Mike's Friend, Andre

My oldest son, Mike, has a friend named Andre, who he has been friends with for probably 6 or 7 years. They met when they both lived in Colorado. Actually, I think they met when Andre and his parents and sister moved there from South Africa. Andre's mom tells me that Mike was Andre's first friend after they moved here. They have both moved away from Colorado (Mike moved back here in 2003, and I think Andre actually moved before that), but have stayed really close, which I think is AWESOME, especially given the fact that they are young and sometimes young kids don't recognize the true value of a true friendship.

Anyway, Andre came to visit yesterday and will be here for a week. This is the first time I've met him, and he seems like a very, very nice young man. Exceptional, actually. I'm hoping a little rubs off on Mike! Mike is exceptional in his own way and I am terribly proud of him, but he does need a little polishing (and he refuses to let me spit on my thumb to wipe his face!)...

I hope they have a good time while he's here!

When I'm Ready to Go...

I realized this...oddity...about myself this morning. Maybe I'm not alone, but even I think it's strange. But it's not something I can change, for whatever reason. I've TRIED!

When I am ready to go somewhere, I'm ready to go THEN. I do not like to get ready for an event and then have to wait before I leave. For example, if I am getting ready to go to church, when I get my shoes on (which is typically the last thing I do), I am pretty much ready to pick up whatever I need and walk out the door. I suppose, in a way, I should be a "last minute" person in order to save myself the "problem" of having to wait on someone else. If I could train myself to get ready at the last minute - when I know everyone else will be ready when I am (NEVER GONNA HAPPEN) - then maybe I'd do okay. Oh - I don't like to get ready too early, either, even if I'm the only person who is going. If I have to be somewhere that requires me to leave at 9:00 to get there on time, it drives me nuts to be ready at 8:40, have nothing to do, and then have to WAIT. Yeah, I realize there is always something to do, but unfortunately, the things I think about doing at times like that are things that I can't start and then leave to finish later.

Maybe it's some type of time management issue...if I have nothing to do - or things I need to do can't be completed in the filler time - maybe my mind thinks it's wasted time. Another thing that makes me crazy is having an appointment in the middle of the day and then having to arrange everything else around it.

I know...I know...you don't have to say it...

My Dad

My dad has a different sense of humor. In fact, many don't understand it or find it funny at all. Sometimes I do; sometimes I don't. Dad's idea of funny is to purposely give you a hard time and irritate you. And sometimes he likes to try to gross you out. He thinks that's just HILARIOUS. (Actually, that description sounds a lot like Shipley, too!)

Ask my step-mom about a particularly event that involved a particular action that was extremely offensive to the olfactory senses and trapping someone under sheets.

And there was the time he put in what I call "hillbilly teeth" when we were at a restaurant just to see what kind of reaction he would get out of me. (He did succeed in irritating and embarrassing me, just for the record. Needless to say, he loved that!) Oh! Right before we got to the restaurant, I kept hearing this...well, "noise" (see first event involving my step-mom in case you don't get what the "noise" sounded like) as he was driving down the road. I kept scrambling for the window button. He complained of "tummy problems." As it turns out, he had a device that generated the "noise." Again, he thought that was really funny (and, I have to admit, it was). I did, however have to put my foot down when he attempted to take the device INTO the restaurant...

My dad...what a GEM!




And you know what???? I wouldn't trade him for the world! Love you, Dad!!!

Tick Tock

Okay, seriously. I am literally almost counting hours until my last day at this job. I'm definitely counting days (8, including the rest of today). And because of my unique situation (of still doing work for my old job, which is the one I am going back to), I find myself with an even stronger "short-timer" attitude. Why? Because I have work at my "new" job that I need to get going on and part-time isn't getting it for me anymore. I have this overwhelming sense of duty and responsibility to that job now...probably because I actually have what I term a "real" job there now. I'll still have some of my original functions, but I'm also going to be the Compliance Officer, which is something that will actually allow me to use my brain and make a "bigger" difference. (It's also a huge task right off the bat, but will taper off and be more steady once the plan and details are done.)

I am also really looking forward to not HAVING to get up and be out of the house at 7:00 or 7:15 every day, unless I want to get out earlier to get home earlier. (I just LOVE snuggly mornings with Evan!)

Contest Comment

Just so all (all 3 or 4 of you) who read this know, I do this because I LOVE getting Michael wound up (hee hee)! Actually, it's because I love to see what he's going to say next. Very interesting guy, he is!

