A Season for Everything

Do you see what I was up against? Look at those eyes!

Oh, yeah….getting our hair done took three hours. I’ve never spent that long (or that much money) getting my hair done. Gotta admit, we’re a couple of hotties now. Megan got a gorgeous long, layered cut with angled bangs and blonde highlights. Very mature. She suddenly looks older than 13. I didn’t change my style, but let’s talk about the color. The base is a dark reddish brown, which is pretty much what I normally have. Today, however, I let (from the Bronx) Linda convince me I needed to go “sassy.” I’m now sporting both red and blonde highlights. I like it. At least I think I do. It takes a bit of getting used to. Wonder what Tim’s going to think? Talk about spicing up your love life…..he gets a brunette, a redhead and a blonde all at the same time.

Yesterday afternoon, I was barely in the driveway before the car was surrounded by Megan and several other girls from the neighborhood. I just had to come see something sooooooo cute before I went in the house. I didn’t know yet what was soooooooo cute, but being a mother, I knew the “Can I have one’s” were going to start as soon as I saw it.

“It” turned out to be a puppy. It was indeed, sooooooooo cute with it’s mix of all the best features of a basset hound and a beagle….the owner called it a “bagel.” Sigh. We just call him “Elvis.” Yep, that’s right. I lost my mind when confronted by those sad basset eyes, the long droopy ears, saggy face, and the adorable way he waddles on his stubby little legs. Currently he’s asleep, wrapped around my foot with his face jammed into my slipper. I’m loathed to move. It was a rough night for Megan. This is supposed to be her puppy and we are enforcing the whole “you wanted him, you will take care of him” thing. She came to our room around 5:00 on the verge of a nervous breakdown, I think. Elvis is just a baby, 6 1/2 weeks old, and missing Mom and his 8 siblings. He cried most of the night. I took Elvis under my wing and sent Megan back to bed. I hope tonight will go better. I also hope Scooby decides he’s tolerable, maybe when he’s a little older. So far Scooby is not thrilled with a stubby little clown of a puppy jumping all over him, tugging on his ears and crying pitifully for his company. Scoob’s developed a low, rumbling, irritated, you’re-on-my-last-nerve-kid growl that seems to be his main way of communicating with Elvis. I’m giving him lots of extra attention so he should adapt in time.

The camera is in Megan’s room and there is no way I’m opening her door until I have to get her up for our hair appointment. I’ll try to get a picture of the new addition on here later.

Thank God, and I do (thank Him, that is), that this is the last day of my work week. Tomorrow is a scheduled snow make-up day and since we haven’t had any snow this winter….three day weekend for me! I couldn’t be happier after the week morning I’ve had. I had to rearrange the whole seating chart on my bus. Too many kids were complaining that so-and-so was being mean to them, the back of the bus was out of control and yesterday a father asked me to move his son away from some kids. Sigh. I hate changing seats around. I spend hours wracking my brain for what I’m sure is going to be the perfect arrangement, the one that will magically make the kids little angels. Yeah, right. More often than not I end up with a bunch of pissed off, pre-pubescent, rugrats. Today was no exception. Most of the kids did actually take it in stride, but “D”, my problem child, bawled all the way to school. Now before you go feeling all sorry for D and hating me, let me fill you in.

D is in 5th grade, the last year of elementary school in our district. D is a bully who picks on the other kids. D does not take discipline well. Nothing is ever D’s fault. Either D didn’t do whatever it is at all (even though caught red-handed) or it is someone else’s fault that D is misbehaving. D also has a problem with control (or impulsiveness). Bus rules are pretty clear and simple: Stay seated, talk quietly, keep your hands to yourself, face the front and no eating. There are others, but those are the main ones we try to enforce for safety reasons. D is rarely sitting down or facing forward. D has one volume, LOUD. D’s hands manage to reach out and touch someone else fairly often. D is disrespectful of authority and seriously mouthy. Every single time I’ve had to correct D, the woeful tale of how I pick on D travels home and D’s momma gets involved. She has at one time or another, called my boss, called the principal, written me letters and once even put D on the bus and then followed me through the entire route to corner me at the school and basically rip me a new one in front of God and everybody for correcting D. Fortunately, my boss knows D and always backs me up. It doesn’t hurt that D has problems in school, too.

