Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Melancholy

Today's post has no pictures. I'm not feeling very colorful today. Except for blue. I'm feeling a little blue. My mind and heart are flooded -- seriously flooded -- with memories. The flooding causes my eyes to overflow with tears.

I am blessed way more than I deserve. But yet I feel blue. Everyone around me is so busy getting ready for the last day of school. There have been field days, awards ceremonies, end-of-the-year parties and the like. And I am doing none of these things that used to fill my schedule this time of year.

I was the room mom for Ross and Cam every single year of their elementary school days. When they were in elementary together, I was room mom for two classes. And I did it without batting an eye. Jeff always helped me. We were a good team. Getting ready for parties, field days, so many things.

On the last day of school, I would have prepared for two parties. I always spent more than I should have and did way more than was necessary. I would get to the school and there would never be any place to park. Moms just like me filling up all the empty spaces. I would carry as much as I could from the car to the school, always having to make multiple trips. And in Georgia in May, it is h-o-t. I'd get in the classroom pouring sweat and breathless. I'd set up for one party, then head to the other classroom to set up for it. Back and forth I'd go, not wanting to miss a minute of either one. Thankfully, the boys were in elementary school together a few years. I would come home at the end of the day pooped.

There is definitely a feeling in the air at the end of the school year. Out with the old and in with the new. Celebrating all the things accomplished in the past 180 school days. Looking forward to summertime, no homework, no set time to get in bed or to get out of it.

For me now, the last week of school involves signing a paper for Cam to check out after his exams. That's it. That's all. No parties. No games. No cheap goodies stuffed in goodie bags. No piles of snacks and drinks all over my dining room table waiting to go to the school.

I like the freedom that comes with having older kids, but I sure miss the old days. I don't know if I have very many readers with children in elementary school. If I do, I tell you this. Enjoy. It's busy. It's crazy. You're probably exhausted. But savor each and every second. This summer I'll be having my baby's senior pictures made. And I can truly say that I don't know where the time has gone.

Till next time...

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

All Over the Place

Yesterday was a day of frustration. Tuesday night I got a notification on my phone that there was a software update available. I knew it was coming and I had heard it would be advantageous to update. Wrong.

I spent a couple of hours updating it, restoring all my contact info and other stuff after it got misplaced in the update. Cell phones are so nerve wracking for me. I definitely have a love/hate relationship with mine. Anyway, I'm not a night person at all and after having my brain on such high alert for so long Tuesday night, I had one of the worst cases of insomnia I've ever had.

Then I had to get up and be downtown at 10 o'clock for a job. I've seen the Equitable Building downtown probably my whole life. But I COULD NOT GET THERE YESTERDAY. It was elusive for me. I had my GPS and I printed directions off of Google. But that big building seemed to have disappeared. To top everything off, my phone, apparently still reeling from the effects of the upgrade, kept freezing, so I could call no one and no one could call me. When I finally got parked and into that building I was so relieved. The view from The Equitable Building is beautiful. And I wanted to make a picture because from the room I was in you could see The Capitol's gold dome and Turner Field. It was really pretty. But guess what? The camera on my phone froze. Yet another result of the upgrade.

On my way home, I stopped by Verizon because I was sure I must've done something wrong. They kept my phone for 45 minutes and when I came back they said it's just gonna take a few days for them to get all the "bugs" out of the upgrade. I may thrown mine out the window before then.

Sunday night we had supper at my house. Everyone was here. The kids swam for the first time this year. Look at these handsome cousins and friends. Love those boys so much.

And here they are doing what they do. Every one of them had scratches and red places on them from wrestling.


