Which Way Did sHe Go?

Sorry, the author of this blog has gone AWOL. Please enjoy this station identification while we try to locate the lazy sod.

 

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Sitting in the doorways...

Wow. That was some experience.
On an almost nightly basis, 
we have a little man come creeping into our room, 
where I (the super light sleeper) will lift the blanket and wrap it around him as he climbs in.

Last night, after singing several horrendous rounds on Wii Karaoke American Idol, I was sleeping like a brick (nothing like thirty minutes of tearful, hard laughter to help you sleep).










                                                                                                                                  Me before 1 am

Along comes the heaviest, nosiest child I have ever experienced. 
He stomps up the stairs, jumps up and down beside my bed and begins shaking it.

Alright, I know I was sleeping soundly for a couple of reasons:

1.  My bed is a sturdy African Cherry Wood bed that stands high enough that with even my tall 9-year old, the mattress hits him about mid chest-- pretty hard to move the thing around.

2. I also can't imagine how any stomping could sound like a freight train.

But, still fuzzy headed from the sound sleep, I lifted the blanket for that noisy sleep-disruptor, but he didn't get in. In fact, there was no one there. 
That's when my husband and I sat up simultaneously and said, "What the cARp was that?!"

We came downstairs to look around, still trying to determine: Was there a mangled plane crashed somewhere in our garden? Was our house side-swiped by a juggernaut? [All Things British moment: this is what we would call an 18-wheeler. It's a large lorry, or truck]

As I'm tossing these ideas around in my head, I knew it was probably an earthquake and was typing in the address for the U.K. Seismology department. 
Couldn't get through. 
(funny thing about that, the morning news stations keep quoting the U.S.G.S. Dept. I know where to go next time). (next time?!)

My high-strung husband (not) then says, "I'm going back to bed".

"What?! What about the after shocks? What about the kids?".

I blogged (of course) and then sat in front of the telly listening to callers sharing their experiences.


Hats off to you in the western states. I would move. Some people find this stuff exciting. I find it thrilling much in the same way participating in a 36-car pile-up on the freeway would be.

My dusty, useless degree contains a minor in Geology. I, unfortunately, know what is happening inside the earth to shake the outside hard enough to mimic a stomping child and I don't like it. 
Earthquakes have a way of reminding me how little control I have over the grand scheme of things and how little God consults with me before making any final decisions. I don't like it.

What I do like is the British sense of humour.
They're playing Martika's version of "I Feel the Earth Move" today.


Oh wait, I think there's something coming across the telly on the news ticker...


"Largest earthquake felt in Britain in 25 years said to have been caused by...

...some really horrendous karaoke somewhere near Norwich."

Uh oh. The Americans have done it again.

September

Earth, Wind and Fire:

"Do you remember the 21st night of September?
Love was changing the mind of pretenders
While chasing the clouds away

Our hearts were ringing
In the key that our souls were singing.
As we danced in the night,
Remember - how the stars stole the night away, yeah yeah yeah.

Hey hey hey,
Ba de ya - say do you remember
Ba de ya - dancing in September
Ba de ya - never was a cloudy day"


That wasn't my September at all. Mine sucked thankyouverymuch.

Glass Half Empty... there were good points but they're currently cowering under two looming shadows being cast by that nasty villain: C A N C E R.

My best friend over here has, after a year, finally convinced the NHS to have a look at a "cyst" on her neck. It is a tumor. She will begin an aggressive attack on it beginning next week. This news came after my Step-dad was diagnosed with cancer of the Prostrate. I hate cancer.

Last night I went to bed with a distracted mind.

•  Of course, I'm still keeping tabs on the oldest who has relocated himself closer to his recruiter while he waits for the 6-8 months it will take to see if he can enlist and enlist for the job he wants or for the ones he will settle on. He has a job interview on Monday for some income while he waits. His shoes are duct-taped. We transferred money to his account so that he can get new shoes and new trousers (he's dropped a lot of weight preparing for the AF) before his interview.

• Son # 3 has lost his new hoody bought at Disney World which means I am on the hunt. For that and his PE shorts.

