September 25, 2007
Am I feeling better?
I was filling in my parents on all of the happenings here at Chez Moogie. What with the GHIP (are you sick of hearing about that yet?) and South Cackalackee, my parents got an earful. I don't know if they really enjoy the conversations that we have (my dad just listens-he says it's because Mom and I do all the talking and he can't get a word in edgewise), or they just pretend they do to spare my feelings.
Towards the end of the conversation, my mom said "you sound a lot better." At first, because I am one nugget shy of a Happy Meal, I didn't understand what she was referring to. When I questioned her, she told me that I sounded more upbeat. That might not have been the exact terminology, but I was so taken aback by that statement, I don't remember her exact words.
Am I feeling better? I guess I really hadn't put so much thought into it. We've been pretty busy this last month with Fiscal Year End looming a week away, and all of the work we have been doing on the house that I really hadn't given it a lot of thought. I think I am doing better in many areas, but I know that it has to do with the progress we are making on the house. It's exciting. Case in point? We worked on the office this weekend and it looks fabulous. We threw away quite a few things, including old computer parts, and sorted through mounds of paperwork. We found a couple of boxes of old bills that dated back to 1989. Since Southerners do not believe in coat closets, I now not only have a closet that I can close, I have one that I can hang up all of our winter coats in.
I won't even mention the boxes of photos we found. I'll be lighting the fire under my trusty scanner to upload some fabulous pictures. I'm itching to get started on that but I know it's a HUGE undertaking so I've decided just to do a little at a time.
But I will leave you with this.
M and C (Step Kids) when they were about 8 and 9
Posted by Moogie at 5:02 PM | Comments (6)
September 24, 2007
South Cackalackee
My eldest daughter went with her BFF to South Cackalackee this weekend (pre-teen speak for South Carolina) to visit "Mema and Poppie." She had a blast but was not thrilled with the four hour car ride. One adult. Four kids, one of which is six and apparently whined the entire way up and back. The mother of Chickie's BFF (I'm starting to sound like one of those annoying text messaging commercials. IDK. My BFF Jill?) ranks right up there with the Pope and Mother Teresa. Here are some of the things I learned when she came back.
- They have a HUGE family.
- There is an aunt who has 250 kittens, and that is not counting the kittens that live inside, or the ones that have not been born yet.
- Mema makes killer fried chicken.
- One of the 12 year old cousins has a major crush on her, and she can't stand him.
- BFF's brother got popped with a broom for "cussin."
- The house is really small.
- She would go back in a heartbeat.
I'm guessing the weekend was a success. She called me each day to let me know all of the things that she had done. On Saturday evening, when we were ending the call she said "well, I need to hang up now, I have to use the crapper."
I'm hoping that is a South Cackalackee thing and am working on breaking her of that habit. I just need to find the broom.
Posted by Moogie at 4:36 PM | Comments (3)
September 18, 2007
Holy Smokes
We are moving right along on the GHIP. Yesterday, we took a break from it all, and somehow managed to have half the neighborhood in our garage, enjoying the fruits of our labor. For whatever reason, the song by the Dixie Chicks, "Wide Open Spaces" keeps running through my mind. We bought a cheap table with some chairs to set out there so that we have a place to relax, as well as sort through stuff. I was even able to find a vinyl table cloth to go on the table, because I am classy like that. Actually, it was in one of the boxes in the garage. I'll take it where I can get it.
We have started in on the office, which is sort of our "catch all" room. I don't know why it surprises me all that much, because it was our catch all room in California as well. It was one of those rooms that we were always going to get to. We had really good intentions, but they went by the wayside, much like our garage.
In going through all of this junk interesting stuff, I realized that I kept every one of my text books from college. Somehow, I don't think I'll be cracking open the Statistics book for a relaxing read, while enjoying a nice glass of pink wine. Out of a box.
We got side tracked a bit, going down memory lane. We have unearthed a few boxes of photos from way back. There are pictures of me, complete with rosebuds, rather than hanging baskets, and I had HIPS. Gravity had not yet become my mortal enemy, nor had I grown more hair on my face than I had on my head. Enough said.
One of the most fascinating things about these pictures was just how much Meelie looks like my step daughter. It's absolutely uncanny. I didn't really remember that until we were going through some pictures of her when she was the same age. At first glance, I thought I was staring at a picture of Meelie, only she wasn't born when we lived in that house.
