It's not easy being Andy

Meka's a little possessive of her stuff, or has way too much time on her hands.

Carly(via Blackberry)

Progress

The interior of my screen porch is almost all painted - I'm going to finish the posts between the screens tomorrow on my lunch hour (the kid will do most of the rest of it in the morning, he's quite a reasonably good painter for his age and wants to earn money for a drumsetgodhelpme)

I have a nice clock for out there, and some other inexpensive little things sitting patiently in a pile until I get my porch rug (which should be Friday). Just a piece of indoor-outdoor carpeting but a nice blue/gray, and it should cut down on the stray bug population wandering up through the floorboards and flying around the family room!

My favorite neighbors came over for a while after dinner to hang out, give Oooh and Ahh feedback, and play a little Wii. I heart them. My "uncle" B stood in front of the counter and said "Can you see my ribs from the x-ray waves coming off the counter?" Tee hee. That helped.

I got my grandmother's hutch (- a good BEFORE photo) back in the right place in the kitchen, and it looks very sharp against the green wainscoting. Real B & A photos, coming soon.

So my day started with a phone call about hospitals and me having to go to one. "The patient" makes me impatient; it is never fun to walk into a hospital room, but even less fun if you get a verbal shot fired at you before you walk all of the way into the room.

The problem is that damn story, Peter and the Wolf. We all know about how Peter cried wolf, and the townspeople came, but there was no wolf. This went on and on until eventually no one came - except the wolf.

I have my very own Peter, who feels the need for largely unneeded medical attention, at almost regular intervals. The wolf is the "something wrong with me", and one of these days there MAY be something wrong, but... usually not so much. So there is annoyance and then guilt and reluctant driving to hospitals with hands clenched around the steering wheel. Because someday, certainly, the wolf WILL freaking be there, just when I stop going.

There is aimless shopping afterward, and trying to find something to buy that will soothe the anger and frustration enough to allow one to return home to innocent bystanders. Today it was potting soil, and some plain pots. That didn't quite beat down the monster, so I went to a craft store. The new wilton yearbook is out. That helped.

My mother stopped by today; she has already remarked "tile? on the kitchen floor? the kind with grout?" on the phone so I really wasn't optimistic about the outcome of the visit. Indeed, she whipped out "I probably shouldn't tell you this, but..." and then did; something about radioactive - radon- releasing granite that I tuned out... then later referred to my new family room as "a canyon" and had I been in the room when she said that to Mr. C I might have shot back "Yes, it's GRAND, isn't it?"

My bike is moved aside to allow for interior painting on the porch, so I gardened tonight, out on my deck, as the sky grew dark. I took the crazy basil and divided it into three pots and may have mangled some, but then I had WAY too much anyway. I can't say if the parsley seedlings survived my stress - or was it the oregano? It helped a little bit, to mush the dirt around and divide and conquer at least one tiny area of my life.

View

From my new desk... my ott light is ready if I can find my pictures and beads tomorrow.

I want the kids to start practicing more(ok, more than the NOT AT ALL they do now) so I am planning to leave space between the two desks where they can leave their instruments and music and so on.

Carly(via Blackberry)

Buy it

If you are a country music fan, buy Sugarland's new CD, and make sure to get the bonus tracks, because Wishing and Fall Into Me are SO worth it. I don't have the capacity for a proper review right about now, but hey, you can get that right on iTunes.

I have other songs I want to buy, like more Jason Mraz and Shattered (turn the car around) and Madly and Poly says Hold Steady, so I have to check that out... I've got so much catching up to do.

Because I know you miss these stories

It's a good thing I don't wear my heart on my sleeve. (No fair debating that statement. Just go with me.) I do have a shiny silver bracelet with a single heart dangling from it, closed by a toggle clasp. It's not one that I made, and I think that's the problem. It falls off. Somehow the bar works loose and ka-chunk, it's on the floor, the ground... the other day I felt it slip off in my car and slide down under the left side of my seat.

When I arrived at my mother in law's I parked, opened the door, reached down under the seat to get the bracelet, and found I had two problems. One, I couldn't reach the bracelet. Two, my arm was stuck. Stuck, as in "Woah... I can not pull my hand out from under this seat and I just scraped my wrist trying and my hand is going to bloat up and the firemen will have to come and coat my wrist with criso before it swells too much or they're taking apart this seat to get me out," stuck.

