Peyton Manning, after living a full life, died. When he got to heaven, God was showing him around. They came to a modest little house with a faded Colts flag in the window. “This house is yours for eternity, Peyton,” said God. “This is very special; not everyone gets a house up here.”
Peyton felt special, indeed, and walked up to his house. On his way up the sidewalk, he noticed another house just around the corner. It was a 3-story mansion with a blue and red sidewalk, a 50 foot tall flagpole with an enormous Patriots logo flag, and in every window hung a red Patriots towel.
Peyton looked at God and said “God, I’m not trying to be ungrateful, but I have a question. I was an all-pro QB, I hold many NFL records, and I even went to the Hall of Fame.”
“So what’s your point Peyton?", God asked.
“Well, why does Tom Brady get a better house than me?”
God chuckled, and replied “Peyton, that’s not Tom’s house, it’s mine.”
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Okay, I'm not what you would call organized. I don't wear a watch. My calendar starts off promisingly in January and then I forget about it until hockey starts again in September...you get the idea.
But I just made an AGENDA for tonight's daisy girl scout meeting.
Go aheah...put the L on your forehead...I know it already...Looosaaaah.
Mostly because I'm scared of looking like an bumbling idiot in front of the other moms and the other leader mom was all..."I don't know, um, we should be fine, I'll bring some construction paper." That type of thing throws me headfirst into panic mode.
I volunteered to help with the troop and when I met the other volunteer mom...I didn't really like her. She was okay, I guess, but there was no good vibe feeling. Which kind of stinks. Plus her emails are ALWAYS in different style fonts and colors and sizes. And yes - This is an issue. Green italics garamond, blue bold size 24 jester, teeny purple times new roman. Oy. She's pleasant enough and all, just was hoping we'd click a little better since she plans on holding meetings until June.
Well, I'm off to cook dinner, make copies, get the snack together, wrap some books, go to the post office, meet the son at the bus stop, take a shower, watch last week's Survivor, set up the VCR to tape tonight's Survivor, head to Daisy's and then to work. Chow.
not this past Saturday...but a week and a half ago...we were the recipients (or rather, the boy's league was) of some free Bruins tickets. Generally these are upper balcony, obstructed view type of tickets but this time, because it was still pre-season, they so weren't. Some of us got luxury box tickets and some of us got seats right in front of the boxes. We opted to sit with friends in front of the boxes because this is how my nine year old watches the game: And he doesn't think you'd get a good enough view from inside the room. He's probably right.
I got sucked in by all this blogger beta nonsense.
And now look at me.
No Coach, No Blogroll, No Nuthin.
On the other hand...it's all mine to mess with.
Off to template land.
*Update- Template land was a bust. Oh sure, it's easier to add links in beta. But with all of those fucking widgets it's ten times as confusing changing the rest of the codes. For me, anyway. Super.
** Update - They say they save your old template. They never tell you where.
I am waiting not so patiently for the principal to get back to me about the girlie's bus transportation. Or lack thereof.
My boy went to school with nervous jitters because he had his first real argument turned thrown punch with one of his best friends and I know he's anxious to see how it all plays out. As am I.
We're getting ready for the last of the open houses. I must remember to not plan A THING for the first week in October next year.
I bought the kids their matching christmas pajamas. Corny, I know and every year I wonder how long I can get away with this. Thank god the girlie is a bit of a tomboy - the son would've stopped this long ago had I brought home two sets of Barbie jammies.
I am looking forward to Survivor.
I'm hoping that, if there is some higher power, it's watching over my husband's cousin. He landed in Baghdad this morning to begin his tour of duty.
Friday, September 29, 2006
Rainy fridays are ususally my favorite...
No work, last day of school, not usually any hockey, no homework - not alot going on in general.
Today is, to borrow from my friend, Mr. Squarepants, Opposite Day.
I have twenty seven loads of laundry to fold, I'm meeting with the Daisy Scout Leader so we can plan for the month, pick the girlie up from school, go to BJ's for dog food and such, go to bank to get money for gas to actually get to BJ's, pick up my 4runner from the garage, take my boy for a haircut, vacuum, make dinner and then a snack for bookclub.
