Fashion Advice

I need some advice, so I need input from the tens and tens of people who read this thing.

I went through all the stuff for our trip and whoa, baby, I forgot how dressy everything is going to be. There's a "black tie" dinner AND an "after five" dinner. I was planning to wear my go-to gown, which really isn't a gown, to the black tie thing, but really it would be more appropriate for the after five thing. It's black, of course, longish but not long with a satin bodice and crepe skirt with a slit. It has a little jacket with a satin collar and cuffs and those see through sleeves.

I have a "gown" that's also black with a huge circle skirt that's sorta satiny. The top is velvet and it also has a satin collar and cuffs. The sleeves are three quarter length and there's this rhinestone jewel thingy on the neckline. Very fancy, I wore it to the Masterpiece Ball one year. We only go to this stuff in the winter and since I don't have a fur coat, I always want something with sleeves. Besides that, I'm past 40 and nobody needs to see that much arm in the winter (or anytime for that matter).

So here's my question. It's May. But it's cold in London. Is it too late to wear velvet? Or should I go shopping for a new "gown"? Which by the way, I would rather poke burning sticks in my eyes than do.

What do you think?

Help. Please.

On a Wing and a Prayer

I know I'm pretty much out of the norm in this little blogworld with my tv watching habits because I don't much like reality tv (and I must be the only person who's only seen Sex and the City once or twice). However, DOTR and I started watching Carrier on PBS this week. Wow, it's really good--a look at everyday life on the USS Nimitz on a six month cruise in the Persian Gulf.

Nobody in my family has ever been in the military, and DOTR only has one uncle who went to Vietnam but never, ever talks about it. So what I know about it is next to nothing. The Strategic Air Command is in Nebraska (they took President Bush to the bunkers there on 9/11), so I knew a lot of people in college whose parents were stationed there and they settled in Nebraska after retirement, including two of my roommates and my brother in law. But other than that, I'm clueless.

The stories are very compelling, especially when I see these kids the same age as the girls with huge responsibilities. They work really, really hard for not very much money. They describe being on a carrier as "one big floating high school" and "the closest thing to being in jail you'll ever experience". A lot of them are the only person in their families not on drugs or in jail. One girl from Athens, GA said her mom was a prostitute and her dad was a pimp, but her grandmother encouraged her to join the Navy. She's the same age as J1 right now, and she's basically an air traffic controller on the flight deck and has been promoted a couple of times. Another guy is a Marine and his parents left him at a carnival when he was three and he saw it as the only way to make something out of himself. It's interesting to see the huge melting pot living all together in tight quarters (looks like our high school, actually!)

Check it out.

http://www.pbs.org/weta/carrier/?campaign=pbshomefeatures_1_carrier_2008-04-30

Pack Man

Two weeks from today and we are off. DOTR drug out the suitcases last night (so unlike us...he is excited). The tickets came today, along with all our info. We had two dinner invitations from two of our favorite couples from the home office of the company sponsoring the trip, so that makes it soooo easy. They take us and they pay. Gotta love it.

So, since I didn't lose that 30 (or was it 50?) pounds I was hoping to get rid of before this big trip, I need to do a little shopping. ***Yeah, a winter wearing bootcut leggings will do that to you.*** I also had to give up on the mucinex everyday because I decided it might be good to sleep occasionally. Although I did get through most of the first and second season of "Once and Again".

And since I decided that my "colors" this trip are going to be navy and green (mainly because of my navy raincoat, navy umbrella and navy and green Lands' End tote), I'm thinking those black bootcut leggings are not going to work for me.

I have to drop off my dress and DOTR's tux at the cleaners, and find some new studs for his shirt. I have no idea what he did with them after the Pilgrimage party.***Yeah, 6 Cranberry and Vodkas will do that to you.***

Now....to find the adapter for our electronics. I have two or three for Europe, but it's been awhile since we've been to the UK.

Two weeks from today, I'm at the airport.

Oh boy.

Weekend Wrap up

We had a great weekend. DOTR planted a few more things and we had lots of rain yesterday. Seriously, our timing is never that good.

As much as I love Harry's Farmers Market and Trader Joe's, one of my favorite stops is Burger's Market. DOTR and I headed over there Saturday morning (after we marveled at J3's picture on the front page of the paper over and over again!). Burger's is one of those old fashioned country market places, tucked back on sort of an ugly little road. I always get all my pumpkins there, and everything is so cheap. They have gorgeous bedding plants, and a lot more variety than any of the nurseries around here. DOTR bought an enormous tomato plant and we got a beautiful yellow mandevilla (I've never seen a yellow one). We got a bunch of fresh fruit and veggies for about half of what it would've cost at Harry's. Next Saturday, the farmer's market is back on the square. DOTR is hoping the old guy who has great tomatoes is there (and that he's got a cold frame, or it could be awhile before we see him).

