Ch Ch Ch Ch Changes

I have always felt odd about leaving this like it was. It looks like that crazy old abandoned house at the end of a dead end street. You know the one, it looks like someone could possibly be there still, at first. But after time you realize it's empty. I always have felt like just leaving this with some stupid post about football made it look like I had just run out. Run out of words, or ideas or feelings.

Really some of that is true. My mom died later that night. Six months and a day after my brother. Yet another late night phone call, only this time I wasn't immediately consumed by grief, just disbelief. How do you deal with losing two people who mean so much in such a short time? The answer is, I have no clue. I am still trying to figure it out.

But I prepare for my sister's wedding, a wedding we started planning just a year ago. A year that feels like 20 lifetimes. I watch my oldest son prepare for Senior Prom and graduation. I take him to visit his home next year, a home that will be four hours from me. I watch my middle son prepare, with great excitement,for his Freshman year of High School, and beg my youngest for kisses goodbye in the morning. Kisses he used to dole out happily, now I am hard pressed to get from an almost 10 year old.

I do these things, and I know life does indeed go on, circumstances change, and people around us change. No matter how bleak the night before was, the sun will come up again. Sometimes it's covered by clouds, but it's always there.

Spring in Albany always means tulips. It's a Dutch city, and tulips are everywhere. There was really no doubt in my sister's mind what her wedding flower would be. Tulips. My mom always loved to see the tulips, they meant spring was finally here. Now that I'm a mom, I completely understand the love of warm outside playing weather. Even though it was the farthest thing from my sister's mind when she made the decision, it's a way to have my mom there.

So, I haven't run out of ideas, or words or even material. I still have a husband who drives me nuts, a neice to talk down off the ledge over SAT scores and lack of a prom date. Three boys who are becoming men, and 2 sisters and a brother, a nephew, and 2 new in laws joining our group before labor day. My life hasn't been abandoned, just changed.

ps

Can I also just put it out there the Football?? Yeah it's DEAD to me, not just because the Skins lost, I can deal with that and still be interested (God knows I have alot of practice there) And really, the cowboys losing was like icing on a cake...However the fact that nothing good can come from this superbowl leaves me mourning the end of my passion a little early this year.

Giants win? GOD knows how I hate the Giants, and the Pats and their "perfect season" Ugh...I threw up in my mouth a little just typing that.

Farewell lover..... I will see you in August.

brrrrr, or reason 1234976 why winter sucks

Yeah so let me start this post off by letting the world know. There are 2 ways to find out the gauge on your heating oil tank is broken. The good way, and the bad way.

The good way would happen with you going out to check the tank on a more regular basis and realize it had not moved in a month. The bad way is to wake up at 6 am and wonder why the hell it is so cold in the house. Which also tells me I was a complete MORON to think my oil consumption had dropped so considerably this year. NO Maria, it hasn't really been that warm.

And why (please someone tell me) does this stuff ALWAYS happen in the middle of the coldest weather? Why can't it happen in late April, when it drops to mid 40's, as opposed to today when the high is expected to hit a balmy 11 degrees, and I am talking Farenheit.

And then explain to me why my old oil company sold out this past fall, leaving me as a "new" customer to anyone else I call. And if you are unfamiliar with heating oil wars, I can assure you...the new guy, gets the short end. How can EVERY oil delivery company for 20 miles be sooooo busy, they can't meander down my driveway and drop of some of that thar black gold? You know, before we turn into people cicles?

Ok enough....I'm done. And I get to spend my day running to fetch kerosene to dump into my oil tank. Survival skill #23, you can, in an emergency dump kerosene into your oil tank and it will do the job. It isn't exactly convenient, but hey THAT'S WHY I LOOOVE WINTER, it's so damn convenient.

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What else? hmmmm My husband took most of our profit last year and started himself a new venture. If you know us in real life, you know this is pretty much a biannual event. Now I don't like to say he has ADD, because that is a real true problem for a lot of people. But I DO say, we absolutely, positively, know where the youngest gets his inability to pay attention to anything for longer than 20 minutes at a stretch.

