HUMPDAY

Last night I did something I've been meaning to do for months: I downloaded Mozilla with Firefox. It's, um, okay, but I don't think I am completely comprehending its legendary awesomeness. If any of my dear readers use it, please enlighten me to its any features which will make me think I'm a rock star. Or at least that I didn't royally screw up.

Basically, here's what I don't want to hear from my husband when he gets back to town on Friday, [click] "Wha--??? [click clicker click] What the ... HEY! What have you DONE to our computer?!?"

Help?

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Today I hosted a Creative Memories beginner's crop at my friend Laura's house. She is like the coolest consultant you've ever met. What I love most is that she is a no-pressure salesperson. She hosts evening crops at her house at least once a month, but she does not give a rat's patootie whether you use CM products or "contraband," as I've dubbed my non-CM stuff (and I have a LOT of non-CM stuff).

Today's crop included my bff Jen, both of my sisters, my oldest friend Gena, and her friend Cyndi. Gena and I bought nothing, but the rest of the newbies managed to spend nearly $200 - which blessed yours truly with a $21 credit for my choice of CM products. I bought adhesive refills, page protectors, and frosted adhesive squares (good for vellum, mmm-hmmm). All FREE. Yay! Although...I've been wondering since I got home whether I spent my credit wisely. Should I have put the $21 toward a cool PowerSort Organizer? The large square punch I've been jonesing for since last year? A bunch of alphabet stickers?

Gah! Maybe I should just count my blessings. Yes, I'll do that.

My hostess gift for today was, well, it's hard to describe. It includes a small CM calendar, two magnets to hold said calendar on the fridge, and a small double punch - a swirl and a starburst. It all sounds cool, but I am so not a fan of the little punches. They're hard to adhere and honestly, I'll never use them. Now, I suppose, the choice is "garage sale" or "eBay."

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K is skipping soccer practice tonight. I think the coach is having practice, but since there's no game this weekend (spring break) I didn't feel it would really matter. K didn't want to go anyway, and since he's such a great kid and always so good about going to practice, I figure he deserves a break. This is it, though - from now on, any weekend there's a game, he'll be at practice. Well, except for next week - on soccer practice night, I think we're planning to go to the Dynamo vs. Puntarenas MLS game. Heh. I have good intentions, anyway.

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The weather is warming up here in H-town. Tonight's low will be in the 50s, and tomorrow's high will be in the 70s. Spring is in the air!

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My aunt (my mom's sister) gave me this picture when I was at her house a couple of weeks ago. I'd never seen the picture before, but it brought me to tears when I did. That's Mom on the left, and a very small me on the right, circa 1969. Mom looks absolutely radiant in this picture, and it makes me long for her to be with me again, just for one more day.

SLEPT BETTER LAST NIGHT

I think pure exhaustion finally set in. After a weekend of being on the go, my body just gave out. I fell into bed at 10:30 and slept until I heard the radio DJs squawking this morning. I could have happily dozed another three hours, but I'm grateful for the uninterrupted REM sleep I got last night.

K is working on a project this week for his Communication Applications class that I'm finding very interesting and fun. The kids had to make up professional-looking résumés for themselves, then on Friday they have to dress in business attire and go through a mock interview. MAN I wish they'd had this kind of stuff when I was in junior high.

K, of course, is already fretting about having to wear a tie to school on Friday. This from the kid who is joining ROTC next year and will have to wear a uniform to school one day a week every week. He says that's different. Ah, okay.

I drove Pey and Ry to school this morning because today is picture day and Ry had to be there early for the Safety Patrol group picture. He's such a cutie. Their individual pictures will be taken later in the day, and I really do hope they come out nice this year. Pey's hair is always messy in the school photos, no matter that we spend half an hour fixing it up in the morning. I guess that's par for the course, though - in my own school pictures (at least the elementary school versions) my hair was always frazzled. I'd be glad to lower my standards IF they'd bring down the prices to a reasonable level. No way I'm paying $25 for one 8x10. Multiply that by three kids and OUCH.

