When one thing is not like the other

"Seeing is believing"

is it the same as

"Believing is seeing"

HA! How's that for turning a paradigm on it's ass?

********************************

Seeing is believing
For me? It's passive. easy. rote.

Believing is seeing
That's engaging. makes me stretch rusty old muscles in my brain.
You know the ones I'm talking about...the ones that JUST want it handed to you on a platter.

*******************************

WHAT am I seeing because I believe?

Aye...there's the rub.

Summertime and the

livin is easy

Part DEUX

I do NOT feel guilty in the least that we hit our neighborhood casa tonight for some chips and drinks and dinner.

Cause as we say down in these parts

"If Momma ain't happy...ain't NOBODY happy"

quid pro quo peeps!

4 on the Fourth

I have a confession to make.

We are weird

Weirdly traditional.

I know it's kind of hard to wrap your brain around these two seemingly oxymoronic (is that a word???) words.

But we are.

When it comes to the 4th of July celebration...we have to have four elements. Now the FORM that these four elements take on is completely open to interpretation and varies year to year...but they are kind of sort of set in stone.

ONE - Speech

Freedom of speech bellies up the bar in mayn forms.

Parades are good. So are skits. And speeches. Music and dancing are always the crowd pleaser. We are a free nation my friends...and if freedom of speech to you is an old pink cadilaac with beverage of choice in hand (as long as you aren't the DD??) I say get your freedom ON!




TWO: Water

I don't care if it's a lake for boating. Or a river for rafting. Or a pool for swimming. Heck even a sprinlker works. But I REALLY like a pool.









THREE - Smoked Food

Living down South we like some good ole fashioned pulled pork BBQ and chicken with all the sides. Of course burgers and dogs on the grill are traditonal go to. North...South...East....West? Go Grill! Go Meat!







Four - Fire!

Fireworks baby. The fat lady hasn't sung until the percussion in your chest from the thundering display has only been trumped by beautiful lights in the sky!



That's what I call a perfect 4 for 4!

Still like that old time rockn roll

That kind of music just soothes the soul
I reminisce about the days of old
With that old time rock n roll

This photo?

Drop that jukebox into "Dad's" an old hamburger joint in Southern Illinois circa 1970's and you have my childhood summers in a nutshell.

Coming home on a late Sunday afternoon from the lake with my folks after Dad finished a regatta. Stopping to get a bite to eat. All his other sailing pals bellying up to the bar, placing orders for their families.

"Daddy? Daddy! Can I have some money for the juke box? Puuhhhhleasse! (some things never change)

A pool table next to the jukebox.

"#5 in the left pocket"

Trying to flirt at the age of 11 (and failing miserably) with the "older" boy who was all of 13

Wide, well worn, soft as sand, plank wood floors under bare feet that had lost their flip flops under cover of a 4-top table.

Juice from REAL flame grilled burgers, dripping down your chin.

The smell....slightly damp from the lake, dank and smoky from the grill and the cigarettes our fathers indulged in, while waiting for "orders up"

I took this pix today on a family outing to a small town diner

And lord...if those sweet, sweet memories didn't come flooding back in spades.

This used to be my playground

This is my newly rediscovered happy place. My playground really.

It has been languishing for the past two years while I sorted out things going on with my family and my oldest in particular.

But things seem to be back on track. And so am I..in a lot of different ways.

Hello my lovely...I missed you.

I probably need to put my "action" pants on underneath my jumper and see if I can do a flying knee drop from the high monkey bar!

Unwritten

I asked Thumper to take this picture of me framed in our front door to use on a layout for a song that has been burning a hole in my heart.

He did a stand up job in my mind, but my layout fell far short of MY mark.

The lyrics of the song? They still burn


Unwritten

I am unwritten, can't read my mind, I'm undefined
I'm just beginning, the pen's in my hand,
ending unplanned

Staring
at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate
the words that you could not find

Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

Rust on the wheels goes

round and round, round and round...OUCH!

Dang

I really haven't been in a creative groove for over two years.

Sure I take pixs. And I try to put them on a page. About the only success I have is in telling the story.

Otherwise..blech

And if that isin't bad enough I have two highly opinionated boys who have two diametrically opposed views of what they like on their pages.

One wants it clean and simple, a big photo and the whole story

The other wants all the layers and texture and artsy stuff with the story hidden

So the two layouts above?

