Old News

6/19/04 Those of you who read my very first post about having company know that as much as I love having people visit, it can get a little hairy after a few days. These past few weeks have been just that--HAIRY! Here's what happened.

It all started Friday May 21, with my sister-in-law's baby shower. Just three days later, Monday May 24, my brother-in-law came to visit and stayed thru June 3rd. Three days after that my husband had to leave for business for the week, June 7-11. The day my husband returned home (Friday the 11th), my sister-in-law had her baby. The very next day (12th) my mom flew out to visit for a week (a trip that had long since been planned). So after my mom arrived on the 12th of June my mother-in-law arrived on the Monday the 14th to see the new baby. Three days later on the 17th my husband left again on business and the very next day, Friday the 18th (yesterday), my mom flew home. That same day (last night) my father-in-law arrived to see the baby, and then tonight my husband returns from his trip. Tomorrow the in-laws head home and finally Monday June 20th life returns to normal.

Now those of you who know me well know that I am prone to melt downs when things get stressful. I am proud to say I have only had three melt downs during this month of craziness! (Maybe I should say four melt downs because I am sure I will break down once more after everyone goes.) But in the midst of it all there have been some really great moments and I am learning to appreciate the time I get to spend with loved ones even if it throws things out of whack for a bit. During one freak out my husband said to me, "I know it's making you crazy but try to enjoy this time. You will wish you had once they're gone." I'm not sure if he meant "gone" as in "after they have gone home" or "gone" as in "never to be seen again in this lifetime." Either way, it was good advice. Only God knows what tomorrow brings so we should try to enjoy each moment we have together.


6/15/04 I went to the mall this week and as I walked around I realized my expectations always far exceed the actual experience. It's like that everytime, but for some reason I keep going back. It's like I think I'm missing something, so I make the trip out there and once I get to walking around I realize, "Nope, not missing much at all."

I seem to always park on the same level of the garage near the same door. I follow the same path thru the mall visiting the same stores every time! If I eat in the food court I buy the same meal and sit in the same general area each visit. Is this normal or does everyone do it?

What strikes me as funny is that the whole reason I go to the mall is for some excitement, something "to do!" And then I end up doing the same predictable thing each time. There are some stores I don't enter because I know they don't have anything for me, but there are others that probably do have something interesting I just don't normally visit them and I have no idea why. If my point is to spend some time looking around you would think I'd want to see something new, rather than the same old same old (although the same old same old does often have something new, but you know what I mean.)

I guess as much as we like excitement we tend to gravitate toward the familiar. We stick closely to what we know and don't like to waste time when we are out wasting time. Next time I go I think I will purposefully try something new...like parking on the complete opposite side of the mall (although the place I park now is really the best spot I've ever found)...and maybe I will make a point to stop into three stores I would never usually visit....(why would I go in there? there can't possibly be anything for me in Chicos!)...and I will get my food at that funny little place on the end I never visit...(let's face it, I'll never go there.) Well, it was worth a try!

6/11/04 Isn't it amazing how time flies? I remember being in elementary school or junior high and it seemed like forever before the school year would end and summer would come. Now the weeks just fly by and I can barely keep up with them!

Sometimes an old memory will pop into my head of something that happened in high school. I get to reminiscing and then it hits me--that was 15 years ago! FIFTEEN! Just the other day I was thinking about my college roommates and some funny thing that happened and I realized that was back in 1995--almost 10 years ago! i can't believe it!

Not too long ago I got an email comparing today's youth with our youth, those of us born in the 60's and 70's. It talked about how we used to ride bikes all day without helmets, share sodas in park, ride in the back of pickup trucks, walk to the store several blocks away all by ourselves, play kick the can after dark, and so on. School fights were with fists or maybe a knife, our biggest worry was whether or not we'd get asked to the dance, and sitting in front of the tv all day was boring. It's hard to believe the years have passed so quickly, and life as we knew it has changed completely.

I don't know if I'd want to revisit my youth in today's society. Not that I'm THAT old, but I am thankful I lived those years when I did. Today's young people seem to have so much more to think about, too much if you ask me. It's like they don't get the chance to be kids anymore. And now that I am thirtysomething I see how important it is to cherish those early years, because they are gone too quickly.

6/8/04 We just bought a Scion xB. Have you seen them? You either love them or you hate them...there really is no in between. If you aren't sure what I'm talking about, it is a new car made by Toyota (it's actually a sister company they created) and it is very unique looking. A box on wheels if I do say so myself. Here's how we came to own one.

