Family: May 2006 Archives

Make sure you visit us over at Mamarazzi. Updates daily. ***** My sister and I grew up used to the idea of getting in the truck or car or jeep with my stepfather and just going for a ride. No purpose whatsoever other than to just ride around and look and see what makes up the world around us. I love to ride around and gaze out of the window and take in everything. Ohhh and ahhh over houses and breathtaking views. My sister and I are not the only ones. My brother-in-law likes nothing better than to get out and just ride. We did so Sunday afternoon. Steve did the driving and I don't think he was too happy with me having him stop the middle of the road/highway/intersection so that we could make photos. While my sister and I drive from the backseat and used our imaginary brake pedals we did manage to end up exactly where I have been wanting to go since moving here. We live in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. We live in a place that is so beautiful at times it takes my breath away. I stand in awe at the tops of mountains. I can feel the power of God when I look out across all the He created. These are some of the things we saw. We saw cows giving birth.
Land for sale.
Backs of houses.
Fronts of houses.
Houses that could be seen only from the height of another mountain.
Deer in the mountains.
The view going up the mountain.
The view coming down the mountain.
The view at dusk from the very top of the mountain.
A baby bird looking for food from its Mommy at the bottom of the mountain.
A very satisfied baby bird who can put away melting ice cream in no time flat at the bottom of the moutain where he lives.

Make sure you visit us over at Mamarazzi. Updates daily. My mother has led us on for the almost two months now that she intended to come visit for the long Memorial Day weekend. She had not fully committed because her back has been giving her problems. A ruptured disk from many many years ago has decided to rear its ugly head and she feared driving for 8 hours would cause her many problems. Monday she decided it would be ill advised to try and drive up alone. She called to say she was sorry but wouldn't be coming after all. This news led to great disappointment for Gracie who was almost in tears and a long sad face from Colby. For me it was almost a sigh of relief because when my mother comes it is a lot of work. Who am I kidding? It is an assload of work. Not only the preparing for her arrival and making sure her room is fit for a queen but the planning of meals and entertaining her and knowing that I will have to have the same gossip conversations over and over again the entire weekend when she can't think of anything else to say. (What is wrong with a little silence?) And there is also the shopping. I am not in to the shopping and the shopping and the shopping. What is up with having to shop everywhere you go? So imagine my surprise when she called yesterday to say she had changed her mind and would be coming up on friday evening. Imagine my greater surprise when she wanted to know if four people would be too many, meaning my sister, her husband and daughter would be coming with her. Imagine the look on my face when last night the number changed to five people. So here is my weekend - entertaining my mother, my sister, her husband, her daughter and her teenage son. How much do you want to bet someone goes home mad and/or with hurt feelings because they or their children where not catered to enough? Oh, it is going to be shits and giggles around here soon. Do I have to tell you I am in the full throws of the PMS without the P? Fun, fun, fun. Don't get me wrong I want to see my momma. She hasn't seen the baby since he was born. My sister hasn't seen him at all. I want them to come visit and see him and all of that mooshy good stuff. But couldn't they have decided this and let me know a week ago instead of last night? I have less than two days to prepare bedrooms for 5 extra people, plan and buy groceries in order to feed them along with my weekly list of chores that I have put off in order to get the yards in order. I'll see ya'll when the washing, mopping, waxing, dusting, menu planning, grocery buying and nervous breakdown are finished. I am just a ball of fun right now.

Thank you guys for reassuring me. I really needed the support. You see, Steve counts on me to be his pillar to lean on when things get rough. He expects me to be able to cut through the emotions and have a level headed, distanced view and opinion in situations where he is bogged down in emotion. And the same thing applies to me. This makes us a team. We are a united front. Thank you all for the suggestions. The job was offered 5 months ago. It has long been filled. So no, that is not even an option. We talked about this a great deal yesterday. He called through his day and we talked last night. This is our home. We don't plan to leave it. We are building a life for ourselves. No, we will not go traipsing off behind an ex-spouse for any reason. They have a life to live and so do we. Seriously, what you know of me do I appear to be the type that would do such a thing? Ha! Never! Yes, this is very stressful. But it is also very liberating. Steve and I are the type of people who don't swing back and forth very often on issues we have already decided. He made up his own mind on a course of action. Now that the pearls have been cast the getting used to the idea has to take place. That is where he was last night. Resigning himself to what may (or may not) happened in the future. Nothing is set in stone at this point. Everything could stay the same as it is now or things could change. Getting used to the idea of a change I think is part of the healing and a huge coping method that gets one through one upset before the second shoe drops. There wil be no moping around and being a sadsack. Nothing is going to change any time soon. I refuse to let what may happen (at some point in the future that we can't even pin point now) pull us down. No time for that. Life is for living now. We have a lot of living to do before we have to face any such plan as suggested. You can't enjoy today if you have to keep worrying about tomorrow. I am resigned to letting the tomorrows take care of themselves for a while. If they can't, well, they will just have to wait until I get there to deal with them. Workers are coming today to begin the last of the construction on our pool. Finally! I'll take pictures. In other news. I took a sledge hammer to my kitchen. Oh, yes, I did. I decided that since we spent the budget earmarked for the kitchen remodeling on living expenses for the past 5 month that there must be a MUCH less expensive way to make things happen and to have a kitchen that functions better than the one we have now. I'll let you know the outcome. Right now I am painting some cabinetry and working out the details in my head. Did I tell you we have a new dining table? Just to give you an idea of what my kitchen is like - the table is 12 feet long. Yes! 12! I could add another 6 or so feet to it and still have plenty of room in here. Here being my laptop is setup in the kitchen so I can surf do-it-yourself projects inbetween coats of primer and paint.