So now I'm back to sorting through all of the stuff, and dumping the textbooks, and I have no idea when this will all end. I'm beginning to believe that in our nearly 20 years of marriage, we have thrown absolutely nothing away.
Remind me to tell you about the expired jar of peanut butter I found with stuff from the China Cabinet.
Posted by Moogie at 6:57 PM | Comments (7)
September 15, 2007
GHIP - Progress
In the beginning
Progress
The Dumpster
Posted by Moogie at 1:40 PM | Comments (8)
September 12, 2007
It's the Great Dumpster Charlie Brown!
We got this
To take care of this
And everything in between. It's the beginning of the Great Home Improvement Project, herein, known as GHIP. We are doing it ourselves, with a little help/advice from some friends. My husband told me that if I didn't agree, he would plant spiders in every available place in the house. So you see? I had no choice. I so wanted to hire it done, but I was overruled. Ignore the fact that it is tons less expensive to do-it-yourself than to hire it done. Please people, let us not confuse the issue with facts.
Chant with me people. "It will be worth it when it's done. It will be worth it when it's done." I can't HEAR you! I'm not too ashamed to admit that I will blog for free labor.
Below, is the obligatory picture of one of the "kids." Bruiser at his finest. Siesta time! I would love to join him but unfortunately, I have a freaking garage to clean out and that's just the start of the pain.
Dude, move over, you're hogging all the covers
Posted by Moogie at 6:19 PM | Comments (14)
September 11, 2007
This is the part where half my face falls off
Monday morning I woke up with the mother-of-all-sinus headaches. It was concentrated on one side of my face, which, when I thought about it, felt numb. I dragged my sorry rump into work, and it helped take my mind off of things for a while. Like how I was certain my eyeball was going to merge with my left nostril and all of my teeth were going to fall out. I guess I should be thankful that I was partially successful in stemming the flow of drool coming out of the corner of my mouth.
I'm am (knock-wood) one of the fortunate sorts who rarely, if ever, have any type of headache. If I am unlucky to have one, a nice shot of bourbon dose of Tylenol or something along those lines will do the trick. Unfortunately, that is not the case for this one.
I made the mistake of kind of forgetting to eat dinner last night, what with all of the homework (no running around last night!) and bath and bedtime routines. And trying to listen to Chickie talk about this really cool boy she likes (she rarely shares this with me), and soothing Meelie's concern over that fact that she will never learn cursive...I just kind of forgot.
BIG mistake. Top that off with the fact that I couldn't stomach breakfast that day, nor did I eat all that much at lunch because it was just too much effort? REALLY BIG MISTAKE.
I woke up rather queasy on Wednesday morning, and there was no improvement in the headache department. It seemed to have worsened overnight, but that was mostly likely because I was tired, and sick, and my ability to cope was at an all time low. Because I hadn't really eaten in a while, my old friend "acid reflux" decided to rear its ugly head, and I did the whole "drive by dry heave" thing for about 5 minutes.
Lord, where was I? I was so mired down in self pity for a moment I forgot.
The upshot was, I stayed home from work on Tuesday, and spent the entire time telling myself that it was ok. I have a bad habit of ignoring things, such as the fact that I was about to lose half my face, when work is involved. I managed to rest all day and watch TV that didn't include animated characters. I'm better, but the head still hurts.
I would love nothing more than to just crawl into bed right now. I know that my husband would be more than willing to take over on the kid front. He's good like that. But we have arranged a telephone call with my sister-in-law for 9:00pm (our time) and I need to be awake for that. I guess I could easily cop out on that, but I don't want to, and judging by the way I feel, that's surprising to me. It's important to her, important enough to schedule a call, so that makes it automatically important enough for me to be there.
But after that? I'm going to bed and covering my head with a pillow. I'm hoping that things will be better in the morning.
Oh, and if you haven't done so already? Go on over and sign Zach's cast, here.
Posted by Moogie at 7:59 PM | Comments (3)
Virtual Cast Signing
Imagine you are a young boy. You were at school and participating in soccer for PE. There was a collision. End result? You have broken your leg and now are sporting a bright green full leg cast.
My friend Carmi's son had this happen to him yesterday and he is now hosting a virtual cast signing. Won't you head on over to Carmi's and "sign" the cast for Zach? Carmi will be sharing all of the comments with him. If you would prefer, just leave a comment here and I'll make sure to forward it on.