I have had more business ventures than I care to think about. Several of which I am still getting tax credit for, or feeding, or heating, or reeling from. I would actually list them, but I do have kerosene to fetch today, before dark. And time is valuable.

Anyway this venture involves him snowmobiling. Which really, is the one thing he enjoys as much as he does breathing. He LIVES for winter and riding his sled. SO somehow, he thought that buying a whole bunch of them, and then renting them out to people would be a great idea. OK, whatever, I can sell the sleds in 2 years when he's done with this AND have him out of my hair most of the winter. Not really losing anything much.

However he attmpted to tell me it was WORK! (ohnohedidn't) oh yes he did. uh huh, that would be my equialent to getting paid while laying on the beach, alone, reading a book. Not only did he attempt to tell me it was work, he tried this tactic AFTER I had spent a week. A SOLID week,12 hours a day, working on our books, so the accountant could get taxes done timely, so we could apply for fiancial aid for that scam they call "higher learning", for the oldest next year. PLUS attempting to finish the 8 million pieces of paperwork that one needs to complete to graduate high school , and move forward in their life.

parents of small children....bask in the glory that is the early years...it gets sooo much worse.

Needless to say, I was not falling for the "I was working all weekend" that was spewing from his mouth. Which opened a can of worms I didn't know even existed.

So, now I have my work done, for the first time EVER by the end of January. Every year I say I am going to get all these projects done over the winter, most of them are home improvement, or deal with the boxes of pictures I have laying around the house. Most of them never get done. My list this year is small, but keep your fingers crossed for me. I really want to paint the living room, move the furniture around and frame some recent photos (ie senior pics, and this beautiful gift from my sister this Christmas). However I have spent the last 2 days watching the Walton's and Little House.

Clearly I am motivated.

I have been VERY busy

crying in my towel

that is just for starters, the husband wanted the kids to go away snowmobiling this weekend, however he is afraid to be in charge of all of them for longer than an hour or two at a time. So I went. We arrived a little after 1 am, to a 3 room cabin in the middle of nowhere surrounded by snow. The guy my husband rents the cabin off of turns the heat down when he sees no sign of occupation. It bordered on 40 degrees in there. I crawled on the couch in front of the heater and my ever observant oldest asked me "Is this your hell?"

why yes son it is...Thank You.

The whole diet, so I can fit into the dress , would be going so much better without the stress of taxes, secondary education financing, and a bout of insomnia that I am way too old to handle any more.

Oh yeah and the whole family thing. This is an example of the crazy from which I was born. My mother, who has not remembered my birthday in probably 4 years, and remembers the kids' a month later, sent my husband a birthday card. In all fairness in 16 years it's the first one he ever got from her, but she spelled our last name wrong!

sending a card = nice, don't get me wrong. However not knowing how to spell you daughter and grandson's last name = crazy.

I guess I should be happy that some thunder thighs is really all I seem to have inherited.

I saw a commercial this weekend on CTV, that stands for Canda TV, or something similar. (I told you it was my hell) I cannot find a link to it anywhere. My brother would have LOVED it. These kids are playing street hockey. A taxi pulls up, someone yells "hockey" . They get out of the taxi, pick it up and carry it around the game in the street. "Hockey Rules" it reads at the bottom.

It's much funnier if you actually see it.

Trust me

Back to work

2008

It's here and I don't know wheteher to laugh or cry. I don't mind New year's , nor do I revel in it the way some folks do. It is what it is, a day. The end of the kid's Christmas break, and the beginning of the long haul until March.

It is also my husband's birthday and for the next 3 months he is older than me, so that is kind of a bonus.

This year though, this year will be my test. This year I am out of High School for TWENTY years. TWENTY!!! how is it even a remote possibility? I sure don't feel that old.

It is also the year in which my oldest will graduate High School and head off to college. somewhere you know when he MAKES A DECISION MAYBE. It is the year my middle son enters High School, and youngest turns 10.

Isn't it odd that I say it seems unthinkable I have been out of HS for 20 years, yet will have an 18 year old in a months time? and my youngest will be 10. Where does this time go.