Anyway, in changing the seats I tried to clear up as many of the problems as I could. One of those problems was who D was sitting with (a neighbor and D’s best friend, J). D and J are the best of friends, but they are a lot alike and they tend to get, uh….rambunctious. I seperated them to avoid ending up having to write them up. I did not isolate D. I put D with a younger sibling. Close as they are, that arrangement didn’t please either of them. So, I moved both of them to seats with one of their good friends. I just refused to put D back with J. I tried to explain to D that it was not a punishment, that I was trying to prevent having to report poor behavior, because if D is written up one more time, D will be suspended off the bus. D is with a good friend, but still bawled all the way to school and refused to talk to me so I could try and explain. I warned my boss to expect another call.

On to happier things.

FTS posted the link to an awesome clip of Dallas sportscaster, Dale Hansen, speaking about character and integrity in the NFL (Dallas in particular), but it really applies to all professional sports. It’s a few minutes long, but watch the whole thing. It’s worth it.

In case you didn’t notice (or hear) I have a new toy over on my sidebar. Thanks to ChesneyGirl for the link.

Okay, so probably nothing I have ever done or can/will ever do is gonna make me look like Jessica Simpson. She’s just way too young, way too enhanced and let’s face it, she was blessed with better genes to begin with….and I’m not talking about her Daisy Dukes. But that’s no reason to give up hope, right? Right! I can’t be Jessica Simpson but I can be a leaner, lighter, healthier me. So, applause, applause….I joined Curves today and got my backside moving. It was fun! The program keeps you moving from one piece of equipment to the next every 30 seconds so you don’t have time to get bored with any of the machines. That’s a good thing for me. A very good thing.

and maybe your boss, a perspective employer, your college, your bank, your insurance company and who-knows-who-else!? That’s the latest word on blogs and online social sites, like MySpace and Facebook, in particular. While people (teens and young adults are emphasized) use personal web sites to meet people with similar views/interests and most are at least fairly smart about privacy, there are those who use their sites as tell-ALL forums. It’s easy to find sites where the owner brags about drunken weekend (or weekday) binges, illegal activities, and heaven knows what else. Lots of people publish pictures to validate the stories. The thing is, what you put out on the internet is no longer completely private…no matter what you do! It used to be that all you had to worry about was a sexual preditor finding your kids. Now you need to warn them (and take the advice yourself) that colleges check these sites looking for information on applicants, so do some employers (and the number is growing). Insurance companies look for information to see if you have a drinking history before insuring you. So, basically, what the experts are saying is that you shouldn’t put anything out there that you wouldn’t want any of those people to know about. There’s a good article on this in today’s Tribune-Review if you’d like to read more about it.

And as for the weekend…

We drove down to visit Matt (who is getting a copy of the Trib article mailed to him) yesterday and take him grocery shopping. I should have taken it as an omen of how the day would go when Tim stopped at a convience store to buy drinks and Megan got red Gatorade, which she promptly spilled all over herself and the backseat. We had to whip into the next shopping center to 1) buy her a whole new outfit at Target and 2) buy cleaning supplies so Tim could work on the car. That just seemed to set the tone for Megan’s day. She alternated between being in a foul, whiney mood to being in one of her manic moods where she talks (literally) non-stop and pushes everyone’s buttons on purpose for the shear amusement (hers, not ours) of it. I thought I did a fairly good job of being patient at Sam’s Club while she kept kicking the shopping cart away or putting gargantuan boxes of stuff I had no intention of buying into it. It was Tim that finally lost it and since he and Megan are (frighteningly) alike, it was not good. I did my best to calm them both down and they made up on the way home. It just really ruined the time with Matt.

There are so many restaurants down by Matt’s apartment that whenever we go down, we usually try some place that’s new to at least one of us. Yesterday we tried Quakersteak & Lube. The food was good, but that was about all I’ll say for it. The garage decor is okay, but it was as drafty and cold as the real thing. We were seated at a table right near the soda fountain, napkins, silverware, etc., so waiters were congregated there the whole time. And yet, no one waited on us until I put my hand on the arm of one and asked if anyone actually waited on the table we were sitting at. Then there was the whole bathroom thing. It looked like a gas station bathroom. It smelled like a gas station bathroom. It was decorated with framed, glossy photos of men in Speedos (or less). Most disturbing, when you closed the stall door there was a little mirror, about 3″x8″, hung so as to be at eye-level while you’re uh, taking care of business. What? Do they think I’m going to put on make-up at the same time?

