TIGAF

Class was...well, class. Glad that presentation is over. On to the next one. I am enjoying my Grief Therapy class (funny, but yes, learing about grief can be enjoyable with the right professor), but Appraisal of the Individual is just plain wackadoo. Not what I expected at all...to quote some random film somewhere, "Nobody said there'd be any math on this exam". As my closest friends and family know, I can start a fire using flint and twigs better than I can deal with fractions. The government knows this also, as they had to adjust my tax return this year and give me MORE money than I had calculated. Small miracles...

Just finished a monster Tive catch-up session, and feel the better for it. Some highlights:

- love that Pam breastfed the wrong child. Laughed out loud...hard.

- "Quite a collection you've got going". Halloween decorations - who knew? Laughed very loud - love, love, love Modern Family. Makes me want a modern family of my own.

- "Countless..." Priceless.

- I've been to Orange County. I believe the show to be very accurate.

The weekend is looking good. Mama needs a new pair of jeans, so I'll be escorting her to the (shudder) mall. The good thing is, we always have fun, and she will only buy bootcut, cool, non-mom jeans. She's hip like that, because that's how we Dakota-women roll.

Other items on the agenda: study group, Cherokee with a friend, Jimmy's and Celebrate Fitness. All good things, good times, and good people.

Throw in some sun and warmth, and I'm looking at a genuine pre-Spring weekend.

I am jonesing to see the following movies - may try to squeeze in some viewing this weekend:

MJ Recollection

It's Michael Jackson, all day, every day.

The State, which is my favorite comedy show, was tripped last night on MTV2 in lieu of an MJ Special Report w/Kurt Loder and some other DJ. How do I know this? I sat down this morning after my shower to put my makeup on, and was all set to enjoy a little "$240 Worth Of Pudding" sketch via Tivo, and no dice. So I sat and watched the show and thought about a recent conversation I had with my mom.

She and I reminisced yesterday about MJ, and shared our favorite memories. She talked about listening to his music on tape when she was putting up bulletin boards at school and in the car. She told me she dug out the Thriller Album that my brother and I had when we were kids. It's all scratched up, but she was going to play it during dinner last night no matter what. Ha - love it!

My favorite memory is tied to the Thriller video. Pretty sure I was in 6th grade...just a little kid. I remember playing outside with my brother, and we knew it was coming on, so he kept going inside to check the progress. All of a sudden he whipped open the sliding door and yelled, "It's on!". I ran inside, we sat on the living room floor enjoyed 14 minutes of something so original, entertaining and creepy it blew us away. We must have watched it 100 times, and we started to pick out our favorite zombies (we both liked the guy that has black goo coming out of his mouth).

I loved horror movies since before I could talk (probably), and would talk my mom once in a blue moon into buying me a Fangoria magazine so I could see all of the neat & scary special effects in the horror movie industry. As you can imagine, the Thriller video was right up my alley.

I haven't listened to MJ in many, many years. The whole trial and his weirdness skeeves me out, so I avoided. During my conversation with my mom, we both agreed that there were a lot of his songs that we really liked, regardless of his creep factor.

I burned the Ultimate Michael Jackson CD Collection for my mom, and it's in the mail today. The scratchy record just won't do. Not for this memory.

Mother's Day

A few recollections about my mom, Diane Whiting, on this Mother's Day:

1. My mom used to record my brother and I on one of those old cassette tape recorders with a plug-in mic when we were babies/toddlers. She brought these cassettes on her last visit, and my ex digitized them and burned them to CD. I love listening to her voice, so soothing, trying to coax my brother and I to sing, talk, and generally behave. It was so sweet.

2. My mom always made sure that my brother and I didn't go without - even on the extravagant things. My first bed was a white canopy bed with pink accents. It was awesome - I had many fun afternoons hanging my Barbies from the canopy, playing Trapeze or Hangman. We always got new clothes for each school year, and got to take Fruit Roll Ups for breaktime at school, and she paid extra so I could get the chocolate milk. She would drop me off at the rollerskating rink, and pick me up before Late Skate (nope, never did get to stay).

3. My mom went all out for holidays. We always had amazing Easter Egg hunts, tons of presents under the tree at Christmas, and surprises from the Leprechauns (usually Mint Dilly Bars from DQ).

4. My mom is a big believer in turtlenecks. Which made sense due to the fact that we were living on the frozen tundra. Almost every winter morning, I had to help my mom get her sweaters/turtleneck on over her head because she didn't want to mess up her hair. This is a good memory for me - sometimes we would laugh at our incredible efforts.