Breathe in, breathe out. Maneuver, scrape the wrist a little more, (bleeding...) and recover sweet freedom. Get out of car, inspect situation from back seat, and pick up easily accessible bracelet. Because I like to do things the hard way. (That's what she said.)

* * *

The Wii reminds you frequently to be careful, put that wrist strip on and cinch it (not on the scraped part of one's wrist, mind you, but I'm right handed), and make sure there's nothing too close when you start swinging that little wireless mouse around. SO, I cinch. I look around.

And still, the other day I swung back my "bowling ball" and THWACK, I hit something. I felt a solid connection with that Something. I looked around to see my son doubled over, his hands clasped to what I was sure would be a broken nose. Blood? any blood? No. It turns out I hit him square on the forehead, with only slightly insufficient force to stamp the Wii logo right there permanently.

I had visions of taking him to the ER and saying "it's an injur-wii" and falling over laughing, albeit laughing alone. There's no amount of helpful warning text that can compensate for a kid wanting to go over THERE, right NOW.

* * *

Last night we finally moved in MY NEW DESK. It's a simple corner desktop resting on two base cabinets that MIGHT actually hold 12x12 paper. Be still, my heart. It's all mine and there will be beads and scrapbook pages on it but no PTA stuff and no clutter and no Christmas decorations on it, ever, or Santa is going to take everything back to the North Pole. Ahem. And I am fucking Santa, and you can take that remark any way you like.

The stuff came in huge cartons so our wonderful friend was helping Mr. C open them in the garage and carry the pieces in. At one point Mr. said to my son, "D, go stand in the doorway of the garage so that no skunks come in." ( I did blog about my neighbor having seven babies in her woodpile a while back??) D immediately shot back "what's Mom doing?" without glancing up from the wii screen. Ahh, the love. Friend almost fell over laughing. At me. Or him. Or both of us.

There was some finesse in getting the file cabinets properly placed under the desktop (recessed edges underneath the desktop help/ hurt the situation). A short time later I opened the bright red bags that held handles and tiny screws. I removed the first set, and dropped one handle. I picked it up, then counted the screws, and was missing one. (Mumble, mumble, someone else's kid is in my house.) I got down on my knees and started crawling around on my beautiful new carpet that I love because it goes with the furniture and the paint colors and the fireplace and damn I'm so happy this project is pretty much done and where was I? Oh, on my knees, hunting for the screw. I called over the kids. No deal. The guys came over, move the desk top off, tilted each cabinet up, etc. We gave up. THEN I found the 4th screw, still sitting right in the little red "parts" ziplock bag. It had never even made it out of the bag before the APB went out on it. Luckily, Friend is a forgiving person.

break out the bonbons

....we're done... my room is starting to be put back together... most importantly my REAL PC IS HOOKED BACK UP.

photos to follow, when I finish rolling around on the carpet and laughing hysterically.

Guess

...who is still at my house?

Ding! If you said BtB, you are a winner!

There were Issues with the fireplace yesterday. But it did actually light up by the end of the afternoon. Yay!

Carly(via Blackberry)

For Scott

Tonight we went to a restaurant we've literally been to 500 times. I saw someone from my town I've known quite a long while and she told me S would have been 75 today.

S is the friend whose funeral we sang at last week. So we raised a toast to what a wonderfull sweet man he was. D said maybe God was sad and that's why it's raining.

We miss you Scott!!

Carly(via Blackberry)

Post 1450

Ok, I got tired of counting days. SO I noticed how many posts I have already on this blog (way too many! and yes, I need to focus on my other hobbies)

Tomorrow (Wednesday) should be Bob the builder's LAST DAY AT MY HOUSE.

Thursday the rug - THE RUG -- THE RUG!!! should be installed. I plan to lie on it, roll around... eat bon bons. Then reclaim the house and start putting things back where they belong.

I rearranged my work schedule so I"ll have Thursday off, as well as Friday. Yaaaaay. I plan to do as much as I can Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and then kind of just chill on Sunday because I have to move my day off around again next week too.

Blue

Berries.

That's all I've got. (I've got a list of about 20 things that USED to make me happy...but I don't think anyone wants to read THAT. Ranger and I are going to have a very long day here.)

At least tomorrow I can look forward to -oh, wait - NOTHING... I was supposed to go kayaking tomorrow with a friend of mine. She and I were going to take my son and his friend. Two kids who have never kayaked before. How fun would THAT have been? The weather is not going to cooperate. It's kind of how my summer is going, so I'm not very surprised.

