Sooo, Thanksgiving.

Well, I am thankful that my heinous (and expensive) chest cold did not turn out to be pneumonia and I am thankful that Nicky only got 10 stitches IN HIS FACE when he took a digger instead of 20 stitches and a concussion. I am thankful to have insurance, even if it stinks. I am thankful to have a great mom and a great MawMaw next door. I am thankful that the gallon of milk Granny downs every day gave her strong enough bones to survive the 4 falls she took last week with no broken bones. I am thankful to big evil Hollywood for making a lot of cute dog movies this holiday season. I am thankful to the nice insurance company that is replacing my bumper after I got tagged in the FREAKING DROP OFF line at preschool. Really, what the heck else do you have to do but concentrate when you are dragging ass at 2 miles an hour?? Despite being aggravated half to death, I am thankful the Christmas season is here. People are just nicer at Christmas. Last time people in public were this nice to me I was pregnant (but now they can be nice without rubbing my belly like creepy fortune tellers- why do strangers think that is ok?)but the holiday spirit seems to be in force. As far as I know, no one even got killed or trampled on Black Friday this year, hey, good times huh? And all this even with the run on those fuzzy Japanese thingymajigs! I am planning on getting Nicky one of those air ball things that I can put him in, shove him down the hill and turn him into the "Boy in the Bubble". I forgot what it is called but it looks like fun and has anyone seen that movie? Funny funny stuff.

One Great Big Stupendous Summer!!

Wow, what a summer we have had! I've been so busy I haven't checked email or facebook or logged in at the Compound or anything really, except for playing with my Nicky and my Hubby for MONTHS and, I have to say, it has been really great. If it weren't for the ticky little issue of insuring a family at today's insane prices and the likelihood that I will somehow manage to catch swine flu or lime disease or rickets or some such ridiculous disease, I could just stay home and be a room mom and spoil my kid rotten 24/7, and wouldn't that be fun? I return to work with a whole new skill set...I can sing Blue's Clues, Dinosaur Train, my hopscotching ability has improved to mythic proportions. My housecleaning abilities have not however, taken a turn for the better. Oh well, can't be perfect at everything I do, everyone else would be jealous and that just seems mean.

Grace

It is 3am and I can't sleep. I have been thinking of the concept of Grace, just having finished my first week back at work after 4 months and listening to a great book on tape and praying a lot. I am thinking of grace in the biblical sense, the practical sense and the emotional sense. I have had the most amazing summer. Realizing that I was having a serious case of burn out, my employers (more like family) graciously let me take time off to spend with my family and it has been amazing. Mark and Nicky and Mom and Granny and I have spent a lot of time together this summer that would not have been possible otherwise. Nicky and I booked a lot of travel and, in the process, got to spend a lot of time with Mark that we would not have normally been able to do. We have been to Hawaii, Mississippi, Ohio,Louisianna, Florida and North Carolina. We have seen Disney, family and new babies and it has been wonderful! Nicky is growing up so fast it has been such a gift to be able to spend this time with him. He started pre-school about a month ago and is loving it. He is a very gracious child and turns into a total host when people come over, I love it. He is very empathetic when dealing with people and tries very hard to make everyone happy and comfortable and I love and treasure that about him. He and I have had quite a summer meeting people and going to the library and out to lunch and just playing in the yard and I have very high hopes about the type of man he will become based on how he treats others and his concern about Oma and Granny and JuJu and Babcia and Dziadek and Grammy D and Emmy and Ricky and Sean and Amy and....well, everyone he loves in his life. Every night he blesses all his loved ones and even when it is taking half an hour and stretching my patience I appreciate his love for others and thank God for giving me such a sweet child. After our summer I finally went back to work and after my sabbatical, found myself happy to be there again. After a long period of burn out (I have been at this company for 12 years and in the industry for 18) my boss let me take 4 months off to re-group. What company does that these days?? After my first week back I have found the joy in my job again. I have always loved my industry and it is truly a gift to work with some of the people I work with. i think that is grace. I think having my mom next door is grace along with my neighbor who has become family and my co-workers and clients that have become true friends and all of the people who seem to love my child and, even when things look bleak, the people who help you out. My boss has been like my adoptive father since I lost my own dad and he has always had my back and I love him truly. One of my co-workers is my adoptive brother and I value the way he listens and seeks to always be a better man and his honesty. My friends are invaluable and, top of the list, my husband and child and mom astonish me daily with their kindness and goodness. Who could ask for more? Even when I am a goofball, God gives me Grace. Thank you.