Last night was Cam's FFA Banquet. This was his last year in FFA because he's not taking any more AG Science classes. I was SOOOO proud of him because he had quite a few speaking roles. If you knew Cam when he was a little boy, and even still, he's pretty shy. But honey, he did so well. I think he would make an excellent public speaker. Didn't seem at all nervous.
He gave the invocation before we were served the best meal I've had in a while.
Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, mac cheese and rolls. And some kind of really sweet, really good chocolate dessert. And I ate it all.
I guess the teacher or one of the students made a scrapbook of their year in FFA. Each officer had a page in it with a few pictures and a little bit about theirselves.
Ross was such a good big brother last night. He even went to the banquet to see Cam speak.
The loves of my life. Aren't they cute?
So. Tomorrow morning I'm off to Florida. I'm excited and need a vacation badly. This will be my view Friday morning when I have my coffee.

Does this look like paradise or what?
So much to do today, so little desire to do it. Hopefully, this mini vacay will give me some much-needed rejuvenation.
Till next time...

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Mindless Television

Lots of nights before I go to sleep, I'll get in bed and just start flipping the channels on the remote. Not really looking for anything special to watch and not wanting to watch anything too heavy. Lately, I don't watch the news before I go to sleep. Mainly because if I do, I won't be able to go sleep. The news makes me anxious. Hmm. I wonder why.

So while I was watching what I affectionately refer to as "mindless television", I thought I'd share some of the shows that I came across.

This is one that I never watched when the series was originally on.
Emergency

So I started watching a little bit of it and I thought it was hilarious. It was so very different from the medical/hospital scenario shows of today. All the nurses wore white. They all wore their white nurses' hats. Personally, I love that look. When I was growing up and wanted to be a nurse, I couldn't wait to wear one of those hats. Do you remember the nurse kits that had the hard plastic case? They always had a little nurse hat in it.

Anyway, one of the story lines of the show was about this little boy who was taken to the hospital with asthma. And I'm not making light of asthma at all. I have a lot of family that suffers terribly with it. I just found it amusing that asthma made the story line in those days on a hit TV show. Nowadays, to make a story line on a popular medical drama, such as House, you have to be bleeding out of your eyeballs or something like that. I guess that's just further proof of how the times have changed. Enough of the poor acting. Flip the station.

And then there was this one.

Can you even imagine a show like the A-Team being popular today? I only watched it for a few minutes and in that few minutes, I must've seen three car stunts. Very realistic. Not. Flip again.

The next flip brought me to the History Channel. We love the History Channel. Do y 'all ever watch Pawn Stars on that station? What about American Pickers? Very, very good mindless television.

Last night, though, they were playing a documentary entitled Sex in the Civil War. Seriously. I really want to know why we need to know about sex in the Civil War. And worst of all, why would we WANT to know about sex in the Civil War. And even more so, WHO WOULD WANT TO KNOW ABOUT SEX IN THE CIVIL WAR? The narrator said that there are over 50,000 books written on the Civil War and only ONE about sex in the Civil War. Duh. I wonder why!!!! Flip again.

Next up came the Style Network. Now, why in the world would they play a show called Tacky House on the Style Network? Someone enlighten me, please

I did manage to learn something through my channel surfing. I've often heard the term Blue Dog Democrat.

I'm ashamed to say that I never had a clue what it was. I think I was watching Neal Cavuto interviewing someone on some economic issue. Underneath the person's face, they had his name and underneath their name it said Blue Dog Democrat. I thought it must be something kinda important, so I looked it up. Whatever. Flip again.

Food Network. Ahh. I love Food Network. Just not at night and especially when I'm on a diet. Bobby Flay was having a throwdown with someone and they were making cakes. Heavens to Betsy, what was I doing watching that?

By this time the mindless television is dulling my brain into a drowsy state. But I think I can stay awake for one more flip. What do I come to? A show called Worst Case Scenarios. Now that makes a great show for someone to watch before they go to sleep. Imagine the horrible thoughts you'd go to sleep with. Flip again.

This time flip it off.

There is a reason it's called Mindless Television. Do y'all ever watch it? What's your favorite mindless TV show or station?

Till next time. LLL.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Mr. Bubble and Me

I have a new man in my life. He's always so bubbly and wears my favorite color, pink. He makes my bathtime so enjoyable. His bubbly personality doesn't vanish after a few minutes. And he loves to be in hot water.

