Hmm… my posting has been slacking off lately, mostly because I haven’t been able to answer the question: what do I have to say today?  By the time I think about it, I’m already doing something else.

The Boy went back to school yesterday.  I did not supervise his packing.  I woke him up; asked if he was packed and ready to go; he said yes.  We brought his stuff downstairs and out into his car.  (Which, by the way, had less than a quarter of a tank of gas.  “Sure, we can get up to school without getting gas.  Maybe even get home.”  This from the kid who ran out of gas in the school driveway.)  We went clothes shopping – he wanted some slacks and dress shirts for some presentations he is planning on this semester.  The Boy is definitely NOT a clotheshorse.  He did manage to find two pairs of pants and we grabbed a dress shirt/tie combo pack, plus new dress shoes.  And that’s it – he was ready to go and get out of that store.  I pity the girl who tries to get him to shop.

We make our way to The School without incident.  And by that I mean, we listened to his music and sped up the highway.  One particular song he must have picked to make me laugh, which of course it did.  These two rappers were rapping about how much they loved their mom, how special she was, how she took care of them, on and on and on with the praising of mom.  Every once in awhile, “mom” would interrupt the song with a mom-like question: “where’s the remote?” or “never mind, I found it.”  Each time they were interrupted, they complained and swore at their mom.  She kept coming back more and more often; the song of “mom praise” would stop and be filled with the rappers’ ire at mom for interrupting.  I couldn’t help but laugh – that was a mom doing what moms do best: aggravate their kids.

But, as mentioned earlier, I did not aggravate my son by micro-managing his packing.  I asked if he had it all and he said yes.  When we got to The School, he got out of the car and said,” Damn.  I forgot my pillows, blankets, and sheets.”   Oooookkkkkaaaaayyyyyy.  Yup, mom should have micro-managed just a little bit here.

We got his stuff into his room and I left without incident. That means I didn’t cry when I left him, in case you were wondering.  All the way back home (after I stopped for gas, that is) I was figuring out when I’d be going back up to give him the stuff he forgot.  Then I remembered MY parents often went up to The School to watch basketball games.  I stopped at their house and helped my mom with a Word document issue she was having.  (It’s always good to be kind before you ask for a favor!)  She casually mentions they are going up to The School tonight to watch a game.  Awesome!  So, they agreed to bring The Boy his stuff.  When I call him to tell him, he was so happy.  Because he also forgot his gym shorts, sweats, the white dress shirt he already has, and his wireless keyboard and mouse thingie (yes, that’s a technical term).

He now has his stuff and starts classes today.  But not too early, of course – his first class today starts at 12:30. Nice, huh?

Well, figuratively, anyway.   This is the most posting I’ve done in months!

On another “fire” note, I picked up a Kindle Fire a few days ago (which may or may not explain why I haven’t posted for a few days).  I’m not sure I’m in love with it, but I am in serious like with it.  It is kind of cool to have a Kindle paired up with the internet.  But there are a few things Amazon needs to fix, or at least I think there are (and really, that’s all that matters to me – my own wonderful little thoughts).

They have this “carousel” of your most recently active items.  So, say for instance I was reading Sex Goddess (not that I would have such a thing,  or have thought about any such book being in existence).   And  my mother happened to look at my Kindle.   She would now see the graphic, full color, hot guy-hot gal cover.   And die of embarrassment.  Wait – maybe that’d be me dying of embarrassment.  Either way – not good.  Or maybe the last book I read I didn’t like and now I have to look at it until I do another four things, like check my Facebook, check my GoodReads, check out the local Patch articles, or something equally important.

There is a “shelf” under this carousel for your favorite apps.  I’d like to be able to move those shelves up on top of the carousel, but you can’t.  And it looks like the stuff moves around on the shelves instead of staying where you put them.  What kind of shelves are these?  ‘Cause I don’t want them in my house. Can you imagine:

“Dear, where are the glasses?”

“They should be on the first shelf.”

“The first shelf has the salad plates and the deep bowls – no glasses.”

“Damn.  They must have moved themselves into the next shelf over.”

Really?  Where does it work this way? Nowhere but the Kindle Fire, apparently.

They did kind of screw up on the design.  They put the power button at the bottom of the device.  Yes, it is a BUTTON.  At the BOTTOM of the device.   You know, where one’s hands may be holding it.  And continually bumping into said power button.  But, all is not lost.  You just need to turn it around and the screen rotates and the viola! the power button is up top and out of harm’s way.

