Babe

I can't write what I feel today. I just don't have the words and I'm just not a writer. I wish I could spill it all out and that it would all makes sense, but I type and erase and realize that I just don't have it in me. Nothing comes out how it feels and words just can't describe it.

I call him "Babe" and he calls me "Babe". I don't know why, it just works. My grandfather has always been one of my friends. Today, my friend has a rare cancer and I have no words for it. The only word I have is hope, I hope that there is more time. He has had a long and plentiful life, but I'm just not finished with him yet.

Skeptic

Have you ever had a friend that you really wanted to tell her something, but just knew that you couldn't?

I do.

I have a long time, great friend and I love her dearly. I can not stand her man and I can not tell her. This is killing me. They have been together for a few years and try as I might, I can't stand the guy. This doesn't keep us apart, but it makes it hard to want to do all the fun things like go out, go away or just stay in. But I can not tell her. See, there is nothing about this guy that makes me believe that he is mistreating her or cheating on her, etc. It is not that I get an immoral vibe, but that I just really think he is completely full of shit. I can not remember having one, not even one, conversation with this person where I felt like he was being honest and genuine. Not EVER.

When I talk to my friend we always talk about our guys and what they are up to, etc. and the things that she tells me that are going on in their lives are so unbelievably off the wall, I can't believe that she buys his crap. He is a first rate egomaniac and thinks that he is God's gift to the world - and he loves to talk about how much everyone just loves him and how he is the absolute best at, well, EVERYTHING. It is just really too much. The stories he tells are so incredibly outlandish that I can't see how anyone buys it. Perhaps my friend wants to focus on the positive and give him the benefit of the doubt, but I am amazed that she is blind to the steaming manure. If I were to believe even 1/4 of his stories, this man has been offered countless jobs with salaries higher than anyone I know, yet there is always a reason that the job is just not for him.

I suppose I am just a skeptic. I get it honest, though. My grandmother on the not so inbred side of my family doesn't trust anyone.ever.noway. She honestly thinks that everyone on earth is out to rip her off. This is a great trait to have since so many elderly people are preyed on, but she is downright nasty to folks. She doesn't trust the bank and I'd venture to say that if her house burned down so would all her money. She handed this skepticism down to my father and he has always told us to "do the research" on everything. He is pretty leary to most salespeople and 'new' fangled ideas. I get my loathing of salespeople from him. While I have finally met some salespeople on the up, I still have my doubts about a lot of them. I do think I read people pretty well, and if I get a weird vibe from someone at first meeting it is really hard for me to ever get past it.

So, back to my point, I got a weird vibe the first time I met my friend's man. I've questioned her on a lot of things, but never have come right out to say I just don't like him. They are married and it won't change anything if I do say it, other than to harm our friendship. So I suppose I should just deal with it.

Inbred

I've known my whole life that my grandparents were cousins.

Yes, I said it outloud(?), my grandparents were related to one another before getting married. (insert GASP). Now everyone can proceed to determine that YES I live Georgia, the south, the capitol of backwards southerness and inbreeding. If you are a stero-typing butthead, yes, that is true. Fortunately for me, I never truly knew the entire background of this related-ness until now. NOW, I know that I am actually more inbred that I ever thought. My grandparents are 3rd cousins! Here's a little snippet of my family tree (names have been changed to protect the not so innocent).

Yes, my family tree branches out and then reconnects. Clearly this is not normal. Clearly this is a bit weird. Clearly this is disturbing. Joseph and Samantha are brother and sister, farther down the line Joseph's grandaughter WENDY marries Samantha's grandson GEORGE. Well, folks, Wendy & George are MY grandparents.

The funniest part is that I believe that my ancestors were so completely whack that the whole process of crossing the branches, so to speak, may have actually straightened some things out. In the history of my grandparents, their siblings, their children and children's children and so on.....well, I think we are by far the most blessed. There is a terrible history of bi-polar and thyroid disease going down the line, horrible arthritis that attacks very young, fertility issues, heart disease, severe asthma and cancer. Thankfully my immediate family has been able to dodge a lot of bullets healthwise, KNOCK ON WOOD. Personality issues, I think my family is pretty lucky as well - I've seen some real nut jobs at extended family reunions.

