An announcement
Current mood: good
Category: Life

As many of you may know American Idol was here on Monday. Well, I auditioned and I am off to Hollywood!

Just kidding.
I didn't audition. However, I did seriously consider it for a couple of weeks.

The real news is that I have a bun in the oven.
The timer should go off around February or March, but I won't know for sure until I get an ultrasound.

So that's it! I will let you know the due date as soon as I find out.

Currently listening : Baby Einstein: Lullaby Classics By Johann Sebastian Bach Release date: 16 March, 2004

9:53 AM - 62 Comments - 56 Kudos - Add Comment

There was a time.
Current mood: numb
Category: Life

My most cherished Christmas ornament is not exceptionally pretty. It does not sparkle. It is not homemade. It was not made to be unique.

While decorating the tree I slowly make my way through all of the individual boxes, hanging each ornament on the tree as quickly as possible, wanting what has become a job to get done. Then I find the little green box. A small purchase made at a 7/11 in El Cajon, CA. Inside there is a small bear holding a wreath. I look at the box, I look at the ornament. I hold it close and I want to smash it into little pieces. Instead, I gingerly hang the bear in a prominent place on the front of the tree.

A stark reminder.

She bought a new ornament every year. The date always had to be somewhere on it, marking the purchase in her history. That is how I know it was purchased in her darkest days. The location of the purchase sickens me. A damn convenience store! I am disgusted that I was so blind to her poverty. I never understood all of the things I saw...

She had called me that year, Christmas day 1997. She begged me to come see her. I stood my ground, thinking I was right. "Not unless you take your medication."
Her tears fell through the phone and onto my cheek, but still I refused to be in her presence.

She never bought another ornament. I didn't tell her I loved her. She never spoke to me again. That was her last Christmas. She spent the cherished day alone.

She died alone that January, she took her own breath.

I took the ornament.

*I thought about disabling the comments on this and decided instead to just ask that no one tell me that it wasn't my fault. I know that.*

Word of the Day:

pedantic (adj)- narrowly or stodgily learned. 

Currently listening : Have a Holly Jolly Christmas By Burl Ives Release date: 01 June, 1995

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Running in Flip-Flops
Current mood: listless
Category: Life

Last Wednesday we took off, headed for Denison, TX. I was very excited to spend a holiday with my Nana for the first time. We had a rocky start, not leaving until about 6:00 in the evening, but overall it looked like the trip would go well.

Thanksgiving was perfect. The food was delicious, everyone was content. I watched the Macy's parade for the first time...well, I watched bits and pieces of it. I usually don't have the patience to watch any of the parade. My Texan family was happy when Dallas won.

I assume that Friday was fine because I can't remember anything that we did that day. Now I am irritated that I have already forgotted an entire day. Alright, I guess this blog will have blurbs of me thinking aloud.

Saturday we went down to McKinney to watch my cousin Gracie sing at a festival. She did very well, especially considering she is only nine. After Clay got mad at me for supposedly flirting with some guys who I was sure were gay and Gracie was done with her concert we decided to drive around to look at the town. I don't remember ever having been to McKinney despite visiting Denison many times before.

We split up, Clay and I taking our kids in our car, my cousins and Nana in another car. We drive about two miles and the car starts making strange noises. By thew time that Clay gets into a nearby parking lot there is alot of smoke coming from under the hood. Lovely. So much for seeing McKinney.

We let the car cool off. Clay tinkers around under the hood and makes a diagnosis. I have no idea what he is talking about because all that I can do is check oil and change a tire. I ask him if the car will make it to a service station, he says yes, and I insist on taking it to the nearest Wal-Mart because we need to pick up diapers anyway.

Wal-Mart can't help us because they don't have any belts. Some guy named Mando calls his friend and we limp our car to the friends garage down the street, turning the car off a every light so that it doesn't overheat.

