the family picture conundrum

It has been many years since we have had a family portrait, maybe only 3 years or so but the kid changes almost on a daily basis so this is something we should do more frequently. David has agreed so it is on me to settle in on a appointment except I still have no hair so I am unsure I really want a family picture just now. I could wear a wig I suppose, I have 2 and I wear one to the p/t job as a necessity but in the rest of my everyday life I wear hats and I am more comfortable with hat wearing me. And at the end of the day this is me my hair loss is not such a big deal, for the most part although sometimes I do get twingy & really really miss having a head full of hair. Guess I need to suck it up & just make an appointment huh?!

annus horribilis continues

MIL: breast cancer-check
David: pneumonia, in hospital-check check
me: nervous breakdown-working on it

do we all have a double?

one of those urban legend type things you hear but when I first moved to Knoxville I was frequently confused with another girl who in retrospect I wish I had sought out to see how much we really did or did not look alike. Oddly enough at Wally-world this week I thought I saw my cousin, a cousin I have not had any contact with in almost 20 years, I am not originally from this area nor is he and he lives in Pennsylvania currently, I think, so he would have no cause to be in Kville, let alone shopping at wally-world. I was 98% sure it was not him or I might have gone up to talk but it was creepy how much he looked like him!

way to boost my spirits

David is in poor health right now and it has been a trying time quickly for us....I was in tears talking to my mother last night and in her attempts to buoy my spirits she commented on the line of strong women I come from " yourgreat grandmother, well your grandmother wasn't so strong, a strong mother.."
wait a minute what if it skips a generation then I'm screwed too like my grandmother bwahahaa actually the laugh did cheer me up somewhat. Sleep helped a whole pile more.

you have got to work on the sneaky

for once not a post about my son who is the least sneakiest person I have ever met no no this time his 16 year old cousin Z. Yesterday we were sitting around in a post cookout sort of food induced coma when Z popped out of his room cell phone in hand, recently spritzed with cologne smelling of what I suppose a French whorehouse of some kind might smell like announcing that he needed to go out to a car wash and wash his car....
MIL pointed out that she had a water hose & a vacuum cleaner & he could head out to the driveway and handle it all at home and while he was at it he could wash her car as well. Somehow it turned out that maybe the car was not so dirty after all

whirlwind weekend in the Windy City

Happy Mother's Day!

my sweetest mothers day memory would be from a good 4 years before I became a mother, in our first year of marriage my sweet goofy husband gave me my first mothers day gift because some day I would be somebody's mommmy someday.
So far so good this year I have managed to sleep away most of the morning and will be headed out in a bit to spend the rest of the day with my own mom and the rest of the family.

road tripping

OMG I still detest long car rides and am dreading the one just days away..ugh trapped like a sardine for hour and hours upon end...loathe!!! I am on the flip side really looking forward to seeing most of my family this weekend and grateful my mother will have her kids & grandkids with her on mother's day this year!

going to sit back and enjoy the argument

going on in my living room with the teenager & BIL about attending a Lil Wayne concert...hahhhahaha yup gonna laugh now because I am sure in a mere short amount of time it'll be our son that is the teenager wanting to do something ridiculous with his friends.....
hahhahahaha

going to have to be honest here

while I miss my parents terribly and hate living 800+ miles away from them and hate not being able to spend most holidays with them quite frankly I am grateful not to be shoved into a car for 12+ hours today on the return trip from CT. I hate that trip with a passion I am not a fan of the road trip or rather any road trip that lasts longer than well to be honest more than 4 hours...any much more than that and I would rather poke sticks in my eye
that being said I would happily have packed the car & headed to spend the holiday with them..it sucks living this far from my folks

