Hey, y'all!
So it's Monday. The first full day of school for my new ninth grader. My graduate is still in the bed.
If you know me, you know I'm not a morning person. I do not bounce out of bed early all bright-eyed and bushy tailed. My eyes don't get bright nor my tail bushy until at least 9 a.m., and even then only after ingesting the appropriate amounts of caffeine. And school days mean I have to get up at what time? They make that in an a.m. version?
But I love Mondays while the kids are in school. The way it used to work is I got up way earlier than I wanted to and made sure that Christopher caught the bus as he should, drug Catie out of bed and off to school while still in my PJs and working on my second cup of coffee. Then I got home, refilled the coffee cup, turned on the radio and got busy cleaning the house (unless I had an awesome weekend and needed more sleep, in which case I went back to bed for a couple of hours and dreamt about housework.)
I don't know why it is, but an empty house is so much easier to clean. Even when they are holed up in their rooms....they're still here, and it makes a difference. I have no idea why. Yes I do....my graduate is still in the bed. I can't vacuum right now if I wanted to. Wait...yes I could! *evil grin*
But today is different...sort of. It is now 9:30 a.m. I have downed nearly six cups of coffee (by Mr. Coffee's measurements. In Lisa cups it's more like two. Who is he measuring for...the Keebler elves?), made a batch of waffles, got the daughter off to school, checked Facebook 300 times, made a grocery list, and washed two loads of clothes. I am still in my jammies and slowly but surely making my way to the shower. No really! Okay. Not really. I don't have to get dressed yet because...well, I don't have to. Instead, I'm sitting on my couch blogging. But after this I'm getting dressed. No, really....
Christopher is still asleep. His alarm has gone off five times. I counted. He has an appointment with a personal trainer at the gym today. Now this is strange. Not the gym, but he's doing his own thing nowadays, and I find I have very little say in the matter. I mean, he didn't even need my permission to join a gym. He just did it! My boy is grown and I feel very weird about it. The day is coming when he is going to finally make enough money to support himself, and he is going to move out. I don't want to think about that yet, so I won't!
Catie, on the other hand, she still needs me a little bit...more than she thinks she does. :) I let her drive a little yesterday. That feels weird, too, to look over in the driver's seat and see my little girl sitting there. Okay...she's officially bigger than me, but still! She looked so pretty going off to school this morning. She seems so much more comfortable this year and confident that she will have a good year. I am very proud to see it.
Well....I have very much enjoyed these few minutes on my couch with my computer and my seventh (fourth?) cup of coffee. But now I really do have to go get dressed. I only have five hours before I have to pick Catie up and I still have a lengthy to-do list...and I refuse to be like 75 percent of the Walmart population and grocery shop in my jammies. ;)
Monday, August 12, 2013
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Cue Styx: "I've got too much...time on my hands..."
I'm in a totally new stage with this parenting thing. All of a sudden I have way too much free time on my hands. Y'all know this means trouble, right? They say idle hands are the devil's workshop.
What has happened, I think, is that over the last year and a half or so several things occupied my time. Within about a month, most of those things disappeared. Some, like the cable, I got rid of on purpose. (Oddly enough, to create more free time.) Some, like a relationship, just ended. And somewhere through all this, perhaps while I was out on dates and watching too many episodes of The Big Bang Theory, my kids grew up even more.
So now my daughter just turned 15 (what??) and my son will be 18 in about three weeks (what????). He hasn't needed me for much for quite some time, and now she's expressing her independence. (Hell hath no fury like a 15-year-old girl who has been told "no," let me tell you.) For the most part, she's holing up in her room or hanging out with friends. Which is good...she's a normal 15 year old.
But I'm ending up sitting on my pretty, oh-so-comfy couch, under my snuggly, fake white fur blankie and wondering what the heck to do now. Go for a walk? Did it. Call a friend? Yeah, but you can really only pester them so many times before they start wanting to buy you a puppy. There's always laundry. Meh. Paint the furniture? Maybe when the weather turns nicer...and I decide exactly what I want to do to that poor entertainment center. Read a book? Why doesn't that sound more appealing than it should?
*Sigh* I'm working it out. Hopefully I won't get into too much trouble in the meantime. ;)
What has happened, I think, is that over the last year and a half or so several things occupied my time. Within about a month, most of those things disappeared. Some, like the cable, I got rid of on purpose. (Oddly enough, to create more free time.) Some, like a relationship, just ended. And somewhere through all this, perhaps while I was out on dates and watching too many episodes of The Big Bang Theory, my kids grew up even more.
So now my daughter just turned 15 (what??) and my son will be 18 in about three weeks (what????). He hasn't needed me for much for quite some time, and now she's expressing her independence. (Hell hath no fury like a 15-year-old girl who has been told "no," let me tell you.) For the most part, she's holing up in her room or hanging out with friends. Which is good...she's a normal 15 year old.
But I'm ending up sitting on my pretty, oh-so-comfy couch, under my snuggly, fake white fur blankie and wondering what the heck to do now. Go for a walk? Did it. Call a friend? Yeah, but you can really only pester them so many times before they start wanting to buy you a puppy. There's always laundry. Meh. Paint the furniture? Maybe when the weather turns nicer...and I decide exactly what I want to do to that poor entertainment center. Read a book? Why doesn't that sound more appealing than it should?
*Sigh* I'm working it out. Hopefully I won't get into too much trouble in the meantime. ;)
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Taking a break
So what have you been up to?
I got off Facebook for a few days. The truth is, I will probably be back before anybody really notices I'm gone. I disabed my page Friday because...well, I don't know. It seemed like a good idea. I think maybe it's good to take a break from it once in a while.
A few observations:
* Facebook has become too much of my social life. If it weren't for that website, I probably wouldn't talk to anybody. I've become very dissatisfied with that fact. Not that I don't like keeping in touch with a lot of people at one time, but with some people, that's the only time I'd talk to them. I guess it's better than nothing, but I think how easy it has become easier to comment or like a status and harder to pick up the phone. Time to fix that.
* It probably won't stick because sometimes it will be difficult to do my job without it. That became evident when I did a weather story and the guy told me he was posting information on their Facebook page. Many businesses are on Facebook, and there is so much information that now goes out over it that it could actually hinder research. Fortunately not a tremendous amount, but enough to be an inconvenience. Not to mention it's great for finding sources.
* I think sometimes Facebook can be a little tough on the self-esteem. I don't know about you, but when Holly Homemaker posts that she is able to bake a perfect spaceship cake, keep her house spotless and the laundry caught up and climb Mt. Everest without scuffing her nail polish, I get a little discouraged. But most people, like in life, only put their best foot forward on Facebook. I know I do. I'm not going to post "So today I didn't shower, I'm sending my kids out for pizza and I'm watching my 15th straight episode of Big Bang Theory." No, I'm going to tell you about this awesome thing I did or this delighfully witty thought I had. But then someone else will post that today they're flying to Kilimanjaro or building a house with their bare hands and well...I'm just little ol' me, proud of myself for cleaning the toilet today. Let the negativity begin.
* In the same vein, I got rid of cable because I did not want to live my life on the couch watching people's lives play out on a little box. Facebook is the same thing. I spend way too much time watching all of my friends live their lives out on my computer screen and my phone, when I should be out doing something.
I dunno. I think maybe I just lost focus. Facebook isn't bad. I just want to break some habits, and maybe rethink the way I use it. I've had a lot of little things going wrong lately and I realized I needed to shift my focus back to the things that are important. Like my job, the kids, the house, my friends. In person.
It's been good! I pulled the plug on Friday and since then, I feel like I actually talk to my kids more. No more checking Facebook at stop lights. More focused at work. I've been reading a book. I feel more present pretty much everywhere and I'm getting stuff done. And I can accomplish things and enjoy that without having to tell the world all about it on Facebook.
Speaking of, I painted my coffee and end tables! I'll post pics as soon as I'm on Facebook again. ;)
I got off Facebook for a few days. The truth is, I will probably be back before anybody really notices I'm gone. I disabed my page Friday because...well, I don't know. It seemed like a good idea. I think maybe it's good to take a break from it once in a while.
A few observations:
* Facebook has become too much of my social life. If it weren't for that website, I probably wouldn't talk to anybody. I've become very dissatisfied with that fact. Not that I don't like keeping in touch with a lot of people at one time, but with some people, that's the only time I'd talk to them. I guess it's better than nothing, but I think how easy it has become easier to comment or like a status and harder to pick up the phone. Time to fix that.
