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Fall is upon me. Never mind that I live in Texas where leaves may or may not turn a color other than brown or green. Autumn is my favorite season of the year. I prefer pastels and frilly things, but give me a good batch of autumnal leaves and a chilly wind any day. It does my spirit good.
It also does a number on my emotions. Always has. . .this season rips me open, turns me inside out, shakes me, and then dumps me at the door of December. What is up with that?
No. . .my thoughts are not polluted. I just have too many OF them. . .like noise pollution. My brain has so many thoughts crammed into it that I cannot even voice them. Some good–some bad–some triumphant–some distressing. They are all jumbled in there in a big gyrating lump like a bunch of bees. I am so grateful for a healthy mind (though I’m sure some would question my mental health), but there are times I wish I could tone it down in there.
This has been sitting, forgotten, in my “drafts” on my blog. I originally wrote this May 22, 2008. I feel much the same tonight. I am categorizing my blog posts (Stephanie. . .I’m workin’ on getting all of the book posts in one place) not because it is necessary, but because it is something that CAN be done, and once done will be completed. Unlike laundry, or dishes, or papers to be graded, or swishy, swirly thoughts, categorized blog posts shall remain categorized and not HAVE to be categorized, or folded, or washed, or graded, or thought, or attended no, not even ONE MORE STINKIN’ TIME.
I find that incredibly appealing at the moment.
Had a GREAT time seeing old friends over the weekend. We had a surprise reunion to honor our high school chorus director. She was, indeed, suprised. I’ll post photos later.
I am the Guest Barista over at the Internet Cafe Blogspot. This is my first time to be “published”, so I’m very excited. Thank you’s to, Victoria, for giving me the material, to Melanie, for saying, “Go do this,” and to Sarah, Carolyn, Tina, Stephanie, Becky, and Linda for proofing and encouraging.
Hey, Antique Mommy, Sean’s tally marks of 6 would come in handy for this meme. 
RANDOM DOZEN PREVIEW:
1. Please share one middle school memory. It can be good, bad, ugly, funny. Pictures or words, I don’t care, just share.
Fall night, Jr. High football game, in the stands with MaryLinda and Clay. Clay wanted to know who I liked. I wouldn’t tell him. Mary Linda said, “He’s on the side lines wearing a pink shirt.” There was only ONE person on the side lines wearing a pink shirt. I dumped my Sprite on her head. She threw her Coke in my face. We were still in each others’ weddings. . .we are still friends today.
2. What’s your favorite Beatles song? “Yesterday”
3. If I asked you to describe your most comfortable outfit, what would it be? my cotton night gowns. . .for home only
4. Would you rather host a party or be a guest?
Host. The end.
5. Do you think we will move completely from traditional books to digital ones, and if we do, are you OK with that?
I do not think we will EVER move completely away from traditional books OR the need to learn to write by hand. Despite what anyone may say, these are part of how humans express themselves. . .there has always been some form of written/drawn communication and always someone to read it. Technology is faster, but not infallible. There are things you can do with a book and a pen and a piece of paper that cannot be done on a computer screen. We are already losing more than a generation’s worth of correspondence by using e-mail. . .faster. . .reaches more. . .but gone with the touch of a button. And I still have ALL the letters that MaryLinda up there sent to me in Jr. High, High School, and College.
6. Do you learn best by reading, listening or experiencing? All three. I am multi-sensory. I guess I lean more toward visual. . .which includes reading.
7. If you are (or when you were) single, what is the kiss of death for you concerning the opposite sex? (That is, what is one trait or behavior or habit or anything at all that immediately turns you off from considering that person a potential match for you?)
no sense of humor. . .or didn’t get MY sense of humor
8. Snacks. Salty or sweet?
Salty
9. Look around you in a four foot radius. What object is around you that you didn’t realize was there or forgot was there? How long has it been there?
Pair of dirty socks (mine). . .no idea–but I will take them to the laundry room if I don’t forget.
10. What is your favorite Tom Cruise movie?
Top Gun I guess. I THINK I watched some of Risky Business on HBO back in the day, but I don’t remember much of it. I also saw Far and Away–but Top Gun is the one I remember from college.
11. You buy a bottle of shampoo and discover that you don’t like what it does to your hair at all. What do you do with that full bottle?
Move it back and forth and forth and back in my cabinet until I throw it away in a fit of frustration one day. . .although it sometimes doubles as body wash. I’ve HEARD the hair conditioner you don’t like is GREAT for shaving your legs.