I'm sure that Zach could use all of the help and encouragement he can get.
Posted by Moogie at 7:27 PM | Comments (1)
September 10, 2007
Homework
Meelie is working on her spelling words. She has to write them down five times each, and for the love of Paul and all that is holy, she has to write 2 of the 5 in cursive. She is claiming that she no longer remembers how to do cursive. I am not listening to her. She is now on word #2. And she has been working on it for 35 minutes.
Posted by Moogie at 5:23 PM
Shave and a Hair Cut...Two Bits!
Shave and a Haircut….Two Bits!
I was with the kids this weekend running some errands when we ran into one of Meelie's former teachers when we were at Arby’s..
Me: Hi there, how are you?
Her: Doing just fine! How about you?
Me: Great! I didn’t recognize you! I love your new hair style. I didn’t recognize you because you look so young and tall!
Would you please “biggie” size that order for me?
Posted by Moogie at 1:46 PM | Comments (1)
September 8, 2007
Building memories that last
Carmi, over at Written Inc., wrote a lovely post about an end of summer outing that he took with his family to the beach. Sort of the "last hurrah" of summer if you will. One of the things that I love most about Carmi's writing, is his uncanny ability to draw the reader in and make them feel as if they are right there experiencing the moment with him.
Carmi writes:
"Your turn: A memorable day from your childhood. Please discuss what made it memorable in the first place."
I do not think I could name one specific memory of vacations from my childhood that would be able to answer that. We took family vacations, via the car (ROAD TRIP!), and thus I was able to see many states and visit so many different places of interest. I do remember that while travelling, we would eat cereal out of paper bowls, with milk that my mom had stored in an ice chest. For lunch, we would stop at an appropriate place to picnic and have sandwiches, and all that went with them. I remember the ice chest (in fact it is in my garage). It was a red "Coca Cola" ice chest, the old, sturdy kind made of metal. They don't make them like that any more.
At the end of our day, when it was time to search for a hotel, we always had to find one with a swimming pool and my poor father who had been driving for most of the time would take us swimming. We always got to go out to dinner, and I remember we were allowed to have soda!
There were several times that we made the trek across country, starting at California and after various stops along the way, landing in Indiana, where the majority of my parent's family resided. Inevitably, there would be huge family reunion, in which I would meet various relatives and eat good food. I remember "Uncle Carl", who in my mind was HUGE (tall) and completely bald. He let me ride on his shoulders and I don't think you could have found a happier child. "Aunt Minnie" was elderly and in frail heath, confined to a wheelchair and unable to communicate. For whatever reasons, I was enamored with her, and continually would run up to her and give her kisses. Her grin would spread from ear to ear.
I remember the sweet, white corn on the cob that my Great Aunt would make. Huge pots filled to the brim. It was one of my favorite things, even beating out the barbeque beef. I remember my Great Uncle, having a large garden, filled to the brim with all things fresh. We would eat green onions, as if they were red licorice. For whatever reasons, they tasted so good, and I didn't even like green onions back then. On either side of his driveway, there were many different varieties of peppers. My brothers and I used to have contests, seeing who could eat the hottest one, without going for a drink of water. In the evening, the big thing was catching fireflies. My Great Aunt would give us jars, with holes poked through the lids and we would catch them down at the end of the driveway, by the mailbox.
After visiting in Indiana, we would head on out to Florida to visit my Grandmother. The beaches where she lived were everything a child could dream of. We would collect all of the shells our bags could hold. It was a veritable treasure chest. My Mom was always the one who found the best shells, and I would imagine it was because she possessed patience, and the ability to stay focused and search for them. When she wasn't busy making sure we were safe. The water was so clear that you could see all the way to the bottom, and it was nearly as warm as bath water.
Even though I can't pin point one particular vacation that was better than any other, I have enough memories to last a lifetime. This is what my husband and I are striving to do with our children. Perhaps some day, they will share the same type of story I am sharing with you here, to their own kids. If I'm half as successful as my parents were, my children will be very lucky indeed.
Posted by Moogie at 4:50 PM | Comments (4)
September 7, 2007
Pachabel's Cannon D - With a Twist
Shamelessly stolen from Jenn. It's a little long but so worth it. I'm not entirely sure, but I think this man has been in my house. Can any of you relate?
Posted by Moogie at 2:18 PM | Comments (6)
September 5, 2007
4th grade is so hard!
