United HealthCare: Keepin' the faith!

Got a letter in the mail from them saying they "...value (our) membership and look forward to serving (our) pharmacy benefit needs in the future." They wanted to let us know that Al's antibiotic medication has been "...approved for coverage until December 31, 3000..."

So Al, if United HealthCare can stay in business and you think you can live to the ripe old age of 1,004.... Stick with them and you are good to go, Buddy!

Memory Lane Monday (#20)

(I have no images or the ability to get images right now as my computer is kaput and I'm using an ancient shell of a computer that is 3 steps above an old Commodore 64.)

I made Pillsbury Orange Rolls this weekend for the kids. Something I do about once every 3-4 years. But every time I even see these in the store, I'm instantly thrown back to high school.

Marissa, Cathy, Alison, Cynthia and I were all great friends, and thanks to FB still are. I doubt you'd ever see one of us by ourselves back then. We all called each other's parents Mom & Dad because Mr./Mrs. Lastnamehere just didn't fit. Whenever we had sleepovers at Marissa's house, her mom ALWAYS woke us up with the smell of Pillsbury Orange Rolls in the morning. Marissa's mom was your typical proper Southern Lady....although, at the time we just thought she was old-fashioned. I remember her as always being sweet and all about proper young lady etiquette. Hard to believe it's been almost 13 years since she passed away. Princess's middle name is in honor of her, as well as my Grandmother.

It would be nice to to go back in time for just one Saturday night...the 5 of us having a sleepover in the basement TV room at Rissa's house, knowing Orange Rolls would be there in the morning.

City Girl

Princess had to illustrate a book cover for a story about a girl named Gina who lives in the city. Awesome!!!

Pass the tartar sauce, Matey!

Craig brought home Long John Silver's for his & my dinner last night. Not my fave in the world, but the kids' dance class was in less than hour and I was behind schedule.

Princess: Are those just big chicken nuggets?
Me: Yes. But most restaurants call them chicken fingers when they're big. Long John's calls them chicken planks. To sound more piratey.

Princess & Gman giggle.

Me: You know, there was a pirate named Long John Silver.
Gman: Whaaaatttt? How can he be a pirate if he's a chef?

Lost N Found

Obviously NOT belonging to Paul Bunyon!

Miss you, Spring Chicken (Memory Lane #19)

This is my Grandfather, Garold Wilde Campbell. (My Gman is named in his honor.) He's had cancer for a few years, and not for the first time. Al and I went to go see him at New Year's and we were so fortunate that for those few days, his pain meds were in perfect unison & he was the Grandpa I'd always known...arguing with me about who should do the dishes, puttering around in his workshop and carrying in wood to keep a fire burning all day. He always refered to himself as a Spring Chicken. Before every shower, he'd state "I already had my annual bath, why do I need another," and after he'd state "I feel like a new woman." He's hilarious, and sweet, and quick to call "bullshit".....of course he could recognize it so quickly because he was the best at it.

He passed away last month, but it's just been too hard to sit down and write. He lived in Washington, near the coast. Every time I visited there, I felt it was the grayest place on earth. He was the ray of sunshine that place needed, for it was almost always overcast. The sun came out that afternoon just before he died. Just for him.

He was the last living grandparent I had. And even in those last 2 weeks, when the inevitable was inevitable, as long as he was alive, I felt like the world was somehow OK. And now, no longer having him or any grandparents left, even with an amazing family and plethora of friends, I fear a small part of my heart will always feel very alone.

Trees, eggs, and sunglasses

It was only an 8 minute drive, during which I never said a word. But it was a marathon of non sequiturs from my children:

Rainbow Watchers. (reading from a car window sign)

Little boy blue, come blow your horn........

Tree huggers.

My hands! (nothing further for explanation, just discovered her hands)

Rockets are faster than cars.

Twinkle Twinkle little star...........

Hug a tree.

Dance class is straight. (not really...it was to the left)

350Z. That'll be my dream car.

Turn right. (as I'm turning left)

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall..........

So! There's a sensor to tell the light to go on/off! (refering to the visor mirror)

Where's my coat?

My future's so bright, I wear a hat, cuz sunglasses aren't my thang.

Today is Wednesday.

This is what our everyday life is like. I swear to you, none of this was embellished. Every word really was said by the children, and there was more that I just couldn't remember.

In the year 2024, when Gman graduates high school, somewhere there's going to be a padded room waiting for me. I hope it has good music.

