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Wide awake at 5 AM

Written on May 22, 2011 by Jennifer in Quirky Me, Randomness

The call, a friend. Divorce.
And now a friend with Cancer
Hurt feelings, because of me
Gossip, rumors
Misunderstandings
Left out
Included
Insecurities

Delete, reply, reply, ignore
Deadlines
Dreams and fear
Jobs and to do lists
Refresh, next, back
Did I?
When will I?

Late to bed, too early to rise
A face with tears beside my bed at midnight
Nightmares about tornadoes
Back talking
Defiance
Tantrums and fighting
Refusing
And now
School’s out
Yelling, hugging
Sorry

Stress at work
carries over to home
Insurance and bills
College funds
Retirement
Time
No time
Arguing
Yes, no
Ignore
Martyrdom

Earthquakes and tsunamis
Tornadoes and flooding
Economy
Gas prices
Job losses
Poverty
Addiction
Hurting

Staccato of regret
overwhelmed,
tired,
the Weight,
helpless,
worried,
compassion fatigue

Paralyzed

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Things I’m diggin’

Written on September 8, 2010 by Jennifer in Lucky Me, Pictures, Randomness

We had a sometimes lovely, sometimes [redacted] Labor Day weekend. If only my real life was as peaceful and serene as this picture might lead one to believe.

I certainly do dig these moments.

Other things I dig:

Iced tea with extra lemon in my favorite cup.

Netflix.

Lost (Thank you Netflix Instant Queue!). I regret not watching this show when it was on, because now I don’t have anyone to talk to about it and there is a LOT to talk about. I spent the summer catching up. So far I’ve watched Seasons 1 through 4. It’s sad and exciting that there are only 2 more seasons. Also, I would totally make-out with Sawyer if I weren’t married. I have no idea why I have a thing for a lying, dirty, murdering sleazeball, I just do.

Great books. I’ve read some duds so far this year, but some of the books I’ve read have been hard to put down, like World War Z (thanks to Mr. Lady for the recommendation), My Life in France (oh Julia Child! You make me want to be brave and travel and experience LIFE), and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Love, LOVE.)

Mondays (or Tuesdays, as was the case this week), when Tate goes back to work. What? I’m just being honest. We just get along better during the week, that’s all.

My back to dark brown hair. It makes me feel like a rocker chick. Of course I’m a rocker chick who loves Alice in Chains, but probably wouldn’t change the radio station if Peabo Bryson or Toto came on. I also kind of want a nose ring, it just seems like it would go with my whole “rocker chick” look. It’s unlikely to happen since I’d worry about what my friends would say and what the people at Carson and Ella’s VERY, VERY, OH SO VERY conservative Christian preschool would think. Hey, you can still love Jesus and be a faux rocker chick, I think. Anyway, I look nothing like a rocker chick in the picture below, I look so prim and proper!

(Here’s a before picture showing my summer highlights. I made sure to pick a really terrible, after working out picture to make the picture of me above seem really good.)

Yikes, right?!

My children being in school. This probably should have been first on my list because I love them being in school even more than I thought I would.

Roasted pine nut hummus.

My new Canon 50D and lens. I know that a good photographer does not a camera make, but it does make me feel more serious and quasi-professional (albeit unpaid and without any prospects of a photography business, but still.)

The redecorating job I did on my kitchen without spending a dime. I simply rearranged and repurposed things that I already had. I’m loving the results. (A before picture would be pretty handy right about now.)

Anything that you’re digging right now? How was your Labor Day weekend? Anyone else catching up on Lost and wanna talk about it?

(Psst, some of the links above are affiliate links. Yeah, yeah, yeah, what of it?)

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The bright side

Written on August 27, 2010 by Jennifer in Pictures, Randomness

So our vacation wasn’t ALL bad. There really was a lot of good.

This was our charming beach house on Tybee Island. The upstairs was cute and beachy. Built in the 30′s, it still had it’s original wood floors and white clapboard walls.

Here was the “summer house,” advertised as livable, but sadly only for mosquitoes. At least it was cute to look at from a distance.

From the looks of the pictures I took of the kids, it seems like they had a good time. I guess I purposely didn’t take any pictures of them when they weren’t having fun. There really is no need to preserve those memories for posterity.

Tybee Island was a really lovely beach, minus the jellyfish. Ella and I are still battling our jellyfish stings. They are now itchy welts and against my protests, Tate read on Google that they usually leave scars.

We LOVED, LOVED, LOVED Savannah. We even got to eat at Paula Deen’s restaurant, The Lady and Sons. At the Roundhouse Museum a few hours after we ate at Lady and Sons, we ran into her son and grandson, Jamie and Jack Deen. It’s the little things in life, y’all, that I find exciting. (No pictures of the encounter, none of them turned out.)

The line to get our name on the list for lunch at 9:30 AM.

The founder of the Girl Scouts birthplace.

The Savannah Candy Company. The kids got Ring Pops, of course, since you can get those anywhere.

Thanks for humoring me and looking, I know how excruciatingly boring it can be to look at other people’s vacation photos. I’m in such a funk right now, hoping that getting the kids back to school next week will perk me up…and perk up this boring ol’ blog.

