four things

So I just have some quick thoughts in numerical form because I should be sleeping but am bitter because our newest certain too-cute-for-words family member won't shut his trap.

(That's right; I said shut up.  My three-year-old daughters would strongly disapprove.)

1.  We have Internet.  It was not without great suffering and patience-requiring, and there may or may not be another quick visit from the poor Cox employees (pleural!) in our near future, but we do have Internet.  We got up and running at precisely six-o-something and I had to work at six, so that worked out pretty stressfully.

But still.  Internet.

2.  We also have cable.  Might not sound that exciting to you, but as the gal who hasn't had Bravo or Lifetime for years it was on the exciting side.  I then proceeded to discover how very little there is on TV for the rest of the evening.  But I'm sure that'll change once I have time to study the TV guide and chart a course of action.

3.  We have a puppy.  Yup, you heard me.  My people are laughing heartily at this very moment at the hilarity and irony of this scenario.  When I texted the news there was much LOL-ing going on.  My friends are not particularly sympathetic since they mostly have dogs.  

And this would be exactly why Donita is currently my favorite as she tossed me some halfish-hearted sympathy with no LOL-ing.

Said puppy is quite precious but he has rendered me unable to sleep.  Therefore we're going to have a little talk just as soon as I can stand upright and wake him up.  

Yup.  Now that I'm awake he's snoozing away like an aggravating baby who aggravates.

4.  We have more mess than I could possibly articulate so I'll refrain from doing so, but trust me when I tell you that Ze stuff; it is everywhar.

I suppose there's more but I guess it'll have to keep until a later time as I need to find my eyeliner.  Today is full of the exciting.  Things like that one. last. trip. to the old homeplace and it's assorted miscellany...a quick run to Fresh Market to pick up the fixins to make my own contraband...and other very important stuff I already forgot.  

And I definitely need to find a TV guide.

Happy I-think-it's-Tuesday!

sigh

You wouldn't think that scrubbing and cleaning a house that is no longer a home would evoke such an odd sense of grief.

Yet here I sit.

As is my style, I've tossed and sold and given away and packed...and lugged and carted and moved my things, with a pragmatism that keeps tears-induced headaches to a minimum.  

But for some inexplicable reason, pulling the nails from the walls of what used to be Kari's room, the room where Hector lived and her wedding dress hung, has rendered me all weepy.

I only lived here for five years.  I didn't actually raise my children here.

But it is, you know, "Naynay's House."

It was home, and there was much loving here.

I guess it's all fun and games until you erase the last of the living from the walls, huh.

No worries though, I'm taking all the loving with me.

but i'll carry you in my heart like the melodramatic fool that I am

Lucky boys.  Someone else lugs their stuff around and likely cleans under the fridge for 'em too.

Okay Peeps, so this is me saying I'm just one oldish crazy lady who is incapable of getting it all done.

Moving Day is looming.

There are some borderline moods going on around here and mainly I'm teetering on the edge of a lovely combination of HYSTERIA mixed with a touch of NOT CARING AT ALL.  

It's a sight to behold, is what it is.

I'm surrounded by clutter and chaos and messy floors to the point where I'm starting to twitch.  

...and seeing as how I can't really not do my job, and I can't not pack my stuff, and it would be wrong to not look after E - and I definitely can't not put shelf paper on any-and-every shelf I find in a certain new residence, my options are limited.

So it appears the one thing I can, you know, not do is Ye Old Blog.

So we can call the next few days a hiatus, or a vacation, or even that-time-Renee-ran-away-to-parts-unknown... 

...but whatever ya want to call it one thing is sure, I probably won't be posting any new drivel until after said move is complete.

I know.  You're welcome.

Have a great week, y'all - and don't forget to be thankful that you aren't moving all of your worldly possessions across town this week cause IT AIN'T SO MUCH FUN.

Catch ya on the flip side  :)

Happy Christmas!

I hope you have a lovely weekend!

