Friday Fragments: the Name-Dropping Edition

I'm back to Mrs. 4444's Friday Fragments this week. It always feels wonderful to defrag.

Sat chatting with a friend the other night while our boys were in karate. It was hard to concentrate because she smelled so strongly of gasoline and I debated whether or not to mention that to her. I chose not to because I am working on being demure this week. When I got home, I realized that I was the one who had spilled the gasoline.

Do you suppose if I had won Mental P Mama's contest, that she would have given me the jacket she was wearing in this picture Daryl posted? That would have been kind.

I would like to meet a blogger in real life, so, WON, you had better watch out since we live 4 miles apart!! Sonic and soon?? I do promise not to spill my slush in my lap while we're together.

Decided on Monday night that I needed to paint our 1980's bathroom vanity this week. By Tuesday morning, I was pretty sure the vanity would look better if I tore out the tile on the floor and in the tub. However, I got distracted pestering Jill and some others with emails, and never got around to tearing that tile out. I suspect that Checkered is very relieved.

Sent my son on a big fieldtrip to here. The problem was that he had an infected throat and was under doctor's orders to stay home. I am pretty certain that school will be out for the summer by the time the health department and angry parents track us down.

Thank-you, Facebook friends who encouraged me to get a second opinion on my boy's asthma. Of course, the doctor looked puzzled when I told her I was there because my FB friends had sent me.

But on an EWWW note, my child was sick again Wednesday night. Coughed violently and vomited in his sleep and then some. Dangerous. Scary. Messy. I only knew about the stuff that landed all over the bathroom and that I cleaned. Then I put Mr. Asthma in my bed. Later, when Checkered got home from the Red Wings' game, he kindly got in Mr. Asthma's bed so the little guy could stay with me. I swear I did not know that child had been sick in his bed - until Checkered got in it. I'm sorry!!

I asked the grand Miss Marlene and Lovely Miss Betty for advice this week and they responded immediately. Love those girls. I do, however, need to do a better job of keeping in touch with my local friends. That's what summer is for, right?

Child #2 is working on a scouting merit badge where he had to build a bird feeder and identify 8 different bird breeds (kinds?) who come to eat. We seem to be getting the same 3 birds and I wonder if he takes pix of those birds from all different angles, will it seem like 8 different breeds?

And lastly, it is surely time for the school year to end. Drove my daughter to school one morning. Waited through the traffic line, and when it was our turn in front of the school, I drove away having completely forgotten to let my daughter get out.

The Free Press and I Part Ways

Call me a casualty of economics.  Several months ago, my fave newspaper, the Detroit Free Press, announced that it would reduce home delivery of the paper.  The new plan was home delivery on Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays.  On the other days, customers would have the option of reading the paper online or going to a store or paper box and buying a hard copy (which meant the customer would actually pay twice that day.)  I heard and understood that the paper was in financial trouble, so I was willing to adjust to help out.

At first I didn't think it would bother me to read the paper online.  I would simply get on my souped up Gazelle and read away while getting skinny.

What happened, however, was that on the days the paper didn't get delivered to my house, I usually forgot to read it online. And when I did remember to go online to read it, it felt awkward.

So when our subscription runs out in the next couple of weeks, we won't renew.  And what that means is that I'll have no idea what is going on around me. 

I wonder if I will even notice the change.

A Little More Sunday School, Perhaps?

Overheard on Easter morning:

"Whoa. Not only did I get a Bible, but this one's holy! I guess my other one wasn't so holy. What do you think this one has in it that the last one didn't?"

She's Growing Up

Once upon a time, a young teen-ager called her grandma to ask for

the recipe of that delicious pudding.

Grandma obliged by emailing the recipe,

and the teen-ager made the Chocolate-Banana Trifle

for her mom, dad, and brothers.

It was a special Memorial Day treat, and

it turned out so well that the teen-ager was only slightly bothered by the

fact that her mother took a picture of the teen-ager with
"undone" hair.

Week-End Update Although the Week-End Ain't Over

Notable points of interest:

The boys got out their air soft guns and the first thing they shot was their youngest brother's backside. Ouch.

