Whaaaaa??!!

I get that it plays music and accesses the internet and has a groovy little touch-screen that's oh-so-COOL!, but people. Really. It's a PHONE.

Have you looked on ebay this morning? You should. iPhones are listed at well over $1,000. Course, you get free shipping. Whoopeee. For that price, as DH is always saying, you should get a Hatian to come clean your house and be at your beck and call. (Nothing against Hatians. No hate mail, please.)

Give it a year. Six companies will copy the blasted thing and you'll pick 'em up in every phone store and Wal Mart for $50.

People wonder why they can't afford, like, food and stuff. It's because you're ponying up the bling for phones and electronic games and vacations you can't afford and a lifestyle your paycheck won't allow!! They're EXTRAS, my friends, not necessities!!

Seriously. My head spins.

A G for a cell phone. Dear Lord.

Thursday 13

13 Nice Things That Happened This Week

1. I got farther into Eat, Pray, Love. It may be in my top five books of all time. It's a book I'm savoring...reading a few pages at a time, reflecting, thinking. Such a fantastic match for my little life revolution I've got going on here.
2. One of my college girlfriends called to tell me that her C-section date has been changed...to my birthday! Hee hee!
3. I bought two new pairs of Bermuda shorts from JC Penney.com on sale ($9.99 a pair for Dockers, ladies!!) and they fit!! My fellow big-legged girls out there know how hard it is to find longer shorts that don't pinch and pull and get all baggy around the waist to fit the thighs (I hate that word, thighs. Urgh). But these fit! I may just buy another pair for next year!
4. One of my son's friend's mom invited all of us to their house to swim in thier pool, and we had such a nice afternoon. She's a really nice girl and the kids played together beautifully. We all had a wonderful time.
5. My mom offered to take my kids today for as long as I want. Yeeeeeeeee ha!
6. I went to dinner with a dear friend and spent three hours and change just talking. About everything. And nothing. It was a really nice, relaxing night. And yesterday, she brought me a little gift with the nicest note, really for no reason at all. Warmed my heart and reinforced my conviction that I'm doing the right thing lately. Made my day, truly.
7. We also ate crap for dinner, drank beer, and had ice cream after. You see why the shorts don't generally fit...but man, it was fun!
8. I found out that a fellow blogger had a really nice compliment bestowed on her thanks to a hobby she enjoys. She thinks it might be queer, but I think it's awesome. Share with everyone--you know who you are!
9. DH's uncle's major back surgery yesterday seems to have gone well.
10. I finished an article that was giving me fits. Very few articles give me fits when it comes to the actual writing, but this one was a bear. Gone. Done.
11. DS and I read the 68-page book for his little book club (more on that another time...it's very cute) and really enjoyed it. Sitting on the couch, snuggling, learning about baseball, sounding out words. Life is good.
12. We found most of the pink frilly stuff we need for DD's upcoming birthday party--it's a princess tea party. Lord deliver me. I just need teacups and we're set.
13. I'm feeling so much more positive and so much more happy and very content and upbeat these days. Things that used to bug me really just aren't. This is a very good thing. :)

Twisted Grey Matter

All the headlines about that wrestler who killed his family and himself are now calling it "'Roid Rage." And every time I read that, I instantly wonder why hemorrhoids would cause rage.

Deep thought for today...

If I Only Had a Brain

The first emergency of the day happened at 9 a.m., when my daughter put on her Crocs to go outside and play.

"MOOOOOOOMMMEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Yet another rendition of the shriek herd 'round the world. I took off for the kitchen expecting blood, or at least a large insect somewhere in the room.

"My jibbitz!!! It's GONE!"

You know Jibbitz--those little charms kids wear on their Crocs. Seems my beloved princess is the only one in the world who can spontaneously lose one.

We searched the house. We scoured the back yard. No Jibbitz. It was a cute one too--a yellow sunflower. And it was already hotter than Hades and we were all a bit antsy, so I threw everybody into the car for a jaunt to Hallmark, the Jibbitz capital of the free world.

They pondered the bins, my little Crocs-wearing beasties. Another shriek, this one in delight, when the girl found another yellow sunflower. And then she found Cinderella, and the boy found Superman. And I'll admit, I found a chocolate lab who looks darn cute on my own rubber clogs.