Love

Mark's happy Place....Ok, I meant to pick a picture of the ocean spewing out behind the back of his boat, but on second thought...

Ok, when you are having a crap day (i.e.- your wonderful friend's wonderful dad is having issues, which makes you have issues, and your sinus's are having SEVERE issues and your face and eyes look like you have been possessed and you have been bawling half the morning) it really helps to have a marvelous husband who loves you very much and tells you to suck it the hell up and get a grip and do your job. It really does help and Marky Mark, I love you an amazing amount, you have no idea.

Could they BE any cuter?

Sharing a little love. I thought this was too cute, although I know Wendi is going to have a fit when she sees it and do one of those all over body shudders!




Now I don't generally make a habit of publishing pictures of myself looking like a big hot mess, I prefer to try to keep up my usual utter fabulousness, but seriously, look how much fun we are having!


What a fun weekend! Nicky and I went to Rick and Wendi's beautifully decorated and peaceful house and the boys got to play together and I got some Ricky cuddle love. Then Mark was home by the time we got there - Yay!! Sunday we got a big surprise and Emmie and Iliana came over to play It was a really great weekend and the weather could not have been better.

Just Because

Wouldn't it be beautiful if this story were true?


THE OLD PHONE ON THE WALL ....HELLO

When I was a young boy, my father had one of the first telephones in our neighborhood. I remember the polished, old case fastened to the wall. The shiny receiver hung on the side of the box. I was too little to reach the telephone, but used to listen with fascination when my mother talked to it.

Then I discovered that somewhere inside the wonderful device lived an amazing person. Her name was "Information Please" and there was nothing she did not know. Information Please could supply anyone's number and the correct time.

My personal experience with the genie-in-a-bottle came one day while my mother was visiting a neighbor. Amusing myself at the tool bench in the basement, I whacked my finger with a hammer, the pain was terrible, but there seemed no point in crying because there was no one home to give sympathy.
I walked around the house sucking my throbbing finger, finally arriving at the stairway. The telephone! Quickly, I ran for the footstool in the parlor and dragged it to the landing. Climbing up, I unhooked the receiver in the parlor and held it to my ear. "Information, please" I said into the mouthpiece just above my head.
A click or two and a small clear voice spoke into my ear. "Information."
"I hurt my finger..." I wailed into the phone, the tears came readily enough now that I had an audience.
"Isn't your mother home?" came the question.
"Nobody's home but me," I blubbered.
"Are you bleeding?" the voice asked.
"No," I replied. "I hit my finger with the hammer and it hurts."
"Can you open the icebox?" she asked.
I said I could.
"Then chip off a little bit of ice and hold it to your finger," said the voice.
After that, I called "Information Please" for everything. I asked her for help with my geography, and she told me where Philadelphia was. She helped me with my math.
She told me my pet chipmunk that I had caught in the park just the day before, would eat fruit and nuts.
Then, there was the time Petey, our pet canary, died. I called,
Information Please," and told her the sad story. She listened, and then said things grown-ups say to soothe a child. But I was not consoled. I asked her, "Why is it that birds should sing so beautifully and bring joy to all families, only to end up as a heap of feathers on the bottom of a cage?"
She must have sensed my deep concern, for she said quietly, " Wayne always remember that there are other worlds to sing in."
Somehow I felt better.
Another day I was on the telephone, "Information Please."
"Information," said in the now familiar voice. "How do I spell fix?" I asked.
All this took place in a small town in the Pacific Northwest . When I was nine years old, we moved across the country to Boston . I missed my friend very much. "Information Please" belonged in that old wooden box back home and I somehow never thought of trying the shiny new phone that sat on the table in the hall. As I grew into my teens, the memories of those childhood conversations never really left me..
Often, in moments of doubt and perplexity I would recall the serene sense of security I had then. I appreciated now how patient, understanding, and kind she was to have spent her time on a little boy.
A few years later, on my way west to college, my plane put down in Seattle . I had about a half-hour or so between planes. I spent 15 minutes or so on the phone with my sister, who lived there now. Then without thinking what I was doing, I dialed my hometown operator and said, "Information Please."
Miraculously, I heard the small, clear voice I knew so well.
"Information."
I hadn't planned this, but I heard myself saying, "Could you please tell me how to spell fix?"
There was a long pause. Then came the soft spoken answer, "I guess your finger must have healed by now."
I laughed, "So it's really you," I said. "I wonder if you have any idea how much you meant to me during that time?"
I wonder," she said, "if you know how much your call meant to me.
I never had any children and I used to look forward to your calls."
I told her how often I had thought of her over the years and I asked if I could call her again when I came back to visit my sister.
"Please do", she said. "Just ask for Sally."
Three months later I was back in Seattle .. A different voice answered,
"Information." I asked for Sally.
"Are you a friend?" she said.
"Yes, a very old friend," I answered.
"I'm sorry to have to tell you this," she said.. "Sally had been working part-time the last few years because she was sick.. She died five weeks ago."
Before I could hang up she said, "Wait a minute, did you say your name was Wayne ?" "Yes." I answered.
"Well, Sally left a message for you.. She wrote it down in case you called.
Let me read it to you."
The note said, "Tell him there are other worlds to sing in.
He'll know what I mean."
I thanked her and hung up. I knew what Sally meant.