BLECH

So for the first one. I tried to get clean, but didn't put my journaling soul in (ok I have somewhat of an excue. I need to reinstall WORD on my system)

Number 2. I tried to get artsy, but didn't push myself and got all lazy.

But it's all good. The wheels on the bus are FINALLY going round and round and it takes a while to knock to years of rust off the old gals!

Take your camera to work week continues

what? you want daily updates?

Pfffpht. My husband doesn't get daily updates!

But without further ado....I give you further sneak peeks into my Monday to Friday work routine.

If you're bored...you really have no one to blame but yourselves.

Well. or me. Seeing I'm the one posting and all



Free soft drinks! My kids think I work in heaven.



Your own 6 x 6 office with a door!



Dining for two with a view!

Take your camera to work - Day 1

The first in a series this week

featuring my

pseudo uber cool gingham lined tote/suitcase
cheesy People mag left in the lunch room for brain down time
blue giveaway insulated lunch sack with healthy stuff for breakfast and lunch
piles of medical records awaiting my expert analysis

sidenote

I've been summarizing medical records for over 20 years. 20 years before THAT I listened to my dad recount in excruciating detail all manner of physical ailments from his years as a M*A*S*H medi.

So this afternoon...my secretary called me from her kiddos pediatrician.

She says I need to quit my day job and go to med school.

Because she was freaking over lumps in the back of her kid's head this morning and I told her it was probably infected lymph nodes

Turns out, I was right. But then again I also knew the entire history of her kid's complaints for the past few weeks. Which makes an educated guess that much easier. John Hopkins will have to wait..DOH!

stay tuned folks....the wow factor can only go up from here!

The letter

He is home.

Bambam arrived back from BSA camp this morning...all 1.5 lbs lighter, slightly smelly, tired and infinitely more appreciative of my cooking!

And he had presents. For all of us. Purchased with the money he took with him to camp for treats and advancement suppplies. Somehow he managed to discipline himself to stretch it out beyond his own needs and wants and we are all now the proud owners of:

1) a coffee mug with the camp's logo (for his Dad)
2) a stuffed animal, a beaver to be exact. Wearing a pink camp logo emblazoned T-shirt...because that's what ALL the fashionable beavers are wearing (for me...but I'm not even going to go down the road of why they are offering up stuffed plush toy beavers in pink t-shirts. nope. nope I am not.)
3) a lightweight dogwood walking stick (for his brother. He is determined to make sure his brother has incentive to stay on the scouting trail)

On a scale of 1 to 10 how awesome do I think my child is? Oh.... at least an 11.

I also sent him to camp with a disposable camera BUT he didn't get off a single shot.

He was too busy he told me.

Which means he was doing EXACTLY what an 11 year old boy on his first week long campout should be doing. Living. IN the moment. Having a blast!

But his stories....oh my his stories.

He may not have inherited my photo bug DNA but the kid definitely has the storyteller gene in spades.

Sidenote

I mailed him a care package on Monday with Skittles and gum. He loved the treats. But my note to him with the package? He told me he read over and over.. everyday. (note the multiple creases)

"Hi BamBam. I hope you are having a GREAT time at camp. Here are some treats for you to enjoy and share! Love you lots and lots (infinity plus one!) Love Mom"

Funny how something I dashed off in a hurry at work made such an impact.

Little things mean a lot

And cliches are what they are for a reason!

Don't Blink

I swear...it was just yesterday

Bambam was teething and crashing into walls and then plopping into my lap with 10 picture books for an extended read-a-thon.

He was 2 years old and logging in height and weight wise at a whopping 110% percentile. The plop on the lap? It registered an 8 on MY Richter scale...just sayin.

Seque
DH got Kenny Chesney's newest CD at Thanksgiving and this song has been sticking at the back of my mind ever since

Don't Blink

Because 12 years ago.......I sort of, kind of blinked.

and well....here's where we are now



I chalk it up to sleep deprivation.

Oh and as if I haven't had enough of a freak out moment...I just did the math and realized that two-thirds of his life under our roof has passed. Only another third left to savor before he heads off to college.

Seriously I REALLY need to not blink again. But I do plan on kicking back and enjoying the ride.

I've already paid the price of admission!

