Up or Down?

We have been in our new office for about three weeks now.

I have spent the past three weeks trying to get acclimated to my new surroundings and all of my new additional duties. I still haven't found my new routine but I'm working on it and each day I feel I get a step closer.

Monday's have always been the roughest but none can compare to my very first Monday.

Sugar's first day of summer camp.

My first day taking her to the new summer camp.

I may have mentioned once or twice before about the anxiety that trying to find places that I"m unfamiliar with causes. This 'condition' has improved immensely since the arrival of my girlfriend; but, as I stated before, it's in no way completely gone.

Interstates - the one area where Lola and I disagree. I hate them! Avoid them like the plague; but Lola...she loves them. She is always trying to get me to take the interstate.

Lola was with me on this first day of trying to find Sugar's summer camp. As usual, she lead me to the interstate. By the time I realized where it was that she was taking me, it was too late so I had to go with it, so I cautiously turned onto the ramp and headed in the direction as advised by my girlfriend.

The problem came when she fell of my windshield and Sugar picked her up. In doing so, she accidentally pressed the off button which threw me into a panic.

Here I was, driving 65mph on a dreaded interstate. I had no idea where I was supposed to exit and Lola was shut down.

Oh Shit!!

In fact, I believe those where my exact words. Fortunately, I got her turned back on and she picked right back up where she left off. It probably wasn't longer than a minute that she was actually off but it felt like an eternity.

Needless to say, we arrived safely and I have since traveled that path enough times that it is no longer uncomfortable for me. So much so that I no longer even need Lola to help me out in order to get there.

The next week we had a visitor in from Chattanooga and a deadline was quickly approaching. That said, I had plenty to do and not much time to get it all done.

This week I saw HIM.

I knew that I would eventually run into him; with him working in the same building, it was bound to happen and when those elevator doors opened, there HE stood.

The ex-work husband - The one who divorced me without even asking how I felt about it and left me with his baby and no child support.

Yes, HIM!

I was headed up to lunch.

The shock of seeing him caused my logical brain to shut down and in its place, was a bumbling idiot.

As I stepped onto the elevator I suddenly became confused and thought we were going down instead of up. I quickly backed out of the elevator to make sure that we were headed in the right direction. He works a few floors above us, but for some crazy reason I couldn't rationalize that he might actually be going up.

And the cherry on the cake in this story is that there was a witness to my stupidity.

Good grief!

However, in my defense I would like to say that the friend I was with - the one who got to witness this whole interaction first hand - does often press the down button when we need to go up and the up button, when we need to go down.

I'm just sayin' is all...

Next week promises to be a good week; after all, it can only get better from here... right? ;)

Blogging and Good Mail

Blogging.

When I first heard that word, I was watching a movie with Hillary Duff and Heather Locklear called "The Perfect Man" (Very cute movie for those who haven't seen it). In it, Holly - played by Hillary Duff - was 'blogging' about her circumstances.

I recall wondering what on earth that was... Blogging?? What does that word mean anyway??

So I looked it up on Dictionary.com and here is what I found...
blog (blŏg)
n. A weblog.

intr.v. blogged, blog·ging, blogs
To write entries in, add material to, or maintain a weblog.

[(we)blog.]
blog·ger n.

Okay, so now I knew the meaning but I still didn't get it - those who don't blog never do, get it that is - so I just let it go. But the years ticked by and I heard more and more about this strange word, which I had never before known, as this oddity called blogging became increasingly popular.

What was the attraction? I wondered to myself. It seemed that everyone had this thing called a blog, further peaking my curiosity. One day I did a Google search to find out more about the fascination of this phenomenon.

On December 24, 2006 I wrote my first blog post on my MySpace blog - this was before I knew anything about blogspot.com - going on to write a total of 5 posts between my first one and the time that my friend introduced me to blogspot.com (My first post on blogspot written on 5/31/07).

Since being introduced to blogspot, by my friend Tina from Golden Goodness, I have gone on to post a total of 151 times on my family blog and create two more blog pages - this one (38 posts) and my Movies with Mom (45 posts). I have also joined a blog group called Good Mail - where the members occasionally send others in the group something nice to open in their mailbox.

Turns out, I love blogging!

I love writing about the memories of my time spent with family. I love writing about the funny things in life, and making people laugh. I love receiving peoples responses to my stories. And I love going to other peoples blogs and reading their stories. But most of all, I love the wonderful group of friends that I have met in the blog community. Even though I have never personally met any of my blogging buddies - with the exception of Tina, whom I knew before blogging came along - I have connected with many of them, through their stories and their comments, and I feel very blessed to have made their acquaintance.

Just this week alone, I have received another two pieces of Good Mail. I can not tell you how nice it is to open up the mailbox and find something inside other than bills or junk mail.

My first Good Mail came on Thursday (6/19). It's from Jody at Doran and Jody and inside was this...

Five, one dollar gift certificates to Mc Donalds - M&M McFlurry, here I come!! (how'd she know those were my favorite??)

Thanks Jody!! I can't wait to go get my McFlurry :)

The next Good Mail came yesterday (6/21) from Kelli at All K Names, and inside was this...

A sweet card wishing me a great day and a wonderful summer - so far, so good ;) - with a pack of Extra gum and a Hershey's 100 Calorie Pretzel Bar - that was SOOOO good!!

Kelli mentioned that she had trouble choosing one person from the group, so she sent some Good Mail to everyone. She had concerns that we wouldn't think it personal enough but here's how I feel about it...

