Friday Night Fish Fry

Too much on my mind

I think that somehow, we learn who we really are and then live with that decision.

Eleanor Roosevelt

For days our dining room table has been covered in photos that needed framing.  I had gone back and forth and back and forth...and you know I am not very decisive...but I decided on which 2 I wanted to enter into the upcoming "Expressive" art show.  I got my frames on a shopping trip with mom yesterday, lined things up and went to work this morning.  I had matted the largest photograph and looked down to see it had this strange red color showing on the black and white.

It was blood.  From my finger, from a staple puncture when I was taking the frame out of the packaging.  I just couldn't believe it.

 

I couldn't get my kitty icon up yesterday because I somehow deleted ALL my icons.   

I am forgetting so much and doing so many crazy things that I think I am glad I do have some girl time coming up....and a beach trip in a few weeks.

Mom and I went into Dick's Sporting Goods after the big mall to get my nephew's birthday present.  When I walked in I made a mental note that I should put my keys in my purse and not just carry them because I'd lost them not so long ago doing that.

It is the last stop.  We're tired.  I'd changed my heels for flip flops.  We checked out and whalaa no keys.  The car was locked and you can't lock my keys in the car AND I thought I remembered my mental note to myself that I apparently paid no attention to whatsoever.  No one had turned them in, they weren't on the counter from check out. 

Then I remembered the Toonster had called me and I couldn't find the phone so I'd sat my stuff on the ground and dug the phone out.  So it was his fault I'd lost my keys.  But they weren't where I'd sat my purse down.  Time rolled by, I was ready to cry.  Toonces was going to have to drive an hour down to get me and mama.    Mom said "where are those compression pants you put back that Martin said he didn't need when you were on the phone?"  I found them.  Picked them back up and my keys came out.  I was so mad.  If Toonces hadn't bothered me and I sat my stuff down and if he'd just taken the pants none of this would be happening to me.  Trust me I tried to rationalize with myself and take some responsibility but I was tired and it was just too hard.  It was his fault.

I got home and had to get the calculator out, concerned with my mental notes of just what I actually spent versus what I thought I had spent.  Man money doesn't go anywhere anymore. 

At least I will be getting $100 back thanks to the pink terrycloth Nike outfit mom talked me into without trying on.  It is gathered right below the knee.    I looked like a fool.  They were like exercise knickers.  Toonces got so tickled I knew I looked awful.  He said "surely you didn't try that on and then buy that?"  Then later he said "Please put some white tube socks up to your knees in that outfit, please, just do it.  You look like George Washington or somebody."   

I was not amused.

This would be rambling...

It is not easy to find happiness in ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere.

Agnes Repplier

Today Izzy and I made up a routine to Paula Abdul's new dance song.  Well Izzy made it up and I followed instructions or was scolded.  I had such a hard time not getting tickled and would have to sometimes turn so she couldn't see me grinning.  Here are some of Izzy's direct quotes while we started and stopped, until we had the routine down.

"Deeeenaaah, why did you try to do a split, you know you can't do that stuff?"

"If you have to do your bootie shake do it here in this part while I do this... I don't wanna shake my butt."

(Because I kept asking when did I get to shake my bootie)

"Here we throw our head back and give them the look...no not that look, this look.  The tough girl look like I am sooo good at dancing."

"Now here give 'em that 'Be Afraid of me' look."

"Deana I don't think that is the running man."

"Here I want you to do the move like a cat that is licking itself....no stop making the noise Deana, that is gross.  Just pretend to lick."

"Did you really used to be as skinny as me?"

I had no idea I had started becoming so not flexible.  After the routine and several glasses of water I was going to make her do yoga with me but I couldn't find my favorite routines on the DVR.  Somehow all my stuff had been erased.

This was quite a surprise.  5 of them.  From Caleb for my birthday, with his own money.  He bid on them all by himself at the livestock auctions in Mount Airy.  Actually I was supposed to get 3 and he was taking one for him and one for Seth but my dad told him he had about as much chance of raising that to maturity at his house as he did in the middle of the highway.  So they are all here.  For now. 

No it isn't covered in lice, that is corn meal.  I didn't have any real chick food handy.

My new Macro Canon lens came today.  A birthday gift to myself pretty much.  I still have a lot to learn but it is an area I was hoping would inspire a bit more creativity.  I'm excited. 

Allergy season has started here.  Maple pollen and Cedar is really high and my throat, nose, face...everything is starting to take a toll.  I am always tired this time of year.  It is an effort to get anything done.  But that's life.  We all have something.

Caleb is next up for a visit tomorrow.    Ben and Jackson come this weekend while Delane and Amy take off and celebrate 10 great years of marriage.  Hard to believe it has been that long. 

American Idol tonight?  I loved Micheal Johns and David Cook... Brooke was okay.  Those were my votes.

I am not sure whether I can't believe I tried to do a split or if it is that I cannot believe I am soooo far from being able to do one.  What the heck happened?  Life?  Either way, I am going to be sore in the morning.

Cheers!

PS-  Toonces said I could not mention my birthday anymore.  I've celebrated for over a week now and he is tired of hearing it so I'm done.  No more birthday mentions.  Sorry.  I've worn it out.

I'll take the Gucci please, oh and how 'bout those Donna Karan frames?

Don't think there are no crocodiles because the water is calm.

Malayan Proverb

"What is out there Izzy?"  I wouldn't know because I can't see anymore.

Yes, Rollie had to get glasses.  My 15/15 has moved on down the line.  My left eye is still 20/20 but my right eye wasn't even 20/30 as my regular physician had suggested.  What is next in the row 20/40?

Rollie was very excited when they dropped the glass like screen over her eyes in the projector and she could see clearly again.  "It is just like the good old days!"  I exclaimed.  "And that was a whole year and a half ago right?" he asked.

When they go they go quickly.

He did tell me that I certainly did not look my age.  I shyly smiled and told him I would be even older next month and batted my eyes...my blurry old eyes.  He told me he can always tell a persons age by their eyes.  That the eyes were not prejudice to the overweight or unhealthy.  That the gym crowd and healthy eaters eyes went just as quickly.  I was right on track.