My world in a nutshell

This is my desk

The place where I

telecommute every afternoon
pay bills
talk to my peeps
create fun stuff
help with homework
plan grocery lists
manage my family's calendars
waste enormous amounts of time
etc, ad nauseum, blah, blah, blah

Which in a nutshell, is to say, it is where I live

I'm thinking where I LIVE needs some sprucing up. Paint, art (oh wait...I HAVE that...from the loverly Miss Kimberly)

And just for fun and giggles you can ask me about any three things you see on my desk and I will give you the deets!

Post away my loyal following of TWO!

The information age

We have seen the enemy and for recon purposes it is/has

red
shiny
games
music
camcorder
camera
texting
IM
internet access
voice mail
calendar
address book
etc, etc, etc, etc

It cost 19.99 after a rebate and has more processing power than what sent the Saturn rocket into space in one gazillioneth of the space. I think that's an inverse ratio thingy.

Saturn rocket...costs a bazillion dollars, takes up a bazillion cubic meters in processing space

THE Slider? Cheap, fast and compact...kind of like it's mini burger namesake.

BUT!!!

It also connected BamBam with

His grandmother on a misson trip in Zambia (You got Grandma? In Zambia? Me to DH: maybe since he dialed a local number, hopefully we don't have an international charge!)

His beloved Auntie D who called me back on MY cellie and sniffled for a good 5 minutes of our 10 minute conversation about how grown up and mature my boy has become.

and then there was this sweet text I got this morning at work

"Hi Mommy! It's "BamBam". I luv U! When R U coming home?"

Lord have mercy.....he breaks my heart and cracks me up (with his newly acquired text speak)all at the same gosh darn time.

New Month

new look, new post!

Can we say "Welcome Lisa to the 21st Century of technology"

Uh huh. DH went out and picked up a flat screen monitor and Vista yesterday.

Not only do I have more room on my desk, but I can actually SEE the screen. And I can print! And I can upload pixs directly from my camera!

Need a new photo for my masthead...run to garden take pixs of hydrangeas. upload. link. done.

Need new screensaver? Take cute pix of one well child and one sort of well child together on deck. upload. Save. (note to self, take another picture when sick child is well. he looks a little spacey0

I tell you peeps I am absolutely giddy with power.

And so in love with DH's stud muffin techie prowess that I'd marry the guy all over again...bwa!

Obviously I need to get a life and get out of the house.

A trip to the grocery store would be a good start.

Although I think I want to play "What can I make for dinner every day with what's in our pantry" this week!

Brilliant! I'm off to check out the contents of the pantry/fridge/freezer. Tally-ho!

5 Random memories from childhood

I know I pulled this random thread of an idea/thought from somewhere, but for the life of me I can't remember where.

So here are mine

1) I used to build houses in my folks living room out of slim Time-Life volumes on subjects ranging from interior decoration to world travel. The thinly bound books would be the walls and then I would proceed to fill them with furniture fashioned from scraps of fabric from my mom's sewing basket and cotton balls for stuffing. I even took a peanut butter jar lid and filled it with pepples and water to make an indoor fountain. Then my Barbie would take up residence and after marrying my brother's GI Joe. Of course he was PO'd when GI Joe left his barracks to canoodle with Barbie.

2) I wanted to be Catwoman when I was a little girl. I would run around in my black leotard and tights, glue some construction paper "cat ears" to a headband. My play acting always had Catwoman getting the better of Batman. Life imitating art, imitating life.

3) I convinced my brother we could parachute safely off the top of my parent's RV wth nothing more than a sheet and pillows on the lawn to break our fall. Broken bones - zero. Dents in the roof of the RV - 2

4)No one can resist a kid pulling a wagon full of boxes of cold donuts door to door through the neighborhood on a Saturday morning

5) Convertibles are made for the express purpose of standing in the back seat of your babysitter's car at the age of 4 singing "Hang on Sloopey" at the top of your lungs while shaking your hips in time to the music. Said hip shaking was much to the delight of the babysitter who exclaimed to my mother at the end of the day "Look Mrs. P! We taught her to do the twist!"

There are more, many more...but that's just a random sample. Go forth and share!

David vs. Goliath - Part Deux

I really wanted to title this post "Size really doesn't matter" but then I figured I might get spammed by all those ads that promise to make you 6 INCHES BIGGER among other things. And I just didn't want to go down that road..HA!

Now back to the topic.

Our little 80 member swim team edged out a 280 member swim team tonight by 20 points to win our meet.