I also hope it will be a year of healing and happiness, I really feel it is my time. I optimisticlly feel this is the year things will start to turn around. It's been a long haul, it seems like I have been saying it for a lot of years now, only to have fate laugh at me year after year. So today I give fate the ol single digit salute and say Bring it ON! I'm ready.

I hope your 2008 brings everything you want, need and desire.

look out Seattle

you're going down

stinky boys and football

ARRGGGHHHH New Year, whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. New Year = a hella lotta work. I have been avoiding it since we got home from vaca, but the time has come. Nothing like the added pressure of KNOWING it has to done on time this year, if there is any hope of us receiving some financial aid and keeping me from selling a kidney before the oldest completes his secondary education.

Only that kid could pick a major that somehow makes his tuition double what the average undecided kid will pay. He is his father's son.

However, on a lighter note, this was overheard this morning after I noticed the youngest has been in the same pj's since Christmas morning, and insisted he bathe.

"Oh my God...I DO smell, quick smell me mom"

I am so proud right now I could bust.

****************************************

Oh yeah and GO SKINS.....with a win against the effn Cowboys we are playoff bound BABY!!!!! wooo

Californication

we have been Californiaized, it was fun, I am tired. Originally our plan for this years vacation was the sunny warm beaches of Mexico, unfortunately our neice does not have a passport, nor are we able to obtain one for her. There is some silly rule about PARENTS having to do that. Something about taking minors out of the country without parental consent nonsense, jeez. She will be 18 next August, and we contemplated attempting to work with her mother in an effort to get her a passport, but decided it probably would just be quicker to wait until she can just get her own, because any of my in laws are crazy that way.

So we decided to do something that would not involve a) leaving the neice home by herself while the rest of us frolicked on some foreign beach, or b) being forced to leave her in some strange country, because while she is free to go anywhere it seems the issue would be actually getting her back in. We picked the closest thing to Mexico we could find...California.

It was great, we actually left a day and a half earlier than expected because nasty weather was due on our original departure date. Of course when i tried to change our tickets I was told to try back later, no weather emergency had been declared and the cost would be almost $300 per ticket to switch them at that time. My husband calls and 5 minutes later has us leaving at 8 the next morning with no additional cost....it's times like that I remember how he conned me into spending the rest of my life with him.

So we arrived in San Francisco and ended up 8 days later in San Diego. And we saw it all in between. It was great, we even ventured into Tijuana for an afternoon. My children were awestruck, to say the least. The oldest wants to "have his birthday party there", and the 14 year old was offered a shot of Tequila at lunch. You can't put a price on memories like that.

BIG PROPS to Southwest, we flew out on Dec 23rd, and I never saw an airline run so smoothly amid so much chaos. So after my disaster last year , I was a happy camper.

While it was a great vacation, it was not relaxing, 8 days 5 different hotels, 3 cities, a couple amusement parks, more National Parks than I can remember, well worth it, but it's one of those vacations that have me dreaming of a vacation. Next year I am going to the beach and not moving for a week.

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I have many a tale of Christmas woe. Who with children doesen't?

There was the year my sister and I were kicking and cursing at a Little Tykes pick up truck at 4 am. That was also the year of "WAY TOO MANY gifts". I was storing them in a house we had rented, but had none living in, it snowed and I had to keep driving back and forth at all hours of the night. In my pre Christmas delusion I was sure "there weren't that many gifts". I was WRONG

Then there was the year when I thought I was GOOD, I had one week left. And youngest was in pre school 4 days a week. My plan was to wrap all that week to avoid my usual Christmas Eve wrap fest. Who knew everyone in the house, including moi, would be stricken by a flu that would almost kill us. Needless to say the wrapping? Again my poor sister and I sat up all night.

Then my favorite? Because of cats and children, and the fact that I grow trees, so I am always the absolute last person on earth to put up a tree. I planned on putting up the tree and wrapping the weekend prior. Then a ton of snow fell in NY and the husband and I ditched everything for a weekend of snow mobiling. And I hurt my back...BAD. My poor sister arrives and has to assume my role, becuase I am useless. There is a picture of her somewhere hacking at the top of a too tall tree with a steak knife. With sap running down her arm.