* It probably won't stick because sometimes it will be difficult to do my job without it. That became evident when I did a weather story and the guy told me he was posting information on their Facebook page. Many businesses are on Facebook, and there is so much information that now goes out over it that it could actually hinder research. Fortunately not a tremendous amount, but enough to be an inconvenience. Not to mention it's great for finding sources.
* I think sometimes Facebook can be a little tough on the self-esteem. I don't know about you, but when Holly Homemaker posts that she is able to bake a perfect spaceship cake, keep her house spotless and the laundry caught up and climb Mt. Everest without scuffing her nail polish, I get a little discouraged. But most people, like in life, only put their best foot forward on Facebook. I know I do. I'm not going to post "So today I didn't shower, I'm sending my kids out for pizza and I'm watching my 15th straight episode of Big Bang Theory." No, I'm going to tell you about this awesome thing I did or this delighfully witty thought I had. But then someone else will post that today they're flying to Kilimanjaro or building a house with their bare hands and well...I'm just little ol' me, proud of myself for cleaning the toilet today. Let the negativity begin.
* In the same vein, I got rid of cable because I did not want to live my life on the couch watching people's lives play out on a little box. Facebook is the same thing. I spend way too much time watching all of my friends live their lives out on my computer screen and my phone, when I should be out doing something.
I dunno. I think maybe I just lost focus. Facebook isn't bad. I just want to break some habits, and maybe rethink the way I use it. I've had a lot of little things going wrong lately and I realized I needed to shift my focus back to the things that are important. Like my job, the kids, the house, my friends. In person.
It's been good! I pulled the plug on Friday and since then, I feel like I actually talk to my kids more. No more checking Facebook at stop lights. More focused at work. I've been reading a book. I feel more present pretty much everywhere and I'm getting stuff done. And I can accomplish things and enjoy that without having to tell the world all about it on Facebook.
Speaking of, I painted my coffee and end tables! I'll post pics as soon as I'm on Facebook again. ;)
Sunday, February 10, 2013
I did it
I whacked the cable the landline last week.
It was partly for financial reasons -- that one phone call saved me more than $100 a month. Well, really about $1,000 a year, since I've been sending Comcast a big enough check every tax time to cover a year's worth of cable, phone and internet services. This year they get a third of that. That makes me happy. New couch, come to Mama!
But part of it too was that I realized my kids watch TV and movies on the internet. Seriously! I have been paying for something that they were doing for free. I was the only one who watched the darned cable, and way more than I wanted to. Every evening I camped out in PJs in my customary spot on the couch. The laundry piled up, papers piled up, dust bunnies multiplied. I stopped walking and gained weight. Ugh!
My first year on my own I didn't have any of those services. When I first got cable/internet/phone four years ago, I outlawed electronics during the week. The kids should be doing homework, I said, so no TV, computer, video games, etc. Yeah, I'm mean. I know.
It went for me, too. The TV only came on for the music channels. I cooked dinner, went for walks, read, cleaned the house after work. Spent more time with the kids. Yeah, I blogged, too. Things just seemed more efficient. I had one or two shows that I liked to watch, but I didn't need to make sure I caught up on the latest episodes. Besides, I had OnDemand for that.
Over time, the television came on more and more often. I began to look too forward to couch time. I'm not hatin', but I always said I wanted to do things, not watch people doing things on a little box.
So I axed the cable. It's been about a week and let me tell you....I am now bored! LOL
No, it's not bad, really. It is an adjustment, though. The piles are getting smaller. I have discovered ebooks at the library and have one I'm reading and one waiting to be read. I'm caught up to only THIS week's laundry. I'm actually calling friends again. I like to think they've missed me. And soon I'm going to get my chunky butt back outside and around the block...although if my sister and I end up joining the Kroc Center like we're talking, that will become a mute point.
It's back to the beginning and it will take some getting used to, but I rest much better at night knowing I did stuff that day.
It was partly for financial reasons -- that one phone call saved me more than $100 a month. Well, really about $1,000 a year, since I've been sending Comcast a big enough check every tax time to cover a year's worth of cable, phone and internet services. This year they get a third of that. That makes me happy. New couch, come to Mama!
But part of it too was that I realized my kids watch TV and movies on the internet. Seriously! I have been paying for something that they were doing for free. I was the only one who watched the darned cable, and way more than I wanted to. Every evening I camped out in PJs in my customary spot on the couch. The laundry piled up, papers piled up, dust bunnies multiplied. I stopped walking and gained weight. Ugh!
My first year on my own I didn't have any of those services. When I first got cable/internet/phone four years ago, I outlawed electronics during the week. The kids should be doing homework, I said, so no TV, computer, video games, etc. Yeah, I'm mean. I know.
It went for me, too. The TV only came on for the music channels. I cooked dinner, went for walks, read, cleaned the house after work. Spent more time with the kids. Yeah, I blogged, too. Things just seemed more efficient. I had one or two shows that I liked to watch, but I didn't need to make sure I caught up on the latest episodes. Besides, I had OnDemand for that.
Over time, the television came on more and more often. I began to look too forward to couch time. I'm not hatin', but I always said I wanted to do things, not watch people doing things on a little box.
So I axed the cable. It's been about a week and let me tell you....I am now bored! LOL
No, it's not bad, really. It is an adjustment, though. The piles are getting smaller. I have discovered ebooks at the library and have one I'm reading and one waiting to be read. I'm caught up to only THIS week's laundry. I'm actually calling friends again. I like to think they've missed me. And soon I'm going to get my chunky butt back outside and around the block...although if my sister and I end up joining the Kroc Center like we're talking, that will become a mute point.
It's back to the beginning and it will take some getting used to, but I rest much better at night knowing I did stuff that day.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Some of my memorable stories
It has come to my attention that this year is my 10 year anniversary with the company.
The letter says this month, but actually it's in December. Either way, y'all know how nostalgic I am. I spent the afternoon reflecting on my career...how far I've come and how I've regressed. But seriously. Since I've been thinking about it here and I wasn't terribly busy today, I spent the last couple of hours digging through the archives. I thought I'd share with y'all a few of my favorite stories from the past 10 years. Most are pretty old, all of my North Augusta Today stuff is gone, thanks to a virus in the database.
When I think about my stories, though, these are a few that rise to the surface.
Mother finds son she gave up in 1984
Every family has a history
Woman gets dying wish to see her parents
And from the WAY BACK files:
The famous pigeon racing story:
Exchange students share their views of our country:
And a paraplegic drag racer, who kicked butt on the strip:
The older stories seem much better, but then again, we had more time and editors to devote to developing and polishing them. Now it feels like we just churn out copy. I miss those days.
The letter says this month, but actually it's in December. Either way, y'all know how nostalgic I am. I spent the afternoon reflecting on my career...how far I've come and how I've regressed. But seriously. Since I've been thinking about it here and I wasn't terribly busy today, I spent the last couple of hours digging through the archives. I thought I'd share with y'all a few of my favorite stories from the past 10 years. Most are pretty old, all of my North Augusta Today stuff is gone, thanks to a virus in the database.
When I think about my stories, though, these are a few that rise to the surface.
Mother finds son she gave up in 1984
Rationing the meal money
(She lived two more years after this. :) )
Monday, January 14, 2013
Chris's car
I'll keep this one short, because I's tired!
My boy got his first car today and let me tell you, he is some kind of excited!
I won't get into all the gory details, but basically a good friend needed to get rid of her family's second car and she had a great price on it.
I didn't know how I'd come up with the money to buy it, I just knew I had to and it was possible. Turns out, God was way ahead of me. Some of the people who love us offered to help.
One of the perks of being a parent is getting to surprise the heck out of your kids. I think I was more excited about this than he was! While he was still waiting for more information about how long he had to come up with the money, and while he undoubtedly spent more time daydreaming about his new car than listening to his teachers today, Robb and I drove to Columbia to buy the car. We barely made it home before Christopher did!
We waited in the driveway for him to come home. His girlfriend's mother drove him home, and he jumped out of the truck just beaming!
The coolest thing has been watching him take responsiblity for it already. The driver's side tail light was out when we got it. The very first thing he did was drive it to O'Reilly's to get new bulbs, and he fixed it on the spot. Looked like a pro, too! I asked him if he'd ever done anything like that before and he said "I've watched it once..." But he handled it, fixed it, it worked and everything. Then we went and showed it off!
All evening he's been calling insurance companies to find the best rates. Y'all, I fully expected to have to pretty much tell him who to call and what needed to be done each step of the way. All I did, pretty much, was said "to get this thing on the road you need a, b, and c." He took that and ran with it. I am so proud of him!