I accidentally ran over a bird while driving the kids to school this morning. I didn't hit it with a tire - it landed in the middle of the street right in front of me and didn't try to fly away until the van was right overhead. In my rearview mirror I could see the little guy flailing around, and I felt really bad. It was a good opportunity for me to talk to K about which animals to dodge and which to just keep driving for - I told him that if he ever gets into a wreck for avoiding a squirrel or bird, well, we'd have to talk. I feel for the little animals, but they're not worth having a wreck over.

Speaking of K, it's time to drive him to school. See ya!

MISSING DH

Hubby has safely made it to Portland, Oregon, where he will be until Friday afternoon. He's been on business trips before, but I was so sad yesterday when I thought about being here without him this week. I guess it says something good about our marriage that I still get teary-eyed when he travels - and we've been married for almost seventeen years.

In our early marriage, hubby was in the navy. We were stationed on Homestead AFB, Florida, for two years. He had one major deployment during that time, and since we didn't have children at the time, when he left on the aircraft carrier, I flew back to Texas to spend time with my family. Sure, I missed him, but for some reason it didn't seem as hard to be apart at that time as it does now. And that separation was for much longer than the five days he's gone this time.

Maybe I'm becoming more sentimental as I get older. Maybe I'm having a premonition about something happening while he's away. Maybe the stupid terrorists have made me afraid of any kind of travel or separation (that doesn't mean they've "won," does it?). My money is on the "sentimental" idea. At least, I pray to God that's it.

Last night I did not sleep well, which is not surprising because I never do when dh is away, but on top of that, I had nightmares. In one, I was picking Pey up from a daycare located inside a shopping mall (never would do that in real life) and was accosted as I walked to my van. The guy waited while I put Pey into her carseat, then got into the van with me, all the while I'm screaming for help. A police officer finally came over, but he said that he wouldn't help because I had obviously let the man into my van of my own accord.

I am not sure if the dream means that I'm worried about being alone with the kids, or if it means that I don't trust cops, or if it means that I'm paranoid about malls and their parking lots. In any event, I was very happy to wake up this morning.

Honey, be safe on your trip. I can't wait to see you on Friday. I love you.

I'M SO TIRED

Yesterday was a good day, what with my family in the house, but man am I exhausted. We stayed up late Friday night, then had to get up really early on Saturday because K had to be at the soccer fields at 7:00 a.m. for team pictures. Add in a houseful of people, two meals to cook, three to clean up after (for dinner, we brought in Cici's pizza), and having to be "on" all day, and you've got yourself a tired little Trace.

We went to bed around 11:00 last night, then SIL knocked on our bedroom door at 4:30 a.m. to let us know they were leaving (she and her son are driving from Houston to Orlando today - yikes). I fell back asleep after they left, and hubby woke me up after 10:00 a.m. to say "hey, it's after 10:00 a.m." I guess I needed to get up, but I sure didn't want to.

Hubby's leaving this afternoon to go to Portland for a week. Meanwhile, I'm trying to come up with a way to take a nap before his flight leaves. I don't see it happening, but a girl can dream... When people let her sleep, that is.

FAMILY TIME

Today was spent with a rather large part of my family. Four of the five siblings and five of the six grandchildren were here. Plus T & J (for all intents and purposes, "dad" and "mom"). My brother was missing, but his ex-wife and one of his sons were here. It's rare that we're all in the same place, so the day was a real treat for me.

I didn't take enough pictures, though, and that is my biggest regret.

TODAY I CLEANED

My SIL and nephew are due to arrive within the next six hours, so I have spent the day cleaning. I mean, cleaning. Laundry is one load from being completed (which is a feat in itself), kitchen is almost spotless (the piles of stuff on the breakfast bar are semi-permanent, I've decided), the floors and baseboards have been scrubbed, carpets Dyson'ed, bathrooms bleached. I even cleaned out the guest room - a.k.a. "garage sale staging area" - so that I could set up the daybed. (Is it daybedS if you pull out the trundle and make up both of them?)

