April 28, 2007
Where there is smoke....
These pictures were taken at 4 o'clock in the afternoon today. Even with all of the blinds being open in our house, we still have to turn on lights in order to see well. People, it's really eerie. Keep in mind that Waycross is about 60-70 miles from us. I can't imagine what it's like for the people who live closer. Click on the images to get the full effect.
Anybody know a good rain dance?
Posted by Moogie at 4:52 PM | Comments (2)
April 27, 2007
Open Roads
My husband is on his way to Blackshear to today to fix some fickle printers, and has been told by his employers to take a scenic route (much longer) because of the fires that are located between Folkston and Waycross. Just this morning the news reported that the fires had turned on them faster than you can yell “Bartender, make mine a double!” The winds we have been experiencing are very strong, and to add insult to injury, we have not had any significant rainfall for some time.
Several friends of mine live in that area, and so far, they are all ok, but I’ve noticed the dark circles in their eyes, and the slow cadence of their walk. They are tired and afraid, and no one can blame them for that. At any given moment in time, their town could be evacuated, and from day to day, they are not sure if their house will be left standing. So many houses have already been lost and the next few days doesn’t look that promising.
Just the other day, Chickie told me she was getting so sick of all the smoke and ash. For the last week or so, they have not been able to go outside for PE because of it. I let her vent because I know that for a twelve year old it can be frustrating. Then she surprised me. After finishing her tirade she grew quiet. Slowly turning towards me she said; “I was just thinking that maybe I shouldn’t complain. I was thinking that maybe I should be thankful that we are safe.” I replied; “I was thinking the same thing.”
On second thought Bartender, make that two Root Beer floats, with a side of Whipped Cream.
Posted by Moogie at 12:15 PM | Comments (3)
April 25, 2007
Customer Service
Last week Meelie and I stopped off at K-mart after work, searching for some Pony Beads needed for a project that her 3rd grade class is doing. We took a look around and couldn't locate any beads at all. Per usual, there was absolutely no one on the floor to ask, so we meandered on up to Customer Service to wait our turn. There was a small line in front of us waiting to be served, so it was really no big deal.
Right in front of me was a lady and a little boy, that I guessed to be somewhere around the age of three. The mom had a package of socks in her hand. The little boy, being, well, little, was full of energy, but actually behaving quite well. He was pretending to be an airplane and I found the little engine noises he was making to be quite endearing. If the grins of everyone else in line were any indication, I wasn't the only one.
Finally, it was her turn and apparently, she wanted to return the socks. I'm not entirely sure of the reason why, but that's not the point. At the desk, there is a rather huge sign that stated you must have a receipt in order to return something. She didn't have it. They wouldn't let her return the socks. From there, it started to get ugly.
She began to berate the employee, using alot of language that even made my ears burn. I looked at Meelie and realized she was soaking all of this in with wide eyed wonder. The poor girl, who couldn't have been much over 20, and probably wasn't making much more than minimum wage, was doing her best to be polite and explain the policy.
During that time, I tried to distract Meelie, by pointing at the little boy, who by this time was becoming a little wild because his mother was too busy cussing out the employee. On my key chain, I have a little tiny light, that is great for using when you need to unlock your car and it's pitch black outside. I pulled it out of my purse, and handed it to Meelie, and instructed her to shine it on the floor, near the child to see if we could keep him occupied. It worked and he happily chased the light around, trying to catch it. For some reason, I thought of Peter Pan trying to catch his shadow.
At this point, the Manager came up and the woman kept up her tirade. The louder she got, the more agitated her son became. Meelie and I squatted down to his level and began to ask him questions. "How old are you?" "I love your Spiderman Tennis Shoes!" "Do you like Spiderman?" He answered all of our questions enthusiastically, and rather excitedly told us he also was wearing Spidy Undewear. I declined his offer to show us.
At that moment, the lady must have got tired of it all, and gave up. She spotted Meelie and I talking to her son. She came up, grabbed her son by the hand and stated:
"You know, you have no business talking to a child you don't know. Why, for all I know you could be some kind of pervert."
Forgive me, but I laughed.
My reply?
"You know, you shouldn't really be berating an employee who is only following company policy and using inappropriate language in front of your son. There are better ways of handling things like that." I didn't add that if she were paying attention to her son, strangers wouldn't have to. That was pretty much implied by the tone of my voice.
At this point, her face turned beet red and she picked up her son, and promptly left the store.