Carly(via Blackberry)

Crazy

Loooook at my basil. I am going to have so many basil plants. I guess the little plastic bag greenhouse I made did the trick. The other plants are looking lame by comparison.

At this rate, I'll be handing basil plants to all my family on labor day.

This might distract them from noticing that my house won't be done. (Ok, it MIGHT be done by then.)

Today some sheet rock was applied around the fireplace. I don't see much else. Serenity now. I'll be on the bike tonight for a while pedaling by the flickering light of an iPod.

Carly(via Blackberry)

On a rainy Monday

Yay, I am at work. Excuse me while I shred a few TIPS reports and throw the confetti up in the air.

I have a piece of spam in my Yahoo mailbox which I can't seem to do nuttin' with. How very annoying. Esther wants to give me my inheritance. I wish.

My basil seeds are doing really well. Way beyond the other herbs I planted. I may end up having to give some away.

My builder AND Guy2 showed up today so I hope that fireplace gets DONE this week. I waaaaant my.... well, you know.

Carly(via Blackberry)

Farmer's market

We'll have the corn tonight with scallops; blueberries for dessert.
The other stuff will keep for a day or two.
Now I have to go to the OTHER market. My big fascinating day here.

Carly(via Blackberry)

Showers

There are two types of people. People who think games are a great way to pass the time at a shower, and people who just want to go home and take a nice long nap in their house but can't because it's a disaster zone.

So, yes, I lost at bridal shower bingo because I put "cowboys logo item" and not "yankees logo item" in the one square. Oy vey. At least we were indoors in the air conditioning and the people were all very nice.

On the way home I stopped at penney's. It failed me miserably last night at the big mall - nothing like a whole lot of really ugly clothes to ruin your day when you need a pretty and cool outfit for a bridal shower.

But today at the smaller mall near me I actually found a very flattering LBD for the wedding, so that's a huge relief. I almost didn't stop because of the rain, and had to deal with more ugly non fitting clothes but I found the needle in the haystack. It was even half off ( - just like it will be that night. Badump bump. )




Carly(via Blackberry)

day something

I have lost count of the days since this project started. I know it's at least 8 weeks.

It's been a bad week around here. BTB is not feeling well again. His right hand guy has been out of work all week with a different medical problem.

My fireplace is out of the box, and against the wall but completely not done. Almost nothing looks different around here since last weekend. Very disheartening

I have no rug yet. I just want my damn family room rug. I can't put my main pc back together, I can't bring in my new desk and start unpacking my scrapbook stuff, or my beads - my things that I need so badly.

My job is in flux again. Limbo, terrific. I feel like I need to stay where I am for another year because I have no one else I can rely on to get my daughter home after her tutoring each day. But I'm slowly climbing the walls of my cubicle. I am not focused, I don't feel like I'm contributing lately --because my efforts to support the team are just not appreciated by my peers. The strange part is that I got my mid year review, and it was actually quite good. The little bit of programming I WAS allowed to do was well received. My department manager seems to be happy with what I am doing. So that's something.

I feel like the summer is slipping away and my time to get this room unpacked and organized is vanishing right out from under me. Also I'd hoped to have a couple of old friends over to see them and have them see our new digs, and the available weekends are dwindling.

Maybe next week this will all be over. I just want my rug!!

Be nice

Be nice to me, I had 'em squished today. Ow, ow, oh my gosh ow. Get it done, girls!

Now that all the boys have left, I really need to laugh at my town's new police car.... a Dodge Charger. Every time I see it I laugh. Hysterically. I practically live in Mayberry, and we don't need that kind of car around here. Really really.

Oh, and this just in - my new manager that I was worried about but seemed nice on the phone and have never even met is NOT actually going to be my manger. Oh, the endless entertainment.

Carly(via Blackberry)

Tonight's project

The basil, parsley, etc....

Carly(via Blackberry)

For the tomatoes

Which are starting here...

Carly(via Blackberry)

Leaves

In my life I have probably sent enough emails and texts and IMs to put one on each leaf on this tree. But somehow I still feel like I never get my message across very well. .

Carly(via Blackberry)

Still more birds

I am tired of these things happening... You may be tired of reading. But still.

