"What are those black things?"

 My husband's younger cousin once asked him one day when they were rummaging around in the basement about 10 years ago.

Those "black things" were records, Jason.  I'm sure you know that by now, though.

And today I found a whole box full of them when I was cleaning out a closet.  

My boys are getting their own rooms this weekend and Anna is moving into their old room so that she can have her own bathroom.   Cameron and Parker have shared a room for the last 5 years since their little sister was born.  The house already feels different.  They seem so much more grown up.  Except for the part where Parker asked me how to spell "girl", "allowed" and then asked me for tape.  You know where that's headed, right?  It was his first act of independence.  ; )

Back to the records.

There is some real treasure in that box.  Among the 45's are these titles:

• I Shot the Sheriff - Eric Clapton
• (Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman - The Kinks
• Y.M.C.A - The Village People
• How Much is a Man Supposed to Take - The Gatlin Brothers
• Take it to the Limit - The Eagles
• I Write the Songs - Barry Manilow
• Put Your Head on my Shoulder - Paul Anka
• Whip It - Devo
• Back Home Again - John Denver
• More Than a Feeling - Boston
• Blinded by the Light - Manfred mann's Earth Band
• Tragedy - Bee Gees
• Have You Never Been Mellow - Olivia Newton John
• Another Brick in the Wall - Pink Floyd
• The Gambler - Kenny Rogers
• Daydream Believer - The Monkees
• Valley Girl - Frank & Moon Zappa
• Kiss - Prince 

I think this is a pretty priceless collection, don't you?

Now I'm going back to move more furniture, books, clothes, toys and junk from one room to another.   When I'm all done with the painting and decorating I'll have lots of before and after pictures to show.  And I might also have a hernia.

Reaching for the Sky

This week's assignment was sky.  I knew right away which pictures I was going to use.  All of these were taken in the last month.

At home

At the soccer field

And at Turner Field

Go Braves!

Just a quiet evening ... until....buzzzz...

What is the first thing you think of when I say the word "summer"?

• beach?
• sun?
• heat?
• dreaded swimsuit season?

Perhaps words like

• watermelon
• Independence Day
• bees
• or sweat come to mind.

If I asked you, "What is your favorite thing about summer?"  I would expect answers like, "No schedules."  or  "Family vacations".  

But for my Brian,...his favorite summer pastime is...

Fly Massacres!  He absolutely despises having a fly in the house.  Especially at night when we're trying to read or watch television.

And this year he has decided that, in order to make it more exciting and fulfilling ,that we are going to name each "kill" similar to the naming process that The National Weather Service provides during hurricane season.   Each fly will be named according to the alphabet and we will designate a gender for each victim (Brian volunteered me to do the naming).

So far?  He has killed and gleefully squashed -

1. Antonio and
2. Beatrice.

And last night he relayed Beatrice's demise to me this way as he emerged from the death chamber (he always lures them into the bathroom by turning off the bedroom lights and only leaving on the bathroom lights and closes the door so they can't escape):

             "That was the COOLEST  kill  EVER!     No kidding!  It landed on this water bottle [holding up the bottle so I can see] and I shook the fly off into the sink and it bounced up and started to fly away.  Then I swung at it with the fly swatter and actually CUT  IT  IN  HALF while it was in midair!!!   It was like something out of a kung-fu movie!"

The reenactment.

I don't know how you spend your summer evenings but this is a regular occurrence around here.  ; )

My hero.  Saving me from the evil flies.

Sweet Shot - Chocolate Eyes

His chocolate eyes are amazing!  God is really good at what He does!

Grandma

I love this woman.  Our days of playing Memory and of roller skating in her driveway are over.  But now is a sweet time just like the last 3 and a half decades have been.  She's not been well lately and I am thankful for every day we get together.  Her face is so lovely.  It always has been.  I was always fascinated by their wedding portrait they had on the chest of drawers in their bedroom; she looked like a movie star to me.

I love you, Grandma.