My boy got his first car today and let me tell you, he is some kind of excited!
I won't get into all the gory details, but basically a good friend needed to get rid of her family's second car and she had a great price on it.
I didn't know how I'd come up with the money to buy it, I just knew I had to and it was possible. Turns out, God was way ahead of me. Some of the people who love us offered to help.
One of the perks of being a parent is getting to surprise the heck out of your kids. I think I was more excited about this than he was! While he was still waiting for more information about how long he had to come up with the money, and while he undoubtedly spent more time daydreaming about his new car than listening to his teachers today, Robb and I drove to Columbia to buy the car. We barely made it home before Christopher did!
We waited in the driveway for him to come home. His girlfriend's mother drove him home, and he jumped out of the truck just beaming!
The coolest thing has been watching him take responsiblity for it already. The driver's side tail light was out when we got it. The very first thing he did was drive it to O'Reilly's to get new bulbs, and he fixed it on the spot. Looked like a pro, too! I asked him if he'd ever done anything like that before and he said "I've watched it once..." But he handled it, fixed it, it worked and everything. Then we went and showed it off!
All evening he's been calling insurance companies to find the best rates. Y'all, I fully expected to have to pretty much tell him who to call and what needed to be done each step of the way. All I did, pretty much, was said "to get this thing on the road you need a, b, and c." He took that and ran with it. I am so proud of him!
Monday, December 31, 2012
A Single Point of View: The mountains!
A Single Point of View: The mountains!: We went to the mountains over the weekend. My dad was able to get a cabin in North Carolina for the week through his company, and this girl...
The mountains!
We went to the mountains over the weekend.
My dad was able to get a cabin in North Carolina for the week through his company, and this girl takes advantage of every opportunity to go see something different on the cheap. (Can we say free lodging??)
The kids and I spent almost as much time driving as we did actually at the cabin, but it was worth it. They were captive for about 10 hours over two days while we were on the road, which meant they had to listen to me sing! ;)
Okay, I lied. I sang, they blared dubstep in their ears to drown me out. But every now and again I would nudge whoever drew the short straw to be my passenger/navigator to point out something interesting (are those mountains or clouds? They're mountains! No...they're clouds.)
The cabin was beautiful. Two-stories sitting on the top of a small mountain.
We tried convincing the kids that the outhouse behind the cabin was the only bathroom.
Frankly, I'm glad it was just a joke, or that was about to be one helluva long weekend!
I know the cabin had running well water (which the kids declared delicious), electricity and a woodburning stove, but it was still rustic. It didn't even have wifi!
Because she couldn't be on Facebook (lucky for me it DID have 4G ;) ), I have a sneaky suspicion my daughter stayed up too late reading her new book using a new-to-her booklight after I sent her to bed. Luckily we still had cell service or Christopher might have had an apoplexy. As it was he got to talk to Beth until 11-something.
The only thing I wanted to do Saturday morning was curl up in a rocking chair with a blanket and a steaming mug of coffee, and chit chat with my Dad. And I did it! It lasted all of about 15 minutes, because Daddy needed to go in the house for something, it was only about 36 degrees outside and my coffee got cold very much quick.
Then we went for a walk in the woods. When I was growing up we used to do that all the time. Daddy would take us camping at Clark Hill (when it was still Clark Hill and you could go anywhere you wanted to without paying a day-use fee) and we'd all spend hours walking through the woods and running from snakes. I still love it...in winter....when the snakes are safely asleep underground.
We left about noon thirty and my plan had been to mosey on back, stopping wherever we felt like. I did have a mission to stop in Helen and make unfavorable comparisons to the real towns in Germany. Of course, since it's been now 2 1/2 years since I went to Germany, I don't remember anymore! The weather was cold and rainy, and I do remember that. But except for the major cities that look more like Augusta than Helen, I don't ever remember seeing that many people. Well...maybe the Hauptstrasse...
You can't see the people in this picture, but I promise they were there. And here I thought we were the only crazy people to be out walking around in such weather.
The only other stops we made were potty breaks. Too many of them, but you know how that goes. As much as I wanted to stop and see sights, I really wanted to get back into familiar territory by dark. We only got lost twice on the way and I figured that was adventure enough.
Tax time is in a month or two. Time to start planning our next adventure!
My dad was able to get a cabin in North Carolina for the week through his company, and this girl takes advantage of every opportunity to go see something different on the cheap. (Can we say free lodging??)
The kids and I spent almost as much time driving as we did actually at the cabin, but it was worth it. They were captive for about 10 hours over two days while we were on the road, which meant they had to listen to me sing! ;)
Okay, I lied. I sang, they blared dubstep in their ears to drown me out. But every now and again I would nudge whoever drew the short straw to be my passenger/navigator to point out something interesting (are those mountains or clouds? They're mountains! No...they're clouds.)
The cabin was beautiful. Two-stories sitting on the top of a small mountain.
We tried convincing the kids that the outhouse behind the cabin was the only bathroom.
I know the cabin had running well water (which the kids declared delicious), electricity and a woodburning stove, but it was still rustic. It didn't even have wifi!
Because she couldn't be on Facebook (lucky for me it DID have 4G ;) ), I have a sneaky suspicion my daughter stayed up too late reading her new book using a new-to-her booklight after I sent her to bed. Luckily we still had cell service or Christopher might have had an apoplexy. As it was he got to talk to Beth until 11-something.
The only thing I wanted to do Saturday morning was curl up in a rocking chair with a blanket and a steaming mug of coffee, and chit chat with my Dad. And I did it! It lasted all of about 15 minutes, because Daddy needed to go in the house for something, it was only about 36 degrees outside and my coffee got cold very much quick.
Then we went for a walk in the woods. When I was growing up we used to do that all the time. Daddy would take us camping at Clark Hill (when it was still Clark Hill and you could go anywhere you wanted to without paying a day-use fee) and we'd all spend hours walking through the woods and running from snakes. I still love it...in winter....when the snakes are safely asleep underground.
We left about noon thirty and my plan had been to mosey on back, stopping wherever we felt like. I did have a mission to stop in Helen and make unfavorable comparisons to the real towns in Germany. Of course, since it's been now 2 1/2 years since I went to Germany, I don't remember anymore! The weather was cold and rainy, and I do remember that. But except for the major cities that look more like Augusta than Helen, I don't ever remember seeing that many people. Well...maybe the Hauptstrasse...
You can't see the people in this picture, but I promise they were there. And here I thought we were the only crazy people to be out walking around in such weather.
The only other stops we made were potty breaks. Too many of them, but you know how that goes. As much as I wanted to stop and see sights, I really wanted to get back into familiar territory by dark. We only got lost twice on the way and I figured that was adventure enough.
Tax time is in a month or two. Time to start planning our next adventure!
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Merry Christmas!
Feeling a little pensive tonight.
Not really. I am sitting here on the night shift hoping the good people of Augusta behave so I can go home at a decent time. (Selfish? Yes! LOL) I got to sneak away from work on my dinner break and drop in on my family's Christmas party. I'm in a pretty good mood.
But I have had a thought this week I feel compelled to share. It will get deep. Change the channel now if you like.
This time last week I was pretty well freaking out. We can all agree Christmas is a stressful time, right? There are all these parties, and shopping, and presents. And if you're like me, that all translates into money.
The rest of the year it's hard to find two nickels to rub together as it is, but at Christmas? We're supposed to show each other how much we love them by spending money on them. So last week I was down because all I could think of were the things I can't do. Mainly the things I can't buy for other people. And that makes me feel bad, like a I'm a failure or somehow don't measure up.
One night last week, as I crawled into my snuggly warm bed (I wish you could hear how many times I thank God for my snuggly warm bed. I love my bed!), I started praying about these things.
"Lord, I want so bad to get _____ for Christopher for Christmas! It feels so awful not to be able to give him this thing that he wants. And I feel so bad that I was only able to get _____ for Catie. Lord, I want to be able to give them whatever they want. I really just want them to have a good Christmas!
And about that time, I think I said something like, "Lord, I know that you keep a roof over our heads and that you keep us from being hungry....."
That's when something inside me said "Lisa, shut up."
I realized that everything I was complaining about was extra stuff. When I started thanking God for the things I do have - a warm bed, a full tummy, heat, a nice house, a job doing what I love that pays for it all, it felt ungrateful to complain because I don't have more for extra stuff. I wasn't asking God for needs. I was asking God for wants. Maybe that's not wrong, exactly. I think God wants to give us more. I like to think that it was good that I was upset because I wanted to give more. But I think maybe it was wrong to ask for it as though it was something I needed, something I'm somehow entitled to.
