Saturday, March 31, 2007

I've done it again.

I don't know why I punish myself like this. But I do. While my house is on the market, I look at other houses that I want to buy - you know, so I won't be homeless when my house DOES sell. However, what happens is I find a house I love, only to have it bought out from under me before I can sell mine. It has happened three times. It is very frustrating. You'd think I'd learn. But no - today I went and looked at another house. And I'm in love with it. It is SUCH a great house! I could move right in and not have to change a thing! It's a great location, great size, great layout, great schools for the kids - basically, it's perfect. But because it is perfect, I know it will sell fast, and I do not have an offer on my very-nice-house-that-I'm-only-selling-because-we-want-to-downsize-and-live-closer-to-my-parents. I'm probably going to watch House #4 slip away like the others..........wah!

So, anyone out there wanna buy a house?????

**UPDATE - Sunday night - just as I predicted, it went fast. I checked on it tonight and it has a contract on it. Dammit. That's it. I'm not looking at ANY MORE HOUSES until I sell this one!

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Transition

I know exactly where I was 13 years ago right now. I was at the hospital, getting an epidural (I distinctly remember telling the anesthesiologist that I loved him). Two hours later - at 1:16 a.m. on March 22, 1994 - my daughter was born. My first born. She was absolutely beautiful and perfect. She was born 1 week early, and she weighed 5 pounds and 13 ounces. She was a tiny thing. The most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I was in love.

That tiny little bundle of joy will be 13 years old in just a couple of hours. She will wake up in the morning a teenager. I can hardly believe it - where has the time gone? How could she have grown up so fast? Sometimes I just want to yell, "Wait! Wait! It's going too fast!" I want to slow life down and enjoy the beautiful moments more........the moments when my children were babies with curly blond hair and big blue eyes and toothless smiles that would melt your heart........the funny baby things they said and did.........even the middle-of-the-night feedings, when it was just the two of us in the darkness, bonding in love. Sometimes I'll tell Beautiful Daughter, "Can't you go back and be a baby again?" and she says to me, "Mom! I gotta live!" Yes. She's got to live. And I pray that it is a blessed life. She is entering into a difficult time in life......but also a time of fun and opportunity.......from here she steps into adulthood. I hope I am doing my job well. So far so good - I couldn't ask for a better daughter. She is still absolutely beautiful and perfect.

Happy Birthday, baby girl. I love you!

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Dancing With the Amazing Idol Survivor (or, How I Became a Prime Time Couch Potato)

This is nothing to be proud of. Surely I have better things to do with my time than watch reality TV five nights a week. But I can't help it! I'm addicted! It just so happens that all my favorite shows are on at the same time right now. This makes for a busy week of TV watching. Thank goodness I have the DVR in case something really important comes up!

My week begins with Amazing Race on Sunday night. I missed the very first season of this show, but have been hooked ever since Season 2! This season is an "All Star" season; I pretty much like all of the teams, except Charla & Myrna. They have GOT to go! I'm rooting for the Beauty Queens, Dustin and Kandice.

On Monday nights it's Dancing With the Stars! I love love LOVE this show (probably because I love dancing so much)! Last season I was ga-ga over Mario and Emmitt. This season my early favorite is Joey Fatone, altho there were others that I thought did very well, too. We'll see how the season plays out - it has only just begun.

On Tuesdays it's American Idol! This is another one I have watched since Season 2 (where was I during Season 1???). I don't really have any favorites yet this season, but I think Sanjaya has outworn his welcome, and I think Melinda will win it all. Just my early opinion. There are several I like on there.

Tuesday nights will also be the results show for DWTS. I will likely DVR this and fast-forward thru the boring parts to the end when the announcement of who's going home is made.

Wednesday nights are Idol's results show. This is another good one to DVR and then skip to the end. No need to listen to 30 minutes of blah blah blah when all I want to know is a) who are the Bottom Three, and 2) who is going home.

Thursdays bring Survivor! I have watched this one from the beginning, and I still love it in its 14th season. This season has gotten off to a slow start for me, but it looks like they are going to mix things up this week, so it should get better. No favorites on this one so far for me, either, but there are a few I certainly dislike!

With all this going on, I barely have time for my other TV addictions......Lost and Desperate Housewives, to name a couple. Like I said, good thing I have that DVR!

Hello. My name is Bubba's Sis and I am a Prime Time Couch Potato.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

To sleep, perchance to dream....

