Passion

I just think this flower is cool. It's from the passion vine outside our kitchen window. Click on it to see it up close.

this and that

We've been planning our family vacation (a novelty we started last year...you should try it) and have decided on South Padre Island. Other than the 9-hour plus drive, I'm looking forward to it. We're possibly renting a small condo instead of doing the hotel thing. We're also going to try out Schlitterbahn Beach, which will likely be the highlight of the trip. Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels was a hit last summer, and I expect this park to be even better.

So I played around with Google Earth for the heck of it, and it is so cool to use when planning a trip! You plug in some addresses and basically get to fly around from spot to spot, aerially watching the route to and from each location. I used it to watch the route from the condo to the waterpark, for example. Then I decided to visit Washington, D.C., Paris, and Berlin. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to get clearer pictures up close - I don't know if that's just how it is, or if you have to pay the yearly subscription to get better quality?? Any Google Earth gurus out there, let me know.

Other than that, we are chilling this week. It was nice to finally see Bailey again. She had gone to the lake with friends the last time she was with us and was then at her dad's for a week. Of course, the first day back with us she went off to spend the night at a friend's. If Bailey's not doing something socially every single day, she feels deprived.

Addison is working TWO jobs now. I'm really impressed with the stuff she's handled lately, coordinating two jobs and approaching bosses with related issues. She'll work no more than 15 hours a week during the day at a place called Michael's Charcoal Grill, and then 6-8 hours a week for the minor league baseball team as a ticket taker. The second job will be over shortly after school starts back up.

Okay, it's time for yoga and I'm stalling. I had a pic or two to add, but the blogger's not letting me add them right now.

Twenty years

I don't feel old enough to be having a 20-year high school reunion. I went to my mother's 20th reunion when I was about 16, and those people seemed r-e-a-l-l-y old. I didn't go to my 10-year reunion, because it was still fresh enough in my mind how much I hated the last two years of high school. And although I'll take 90% of the blame for not enjoying school, it was partly the fault of some people I'm paying a lot of money to see next month.

But so much time has passed, that now what matters is seeing people I went to school with from third grade on. Something about literally growing up with these people gives us a bond of some sort. I don't care who's fat, bald, out of rehab, gorgeous, a bazillionaire, or just really weathered looking from what life has thrown them. I just want to see some familiar faces. Because what I'll be remembering are the crushes from grade school, or the slumber parties (when girls really froze each other's bras), or the teachers we made fun of together.

So aside from some anxiety that people will remember me, I'm planning on having a good time.

Three Faces of Evil

This is Junior not happy, planning his attack. All because I wouldn't let him chew on a cord.

Summer reading

I've been reading this book by David Sedaris, who last night made me laugh to the point of that uncontrollable stage. That point where you can't stop giggling every few seconds, hard as you try, and you start to get embarrassed if someone else is around.

Sedaris is gay, and that must have been on my mind while dreaming last night. So I have this dream that some woman has a husband that is either over in Iraq or dying of cancer, I can't remember which. Anyway, she was having a hard time dealing with whatever the situation was, and for some reason I was designated to console her. The reason I was chosen? Because in the dream I had a gay friend. So I woke up from the dream and was trying to figure out why having a gay friend made me so suitable to offer support and sympathy to people in need. Apparently in my dream, it was a tragedy to have gay friends and therefore I would be an expert counselor to this woman. I woke up feeling guilty for dreaming that, but you know how dreams are. If you take them literally, you'll miss the humor.

Nut-N-Honey

It was one of those busy weekends: a BBQ Friday night, a wedding on Saturday, drag races that night, manual labor around the house most of Sunday, and then Father's Day stuff that evening. Is it wrong that my favorite part of the weekend was laying my head on the arm of the loveseat Saturday night and drifting off to sleep?

The BBQ was okay. The host was a fairly new engineer that likes to boss the summer interns around. It's getting on my nerves. But everyone else was fun and we had a good time with them. The wedding was pretty, but good Lord, people -- don't have outdoor weddings in June in West Texas. It's just a bad idea. I nearly gagged when the lady in front of me in her spaghetti-strapped dress was dripping sweat from underneath her arms. You had to be there.

The drag races were cool. These were mostly modified street cars (I heard Alan use that term), but we also got to see a few funny cars. Those were really cool! I was taken back to my childhood when we would go as a family out to the demolition derbies or other races, and I could be found covering my ears from the engine noise. To say the least, the drag races were really, really LOUD. And Alan got hit on the head by a rock thrown by a redneck kid from behind the stands. Apparently drag races are redneck magnets. If some of these people spent as much on their teeth and clothing as they do on their cars and tobacco, they might not appear so rednecky. Still, it was fun to do something different for a change.

That's all - nothing much on my mind, hence the subject line. Remember that cereal commercial?

What's next...

Once when Addison was driving this week, I found myself staring at her for a few seconds and then said out loud, "I can't believe I'm looking at you driving." Too much of the time with Addison it seems I'm wondering when things will change, so it's weird when things change almost too quickly. For example, she applied for and got her first job yesterday and enters the working world tomorrow.

At first I was really excited for her, but a few hours later I was sad that she's about to discover what it's like when your free time is gone. I'm also dreading (for her) those first couple of days when you're in training and trying to learn everything at once. And since I'm the one spearheading this whole get-a-job thing, I know I'm going to feel some guilt over it. But along with her new driving privileges comes the responsibility to help pay for the expenses. Of course, when she heads to the mall to spend some of that first paycheck, that guilt better dissipate!

I know there are positives such as -- it'll be a good experience for her, it'll teach her more responsibility, it'll help her grow up, blah, blah, blah. I know she's going to do great, but right now I feel like I've thrown her to the lions.

