170: an ordinary day

what was your sunday like? was it fun and exciting? chill and laid back? boring and sleep-inducing?

mine was... ordinary.

i wanted to go to church today but baby bliss and i overslept. not surprising since we were up late. she watched mission impossible 3 until the sandman dragged her away 3/4 of the way into the movie.

mr. bliss had gone to church, come home, and gone out again before i could crack my eyelids. he called to say he was out with my family and asked if i needed anything while he was out.

soon after he got back, baby bliss and i got dressed and we all went to the dollar store then sam's club. on the way home, the mermaid decided she needed a swim. she begged mr. bliss to cook dinner on the grill at the pool but he refused, saying dinner would be ready when we returned.

so baby bliss and i headed out to the pool. the sky was overcast but the temperature was still warm and a bit muggy. thankfully the pool was nearly empty. my auntie joined us later, for about an hour.

most of my time was spent watching them swim from my perch on the covered porch. (i also played a few games of pacman.) eventually the heat and mosquitoes forced me to the water's edge. i hiked up my skirt, plopped my patootie poolside, and dangled my legs in the cool water. it felt good but the smell of chlorine was almost overpowering. yuck!

soon baby bliss and i bid auntie farewell and we all left for our respective abodes.

dinner was still sizzling on the grill when we opened our front door. i helped hubby dish up the vittles (rice, grilled barbeque chicken, grilled salmon, corn on the cob, raw spinach) and we all sat down to a scrumptious meal.

i'm not sure how hubby managed to eat a big bowl of rainbow sherbet after chowing down like he did on dinner. i didn't have an inch of room to spare when i was done. mr. bliss ate full-sized portions of salmon and chicken. i started out with salmon and 1/4 of a chicken breast but only ate 3/4 of the salmon. i usually prefer salmon but the chicken tasted better this time. so i pinched some of baby bliss's chicken when she wasn't looking. (she doesn't eat salmon.)

during his sherbet sortie, mr. bliss announced that we would be taking a walk to help our food settle. *groan* i knew i needed to but i wasn't really feeling good. i had taken a bunch of vitamins/supplements with my dinner and it felt like they were fighting it out in my belly.

baby bliss didn't wanna go either but in the end, we all went. thankfully we saw mr. and mrs. neighbor (the ones who had the shindig July 7 weekend) coming outside just as we got to their door. they were heading out too so we all walked together. it was nice to have another adult to talk to. baby bliss had the neighbors' dog for company. :-)

back home, mr. bliss and baby bliss headed straight for their bedrooms. i talked mr. bliss into giving me a massage before he turned in. (ahhhhhhhhhhhhh...) i dozed off and was on the verge of the abyss of real sleep when baby bliss banged on the door, demanding my return.

seems she was happy playing with her dolls until she noticed i was missing.

i left mr. bliss sleeping and now baby bliss and i are watching our favorite shows (eastenders and as time goes by) on telly.

i'm hoping she goes to sleep soon. i've got some overdue business to tend to with mr. bliss.

169: bliss baubles

hey y'all.

not much to say... just wanted to post some photos of a bracelet i made in the wee hours of friday morn.











i think it's delicate and girly without being overly frou-frou. what do y'all think??

the main beads are glass seed beads in sky blue, cobalt blue, and apple green. the small gold-plated beads are the teasers. there are also a few 3 mm glass beads in apple green, sky blue, and royal blue sprinkled around.

some of the bigger metal beads are small brass bells. the others are (approx.) 6 mm brass rounds that i recycled from an old bracelet i broke. the 3 big blue glass beads that were recycled from the same bracelet.

i call this the Fertility Bracelet cuz there's a small fertility symbol swinging from one of the coils.
here she is:
i think i'm gonna start selling my jewelry online as soon as i get a few more done. i've ordered more supplies (wire for the rings) from my source and i'm waiting excitedly. i didn't order anything for more bracelets though. i guess i'll wait to see what the demand will be for those...

and thanks baby bliss for being such a patient hand model. mommy appreciates your hard work.

uh oh. i've just been summoned for a trip to the library. gotta run y'all.

more later...

168: friday

hubby brings home the bacon and i take it to the big skillet (the bank) every friday.

this friday was business as usual.

baby bliss and i went to grandma's for a late breakfast and a nap after our bank run.

grandma is funny.

it was about 90 degrees out. grandma and baby bliss got into a discussion about the fastest way to cool off. grandma said baby bliss would cool off if she sat still and waited for the fan to turn in her direction. (that might be true for some folks, but not baby bliss. she seems to have a furnace somewhere inside. i've seen her sweat in the freezing cold.)

b.b. thought it would be better if the fan didn't oscillate and she would sit right in front of it. i'm not sure why  grandma thought that was a bad idea. *shrug*

i didn't want to hear it so i pulled out The Hindi Bindi Club and plopped in a chair for a good read. before i knew it, i was looking at the inside of my eyelids. i wanted to sleep in the chair but it was soooooo uncomfortable. i swooshed myself over to the couch and sank into a noisy sleep.

the snooze wasn't long enough and i got up feeling drowsy and irritable.

baby bliss wanted to go to the library too (now that she's no longer relegated to the kid's computers, she's a library fanatic) but we ran out of time: mr. bliss knocked off at a decent hour so we three enjoyed an early dinner-and-a-movie family night.

we saw the latest harry potter. i won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it but i will say it was extremely disappointing. it seemed like an overlong chapter or short story, stretched into a movie that could have been truncated and bundled into the next one.

*sigh*

i've heard the rumors of plagiarism on the part of potter's penner. of course she was found innocent of all charges. i'm not saying the innocent verdict wasn't fair. i'm just wondering how the other movies were good and this one was just... okay.

maybe the director is to blame? i'm not sure... i am sure we won't be getting that one on DVD. baby bliss will have to read it.


.

167: iiiiiiiiiice creeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeam

this week's Crazy Hip Blog Mama Collaboration (formerly the Crazy Hip Blog Mama Carnival) is ice cream.

they said we could be creative and do something other than write about it. that would be cool 'cept i don' t have any pics of ice cream, people eating ice cream, the ice cream man, or any other ice cream stuff.

i don't have any funny ice cream stories either. or none that i can think of right off the top of my head any way.

so i'll just say i loooooooooooooooooove ice cream. but not all ice cream and not any ice cream.

and i'm a fan of banana splits. or just ice cream with bananas. i also like ice cream with nuts. or ice cream with nuts and cherries, hold the whipped cream, hold the sauces.

hey, i know! i'll just do an ice cream list.

here are my faves, in order from "most fave" to "i dig it".

1. cherry vanilla (but not the kind with the real cherries)
   
2. cookies and cream
3. banana split ice cream
4. orange and white something or other (a hold-over childhood favorite)
   
5. birthday cake

i'll eat ice cream from a bowl, a cup, a cone, a waffle cone or bowl, even the tub it comes in.

i also like sorbet, sherbet, gelatto (every so often), and Tofutti's frozen desserts.

i don't eat ice cream too often. not cuz i don't like it. mostly cuz it's dairy and sometimes gives me a headache.

now i'm gonna scoop my way over to see what my sister Crazy Hip Blog Mama's had to say about ice cream. join me y'all!

166: updates

could y'all tell from the previous post that i was seething with threatening-to-erupt rage? 

i was afraid i'd want to spit in one of non-custodial's eyes and pull the other out with a fork. 

but lunch wasn't so bad. we made small talk while we ate. a casual observer wouldn't have known i'd been contemplating evisceration just minutes before. baby bliss was happy with the short visit and that's all that really matters, right?