• Thursday is a day of "Beat the Schedule" since Hubby is working nights and I have to be in two places at once. I will drive into town to get one son from Rugby practice, drop the other one off at football practice, take the two little ones with me to Young Women, only to leave immediately to pick up the football kid. I will then get them all home at 9.20 for baths and bed by TEN on a school night. So I herd them all around the house to get everything ready for the busy day.

• October is a sacred month. I love Autumn. I love decorating, baking, carving pumpkins and making caramel apples.  Unfortunately, it never happens like that because we are always running. It's getting worse as the kids get older. I vowed that this October would be different, I am saying NO to anyone who tries to run off with my calendar.   Famous last words.  Last week, I began ticking off days... tick, tick, tick-- what the heck? Most of it's full and nothing I can really say NO to.

Going to bed with a distracted mind means waking up in a fog... it means I am less than thrilled when the phone is ringing before 8. It means I glare at my husband as he comes down the stairs carrying a phone while telling the person on the other end that he's looking for me (I'm packing PE kits).

When I realize it's Son #1, anxiety sets in. He needs to talk to us. I just talked to him before I went to bed. No, he needs to talk to US. At the same time.

"Is the girlfriend pregnant?" I wonder to myself. My heart slips into my thighs trying to fight it's way to my feet.

"I'm in."

"You're in? You're in what?"

"I'm in. The Air Force. I enlist on Wednesday, they're fast-tracking me because my job is available."

Hallelujah. Thank you Lord.

September may have just redeemed herself.   

Hey hey hey,
Ba de ya - say do you remember
Ba de ya - dancing in September
Ba de ya - forget about the cloudy days...

*~The Winner of the Giveaway is...~*

Me, because I love having a giveaway...

Especially when a store I'm enjoying so much like CSN Stores is providing the prize, and they'll be awarding that prize to:

Lisa Loo (who?)

Any (perfectly natural) resentment one might have for not having one's own name drawn

will quickly dissipate knowing that Lisa has just bought her very first home after living in a garage-turning-family home... for the last 15 (?) years. She's currently having a giveaway to help her re-name her blog since she will no longer be able to say: Is That a Garage Door on My Ceiling?.  So, pop on over and enter her contest (before Friday!) while you slap her a happy high-five.

I'm THRILLED for you Lisa, Congratulations!!!!  Thanks everyone for participating, we'll return to our regularly scheduled nothing-ness soon.

Rewards

Remember CSN Stores, that awesome place that I've mentioned that sells everything from wardrobes to kitchenware and everything in between? I'm sure I've also noted how easy the folks at CSN are to work with, but now you don't just have to take my word for it, you can find out for yourself.

Have a spin around one of their many online shopping areas in the U.K. (see below) or in the U.S. and tell me what you would love to have. Doing so will enter you into the generous giveaway CSN Stores are offering to my readers*.  


That simple.

No jumping through hoops, no standing on your head or waxing your arms in front of hundreds of people (Abe).  
Comment here on THIS post for one entry before 3 am Eastern Time, Wednesday, September 22, 2010.

My latest CSN Stores purchase: LeCreuset grill pan

http://www.csnstores.co.uk
http://www.allmodern.co.uk/
http://www.cookwarebycsn.co.uk/
http://www.furniturebycsn.co.uk/
http://www.lightingbycsn.co.uk/
http://www.tvstands.co.uk/



Good Luck!!!

*U.S. folks only are eligible at this time, but please make yourself heard if you're commenting from elsewhere and maybe there will be a future opportunity for you as well!

Small Bites

Confession: I read teen novels as well as watch teen tv. There. Said. I don't have to hide anymore.

The U.S. is currently enjoying shows that I won't see until 2012. Exaggeration, it's more like January but it FEELS like 2012.
So,
I went on to itunes.
I think I might have hysterically defended my paying to see Vampire Diaries before I turn 50 by clarifying that I wasn't paying to watch The Good Wife, Glee, Desperate Housewives or Grey's Anatomy even though Derek is shot and may be bleeding to death and that's a lot of blood to lose from now until January,  but I spoke to the wind. Hubby doesn't care if I keep him in his job for the next 40 years while all of his coworkers retire.

