This About Sums It Up

The Man sent this to me, summarizing our feelings on coverage of Famous Person Has Died Stories perfectly.



(I don't know where he got it from, so if somehow I get turned in by some blogger for copyright infringement, come visit me in the pokey.)

A Week (or Two) in Pictures

My poor blog. It's growing cobwebs, and all I hear are crickets when I click on it anymore. We've been busy bees since school got out and my mom arrived. Here are some highlights, along with a promise to continue to neglect it some more while I plan and prep for our month-long trip to California on July 6th.

This lady arrived. Hilarity ensued


This kid couldn't let her sister get all the tooth fairy's attention, losing one the day after Boodle's extractions



Boodle's birthday bash, complete with guns, light sabers and blue frosting




We made art projects




Medals were won in Cheerleading Camp, where new highs (and potential lows) were reached





We visited Houston's Space Center, where the highlight was the Indiana Jones rope climbing course. I haven't tied that one into space exploration yet, but I'm still pondering



I got SPARKLY toes, complete with flowers, glitter and a jewel. I'm ready for the pole now


I also got a belated birthday present from my sister-in-law, and I LOVE it (personalized necklace, names redacted)


And that brings us to last night, where we enjoyed a beautiful sunset over the lake.





Happy Monday everyone!!

Heading Out to Yoo-ston

(That title is for MamaDB)

My mom, the kids and I are headed to Houston today with a neighbor and her two girls. We're hitting up the Space Center tomorrow, and since it will be 437 degrees, I'm sure we'll have super awesome fun!

Actually, most of the stuff is indoors, so it should be good, but the whole outdoor no A/C tram tour thing might have to wait until winter.

I'm hoping Ed Harris will be around, nostalgic for his past film roles as John Glenn and Gene Kranz. Fingers crossed!

Happy Belated Father's Day

Okay, any tribute I could have made yesterday got bogarted by that other post, so here's a celebration of The Man and his wonderful fatherhoodness.

Never too tired to cuddle


Always ready with a laugh


Adventurous


Sets a good example (apparently, and the jury's still out on this one)


Instructive


Not afraid of the silly


Or the weird


Or the wonder


Always willing to don something weird for Halloween


Or to impart wisdom


Or to show the girls the proper way to do the half moon yoga pose


You rock our socks, babe. Happy Father's Day!!

Happy Father's Day

I was going to avoid the entire Father's Day post, since I'm kind of in a funk about my dad right now, but yesterday was a gift, so here goes.

At church, I go to a Ladies Bible Study class in the morning before service, and our group has taken on a nearby nursing home as our mission project. We've visited there several times, trying to time visits around holidays like Father's and Mother's Day.

Yesterday was the first chance I had to go, and I won't lie and say I was excited. I was fairly well dreading it. My grandmother was in an assisted living place until she died, and while it was a nice place, it's not somewhere you want to go spend a lot of time visiting if you don't have to. Face it: as nice as they make them look, it's still a place for people to go as the journey to the other side, and that isn't something I want to examine on a regular basis.

Regardless, after talking myself out of flaking and then LYING about it in class tomorrow (it took a surprising amount of talking, I have to tell you), I showed up.

It was a wonderful experience. I won't say I didn't cry my way home afterward, but still. You go in with the idea that you will be spreading some joy to people by visiting with them, and little do you know just how filled your spirit will be by THEM.

I'm not so good with the words, so I won't try to wax rhapsodic about how I felt and how much it meant to me, but needless to say, getting off the pity pot about missing my dad and doing something other-centered got my head in the right place. Being there called to mind the joy my dad had each time we visited my Grandma, and how he took time to talk to any of the ladies he happened upon, asking them questions and laughing with them.

THAT is what I'm remembering this Father's Day. Thank YOU nursing home residence, and thank you AGAIN dad for continuing your counsel from above.

All Things BD Presents: You Make The Call

Please weigh in with your position on the following development:

January 2009-


June 2009-

Too. Many. Post. Ideas.

I've got around 34 posts backed up in my head, and I can't face typing them all separately, so I'm going to do a massive brain dump of all the things that have occurred over the past week or so. Feel free to take a break, have a cookie, and come back later to finish up.

* My mom is here, and by "here", I mean she's HERE. She's been helping me in so many ways. She helped me clean out the garage the other day. Her job? To listen as I babbled about my plans, and how far I'd gotten, and how maybe I should put the kids stuff in this bay or else keep the trash in the other bay and the bbq behind it or switch those two things around. On Tuesday, when she saw how nervous I was to go to the dentist, she offered to go with me. I turned 38 last week, and I seriously considered having my mommy come with me to the dentist. I was brave and went it alone. No cavities and very healthy gums, I'll have you know.

