Just a Northern Girl

Holy Blog, Batman! Whaling Season is a year old today

That’s right. It’s my blogiversary today.

One year ago today, I wrote something I thought was enough to get me started, held my breath and clicked ‘publish’. And here I am. I’m no longer holding my breath, though I do censor myself more than I should. I’m still doing much what I was doing last year, but now I have proof that I have made some progress in certain areas of my life, made no progress in other areas, learned a few things about the guts of websites, made some new friends, connected with some old ones, and generally had a good time on the internet.

I suppose this is a good time to take stock and figure out where I’m going with this. So, some goals for the next blogiversary:

Naahh.

When I looked back at my goals for 2006 that I wrote in January, the only three things I would commit to were dealing with my weight, watching my words, and getting a grip on the family finances.

I might just go back to that and call it good by adding a fourth goal, which is to improve my blog and writing skills all-round. That just might be enough for now.

posted by Northern_Girl @ 8:54 AM 2 comments

The long weekend: A bulleted list

(Why a list and not a true post? Because I’m swamped at work and at home. If I spend any more time thinking about how absolutely gorgeous the weather is going to be this week and how much I wish I could spend the rest of my natural life with my ass permanently attached to the bench seat of my pontoon boat and my hand numb from the cold of frosty adult beverages, I may have to hang myself with a water-ski tow rope.)

*Docking a 24-foot pontoon is more difficult that parallel parking a semi-tractor/trailer.

*Asking a stubborn 14-year-old daughter if she wants to try to learn to ski is ok, but do not tell her you have been water skiing since you were five and slalom skiing since age nine. You will be dragging Banana around the lake for hours trying to teach her to stand up already. Having a brother and father with infinite patience are prerequisites. I am lucky that way.

*Seven-year-old girls never get tired when tubing behind a speedboat. Never. Muffin would be out there for weeks at a time and never tire of it. I don’t know why.

*Sunburning the top of your head and then smacking it on the door of a camper does make for interesting hair combing techniques.

*Fireworks are best viewed while wrapped up in blankets with your daughters and nephews floating about on the lake among hundreds of others with the same idea.

*Drinking is never as much fun as when you can drink and laugh at your brother, husband and father at the same time.

*Sleeping in a camper – or getting completely frustrated with your family sleeping in a camper and making so much noise that you take a flashlight, a blanket, a pillow and a dog with you to sleep in the backseat of a pickup – only makes sense after about a 12-pack of beer.

*Cold cuts and sliced cheese tastes best when mixed with generous amounts of Smirnoff, sunflower seeds, and sunscreen.

*My nephews are atomically fueled and they meltdown like Six Mile Island on a regular basis.

*Clear continuous-spray sunscreen from Coppertone is my new lover.

*Watching a dog sneeze and sneeze and then sneeze so hard he bonks his head on the dock is only funny about the first 10 times he does it. Then one starts to wonder if the vet is available on holidays until he is standing chest high in the water and sneezes, submersing his head and making the funniest noise I've heard this side of Buggs Bunny cartoons and I start laughing again. Because it was funny. Poor thing.

*Trips to the ER when your husband tries to remove his little finger on the hinge of a pontoon gate when jumping into the water is only fun when…let me rephrase that: it isn’t fun. Nope. A quick drive into town, eleven stitches, and a prescription for a strong anti-biotic later, we were back in business.

*Apparently, a liquid-heavy diet supplemented by sunflower seeds and food one can eat from the cooler while trying not to drunkenly fall off a pontoon boat are good for the scale. I am down to ##9.5 and that is all I have to say about that.

Despite a glitch or two here and there, great fun was had by all. Now I’m back at work, a little tan, a little hung-over, and jonesing for some more quality time at the lake with my family.

Pictures are forthcoming on Flickr - as soon as I find my camera.

posted by Northern_Girl @ 1:10 PM 0 comments