success

ok, so my middle child is now a legal driver....................i am so proud.............

surprise

ok, so my nephew, my only blood nephew, just called amd said that he will be arriving tonight at about 2:00 am.....driving in from columbus.....and was that too late? at first i thought it was my brother on the phone, because the caller id said suburban virginia..............at my age 2:00 am is too late and too early............i told him to leave in the morning and plan on eating supper with us tomorrow night.................

still sick

ok, so mm finally broke down and sought medical treatment on day 7 of her illness. her temperature in the doctor's office was 102, which meant that the dayquill had worn off......i am taking a z-pack of 3 antibioitic pills that will last 10 days...i had heard about those, but have never yet taken them before......lucky me...............the doctor recommended 2-3 days of bedrest, but i am going to work today for awhile anyway because i have to go.......

so old

ok, so mm is still sick, and feels so old with body aches and such...............i have to go to work today, but i will try to come home very early to go back to bed..........there is irony in a holiday illness.....i fantasized about doing nothing except lay about, and now that i have layed on the couch with fever and chills for hours on end, i feel like i have been robbed of my precious time..............i did watch pirates of carribean again...johnny depp was born to play a pirate..........real pirates would have been lucky to resemble johnny depp............

sanguine

ok, so mm is sitting at the new family computer, with features that i do not understand other than it is faster and has more storage than anything we could possibily need in the next week or two, when all computers become obsolete...........the techie from dell was able to transfer data....by taking out the harddrive and hooking it up to the new screen, rather than using a non-existent usb port........i did not mention the lack of windows 98 or usb port until he was done....turns out he is not supposed to transfer data in that manner, it is simply quicker use of his time and he is glad he was unaware that we had no usb at the time..................sweeet........now i can blog and listen to music...........the only fly int he ointment is the cd-rw/dvd drive which may not be able to make copiues of our video camera as it doesn't have dvd rewrite...............................but right non mm is having fever and chills, and will sign off until she is in her right mind......................

sound of music

ok, so we sat and watched the first part of the sound of music last night, despite the fact that we have watched it dozens of times before and we had no intention of staying up to watch it til it's conclusion. we did debate the oscar wins for this fine film....for the record.......it won best picture and best director and best sound and a few other techie types, but lost for best actress and best supporting actress and best song.............julie andrews was robbed, i say.............earlier in the evening we watched u of l beat u of k..............such a sad game that started well and went to hell.....we did enjoy the short uk player from the bench named stockton.....he showed great grit for a guy 5 foot 9 inches........our new computer will be installed this afternoon............alas.......the data transfer will be brief, as our old computer has no usb port, and with windows 95 as its operating system cannot support a usb port..........at least according to my brother.........so all of my personal downloads are now stuck in scw's room......you never know...he may enjoy listening to guster sing mrs. robinson or sarah mchlauchlan and jewel singing closer to fine with the inigo girls.................

smith

ok, so our dinner discussion downgraded into whether sylvia plath went to vassar or smith, and i could not locate my weathered copy of the bell jar anywhere.............which led to a further discussion of another child's interest in selling off our excess books on ebay, and exactly what consititutes an excess book.......and most of us are unwilling to part with any books........mostly...i want to locate the bell jar...............

sinus infection

ok, so mm has not actually gone to the doctor for a definitive diagnosis...i am simply operating under that assumption for self-treatment of my congestion and drainage......both the misery and the cure are annoying.......i feel dried up like a prune from the antihistamine and the other active ingredients create a dizziness that resembles an out-of-body experience...............the opened presents are slowly migrating from under the tree to bedrooms or have been added to the piles of dvd cases atop the television............the dvd storage problem will have to be solved soon, before the tv-top is full................we will have to move the vhs tapes out of the tv cabinet drawer into another location to make room for the dvd's..cayle has probably 'grown out' of most of the vhs tapes anyway..............yet another cleaning project for mm's time off in january..........add that to the ultimate project- the sorting and albuming of potographs from the past 3-4 years.............we now have a basket full of un-sorted photos.............all i need do is to divide them into cayle's album, scw's album, acws album and the family album.....i have continued individual albums for each child so that they can be taken to new homes at some future date, whilst still leaving a family album here at home...........sounded good for the first 15 years or so, but i have fallen behind..........

