Friday, May 29, 2009

Wheels

I am going car shopping this weekend! We have GOT to get another car because I have places to go and things to do and its hard to get the car with teenagers in the house. I don't want to spend the summer sharing a car with 2 teenage boys. It's hard enough to share with one! Gimme patience!

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Summertime

It's Memorial Day Weekend. Where I grew up that was the beginning of summer! The community pools opened (no one had private pools) and we were all there Saturday morning waiting for the lifeguard to come open up at 10am. The water was cold but we didn't give a hoot. It was summertime! Mothers would come down with sandwiches and command us to come out and eat a few hours later and then we'd get back in the water until closing. Sunday we did it all again! and Monday we'd be there first thing because we didn't have all day. We were going to be dragged out of the pool soon to be taken to a parade and then BBQ. Honestly, we just wanted it to be done with to get back in the pool. I mean the parade was nice and the food was good. But we couldn't wait to be handed our popsicles that we ate walking back to the pool. It would melt and drip all down our arms but we didn't care becasue we were going to jump in the pool to clean off.

After the first week we slowed down a bit and only went to the pool after lunch. All the moms took the babies in the morning. They were everywhere. Don't jump over here because of the babies. Children stop splashing like that you are gong to drown the babies. They would get on our last nerve. So, we gave them the pool in the morning and took it over in the afternoon. Now, when I say took over I mean took over. This was a very large pool, it was for an entire community but we monopolized it in the afternoons and played Marco Polo and had relay races and diving competitions and who can make the biggest cannonball splash competitions and who can keep their legs straight while doing a handstand under water competitions and on and on.

Before lunch it depended on which mom was watching us what we could do. One mom made us read. She made us read real books the funny papers didn't count. Ugh! It was horrible. And she knew all the books and would ask you things about it to make sure that you had actually read. Awful. Another mom would let us just watch TV and play quietly. We just had to be quiet because she was always tired (in my adult years I realize now she was always hung over). The girls would play Barbie and the boys would play GI Joe. It would all be good until the boys invariably launched an invasion on the Barbie townhouse and we'd scream and get kicked out fo the house to go be outside. Another mom didn't want us underfoot and we had to be outside and getting fresh air. So, we'd be on the playground or we'd play baseball using trees and shrubs as bases.

Summers were great. The morning set depending on the mom in charge, afternoons in the pool until sundown and then stay up late because who needs to go to bed early in the summer. NO ONE, there's no school! I wish I could do some of that again. Those were the days, the lazy days of summer.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Pretty in Pink

I like color. I realize that you wouldn't know it anymore looking at my wardrobe or honestly even looking around my house. Hubby isn't as into color as I am and therefore most of the house just blends together but that's another story.

I started thinking about color again a while back when sitting at a restaurant for breakfast a woman more robust than I walked in chatting happily with some friends, I guess. She was wearing a pink dress and strappy sandals. When I say pink, I mean hot pink, really bright hot pink. The dress was made of a jersey fabric that didn't flow but was clinging to her rotund body pronouncing all of her rolls and I have no clue how she didn't topple over or cut off her circulation with the straps that were cutting into her ankle and her feet and toes pouring over the poor soles. I watched her walk in and not fit into the booth she was directed to and ask for a chair to be set at the end of the booth. She sat at the end, her friends sat on either side of the booth.

I was a tad dumbstruck not at her size but at her attire. I couldn't imagine wearing that. Then I looked around and most of the patrons were pretty colorless. There was one floral print but even that was toned down with a lot of pastels. Then I thought - this is sad! I used to wear those colors. I even asked hubby, Remember the suit I had that was that hot pink color? He did. I wore that suit, a long sleeve jacket and short skirt that was hot pick. The jacket had big gold buttons and I wore it with a silk scarf that was a floral print with hot pink, royal blue and very bright green.

That made me think of other colors I used to wear. There was a killer red suit with black and gold buttons and a yellow suit that I probably could have worn for Halloween to be a sunflower. I had a royal blue dress that had a full flowing skirt and I even used to wear a dress that was purple with white polka dots. I had lots of color. It all went away. I'm not sure when exactly but I think it had to do with my weight. So, in an attempt to remedy that because color makes me happy. I have purchased a few items with color. I bought a pair of crop pants in not black but BROWN! and I bought some tops, brown, grey, red, light pink and I even bought a pink pullover. It's not hot pink, I'm ready for that but it's not a pastel either. I also bought a pair of brown sandals. Hey, baby steps people. I am going to get color back into my life.

