"After they made Richmond, they broke the mold. Beat the crap outta the mold maker too..."
--Harvey of Bad Example
About Me
Name: Richmond
Location: Wisconsin
I grew up in North Central Wyoming and have lived all over the lower 48 states. I am the mother of two girls - Computa and Sporta and have been happily married to WxMan since 1994.
Alternate title: "How to drive from damn near Canada to damn near Mexico and back in 11 days and survive..."
We started out heading for OKC. WxMan's grandmother turned 90 - and there is no not celebrating that! GG looks absolutely fabulous, and thoroughly enjoyed her party and seeing all of her children, grand children and great grand children all together for the first time in ages!
I can only hope to be as with it and spry at 70 - let alone 90!!
The next day WxMan was off to golf - so I met up with a dear ladywho I have been meaning to get together with for YEARS! Rave was all that and a bag of chips - clapping even! ;) And she picked the best place to meet up.
Pops on Route 66 - holy crap that was a LOT of soda. Some of it pretty dang interesting... The kids DEFINITELY had fun trying things that I would never drink in a million years...
The food was great, the atmosphere bubbly, and it was great to see Rave and meet her sons - both charming.
The next day it was time to hit the road again... GG insisted on cooking us breakfast before we left town...
For the record, she prepared a family favorite - Wormy Pancakes. (Translation: Homemade funnel cakes with plenty of butter and syrup. Mmmmmm....)
That's WxMan's dad seeing if his is ready supervising. ;)
GG - once again - was in her element! But soon it was time to go and we spent the day making our way to Phoenix.
Fifteen plus hours later we rolled into my brother's driveway and staggered inside.
But getting to spend the next day chilling by the pool made it all worth while... This is my cutimous nephew. :) And the "pool within the pool" was a big ball of fun... Note my girls are in tee shirts - we are translucent after all...
Anyhoo - after a day of R&R it was time to head to Tucson for WxMan's family reunion. His mom was hosting the event and it all went off without a hitch! (Note to self - family reunions and casinos work well together. Go figure!)
So, here are the girls at a Mission - damn near Mexico :)
And here they are chillin' in their grandparents backyard - pretty cool, eh?
I am pretty sure they didn't mind seeing WxMan and I hit the road home that evening without them. Heck, my hiney still hasn't recovered from the trip! And they had more fun coming. Next stop Slide Rock and the Grand Canyon! Woot!
As for me, I have company arriving today and tomorrow so we can ring in the Fourth of July!! Ready for some things to go BOOM? I sure am....
And Miss Taylor was certainly worthy of a ticket to enter. She was nearly 16 years old and went down peacefully with both WxMan and I comforting her today. Sadly, it was time...
She always looked a bit regal even when putting up with shenanigans from me.
Go play and enjoy the treats. I will see you at the Rainbow Bridge. Good girl...
The school year is (finally!) winding down - and there have been some fun projects distractions for the kids to focus on of late. Most recently, it was a grand scale launch of the end of the year rocket project.
As I have a lot on my plate right now - I welcome the distractions more than ever. And rockets?? Well, rockets are just damn cool...
Sporta and her teacher Mrs. D prepare for the launch...
Fire in the hole!
You can hear the countdown now, can't you?
Whoohoo! Really - Rockets are cool...
And if we didn't already have the 4th of July bug around here, we've got it now... Hoo boy!
Computa has entered into a bit of a "wear funky tee shirts, paint your fingernails bizarre colors, do odd things to your hair" indie stage. She's twelve and while it all remains fairly benign, I am going with the flow at this point.
My folks are here for a bit, having done some follow up at the Mayo Clinic, and the following conversation happened out on the patio the other day...
Grandy: "Computa! That is such a darling shirt! I just love it!! The designs are so cheerful!"
Computa: *blink* "Uh - thanks."
Me: "Mom - those are skulls."
Grandy: "Skulls? No they're not..."
Me: "Really, Mom - they are. Look - skulls."
Grandy: "Well, they're happy skulls. I like them."
Computa and I simultaneously *blink*.
And then I started to laugh...
Happy skulls - who would have ever thought. So here you go - you tell me. Do they look happy to you??
Here we go! Though 76 may be a little bit of an overstatement, there are definitely trombones in my future. And really - how often does one get to say *that* out loud?? Huh?
