1. The theme for spring break:

 

 

 

 

 

The kids were not thrilled. The house is NOT ship-shape.

2.  Sold even more cookies. My favorite part was eating barbecue. It was windy and cooooolllllddd.

 

 

 

3. So the next day I had a fever and had to miss a fabulous GNO which involved EATING and bowling. One of which I am much better at than the other. Bet you can’t tell which.

 

 

 

4. Tuesday Bird was home chillin’ cause he’d been up all night at a friends house.

Textual proof:

Me- Are u spinning the night at GPS?

Bird-Yes. The whole night. Spinning in large tea cups.

Don’t you just love how prim he is in his texts?

5. That very same day I took the kids to the park. Well, two of them anyway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. I wanted to make Bird jealous of the fun we were having, so smarty that I am I didn’t send the pics I took with my phone but texted him instead.

Me-There are kids your age here

Bird-Ok.

Me-They’re having lots of fun

Bird-Ok.

Me-One of them has blue skin and green teeth

Bird-You should take a picture!

Me-I tried. No image. Eerie.

Bird-Weird looking vampire thats immune to sunlight?

Me-I think the blue skin protects him.

Bird-Oh ok.

7. The girl and I went to Girl Scouts and I snapped this flattering pic. That’s pollen on my nose.

 

 

 

 

 

 

8. Wednesday we went to pick up boxes from a food bank when the TRE went screeching by. I wondered later if using my flash was disruptive to the driver. Then I remembered that it’s a train. On rails.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9. Thursday we went back to the park and had a picnic. It was windy. And expensive. This week we all promised not to eat out and then we’d go to Kincaid’s on Friday. So instead of spending $20-$25 at Subway, we went to Albertson’s and spent $33. But we didn’t eat out!

10. That night we decided to go to Kincaid’s.

11. I found this great recipe for Seasoned Chicken Strips. It was sooooo good and healthy. What a combo. You’ll have to click the link to see the final product. I was so good about my before shots, and completely neglected the after (maybe because the food was ready?) But that’s okay since mine looked just like the pic on the site.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12. The girl and Max decidedly not enjoying Ship Shape Spring Break:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

13. My cat:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

14. My other cat:

 

 

 

 

15. Both cats!

 

 

This is from a summer 2009 post entitled ‘why i write’:

I’ve been doing a heckuva lot of reading lately, and I don’t mean the fun kind.  I mean the informational kind.  The kind of which I’ve never been a huge fan.  It’s the only kind of reading that can actually make me sleepy.  I love make believe (or at most history that’s as good as make believe).  Anyway, all of this reading has me wondering how I ended up the way I did, with this fierce love of all things not real.  I’m a drama queen actress by nature and a storyteller by nurture…  All this thinking led me back, as most things do, to my childhood.

I was reminded at a family dinner recently of one of my weirder escapades (and there were many weird ones).  I don’t remember how old I was, but I was most likely the same age as in the pic to the left when a new girl moved onto our street.  She was about my age, so this was cause for serious excitement.  I immediately went out on my bike (that had a string for the door so it was easier to pretend I was actually sitting in a car) to meet her.  And I had a plan.  I was going to introduce myself as Jessica and talk about my twin sister, Jennifer.  She was pretty well on board with it until I went to go get my twin and she came out without me…in different clothes of course.  Unfortunately the girl wasn’t as big a fool as I’d hoped (even though I’d roped a sibling or two into the ruse) and my act didn’t last long.  Next came the uncomfortable scene when I had to explain why I did such a weird thing.  It was not the kind of opening that leads to a great and lasting friendship.

So I’ve never been content with life as it is…too much reading has ruined it for me I think.  But that’s okay, ’cause even if I can only live out my big dreams in my head they can eventually end up on paper and that would make them real to me.  And if someone else gets a kick out of my stories too, then that’s just icing on the cake.

This is a dump for the stuff rolling around in my head for the last few days that must get out. Enjoy!

