Holy hell, could I possibly give less of a crap about blogging lately? Honestly, I’m so not into this.

And the thing is, I have stuff to talk about. I could share with you how a bunch of friends I haven’t seen in DECADES all met up last weekend for cocktails. And the weekend before that, Kimmer was in town and we celebrated her daughter graduating from college, and also met up with old friends for cocktails.

And apparently, last Sunday, after having some cocktails, I somehow decided it would be a great idea to have a New Year’s party.

I really need to drink fewer cocktails.

It’s all because Shane fixed the kitchen drain, you know. Now that I can actually do dishes, I want people to come over and dirty them, I guess. Whatever.

I have to go clean my kitchen now. If I suddenly decide to write an “end of year” post, I’ll be back. Don’t count on it, though. There are far too many shiny things around here to distract me at the moment.

Share This

Merry Christmas! (Confession: I’m amused when people think I’m participating in the whole “Keep Christ in Christmas” thing when I say that, but really, I celebrate the secular version of the holiday and don’t much care either way. Heathen that I am.)

So many things have been going on and I haven’t had time to compose a thought, let alone a blog post. I’m very much looking forward to all of this madness being over and having three days to do nothing but relax. I don’t go back to work until Monday.

Kimmer’s daughter graduated last weekend and we celebrated both with dinner at Abuelo’s and a party at a downtown bar. And that was a lot of fun. I was able to hang out with Kimmer’s kids and see them get drunk. Also, take various humiliating photos that will eventually be posted on Facebook. You know, when I have those three days.

The following evening, though, was extra special. Shane and I went to visit Kat at her mom’s house. Kimmer and her hubby showed up, but the real treats were two other friends from school, Matt (someone I spent entirely too much time drinking and smoking pot with in high school - sorry, Dad, but the past can’t be changed) and Renee. Seeing her was absolutely awesome, because she was one of my closest friends in 8th grade and freshman year (until I discovered pot; I think she was a couple years behind me based on things I learned Sunday night). She reminded me of things long forgotten (probably a result of all that pot). But one thing I will never forget: she was with me the very first time I met my future husband, Mike. When I was all of 13 years old, at a high school football game.

At the time, I didn’t even register on Mike’s radar. He was 17 and a senior, forced to take his younger brother to the game. And since Renee had a thing for the younger brother, we all ended up walking around the stadium together. And even though Mike barely paid attention to me, I never ever forgot him. Never.

And when I bumped into him years later at a local watering hole where he was playing pool with that same younger brother, who was now married to another girl I knew in school, it didn’t take long to realize this was destiny fulfilled.

Renee never knew who I married, though, as we’d lost touch long ago. I was finally able to share that with her the other night. Way cool. And holy hell, she looks fantastic.

Also on the cool side of things that night, Kimmer finally got to meet Laurel and I noticed that she has now turned into a kid. She’s blowing kisses now, backwards of course, and it’s freaking adorable! While I was on the receiving end of a few while we were visiting, when we left, she chose to forego the kiss and tell me “Bye bye” instead. Oh! And she tickles people now! I love that munchkin so much!

So, here it is, Christmas Eve and some but not all of my hoped for baking is done. None of the presents are wrapped. I did get a box mailed out to Josh yesterday, but not much else is really done. Perhaps I should stop spiking my coffee with Bailey’s?

Nah….

Merry Christmas to everyone, no matter how or why you celebrate it!

Share This

Because I suck and haven’t felt like writing…

1. Grandma’s funeral was Wednesday. I would like to write more about this later, because the whole experience has been making me think about a lot. I’ve always thought the world of my grandma, but I learned that she’s even more amazing than I knew.

2. It was so good to see those of my cousins who were able to attend the funeral. Even better, Justin was able to meet some family members that he hasn’t seen in so long, he doesn’t remember who they are. There is renewed interest in getting the family together. There’s talk of a reunion this summer and my cousin Mike is trying to get everyone to join Facebook. So far, there are five of us. Considering there are 11 of us total, we have a bit of work to do.

3. Our Toys for Tots open house was a success. I’ll take pictures of the toys when I can get a good shot of the tree. Unfortunately, my kitchen sink clogged just before the party began and what we’ve tried so far to fix it hasn’t worked. So, I still have dishes waiting to be washed and it has been frustrating the heck out of me. Tomorrow, when Shane is off, we’ll have to take the trap apart and snake out the pipes.