Linky Love - Creativity Boot Camp

Maegan from Life Set to Words has a challenge starting soon.  She's calling it Creativity Boot Camp.  I'm not sure what it will be about exactly but, based on her blog, she seems more than qualified to be be our creativity drill sergeant.  I'm intrigued and can't wait to see what she has in store for us.  Boot Camp starts June 6th and will run through June 18th.  Are you in?  (Kristie and Kristin....I'm pointing at you, chicas!  Get back on those blogs, girls!  I want to see what you're made of!)

Scary Hair

I haven't been able to have even one uninterrupted thought today and so this is all I've got for today's Flashback.  See?  White shirt and jeans.  I love this picture for a couple of reasons.  Number One Reason:  This was the first time I had dyed my hair.  My mom helped me do it at home and when we first dyed it, it turned out pink. Pink would have been just as bad as this brassy auburn.    Number Two Reason:  Kristie!   Number Three Reason: I weighed 95 pounds in this picture and look at the size of my shirt!  Ridiculously oversized.  Number Four Reason:  It is evidence of how crazy my hair is.  It's not curly and it's not straight.  It's what I like to describe as werewolf hair.  

Lately I think of how much I need to a new haircut and how much I'm tempted to go Anne Lamott on y'all and do the white-girl dreads. 

You Capture - Depth of Field

This has been one of my favorite things to practice lately.  

And, as you can see, it works best with inanimate objects. 

Nikon D60, Focal length 125mm, f5, 1/200

  Go visit Beth's blog for more and better examples.

Don't mess with my baby brother!

I so totally handed Erin of Together for Good a great big meaty rib sandwich this week.  And you probably will have no idea what I just said because I'm speaking Briangreggese.  Anyhow, I told her I would definitely be linking up to Flashback Friday with her while she's babysitting it for Jo.  

And then?

I didn't.

So...Better late than never?  They say that, right?  I know "they" don't really mean it, though.

Flashback Friday!

***********

What is today?  May 16th!  Are you kidding me?!  That means I am 15 days late in posting a birthday post for my baby brother!  

Better late than ... oh! never mind.

My brothers and I were blessed to have parents who knew the horrid conditions of Detroit public schools and they did their darnedest to keep us in the private school run by our church.  My father had over 60 jobs between ages 14 and 48 but he never went a day without a job and my mom worked part-time on and off until they divorced in 1987 when she, obviously, had to go to work full-time.  (I'm rambling, aren't I?)

Our private school was run by our church and in 1986 the school was moved to a different location farther away from us and so a bus was provided for some of the students.  We would get dropped off at our church and the bus would pick us all up there and take us to school.  The bus driver's name was Charles.

One morning, after we had all gotten on the bus and were ready to be transported to school, Stephen, my brother, was singing.  He was singing our revised version of Magic Dance from the movie Labyrinth.  Instead of singing, "What kind of magic spell to use?" he was singing, "What kind of fruit should I use?"  Don't ask.  We were weird kids.  

Anyhow, Charles, the bus driver, told Stephen to stop singing.  But my brother could be quite...umm...belligerent?  Needless to say, he didn't stop singing.  And, really, he wasn't hurting anyone; he was just singing and entertaining the rest of us.  Charles lost it.  He came back to where we were sitting and started to twist my little brother's arm!  Stephen was only 8 years old.   

Then all 43 pounds of me lost it!

And all 43 pounds of me began to wail on that big bully bus driver with my little fists!

It's kind of an urban legend in our home.   I can pick on my baby brother but I will rain down the fury on you if you try to mess with him!  

Happy Belated Birthday, Stevie Wevie Wonder Bread!  I got your back.

Shake 'N Bake

What an exhausting day.  I'd never have made it through without help from Out of Eden.  Oh! to be a fly on the wall when I'm cleaning up the house to that album.  I can think of lots of word pictures to give you but none of them are pretty.  But when I have those songs to listen to I can get so much done so quickly!  It's like a double shot of espresso that takes immediate effect.  My favorite songs on that album are Now I Sing and Different Now.

I needed those songs because I had to do some cleaning in between phases of baking a cake today.  And I do mean phasES.  Plural.  Very Plural.

