In the Blink of an Eye

This once cute little girl called home tonight and says "I'm calling to hear the story of my birth." A ritual routinely practiced each year the night before the girl's birthday at bedtime.

This year, on her birthday came the telephone request...with a sorority sister listening in.

Now the once cute little thing I helped create is a twenty-year old beauty.

In the blink of an eye.

Happy Birthday Princess A. You are loved!

Hanging With Mr. Faleepo

Saturday night we were hanging out with Faleepo Head.

Faleepo is cool. He is friends with Tim Reynolds of the Dave Matthews Band and TR3 and St. Louis radio personality Dan Strauss of the Big550's Frank O. Pinion Show, among others. Faleepo once guest hosted on the show. He is totally down with the "AM in the PM".

Faleepo has been friends with Dan and Tim since the 70's. By the looks of his video debut (at the end of the video) he was hanging with dudes who were dabbling in some illegal activities. Then again don't most musician types have a sored past? That they video tape? Poor Faleepo seems to have been mistreated and kicked around a lot back then. Why he is still friends with these guys after all these years is a mystery to me. Faleepo believes himself to be so cool he even has his own Facebook page.

Faleepo graced us with his presence last night at Bill Clevlen's annual trivia night. He was pretty much a hallow head of a team player. He just kicked back, smoked a cigarette, drank a bottle of wine till he passed out and hammed it up with Ian the Peon (...or is it that Ian hammed it up with Faleepo?).

Our thought in inviting Faleepo was he would help us to retain our third place title again this year. He did not. Like I said, he was a hollow head of a table nine team mate but a score of 85 and fourth place ain't nothing to sneeze at.

Spring Break Costa Altantica Style

Getting back into the swing of routine life is a bit difficult when you have had the Caribbean sun kissing your skin for seven glorious days. Somehow I drug through Monday and then crashed at 7pm, sleeping till 530am. I woke to a Tuesday weather report of warm air and sunshine--just what the doctor ordered.

Last Thursday as I laid on a pool lounger on deck 10 switching back and forth between my novel and watching dolphins chase each other and the ship…I was a far cry from the torrential road blinding rain storm we drove through almost a week before that brought me to that place; that place of tropical relaxation and tranquility. Sunshine has a way of doing that. So does boiling hot sand on Morning Star Beach in St. Thomas that sends all running, no matter age, to the crystal blue and turquoise water. As does a Spanish fort in San Juan and crashing waves on Cabbage Beach in Nassau.

The dining room was another story. All I will say is the hamburgers at the pool bar saved my life each day. Things like this: seafood pasta with a dwarfed octopus placed on top was most definitely an appetizer killer. Don’t even get me started on the turkey with giblet gravy! I give kudos to the asparagus flan and the snow crab quiche, but I don’t have a lot of praises for the chef of the Costa Atlantica when he puts red and green candied cherries in the baked Alaska. I love me some candied cherries, IN MY FRUIT CAKE AND HOLIDAY STOLLENS, not in my baked Alaska!

The girls had a good time being silly
All us girls

We had a great time on the ship dancing

Relaxing with a good book

Most of all...being together as a family

Because after all that is what a family vacation is all about. Enjoying being together.

Most of all thankful the girls all have cameras they remembered to capture our memories when I forgot mine (because D moved it from the packing spot).

Till the Fat Lady Sings

I am in that moment of crunch. I am feeling the pressure. I will get it done. And then sleep in the car. All day!

I'll keeping going until....

Monday

I am in serious count down mode. I have company that stretches way past the confines of these walls. Spring break cannot come fast enough for us all! Time to get off the hamster wheel of life for a while, relax, choose our own busy-ness, have a cocktail on a Tuesday, sleep in late...you get my point.

I am preparing to let my favorite black boots rest in the closest. Instead giving my sunglasses a work out.

Which reminds me...Princess A I left them in your dorm room please don't forget to pack them with your stuff. A week of squinting just wouldn't be an fun!

Today's weather is like a spring break preview. I smile.

Cash is King and Sleep is Over Rated

Friday Midnight

Before I know it I will standing in a cafeteria with music blasting in my ears while my head trys to scream back, unsuccessfully, "turn it down" and a mass of people crank out 4000 subs. While I hone my counting skills double checking if the orders were filled correctly; I will think about Friday night's fun.

Trivia.

