I really like squirrels...

I think you are cute, fun to watch, creative, inventive, amusing and on occasion pretty damn stupid.

Like this morning. Why would you choose to cross the road during the morning school rush? Better yet, why would you try to cross the road at all - especially when a large white SUV was headed your way? I did my very best, because you know, I'll do anything to keep from killing another creature. (Hey, I don't even squish spiders - I put them outside, you never know who might be Charlotte). I slowed, I zigged, but just when I zagged...so did YOU.

So, on the afternoon school run I get to see your flat little squirrel body, with it's pitiful tail, in the road - mocking me. And I feel really terrible...for a moment or two. Cause you see, Mr. Squirrel, my friend, it's pretty simple.

You had a death wish and I helped you fulfill your destiny.

What's next?

Yesterday morning when I took Rea to school the temperature on my rearview mirror said it was twenty-eight degrees.

At three when I picked Rea up from school it was a balmy seventy degrees.

Now it is snowing to beat the band.

Go figure.

Another valuable use of my time...

I've run across another blog that is proving to be quite the distraction. Rea and I have spent the better part of tonight watching videos and laughing until I thought I was going to pee on myself.

When you've got some time to waste check failblog.org. Fair warning though, you really need a buddy to watch with you...it's just more funner that way!

That's My Boy

We have a full-length glass storm door that stays open whenever the weather allows - and when I'm gone My Boy Nelson lays and watches out the door for me to return. By the time that I can get turned into the driveway he can manage to shimmy through both cat doors and be waiting in the driveway.

And he always comes bearing gifts; sometimes the gift might be a toy, sometimes it is a slimy piece of rawhide, it could be a sock, a stolen dishtowel, a leaf, an article of clothing or even a stick that he nabs on his way to the car.




But it seems as if it is a point of pride with him that he cannot come empty handed to greet me, or any other member of the family. I absolutely love it.

Cause I Know You're Dying to Know...

The lonely green Mini-Van, it's partner the trailer and the desperate Lawn Mower are still waitly patiently in the field for someone to come rescue them. It's been nearly three weeks since I told you about them. That's three weeks PLUS the time they already put in before I decided they were blog worthy; I'm not even sure how long that's been. Let's just say it's been a long damn time for these poor things.

We've pondered this situation, it's been fodder for more than one discussion (hey things have been slow around here lately). Why would one just abandon an apparently decent looking vehicle? Sometimes our imaginations run wild...was the vehicle used in an illicit crime? And this is the perfect hiding place for it? Suppose there is a body stashed in it, (oooh) or perhaps drugs??? Is it being hid, as one proposed, from the Repo Man?

Or did someone just simply walk away in a fit of frustration and a string of cuss words? And is now sitting in their family room looking out at this stupid van EVERY SINGLE DAY?

Has anybody seen my cheaters?

The first thing that I do each morning is get a cup of coffee, check my email, peruse Google Reader to see which blogs have updated and then check Facebook.

This morning I was trying to do all this sans glasses - I lost my good glasses last weekend (I know some of you out there are really surprised at this news). So, on Facebook I had a New Friend Request (yeah me), but I didn't recognize the name, but I was barely able to determine that the person had graduated from my high school, so I'm thinking, what the heck, everybody needs friends, right?

So, when her profile pops up, I'm squinting at her picture and she's sitting in front of this beautiful house, lush landscaping and I think, well, it looks as if whoever she is, must live in California. But, her profile doesn't mention anything about California, hmmmmm.

Danny comes in the room and I say, look at this girl, I think she lives in California, look at the picture.

HELLO Nelson's Mama. She's sitting in front of the Visitors Center of your husband's employer. FIND.YOUR.GLASSES.

Will you be my friend? Check Yes or No

Danny, Rea and I are meeting friends for dinner tonight – friends that we haven’t seen in nearly nine years. Sadly, you probably know how it goes, you change jobs, move to a new town, you promise to keep in touch, but somehow – it just doesn’t happen. You end up simply exchanging Christmas cards with someone that was once a part of your day-to-day lives, someone that was your neighbor and friend. A friend that you shared a pregnancy, hopes and dreams with.

But, now, we have re-connected – on FACEBOOK, we’ve been posting back and forth and tonight we are meeting for dinner. Rea and their daughter were close buddies from birth until three, but who longer remember one another and will be reacquainted; her husband was an enabler in Danny’s fishing habit (I wonder if he shoots skeet). We are all looking forward to seeing them again.

I’ve had a Face book account for probably a year or so, but only in the last four or five months have I truly become addicted. It’s really fun to find people that you’ve lost touch with – just this morning I chatted with another friend, someone from high school, that I hadn’t talked with since 1986. We actually lived in the same apartment complex in Nashville for a time; we were both homesick in a big city and actually stumbled across one another there. I think we were a lot of company for each other for a time.