Now I am exhausted. And in desperate need of a shower. I just hope there's still some hot water left after all the laundry I've done today.

GOINGS ON

Sorry for the lack of updates recently. Here's a quick rundown:

1. The temp job lasted four days. Then they said they were all caught up and thank you but today is your last day and yes we know it's a quarter to four and we made this decision this morning but hey you're just a temp so piss off.

2. But the hourly wage was awesome, so I wrote a nice email to the HR person the next day and told her to please keep me in mind for future positions. Maybe just not in the legal department. Okay, definitely not in legal...at least, not with the people I was working with before. So she called me this week to work a three-week assignment starting next Monday. I don't want to work over spring break - the kids were already shafted by last year's spring break [Tnk's accident kept me at the hospital all week] and I really wanted to spend time with the kids this year. So I told her I was booked up through the 26th but to please call me if anything comes up after that time.

3. Kids are happy I'm home when they get off the bus.

4. I was very sick last week, so I was glad to be home, too.

5. This week, no sickness. So I finally painted the kids' bathroom. So long, ugly-ass wallpaper!

6. My soon-to-be-ex sister-in-law is bringing my nephew to town tomorrow night. I can't wait to see them. Unfortunately, they're leaving Saturday afternoon, so the visit will be much too short.

7. After a two-month absence, our lawn guys finally showed up today. Yes, we may be spoiled, but I do love not having to weed the damned gardens. I am so not a green thumb.

8. I pity the lawn guys for the dog crap in the backyard, though. Sorry, LGs.

9. The garage door opener quit working two weeks ago. This is a major tragedy. I've had to cart groceries all the way from the driveway to the front door, which, let me tell you, is a real PITA.

10. Yep, definitely spoiled.

11. Garage door fixer-man is due here within the next hour or two. Our springs need adjusting before we can replace the opener (the door will not stay up by itself), and that's not a job for a regular joe. Sixty-five bucks for the guy to tweak the spring. Ahhh, the humanity. I'm going to have to kick my Grocery Game savings into high gear in order to make up for the costs incurred this week.

12. Grocery game savings last Sunday: a little over 51%. Shelf price: $81; my cost: $39.

13. I've got lots of cleaning to do before my SIL gets here tomorrow night. Naturally, here I sit at the computer...

14. I have decided to do a little NaBloPoMo of my own for March. I slacked off so much in February that I decided to kick myself into gear this month. A post a day is my plan. Think I can do it?

15. How've y'all been?

PASS THE BUCK

Here in these parts, and maybe in other parts, too, there exists a shopping establishment called "The 99-cent Only Store." The concept is fabulous - everything is 99 cents. Or less, sometimes, which kinda makes the store name misleading. But I'm not complaining.

Their advertisements run weekly in the Houston Chronicle. Now, popular belief would dictate that with everything costing less than a buck, the store wouldn't have a very big marketing budget. But their ads are definitely eye-catching - and often funny as hell.

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A few weeks ago, when David Beckham joined the LA Galaxy soccer team, this was their ad:

HaHAAA! Ah Posh Spice, have Two Become One?

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I wasn't sure if they'd be able to top that, but this week's Valentine's Day ad was a two-parter that made me choke on my coffee:

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Hope you all had a Valentine's Day full of Good Choices!

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

So I got tired of talking about my vajayjay and "the twins" and decided to head in a new direction with this post. Fortunately, I've got new stuff to say.

I got a job.

Yes, really.

I'll be working at an established company in their Legal Department, which I've never done before. Fortunately, the duties, as they were described to me, sound right up my alley. I'm proficient in Word, familiar with Excel, can probably do various other tasks as requested (what does that MEAN?), and am darned professional-lookin' when I gussy myself up.

The beauty of this job is that it's a temporary position. Meaning, I could be employed two weeks or two months or two parsecs (I'm taking Star Wars liberties with the latter word being used to describe time instead of distance). Anyway, I got a call today from the HR person to whom I'd sent my résumé a couple of weeks ago. She asked if I'd be interested in temping for them. Which is the same company DH works for. And they'd pay me a whopping amount of money per hour.