Today we’re heading up to our friends’ farm. We were supposed to be going to help install the new kitchen cabinets someone made, but he called them last night and said they weren’t quite done. So, now we get to go just for fun and to help celebrate the wife’s birthday (the cabinets were supposed to be done and get installed as her birthday present…so we’re not mentioning those). I made an awesome Angel Lush with Pineapple Cake

I’m a freakin’ book addict if the truth’s to be told. I cannot walk past a book store, a shelf of books at Wal-Mart or even a box of books at a garage sale without bringing one home. And one book always leads to another. I love the heft and feel of hardbound books, the portability (and inexpensiveness) of paperbacks. I love the smell of a new book and the mustiness of old books. I like bright, graphic covers and boring old cloth and leather covers. I love edgy new fiction, quaint fiction from long ago, classics and pure drivel (i.e., romance novels). I love biographies and autobiographies and journals. I collect antique children’s books with beautiful illustrations, books that the giver signed an interesting sentiment in and first editions. I suppose some of my appreciation comes of having a librarian for a mother, but my love of books goes waaaaaay beyond hers. My son is becoming the third generation of book lover, but he has a way to go to catch up and I’m afraid the computer is a mighty draw for him, but maybe online books are the next wave? I admit I’ve read a few. I just prefer the sensory experience of a real book.

That said, not that there was really any point (I just knew you were all dying for the information), here’s an update on the reading I’ve been doing lately. I bought all those books at Barnes & Noble a couple of weeks ago. So far I’ve read A Trip to the Beach by Bob and Melinda Blanchard and their follow up book, Live What You Love. A Trip to the Beach was a nice easy read. The Blanchard’s painted a very vivid picture of life on the Caribbean island of Anguilla and it was interesting to follow their story of giving up their life in Vermont to open a restaurant on the island. It made me want to go to the beach. It also made me want to make something happen in my life. That’s where Live What You Love comes in. In it, the Blanchard’s share more of their amazing life story. There are some questions for reflection at the end of most chapters to help you evaluate your life and dreams. I’ve also found out that the Blanchard’s have written two cookbooks that I’m now on the lookout for. (See how the books just connect and keep leading to more?)

Yesterday I was at Target and picked up The Reading Group by Elizabeth Noble and Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner. I’ve been meaning to read Good in Bed for a long time. I just kept getting sidetracked. I’m already five chapters into it. Ms. Weiner writes beautifully and god, is she funny! This is a laugh-out-loud book. The main character is a “larger woman” who following a really crummy period sets out to chart a new course for her life. I can identify with that. A lot. And in the game of connect-the-dots or books, I now have to add Weiner’s other two books, In Her Shoes and Goodnight Nobody to the must read list.

Grace, if you’re reading this, I know you’re waiting to hear what I think of Misquoting Jesus. I SWEAR TO YOU IT WILL BE THE VERY NEXT BOOK I READ.

So, the threatened promised late season snow storm seems to have missed us. (”Darn!” she exclaimed, in a voice oozing sarcasm.) In fact, except for the fact that it’s 32 degrees and the sky is an oppressive gray, the weather is pretty much a non-event today. For the first time in a couple of weeks, the wind isn’t howling and prowling over, around and under the house in search of a way to slither in and it’s dry as a bone. It almost seems nice out. Mom, John and I took advantage of the non-weather to clean up the yards a bit. Mom and I raked and toted branches, leaves, and dead vegetation to the garden, where John tended a fire to dispose of the mess.

A collection of gardening catalogs arrived over the past week and between drooling over their pages and the outside work today, I am really in the mood to start working in the garden and flower beds. I thought maybe you could use a hint of spring in your day, too, so enjoy a peek at some of the plants I’m thinking about including in the gardens this year.

From Burpee Seeds, I’m including:

New Red Lightening Tomatoes. Aren’t they gorgeous?

