Sometimes It's Just a Week

This has been a week of serious ups and downs.  The weather is weird, we've had no snow, and the work weeks just keep coming with no end in sight.  No snow days, warm weather, and looking at the calendar and seeing that it's just January is sort of discouraging.  I don't know whether to hope for a blizzard that snows school out for a week, or for it to just get warm and stay that way in the hopes that the Powers That Be will give us back our unused built in days once the danger has passed.  So, some doldrums have hit, and while they're not big ones, they are the kind that just linger around and pester. 

The week started off with a Sunday night bedtime viewing of Steel Magnolias, one of my all-time favorites.  Shelby's wedding and veil reminded me of my own big, poufy veil, and a conversation with a family friend inspired me to dig out the wedding album.  I don't keep these out in plain sight normally.  I, of course, laughed at this, then went to bed bawling my eyes out, because no matter how many times Shelby dies and Jack Jr. smacks Weezer, it gets me every single damn time.  Julia Roberts, eat your heart out.

Family stuff is kind of weird, too.  I think my dad is seeing someone, but he's being very shady secretive about it.  The last experiment in dating (see this post) was so awful, he swore we'd never know about it when he decided to see someone else, and I think that's what he's done.  I think I'm okay with it, though...as long as we aren't exposed to her, it doesn't really matter who she is, right?  As long as it's not this.

My sister and I, who are normally best friends, aren't getting along very well either.  She's getting married this summer, and we're miscommunicating quite a bit over details like dress shopping and bachelorette parties.  I'm sure she thinks I'm a huge hosebag and just being difficult for the hell of it, but that's really not it.  She gets her feelings hurt and just shuts down, and I'm caught dealing with her well-meaning friends who are trying to intervene and solve the problem.  But that's a post for another day.  I watched Bridesmaids today, and while it took me a long time to actually decide to keep watching it, my issues are very much at the center of that movie's conflicts...right down to the overblown out-of-town bachelorette party that I can't afford.  But oh well. 

There's been some cool stuff along the way, though, too.  I was honored with the "Brilliant Bulldog" award at school on Friday, and while the prize was just a scratch-off lottery ticket worth nothing, it was nice to be recognized and appreciated.  The kids' cheering that was heard all over the school was enough to make me smile for a while.  I wore a sequined sweater to work and actually avoided looking like a dork or a hooker.  (I think.)  And we had another very successful Drama Club meeting before auditions for our production kick off in a couple of weeks. 

 Andrew earned his 2nd degree yellow belt in his karate class on Wednesday, which was very exciting.  I'm really proud that he's stuck with it and wants to continue to progress.  We were strongly encouraged to take "The Killer" (his instructor's nickname for him) to the state tournament in March, and while I have visions of Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita, I think we're going to go. 

JMU basketball season is in full swing...actually, starting into the end of the season.  That's full of ups and downs too, as our team continues to struggle with injuries and a depleted bench.  It's heartbreaking to see those kids out there playing their hearts out (sometimes not very well, but that's a different story) and running into brick walls almost consistently.  But we still go, and I celebrate the victories and the effort.  Plans are in the works to attend the CAA conference again, which coincidentally lines up with the location and weekend of the karate tournament.  Sometimes stuff DOES work out.

 Sometimes our view isn't very good.  :-)

We're into board games as part of our family time lately...well, the boys like to play card games, but I'll stick with the old-fashioned board games that I spent a million hours playing as a kid.  My favorite, and recently purchased Sorry!  was a hit on Friday night after homemade pizza.  While I got my ass kicked for a while...

I finally made it out onto the board.  Mr. Crankypants Six Year-Old, though, took his first trip back to his home base kind of rough. 

 (He's under the table.)

But he finally got over himself, and he proceeded to kick my butt for 2nd place. 

We finished up the week with a trip to Charlottesville for a family gathering...Charlottesville being the center point for people traveling from all over the state.  It was chaotic, and short, but it was nice to see everyone.  We don't see that side of the family enough.  You gotta love the Wood Grill Buffet, though, because where else can you create a dessert like this?

 No, that's not my concoction.  My niece, however, greatly enjoyed it, and when it melted to a thick pile of chocolate goo, she discovered the best way to get the last bits.