I am even discussing paint colors for different rooms in the house with hubby and well you already know the car we bought is not white as most of our cars have always been but Glacier Blue with a grey interior.

So, look out people, here comes some color!

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Wait! It's raining!

As you know I didn't grow up here in South Florida where during the rainy season it rains every afternoon. I grew up in Northern Virginia where you know weather sticks around for a few days and then goes on to harass some other part of the country.



I would visit Miami in December and be told not to wash my hair because it's too cold outside. HUH? Are you crazy? Does that mean that half the world doesn't wash their hair for half the year? In Virginia I could shower, bathe and wash my hair regardless of the temperature outside.



When I moved here way back when and I used to take a bus to work. This was nothing new to me I commuted to high school on public transportation taking 2 buses and a subway. No biggie. One day I am leaving the office and go through the doors of the building to find a mass of people standing there. Just standing there. I thought something had happened, so I patiently waited for maybe 3 minutes. When I couldn't hear anything going on I asked, What happened? It's raining I was told. HUH? And did someone fall? No. What's everyone waiting for? It's raining, I was told again. They were waiting for it to stop. HUH? Now, I realize that we aren't all postal workers or anything that must go on through rain, sleet and snow yadda yadda but people it's water. It's not going to hurt you unless of course you are the Wicked Witch of the West, if that's the case by all means wait inside until the rain passes. I elbowed my way to the front of the crowd and horror of horrors walked in the rain to my bus stop. Imagine. I did not melt or burst into flames.



Now, I told you all that to tell you this. Last night was my coffee night with my girlfriends and only 3 of us showed up. Why? Because it was raining. Here we go again. You aren't walking over, you are driving in your car where you will be inside dry. I understand that maybe you want to wait a few minutes if it got particularly rough in your neighborhood momentarily. I mean I have been living here for +20 years, I've heard the rain excuse before. So, we waited and waited and they didn't show. Amazingly one, God Bless her!, got in her car (remaining dry because she has a porte-cochere) and got @15 blocks when she decided to turn around and go home. She called to tell us that she turned around because it was raining too much and there were puddles everywhere. I had no words. I could only laugh. I doubt we will ever let her live it down. I can hear us 20 years from now when it starts to sprinkle "Be careful with the puddles!"



I've said it before and I will say it again, you can't make this stuff up! I love my friends they add confort and joy to my life even when they don't show up for coffee.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

It's time.

16 and I had our first evening alone. I know we weren't alone we were together but you know what I mean. No hubby. He's never been on a business trip. I have. I have never been at home on my own for any extended period of time until now. I'm thinking it's about time. I did live by myself before we were married but that was a lifetime ago.


16 specifically asked me NOT to wake him in the morning. He says he looses approx. 3 or 4 minutes of sleep every morning because hubby wakes him up on the way to the kitchen. I agreed to let him get up on his own if he let me get up on my own. Cool deal.


I showered in the evening and so I was going to be able to sleep a little longer in the morning. I set my alarms for 6:15 and 6:30am. All's good. I easily went to sleep as usual around midnight and slept like a baby until... I dunno what time it was but it wasn't 6:15 yet!

This morning hubby's horridly loud alarm went off. I don't know what time it was because I don't sleep with my glasses on and couldn't see the clock. ARGHHH! I forgot to turn of hubby's alarm clock and it rang earlier than I needed, I smacked it on the top. Quiet, good, sleep. And it rang again. Oh, for the love of down pillows!, I banged it again. Quiet, good, deep breathe, try to sleep, and it rang again! Apparently, banging it on the top merely activates the snooze setting and it kept ringing every 9 minutes until I finally pulled the plug out of the wall. Ahhh, now I could sleep again. NOT! It was now actually time for me to get up because MY alarm now rang. Fine! Whatever! I was getting a headache anyway from all the alarms ringing.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

2-1/2 weeks

Hubby is jetting off to the Big Easy today for 2 1/2 weeks for work. I'm hoping that this time apart will bring us closer together. I already noticed a few things the past few days that make me think it might just happen that way. I don't know. We'll see. I have been scanning airfare to see if I can go up for Memorial weekend and maybe we could have a mini-vacation just the 2 of us. I don't know. We'll see. It's really not that long, 2-1/2 weeks.
When I told hubby that this time apart may bring us closer. He looked skeptical and I told him that old line that goes something like - If its love, set it free and it will come back to you- and he countered with - Out of sight, out of mind. We talked a little bit about it and I don't know, we'll see how things feel later, I guess.

