Olympic Fever

08/08/08...it is on. The opening ceremonies were, by far, the best that I've seen in the history of the olympics. I almost feel bad, b/c you know some family-somewhere went hungry so that every tourist could have a sparkler. Oh well, today is not my day to save the world.

I am excited just waiting to see Michael Phelps and all of the US swim team compete. Go Dara Torres!!!! Catarina has me interested in the beach volleyball. I may try to watch some of the gymnastics, but I'm sure coverage will be non-stop and all over the place, so I'm ready and pacing myself...LOL.

Go Team USA!

Mrs. B

New job...No Career--yet.

I am so depressed. I have a degree and have been hired to work at a job where... I will sit on my ass all day, answer phones, and if I am lucky get to see the sun, at least once, in an 8-hour period. I am not complaining, so far everyone has been cotton candy nice, but I hope my husband realizes this is for him...to ease his mind. I'm driving 65 miles a day to make roughly 65 dollars a day. I am not trying to be mean, but if we lived near civilization, I could utilize my degree and make double, maybe triple that for working in my field. Nothing else today. I am just so damn depressed.

Mrs. B

School shopping with my girls...

The last few days before the girls go back is beyond hectic...clothes, school supplies, shoes, and final goodbyes...it truly drains me. I like it to an extent b/c it helps me forget they are leaving and that I won't see them again for a month to 6 weeks or even longer as they get older and have their own lives...However, it is the one time a year that I find myself jealous of their father and Ms. Trish, his wife.

I get jealous, at times, when I realize that I am missing bath time, reading before bed, and packing lunches, but I can only do what I already do. I wish I could pick them up after school every day, but that is not our lives and I have to remember, and hope, that I am doing what's best for Catarina and Claudia.

Let's take this back to a lighter note...LOL. My girls wear uniforms to school, and if I haven't already said it before...I AM PRO-UNIFORM...lol. Yet, watching them look at things like earrings, hats, socks, etc...you see their personality come alive. Catarina has to have Victoria's Secret/American Eagle undies and Claudia wants Limited, too whatever...and I laugh to myself b/c my granny could never (and would never) afford those things to me. I guess I'll laugh, again, when I get my clothes "on sale" at Penney's...LOL.

The hardest thing for me, though, is no matter what I buy them...I may or may not see them in it. I make them take everything they buy back to LA...I mean, that's where they will wear it, and I ask Catarina to take pics for me, but that never happens...LOL. (Thank God for MySpace!)

...so I have to believe that I send them on their merry way with not only what they HAVE to have, but what they WANT, as well...I have to believe that...LOL.

Mrs. B

Company Picnic...intro as wife.

It's official. I am now no longer Mr. Chad's fiance' at his office. I am now, "Have you met my wife, Christy?"...LOL. Never seemed important, really...until now, and although everyone there knows me, (and has, for the 5 years before June 21st...LOL) it was wonderful hearing Mr. Chad say it. It made me kinda giggle inside each time he repeated it. :o)

The company picnic is always nice, but this year...they gave away $14k in cash to random employees (they drew names) and tons of giveaways for the kids. It was above and beyond for any company these days.

My favorite part of the day was meeting one of Mr. Chad's co-workers grand kids (that's a tongue-twister...LOL). She was a sweetheart and wanted to hang with me all day. There is a story behind her and her situation, but all I can say is that I was very touched to have spent the day playing with her. I had a blast and I hope she did, too.

Mr. Chad and I walked away with no cash and no prizes, but we spent the day being outside and in love and as you get older...that's what matters.

Ahhhh, summertime...
Mrs. B

Funeral songs...

Mr. Chad-Freebird by Lynyrd Skynyrd
C2-Time of Your Life by Green Day

JD-Go Rest High on that Mountain by Vince Gill

Mr. Clay-Prop me up by the Jukebox when I Die by Joe Diffie

Cassidy-Damaged by Danity Kane (yes, Danity Kane...she is 9.)

Funeral songs have long been a topic of conversation between my "french fry" and I...not sure when and how it came up, but it did, and has remained a topic that stays on our radar. In fact, it has spread to those around us, young and old(er)...LOL.

True, I see each of these songs exactly for these particular people, including Cassidy's (which I will go into later). It would only be appropriate for my dear, sweet husband to have Lynyrd Skynyrd singing the words, "Bye, bye, its been a sweet love. Though this feeling I can't change. But please don't take it badly, 'Cause Lord knows I'm to blame." I almost tear up typing it and when the guitar riff kicks in and you can here the word "cha---yyyayyy...yyyaaaayyyy....nge" reverbing in your mind...ahhh I can see it all...and I can see it just as HE wants it.

C2's is a little different. I think I am suppose to play it on the guitar and sing it...LOL. Funny story here, I do NOT play or sing currently...LOL. I figure if I keep putting off "learning how to" do either, then she can't die yet...LOL...and that's a good thing! However, her Uncle Ernest's funeral could have been the start of this whole thing, not really...most of the credit has to go to Seinfeld...but Ernest had him some Keith Whitley tunes cranked out at the funeral home and it was flat out awesome...well, as awesome as a funeral can be. *side note-family popped open an ice chest full of beer and drank to Ernest 100 feet from his grave...Mr. Chad now has a new vision for his burial day...LOL.

