I May As Well Get Out Of Town

I'm not working lately. Surprise, Surprise!

This seems to be the norm here in the Summer Retail Sunshine State. I'm working less than 10 hours a week and this is how I'm spending most of my time.

• up to my neck in the condo pool (today there was serious lizard sex going on, 2 feet from my chair),
• on facebook
• discussing family genealogy with my brother (we may be part Canadian Indian and we are definately descendants of Acadian people who were exiled from Nova Scotia-like the characters in Longfellow's poem about Evangeline)
• playing MahJong Solitaire online ( I was ranked #37,000 in the world today)
• reading....loved The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society and laughed my ass off at Bitter Is The New Black. I'm halfway through Bright Lights, Big Ass.
• getting hooked on Ruby. I watched all of last season and started watching this season. She has lost over 350 pounds!!

Since I'm not working.....and it's summer (it BETTER be warm and sunny), I decided to turn my trip to MA from 1 week into 2 weeks in August. We're planning an early surprise 75th birthday party for my Mom, a little time on the Cape and see CAPE COD KID, and hopefully all my nieces and nephews and siblings.

Would you believe I lived in MA for 49 years and NEVER went to Lexington and Concord? My darling Revolutionary War fan Daddy probably just rolled over in his grave when I said that. I'm going to spend a day or 2 up there.

Mom has her usual Honey-Do list for me. Wash her windows, go up and get stuff out of the attic...which is actually a good thing. I want to see if there are any old family photos up there and make copies for myself.

And of course, once again I'll be in the Land Of Dial-Up Internet.

Flip Video At The Georgia Aquarium

Mr Sunshine State brought his Flip camera on vacation. He put together this video of the Georgia Aquarium. It's a little over 7 minutes long.

The guitar music you hear is not the sound system at the Aquarium. It's one of his guitar tracks.

If There Are No Pictures, Did Vacation Really Happen?

I spent Fourth Of July Weekend in Atlanta with Mr Sunshine State's sister and her family. I took about 100 pictures, but when the memory card from the camera was inserted into the computer, the computer ate every last picture and none of them survived. I'll paint you some verbal pictures and provide links.

I don't have pictures of the little redheaded nephews. Red hair, transleucent skin, splattering of freckles over the nose. T3 is now T4. The first morning we woke up and all I could see was a mop of red hair at the edge of the bed. He said
"Uncle Tom? WHO ARE YOU SLEEPING WITH?"

We spent the first day at Stone Mountain. It looks like a gigantic round granite stone sticking out of the ground. We wimped out and took the sky ride to the top instead of walking the mile and a half. When we got to the top, T4 said to his Mom, "Have I ever been on this mountain before?" She told him he had, and he said "Oh, this is the first time I've been impressed". There are no pictures of us at the top of the mountain.

That night we saw the fireworks and the Laser light show. There are no pics of the light show, which my brother-in-law has dubbed "Redneck Fantasy", because of all the Confederate soldiers and monster trucks.

We also went to the Georgia Aquarium which was very cool. Sorry, no pics of the whale sharks, sea horses, jelly fish, poisonous blue frogs, giant grouper ( I attempted to figure out how many sammiches you could make from one of them).

The DeKalb Farmer's Market is 140,000 sq feet of amazing! but they don't allow photography, so you aren't missing any pictures. I came out with two heavy bags of stuff for about $9, including spices, fruit and nuts.

S6 has been at camp since school let out. Last week was Art Camp. I was impressed with his knowledge of creating monotypes. His attempt to teach me finger knitting was a fail on my end.

Luckily, we had the Flip camera with us I may be able to post a short video sometime this week.

I'm In Love With My Kids

Jenn at JugglingLife has tagged me. She asked me to write 7 things I love about my kids or what I love doing with them.
I can approach this from the viewpoint of a Mom with grownup kids. Neither one has lived with me for three years.

I had a very hard time deciding to go to college. I didn't want to go. I wanted to get married and have kids, definately 2 or 3, by age 28. The dream was put on hold for a few years. By 32, I had two babies who had been very sick and we had spent way too much time in OR waiting rooms and sleeping under hospital cribs or fold-out chairs, so baby number 3 was a dream left unfulfilled.

I spent most of their childhood working per-diem jobs and almost always being home when they were home. Being a Mom was Job#1.
Now that I'm not mothering on a daily basis, I guess this is sort of a "job evaluation". And it feels so much like bragging.

