"It's spring fever.  That is what the name of it is.  And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!"  ~Mark Twain

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Can you believe that I forgot about pine pollen?  I lived in the Midwest for 4 years and that is all it took for me to forget about it. 

About 3 or so weeks ago, I was walking Jiffy here in the 'hood, and I noticed this yellow stripe around the edge of all the curbs.  It took me a second, but then it hit me.  POLLEN!  The pollen is out in FULL force now.  Everything has this lovely coating of yellow, inside and outside.  It's pretty horrendous, but a dear friend of mind asked me if I'd rather have a layer of yellow here in the South or a layer of WHITE in the Midwest.  Hmm, I'll keep my yellow layer, thank you very much. 

I love spring, but y'all I am having some SERIOUS allergy issues.  Yesterday I awoke with a splitting headache and two blocked nostrils.  (Reminds me of our fellow Spacer Cindy and her recent "snot clogged mouth breather" blog)  Plenty of "slag" (Hubby's word for excess mucous) to go along with the splitting head.  Additionally, this morning I awoke with the above symptoms as well as the "leaky tear duct" syndrome. No, I'm not crying, it only LOOKS like I am!  But ONLY in my right eye!  Yeah, it's pretty funny. It's quite the lovely picture, I must tell you.  Then I have what I like to call my "man voice" going on.  It's like a whole 2 octaves deeper than normal.  PLUS there's a frog living in there somewhere too.  I could probably sing bass at the moment..."Swing looooow, (croak croak) sweet chariooooot, coming for to carry me hooooome (croaaaaak)"...

So my husband called while on his way to work this morning (around 8) and I answered the phone.  He said, "I'm sorry I didn't mean to wake you."  (The kids are on spring break, so yes, I was still in bed, but not asleep.  Enjoying the time to lie there and read a bit)...I said, "Honey, I've been awake for a while.  It's just my croaky man voice.  It's what I'm sounding like these days."  I reckon he thought he had called up Barry White or something!  Ha.

Oh well.  The irony is that Jacob had a follow up appointment with the allergist today and Jacob is doing better than I am.  I'm sitting there all runny-eyed and nose-drippy.  Dr. D was looking at me kinda funny.  I reckon this too shall pass.

We had an enjoyable weekend with my in-laws.  The kids rode the go-kart and dyed Easter eggs.  The weather was nice--sunny, but pleasantly cool.  We attended the small country church Hubby grew up in on Sunday.  They were having their Easter cantata.  Little girls with their Easter bonnets and ladies in their finery.  My mother-in-law, in her very Southern way, cooked a mountain of food--enough to feed the entire town.  Quote:  "You cain't have Easter without some Easter ham!"  And apparently you "cain't" have Easter without Easter pork tenderloin, chicken salad, potato salad, green beans, lima beans, field peas, sweet potatoes, rolls,corn bread and banana puddin'!!  We reluctantly left Sunday afternoon...an extra five pounds in tow!

A busy week this week.  Doctor appointments.  Shopping.  Sleeping in.  Hanging with the kids.  Getting Emma ready for her trip to Iowa to see her peeps.  She is so excited.  And speaking of excited...Emma had her first horseback riding lesson yesterday--we've been promising since Christmas, but had not been able to get her in anywhere.  So, yesterday was the BIG day.  Look at her happy face in the pics...you'll have to wait through all the Easter pics first, but the look on her face as she groomed "Midnight" and tacked him up and rode him, well...it was priceless. 

Have any of y'all ever just walked around with a kleenex just stuffed up in your nose?  That's what I feel like doing right now.  Now if I could just figure out how to keep one attached to the corner of my right eye...Off to find the kleenex box...

Just a quick note to say...

IT'S OFFICIALLY SPRING!  WOOHOO!

 So for all of my snow-laden friends out there...hang in there, y'all!  It's coming your way too.

From my door to yours...

 Happy Spring and...

Easter Blessings!

Enjoy the green in honor of St. Patrick's Day.

"Untold suffering seldom is."  ~Franklin P. Jones

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Word Of The Day: fanfaronade (fan-fare-uh-'nayde) A noun meaning empty boasting:  bluster.  Sentence: We soon found out that Christopher's claim that he could play the bagpipes was nothing but fanfaronade--he turned out to be just as bad as the rest of us.   I know some people like this, don't you??  I mean, I've always bragged about my bagpipe skills...thankfully no one has ever called me on it.

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OY!  The weekend is over again.  The horror!

Last night, as Emma mopingly started to head up the stairs, she peeked back around the corner at me and said, in Whinese, "Mooooom, the weeeeeekend is never loooooong enough."  I generally don't reply when my children speak in Whinese, but this time I had to agree with her and give her a hearty, "I knoooooow," complete with head tilting and foot stomping.  Waaaaah!  Somebody call the waaaaaambulance!

So, that was that and it didn't stop Monday from coming.