It turns out that K-mart doesn't carry beads, so Meelie and I headed out to the car. As I was getting into the car, the Manager came out and signaled that she wanted to talk to me.
Her: I don't mean to bother you but I wanted to say thank you.
Me: You are welcome, but why are you thanking me?
Her: Because you did what I couldn't.
Just remember that when you get angry at an employee. 95% of the time, they are only doing their job. I would bet you my next paycheck that if that woman would have been polite, she would have been able to return the socks, company policy or not.
Posted by Moogie at 5:54 PM | Comments (5)
April 24, 2007
All things French
I was reading this post today and it got me to thinking. What is it with all things "French." Because I am a moron have an inquisitive mind, I thought I would do some research. Here is what I found.
- French Fries:
The straightforward explanation of the term is that it means 'potatoes fried in the French sense of the verb': 'to fry' can mean either sautéing or deep-fat frying, while its French origin 'frire' unambiguously means deep-frying : frites being its past participle used with a plural feminine substantive as in pommes de terre frites, 'deep-fried potatoes'. Thomas Jefferson, famous for serving French dishes, wrote exactly the latter French expression. In the early 20th Century the term 'French fried' was being used for foods such as onion rings or chicken, apart from potatoes (shamelessly plucked from here).
I wonder what they would call them if you baked them? Now, here is my question to you. How many of you eat your French Fries with ketchup? What is your favorite type of "fry?"
- French Kissing (sorry Mom, I didn't know what the heck this was until I looked it up, scouts honor!):
A French kiss may feel like a sexy maneuver (especially to hormonal teens), but it's not very romantic to watch. Ever witness a couple playing tonsil hockey in public? Unless someone's going off to war the next morning, there's really no excuse.
The article then goes on to say:
So how did this slobbery smooch get its name? As far as we can tell, it stems from the stereotype that the French are a morally casual people. Wordorigins.org, which specializes in these sorts of questions, says the term dates from at least the 1920s but doesn't know exactly who coined the phrase. The site goes on to draw parallels to other adult-only phrases like "pardon my French" and "French postcards." Ooh la la!
IdiomSite.com says a lot of the same things (i.e., the phrase comes from uptight prudes who believed the French were promiscuous). Several sites and dictionaries mention "soul kiss" as a synonym. Apparently the act of sticking your tongue into the mouth of another person is so intense, your souls intertwine. Hmm, we must be doing it wrong.
- French Onion Soup:
Legend has it that the soup was created by King Louis XV of France. Late one night, he discovered he only had onions, butter and champagne at his hunting lodge, so he mixed them together to create the first French onion soup.
Go Louis! This is one of my favorite soups for a wet and cold day. There are many different variations of the soup, from quick and easy to complicated. What is your favorite kind of soup for a "stay inside" kind of day?
- French Horn:
The horn is a brass instrument that consists of tubing wrapped into a coiled form, now with finger-operated valves to help control the pitch but originally without valves to control the pitch. (This kind of horn is now called a natural horn, which is a retronym since at that time, all French horns were natural horns.) The instrument was first developed in England as a hunting horn in about 1650. The French refer to the modern valved instrument as the horn of harmony, the Germans call it the hunting horn, and the English and Americans call it the French horn. Most musicians usually refer to it simply as the horn. In the 1960s the International Horn Society declared the official name of this instrument to be the "Horn." (Courtesy of Wikipedia).
On a side note, this is what Chickie plays in band. Last year she played the Trumpet but this year, she wanted something more challenging. In listening to her talk about it, I think she got what she asked for. What about you? Did you/do you play an instrument?
PS: Jay? The whole Pope going commando thing is just so not right. But I still think it would make a great People magazine cover.
Posted by Moogie at 5:16 PM | Comments (4)
April 21, 2007
Mix and Match
I call this one "Infectious." I can't get through it without laughing myself. What about you?
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But wait! There's more in the extended entry.
This was a shot of the girls riding in the "trailer" in the back of our mower. That hunky young man you see acting as their tour guide? Why it's Mr. Moogie himself. The girls were talking about it later and said that it was more fun that an amusement park ride. At this point, mom was thinking, "and a lot cheaper to!"
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During the party, we were invaded by some aliens from outer space. Fortunately, we had our own Channel 4 reporter on the scene. As you can see, we had to try it a few times to get it right.
