Random Thoughts

Oh the randomness currently rolling through my brain.

We have had THE most unbelievable fall weather. Very Little Rain = Much Sunshine. You have no idea how this pleases me. The windows have been open for weeks upon weeks. It has only been in the last few days I’ve left the heat on for an entire 24 hours.

Precious Youngest was home this past weekend. She needed a break. She is struggling right now. She is in a difficult period of discernment. She is my worrier by nature and I’m losing some sleep on her behalf.

I’ve been notified of two large awards for grants I wrote in late summer. Let me tell you; money is tight and competition is stiff. I feel pretty good about this.

I am afraid I have to walk away from helping my sister with her finances. I had hoped to keep her little ship afloat until she could deal with some long standing issues. My assistance is now being perceived as interference. She is resentful to the point that it is affecting our relationship. I am afraid for her, but I can not make an almost forty seven year-old woman DO anything she doesn’t want to do.

I have a sort of a braggy thing I keep writing about and then deleting. You know what? Make that two things.

The hot flashes. Oh my God people; kill me now. I have an appointment with a doctor next week. I am hoping there is something to be done.

See? Random.

Well let's see

• Mildly upset stomach all week
• Neighborhood under siege by city construction project
• Eight inches of rain this week
• Parents moved in yesterday
• Putting on alumnae scholarship luncheon today
• Precious Oldest in Rome, home next week
• Taking Precious Youngest to college orientation Sunday

This and That

Things I did this weekend:

• Ate Greek food AND Mexican food.
  
  
• Had a lovely lunch with the Saint and one of his childhood friends of whom we do not see nearly enough.
  
  
• Pulled out tomato plants, divided and fed daffodil bulbs and amended the soil in areas of my gardens that had sadly returned to the clay state so rampant in our part of the world.
  
  
• Went to a charity auction, started drinking, bid on some ridiculous items and accidentally left the Saint behind at the end of the evening.
  
  
• Went grocery shopping and remembered everything I needed.
  
  
• Went to Target and not only forgot some things I needed but managed to come home with two new standard sized pillows for our bed. Except our pillow cases are you know KING SIZED.

Things I’ll be doing this week:

• Editing college application essays.
  
  
• Sitting through more meetings than any one person should have to endure.
  
  
• Going to a concert.
  
  
• Taking a day off and just doing fun shit.
  
  
• Except for attending parent teacher conferences the very same night.
  
  
• Going off on a college visit with Precious Youngest. To a university that is a huge rival of my Alma Mater. Sigh.
  
  
• Eating fondue at GNO

Guess What?

• It's August. How in the HELL did that happen?
• It's also hotter than the hammered down hinges of hell here in Whoville.
• My sister closed on the house last Friday. She's moving on Thursday.
• I want to form cohesive thoughts here after a year with this blog, but I can't manage it.
• Or maybe it's because I'm on my third glass of wine.
• I need to update my blog roll DESPERATELY.
• And I want to remodel my site.
• I'm not pleased that my kitchen remodel keeps moving further and further down on the list of priorities.
• I think I'll just go to bed.

The power of song

Mrs. G wrote this post today and it got me thinking. No, no wacky "trip to IKEA" stories. We don't have an IKEA store in Whoville. I haven't the foggiest idea where the nearest IKEA store might be. Chicago? Does Chicago have an IKEA? Ahem, sorry, back on track now. No it was something towards the end of her post that took me back in time.

For many years my parents rented a very large house at the Jersey Shore of the Midwest Lake of the Ozarks. The Sibs, and mom and pop, would gather for a week with our spouses and children. One room per family. Yup, them were some TIGHT quarters. I don't think all five of the Sibs ever came to the lake at the same time, but most years there were four Sibs plus attendant family members. So in other words, a full house.

Anyhoodle. The general day went something like this:

6 to 8 AM: Children arise at varying intervals and get fed breakfast by Grandma and Grandpa. Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES are they to wake their parents!

8-9 AM: The Troika* arises and sits at the table drinking coffee and discussing the amount and quality of sleep they had the night before.

9 - 10 AM: After convincing one of the hapless men to act as lifeguard for the children; the Troika grab grandma and go for a walk.

10 - 11 AM: Back at the kitchen table for crossword puzzles. Yes, we know, we're loads of fun.

