Merry Month of May

Well my fear was not realized... I woke up Saturday and it was, in fact, May 1st. I had this fear I would wake up and it would be April 1st all over again - I just couldn't take that! I could not do the month of April all over again! I didn't think it was ever gonna end.... but, whew, it did and I say "Arrivederci" to that long, rough ol' month. What made it so rough you ask... well that's a tough one - I really can't put a finger on it. Work was demanding, yes. The same running I always do. So to be honest, I'm not sure. It just was and perhaps that's enough of an explanation. At least I have two, yes TWO, state holidays this month - WooHoo!

So let's see... the ex is on house arrest. Somehow his sentence was reduced to a few month's worth of house restriction. He did not share that with me, his parents did not share that with me... the kids came home asking about it because some man showed up while they were there on Saturday and the grandparents had a moment of trying to cover it up, which of course raised the heightened awareness by the kids - they aren't stupid. They came home asking me and, of course I had no idea, so I called our minster and asked. Once he's finished with this he goes back to being a productive member of society (yeah right) and all will be right with the world. Barf.

Ah well, whatcha gonna do? He still continues to be a void in the kids' lives. They go have dinner and he spends the majority of his time upstairs. I really don't know what the deal is. Embarrassment? Gee, that really can only get a person so far. They didn't see him the whole month of April... and he was stuck at home. His loss, truly.

I think I'm going to treat myself to a coconut fruit bar...

Saturday

The year is wrapping up quickly - odd to say that huh? The year, in April, is wrapping up. May will be a whirlwind of activity. Rebecca's dance recital is on the 22nd and the week leading up to that will be evenings of rehearsals. Recital day itself is busy - two performances in one long drawn out day. The last day of school is the 28th, which just so happens to be Joshua's birthday. May is hectic, but wonderfully so...

This morning Rebecca and I had our hair cut. Rebecca's looks great, not too different than before, a little shorter, a few more layers... but still long. Me, well, I told her to do whatever because I really haven't cared too much and she sure did. It's about the same length but she shaped it and added some layers. I'm still trying to decide how I feel about it. I don't dislike it, it's just different and I've got to get used to it.

I think my hair unhappiness has more to do with the two blemishes that have erupted on my face than anything else... makes me feel icky all around. For goodness sakes I'm 43 years old and not one, but two pimples have decided to pop up. There is an episode of Family Guy where the oldest son gets a pimple and it's so huge and it takes on a personality of its own - it talks and tells the boy to do things, bad things. I feel like these two have been whispering in my ear and I feel like they are the only things visible on my face. Ewwww...

Tonight the kids and I went down to the local coffee shop for dinner. A young fella Joshua went to school with sings old blues songs from the 20's and earlier and was playing in the coffee shop tonight. He's researched this music, found recordings from way back when and has studied it. He's found local musicians from that era and can tell all the stories! We really enjoyed it. While listening we got a brilliant idea for a rehearsal dinner. Even though the kids aren't engaged yet (soon though I think) we've thrown around ideas... and I think we've decided a good ol' pig pickin' would be a blast, complete with checkered table clothes and mason jars filled with daises. We'll have the young fella come and sing bluegrass for us and it will be a laid back and very sweet celebration. I think this whole marriage thing is starting to sink in and be ok... :-)

Oh, I've not shared that little wrinkle with y'all, have I?

Ok, some truth here. This whole engaged/wedding thing was a little much for me. It's been my issue and my issue only and so I've not really made a big deal out of it. But, like most things I think, as time has gone by I've adjusted more and more to it. Don't get the wrong idea, I'm not whining about my baby boy leaving me, if I'm honest I feel like it's more about me aging, getting older. When it's come to the kids, however, I've learned to wait, be patient and trust my instincts - so now it's settling in and the excitement of it all is building some. The kids are looking at a wedding in the fall of 2011 and it's fun tossing around ideas. They've picked out a setting for a ring and I've given them the center stone from my ring. Now it's just a matter of time, waiting to see what Joshua decides as to when and where. There are big changes on the horizon - stay tuned!

A Few More Just For Fun

Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail...

I always take a picture of the kids at one of Rebecca's dance competitions - it's a yearly thing - a tradition. Today was the last competition and the venue was really funny about picture taking and the schedule was such it was difficult to get them all together while Rebecca was still in costume. Drat. But after the awards ceremony we all walked along the river in downtown Greenville and had some lunch. Walking back to the car we stopped for our yearly pic and here it is... version 5.0. Ya gotta love 'em.

Rant and Rave

It has been a horrendous week - and it's only Wednesday! It's a lot of work stuff... and then I'm having problems with our utilities. The phone company says I didn't pay the bill but I did - I mean I wrote the check and dropped it by the phone company - but I guess it didn't get credited or something. So I call and find out because I've not changed over the bills and put them in MY name they won't tell me anything - hey, they'll take a new check from ME but they won't tell me anything. And so, I ask what I need to do the change them over and the process just verified for me why I haven't done it yet. It's a pain in my ASS! He has to sign something, I have to sign something, I have to pay $22. The only saving grace is we don't have to come together. The cable company, on the other hand, demands us to come together. If not, he can call and cancel the service and that will leave me without service for a few days while they process the work order and run a friggin' background check on me and charge me a connection fee. Sheesh. I've not even bothered to call the electric company yet to see what the process is for that - probably involves a blood sacrifice and my first born. Who knows.

The crazy thing about all this is I've always paid the bills. I've always made sure they were on time. Now they wanna run a background check on me!? Yeah, um sure. right. So I called him, the ex, and told him the dilemma and he insisted the bills had been in BOTH our names and I had to say no, they weren't. He said he could have sworn and I said no, the nice ladies I've talked to wouldn't tell me anything because my name is NOT on any bill. He said I didn't understand what he was saying... but I did understand and the answer was/is no. My name is nowhere on any bill. So... damn. We gotta jump through some new flippin' hoops.

The lady at the cable company tried to make me feel better - she said, well, if it's any consolation it's harder to deal with when someone dies. I'm thinking to myself - what the heck - you folks try to squeeze money out of dead person? The federal government is so kind to us, all these protection laws... where were my protection laws when he was cattin' around on me? I was holding down the fort... and now I've got to get his permission to do him a favor. Screw it.

Ok... thanks for listening to my rant.

HAHAHAHA!

A late night/early morning muttering out of Joshua's mouth - "Tell those skinny girls to stop playing campfire songs..."

OMG! Too funny!

Dance Pictures DONE

And here we are - I didn't take as many yesterday as I did on Tuesday - too lazy really - and besides, I was paying for the good stuff so I didn't spend as much time with my camera. I really have all the intentions in the world of purchasing a new camera - a fancy shmancy camera - but I've not gotten there yet. Perhaps one day. It was more important to invite Loretta and Franklin into our house than a new camera. I'll get there...

Until then I'll struggle along... sniff sniff...

I've got more to say but not enough time to say it in... so I'll sign off for now - taking Rebecca to see The Last Song tonight - she read the book and now she's just GOT to see the movie - tomorrow it's shopping with my mother - oh fun... lol... I'm kidding -we've not done this in a while and I'm taking her out for her birthday - girl time. Have a great Good Friday if anyone is reading this - I'll be back...