Hump Day

Thank you for all of the kind comments on the previous post. I really appreciate it. I'm fine...sad and a bit weepy, but fine. I've been kind of lurching from one thing to another the past few days and not really accomplishing very much. I don't really know why. Maybe I'm still in my "so relaxed I'm like a wet noodle" mode from our Anti-Thanksgiving beach getaway. Or perhaps I'm trying to do too many things at one time.  Regardless, I seem to have a huge list of things to do and I've only accomplished a fraction of them!

I have, however, managed to buy some poinsettias and a wreath for the front door. I've gotten some of the Christmas decorations out - although we are doing a scaled down version of decorating this year since we will be going out of town. I ordered Christmas cards and am anxiously awaiting their arrival (hopefully, today!) and have done a bit of cyber-shopping as well. I'm almost caught up with the  laundry from our trip. I have pine scented air fresheners throughout the house and have been listening to Christmas music. We had a cold front move through the area yesterday, so now it really feels like Christmas!

Sunday evening, after hearing the sad news about my friend Ed, I felt the need for comfort food so I made a chicken pot pie. Apparently, it's been a while since I made one because the family went gaga over it. They were practically giddy with happiness. This is what happens when you have teenagers - particularly a teenaged boy! At 11:00 pm on Sunday night I heard rummaging noises coming from the kitchen. When I went to investigate I found the aforementioned teenaged boy pulling the leftover pot pie out of the refrigerator and heating it up. He looked at me and groaned, "I just want to sleep! I'm so tired! And my stupid stomach won't let me!"

It's tough being a growing boy.

Happy Hump Day, y'all!

Live, Laugh, Love

When we arrived home from our get-away last evening, I learned that a dear friend was gone.


I met Ed many years ago when we were both flight attendants. He was adorable and funny and completely irrepressible.

We lost touch for many years after that airline went bankrupt. Ed continued flying for a major airline and loved his life. He found me on Facebook three years ago and we began to talk and catch up with each other's lives. We talked for hours on the telephone and chatted and emailed often. When I had to be in South Carolina for a dance performance The Princess was in, he drove an hour and a half to see us and have lunch with us. 

It was as though only a couple of days had passed since we had last seen each other, not twenty years! I was amazed that he hadn't changed at all. Ed still had that twinkle in his eyes that I remembered and the smile that lit up his face.

If you knew Ed, you know that he was an original. He was loyal and generous and was full of love and full of life. He lived every moment of his life to the fullest. He had a dry sense of humor and a unique way of looking at life. He always tried to find the positive in every situation.

I am overwhelmed by sadness. It's hard for me to comprehend that someone so full of life and love and happiness can be gone. 

But even through my sadness and grief, I am inspired by my friend. He is an example of how one should live their life - completely, fully, and without fear. Ed embraced life. He loved his friends and his family. He squeezed every drop of living out of this life that he could, and he did it with joy and gusto. If Ed had a motto for life, it must have been "live, laugh, love" for that truly sums up the way he lived his life.

Ed was witty, charming, loyal, exuberant, and wonderful. 

He was my friend.

And I will miss him.

Ed Bahmer

12/26/67 - 11/26/11

Home again, home again, jiggity jig...

We're back from our week of sunshine and no internet connection. It was blissful and relaxing and wonderful. We slept late every morning and read a lot of books. We ate out and ordered pizza and walked on the beach to watch the sunsets. I watched re-runs of Will and Grace and didn't watch the news at all. The phone didn't ring and there were no pets to be taken care of. 

I am relaxed. 


I am so relaxed I feel like a wet noodle.


Our mini-vacation/anti-Thanksgiving getaway was wonderful and just what we needed.

It was a wonderful week away from pets and bills and stress.

But, you know...there's no place like home.

Miscellaneous-ness

* I am extremely annoyed with myself for waking up at 6:18 AM this morning even though I could have (SHOULD HAVE) slept late. 


* Even though I am wide awake and sipping my coffee, the kids are still slumbering peacefully and our myriad assortment of furred and feathered friends are also being quiet (for a change). It's nice. I could get used to this peaceful solitude. Why does it never, ever, ever last?


