Saturday, August 30, 2008

Minutes before the "Rostypus" bit the big one...




All I can say is WOW...

To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach out to others is to risk involvement.
To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self.
To place your ideas, your dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss.
To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To live is to risk dying.
To hope is to risk despair.
To try is to risk failure.

But risks must be taken,because the greatest hazard in life is to do nothing.
The person who risks nothing,does nothing, has nothing, and is nothing.
They may avoid suffering and sorrow,but they cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, live.
Chained by their attitudes, they are a slave,they forfeited their freedom.
Only the person who risks can be free
Thursday, August 28, 2008
I always know when Boo is spraying perfume or body spray in the bathroom... and she always thinks I am psychic when I call out that she needs to stay away from said perfume or body spray... Here's how it went tonight...

Me: What do I smell out there?

Boo: I dunno, my farts maybe?

Me: No, I smell perfume!

Boo: I don't know, I swear!

Me: ... And no it's not your farts I smell!

Boo: Well you will now.....

And with that, she ripped one off, giggled and left the room.

Who needs the Democratic National Convention, I ask you!?!?!?!
Although, I'm watching it like a "deer in headlights"... Thought Bill did better than his wife!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
The first full week of school for the girls... already Mimi is stressing herself out :) Piglet meet Eyeore... Eyeore meet Piglet... Their love child would be a worrying pessimist... Something I have seen in myself lately in fact... So we will work on it together... Advanced math... look out... Mimi's gonna kick your ass!

Watched Michele Obama last night... thought she did a nice job... Teddy K. looked great!!!
Really interested to see how genuine Hillary comes across tonight... and Bill... well... let's see if he can keep his foot out of his mouth tomorrow...

Had a hawk in my lilac bush yesterday morning... was so engrossed watching it... I never got a picture... neat to see... along with the humming bird that came to my back door a couple weeks ago... on some levels can't wait for the leaves to drop so I can see the cardinals again...

Went to Church again this weekend... and felt instantly welcome once more... the girls really want to get involved as well... they offer so much for all of us... so many ways to be part of the community there. I am joining a class there next month... the book we will be discussing is called Boundaries with Teens. Am also thinking that the class they offer called Good Sense (a guide to spiritual financing) would be a really good thing for me. Never been my strong suit. Never. Never. EVER... time to fix that too...

I don't know why I feel so excited about getting involved with this church. I think that for many years I have been searching to fill a void that could not be filled by any one person or even a group of people... It just feels that this is the time for this journey.
Monday, August 25, 2008
From the mouth of Boo...

"is that Veet stuff in the bathroom soap?"

"um, no it's for hair removal..."

"oopsy... it works really well, my hands are really smooth."
Friday, August 22, 2008
Heard something interesting today....

"I want to live a literal life... not a virtual one..."

In these new days of... facebook, dogbook, twitter, my space, etc...

I know I am immeshed in technology... texting, voicemail, email, RML, blogging...

Live a literal life... connect with people... it will be much more satisfying...
Thursday, August 21, 2008

Sober and Loopy... TOO much driving...

At any rate... I am very well informed today... almost 500 miles of driving for work today... Point A to point B and back to A again...

And... since I can't update my Zune... I listened to NPR as I drove through Indiana... I love NPR... the cure for common road rage...

But it got me thinking...

  • John McCain... really??? If I had 4-7 houses , dude, I would know where each and every one of them was... not to mention keeping count of how many I have... sucks to be you... I think you are out of touch with the Target/Walmart shopping masses...

  • There are people who are against charging for plastic garbage bags and cutting down on their impact in land fills... one guy, in Seattle of all places, said he "always uses them again around the house and that was, like you know, recycling"... um hello... where do the bags go after you use them Dumas???

  • Russia ~vs~ Georgia... The smackdown... The more I listened... the more confused I became... I mean... South Ossetia wants to be Russians again... how come? Genocide seems like a pretty good jumping off point...

  • George is an idiot (okay, I already knew this)... it's called Checks and Balances you big jerk... in George's World... the Executive Branch has all the mojo... and, well ,those other branches are just eye candy... might as well just put the Constitution in the bottom of the birdcage... cuz I am pretty sure that George's intepretation is not what the Founding Father's had in mind...

  • Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Speech... Random House has pulled publishing a book that they feel would offend Muslims around the world... and while I respect that our rights and beliefs are not those of the masses... before 9-11 they would have published it... Remember Satanic Verses?

Okay... maybe I am more informed... I did not say that made me any smarter...

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Random Thoughts

Isn't verdant a great word?
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Boo and Mimi went to the Dentist yesterday... both did well... however...

Both need some form of Palate Expansion... and Emma will need braces for her overbite (this may have been the other reason I was "crying" during E.T. :)

Mimi was/is a thumb sucker (and you just can't cut off a thumb)... but Boo was a "Paci" girl, and she outgrew it by age 2 (okay, she sucked a hole in it and we had a funeral)... so there did not appear to be a reason for Boo to have a narrow palate as well.

The dentist explained that Chronic Allergy kids are mouth breathers for the most part... and by doing so the tongue is not up against the roof of the mouth (where it is most of the time when the mouth is closed) helping to keep the palate expanded and moving in the right direction...

So... we see the Orthodontist next week... dentist gave me a name in our town, but he really liked the work done by another a couple towns over... so I made an appointment. Will be sure to photo journal all this... you can be sure... not to mention enjoy the lisps from the expanders immensely!!
Monday, August 18, 2008

Let the School Year begin

The girls go back to school tomorrow... 2nd grade for Boo... 6th grade for Mimi (Boo nick-named her)... Backpacks filled to the brim with supplies... clothes picked out... they even got a piece of cake leftover from "Dessert Sunday"...

