I’ve always been a fan of country music – pretty much grew up on it.  And…

All I ever needed to know, I learned from a country song…

1) Don Williams – I Believe In You:

I don’t believe in superstars
organic food and foreign cars
I don’t believe the price of gold
the certainty of growing old
that right is right and left is wrong
that north and south can’t get along
that east is east and west is west
and being first is always best.

But I believe in love, I believe in babies
I believe in mom and dad, and I believe in you.

2) Gary Allan – Life Ain’t Always Beautiful

Life ain’t always beautiful
Sometimes it’s just plain hard
Life can knock you down, it can break your heart

Life ain’t always beautiful
You think you’re on your way
And it’s just a dead end road at the end of the day

But the struggle makes you stronger
And the changes make you wise
And happiness has it’s own way of takin’ it sweet time

3)Joe Nichols – The Impossible:

Unsinkable ships sink
Unbreakable walls break
Sometimes the things you think could never happen
Happen just like that
Unbendable steel bends
If the fury of the wind is unstoppable
I’ve learned to never underestimate the impossible

4) Tanya Tucker – Strong Enough to Bend

When you say something that you can’t take back
Big wind blows and you hear a little crack
When you say “Hey well I might be wrong”
You can sway with the wind till the storm is gone
Sway with the wind till the storm is gone

Like a tree out in the backyard
That never has been broken by the wind
Our love will last forever
If we’re strong enough to bend

5) Toby Keith – As Good As I Once Was

I ain’t as good as I once was
that’s just the cold hard truth
I still throw a few back, talk a little smack
when I’m feelin bullet proof
so dont double dog dare me now
’cause id have to call your bluff

I ain’t as good as I once was
but I’m as good once as I ever was
maybe not be good as I once was
but I’m as good once as I ever was

We hardly ever take pictures of the house at night.  Not sure why, since we apparently love our house (1200+ photos of construction, photos every spring, photos every home improvement project)…

But The Hubby recently took some, and it looks great at night!

Beautiful Sping Night

So, I have been dragging my feet on updating my WordPress… the instructions just seemed impossible.  Or maybe I am just one of those people who need to see something in process to make it work, not just the written instructions.  I was pretty sure that was my issue in getting pictures to post – that I didn’t have the most updated version of WordPress.

As The Boy has been wanting to earn some cash, I decided to kill two birds with one stone.  So I offered him $20 in “mom credit” to update me.  So he spent about 45 minutes to an hour trying to upload the new files to my server… then looked at me and said, “this server sucks!”.  I challenged him to find me another provider with easier uploading/updating and better service.  He found BlueHost and I signed up.

Let me tell you, what a breeze.  We got through the install pretty quickly and easily; it installed my old files super quick and before I knew it, all was wonderful.  I could upload pictures! Whoo-hoo!

I have thought about changing my theme, but it, again, seemed impossibly confusing.  So with the new WordPress update and new server, I decided to try it again.  I searched for a new theme I liked, found one, hit a button, and voilia!  A brand new look for my blog.

With the new look, I was able to do some housekeeping – cleaning up some pages and posts.

I guess I’ll keep The Boy for awhile (at least, until he leaves me for college!).

I was just reading on Mountain Momma’s Musings about her Son the Camel.  I can totally relate… to her son.  I was the fussy eater in my house when I was a kid.  Not only was I fussy, I was a serial (not cereal) eater…. I would eat the same thing over and over and over for a looooonnnngggggg stretch of time.

In high school, my mom found these frozen pizzas that she bought in bulk specifically for me.  They were rectangles, with two perforations so you could break off the frozen pieces and make three “slices” of pizza.  I must have gone through 3 boxes a week, at least.  Another favorite was spaghetti sauce.  I would heat up the sauce, put it in a bowl, sprinkle a little cheese on it and eat away.  And Jello – I swear there was a summer when all I ate – breakfast, lunch and dinner – was Jello.

When I was a little kid, I made toast for breakfast…. toast topped with mustard… yum!  And when I went to school, I expanded my consumables to a mayo and mustard sandwich (no meat!).  My teacher was so concerned about my health and home life, she called to talk to my mother.  When confronted with what I was eating at the lunch table, my mother was “thank god she’s eating something!”… totally blowing away my teacher!

Now, as a parent, I have suffered the parents’ curse – a kid exactly like myself to deal with!  The Boy has always been a fussy eater – much to my mother’s delight (except when she had to feed him!). But, then again, as an only child, I have been able to go with the flow abit easier than other moms may have it.  Although the “correct way” to present food to your kid is supposed to be at a dinner table, with the whole family together, eating the same meal… we almost never do that, except when we go out.  He is always hungry before 5, The Hubby comes home anytime between 5 and 7 (unless he’s travelling), and when you throw in after school sports (volleyball, karate) … well, sitting down together just isn’t going to happen much.

He doesn’t seem to have suffered much over it… he’s a polite, well mannered, honor student with tons of intellectual curiosity and a good sense of humor.  He talks to his parents, his grandparents, has a steady girlfriend and is liked by kids and teachers at school.  So – if you have a fussy eater … just remember… at least they’re eating something!

