The things in my head go ’round and ’round

For Tuesday.

The things in my head:

I need to get a digital camera for myself. MLW has hers. The Princess has hers. I need one of my own. There. I said it, and I mean it.

Now if only I had the money to buy it.

Sigh.

We are leaving for North Carolina this coming Saturday. We should be leaving early Saturday morning, but due to circumstances beyond my understanding, I have have to work for part of the day on Saturday. That being said, MLW and The Princess along with her sidekick will be picking my up from work and we will be jetting down the freeway at warp speed.

If you are heading south on 95 this weekend, just get out of the way. It will be fine.

Which leads me to “The things that WILL NOT be in my head”. Namely music. I have been rhapsodizing about Ipods and the such lately, but in truth I have none. Again, MLW has hers, and The Princess has hers, but me? Nada. Zilch.

To be upfront, MLW did offer to purchase one for me not long ago and I demurred. I have my CD player for my truck, I figured that I didn’t need something to pour sweet music directly into my head.

I was wrong. I need something for this drive as I won’t be able to play the vehicles CD player without keeping everyone awake and bitching at me to TURN IT DOWN!!

I tend to listen to my music loudly.

So I have a couple of things to work on the next few days. Along with:

Tearing out the rest of the carpet in the living room.

Cleaning out all of the cupboards, and under the sink in the kitchen.

Cleaning out and moving the refrigerator from the kitchen.

Moving as much of the furniture out of the living room as possible.

Because while we are down in NC, gnomes are coming into our house and demo’ing our kitchen, and putting down wood flooring in our living room.

This is going to be interesting.

Namaste.

Well, not really the weekend but it is the only two days off in a row that I am going to see before I go on vacation.

Which is in TWO WEEKS!!!!

I would like to say that I can’t wait, but the reality is that I have to wait. Because the time off starts in two weeks, not today. Unless, of course, I fake some crazy illness and take the next two weeks off from work.

Speaking of a crazy illness. Those of us who have been paying attention have known that I had an allergic reaction to poison ivy. Did the whole ER thing, got the steroids, got the benedryl, got the shakes and the mood swings. For those who weren’t paying attention, specifically the people that I work with, I did not get an infection from a tattoo. Idiots.

The people I work with seem to be some of the most un-trusting folks that you can come across. I had to leave work early on Friday due to my leg swelling up. The patch of poison ivy on the back of my leg had soaked 3 sets of bandages through with lymph that my body was making to try and deal with the poison ivy. One of my co-workers thought that it would be a neat thing to do to start a rumor that I had an infection due to a bad tat. Then when I went into work on Saturday I had to show my boss my leg to prove to him that I did indeed have poison ivy.

This is the first time in 28 years of work that I have had to prove my illness to a boss. Just makes you all warm and fuzzy inside, now doesn’t it? Paranoid people make me crazy.

With that being said, I am going to go enjoy the day. MLW, The Princess and I are going to see a movie today. Something we haven’t done as a family in forever.

L8R

An internal MP3, as it were.

Hope everyone had a good Father’s Day. I did. After I got out of work.

We went to a chain restaurant called Carrabbas. This is the same chain that owns Outback restaurants.

We have eaten at Carrabbas a few times, and have yet to have a bad meal. Last night MLW and I had the pollo rosa maria. It was wonderful. I also had to indulge myself in a limonfresca. That too hit the spot after a hot day at work.

And to finish it all off we had ice cream with a carmel sauce and carmelized pecans. Man, life is good when you have good food, and good company.

And that is what is playing on my personal MP3.

Namaste.

That time of year again.

But then isn’t every time of year, THAT time of year in one way or another? I think so.

But the time of year I am talking about now is graduation time.

Kids graduating from High School. Freedom! Blessed freedom from the horrors of having to get up EVERY DAY and go to school where they MAKE YOU DO STUFF THAT MEANS NOTHING!!

One day our kids will understand that they lived in a dream world for the first 18 years of their lives.

I was talking to a woman I work with on Sunday about her son’s graduation. I asked her when she started crying. She said that she didn’t. She is a liar, and I told her so. No one goes to their childs graduation and doesn’t cry. No one. I did, and I have the published proof.

I have 4 kids. Three of them didn’t have a choice of me as their Father, and one chose me. When I went to my eldest daughters graduation, it was in Phoenix, Arizona, with her mother and her step-father. I had to seperate myself from them so that I could sob my Dad tears in private. When my eldest son graduated, it was in Hartland, Michigan and I pretty much sobbed throughout the entire proceedings. When they released the graduates I was this 6′, 300 lb, sobbing juggernaut pushing my way through the crowd so that I could be the first to hug that boy.

And this is the child who thinks that he is not my “favorite”. Kids, sheesh.

After I finally put him back down on the floor, and pouring tears down his neck, I got this tap on my shoulder from a guy with a camera asking if I would be ok to have a picture published. What did I care? I had just seen my first born son graduate. A couple of days later the boy calls and says we made it on the front page of his local paper. Cool.

The youngest son’s graduation was a tad bit different. He graduated from the same school as his older brother, but there were no photogs around to record the event. Just me, my tears, and a lot of hugging. And some drama having to do with seats, the boys girlfriend, and his Mother. Who should learn how to make plans prior to an event happening, THEN she would have seats where she wanted them.

Now we have 5 years until The Princess graduates. I will be a mess, without a doubt. We chuckle about it, but it is something that my kids expect from me and I won’t let them down.

So don’t tell me that you didn’t cry when your son/daughter walked across that stage. I know that you did. And you know that you should. Because now is the time for those kids to start really flexing those wing muscles that you have been helping them build up. They are going to fall, and they are going to get bruised up. But they have to keep at it. That is their job.

And ours is to keep wiping away those tears.

Namaste.

The Things in My Head today are:

Fresh mulch stinks worse than pig shit. Believe me. Ok. Maybe not worse, but the smell of fresh mulch really gets on my nerves.

I have had the last 3 days off, and I have been one dish washing machine. Who do the people who live in this house think that they are? And how can 3 people go through so many freaking dishes?

I have lawn mowing to do today, along with turning the compost. Sounds like wild, and crazy times doesn’t it?

namaste.