If I don't just sit down and post something, I think I never will. Basically, I fell off the end of the world, but I am back. And before I forget, I was trying to edit the names on the links on the side and some actually got deleted. It's not worth cutting yourself over, I promise. Just let me know and I'll add you back, I'm not sure what all I screwed up on there and who I am missing. Sorry 'bout that.
Stuff...
The kiddo graduated his first year of Preschool; there was a wonderful little graduation ceremony where Dylan refused to sing along and instead stared at the ceiling out of sheer boredom. He's a cutie, this one:
Then came Dylan's fabulous 4th birthday party. The invites were seriously the cutest, though I did rip them off from some eBay people. The party went well but there were WAY too many people in this house. The highlight was the mostly finished garage playroom where we set up a projector and actually got to rock out to Guitar Hero. That really served as the afterparty, but for the peeps who didn't want to walk away from free beer and Capri Sun, it was pretty fun.
It was great to have everyone over, to show off our pretty much done house and stunning yard and all that but SHEESH too many people. Always a bummer because you never get to spend anytime with anyone, you just run around like a chicken with its head off.
Dylan and I got a Wii Fit for Jason for Father's Day. I was going to post the video of Dylan doing yoga and then giving himself a thumbs up when the instructor tells him "good job," but Flickr and Blogger aren't wanting to cooperate. Sigh. Let me try this:
Hey, I think that worked. Other than that, just been working hard and looking forward to celebrating my 30th with Dylan, Jason and Disney! About to update my scrap stuff too, if anyone is still interested in anything like that. You can find it here
Dylan's school did an adorable little song and dance for Mother's Day on Friday... kids did a song of "I'm a little teacup" and "You are my sunshine." Let's just say that my Guitar-Loving punk of a kid was dancing to the beat of his own drum. The other kids were so stoic and standing up straight while my kid was flailing arms and booty dances. Classic Rockstar Dylan. Afterwards, the kiddos served the parents drinks and snacks and we got these cuties:
And because you know I could never resist, some Mother Loving from Justin and Andy... Happy Mother's Day, everyone!!
The three of us are in the living room and we're playing Guitar Hero, per Dylan's pre-bedtime ritual. Basically he makes us play guitar and he sings and dances the songs he chooses for us before we read books.
Dylan: "Mama, don't get booed off" Mama: "I'm trying" Dylan: "You're trying to get booed off."
**but first of all, eek! Justin Timberlake as comic character Cathy's husband on SNL last week was so cute, but then his skank nasty fish lipped girlfriend came on too. Boo!! Still worth it, love me some Timberlake!!**
It's almost over. My car hasn't left its spot in days and Jason actually confronted me on it. Whatev.
I managed to deal with having my kid home all week, rain and muddy weather for the first half, and being sick several of the days and still ending up super productive in many ways. I got more than my fair share of reports in for work. I managed to finally get someone in to come grind all our stumps (you can actually run in my backyard without tripping now unless you're just clumsy). I planted a ton of junk and got my order of Galveston Euculyptus in (click on it, they are cool). These boogers grow 6 to 10 feet per year so soon I don't have to acknowledge anyone is around my house. I want to be an island...or at least a house that doesn't border the least nice part of the Mexican border. I mean, I am almost sure that someone escaped from there through our back yard last night. There were flashing lights (will the trees block those? we'll see...) and I swear I hear noises, but my current insomnia has me imagining everything. The lights really were there, along with loud yelling in espanol. It's like a telenovela back there, all night long. Anyways, trying to pull the proverbial curtains on that whole thing.
Nothing else much going on. We watched "Zach and Miri Make a Porno" last night Sidenote - if I didn't put the quotes on that it would look like Jason and I witnessed our acquaintances do this. Which would have been fun as well, I think being a fly on the wall at a porn set could make for delightfully hilarious conversation. Others may disagree. But what we can all agree on is that Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks are both adorable. Loving them both. And being a fly on the wall in any room that guy is talking would also be hilarious.