And then smooch on my best friend's new baby and go to book club. The last two don't really belong up there with all the others because these last two are enjoyable, especially the baby smooching.
The husband is working tomorrow so I've got early morning hockey duty, which is fine...because it's not really early morning. 8:20 a.m. ice time is practically lunch in hockeyland. Sunday he's got to be dressed and ready to skate at 5:40 a.m. and THAT is early.
Our T.V. remote is missing. Since last Sunday. You would think, the way my husband is complaining, that one of our children had been lost. I've never seen him actually LOOK for something so diligently. Every night he devotes actual time to searching a new place. HAH. I would rather D.I.E. die before I admit to him just what a pain in the ass it is, this clickerless existence.
But. Last night? My girlie woke up around midnight and I was watching Broken Flowers. I shut the movie off and notice that the VCR is still taping (Survivor is what I was taping, four hours earlier). I go and press the Power button on the VCR remote...and it shuts the TV off. I nearly jumped for joy. It's like, 15 years old and it works on the TV. Hooray! But my husband is thinking that he'll clean out under the couch and vacuum under the furniture in his quest for the clicker...so I may not tell him right away...do you blame me?
How can you not smile when you drive by a tree like this?
My boy is in fourth grade and wow, they've started piling it on. Last night he had a science project/presentation to finish preparing for (due today), a book to start reading for a book report, a few pages in his math book to read, two math worksheets, spelling words to write and then write them again in detailed sentences.
I'm wondering if this is the norm or is he just unlucky, in the way that the student in a school that didn't meet accredidation (sp?) standards would be unlucky. How in god's green acres this school DID NOT meet the standards I have yet to find out...if it has to do with standardized tests I just might vomit.
In other news: I'm supposed to be at Target right now. Buying tights. And yet, here I sit.
In other, more interesting news: I shampooed the kid's bedroom carpets yesterday...and they came out so good I didn't want to put their furniture back in. Wha? Not interesting enough?
Sounds from the first night. My husband called me to tell me to batten down the hatches, downpours were headed our way. So I battened and everything stayed nice and dry. With the exception of the tent. And the puddles inside I spent all night checking on an soaking up before they could hit our pillows. The glowy thing is one of those fifty cent glow sticks hooked on a zipper pull inside the tent. Best nightlite ever.
Jumping waves at Sandy Neck. It was windy and borderline cold. And naturally, this being the Cape...the water was f-f-f-f-freeezing.
It was here that another parent said to me, as we were leaving "Your kids really play well together, don't they?"
I made a comment about being lucky but really I was thinking that just maybe we could stay for another hour or ten because it was the first time they had STOPPED bickering.
Sunset, the same beach - the same day. We didn't actually stay for ten hours, we had to go back to pick up their sweatshirts they left hanging on the dune fence. This time is was the much preferred low tide and they took off running. Next year we're planning a sunset campfire on this beach...
I didn't get any good shots of the campsite, but this is the view from the site...trees, wild blueberries and huge boulders. And the site was like, the cadillac of campsites, totally huge with neighbors on one small portion. The driveway portion.
See? Now would you look at that...I've made it so that, when I stop and try to remember how 'all done' I was with camping alone with the kids...I can't. I have wiped the memory slate clean, somehow. And next summer, no matter how many times I go back and read that archive and you all are typing comments like "Remember last year???" I will just shrug my shoulders and pack up my car.
I've sat down to post a few times, but meh. I kept deleting everything I'd write (all ten words!) but I think I'm over that now.
My car is back. For now. It still needs some canister filter to be replaced and four new tires but that's gravy compared to the work that's been done so far. I think we'll be hitting the five thousand dollar mark soon...hey it's a telethon...phone in your pledges now! Time's running out!
On the fiscally irresponsible side you all will have to deal with less of my writing and more of my photos. The camera was purchased. And I love her. 12x zoom, people. How can you not love a 12x zoom? Wanna see? And no, I cannot line them up. Sorry. I'm technically retarded. or computerally challenged. And just so you know...i will sometimes swear in front of the kids but they won't hear me saying retard. Is that backwards logic?
