Good day...

As I young child, maybe around 6 years old, I met a man with a warm disposition and the sweetest grandfatherly voice. My mom and I enjoyed him very much and made it a point to get together with him at about the same time every morning. Together we'd listen as he'd share anecdotes and interesting little bits of this and that, usually relating to current events or special people he'd learned about. His sparkling wit was always a high point in our mornings.

Through the years my visits with him became somewhat sporadic but I would check in with him every so often and just like a time machine his voice would take me back to early mornings spent with my mom, each of us watching the time, waiting for him to arrive and then each of us shushing the other so we wouldn't miss the news he was about to share with us. And then, as he was leaving, the three of us, in unison, would wish each other "Good day" ...mom and I giggling at our goofy morning ritual.

Eventually my friend and I lost touch and several years went by before I ran into him again. I had missed his familiar voice and matter of fact chatter so much, I once again made it a part of my routine to hook up with him each morning and occasionally we even got together in the afternoons. It was during those afternoon visits I learned about some fascinating people and events. Some people had risen from bleak beginnings others came from privileged backgrounds -some events were cataclysmic and others more everyday moments but each of them had their own interesting story and in some way were part of our culture and/or history.

I was so sad today to learn that my friend has died. At 90 years old, I think it's safe to assume that he lived a rich life and had many friends all over the world. Although we never actually met, I call him my friend because after hearing his distinctive voice for so many years and all the fond memories I have associated with it, that's just how I think of him. I will miss his familiar greeting of "Hello Americans" and his upbeat delivery of the not so main-stream news and I'll miss our afternoons together with him telling me "the rest of the story". That said, I think most of all, I'll miss his trademark sign-off, wishing me "Good day!"

Goodbye, Paul Harvey.

d'oh!

When you're feeling smug because, even though you know this afternoon and evening you'll be doing the sports mom hustle; picking kids up, cracking the whip to get homework done and then taxiing to and from basketball practice, -you're still going to rock your family's world with one of their favorite dinners WITHOUT having to break a sweat when you get home! -all because you had the foresight to bust out the crock pot and git-r-done early (pats self on back)...

*ahem*

yeeeahh, uhm... note to self:

It's usually a good idea to make sure that you have actually plugged in the freakin crock pot! *GAAAH!* sadly, this is a classic leafa mcbirdie move. ppfffftt... what a dork.

many thanks for our veterans

Seeing as it's Veteran's Day, I want to send out a huge, heartfelt THANK YOU to all of the brave men and women who fight or have fought for our feedom and safety. I admit there are times I'm guilty of taking for granted the security I have from day to day, but I do know, if not for our veterans, we would have an entirely different existence -so I say it today, but I hold it in my heart always, thank you, thank you, thank you for all that you do on behalf of our country.



The flower of rememberance in honor of those who have given thier lives for the nation's freedom.

On a separate, but not entirely unrelated, note; last night my oldest son Andrew, who turned 17 a couple of weeks ago, casually informed me that he and a friend had gone to see a Marine recruiter yesterday afternoon. When he told me, I'm not gonna lie, my first reaction was complete and utter fear -the idea that my boy might ever be in harms way leaves me nauseous, with deep, sharp pains in my heart. Next, I was shocked and then pretty bent that he would do this without talking to his dad and I first. He went on to explain that he had only gone along for the ride with his best friend (who turns 18 tomorrow) to see the recruiter who had been "bugging him" to come in. Since he was there, the recruiter asked Andrew to take some sort of placement test, which apparently he scored well on, and then, as Andrew tells it, the guy says he can pretty much do anything he wants. *sigh* My boy is all about doing whatever he wants, so that must have been music to his ears.

I must say that, while I was irritated to hear about this "appointment" after the fact and that my mommy radar kept screaming that my kid was being taken advantage of, today, I realized that ultimately, when the time comes, the choice will be Andrew's. I love him beyond measure and have a profound pride that this tall gangly kid, who's smart as a whip (maybe too smart for his own good) is growing into an amazing young man. Yes, he's given his dad and I a pretty good run for our money these past few years and continues to present us with challenges as parents but he is a good boy and I am just going to pray that he makes well informed choices and keep the faith that God will be watching over him.

get out and VOTE!! -or shut your cake hole.