On Sunday, we buckled down after church and did a little maintenance work around here. I actually sat down and sorted four (yes, I said FOUR) huge laundry baskets full of socks. We got the storeroom ready in ancipation of the return of the college girls and all their crap. J2 has to be moved out on Thursday. J1 has until Saturday.

DOTR braved the rain and brought home some goodies from the annual Taste on the square (J4 was not deterred by rain at all, he and his buds ate Joe's Crabshack out of shrimp and crabcakes). Since I had just washed my hair, I wasn't interested in staying out in the rain all day--curly hair + rain = crap.

Here's a great article in this month's Atlanta Magazine about our little town. When I first moved here, I asked one of my friends if she thought it was weird that they just plowed down trees, threw up houses in the middle of nowhere and said "here, be a neighborhood". Because I did. She grew up outside DC in suburban Virginia, so it didn't seem so foreign to her. I hated living in a subdivision and sending my kids to a subdivision school (especially since we didn't live in the "right" subdivision).

So I always say that we moved from that to a "real" place. It's definitely not for everybody, but it's definitely us.

http://www.mariettaga.gov/news/docs/atlmag-mar042008.pdf

A Perfect Night

Well, another prom under my belt. It was a great night, and the tiny sprinkles fell for just a minute right as we were finishing up the photo frenzy.

J3 looked handsome and I think he had fun despite not knowing the rest of the group very well. Luckily, one of our neighbors and one of his baseball buddies were there, and he discovered that I was right. I told him he was just like his dad, and it wouldn't matter who he was with he'd find a way to have fun.

So this morning when he got home, I asked him how it went. He said, "about like I thought it would, and you were right--I can have fun with anybody."

Every year, the newspaper photographer takes a bunch of candid shots before the big group shot, and a few end up in the paper. While the girls have had their photos taken before and given their names to the photographer, none of them ever ended up in the paper. This morning we slept in, and when I went outside to pick up the paper, one of our neighbors had already stopped by. She slipped an envelope between our two wrapped newspapers with an extra copy of the front page....J3 was right there putting the corsage on his date. The group photo appears every year, but this year they actually did an article about how the tradition got started. (I tried to link to the story, but the link won't work--their website is not the greatest).

After we were done with the photo shoot, J2 and I headed home to DOTR's perfectly grilled Omaha steaks, yummy potatoes and salad. He was tired after all that cooking, so he crashed with the Braves while J2 and I went to the Square for the concert. J4 had been running wild down there since after school with his pack of 6-8 buddies. J2 and I wandered around talking to people, and we got fed at every stop. After the music ended, we gathered up J4 and went home.

The end of another perfect day.

Blast from the Past, Pt. 2

J2's Prom Pictures--I finally found some on the computer!

Traditionally, the Juniors go to the Garden Center for pictures.

The Seniors and their dates go to an historic house just down the street from the Garden Center. As long as I can remember, the owner has always invited the Seniors to come to her house and a photographer from the paper comes to take one big group shot that ends up on the front page on Saturday morning. (It's crazy, there are cars everywhere down the side streets and a policeman comes to direct traffic.)

Tradition is big in Blue Devil Land. The prom is always the last Friday in April and it's always at the Fox Theatre in the Egyptian Ballroom. This is not the case with the county high schools. They change locations and dates almost every year.

That's why I don't live in outer suburbia anymore.

My nephew, aka Rent-a-date.

This was the second year he went with one of J2's friends who didn't have a date. He went to school in Blue Devil Land from Kindergarten-8th grade, so he was happy to see all his old friends.

This is the pandemonium I was looking forward to missing this year. No such luck, since J3 is going with a Senior.

(Yeah, just like a tv show, it's not pretty behind the scenes).

And here they are, sans parental units, aka the paparazzi.

Blast from the Past

J1's prom pictures.....she looks so young!

Junior Year

Senior Year

NOBODY will have that color dress (umm, except your boyfriend's best friends' dates!)

I have to find some prom pictures of J2. I think they're all on her laptop....I might have prints I can scan around here somewhere.

Random Picture of the Day

Ever been on a Duck Tour? This was in Baltimore in 2004. DOTR loves to do the trolley tour to "get the lay of the land" whenever we go somewhere, but this was our first Duck Tour. I've tried to throw those quackers away a few times, but they always find their way out of the trash.

