Monday, July 27, 2009

Where'd You Get an Idea Like That?

Obsessive? Me?? Well, I guess that depends on how you define obsessive. I KNOW what obsessive means but you know, sometimes you're not sure how to put it into words...into black-and-white, so to speak, so I looked it up and found that an obsession is "the domination of one's thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, desire, etc." If that's how YOU define it, then the answer is yes.

I know that's shocking for those of you who know me and have known me for any length of time, particularly through my "Wiggles" years. "Mimismum", the quiet one who always left you guessing just where her loyalties lied...laid...lay??? (NEVER mastered that verb.)

Lately my obsession is still here at my keyboard...in facebook. Facebook "hooked" me because it's SO awesome to reconnect with people from the past...and connect with friends and family who live so far away. You guys know. You get that, right? So THAT isn't a problem. What's a problem is those darn games! TOTALLY useless. (You should see my farm in Farm Town, though.) TOTAL wastes of time. (Have you seen my high score in Brick Breaking?!) TOTALLY frustrating. (WHY is there no REAL way to guarantee a good game in Bejewelled???) Yet there's just a bit of challenge there that keeps me going back and wasting time. And there's my nice slow heartbeat from sitting here with eyes glazed over from playing just "one" more game. That nice slow heartbeat that makes you think it's not necessary to ever get off your back side and do anything.

Paints a pretty picture, doesn't it?

Well, tonight I was just getting onto one of my cyber-farms when my mom asked if I'd gotten "that mail from the mailbox." Well, yesterday I "bought" a mailbox for that farm so I got all excited and asked/exclaimed, "YOU CAN GET MAIL IN THE MAILBOX!!!??" After a bit of confusion, she clarified that she was referring to the mailbox right here in the REAL world..not the virtual one. I had to laugh at myself...and at the same time thought, "Who's obsessive???!"

Before the internet became popular books were my obsession...and I miss them. I've been reading the same book for a few months. I used to finish one in a matter of a few days. Books were my obsession for sooooo long that I don't remember a prior obession...unless Winnie-the-Pooh counts (which he TOTALLY does.)

I know many of you (well, I suppose I'm playing it a little loose with the word "man"...all 3 of you who may read this) may think that rambling is an obsession of mine, too, based on the way I've been writing lately. Rambling with very few points to be made...or just not knowing where I'm going when I start writing and not knowing how to stop. But..I'm not going to let that stop me for now because I want to get going and writing more again...so if you bear with me long enough to read these, I apologize and I thank you for being here. Better days ahead, I hope....

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Moments

I love the little moments of life. There's some saying about that out there these days. Something like, "We don't remember days, we remember moments." Something like that, though most likely much more eloquently put. But the point's still there.

The moments. I love love LOVE the funny ones. Then there are the ones that are so sweet and full of love that you think you just might burst. And of course there are the ones where you think you'll blow that little vein near your temple if not your jugular from something that just cranks you off in a really bad way. I don't love the veiny moments, but they're there. I had one a couple days ago and at moments that gut-twisting feeling starts to stir again and I wonder how everything is going to work out. But enough of that. It's not what this little bloggy-blog-blog is about.

About a month and a half ago my mom moved in with us, at my request, to help me with an impossible schedule conflict between my work and the girls' school. Over the weeks she's been here we have had SO MANY of those laughing moments. The laugh-so-hard-you-cry laughs. The don't-say-anything-else-until-I-get-a-bathroom-break laughs. The you-oughta-be-committed-for-laughing-that-much laughs. They're awesome. And they're with my mom which makes it even more awesomer. And what's great is that so often they're things that if you told, people would look at you and listen as you told the story...then sit and just blink at you repeatedly, waiting for the funny part.

For example, tonight we're sitting here in the quiet of the evening. The girls are in bed. The dogs are laying on a blanket near me on the million-dollar-sofa looking like they've been hit by a car. And Mom and I are in our respective seats with laptops perched on our knees. I'm on the chaise at the end of the million-dollar-sofa and Mom is in the glider catty-cornered across the room. We're enjoying the quiet. I shift my leg and unwittingly knock some toy off the end of the sofa. It's light enough that I didn't even notice it touching my foot. BUT it happened to be this little gadget that shoots out of this pipe-sort-of-thing and shoots a polly that is strapped to it gliding off into the galaxy...or the living room. So we're sitting there quietly when suddenly FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFWUP! out shoots the glider and scares the LMNOP out of us as it shoots past Mom's legs!