* One cool thing that happened at the dentist office was this: When I went and sat in the chair, they were playing a lovely mix of music including Josh Groban and some lovely instrumental stuff. As they were cleaning my teeth, I was starting to hyperventilate, for admittedly no reason because that's what I do, so I suddenly started praying. I have to admit it's not my first go-to coping mechanism, since I usually try to pull myself through these situations foolishly on my own. But I started to pray, and immediately felt my entire body relax. And as soon as I finished my prayer, the music switched to Sarah McLachlan's Angel. I couldn't help but tear up and say thank you to God and my dad for bringing me peace.

* Boodle had her birthday party last Saturday. It was an easy party plan, to have about 12 kids over to play laser tag and network gaming through a company that brings a mobile truck to your house. I was telling my mom how I am usually more stressed out before the party starts, and I was surprised I wasn't more frantic. Hahahahahahahaha. Yeah, really stupid of me to vocalize that thought. Twenty minutes before the truck was supposed to show up, they called and said their generator broke down, so we couldn't do the indoor, air conditioned gaming portion, only laser tag. Outdoor laser tag. In Texas. At 4pm. On a 100 degree day. Luckily, 9 year olds simply don't care what they do at a party as long as it involves copious noise and blue icing that stains their braces.

* The girls are in cheerleading camp this week. Cheerleading camp. I don't want to offend any hard core cheerleaders out there, but I'm praying this interest wanes very soon. So far, the emphasis has been on the field trip portions of camp, not on the proper use of spirit fingers.

* I innocently went to the dermatologist yesterday to get a body check, having never done this before, and a frozen nose and one excised mole later, I wandered dazedly out of the office. Apparently, I'm very mole-y and have taken terrible care of my skin. Yes, but tell me what you REALLY think, doc. Sheesh. Luckily, before he zapped my nose, he asked if I had any big parties to attend the next several days, because the spot he froze would scab over and then fall off. Lovely. Luckily, the governor's ball is not for another 5 months. And I'm not invited. However, I AM wearing sunscreen under my makeup today, and plan to TRY and wear it all over from now until forever.

* My diet challenge with The Man is going to end in spectacular failure in two weeks. I'm calling it right now. I STILL have two pounds to lose, and I don't think I'm going to get there by July 1st. Okay, I'm going to steal The Man's thunder and go ahead and post my bathing suit picture here and take the pressure off myself for the next two weeks. Here I am, in all my disgusting glory:

I KNOW. It's shocking and I'm so embarrassed for you to see me this way. But look! At least I've got my sunscreen with me!

* Lastly, I'm sad to report the passing of Phineas the fish. His life was short lived, and his death was helped along by strong currents in his tank that proved too much for a fish that really just likes to sit on the bottom and look dead 24 hours a day. I'm sorry Phineas. Farewell my friend. We hardly knew ya.

Okay, I'm done. Thank you for reading, sorry for the long post, and if I don't write again for another week, I'm going to try a new feature on my blog called Tome Tuesday.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl

My baby turned 9 years old today.

From this:





To this:



You are my heart, sweet girl.

Buh Nuh Nuh Nuh Na Nuh, You Say It's Your Birthday?

Buh Nuh Nuh Nuh Na Nuh, well it's my birthday too!

Happy 38th birthday to me!

Is it crass to wish yourself happy birthday on your own blog? I guess I could just skip over it and HOPE that my good friends will somehow acknowledge it, but seeing as how I've met some great people through this blogging business and they've no idea I was born on this day, I think it's okay to give myself a shout out.

My plans for the day include getting a gift from my youngest, which was purported to be "a hug, and peace and quiet so I could sleep in in the morning." I know, right? You either want to say "awwww" or just punch her face. I don't begrudge you either reaction.

Later, we'll head somewhere indoors because it's summertime in Texas. We're thinking indoor mini golf/gaming/bowling, and lunch of my choosing, which will have to be decided upon carefully, as I've still got two pounds to lose and less than 3 weeks in which to do it.

Tonight, I've got Bunco, because I'm 38 and don't drink and live in the 'burbs, so that's how I roll. Livin' the dream, my friends!

I wish you were all here to celebrate with me. We'd go somewhere loud and tacky, eat WAY too much queso, and have the time of our lives. Hey, sounds like a plan for next year, right? See you next June!

Wordless Wednesday: Sweetness is Fleeting

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

For the next month?

My Mom!!!!!



She flew in tonight, and here's where I insert a pic of her being greeted by my girls at the airport!

Yeah, and here's where I go back in time and remind myself to insert a damn memory card in my camera. Stupid technology.

First time I've ever done that. I'm consoling myself with the knowledge that I have the memories IN MY HEAD, and that's what is truly important. Yeah, I'm not buying that load of whooey either.

Welcome to Texas, Mom!

Dear Family That Brought Two Small Kids to See Angels and Demons

Dear Family That Brought Two Small Kids to See Angels and Demons,

I just want to say that I can't thank you enough for bringing your infant and two year old to see Tom Hanks in Angels and Demons last night. I was honored that you chose the seats directly behind me, and allowed your two year old to kick his feet incessantly.

