Red Van Ramblings: Day-to-Day

Say What?

Sat, 13 Sep 2008 02:21:49 GMT

Random things I learned today:

Kanye West has been arrested for smashing a paparazzo's camera. One can hardly blame him, really.

Ron White, of Blue Collar Comedy Tour fame, also arrested--for drugs. It's a shame.

There are ants living in my husband's car.

Matt Damon apparently hates Sarah Palin. Why does he need to know if she thinks dinosaurs were here 4,000 years ago? Why?

Ike is barreling down on Texas and it doesn't look good. Yet thousands refused to leave. There's a lot to be said for living above sea level...as much as I love the sea.

Gas went up 50 cents since yesterday.

The cast from Footloose reunited today on the Today show. A cult classic from 1984. Raging lunatic religious parents and teen rebellion. Good times. Good times.

Jacob wants to know why cheese is called cheese. I've honestly never thought about it. Have you?

New printers must be attached to your computer by USB cords now. Yet, said USB cords are sold SEPARATELY. You THINK you are getting a deal on a 70 dollar printer, but then you are forced to spend 35 more on a USB cord. SUCH a rip off.

Family night fun = playing Apples to Apples Jr. with the family. You should try it.

And to all a good night.

Stream of Consciousness

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 22:44:32 GMT

Nothing witty to say today.

No great quote.

Tired.

Car still broken.

Hence, not visiting the gym = feeling like a blobby slug.

Frustrated.

Tired of looking at cars on the internet.

Too. Many. Options.

So. Much. Money.

Catchy songs to kids' shows shouldn't be allowed.

Currently singing Disney Channel's Phineas and Ferb theme-song. SIGH. Now I'll never get it out of my head.

At least not until Miss Montana comes on.

It's the best of both worlds, you know.

Great. Now that's looping through my brain.

Grilled, baked or broiled.

Should be cooking supper, but lacking motivation. Only so many ways one can prepare chicken when your people won't eat a casserole.

Love a casserole myself.

Without casseroles, I would have been a hungry kid. Seems like we used to eat them a good bit.

Tuna casserole.

Vowed never to eat it again.

Haven't.

Sarah Palin must have 40 different pairs of specs. My husband thinks she's hot. <insert raised eyebrow here>

Michelle Obama busted a move on Ellen yesterday. She's got her groove going.

Didn't pay attention to what their men-folk were doing. Hmm. What does that say about me? I think it means I must be shallow.

I really do care about politics.

Really.

That's all I have to say about that.

Blue Skies Smiling At Me

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 21:27:49 GMT

"The trouble with weather forecasting is that it's right too often for us to ignore it and wrong too often for us to rely on it." ~Patrick Young

I'm wondering if this Hanna is going to make an appearance here in the Low Country or not. I've spent the majority of the day running around town to various "home improvement stores" like a rooster with its head cut off trying to find something to tie down this new trampoline of ours. Ironic timing, I'd say. We've only just assembled the thing and now it seems we should have waited. Hmm. Ain't no way I'm going to spend another hour disassembling only to spend 7 more hours REassembling, people. So, I reckon we are going to look for some way to turn it over and stake it down to the ground. Don't want an Iowa repeat. (Tornado blew away our last trampoline a couple of years ago...into a neighbor's fence. At least it wasn't into our neighbor's HOUSE! SHWEW!) Having no luck locating tie downs for the tramp, I instead purchased my share of water, bungee cords and batteries. Tomorrow will resume the tramp tie down search. At least I wasn't the only one out there making hurricane prep, so I don't feel as though I am overreacting. There was a line to purchase generators at one of the home improvement stores...I wasn't in it. I'm not saying those people are overreacting. I might end up wishing I had been in that line before it's all over.

Meanwhile, we have the bluest skies I've seen in a while, complete with poufy cotton clouds that look like they are smiling at me...literally.-------> Temps have dropped a tad bit. This morning when I took Emma to school (7:15 AM) we needed jackets. It's weird. You would not THINK a hurricane is on the way. I won't be fooled. I'm going with the Boy Scout Motto: Be prepared. Or as my mama used to say: It's better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.

Truer words have never been spoken.

Blue Skies by Ella Fitzgerald

Squirrel Conspiracy Theory

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:53:54 GMT

"You can't be friends with a squirrel. A squirrel is just a rat in a cuter outfit." ~Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw, Sex and the City

Take it from my friend Sarah: You can never trust a squirrel.

Or even worse--a bored country squirrel. I always knew squirrels were shifty little critters. Always looking like they are up to no good. Just waiting till you aren't looking. Now I know it's true. Another reason to trust my woman's intuition.