5. My mom worked full-time, and managed the household on her own. I became the lucky (yes, very lucky) product of a single-parent family when I was six years old. I am very happy that it was just me, my mom and my brother. I never felt like we were missing out on having a traditional family. If I could go back and change it, I'd pass.

Happy Mother's Day, mom. I wish I was there to celebrate with you.

Happy Birthday Mom!

My mom, Diane Whiting, was born 65 years ago today. Wow!!!

When I look at her age written out like that, it seems so darn old. But age is a state of mind, and in my mom's case, she's very young at heart. And looks it, too.

Here are some fun facts about Diane I bet you didn't know:

- My mom likes circus peanuts and licorice. She will admit to the licorice, but not to the circus peanuts, so I'm outing her right here and now.

- My mom treats her belongings very well - everything she has looks brand new.

- My mom is a huge fan of Barry Manilow, and even took me and my brother to his concert when we were gradeschoolers. We all rocked out to Copacobana, the actual year it was a hit (I think). In fact, she was so high on Barry, she bought a new car the next day.

- My mom taught 1st and 2nd grade for a kajillion years (33 to be exact), and whenever one of her former students sees her, they want to hug her. Yup - she was that loved.

- My mom never let us drink Kool-aid, for which I'm thankful (too much sugar). However, we always had every flavor of pop in the house, for which I'm also thankful. Because Root Beer floats rock!

- My mom is a hottie - always has been, and always will be. When she wears her boot-cut, low-waist distressed jeans, she can pass for a 16-yr old cheerleader from behind. Way.

- My mom and I have the best time once we're in the dressing room - we laugh like there's no tomorrow.

- My mom always made me wear a hat, gloves, scarf, and boots, which was unfashionable and sucked at the time, but this is probably why I don't suffer from frostbite anywhere on my body today.

- My mom is good in the kitchen. I love her cooking. I will never get enough of her spaghetti, chicken casserole, grilled cheese, pizza burgers, stove-top pudding, or banana bread. I would be happy living off of these six dishes for the rest of my life, but she would need to make them for me, because it's not the same when I make them myself.

- My mom paid for my teeth, boobs, and elopement/honeymoon. The teeth and boobs are holding up quite well, and although I'm divorced, my first trip to Vegas was unforgettable. Thanks again, Mom!

- My mom loves Walmart. Which is perfect, because she was presented with an offical Walmart vest as part of her winning Teacher of the Year. We're all still waiting for the official word that she's been recruited as a greeter.

- My mom can bail out a window well with the best of 'em.

- My mom has the prettiest hands. She should've been a hand model.

- My mom used to wash my hair when I was little, and I HATED it. So to let me know she was almost finished, she would turn the cold water on for a second and that made it all better.

- My mom used to let me clean out her jewelry box for money - that was always such a fun time.

- My mom liked Juicy Fruit gum when we were growing up, so every time I smell it I think of her, the big green Buick and going on road trips to Bismarck for back-to-school shopping. Good times!!!

And my favorite fun fact...

- My mom NEVER refused a trip to Taco Johns. Ever. What a mom!!! :-)

Recollections Pt 2

I chatted with a good friend on the way home from work today. I grew up with her, and we got to talking about the shenanigans we got into during our youth.

Then I started to think about some of my favorite memories from growing up. Here are a few:

1. My aunt Deb was only 12 years older than my brother and I, and used to babysit us alot. She would play this "game" with us, which would bring us to giggles, but if you did this to a kid now, it might be considered torture. She would put one of us in a pillowcase, drag us around the house, up and down stairs, and ask us what room we were in. If we answered wrong, the dragging would continue. It was fun! And back then, teachers didn't question where bruises came from, so no worries.


2. I used to dress up in my grandma's Carol Burnett outfits (chiffon sleeves, pastel colors, 60's dresses), put on pairs of her long gloves, maybe a rain scarf (the plastic kind that tied under your chin), don some orange lipstick, and play fashion show. I looked a little like this.


3. We used to get on our bikes at sunrise, ride all over town, only coming home to eat, and would return just before dark so we could play kick the can. It was such an easy, freedom filled childhood, I feel sorry for kids these days. Not a care in the world.


4. My aunt Donna would take my brother and I to A&W for fries and root beer. There's nothing better than an A&W root beer poured from a tap directly at the restaurant. So good.