sloth

ok, so mm slept in to the late hour of 7:55 am, and has lounged about in her jammies ever since....i may just continue to do nothing until i have to go to work today to help get supper ready...maybe about 1:30 pm or so........i could clean out some of the kitchen cupboards that have become mired in clutter......like the plastic container cupboard, where one can no longer find a lid that matches a bottom, or the lazy susan which has several partially used bags of powdered sugar, and no powdered sugar in the designated powdered sugar storage container...........i have already read as much of the paper as i care to read........maybe i will watch a movie...or maybe i will just go back to bed................the only problem with sloth is that it is such a waste of one's precious time.............

shrimp spread

ok, so even though i cannot really smell anything, nor taste anything, i have made myself sick eating my mother's shrimp spread on party rye bread........our refrigerator is still packed with much goodness......celeriac salad......pickled red cabbage.......honeybaked ham...........i can pass on the cookies and such that have been sent by or brought down the street, but shrimp spread really hits the spot...my dad once called it musty, as in 'i must have some more'.........trust me, it's flavor is not enhanced by a $6.99 bottle of sauvingnon blanc.............i have a pineapple kuchen in the oven.....it is a traditional breakfast pastry in our family...........and it is going on 9:00 at night....but i do not feel well, and the dough has been rising all day so i finally had to rise to the occassion and roll it out and bake it...........my grandmother would roll over in her grave to know that i left that dough in a bowl in the refrigerator all day........

seasons greetings

ok, so mmm says noel to all on this low-key christmas day...............despite taking time out for a nap, many in this family have watched a pink panther movie, a james bond movie, pirates of the carribean with johhny depp, and the sun is not yet down...cayle received a box set of bond films, so we could have a veritable festival before the day is over.......i still feel miserable with a cold/sinus infection.....take your pick at this point..........i cannot smell anything because my head is so stopped up...........i have to work a few hours on friday, and most of saturday.......and then a few more days after that before i have 2 full weeks off.........my trip looms big on the horizon, with air france cancelling a few flights yesterday because of terrorist threats.......i will worry about the worst-case scenario until i am back safe and sound......

shopping

ok, so mm got up early, met the food delivery truck, put stock away, then drove to lexington for last-minute shopping..........by herself...........life is never so good as when one can be in stores for precisely as much time as desired.....and go to as many stores as one wishes........i bought some vintage clothing for myself and my family..........vintage is my new word for the goodwill, which sounds so declasse.....whereas vintage sounds hip and savvy........i remind myself at every visit that every dime i do not spend on full-price clothing can be diverted to travel.........anyway, i walked out with 4 bags of absolute treasures, then on to liqueur barn ,where i indulged in some nice sauvignon blanc to go with dinner tomorrow, as well as some spaetzle and pickled red cabbage and celeriac salad for supper tonight.......they go so well with roast pork.......then on to disc jockey, for the actual grail of the entire trip......a cat stevens cd that scw wanted to buy for his dad, but could not because he is so sick.........then to wild oats, where i purchased some of my spouse's favorite treats...........whole wheat fig bars, and dried figs from both turkey and california...his mother used to buy him dried figs as gifts.........then on to tuesday morning where i looked but did not buy, then to marshall's, where i spent too much money.......ah well........i did not make it back in time to attend the staff luncheon arranged by my partner at the very last minute.....by that time i had a fever, and could not breathe, and opted for a nap with a shot of nyquil.........it just doesn't get better than this...............