* The past week or so has been challenging. For a variety of reasons, which I can't really go into in any detail, it's just been very challenging. Hence, the entire family is chafing at the bit to get to the beach for our "anti-Thanksgiving." Today we will clean the house and pack our bags and stock up on pet food for our house/pet sitter (thanks, Rebecca!) and dream about the sun and the sand.


* I've also been working on a project which I discovered on Pinterest. If it works out, I hope to do a couple of others for the grandmothers' Christmas presents. (ssshh!!) I'm really excited about it though - I hope it turns out the way I want it to.


* I've also been trying to get a bit of Christmas shopping done the past few days, which is nice since I hadn't actually done ANY previously!!


* I remembered at the last minute that I never registered The Boy to take the ACT exam in December. When I say at the last minute, I mean, really at THE LAST MINUTE. As in, I had to pay a late fee and it was the next to last day of late registration. Good grief. What's happened to me? I used to be so organized. 


* I just looked outside and realized that I still have a decorative Halloween flag beside our driveway and little jack-o-lantern stakes in the yard. Huh. I should probably get those up before December, right? You think? Seriously, I need to get more organized.


* I really have nothing else to say. The "challenges" I spoke of have pretty much been sucking the life out of us. Don't worry - it's nothing to do with us, specifically. Just little peripheral things. It's like getting little paper cuts all day long, every day, for a couple of weeks. We're all just really ready to get to the beach and away from paper/drama for a few days!

Today, so far.

Yesterday afternoon, after dropping the last carpool kid off at her house I heard a FWAOP FWAOP FWAOP sound coming from my tire. I stopped my car and got out and looked, expecting to see a flat tire. The tires all looked fine. The tire pressure indicator in the car was fine. I got back in the car and drove home (very slowly!) but I kept hearing the FWAOP FWAOP FWAOP sound. When I got home I checked again and again I didn't see anything.


This morning, at 6:30 AM, as I backed the car out of the garage, I again heard the FWAOP FWAOP sound and I again stopped the car. This time, apparently, I stopped in the right spot and was able to see this...

Please forgive the photographs. My tire-photo-taking-in-the-dark-skills are sadly lacking. That is a bolt. A big ol' bolt with a washer which I somehow managed to run over.

Crap.

Thus beginneth my day. How's your day going?

Once upon a time...

Once upon a time ago, a long time ago in a land far, far away up north, a southern girl became a mommy to a beautiful, precious baby boy. This southern girl didn't really know what she was doing and she didn't have an owner's manual so she just did the best she could and she just loved that little boy and tried to teach him to be a proper little southern gentleman. This wasn't always easy in the harsh, cold northern climate which lacked grits and ma'ams and y'alls.

The novice mommy tried to teach her little boy to say please and thank you and was constantly told that he didn't have to say that. She told him to say it anyway. She taught him to say yes ma'am and no ma'am and yes sir and no sir and she was constantly told that he shouldn't say that either. People told her that it was demeaning to children and repressive and stifling to their individuality. The new mommy ignored the naysayers and continued to try to teach her little boy good manners. It wasn't easy.

People told her, to her face, that her child seemed  sad or unhappy. 

She was told that she was too strict and that she was mean and that she was too rigid and had too many rules.

The mommy persevered. Her husband, even though he was a yankee, was supportive and wonderful. When someone told him that the mommy was going to break the little boy's spirit he laughed and told them that the little boy wasn't a horse and would be just fine. The mommy and the wonderful yankee daddy were a team and they loved their little boy.

Many years passed and they little boy grew. He learned many things and grew strong and tall. He giggled and laughed and played. He learned manners and always said please and thank you and sir and ma'am. He opened doors for ladies and (usually, almost always) took off his hat in the house. He was funny and charming. And he had spirit. He had a LOT of spirit. One could almost say that the little boy had an over abundance of spirit, in fact.

Break THAT spirit? I think not!!

If anyone ever needed further proof that the little boy's spirit had indeed not been broken, the mommy could point to The Boy's latest facebook status:

"I'm putting the stud back in studying."