Uh, yeah, I think I can handle that.

Starting tomorrow.

[gulp]

I'm still going to be able to take off for my mammogram on Monday, too.

I'm excited and very nervous at the same time. It's cool that hubby and I will be able to make use of Houston's HOV lane, thus bypassing all the poor drivers on the main lanes. We should be able to get to work and home in near-record time. Hubby's mom even volunteered to come over and meet the kids' school buses every day - which was a load off my shoulders, let me tell you.

On the other hand, I'm nervous as hell about how I'll do in a business environment after all these years.

Tomorrow's the big day, so I'd better get off here and decide what to wear. The attire is "business formal," which in plain English means "pantyhose required."

Oh crud, do I even have any pantyhose?

Wish me luck!

PAPS ARE JUST AS MUCH FUN AS I REMEMBERED

Today I went for the first female checkup I've had since Clinton was in office. Fortunately, my doctor is the nicest person ever to scrape my cervix.

Dr. M did not judge me for waiting so long between appointments, which I really appreciated. Her comment was, "you're here now; that's what's important." She apologized for having cold hands during my breast exam, then again for taking 20 seconds to finish the pap smear and HPV test. Doc, I completely forgive you.

The urinalysis results showed that I have an infection, about which I was completely unaware. Therefore, I have a prescription to fill for antibiotics. Whee, orange pee, here I come.

The tactile breast exam showed two lumps in my left breast, and one in my right. The doctor said she's truly not concerned, yet she scheduled me for a mammogram next Monday. Now, I'm pushing 40, so I was going to have a baseline done this year anyway, but on the order form for the mammogram, she didn't check the "routine screening/asymptomatic" box. Instead, the scarier "diagnostic imaging/consultation" box is checked. She also asks, under "Additional Services," for a "breast ultrasound" of both breasts.

What freaks me out the most is that she drew in little masses on the preprinted breast diagram. Yep, two on the left; one on the right. Check.

After my exam, I was sent in for bloodwork. I had a feeling they'd go ahead and order blood screens today, so in preparation, I did not eat beforehand. In fact, I hadn't eaten since 6:30 last night, so by this time (11:15ish a.m.) I was feeling kinda weak. Somehow, the blood draw didn't seem to help that feeling.

I stopped for a baked potato on the way home because I was starving, but when I got here, I was only able to finish half of it. I'm actually feeling sick right now, and I've got a mother of a headache brewing. I can't get comfortable, which is really frustrating.

On the up side, I've lost six pounds since the last time I saw Dr. M. She made my day by saying, "yeah, like you needed to lose weight." Told you she was sweet.

THANKS

- To Katie, whose blog post made me list my own confessions, including the one in which I admitted that I'm years overdue for a pap.

- To Pez, for persuading me to schedule an appointment.

- To hubby, for taking the new job with the rockin' insurance and low co-pays.

- To my favorite doctor, for being available tomorrow morning at 10:10 a.m.

- To me, for finally taking care of myself. It's about time.

CONFESSION IS GOOD FOR THE SOUL, RIGHT?

Katie may or may not be a good influence. No matter; today I am copying her blogging idea - confessions. None of these are earth-shattering, but they do impact my tiny little world. And here we go...