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This is my attempt at a Tinkerbell Cake. My girlfriend, who decorates cakes, helped me do it. Let me tell you, that is alot of hard work. I don't think I did too bad for my first time. Meelie was thrilled with it, as were the other girls.
The next few show some of the gifts she received. She loved all of them, as they each had something to do with Tinkerbell. She couldn't have been more thrilled.
Posted by Moogie at 4:31 PM | Comments (3)
April 20, 2007
It has been one of those
I have been remiss in my posting responsibilities, but this is nothing new. I tend to go in spurts, and when that real life phenomena steps up to the plate, I humbly move aside and let it take over. And I make sure there is enough beer in the fridge to tide my blog over until I return.
The randomness of this post, much of it without the use of transitional sentences, will cause most of you to walk away scratching your head and buying stock in Head 'N Shoulders. It's either that or you have fleas. I hate it when that happens.
I have spent a majority of my day of, my DAY OFF, with no children I might add, trying to clean up my husband's blog which was attacked by a barrage of SPAM! comments that could easily equal the population of North America. Or two bunnies of the opposite sex left alone in a cage for a few months. Take your pick. In a short span of time, he accumulated nearly 32,000 SPAM! comments which in turn, rendered him nearly useless in the blogosphere. I have been in contact, via email, with our host, who has been most helpful this time around. I think I have finally convinced my husband, who is argumentatively and unequivocally the most stubborn man on the face of this earth, to upgrade to a newer version of MT, and to back up his database frequently. Our host only does that once a week. The latter part I will probably handle as I really don't want to have to go through this any time soon, and let's just say, IT God or not, he probably won't do it. Go figure. By the way, I have told this to him in person, and he agrees. He is adamant on backing up everything, but for some odd reason, everything did not include his blog. But I love him anyway, despite this irritating fault. Ok, I don't like it when he leaves his underwear on the bathroom floor either.
Both of my girls are social butterflies, and I fear I will need to hire a secretary just to keep up with all of their sleepovers and play dates. Last night, we had just returned from gymnastics practice when Meelie got a phone call. And then she received two others, one right after another. It seems that for the most part, the calls are for my children, rather than me or their dad. Of course, this could be considered a good thing, because generally, the only people who call us are bill collectors or slimy salesmen. The other day, I was so excited to get a call from someone, even though it was a guy who wanted to sell me siding for my house, that I kept him on the line regaling him with riveting tales on how my oldest daughter refused to poop on the pot, and how we overcame that obstacle by the time she was eight. I do believe he was crying by the time we got off the phone. I don't think we will be hearing from him any time soon. I wonder why?
I need to end this post now, because I have rambled incoherently long enough, and have managed to confuse even myself, which isn't saying much. I need to ready my children for their activities for the night, and then come home and ready myself for a fish fry with a bunch of good friends.
Have a wonderful evening and I hope your head doesn't itch too badly.
Posted by Moogie at 4:59 PM | Comments (4)
April 15, 2007
From the outside looking in
May I pleaaaassseee come inside now?
Everything is great here at Chez Moogie. The birthday/slumber party was awesome and we have all pretty much spent the day recovering. Considering the noise level last night, clean up was remarkably easy. I'll be posting more on the party tomorrow, but for now, I need to get everyone settled.
On a side note, I did take the girls to see Meet the Robinsons today (this gave Mr. Moogie a bit of a break). The girls loved it. Well, Meelie loved what she saw of it because she fell asleep for part of the movie. Those late nights will do that to you. Chickie and I enjoyed the whole film. I'd recommend it.
That being said, how was your weekend? What did you do?
PS: I'll be posting some pictures of the much anticipated "Tinkerbell" cake that I made, with help from my girlfriend tomorrow as well.
Posted by Moogie at 7:28 PM | Comments (2)
Blog Fodder # 18 is up!
Blog Fodder # 18 is up and running. Go here to view this week's topic as well as participants.
If you do participate, all that we ask of you is to leave a link in your post back to Blog Fodder. Remember, you don't have to join to participate, nor do you have to participate every week. The choice is completely up to you.
We'd love to have you!
PS: We are now looking for some good buttons that folks can use on their blogs. If you can think of any good one's, please email them to: moogiesworld at gmail dot com.
Posted by Moogie at 7:10 PM
April 13, 2007
Finger Lickin' Good!
Chickie: Mom, you TOTALLY sound like a redneck.
Me: Dooood. It's called acting!