So yesterday it was a dead baby bird, maybe a day old and clearly plucked out of a nest and dropped into the middle of my driveway. Nice. I gingerly kicked it aside and it's gone this morning. Blaaaah.

This morning TWO herons flying over my head (admittedly, up high but still attention-getting) in some sort of a squabble. A third right in the pond.

Would all the birds leave me alone please?

Carly(via Blackberry)

Man in the moon

A little bit before ten I went out on the porch and rode the bike for a while, in the dark except for the iPod screen. Tonight it gave me good stuff like Midnight by Yaz, Where the streets have no name, Start the Car by Jude Cole, Time will do the talking by Patty Griffin, and some song by Sugarcult.

The (full? damn close) moon was rising and I could see it if I turned my head to the right. The bike is really very quiet and I could hear crickets and things while I watched the fireflies blink on and off all through the yard.

So I rode the bike and thought and looked at the moon and tried to figure things out, and I don't know if I really got anywhere, but then the bike will never move...

singers cry AFTER the funeral

After 9/11 I learned from a choir director how to sing when you are also mourning.

You must focus on the notes, the words on the page. The markings, the rests... Step through them one by one. Execute perfection, as your gift to those present.

The funeral this morning pretty much closed one of the main streets in town. The fire truck loaded with flowers, the long black car, the officer on a horse... I could see them all from the windows of the choir loft.

If you need me, I'll be on my porch. Don't call. I may not answer for a bit.

Carly(via Blackberry)

Quote for the day

"What we focus on determines what we miss - and what we become. "

(If I were a better writer I could link that somehow to the rest of this post, but I just came across it)

Today is the funeral - we waited an hour and a half in line to see the family at the wake, and I heard it was like that all afternoon.

I am somewhat relieved to hide
in the choir loft and at least be able to do some small thing for the family.

Carly(via Blackberry)

Monday is here again

Today was a long and depressing day. I have been tasked with sorting out two project billing errors, and I'm getting nowhere fast.

I have to attend a wake tonight for a friend of ours who has passed away due to injuries sustained in a car accident. He was a wonderful man - a Korean war veteran - the kind of man you would like to have for your dad. I am heartbroken for his whole family. I am going to sing with the rest of the choir tomorrow.

This little flower is my spoon rest. I bought it a while ago and I like the way it looks against the new counters. It's about the only CHEERFUL thing I'm seeing right this minute.

Carly(via Blackberry)

Thoughts

in no particular order:

• why does a lemon slice float, but a lime wedge doesn't? if I cut a lime slice and a lemon wedge what will happen? How many glasses of water do I need to not want a beer? (answer: at least one more)
• the carpet/tile store owner SAID we would need two bags of grout. He ordered one. We needed two. It's not white, it's "summer wheat"... medium brown... whatever... Will this ever end? I have my tile, and ALMOST all of it is grouted. But almost only counts in handgrenades and horseshoes... isn't that the saying?
• my brother in law gave me a non motorized exercise bike. I stuck it on my porch; went out tonight while it was raining. I did about 8 km in a half hour, just listening to the iPod, which was busy playing songs I've never heard... MY iPod... wtf?
• still working with no glasses, which is not very convenient... and still working on old laptop that rebels in every way possible
• why is Ice Truckers on? why do people live up there???
• last night I was sitting out on my BIL's deck EATING MY FOOD AND MINDING MY OWN BUSINESS and my daughter, Queen PMS of the North, barked at me "why are you looking at me?" It was effing hilarious. Because I wasn't. I had sunglasses on. I was just breathing improperly or something. Dear Midol, please help soon.
• this morning Stanley yelled at me for not coming to mass for 3 weeks. Oops.

It feels like fall

But there's no homework. I love summer.

PS: And yes, I know my photo is slightly tilted. So am I. I listened to my coworkers fight all day (deadline time).

Carly(via Blackberry)

Day 52

I love the bundles of nails that I find lying around. This one looked like a leaf to me.

I found it right next to an ibuprofin bottle, an empty fast food soda cup, and a couple of cigarette butts. Poetic, eh?

Today Btb cut a bunch of tiles, put some down, and.... I think that's it.

I cleaned some dust off my beautiful counter, opened a bottle of Salmon River, and ordered takeout Italian.

I want my house done! I'm so tired of saying to myself "maybe next week". But, maybe next week.

