My Adored Leonard  7/14/1970-8/26/2007

It is with the most heartbreaking hurt and sadness that I let you know that my beautiful, beloved husband passed away on Aug 26th unexpectedly.

I haven't posted here in sometime as I've moved to http://ipromisenottolaughduringtheseance.blogspot.com/

I've been posting there for some time-since back in January.

I miss him more every day. I can't imagine life without him.

50x120 and firepits...

Happily, I  am kind of over the Boomshine playing. I'm down to maybe once or twice a week for less than 10 minutes...and it only took less than a month. This is a good thing. Some of my addictions, like say... DemocraticUnderground.com last far longer (cough 4 years...cough) My daughter is pleased... I am pleased. Laundry is being done again here.

Last year, or maybe it was the year before, I bought a firepit for my husband for Father's Day. We are country people, hopelessly stuck here in 1950's plat home suburbia...so I did the only thing I could. Give him fire. The city ordinance changed for burning on your property (all 50x120, 1/10 acre of it!) and we were first in line. Nothing pleases us more to drag it out onto the back (most people would say patio here) driveway, place a couple of chairs around and light er up. It only takes me about 4 hours to accomplish. My husband? He can walk outside and... fire erupts. I am mildly jealous.

You know how you have eleventy billion things to do? And you know you have to do them, but you don't. So they keep adding up and getting worse, until some of the things become not worth even doing, and people start thinking you're some sort of procrastinator...so instead you buy a new television and a stove? So, that's what we did today.

How far have I fallen?

God help me, but what is it about this game that is so addictive:

http://www.k2xl.com/games/boomshine/

A couple weeks ago, this link was posted on a message board (Democraticunderground.com) that I frequent, and I've been wasting minutes (okay half hours even) playing it. And it's really got no point. I didn't get into the bubble popping think, I've only poked the bunny once. What the hell is wrong with me?

Google opens their brand new offices here today. Today there is a little bit of light in my sad broken city. I am wondering if we would be able to segue away from the automotive industry and into the world of computers, advertising and what not. It's worth a shot, because we're losing the industry anyway. Good thing I picked real estate, eh? Not. It is difficult in the SE Michigan area, to succeed at any career, when the main driver of the economy is so very crippled.

We have been told it will freeze tonight. Yay. Procrastination pays off. No Martha, I never got my peas planted, back in April when you said to. I've yet to plant a single green thing. Which, if you knew me, definitely IS a Very Good Thing.

Tales from the sidelines...

My son had a soccer game on Saturday. It was beautiful weather for a game... on Friday. Saturday was a little cold, and I was a little cranky because: 1. This was my husband's "thing" to do with our son as I have no real desire to be a juicebox toting, back window stickering soccer mom (some will want to yell at me here...I am truly sorry) 2. I don't feel good. Seriously, I don't. There's nothing like sitting in a brisk wind with a runny nose and 3.my house is a mess, laundry needs to be done, I haven't typed that report...you get the idea.

Well, there we were anyway. I must admit, my son looks adorable in a soccer uniform:

This is from a year ago...but he really hasn't change...except for attitude and vocabulary.

Soccer games are very long, at least by my standards. One would think they could come to a final score in a half hour and cut out the halftime break, water breaks etc... What? I already explained I'm not one for this type of thing. Soccer/hockey mothering? Meh.

Anyway, we're...they're..the team's losing by one and there's about 20 seconds left, when my son is tripped and gets a penalty shot. Everyone lines up. Here's where I have to brag that he's got quite a leg on him and is really good at kicking the ball, and then ambling around the field like a newborn mouse. He lines it up and kicks it...slow motion mind camera kicks in while we watch the ball soar over the defending (and offending...or is it teammates') players, hits the goalie smack on the head (which later induced hysterical, Joan Crawford worthy screams of pain) and lands in the goal. Game tied. Whistle blown. Yay. But that's not the worst part. Non competitive me...the one who's not really into it...had jumped up from her camp chair with a loud,"WAY TO GO BUBBY!!!!" Silence. And not the golden kind. My son turned...and looked at me. It was the kind of look that I will always remember. Especially as I sit alone, in my little corner of the nursing home. Not even needing to ask why in the hell he put me there. You see, I made a pact with him a year ago not to embarass him with baby names in public. And then I did. Oops.

Happy Mother's Day all you beautiful Mommys out there...from me, the one who still hasn't gotten it right.

1021 Days later...

Do you ever notice the enticing banners from Xanga, asking you to go premium? Mine today says,"It has been 1021 days since you joined Xanga! Won't you go premium?" And I thought to myself, 1021 days and I still haven't made this a habit. Too much time goes by between posts.

I have become a sofa lump this week. Amazing how a little cold will do that to you. For me one little sniffle=inability to function at normal mode (which to be honest still holds quite a bit of laziness) and must. lay. on. couch. and watch Regis and Kelly...even though Regis drives me insane. Anyway, today's show was about mothers (note to self: find something for mother, include mother in law...perhaps grandma...just how far do we go with mothers and mother like connections?? I digress) and making their dreams come true. Have you ever watched one of those episodes? Where they read off a wonderful letter that some one wrote about a woman who single handedly saved a city, adopted 12 kids, holds down 4 jobs (uniquely American is she), works out, and keeps a spotless house? How does one do that? And how does one keep from feeling woefully inadequate?

The letter from my children would go something like this:

Dear Regis and Kelly/Ellen/Oprah,

CC: Jerry Springer

Our mom is terrific. Sometimes she goes a whole 4 hours without nagging us to please pick up after ourselves (especially the straw wrappers from Capri Suns, which for some reason drive her totally nuts). Once she was 5 minutes early at the bus stop to pick us up from school...instead of 5 minutes late. Just last week, she cut our hair before our bangs reached the bottom of our chins. Our favorite memory is the time that our mother finished all of the laundry in the house and folded it!  Dad was hoping that maybe the shirt he hasn't worn in 8 months (because) it was in the ironing basket would finally hang free in his closet again. But she struggles a lot, our mom does. It was just too much for her.

In closing, we think every child deserves a mother as wonderful as ours...or better even.

***on a side note... Do you ever find a blog that is so well written, so entertaining...that you click and click, hoping for an update? That you make a pot of fresh coffee and sit down to read when it does update? That's how I feel about these two blogs:

http://www.sundrymourning.com/2007/05/10/alphabutts-and-questionable-parenting-skills/

http://bluemeany.diaryland.com/