12. Your favorite Fall comfort food? (Last week it was beverage.)
Corn chowder. No doubt.
(Forgive the whacked out spacing of the pictures. . .they were all there this morning, then I sent them into cyberspace. . .and they were my bane the rest of the day. Enjoy ‘em anyway.)
Sarah and I have been friends for a long time. This is not the first blog entry to start with those words. But it’s true. It’s 34 years worth of true, and today Sarah turns 40.
Sarah's wedding: How we looked.
Sarah's wedding: How we felt.
Sitting atop my 1976 Lincoln Contiental in front of Sarah's house with Michelle
Now, I turned 40 about 6 weeks ago, so this is not a casting of the proverbial stone–or icing flower as the case may be. But I thought I would give you 40 things about Sarah. I may not know her BETTER than anyone else, because there are large chunks of the past 22 years that I’ve not been physically around to see, but I certainly have known her LONGER than any of the people she is in regular contact with other than her parents and brother (hey Kevin). I now give you. . . Sarah. . .
1. loves words. . .all words. . .big ones, little ones, unusual ones, quirky ones, funny ones. Loves ‘em.
2. ate enough banana Laffy Taffy to keep her orthodontist (I ALSO know him. . .and his wife and kids) in business for several years.
3. and I got into REALLY big trouble by staying out until after midnight when we were in high school. We were, actually, sitting in the pitch black parking lot of our high school campus talking about some boys. That makes it no better. It’s just where we were.
4. and I did NOT get into big trouble for jumping the railroad tracks on Finks Hideaway Rd. in her brother’s CRX (sorry Kevin), because God sent his angels to keep us from wrecking it (sorry Mike) so we never got caught.
5. managed to drive said CRX while I changed clothes in the passengers seat (a feat in and of itself mind you) which leads me to
6. is a very, very good driver.
7. can sign (that is S-I-G-N. . .as in “sign language”) entire songs WHILE holding the gear shift of a manual transmission car–such as a Honda (name your model).
8. is also very, very smart. Very. Very.
9. spent several summers working with handicapped kids at a Lion’s camp.
10. climbed a mountain in Colorado MORE than once on Wilderness Trek.
11. is a lifeguard and could save you if you were drowning.
12. spent many hours with me in Mrs. Rosie’s swimming pool in Bastrop getting a tan and talking about those same boys–and others–up in #3.
13. sat by me in band–we both played the clarinet–on occasion when Christy Barker and I would duke it out over who was first chair. NORMALLY it was Christy.
14. served as my “matron” of honor. (I beat her to 40, but she beat me to the altar.) I got to be her “maid.”
15. watched in amazement as I managed to hit myself in the face with the passenger seat of my car.
16. spent a lot of time laughing at me–but not nearly as much as I laughed at myself.
17. was in chorus and wore a “Super Pickle” dress (me too).
18. never played a sport but was manager for the Lady Eagles basketball team.
19. took dance for a really long time.
20. had a cute dog named Rocky who used to clickety-clickety on his clackety toes across the floor.
21. is NOT a morning person despite the fact that she now gets up at the crack of dawn.
22. has lots of really great ideas. (See #8).
23. breaks into spontaneous song–and dance–for no apparent reason.
24. endured/listened to/commiserated with my teenaged/college aged angst.
25. thinks I always look the same–no matter the weight gain or loss, hair cut, clothing items, new wrinkles, or gray hair. This is a sign of true friendship.
26. came with my mother and sister to get me after I had been in Montana for a summer my Jr. year in college. When Momma asked what I wanted her to bring when she came to Searcy to get me I said, “My birthday cake and Sarah.” (I turned 21 the next day.)
27. and I would have REALLY benefited–rather our PARENTS would have benefited–from all of the snazzy calling plans now available. (We DID get in trouble more than once for long distance phone bills.)
28. wrote lots and lots and lots of letters and notes to me–and I wrote back. Still have ‘em–and the ones from Mary Linda too.
29. was the first non-family member I called the night my Daddy died.
30. introduced me to her future husband for the first time when I came to visit her in Abilene. (Hi Troy).
31. let me hold and feed and change and dress her brand new baby girl when she was just a few days old. (Hi Ashley).
32. “accidentally” told me she was expecting her second baby when she one day casually asked me what I thought of the name “Riley.” (Hi Riley).
33. and she did not get mad at me when I told her how jealous I was that she was pregnant and not me.
34. can cut through the garbage of a situation and get to the heart of the matter like no one else I know.
