2/28/08

Best of What's Around

Here's my baby, in her rock and roll stage debut....she rocked, they rocked, they were amazing! They won -- sadly out of a field of 2....but they would have beat anyone. And I get MOTHER OF THE YEAR AWARD because the battery on my camera died just before her big solo! Had R do a back up on his cell phone -- only to find out his camera only records in 30 second bursts. Now I have to wait for the little techies to post their own video on youtube or facebook and STEAL IT, because I suck as a mother.

Love Thursday


Love Thursday What says love more than sharing a pillow at Grandma's house watching Disney movies that you have seen 15 times already? What says love more than letting your little cousin kiss his toe next to you? What says love more than realizing that your big brother likes to kiss his toe? Love Thursday, hanging with the cousins...

2/27/08

OK, so yesterday was essentially a day off. I stayed downtown and messed around on my computer. Did some research, typed some minutes from one of the too many commitments I have this year (we'll save that for another day...). I was SO looking forward to having the morning at home, no kids, no meetings, nothing to do but MARATHON clean my slowly degrading home. Sounds exciting doesn't it? But alas, I look at the clock and it is 10:45. The kids will be home at 11:30 (early release day!!) and what do I have to show for the past almost 5 hours I have been awake? Did I shower (no, why I did that yesterday-ugh), did I unload the dishwasher, call a roofer to check out my shingless roof, make a bed or change any sheets, clean the cat box, vacuum the myriad crumbs ground into the carpet??? WHY NO! Let's see, I now have a really cool new header on my blog, I have read several others, actually commented on one and it disappeared -- somehow--- and started to climb the mountain of grunge with one hill in the wash, one in the dryer one folded and a monster of a pile upstairs that I am afraid is going to eat one of the kids....

So much for productivity. I think I really might be more productive when I have too much on my plate-- there is no time to think-- just move from one thing to the next and throw a load in in-between. Ever feel that way? I don't know what to do with free time anymore.

I have unplugged the tv during the day. Thanks to SIRIUS and Spectrum I rock out all day happily dancing to Jack Johnson, REM and Mike Doughty's "27 Jennifers". Hey children of the 70's -- how many Jennifers did YOU know?

OK, now I have to RUN through the grocery store --

2/26/08

Do you remember?


Have you ever had one of those days where you wished you were in another time?

How did my day start? Groggily as I snoozed my alarm twice before pulling myself out of bed. I mad the first pass at the boys, turned on their lights and tickled their feet in an attempt to get them moving. It sounded like it was begining to rain. I jumped in the shower quickly as C and I were headed downtown to GaTech for "Shadow Day". God forbid I show up at a college campus and look greasy.... Quick shower...water restrictions... and I was out, drying myself off. I hear the wind and, no shit, things hitting outside my bathroom. The wind was howling and rain was pouring, the lights flickered on-off, on-off, OFF. Great! I am naked in the dark and all I can think of is that a tornado is going to blow the side of my house off and I will be exposed to the world. (a quite narcisistic point of view I am told by my daughter later as she told me I should have been worried that my children would be sucked away by the wind) I quickly dressed to the shoes (thank you again flylady). Because if the side of the house does blow off, I will be ready! I am already prepared because I have strategically placed flashlights next to both sides of our bed for such an emergency (along with a pool cue for self-defense -- no guns here). I go downstairs to find that both little boys are up and dressed and freaked out with the thought that the house might blow away. It doesn't help that the wind has driven the rain into the screens so visibility is VERY low out the windows. They are shining said flashlights in each other's eyes and screaching. Miraculously, my worrier, S, has awakened, realized Dad is here to take care of things and promptly gone back to sleep (the advantages of a large family -- the ability to sleep through anything!)

Flash forward a few minutes, we now have candles lit to light the way through breakfast and D is alternatively walking around the house with a candle playing pioneer and "fighting" in the front room with a halogen flashlight like a light saber. I can't help but think the neighbors across the street must love looking into our almost dark house, "Edwin, what are they doing over there?"

Because of my constant state of worry I decide that I MUST go outside and see what that shit was that was hitting the house. Of course it is still dark, and pouring, but I must see now. And, I am ready thanks to my oh so efficient flashlight and being dressed to the shoes...So out I go into the rain with my flashlight to check out the mysterious thumping. Lo and behold, there is a tree snapped in half next to our drive way and several shingles blown off the roof. We weren't crazy! I came back in with a 2 1/2 foot section of asphalt shingles to show R, who has wisely and NOT neurotically, remained safe and dry and in his p.j.'s still. But as I come in backward so I can close the umbrella (never an opened umbrella in the house!) I am almost set on fire by Pilgrim Boy D who was waiting at the door for me with a candle. And what do I do? Say, "Why thank you son for providing me with light and watching out for me...?" NO, I yell (and this was quoted verbatim to me by C in the car later) "D, what the heck are you doing? You almost caught me on fire and YOU HAVE NO SHOES ON! What is wrong with you? Where are your shoes?" I am sure -- Chapter 12 Mommie Dearest II.

