They are growing UP....

My children.. my friends children.. all around me the kids are getting older but I know for a fact I am not. At least I don't act like I am so I am not right?

While I have been hiding under my rock lately feeling completely sorry for myself and like a complete loser as a mother, friend, sister, wife, daughter.. you name it I felt like I sucked at it, I realized all I am doing is allowing more time to pass by with my head in a bag of chips and that I just needed to toss them out and get on with it, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

In June my oldest son graduates from high school and will then be whisking off on a road trip with some friends. I gave him a bit of advice none of which made a bit of sense considering the fact the things I told him were not at all hypocritical and basically amounted to go have fun and if you get in trouble and are in jail call me I will post your bail. (hey someone did it for me)

Would you believe that absolutely none of this is the point of this post.. well other than our kids are growing up. One of my very dear friends (waving at Tee) has a daughter who is the same age as my oldest son and I had the very special privilege of taking some Senior Photos of her a weekend or so ago. While under my rock I did not have internet so there for I have not posted them here until now.

So without further ado.... I give you Bethie.

Haven Beach I removed all but blue.
Same here just different pose. She is just beautiful.

Black and White this was my fav.

One of the first shots... the child could be a model.

Happy Friday!!!!!

In response to CBW once again.. maybe I would make mine an ocean view! Picture taken exactly 3 years ago yesterday.

What??!?? You say it isn't Friday? That is what YOU think.. it is in fact MY Friday and tomorrow, and the next day and the next day are all SATURDAY! Woot Woot!

In some ways I am not at all sure why I bothered taking off as it is supposed to rain on both days but then again I am trying to come up with a couple of things to do with the kids. Maybe a trip to Richmond tomorrow to go visit Hollywood Cemetery. Drake would be all up for that.. Deanna probably not so much. Maybe I will just get in the truck and show up at sister person's house anyway and just chill. Maybe a trip to Busch and dodge the rain storms in shops with 10 bazillion other hot sweaty stinky sticky people (maybe not a good idea). Maybe a trip to the skate park so he can really learn and a wander down the street with the girl while the boy plays.. See there are too many damn maybes. Maybe I won't do a darn thing and I will do the whole can't beat 'em join 'em thing!

The point is I have two days off with no plans and really don't want to be just stuck in the house with two kids who really haven't done a darn thing during their time off but sit in front of a TV or a computer. Anyone have any ideas???

Hmm... after typing this all out.. maybe the best idea is for me to ditch the kids and go sit in one of the chairs above or one of the ones shown over at CBWs spot today and just enjoy me.

A poll of sorts..

So it all started yesterday evening, with a quick little IM to a certain someone saying that I had just mutilated 3 miles by listening to techno while walking, the response was "Wow." followed quickly by "Dumpster Diving." That was all.. the end no more explanation needed, the child seriously meant that she was in a dumpster going through it's contents and could not talk at the moment.

I am sure that the most logical response to such a statement would be "WHAT THE HELL???" however mine was "Cool.. buy me something pretty." After a moment or two of silence I was posed with a question.. "If you find something in dumpster A and take it then in dumpster C find something better and want an exchange do you have to take the first thing back to dumpster A?" My long thought out conclusion to this was "Nah.. just dump it in dumpster C garbage is garbage unless you are the dumpster diver looking for non garbage." I don't know it just seemed logical. Now this is not your poll of the day however I wouldn't mind if you gave your thoughts on the matter as well.

All of this "would it be ok to do blah blah blah" talk got me to thinking last night as I laid in bed trying to enjoy the sounds of the birds, and little night critters, and little baby frogs (shutter), while the sounds were right on queue the lighting was way off for my taste. You see I live in the middle of no where.. seriously if you go by my house more than a half a mile you are in the water period. The end of the Earth. I do not live on a city street, I live in the country, it SHOULD be dark outside. It isn't. Someone (again I am not naming names to protect the innocent as I am sure they had some kind of good reason for performing such an untasteful act) many years ago put a friggin street light right in the middle of my damn yard! You heard me right a FRIGGIN STREET LIGHT.. not on a corner or an intersection (cause there isn't one of them around here) IN MY YARD! It is never dark, I never get to enjoy the light of the moon and when we do have lightening storms which I ADORE they are dulled by the glow of this monstrosity right in the middle of MY YARD.