   So apparently Beatle George Harrison showed up to my daughter’s first birthday party approximately eight years ago. I don’t remember this.
He doesn’t look half bad for a 61 year old, does he? Although the pastel polo seems a bad choice.

And here’s a pic of me with some chick named Patty.

Wait! No, that’s not right!

This post is dedicated to my father-in-law Richard…who pointed out that my ‘do was quite Harrisonesque. And Bird enthusiastically agreed with him. Bird got grounded as soon as Richard left. Not really.

 

 

 

So, all 2 of my regular readers should know that I lurve passiveaggressivenotes.com. So I’m always on the lookout for great notes that could possibly be submitted to the site and might actually have a chance to be uploaded. Let me know if you think this is a good candidate:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Random food I made:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every school day I drive up and down a street called McCart to pick up the kids. Located in a dazzling half mile–reminiscent of  the Las Vegas strip–the three fellas shown above stand and wave and dance. They are selling inevitability in silly costumes; dressing up to make light of some of the most serious business out there. First I pass Ms. Liberty with her crown around her neck and a ‘do rag on her head dancing with ear buds firmly in place, reminding us that our taxes are due in less than two months. The newest addition on the magnificent mile is Mr. Toothpaste, as a reminder that mouth issues will plague each and every one of us at some point in our lives. Finally, on the way back home we pass the bird–is that a crow?!–(not to be confused with my oldest son). When it’s not tax season he sells us insurance, and unless you’re an irresponsible outlaw you’d better have some of that.

I wonder if sometime soon I’ll see a break dancing undertaker.

*Please excuse the low-res photography. My oldest, aka the bird (no, not that one) was my photographer and I actually think he did a fantastic job considering I was going about 30mph and nagging him not to make it too obvious…I’m a chicken.

I really, really wanted to do a fifteen last Friday but oh my goodness gracious, life got in the way!

It started on Friday with the little girl auditioning for a fine arts school. I was so nervous and freaked out for her that she didn’t feel the need to be nervous at all–I’m a giver. Later that evening there was a young friend’s party.  Saturday I built a desk (only 8 hours and numerous bruises for that one!) Saturday also featured furious chicken-with-it’s-head-cut-off cleaning–a sight to behold. Sunday my entire immediate family (including spouses – that’s 20! people in 2K sq. ft.)  came over to my house…Ma and I cooked for them all. Finally, today there were two birthday parties. And since I absolutely cannot buy presents any other time than half an hour before a party there was the requisite mad dash to the store. I seriously need a break from this weekend.

And I’m incredibly cheesed that I got NO pictures of the fam or the food. So here’s one of the desk I built instead:

And here's one of the cookies the little girl has to sell (sigh):

If you're still reading this, I promise I'm done complaining. 'Cause now comes the time after I rant and get it off my chest where I have to remember how lucky I am to be so busy and to be surrounded by so many people who I happen to be related to--and that actually want to spend time together. I'm incredibly lucky to have a house to cram 20 people into. I'm lucky to have the means to buy the food to contribute to feeding such a large family. I'm even lucky that we had so many appliances going yesterday that we tripped the breaker--twice.

As a consolation, here's a site that I would've included in my fifteen.

…the return. Remember these are random thoughts, k?

1. You think your commute is bad? Feel better? Glad I could help.

2. Looking over old drafts can be disheartening. See the purple marker? It’s purple for a reason.

3. Purple prose –noun

…was a new air conditioner!!!

My 13 year-old niece R.A. came to visit us for a week and left a bunch of awesome artwork. She did this free-mouse in PAINT! No really, we watched her. Amazing!

I’ve started a new job. It makes for interesting people watching, interacting, etc. People are strange, btw.

We swam at the Y a bunch, with our friends a little and visited the library not nearly enough.