But the most annoying (non)feature is the categorization feature.  Meaning, there is none.  Now, in my Kindle 3G I can download a book and put it into a book collection (also known as a category – like Unread (currently 130 books), Romance (currently around 150 books read), Science Fiction and Fantasy (currently around 100 books read)…. you get the idea).  But this new, fancy, current, up-to-date, awesome piece of technology – nope.  No book collections.  No book shelves to put different books on.  Just go ahead and scroll through those 600 books – we’re sure you’re going to find what you are looking for – eventually.  Once you get the search party together.

Gotta run – the search party is back to stock up on vittles and take a break from looking for my next reading adventure.

So, the first eight or so hours of 2012 have gone by fairly uneventfully.  I wonder how long that will last?

Happy New Year!

So today is the last day of 2011 and tomorrow will be the first day of 2012.

We have our traditions, The Hubby and I.  And one of them is to spend the last day of the year and the first day of the year watching the Twilight Zone marathon (what, did you think I was going to say we did something mystical?).  The first episode this morning was one of those make-a-deal-with-the-devil-and-live-to-regret-it ones.  I’m not really sure I’d seen this one, or if I have, I haven’t seen it very often.  Episodes like that could make one all philosophical, starting to ponder the mysteries of life, the gifts of love and sacrifice, and what is really important in the world.  Or, it just could be a solid thirty minutes of entertainment.  The beauty is – you get to choose.

We recently saw The Adjustment Bureau on cable.  I’d wanted to see it at the movies, but never got around to it.  It’s a pretty good movie, but again it can lead to some philosophical introspection … or just a hour and half or so of solid entertainment.  But part of the argument in  the movie is that while we have free will to choose our breakfast cereal, we (as a species) don’t deserve or take our free will (and the consequences thereof) seriously enough, so the Adjustment Bureau is there to keep us “on the right path.”  You start thinking about fate, destiny, chance and just what the hell does it all mean.

Deep thoughts, people, deep thoughts.

Then again, it could just be entertainment….

Happy New Year’s to all of my dedicated readers….wherever you are (and I guess you haven’t become dedicated readers yet, so this one is for you to find years from now).

So… it’s the week after Christmas but before New Year’s.  What ever shall we do?  Let’s PARTY!

It may not look like a wild time, but it was!  We continued our annual tradition and invited 30 to 50 of our closest friends and family to spend that looonnngggg, looonnnnggg day between Christmas and New Year’s with us (thus, it is call the Holiday Half-Time Party).  The Boy had The New Girlfriend over, plus some friends from high school; we had church friends, ex-co-workers, school friends, and my parents (hey, even the old folks need a night out!) – so it was quite the eclectic crowd.  Food was abundant (in fact, we still have plenty here if you want some!) and some never even made it out of the frig or freezer (I guess I will be eating that container of cream puffs all by myself for the next… 6 months, yeah, call it 6 months) or even got unwrapped!

The hit of the party was clearly Baby Riley.  Everyone wanted a turn holding Riley and I got my turn in early – before I started drinking and being un-responsible.  Hey, I’m a lightweight and I know it – so I plan accordingly.  The Hubby got to get some baby-holding time in, and The New Girlfriend is clearly not afraid to hold a baby.  Although, I am not sure how well The Boy did with that one!

The last guest left around 10 pm (we started at 4 pm) and we spend some time cleaning up.  This morning I spent more time cleaning up.  And there’s still more to clean up.  I gotta find room for that damn beer in the downstairs frig, but that is about the last of the food I need to worry about (I think).  At least most of the goodies will go with us to our New Year’s Eve party, so hopefully those damn people will put a dent in our leftovers (although I am not sure the cream puffs will make it out of our freezer for that trip across town).

So, for my birthday (in November, in case you were wondering) The Hubby took me to Boston.  We stayed downtown and had dinner with his boss and his wife.  The next day, he actually (mostly) took the day off from work and we had the entire city of Boston to choose from.  So – what to do, what to do?  So many choices, such cold weather.  Well, it really wasn’t too bad (thanks, global warming!) but still, it was a cloudy and windy so not an ideal day to trek across Boston by foot or  duck boat.  So, I picked a museum.

Now, The Hubby is not terribly fond of museums.  They are just not his first choice in the entertainment arena.  But, he’ll occasionally do them.  But of course, I had forgotten that just two weeks before, he was down in Houston for a work event and they held a private event at the Houston Museum of National History.  So, now he was being subjected to a second museum within a months’ time.  What a guy, huh?

