One Foot on a Banana Peel

My baby girl loves the snow and she loves sledding, snowboarding, tubing and just about anything else you can do in the nasty, cold stuff.  Me?  I like snow best when observed through a window (thermopane, please), wrapped in my old afghan, my dogs curled up at my side, a good book open on my lap and a hot cup of tea or chocolate in my hand.

Not my girl.  She’s been out sledding every day since we finally got some snow.  There’s an elementary school that sits up on the highest hill in the neighborhood and all the kids gather there after school.  The only downfall to the location is that the hill runs right into the backyards of the homes below.  Mostly the homeowners don’t mind the kids, but there’s one cranky old lady (she was a cranky old lady when I was a kid) who has her yard fenced in to protect its perfectness.  The kids are good about staying out of her yard, but whipping down the hill on a sled, you have to be quick about ditching before you hit the fence.  Yesterday a girl went right on through and took out a post.  She is fine.  The fence is not.  Will the grumpy old lady try to put an end to sledding on the hill?  Probably.  Will she succeed?  I hope not.  But getting back to the subject of Megan being someone else’s child….

The girl really likes sledding.  I’m not sure how long she was out yesterday (a couple of hours at least) but little things like frostbite and broken bones didn’t drive her in.  Well, okay, she didn’t have frostbite, but she came in crying about how much her hands hurt from the cold and we soaked them in warm water.  And she complained all night about her jaw hurting from a wreck with someone else on the hill.  She was sure she had dislocated it (I think the amount of talking she did disproved that).  No, it was hunger that finally drove her in.  I guess as my mother used to say, "No sense, no feeling."

Due to a lack of interest, Monday has been canceled.

Okay, that’s not quite true, but it has been delayed a couple of hours due to very cold temperatures, a whole lot of snow that no one predicted and icy roads.  It’s not quite as good as a full-fledged snow day, but not having to leave for work in the dark is a good thing and I think they still have an hour to decide to change to a complete day off.  You never know.

The weekend was okay.  Kinda boring except for Saturday night when our friends stopped by for a while.  I spent all day Saturday cleaning and doing laundry and yesterday it was just too nasty to get out so I pretty much spent the day reading, watching movies, playing on the computer and napping.

One thing I did do was head over to SparkPeople and sign myself up for one of their free accounts.  I decided it was past time to do something about my resolution to eat healthier, exercise more and lose weight.  Spark helps you come up with diet and exercise plans and offers all kinds of tools to help you along the way.  There’s a big community of other members and they’ve formed groups based on interests, goals and other things.  You can join these and have a ready to go support group.  I thought I’d try this for a while and see how it goes.  I had been thinking about going back to Weight Watchers since I heard they tweaked the program again and there’s a new monthly membership plan that is a little more economical…..but it does still cost and if the free place works, so much the better.

Blinkie by LilmsGlitter

I saw this over at Dr. John’s and had fun reminising.  Thought you might, too.

Grad Year: 1982

1. Who was your best friend? Dana

2. What sports did you play? Basketball and softball.

3. What kind of car did you drive? I didn’t drive. 

4. It’s Friday night, where were you? At home or hanging out with friends.

5. Were you a party animal? No

6. Were you in the "In Crowd"? I had friends in every crowd, but can’t say I really belonged to any one in particular.  I was pretty average. 

7. Ever skip school?  Since I don’t think my mom knows about this blog….yes.

8. Ever smoke? No. 

9. Were you a nerd? No…just barely too cool for that.

10. Did you get suspended/expelled?  I had one day of in-school suspension, which meant sitting all day in "the box," a small windowless room and doing nothing.  Lunch was brought to the room and you got one bathroom pass in the morning and one in the afternoon.  My crime?  I laughed out loud in study hall.

11. Can you sing the alma mater?  My singing is awful, but yes, I still know the words.  Of course, it might help that my kids go to the same school. 

12. Who was your favorite teacher? Joe Giotto 

13. Favorite class? Any one of my many English courses. 

14. What was your schools full name? Derry Area High School.

15. School mascott?  Trojan

16. Did you go to Prom?  No.

17. If you could go back and do it over, would you?  HELL NO!!

18. What do you remember most about graduation? The daughter of the school district’s superintendent grabbing one of the dignitaries on stage and laying a big ol’ kiss on him.  She had Down Syndrome.

19. Favorite memory of your Senior Year? Nothing really stands out. 

20. Were you ever posted up on the senior wall?  We didn’t have a senior wall.

21. Did you have a job your senior year? No

22. Who did you date?  My good friend, Tom, for a short while until we realized we made better friends.

23. Where did you go most often for lunch?  The cafeteria.  We weren’t allowed off school grounds or even outside.

24. Have you gained weight since then?  Unfortunately.

25. What did you do after graduation?  Immediately after?  Partied.  In general?  Went to college.

This business of having an adult child is hard.  No one could have prepared me for how incredibly difficult it is to stand back and watch your child, flesh of your flesh, the being you have poured all your energies, wisdom, values and love into for the last 20 years, chuck it all out the window and make really stupid choices.