***

last night's soda run was a bust. i think the doors only open until a certain hour, after which access is cut off. i no longer crave that sugary dr. pepper taste, thank goodness. now i've got a hankering for watermelon and pineapple tidbits, both of which we have in the kitchen already. (we're at the library right now so i won't be able to partake for another 1 1/2 hours, at least.) 

i'm supposed to be working (read: writing some part of my Work in Progress) but i'm sitting here doing this. LOL what better way to enjoy my time at the library while waiting for baby bliss to finish her time on the PC than by blogging?  :-)

i'm also listening to music. i don't have my headphones and my volume is low but all of a sudden it got very quiet in here. i 've been turning the volume down in increments but it seems to get quieter every time. am i in trouble? will i be singled out as the culprit and be banished from the library? 

i should think not.

there was a young woman sitting in front of me who seemed to relish the thought that we were all taking in her cell phone conversation. i wasn't (this time) and her loud voice was damned annoying. that was part of the reason i turned my music on. i do like to eavesdrop every now and again but her conversation was ordinary.

my ears are tuned to take in more juicy, gossip-y kinds of details. tsk tsk y'all. i sometimes feel sorry for those who have no scandals to be overheard whilst talking loudly on the cellular. 

personally, i take pains to occasionally shock my listeners with loudly whispered words like "g-string" and "nipple", and phrases like "how big was it?!" and "she did what to your...?!" 

everyone needs a lil bit of titillation in their lives. some days i feel i'm here to provide that service.

165: lunch with the non-custodial parent

i left my ex before baby bliss was 2 years old (8+ years ago) to return to my hometown (over 2,000 miles from the ex). i left because finding the middle ground for living a peaceful life seemed to be impossible for the two of us.

we divorced several years later, amicably.

fast forward to the ex's re-marriage (a few years ago) and problems began to creep in.

they were subtle: baby bliss returned from a visit with tales of parental squabbles (normal). baby bliss gets into it with the step-momma about step-momma's heavy hand when doing baby's hair (which i specifically told step-momma not to do) that turns into a hair-pulling session (not good) bestowed upon baby bliss by the step-mommy. (time for momma bliss to put her foot down. or up somebody's @ss if necessary).

then comes the step-momma's pregnancy. baby bliss returned home from a visit upset because the other parents were showing pictures of their recently acquired abode to all who would look. the descriptions of the glorious rooms were festooned with titles of ownership like "little man's bedroom", "big man's office", "the parents' love nest", "little man's nursery".

baby bliss said she asked, "where's my room?"

to which the biological non-custodial was said to have sputtered, "ummm, yeah. haha. we'll just work that out when you come for a visit. haha."

okie dokie.

nine (9) years of parenting with mr. bliss as my partner and now hubby... either and/or both of us: did almost a year of potty patrol; slept with one ear on standby in case baby fell out of new bed; kissed a google of skinned knees; have been sleep-deprived as necessary to battle nightmares and under-bed baddies; accompanied baby bliss for her first day of school (every time, from Pre-K to 2nd grade, after which we began home schooling); volunteered countless hours chaperoning class trips/playing teacher's aide/offering general school-wide help; took the child to doc visits (wincing at all appts requiring needles of any kind); played tooth fairy too many times to count; read countless bedtime stories; consoled said child with hugs and kisses (and the occasional Tofutti cutie or bowl of sorbet) when some eyes-squinted-in-prayer wished-for event or situation didn't pan out; washed a ton of kiddie-sized laundry; hosted at least one birthday party every year (some years there were 2)...

y'all know what i mean.

the real mess started after i filed to change the jurisdiction for child support last fall. a month later i get a phone call from the non-custodial. it started out with general chit chat. then he requested permission to speak on a more serious matter.

the matter turned out to be a "concern" for baby bliss's education. the other parents "noticed" that baby bliss never wanted to read when she was with them. ummm... okay...

i'm pretty sure i was among the exception(s) when i was a young girl cuz i loved to read any and everything i could get my hands on. at any time, day or night.

that's not baby bliss though. although she reads quite proficiently for her age, she's not a huge fan of the written word. i'm past making a big deal of it tho. she knows the reading requirements for this house and tho we sometimes struggle with it, she's doing well. her test scores say so too.

the "concern" for baby bliss's education is peeled away layer by layer to reveal something deeper: the non-custodial says he needs "more say" in baby bliss's life.

LOL yeah, okay. from hundreds of miles away, you need more say in the life of a child who's being raised by other people. people who's child-rearing has been satisfactory for all the years previous...

i was already suspicious of the conversation and wondered where it was really leading. because what i also heard were suspicious pauses in the conversation, as if the non-custodial was reading from a script or being coached.

when i requested clarification of the words "more say", i was met with frantic tongue-tied hemming and hawing. until the meaning was clarified by the unknown coach(es).

the conversation got a little tense and heated. not (too) ugly. but it did end with me advising the non-custodial to seek legal counsel. he couldn't agree to disagree on a situation that was previously to his liking but had somehow ceased to run smoothly at some point from his (or their) point of view.

in the early part of this year, a sheriff's deputy knocked on my door and handed me a summons. i was being sued for custody and child support. the only allegation: baby bliss is receiving "an inadequate education". without ever having requested or seen one report card/progress report (well, maybe only one) since Pre-K, the non-custodial makes this allegation.

okay. they had now pulled out the big gun (a lawyer) so i'd have to get one too. for protection of course.

if any of you have ever been thru this kind of madness, then y'all already know what a mess it is. let me just say that prior to this nonsense, i have always been cooperative with visitation between baby bliss and the biological non-custodial. my own mother took baby bliss to see her dad for a week-long holiday a few months after i left him. (which she never did again because he showed his behind so much that an older relative of his--who was there at the same time--reprimanded the ex for his behavior and the way he treated my mom.)

after that, he was always welcome to visit her at my home. i even allowed him to take her with him to his home (several states away, after he moved back to the east coast) and i didn't even have his address. i allowed him to take her with him to spend time with him and his girlfriends. because i've never been the don't-have-my-baby-around-your-woman type. (one of his girlfriends and i even became good friends thru phone calls and e-mails.)

mr. bliss and i have always been gracious hosts and the ex has been warmly welcomed at our house (and homes of my family members) with his girlfriends (and even their children)--for many years.

yet my daughter is now a member of a statistical group that i never imagined she would belong to: children who are caught in custody battles.

fast forward to now: we're on our way to have lunch with him. no more unsupervised visits until this mess is over. i'll detail more about it all later cuz i gotta run.

164: i'm sneaking off...

to get a soda from the machine up by the gym.

heehee hawhaw

i don't drink sodas (pop) often but every now and then i get a taste for one. tonight i want a dr. pepper and i hope they have one. i've never used that machine so i'm not sure what's in it.

shoot, i hope i can get in the darned building. i have a key fob but i'm not sure if it grants 24-hour access.

i'll know in about 2 minutes cuz i'm driving up there.

the first month i lived down here, i thought this was a super safe place to live. baby bliss and i would go out in the wee hours to make a mc dee's run or get stuff outta the trunk. then i realized that i was in the south, not on the moon.

there's crime here just like up north. maybe not as much but still, crime.

so i'll be extra careful when i make my soda run.

brb.

163: what i'm reading

it's been a book-lovers summer in my neck of the woods y'all. i love to read as much as i love to write but it had been a long time since i've had time to read like i used to back in tha day.

it's really been my own fault tho, not taking time out to curl up in the sun with a good book. so i remedied that as soon as we were officially done with our schooling.

i've been taking every opportunity to read, mostly at the pool while baby bliss keeps her tail wet.

in the past 2 weeks alone, i finished three books by an author i totally dig.

