10 days later….

…and she’s still BLOGGING! Okay, in the grand scheme of things, this is not big news. This doesn’t even qualify as news, really. But to me, it’s a good start to a big undertaking.

Today I set out to do three things-

1. get thee to the grocery store before thine family runs short(er) on milk
2. return the library books to the library
3. give the dog a bath

I am happy to report that all three things on my To Do List got did. Except I forgot to buy the cream cheese and sour cream I need to make homemade cheesecake. My friend Richard is having a birthday party on Sunday and I volunteered to make the birthday cake. Apparently, he liked it a lot, that cheesecake. Well, what’s not to like? It’s a FANTASTIC cheesecake.

So tomorrow morning I have to run to the market to get the stuff to make the cake. The cake making is a bit tedious, and takes about seven hours total (six of those are just letting it alone to set), and we’re having company tomorrow. I COULD get up early(ish) to go and get the stuff to make the cake… but will I? Oh HELL no. No no and no. Weekends are my bliss. I get to sleep in. I love to sleep in. It’s one of my absolute favorite things to do. Loooooove it.

Alright. I know that this has been a most fascinating read, but all good things must come to a close. This would be me, signing off, til tomorrow!

Peace!

football season!

Anyone who knows me knows that I’m not, like, the biggest football fan that ever walked. I am, however, appreciative of the sport and am a BIG fan of the Chargers. The problem is that I don’t totally understand the game. I like to be in the same room when it’s on, but I lose interest because I don’t get all the plays and the rules and the jargon. Lucky for me, I’m married to a HUGE football fan, a guy who knows the sport inside and out, and is more than willing to ‘splain whenever I have a question.

And I have lotsa questions.

I really want to understand the game, because it looks pretty cool. I want to be able to fully immerse myself in it and get it. I have friends who are big football fans, and sometimes we talk about it, but all too soon they lose me because I DON’T totally get it.

All I know is that when I watch it, it’s hard not to get totally caught up in it, watching these athletes perform at the highest level of their abilities. I can’t believe their size and speed and power and I can’t help but marvel at what they can make their bodies do. Watching them is amazing. I just want to know what, exactly, it is that they’re DOING!

9 down, 91 to go!

can i have a timeout now?

If I had to do this over again, would I? Would I have children? I guess that’s not a fair question, because I have them and I adore them so very much, I can’t fathom NOT wanting them. It would be akin to wondering if you could, would you have been born without arms? They’re such a part of my life and my makeup as a human being that I could not possibly imagine my existence without them.

I sometimes wonder, though, what WOULD life be like without my children in it?

I can’t really wrap my head around that.

Today I was ready to wish I’d never had children. Well, one child in particular. She’s my youngest, my “baby”. Yes, she’s nine, and yes, I know… she’s not a baby. Almost double digits. Been a long while since I carted her around on my hip. However, since she’s the last one, she’s my “baby”. And today she was sorely trying my patience.

She isn’t the most even tempered child to begin with, although she’s a little love. She is, however, very stubborn and is convinced that she’s more or less right about… well, everything. Sometimes that rears its head in a most inconvenient manner, and it results in several unpleasant moments for the both of us. Because whatever she thinks, I KNOW she’s not right about everything, and last time I checked, I was still the boss of her. Apparently she went mad this morning and lost sight of that little factoid. I thought we’d have at least a few more years before she lost her mind, but apparently… it’s starting early.

Now, this kind of behavior I expect from my teenager, who doesn’t behave this way at all, and from my pre-teen, who… well. Holy crap. Some days I can’t make heads or tails of that girl. One minute she’s DEL-TOR, demon from Hades… and then two seconds later she’s Delta, light of my life, sweetest angel on earth. She can go from happy to mad to sad to glad to curious to elated to… well, you get the idea… all inside of an hour. She falls asleep by nine-thirty every nite, completely passed out, and that can only lead me to think that she’s probably going through some… changes. WHY I thought this might be a smooth transition is beyond me…

I love my son. I really, really do.

8 down, 92 to go!

things i like

Here’s a few things I’m currently into. Enjoy!

Here’s a few things I really look forward to:

Looks exciting, eh?

7 down, 93 to go!

under the wire

I made it! It may be midnite elsewhere, but here in California, it’s just after nine pm. My 100 days of blogging is still intact :)

This morning I woke up and started reading Mockingjay. I mean literally, I woke up and reached over to my nitestand, put on my glasses and picked up my book and started reading, picking up where I left off the nite before. That book is really… that good.  The third and final book in a trilogy by Suzann Collins, the first being The Hunger Games, the second called Catching Fire. Yes, they’re for “young adults”, but don’t let that influence you! Absolutely some of the best books I have ever had the privilege of reading, I kid you not.

I had a lot to do today, so I had to read it off and on, or I would have finished it much earlier. As it stands, I finished it just a few hours ago, and because someone who reads my blog has yet to read the book, I won’t spill any of the pertinent details… I’ll just say this- OH MY GAWD!!! and CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT??? and *sob sob sob*; yes, there were parts (read that, multiple) parts that brought me to tears. I CRIED. ACTUAL TEARS.

And that’s all I’m going to say about that.

Only that it was a seriously excellent book. And now I’m done. Talking. About the book…

SO! Tonite is my eldest Bonus Son Stephen’s last nite at home. At least it should be. This is… take three, I think, of Operation Boot Stephen From the Nest. We’re cautiously optimistic that his time it will actually happen.

