Sunday, January 30, 2011

Sunday news...

I am posting just to post right now.
I feel like I should.
There have been so many posts going around in my head..in the middle of the night.
Then when I wake up and get ready to write them--poof! They are gone...or they
aren't so great.

One was about camp
One was about my moment in the car the other day with the warm sun coming in the window, waiting in line to pick up Elena, by myself, reading US Weekly, and listening to Bob Seger's song --the one about making out in the woods when you are young..that one (I never know titles).--See that might have been the whole post, but really there is a a lot more to say...like how much I loved that moment, and for some reason I was crying..etc. etc.  But really, I cannot write it now.
Then there is another great post I want to write about Liberty.  It is about Tunisia, and about Egypt, and about our values, and the values our gov't puts out there for {strategic interests??}, and our values for real --liberty being the root of it all, no?  The post is about how I am rooting for all of those people and {THEIR} gov't y ojala can it be for the people and by the people-if that is what those people want, OJALA! (If you are reading this, and you want to say this Spanish word, you say it like this, o ha la--it means something like God willing--if God wills it, and I am almost certain that it is a word that the Spaniards kept from the Arabs when the Arabs left Spain in 1492) I listened for a while to Diane Rehm the other day and her panel was all about this....it was really good.
One question asked, rhetorically--or perhaps not, why are the news people in the US calling the people rioters--and not demonstrators?   Good question, I thought to myself.  Good question.  I, for my part, and cheering on the people--That question was posed a week ago, now, on the news, the people in the streets are being called, "demonstrators."  Interesting. 
So I guess I just wrote that post. :)

Now I am waiting for a friend to get here to play...ummm..I thought we said one oclock--she has not come yet, and it is 1:23--calm down type A girl, it is a PLAY DATE after all, no. :)

Have a great week!

Monday, January 24, 2011

an Open Letter

To: all Magazine Publishing Companies, and Charitable Organizations:

Re: The constant mailings and constant {reminders}

Please stop sending out notices to people who have just sent in a donation, or have just recently subscribed
to your publications.
It is rude.
It makes the type A people among us think we are crazy.
You see, when people have just sent in a donation, or they have just sent in a payment, they
do not need to be solicited for another donation (rude), nor do they need to be reminded about
an event that is not going to happen for 11 months (renewal payment) --that is assuming one
would even want to renew. ;).
When conscientious people receive the mailer--and these people have three children under six, a husband,
real bills, a job...the list goes on--we think "Oh, Well, I {thought} I sent that money in..did I?, I guess I will
have to check the check book and see..."
Most people
DO NOT HAVE TIME TO DOUBLE CHECK ON THE NICE THINGS WE TRY TO DO
OR OUR MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTIONS!!!!
So leave us the hell alone--until the money is ACTUALLY DUE!!!
DAMN IT!!!

The following are on Notice:
St. Jude's children's hospital---I sent them 20 dollars..they congratulated me and ASKED FOR MORE
RUDE! RUDE! RUDE! RUDE!!!!
AND
National Geographic Children's Magazine--I even gave two subscriptions to this bi-monthly magazine
as gifts to other children
I WILL NEVER RENEW IT--THEY HAVE DONE NOTHING BUT AGGRAVATE THE HELL OUT
OF ME--AND WE HAVE ONLY READ THE MAGAZINE TWO TIMES!!!
The payment is due NEXT SEPTEMBER.  I have already received two notices to pay for this again...
Hello!!!!
Once again Mama is right--Grandma...
She keeps a simple list on the side of a cabinet.
She writes down each charitable donation.
When another request comes..she just refers to her handy dandy list.
That way--she does not have to go crazy.
It's just hanging there.  It goes from year to year...so like 2010 had a list--now there is the 2011 list.
No spreadsheet--just a piece of tablet paper and an ink pen...so simple, no?

She said for a long time she would write "return to sender" on duplicate notices-but the mailman said
those were {acually} just being thrown away...
What a waste of trees...
If only these companies and organizations were more interested in not wasting money....
and trees...
and my TIME!!!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Tylenol Teaparties