stuart

ok, so my brother is in town for the week for christmas........it is so good to see him, as he has not come home for the past few years...opting to stay in d.c. and work instead. now that dad is gone, i sense that he wants to make sure that we do not drift too far afield. for starters, he has given the c-w family a new dell super-duper computer, with flat screen...yada, yada, yada..........we will be having a professional come to install it, and transfer 'data' which hopefully can include all of my favorite songs that are on the computer now in scw's room........anyway, last night my spouse actually took on my brother regarding a statement he made about education in america......that the fact the our daughter does not read well at age 10 is because of things that hillary clinton did in the 90's when bill was president......i was so proud of my spouse, who was like our wired hair terrier.....biting in and holding on for dear life........this exchange did not last too long, blessedly......but it was entertaining and revealing in the best sense.......i so love my husband, not only for his character, but also for his politics.................i could never be married to a conservative, or a republican...................

sickness

ok, so mm is miserable with a cold/sinus infection/sore throat/aches/pains......so much so that she skipped the alias rerun last night to go to bed at 8:30 pm..............too bad i have to go to work the next 2 days anyway.................in fact, i have to cater a breakfast on tuesday that will require getting to work at 6:30 am............i may just show up in my pajamas................

singing praises

ok, so mm lived through one of her biggest catering jobs of the year- a dinner/dance for 300 at the new convention center......the convention center is a very nice place......huge if left 'open', but convertible into smaller spaces with movable partitions......i do not think that 300 actually showed up, as there were lots of preplated salads and desserts left over........we have catered this party before, for fewer people.........at the convention center the task was made easier by the catering kitchen, to which a van laden with food may be backed up right to the door for unloading...........and the non-smoking status of the facility.............we have done this party at bright leaf in mercer county, which allows smoking..............the room was unventilated, and a cloud of smoke soon hovered over everyone after an hour or two of chainsmoking madness.....the convention center allows parties to bring in alcohol, and but does not allow people who step outside to smoke to bring their beer along......they even hired a security guard to make sure that this did not happen...........this group became incredibly trashed despite their alcohol-free smoke breaks.......i have not seen bottles of herve quervo passed around since my college days.........oh my.............i still have a few catering jobs before we close on wednesday evening for a few days, but nothing terribly complicated...............maybe now i can start christmas shopping............

sauron

ok, so rotk was an amazing piece of cinema, in the true epic tradition.........i was glad to see the eowyn's role in the battle was spotlighted......the film was much longer than it had to be for the 'non-extended' version.........if i were queen of the world, instead of just this house, i would have transfered some of the slower or redundant parts to the extended-play dvd.....the conflict between sam, frodo and gollum was important to the story, but the sight of each trying to strangle the other became tiresome rather than enlightening......also....the reunion of the remaining fellowship in frodo's bedchamber was long when you add in the overly long parting scene at the elven ship....on the other hand, i was grateful that jackson boiled down the coronation and the reunion with arwen into one big scene........the book had too many trips back and forth..........overall, i was most impressed by the battle scenes...they were true to form- incredibly brutal and yet the bravery of those fighting was palpable........the touches that jackson added...like the trolls pushing the battlement storming towers, and the wildboar-shaped battering ram that glowed with fire.....really added to the overall effect.......i am not much for battle scenes, and i will confess to turning away several times......but they were well-done just the same.........and the special effects when the eye of sauron is extinguished and the land of mordor caves in.......whoooooooo.........that was much more impressive visually than it was in the book........i must give permenent record-credit to those who lasted through the marathon viewing of all three installments..........

score!

ok, so mm and unnamed family members (they appear to be publicity-shy) have scored 3 tickets to see rotk tonight at the danville cinema...for the total price of $5.....you read me correctly.........they were bought during the matinee time frame...........even though the tickets are for the 8:00 showing......sweet...........

simple life

ok, so paris hilton, with her clothes on, got a larger tv viewing audience than pres. bush's interview with diane sawyer.......................some things in life make complete sense.......................