Sarah tells me that, thanks to a pack of bored country squirrels, she now has her car in the shop awaiting $700 in repairs. Repairs to some wiring that no longer connects. Chomp chomp chomp, little squirrels. Forget about those acorns, buddy. They've moved on to bigger and better things...I don't know about you, but I'm thinking of taking up squirrel hunting. Don't let that cute outer exterior fool you; they are out to get you.

In other news, I have returned to the gym after a summer hiatus. My treadmill experience informed me that I was grossly out of shape. I am determined to run a 10K next spring so when I realized that I could really only run about 2 minutes at the time (walk 5, run 2, rinse, repeat), I knew the road to get to the 10K was going to be a long one. I also knew I was in desperate need of some new running shoes. How did I know? My feet were screaming it at me. So I hit the showers and then hit the shoe store. No excuse now.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Today begins day 6 of the 2008-09 school year here. We are slowly adjusting. And I do mean sloooowly. Luckily for us, there's a holiday Monday. Sadly, we already really need a vacation day.

Here's to vacation days. Just steer clear of the squirrels. Cheers.

This Is Today

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 22:27:08 GMT

"Flowers are the sweetest things God ever made, and forgot to put a soul into." ~Henry Beecher, Life Thoughts, 1858

So the kids are back in school and I'm trying to reconfigure my life. The whole getting-back-in-the-groove-thing doesn't come too easily to me. They say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree and this is true for Jacob and me in the transition department. Frankly, we are all walking around here like a bunch of zombies at the moment. I think my lights were out by 9:30 last night and I am still having trouble functioning today. Sad.

I find it funny, and I do not mean in the "ha ha" sort of way, how you get the back-to-school supply list, put together by and distributed by your school, and once school starts, there are all these "oh by the way y'all need this too" items. I have now made two additional school supply shopping trips. Today was one such trip. I made it fun though.

Don't get me wrong, I DO enjoy some shopping. I think of myself as a bargain shopper. Now, I may not necessarily NEED what I'm buying, but it is a BARGAIN, so that makes it okay. At least that's my rationale.

I have recently joined up over at Flickr, upon the recommendation of my Spaces friend Sheila. She has me hooked. I made today fun by making it part of my "This Is Today" project over at Flickr. You take a photo every day for 365 days and post it to the group. So I spent part of my day out looking for photo opportunities and had fun with it. I can only capture so much with my little Canon Powershot SD600, but it does a pretty snappy job, if I do say so myself. Today's entry is to the left. I was treating myself to some Chick-A-Lay. (Follow the link to find out why I love Chick-A-Lay so much. But one of the reasons is that they always have fresh cut flowers in little vases on all the tables in the restaurant. It's the little things y'all.) Dorkily, (don't think that's a word, but work with me) I whipped out my little camera and was inspired to snap a few photos. People were staring but I didn't care. I am exploring a new creative side of myself. Then later when I stopped by Staples, I found myself looking longingly at all the fancy cameras. But who can pop a big ole honking Nikon in her purse, eh?? Those photo ops can happen when you least expect them. I think it will be a challenge to try to stick with it for 365 days, but hey, that's part of the fun. I've hung in there for 9 whole days already!

And now is the time when I suppose I should be a good mother and go start dinner and supervise the homework situation.

Blah blah blahg

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:50:12 GMT

“I will not play tug o' war. I'd rather play hug o' war. Where everyone hugs instead of tugs, Where everyone giggles and rolls on the rug, Where everyone kisses, and everyone grins, and everyone cuddles, and everyone wins.” ~Shel Silverstein

We are T Minus 8 days and counting here. The back-to-school train is pulling out of the station whether we like it or not. We made a brief visit to Jacob's school today to get a feel for the lay of the land in 8th grade world. His classes are a little more spread out this year, but he'll have it down cold after a few days, I am sure. (Positive thoughts, everyone!) I have my reservations about it all, but I don't say anything in front of Jacob about it...he's anxious enough as it is.

Sooo, ONWARD people!

What else...we've been having a bit of fun here at the end of summer. We enjoyed a trip to visit some of Hubby's family in Emerald Isle, NC. We took a boat ride (not fun--blogworthy in and of itself, but not today) out to a sand bar, with a family friend, and hung out there (super fun).

We went to see Journey to the Center of the Earth...in 3D no less. It was entertaining. I confess to being more than slightly startled at one point.

We completed a puzzle...1000 pieces!! "Birds of Your Back Yard" Grandma sent it to us a while back and I thought...Hmm, THAT looks kinda overwhelming!...But I finally pulled a folding table out of the garage, set it up in the living room and decided we would just leave it until that sucker got finished! Well, it took us probably 2 weeks, but we did it! Mostly Jacob and me, but it was fun.