We watched "E.T." (linked it in case you have lived the last 26 years under a rock) and it made me cry like every other time I have have seen it.

Mimi will have to get up at 6am... her bus comes at 7:20... she is a beast in the morning... I can't wait for this!!

Have a pot of coffee ready to go and the fixins for cornmeal pancakes and turkey bacon...

Will keep you posted.

Fuming turned into pondering...

A word (or two) about the picture in my header.

I was walking down Lombard Street in San Francisco. Admiring the wonderful Hydrangea and gorgeous Fuscia... I have walked it before. A couple times when we had been out there visiting... the flowers always got me... at the bottom of the stairs I noticed the most gorgeous rose... a perfect bloom... so I stopped to take a picture...

Just as I was snapping the digital... I heard someone snidely yell out from their minivan... "Stupid bitch... you would think she'd never seen a rose before"... Laughter... "Yeah... look around you lady"... I turned around to see a van full... the driver was an older adult woman... she was laughing looking at me.

I was so angry... I wanted to shout after them... "beauty is in the eye of the beholder you know"... and... "if I don't want to look at frickin' Alcatraz I don't have to"...

I think of that needless act of intrusion every time I look at my photograph... But it has made me realize something else...

We all have things we get excited about... different things... we are all entitled to find those moments that make us giddy over the little things... the minutiae...

I have not always been kind or accepting in those moments for others... giggling in disbelief... being overly dismissive...

But I plan to try really hard to let others enjoy the discovery of their perfect rose blossom.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
A better post than the last one.

The girls and I went to church today. Community Christian. A friend of mine attends there. She has been trying to get me to go with her for over a year.

My experiences with organized religion:

As a little girl my grandmother and I went to Easter and Christmas services at the small Protestant chuch in her country mountain town. I still know the hymns... they make me smile... but I never felt a connection... a sense of faith or spirituality.

When I was married... I felt that sense of Christian community was missing... we found a little Methodist church... The Blue Haired Brigade was so unwelcoming... so political... so judgemental... but we got involved... Family nights, pot lucks, giving back to the community... and the little old grannies fought long and hard against youth, family and change... I watched them push family after family out... and again... something was missing... all they talked about was money... and bickered about the contempory flavor of the service... they pushed and pushed... and got rid of the pastor they did not like... we followed soon after. Spirtually disillusioned. Sad and empty.

Today was a wonderful service. Full of music, warmth and welcome... The girls had a good experience too. Lauren went to the Second Grade Youth room... took some back rubbing and a few tears... but she loved it. They got to see the pool baptisms up close... They listened to Bible stories... they played...She made a friend... She wants to go back next week.

Emma did not want to go to the Junior High Student Community today (StuCo)... she came to the service with me... she really liked it. She, too, wants to go back and try her room next week...
I felt very emotional listening to the service, the stories, the music... it felt good to be there... it felt like something, someplace that I want to be a part of... maybe even find that sense of faith... who knows...
I feel so violated.

Today my car was broken into. He tried to take my GPS.

And no... I had not locked it... I know, I know, I know... and considering how I feel now... every lock in the house and on the car will be engaged from now on.

The police said to keep my GPS in the house for now... and hide it if I put it in the car... even the suction cup holder that goes on the window... they said that a window can be broken quickly and easily and that locking the car is not enough... a hard life's lesson.

Luckily my neighbor saw and screamed like a banshee... so he dropped my GPS and ran... one of my other neighbors followed on foot to tell the police where he went... but lost him...

The police came and fingerprinted everything... for about an hour... and now I have to go down to the station to give them "elimination prints" so they can remove my fingerprints from the mix...

I just feel crawly that somebody touched my things...
Saturday, August 16, 2008

Peep Show... just tickles me...


Even though I know Summer is coming to an end... which means Winter is on it's way...

I am excited to see Fall once more... every year since I have moved from the East Coast I optimistically hope for a New England Autumn full of Sugar Maple color... this year will be no exception...

The start of school for the kids, Labor Day, Halloween and Thanksgiving... Scarecrows... wreaths of leaves and dried flowers... blankets on the couch... watching the new season of something or other...

Brisk evenings, where the wind whips up the leaves and there is a sound in the air that just says Fall is here... I am ready.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Bella, Bella, Bella


Her new thing is to eat loaves of bread... whole, partial, the heel... Three times the charm...

The first time she ate the heel and neatly removed it from the bag...

The second time she was left in the evening after the kids fed her, let her out and left her penned in the kitchen... I, myself, was stuck in Newark in the airport longer than I had even thought I would be... so when I got home at 1:30am... she proudly showed me the tattered light bread bag she had demolished (as well as eating the remaining half of the loaf)... kept watching her expecting her to get sick... but no... iron constitution... and everything moved along without incident...

The third time (today)... I had a new loaf out on the counter defrosting from the freezer... we left her for an hour and she fininshed off all of the bread and half the bag in the process...

Not sure where we are going to put bread and muffins etc. in our counter and cabinet deficient kitchen... but no more baked goods left out any more...

She really is a good girl... she does not chew on furniture or shoes or the girls toys... so I should count my blessings... and of course will wait anxiously to make sure this last bit of plastic passes.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Gotta love Elizabeth Bennet

My word for the day is taciturn... Emma is on a Jane Austen kick...