He wrote up this page and took me to be seated in the frames area.  "I get to get glasses?" I asked.  "Oh yes." he said.  "Can I get laser surgery instead?"

He started laughing, turned in his tracks and walked over and slapped me on the back.  "No, no you can't.  You won't be going down that road!" and he laughed until he had disappeared down the hall.  I'm guessing other people don't ask about this just for reading glasses and computer work?

I realized sitting here looking face to face with a girl and seeing only a white glow that I was truly now blind as a bat.  I couldn't pick out my frames because they had dilated my eyes.  I've never had that done.  Thankfully Delane and Amy live right down the street and Amy and Ben took care of me until I could see to drive again.  Thank goodness it was cloudy. Today the pupils still look bigger than normal.  I had a Rollism last night when I said to Toonces "You didn't even ask about having my eyes violated?"

Rollie was excited once again when she noticed that the frames were by shoe designers.  Cool, I thought as I lined my choices up along the wall.  As I narrowed it down to two pairs I was informed that No, no the insurance would not pay anything on a 2nd pair. 

The nice lady at the desk came over and helped me while I modeled my frames.  "You don't have to wear these ALL the time you know?"  "I know but a girl still wants to look cute.  I want that smart and hot combo you used to see in MTV videos....back when MTV had videos."  She just laughed and helped me make my final decision.

They thought I was an odd bird I'm sure because if I didn't like the shoe designer I wouldn't even try on their frames. 

So, next week there should be a picture up of Rollie in her glasses.  Maybe my little still good eyed sis can make one for me.  I'd like to capture the Adam Ant vibe from the video "What do you do?".  ....and that is showing my age.

"Run Caleb, run."

I'd promised the kids these.

Laura at Vitamin Sea is doing this fun sign meme.  Basically you are photographing signs from your area and doing a post.  A few, a bunch, doesn't matter.  But you need to go to Laura's and let her know you are doing this.  Saturday March 1st we all post our signs.  Sound fun?  Visit Laura.

It is bitch cold again here for a couple of days.  I am making a big pot of homemade vegetable beef soup AND, AND an apple caramel cake.  I know what you guys are thinking.  Let's hope not.  I will really let this one cool a long time so maybe it will hold together.  I made a meatloaf Monday from my own recipe and it was deliciouses!!!!  You never know how it will roll with Rollie.

----PS, to my girlfriends, remind me to tell you what awful thing happened to me on the treadclimber at the gym yesterday.

Miss Rollie...or is that Mrs. Rollie

When you think of the long and gloomy history of man, you will find more hideous crimes have been committed in the name of obedience than have ever been committed in the name of rebellion.

C. P. Snow

Ruby.

Mizz Spidey to you-  Rollie is both excited and a bit terrified to have been given actual photography assignments by a regional magazine for some articles for this county.  Toonces has been calling me Jimmy Olsen.  I prefer Peter Parker since he actually got to turn into the real superhero.  Jimmy was just a sidekick.  Not that I could ever be Spider-Man.  1- I couldn't take that mask over my face and nose.  I'd feel suffocated.  and 2- I am afraid of heights.  3- red is not my best color.  4-  I would have to worry about holding my stomach in while swinging from building to building.  It would be awful.

Ms. Inconsiderate- Last night Toonces had gotten in bed and was trying to go to sleep.  I came out of the bathroom and had to cut the overhead light on to find my face mask and pink ear plugs.  One plug was under the bed.  Then I realized I needed to apply some Kerasilk serum on my hair because I'd washed it earlier in the evening and it would be fuzzy without it.  I went and put on my hair treatment.  Decided to add some more eye cream.  Remembered to put something on my lips.  Walked to the bedroom and realized I'd left the overhead on this entire time.   Poor T is so much nicer than me.  I would've raised Cain over that.

Mrs. Sad-  My thoughts and prayers are with all my dear friends at Perry World.   I am just broken hearted....and it feels like a death in the family.   Hang in there.  When one door closes another one will open.  It just hurts an awful lot in between.   ....and another swift blow is dealt to the town of Mount Airy.  Perry will always have a very special place in my heart and I will really miss having that world to visit (and email!).

Mis-Chievous-  No one said an Auntie couldn't pull the occasional prank over on her little nephews or niece and I've got a good one on little Ben.  He is going to have the shock of his life when he opens his card from Aunt Dee and Uncle Toonces.

Ms. when will you learn not to be an idiot- Sharon reminded me she wanted a copy of my latest CD mix, which includes the cool song Low, and I went to iTunes..still on the Notebook...and the message popped up that I need Quicktime to support iTunes and please reinstall iTunes.  Son ** * *****.  I deleted Quicktime last week thinking it was just taking up space.  When will I learn to stop deleting programs to make room.  I already can't watch movies on the old one because I deleted the software to run the program somehow.  I was supposed to delete my old Photoshop since all new Photoshop programs are on my new desktop...but no I thought I might need it when I travel.  My Notebook has so little memory....ARG.  I hope I didn't loose my iMusic.  None of the Jan purchases had been backed up.  Great Rollie.  But Sharon never fear you will have your cd.  I did have that one copied to my music on the desktop.

Have a nice Day..........

Spaz City

spaz- as defined by Wikipedia:  The term can also be used in a pejorative context and all its various colloquial diminutives such as spaz carry this sense. Their level of severity depends on whether one understands them as they are used in the United States or the United Kingdom ^[1]. In the UK they are not used in polite society and are considered highly abusive terms that generally denote people deemed to be mentally or behaviorally deficient. In the US they are more closely associated with hyperactivity or clumsiness and carry little offensive connotations.

In the US this word was first made famous by Steve Martin and then catapulted to the mainstream by Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

Christmas lights in February.  I try not to notice.  I've already packed the boxes away but like it or not I am going to have to dig out the outdoor box soon and put these away.

What would the Easter Bunny think?

