Describe an ECLIPSE so I don't have to wake up

Well, apparently I'm not so terribly exhausted that I can't churn something out at 11:37 PM now! The most exciting thing (and this could quite possibly be the most pathetic exciting thing) about today was that I got up in time to witness the Lunar Eclipse. Yep, sure did. Jealous, aren't ya. Well, just know that I stared at it for as long as I possibly could without falling over my new walking shoes shoelaces and also without walking backwards. It did make me walk pretty darned fast this morning though, as it was at my back the first part of the walk and I wanted to be able to multi-task by not only getting my walk in, but having something sort of cool to stare at...and then there is my cool & oh so groovy ipod. Diversion.

ok, so I told the kids tonight, "guess what I saw this morning"? And, they, of course didn't want to play the guessing game, so I quickly told them..."THE ECLIPSE"!! Well, far be it from little AMB to not give mom the desperately needed reaction she was hoping for---"wow---REALLY?". uh-huh. Then, from the back seat RRB asked about what time was it & I told him around 5:45 & that I had thought about getting him up. Of course he said "you should have. I could have seen it and then fallen right back to sleep" Oh yeah! Can you imagine....tap, tap, tap....RRB...wake up...the Lunar Eclipse is outside...you'll have to get some pants on and walk down the street to see it around the trees....what?...5:45...yes, in the morning...ok, sorry to bother you" Yeah RIGHT!!

But, the Eclipse conversation did not stop there...oh no, there was MORE excitement. Since I hadn't been thoughtful enough to awaken him from his beauty sleep, RRB was at least curious..."what'd it look like?". Have you EVER had anyone ask you what an eclipse looks like? Well, like a moon with a dark orange drapery over it. I thought that was pretty cleverly descriptive, but nope...not so much. "Well, so the moon was in front of it?" "In front of what?" "In front of the sun". "No, not in front of the sun...it had a shadow over it" Well, I think it's fairly apparent that at this point the eclipse conversation had pretty much lost its interest.

But then the strangest thought flittered (a form of fluttering, not quite as consistent) through my head. ---what if that is the last eclipse I ever see?--- I sure hope that's not some sort of weird premonition. If so, it's really gonna stink.

We skipped swim tonight for AMB. It's been a weird day. I am determined to fulfill my Ebay obligations and, for at least TWO days now, I have done so. But, it's all crap--sorry, but that IS the most accurate word for this stuff. We'll see. Anyhow, after fulfilling my obligation which was after laundry which was before dishes, I realized I had let RRB go do something fun, when he really was supposed to be grounded. Boy I hate it when I do stuff like that. It's such an enormous pain in the rear to then go back and "re-mean"--you know...that state you are in when you actually follow through with your punishment cause you know at that very moment it is the most correct parental thing you can do. Anyhow, I screwed it up. And all that while taking a look at finances in preparation for my FPU class tomorrow night.

Went from being mad about forgetting grounding, to being mad about spending too much money. Wow...major parent fouls all over the place today. Hopefully I'll do much better tomorrow.

Oh and I found the most giant turtle this morning under Ms. Beth's car! I swear this guy has been here years. He just looks old. And he's sort of red-skinned--he's pretty cool. Of course he promptly ran off. After the bunny incident from last week, I think he had heard through the cul-de-sac creature grapevine, that this would not be the wisest spot for him to end up in.

I need to take pictures. Maybe I'll just take my camera out tomorrow and shoot weird stuff...with my camera that is! Good idea. However, for now I think it is fairly obvious that my creativity is waning (sp check), so good night to all and to all a good night. tygftd

you WILL be my friend--dammit

yep--that's how it is with me. Once my friend, always my friend...well almost. Except for the folks who have decided they can't stand me and vice versa. But TODAY was it for one friend. She got the Here's-How-It's-Gonna-Be-Sista email from me! I hadn't heard from her, we haven't had any of those heart-to-hearts, and I was missing her! So that's what happened this morning, I shot off one of my ever-so-clever emails and within 10-15 minutes, lo and behold...CONTACT! She WAS alive, no one had DIED & she still considers me friend (although we have a little work to do on the "active" part of that on her end!) Anyhow, we finally got to talk this afternoon, with the standard 47 interruptions, but it was nice and I love catching up with her.