Trivia itself was rated W for weak but the team players rated G for great. Weakest trivia I have ever been to. Lowest turn out ever for Project Graduation trivia night. It was crazy how slow things went. The flower category sucked a big one! It was apparent we are not drinkers of to many mixed cocktails according to the drink category...like who the heck drinks a greyhound? I thought the greyhound was 1. a form of mass transportation or 2. a dog who runs races. Not a cocktail! Odds are if I bellied up to a bar and told the bartender I wanted a greyhound he/she would look at me like I had two heads. I did however leave the evening $198 richer. King Ralph and I won the 50/50. I would have donated it back except with the budget cuts in the district I decided to be greedy and keep it. I bought a jacket at the silent auction so I donated part of the winnings back.

We marked our tie breaker sheet for 68 and ended the evening with 65 total points. Not our best, but we had a hell of a table buffet. One drunk dude from the losing table came by and started loading a plate with our buffet selections. We were all so dumb founded we just stared in shock at his audacity. Then once I realized who's table he came from, not to mention the fact it was an all male table who came armed only with a five-gallon barrel of hard pretzels and a cooler of beer...well, you begin to feel sorry and proceed to load them up with your leftovers. King Ralph found another guy in the men's room hugging the toilet while his buddy instructed him to "lock his knees" while he held his head over the toilet. Really!? How old are these people? Sure we had some wine, beer, margaritas and a little spiced rum at our table but we all left collected and upright.

Okay if I stop typing and get to sleep I will clock 4.5 hours of rest before the sandwich song starts playing at ten thousand decibels.

Saturday 437pm

I actually got 3 hours of sleep before the alarm summonsed and the sandwich song started playing. By the time we finished making 3100 bandwiches and delivering the bandwiches I was so tired I could hardly hold one eye open and find my bed. M too. But I did and so did M. I napped like a queen...no a princess because a queen would still be sleeping. M must be the queen, she is still sleeping. I'm jealous! To be 17 again.

I am so tired and you'll never guess what I am cooking for dinner? Bandwiches. (I say that with an evil but serious giggle.)

Not Even A Bad Cold Can Stop the Show

We jacked D up on some DayQuil around 530pm so she could belt out musical tunes for her March concert in order to not be subjected to sniffling-sneezing-coughing-aching-stuffy-head adding hand to: so-you-can-sing. The miracle medicine! Then she shimmered her face with eye shadow, blush, lipstick and false lashes...then dressed.

Performance Costume Recipe

1 Sully from Monsters Inc.
1 Little Mermaid
1 Flamingo dancer
100 yards of velvet
50 yards of rhinestone
Generous sprinkle of glitter

Put all ingredients in blender on high.

This is what you get....the most hideous costumes ever known to the world of show choirs!However, despite the on going complaints from the girls of Limelight, the all female show choir, about the costumes, they put on a fabulous show last night! The song collection--a tribute to woman power.

I got in the auditorium early enough last night to get a good seat. A seat right behind the Band of Sisterhood known as old ladies with the worst cheap old lady perfume ever produced and salon styled hair that met teasing heights that should be illegal. Even the Limelight mom sitting next to me commented on how bad the old lady perfume was. It was bad! I decided not to crop my pictures so I can remember and reflect on how creative I was in my attempts to maneuver around the ten mile high hair and gallons of Aqua Net hairspray while holding my breath for an hour.

Regardless the jazz hands live on.

Curt Cobain, Or Sting

That time is creeping up--spring break. It is hard not to count the days down with the kids, and not just because we plan to hit the open road, but because everyone in the world of school does. No matter what your age.

Everyone who knows us well knows when we take to the road we have always entertain the girls with a "best of" album. Learning all the words to all the songs--a requirement. Because, for no other reason than music fills the soul...or in this case, the car. Who can complain when a teen can sing and appreciate everything from Patsy Cline and the Carpenter's to Lynyrd Skynyrd and Jefferson Airplane?

So imagine the reaction from the crowd when I suggested Michael Jackson as a possible pick. "For the love of Jesus no Michael, please no mom" moans M. "Jesus loved Michael" I spit back at her. "Really mom, no!" chimes in D from the back seat of the car. "How 'bout Nirvana?" she asks. How 'bout it? Then at work the "young one" in the office begs me not to torture the girls in the Michael way. She comes back to work yesterday with her and her husband's suggestion of Sting. Hmmmm, that certainly would be a great front runner. Never done Sting before.

