Category Archives: random

No Control

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I am so tired. Not just tired, but face-numb tired. I’m paying for my night of debauchery. That’s what happens when Todd’s out of town and Katie’s at a banquet. I get wild.

Since it was just me for dinner I got lazy. You know how sometimes you’re hungry, but you don’t want to actually do anything about it?  I finally decided I’d have a PB&J and finish off the bag of potato chips. But opening up the bread bag and spreading stuff on the slices seemed like too much trouble. Besides, I really wasn’t in the mood for bread. So I mixed the peanut butter and the black raspberry jelly in a mug and then stirred in the dredges from the chip bag. I ate it with a spoon. It was good and I will do it again sometime. But I don’t recommend it as a meal.

Then I stayed up past midnight. For no good reason other than I was busy doing “stuff”. I can’t even be sure what that stuff was, but I was doing it. Very busily. Once I actually went to bed I only got to sleep for what felt like five minutes before the alarm went off.

For the last four hours I’ve been looking at cabinet pulls and knobs for a buffet and hutch I’m painting. I’m a fairly laid back person, but this is causing me so much distress. What if I don’t get the right pulls? What if the knobs don’t look good on the buffet? OH MY GOSH! What if the new hinges aren’t quite the same color as the pulls and the knobs? Or worse! What if the screws for the hinges are the wrong type of nickel?

People – I have important things to do and looking at cabinet pulls is not one of them! I’m hanging it up. I will address this issue after I’ve had a good eight hours of sleep. Maybe then I’ll be able to feel my face and just make a rational decision.

 

 

News from the Couch and Beyond – Vol. I

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I’ve decided to start a new series for when I have nothing to say. Which is quite often. Hence the “Mundane ramblings about a whole lotta nuthin’” tag line above.

And now the first installment of

News From The Couch

The Couch:

I should be at work right now, but I’m not. Instead I’m sitting on the aforementioned couch in yoga pants and a sweatshirt wishing I was at work because that would mean I felt better. I’m not violently ill or anything like that, but I think I might be trying to divert a bout of diverticulitis. (Do you see what I did there? “Divert” and “Diverticulitis” in the same sentence. Clever, no?) It’s either that or last night’s Chinese was a bad decision. Either way my tummy is restless, my jeans are too tight and nobody wants to be around me. Please don’t ask me to explain that last sentence because I won’t.

Beyond:

Local:

I read an article this morning about a 27-year-old woman who is suing Lehigh University for 1.3 million dollars because she received a C+ in 2009. Apparently she needed a B in this particular fieldwork class to qualify for another round of fieldwork, a requirement to obtain a master’s in counseling and human services. She is seeking damages for the loss of income she would have received over the course of her career had she been able to go on to be a state-certified counselor. The defense claims her behavior in class was not appropriate for someone seeking a counseling degree and cited her use of profanity and an episode of crying in the class.

The Link:

You can read the full article HERE

My Take:

I wouldn’t want her to be my counselor. Ever.

Your thoughts?

Global:

In Tel Aviv a girl’s car was towed from the spot in front of her apartment that she had been parking in for over six months. When she came out to get in her car it was gone and a marked handicap spot was in its place. Turns out there was a video camera across the street that caught the whole sordid event on tape. The city marked the spot WHILE HER CAR WAS STILL PARKED and then called a tow truck to have the car removed.

The Link:

You can watch the video HERE

My Take:

That’s craziness!

Your thoughts?

Gratuitous Grin:

When a family dining out received their bill, they were surprised to see a discount for well behaved children.

The Link:

You can read the article HERE

My Take:

Excluding the parents of special needs children, there are two types of parents who take their children to nice restaurants. Parents who require a certain behavior and parents who don’t. It’s easy to find articles about misbehaving children, but it’s really nice to read something about good kids.

Your thoughts?

Thank you for joining me for the first riveting episode of News from the Couch and Beyond. Check back often (and by ”often” I mean in the next month or two) for the next fascinating installment. 

Am I Next?

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mr. billKatie’s car went in to the shop this morning for its annual inspection. Which is to say Todd and I took Katie’s car in because she had school. What she didn’t have was the current insurance card in her glove compartment. So after much running around (wherein Todd and I took advantage of some sweet deals at Costco) I took a copy of the card in so the inspectors could inspect.

The insurance card debacle called to mind last spring when Taylor took his truck in for its inspection while he was home on break, only to be denied the required stickers because his registration was locked away in his safe. At school. In a completely different state. And this after I had mailed it to him with a note which read, “sign this and place it in the glove compartment of your truck.” But do they listen to Mom? Rarely.

As fate would have it, this incident was closely followed by Todd’s turn for an inspection wherein he, too, lacked the requisite registration. Couldn’t find it anywhere. Which meant we had to order a duplicate.

I now request a duplicate registration to keep in our files here at home just in case…

My first thought this morning was one of boastful pride. Pride that I’m the only one in my family who always has the proper documents when I take the car in for inspection. My next thought came less than a split second later. The fact that my Type A Todd had misplaced an important piece of paper leads me to believe it’s only a matter of time.