This is the term I coined last Tuesday night when I was up all night with Eva.
She has been a little out of sorts.
Maybe she had some fever...???
Maybe she has been teething...???
She has some bad diapers...???
No one was really sure what was going on.
But I knew when she woke up in the middle of the night..that I was going to be
up with her for a while.
We gave her tylenol to start with.
So that nipped the fever in the bud.
Then we changed the diaper...She does like a freshie...
All that was taken care of...but she still needed a little visiting time, you know.
We all need a {little visiting} every now and then.
She was needing hers from 1:00 until 3:30 the other morning...
We read the US Weekly (I just caved and abided by her wishes about 20 minutes into this whole thing).
We read along...she caught up with Suri Cruise, and those Affleck girls.
We checked out the pets of the stars...of course even the famous cats are called
"Bubby" {buddy} --the name of Grandma and Grandaddy's cat.
Then she saw the Picture of Justin Bieber.  I said, "Now, this is the boy that Caroline loves, Eva, His name
is Justing Bieber."
She loved the word "Bieber" apparently...for the next 20 minutes we flipped away from and back
to that page while she repeated, over and over again, "Bieber, Bieber, Bieber..."
This was so funny to me that I just egged her on.
We kept on for twenty minutes.
She kissed Bieber, she told her {sleeping} Daddy about "Bieber"
I hope I never forget this little Teaparty visit that we had in the middle of the night. :)

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Sometimes you need a ....

BEER!
Here Here!!
She needs a beer!
:)
Elena and I just got back from Cheerleading practice number four.
I keep track of the number.
We pass out a little card to each girl at the practices.
So tonight was number four.
I am CO-COACHING!!!
WITW???
So, tonight's practice was a little {taxing} on my nerves...to say the least.
One of our little rainbows (that's our team name) was ummm....being very ADHD.
Let me stress the HD part--and I do not mean High Definition....she was off the hook, hyper!
No pill today, no way...
So she was on my nerves--real bad.

So now I am having a beer...
BTW this little girl is a cutie pie! She is sweet.
Usually she blends right in (pill).
Tonight she was the {other} co-coach.
She was the investigator (Who took her pom poms?)
whew...this mama is worn out. :)

I am attempting to calm down...glad her mama took her home. ;).

Monday, January 17, 2011

Ella es una loca!

I remember thinking this whenever my Mama would start to clean up when we were little.
I would always wonder why....
Why is she so mean when she gets ready to clean up?
Why can't she just say it sweetly?
Why do things really have to be clean?
Does she have to clean up right now?
Why can't we eat and drink while she is cleaning?
Why do we have to basically go out of the house for her to clean up?
She is just crazy, I would think to myself, sometimes wanting to cry, b/c her tone of voice had hurt
my feelings.
This morning--full steam ahead....like the tazmanian devil of cartoon fame, I....
wait for it...wait for it...
Got up and had coffee, and fed my children,
Then I began stripping sheets off the beds and getting them organized and into the wash.
Eva helped me Lysol, then she had a poopy diaper and a rash issue...then Victor wanted his blue sucker...
So, I began to explain to them that...
They were either helping or hindering, and hindering would not be tolerated.
My mission for the day would be to clean the house.
If they were not along on the mission--then they would all need to go somewhere away from me, and
if that was going to be in the house...well then they
had BETTER NOT
ask me for anything to eat or drink until LUNCH TIME, you hear?
I have fed you all already, now I have to clean this mess up, so either get a rag and dust
baseboards, or get outside and play!!!!!
Yep, that's what I said, and that's how I said it...and as I was listening to my music, and juggling
my assortment of brooms and mops and cleaning potions and vacuum cleaner attachments, I was wondering..
Are they outside saying to themselves, "man, she is crazy"
Are they wondering, "why does it all have to be cleaned anyway?"
"How long til lunch time?"
"What if I need to use the bathroom?" (of course they could come in)
I wished they would appreciate:
My mama needs the house to be clean--even if it's just her craziness, and we sure do enjoy clean,
fresh sheets!
But I do doubt it....
I bet they wanted to cry a little bit, b/c of my tone of voice...

Man these floors smell nice! :)

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Monday, January 10, 2011

Dr. Phil called it {opinion alert!}

This man who is all of a sudden famous b/c of his voice...
Cool voice...
I bet his children would love to have heard it for years and years and years..when he was..
Wherever he was, no?
Does it say something about our pop culture that basically only the Mamarazzi (see sidebar) and
Dr. Phil have actually called this man out for being a deadbeat dad?--oh, and don't forget his
Mama..she did call him out.
I am not one to begrudge a person their 15 minutes of fame--Hell I don't care if he has 15 years of it...
But think about all those years that all of his children --either 6 or 9 of them depending on where
you are reading--would have loved to have heard his voice.
Is all the money he makes going to be garnished to pay for some babies somewhere?
His are grown now.