Anybody can be a Jack or a Jill...

It began with a conversation on Tuesday evening:
Me: "Gman, you need a nursery rhyme costume for pre-school. What do you want to be? Maybe Jack that goes up the hill to get a pail of water?"
Gman: "No, I want to be the bucket."
Me: "A bucket? I'm not sure I can make a bucket costume. How about "Hey Diddle Diddle." I could make you a cow costume! You could be the cow that jumped over the moon." (I just saw some cow print material for dirt cheap on clearance!!)
Gman: "No. I'd rather be the moon."

So I decide to let him sleep on it since he's clearly *in a mood*.

Wednesday morning:
Me: So, for your costume, I gotta go buy stuff to make it today. You want to be Jack?
Gman: No, I'd want to be the bucket.
Me: I'm really not sure I can make a bucket costume. What's your favorite nursery rhyme?
Gman: Hey Diddle Diddle.
(So I recite the rhyme, with EXTRA EMPHASIS on characters that I can easily whip up in a day)
...the CAT and the fiddle, the COW jumps over the moon, the little DOG laughs...
Gman: I know!!!! I want to be the SPOON!

Alas....it takes a pretty awesome kid to pull off being a posterboard pail in a room full of Old King Coles, cats, sheep, etc..

Chee-burger! Chee-burger! Chee-burger!

All of my kids are picky eaters. The younger two are hit-n-miss as to whether they'll try something new, but Al R-A-R-E-L-Y tries any thing new. And for the last 10 years, the only meat he likes is bacon and those that come in a tubular form--bologna, hot dogs, pepperoni. He'd eat beef if it was in an entree/casserole/etc; but only because he knew it was a losing battle; and he'd always go down complaining.

A few months ago, Craig appealed to Al's love of onions and got him to at least attempt a White Castle. Not really meat if you ask me, but it takes baby-steps, even with a 13yo. Al's opinion was that it was "ok." As we were driving back to Lexington this evening, Al informed us he was craving a cheeseburger! (SHOCK!!) We convinced him to upgrade to Wendy's.



He's declared that he *officially* likes cheeseburgers now!!!
*sniff* My baby is growing up!
Next step----Chicken!!!

Blog Give-away

My friend Melissa at Stockpiling-Moms is having a give-away of a cute thermal tote from 31. ( I mentioned her blog a few weeks ago)

To see details of the give-away, click here.

New Year's Resolution: Pointless

I pondered the first week of January what I really, truly wanted to change. Sleep. I want more sleep. I should've known better. My life is filled with way too many independent variables to ever accomplish any resolution.

Jan. 6th (aka Night 1): I average 5-6 hours on most "school nights." Got in bed a whole 10 minutes earlier than my usual "Way way toooo late." But, due to an un-warranted snow day, I got to sleep in! Hey, this is my resolution, it counts!

Night 2: Going into it, I knew Friday was a snow day but still got in bed at 11--over 30 min earlier than usual (yay me!) thinking, "Cool, I'll get to sleep in til 8 too!" That's when every. single. flippin'. independent variable conspired to sabotage me in one night.

Variable: Mother Nature. As I've been approaching the 4-0, I've sometimes suffered out-of-whack-hormones-induced insomnia. Kept me laying there for 1.5 hours.
Variable: Facebook. I'm only supposed to get FB texts up til 9pm. But for some reason, an 8:45pm text circled the stratosphere for 4+ hours and hit my cell at 1AM.
Variable: Alexander Graham Bell. A wrong-number phone call at 3AM.
Variable: Hubby. 6AM. Technically not his fault that he has to work, but he's been to blame for keeping me awake many other nights, so no extra credit.
Variable: Al. This is the kid I have to physically drag from bed at 7:20AM for school. So WHY? WHY would he intentionally set his alarm for 6:55AM when he knows it's a snow day?!? He's incapable of hearing alarms go off 2 feet from his head. I have to get up to turn of the alarm.
Variable: Princess. 7:05 wanders into my bed. Not a problem. She'll fall back to sleep. "I had a bad dream about alligators." 5 minute discussion about alligators vs. climate/living conditions.
Variable: Gman. 7:25 wanders into my bed. "I had a bad dream that I went to get a Pop-Tart and someone ate them all. Can I watch your TV?"

Countdown to Christmas 2010

Gman: How many more days til Christmas again?
Mom: hmmmm about 354.
Gman: But that will take all night and all day.