Spoiled

Does this look bad to you?

It's our new American Girl store that opened over the weekend. It's a store full of dolls and doll clothes and a restaurant and a doll spa. Yes, a doll spa. This is one of four (I think) stores across the US - a very popular place for girls from 4-12ish. The other stores I know of are located in Chicago, New York and LA. So this is a big deal seeing as how it is RIGHTHERE in North Georgia. It was also, apparently, a big deal for girls from most of our neighboring states.

We decided to go, even though it was opening weekend. I prepared Kevin, "Honey, just know right now that it is going to be chaos plus thousands of girls. Be prepared now to keep your cool. The stuff costs a butt load of money and I'm going to let the kids pick something out, so just keep it under your hat for a while, PLEASE. Mentally, prepare, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE..." I'm begging as we drive there, because patience is not a trait of this man. Crowded places and overpriced toys are also not things to make him go to his happy place - well, unless they are ELECTRONIC toys, and are for HIM.

We see the line outside as we approach (see the photo) which I think this doesn't look so bad. I'm stunned that there is a line just to get in the store, but I'll go with it. Perhaps it will mean a less crowded in-store experience if they are limiting the numbers in. So we go into the mall and get Kevin a pretzel to ease the pain.

Then, we realize - the line is snaking through the mall, what we see in this photo is the end of a THREE to FOUR HOUR WAIT. What the F*^K? Are you kidding me? Now, I am the one who has lost all sense of patience and demeanor. These f*^ktards are waiting for over three hours to go into a store to BUY OVERPRICED toys. I'm dumbfounded. And everyone in the line is HAPPY and EXCITED and clearly all the dads must be sedated. I'm thinking that I've succombed to the idiocy of the world just by agreeing to allow my children to go to this place, and then I've pushed the envelope by agreeing to purchase them something, THEN I actually agreed to WAIT to go in, when I thought that it would be 15 minutes or so, but THREE to FOUR HOURS?! Where do you draw the line? At what point do you turn from just an idiot like me into a full blown cheerleader mom zombie?

Now, I'm sure that there are people who see me as the zombie for even attempting to go on opening weekend. But I wore my ZOMBIES ATE MY BRAIN shirt, so at least I had an excuse. There's a freak level for everyone, but I am proud that my kids were not upset that I refused to wait. They even thought it was crazy and are completely willing to wait until the hype dies down. But will it?? The Chicago store has been open for years and we went there last summer, and it was INSANELY crowded. We did not have to wait to get in, but good grief it was almost un-movable in there. We were in Chi for a week and we tried almost everyday to catch the place not so crowded and it never happened. And being that we had no clue that we were ever going to get our very own store, I allowed my child to schedule an appt. at the doll spa. And I walked the streets of Chi in the heatwave of 2006, sweating while I waited for the doll who was getting her hair done and having a facial. And I was not getting a facial of my own. And then I happily took my children back to pick up the doll and I PAID for the hair and facial day at the spa. And I know that someone saw me do it, and thought to themselves - what kind of f*^ktard...

So, we didn't get to go in the store, but we saw a little bit through the windows and the crowds and we hope to go back, someday and spend a small fortune on the bare necessities. Because you know, every dog that belongs to a doll needs a flower shaped cone for his head when he gets hurt. It just makes good sense.

Uniqueness and a moral

This is one of my absolute favorite family of trees, ever.

Every day for the past 20 years I have loved these trees. I do not think I have ever once passed them by without acknowledging either aloud or to myself how much I adore them.
WHY? Because every fall these ordinary green trees make me happy by showing their colors...



Every fall we are treated to a rainbow of color from these four trees. It is truly amazing that they are all the same type, planted at the same time and cared for the same way, yet each one of them produces it's own shade of beauty and uniqueness.

This reminds me that while I have two kids who are of the same type, same genetics, born at the same time of the year, cared for and raised by the same parents, they, too will produce each their own brand of beauty and uniqueness. And I shall love their differences and celebrate their own unique styles. And I shall be a good mama, and stop thinking that the green would be happier if she acted a little more like yellow or that red would be better off seeing a little orange in her style. And I should express to them daily how much I adore them, even when they show their colors. Colors which do not make me happy.

