should i be worried...

when i come home to find out the young mad scientist was experimenting with combustibles and singed his hair and forehead?!

I'm officially cool!

I had to take the boys shoe-shopping today for dress shoes. Charlie has a "semi-formal" event at school, being inducted into the Beta Club honor society. Go Bug!!! Anyway, while I was having a personal dilemma, trying to justify spending $60 on a pair of Doc Martin's that I know he'll only wear like three times before his feet grow, rather than spending $35 on a similar pair of Skechers, (how can you deny the coolness of buying Doc Martin's for your kid?!) my phone rang. "A woo-ooo... a woo-ooo," goes my phone, singing out one of my favorite John Mayer songs. The shoe sales clerk comes running up... "That was John Mayer! Oh man, your mom is sooo cool!". Sam says even louder, "Yeah, we know!" That was the best!!!

photo shoot

So I've been washing and waxing my car like crazy this week... because the Red Rocket is going to be in a photo shoot tomorrow afternoon! Yes, a friend of mine asked if she could "borrow" my car as a backdrop for pics of her puppy for some contest. Seems like small potatoes, but she's got a professional photographer and everything! My 15 seconds of fame have arrived!!!

mother of ninjas

Yes, this is what I do on Sunday nights... corral a small group of ninjas for photo ops... then try to get them in bed so they're well-rested for golf in the morning.

tooting my own horn

I don't like to talk about work much on here. But I feel compelled to share... when I got back from my vacation, I learned that I'd be getting a promotion as part of our annual review and restructure process. I wasn't quite sure if it would really happen. You know how it goes, I don't believe it until I see it. Well, last week while I was up in Atlanta, they made the announcement to the entire department via video-conference. Yes, that's me... Director of Undergraduate Admission. Sounds fancy!

back from vacation, the pics...

waiting patiently for the ceremony to begin












the oath











adjusting the ribbons











mother of all bombs











sink hole











tether ball under the boardwalk











shark attack











perfect day at the beach











until the sunburn

House pics

Here are some recent pics, taken at 8 o'clock this evening. I had to do the house and yard in parts, as it's a pretty wide area. Outside pics then some of the inside. Please keep in mind... it's a work in progress! Oh, and please forgive me, I'm having a hard time arranging this page.













left side of yard










left side of house










right side of house













front garden close-up, note sky pencils










high-five palm tree










MINI in the driveway










da boyz in the living room










fireplace shot













foyer and hallway to bedrooms










dining room










the kitchen... much work still to be done in here!










the fish room (and a 120 lb. lab!)










the sunroom

what the he*#?!

Imagine our surprise last night as we were on our nightly walk and noticed this up in one of our oak trees. We immediately knew that Charlie was to blame...

house busters

Holy cow, I am so tired right now. On Saturday Stevie suggested that we do an indoor project, since Tropical Storm Barry was blowing through and it was too yucky outside to dig in the garden. So, we trekked to Walmart to get some paint. I don't even remember what we were going to paint at first. But there I was, looking at color chips, when dude comes over all excited, "Hey, look what we can do!" He had found some mis-matched paint at 50% off, and decided it would be a good idea to buy like 4 gallons and mix them all together and paint the living room and dining room with our new "custom color". I wasn't too keen on the idea, since we spend most of our time in there, I don't want to play crap-shoot with the color. But there I stood with about 6 different color chips, realizing that anyone of them would look good in there, and the colors he had chosen from the mis-match paint were all in the same family, so I gave in. We came home, moved all the furniture to the middle of the room, and went to town. We worked so fast, we thought it would be a good idea to continue painting down the hallway. Then today, he kept painting, this time the sunroom. But through all this "home improvement" I've discovered something about myself. The more I like something, the more I want to clean it. (That would explain why my car is always immaculately clean.) The house looks so nice right now, with the new wood floors and fresh paint, I don't want anyone to get it dirty. Therefore, my hands are red, dry and cracking right now, as I have had a hard time relinquishing my rag and Fabuloso. Stevie finally had to take me for a walk after dinner, to get me to stop cleaning. Okay, gotta go... I hear the boys messing up the kitchen.

