PENSIEVE

Profound in its simplicity...

...or is it simple in its profundity?

Either way, I liked it.

"I matter most
to the One who matters most
& that's all that really matters."

Kelly O'Rear

This one headed a page in my journal today and I liked it, too.

"Life's greatest happiness
is to be convinced
we are loved."

Victor Hugo

That WITCH is talking about me behind my back!!

Well, now....

So, I'm just minding my own business, not bothering anybody, being kind and loving to all manner of creatures man or beast, because honestly, I was worn out from my whine-no-cheese session   pity-party-turned-group-hug cleaning til midnight (because it has been raining men--messy ones--at my house), when, before heading to bed, I check email.  I had a few.

Well, imagine my surprise when Swampwitch herself wrote to let me in on a little secret.  At first I thought she wanted to cast me in a remake of one of my favorite childhood shows because I THOUGHT she told me I was bewitched!  Apparently, I misread (it was late for goodness sakes)--she actually said I was "witched". 

Oh, me, oh, my.........so taking a tool out of Willowtree's arsenal w.o.r.k.s.... stomp your feet... whine...throw some colorful words around... moan...groan...complain...say "I don't care, hmph"...a few times, and lo and behold, voila!  The kind and generous people in the world will take pity on you and shower you with prestigious honors.  Willowtree may be Einstein, but now, Swampy has knighted me the distinction of having been witched.  It's a good thing (he's been witched, too).

A fun part of bloggin' IS sharing the love, and Swampy filled my cup so full, it runneth over to infinity and beyond.  I shall wear her little sidebar bling with an ear-to-ear smile.

For the record, Swampy swears her post was in the works BEFORE my post yesterday, and why wouldn't I believe her?  She's one of the most adorable, warm-hearted, endearing, compassionate, tell-it-like-it-is-albeit- somewhat-dyslexic bloggers out there.  She epitomizes "a rolling stone gathers no moss", so be sure to visit her to read her tribute to me me me in its entirety.

Thank you, Kathy, you're six shades of swell :).

Sometimes when I start a post, I have no idea where I'll end. Like this one.

While I was skating around the blogosphere, I came across this at ysmarko's--he's always good for some über-cool bluff*.

Here's the original, taken by a stranger I lassoed while fulfilling my tri-annual child-torture obligation (see #6).

(You can get your own here.)

Thought I'd add a few random thoughts in closing....

1)  My TGIF began with a series of frustrations:
    a)  Wireless wasn't working...who knows why...using my PC aggravates my carpel tunnel so I much prefer my lappy these days...and I DESPISE WASTING TIME fooling around with the technical side of computer stuff.  In the end, it just decided to connect after all (after I re-booted a dozen times, checked the router connection, and other stuff I didn't really understand but tried anyway).
    b)  Doodle laid out...again.  When he gets paid, he doesn't come to work.  If I were his boss, I wouldn't pay him til he's done.  I think some "efficiencies" might be created then. All this means is that a motley crew of strange men will be visiting my home a little bit longer than any of us would've hoped...and one day in the hopefully near future, I will be able "to go" again. 
     c)  I decided to cook a gourmet breakfast make cinnamon toast this morning for my children.  After buttering, sugaring and cinnamoning the bread, I misjudged how long it takes to brown started a load of laundry, loaded the dishwasher, and returned a now clean bathroom rug to its resting place.  I swear it was less than a minute or two, but apparently that's enough time to catch cinnamon toast on friggin' FIRE! burn toast.  I threw it in the woods so the kitchen wouldn't smell to high heaven, and started over with the last three remaining pieces of bread.  And get this--I almost burned it again!  This time, only the edges.  In a flurry, I turned off the oven, opened the door, reached for the pan.......and caught the supposedly fire-retardant oven mitt on fire!  Actually, its "flame" consisted of glowing embers, but still....I slung that mutha off as fast as I could. 

2)  Because I see a half full glass, my gracious and thankful response to the above after pouting for an audience of one was:
    a)  At least we HAVE a second computer and it was only temporary.
    b)  The other guys DID show up...and after they're done, everything's gonna look great, and they're really nice guys, and I'm thankful my husband cares about this stuff and wants to invest in our home (even though it KILLS him that his work prevents him from doing a lot of this stuff ourselves....).
    c)  Our cupboards are full...we have more than enough food to eat.  There are people who would've gladly eaten the flaming toast (after the flames were doused).  Wince.

