Go home Wise Men, you're drunk

It's the end of January, high time people took down their Christmas decorations.  But, then again, if they did that, I'd miss one of the highlights of my drive home from work every day.  One of the bars in town has one of those big nativity scenes in front of it, with the big, 4 foot tall plastic people that light up on the inside.  Nobody there has figured out the art of weighing the figures down though, and they frequently fall over.  The first time this happened, Mary was face down in the gravel while Joseph and the 3 wise men were all standing in a circle staring at her and appearing to be saying "go home, Mary, you're drunk".   Mary eventually was put upright again, but it seems like everyone is taking turns taking a digger.  Currently, Joseph and 2 of the wise men are flat on their faces while the third wise man is standing there holding his little treasure chest of frankincense and wondering the the rest of them are going to grow up and stop acting like frat boys.  Mary and baby Jesus appear to have flown the coop and are nowhere to be seen.  Maybe she decided that it simply wasn't the proper atmosphere to be raising a child in.

I'm reading a fascinating book written by a NYC medical examiner about forensic medicine and autopsies.  This morning while drinking my coffee and eating my bagel, I was reading a step-by-step on how to perform an autopsy on a drug overdose victim, including what order to take out the internal organs.  I had no problem eating while doing this, but a half hour later, I was gagging uncontrollably from brushing my teeth.  I suspect this isn't normal.

Tonight hubs and I went to watch the high school boys (and 1 girl) wrestle.  It was against our biggest wrestling rival.  We tend to come up on the short end of the stick with this rivalry because the other school is quite a bit bigger than we are, they're not only not in our conference, but they're a division 2 school while we're a division 3.  But, what makes this a particularly active rivalry is the coaches.  Two brothers coach our wrestlers, our rival school is coached by a 3rd brother and their father.  So it's kind of a family rivalry more than a school one.  Our boys fight hard for  our coaches honor, but we're pretty much out-gunned, though we only lost by 9 points, so it wasn't a complete massacre.  I enjoy watching wrestling and, according to hubs, I get a bit wiggly during the matches.  He's been calling me Mr. Lowney, after one of the wrestling fathers in hubs old hometown.  Mr. Lowney was a big man with a whole slew of wrestling sons.  He would get so worked up he's start leaning over in the bleachers and end up accidentally pushing people off the end.  I don't think I'm that bad, but I do know that my heart rate goes up a whole lot better watching wrestling than it does when I'm exercising so it's pretty obvious which activity I need to focus on for my health.

FIne, upstanding cititzen....NOT!

I'm at work today, minding my own business, not really paying attention to what's going on around me because I was, wait for it, yeah, working!  So apparently,while I was doing my job, one of the other lunch ladies and our Superintendent were harassing each other, a common occurrence in our lunch room where we tend to call each other fathead and slacker and generally pick on each other.  But, like I said, I was working and not really paying attention, which meant that when the Superintendent came over by me and asked me to stand in a certain way, I just moved where he asked, wondering what was going on,  Well I found out quickly.  He stood behind me, then said, "Hey, Diane"  Without even looking, Diane turned and shot water hose right at him...which since he was using me as a human shield, hit me instead.  Yes, the man in charge of my town's children's education USED me to cover his own sorry butt!  Of course, now I must plot my revenge.  Suggestions will be appreciated.

In other news, it's been pretty quiet around here.  Hubs has been in Hawaii for the last week or two and Angel #4 has been out and about, or working, so I've been home alone in the peace and quiet a lot.  This weekend we were kind of busy though.  I went out with my friend Connie on Friday night.  Angel #2 went out that night as well, though I think she partied a bit more than me since it was her 21st birthday.  I can't believe she's that old already, I still think of her as a little girl.  Now I've got 2 kids who can legally buy a drink in a bar.  Amazing, since I'm still so young.  Saturday morning, Angel #4 & I met Connie and her daughter (aka WE's girlfriend) for breakfast, which was really nice.  We go to a little local place which has the yummiest food and the friendliest staff around, which makes going there even more enjoyable.  That night the four of us, along with Connie's other daughter and #4's boyfriend, we went bowling.  I did much better than when we went bowling as a family when the boys were home. We only bowled 2 games, which is good because my hip started hurting again in the same place as it did last time I bowled.  I guess I"m going to have to start working out if I want to continue with my bowling career.

the end is near

Here it is, the last post of 2014.  It's been another eventful year around here with WE graduating from high school and going into the Marines and Angel #1 leaving the Marines and starting a new chapter in Miami going to college and finally getting himself a girlfriend.  Angel #4 getting her drivers license and her first job and Angel #2 getting not one, but two dogs (more on that later).  Hubs has spent over 110 days out of town on various jobs, getting real success with his public speaking and stand up comedy stuff along with new business opportunities coming his way.  As for me...well, I read a bunch of books and got a sports injury (more on that later, too).