Armistead Maupin has a series called Tales of the City. it's one of my favorite serials. some of the novels have become PBS and ShowTime mini-series.

i actually saw the mini-series before i read the books so i didn't bother to start from scratch. when i heard there was a new book out, i decided to start with the previous two books in preparation for the last one, so i wouldn't miss anything.

it was needless frettin' tho cuz all the books were stand-alone material.

the three books were Significant Others




Sure of You (Tales of the City series, V. 6)
Michael Tolliver Lives (A Novel)








Michael Tolliver Lives is supposed to be it for those wacky san franciscans but i sure hope not. i'll miss those lovable, every-day-people characters who i love like my favorite comfy undies. and i've been meaning to send Mr. Maupin an e-mail about that last book. he got me all worked up with some of that stuff and i ain't been the same since.

i started Pigs in Heaven (the sequel to The Bean Trees) by Barbara Kingsolver a few weeks back but got distracted by my friends from Barbary Lane. not that Pigs in Heaven ain't a good book. it just starts kinda slow. i'm sure i'll enjoy it just as much as i did the first book.







but i've become so engrossed in The Hindi Bindi Club that i know i won't get back to Pigs in Heaven til i'm done with this one. i love learning about other cultures and i have a real live person (my downstairs neighbor) who i can quiz on the veracity of all the yummy recipes and Hindi customs.

when i'm done with those two, i have about 12 other books waiting for me to dive into 'em. some fiction, some not.

that reminds me that i need to check my library account online to make sure nothing is overdue. :-) i'm sure i've paid at least $50 in late fees since we moved here.

.

162: paper jones

i think i've told y'all already that i have a thing for paper.

it's like i'll see it and i can't help but want it. i begin to daydream, imagining the come-hither blankness filled with my not-so-lovely handwriting: to-do lists, random notes, websites i wanna/gotta/need to check out, phone numbers of people and/or places i need to call -- the list stretches to infinity.

if i didn't buy another single sheet of paper in my lifetime, i bet i already have enough paper in here to last another 20 years, if i use one sheet a day.

i'm not kidding.

i have spiral notebooks, the kindergarten ledgers, those small journal-type books with the cute covers that are all the rage in the dollar stores now, reams of plain printer paper, packs and packs of 3-ring binder fillers, note cards in many varieties and color schemes, bunches of designer printer paper that can double as personal stationary, and more.

so why did i buy more paper today?

well, yeah... "cuz it was there and i couldn't resist" is one of the reasons.

the other reason is cuz it was on sale. i got 4 more of the 3-subject, 70-page, spiral-bound notebooks. two in blue (my favorite color) and two in purple (baby bliss's favorite color).

i look at it this way: if i don't live to use it all and if i have nothing else to leave her, baby bliss will have enough paper to... to do whatever she wants with it.

and now i'm off to bed for a few hours.
.

161: the man at the pool

men don't read women's blogs, right y'all?

i hope not cuz somebody out there might know who i'm talking about then i'll be busted.

any way... *sucking my teeth*

there's this guy i've been seeing at the pool fairly often in the past few weeks. he's teaching some folk round here to swim.

i've been going to the pool with baby bliss but not getting in. she plays and swims while i "work" on the shaded porch. (might that be called a "portico"? i'll have to look it up.)

we go to the pool at different times every time and we don't go every day so i'm not stalking the guy. we just happen to be there at the same times lately.

he has an interesting face and a beautiful body. he's tall and mostly slender, a very dark shade of burnished mahogany, and he's fit. not in an ugly over-muscled way. but in a comfortable, spoon-me-on-the-sofa kinda way. mmmmm... yummy.

we've exchanged smiles and greetings, spoken a few words about the weather in passing. and that's as far as it'll go.

despite the fact that mr. bliss and i are more like a roommates these days, there is no one else for me. by that i mean:

1. right now i don't want more than i have.
   
2. my life is full.
   
3. i don't have the energy or the inclination to do anything more than what i'm already doing: sneak peeks while i watch to be sure baby bliss isn't drowning.

besides, the guy wears this gigantic cross around his neck and y'all know what that means. '-)

but it's all good. the swimming instructor shall remain a delectable specimen of eye candy and possibly good fodder for a steamy short story or two.

c'est la vie...

160: i feel stupid. and hungry.

like, yeah, i know i shouldn't be eating this time o' morning but i'm hungry.

so i trotted over to the fridge at full speed, pulled out some leftovers and put them in the steamer. that was ohhhh, about 30 minutes ago.

i got back to my laptop and got lost in the web for a while. then i thought my vittles might be ready so i shimmied on back to the kitchen to check the pot.

guess what y'all? i forgot to turn the burner on.

i am not joking when i say i could cry right now.

but maybe it's a sign from God/Goddess/Universe cuz i had a massive 10-hour headache that only subsided an hour or two ago. my head now feels light and airy and i'm grateful.

i'm also hungry damn it!

159: emergency kit

it might be not the kind y'all think...

baby bliss and i were in the car the other day, headed to the store. i happened to glimpse m'self in the rearview and realized my ears were bare.

horror of horrors y'all cuz i don't like naked ears (on me).

we were going to the dollar store so i decided i'd buy a cheap pair to wear just for the few hours we'd be out.

they sho did have a lotta cute earbobs at that there dollar sto. as luck would have it, the pair i liked came on a card with another pair. so i got me 2 pair of earrings for $1.00.

i put on the cutest pair and wondered what i'd do with t'other cuz i hate throwing out stuff.

then EUREKA! it dawned on me. i would keep the 2nd pair in the car as an emergency pair.

yesterday grandma was riding with us and asked me for a rubber band for her hair. wouldn't y'all know we didn't have one rubber band in the whole car?!

then SHAZZAM! it dawned on me again. i needed an emergency kit for the car, one with girly stuff in it. "-)

i need to make a list, of course, or i'll plumb forget what all i need to put in the darned thing.

1. a pair of cheap-but-cute-earrings
   
2. rubber bands
3. band aids
4. nail clipper
5. nail file
6. miniature sewing kit
7. 1 small tin of breath mints or 1 mini tube of toothpaste
   
8. 1 miniature note pad (on sale this week at our local Walgreen's $1 for 8)
   
9. a few panty liners (in a baggie)
10. 2 or 3 o.b. tampons
    
11. a few empty baggies (sandwich size)
12. safety pins
13. bobby pins
14. 1 small package of tissue
15. a few crackers or cookies (in a baggie, for tummy rumbles)
16. q-tips

that's it y'all, my P.E.C.K. (personal emergency car kit).

i think everyone should have one so go on now. make a list, get a container (i'm gonna pray it all fits into one of those 6 x 9 pencil holder thingies), fill it up, and stash it under the driver's seat.

158: got ants?

i'm not sure if this works since we got rid of our ants using other methods.

i heard that a mixture of cinnamon and red pepper spread around the boundaries would keep ants away from (and out of) the house.

i bought some of each for my grandma and i'm gonna mix it and sprinkle a test mixture around the patio door. them critters seems to have a gazillion points of entry tho so we'll have to see what happens.

if any of y'all have already tried it, lemme know if it helped?

thanx y'all. :-)

157: lemon cookies

harris teeter has a store-brand lemon something cookie that is to die for y'all.

i'm thinking about it right now, wishing i had a bag or two.

i wouldn't eat 'em all right now. i just like to have a stash of goodies; some for now, some for later.

last time they were on sale i got two bags. it took me a while to eat them.

yes y'all, i know cookies aren't on the menu of healthy foods but i only indulge occasionally. and eating cookies makes me drink more water cuz it's the only thing i like to wash sweets down with.