This one is good, too. Mary and I were driving one day and somehow funeral songs came up and she said JD wanted some dorky song that Vince Gill wrote for his brother that committed suicide,(after googling, turns out he started writing it after Keith Whitley's death and later finished it after his brother's) and before she could say the name of it...I knew it. I did not know the story behind it, but my goodness, it is one of the most perfect funeral songs ever written..."Go rest high on that mountain--Son, you work on earth is done--Go to heaven a shoutin'--Love for the Father and the Son." Rarely, do I think Mary is wrong, but on this, I am 100% behind JD.

I would like to think that this song was a joke...but you have to know Mr. Clay to understand that he probably said, in jest, that this was to be his funeral song, but if you know Mr. Clay then you also know how perfect this song is for him. "Just let my headstone be a neon sign/Let it burn in mem'ry of all of my good times/Fix me up with a mannequin, just remember I like blondes/I'll be the life of the party even when I'm dead and gone." I can almost see all of us caroling along with Joe Diffie in remembrance of him, maybe even toasting him with a Red Bull and Vodka.

I'll close with Cassidy's thoughts on her funeral song. She heard us talking one day and said that she wanted Danity Kane's Damaged, as hers...I thought I would crack up, but then I listened to her logic and smiled sweetly instead... "Ms. Christy, it talks about a hole in your heart and how are you going to fix it?...if you are dead then your heart can't be fixed"...so true, Cass-erole...so thought provoking and deep for a 9 year old...LOL...

"Do, Do you got a first aid kit handy?-- Do, Do you know how to patch up a wound? --Tell me,-- Are Are Are Are you,-- Are you patient, Understanding? --Cuz I might need some time to clear the hole in my heart ... ... ... Damaged, Damaged Damaged, Damaged--I thought that I should let you know --That my heart is Damaged, Damaged So Damaged, (So Damaged) --And you can blame the one before...So how you gonna fix it, fix it, fix it?"

Hey, Cass...it is kind of catchy...and very literal...LOL.

Kinda deep today, huh?

Mrs. B

The summer of the Green Bean.

I know, sounds like a "teenage" novel title, and although it is not, it well could describe an important part of my summer with my teenager and my 9 year old...I can't use some analogy to compare our summer together and a green bean, but green beans were very important to our summer.

For some reason, my girls fell in love with green beans. Literally, post wedding, Catarina and Claudia must have eaten a bushel while here...LOL.

This may not be ground breaking information, but it was perfect in capturing the innocence of youth. While Mr. Chad and I ran around trying to move things from one house to another, meet with electricians and plumbers, and me trying to find a job,...it was wonderful to discover the sweet and renewing sense of the importance of good food...of how food grown in a neighbor's backyard played a part in the development of my children's palette and served as a reminder to me that the simple life can be a very rewarding one. Never have I enjoyed a vegetable as much as I enjoyed the green bean in the summer of 2008...LOL. Isn't that just too funny?

This summer has now inspired me to think ahead to next summer. My little garden with Mr. Chad flourished this year, but we only grew one item...tommy-toes...OK, strawberries did fail, but we expected that...and the "indoor" blueberry is still trying to decide what the heck it plans to do...Pumpkins, however, are definitely on my list to add to any garden that I may attempt...LOL.

Anyway, I think the best way to pull it all together is to let the girls help with the gardening...I planned on attempting that this year, but time flew by too fast to get it all done...I guess now, I can plan and prepare and hope next year...for a garden full of green beans and more memories to last a life time...

Farmer Boyd's wife,
CbB

Guilty Pleasures

Tori and Dean, Sharpies, and Circus Peanuts candy. Yes, I love all three of them.

I have loved Tori Spelling since the 90210 days. I didn't love her as Donna Martin. I loved her as a little, lost, rich girl who could not step out of the shadow of her father. Now, that she has been married and divorced, and then married again to her true love, had 2 beautiful children, and buying a house that is not the size of a football field...one can start to see how normally average she wants to be. Watching them on television, you see how down to earth she is and Dean is just what she needed to come into her own. I love how she can make fun of herself these days, how finding the right preschool for her son is just as nerve-wrecking for her as it is for any average person, and how she tries so hard to stand on her own 2 feet. I, also, empathize with her in regards to her relationship with her mother...I know her issues and I feel her pain...LOL.

Sharpies...God's gift to the doodler. Permanent , ultra fine, black is my favorite, but there are so many in second place. First, there is the highlighter. I mean, does anyone else even make highlighters? Second, Sharpie minis are super cool and you can keep them handy everywhere...in your purse, hanging from your rear view, hooked to your backpack, and so on...I love buying these for my girls. Third, the invention of the retractable Sharpie, quite possibly compares to the invention of sliced bread...LOL.

Last is my simple obsession with Circus Peanuts candy. You know, the orange ones that come in little plastic bags, normally at a convenient store, and sold at a whopping price of 2 for a $1. You can usually find them surrounded by Maple Nut Goodies, Boston Baked Beans, and Pop Bottles filled with sugar water. I love this candy. I could, wait can, eat 25-30 of these at one setting, but I limit myself to purchasing these on rare occasions, so not to turn into, pardon the pun, and elephant...LOL. I just wish they came in other colors.

To close, there is one other guilty pleasure I want to write about, but it is not merely my own...it's mine and my husband's...cartoons/animation. We love everything from Family Guy and American Dad to Lil' Bush, Squidbillies, and Lilo & Stitch. I think I wrote about this before, just had to reiterate when talking about guilty pleasures...LOL.

What is your guilty pleasure? I have a few others, too...LOL...just can't give away everything...have to leave a bit of mystery about me.

:o)