Sporta has chosen to play trombone in the school band next year. Also, unbeknownst to us, her best buddy in the neighborhood has chosen trombone as well. They are already planning practice sessions together. Big plans. Lots of practice.
Here. At my house.
I am soooooo going to invest in some earplugs for a while...
The good news is that my folks own a trombone - two in fact! So there will be no rental fees. Also - no reeds to buy. That should be nice.
And the kids are excited too. To be honest, the trombone really suits Sporta's personality. It's not very subtle and can be loud, shiny and flashy all at the same time. Trombones have flair!
And I am going to need earplugs. That I know for sure... ;)
It's just been a busy assed week. Mother's day had to be postponed to Monday (for me anyway) and the rest of it has been up hill on roller skates at best. Yeesh...
I am catering funeral food for a friend (tomorrow) who lost her dad on Sunday, and putting together an open house for work on Friday. So if you need me, I will be in the kitchen.
When the hell did that happen?? Jeez - it's freeking May already??
And apparently I have been hiding out - or at the very least, just incredibly busy. Both are true, I think. And let's face it - I should know...
First up in "How to Not be a Suck Mom 101" let's start by *not* sending the kid to school with freeking Whooping Cough. Because yup - I did that... For a couple of weeks, in fact! Nice, eh?
Of course in my defense, I had NO IDEA that Sporta had pertussis. I mean, both she and Computa are completely up to date on their inoculations. ALL of them... But with this experience we have come to learn that in the year before kids are due for their booster shots (usually just before 6th grade) they can catch freeking Whooping Cough. And it presents with a barking cough and NO fever. Great. I thought it was seasonal allergies or something because aside from the cough she felt just fine - so I simply dosed the crap out of her with over the counter meds and sent her to school armed with cough drops and asking her to "Please not 'show off' in class by letting the cough get so out of control... Sip some water fergottsakes!"
Lovely. Time to put more money in the therapy fund! AND take a gazillion phone calls from the health department so they can follow up and notify anyone you have been in contact with...
Even better.
Yeesh.
Between that, the church news letter (done!), and catering the instillation ceremony for the new priest - I have barely come up for air... Maybe that's why *I* didn't get the damned Whooping Cough. Anything is possible...
Oh, and how to get a bunch of clergy persons to simultaneously snort with laughter?? Simply say, "Holy Crap! It's like running the God gauntlet!" as an aside to your friend that you're walking into the church with and have your voice actually carry for the first time in YEARS.
Again, yeesh...
But at least it's Cinco de Mayo, right? There's gotta be a margarita in there somewhere for me....
1. School letting out for the summer. 2. Sporta getting over this wretched cough she has... 3. Humming birds arriving to entertain me on the patio. 4. The next Harry Potter movie hitting theaters! July 15th! Whoo! 5. Finishing the @%^@% church newsletter (again). 6. Payday! 7. The new Lee Childs book arriving in May! 8. Getting rid of this headache.
8 things I did yesterday…
1. Went to Home Depot and bought some flowers for the patio. 2. Had a migraine. 3. Went out to lunch with WxMan and beat him 4 to 3 playing buzztime trivia! With half my brain tied behind my back no less!! 4. Dishes. 5. Put clean sheets on my bed. 6. Worked on the @%#$@%$ newsletter. 7. Read a book - The Key To Midnight - it was good! 8. Talked to my Mom.
8 things I wish I could do…
1. Become invisible. 2. Fly. Wait - I hate to fly... Uh... Teleport! 3. Sing :) 4. Write really well - as much as I love to read I wish I had the talent to craft such wonderful stories... 5. Win the lottery. 6. Cure cancer. 7. I thought about the government here a LOT and couldn't come up with one wish... Things are FUBAR. 8. Have more fun - remember how to play.
8 shows I watch…
1. Diners, Drive Ins and Dives 2. American Idol - (I forgot to last night though...) 3. Mythbusters 4. Fox News 5. Grey's Anatomy (but I haven't in a while - it's gotten stupid...) 6. 7. 8. To be honest, I rarely sit down and watch TV. I often have the TV on for background noise - usually on the news or a movie that I like to listen to. But I am not a "sit and watch TV" person...
As you all know - we are merging onto the hormone super highway around here... This is going to be a big ball of fun - I can tell already. The eye rolls are an indicator, I suspect.
