Halloween is here.

This is a busy day, Halloween today, Nanowrimo tonight. Every year the firemen in our community spend Halloween night at the fire station handing out candy and serving food to anyone who stops by and wants to eat. As the wife of a fireman I am making chicken and noodles and a large pot of chili for them to serve. My kitchen is usually fairly well stocked so I didn't bother to check and see if I needed anything from the store. Last night around 11:30 I realized I was out of beans, a basic ingredient for chili. The worst part is that I had just came back from Guymon. I'm sure I have mentioned this before, but I live in a town without a grocery store, so wheneverI find myself in a larger town I pick up a few things we need. Last night I honestly didn't think we needed anything except toilet paper and shaving cream, necessities for the holiday, so I didn't buy anything else. This morning we ran to the quick stop and I was surprised to find beans there. Now I can move on to other projects.

The Science fair is also today, of course Jason waited until this morning to mention he needed to rebuild the bridges he had used for his project. After that was done and I had ironed shirts for Lane and Jason to wear today I dropped them off at school. Back at home I started looking for a costume for Miss Universe, Fria Chica and myself to wear to the spook parade. This is the first year I haven't spent the whole month getting children's costumes ready. You would think I would have spent the extra time starting on my costume, but only if you didn't know me. Of course I put it off until the last minute. We have decided to go as the Blue man group, but have no bald caps. What will we do? I'm not sure yet. I'll figure that out in between going to the office to do a bit of work, making pooky a burrito costume, and peeling potatoes.

Potatoes. Before I moved to this area chicken and noodles was a soup you added crackers to and ate it like a soup. Here in this part of the country, and I am sure this can't be the only place, they are ladled over mashed potatoes and ate like a gravy. It sounded strange at first, but now I admit this is the best way to eat chicken noodles.

Last night Jason, Lane, and I went to the Goodwell haunted dorm. It wasn't as good this year as it always has been before. We decided to drive back through Guymon and go to their haunted house. It was very good, better than last year. We stopped for a milkshake and fries on the way home and arrived home two hours past their bedtime. It was worth it. Haunted houses are a tradition for the three of us. Lee never goes. He doesn't like to be scared. Dh goes with us occasionally depending on his mood. the three of us go every year. While in Guymon we stopped at the store for supplies. We ran into Lee's math teacher which doesn't surprise me at all. We always run into someone else from our town no matter where we are. She looked at the toilet paper, laughed and said that better not show up on her house. I assured her this was for friendly fire aimed at a friend. Now I am off to get things done. If you haven't signed up at Nanowrimo yet go do it now. You'll have fun, just do it.

HAVE A SPOOKY HALLOWEEN!!!

Sunday breakfast leads to late night movie

When my children were babies I had this idyllic picture of them sitting at the table doing homework;I helped them while I cooked. Many times over the years this dream has came true. Some days, like yesterday, there was almost too much of a good thing. A large Sunday breakfast is becoming a weekly staple for my family. My mom, sisters, and their families come over and we eat way to much. Then we play cards and eat more breakfast food in the afternoon.
Last night Lee was doing a book report and writing a movie. The movie is for his multi-media class, and is a real neat project. The book report was on The Slaughter House Five, which I haven't read but have had it on my to be read list. Jason was trying to find a project for the science fair. He decided on testing the strength of different bridge styles. We had to run to Guymon for supplies then come home and put them together. All in all it was a good day.
One of the supplies he needed was fishing line. Dh gave him a reel of it and we decided to take it off the reel and wind it on a dowel. In between these two stages we ended up with a large tangle of fishing line. It was already past Jason's bedtime so I sent him off and finished it myself. I popped Notting Hill into the vcr to watch while I worked. It was almost two in the morning before I finished. This morning Jason asked me if I could just bring up his materials around twelve thirty. I guess that long night could have been cut short. It was good I didn't put it off though. I am cooking for the rec. board today. The bread is rising, the chicken is boiling, and the pie crust is resting. Untangling fishing line is job for night time.
Notting Hill movie is one of my favorites. I couldn't even tell you how many times I have watched it. Some of the movies I watch over and over again have a certain part that makes the whole thing worth seeing again. This isn't one of those movies. I can't pick out the best part. Everything from this being one of the last movies Hugh Grant wore the floppy hair style in, to the witty banter endear it to me. I'm not sure I will get this next quote right, so forgive me. One of my favorite lines is "James Bond never has to put up with this sort of shit." This line isn't uttered by either of the leads, which makes it even better to me. It is said by Max. He and Bella have the best love story to me. The main story line is great, but the love between Max and Bella puts me in tears every time.
Enough about movies. I could go on all day, but that is surely getting tedious. I have a confession to make. I do judge books by their covers. I also judge wines by their name. It sounds like a dicey way to choose a new wine, but I have had just as much luck that way as I have had by doing research. I was with Fria Chica the other day and I said across the store, "hey I found one named after you, Sweet Bitch."
She replied "The one next to it is you." I looked and it was named Royal Bitch. I bought her namesake and we tried it that night. Since neither her nor my mom are drink much wine I still had half a bottle left this morning. I poured most of it into the chicken I am boiling for chicken and noodles, and am drinking the last glass right now. It is early for anyone but the serious drunks to be drinking, but it felt right to have one glass before I go in to have a nap.

