But yeah, the lakes around here are mud-bottomed puddles of orange water.

That's pretty much how I remember Lake Norman (North of Charlotte NC). I enjoyed it way back then as a kid, but now this is what comes to mind:

Mud, mud, glorious mud!

My worst swimming experience was in Virginia at a literal watering hole filled with silty squishy clay and crawfish. I could jump into the deep part, but getting out I had to walk through the grossness.

Or maybe the worst experience was being at a crowded beach when I was wee and nobody saw the little boy trying to drown me in the shallows.

Best was being pummelled by waves post-hurricane in NC. The beach had been torn away so it was a steep 45 degree grade down to the water line, and trying to actually get in the ocean was an exciting challenge, because the waves kept smashing against that beach wall. 90% of my attempts wound up with me flying back into the churning sand and rocks like supergirl.

I am heat treating ziploc bags. I am not sure I can convey how happy this makes me. I may be at the end of the weekly purchases.

I am also going through mac's school supply list. It looks like we have about half the stuff. I am heat treating what I can, bagging the rest (markers, glue).

also, laundry. 2 loads in. 2 more on deck.

OMG F'in ASPCA commercial - mac is now hysterically crying. F'in Sarah McClawhatever UGH!. bless his sensitive sweet heart.

F'in Sarah McClawhatever UGH!. bless his sensitive sweet heart.

Oh god. Those are brutal. We have to turn the tv off at the first strains of her music. Poor mac.

I am heat treating ziploc bags.

How does that work? They don't melt?

F'in Sarah McClawhatever UGH!. bless his sensitive sweet heart.

Oh NO. Poor, poor mac. Those commercials make me insane and break my heart all at the same time.

It's like Jesus H-- I already have enough issues about animal abuse, I don't need shots of them in cages during shows I watch to try to RELAX.

Can't even read or hear any stories about Michael Vick being allowed back in the NFL. Pisses me off so much, I can't stand it.

I'm a poor swimmer - Mom's fear of the water kept me out of anything bigger than a kiddie pool until 4th grade, and swim lessons then went so bad any chance of catching up flew out the window. (They had me dive off a 3-meter board into a ring life preserver. I shot right through the hole in the middle, proceeded to drown, and then racked my instructor in a desperate bid to kick off him toward the pool's edge. So, to recap: avoiding drowning = fail, but on the bright side dropping an attacker 3 times my mass like a stone = roaring success)

Any attempt to dive into water, even from pool's edge, results in me sputtering and coughing up water for several minutes. And I've never been able to swim submerged, I always bob right back to the surface like a cork, even during my painfully thin school days. Though I suppose since the only scenario in which I'll ever be in the deep stuff is treading water awaiting a rescue boat, automatic floating isn't such a bad thing.

Can't even read or hear any stories about Michael Vick being allowed back in the NFL. Pisses me off so much, I can't stand it.

The Humane Society is saying he deserves a second chance, and I tend to trust their opinion, so I'm VERY warily coming down on the side of giving him a second chance.

And if he fucks up, I think a pit bull should eat his nuts.

And if he fucks up, I think a pit bull should eat his nuts.

Works for me.