• 
  
  The family made a fairly good attempt at a healthier lifestyle by planting. Premature planting, most likely.
• 
  
  
  The dad began the work of opening the pool; the water is 64 degrees. At this rate, it will be 27 years before the pool is warm enough for the mother to put her toe in.
• 
  
  
  Boy #2's trombone arrived. He can make a sound with it, and although his parents think this first year of band will be a long one, they never dreamed that a child who struggled with oral motor apraxia would one day be able to blow enough air into an intrument to make a sound. Interpretation: to the neighbors we do apologize, but to us, it was a sound of triumph.
• 
  
  
  The mother of the family traded bagel slicing duty for nursery duty on Sunday. She actually prefers the bagels.
• 
  
  
  The daughter and oldest son were overjoyed when their mother and father offered them the chance to go to Kentucky this summer to spend time with their grandparents. How much more thrilled they will be when they learn their Texas cousins will be there, too.
• 
  
  
  And lastly, asthma continues to taunt this boy and his parents' efforts at taming it.
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  And now to enjoy the last of the long week-end.

Friday My Town Shoot-Out : Red

I've read the My Town Shoot Out posts for a while now, and finally got up the wherewithal to join. This week's theme: Paint the Town Red.

Welcome to Metro Detroit. For this assignment we won't be in the big city, nor will we even get county-wide. Honestly? We're staying in a two-mile radius, but that's pretty much my life these days. So put on some comfortable walking shoes and let's get to it.

This lovely RED Maple is my neighbor's. Her yard is lovely. So lovely, in fact, that I decided to copy a bit of it last year for my own yard. I bought this same kind of tree and planted it in exactly the same spot in my yard where hers is in her yard. Her tree is thriving. Mine is dead. I choose to believe it died of natural causes.

Looking across the street, we can play a game of "I Spy." I spy with my brown eye, something RED that is hidden causing grave traffic dangers.

Do you see it? Look a little closer.

Please, people who take care of Michigan traffic signs: make this sign visible before someone  who lives in this house else does it and angers the tree owner.

Well, that was exhausting, how about a RED snack?

I bought those berries at the much-maligned Michigan-based Wal-Mart wannabe.

Friends always tell me how they would never buy meat or produce there. I counter with the concept that if I don't shop at the better produce/meat markets, I really don't know what I'm missing. A Meijer gal I am.

Michigan has been hit very hard by unemployment and foreclosures. I am not certain if we are #1 or 2 in foreclosures, but this scene is very, very common.

I've lost track of the number of dumpsters I've seen in my neighborhood in the last year. There does seem to be a pattern, however. First the house appears unkempt. Then, weeks or months later, it seems vacant. Eventually, a dumpster is brought in and we marvel at what people leave behind when they lose a house. Sometimes it takes more than one dumpster to clear it all out. Finally, an auction or for sale sign gets put up. While I sincerely hope not to see more of these, I truly believe with the automakers' woes, there will be many, many more of these.

That last picture was too sad, so let's end with a true Detroit RED image.

GO WINGS!!!

Wherein Caution Revinvents Herself Repeatedly

I used to listen to AM radio until I had a met a lawyer who said it was good to know that he wasn't the only nerd in the world.

Then I became a mother and spent the next decade driving around listening to Kidz Bop. Just when I thought I would lose my mind,

I found the FM button and Christian radio.

Dave Ramsey is great, but he makes me feel guilty.

The Christian apologist's talk show host is brilliant, but sometimes

he's boring.

So I discovered how to plug my MP3 player in.

One track Bluegrass, the next some monk singing, the next a Heart tune.

It was very cool until I lost the player.

I decided to become a little more knowledgeable about modern life.

And I learned the names

50 cent

Shinedown

Lady Gaga.

Then, when I felt very hip,

I mentioned the name,

Eminem,

to my students,

and they laughed.

"We'd expect you to like him 'cause you're a mom. That's who likes him, you know - middle aged moms!!"

(Snatched from http://abeonaforum.wordpress.com/2007/11/03/radio-goo-goo/)