So, This Happened

Today I was scheduled to take one of our vehicles in for a check up and diagnostic. My mom had transferred ownership of her old 1994 Saab to us for Eldest to use once she got her license. Yes, I am still in tears about that. Anyway, it is having some issues, so I made an appointment on Tuesday to take it in to be checked out. One can’t take chances, you know?

Anyway, I took the kidlets to school without incident, and then headed back home to pick up the other car. I put my hair up in a clip (it’s frightful), washed up the dishes, and then grabbed the keys and headed out.

So I got into my Pathfinder.

And drove down the street to the mechanic.

In my Pathfinder.

Not the Saab.

And if you think I just went down a couple of blocks before I noticed, think again. I was turning into the shop before I noticed. Luckily I had time to turn around and switch vehicles before my appointment.

And this is what happens when you don’t drink coffee first thing in the morning 🙂

Why I Never Bother With Plans

It’s Sunday. A day to relax and putter around and just enjoy before the craziness of the coming week takes hold. It’s a no brainer day, right? I mean, you can choose to do stuff, or choose to do nothing.

Such a simple, blessed day.

Why is it that I can never enjoy it??

Last week, a friend asked me to attend an acquaintance’s baby shower, to which I said yes. I figured it would be nice to hang out with gals bitching about motherhood talking about similar interests. Then my sister called to invite me to her anniversary BBQ. And in my family, you 1) celebrate milestones, and 2) never turn down BBQ. And…..both scheduled for roughly the same time. But I can manage to make an appearance at the shower and then attend my sister’s BBQ, right? So far, so good.

And now Little One wants to go dress shopping for her awards ceremony this week. Because hey, MOM IS NOT DOING ANYTHING TODAY!!

Fine…. FINE!!! We shall go shopping.

At least that’s something I do rather well 😀

Going Off on a Rant

Ok, it’s late April, and it’s 48* F outside. That’s 9* C for my foreign friends. And that’s INCONCEIVABLE for Texas. We should be enjoying high 80’s, if not downright scorching next to the Sun mid-90’s. Those of you up north, you have my pity.

Nothing like being told at the last minute that I need to make graduation announcements. Thank goodness I know how to make cards, have stamps, and a printer. Now to spend days doing the same thing over and over. Isn’t that insanity? Or being a mom? Or are they interchangeable?

My youngest is testing this week, and she was instructed to mark “A” on her ethic background. Upon calling the school, I was told “H” is not an option because it isn’t an ethnicity. No one could explain why she was told to mark Asian. To the best of my knowledge, Genghis Khan never set foot on Puerto Rico. I said as much, and was asked, “Who?” I cried.

I think I need to eat a lot of chocolate today. That’s the best cure 😉

Civil Obediency

I don’t have much of a life, but the one I do have is pretty consistent. Same routine in the mornings, same routine in the evenings. If I feel like doing something exciting, I get Dulce de Leche ice cream, ok? So imagine my surprise to find a jury summons in my mailbox the day after coming back from Spring Break.

After the “How the hell did they get my name??” panic, I thought, how bad can it be? I mean, I won’t be the only one there waiting. Unless it’s a sting operation for deadbeat tax dodgers and they confused me with the previous owner of my home phone number, who keeps getting calls here for debt consolidation. Hey, my life may be boring, but my imagination isn’t. Anyway, I filled out the card, placed it in my purse, looked up directions to the courthouse, picked out my outfit (couldn’t go in sweats), and went to bed.

Morning comes, and I AM READY!!! I get on the road forty-five minutes before I’m due at the courthouse. No problem, since it’s a straight shot from the highway. I exit, and read the map directions provided so helpfully by Mapquest™.

And by “helpfully”, I mean they LIED!!

I turn left, going under the overpass, and continue down the directed road, seeing pasture after pasture, until I come into a little hamlet with five antique stores and a gas station. I pull over, and call the courthouse, giving the receptionist in the District Office my precise location. So precise, that search-engine-with-a-numerical-name-and-that-shall-never-be-used could find me by satellite in nanoseconds. The young woman then tells me to continue heading north past that hamlet, and I should be near town. Fine…. I get back on the road, and see nothing but fields, and cement trucks, and a road sign directing me to a centrally located college waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay on the other side of the county.