It's no wonder she never wants to come to my house anymore, and gets twitchy when A Christmas Story is on. Because I insist we watch all 24 hours of it, it was usually on during our Christmas Eves from Hell.

Adios I say to those ghosts of Christmas past. NEVER again. We are once again, taking the week before Christmas and running away. The whole lot of us. When I told someone our plans she looked at me incredulous and asked how I could possibly do that? How was I ready for Christmas an entire week before? "Easy", I replied. I'm already done.

The few gifts are bought and wrapped, the tree is up, and as long as I remember to take the turkey out of the freezer, dinner is ready to be prepared upon my return. It took the kids until this year to accept the fact that the ridiculous amounts of gifts from Christmas' past were done. But really they would rather miss an extra week of school and go somewhere exciting than get a bunch of clothes anyway.

And this week I was in the mall picking up some flip flops for the middle child, and I almost got sucked into the "just one more thing" habit from my past. But I walked away. Because really, I don't miss it one bit. This is more fun.

who's the fat chick in the little dress?

when I ordered the dress for my sister's wedding I knew from the one I tried on at the store, that a certain size would fit. It would fit just fine. However I, in my twisted crooked, warped little mind thought if the one size fit, with a bit of breathing room, why then by ordering the size down I would have, something to work toward....

Let's call it incentive.

You know to lose that 25 pounds I've gained over the last 7 years.

mmmhmm...as I sit here googling "cleansers" and diet aids, while eating a piece of cake.

I don't think my incentive is working

there is a tribute in here somewhere

I LOVE football...yes I do. Sometimes I love it a little too much. Sometimes I think I may have missed something somewhere, because if I'm at a game and someone gets hit HARD, other moms are lamenting someone is going to get hurt and I am the one high fiving the kid after the game telling hin what an AWESOME hit it was. I like to think I just appreciate the skill it takes to excell at such a demanding sport.

So it is with a heavy heart I say go in peace Sean Taylor, you had some AWESOME hits.

turkey turkey turkey

mmmm I love Turkey.

I HATE shopping at Wal Mart 3 days before Thanksgiving.

Normally it is just me and husband and the chillins on Turkey Day. Occasionally I have had one of my siblings come to visit. But rarely do I have more than 6 or 7 people to cook for. Until this year when I have 13. So every other year of my Thanksgiving cooking life I have wanted a small turkey. Go ahead find a small turkey, like less than 12 pounds, I dare you. Unless of course you are looking for a large turkey, in which case every effn turkey you pick up will weigh less than your kids did at birth. So I pick up the biggest one I could find, at a whopping 13.56 pounds and think I'll just have to either a) make a crapper load of sides and appetizers or b) continue to check around for a larger bird. On my 3rd store I finally found one. So looks like I'm all set for Christmas dinner shopping.

I am very excied for everyone to come visit, however I was not so excited when I pulled into the parking lot and practically had to get a shuttle to the store. WTF does NO ONE work at 2 pm on a Monday afternoon? So after playing cart crash derby for an hour (By the way, why do they insist on filling the aisles with shit during the busiest weeks of the year?), I got into what appeared to be a "short" line, as if. The short line was filled with people buying crap without prices....300 pounds of butter that was on sale somewhere else and they wanted the sale price for it, (why don't these poeple just go to the store where the sale is? It's like 3 miles away? and what could 2 people possibly be doing with that much margarine...)and a VERY chatty older couple buying gifts off a baby registry, but forgot to give the cashier the slip until AFTER she wrung it up.

As my ice cream is melting on my shoe. Good times.....as I'm thinking why the hell did I invite, oh no not just invite...INSIST all these people come visit. Then I remembered, becasue I am thankful I have them.

Happy Turkey Day...remember why you are thankful too.

I have a boy

actually I have 3, and a neice who's moved in, but enough about them already.