Mrs. Spaz-  I am on Sipro for a bladder infection.  Last night was my 3rd dose and somehow I completely lost my pill.  I could not for the life of me remember if I had taken it or not.  I couldn't double up because Sipro barely stays on my stomach anyway.  In fact, I was heating up a bit of mac and cheese to take a bite to take the med to coat my tummy when I lost track of the pill.  At some point it was in my hand.  This morning I felt worse so I am guessing I accidentally threw it in the trash.

I mailed the gallery checks yesterday without stamping the return address.  I thought of this as soon as I woke up this morning.  Yet somehow I never noticed or remembered while I was buying and applying stamps in the post office.  Let's hope they all have the correct artist addresses. 

This morning I ate oatmeal so I could take my medicine.  I went to the cabinet and got my pill from the prescription bottle.  BEFORE I swallowed I thought, Gosh you are so stupid lately that you better make sure and sure enough I spit out an Allegra.  I had already taken my Allegra by repetition as soon as I arrived in the kitchen this morning.  So I would have been up 1 on the allergy meds and -1 on the antibiotic.  Actually I would've been -2 since I missed last night.

Geez...one of the things I hate most about myself is when I get into that mode of not THINKING before I act.   I've got to quit being such a spaz.

Caleb and his teammate Eli and their basketball trophy for 2nd place.  (Look at my sweet Earl getting his picture made too...he thinks he is the mascot but they are Blue Ridge Bulldogs, not Labradors....don't tell him.)

Thursday night I went to watch Caleb's team play their big rival.  Good lord.  It was like Duke and Carolina in the ACC playing.  Screaming, crying...it was the most emotional kid's game I've seen.  Caleb's team lost by 2 in the last 20 secs of the game.  Caleb, already injured in his hand and face, went down on his knees in just sobs and heartbreak.  Eli had come back into the game with a bleeding head.  The kids were devastated.  I cried all the way home.

My sister informed me that all the games are not like that, just the main rival game.  I guess that is just sports and competition.  I know they learn from it but there was so much energy and tension in the gym that Rollie couldn't hardly breath.  Everyone on edge...standing in the bleachers...the child is 10.  How is Rollie going to take watching them when they reach the high school level? 

My BFF Sharon was there, an auntie to Caleb pretty much.  Her nerves were so shot that she had to go home and fix her a White Russian!  Now that is stress people!

Sometimes I am glad I don't have kids.  I would have to have book nerds I guess.  Mama Rollie would be out on the court, or field, scrapping with the refs, the other team parents or heaven forbid grabbing up her 10 year old son and cuddling him, making sure he was okay in front of his team mates.   Toonces would ban me from the games.

Have a great weekend...enjoy the Superbowl!  Isn't Paula Abdul performing?  I have to pull for the Patriots.  I think it would be cool to be undefeated....that and Brady is hot.   Mostly I just watch for the commercials.

Rollie tells childhood secrets...no, not really.

Too much sanity may be madness - and the maddest of all - to see life as it is, and not as it ought to be.

Don Quixote

She has my flair for style...love the green frog slippers. 

And maybe my thing of talking too much about nothing.

I found this while looking for something in my wallet...

Some random things about me as a kid:

I always wanted a chimpanzee.  I wanted one so badly.  At night when I went to bed I'd go to sleep imagining that chimp on my hip and what baby clothes of Melanie's I'd dress her in.  Maybe it came from "Beverly Hill Billies"  I don't know.

I loved Happy Days, Brady Bunch, The Carol Burnett Show...The Sonny and Cher Show, Flip Wilson (I was young on those)....I loved Wild Wild West and had a huge crush on Robert Conrad.  We also watched Batman and Robin but I think Delane liked that one more than I did.   I know all the Gunsmoke, Bonanza, High Chaparral and The Andy Griffith Show.

I still remember being excited on Sunday night when Disney would come on and when you were lucky enough for it to be a real movie, like Snow White, it was just heaven.

I grew up in the Terry Bradshaw and Roger Staubach years.  Still like Pittsburgh, still hate Dallas..though I do pull for the Redskins tops as an adult.

I can remember being in fifth grade at a party for something with the little record turntables and Kiss albums...and the boys all oogling over wrestling mags with guys like WaHoo McDaniel on a page with his forehead bleeding.  Those boys took that so seriously.  I remember when Nature Boy, Rick Flair came on the scene and even I thought he was cool.

I took dance classes when I was young but stopped by the time I got to high school.  Would you like to see a little tap routine?

Things I was afraid of:  the monkeys in "the Wizard of Oz", the Bumble when he topped the mountain and roared in Rudolph, When Bonnie and Clyde got blown to bits in their car, When Scarlet tried to get that mule over the bridge through the fire and home....intense stuff for a kid and mostly....and still scary...is that scene in "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" where that evil long nose man is gathering up the children and he is trying to catch the main characters little kids...now that is scary stuff.  To this day I hate that scene and the monkeys coming down to get Toto.

I was very girlie looking but a total tom boy.  I could run like lightening until I was 16 and started getting too girlie...I would win races with the boys.  I'd scrap behind the school in the little circle you'd go to fight if anyone did anything to me our my buddies.  I was often in little friends circles and clubs though I never did like holding hands with other kids.  Germs mostly.  I would jump out of my swings, race little motorcycles and jump my own bike fearlessly.

I had long hair until I was 17 except for my 3rd grade year.  Long long hair that would come home with glue from a boy in science class...bubble gum from lying in a piece doing sit ups in gym...Mom always threatened to cut it but she never did.

So there is  a little bit about the young Rollie today. 

A trip down memory lane.

Last night's memory:

I came in with my new do and thought maybe I will just put the roast on and we will slip off on a date.  I'd like to see "Cloverfield".  I loved "Blair Witch". 

Then I had a time getting it all together, then a tiny piece of onion from the soup mix tore a hole in my bag and leaked on my just dry cleaned sweater so I decided to have wine while I cooked.   Plus it took me 15 minutes to find the ties that had fallen out of the box and one of the cats had carried off as a cat toy.  Things looked up after I saw that bottle in the fridge.  The horses even got to eat the leftover carrots.

I really do like to drink wine while I cook.  And I am a happy little girl with a big meal and a big smile when Toonces gets home!

