I'm starting to think perhaps I've bitten off more than I can chew. Two jobs (one of which is already a life-eater), a kiddo, Scouts, that fella I spend time with, Church, Choir, a WoW addiction to support, and - ohyeah - a move next week (finally, my own kitchen again, yay!) ... I may never sleep again.

Hopefully it will get a little easier once the move is finished and we're set up here in town. At least then I won't have to wait until my fella gets home to, y'know, GO HOME every day.

In the meantime, well, I'm going to whine about tired feet a bit. Fair warning.

I put on a Harvest Faire last weekend at the Arts Center where I work, with the help of the local Scout troops. I'm also going to take my son trick-or-treating. That'll be about it. No time for anything more, I fear.

So, I've taken this job. It's not much more money than Subway, but it's a heck of a lot more in my line of interests and suchlike. I'm now the Director of a small Art Gallery and Museum in Arkansas. It's a nice little place, and it's got gobs of potential. The kicker is that the budget is teeny-to-nonexistent for improvements and - except for an Experience Works person who doesn't want to, well, work - I'm going to have to count on volunteers for anything I can't handle meself.

This is where the insanity kicks in. The laundry list of things to do to get this place up to my standards... well, I'll never be bored. Right?

Still working at Subway part time, 'til I get caught up a bit financially. Being unemployed for most of April hurt. A lot.

Still living with the folks. I've rearranged some things in the house, and we all have a bit more personal space, so that's good. Hopefully by the end of the summer I'll have more resources for my own digs. If I didn't love it up here, I could move back to Houston and have my own digs right away. Ah, well, that's not an option.

Back to the madhouse. Later y'all.

Yep, that's right, I make sandwiches at Subway nowadays. It's kind of neat - way different from what I'm used to, for sure, and it's certainly better than no job at all. It'll do, 'til I can find something else. At least they feed me, and the food is much better for me than, say, McDonald's or something.

I've had interviews for a couple of other positions, but we'll see. Hopefully something will come along, so that I can get my son and I moved into our own space. I love my folks, but .. well, eeeesh. It's just a little too crowded.

More later. Late for work if I don't get my butt up from this library computer (yay for high-speed access!) and go get changed.

So. We were hungry, we said, and didn't feel like cooking. After some discussion, we went to Sonic (one of few places around here) to get some grub.

As I'd had just a few hours of sleep after the long drive home from Houston, I was sleepy, and closed my eyes to doze for a minute (don't worry, my Dad was driving).

What a rude awakening I had! I heard a faint popping sound, and my son began screaming hysterically. When I looked at him (we were both in the back seat), he was holding his hands to his face, and there was red thick liquid all over his eyes and his nose and gushing out from his hands! Looked like blood, and given his emotional state, I was pretty darn scared, I assure you.

It took only a few seconds to realize that this was not blood, but in fact was ketchup. Longest three seconds of my life, though, with my thoughts racing, wondering how he could possibly have hurt himself, not to mention the undercurrent of "ohGodohGodohGodmybabymybabypleaselethimbeokay" which I could not, of course, say out loud.

The sneaky monster had kept one of the ketchup packets he has developed an obsession for and had been squeezing it, when it popped right into his face, getting into his face and eyes and probably burning like the blazes in the process. Must have scared him something fierce too.

Took me a while to see the humor, I must say, especially since I'd told the little bugger not to squeeze the things lest this very thing should happen. But in retrospect, it's pretty funny. Wish I could go back and take a picture of his face for posterity...

Updates all 'round. Whee!

1) Dial-up is eeeeevil. We just explored the option of DSL, but alas, we're still in the void of service availability between Mountain View and Leslie. Time Warner doesn't even provide cable service in our area, so that's out. We're hoping that the Dish network's new system will do the deed. Otherwise, I may just go slowly crazy without regular and speedy access to da info superhighway. It's why y'all haven't heard from me much; sorry about that (assuming anyone is still, y'know, "listening" at this point. Ha!).

2) Watching the mountains come alive is a pretty amazing experience. Houston really only has two seasons - hot and humid or chilly and rainy, and thus I was not prepared for the glory of color that comes about with a true Spring. The dogwoods and redbuds are blooming all over the place, the deciduous trees are beginnng to put on green leaves, and the entire browned-out landscape is just exploding with all this beautiful green. I love it up here.