Oh, and Steve, I promise, current house pics this week.

awkward

I have a friend. A male. A coworker. I have respect for him because: 1. he's smart 2. he's funny 3. he's a good dad and seemingly a good husband. However, I'm starting to feel weird around him. He seems to be going out of his way to have lunches together, to find common interests, stuff to talk about, to get into my beeswax, to flirt? I can't tell exactly, because he's rather introverted. At first I didn't think anything of it, but now it's getting awkward.

a music review

I don't often assert my musical preferences on people. I mean, yes, I have them, but music is so subjective, why should you listen to what I have to say about it? However, there's an album that I've been waiting for for quite some time, and it was released last Tuesday. Needless to say, I ran over to Target the first chance I got (last Saturday), and Sammy and I have been bouncing around to these fine tunes ever since. Yes, people, I still buy cd's, even though I'm quite proficient at downloading music and I do own an ipod. There's just something so tangible and satisfying to me about having the disk case with the artwork and lyrics. Anyway, here's a snippet from the album's review on Amazon.com, "Sometimes it's O.K.--even important--to put aside your reluctance to embrace artists who make teenage girls scream. It happened in 2006, when Justin Timberlake scraped the sludge off pop and left something shiny behind, and it's happening again in 2007..." I couldn't agree more. I first heard this band a few years ago in concert before I ever heard them on the radio. They just happened to be opening up for another one of my all time favorites, John Mayer, and I was more than pleasantly surprised at their performance. Hell, even Stevie liked them! To me, they embody the perfect blend of pop, funk, dance, and sexy, yes, ala JT. I love it. Who is it? you keep asking... it's Maroon 5, with their new album It won't be soon before long. Last week after they performed their new single, Makes me wonder on American Idol, I let Marge borrow their first cd, Songs about Jane for the day. I love seeing a 60 year old lady grooving at her desk all day. Anyway, notable songs on the new cd are tracks 2, 3, 6, 7, 9 and 10. As the reviewer on Amazon said, Makes me wonder is "catchier than fire". So true. And track 3 Little of your time makes you boogy wherever you are. I suspect that I left a whole interstate full of people laughing this afternoon as I could not quit dancing to it while speeding down I-95. So, if you like pop music, dance, or "sexy", go download it, buy it, whatever, just give it a go, you won't be sorry.

Memorial Day

Well, I'm sure you all have lovely tales of Memorial Day involving cook-outs and days at the beach. Me? I slaved away at work, as usual. So sad, right? But really, it wasn't that bad. The nice thing? No meter maids on holidays, so I parked in a 30 minute zone ALL DAY LONG, right in front of the building, without paying the meter. Dang, I shoulda taken a picture of my car with the expired meter, and taped it to my windshield for tomorrow! That woulda been too cool! I swear those little Interceptors just circle my car like vultures, waiting for the meter to expire. The other cool things about working on Memorial Day? No traffic, and a quiet day at work. I just answered questions and reviewed files all day. Easy! So when I say that I "slaved away" at work today, well that was a gross overstatement. And I sat out in the square for well-over my hour lunch break, chatting with Courtney about antique books and rubber cars. There's one bench in Madison Square that is now very sunny because one of the oak trees fell down in a wind storm a couple months ago. If I had stayed out any longer, I would've needed sunscreen. Here's the square, before the tree blew down. Now the tree in the left foreground is gone, and I have a new favorite hot spot.