We got the kids all registered for school. Found out who the teachers are, and in Emma's case have contacted ALL our many friends to see who is in her class. Turns out that one girl from last year (that we know of) is in there with her. I'm sure there will be more, but she makes friends easily and I am sure she'll be fine.

Oh, and we've been watching quite a bit of the Olympics. Tell me, people...was that opening ceremony amazing or what? I've got to give China their props...they have gone above and beyond anything I've ever seen before. Amazing. And any of y'all who saw it too, know exactly what I am talking about.

Here's a fun tidbit--One of my childhood friends is coming on her annual family vacay to where?? Super South Carolina, that's right. We've known each other since we were about 9 years old--thanks to our parents who have known each other for many many years. Our birthdays are within 2 weeks of each other and we usually communicate once a year around that time. She now lives in Pennsylvania and I haven't seen her in probably 11 years-ish. She is one of those people who you just pick up where you left off even if it's been 11 years since you saw each other. Where she'll be is only about 2 hrs from us, so we're going to head up and hang out. I know it will be a blast.

And just cause I'm feeling random at this moment--

Some things I've come to believe recently:

Bactine LIES...it TOTALLY stings.
As do band-aids who advertise "no sticking to your owie". PSHAW!! LIARS.
Watching the Olympics is addictive. Who knew beach volleyball was so fascinating??
School should be 3 months of the year and summer should be 9 months.
The summer book club my friend Torri and I organized for our daughters and their friends might have been more for us than for them!
There are a lot more things in my life that are beyond my control than I thought.
Having breakfast for dinner ROCKS.

That's all folks.

THE ONE

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 12:21:52 GMT

"Life is an endless struggle full of frustrations and challenges, but eventually you find a hair stylist you like." ~Author Unknown

----------

As a woman, it is no easy task to find someone to cut your hair.

CORRECTION: It's easy to find A SOMEONE to cut your hair, but to find THE SOMEONE who you LOVE to cut your hair, well it's something kin to, say---the quest for the Holy Grail. It is the quest for...your "hairmate". Finding your hairmate is an important choice in a woman's life...call me superficial, but your hairmate is as important as who you choose to be your gynecologist or your babysitter or your dentist. Your hairmate has to be someone you trust. Surely I am not the only one who feels this way.

We search and we search. We bravely give ourselves to someone--hoping that he or she is THE ONE, only to have our hopes dashed. And we pick ourselves up and we wipe our tears and we continue on in our endless quest, dejectedly hopping from one salon to the next. Emptiness and disappointment ensue.

But then! Oh JOY! You find someone, THE ONE, who is your hairmate. You know when you've found that special someone, because when you sit in their chair and you are completely relaxed, excitedly awaiting the end result. Now, we all have our horror stories, don't we, ladies?? Once, you came home with a perm-gone-wrong or a He-man short 'do, when you were going for a "Hey man, come hither" 'do. Or GASP, even worse, you come home with a mullet disaster 'do. But when you find THE ONE, there are no worries. You trust them totally and without hesitation to do with you what they will.

Sadly, when you move across the country, you lose your hairmate. And tragically, the search begins anew. The painful search.

Luckily for me, I found my hairmate. Right here in my new town. Didn't have to look very far. And I didn't have to hock the family silver each time I went. My hairmate, and cheap too!! It was a dream come true. Her name was Maggie. Maggie was great. Maybe you remember her? She's the one who cut Emma's hair when she donated it to Locks of Love last fall. She was adorable and always had me cracking up the whole time she cut my hair. The last cut she did for me, was my favorite yet.

So, yesterday afternoon, I visit my home salon, to take Emma in for a cut and to my HORRIFIED surprise, I am told that Maggie has "moved on". MOVED ON!!! What??! How could she do this to me?? What did I ever do to her that she should treat me so cruelly?? Take my heart, bleeding from my chest and stomp it on the ground, why don't you? She was my HAIRMATE for goodness sake! And now, now, she's just a fading memory. The worst part is, I didn't even get the chance to day goodbye.

Call me a drama queen, but, what's a girl to do?

"Hey, It's Good to Be Back Home Again"

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 02:27:09 GMT

"Well," said Pooh, "what I like best," and then he had to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn't know what it was called. ~A.A. Milne

------------------

I am jumping for joy. LITERALLY. MUCHO happy dancing here at mi casa.

Picture it people...well, if there are any of you people who still stop by here, that is...I am almost teary-eyed as I sit here, IN THE COMFORT OF MY OWN HOME, typing the first blog in for-freaking-ever on my NEW PC.

Let the HALLELUJAH chorus begin.

Wait for it.....yep, yep, I hear it.

MAN! No more creepy people at the library. No TIME limit. The comforts of home. SIGH.

It is a beautiful thing.