Everyone deserves some "goodness" in their lives and she has blessed each of us with a little piece of happiness. Besides that, the envelope was addressed to me and that made it personal enough ;)

Thank you, Kelli!! I hope you have a wonderful summer too; as I wish the same for each of my family and friends - bloggy and otherwise. You guys are awesome and I love you all!

Two Good Mails Pagkages in One Week?!?! Thanks Tina

I opened the mail box yesterday evening and inside was a package from my friend Tina. My second Good Mail package in a week!?!?!?! How lucky am I???

Inside was the cutest little notebook that she had decorated just for me and a little card to make me smile. I have decided that this is my "scrappy" notebook and in it I'm going to write down any blog ideas that I might have when a computer is not handy... In fact, I have already written two ideas in my little scrappy notebook and hope to be able to write about them both sometime soon.

Thank you, Tina, SO MUCH! You're a great friend. :)

Wordless Wednesday

Good Mail Lifts Spirits - Thanks Sara!

Last week was a rough one for me; Thursday was especially hard. But when I got home, there was a little something awaiting me in the mailbox. Amidst the bills and the junk was the cutest envelope ever, from Sara at My Sippy Cup Runneth Over and Momma Findings. Inside was a little something meant to lift my spirits.

Sara and I both belong to the Good Mail group; and Thursday I received my first piece of 'good mail'. It's funny how these things tend to arrive at a time when they are most needed.

Thank you Sara!! Your 'good mail' put a much needed smile on my face.

A Family Meal

I have an eleven year old who loves to cook.

This works out perfectly for me because I hate to cook; so I have no qualms letting her cook our dinner each night.

Well, that’s not exactly true…..I may have one or two complaints: the first being that she always makes a huge mess and never cleans it up.

She loves to cook but hates to clean – not a good combination.

I’m not talking about a little dribble over the pan, or a splatter here and there; I’m talking about an explosion! Sauce everywhere - all over the edge of the pan, all over the stove, covering the entire spoon, on the walls, etc.

How does one get sauce on the walls anyway??

When I asked her this exact question, she said it was from ‘tapping’ the spoon against the edge of the pan.

Really?? I know I’m not much of a cooker but when I do cook I often tap my spoon against the pan and I’ve never managed to get sauce all over the walls like this……She must have the strength of Godzilla.

She also often ‘forgets’ to put ingredients back where she got them from; that is unless she isn’t supposed to be using them – like the spices.

I have told her, on numerous occasions, that there is no need for her to be seasoning the food. It’s usually already pre-seasoned and if it does need seasoning I want to help her with that, to ensure she doesn’t use too much.

Have I mentioned that I’m an extremely picky eater??

I love that she loves to cook. I love to let her cook because that means I won’t have to do it. I can even deal with the messes – a little bit. But I can not eat food that doesn’t taste good or has too much of something in it – like salt. BLECH!!

Last night she cooked Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo. I know it sounds impressive but it’s really no big deal. It’s a pre-packaged, pre-seasoned meal (Hamburger Helper or in this case Chicken Helper).

All you do is heat up the chicken, add water to the noodles and sauce, then mix them together; simple, right??? I even bought pre-cooked, pre-cut chicken.

8:00 pm – “Dinner is served.” She announces from the kitchen.

We are all sitting around the dinner table, eating this meal that my little chef has prepared for us and, after a couple of bites, I notice that it has a sweet taste to it so I casually ask, “What did you season this with?”

“Nothing.” She tells me, knowing that she isn’t supposed to be putting extra seasonings in our food without my assistance.

“Yes you did. It has a sweet taste to it. Chicken Alfredo isn’t supposed to taste sweet.” I explain as I catch a whiff of something familiar. I lift a spoon-full up to my bloodhound nose **sniff-sniff** Yep! I now know exactly what the ‘extra’ ingredient is and so I ask her again what she seasoned it with.

“I only used pepper” she tells me.

Looking at the little brown specks in the meal I tell her, “This isn’t pepper. I don’t see any pepper in here. Go get the pepper that you used and show it to me.”

She walks over to the stove and brings back our pepper grinder. I open it to see if someone accidentally put something besides pepper in there but it was empty. I show her that it’s empty and I twist it a little to see what – if anything – comes out. Sure enough, a couple of pepper crumbs fall into my hand. I show them to her, letting her see that nothing like that is present in the chicken.

She then tells me that she used a little season salt.

“Are you sure it was season salt? It doesn’t taste like season salt, it tastes sweet. Go get everything that you used and show me.”

She goes back to the cabinet and brings me the season salt. She will not admit that she may have messed up and put something else – something that she thought was season salt but it really wasn’t – into the meal.

I have been discussing these types of ‘fibs’ with her since she was old enough to talk. I can not tell you how many times, throughout her eleven short years, she has gotten herself into trouble by telling a lie that wasn’t even necessary.

Lies are not good – no matter the reason behind them. I can.not.stand. a liar! (That’s one of my ‘hot’ buttons) And the ones this child tells are just plain stupid.

I’m not fussing at her. I’m not even mad. I know that she messed up. I know that it was an accident. I just want her to admit it.

I explain all of these things to her as I walk over to the spice cabinet and pull out the one that I know she used, I show her the container and I tell/ask her directly, “Isn’t this the one you used?”

“Yes ma’am”

FINALLY!

“Okay, why didn’t you just say that or admit it when I first asked? We are all human. We all make mistakes from time to time. It’s okay to make mistakes but you will never learn from your mistakes if you won’t even admit to making them.” I explain to her, for the umpteenth time, and I sit back down at the table and we finish our Chicken Fettuccini Cinnamon Alfredo.