In Dublin, Fair City

DOTR has been singing this song incessantly for weeks. He learned it when he was in 2nd grade at his country school. He's very excited about going to Dublin....in three weeks. Yikes.

We're basically getting a flight to Dublin with a long layover in London for the seminar. We got a great deal on this hotel right in the middle of everything. We like the Marriott Renaissance hotels because most have some historic significance and probably would've rotted away if they'd not been taken over by a chain. We stayed at one in Charleston last summer and it was lovely.

Three days in Dublin, then on to London on Saturday. We get into Gatwick about the same time as most of the people coming in from the States, so we'll be picked up by the shuttles to the hotel with everybody else. Unlike everybody else, we won't be tired, so we'll get in an extra day of sightseeing before the first dinner.

DOTR hasn't been to London since we got engaged (24 years ago!). I went with the girls when they were in 6th and 8th grades, so it's been awhile for both of us.

Three weeks.

Tagged

I was tagged by Hair Girl to post 5 unimportant things about me. Should be a piece of cake.

1. Speaking of cake, I prefer pie. And I like cookies even better.

2. I'm a night owl. If I have to get up really early, it's easier for me to just stay up all night. Unfortunately, since J1 went to kindergarten in 1992, I've had to get up at 6 am. In 2012, when J4 graduates, I'm never waking up before 8 am again. In my life. (DOTR is the total opposite)

3. I never drank coffee (other than "socially", like with other moms at Cracker Barrel when the girls were in preschool) until J4 was born. Then suddenly I needed about a pot in the morning or I was unable to function.

4. I have naturally curly hair. I mean really, really curly. Nobody else in my immediate family has the slightest bit of wave or curl. The kids were all born with straight hair, but so far three of them got curls when they hit puberty.

5. Because I have naturally curly hair, it has rained on every important day of my life. Graduation, wedding, you name it. If my hair needed to look good, it rained.

I'm tagging anybody who hasn't already done this.

Random Picture of the Day

Blue Devil Land on the 4th of July.

Need I say more?

Finally, this Foodie Meme

Sorry, I've been so slow, WSU Laura.

1. What food do you consider the best “date” food? In other words, what meal or food item do you think is sexiest to eat in the company of someone you would like to look sexy around? Hmmmm, a date.....I guess I'd have to say the perfect steak and a glass of wine. But refresh my memory....what's a date?

2. What well-known person would you like to share a meal with—with or without clothing. (saying whether or not clothes are involved is optional). My favorite hottie, Howie Long, of course. I don't even care if he keeps his clothes on. I'm sure as heck not taking mine off. (I'll make steak.)

3. What does your perfect breakfast-in-bed look like? (Food AND the details, please. Candles? Music? Flowers? Hot tub? Dancing girls? My perfect breakfast in bed would be me being left alone until my eyes open all by themselves. Then I'm a sucker for a cup of coffee with vanilla creamer and an egg mcmuffin. Then I go back to sleep. Ahhhh, perfect.

4. What do you consider the best application of whipped cream to be? On the top of strawberries and pound cake. Yum.

5. Oh-God-No, Biff, the yacht is sinking! You are sent to the galley to retrieve the food. What luxury food items do you snatch first? The champagne? The caviar? Smoked Salmon? Truffles? Chocolate? Or something else? I'm with WSU Laura on this one, the freshly ground coffee. Otherwise, my butt is dragging.

Okay, all you foodies, I tag you. You know who you are.

FYI

To the person from London who found this site by googling "I used to hump my sister is this normal"

Ummm. No.

But thanks for playing.

(I guess calling Wednesday Hump Day brings some interesting traffic).

Again, Once and Again

Okay, I gotta get some sleep.

Now I remember one of the big reasons I never started watching those dvds. They suck you in and before you know it you have to watch "just one more" and then it's 2 am and you have to get up at 6. Since I'm not 18 with lots of time on my hands (ala J2's Grey's Anatomy marathon last summer), this is not a good thing. I'd better not even think about cracking open the West Wing set the girls got me for Mother's Day a couple years ago, or I may not sleep for a couple of months. Not a good thing to start on TV Turnoff week (not that we ever do, DOTR is addicted worse than anybody in the house--silence in a room drives him crazy).