Now I’m paranoid.

On another note, and yet related, I was saddened to find out that Katie didn’t have all the presets on her stereo set.  It made me feel like a parental failure. Todd and I have always done our best to educate our children musically, even going so far as to surprising them with pop quizzes without warning when a classic rock song would come on the radio and asking, “Who sings this?” Both kids knew the full depth of our disappointment when they would fail the pop quizzes. Failure was rare.

To realize that she’d only fixed three out of the six presets hurt me. So I fixed the other three. And not with country. Because I don’t do country.

Then I found out they don’t hold the presets.

That made me feel so much better.

 

 

 

NoThanks – Day Twenty Nine

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Tonight I’m thankful that there are only 30 days in the month of November.

Tonight I’m thankful that it’s 10:00 and I can go to bed.

Tonight I’m thankful for Nutella.

Tonight I’m thankful for slippers.   pillows.   dishwashers.   Hallmark commercials.   Starbuck’s.   Angry Birds.   Sofa covers.   plastic utensils.   microwaveable dinners.  dinner out.   dinner in.   dinner with friends.   discounts.   Sookie.   my Keurig.   pumpkin spice coffee.   my super soft robe.   snow.   fall weather.   spandex.   No Shave November.   Italian Sweet Cream creamer.   travel mugs.   Rock Band.   bold pens.   James Bond movies.    road trips   good music    good books.   quiet afternoons to read good books.   10 seconds with no one talking so I can read a few pages of a good book.   the strikeout button.  the freedom to write whatever I want to on my blog.

 

Coming Soon To A Computer Near You…

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There are several blog posts crashing around in my skull right now so I thought I’d entice you to come back over the next few days with the following teasers:

A Star Is Born: Katie Performs

New York, New York, It’s A Wonderful Town: Catching Up In The Big City

 Back To Only One Teenager: Taylor turns 20

When The Right Thing Is The Hard Thing: Parenting Parents

Pretty Pictures: A Photo Journal of Katie’s Prom

Ingtrigued??

I leave you with this little anecdote. We DVRed Castle last night and Katie and I just watched it. Richard Castle + Kate Beckett + a zombie apocalypse = outstanding entertainment. Previews for the season finale came on after the show and Castle tells Beckett he loves her! YES, HE DOES! We watched it twice and we didn’t delete the episode so we can watch it again and again.

Sticky Notes On The Brain

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This picture makes me think of my mind at the moment. I have thoughts on sticky notes plastered all over my brain, but I need to corral those scattered thoughts and make sense of them. To do that, however, I need to carve out a chunk of time and that seems to be a losing battle.

Ever since New Mexico I’ve been like the Running Man and haven’t slowed down long enough to gather myself. First it was preparing for the women’s retreat and then it was a staff function and then I was speaking for a MOPS group and then it was a Kids’ Camp meeting, which means it’s time to work on the script, and Katie has a recital tomorrow night and then prom is on Saturday and then…

I keep thinking after that last thing I can stop and ponder what I want to ponder, but there’s always something else. Always. A need to ponder things that aren’t what I want to ponder. Misponderization, if you will.

Suffice it to say that I have a bajillion and one blog posts rolling around in my noggin, but no time to capture just one and do something with it.

Someday, though…

 

This Just In

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I am writing this on my phone because I no longer have a working computer. It crashed last night. Nothing spectacular or dramatic, no sparks or horrible sounds. Just a few flashing lights, a little whir and then nothing.

Todd and I ordered a new one tonight. I wasn’t keen on paying for another laptop. I was actually hoping to wait until I could afford a Mac, but no such luck. I’m going to suffer enough withdrawals as it is while waiting 3 to 5 days for the new computer.

Don’t expect another post until after the new toy gets here. Writing a post on the phone is for the birds!!

Capriciality

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I am a horrible judge of pita chip to hummus/chip to dip ratio. I underestimated how many pita chips I was going to need to finish the amount of hummus I have, so I just got the bag. It seems to be working out well. Now if I can only make my one little glass of wine last. Tiny sips, Jenster. Tiny baby sips.

******

Katie’s car is in the shop. Last Wednesday as she was driving two other girls to school there was a pop and then smoke coming from the hood. Todd was, of course, out of town. Taylor was with him. I was in the shower as she tried to call me three times, back to back. One of her friend’s mother stopped by the house to tell me what had happened. Missy picked the girls up to take them to school and I was left to get the car picked up by a tow truck and to the shop.

It was 11 degrees when she left for school that morning. The mechanic told me later that day the radiator hoses were frozen and the “pop” was when one of them came off the radiator. The “smoke” was the fluid hitting the hot engine. He wasn’t going to be able to investigate further until the hoses had thawed out. We were hoping and praying with everything that it was only the radiator. New hoses and a radiator flush – while not cheap – is doable. Turns out there is actually something wrong with the engine. Poor Ruby.