At this point I am in a full blown panic and think the entire sheriff’s department is after me.

Logic gives panic a throat punch and I turn around, going back the way I came. By this time I am ten minutes late, with nary a hope of getting there in the next half hour. But since there are no lights in my rear view mirror, I just resign myself to being late, my goal being to get there in one piece. About 20 minutes past nine, I find the courthouse, which has no parking. Five minutes later, I find the parking garage, park the car, and race towards the first door I see at the courthouse.

Which is no longer an ingress. Neither are the FRONT DOORS of the courthouse. The only ingress I find is the side door. I scurry in, get my bag searched, set off the metal detector THREE TIMES (stupid underwire), and then manage to go upstairs to find about 200 people outside. EUREKA!! I HAVE FOUND….someplace. But according to my card this is where I’m supposed to be. A nice lady informs me they are in recess and are waiting to file back in, and points out the young woman to whom I am to give my card. Finally the jurors are called back in, and I give my card to the sheriff’s deputy, in lieu of the young woman, who left probably to find something more exciting to do. He then took the card to another young woman, who explained that I would be rescheduled, since everyone had already been sworn in.

Great….just great. All that angst, all that panic, all the tears of frustration, all the cussing at the traffic, for nothing.

Well, I thanked her and told her I looked forward to the next summons, and left, calling Hubby to let him know what had happened. He told me to come home, since they hadn’t gone out yet. But then sends a text that they are at the grocery store. So I call him to pick up shoulder roast, and he tells me he doesn’t see it, so I end up meeting him at the grocery store to show him the various cuts of beef available.

Which is fine, because it’s beer braised beef tonight. And yes, I have a big pot for that 😀

Reflections on a Friend

Yesterday, I received some really bad news. A friend of mine passed away. We were members of the same blog, and had chatted weekly about all and sundry. I had the great fortune of meeting him a few years back. At the time, he was 29 years old, looked 18, and had the vocabulary of a drunken sailor in Singapore. He was hilarious. And unusual, because he was a person who took living very seriously.

For him, “living” meant “squeezing out every bit of enjoyment”. He didn’t put off going some place or seeing someone for another day. He felt like doing something, he would do it. Once, he decided to go find feral hogs, because he was bored. While he was at DFW on a layover, he ordered three different Mexican meals at the restaurant, because he had the opportunity right then. Ate them all, too! When I told him about the passing of my friend, who wanted PJs at her funeral, he said, “You need to wear them for her. But you need to wear lingerie for the rest of us.”

Uh, no 😀

He was rough when people were looking, and a complete gentleman when they weren’t. He loved his life, he lived it fully, and did more with it than most people do in three lifetimes. In short, he was an everyday hero.

I miss you, my friend. I weep for the loss to this world, and rejoice for the gain in Heaven. And when I see you in the future, I’ll have my comfy PJs and my llama, just so you can laugh at me again.

Uphill, Both Ways

Today marks the start of Lent.

And if y’all know me, I go all out for it.

So, no libations of the alcoholic kind. No sweets, no fatty foods, and no sodas. In truth, I like testing my will power this way. And in the long run, I do save a few pennies, too.

I bet you’re singing it in your head now, aren’t you??

Hey, if I have to suffer, so do y’all 😉

How YOU Doin’??

What. A. Weekend.

It all began innocently enough. I had plans to go to a scrapbooking party on Saturday. I planned this MONTHS ago. That was my first mistake. I forgot that school functions get scheduled just a month out. So, we had a UIL meet, and the Military Ball both scheduled for that Saturday. I figured I was still Supermom, and could manage to fit my stuff around that schedule.

Until Son cut his head open on Friday afternoon.

And the train stopped on the main thoroughfare due to malfunction.

And Little One had after school practice.

And of course I panicked.

So, after inching in traffic for what seemed hours, I managed to pick up all the kidlets, dropped off the girls at home, and raced to urgent care, where Hubby was to meet us.

