Little Bits of this and that

A little rain must fall. Although us desert dwellers could use more than a little of the literal rain! I’ve lost count of how many days we have gone without any rain, although I know it’s well over 125 days. Normally since I don’t care for the wet and rainy weather, I wouldn’t mind. But it makes for a rather ugly fire season in the higher country of the desert. So if Hawaii wouldn’t mind sending some of their downpours our way, it would be greatly appreciated!

Now for the figurative rain, Mary at Spiderwalk asked what’s been going on in the 3T world.(Thanks Mary:-) It’s been a bit icky around here) I haven’t taken the time to post much most of this week, due to my back being out, which makes sitting for too long uncomfortable. And given the choice, post or read, I usually always opt for reading. ( I’m a nosy bitch )

Today I have Riley home sick with a stomach virus that saw him home yesterday from school, and hurling dinner by 10:00 PM last night. I hate it when my kids are sick! Especially when I pick them up from school the day before, insinuating that just maybe he might be faking it again. WRONG. Oh well, put me down for worst mother of the year. When the Principal poked his head out of his office and said he had sick eyes....I knew he saw it before I did.

As I was feeling off yesterday, I’m not surprised I didn’t spot it. This morning I woke up with a full blown head cold that is seeing me clinging to my box of Kleenex. I won’t start the cold meds. until I’m fed up with sneezing, blowing and burning.(They make me a grouchy bitch!) It hasn’t been too bad of a cold and flu season in our home, so I guess it was our turn.

Today, March 3rd is my Mom’s Birthday! Although Mom is not a person who plays on a computer, (she MIGHT check her email once a month) I want to wish her a wonderful Birthday week, just in case she checks my site! I love you Mom.

I want to thank my good friend Ma, for my goodie bag she sent me from Hawaii! Ma, you are one of the most thoughtful ladies I have ever met! My Hawaii key chain will have me day dreaming of tropical days and drinks for months now! I love you dear lady!

As I’m sick, feeling flat, and nursing a sick child, I doubt I will post much for a few more days.I wish you all a relaxing and fun weekend!

Love,

3T

Or to put it simply, the rugrats have descended upon us. Tomorrow is the AIDS Benefit at Wrigley Mansion, and I am doing last minute shallow tweaks to my person. (New nails put on, and one more visit to the instant tan, for instant color) Tomorrow I am getting my hair done for the event,and I have just picked up my dress from alterations. And of course the usual running from basketball practices and drama classes and Kumon for Riley.

I think Tracy from Just For Future Reference asked me what Kumon is. It is very similar to Sylvan Learning Centers, for kids. Right now, I have Riley going twice a week for both Reading / Comprehension and Math skills.They give him homework for 6 days a week, as well. I’m dropping the reading/comprehension for him in March, and Kevin and I are going to work with him on it. Yes, I think we can do a better job at this than the Learning Center. We’ll see.

The rest of my week will be devoted to the guest post I’m doing for Kim’s blog. Which means I’ll be neglecting mine, until this project is complete. It’s either neglect mine, or my reading. I prefer reading my favorites.

Have a productive, stress free Monday!

And on that note, a girlfriend sent the following as a farward. I loved the message, so I’m sharing it with you. As it was a forward I have no clue as to who wrote it, or I would give the proper credit. For now, it’s anonymous. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Anonymous
Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because they haven’t thought about it, don’t have it on their schedule, didn’t know it was coming or are too rigid to depart from their routine.

I got to thinking one day about all those women on the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to cut back. From then on, I’ve tried to be a little more flexible.

How many women out there will eat at home because their husband didn’t suggest going out to dinner until after something had been thawed? Does the word “refrigeration” mean nothing to you?

How often have your kids dropped in to talk and sat in silence while you watched ‘Jeopardy’ on television?

I cannot count the times I called my sister and said, “How about going to lunch in a half hour?” She would gas up and stammer, “I can ‘t. I have clothes on the line. My hair is dirty. I wish I had known yesterday, I had a late breakfast, It looks like rain.” And my personal favorite: “It’s Monday.” .She died a few years ago. We never did have lunch together.

Because North Americans cram so much into their lives, we tend to schedule our headaches.. We live on a sparse diet of promises we make to ourselves when all the conditions are perfect!

We’ll go back and visit the grandparents when we get Steve toilet-trained We’ll entertain when we replace the living-room carpet. We’ll go on a second honeymoon when we get two more kids out of college.

Life has a way of accelerating as we get older. The days get shorter, and the list of promises to ourselves gets longer. One morning, we awaken, and all we have to show for our lives is a litany of “I’m going to,” “I plan on,” and “Someday, when things are settled down a bit.”