As for me and mine, we plan to spend our "Christmas" weekend just like Pooh, except, you know with pool floats and umbrellas and assorted fruity miscellany, which is nearly mostly the same :)

I spy with my mildly panicked eye...

A VERY LARGE, old-school Christmas tree dismantled and piled in a Rubbermaid tub, with a tree stand lying crookedly on top...

Kari & Drew's old, rather huge-ish television that used to belong to her Uncle Joe, waiting hopefully for a new home...

A myriad of plastic tubs & apparently-now-hard-to-find apple crates...

Christmas presents bagged up and ready for transport to Kari's...

A blue bouncy seat, and lime-green trampoline, and that Little Tikes picnic table with the crayon scrawling...

My probably-should-have-been-tossed-eons-ago-but-still-works, oscillating fan...

(remember back in, oh, April? when it wasn't too stifling to open our windows??)

(good times they were)

Miscellany of nearly suffocating proportions...

(drama much?)

Undone mending, a shamefully un-vacuumed floor, 

and, let's be honest, my unopened-since-Monday Bible.

(sigh)

I won't tell you what my eye spies after I stand up from the sofa.  There's no sense in all of us panicking.  I need for you to REMAIN CALM so you can, you know, talk me down from my edge of despair.  

Ha!

I kid.

Mostly ;)

 

love

Photo by Kari

Happy Wednesday!

suspiciously close to drivel

First things first.  Do y'all ever make fluffy scrambled eggs with just a splash of milk, salt, & pepper, sprinkle a bit of cheddar on top...and then dunk each and every bite in a nice serving of salsa?

You so should.

Anyhoo, where did we leave off?  I do believe I was sleepless in the wake of The Big Sale planned for our front yard.

Junk.  How embarrassing.

Here's a question for you.  Is it possible in any way to maintain your sense of dignity while sitting in a lawn chair surveying your worldly possessions scattered all over your front yard, baking in in the summer sun?  I don't think so, but maybe that's just me.

More Junk.  How embarrassing.

What might be even worse...watching strangers pull up to said lawn, meticulously inspecting said worldly possessions, and then leaving empty-handed, finding not a single item worth their pennies. 

Seriously Susie Stranger?  Not even a Mary Higgins Clark mystery for 50 cents?  Hardback?  It's nothing short of demoralizing to recognize that the things that you cared about a mere 12 hours earlier can't even net you a buck on the open market.

(You might have picked up on the fact that yard sales?  Not so much my thing.)

(I have my pride.)

(Misplaced as it might be.)

All in all, though, I suppose it was worth the time & aggravation & heat, and giggling & people watching, and yes, the Christmas money!!

Teri kept reassuring us that we were having wonderful Fun and Fellowship!  

Hi Robin!  She's not junk.  She's my sister.

Two things about that:

1.  We Baptists can throw a "fellowship" spin on anything and call it SUCCESS.

2.  Poor, poor Teri.  She netted approximately twenty-five dollars for her day of fellowship.  

Hard to believe we're worth it.

Also not junk.

I was so past tired but forced myself to stay awake until 8:00 that night.  I desperately wanted to crawl in the bed at approximately 6:57 but held firm, and amazingly, (what insomnia?) I was sound asleep and also out like a light sometime before 8:30.  

And then!

And then I proceeded to sleep until 8:00 the next morning.  Without interruption.  I don't even know when that last happened but who cares because IT HAPPENED. 

At any rate, Sunday I woke up happy to face the sun at 8:00 and proceeded to have a good day.

....and then I did the unthinkable & after finishing work last night attempted to do it all over again.

And it nearly worked!  I proceeded to get in approximately 7 hours although I might have been, shall we say, a bit on the wakeful side.  But at least I woke up ready for the day 45 minutes before the alarm went off and have already chopped veggies and cleaned fruit and put on my swimsuit.

Because today we swim.  and sweat.  and eat melon.

...and, you know, try to locate my floor and hopefully new owners for the three(!) television sets sitting in the middle of my living room floor, none of which belong to me - not to mention the other assorted cluttery goodness.