Back to Once and Again. This show came on in the 1999-2000 season. That's not that long ago for me--in fact my life isn't a whole lot different now than it was then. But it's hilarious to watch some of the everyday things that are long gone. The kids in a video store picking out VHS tapes. The huge cordless phones, and also a few phones with cords (do they still make these?) Making a big deal out of having cell phones, and always having a bad connection. No caller ID. There's lots of phone drama on this show, which doesn't happen anymore because everybody has their own phone. No busy signals, no holding the phone while I take it upstairs. I have no idea who is calling/texting/facebook messaging, etc. anybody around here!

I really want the third season, but I don't think they ever released it. J1 and my oldest nephew were in early HS then (I think that Evan Rachel Ward is the same age as J1) and I remember thinking that they just nailed everything about it. The parents totally clueless that Eli is a pothead, they have no idea what's going on with their kids but they think they know. Their suppositions are entirely wrong and it's so funny to see what's really going on opposed to what they think is going on. J1 was very open about what was going on at school, with info straight from a girl on the cheerleading squad who knew absolutely everything about everybody, so I always had a good idea what was what. Unfortunately, about 90% of the parents have no clue. I've learned to be a good snooper with J3, or I'd be in the same spot as the parents in this show.

Actually, I don't think this show looks too dated, with the exception of the high waisted pants. I've also noticed this on some of the reruns of CSI's first season. Their pants look like they're up to their armpits! And the final thing I noticed--getting coffee and muffins in the bookstore. Like, wow, what a concept, Judi! Who'd ever think of that?

This was less than ten years ago.

Amazing.

Say What?

This always cracks me up. One of my neighbors has this license plate on his car:

CME2P

Can you guess what he does?

Uh Oh

J3 got asked to prom. By a senior.

Actually, it's one of J2's friends and she doesn't have a date. My nephew pulled date duty for J2's friends the last two years because he moved to 'pert near Alabama after middle school, but this girl is a tuition student from the county and didn't come until 9th grade, so she didn't know him (or I'm sure he would've been happy to go to Blue Devil prom one more time with his friends!)

I was so looking forward to taking a year off from all the hoopla (I especially didn't miss looking for a dress everytime I walked into a store). Now we have to get a tux today because J3 has a baseball game every night this week. And the prom is on Friday.

I guess I don't get a break from the prom until about 2012.

Yikes.

Once and Again

Last night, suffering from allergy med induced insomnia, I decided to watch my "Once and Again" dvds. I haven't even opened the second season, I think because I was still in mourning. This show got cancelled in 2002 and this is the first time I've been able to sit down and watch it without feeling sad that it's gone.

All you "Brothers and Sisters" (by the same producers as "thirtysomething", "Once and Again" and "My So-Called Life") fans will be glad to know that I haven't started watching it--political bickering drives me crazy, so it totally turned me off--so it's safe from the kiss of death.

So with all the gardening, housecleaning, organizing and laundry I really need to be doing, all I really want to do is sit on the sofa and watch 44 episodes of a tv show that was on 9 years ago.

Sad, isn't it?

Smarty Pants

I really have no idea what I was complaining about. J1 is a financial genius.

First, she overdrafts her account and gets $175 in fees for $40 worth of purchases. Her father puts money in her account to cover her purchases and fees. She then gets reimbursed by her sorority for all the purchases and then some (stuff for greek sing). The bank then removes the fees because everytime she does this, we try to get her account set so that when she tries to take money out when she doesn't have it, it will decline her request rather than granting it. The branch manager looked through her notes and saw that after repeated requests that it had never been done, so she waived the fees.

She does not respond to repeated emails and phone calls from her father, and I'm sure by the time she comes home in two short weeks, all the reimbursed money, all the clean up her mess money, and any other money that comes her way will be long, long gone.

Genius, I say.

DONE!

Thank goodness. My neck, back and shoulders are killing me.

I just had to put out a big mailing for one of our customers that entailed touching each piece at least 4 times. First I had to put mailing labels and return address labels on all the envelopes. Then I had to get together all the pieces and parts for the folder (medical info sheet, rate sheet, enrollment form, dental flyer, business card in the invisible little slits), then pack into envelopes with a letter. Then I had to fold and tape the tops of all envelopes. Then because we don't have a mail machine, I had to put 3 41cent stamps and 1 26cent stamp on each envelope. 340 times. My quality control wasn't so hot because I found 11 envelopes that I forgot to put the letter in (which is why I checked). Obviously, I would not be good at repetitive factory work.

