I Have A Crop Circle In My Backyard!

Yes, there is a crop circle in my backyard! No, I don't think it was made by celestial beings, although I certainly believe that God did make other universes and there ARE aliens out there somewhere. My Dad always wanted to be an astronaut, but unfortunately his eyesight was too bad, so he had to settle for aerospace engineer and savor each and every issue of Aviation Weekly. Our family vacations were centered around space launches. So needless to say, he instilled a healthy belief of other-worldly beings in me!

However, MY crop circle is the home-made kind. Yep, we did it ourselves. We had one of those wonderful, huge inflatable pools in the back yard all summer. It was great for the kids. They loved it! When we set it up we read the usual warnings on the box....Don't swim while blow-drying your hair......Swim in the appropriate attire. Just because you are in YOUR back yard, doesn't mean no one can see you....., but I swear that no place on the box did it mention leaving behind a smelly crop circle. Oh yea, it's a given that it was going to kill the grass, but they don't mention the smell that is left behind from dead suffocated grass and wet mud. It's a cross between a dairy farm and that stuff you spray on your flowers to keep the rabbits from eating them. It's very lovely drifting across the deck to you on a nice fall breeze! I'm sure the neighbors are impressed.

My First Post!

Okay, I've made it to the world of blogging. I'm really not sure what I'm going to talk about here, so I guess the name, Flea's Market is appropriate. You'll never be sure of what you are going to find. Actually Flea is my nickname. I've had it for about 30 years now. My dad called me that until the day he died. So, it seemed like an appropriate name for a blog that might be very random! My husband doesn't call me Flea. I guess he never liked it. He actually calls me by my maiden name, which is "Luter", which tends to get some interest in crowds. People will look at me and say, "what did he just call you???" (looking at this first paragraph now, I realize that I use the word 'actually' quite a bit. No wonder my 8 year old always starts her sentences with "Actually, mom...." Note to self:watch the actually's)

So a little about my life. I'm happily married (have been for 16 years) and we have three beautiful daughters ages 13, 12 and 8. I'm glad we have more than one bathroom. My husband says he is going to take out shares in Tampax.

If you had asked me 20 years ago what I would be doing today, I can assure you that it wouldn't have been this! Somewhere I took a detour to ordinary. I was going to be extraordinary, or so I thought at the age of 18. I was going to be a "journalist" or as I now know they are called, "the on-air talent". I was going to move to Boston (or New York) and work for a major television affiliate. Of course once I was seen on-air and out in the trenches reporting the tough gritty news, I was going to be noticed by a very handsome, rogue detective who was going to immediately fall for me, although we weren't going to like each other much at first because I was the nosey reporter trying to get the story. Then, of course, he was going to have to save me from some perilous situation or bad guy and it would be happily ever after! This whole scenario was fueled by my 18-year-old hormonal "Miami Vice" fantasies.

But that's not really what happend.....So here I am, with two middle-schoolers, one grade-schooler, driving the SUV, packing lunches, working on school projects, cleaning up dog barf, driving to basketball practice and piano lessons and in general doing the tough but ordinary job of mother. I also do things that used to embarrass me when my mom did them. Like for instance, just this morning, I went outside in my jammies and yelled at my middle child as she left for the bus, "Glasses, Flute, Lunch?!!" She rolled her eyes and said, "Yes, mom!!" and gave me that "go back inside" look. I get that a lot these days. Not very extraordinary....actually.