My big summer read was The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand (after I finished Lonesome Dove for the second time), not really what you would call a beach read, but satisfying nonetheless. And I wasn’t on any beaches anyway. So, The Fountainhead. What do I say? It was interesting to say the least. But what I can’t say is that I’ve ever met anyone like the people found in its pages. But I’ve also never lived in 1930′s New York either. It is hard for me to believe that there was seemingly no positive growth in any of the characters, save one. The others who “learned” from their mistakes took the lessons and twisted them into unhappiness for themselves and others. The one character who never changes, always stays the same (supposedly stands by his principles) is our protagonist and winner in the end, the person we should admire and try to be more like.

The writing was phenomenal. I can definitely see why this is a classic. The story is good. The characters are as believable as caricatures…reminding me of the people minded animals of Animal Farm. I’m certainly no expert. Just calling it as I see it.

Now that the kids are back at school I hope to have more time to WRITE!!!! Here as well as the many many unfinished projects floating on notebook paper, in word docs and in my gray matter.

1. In case you didn’t already know it, I LOVE alliteration. In fact, I would be okay with this as my epitaph:

Jennifer Leigh Weadon Parker * November 18,1975 – November 18, 2075

Mommy, Grandmommy, Great-grandmommy and Astonishing Advocate of Abominable use of Alliteration

I know it’s a lot of letters and that will probably cost a lot of moolah, but for goodness’ sake I lived a hundred years and died on my birthday, aren’t I worth it?

2. kids…. ahh… just kids.

3. Writing sarcasm is easier than it sounds. (See what I mean, you couldn’t tell I was being sarcastic could you?)

4. Finished Devil’s Kiss by Sarwat Chadda last night. I really liked it! You should read it. I wrote Devil’s Kill first and took a minute to notice the mistake. Hmmm…

5. Mexican food rocks. Not sure I would feel right eating tamales on Christmas though.

6. My son read a book I recommended! SCORE!

7. Me likey Chucky.

8. Totally, completely, utterly frustrated with Joomla! (I did not add the !)

9. My ultimate Christmas wish: A maid once a week for a year. Must do windows.

10. Who came up with FIFTEEN? That’s way too many random ideas to come up with in one sitting.

11. Yeah, yeah, I know I did.

12. It was because I was afraid that five just wouldn’t be enough. I guess fourteen didn’t seem round enough.

13. Which is weird because fourteen is an even number and fifteen is not.

14. I’ve always thought that even=round. But now that I think about it, that’s not necessarily the case.

15. Rambling OUT. (Like Seacrest out…wow, that’s old. Oh well.)

1. It’s pretty outside, but it sure is cold! My car read 36 degrees. It hurts my teeth just thinking about it.

2. 19 days till Christmas…shopping for kiddos is done! Now the hard part, extended family.

3.  Let my 13-year-old walk to 7-11 with two friends this last week. I was so worried until I remembered that I was much younger than that when I would cross a four lane busy road by myself to get a slurpee (and Franco American spaghetti–sans cell phone). Well, I was still worried even after that. This article helped inform my decision.

4. Multi-braided my daughter’s hair after a bath on Thursday night so it would be all wavy for Friday. It was not pretty.

5. Feeling like a grinch when the kids want to listen to the Christmas station in the car. I let them listen and grumble only in my head.

6. Wish my cats would pile up for warmth. I googled ‘cat piles’ instead of ‘cat pile’ first…don’t make that mistake.

Picking up the figurative pen again is proving an enlightening experience. I forgot during the 1.5 months I took off from writing new material (so editing is not included)–the freeing and fabulous feeling associated with creation. Luckily I didn’t come into it with nothing to start with. I’d saved the beginning of a short story sometime in September and promptly forgot all about it. I opened the file a few days ago and fell in love with the story again.

Starting again was weird at first. The things I was writing were stilted and awkward…but with just a small amount of perseverance I’m moving smoothly again…like riding a bike! Even if I’m never published, the joy of writing from my imagination is such a wonderful thing–it almost makes editing worth it.