Shop locally?

I went to the lumber yard today to see how hard it would be to buy a piece of butcher block to cover an island. Impossible, obviously, to buy anything pre-made except cutting boards. Their advice was to make my own, which I have no intention of doing no matter how easy it is. As they gave their instructions on how to make butcher block they finished with "season it with vegetable oil". Then they again offered me the option of butcher block formica, they added that I would not be able to actually cut on it. They offered this even though I had made it clear my intent was to use this table as a cutting board.
I hope this is one of the few lumber yards in the country where a person as clueless as myself can exit feeling like they could rule the place. People do buy butcher block occasionally, I am certain of it. Just now I found the perfect piece online. I will not finish it with vegetable oil though because it can go rancid quite easily.

This is the second time this week I have been shocked by a local business. By local I mean in my county, the only store we have in town is a convenience store, a really good one.
My sons needed minutes added to their phones. I went into the phone company my children get their phones from. A girl I went to school with was behind the counter looking at the computer, another girl was standing next to her watching. I hadn't realized my old school friend was working there so we had a friendly conversation on how long she had been doing that. She looked back at the computer and pushed a few buttons.
It was obvious they were working on a problem and were worried about making me wait. To put them at ease I offered that I was in no hurry and to go ahead and finish. I addressed these remarks to my friend in an offhand manner and waited. When they were finished she coldly told the girl it was fixed and she could wait on me now. The look she shot me as she turned and walked, more of a sashay really, into one of the back offices clearly explained to me that she did not run a register, she was much more important than that. How is that for a compensating attitude?

The tomatoes and onions I bought from a local farm today are delicious. Not only that but the owner is always very knowledgeable about his produce. I offer up this up only to say that we have some very good local businesses here, but the other ones can really shove you to the Internet.

Wow, it is already October

I'm listening to an electro mix of Smells Like Teen Spirit. Sitting here, it makes me want to listen to the original. However, I think if I were dancing it would be great. Who am I fooling, I haven't been out dancing in ages.
Last month, at the End Of Summer Bash, we had a dance on the outdoor basketball court. It was a beautiful night and we girls drank and danced all night. We completely embarrassed our children, and if we were to ponder on it too long maybe ourselves, that is why we are against examining the night in a completely sober temperament. Most of the music played that night was hip hop, new country, or rock. Lee and his friend kept requesting techno music and the d.j. kept putting them off and getting annoyed with them. This is more of a country and hip hop area so I doubt they had much else with them. They weren't the only two unsatisfied with the music.
A bus of senior citizens had come up for the dance. One older man, he looked about eighty-five, walked up to one of the rec. board members and said "Your music sucks". They were expecting a more classic style of country music. The board member noticed that they were all folding up their chairs, so he went to the d.j. and asked them to play five country songs in a row. The bus was loaded and they were gone by the third song.
One of the best parts about nights like this is that I can have fun with my sisters and friends while my boys hang out and have fun. Even if we don't say more than five words to each other the whole night we still drive home together. I look around and check on them periodically. What were they doing? Lane was dancing with his friends. Lee was sitting on playground equipment talking with his friends, and occasionally dancing. Jason was sitting on the steps of a small slide making out with a girl he had just met.
Sidenote: Having a teenage driver is great. He is the official d.d. on nights like this.
To mention something more current. My lack of exercise has really been showing up in the mirror lately. I used to walk five miles a day, but when the girls came to stay with us I suddenly couldn't find the time. They have been gone for several months now, but I just started back up two nights ago. I only walked two miles, not quite up to five yet. Last night I didn't walk. I played tennis with Fria chica. Before her baby was born we were playing almost every night. We haven't really started playing regularly yet and he is three months old. Today my muscle are sore. That is okay though, because I am all alone. I wonder if being alone will always be so great, or if it only is now because it is a novelty. I won't find out anytime soon. Miss Universe is bringing Huggy Bear over in a few minutes. M.U. has to take Ed to the dentist, so I am babysitting.

Blogger play and work

Blogger play is addicting. I almost didn't post because I have wasted too much time watching it. It is a distilled version of what I like about reading blogs. If books and movies are a journey into the lives of others, blogs are a snapshot. Blogger play is then just a quick glance into what other people are doing, seeing, and eating. One person was growing cilantro and another was growing pot. Some people are living lives that look very much like mine, others are so exotic. When I am on a road trip I sometimes notice all of the other people in cars around me. I wonder where they are going, if they are coming from somewhere happy or sad. Blogger play is like that, just one moment in someone else's life on display for me.