The big reason I picked the museum was for one exhibit and one exhibit only.  Sure, I like walking around and looking at old art, new art, weird art, and what the f*ck art on the occasional basis, but that was NOT the attraction for me in this case.  I had read about an interesting artistic endeavor a few months back, and thought, damn, I’d love to see that, but I probably never will.  But guess where it was?  Yup, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

It’s called The Clock.  An artist took film and tv clips and wove together a 24 hour (yes, a full day) “movie.”  Each clip specifically (or sometimes just generically) references a point in time that is in the scene – usually by showing the time or having the time referenced in dialogue.  And each point in time corresponds to the ACTUAL time that it is, right then while you are watching it.  So, if you go at 8 am you might see the scene in Back to the Future where Marty is arriving at Doc’s house before school.  Or if you go at noon, you might see a clip from High Noon.

We sat there for an hour or so.  I could have stayed all day.  Only once in a while do they run the full 24 hours, but we missed the last “full” performance by 3 weeks.  It was so cool.  They had movies I knew, movies I had heard of, movies I had never heard of, foreign movies, some tv clips (ER – “time of death: 1:04 pm”), famous movies… well, you get the idea – they had it all.

So now The Hubby is noticing time when he watches movies and tv.  But what does it say that I have always noticed the clock in the background?

It was a pretty quiet Christmas (gift-wise, I mean) here at home with Faith (hey, I just said the name of my blog!).  I did get this awesome, wonderful new screen to replace my secondary screen.  It’s big (20″), bright, and most importantly, does not have a line in the side of it – so I can see ALL of the words on the screen AT THE SAME TIME, without scrolling or anything!  Plus I got exactly the yoga pants and socks I wanted. And some writing books.  And some wall art.  And a calendar from my parents (traditional present every year – I always know I don’t have to get one!).  And a pewter ornament from my parents (another traditional present – I actually had to buy a small metal tree/ornament hanging thingie just for these pewter ornaments).

The Hubby got a Keurig coffee machine.  Now he should stop complaining about the damn Tassimo.  And maybe we can find some damn coffee once in awhile.

The Boy got a hoodie and some cash for gas from a friend; and he got a computer book, some useless crap, and permission to use the Visa card for gas to see The New Girlfriend in MA.

So, like I said… very quiet gift-wise.  But we’re all totally ok with that.

But our real holiday party is still in front of us… the Annual Holiday Half Time Party.  Held each year between Christmas and New Year’s, friends, family, and selected co-workers (or ex-co-workers) are invited to invade our quiet little home and PARTY!  So I spent today cleaning.  Well, really, just this morning, but damn that was enough!  I washed all the blankets and sheets in The Boy’s room, plus his curtains and towels.  I cleaned up a bit in there (it wasn’t too bad!) and vacuumed.  Then I hit his bathroom and bleached the toilet and tub; cleaned the sink; swept the floors; and generally tidied up.  Next was our bathroom – cleaned our monster tub and sink, plus the toilet.    I still have to do the small bathroom, but that shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes.  I’ve got the guest list ready – anywhere from 35 to 50 people are going to show up.  We need to discuss the menu, make sure we have all that we want, and go get what we still need.

So, what’d you get?

And to all a good night!  And a good year!  And…well, whatever!

So, since I last posted, all of this has happened:

1) The Boy graduated high school.

2) Chewie had to be put to sleep.  The day The Boy graduated high school.

3) The Hubby had to travel.  On his vacation.  On the day Chewie had to be put to sleep. On the day The Boy graduated high school.

4) My gracious sister in law, visiting from Colorado to see her nephew graduate high school, had to drive with me to the vet’s to put Chewie to sleep.  On the day my husband had to travel.  On his vacation.  On The Boy’s graduation day.

You see where this is going, right?  A LOT has happened since I last wrote, and all that above was just one day of all the stuff that happened.

Fast forward a bit….

The Boy went off to college.  I mostly held it together when we dropped him off at the dorm.  The Hubby….well, let’s say he was caught unaware of how much he needed to hold it together.  But we managed.  The Boy managed.  Well, he managed to be patient while his parents got emotional and, dare I say, weepy.  But all is well – the dorm is ok (although he’s not too impressed with the cafeteria food) and his roommate is ok, but most importantly he MET.A.GIRL.   Wait, maybe I need to back up.  I forgot to mention he broke up with The Girlfriend before he left for college.  So it’s totally OK for him to get a new girlfriend.  Which is what he did when he met.a.girl.  We got to met said girl and she seems very nice.  And good for The Boy.  Happy Boy = Happy Parents.

Fast forward a bit more…

November arrives (just like it always, right after October).  Oh, wait… October.  But before October, there was August.  (Not right before, but, before, you know?)  And August’s main event was Hurricane Irene.  Otherwise known as The First Week The Boy Was At School And I Was Home Alone Without Power While The Hubby Traveled And Had Power.  (I’m sure that’s what everyone was calling it.)  Yes, we were out of power for about a week.  Yes, we have a gas generator.  Yes, I had to fill that sucker up myself while The Hubby was gone.  Although he did fill up the gas cans before he left, so there’s that.

