Tuesday, February 28, 2006

We Did It!



Whew! It was a long night but we did it. The room has been completely emptied of everything but the furniture to be sold and everything else has been cleaned and polished.

It really isn't that I like to live in filth, or even that I allow The Brain to run wild. The state of his room is more a testament to the year that we've just survived than it is anything else. For whatever reason, probably the warranty's expiration date, both the drawers on his dresser and his armoire gave out at about the same time last summer. It was almost funny when it happened, and of course this occurred around the same time that daddy began to need around the clock care. Between working full time, dealing with The Brain's activities, and caring for daddy there just wasn't a lot of time left over to worry about anything else.

We made an effort to keep everything in neat stacks, I bought some plastic stackables to try and get by temporarily but nothing really worked. Eventually toys, clothes, shoes, and judging by what I found last night, literally hundreds of screws wound up on the floor. Screws you ask? Yup screws. My little angel has a thing with taking things apart and making new things with the parts. Add to the fact that he's one of the worst pack rats I've ever seen and you have an idea why we had to pole vault to his bed every night!

I can be a bit OCD at times. I'm not a neat freak, but I like things to be where they should be. That's not asking too much, right? It got to the point where I just had to accept that it would be like that until I could find some new furniture for him. He's pretty much outgrown the twin bed now so I decided to get him a full size one. I wanted whatever I bought to last him until he went off to college and beyond and I wanted it to be quality stuff. I also didn't want to charge it. I hate owing money to people, I really hate finance charges and interest fees. I'd rather just wait until I can get it outright so that's what I did. It took me longer to save the money than I would've liked, but then we've had a few unexpected expenses come up. Next thing you know, it's been almost a year and you need shots to get into his room.

But, what's done is done and the new furniture will be delivered to my door on Monday morning. Of course, I have no idea HOW the hell I'm going to get it inside and put together... I'm thinking a case of beer and those day laborers again. I guess we'll just have to see.

I'm just glad it's almost over. I plan on painting his room this weekend (in between the District Pinewood Derby competition and the Symphony) and hopefully everything will be ready to go by Monday morning. That's the plan anyway.

What's the old saying? The best laid plans never get you laid like you planned.

Well, I guess we'll just have to see.

Monday, February 27, 2006

Its Monday again!

So let's see... in less than 24 hours I have to have about 150 pages of reports typed up, my son's bedroom completely cleaned out and half the bedroom furniture ready to sell by tomorrow morning.

Did I mention his room looks like Katrina came and brought friends and camped out for a while? Or that I'm working on next to no sleep and may begin to hallucinate at any moment?

This should be interesting! Maybe I should find some day laborers at Lowe's buy a case of beer and see what happens. It couldn't hurt.

Really people, this is funny. You can't see the mess we have to wade through, but trust me. It's bad.

Like have you had your shots lately bad.

Like you have to pole vault to get to his bed bad.

In his defense, it's not filthy, just messy, and there is a reason and a difference for it. I'm just too tired to explain it right now.

Better get started.

Sigh.

Sunday, February 26, 2006

How'd I get so lucky?



Have I told you lately how glad I am that I have a kid that knows how to laugh at himself? Cause I am. Really, really glad.

Look at this kid, this kind of silliness is a blessing. Would ya be shocked to learn that he insisted on going around the whole day with his hair like this? He did. And when some old lady in Wal*Mart asked him about it he told her that he did it to make grumpy people smile.

I love this kid so much it scares me!

Saturday, February 25, 2006

Times have changed!

I think if you click on this it will get bigger... I hope so anyway.

It's amazing how far we've come in 50 years, isn't it?



Friday, February 24, 2006

I did it!!


I can't believe after the year that I've had that I actually did it!

Yesterday marked my one year anniversary of when I gave up BOTH smoking and caffeine!

I miss it. Everyday. I've yet to see any of those signs that people always tell you to look for... food tastes the same as it always has (sometimes worse truth be told), nothing smells any better or worse to me, I don't have any more or less energy, and I haven't noticed being sick any less.