I have been going through a bit of a funk lately. Statistically my life looks to be on track. finally I have grown up and got a real job, with health benefits and a saving plan. Way inside my head though, not voiced to anyone else is the real thought. The fear that now I have chosen a path that is not mine. My job is great, fun even. I love the people I work with, they remembered my birthday and baked me a cake, it is that kind of a place to work. I think the problem my brain is having is that I have a retirement plan, and it is assumed I will still be there in thirty years. Is this what I want to do when I grow up? Finally, to appease myself, I gave myself permission to quit. Not today, just someday if I really find something I would rather be doing. This current job is my back up plan, in case I never find a band of gypsies to join up with.

Everywhere you look in my house you will see bugs. They are all at different levels of being captured, killed, and pinned to a board. At our high school sophomore is the bug collection year, so Lee has been collecting them for the past few months. It is really gross. I open my freezer and see bugs, on my table they are in jars and under upturned glasses, there is a shoe box of dried bugs in my living room, I can't wait for this project to be over.
I am not really an animal person so it was a shock to everyone, even me, when I decided we needed to get two puppies. A friend was giving some away and I, for some unexplainable reason, really wanted one. When we went to pick him up he was playing with his siblings and I felt really guilty taking him to my back yard were he would have to spend some days all alone. Lane and picked out another one and we brought them both home.
Some days I think about bringing them in and letting them spend time with us in the house, but I quickly shake that feeling off. A lady once said to me that she always let her pets in the house because she wanted them to be part of the family. My spoken reason for keeping them as outdoor pets is that my allergies just can't take indoor pets, which is true. Deep down I know that even without allergies I wouldn't want to have them indoors. Personally, I like to think of our pets more as close neighbors than as family members.

It has been over a month

You may notice that by now it has been two months. I started this post August and never came back to it.


My life seems to be settling into a routine. The two weeks of training that came with my new are over. The first week was in Wichita. They would have paid for me to stay in a hotel for a week, but instead I took Lee and Lane with me and we stayed with Drama Queen. Jason stayed home for weightlifting and football practice, at thirteen he is all about sports.
Drama queen arranged to work almost every night we were there. She is saving up for a car and a few nights to work without having to pay a babysitter were a help. We had an enjoyable week. I was afraid the small, two bedroom apartment would start to feel crowded after a couple of days, but it really didn't. The six of us seemed to all be able to find enough space. On one of the last nights we were there Drama Queen didn't work. She sat outside on the balcony, drank a few beers, smoked plenty of cigs, and listened to music. At one point she came in to replenish her supplies and started laughing at us. Lane, Lee, and I all had a book light hooked onto our books and were laying around reading. I heard her boyfriend show up as I was drifting off to sleep. They either kept the noise level down or I was extremely tired, because I slept soundly all night. I wasn't annoyed at all until I went to get my yogurt out of the fridge for breakfast only to find it had been set out to make room for beer. The most annoying part was that they could have just shoved it onto another shelf, there was room. Or maybe they were just trying to help me overcome my yogurt addiction. I had to pause in the typing of that sentence to go grab a peach yogurt.
Two evenings Lane and the girls talked me into taking them to the apartment swimming pool. I love to swim so the first night they didn't have to talk very hard, but the second night I could remember how bad the pool water tasted and smelled. It really tasted like ass. Lane's eyes burned for a couple of hours after swimming the night before, but I took them anyway. After that second night I found other things to do. The day after we were back home that same murky pool was in the news. A five year old boy had drowned, and the poor water quality was being blamed. The little boy was at the bottom of the deep end and because of lack of visibility it took them five minutes to find his body.
My next week of training was in Liberal. Again they offered to put me up in a hotel, but it is just a forty-five minute drive. I picked up Islands in the Stream on cd for the driving time. While I enjoyed my training, I am glad it is over so my life can start to develop some sort of rythym.

Reading Harry Potter

Lane and I have finished the the new Harry Potter book. I read the first one aloud to my boys when they were quite a bit younger. For the first three books I read them a chapter or two then would send them to bed and pick up whatever book I was reading at the time. The series hooked me on the fourth book. With it after I sent them to bed I continued reading and ran two bookmarks. We never worried about reading them right when they came out, we waited and bought them in paperback. When the sixth one came out I didn't wait for the paperback, but I waited until I could get it used at Bookmans. This last time though Lane and I drove to Hastings, fifty-five miles one way, to get it as midnight. They were having a release party so we went a couple of hours early to see what all was going on. For the most part it was pretty lame. I have seen pictures of other release parties that have looked like fun, but most of them were at privately owned book stores. It's not that a chain couldn't have a fun party. It is just that there is not the same incentive for a manager who is getting paid no matter how the party goes as there is for a small business owner who relies on local customers for his income. Whatever the reason though, this one was lame because the workers looked bored. A basic rule for a party is if the hosts are having fun everyone else will have fun. If the hosts are looking at their watch trying to kill time until midnight the guests will do the same. Lane and I ended up reading comic books until the line formed. I had to be to work by seven the next morning, so we grabbed spots in the front of the line. As soon as we had our hands on two copies, one for Fria Chica, we were out the door. Of course we stopped and grabbed a few groceries on the way out of town. We don't have a grocery store in our small town so we never head home without at least milk and bread. Lane put a half a gallon of chocolate milk in the cart to drink on the way home. He read to me on the drive home and wanted to stay up and continue, but I had to get some sleep.
The next day he waited for me to get home, luckily I only worked half a day.
We spent the rest of that day and most of Sunday laying around reading to each other. It was odd that it was only the two of us this time. Lee would have joined us but he is still in Europe. Jason is thirteen and really has better ways to spend his time than reading with his family. The fun thing about just the two of us reading was that we could stop and talk about the book whenever we wanted, Lee never puts up with this kind of behavior. I would be reading and feel him jerk next to me and knew something had made him think. We would stop and talk about something that had happened earlier that this had cleared up, or what we thought this meant for the future. When Sunday night rolled around we still had 150 pages left. I told him that I wouldn't mind if he read on without me and that I would catch up. He waited for me though and we finished together on Monday night. At one point he interrupted the reading to mention that that all of the Harry Potter geeks that were dressed up Friday night were probably crying right now. We laughed at them then continued. A few pages later I had to hand him the book and let him read to me while I cried. He ducked his head in shame and said I can't believe my own mother is a Harry Potter geek. We finished that night and all I will say is 759 pages is a hell of a lot to read out loud.

