Camera phone pic, taken from the underside of the steering wheel, while stopped at a red light, taking a sip of Cherry Limeade from Sonic!

See Dick Drink…
See Dick Drive…
See Dick Die.
DON’T BE A DICK.

Another one bites the dust,
Another one bites the dust,
And another one gone, and another one gone,
Another one bites the dust,

Yup, another weekend bites the dust.

On Friday we celebrated Davey’s birthday by going out to the Chinadive. We usually have the same waitress. This is the one that helped me clean up puke one time when the baby threw up everything he ate, plus a bottle. It was so gross, but she got in it, helped clean up, and I am forever indebted to her. She rushed up to Davey and I said, “it’s his birthday today,” and she squeezed him with a hug and kissed his cheek. I think, if I let her, she would eat him. What’s not to eat, really?

After we all ate, we headed over to the grocery store to do some maintenance shopping. We got some needed staples to add to what we already had at home, along with a birthday cake. Going grocery shopping when you are full is a good thing. When you go hungry, you end up buying a whole bunch of stuff that you really don’t need. I do need to make lists more, though. Could this be one of my resolutions?

After we got home, Davey took a little nap, and then around 6′ish we did the birthday thing. He loved it, and thankfully did not get sick from the sugar carnage. He sure did love the celebration we had for him!

After all the kids were in bed, Michael and I had the Song Off. And, after that we went to bed and “talked”. Yeah, we “talked”. A long, hard, and heated “talk”.

On Saturday morning we enjoyed some coffee-computer time, and then I put Davey down for a nap. I ended up napping, too. After we got up, ate some more white beans (the ones Michael made with the leftover ham), we got ready and headed over to Maureen’s house. They were gathering people to their home, one last time, before Jeff goes out west to start his new job. She’s sticking around until the house sells, or to the end of their son’s school year is over in May. At least, I think that’s what their plan is.

The gathering was nice. It just was what it was. We really didn’t get to visit with Jeff, it was loud, it was hot, the baby was into everything and ate nothing, the kids all ran a muck, and I felt out of place among all the neighbors. Did I mention that it was loud. I must have some kind of sensory issues? I really wish we would have just told them we’d stop by another day, before Jeff got the heck outta dodge, and think they felt it, too. As we were leaving we made plans for them to come over on New Year’s Day, to visit family to family. I’m looking forward to that.

Since Jeff is leaving Maureen and the kids behind, while he goes to start his job, I have vowed to my friend that I will be here for her. And, I will. I know how this goes, as I’ve been there again and again. Being alone on the mom-job is hard as hell, but it’s manageable, and I’m going to help my friend cope, deal, and get through it. That’s what friends do.

Sunday was rainy. Rain! Our area needs as much as we can get, so it is welcomed. Plus the pounding rain washed off the poop on the porch that Mikey tracked around with his slippers. The new slippers we got him for Christmas. Kids!

Michael made his yummy and famous “Poppy Joes”. The kids ate those up with glee and delight. Pretty low key day, for the most part; coffee time, computer time, play time, nap time, time out, wasted time, time filtered away as fast as the cold rainfall of the morning came.

It’s Monday, the eve of the New Year, and the fog is so thick I can’t even see across the street. Davey was up twice and is now up for the day. After nap time I’m heading over to Blockbuster and the grocery store to pick up movies and munchies.

I can clearly remember, as a child, thinking about how it would be in the 21st Century, and here we are now, eight years in. There’s so much to see, so much to do, so much to be, so much to experience. Sure, I have resolutions, and they are like everyone else’s: lose weight, be more patient, exercise, yadda, yadda, yadda…

Thinking about it, though, I think the only thing I am going to resolve is to be true to myself always. In being true to myself, I feel that all other aspects will fall into place accordingly.

To Thine Own Self Be True

Yet here, Laertes! Aboard, aboard for shame!
The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail,
And you are stay’d for.
There … my blessing with thee!
And these few precepts in thy memory
Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportion’d thought his act.
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch’d, unfledg’d comrade. Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel but, being in,
Bear’t that th’ opposed may beware of thee.
Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;
Take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgement.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not express’d in fancy; rich, not gaudy;
For the apparel oft proclaims the man;
And they in France of the best rank and station
Are of a most select and generous chief in that.
Neither a borrower, nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Farewell; my blessing season this in thee!
–William Shakespeare

126: Hello Dolly

127: By the Light of the Tree

Stressed spelled backwards is desserts. Coincidence? I think not!
~Author Unknown

Perspective Changes Everything

One of my favorite things to do is to throw Davey up in the air to watch him squirm and listen to him squeal in delight. On Christmas Eve I was playing with him and I went to toss him up.  Without any warning he grabbed my necklace.  And in the quickest instant my necklace snapped. The heart pendant fell to the floor and the silver chain fell into my lap. I gasped. He laughed, like only a baby would, at him Mama.

I have worn that necklace every day since the UPS man delivered the special blue box from Michael. My biggest worry was how I would feel as I went through my days until the necklace was replaced. How would I feel? Sad, probably; not only is it a beautiful piece of jewelery, it has a symbolic meaning to me. Often I would reach for it be reminded of so much. Now I would be without it, for a bit. My heart was on the floor, literally.

My neck was bare for one day. That was as long as I could go–one day. While Davey napped I went up, and looked into my old Caboodle, where I keep a lot of my older jewelery. I searched to no avail. Then, the last box I opened was some of Michael’s old jewelery. There I found a long, silver, box chain. It was in perfect condition, and I smiled as I slipped the heart on to it. I clasped it around my neck and let it go to hang. The necklace was much longer than my other one. To see the pendant before I had to look in the mirror, or touch it. Now all I had to do was glance down, and it made me smile.

It got me thinking. Sometimes you have to change your position to get a different perspective. In one instant a necklace was broken, but in another instant I was shown that in order to evolve, adapt, and become better, you have to change your point-of-view. You have to get on your tippy toes, or squat down, or climb, or run, or just slow down.

Everything in life is relative. Moves, job changes, hardships, births, deaths, break-ups, love-making, all of it. It’s all important in the grand scape of being. Funny how a broken necklace can remind you of something so simple and apparent.

S U N D A Y S C R I B B L I N G
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