Miss Fit

(Excuse for being MIA: Let me just put it this way - I'm 2.5 weeks into my Food Nazi class, I'm one chapter away from the midterm & I have a 100 average.)

And, I'm still not fitting in with the locals. As a matter of fact, I usually feel like that Sesame Street segment - which one doesn't belong, which one is not like the others? No doubt, I'd be the one wearing a tank top & shorts while the others are bundled up in winter gear.

I took time out last week to pick MiniMe up from school & hung out on the playground afterwards. It's just easier to sit there reading a book (a real book, not some15 lb textbook) than to come home to MiniMe & boredom.

So there I sat reading my book, which admittedly is a bit on the geeky side, but chit-chat & offers of Happy Hour later are either few & far between, or sadly, non-existent.

Did I mention that I was sitting on a bench next to a Dad who was also reading & not watching his 3-year old go skinny dipping in the mud hole on the baseball field, but who am I to judge? He was really into his super thick book (complete with frowny creases between his eyes) when a Mrs. came over to chit-chat with him.

I know. But, who am I to judge?

Anyway, they promptly interrupted my reading (complete with giggling & preemptive leg-crossing, just in case) to discuss what he was reading. They droned on & on about the excitement of history, especially the primary & secondary causes of the American Revolution. Then DadDude said he had another book that he started - the book's focus centered around the primary & secondary causes of WWII & the events leading up to the first bullet being fired. But he only started that book. Didn't finish it because he thought it might be more appropriate as a Beach Book.

Hey, I almost started liking the guy (even though he was distracting me from my reading & his daughter was still vastly unsupervised & up to her eyeballs in mud) because I thought he was being sarcastic. Yep, that WWII book was 1500 pages & way too exciting for just an ordinary day at the playground. It's like a page-party between the covers. I'll save it for my vaca on the beach down in South Carolina. It'll be light & fun (& funny) in a breezy, sandy, sunny kind of way. You know how Hitler & his homies can be! LOL

No such luck. He was serious & went droning on about why he was saving the book for the beach . . . it was really fascinating & thought-provoking . . .

There I sat, being way less geeky than originally accused, hiding the cover of my rather thin-ish book. The PMS Murder by Laura Levine.

Well, at least my child wasn't role-playing a bimbo mud wrestler.

Not today, anyway.

As if the Book Incident wasn't bad enough, you should see the inside of MiniMe's backpack:



Yep, that's what you think it is. The unsophisticated solution for anything that needs a solution. I'm just too cheap & lazy to hunt down a new backpack with just over a month left of school. In my defense, this is the inside of the backpack. I do draw the line a visible duct tape. I wouldn't want to appear trashy or anything. Especially considering my choice of recreational reading material.

And, I saved the best for last. Anyone care to guess?

Happy Birthday You-Know-What to Man!

Who: use your imagination
Where: in the Rockin'Bauer Biergarten
When: 29 April some plain ol' day last month
What: attempting to work the grill for the first time after the move
Why: Only God knows for sure
How: MiniMe was in charge of taking Man's Festivus pictures for the scrapbook

I can see where this next year might be a weeny bit challenging for me. The question remains . . do I even bother? Do I stand a chance?

I bet the all NoVA Natives make wise book choices, buy their kids new backpacks & take face pictures for birthdays. And, I'm just not sure I can compete with that.