It’s all in the phrasing …

My life seems to be a constant shift between all or nothing. Specifically when it comes to time. I either have so much time on my hands that soap operas seem Shakespearean, or I have a constant stream of things to do that require that I unfreeze my clones. I seem to be slipping into the busier side of things these days, after a few years of working up a sweat getting out of bed. No doubt it is a planetary alignment thing. Of course since my level of activity can generally be compared to that of a hung over sloth, what I consider "extremely busy" would probably be a rare leisurely nap by an actual A+ personality.

Anyway, between working on my inner Adonis, saving the world by annoying one person at a time, pretending to be a writer, and apparently having an unusual voice defect that results in no one ever hearing me say the word no, I have once again take on the duty of Uncle Parent. Last time it was Uncle Mom. This month I am Uncle Dad. I have been in staying with my niece and sister for the last couple of days, and will be for a large portion of the next month. My BIL is off to summer camp with the Lizzie and Jasper, but Sarah needs to finish school before she and mom join him. So enter Uncle Dad.

(Photos of Lizzie and Jasper courtesy of Lisa Kramer … my sister)

It is funny how some habits become so ingrained in us that we are kind of lost when they are temporarily not needed any more. For instance, whenever one enters my sister’s house, one has to assume a kind of airplane crash position until the dogs’ rather exuberant greetings are done with … that is if one wants to survive it. But the last couple of days, after I have quickly dived under the nearest table, I find myself waiting for a few minutes with nothing happening. The lack of doggie is affecting us all, even though I am not as used to them being around as the regular tenants. For some reason, Sarah did not quite buy it when I loudly barked as she came home from school today. I was just trying to fill the void.

"BallIronically, this has absolutely nothing to with the anecdote I wanted to share today. But I had no idea how to set it up, so closed my eyes and started typing. Who knew I type as well as a thousand monkeys? Anyhoo … I was doing something in my current room … I believe writing a masterpiece or some other important task on the computer, when I suddenly heard my sister exclaim to my niece: "Why are you poking my balls?" I have to admit, this was definitely an unexpected phrase. After all, Sarah is only 10.

Oh yeah, they also happen to both be female (as most sisters and nieces tend to be).

Fortunately having just seen Sarah’s new backscratcher, and having used the water weight balls in a workout yesterday, I actually understood what they were talking about. But it was still worth a laugh nonetheless!