This is why I'm hot

this is why, this is why, this

well, not so much anymore. We've had an electrician take care of the weird phenomena of blown fuses for electrical devices running down the center of our house. No ceiling fan for a week. We're good to go now, though. It's only 100 degrees in the shade today.

I'm waiting for my wife, my daughter, my ex-husband and his stepdaughter to come back from a Nickelback concert. Periodic text msgs come through with "Puddle of Mudd rocks" or "Not too hot out here" or "Leaving no later than 10:15."

This weekend, Matt gave us the shirt off his back, we were asked to be godparents for their baby Kurt, and R got a certificate for lasting 1244 days as Matt's friend. We have the folded up b&w 8.5x11 inkjet printout to prove it, too. Verily.

Shan and them have this cute cava-poo puppy, and they named her Hope, no doubt after their second-chance relationship. The cat Snackers seems to be hell on wheels, and hopefully they won't encourage her mean behavior. Nhu had a mean cat that would do devilish, nasty things to people, and it just wasn't good. She ended up back in the pound, and to be honest, for the silver beauty that she was, I dearly hope she didn't find a home with children. But I digress. Didn't get to see Hallie and the Logan tonight, but maybe next time. Game night? I don't know.

Read most of my chapters in my copywriting book. There are some smartly written tidbits in there. Some I already knew, but from a copy editor's standpoint, not much of it mattered before. I never had to be in front of the client. I have to learn some social skills I guess. I know I can't please everyone all the time, but I piss some people off most of the time.

I've made chicken and dumplings, and I'm workingo on chili now. I'm going to divide up this brisket shortly and put it in the oven all night to roast. This family eats some serious meat, I'm tellin' ya. I think it's the ex's birthday soon, so we need to do dinner.

Amanda wrote a great story. Once I finish typing it in, I will post it online for the ho' wi' whirl.

Another banana post from Andi

Ok, here's the article that changed my life.

Look out for the big banana

11:22 AM CST on Monday, January 8, 2007

SAN ANTONIO – A Canadian artist hopes to make the Texas sky his canvas by sending a 1,000-foot-long helium-filled-banana to float overhead next year.

"I want to bring some humor to the Texas sky," Montreal artist Cesar Saez, 38, told the San Antonio Express-News for its Sunday editions.

If the plan works, the giant bamboo and paper dirigible will be launched from Mexico in summer 2008. It will then drift eastward over Texas at a stratospheric altitude of 20 miles.

"There's no question this is a serious artistic project," said Donna Balkan, a spokeswoman for the Canada Council for the Arts. "It's a work of public art, but what makes this project unusual is that he's using the sky as his venue rather than a park or street corner."

After reading this, i wrote to my wife and our good friend...

Some guy in Dallas Canada has a dream. In Quick today (a local paper), I read that
this guy wants to float a large helium-craft over the Dallas skyline. It's
in the shape of a banana. At some point in his daydreaming and
goal-achieving, he said to himself, "Dallas needs to see a large banana
balloon. That will be fun." And then someone else hears about this dream and
says, "Hey, that's a great idea. I will write about the big banana balloon
and tell thousands of people how fun that will be." So now I get to read how
some guy, whose name I don't recall or care to, has a goal of flying a
phallic fruit over Dallas, and other people agreed that this was splendid,
fantastic thing! so let's move forward with that. And if you note at the end someone was quoted saying "there's no question that this is a serious artistic project." By golly, who am I to question that kind of art?

And here I sit moaning and writhing about my goals and my career. All I need
is to talk to people. I just need to make sure that I know what I want, and then
tell people about it. That's IT! It sounds so easy, but I don't LIKE to talk
to people! I don't need to learn to program in HTML, or use
InDesign or even project management. I need to learn how to talk to people.
To strangers. And do public speaking. And, oh how hateful this is, even
marketing. But somewhere, somehow, someone wants my big banana, and I'm
gonna give it to 'em.