• I wear my jeans for a long time between washings. We're talking weeks here - possibly a couple of months. If they get visibly dirty, I toss them into the laundry; otherwise, I just toss them over the box fan that's sitting in my closet and call it all good.
• My closet is huge, and also messy. The aforementioned box fan is not plugged in nor useful. It's purpose is apparently to serve as a small horizontal surface that I can put crap on top of. I have an old stereo in there that serves the same purpose.
• My kiddos, save K, do not shower every day. They're all capable of doing it all by themselves, but I hardly ever think about it in time to remind them before bed, so they don't. Twice a week is pretty good around here. K, who hit puberty last year and apparently discovered that teenagers sweat and thus stink, showers every single night. Pey and Ry aren't far behind him in age, so I figure they'll start showering regularly soon enough.
• It's been like six years since I've visited the dentist. Fortunately, I seem to have naturally good teeth. (Hope I didn't just jinx myself there.)
• It has been much MUCH too long since I've had a female exam. I am deeply ashamed, and promise to make an appointment soon, sis.
• My kids are old enough to make their own lunches, clip their own fingernails, and do know our address, so I can't make those claims. Anymore. heh
• I throw out my kids' schoolwork and artwork all the time. Not everything; but definitely most things. Apparently I also feel guilty about it because I still wait until the kids aren't home to start purging - and then I top the artwork with used coffee filters or waffle boxes or some other non-transparent item so that they don't notice.
• I hate doing laundry with a passion. I mean, you won't find another person on this planet who hates it more than I do. Thursday night, Ry told me he had no jeans to wear the next day. So I pulled out a couple of pairs of jeans for each kid (from the enormous mound of laundry sitting three feet from the washing machine) and did a load of jeans. Friday, K said he had no more underwear. This time, I started a whole load, but when it came time for K's shower, I just pulled out two pairs of clean underwear from the washer and tossed them into the dryer with the aforementioned jeans...Oh man, please tell me I'm not the only one who's done that.

127

That's the number of scrapbook pages I completed at last weekend's crop. That sounds like a lot, and it is, but believe it or not it only got me up to May 2006. I'm still behind (like 400+pictures-behind), but this is the most caught up I've ever been. I even won a prize for Most Completed Pages. Alert the Pulitzer committee.

8.5

That's the number of hours sleep I got last weekend, divided up thusly: 3.5 hours Friday night (Saturday morning, actually); 5 hours Saturday night (Sunday, actually). I took five meal breaks at approximately 12 minutes each (the food was catered, so there was no prep/cleanup time involved; thank you, paid help). I left the hall for about 20 minutes Saturday afternoon to take a shower because I was feeling crop-grungy, then I left once more for 35 minutes to drive home and get some warmer clothes and socks.

2135

The number of minutes I cropped over the weekend. That's a lot of minutes, and it works out to what, about 35 hours? Daaaaang.

5

The number of hours I'm going to work on scrapbooks tonight. My friend, a Creative Memories consultant who set up last weekend's crop, is apparently a glutton for punishment. She's hosting a five-hour gathering at her house tonight, and I am apparently insane because I'm looking forward to it.

2.25

The number hours until Pey's Brownie troop gets here for our monthly meeting. Up until 8:15 last night, I had no idea what we'd do at today's meeting, but then another leader mentioned a Valentine's Day party. No working toward a patch or anything otherwise formal; just fun. Sounds perfect to me. Maybe I can catch a nap while they decorate cards...

195

That's how many pictures I finally uploaded to Snapfish from my digital camera. (How sad is that.) I am having them printed and shipped to me, and am hoping that they'll arrive before Friday, which is when I leave for my scrapbooking weekend. I've gotten emails that the order has been completed already, so hopefully the postal service will get them to my mailbox quickly.

In other news, I am seriously considering applying for a job opening that just popped up. I am actually excited at the prospect of going back to work, believe it or not. The kids are older now, and I recently realized that my days are spent doing absolutely nothing except hanging around the house in between school bus departures and arrivals. I mean, I do the laundry and such, but for the most part, I do ... well, not much. It's not that I don't want to do more; I just have little motivation. That is completely and totally a personal problem, I know; but it doesn't change the fact that I'm not exactly overwhelmed with my life right now.

I think the best thing to do first is hit my knees and pray about this. In my heart and gut it feels very right, but checking in with the big guy is always a good idea, too.

CROP!

Kimmer, I just read your blog and wanted to let you know that I feel ya on the scrapbooking - I'm going to a crop this weekend, and I can't wait! I leave Friday afternoon and don't come home until Sunday afternoon. Meals and lodging all included. Of course, the best part is hanging out with other moms like me. Wait, that's not right. The best part is someone cooking and cleaning for ME! lol

I try to do a weekend crop once or twice a year. It helps me make significant progress on my scrapbooks, but more than that, it helps me recharge my batteries. It's nice to not have to worry about anyone else for a couple of days. And I think hubby enjoys the "pass" it gives him to just hang out with the kids and not do anything productive for awhile. He works hard, and definitely deserves downtime.