What I do have is the knowledge that I kept my word to my son. I quit, and I did it to make sure that I'm gonna be around to kiss my grandbabies.

I did it during the most difficult year of my life. I can do anything.

So celebrate with me. It hasn't been easy and it hasn't been fun, but it has been worth it.

Thursday, February 23, 2006

The prettiest cake... ever!

The Brain has his Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet tonight. All of the scouts were told that as part of this there would be a competition, the boys and their dad's were supposed to make a cake (with no help from mom), decorate it, and handle all of the clean up afterwards. The cakes would be judged at the banquet and then served up for dessert for all who attend.

Because The Brain's biological dad has been MIA since he was about a year old we were told that any other close male would be able to step in and participate. The Brain decided to ask TV guy... Bless his heart!

So... Two nights ago they got together and made the cake and then last night decorated they decorated it. I did learn by the way that men tend to take you pretty literally when you say anything involving cooking. I picked out a simple chocolate recipe for them to make. You basically just add all of the ingredients together (mixing in between) and you're set. There is an order to it, and it generally is a good idea to bring the ingredients to room temp before using them, but then I guess I should have said that. I walked into the room to discover that they had simply gone down the list of ingredients and dumped everything in together. There it sat. In the bowl. Unmixed. :-) Anyway, they eventually got around to mixing it and everything worked out in the end. I kept my mouth shut. It wasn't easy!

When I picked The Brain up from school yesterday we stopped by the store and picked up cake decorating stuff. There was enough icing to frost at least two cakes... I'm not sure what happened, but I'm pretty sure that the boys had more icing on them then on the cake!
They had fun. They learned to appreciate the fine art of cake making. They allowed me to take pictures. Awesome!

Is this not the prettiest cake EVER? There's a special place in heaven for TV guy, you have only to look at these pictures to see how much it meant to The Brain.

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Crack... The latest anti-depressant?


I love the South... even our crackheads are happy!

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Researching Wicca


I've recently been thrust into a situation that dictates that I learn more about Wicca. Having just spent the last couple hours in research, I've found an interesting bit of information.

According to this site it is a much larger religion than I ever realized.

Wiccan growth rate:
A second important statistic is the rate of growth of the Wiccan community. "In May, 1998, the Chicago Tribune reported that, though difficult to quantify due to lack of formal organization, neo-paganism is the fastest-growing religion in North America with the Internet being the prime means of proselytizing." 1 Ms. Curott estimates a doubling in size every 18 months. This growth rate seems quite high, but appears to have some credibility in the Wiccan community. The ARIS survey of the American adult population indicates a growth in the Wiccan community of 17 fold between 1990 and 2001 - the highest of any faith group monitored. This would indicate a doubling in numbers of adherents about ever 2.5 years. 2

If the latter growth rate is accurate and if it continues, then Wicca would be the third largest religious group in the U.S. by about 2012, behind Christianity and Judaism.


I have no idea how accurate that information is, but I can say after the research I've done today it wouldn't surprise me to find that it's close to the mark.

To be honest, I have no interest or desire to debate the merits of Neo-paganism vs. Christianity with anyone. I'm simply curious about this and would appreciate hearing if any of you have any experiences or opinions about it of your own.

So any thoughts?


Back to the Drawing Board

Every year about this time I head off to the tanning bed. I go because being a warm weather girl at heart I get a little bummed out about this time, and while I've never needed any help in the tanning department, tanning helps my mood.

Now before I get lectures on going "fake and bake" and how bad it is for my skin, and how I'm going to end up a withered old prune, let me say this:

Yeah, I know, but it's still better than the alternative. Artificial sunlight works better than any antidepressant for me. I always wear screen and I usually don't go more than once a week over a one month period. Just long enough for it to get warmer outside.

Being olive skinned I’ve never have to worry about burning, at least apparently, until now.