We are able to console ourselves with the fact that it is a 3 day school week.  My kids' spring break starts Thursday.  And for the first time in 4 years, their spring break falls around Easter.  In Iowa City, our spring break always coincided with the university, so it was NEVER around Easter.  I found that to be a bummer.  Previously, we had always had a week off from school in the spring and it always included Good Friday and Easter Monday.  Always.  So it was a bit of an adjustment when we moved to Iowa City.  Now we're back in the South, baby.  We are going to go visit the in-laws for the weekend.  It will be nice.  Hubby is anxious to spend some time with his folks.  I've mentioned before that his dad is in poor health. 

The following week, the end of spring break, Emma is going on a trip.  WITHOUT HER MOTHER!!  I am a bit devastated, but I suppose I will survive.  She is going to fly to Iowa to visit her peeps.  What?? You may ask...BACKSTORY:  It goes like this...hubby has 3 sisters.  Sister One lives in NC.  Sister Two lives in Iowa City, IA (they moved there a couple of years before we did and I think they will be living there for the rest of their natural lives) .  Sister Three lives in SC, about 3 hours from us and she goes out to Iowa about twice a year to visit sister number 2.  She has invited Emma to travel with her to Iowa so she can visit her peeps.  Sisters Two and Three and the grandma have gone in together to get Emma her plane ticket as an early birthday present.  Now you are all caught up...So she won't be flying by herself.  But still.  I will miss her.  She won't miss me.  And I'm sure she will have a great time.

Last Friday afternoon we visited a new bird store here in town.  They have some way cool birds.  For example, there is Rocky, a Moluccan Cockatoo.  (The picture is not Rocky, but another like him.)  The coloring is so beautiful and that dude can ring like a telephone!  Not kidding.  It is freaky.  There was a fellow in there, not an employee of the bird store, but OBVIOUSLY an avid bird lover.  He was just a wealth of information.  Following us around the store sharing tidbit after tidbit.  <insert awkward smile here> We finally leave the store, hop in Big Red and then Jacob says, "Mom, that guy was like an information desk...only, without the desk."   Oh, how I cracked up at that one.  That kid is full of ' em. 

I'm off to do some much delayed housework.  We are expecting some friends in for a couple of days this week.  I always find that somewhat motivational.

"You'd better start mixing toothpaste with your shampoo. You're getting a cavity in your brain." ~Archie Bunker (character in All in the Family, 1971)

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It's so odd.  Sometimes I have so much to say and can whip out 3 or 4 blogs in a week and then other times my brain is mush and feel like I have absolutely nothing to say.  I'd say today is one of those days, yet I'm feeling like it's been too many days since I posted anything, so here's what you're getting....time-change-mushy-brain-blog.

Yes, the time change.  Why does losing one hour sleep mess with your ability to function?  Tell me that.  I have felt so sleepy the last two mornings.  My brain feels all mushy.  My kids were like two little zombies this morning.  Bless their hearts.  Hasn't seemed to affect Lubie, though.  He's in there just cheerily CHIRP CHIRP CHIRPing away...

Wait.  I need coffee.

...Slurp.  Ahhh. That's better.  Slurp slurp some more.  I'll wake up in a few minutes.

Now where was I?  Oh yes, Lubie.  Chirping.  Happy chirping.  Oh, the chirping...it's almost too much for me today! 

My MIL sent us--er, I should say, sent my son--one of those desk calendars back at the first of the year.  (Grandma is all about educating her grandbabies.)  You know, the kind that you tear off each day.  Well, actually she sent us TWO.  Nevermind I keep my ginormous family calendar  on the fridge which seems to keep this household in fine working order.  I've used this same brand of calendar for years now and I LOVE my big ole calendar.  Takes up the whole side of the fridge.  But I digress...

Back to the desk calendar(s).  The one on the computer desk has 365, nay 366 (as it is Leap Year this year), words of the day.  Yes, for every day of the year, you, my friends, can learn a new word.  Words such as abscond, macaroni (?), emote, parsimonious, meme, weal, and verbatim.  Today's word is capitulate.  Capitulate is a verb meaning to surrender often after negotiation of terms or to cease resisting; to acquiesce.  Now, I ask you, shouldn't acquiesce be a word of the day?  They also offer a sentence to further define your word:  During negotiations for her comic strip, Sally let it be known that she was willing to forgo the large advance but would refuse to capitulate in the area of creative control.  Anyway, just thought I'd share.  Oh, I mentioned two desk calendars.  The second one is called "College Board SAT" study calender. I've gotta tell you that I'm just pretty much peeling those babies off every day and using the back for scratch paper.  I'm so far gone from the SAT days, I just can't even make my brain try to do those problems anymore.  I mean, why???  So I won't bore you with the SAT question of the day.  You're welcome. 

Slurp.  Slurp.