sense and sensibility

ok, so today would have been jane austin's birthday, were she hundreds of years old.........whenever life gets too crazy, i can always count on a video of a jane austin masterpiece to help me sort out the necessary and discard the chaff (sp?) we have taken on far too much work at trc.........and this doesn't even count a reception thursday for 175 and a dinner saturday for 300............we had 3 carryout lunches today before we even opened, and i was so far behind, thanks to my assistant who is yet out with his gallbladder.....that my food salesperson sliced turkey for me and broke down boxes while i made chicken salad, and pimento cheese, and sauce for the chicken special............now it is times like these, when time is of the essence, that jane austin speaks to me.....none of jane's heroines would have cried at such stressful moments.....so neither can i...........i just think about making it home finally to a glass or 3 of a nice white..............today was supposed to be the day when my nutrition 201 students turned in their take-home finals......i am still missing 9 tests......i have personally called each and every student asking about said tests...they have 24 hours to turn them in so i can register a grade by 1:00 am thursday morning..........one girl told me she thougth she had turned it in until she found it in her book bag while i was on the phone.......this is so humerous, as no professor i had in college would have called me to ask about any assignment let alone a final exam............but this is danville, and i am only mean to selected individuals...............

seeking seasonal serenity

ok, so mm is tiring of her all 's' month.......in january she will pick another letter.........i thought of calling this installment 'shit happens', as i just spent the past 45 minutes trying to string some 'swag' twinkle lights i found in the restaurant stockroom along our bushes out front.....only to have them short out the entire garage where i plugged them in......after figuring out how to reset the fuse box, the lights will not come back on.......the darkness has called me inside...the damned lights can wait til another day........maybe i will luck out and receive a chanukkah miracle of some sort...there is probably enough jewish blood flowing through my northern european body to qualify for some sort of holiday blessing...........so much for my holiday spirit...............which will be tested yet again this friday when my daughter's birth mother makes her annual visit..........i will be working through most of it, but the event is stressful on all involved..........luckily my brother will arrive from washington just after she leaves............now i want to talk of my upcoming trip to paris, which is growing more expensive with every dip in the dollar...the itinerary is as follows:Sat- January 10- arrive in paris, metro to Hotel Leveque (1 transfer) or shuttle....check-in if room is available; leave baggage if not...walk to Napolean's Tomb, then to Rodin Museum, then to Musee D'Orsay for lunch in grand ballroom(nice salad bar/buffet in grand surroundings); tour Musee D'Orsay; walk across river to L'Orangerie for a brief visit on our way back to hotel; Supper in hotel neighborhood; consider Chinese take-out place across the street from hotel.
Sunday- January 11- breakfast at cafe in neighborhood; metro to Eglise St.
Sulpice for service and organ recital that follows Sunday service; metro to Louvre; lunch at Cafe Marly in courtyard by pyramid; tour Louvre and underground shopping plaza in Louvre complex; supper in hotel neighborhood or Nicole's for supper in Montmatre? Monday- January 12- breakfast in neighborhood; shopping on Left Bank- Bon Marche Tati, and
Bon Point outlet if we can find it; drop bags back at hotel; lunch at Bookiniste in Seine; walk to St. Chapelle, then to Notre Dame; then to DeHillirin, the housewares mecca near Les Halles, ? metro to Sacre Coeuer and Nicole's for supper Tuesday- January 13- breakfast in neighborhood; metro to Champs Ellysee; shopping in area; lunch at Musee Jaquemart-Andre (in elegant room with frescoed ceiling-quiche, side salad and dessert for 13 euro) tour museum; metro to Marais; walk around
Place des Vodges; look for secondhand silverware and dinnerware; metro back to neighborhood- supper near hotel Wednesday- January 14- taxi or shuttle to airport; fly home............ Hopefully this agenda will be challenging to those in my group who have been to paris before, and fulfilling to those who have not............gentle readers who have read the davinci code will notice some of my sangreal sites right away............

snl

ok, so mm watched snl last night....hosted by e. woods of lotr........several brilliant sketches....the one with dubya was the best.......he is shown speaking to the troups, dressed like he is in the army, then addressing the elderly sick in a hospital gown while dragging an iv pole, then addressing environmentalists dressed as a tree, on and on, then finally addressing a church group dressed as jesus christ.....that was pretty funny......even funnier of dubya takes the bait and actually does dress up as jesus christ.......his ego seems large enough to encompass himself as diety......the musical guest, jet, reminded me of 80's bands.....kind of like cheap trick or something similar.....quite retro.....like they could launch into highway to hell at any moment.....woods was not particularly funny, though the sketch they did about the new sitcom starring frodo and gollum as two crazy guys who move to denver and live in a quaint apartment building was humorous.......the countdown to return of the king is making me crazy.....i want to see it now, not wednesday........assuming we can get tickets on wednesday, or even thursday..................