Besides this inbreeding, I think it is really cool that I am able to trace my family back to 1766. This is all thanks to my great uncle who did all of the research before dementia took him away from us, mentally. If I had just ONE more generation back I would be able to see if I was a Daughter of the American Revolution. I think it would be really cool to know what heroic things my great, great, great, great, great grandfather did to help shape our history. SOMEDAY, when I have some time, I hope to dive a little deeper. For now, just please don't judge me and pray that my grandchildren don't have arms growing out of their ears........

Headache

Not tonite, honey, I have a headache......

This has been more often than not lately. I get headaches fairly regularly. I can usually tell when I'm going to get one, but as much as I do to try to ward it off, it always comes. Recently, I've been getting more frequent headaches at times when I would not normally get one. These headaches are not as intense as the migraines, but annoying none the less. I really should probably get checked out.........

I sent my husband to bed in a huff because I had a headache and he was getting no love from me. I THOUGHT the testosterone was running smoothly since he spent a few hours blowing up people on the Playstation. Apparently I was wrong.

The next morning I wake up and reach to push my hair behind my ears. I feel something crusty in my hair, but I dismiss it to the fact that I have kids and somebody probably put their grimy hands in my hair while giving goodnight kisses. No problem, I'm taking a shower anyway. In the mirror I notice my face has white crust from the corner of my mouth to my ear and then again up on my forehead. Did I drool myself into a puddle? No, I don't really do that. Now I'm just MAD.

I walked into the bedroom, "so what, now I'm a TOOL to use while I'm sleeping? You are a freak show! Who does this to their sleeping wife!? Are you KIDDING ME???", I'm screaming to a very confused looking husband. I will tolerate a lot of weird stuff, but don't mess with me while I am asleep. Have the courtesty to wake me up and then use me for your own satisfaction..... My blood was boiling, "and YOU are washing the sheets you pervert!".

My husband gave me a moment to collect myself, I went and washed my face. I also realized that some of the crust on my face was greenish.....WTF? I know this is not like "snot green" and I start to recall the events of the night. Husband, blasting away on Playstation and me with a headache. My typical headache routine is to take multitudes of Excedrin and put ice on my head. My pervert husband had purchased me a gel eyemask to keep in the freezer for such headaches - they usually concentrate around my eye area. I used that eyemask for this particular headache. That eyemask that is filled with GREEN gel. That eyemask that is supposed to be refridgerated, not FROZEN. That eyemask that is LEAKING GREEN GEL which drys into a nice crust. Ok, so he's not a using me for a tool while I'm asleep, I guess I will stop calling him a pervert - for today.

Davelanta 2

He came, He saw, He conquered....the city, that is!

We had a great Saturday with Dave2 and the opportunity to meet some great new bloggers! The festivities began with lunch at SAVAGE Pizza. YUMMY, and they have the coolest bathrooms ever! Completely wallpapered in comics - awesome!

We also went to the High Museum of Art where we saw many interesting paintings and works of art. This one was my favorite. A kitty (well, lion) crafted from wood, sawdust, epoxy, marbles and hemp. The consensus was that we should light and smoke him. :)

Then it was over the Black History Celebration to watch some traditional dancing and some wickedly awesome break(?) dancing.

Next is was time to introduce Dave2 to the NAKED DOG, but he's a vegetarian and it was almost dinnertime....so we all settled for some Frosted Orange goodness at The Varsity. It was sublime happiness, until Dave's iPhone camera decided to stop working and he went completely postal. He purged his rage by screaming "What'll Ya Have?" repeatedly while shooting off his Uzi. He's going to have quite a reputation in Atlanta between this episode and the World of Coke fiasco.