Our government sucks

I don't watch a ton of news just because the media pisses me off. Even with the limited amount of news I take in I have managed to come up with an amazing amount anger aimed at our government. If I watched more news I would probably be a walking fireball of hatred. I don't write on politics often because I am not versed enough to speak well on the subject, and other bloggers Wil Wheaton's blog and scroll down to Please don't be afraid if you want to know how I feel about our nifty color coded terror alerts. There is a link in the places I visit column if you need it. It was posted on July 11th so you may need to scroll awhile. On your way down you will see a post about playing chess on roller coasters. I have been planning to do this and am a bit sad that so many people have already beat me to it.

What I have been doing

Six a.m. Saturday morning I watched Lee board his airplane. For weeks people had been asking me if I was nervous or scared and I really wasn't feeling either of those emotions. I was excited and jealous. At fifteen he is accomplishing one of my goals and living one of my dreams. To get to travel internationally, to see Europe and all of the places that have been a background to many of the books and movies we both love, I am very jealous. It helps that I am not a worrier so I haven't sat around and thought about everything that could go wrong. Dh has done enough of that for both of us. Whenever he brings up a possibility I counter with 'or we could drive to the store next week and have a car accident that kills us all.' I was really beginning to think I was a cold, cold, woman. Something I have often been accused of over the years. One day a dh pulled a beer out of a cooler and felt it to see if it was cold enough. It wasn't. He tossed it to me and asked me to hug it to my chest for a minute.
On the eight hour drive to the airport I was either reading, laughing, or talking, but not worrying. We arrived at the airport three hours early like they recommend for security, but the security workers hadn't got the memo. We sat there with two older ladies, who were heading to Cancun, for over two hours before the people who worked at the airport arrived. During this time we labeled his bag, talked over the problems he was expecting with changing planes in Detroit, and double checked his bag. You might notice we weren't flying to New York with him as originally planned, so he would be alone from the time he left us until he met up with his group in N.Y. The ticket counter finally opened and he was able to get his boarding passes. I suggested breakfast before he went into the gate. My scone wasn't the best I ever had, but it was edible. Lee had went with a yogurt parfait that looked much better, but he said the fruit didn't have much flavor. When he did start through gate security it hit me. He looked so young to be going out in the world alone. He put his shoes and belt into a tub. At this point we were separated. I started to cry, not a few graceful tears, outright bawling. I stood at the glass wall that separated us and watched him sit in a seat and put on his headphones. I walked away so he wouldn't look up and see me loosing it. I was wiping my eyes and trying to control myself when I heard them announce first class boarding. He had his headphones on, he probably couldn't hear. I ran back to the glass, which is frosted for the first five feet, peered over the frosted line and saw him there with his headphones lowered listening to the announcement. I was sending my baby out alone in the world, but he was ready. I continued to cry until the plane took off. Then I had a nap. I wonder if I would have cried so much if I hadn't went twenty-four hours without sleep.
I woke up an hour later when it was my turn to drive and felt much better. We stopped at Wichita and spent a couple of days with Drama Queen and the girls. She was working nights that weekend so we took the girls to the dog races. That is one of the many places I would never have went on my own but have experienced because I married a redneck. We ordered supper, which I have to say was one of the best meals I've ate out in a while. After we ate Dh let the girls pick dogs and place bets while I ordered a bottle of wine. I will go anywhere and sit through anything if I have a good book with me. Kite Runner is an excellent book and intriguing enough to keep my attention no matter what is going on around me. Seriously, if you haven't read it yet go read it. Back at the apartment I put the girls to bed and stayed up way to late finishing it. We woke up early the next morning so we could get to the zoo before it got way too hot. It is baby season at the zoo so our trip was great. I loved the baby rhinoceros, but Curly Top couldn't tear herself away from the baby giraffe long enough to look at it. At one point after we had been staring at the giraffe for fifteen minutes I drug her over to the rhino. We looked at it for a few minutes until she looked up at me and said 'I have to get back to that giraffe.' So we walked over and watched it stand on wobbly legs for several more minutes until I coaxed her away with the promise of a sno-cone.