:-)

156: time for bliss arts

i think it's time for another round of bliss arts photos y'all.

i b'lieve i've got some photos on the laptop of a ring i made. lemme go check.

brb...

ahhhhh, here it is:




and here's another:


















the first one is my favorite. it's about 1 1/2 inches high and somehow, when i'm wearing it, it feels like it's a very expensive piece of jewelry. don't know why but it does.

the red and gold one is about an inch high. it's cute too but not my favorite even though i love the color combination. maybe it's missing a lil something?

i enjoyed making those rings and plan to make more like the first one, with lots of variation in color, bead texture, and style. :-)

baby bliss and i used to make earrings back in tha day. that was fun too but not as fulfilling as making the rings was. there was a technique to making earrings that i couldn't quite get the hang of.

and even though i thought some of my earrings were cuter than cute, the important bits didn't look professional enough for me.

those pics are on my old 'puter (the Desktop Dragon) so i guess i won't be posting those pics. not any time soon any way.
.
.

155: we gather together...

(sue me if the punctuation and grammar are off y'all. it's almost 3 a.m. and i should be a-sleeping!)

i do believe in 'scopes, i do believe in 'scopes, i do-i do-i do-i do-i do believe in 'scopes!

i believe in astrology cuz i do. i'm not always a believer in horoscopes tho. least not the ones that are in the daily paper or in my inbox every day.

except when they're dead-on.

seems like that's been happening a lot lately. not every day of course. but 2 or 3 in a week is kinda skare-reee. or weird. or wonderful. 'pends on the day, the issue, and my mood.

church has been the same way.

for the past few sundays, i've been sittin' there listening to one of our ministers and then out she comes with a mention of the very thing/thought/experience i had m'self, that day or the day before.

i get all goose-bumpy and feeling flushed cuz i know it's a Cosmic Reminder. of something...

then i realized it was a good thing. cuz to me it meant i was living in the flow, right where i should be. right where i wanna be.

so i say thank you God/Goddess/Universe.

amen.

154: are you a consumer?

yeah?

then check out this blog The Consumerist: Shoppers Bite Back to find a ton of useful info.

it's chock full of rebate/discount/coupon info, juicy tidbits (like how to dump your cell carrier), useful stuff (a link to a blog that shows how to morph your IKEA furniture into other useful items), and much much more.

i'm reading it right now...

153: make money, save money

hey y'all, this guy over at Hustler $$$ Blog has a whole lotta ways to make and save money.

just what we need folks.

and it's all perfectly legal.

i think...

.

152: state sales tax holidays for back to school

yes y'all, the most-welcome tax-free shopping days are a-coming so mark your calendars.

i saw this on someone else's website but i guess it's public information so i'm just gonna do a copy-and-paste.

Alabama, August 3rd-5th
Clothing - $100
Computers - $750
School supplies - $50
Books - $30

Connecticut, August 19th-25th
Clothing - $300

District of Columbia, August 4th-12th
Clothing - $100
School supplies - $100

Georgia, August 2nd-5th
Clothing - $100
School supplies - $20
Computers - $1,500

Florida, August 4th-13th
Clothing - $50
School supplies - $10

Iowa, August 3rd-4th
Clothing - $100

Missouri, August 3rd-5th
Clothing - $100
Computers - $3500
School supplies - $50

New Mexico, August 3rd-5th
Clothing - $100
Computers - $1,000
School supplies - $15

North Carolina, August 3rd-5th
Clothing - $100
School supplies - $100
Computers - $3,500
Other computer items - $250
Sports equipment - $50

Oklahoma, August 3rd-5th
Clothing - $100

South Carolina, August 3rd-5th
Clothing
School supplies
Computers
Linens

Tennessee, August 3rd-5th
Clothing - $100
School supplies - $100
Computers - $1,500

Texas, August 17th-19th
Clothing and backpacks - $100

Virginia, August 3rd-5th
Clothing - $100
School supplies - $20

151: well, well, well

Crazy Hip Blog Mamas has some new regs.

said they're gonna do away with the webring...

uhhhh, okay.

dunno why. (maybe i missed that part. i was too busy checking for what i gotta do next.)

they said i gotta add the members list to my own page, either as a text link or a blogroll.

i like the blogroll but i don't want it to take up too much space.

so lemme go back and see how to compress it. :')

brb...

150: i realize...

i haven't been over to Crazy Hip Blog Mamas in a while.

lemme skedaddle on over to see what's shaking...

right back y'all.

:-)

149: "dorothy? who's dorothy?"

has anyone else been going to the free movies at AMC theaters this summer?

we've been going but not every week. some wednesdays we haven't wanted to get up; some we didn't wanna see what was showing.

this week, we went. the girls got up early enough and the early movie (10 a.m.) was one i've always wanted to see on the big screen: The Wizard of Oz.

i've been a Wizard of Oz fan since elementary school. and not just a fan of the movie. i had a bunch of the Oz books. (some people don't know it, but there's a whole series of Oz books. i had some of them and now baby bliss has her own set. i was lucky enough to find her's in the thrift store, along with a set of the Narnia books.)

baby bliss was a big fan of the Wizard of Oz (the movie) when she was very young. it was one of the first movies we bought for her, around the time she started walking. or maybe we really bought the movie for me but she loved it too, from the first time she saw it. she didn't even get scared at the creepy parts.

we've both seen the movie on telly at least once a year since i can remember. and that's the way i've always seen it until wednesday.

it was a real treat to see dorothy and her crew on the big screen. anty em reminded me a lot of my granny, something i somehow never noticed on the small screen. indeed, i saw many things on the big screen that i'd never noticed on the telly.

one of them was really funny. it was that part where the flying monkey things nab dorothy and toto in the forest to take them to the witch. when they showed the long shot of dorothy being flown away, i could tell it was a doll of some sort cuz dorothy's legs moved back and forth in a weird, wooden-looking kinda way. i never even saw that on the telly. maybe it was cut but i don't even recall seeing it in the VHS version we had.

probably cuz it was a long shot which made the images small. small images on a small screen... y'all know what i mean.

the backdrops were a lot more noticeable too. i found myself fantasizing about a Wizard of Oz remake, using modern technology and current actors. it was uncanny how much the scarecrow resembled mark harmon. i thought dorothy could be played by jennifer garner but she might be a bit too old to be believable to today's demographic.

who would play aunt em? who would be the cowardly lion? the wizard? the tin man?

i thought baby bliss would appreciate the fact that i knew most of the songs by heart. but she didn't. i thought she would laugh at the wicked witch and cry when miz gulch came for toto. like she used to do. but no y'all. baby bliss is not that same little girl any more. she waited til halfway thru the movie and said, "um mommy. what time is this over cuz i gotta go to the bathroom."

i guess she wasn't feeling dorothy and toto like i was. too bad. i was thoroughly and utterly blissed.

148: saturday

what did y'all do this weekend??

the girls and i have been hanging out and enjoying ourselves real good down in our neck of the woods.

#2 Auntie had a good idea last week. she thought we girls (8 of us of varying ages) should have an girls-only outing. we were all very enthusiastic about the idea. we've done similar because most of our family has been girls until i was in my 20s. but i don't believe we've done an all girls family outing since i've been an adult.