The girl-child is becoming my best friend. She walked into my computer room as I was watching a clip that included the painful removal of some fingers and beautiful faces melting into the equivalent of my morning face.
Quickly, I covered her eyes and said, "You shouldn't be in here, this is scary stuff".

"I like scary stuff."

"Sweetie, this has vampires and it will scare you, go back out to Daddy".

(Dad) "Miss Ky, come on out here..."

"No, I'm watching wampires. I like wampires and Mommy likes wampires".

How do you argue with that?

I wonder if she's team Edward?

What are you watching this Fall?

When You Have Hatred Towards a Book...

I hated...

 ...that this book ended.

Yes, I know this is considered a "Young Adult" novel, the husband never misses an opportunity to point out to me that I gravitate towards teen reads. 

I never declared myself a literary intellect and as long as I am every one's everything, this is what I have time for-- and even that falls somewhere between midnight and 2 am.  This Mom still wants to lose herself in a story!

So with that stated, I loved this.

Of course I ate up Clare's City of Bones, City of Ashes and City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments series) just as quickly and hated how those were gone so quickly too. 

The Hubby has counseled me to read slower to make it last... uh, yeah, I'll do that.

And because you asked... well not all of you,

Disney World was, well... it wasn't crowded and it wasn't too hot.
It had the potential to be the perfect holiday...for someone else who traveled with only their own immediate family.

Somebody sucked the magic out of it this year.

To Jon from Marion, Illinois: You really should consider another career. I still can't get over the fact that you ripped into an unsuspecting crowd of people attempting to park their strollers against (GASP!) a wall. They didn't know you had probably told a thousand people that day not to park there and there were no signs. Yes, I am the silver-haired woman who approached you ten minutes after I witnessed the event because I just couldn't believe a Disney employee would act that way. I appreciate you rolling your eyes at me in dismissal too. Classy touch.

We survived the first week of school despite serious jet lag.  

Dear Norfolk County Schools, Am I the only parent that thought it was a little soon to schedule school photos on day 3, 8 and 10 of a new school year? Am I the only parent that had kids that would be photographing on each of those days?

Fellow Bloggers Friends,
Forgive me for not responding, not reading, not reciprocating your kind visits-- ok, just being a total crap friend (and for using the word "crap" since I know it bothers some). I am really struggling to stay in contact with everyone--even my family. As I type this (and obviously don't take the time to edit or proofread), I have a small female behind my chair growling in an attempt to scare me. The same child who stopped me mid-email reply earlier this week to tell me that her "room smells like cow poo". The same lovely girl who has told me all week that I "smell like a horse".

There is no danger of me becoming proud or conceited, I'll just be just a cowpoo friend with a growing repertoire of teen books.

Badoo=Bad VooDoo

IF you get an email telling you that I have left a message for you on Badoo, especially if it says "Fred" left a message for you with my email addy, disregard.

Because we have a difficult-to-contact landlord who is periodically out of the country a lot, I believed  the message directing me to go to this site to read a message left for me (I know-- gullible).
Give me extra stupid points because I believed I had to register to read it. I did register as Fred Flinstone with a bogus birthday and refused to give a password to my email account (thank you Lord for the limited brain cells I have left) and moved on to my "message".
Of course there was none, so I then went on to delete my account.
However, when you try to leave they want to know why. I skipped that and got this obnoxious message:

"We can't believe it's come to this, Fred… There are people that can help you make everything better. But if you're going to just go ahead and end it all anyway, the least you can do is tell us why in the space below.
We think you owe us at least that much after all we've been through! We can change! We'll become better, we swear!".
That may be cute and funny in their world, but it made me angry-- especially when they require a password to leave. Password? I never set up a password!

So, please spread the word. This is a scam. They get private information from you and then contact unsuspecting people in your address book who will think you've actually tried to make contact. DON'T DO IT.
Don't say I never did you any favours,
Love Fred.