I should have paid more attention in gym class, because this balancing act of being supportive without condoning, gently guiding without seeming controling, helping without enabling, would be a challenge even for the great Nadia Comanichi and all her perfect 10s on the balance beam.  I hope God has put down a lot of floor mats because I am sure I’m going to fall flat on my face soon.  Patience has never been one of my virtues and right now I am stretched to the limit.  I am doing a lot of tongue biting and teeth grinding.

There’s only one lesson from eighth grade physics that I remember, that for each and every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.  In other words, what goes around, comes around.  So, in the great cosmic kharma soup I figure I had this coming for my own actions at the ripe old age of 20.  My mom is upset and worried about Matt, it’s true, but I am sure there is a small part of her mind that has made popcorn, propped up its feet and is enjoying the show.

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I decided on the Baxter Black book to start my reading.  Everyone who commented was right….the book’s a hoot.  The man lifts "creative" writing to a whole new level.  His characters are so over the top, and yet, you can recognize someone you know in them.  I’ve already decided that Black’s other books are going on the "To Read" list.

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Winter is really, really here.  It’s been snowing for three days now, not that we have a whole lot of snow to show for it, but the ground is white.  And getting whiter by the hour.  By this time tomorrow we’re supposed to have anywhere from 2-6 inches of the fluffy white stuff.  It’s also really cold.  Only about 24 today.  Tomorrow they say it will be 15 or less with a windchill well below zero.  Sounds like a good day for a snow day to me.

…the book wagon, that is.  Or maybe I’ve been runover by the bookmobile?  I try to be good when it comes to books.  Really.  I do.  It’s just that books are so darn addicting.  I finished reading the books I got for Christmas and was in need of some new material.  I only had to work for about 20 minutes this morning (only the private school I pick up for in the mornings went today) so as soon as I was done, I shot into Barnes and Noble.  I figured I didn’t really have anything better to do today, Megan’s in school (ha, ha!), and life is blissfully quiet at the moment with Matt and Ashley gone back to the ‘Burgh after being here for four days.  So, why not treat myself to a trip to my favorite store?  I spent an hour and a half browsing through the whole place.  It was wonderful!  I ended up getting four books, but before you start yelling, I did behave myself kind of good.  Three of the books were on the bargain shelves and the fourth is a paperback.

The weeks ahead will find me lost in:

 "Hey, Cowgirl, Need a Ride?" by Baxter Black.  I’ve never read any of Mr. Black’s books, but the cover caught my eye and the description on the back made it sound pretty funny.  I love books that make me laugh out loud.

 "Gods in Alabama" by Joshilyn Jackson.  The first words inside the cover snagged me…"There are gods in Alabama: Jack Daniel’s, high school quarterbacks, trucks, big tits, and also Jesus.  I left one back there myself, back in Possett.  I kicked it under the kudzu and left it to the roaches…"

 "Hemingway in Cuba" by Hilary Hemingway and Carlene Brennen.  Hemingway lived a fascinating life.  I love to read about it.  This book is filled with personal stories and great pictures of the man, his family, his friends and his adventures.

 "Lizzie’s War" by Tim Farrington.  Lizzie is the wife of a Marine in 1960’s Vietnam.  It’s a story of how she survives in his absence.

Now the big problem.  Which one to read first?

I’m bored and have nothing better to do.  Well, okay, I do, but I don’t want to.  So…here’s some more crap about little ol’ moi.

That’s me….the one with the blues hanging out under the rain cloud.  Yep, the January Blahs have arrived.  I thought with the fluoxetine I might avoid the Blahs this year, but I think maybe all the stress of what we’ve been going through with Matt is mightier than one tiny blue pill. 

Just letting you know, because in this mood I really can’t seem to come up with anything worthwhile to write about.

It’s the middle of January and winter’s finally put in an appearance. Yesterday was cold, dark and snowy. Not much accumulation, but man, the roads were a sheet of ice last night. It took Tim 3 hours to get home. That’s about double the normal time. Today the sun is blinding, but it’s cold. Freeze your nether-parts off cold. And guess what? I am happy, thrilled even, about it. After four straight days of rain and dealing with sopping, mud caked, dogs, kids and husbands….I consider nice clean snow and frozen goo a good thing.

We are still feeling our way through the whole Matt/Ashley/where exactly does Matt live thing. I guess I’ve resigned myself to accept a lot of things, rather than take the chance of alienating him. I’m talking about things like him staying with her family some nights rather than come home and her being here pretty much every single moment that he is. As far as house rules, I have gone over a few of those with him. So far so good, but then he isn’t here a whole lot. I hope my mom heeds our example and follows it. She’s been pretty vocal with me about her displeasure with his decisions and especially about Ashley. If she doesn’t get a handle on it, it’s going to start being noticable to Matt and I know him. He will shut her out. Sigh. I guess every generation of parents has had the same lament…."What’s wrong with these kids today?"