4th Grader Speak
The teachers are ALL mean and they never explain anything to you and they always yell at you for NO GOOD REASON! It's horrible! They give you a ton of homework and I never have any time to play with my friends. I want to move back to California because school was better there.
In Math we are learning fractions and I don't understand them. The teacher didn't tell us anything about them. She just tells us not to bother her and do our work. In Science we have a million questions to answer every night. I have to use my text book and look up the answers. I don't know how to do that. I did like it when we learned about sound though. I might be an Ear Doctor. Did you know that there is a bone in your ear that looks like a snail?
Anyway, you have no idea what it is like to be a 4th grader. My life is so hard. I never have any fun. Everybody expects so much out of you. I'm just a kid. I want to go back to Kindergarten.
Translation
The teacher's expect me to pay attention, and when I don't, they point that out. I have quite a bit of homework and if I didn't fool around, or go into total melt down mode every night, I could get it done quickly and then go outside to play. It was a lot easier when I was in California because I was in Kindergarten and learning my ABC's and shapes.
Math can be pretty tough but if I just sit down and actually concentrate, I'm pretty good at it but I like it better when Mama sits by me while I do it. Sometimes the teacher gets frustrated at me because I don't listen so I don't know what to do. In Science, we have to look up answers to our homework questions in our textbook. I am not used to that and it gets kind of frustrating. Sometimes Mama gets frustrated at me because I don't want to sit still long enough for her to explain it to me. It was fun when we were studying about sound. We got to learn all about the ear. I want to be an ENT when I grow up.
4th grade is pretty hard. It's a big step up from 3rd and I thought that was hard! Sometimes I don't think I'm going to be able to do it. I still say that I want to go back to Kindergarten.
Mama Speak
We go through this nearly every day after school. My husband and I were talking, and we remember we went through the same thing with Chickie when she was that age. If Chickie is any indication, Meelie will get past this and, provided I don't sell her first, she will do just fine.
I, on the other hand, keep thinking that a nice Box of Pink Wine may just help me through this phase.
Posted by Moogie at 6:51 PM | Comments (7)
September 4, 2007
Chip on my shoulder
There have been many times in my life in which I have carried a "Chip" on my shoulder about the size of Hawaii's Mauna Loa Volcano. Today it nearly errupted. I don't, and won't, talk much about work on this blog, so let's just say that I was "this close" to verbally taking someone down. Luckily, I kept my mouth shut and walked away. I talked with my boss about it, and I must admit that she was supportive. Sometimes it doesn't matter how nice you are. There are some folks out there who are just unpleasant. It felt good to know that she understood exactly where I was coming from and told me that what I was doing was correct. It also felt good that I have grown up enough to realize that if I open my mouth in a situation like that, both feet go straight in. All the way to the hip baby.
I kept telling myself to remember the fabulous time I had at my folk's house this weekend. We went down there to celebrate my birthday, family style. On Saturday, my Mom let me pick the dinner I wanted and I chose Chicken Enchilada Pie, complete with all the trimmings. And that wasn't even my birthday dinner. How cool is it that not only someone cooks for you, but that they (Mom) let you choose what you want for dinner, not once but TWICE? I think I died and went to Heaven, but you'll have to get back to me after I digest all of the wonderful food I ate to make sure.
It's always hard to come back to reality after visiting the folks. Both my husband and I agree that the visits are always nice and relaxing, even when all of the family gets together (not counting the brother and family in California) which brings the total body count to 12. Six of which are kids. It is very loud. It's hard for me when there are that many people because of the noise and chaos. There are times when I just want to go hide in the bedroom until they leave. But then? I would be missing out on all of the family fun. All of the cousins get along so well and they really enjoy each other's company. It's fabulous, but at the same time, very stressful for me. But I push myself to get past that. To let it go, to enjoy it for what it is. Yesterday was the first time when I could honestly say, I think I'm getting there. Sort of.
Coming off of a fabulous weekend, I have to face the D.E.N.T.I.S.T. The man of which Stephen King novels are made of. For right now, at this very point in time, I'm ok with it. I just need to get a couple of fillings built up (they are composites) which supposedly means that I will not need to be numbed. That's the idea anyway. On the plus side, he'll also be fixing the veneer on my two front teeth.
If all goes well, I'll be all smiles when it's through. Hopefully, my mouth won't be numb.
Posted by Moogie at 6:33 PM | Comments (1)