I’m totally making this sound like it’s his fault, and it’s really not. See, a few years ago Stephen exercised his adult privileges and became a reservist in the Marine Corp. He went to boot camp, went to his MOS school in Georgia, then came home with some notion of getting a job… going to college… only… it didn’t quite work out like that! Well, it did, buuuuut… see, he kinda screwed the pooch a little. I mean, he got a job, was working full time at WalNut, decided after several months that it wasn’t for him and before he made sure he had another job, quit. Enter Life Lesson here; never jump ship if you don’t have a place to land! So he moved up north with some friends and tried really, really hard to get a job. He registered for college but sat too long on the whole getting financial aid part, couldn’t find a job, and had to move back in with us since he couldn’t do that whole rent thing. Enter Another Life Lesson here; he who procrastinates gets financial aid not!

In all fairness, he was eighteen, nineteen when all of this went down; not exactly the most savvy, life experienced human being walking around. Super smart, but not real worldly, if you know what I mean.

He couch-crashed with us, then decided that he wanted to go active in the Marine Corp. Only, they said “NO! We like you just fine as a reservist.” So HE said, “Oh yeah? Well, screw that!” and went next door to the Army recruiter and said “Sign me up, please!” and they said “Oh hell to the yeah we will!”.

All he had to do was file some paperwork to have him transferred from Marine to Army… get some bigwig to approve it… do a little of this and a little of that… presto magico, you’re in the Army now!

Yeah…. didn’t exactly work out like that.

Long story short (too late, I know), one year later Stephen, after two false approvals, is still couch-crashing. However, THIS TIME they SWEARS they have the right forms filed, and signed by the right people, and all the i’s are crossed and the t’s are dotted and sometime in the morning, our bonny boy Stephen will be in the wind!

We’ll see. That’s what I say. We. Shall. See.

Anyway, this is the third “fare thee well” dinner we’ve had, and I have to say, it went off without a hitch. We had turkey meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, biscuits, peas, and a delicious cherry pie. We also had guests for dinner (we didn’t eat them; just fed them). Neya and Richard, both of whom I hold in high esteem. It was nice just hanging out and conversing, although there were moments when my spawn got a little louder than necessary, and needed a firm reminder to, you know, BEHAVE like HUMANS WITH HOME TRAINING.

Now I’m going to go to bed. I haz a tired. Later, doods :)

6 down, 94 to go!

on my nitestand

*disclaimer- I know how to spell “night”. I just choooooose to spell it "nite”

I may or may not have mentioned before that I am an avid book junkie. I read a lot. More than most people I know. The problem with this is that I tend to have more books in the “to-read” pile than I can be expected to read in a reasonable amount of time. There’s something wrong with me. I keep buying books, or borrowing books, or winning books, or books somehow find their way to me. No kidding, I have come out to my car to find a book sitting on my hood, and no one around to claim ownership of it. What am I supposed to do, leave it there?

Right now I have a ton of books next to my bed. See, look:

I took that picture today. And this doesn’t show the large basket next to my bed with even more books. Now, some of those books really should go in the basket, since those are for the books I’ve already read but want to read again, but the majority of those books on the nitestand are books I have yet to read. I just need to actually read them.

And today I went and bought another one. Cause I have a serious problem. I think I need help. I just don’t WANT it!

5 down, 95 to go!

a narrow escape

The other nite, my husband was having a fairly bad allergy attack. It was late, around 11:30. I woke up because I could hear him coughing and wheezing, and I asked him if he was alright. He said yes, he was. Twenty minutes later, it got worse. I asked if he wanted to go outside. At first he said no, but after a few more minutes of obvious discomfort and misery, he said that yeah, probably he should go outside for awhile. The fresh air would do his allergies good.

I grabbed my robe and threw it over my pj’s and shoved my feet into flip-flops. The Man actually got dressed. He told me to stay inside, but I informed him that I would be joining him. No way he was going to have to sit outside by himself; it’s kinda my fault that his allergies are acting up. He’s allergic to my little poochy love Chiquita, and the only reason he tolerates her is because I love her so much.

So we head outside, and it was a beautiful, clear nite. Stars were out, it was truly lovely. We sat on the porch and talked for awhile. Talked about things many and varied. It was soothing and quiet, and his allergies slowly got better. His breathing eased, he quit coughing, and he seemed a lot more comfortable.

While we don’t exactly live in the wilds, there are animals that go roaming around our ‘hood in the nite. Mostly, cats and dogs, but we get the occasional wild beastie. Mice, raccoons, even coyotes. Anyway, there was a cat that kept wandering around, unafraid of us as it kept coming into our driveway. I heard it moving around behind us, over by the shed. I asked The Man if he wanted to go inside, and he said in a few minutes he would be ready. A few seconds later, I heard the cat come up the stairs behind me. Our back porch has two sets of stairs on opposite ends, with a landing about four feet across, separating them. I mentioned to The Man that the cat was behind me, and turned to look at it.

A few seconds of squinting in the dark, I said in a low, low voice, “Um. I don’t think that’s a cat.”

He says, “What is it?”

I reply, “I really don’t know, but I don’t think it’s a cat…”

He asks, “Is it a skunk?”

I ask, “Do skunks have white butts?”

He says, “….. I think we should very slowly go inside the house….”

I reply with, “I totally, totally agree….”

People, that was a close one!

4 down, 96 to go!