Pile your dishes in the sink, walk past that mountain of dirty laundry, wedge a hat down over your bushy old bed-head and GO VOTE!! Okay, so that's just my plan but cereally, people, if you don't get out and do the voting thang, I do NOT wanna hear ya bitchin when you aren't happy with what's going on -you vote, you can bitch all ya want. I am absolutely floored when I hear peeps say things like 'my vote doesn't matter', 'I haven't really been following things, I don't know what's what'. It grates on me, what a lackadaisical 'take care of me' society we've become, that people can't even be bothered to put out the effort to educate themselves on the issues that shape our future. It's not rocket science -crap, even my 14 and 17 year old boys know what's going on in the political arena {and yes, I'm disgustingly proud!}... it's not that hard, people!

Folks are expressing concern about having to {gasp} stand in long lines "just to vote" -yet (*irony alert*) those bellyachers are probably the same peeps who are willing to get up at 3am to {gasp} stand in mile-long lines, in the cold and dark, smashed against other crazies waiting to throw down over a good deal on the the latest greatest wii game. *gaah* I know lines are probably going to be long today (which actually, is a good thing, meaning that people are doing their part & having their say), so don't tell Clinton and Stacy, lest I end up on an episode of What Not to Wear, but I'm wearing my sweats and sporting my comfy tennies... yes, out. in. pub-lic. I'm gonna take a snack, because mama can't concentrate when her tummy is growling, a drink -let's hope this isn't the year they start making us take a breathalyzer before we vote! (kidding people, kid-ding!) and a book, which I probably won't even open because this will be a primo people watching opportunity! Yeah, I'm good to go.

Leafa McBirdie -out gettin me vote on! yeeee-ooow!

all is right with the world again

*sigh* I'm just so friggin happy right now, I'm almost afraid to jinx myself by sharing the news, but...

MY INTERNET IS *finally* GOOD AGAIN!!

{wOOt!}

my sooper-dooper hubs did a little research and found a new i-net company for us so we can finally dump HUGES (good for nothing) NETWORK -or as I've not so affectionately re-named them: HUGE NUT WART. admittedly, I know nothing about the intricacies that make the world wide web work but I do know that when I pay for something it had better freakin GO... HN had trouble with that concept and well, bottom line? -they had really shitty customer service, plain and simple.

Our new provider is called 101 NETLINK and it's broadband wireless internet -so it's way faster and uh did I mention CHEAPER ?! -yeah, by about $15 a month! These guys came out tonight, after normal business hours, and got us all hooked up and yeehaw!, I'm good to go again! oh yes... I think this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship. *sigh*

someone needs to

confiscate this chick's bedazzler -and while they're at it maybe they can let her in on the whole 'less is more' concept when it comes to the green eye shadow. dayuum!


Guinness World Record holder for the 'Most Pierced Woman', Elaine Davidson, poses for a photograph in the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, Scotland showing some of her five thousand nine hundred and twenty piercings on May 16, 2008.
REUTERS/David Moir (BRITAIN)

lol! seriously, I can barely pull a sweater over my head without getting it snagged on an earring -I can't even begin to imagine what kind of damage this gal could do, ay-yi-yi. since I came across this picture my mind has been reeling with questions, like for instance:

* is she insane? because, if I was judging by that picture, I'd have to say 'hell yeah!'.

* how did she get started with the whole piercing thing? I mean, did she go in one day to get her belly pierced and think 'hey, that looks hawt! I'm gonna get my nipples done next!' and then the whole thing just spiraled out of control from there??

* I wonder what she looked like before she became a human pin cushion...

* I would NOT want to be stuck in line behind her going through airport security.

* can you imagine the poor chump who wakes up and sees that face on the pillow next to him each morning? it's like a nightmare that starts AFTER you wake up! -pffftt!

* I wonder if it's possible for her to sneak up on people -or do you think she jingle-jangle-jingles too much?

* I wonder what would happen if she got too close to one of those giant magnets like they have at a junkyard to pick up cars.

* they say she's got 5,920 piercings... I gotta admit I'm just a leeeetle bit curious about where they all are.

* she seems like she'd be the perfect poster girl for chronic infection.

* I know some people take their jewelry off before they go to bed -I'm guessing she's not one of them.

* I wonder how much all that stuff weighs (and does she wish she could take it all off before she goes to the dr. and has to step up on the scale?!)

* is she going to keep piercing until there's not a square inch of skin w/o a hole in it?

* why has no one done an intervention for her?