Still, why not Michael? Sure he was a twisted soul but he was a musical genius and a legend. Can't you just picture the beauty of the girls in the back seat swaying back and forth in a chorus of We are the World as we zip down Highway 55? No instead they want to remind King Ralph that the car Smells Like Teen Spirit as they strum their air guitars and beat their air drums.

Okay Cobain is a strong possibility. He too was a musical genius in his own twisted soul kind of way.

Then there is Sting. Sting & The Police, better yet. Then we can hear the girls sing the stalkers anthem of Every Breath You Take from the rear of the car. King Ralph could serenade me from behind the wheel with Be My Girl. While I won't reveal our destination I will say this, that Ain't No Sunshine will NOT be our weather song of the day (week) and the only way I will be able to get word to you all will be from a Message in a Bottle.

Okay seems Sting & The Police win! For good measure will let Cobain sing a few rounds as well. Maybe even let Michael pop in for a visit (just to torture the girls).

I like to play fair.

I shall commence with the CD burn.

Until we meet again...happy sunshining Thursday!

I had a great weekend of sunshine and warm air. While it was 43* here in St. Louis on Saturday, I ventured down south to visit Princess A at college, for AXO's Mom's Day, where the temperature was 52*.

The thing you got to love about Cape Girardeau is that on one block you can see a camouflage truck with a gun rack and the next block over you can see a hoopty driven by a thug. To spice up things even more you can find Dracula in the grocery store, in February, serving samplings of blood orange juice. Then one isle over you can find an old man with snow white mutton chops accented by a black hair piece (odds are he thinks we all believe that is his real hair, lol). You also can spot a guy on a bike with a baby bike trailer attached, except no baby in the trailer instead an Irish Setter. That takes walking the dog to a whole new level. I doubt warm air brought these oddities out but I guarantee it contributed to the college fashion fare of running shorts with Ugg boots--cool legs, warm feet.

It's Monday and my weather man reported today's weather with this song

Regardless of the heavy clouds and no rain there is one big reason to love Monday, this Monday...the season finale of The Bachelor!

There is One Gal in the House That is Glad This Week is Almost Over

Its been one of those weeks for M, one of those that she is ready to put behind her and conquer the next.

We started the week off at the neuro ophthalmologist trying to figure out if a fourth eye surgery was feasible. Our long time eye doctor/surgeon didn't fell comfortable with surgery as a possibility or as a solution and wanted another opinion before any of us making rash or haste moves. The eye exams are tiring for M. She said working her eyes over is like me trying to do the splits over and over again. I was totally prepared to sit for hours in the waiting room. I know how the Center for Advanced Medicine works from spending a vast amount of time at the Spine Center. They move slow, really slow. I never head there without packing an overnight bag and a cooler. So imagine our surprise when we arrived at 830am and left the office at 10am! (I learned it is always better to be the first appointment of the day, they haven't had time to get behind.) When it was all said and done we left the place with the scorecard reading it's a win-lose situation. Win because M won't have to have a fourth eye surgery, lose because they can't fix her constant side double vision without altering her present (cosmetically near perfect) alignment. God love her she hardly complains, says she stopped mentioning it a while ago because it is what it is. M once described herself-- while wearing a back brace, eyeglasses and braces on her teeth-- as a cracked glass. I tell her better to be a Waterford goblet with a crack than cheap lead crystal with a crack. My M is definitely a Waterford goblet. She is mighty fine even with her small "flaws", besides I see no cracks in the Waterford crystal just perfection and beauty.

She had that darn Color Guard section leader try-out-- a try-out that was conducted in a manner never done before (and quite honestly not exactly in the fairest of like or similar ways to the rest of the marching band). It sent her over the edge on Wednesday night. King Ralph helped her out and he said he "choreographed part of her routine." M says "ya, he was like put another of those swirls in there and another of those tosses in there." King Ralph needs to stick to what he does best and flag spinning just isn't one of them. But you got to love him for his interest, help and encouragement. Like the person that M is she went in there did her stuff and left knowing she gave it her all. Now she sits and waits for results. Results that should not take as long as she has been told they will take. Patience is a virtue...it's a lesson being learned in this process.

Last night she spent two hours with a math tutor trying to grasp Algebra II concepts. Math is not and never has been my strong point. So I sat there at the table for a while with them feeling like this form of mathematics is an extension of the Chinese language. I just cross my fingers she does well on the test today. I think M has my mathematical philosophy in her genes: all you need to know is percentages (mostly 10,20, 25, 40, 50 and 75%) for shopping the good sales, simple fractions for cooking and basic math for balancing the check book, everything else is fluff...unless you are going to be a rocket scientist and then my theory goes right out the window. M assures me she isn't going to be studying rocket science in college.

