I just want to know what the point of hot dogs is if they're healthy? What's worse, as a diabetic, I spend a lot of time in the hot dog aisle pouring over the labels trying to find the least fatty dog for the best price and often, I just go chicken or turkey, trying to comfort myself with the fact that it's white meat. And frankly, they aren't less fat, they're just made from something different. Healthy choice are the best ones for your nutritional thang, but they're so freakin' expensive!!!

The double drag here is that I lllluuuuurve hot dogs. I think they're yum. And I think a hot dog nestled in one of those cheesy white bread buns with ketchup, mustard and relish is the yummiest. It brings back all these comfort feelings associated with childhood and summer and cooking out back on a hibachi. We never had a grill, per se. We always had a hibachi, when I was a kid.

Carbo bitch of the day: one stupid hot dog bun constitutes 2 carbohydrates, which means that I only can eat one at a meal or I pay and with all the sugar in the relish, I can't eat that either. So I get to eat one damned hot dog (no relish) and I always want two. Good thing there's teriyaki chicken!

Russell has started swim lessons. It's been kind of a pain that he knows how to tell time, though. He worries all morning that we'll be late and I get a play by play of what hour, minute and second it is. This morning, I told him to go to his room until I knocked to take him to swim lessons. This was after about 4 times of being asked what-time-is-it-when-exactly-is-the-lesson- and-shouldn't-we-leave-now-and-we'll-be-late-if-we-don't-leave-now, etc. This morning's time police incident was after yesterday's where I chewed him out in that low hushed "I mean business" tone in the parking lot at the pool. It's amazing the child still is alive, all in all.

My lord, how the kid can't swim. He tries his heart out. He bends his knees too much and he sinks like a stone and he totally doesn't have the layflatacrossthewaterwhilekeepingyourheadup thing down, but damn, he tries. I keep taking him to the apartment pool in the afternoon, which he loves and watching him sputter happily in the water trying to keep up with the other kids. As long as he doesn't drown, it's cool.

Unfortunately, unlike him, I'm so white, I could be my own reflective device at night. He's a beautiful coffee brown color and we use some sunscreen on him, but for the most part, I'm slathering myself in sunscreen, wearing a t-shirt, hiding under the table umbrella and burning up into toast regardless. I've been wearing so much spf I should buy stock.

Genevieve has been swimming, too. She loves being brought into the water and just smiles and smiles when she's in water. She's got a pretty spiffy swimsuit, too. I just love to watch her being so happy and content. As an added reward, she usually sleeps like the dead afterwards.

The best part of summer is always the garden, which Bear has been watering for me and which Pauline and I have been enjoying in the form of the occasional sweet yummy tomato that comes off the plants I've got. Food you grow yourself is special and tastes better than all other food, even if it doesn't. In this case, I cut a tomato into slices onto a sandwich. Normally, I don't care for tomatoes much, but this thing was really good and fresh and made the sandwich especially good. I think the final test of a good tomato is if it survives the tomato thieves. And this plant's tomatoes have been getting picked.

Yippee!! Summer's here.