If the world is a stage, where is the audience sitting?

I have a post brewing on Brain Candy. In my last post on favorite reads, I made it appear that I was some sort of Serious Reader wiling away the hours on her chaise lounge reading thought-provoking books, then staring deep into the distance, thoughtfully lost in her thoughtful thoughts.

You know, thinking.

Oh sure, I usually am reading something High-Falootin', but I always have some Brain Candy tucked away on a side table, too. As such, I updated on that post, "I realize this is a High-Falootin' List of Favorite Books. I am going to put together a list of Down n' Dirty list of reads. Total brain candy - the kind laden with artificial sugar, badly photoshopped covers and S-E-X. And some mystery." I am taking Team Chaos to Redneck Vegas (aka Branson, MO) this week, but the post will probably come out next week.

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We had a pretty good weekend. On Saturday, I took the kids to the KC Jiggle Jam. I am not sure what to say about it. Um, the kids had a blast. As they should have - it was a festival for kids, no? And I enjoyed watching them have a blast. What I did not enjoy was all the cloying kiddie music, the junk food smells, the shelling out of precious, precious dollars for everything, the parking, the manuevering of the stroller on stairs to get between the two stages (NO ramps, NONE) and the sweating. Oh my, the sweating. At one point, I tweeted "Am melted. Actually, am PAST melted. Have gone beyond a liquid form and am now in a gaseous state. Folks, it is HOT."

But.

I met Dee and her family there and it was fun to hang out with someone I never get to see. And again, the kids had so much fun. Which means that I can most definitely see us heading out the KC Jiggle Jam next year and I would even consider making it a Weekend and staying in a hotel near by. While praying for snow, because good grief, it was HOT.

On Sunday, I took the kids to Overland Park Arboretem and Botanical Gardens. I was blown away, folks. WOW. I have always been impressed with the place and always thought it a perfectly lovely place to stroll around, but I only got out there once last year and WOW. They have done some amazing things out there in the meantime! I cannot wait to go back again. What a beautiful, special place to take your family to for a simple Sunday walk. And it is free, folks.

On Monday? The weekend took a weird, odd turn. First, I should explain for the folks just joining the program that X and I are not a DIY kind of people. Actually, I do not mind doing things around the house and truthfully, the tools were all purchase by ME. My children have never graced the aisles of Lowe's with their father. No, that honor was bestowed upon them by Yours Truly.

However, I got frustrated doing everything by myself, so I gave up. And X? I blame it on his being Indian, this reluctance to pick up a hammer, the inability to differentiate between a Phillips versus a Standard. The Sisterhood of the Masala can chime in - perhaps, I am wrong?

When we moved into this house, I bitterly complained about the nasty landscaping in the front. The horrible evergreens. Bleh. The prickly bayberry. However, X got all Gandhi over my ass and said it was silly to kill perfectly good plants. Wasteful! But then? Over the years, our neighbors tore out their nasty landscaping. And a few weekends ago, our next door neighbors tore out their evergreens themselves. Within a single day, the front of their house was transformed. It was most certainly awe-inspiring.

So, X promised to help with some yard work over the weekend - a rarity to be sure. We were going to put some branches that I had already cut out for the pickup, pull some weeds. Your garden-variety yard work. Literally. So, on Monday, we went in the front and for whatever reason, one that I will never figure out - the latent Edward Scissorhands came out in X and he went cuh-razy. After 5 hours, 4 lawn bags, a full yard waste container (hastily borrowed from a neighbor), a curb full of branches and a pending call to the city for bulk pickup, we are staring down the shotgun barrel of 7 evergreen stumps and 4 bayberry stumps. Which we have no earthly clue how to remove. I attempted to take an ax to them, to which I swear I heard mocking snorts emanate from the ground.

Sigh.

KC Jiggle Jam

The Big Butt at the KC Jiggle Jam
Baby's got back? Indeed. This was an entrance to a bouncy house thingie. It looked like a monstrous, giant ASS. Literally, the ass cheeks were parted and then your child entered. Wrong, on so many levels.

Overland Park Arboretum and Botanical Gardens

Easy Rider