Well M while I know you aren't going to be a rocket scientist just go out in the world everyday doing your best and being the best you you can be!

Buckle Up

How many of us remember the days when we hopped in the car and just drove off? No seat belt required? I do. Crazy days those were! Can you even imagine not wearing your seat belt now? I can't. It's like my wedding ring, I feel naked without it.

As a mom I instilled in my daughters the need and purpose of the seatbelt early on. Now with two young drivers at the helm of the wheel safety is instilled and drilled even more. So this commercial makes a great deal of sense--to not only show my girls but to share with everyone.



Remember, to always buckle up!

The Buried Life Has Got Me Thinking

Truth be told I am a lover of reality TV; no matter how sick and perverted it can be. Our TIVO is chock-full of the shows, everything from American Idol to Project Runway to Biggest Loser. My very favorite is The Bachelor. (dare I mention King Ralph is enjoying the show in a sick male kind of way this season.) I love how we girls at work gather on Tuesday morning, and afternoon, to analyze the bachelor and the hound seeking babes. There is however another reality show I love just as much for a totally different reason-- The Buried Life.

I love The Buried Life for its pay it forward message as much as its way to make people think what would you put on your bucket list and what you want to do if you had one day to live.

This episode drew out my tears

The Buried Life - MTV Shows

The Buried Life - MTV Shows

After I watched the most recent episode of the guys trying like hell to play a game of basketball with the president...I began thinking what would I want to do if I had one day to live. King Ralph and I talked about it together and came up with something.

We love national parks and we love to hike. There is nothing that compares with walking through nature, breathing clean fresh mountain air, hearing the babbling of brooks while bonding with those you love, then standing at the top of a mountain feeling that close to heaven. It's simple life at its best. It is a goal of ours, as a family, to visit Yosemite and hike the mountains and trails of the park. So we decided together that if The Buried Life guys approached us we would tell them it is our desire to hike Half Dome.

As for a bucket list, gosh I am not to sure what all I would put on it. I have few ideas but not many.

What's on your bucket list and what's that one thing you would want to do if you had one day to live?

A Dance and Dining With The Dead

Last night was the "Snoball Dance". A dance that was less snow and more rare but welcomed sunshine on a warm February Saturday.

First pictures with the freshmen.

Then pictures with the juniors
The dress lengths were short and the shoes were all rockin'!...also where my camera battery went dead.

Then King Ralph and I escaped to our favorite pizza/sports bar for a few spirited beverages and a bite to eat [at the bar]. (I forget but I think we call that a date.) It was here I caught glimpse of an urn sitting in the center of one of the pub tables. It seems we crashed an Irish wake--a first for our favorite eatery. The mourners appeared to revel less in grief and more in beer. The urn was a coaster and the ashes were toasted--not with words but with the clink of a Bud bottle to the marble urn. Mr. Ashes was then passed from one friend to the next as the mourners decided whether to stay and continue partying in an Irish wake fashion or to leave..who should take'm home. When Mr. Ashes finally left his eight hour memorial party there was one lone ranger left sipping beer, waiting for his safe ride home.

There you have it a dance and my dinner with the dead.

You've Got Mail

Yesterday I e-mailed a short note to M's marketing teacher, who was also her Personal Finance Management teacher last year (that required class was full of out-of-control crazy teens making for a stressed teacher), turning out to be her favorite teacher of this year. I felt compelled to apologize to her for M not being able to attend state and nationals; seeing where that trophy could take her in the world of DECA. I felt more compelled to write the note since the male unit of the house is feeling like it is all his fault, walking around with his head hung low and his heart aching. M has assured him there are opportunities that await her in the future and not to feel any guilt. That eases some of his guilt but not all.

I got this nice note back.

I would have never thought that Maddi and I would have such a respect for one another after our first experience teaching PFM and having the class with me. I don't believe Maddi would have thought the same way a year ago. However, I knew she was special and hoped I would have the opportunity to share my true passion with her at some point. I feel I have been blessed with my past three candidates having won the coveted district leadership delegate. Maddi seemed truly honored to be asked to be my delegate, I knew I had the right one. Her care in writing her paper and preparing for the interview told me I had chosen a winner. Although the national leadership conference is awesome, I feel both Maddi and xxxxxxx xxx will carry their passion forward next year as Chapter leaders. She WILL have many opportunities to represent DECA and LHS next year through our program.
Thank you for the note, and enjoy your time together over Spring Break."