Please accept my heartfelt appreciation for the time when your baby was crying and you made loud shh-shh-shh noises to quiet him. When that failed, your genius solution of letting him use your car keys as a rattle was AWESOME. I think I speak for the couple seated near me that moved about 8 rows forward when I say WHAT A GREAT IDEA.

It was too bad you had to get up and walk your baby around in the doorway to get him to sleep, because once he was gone, I could really concentrate on the movie. I mean, between your toddler oohing and aahing over the blood all over the people on screen anyway.

Of course, you solved that little problem by bringing the baby back to sit with you for the last half hour of the film, and your recap of what was actually going on in the film was enlightening to the whole theater I'm sure. The baby of course woke up as soon as you sat down, because who can sleep through fires and death scenes and shootouts and antimatter explosions (no, I don't think I'd have understood it even if I'd been ABLE to concentrate on the plot).

Anyway, to sum up, THANKS for coming to the movie. GOOD LUCK with those kids in the future. Maybe we'll run into each other again at "Drag Me To Hell"!

Love and kisses,
BD

Saturday Night's Alright

Had a marvelous Saturday afternoon with family and friends, and I had to share.

We spent the early afternoon with The Man's cousins who live here, and his Aunt and Uncle who were visiting from California. Pizza and good conversation, including planning for the upcoming camping trip we'll be taking this July in California.

I spent late afternoon with Boodle on a movie playdate that she engineered with a schoolmate. I'm still getting used to the idea that she's starting to control her social life. What's up with that??? We met them at a local outdoor shopping center and saw Up. During which I cried three times. Stupid Pixar.

After the movie, the friend's family introduced me to crack cocaine a place called Yogurt Planet. Um, yum. A wall full of frozen yogurt dispensers, bowls the size of my head, and all the toppings you could wish for. And the yogurt? FAT FREE. I'm in love.

This outdoor shopping center has a large grassy hill area, and they frequently have live music playing. It was a group that was new to me, The Britt Lloyd Band, and they were great. The kids ran around playing tag while the grownups got their groove on under the light of a full moon. So awesome.

We got some swag from the shopping center, including a glow stick, so when we got home, I told The Man we'd been to a rave. He did not seem surprised.

Latest Song Obsession

Not to jump on Bossy's Earworm train, but I can't get this song out of my head. The bridge in the middle just makes my heart ache.


Pat Monahan, "Always Midnight"



You might recognize his voice as the lead singer of Train (Meet Virginia, anyone?). You might recognize his face as the love child of Neil Diamond and David Copperfield.

Right?

Wordless Wednesday: 6-Year-Old Art Can Be Creepy

(Sorry MamaDB)

It Still Hits Me

It still hits me at odd times that my dad is gone. It's been 5 years since he was diagnosed with lung cancer. 4.5 years since he died. And it still can blindside me.

I've been listening to individual artist's libraries in my iTunes account, whereas I usually just randomize it. I went through Imogen Heap, and then Mute Math, and then skipped to Sarah McLachlan.

The summer of 2004, my friends got me tickets to see Sarah in L.A. for my birthday. My sister in law made the arrangements, and bought a ticket for my dad, because he loved Sarah as well. A little while after that, he was diagnosed, and when the concert came around in July, he was in the middle of chemo and couldn't make the 3 hour trip to L.A. to attend.

We had an amazing time at the concert. Picked up by a limo, dropped right on the corner at the Staples Center, great seats.

And at the end of the concert, I just cried and cried. He wasn't there, he missed it, and I knew even then that it meant something bad. I felt like if he was there, then things were going to work out. He would beat it, and I'd have him around.

They gave him 6 months, and he made it almost to the day of that. 2 days short of Halloween, but he got to see his granddaughters' costumes. 10 days short of his 65th birthday. 25 days short of his 39th wedding anniversary. 5 months short of celebrating 30 years of sobriety. And at least 20 years short of seeing his granddaughters walk down the aisle, which he really looked forward to.

So I sit here tonight, listening to Sarah McLachlan, remembering my dad. And the music is beautiful. And at the same time, it is just too painful to hear.

New and Sick Inhabitants

As for the new:

Meet Phineas. Yes, I am the one who named him, after the girls' new favorite cartoon, Phineas and Ferb. Get it? FIN-eas? Because it's awesome. The Man is still befuddled as to why the fish exists in our household. I grew up always having cats and fish as pets. Since he's allergic to cats, fish it has to be. We left our beloved George in California with my sister in law Tiffany, who I'm pretty sure filleted him and served him with lemon and butter sauce. This is the first fish I've had since moving to Texas, and now all is right with the world.

Except for this:

This is the sick inhabitant. She came home at lunch time from school today with an upset stomach. Nothing that an afternoon of Nickelodeon and a sleeve of saltines can't cure.

Happy Monday!