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Faux woe

Written on April 20, 2010 by Jennifer in Quirky Me, Randomness

I know that you don’t really want to hear about all the great things going on in my life right now. My kids have been the absolute apples of my eye for the past few weeks, it’s like I’m totally in love with them! They’re so charming, if I told you just how charming they were, you wouldn’t believe me. We’ve finally found a church that’s great and not weird! We can finally answer the age old southern get to know you question, “So, where do you go to church?” Yay for Jesus!

I LOVE MY HUSBAND (well, mostly)! I have friends, the kind you can call and go out to lunch with and have inside jokes! I’ve been exercising (Yes, AGAIN. But this time it’s going to stick!) I’m a recycling maniac and it makes me feel ridiculously satisfied and accomplished!

All those great things are SO BORING, in terms of blog entertainment value. I’ve been around long enough to know that ya’ll prefer the “woe is me” brand of blog post.

So here are a few things in my life that could use some improvement.

1. I can’t make iced-tea.
2. I’m horrible at getting birthday/occasion cards in the mail on time and sometimes they don’t make into the mailbox at all.
3. I’m starting to break my own rule of replying to email and I’m appalled and annoyed with myself for the unreplied-to emails in my inbox.
4. Sometimes I can’t keep my mouth shut when I should really KEEP MY MOUTH SHUT.
5. I’m terrible at making important decisions.
6. I’m supposed to record my receipts on our spreadsheet, but I haven’t done it for about six or seven months.
7. If there are Bagel Crisps or Fritos in the house, I can’t stop eating them.
8. I cannot keep my toilets clean, THEY ARE OUT TO GET ME.
9. Most of Ella’s clothes are stained, partly because she’s the messiest child alive and partly because I’m too lazy to stain treat.
10. My blog kind of sucks.

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Proclaiming my innocence and annoyance

Written on February 2, 2010 by Jennifer in Quirky Me, Randomness

I am a rule follower.

One time, in 5th grade, I got kicked out of Spencer’s in the mall for shoplifting. It’s been a few years, so I feel safe in admitting that I DID NOT SHOPLIFT FROM SPENCER’S! I was wrongly accused.

In college, on my 22nd birthday, I got accused of smoking pot in the bathroom of the Burgundy Room (anyone remember that place in Springfield? Art Bentley? *dreamily reminiscing*). Again, since it’s been awhile, I could confess. BUT I WAS NOT SMOKING POT IN THE BATHROOM OR ANYWHERE ELSE FOR THAT MATTER.

Since I’m all about honesty today, I will admit to stealing a very large, green thumbtack from the grocery store bulletin board when I was maybe eight years old. That is the extent of my criminal past.

Every time I leave a store that has those anti-theft sensors at the front door, I get a case of nervous tummy. This is not because I’ve stolen anything, but because I go through spurts where I set off alarms. Those alarms are SO ANNOYING. I never know exactly what to do in this situation. There’s never a soul around, well except for the priest, rabbi, and Sunday school teacher who just by happenstance are standing at the exit staring at me when I’m seeminginly leaving the store with stolen merchandise.

Usually what I do is keep on walking, trying to be as nonchalant as possible, other than quickening my pace just a skosh. I try to do my best impression of a person who’s completely unable to hear the alarm saying “Please return to the nearest cashier, we have failed to remove the merchandise control tag from your purchase.” (Which on an aside, I like how their alarm likes to pretend that it’s all THEIR fault, not mine. Well played. But I’m not falling for it.)

The entire walk/sprint to my car I’m usually braced for the come-behind attack from store security guards.

“DOWN, LADY! ON THE GROUND! WE KNOW YOU STOLE MERCHANDISE!” I wait and wait for the inevitable, that inevitably doesn’t come.

So what should I do when I set off store alarms, track down a store clerk to proclaim my innocence?

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Ta-ta 2009

Written on January 1, 2010 by Jennifer in Pictures, Randomness

If you’ve never been to a New Year’s Eve party hosted by a breast implant salesman, you’re truly missing out on a well rounded, perky time. These are a true party pleaser, you should have seen how Tate’s eyes lit up at the site of the breast implants. All of the kids even loved playing with what they thought were jellyfish.

(I’m totally cracking myself up over the double entendre in the title of the post. Get it!? Ta-ta? Get it!? Oh man, I’m hilarious. I’ll be here all weekend, folks! Don’t forget to tip your waitresses and bartenders!)

Happy New Year!!

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I am an adolescent

Written on November 29, 2009 by Jennifer in Extended Fam, NaBloPoMo, Pictures, Randomness

{snicker} Kum & Go. Seriously. Could there be a more ridiculous name for a gas station? The answer to that question is, “I think not.”

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

We were watching an episode of the Duggar’s show, 17 or 18 Kids and Counting on TLC. (I really love this show, but I forget how many they have, can you blame me?!)

During commercial break, the first ad was for the Nuva Ring.

{hee, hee!}

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

While visiting my family this weekend, my brother and his wife stayed at a hotel. Snickering, my brother told me that there was a sign where you put your key card in that said, “Pull out slowly.”

{HA!}

He’s obviously not a blogger or he’d have taken a picture. I blame him for ruining this blog post.

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