Black Pearl Tomatoes, which come with two flavors….a regular tomato flavor right off the vine and a Concord grape (!!) flavor when chilled.

Zinnia are my favorite flowers and the Zowie Zinnia promises to be a dazzler with 3-5″ blooms. Butterflies love zinnia!

and Honey Bear Sunflowers is just too cute.

From Spring Hill Nursery, I’m thinking of getting:

The absolutely gorgeous, color-changing, Kaleidoscope Hydrangea.

A Dwarf Orange Tree, that promises fruit from mid-fall to mid-spring. It’s actually more of a houseplant that gets to spend its summers outside.

A favorite of Thomas Jefferson, the Climbing Shell Plant is so pretty….but where to put it? It’s a vine that grows up to 25′ tall!!

That’s all I’ve come up with from the catalogs (so far), but I have some other things in mind like raspberry bushes, salad greens and I’d like to try some of the pole apple trees.

Did I make you want to go out and play in the dirt? Or at least want to sit in the garden?

When it comes to diaries, journals and the like, where do you stand on the privacy issue? Do you read your teenage daughter’s diary without a second thought, after all, an informed parent is a good well-armed parent? Or do you feel you shouldn’t look in your child’s diary unless there is good reason to suspect something is wrong in their life? Or do you believe it’s never okay?

What about a spouse? Is it ever okay to read a spouse’s journal? I’m just curious ‘cause this came up in my house over the weekend. I’ve been working through that Dr. Phil Life Strategies workbook I bought a couple of weeks ago. It hasn’t been easy, nor fun. Right off the bat, good ol’ Phil makes you deal with your past. The point is to help you see where the beliefs and attitudes you have today came from…not to give you an excuse or someone else to blame. Tim asked me about the book and what I was doing when I first started. I told him what it was and shared some of the things the exercises made me take a look at, but I certainly didn’t tell him everything. Especially not the deepest, darkest thoughts that were dredged up about my marriage. I didn’t feel there was any point. I mean, everyone has some not so great thoughts pop up every now and then in a marriage, but that hardly means the love is gone or the marriage is over or whatever else you can imagine. The bottom line for me is that I’m happy in my marriage. Bad things happen from time to time, but I am committed and in it for the long haul.

So, what happened is that last Sunday when I was away all afternoon, taking Matt back to school, Tim read the workbook. He left it out on the bed so there was no doubt. Still, I asked him and he admitted he had. I asked him if what he’d read made him happy. He said, “No.” I asked him if he was upset with me. Again, he said, “No.” And everything was okay that evening, but come Monday morning he was in “a mood.” I endured “the mood” and the cold-shoulder that went with it all week. When asked, Tim assured me he was not angry at me, but I’d be amazed if he spoke 50 words to me all week.

Enough is enough, you know? Everything finally came to a head yesterday (let’s just say my house wasn’t the place to be yesterday morning). While the excrement was hitting the fan, the Hubster throws something in my face from the workbook. Aha! I knew he was holding my most private thoughts and feelings against me. “Funny” thing is, he was steamed over the idea that I didn’t want to get married in the first place. I had to drag out the workbook and show him that what I’d said was that I wished we had waited a little longer to give ourselves time to get a little more financially stable and maybe figure out what some of our life goals were. (Our first date was the day after Memorial Day and we were married in the middle of November. There was a lot we didn’t have a clue about.) Did he really think I’d have stuck around for 22 years if I hated being married (to him)? Well, the clouds parted and the sun came out and Tim finally figured out the truth and *POOF* everything was all better. For him anyway…..I made stew a little before I caved to a good mood.

Sheeeeesh! If you’re going to hold my own words against me, make sure you’ve got them right.

I finally posted some new recipes over at my (much neglected) other blog, Stacy’s House. They’re intended for those watching their diets, but they’re so yummy everyone will like them.

Saturday night we went to see the high school’s production of Beauty and the Beast. I had to keep telling myself we were sitting in the high school auditorium, not a theater on Broadway. The sets, costumes and special effects were absolutely amazing! The secret? A former student who now has a career in stage production helped with the show. He has worked for Disney on Broadway. Through him, the school was able to borrow virtually everything from Disney. Spectacular! And something the kids involved in it will never forget.