So I guess we feel a little better. The male unit is going to feel better about his decision to make spring break plans at a slower pace, but I think he'll get there...when the sun hits his face.

The Winner Is...

It was a big day for M. DECA Districts.

She won a blue ribbon for "Best Dressed for Success" in the advertising campaign category; of which she and her two friends competed. Sadly they did not place.

M also was chosen to be one of two leadership delegates for the high school. Competing in the leadership delegate category meant she had to write a paper and be interviewed.

Guess what?

M won FIRST PLACE out of forty other delegates from twenty different schools.

She is so cute; as she was doing her homework on her bed she looked up and asks for me to bring her trophy to place on her night stand. "You want it close by to look at it" I say. She smiles proudly in that little girl way and replies "yes."

M is stretched out in her bed tiring and when she slumbers tonight a trophy will glistens in the clock's digital light gleam, then greeting her in the morning.

It will say to her what I have always known--You're great!

Fat Tuesday

We partied on Saturday with huge pots of gumbo and Emeril's red beans and rice, washing it all done with hurricanes. They came masked and beaded.

While the good Christians of this world are thinking about what they are willing to sacrifice over the next forty days and forty nights; I feel I have given up a lot so far. Twelve pounds to be exact. Along with my double digit size pants.

I have given up caffeine. I have given up sweets. That was some time ago.

So...if this isn't enough already God, here I am come and get me. I'll give you forty days to find me ;-)

Paper Hearts and Hershey Kisses

A few weeks ago my niece, M and I flopped on the couch to watch this movie; our Saturday Redbox selection:


PAPER HEART: Movie Trailer - Watch more top selected videos about: PAPER_HEART, Michael_Cera, Charlyne_Yi, Jake_M._Johnson, Nicholas_Jasenovec

Without a doubt the dumbest movie, or as it is referred a mockumentary, we ever saw--we all agreed on that!

I did however find my Valentine Day love note line in the movie for King Ralph.

King Ralph asked me to marry him on Valentine's Day. I saw on CBS This Morning a poll that stated that 85% of married people would marry there spouse again...I would be one of those eighty-five percent. Sure King Ralph drives me batty sometimes. He can be a man behaving badly. He can swear like a drunken sailor (which infuriates me), spends to much time in the garage with his other woman "Harley" and he sometimes thinks the bath tub's edge is his clothes hamper...but despite he makes me happy; not to mention his 50% of gene pool made some gorgeous girls.

So to my King Ralph, last year I told you you were the cheese in my macaroni. This year a little African American girl suggested "true love is when you take someone to Applebee's and get them hot wings." So what you say, wanna get some hot wings with me today? XOXO

Snow Day

I am going out to shovel the four plus inches of snow off the driveway. After last night's dose of reality TV--The Bachelor-- it will be good way to work off some of that Vienna dislike and maybe even a pound of two.

Some Dreams Aren't Meant to Come True

I am slow to get going today. I dreamt all night that the weatherman would be my fairy godfather and there would be a snow day. I so want to lay around and watch old movies.

Well, maybe, tomorrow.

Plan B

I have been watching King Ralph's niece every year this week for I don't know how many years, a lot, while Debbie and Dan go on the stations listeners trip (to some tropical location while we stay here all freezing our arses off). We have escaped all these years all and any forms of illness that could be contracted while I drive niece to and from school for a week.

Until today.

Poor baby woke up with the stomach flu and didn't tell us. "Would you have told your mom if you threw up in the middle of the night?" "Yes." "Then you have to think of me as your mom while you are here." "Okay." It was a sheepish okay. Wondering if the sheepish tone was from her still feeling like a volcano ready to erupt or plainly embarrassed she puked at her aunt and uncle's house.

Suddenly I was thrown into Plan B mode. Except in all these years we have never had a Plan B. King Ralph HAD to go to work today; he has a very important task to tend to. I really need to work today as one person is already out of the office with her sick child. Thank the Lord(!) that King Ralph's oldest sister is in town. Plan B! So I called just as the rooster crowed and they agreed to be niece's nurses for the day. THANK YOU!

Things always have a way of working out. Don't they? Yes they do!