* I wonder how long it will be until the center of her tongue falls out -with all those holes in there it's got to be just a matter of time.

it's not easy being green

It might be more accurate to say, 'it's not easy finding green'. Who knew finding the right shade of paint could be so dang hard?! GAAH! It's no secret that green is my favorite color; it's the color of springtime, renewal... money! heh heh heh ...that said, I decided green would be the color for my craft room/studio/office -or as it's come to be known lately, the place I plant my fat ass and surf the web. It's true, I haven't been feeling all that crafty lately, thus the reason for the room makeover. I figure, maybe, with a fresh, clean, spunky room, inspiration will strike ~or~ at the very least, I'll have a spiffy new room to bunk in once my hubs gets fed up with my 'projects'. LOL

My search for the perfect green started out at the local paint store where I spent a good long time gathering paint chips and with my hands full of every color from 'tropical grass' to 'zippidy doo dah' (yeah thats really a color!) I flashed a smile at the paint gal and headed out the door with a promise to be back soon.

After coming home and taping several paint chips up on the wall, I thought I had a pretty good handle on what I wanted; something fresh, maybe even a little bit unexpected but not too over the top. I want the ho-hum blah ...ness to be replaced by a shot of enthusiasm, but I don't want to have to bust out the shades to enjoy it. Should be easy enough, yes? Uhm... No.

I'm no stranger to color. I've taken art classes, I know how the color wheel works -that blue and yellow make green... but this paint business -whew- it's so much more complex. There are blue-greens, yellow-greens, minty greens, pine greens, grass greens, soft greens, and the ever poplular, puke {or baby poop} greens... there are more, but I'm sure you get the picture. The first color I chose to sample was called 'Sunny Glade', a nice enough color but after a couple of days of looking at it on the wall, it looked too minty. Hmmmph. I really thought it was the one.

Meanwhile, while visiting my friend Wendall's blog (visiting/stalking, whatever! -you say potato, I say spud...) I got a look at her studio and BAM it hit me -THAT'S the green! I LOVE IT -it's perfect. So, I email and nag her and beg for all the paint details and being the soooper schweetie that she is {or maybe she was askeered that her freaky blog stalker had contacted her??} she climbed around under the stairs in her garage and came up with all the nitty gritty info for me. Happy-happy-joy-joy! She got it at Lowe's, it's made by Valspar, it's called Jalapeno Jelly ...etc. etc. etc. Well, we don't have a Lowe's within 100 miles of us but my local paint store carries Valspar so woo-hoo, I'm off to see the wizard!! No dice. Even with all the particulars, my paint gal doesn't have the right stuff to make the mix. We concluded that Lowe's probably has some exclusive colors from Valspar and, barring a 200 mile round trip, I was shit out of luck. *sigh* Back to the drawing board... I should mention also that I went to the Valspar website in hopes that I could eyeball the color on line and try to match it locally but the color they showed is NOTHING like what Wendall has -in fact she commented that if I got a can of that paint I shouldn't freak out until I saw it on the wall but what's on the website is definitely not a good representation of her paint. UGH! I'm tellin ya... paint is weird.

At some point in our "chatting" Wendall said she loves the color in her studio so much, sometimes she goes in there and wants to lick the walls -{who's the freak now?" LOL!} It doesn't surprise me though, because they're the exact same color as a granny smith apple -I'd probably be tempted to take a taste myself! ;) Soooo... with that in mind, bright and early the next morning I stopped by the grocery store and bought the yummiest granny apple I could find and headed for the paint store. The gals all got a kick out of me standing there matching paint chips up to my apple -lol! but hey, a gals got to do what a gals got to do, right?

I came home with 2 different quarts of paint -both of which are perfect matches to my granny apple. The first one, unfortunately named 'Asparagus', is a deeper green, like you see when you look down by the apple's stem, the second color, called 'Olive Garden', is a bit lighter like you'd see on the sides of the apple. I have both colors up on the wall now and it's a toss up, I like them both. The lighter color is nice, kinda mellow but fun. The darker color, is bold and fun and it's definitely different than anything I would have chosen without benefit of seeing something similar in Wendall's studio. I admit, when I saw first saw it up on my wall, my first thought was how much it looked like baby poop -you know, like when they first start eating green beans? *gag* but after a couple of coats and a couple of days of curing, it's definitely the front runner -pffftt- no pun intended!
LOL! I just realized you can see my 'inspiration' apple on my shelf!