The roast was wonderful, my best yet.  Maybe double bagging is the trick.   We did not make it to the movies.  I have fought a UTI all week and it has caught up with me.  Thank goodness my regular doc visit was already scheduled for today.

Tonight- Caleb's basketball game.  I have yet to see him play.

After that I am wishing for bad weather because if school is closed then the gallery is closed.  I could just go in and do the books and not have to be there ALL day.  No one comes in on the yucky weather days...it's lonely.

You can't see it well but I went from the Posh cut to more the Katie Holmes cut.  I was tired of those 2 long strands in the front and the back up.  Plus everybody and their mama was suddenly getting that hair cut and I can't take that....plus I wanted more bangs back.  This is a shaggy-er bob...not so boxy so the back is very thin at my neck and can be messy, boyish, or slicked up for a dressy night.  I had some real dark chocolates put in but I have to leave some blond highlights because Rollie suddenly has a clump of white bastards in my crown and the blond softens the growth until my next coloring. 

-  I should've been a hair stylist. 

One day I am taking my camera and letting you meet Randy...he is so cute and very cool.

Tired of me yet?

Thought so!

Have a good day!

---Last night Rudy G was giving that long winded goodbye speech and kiss McCain's booty talk and I said "I think Rudy just likes to hear Rudy talk"  and now I am thinking maybe Rollie blogs just to hear Rollie talk.   Hmmm.

The Trophy Wife

He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree.  ~Roy L. Smith

Hello?  Anyone in there?  anyone?

I am as exhausted from spending the entire day and night Christmas shopping as I was after a night out on the town last weekend.   If there was a Nintendo like score for shopping I think we would be way up there!  I left in the morning and came home around midnight.

So guess who never found a decent new tree skirt or tree topper but managed to buy a new pair of jeans in Banana Republic when they only went in to smell the latest cologne and for her friend to look at jeans?  Who just bought a pair like a month ago but has new ones again?

Who bought a sweater at White/Black without trying it on and now has to drive it back down there because she was too tired to try it on and it swallows her whole...and it is too $$$ to not return it?

Who could find no Christmas decor to her liking but came home with a stuffed Christmas cat from Coldwater Creek because it was soft and looked like Darius?

ME!

Who left this out last night for her husband to find first thing this morning?

Yep, me again.

I found this in an unusual little store and I was telling the clerk that my husband was so sweet that when he found it the next morning he would laugh and then say "yes, you are my little trophy wife sweetheart."

The girl standing beside the clerk said "Ahhhh, that is so sweet....do you have a son?"

The record skipped in my head..IRIRIIIRIRIRIIRIRI!

What?  I did a double take to her and so did the other clerk in a way that said don't be rude to our customers she might not really be as old as she looks.

I mean granted she was about 19 or 20ish and I could have a son old enough to date her but people used to never think I looked my age...plus she certainly must not have thought I fit the trophy wife criteria.  "You should have seen me last weekend in my mini dress and heels you little twerp".....that is what my mind was saying.

When we were leaving and of course I was breaking down this horrible injustice to my bff Sharon...when you are used to hearing brother and hear son it just hurts...and she said "well we have been shopping all day and we do look kind of rough."

Like sh*t was more like it I found out by the time we went to eat and I found a restroom.

I've decided for one that I have had it with these little sweaters I've been wearing trying to be all sweet and domesticated.  After being told the one I wore to grandmother's Thanksgiving aged me 10 years and now this when I had on my little black cashmere cardigan.

I've also decided to start putting on my good makeup to go out shopping....and really fixing my hair, not just washing it and leaving it....and maybe even heels.   Surely I could go back to looks over comfort any time I was out in public, it hasn't been that many years has it?  And I am going to start wearing low cut tops out shopping instead of being so darn modest.

She will think trophy wife next time she sees me!

Ooh and I can wear my little gold puffer jacket with the fur trim I found for myself while shopping for T's Christmas present!

Hello?  Anyone in there?  anyone,anyone?

I'm wondering if trophy wives are even supposed to make a big deal over a new washer and dryer......hmmm.

Guilty Pleasures Post #15

In times of joy, all of us wished we possessed a tail we could wag.

W.H. Auden

Last night after dinner I asked Martin to help me come up with a guilty pleasures list so I could complete the meme Colleen tagged me with. 

I knew that years ago coming home and watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer on TNT after a long days work had been a guilty pleasure.  When Buffy went off I would come home and curl up on the sofa with dinner, my cigs (back then), and watch Charmed and Angel.   I knew that the years I spent on 90210 would be guilty pleasures but I was just drawing a complete blank on what I had as current GPs.

"Toonces would you please give me something to work with?" I asked.

T-  "Love will keep us together by Captain and Tennille.  You love that song and that is a guilty pleasure."

Me- "Why would that be a guilty pleasure?"

T-  "Because it is terrible...It is an awful song and you love it."  "You even burned it on a CD and have it in your car."

Me-  "That is not an awful song...who wouldn't like Captain and Tennille?  That is a great old song...just because something is old shouldn't make it a guilty pleasure.  I don't think that should count."

T-  "That is because you're egocentric and you think just because you like something everyone should like it."

I couldn't come back to that because I realized that was true.  I hadn't considered that.    I had a moment of clarity.  Things started making sense.  I am pretty sure my brother may have said something similar to that many many years ago growing up.    No wonder it is hard for me to understand other people, and them me at times.

Not all that many moons ago someone told me that Johnny Cash and Folsom Prison Blues was my guilty pleasure.   I didn't get it then.  I thought "who wouldn't adore J.C.?"  I had friends in a band that would play it for me but complained it cleared the room.  I was too excited to notice and took the "hell yeahs" from the rednecks in the back to mean that everyone was charmed by my song request.

THEN, one of the greatest publicity turn arounds ever in America, Johnny became an Icon.  In the late '90s his new management team reminded us what all Johnny had given us.  They released greatest hits done over in fancy box sets.  They reminded us of the Johnny and June love affair.  Johnny was everywhere and by the time he did "Hurt" he was the legend he was meant to be once again.    Trust me, look it up, there were years where Johnny was uncool.

