Archive - 2008

The Wall of Riley

So what do you do after a day like Monday?  You put it out there, such a tragic event, and then just coming back to the ol’ blog with my usual upbeat self seems strange.  But that’s how life is sometimes.  It knocks you flat and you get up and just keep swimming, just keep swimming.

Monday actually turned out quite badly, but for reasons totally unrelated to Becca.  Let’s blame it on Boo, shall we?  He’s reached a stage where he churns out his school work quickly in order to be done and free for the day.  Let’s just say it’s not his best work.  I really don’t think he cares.  I’m whipping out Lecture 15: I Just Don’t Know What To Do With You Anymore and he’s got this totally zoned out look on his face.  Um, excuse me? You may NOT look at me like that until you are at least 12.

And all of a sudden I have great empathy for my dad.  Because if that’s the way I looked at him during his lectures, then good grief, it’s a wonder he didn’t haul off and pop me one.   What he did instead will live in legend forever.

After getting good and fed up with my teenage self, my dad would start in on Lecture 3a:  Heed Me Now or Be Grounded Later.  I, caring about as much as Boo cares about his handwriting, would have totally tuned him out and was pondering greater things like which shoes to wear the next morning and when the next Duran Duran video might be on MV3.  No, not really.  I was actually listening in case he called a pop quiz and wanted me to tell him what he just said.  But I’m pretty sure I looked like I was zoning out because out of the blue my dad would turn away from me and yell, “HELLO, WALL!” and would go marching off.

I was smart and kept my mouth closed, but inside I was thinking – what?  What’s that all about?  I really think he’s losing it this time.  Oh well, I guess I can go.

And I’d retreat to my room to listen to Duran Duran albums.  I’m talking actually record albums here, of course, this being the early ’80s in all its big-hair glory.

Another lecture I got often was something about Living the Life of Riley.  My dad lost me as soon as this one started.  First off, who is Riley?  And why am I living his life?  I didn’t think he was a teenage girl growing up in Southern California, but you never know.  This was back before Al Gore invented the Internet, so to find out about who this Riley person was would have required actual effort on my part.  And you have to give me huge credit for not asking my dad who Riley was.

Of course, pondering Riley and his life while my dad was talking would have caused my eyes to glaze over, prompting my dad to give up and go talk to the walls again.

So here I am all these years later with a girl who is a Mini Me in almost every way and a boy who at almost 10 years old is causing me to wonder if I’m talking to the walls.  I looked up Life of Riley, too.  If that boy isn’t living it, I don’t know who is!  Speaking of which, it’s high time I started school and another round of lectures.

Pray for me, I’m going in!

Staircase Bookshelf

This bookshelf sits in our staircase and it’s been a real eyesore.

No excuses for this.  It’s just become a place to shove anything that should be put away. It’s needed attention for awhile now.   This time I did not pull everything off the shelves like I should.  First I cleared away everything sitting on the floor in front of the bookshelf.  Then starting with the bottom shelf, I made the point of at least touching each item and removing anything that didn’t belong.  You’d be amazed at what was crammed in these shelves!  Gift bags, angel wings and a sheep costume, just to name a few.

All the obvious stuff removed, I figured out which shelves would hold what.  Craft books for the top shelf, cook books and reference type stuff on the 3rd shelf, piano music on the bottom.  Everything else fit in on the other shelves.

The very top was cleared off and I poked around the house looking for decorative items that weren’t being used anywhere else.  I commited HGTV’s number one decorating mistake by using fake ivy in the basket, but too bad.  I kill ivy.  Philip says ivy fears me.  If I’d stuck real ivy up there, it would have been a dry, crunchy, spider mite infested mess within a month.   On the far right (click on the picture, then enlarge to see it) is a wine bottle sleeve that I bought at Michaels.  It’s holding all my knitting needles.  Up there they are quickly accessible and now they are decorative, too.

Random Thoughts

Boo was born in a Houston hospital while we were living in Sugar Land, TX.  Even though it’s going to get slammed by Hurricane Ike, Sugar Land is not under mandatory evacuation.  Apparantly their hurricane plan is to “hunker down.”  I’m glad we’re not stationed there right now.

———

Why are girls so complicated?  What’s with all  the drama?  Why can’t they just grunt and nod at each other like boys?

———

Prejudice hurts.

———

Why are all my pregnant friends and family having boys?  I have so many patterns for cute baby girl hats and I don’t get to use any of them!

———

Pumpkin Girl’s ballet shoes cost me $25 this year.  She’d better not outgrow them before the recital in June!  The owner of her dance studio fit her himself and he recommended the slightly bigger size, then tightened them up for her.  He’s been doing this for 25 years, so hopefully he knows what he’s doing.