Carly(via Blackberry)

Cheeeeesecake

Suzy loves me and brought me cheesecake to cope with the sink and the dust and the cable and the mess and DONT STEP ON THE TILES and all of that.
Important note: this was NOT all for me to consume!

Carly(via Blackberry)

Day 51

Oh my god. I went to sleep last night at 10 and slept and slept. It's like the world started turning again. Even the sound of the ice cream truck isn't bugging me.

Btb actually left me a note SIGNED Btb which freaked me out - did I leave my blog up one day? Turns out ALL the kids call him Bob the Builder. I thought I was so clever. I'm crushed.

The counter guys were supposed to come at 9 today. Apparently they did, but the counter wasn't cut quite right because the guy who was here to measure talked too much about how happy I would be with my granite counter. Um, I bought it already sweetheart. Measure.

So anyway they had to cut a little bit off, to let the stove go back to where it was supposed to be. Cut. In my kitchen. That dust everywhere? That's $20 worth of GRANITE dust, not your ordinary sheet rock dust, babycakes. My effing house is just getting dirtier.

There is also something about the faucet I will have to deal with in a little while too. One hole, two hole, red hole, blue hole. Can't use old faucet, gotta buy new. Cha ching, Seuss.

Right now the 6' 3" cable guy is crawling through the TWO crawl spaces to get back to the radio shack splitter that Btb put in to add cable to my porch. Yowza.

He's resigned to his fate though - he's actually kind of hilarious. Especially the hilarous part about tracking mud all the way into my bedroom. (To check the cable box. You guys are pigs.) He explained to me earnestly about the HBO blocker on the pole outside being part of the problem. And connectors and signals and so on. It's all good.

So, reacap, counter, only a little tile as you can see in the picture, and don't fuck with the cable, please.

U




Carly(via Blackberry)

IMG00285.jpg

Liking the counter. Things are a little rough though. Burger king tonight...

Carly(via Blackberry)

Maybe I do need new glasses....

At lunch today we were discussing someone' friend who "fell in love over the internet".

My friend D said that in too many relationships, there is one person who looks to the other to make them feel happy and feel good. about themselves, and expects that other person to make their life perfect.

Ouch.

I have been guilty of that.

s

Carly(via Blackberry)

Skyline report

The skyline was beautiful today; the sun popped in and out of a fairly thick blanket of smoky blue puffy clouds. To me it looked like someone had bunched up cotton balls and used artist's chalk on them.
(I miss my art stuff!!! Just when I need it most, it's in boxes and not even at MY house.)

The sun was rising at just the right angle to hit the tower buildings perfectly - it made the downtown skyline look very postcard-ready. All of the greens and blues are very saturated and it just perfected the view.

s

Carly(via Blackberry)

Day 50

Bob showed up today, not looking fabulous. (--- Fabulous? There's a joke there that only maybe two of you can get.)

I decided to get out of his way and went to the garden store with my kids. I have this crazy idea about growing a tomato plant on my very sunny porch. Given the deer, rabbitts, etc. around here, this might be my only shot at growing veggies.

It's more of a lark, but then I haven't killed Ted or Finn yet...I have a giant pot that Suzy gave me, so that will be my project after dinner, stakes and all.

Then we went to the mall to deal with the glasses. They're about a year old. Each of the temples has broken now - the first one only lasted about six months. I am not athletic. These things sit on my nonathletic face, or my dresser. For BOTH to have broken is simply nuts.

I pointed this out to the clerk and maybe it was the dark circles under my eyes, or the fact that my insurance is in my name and I had no wedding rings on(this weather is making my hands really puffy) and that my insurance won't cover new frames until next year.

Whatever the reason, she decided with the manager to not charge me for the fix. Customer service still exists. I was very grateful. It will be a few days but she promised to try to rush it.

I came home, iced my foot and took a nap. Walking around the mall killed it and I am just starting to crash from not sleeping well. Not asking for pity. I don't want that. It is what it is.

Bob started ripping up the old rud and some of the linoleum today. More tomorrow, hopefully he will do some tiling. The counters are supposed to come tomorrow. I wish I felt excited. Maybe if I sleep.

i




Carly(via Blackberry)

Two steps back

I haven't been sleeping very well lately. Last night was particularly bad. I have a hard time falling asleep, and my son woke me up more than once somplaining about wanting the AC on (because he wants to sleep covered in his QUILT).