ADD, OCD ...call it what you will, I am the queen of distractions

So, a few weeks ago I finally decided to jump in and tackle the mess that has taken over my scraproom. I've been organizing and doing some hardcore purging, finally getting rid of tons of the 'really cool' stuff I just HAD to have over the years, but strangely, have never been compelled to actually use. There was a time it would have killed me to get rid of this stuff, but now, I'm sick of looking at it and trying to work around it -and I just want it gone. In a weird way, it's kind of exciting, even a little liberating, to be able to simplify and reclaim this room.

While changes are gradually taking place, and it *is* looking better in here, it's definitely been a sllllooooow process and my ADD keeps kicking into overdrive. I find myself slacking on the cleaning and skipping ahead to what I want to do next, which is ...PAINT! (pffftt! nevermind the fact that I still have a few odds and ends to finish up from my last painting project -but that's a whole 'nuther story...) I've been collecting paint chips and taping them up on the walls so I can get a look at the colors in the different light throughout the day. A few days ago I actually bought a quart of what I thought was going to be THE color and painted a patch of wall behind the door, just to test it out. Then, last night as I was putting on the second coat, I was kinda diggin it so I decided to paint a little more, ...and then a little more, so I could really get a feel for it... I ended up painting all around the door and a good portion of the wall... meanwhile, as that was drying, I was looking at all the paint chips again and found another color that I might like better, so I'll be getting a quart of that tomorrow -you know, just to make sure I end up with exactly the right color. *gaah* as if ADD weren't enough, now my OCD tendencies are starting to surface. Soon I'll be obsessing about being distracted ...all while I should be cleaning and organizing -it's a vicious cycle, I tell ya! *note to self: call pharmacy and refill meds.

(here's a little preview of color #1 -it's actually darker IRL)

I cereally drive myself crazy when I get hung up on stuff like this. Thank goodness Jack has pretty much learned to take my chaotic tendencies in stride -which is just one of the many reasons I keep him around. ;) He occasionally peeks in to check on my progress (or lack thereof) and usually aknowledges any changes with a quick smile and a nod and then he's gone -he's smart that way.

Hopefully, once the room is done, I'll find my mojo. It's been so long since I've done anything artsy-fartsy, I'm beginning to wonder if I even *gasp* want a scraproom anymore.

Seriously... it's ridiculous.

As of today, prices up here on the northcoast are $3.66 a gallon for reg. unleaded at Costco and a whopping $3.79 a gallon for reg. unleaded at the 76 station... GAAH! talk about depressing.

DMV -the great motivator??

hmmpf -who knew??

Last week I got a notice in the mail that it's time to renew my driver's license. Great, no problem, how much do I owe and where do I send the check? Uh... no. This time around, the department of motor vehicles requests my presence so that I may 1.) give them a thumbprint (no problem) B.) take a vision test (erm... sure, I guess) and 3.) update any information on my driver's license that is either invalid or incorrect.

Whoa there, back the truck up... now see, here is where I cringe because, other than filling out a form to change my name when I got married, I haven't been asked to update any of this info since I got my license at the tender age of 16... and uhm, let's just say, that was a long time and manymanymany pounds ago. UGH! Seriously, there is no freakin way I'm gonna put down my current weight -which, if you ask me, would be even more laughable than the (obviously incorrect) 120 lbs. that's listed on there right now! I guess the good news is, my hair is still (sorta) blonde and I'm still 5'-6" tall, my eyes are still blue... well, maybe a little more green than blue... but I can live with that.

*sigh*

I've never been good at 'dieting' but since I opened that letter last week, I've been on a mission to lose as much weight as I can before April 23rd! I've never thought of myself as a particularly vain individual but you had better believe that the next time I get carded ...well okay that never happens anymore, but the next time I have to whip my ID out to prove I'm me, the number that's on that little card will be a lot lower than the one that was on my scale last week!

Jesus take the whee-eeeel...

'cuz if I'm driving, I just know I'm gonna get a ticket! Wooo-dawgies!! -this baby is soooo much fun to drive!















For the past few months we've been toying with the idea of getting a car that's easier for Pop to get in and out of than having to climb up into the Tahoe, we were also hoping to find something that would get better gas mileage since I do so much driving with taking the kids back and forth to school and running Pop to all his appointments. This week we finally started searching. Monday we looked at Malibu's but they were a little too small. We found a decent Impala but the salesman was a pud... we went to another car lot and met a really great salesman but they didn't have anything on the lot that we liked. *sigh* So last night Pop finds an add in the paper for an '08 Impala SS -fully loaded, with a 'too good to be true' price. Just for kicks I called the lot this morning and the car was still there so we took a drive up to see it. We hopped in and took it for a test drive and about an hour later we were signing papers and driving it off the lot!