(For the record, in real life I do not have an southern accent. Just ask my mom. I was just fooling around but didn't realize I put a little bit too much into it.)
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Posted by Moogie at 9:08 PM
April 12, 2007
An open letter to my husband
Dear Muscles,
I don't know if I have told you recently, but I am so glad that you are in my life. I love you more than I can express. I'm extremely guilty of not showing it enough, but I appreciate all that you do for me.
A good example of this would be this weekend. You let me drag you off for dinner, with folks you had never met before, after you had a really rough week at work. I know you would have liked nothing better than to stay at home, pop a few tops off some beers, and relax. You did it because it involved my friends, and you knew I wanted to be there. You are always agreeable to doing things that are important to me.
It was pretty much a zoo around here on Saturday. With the errands you and I both had to run, it was a wonder either one of us had any energy left. You volunteered to go to the grocery store, the night before Easter, to pick up a few items that I had stupidly forgot to pick up on my earlier visit that day. You knew they were key ingredients to some of the things I was going to cook for dinner the next night, and didn't want me to have to scramble around and try to come up with something different.
If tackling the crowds on a busy Easter Eve was not enough you then voluntarily went back out to pick up Chickie from her band trip to Wild Adventures at the appointed time of 9:30 pm, only to be told when you got there that the bus was running late. 45 minutes to be exact.
But wait! Let’s not stop there! When you arrived home, you tucked Chickie into bed (Meelie and I were fast asleep dreaming of eating chocolate bunny ears) and conducted "research" (code word - and I can't post in detail about it here because the girls read this and there is an Easter Bunny involved), staying up way past midnight to make sure everything was perfect in the morning. And, as usual, it was. Did you see how the girl's faces lit up? You are responsible for that.
Your weekend self-appointed duties didn't end there. Easter morning we woke up to the irritating beeping of the electronic fence that surrounds our yard to keep the dogs in. As we both are well aware, this signifies that it is broken so you got your meter, and the shovel, and went to work, trying to find out just where the problem was. And you kept at it for nearly 3 hours (we have an acre) until you located the problem and fixed it. All of this on Easter, when you should have been relaxing and enjoying the day with your family.
I am lucky and I know it. You know me better than myself. We complete each other's sentences, which can be scary at times. I don't take any of that for granted, or at least I try very hard not to.
Just remember this. We both love each other just the same. Of course I love you just a little bit more than you love me, lock it up, zip it up and throw away the key, end of discussion (say that last sentence really fast without pausing for a breath).
Love,
Me
Happy Love Thursday everyone.
Posted by Moogie at 6:38 AM | Comments (7)
April 11, 2007
Hold me...
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Posted by Moogie at 8:10 PM | Comments (1)
April 10, 2007
The Bad News - The Question - The Good News
SLAM!
Me Thinking: Chickie's home from school.
Chickie Mom! I'm home!
Me Thinking: I was right.
THE BAD NEWS
She has Saturday School. Why? Well, it seems that she didn't finish some of her in-class assignments like she was supposed to. Her version was that she didn't have time to finish them during class, and then she "completely forgot all about them." Now she has to make them up this Saturday. The kid finally is on track with homework without me having to sit on her head, and now we have this?
THE QUESTION
Chickie: Do I have to go?
Me: Yes.
Chickie: Why? It doesn't bring my grade down at all and I'm already making an "A."
Me: That's not the point.
Chickie: Yes it is! It's not going to do anything to my grade!
Me: Will you forget to do an assignment again?
Chickie: No.
Me: Then that's the point (I could have elaborated here, but I would have been met with a blank stare, and the "blah, blah, blah, blah" glazed look kids get when they know you aren't going to bend an inch).
But it didn't keep her from trying.
THE GOOD NEWS
Chickie: I have some good news that will change your mind!
Me: I doubt it.
Chickie: MOOOOM!
Me: I would love to hear your good news.
Chickie: Well, you and Dad are invited to an Achievement Breakfast, in which I am one of the kids that were picked!
Side Note: They hold these two times a year. There is one child picked in each subject that has shown remarkable Academic Achievement (those were not my words, I copied them from the letter). I was thrilled she was chosen again, but still....
Me: Fantastic honey! I'm very proud of you.
Chickie: See, I told you! Now, do I still have to go (waggling eyebrows)?
Me: Yes (waggling eyebrows).