35. attended Ouachita Christian School–all the way from elementary to graduation–and was voted Miss O.C.S. by the student body her senior year.
36. has a thing for baskets. . .and shoes. . .and nail polish. . .and bows.
37. probably developed a twitch when I misspelled several words and called Kevin’s CRX a CRV (we own a CRV NOW) in the first, first post, but would NEVER tell me in a million years and will laugh at me for trying to make this post perfect all stinkin’ day long.
38. loves her family.
39. loves her friends–one of which I am blessed to be.
40. loves her God.
There is much more that the confidentialty contract we sealed long ago with some Diet Coke and a few secrets won’t let me say, but we will get to see each other in two weeks (!!! First time in a year and a half–last time we got to spend all of about one hour together.) and have some Johnny’s pizza and laugh until we’re exhausted. Until then–Happy Birthday, Sayruh. You know I love ya more ‘n my luggage. (And I AM pleasant. . .) And forgive me for some of these pictures. Most of them are WONDERMOUS, but some were necessary for illustration don’t ya know.
We had been pretending to be the leaping reindeer that Sarah's mom had on the wall in the dining room. . .one can only assume Sarah wasn't through being a reindeer.
Same night as the reindeer incident--New Years Eve, 1987. Don't remember what was up with the Post its.
As God would have it, we sat next to each other for our first grade class picture. Peep Sarah's knee socks. I had INSISTED on wearing panty hose that day.
Rerun of us with Timms, May, 1987
Not Sarah BUT Sarah's grandmother, Maxine--my dear, dear friend.
We went on a trip to Pensacola after I graduated from College--Five Flag Motel Cheapest Rates Gulf Side.
We were enamored with the tiki-faced palm tree--the hotel was destroyed in hurricane Ivan.
With our duplex mate Julie in Abilene, 1991
February, 1990 with our friend Brandon
Christmas, 1987 sitting in my Momma's rocking chair in our house at the annual Christmas party.
Bad picture--but there is Sarah to my right, and Christy in 1st chair, and me in the middle.
Jr. year in high school--probably spring?
Graduation night with our (very tall) friend Mark
Sarah and Christy giving me The Look on the way either to or from Nashville.
So the first official week of school has come to a close. In fact, the first official Saturday after the first official week of school has very nearly come to a close. . .and we all survived–even thrived this week.
The kids LOVE–let me repeat L.O.V.E.–their new schools. No tears. No missing of Lamkin or their Cy-Fair friends in excess. Not even a little bit. Kudos to the Magnolia school district and their teachers and students. Thank you for making my children feel welcomed and loved.
Tony, too, had a good week. One day he sent me the following e-mail: “My kids are doing interview questions with each other right now, and I can actually hear myself think. I’m considering asking them to be a little louder. And they are even discussing the questions that they are supposed to be discussing. . .” Obviously, this has not been the case for the past 14 years of his teaching experience. He was in shock.
My kiddos, too, are very nice. . .everything going well. . .some of the “good” behavior wore off a little by 7th period on Friday, and I had to put my school teacher face on, but they settled down quickly, and it’s going to be a good year.
Of course, there were some glitches along the way. Victoria forgot her homework one day. . .and it was for the teacher that had been a little stern with another student the day before. A lunch kit was left on the shuttle bus on the second day of school, so that’s gone. And Thursday morning on my way out of the house, I fell AGAIN. I was not in a rush. I was not being careless. I simply stepped on a loose rock, and down I went. Well, actually, it probably looked like a very humorous slap-stick routine. I kind of wish someone had been secretly video taping it just so I could have watched it later on.
I was walking with purpose toward the car at 6:38 a.m., and very proud of my early departure, when wham, bam, blam. . .the ground moved and I began evasive maneuvers to avoid landing on anything but my feet. I was unsuccessful. After making enough scuffling, falling noises to wake the neighborhood, I landed on my left side near a huge tree that we cut down last summer. My feet were in the air, and I knew there would be a price to pay. Luckily, it was just the price of some pride. I wiggled my already injured ankle–which has been healing nicely–to make sure it was not reinjured. It barked a couple of times but was otherwise okay. I sat up and looked around. Nothing was spinning, so I got to my feet. I saw one shoe where I had left it on the driveway, but the other was nowhere in sight. It did not help that it was 6:40 a.m. and still a bit dark out. I finally located it 5 feet from where I’d fallen (an open-backed sandal, so it became a free agent as soon as the momentum hit) cowering under a particularly large milk weed bush. Next item on the agenda was finding my keys that had been in my hand. My bags were on the ground, but my keys were nowhere to be found. Again–dark out–I finally saw them winking at me from under a clump of yaupon in the opposite direction of my errant shoe. It was more like I exploded to the ground rather than merely falling.