———

I made zucchini bread today.  The recipe was for 2 loaves, but I only have one loaf pan.  So I poured the whole batter into one square baking pan and made zucchini bread cake.  We’ve already eaten 3/4 of it.

Philip’s Story

I remember this day seven years ago.  It was an absolutely beautiful day.  The sun was shining, there was a slight breeze and the temperature was mild.

My husband called to tell me that he was ok.  “Of course you are,” I said.  “Everything’s going on in New York.”

Then he informed me that one of his co-workers had seen a plane hit the Pentagon.  Not a minute later, the newscast  I was watching starting showing the evacuation of the White House, a black plume of smoke visible in the background.  It took several more minutes of speculation before they were confirming what Philip had told me.

This part of the story is unremarkable. The part that really gives you cause to stop and contemplate the hand of God is that Philip was supposed to be at the Pentagon that day.

When he started his job in July 2001, his office was located in an office building in Crystal City, not far from the physical structure of the Pentagon.  He was assigned to one of the many departments temporarily displaced by the renovation of the Pentagon, but they were planning on moving in to their new office space in August.  His first week at the new job he told me he wouldn’t bother bringing in his box of office decorations because they’d be moving in a month.

Well, government contractors aren’t known for their ability finish a job on time and to standard, so it was no surprise when the August move-in date was pushed back until October 2001.  Perhaps you remember that one reason that the Pentagon didn’t suffer more casualties was because the plane hit the empty offices that were awaiting renovation.

Later Philip brought home a map showing the parts of the building hit by the plane and destroyed by fire.  Those that his department would have been sitting in were destroyed.

The hand of God, right there.  It was not yet Philip’s time to go.

So yes, I remember this day seven years ago.  But harder still, I remember this day four years ago.  It was the beginning of the end.  Every year I think I’ll be ok and make it through without crying.

Maybe next year.

New Camera!

I got a new digital camera!  My little point and shoot camera was no longer getting the job done like I wanted so it was time for an upgrade.  We got a Sony Cybershot DSC-H50.  It’s got lots of bells and whistles including the ability to manually set the F stop, aperture and ISO.  I don’t even know what that means, so I guess I need to read up on photography now.

I took my new toy outside to play with and took these pictures.

I can’t decide what I like best about my camera: the speed at which the flash is ready after each picture, the “fireworks” setting, or the ability to take a burst of shots 1/6 of a second apart.

Can I just officially thank my husband who didn’t bat an eyelash when I said I wanted a new camera.  He’s the Anakin to my Padme.

Without the whole going over to the dark side thing.

Me Like Alligators

Not too long ago, Boo, Pumpkin Girl and I were sitting on the couch doing school.  We were studying animals and Bip came up to us, peered over the edge of the book, saw what we were reading and said, “Me like alligators.  Hmph.”

I hadn’t known he likes alligators so much.  He likes to see them at the zoo, on TV, in books, anywhere.  So what’s a mama to do but knit her little boy an alligator scarf, in green, his favorite color.

How cool is that?

Love the face!

It only took me a couple of weeks to finish.  The whole time Bip would say, “You finish my alligator?”  I’d tell him I wasn’t quite done and he’d say, “No fair!”

Silly boy!  He was very happy when I showed him his finished scarf.  Now both of us can hardly wait for the colder weather to set in!

Looking Back At The Day


Tut tut, looks like Tropical Storm Hannah.


Don’t let me blow away, Pumpkin Girl!  (Wow, look at all that water collecting on the stree!)


Better to light a candle than to curse the power outage.


Even if it damages the computer’s power supply.


A victim of Hannah.


The storm rolls out in time to go to church.


And Boo gets to be an altar server for the first time.  He didn’t set the church on fire or spill anything, so all was well.

Pensive

It’s been a pensive kind of week.  It started when a 12 year old boy on base lost his battle with brain cancer.  I didn’t know him or his family, but I couldn’t help but be affected.  How could anyone not?  And since I’ve been there at the brink of insurmountable despair and grief…well, it causes one to be introspective.

And the weather took a turn for the warmer.  I think I have that Seasonal Affective Disorder, except its summer that gets me.  Summer bums me out and makes me want to hide away, so the warmer temps this week made me tired and listless.

Now I’m sitting here listening to the rain.  Not even half an hour ago it was falling gently, so I opened up our sliding glass door to hear it better.  Now it’s picked up quite a bit  -  it’s the rain bands of Tropical Storm Hannah here to drench our lawns and swell the Potomac. I’m hoping it doesn’t get too nasty today, but that depends on whether Hannah turns west or east of us.

Anyway, I realized that  I haven’t been my normal talkative self at all this week.  I’m sure that things will be back to normal any day now.

Copyright The Mac and Cheese Chronicles 2020.  All rights reserved. Images and content may not be used without express permission.