Finally, if anyone (like Heather) cares, I finally updated my scrap blog. There's a link on the side over there ========================> Did you know I even put all my stuff there? Well, it's most of it and oddly it goes back to 2006, if you can believe that. Anyways, still not buying stuff but I can occasionally be convinced to make a card with some stash. At some point it started to feel like the corniest, most superficial hobby in the world. That said, I like making people stuff and I need to do something with all the pics. And it turns out poetry wasn't any less corny. You'd be shocked at how similar the worlds are, in fact. I don't know what awesome, cool thing it is I think I should be doing with my time. Maybe it's part of the thrisis, who knows. I'll just keep buying my Stampin Up stuff and hoping the urge comes...
There seems like very little to talk about, but Heather said to and so I shall.
First of all, I learned the term for what I'm going through/emerging from while I was watching "ER" yesterday while scrapping. It's called a thrisis, or like the third of life crisis I have alluded to in the past. I am also going to mass diagnose and say that a lot of my friends and their loved ones are emerging from thrises (?) and I'm glad we all survived. It's not my place to share other people's business and I certainly don't feel like highlighting all my lunacy, but basically many people I've known have spent, ah, let's say September through February in a funk. I'm not pulling out the nose ring today, but I may grow my hair back some and I am trying to be a little less self destructive. May or may not get the back's worth of tattoos I have sketched out. Less time focused on the things I perceive are missing in my life (which are mostly BS and come from watching too much TV instead of reading books) and more time being hella (yeah, I'm bringing it back) grateful that my life is good as it is. And believe it or not, my brief foray into meds and my decision to stop them has been incredibly productive as to bringing me back to a little place I like to call Earth. Another post will have to be dedicated to my Lexapro withdrawal, I had no idea that stopping would imitate heroin withdrawals, but my brother (the actual street drug addict) has verified that it is. The stuff is toxic, stay away.
Speaking of ER, I went to one last week. I had a migraine and decided to shower. I slipped a la a cartoon character slipping on a banana peel. Hit two places on my head and my elbow and wouldn't have thought much of it had my elbow not enlarged immediately to the size of a baseball. It was Go Texan Day (non-Texans, it means the rodeo's coming so dress your kids like little cowboys and cowgirls, lame) and I was bummed because instead of watching the stick horse parade, I was going to the ER. Boo. Here's Dylan and his #1 Cowgirl, Angelina before we left:
So we settled on Memorial Hermann over at Memorial City which was terribly nice, believe it or not. Got an x-ray and catscan, but really the bonuses were the IV meds including morphine for my arm (which I stopped feeling 2 minutes after I got it) and the anti-inflammatories. Between the meds, my migraine was taken care of and I left with only a golfball sized lump on my elbow. I felt ridiculous for going to the ER since I had never been in my life, but the way my elbow hurt all week and looked gross, it was the right thing to do. Still, I felt like a drama queen until I finally got some gnarly bruises to show for it, which ended up stretching all the way around my arm. Never could get a photo that accurately represented the huge nastiness it was though, sad. So now you will all think I was faking it too.
Other than that, not much going on. Guitar Hero continues to run Jason and Dylan's life to the point where they broke the drums twice and we had to bring the whole thing into Target for a new set. Go Target for kindly exchanging it with no questions. I am a big believer in, if this isn't quality merchandise and it breaks and I spent a lot I want a new one, but not all the merchants agree and I didn't expect Target to be one that did. But they were, as was Fossil who replaced my brand new sunglasses that spontaneously fell apart in my bag after I wore them twice. I already hated myself for spending that much on stupid sunglasses, so that wasn't going to work. Brought it in and they gave me new ones. Whoo hoo.
Where the post gets uninteresting for most... me talking current events. The economy has me bummed a lot because I see my loved ones suffering for it (parents and brother unemployed, others dropping like flies). It's really frustrating because I feel this had to happen. They talk about housing bubbles and tech bubbles, but Americans have lived in one big bubble, period. I feel like this is an opportunity to ground ourselves and figure out where we really stand instead of looking for the next big bubble to jump on. I always have hated people who think they can get something for nothing, via gambling or stocks, and I expect my fair share and not much else. I know I won't strike it rich, no lotto for me. If I have extra money, I expect extra bills will materialize and they do. So, as Notorious BIG said, mo' money, mo' problems. I also hate when people feel they are entitled to "the good life" and I resent those people plus all the people who thought they could achieve "growth" in their respective industries by supplying those people with that life via big screen TVs and new houses and were shocked when they couldn't pay. People need to determine their means and live within them. Period. Industries need to accept honest growth instead of inflated forced numbers. The American economy going forward isn't going to work if both don't happen. Just my opinion, self righteous as ever.
