Dead end turnaround

It was my turn to drive. Samantha was child-free, and both Nancy and I brought along one darling each. Here they are being frugal (10 animals for $1!) and selfless (they were picking items for their brothers). Aren't they adorable? Notice how Jo is wearing yellow for Hudson? It is his favorite color. What a sweetheart.

Hudson snapped this fabulous picture of a large collection of Zumba VHS tapes, which caused Samantha (ever observant) to wonder, "Has Zumba been out long enough to be on VHS?" To which, Samantha, I would have said no had I not had the evidence staring at me in the face.

Here is a lovely couple selling their wedding centerpieces, which led to a conversation in the sweet Odyessy later of what Nancy's, Samantha's, and my centerpieces were. Mine were not as nice as these proprieters', I can tell you.

I mean, really. Could Jo be any more of a ray of sunshine or Hudson any cuter?

Here is my food dehydrator that I bought for a buck a few weeks ago. I successfully made the below blueberry/raspberry fruit leather/roll-up, but due to the fact I neglected to remove the seeds, I am the only one eating it. It is now in Samantha's house.

The title of the post needs some explaining. See, I am a terrible map reader/orienteer. I sucked at being a Girl Scout, too. My dear husband is most excellent at this complex skill and can get a teensy bit upset with me when my navigational skills leave something to be desired. Readers, I have been afflicted with this challenging compass deficit my entire life, and I have devised coping skills. For example, I have learned to completely disregard the compass and directional statuses, along with silly non-helpful commands like, "Go north for 3 blocks and turn west." Rubbish. Everyone knows directions are totally arbirtary based on various criteria like a. how straight your street is, 2. if it feels like north, it probably is, 3. it seems vaguely familiar, and 4. if there is a detour. Then all bets are off. Anyway, I use street names and heaps of advice of friends who have lived here longer than me to get around. Also, (and here I am getting to the point of this too-long paragraph, I promise), I don't go into dead ends. If I see one, I turn around! Works every time. Allow me to explain: there is this curvy road near my house that is a kinda sorta short cut to a main road. When I asked my friend Sara about this road, she said I would have to have someone show me, because it is (really) curvy and confusing. I mean, entirely too confusing and circuitous. It is as if the road engineer spun himself around and around and around till he was really dizzy, closed his eyes, and drew a road. That would be this road. Also, there are lots of dead ends. But here is how I, self-described idiot of the navigational world, find my way every time through that miserable morass and queasy quagmire: every time I see a dead end, I go the other way! Perfection!

I hope I don't have to drive next. Actually, I am solo next weekend because both Samantha and Nancy have decided summertime is THE time to take family vacations, so they are gone. Nancy has promised us though, that she will check out the yard sales in her vacation hot spot, and let's hope Samantha will, too!