Summertime Fun @ Little Red Wagon

First of all....Happy Canada Day! I know celebrations aren't going to be the same as other years but I hope all my Canadian peeps have a wonderful - and safe - holiday today.

This week at

it's Kate's turn to choose the challenge and she's saying, "Summertime Fun!" which really doesn't need any explanation.

This is what I did....

As you can see, this guy (from Melonheadz Illustrating) is all set for a summer of fun. "School's Out" was really anticlimactic this year, of course, but I'm sure my two highschoolers are happy to be finished their courses for the summer.

I'm wondering.....does there come a point where I should just stop blaming lack of mojo for my subpar cards of late and start claiming I can no longer make good cards? I dunno.....

My friends, I gotta tell you what happened the other night. My daughter, L, came into my room and woke me up at 3:00am because there was a "really weird smell in her room". As I plodded to her bedroom I briefly wondered if we had perhaps caught a skunk in one of the live traps we had set up outside. [Side note: For the past five years or so we have had a groundhog living under our porch. I love my lil groundhog and I used to call him "My Fluffy Boy" (hommage to Captain Raymond Holt's Cheddar from Brooklyn Nine Nine)....but this year I stopped calling him that because "he" HAD BABIES! Seven groundhog babies! Omg, they are so cute....I almost DIED when I first saw them. Problem is, mom, dad and seven babies (who are now barely smaller than mom & dad), plus the family of three they invited to live under our shed meant that we had too many groundhogs making too many holes in our yard. So, we're re-homing them to a nice wooded area with a stream about 10 km away, hence the live traps. (Which makes me a bit sad but, unfortunately, it needs to be done.)] I dismissed the skunk idea though as I know, L knows, what skunk spray smells like.

As I stepped in her room, my nose crinkled up something fierce at the strange burnt plastic smell I was being assaulted with. Well, it turned out her fan was severely overheating and the covering over the motor was almost too hot to touch. I unplugged it and moved it out into the hall and she got settled back into bed.

On my way back to my room, I remembered how my brain acts at night. I knew that if I just went back to bed, I would just get nicely to sleep, and my subconscious would scream, "WHAT IF THE FAN IS NOW ON FIRE?!?!?" I, of course, wanted no part of that sudden, heart attack inducing wake up so I grabbed the fan with the intention of taking it down to set it on the porch outside. Once I got there, I knew on-the-porch would not be considered a safe spot for a flaming fan by my Night Brain so I slipped on a pair of shoes, and headed out the lawn a bit with it, content on putting it in a spot where it could spontaneously combust and do no harm to our home, vehicles, trees or other buildings.

As I walked, I had a sharp pain suddenly EXPLODE in my ankle. It confused me into a full stop. I paused for a second....I hadn't twisted or rolled my ankle. I hadn't been walking any differently then every other time I've ever walked, I was even wearing my shoes, not a pair of one of my two boys size 13s (because they always seem to be left on the mat). I shuffled a couple more steps, set the fan down, and gingerly returned to the house.

I managed to hobble up the stairs, get back into bed, it took some doing to get my ankle comfortable but I managed to start to drift off to sleep. Just as I was headed back into Dreamland though, I had an epiphany and I knew what happened to my ankle.

My body was protecting me. It was an innate survival mechanism, an alarm if you will.........to keep me from wandering too far away from my house without a bra on.

(:

Why don't you give our challenge a go this week and head on over to Little Red Wagon and link up? And, while you're there, be sure to check out the fabulous projects the other Girlfriends have created.

P.S. My ankle was fine by morning. And, my lesson was learned.

Also for:

Crafty Friends:  masculine
Aud Sentiments:  summer + sentiment
Cardz 4 Guyz:  red, white & blue