But Happy Memorial Day. Please remember those troops that have laid down their lives for our freedom, and please pray for those that are protecting our freedom this very minute. Stay safe, Scotty!!!

belated Mother's Day report

Well, yesterday was Mother's Day. It wasn't the typical fanfare, but I was glad for it. A nice quiet day. Peaceful. Charlie got up and made breakfast, crepes. He's twelve for God sake, and he's making crepes!!! Steve came home early from work and took me out to pick out my Mother's Day foliage. Traditionally, if I don't receive some electronic gadget, then I get a special plant/shrubbery. So this year Stevie bought me a trellis and two clematis for it. I also got two beautiful red lantana to go in my hangy baskets out front. But perhaps better than any of those presents was something I did with Sammy. I remembered the gift that we had gotten him for Christmas, the "hit away", and I finally figured out how to set it up. He stayed outside for about 30 minutes, practicing. Then today, again, he practiced batting before his game. And this evening, I got the best present... he had his best game ever! Three at-bats, he got zero outs. The first up he hit a text-book bunt right down the third base line. The second and third ups he hit SOLID hits to right/center field, getting on base each time!!! I tell ya, the look on his face and the confidence that he gained... that was the best Mother's Day present EVER!!!

a sigh of relief

The countdown is over and she is gone for six months. I can finally breathe. I dropped her off at the recruiter's office at 8:00am, and I sang all the way home. In those last few minutes, I actually felt love for her, and hope. It is a new beginning.

t minus two!

Two days left!!!! This is a very good thing. I can hardly face her today, ever since I saw the latest picture on her MySpace. She leaves very little to the imagination. I was so pissed when I saw it, I could couldn't get anymore work done for the rest of the day. I think I'm going to set her computer on fire. That would be cool.

Sky pencil!!!

I'm not sure what day we are at in the countdown... could be 9, could be 7. According to her myspace, she is leaving on the 6th, two days earlier than I expected. I'm okay with that.

Anyway, today we went to the Home Depot, and I finally got my dream shrubbery. That's right, the wonderful SKY PENCIL... two of them! I don't know why I have wanted one so bad. Maybe it's because of the ease in which I will be able to prune them, and their stately nature. I will feed them, and love them, and watch them grow. And I'm really not sure why I always have to sing it out... sky penciiiiiillllll....

Then and now

a twenty year timespan, almost...

It's crazy how quickly time flies, and I know we all say that once we get "old". But it's so weird the way certain things that you had when you were young, feelings, thoughts, etc. never seem to leave you, no matter how many years pass. I've been talking to an old "friend" lately, and I just can't get over how it feels like nothing has really changed between us. I mean, our relationship has changed of course, and yet it hasn't - it just still feels very comfortable, even though there has been a seventeen year time gap since we last spoke.

BTW, today is Day 11. So close...

Day 17

Apparently I'm not the only one who's fed up with her. Once again, she didn't come home last night. The big guy just asked me when she was leaving. 17 days. I wonder if he'll be able to go off of his high blood pressure medicine after the source of stress has moved out.

Day 22, Why I am so cool

10. And perhaps I will read this tomorrow and delete it all. But today, rock on!!!

Day 25

The week is almost over. Tomorrow is Saturday, but I have to work... one last SCAD Day before our summer hiatus. So I will take a little time tonight to play catch-up...

The trip to Chattanooga was great. It was so good to see Tonia, Big E, and their young'uns. The little guys were running around like wild, and I think it was hard on Tonia and E, but I didn't mind one little bit. It was a little weird at first, since we haven't all been together in like 7 years, but after the initial meet and greet in the parking lot, it was all just very comfortable, like a good pair of shoes. Keen shoes, my favorite. Anyhow, like I said before, our hotel was kind of in the ghetto, but really, I didn't care. I was so chill the whole time, not worrying about work, no time crunches, comfortable clothing, I could've been anywhere and I would've loved it. Well, anywhere warm. So, we went to the Tennessee aquarium, which has long been on our to do list. It was really nice. Not as good as maybe Baltimore or Tampa, but still, it was up there. My favorite fish? The giant puffer, of course! We went to some fun restaurants, made the regular pilgrimage to Walmart, and played card games at night. My only complaint about the trip... it was too damn short!