in other news, mm has renegoiated her cellular contract, added another family talk line, and obtained gsm phones with nationwide long distance......at a lower rate than she was paying before...........the cell companies must be in a price/services war, as it is now cheaper for us to use our cell phones to call long distance than it is to use our home phone..................and all of the features are included, not extra...........ironically we have rollover.....and we are not talkers.......i wonder if there is a limit to our minutes.......maybe we will have quite a cushion by the time scw goes to college...............

so i am a little behind.........

ok, so mm is a little behind in putting photos in albums..............like from 1999...........so there is a large basket up under my desk with photos that are in order, yet not in any album...............once a mamma gets behind on an album, it just goes downhill from there, i suppose......forgive me, loving family..................

setting the stage

ok, so mm and her kin have just watched the entire extended version of lotr/the two towers.........hours and hours of extra footage( or it just seemed so) with many moments that we could not believe were left out............of course.....the extended version is so long that the theatres could have only one sitting an evening, unless they did an all-nighter of some kind for the stalwart fans........speaking of fans...at the end of the extended version of the two towers, the producers thanked all of the charter members of the lotr fan club............endless names in alphabetical order....i gave up and quit watching after it was clear that there were many crowleys but no crowns or c-w's................i cannot wait to see the final installment of this marvelous epic...........

southern exposure

ok, so it is days like this...dreary, cold,endless......that i think that i may have been mistaken in taking up residence in the northern south rather than the southern south...for the record...anything south of the mason dixon line and/or the ohio river is south........not that i have spent many pleasant hours in the southern south......i can remember one extra cold february when i was in orlando for a diabetes workshop, in a coldsnap, in an unheated hotel room, sleeping with my trenchcoat over the bedspread for an extra layer of warmth...............2 years ago when we went to northern europe in a coldsnap, i was prepared..........pajamas, extra blanket, socks......but in fla. i expected warmth.....on the other hand, i have known people who went further south looking for heat, and found food poisoning instead........a 4 day weekend in cancun with intestinal distress is not my idea of a vacation...however,if i concentrate, i can recall a spring break...maybe 1977.....when i went to clearwater beach with cindy wildman, and we played backgammon on the beach for 7 solid days, and got terribly sunburnt, and did not go out with creepy-looking types who claimed that they played baseball for the reds farm team........i could handle a bit of that warm, laying on the beach in a 2-piece that fit kind of experience right now.....with someone who likes to play backgammon...........

satiety

ok, so mm has delivered meals of late to friends/neighbors who have either had babies or surgery...........so many babies, so many surgeries it would appear.........surgery is something i fear on an undercurrent level.........now that having babies is a non-issue...........anyway, back to the food............people must not bring food when crisis hits anymore, because my offering of supper was met with sheer surprise in most cases.......like bringing supper was strange or otherwise deviant..............who knew...............

solemn

ok, so mm is solemn with disappointment that led zeppelin is not going to be any of the sound tracks for the lotr trilogy....i read several years ago that jimmy page and robert plant had been approached for this purpose, as their songs like the battle of nevermore, ramble on, misty mountain hop, etc were based on lotr............but their songs were not used, for whatever reason.........

salute

ok, so mm wants to salute the l.o. for her kind words of support....................