Matt and Ashley were here last night, but bad as it was out, they had to head back to Pittsburgh around 10:00. We weren’t happy about it given the shape the roads were in, but there was no helping it. Ashley has some pretty serious digestion issues….some disease of the esophagus that has a fairly high rate of leading to cancer, acid reflux and you know those flappy things that cover the inside of your stomach? She doesn’t have any of those. The acid reflux irritates the other two conditions. Anyway, she had some kind of attack last night and was having a hard time breathing (I thought she was having an asthma attack) and of course, she didn’t have her meds with her. Matt says she isn’t a whole lot better today so after work he’s taking her to see the doctor.

Oh, yeah….I finally got to see the engagement ring. It had been out being sized and they just got it back yesterday. It’s pretty. White gold and very dainty. I was glad about that. I was worried Matt might have taken on a huge pile of debt to buy her a big rock, but in this at least he used his head (relatively speaking).

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I usually stay away from politics but I just have to applaude Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. He says federal judges are unqualified to make rulings affecting national security policy.  Amen and let’s not stop at just national security.  It’s long been my opinion that federal judges stick there noses into too many things where they don’t belong.  The job of the courts is to interpret and apply the laws as they exist, not to bend and change them to suit their own political beliefs.  It’s my humble opinion that the Supreme Court has turned itself into a legislative body, setting policy by way of their rulings, rather than a judicial one.

Got to see two movies this weekend that I’ve been wanting to see.  The first, Casino Royale, is the latest James Bond thriller.  Tim and I went to see it in Ligonier, where the local theater company has restored an old theater to it’s vintage art deco glory.  It’s the perfect place to perform their plays and in between productions they show current and classic films to raise funds.  I love it because we were able to see a movie, split a large popcorn and we each had a drink and it cost under $20!

Anyway….I admit to having always been a fan of Bond Movies.  I grew up on Roger Moore, who I always thought was great.  Until I grew up enough to appreciate Sean Connery.  Pierce Brosnan was pretty good, but that other guy before him?  Pee-yew!  Now Daniel Craig has stepped into those hard-to-fill shoes.  Just call him Cinderella because it’s a perfect fit.  At first glance, Mr. Craig seems rather unassuming, but he quickly takes on larger than life proportions.  He’s got it all….the charm, the cunning, the athletic ability (this Bond has the best action scenes ever) and those blue, blue eyes.  Mmmm-mmm.

The second movie I got to see this weekend was Failure to Launch with Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew McConaughey.  I’ve wanted to see this movie since it first came out and just never got around to it.  Yesterday while at Wally World (Wal-Mart) I noticed that the price had dropped so I tossed it in the cart.  We watched it last night.  It wasn’t quite as funny as I thought it would be, but it was still a good romantic comedy.  I love Sarah Jessica Parker.  She’s always so darn cute and she delivers dialogue so cleverly.  I can say the same for Matthew McConaughey.  The man is a total piece of eye-candy.  Another bright spot in the film is McConaughey’s parents played by the wonderful Kathy Bates and Terry Bradshaw.  Terry is actually not a bad comedic actor for an ex-football star.  Too bad we don’t see more of him….though we do see his naked butt in this movie and that was more than I needed to see.

Well, Matt is officially moved back in.  Sort of.  Did I mention that we bought him a junky old car last weekend and took it down to him on Sunday?  With the new wheels he was able to make several trips home on his own to bring stuff.  That was really nice.  Tim hauled the big stuff in his pickup last night. 

I think we’re going to have to set up some ground rules for living here before too much time passes.  Otherwise, I will lose my mind and probably grow a good crop of resentment.  This thinking pops up out of him not coming in until 3:15 this morning and the fact that he just told me, as he was on his way out the door for work, that he won’t be home again until tomorrow night.  He has to close the store tonight and open it tomorrow so he’s staying at Ashley’s.   I’m not thrilled, but I know he’s an adult (technically) so there isn’t anything I can do about it.  However, in my opinion, while he’s living under my roof it isn’t too much to ask for him to let us know who he’s with, where he is and when we can expect him home so that if we need to find him we can and so I don’t sit up all night worrying.  Take today for example.  He was going to leave and not tell me he wouldn’t be back until tomorrow.  I just happened to ask what time he’d be home tonight.  What kind of a night do you think I’d have had?

Then there’s also the whole business of what he’s responsible for around here.  This ain’t no motel and I’m not running maid service.

Am I being unreasonable?  I’m not saying he can’t stay away from home or anything.  I just want to have an idea of where he is and when I can expect him.