#1 Auntie said we could do it at her house (the McMansion) and most of us agreed. i did notice that #2 Auntie didn't seem keen on that one. she likes to fish y'all and thought the lake would be a good place to make a picnic. and #1 Grannie was absent but we thought she'd go along with the majority vote cuz she usually does. 'specially when it's #1 Auntie's idea.

when we parted it was with the notion that the party would be at #1 Auntie's McM. we were only waiting to hear back on the date and time.

friday evening i got word from #2 Auntie that the party would be saturday, commencing with breakfast. #1 Auntie would do all the cooking since she offered to host (and she likes to cook). #2 Cousin (#1 Auntie's daughter) said we should arrive around 11 a.m. because no one thought #1 Cousin (me) could get up early enough to arrive sooner.

excuse me? back in the day, that woulda led to a lotta cussing y'all. today i deal with #1 Family differently for a lot of reasons.

so any way, #2 Auntie said we should call #1 Auntie to get all the details straight. in true #1 Family tradition, it never happened.

instead, i got up around 9 on saturday morning and began making phone calls. i called #1 Grannie, #1 Auntie, #2 Auntie, and #2 Cousin. i got #1 Grannie's answering machine. #1 Auntie's voice mail came on. #2 Auntie's phone was busy, and #2 Cousin didn't answer at all.

#2 Auntie called about an hour later and said she didn't think she was going because she and #1 Grannie had appointments to get their hair did. *sucking my teeth*

then she said #2 Cousin and her #1 (step) daughter needed a ride and could i pick them up? now i don't have nothing against carpooling or picking up my peoples, but we talking bout some big booties. #2 Cousin has her own ride. why they gotta be messing up my axles?!

i rang #2 Cousin again. still no answer. so i went back to minding mine.

by the time i get a call from #2 Cousin, it's after 10 a.m. she said if she and #1 Daughter could fit in my car, they'd ride with us. bet.

i told baby bliss and #3 Cousin to get ready then i scurried off to do the same.

we got to #2 Cousin's house by oh... 11 something. i thought they would be ready to go y'all. she and #1 Daughter were dressed but we had to wait. and wait. and wait.

finally we all piled in and headed for #1 Auntie's.

#2 Cousin knew a back road so we took that route. it was beautiful. we passed, meadows, cows, geese, farms... then i got to feeling sad cuz i know that in a few years time much of that beauty would be gone, replaced by civilization in the form of expensive/exclusive subdivisions and upscale strip malls.

any way...

#1 Auntie had a yummy spread ready for us. :-) we chowed down on grits, rosemary fried taters, veggie sausage, cinnamon rolls, and watermelon. we were gonna have eggs too but #1 Auntie forgot to buy some and we were too lazy to stop at the market on the way up.

during breakfast Auntie asked #3 Cousin about school. #3 Cousin said she doesn't like school much. too much cussing and fighting she said. sounds like a bar on friday night right y'all? naw, she's in elementary school.

we didn't get to cussing in school until i was in 9th grade, i know. i was too much of a lady (read: scairdy cat) to fight. i had a lotta mouth tho (as mentioned somewhere else in the blog) and it got me in plenty o' trouble with the bully girls. i never really got beat up but i recall an incident in the girl's locker room where a few chicks tried to jump me. (and one actually did jump on my back.) another time, a girl said she would get me after school. i tried to get away as soon as the bell rang but stupid me got my shoe caught under the fence on the way out. i saw Big Bully Girl coming around the corner and i knew my goose was cooked y'all. so i tried to pretend like she hadn't threatened to punch my grill out and asked her nicely if she could help me get my shoe back.

ahhhhh... the pleasant memories of 2nd grade...

any way, back to the tale of the hour.

then we all began reminiscing about school. two of us are still in elementary, one of us is in high school, two of us graduated high school at least 20 years ago, and #1 Auntie graduated in the latter days of peace and love beads.

it was kinda weird to hear how much school has changed thru the ages. made me feel old and withered. :-(

after all the grub was gone, we headed for the pool. #1 Auntie got in with baby bliss and #3 Cousin. #2 Cousin and #1 Daughter decided to sit it out with me but #1 Daughter changed her mind later. i had my laptop poolside but decided against checking for an unsecured wi-fi signal. i wanted to log on and blog but thought better of it. any way i was too busy taking pics and video-ing the pool people so #3 Cousin can have a nice CD/DVD to take home when her southern vacation ends.

when the family tired of the pool, we went back to #1 Auntie's for lunch. everyone got cleaned up then explored the outside of the McMansion while we waited for Auntie to whip up a tummy-yummy mid-day meal.

Auntie has a small closed in terrace off her kitchen and another bigger one that's accessible from her bedroom and the other side of the kitchen. it's a HUUUUUUGE patio. i believe it spans the length of the living room.

i imagined living in that big ole house with mr. bliss and baby bliss. it was a wonderful reverie for all of 2 minutes. that is just waaaaaaaay too much house for the 3 of us. and a house that big would only mean trouble in the form of in-laws thinking they could drop in for extended visits any ole time they felt like it. that includes my momma and them.

lunch was pasta with red sauce and veggies for them that could eat it. (i'm allergic to tomatoes.) i had a deeee-lish-us fruit salad. my gum was still in a bad state though so i could only chew on one side and the juice from some of the fruit was a bit acidic and stung. :-(

after lunch we hung around for a few hours longer than we should have due to a misunderstanding. we thought we heard Auntie say we were all invited to a function she was actually attending with her significant other. (and i'm pretty sure she said just what we thought we heard cuz Auntie was legendary for flunking out at the "pass it on" game when she was a kid.)

by the time she clarified the message, we were all tired and cranky and she and her man were dressed to hit the party circuit.

we ladies -- young and old -- said our goodbyes and dragged our lackluster booties to the car. we headed back to town with the little bit of energy we had left. on the way back in, #2 Cousin and i laughed about our faux pas which led to reminiscing about other crazy incidents that we'd been mixed up in together when we were in our teens and 20s.

i dropped #2 Cousin and #1 Daughter at their house then headed back home to crash.

as luck would have it, the chickadees got revved back up somehow and there was no sleep to be had in this house til the weeeeeeeeeeee hours.

all in all, it was a good day y'all. one of the best i'd had in a long time.

.

147: i'm in a mood...

i felt fine when i woke up.

my morning routine was uneventful.

it started when i decided to get my groove on.

i powered up the laptop and turned on my media player.

for reasons unknown to me, when the media player opened there was an album sitting in the queue already. i checked it and saw that it was one of my own creations, "rolling with bliss". i shrugged inwardly. okay, cool. i'll start with this one then.

the first song was "mizike", one of my favorites by a group of women who call themselves zap mama. i hadn't heard it in a while because the actual CD is no longer in the car (where i usually listen to it) and of course i already told y'all why i can't listen to enough music in the house.

mizike's opening percussion surged it's way into the air and i came slightly undone.

it's not a new occurrence y'all.

this particular song--a blend of soulful voices singing in multi-layers of french and (what sounds like) an african language, underscored with afro-centric percussion--touches me deep down.

i've laughed/sung/danced/cried to this song many times. sometimes simultaneously. :-)

i heard someone say the drum beat calls to all afro peoples no matter their skin color, location on the globe, or social standing. that the rhythm of the drum is the rhythm of our heart beats. i can't speak for others but it feels true for me.

i love many many many kinds of music but certain songs grip me right in the solar plexus and hold on tight. yeah, they're the songs with the rhythm of the drum...

God, thank you for music. i cannot imagine what life--my life--would be like without it.

i don't want to.