Fold up the branches

Yesterday, Andi made a list of chores for Amanda. The list was rather basic or so we thought. Andi had run to home depot and to the post office. She thought it was safe to leave us alone or maybe she considers it a risk each time. :) Anyway, the request as written: "Fold up the tree branches." Andi wanted her to fold up the branches on the Christmas tree so we could put it back in the box. It was the only thing left of the decorations to put away at this point. Amanda seeks clarity. So I go thru this whole visual demonstration and explain how to do it. As I am talking Amanda gets more and more horrified. I can not figure out why this is bothering her so. Eventually she ask, "all of the branches?", "Yes, all of them", I say. She repeats the questions but is near tears at this point. "I don't understand why Mommy wants me to do that." Then she says, "Every tree? And I really don't think I can get up that high" and I say "WHAT? Are you on crack?" She thought Andi was asking her to do to this to the trees out in the backyard.

I can see the new service offered by lawn care folks: Tree folding $99 per tree. Sleek! Trim! Bound trees for every occasion.

Cat in Heat!

This morning before the sun came up Andi and I woke up with a start. There was a horrible sound that I could not quite figure out. Andi and I quickly glanced at one another quizically. At first we thought it was Amanda talking in her sleep. We confirmed that was not it. Then, I thought it was a small child crying. Then, it sounded like an old lady saying "Oh Lordy...Oh Lordy" We were a bit concerned and so we got up put on our slippers and headed outside. I was a bit frightened at what we might find but it turned out to be a cat in heat.

THAT IS JUST WEIRD!!!!

new year

Andi and I both have done some thinking for the new year. One of my goals is to write on this blog more. Life moves so fast that I can not seem to keep up or remember. I do not expect this blog to generally be all that exciting so I am sorry to you folks who were looking for constant wit. However, I would like to utilize this free space blogger has offered to the world.

Right now I am home alone, and ummm cleaning house, while Andi is taking Amanda to the doctor. Amanda can not shake her cough. I thought I was catching it yesterday but woke up better today.

This weekend we had a dinner party here at the house. It was just the family and not even all of the family. Nancy was ill and could not attend. We played imagine If and poker. It was a nice visit. These things always seem easy but because we slept late we got a late start on the day. We did buy some great food though. Personally, I had a great time putting the food together. Andi swept and mopped the floor while I did the food. I made this one thing with candied pecans and cream cheese with chives on a wheat thin. I think I will call it the Brenda special.

I also wrote a short story about a snowman that was not all that great. Perhaps I will post it for the heck of it. Basically the only true part of the story is that mom walked to work in the snow. The rest of it pure fiction or so I think. When thinking of childhood the memories often get jumbled.

I can not believe they actually hung Sadam. Andi and my first thoughts were that it was a hoax and they did not follow thru. What do you guys think? Also, I heard it was already on you tube. If that is true there are sickos in the world. Who wants to watch such a thing? Teenagers??

We found it!

Today a group of us went to Sheri's house to watch two movies. We watched one I have not seen (Finding Nemo) and one Sheri had not seen (Fried Green Tomatoes). It was fun but the weather was bad. We found the storm. It was here the entire time. Everyone's phone kept going off because their husbands were looking for them and people were nervous about a tornado. I was like well there is not much we can do about it from here. I completely understand people being worried about their kids though. It is a frightening thing when you are across the metroplex and your kid is in an unsure situation. We were within miles of Amanda but I know when it comes to tornadoes it does not really matter all that much. We all made it back home safe and sound and for that I am grateful.

The holidays have been great. It was a bumpy start because I (Renee') got sick the weekend prior. Actually, Amanda and I both got sick. Andi was wonderful about it though. She took such good care of us. We were quite pathetic looking. I believe she actually took a picture of it and maybe she will upload it at some point. I even missed Sue's Christmas party.

