The Sandwich Life

Random Good, Random Bad....

Last night I was writing a post in my head as I was driving home and I had a whole list of 'random bad' things.  This morning I can't remember them which means I must be feeling better.  So here goes:

Random Good:

1.  When I got home from work last night around 7:30 tired after a long day I found Ernie and the boys had already brought the Christmas trees in the house.  I was so happy.  Our trees are beautiful.  A good sized one in the living room and a small one tucked in the corner of the dining room.

2.  Got the school pictures and they're not too bad except that Owen in particular looks like a teenager to me. 

3.  It's Friday!

4.  Judi's chemo is going well.  O.K.....what I mean is that her body is responding to it.  This could also go in the Random Bad column as that also means that it is very, very hard on her physically.  However we're looking at this as a positive....her oncologist was actually delighted that Judi's face was covered in zits.....see---it's all in how you look at things. So as painful as this is for her, this is going in my Random Good column because it's doing what it needs to do.

5. Ernie did an amazing slow cooked roast pork last night----coated in sauteed onions, coriander, pepper, cocoa powder and cloves I believe it was.  Absolutely wonderful flavor.

6.  After Ernie got up this morning I was lonesome so I crawled into Owen's bed.  He just sighed contentedly, wrapped his arms around me and told me he loved me more than anything in the whole wide world and he loved snuggling with me.  Then he asked me why Daddy and Leo didn't like to snuggle.  I said I didn't know, that he and I were just the snugglers in the family.  Then he patted my arm and kissed the side of my face and we dozed off for a little while.

Random Bad:

1.  I went all green and got the LED Christmas lights for my arbor and I hate them.  They have this blueish, strobe-like quality.  Gotta figure out how to make it look better.

2.  I really want a potted orchid but I know I'd kill it.  When I wistfully commented something along those lines to Ernie he just agreed, "yeah, you would kill it."  Oh well.

3.  Owen has been leaving for school in the morning in tears because he says he can't spell the words.  It's breaking my heart.  We need to talk to his teacher. I don't want him to dread school.

4. Got tons to do at work but see #3 in 'Random Good' above.

Feeling wintery and blue

I've been blue the last few days and I'm not even sure why. Just feeling overwhelmed by everything.....worrying about all the various layers of my sandwich I guess.

I think we'll bring the Christmas trees in the house tonight (even though it's s till November) and that should cheer me up.

I hope.

oh man.....

Perhaps I'm more stressed than I realize.

Sitting in front of my computer at work this morning I reached up to brush my hair off my face.  When I felt my skin I thought, "uh-oh....."

I forgot to put on make-up.

Now I don't wear a ton of make up but.....let's just say I could have used a little.....  I went and looked at myself in the bathroom.  Not the most flattering light.  Oh well. I just don't care enough about how I look to go home and put make up on.  But I really need to remember. I did manage to brush my teeth and wear clothes....how can you all of a sudden forget something you do every day?

I called Ernie and asked him how he could kiss me good bye and not notice.  He scrambled and tried to come up with the 'well you don't need make up' line of defense.....

HA.

Random Nashville Pictures

Owen sitting next to Billy Block---see, he really does look like George Washington...

Random Notes from the Sandwich Life

1.  On the drive home from South Carolina (12 1/2 hours thank you very much holiday traffic and rain) I made everyone listen to Christmas carols the entire way.  We have XM satellite radio and they have five, count 'em FIVE different Christmas channels.  Whenever Silent Night came on Owen made me change the channel however as he found it too sad to listen to....

2.  Owen rarely closed his mouth on the entire 12 1/2 hour drive.  He did sleep for about an hour or so but other than that he was either putting food into his mouth or talking.....and talking....and talking....or singing....or talking.  I wish I could remember all the topics of conversation.  They ranged from fondly remembering his outing in Nashville to Jesus Christ to what part of your body dies first when you die to the concept of a rotating Christmas tree so you could see all the ornaments, etc.

3.  As we sat down to Thanksgiving dinner Owen screwed up his face and said in puzzlement, "who was it that had Thanksgiving with the Indians?  Was it the Russians?"  Judi attempted not to laugh.  I'm more used to it so I just calmly said, "no, honey, it was the Pilgrims."

4. Judi also had  a hard time not laughing when Owen complained that Leo was calling him "the butt in the hood."  Of course it was a Christmas or two ago that Judi laughed and encouraged Leo to keep calling people "slowhead" as he was doing.  She's not always a lot of help in these instances....

5.  Leo is desperate for a Lego train set for Christmas (thank you very much Don).  Now mind you, the child has a Lionel train set, a HO train set, a small Amtrak N gauge set and still uses his Brio wooden train set.  I'm embarrassed just writing all that but they just creep in one by one.  The last thing he needs  is another train set and yet who knows what Santa Claus will do because the boys seem to be on some kind of Lego high lately.  Yesterday they built Lego houses (they were neighbors) complete with bags of groceries on the kitchen floor and a computer with a mouse.  Owen was working on building me a laptop because he knows I want one.

6.  My father continues to worsen but I haven't even written much about it because I just want to bury my head in the sand.  When I called my mother the other evening she was struggling to get dinner for herself  because my father had decided to put his pajamas on at 6 p.m. and go to bed.  She tried to convince him to eat dinner first but he had taken his hearing aids out and couldn't hear her.  Then at 9 p.m. when she was going to bed he wanted to get up and get dressed.  She managed to convince him it wasn't morning.

