Why Glamorous Redneck?

I’m renting a spot from Willow this week and she reviewed my blog! And while it was a pretty good review, she posed a question that I probably haven’t addressed on here. And I’ve been asked it at least once before. She wondered how I can be a redneck in Minnesota and how the cowboy stuff all comes into play. So I thought it would be a good idea to explain myself.

Glamorous-(I like this dictionary definition best of all) adj : having an air of allure, romance and excitement; "glamorous movie stars". I’d like to hope I have that. I know that my friends would vouch for an outing with me as being “exciting”. But I guess I picked this because I love all things pretty and sparkly. I love people like Marilyn Monroe and Bette Paige and pretty much any other model and/or actress from the 30’s and 40’s. Back when you could look up to movie stars (for the most part). They weren’t toothpicks and they didn’t whine about how their lives are sooooo rough.

I like the idea of getting dressed up and going to the theater. In fact, I thrive on it. Everyone can tell when I haven’t gone for a while because I get a little cranky. I need those types of atmospheres to feel human.

If I could, I would have a penthouse apartment either in Minneapolis or (my dream) NYC. But I would also be independently wealthy and have things like maids and stylists and all sorts of fun things like that.

Redneck-(I’m only taking the first definition because the second is horrible and has nothing to do with me) n. Used as a disparaging term for a member of the white rural laboring class, especially in the southern United States. OK, so I don’t live in the south. But I live in a small town. A place where things like tractor pulls and mud races are the highlight of everyone’s summer. And a place where the top story in the (weekly) newspaper is that the corn is drying up.

I guess I think of “redneck” as small town. Not just any small town, though. Because if I lived in a quaint little town in Connecticut or something, I would NOT be thinking Redneck. Then I would just be “Glamorous Glamorous” because that would be close to New York and. . .oh I can’t even think about it.

As for the cowboy stuff, I’m married to a cowboy. And as I described in this post, this area is actually pretty heavily stocked with cowboys. And I think that lifestyle would be all right too.

And finally, oxymoron n. A rhetorical figure in which incongruous or contradictory terms are combined, as in a deafening silence and a mournful optimist. That’s me. I am constantly contradicting myself. I think it’s a girls’ prerogative to do those sorts of things. Plus, it was the most creative name I could come up with (I SUCK at titling things). And it sounded really good together.

So there you have it, why I am who I am. I guess I’m not really hiding behind the name, because anyone who’s emailed me knows my name is Carrie. I just prefer to keep my kids’ and the hub’s names private because they never asked to be broadcast throughout cyberspace. But if you’re really just dying to know what my family’s names are, email me and I’ll gladly share.

Friday Fun

I had started this at my old blog as a weekly thing. Probably won't be weekly here because I can never guarantee that I'm feeling witty enough on Friday to participate in a survey or meme of some sort.

So here's one that I just got tagged for. Wanna do it? G'head. Leave me a comment so I can peek at it when you're done.

1. When did you first start blogging and why? August of 2004. She made me do it. I thought it sounded like fun and I wasn’t getting any creative writing done, so I thought writing about my bo-ring life would at least be writing SOMETHING.

2. What don't you talk about? I don’t talk about things that the hubs does that drive me insane. I did once and he read it and flipped the f*@% out. So yeah, I don’t say much about him. I also will not talk about politics or religion. Unless you ask me to. But even then, I don’t know.

3. Are you and your blogging persona the same person? I think so. I think my blog persona is way more entertaining though. Mostly because I can actually think before I write something. I talk with my hands a lot, so maybe it *is* more entertaining to watch me talk than read my posts. . .

4. How do you use blogging to build friendships? I’ve met some really cool people online. It’s fun to see what’s going on in other parts of the world. And it’s fun to see that a lot of it is exactly the same as it is out here in Podunk.

5. How would you describe your writing style? I write like I talk. I can’t always use written words to emphasize the way that I do when I speak, but I really try to make it sound like I’m sitting in front of you telling a story rather than just writing it down for posterity’s sake.

Obsess much?

When something is new and exciting for me, I tend to want to inhale anything and everything relative to the new thing. It's the reason that I posted something every single day when this blogging thing was new and exciting to me. It's also the reason why I can sit down and read a book (when uninterrupted) in about three hours.