I went for ten minutes a couple of days ago (in a 20 minute bed) and would you like to know what happened? Can ya guess?

Yep. That's right. I burned my ass.

Lovely huh? Nothing to pull you out of a funk like a good old fashioned sunburn! GRRRR!

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Come on Summer!

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Happy Valentine's Day!

Monday, February 13, 2006

Sometimes I Even Embarrass Myself

I'm sitting here at my computer listening to Israel Kamakawiwo'ole sing Somewhere over the Rainbow and feeling better than I have in days. I guess I've been in a kind of funk for the last week or so. It hasn't helped that we've all been sick... Not all at once of course, but instead we've been riding this seemingly never ending roller coaster ride of doctor's appointments and prescription co-pays. I think though (knock on wood) that we're finally getting past it... Thanks be to God for that. Hopefully I'll be a little more regular posting from now on.

I wish I could tell you that I have a ton of new and interesting stories to tell you, but that's not the case. It's actually been a very dull couple of weeks.

I have apparently reached new and embarrassing lows in my personal life (I tell you this as I give myself a mental head slap). I've never been what you would call promiscuous in my personal life. That's not to say that I've lead a perfect life free of mistakes, just that I'm very selective... It means something to me, it matters when I decide to sleep with someone.

Having established that, I had a dream a couple of weeks ago that I "accidentally" slept with a friend of mine. I say accidentally because it seemed to be one of those situations where we wound up sharing a bed and then got a little carried away. I remember in my dream going to the bathroom to clean up and thinking "oh, shit... Did I just do that?!"

Anyway, I woke up, rolled my eyes at my own deprivation and went on with life. I didn't give it another thought until yesterday when I had another dream about it. This time in my dream I was remembering the dream that I had had before, so it seemed more like a memory than a dream at all. I woke up, and I swear for a full hour I couldn't remember if I'd in fact slept with this person or not... I'm not kidding. It actually freaked me out to the point that I almost emailed this poor guy (who probably would've wet his pants)... Can you imagine? How does one go about asking something like that?

Hey there! So... Just a quick question... Do you remember by chance if we've ever had sex? Just wondering. No reason... Really.

I finally had to sit down and recreate my life for the last 7 years or so to establish that we had not in fact ever shared a bed or anything else. Of course now I can't stop thinking about it... I tell you, I'm pathetic!

Geez! It's not like that particular list is that long!

Like I said... New lows in deprivation.

Saturday, February 11, 2006

Andria means...

Andria --
[noun]:

A person who has the ability to be invisible

'How" will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com



So I was bored this morning and decided to take this test (courtesy of my friend Allen).

I could be wrong, but this one fits me a little too well! It has come in handy at work a few times in the past though!

What does your name mean?

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Check him out!

Life has been insane lately, but rest assured, I can personally verify for everyone that God does in fact have a sense of humor.

Having said that, I'm way to tired to try and write more than a couple of coherent lines. I'll try and do better tomorrow.

In the mean time, why don't you check out one of my favorite countrymen. Tony is one of the funniest guys around and always worth a read.

In reference to his latest post... I have SOOO been there!

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

It has been decided

It's official. I have decided that I have become one of those people that cannot stand noise at the end of the day.

Having decided this, and having survived a day and a night where the Brain and I have both been strung out and crabby, I have come to the conclusion that no more work should be done on the house during the week.

It will take longer for everything to finish, but at least this way I won't go through another day feeling like I could bite the head off a small animal.

I think I actually scared the guy at the Taco Bell drive through today. It's a long and frankly not very interesting story, but needless to say I should probably go back and apologize. *sigh*

Hey, on a lighter note I've decided to take the Brain to tour the Jack Daniels Distillery this weekend. Being that I can't remember the last time I had the luxury of a drink, I figure that maybe just being at the birthplace of one of my favorites will improve my mood.

Hmmm... I wonder if it's a tasting tour... gonna have to look into that!

Saluto!