Sounds like a great guy, huh? Well, let me introduce you.

Loving to take bubble baths, I have tried lots and lots and lots of bubble products. I have bought some luxury ones and some that are .99 for a gallon at Wal-Mart. NONE I have tried works as well as Mr. Bubble. Who'd have thought?

I'm a sucker for packaging and an even bigger sucker for packaging in pink. The pink bottle drew my eye to Mr. Bubble. I thought that since it's been around for years and it's kind and gentle to children, why not little ol' me.

What an awesome surprise it was. You don't have to pour half the bottle to get more than enough bubbles in your bath. If you enjoy a nice bubble bath, give it a try. Word of warning, though, you'll want to lotion up well when you're done. I guess little kids' skin doesn't get as dry as a shriveled-up 44-year-old-woman's does.

The weather here has been kinda -- well, let's just say gray. I know it's a lot worse it other parts of the country. Tornadoes here. Frost on the ground there. Makes me happy I'm living in Georgia. It's supposed to be sunny and in the '80s tomorrow. That'll be nice for sure.

Ethan is the only one that has been swimming in our pool this year. He got in earlier than anyone ever has. It was sometime early April when he took a quick dip. We need several sunny, warm days in a row to get it nice and warm for me. I'm patiently waiting.

We're beaching it next Thursday. We're taking a trip to Panama City Beach with Ronnie and Nan for a nice, long weekend. Remember last year when we went the monsoon rains came. I sure hope we'll get sun this time around. But y'all know I'm the Trip Jinx.

Well, guess that's it for my Tuesday. I hear someone calling. Oh, hold on, Mr. Bubbles, I'll be right there.

Till next time.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Mother's Day 2010

Do you ever have a day that is so beautiful you wonder how you could be so lucky? My Mother's Day was a day such as that for me. There was nothing monumental that happened. I didn't get a gift that was out of this world. There really was no spectacular material thing that I can say occurred yesterday. But it was one of my all-time favorite days. And definitely one of my top five favorite Mother's Day.

Here's how my day went down. Cam woke me up and wanted to take me to Waffle House. Which essentially, what he really meant was that he and a couple of friends were going to Waffle House and did I want to go along. Well, with sleep still in my eyes, I politely declined. He gave me the biggest hug and away he went.

Jeff brought me coffee in bed. That's nothing new. He does that for me a few times a week. But then he went to church with his mother. He put on his dress pants that he only wears to funerals or when he's going out for something special and a nice white dress shirt. He looked so dang good and I was so proud of him. Gave me a big hug and a little kiss and away he went.

So there I was alone. Now, y'all know that idle time and I don't get along. I must have a plan. Always a plan. So I started to panic because I didn't have a plan and I didn't have anything I needed to do. I could've gone to church, yes, I know that. But my mama wasn't up to it and I go with her and she goes with me.

I found a movie On Demand called The Glass House. I watched it while working in my closet and taking a bath. I enjoyed my morning so much. Ross got up and gave me his card and some landscape lights I've been wanting to go around my pool. Another big hug and away he went.

I went to the grocery store and got the things I needed for Mother's Day supper at Crystal's house. Before I knew it, Jeff was back home from church and lunch with his mom, dad and brothers.

Look at these handsome boys. What a proud mama she was.


Do you love the bunny ears Ronnie put behind Jeff? HeHe..

Ross cut the grass for me and Jeff and I laid out by the pool. Me with a book, him trying to take a nap. It was bliss. Pure bliss.

The afternoon went quickly by and it was time to go over to Crystal's. She hosted the Sunday Night Supper last night. And I must say, she was definitely the hostess with the mostess. We had fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, butter beans, corn, mac and cheese, biscuits and gravy. Needless to say, it wasn't the most calorie conscious meal, but it was soooo good. I didn't pig out, but I sure ate my fill. Oh, and she made a dessert that was made with ice cream sandwiches, Cool Whip, and Butterfinger candy bars. OMGosh, it was yummy.