So, I see BIG CONGRATS are in order to Mr. and Mrs. Skrumshz. Welcome sweet baby! WOOHOO! That's the only thing I know at the moment about any of my blogee friends. I am hoping over the next few days to do some major blog-walking and get caught up on all my PEEPS! Oh how I've missed you all!!

Here are a few points of interest that y'all have missed over the last little hiatus...

The new guinea pig, Zippy, who joined joined us last month, is still doing well. Freely eating, pooping and peeing as all good guinea pigs are want to do. At least I reckon that's what they do anyway.
Big Red is still functioning quite nicely, thank you very much. Although I hesitate to write that. Just thought y'all would like to know.
Have enjoyed much company this summer. I mean now that we live in a place that is near a cool place to vacay, more peeps come to see us.
Emma was awesome in her dance recital this summer. She received a trophy from the dance studio for being the "Modern Guru". No lie. That's what the trophy was for.
In addition to having much company, we have enjoyed a couple of short trips. To Myrtle Beach and to the in-laws and to hang with my BFF Kristi for the 4th of July at the awesome campground. It was most excellent getting to watch the fireworks from the boat!

Hmm. What else. I am just so stoked about my new machine. Can y'all tell?

Soon, I'll have some pics to post, but after all, I did just get the puter today, so haven't quite gotten there. Still figuring some things out! Soon though. Soon.

News from the library

Tue, 27 May 2008 16:10:05 GMT

"AAAArrrrrgggghhhh!" ~Charlie Brown

Please hear my Charlie Brown-esque vocal stylings from wherever you are out there. Oh the pain.

I had like 150 emails in my inbox today. Granted, most of them were crap, but still, they have to be deleted. And that takes time. I have a limited time on the library computer so I am not getting to blog walk. I have no idea what is happening in everyone's lives. I. Feel. So. Disconnected. sniff sniff. Please know that I am missing all of you and hopefully, I will be back online regularly soon. I am currently having bigger fish to fry, as there seems to be some mysterious leak from the kids' shower. Moola may have to go to a plumber instead of Mr. Gates. Seems as though I'll be visiting the library a bit longer. I retrieved my dead tower from my Geek...and it is sitting there, sadly by the computer desk.

Meanwhile, we had a lovely Memorial Day weekend. Doing pretty much nothing, which is great by me. We went downtown to visit the local farmer's market, which was fun. We cooked out. We took a bike ride, visited the pool. It was good. The weather was nice. Hubby and Jacob went fishing yesterday and it seems that the Ospreys were catching all the fish. Which was good consolation for Jacob...if you can't catch fish, at least you can see some really cool birds...ospreys, great blue herons, egrets, etc.

Our Iowa house closed last week. SO YAY!! The kids finished their dreaded end of the year standardized torture...er, testing, last Thursday. So aside from the dead computer and the mysterious shower leakage, we had quite a bit to celebrate...gotta keep it all in perspective, ya know!

As I sit here, I have received a call from Jacob's assistant (trust me, I wouldn't have answered my cell--which is on vibrate, by the way--in the library if I didn't see that it was HER!), who has told me that Jacob is "done" with field day. You'd think the kid would love having a day where he doesn't have to sit in class or have much homework to speak of, but NOOO, he hates field day. It means competition and that means personal angst for my boy. So, it looks like my computer time is going to be shorter than usual. DANG. The boy comes first.

I bid you all a fond farewell, until my next library outing. Might even get back here again this week! We'll see about that.

My blue has turned to black.

Wed, 21 May 2008 15:15:56 GMT

"Life is better than death, I believe, if only because it is less boring, and because it has fresh peaches in it." ~Alice Walker

Okay, I think I've recovered sufficiently since Monday afternoon to be able to discuss this with you now.

It seems that my computer has died a sad, slow, terrible death.

As have all my iTunes and my digital photos from the last year and a half.

Hard drive: Dead.

Motherboard: Dead.

GRIEVE with me, people!!!

My Geek says he can build me a new tower. I say, I can probably buy a new machine for what he's asking to rebuild my old one. The Loser that I am, never backed up my hard drive...my friends Bill and Jim are cringing right now--many others of you are as well--but probably because YOU haven't backed your stuff up either and the thought of it strikes FEAR into your hearts! My Geek also said that perhaps a power surge is the culprit. (We did have some bad storms last week) Yes, I did have my 'puter on a surge protector, but my Geek says that a surge protector alone doesn't necessarily do the trick. Yes, Bill, it was the dreaded KERNEL_STACK_whatever_you_said message. I just want to bang my head against the wall for not having backed up my stuff. And then cry because of the stuff that is gone. Rest assured it will not happen to me again...at least the "losing all my stuff on the hard drive" anyway.