It was a crazy day though. Met Steve for a banking appointment downtown--whoa, wasn't THAT weird! Picked up the santa puzzle that had been sitting at Zieglers for 2 or 3 months, hit the Scrapbook Convention Vendor Faire (thank you Jamie !), then over to sign up (late) for Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University, then to pick up RRB, then AMB, then Macy's for a birthday gift for AMB's friend tonight, then home for a bit, (when quick talk with above-mentioned friend occurred), then PSB home for 10 minutes before leaving with friend to go watch a well being logged by Biddick bros, then took AMB to birthday slumber party, picked up RRB's buddy, took them out to eat, home for all of one hour then a dreadfully needed Blockbuster run (and we all know how much i LOVE watching movies....NOT!), and finally, here I sit. KIDS**ATTENTION KIDS**THIS IS WHAT I "DO" ALL DAY!!

...and I love it.

Funny line today - PSB after meeting with private banking rep, "...they just don't know what white trash we really are" LOLOLOL!! Just love it. tygftd.

you do know what a number grid is, right mom?

Nope--not a clue. That is what just transpired between my 9-yr old and me. Remember that "life lessons" spiel from last post...yeah. Why can't math be taught the Old-Fashioned way anymore? Memorize your math facts (you know, addition, subtraction, multiplication--and hold on to your hat...division), line the little numbers up in little ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, (yes you get the point) columns, draw a line beneath them and DO THE MATH!

I love my daughter's teachers. I really do. I feel sorry for them having to visualize every stinkin concept. Let the kids learn it like we did---get the math wrong, get a red mark, go home, get in a little trouble and know it next time. I know...I'm old and certainly out of touch. But I can do math without a math grid.

Today I had a b'day lunch with friend JH. We dropped in a local design/decorator store--Signature Interiors. The one and only thing I fell in love with was a gargantuan Greek or Roman head. Nope, not a bust...a head. This thing was huge!! About hip high. The tag read "Golden Boy Bust". But there was no bust. It was just this giant head chopped off at the neck sitting on the floor. I was so all over that. Of course a guy approached us, I am sure wondering if we were finally going to be the suckers to take this $360.00 (but wait, everything was 25-40% off!) atrocity home. And, then we got to hear all about how the salesman (or so I assumed) had one of these out on his 40 acres greeting visitors and what people thought and why they had it--yada, yada, yada.

I'm tellin' ya--this was a decorator's item that would have made any Truvy Jones drool. As we parted ways with this wonderful piece of fine art, I longingly looked back and said to JH, "why does this guy remind me so much of Steve? I mean, take away the flowing curls falling gently on his forhead and he's a dead ringer". Jenene, in all her glorious wisdom replies, "cause he's not smilin'".

Funny thing...they had Golden Boy perched on the floor way in the back of the store near a dead end storeroom door. Jeez I have odd taste--but I can do math. tygftd.

hmmm...NOW what?

Well, I'm doin' this. No really I am. However, with some trepedation, I might add. See I don't really even know how to spell "trepidation". Let's see, it's about 12:37 AM and for some reason the first thought in my head is/was "oh Lord, what will the kids think". Funny. I'm at least in my 40's or so, and yet still worried about what other's under the age of 25 are thinking. Yep, good sign of maturity, don't you think?!! (don't get me wrong--I love all you kiddos, but there are a few life lessons left to learn, and they seem to grow exponentially after your 30's)

Alright, there's another thing. I'm an excessive exclamations offender. And a bad one. I can't help it. It's my attempt to indicate the high inflection in my voice at that point in conversation. There's thing #2, I write like I talk. Not good. So, only two paragraphs into this and already negative criticism (as opposed to the "constructive" kind), humiliation, shame and fear have crept into my first real post.

I think it's because it's nearly 1:00 AM and I am a bit tired. I'll be funnier ( I know, I know--grammatical fauxpa) tomorrow.

ps. Note to self: how will I write what I really want if I am constantly worried about people actually reading this? Discuss & nitey nite.