has layers...like an onion

yes it happened I managed to drag both boys to the JC Penny portrait studio and we had a family portrait taken. It is like pulling teeth to get David to agree to do this evidenced by the fact that the last one we have was 4 maybe 5 years ago...Of course I did not want matchy matchy outfits like we were the Von Trapp family or anything but co-ordinating would have been nice that naturally went out the window fairly quickly but still everyone looked nice and presentable. Major problem would be the fact that David never smiles which makes things take longer and while the photographer wanted to shoot some more the boys were over it & done fairly quickly. My mistake scheduling this before dinner but okay fine I was hopeful we could find a picture I liked. Some were better than others but I found nothing overwhelming I settled on one I could live with but of course David did not and we wound up with the photo that the boys look good in but I hate the way I turned out. Oddly enough I though it turned out better in the sepia print so I did order a 10x13 for the wall but I should have gone back and ordered the one where David looks like Shrek 'cause that one that one was my best one! I still might because I think these are available for another 90 days online..

stop the presses

we actually have an appointment to have a family portrait done on Friday evening....last one taken 4 years ago maybe 5?

what age is the magic trustworthy age?

what is the golden number when children can be left home alone to fend for themselves? I have never left my 9 year old home alone for any amount of time in spite of the fact I think it would be okay and at that age I was babysitting home alone in someone elses home and responsible for their children no less. I believe there are laws now about that sort of thing, there might have been way back when too but no one paid much attention as far as I could see. We were not exactly latchkey kids growing up my grandmother lived in a mother-in-law apartment attached to our house and she was in residence most of the time but not all of the time and in the mornings my brother and I were responsible enough to get ourselves fed, dressed, lunches made etc...not once did we set the house on fire, let in a stranger or miss our ride to school. I do recall more than one sick day being left home alone to fend for myself. Again nothing earth shattering occurred. I am bemused by the David's Mom as she will not leave my 15 yr old nephew (Z) home alone even for the 1/2 hour it is taking her to pick up David. Z has given her absolutely no reason not to trust him for at the very least a 1/2 hour all by his lonesome never mind those time during the school year we get him overnight because no one would be home till 10 at night. I can't imagine that at 15 we won't be able to trust C home alone although knowing his father's and other various and sundry uncle's past histories he might not be left alone till he's 35
I should add MIL is particular about who is or is not in her house anyway so the fact she won't leave Z is not so very strange. It still amazes me after all these years we have finally been allowed a spare key to her place.

you'll break a hip

MIL has a birthday coming up a birthday she shares with a certain pug by the name of Oscar but I digress...
Normally gifts are not so very elaborate but this year she has requested a bicycle. My first thought being of course just how much do you think we have to spend on your gift? 'cause a bike is not in our budget. I work with bike geeks bikes are not cheap. Delving more into the matter she had found a simple one at Wally-world completely affordable as we could go halvesies with David's brother JJ. So get a phone call form MIL JJ does not think she should get a bike because and I quote "you could break a hip" really?!? that's the first thing you go for you could break a hip????
Hell she could break a hip falling out of bed which is how my grandmother broke hers..she could fall on a stick and poke her eye out too
whatever
after birthday update: JJ got her the really practical gift of a magnum of champagne which hopefully she wont drink while riding her bike or she really will break a hip

vacation mode

I'm in it thank you very much. I also a bit whiny about the whole thing if truth be told. I hate car travel hate it with a passion I would rather poke sticks in my eyes than sit in a car for more than an hour at a time but seeing as we can not afford multiple plane tickets we are trapped in the car for like a million hours. No really it is a million at least. And I will whine and complain and dread the whole damn ordeal all of this week plus do massive amounts of laundry, pack, get my hair cut, maybe color it as well, hopefully find time for a pedicure, drop the dog at sleep away camp, buy snacks & drinks for the car trip, charge all electrical type gadgets that need it so C survives the trip without me tossing him it the trunk.
On the plus side I am looking forward to escaping Kville & work for a week, seeing my folks & some family and getting together with some very old and dear friends. Debating back and forth in my head about going to NYC for a day and taking C to the Museum of Natural History. It will be fun but we aren't even there for a full week I don't know...my decision was no yesterday but this morning I got train schedules so we'll see I suppose.

Happy Father's Day

to one and all but in particular some of the favorites in my life!