It's really strange though. It's like someone has actually died. I have walked around in a fog for the last two days. It's been really depressing. I've been trying to decide if I should tell my Geek to rebuild it or just give me back my dead tower. I don't know. Haven't decided. Either way, I'm getting my dead hard drive back and I'm going to let my brother see if he can retrieve anything off it. My Geek says he has tried several avenues of retrieval, but to no avail.

So, that's the latest on that front. My advice for ALL OF YOU today...Get yourself a thumb drive or an external hard drive TODAY and back your crap up. Do it. Don't delay. Don't let this happen to you. UGH.

On a brighter note, the library is my new hangout. One can do some serious people watching here. There are some sights to see, let me tell you.

Thanks in advance for your condolences. In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to: Joell's new computer fund.

Love to all my people.

Blue is not my favorite color.

Fri, 16 May 2008 16:18:50 GMT

"Hardware: where the people in your company's software section will tell you the problem is. Software: where the people in your company's hardware section will tell you the problem is." ~Dave Barry, Claw Your Way To The Top

Hello friends.

I have three words for you....BLUE. SCREEN. OF. DEATH. Wait, that's FOUR. Sorry.

Two more words...PUBLIC. LIBRARY.

SIGH.

I awakened yesterday to the blue screen of death. Perhaps you know what I'm referring to? It was quite shocking and depressing FO SHO. For a moment, I just froze in my tracks, staring at the screen and wondered what in the world I was going to do with myself!! (Think Cameron Diaz in My Best Friend's Wedding singing karaoke. Yeah. It was sad. So sad. And it didn't get any happier at the end of the song like it did in the movie either.) I didn't have time to deal with it right then, and I didn't want to call INDIA. Because you KNOW that's where all the Dell computer help people are. I needed someone to speak clearly to me and not insult me by asking if my computer was, in fact, plugged in and turned on. SHEEESH. {Now don't be thinking I'm all racist, because I'm NOT. Ask anyone who knows me for real. Y'all all know what I am talking about!!} Instead, I opted to call Delaware, home of my personal computer guru, my baby bro, Scott. He gave some helpful advice and after administering said advice, and before I could complete his given suggestion, the blue screen of death popped up AGAIN. When I told him what the screen said (something like KERNAL_INPUT_SOMETHING_SOMETHING), he said, and I quote, "Bill Gates doesn't even know what that means!" Now, that one did really crack me up. No offense to Bill, I'm sure. He said the good news is that I have a software problem, probably, and NOT a hardware problem. He is suggesting I try a system restore and if that doesn't work, call Rent-a-Geek (or some such place as that). He says people who really know anything about fixing computers don't work for the customer service help line at Dell. They write programs or have a computer repair business of their own. Good point. Apparently, baby bro feels strongly about these things.

So, here I sit. At the local public library. Feeling a little weird about typing this from a public computer. And yet, feeling compelled to do so, because I don't want y'all to think me MIA. Say a prayer y'all. And have a great weekend.

Have a Coke and a smile

Fri, 02 May 2008 16:42:43 GMT

"Before you put on a frown, make absolutely sure there are no smiles available." ~Jim Beggs

"A smile is the universal welcome." ~Max Eastman

Some of my sweet blogland friends have so kindly asked as to the state of Big Red. So nice of y'all to care about her like that!

Well, my new friend, Gene, aka 'mechanic dude', finally found a starter that would fit my car...took him three tries. Apparently, my car has to have "special" parts. Red is special like that.

I would like to say that this week, I have had my little Pollyanna-ish-rose-colored-glasses outlook on life confirmed, yet again.

First, we had CVS girl, Alicia. Now, we have Gene. Not only did Gene fix my Big Red, BUT, he also drove Red to my house after it was fixed and carried me BACK to his garage so we could settle up. How nice was that? I love when people do nice things that they really don't HAVE to do. B & E Automotive, you ROCK.

I was having a conversation about this very thing with my sis-in-law, Amy this morning...no, not the pregnant one, the other one. (Baby STILL has not arrived...they will induce next Wednesday if nothing happens before then.) She was telling me about quite the OPPOSITE experience she had at a Mickey D's in her town the other day. It seems that she approached the drive-thru window, where not one of the drive-thru "ladies" uttered the first word to her. They did not SPEAK. They did not smile at her, did not thank her or tell her to have a great day. Not only that, but as the one drive-thru girl put her hand--with her unnaturally long bright green air-brushed fake-fingernails--out the window to take Amy's debit card, she looked at my SIL like a deer caught in the headlights, with her mouth hanging open like she was about to catch some flies or something!!! Amy said she was so hypnotized by the bright-green-air-brushed-Guinness-Book-of-Records-length nails, that she couldn't bring herself to say anything to the girl...or her manager who was pre-occupied with a milkshake machine crisis. So as she drove away, she looked at the number on her receipt and promptly called the manager of the place, who then proceeded to make various excuses for the behavior of her employees. Is it so much to ask for people to just offer you the minimum courtesy?? I think not. It's really not so hard to just smile and say hello to someone...even when you don't feel like it. A: It will make you feel better if you do. And B: People will want to patronize your business! Come ON! It's just good customer service. That's all I'm saying. Just SMILE people!! It's NOT that hard. Really, it's not. That's all I have to say about that.