Did I mention I get to pay $11 a month for the said monstrosity?? Did I mention that one time something happened to the wiring and it went out and the Waterman was on the phone with the damn light company that day to have it fixed?? Did I mention I HATE THIS STUPID ASS LIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF MY YARD????

Now for the polling part.. Would you think it is illegal to shoot out your own street light if it is in the middle of your own yard?????? Part B. Do you think the act of shooting out ones own street light would scare the Waterman into realizing it would not be a good idea to have the stupid ass thing fixed???

Signed,
I hate that damn street light.

Mathews Monday! Updated with a slight correction!

Welcome to our first Mathews Monday post.

While I am sure the idea is not even close to original I was happy that it popped into my head Saturday as I wandered around the Mathews Farmers Market taking in the sounds and sights and sometimes smells (no live stock just perfect daffy-dils from CBW and some baked goods from a lady who I walked by so fast all I caught was a wiff of heavenly goodness and gained 3 pounds just that quick.. next time baked goods lady I will stop.. just please don't sell me anything) Even though there is a plethora of local characters to meet at the Farmers Market there are plenty of others just around town that I want to introduce the blogsphere to. Friendly local florist, retired military men, actors who had the pleasure of cutting a rug with Sandra Bullock! Our town is full of stories from the past, present, and many more to come in the future.


So lets move on to our first character, who is from Mathews and was a participant in the Mathews Farmers Market this past Saturday and let me tell you not only is he cute he is friendly as well! While the sky was overcast that day and didn't help in the way of perfect shots Mr Buz of Bloody's by Buz was just a ray of sunshine in the middle of a foggy Saturday morning. CBW pointed me his way with the alluring words of "Best Bloody Mary Mix.. EVER."

I will admit my initial response was.. PFFFFTTTT not possible because *I* make the best Bloody Mary's EVER. However, after just a couple of minutes of speaking to Buz he made it completely clear to me that he had no intention of replacing my homemade recipe because no one could ever replace a homemade Bloody Mary, and that he was simply looking for a better mix, one that was easily accessible for those mornings when you just don't have it in ya to figure out what you should put in the darn glass. (ok that last part was what I came up with)

Buz handed me a little taste of what appeared to be a nice mixture of ingredients for a Bloody Mary, it wasn't to red, it wasn't to transparent (yes I have seen them that way.. my advice step away from the bottle), it seemed to have just the right amount of spices to make it a beautiful sight in my glass (I like my Mary's to have a bit of texture). Next like any great connoisseur I swirled the nice little glass and sniffed the redneck that I am, I down the cute little cup and let me be the first to tell you.. WOW! That stuff was knock your socks off, or flip flops if that is the case, GOOD! I think before I even set my little cup down I was pulling what little bit of cash I had in my pocket out and saying I want this much.. however much this much will buy I want it.

Ladies and Gentlemen, if you like Bloody Mary's, as an afternoon pick me up, or during a leisurely Sunday brunch with friends, go visit Buz at http://www.bloodysbybuz.com/ or if you are lucky enough to happen to be in Mathews between 9 and 1 on Saturday April 17th swing on by the Farmers Market he just may be there to knock your socks off as well.

There are a couple of little side notes to this first Mathews Monday that I would like to point out.

1. I was in no way prepared on Saturday while speaking with Buz to actually "report" on this on Monday. I had no note pad and only my camera in tow which should have been enough, however, the heavenly goodness of Bloody's by Buz made me forget who I was much less what the heck I was doing and I didn't take near as many pictures as I should have or obtained important information.. I will try to grow as this little project grows and if I ever happen upon Buz again.. I will be doing a bit more detailed post.

2. Sunday afternoons after a 5 mile bike ride and a 4 mile walk is the PERFECT time to partake in a nice tall cool Bloody Mary while reading a really good book and relaxing, I can't tell you how nice it was not to have to put away the 50 ingredients I put in my Bloody Mary's!

3. I will try to get better at this.. I promise.


And to Mr. Buz... I thank you kind sir... I thank you.