5. There used to be a show on NBC in 1987 about these orphan girls called "Rags To Riches". One night, my brother and I were sitting at the counter in the kitchen watching my mom make cookies and the show came on. The orphan girls started singing, "Rockin' Robin", and my mom started to sing and dance along with the tv. It was great! She knew all the words, and boy can my mom sing. My brother and I got the biggest kick out of that. I'll remember that always.

6. My uncle Don used to give all of the kids haircuts when we were toddlers. We would take turns sitting on a high kitchen stool in my grandparents driveway. I think that would be a funny sight to see today, a bunch of kids taking turns sitting on a stool in the driveway, but back then it was a normal thing to do.

7. I used to stay at my cousin Steph's house for sleep-overs, and her mom let us build the most amazing forts, both upstairs in the living room and also in the basement. We're talking rooms, hallways, every blanket, cushion, tv tray and crate in the house was used. We would sleep there also, and tell ghost stories. This would freak Steph's brother Troy out, and he would run upstairs crying and tell his parents we were mean. I guess we were mean. But it was fun.

Blizzard - conclusion

My mom is such a pioneer. She opened the back garage door, and proceeded to shovel her way through 5 feet of snow to a place in the backyard that wasn't too deep.

She said that the gas pipe was covered, and as she shoveled snow it smelled like gas. Which could have backed up into her house and killed her.

She said that when she got back into the garage, she was completely covered in snow, white from shoulders to toes. It was wet and heavy snow, really good for making a snowman, or in this case, a snowmom.

Snowmom. Ha.

My mom. A true prairie girl.

:-)

Reconnected...and it feels so good

I'm back. 48 hours of non-blogging.

Am I the better for it? Who knows.

I did get much accomplished this weekend, being unplugged and all. I cleaned - a lot. I slept - a lot. I played - a lot.

Thanks again Mom (I love getting that kind of mail!), and congrats to my brother Jeff, the doctor, on his new Ortho McDreamy appointment at SLU. Way to go!

Facebook continues to annoy - discovered today that one of my friends is AWOL, and thinking she befriended me (the noiv!) I did a search for her. No luck. I reached out to a mutual friend (who I'm also concerned about as her spaghetti addiction is out of control), and she can't find her either. I fear that she's floating aimlessly in the black hole that is the new FB layout.

I am toying with the idea of going to bed directly after my Rock of Love Bus fix so that I can get up earlier than usual and bike to the gym in the morning, rather than drive. I think I can dodge bullets just as well on a two wheeler as I can in a four....right? My Fuji is nimble and responsive. With enough sleep, so am I. :-)

I found out that when you disconnect, you get behind on very important news. These are some of the top stories from the weekend that I'm JUST NOW catching up on (I feel sooo behind):

1. Bruce Willis got married, and Han Solo and Chupa-Head got engaged.

2. Car fire in O'Fallon

3. Lady GaGa blows the roof off of SXSW

4. Pet food pantries open up to help people/pets in need

Okay, I do like #4. Some people would rather go without a meal than have to not feed their pets. I totally understand this, and support the new pantry efforts. Very nice.

I hope y'all had a good weekend. I'm going to beat feet on the street with my pup before the darkness falls. Later, tater.

My Family

I ran across this picture of my mom and brother taken on Christmas Eve 2007. It was taken at my aunt Deb's house. I'm sure my mom will kill me for posting this picture, but I think it's a really nice one of her.

That's my brother Jeff standing next to her. He doesn't always look that mental, he's playing it up for the picture. He's an orthopedic surgeon, and a darn good one. He's been to Iraq twice, courtesy of the USAF, and helped to save the lives of soldiers as well as Iraqi civilians and insurgents. He's out of the Air Force now, thank goodness, safe and sound in St. Louis.

My mom came for Christmas this year also, and I believe she is reverse aging. She looked about 15 years younger. I remember when we all met up at the Olive Garden the night she flew in, I sat next to her and was amazed at how luminous and wrinkle free her face was. She was radiant. Since I'm adopted, I won't be able to claim those good genes, but maybe I can attribute her healthy glow to growing up in ND, so that I can get in on the secret.

When it snows out, like it is doing now, I miss my home, and my mom. Even though I believe that my old room has been turned into the "computer room", I'm sure I could walk in that room and feel just right. I wish I could wake up there tomorrow morning, knowing it's a snow day by the sound of her in the kitchen making pancakes with the TV on listing the school closings. That's the best.

Then later, when we'd be playing Boggle, she'd put on the Chuck Mangione record. Something soothing like that.

So, I saw this picture, and it's the closest I'm going to get to home right now.

And there you have it.