1 Month, 1 Week, and 1 Day

From the day Gran died to the day Bobby (Gran's mother) died. She passed away with a broken heart on Friday, January 8th. She would have turned 93 yesterday.

We were trying to move her here, to Virginia, with us....I thought for sure that if she could come to live with us, with my boys, that she would hang on forever. Logically, I know that's not true. And logically I know that she lived a long, full, adventuresome life....but I don't want to be logical right now. I miss her terribly.

REST IN PEACE

"Bobby"

Edith Carlisle Bridge

January 10, 1917 ~ January 8, 2010

Dishrags Don't Have To Be Ugly

I didn't really make any "New Year's Resolutions" per say, but I did resolve to spend more time crocheting. For me, the simple act of unwinding a ball of yarn while hooking it into a whole other thing is satisfying, gratifying, and de-stress-ifying... 

So today, while lounging next to my sleeping hubbo (who has to go back to work tonight, sigh...), I grabbed a ball of cotton & decided to make some new dish scrubbies. Following an old potholder pattern from memory, I conjured up this lil' dress/slash/dishrag. If I were the type to dress up my bottles of Dawn (which I'm not) this would look cute (to very few people) except that it would need a neck hole. And I draw the line at dressing my soap. Here she sits in a cup & saucer that I washed just to try her out...useful little thing, isn't she?

Happy Hooking Kids!

PS: Thats not a ring at the top, I just wound a few strands around my fingers & SC'd over it...that way I can hang it from the soap dispenser on my sink & it won't dry stinky.

Saddle Up Kids, Let's Take Stroll....

...right down memory lane...

It was Spring 2006 and we were settling happily into our rented townhouse by the beach. It wasn't the house we'd dreamed of buying here in Virginia, but we'd arrived in the dead of winter and after 2 months of living with the sibling-in-laws my husband (rightfully) feared that I would go Lizzie Borden if he didn't get me out of there, pronto. Not that my husbands family is bad, just, well - you move 3000 miles away & go live with people you barely know for 2 months and report back and then we'll talk, ok?


So anyways, back to settling happily into our rented townhouse by the beach...


I loved it! Sure, it was smaller than what we were used to, but I've mentioned "by the beach" twice now because, um, it's by the beach and what's not to love about that? Way better than a big backyard, hands down.


As I set about to make this little place our own, it became apparent that using too much of my same decor & chatchkies from "back home" was making us all a little homesick. I placed my favorites, stored the rest, and went shopping! at  Dillards Walmart and Nordstroms Target and Pier One and Kirklands. (Kirklands, in case you don't know, is like the Holy Land of all things home decor at supah-affordable prices.) I bought towels and dishes and curtains, oh my!  It was euphoric.


But the kids needed a little sumpin-sumpin, and I'm not talking 6-foot beach towels, no matter how cute. They needed a critter. Sure, we had big-fat-mean-cat Uma who came with us from California, but they needed something else.


A fish! Yeah, fish are cool, low-key, won't pee on the floor and just so happen to be on sale at Walmart. My dudes picked out a very colorful beta with bright reds & blue & quickly dubbed him Superman. I bought one of those big plant vases and pretty baubles for the bottom for him to live in, but no plant. The ones they had were a tad on the Little Shop of Horrors side and I figured better no plant than an ugly plant. Right?


Superman proved to be very cool and he clearly loved us very much. Any time I, I mean, the boys would press their noses to the vase he would get all flashy with those fins & show off.


"Mom, are you ever going to get a plant for Superman?", AJ asked a couple weeks later.


To be honest, I sort of like him "sans plant" - but AJ proceeded to lecture me about how beta fish like to play & sleep among the roots and how we were basically forcing him to live unsheltered and how he had no place to poop in private and pretty much making me feel like a neglectful fish owner. Was I really forcing Superman to hold in bowel movements until lights out so he could "go" unwatched? Did I really just ask myself that question? (Note to self: pick up a good book.)


The next morning I bought a plant: a beautiful but small peace lily that looked perfect in the fish vase.


And that afternoon...Superman died.


Yes, I killed - nay, murdered - Superman with a peace lily. Who knew they were freaking poisonous? Like kryptonite? Ok, besides you, who else knew? I just thought they were pretty, and it was springtime, very nearly Easter, it seemed appropriate at the time, ok? Get off my case.


I flew back to Walmart for a Superman replacement before the kids got home, you know, like any desperate Mom would do.


Except...they didn't have any in red & blue. Naturally. (At which point I probably cussed out loud.)

So I went to the pet store...where they didn't have any either. (At which point I definitely cussed out loud.)
******


Max was the first to notice: "What the heck?....MOM! Superman is a goldfish!" he hollered in amazement.


"Dude, that's not Superman," AJ glared at me.


"Sure it is, he's just Clark Kent right now." And then I walked away. Because I? Am an evil genius like that.


The end.

Oh One-Oh One, One Oh!

 Hello 2010, I'm so happy to meet you! I have to say, we've gotten of to a fairly beautiful start - beginning with a big, fat kiss on the lips from hubbo!

And then there is the whole Wii thing, where I am (finally!!) a mere 30 years of age.

Fitnessly speaking, of course:

TWENTY-TEN (2009 Please don't holla back.)

Muuuuaaaahhhhhh....

Thats the sound of Oh Nine kissin' my behind.

It has seriously has been one of the saddest years in a long time.

As a culture, we lost some great icons & way too many soldiers in war.

As a friend, everyone I hold dear has experienced personal tragedy in the last 12 months.