Why didn't I touch each piece just once, you ask? Actually, I think it takes longer but I have no proof. It just seems more tedious and I tend to start spacing off and then I start screwing up. We used to have to put out the ballpark newsletter (back in the day before it was all online) and we had coupons from sponsors, etc. and I would always get messed up. After awhile I would put on the wrong stamps or forget the coupons. Short attention span. When I'm folding clothes, halfway through I always get the piles mixed up. I have no idea why, but I always do this. Dyslexic laundry folding at its best.

Yesterday while I was slaving away on my mailing, DOTR was home with 4 Mexicans he picked up at the Krystal just off the Square (yes, I know it's illegal to pick up day laborers, but it was that or put out 200 bales of pinestraw ourselves). Of course he is again suffering from pollen overload and can barely open his eyes, but at least that's one giant job out of the way. Last time, we didn't get it spread for about a week after it was delivered (because we have a footloose and fancy free pinestraw guy who shows up sometime within a two week window of his promised delivery date) and somebody stole about 50 bales. We have about a hundred different landscaping companies working in our neighborhood, so we figure the temptation was just too much for somebody. It also got rained on, which made it really fun to mess with. So anyway, that's done.

After I picked up J4 from school, I went to Oakton to buy some plants. The owner is a garden designer and she and her partner have a great sale every year. They try to get unusual stuff that you don't see at Lowe's or Home Depot. I got some more perennials for the area by the pool. Then I started pruning in the front. DOTR thought everything looked "fine" but he tends to be a big picture, blur your eyes kind of guy. Me, I'm your detail girl. So last year when DOTR had J3 take the electric hedge trimmers to the bottom of the winter jasmine....well, let's just say that the shape is not exactly what I had in mind. So, out with my little tiny pruners I go. It will take me the rest of the weekend to get them done, then I guess I can start on the other stuff. At least the grut work is done. Sorta.

The good news is that J3 finally got moved up to the Varsity baseball team, now that the JV season is over. This was part of what was not making us very happy; not that he wasn't on Varsity, but that he never got a chance to try out for Varsity. He was wrestling, so he didn't get to start practice until that was over. On the first day he was available to practice, after the coach had told DOTR that he planned on having J3 practice with the Varsity, a PARENT called DOTR and told him "change in plans, report for JV practice" and then the Varsity coaches never looked at him. Ever. Not even once. So. ticked. off. Coach did not handle that well. At all. Get. some. balls. As in, call yourself, chickenshit.

But it was fine. He did great on JV, played every bit of every game, and we avoided the unavoidable drama happening at the Varsity games. Because it's baseball and there's always drama. Can't say we were sad about that, we were just sad that he was not treated fairly and given the same chance that everybody else got. But that's all water under the bridge at this point and DOTR was actually hoping he would not get called up and we would be done with baseball until the summer team starts after Memorial Day. No such luck. So is it good news? I can't decide. I guess so, since all his friends are on Varsity so now he can hang out with them instead of being the "team leader" for the JV.

Only two weeks until the girls come home and the hormones in the house are back in balance.

I can't wait.

What to Wear?

This Saturday night, DOTR and I have a date. Actually, not really. We're going to our alumni club's Founder's Day celebration. Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and we only had two kids, we used to be in charge of the alumni club. That era unfortunately coincided with no internet, no cable on demand and a Husker team that lost every year to Oklahoma, one game we should've won and the bowl game against a team in the Top 5, so things were not quite as easy as they are now (although I shouldn't complain, nothing sucked as bad as last season, but we do have hope with the regime change next year.)

I saw a great article today, and this guy really gets it about Nebraska. That's what I miss the most about living there, the nice people. Salt of the earth. Gotta see it to understand it. My brother wrote a book a couple of years ago about growing up in a small town in Nebraska in the context of being a Husker fan. He sold a LOT of books, he's even sort of a celebrity in Husker circles. He had a popular website before blogging was big, but shut it down to write his book.
ETA:Can't get this link to work and now I can't even get on Huskerpedia...I'll try again because it's a great article.

We haven't been to Founder's Day for quite a few years. For one thing, it's always during baseball season. For another, lately everybody seems to live in Gwinnett County (aka the other side of the world) and an hour drive for a chicken dinner and an obscure speaker from the University (we rarely get the big guns here) is not too appealing. And we had four kids. Enough said.

So this year we decided to go and the recommended attire is Husker Business Casual, which could mean anything from khaki pants and a Husker polo to red and white striped overalls and corncob hat.

Go Big Red.

I guess this could be considered Husker casual--this is J2 on her Red Letter Day visit when we were trying to brainwash her into going to UNL while she was still waiting to hear from Tech.