After the zoo we took them to Chuck E. Cheese to eat and play, then home for a nap. They had been staying at our house for the two weeks before our trip. We had dropped them off with their mother on our way to the airport. In that one weekend our household size dropped from seven to four. It is very quiet here now. Lane stays the night at Miss Universe's house a lot during the summer. Two of her kids are close in age to him. Mon is only seven months older and Ed is just a year younger that Lane. The three of them have grown up together and are quite the threesome. That leaves only Jason and I here for a good part of the day and he sleeps until noon. Last night Jason and I stayed up and watched Man on Fire. This is one of those movies I have been meaning to watch, but never have. It was very good. It was over at two and I went in to brush my teeth. Jason came in as I was finishing and begged me to stay up and watch another movie with him. 'Absolutely not' I told him, but asked which movie he was going to watch, just in case. His answer? In the Army Now. Now that made me laugh. How can you follow Man on Fire with that? I asked.
I am going to jump out of chronological order a bit here and talked about the eleventh. Of course we went to the midnight showing of The Order Of The Phoenix. We had a big group, so to ensure that we could all sit together we arrived an hour early. Our group consisted of myself, Fria Chica, My brother, two of his friends, Tams, Lee, Jason, Lane, and Ed. Before when we have went to midnight showings at this same theater they have opened the doors, let people buy tickets and wait in line in the theater. At the last LOTR we took a monopoly game and sat on the carpet and played. This time they kept the doors locked and made us wait in two lines, one of people who already had tickets, and one filled with those odd creatures who were trusting enough to wait. The theater is in the back of the mall, which was closed, so hundreds of people were packed into the mall corridor with the air conditioner off. Not pleasant at all.
I didn't know what to expect from this movie. Of all of the H.P. books so far this was my least favorite. I understand that she had to pack a lot of info into the book to transition the series from the school adventure feel the first books had to the full scale war feel the next few books would have. All of that info made for a thick book that moved slowly in spots. That is not what I disliked about the book, but I could see where that could make for tricky movie making. What I disliked about the book was how whiny Harry was.
I'll try to do this without any spoilers. Watching the movie I understood Harry's moods better and the reason for the moodiness. They certainly didn't make a slow moving movie. The school year seemed to zip past at an amazing speed. That is unfortunate if you are a Sirius fan because I just didn't get to spend enough time with him in this movie. It had been a few years since I read the book, so I expected to be able to watch the movie without those annoying thoughts in my head about all of the changes. They cut out so much of the story, anything that wasn't fast enough to fit the adventure pace, that it was impossible to not start thinking about what was missing. The next day Tam's stopped by while I was cooking a meal for the Rec. board. She has only read the first three books, but has seen all of the movies. I asked her a few questions like 'Did you understand why the Centaurs were so angry with Umbridge, or why it was important for Hagrid to try and talk to the Giants, or why Umbridge measured Flitwick.' Of course her answer was no and that most Harry Potter fans would sit through a longer movie to find out. I really understand that to make a good movie some things have to be changed, but the whole feel of the book shouldn't have been altered. What they made was a good children's adventure movie that would be fine standing alone, but as part of a building series it fell far short.
Oh and by the way, I interviewed on Tuesday for the job. Yesterday I got the call saying the job was mine. So there I go, after almost five years I am considered a career employee and will get a benefits, and a seventeen mile commute. I thought I would feel some sort of emotion at this point, but I really don't. The raise, which more than doubles what I am making now, is going to be nice though.

Denied Nirvana

I think baseball season is over. Not that I haven't enjoyed it, but it can really eat up time. Two games a night, two nights a week, during season play leaves little time for much else. Then all stars came up and practices were five nights a week and seventeen hours away. That meant I had to drive Lane to practice and sit and wait. Okay that part wasn't so bad, because it was the only reading time I had. Here I am complaining and this is the first time in six years we haven't had two kids playing ball. Yesterday was the district tournament. We arrived in Liberal an hour early as required. Most of the parents were watching the game that had to play before ours could start. I took my water and apple and sat in the stands to watch the game. Two minutes of that was enough for me. Across the parking lot there was a quiet park full of trees. Suddenly I was filled with an urge to sit in the dappled shade and read my book. I jumped down and headed towards my minivan to grab a book. I was almost there when I heard a 'Hey, hey.' I looked over and there was another ball mother sitting in her car. We started talking and before I knew it I was being told to have a seat. I never know how to get out of those situations gracefully, so I sat. My back was to the park so at least I didn't have to stare at my denied nirvana.

