A wee bit of me Wednesdays... er, Thursday

I know, it's not Wednesday -- but I just came across Leigh Ashley's blog today and it looks like fun. Here goes:

{one} what is your happiest childhood memory?

Camping with our big extended family (with two families of aunts, uncles, and cousins too) at Timber Shores Resort in Northport, Michigan. It was a resort that was North West of Traverse City back in the 70s. So much fun! Campfires, swimming, tennis, shuffleboard, crafts, "kids camp", square dances, singing "You picked a fine time to leave me, Lucille" accompanied by the jukebox during happy hour. It was awesome!

{two} what is your middle name?

Rene (yes, with one "e", like a boy's name in France)

{three} what’s the habit you’re most proud of breaking?

Huh... once I stopped expressing sarcastic comments for 6 months. But I felt like a watered-down version of myself, so I stopped.

{four} what do you order when you order Chinese food?
Hot and sour soup, egg roll (no shrimp), and General's Chicken

{five} what’s the best bargain you’ve ever found at a garage sale or thrift store?
Like-new Chaco sandles -- the sole is almost totally unblemished, so hardly ever worn -- that retail for upwards of $100.

{six} what’s the best costume you’ve ever worn?

Black-eye'd P's -- we work black shirts with a big, white felt "P" on the front and a killer black eye for each of us -- thanks to a beautiful palette of eyeshadow (artfully applied)

{seven} who’s your favorite game show host?
Drew Carey

{eight} what’s your favorite breakfast food?

Denny's pancakes.

{nine} what’s your least favorite word?
Um, I'm not comfortable putting it in print -- but I really dislike it -- really ;)

{ten} describe something that happened to you for which you have no explanation.

Being swindled by a lawyer who took our money but didn't do anything.

I like this post from "Notes to Self"

Go here to read it: Request for Transfer

I'm ready for "Handling Crazy Abundance 101" too. Bring it on. :)

Then I could stock the house with Amy Butler linens, towels, and fabric. Looking at my towels makes me happy. Ahhhhh. (Yes, all I can afford is the hand towel -- don't judge me! Thank goodness for Bed, Bath and Beyond 20% off coupons).

Love, love, love.


And her "Full Bloom" bedding? L-O-V-E.




And this porch with her towels blocking the warm summer sun. Sigh.

Musical stylings

The musical stylings of... Glee.

I watched the end of the season show earlier in the week and I was craving me some Glee the next day. I went to my music source, Dave, because his wife and I have similar musical interests. If I'm lookin' for something chances are Beth already has it.

Guess what? She DID! Season one anyway. Score! So now I'm gleefully listening to a bit of Glee.

The next day Dave had a question for me... have I heard of Jack Johnson? What? OF COURSE!

I have lots of his music, including the two most recently released albums which I had just picked up at Target. Now if only I could find them... they're MIA (I suspect I loaned them to my sister):
To the Sea

En Concert Here's what I managed to dig up to give to Dave. Take a listen, he's one of my faves.

I love Upside Down from Curious George
Sleep Through the Static

I love "Banana Pancakes" from In Between Dreams

Jack Johnson

On and On

The funny part of this -- funny ironic, not funny ha ha -- is once upon a time I asked my brother if he'd ever heard of Jack Johnson, and we played out the same scenario. In fact, my niece, who was 7 at the time, could sing the words to many of his songs. Great minds think alike, eh?

Just keep swimming

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmyUkm2qlhA

Like Dory says, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming."

I wanted to share those words of wisdom with a friend of mine today, but I wasn't sure she'd "get" it. Her kids were well past the age when they'd watch animated feature films when Finding Nemo came out by Pixar. So would she get the reference? I wasn't sure. And lord knows I'd sound pretty stupid if I said "Just keep swimming" in response to a troubling event in her life. Swimming? Huh? Wha? (And then in the back of her mind she'd be thinking, what in the heck was up with M?).

So you see, while I thought it would be a positive response to her struggle, I just couldn't use it.

For the rest of the day I heard Dory saying "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming." Over and over again. Seriously. Thank goodness I like Ellen DeGenerous, so I didn't mind hearing her voice all afternoon.

Have you ever been stumped about how to offer comfort? Or great words of wisdom? I often am. Pearls of wisdom don't fall off my tongue.