Lately, that Thing seems to be Wicked. Already I've spent a better part of the last two days researching on You Tube and have watched the equivalent of the entire play at least twice. Once with the original cast and once with the cast that I saw. I've got the soundtrack and it's all that I can listen to while I'm anywhere. And I am going out tomorrow night for the soul purpose of finally buying my own copy of the book. I'll be like this for probably about another month or so, and then it will be something else that strikes my fancy.

In a bit of other news, one of the three frogs that got on the loose has shown up. Slightly decomposed and flattened underneath my garbage can in the bathroom. I don't know when he got there because we looked there on Tuesday and didn't see a thing. I have just finished a major cleaning of my bathroom because. . .eeeewwww!

Also, it's still hot here. Which means that the kids aren't outside much. Which means that the kids, they drive me crazy! I don't know how you full time stay at home moms do it! I swear the more I find for them to do the more they feed off the creativity and their energy level increases. We went to the park this morning before it got too hot. Then they walked with my dad over to his house for a little bit and they've been running around playing in the house for the rest of the time. I might dance the happy mother jig on the first day of school.

While they were playing, I got a chance to watch Rent for the first time. I've wanted to see the play since I heard Seasons of Love for the first time. But it was just. . .meh. I didn't really get into it until the end. And while I'm sure it's TONS better on stage, I'm glad that I didn't blow $80 (or more) on tickets to see it. Later tonight I'm going to watch The Producers and then my husband's brain will explode from all the musicals in this house.

But for now, I am hiding from the younguns and trying to come up with more to keep them busy.

We Don't Gnaw On Our Kitties.

CB and I are not your average parents by any stretch of the imagination. We've known that since the day CJ was born. But we're quite content in this insanity we call our life, so that's fun!

Anyway, I make this disclaimer because on Sunday we let our kids watch Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. Now, before you get all concerned for the welfair of my kids and call CPS or something, we watched the entire movie in about 45 minutes. Which means we have seen the movie enough times to know when to mute, when to cover the kids' eyes and when to just fast forward. That being said, they LOVED it! Especially Mini-Me. And Fat Bastard when he goes on his tangent about wanting to eat Mini-Me. They laughed their little rears off when Mini-Me tried to eat his kitty (hence the title of this post) and have since become slightly obsessed with the guy.

At daycare yesterday, they went outside to catch frogs. There was a big storm yesterday, and apparently the time to go searching for frogs is right after the storm. I wouldn't know this because I am from the city and we just don't go a-frog huntin'. But the kids caught frogs & brought them home to show me. CJ named his "Mini-Me" and Diva named hers "Barbie" (a girl after my own heart, for sure). We had this grand plan to go let the frogs go down my the river today. Only the frogs (a third called Harry Potter, CJ's friend's frog) decided to escape last night. CJ was all angry when I got up this morning because he thought CB had released the frogs for us. Only CJ didn't and there are now three tiny little frogs wandering around my house. We have looked EVERYWHERE and cannot find them. Part of me thinks they crawled underneath the refidgerator and are now dead. Which means that there will be a whole heck of a lotta stink sometime in the next few days. Which also means I will not be cleaning the kitchen anytime soon. So, anyone else had this experience? Any ideas where the damn things ran off to?

Also yesterday, on the Austin Powers theme, Diva kept running around saying "I shall call him Mini-Me". It is so cute when she says it & I spent most of the evening laughing my butt off at them.

Now we're off to the library and to pick up an application for the coaching job. It sounds like it's much more dance than it is cheer, but it might still be fun. And if no one else applies, at least they'll be able to have it.

Later today we are going swimming at one of our friends' house. They have a man-made pond on their property, so it's better than a lake because the water is actually clear. Although, I still don't do so well with the idea of live things swimming underneath me, so I may just take the raft and call it good.

And the let down

So I finished reading Son of a Witch today. And it reminded me why I haven't ventured out of romance novels for quite some time. I like Happily Ever After. I like the ending delivered to me in a nice little package, wrapped with a pretty pink bow that says "Enjoy, everything works out fine in the end."

That was not the case with this book. There are so many unanswered questions after the last sentence. It's like the book was ended in the middle instead of following everything through. I can only hope that there will be a third book to tie up all the loose ends.

Bad endings are SUCH an annoyance to me. I hate feeling like I've invested all this time into something (whether it's a book or movie), only to have the end leave me feeling like it was a complete and total waste of time. And I seem to be having to deal with that feeling an aweful lot lately. There has been no less than two movies and at least this book that has left me feeling unsatisfied and a little moody after it's over. The worst of it all is that I will probably spend nights analyzing in my head what should have happened/what will happen next. But maybe it'll encourage me to do some writing of my own, so it might work out for the best.