Rossini Festival

I was shocked to read that this local street fair was in it's 8th year..how is it we have never gone before? After a false start or two we finally made our way downtown for the fun yesterday afternoon. I of course worked a few hours in the morning and if I had been thinking about it would have had someone deliver C & his cousin Z to me but no I trekked back out west to pick up the boys. In all fairness I did swing by the house to change clothes & purses as well as pick up the sunscreen then to MIL's to collect the boys. We then headed to the bank where I discovered much to my dismay the bank card was at home in the other purse. On the plus side I had not waited till we got downtown to get cash I would have been even more pissed off at myself had that been the case. It also provided the opportunity to give C his allergy medicine & eye drops to help get him through the afternoon and then we were off. I made what I am guessing to be a rookie mistake by grabbing an Italian sausage with peppers and onions at the first place we came upon because I kicked myself up & down Gay Street for not waiting to see my other choices there was so much good food! I also regretted being the driver because some of the wine tasting looked good as well..maybe next year. Two boys one 15 one 8 were probably not the best of companions and although they seemed to have a good time they were not so interested in the opera performances or all the artsy & crafty booths. The medieval sword play and food however held their attention pretty well. C normally is all about the face painting but sadly they only had creepy clowns doing face painting and well he does not like the clowns so much so that was definitely skipped. On our way to find funnel cake we discovered and opted for a fairly newish coffee house on Market Square. Okay so I saw they had cannoli and to be honest a bathroom that was not a port-a-potty but it was although it was a smidgen pricey they had decent pastries and a good cup of coffee. It was all in all a lovely afternoon and I look forward to making this an annual event for our family!

victory gardening

I know I have been talking about a garden for several years now, and we have a great plot in our yard for a garden that just needs clearing....blah blah there are loads of excuses why it hasn't happened yet. However I took a small step yesterday and bought a basil plant for the kitchen. I had thought about growing them from seeds but when I walked into Fresh Market and saw a plant already growing I thought what the hell just buy the plant and go and so I did. I use basil often enough that I would wince each time I had to purchase it fresh and now problem solved! Also considered buying the dill plant but I don't use dill that often so it seemed silly to purchase. But I am going to head to the store and buy some seeds and get a window box or a barrel of spices going for myself in the next week or two. I am also going to pinch the idea from a recent newspaper article to do a salsa garden with tomatoes, peppers, cilantro & onion. And hopefully we will get off our butts and get a decent garden going in the backyard! If it's good enough for the White House it's good enough for our little blue one. I really wish my FIL was in better health to help me with my plans he truly has the green thumb in the family!

so much for pajama day

my great plan for today was no plans, no plans at all just hanging out in my pajamas all day. But best laid plans an all that...
Yesterday David was suppose to shop and then grill out some chicken, with plans for the family to come over for dinner & hang out. At some point MIL picked up C so they could go visit FIL and well one thing lead to another she kept kid for the evening so David did not cook and we went out for dinner instead. Don't get me wrong it was an enjoyable evening we finally made it to Lemongrass and had wonderful Thai food as well as some sushi. On the downside this means everyone is coming over this afternoon so I have to go grocery shop, make the side dishes and clean up around the house a bit.
It also means a cancellation of pajama day.

be careful what you wish for

C has wanted a sibling for quite awhile now, an older sibling at that and he kind of sort of has one these days. His 15 year old cousin has recently moved to town & he and his father(JJ) are living at MIL's house. This will throw the boys together often more often than C likes right now. At one time he worshipped the ground Z walked on not as much lately. David had the both boys here yesterday and while they got along mostly there was wrestling and I believe a punch to the face at some point as my son as a bruise just above his nose this morning...of course the back story evidently includes an "accidental" kick someplace C should not have been kicking and accident or not I told C he has got to expect a punch if he is kicking there. So poor C has got to learn how to be a little brother and fast in order to keep up. Although judging by sizing in a few years C will easily be bigger than Z and will be able to kick his a** it's just a matter of teaching the boy how to be a little more devilish & sneaky for a few years.