So now my GP had turned into what I already knew all along.  Johnny was one of the greatest and should be appreciated.   Egocentric or not I was right on this one.

Later in the kitchen that night I told Toonces that I guessed 90 percent of the music I owned would be considered a guilty pleasure.  "I guess Harper Valley PTA would be one?"  "Harper Valley PTA is definitely a guilty pleasure."

So I guess my entire movie collection and CD collection might not be hip but I am still confident in my tastes.....and confidence is after all what really makes you cool.  Well that and good hair.

My list is not set up like Colleen's...if you want to do the real meme go visit her.    I just can't get my mind to give me answers like she has so here we have:

Rollie's Guilty Pleasure Partial List:  (maybe)

In addition to the TV shows mentioned above I loved Saved by the Bell.

I watch Hannah Montana because I think she and her dad Billy Ray are funny.

I can get into one of those History Channel shows like "Things not told in the Bible" and get lost for hours.

I still know the words to Milli Vanilli songs and own the Hanson Mmmmbop CD.

I watch the movie Anaconda Hunt for The Blood Orchid over and over.

I liked Road House and will still watch it on TNT if I find it.

Cokes...Cheese....Redbull

I love B horror movies from the 70s and 80s.

I could put glitter on anything.

I love makeup and own tons of it.

CDS in my collection include some of my favorites:   REO Speedwagon, Journey, Motley Crue, Eddie Money, Foreigner, Boston, Poison

I think Jive Talkin' is wonderful.

My Freddy Fender Collection.

I can sing the words to "The day that Billy Joe McCallister jumped off the Tallahachee Bridge."

My collection of big fuzzy slippers, most recently giant tigers.

Motrin

American Idol Fanatic.

 

New Hair and Rollie Speaks

I always wanted a happy ending... Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity.

Gilda Radner
US actress & comedienne (1946 - 1989)

Yesterday I sat in the hairdresser's chair reading Jenny McCarthy's story promoting her book about her autistic child and I cried.   There just has to be some reason that so many kids are born autistic now and I was thankful that all 5 of ours are so healthy.  She spoke of how autistic toddlers flap their arms all the time and she had thought it was so cute.  Now after a strict diet with no sugars, yeast, etc. he can actually communicate with her.  She had asked him why he flapped like that and he said "Because mommy I would just get so excited and I would fly the way the angels do."  That from a little one just made me burst out into tears.   I didn't know lining the cars up in a straight row as a baby was a bad sign.  I remember how neat Caleb was with his Thomas trains being lined up...the difference I think is that the autistic kids only line up and don't play.    I've seen babies that flapped their little arms alot...I had no idea that was a bad thing. 

I sat down with Martin not long ago because my clock is running at the end...the tick tick is barely there.    It is probably more like Siler's faint tick in Heroes.  Just enough there to scare you.  If you think about the fact that this is my one life and that I will never have my own kids there is a certain sadness to that.  But at 41 1/2 is it fair to decide I want one just for the sake of having one?    Could I even keep up with the little thing?  Isn't it superficial to have one to see if it would look like me?  And what if it didn't....what if it was like Toonces?  I don't think everyone was meant to have kids and a good many in this country shouldn't have.    Too many aren't taken care of.  Then I look at my risks of what could go wrong.  Then I look at Caleb and Jackson and Izzy and Seth and Ben and how much I love them and maybe a part of my journey is to teach them something wonderful.  Maybe at some point in their childhood they will be inspired by something I have done for them or with them and that alone will filter through and help the direction of mankind.   Martin and I both believe without any doubt that we were meant to be together.  Had we not messed it up the first time maybe we would be parents.  But maybe we wouldn't appreciate each other as much.   I think he and I have our own unit...it just includes Labs and cats. 

People sometimes will come up and talk to me about adoption or fostering.  No..no no...I don't think they realize the reason we don't have kids is that we don't want kids.  It isn't like I couldn't have children.   It was the decision to be a super aunt instead and spoil Delane and Melanie's children......and Martin not having to work the rest of his life and us being able to travel alot.    And Rollie getting her cat naps mid day.  My gift was not being motherly...that is a definate, maybe baby sis got all that.    That is why little children like me so much...I am immature.

And when I look at those sweet little babies with the fat cheeks that smell so good....I remember that they don't stay that way long.  You blink and they start talking back to you. 

One thing I do regret is figuring out so late that freedom is not all that it is cracked up to be..........I ran for a long time because I was afraid of being ordinary...or settling down...or not having a good time.      I've learned after so many years that it is not what gets put in that makes for a good time, it is what comes OUT of me that makes for a good time.  (talking heart here) I was really stupid.   There is nothing wrong with being ordinary.   There is nothing wrong with loving your family.  There is nothing wrong with being a goof on the go-karts instead of the cool girl dressed to kill smoking cigs to stay thin and drinking alot to be sociable hanging out in every new club that opens........There is peace in being that goof.   

Maybe Brittany needs to learn that lesson.

The not so serious Rollie....

Ta-Da

The back is really really short thanks to Rollie's scissor work.  He said that would teach me not to cut my own hair.   We added some chocolate back in.  Spice things up and warm them a bit for fall.   Personally I like having some dark back.

Look how sweet I am.

Okay...quit looking at your own picture Miss Mrs. Vanity and continue on......but you know that is NOT Photoshopped at all and my teeth look great.....

Another one that never misses the opportunity to pose for the camera:

She can spot a camera quicker and further away than anyone I've ever known.

Seth seems to love it and hate it at the same time. 

Thankful...

Right now we are so thankful for this rain.  We have been in the middle of the most severe drought here ever, or since humans started recording it anyway.  I could have ended the drought by having my hair done more often....when I get my hair done, we get rain.  Right now we are getting several small showers throughout the days. 

How about this for wet and wild?  I was afraid of my cold coming back...Shishy, Papa and I skipped this craziness.

Time to get back to work.  My photography has really taken off and I was a busy bee for the past few months doing shoots.   I've also sold all but one framed piece in the gallery.    (I've actually been putting some serious cash in the kitty!)  But I took the past few weeks off with no appointments and no gallery work..................that ends today. 