View from the Transmission Shop.
In the past few days I've read a post or two about Fantasy Football. I've gotta tell ya...I'm so glad I'm not alone in this obsession. I am crazy for checking the stats and injury reports. For updating my roster and worrying over 'probable' starts. I've always watched football, the Patriots and the Cowboys. Now I find myself watching highlite reels and score tickers, rooting for teams I could honestly give a crap about. Not even my husband can quite grasp this new found obsession interest. Plus I can knit and watch. Mostly. Except where the Pats are concerned. Last night I was bemoaning my Tom Brady choice, the year he seems to have lost some of his fire. My other option is Mark Brunell and mostly, that's not really an option. Except yesterday when he was, like 24 of 26. Gah!
For those of you who read that last paragraph and thought...blah, blah, blah. Well, sorry. It's that time of year.
And then there's Survivor. Which I just watched yesterday and I have to say all the worry about splitting the tribes based on races, I find it interesting that the teams are not appearing to be insulted by this but seem to be embracing it. The representing and such. It's nice, the embracing of their differences and their backgrounds. I was glad to see Billy go...not so glad to see Yul find the immunity ALREADY. Lesson to next season's survivors: Do not send another team's strongest players to Exile Island...it gives them another HUGE advantage in that they can search for the idol, duh!
That's it for now, I don't want to spoil you all...
I was clicking around some blogrolls or links or something the other day and I came across a link to a story...
there's this group of moms, from I don't know where, sounds like a city - but anyway - one of them found a hat. And they posted that they found a hat on their message board (like it had been left behind at one of their outings or something...i'm hazy on the details).
She specified that it was a boy's hat and posted a photo.
An uproar. It caused an uproar. God forbid but she assigned a gender to this hat and insulted the possible little girl owner. I guess the message boards went all flooey with people typing on both sides of this "argument". One group was indignant: How dare she assume that the hat belongs to a boy and then the other side of the camp (the side of the camp I'd be squarely in) with a great big 'give me a break'.
I'm all for not hurting people's feelings on purpose. But come the hell on. Has this pc/senstivity crap sucked out people's common sense? Are we always on the verge of offending someone with innocuous small talk?
I don't go around calling someone with down's syndrome a retard. But if you do something so stupid that you should've known better...then I'll bust out the retard. Of course it's more like retahhd, but that's something else entirely. And my boy, who is short for his age...I call him a smidge. My abbreviated form of *gasp* midget.
So if we're in line together in the grocery store don't go too crazy if I try to make a comment about the weather. How'm I supposed to know that you're horribly offended by snow? And if you are...that's why they invented peapod.
Another meme! Hurray! Jennifer tagged me and I was actually GLAD (no, I'm not ill) as I am trying to keep up with the pictureless posting and lord knows i'm not that great of a writer so phew, thanks for the meme Jen.
I'm not tagging but really...can you resist? you can? ah, well...
1. If you make sweet tea, or your favorite style, do you use Luzianne, Lipton or something else? Sweet tea? Hot tea or iced? I only really like instant Iced Tea, usually Crystal Light, but my mother-in-law buys something yummy too. I don't drink hot tea or coffee. ew.
2. What brand of toilet paper do you buy and is it the larger rolls or regular? Cottonelle with ripples. At the very minimum the double rolls, triple if I can find it. Do you know how tired I get of changing that roll? I'm sure you can relate.
3. Which brand of bath soap do you use? Body wash or bar? I like Sundrop Soaps, from a little local independent company or any homemade type of product. When I run out I usually use the husband's, which is Dial.
4. What cereal do you buy for yourself? Cocoa Puffs and Frosted Flakes are my favorites.
5. What brand of dishwasher detergent do you use? Liquid or Tabs? Liquid, Target brand.
6. What is your favorite fruit? Blueberries
7. Which brand of laundry detergent do you use? Tide with the little HE symbol. Ususally mixed with Biz or Oxyclean.
8. Do you like chocolate? No. Can't think of anything worse. (Did you buy that? If so, I've got this bridge...)
9. Are you right or left-handed? I'm a righty. No special coated scissors in art class for this girl.
10. Do you still write checks or use a debit card? I'm a stone age check writer. I'd switch to debit and online bill paying but the husband has vetoed it. which, i could honestly care less.