3)  In case you were wondering, I didn't win this AND no one thinks I'm this, which kind of ticks me off 'cause I've seen some of my favorite guy bloggers tagged with it, and what's up with THAT?! (interrobang).  But then I remember this (see #2) (especially Kristy's sweet words) and I'm like, "Robin, want some cheese with that WHINE?!" and then I break into a chorus of "We Are the World" and suddenly I'm in love with EVERYBODY even the bloggers who STEAL my Pensieve image or don't courtesy hattip when they use something of mine!

Oh, my word, I've got to include this video...I forgot how much I LOVE IT, truly, I do!!  This one has been viewed over A MILLION TIMES!  And it's before Michael Jackson went all psycho-splastic- WTHeck was he thinking?-deconstructive on his face....I'm listening to Bob Dylan's lines...and then Ray Charles and The Boss and in the seven minutes I've been listening, my whole day just took a turn for the good.

Thank God it's Friday....I'm outta control.........!

* blog + stuff = bluff

Scenes from a renovation and why I'm clearly discombolated...perhaps indefinitely

Meet some of the guys who've moved in with me while my husband's at work.  I manage to get rid of them before he comes home every day.

First there's Doodle.  He's our carpenter.  He'll "git 'r done" like no tomorrow, but half the time I can't understand him.  And NOT just because he's talking in "carpenter-speak"; he has an interesting accent...  Doodle likes to ask a whole lot of questions to make sure we're on the same page.  Sometimes we are...and sometimes we aren't.  It's those times that are the most...(ahem) challenging.

Next, there's Jimmy.  He's the a r t i s t e in the group--he fauxed my kids' bathroom in minutes, and he's got a steady hand, so he gets the crap finesse jobs.  He can paint a reeeeal straight line, too.  And he plays the guitar in a band, which is really cool, we've just gotta go hear him sometime.

This is Steve.  I guess more accurately, this is Steve's shirt.  Had I gotten a picture of his head, it would've made this picture hysterically ironic  more complete.  I'm just sayin'....

This is our refrigerator.   It's having a kind of identity crisis.  Every time I walk through the kitchen, it's in a different place.  No wonder I broke my big toe getting a midnight snack in the dark...!

Our whole home is covered with a thin layer of dust...well, some are thicker than others.  I think it's fairy dust.  Every night I wipe it down...every day it magically reappears.

Even our coffee pot is sad...I have noticed my morning brew is a bit grittier these days:

After looking at my floors and realizing sweeping and vacuuming and mopping ain't doin' a bit of good, I think I need to take on Pamela's blog title as a motto...

...the dust WILL wait... and writing is a heckofa lot more fun than cleaning the house...'specially when it's a losing proposition!! ;)

Eight Things

As promised in my previous post, here's the first completion of several tags I was blind-sided with.  Mike wanted to know "8 Things", so eight things, it is.  I don't think I've posted any of this before, but I'm much too lazy to go back into the archives and confirm that. 

1)  Whenever I go pretty much anywhere, if I'm the person driving, I slip my car keys onto my right pinkie finger and carry them instead of putting them in my purse or pocket.  This is NOT a good habit and I have no idea when it began.

2)  Although I'm right handed, I cannot snap with my right fingers.  They look like they're snapping but don't make any noise.  My left fingers snap just fine.

3)  I'm pretty sure I have the ugliest tongue in the world....past, present or future.  My children agree with this and for fun, they get me to show it to their friends :/.  There's no doubt people would pay money at a Circus Freak Show to see it.  Saving grace?  at least I'm not the bearded lady.

4)  I order food in a restaurant like Meg Ryan's character in "When Harry Met Sally"...not that there's anything wrong with that...!

5)  When I'm tanning, I do whatever I have to to avoid tan lines on my back and shoulders.  This befuddles my husband since I haven't worn a strapless dress in YEARS....but I HAVE worn halters, so that's close enough. 

