Ramblings Of A Rumbling Mind (Or Vice Versa)

This is my 245th post. In honor of this milestone, today's topic, boys and girls, will be: general stuff that has floated through my head in the past few hours. There is really no connecting thread linking these thoughts together. This is actually how my brain works.

My right ear has a tendency to stop up whenever it rains outside or whenever it gets too cold. My right ear has been bugging me today. I wish I had a small plunger to use on it to take the pressure off of it.

The latest craze in make up has been the "natural" look. If I wanted to look natural, I wouldn't wear make up in the first place. I normally don't at home because my family is used to looking at me when I first wake up and they haven't run away yet. When I go out in public, I don't WANT to look like my natural self. People may not be able to handle it;hence, make up for me.....unless I'm going to some place like the Dollar Store, because who cares what you look like there?

I think that maybe I need to get out more. I feel that I am losing my edge and becoming dull and flaccid. I love that word.....flaccid. Say it real loud 3 times.....fllllllaaaaaaaaccccciiidddd. I need to get out in the world more and allow people more chances to irritate me.

I have two dog houses in my back yard and the dogs won't sleep in either one. They would rather sleep on the back porch.

Being 40 is harder than it looks.....believe me. Physically....I feel 40. Mentally I feel....12. And sometimes it is really hard to reconcile the two.

Sometimes I miss being young and idealistic...other times I am glad I am no longer that naive.

I don't know if you guys have Sonic resaurants where you are. If you do, try buying a bag of their ice. It is wonderful. Don't eat the food though. That's kind of gross.

The average life span of a woman in this country is like 78 years. If the Lord blesses me to live until 80, that means I am exactly half-way through my life right now. I hope the latter half is a whole lot better than the first half.

I want to read, read, read. I want to paint. I want to lie on the beach at sunset and listen to the waves crash against the shore.

I want to surprise someone in a good way.

I want to change someone's life with my words.

I want to change my own life with my actions.

I love it when it's really cold outside and you've been asleep in a toasty house all night and first thing in the morning you just open your front door and stick your head out and brrrreeeeeaathe in realllllly deeply. That's a great sensation.

I love reading to my kids but I like it better when they read to me. That way I can get misty eyed at how grown they are becoming and they won't see me.

I write letters to my kids that are not to be opened until 20 years after the date I write them. That way, in 20 years, we can all read them together and remember how wonderful life was (is) then (now).

My husband eats gross food. So do I....just not the same kind.

I smoke too much. Have tried (am trying) to quit, but with no success.....yet.

My boys like to get in the bed with me at night and I don't look forward to the day when they are too big to, or no longer want to.

They start school next year. They will probably not shed a tear on that first day. I will.

I cry a lot.....it's just what I do.

I think a lot...probably too much.

I talk a whole lot....definitely too much!

I don't sleep enough.

I don't appreciate myself enough.

I count my blessings...all of them.

Don't forget to count yours.

Peace alllllllll........................

Talking and Listening

I started therapy again today. I had actually started some months ago but when Grover had to go in the hospital and all that, I had to put it on the back burner for a while. So I finally got to start again. Oh, I love therapy! I mean that. I really, really love it. I think that everyone should go to therapy for at least 6 months (with a qualified counselor of course).

I mean, think about it. An hour or so every couple of weeks where you sit in a climate controlled environment, soft lighting, warm surroundings.....and talk. About anything, about everything. And the person to whom you are speaking actually....listens. Aaaah....speaking as a wife and a mother....who could ask for anything more? I love my husband but let's face it. If the subject at hand is not martial arts or bills, well.....his eyes have a tendency to take on that glazed "I'm not listening and I really wish I was somewhere else" look. He loves me .....but that whole ADHD thing is a real pain sometimes.

I love my kids but, well........let's face it. Unless it involves money, candy or McDonalds, they aren't the most rapt listeners sometimes either.

And sometimes, that's all we really need......for someone to listen.

After all....I think that's why actors and politicians choose their respective fields. They just want someone to listen to what they have to say and think that it's important.

Not everything I have to say is important. More often than not, it's fairly irrelevant. But that doesn't negate the need for a good listener. From time to time anyway. I talk to my animals, but they don't talk back. I talk to my husband and my kids but that's a 50/50 proposition at any time. I talk to my friends but they are often wrapped up in their own problems. That's the way of the world. It is what it is.

And I talk to God. I know HE listens. But sometimes I have a hard time hearing what He's saying. Which lets me know that if I want to have a good listener, I need to work on being one as well.

Peace allllllllll.................

Sickies

Tuesday: the kids started to get sick. Grover and I gave them medicine, popsicles, soup and warm blankets, not to mention much love.

Wednesday: the kids got worse and Grover started to get sick. I gave them all medicine, popsicles, soup, honey lemon tea and warm blankets, not to mention much love.

