a hot mess

For the love of God and all that is holy I have got to get myself together this week. Not starting out well, though. Slept in - not by mistake. This was straight up, I-know-what-I'm-doing, on purpose sleep in. I knew what I was getting myself into. Only after Riley drug me out of the bed did I get up. He said he needed some milk. Ha! Yeah right. What would he need milk for anyway?
I slipped outside on the asphalt on the way to the car and busted my ass and cut my hand and scraped the rest of my whole entire body somehow. OK, so it was really just the hand. But it still hurt! Then I turned the wrong way out of my driveway - what was up with that? Then hit my head getting back into the car after dropping Riley off.
I have a chocolate chip muffin and that seems to be the only thing holding me together right now.
Peace out.

Blech

Moon & Stars by Riley Martin

I'm just not up for this today. I'm not up for starting a new week all over again. I would really really love to have a week off of work with not a whole lot planned. I think this weekend has made me even more tired than what I started out as. It wasn't exactly a relaxing weekend, but still good. The yard sale went well. Made about $90 bucks and sweated out about 10 gallons of water or the previous nights PBR, whatever comes out first. Bought about $10 worth of more crap that I don't need but think I do. All in all it was a success. I got about 7 boxes of "things" out of my apartment. Sunday was nice. Woke up with a sore throat. Got coffee and a stale muffin at Green Sage - this was after I dropped my sausage biscuit in the car and the sausage patty fell right down in that slit between the seat and emergency brake. Which reminds me, I need to fish that out today. After that, we visited fathers for Father's Day. Then stopped and got 4 movies and watched 3 of them. That was the extent of it. Oh - and ordered Ash Pizza & Brewing pizza. Pizza. Slurp. Bite of pizza, slurp of sprite. Feeling better. Took an old antibiotic just to see if it would work. It helped. I'll take another one.

Update: Went to the doc on Wednesday after missing work yesterday because I felt like a flem ball mixed with cat farts. I do NOT have strep throat I do NOT have mono. Just catch things from my kid while he just kind of skips through life with a runny nose. I get the actual cold. He gets a few minor annoyances. I want to crawl inside of a burrito and get smothered with sour cream. Then dipped into hot oil and burnt to a crisp. I have had better days, ya'll is what I'm saying.

Spidey! Yard sale! All in the same week!

So that spider that crawled under the seat in my car on Monday has now made a web. Inside my car. At first I laughed and thought, "dude-you can't catch anything in a car!" and then I looked around and realized that he probably could catch some pretty good eats inside my car. It's filthy! Good Lord! I can't keep up. With Riley in the back tossing food bits and me in the front chucking things over into the passenger seat and then forgetting that's where I put it makes for a smorgasbord of stuff. I also made the mistake of mentioning there was a spider in my car while Riley was in ear shot. So he has asked at least 15 times where the spider is. I'm like "Dangit! I had just forgot about the spider, Riley! And now I remember that he's watching me at all times! Eeeek!"

I am also trying to get ready for a yard sale which is ridiculously overwhelming. First of all, I am a terrible (or great) yard sale pricer. I get into a rhythm of making 50 cent stickers and then I just end up pricing everything 50 cents because I don't want to have to analyze every bottle of half used perfume and earrings that may or may not be from 1985. So I have decided to make signs. All clothes $1.00. All shoes $2.00. All other crap - ask me about it. Fuhget abooout it. Anyways, I ended up with 2 boxes of shoes, 3 boxes of clothes and a whole box in itself of jewelry. I am NOT bringing this crap back into my house. Get ready Goodwill. Or maybe I'll spread the love over to Hospice. Or Salvation Army. Secondly, when you are trying to price your kids old toys and they are watching you do it and they want to start playing with it while your pricing it - well it makes it crazy time all of a sudden! Then he starts asking where am I taking them. I tell him that they are riding in the car to get some fresh air.

Wednesday Diptych #27: Dust

The explanation about what a diptych is can be found here on the Not So Small Things blog and Miss Grace's blog where it all started. Basically its having fun with photography. Each week there is a new word. This weeks word is dust.

A "Tribute to Riley" today

Close your eyes,
Have no fear,
The monsters gone,
He's on the run and your daddy's mommy's here,

Beautiful,
Beautiful, beautiful,
Beautiful Boy,

Before you go to sleep,
Say a little prayer,
Every day in every way,
It's getting better and better,

Beautiful,
Beautiful, beautiful,
Beautiful Boy,

Out on the ocean sailing away,
I can hardly wait,
To see you to come of age,
But I guess we'll both,
Just have to be patient,
Yes it's a long way to go,
But in the meantime,

Before you cross the street,
Take my hand,
Life is just what happens to you,
While your busy making other plans,

Beautiful,
Beautiful, beautiful,
Beautiful Boy,
Darling,
Darling,
Darling Sean Riley.

John Lennon

released November 7, 1980 on Double Fantasy for his son Sean

Wednesday Diptych #26: Summer

I'm joining the band wagon on a photography project that I found on Miss Grace's blog (quite a cool blog I must add). The explanation about what a diptych is can be found here on the blog where it all started. Basically its having fun with photography. Each week there is a new word. The two photos below are diptych's of summer.

