our crazy little world. read on if you dare. i promise you'll giggle.

We Three

We Three

Monday, February 27, 2012

MONDAY!

I mean really! 
Some Monday's are just really Monday, ya know. 


It's not quite 10am on this current Monday. 
Let's review:


Alarm goes off for gym at 4:40am. Most mornings I hate that stinking alarm. I lay there having an in-depth conversation with myself, reminding me that I will certainly feel better after a run, and of course that I have a half marathon in not quite five weeks. And usually, I then crawl out of bed and get moving.  There are those mornings, today being one of them, where I just know I need the sleep and stay put...


Next alarm, at a more humane hour, goes off. we grumble and groan, and get out of bed. all is moving smoothly. as usual, Bill is ready hours ahead of me.. taking care of the dogs, the turtle, packing lunches, and today even running out to get Paper Towels & Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwiches,.. both of which had been forgotten during weekend shopping, and both of which are vital to our household. I was moving along - actually ahead of schedule with hair & makeup. Even had an outfit already planned out in my head- which is key for me. (note: 'ahead of schedule'  - yes, I time my morning routine by The Today Show and which local break or weather segment is on the air...)


This friends.. is where the downhill adventure begins. Hair done, makeup done. I put on my dress. Which has not been worn since early November. And is now 2inches shorter than it was in November. While it's quite cute, and looks quite good on me, it is NOT quite office appropriate. ARGH. I try to take solace in the fact that its not shorter due to me being wider, in fact, I remind myself, I'm less wide than last time I wore it. But I apparently did NOT get it out of the dryer in time (note: these thoughts run through my head in roughly .08 seconds). 


I'm now stumped. It is one of those days where it is a cloudy mid-40s morning, but in roughly 4 hours it will be sunny and mid-60s.  Weather like this takes planning. I pull out another dress option. Good length, tho it's one of those thin sweater dresses that needs tights in order to keep certain underclothes lines at bay. And its too hot for tights. Mental note: this dress now retired until next Fall.


Jeans = always an option, but this is the time of year where I want to be in dresses and save the jeans for rainy days. I imagine most of you think that at this point I should have just said screw it, pulled out ol faithful jeans and topped with medium weight sweater. NO. Dammit. I will wear a dress!


Third & fourth options.. both dresses, both proper fit and length, but a TAD too springy for Feb 27.  Both made of lighter materials, and just not quite right for Feb 27. 


At this point it's ridiculously close to the time we should be walking out the door. Bill has been home from the store and eaten. And is desperately trying to keep me from going over the Wardrobe Ledge. It doesn't help that our closet is a Black Hole. And, a danger to one's attempt to stay vertical, due to Erin's Boots strewn all over the floor. Does this happen to other people? 


I finally grumble and grab my denim skirt, which annoys me since I just wore it Thursday. And I grab a trusty pink embellished tee, and gray sweater that can be peeled off as the day warms. Change from camel boots to gray. Switch out gold-based jewelry to the silver-based. 


As I rush out to the kitchen to take my pills (multivitamin, allergy, etc etc) it occurrs to me that we're meeting a Closet Lady at our house at 3pm today. And there is a trail of clothes & shoes and jewelry from closet to bed... OMG how can I let someone see our house like this?!  ARGH. but there isn't time to clean up. And well. hell. Maybe she'll see the insanity of my morning and understand it is all the Closet's fault. And she'll come up with some awesome plan for designing a new closet, and give us a discount. Right?


We get to work. I get to my office. Sweating a tad from the rushing around. I sit down. Phone rings. It is Bill.  Calling to tell me his laptop is still at home.. in the living room....




WE LOVE YOU MONDAY!


on that note, I'm off to get some work done. and assume it can only get better. 

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Time Machine


Do you ever hear a song and it takes you instantly back to a place?

I heard old-school Alabama song Song of the South on the way to the gym the other morning. And then all of a sudden it the early years of college, at a certain Frat House, with certain friends, all of us singing every word at the top of our lungs and laughing endlessly.  There might have been moon-shine soaked Cherries in the vicinity.

Then one  morning after taking Eileen to school, Billy Joel’s Only the Good Die Young came up on the play list. That one takes me to that summer with Cheri and Billy in Marion. I can’t remember if we were 15 or 16. I got to stay with them for what was probably a couple of weeks, but I swear it felt like the whole summer. After a day at the beach we’d spend a lot of time in the back-garage-converted-to-a-bedroom where Billy got to sleep. There may or may not have been beer present. May or may not have been snagged from the parental unit’s cooler. And we listened to a lot of Billy Joel.