146: the diversity of people who school at home

we are people who haven chosen to school at home.

when we share this information, it sometimes provokes strange reactions in the hearer. usually, the first response is a question. the question: what about socialization?

well, what about socialization? i was very social in school and it got me into a lot of situations i could have done without. like being threatened with butt-whoopings after school by the bully chicks and report card write-ups from concerned teachers (______ is a very good student but she talks too much).

baby bliss has had no problems following those stellar examples. but she's been able to get away with a lot more than i did. it's cuz she has a pretty face that you either love (cuz it's so pretty) or you hate (cuz you just don't like pretty people).

back to the question of socialization...

there was a whole lotta socialization going on in baby bliss's classes. so much socialization that the learning began to lag. it alternated between second and third place on the chart, depending on how much time had to be spent on discipline on any given day.

baby bliss is a fairly intelligent mermaid, being blessed to have smart genes on many branches of her family tree. excessive socialization aside, she was doing great in "outside" school. minus assorted assaults by class bullies (being poked with pencils and pushed down the stairs), teachers who refused to give the children bathroom breaks at the halfway point of an hour-long class, and a few teachers who watched baby bliss get injured and neglected to send her to the school nurse, i felt blessed to send my daughter to several highly regarded charter schools in our old hometown.

the thought of home schooling wasn't on the horizon until we decided to move.

the idea of home schooling didn't raise any particular images in my mind. i couldn't recall knowing anyone who home schooled and the few times i'd heard about it were only vague memories. i had no pre-conceived notions other than the one about my daughter driving me crazy from too much together time.

i realized i wanted to find others who had more experience because i usually learn best from hands-on assistance. so i set out to research home schooling and maybe find people us who had made the transition.

i learned a lot about home schooling and those who choose the option. one of the first things i grasped was the number of ways people do it and the different names it goes by. some folk use store-bought lesson plans; some get free materials online; others may do a combination of the two or something else all together. some people say the home school; some choose to unschool; some don't call it school at all but the children (and the parents) learn just the same.

i'd have to say one of the most important things i learned is that home schoolers are people like me: ordinary folk who for what ever reason(s) chose to teach their children "at home". in other words, folk who want the best for their children and are doing all they can to make it happen.

but i realized sometimes that's where the similarity ends.

home schoolers are truly a diverse group of people. other than the incidental or coincidental likenesses to be found in members of any group, we're no more homogeneous than the residents of a new york city apartment building.

i like people who understand this truth. it happens that i think 98% of those people are home schoolers themselves.

so i'm gonna do my small part to bring more understanding to the world.

please visit my "check 'em out y'all" links and drop in on the happenings at the Life Without School blog. specifically, check out the Celebrating Diversity post. maybe you'll learn something new and interesting. i did. :-)

145: mood music

i've mentioned this in other posts but it's so good i'll repeat it here: i love music. 

music is the key that unlocks my spirit. i'm more aware of this every time i indulge in certain kinds of music. now if i could only know which certain kind of music to play each time, i could take over the world. 

cuz i only get it dead-on right sometimes. that might be because i don't listen to as much music as i should. i listen when i'm driving (99% of the time, it's my faves burned on CDs) and sometimes i listen in the house. i would say i get less than half of the daily recommended allowance for listening. 

it's cuz the people who live here would rather watch telly and DVDs. and i think they need hearing appliances cuz they can't hear the telly unless the volume is turned up to Maximum Decibel. which means i can hear the bloody thing even whilst wearing headphones. 

totally annoying. but tonight, i'm in heaven. the other blisses have been in their respective bedrooms for the past several hours, leaving me in the living room alone. this occurs so rarely that i didn't realize it until a few hours had passed. and i realized i could play my mu-sic! 

what's playing right now? "please pardon me (you remind me of a friend)" by rufus and chaka khan: 

 ...hope you don't mind. you look like a friend of mine. and it's seldom you find a face that's so kind.

 and now i must bid y'all fine folks adieu. a sista went to bed in the wee hours and had to get up early. i'se tired! thank God i don't have to get up at any sp'cific time til sunday...

144: L(ucy) in the S(ky) with D(iamonds)

y'all know that song by the beatles, right? 

i'm listening to the elton john version right now and i'm laughing. cuz i remember when i was little, i thought the song said "lucy in the sky with eyes". lmao

143: it's in the stars...

today's horoscope:

DAILY HOROSCOPE FOR WEDNESDAY, JULY 11, 2007
By Christopher Renstrom

You've had a few setbacks, but instead of undermining your confidence, they've actually bolstered it. You tried playing by somebody else's rules; now it's time for that person to play by yours.


yeah... i applied for an "outside" job yesterday. it's time to do me. gotta build up my capital round here.
.

142: sleeping 'mongst the woodland creatures

yesterday's carnival post over at Crazy Hip Blog Mamas was a request for camping stories.

oooooooooooooooh no!

i hate camping. "-(

i'm talking about the rustic tent- or sleeping-bag-on-the-ground kinda camping that's done in the woods or a backyard.

i can't do it.

it all goes back to when i was a young gal and didn't know any better...

i let my momma send me to sleep away camp. several times.

don't get me wrong. i loved sleep away camp. i went a few summers and even one winter with a school group.

we slept in nice cabins, ate good food, made new friends, communed with nature...

but there was a part of sleep away camp that frightened me. it was the Overnight in the Woods that happened once every camping adventure. i'm a city girl by birth and i grew up in tha hood. sleeping outside was something we just did not do.

where we grew up, the only people who slept outside were homeless or drunk; sometimes dead.

out of the 3 or 4 (maybe 5) Overnight in the Woods experiences, i can only remember small snippets of one (1): i recall hiking to the location, rain, and pork and beans. i also remember hyperventilating at the thought of not being able to sleep in the middle of the shelter.

and lawd only knows what we slept on or wiped our butts with on that trek cuz i don't remember seeing one sleeping bag or roll of toilet paper.

so as y'all can see, while the Overnight in the Woods seemed like a good idea to who ever thought us ghetto city kids needed that kinda action, it was obviously very traumatic for me.

on the other hand, i sometimes fantasize about living in a big ole cabin on a wooded mountain top. but it will never happen y'all. i am terrified of living in secluded locations or anywhere too close to wooded areas.

but if i wasn't afraid, i'd spend the rest of my life camping out on a mountaintop somewhere warm and sunny, with 8 % humidity.

my house would be shaped like a fat, 2-storied oval. the lower floor would be an undivided, flowing space of great room/kitchen. the upper floor would be my bedroom (with a balcony) and bathroom.

i would only live with my favorite things: books, my laptop, a reliable internet connection, a printer, an endless supply of paper, and assorted writing instruments. i would write several hours a day, eat organic produce, and drink my favorite teas and Smart water.

my wardrobe would be kinda bland: 10 dresses in the same style (2 royal blue, 2 robin's egg blue, 2 navy blue, 2 aquamarine, 2 turquoise) and i'd never wear shoes.

that's my ideal camping trip. :-)

now haul your gear on over to Crazy Hip Blog Mamas to see what other people are saying about camping. that's where i'm headed. ;-)
.
.
.

141: popcorn

i love popcorn. i love eating popcorn at the movies. i love eating lots of popcorn at the movies.

but i hate popcorn hulls. (don't you?)

there are few things that irritate me like getting popcorn hulls stuck in my teeth and gums. so of course that's what happened to me at some point while i watched Transformers. somehow i didn't know until the next morning. (and yes i brushed my teeth 'fo i went to bed. the hull must have hid and shifted while i was sleeping.)

as usual, the culprit behind this mess is the hubby. '-)

mr. bliss got me a small bag of the offensive puff balls -- after i told him i didn't want anything to eat cuz we'd just eaten dinner before we left for the movie. he knows i'm a sucker for popcorn and i think he was trying to be nice cuz he knew he'd been getting on my nerves lately.

grrrrrrr!

now there is a piece of hull (maybe two) lodged somewhere in the rear upper quadrant of my gum. it feels like something's impacted back there. i've been brushing with the oral-b and prying with my tongue all day trying to lodge it free.

all i've managed to do is make my gum bleed. i think it's swollen too. as soon as i'm done blogging, i'm gonna rinse with salt water every few minutes while i watch telly or read. (can you say "spittoon"?)

if that doesn't help, i guess 11 a.m. will find me at an emergency dental appointment somewhere nearby.

hey, wonder if they could help me in the e.r.?