At the Hard Rock Cafe we had a priority seating at 5:40, luckily the priority seating meant waiting for 45 minutes for a table which gave everyone a chance to arrive. Atlanta has lovely traffic issues!! Anyhoo, there was much fun and food with Dave2, Coalminer's Grandaughter, Mentally Rehearsed and Geeky Tai Tai (& Way Hot Husband). The funniest thing was that not only did we realize that I lived in the same dorm at the same time as Coalminer's Grandaughter, she also had a few classes with my husband in college. To go even further, she lived adjacent to the property that we now live on for 5 years and we never knew it. There's something to be said for knowing your neighbors! Here we have "known" each other for probably 17 years and it took Dave2 to get us to talk to one another!! Crazy!!

I did take some great advice from the Reverend Howard Finster. His art is on permanent display at the High and it is very interesting indeed. While I don't agree with some of his ideas there are many wonderful messages to be found by sorting through his works. The ending says it ALL! This is a small section of a large work depicting the Reverend riding a mule.

You meet the good.....

Engaged!

First off - did you realize there was a category in the Emmy's for a REALITY SHOW HOST??!! That is just LAME! Really, an Emmy? Seriously, what have we come to......?

While on our Lake Michigan shoreline tour (yes, one day I will stop talking about Chicago and how I love thee....) we got an amazing view of the city. It is truly incredible. We also puttered out to check out the old lighthouse in the harbor. Just as we pulled up to the lighthouse a guy next to us falls to his knee and proposed to his girlfriend. Awwww, it was so cute and she said YES!! and the whole boat cheered. It was sweet.

My engagement was a little bit low key. I was working at a mega-mart during my college summer break and Kevin came to pick me up after work. There was this "feelings" chart at the store and as we walked past it he stopped. "Lovestruck" was his choice, which I thought was so sweet - I had no idea what I was in for that evening!! We then went to our favorite restaurant, parked and he asked me to get him a Kleenex out of his glove compartment. When I opened the glove box I immediately saw a ringbox and panicked. I pulled out a tissue and shut the glove box!! Ha ha ha!!! I was just in total shock that this was happening right here, right now. Kevin did not find this funny. He asked for another Kleenex and, after I had a moment to compose myself, I was all casual like "oh, what's this?". And I opened it and he asked me - right there in his car. Of course, I said YES and the rest is history. Kevin constantly laments that he didn't choose a location more romantic than his car, but I have no regrets or complaints. I'm a no frills kind of girl and I was ecstatic that he actually wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. All that stalking had finally paid off!!

The best part was that earlier in the day Kevin was at my parents' house, along with me. He asked my dad to help him check out something in his car for repair. I told him it was useless and could not be fixed, "Dad, really, it isn't even worth a look....", but Kevin INSISTED and I got really irritated. This was all his way to get my dad alone and to 'ask' him about the engagement. Funnier than that, my dad said, "well, she might not say yes...." ROTFL...... Way to go, Dad!! Shoot that boy right out of the lovestruck mood! I have no idea what my dad was thinking, why he said that, or why he actually thought that, but it's a good thing it did not stop Kevin. Otherwise, I might be a homeless lady with a pet rat.

Please share your story, or if you aren't married/committed do you already have it planned out? Are there guys who actually spend a few years thinking about it, or have engagement fantasies the way we girls spend most of our lives picturing our wedding?

Cockroach!

This is what my Sugar & Spice & Everything Nice little 7 year old finds amusing. While at the Nature Center in Chicago we visited the gift shop and this is what nice little souvenir my cute little girl chose. These things are so frickin' disgusting and I have no mind control as I can't even touch the little abominations. Everytime I see one I jump out of my skin. And we have THREE of these.....they are popping up in every room of the house. And EVERYTIME I have a small heart attack. ICK. And they are just plastic. How pathetic am I?

It is pretty genius - a very real bug with a sticky wheel on the bottom. When you stick it to the wall it begins to scurry down. Blarrrrrghhhhhhh. Who needs boys??