You know that song at the end of Grease –that one We Go Together that reminds me of 8th grade. We had a lip synch contest every year, and that year at the end of it we uber-cool 8th graders did a surprise performance at the end of the show to that song. Now as a person well past the age of 14.. I wonder if it really was a surprise!?  Also in that same vein is all things RobertPalmer. Our friend Derek ‘perfomed’ that song, slick backed girls in black dresses and red lipstick included. And he did a back hand spring. And I think at that point he was the only male we’d ever seen do that and it was C O O L.

Baby Got Back  - classy song right? Me and Lisa would drive around aimlessly and listen to that song over. And over. And over. Just to get all the words memorized. That was also popular when we took the Youth Group trip to Florida.  Yes. Apparently Father David tuned out THAT song and let us play it endlessly. (and fine, me and Lisa weren’t driving around aimlessly. We were stalking John and Josh L). And for the record, I still know every single word. 

Enough is Enough – Barbara Streisand and Donna Summer. Oh yeah. Good stuff and you know it. Sissy and I loved, I mean LOVED, that song.  We’d sing our heads off in the den. She would stand on the coffee table my Grandpa Julius had made and twirl around with a wooden spoon for a microphone.
The Christmas albums by Johnny Mathis and Boston Pops/Arthur Fiedler. Records- actual vinyl. We had those when we were kids. And it was a big event every year to get them out, and WE got to work the record player. Those speakers were taller than ME.

Walkin in Memphis.. well duh. Of course that one is here. Cheesy, yes. But we liked it. And I still do. J

Smells Like Teen Spirit and Jeremy. We’d never heard anything like it. Our Freshman year we went to see NKOTB (seriously? You don’t know what that stands for? Fine = new kids on the block) in CONCERT. And Milli Vannili. YES, I admit it. I saw both groups in a short span of time. And so did Katie and Beth and Shannon P and I think Jennifer.  And less than a year later  was this grunge thing. Nirvana and Pearl Jam. I remember Holly actually learned to play Smells Like Teen Spirit on the piano.

Life is a Highway. If Kristin is reading this right now, she just did the Woody Woodpecker laugh. My word I LOVED that song. And there was one morning driving to school in the little red Sentra it came on the radio, FM100 to be exact. And when it was over Ron Olson (yes, I remember the DJ, and he’s still on the radio now..) said he loved that song so much, he was going to play it again. And he did. And I turned it up crazy loud.

Anything from BloodSugar Sex Magik album. John loved it. And played the TAPE in his JAMBOX in his CAR because our cars were so old they didn’t have cassette players. And he’d have cleaned the car and it was a big bench seat in front and we’d turn a corner him, the jam box, and the other two or three of us up front would slide all over the place.

Other than the Alabama songs.. I can’t say there’s a lot of songs that stick out from College. Which may or may not have had to anything to do with kegs.  And keg stands.

I could go on.. but the ones from being a kid are the best. How very specific some of the visions in my head are when I hear certain songs now and again. 

Random posting I know..  but fun right?!

Thursday, February 16, 2012

burger night - orange

burger night - orange

burger night - orange by stantau featuring metal shades

Oh My. I may have to start a whole new blog just about clothes. Thanks to pinterest I ended up  on this other site called polyvore.com, which seems to just have all sorts of prepared outfits. I might get lost in that site. And it lets me post outfits I like straight from their site to my blog. 


ohhhh i am literally giddy. 


(yes. i know i'm a dork).

Theory sleeveless top
$108 - theory.com

Rag & bone distressing jeans
$105 - shoplesnouvelles.com

Hermes shoes
$570 - usa.hermes.com

Prada tote handbag
$325 - saksfifthavenue.com

Gold tone jewelry
$22 - lorisshoes.com

Prada metal shades
$330 - nordstrom.com

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Candid Camera and Kindergarten

My goodness. Look at our little girl. She was quite happy with this outfit. Accessorized with the necklace all on her own, and applied her bright pink lipgloss perfectly. 