An Indian (the country, not Native Americans) guy named Moses, who speaks very broken english tells one of his workers, that speaks to us in Spanglish, to go look under our hood. They tell us they can fix the car. It will be ready Monday since they are closed Sunday. Fine.
We wait outside for one of my cousins to come pick us up.

Sunday is fun. We went to church in Oklahoma and go to Chuck E Cheese in Texas for Maclaya's 'real' birthday.

Monday comes and Clay arranges for a ride back to McKinney to pick up the car. While he is gone I scramble to get the children and I ready, and organize our things. We were supposed to go home on Sunday and I am ready. I miss my bed. We have been sleeping on a full size bed. I am used to a California King. To make sleeping even more restful the children have been sleeping with us, and every time someone breathes in all of the springs squeak.

Clay arrives and we load up the car. As we head down my Nana's street the car starts to overheat. We go to a gas station and Clay checks the oil, and adds water. Looks like the garage didn't put enough water in wherever the water is supposed to go.

Finally. We are on the road. First stop is Jack in the Box. We don't have those in Arkansas and Clay needs a Jumbo Jack. Next stop is back to Oklahoma. I insist that the girls each have a postcard from every state they've been to, to hang on their wall, and we didn't get one the day before.

The car starts to overheat again. We are on an off-ramp headed into Durant, OK. The car dies. We limp to the nearest gas station. Clay makes a bazillion phone calls, I piddle around doing nothing. The children are asleep. After the car cools off I tell Clay I want to try the Dollar General for postcards because the gas station didn't have any. We figure it's a good trial run for the car because it's less than a mile away. Three fouths of the way there we start to overheat again.

Let me revise this overheating business. The temperature is actually going up and down dramatically.

Clay makes a bazillion more phone calls. No one understands why the temperature would be going up and down. Dollar General doesn't have any postcards, so I buy a few trinket type toys for the kids stockings.

The car is cool again. I am irritated that no one carries postcards so we decide to try to get the car back to Denison. The overheating begins as soon as we are on the road, but the temperaturew cools as soon as we hit the highway. We are happy that we will at least get back to Nana's. The highway turns into a regular street and we start to overheat again. Strange noises begin and Clay says we have to stop because it sounds like a blown head gasket (sp?). Not a moment later the car dies. We are in heavy taffic, cars are zooming past. There is no where to pull over.

I tell Clay we have to start pushing. I feel a little panicked because I cannot even see a place to pull over. The car is picking up speed. We have our doos open, pushing away. Maclaya is still asleep. Lyric is cracking up, she finds the whole thing hilarious.

The car is going fast enough that we are running. I am wearing flip-flops. It is hard to run while you are trying to hang on to your shoes with your toes. Have you ever tried this?
I ask Clay where we are going and he says "Up there!"
I am irritated because I can't see where his "Up there" is.

My shoe flies off. I go chase the shoe into some bushes. Clay jumps into the car to stop for a light. I run back just in time to help get the car going for the green light. Cars are still whirring past, Lyric is still laughing. Finally, I see the parking lot that Clay was referring to. After almost two miles of pushing we roll into the Whattaburger parking lot.

We are just down the street from Nana's now. We let the car cool and limp back to her house, not caringf if we have to push again. What's the difference at this point?

Today we finally got home. My father-in-law drove to Denison loaded us into his truck and towed our car. We never did get the postcards.

Word of the Day:

rede (vt)- to give counsel, advise, explain

Currently listening : Highway Companion By Tom Petty Release date: 25 July, 2006

9:52 PM - 22 Comments - 39 Kudos - Add Comment

Say what?
Current mood: dorky
Category: Blogging

I needed to laugh today, and know that some of you do too. xoxoxo

I'm making a conscious decision to take this whole Judaism thing seriously. I think the Jews need me right now. -Geraldo Rivera

Solutions are not the answer. -President Richard Nixon

You've done a nice job decorating the White House. -Jessica Simpson, to secretary of the interior Gale Norton, on a tour of the White House.