6)  I torture photograph my children three times a year and it's ALWAYS a production.  Christmas, Easter and while we're at the beach.  We have a formula:  I beg threaten coerce manipulate bribe beat them into submission sweetly ask them to cooperate and they lovingly agree immediately comply give me "the look".  We take a thousand pictures and always manage to get one or two really good ones.  More of those, though, in my Kiawah "Top Ten", coming up eventually soon.

7)  I fantasize about would love to be a Sommelier...not just a sommelier, but a Master Sommelier.  Not because I'm a lush...or because I'm haughty or arrogant or a know-it-all...or because I wanna give a finger to the SBC.  I just think it'd be cool to be a wine expert...to understand the subtleties and complexities and richness and qualities of every bottle known to man...and to know how to pair a bottle with a meal that would compliment and enrich the enjoyment of both...and to help people choose a wine they would rave about and remember FOREVAH. 

8)  I always sleep on the left side of the bed, even when we're traveling.  Otherwise I'm totally disoriented.

Want a relatively easy post to write?  Consider yourself tagged...so many of you have done this already BUT I CAN'T REMEMBER WHO so I wouldn't know who to tag.  If you decide to do it, lemme know--I'd love to read your eight things :).

 

Coming up at Robin's Pensieve...

1)  Winners from my kindasorta "Comment Contest".

2)  I was tagged not once, not twice, but THREE times before we headed out of town.  Bluddies who've read me for a while KNOW I'm slow to pick them up and run, and sometimes I accidentally let so much time pass, I conveniently forget to post them.  That being said, I AM going to post these over the next week or two:

- Kristy awarded me the "Blogger Reflection Award", the guidelines being people "who have been an encouragement, a source of love, impacted you in some way, and have been a Godly example to you...bloggers who when you reflect on them you get a sense of pride and joy…of knowing them and being blessed by them."  I was touched that Kristy included me in her choices...realizing my "faith posts" have been few and far between in my most recent year of blogging (particularly when compared to my first year), it was encouraging to hear that she sees that in me.  It takes me longer to articulate my faith...struggles...and joys, so those are the posts I often begin but never complete...there are several works in progress and I guess I should finish them....

- Mike tagged me with "8 Things" and I g u e s s I can come up with eight things I haven't already posted about myself.  Do you ever marvel at the things you tell the entire freaking blogosphere that your best friends IRL don't necessarily know?  Just because they haven't come up in general conversation.  "Hey, Steph, can you tell me how you "Tackle it Tuesday"...or "Erin, can you tell me six weird things I don't already know about you?". 

- Last, but hardly least, is E-mom, home to Chrysalis e-zine.  E-mom and I go waaaay back, she was one of my first Bluddies, and she's a Blistah, too (we shared the same original Blogger template).  She's one who takes time to r.e.a.d. your posts and comment accordingly, she hears well.  Chrysalis is a GREAT faith resource, I love how e-mom manages to pull and summarize information from a variety of sources.  This time around, though, her tag had nothing to do with anything spiritual--she tagged me with the Restaurant Meme.  Since I lurve eating out, this should be fun.       

3)  My Kiawah top ten list...because I had fun Top Tenning D.C.  Lists are easy fun posts, I have tons of pictures that need an excuse to be uploaded, and have I mentioned I love the beach?

4)  Parts two and three of Trifecta.  They're "mood" posts... contemplative...and I really have to be in the right frame of mind to write them...they're begun, just not finished.

5  And last but not least since I am well versed in pimping my blog, if you missed this post, then I should tell you, today is the last day you can VOTE FOR ME and make me a very happy talker blogger.  I'm very competitive and I like to win, no matter what I'm vying for (Lawd help me if I show up for a Krystal Burger Eating Contest). If I win, it might even strike me speechless, and wouldn't that be a delicious irony?   

Fun Monday - Relaxin'

Deb had a very simple request for this week's Fun Monday theme:  "Show your favorite place to relax. It can be a chair, corner, ledge, or limb. :)". 

Well, seeing as I just returned from a WEEK of relaxation at my favorite place in the universe, I have a few pictures ready to share; had I known the theme BEFORE I left, I would've taken them a bit differently, but these will do just fine.