I got a bit of interesting news today. Our high school has been without a cheerleading program for about three years. It sucks and I had thought about donating my time to get the program started back up. But up until now I haven't had the time or the energy to do anything like that. Well, lo and behold, the school is looking for a cheer/dance coach for the fall! I think I'm going to apply. I LOVED cheerleading & have felt that the school has been suffering for not having anyone to motivate the crowd to stay involved in the game, so this could be a really cool opportunity!

That's pretty much all I've got today. I'm off to watch Soul Plane with the hubs. A movie that I know is both entertaining and turns out in the end. Plus it's funny as heck!

The Oddities of Being Me

It's occurred to me lately that I have a rather strange morning routine. And if you've taken time to procrastinate through the 100 things link on the side, you'll see that I have a minor case of undiagnosed OCD. Which also applies to how I manage my time.

Really it all boils down to the fact that I hate mornings. With a passion. If I could train my children to wake up after 9:00 am on days off, I would cry tears of joy every damn night. Alas, they (along with CB) are all morning people. They cheerily get out of bed around 6:15 every morning, well-rested and ready to face the day. This hour is not an hour meant for cheeriness and happiness. It's barely an hour made for coherent thought. Luckily, they have finally figured out that it's not the best idea to wake me up and try inflict this happiness on me, so I do get to sleep a little bit longer.

But that's just a little aside about my mornings. I have them down to a science. My alarm is set for 7:30 (because the hubs doesn't understand my illness), but little does the man know that the clock is actually 3 minutes fast. Which means that I have my alarm set to go off at 7:27 on mornings that I work. This is because I need exactly 43 minutes to do the things that need to be done before we walk out the door. Here's a rundown of the rest of the morning.

7:27-7:43 am: Watch GMA, shake fist at annoying man who hosts the local news breaks. I hate him with a fiery passion that burns deep inside. Also, take shower, plan outfit and dress.

7:43-8:02 am: Check emails, check message boards, get kids breakfast and anything else that needs to be done.

8:02-8:09 am: Makeup and hair

8:09 am: Leave for work.

8:17 am: Arrive at daycare and drop kidlets off

8:23 am: Arrive at work.

So there you have it, that's my morning routine. I cannot stray from it. Even if I'm done with everything that needs to get done in the allotted time, I CANNOT start the next thing until it's time. And I watch the clock. It's sick really.

It also feeds into my hatred of being early or late. I hate being early because I hate the idea of being the first person anywhere. God forbid I come off looking like a kiss-up or something. And I absolutely cannot be late. It makes me cranky. Even if I arrive at work at 8:24, I feel like I'm behind, which makes the rest of the day seem off-kilter. It's sick really.

And the time thing works its way into any other outings that I am in charge of making us leave for too. I know exactly how long it will take me to get somewhere, so I plan it out to get there exactly when I want to--no earlier, no later.

The worst part about it all is that I am seriously the most unorganized person on the face of this planet. Except for when it comes to my morning routine.

SO there you have it. Verification that I am totally insane. How about you? Any strange rituals you'd care to share so I don't feel all alone here? C'mon! It'll be fun! :)

Speechless

Everytime I go to the theater, I have certain expectations. And everytime that the play starts, my expectations are totally blown out the window. That was totally the case last night.

In case you didn't hear my obsession the past few days, my mom and I went to see Wicked last night. It was FANTASTIC! I have never been to a play that seriously took my breath away. I sat there when the lights came up for intermission and I could. not. breathe. The singing, the songs, the characters. . .it was all amazing. I just can't even begin to describe it. Just make sure that you go if it comes anywhere near you because it's just. . .wow.

The rest of the day in civilization was fun too. We did a little shopping at a mall, then headed to Marshall Field's downtown Minneapolis. There we tried out some fun perfumes & mom bought some really good stuff. The lady that checked her out then gave us these kick ass samplers of Philosophy's skin care line. And if I had gobs of money to spend firvolously, I would have bought the entire line. She also gave us some yummy samplers of bodywash--Frozen Lemon Custard and Powdered Sugar Cookie. They smell delish and the lady at the counter was my new best friend.