It sounds weird to say that hubby's spending a weekend alone with the kids is "downtime." But our kids are old enough now (13, 10, 9) that they're not as much effort to take care of as they once were. That's nice in SO many ways...but I'll admit that sometimes I do miss their babyness.

Which brings me back to the crop. I can enjoy their cute little faces in photographs all weekend! :)

WASSUP?

Nothing earth-shattering going on here, but I thought I should update anyway.
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Had lunch with my aunt last Friday. I only see her about twice a year, which is silly because we live in the same town and she works about ten minutes from my house. Anyway, it was great to visit with her, and I am looking forward to seeing her again before six more months pass by!
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Saturday afternoon I got a call from my soon-to-be-ex sister-in-law. She told me that she was bringing my nephew for a visit in March, and asked if they could stay with us for a couple of days. Needless to say, I am thrilled! I couldn't be happier that she still feels comfortable enough with our family to drive six hours for a visit. Yay!
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Last week sometime, I signed up with SparkPeople. It's a fantastic track-your-progress health and fitness site. You can keep track of what you eat, print healthy recipes, and even watch exercise videos right on your computer. I love it, and best of all, it's free. (I receive no kickbacks for referrals, y'all.)
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Sunday morning I made my weekly run to the grocery store. I bought:

Post Honey Bunches of Oats
Post Honey Bunches of Oats w/Almonds
1 lb. fresh green beans
1 head cabbage
1 large eggplant
Blue Diamond walnuts
Bottle of Propel water (free!)
Ragu spaghetti sauce
Quart of half & half
2 Blistex lip treatment (free!)
Large canister of Kroger oatmeal
2 The Works bathroom cleaner
2 Diet Big Red 2-liters
Dozen large eggs
2 boxes Nabisco whole grain Wheat Thins
2 boxes reduced-fat Ritz crackers
Fresh baby bella mushrooms
Kraft 3-cheese Crumbles
4 cans Grands biscuits
3 pkgs Philly reduced-fat cream cheese
4-pack Dannon low-carb yogurt
5 packages Totino's Pizza Rolls (all free!)
2 packs Birds Eye frozen green beans w/almonds
3 lbs ground beef
2 Glade Wisp starter kits
2 Glade Wisp refills
4 Glade aerosol room fresheners
Suave deodorant (free!)
4 Reach Max Fresh toothbrushes

Before card & coupons: $132.34
I paid: $49.49
Savings: $82.85

I also have $10 in Kroger Kash toward my next grocery trip - the Glade Wisp kits and refills trigger $3.00 and $2.00 coupons (respectively) instantly. Kroger also has a Kraft special going on - if you buy 8 specified products, it automatically deducts $7.00 off your bill at checkout. For this trip, my Kraft items were: the cheese crumbles, the 3 packs of cream cheese, the two Ritz crackers, and the two Wheat Thins.

Next trip, I'm already $15 richer - I've got a $5-off coupon from the Entertainment book for February, plus the $10 from this trip for the Glade products.

I love grocery shopping. And I just realized what a total nerd I am. Thank you, Grocery Game!

THINGS ARE LOOKING UP

Excerpts from emails about MIL's brain tumor. Yay!

Neurosurgeon confirmed what the E.R. neurosurgeon told us which is, as far tumors go, this is a very mild one. He is almost positive that it's benign, slow growing and may have been there up to 20 or 30 years(!). It's growing down from the cerebellum into a cavity and is about 1 1/2 inches long but because it is not pushing on anything in the brain, it does not have "roots" that are attaching to any parts of the brain. It does not appear aggressive, and Mom passed her neurological exam with flying colors (absent shakiness on walking the "drunk driving test" walk), so the doctor does not think it should be removed at this time.