11 AM - 4 PM: Dock/Boat time. This is the tricky part. Remember at any given time there were somewhere between six and ten children. Many years the make up of said children consisted of infants/toddlers/preschoolers. So there was a lot of running up and down from house to dock ferrying lunch/drinks/snacks and running up and down from house to dock with little people for potty breaks and naps.

Plying the Troika with alcohol was the best way to keep them from complaining too much about all the up and down from house to dock. And for the most part the men complied with all requests for additional supplies of alcohol. But SOMETIMES the men complained about retrieving cold beer for the Troika. And so the Troika would resort to low tactics to elicit the correct response.

The surest way to get the men to comply was by singing show tunes at the tops of their lungs. We'd start with friendly songs from "The Sound of Music" and "The King and I". Then fun songs from "Hello Dolly" and "South Pacific". Followed by tarty songs from "A Chorus Line" and "Chicago". Then groovy songs from "Godspell" and "Jesus Christ Superstar". But nothing, NOTHING, sent them scurrying faster to fetch cold beer for the Troika than a rousing rendition of "Surrey With the Fringe On the Top".

I'm just sayin'.

[*My brothers, Sib #4 and Sib #5, started calling me and my sisters "The Troika" some time during their college years. Funny little shits.]

Extra aside: I've been reading the comments from my post yesterday and I am formulating a response. You know, trying to find my voice with out being disloyal to my brand. More later.

Six Inconsequential Things Meme

I have been tagged by the talented TX Poppet over at Canned Laughter for a Six Things/Habits/Quirks About Me MeMe. I am honored she feels I'm up to the technological challenges as she's had to help me out in the past.

Here are The Rules:

1. Link to the person that tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
5. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

So without further ado; six quirks/habits about me that are just plain strange:

1. I have an irrational fear of escalators. I can not bring myself to get on an escalator if I don’t have at least one hand firmly grasping the handrail. My children find this hilarious and are constantly daring me to just “get on with no hands already!”
2. I have no desire whatsoever to scuba dive. Well, that’s not entirely true; I’d love to but I just can’t. I’m a good swimmer, love lakes and oceans, and have enjoyed numerous snorkeling adventures. But with scuba diving, the thought of all that water on top of me? Creeps me out.
3. I shave my legs every day. 365 days a year. For the past thirty years. (The occasional camping trip and a few stays in OB Comp are the only exceptions.)
4. I do not consider myself a superstitious person; but I believe the first house we owned here in Whoville was haunted. So much so that, against the advice of our realtor, I disclosed it to the buyers.
5. I don’t like to be touched when I’m trying to go to sleep. One crossed ankle is all the Saint gets
6. I don't like for other people to touch my face and so for that reason I've had exactly two facials in my whole life. However as my forty five year old face is beginning to resemble your grandmother's alligator pocketbook, I may have to suck it up already.

Now I will demonstrate my mad linking skills by randomly tagging:

Daisy Jo over at He Loves Me... He Loves Me Not (Least likely to participate)

Mary Alice at From the Front Lines (Always food for thought)

Shelly from I Miss My Sanity (Most likely to participate)

Hotfessional over at My Life As A Hotfessional (She needs fodder for her 365 Blog Challenge)

Suburban Correspondent from The More The Messier (We're bonding over our love of teenagers)

Vanessa over at Random Rambling About My Crazy Life (A new friend also sharing her life with "terrorists")

Whoo Hoo! Day 30!

So I'm thinking this NaBloPoMo thingy is a little like child birth; just when you think you can't go on for ONE MORE SECOND it's over, and six months from now I'll remember every painful detail, but none of the pain. Thanks for playing along!

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Today is Sib #2's birthday. We had a very nice lunch. Some day soon I'll tell you her story. Happy Birthday #2!

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Yesterday the Saint played a little hooky from work. This is what he did with his time:

1. Washed the windows I had been moaning about.
2. Bought the rest of the goodies for Precious Oldest’s “Finals Care Package”.
3. Bought me a present which I still haven’t opened.
4. Took me out to dinner.

This is not atypical behavior. At all. So what the hell is wrong with me?

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I'm too tired to go into all the details right now (yeah, awake at 3 a.m. sucketh mightily!) but there is some weird shit going on with Blogger comments and I'm thinking of making a switch. Problem is ALL PAST comments will disappear from the site. And let me tell you, sometimes your comments make better reading than my posts! And so I deliberate. Thoughts?