After shopping, we went to Rock Bottom Brewery to have pretzels and Cosmos, then walked across the street to the Orpheum theater for the show. When the play was done, we got out just in time to see the Minneapolis Aquatennial candidates come by in the annual torchlight parade. It was fun to see the girl from our town that's up there as a candidate right now. And I think she was surprised to see us! :)

Now I'm home and the let down has begun. I love Minneapolis. And if I didn't have kids, I would be BEGGING CB to move up there. But I think the small town is the best route for raising the rugrats. For now anyway.

Thanks to everyone who gave input on the weird small town customs. It's fun to hear how different things are in just short distances. So keep the questions coming!

Questions from the Audience #1

Before I start--Let's have a warm welcome for this week's renter,Mama Come Here! She's another one that I always vote for over at blog explosion. I LOVE her template! Plus, us Minnesota girls have got to stick together! So make sure you pop over there and leave her a comment. And don't forget to tell her that I sent ya!

Wrigley asked:

so, i'm interested to see/read about what certain things (culture, customs) were new to you when you started living in Minnesota that you have never been accustomed to in CA.

Which is a really good question. And it was a HUGE problem for me when I moved here. But I was only 15, so the things that were HUGE problems, I now find beneficial as a mom.

For instance, everybody knows everybody here. When I lived in California, we made contact with two of our neighbors on a regular basis, and knew there were other people living in the house next door, but never met them. Here, everyone knew where our new house was before I had even said that we had moved. But I'm OK with this now, because I don't have to worry about my kids going to play at a friend's house, because I know their parents. We don't have to go through the awkward "You can't go until I meet their parents" BS that I had to go through EVERY. DAMN. TIME. I had a new friend invite me over.

The biggest thing that still bothers me (and kind of goes hand in hand with the first one) is the fact that everybody knows everybody's business. Prime example: My dad has recently started dating again. Last weekend he had a date over at his house for a while. It was quite late when she left. I had someone ask me about my dad's "girlfriend" and if she had stayed overnight at his house. I'm sorry, but that's not any of your business! Unless he was doing the wild monkey dance on the front porch for all to see, there is really nothing that you need to be concerned with.

Another thing that bothers me is that you are associated with your family for life. When someone introduces you to someone else, it's never, "Hi, Snootypants, this is Carrie." But it's "Hi, Snootypants, this is Carrie, you know Karen's granddaughter." Luckily my grandma was a FANTASTIC lady, so I don't mind being associated with her. My hubs, however, isn't so lucky back where he was born. He's got two cuh-razy aunts that live in his grandparents' house. So when he's associated to his family, people give him that "oh, poor you" look.

A few other strange customs around here that I still am not used to:
-People refer to soda as pop. I cringe everytime I hear this. There were many discussions with my friends as well. OK, they were debates. But this is the only area where they call it "pop". If you go to Minneapolis, they call it "soda". Drives me bonkers!

-Lunch is not the meal in between breakfast and dinner. Lunch is a snack.

-Dinner is not dinner. It is supper.

-Which means that the farmers' meal schedule is as follows: Breakfast (between 6:30 and 7:00 am), Morning lunch (9:00), Dinner (noon), Afternoon lunch (2:00-3:00), Supper (5:30-6:00), Bedtime lunch (8:00). This is all very confusing for the outsider, but it makes perfect sense to everyone around here. They all look at me cross-eyed when I say I'm having dinner at 6:00.

So there you have it. The short list of oddities in Podunk. Got more questions for me? Post them in the "Life is Dull" post below.

This is actually a busy week for us. Today Diva has a birthday party, tomorrow I'm off to see Wicked, Thursday is Bible study (which in itself is only an hour, but the social time afterwards takes up the rest of the night), Friday Diva has another birthday party, then (I think) the weekend is free! So stay tuned, I may actually have interesting posts this week!

Life is Dull

I think that's got to be my problem. Or at least that's why I've been jumping back into the past so much lately. My life has nothing exciting to post about. The kids haven't done anything blog worthy in quite some time (they are so well-behaved that it's scary sometimes). The CB hasn't done anything to drive me crazy in a while (he's overdue, though, so there's that). The job is mondane, but that's nothing out of the ordinary. So I just don't have anything to really blog about.

Which means I'm asking for your help. What would you like to see? Have any burning questions to ask me? Want me to take (G rated--had to add the disclaimer) pictures of anything around here? It's all up to you. Leave a comment here, and I'll randomly pick a few (or all of them) to blog about!