Day 31

Oh man, today was a doozy. We realized that we had not seen her, nor had any evidence of her having been home for about 48 hours, and she was not returning our calls. We were afraid someone had abducted her.

She finally called around 10:30pm and explained that she missed curfew last night, so she decided to hide out from us, rather than coming home. She told me she took a nap on the beach. Great, she's already acting like a homeless person. Stevie is going to brunch with her tomorrow, to "discuss" things. I wonder if we will have to kick her out before the countdown is over...

Day 34

Vacation was excellent, just what I needed. Will post details and pics soon. Our hotel was "in the ghetto" but the actitivites/time spent were awesome and much needed!!!

She has deleted her MySpace page. What gives?! Could it be a sign of good things to come, perhaps some self-control in the age of the WWW and technology? We'll see... Her recruiter called yesterday to check in and make sure she's not pregnant. How in the hell am I supposed to answer that question?!

My dad sent me some paperwork today to sign. He writes on the post-it note..."This is for some stocks. They will go to you when I am gone." How exactly am I supposed to take that?! I miss him so much.

Day 39, going on vacation

We are leaving her alone this weekend, she has the house all to herself. She may not even realize she is by herself. We haven't seen or talked to her for a couple days, and she may not remember or realize that we are going to Chattanooga for a few days. Lizard will keep an eye on the house and the feeshes for us.

I was really dreading this trip at first, because I find it so hard to forget about work, to let it go. But I spent a couple extra hours there tonight, wrapping things up, so I could truly leave it for a couple days. You know, I try to make it a point to not really talk about work here. But that explains why my blogging has been lacking in content lately. My whole life revolves around that W word. Or shall I say that SCAD word. The past couple weeks have been really tough, too. Two rolling heads in as many weeks. It puts everyone on edge. So I'm just glad to have finished up my week and have four days of nothing to look forward to. Hello vacation!!!

So I'm really looking forward to a few days of just doing whatever, and being spontaneous. No schedules, no meetings, no alarm clocks. Hanging out with friends, drinking, eating, spending time with my boys and being silly. And not having to clean the f'ing house. Please don't call me unless you're on fire. Even then, just call 911.

Day 41

Interesting... she was very excited today to be meeting up with her "favorite marine", a.k.a. the boy she was engaged to for three weeks. I wonder if the ring will reappear.

Day 47

Will there be an appropriate punishment for leaving the flat iron on (AGAIN) before she ends up burning the house down? I doubt it. At least we have good homeowners insurance.

48 days

To _________,

I do not appreciate seeing your bikini top, encrusted with a rhinestone-studded playboy bunny, while your pants are so low, that I am about to catch a peek at the tattoo that you should not have, and that I wish to not know about. Please wear appropriate clothing at all times.

Thank you.
mom

49

Day 49. Took off a half day off to help Stevie work on his resume. But while I sat alongside him, lending support, I also processed a dozen expense reports. Work never stops. Then I took Sammy to his practice game. Sand gnat central. Sammy didn't do so well. Choke-n-poke, he needs to learn what that means. With a full count, you don't wait for another ball. He'll figure it out. At least he's fast... really fast.

Day 50

Its official. Today begins the 50 day countdown 'til E goes to basic training. 50 days can be a long time when you're pissed off. I just get kinda really mad when she leaves a note on the door to "please let Esther sleep", but she makes sure to leave a load of laundry outside her door, in the hallway. Apparently, this is a hotel. Please do not disturb the princess. But hopefully...my days will whiz by, and I will be surprised that the time passed so quickly. 50 days and counting...

On a side note. I am mesmerized by the baseball coach. He is totally hot and has very beautiful children. Met the wife, and she is very sweet and giving, despite her large hair. Damnit! OMG, thru the magic of the internet, I have discovered that he is a REVEREND. I bet he does not appreciate sinners.

catchup, ketchup, catsup

Well, two months goes by, and I don't have much to show for it. I did get that treadmill and downloaded Puddle of Mudd to my ipod, but I haven't given up the Pinot. Flavor of the moment, Twisted Pig. I bought it only because I liked the name, but it turned out to be a good one. I am running on a sporadic basis, and its helping the stress levels. Which is good, because I need all the help I can get. Actually, I think I need to jump on the treadmill right now. I've got a headache that won't go away, and my neurologist is pretty sure that they are stress-induced.