7. I think I'm going for two Christmas trees this year.  It's not that I have room....but I just want to.  I think I'll move the sideboard in the dining room a bit and just squish one in there.....  Time is going so fast these days that I'm just going to throw myself into the holidays.  Try not to get stressed about it and just enjoy the things I love about it.....decorating the house, playing Christmas music, watching the boys shudder with excitement, make Ernie do the holiday baking, have a Christmas party, hope for snow.....

Stumphouse Tunnel

One of the guys' favorite things to do when we visit Judi is visit Isaqueena Falls and THEN.....the abandoned train tunnel known as Stumphouse Tunnel....

Judi kindly provided not only a regular flashlight but also one that went on their forehead.  They were so excited by it that they actually nicely shared it!

Hard to leave....

It was hard to leave Judi this morning.  The boys just hovered around her as we got ready, talking, hugging and kissing her. They love her so.

Was it fun driving over 12 hours today?  No, but the visit was worth every second of holiday traffic. 

It felt so good to be there.

We love you Judi.

A crowded little head....

Driving in the car yesterday, Owen's frustrated voice came out of the back seat:

"There are so many memories in my head.  They're all bumping into each other.  It's really crowded.  I keep trying to remember Parker but it keeps slipping away.  All the songs are in there too and they're all bumping into each other."

Later, in a tone of joy:

"I found the memory Mom!!"

Update and more Nashville pics

Today was  a wonderful day.  Judi had to go into the Cancer Center for a shot and I got to go with her which was so nice to be able to see exactly where she's going.  It's always much easier if you can picture things in your mind and now I have a sense of where she'll be physically.  Later, Ernie and the guys and I did a waterfall and a train tunnel....picture to follow but I'm having a hard time with her PC so they'll have to wait til we're home.

Here's a few more from Nashville....

Hanging out with my Nashville Cats....

I went to a club and saw a band.....

in Nashville.....

at night....

with the guys......

Now let me explain..... Our drive to Nashville was remarkably long.  The guys are usually pretty good travelers but on Tuesday it was was "when do we get there?" every ten minutes until I wanted to kill them.  Then they would start poking and tickling each other which would escalate into a full war.  I would then yell "NO MORE TALKING UNLESS YOU ARE BLEEDING" which made Ernie snicker---which I ignored.  Breaking the drive into two days was supposed to make it easier but by the time we got to Nashville it still felt like we had driven twelve hours.  We were staying in a MUCH nicer hotel than we usually do but I had gotten a good rate and it's in the old Nashville train station.....what choice did I have?

So we pulled up and turned the messy van over to the valet and when he brought the luggage up to the room he asked Ernie is he knew the van had a fluid leak.  "uh, no...."  Sigh.  Ernie went down, looked at it, came back, sat and looked through the yellow pages to find a garage.  Looked like no Country Music Hall of Fame at that point.

So Ernie took off and managed to pull into a garage just as steam started to stream out of the hood of the van.  Broken hose---nice guy at the garage---managed to get the part and put it in just before closing.  So all in all, could have been worse.  The boys and I passed the time wandering around the hotel which Leo says is his favorite hotel EVER even though they don't have a pool.

Most of the time when we travel I have all sorts of stores of snacks and bottled water....not this time.  I've been so crazed and sick and whatever that I had nothing with us.  So I let the boys buy some candy in the lobby to keep them going.  I had decided that all I wanted to do was take a walk along Lower Broadway, which isn't far from the hotel, snap a picture of Tootsie's Orchid Lounge and the Ernest Tubb Record Store and then we'd find something to eat.  Well, by the time we got the van fixed, it was too late to walk so we drove down, taking time to fight with a self-pay parking machine.  As we started to walk Owen began the whine of "I need food....I'm hungry" and unfortunately I recognized it as the "if I don't get food soon I will melt down and you will be sorry and humiliated."  We haven't been to Nashville in ten years and given that there's a Hard Rock Cafe down the block I thought Lower Broad would be a bit more gussied up.  I was pleased on one hand, but all of a sudden I realized there didn't seem to anything kid friendly in the vicinity.....  Not good.  I refuse to go into a Hard Rock Cafe so I looked around and spotted a place that looked huge and clean and told Ernie to go ask if we could bring kids in there.  He walked up to the woman at the door and she looked at him and said, "what band are you with tonight?"  Score one for Ernie.  He gave her our dilemma and she said the kids could come in but they had an early show and cover was $5.00.  At this point I could have cared less so we went in (they didn't charge the boys cover) and asked if we wanted a table---we said yes and got seated near the stage.  It wasn't quite what I'd had in mind but I was pretty entertained.  So we kept warning Leo that when the band started it was going to be very loud----"just like when Daddy plays his records" I said.  Ernie commented that he didn't play his records that loud (gee thanks Ern) so I told Leo it would be more like when MOM played music.  The band started a few french fries later and Leo immediately stuck his fingers in his ear, then leaned over and immediately did the 'loud club' style of talking where you yell in someone's ear with your hand cupped over your ear and said "YOU REALLY PLAY YOUR MUSIC THIS LOUD, MOM?".  Owen was tapping his hand on the table and was as happy as a clam.  Ernie and I kept giggling.

It turned out it was Billy Block's Western Beat show and the eponymous Billy Block was seated right next to us.  As Owen said, leaning over to whisper/yell, "he looks just like George Washington."  And that he did.  Like a tiny little George Washington.

Liked the band although can't find their name on the schedule.  We left after the first set even though Owen protested, "but Mom, there's going to be another band...."