I Must Be Getting Old

Because I've been spending a lot of time reflecting on my past lately.

Yesterday I thought it would be fun to look up my old school:
And there it is. Conway Elementary School where I spent second through fifth grade. I remember walking under that awning for the very first time. Just beyond the right side building was the kindergarten area where I would help out in fourth and fifth grade. The library--the FANTASTIC library--was just beyond the shadows on the right. This was another library that I was always excited to go to. There was this cool, round, carpeted area where we would go once a week and the librarian would read us the latest award-winning children's book. I wonder if it's still as exciting to go there as it was when I did. . .

But the main reason to look up that school was to see if my fifth grade teacher was still there. I didn't see her name, so I decided to Google her. And I found her! And she sings in a women's barbershop quartet. A quartet that has won all sorts of awards and is even in the finals for the Oreo jingle contest! How crazy is that!?!

She was my favorite teacher because she actually made us feel like people. And she gave me my first shot at singing in front of people. It was the talent show and I had wanted to be in it sooooo bad! So, even though I didn't know anyone that played piano, I decided to go and sing "Part of This World" (from The Little Mermaid) a capella. I thought I had done pretty well, but I wasn't going to be able to be in it unless there was an accompanyment. And my teacher just volunteered just like that! We practiced a couple of times before the show, and I got to *be* Ariel in front of hundreds of people. I never would have gotten the chance if it hadn't been for her.

She showed me what being a teacher should be. And on career #5 when I was going to be a teacher, she was the model I had in mind. I can only hope that there are more teachers today that really and truly care about their students like she did/does. When I went back to California after my Senior year of high school, my mom and I stopped back at Conway to see if I could visit with my teacher. We went in, and she remembered me! She had thought about me when my friend passed away, and she was genuinely interested in knowing what I'd been up to all these years. It was fantastic!

So, in the hope of reconnecting, I shot off an email to the barbershop quartet's email address. I'm hoping that she still remembers me after all these years and that we can reconnect. Because she's a fantastic person and I would love to know more about what she's been up to lately.

I've also been thinking about the beach. But I think that's just because it's so damn hot and humid here that a dip in the ocean sounds like a little slice of heaven.

An HTML Guru, I am not

I've been trying to personalize my blog a little bit more lately. SO I thought I'd add pictures of a few of my favorite things. (And I just wanted to have a picture of the yumminess that is my *sole* permissible famous-crush Dierks Bentley) But even after I resized the pictures, they are showing up HUGE. When I look at my blog in frontpage, though, they are fine. Help me, people! Are all the pictures over there ---> ginormous, or is it just my computer?

There have been some vivid dreams going on in this head of mine as of late. Perhaps it's from eating ice cream before bed. Or perhaps I'm going a leeeeetle bit crazy. Could be since the baseball is now over and I have BOTH CHILDREN IN MY HOUSE ALL FREAKING DAY. And they expect to be entertained CONSTANTLY and I want to pull all my hair out.

Anyway, dream #1 was just plain odd. I was teaching the entire Royal Family (Princes William and Harry included) how to properly apply makeup. Then I was showing them how to make the makeup. And in order for the goop to set up properly, it had to soak in the toilet for a half hour. When it came out of the toilet, it looked like something that should have been flushed down the toilet. Which in turn caused the princes to throw up all over everything. Then I woke up and made sure I hadn't puked all over myself from the disgustingness of it all.

But dream #2 has had me thinking all day. I was whining to someone about how hard it is to write an entire damn book and I told them that I was going to just give up on it all. Then they looked right at me and said "If you don't do it, you'll regret it your whole life. You'll spend the rest of your days wrestling with 'what ifs'."

And it's so true. I've always been an overly-optimistic kind of gal. When I imagine doing things, it's always the best from the start. When I wanted to be a lawyer, I went straight from college to the DA's office. When I wanted to be an actress, I went from my first audition to my Oscar acceptance. And when I finally realized that writing really was my passion, I went straight from Once Upon a Time to Happily Ever After without filling in any of the blanks.

I like things that are easy. Like singing and dancing and laughing. I love writing too. But it just isn't so easy. You need all these extra things in there that I didn't need when writing poetry or marrying off my friends in little stories. And it's hard. I see all my writing friends doing it though. Perservereing through all the hard times and pouring every ounce of blood, sweat and tears into their passion. They do it. And they get published. And here I sit. Afraid of the first rejection letter. Afraid of even writing "the end" on something that I do write. And I'd been thinking about letting go of it. Up until last night.