Bitter, no.  A realist, si.
Good lord!  I cannot help myself! :)

Thursday, January 6, 2011

More on Wedded {bliss}

This is an exact thank you note that I got at school.
This might not be such a great idea--to post this, but I promise not to tell who sent it.
I am sure she does not read this.
I am sure you will see why this note just tickled me!
"Thank you for your love and support as I join my husband in matrimony.  It is a step of faith in what lies ahead yet your gift of knives has made it easier to come together and start a life together.  Thank you!"

Is that funny to y'all too?
Every time I read it, I just crack up!

Kim Son

I have no idea what this means in Vietnamese..but I know I love this food!
It is a little restaurant off of Guess Rd. in Durham.
A little lady runs it, and she wants to retire.
This means...very soon, there will be no more Kim Son.
No one wants to buy her restaurant.
:(.
This is one of my favorite hole-in-the-wall spots to eat!
When the waitress told this news to Andy and Me, I cried!

Photos, why, yes! :)

If you live in the triangle..search this little gem out, and get some soup with the clear noodle{s}.

Happy Anniversary

to these other two items which have been hanging out in our household since Andy and I started out in an
apartment in Dominion Ramsgate in Carrboro!

The lovely, non-descript Hoover Vacuum (the one that my Mama got for me b/c I needed one and it was on sale at K-Mart) --who needs all that fancy filtering stuff anyway??? I mean really--I better not talk it up too much...we know what might happen..shhhh...
When we need belts---we really have to search.  When I find them I buy like four! :) ha!
The other lovely is my dish drainer...it is beginning to have some spots where the plastic that covers the metal is ...disintegrating....nah..maybe not, and even if it is..can't you buy some stuff to repair that anyway???
I do tend to get {attached}, and y'all know I cannot STAND to have to go to wal{he!!} to buy stuff!

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Ben Frank...and his life

That is what I am reading right now.
Here is an excerpt: This whole thing is an excerpt--
"Men should be taught as if you taught them not, And things unknown propos'd as things forgot;"  Farther recommending to us "To speak, tho' sure, with seeming diffidence."  And he might have coupled with this line that which he has coupled with another, I think, less properly,  "For what of modesty is want of sense."  If you ask, Why less properly?  I must repeat the lines, "Immodest words admit of no defense,   For want of modesty is want of sense."
Right before that part he wrote, Benjamin Franklin wrote:
For, if you would inform, a positive and dogmatical manner in advancing your sentiments may provoke contradiction and prevent a candid attention.  If you wish information and improvement from the knowledge of others, and yet at the same time express yourself as firmly fix'd in your present opinions, modest, sensible men, who do not love disputation, will probably leave you undisturbed in the possession of your error.  And by such a manner, you can seldom hope you recommend yourself in pleasing your hearers, or to persuade those whose concurrence you desire.  Pope says, judiciously (go back up there and read that quote) :)

When I read this it really hit home for me...
Maybe that is why I get funny looks at Sunday school.
It is one thing to be open minded {which I consider myself to be}, and quite another to be able
to convey that via one's speech, or lack thereof, no?
No one has every explained this to me.
Thank you Benjamin Franklin. ;)

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Happy New Year!

I cannot say that I stayed up last night to welcome in this New Year!
I was so tired!
We were at my sister's house, and the children were in the bed, and Andy was out in the shed/shop {whatever} where my brother in law hangs out...
Well, this big Mama was in sleep mode...Carson Daily/Daley {whatever} --goodnight.
Then at about some time after midnight--I got up and went to sleep with my children in a double bed...
Does everyone know how I slept..take a guess.
I was snuggling with Victor's feet...which just goes to show how desperate I was to snooze, as snuggling with a little boy's feet is not a smart idea.
Andy slept on their sofa.
As much as I wanted to be a {good mommy/good aunt} I could not --no playing today, children of mine..we are heading home, to OUR HOUSE.
I am WTFO--fill in the initials..yep there's a cuss in there.
:)
We all just had our black eyed peas.
I have to wash every piece of clothes in the house now--that is in process at the moment.
All of the children had to be bathed.
It is just constant work...but you know...constant is good.
Last night on facebook I read that a girl I grew up with lost her baby--at the end of a pregnancy--her placenta
abrupted..and her baby died {heartbreaking} to even imagine, no?
I'll take constant! yep!--I'll even crack a smile about it...

Y'all go and eat some black eyed peas...we all need all the good luck/good health that we can get!

Spot on!

Spot is our family's chihuahua.  He is what we call, "an evil dictator/stuffed animal come to life".  Sometimes, after he has ...