Tomorrow I'll share the riveting tale of how I made my summer salad! and brushed my teeth! and loaded the dishwasher!  

Say what you will, but you can always count on me for riveting coverage of what matters none.

Happy Monday ;)

light

Every good and perfect gift is from above,

coming down from the Father of Lights

 with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 

(James 1:17)

favorite read: a hairy situation

Oh y'all.

Today's our yard sale.  

(Pretend there's a clever picture of assorted chaos right here.)

(Because I would like, totally insert one if I weren't basically not gonna.)

I have an absurd amount of random irrelevance piled up all around, and am secretly hoping to sell it all for about a million dollars.  

But probably not.

It's far more likely that people will walk by and laugh hysterically at my nerve and gall and also my nerve.

I'll tell you all about it as soon as I get some sleep.

(Heaven help me.)

My girls would throw a fit if they knew I was on the worldwideweb instead of sneaking a few zzzz's (they can be BOSSY when trying to sell all of my worldly goods), but I had to say hi and share my favorite read with you.  

I'll abstain from commentary because they could catch me any minute, but you know how sometimes you're reading through an anecdote all breezy and the like & then BAM! you realize where the writer is going?  

I LOVE IT when that happens, that sudden realization that a sweet little story is...more.

Anyway, this one struck me midway through, just like that, and yeah, once again there were tears.

(but the good kind of course)

Happy Weekending!

so here's the plan

So I wanted to sit & chat with you for a nice while about things like yard sales and getting rid of A LOT of my stuff and packing and moving and surprise parties and Christmas, but the melatonin fix ain't cutting it this week so I'm sleep-deprived and mildly emotional (read: CRAZY).

...and my very first Craigslist stranger has my address and is coming to my home in less than an hour.  

and I'm ungroomed.

Will you still be my friend if I throw one long run-on sentence and a couple of phrases at you more often than you deserve?

You will?

Well I love you too :)

my heart wrapped up in a photo

Happy Wednesday :)

andy griffith (sniff)

I'm a child of the 60s/70s and I love television.  

Now I know all the reasons why I probably shouldn't.  I know all the arguments I give to my family about ditching cable and protecting my grandchildren from being inundated by all the terrible that is TV in 2012.  But still.  I love me some television.

I enjoy all manner of TV offerings, but some things never change, like ever.

Like my love for Andy Griffith.

I imagine if my back were against the wall, so to speak, I would have to say my very favorite television show in the history of ever would be The Andy Griffith Show.  

Andy Taylor was one of the kindest, gentlest, most patient dads/friends/nephews/bosses ever portrayed and I might have loved him just a little bit, in spite of the, you know, fictionality of his existence.  

Even when I was small I somehow understood AG's genius in making the character so multi-layered and interesting in the face of the never-ending silliness going on around him.

Many years later, when Matlock came along he seemed to slide into that role effortlessly, and if felt as if he had always been Ben Matlock, and I loved his curmudgeonly, cranky-but-lovable Ben nearly as much as Andy!  I loved how he would break into hymns on both shows, and in Matlock he would be shown at choir practice and what-have-you.  My mom said if he didn't love Jesus he surely was an excellent actor ;)

(I suspect both to be true.)

I'm sure to some of you this might sound lame, but AG really did feel like family in some way.  I didn't have grandparents active in my life, but he seemed like he'd be a good one ;)  I might have teared up a bit the day he died. 

Not because I'm nuts, mind you.  

(Although of course I am!)

I suppose it was because we've lost a lovely man who reminded us that there is great beauty to be found in simply loving those around us & living our lives with quiet dignity and contentment.

Or something like that.

Anyhoo,

It's been a difficult, and arduous, and somewhat difficult process, but I finally have my top five favorite Andy Griffith episodes of all time whittled down...to six.  

or actually seven.

It's the best I could do. 

And they're in no particular order, because again...the best I could do.

Since we're remembering Andy, I decided to omit the episodes that focused specifically on other cast members because SO MANY.  These, of course, would include anything Barney (PERFECTION), and the ever-delightful Ernest T. Bass (OHMYWORD!) and Aunt Bea playing the warden or Goober taking the car apart.  