Me? I heard the FDIC had to ask for a loan. They are the guys who, ahem, insure our bank deposits. I've got as much in savings as I intend to have for right now. I am investing my money in the things around me - my home, my car, etc. It's good for the economy that the money is still being spent and frankly if it is lost this way, I won't feel so bad as I will if the banks go bust. So I've dumped tons into paying off the Prius a year early and I will be saving the rest for the biggest down payment I can on the one we need to buy in the fall to replace mine since it is getting old. And no GM for me, I'd like someone to be around to enforce the warranty in a couple years. Sticking with Toyota and hopefully another hybrid. No more gas dependence on foreign oil and I'd be happy to spend more money on a vehicle that can make that happen. Whatever I spend now won't be as much as we got taken for on the Prius, ouch! But that's a good investment, in energy and conservation and we don't mind being the ones to take the step and hopefully start a trend. Still working on house renovations. I figure if no one gets jobs, we can have everyone live here, right? So we'll continue the renovations on the back buildings which could work out to be someone's home at some point. Armageddon ready, that's all I'm saying =)
1. Happy Birthday, Andi. I'm glad you didn't answer your cell phone because the message we left was priceless (all of us singing, with Dylan ending with "I love you, Andi"). Also, minutes are a precious commodity these days and it wasn't quite 9:00. But for you, these two videos. The first is Dylan singing Happy Birthday again for you:
The second is him singing "Living on a Prayer" and playing the drums as homage to you and your probably spending your birthday check from your dad on Wii Guitar Hero World Tour. Remember that this boy is a tough competitor and will kick your booty.
2. Hey people, stop telling me how to take a photo like yours until you stop photoshopping beyond recognition. Just a thought I had while flipping through Memory Makers magazine (how would I make memories without these people telling me how to?!) and being pleased that the economy will probably make bring these magazines and that hobby to its knees. No real offense to the actual photographer (I guess), but on p.52 there's an article about camera tricks complete with metadata (Nikon D70, Focal Length:70 mm, Exposure:who cares when you have Elements Curves, blah blah). Tricks include angles (get on your knees, beyotch), lighting, and aiming above the sun or something silly. Get frickin real. It is a very nice shot, no doubt, but to believe for one second that setting your camera, no matter how fancy, to those four settings will unlock all the glory of photography is effen stupid. Photoshop, photoshop, photoshop. Overexpose, mess with the color curves, add a catchlight or whatever. Also, on p.26 there is a borderline sinister shot of a little girl where Mommy allegedly only turned off her flash. I guess without the flash, the Children of the Corn spirit is unleased. If I am really to believe that children's eyes glow like that if you just turn off the flash, I will have to start sleeping with one eye open because the kids are not, in fact, alright. They are filled with the spirit of the Devil and it is most visible in flashless photography.
This issue was really my only complaint about the Karen Russell photography class (and I really do think she uses photo editing fairly sparingly, so this only partially applies to her). You see, I sat in the class for 8-10 hours thinking if I took it all in, I could make pics like her. Well, I knew I'd need the fancier lenses too. But then in the last possible second she mentioned cleaning the final product up in photoshop (which makes me discount half the original process of taking quality prints if you don't show it to me pre-Photoshop) and I got sad a little. So in conclusion, if you think you can come up with perfection on your own, I will quote my friend T.I. (and we are good friends, and hopefully one day maybe a baby daddy), in his song "Ready for Whatever" -- "Shorty, I got some mother (**loving**) oceanfront property in Idaho for sale, homie/If you believe that, I got a bridge in Brooklyn I wanna sell you, partner." Enough said.