Believe it or not, God gave me more and I was able to do more. That doesn't make my attitude right, though.
In the past 5 years, since I have been on my own, God has met all of our needs, and quite a few of our wants.
Once I realized that, most of my stress went away. :)
Anyway, I thought I'd share that, in case someone else out there is stressing over what they aren't able to do. That's not what this Christmas thing is about. This is about thanking God first of all for His gift to us. For being thankful for everything He has already given us, for joyfully (not regretfully) giving what we are able, and enjoying spending time with each other.
This really is the most wonderful time of the year.
Merry Christmas, y'all!
Not really. I am sitting here on the night shift hoping the good people of Augusta behave so I can go home at a decent time. (Selfish? Yes! LOL) I got to sneak away from work on my dinner break and drop in on my family's Christmas party. I'm in a pretty good mood.
But I have had a thought this week I feel compelled to share. It will get deep. Change the channel now if you like.
This time last week I was pretty well freaking out. We can all agree Christmas is a stressful time, right? There are all these parties, and shopping, and presents. And if you're like me, that all translates into money.
The rest of the year it's hard to find two nickels to rub together as it is, but at Christmas? We're supposed to show each other how much we love them by spending money on them. So last week I was down because all I could think of were the things I can't do. Mainly the things I can't buy for other people. And that makes me feel bad, like a I'm a failure or somehow don't measure up.
One night last week, as I crawled into my snuggly warm bed (I wish you could hear how many times I thank God for my snuggly warm bed. I love my bed!), I started praying about these things.
"Lord, I want so bad to get _____ for Christopher for Christmas! It feels so awful not to be able to give him this thing that he wants. And I feel so bad that I was only able to get _____ for Catie. Lord, I want to be able to give them whatever they want. I really just want them to have a good Christmas!
And about that time, I think I said something like, "Lord, I know that you keep a roof over our heads and that you keep us from being hungry....."
That's when something inside me said "Lisa, shut up."
I realized that everything I was complaining about was extra stuff. When I started thanking God for the things I do have - a warm bed, a full tummy, heat, a nice house, a job doing what I love that pays for it all, it felt ungrateful to complain because I don't have more for extra stuff. I wasn't asking God for needs. I was asking God for wants. Maybe that's not wrong, exactly. I think God wants to give us more. I like to think that it was good that I was upset because I wanted to give more. But I think maybe it was wrong to ask for it as though it was something I needed, something I'm somehow entitled to.
Believe it or not, God gave me more and I was able to do more. That doesn't make my attitude right, though.
In the past 5 years, since I have been on my own, God has met all of our needs, and quite a few of our wants.
Once I realized that, most of my stress went away. :)
Anyway, I thought I'd share that, in case someone else out there is stressing over what they aren't able to do. That's not what this Christmas thing is about. This is about thanking God first of all for His gift to us. For being thankful for everything He has already given us, for joyfully (not regretfully) giving what we are able, and enjoying spending time with each other.
This really is the most wonderful time of the year.
Merry Christmas, y'all!
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Clandestine
So there I was, sitting in my car in the far corner of the Kmart parking lot, where I'd be fairly easy to spot.
I was waiting on a lady I knew only by first, middle, and last name and a Facebook photo, who would arrive in a black Dodge Charger with white stripes.
I hoped I'd recognize her.
The car pulled alongside mine. A man was driving. The woman, looking like she hadn't left the house all day, emerged from the car and came to my window.
"$25, right?" she said as she placed a couple of wadded bills into my hand.
I nodded and handed her the bag.
"Thank you,"
She ducked back into her car and they drove away.
She never even opened the bag.
This has happened before, once, when a woman driving a Tahoe met me in the parking lot of Academy Sports to sell me a turtleneck sweater.
As I drove away from Kmart, I hoped no cops were watching. In this particular neighborhood, the only defense I have is that a Bi-Lo bag of decorative plates in no way resembles a dime bag of an illegal leafy substance.
It's happening all over town. Middle aged women in Camrys meeting in parking lots to exchange cash for "the goods": baby clothes, Raggedy Ann dolls, boots and DVDs.
The Online Yard Sale: It's almost clandestine...except it's not.
I was waiting on a lady I knew only by first, middle, and last name and a Facebook photo, who would arrive in a black Dodge Charger with white stripes.
I hoped I'd recognize her.
The car pulled alongside mine. A man was driving. The woman, looking like she hadn't left the house all day, emerged from the car and came to my window.
"$25, right?" she said as she placed a couple of wadded bills into my hand.
I nodded and handed her the bag.
"Thank you,"
She ducked back into her car and they drove away.
She never even opened the bag.
This has happened before, once, when a woman driving a Tahoe met me in the parking lot of Academy Sports to sell me a turtleneck sweater.
As I drove away from Kmart, I hoped no cops were watching. In this particular neighborhood, the only defense I have is that a Bi-Lo bag of decorative plates in no way resembles a dime bag of an illegal leafy substance.
It's happening all over town. Middle aged women in Camrys meeting in parking lots to exchange cash for "the goods": baby clothes, Raggedy Ann dolls, boots and DVDs.
The Online Yard Sale: It's almost clandestine...except it's not.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
One of my best writings
I was having coffee with one of my artist friends the other day, and we got to talking about poetry. Y'all, I am not a poet. It's just that every now and again, well, that particular bug bites.
I was telling her about this one....whatever you call it. I wrote it many years ago, during a dark period in my life when I was afraid to write, because I was afraid whatever I said would be either misconstrued or used against me. I hadn't thought about it in a long time until the other day, and I shared it with her.
And that made me think, hey! I should share it with you! So here. I hope you like it. :)
I shiver. I cannot see. I wait for my eyes to adjust to the unrelenting blackness, but they do not. They cannot. My hands shake. I reach out my hand, wanting to touch something, yet afraid I might. My hand reaches on. Grasping. For what, I do not know. Something...anything. I hug myself. Think...think. I am strong. I know I am strong. Why can't I think? A dream. "Wake," I whisper. Nothing. I begin screaming, "Wake! Wake!" Still nothing. Softly, softly a voice whispers, "It doesn't have to be this way." All is still. A little louder, "You have the power." Slowly, ever so slowly, thoughts, blessed thoughts, beginning to form in my head. "I have the power," I whisper, unbelieving. "I have the power!" I repeat. Something is different. Ever so softly, the blackness eases. Slowly, shadows appear. Shadows! Light! Hope! Only...it is still too dark to see. The world is misty. I rub my eyes, desperately wanting to see clearly. Knowing there is something to see, something I need to see. Searching, I will my eyes to focus...focus. But the world remains elusive. "I have the power!" I scream again, but it is not enough. More is needed. More what? "Think!" I command myself. Thoughts form. Thoughts! I can think! My eyes finally focus. I can see my surroundings. Something is beside me, whimpering. It is Confidence. I had not heard her before, but she is weeping now. She is broken...bloody....beaten. I wash her wounds with my tears. I fuse her bones with my will. I heal her bruises with my strength. I brush her hair and dress her in my finest gown. Sunshine envelops her, and she is beautiful. She heals my heart with her smile. Warms my soul with her laughter. She fades, and I am frightened. I turn to the mirror. The grey mist is gone, and I can finally see clearly. She is me.
I was telling her about this one....whatever you call it. I wrote it many years ago, during a dark period in my life when I was afraid to write, because I was afraid whatever I said would be either misconstrued or used against me. I hadn't thought about it in a long time until the other day, and I shared it with her.