The kid we bought the car from – a good friend of Taylor’s – is a mechanic and he’s going to price out parts and we’ll go from there. Hopefully having Nick do the repairs will still make it doable. Otherwise we’ll be scrapping Ruby for parts. Poor Ruby.

******

Taylor left to go back to college today. Well, not actually college. He’s driving to Pittsburg first to hang out with some friends who moved out there a while back. As luck would have it, his girlfriend just so happens to live in the Pittsburg area as well. Wednesday, I think, he and Shelby will then drive from the Pitt (no derogatory meaning intended) down to Lynchburg.

As much as I love having him home – and I do – I’m okay with him going back to school. He does have 1.5 years of higher education under his belt which means he’s super smart. Much smarter than his father or me. We seem to be getting dumber in direct proportion with his amount of time in college. Funny. I don’t feel dumber. Still, I can’t wait until the next time we get to see him.

(Mom and Dad – please picture me groveling as I beg for your forgiveness. Again.)

******

Todd has picked up a new hobby. He’s been making these really cool paracord bracelets for just about everybody. It gives him something to do during the evening. Kind of like Grandma and her knitting.

The bracelets are also called survivor bracelets because let’s just say you’re out hiking in the woods with your buddy and he/she goes over a cliff, barely landing on a narrow ledge 12 feet below. How will you ever pull him/her up? You have no cell service and it’s much too far to hike out – you’ll never make it back before dark, leaving your friend to suffer through the elements. If only you had a rope. But that’s much too heavy. Who would ever hike with 20 feet of rope? But wait! No need to fear! You just happen to be wearing a fashionable paracord bracelet engineered by Todd. You whip it off your wrist, clip the end with your handy Swiss Army knife (because you should never hike without a Swiss Army knife) and SHAPOW! Twenty feet of military grade paracord, able to hold 550 pounds! Crisis averted.

*****

And that’s what’s been happening in my neck of the woods. How about yours?

Smatterings…

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One of my fans gently chastised me for not posting anything for over a month. Apparently she and my other fan have discussed the lack of posts and both have been disappointed. Always the people pleaser, here’s a new post.

October was an exciting month for Katie. She bought a car with her very own money, turned 17 and got her driver’s license. I probably should have been anxious, but instead it was a great relief to me. She’s much too busy and I was perpetually exhausted from forever driving her places.

November was less exciting for Katie. She was sick for a good two weeks – ran a fever the whole time, was diagnosed with pneumonia and then an ear infection and had what we think might have been an allergic reaction to the first antibiotic that resulted in massive hives. Thankfully she got over it before Thanksgiving break!

Speaking of Thanksgiving break, Taylor was home for a whole, entire week. It was nice. He left after church this morning and is now safely ensconced in his dorm room where he will remain, except for when he’s in class, until he returns in three weeks. Or not.

Also speaking of Thanksgiving break, Todd had carpal tunnel and ulnar nerve transposition surgery the Friday before break started. Needless to say the beginning of the week started out a little rough for him. Taylor came home that night and the next day was Katie’s voice recital. With a little pharmaceutical intervention, Todd was able to go enjoy some Katie singing.

Speaking of pharmaceutical intervention… No. Never mind.

And that is a miniscule smattering of the last seven weeks. I promise not to wait so long for the next smattering.

Five (+1) On The Day After Friday

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I was on the run all day yesterday and the only chance I had to do my Five on Friday post (3rd edition) was as I was climbing into bed last night, but I would have had to do it on my iPhone and there was no way that was happening. So I’m changing things up a bit this week. To keep with the alliteration, this week’s edition is Six on Saturday.

Yesterday morning my heart soared with unabashed joy because:

1.     It was deliciously chilly and you all know how I feel about fall. It’s the most wonderful time of the year;

2.     I wore jeans for the first time in several months and they fit; and

3.     My Friday Bible Study Group (aka my Homies) had our first official meeting.

And all that was all before noon!

4.     Todd and I met some good friends (and made a couple new ones) at a new-to-us restaurant last night. It was my first experience with Guatemalan food and I am in love. And not just a little in love, but wholeheartedly.

5.     This morning was another CLEAR brunch and it was fabulous. I know I say that every single time, but it really was fabulous. If you live anywhere near me you should come. Really.

AND

6.     This afternoon I went to a wedding shower for a young friend of mine at the house she and her husband-to-be will be sharing after their nuptials. I’d like to share a few thoughts:

        *      The house is a charming cottage with gorgeous moldings and hardwood floors and dormers and a wonderful side/back yard. It’s the perfect starter house and the vintage charm makes me the teensiest bit jealous. But in a good way.

        *      Her sister/my friend (and photographer extraordinaire) staged the shower outside under these wonderful large oak (I think) trees and it looked like something out of a magazine.

        *      It started raining, but the wonderful large trees of some type made a great canopy.

        *      The great canopy only worked for so long so we all grabbed stuff and moved the party inside.

        *      It was a great way to spend an afternoon.