So each time, I struggled to nod off again. Fifteen minutes, 20, 30,.......

It makes it harder for me to roll with it when stupid little things happen. Like this morning, when I put my glasses on, and they broke apart in my hands. Again.

m

Carly(via Blackberry)

the hampster keeps falling off the wheel

So...

Bob is still not feeling great, but might come by tomorrow to do a little bit. Contrary to what you might think, I really DO want him to rest and be 100% before he starts again.

My family room is a large empty shell. If (Btb) doesn't tile the floor and build the platform for the fireplace, then I can't get the carpet put in. Which means I can't put the main desk into the spot where it will be, and therefore I can't get the main desktop PC back out. Tay was right when she said you should NEVER EVER dismantle your pc.... it's killing me.

In the meantime I finally broke down and reconnected the cable modem & wireless router and I'm using a five year old laptop; it might as well be 1000 years old - this puppy CRAWLS along like I can not believe. Sometimes I open yahoo and the window immediately closes. Fun times.

Day 49. The word of the day is "discouraged."

More Birds

My heart sank yesterday when I saw a mangled wild turkey carcass on the same exit ramp where I saw a mother and her babies about a week ago. I know it happens, but geeeeez. What a way to start a Monday.
Last night I was out on my porch and a huge Great Blue Heron flew right by, landed in a tree, hung out for a while, then flew by very closely on his way back to his nest.

This morning I took the newspaper out to read on the porch, and I saw a hawk swoop down on a bird right outside the windows. I am pretty sure he missed, but then he sort of spiraled around and for a second I thought he might careen right through the screens at me. At what seemed like the last second he altered course off toward the trees (he was much more beautiful flying AWAY...)

We won't talk about my crazy neighbor bringing her giant parrot out in its cage, along with however many birds she has in the other two cages. Ahem.

Or the birds in the woods that scream their damn heads off EVERY morning between 4 and 5 a.m. Every morning. So if I sleep with windows open they wake me. Did I mention this is EVERY MORNING?

What does this mean? Why so many birds all of a sudden???

I



Carly(via Blackberry)

Day 48

Not a great day, Btb was in the hospital over the weekend. He should be fine, but please send him "get well" vibes.

Carly(via Blackberry)

Fireplace

This is how I would like my fireplace to look... if I had a cabin up in Lake Placid. It's just not right for my house, but I do love it.

Carly(via Blackberry)

Porch

My new shelf, with some flowers I got at the supermarket today because I liked the ceramic pot and I love daisies. .

The floor of the original deck is grey. We decided to do grey walls inside the screen porch, and the window trim and baseboards will be white. (The floor will be a grey indoor outdoor rug, which I didn't want at first but its our only option because of the way part of the original deck is insdie the screenhouse.)

Then we decided to paint the top half of the 4th wall (house / no windows) white because B thought the clock/thermometer/ barometer would look nicer on the white than the grey.

It's just so nice to sit out here and not be a mosquito buffet.

Carly(via Blackberry)

Angelic

So I had a little incident at the car wash where I went to try to get all the ash from last night's fireworks off my car (I really parked in the WRONG place!) that made me feel stupid and grumpy.

I went to Linens n Things because they're closing, and everything's on sale. I almost got really nice knives, until I realized they were $199.99 and not $19.99. Ooopsie.

I found some good stuff for my addition that IS in my range, and was wandering around aimlessly when I saw this adorable little girl with brown ringlets. She was wearing a cute little sundress and holding one of these stuffed animals. When she had my attention she squeezed it really hard and it let out this horrible gross grunting noise.

It was so funny that I just burst out laughing and she looked so smug that she'd been able to "get me".

I brought her home, she's in my basement.

Carly(via Blackberry)

Mixed success

The fireworks crew did NOT start a fire in dry woods at the state park this year. Ahem.

They did, however, get their huge ryder truck stranded. Hopelessly stuck on a very steep dirt road that they were allowed to use to access the water to load the barge.

While we were cleaning stuff up (selling hot dogs n burgers and stuff) they were loading their truck. We had just finished and were having our traditional Coronas and watched them try to get up the hill, (not move), try to back up, (not move). Rinse, repeat. We WANTED them to get it free. We knew they wouldn't.

After half an hour they gave up. Somebody had.a long walk home on the other side of the river.

(The river itself was beautiful this morning, green trees and inky black- blue water). I almost took a photo w my blackberry while I was driving over the bridge but I try not to do that anymore.