When anyone calls my ‘seize the moment’ friend, she is open to adventure and available for trips. She keeps an open mind on new ideas.  Her enthusiasm for life is contagious. You talk with her for five minutes, and you’re ready to trade your bad feet for a pair of Roller blades and skip an elevator for a bungee cord.

My lips have not touched ice cream in 10 years. I love ice cream. It’s just that I might as well apply it directly to my stomach with a spatula and eliminate the digestive process. The other day, I stopped the car and bought a triple-decker. If my car had hit an iceberg on the way home, I would have died happy.

Now...go on and have a nice day. Do something you WANT to......not something on your SHOULD DO list. If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?

Make sure you read this to the end; you will understand why I sent this to you.

Have you ever watched kids playing on a merry go round or listened to the rain lapping on the ground? Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight or gazed at the sun into the fading night? Do you run through each day on the fly? When you ask “How are you?” Do you hear the reply?

When the day is done, do you lie in your bed with the next hundred chores running through your head? Ever told your child, “We’ll do it tomorrow.” And in your haste, not see his sorrow? Ever lost touch? Let a good friendship die? Just call to say “Hi”?

When you worry and hurry through your day, it is like an unopened gift....Thrown away.... Life is not a race. Take it slower. Hear the music before the song is over.

“Life may not be the party we hoped for… but while we are here we might as well dance!”

Love,

3T

I am seriously going to miss football Season! (I cannot believe I just typed that!) As a creature of habit, I have gotten used to happily blogging part of my week-end away. After today, that comes to an abrupt end. Although I love playing with my husband on the weekend first and foremost, it doesn’t take long for me to establish a routine and enjoy it. These hours of reading on week-ends has been fun, relaxing and entertaining. I end up learning a few things I didn’t know, and it has been easier to keep up on all my favorite reads as well. With the conclusion of The Super Bowl, my week-end blogging comes to an end. :-( The hubby did remind me, that in eight months football will be back though.

Although I won’t be sitting with my eyes glued to the game today, I will make more than a couple of appearances in the TV room, to cheer on my home state’s team, the Seahawks! I truly hope they rip the shit out of Pittsburgh! (My husband’s all time favorite team and his residence for a few years as well.) hehehehe…

Yesterday was a busy day, with both rugrats having basketball games, one at 9:00 AM and one at 3:00 PM. We were up late with the kids, since my daughter’s best friend Brooke was staying the weekend with us, and visiting with Brooke’s mom and my close friend Roxanne. Roxanne was married to her long time significant other David on New Years Day, and it was fun catching up on married life with her.  Although it was difficult getting up Saturday morning to see Riley off to his game. A game I missed this week, and said a silent prayer of thanks that my older son Robby took him to. (Bad mommy!)

This rugrat week seemed more then a little long for both my husband and me, so we devised a plan to make sure after Tayler’s game, that the kids would have some fun, and we would get a break! We took them to an indoor amusement center called Amazing Jakes, where you check them in, give them tokens and let them run wild! Oh how I love this place! It’s all-you-can-eat pizza, pasta, salads and desserts, with laser tag, bowling alleys, games, games and more games, with prizes for the tickets they win. We paid their admission, made sure they had spending money, and got them each 100 tokens and we were off!

Giving us peace and quiet while we ran a few errands and then time to hit the pool hall across the street from Jakes to have a bite and play some billiards. Having not played in quite some time, both Kevin and I were more then a little rusty, but we had a good time relaxing, laughing and eating pizza with white sauce, artichokes, tomatoes and chicken. Not a variety of pizza the kids would ever consent to eating. Kevin won all the pool games, although I consistently was ahead of him, and either choked on the 8-ball losing the game, or lining the eight ball up for him to end it. We had a good time even if I did lose consistently.

Like any holiday, Super Bowl Sunday is a holiday to my husband, so he planned a special dinner as well. We are having the infamous Turducken that we order from New Orleans. He is preparing it differently then we did at Christmas so I have hopes that it will turn out juicy this time around. As he is injecting the bird with apple juice, hopefully the turkey, chicken and duck combination will keep its flavor, tenderness and juices more so than the Christmas turducken did. We’ll see. If this one doesn’t turn out better then Christmas, turducken for a holiday meal will be retired.

Hope your Super Bowl Sunday is a fun one! And that you enjoy seeing Pittsburgh getting their asses kicked as much as I will. 

3T

Writing thoughts down, always has a way of organizing them for me, and allows for me to move on to what needs to be completed in a day! My short term goal, this week-end is focused. I want to complete ALL Christmas shopping! This week-end! Then I don’t want to have to enter another mall or store, other then groceries in the next two weeks.  It’s going to be a very busy week-end, trying to remember everyone I want to give a gift too. And of course, doing it within a budget!  (yep. Quit laughing dad!)