Moving on...

We are off to visit the in-laws this weekend. So this morning I have been busy running errands and doing laundry and such. AND while multi-tasking just a few minutes ago here at my desk (IM-ing with my friend, paying bills, blogging and talking to my sis-in-law on the phone--the pregnant one--all at the same time!), I spilled my (cold) COFFEE all over my shirt and my jeans. Now, of course this would be the time where all my pants, well the ones that currently FIT ME anyway, have been laundered and are drying. SO, I changed my shirt. And remained in my coffee laden pants. My pants seem to be drying now, but I carry with me the aroma of COFFEE. On my pants. My pants have coffee breath. Not cool. And now, I must take Lubie to the birdie-sitter, in my coffee pants. Nice. I love my java...but I don't love it enough to wear it as my Ode De Parfum! Oh well. No choice at the moment.

And so, again, the Pollyanna in me finds the silver lining--at least the coffee didn't spill on my keyboard.

Bye Bye Birdie

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 15:45:07 GMT

Are y'all sick of hearing about my baby birds yet? Well, you won't be hearing about them for much longer. They have left me--one by one. I am officially and literally suffering from empty nest syndrome. Hope y'all are feeling sad for me.

This morning I got up and checked on my little babies. One was already gone. The other three were perched carefully on the edge of the nest. The next thing I know, a second one hopped over the side of the nest and onto the vine below. He was proudly hopping around the vine and looking back toward his siblings urging them to join him. Mama and Daddy weren't too far away. In the distance, I could see and hear them calling out encouragement to their babies...C'mon kids! You can do it! Mama and Daddy were flying back and forth to the vine checking on their fledglings. Before I knew it, baby two had flown the coop! He was pretty wobbly looking, but he made it safely away to the vine on the front of the house. And then he was gone.

And then there were two. Two little birdies, perched on the edge of the nest, looking down. They seemed a little more hesitant than their siblings. They took turns hopping out of the nest and exploring the vine and then quickly going back to the safety of their nest. Finally, they were out for good. I noticed one of them seemed to have a little bedhead. I've nicknamed him "Spike". Mama and Daddy came back to check on the kids. Daddy was hiding from my prying eyes deep in the vine. But I saw him there. He flew away and then here came Mama. Back and forth. For a long time, the remaining two birds were hopping around in the vine, pecking at the leaves, flapping their downy wings and getting their footing. And then, suddenly, the third baby was off, leaving one poor lonely birdie--my little Spike. Spike sat there for the longest time. I would walk away and come back to see if he had gone. I could hear his lonely "cheep cheep". But there he stayed. In the same spot on the vine. I imagined him having some sort of inner dialogue like..."I'm gonna go...NOW. No wait...NOW. Okay, I'm really gonna do it this time. GO."

The rest of his family was nowhere to be found. He was on his own. And now finally, I see that he is gone too.

It's kind of quiet sitting here at the computer now. For the last week or so I've been enjoying the happy chirping of my babies whenever their mama would bring them something delicious to eat. Now it's just silent. Kinda sad, really. No, I guess bittersweet is a better word to describe it. It all happened so fast. And all they have left me is their poop to clean up off the porch. Well, that and the joy of having experienced their presence. God's creation is really something.

Random Acts of Kindness

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:30:24 GMT

"Strangers are just friends waiting to happen." ~Rod McKuen

Well, yesterday was an interesting day. And I mean "interesting" in the most angsty sorta way.

Yesterday was the day that Big Red decided to take a nose dive to hasten her eventual trip to the scrap yard. SIGH. Dang her. Why does she have to be in such an all-fire hurry to get there?? I mean, she's ONLY got like 126,000 or so miles on her--give or take. SHEESH. Why can't cars improve with age, like a good wine? I don't think it's too much to ask.

Yesterday, I found myself stranded at the CVS pharmacy, which is no more than 2 miles from my house. I was perhaps looking my most dumpy--sporting my work out gear, sports bra (nothing like a sports bra to really enhance 'the girls', you know), hair swooped up in a messy ponytail, yesterday's make up and my fabulous black expando gym pants. Yes, looking my best at a moment when you really need to interact with people, yet you weren't quite planning on it and then seriously wishing you didn't have to. Trust me, people, I was a walking billboard for someone needing assistance. SIGH. I mean, when your mama told you to make sure you had on clean underwear when you leave the house, she wasn't just saying that for her health...maybe I should apply that to my outerwear as well. Hmm. Definitely something to consider. But I digress.