Chickie: MOOOOM! It's not funny! This is MY life we are talking about It should be up to ME!
Me: Am I laughing? When you are out of school, and have a job, and pay the bills, you can make your own decisions.
Chickie: Fine! You always make me do stuff that nobody else's parent's make them do! Miss A's parents never, ever make her go to Saturday school!
Me: Do I look like "Miss A's Parents?"
Chickie: I wish you weren't my mother! (storms out of office and SLAMS! her bedroom door).
Me Thinking: Well that went well.
Sometimes, it's so very hard to do what's right.
Posted by Moogie at 6:08 PM | Comments (8)
April 9, 2007
Birthday party ideas anyone?
At the end of March, we celebrated Meelie's 9th birthday with my parents and my brother and his family. Now, it's on to the "real" birthday party. In a moment of weakness, I agreed to a slumber party. Luckily, I had the foresight to limit her to five children, including herself. The dinner part is easy, because she picked English Muffin Pizzas and all of the various junk food type items that will go with it. I've got that covered.
The main activity that we will be doing (her choice) is decorating aprons. I've already picked up the aprons, as well as fabric paint. I'm all set there. What I would like to do is add in some games and such that we can play later on.
Here's where you come in. Give me some ideas. Do I offer prizes to the winners? I don't want to make this an expensive affair, so keep that in mind. Any ideas are welcome. Just leave them in the comments, or email me.
Thank you. I always know that if I need good advice, I just need to ask for it here.
Posted by Moogie at 4:39 PM | Comments (3)
Blog Fodder #17 is up!
Blog Fodder # 17 is up and running. Go here to view this week's topic as well as participants.
If you do participate, all that we ask of you is to leave a link in your post back to Blog Fodder. Remember, you don't have to join to participate.
We'd love to have you!
PS: We are now looking for some good buttons that folks can use on their blogs. If you can think of any good one's, please email them to: moogiesworld at gmail dot com.
Posted by Moogie at 3:00 PM
April 8, 2007
Errand day mirages
I had a lot of errands to run yesterday, including going into the city to Michaels to pick up some things for Meelie's birthday party next weekend. There is a road that I travel on for several miles, which can best be described as rural. It is lined by very tall trees on both sides, and a massive amount of underbrush. It immediately gives me a sense of peace. It's almost surreal because it almost feels as if you are travelling through a cave with view of the sky. The road consists of only two lanes and there are stretches of it that contain nothing at all but the wilderness.
While navigating one of the larger bends in the road on my way home yesterday, I looked ahead and saw a mirage that made me feel as if I were about ready to drive into a lake. The sun was high at that point, and I'm sure it contributed to the illusion. Like all mirages, they disappear as you get closer but at that moment in time, I was struck by a memory that I hadn't thought of in years.
When I was a child, we would take a lot of road trips to visit family. When I would get bored, I would intently observe the seemingly endless highway and watch for mirages. When I would see one, I would imagine my father pushing a button on the dashboard of our Kingswood Station Wagon, which would magically transform our car into a boat, which would safely transport us across the "ocean." I remember visualizing dolphins frolicking in the water beside us. Many times I saw sharks and I remember one distinct time I saw a Humpback Whale. If we didn't turn into a boat, we would transform into a submarine, and work our way through the coral reefs and beds of kelp. It felt as if I was deep inside and aquarium, with a bird's eye view of everything around me.
Yes, I'm older now, but mirages still hold the same fascination for me as they did when I was a child. The one I witnessed yesterday reminded me of a lake on a still day, with the sun's rays warming me from the slight chill in the air. It relaxed me, and I felt a sense of calm envelope me. Yes, I do have a busy life, just like most of you do. I have learned you need to grab those moments of peace wherever you can get them. If it comes in a form of a mirage, why would I ignore it?
I guess I still possess a bit of the imagination I had as a child, and for that, I'm very grateful.
From our house to yours, Happy Easter everyone!
Posted by Moogie at 9:46 AM | Comments (6)
April 7, 2007
Hitori and The Paddy Dancers
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Posted by Moogie at 9:28 AM | Comments (6)
April 5, 2007
Interpreting Dreams
I've never really been one that has held much stock in dreams, and what their interpretations are. It's not that I think it's all a bunch of malarkey. I've just really never been interested, nor paid that much attention to it. I will admit to waking up in the mornings, on those rare occasions that I actually remember what I was dreaming about and saying; "Where in the heck did that one come from?" I've also heard people say that your dreams will coincide with the last thing you were thinking about before you fell asleep. This is about as helpful to me as a hangnail in my big toe because I NEVER have any memory of my thoughts before I drift off.