Now see? You're probably sitting there blinking, aren't you? Waiting for real hilarity? I laughed until I couldn't breathe, people! I mean...I'm a rising comedian's dream audience, I guess.

But isn't that really how it works? The really good stuff is the simple stuff, right? The polly aircraft seemingly spontaneously flying through the room. The dog doing a headstand when you try to rub her nose in ... well ... her business (yes my yorkie does that and I laugh everytime...push her head toward the offense and she can get her rump up in the air nearly to a 90-degree angle, lol). Simple, no-account moments. But the good lovey moments are like that, too, aren't they? Like when your tweenie comes running back to give you one more hug and kiss before she takes off with her friends? When your little girl says, "I just want to be WITH you, mama." Eye contact. A wink (oh that one sleighs, no?) Being told "it's okay." Simple, little things that make all the difference in the world.

I don't know that I have a point to make in all of this. Guess I just wanted to say that I love the little moments. I do.

A few of my moments...







WAIT! How did THAT get in here???? Ah well, no harm done. None at all.......


Help. I can't breathe. Neither can Mom. lol

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Famous Firsts

Ok, maybe not so "famous," but a first anyway. I guess instead of writing about it, I should be ashamed, but be it as it may, tomorrow will be a first for me.

A couple days ago I told my girls to each invite a friend to go to the movies with us tomorrow and to spend the night at our house. I've NEVER had my girls invite anyone over. I've been a lazy mama. I've been ... apprehensive. I've been ... a dud.

But tomorrow we're doing it. We're going to see G-Force and then they're spending the day playing together...and one of them is staying over for the night.

It doesn't make for much of a blog...but I've got to get started again. (I've been saying that for waaaaay too long.)

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Megan's birthday

Eleven years ago today, I gave birth to the most perfect little person I had ever laid eyes on. And for eleven years I have watched her grow. There have been tears. There has been laughter. There have been make-overs. There have been messes. There have been...snail documentaries(...which you can see here.) There have been gymnastics performances. There have been awards ceremonies. And there have been many, many, many, many smiles. Those smiles light up my life.

Dressing up in style....
A little music...
A little ham with cheese...
Sleepy but happy...
Goofy grin...
A little lippy...
First tooth gone...
Scary!
A beautiful princess...
Christmas program...
Love her laugh...
Her baptism...
Got a 4 on her FCAT in Math!
Only one in her classroom to get a 5 on the FCAT in Reading!!
Christmas gymnastics recital...
Stylin' once again...
She's great at giving makeovers. Anyone interested???
Sleepy girl...
More laughter... (One of my favorite photos!)

Happy birthday, Mimi-girl. I love you!

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Independence Day

Today is the Fourth of July, a holiday packed with meaning for those of us here in the United States...just as those of you in other nations have your patriotic days you observe. And THIS fourth has got me to thinking.

I was just outside with my Yorkie-baby, Ceci, and the fireworks have begun. It's a fairly noisy place outside right now...okay, and inside, too. I was mindful of how the noise affects my dogs...which sounds funny, I guess, but that's what I was thinking of. Ceci was oblivious to the noise. Pooh, so far, has been fairly chilled about it, too, aside from an occasionally REALLY loud one that startles him. But anyway, as I was thinking about it, I thought of how odd it was to be able to just tune out the noise. But then I realized that the reason it was so easy was because it isn't a threat and because I know it's a celebratory thing. And that turned my thoughts yet again. This time I wondered...what must it be like...how awful it must be...to be either a soldier or a civilian in a war zone...hearing similar sounds and worse all around you...all the time...and knowing that not only are the sources of the noise a threat to you and those around you...but that more than likely there are people being hurt and even killed when you hear those sounds.

The price that has been paid for our freedom...for our ways of life...is monumental. And yet we as a people can be so "you owe me!"-minded...rather than humbled by the sacrifices made for us.

I don't know what all I'd like to say in this blog tonight. I don't know exactly where I was headed. But I am thankful and saddened by the many lives lost in the history of our nation so that I can enjoy the freedoms that I do.

So to all of you in uniform...to all of you married to those in uniform...to all of you whose parents have served...whose grandfathers and uncles and brothers have served...thank you...and may God bless you.

To those of you serving now, may God keep you and protect you.

And to my own grandfather...who I never met, but who gave up his own life in the Battle of the Bulge...thank you...and may you rest in peace.

Happy Independence Day, everyone.