3) The wildlife here is just astounding. The sheer quantity and variety of birds is pretty darn cool; I find myself wishing I had a book to figure out what some of these hoppers or fliers are. I especially love watching the hawks (and the occasional falcon) soar on the thermals, but the bluebirds, jays, and robins are pretty darn cool too. Also: real crows seem huge after a lifetime of watching grackles (sp?) exhibit their corbidae attitudes. Turkey vultures are among the ugliest critters I've seen, but they are kind of graceful in flight.

Deer running across the road is something I may never get used to, though. One must watch carefully in the early evening and early morning hours to avoid crashing into them. Still, watching them bound alongside the road in their little families is darn cool.

We have some large predators here, too - which boggles my mind. I'm told my neighbor walked up on a bear last fall, and I know we have some wild canids (my dad says they're coyotes) in the forests around our home. A member of Mom's church ran afoul of what she thought was a large lost housecat last month and had to take a little trip to the emergency room after the bobcat scratched her up pretty badly. She's lucky she wasn't seriously hurt. And then there's the occasional mountain lion sighting. Life in the Ozarks is .. well, teeming with life. Ain't it cool?

Later y'all. As always, I'll try not to go so long between updates.

Happy Birthday to Sandra Tayler (sandratayler) and Eric Burns (demiurgent)!

May the day bring you many blessings.

Hi all.

So. I should update my bio, I suppose. I no longer live in Houston, Texas. I now live in a little town called Oxley, Arkansas - so small that my mailing address is for Leslie, Arkansas.

Lots of reasons for accelerating the time to move up nearer to my folks, which I won't go into here. It's freakin' COLD here, and there's only dialup. But man, it's beautiful, even in the winter. I knew there were places in the world where you could look down from the road at the whole town, but .. well, it's still stunning to me to actually live in such a place. Mountains! Who knew?

Anyway. Just thought I'd share. Happy New Year to y'all.

Well, I'm of two minds today, and what's worse, both are singing - different tunes. On the one hand, having my son go off to visit with my parents in Arkansas always inspires one portion of my rather.. odd.. brain to sing that Stones tune about being Free to do what I want. Which is precisely what I've done today. Unfortunately, this amounts to precious little. Tomorrow, however, the list of things I want to do, which are often a pain in the patootie with all the get-ready-for-the-school-week and Look-at-me-Mom activities on Sundays, is quite a bit more .. er.. ambitious - including going in to work for a bit to get a much-needed headstart on the week (sans interruptions) and earn equally-needed overtime - without having to beg a sitter, which is refreshing and different.

Then, well, there's that other part of me, the one singing slow songs and missing the kid already. Right now, it's a quiet little voice, murmuring songs about how my baby's gone and I'm all aloooooooone in the house and it's too bloomin' quiet in here. Right now, this voice is very quiet, smothered by the sheer joy of a house all to my lonesome, and "ooh, I can paint this piece all in one sitting if I want, or I can just leave it here while it dries without picking it up high."

Anyway. I've decided that, for today at least, I'm going to just pamper me. There's a long, hot bath in my near future, and then a new Nora Roberts novel (it's not great literature, but dayum that girl can tell a fun yarn), and sleeping as late as I bloody well want tomorrow.

Works for me. Night y'all :)

Well now. My son has reached what I think is an important milestone this week: we are reading chapter books at bedtime. Okay, okay, so I'm reading them.. but to make the transition from short stories to chapter books is a big step, and one he seems excited about.

My talker is tired, but since our first chapter book is The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, a favorite of mine in my childhood, it's like rediscovering an old friend, too. Only trouble is, after reading our chapter (or two), I keep having to force myself to put the book down.

My baby boy is growing up sooo fast.

Is this a good thing? I dunno.

I'm not much of a dedicated tv-watcher. Oh, sure, I watch it, but I haven't set my schedule by it - except for a very, very few shows over the years. I never missed an Aaron Sorkin West Wing, for instance (well, except for that one time, when I was in the hospital after having a baby. But that didn't count). And I probably am too big of a Good Eats fangirl. But the majority of my other TV "watching" generally involves turning it to the Food Network or History International or some such and listening while I do something else. It's been this way for years.