This is my brother, the famous Husker author, and his wife. We all went to Nebraska and had a major with no math required (journalism!)

A Tale of Two Daughters

J1 has, um...how can I put this kindly? Money issues. As in she thinks it grows on trees and/or she is an heiress of some sort. Never has a dime to her name and never met a dollar she didn't want to spend (the apple doesn't fall far from the tree--I just married wisely...Mr. Saver). The first summer she worked after high school, she went away to college with $2,500 in savings. By November she had blown through that, spent $4,000 that she was supposed to return to us for the housing we paid for up front AND put about $1,000 a month on an Amex that was supposed to be for "emergencies" (OMG, I had a JCrew emergency!). We took that away, and she just has a Visa checkcard for her checking account. Now DOTR is always bailing her out of her messes because all our accounts are tied together. We've had numerous "come to Jesus" meetings with her about this, we've bought her books to read about finances (Clark Howard, Dave Ramsey, Finances for Dummies, etc.) since she turns a deaf ear to our advice, but she just does NOT get it. Yesterday she made enough little piddly purchases adding up to about $40 total and accrued $175 in overdraft charges. The bank has waived her overdraft charges so many times (like the time she had three for $35 each for purchases of $1.20, $3.25, and $6.00) that they won't do it anymore. Shoot. me. now.

On the other hand, J2 always has money. DOTR puts money in her account when he puts money in J1's account, just to be fair. J2 then squirrels that away into her savings account on the sly. She worked for the last two summers and still has money in savings, along with all the money she moves from her checking account to her savings account. She went to a financial seminar at her sorority that the alumni do for graduating seniors and she's trying to figure out how she should invest it (umm, I'm thinking if you lose your HOPE scholarship, you'll be paying tuition with it). When J1 went away to college, J2 said "yeah, now I'll have more money since J1 won't be borrowing it from me all the time (and not paying it back)." I reminded them of that a couple weeks ago, and I guess it's the same story again. J1 is always borrowing money from J2 at school.

So now that we have them home for the summer, I guess it's time to get down and dirty with J1 on her "life skills education".

Or else she needs to find somebody very rich who'll marry her.

Soon.

30 Days

We leave for our Dublin/London trip on May 14th. Thirty days.

Here's my new crash diet:

Let's hope it works.

Three Weeks

The girls will be home for the summer in three weeks! I knew it was soon, but duh, I didn't think it was only three weeks.

J1 had a dentist appointment and J2's been sick from the pollen, so she came along on Friday afternoon to get her breathing machine (hope DOTR doesn't need it, he's been down with the massive pollen counts, too). J1 gets to do her laundry for free in the sorority house, but J2 always arrives with at least four loads. They hung around the house and had dinner while they waited for the laundry, then they were off again. It's Greek Week, which is really Greek Week and a Half, so they had Greek Sing rehearsals (J1 is director and creator--glad to see that IB Drama and million dollars spent on ballet put to good use). J2 is all around good sport who goes to all the Greek Week events and signs in for spectator points. At Tech, it's all about working the system.

Anyway, this morning at church one of the guys who goes to Tech (but comes home every weekend) asked where J2 was....at school, duh. Then he said, "well, we only have Hell Week, Dead Week and Finals Week left". OMG. I have to get their closets and the store room cleaned out before then or we will have nowhere to stash their stuff. The first year J1 came home we were doing some renovations, had crap all over the house and her stuff stayed in the living room and dining room ALL SUMMER. Drove me crazy, to say the least. I have storage, but it's stinky old house storage, so we just have to get rid of stuff.

I am so happy they'll be back, though. It made me happy when they were here, just sitting around. The boys are both in such foul moods all the time and my main role in their life is an obstructionist to all the useless things they want to do. Needless to say, I hear "I hate you so much" and "why are you always so mean to me" plenty. Need. some. love.

We did get a few things on the agenda checked off, although of course not everything I wanted done this week. Had to go to work a couple times for things that came up (but that's a good thing...when it's dead it means no $$$$!) J3 loved his mission trip. J4 was trying to outdo my nephew's record for successive days without a shower or changing his clothes.

My nephew is graduating this year and just found out he got into UGA. We are so excited for him. He didn't get into Tech and they waited too long to try to get in state legacy tuition for Nebraska, so he thought he was going to be stuck going to the local university and living at home. He's had a hellish few years, with 6 major knee surgeries that keep failing. Nobody can help him so they are just trying to manage the pain right now. When he was in middle school, he used to come up with the funniest stuff. One day in the summer he was over here (before they moved to 'pert near Alabama) and he said "I've had this bathing suit on for 5 days, and I've had this same gum in my mouth for a week!" We were so impressed. So that's the standard. I think J4 might've equaled it, if not surpassed it.