Last winter the miles on our Jeep began to climb higher and higher and we started knocking around the idea of selling it and getting a new car. In our relationship my husband loves to do the searching. He spends hours on the internet scouring ebay, autotrader, and all the carfax pages searching for the perfect car. (It used to drive me crazy until I realized he was saving me lots of hassle!) Anyway, all the while he kept coming back to the Scion. Now one thing I've learned about my husband over the years is that when he latches on to an idea, it is virtually impossible change his mind. Driving home from church we'd pass the Toyota dealership and he began taking long, lingering looks in that direction searching for a Scion to test drive. He started leaving autotrader open on the desktop of the computer with a nice big picture of a Scion for me to view. Out of the blue he'd start giving me the stats on Scion versus other cars we had considered. He denies ever doing such things but I see...I know...the obsession is growing.

Finally I broke down and went to test drive the car with him one afternoon. I'll admit, it was really roomy and handled quite nicely! But several things were holding me back from making the commitment to buy. First, and most importantly, we hadn't sold the Jeep! Second, I've never been good at commiting to large purchases. The idea of spending money frightens me, and the more money we need to spend, the more hesitant I am to spend it. And lastly, the shape was too odd. As an observer I would be fine saying it was a cool design, "Real unique!" But the idea of driving it around town and having people stare just made me nervous. I'm not an attention seeking kind of person and that thing screamed "Look at me! I'm odd! I'm different! Bet you wonder who'd drive such a thing!" We went home and my husband was thrilled! He'd found his car! I, on the other hand, had a nervous breakdown. I freaked. I melted into a pile of "I hate it!" and "It's ugly!" and ripped his tender, love-filled heart out.

It was months before he brought it up again. The Scion dealer, after numerous phone calls to my husband, realized it probably wasn't going to happen and stopped calling. Winter ended, old wounds healed, and spring arrived in all it's beautiful glory. And suddenly we were about to sell the Jeep. During this time we had researched other cars and just didn't find anything that compared (in terms of price/mpg/room.) It was time to decide just what we were going to do. We decided to test drive it again.

As you know we ended up with the Scion. But what I haven't mentioned is what changed my mind. I guess just knowing how happy he would be to drive that silly car around helped me make the decision. We are a team, he and I, and even though I might not like everything he likes, I do like seeing him happy. And I benefit too from the situation. I get to drive a new car that I really love...I just pretend not to see the funny shaped exterior and instead i see the what really counts. What's on the inside.

6/6/04 Due to the controversy surrounding my post on visitors it has been erased. In it's place I've decided to write a short commentary on the problem of understanding what I call "internet speak."

On more than one occasion I have run into trouble when trying to communicate via the internet. You see, it is very difficult to understand the context or tone of voice of the message you are receiving which leads to various interpretations. If I only use periods as punctuation I can come across either really calm or really dull. Too many exclamation points (something I'm often guilty of!) and I'm too bubbly! or too fired up! If I TYPE IN ALL CAPS I SEEM AS IF I'M SHOUTING MY THOUGHTS. I suppose it was for these reasons that we developed the smiling face icons that litter our emails (let's face it I'm just as guilty of using them as the next.) They help signal to the reader the emotion we're trying to get across.

I remember the first time I saw ":)" at the end of a sentence. I had no clue what that meant. At first I thought it was a symbol for an ear or listening. Then I got a ";)" and I thought the sender had accidentally hit the semi colon instead of the colon. I think it took getting a ":(" for me to realize "Wait a minute...is that a frown?" And suddenly all of the emails I had gotten before started making sense! Now I see all sorts of faces; the ":o" for "Oh, no!" happens to be a favorite of mine.

6/5/04 I keep getting songs stuck in my head. I happened to watch the VH1 special on the worst videos ever and #1 was "We Built This City (On Rock & Roll)" by Starship, or Jefferson Starship, or Jefferson Airplane....not sure which they were at the time. But anyway, I thought it was the perfect song to be voted #1 for the worst something because I have cringed at that song since the first day I heard it back in 8th grade. Unfortunately since celebrating I have had the ridiculous song stuck in my head! One of my absolute least favorite songs has been running thru my mind off and on for days and there is nothing I can do about it! Everything about the song is ridiculous.

Every once-in-a-while I go a few days without a piece of music playing in my mind, but then suddenly one latches on and it takes forever to get rid of it. Usually it just gets replaced with another song, and then sometimes the two songs take turns driving me nuts. Have you ever liked one song but detested the other? And you try so hard to get the favored song to stick and replace the hated song! There are certain songs that I can't even mention...can not even try to recall the name of or they're in. And somehow I know every word! It's as if I sat down with a pen and paper and replayed the song over and over trying to memorize the lines...and the guitar riffs! Amazing how our minds work.