The time is now. Now is the time!
(This is kinda like my own version of "carpe diem" -- only lamer. It makes me think of this horrible gardening column I used to edit for a daily newapaper every Wed. night. The column ALWAYS began, "Now's the time..." Each week, I got to edit for space but was banned from improving on the gardening lady's signature opening: "Now's the time..." Oh, so bad! And look at me now. I have become the gardening lady! Next stop: HELMET HAIR!)
Anyway. School has ended (the final day of in-service is over for Jer in about 90 minutes) and the family B. is on SUMMER WATCH! While the season might not yet be official (of course, in Texas, summer hardly waits on a calendar date or an invitation), things already feel lighter and brighter around here. Now, I don't get that much summer time off, myself, but I find I really don't mind. As long as my boys have time on their side, more things get done around the house, and fewer things cause stress in the household.
I will take time for a wedding soon (to celebrate a happy, happy day w/ the darling cousin Andy and bride). And I'll stretch that trip a few extra days.
I have prospects of a great girls' road trip to Arkansas in June. (Yeah, yeah: "great" and "Arkansas" don't seem that compatible to me, either, but I trust the springs are lovely.... ;))
If I can swing it, I'll be at "Biddy's Lake" on July 4. And, my friend Susie and I will no doubt do some shopping before then. (Are you reading this? We must plan a DATE!)
In July, I'm going to teach at VBS for four days and hopefully sneak in a weekend away with my spouse.
Before school starts again, I also have to make several Dallas runs, probably plan another New York trip, and get cranking on some BIG home improvement plans.
By the time August arrives, I hope I'll have been busy for weeks and have LOADS to show for it -- faded beach towels; sun-streaked limbs; Bible School crafts on the fridge; digital photos in random, unsorted folders; new bookshelves and a quietly-closing back door....
In the meantime, just today, I've brewed a BIG batch of iced tea and am walking around barefoot in celebration of all things summer. This is the time, my friends! The time is now....
Just a girl, asking for grace, to survive her happily-ever-after.
5.30.2006
5.18.2006
Long Time No Blog
I am back from the belly of the beast.
I have survived a very LONG trip to the home office (as in, my employer's home office, in New York; decidedly not MY home, where I usually office). And I'm well into the daily grind I had left behind.
The not-daily grind was much worse, let me tall ya! Texas soil (or, well, pavement) was a beautiful sight after 6 days in the big city. (I almost crossed and genuflected the Houston intercontinental shuttle bus!) I was becoming an automaton, what with the all-work-and-no-play, 12+ hour workdays.
So, I'm back. And the job is (still!) what it is. And... I just wanted to say... it's not that bad!
I am coping. I am definitely surviving. And I am getting an actual life back, one small step at a time. (Leaving the house to buy lunch helps. Mid-week dinner and a movie w/ girlfriends helps. Baby shower gift-shopping helps. Needing time for the dry cleaner and alterations shop that both close at 6 doesn't help. But ya' take what you can get! :))
Cheers to all the overworked, office-bound Americans out there... another weekend's coming!
I have survived a very LONG trip to the home office (as in, my employer's home office, in New York; decidedly not MY home, where I usually office). And I'm well into the daily grind I had left behind.
The not-daily grind was much worse, let me tall ya! Texas soil (or, well, pavement) was a beautiful sight after 6 days in the big city. (I almost crossed and genuflected the Houston intercontinental shuttle bus!) I was becoming an automaton, what with the all-work-and-no-play, 12+ hour workdays.
So, I'm back. And the job is (still!) what it is. And... I just wanted to say... it's not that bad!
I am coping. I am definitely surviving. And I am getting an actual life back, one small step at a time. (Leaving the house to buy lunch helps. Mid-week dinner and a movie w/ girlfriends helps. Baby shower gift-shopping helps. Needing time for the dry cleaner and alterations shop that both close at 6 doesn't help. But ya' take what you can get! :))
Cheers to all the overworked, office-bound Americans out there... another weekend's coming!
5.02.2006
Musical Interlude
Da, da, da --- da, da, da --- da, da, DUH --- da, da, DUUUH-DUH!
(Softer: Bahm, bahm, bahm-bahm BAHM!)
Stop a sec to ponder the intersection of Billy Joel, Tom Hanks & Peter Scolari, and you will catch my mental drift. Ahh, and if you are a child of the 70s/80s, you may soon be singing with me...
(Really -- it's irresistable!)
"I don't care what you say, anymore, this is MY LIFE.
Go ahead with your own life, and leave me alone..."
OK, the question of care notwithstanding, I'll say something. I'll say this.
I have become a cold, cruel girl, my friends.
Yes, I have.
Unfeeling. Unsympathetic. Cold, cold, cold.
Deep down: I want them ALL to go on with their own lives, and leave me alone.
My profession has forced this shift upon me. I am basically a nice person. A somewhat flaky, loves-to-laugh, essentially bright and marshmellowy center NICE person. But I cannot take it any longer. I simply can NOT stand to hear ONE MORE person COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN without secretly giving some attitude back. So, the Bosom Buddies theme song has become my workaday anthem! My very lifeline to the land of sanity, which I fondly remember and hope to visit again, sometime about June.