Yesterday for me was a day to goof off and just have a good time. Rachel came to visit from Glendale! And together we had a laughter-filled, fun Girls Day Out! This lady is a kick! A wonderful sense of humor, and always tells things like she’s sees them! We did a little Christmas shopping, had a delicious lunch at Olive Garden, gossiped and went and got our nails done. Then spent a few hours talking and laughing! I gave Rachel her Christmas gift, that definitely felt lacking! Her surprise gift of this template, using her time and creativity, there is no way for me to top that! Rachel, thanks for coming and hanging out with me. I had a fantastic day!

While we were out playing, something that I found disturbing occurred on Discuss It. There were a couple gentlemen (OH! and I use that term loosely!) who basically attacked any movement against Domestic Violence, diminishing and outright lying about the severity of this problem. Their comment posts, were nothing short of elementary, full of bitter diatribe and hatred towards women!

I LOVE Discuss It! It’s a site that allows for everyone to post comments regarding various current events and topics. The downside? Even crazy women hating juveniles, are given their chance to spout off. The only word that keeps coming to mind though, is idiots! And there are a few mouthing off. Please check out the post entitled December 06 1989, and add your two cents worth! I need to change the subject, as I don’t want these idiots messing with my disposition today. I found their whole attack, bewildering and disturbing! Steve at Bent Collective was a voice of reason, calm and intelligence, in dealing with these imbeciles! His rebuttals were so far above these idiots, I’m not sure they were able to comprehend it, even if they had really tried!

On to something happier, interesting and fun! I would love to direct all readers over to Bitchatude to read a lovely and interesting post on how this dynamic couple, Bitchatude and DB, came to move to the paradise known as Hawaii! Enjoy the read, and be sure to leave her a comment on this post! It was my original question to Bitchatude, and she is answering any questions her readers might have for her during the month of December, in honor of her Bloggiversary! Be sure to Congratulate her on one full year of blogging! Congratulations Bitchatude!

I also wanted to mention that her SO, DB at Corporate Crap and other Dubious Wisdom, ran a contest on his site as well. A contest that I made the top three on! This was a lot of fun, and I thank DB for giving us all an opportunity to play! I also wanted to Congratulate June Bugg for winning the contest! She will now start a contest, with the winner receiving a lei from Hawaii. Congratulations to Chris for making the top three with me too! Be sure to check out DB’s post and congratulate JuneBugg!

On a more personal note, I want to thank my brother-in-law, wife and daughter for sending us The CD, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Christmas Eve and Other Stories. Jim is my husbands brother, by the way. Thank you Jim, Barb and Aubrey, for the very thoughtful gift, that I know we will enjoy listening to every Christmas Season, here on out!

Mike and Margie, we got your HUGE box full of Christmas gifts yesterday as well! They look lovely under our tree! We were shocked and delighted. Margie and Mike are Kevin’s sister and brother-in-law. Thank you two for thinking of us this Holiday Season! We wish you both a Blessed and Merry Christmas! I hope one day that both of Kevin’s siblings and their spouses have an opportunity to come and visit us! I would very much love, to get to know all of you better!

This ends my session of purging miscellaneous thoughts. I hope everyone has a relaxing and fun week-end!

Love,

3T

Well, we did it! We put together a full Christmas day celebration, complete with turkey feast (all right, turducken) and gift opening and lot’s of visiting. It was a visit with my folks I will always cherish, and worth every bit of the preparations put into it! Mom & Dad, thank you for taking the time to fly out here and spend a Christmas celebration with us! I appreciate you both, and love you dearly.

I want to take a moment and thank Ma (tutu) for the beautiful Hawaii calendar that she sent to us! That was so very thoughtful of you, and just the thing needed to swing me towards a Hawaiian vacation. We were down to a Caribbean Cruise and the Hawaiian Cruise, leaning towards the Caribbean as we have seen very little of the Caribbean, and had both been to Hawaii sans each other before our lives together started. Some of the photos on that calendar were nothing short of breathtaking! Although the hubby doesn’t know it yet, my vote now goes toward the Hawaiian Cruise, with a couple extra days in Hawaii, so we can meet you Ma, and DB and Bitchatude, and of course little Kamalani! Beautiful beaches, and meeting some of the most fantastic bloggers! What more could I want? 