I do remember a dream I had a couple of nights ago that I would categorize as bizarre. Let me rewind and give you a little background.
On my 18th birthday (back before God invented dirt) I was in an automobile accident which left me with a split upper lip, a missing chunk of knee, a sprained ankle and more bruises than Carter had liver pills. Can you say stitches? I was very fortunate to have gotten away with minor injuries. Sadly, my car was not.
At any rate, this left a lasting impression on me as I had never been in the hospital before. I'd never (still haven't - knock wood) broken any bones, or had any stitches. Needless to say I was terribly frightened and was grateful that both of my parents were there with me. Mom and Dad had the insight to request a plastic surgeon for my lip, and today I can say that I am thankful for it, because the scar is very minimal, despite the fact that the split was nearly all the way through. At the time, I was just about ready to break the doctor's fingers because he kept taking the stitches out and redoing them because he wasn't satisfied. Apparently, when they do this type of work, they don't numb you up a whole lot because they want to keep the swelling to a minimum while they put you back together. I was not a happy camper at that time.
On a side note, when you have an injury, and your mother (or ANYONE) says to you, "you probably don't want to look at that," TAKE.THEIR.ADVICE. End of side note.
In my dream, there I was, with a split lip again. I could barely talk, and things were just taking forever. The doctor was doing alot of prep work before he began to stitch me back up. The really odd thing was that he took chalk, and made dash marks all the way down my upper lip, continuing on until he reached under my chin. The chalk marks were blue. When I asked him why he did that, he explained that he wanted to mark off what needed to be sutured. He held up a mirror for me to see (it didn't bother me), and the bottom portion of the lip/chin/neck was one black mark which looked surprisingly like someone had drawn a squiggly line with a piece of charcoal. But it was bleeding.
One thing I remember clearly was that I was lying on a cold metal table, butt naked, but very comfortable, as if that was the way it was supposed to be. I had to repeatedly get up and go to the bathroom, but the doctor assured me this was quite normal for anyone having to get stitches. At one point, I went out to the nurses station (keep in mind, butt naked), and in front of more people than I could count, asked them to order me a Cheeseburger and Vanilla Milkshake from McDonalds. All of this felt perfectly normal to me.
I woke up before I figured out how I injured myself (or maybe I don't remember), and before the doctor began his work on me. I remember feeling somewhat discombobulated when the alarm went off and my hand immediately flew to my face to check for stitches. I even had to go look into the bathroom mirror just to assure myself it was a dream. It was THAT real.
Go figure. I can't make stuff like this up. I only report on them.
It's your turn now. What is one of the oddest dreams you have ever had that you remember? Either post it in the comments here, or on your blog (make sure you leave a link). I'd love to hear about it.
Posted by Moogie at 5:34 PM | Comments (11)
April 4, 2007
Blog Fodder #16 us up!
Blog Fodder #16 is up and running! You can find the topic and list of participants here. What are you waiting for. Post! Post! Post!!!
Posted by Moogie at 4:25 PM | Comments (1)
April 2, 2007
Madness, sadness and in-between
We have these two alarm clocks in our bedroom, complete with the technology to "spring" forward, and "fall" backward, with nary a knob to be touched. We bought them about 8 months ago, before it became apparent (perhaps we weren't paying attention) that the time changes would be different this year. We had to manually set the clocks about a month ago, ensuring that we would wake up on time, and that was a feat in itself. We hadn't read the manual before purchase, which warned us that a doctorate degree was needed. Between that and the statement absolving themselves of any responsibility for medical costs incurred as a result of sticking a pencil in your significant other's eye, convinced me that perhaps we should have stuck with the old fashioned wind up clock. You remember those don't you? The alarms on those puppies would cause you to smack the living daylights out of the person slumbering beside you in an effort to SHUTTHESTUPIDTHINGOFF!
As I mentioned in the previous post (I'll wait while you catch up), we just got back from vacation last night. Neither one of us even thought of the fact that this was the first Sunday in April, which, coincidentally, was when the time would normally change. Can you see where this is going?