Last night was Angel #1's last night home, he left early this morning.  In a great, unplanned moment of travel karma, Rent-a-Grandma and her daughter flew out of the local airport on Dec 25, actually getting on the exact airplane that hubs and Angel #1 were getting off from on their flight home from Hawaii.  So grandma & her daughter spent the night at our house and we had a great time together and the next morning they drove to the airport and handed off their car keys to hubs who took her car back to our house, so her new car didn't have to spend a week alone in airport parking. This worked out especially great because this morning Angel #1's flight left at 6 am, so he drove himself in grandmas car, locked the keys in and the car was there waiting for grandma when her flight arrived back home a couple hours later.  How's that for perfect?  WE flies out on the 6am flight on Saturday, sadly though, someone here (hubs, not me) has to get out of bed and drive him to the airport.  WE's a little bummed out because his girlfriend left for Paris on the 25th and she'll be returning on Sunday, so he didn't get to spend as much time with her on his leave as he would have liked.  But life works that way sometimes.

Since it was #1's last night home, we decided to do something as a family and bowling became the activity of choice.  #1 does a lot of bowling in Miami and #4 goes bowling with friends occasionally, but the rest of us hadn't been on an alley in years.  We had a family bowling tournament, hubs had an old trophy he bought at a thrift store for some reason and sharpied the words #1 Bowler on the plaque, best bowling score won the trophy.  We decided to bowl 3 games, 1st game was a warm-up the the best score of the last two games won the award.  We're all pretty sucky  bowlers, so hubs score of 115 got the prize.  About the 2nd frame of the third game, I tossed Gene (my bowling ball) down the alley and something went wonky in my hip.  I ended up walking with a limp the rest of the night and finished the game with a whopping score of 66.  I'm calling it my first sports injury.

Now, for Angel #2's dog story.  Back this spring she got a little Pomeranian dog.  It was an old dog, I think maybe 14 or 15 years old.  She knew it was sick and has maybe a year to live which was perfect for her intentions.  She'd been thinking about getting a dog, but didn't know if she wanted to make the commitment to taking care of a dog with her schedule.  Well, she learned that she's more a cat person than a dog one and was biding her time until Lucky the dog met his maker.  But this week someone brought a Chihuahua into the hospital in birthing distress.  They'd bred it with a larger male and the puppies were much too big for her.  They managed to save the mother, though both puppies died and the mother needed to be spayed.  Since her wonderful owners only wanted her for breeding purposes, they were going to have the dog, who isn't much more than a puppy herself, put down.  #2 intervened and claimed responsibility for the dog so they wouldn't have to kill her and now she's got a dog she doesn't know what to do with.  If anyone here in Wisconsin is willing to pay the $125 for it to hitch a ride home with Angel #4 when she goes to visit #2 at the end of January, they can have themselves an adorable little dog who just got a second chance at life.  Let me know if you're interested.

So anyway, that's all the news that's fit to print for the moment.  Everyone have a safe and happy new year and see you in 2015!!

Silent night? Not around here

Both my little boys are home and boy, did the noise level ratchet up!  They started wrestling as soon as #1 walked in the door and, no lie, within a half an hour, WE was literally unconscious on the floor.  Fortunately he revived right away, but was disoriented for about 5 minutes.  Dumb boys.  Angel #4's boyfriend is getting the whole big brother treatment from the boys, poor kid.  I've had kids in and out of the house for the last week.  The other day, I had 2 of my kids, 3 random teenaged girls and the LP gas delivery guy all here at the same time....7:30 in the morning.  Things are a little nuts, but it's a good nuts.  I'm glad my kids are home, though since the other three are here, I'm really missing Angel #2.  Oh well, maybe this summer I'll have all my babies home again.

It's quiet here...a might too quiet, I'd say

Hubs is in Hawaii and Angel #4 is either working or running around with friends or her boyfriend.  It was practically a treat to have her home alone with me all day Sunday.  She's off to the basketball game tonight and it's really quiet around here.  Usually I don't mind being alone, but it's been a little lonely around here lately.  I know that's all going to change really soon.  WE comes home on Friday night and will be here until January 3.  Hubs comes home on the 25th and Angel #1 will be with him and will be here until the 31st.  So both my boys are going to be home together.  I'm looking forward to it like I usually do, but I also know that within a day those two and their constant wrestling around and one upmanship is going to drive me completely nuts and I'll be saying "isn't it time for you two to go back where you came from?"  #1 is going to be working in Hawaii with hubs this week and is in the process of flying out there right now.  He had a 3.5 hour layover in Houston, so Angel #2 picked him up and the two of them went to the Waffle House for breakfast.  #2 posted pictures of the two of them on Facebook.  I'm so glad my kids like getting together like that.  It seems like just yesterday they were arguing and locking each other out of the house.