Saying Sunday

It is Easter, today.. this Sunday. A couple of things have Risen today... my weight for one.. lets not talk about rising things mmm k.. bad topic. Holiday's do that to me and the scale.

Now for this weeks saying "Lord Help Me Baby Jesus!" shortened version LHMBJ!

I probably picked the wrong holiday for this one and probably should have saved the Baby Jesus for Christmas and come up with something about 33 year old Jesus for now but what can I say I never quite do things right, but seriously I am not sure that 33 year old Jesus had a saying I could use... for some reason I just got the vision of 33 year old Jesus walking down the street doing the gangsta point at some dude and saying "word to your mother." I need help. Desperately.

So back to the LHMBJ! This can be used in many many situations... many!
Scared.
Shocked.
Full.
Sad.
Hurt.
Happy.
Excited.

You name it and the Baby Jesus is around to help out... well when you call him anyway.
So give it a try... stub your toe today, don't cuss, send up a little plea for help!

Not only does it feel better it sounds much better than the barrage of curse words you were probably getting ready to spew and quite honestly if you say it in front of the right people it will bring on hysterical fits of laughter because they probably haven't heard that phrase since 1973 when their granny passed away.

So for those of you who get to go spend the day with the extended semi crazy families you have... LHYBJ!!!!!! Me? I wasn't invited, seriously, thanks for that Ma.

Now on to some more fun stuff. Yesterday I went to the Mathews Farmers Market for the very first time. Many because CBW and CWD were going to be hanging out there selling the most beautiful daffy-dils Mathews County has ever seen (See those GORGEOUS daffy-dils that make my Easter table complete? Those are theirs. Perfect I tell ya).
Little did I know I was going to fall in love and vow to go back many more times this summer and speak with and talk to people who bring their "wares" to our little town square to sell.

As I was wandering looking at all the sights and people around, the light bulb came on in my head and I thought to myself Mathews Monday! Perfect!!!! On Monday's I will do a post about something entirely unrelated to the drama that has been following me around the last 38 years, including the large rear end that is also following me and devote that time to something I found right here in Mathews. I already have a couple lined up and have quite a few more ideas in store so stay tuned for Mathews Monday's and "meet" some great people who from time to time stop by these here parts of the world!

Happy Easter All.

She needs to get by with a little help from her friends.

Now this doesn't look to bad does it... That is what she thought...

So this morning I was up bright and early and thought to myself let me hop over to see what CBW has been up to.. and low and behold she gave me a shout out... in more ways than one. So I am going to help her out a bit today and fill her in on a few things.

What you see above is NOT a big white spot.. click it.. open it full size. Took it the day I found Bailey who I would not have known was my cousin if this hadn't happened. And she thinks she will be fine if she goes back.. MUWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

1. She is very correct the little swamp she ended up in is in fact the haunted place I have told her about before. She was good to be scared, not of the ghosts but because she only saw FOUR of about 15 stones and one tomb is open and exposed and has a big gigantic hole in it that would have eaten CBW alive, and then she would have had a heart attack and been dead but she would already be buried so I would just take her Daffy-dils from time to time. See I am a good friend.

Gapping hole that is covered over in brush.. but big enough to eat a CBW

2. If she only got as far as the tombstones she had a very very very long ways to walk and that walk gets worse and worse and muddier and muddier and more obstacle coursy. Trees down, large mud holes, alligators, and a bit of quick sand.

It just keeps getting worse and worse.. the traveling that is.

3. CBW would have been INCREDIBLY disappointed when she got to the end and realized her new view was absolutely NO BETTER than from the observation deck.

Bink doesn't particularly like when we visit.

4. It was going to be no better because she didn't say hello to Cousin Bailey on her way down and he wasn't going to let her know where she needed to go.

Hi my sweet cousin.. I will come see you soon.. mm k? Love you baby.

5. I am NOT like Cousin Bailey who just so happens to be an 11 year old little prankster, I help my friends out, this time I am helping by saying.. CALL ME YOU NUT YOU ARE GOING THE WRONG WAY!!!!!!

Just a shot I took of our little place a couple of years ago... the clouds were weird that day.

6. As a side note... I am wondering if I should be sad that CBW was this close to me.. was having trouble.. and didn't even CALL! Hmmm made I should take her back to Bailey!