growing up

Sammy has always seemed young, played the part of the "baby" of the family. He's smaller than other kids his age. He's not terribly mature. But tonight, all the sudden, he seemed older to me. Maybe it was because he was wearing a tie. Maybe it was because I could tell he had a crush on girl. Or maybe he's just growing up. Anyway, I'm awfully proud of him and was so excited for him to be inducted into the Beta Club!

So I suck at blogging...

so much so that I haven't posted in almost a full year. I guess the fact that my job has pretty much ruled my waking hours, and much of the sleeping ones, as well, has kept me away from this place.

Besides that whole work thing and all the other crazy things that have happened in the past year, it's almost time for my 20th year high school reunion, and I'm sort of the main organizer of it. Correction, the only. Why did I sign on for this? For fun moments like this, when I run across news of my old high school boyfriend in a predicament like this: http://www.savannahnow.com/node/570719, and to see that 1. he has not aged well, at all, and 2. he lives in my friggin' back yard! I move four states away, and I still can't shake him. Holy cow!

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.