A baby and a party

Fria Chica had her baby on the third of July, which happens to be Miss Universe's birthday. He weighed eight lbs. two oz. At one day old he is already being spoiled. On his father's side he is the first grandchild so his paternal grandmother bought him gifts every time she left the hospital. On our side he is number eleven. There is not one of the ten before him that has not been spoiled rotten, so there really is no hope for him either.
While we were in the hospital we were adding up how old Lee would be when this new little guy graduated from high school. Lee will be thirty-three, the same age as I am now. When my age was mentioned my mom was noticeably shocked. She never thinks of us as that old. To her we will always be kids. The shock goes both ways, when I realized she was about to be fifty-five I went into denial. My mom never seems old. In our minds we have as a family frozen at a certain age and will probably always stay there.
We had our annual block party on the third also. I don't know if we ever intended it to be an annual party, but we had one two years in a row so this year people in town kept asking what day we were having our party. We call it a block party because we close the street on both sides of the block and have a party that fills the whole block which starts at my yard and finishes at Anna's yard, but Anna and I are the only two on the block that actively participate in planning the party. We really don't have many families on our street, which is why we get away with the noise until three in the morning every year. Evelyn, an older lady who lived next door to me, passed away last month, so her house is empty. She never came out into the street, but she sat on the porch and watched all night. The older couple who live in a travel trailer across the street surprised us by coming out and joining the fun for the first two years, but this year they left right before we blocked the streets and came home as we were cleaning up. For years my children called the man Grouchy ass, not undeservedly, which is why we were surprised whenever he showed up with homemade ice cream. His wife is in advancing stages of Alzheimer's, so that may be why they stayed away this year. Next door to him is a trailer that changes occupants frequently. We usually invite who ever is living there but this year nobody was home. Across from Anna lives Miss Universe's mother-in-law. For the last two years they have been out of town in July. This year I have no idea why they didn't come out. Three out of four of their son's were the last people to leave. I have taken too many words to explain that while we call it a block party very few of the people who come every year are actually from our block. It is more of a community party. Every year, and this one was no exception, we end up with quite a few people from out of town here. Last year we had a group of men from South Africa show up, this year it was just a group from Elkhart. Our philosophy is the more the merrier so we always make enough food for over a hundred. With the drunks making a second pass at the table around midnight we end up with very little left overs.
My little brother is driving up from Tuscon this weekend. He is bringing his two boys, but leaving his wife at home to work. They come up so rarely it becomes quite an event when they do. Out of the six kids in our family he is the only one who lives more than four hours away. Three of us live in this same small town. I know he feels better knowing he got away, but I think life is too short to live so far from the people we love.

A couple of unrelated thoughts

This time last year I was talked into trying for a job in the Elk. office if an opening came up. I was lukewarm on the idea at the time, but after a year of fermenting the idea has started to sound really good. Thursday I found out that I will be interviewed, eventually. I swear, they expect me to complete my work in double time and they take months to do anything. The problem is the lady doing the hiring, who I really like and would enjoy working with, is choosing between me, one of her good friends, and the daughter of another one of her good friends. My chances aren't looking too good are they?

Tuesday night Miss Universe and I went to Wichita to pick up Princess and Curly top. I have been working so much I haven't really spent much time with them. Even so I am glad they are here for the few hours a day we do get to spend together. Drama Queen has put me through a roller coaster of emotions over the last two years. From what I saw of her this week I'm afraid she is starting up for another ride. I don't know if I have the strength. My emotions have went from worry, to fear, to anger, to empathy, to hope, to pride, to joy. I am back at worry and wondering how to jump the tracks.

Not bad for a Monday

Mondays used to be my favorite day of the week. I worked Friday-Sunday. When I dropped the kids off at school Monday morning it was my chance to have some time to myself. Of course now it is summer, which means very little time to myself. On top of that I have been and will be working every Monday for an indefinite amount of time. To make my day a little more tiring my body decided yesterday would be a perfect day to start trolling for vampires.
After work I jumped into my van, which has a broke air conditioner, and went to get a chocolate shake. If I have to drive seventeen miles in 98 degree weather I want ice cream. The burger place I usually stop at was out of ice cream for the next hour. The convenience store didn't even sell ice cream bars. I grabbed a flavored water and drove home. When I made it home I realized it was going to be one of those rare evenings when everybody but me had something to do. Once I closed the door behind the last of my family I opened a bag of kisses with almonds and sat down to watch t.v. all alone.
My plans for the evening were to veg out for a minute while eating too much chocolate, wander over here and post on this neglected blog, go get my ass kicked in tennis, read a bit, and go to bed. Instead I answered the phone when it rang. Huggy bear's grandparents called, as they usually do when they are babysitting and I am home, and hinted that they would like me to come and get her. I pouted as I walked the block to their house. The minute I saw her smiling face, which really did light up when I walked in, I quit pouting and picked her up. We went home and ate the whole bag of kisses together. She handed me the almonds after sucking all of the chocolate off of them. I looked around for a napkin or plate to set them on, since nothing like that was within reach I just ate them.
The phone never stopped ringing so I ended up taking some lighter fluid down to Anna's house. We sat in her yard and drank a couple glasses of white wine while H.b. chattered on to the dog and cat. After dropping Huggy bear off with her dad I went to the school with Tams to check the renovations they are making in her room. We sat in the middle of the mess and talked about the idiots surrounding us. We often say the world would be a much better place if everybody would just do things our way.
Fria Chica and I went to play tennis. For once I won. We played two matches and I won them both. I cheered and did a Rocky impersonation. I like to think I didn't rub it in too much, but I probably did. Some might say I won because we have been playing almost every day for a few months and my skills have improved. It could be that my backhand is getting stronger, and I am gaining more control of the ball. Or it could be that the baby has dropped really low into the birth canal, she is effacing, and the nurse just that same day said the baby could come any minute now.
It does say something about my skills when a nine month pregnant lady has been beating me all month, and I still had to fight really hard to win this time. I am so glad she didn't have the baby last night. At least she can't say, 'yeah, but I was in labor.'