The stranger in my dream (who looked like one of our dear friends, but it wasn't him) was right. If I don't at least try it, I'll spend the rest of my life thinking about "what ifs". So I'm going to stick with it. And maybe I won't start again until the kids are in school and I have my sanity back. But I will do it. And I will take all the rejections in stride. Because even if that's all I ever get, at least I know that I gave it my best shot.

I also had a dream that gas was only $2.45 a gallon. Which had me singing "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes" all morning long. lol

It's Getting Hot in Herrrrre. . .

But don't worry. There will be no clothes leaving THIS body. It is freaking hot here though. The temperature only says 86, but the humidity we've been lacking all summer has come back with a vengance!

Have you visited my renter this week? If not, you should. She's AWESOME! So make sure you click over there and tell her that I sent you.

CJ had a playoff game today for baseball. Thank God it was at 9:00 this morning, otherwise I don't think I would have made it through the whole thing. And it was SUCH a good game! We ended up losing, but we had been behind by 8 in the last inning and the boys came back and tied it up! Then they went into extra innings and lost by 2. But it was so much fun! Now they're done for the year and CJ couldn't be happier. Which makes me sad because I come from a long line of sports fanatics. But CJ somehow missed that gene. And it's odd because even though CB didn't play that many sports (his parents didn't let him. That's a whole other post on its own), he's still competitive as all get out. I don't think CJ has a competitive bone in his body. Half the time when he's on defense, he's playing with something that captures his attention. So he usually misses the ball when it comes to him. But does he run after it? NO! He will WALK to get the ball. KILLS ME! But it's cute too, so I have to laugh.

In other news, who declared it Stupid People Day today and forgot to send me the memo? Because I've been forced to deal with some A-1 morons today. Add into the equation that it's hot and I'm tired and I am much less tolerant of the stupidness than I would be on a normal day.

But I'm home now. I've had my Phish Food ice cream and life has become much more bearable. Until tomorrow when it's even hotter than it was today.

I Am Conflicted

I have wanted to write something since Friday. But I don't know what to say. While life goes on, and since I didn't really know the kid that died, I actually had a really good weekend.

So do I write about that and all the fun things I did? No, because if I do that, then I feel like I'm disrespecting the family.

Do I keep dwelling on the fact that a kid that I'm sure I at least saw at one of my brother's little get togethers is dead? Probably not, because it brings up too many sad things about the important people I've lost.

But the funeral was today at the high school. From what the Glamour Dad said, it was an incredibly sad time. I guess he was buried in his baseball jersey. The whole class got together before the funeral to spend some time together, then were all escorted in after the family. The bits and pieces that I've heard bring tears to my eyes. And I feel stupid for the fact that it hurts so bad. I can't explain it to those of you who live in a bigger area. This is a town of 3,000 people. So when something like this happens, it's almost like extended family.

So I think I'll allow myself this one last post to be sad. And tomorrow I'll try and move on. Just please don't ever think me disrespectful. Because like I said, life does move on. We will all grow and learn from this. But I still have a family. Two kids that don't understand what's going on and had waaaay too much fun passing out candy in a parade on Saturday.

But I'll get to all of that soon enough.

Sadness on the Plains

I was all ready to tell you about the fantastic weekend that we had. And that's still coming, I promise. But today is much too sad of a day. Yesterday afternoon, a kid from around here was killed in a 4 wheeler accident. He was supposed to be a senior in high school this year. He was a star pitcher for the baseball team. And he was supposed to play in a Legion baseball game last night. But there was no game because he didn't wear a helmet when he was out playing on his 4 wheeler.

Apparently what happened is he was riding in a road ditch and going across a driveway. Somewhere after the driveway, he hit an embankment and the ATV slipped out from underneath him. Then it landed on top of him.

My heart hurts for a mom who has lost her baby. For a father that has lost his only son. And for a sister that lost her brother. For a class of tight-knit kids that are now one short.

But most of all, my heart hurts for the friend that was with this kid when it all happened. Because the friend will have a haunting picture with him for the rest of his life. Tons of "what if" scenarios will run through his head. And he will have to know that he was with someone when they died.