As a matter of fact, if the new mommy (who is now an old mommy) wanted to be ugly about it she could waggle her finger at all the naysayers who said that teaching her boy to say ma'am and sir was repressive and would break his spirit and who tried to undermine her parenting and she could say, "I told you so!!"

But she would never do something like that.

That would be tacky. 

A big pizza pie...

I don't really have a lot to say today. I'm still feeling a bit MEH and it's Saturday which means that only 2.3 of you will even stop by here to read this anyway. Plus I'm tired. I got up early (well, for a Saturday!) and took the Princess to dance and went to Target and bought shampoo and deodorant and "hair stuff" for The Boy (his term) and other essential items like that. And it's COLD here. You know, for Florida. It was in the 40's this morning!! 


So, here's what I want to say. To ask, really...

DID YOU SEE THE MOON LAST NIGHT?!


It was really incredibly bright. And pretty. And awesome.
That's all. I just wanted to make sure y'all saw it.


Because as The Princess would say, it was "pretty snazzy."

Thankful Thursday...

I'm thankful today for my husband who has been so helpful this week while I have been moping around not feeling well. He's made dinners and driven the kids around and let me lie around feeling sorry for myself. He is a sounding board for things that are bothering me, he is always supportive and he truly is my best friend. We have been together for almost a quarter of a century and I cannot imagine my life without him.

I'm thankful for my children. For, while they are certainly not perfect, they are kind, generous, loving, smart, tender, thoughtful, caring and affectionate. I often beat myself up as a parent - but when I look at these children who are turning into such considerate and thoughtful and kind individuals - I think that we must be doing something right!

I am, still, SO thankful for my little Honda Insight. I love my car. I love getting 45-50 miles per gallon. I. Love. It. Mr. Wonderful and The Boy can scoff at my little car and call it the Anteater all they want. I don't care. I love my car.

And finally, I'm thankful we are planning an anti-Thanksgiving this year. We are going to the beach. No family (other than the four of us). No pets. No turkey. No cooking. We are relaxing and walking on the beach and ordering Chinese...and I cannot tell you how excited I am about that. I am looking forward to it like the kids used to look forward to a visit from Santa Claus. It sounds like heaven on earth. I can't wait to feel the sand between my toes and hear the sound of the surf and the cries of the gulls. I yearn for the peaceful feeling of having absolutely nothing to do for a few days - no telephones ringing, no bills in the mail, no laundry, no pets to be fed...aaahhhh....the anti-Thanksgiving. I can't wait!

This week...

A milestone of sorts occurred. We let The Boy drive himself to school. He did well. He had to text or call every time he arrived or departed - from school, or from the grocery store where I had him stop on the way home to pick up milk and bread (bonus!!) and he remembered every single time. I was always quite happy and relieved to receive his text message stating, "I'm still alive."

He decided that the kids at the school are scary drivers however, and now he likes to leave quite early to avoid most of the crowd and the rushing. He'd rather take his time and arrive early than deal with the craziness. I don't blame him!

It was my week to drive carpool to The Princess's school. 

There's not much more to say about that...except that the Air Show was this weekend and Friday as we were driving home from school we saw the Blue Angels flying overhead. The Princess tried to get some pictures while I drove and tried to watch out for the other cars on the bridge - it was a bit nerve wracking as every single driver I encountered was peering overhead at those jets instead of focusing on their driving!

Saturday, it was overcast and chilly and so I decided to make chili. The Boy wanted to know if he could invite a friend over and since we are such amazingly cool and awesome parents, we said he could. Then he and his...friend...built a fire in the firepit and...talked. The Princess sat outside in her official role as chaperone little sister and kept them company. I decided to go outside and pretend to take some pictures of the really cool looking moon. And then, since I was already outside with my camera, I decided to snap some photos...umm, of the fire. It was a very impressive fire. Sadly, my camera was apparently on some weird setting which was not conducive to the dark and smoky conditions. My apologies.

I realize that these are really, really terrible photos. The Boy is wearing athletic shorts, a long sleeved polo shirt, dark socks and topsiders. 

Trust me, I'm as speechless as I'm sure you are.

And I have no explanation. He's an original, that boy. He marches to his own beat. Or his own drummer. Or something like that.

What can I tell you? I pick my battles...