.

140: today's horoscope...

Dear Kayama, Here is your horoscope for Monday, July 9: Just because you're civil to this person doesn't mean that you're friends -- or that you want to be. Keep reminding yourself of that, especially if the other party doesn't seem to understand your boundaries.

139: the people in my dreams

this morning i dreamed about the in-laws and my son.

for those of you who don't know, i inherited my son thru marriage. i hardly talk about him here because i don't see or talk to him much in real life. i met him when he was 10 or 11. he already had a momma so i didn't try to step in to play that role. he and i have our own special relationship. sometimes he calls me ma; sometimes not. it's cool.

my in-laws are personae non gratae. i don't fool with them and they don't fool with me. due to the meddling and undue influence of the most senior female family member, those people got off on the wrong foot with me. over the years, some of us had managed to "put up with" the other(s). a few of us had even managed to develop genuine ties to the other(s). then the most senior female family member -- who cannot be truly happy in her misery unless she has others sharing in it too -- put her big mouth and even bigger foot in to destroy the tenuous strands that built the bridge(s) that create(d) family ties.

what i learned from those adventures is that for some folk, blood truly is thicker than water. and even if that blood relative is a known muck-racker, the bird-kin will flock around the perp as if she spouted truth everlasting.

whaddya do?

*shrug*

here's what i did: i put up with those people as long as i could then i decided to stop dealing with them. i have enough drama with my own family of origin and any attempt at inserting extra commotion into my life gets the cold shoulder.

now y'all know i digress. back to the dreams. '-)

i dreamed i visited my stepson (who is currently visiting acquaintances). i thought he was gonna say he was coming home but he said he was going to a show with his friends. he showed me the ticket or program thingie and the date was aug 10. (all y'all gambling folk can play 810.) when i realized he wasn't coming home, i cried.

the other dream was scary. i dreamed we were going on a road trip with my brother-in-law and his family. (wife and 2 kids) i don't know how we were all gonna fit in the car cuz it was a toyota camry. (it was a gold camry too so look up the number for gold and play it y'all.) with me, mr. bliss, and baby bliss, there would have been 7 in the car.

(i can think of a funny-but-possibly-offensive ethnic "slur" that mr. bliss would insert here -- based on his parentage and the number of people in the car -- but i won't say it. he's proud of his mixed heritage but like a lot of people i know, he's not above joking about it.)

any way, i cannot imagine anything short of a life-threatening emergency that would make me get in a car with 6 other people. and God forbid it should be a road trip. i'm a bad road trip passenger in any vehicle: if i'm riding, i can't fall asleep and get irritable. if i'm driving, i'll need to stop at least once every hour so i don't fall asleep. in a car with 6 other people, i'd be ready for a straight jacket 30 minutes into the ride. knowing i'd have to get back in the car might be enough to have me hitchhiking at the rest stop.

i don't know where we supposed to go in the gold camry cuz i didn't get in the car. i was standing at the curb, they pulled up, i opened the door, stuck my head in and commented on the kids (specifically the little girl's hair).

that's all the action i remember. the rest was my thoughts about how we would all fit in the car.

i guess that's when i either woke up or went into the other dream.
.

138: an extended playdate

one of my auntie's who lives back in ye olde hometowne came down yesterday and left us a nice gift: a cousin to stay with my daughter for 2 weeks.

o happy day!

the mermaid now has someone to swim with, someone to eat with, someone to play dolls with--someone to trash the joint with--24 hours a day for the next 2 weeks.

it's only been 24 hours and we've already been to the pool, had a mini-cookout, watched a movie (Transformers), visited other relatives, watched a movie at home, did a bit of grocery shopping, and hit the library.

last night those chickadees tried to stay up until dawn but i made them pack it in around 2. i had fallen asleep on the couch and was awakened when they came sneaking out of baby bliss's suite to see if my eyes were open. bless their hearts, those lil muffins tried to scare me. but in the spirit of my grandma, i convinced them that i was only resting my eyes, and not sleeping like they thought and therefore not at all surprised or scared. '-)

independent little sprites that they are, this morning they were making their own breakfast as i was coming to my senses. i dozed in and out to the sound of a bag crumpling. recognizing what i thought to be the sound of the potato chip bag, i was instantly awake.

"hey! who's eating chips for breakfast?!"

"mommy it's not chips. i'm getting croissants from the bag." was that a sigh of annoyance i heard at the end, along with the "what do mom's know" voice? i'm not sure cuz i drifted back to sleep to the cackling of the two pre-tween hyenas laughing in the kitchen.

it took me a while to do my chores and get ready to hit the street. usually i save most chores for late night, when the other occupants of the house are sleeping but today i wanted to fold laundry before going out. (yeah, "why" is a mystery to me too.)

we returned the movie and i decided to treat the yappers to lunch at panda express. i figured they'd have a decent price on a lunchtime special. they did have a 3.95 kids meal that included an entree, one side item, dessert, and a small drink. i got the panda bowl (on a plate ???) for $4.50. the panda bowl is one entree and one side without the dessert and the drink.

can you say bullsh*t? the kids got the best deal. my "bowl" wasn't worth $2.00 and i had to pay an extra dollar and change for my drink. my dessert was the free fortune cookie the nice lady gave me when i asked for napkins.

my plate was segmented into unequal thirds. (y'all know what kind of plate i'm talking about, right?) the entree--chicken--was put in one of the tiny sections. my side--fried rice and veggies--was put in the larger side. the other section was left empty. huh?

why put the panda bowl on a plate like that if you're gonna leave the third section empty? it didn't make any sense to me. why not use a real bowl?

any way, that's a moot point for me cuz i won't eat there again. i like my fast food to be tasty and memorable. panda express wasn't it.

so now we're at the library and lucky for me, just when the chaps started getting bored, the lady got on the loudspeaker and announced that a fun kid's program was about to start. so the critters took off to meet and play with other critters in a safe and friendly environment.

amen.

.

137: saturday fun

the remainder of today was interesting.

ya gotta love my granny. she tried to trick me into doing doggie duty at my auntie's tonight.

earlier in the day she said she wanted to go home to press her hair and get ready for church in the morning. she said she didn't want to go to church from her daughter's house because that might make mr. bliss late. (he's picking her up for church.)

ummm, hello? i didn't sign up to house- or pup sit. i have guests coming in tomorrow and i needed to get home (after staying with her at auntie's from early yesterday afternoon) to make sure my quarters are presentable for their arrival. in addition, puppy sitting would require me to be responsible for auntie's house (keys, alarm, personal effects, the car her co-vacationers left in her driveway) and the dog (making sure he was fed, watered, and walked).

i've done it before and i didn't mind then. this time tho, granny put her honor on the line and i think she should keep her word.

needless to say, she had a 'tude when i took her home to get her church clothes (and probably her strayt-nen comb). i dropped her back at auntie's and she acted like she didn't wanna wave g'bye.

i sho hope she prays about her attitude when she gets to church tomorrow as well as why she thinks it's always okay to inconvenience me but never the rest of her kin.

most of them hit her up for money, food, etc. i've never done that. because i'm the one "with no job", i've usually been the one to take her to appointments and to run errands. not that i don't love my grandma. i do. but i get tired of being the go-to girl when it suits her and the outcast when that works better.

on a more pleasant note, our neighbors (who hail from a hometown near our own) had a weekend shindig at their house. their family is still visiting from the holiday and they all invited us in like we were part of the clan. my daughter played with our neighbor's niece, i watched the ladies play spades, then my hubby joined a bunch of them to play blackjack while i talked to a new friend. later we all threw down on some grub dished up by mrs. neighbor.

ribs, steak, hot dogs, bratwurst, corn on the cob, greens, baked beans, tater salad, homemade crab cakes, and all kinds of drinks... mr. neighbor manned the grill so i gotta give him his props too.

the downside was that my daughter got a bit sick and i had to leave too early to bring her home. i wanted to give my food time to digest and get to plate number two so i told mr. bliss we could take shifts with baby bliss. of course he said no but as soon as i got settled in to stay home, here he comes in the front door. by then it was too close to 10 p.m. and i decided to stay home.

mr. and mrs. neighbor are cool people but we haven't known them that long and i think it's rude for me to be knockin' at people's door after a certain hour.

maybe they'll have some food left over tomorrow evening. i bet i've got somethings in the freezer i can take over to add to the grill. :-)

it's nice to have good neighbors. i'm thankful.