Goodbye lazy girl...it sure has been nice knowing ya!

 

Rollie...rolling into year number 3!!!!!!

I want to entertain people. That's my whole life. To my last breath.

Elvis Presley

See that lovely lady in the bottom corner....

That's my mom.  She has always been a beauty.  Tomorrow night is her big night at the Star Theater here in Stuart.  Her name is up on the marquis now...I think that is kinda cool. 

It shocks me how much my mouth and chin and nose are like mom's.  If you cover her eyes it looks so  much like me.    My sis looks a whole lot like her too in a different way.

My brother made the cool invitations.

We are helping Wilma say goodbye to her 50s in style.

I have been sick this week from some virus I caught on the airplane.  At least now it has dropped towards my lungs and I can deal better...I've had to put off all the running to one day...today.  Toonces won't see me again till midnight.

OOOOPs....

I was over visiting  Naomi and when I saw it was her 2nd Blog-aversary I thought "Hey, when is mine?"  I knew we were close in starting out.   Congratulations again to her.

Actually mine was this past Monday so I missed my own darn party!

I went back looking around because we have another special anniversary and birthday coming up here at the Clark House.....

The Thugs turn 2 on October 13th.

Miss Lilly Munster Clark passed away last October 12th.

But looking back made me miss blogging.  "What's happened to me?"  "Why am I so dull now?"...I had some good stuff back then!  I used to just write, almost every morning, about what I was feeling right then.  Now it is like I squeeze it in when I have time.  I don't want to do that.  Some say real life takes over...but is any connection not as real as any other?  Are we all not connected somehow and this lets us get to know people inside out instead of seeing a wall of physical looks and maybe never going any further?    Isn't it fun when you have a new commenter and you get to know each other?  I find out things from all over the world.   I'm not ready to give this up.  I want anniversary number 3 darn it and I want it to be a spectacular new year!

I have some changes in mind too.

I really have been trying to structure things in my life, the house is almost finished, enough that I am comfortable again...(some pics next week I hope...) and I want my blog to be part of that structure.  Not every day, but much better than I do now.

Don't you miss the stories of "Honey I better show you what I did today, but it was an accident."?  To which Toonces answers, "Isn't it always an accident little Rollie."  In fact we went through that Tuesday when I had to show him how I cut the parquet floor in my office moving things, leading him to find a sticky spot where I had used my picture adhesive inside instead of outdoors.

Rollie-isms unleashed......

For those that don't know me that wonder if this persona on this blog really exists Joe in Vegas got to see first hand that I am the real deal.  Not only did he get to see me go into automatic pageant smile pose form in the instant a camera was pulled out, he saw me blame Toonces for getting me lost in the casino, and switch hands on the slots so that my ring would be in the photos he took of me gambling....and this morning he sent me a note saying that the cell phone number I'd sent him before I flew out wasn't the right number (I have a hard time remember my cell number, I don't call it)  but when I called him he got the right one.  And the pictures Martin made of he and I were terrible.  Martin really is a horrible photographer.

Okay I am off to gather mints, cake, balloons and strippers.  Just kidding mom...no cake.

   

 

Help Wanted: Computer Savvy Friends Apply Here

When you get to the end of your rope tie a knot and hang on.

Winston Churchill

Fair photos-  Izzy and Autumn-  Blue, Red, Red

So far today I have lost my post and the charger for my cell phone.  It is the only thing that appears to have been lost in the shuffle of remodeling but I am not happy about it after spending 30 minutes looking for it.

I need some technical support please...  anybody out there?

I had a website, www.dhcprints.com, where my galleries were stored for showcasing.  Photosite who published this went out of business.  They sent an email notification and the link to purchase my domain name.  I went and purchased my name dhcprints.com because it is on my envelopes and business cards already.  I also signed up for a general photo gallery through the webhost for my photos.  I was dropped by Photosite before the end of August yet they were not to be discontinued until September 27th.  So for this entire month, that I have paid for under the new host I have nothing at dhcprints.com but a note from Photosite saying they are going out of business.

I had sent Photosite a note saying I'd purchased my name as instructed so why was I still linked to them.  I got a nasty reply that they would not be off the site until September 27th when they discontinued all services.  Today is September 28th.  If you go to my link it has their stupid sign still up.  I shot them back a note this morning saying look you SOBs it is after the 27th... I have all this money tied up in this link but I can't seem to take control of it.

No one can help me and I know nothing about domains etc.  I have followed the instructions.  PowWeb the host says I own www.dhcprints.com and that the Coppermine gallery should be there.  I just don't know what to do.....any suggestions from you technical guys????  Joe, Utenzi....Delane...anybody?

A Meme for A Monday

The good old days weren't always good, and tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems.

Billy Joel

I've been pulling out things for a yard sale.....after our good cleaning it only seems fitting to get stuff out of here we'll never use.  That said this weekend was the Antique Festival in Stuart and we came home with this...

I didn't need it but I love it and it looks wonderful in our big bathroom downstairs.  So I am bringing more in before I get stuff out basically.  The photos don't do this piece justice.  I love the blue hues and the yellow design around each drawer.  It came from an old inn torn down in Texas.

MEME....

I was tagged by Naomi for this one:  I copied the rules from her blog.

1. You have to post these rules before you give the facts.
2. You must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had.

3. At the end of your blog post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Gayle....Deana Gayle Heath or Deana Heath Clark now but I'm going with my birth middle name.

G-   G for glitter.  Glitter Girl.  Because I love anything glittered, sequined, furry, fuzzy, shiny...that's me.    I like things out of the ordinary...and pretty.

A-  A for ass.  You thought I'd say aunt right?  But I can be just an ass.  I've made an ass out of myself WAY too many times to count.  I can be a complete dumbass...a mean ass....stubborn ass.....and just a regular old asshole.  Just ask Toonces, or Sharon, or Lisa or Edd or heck just ask my mom.

Y- Youthful-  I have a fun side that doesn't grow old.  Like Peter Pan.  The kids keep that side fresh.

