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 😉

It’s Water, Not Kryptonite

This morning greeted us with an overcast sky. For this area, it is unusual to get rain, but when we do, it causes a rift in the space-time continuum, or in the minds of drivers. Mostly the latter.

As I was taking the kids to school, a young man pulled out in front of me, apparently not seeing my big red SUV with all its lights on. Then at the big intersection, one woman was driving fast enough that she locked her brakes when confronted with the red traffic light. She narrowly missed the van in front of me. Driving towards Little One’s school, several drivers fishtailed and skidded. One car was in a ditch.

I forgot to mention, it was a light drizzle, not a raging downpour. My windshield wipers were on their lowest setting.

So I shall stay home, choosing to live over taking chances with the “ZOMG!! I’M GOING TO DIE!!” drivers out there. At least until such time as one kid asks me to get something for some school project.

It’s part of the Murphy’s Mom Law 😉

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 😀

Cinderella I’m Not

Nor do I wish to be. But sometimes out of necessity, I have to step out of her shoes.

Last evening Little One came up to me and asked to try on my sneakers. This is highly unusual for two reasons: 1) she does NOT like other people’s shoes, and 2) I have smaller feet. However, I complied and let her try them on. As she walked around, my spidey sense went off (a bit later than usual, because I was still enjoying my sandwich from Subway™). So I asked her why she needed  to try on my shoes.

Turns out she lost her gym shoes.

Monday.

But told me Tuesday evening, 20 minutes before the mall closed.

Not Monday after school, when I had time to take her to get new ones.

So that means I get to dress up to go grocery shopping instead of relying on sweats and sneakers. And by “dress up” I mean wear jeans and boots.

I live in the South, after 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 😉

Checking It Twice, or Five Times to Be Sure

I have been making and revising the Christmas List™. This year it has been a bit more frustrating than before. You see, there have been changes to the List of which I have recently become aware. Nothing big, like new family members. I am aware of those changes! No, just little things, like color preferences, new style preferences, new hobby interests, etc.

Still, it’s not a big inconvenience, just a mild one. At least gift certificates and money are always failsafe. Come to think of it, so is food.

But I just can’t be trusted with purchasing chocolate. The stress of the season would force me to take advantage of that. Well, just having it around would force me to take advantage of that. Ok, “force” is not the right word. STOP JUDGING ME!!!!

Just for that, I’m going out to get another bag of Halloween candy. It helps with the stress 😀

Sometimes Psychiatric Help is a Blessing

So I’m told. I have no idea why I wrote that title. Maybe I do need some psychiatric help. Or chocolate.

Anyway, I am going to be working on my little work area upstairs momentarily, in preparation for the coming of Nomstress, Nightflyer, and Rat Boy this weekend. I’m afraid when I start to do some art, and I use that term very loosely, I tend to make piles of my discards and my paints and my embellishments so that the original work area has shrunk by 75%. Working in a space the size of a sheet of notebook paper is not conducive to creativity, so the piles transfer down to the floor, leaving space open for yet more piles.

It’s like the Circle of Life™, only with scissors and glue instead of lions and zebras.

Don’t get me wrong. I can find EVERYTHING. Usually because it’s piled somewhere around the area, but I can still find it, so there’s a method. But I need to clean out a lot of old stuff and organize what I wish to keep. I should start with organization, though. If I start to clean out, then I will have piles and piles and more piles and my guests won’t be able to fit upstairs. My shrink, AKA the gal at the wine section, suggested I get those restaurant racks that are adjustable and shiny. I didn’t have the heart to tell her I already had shelves in the closet, and by that I meant I didn’t want her judging me. Her thing is wine, not hoarding intervention.

Anyway, I shall do my best to clear the area of the gingerly-placed piles of creativity. Hopefully it won’t take long.

And hopefully I won’t get distracted by starting yet another project… 😉

Omigawd…

I completely forgot to post an entry today.

I had a very early doctor’s appointment again, and then had to stop to gas up the vehicle on base, and then went to check out if the Le Creuset™ pot was on sale, which it was, and I got, and then came home to a whiny dog who had not been let out, which I rescued, and then to fold the rest of the laundry and then to start a Tres Leches cake which takes FOREVER, and then swing by the grocery store for last minute stuff for dinner, which I am about to go start.

Also, Teresa sent me this link. I ♥ this!!

It is on my List of Things for Aggie’s Birthday®. That’s a list I am now going to leave conspicuously pasted all over the house, starting in September. It’s never too late to start 😉

Wednesday Sithy, Because My Mom is in Town and I Have No Time

We are going to the outlet mall today. Pray for me, because I can’t be spending any money.

GAH!!!

Never, ever “friend” your boss on a social site!!

Have a great day!! 🙂

Drive By Posting

Yep, it’s one of those days. A day when I can’t think of anything to write.

I’ve been having a lot of those lately.

It’s a lot harder to write when you avoid politics, religion, and *ahem* ….

Sex.

I can’t even type that without blushing. Sigh… Anyway, finding fluff to write is hard, especially when I live such a boring life, placed myself on a financial diet, and been having sadness issues. No, I don’t think I am suffering from depression. If I were, the WORLD would know it. I would make sure of THAT!! A blog is a personal journal of observations, but one that should never be used to vent a spleen. There are plenty of things that have upset me, but none belong here or on a social site. Stuff like that should be kept private, in my modest opinion. Except when they decide to air dirty laundry, dragging your name in the fray because Aunt Bunny said you were her favorite and Guido gets mad at her and calls her names, telling the world Aunt Bunny shaves with a straight edge and that I’m only her favorite because I have her mustache*. Then it’s ok to throw down because bullies will NOT be tolerated!!

Where was I? Oh, right… lack of content. Tomorrow I will have a nice post up. I figured by then my imaginary friends will be talking to me again 😉

*Names were changed to protect the innocent.