scarlett

ok, so mm anticipates the opening of the girl with the pearl earring, a new movie with scarlett johannson and colin firth...............it will open in our neck of the woods sometime in january 2004.......even though it opens in nyc this weekend.....yet another reason to live in nyc...........i read this book 2 years ago, prior to our trip to northern europe, which included amsterdam...i actually saw this picture in the hague in 1976, when i was traveling with my parents and we went to the art museum in the hague, with the name i cannot pronounce..........anyway.........the book is stellar, with a luminescence (sp) that is palpable.........i can picture scarlett johannson in this role, though i thought she was wasted in lost in translation........i am a colin firth fan, of course, given that i have watched pride and prejudice on vhs...all 6 installments........at least 12 times.........i went to the authors web site.......to read what she has to say about her book turned movie.........the bottomline.......she sold the rights before the book hit it big.....which is means that she got next to nothing for a film that will be both visually beautiful and emotionally stirring.......the book is about passion that goes beyond the casual sex pandered in most films........it is about an artist who understood true beauty, and about the girl/scullery maid he chanced to paint who understood art/lighting/texture/placement/color etc........the result is a compelling study in both innocence and guile.....like mona lisa with a turban..........there is a chance that i could see the movie in paris, as it may hit that market before it makes it to the kentucky....alas, this is not a movie that will play danville............

sounds of silence

ok, so mm lasted til monday without public blogging.................but she must lament that a) she does not live in nyc and b) she did not have tickets to see the simon and garfunkel concerts staged there last week, that were easily accessible to those who live in nyc.............an older new yorker issue, perched on the bathtub, is open to the ad for the concert, the reunion cd boxed set, and the entire s&g catalog, just in case anyone wanted to delight a loved one with the entire s&g recorded works................i would like to hear them in concert, however......their sound and their lyrics go through my brain from time to time.............at least i can understand them when they sing..............paul simon's wife, natalie merchant, has a lovely voice, but i cannot make out much that she sings...............must be my early-onset deafness/general agedness...................

so long

ok, so mm has created a private blog.....on which (in which?) she can speak her mind without guilt, record her life without fear of offending, and give commentary on the world around her that only she would probably care to read anyway.............so will she blog in this space again?

so close to christmas

ok, so mm has a short list for christmas, should anybody on her list read this blog..........the first 2 seasons of alias on dvd......the life of pi.........beth orton's cd that has ooh child on it..........perlier bath products made with honey...........thanks so much.........

so tired

ok, so i went to bed last night by 9:15 am, and i am so tired this morning as to be immobile......well, maybe not quite that bad, but i am incredibly fatigued........and feeling quite sorry for myself....................

straight edge

ok, so mm is going through withdrawal....from the good omens blog.......pretty please put the links back...............................

seritonin

ok, so the dim days of winter make mm into meaner mamma...i need sunshine to be at my happiest........so why is my upcoming trip to a place not likely to be sunny? because culture, food, and shopping trump the sun, in suppose........and i intend to be happy for the full 4 days that i am in paris..........

set things on fire......

ok, so my daughter has got a problem with pyromania.........she was busted for trying to light candles after breakfast on monday.........we have no idea what made her think that monday morning just before we leave the house was a good time to light a candle.....well, today she lighted some candles at grandma's house, and she actually set some things on fire.......luckily grandma was quick to put out the fire............this is scary...the impulsivity involved......it kind of reminds me of my dad, who once tried to set our family portrait aflame while my mom was in the basement trying to organize things to move south to ky........she put it put before the house caught on fire...........but the whole thing....the fire, my dad with alzheimers....the family portrait.....seems too freudian........quite unsettling.........

seive

ok, so ma tete et an seive pour les mots francais...............i am rereading my french phrase book, in an attempt to be prepared for my trip, and i cannot remember simple words from day to day.....obviously the talent for languages was an all or nothing thing in my personal gene pool.......

strange dreams

ok, so last night i had this crazy dream that friends with a daughter in college are expecting a baby.....i noticed this blessed development while we were at a theatre like the ky in lex, but not that theatre for some reason....and after the announcement, i lost my right shoe..........no news if i found it or not because the dream kind of segued into getting my children into a water park to hear a concert, and it went on to me looking for them when i was wet, tired, and ready to go home.......so strange............

Scheduling

ok, so now mm is trying to schedule the driving test for the almost 17 year-old.......not so easily accomplished.....i called this morning at 8:23 am, and was informed that all of the appointments for today were taken, as i had called so late......next time i must call right at 8:00 am........it is kind of like a game of chance.....getting the appointment.....