Our offense is like the Pythagorean theorem: There is no answer! -Shaquille O'Neal

By making the right choices, we can make the right choice for our future. -President George W. Bush, on improving Americans' health and fitness

I don't own an SUV...The family has it. I don't have it. -Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, when asked on Earth Day if he owned a gas-guzzling SUV

A sound bite never buttered a parsnip. -British prime minister John Major

We need to hire people who speak Hispanish because Hispanic is an important language. -Maryland lietenant governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, when running for governor

I don't know. A proof is a proof. What kind of a proof? It's a proof. A proof is a proof and when you have a good proof is because it's proven. -Canadian prime minister Jacques Chretien, when asked what proof he would need of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Reverend John, who is living with an openly gay partner, is no doubt feeling rather sore today. -newscaster Paul Handley

transude (vb)- to pass through a membrane or permeable substance, exude

Currently listening : Closer to God By Nine Inch Nails Release date: 19 May, 1994

8:29 AM - 13 Comments - 24 Kudos - Add Comment

I didn't hear it ring.
Current mood: amused

Sometimes when a phone rings no one answers it. To me this is not a big deal because I view a phone as the owners convienience rather than viewing it as being convienient for the caller. Some people do not feel that way. Actually, quite a few people do not feel that way, and for a multitude of reasons. I find myself trying to explain to people why I did not answer the phone quite a bit. The following is a list of reasons why I may not answer the phone.

10. I am in a tangled postion that I cannot get out of.

9.  I don't like you.

8.  The kids and I are giving a concert to the stuffed animals.

7.  I feel too fat to move.

6.  I am working on a plan for world peace.

5.  I am working on the bomb that I am building in my garage.

4.  My jaw hurts.

3.  I am on the other line with the Toothfairy.

2.  Someone broke into my house and is throwing seaweed on me.

1.  I fell into the toilet.

So there. All of my excuses are perfectly legitimate. Why don't you answer your phone?

Word of the day:

profundity (n)- an intellectual depth, something profound or abstruse

Currently listening : I Just Called to Say I Love You By Peter Breiner & His Symphonic Pop Orchestra Release date: 15 February, 1994

6:54 PM - 14 Comments - 26 Kudos - Add Comment

Common Sayings That Irritate Me
Current mood: chipper
Category: Life

There are old proverbs, bits of advice and expressions that everyone knows. They become part of our everyday speech over time. While there are so many out there that are wonderful and very true, some of them just irritate me to no end.

"The short end of the stick."
There is no short end of a stick, so technically no one can end up with it.

"The best thing since sliced bread."
Oh please! I can think of a million things that are better than sliced bread! Sure sliced bread is convienient but it's not as if it can compare to the invention of the wheel or a space shuttle!

"It was in the last place I looked."
Well, I certainly hope that after you found whatever it was that you were looking for that you didn't keep looking.

"Penny for your thoughts."
If hearing my thoughts are important enough to you that you will start paying me for them then you better offer up more than a penny.

"A word to the wise."
If someone is wise then they probably don't need your advice. Shut up.

"Cat got your tongue."
I have never seen a cat grab anyone's tongue, have you?

"Slept like a baby."
If we all slept ike babies then this world would be very cranky from being over tired. Don't believe me? Just ask a new mother who can only sleep when her newborn does.

"That's the way the cookie crumbles."
Why do we compare something bad to a cookie crumbling? 

"Happy as a clam."
When was the last time you saw a happy clam?

"Speak of the devil."
So now, if you are talking about someone, and they suddenly enter the room, they are Satan. That's great.

Are there any common phrases that irritate you?

Word of the Day:

idiopathic- peculiar to the individual, arising spontaneously or from an obscure or unknown cause.
 

Currently listening : Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Greatest Hits By Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers Release date: 16 November, 1993

4:00 PM - 18 Comments - 22 Kudos - Add Comment