Here's the part in the blog where I tell you how much I love my local CVS pharmacy employees. Not ONLY did they send some nice girl out to attempt to jump start my car, but when said jumping did not get the desired result, that fabulous CVS employee, Alicia, drove me home HERSELF! Now, if that ain't loving your neighbor, well then I don't know what is...cause I was a mighty scary lookin' neighbor!! Yes, there are still kind people out there!

Keep in mind, I just got a new car battery back in December, so I'm knowing it's not the battery. And yet, I felt compelled to rule it out. You know, just to be thorough. Mechanic genius that I am, I'm thinking it's the starter. But who am I?

You know, there is always a silver lining to every situation. You can't always see it immediately, but I think I've got a pretty good idea of the silver linings here. I am thankful that I live within walking distance of both kids' schools. So, after the wonderful Alicia drove me home, I walked up to collect Emma from school. Then, a mere hour later, I walked up to retrieve Jacob. I am pleased to say, that my breakdown afforded me some extra activity today. It's a good thing. And to make it that much better, my kids weren't whiney about having to walk home at all. And if you think about it, it's a good thing I wasn't looking all cute because then I would have had to get all sweaty after exerting myself on my walks up to collect the kids. And, well, that just wouldn't do!

It is in moments like this, that I am really blown away by how dependent we are on our modern conveniences...our cars, our electricity, our hot running water, our cell phones, our internet connection...for every aspect of our lives. Sad really. And yet, I do so enjoy my modern conveniences.

So, today, I am going to give a shout out to some mechanic that I don't know to see if he can work some magic on Big Red. To see if he can bring her back from the brink of death, just one more time. It's been done before.

C'mon Red! Don't fail me now!

Weekend Randomness

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 13:43:19 GMT

Our baby birds are growing up! It's amazing how much they've changed in just a matter of a few days! As Emma said, they are starting to look like real birds! Ha.

I caught a glimpse of mama bird this morning on film...just her backside on the far left there. She was in the act of escaping the evil paparazzi!! ----------->

And speaking of babies...My younger brother and his wife went to the hospital yesterday afternoon expecting to then leave said hospital with their sweet new baby girl in tow! But nooooo. Hospital decided to send them home last night because even though she was having regular contractions, she wasn't really progressing like they wanted her to. To me that says "we have no beds right now so we're sending you home to labor on your own. Come back when you're crowning." I could be wrong. But I'm sure they were disappointed. I know I was!! Maybe today guys! I know my sister-in-law is beyond ready!

Emma and I had a mom/daughter day yesterday. We went to see Nim's Island. The movie was cute, yet predictable, with that adorable Abigail Breslin ( Loved her in Little Miss Sunshine --great flick!), Jodie Foster AND <dreamy sigh> that delicious Scottish hunka burnin' love, Gerard Butler (P.S. I Love You --also great flick!--300, The Phantom of the Opera). He's a verra bonny lad indeed...Oh, that Scottish burr, just gets me every time. <shiver> He's my pick to play Jamie Fraser, should they ever turn my beloved Outlander series of books into films...he'd have to dye his hair red though, but I'd be okay with that. After my Gerard Butler love-fest, er, I mean, after the movie was over, Em and I did a little window shopping at my friend "TJs" aka T J Maxx, and just basically hung out, until I got the "when are you coming home call" from hubby. WHO, I would like to say, was fixing us dinner! Oh yeah! He grilled some chicken and set the table and everything! Quite impressive. He's my sweetie, what can I say? It was a fun day.

So we're off and running into another week. The kids are counting down now...26 days of school left! It's a sprint to the finish. They still have their end of the year standardized ~~torture~~, er, testing to come in a couple of weeks. (Don't get me started on how much I HATE hate hate standardized testing in the public school system...hate it. It's a rant for a different blog altogether.)

If you think of it, say a prayer for my brother and sis-in-law as they await their sweet Olivia--my blogland friends, Toni and Skrumshz are sure to understand, as they both are nearing the end of their pregnancies! Hope to have some news to report soon!

"If nature had arranged that husbands and wives should have children alternatively, there would never be more than three in a family." ~Lawrence Housman

Baby Love

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:08:40 GMT

We've had babies!! It's just so exciting!

Ever since we moved into our house last August, there has been a bird's nest up in the corner of our front stoop ...can't really call it a porch. This spring, two little birdies moved in. We've enjoyed watching them make themselves at home and have wondered if they would have babies.