As a family, we lost our Granny and beloved Billy (my brother in law & boys's favorite uncle "UB").

I won't say there wasn't anything to be thankful for this past year (hello: G-Bunny's high school graduation, me fleeing the confines of the fish factory, our health, friendships found, and friendships re-built) and there have certainly been darker times (like ten years ago when our angel baby Kaitlyn said goodbye before we ever got to say hello) but I just can't express how ready I am for a clean slate.

And how about TWENTY TEN anyways? Has it really been a decade since we thought life as we knew it would halt? When newcasters warned us that bank accounts would freeze and VCR's would self-implode ~  all because of a rollover date to 00? To be honest, I didn't drain a dime from my account and I didn't buy a word of the hype, not even a vowel. I was secretly hoping that our VCR would implode so that I could finally convince my tightwad thrifty husband to get a DVD player.

But as a kid? Totally different story. When imagined the year 2010 I pictured zipping around in my space-car (like the Jetsons), living in a floating, round apartment building (like the Jetsons), and bossing my robot-maid Rosie around (like the Jetsons). The only thing I didn't like about my futuristic "like the Jetsons" life was being married to stick-in-the-rear George or naming my kid Elroy. Nope. My hawt husbands name was going to be Dweezil and our boy Tazz. So what if it didn't rhyme?

All in all, I guess we have gotten pretty futuristic - what with our iPhones (not that I have one) and iPods and Wii's and laptops with WiFi and the ability to instantly communicate with friends just about anywhere at just about any time. That's pretty awesome.

But you know what's weird? Among all these cool gadgets, my very favorite pastime remains one from centuries & centuries ago...crocheting. A simple hook and a ball of merino.

Anyways, I hope that all of you beautiful blogland people have a healthy & prosperous year in 2010. My own biggest hope is than we are blessed so that we may be a blessing. If that makes sense. Feeling kinda mushy right now....don't tell anyone.

With any luck, the rain will hold off and we can take the kids to the downtown celebration tonight!

IN LOVING MEMORY OF:

William J. Jones, Jr. 9/24/59~7/4/09

 Mary Ann McCue 8/4/35~12/1/09

Do you remember the Hooters story told you about here?

Sunday

Just as I let out a sigh of relief that the Christmas holiday is over, I have to suck in another one because it's back to work tomorrow.

Why must 4 day weekends pass so quickly? I didn't get in any crochet time at all. Thats a big bummer because I really wanted to knock out some beanies for my boys. And yes, even at 15 and 18, my two oldest sons love my beanies. Their friends digg them too and have, on occasion, been known to swipe an especially loved brown & grey one. I guess I could maybe make the friends their own, but it's such a boost to the ol' ego to see them get snatched. Why ruin a beautiful thing?

I also didn't get in any movie time.

What was I doing all weekend?

Oh yeah....Wii'ing & cleaning. And between those two activities my muscles flabby parts are screaming. I'm sore in places that I didn't even know I had places. That should tell you exactly how out of shape I have become since summer ended. Not that I was fabulously fit last summer, but I was much more active....bike riding, walking & playing on the beach...these are all things I love to do. Just not during, you know,  Nor'easters. Or any form of cold weather whatsoever.

A couple weeks ago I mentioned that my Wii age was 50 after having taken the challenge at my friends house in California. Well, I'm not 50 anymore kids. Nope. I've rapidly aged from 51 to 54 in two days. And my husband? His Wii age is younger. But I don't want to talk about that.

What can I say? I was built for comfort not agility.

Anyhoo....

I am so excited for New Years. 2010 even sounds cool, don't you think? Except I can't figure out how we are supposed to verbally abbreviate it. For instance, G-Bunny™ graduated Class of 09 (oh nine). Will we now just say ten? I'm not sure. Twenty-ten maybe? Anyone know?

See ya St. Nick!

Enough binging, time for purging!

Tomorrow I intend to remove all signs of Christmas from my house.

Yup, I will be channeling my inner Sound of Music & singing to the tree, the holiday lights, and the zillions of snowman ornaments:

So long, Farewell ~
Aufwiedersehn, Goodnight!
I hate to go and leave this pretty sight...
So long, Farewell ~
Aufwiedersehn

Adeiu Adeiu Adeiu,
To yieu and yieu and yieu....

Every year, without fail, my slow perplexed husband will ask me, "Don't most people wait until after New Year's to un-decorate?"

And every year I respond by re-introducing myself, "Hi honey, I'm your wife, and I've been dismantling Christmas by the 27th for as long as we have been together. Keep up."

I am not by nature some sort of panicky neat freak, but I do like things tidy. Christmas is not a tidy time.

I don't remember where I heard this, but it has stuck with me forevvva: "What you do on New Year's Day is a precursor for things to come in the year ahead." Or something to that effect. And basically, I take it like this:

*If my house is destroyed on 01/01 - I'll never get it clean all year.
*Having a tree up past 01/01 is technically like having TWO Christmas' in one year, and yeah. I can barely handle ONE.
*If I'm tired and cleaning, then that's how I will spend all year...yada yada yada...you get the picture.

This old wives tale logic is also why 01/01 is the only day of the year I ever buy a lottery ticket - because if I win big? Then I should totally expect to be swimmin' in cash all year...right?

Other things I intend to do on the first day of 2010 include:

*Being kinder to strangers. And family. (Note to self: try to remember the family part this time!)
*Smiling more, and complaining less.
*FINISHING a crochet or crafty project.
*And pretty much hedging all my bets any possible way I can to insure my odds of having a better year than 2009.

Can't hurt.

Might help.