Syd, as you can imagine, has been less than enthusiastic about my Facebook addiction. Any mention that I make regarding Facebook is met with condescension and eye rolling. She REFUSES to be my friend – however, it doesn’t stop me from sending her friend requests again. AND AGAIN. It’s become a game, I keep asking and she keeps ignoring me. I really don’t want to be her friend and actually understand why she doesn’t want me as her friend, but you know, I’m her Mom – it’s my job to harass her!

But Syd doesn’t get why I like Facebook – it is a completely different experience for people her age. I think most of her friends are people that she knows from school or that she at least knows in a current way. She’s not reaching back in her past and finding people or has never found someone that she thought was completely lost to her. Some of the people that I’m connecting with are not people that I would ever email or phone, but it’s nice to know that they are still alive and well and in the words of my friend Jo to get a “sound bite out of their life”.

More and more of my friends are getting Facebook accounts, just this week I got a "Surprise" request from one of the last hold outs. I was glad to see her...I'm having a great time staying connected with current friends, old friends and reconnecting with lost ones.

Are you Facebooking...look for me if you are!

The Battle of the Basket

It was cold and snowy here today; nobody wanted to go outside and Vivi staked out her basket early in the day. Ben usually leaves her alone, but today he felt as if she had stayed quite long enough.

He started with some gentle prodding and when that didn't work, he upped the ante.
Now he's poking...

Ears are back...

Maybe a slap or two will help!
Nope, Viv held her ground!

I need to check on a double-cat basket. Or would that be a duplex basket or a loveseat basket?

Our Birthday Girl

Today is ReaRea's birthday, how is it that twelve years can simply sift through your fingers just like sand at the beach? I've struggled all day yesterday and today with what to say about Rea, how to capture her personality in a brief way - to convey her complexities and how special she is to us, but I just don't think I can. And frankly, I think she's probably like the kid next door; or your kid. She's pretty fabulous - to us. But so is yours, so enough said.

We love her heart and soul. Warts, toads and beautiful blue eyes. Wicked laugh. Every last inch.

However, I couldn't resist a little walk down memory lane...here are a few of my VERY favorite pictures of Rea.

The Odd Couple

I saw this story the other morning and loved it, then saw it on another blog today. Thought I'd share it too.



The Elephant Sanctuary is in Hohenwald, Tennessee and an easy drive from here; they are always asking for volunteers and I was all ready to sign up and go shovel manure, slice watermelons and what have you. I had visions of befriending an elephant and me scratching it's trunk and being best buds and all. Further research revealed that I would be unable to even lay my little eyes on the lovely pachyderms - volunteers are completely restricted from any contact with the residents of the sanctuary.

Still, I enjoy perusing their website and reading the diary updates of the ladies and their sole gentleman friend. Here's the link: http://www.elephants.com/.

You know it's a small town...

• When someone cuts you off on the four-lane as you are trying to get to Kroger
• When someone takes the parking place you are eyeing in the Kroger parking lot
• When someone asks you to get your cart out of the way so they can buy a roast
• When that someone is the same person on the same afternoon in the same small town in Tennessee.

Fhillip & Funky

Last night Rea, Ash and I ran into Walgreen's and those girls talked me into buying flamingos. Everybody needs pink yard flamingos when there's a wind chill warning in effect - right?

Syd thought the idea of pink flamingos was absolutely nuts, that I was out of my mind to purchase them and should never, ever, ever, ever buy something so silly and frivolous.

Don't you just love what I've done with them? I'm just so sorry that I'm not going to be home to hear what Syd has to say about the new home I've found for the recent additions to our family!

Stand back, he's gonna blow!!

About three years ago, Oscar had an unfortunate run-in with a motor vehicle, which there-by caused us to have an unfortunate run-in with a $1,200 vet bill. All of which accounts for the rather eerie glow out of Oscar's right eye - he's now blind on that side. And we mean it in the kindest way possible; but, Oscar, he just ain't right anymore.

Since cold weather has set in, Oscar has decided to be super affectionate...which is a new development. He's always been loving, but sporadically and at a distance. Now, he wants to sleep ON TOP of me. He wants to sit on my lap or share my chair while I compute. I try to get him to sit next to my computer so I don't have to hold him, because when he relaxes and starts to slip off my lap he digs his claws in and that hurts, A LOT. Then he wants to walk around and rub on the computer, rub on the lamp, rub on the picture frames, (you get the idea), and now the A key and my Tab key on my computer aren't working right. I think he's stomped them into oblivion.