We were headed to her future school for Kindergarten evaluation. She was actually quite annoyed that I was not LEAVING the school while she had her tests.  I wasn't in the room with her- but this girl wanted mommy GONE (no idea where she gets that....). 


I'm not concerned with how she scored. The kid is adaptable, has been in school since she was 14 weeks old. She's reading a little and is spouting off French words left and right. It still baffles me she's speeding towards age six and 'real' school.


Our trip last weekend to Memphis can only be called a Comedy of Errors. Over the course of roughly 48 hours, we encountered:

  • A closed Children's Museum (that only closes one day a year...apparently the day WE are in town)
  • A gym of epic existence, where one could easily spend an entire day
  • On the hunt for a Chuck.E.Cheese - by choice - in order to makeup for the closed museum.. only to end up in not the best part of town... and then trying to explain to Eileen what that means
  • Taking Eileen for a 'Jamocha' Shake at Arbys - of which I'd never heard but clearly SHE knew what it was.. only to wait in line behind a slightly off woman who ordered enough food for 12.. to find out the shake machine was broken.  
This was all just the first day. We finally found a place called "FunQuest" which appeared to have bowling and roller skating. oh yes. real actual old school roller skating.  Only to find out the rink was closing for private Roller Hockey Practice. It was at this point we felt we had stepped into The Twilight Zone. 

WHY is this sideways?!
There was finally success with bowling. Eileen loved it. And there was beer. What more can a family want?!

(why wasn't this place open yet? and why doesn't knoxville have one?!)

There was more fun the next day ...
  • Second trip to the Museum proved successful, in that it was open; tho we opted for a new route to get us there... said route took us near the Memphis Airport. I'll leave it at that.  
  • Heading back to Dad's we opted for a different route.. which brought us to train tracks with a train. The slowest train you have ever seen in your entire life. Ever. It was baffling.  Bill was inclined to wait it out. When I finally drove him crazy enough he finally took a u-turn and we opted for a more scenic option...
  • Taking Poplar Ave.. which is one of Memphis' biggest and busiest streets...happily driving along until we get to a Detour.  Flashing lights, big STREET CLOSED DETOUR signs. Wait what? You don't just close Poplar in the middle of the day.... turns out a train had derailed. 
  • Really? really? I mean when is the last time THAT happened? Apparently we are bad luck for Memphis. The plus side here was we took an even MORE scenic route, one on which Eileen got to see Grampie's old house.
Finally home in time to see the SuperBowl. Sigh. Most of you know my team is the Pats.. so that basically sucked. Especially since I am successfully training Eileen in all sports Boston (sans college ball) and she ran around rubbing it in Bill's face that the Pats were winning.. until they lost. Ergh. 
I must now train Eileen in all things superstitious.. curses, jinxes, Bill Buckner.. we have work to do. 

She had a blast with Grandpa & Beanie. She's fascinated by their new house, and the fact that it has a clubhouse is apparently beyond cool. 

She's quickly learning the value of money. The girl is obsessed with the Barbie Jeep. Which is NOT cheap. So we keep telling her if she wants it she has to pay for it with her own allowance. You know.. that parent thing where you tell a kid that so they'll just give up on the idea? I'm usually really good at that.

I guess she reeeealy wants it. 
Sample conversations of late: 
E: oh Mommmy can i get these Squinkies
Me: Sure, if you pay for it with you're allowance.
E: Oh. Hmm. Nevermind. I want the Jeep.

This Jeep is one of those that can actually be driven. Gets up to maybe 10mph. On the one hand, if she's inherited a smidge of my grace and coordination, do we actually want her in a contraption with the ability to run over innocent squirrels? 
Awkward Creepy Family Photo

On the other hand.. if she's that determined, and we've been preaching allowance/we're not made of money, if she truly saves the money, how can we say no?

Wait. I figured it out. I'll just do her chores FOR her, so then she can't get any points. And no points means no allowance, right? 

Sweet. SEE? I really am brilliant.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

oh yes. i'm here!

Happy Valentine's Day!


Apparently I have been in a timesuck (is that a word?) bc it has been several weeks since a post... 


I can sit here and blame it on the general chaos of life.. but eh. we all know that I practically live on Pinterest, and when not there.. I'm playing Words With Friends!


But stress not dear friends!
There is not one, but TWO posts sitting in draft.. just waiting on final edits.


Stay tuned. In the mean time go find a loved one and give 'em a hug.