Instructions: Bold (or change the color) of all of the following TV shows which you've seen 3 or more episodes of in your lifetime. Bold and Italicize a show if you're positive you've seen every episode of it. If you want, add up to 3 additional shows (keep the list in alphabetical order).
24 3rd Rock from the Sun 7th Heaven Adam-12 Aeon Flux A.L.F Alfred Hitchcock Presents Alias Allo Allo American Idol/Pop Idol/Canadian Idol/Australian Idol America's Next Top Model/Germany's Next Top Model Angel Arrested Development Babylon 5 Babylon 5: CrusadeBattlestarGalactica (the old one)Battlestar Galactica (the new one)Baywatch Beavis & Butthead The Ben Stiller Show Beverly Hills 90210 Bewitched B.J. & The Bear Bonanza Bones Bosom Buddies Boston Legal Boy Meets World Brady Bunch Buffy the Vampire Slayer Bug Juice Casualty Chappelle's Show Charlie's Angels Charmed Cheers China Beach Columbo Commander in Chief Coronation Street Coupling Cowboy Bebop Crossing Jordan CSI CSI: Miami CSI: NY Curb Your Enthusiasm - Only one season left to watch... Dallas Dancing with the Stars Danny Phantom Dark Angel Dark Skies Davinci's Inquest Dawson's Creek Dead Like Me Deadliest Catch Deadwood Degrassi: The Next Generation Designing Women Desperate Housewives Dharma & Greg - Why, WHY did I punish myself? Different Strokes Doctor Who (new Who) Doctor Who (series 1-26) Dragnet Due South Dungeons and Dragons (old cartoon) Dynasty Earth 2 Emergency! Entourage ER Everwood Everybody Loves Raymond Facts of Life Falcon Crest Family Guy Family Ties Fantasy Island Farscape Fawlty Towers Felicity Firefly Flamingo Road Frasier Friends Full House Futurama Get Smart Gilligan's Island - thought I had seen them all until I netflixed the first season - then...Surprise! All new to me.. Gilmore Girls Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. Green Wing Grey's Anatomy Growing Pains Gunsmoke Happy Days Head of the Class Highlander Hill Street Blues Hogan's Heroes Home Improvement Homicide: Life on the Street House I Dream of Jeannie I Love Lucy Invader Zim Invasion Iron Chef (Japan) Iron Chef (USA) Ironsides It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - Favorite Show. JAG Jackass Jeopardy Joey John Doe Kate and Allie Kath and Kim Knight Rider Knots Landing La Femme Nikita LA Law Laugh-In Laverne and Shirley Law & Order Law & Order: Criminal Intent Law & Order: SVU Little House on the Prairie, same thing as Gilligan, we THOUGHT we had seen them all Lizzie McGuire Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Lost Lost in Space Love, American Style M*A*S*H MacGyver Magnum P.I. Malcolm in the Middle Married...With Children Melrose Place Miami Vice Mission Impossible Monk Moonlighting Mork & Mindy Murphy Brown My Family My Favorite Martian My Life as a Dog My Mother the Car My So-Called Life My Three Sons My Two Dads - ACK! Greg Evigan! Mysterious Cities of Gold NCIS Night Court - My dad used to love this, again...why did I watch too? ugh. Nip/Tuck Northern Exposure Not the nine o'clock news Numbers One Tree Hill OzParker Lewis Can't Lose Party of Five Perfect Strangers- is this the one with Balki? Perry Mason Picket Fences Pirates of Darkwater Pokemon Power Rangers Prison Break Profiler Project Runway - Am now addicted Psyche Quantum Leap Queer As Folk (US) Queer as Folk (British) Queer Eye For The Straight Guy ReGenesis Remington Steele Rescue Me Road Rules ROME Roseanne Roswell Samurai Jack Saved by the Bell Scarecrow and Mrs. King Scooby-Doo Where Are You? Scrubs Seinfeld Sex and the City Six Feet Under Slings and Arrows Smallville Small Wonder So Weird South Park Spaced Spongebob Squarepants - it certainly FEELS like I've seen them all. Sports Night Square Pegs St. Elsewhere Star Trek Star Trek: The Next Generation Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Star