And that made me think, hey! I should share it with you! So here. I hope you like it. :)
I shiver. I cannot see. I wait for my eyes to adjust to the unrelenting blackness, but they do not. They cannot. My hands shake. I reach out my hand, wanting to touch something, yet afraid I might. My hand reaches on. Grasping. For what, I do not know. Something...anything. I hug myself. Think...think. I am strong. I know I am strong. Why can't I think? A dream. "Wake," I whisper. Nothing. I begin screaming, "Wake! Wake!" Still nothing. Softly, softly a voice whispers, "It doesn't have to be this way." All is still. A little louder, "You have the power." Slowly, ever so slowly, thoughts, blessed thoughts, beginning to form in my head. "I have the power," I whisper, unbelieving. "I have the power!" I repeat. Something is different. Ever so softly, the blackness eases. Slowly, shadows appear. Shadows! Light! Hope! Only...it is still too dark to see. The world is misty. I rub my eyes, desperately wanting to see clearly. Knowing there is something to see, something I need to see. Searching, I will my eyes to focus...focus. But the world remains elusive. "I have the power!" I scream again, but it is not enough. More is needed. More what? "Think!" I command myself. Thoughts form. Thoughts! I can think! My eyes finally focus. I can see my surroundings. Something is beside me, whimpering. It is Confidence. I had not heard her before, but she is weeping now. She is broken...bloody....beaten. I wash her wounds with my tears. I fuse her bones with my will. I heal her bruises with my strength. I brush her hair and dress her in my finest gown. Sunshine envelops her, and she is beautiful. She heals my heart with her smile. Warms my soul with her laughter. She fades, and I am frightened. I turn to the mirror. The grey mist is gone, and I can finally see clearly. She is me.
Friday, October 19, 2012
And now....a poem entitled Hands
Don't ask me why, but I felt like writing a poem. Now I really must get back to work. ;)
HANDS
I look at my hands
They are always in front of me
I see them clutching the steering wheel
on the way to the grocery store
or to school
or work
I see them when I type
or write
or fold jeans
sometimes they look youthful
smooth
sometimes the nails are long and red
or pink
most times the nails are short, ragged
clear
Sometimes they look old
the ligaments beginning to create ridges in the skin
the skin, beginning to show signs of wear
More and more lined
Sometimes I look at my daughter’s hands
so youthful and smooth
holding her iPod
or a pencil
or her lunch bag
her long nails painted black
or green
or blue
And I wish my hands looked like hers
that my nails weren’t bitten
and I was brave enough to wear those colors
but then I look at my hands
and I think
of the work these hands have done
the laundry
the dishes
the writing
the driving
the grasping
the hand-holding
the soothing
the tear-wiping
the poking
the tickling
the braiding
and I think
Thank you, Lord, for hands
Monday, October 15, 2012
There's a reason I decorate with words
I don't usually decorate for Halloween, but I really wanted to get into the spirit this year.
I got my inspiration from a candelabra I bought at a Civil War re-enactment. It's wooden and wrought iron (I think), and it looks pretty cool with white candles. I usually keep it on the top of my microwave, because I don't really know where else to put it. Sometimes I'll use it as a table centerpiece. I thought, it looks spooky enough.
I put a fall-themed tablecloth over a stack of round totes and put the candelabra in the center. Then I commandeered "Joey," the skeleton from my son's anatomy project, and a couple of cheap plastic jack o'lanerns.
So here's how it turned out.
Looks awful homespun, don't it. It looked so much better in my head. :(
Ah well.
I'll redeem myself at Christmas! :)
I got my inspiration from a candelabra I bought at a Civil War re-enactment. It's wooden and wrought iron (I think), and it looks pretty cool with white candles. I usually keep it on the top of my microwave, because I don't really know where else to put it. Sometimes I'll use it as a table centerpiece. I thought, it looks spooky enough.
I put a fall-themed tablecloth over a stack of round totes and put the candelabra in the center. Then I commandeered "Joey," the skeleton from my son's anatomy project, and a couple of cheap plastic jack o'lanerns.
So here's how it turned out.
Looks awful homespun, don't it. It looked so much better in my head. :(
Ah well.
I'll redeem myself at Christmas! :)
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Groceries and stuff
I'm supposed to be getting ready to go to the grocery store. Instead I am blogging, 'cause its more fun.
I told you I have been trying to do the couponing thing, right? Well, I just took the last three Sunday papers out of their plastic wrapping. What I've been doing is cutting them out and putting them in baseball card protectors and putting them in a binder. They're supposed to be easier to find. However, this requires time and effort. I devote maybe an hour a week to clipping them but they're like bunnies! They mulitiply faster than I can clip them. So now I have a stack of coupons I refuse to look through and a binder full of clipped coupons that are probably close to expiring. If a coupon I want isn't in there, I don't use them. Extreme Coupon people make this look so easy!!
My freezer is officially bare. Normally I see what I have and go from there, but I'm kind of starting from scratch. So now I get to figure out what I want to make for the next month or so. Then I have to figure out what I need in order to do it. Then I have to go through these coupons to see if I can save 35 cents. (I may just go ahead and pay the 35 cents and save that step!)
Have you ever noticed how grocery shopping eats up an entire day?? Well, it's not the grocery shopping part so much as it is the planning to grocery shop. I end up getting 3/4 of my meals planned and saying "the other 1/4 will come from somewhere." Which, believe it or not, they always do.
I'm off today, which is good. I spent Sunday at church, shopping for compression shorts for Catie and catching up on some office work. Yesterday I spent cutting bushes and cleaning my car, and I did go have coffee with some friends.
That leaves today to grocery shop, clean the house and do laundry. Relax what?? And I had considered going to the lake with my Kindle today. Bahahahaha what was I thinking??
I have determined that maybe next year, I need to just use up all of my vacation time by making every week a three-day weekend. Maybe I actually catch up. Which I'm not doing now, so back to it!
Y'all have a great day!
I told you I have been trying to do the couponing thing, right? Well, I just took the last three Sunday papers out of their plastic wrapping. What I've been doing is cutting them out and putting them in baseball card protectors and putting them in a binder. They're supposed to be easier to find. However, this requires time and effort. I devote maybe an hour a week to clipping them but they're like bunnies! They mulitiply faster than I can clip them. So now I have a stack of coupons I refuse to look through and a binder full of clipped coupons that are probably close to expiring. If a coupon I want isn't in there, I don't use them. Extreme Coupon people make this look so easy!!
My freezer is officially bare. Normally I see what I have and go from there, but I'm kind of starting from scratch. So now I get to figure out what I want to make for the next month or so. Then I have to figure out what I need in order to do it. Then I have to go through these coupons to see if I can save 35 cents. (I may just go ahead and pay the 35 cents and save that step!)
Have you ever noticed how grocery shopping eats up an entire day?? Well, it's not the grocery shopping part so much as it is the planning to grocery shop. I end up getting 3/4 of my meals planned and saying "the other 1/4 will come from somewhere." Which, believe it or not, they always do.
I'm off today, which is good. I spent Sunday at church, shopping for compression shorts for Catie and catching up on some office work. Yesterday I spent cutting bushes and cleaning my car, and I did go have coffee with some friends.
That leaves today to grocery shop, clean the house and do laundry. Relax what?? And I had considered going to the lake with my Kindle today. Bahahahaha what was I thinking??
I have determined that maybe next year, I need to just use up all of my vacation time by making every week a three-day weekend. Maybe I actually catch up. Which I'm not doing now, so back to it!
Y'all have a great day!
Monday, October 8, 2012
Growing up
My son is 17. Which means he's a senior. Which means he's thinking about things. Life things. Big things. Like college. Career. And moving out.
A few years ago, I'm thinking about life without the kids and I'm thinking "Wooo hooo!! I'm gonna have money and I'm gonna travel and I'm gonna do all kinds of cool stuff."
(I don't know where I think all that money will come from, but that's another blog post.)
Now that we're almost on the threshold I'm thinking....wait a minute. How did this happen?
This is weird. I remember being 17 and thinking I needed to be making $500 a week to move out. I don't think I realized you could live on a lot less than that until I saw my sister do it. I, on the other hand, got married before I tried to make it on my own and, well....I guess I did learn pretty quickly you could live on less than that. And raise a family on less, too, but that, too, is another blog post.
Last week we had a college recruiter at our dining room table. We have now formally applied for college. In Tennessee. It's what he wants. I'm hopeful for him. But it's Tennessee. I'm thinking "Lord, if he goes, I hope he remembers to wash his clothes once in a while," and "You know, I don't think I like this not letting me know where he is when he leaves the house business." We need to back up a minute!
*Sigh* He's growing up.
Today on the way home from school, his girlfriend was talking about an apartment she wants to get after she graduates.
Christopher asked me what I thought of him moving out.
I wanted to say "I don't!"
Just yesterday I was remembering him toddling across the living room, propping his elbows against my knees, looking up at me with that sweet little face and clapping his chubby little hands because he made it and didn't fall.
I said, "Well, I guess I think you need to stay home and go to school here where it's cheaper. Then when you have a good job, you need to move out. I don't want you living at home when you're 40. But no, I'm not exactly ready for you to go, either."
No, I really don't think I'm ready. But I am very fortunate. He is a good boy and I know he will do me proud.
