My Girl

Nothing you can say can tear me away from my girl. (My girl) Nothing you can do, can make me untrue, to my girl. (My girl)

I may not be a movie star, but when it comes to being happy, we are! There's not a girl in space, who will ever take the place of my girl. (My girl) I don't know the words!, this song is wayyyy before my time.

Check out me & my girl, Maryn! We're BFF's, Smitten, & Forever Playmates!

Noooooo!

The two Starbucks stores closest to our house are on the hit list. The 38th & Meridian store, (practically at the end of our block) and the Fall Creek & College store. They could be closing as early as the end of the month. It's very depressing. Starbucks posted the .pdf of the 600 US stores slated to close on their website. We have about 12 stores in the Indianapolis area & 8 county metro scheduled to close. My sister called me tonight to break the news.

Another sad thought. Dunkin Donuts just opened 100 stores in Indiana. Seems how I still haven't lost all my baby weight, (most of my baby weight) I don't need anymore donuts. Indiana is already one of the most obese states in the country. Does this mean we'll all be rollin' down the highway in little cars, with blueberry cake donuts as wheels? All of us drinking coffee out of bright pink and orange styrofoam cups, reminiscent of the 80's, and WKRP in Cincinatti?

Give me the mermaid, the Starbucks merchandise, and my Grande Nonfat Toffee Nut with whip Latte (in a mostly recycled cup) any day of the week. Make that twice on Sundays.

Free Bird Part 2

Lake & I spent some time out today, doing a bit of errand running. On our drive home, he got a wee bit cranky. He was starting to fuss. A lot. Then he started crying pretty heavily. Lynard Skynard's Free Bird came on the radio, so I cranked it up. Loud and proud. He stopped crying. Makes sense, doesn't it? He is my son after all.

Free Bird

I'm not referring to my Senior Class song "Free Bird" by Lynard Skynard. Yes, my high school class chose that song for their final farewell. I'm surprised we weren't waving Confederate flags. Love those small towns.

No, I'm referencing the freedom I've had the last day and a half. I love & adore Lake, as you know. But, he's at 'Camp Grandma' in Kokomo and I'm beside myself with spare time. I'm not quite sure what to do with myself. It's so quiet.

Last night we had a terrible storm. John was working late on a deadline at the studio downtown, so Jack and I held down the fort. I felt like I was in a Nancy Drew mystery. The lights kept flickering. The windows were shaking and lightning bolts were illuminating the entire house. The lights would flicker off for a second, and I'd yell "come back, come back, come back," and they would! (Like I had something to do with that.) We never lost power completely. I was a nervous wreck. Jackie C. was absolutely no help, either. He was under the bed, even though he can barely fit, fearing for his life. It was fun.

Today is Mama's day. I took a personal day. I know, I only work three days a week at what I jokingly refer to as my 'pretend job'. Why on earth would I need to take a vacation day? Sometimes you simply need to recharge. I'm one of those people who run on high power for weeks at a time, and then boom, I'm exhausted.

God bless my husband. He knows me so well. Monday night we were in the car, on our way to a meeting, when he recognized the semi-manic mode I occasionally get into. I'm just babbling away (about nothing really) in the slightly higher-pitched voice of mine, that again, only comes out when I've almost hit my limit with things. It's a sure sign there's a woman on the edge somewhere in there. My friend Tricia and I call it 'takin a trip to Crazy Town'.

So John says to me, "Honey, you need to lean back, close your eyes, and clear your head. You need to wash out all the crazies in your head. You need a brainwash." Hmmm, I thought. I do need a brain wash. Just not the kind where you begin following a charismatic leader. Silly boy, he even went so far to say he's going to buy me a book of 'Express Brain Wash Tickets', (instead of Mike's car wash tickets) along with a bright Pink helmet, encrusted with diamonds. For my days that the 'sky is falling' a la Chicken Little. Now, that's love.

So, here I am, clearing my head. All by myself. I think I'll pretend to be a writer today, and work on some stories. I'll actually get through an entire cup of coffee without warming it up in the microwave 10 times. I'll download some songs on Itunes, that I've been meaning to do since Christmas. I'll work on finishing some photo albums I've started. And, I'll dance around the house to blaring Christian rock music. After I'm done with that, I'll throw on some Skynard, just for old times sake.

Peanut Buster Parfait: Hold the Fudge

Someone needs to hire a camera crew to hang out at my house. My Mama and I went out last night to do a little shopping with Lake. We stopped by the DQ on the way home for a Royal Treat. Lake must've decided to take a poo while we were en route, which is typically no big deal.

Once home we began unloading groceries. My hands were full with packages, I was attempting to wrangle the dog, plus trying to balance my Peanut Buster Parfait, so I asked John if he could get Lake out of his carseat and change his diaper.

I hadn't realized the little guy had blown out his diaper. Literally. Poo was everywhere. Up his back. Down his legs. In the carseat. How can one little baby make such a mess? I've often heard of these infamous poopies. The ones that come out of nowhere and manage to stick to the walls. Or the ceiling. Or your pants. I knew we'd experience one of those poos someday. Yesterday was that day.

I started laughing. John was holding up his legs, Mom was trying to wipe his bottom, and Jack was busily licking the poo out of the car seat. I couldn't do anything but laugh. Hysterically. While I was trying to shoo Jack out of the carseat (so I could start wiping it up with my napkin), John saw me holding my Peanut Buster Parfait spoon in my hand. The same hand that had just cleaned up the poo now held the napkin and the spoon. He said, "Nice work honey. I'm glad to see you are using your spoon to assist you in your cleaning efforts." He followed that up with, "I have some extra fudge over here if you need it."

No thank you! In fact, my Peanut Buster Parfait is still in the freezer, untouched. I'd had enough fudge for one day. You may not want to kiss Jackson Cooper, either. We all know where his mouth has been.

Where is that camera crew when you need them?