I have been on hold with an airline for the last one hour and fifteen minutes. What do you do in this situation? Do you hang up and call back later, or consider the time already invested and stick it out? During this time I have found aspartame in my yogurt. I blame the Reagan administration for this. I should not have to carefully screen every ingredient in my purchases to protect myself from brain cancer.

summer time

What am I doing with my summer vacation? Not enough of what I would like to be doing. I am working more than usual this summer. I watch four baseball games a week. Fortunately this is the last week of that. When the girls went home to live with their mother I felt an empty spot in my life so I started working on the hot tub I had been planning in my head. I haven't had much time to mess with it either though. The empty spot in my life was something I expected and planned for. What I didn't expect was actual physical pain. For the first two weeks after I took them home I hurt. It is hard to explain a pain that doesn't radiate from any single part of the body. It just settled in and made itself at home.
Princess and Curly top weren't always easy and they took more time than all three boys did put together, but after a year we were at a point where we were used to the extra work and didn't notice it. What we noticed were the extra smiles in our house, and the extra good night kisses. Sometimes when I'm out working in the yard I still look up and try to find them riding their bikes. The pain has lessoned now. I don't spontaneously burst into tears any more, but I still miss them. One day not long after they left I went to the pool to take Lane some money. As I walked out I noticed a bike exactly like Princess's. It was thrown carelessly on the cement. Princess was very particular about her bike, she would have put the kickstand down and made sure it was stable before she ran into the pool. This one thought set off my tears. My house is a quieter place now, less fighting, crying, and whining, but also less giggles, hugs, and people to tickle.

No good excuse for the absence

I am behind in nearly every portion of my life right now. Why would this blog be any different? My two jobs seem to be the only parts of my life that I am keeping current at. Well, I have also read three books this week. Can I count them as therapy? A while back I noticed I wasn't reading much. That disturbed me. Part of that was not having as much free time. There were five kids running through my house demanding silly things from me. At the end of the school year more kids means more field trips, more programs, more treats to be made for parties. One Friday I rode on a bus full of first and second graders to the zoo, the next I met the fourth and fifth graders at a fishing pond. The high point of the zoo trip was watching the kids standing way to close to the Rhino's fence then trying to dodge the urine he shot at them. Since I was thinking ahead to the ride home I was rooting for the kids, otherwise seeing them get shot with urine would have made my day. Part of me was thinking that the fishing trip was a lame field trip. The pond was only ten miles out of town. Not much of a trip. I was wrong it was actually a lovely day. Before lunch I read a little and watched the kids play. I didn't think about there being a naked Barbie on the cover of my book until dh pointed it out. Would somebody find this an offensive thing to bring to a grade school activity? Did I care if they did? I gave it some thought and decided that the people who found it offensive would probably be the same ones who would be offended by reading a book an openly gay man wrote about his life. So I shrugged and didn't worry about it. The kids fished, I spread out a blanket in the shade. At noon Curly top, Huggy bear, dh, and I ate a picnic lunch. Lane was too busy having a water fight to eat. After lunch I hauled the kids around in the paddle boat. Then with my legs feeling like jello I drove home.
So yes I have been busy, but lack of time wasn't the only reason I wasn't reading. There just seemed to be a lack of concentration within me. For most of my life I have been in the middle of a book. When you are in the middle of a book there seems to be another layer to life. Throughout the day, when you are going about your life, their are characters in the back of your head. They hang out in your thoughts giving you something to think about. Sometimes, and this may just be me being odd, I see my world through their eyes. I don't understand people who don't like to read. Their life seems limited to their own experiences. I was becoming one of them. None of the books I picked up engaged me.
Last summer Lee and I made a deal that involved me reading one Steve Alten book and him reading one Terry Pratchett book. Neither of us fulfilled our part. Lee brought it up during this slump and handed me Domain. The next day I sat down to read and after a few paragraphs noticed Curly top was watching a Sponge bob I had never seen. Before I knew it the book was resting in my lap while I watched cartoons. I picked it up again and read a little further then I realized I wasn't reading any longer, but staring at the ceiling thinking about the universe. Now that is an acceptable time out. That is one of the things books are for, to give you a thought and let you mind run with it for awhile. That evening I did settle down and read. It was just what I needed. I read it in two long gulps. My dry spell was over.

Lee and Huggy bear

Here is a picture of Lee and Huggy bear. She went to Tuscon with her parents for a week and I missed her terribly. The second best thing about having sisters is that they keep having kids for me. More kids, no new stretch marks.