I mixed up a batch of yellow cake and baked it in a 9x13 pan around 7:30 a.m., had it out of the oven and cooling by the time I had to wake Anna Banana up for school.   When I got back I made the chocolate butterflies that I put on top of the cake and put them in the fridge to set.   Then I realized that one 9x13 cake wasn't going to be enough (cake would have been very flat) and decided that I needed to make another cake for a second layer.  But...I only had 2 eggs when I needed four.  So...I had to wait until Brian could stop at the store for more eggs at lunch time.  

Hence the cleaning.   And the need for movin' your tush music because I was already wore slap out and it was only 10:30.

When he got home with the eggs, I mixed up and baked the second cake.  Headed back to school to pick up Anna.  Had to wait for the second cake to cool.  It was now 2:00 p.m..  Started to frost it but only had two cans of frosting and that was only enough to cover a little of the sides and glue the layers together in the middle!  Ugh.

Had to wait until Cameron and Parker got off the bus so I could go to the store to get more frosting.   Quick trip to Kroger and picked up THREE more cans of frosting.  Back home.

Have I mentioned yet that the cake was for my mom's group that she meets with on Wednesday nights and that it needed to be done by 5:00?

Well, it did indeed get done.   With just enough time to spare to put it in the refrigerator to chill to help keep it from melting and sliding apart like last year's cake did.

It didn't turn out as well as I would have liked but I'll bet it tasted fine.

Now all I want to do is take a bath, watch the American Idol results and go to bed.  

But before I do all that I have to share this song.

And, sorry, but I have no clue what these pictures of water have anything to do with this song.  Just ignore the pictures and just listen to the song.   'Night, y'all.

"Can I call you sometime?"

Today is May 11th.

Fourteen years ago, right about this time, I was getting ready for a first date.  How could I have known that that date would be my last first date?

He picked me up in his tan (he says) champagne colored 1980something Ford Escort with license plate "ABC YA".  *eye-roll*     I was probably wearing jeans and a white top - my almost everyday outfit (my mother once said that if I went missing and she had to tell the police what I was wearing, that even if she hadn't seen me that day, she could tell them I was wearing a white shirt and jeans or jean shorts).  

We went to The Fine Grind for coffee and someone was singing and playing the guitar. He bought me a single yellow rose from someone walking through the store selling flowers.  We went to Marshall's (?) to pick out a Mother's Day card for his mom (he's always been a last minute shopper).  Then we went to the theater and watched the new release Twister. 

We had spent the evening talking, asking questions and answering honestly, and laughing.  The evening ended with the most unforgettable kiss and a feeling of  forever.  

I love that feeling.. 

Soccer Outtakes

I've been gone a couple days longer from this here blog than I usually am.  I couldn't get an internet connection on the desktop and I can't do anything with pictures on the laptop sooo... 

Oh! and I haven't had the motivation to edit any photos; so these you see are rather pitiful.

*******

I'm a bit tired of soccer this year.   It has nothing to do with the games or practices, either, because that aspect of this season has been relatively easy.  It has more to do with the amount of pictures I've taken.  I've taken something like 700 soccer pictures this year.  (Not exaggerating)

I'm tired of looking at soccer pictures.   But these are funny.

Cameron and Parker are on different teams this year because there was too big a gap grade-wise between them this year.  Parker was going to get plowed over if he played on Cameron's team and Cameron would have been too big to play on Parker's team.  You can really tell a difference in the way each age plays the game:

Cameron's team (for the most part) plays with intensity and are competitve and give it their all.

Parker's team?...Not so much with the competition or intensity or ummm....enthusiasm?  

There are exceptions on both teams but for the most part these are generally what each set of team pictures look like each week. It's been a lot of fun watching them both as each team has gotten better over the  course of the season.  They're learning a lot about the game, they're learning scripture and, just as important, they're having fun. 

The two teams competing against each other have to pass by in a line and give each other high-fives after the game.  Parker's team and the team they played against were having so much fun hugging and high-fiving and chest-bumping each other that they ended up in a pile on the field.   Very cute.