The line had to be drawn somewhere people, and today is all about Andy.

So without further adieu, here are my top favorite memories from The Andy Griffith Show:

The Pickle Story

"I don't know how I can face the future when I know there's eight quarts of these pickles in it."  (Barney)

A Feud is a Feud

"Their daddies could have saved themselves the expense of a double funeral if they just would've let them had a cheap wedding."  (Andy)

Alcohol and Old Lace

"And this booze you've been sellin' ain't legally recognized either so I've gotta take this ax and pow, pow, pow!"  (Barney)

Andy, the Marriage Counselor

"Good mornin' Dear."  

"Good mornin' Honey."

(Ha!)

The Loaded Goat

"Andy, are you sayin...?  "Yep, somewhere wandering around Mayberry is...a loaded goat." (Barney/Andy)

"You would have to show up today Otis; about one loaded goat at a time is all we can handle!" (Andy)

Dinner at Eight

"Yes, I know that already.  Now I'm goin' over to Helen's to eat my third supper, and then I'm comin' back...and I'm gonna kill you."  (Andy)

And because it's as intertwined with my Christmas memory as the cupcakes we eat, likely because I've seen it every Christmas Eve since, well, birth...my favorite ever episode of The Andy Griffith Show is Christmas Story.

"Do you mean to tell me that you're gonna spend Christmas in jail for two measly dollars?" (Andy)

(As Ben sings along to Away in a Manger while he peeks through the bars of the window at all the happy, I have this powerful urge to go hug a cranky person.  True story.)

 Thanks for the oh-so-sweet memories, Andy!

p.s.  Vote for your favorite episode in my sidebar & I'll post the results next week :)

nothing to prove

Well I threw it all away.

I've been going through the house and purging like nobody's business.  It seems the right thing to do given all the changes coming with The Move that's looming in the near future.

I haven't even blinked during most of the trashing of my former treasures.  It's fascinating how something can seem un-lose-able one day and a few years later it holds virtually no value at all.  I imagine there's a life lesson or deep insight there somewhere, but I'm kind've into skimming across the top of things right now.

One doesn't trash her former treasures without doing a fair amount of skimming.

Anyway, I've been trashing willy-nilly for weeks now, but today seemed just a bit different.  I knew it was there somewhere, and had already decided its fate, but didn't come across it until now.  I had considered not even looking inside and just tossing it straight out, but fear of losing something still valuable forced me to peek inside.  

It was all there.  The details likely wouldn't matter so much to you, but the not-so-great memories evoked by mere glimpses still take my breath clean away.  

(Interesting, isn't it, our ability to be transported to another place by snippets.)  

I tried to stick close to the surface and not dive straight in, and resolutely I continued to chuck things in the ever-growing pile of the discarded.

But still...

Somehow in a way that's difficult to explain, this bit of no-longer-relevant continues to have some manner of value to me.

I'm reasonably sure it isn't a healthy value (is that possible...unhealthy value?) but it still stung.  

Today I threw away evidence of a storm that was real and hard and terrible, and also full, and rich, and productive.

Today I threw away "proof" that it was just as big as I thought at the time and that I was as sincere as I believe myself to have been.  

Validation, if you will.

Somehow it feels terribly dangerous to just. let. it. go.

What if I need to prove something to myself some day?  

What will I do then?

I suppose I'll just have to remind myself that with God's grace I have nothing at all to prove, and then leave it all where it belongs...

Long-gone, with all of the other out-of-date, no-longer-treasured treasures.

Life is for the living, after all, 

and apparently, for today, God has some living left for me to do.

(A Thousand Gifts #1190-1199)


projected breaks in miserable heat & promises of raindrops

freedom from what was 

sweet new pictures

growing piles of the no-longer-necessary

easy access to effective meds

just...sitting, all together

little boys falling asleep in the middle of the visiting

the delicious peace that comes with realizing there's simply no proof required :)

Happy Monday!