And then.. well, this season. There are so many shows which have either proven themselves to be fantastic, or which have the potential to be fantastic, that I had a little problem. You see, the bedtime ritual 'round here starts at 8 PM Central, and by the time we've done the 5 B's (Bath, Brush Teeth, Book, Bed, "Blow Hugs" - I'll explain those later), it's nearly 9. I don't mind this time; the boy is in school all day, and this is precious time, reserved just for us.

I had resigned myself to just not seeing Studio 60, or Heroes, or Criminal Minds, or (guilty pleasure) Supernatural, or even Eureka (goofy fun is good!), and this was probably not a bad thing.

Enter the DVR, which my sister talked me into when I drove her down to the Time Warner store to swap out HER regular box. The sweet taste of freedom to record movies and shows at will is amazing - and I have done so. I have the knowledge that I'm never stuck watching a repeat of this week's Iron Chef (unless I want to watch it) again, and this is a good thing. I can be much more selective about my choice of listening - er, watching material, etc.

But now that I can record a lot of TV? I am totally spoiled for commercials. I reached up and tried to fast-forward to the weather report this evening. So sad. And did I mention that I'm watching a LOT MORE TV lately?

Ah well, I have confidence this new TV zeal will fade. After all, I know that at least some of these shows will disappoint, and end up covered in stink. Right?

Ursulav posted a story about an owl, and this was my story in response. It's one of my cool stories, so I'm going to inflict it on you guys here :)

Once upon a time, an old boyfriend and I spotted a Great Horned Owl on the side of the road, standing there in the late afternoon sun, blinking. It would get splashed by cars (it having just rained), and back up... only to return to the side of the road.

We called around for some wildlife rescue folks, and then got to help play distraction service so they could catch the bird in a snare, wrap him in a towel, and put him in a carrier.

Turns out he broke a wing, and was dazed and confused. Would have died, but for the intervention - and insistence - of him, he was released back into the wild a couple of months later. Yay!

Those were some seriously wicked claws. Seriously. But it was one of the coolest things I've ever seen, to be that close to 'im.

So, long time no update here, sorry about that. But.. I must express.

My nephew is in Iraq, at an undisclosed location at this time. He called his mother this morning, however, greeting her with "So what did you think?"

"About what?" said she, perplexed. "We made CNN, I hear. It was scary." She had to remind him that she doesn't watch CNN - she doesn't want to have a heartattack every time something happens, and be on pins and needles until she hears from him.

Apparently, some idiot decided to blow up a truckload of dirt outside the barracks where he was staying. It's his first up-close "action," the kind we were praying he would never see while he was there. Some of the dirt was flown so hard it embedded into his skin, but otherwise, he is okay. Oh - and there's the grief of watching two of his unit-mates die, after helping to carry them to the helicopter for evac.

Man, I'm glad he's okay. He's a good kid, crass and such, but a good kid, a true believer in doing the Right Thing.

I grieve for the families of those two boys, and for all the others. I always do, a little, but knowing that, for now at least, our Monkey Knuckles is safe, brings the pain those families feel when they lose one into sharp focus. I hope they had the chance to say "I love you" to each other recently, before the explosion. I pray that there was peace between those boys and their parents, and that they had no harsh words with friends or spouses or children before this happened. I sincerely hope that the news on CNN isn't how they found out, and that their grief is supported by loved ones, and that no one who suffers that terrible loss suffers it alone.

I am now (gulp) the owner of a piece of paper that says that in a zillion or so payments, I will be the owner of the 2006 HHR parked in the driveway out there.

It's a sweet car, great gas mileage, good deal, safe and comfortable for a Mom like me, with lots of interior space, and it's darn cute, too. So why am I still having to battle the urge to stare at it in quasi-terror and go "Buh buh buh buh" repeatedly?

I know it's silly. I fully examined the possibilities. I did my research. I *know* this is a good car, and that it's going to last us for a long time. I know that I can afford it - sure, I'll have to be more careful with my money, particularly without child support coming in for the munchkin, but I know I can do this, with a little wiggle room, even. But...

well, it's my first big purchase as a single mom, and I'm a little freaked out. Not so much I don't love driving the car, mind, but still.. a wee bit freaked. Still, there wasn't much choice but to buy a car (gave the old one back to ex), and I had to buy on credit anyway.. so why not buy something that's new enough to last a long darn time, etc...