Friday night I was home alone again and I texted my friend Connie with the simple message:  "I've got a jigsaw puzzle and a bottle of Riesling, come on over."  Well, she did and we had a great evening snacking, drinking wine and doing a puzzle together.  The problem is, we both get a little obsessive when we're doing puzzles.  She came over around 7:30.  Around 9:30 #4 came home with some friends and then headed out the door again.  Soon after #4 texted me saying they were on their last game of bowling and she'd be home soon.  I couldn't figure out why she was telling me this until she got home and I realized that it was after midnight and she knew she was going to miss her curfew.  I have no idea how it got to be midnight so quickly.  Then, the next thing I know, Connie's daughter called wondering where the heck she was since it was 2 o'clock in the morning!  I really really don't know where the time went, I suspect we were abducted by aliens.  We only had about one or two glasses of wine each, so it wasn't that.  And we didn't get the stupid puzzle done that night either!  I finally finished it up the next day.

Winter is definitely here

Almost a whole month has gone by with nothing written by me.  Slacker

Thanksgiving was nice.  We had a couple from our church over as well as Rent-a-Grandma.  Instead of turkey, we had chicken because there are about 2 dozen of the cluckers in my freezer and I really would like to have my freezer back.  Things went well and everyone left around 4.  We got a call from WE and chatted with him a bit, then shortly after we hung up, we got a call from Rent-a-grandma.  Her trip back home wasn't as uneventful as we would have liked and she ended up in a car accident.  Someone turned in front of her as she was going through an intersection and she kind of t-boned his car.  It was totally the other guys fault, but that didn't stop Grandmas car from getting totaled.  Fortunately, Grandma was okay and she's now in the market for a new car.  The last three times she's gotten a new car, she's told me that it was probably going to be the last car she ever bought and she keeps proving herself wrong.  Here's hoping she'll go through many many more new cars before her time is done.

Angel #4 got her first job last week and yesterday was her first day.  She's going to be a cashier at our local grocery store.  Her first day on the job got a little messed up because of the weather.  The roads were awful and she ended up in the ditch about 2 miles from the house on her way home.  She's okay and the car was okay.  I'm really proud of the way she kept her head during the situation.  She knew that hubs and I weren't home so wouldn't be much help so she called her boyfriend who lives a couple miles away and arranged for him and his dad to come and pull her out before she even called us.  That girl sure can take control of a situation.

I don't care what the calendar says, it's now officially winter in my book

Tanya, I'm glad I'm not the only one that gets a little depressed by the American Dream song.  I don't feel old, but society keeps telling me its happening.  Stupid society.

There have been a lot of young people deaths recently that keep reminding me that a persons time can come at any time.  I saw in the obituaries about a month ago that a 22 year old young man died.  I didn't know him, but recognized the name.  His parents were in the same Lamaze class as us when Angel #1 was in the works and this kid was only about 2 weeks younger than my little boy.  I don't know the circumstances, but it was just an unfriendly reminder that we're not guaranteed to live longer than our children.  That reminder reared its ugly head again yesterday when I learned of a fatal car accident that happened less than 2 miles from our house.  Two young guys, 21 & 23 were killed, one of whom I believed graduated with Angel #2.  Angel #4 was at an overnight school event with one of the boys brothers and the poor kid came home from a fun event only to find out that his big brother was dead.  A 43 year old member of our local school board also died last week.  So many young people dying when they should have had a long life ahead of them yet.  Time and chance happens to us all.

Angel #4 had her first driving in snow experience last night.  She went to a school dance and said she did a bit of skidding on the drive home. I hate snow and get so nervous both when I'm driving in it and when I know one of my kids is out driving in it.  Since it wasn't a lot of snow and chances are it'll melt soon, they only plowed the main roads and left all the back roads alone.  Here's hoping for some sun to melt that stuff away, though from what I can see, we're not supposed to have a day above freezing until Saturday, so it may be awhile.

WE is all settled in at his new base in Missouri.  He said its in the middle of nowhere and he's not liking the cold spending the last few months in beautiful San Diego weather.  It's a mixed base of both Marines and Army and he said the Army guys were told to stay away from the Marines because they're crazy.  Army is also considered lower than the Marines, so he said he's experienced soldiers older than him running ahead to open doors for him.  Needless to say, he's enjoying the experience.  He's also seeing firsthand that there is a definite difference between Army and Marines.  The base where he's at also is where the army holds boot camp and he said they share a chow hall with those guys.  He's shocked to see the recruits in boot camp talking, laughing and on their cell phones during their meals "just like they're regular people, mom!"  When he was in basic, not only did they have their phones taken away the minute they arrived at camp, they also had about 5 minutes to eat and not only did they not have time to socialize, they wouldn't dare as that would be a sure disciplinary action.  WE tells the story where he got caught smuggling ice cream in his cup of milk and when asked why he did it, he responded "because this recruit likes ice cream, sir!".  He then spent the whole meal time having to tell his drill instructor all the other things besides ice cream that he like, he said the list was getting pretty ridiculous by the time the guy finally let him go and he got about 30 seconds to wolf down as much food as he could.  So yeah, chatting with someone on a cell phone wasn't really an option.  I guess that's why they're called the few and the proud, there just aren't that many people nuts enough to join up.