Never underestimate the impression you may make on others.
Whose life have you touched today?

God loves me

I just spent half an hour writing a really heartfelt and sincere and REALLY honest post about something that chaps my hide. When I hit publish post the whole thing went into never never land and it was really long. For a long time I was mad, now I am just really ambivalent. It is hard for me to open up to people and I am not sure I was ready to be that candid about how I feel. Maybe it was a good thing.

SNOW!! SNOW!! SNOW!!

We had real honest to goodness no kidding snow, right here in GA!! Talk about exciting, we had great big fat flakes for a really long time and it was still there when I woke up. I was beyond thrilled!

Oh Noes! I have become hard wired!

I have been wondering for a long time at my apparent dementia and inability to remember…well, anything really. If I am thinking about something on the way home I can actually cause myself to get lost, even coming from work and I have been working 5 days a week at the same place for 10 years! I just calculated that out because my brain wanders off like that and that means I have made the same drive roughly 2,640 times and when you calculate the miles of the commute that works out to 124,080 miles. I think I am now too depressed to finish this, but I may as well since the whole point is about how to concentrate and stay focused. Anyway, I read this article in The Sun magazine written by Nicholas Carr about how the Internet is rewiring our brains. Apparently the ease of accessing information immediately and easily and learning things in a very superficial way without a depth of information has caused several things to happen. First of all, people are losing their ability to fully focus for any length of time. By binging around the internet like a monkey on meth we are becoming unable to concentrate anymore. Now see, I found that so fascinating that I immediately Googled the statistic to see if it was true (don’t know yet) then I went to check on a couple of my favorite blogs to see what they were up to and one of them recommended a book so I went to Amazon to check out the book and then a really good song came on over my Internet radio so I Googled the artist to see what they were all about…
Then a light bulb exploded over my weensy little brain, I think I just proved the author’s theory! I had gotten totally off track, looked up a bunch of random stuff that didn’t matter and then totally forgotten the information because it is so accessible that, should I need the information in the future, I’ll just look it up again. So, we no longer have to remember our orders (or whatever your work happens to be) since we can look it up. No need to remember phone numbers because your cell phone does that for you. It doesn’t matter when your favorite show comes on because you can Tivo. Don’t bother remembering birthdays because your email program will alert you. Instead of contemplating the Universe or the Meaning of Life, we surf the net for the answers to stupid questions that are good to know only if you manage to remember them and only if you are in a Trivia game in a bar somewhere. Well, I for one, would like my brain back. I have not gotten around to programming my new cell phone, I am just going to have to remember the number if I want to call someone. Hopefully, for those of you that know me, some of my hopeful new brain power will go towards remembering to plug the cell phone in occasionally. And I am going to spend a lot more of my free time reading and writing and a lot less time looking up the answers to questions like, “Why do mannequins have nipples?”. I’ll let you know how the little experiment pans out.