Anyway. Boy's home, and man I'm glad to see him. Gotta get my arse to bed now, so I can keep the job that's helpin' me pay for my new "toy."

The boy is staying at my mom's for an additional two weeks(he went up about a week ago with my sister and all the teenagers). I'll miss him, but since his last visit got cut short, I can't begrudge him additional time. Besides, my dad has been feeling so poorly, I'm hoping that the munchkin will be able to continue to be a source of cheer (mom says they're inseperable). Dad loves the littles, always has, and they love him. They just know he's a safe place, steady and loving, and respond - even animals know it. It's wild.

Anyway. So here I am, in my house, alone, and have I done any significant painting? Nope. I've allowed myself to zooone into EQII and get lost. I've slept late (oh, bliss), and stayed up late (oh 3 AM how I've missed thee). Somehow, I can't bring myself to regret "wasting" my weekend; I think I needed it, after the roller-coaster last few months.

I did do some painting today, but only a boring base coat; I plan to do more substantial work tomorrow evening, now that the base is almost completed. Hopefully the sea dragon in my head will not suck too bad. heh.

I gave a surprise 20th anniversary party to my boss on Friday, and spent the majority of the week baking and making decorations. I'm so stunned that I managed to put a 2-hour "meeting" on his calendar without him questioning it, and I'm even more stunned that he didn't guess that I was doing something for his anniversary until I went to bring him downstairs for the party. The party was a rollicking success, and he was very touched, as I'd hoped. 20 years at one place is a significant milestone, one that was not being addressed adequately by the company, IMHO. He's a terrific guy, and the epitomy of "leadership = service;" I wanted him to know how many lives he's touched over those 20 years. I got such a kick out of watching his jaw drop each time someone who used to work for him, who he mentored to bigger and better things, walk through the door.

Of course, I couldn't have pulled it off without the help of a bunch of other people, but nobody would take credit for that. When I kept listing those who'd helped, someone fussed at me and said "Hey, it was your idea. Take the credit already!" so I had to hush. But still! I didn't do it alone, by any means! Anyway. It was fun. Work tomorrow. And I'm babbling, so... bed. yeah.

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.
5. Seriously, grab the first book you see. Not the most impressive book you see.

"Two hundred fifty miles from here," she confirmed.

"The storm, this nightmare - it didn't begin so long ago."

Indeed, when Molly considered the swiftness with which the usual order seemed to have given way to chaos, a jittering terror crawled the darker hallways of her mind.

(It's from The Taking by Dean Koontz. I was surprised at how intriguing it was when I borrowed it in desperation from my mom recently.)

One of my sisters works at a hospital a couple of train stations down the street from me, and sometimes we carpool (her schedule is different from mine). Today, I had to be at work earlier than she, but she had to stay later, so she took my car with her to her office.

As she's almost never on time, I knew I'd be waiting for her a bit, and as the parking garage is h-o-t and oppressive, I used my noggin to find a good spot to wait. So instead of waiting by the car, I waited on the bridge from main hospital to garage, where it's nice and air conditioned, and she could just stop off on the bridge level and let me know when she was ready to go (she takes the street route from her building). Enough backstory? okay.

So. I'm sitting there, dreaming a story on the backs of my eyelids and collecting art ideas I knew even then I wouldn't remember later (and I don't), when I hear a thump, followed by another thump. Gradually I became conscious that I'd been hearing a lot of caw-ing, and that it didn't sound like the usual grackle noises. The thumps continued, as did the caws, so of course I turned... and saw, right there, two crows, far too large and disheveled to be grackles, and completely out of their element (I can't remember when I've seen a crow in Houston. Mom's house in Arkansas, occasionally, but not Houston). I was kind of excited, but puzzled - I like the members of the corbid family, and seeing a crow up close and personal would have been cool all by itself.

But that's not the weird part! One of the crows sat atop the bridge roof, cawing down at the other, who was, I kid you not, flying back and forth between two windows, tapping on the glass. Not crashing, mind, just hitting the glass with his feet, and swooping back over to the other. Meanwhile, a pair of grackles (as if for comparison, to say "hey! that really is a couple of crows!") were sitting on a tree branch watching this wild behavior, looking as puzzled as I.