Did you ever look back on something, an event or series of events and, while you may have been confused when it happened, later on you figured out why? That is my youngest.

When we got knocked up we both looked at each other like naa uhh wasn't me. I mean really I know we were all virile and fertile and what not, but it had been one of those months. So much so, that we were on vaca alone when I was at about 4 weeks, and I was thinking I had just gotten lucky that my Aunt Flo had held off visiting until after my trip. I even went sky diving (of course now I know what that does to a 1 month old fetus...dude it makes em all scrambled).

So really his arrival was sort of a shock. But regardless along he came. And you know how you finally start to feel back in the groove when your (then) youngest starts pre school, and you're not hauling diapers and bottles and strollers EVERYWHERE you go? Tantrums finally stop and you start to think life will be normal again some day. Only WRONG...you're in for it again. Yeah that was how I felt.

Everyone told me FOR SURE this would be my girl, that's why it happened. I was due a girl and here she came...only they were wrong. Turns out he did come along for reason I didn't know at the time, but now, NOW I know. Only I start to think I know, only to realize later, there is yet more to the tale.

He was born and my grandmother was very sick, she had been going down hill for a year or so and it was nearing the end. She lived to see him at 5 days old, and I thank God everyday I decided to ignore any medical advice and drive the 2 of us to see her. She died less than 48 hours after we left. So I said "That's why he came along, to help me through my Gram dying"

Then, a year later our marriage was bad. And a big move was approaching, and I contemplated just staying put. But I looked at him and knew he would hardly know his dad if I didn't at least give it an effort, and he dserved that. So we stayed together and I am so glad for that now. So I thought, again...good thing he came along.

Then this past summer when my brother died, my youngest has his name for a middle name. So I thought, see I had him so I would have a tribute to Jake.

And yet again, this past weekend, he and I went alone to visit my siter in Va Beach. I seriously needed a break, but didn't want to leave him home with the older kids and dad, because then I would worry, with husbands schedule I knew the kids would be on their own alot. So I just took him with me. We get to the beach and I am TIRED, I left mad early and it's a long drive, but we decided to walk to the beach and "Say hi". As we are walking up the dunes the smell hits us. You know that sweet sweet smell of salt and wind and uber fresh air. As I am thinking to myself how much I LOVE that smell he yells at the top of his lungs " YES! I LOVE THIS SMELL!".

And yet again my friends, that is why I had him.

today is the day

I was feeling a little blue this morning, Thanksgiving is here and while I am super excited that my brother and sisters and their g/f's, b/f's, dogs and offspring are all heading to the great white hell to celebrate together with me. Obviously we will be minus one and that makes me so sad I could just curl up and suck my thumb.

That and the fact that as I watched the youngest wait for his bus this morning that shit they call snow started falling, AND I think I may have some PMS issues, that have returned since I am no longer physically active EVAH, it seems. Anyway I was in a pissy mood.

And my husband calls, now usually this would segue into a rant or something bad. And believe you me, that man has done enough in the last month alone to warrant me putting a price on his head. But not today, today I am so glad he is mine. If I think the weather is bad here, where is working it is worse. It is pouring rain, turning to snow and miserable. He has already spent the last week working in the rain with a cold, and this morning he souned like hell. One look at the Doppler where he is and I said to him, "Why not just call it a day and try next week?"

Because he is afraid if he waits the opportunity to make the $$$$ up there will be gone. And I loved him so much, because I know how much he hates to work in these conditions, and I know the guys are being asses because they don't want to work in it, and I know the trucks are getting stuck, and the drivers are bitching for late hours and I know it would be easy for him to say screw it and come home.

But he didn't, because giving his family the absolute best of everything is more important to him than anything else. Today I feel so lucky.

(however next week, when the rosy facade is gone, I will bitch about the fact I live in an effn fort, while we collect snow mobiles)

electronics anonymous

Umm Hi! my name is Maria and I am finally joining the new millenium.