The Cloud Room

For an hour I have been online with the intentions of posting. Why haven't I? It sounds silly, but my head is too full of posts to start. Mentally I have wrote so many over the past week that I have not typed up. For some reason it is times like this when I find it hardest to start. Instead I have been looking at silly things while I listen to Los Campesinos and The Cloud Room. I started listening to The Cloud Room in 2005 when Sabrina at pocketpig.com put the video to Hey Now Now on her website. It has been fun to watch their Internet presence grow over the last two years. I used to check music sharing sites for their songs and not be able to find any. Then one day Lee yelled "Hey I found your stupid song." That was a happy day. Today I was checking their tour schedule and squealed when I read they were going to be in Denver. Denver is a six hour drive, but really is the closest I can hope for. I can't really expect them to show up in Dodge City can I? Then I remembered that I can't really afford to take another trip right now, especially with gas at $3.30 a gallon. We are planning a family trip to New York this summer. On top of that I promised Jason I would take him to a concert this summer and he wants to go to Rockfest in Kansas City. I can't complain, but sometimes I still do.


Here is one of the silly things I have been doing today. I have also found out that Jessica Simpson is my celebrity breast twin, although unlike mine, her breasts are probably still closer to her chin than her belly button.

You are The Lovers

Motive, power, and action, arising from Inspiration and Impulse.

The Lovers represents intuition and inspiration. Very often a choice needs to be made.

Originally, this card was called just LOVE. And that's actually more apt than "Lovers." Love follows in this sequence of growth and maturity. And, coming after the Emperor, who is about control, it is a radical change in perspective. LOVE is a force that makes you choose and decide for reasons you often can't understand; it makes you surrender control to a higher power. And that is what this card is all about. Finding something or someone who is so much a part of yourself, so perfectly attuned to you and you to them, that you cannot, dare not resist. This card indicates that the you have or will come across a person, career, challenge or thing that you will fall in love with. You will know instinctively that you must have this, even if it means diverging from your chosen path. No matter the difficulties, without it you will never be complete.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Odd meeting

On April 23rd dh, Curly top, and I went to watch Lee's golf meet. The night before Lee had sat us down and explained the strict rules we were to follow. He made it very clear that if we messed up, and he was disqualified, he would be pissed. The rules were straightforward. We had to be quiet, couldn't carry his bag or touch any of his equipment, and no comments could be made that might be considered coaching. He went into detail on this, we could say 'nice shot', but could not say anything like, 'turn left next time', or 'softly'. We took him seriously. I even went as far as to teach Curly Top to make an 'e' and a 'd' in sign language in case she needed to ask for something to eat or drink while they were teeing off.
Another boy had his family watching him too. The mom and sister were in an extremely loud golf cart, which they were constantly starting up to pull ahead two feet. The dad and brother walked with the golfer, stopping now and again to take his club from him and show him how to hit the next ball. The brother even hit a few balls now and again, causing some confusion as to which ball was his and which was his brothers. Once the little girl ran out onto the fairway and picked up the golfers ball and was waving it around. Needless to say dh and I were entertaining ourselves by making fun of them. We were calling them the poster family for rednecks and trying to guess which brand of tobacco the wife chewed at home and if the kids were being started out on menthol first.
About the seventh hole Curly Top was starting to get tired of walking. She wasn't whining yet, but she was dragging her feet. The loud cart stopped next to us and offered her a ride. I felt like an ass every time I heard her laughing. She was having fun with them, and they were treating her very well. It was too late to take back my rude jokes and I can't even say I didn't make any more after that, I most likely did. Well, I never claimed to be a nice person.
My jokes did slow down though, because I had something else to occupy my mind. Where did I know this lady from? Out of the corner of my eye, I kept studying her. I definitely knew her from somewhere. The problem was I didn't know which town they were from. Golf teams had come from all over southwest Kansas. Then as I was walking by the cart Curly Top asked me something. I looked back and for the first time had a good view of the little girl's face. Now that was a face I recognized right away. She looked just like her father, who I had been married to for eighteen months.
I had recognized her mother because we had met once at a soccer game in Hugoton. This was right after she had divorced my ex husband. We don't have any contact with him even though we live within twenty miles of each other. Dh adopted Lee years ago, so there is now reason to. As far as I know there are no ill feelings on either side. Our divorce was caused mainly because of differences of opinion about parenting. I believed much less drugs should be involved in the lifestyle. He agreed, but would have no part of that kind of thing. We haven't kept any secrets from Lee, but I haven't went around pointing out any half siblings either; it would be a full time job.
That night I asked Lee if he wanted me to point out any of his biological's children if he we ran into them. He shrugged and said he didn't care either way. Of course he knew I had a reason for this question, so he asked. "Who was it?" I told him it was the little girl. He laughed and took a few steps toward the kitchen, then he stopped in his tracks. I knew right away what his next question was. I pictured the loud, redneck father with his missing teeth and beer gut that had been at the golf meet.
I laughed "Don't worry that wasn't him, whole different gene pool."
"Thank God, I was about to go shoot myself." He replied.