My life can be a scream.

On Thursday, before the meltdown, Sparkle came up to me as I was reading in the massage chair and said:

"Mommy, you scream."

"I don't want to scream.  Go play something."

Sparkle screamed a very piercing scream as a demonstration, and repeated, "Mommy, YOU scream."

"Honey, I don't want to scream, I want to read.  Find something else to do, please.  Off you go, buh-bye."

And Sparkle left the room.  She came back in short order, with a very Calvinesque (from Calvin and Hobbes) face - one just full of stinkitude and mischief.

"Mommy, you scream now."  And with that, she tossed the daddy long legs spider she'd caught onto the book in my lap, and indeed, got the scream she'd wanted.

So yesterday, while my darling husband was at the store, when Sparkle said "Mommy, you scream,"  I ran up on her and yelled bogga booga monster noises at top volume in her face, sending her laughing and screaming away.

Who is better at behavior modification, I wonder?  I'm suspecting it isn't me.

My life can be a stream

Today, braider and I went to the Hocking River cleanup in Logan, Ohio.  The deal was, a canoe livery would let you use a canoe for free if you picked up trash in the river during your ride.  We arrived, bright and early, to discover that we were in fact, too bright and early by an entire week.  We ended up renting a canoe anyway and still picking up trash from the river, and got a refund of two dollars each for the two ginormous bags of trash we winnowed from the riverbanks and tree roots.

My partner steered a steady course for all the blockages and snags in the river.  Well, I helped, because this of course, was where trash accumulated.  We picked out:

( merrily, merrily, merrily... )

braider  noted that she had a new respect for the American Indians that travelled up and down rivers in canoes hauling stuff, because it got darn hard to maneuver the boat as it got heavier with the filling trash bags.  I had to agree.  We had to shift garbage in the bags to keep the canoe from listing to one side.

Still, it was a lovely day, with a lovely friend.  braider is a joy to go out and do nature-y stuff with, because the company is so enjoyable, and she challenges me to do fun physical activities.