First Day of School

The long awaited for day has finally arrived…

Kids dragging, mom herding, and all is right with the World!! Of course, soon enough they will begin with lists of supplies for each class (velcro and a hammer??), the itinerary for each activity, and of course, I plan to be more involved with AFJROTC this year. But for now, I shall enjoy the angst.

courtesy NY Post

I feel a little bad from taking enjoyment out of this. My sadness can be measured with an electron microscope, but I assure you, it’s there. I wouldn’t be lying if I said I was really, really happy.

I did a search for “ecstatic mom” and this came up. Eh, close enough 😉

700th Comment!!

And the honor goes to….

JAM2!!!

Congratulations!! Pick up your T-shirt* on the way out 😉

*imaginary, of course…

Saturday Sithy

As usual, Saturdays are a bit busy for me, so I thought I would post a bit of fun.

And I would own each and every one 😉

Have a great Saturday!

Near and Far

A while back, my friend Roamy suggested places we’ve been as a topic for the blog, and it got me to thinking. It’s tough to beat being raised in a tropical island, you know. This is the river in back of my elementary school:

The schoolrooms were a converted cockfighting arena (true story), but the view was totally worth it! Growing up in Puerto Rico, I had the chance to see beaches, desert, rainforest, mountains, valleys, rivers, lakes, all in the span of a day. It was wonderful.

Now that I am an Army wife, I get to see other places. Stationed in Europe, we got to see Germany, Luxembourg, Poland, Crete, France, Austria, and Italy. Personally, I had no desire to see Holland or Belgium. But I did wish to see Spain, and where my relatives came from. Still, I got to see a lot, and if I had to pick my favorite of all, I would have to say Poland.

It was like a page from a fairytale. And in that fairytale, the bad guys had been vanquished. I hope I get the chance to go back, and drink some Żubrówka, eat pierogies, and hear wonderful stories about Boleslawiec.

And what places would y’all like to visit?

Cast the Die

If you haven’t guessed by now, I like to play with the titles of my posts. The previous post was a reference to the Superman villain, General Zod. As usual, my friends Soylent Green and John began speculating on who would be cast as General Zod in the next (yet again) reboot of Superman, called Man of Steel.

I am a traditionalist. Some movies roles I believe are iconic, and and a remake of a film can be tricky when you cast the wrong actor. John had suggested Russell Brand, which made my hackles rise. I would rather clip my nails in a Cuisinart than see him in that role. General Zod was bigger than life! He was statuesque, commanding, and a hell of a lot more refined in his cruelty than Brand could ever portray on screen. I’m rather out of the loop on current film stars, but had thought that perhaps Samuel L. Jackson could do a good job. And then I found out who got the part:

Seriously??

Matthew Shannon, people. And he is supposed to be a seasoned general, a contemporary of Kal-El’s father, and a total badass. Oh, and this is Kal-El:

Not too shabby...

Henry Cavill, best know for his role as Charles Brandon in The Tudors. He has the looks, I’ll give him that. But seeing as Shannon is only 9 years older than Cavill, I don’t see how Shannon can be a commanding presence.

Of course, this is Hollywood. I could be wrong, but I don’t think so (*cough* Superman Returns *cough*) 😉

General Sod

Most of you will miss the reference in that title. I love being obscure. Anyway, yesterday, our lawn guy came by and did some major work outside. He trimmed the tree out front, cutting down the heavy lower branches. I can finally walk under that tree, when before I had to practically crawl. The kids were not happy to have the tree’s limbs cut, since they liked to climb up and hide in it. And to that I said, tough cookie. He also put down some rich soil and some new sod in the back yard.

My back yard looked awful. It was all covered in hay, with some stray spots of dirt peeking through it. Hubby had transplanted some grass, and it had taken very well, but with the drought the yard looked like it was waiting for either a cow to or a pyromaniac to come strolling by. And the pyromaniac would have been an improvement, y’all. But behold the beauty that is sod!

Ignore the garden hose. I have to water the yard every evening from now on for the next three weeks. The water company is going to just adore me.  Oh well, all in the name of beauty, right?

The funny thing is, the dogs will only “go” on the new sod. Ok, it’s not very funny, but at least it’s easier to go clean up 😉

Words Fail

And apparently, so does the auto-correct function on an iPhone when typing while cranky.

About a week and a half ago, I was feeling cranky. I was still getting kids stuff ready for school, and having Little One insist that all of her supplies, folders, zippered binder and even backpack be red. And the reds can’t clash. And no designs. And she doesn’t like velcro.

She doesn’t have a backpack as yet. And with that attitude, won’t have one in the foreseeable future.

Anyway, I was home, awaiting my daily call with Hubby, when I receive a text message letting me know he’s had a bad day. In his work and duty station, I believe it. But it doesn’t help my mood any when he is sending messages about his day, and not asking about mine. I try to be considerate, but being cranky doesn’t help, and I “yell” in my message to him:

I LOVE YOU!!

His next message relays the same words, and immediately I am contrite. I tell him I missed him saying it. And this is the result:

Had to clean up. This *is* a family friendly blog.

Needless to say, he found it funny. But from now on, I double check spelling before hitting the “send” button 🙂

One More Week

That’s all that is left of Summer Vacation. The kids have been diligently getting their stuff ready for school, as well as doing their IB assignments, practicing their instruments, and in general, driving me up the wall with their last-minute demands for supplies/ books/ haircuts/ shoes/ fill-in-the-blank.

In the middle of this chaos, lays a island of calm, for I know once they go back to school, I am no longer a hostage to Disney, nor am I a taxidriver to malls unknown, nor am I the mediator for every single quibble.

I shall be back to my normal self. “Normal” is a relative term, I know, but in this case, totally applicable.

Back to normal!

So, for now I will try to imagine the bliss that is the first day of school, as I run around town getting last minute stuff accomplished.

Enjoy your coffee, my friends 😉

Ah, Sunday…

You can be such a good friend to me.

But I know you….you are just lulling me into a sense of security, ready to yank that from under me with your pal, the dreaded nemesis, Monday. You sweet-talk me into “taking in easy” and “relaxing”, only to slap me back into reality when Monday strikes without warning.

But I can’t help it…I come back and fall under your spell every week, thinking it will be different this time. This time I will be strong, and resist the siren call.

Sigh….who am I kidding?

Maybe I should wear a helmet 🙂

600th Comment!!

And the honor (dubious or not) goes to:

LC STEVE!!!

His comment at the Celestial Sithy post is a plug for Astronomy Picture of the Day. You can check it out here.