Trek: Voyager Star Trek: Enterprise Stargate Atlantis - New season Stargate SG-1 -Newseason Superman Supernatural Surface Survivor- I know I've missed at least two or three episodes Taxi Teen Titans Teletubbies That Girl That 70's Show That's So Raven The 4400 The Addams Family The Andy Griffith Show The A-Team The Avengers The Beverly Hillbillies The Bionic Woman The Colbert Report The Cosby Show The Daily Show The Days And Nights Of Molly Dodd The Dead Zone The Dick Van Dyke Show The Flintstones The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air The Golden Girls The Jetsons The L Word The Love The Love Boat Mary Tyler Moore Show The Mighty Boosh The Monkees - One summer I watched them all. I think. The Munsters The Mythbusters The O.C. The Office (UK) The Office (US) The Pretender The Prisoner The Real World The Shield The Simpsons The Six Million Dollar Man The Smurfs The Sopranos - working on Season Four The Suite Life of Zack and Cody The Twilight Zone The Waltons The West Wing The Wonder Years The X-Files Third Watch thirtysomething Three's Company Top Gear Twin Peaks Twitch City Upstairs, Downstairs Veronica Mars Wings What Not To Wear (US)What Not To Wear (UK) Whose Line is it Anyway? (US)Whose Line is it Anyway? (UK) Witchblade Will and Grace Wonderfalls Wonder Woman Xena: Warrior Princess Young Hercules
Wow, that's alotta TV. And wasted time...Dharma & Greg, Saved by the Bell, MASH (yes, I hate MASH)...and yet, I'm noticing shows that I wish I watched or watched more of(netflix queue, here I come) Veronica Mars, Smallville, House...
I added The Love Boat, BJ & the Bear and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. C'mon play along..
We went to Newport today instead of watching the Pats.
We listened to some of the game, we love Gil. Look, there's my friend wearing his (2nd) superbowl ring. We know his daughter and she never tires of hearing us yell "IT'S GOOD! THE KICK IS GOOD!!!" Or maybe she does.
There are limited beautiful days left here in New England. Sure, autumn is all about the pretty, the harvesty but I do love the sun and surf. This is a picture from last year but change the bathing suits to tshirts and shorts and you pretty much get the idea. Oh, and add some kites, bubbles and Del's Lemondae.
Seriously, did you watch Thursday night's game? Was he in every one? Every other one? I was sick of Peyton Manning BEFORE all of these commercials and now? Let's just say that he's not a great marketing tool for NFL Network. A tool maybe, but not a marketing tool.
And on a side note: Does Geraldo realize, that since he's totally off his rocker, that saying things like [Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart] "exist in a small little place where they count for nothing." doesn't help to make a case against either guy. Geraldo saying somthing like that makes the stuff Colbert and Stewart say look like downright gospel.
Thursday, September 07, 2006
And onto the 4Runner. It's still in the shop. Not the original, dealer shop, oh no. It did go there first (hence the 12K price tag - for parts only), but after the guy tried selling me a new car just seconds after he told me that this one wasn't worth fixing, I smelled a rat and told him we'd be picking it up.
So I lied. A tow truck came and took it away to a transmission shop, whose name I took from the phone book. Not my usual M.O. when spending a gazillion dollars on repairs but desperate times call for desperate measures. Plus, when I called him back to ask him to pick the car up at the dealer's, he said "Hey Dad, when do you want to go get that Toyota?" A mechanic who works with his dad? Perfect. Or I hope so. I'm not a fan of a garage where the oldest employee is 23 or where the cashier takes your money and his fingernails are grease free. Uh-uh.