Take the other day - Sporta was complaining about her new (and I think totally cute) haircut.
"Moooooom - I hate my hair cut! It dries funny so one side flips under and the other side flips up! It looks stupid!"
"Well, just go use my blow dryer next time you get out of the bath and dry it the way you want... That's why God invented blow dryers - to save us from stupid hair."
Sporta just looked at me.
"Jeez Mom - God did NOT invent blow dryers. He's GOD! He's got more important things to do!"
"Yeah well - think of all of the women He was hearing from on a daily basis - 'Oh God, what can I do with my stupid hair!!' or 'God help me, I have a date tonight! And my hair!!' He probably got soooo sick of hearing those prayers he purposefully tapped some other guy to invent the blow dryer. Six of one - half a dozen of the other if you ask me..."
Rendered Sporta speechless, it did - and these days that's saying something...
You 'spoze eye rolling on that scale can cause any permanent damage?? Or do the hormones kick in and save the day?? It might be interesting to test the theory if nothing else... Heh.
You are a quiet observer of the world around you. Your wisdom comes from listening carefully. You've always been extra sensitive and aware. And it's made it difficult for you to fit in.
You see past people's outward personas. You are able to penetrate a stranger's soul.
What you've learned about people is both beautiful and ugly. And you keep these secrets to yourself.
Actually, that sounds about right... My gut instincts about people rarely mislead me - And I like having that sixth sense about folks. It has saved me a great deal of time and trouble over the years and more than a little heartache...
So for Easter Sunday, both Sporta (11) and Computa (12) decided that egg hunts were for "little kids" and they didn't really want one. (Just between you and me, I really hope they change their minds for next year. I love to hide and hunt eggs...) However, they *did* want to have a basket hunt!
Well, alrighty then - that's something at least!
Sporta has taken on a very "know-it-all" attitude of late and feels that it is her job to instruct everyone on just abut everything. Basket hiding techniques included.... As if I got my bunny ears yesterday... Huh.
So, she is all over me - "Mooooom - now make sure that you hide them really really HARD. We are not little lids any more! You can't just put them up high and have them be in plain sight! This need to be HARD or it wont be any fun!!"
"Yeah - I got it..."
"Seriously Mom, make sure! Remember - it has to be HARD!"
"Hard. Got it."
So I sent the girls away to go do whatever in the basement while I took my time (5 minutes tops) hiding the baskets and went back to making Easter dinner. Thirty minutes later I hear a tentative - "Mom?? Are you ready?? Did you have enough time to hide it HARD??"
"Yeah - I think I managed okay. Go for it..."
So with that - the girls were off! Sporta looking in some pretty inane spots - these baskets are not tiny after all - and Computa mostly unconcerned, letting her nose lead the way. Five minutes in to the deal, success!!
Computa: "I found mine! Whoohoo!! I almost didn't see it!!"
Sporta: "What?? It was in that closet?? I already looked there and didn't see anything!!"
Computa: "Yeah - Mom hid them HARD, remember?? You have to really look!!"
And off she went to examine the contents of her basket...
Two minutes later a visibly disgruntled Sporta was begging for clues. "You hid my basket too HARD!" She whined. To which I replied - "Be careful whet you wish for, it's in the house. Good luck." (Inside, of course, I was cackling maniacally...)
More stomping around - some half hearted attempts, many envious looks at her sister, Sporta finally gave in to her pride and begged Computa for some help... Computa sighed - and tired of her sister's endless pleading went to go help her look. Five minutes later she was back down stairs, a smug smile on her lips.
"I found her basket..." she said. "And I am not going to tell her where it is..."
Ha!
"Good." I replied. "She wanted this to be hard..."
Computa gave me a grand eye roll. "Jeez Mom - *I* found it. It wasn't THAT hard!"
And Sporta *did* find her basket eventually. And said later that it wasn't all that hard...
Well alrighty then. Looks like I better have my bunny skills sharper for next year, eh?
And the food is pretty good too. I hope all y'all have a great fourth! I am off to go load the fire extinguisher... Oh - and bail money.... ;)
And the food is pretty good too. I hope all y'all have a great fourth! I am off to go load the fire extinguisher... Oh - and bail money.... ;)