So… where was I next?  Ah, yes… October.  Freak snow storm.  And if you guessed that once again it was the week known as The Boy Was At School And I Was Home Alone Without Power While The Hubby Traveled And Had Power, you would be correct. Except this time, it was COLD.  And got DARK at 4 in the afternoon.  Nothing cheerier than sitting at home, alone with one dog, in the dark, without heat (well, I did have the propane fireplace), and having to go outside to fill up the damn generator with gas to keep the frig going and occasionally turn a lamp on.  Nope, nothing cheerier than that.  Because, at that point, at least I had the dog.

And now November.  Pansy is looking skinny.  Which is generally good.  She’s been a bit of a porker since we got her from the pound and the vet had always been after us to get her to lose some weight.  She clearly missed Chewie.  Her pal was gone – no one to run around with, harass, steal toys from, play, or chase.  So I figured she wasn’t eating as much while she was grieving.  But one night, The Hubby said he thought Pansy’s breath stank.  And it did.  The same exact way Chewie’s breath stank about 2 – 3 weeks before we had to put him down.  I called the vet the next day and got her in for a checkup.  She was super good and the vet didn’t seem to think there was a big problem – or at least, nothing she could tell from the exam.  They didn’t smell any stinky breath or see any signs of discomfort.  But they did take a blood sample.  And the results were not good.  Kidney disease – the same thing Chewie had suffered from.  From the results, they figured she had about 80% kidney failure.  It became clear within a week that she was going downhill quickly.  She basically stopped eating.  She wasn’t drinking much.  She did, however, still seem to be happy and willing to do things with me.

So, the first weekend that The Boy came home with The New Girlfriend, I had to wake him up and tell him we were taking Pansy to the emergency vet’s to put her down.  (And if you were The New Girlfriend, wouldn’t you want one of the first experiences with your new boyfriend’s family to be woken up by a hysterically crying woman who has to put her dog down?  Sure, great way to meet the family!)  So this time, it was The Hubby who was with me as we put my dog down.  He was kind of surprised at how quick it took effect.  But it made both of us relive a little bit Chewie, so it totally sucked.

And to make November complete, I found out my aunt’s cancer had come back.  It is basically terminal; the first course of chemo did do much and the second chemo was recently stopped.

Yea, so it’s been kind of a sucky end to 2011.

So, it’s been over 2 months since I posted last.  Predictable, huh?  Time has just rushed and whooshed by.

The Boy has made his college decision – he’ll be going to University of Connecticut in Storrs.  Which is good, since it is the cheapest option (yea in-state tuition!) and has a good reputation for his field.  So we’ve been doing all the paperwork and forking over money.  He went to his orientation this week for two days and got a feel for the campus, registered for his classes, etc.  The Hubby and I went for one day for the parent’s orientation.

It is truly starting to sink in.  The Boy will soon be out of the nest.  Life will change – drastically.  For all three of us.  There will be good things and less than good things that come from that.  Some things won’t change at all, but some things will be all change.

The King is Dead; Long Live the King

Ever run out of gas?

Ever have to call your mom to get you gas, when you are about 500 yards away from your high school parking space?

Ever have the school police officer say, as your mom is filling your tank with the emergency gas, “you’ll never forget this, will you?”

Ever do that on April First, a.k.a., April Fools Day?

Yeah, well, The Boy did all that… and it was not an April Fools Day joke.  He called about 15 minutes after he left this morning.  My first thought was that there was another accident.  So, pratically anything he said other than that was going to be a good thing.  So, I got dressed (essential when one is going to rescue someone) and grabbed the small gas can off the front porch.  As I pulled up the school driveway, there he was …. waiting on the hill – just waiting to be rescued.

Of course, my running out of gas story is much better than that.  I was in Alaska for a few months and I drove a truck with 2 guys down the road that goes nowhere.  Seriously.  That was the name of the road, because it went nowhere… just out of town until you hit the glaciers.  The bridge had been damaged in an earthquake and never fixed.  Probably still hasn’t been fixed.  Anyway, we had gone down to picnic at the glacier and was headed back to town.  The truck was an old piece of junk, but it ran.  Until it started to sputter.   And lurch.  And then, it did nothing.   I had run out of gas on a road that went nowhere, had no houses on it, and was in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness.  And I had two guys with me that were useless.

By some miracle, someone else decided to head out to the glacier.  They stopped, turned around and got us back to town to get gas and then took us back to the truck.

So, really, The Boy had it easy!