E is doing better. She came to her senses, left the boy, moved back home, and will be going to basic training on May 8. The countdown begins. She has been assigned her job, air traffic controller. Awesome! I am very glad that she is taking a better path in life, but damn, she makes me nervous.

Work is tough. I find myself having to make ethical decisions on a daily basis. What is the right, what is wrong. I think I have a good moral compass, but its just a lot of pressure. Run, Kimmy, run!

And the rest of the circus... Stevie is working some crazy overtime right now, lots of planes. And he wants me to help him re-do his resume, to post for a nice little promotion. The boys are both doing their sports now, another hockey season for Charlie, and a first attempt at baseball for Sammy. I've been really proud of his effort, and his natural athletic skill is apparent. Well, except for the time he took a fly ball to the schnoz. Luckily it didn't break, but there was definitely some blood. Papa is terribly grumpy lately. He had shoulder surgery and is tired of having his arm in a sling. He just wants to get back on the golf course, but his physical therapist said he would have to wait about 5 more months for that. Oh, and the twins... we've practically adopted Charlie's friends, Zaak and Ouzal. Sweet boys, I think I will keep them.

Oh, but a break is on the horizon. We're planning a little mini vacation up to Chattanooga, to go to the aquarium. A long weekend, and we're meeting our friends Tonia and Eric up there. I can't wait, I need a diversion!

Request for a date

BTW, Steve West, the only person in the living world who reads my blog... I know I totally bailed on you the last time I was in the ATL... but I'll be there this coming weekend, Thursday night thru Sunday morning. Let's set up a time and place beforehand, okay? Coffee, dinner, whatever. It's on me.

Day 6

We're all very sad now. No one's sure of what to say, or how to feel. Even Charlie is out-0f-sorts. He is always my rock, Mr. Perfect, but today he had a melt-down. He sulked, he went into a rage and threw things, he cried and then slept under a bed. We are all very disappointed and feeling rejected. So now I want a treadmill. I want to strap on my headphones, listen to Puddle of Mudd, and run until I puke. I think I'll just drink some more Pinot.

But on the bright side...
My hairdresser is totally awesome, and he always puts me in a good mood. He's a hair master, a shrink, and a total hotty, all rolled into one. Too bad I'm too old for him!

I also got an email from my old dancing partner on the island, Sergio, who just finished remodeling his house, so he sent me some pictures. WHO LET THE DOGS OUT? SER-GI-O! SER-GI-O! It's so nice to hear from old friends!!!

Day 5 of 2007

And today, while we were at work, she packed up her things and moved away. She left a note on the counter.

Day 4 of 2007

Today we were informed that she was fired from her job.

3 days down, 362 to go... Lord help me!

Well, thanks to the big E, 2007 is off to a roaring start!
Ugh... where do I begin?! Honestly, this one is a doozy, so as is my style, I'll spew just to get it off my chest, but with brevity...

• E was not doing well in school, so we felt it best to pull the plug before another $10,000 was spent on another semester.
• The following week, she was going to enlist in the Air Force and it seemed like a great fit... she scored a 92 on her ASVAB, ensuring her of a great career field, and she seemed totally focused.
• Two weeks later, after a nice Christmas, winding down the holidays, her ex-boyfriend/friend/maybe boyfriend again comes for a visit, and the next thing you know, she's got a ring and he's asking for her hand in marriage. Active duty Air Force is now not an option.
• Throw in some attitude, some tears and some illegal drug use, and quite honestly, I don't know what the f*** the outcome is.
• I do know that wine is now my best friend.

So, if you see me around this week, please oh pete, DO NOT ask me if I had a good New Year's!