24 years ago today I got married. It doesn’t really seem like it’s been that long. I was young - only 19. For those wondering if I’d do it again, the answer is yes. Sure, we’ve had our bumps in the road but I think we’re better for them. We renewed our vows in 2006. I’d like to renew again next year someplace beautiful and romantic. Happy anniversary RB!
My son TJ went to the mall today with his girlfriend and her friend. The girls had wanted to go there to go shopping for bathing suits. He came home later in the evening, in an excellent mood. He said he had a good time at the mall. He’d spent $4 on a bracelet, exactly like the one pictured. Methinks that it’s no coincidence that he’s sporting a bracelet expressing a love for boobies after going bathing suit shopping with his girlfriend. It seems like it was only a short time ago that TJ used to think girls were yucky and had cooties. How time flies….
A few years back we decided to get TJ a stereo for his room. Being the man he is, RB went out and found a great deal on one and picked it up. What I didn’t know until after it had been brought home and installed was that it was a powerful unit. Powerful as in loud. I told RB that TJ didn’t need anything quite that powerful in his tiny room in our small house but he wasn’t hearing any of that. See, when it comes to music RB is like Tim Taylor. More Power! RB connected the system so that TJ could hear everything through it, from television to Xbox 360 games. After that we had about two years where we could hear every sound coming from our sons room. The first time TJ was talking online while playing a video game was very strange for me because I heard more than one voice but only saw my son. Anyway. About a month ago we were informed that something wasn’t working correctly. RB checked it out and said that the system was working but that one component had broken.
Money’s tight so I figured we wouldn’t be replacing anything soon. After all, it was working. For my husband that wasn’t enough. He announced he had an idea and disappeared elsewhere in the house. He reappeared ten minutes later with a component from the system that he used in his last band. He swapped that for the broken component. Now everything is working again. Working and louder. The Toolman strikes again!
Yesterday I was on the couch most of the day, unable to move. You see, we spent the weekend helping my brother, LB2, move out of his apartment. He had a lot of stuff, considering it was only a one bedroom apartment that he’d only been in for one year. We’d arranged to get a truck from the storage place where he was storing his things. When we got there the truck was already out. Not having time to waste, we went to Home Depot and rented one of their trucks. The great move was on.
First out was the big furniture – couch, loveseat, bed, dressers, etc. My brother thought it would be easier if we used the freight elevator in his building. What the rest of us didn’t know is that it was about 180 degrees opposite his apartment. There were two looooooooooooong hallways we had to go down for each trip to that elevator. While the guys moved the big things I moved boxes. There were boxes on top of boxes. It took under a minute to realize we’d neglected to get a handtruck to move the boxes. I improvised and used my brother’s computer chair. That helped with the carrying but not with the temperature. The hallways were as hot as a greenhouse. I was there for almost six hours before I had to go home. I walked what felt like miles, pushing my chair full of boxes. I came home and collapsed on the couch – every muscle in my body was aching. The guys (RB, LB2 and LB3) were up there for a good fours hours more and they were sore too.
The apartment has the bulk of LB2’s things out of it. There is one larger trip or several smaller trips worth left, depending on whose vehicle is used. Then we get a break until he moves into his new place in the near future.
Do you have any funny moving stories? What would you use if you didn’t have a handtruck or dolly?
My son made his confirmation yesterday afternoon. We had a bit of a difference of opinion on clothes. He wore a Confirmation gown, but obviously needed to wear something underneath. I told him he needed to dress nicely. He went in his room and came out in suit pants, a t-shirt and sneakers. I told him he needed to finish dressing. He didn’t seem to understand why a fancy dress shirt would look better than a colorful t-shirt with a skull on it. I have no problem with the shirt itself but it just wasn’t appropriate for Confirmation. He finally put on the dress shoes my Mom had dug up for him and changed the shirt.
The Bishop started out funny but faded over time. At work we had been wondering if the kids would still have to answer questions. The Bishop said if he asked the kids questions and they didn’t know the answer he was going to put the sponsors on the spot. I saw more than a couple of panic stricken faces when he said that! Anyway. He really didn’t ask the kids any questions individually like they did when I was young, instead he asked the whole group the question. The Mass and ceremony were relatively quick, finished in under an hour. On the way out of the Church I couldn’t help but remember when TJ had been baptized in that very Church, in what seemed like only a year or two before. How time flies…
Today is the day to spread the word to end the word.
The R-word that is.
Nothing makes me angrier then hearing someone misuse and abuse the word retarded.
I could go on and on about this. I’ve spoken about it a kajillion times. I’ve written about it.I don’t know that anything I have ever said or could say could be as eloquent as what Soeren Palumbo has to say on the situation.
Take the ten minutes to watch this. Please.
Was that not amazing?
Ready to take the pledge?
If you’re up to it, read a post I published in 2005 that contains an amazing true story that hits home for me.
Then if you’re feeling up to it, please help spread the word.