Maybe having a blue tongue would help. Tomorrow I'll give it a shot.

TGIF

I tore this picture out of Country Living and have it hanging in by cube-ette at work. It fills me with joy when I look at it and imagine myself there with a book and a Diet Coke instead of stuck in tan-cube maze. Read a little. Nap a little. Repeat.

Doesn't it just make your heart glad? Hopefully after the hooligan's football game tomorrow morning (8:30 a.m. game -- so much for sleeping in on the weekend!) I can spend some time in a hammock. Or an Adirondack chair.

I need it. My jaw needs a chance to un-clench. My teeth need a break from grinding. Sigh.

I need another 2 week vacation at the beach -- with my hammock. :)

For Maddie

I was going to write a post earlier in the week about the Doggie Slumber Party we had over Labor Day weekend. Killer had two friends stay with us -- Maddie and Sophie -- while their family was up north for the holiday. I even took pictures to commemorate the event, which was a first for us. Since Killer really loves to be the center of attention (especially mine) we've never had guests that weren't "family." Last weekend changed that, and Killer did really well with sharing the spotlight.

Here she is with Maddie:

And here she is with Sophie:

They went for a walk. They raced around in the field. Maddie even enjoyed playing on my sister's trampoline (which is in-ground, so they just walked right onto it to play). They lounged around. They (we) napped and enjoyed the rain storm

I'm glad it was a good weekend for the girls, because, sadly, Maddie started having seizures yesterday and she is now up with the angels. Much love to the brown-eared girl. Much love to her family too -- especially her "mom" who left for to start her freshman year of college the week before Labor Day.

A STUMP FOR A TAIL
You can't buy loyalty, they say

I bought it though, the other day;

You can't buy friendship, tried and true,

Well just the same, I bought that too.

I made my bid, and on the spot

Bought love and faith and a whole job lot

Of happiness, so all in all
The purchase price was pretty small.

I bought a single trusting heart,

That gave devotion from the start.

If you think these things are not for sale,

Buy a brown-eyed puppy with a stump for a tail.

--- author unknown ---

Passive Aggressive or Aggressive?

I'm feeling angry. Very. Very. Angry.

• Why must men be so dumb/irresponsible/childish/infantile? (Feel free to take your pick.)
• Why must they gather in groups and get crocked and do stupid stuff?
• And why can't they call to say they're going to be out late? (so you don't worry, part I)
• And what can't they call to say they need a ride? (so you don't worry, part II)

It beats the hell outta me. And I'm not sure when I'll get over my "mad" about Wednesday night's activities. The last thing I wanted to be doing was driving around town at 1:30 a.m. looking for his car in a ditch.

Two days later and I'm still torqued. The only thing that made me feel somewhat entertained about the whole situation was waking his lazy butt up at 8 a.m. by pouring a glass of water on his head as I left for work. I mean really, if I only get 3 hours of sleep why should he get more?

Splashy visual from here.

Half a glass of water poured over his head woke him up enough to get his eyes open. The other half a glass woke him up enough to lift his head up off the pillow, blinking owlishly in confusion.

Then a finger-waving, spirited, one-sided conversation took place. Fun, fun fun (not).

From here.

I'm sure he went back to sleep the second I went up the stairs and slammed the door as I headed to work, but I couldn't very well drag his drunk-ass with me to work, now could I?

So tell me ... passive aggressive? Or Aggressive?

Happy freakin' ten years -- you gotta love this kind of fun, right?

Twenty-six years

True. Twenty-six years of friendship this year.


Twenty-six years. Really. Can you believe it? No, well get this ...

Ten years of marriage on Sunday. WOW! Happy Anniversary to Rico and I.

We spent our anniversary the same way we spent our honeymoon ... at a co-ed softball tournament. And just like our honeymoon his team won the championship (right? geeze, I don't know, it was 10 years ago for pete's sake!).

Way to go team Victory Club -- and way to go Drew's Crew, too. (Here they are raising a glass to Andrew "Drew" Benedict, #6, whose memory the tourney honors.)


Way to go to Rico and I. To my bestest. To my always. Love.

P.S. Thanks to Ray and Rhonda Benedict (and friends/family) for putting together such a great tournament: The Andrew Benedict Memorial Co-ed Softball Tournament. REMEMBER: Give life: please sign up for the Michigan Donor Registry.