I was a little bit late to pick the kids up from school, but the look on their faces when I pulled up was priceless! We had to sit in the parking lot for a good 10 minutes while they played with the XM radio and opened and closed the sunroof -lol! LOVE LOVE LOVE the new car smell! The little monsters are already begging me to take them to school in the new car tomorrow morning ...my poor Tahoe is gonna think I don't love it anymore!

'cuz my horror-scope says so...

February 23, 2008
Taurus (4/20-5/20)
Why not put yourself first, every once in a while? (pffft! yea, why not?!) Your happiness should be your first priority, today. (heh heh heh, today and everyday!) After all, if you aren't happy in your life, how can you be a good sibling, friend, partner, or employee? (...that, my friends, is the $64,000,000 question.) You shouldn't get lazy about fulfilling the obligations you have to other people, but you should feel free to cut yourself some slack. ( for the record, I have no problem with cutting myself some slack... some might even say I'm *quite* the slacker!) This is a good day to spend on 'you.' (...it really *is* all about me!) Do what you need to do as early as you can and spend the rest of your day exploring things that interest you. (:sigh: somedays it's just so hard being me -lol! )

and then there were none...

Sickness has taken over my house. I started the ball rolling more than a month ago with a cough/cold that seemed to drag on forever -the cough, although not nearly as bad as it was, is still hanging on. Since then, all three of the kids have come down with some variation of cough/fever/headache/earache. I swear I've bought so much cough/cold medicine these past few weeks, the feds are probably watching to be sure we're not running a meth lab.

As if that weren't enough, Jack came home from work last night, hacking and complaining about having the chills... he stoked up the fireplace until it got so hot I thought the house would melt.

We've all had spells where we've felt better and then just as quickly we're laid out again. It makes me wonder if we have more than one strain of bug and are just passing them around like some big cootie swapmeet. *sigh* Lysol is my friend.

I have this image in my mind from the movie ET, where all the vans come screeching up to the house and men with masks and white bio-hazard suits jump out and seal up the house-only this time they're at my house and they're packin a big ol' QUARANTINE sign to slap on our door.

It can only get better, right?! :)

Taking care

Being sick sucks. I rarely get so much as the sniffles, so this cold, or whatever it was, really knocked me for a loop. It started Christmas Eve and has been hanging on for what seems like forever. A couple of days ago, I finally called and made an appointment to see the doc, which was not easy since my (former) doc has up and left her practice and left me high and dry w/o a provider. Anyhow, I asked around and got a recomendation and called for an appointment. Wouldn't you know, the day I called, I started to feel better (figures doesn't it?!), and by the time I went in today, all that was left is a little bit of a tickly cough. *SIGH* Nothing much she could do really, but she did give me some freebies of some antihistamine -YAY for freebies!!- and away I went. She prolly thinks I'm a weenie-hypochondriac coming in for some wimpy little cough -but it had been a bad cough, I swear! lol! All in all, I'm glad I went in. I've been needing a new doc and this gal was great -totally felt comfortable with her and helloooo... she gave me FREE stuff!! :D I also got back on track with my other meds, which is such a relief, maybe now I won't feel like crying at every Hallmark commercial.

I also went to see my chiropractor today -I threw my back/hip out a couple of days ago and was just going to try and deal on my own but after all my back problems last year I decided that the sooner I deal with it, the better off I'd be. It's hard to shell out that money -especially right after the holidays when $$ is already tight, but it was so worth it. I'm a little sore tonight but I've been using my ice pack and I know tomorrow will be better. :)

After my crazy day of running around, I'm feeling so good about what I accomplished today. I'm not one for making New Year's resolutions but I did decide I'm going to be better to myself this year and today was the first step. Tomorrow, maybe I'll think about getting on the treadmill. PFFFT! ...and then the day after that, maybe I'll actually do it! lol I have about 30-35 pounds draggin me down. I know it's gonna take some time... which is hard for me because I'm such an instant gratification kinda girl, but even if I gotta take baby steps, at least I'm moving in the right direction!

Rain, Rain...