L- The 3 Ls are my motto...Live, Love and Laugh. 

E-  Expressive...no that is not expensive misspelled though that might be true too.  But I am very expressive about my opinion and just in general.  I am one of those people who talks with my hands...rolls my eyes at inappropriate times and just has a hard time not showing just how I really feel. 

So there you go.  I tried thinking outside the box.  And here is who I tag..... I know one G so I'll go Gattina.  I know an A so Amy at Short People.  The others- YLE-  I can't think so I will tag Joe in Vegas for pestering me about my blog colors, Jenn because she tagged me not long ago, and Jade for the heck of it.

Photo today....Calista helping gather the yard sale items....

KITTY TUESDAY....AND MY 500TH POST!

It's not the will to win that matters...everyone has that. It's the will to prepare to win that matters.

Paul "Bear" Bryant

Please visit Gattina for more kitty participants or visit my sidebar.

Baby is featured today.

Baby didn't know that cats were supposed to hide from parties or events here at the house so she hung out with everyone during daddy's birthday celebration.  She looks so small behind T there but it has to be the angle.  She is anything but small.  The other cats hide until the last kid was out of there.

Darius did make a sneaky visit to Delane's van where Delane discovered him licking the icing off a piece of birthday cake Jackson was carrying home with him.  That's my boy.

Baby was not so lovable Sunday morning when she attacked and hurt Eudora, the dog,  for no reason whatsoever.  I was not very happy with her and explained that anymore unprovoked violent outbursts like that would get her sent back to the pound.  Eudora's feelings were crushed.   I was afraid Baby had hurt one of Eudora's eyes.  I told Toonces that I didn't want the dogs faces scared by her claws either.  Someone is going to have to learn to be more civilized.   Darius has actually made attempts to befriend Baby...that or it is a trap.

Post 500...

Today is my 500th post! 

That seems like a lot to me. 

So in honor of this anniversary here are 8 things about me that you probably didn't know:

1.  I have never had stitches or a broken bone.  Knock-knock-knocking on wood as I type.

2.  I have never eaten lamb and never will.

3.  I hate talking on the telephone.  I love email.  I like quick to the point calls.  Toonces can get on and gab with his friends for an hour solid....I'd rather have a hot stick poked in my eye.

4.  I am very conscientious of any work I do.  I believe in being professional and I think young Americans are lacking this.  I think hard work can still get you anywhere.  I am very old fashioned in this.

5.  I am a confident person.  I really don't care what others gossip about...I've lived with it my whole life.  People think what they want to think so let them.  I cried the last time in the 9th grade for other girls talking trash about me.  Once I realized that it was jealousy the power shifted in my mind and I've kept that attitude.   Of course my friends will tell you that I am insane. 

6.  I have a hard time crying in real life over sad things but I cry at the drop of a hat watching movies.  I do however have what we Baptists would call a "spell".  I have these overwhelming moments when my heart is so full with thankfulness to God for my life and what I have faced and how I've known so much love I will start balling.  I cry much more over happiness and thankfulness than I do sadness. 

7.  I was Miss Photogenic in the 1989 Miss USA VA pageant.  No, I did not win or I would be saying I was Miss VA USA 1989.  Actually I'd be wearing a crown still in my head shot for this blog and people would think I was fluff.   No....I am kidding.  I was not one of "THOSE" girls...the crazy over zealous pageant girls.  I did not fit in with attitude and don't take it seriously at all  (though if my mom threw away my tiny crowns from growing up I'd take sick to my bed.)  I was in fact  told (by pageant officials) 1. I was too nonchalant over the whole pageant process, 2. that I was too sweet and sunny looking for Virginia and should consider entering NC  and 3. that I needed to tone down my sex appeal...female judges didn't like me.   

I kept the sex appeal and dropped the pageants.

Melanie will not let me enter Isabelle into beauty pageants.

8.  I have never owned my own fish aquarium.   I asked Toonces if we could get one but he pointed out we have many pets as it is and I will soon have a pond full of fish....and you have to clean the aquarium.  I don't guess I'll get the aquarium.

 

    

 

Playing Catch Up With Rollie

When I stand before God at the end of my life I would hope that I would
have not a single talent left and could say, "I used everything you gave
me."
-Erma Bombeck

My sis-in-law Amy sent me that quote and it made me cry.

My brother Delane made some pictures for me of the reception.  I was nervous and forgot my camera.  But I wouldn't of had a chance to make any anyway.  I was delighted with the crowd that came.  I had worried I'd only have my mom and Martin's dad! But I had over 50 people come by and I sold quite a bit of work so I was very, very happy!  Heck I am still happy! 

My family looked awesome and I was so proud to show the kids off....everyone has been talking about how cute they are.  Isabelle seemed to take it in stride that she was the star of the portrait section.  She has come to accept the fact that she is beautiful and has become nonchalant about the whole thing.  She walked to her wall, put her hand on her hip...(in her new heels btw), took in her photos, flipped her hair and walked away.........

The Thugs sent me white roses and my friend Michelle sent me yellow roses with purple flowers so the gallery looked elegant.  I had worked hard to coordinate the color of my serving plates, etc and to my horror when Toonces came in with my supposedly clear nice shower-style cake plates there were instead blue solo plates.  "Honey we had blue solo plates at home, I wanted clear so I wouldn't be tacky!"  But it was okay, the cake was delicious and it all went well so Toonces was off the hook.

What does it mean?  Yesterday I had to go into the gallery early to do the books.  This very sweet lady in the co-op came in to work and we were talking and she is a Yankee....I don't know from where.   It isn't the same as Colleen or Terri's accent so maybe a New Yorker?  Anyway I was telling her a story and she grabbed me by the arm and just howled and said "Oh my Gawd you really are just a true Southern Bell!!!"  and laughed on.  I didn't know what to say but thought it might be a compliment until she said..."It must drive YOUR HUSBAND NUTS!!!"  And she just slapped my back and laughed loudly.  I really like this lady and you know how northerners can be blunt but what did this mean?  Was it the way I had said "my daddy" or my mannerisms or the tale itself I was weaving?  Hmmm.

