What do I remember?

When I was little, probably about 9 or 10, I was at the local department store with my mother. We were on the elevator and another kid and his mom got on. My mother nudged me and said quietly, "Isn't that Greg?" I just nodded and looked straight ahead. "Well, aren't you going to speak?" I shrugged and kept looking. On the other side of the elevator, this little boy is also looking straight ahead and not speaking.

We rode up several floors like this. Now keep in mind that this boy had been in my class every year since the first grade and our moms knew each other. While we were busy not looking at each other, they exchanged looks -- you know the one, the "what are they doing?" look.

The doors opened and they got off. As soon as they closed again, my mother said, "Why didn't you say hello?" I never could give her a good answer. "People will think you're stuck up if you keep that up," was her final comment.

I still don't know why I couldn't say hello. I know some people will say we had a crush on each other, but that wasn't it. I had very little use for boys until junior high. lol But this boy was well-liked at school and had lots of friends. I think I thought he should be the one to speak first. That if I merited notice he'd let me know.

Not a great attitude for a future feminist!

I still have trouble initiating conversation with people I don't know well, especially in a crowd.

I don't know why I thought of that this morning, but I remember it like it was last week. Funny how things just pop into your head.

Hanging my head...

I just viewed my actual blog for the first time in a couple of weeks instead of just going to the post screen, and I realized that I have been lax in responding to comments. Shame on me!! As explanation, may I say that blogger wasn't sending them to my email as it was supposed to for about a week or so? Sorry, guys! I love getting comments and don't want anyone to think I was ignoring them!

After being gone all last week, I have so many blogs to catch up on! I haven't had a chance to just sit down and read b/c I've had kids hovering over me the whole time. Well, that and I've been reading Harry Potter instead...I finished it yesterday afternoon, and it has some real shockers in it! I won't post them here cuz I hate spoilers, but I really didn't see it coming! I'm already looking forward to the 7th book anxiously.

A few posts ago, I mentioned working on making a new outfit for Olivia. What a fiasco! Turns out she is soooo far from wearing a size 7 pattern and this particular one doesn't come any smaller. I thought I'd just cut it down, no big deal, right? Wrong! The top is finished except for final touches and just hangs off her, even after cutting it down by 2 inches. I finally just threw up my hands and said we'd save it until next year.
This is the pattern. I was making the one in the middle. It was going to be so cute -- the top is black across the top with a leopard print swing across the bottom. The capris are stretch khaki with a little bit of glitter in them. A 6-year-old dream, huh?

Ah, well. I did get some other cute patterns that I'm going to make before school starts back. I'll post them as I make them.

Drive-ins

Last night I took Ian and Olivia to the drive-in to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Bewitched. We went with several of their dance friends. Charlie was fantastic -- I think I laughed more than the kids. Johnny Depp was brilliant; very different from Gene Wilder, but he had to be. I will definitely be buying the DVD when it comes out.

Bewitched was okay. It seemed more like the level of a tv movie though. I was glad we saw it as a double-feature at the drive-in instead of paying full price at a first-run theatre. Amusing thoug, especially if you were a fan of the original series.

I love going to the drive-in. I had never been to one until I was in college, because all the local ones closed before I was old enough to date (lol). The last remaining one is about 30 minutes out of town. It still has playground equipment down front and the concession stand still serves hamburgers and hot dogs. Pretty cool, huh? The kids love it because it's different and they don't have to sit still all the time. I love it cuz it's cheap and really fun with a group. Anybody else still have drive-ins?

Home again

We got back from dance camp in Nashville last night. I signed on for a while but my brain was too pooped to write anything!

Olivia had a blast and made lots of new friends. I was really proud of her and her two friends from here that came along. All of them made efforts to talk to new people instead of just hanging out together. (The fact that all three of them are 6 makes that even more amazing!)

Ian came up on Wednesday with M's parents and did camp on Thursday. He had a good time too. I hated that he didn't get to take class on Wed. since Nick Bass taught hip-hop on Wednesday and he would have loved it! Oh, well, at least he finally came for a day. He got to meet another guy who is one of their senior dancers and he's gonna do the choreography for Ian's solo this year. (Now I just have to figure out where to find the money!)

I spent all 4 days sitting in the lobby at the studio because Olivia didn't want me to leave. Z and C went to every mall in Nashville while the girls were in class. I think C was a little worried that I would be mad that they left, but I wasn't. I didn't have any money to spend so I wasn't that excited about going to the mall. Unfortunately, they were more interested in going to the mall at night too, even if it meant the kids were up later than they should be. I got a little aggravated at that, especially the second night it happened.