Lots and lots of rain and wind hitting us here in northern California this week -little bit of localized flooding but so far, nothing major. We lost power this morning, but only for a few minutes... just long enough to have to re-set all the clocks! We haven't had to use it yet, but thank goodness we finally have a backup generator -a Christmas gift from Pop :) in case power goes out for long periods of time. I can't imagine what it would cost if we had to replace everything in our fridges and freezer!

no matter

how many times I check my calendar, it still says that Christmas is only a week away! AAAACK! I'm nowhere near ready!

ready or not... here it comes!

a bit of closure

Mom's funeral was simple but beautiful. My Aunt Phyllis played the organ while she and my Uncle Darrel sang a duet. Uncle Darrel also sang a solo that was incredible. It's hard to believe he's 80 years old -he's definitely still got it goin on -lol! Mom didn't want flowers -just a single rose upon her casket. I got her a beautiful orange-ish rose with a bit of greenery -it even smelled pretty!

After the service we drove in procession behind the hearse to the cemetery. I was touched to see the respect that folks in the south still show by pulling off to the side of the road -even the on-coming traffic pulled to the shoulder and stopped. One man on the opposite side of the road even took his hat off -now that's class! :)

We weren't at the cemetery all that long. The pastor read a few passages and a poem, said a prayer and it was time to go. At that point, my Uncle Darrel handed me the rose from on top of my mother's casket and said 'for peace' -it was a gesture of kindness I'll remember forever.

From the cemetery, we all headed back to the house -which is probably no more than a mile away. Our friends Mindy and Anne had gone ahead after the service to get everything set up for lunch. They were such a help -really, really good people! When we got back to the house, Aunt Ruby put Mom's rose in a pretty little vase to show it off. There was tons of food and of course, sweet tea. As we ate, we looked at pictures and swapped stories about what a great gal my mom was. It was a nice afternoon.

That evening, my Uncle Bob's family came into town and stopped by for dinner. They were on their way back home to upstate New York, after spending a week at their place in Florida (must be nice, eh? lol!). We had a huge dinner of BBQ chicken and leftovers from earlier in the day and of course, we did some more reminiscing about my mom. One thing I've noticed about folks in the south... when someone dies, everyone starts cooking, food gets delivered to the family and then then they eat and eat and eat and EAT -lol! Seriously, I've never seen anything like it!

After dinner when it was a bit cooler out, I took a walk up the road to see Mom one last time before my early morning flight back to California. I think that was almost more difficult than her funeral. Needing to let go of some of my grief, I sat down in the grass and had a good cry. Finally, in the twilight, I stood up, brushed myself off, laid the rose at her grave and said goodbye.

It's been a good day :)

Went to church this morning and then to Sunday school with my Aunt. When my mom was well she used to attend the same class so, many of ladies knew her and offered their condolences -so sweet. Throughout the morning, many other people flagged us down and expressed their sympathies, as well -my mom would have been touched to know how many people cared about her.
Aunt June and I went shopping this afternoon and bought the plates and napkins for the get together they're having here after Mom's funeral tomorrow. I know my mom wouldn't want everyone to be mourning -at least not in the typical sense -so we bought pretty, floral plates and bright orange napkins (orange was her favorite color). We also found some mints -like the kind you get after a meal in a restaurant- in bright yellow packages with a smiley face on them. Now, you might think that's sort of tacky but my Mom would have laughed -she would love the idea that we're celebrating her life and the fact that she's no longer held back from all the things she loved to do. Kind of the 'Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happended." philosophy, I guess. We're also going to put out a bunch of pictures and snapshots for people to look at. I wish I'd thought to bring some of the pictures I have, from home. But then again, it isn't really one of those things you think about when you're packing at a moments notice, y'know what I mean? *sigh* Oh, well.
While we were out, we bought a bunch of thank you notes, too. I'm sure I'll have permanent writers cramp by the time I'm done thanking everyone for everything. Anyway, this paper shop has cards you can buy individually, in bulk. Such a cool way to do it. I got a ton of cards -I hope I can find enough room for them in my already over-stuffed luggage -lol!
Okay... enough slacking. I'm off to help clean up for tomorrow.

a debt of gratitude

Thank God for my family.
Making the arrangements for Mom's funeral has been a whirlwind experience. I've only been to a handful of funerals so I would have no idea where to even begin if it weren't for my Aunt June. She's handled just about everything and been a great help to me in the few tasks I've had to tackle. The funeral is on Monday morning at 10:30 followed by the burial and then everyone will come to the house. The cemetery is just down the road about a mile or so -easily within walking distance, so I'm sure my Aunts will visit her often. It might seem kinda weird but it makes me feel better knowing that she'll still be close by her family. From the cemetery I can see the trees at the bottom of my Aunts' driveway.
Today has been more normal... well maybe not "normal" but more calm I guess. Lots of phone calls and making lists of thank you cards to send. Making notes of who's who because I know I'll never be able to remember once I'm back home. One thing's for sure... there are lots of good people back here in TN.