.

136: not so lucky...

mr. bliss, mr. bliss... what, oh what, oh what shall i do about mr. bliss?

he came over and tsk-tsked me, saying it was a "damned shame" that i was on the computer. i told him i was blogging about him. he thought it funny.

all humor vaporized when i broached the virtue of honesty (as in "at least i'm honest about what i'm doing cuz i'm doing it right here in the open where anyone can see"). mr. bliss got defensive, he did. naturally, about the things he's not honest about. specifically the thing that leads to most of the disagreements in our house: m-o-n-e-y. more specifically, his relationship with money.

i won't get into the ug-galities of it all here cuz it would take more time than i have to give to the topic. but obviously our relationships with money differ. in this case, enormously so.

there are some very specific reasons my husband and i got back together. one of them was to reduce the amount of rent each of us was paying.

he has a notion that when the lease is up, we should be buying a(nother) house. one of the reasons i won't do that with him is because of his relationship with money. also, my daughter -- who has moved around a lot in her young life -- told me she does not want to move any time soon because she loves where we are now.

although the current rent is higher than i like, i love the area too and relocation is not on my to-do list for 2008. of course i'm open to other suitable options because i'm flexible. i'm just not as flexible as mr. bliss when it comes to financial responsibilities.

i am thankful i was brought up to respect the role money has in living. i like to use mine to live a stress-free, no-drama existence. besides the rent and utilities, we don't have a lot of bills. we have no-contract cell phones, a student loan (with a very low monthly payment), a car note (bought to replace a car that was both unsafe and a gas-guzzler, after over a year of deliberation and careful research), auto insurance for both our vehicles, gas for both vehicles (i fill up once a week to week-and-a-half, depending; he fills up almost every other day), and food.

there are no credit cards, we don't have cable or satellite, and i still use a dial-up modem. i buy most of our clothing from thrift and consignment stores or on clearance. i shop the sales for groceries as much as possible, even when i buy organic. i drive a hybrid car and combine trips to conserve gas. i borrow movies and music from the library instead of buying and renting. i do my own hair (and baby bliss's); do my own spa treatments at home; use inexpensive, non-toxic cleaners like baking soda and vinegar to keep the house tidy.

i do these things because it feels good to me to save money as much as possible. could it be genetic or is it just learned behavior? i don't know but i pray it rubs off on baby bliss.

why GOD? why did i fall in love with a spendthrift? i'm sure there's a lesson in this for me but can we make a deal God and relegate the lesson to next lifetime?

my mantra for the duration: mr. bliss will come to a realization on his own time, with or without me.

.

135: 7-07-07

ahhhh, the "lucky" day has finally arrived.

some of us can now breath a collective sigh and release all the tensions we've been holding while we waited for this magical day to arrive.

i have a mission today. it's my hubby's birthday (lucky devil) and we're gonna celebrate at some point.

my daughter and i slept at my auntie's last night with my grandma the house sitter. so hubby (who worked late) spent last night alone. about an hour ago, we called mr. bliss to bestow birthday greetings upon him. i guess my daughter's greeting was received with good cheer, even as she tacked on a request: take us to see Transformers.

MY birthday greeting was met with orders.

mr. bliss: why didn't you call me last night when i got home from work?

me: huh? i talked to you as you were driving home. i don't know how long a drive it was. why didn't you call me when you got in the house?

mr. bliss (sounding wounded): you could have been the first of the stream of callers. get over here and take me to the flea market.

me (laughing): ummm, i'm relaxing right now. (read: blogging) i'll be over later. and why didn't you tell me last night that you wanted to go to the flea market today?

mr. bliss: oh, okay. you just wanna wait until the road gets crowded like last weekend huh?*

me (in a voice dripping with sugary sarcasm): yes honey. if you say so.

mr. bliss (realizing his faux pas): okay honey. let me rephrase that. can you come take me to the flea market and then we can all go see Transformers after?

i love that man.  :-)

* * *

what i really want to do (when i'm done blogging of course) is get a cake and leave it here at auntie's for later. the only thing is that it's hot in here. that means melted icing. there's also a dog here which could mean a cake gone canine.

the other option is the fridge. which will mean a cold cake. which mr. bliss hates. i could ask grandma to take the cake out at a specific time. but she'd have to watch the dog or put him outside.

i'll figure it out. soon's i'm finished blogging. '-)

oh crap! mr. bliss just came in auntie's door! gotta run y'all.

_ _ _

*(he's talking about my aversion to highway driving when "the pack" is out. we ventured out towards the flea market last weekend but didn't make it cuz mr. bliss drives aggressively and he was driving my car. my car is small and in a highway full of SUVs and semi trucks, who the heck respects a tiny car?  

his jalopy is a big ole rusty pickup that was a brand new when i was about to enter kindergarten. folk will certainly get outta the way when they see that coming. no one wants to get hit by steel on wheels.)

.

134: what i'm reading

i'm a few chapters into The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver's first novel.



i was hoping i could get into Barbara's writing style and the main character's voice and i have.

i'm enjoying taylor greer's life so far. she escaped a life of drudgery in her unappealing hometown by hitting the road in a jalopy of an old VW bug. it gets her from point a to point b and the few meaningful pit stops along the way.

i wish i'd done something similar in my youth. but i was too busy chasing men back then. it's probably for the best tho. having a strange woman hand me a toddler then tell me to keep the baby would have freaked me out. i was not ready.

God knew what s/he was doing by keeping my eggs out of harm's way for so many years.


.

133: scar-reeeeeeeeee!

(if this wasn't so funny to me i'd be checking into rehab right now y'all.)

eerie that i blogged earlier about my blog dreams... (music from the Twilight Zone playing in the background)

i just jetted over to Mama Zen's to check out her "one thing that you never thought that you'd be 'into' but really enjoy" post and what do i see? i spy with my two little eyes a post about Mama Zen's addiction to blogging. she even did one of those fun but meaningless questionnaires like the ones that help you figure out your cat's p*rn star name then generates the html code to copy and paste on your blog, so all your blogging friends can see it then hop over and take the questionnaire too.

i laughed. who on earth could be addicted to blogging?

"ooh pooh", i said. "she's only been blogging for 6 months or so. she's not really addicted. she's just excited about finding something new and fun and that's all."

so just for fun -- i repeat, just for fun -- i did the questionnaire myself. and before i go any further, Mama Zen is allegedly only 55% addicted.

a 55% addiction -- should it prove to be real -- can be cured *snap* like that.

a few days of lounging around in ____________ (insert vacation destination of your choice) with no online access should be the perfect intervention. :-)

and now, with no further ado, here's what that stinking website had to say about me:


75%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?


i'm calling the ACLU. those questions were biased!

.