50 shades of summer… august (the asterisks!)

My Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary (a book, not an on-line source) defines asterisk as "the character * used in printing or writing as a reference mark, as an indication of the omission of letters or words, or to denote a hypothetical or nonoccurring linguistic form." It means that there is more to the story. Two items on my 50 Shades of Summer list require asterisks - both were partially done but with an explanation.

I had been in the market for a new cell phone for months but just couldn't make up my mind. I finally got a Galaxy S III in March ... and hated it. My biggest complaint was not being able to see the screen when it was sunny out, even in the shade. Apparently some LCD screens are difficult, if not impossible, to see in bright light. I returned that phone and then stalled. I didn't know what to get - which is why such a silly item went on my summer list. I knew it would force me to make a decision and it did.

After listening to both our daughters and several friends sing the praises of their iPhones AND after "playing" with our daughters' iPhones several times AND after making sure I could read the screen in the sunlight, I finally decided in early August I would get an iPhone. The problem now was that the new iPhone 5s was coming out in September, 2014.

I ordered my phone when the 5s came out in September and received it by the end of September. I most definitely LOVE my new phone. It was worth waiting for!

I have had a lot of help from our kids and grandkids in setting up my phone and using more of its potential. I can see why smart phones are so "addicting" and people have their noses in them ALL THE TIME! But that's a post for another day!

The second asterisk in my list is making a geocache (#5). Actually, making the geocache was no problem and was done well before the end of August. I wanted to use a small cache and bought a "tin" box of Sucrets. After emptying the box, I spray painted it with a textured, tan-colored paint. My plan was to put it in our community by a lake so I packed the box with a note about the creation of of the lake, its name, etc. as well as a FTF (First To Find) token, a log, pencil and SWAG (Stuff We All Get) and then hid it. We checked back in a few weeks (in September) and our cache was gone but we found it in a similar location. Unfortunately, there are too many unsupervised kids there that might (or did) mess with the cache in that location so we need to place it in a different location. After thinking about it for quite some time, I finally have an urban location in mind but need to get permission to place it on private property before it goes "live."

In the process of making and placing my geocache, I learned a lot about making an interesting cache in a good location. I can't wait to make my next one!

List-makers, I think, like the challenge of completing the items on their list. I made my 50 Shades of Summer list to give me something to do, something to look forward to during the l-o-n-g, hot summer. It was challenging to complete all the items but oh so much fun! In fact, I already started making my list for summer 2014!