Somebody cute likes fried chicken.

My sweet Ross has loved watermelon since he was old enough to eat them, which was way before he was a year old. He called them meln meln. Now, as a 21-year-old, he still loves them. So much, in fact, that he paid $6 for one and brought it to Crystal's last night.

I didn't eat any, but they all said it was all right, considering it is still May. I'm kind of like Lucy in Charlie Brown's Christmas. She never eats December snowflakes and I never eat May watermelon. I'm sure it's the first of many meln meln we'll eat this summer.

I wanted to get a picture of my mom, my sisters and me together while we were at Crystal's. But honestly, once we all get together, it's hard to remember to do something like that. So I didn't get one. I thought of it as we were pulling out of her driveway.
When we got home, we had a little photo session of our own because I also wanted one of my boys and me. Jeff took, oh, about 15. None of them were blogworthy. Good of one, bad of another. You know how that goes.
My sweet Auntie Theresa celebrated her birthday yesterday and I hope her day was even more wonderful than mine. If anyone in the world deserves it, she does. And I know without a doubt that the apple and apples of her eye made her Mother's Day lovely.
I hope you all had a day filled with memories that, when you look back, will make your heart smile. My heart is still smiling from my day.
Till next time... Always, always, always, Live, Love, Laugh. XOXO

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Busy Bee and Other Bugs

Our house is kinda in the woods. We have lots of trees. I absolutely hate bugs. It's not so much that I'm scared of them, but I don't like how they look and they just creep me out. I guess that does mean I'm scared of them, doesn't it? Okay. I'll agree. I'm scared of them, too.

Last year after we found out we had termites, we hired an exterminator to take care of the termites and to also come out every couple of months to spray for other bugs. It is NOT working. I really think he has water in that big ol' sprayer that he goes around and sprays. I'm seeing so many bugs. And not dead ones either.

Last Sunday night before the big storms I came home and there were no less than a hundred of these black bugs in my garage. The same kind of bug covered my front porch two nights ago. I went to take the dog out, no bugs. Walked back up the steps two minutes later and there were dozens and dozens of them. They have this crunchy, hard shell so they're hard to kill. GROSS!!!!!!!!! I think I need a new exterminator. What do you think?

The one bug I don't want to exterminate is this little gal.


She's the busy bee that's been hanging around my house the last couple of weeks. I've been into everything from my job, to planning a trip to the beach in 11 days, sweeping up dead bugs, working out a couple of hours almost every day, a trip to Buford to shop with my BFF, planting a few flowers, changing out clothes, cleaning out my makeup and cutting the grass. Oh, and BTW, I didn't run over a single thing and I stayed out of the ditch. I did good.

Today is going to be a super busy one. I'm headed to the gym for two classes this morning. Then when I get back, we're getting the pool ready to show her glory. So much to do out there. Winter weather is just so rough on everything that is left out. Gotta bring out my old friend, Mickey Mouse Pressure Washer. It's been a year since I've seen him and I've missed him. Y'all may remember I get a little carried away pressure washing. As soon as that pressure hits something and it comes sparkling clean, I start wanting to wash everything in sight. I've got flowers to plant, chairs to wash, rust to clean and just so much stuff. I may not get it all done.

I'm going through the strangest thing right now. I have to spend so much time on the computer with my work. So much so that I have a hard time getting on and doing anything else. I miss it so much. I miss writing my blog. I miss reading all of your blogs. I miss my online shopping that I enjoyed so much last year. It's the craziest thing. I may have to see a therapist. I'm kidding about that, but I really don't know what to do. When I get on Facebook, I'm on my phone. I just don't get on the computer for anything other than work. It's like it depresses me or something. I don't understand it. I'm going to have to brainwash myself so that I can get back to something that I really love and miss; blogging and reading about all the projects everyone's doing, learning new things and just connecting with friends all over the country.

Till next time, my blogger friends, enjoy your Saturday!