The words from the Mamas and Papas song "Monday Monday"  keep going through my head this morning.  "Monday, Monday, can't trust that day..."  I will OFTEN get a song stuck in my head on this continuous loop.  It's not that they're just in my head...I have to sing them out loud.  Doesn't matter who's listening.  This weekend, I had the Boy George (Culture Club) song "Too Shy" stuck.  "You're too shy, shy.  Hush, hush.  Eye to eye..."  Random, I know.(What the heck does that MEAN anyway??)  She was like "Mooooom!"  I can hardly blame her.  It annoys me as well!  And I said to Emma, "Quick give me another one!"  She looked at me like I had three heads.  Oy!

Monday, Monday...

"Sleep deprivation is the most common brain impairment." ~William C. Dement (from The Promise of Sleep, 1999, p. 231)

"I love beach music. I always have and I always will..." ~The Embers, "I Love Beach Music" 

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I've been on a bit of a "beach music" kick lately.  I think maybe it's because I am wishin' and hopin' and prayin' for some beach-like weather...soooon.

Some of y'all may not be familiar with what I am talking about.  If you're not one for clicking on the link, here's the short definition: Beach music is a regional genre of music which came about in the 40s, 50s and 60s from a variety of styles of music (blues, doo-wop, early rock 'n roll) and is also most always associated with a style of dance called the shag (all you Brits/Austin Powers fans get your mind out of the gutter).  It--the shag--originated along the beach strands of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and Wilmington, North Carolina starting in the 40s.  When I think of beach music, I think of groups like The Drifters, The Tams, The Temptations, The Platters...this is the music of my parents' generation.  And others like Clarence Carter, General Johnson and the Chairmen of the Board, The Embers, The Catalinas, The O'Kaysions, and many many others came along to add some excellent hits as well.  I'd say beach music kinda had a resurgence in the 80s...and that's when I started listening to it.

One of the (many!)songs I love is called Up On The Roof originally recorded by The Drifters (Save the Last Dance For Me, This Magic Moment, There Goes My Baby, Under The Boardwalk, etc.) in about 1962. And just 'cause I thought you'd like to know....it was written by a guy named Gerry Goffin and a gal named Carole King (Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow, Natural Woman, You've Got a Friend, It's Too Late, One Fine Day, Locomotion...)  It has been recorded by others including Carole King herself, as well as James Taylor (aka JT).  But I digress. 

This is the kinda song that just makes ya feel all warm and fuzzy inside, so if you are feeling a little overwhelmed today, here's a song for you....

Up On The Roof (Goffin/King)

When this old world starts getting me down
And people are just too much for me to face
I climb way up to the top of the stairs
And all my cares just drift right into space
On the roof, it's peaceful as can be
And there the world below can't bother me
Let me tell you now

When I come home feelin' tired and beat
I go up where the air is fresh and sweet (up on the roof)
I get away from the hustling crowd
And all that rat-race noise down in the street (up on the roof)
On the roof, the only place I know
Where you just have to wish to make it so
Let's go up on the roof (up on the roof)
At night the stars put on a show for free
And, darling, you can share it all with me

I keep a-tellin' you
Right smack dab in the middle of town
I've found a paradise that's trouble proof (up on the roof)
And if this world starts getting you down
There's room enough for two
Up on the roof (up on the roof)

Up on the roo-oo-oof (up on the roof)
Oh, come on, baby (up on the roof)
Oh, come on, honey (up on the roof)
[Fade]
Everything is all right (up on the roof)

Maybe your "roof" isn't a literal roof...but you can find your "roof" and somehow make it your place where your cares can "drift right into space".  Time to get quiet, think, pray, read, relax, let go.  We all need it.  And even though it's hard to make that time, I know it's key to my mental and spiritual health!!

Make some time to go up on the roof! And boogie a little while you're up there!

"Look at us, said the violets blooming at her feet, all last winter we slept in the seeming death but at the right time God awakened us, and here we are to comfort you."  ~Edward Payson Rod

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I'm beginning to think the bird doesn't like us.  He is just not digging us.  I am hoping that we're still in that "building trust" stage and he'll work through his trust issues.

Nothing else really exciting going on.  Not for me anyway.  Same ole' same ole', as I like to say.  Uneventful is good, but it's not good blog fodder.  Ha.

Last weekend was gorgeeeeeous!  Things are starting to bloom around here (sorry for my snowbound blog buddies ).  We went to a local park (named appropriately Azalea Park) and the azaleas and camellias are blooming.  Daffodils and crocuses are springing up.

The grass was greeeeen!  How come my lawn doesn't look this green?  I guess it's my tax dollars at work there at the park.  It really was a nice day. 

The kids saw some tadpoles in the pond and some of those giant goldfish...I guess they're koi?  There are also a variety of bronze sculptures at this park too...very cool.  The sculpture behind the kids is of a hopping frog.  He's cute.  --------->

There is another sculpture of kids walking in a line

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and my kids decided they needed to pose--individually-- with all of the "kids"...there are 5 "kids" and 1 "dog", which means 12 pictures, and you can thank me for sparing you all of them!  Ha ha.  But here are a couple just for fun.  Another fun uneventful weekend enjoying the weather with the fam.  You'll hear no complaints from me.