Because it's well established that I love the beach, I probably don't need to say it again.  But I don't mind sayin' it again, because, well, it's also established I'm rather (ahem) talkative, and although that doesn't necessarily mean redundant, well, sayin' that I love the beach is one of the "excused absences" for redundancy :).

Time to let the pictures speak...gosh, I hear them loudly :).

My FAVORITE spot for chillin'...

...in part because of the next two views, depending on which way I'm facing.  It's a wonder I got through 2 1/2 books with these naturally spectacular distractions:

Of course, there are other wonderful spots to relax...this is where I'd read in the mornings while Tad was getting a cup of coffee and reading the paper here.  It's also where I was when my new BFF, Becky invited me to go alligator tipping with her.  In our pajamas.  With unbrushed teeth.
 

Now that we're home, I figured I'd snap a few of my favorite spots for chillin' here... This is in our playroom and it's a great spot for watching movies...

And this last shot is in our room...this loveseat has been a GREAT addition.  It's one of Tad's favorite spots to watch TV...and one of my favorite blogging spots (especially when I need to hide from the workers who've recently taken over my house the last few months...except some of those times were them renovating our bathroom, so I didn't hide out here, then.  Huh?)
   

Please be sure to visit Deb's Melon Patch for links to everybody else's chillin' spots, but before you go pretty please with brown-sugar-tiramisu-chocolate-cake-with-chocolate-icing- creme-brulee-and-what-ever-else-tickles-your-sweet-tooth, pop over here and vote for yours truly and a few other Fun Monday players for Kailani's 2007 Bloggy Hoss Awards :) (and a thousand "thank yous" to those of you who already have!).

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There's no such thing as "bad press"... R I G H T?!

Well, shut mah mouth...!

We get back from the beach laaaaaaaaate last night, were greeted VERY enthusiastically by our adoring Australian Shepherd and a less enthusiastic and purring-in-spite-of-herself Calico, unpacked....and crawled into bed. 

Mmmmm, OUR bed, OUR sheets, OUR room (I had my pillow with me, so that wasn't missed), there's just something about sleeping in your own spot that does a body good!   Good sleep--uninterrupted sleep for hours at a time--has become rare for me the past few years, so when I have it, 1) I'm thankful, and 2) I think I could solve world hunger and world peace and come close to curing cancer IF ONLY I were a wealthy, humanitarian physician. 

This morning I opened email and in the midst of reading Pensieve comments (thanks to those of you who kept my blog from getting lonely!), discovered I had not only been nominated for an award, but I was also a finalist!  Kailini at An Island Life is hosting the Bloggy Hoss Elections, EXPLAINED HERE, and I have to say, I'm not quite sure what to think.  I'm definitely proud to be associated with many of the finalists, several of whom are regular reads of mine--even Bluddies, no less--I just can't decide if someone is trying to "tell" me something about myself...friendly correction?  Loving rebuke?  DON'T FORGET GOD GAVE YOU TWO EARS AND ONE MOUTH SO YOU'D LISTEN TWICE AS MUCH AS YOU SPEAK?!

Let me explain--

Amber, that Crazy Bloggin' Canuck is nominated for "Most Athletic"...

I can't think of a sweeter dorkier "Class Clown" than Mert at Almost Somewhat Positive ...

I did scratch my head on Willowtree at ADGMB being nominated for "Brainiest", but simmering under the surface of all the profane snarky beast-lovin' prolific posts of his, I've found Peter to be very smart about a lot of things, sometimes unexpectedly so.  I didn't notice him complaining about being nominated, so either I missed that post skimming through Bloglines or he doesn't know it yet or more likely, he's writing a scathing rant about why he's going to accept decline the nomination ;)...

How can you argue with Ree, that oh-so-confessionary Pioneer Woman being voted "Most Popular"?

5 Minutes for Mom twins, Janice and Susan make PERFECT "Head Cheerleader"

...and, in the past I've enjoyed Spirittibee's ("Most Artistic") comments on blogs we read mutually, and Boo Mama ("Nicest Personality") has one of my FAVORITE taglines EVAH!

So me...what am I nominated for? 

"Most Talkative".  Hmmm....M.O.S.T.  T.A.L.K.A.T.I.V.E.