A few years ago, I'm thinking about life without the kids and I'm thinking "Wooo hooo!! I'm gonna have money and I'm gonna travel and I'm gonna do all kinds of cool stuff."
(I don't know where I think all that money will come from, but that's another blog post.)
Now that we're almost on the threshold I'm thinking....wait a minute. How did this happen?
This is weird. I remember being 17 and thinking I needed to be making $500 a week to move out. I don't think I realized you could live on a lot less than that until I saw my sister do it. I, on the other hand, got married before I tried to make it on my own and, well....I guess I did learn pretty quickly you could live on less than that. And raise a family on less, too, but that, too, is another blog post.
Last week we had a college recruiter at our dining room table. We have now formally applied for college. In Tennessee. It's what he wants. I'm hopeful for him. But it's Tennessee. I'm thinking "Lord, if he goes, I hope he remembers to wash his clothes once in a while," and "You know, I don't think I like this not letting me know where he is when he leaves the house business." We need to back up a minute!
*Sigh* He's growing up.
Today on the way home from school, his girlfriend was talking about an apartment she wants to get after she graduates.
Christopher asked me what I thought of him moving out.
I wanted to say "I don't!"
Just yesterday I was remembering him toddling across the living room, propping his elbows against my knees, looking up at me with that sweet little face and clapping his chubby little hands because he made it and didn't fall.
I said, "Well, I guess I think you need to stay home and go to school here where it's cheaper. Then when you have a good job, you need to move out. I don't want you living at home when you're 40. But no, I'm not exactly ready for you to go, either."
No, I really don't think I'm ready. But I am very fortunate. He is a good boy and I know he will do me proud.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Big thoughts about small things
Well, alright. So it's been a minute. Sorry for the disappearing act. I've been dealing with stuff and sometimes when you're dealing with stuff, it's the only thing you can think about. And I promise you didn't want to hear about it. And I don't do well hiding what's on my mind. So sometimes, the best thing for me to do is go away for a while.
I'll try to do better. ;)
Have you seen the weather today? I am so in love! I'm trying to hurry and get everything done so I can go for a walk before it gets dark. I got away from it for a while and I can tell it in so many ways. But it is way too pretty to be inside. I've got some cornbread in the oven, some chicken and noodles I made last week in the microwave, and I think I can do this!
The past couple of days I have had the migraine from hell. I normally only have to spend one day on the couch. This time it laid me out for two days. Yesterday I actually had to leave work. I have some meds that knock out the pain, but I was actually dizzy. I never get dizzy! (Shut up!)
The awesome thing about having a 17 year old is that when I have a migraine I can hand him $5 and say "Go get pizza for dinner." And he can! Then yesterday, he and his girlfriend heated up some leftovers I had in the freezer and did an awesome job of cleaning my kitchen. Awesome, awesome, awesome. That's all I can say. :)
I have my windows open. Oh. My. Gosh. How I love this! Okay....this is gonna sound ghetto but, I'm broke. My back screen door is in sad, sad shape. I cleaned it up because I love light and air, and I suffered through the summer keeping the back door closed. But I will NOT be able to live through the fall, too, with the back door closed. However, my screen is coming off at the edges. I have been meaning to tell the landlord about it so she can fix it, but they've been busy fixing other, more important stuff around the house.....like the air conditioner....that I hate to ask them to fix the screen too! So the thing is knobless, and it gaps, and the bugs are getting in. *sigh* I promise I will tell her about it. I promise! In the meantime, anybody got any duct tape??
Also, I have decided to start couponing. Three weeks ago. I researched how to organize it. Got a package of the baseball card holder thingys to put the coupons in. Found out I'll need two. Found extra coupons. They've been multiplying on my kitchen table. Two weeks ago (I think it was) I borrowed a binder from Cathy. Over the weekend I started clipping and organized them. I got through two coupon inserts. I have about a gazillion to go. I will try to work on it again some more tonight. I'm sure I'll have it done in time for the next batch of coupons. I wonder how many in my stack have expired? Anyway. Hopefully I'll get them all clipped and organized before the ones that came in the mail today expire. Next step? Find extra money to get started on that awesome stockpile. Hmmm....That could take another minute.
Ding! Time to eat and then walk. Later!
P.S. Here is my public service announcement for today. Jiffy cornbread expires. It loses a lot of its oomph after seven months. My son now believes he's poisoned. Please check your expiration dates. You will thank me later. :)
I'll try to do better. ;)
Have you seen the weather today? I am so in love! I'm trying to hurry and get everything done so I can go for a walk before it gets dark. I got away from it for a while and I can tell it in so many ways. But it is way too pretty to be inside. I've got some cornbread in the oven, some chicken and noodles I made last week in the microwave, and I think I can do this!
The past couple of days I have had the migraine from hell. I normally only have to spend one day on the couch. This time it laid me out for two days. Yesterday I actually had to leave work. I have some meds that knock out the pain, but I was actually dizzy. I never get dizzy! (Shut up!)
The awesome thing about having a 17 year old is that when I have a migraine I can hand him $5 and say "Go get pizza for dinner." And he can! Then yesterday, he and his girlfriend heated up some leftovers I had in the freezer and did an awesome job of cleaning my kitchen. Awesome, awesome, awesome. That's all I can say. :)
I have my windows open. Oh. My. Gosh. How I love this! Okay....this is gonna sound ghetto but, I'm broke. My back screen door is in sad, sad shape. I cleaned it up because I love light and air, and I suffered through the summer keeping the back door closed. But I will NOT be able to live through the fall, too, with the back door closed. However, my screen is coming off at the edges. I have been meaning to tell the landlord about it so she can fix it, but they've been busy fixing other, more important stuff around the house.....like the air conditioner....that I hate to ask them to fix the screen too! So the thing is knobless, and it gaps, and the bugs are getting in. *sigh* I promise I will tell her about it. I promise! In the meantime, anybody got any duct tape??
Also, I have decided to start couponing. Three weeks ago. I researched how to organize it. Got a package of the baseball card holder thingys to put the coupons in. Found out I'll need two. Found extra coupons. They've been multiplying on my kitchen table. Two weeks ago (I think it was) I borrowed a binder from Cathy. Over the weekend I started clipping and organized them. I got through two coupon inserts. I have about a gazillion to go. I will try to work on it again some more tonight. I'm sure I'll have it done in time for the next batch of coupons. I wonder how many in my stack have expired? Anyway. Hopefully I'll get them all clipped and organized before the ones that came in the mail today expire. Next step? Find extra money to get started on that awesome stockpile. Hmmm....That could take another minute.
Ding! Time to eat and then walk. Later!
P.S. Here is my public service announcement for today. Jiffy cornbread expires. It loses a lot of its oomph after seven months. My son now believes he's poisoned. Please check your expiration dates. You will thank me later. :)
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Most people hate jury duty...
I'm kind of enjoying it.
Yes, I'm weird. We've established that. Moving on.
I'm 38 years old, been a registered voter most of my life and this is the first time I've been summoned. Y'all know how I love new experiences! Once I was in there, I was kinda soaking it up.
Naturally because I have that Anderson Thousand and One luck, there had to be a rare situation going on. I was called to come in on Tuesday at 8:45 a.m. We waited almost two hours, nothing happened, and we were excused and told to come back at 1:30 p.m. So we did. All 50 of us.
We suffered through two hours of Judge Judy and Judge Joe Brown (cruel and unusual? I think so! Who are these people?) before it was finally explained to us that another trial had run late, causing this trial to start late, causing the jury selection for this trial to begin late, and well....now it's too late to select the jury by the end of the day, so we'll begin selection first thing Wednesday morning. Be back at 9 a.m.
So we did. All 50 of us.
I heard people complaining about losing two days worth of work. I've been off since Thursday. As of tomorrow, I've had a week off, only two days of which I requested. During that time, I've caught up on housework, laundry, done school shopping, grocery shopping, dealth with the kids' first week of school. I ain't complaining.
I am, however, incredibly curious. While everyone else was concerned about the work they're not getting done, I'm wondering what the inner workings of a courtroom really look like. Yes, I'm a reporter, but a general assignment reporter. Feature stories don't take you into very many courtrooms. Yes, I've met judges. Yes, I've met lawyers. I've just never actually seen them work together. And I wanna know if it really looks like Law and Order in there.
