Tonight I just couldn't win. . .

So, I hadn't spent any "big sis" time with Kat since we went to the Great Wolf Lodge way back before Easter. I thought tonight would be a great opportunity to catch up, and plant some flowers in hanging baskets for my front porch, grill some Angus hot dogs and eat on the patio. I was pretty pumped up about the evening, and even more so when I pulled up to her house, and was greeted by her waving at me, all smiles, from the top of 25 steps to her front door.

That's where the great ideas ended. We stopped by the grocery store on the way home, because I don't eat Catsup on anything, and I know Kat is a huge consumer of Catsup and will need some for her hot dogs. I also buy buns and potato salad--we need some carbs, too! While in the store, she asks for EVERYTHING! The girl wants chocolate covered donuts, Twinkies, zingers, glow sticks, bubble gum, and you name it! I asked her if she brought money, and she said, "no," so I said, "then I guess you don't need it." I don't mean to be rude, but I have bought Kat a lot already and I explained to her she doesn't need sugared bubble gum, and I always have gum if she needs a piece, and we have a good dinner at home, and I refuse to buy donuts and zingers. Yes, I am SCROOGE!

So, I have this great plan to plant flowers on my back patio...you know, soak up some afternoon sun, and she plops down on my sofa and turns on the TV. I've always had a NO TV rule with my little sisters. If they want to watch TV, they can do that on their time, not mine. SO, once again, I was the mean lady...We marched outside and started planting. Two girls, two containers, I thought this was a no brainer. WRONG. She was more interested in the rocks around my patio than planting flowers. So, one big sister planted two baskets. One little sister played in my rocks, and even asked if she could take some home. I said, sure. Not like I don't have enough.

Dinner. . .I made a nice fruit salad. Fresh strawberries, blueberries, kiwis and bananas. I MADE her try one of each. She said she had only had fruit in JELL-O. I thought this was totally sad. She said she didn't like it all mixed together, so I told her to separate it. I'll be having the rest of the fruit for my 10 PM snack tonight. The good news is she had never had potato salad either, and she did like that. Oh, and I have taught her when she's with me we pray before eating. She waited for me to say Grace tonight, and so we are getting somewhere there.

SO, any adults from my childhood, Mom, Dad, Aunt Barb...I apologize now if I was ever a difficult child. To my friends out there that are parents, my hat is tipped to you. Maybe I'm emotional, maybe I think I'm fun all the time, but I'm not really...I mean, she was playing with rocks. . .But on the way back to her house tonight, she said, "I had a really good time planting flowers."

Thank God I'm a Country Girl

Yesterday afternoon our temps in NW Missouri reached into the 80s and my little sis wanted to go bowling. I told her no way, no how. . .we were going to enjoy the beautiful weather despite my allergies. So we loaded up and drove to Krug Park, even though I had never been there before.

We parked in front of this nasty, dirty body of water, and lo and behold, a geese pond occupied her mind for nearly an hour and I just kept thanking God that my mom had A) subscribed to that “Ranger Rick” magazine for me all those years; and B) that we had actually had geese for a short stint on the ranch at Mullen. Otherwise, I was pretty sure I had totally missed the “poultry” unit they taught in Animal Science 101that was offered at Colby Community College!

Kat had 101 questions, and well, being the older, wiser “big sis” that I am, I had 101 answers! I just hope she doesn’t ever compete in an academic bowl and claim that I imparted this knowledge on her! YIKES!! I felt pretty comfortable with the basics though, like the daddy geese (males) are ganders and the babies are goslings and a group of them are a gaggle. Then we got into feather features. Well of course they need feathers to fly and swim and as a defense mechanism and for heating themselves in the winter, but I might have stretched it a little when I said the feathers are even used for cooling devices as they fan themselves in the summer (seemed logical to me and she bought into it)!

Kat was concerned when the geese kept ducking their heads into the water and then shaking their heads. I equated that to washing our hair, and then when a feather was falling out, I explained the whole shedding process. WOW!!! All these answers while I’m surrounded by some of the things I fear and dislike most—birds (I’m afraid they’ll attack me) and bird poop is just plain nasty--give me cow ____ any day! But, it was an hour of outside fresh air and togetherness.

Finally, Kat proclaimed she was hungry, and we loaded up to find dinner. My only limitation was NO McDonalds! (I should have bought stock when she and I were matched). So, we had KFC. . .It only seemed logical.