My Birthday Through Rose-Colored Goggles.

The summer is going by so fast! Guess it's true, "time flies when you're having fun".
The day after school got out we left for Alaska. The cruise was wonderful! Beautiful scenery, wild-life and good food. It was a very restful trip. I enjoyed sitting on the balcony for hours, scanning the water for whales while thinking deep thoughts!
Came home to my birthday, Father's day and Steve's birthday, so it was party time! Thank you to all who helped make my birthday special! So many thoughtful gifts, lunch dates and phone calls. The lunch dates have been especially fun as I don't often get to leisurely lunch during the school year!
Don got me a LAPTOP, aaaahhhhhh!!!! I couldn't believe it!! thanks, honey! What a surprise!
Gail gave me an interesting gift. Wrapped in two separate packages were, in one, a pair of rubber goggles and in the other heavier package, 2 books( She remembered my search for one of them on Amazon. Observant girl!) and some double sided tape circa 1940. When I opened the goggles I was flummoxed! Hmm, goggles... Could the heavier package contain some sort of small power tool? a beach towel?...goggles, hmm?? I looked at Gail questioningly, "Oh, neat...goggles."
"Don't you remember?" she prompted.
As soon as she said that, I DID remember!
She was cleaning out the 5th grade bookroom with the team leader. They were throwing away all kinds of "good" stuff. It's amazing what kind of old, crap is in those storage rooms! the kind of old crap I love! When I saw they had tossed some old rubber science experiment goggles, I protested and took a pair out of the trash. I had already retrieved the tape in its funky blue and orange box and some books. Gail laughingly told me to stop scavenging and made me give her the goggles and the tape.
"I'll save them for your birthday!" And she really did!
I had completely forgotten!
So, once again, A sincere thank you to all my friends and family! I love you guys!

Bad Dream

I had a friend, X, in college. A boy friend, never kissed, never held hands , purely platonic. 10 years later,we reconnected after the tragic death of a close mutual friend. We would correspond a few times a year: how are the kids, latest vacation, church assignments, etc. We have not seen each other, except for pictures, in 30 years. He looks just the same, I am quite fat! We live on opposite sides of the country.

I would share his funny stories with Don. Our mail came to each other's home emails.

I hadn't heard from X for a while.

One night I had a strange dream. I was standing in a dingey apartment that my kids were going to move into, preparing to clean. I was thinking about how to tackle the job. I had mop, bucket and cleaning supplies at my side.

X walks through the door. I am so happy to see him after 30 years! I give him a long-lost friend hug. He seems very sad.

"I hope you're in town for a happy reason."

He shakes his head and starts to cry.

Dream ends. I wake up.

The dream troubles me all day. I tell my friends, ask for advice and decide to email him as soon as I get home from school.

I briefly explain the dream, tell him I hope everything's ok, accompanied by a little chatty letter.

The next morning he writes back. He was on a business trip, opened my email at the airport. He was waiting for a flight to take him home. Earlier that morning he had received the news that his Father in Law had passed away the night before. He said it was really strange that I would send that email the afternoon before his F.I.L. died. A shiver ran through me. I sent back my condolensces.

That was November 2008. I haven't heard from him since then. After writing a couple of times and receiving no answer, I gave up.

If I ever have another "premonition", you can bet I won't share it.

Never Been a Bumper Sticker Sort of Person...

But these are tempting!!http://www.zazzle.com/nuanced_stickers/gifts

Birthday Blahs

Happy Birthday to Me, Happy Birthday to.....meh....blah....

I'm just not feeling it. I just don't get too excited about birthdays these days.

It has nothing to do with getting older, I don't mind getting older (beats the alternative!) and there's not much you can do about it, so may as well accept it. I just don't care about celebrating my birthday.

My husband is a person that takes all of "his" holidays VERY seriously. He announced, before our daughter's wedding last year, that "he didn't expect his birthday to be overlooked just because we had a wedding the next day!" So I dutifully bought and wrapped presents, blew up balloons, strung streamers and covered the dining room table with the required grocery-store, paper, birthday, table cloth and made sure I had enough candles for the cake or a couple of large number candles to represent the number of years. All out of town guests were invited. My relatives thought I was a saint...I am. Patient, loving, long-suffering, passive aggressive...that's me!

When it's my birthday, I want no streamers, blch!!! I want no paper birthday table cloth, I want no balloons. I enjoy a more low key celebration. Give me a couple of birthday lunch dates with friends, a pretty card from my mom and dad that makes me cry. Get my kids together having fun, throw in some good bbq'd food and a Costco cake and I'm happy!

The kids keep asking "what I want".

I don't know! You already got me some great Mother's day gifts barely a month ago.

I just want you around! I want to see you playing together in the back yard, I want to see you eat, I want you to make me laugh and to laugh at my jokes in return. I want a hug. If you find some little thing that says "mom" to you, then buy it. But really, all you have to give to me is love!

Techno-fogey but loves Kings of Leon

I am a techno-fogie. Help! I've fallen and I can't charge my ipod! Before you start, BarryShanSteveTy, I know "I should have read the manual", "It's not that hard", "I'll help you, Mom" (said in a pitying voice...)
I had asked for an MP3 player, the kind my sons have, for my birthday. That way they could show me, help me learn to use it. Don got me an ipod. Everyone wants an ipod, right?!
So, here I am, trying to charge it on the computer, getting the deep "ba-bing" sound. Over and over and over.

It's so sleek! Why don't they make a Jitterbug MP3? I need some direction printed on the case, like a big green ON button and a big red OFF button, volume with an arrow to show you which direction to push the button to get louder.

I can't find a way I like to "carry" it around. Right now I'm using a purple nylon name badge thing-y on a lanyard. I got it at the IRA convention last year. It has a zip pocket and printed on the front is Houghton-Mifflin or some other school book publishing company and it looks completely DORKY! Pair it with mom-jeans and comfortable shoes and you've got yourself a Halloween costume!
Oh!!OK! I had it plugged into the wrong receptacle on the computer. It's stopped "bonging".
And now for something completely off the subject. I LOVE this video and Kings of Leon, or Lee'-ahn, as the announcer says. The "old-timey" song the girl-band sings at the beginning of the video is actually a K of L song, Slow Nights So Long! LOve the juxtaposition of the punky, hard song and the staid line dance, clean cut cowboys. The coy glances and the hot kiss! Enjoy, King of the Rodeo!


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