We got thru that though and then we had a crazy week of shopping. Sheri and I shopped during several lunch hours. Char and Jules joined us as well. It was fun though. I generally enjoy shopping.

We had our Christmas Eve with Mander on Sat. We kicked it off with brunch at Sue's to make up for the missed party. It was a really nice visit. Ok am I old now that I say things like "it was a really nice visit?" I think the troublesome word there is visit. Anyways, we came home after that just so Mander could get in trouble. Ok, so that was not actually why we came home but it sure feels like it. We dealt with that issue and moved forward with our holiday. We went to La Bella, oh yeah, and then drove around to look at lights. We did not see any thrilling lights but it was still fun. After that we opened a couple of gifts and watched a movie.

We got up Sunday morning and opened gifts. It was a great time. Andi took pictures of that as well. We all got some great gifts. Amanda got a cell phone, clothes, a bike and other random items. I got an amazing watch. It is truly beautiful. Andi got a paper making kit, books and a couple of blouses. We tooled around for a bit and then went to the neighbors for snacks. Before going to the neighbors Andi put a couple of rock cornish game hens in the oven. We came home and had a nice candle light dinner before heading her to meet her father.

Christmas morning Andi did some baking and I cleaned up a bit. That afternoon we went to Christi's apartment to hang out with Amanda and family. It was a great time. I am the winner of the poker game. Good times! The food there was amazing and I managed to wear a lot of it home. We also went to visit Brenda for a bit.

It was a wonderful holiday.

Yes, we have one or two bananas.

You may be aware that we are getting married. We are lassoing one another into the yoke of life, and we'll pull together toward a common goal. Every once in a while we'll let one another slip out of the harness so that we can stretch, and regain our footing. An example? R did all the laundry over the weekend and hung tons of clothes that were packed. I hate this job. She gifted me, bless her.

There's a lot of stress right now. Silly people, we decided to have a commitment ceremony a month directly following a move into a new old house. Actually the house was the easier of the two to arrange. I have some angst about the wedding. I know that it will be hard for some people to deal with: some will attend joyfully, some will attend reluctantly, and some won't attend at all. Some people that I care deeply about will have reservations and won't be able to overcome their own personal "ick" factor. For others it will be about religious reasons. There are wonderful people in our lives that we wouldn't trade for anything, and if they just can't go, they can't go. They will be missed, but I'd rather have them be comfortable at home, than uncomfortable at our Big Event. I'd never realized how special and important it makes the betrothed feel to have all these amazing people celebrate with you on that day. I'm more worried about R than for myself - not that she's fragile - she has a tough core - but she's had people drop out of her life the last few years when they saw fit to judge her for her choices.

Am I a culprit? Yes. I'm a different person now than I was 10, 5, 2 years ago. I spent a lot of time nursing my own "ick" factor, judging and winnowing people that I didn't want anything to do with. Even now, I don't spend any time at all loving people that I have deemed unworthy. I'm reading the news right now, and it makes my blood boil. Where's my brotherly love? Where's my forgiveness? How do I forgive child molesters, family killers, complete ruined shells that have only the power to take from others? Can't I pass that job onto God? He's got it in Him, right, not me. I'm small and hard and set and I have a job and a family to protect, and how am I supposed to find time to pray for criminals? And so the question is - what if I don't? What if the whole world stops praying for the undeserving? Is that what's happening? We've all sequestered ourselves into these groups of "I'm ok, you're not ok" and we go along in life, and just keep separating, moving away, and the weak drop off, and usually take innocence with them.

Do any of us deserve grace? Well, no. Not from the Lord, and maybe not from each other. Maybe it remains a gift. There's a lot of back and forth about the world, and what God wants from us, and how we should behave. Everyone has their own agenda, their own interpretations, and I suppose I do as well. For all of my mistakes in life, and my hopes, failures, joys, I pray that I am always grateful.

Regardless, I choose love. So whoever you are, reading this, thank God for you.