Tonight's accomplishments?  Saving the badge of Sheriff Woody, sewing patches on the Karate Kid's gi, and creating a yummy, easy dinner that had Andrew almost licking his plate...okay, licking his fingers that he rubbed across the plate, but same thing.Woody's badge, with its one-sided "buttonholes."  Impossible to sew back on, because there's no way to get a needle through!  Whose bright idea was this?

 Not quite good-as-new, but the best I can manage. 

Dinner...leftover pizza-dough-turned ham and cheese stromboli, and apple slices with my new favorite thing...peanut butter dip!  Like peanut butter pie, only healthier and guilt-free.  Well, until I eat a whole container of it, that is.

And now it's Sunday night once again, my least favorite night of the week.  Grocery lists, laundry, bathtime, harried blog posts while the kid is in the bathtub, and my overwhelming habit of staying up too late watching bad television and starting the week off exhausted.  Oh, and this week?  The added attraction of a Monday-afternoon doctor's appointment.  Whoopee!

Sunday Night Six-Pack

Okay, Sunday nights aren't normally for Six-Packs, but after this week in particular, and the fact that I'm woefully out of bloggy routine, what the hell.  There's a full moon, too, so why not? 

1.  I really, really miss blogging on a regular basis.  So many of my vents and rants take place here, that when I don't get them off my chest, it comes to meltdown status.  Not weepy, sobby meltdowns, but gripey, bitchy radioactive snarkiness that could bubble over at any point.  Right now that's directed at family members.  We have always been somewhat squabbly and quirky, I'll give you that, but since Edna's death, we put the FUN in dysfunction.  Actually, I continually have to remind myself that things aren't worse since her death--the things that are screwed up were that way long before she was even sick...but it's her absence that makes it seem worse.  I won't go into details, but there are members of my immediate family that need a swift kick in the ass reminder that family isn't just about traditions and holidays, but also about the nitty gritty and about being there for the not-so-pleasant stuff.  And yes, sometimes it involves inconvenience and changing one's plans, but SO WHAT?  It's coming from both sides right now, too, which doesn't help. 

2.  I'm in love with several household appliances...my Scentsy warmer and the Nook.  Well, let me clarify...I'm in love with one Scentsy warmer and one Better Homes warmer (read that, cheap Walmart knockoff).  My house smells like oatmeal cookies and gingerbread, and it's certainly not because I'm baking.  And it smells like that DAILY, not just when company's coming over and I light the candles.  It's no small feat in a house like this, either...when you combine 200 year-old house smells with a crotchety old cat who can no longer consistently aim into the litterbox and the fact that I'm a laissez-faire housekeeper, it's a small miracle. 

3.  The Nook Tablet we got for Christmas is my new favorite thing, but like all things--when I do something, I sort of do it obsessively.  So, I've downloaded about 76 books since Christmas Day, and I take personal pride in the fact that I've only paid about ten dollars total for books.  I'm on a quest for every free Nook book there is...so I not only check out Cheap e-Reads, NookJr, and NookTeen on Facebook for the new finds, but I personally search daily for the freebies.  I already have more books than I can possibly read (and even some that I know I'll never read, but I grabbed them "just in case.")  It's a family Nook, but we might have to add a little brother or sister to the family just so we can read the books we have and also play Angry Birds and update Twitter.  I'm really just waiting for the implants into our brains/eyes so that we can be connected 24/7.  Kidding, I think.

4.  College basketball season is in full swing...but unfortunately, our team is not.  I need a win soon, because even though I'll keep watching and cheering, my optimism is waning.  In the past, I could go to games just to go, and have fun, and be pleasantly surprised when we won...but I got used to winning MOST of the time, and that's not happening now.  My Dukes are struggling, and although I'm not calling for the coach's head on a plate like some other "loyal" fans, I really, really want something to turn around.  I'm too emotional about it to be a good fan, though, because I worry too much about players' feelings being hurt, or whether they're discouraged by the losses.  Okay, maybe I'm too much of a GIRL about it.  :-P

5.  I have had bronchitis/laryngitis/sinusitis for what seems like forever.  It actually dates back to before Thanksgiving when I had strep throat and tonsillitis.  I'm sick of being hoarse and coughing, and I should probably go back to the doctor, but there just isn't time.  Between basketball games, Andrew's karate classes, afterschool homework club, faculty meetings, sick and post-surgical parents, a house that's too flipping big and doesn't clean itself, and...oh yeah, and SLEEP...I just can't make the time appear.  So I suffer, and sound terrible, and uggggh.