3. Eff you, FEMA This one shot ahead of even Continental in being on top of my shizz list. We bought this house in June and got the voluntary flood policy since we are not in a flood zone, but live in Houston. In Oct, FEMA sent us a bill for $700 saying there was a loss history and we owed that immediately and we could not drop the policy. Since there was no disclosure at time of sale, we assumed we'd be heading to litigation and ordered a copy of the property loss history and it had a total of $10,868.99 paid out in 10/17/1994 and $79,402.10 paid out in 06/09/2001. We were all set to start talking with lawyers and then we got a letter from NFIP/FEMA on 11/4/2008 that stated that "preliminary research indicates losses reported for another similar location may have been linked to your location in error. Additional evaluation will be required." and goes on to say that they will be contacting participating entities, blah blah blah.
They've never done a thing. I call every two weeks, they say they are doing stuff and I wait another two weeks and never get a thing and do it all over again. FEMA sucks. Today I simply wouldn't let them off the phone and got them to admit that the Property Loss History is clear, but that they can't guarantee that they can send me a clear copy because you only get a property loss history once a year and I've gotten mine. (You know - the wrong one. Insert shaking of head here). I got some supervisor to say that she would send in a request for it, but that they couldn't make any guarantees that I would get it. I told her I'd give her a week and then I would simply call every single day until I got it. And I will. I am angry enough with NFIP/ FEMA to do exactly that.
In conclusion, same old routine over here. Working, playing and getting pissed at the little things. I'll let you in on one more thing. My poetry class has lost whatever glow it had. I've decided poetry is in fact super douchey and it makes me sad that I have to bring one in so it can be picked apart for cliches and tested for proper levels of cleverness. I am thinking I will write one titled "Cliche" just to get it out on the table to begin with. It's too bad though, I've enjoyed some of the people and some of the poems either brought in my the teacher guy or the students. But geez, the pretentiousness of it all really sucks. I think I'd be better suited to write a monologue for "Chelsea Lately," if only I knew more Jewish lingo. When I get to LA, it's me, Chelsea and Sarah Silverman for Girls' night...
Wait, one other thing. Brandy's Book Club. If you are slightly depressed at your current state of married life, do not read "Revolutionary Road." If you ever intend to marry, do not read "Revolutionary Road." Basically, I read that one and found it a million times more depressing that even "Beautiful Boy" by David Sheff which was a father's account of his meth addicited son. Since we, uh, roll like that some in my family I thought it would be a good read and it was actually beyond amazing. Even with my extensive background in 12-step cults and Al-Anon and tough lovin, it turned all I thought I knew on my head and let me take what I knew and multiply it by a million. And "RR" was good, don't get me wrong. Sometimes things are too good and then you feel like slitting your wrist.
Yeah, I know. I have myself spread a little thin these days and it is a sad, sad thing.
First of all, that arty thing on my fireplace was a sale item at Pier One. Who knew? Our minds have moved past the house and into the yard. We've been watching shows like "Yard Crashers" and some other similar show where the yards all are disastrous like ours and then magic happens. I am paying a lot of attention to crushed gravel, limestone patios and tall trees so that I can cover our lack of grass and block out the barrio. As soon as we do taxes, we'll go ahead and set a new budget for Phase 2 projects and get moving. Also, heavy trash for real trash is this month so we are going to gut our converted garage and starting on that renovation. Add to that the outside building need for some new wood and paint and we will be busy. I have the end date of Dylan's birthday for the yard and outside of building to be completed because that's where I want his party.
Stuff that makes me mad: Ticketmaster. I hate them. Hate. Flight of the Conchords tickets went on sale here in Houston this morning at 10 am. 10:02 am and none were available. Go eff yourself, Ticketmaster. The more I dig, I keep seeing all this presale stuff and basically I never had a chance. I mean, you don't try to checkout much earlier than 10:02 am. Hate.
Stuff that is mildly amusing: Dylan is in love with drumming on Guitar Hero World Tour. He talks about it constantly and when he hear "Livin on a Prayer" on the radio, he realized that he could be surronded by its wonderfulness constantly. Didn't take him long to get better than me, all I hear is "Red, Yellow, Red, Yellow!!"
Off to Chicago tomorrow through Thursday...one day I'll settle down and get caught up on things. Until then...