Because I am soo incredibly frugal, I have hee hawed around over the ipod situation for at least 2 years now. As soon as I think I have myself talked into splurging on one for, you know, me (my kids are on 2nds, mind you) a better one comes out. So, I wait and again finally convince myself to do it and the price goes down, and I get leery, a better one must be on it's way. It is a vicious cycle, and sometimes I just tire myself out.

Fast forward through the changing of my mind 43567 times, and the actual adding of one to a shopping cart, to remove and/or delete it another 1243 times, that brings us to Friday. I walked in and my neice says "look on the table". So I look, and glory be...angels sing

THE GIRL BOUGHT ME AN IPOD!

How sweet is that? Why? Because I always say I want one and never buy it. My kids could seriously take a lesson. or you know my husband.

I have found the one electronic item that could bring me peace. Yeah, it's THAT good. A friend many moons ago referred to my tatse in music as, let me see if I can remember his exact phrase...."on crack". I can't help it, I grew up in the age of disco, bopped through the British invasion of the 80's, banged my head to some serious metal, saw the first Seattle grunge thing, and have always had a soft spot for anything groovy..you know some r&b, blues, rap. Needless to say I can now jump from Suicidal Tendencies to Elvis, and back to LL Cool J, with zero effort. Plus all my old cd's that skipped...HELLO? It fixes them...(swoon).

The only downfall? I can never use it in public...I can't resist singing LOUDLY.

Boo humbug

I am not a halloweenie kind of person.

I used to be, I was all about dressing up and scoring some free goodies. Playing a trick or two, (or twenty, but just one year, I swear) and generally having fun. Even after I got out of school and was working, I would dress up and embrace the day o spooky.

Then I was a full fledged grown up and would decorate the life out of my house, even though I have usually lived in the boonies where nary a trick or treater shows their face. I loved to get treat bags together for school, and couldn't wait to dress up the chillins and head out in search of a free sugar rush.

Somewhere along the line I lost it. I actually said to myself this morning "One more year". Fifth grade is the last year for Halloween parties where the kids dress up. I didn't even buy a pumpkin this year. I am a Halloween grinch.....

to football moms

One fine hot summer day in August of 1996 I did something that would become a ritual. I dressed my oldest son in his football gear, and took him to practice. It seemed like it was the hottest day of the year so far, and I failed to realize he would need a drink. Lucky for him we lived close to the field and my error was soon remedied.

I will never forget that day. I think of it every time football season starts, every time I put in pads for the inaugural practice, and boil the mouthpiece. How I struggled with the equiptment (and he was only playing flag that year), fought with the damn belt, and cursed my husband for not realizing before hand I would have no clue how to do this and taken care of it. Only 10 minutes late that day, not bad at all, of course we were minus a drink and the mouthpiece was too big. But we were there.

Without fail every August rolls around and I know it's coming. Tweleve years and it's never let me down, the first week of camp will be the hottest it's been all summer, and the stentch of the equipment when I finally get to wash it never stops shocking me. Only now, I am the mom who is always on time and always ready. I am the mom everyone asks for directions to away games, and I am the mom who warns of the danger of over boiling, and carries a spare mouthpiece in her car, because someone will always lose one 5 minutes before kick off.

I am a football mom. I cry when they lose and cheer the loudest when they win. I boo the refs when neccesary, and run along the sidelines if my kid has the ball. I brave a season that starts when I am still swimming and ends with a snowstorm. I will stand in a downpour sipping bad coffee, because if I don't, I won't be able to stand not knowing what is going on. The teams have changed, we have been Bulldogs, Vikings and Huskies, but my pride remains the same.

Last night my oldest informed me his tentatively scheduled game for next week was cancelled, and because of their stellar 3 and 5 record so far this season, the last game would indeed be Friday. As of right now he has no plans to play in college.

I looked at him and said "Just like that, huh?" and started to cry and he said "yup" and teared up a little as well. It's been a nice run.

I will still have gear to wash and pads to fit into those tiny pockets next year, but I will have one less set to deal with, one less game to watch, one less son to cheer for. But my memories of all those games will live on forever and right now I'm glad I was there.

This was in a program a few years ago, and it's a little hokey, but it sums it up.