Yeah, it kinda does. "There's like a judge and everything!" (-- Legally Blonde)
So anyway. They broke us up into three panels. I was on the first panel. We had to tell the court about ourselves. I always hated that part of first dates, by the way. At least the judge gave us a list of questions. All we had to do was answer them. I think this should be adopted on first dates. (Tell me your name, which side of town you live on, occupation and how long you've been there, and what do you like to do for fun. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, what kind of dressing do you want on your salad?)
When we got to the part about my occcupation, I thought, "this is it! He's going to dismiss me right now!"
Instead, the judge said "Have you ever written anything bad about me?" I smiled sweetly and assured him I had not.
The assistant DA asked the same thing....just to make sure. I should have had more fun with that, but....shoulda, coulda, woulda. LOL
Then we were dismissed for another hour and a half while the other two panels were examined. I was thinking Arby's...and that when I came back at noon I had no idea when I'd get to see lunchtime so I'd better eat now. And that I would probably see lunchtime five minutes after noon, because there was no way they'd want a member of the media on the jury.
A Thousand and One.
I was one of the chosen ones.
I can't talk about the case. Y'all know that. I will say it's a sad one. And I am taking it seriously. I am just savoring the new experience. And now chilling on my comfy couch, 'cause those chairs are definitely not.
We listened to some testimony, had some mechanical breakdowns, and I had a bit of a panic attack. Well, the one time I took my purse to the jury boxwith me, I started kinda freaking out about my cell phone going off. Because with my luck, I was afraid I had forgotten to silence it and the judge said he'd fine anyone in his court $100 if that bad boy goes off! So I'm trying to pay attention while nonchalantly bending over to turn my phone off and "OMG please tell me I didn't accidentally turn the sound back on instead!"
Thankfully, 10 minutes later he exused us for the day. And my phone did not go off.
We have to be back in the morning. I will be there with bells on....notepad in hand, cell de-batteried!
Yes, I'm weird. We've established that. Moving on.
I'm 38 years old, been a registered voter most of my life and this is the first time I've been summoned. Y'all know how I love new experiences! Once I was in there, I was kinda soaking it up.
Naturally because I have that Anderson Thousand and One luck, there had to be a rare situation going on. I was called to come in on Tuesday at 8:45 a.m. We waited almost two hours, nothing happened, and we were excused and told to come back at 1:30 p.m. So we did. All 50 of us.
We suffered through two hours of Judge Judy and Judge Joe Brown (cruel and unusual? I think so! Who are these people?) before it was finally explained to us that another trial had run late, causing this trial to start late, causing the jury selection for this trial to begin late, and well....now it's too late to select the jury by the end of the day, so we'll begin selection first thing Wednesday morning. Be back at 9 a.m.
So we did. All 50 of us.
I heard people complaining about losing two days worth of work. I've been off since Thursday. As of tomorrow, I've had a week off, only two days of which I requested. During that time, I've caught up on housework, laundry, done school shopping, grocery shopping, dealth with the kids' first week of school. I ain't complaining.
I am, however, incredibly curious. While everyone else was concerned about the work they're not getting done, I'm wondering what the inner workings of a courtroom really look like. Yes, I'm a reporter, but a general assignment reporter. Feature stories don't take you into very many courtrooms. Yes, I've met judges. Yes, I've met lawyers. I've just never actually seen them work together. And I wanna know if it really looks like Law and Order in there.
Yeah, it kinda does. "There's like a judge and everything!" (-- Legally Blonde)
So anyway. They broke us up into three panels. I was on the first panel. We had to tell the court about ourselves. I always hated that part of first dates, by the way. At least the judge gave us a list of questions. All we had to do was answer them. I think this should be adopted on first dates. (Tell me your name, which side of town you live on, occupation and how long you've been there, and what do you like to do for fun. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, what kind of dressing do you want on your salad?)
When we got to the part about my occcupation, I thought, "this is it! He's going to dismiss me right now!"
Instead, the judge said "Have you ever written anything bad about me?" I smiled sweetly and assured him I had not.
The assistant DA asked the same thing....just to make sure. I should have had more fun with that, but....shoulda, coulda, woulda. LOL
Then we were dismissed for another hour and a half while the other two panels were examined. I was thinking Arby's...and that when I came back at noon I had no idea when I'd get to see lunchtime so I'd better eat now. And that I would probably see lunchtime five minutes after noon, because there was no way they'd want a member of the media on the jury.
A Thousand and One.
I was one of the chosen ones.
I can't talk about the case. Y'all know that. I will say it's a sad one. And I am taking it seriously. I am just savoring the new experience. And now chilling on my comfy couch, 'cause those chairs are definitely not.
We listened to some testimony, had some mechanical breakdowns, and I had a bit of a panic attack. Well, the one time I took my purse to the jury boxwith me, I started kinda freaking out about my cell phone going off. Because with my luck, I was afraid I had forgotten to silence it and the judge said he'd fine anyone in his court $100 if that bad boy goes off! So I'm trying to pay attention while nonchalantly bending over to turn my phone off and "OMG please tell me I didn't accidentally turn the sound back on instead!"
Thankfully, 10 minutes later he exused us for the day. And my phone did not go off.
We have to be back in the morning. I will be there with bells on....notepad in hand, cell de-batteried!
Thursday, August 2, 2012
I have a new addiciton...
It is called the online yard sale, and it has taken over what little free time I have left.
Really!
Like I'm not on the computer all day as it is, I come home at night, flip open the laptop and start grabbing piles of clothes. I have two more piles right now I have to work through before I can delve back into anybody's closet for more.
Let me back up. I found it a while back but didn't pay it much attention. Then Cathy says, "I made like $250." That kinda got my attention. So I started with a few things in my room. Namely, the jewelry left over from my Premier business. There were a few pieces that have been occupying space in the jewelry bag in the bottom of my closet. I wasn't gonna wear 'em, and nobody at my shows bought them.
So I drug them out for the first time in over a year, snapped photos of them, posted them online and they were gone in a week. Every. Single. Piece. And I was about $30 richer (I sold them really cheap) and very happy.
So I sold the bag, too. And the trays. And a dress or two.
And then I got an idea. Maybe, if I let them keep the money from the stuff we sell out of their rooms, the kids will get excited about cleaning their rooms.
It worked. Sort of.
Christopher started pulling stuff out of his room. He made about $12 and then he stalled. Catie and I spent one whole evening going through her closet. I pulled stuff out, she said "yea" or "nay," and we made piles. (Her closet looks great now, by the way! :) )
I took the piles to my room and thus began two weeks of selling. Not every night, but most nights, I come from work, snap photos, upload them, post them to the site and if I'm lucky, I get a few nibbles. Then once or twice a week, I take the things people want, put them in bags, put tags on them, record the transaction in a notebook, and load it up for the Shop and Drop, a consignment store where I can drop the whole shoot and shebang and a few days later, go get my money.
By the time I'm done, it's bedtime!
One night early on, about 10:30 p.m., I got tired of the piles of stuff in my living room and dang it, I just cleaned my bedroom so I wasn't about to start piling it in there! So.....I cleaned out the coat closet. Now everything in there except the vacuum cleaner is up for sale. When someone is interested in something, I just go pull it out of the closet.
Bonus points: The money I make is helping me buy school clothes. Double bonus points: if I buy clothes off the site and I just sold something, no money actually leaves my pocket!
The only problem is, when you give most of your attention to something new, another thing suffers. I won't be showing you any pictures of my house anytime soon! ;)
Really!
Like I'm not on the computer all day as it is, I come home at night, flip open the laptop and start grabbing piles of clothes. I have two more piles right now I have to work through before I can delve back into anybody's closet for more.
Let me back up. I found it a while back but didn't pay it much attention. Then Cathy says, "I made like $250." That kinda got my attention. So I started with a few things in my room. Namely, the jewelry left over from my Premier business. There were a few pieces that have been occupying space in the jewelry bag in the bottom of my closet. I wasn't gonna wear 'em, and nobody at my shows bought them.
So I drug them out for the first time in over a year, snapped photos of them, posted them online and they were gone in a week. Every. Single. Piece. And I was about $30 richer (I sold them really cheap) and very happy.
So I sold the bag, too. And the trays. And a dress or two.
And then I got an idea. Maybe, if I let them keep the money from the stuff we sell out of their rooms, the kids will get excited about cleaning their rooms.
It worked. Sort of.
Christopher started pulling stuff out of his room. He made about $12 and then he stalled. Catie and I spent one whole evening going through her closet. I pulled stuff out, she said "yea" or "nay," and we made piles. (Her closet looks great now, by the way! :) )
I took the piles to my room and thus began two weeks of selling. Not every night, but most nights, I come from work, snap photos, upload them, post them to the site and if I'm lucky, I get a few nibbles. Then once or twice a week, I take the things people want, put them in bags, put tags on them, record the transaction in a notebook, and load it up for the Shop and Drop, a consignment store where I can drop the whole shoot and shebang and a few days later, go get my money.