A Moment

I felt 10 years old again as I walked through the maze of brightly colored machines that twirled anxious people vigorously while they desperately clung to the handle bar and flashed a smile mixed with a scream. The smells raced into my nostrils and immediately my mind flashed a memory of the beach, the boardwalk and the pavilion full of children, teenagers and happy parents. Those smells....those smells are so familiar - so deep set into my mind. I will forever know that smell. As I walk through the gaudy painted mechanical rides that bring quick amusement at cheap prices, I think back to when I was a kid. I wonder where all those feelings went while I was getting old. Fantasies...thrill...amazement. I wonder why I don't think about them more often. I look down at my son and I long for him to embrace all of this and store it deep inside of himself but still on the surface so he can rejoice in it from time to time. I want these memories to fall out of him and trip him so that he will never forget. Childhood memories of the town carnivals are treasures worth more than gold. The men that look like they have been doing this for 100 years waiting patiently for the next round of people to walk through the gate only for them to latch those doors for the one thousandth time. These modern gypsies that travel through time to make people remember and, for some of us, hold onto precious moments in time that are long since in the past.

Happy Time

The smallest things make me the silliest and happiest. Like today, for instance. I finally got a radio for my office - no online streaming allowed - and it has just really brightened up my day! Zing! I haven't had music in the office for about 3 years. Gotta say - it feels oh so good. Don't know what you've been missing until you've stolen it back.

This weekend's roundup goes a little something like this: Friday night was plagued with 2 lackluster movies. I rented Nine - the musical. It was...not so good. This was made to shine on Broadway and it should stay there. Unfortunately, it was made into a film and well, thats that. I mean, of course, everything is better live and on stage, but there are a few times when movies do make the cut when it comes to transitioning from the stage to film. But this was just a showcase of a crap load of well known movie stars with no particular depth of character. I turned it off about 1/2 way. That was after I got up and went to grab my laptop and got sidetracked with internet flashiness. So I think I watched it for a total of 30 minutes.

Later on, we started watching The Road. The post-apocalyptic story line had me at the word "survive". Viggo Mortensen was perfect in the role as the dad. As usual - is there anything this guy can't do without conviction? The author of the book was the same guy that wrote No County for Old Men so I had high hopes. And it did deliver, but not all the way. Definitely a good watch and I have no regrets. Just have a few things I need to tell the author, director and whoever else about how I would've made it better. Ya know, I'm just saying...

Most of Saturday was taken up by Beer City 2010. Yet another way for us Ashevillians to get together and drink beer, listen to music and laugh with friends. Perfect! I think it was a great way to kick of the new Roger McGuire Green (aka Pack Plaza) in downtown. The Splashville fountain was working its magic making people happy and giddy. It was sticky, sweaty and all good. I had busted my ass at the gym earlier that morning so I could down a few and not feel like cussing myself out later. It helped.

Sunday was the day I was determined to make it to the Farmer's Market. I was having a ravishing need for a tomato. And a cucumber. And Italian dressing to drizzle over top of it. YES! I ended up buying way more than just a tomato and cucumber. I found mountain cherries which are so sour my mouth is watering right now just writing about them. I also found the best peaches on the planet. Got a little bit of sourwood honey. Just for safe keeping. In case the apocalypse comes tomorrow. Everyone will want my sourwood and I will allow them a two licks per month. For a price.

Brian tried to coax me to go canoeing but I just couldn't muster up THAT much energy. I mean, do you know how much I sweated at the Beer City festival yesterday? That was so hard!

We finished up Sunday night by watch 2 more mediokre movies. The Fourth Kind (yes - I'm just getting around to watching it, I know!) ended up just making me frustrated because it tried to trick me (and that's not hard) into believing it was a documentary in parts. HA! I'm sure I was the only one fooled. Then onto Wolfman. I fell asleep. I think I would've made it a little longer but it was just too late. I mean, 9:30 on a Sunday is pushing it for me. I've stayed up too late Friday and Saturday and I end up like a grandma on Sunday night.

I think I'm going to listen to my radio now.

I feel like I'm aboard a UFO when I go there

I joined the gym that just allows the ladies to workout in there...you know that gym? Its pretty chillaxed. Never too crowded and easy to get to a treadmill. Which, by the way, is not as fun as actually walking somewhere. I think it is much more fulfilling to end a 2 mile walk by arriving at the gas station so you can grab a coke. All a treadmill gives me is jelly legs and a flashing red sign that says "You could've done more, loser!" I look around while I'm walking on the treadmill and see all these ladies sweating, punching bags shaped like men, curling tiny dumbbells and watching themselves out of the corner of their eye in the mirror to make sure they don't do anything foolish like trip over the treadmill (done that) or fall off the bench press (not done that yet). But the thing that makes me feel like I'm aboard a UFO is a thought that goes something like this...there we all are in this one big room being sweaty and exercising. We all drag ourselves to come in there (some actually don't have to force themselves - they are aliens), shove our crap in a little cubbie like 1st grade, take our water bottles and go do something that makes us drip itchy sweat down our sports bra. I guess I feel the same away about morning commutes to work too. I feel like an ant or a worker bee just heading in the same direction as hundreds of others.

On another note, this gym eliminates the need of having to tolerate men working out right beside you. The funny thing is - women are just as intimidating - if not worse! These girls know their stuff. They have their kickboxing gloves on, kids tucked away in the child care room, a cool-ass water bottle, workout routines (what!?), and rock hard bodies. Uggg... I'm doing just enough so I can eat bacon and still fit into my jeans.