His Football Uniform

For many long years I washed this suit and goodness what a chore!
I've seen the grass, blood and dirt, the stains and grime galore.
I've held it very gingerly, then dropped it in the wash.
While thinking, next week wash again, gee, O Lord, gosh.

The fortune on detergent, the time I've spent _ I shudder.
For many long years I've washed this suit; call me mother.
But today I washed this uniform, perhaps the final time.
After all those years of drudgery, I failed to see the grime.
I saw the boy who wore it with such pride and dignity.
And suddenly, that football suit looked beautiful to me.
I saw the dedication of my young man to the team.
His pride to wear the uniform, to play the game and dream.

I feel the tingling of the game, the tumult to the end.
The heart, the spunk, the cheer and pats of every loyal friend.
The character and goodness that this uniform helped to grow.
And precious boy who wore it is so special I can glow.
If I had one wish for certain, the one I would adore-
Would be to wash this uniform for many long years more!

Thank you Zak!

on words

My youngest son has had, for most of his 9 years, a gift for butchering the English language. The first word he ever said was "tree", he said it "free", and so it began. Trucks were frucks, motorcycles were a group of sounds I hope I am never able to make, oatmeal was oatmore. The list is long.

Even as he got older he refused to say things correctly, no matter how much correcting I did. I'll admit, he's my youngest it was cute. I would correct him, but it never took. Not only does he mispronounce everything, he refers to most things, at least once as "You know, that thing". Clearly if it isn't overly important to him it gets shuffled to the back.

We have had many an early morning arguement over the mint muffin and ENGLISH muffin debate. A mint muffin (you need to say mint with emphasis) is a sausage egg and cheese sand, like a mc muffin. Which is what the rest of us call it. An ENGLISH (again said more loud than emphatic) muffin is just that.

Last night the 2 of us stopped for dinner on the way to a football game. He was telling me about the dinner he and his brothers and husband went to a few months ago. It was funny because they told the waitress it was middle son's b day and got a free dessert. (survival skills my friends) He proceeded to inform me that the guys, "you know the guys who work there".

"Waiters" I interrupted

"Yeah them, anyway the guys who work there brought out the bong and everything"

So I froze, pretneded not to hear, and prayed no one around me did either.

"The what?" I said

You know the thing they hit (I swear I almost choked when he said that) with the big stick.

He proceeded to demonstrate how to hit a "bong"

Only he meant a GONG.

Homecoming '07

I offer proof, that even though I am aging, my genes are still quite impressive. My oldest at his last HS homecoming, and his equally stunning g/f, and not to be ignored, the good car.

Hey Now

TWO posts in a week...wooo, setting the world on fire.

Stayed home yesterday, on the premise that I had some of my work to do. I am tired of running all week and working all weekend while the dear sig other travels around the country feeding his man crush on Romo . Laundry was piled, paperwork was long ignored, receipts were spilling out of their bin, and payroll was still unfinished from LAST week. Plus I thought it would be nice to feed my family something that didn't come from a window or had been previously frozen. What did I do?

umm nada, but I did clean and cook dinner and do laundry, and read 200 pages of Ghost Story...but I hate paperwork. I am such a non starter. So here we are today and I am once again putting off some work.

So I saw a commercial yesterday for the re release of the "previously released for a short time only, once it's gone it's gone for good" Jungle Book . It got me to thinking of the movies my kids attached themselves to, and how many times I had seen each one. Beauty and the Beast, 101 Dalmations, The Lion King, and I thought if I had to listen to Woody and Buzz one more time, I might actually try to fly myself.

Maybe this is why I don't watch TV now. I find travelling around the blog o sphere lately I am in the minority of non TV watchers. My boys and husband watch Prison Break. Which, in my humble opinion, is the stupidest thing going...how many times is this guy getting locked up? Come on, do people really like this crap? Ewww, so I feel a little like the geek in HS, because I do NOT watch any network prime time shows, do not look forward to the fall lineup, and could care less who has been kicked off, voted out or eliminated.

Just call me Nerd, I'm alone in my room reading a book.