I want to do something. But I don't know the kid. I don't know the family. I think I maybe worked with his mom once upon a time, but I'm not for certain. I want to just go and wrap my arms around these people. I want it to be a teaching moment for the kids that knew him. I want to take the pain away from these people. And I know I can't. I know they will survive. But today, everyone is so sad, and I can't do anything about it.

So if you have kids, hug them extra tight tonight. You just never know what can happen.

Work work work

I am at work. I do not want to be at work. It is beautiful outside. The sun is shining, the kids are going to a park to play. And I? Am in a room with no windows. Which is a good thing I suppose. I can't glance longingly outside at all the things I'm missing.

I can, however, bitch about all the squillion things that I need to get done before this weekend. Things that I could be doing TODAY on my usual DAY OFF. But I probably won't. Not much, anyway. I have to type up at least 10 slides for a power point presentation tomorrow night. I also have to find pictures for said slide show. And we have bible study tonight, which takes up the whole evening when I have to work. Which means that I will probably pull a very late night tonight to get most of the pp slides done. Then I'll have a little time tomorrow night before the concert to do the final touches.

And one of these days, I'll come back here and tell you about my ultra-fantastic 4th of July.

Someday when my sanity is back.

Until then, go visit my renter. I'm sure she's got MUCH more interesting things to talk about.

More fun nostalgia. And, GO SEE MY RENTER!

First things first, my renter for this week is Chelle-Belle. Her blog looks so cool! That's the reason I picked her. I'm looking forward to checking her out more this week, and you should too! Just make sure that if you go there, you leave a comment letteing her know I sent ya.

Now, on to the nostalgia thing. I spent most of my childhood living in one of two apartment complexes that my mom managed. In the second one, there was a single mom from Mexico that had two little girls. She cleaned apartments, which was what my mom had done before she started managing. Needless to say, those two hit it off. And that was good for me because the girls and I were quickly best friends. I remember going to their house to play and Socorro would have her "Novellas" on the TV (Those things have always facsinated me, even though I can only understand like three or four words.). If I would come at lunch time, she would on occasion be making this fabulous chicken and rice dish. I would be able to smell it before I even walked up the stairs to their apartment. And it tasted like heaven. I've never known anyone that could cook like she could. I remember how sad I was when we moved back to the other apartments and Socorro and her girls moved away. I missed my friends, and I missed that cooking!

So why all the nostalgia? Last night when we were watching the fireworks that get put on by the casino in town, we were sitting in the car with the windows down and I smelled it. I smelled the way her chicken would smell as she was cooking it. And it smelled fantastic! It was a great little trip down memory lane. The worst thing of it all is I have NO idea where it had come from. We were parked next to a field, which was next to another field and another and so on. There wasn't a single house that I could see. Had there been one, I probably would have run out of the car and tried to find out who was cooking what! lol

Well, I'm off to the Fourth of July festivities in Podunk Jr. Have a great day!

No The Garage Sale Did Not Eat Me

I'm posting just because Big Sky Girl was scared that maybe the garage sale gods had chosen me for their sacrafice. The thing actually went pretty well. It probably would have gone better if I hadn't decided to do it on a long weekend, but I made enough moolah to get the kids some more new clothes to replace all the old ones they had outgrown.

It's a strange feeling, having garage sales. When I was pulling all the stuff out to sell, I was getting a little verklempt. I mean, my kids were that. small. And it wasn't all that long ago. It seems like the time has gone by way too fast to be fair. Then I started thinking about people's grubby hands all over my kids' old stuff and I almost packed it all up and put a big "CANCELLED" across the signs that I had made. But I didn't. And there were no grubby people. There were a lot of really nice people. Not even one scary person. Which was kind of disappointing.

Yesterday we went to see the movie Cars. It was THE best kid movie I've seen in a while. We had already decided that it was a purchasable movie not two minutes into it. Even if you don't have kids, it's a great movie. Funny, funny grown up jokes in it, but good fart jokes too. And the kids picked up on some really valuable lessons that can be learned from the movie too.

And now today we are going to finish putting all the garage sale crap away. Then we have gobs of laundry to put away. And other crap to organize. But it's all OK, because I got to sleep until 9:00 this morning.

D-Day

Garage sale day and I've been up since four this morning. I have neither the ambition nor the wit to write an actual post today, so head on over to Stupid People Shouldn't Breed and see my guest post there.