;-)

Carly(via Blackberry)

Hopefully

...This year maybe they won't set the barge on fire again....

Carly(via Blackberry)

The last

...of Suzy's chocolate, put to good use on some cherries, strawberries, and a few stray pretzels.

Carly(via Blackberry)

Remember

...while you're reaching for another beer, piling stuff onto your plate, jumping into beautful water...

Remember the soldiers who can't be home with their families, because they are all around the world trying to serve us, protect us, and make this world a better place

.

* * * * * Come Home Soon (Shedaisy) * * * *



I put away the groceries, And I take my daily bread, I dream of your arms around me, As I tuck the kids in bed, I don't know what you're doin', And I don't know where you are, But I look up at that great big sky, And I hope you're wishin' on that same bright star

I wonder, I pray

And I sleep alone, I cry alone, And it's so hard livin' here on my own,
So please, come home soon(Come home soon)

I know that we're together, Even though we're far apart, And I'll wear our lucky penny 'round my neck, Pressed to my heart

I wonder, I pray

[Repeat Chorus]

I still imagine your touch,
It's beautiful missing something that much, But sometimes love needs a fighting chance, So I'll wait my turn until it's our turn to dance

I wonder, I pray,
I sleep alone, I cry alone, Without you this house is not a home, So please, come home soon

I walk alone, I try alone, I'll wait for you, don't want to die alone, So please, come home soon

Come home soon


Carly(via Blackberry)

Sportsmanship

My son is a pretty good sport. He got frustrated with himself after missing an easy pop fly(it was horrible to watch him clap his hands onto his hat and sort of rock there in anguish). He didn't, however, throw helmets, gloves, etc.

I can only hope he continues on the path toward this gold standard:

http://m.si.com/news/news/news/detail/1029954

Ex-record holder Hansen displays ultimate class after Trials setback

(Hope the link isn't broken..... I WANT MY PC BACK!!!!!!!)

Carly(via Blackberry)

Wii-eeeeeeeeeeee!

My daughter is kicking my ass in bowling. I had to change my Mii because it looked too much like Hillary Clinton.

In Wii baseball, the fielders have no legs. It's kind of freaky to see them bobble around.

In tennis, no one seems to be dressed on their bottoms. Hmm. Also in tennis if my player loses a point they swear before I do (a swirly tangled black line over their head; music notes for happy...)

I did one boxing match after all the other stuff, and my arms were tired. Good way to take out some hostility.

Carly(via Blackberry)

Wii love Poly

I can see I'll get nothing done today.

Carly(via Blackberry)

OmgZ

I just walked out onto my porch. It's been kind of the junk room for various tools, boxes, etc that Bob the Builder needed to drop somewhere.

It's empty.

Except for two folding chairs, one of which I am now occupying.

I was out for a while this afternoon, and hadn't seen then empty it.

The light, at the end of the tunnel.

Carly(via Blackberry)

Vino

Poly will be happy to hear that I'm drinking lots of wine these days to cope with the "Tazmanian Devil waz here" decor we're rocking. (Knobs, painting, electric...boring stuff lately. Tile next week and maybe counters.)

I buy New York wines whenever I can since I figure the owners are paying the same glorious income taxes I am, and there's a shop near me that does only NYS wineries. Ditto for those owners. .

Salmon Run Petit Noir, bottled by Konstantin D. Frank & Sons, is great with red sauce. So that's our go-to with spaghetti.

Tonight we're having crab cakes along with Summertide, a semi dry white from Cascade mountain vineyards down in Amenia. No, I'm not sure where Amenia is. South.

I also had a white from Red Newt Cellars - probably a pinot grigio because that's the white I like best even though I can't ever spell it - to celebrate the end of the school year. (If I haven't mentioned it here yet I am No Longer A PTA Lady and that makes Carly happy. Bottoms up!)




Carly(via Blackberry)

Birds

So, I was driving in this morning on autopilot, and on the exit ramp I noticed a little too late that Mama wild turkey and her babies were walking single file.

I slowed down (thinking about the cars behind me) and swerved waaay over.

At the last second I saw Mama fly up in the air right next to my side window. I really thought I killed her; my heart sank. But in the rear view mirror I thought I could see her walking back to the baby on the "from" side.

Not a great way to start the day.

Carly(via Blackberry)