Now, in honor of my parents visit, my most wonderful husband wrote another guest post. Which I’ll share this post. The first photo displayed was of my parents in my backyard a little while after they arrived. I went to take a shower and left them to their own devices for a few minutes. When I looked out the sliding door, they were standing there together, and I screamed at them to “not move!” Of course they moved and I told them to do what they were doing, and snapped the picture. I think my family is going to grow to loathe my desire to learn how to take photos. Until then though, I’m going to have a good time, manipulating everyone into the positions I want for picture taking.

The second picture was of my father, after I insisted he take his hair down for a picture. I have always loved long hair on men. I think I should have been born in the late 40’s so I could have enjoyed the 60’s! When my father decided he was done cutting his hair after years of having it ultra short, I thought it was a fantastic idea! I think long hair on men is symbolic of rebellion and bad boys for me. So seeing Dad sporting long hair, well I have enjoyed it!

Now I’ll quit rambling and give you Kevin’s guest post:

When Eddie Haskel turns 50

If you know who Eddie Haskel is, then you’ll appreciate what I have to say.
And even if you don’t remember the troublemaking Eddie from the old—very
old—show called Leave It to Beaver, maybe you still can relate.
In any event, some background on Eddie and me: Whenever the older teenager
Eddie went into the home of Wally and The Beav and found parents Ward and
June Cleaver standing in the kitchen or the living room, he’d immediately
shuck all his devilish behavior and politely say, “Good Morning, Mrs.
Cleaver, Good morning Mr. Cleaver,” masking his bad boy with a good boy
veneer. He inevitably would be plotting some dirty practical joke on Beaver
and his older brother, but all that impishness would dissolve the minute he
would meet the Beav’s parents.
I’ve always felt a little bit like Eddie Haskel when I used to meet the
parents of girlfriends I was dating, or was with the parents of my previous
two wives. Mind you, I wasn’t playing any tricks on those parents’
daughters, but I was enough of a bad boy to feel like I had to be extra
special good when I would meet the parents.
But what does Eddie do when he is nearly the same age as the Beav’s
parents? I ponder this question a lot--and have so since I met 3T four
years ago--because her parents are just a year or two older than me.
I remember when I first met them when we took a Memorial Day weekend flight
up to 3T’s former haunts in Washington State. I slipped immediately into
the role of Eddie-meets-June-and-Ward, but somehow it felt different. I
couldn’t shag the
realization of the fact that they were contemporaries. It was more like I
was dating the daughter of Ward or June.

I had the occasion this week to ponder all this again when my in-laws came
for what turned out to be a wonderful Early Christmas. My father-in-law is
about 2.5 years older than me, his wife a year younger. His hair is well
past his shoulders, which makes me envious because even when I did wear a
pony tail 15 years ago, it never came near the length of his glorious mane.
Now, I get along pretty well with both of them, the one exception being a
visit two years ago or so when I and my bride were trying to quit smoking
(note to self: never try to quit smoking when you are visiting in-laws).
But just as that visit was full of tension, this was a delight in every
way.
And I found more than ever that I reacting to them more as contemporaries
than as the “son-in-law.” Still, that little bit of Eddie in me, the part
that comes out usually when my bride and I are alone and being naughty,
couldn’t help but want to scream out, “Good morning DAD. Good morning MOM.”
Of course, that didn’t happen. You simply cannot call the parents of your
spouse “mom and dad” if they are just a year or two older than you.
So such is life when Eddie Haskel turns 50 and marries someone 15 years
younger. In-laws aren’t really in-laws to you. Instead, they are simply
contemporaries. And in the case of mine, good people and good friends.
And Eddie just stays in his cage until they leave.

I want to wish a beautiful, talented and warm lady a VERY Happy Birthday! I hope this Birthday will be your best to date, Rachel! I thank you for driving all the way out to my house yesterday and taking the time to teach me some new things about blogging! You are a patient and thorough teacher. I appreciate you lady! Sending lotsa love and (((HUGS))) your way on this your special week! (Go for the Birthday WEEK, not day!)

I have my VERY FIRST TENANT, for Rent my Blog on Blog Explosion! Meet Ted from Irreverent Codex! Ted has actually been on my blogroll since he very nearly just started blogging! A talented writer, I always love reading his stories on different characters that he works with in his office. He is British, and has THEE smoothest of accents. (Check out his audio post, for a listen of that sexy accent!) So click on Ted’s thumbnail right across from where this is posted and check him out! I know you will like his style! Ted, welcome to Stumbling Grace, I am honored to have you here!

And getting hit in too many different directions. I don’t do well juggling too many balls at once. I like to juggle one ball all by itself, although this keeps me from getting much done.(And doesn’t make for a very good show) From doctors and dentists appts. for the kids, myself and Kevin, household chores, and finding the time to do what I REALLY want to do on Monday, nothing. Today will not be a nothing day, and I have accepted it.