I'm thinking m a y b e it has something to do with me continuing to blog while I was on vacation, even after I said my blog would be quiet...is that it?  Gosh, I HOPE it's not just because I'm bloviation prone...:/.

In any event, I'm choosing to take it as a compliment...knowing it had to be one of three of my favorite blistahs who nominated me (yes, I know who you probably are, I'm not gonna blow your cover;) ), I was pretty fired up to make it to the finals.  If by some freak of nature, I win (currently, I'm lagging in the polls), I will wear the bling proudly, knowing someone thought enough of my little Pensieve to nominate it for this (ahem) honor.  Thank you.

And, since I apparently don't know when to STOP TALKING, I'm humbly asking for your vote :).  Click this link to go straight to the polls, and you can vote daily between now and July 10--that's Tuesday, y'all, so please don't wait!  If you're open to suggestion for the other categories, please consider my bluddies listed above--they're all more than worthy of final honors :).  And to my friends in real life who read but NEVAH COMMENT, getchur butts over to the polls and vote for me!  NOW!!  You don't have to have a blog to vote!  And tell YOUR friends...and tell your friends to tell THEIR friends, okay?

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After I've had time to decompress from vacation (HA!), I'll be posting results from my little comment contest...stay tuned :).  Hmmm, it'll probably be Tuesday or Wednesday since tomorrow is Fun Monday and the carpenters will be back to repair some damage to our house....

 

Yeah, I didn't think I'd be blogging, either, B U T...

...just LOOK at this blogging spot!  It's magically delicious, much more so than Lucky Charms!

There ARE alligators in the pond on the left, but they're hiding this morning.

Hope you all had a lovely Fourth of July.  After our day on a s.u.n.n.y. beach (see Robin flippin' a dozen back handsprings...okay, not literally--it was more like three;)--but VERY figuratively) in which I have new tan lines and painful-but-I-don't-care sunburn in places, our day ended with fireworks on that same beach.  I tried to take a few pictures in "Fireworks" mode on my camera, this is the best of 'em...

We had a little fun snapping some maniacal nighttime pictures though--don't the boys look demented?

Since it's MY blog, somehow I'm able to keep my veryscary pictures out of all this :).

The BEST part about watching fireworks from the beach is instead of a cacophony of eardrum-ripping percussion, you hear the beautiful rhythm of waves signaling their approval, nature's applause. 

And the show didn't end when the fireworks were over...as we packed up our beach chairs and headed back to our condo, the clear night sky still performed--a million stars, silently suspended, begging us to stay a little longer...and so we did :).

Do I sound like Paris Hilton???? :/

Okay, this is random and probably FULL of typos because I'm on the run, but...

1)  To my friends in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and all other areas hit hard by torrential downpours...I'M SORRY for whining about it raining in my previous post.  It could be worse...a LOT worse!  I watched the morning news for the first time since we left home, and I didn't know how bad it was elsewhere.   Forgive me...please?

2)  The weather forecast changed since yesterday...I guess that should be expected.  New tan lines are forthcoming and I couldn't be happier about strangely discolored skin in my future.  I need the extra vitamin D. 

3)  I took Pamela's advice from my post a few days ago, and the Kanga bag I won from Willowtree is making the rounds while we're on vacation.  It's kind of funny....reminds me of all the Flat Stanley projects we've done through the years :).

4)  THANK Y'ALL for keeping my blog company when I can't really blog hop this week.  It has been FUN reading your comments on the "Contest" post...there are definitely some GREAT ones (see Steve and Min)...but that doesn't mean you can't still win a lame sad excuse for a prize.   I don't really have time to comment back now, but, gosh, y'all can woo me with your words (by "woo" I mean LAUGH OUT LOUD).  Karmyn's a front-runner with bribery, too...I can be bought ;).

5)  I'm re-reading "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" in anticipation of HP and the Deathly Hallows  (I CAN'T WAIT!!).  I was reminded of an interesting PENSIEVE tidbit--the last time I read this book was July 2005, just two months before I began (anonymously) blogging.  Pensieves are featured prominently in book six...no wonder it was on my mind when I started--and named--my blog.  I had forgotten the timing.

Timing is everything, huh? :)