The discussion is on Twitter, with hashtag #Rword
Upon arriving home last night one of the first things I encountered were two GIANT piles of mail and packages. Both the kitchen and dining room tables each had a pile. I usually get our mail but since I was away RB got it. I couldn’t believe how much of it there was, until I remembered that RB had also been taking in my parents mail. He had thought to split the mail, ours on the kitchen table and my parents on the dining room table. My parents pile included a lot of mail and two boxes, one of which seemed to contain commercial kitchen parts. I couldn’t understand why my Mom would be ordering frymaster parts for her built in stovetop fryer until she reminded me that she’d gotten a new stove a month ago. I have to finish opening and sorting our mail tonight. My Dad is going to have so much fun opening all that mail. I’ll never understand why my Dad loves to open the mail, it’s a fascination he’s always had. He actually rushes out to the mailbox to get the mail before my mother. In the end it’s usually bills so I’m not sure why he does that. Who gets the mail in your house?
More from chilly Florida…
CJ adores Thomas The Train (and all of the other trains). One of his tro favorite things to do is play with all of his trains. We didn’t bring any Thomas trains with us on this trip, as I didn’t want them to get lost at $5 or more apiece. I thought we’d have a Thomas-free week. Not so much. CJ found Thomas and some of his friends in the UK part of EPCOT. He was so happy to see them. I didn’t expect to find Thomas in Disney! So our stop in the UK was a big hit, not only because of Thomas but because we also found Tigger and Pooh.
This is a teacup from the Teacup ride at Walt disney world. Looks harmless enough, doesn’t IT?
I got off of there feeling green and woozy. That’s because the teacup had some help spinning around. Here are the two culprits, who thought that spinning it as fast as it could go was really funny, as was the look on my face. Poor Diva didn’t feel any better. In fact, she actually looked green for a minute.
I’m so excited - I’m going to Disney next week! I’m really looking forward to seeing CJ’s reaction in the parks as he’s really into Mickey and Pooh. He and I are flying out on Tuesday. My parents, as well as my brother LB3 and his girlfriend Diva, are driving down. They left last night. I have a close relationship with my parents but always worry a little when they travel, which is often. You know what I mean right? Stuff happens. I’ve often thought it would be awesome if I could use gps real time tracking to keep tabs on where they are. Until there is an easier way I rely on phone calls. I’m a little worried because that area is expecting some severe weather, which makes driving a camper a bit less fun. Fortunately, my Dad will be sharing the driving with my brother, which should make the long drive easier and quicker. At 7:30 am this morning they were in Virginia and my Mom was eagerly awaiting checking out some outlet stores that she always stops at. I’ve never met anyone else who know where every outlet and mall is, no matter where she is. She’s like a 411 for malls. Do you know anyone like that?
Here’s something that I don’t think I’ve never mentioned. RB has a unibrow. Not only that, directly out of the middle of it grows a long hair, which we call his feeler because it waves around like a tentacle. It’s nothing a few hair removal wax strips wouldn’t take care of. But, it doesn’t bother him much so he usually leaves it alone, despite the fact that we tease him about it.
Recently TJ noticed that his eyebrows were looking a bit like his fathers. Finally proof that the boy who can’t see things in front of him isn’t blind! Anyway. I asked him if he wanted to come with me to the nail salon because they do eyebrows and facial hair removal. He said that he didn’t want to do that – I’m guessing because he’s heard me say that I hate the plucking. I asked him if he wanted me to check into hair removal cream. He said he didn’t think so and that he’d think about what he wanted to do. Two days later he’d decided on a solution to his problem. Rather than spend money he decided to use one of the moustache trimmers in the bathroom. He said he chose to do that because it was quick and easy and it wouldn’t cost anything because we already had it. How practical! I offered to do it for him but he wanted to do it himself. He did a nice even job and didn’t take off anything he wasn’t supposed to. I’m thinking I’m going to get him a smaller eyebrow trimmer of his own just to be safe. He’s growing up so fast, faster than the speed eyebrows grow it would seem.
Thanks for stopping by! If you have a picture up for Wordless Wednesday, leave your link below on Mr. Linky! Then head on over to From Val’s Kitchen, Game Review Network, From Val’s Camera, Here And There, What’s That Smell, Wordless Wednesday, Go Graham Go, 5 Minutes for Mom and The Not-So-Blog Blog for more wordless fun!
My son TJ has been thinking about blogging so I’m letting him guest post a couple of times to see if he likes it. Please say hi to him.
*****
Me and my friends went for a bike ride to the local skate park. When we got there we decided that we were going to shoot some film for a video that we were going to post on YouTube. We were riding up and down the ramps for most of the day and pulling off dangerous tricks. My friend, who did not know what he was doing at the time, attempted a tailwhip and flipped over the bars. He hit the ground and the bike landed on him. For the past week now he has had neck pain. When he told me this I ordered him a neck pain pillow and told him to go for back pain treatment. He really should be riding.
Thanks for stopping by! If you have a picture up for Wordless Wednesday, leave your link below on Mr. Linky! Then head on over to From Val’s Kitchen, Here And There, What’s That Smell, Wordless Wednesday, Go Graham Go, 5 Minutes for Mom and The Not-So-Blog Blog for more wordless fun!
I have been married for 24 years. My youngest brothers, LB2 and LB3, were part of my wedding party. They were my handsome little ring bearers. We had a simple wedding as we didn’t have a lot of money. The boys looked just as handsome in their suits ad they would have in tuxedo vests. Now the boys are grown and in relationships of their own. One is engaged and the other contemplating. I look at the picture on the wall in my hallway and marvel how quickly time has passed and the boys turned into men.