Yes, those are staples. I call him Frohnkenshteen now.

And this was just on Friday. Then Saturday arrived, and decided that plans were for wusses, because the UIL meet went longer than planned, and Son had elected to go to the Ball early to help, and Eldest had a friend come over to get ready, and of course I came down with a cold. And so, my plans were scratched. Again…

But no matter. One day I will learn my lesson. I will make plans only a week ahead of time, and maybe, just maybe they will go off without a hitch.

And one day pigs will fly 😉

I Am Totally NOT Ignoring Y’all. Honest!

This past holiday weekend was a blur of activity at Casa de Aggie. We raked leaves, cut down errant branches, trimmed unruly bushes, and washed down dirty patio furniture. That was outside, obviously. Inside, we installed new light fixtures, cleaned the old ones, changed filters, dead light bulbs, unclogged drains, and did general maintenance.

Someone told me there were some football games of import. The only thing I saw on the TV was a layer of dust, and that was promptly removed.

I hope to get back in the groove of blogging soon. Between cleaning and organizing and downsizing and therapy (that’s physical therapy, ok??), it feels like I have no time left to blog. Oh, and I have a wine party next weekend. Oh, and the weekend after that I have a birthday and a scrap swap. Oh, and it’s almost time for Blood, Sweat, and Tears Day™.

DOES THIS EVER END????

Don’t bother answering that. It was rhetorical. Anyway, here’s a pic of the new foyer light fixture.

Yeah, it’s not this one, but it’s still pretty cool! Not only did I get it waaaaaaaaaaaaaay on sale, I also put an Edison™ bulb in it. It was a moral imperative. Next up? The Just-This-Side-Of-Redneck Chandelier™. It would be an awesome Mother’s Day gift.

Yes, I know the next so-called holiday is Valentine’s Day, but I ain’t holding my breath 😉

Why Do I Bother Making Plans??

I found out this week that there was going to be a huge, and I mean HUGE antique shindig today in a town not to far from me. Aside from my junking for crafting dealio, I have also been on a mission to find the perfect chair for my leather-inlaid antique desk. I’ve had this desk since 1996, acquired at a neighbor’s estate sale. The reason the price was so low was due to it missing a chair. Anyway, I have been looking for a matching chair forever, and thought YAY! This is the weekend to go look!

Only to have my plans shrivel up and die like grapes in the Texas sun.

Me: Honey, can we go to the antiques show? PLEEEEEEEEEEEASE???

Hubby: Sure, when?

Me: This Saturday. We can maybe finally get a chair for the des—

Hubby: Sorry, honey, but I have a conference I can’t skip.

Me: Awwww…. well, at least it will be a quiet weekend.

Hubby: Oh, and BIL is staying with us this weekend, too.

Me: Ahhh…well, the kids will stay busy.

Hubby: Oh, and we have an extra kid, since Flower Girl is going to the conference and she couldn’t get a babysitter.

Me: At least she’s a fun kid. How long will it be for?

Hubby: All day.

Me: *mentally counts remaining wine inventory* *sobs*

And I just remembered the play-offs.

And kids have a Skyrim marathon today.

I think I will hide in my room today 🙂

Fancy Schmancy

I was at an antique store last week, scouring the place for cheap unmatched tea cups, and was amazed at the lovely china available. That made me think of all the lovely china I own. I have a Jones about china, and crystal. I love that stuff. It doesn’t have to match anything, either. Heck, not even my Le Creuset™ matches. My grandmother had different cups and saucer sets for all of the members in her family, and she used them every day for afternoon coffee. Mine was a beautiful Spode™ green cup with a cameo of a couple dancing. But I am always hesitant about using it. What if it chips? What if it gets scratched? What if it breaks?

Courtesy of Tea For Two

What if it stays unused on the shelf until the day I die? Why save the special stuff for special occasions? Every day is a gift, and we should make the effort to enjoy them in that manner.

So today, make sure y’all use the pretty dishes, and the best sheets, and the expensive candles, because every day is a special occasion 😉