Addictions

What are you addicted to? For me it would be a long list. Here are some...

coffee...knitting...chocolate...cell phone...reading...ipod...gallo cafe zinfandel...kayaking...clogs with no socks...quilting...tea...capris...gardening...biggest loser...magazines...pasta...biographies...

How to relive your childhood

R decided to go back to ballet this year. She's danced all along, but had dropped ballet for several years, just sticking with tap, jazz & hip hop. Since I did ballet for about 12 years I was thrilled she decided to go back to it! She was told she would likely not be ready to go en pointe until the end of the year, since she would have to catch up. After the first class however, she came home saying she needed toe shoes for next week. We went to the dance shop this morning for her first toe shoe fitting. I don't know who was more excited, her or me! The shop owner was fabulous...she scheduled an appointment for us before the shop opened so she could spend time with us. She tried many shoes, finding the perfect pair, and teaching R everything she needed to know. R was grinning so hard I thought her cheeks would burst!

Can't wait to scrap the pics!

Reality strikes

So it's here...the inevitable. My little baby girl just got into a car with a boy, a teenager, and not her brother. Sure she's had boyfriends before, but in junior high and even freshman year it's just about texting and IMing, meeting up at dances, going to the movies with a group, that sort of thing. This is for real. He's a junior, has his license, looks so mature. You'd think it wouldn't be so hard. After all, her brother is 19. It's not my first time dealing with this. But he was always older, more mature, the leader of the pack, the driver. I didn't worry much about him. It's all different this time.
Where did my baby go?

Wasn't I cute? lol Oct. 1964, 6 mos old. I won a baby picture contest in the local newspaper. The grand prize--a case of charleston chew candy! There might have been a small cash prize as well. Obviously I can't remember, I just remember always hearing about the candy.

Somewhere I have a similar pic of dd in the same pose and you can't tell us apart.

Ugh.

Homework, homework, homework. Sometimes I feel like it's all I do; it's taken over my life. At this point, after being in college at night for six years, I'm so freaking sick of it. I have to keep telling myself that it's just one more year then I'll graduate. Finally in the home stretch. I did the first few years a class or two at a time, as I could afford it, but for the past year I've been going full-time so I can finish sooner. It's really hard working full-time, taking classes full-time, and having a family and home to care for but it will be worth it in the end.
A good thing...we're getting the remnants of a hurricane this weekend, so at least I won't feel like I'm missing out on good weather!

Nana and My Allowance

When I was a kid, my nana would pick me up every Saturday morning and bring me to my dance lessons. Afterwards, we would go to Brigham's Ice Cream Parlor and sit in a booth. She would have a cup of coffee and I always had a glass of orange juice and an english muffin (grilled, not toasted) with apple jelly. Then she would bring me home, but not before she gave me my allowance...a whole dollar bill! That afternoon I would always walk back down to the the same plaza (strip mall) where Brigham's was, and I would go into Mammoth Mart Dept.Store and choose a record, a 45 rpm from the top 40 Billboard chart. Then I would go next door and buy an ice cream cone (always peppermint stick with chocolate jimmies) to enjoy on the walk home. Once I got home I would play that record over and over.
Such enjoyment for just a dollar! I looked forward to my Saturdays all week long.
When I reached the mature age of 11 or 12 however, that changed. I was finally allowed to take the bus downtown by myself to go to the big, main public library to borrow books...I remember the first time...I felt so grown up! After that, Saturday afternoons were devoted to my big library trip (yes I was/am a geek). But that's a story for another day.

I miss him so!

D comes home from school tomorrow night! It's only been since Sunday, and how can you miss someone who's rarely home even when he's not away at college? But I do. He's such an easy kid, fun to be around, and caring. He's growing into such a great person. Where has the time gone?? Here is was on his first day of kindergarten with his Lion King backpack...

Oh...and I must give credit where credit is due...my dd15 took most of the photos on "The Party's Over." I only took the 2 shots that she's in. She's a much better photographer than I am!