4. I’ve been trying my best not to worry about this over the weekend, but I haven’t been that successful. News came down last week that the state’s budget crisis is going to have a large impact on our budget and layoffs are unavoidable. The first round of layoffs is expected as early as the upcoming week. No one knows what is going to happen. Which is why I’m trying not to worry. But you know, easier said than done.

5. To end things on a positive note, I’ll be seeing Kimmer in a week. Her daughter, who lives up here in Ohio, is graduating from college this weekend and Kimmer will be up for commencement. Let the celebrating begin!

Share This

I am supposed to be working on a grocery list for Meijer, because Shane and I are going as soon as he gets off work tonight. But I have too many other things on my mind at the moment.

My grandma died Saturday morning. We knew it was coming. My dad passed along word even before Thanksgiving that she was slowly shutting down. She was 93 years old. The last several years, she has had Alzheimer’s or dementia, depending on who you talk to on what day. I don’t even know the difference, to be honest, but I know that my grandma crocheted me a beautiful afghan back in 1989 when Mike and I got married. A year later, she gave me another one and apologized for it being so late.

I have been told not to feel guilty for not going to see my grandma in recent years. I still do, though. I just couldn’t bear the thought of seeing her and her not knowing who I was. She was a pretty amazing woman, and I guess I preferred to always think of her that way.

My son Josh is hurting right now. A relationship gone bad. I thought it was horrible enough to go through those breakups myself, but in a sense, it’s worse to watch someone else go through it and feel helpless to do anything. Because you know the only thing that makes it better is time. It’s worse that he’s far away right now. I know I’ve expressed happiness that he’s back in Pennsylvania, but it truly is more for his benefit than mine. Josh finds himself when he’s away from home. When he’s here, it’s too easy to fall back into his former role of “Son Who Drives Mom Crazy.” He doesn’t even like it much. In order for him to thrive, he needs the independence that only living away from home will bring.

Yesterday, as if to add insult to injury with all else that’s going on, someone decided to steal my purse while we up at the bar watching football. Given everything that’s taken place in the past few days, I shudder to think of what karma will dole out to the poor slob who opted to abscond with my property. And right before the holidays, too.

Fortunately, the only thing of value that the thief (or thieves) got was a Home Depot gift card that my dad gave to me last Christmas. It’s worth $100. I hope, for their sake, that they need it.

Share This

There’s an incredible amount of crap going down right now amongst some friends and I can’t talk about it here. I’ve already vented to Kimmer in a phone call and that’s as far as I can take it. So, I need to find something else to occupy my attention.

Lo and behold, I found it! In perusing past Tweets today, I discovered that about 10 people had sent me @messages and I had no idea. Still trying to wade through the Twitter waters and figure it all out. But one of the messages absolutely cracked me up! Someone was taking me to task after I’d posted, “New Orleans is full of amateurs.”

The @Tweet I received said, “You’re drinking while pregnant? You think THAT helps the baby? GAG”

The author must have seen my Tweet about my ultrasound. You know… the one of my… wait for it… gall bladder?

In defense of my critic, he or she probably doesn’t realize that any time I have an ultrasound of ANYTHING, I cross my fingers that it’s not twins because I already had twins…  TWENTY-THREE (23) YEARS AGO! It’s a joke. A very bad joke, admittedly, but a joke nonetheless. And I guess if you’re going to come here and read the Tweets that roll through in the sidebar of my blog, maybe it wouldn’t hurt to read some of the other pages and learn a little something about me before you then post Tweets not understanding women who drink and do drugs while pregnant.

Because 1) I’m not pregnant and 2) I don’t do drugs unless you count all of the prescription drugs I’m now on because of various issues that may or may not concern my gall bladder. In that sense, I’m a total allergy/thyroid/various digestive issues prescription junkie. Maybe I need an intervention.

“Val, we’re really concerned about all of this generic Allegra you’ve been taking lately… and the Flo-nase… well, it just has to stop! Breathing freely just isn’t worth this pain you’re causing all of us!”

I have to go. The baby is kicking something fierce. Time for a shot of tequila to quiet things down.

Sincerely,

A Most Excellent Role Model To My Non-Existent Fetus

Share This