DOTR did take pity on J4 Thursday (nobody was in town the whole week) and took him golfing for the first time. DOTR is very athletic, but didn't grow up playing golf. He used to play a little when he was younger, but it's tough when you have kids, coach baseball...and you aren't very good. The only way to get good is to play, and he decided maybe someday but not right now. I was surprised he could even find the clubs. He bought a really nice set of clubs from somebody who was a serious golfer when they upgraded, and those things get passed around to all our nominal golfing friends when they have to do a golf outing for work. But I haven't seen those things forever. I also think this is the first time in quite a few years he didn't go to the Master's, but just that one day of golfing with J4 killed him, pollenwise. He could barely open his eyes and has been lying around for the past three days.

J3 finally came clean on the learner's permit. His letter jacket was stolen/lost (he says stolen, knowing him, I'm thinking lost) and his wallet was in the pocket. So instead of just saying that, he was going to let me tear a couple of rooms apart looking for it. This kid may not live to see 16, especially once I got a look at his grades. I think xbox 360 is gone forever.

And so, my week off....fair to middling. Nothing exciting. I took a road trip to SuperTarget up north in outer suburbia to look for lamps for J2's room and ended up with two new exercise bras that I see today are on sale. Love it.

Just my luck.

Sense and Sensibility

Did you see this on your PBS station last night? I liked part one very much last week, so I was excited to see the second part (this is one of the many DVD's I ordered, and it was shipped today). I thought it was very good. Very different from the 1995 version with Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet, not as funny and cheerful, but I think much more emotional. With the length, it follows the book closely and doesn't leave out many characters. Beautiful production quality as well.

Very good adaptation. A+.

On an entirely different note, I'm taking this week off. Off work and off the computer, that is. I got an estimate to start the cleaning service, so I have to clean up so they can come. Yeah, Casa de One Helluva Messa needs a little decluttering, sock sorting, and basic maintenance before we can get basic maintenance. Carpets cleaned, windows washed, pool deck power washed and pine straw strewn are just a few things on the agenda this week "off".

Have a good one. See you next week!

Random Picture(s) of the Day

Most of the pictures on our computer are J2's because she was the only one who had a digital camera. I have a lot of her early high school life flashing by everyday (she got a laptop in the middle of her senior year, so everything else is on that!)

One of the best parts of living in Blue Devil land is the Square. All my old friends from outer suburbia have to drive their kids everywhere and find things for them to do. One thing that seemed so alien to us, in particular, was the attendance of "the posse" (DOTR came up with that one) at our travel baseball games. Most of the team DOTR coached came from one giant subdivision right next to where we used to live, so they all attended the same schools. One mother would haul all the girls from the neighborhood to the baseball games, so the posse was always in attendance. Sounds like a lot of work for adolescent socializing to me.

Anyway, in Blue Devil land that is totally unnecessary. We have the Square. It's the perfect and relatively safe place for middle school and young pre-driving high schoolers to hang out. I give J4 a few bucks after school a couple times a week, and he walks from the middle school with his buds. They have pizza or sushi or chinese, follow up with some ice cream and then hit the trick shop and buy a handshake buzzer or fake gum or some such stupid thing.

When J2 was in 8th-10th grades, she had a little group of friends who got together every Friday night where they met up with other groups of classmates. The routine was to drop off right next to Shilling's, then pickup about 9:30 in the First Baptist parking lot. On the last Friday of every month, April-August there's a concert. Doesn't matter who's playing, it's definitely the place to be. It's the same crowd as the Blue Devil football games (which deserves another post), meaning everybody.

These two pictures are probably from one of their last regular hanging out nights. They are sophomores and most of them can drive. A few of them start dating regularly and then they drift apart a little bit. This is J2 and her BFF playing with the bubbles somebody put in the fountain.

Right before graduation, they celebrated the birthday of the last one to turn 18 with a "for old times sake" sleepover and dinner at their favorite place, Hemingway's. When Georgia went no smoking in all restaurants, they decided to stay a bar so they could have smoking inside. Even though the girls always ate outside, they were "kicked out" until they all turned 18.

Just another night in Mayberry, aka Blue Devil land.

Hooray for Root Day

For the past two months I've had to run out with wet hair on root day (last month I think it was my dishwasher delivery), but not today. Even though it's drizzling, I'm getting the full stylin'.