Now those of you who know me, know that my blogging is quite irregular. Why, Kath, you must be asking... why do you have all this time to type this LONG story into your blog? Well, after a 2 hour ride this morning getting C down here to Tech, I have decided to stay. And thus we come to the title of this post. At the moment I am camped out in a corner of the student center cafeteria close to a plug. I have paid $9.95 for internet connection and I will sit here until she is ready to go. Just in case she needs to make a quick exit from said "Shadow Day". Plus I don't have to worry about laundry here...and at the risk of sounding "scandalous" the view is not bad.

And, as I sit here I remember. Do you? Do you remember when the biggest worry was when your next test/paper was due? Could you make it to class on time, or should you blow it off? Want to wear a bathing suit to school (it was a GUY!)? Sure why not? PJ pants? Why not? Pizza for breakfast? Macaronni and Cheese cooked in a hot pot? Maybe because it is a Tuesday and NOT New Orleans, I don't see too many kids who look hung over...imagine that! Most kids are walking and texting at the same time (thank God for unlimited texting...) People are eating, relaxing, catching up with friends.

Let's put a quad in the middle of Roswell where we can kick a hacky-sack around. We can drink coffee or beer and just hang. I'll pop for pizza this time.

2/24/08

Oscar winners

YEA! THEY WON!!

Congratulations to the Oscar winners for best song, Glen and Marketa...

(not to be the oldest and say "I told you so..")

2/18/08

ONCE: Falling Slowly

Just WATCH IT!

Once

Rarely do I rant on about a movie, but I have to suggest a good one.

My sister told me to watch it, that it was really good. I said sure.... and then a week later she called me, "Did you watch it? OMG what did you think?" I then had to admit that I hadn't but that I would. 2 days later there was another call, "Well?" Embarassingly, no.... I was busy. She called another 2 times-even tho we are the most movie obsessed family I think there is, this seemed a bit much.

But it was IRISH... it was about MUSIC... it was GOOD... So, I finally watched it -- And she was right! Hear that She-Ra YOU were right! (I don't have the best track record in the family with admitting that I am not the only person who is right) I loved it! Please see it! It is the best. It is also nominated for an Oscar for best song.

2/15/08

Book Meme

OK, Rach tagged me,
Here are the rules:
1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

From, A Year of Living Biblically One Man's Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible by AJ Jacobs.

"Now that I am doing it, I don't want to stop."

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy -- Exodus 20:8

Day 97. It's a Tuesday afternoon in December, but I feel like I've just experienced my first real Sabbath.

Let me explain: The doorknobs in our apartment fall off on an alarmingly regular basis. They are mecurial little suckers. We don't even need to be touching them -- it's more of a natural-life-cycle type of situation, like icebergs calving or my hair receeding.

Gottcha, want more? Read the book! Hee hee.

2/14/08

Valentine's


My hubby did the sweetest thing for me. Above is my Valentine's gift. Now normally I am the type of woman who eschews this holiday -- maybe because of traumatic high school years -- but I am usually the non-romantic person who says, "Don't spend money on flowers because they are just going to die." I know, that's horrible and my kids will probably spend years in therapy recovering from such a pragmatic mom. But this morning my hubby gave me this adorable charm... a replica of a water meter cover from N.O. Why do I love it so? Because he notice me admiring it at Thanksgiving when his aunt got one for her birthday and he remembered. It is that thoughtfulness that means so much to me. I never asked for it -- but I loved it. It is part of a city that we both love so much, a city where we met and fell in love, a city that he loved and left to be with me. What more can a girl ask for?
I also have a secondary memory about sewer/water meter covers. When C was little 3 or 4 she was a precocious thing, very wise beyond her years and quite self-confident. Back then when we only had 2 kids and lived on a quite street we used to go for walks every night after dinner. These walks would take quite a long time because everytime we passed a sewer cover she would have to stop and do an song and dance routine on it. She really believed that these were little stages placed along the road for her to perform. And since she was the oldest and S was safely strapped in his stroller, we indulged her night after night. I am glad that we did take the time for that because she grew out of that stage quickly and for a long time she avoided the spotlight. The show girl we thought she might be was in hiding -- this became the chick who RAN off the stage after finishing her part in a student recital. Well, it looks like "little miss" may be raising her head -- and is hitting the HS Battle of the Bands with group of guys --- playing mostly Dave Matthews covers -- but still playing ... on stage... with a pick-up on her violin .... :) will wonders never cease.