And there is my fine interpretation of the semblance of kids and trees. And the moral of the story is that if you turn out to be green, instead of orange, you can't really blame it all on your roots.

But, really, is this little tree family not the MOST beautiful? I am SO SO SO looking forward to October.

New Arrival

Today is the first day of school. I have a 1st grader and a 5th grader. It should be easy, but it isn't. I want them to go, but I don't. And I REALLY did not want to get up this morning at 6 am.
I have a love hate relationship with public school. Yes, they take my children and allow me some time to sit on the couch and eat bon bons, but they also force me to get up 5 days a week at an ungodly hour. I think the rigid schedule is what gets me. I'm pretty laid back and I don't like to get into routines, so having a 5 day a week routine just makes me cranky. My kids, though, are very independant which makes a morning about 1000 times easier. I've groomed them well!!

The thing about today is that we have NEW CROCS!! This is an exciting thing!! Yes, it is, just go with it. The new ones that we have do not have the moveable strap, but more of a wet-suit-ish stretchy fabric around the ankle. Very comfortable! Obnoxious to look at! Very comfortable! Anyhoo, we went swimming last night before bed and little girl swam in her new Crocs. This morning the fabric area was still wet!! Not a happy start to a girl who wants to wear Crocs for the first day of school. This really disappoints me about this shoe we all love. It is so impracticle for a shoe designed for outdoorsy-wet-stuff to not dry quickly. Not even OVERNIGHT!! Helloooo - what are you people thinking!!
Well, I popped the lime green monsters in the dryer and they dried, but they also curled up. It all worked out finally, but I'm just baffled as to why this company would use this spongy water sucky material. Clearly if we were camping this would SUCK and my kid would have to wear cold, wet shoes in the morning. Whatever. I'll show those jerks - I'm gonna go buy another pair without spongy water sucky material!! ahem...

Do you like Crocs?

This is what our new Croc's look like. It's as if we've had a new baby.....aww, look at the cute little crocling...

Orange

The following is what my 6 year old consumed in one 12 hour period. Orange soda, orange chicken, orange sherbet, orange carrots, orange cheese puffs, oranges and cheese. And the not photoblogged orange apple jack cereal for breakfast.











I fully expect her to look like this tomorrow...

That is, unless she returns this wonderful final day of summer with a steaming pile of orange vomit. Which is highly likely.

I tell you, there should be awards for parents as good as I am. Really, I amaze myself sometimes.

YIKES

The bridge collapse in Minnesota has me in a place that I never wanted to know existed. I've lived my life in fear of things falling while I'm on them. Not so much a fear as a morbid thought process of "what if" and how things would play out if said object fell and I was plummeting down. What would I think of? Would I devise a plan to cushion the fall? If I JUMP at just the right moment would it help? What MacGyver types of objects do I have with me that I can use to survive the rubble? So, I would not say I was afraid to cross bridges, but accutely aware that in movies, these things can fall.

I don't think I ever really thought it would happen to someone just driving along, minding their own business and BOOM, it's down. I've realized that I don't live, nor have I ever been in an area known for earthquakes, but I thought if ever I were to be in California I may have some mental issues. In an area that is earthquakey this could happen, but not from age, or rust, or whatever it was, somehow if nature causes it then it is meant to be. It's denial that I have. I have truly thought that this could not happen to me. Bridges are inspected and no DOT would ever allow us to drive on unsafe overpasses. Random little thoughts that someone is doing their job and doing it well so that I don't have to worry about bridges falling from the lack of structural integrity and more, lack of human intelligence. Silly me.