He felt very strongly that her blood pressure problems and tremors (which are like shivers or jerks from a chill) are not caused by the tumor based on the area of the brain it's in and his experience with this type of tumor. He recommended coming back in 4 to 6 months for another MRI and would be very surprised if the tumor grew. If it grows or she starts having poorer neurological indications, he would recommend surgery and felt it would be a very straight forward surgery - this is not something he would recommend for radiation, as that is usually for malignant tumors. He suggested going to a neurologist to look into her shivers.

We are of course very pleased to hear the good news we were hoping for, no brain surgery! - though since Mom has not felt well, we were hoping to find a solution to all her ails by removing the tumor - her shivers kept her up all last night and are tiring physically (she can't sleep and it hurts to jerk around). It is possible that her lightheadeness is also caused by her blood pressure problems, which may be exacerbating her general well-being. She is going to work with her internal doctor on her BP.

Thank you so much for all your thoughts and prayers - we are very grateful indeed! We are still a little nervous about her symptoms as they have been interfering with her enjoying life these past week so we hope that the neurologist can put our minds at ease.

We feel very assured that her tumor is not life-threatening (having seen it on the MRI, it is not touching anything else in the brain, it's not touching the brain stem) and she can live a long time with it. While I got the prayer train going, please pray that we do get to the bottom of the cause of her shivers and high blood pressure and open up the path to the right doctor to treat them.

JUST AS MUCH FUN AS I REMEMBERED

I have not bowled in two years, and it showed last night when hubby and I went to the lanes. I didn't do as awful as I thought I would - first game I bowled 112; second game I bowled 124. Only regret is that I didn't take my own ball (yes, I own my own personalized bowling ball - I'm a Texan, sue me!). The balls at the lanes were either too heavy or the finger holes were too small.

But it was SO much fun! Now I'm jonesin' to join a league. And hey, even if I don't play all that well, I figure I can still enjoy the awesome french fries that every bowling lane in America serves. Yum.

ROLLIN' ROLLIN' ROLLIN'

Y'all, I'm so excited - tonight I'm going bowling for the first time in ages! Hubby's co-workers are having a get-together after work today, and we signed up to bowl on a team. I was a little nervous at first about bowling on a team of people I hardly know, but then I thought, whatever. I'm a decent bowler, so hopefully I won't embarrass hubby too much.

Yesterday's lunch with Fish was so nice. We went to Cracker Barrel - yum. We were there for over an hour and a half just talking about stuff. Let's see, we covered family issues, The Grocery Game, and, of course, Steve. (By the way, Fish, I couldn't find downloadable music on www.steveburnsrocks.us, although I did see some of my very own famous pictures posted there, lol.)

We could have talked for hours more, but the place was getting quite busy and our waitress, while polite, definitely wanted the table freed up. My lovely dining companion bought lunch, and I felt like a cheapskate because I only left the tip. It was a good tip, though, so hopefully our waitress was happy. Next time, though, lunch is on me.

This morning I watched "Walk The Line," which was a pretty good movie. In my humble opinion, Joaquin Phoenix totally overacted, but Reese did well. Good on ya, Ms. Witherspoon. Last night we watched "The Interpreter," which I thought was okay because it was for the most part not predictable. I hate predictable movies.

T & J are coming over later to babysit the kiddos while hubby and I bowl, so I need to get the house straightened up a bit. Also, tomorrow afternoon we're hosting the annual "my side of the family" Christmas, which is just another incentive for me to drag out my Dyson.

Yeah, like I need incentive for that.

IT'S MY MOM'S BIRTHDAY
(By the way, I'm not talking about my mother-in-law, about whom I've been posting the past few days.)

Mom would have been sixty years old today. After lunch (which I'm having with Fish today), I plan to stop by the cemetery. It's very cold and rainy here today, though, so maybe I'll wait until tomorrow so that the flowers I bring have a chance of survival.

Happy birthday, Mom. I hope today brings you chocolate cake and tons of purple roses in heaven.

I can't believe that this is the 9th year we'll celebrate your birthday without you. I miss you.