Well, as the laws of nature would have it...

They did! As far as I can tell, there are at LEAST three babies--I think maybe there are more, but it's hard to tell! And here they are!

How cute are they??!

I've been taking pictures from inside our foyer looking out the side windows of our front door. I have been hoping to get a picture of the mama bird feeding them, but she takes off whenever I move close to the window...a mama knows when it's time to get the heck out of Dodge!!

I've been trying to figure out what kind of bird they are. I'm pretty sure they are house finches...

Here's what the mama and daddy look like:

Doesn't it just make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside?

Don't ya just love Spring?

Yellow Fever

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 19:43:19 GMT

"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

-------

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...

It's official!

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:54:42 GMT

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!

Whatnot

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 14:06:43 GMT

"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)

----------

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)

Every Bloomin' Thing

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 17:59:18 GMT

"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

---------

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

<------------

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.

Perfection

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 04:38:38 GMT

"What greater thing is there for human souls than to feel that they are joined for life - to be with each other in silent unspeakable memories." ~George Eliot

----------

Did you know that the ice cream chain, Baskin-Robbins, of "31 flavors" fame, ACTUALLY has 32 flavors? I didn't. At least not until today. I would like to add that their pistachio almond is quite delicious. And though I am normally a cake girl, it would certainly do in a pinch.

As family fun Saturdays go, this one ranks pretty high up. We had a lazy morning (which included watching some Man vs. Wild, Mythbusters and Dirty Jobs on Discovery Channel). The weather was pretty overcast. I was waiting for the lovely day my weather man had promised...and it came. Finally. This afternoon.

Hubby looked at me and said we should go somewhere. I agreed. So we did what all self-respecting people do on Saturday. We went to Chick-Fil-A. Or as my 3 yr old nephew calls it, "Chick-A-Lay". We always enjoy Chick-A-Lay. The customer service beats out every fast food place I have ever been to in my ENTIRE life. This is no exaggeration. Who else says "My pleasure" upon being thanked for what they are supposed to do anyhow? Some people might say it's scripted, or it's too much or it borders on insincerity, but I say, why should we pooh-pooh the politeness?? There's so little of it in this world anymore.

Ms. Chick-A-Lay, could I have that on a wheat bun with no butter, please?

My pleasure.

Thank you, Ms. Chick-A-Lay, for my extra Polynesian sauce.

My pleasure.

Thank you, Mr. Chick-A-Lay, for my refill of Diet Dr. Pepper.

My pleasure.

Thank you, Mr. Chick-A-Lay, for being so doggone friendly. It makes me want to eat here every day.

My pleasure.

Today I even had a Chick-A-Lay employee come by our table and inquire if she could "refresh" my drink. I did a double take. What? Are these people for real? In my life, I have learned that what seems too good to be true probably is. Not so at Chick-A-Lay. Heck yeah, you can refresh my beverage...it'll be MY pleasure!

We proceeded from our enjoyable dining experience toward Charleston and the beaches. To get there, you have to travel across the Ravenel Bridge. Architecturally, it is pretty cool to look at. But you can't think about it too much because then you would be all freaked out wondering how in the world can this bridge be carrying cars across it without just totally collapsing...and I mean, that kinda stuff just doesn't help anybody. But I digress...

There is a walking path on one side of the bridge and today, since we weren't going anywhere in particular, we decided to walk up on the bridge. It was a beautiful day. We even saw some dolphins playing in the water below. Very good timing because Emma was starting to ~~moaaaan~~ explain that her feet were hurting and she was tiiiiiired and she was in need of a distraction. Oy.

After our walk we decided to ride down to the beach to feed the seagulls some crackers, because you know they are starving and on the brink of extinction, right? Nothing has entertainment value like a good gull poop splatting down on you. It was pretty funny all those birds swarming around us. Emma (and I) were running away hoping to avoid the poop. Fortunately we all managed to come out unscathed. The birds were pretty annoyed when the crackers ran out. Both kids felt compelled to pull off their shoes and socks and test the water. They both said it was very cold, but somehow that didn't deter them from wading all in it. What's a mother to do? Who am I to deny these children their love of the ocean?? Yes, I know it's February. But it's February in South Carolina, not Iowa. We all had a blast. (More pics in the Fun Weekends album.)

We stayed until the sun was sinking down behind the dunes. There is no better time of day at the beach than sunset. The kids didn't want to leave...who can blame them? They are their mother's children. With an ice cream bribe on the table, though, we managed to head toward the car. After a quick detour to Baskin-Robbins, we made our way back across the bridge and headed home. I really can't think of a more perfect day.

One sleeve Ritz crackers: $1

Lunch at Chick-A-Lay: $20

Ice cream: $8

Sunset at the beach with my family: priceless