By the time I'm done, it's bedtime!
One night early on, about 10:30 p.m., I got tired of the piles of stuff in my living room and dang it, I just cleaned my bedroom so I wasn't about to start piling it in there! So.....I cleaned out the coat closet. Now everything in there except the vacuum cleaner is up for sale. When someone is interested in something, I just go pull it out of the closet.
Bonus points: The money I make is helping me buy school clothes. Double bonus points: if I buy clothes off the site and I just sold something, no money actually leaves my pocket!
The only problem is, when you give most of your attention to something new, another thing suffers. I won't be showing you any pictures of my house anytime soon! ;)
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
"I ain't complainin' but...
I'm tired, so I'm just sayin' what I think. And if we're being honest, then honestly I think I need a drink." -- Martina McBride
I am tired, and that probably has more to do with the state of mind I'm in than anything else.
I'm home for about 10 minutes, shoveling down a tomato sandwich because it's the quickest thing I can think of. I had to make sure Christopher got to work by noon. Today, I'm feeling like one work schedule to deal with is bad enough. Two could very well make me crazy.
Anyway.
She needs new clothes because her natural state is blue jeans and T-shirts, not polos and khakis. To say nothing of school supplies and a lunch box, because y'all, I just can't do $3 a day for lunch.
I am tired, and that probably has more to do with the state of mind I'm in than anything else.
I'm home for about 10 minutes, shoveling down a tomato sandwich because it's the quickest thing I can think of. I had to make sure Christopher got to work by noon. Today, I'm feeling like one work schedule to deal with is bad enough. Two could very well make me crazy.
Anyway.
It is so funny how one day you can feel like you’ve got the
world by the tail, then for the next three it feels like the world is kicking
yours.
My daughter is
going to a private school in the fall. Can you believe that? I still can’t,
either. In terms of opportunity for her, it is unbelievably awesome. We are all ecstatic. But in a more immediate sense, it creates another bill I have to pay, which is less I have to spend on other stuff...you know, like groceries...and I'm beginning to feel suffocated.
She needs new clothes because her natural state is blue jeans and T-shirts, not polos and khakis. To say nothing of school supplies and a lunch box, because y'all, I just can't do $3 a day for lunch.
On the plus side, I’ve found a place
to sell her clothes. Mountains and mountains of clothes. She is going to be rich, I told her as we pulled piles and
piles out of her closet to sell on the Online Yard Sale. It got her excited enough to help.
It took me two days to list them posted. I'm not done. I have a pile on my floor that need to be washed before they can be listed. We have an album on the site with about 30 pieces that we pulled that were just hanging in her closet.
Yes, I feel like the world's worst mom for not culling this out sooner.
But I’m not even being facetious here. I’m talking about
my evenings are photographing clothes while cooking dinner. Posting photos online while eating
dinner. Going for a walk because I make myself. Coming home to finish posting online. Getting ready
for bed while making arrangements to drop off items people want to buy. At 11:30 p.m. forcing myself to shut the computer off and go to bed. Taking another 15 minutes to wind down. Falling asleep around midnight. Waking up at 7 and hitting the snooze until 8. It's only getting worse!
All of this, for two days, for about $25. I am staring at my phone like a mad woman hoping to see a notification that someone else wants these things that we don't.
Tonight, I bag up what sold last night. I'm doing laundry and getting more clothes ready to post. I may walk. I may not. But either way, I plan to catch up on rest. Things always looks better in the morning...if you've had enough sleep.
Gosh, I sound ungrateful, don't I? I'm incredibly thankful she gets to go to this school. Any sacrifice is worth it. It really is!! It's just, sometimes, you want to give in and throw a temper tantrum when it pinches!! Thanks for listening. The people who are usually gracious enough to listen to me whine are all out of town this week! :) Besides, I'm officially late getting back to work. *sigh*
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Ooh baby baby it's a wide world...
... Sorry. I couldn't think of a good title.
I wrote this blog post yesterday, but I couldn't post it because of internet problems. By this morning, the issue had spread to my landline, my cable and my wireless router (which affects Facebook on cell phones and horror of horrors, iPods), all of which are connected to the same modem, which just sat there, all black and lightless.
Bleary-eyed (I was still waiting for my coffee to brew) and while my cereal got mushy, I mashed the reset button on the back with a half-chewed pencil. The modem lights flickered, then flickered out. So I called Comcast to have them send me a refresh signal. Didn't work. The automated lady offered to put me through to a real person, who said he couldn't see my computer from his end. He asked me if it was plugged in. Of course it is, I thought. Otherwise no lights would have come on when I hit the reset thingy, right? Made sense to me. I had no idea which plug in the power strip was the modem, so I just started pushing in random plugs, and guess what?
Yep. Shut up.
So anyway...here is the blog post I was gonna post yesterday. I'll wait for you to finish laughing.
I have figured it out. I live vicariously through my subjects.
Either that, or I'm ADD.
We won't discount that possibility.
There is a ginormous world out there, and as much as I want to
experience it all, I can’t. As much as I want to do it all, I can't. I meet
people every day who are passionate about what they do, and they become
amazingly good at it. That is why we write and read about them, after all. They
study everything they can get their hands on about their one specialty.
I would love to have a fraction of their knowledge and be just a
tiny bit good at whatever it is that they do. But frankly, I don’t want to invest that kind of time. Plus, I just find way too many
things fascinating to be tied down to one specialty for very long. If I took a
six-week course in everything I find interesting, I would never do anything
outside a classroom. Besides, in three days I'd be like, "Okay, that was fun. What's next?"
Take today. I talked to a 29-year-old chef who is clearly rising quickly to the top of his field. Twenty medals in the 13 years or so he’s been with the
American Culinary Federation. There aren’t many chefs in his position in this
area, I’m told. But every time I tried to talk about him, as a person, he
steered the conversation back to food, and the profession. Actually, I don't
think he steered it so much as we just kept ending up there. That's the passion
talking. I tasted a fruit leather (think fruit rollups without all the sugar)
he created just that morning. Just...out of the blue decided to make some berry puree and stick it in the dehydrator to see what it would do. And
then there was the brisket he had cooking in this tub thingy that smelled absolutely
divine. They won't be ready until Friday, though. All I know is, after 30
minutes of talking to him I was ready to sign up for a cooking class.
Then tonight, I spent two hours watching members of the Aiken
Community Playhouse rehearse The Great American Trailer Park. What started off
as an interview with a director ended up feeling like I was just hanging out
with a group of friends. Or, talking to a group of friends I was welcome in but
not necessarily a part of. Yeah, that’s it. Then they invited me to stay and
watch. So I did. I remembered drama class in high school, and all the times I
get up and sing karaoke in front of strangers. It is all fun and is great for
building confidence. This group had so much fun “working” that frankly, I kind
of want to go back tomorrow night. I almost wanted a part, too. And I left
wanting to join a theater group. But honestly, I don't think I could handle the
rehearsal schedule. Four nights a week. All day on Sunday. My hats off to all
of them.
Hmmm….maybe I need to write down all the things that I'm
interested in. Sort of a Bucket List of things I want to do or learn before I
die. Then I guess I need to get started doing something!
Ballroom dance
Learn how to adequately decorate a cake
Take a cooking class
Take a writing class
Learn to row
Bike
Run
How to make a latte, or a cappuccino, or an espresso, or some
other yummy coffee with whipped cream on top
How to run a business (preferably a coffee one)
Learn how to buy coffee beans, and how to roast them
Go see another country. Perhaps to buy coffee beans
How to invest and grow money
How to make some extra money...without sacrificing time with my kids/friends/family or a somewhat clean house (needed in order to grow money)
Gardening
Planting and tending a vegetable garden
Canning the stuff I grow in the garden….provided any ends up
edible
Learn how to take an X-ray
Learn to give a shot (I don’t know why. I hate getting them.)
Learn how to write a book
Write for a home magazine
Sew curtains…and pillow cases…and a dress
The fundamentals of interior design
Learn about architecture
Walk across the country. (I’d be happy to drive, too.)
Coupon like a champ
I will definitely have to add to this list later. These are just
off the top of my head. Tomorrow I’ll probably meet someone else cool, and I’ll
want to do what they’re doing, too.
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