THE SEVEN THINGS I LOVE ABOUT BEING THEIR MOM

• They each found one activity they became passionate about, to the point of having part-time jobs teaching younger kids. They have chosen professions that involve kids.
• Because they were so involved with teaching, I had the pleasure of being told by so many parents that my kids were great inspirations for the kids they taught.
• Our kids grew up without a lot of the "finer things" in life. They've always driven my hand-me-down cars and always known that birthdays and Christmas would not involve gifts that were large in value or number. Rather than whining about it, they have always been gracious and appreciative of whatever gift they have received.
• They have always loved going on vacations with us. When they were in high school we always did a summer vacation. One year it was the Great Summer Hall Of Fame Tour...baseball, football and Rock and Roll. One year we surprised them with a trip to Universal parks and a stay at the Hard Rock Hotel. Tomorrow we leave for a vacation in Atlanta. Sorority Girl is coming with us. Cape Cod Kid is sad because he can't come. He just spent his vacation competing in a KungFu tournament in DC, where he placed 4th or above in 6 black belt categories.
• I recently got on facebook. I didn't ask them to be my "friend" because I didn't want them to think I was invading their privacy. The first day they both asked me to be their friend.
• They call their grandmothers on every important day or holiday
• They survived a childhood with a mother who was not healthy from the time they were 6 and 9 years old. It didn't make them bitter or resentful. Sometimes I think it made them love me more.

What I Learned This Weekend

This past weekend wore me out. Not the good kind of tired from working hard or exercising or accomplishing . I'm talking about that kind of worn out when you fling yourself into bed at night and your body twitches and your mind races.

I try to find the lessons in things. I hope I learned from the past two days.

When you have a choice between unbearable pain and suffering the side effects of pain meds, it's sometimes better to choose the side effects.

Facebook is not the place to get into a spitting contest with judgemental people.

Never believe the boss when he calls you to say "Ummmm, I think we're going to cancel your shift today". Because when you change into shorts and a t-shirt and throw your hair in a ponytail and don't put on makeup and go grocery shopping, your boss will call and say "Gee, we're really busy, do you think you could come in?"

Don't start the NYT Sunday Crossword at 9PM. The old brain cells have already gone to bed by that time.

People REALLY hated Michael Jackson. Because he was creepy and looked funny. If we made a list of all the artists in time that we're supposed to "hate" because they looked or acted weird, it would be a VERY long list and we would have missed out on some really good art and entertainment.

Vacation starts in 72 hours. it's a good thing because my brain really needs one.

Like/Not Like/Don't Care

Blackbird started it. Badger ran with it. I'm giving it a stab.

10 things I like:

• Sparkly clean store from 2 after-closing sessions of deep cleaning
• Home-brewed french vanilla iced coffee
• Planning my Mom's 75th surprise birthday bash
• So You Think You Can Dance
• Going to Atlanta next week to see Mr SS's sister and her husband and my 2 delicious nephews.
• My craigslist $75 clothes dryer
• Crepe Myrtle in bloom
• Celtic Thunder
• Facebook
• The necklace I received as a gift from The Women's Colony

8 things I don't like:

• The brand new 5 inch wrinkle running across my forehead
• Half-assed menopause that won't commit to getting the job done
• People who break my daughter's heart
• The BLACK SNAKE that is living in the foliage outside my bedroom window
• Spring+Long-haired cat=fur sticking to the ceiling
• My toes. I'm holding out on getting a pedicure until next week
• The price of gas
• Non-restful sleep

5 things I don't care about

• Jon and Kate trainwreck
• Sarah Jessica Parker's twins
• All My Children stupid summer storylines
• The heat. I'm not bothered by 100 degrees.
• The fact that I can't think of 10 things I don't care about

Things I Learned From My Dad

How to cook scrambled eggs
How to make a milkshake
How to do long division
How to perfectly toast marshmallows
How to see the humor in things
How to love classical music
How to eat steamers

Johnny Carson is funny
So is everyone on the Carol Burnett Show
Walter Cronkite is trustworthy

Where to scratch a cat so you can make it purr
You can drive all the way to the top of Mount Washington
If you're going to go camping, a pop-up trailer is pretty comfortable



How to sit quietly in church.
You do not count the number of nuns, candles, stained
glass windows, people with hats, or lights in the ceiling.

I never saw a Purple Cow
I never hope to see one
But I can tell you anyhow
I'd rather see than be one

Age 1 is not too young to introduce a grandchild to Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
Age 2 is not too young for a grandchild to ride in the wheelbarrow on top of a pile of rocks and dirt.
Age 3 is not too young to introduce a grandchild to Jeopardy!

When your child calls you and says she is taking your 5 week old grandchild
to the ER of a major medical center, the grandparents should
arrive no more than 2 minutes after the child and his parents get there.

If you find an author you really like, you should read everything they've written.

If you're going to do something, give it 110%