No, it’s not the 19th of June that we are celebrating (you silly goose… it’s June 16th today!).

The Hubby and I are celebrating our 19th Wedding Anniversary today.  And how are we celebrating, you might ask?  Well, I made beef ravoili and garlic bread for dinner, and he is at a golf outing… so, basically we won’t be seeing each other today.

But that is totally ok.   He surprised me this morning with an early morning email (posted at 1 a.m.), telling me how much he loved me and how he can’t imagine life without me.  Gee, talk about getting me weepy first thing in the morning! (Alright, a little weepy now, too, just writing about it.)  So I replied back to him so my email would be the first one he saw this morning on his Blackberry.  And I posted on Facebook (before he did!).

This is the last week of school for The Boy.  I can’t believe his sophomore year is over.  It flew by, what with his Applied Science class and volleyball this spring.  His summer is kind of open; the internship we had been hoping for doesn’t seem to be happening.  It will give him one last “free” summer, as I expect next summer will be full of college angst and working a summer job for pay.

A member of our church passed recently.  There had been an accident, but no recovery from it.   The man was lucky in a way…his son and daughter in law (along with their children) attended the same church.  I know that not every family is lucky enough to have 2 or 3 generations in the same church …

It’s hard to know what to say to someone when any loved one passes away.  I suppose, at least, losing a parent follows a “natural” order of things… the older generations go before the younger.  No parent should have to bury a child (to quote Tolkien’s Theoden in Lord of the Rings – The Two Towers).

But the truth is we all will pass from this life.  Whether you believe in God or not, death will still be at your doorstep someday.  Maybe you will know it is coming soon, or maybe you won’t.  But you do know it will come.

We are at the end of our first heat wave of the year, and it is only April!   Saturday was nice, Sunday was nicer, Monday was hotter, and today should be the hottest.  And then … tomorrow… back to 60 degrees.  (Never say New England is boring…)

We had The Hubby’s father and uncle visit us last week.  That’s the excuse I’m gonna use for not posting last week, and it happens to be the truth.  They came by train, arriving Monday night.  They were going to stay a few days, catch some sights in NYC and Boston, see The Boy, and generally just kind of hang out with us.

All in all, it was a nice visit.  And I say this because the world did not end… there were no calls to the police from our home…  no medical attention was required by anyone.  And sometimes, that is enough to call it a sucessful family visit.

I got to know my husband’s uncle a bit better.  Of course, I don’t really remember ever meeting him before (although I’m told I have), so anything would qualify as “getting to know him better”.  He has been travelling with The Hubby’s dad for a few weeks now, and it is safe to say they are both ready to be back in their own (separate) homes, back to their regular routines.

I do, however, have a bit of history with The Hubby’s dad.  In the first three years of our marriage, either we had his dad living with us or we were living with my parents for all but about 3 or 4 months.  I figure, if as  newlyweds we can handle that, we can handle just about anything.  Steve is generally a nice guy, but he’s been single for a LONG time and is set in his ways.  He likes what he likes, and that’s that.  He can be frustrating to deal with, but there have been times when he has stuck up for me and I always try to remember that.

…. but it’s been almost a year since I bought this domain.   It hasn’t been a year since I started blogging, but it’s coming close to a year since I decided to try it out.

I haven’t been the best blogger, writing something every day.  And lately I’ve been suffering from major writers block.  I do occassionally get some flashes of something to write, but it’s ususally while I’m driving or falling asleep.  Not exactly the best time to write!

So now I have to ask myself – should I keep going?  Is it worth paying for another year’s hosting fee?

Yes, I have been a very bad blogger.  I have not paid any attention to you.  So, I give you this excerpt from Kay Thompson’s Miss Pooky Peckinpaugh…an explanation to follow later on….

Farnsworth is a fud

and

Frankly I fail to see the facination

On Friday the FIFTH I had the FLU and  a fever and felt foul…

so I filed over to FRIEDA’s in a flurry of festive foo… for

FRIED FREAK AND FEY FOOD in my fogged up FRENCH focals and

fuchsia feather boa… and

T H E R E was FARNSWORTH… in the fone booth… looking sooo

Fantastic I could faint he looked sooo fantastic…

with that fantastic flaxen hair and fantastic floppy hat… and

those FAANNNTASSSTIC freckles… fingering his fringe… and

eating a FRENCH fry… lookins so FANTASSSTIC I could faint…

and he hung up the fone and filed out in a flurry of festive foo

to find FRANCINE FOTHERGILL… THAT frump… in front of FRIEDA’s…

in full color… in FERRARI … FARROOOOOOM…

and he filed in the front seat… FAROOOM… to fly to flick and

FILLMORE’s to finish off Friday till four…

FAAARROOOOOOOM and FOO…

OH

FAREWELL FARNSWORTH and FORGET it…

FRANKLY I’ve forgotten every feeling I ever felt for you…

and

FRANKLY

FRANCINE is far from friend and her hair is FRIZZ

and her freckles are FAKE and she’s FAT FARNS…

FAT FAT and FICKLE… You Fool