Various and Sundry Monday: Tuesday Edition

Men love their country, not because it is great, but because it is their own. –Seneca

By Way of Introduction
One post about the comings and goings lately wasn't enough for this week to cover all the random bits of this and that floating around in my head that I feel I just have to share. So welcome to the Tuesday Edition of VSM.

Partay in the USA
Mr. Bug's work schedule is upside down and he has become a mostly nocturnal animal, which is something he has to maintain even on his days off. It is an adjustment. But sometimes it works to our advantage.

Yesterday morning we put on our party shirts and headed for the movie theater. We got there for the first showing of the day for Cars 2 {loved it, by the way}. Being the early bird is pretty awesome. We arrived 10 minutes before the movie started on a holiday, did not have to wait in line for tickets or popcorn, paid a lower admission price {although not by much; those silly 3-D glasses really jack the price up} and we had our pick of seats in the theater. There were only a few other families there, so we didn't have to put up with fussing kids or talking or the backs of our seats being kicked. By the time the movie was over, crowds were starting to form in the lobby and the ticket line looked like a pretty good wait. We laughed and headed to our favorite pizza place. Ahead of the game, we were seated right away in the nearly empty restaurant, were served quickly and enjoyed a leisurely meal without all the noise of the holiday crowd.

When we got home, I made my Bugs pose for a photo op in their party shirts. Someone looks goofy in all of the pictures, so in the spirit of liberty and justice for all, you get to see them all looking goofy. I love my goofy little bunch.

Sparkle Toes
Because it was a holiday, and sparkly and red is the thing this time of year, I treated myself to a pedicure {read: I soaked my feet in the tub before I did all the scrubbing and buffing and pedicuring and I put on more than one coat of polish, which necessitated those funky toe separator things}. I did DIY Glitter Toes. Is it horrible that I can't stop staring at my feet? My toes are SO sparkly! I love it! I put on three coats of red polish, so I'd have a really nice base of red and while the third coat was still wet, I coated my toes with red glitter. Then I put on three coats of clear, and I think I'll probably add a fourth tomorrow. I'm hoping that I can get a good week's worth of wear out of them before they start to chip, because touch-ups will be tricky. Oh, and don't you love my new{ish} flip flops? I've almost given up all my other shoes in favor of these. It's the next best thing to going barefoot.

Monday Music Spot, Tuesday Style: Reflections on Rain
I've posted about all the Mondays it has rained this spring. It is summer now and the rain has mostly stopped. At least, the all-day-pouring-buckets-stay-inside-and-curl-up-with-a-good-book kind of rain. I kind of miss it. Last night there was a tiny little shower. It lasted only 10 or 15 minutes and was only a sprinkle of rain — certainly nothing to dampen {ha, ha! I kill myself with the puns} anyone's celebration. All of that rain in May and June has made for a very different July. For the first time in years signs haven't been posted limiting the areas in which you can let off fireworks because it is really dry and the fire danger is high. And for the first time ever, aerial fireworks are legal in Utah.

I had to work over the weekend {Saturday and Monday; accounting heeds no holidays}. I fit it in around my family activities. I was coming home from work at just after 9:00 pm last night in the little rain shower and as I reached the summit of a little hill on the way into town, I could see fireworks going off all over the place. When I got home, the Little Bugs and I went outside and it was like being inside a giant snow globe of fireworks — a fireworks globe, if you will. It was an absolute free-for-all. Everywhere you turned, the most beautiful fireworks were going off. We hardly knew where to look there were so many.

And tonight it is raining. That most awesome open-the-windows-listen-to-it-beat-on-the-roof-snuggle-under-the-covers-sing-you-to-sleep kind of rain. While I was at work this weekend, I spent some quality time with Josh Groban {among others} and I think this is just about perfect.