I enjoyed watching the classes on the monitors and got to know several other moms from other places, which was nice.

Believe it or not, when we rolled into town, Olivia insisted that she wanted to go to her regular classes at our studio, so we went there instead of home. I wish I had that much energy!!

Blogging topics

Why is it that when I am not online I can think of fabulous topics to blog about -- profound insights into the world around me, observations of common humanity, thought-provoking questions...then when I sign-on the best I come up with is a laundry list of my boring life?? Oh, well, one day when I have DSL I'll sign on more quickly and more often so I'm more likely to catch those fleeting thoughts.

Funny, funny site!

This is the funniest website! Especially since I'm not so far from the process of naming my own children.

Links, etc.

I just joined a webring for women bloggers. Interesting, huh? The link is down at the bottom of my sidebar if you wanna check it out.

I've also added a bunch of links to other blogs I like. Some of them I check all the time, some of them I just look at occasionally. Check them out too! And if you want me to link to your blog, let me know! I'll check it out and try to get it listed. Also, if you link to my site, I'll try to return the favor if you'll let me know!

Nick gets home from Kentucky tomorrow. My sister said he's been having a really good time up there -- on the go constantly and actually sleeping! I'm glad he's had the opportunity to have some good times this summer. He's likely to have a hard year ahead of him.

Yard sale this weekend. I dread trying to get everything over to my friend's house and set up tomorrow. If I could even sell half of what I've got, I'd do pretty well. Maybe it will help me pay the bills this month!

London explosions

I just got up and signed online to discover that London had been hit by terrorist explosions. I turned on my television to see what had happened. It makes you almost scared to move around. This is once that I'm glad my city doesn't have any mass transit systems!

I'm really surprised that none of the networks are doing continuous coverage of these events. The news channels, of course, are covering it, but the rest (CBS, Fox, NBC, ABC) are showing their normal programming. How is it that normally, if something relatively minor happens here, they are so willing to interrupt programming (esp. in the daytime), but a terrorist attack in London doesn't rate it???

Attacks like this make me so mad. I refuse to live my life in fear, because that is exactly what terrorists want.

Where the boys are...

Maybe that should be a question -- where are the men? (I'm too old for boys!)

I have been divorced for just over 2 years and was separated for 18 months before that. In all that time, I've had exactly 2 dates. And one of them wasn't really a date -- mutual friends set up an introduction at a party where we talked pretty extensively but haven't since.

I realize that most of my time is taken up with my kids and there aren't exactly a lot of single men hanging out at the dance studio. But everyone knows that I'm willing to be set up and apparently no one knows anyone single these days. At least, not anyone single and the right approximate age.

Even my 15 year old son has asked me why I don't go out. Especially since his dad has already found a sweet thang.

The bar scene doesn't really do much for me. Around here, it's primarily a college crowd or serious rednecks. (I've tried it anyway; no luck.) I would just like to have someone to go out with, have fun and adult conversation. I'm just about ready to subscribe to an online dating service (again) in spite of the fact that it was a huge waste of money when I did it before.

Ok, I'm finished whining now...

Lazy day

The weather is gray and damp. I don't want to move, but I think I have to. :(

Stuff I need to do:
1. Get ready to take Olivia to the library.
2. Take the boys to dance.
3. Laundry. (of course)
4. Start getting things ready for the yard sale this weekend.
5. Work on sewing Olivia's new outfit.
6. Other assorted stuff.

I just want to curl up on the couch with a book and veg all day.

Library books

I finally got to check out library books for myself last week. I thought I'd post some reviews of the ones I liked.

1. The Romanov Prophecy by Steve Berry. Spies and conspiracy and Russian history in the future. An American lawyer stumbles upon proof that a direct heir to the Romanov dynasty exists during an attempt to restore the Russian monarchy. This was pretty good. I didn't figure out every little thing before it happened, which is a plus. According to the author's note at the end, a lot of the novel was based on historical accounts of the events surrounding the murder of the Romanov dynasty. There were, of course, fictional elements, as well. I'd give it 3.5-4 stars out of 5.

2. Split Second by David Baldacci. More spies and conspiracies, but this time its the Secret Service that is involved. One former agent and one current agent who both suffered career shattering split second events team up to figure out the connections between their cases. I liked this one too, but I'm not sure I liked the way Baldacci hinted at major plot points without telling the reader what was happening. For example, while reading, you'd know that the character was making references to something that the audience didn't know yet. But I guess it worked, because I kept turning pages! lol I'd also give this one a 3/5-4.0 out of 5 stars.