I'm kind of relieved we're not going anywhere for spring break, although I do have to round up stuff for J3's mission trip to Arizona. No baseball for a week will be the real vacation. Tomorrow morning we have to get J3 to the church by 7 am for the trip to the airport and then DOTR is going to PorkU. He's pretty darn excited. It's a clinic hosted by our delicious BBQ restaurant where he'll learn how to cook all different kinds of stuff. He does love his Big Green Egg, so I'm hoping it will see a little more use after this crash course. They say to come hungry and bring containers so you can take home leftovers. Oh boy.

I finally caved and set up an appointment for somebody to give me an estimate on cleaning my house every week. I've had horrible luck with house cleaners. When I was pregnant with J4, my sweet friends set up a one time cleaning service for my birthday. My hands were swelled so my engagement ring was in my jewelry box. I didn't notice until a couple months later that it was missing (I know it was in the Borsheim's ring box, because I cleaned it and put it away after I couldn't put it back on). So by then, this house cleaner was long gone from that company and so was my ring. We didn't even have any pictures of it or proof of what it was worth, DOTR had lost the receipt, etc. It wasn't that expensive because we got it when DOTR was just starting out, but still.....it was gone. Then we had Two Sisters, who were pretty good until they decided that they didn't want to clean your house anymore. They just quit showing up and answering calls. They did this to two of my friends, too, but to this day they still clean for my friend's brother (she referred them to him). I guess he's just not very dirty. Then I hired a cleaning service, but they would not clean what I needed cleaned. They would only vacuum, but I have hardwoods everywhere but a couple rooms. I spent more time cleaning for them to vacuum the middle of the room and swish a brush around the toilet, so by that time I just gave up and started doing it myself.


So, now I really don't have time. At all. That is if DOTR expects me to come sit at the office and answer the phone and hold his hand all day. So, we'll see. I really need a housekeeper. Somebody who will put away clothes, do the laundry, and pick up the crap and put it where it belongs. I guess I will have to settle for somebody who will knock down the dust bunnies and wipe off the sinks with more regularity than I can manage, and maybe it will force me to clean up more often (that's what everybody tells me). I have a super dusty house, so bi-monthly would be like peeing in the wind....might as well go for once a week or forget it. Forgetting it makes me super cranky, so I guess it's cheaper than meds or the lawyer fees to get me out of jail after I hurt somebody for making yet another mess.

The field trip was a trip. Imagine a place crawling with uninterested adolescents bouncing off the walls while you're playing robo art cop. Yeah. Really fun. Not so much. So I guess I'll be going to see it again sometime since I really didn't get to see squat. Forget about listening to the commentary. No time when you're chasing 8th graders. Much harder than 1st graders. Seriously. Worst field trip. Ever. It was cold and drizzly, so we got to eat our lunch in a big room under the stairs instead of outside in the courtyard. So all in all, it was flat exhausting.

I'm off....gotta stop by the world's lamest mall afterward to pick up a new mascara because when I was cleaning my bathroom the other day, I threw away the new one I just bought instead of the old dried out crusty one.

Brilliant, I know.

Field Trip

Tomorrow is Field Trip day! Can't remember the last time I was a chaperone on a field trip, but over the past (almost) 20 years, I think I've been everywhere a kid could go to experience "enrichment". Seriously.

So tomorrow we're off with 60 8th graders to The High Museum. J4's French class is going to see the LouvreAtlanta exhibit. We're on year two of a three year exchange.

Last year I had to take J2 to the Alliance Francaise every Saturday morning to brush up on her French so she could take the IB HL French exam. She finished French 5 as a Junior, so she didn't have French her Senior year. The High is right next to the Alliance Francaise, so I toured the exhibit a couple times while I was hanging around Midtown for 5 hours every Saturday morning.

If you've never been to the Louvre, I guess this exhibit at the High was pretty cool. If you've been to the Louvre...well, underwhelming doesn't even begin to describe it. The Louvre is jam packed from top to bottom and the size of a small city. My dream vacation is to go to Paris and just go to the Louvre everyday until I'm tired of looking at stuff. I figure I'll be there about a month. (Art History minor here!)

I am somewhat excited about tomorrow because I love sculpture. J4 is bummed because he thinks he wants to see lots of paintings. Of course, his biggest concern is that his brother does not drink the last Dr. Pepper so he can bring it in his sack lunch. He put a post it note on it and everything.

Gotta get those priorities in line.

Happy Birthday, Tigger!

You were the missing piece and you made us complete!

Happy 14th to my baby!