Pond Progress...

Okay so the pond is filling in and is about 7 foot deep or so in the deepest section.  It is only about a foot and a half her at the dock.  So Caleb stayed with me Tuesday and his mama said "Don't go in the pond or play around the pond."  So we didn't.  We took a long walk and had lunch and watched "Bridges of Tarabitha" (that I keep calling Tabitha) and I cried and cried at the movie and we took Popsicles to the dock.  My thinking was that the dock is not in the pond nor would Caleb get wet or dirty on the pond.

The Thugs and Caleb and I are hanging out.  Caleb has just sat his Popsicle stick down and he goes to move his chaise forward.  I am chattering on about dragon flies and suddenly his chaise goes up in the air and he lunges forward but his hands hit air because he is too close to the edge and I swear the child rolls right off the dock head first into the air. 

I scream and see his little worried face as he rolls in mid air in like a slow motion going into a vortex or something.  It was so bizarre.  That is about a 10 foot drop there with very little water.  Then I remember that sad movie we'd watched and had burst into tears running around to find him when I heard the splash and he yelled he was okay.  Earl was at the waters edge...not really helping but he was there.  Eudora for some reason ran to the house making it clear she was not a rescue dog.  It scared both of us to death and Toonces thought I just made up the story to cover up horse play at the pond and stay out of trouble with his mother.  I swear if I had fallen off that dock I would have broken my arm or leg or would've been laid up for days.  Caleb was shaken but fine.  He said God just caught him in like a little basket and he barely went under the water!

Team Thug Rescue loves to have their pic made but do little when the emergency actually arises!

What is wrong with you?   In our effort to go greener Toonces has denounced bottled water.  We have a filter in our fridge and I only buy water now for parties.  I had to stop buying it for the gym and instead sneak a dollar with me to buy a bottle of Dasani at the gym because I keep forgetting to buy me a cup thingy when I'm out.  Now that we know the plastic is covering the earth taking up space and that the water isn't that clean and that most of it is filtered sewer water and that the whole thing is basically a rip off for people like us with nice clean well water that we can filter....anyway my question is that why if Toonces is so against bottled water does he always grab it and drink it out of the fridge if I have it?  If we have a cookout I'll try to save the bottles for the gym or shopping.  I'll look and he will be in his big "every night watch TV chair" with a bottle of my water.  Yet he curses it under his breath.  He just wastes it using it here at home. 

For the reception I bought a few cases of water for those that didn't want coffee or tea and last night I went out to sit on the patio with Toonces before bed and do you know what he was drinking...yep, the bottled water.  So I guess my question is isn't it better to save the bottled water for the car, gym, places you can't carry a glass?  Or is it more wasteful to suck it down in the comfort of your own home with plenty of glasses for water JUST because it is there?  Just wondering......I think Mr. Green Jeans Toonces is crazy sometimes.

Have a lovely weekend...I am off to Fairystone Park with all the kids!  (Don't worry, the mamas are going too!)  It is sadly one of our last big flings before school starts.

And a special thank you to everyone who reads this blog that was at my reception, thanks again for making it so wonderful!

A Hairy Tale

...Clean up complexion, soften eye lines, soften smile line, add color to lips, trim chin, remove neck lines, soften line under ear lobe, add highlights to earrings, add blush to cheek, clean up neck line, remove stray hair, remove hair strands from dress, adjust color and add hair on top of head, add dress on side to create better line... Total: $1,525.00.

The invoice for retouching the cover photo of Michelle Pfeiffer, in the December 1990, issue of Esquire magazine, obtained by Harper's. The photo's caption reads, "What Michelle Pfeiffer Needs...Is Absolutely Nothing."

Good to know.

Happy Birthday Baby Seth....2 years old today!

Mom- My mother is back at home.  Her heart has no blockage and great arteries.  She will be wearing a monitor for six weeks so the specialist can figure out why her heart goes out of rhythm more and more and why her pulse will drop into the 40s and 30s.   Thanks for all the well wishes and prayers.  We are all very thankful that the problem is not due to blockage.

Hairy Tales-  I walked out of Salon I standing tall.  My hair was spectacular.  It was Victoria Beckham cool.  I loved it.  The longer ends in front, heavy blond highlights glistening in the sun, (yes it is blond again, I told you I love to change my hair often)....I had my big bug eye shades on tooling around in my little car and I looked great.  Everywhere I went it was "OMG...your hair looks so good."  "Oh you are even prettier with short hair and that is such a trendy cut."  I was on top of the world.  My husband caught me in town and was wowed by my new hot, sexy, sassy look.

When we got home I pranced around the yard and gardens completely full of myself and my vanity on HIGH.  Delane and the boys stopped by to see us.  We played.  Later as we were walking to the pond Toonces looked over and kind of laughed..."Your little curls are coming back."

"WHAT?"

"Your little curls are coming back...from the rain and humidity I guess."

"Does it still look good?"

"Yes, stop obsessing with your hair, it is cute, I'm tired of talking about it."

I am not the type that wants cute hair.  At the gym fine.  Normal running around days , fine.  But today it was supposed to be hot and sexy and new and cute wasn't what I wanted to hear.  I went inside to a mirror and sure enough the waves and fuzziness of my course curly hair had set in.  The humidity was more than even the best glossing oils could hold back.  But it was okay.  I missed the swing.  I missed seeing Posh Spice in the mirror but it would be okay.  Tomorrow I thought, tomorrow I will have it looking good again.

By the time I got to the bathroom mirror to wash up for bed I was shocked by my appearance.  Posh had completely left the building and a twelve year old with fuzzy puffy blond balls on her head had appeared.  Only one strand remained faithful to me and stayed straight right along my face.  But the other side was ringlets giving me a tilted look.  One side shorter than the other.  I went to bed with a heavy heart. 

This morning the curls and course look had swallowed my lovely highlights.  Their glossy finish with several hues only one flat color now.  Oh well, nature has spoken.  That is what I get for being vain....I will remain, as always, jealous of my straight haired friends.........