My alarm is set for 4:30 am, and yes, you may give me sympathy. As such, the alarm went off this morning, and even though I made good use of the snooze alarm, I was still whacked. I couldn't really figure out why as I had gotten to bed at a decent hour and slept like the dead. That was evidenced by the fact that I had absolutely no feeling in my right arm, and for a moment, I was worried that perhaps I had contracted some deadly disease which rendered my arm useless. That was quickly dispelled by the incessant stabbing of needles in my fingers.
I did my normal morning routine, and then, after dressing, got my lunch out of the refrigerator, and all of my "gear" together, consisting of my badge, cell phone, purse and some homemade Cowboy Cookies that I wanted to give to my girlfriend at work (we made those at Grammy and Papa's and the recipe makes 5 dozen so let's just say that Mom sent some home with me, and most likely will have enough to last her and Dad about 6 months).
Oh dear, where was I?
I happened to glance at the clock on the oven and it stated that it was 4:30am. I rubbed my eyes, and then looked at the clock on the microwave and it registered the same time. By this point, I was somewhat confused, as I was pretty groggy, and I checked the time on my cell phone. You guessed it. 4:30 am. It seems that our wonder-clocks "reset" themselves for the original time change. At this point, my memory becomes vague. I do know that I didn't break any china but I did say a word that I can not post, because my mom reads this blog, and she's been known to carry a bar of soap in her back pocket for just this very thing. My husband did tell me he heard it, but thought it was part of a dream. At least now I know why I feel like a Moose sat on my head. I guess I should be thankful it didn't have gas.
As I muddled my way through hundreds of email, and catching up on everything that happened while I was gone, I received an email from my mom letting me know that my dad was back in the hospital again. There is a very large part of me that is worried that our week long visit was just too much for him, which caused the problems that he is now going through. A tiny voice in my head tells me that it's not true, but the daughter in me harbors the guilt that, if I let it, is strong enough to bring me to my knees. I am cognizant enough to realize that Dad slept alot, even through the normal noise that children make, but my heart breaks when I think that perhaps he pushed himself to sit up longer, or eat dinner with us, when perhaps he should have been resting. It is so very hard to watch a parent suffer, and know that there is nothing that you can do to help. It is so very hard to balance my home life, and my work life, and know exactly what I should be doing. I thank the man above, every day, for giving me a husband, who, without batting an eye, says to me "get thee rump in the car and be where you are needed, I will take care of things here." I struggle with the responsibilities of work, and the fact that I was on vacation the previous week. I cringe at the thought of missing my daughter's concert which she has been working so hard for. It's difficult to climb out from under the umbrella of responsibility, and I rest easier knowing my older brother and his wife will be there in a few days to watch over everything, and help out. But it's not the same thing. But sometimes, I have to let go and let others step in, and realize that if it gets too much, and the worry becomes overwhelming, I can just hop in my car and be there in a matter of a few hours. To look, see, touch and feel.
I guess I should be thankful, in light of what has gone on today, that I have the girls to keep me occupied. For whatever reasons, known only to them, they have decided that they want me to make their lunches for school now. I've been lucky so far, in that they have wanted to buy them at school. I really can't complain. Both of them like the whole "Lunchable" idea, but I shudder at the thought (though I do by them for special treats) at the nutritional value (people, have you even looked at the sodium content?). That being said, I make my own, which gives me complete control over what goes in their mouths. For example, tomorrows "menu" includes ham, crackers, low fat cheddar cheese (which really isn't necessary but they like it better than the "real" kind), chips, a bag of grapes, sliced apples and whole strawberries, a fruit cup, complete with the "red" grapefruit, a bottle of Crystal Light, and some homemade cookies. If you can't tell, the girls L.O.V.E. them some fruit. On a side note, I can't keep yogurt in the house either.
Alarm clocks, parent's illness, children's guilt, having to make lunch...it's all part of life. And as Erma Bombeck once said, "Life is always greener over the septic tank."
Posted by Moogie at 6:32 PM | Comments (7)
April 1, 2007
Sisterly Love
I just got back from vacation a little bit ago. Unpacking is almost done. We are tired. Happy but tired. Everyone is unwinding, and playing with toys. I'll update on the trip a little later on, once I've had time to get my feet under me again.
Simply put, we all had a blast!!!!! We couldn't have asked for a better time.
Now, to wet your appetite, I'll leave you with a picture that will warm the cockles of your heart.
I call it, sisterly love. Click the extended entry to view.
Posted by Moogie at 8:58 PM | Comments (4)