But now - NOW I KNOW. The harsh reality has hit home, the naive denial is over. Now I have fear of all things not on the ground. Street grates, overpasses, high decks, swings, sky lifts, ski lifts you name it. We did NOT go to the top of Stone Mountain this past weekend because I'm too much of a head case to get in the cable car, sky lift thingie. The very thing I have been in about a zillion times, but now I have a freakish fear that it will snap and drop. This bridge collapse comes riding on the tail of the cable snap at Six Flags which severed a girl's feet from her body. SEVERED. Did you hear that?? So not only might I fall from the cable car, I could lose some parts in the process because, after all, the thing is held up by CABLES. UNDER TENSION. Sheeesh.

Now, I'm a pretty practical girl and I even refused to let terrorists frighten me from flying, but this is not terrorism, it is stupidity of people and that scares the hell out of me. So I'll be flying to San Francisco on Sept. 11 of this year, and while the date crossed my mind it is out of reverence for those lost, not fear of those who caused it. But you can bet your sweet ass that I won't be stepping foot on the Golden Gate Bridge. Which is sad, because I've never been there before. I'll admire it from land and I'll try to convince those around me that while I am a head case, I'm a pretty nice head case.

Anybody out there in San Francisco??

Land of the Free

Have you been to Stone Mountain? I have. As a kid we lived really close to the mountain and my dad loved to run. About 3 nights a week we would go to Stone Mtn. after dinner so he could run. He would run around the mountain, up the mountain, near the mountain, you name it. We would take our bikes and try to keep up, but usually ended with us giving up and circling the parking lot.



As an adult we don't live really close to the mountain, but we've been a few times in the past few years. Showing our kids, checking out the new things, etc. Lots of amusement activities have been added over the years so there's a bigger draw for the kids.


We used our trip yesterday to do less "fun" and more history with our girls. They learned about the famous carving on the face of the mountain. I learned something new as well. The carving on the mountain is the largest high relief carving in the world. I never knew that it was actually that much larger than Rushmore. I've never been to Rushmore, but I had visions of it being much larger than our little carving. The funny thing is that the artist who did Rushmore started on Stone Mountain, but did not complete it. Years later instead of finishing what Gutzon Borglum started, they blasted it off and started anew. Speaking of our not so little carving you can see by my photos a bit of the scale. This is my six year old in the mouth of "Black Jack", General Lee's horse. Of course you can't actually get to the carving, but they had a life size reproduction of the lower horse jaw. (photo from my phone, ick.)








If I was all Dave-like I could have provided you with a nice depiction of how this pans out to an insert with lines and scale and whatnot. However, I'm not, so I'll just tell you. She is in the mouth of the horse in the front with it's head up. That may give you an idea of how big this carving really is. Unbelievable. The detail is incredible. Something funny is that while skilled artists began this work and vision, it was eventually completed by a stone mason with no artistic training or background.



In the evening we stayed for the Laser Show which they show on the carving. It would not photograph, but it is a cool show and set to some good music. Since my childhood this show has been about as country redneck as you can go when it comes to music. They have actually updated the song list to include everyone. They even threw in some 80's synth with Ray Lynch which made Kevin's ears perk up. The show is fun, but since the very beginnings of it the main focus is on the history of the south and pride in America. The final song is and will probably always be, God Bless the USA, by Lee Greenwood. No matter what you did during the day this show brings you back to the old south and the war that brought the north and south together. It also reminds us that we are indeed free and that freedom comes with a price. No matter what your stance is on the war of today, no matter how disgruntled you can feel towards our government, you can't help the rush of emotion and pride for our country and our soldiers. And you can't help, but to stop, for just a minute, and realize what we take for granted most days...our freedoms and those moms, dads, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters that are out there, doing what they can, so we can remain the land of the free.

Cords

I hate cords. Period. No question.

Clearly, opposites attract as this was hanging from the back of Kevin's entertainment center - one large lump of tangled up cords. Yes, that is Kevin's entertainment center because there is no way in hell I am claiming ownership of such a mess. We got a new TV and my job was to untangle the god awful mess because Kevin was already damning things and cats to hell while he managed to throw some pictures across the floor. Patience. Clearly, opposites attract.

Anyhoo, we have a sweet new plasma TV. If we can get it arranged by midnight the marriage might just survive.