I snuck in a List of Things To Do in his bag. I attached this list to a picture of the whole family from when we went to Key West last year. Here's the list.
1) Work lots and make lots of extra $. :)
2) Go sightseeing and find some places you want to show me.
3) Stroll Bourbon street, people watch and find a place to take me.
4) Try something new and tell me all about it.
5) Find and buy a birthday present for your wife.
6) Have FUN!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch I have an agenda full of things to do and I am trying to prioritize them and squeeze in some quality one-on-one time with 16. It's just the 2 of us and one car so we have to coordinate all our errands, obligations, responsibilities and socializing. It's the end of the school year for him so there are many events and projects and much studying for finals that's going on during this time.

It should be an interesting couple of weeks.

Monday, May 11, 2009

An Egg? Really?

Well, Hilda's question got me thinking. I have no clue why Humpty is an egg. I had never questioned it before. I simply accepted that Humpty was an egg. Why shouldn't I? The egg was everywhere. Were we all just brainwashed into thinking Humpty was an egg by some random artist and has this farce been perpetuated throughout the years by educators and publishers everywhere? The rhyme doesn't say anything about an egg. So, why IS Humpty Dumpty portrayed as an egg? Thank goodness for the Internet. I would have given up searching for the answer if I would have had to go through how many books trying to research the answer. Too much work. But after some simple surfing around, the short of the long of it is that it was originally a rhyming riddle and the answer is an egg. Cool. So, there you go that's why Humpty is an egg.

Click below for further info:

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1494/why-is-humpty-dumpty-portrayed-as-an-egg-even-though-eggs-arent-mentioned-in-the-nursery-rhyme

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Book review

I ordered the cutest book for my niece and my nephew. One arrived in the mail yesterday and I really like it. If either of them finds it interesting I will probably buy more of her books.

What REALLY Happened to Humpty? (from the files of a hard-boiled detective)

It's Mother Goose meets old school mystery and reads like a film noir short story that I think the kids will enjoy. Joe Dumpty, Humpty's brother, who was never Mother's favorite is the detective. He goes through questioning various nursery rhyme characters garnering clues and establishing a timeline. There are no muffins to be found because the muffin man is missing, every one felt the wind huff and puff, the 3 pigs newest house blew down etc etc. I think it's a wonderful story to introduce them to the mystery genre in a non-scary way. It even sets you up for future mysteries as Joe hunts that Mary keeps him busy finding her sheep.

Monday, May 04, 2009

Movie Review

This weekend our Netflix movie was There Will Be Blood. Let me start by saying that Daniel Day Lewis' portrayal of the turn of the century self-made oil man was tremendous. That's about the only nice thing I can say about the movie. It was terrible. It was 2 hours and 38 minutes that I could have spent doing something productive like sleeping or cleaning behind my refrigerator.

Let me try to elaborate. I hated the ending. The acting was good. The look and feel of the movie was good. I mean visually and not just the country scenery but even at the beginning when he is in the well digging and climbing in and out. I don't know how many minutes go by with not a word spoken just the sights and sounds of his daily work. Excellent, they've hooked me but honestly, I felt the story was lacking. It didn't flow. It was too disjointed for me. Not enough information was given. I actually turned to hubby twice and said I was confused and asked him a question and he would just answer I don't know making me frustrated with the film. I what I knew had to be towards the end there's a major scene and I am expecting more out of it as the camera starts to pan away and I exclaim - it CANNOT end like this!- right as the screen goes black. OMG! I totally hated the ending! Totally!
Don't spend any money on this, it will be on cable soon enough.
Next in the queue is: Quantum of Solace, the newest James Bond movie. What can I do? I have boys.

Friday, May 01, 2009

Cool Quotes

I discovered I always have choices and sometimes it's only a choice of attitude.
-- Judith M. Knowlton


I need to seriously work on an attitude adjustment. That's my weekend project.