After finding all of my belongings, I decided to take a look at my pants. There was a smudge on the knee, but nothing worth taking even MORE time to go back into the house over. I took a deep breath, climbed into my car, and headed out. It was 6:45.
I got three miles from the house, and discovered that I had forgotten my lunch. At this point, my head start was gone, so I turned around and went back to get it–thus adding 6 miles coming and going to my trip. I went into the house, turned on the light, located my lunch, and just happened to look down at my pants. The foyer brightness showed more than the dim light of dawn regarding the state of my pants. The entire left side of my cropped khakis was covered in what appeared to be the left-over results of a very cranky baby feeding himself creamed spinach with dismal results. I have not had to scrub grass stains off my children’s clothes in several years–much less my own–but I did that night.
So, I changed pants, then walked VERY SLOWLY back to my car and tried to leave AGAIN. It was 6:58 a.m. I was already late for school–so I stopped at Sonic and got a large Diet Coke. On the way there, new abrasions kept presenting themselves like bread crumbs–a pants burn on my knee, a gouge on my big toe, a broken toe nail, jabs in several fingers from the yaupon bush I flattened. . .you get the idea.
I had to laugh.
We’re back in the swing of things. . .
My friend Sarah had this on her blog today. Rather than just link to her, I decided to put it here for you. You need to watch this if you’ve not seen it.
Galveston Island
On Tuesday of last week, I had a mini nervous breakdown of sorts. I found out that the last door (of which I am aware) to a job in the district closest to our new home was slammed in my face much like the nanny-hiring scene of Mary Poppins. That being the case, I am still very much employed. And I am thankful. But my current/old district wants me to take three days of training this week to do something I don’t really want to do, therefore, as of tonight when I go to bed, my summer is pretty much over.
So I fell apart. Then I developed a plan of action. Then we went to Galveston. My in-laws have a little house about a block off the seawall–nothing fancy but handy as all get out with it’s kitchen and bathroom and beds and all. It also has an air conditioner which they declined to use (they were there too) as the breeze was “so cool” (at the end of July in Texas) and they were doing some work inside.
*Ahem.*
So day one was hot, but good. . .we all got a little sunburned but not horribly so. The morning of day two with it’s “cool” breeze dawned hot and humid, so we set off to the beach again. And that is when I tripped over a brick that had become dislodged in the walkway of the house, and fell, and really, truly, totally messed up my ankle. And skinned my knee. I had to sit for a moment to make sure the ankle was not broken. I determined that it was not, and would have sat longer, but the fire ants that came to check on me gave me some encouragement to get up quickly. The rest of the weekend was spent with my ankle propped up being lovingly iced by a bag of frozen peas on top and a bag of frozen corn underneath. I am still limping.
In an amongst all of the sweating and icing and breeze enjoying, we played dominoes, went to eat at Tortuga’s, rode the ferry to the Bolivar peninsula and back, drove down to the west side of the island, went to happy hour at Sonic twice, ate popcorn and generally had a fun time.
AND I turned 40. I’ve had several people ask how I feel about that, and the true, honest answer is that I don’t care one single bit. It was another day to love on my family and laugh at the funny things they say and do. The only thing I found ironic was that I turned 40 with a skinned knee, and that is SO par for any course I’m on. That sort of brings the 4 decades of my life into sharp focus. As long as I get to enjoy it with these monkeys, I’ll take the clumsiness any day.
Pretty to look at--painful to comb out.
Pink cheeks. . .beach hair. . .ready to run errands with Mommy.
The girl was exhausted after day one in the waves.
Thad on the front porch
Victoria turns 11 on Monday. We had her slumber/birthday party on Friday night. . .here are a few pictures of the event.
Goody Bags awaiting girls
Slumber Party cake and Birthday Girl
Closeup: I forgot the Teddy Graham Teddy Bears
One little brother who got to swim, eat, and watch movies with the girls.
We are out of school on Thursday–kids are done Wednesday, and our main goal right now is survival until then. It’s been quite a school year. With that in mind, I am going to recite (and sing) Psalm 118:24 each day. Repeatedly.
And if you, like me, enjoy looking at pretty things, try these two websites on for size. They both hail from Australia and feature lovely photos of their home and other things. One is a designer, the other I’m not sure, but they always have pretty photos to see.