Contest - Question 3

Describe the most beautiful thing you have ever seen and the ugliest thing you've ever seen. Either one can be tangible or intangible (as in, an act or action performed by another entity).

Blog Training

I think I need some training. I'm a little out of the loop and know-how on this stuff. I love it and have a blast reading and commenting on other people's posts (okay, the two people I know who do this), but I don't know much about how to really DO it. Do you two wanna teach an old dog a new trick????

Flowers, Plants, Gardening

Normally, I am NOT a gardener. I typically don't enjoy getting out and pulling weeds, tilling soil, digging holes, etc. I really haven't enjoyed trying to decide what I want IN my flower beds. And I don't relish spending the money on it either.

I think that may have changed in the past few days.

A while ago, we pulled up EVERY plant, bush, shrub (whatever you want to call them) surrounding our home. I hated what we had, so my personal opinion is that barren looks better than the mess that was there previously. I have, however, started to get sick of the way the house looks with nothing but weeds growing in place of those bushes and junk. Our lawn looks great; Patrick does a great job with that. And while he gets these grand ideas about the beds, he hasn't done anything except complain about them. So, last Saturday I poured Evan a nice cold cup of juice water (as it was really hot and muggy that afternoon) and headed to Lowe's to find SOMETHING to plant. I bought some pansies and Mexican Heather for the bed around the tree in our front yard and some "monkey" grass and caladias for part of the bed in the back yard. (I've pretty much focused on annuals for this time of year because 1.) it's so late in the season and 2.) I don't know exactly what I want.)

I didn't just run right out and plant these things when I got them home. In fact, they were probably in danger of being left in the containers and dying because I was SO unmotivated to do anything with them. Pat said he planned to plant them anyway, so that worked for me.

Well, by Monday nothing was planted. Oddly enough, I got ants in my pants and decided to head out front and start planting. Pat was barbequeing (did I spell that right?) so Evan and I headed out front to plan out the plot. (Some planning it took...I had four pots of pansies and four pots of heather. Let's just say it's pretty well balanced and symmetrical.) Other than having to holler at Evan occasionally to come back to where we were (instead of moving toward the Autoban that is our street), we had an absolute BLAST. He helped me dig and put the plants in the holes (well, okay, he just kind of dropped/threw the first one, so I did the rest of the placement), and then cover them back up with dirt and potting soil. Evan pretty much decided he was in charge of the potting soil. He was so cute...reaching in this big bag and getting his big little handfuls and throwing it on the bed. Then as I moved farther around the circle, he tried to drag the bag and got REALLY mad when he couldn't quite get it. After we got finished planting, he helped me pick up the trash and get the boarder all cleaned off. By the time that was all said and done, he (both of us, actually, since he threw potting soil in my hair) was a MESS and I literally had to hose him down.

Last night we planted the things in the back. This time he had his little pail and hand rake. He just worked and worked and worked. His favorite thing was getting water out of the faucet in his pail and watering the plants. He got pretty irritated with me when I hooked the hose up so I could really water them because then he couldn't get his pail under there to get more. He didn't quite grasp the concept - and wouldn't listen - as to how he could get more water from the hose.

Anyway, all this has really made me start thinking about what I want to plant, baskets I want to get, and how to arrange things. This is a true first for me and I'm pretty excited about it.

Now if I can just manage to keep the dog out of the flowers in the back...

CONTEST - Question #2

Use one word - only one - to describe your:

1.) Shoes
2.) Car
3.) Belt
4.) Home
5.) Wife

Think carefully!!!

WOO HOO!!! I finished giving my notice!

Yea for me!!! I gave my notice to everyone who matters! They took it pretty well, too. (My feelings are hurt...I wanted them to cry and beg me not to leave! And if you believe that, I have some ocean front property in North Dakota...)

So now I'm here through the end of June and then I'll go back to almost like it was before. Yippee!!!

CONTEST - QUESTION 1:

(If you are not familiar with the rules, see original contest post.)

QUESTION: Please describe, with specificity and in detail, the color of the sky.

(Remember, anyone can answer, but only Michael Shipley can receive points. Of course, answers he may give in response to other players' answers, as well as the contest question, could improve odds of receiving a point. In other words, the more who play, the merrier! Let's make it a challenge for him!!)

CONTEST!

Here are the rules:

1.) You must answer the question in order to be eligible for a point.

2.) If I don't like your answer, you don't get a point.

3.) Anyone can answer the questions, but only Michael Shipley is eligible to receive points (not that he will).