I'm looking forward to getting back home. The kids have been having waaaay too much fun at the lake without me -hhmmmph! The temperature has been in the 100+ degree range -I'm NOT sorry I'm missing out on that! They tell me they've been riding dirt bikes early in the morning before it gets too hot, then heading down to the lake to wake board, ski and swim the rest of the day. I'm sure they'll all be little brown nuts by the time I see them next.

life could be a dream

sh-boom sh-boom...Ya-da-da Da-da-da Da-da-da Da

So... the weirdest thing happened to me today -it was a deja vu thing and it immediately made me think back to a time just after I'd had my first child, and I was learning to cope with the fact that I was now responsible for another human being. I remember having these crazy dreams where I was running around the house, in a hurry to go somewhere (because I am ALWAYS in a hurry) and in my rush, I'd hop in the car and speed off, only to realize I'd left the baby at home. I'd wake up in a cold sweat, my heart racing, tripping over myself to get to the nursery so I could be sure that it was indeed, just a bad dream and that my precious bundle was safely snuggled in his crib. One time I dreamt that I'd driven off and left the infant seat up on top of the car, with the baby in it -like it was just another one of those forehead thumping, 'gee, I know I'm forgetting something' moments.
As the months rolled by and I got more comfortable in my role as a mom, those 'oops I forgot my baby' dreams became less frequent and I went back to run of the mill dreams like the ones where I showed up at school and then realized I wasn't wearing pants...
So getting back to the point of this story, and yes, there *is* a point here somewhere... The AM routine around Rancho McBirdie can be a leeetle hectic -which is actually a gross understatement when you stop to consider that I have never been a morning person. I finally manage to drag me arse out of bed at about 7am -after no less than 3 warnings from the snooze alarm. I stumble downstairs to check that everyone's had breakfast, brushed their teef, packed a lunch, ...and put on pants. When we're ready to roll, Andrew is the first one out the door. He starts the car and warms it up for the rest of us. Kendall is next out the door and runs -knees and elbows flying every which way- to be sure she gets to the car before Matt, so she doesn't have to walk ALL THE WAY AROUND the car and sit on the {gasp} *OTHER* side. Matt schleps around to the other side with me. I hop in, get the i-pod tuned in, buckle up and once I hear Matt's door close, I proceed to turn the car around and head down the driveway. Ah... we're on our way, we're on time, life is good.

And then...

my phone rings.

Oh, yeah, uh-huh...it's Matt-man -the one who's right behind me in the backseat. He's always clowning around like that. I'm just about ready to ream him for wasting cell phone minutes - I mean c'mon! ...we're sitting in the same car, for pete's sake! But, something seems strange -I hear his voice on the phone, what I don't hear... is any sound coming from his spot in the backseat of the car...

GOODLAAAWD!

I slam on the brakes, sending the car into a pretty impressive skid down our dirt road and scream into the phone "OH. MY. GAWD! MATT?!! WHERE...ARE...YOU?!!" -at the same time, craning my head around to be sure he's not laughing his ass off at me for falling for another one of his pranks. By now the other two kids are looking around trying to figure out what the hell is going on -and: Hey! WHERE is Matt?!!

Ugh ...have I mentioned I'm not a morning person??

Headed downhill on a gravel road, it's nearly impossible to back up so Matt has to run down to the car. When he gets in, he's talking a mile a minute about being freaked that I would just drive off... We finally figure out exactly what happend and we all start to laugh. It seems that when Matt came around the car with me, rather than get in, he threw his stuff in, shut the door and ran off to feed his chickens -just took off, without saying a word. Kendall and Andrew were playing with their i-Pods (read: completely oblivious) and I just assumed, when I heard the door shut, that Matt had climbed inside. NONE of us realized he wasn't in the car until my phone rang!
AAAACK! I'll never get that Mother of the Year award at this rate!

I'm hoping my next deja vu has something to do with those dreams I have of winning the lottery! :D