Sadly, Joe called me yesterday. The engine is also ill and engines aren't his thing. He almost let me tow it away to another, much more reputable but 20 miles away, Toyota dealer...with a warning to be careful, that he was worried I'd be throwing good money after bad (or is it the other way around) and that I should be able to get an estimate from them before I bring it in. He told me to stick to what I know about the problem and not let them bully me. (I, at this point, am beginning to like Joe, whose wife, he tells me, is a Kindergarten teacher)
He, in passing, mentioned that he had spoken to his friend, his engine fixin' friend whose name is Manny, and that it's probably a head gasket, because Manny knows all about these things, so make sure I tell them all that I know. I inquire if perhaps Manny would be interested in fixing my car...and Joe? He actually sounds pleasantly surprised. Of course, he says, I'll call him and bring your car over to him this morning and I won't charge you for anything until we hear what Manny has to say. (Did I mention that he's charging me only $100.00 for a tow and hours worth of work??) The name of Manny's shop? Manny's Family Automotive.
Could it be? Could I have actually, FINALLY, found some honest and honest-to-god mechanics? See, yesterday I said I wouldn't jinx myself anymore...and here I go again...optimism is just so hard to beat down.
Hey, *knocks on monitor* you're still here? Thanks for your patience. Blogging will resume on a fairly regular basis from now on, unless... No. No unless, we jinxed ourselves last week. I won't make that mistake again.
Who am I kidding? Of course I will.
The son started school on Tuesday, he's graduated to a new school. He was more nervous than excited...but god forbid he should let on that school might actually be *gasp* okay. He rarely has anything too positive to say and yet he excels. And enjoys it. Stubborn boy.
He finished up his suggested summer reading about a month ago. But the postcard? To send to the librarian? He raced around on the first morning of school to write that paragraph.
Like mother, like son. Procastination is an art.
His bus comes at 7:30 a.m. Ugh. The bus picks him up at where our little road meets the main road and while I would love to not have to go, I just can't do it. The apron strings are like those extenda-leashes...they just keep getting longer....
I haven't gone to the bus stop in my pajamas. Yet. It's only the third day, this will all change by March.
The girlie began life at the big kid school today. An apple pinned to her shirt, a bus tag tied with yarn around her neck. She was smiling but nervous when I pulled into the parking lot in the smokin' hot (that's not the radiator I'm tawkin' about) 1985 Metallic Blue Plymouth Voyager. (it's the in-laws vehicle - mainly they use it for Home Depot trips and the dump. Oh JOY! - But it runs a heck of a lot better than the Toyota at this point so I'll shut up now).
The worst feature of the Voyager? The missing hubcap? No. The fact it's an 85 Voyager? No. It's the 'Dubya '04' sticker plastered on the back. I'm thinking of covering it tomorrow. Somethings are just to horrible to bear.
Her kindergarten teacher was my husband's first grade teacher. Which is a source of never ending joy to the girlie. I'm sure the teacher will like the daily reminder from her of just HOW LONG she has been on the job. The lady doesn't like email but she appears to still like children, which after 125 years of teaching, is admirable.
I will bore you with car talk tomorrow...There would be pictures but they are on film. My god, what a backwards transition that is. Film. And developing. Holy motherofgod. Since we're hemmoraging cash we might as well just spring for a new camera...that's not a very convincing argument is it? Still, I'm betting I can get the camera purchase approved. Don't judge, we suck with money and $300.00 plus $ATonofMoney just doesn't seem that bad anymore.
I'm eavesdropping on the firefighter's training that's taking place just outside my office door...did you know milk could be a hazardous material? Large quanitites could kill off aquatic life. Not to mention creating a chocolate chip cookie craving of epic proportions.
And on the last note, I am ready for some football. And will be cheering for whoever's playing Pittsburgh. Unless it's Indy (which I know it isn't) - because Indianapolis? Stinks.
A New Englandah, mom of two, who is more than a little scatterbrained. Throw in some knitting, some reading, a bit of embroidery, some youth hockey watching, and maybe a margarita or three and that's pretty much the perfect weekend.