So we dumped them on the counter and paid. $11.77. For the four little charms.

I started wishing I'd invented charms to fill the holes in plastic shoes. I mean, the lady with the Jibbitz patent is raking in the bucks right now. Planned properly, I bet that money could last her the rest of her life. Ditto for that freaky blonde perky chick who made the first Baby Einstein videos and then sold out to Disney. And whomever invented those Bumbo baby seats that sit tiny infants upright, eerie as that is.

I also wish I'd invented holey rubber clogs, come to think of it. And wooden trains with creepy faces and human names, and little tiny dolls with snap-on clothes and shoes that are nothing more than vacuum cleaner fodder. If I'd only thought of marketing superheroes whose only discernable difference from one another is the color of their shirts, or princesses who are essentially helpless without their men but who look darn sparkly in their ball gowns and smile like there's no tomorrow. I'd be a very wealthy woman.

Dang, I wish I was smart...

Highlights

We took the boat out Sunday. I loathe taking the boat out. It's a 14-foot boat. Beautiful, don't get me wrong. Handmade by a family company in Rhode Island with mahogany seats and trim. Gorgeous. Art, really. But too small for a day on the Chesapeake. You get the snot knocked out of you.

Which is exactly what happened to me.

So I'm getting the snot knocked out of me and consoling my children, who are also being tossed around, and trying to not kill my husband, who calls this fun, when we pass an old Radar tower. And at the top of the tower is a huge nest, and in the nest is a wild bald eagle. The real deal. Perched, majestically, atop the tower, surveying his domain, looking just as regal as an American eagle should look.

There aren't words, really. I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, a bird person. They hang around my yard, they crap on my car, and they steal from my blueberry bush. Birds are for dinner, as far as I'm concerned. But this eagle, up there, wild and free and gorgeous...he was stunning.

My son thought so too. We've spent several hours online watching videos of eagles and learning about them, and he had to call Grandpa--the family resident bird expert--for a lesson on the creatures and to share his experience with someone who wasn't there but would appreciate it.

It's going to be a long time before I get on the boat again. I need a sturdy sports bra and a back brace, and several alcoholic beverages first. But if we go again, I hope we look up and see that eagle watching us. For reasons I can't pinpoint, it made my day.

Finding Me

DH was away most of this week on business. And while we miss him when he's gone, the kids and I (OK, mostly me) take the opportunity to live a little lazier. We watch movies after dinner. I don't feel like the place needs to be in order by 6 p.m. And I get the remote all to myself.

I've told you guys that I'm making some changes in my life. I'm kicking out toxicity--food, relationships, habits. Part of that has meant pulling back from some relationships that make me work too hard and bring me stress and grief. Significantly pulling back.

It's been going well, truthfully. I've reached out to some new acquaintances with positive results and my stress level is down from not worrying so much about the other folks. I'm not snapping at my kids as much and we have all this time that wasn't there before.

But after the kids went to bed last night, the silence around here was deafening. And I started falling back into old habits--wondering why so-and-so doesn't seem to give a crap that I've fallen off the earth, pondering why thus-and-such didn't call or email me to see how I was doing even though she knew I was sick the other week...that sort of thing. "What's so wrong with me?" kind of stuff.

So I poured myself a glass of red wine, popped in "Love, Actually," and just felt sad for awhile. Shed a few tears, moped around, pouted, and let myself feel it all.

And today, I feel so much better. What a catharsis. I'm looking forward to getting to know some new people and I'm thrilled to have reconnected with an old friend I hadn't really seen much in awhile. I've made some great plans with my kids for the next few weeks--plans that I would have invited the other group to join me on last year, but that we're gladly exploring on our own this summer--and I'm reading a fantastic book about finding oneself and deciding what's important in one's own life. For the first time in a long, long time, I'm meeting myself and valuing myself and putting me first for awhile.

It's going to be a great journey. :)

Sick

This story made me feel ill.

When are we going to start watching? When are we going to start really screening people before we let them work around kids? When are we going to start caring enough to walk our *own* kids to school, to watch our *own* kids over the summer (assuming we're not all working parents) instead of sending them to camps and programs with complete and total strangers, to keep our eyes and ears totally open?

When is it finally going to be enough?