6.  Andrew spontaneously requested going to his grammy's for a sleepover next weekend, so we're planning a (gasp) night out.  We'll start, of course, by watching our team get pummeled win at home, then hopefully we'll head out on the town, if we can manage to stay awake past 10 p.m.  It's really sad, and probably a sign of old age, when it sounds like too much effort to go out and I'd just rather come home, snuggle up with the  Nook and a snack, and get a solid twelve hours of night's sleep.   

'Tis the Season...

...for me to be bahumbuggy and overly sentimental.  'Tis the season for my seasonal affective disorder to kick in and send me on a quest for sunlight and warm weather.  'Tis the season for me to get over one
illness and start right in on another.  'Tis the SEASON for me to start wondering where Santa Claus is going to find the time and the money to make Christmas happen..  And 'tis the season for the public to start acting in a very un-Christmasy manner.  Case in point, the lady who pepper-sprayed her fellow shoppers on Black Friday, the crowds that stampeded for $50 Blu-Ray players, and the shoplifting grandpa who cried foul when he was taken down by police.  Add to that list the family of ne'er-do-wells that ruined my annual Christmas parade experience.  A family that makes the Herdmans in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever look like angels. 

I'm trying, trying, trying to take the high road on this one.  It was obvious that the family came from limited means, both financially and...intellectually.  But it's hard for me to excuse bad behavior that so blatantly infringes on my enjoyment and well-being.  And when the "matriarch" of the family insists on blowing smoke around my head while she cusses about the "damn antique cars that don't belong in the damn parade," I sort of lose my tolerance for any shortcomings they might have to start with.  Clearly their kids would have been better off being raised by wolves, because at least a mama wolf will grab her cub by the scruff of the neck and jerk his little tail back into line. 

The smallest member of the family, a little boy of about four years old, was trying desperately to see the parade.  I can sympathize with that.  But, people, we were here two hours ahead of time to set up chairs on the curb so that MY son could have a good view as well.  There were plenty of other spots to stand with your brood, and that doesn't include allowing the little guy to squeeze between the armrests of of our bag chairs, when they were overlapping each other.  And it doesn't mean your little hooligan can punch the bottom of our coffee cup out of the drinkholder, spilling lukewarm coffee all over the hubby's pants leg. 

It also doesn't mean that you allow your ragamuffins to scramble over my head for candy canes and other little goodies being handed out by those in the parade.  You would have thought a small bag of local potato chips were made of gold, the way this lady shrieked at her kids to "Put your hand out, grab some!" into my ear. 

It certainly doesn't mean that I put my chair there for you to LEAN on during the entire parade.  Again, we were there early to avoid that very thing.  Plan ahead, come earlier, and get out of MY SPACE! 

It definitely doesn't meant that you irritate me to the point where I'm ready to say STRONG words to you, but don't because of worrying about making a scene with the Hoos from Whitetrashville.  And "lady," it CERTAINLY doesn't mean that you can push me to the brink of a brawl and make me leave before Santa Claus comes at the end of the parade! 

Yes, we took the high road and packed up our chairs, and they had the NERVE to glare at us for getting in their way as we vacated the curb.  I might have stood my ground a little bit longer, but it was raining pretty steadily at that point, and it just wasn't worth it to be miserable and risk losing my cool and making the front page of the paper. 

So, we might try again Friday night when our "other" local city has their parade, complete with the Marching Royal Dukes of JMU.  It can only get better, or so I would hope.  And if I make the paper this time, at least I'll be able to say, "I tried." 

Goodbye, Summer

Random snapshots from summer...




Backyard fun with cousin Lilly

 




Lawn party to benefit the local fire department

 



True love in line for the ride

 



Andrew's trying to push me into the river.

 



A rain shower--lovin' it.

 




Hydrangeas from the yard

  



In love with my new dashboard.