But this brings me to the biggest issue with Oscar - one of the residual problems from his accident is that his sinuses are crushed. He ALWAYS has a snotty nose. You just never know when he might SNEEZE. You can be laying there asleep and all at once - he sneezes and slings cat snot everywhere - it's a joy to behold. He slings it on my books, I had to wipe it off my computer screen this morning. Danny and Syd avoid him like the plague.

I feel sorry for him, but not as sorry as Rea, she wants us to have his sinuses repaired. Sorry, but that answer is a resounding "NO"! Oscar has gone over his out-of-pocket medical limit and will just have to live with his sinus condition. However, she will let him in her lap but says, "You just never know when he's going to blow!"

Perspectives

I have a group of great girlfriends – they are a collection of people that I have met since we moved here over eight years ago. We don’t have an extensive history and it’s a lot fun to learn about each other; and sadly I happen to be the oldest of the group. I’ve been married the longest and have the oldest child.

A couple of my friends have two year old little girls and I suppose that time glosses over the terrible twos; or perhaps my girls were just a little easier. But I can’t help but look back and think of a lot days and situations where I wouldn’t gladly go back to that time. Compared to middle school and high school drama, those days were a walk in the park – I’d take a two year old any day over the passive-aggressive cruelty that a diminutive twelve year old can dish out on my girl.

In retrospect, there were things that I got all caught in when my girls were babies, (and I wasn’t even that uptight), and now I wonder why I even cared. Maybe a nap didn’t happen or perhaps their hair wasn’t combed - I've since discovered that in the grand scheme of life that those things didn’t really matter. Those were things I was just trying to control and the most horrible and hurtful things would happen and I wouldn’t be able to help or stop them at all.

So, from my perspective having a Terrible Two would be a good thing. Those in fact, were halycon days.

I drive by this small field, if you will, each morning and afternoon when I take Rea to school. Some time ago I noticed a small trailer loaded with what appears to be lumber and perched oddly on top of the lumber was a John Deere lawn mower.

The trailer and the mower have been patiently biding their time in the field all fall.

Then a week or so before Christmas a green Mini-Van with a snatch line decided to come to their rescue, but sadly, the Van is mired in mud up to it's front axles and is now too lingering in the field...
The mower is now dangling from the trailer and I believe that it must have jumped in desperation.

Wal-Marts, Dog Food and Starbucks

I've had to return once again to the most nefarious of all retail worlds - Wal-Marts. I failed to purchase dog food when I was there on Wednesday. A Sheltie and a Shih Zhu can be pretty dang pushy about their morning Alpo, kind of like some people and their morning cup of joe.

So, I braved the gloomy Sunday afternoon and what feels like an impending stomach bug to buy dog food and to shop lift a pound of Starbucks coffee. You read it right, when I got to my vehicle, hidden beneath my big, old black purse was my other vital purchase. My Starbucks Colombia coffee.

I'm asking for your prayers, because I didn't take that coffee back in the store and pay for it like a good girl. I guilty slung it in the back of my Tahoe and I drove home. I was cold, it was getting dark and the skies looked as if it would rain at any moment. Besides the fact that I felt as if I might hurl in the parking lot.

Granted I had a moment of concern or two, this wasn't like my kid walking out with a pack of gum, have you seen the price on Starbucks coffee lately? This could be a felony offense if I get caught. Plus, Rea was riding shotgun, I also contributed to the delinquency of a minor...

I'll be doing a cart check from now on, but just in case, would you please include me in your prayers?

Happy New Year

I've put off writing a "Happy New Year" post - I didn't have any prophetic wisdom to throw your way, but it seems that every other blogger out in the free world has written one. I think there must be a rule about it. So. HAPPY NEW YEAR.

I'm not planning on making any resolutions either, I've done that on multiple occasions and failed miserably, so I'll just leave that be. Perhaps a couple of goals for the year would be nice; and I thought briefly of telling you what they were. But, I thought better of it, because if I tell you, then you might just hold me accountable for them...so I'll just keep them in my little pea brain.

The tree, oh the tree, is now down. Syd worked diligently (after a bribe) and helped me undecorate it. Mr. OCD himself didn't like the way that I wanted to put the ornaments away, so he paid her to help me in his place. I have issues about some things too and he just can't handle it when my peculiarities rear their little heads.

And you let a tree decorating/undecorating commence and the felines come out of the woodwork. We could not walk for Oscar - he laid in the middle of the floor and supervised our every move. Vivi, however, discovered the newspaper and tissue that was in the boxes and spent her time believing that she was invisible:

School and work starts back tomorrow. Once again, I'm ready to get back in our groove. It's time for me and Nelson and Shelley and Oscar and Vivi and Ben to rattle around in the house alone for a while and regroup