Oh my goodness.  In a doubtless desperate bid for respectability, the always-good-for-a-stunned-silence religion of Scientology has decided to make a bold play for the hearts of Middle America.

How?  Why, by sponsoring a Nascar automobile, of course.  (Hat tip: Middleageguy, who scooped me on this, darn him anyway.)

As Sports Illustrated put it: Gentlemen, start your thetans

The Church of Scientology, the religion for which actor Tom Cruise
crusades, will attempt to spread its "Ignite Your Potential" message
into auto racing through sponsorship of a race car in one of NASCAR's
lowest levels.

Kenton Gray, a 35-year-old Californian, will attempt to make the field
for a late model race Saturday night at Irwindale (Calif.) Speedway.
His No. 27 Ford Taurus will be sponsored by Bridge Publications, which
publishes Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard's bestseller "Dianetics."

The hood of the car will say "Dianetics" on it, along with a volcano to mimic the book cover.

Why, there's even a web site:  Dianetics Racing Team

I will admit to admiring the neat volcano on the hood.

Even though it's summer, Dmitry's having to work at least a bit on his English. High school will be harder than middle school, and the better his English is, both written and read, the more chance he has to succeed.

Well, yesterday he was doing some work in a workbook and as is his wont, he did it while laying on his stomach in the living room.

Being a fifteen year old boy, it's also his wont to leave the book on the floor when finished. To our surprise, though, he was replaced by Zeus the cat, who sat or laid by the workbook all day, and is there right this minute. Amused the heck out of Taylor when he showed up yesterday; "Is that cat reading?" he asked in a stunned voice.

Darn reflective eyes.

Anyway, the only thing we can figure is that Zeus has grown increasingly weary of hearing herself referred to as "Stupid cat!", so has seized this opportunity to show us just how wrong we are. Hey, she's reading an English language workbook! Don't call her "stupid."

It's presently 9:25 p.m. the day after (haven't had the heart to remove the book, plus have been curious as to how long she'll remain there, between eating and visits to the litter box, naturally), and she's curled up next to it. Always in the same spot. Not only that, this evening when she headed to the kitchen, darned if Boots didn't take her place while she was gone.

Enough's enough, though. Tonight before going to bed the book will be picked up.

So much for Zeus's education, I guess.

Before I've written about the plethora of specific-use kitchen
appliances available, wondering if everyone else has a kitchen much
larger than mine.  Hot dog cookers, quesadilla makers, S'mores
makers, George Foreman grills, etc. etc.  An appliance for
virtually every dish you might want to cook, it seems!

Okay,
they're not appliances, but suddenly there's been an explosion of
specific-use cleaning implements.  Scotch-Brite has put on the
market both a wand thingummy for cleaning tubs and tile, and one
intended for cleaning bathroom floors.

A product that's completely geared to bathroom floors! 

The
carpet has been targeted in a big way, as well.  Scotch-Brite is
offering a Carpet Touch-Up Roller, while Swiffer has come up with the
Carpet Flick.   And I daresay many of us have a Swiffer, with
a handy flat rectangular head to which is attached a dusting cloth or a
wet mopping cloth.  Well, darned if Swiffer hasn't gone and gilded
that lily to within an inch of its life by producing the Swiffer
Sweep+Vac:

 
It's
intended to take the place of a broom and dustpan.  I
dunno....maybe it'll do a super job, but for some reason I'm
resistant.  What's wrong with a broom and dustpan, exactly?

All
I know is if cleaning products are going to proliferate like kitchen
products have done, we'll need to add another room just to hold all
this stuff.

---

My goodness, it turns out there are many unfamiliar with electric quesadilla makers.     Here's one:  Santa Fe Quesadilla Maker

It can be yours for the mere pittance of $18.85 plus s&h.

Or, of course, one could just use a frying pan like I do. 

This afternoon Kirstin came over with her kids, and Jessica stopped by too, before going to work. 

If only Brianna and little Kirsten had been here, we'd have had all the grandkids together. 

Oh, well.  We take what we can get, when we can get it.  Uncle Alex was, of course, a huge hit with his nieces and nephews:

This Bethany being "flown" out of the living room.

Aunt Jessica finally got her hands on Hannah!

Hannah looking at Bryson's dinosaur.

Kirstin examining Hannah's 1st Birthday scrapbook, being most impressed by Bethie's diligence and creativity.

 

It was a great visit! 

As I said last night, Alex and his family are here for an impromptu visit, so we invited those who could make it to stop in and say "hi":

Mom, Dad, Alex and Hannah are looking at Beth while she snaps a shot, which is why they're looking to the left.  ;^)

Hannah loves to be lifted, twirled and whirled, not to mention upended:

Granddaddy takes the opportunity for a tummy tickle.

Don and Hannah share a moment.

All the toys and what does Hannah choose to play with?  The papers I forgot to collect off the hearth. 

Isn't she adorable? 

Tonight I headed....rather late in the evening, due to Alex, Beth, and
Hannah's visit!....to Wal-Mart to collect goodies for a ministry to the
Fort Worth Cats.  People provide goodie bags for the road, and
Bible study sheets are included before they're handed over. 

Anyway, when I arrived at the Wal-Mart the price of gas was
$2.79.  Not great, but okay.  Decided I'd get some on my way
out.

Except when I walked out of the store 30 minutes later, it was $2.85! 

I didn't get any.

The Mavericks are heading to the NBA Finals!  To think I should have lived to see this day.  

Don's observation after the end of the game locking in their Western Conference championship?

"You realize, though, this means there's no more basketball until Thursday?" 

Oh dear.  Whateffer shall we do? 

Dmitry can be so amusing.  This evening, as dinner was being dished up (each person gets their own), he noticed me noticing him putting some broccoli on his plate.

"You don't see this," he said firmly.  "Everyone knows I don't eat vegetables, so you don't see this!" 

Would someone explain why the guy who comes to mow the grass won't knock on the darn door to get his check unless he sees my van outside?  I suppose he's unaware school is out, so I simply haven't gotten it out of the garage yet today.  Still, one would think he'd want his money, especially as he came by last week when I wasn't home.

Here I am, check all written out, suddenly aware of the silence.  Surely he hasn't LEFT?

Yup. 

---

Tell you what, Zhenya is the perfect overnight house guest...

He cooks. 

Made Dmitry and me delicious breakfast sandwiches this morning. 

Yesterday Dmitry and I collected Zhenya and Reagan from their grandparents' house (which is lovely, BTW!), and had lunch at the "Russia Store".  Mercy Maud, it had been way too long since I'd had its borscht and pelmeni. Afterwards we drove to where Reagan had been invited to stay the night, asking if we might borrow him just a little longer so he could go see "Over the Hedge" with me, as the older boys were clamoring for  -  yuck! - "X-Men". 

"Over the Hedge" was quite amusing, though I tend to wonder about the literary allusions sprinkled throughout ("Rooosebud!"  "Stella!").  Do most of the viewers actually catch those allusions, d'you suppose?  Are "Citizen Kane" and "A Streetcar Named Desire" still required reading?