Thursday: the kids were getting better, Grover was getting worse and I was starting to get sick. I gave them all medicine, soup, popsicles and warm blankets, not to mention much love...all while I was coughing, shaking, shivering and sweating.

Friday: the kids are fine, Grover is good enough to be at work. So, where's my soup, popsicles and warm blankets? Well, I guess I'll have to get 'em myself.

Not to mention: where's the love people...where is the love??

Ah, well....such is the price we moms pay. (At least I don't moan as much as Grover:))

Peace alllllll...............

Tuesday Is Saturday

Josh had a sleepover this weekend with two of his best friends, Johnny and Ariel (yes, that's a guy). Sounds like fun right? I thought so too, at first. But, as they say, hindsight is 20/20.

Consider, if you will, who occupied my home for three days: 3 fourteen year old boys, a 5 year old boy, a 4 year old boy, a 40 year old man (who sometimes acts like a 14 year old boy), 2 dogs, 2 cats and me. You may think you know but you have no idea. I thought I knew but I was wrong.

First, I failed to realize just how much 14 year old boys can eat. They eat a lot. A LOT. Huge, massive quantities of food go into their gullets....constantly. They are NEVER full......NEVER. I went to the grocery store on Friday in preparation for this event. I have to go back again today. And the funny part is that the skinniest one, Ariel, the one who looks like he has bones poking through his skin, ate the most. Where did he put it? Does he have two stomachs??

Second, I failed to realize just how much energy teenagers have. My little ones have energy, this is true;HOWEVER, they cannot compare to the boundless energy these young men have. Seriously, these guys would go to bed at 2 a.m. and be back up at 6 a.m. ready to roll. Just when I thought sleep deprivation had left me for a while.

Third, I also didn't realize what it would be like competing for computer time with 3 teenage boys, not to mention phone time. I have a cordless phone that in all the time I have had it has never had the battery die. It did this weekend. Truthfully, I could leave my phone off the charger for 3 days (and I have) and it would be fine. This weekend, after marathon phone calls to "girlfriends" and homies, my poor phone needs a 24 hour nap.

Add all of this to the regular routine of one 14 year old, a 5 year old and a 4 year old (not to mention the dogs and the cats and the husband) and my house looks like someone just tried to beat it to death. My house literally looks tired. And then consider the two boys that came over are as different as night and day. Johnny is a lady killer who talks all the time. Ariel is a shy guy who sees dead people. (Really, he does...just like Rachel. What is it with me knowing people who see dead people? Suddenly I'm feeling very much like Bruce Willis in "The Sixth Sense")

So, where I would normally consider Saturday to be my "day off", not this week. This week Tuesday is my Saturday and that's all there is to it.

They were loud, they were hungry, they were boisterous. They taught my children how to belch louder and how to run through the house at breakneck speed without falling. I got no sleep, refereed wrestling matches between them and my husband, played more video games than I ever thought possible and delved far too deeply into the minds of teenage boys. (Some things that teenagers are thinking adults really don't need to know about.)

I am sore, I am hoarse, I am exhausted.

And I can't wait to do it again. :)

Peace allllllll.................

3 Reasons Plus 1

There are 3 reasons my husband loves Valentine's Day:

1. I would prefer that he wait until the day after to buy any chocolates. The cheapskate in me just can't refuse a "holiday clearance" sale!

2. He doesn't have to take me out anywhere....he just has to let me take a nap.

3. He doesn't have to buy me flowers....he just has to pick up his socks.

And there is only one reason that I love Valentine's Day:


My husband is still here for it.:)

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you!!!!


Peace allllllllllllllll.........................

One Question

I only have one question today.

The answer to this question probably won't matter to a whole lot of people. It really shouldn't matter to me. But.....for the life of me, this question has been nagging me constantly for the past few days.....ever since I saw a commercial for a "documentary" entitled "Air Guitar Nation".

Seems there are national competitions to see who plays the best "air guitar". I guess one would be judged on costume, "playing" style and stage presence because as we all know.....an air guitar is a PRETEND guitar. It's not real....it's IMAGINARY! Yet, these people spend months "practicing" on something that is not real.

This is my question: If you are going to spend all of that time learning how to play something that doesn't even really exist, then why don't you go out and get a real guitar? Learn how to play that?

I know, it's not my business...it's theirs. It's not my concern...it's theirs. If I don't want to watch people engage in oversized rock star dreams to the embarrassment of themselves and their relatives, I know that all I have to do is turn the channel. I know all of this. But still....isn't it all a little childish? A little silly?

And a little bit pointless....since we all know; that,given a bedroom, a bathroom...or a kid-free house any day of the week.....I would SMOKE ALL of 'em!!

(Just not in public;))

Peace allllll................