When I sleep, I dream. Vivid, sometimes crazy dreams that I can remember clearly, sometimes for years afterwards (like the one where I was going on a date with Vince Gill and we went ice skating and he had a pet monkey....). I even dream when I nap. I have recurring dreams and random dreams. Perhaps I shall post my dreams on this blog sometimes, both for your amusement and so maybe you psychotherapist-type readers can help me figure out what they mean!!!

But that's for another day.

There are some nights, like last night, when I don't sleep. I don't know why. Sometimes I don't sleep at all - just lightly doze here and there for 5-10 minutes at a time, then lie awake the rest of the time. Some nights I lie awake for hours, songs and thoughts whirling in my head, playing like a movie on the back of my eyelids, until I finally fall asleep just in time to be good and asleep when it's time to get up. Because I haven't done a good list here in a while, I figured this would be a good one -

Ten Things I Think About When I Can't Sleep

1. Things I need to do the next day
2. My next vacation
3. How I will arrange my furniture and things in the new house I want
4. Impacted ear wax (I think I have that right now and I'm somewhat concerned)
5. Whether the people I interact with on a regular basis really like me or are just pretending to
6. What I would do with the money if I won the lottery
7. What I would name another child if I were to miraculously have one
8. Hurtful things that have happened in the past, and why some of them I can let go of and others still kinda piss me off
9. Things to blog about
10. What time I have to get up and how little sleep I am getting.

Of course, there are a million other things that go thru my mind on nights like these, and they are always set to music. I'll get songs in my head that I have no idea how they got in there. I'm weird that way.

So what do you do when you can't sleep? Besides READ, which everyone tells me to do. Sometimes that works for me, sometimes it doesn't. What stuff do you think about?

Friday, March 09, 2007

Sad Sign of the Times

I know what fear is. All my life I have been afraid of things - some irrational, some not - but I know that feeling in the pit of your stomach, that pounding heart, that overwhelming sense of dread. But never in my life did I feel fear at school (except for a tornado drill in 2nd grade that freaked me out a little). I never felt unsafe at school, never worried that I would be harmed or, worse, killed.

Times are different now.

Yesterday Darling Daughter (who is in 7th grade) was absolutely terrified to go to school. It seems that rumors started swirling on Wednesday that gang members would come into the school on Thursday and shoot anyone that was wearing red or blue. EVERYONE was talking about it. The teachers had called a faculty meeting about it. The school officer was on high alert (we didn't even have a school officer when I was in school!).

My first thought was, "Well, just don't wear red or blue tomorrow!", but looking into her tear-filled eyes, I knew that this was very real to her. She was truly afraid.

Of course this was real to her. She has grown up hearing tales of Columbine and other school-shootings; along with tornado drills and fire drills, the schools now also have lock-down drills. More than once has an area school been sent into lock-down for various reasons. When Navy Son was in high school they went into lock-down for hours because of some shooting or knifing threat. She knows that these things do happen, and they can happen here in our suburbian bubble just as well as they can happen in the inner city. My daughter did not want to die at school.

After a phone call to the school I was assured by both the counselor and the principal that they were, indeed, aware of the rumors and they were just that: rumors. Nonetheless, the school security was prevalent on Thursday, and there were no incidents. Darling Daughter did not wear red or blue anyway, just in case. She was nervous all day. My heart ached for her.

No child should have to be afraid at school; no child should have to worry that they will be gunned down for wearing the wrong colors. What kind of society have we created??

Monday, March 05, 2007

Diagnosis

Got in to see my doctor today - after 4 days without a voice, the diagnosis was confirmed: I have laryngitis. I also have bronchitis. So now I'm on an antibiotic and some wicked cough syrup that makes me feel way drunk and sleepy. But I don't seem to be coughing as much, so that's good. Give me a few days and I'll be back to my good ol' self, voice and all.

In the meantime, I must sleep........zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Sunday, March 04, 2007

My Happy Place

Just got home from spending a wonderful week in my Happy Place - Disney World. Yes, I know we go there a lot. This was Hubby's and my 6th trip; it was the kids' 5th. We love it there. Even after that many trips, we still did things we had never done before - rode new rides, saw new characters, ate at new restaurants, stayed at a new resort - every trip we take there is different. And every one is magical.

I came home sick this time - it hit me on our last day there - sore throat, bad cough, and no voice. I suspect I have strep throat, but maybe not. Definitely laryngitis. Maybe pneumonia for all I know. We got home at about 10:00 Friday night, so I can't see my doctor until Monday. I'm managing to suffer thru the weekend so far.

Welcome back to real life.