on your golashes. Go out in your bare feet.

2. Or have your very own sailboat regatta. Don’t have milk cartons? Use anything; cereal boxes, gallon milk jugs, construction paper, newspaper [although with the construction paper and newspaper your boats won't last very long, but that's just an excuse to make more].

3. Grab the food coloring and head outside for some water painting. Pour some on the concrete and watch what designs the rain makes. Mix colors together to make new colors. Don’t worry it usually washes away with the rain. If it does stay behind use some detergent and water to scrub it away.

4. Don’t want to play outside? Camp or make forts in the house. We have a pop up tent the kids love to lay in. Or you could just drape blankets over the couch and some chairs for their very own fort. Make smores in the microwave and tell ghost stories in the tent/fort.

5. It’s usually fairly dark outside when it’s rainy so it’s a perfect time for a Family Moive Afternoon [as opposed to Family Movie Night]. Pop some popcorn. Grab some drinks. And huddle together on the couch for a family movie.

6. Make a Cardboard Castle. Now that’s some fine cardboard craftsman and it will keep kids entertained all afternoon.

7. Go bowling in the living room. Line up ten empty soda bottles/cans and roll a tennis ball or a softball at them. Normal bowling rules apply or make up your own.

8. Build an edible bridge. Kids love learning about science. Especially when they get to eat their projects when their done.

9. Get the kids to help you clean. *groan* No, I’m serious. A sitter we used to use a few years back had this great kitchen game. She threw down some soapy water on the kitchen floor, tied a sponge to the kids’ butts and let them scoot after each other in a game of tag. The kids had fun and the floor got clean.

10. Or have them do dishes. It always amazes me what constitutes “fun” for kids. You’ll never get away with this “fun” activity with teenagers, but younger kids love to do dishes. I have no idea why. Fill the kitchen sink up [or the bathtub even] with warm soapy water and let the kids wash and dry the dishes. Depending on the age of the kids you may still want to actually wash the dishes yourself later.

11. Pull out the elbow macaroni and yarn to make macaroni necklaces. Get crazy and add some penne pasta or some pasta rings.

12. Speaking of pasta, make some Pasta Art with spaghetti. Use food coloring to color the spaghetti for some really pretty pictures.

13. Make your own paper dolls. Take pictures of the kids in several different outfits. Print them out on the computer on to white cardstock. Let the kids cut out the shirts and pants/skirts and rearrange. You could also take pictures of them with many different facial expressions. Not only can they change their dolls clothes, but they can make them happy, sad, mad or excited too.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
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13 Fun Water Games for Kids
If your family is anything like mine, you like to play in the water during these hot summer months. But sitting in the pool can get a little boring after a while. Here are some fun water games kids [and adults] can play to stay cool this summer.

1. Run through the sprinkler. This is an old favorite. If you don’t want to spend money on one those cool Dora sprinklers at Toys R Us, then just hook up the regular sprinkler. The kids can have fun and the grass can get green.

2. Get a Slip and Slide. Kids love these things and they aren’t that expensive. Honestly, they are even fun for adults.

3. Buy some of those big Super Soaker Water Guns and play a game of tag. If you don’t want to use “guns” just buy water bottles. We got some from the dollar store and they shoot pretty far.

4. Play a game of Splash Tag. One person is ‘it’ and tries to ‘tag’ the others by throwing a wet sponge at their back.

5. Have a water relay race. Break the kids in to teams and have each team member fill up a cup, run it to the end of the course [a couple feet] and pour it in to their team bucket. To make it even more difficult get rid of the cups. Have the kids pick up and hold the water in their hands. If you want it to be even more interesting, have the kids dive in [or lay in, if it's a kiddie pool] in the pool before they run to their team bucket and then try to squeeze out as much water as they can. Squeeze it out of their hair, out of their swimsuits, out of their shoes if they forgot to take them off…you get the point.

6. How about some water archery? Make a big paper target, marking the rings with points [20 points for the center, 10 points for the next ring, 5 points for the outer ring and maybe 2 points for one more ring]. Give each player a squirt bottle with colored water [let food coloring be your friend]. Let the kids take turns scoring points by shooting their squirt bottle at the target.

7. Set up a water obstacle course. Set up stations kids have to complete before they can move on. Do things like fill a small cup with a squirt gun, dunk a sponge and soak your hair, jump rope three times in the sprinkler, throw two balls in the pool from a distance, etc. You get the idea.

8. Kerflop had a great idea of painting with water. All you need is a bucket of water and some paintbrushes. She recommends painting in the shade so their masterpieces last a little longer.

9. Play Water Balloon Catch. Cut the bottoms off of milk cartons and then catch water balloons. How many can you catch without breaking them?

10. Put on a hula skirt and do the water limbo. [Ok, you could probably scrap the hula skirt and just wear your swimsuit.] Use a hose with a steady stream and try to limbo under iit. Or use it as a hurdle and jump over it.

11. Don’t forget about Splish, Splish, Splash. It’s just like Duck, Duck, Goose only with water. You can either use a cup do drip drops of water on their heads and then dump the whole cup on their head for the “splash” like we did at school. Or you could use a big sponge. Just hold the sponge over their heads and then squeeze it when you “splash.”

12. Remember Hot Potato? How about wet sponge? Ok, so I just made up that wet sponge name and I admit it’s a pretty lame name, but it’s a fun game. Turn up the stereo and toss a wet sponge around. When the music stops, whoever has the wet sponge is out. Soak the sponge again and start another round.

13. Thanks to Necole, our final game is water balloon dodgeball. Fill up a ton of water balloons [but not too full so they are still bouncy]. Invite the neighborhood kids over and split the group in to two teams. Then let them throw the water balloons at their opponents. When you get hit by a water balloon you’re out. The first team to get all the players on the other team out, wins.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
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13 Things about my birth
Do you think it’s a coincidence that my 33rd Thursday Thirteen happened to come up just three days after my 33rd birthday? I think not. It must be fate. [Or just another reason to remind you it was my birthday on Monday. ] So here are thirteen things about my birth.

1. I was born on June 11, 1974.

2. That was a Tuesday.

3. I was 7 pounds and 11 ounces.

4. I was 21 inches long.

5. I had a lot of black hair on my head. I still have really, really thick hair. Only now it’s auburn.

6. I was born in the morning, but I don’t know exactly what time.

7. My parents met in high school, but were college students at the time of my birth.

8. Therefore, I spent the first few years of my life living in married student housing.

9. And I was born at the university hospital.

10. There was some construction going on at the hospital that day and the noise was really ticking my mom off.

11. My dad turned 21 four days before I was born.

12. My mom turned 19 two days after I was born.

13. In fact, because of that, she screwed up on my birth certificate and put that she was 19 at the time of my birth [because she was 19 the day she filled out the form for the birth certificate].

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Read my previous Thursday Thirteens.