(Bi) Racial Equality

My 14 year old son is bi-racial. His birth mother is black and Blackfoot Indian and his birth father is white. We have raised him with an appreciation and a respect for not just one, but all facets of his ethnicity. This was not hard to do, it didn't take a whole lot of extra effort and it has been very rewarding in many different ways. He has been educated in the history and cultural differences of whites, blacks and Native Americans. If you were to ask him "What color (or ethnicity) are you?", he will tell you "I'm mixed". This has never posed a problem for him and it has never been an issue for us.

The reason I bring all of this up is this: lately, it seems, over the past few years, I have noticed that fewer and fewer people are willing to embrace the idea of multiethnicity. Some people, and the numbers are growing larger, are insistent on a bi-racial person claiming or "identifying with" one race, even though their bloodline contains two or more. Why is this?

Why do so many people (especially celebrities) feel compelled to choose an etnicity? It's like a game show, "Pick -A- Race". I think that I need to remind them of something: in embracing just one, you are discarding the others. You are tossing away an entire history of people, a bloodline that flows through your veins. What are you so ashamed of?

Barack Obama: I love you...love that you are a young idealistic man....but you're not black...you're biracial. And if black people don't like to be reminded of that...tough. If white people don't like to be reminded of that...tough.

Halle Berry: Honey, you are bi-racial. I realize that your mother told you when you were young to "identify with the group that you looked the most like." But you know, part of growing up is realizing that maybe mom is not always right.

Tiger Woods: Well, you have had issues with both sides concerning your ethnicity. That's because you choose to be "black" when you're dealing with black people and you choose to be "asian" when you're dealing with non-black people. And that's just sad.

Most of us were taught when we were children that color doesn't matter. Martin Luther King Jr. once said "let us not judge a man by the color of his skin but the content of his character." When did that idea meet its demise?

It's frightening to think that a 14 year old child has more character than those in the public eye.

There are those who will disagree with me. Okay. You have the right to do so...it's still a free country. Too bad some of those freedoms don't extend to everyone.

Peace allllllllllll......................

Not Much

Well, there's not a lot going on today to ruffle my feathers so I think I will answer this little questionaire I ran across the other day? Ready....set.....go!


What time did you get up this morning? Well, if you don't count the times during the middle of the night when I got up to a) go to the bathroom b) check on the kids for the 100th time c) get a drink of water (which leads to back to "a") or d) let the cats in or out of the house.....then I would say that I got up for the day at around 6:30 a.m.

What was the last film you saw at the cinema? "Halloween H2O".....yes, it's true....my social life is that sad

Favorite TV show? "House" and "Criminal Intent"

What did you have for breakfast? A banana-tangerine smoothie....made it myself and it was fabulous!

What is your middle name? Gail

What food(s) do you dislike? Beets and anchovies.....together or separately

What kind of car do you drive? 2001 Jeep Cherokee ....it's boxy...but it's good:)

Favorite sandwich? Pita bread stuffed with tuna and lettuce

What characteristic do you despise? Rudeness in all its forms

Favorite item of clothing? My blue toboggan hat. I would wear it year round if I could

If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Ireland

What color is your bathroom? Peach accented with green

What is your favorite brand of clothing? The cheap brand!

Where would you like to retire? In Maine.....definitely on the beach in Maine

Your most memorable birthday? My 16th.....I had a party at my brother's house in the country with about 20 people...the highlight of the evening was the "no-hands spaghetti eating contest"...my best friend Nicole won by a nose....literally

Favorite sport to watch? Football (come on I'm from the South....you're exiled if you don't watch football)

Faorite quote? "The best portions of a good man's life is his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love." William Wordsworth

When is your birthday? August 24th

Morning or a night person? Night, night, night!

What pets do you have? A dog, Foxy and two cats Thunder and Lightning

What did you want to be when you were a little kid? A veterinarian

Favorite flower? Daisies and roses, in that order

What color crayon would you be? Blue...it goes with everything:)

Siblings? Two brothers, one sister.....Mark, Kevin and Becky

What is your favorite day of the year? Christmas Day

What was your favorite toy as a child? My stuffed Snoopy and then my stuffed Henry dog

Summer or winter? Fall

Hugs or kisses? Hugs....especially from my boys

Coffee or tea? Neither....it's either water or Sierra Mist

When was the last time you cried? This morning.....something I was reading in a book....it doesn't take a lot to get me going....it's a great source of amusement to my family...yeah, they're kind of twisted ;)

What is under your bed? Who knows? Not me!

Favorite smells? Citrus, coconut and flowers......also any really, really good men's cologne

What are you afraid of? Heights...won't even use a step ladder

Salty or sweet? Salty

Favorite day of the week? Thursday

How many towns have you lived in? 3 Madison,Alabama Huntsville, Alabama and Newport News, Virginia

Where do you live now? Huntsville, Alabama

If you have read all the way through this, consider yourself tagged:)

Peace allllllll................