Until then, I just hum to myself while I take crap from cranky, cranky humans. Ooh, ooh, let's do the bridge together!
"I never said you had to offer me a second chance
I never said I was a victim of circumstance...
I still belong / don't get me wrong
And you can speak your mind
But NOT (pause) ON (pause) MY TIME...."
"I don't care what you say anymore...." Picture bouncy, mushroom-headed me (I recently got a haircut, and it's all so pert and fluffy and ending at the chin, the thickness does kinda give a mushroom effect above the neck), chair dancing in conspicuously caucasian fashion and snapping my fingers to the sound of air. (Ah-ha! But very soon I will purchase the song from iTunes and can commence dancing to an actual soundtrack -- cheap therapy!)
So, louder now: BAHM -- BAHM -- BAHM BAHM -- BAAAHM! (I might be doing air drums right now, but let's not speak of it. I still have small shreads of dignity I might like to repiece together one day.)
Oh, I love this tune, but I don't pretend it's the only one that can address my current mental state. One of you, for instance, may have some inspirational music that has gotten you through deadlines or major projects, life shifts or periods of psychosis (just kidding). And maybe you'll share. If you know something that might ease the passing of these current days (nothing with beach waves or soothing nature sounds, please, because that sort of peaceful, take-a-moment-to-unwind crap will send me straight to an all-out hissy-fit), please post the song title in comments or forward to my email address!
Hugs and kisses to all you kind souls. Be good to the customer service folks out there, because it probably isn't their fault! ;)
Da-da-da...
(Softer: Bahm, bahm, bahm-bahm BAHM!)
Stop a sec to ponder the intersection of Billy Joel, Tom Hanks & Peter Scolari, and you will catch my mental drift. Ahh, and if you are a child of the 70s/80s, you may soon be singing with me...
(Really -- it's irresistable!)
"I don't care what you say, anymore, this is MY LIFE.
Go ahead with your own life, and leave me alone..."
OK, the question of care notwithstanding, I'll say something. I'll say this.
I have become a cold, cruel girl, my friends.
Yes, I have.
Unfeeling. Unsympathetic. Cold, cold, cold.
Deep down: I want them ALL to go on with their own lives, and leave me alone.
My profession has forced this shift upon me. I am basically a nice person. A somewhat flaky, loves-to-laugh, essentially bright and marshmellowy center NICE person. But I cannot take it any longer. I simply can NOT stand to hear ONE MORE person COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN without secretly giving some attitude back. So, the Bosom Buddies theme song has become my workaday anthem! My very lifeline to the land of sanity, which I fondly remember and hope to visit again, sometime about June.
Until then, I just hum to myself while I take crap from cranky, cranky humans. Ooh, ooh, let's do the bridge together!
"I never said you had to offer me a second chance
I never said I was a victim of circumstance...
I still belong / don't get me wrong
And you can speak your mind
But NOT (pause) ON (pause) MY TIME...."
"I don't care what you say anymore...." Picture bouncy, mushroom-headed me (I recently got a haircut, and it's all so pert and fluffy and ending at the chin, the thickness does kinda give a mushroom effect above the neck), chair dancing in conspicuously caucasian fashion and snapping my fingers to the sound of air. (Ah-ha! But very soon I will purchase the song from iTunes and can commence dancing to an actual soundtrack -- cheap therapy!)
So, louder now: BAHM -- BAHM -- BAHM BAHM -- BAAAHM! (I might be doing air drums right now, but let's not speak of it. I still have small shreads of dignity I might like to repiece together one day.)
Oh, I love this tune, but I don't pretend it's the only one that can address my current mental state. One of you, for instance, may have some inspirational music that has gotten you through deadlines or major projects, life shifts or periods of psychosis (just kidding). And maybe you'll share. If you know something that might ease the passing of these current days (nothing with beach waves or soothing nature sounds, please, because that sort of peaceful, take-a-moment-to-unwind crap will send me straight to an all-out hissy-fit), please post the song title in comments or forward to my email address!
Hugs and kisses to all you kind souls. Be good to the customer service folks out there, because it probably isn't their fault! ;)
Da-da-da...
5.01.2006
Forecast: Cloudy
I cannot express just how frustrating life is in my world today.
No words. No words.
But, on the bright side, Jer made me coffee... and it's GOOD. 2. Miles said, "Yippee!" instead of "WHHHY?" when I told him it's a Miss Lisa school day. 3. And The Avalanche are advancing in NHL playoffs.
So, here's to silver linings. May they color the rain -- which, I am just guessing, I can't avoid -- so that it sparkles like sequins on the ground.
No words. No words.
But, on the bright side, Jer made me coffee... and it's GOOD. 2. Miles said, "Yippee!" instead of "WHHHY?" when I told him it's a Miss Lisa school day. 3. And The Avalanche are advancing in NHL playoffs.
So, here's to silver linings. May they color the rain -- which, I am just guessing, I can't avoid -- so that it sparkles like sequins on the ground.
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