I know the goofy bird was not confused about which way was out or anything, as after a few more thumps, he (she?) and the roof-sitter casually turned and flew away. If Miss V (my sis) had not seen the crows flying away as she arrived, I would have been sure I was dreaming. Weird birds... gotta love 'em!

Now, bed for me. I swore I'd get to sleep early tonight for once. I lie to myself.. is that a sign of mental imbalance? Would I know if I was crazy? hehehe

I know you're all thrilled. Hey, it's the only digital photo I have of me. Seems I'm so often the one behind the camera that I seldom get in front of it - probably a mercy for all. Man, I look twelve in this picture. It's from Easter 2005, though.. so that would make me, what, 33? Yeah, 33.

Oh yeah. Other news.. not much. Kid's at my folks' again, which has been.. strange, here in this empty apartment. Good, though - I think I needed the downtime. Miss him, but we talked on the phone for almost half an hour this morning, and he was pretty darn sweet. He's learning to ask things like "so, how was your day today?" and of course it's adorable. He's growing up so bloody fast it boggles my mind sometimes.

Crazy at work (gosh, what a shock), but my boss is on vacation all next week so maybe I can catch up on a few things and reduce said craziness. I adore Eeg, but boy howdy he's so busy, he needs two assistants, and he's only got little ol' me. Good thing I'm darn good at my day job, most days.

Cloudy wants to reconcile, and seems to be working hard on some of the issues that caused our split. I'm.. withholding judgement, and insisting that we try to be friends for a bit. After all, we were friends first, but not at the end; if we can reclaim that friendly connection, then.. we'll see. I've signed a year lease in the new apartment, and want to take things very slowly, so that's my benchmark.

Mostly, I'm just doing what I do best.. I just keep going, and the rest works itself out, eventually.

Did you ever find that a blank canvas was a little bit too inspiring? I have a set of wooden drawers I got for like $10.00 at IKEA which is just perfect for me to go all insane with it.. but I have so many ideas for it, I can't make up my mind.

There's following the aquatic/oceanic thing to match the decor in the vanity/bath area, and lining it with fabric to hold jewelry, thus freeing up the crappy plastic drawers for craft stuff storage for which they are vastly better suited. I could put a boat on the top of the drawer set with a boy, fishing, in it, maybe, seen from above....

Or the Texas wildflowers/wildlife theme that's running through my head, wherein the exterior is the more common wildflowers and wildlife, in those big grassy areas we see so much, but each drawer represents another of Texas' diverse areas, such as the mountainy regions and their rock-dwelling critters, with flowers only seen there in my big state, or the beachy coastal areas and the waterfowl, and maybe the Sea Turtles what nest there.

OR there's the circle of trees and the elementals dancing in the center... Or the .. oh, heck, you get the idea. I have sketched 5 different concept designs, all of which I really like, in the past two days, for this one project, and I still have no idea what it's going to be.

Does anybody else have this problem? Maybe I should just pick something and tell the other ideas which are coming out of nowhere in such a flood of late to wait their bloomin' turn...

Hi all. Been a while, I know, and I apologize for that. It's been crazy busy around here, and the boy has needed more than usual during this transition from 3-in-a-house to 2.

The longer Blueeyes and I go, in our new living situation, the more comfortable he gets. He no longer seems so angry at me as he did, in the beginning, which is good. It amazes me that he is already beginning to use other coping skills, when he's angry, besides screaming, too. You see, it's okay if he's mad, that's his right. It's *not* okay for him to scream, throw things, or say mean things when he's mad. We're working on ways to show him this.

He is staying with my eldest sister during the day, and that cheerful bulldozer is helping him with these new coping skills, as well. The increased family connection (he sees my sisters nearly every day, now) is helping him with a sense of continuity, I think.

Anyway, I just thought I'd let you all know we're doing well. I hope to have more fun stuff to post in the coming weeks. It's amazing - I'm a single mom in fact, now, and somehow I have so much more time in the evenings. I've spent much of that time, thus far, settling in to the house, hanging pictures, etc., but most of that is finished now. Time to get creative - and for the first time in a while, I actually have time, quiet, and the presence of mind for it, particularly after the munchkin crashes out for the night.

See y'all soon.