America...

Every time the 4th comes around, and I avoid watermelon like the plague, it's fun. With sparklers and beer, and friends, and the taste of smoke on all my food.

After the 4th I'm usually really contemplative.

I became an adult on military bases overseas, in two of the three countries that were once called the Axis powers. So after being all 'American' I always feel a little weird. My first job paid half in Dollars and half in Euros. American money looks weird to me still(why is it all green?! Do you know how hard it is to find the right bill when they're all the same size and color after living in countries that do differently?! Gah!) sometimes.

Sitting here enjoying left over Japanese potato salad (recipe here for anyone who wants a nice change in the potato salad routine. I add a dollop of sour cream or mayo to make it smoother) it occurs to me that I both hate and enjoy being a third culture kid. I made JAPANESE potato salad for an AMERICAN celebration. (everyone together now: d'oh!)

Sometimes I don't know what it means to be American. I know what it meant to my host cultures while growing up. It meant being loud, rich, stubborn, and hopelessly prideful, but ultimately good despite all our glaring faults.

I think being an American might mean this:

1. Constantly messing with the English language. (with words like Epicosity, gnarly, and using things like 'bad' to express things that are 'good')

2. Competition, or a competitive spirit in some area. I think this is something our ancestors passed on to us.

3. Television. I dare anyone to disagree with this. It's a huge cultural thing to talk about what we saw on TV. Whether it's some drama, scifi, or news scoop, we probably didn't read about it or hear it on the radio.

So, what do you guys think makes America what it is and it's people who they are?

Summer's Gifts

Mosquitoes...
I'm allergic; though not in the puff up and die sense. It's more along the lines of get bit twice near my elbow and lose 20% of my range of motion in that joint. A bite near the eye means I look like a lopsided goldfish (or at least I feel like one with a squinty eye).

Summer and Mosquitoes go together like Hotdogs and Mac-n-Cheese.

Bees...
I like honey bees. They're so cute! Recently I also developed my taste for honey (code for: my husband made me eat the icky sticky stuff so often it doesn't suck so much)so honey bees are that much more awesome.
So while driving from Will's to Daddio's when a honey bee slammed into the open window jam while I was cruising at not-so-posted speeds and ricocheted into my lap, not only was I heart broken that she was going to die, I nearly swerved into the oncoming lane; the thought of "STINGER!" screaming through my head. Surprisingly enough she slowly came to and Jex was able to send her back out the window.

84 degree weather that feels more like 104 degree weather...
Apparently while growing up I developed an affinity for cold weather and an intolerance for hot. Then again I'm pasty white with freckles, the sun is not my friend. Besides the fact that I'm a firm believer in 'if it's hot, take it off' and unfortunately there's only so much one can take off... and I don't plan on moving to a nudist colony. Wait, come to think of it.... nope still not moving to cali..er I mean a nudist colony.

Fresh Veggies...
Probably my favorite part of summer is the fresh cucumbers and wild onions that sprout up just begging to be made into a sweet and salty salad.

Slushies...
Then again I eat these bad boys year round. It is never too cold for a slushie.

Gardening...
If I had a house I would have a garden, and it would be the best dern herb and edible flower garden in all of north Georgia! Notice how I don't like growing things unless I can eat them. *haha!*

Sandals...
I can now wear my Zena sandals. Yes, I have a pair of knee high roman esque sandals and I love them. I'm so white I don't even have to worry about tiger stripe tans. Though that would be cramazingly fun. Comparing tan lines is to girls like comparing scars (or scrapes) is to guys... and I would totally win.

Get-togethers that aren't for family only...
I don't know if it's just a misconception I have from growing up so far away from most my relatives or if it's just from learning to be an adult while learning how to function in foreign cultures but most American holiday's are geared towards the family coming back together. In the summer though it's not about cleaning your house so that Aunt Gladys doesn't sneer at your 'dust and clutter' or 'making a moist turkey by God, to prove to my mother I can cook' or coming near tears when you accidentally burn the pumpkin pie... or the sleep deprivation from cooking ALL NIGHT. In the Summer you have your neighbors over for a glass of ice tea on your porch, because it's a nice day or to a little neighborhood cookout with a few families, my turn to bring dessert!
I don't know if it's like that everywhere, maybe just the south. But it makes me miss the closeness of overseas airbase communities; and 60's television shows.

She-ra! By the power of greyskull!!!

I will smite the leaky pitcher!!!

Alright here's how it went down. I make homemade lemonade the way a friend of mine (Missy) showed me how to. This involves real lemon slices, simple syrup, and honey. When the lemonade is finished off (about an hour or so after it's ready) I have a bunch of blanched lemon slices I don't know what to do with. I don't have a garden (because I have no house), don't know any recipes that call for lemon slices boiled in sugar water, and so I usually throw them into the tree line to compost and keep the opossum off Will's porch.

Yesterday I guess I suddenly became She-ra, because when I chucked the lemons the entire pitcher went spinning off into the treeline with them. The pitcher, that had already been fixed once due to a small crack in the side, hit a tree with a crack and spewed lemon slices like sticky round confetti. The entire time I just stood on the porch, mouth agape, with the pitcher handle still in my hand.

Poor poor pitcher.

Faces of the Past

Jex's computer is, for all intents and purposes, dead. I'm going to try and fix it but it looks like the graphics card has died a terrible and melty death.
So in hopes of saving the stuff on it all Jex's pictures from before we got married got uploaded to my laptop from the external harddrive to make space for his other stuff.... and look what I found.

Prom! Oh My Gosh! I wish I had a picture of me and my guys (Joey, Marc, and CJ) That would've been Sweetness! Not to mention blackmail for the rest of my life.