Photos!!

Here's a photo of Olivia's cake from this weekend. Cute, huh?

House rules

When the kids got home from their daddy's this weekend, I informed them that there were going to be some changes around here. I decided that I am taking my own house back; I am the mama and I am calling the shots, not them.

I gave them four "house rules" to remember:

1. Be nice to everyone.
2. Be considerate of other people. (Almost the same, I know, but it covers a few situations that #1 doesn't.)
3. Mind what I tell you to do the first time I tell you.
4. Help keep things picked up. (Notice I didn't say "pick up after yourself" -- hopefully this will greatly reduce the "but that's not mine!" chant.)

So far, so good. When one of them starts to misbehave, I just say, "What is rule # (whichever one is appropriate)? Was that following the rule?" Believe it or not, it seems to be working! Hallelujah!! We had a very pleasant and stress-free day yesterday. I pointed that out to them last night and told them how glad I was they were following the rules. Even one of my friends at the fireworks noticed the rule thing and was impressed by how it was working.

Of course, 15-year-old, angst-filled number 1 son isn't here. He's in Kentucky for the week visiting my sister. Wonder how well he's gonna go along with the rules...

Now I just have to decide on an appropriate punishment for breaking the rules. So far, I've simply reminded them of the rules and they've fallen into line, but I know there will be bad days that require more than that, so I've got to be prepared. Especially when Nick gets home, because he always pushes the envelope which makes the others do it too. Any suggestions?

Happy Fourth!

It was so late by the time all the festivities were done last night that I was too tired to sign on.

We went to watch fireworks from the bluff, as planned. The rain earlier in the afternoon really cooled things off, so the weather was perfect. The kids had a great time. We took the stuff for them to make ice cream in a bag. Sounds weird, I know, but it worked. I got the idea here. They had fun shaking the bags until it was done.

Olivia took her charades game that she got for her birthday and Ian helped her and Mallory play. It was hysterical to watch them try to figure things out!

The fireworks display was pretty good, but wayyy too short. It was funny though; all of the smaller kids ended up sitting on or with a grown-up, but no one ended up with their own kid! Don't know exactly how that happened!

When we got back to the old house to wait for traffic to thin out, we lit some sparklers. We were going to do some other fireworks, but I didn't want to drive all the way over there today to clean up the mess. So we just waited until we got back to our house.

The kids didn't get to bed until about 11:30, which I'll probably pay for today. Oh, well.

Anatomy of a storybook birthday/holiday

It's been a hectic weekend, but a good one.

Olivia's birthday party was Saturday afternoon at the playground. I had no idea how many people to expect since almost no one actually let me know if they were coming. I made her cake -- one of the one with the barbie doll in the top of it and the big skirt. I was expecting it to be a big deal, but it only took me about 45 minutes to decorate the whole thing.

Of course, it didn't occur to me that I was going to be transporting the cake by myself until about an hour before the party. I fortunately found a milk crate which was perfect fit for the cake, so it made it to the party without incident. It was a big hit with all the little girls.

I love playground parties -- no games to plan or prizes to buy! The kids just loved playing on all the great playground equipment. It was really, really hot, so I decided to bring pop-ice popsicles instead of ice cream. Good move on my part, because it really helped keep them cool.

Olivia got some really nice gifts and lots of money. She got enough to reach her goal of going to dance camp in Nashville next week. Yay! I told her I didn't have it, but if she got enough birthday money, I'd take her. She was so excited on the way home when I told her she got enough.

Saturday night the kids were still with their daddy so I went with friends out to another friend's house to watch their fireworks display. Boy, they don't play when it comes to fireworks! It was great! I wished I had gone to get my kids once I saw how big it was.

Yesterday, I actually got Olivia's room completely cleaned up and all her birthday gifts put away. I hung her new curtains and put her new sheets on her bed and her new Tinkerbell lamp by the side of her bed. She was thrilled when she got home. (She's such a girl!! lol) I told her she could call Aubree and see if she wanted to come play for a little while, but they were cooking out hot dogs and Z. was already over there. So we went too. The kids played in the sprinklers and we ate hot dogs and watched random fireworks being shot off. Just a calm summer night.

It's so nice to have friends who have kids the age of my kids and who live close enough to drop by each other's houses on the spur of the moment. That's not something I've been able to have very much for my kids.

Tonight we're going back to the old house to park in the driveway and walk up to the bluff to watch the big fireworks display. I'm trying to decide whether to make homemade ice cream or not.

These are the good times.