Ruh Roh Shaggy!

Ya know, I am generally of a cheerful nature. I am also very happy and grateful for my new schedule and how sweet and accommodating my super nice boss has been helping me with my personal life since he is much like my adopted dad and has been since I lost my own dad. All the nice stuff out of the way, I FREAKING HATE OUR NEW COMPUTER SYSTEM!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously, I am not allowed to grouse at work, but this thing really stinks. Since I am one of the more computer literate people in my office, I can't even imagine how some others feel, but if I were able to chuck the whole damn thing out the window, I would feel like all my Christmas's came at once. This incredible new system is a "Pinch of the Proverbial", has nothing to do with what we do and it utterly sucks. Now, since they told me not to enter orders, I am sitting on about 33 orders that I will be here until 7pm trying to figure out how the hell to enter them with all the stupid security blocks our resident paranoid put into place. Ok, not my usual happy post, but you will notice I am not talking about my beloved Nicky, or my fabulous husband or my super sweet mommy but just griping about work.

So Long Santa, Hello New Life!

Another Christmas come...and gone. Although, I must say this was a really fun one for me. As a family, we decided to cast off the evil bonds of committed capitalism and secular consumerism and embrace the joys of kith and kin and cuddle and bond with our loved ones...i.e.-everyone was too pressed for time, too broke to shop and didn't have any room to store new stuff anyways!



Strangely enough, it was really fun and man, what a load off the mind, the wallet and the timetable! My mother in law, and mother, of course cicumvented the system and popped up with "Not really Christmas presents" for Nicky and myself. My girl George brought over a very nice Luge cocktail dispenser to quickly hurry lovely frozen cocktails directly to party goer's mouths. Nothing says Christmas like shooters! Nick-nak received, from Santa of course, a rather large jeep thingy called a Gator.



It is possible that Mark was more excited by the Gator than Nicky, but come spring Nicky will think all his Christmas's came at once! He does enjoy it though, the next day at nap time he grabbed his blankey and pillow and piled up in the truck bed and had a nap on the porch.



We also had enough food around to bribe Pivo into letting us make him look like an idiot!



On a sad note (sorry, but sad things happen even in the midst of happiness) we lost our Tigger. Tigger had a run in with a truck and was too badly injured to save. Mark and I were both with him when he left us and with many tears we thanked him for being our dog and living his life with us. Pivo is still a bit depressed and Nicky has asked a few times where his Tigger is. Although we didn't have him for very long, he has left a hole in our family that we won't soon forget.






On a much happier note, Barbara and Stan finally got back from China


and Nicky Beans got to go spend a week in Mississippi with Babcia and Dziadek being spoiled absolutely rotten! He went to a bunch of parties at MSU and came home with a new haircut, new clothes, new toys, new games.....Thanks Barbara!!







And once Nicky made it back home he apparently (judging by his expression) had the best moment of his young life thus far when he asked for AND RECEIVED!!!!!!!!!!!! a sucker at bed time.



So, forging on to 2009
I AM GOING TO A THREE DAY WEEK!
My Nick-nak and I (and Daddy when he is home) get to spend a lot more time together this year which I am incredibly grateful for. Nicky quickly termed it "fun stuff days" when I told him about it. Probably because I told him I would spend more time with him and we would go do fun stuff. It was a rousing success, we went to the library for a few hours and had Nicky's first hibachi lunch. Now THAT was funny! He loved it and made friend's with everyone in the joint and gave the chef a standing (on his chair no less) ovation. Then we dropped in for a few things at WalMart and I guess Nicky and Elaine spent a lot of time there because we we pulled into the parking lot he was more excited than if we had showed up at Santa's workshop! I think this is really going to be very cool and I am so fortunate to be able to spend this time with my little man before he becomes a big man, all thanks to my wonderful husband who has agreed to take on more responsibility in a difficult financial time. Thanks baby, we love and appreciate you!!!!