Summa-time news

Thought I would throw in a quick blog before heading out to work in the yard this morning. With temperatures averaging 102 in Midland for the next 5 days, it's best to get it done early.

We had a fun weekend with the Richardsons in Edmond, and let me tell you - never lacked for food. It's like staying at a B&B - cooked-to-order breakfast, steaks for lunch, and Heather stocks the guest bath better than any five star hotel. We had an awesome dinner out Friday night, and I don't think I'll forget mine and Heather's incident with the waiter any time soon. He was a Shia LaBeouf look-a-like, and here are some pics for Heather so she knows who I'm talking about. I still think something weird was put in my salty dog.

Other than that, this week has so far been centered around teaching Addison to drive. If you're not from around here but have had extended stays in Midland, then you're probably one of those that complains about Midland drivers. Factor that into the already frightening experience of riding around with a novice teenage driver, and you've got an idea of how my week is going. :-)

Futball

My niece Caitlin's soccer team won the State Cup in Oklahoma and are moving on to Regionals, to be held in Little Rock later this month. Wow. Here's an awesome picture of her following the win.

(I think her dad, Ray, took the shot, but I'm stealing the photo from DeeBee's blog page.)

Randomitis

I read today on some stranger's blog that her blog was "just a place to get out my thoughts so I don't bore the rest of the world." I can relate to that. Today's blog may be just that. Mostly because I don't have anything else to do, it keeps me from being a couch potato, and it makes me forget that my stomach is hurting.

So that quote got me to thinking that I've had occasions in life where I truly felt I was boring. Even today I look around at my limited circle of friends and wonder if my boring-ness is the problem. Then I look at my really good friends, although few in number, and am quite pleased with life. Two such friends are Joe and Heather, and Alan and I are excited that we're going to hang out with them this weekend. Around these two people, you can totally -- and I mean totally -- be yourself. We can talk about anything and everything, and can be goofy, serious, crude, sentimental, drunk, sober, religious, apathetic, whatever. And at the risk of making this seem like a shrine to J&H, I could go on about other friends but won't. Yes, I have only a handful of really good friends, but you know who you are and you're awesome. I'll suck up to you another day. :-)

My head hasn't hurt much since Sunday night, but the rest of my body can't absorb that. My stomach thinks it should still be queasy. However, I made myself do yoga this morning and WOW, taking a week off sure makes a difference. I was ready to puke after the workout.

Rachel Ray is getting on my nerves. I used to be a big fan, before she got wildly popular. I even have one of her cookbooks, or actually it's Bailey's. She even has her own magazine now. What other woman has her own magazine? Oprah is the only one that comes to mind. Anyway, I think she makes my bloodpressure rise or something when I watch her show. She is so hyper, loud, and spastic that it makes me nervous. But I still like her recipes, so I'm trying to watch her show right now with the sound turned down but still slightly audible.

That makes me think of how good a job Alan did taking care of me Sunday. While I was sleeping/drifting, he brought in a CD player and put in this instrumental CD that he knows is my favorite. He turned it down very low, and normally this would have been a pleasant thing. Unfortunately, with migraines it seems that any little sound gives your brain something to try to focus on. Yet you cannot focus on anything but the pain. So if someone were to ask you what two plus two was, you might really struggle to come up with the answer. So...the music was really giving me difficulty, because my brain was trying to follow the melody and forcing it to function....and anyway I had to turn it off. It was a sweet thought though. Alan's a nurturer. He likes to take care of people.

If you read all of this, you have a lot of patience. I think blogs should be about two paragraphs, maybe three if they're short.

6 months to more freedom

I took my oldest child to Driver's Ed training today. I may have been more excited than she was. I think she was feigning "this is no big deal," but was secretely excited. Why is it that I'm feeling such a sense of accomplishment? Like I should be proud of myself because she physically lived to be 15 1/2 years old and old enough to start this next phase of her life? Maybe it's because I have survived those 15 1/2 years of raising this person. Let me tell you - it's no small accomplishment. (Love you, Addison. :-) ) And that freedom I mentioned? That's MY freedom!

Anyway, what I should be is scared. Reeally scared. She gets her permit in three days.

Break from blogging

I had such a good time with my sister and her kids being here, that I think my body protested when they left early yesterday morning. I promptly developed the migraine from hell, a kind of which I haven't experienced in probably 15 years. (I had a similar one but not as bad, about six years ago. I had some drugs to take then and that ended me up in drug-rehab after a random Chevron drug test. That's another long story, but know this - I did NOT need drug rehab!)

Even though I get regular headaches, I've always known there are people who get much worse ones, and so I've tried to speak humbly of mine. But yesterday I could call myself one of "those" people. After I finally puked around 6:30 p.m., I seemed to have expelled the demon. I may not be eating chocolate bon-bons for a while though.

And now for my Excedrin Migraine commercial. I had recently switched to another aspirin brand and haven't had much luck with it. So before my puking attack, I whimpered to Alan to "please go get me some Excedrin Migraine." Within an hour and a half my headache was completely gone, while the other stuff I'd taken all day hadn't made a dent. I learned my lesson. I will worship Excedrin at the altar of pain medication from here on out.

So while yesterday was a blur, the past week was great. I really think I have the coolest niece and nephews on the planet. They have one flaw however - they could eat mexican food from Rosa's every day of their lives. Imagine a house full of adults and kids who have eaten lots of mexican food for days on end. It's lovely, and quite aromatic. But besides eating at Rosa's, DeeBee and I took them shopping, swimming, and the rest of the time they played outside or stayed in for video games. Alan finally got in some much needed video-game-playing-time, since we rarely saw him emerge from the back bedrooms the last two days.

I couldn't find any pictures of the oldest, Dylan, but I think everyone respected his aversion towards having his picture taken. :-) About an hour after they left, I spotted a picture of Cody on the computer screen and was missing them already.