Unbelievable.

The kids have been undefeated for the past two years and are currently ranked 13th out of god knows how many teams (roughly? a couple hundred? probably more...I don't know. I'm not stats girl) in the county.

So the price you pay for being good is..............

1) they throw teams at you three times your size. Which means your meets are insanely long as they run 8 heats of the EACH event to give all THEIR kids a chance to swim. For those not versed in the art of the swim meet....there are 86 events in a meet. In tonight's scenario... that's 86 events times 8...do the math....SNORE

2) you have to drive a LOOOOOOONG way to get to meets BEACUSE

3) You lose the home pool advantage and more of your meets are away than they are at home. Can you say traffic...uh huh.

And still our little stinkers keep winning.

I guess if this continues we're going to have to start renting a party bus to travel to venues and reserve a block of hotel rooms cause it's too freakin late to drive home!

Getting it straight

the priorities that is.

Yep I have been a mad, mad, MAD woman trying to balance all manner of things in the past three weeks.

And fnally. today. I had a moment

A moment where I said "The hell with it. I have had ENOUGH. I am going to park my butt on the couch. I am going to snuggle my boys and eat queso dip with chips and watch National Treasure: Book of Secrets. I am going to giggle and be silly and just freakin BE"

because My kiddos got out early from school. It's a 3 day weeked-end. I have plenty of time to make up my billables for the day because my medical record summary stack is a terrifying force of nature and doesn't require normal business hours to tackle.

So here I sit, post Nicholas Cage...with a smidge of queso at the corner of my mouth I am SURE and it's raining and thundering and I want to take a nap (probably the carb overload)

But I am happy and more relaxed than I have been in a very long time!

Viva la queso!!!!

I am alive

barely

Major end of year test prep for the boys..DONE

Football spring practice...DONE (do not even ask me to explain the incongruity that is football and spring.)

Bball...DONE. Well sort of done....Thumper made tournament team....WHEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!(And those ARE sincere exclamation points)

Swim team...in process

One more week of school

Sitter lined up for boys for summer? Bailed for MO money elsewhere. Many irons in the fire for a replacement. Stress level off the charts.

And wait....what am I forgetting? Oh yes. My JOB. Not the mommy job. The other one. The one where I actually get paid money because I am supposedly an expert in my field. Yeah that one.

Let's just say I am well rounded and batting a thousand in the stressor stats.

Stay tuned

Because if I don't post in a week.... it's because I've been admitted to a nice green room with jello on the menu.

ps to the nurses...I prefer peach flavored jello

The Gift

that keeps on giving

You see those roses on my masthead? They are old tea roses..David Austin

Graham Thomas to be exact

They are deep butter yellow and and their scent is heady and rich and fragrant beyond belief

And they are in my front garden along with

Souvenir De Mal Maison
Abraham Darby
Ste. Cecelia
Fair Bianca
Mr. Lincoln

and others that I am too lazy to go and look up in my garden journal at the moment.

12 years ago when I was newly pregnant with our first child, my husband planted a rose garden for me in February in our first home.

He tilled the soil with a hand tiller (Georgia clay....he deserves a medal) amended the soil with heaps of compost, laid the timbers outlining the garden. He set the root balls, planted, fertilized and watered.

It was his early Mother's Day gift to me.

Even though I wasn't TECHNICALLY a mother, more like an incubator

Because throughout our courtship he never brought me flowers.

The pattern continued in the years of marriage before we decided to start a family and bought our home

Sweet cards, jewelry yes......... but never roses.

When he created this garden for me I asked him why.

He told me that he never bought me roses before because the ones you get at the florist had no scent and they just die. They don't last.

So when we bought our home and I promptly became pregnant....he set about the task of creating a rose garden for me.

One that would last and the scent would be heady.

And I have had roses on every Mother's Day since...sweet!

Noah...how long

can you tread water?

That's me right now. Noah. Or maybe I'm Noel. But there is water.a whole monsoon of it AND A boatload of crazy animals mucking about in my daily routine.

I think one of my favorite author's hit on the head with her post here

Yep, that's me. Drowning in the flood of my kids spring activities.

It will be over soon enough.

And then on to the lazy, hazy days of summer when I can pop out of bed at 7am, throw on clothes and make-up, kiss my sleeping boys goodbye and be at work by 8AM.

22 days and counting!