Woman vs Mailbox

My neighborhood is quiet & has a very low volume of traffic. I always drive through slowly ever vigilant for pets, kids, &, of course, deer. So it's rather amazing that I managed to have a minor traffic accident less than a block from my house. As I was driving down my street my purse slid off the seat & turned upside down. I reached down to retrive it & accidently hit a mailbox. Yikes!

The mailbox survived, however, it knocked off my side mirror & put a rather unsightly dent in my car. I will take this as a reminder to keep focused on the driving & not be distracted by extraneous things. Message received!

Easter 2009

At family gatherings I sometimes (okay, often) become the target of  jokes. Unfortunately for me the more I put myself out there with blogging & twittering, the more material I provide my sons & nephews to bust me. My Iphone, which is such a source of entertainment & information for me, does get me into trouble from time to time. It seems that I am not always able to manage the phone, & once I make a blunder it's out there for all to see & ridicule. Yes, I did send a photo from my phone 16 times, send an email to all my contacts including people I don't know socially, tweet at Ryan Seacrest about my car . . . all inadvertent, but once I put it out there & then realize my mistake, it's too late! I'm learning that an attempt to tweet quickly from my phone is not such a great idea as it can lead to sending a direct message to someone whom I'm sure could care less. I find it ironic that those who are so quick to harass me for twittering are either following me or lurking (yes, Jan, I mean you!) So they seem to also find something pretty entertaining about twitter. At least I have the ability to laugh at myself for it seems I can always find a way to do something lame. My impulsiveness & the ability to put out a quick tweet are not a good match. To further complicate things for me, I now have TweetDeck to master--yikes! 

It's amazing how well I respond to a list. Last Thursday night I made a list of the things I needed to do over the three day weekend. By mid-afternoon on Saturday I had completed everything on the list. Inexplicably the act of crossing items of the list provides me with motivation. Too bad I don't make a list more often!

Drew had his first Carpenter family money egg hunt this Easter although he seemed to be less interested in finding eggs than in finding eight year old Kerry! When I asked Drew if he wanted to find more eggs, he responded, "let's find Kerry!" He might have been more excited if the eggs had contained jelly beans since he managed to stuff quite a few of those into his mouth all at once. I put aside my aggressive egg hunting to walk with Drew & help him look. It was actually lots more fun! Tyler, still too young to look for eggs, was captivated by watching the dogs run around in the yard. By the way, I do know that Cyrus is not the Colorado egg hunting champion--seriously, I think he found fewer eggs than Drew & I did! How weird is this . . . Jenny found an egg from a prior year!

On a serious note as I sat in church with Rach, Trent, Adam, Kelly, Tyler & Drew yesterday I felt truly blessed!

Milestones

I was in Ohio this past weekend visiting Ryan, Renea, Owen & Lucie. I arrived in time to watch Owen's private swim lesson & was blown away by how much he's improved since last summer! His freestyle looked like an actual freestyle, & he has a nearly flawless breast stroke. We went to the movies & went to church & all the while I was mindful of just how much Owen has matured. He has little problem sitting quietly when necessary. After I left yesterday he was going to try to ride his bike without training wheels . . . he promised to call & tell me how it went. About a hour so later while I was still driving home, he called. Yes, in a matter of minutes he had mastered the two wheel bike! So for Owen spring will be more bike riding & swimming along with t-ball. This five year old seems like he's ready to take on the world!

Just crazy!

Who knew that Ryan & I would be leading the pack of the family blogs? Ryan has been blogging daily so I have attempted to step up my game as well. Trent & Adam . . . not so much! Blogging often about one topic is easier than trying to blog occasionally when there are numerous things I want to say & don't have the time or energy to type it all out. In addition I try to stay on pace with my kids' blogs, podcasts & tweets. Keeping up with my family & friends via the social media could be a second job! 

Too cute!

Yesterday we heard on the radio that former WVU quarterback (& future NFL star), Pat White would be at the Waterfront Hotel signing autographs. In an instant I called to see if I could take Drew to meet him & was told he could go. I picked him up & made a bad decision to try to go through town instead of getting back on the interstate. This little jaunt did lead to some lively conversation though. As I commented about the traffic, Drew wanted to know if everyone was going to see Pat White. In addition I was explaining to him why it was necessary to always stop for a school bus. A few moments later he yelled "STOP" from the back seat. I asked him what was wrong, & he told me a school bus was coming. So I then needed to further explain that we only needed to stop when the bus was stopped to load or unload kids. He told me we were taking the same road that they took to go to church & added that they didn't go to church last week because they had too many things to do. Of course he asked several times if we were almost there. Well, it was cute to see hundreds of preschool kids in various Pat White attire at the event. Drew did not miss a thing as he had on his WVU sweat suit, Pat White jersey, & WVU baseball cap. As we stood in line he was so friendly that all the security people kept stopping to chat with him. He was talking about all the things he planned to say to Pat. Eventually, we got to Pat, & after saying "hi" & giving Pat a fist bump, Drew became rather star struck. Pat was great though & started asking Drew questions like "do you like the Mountaineers?" So Drew answered Pat's questions, then wished him good luck like we had talked about. Drew was rather disappointed that Pat wasn't wearing his uniform though. All in all it was really fun! (Yes, I was excited to meet Pat too!)

April Fool

I have not been into April Fool's pranks since graduating from grade school. In fact, for me it is pretty much like any other day. So when I checked my twitter account at work & discovered that Ricky Braddy, a friend of my nephew's who appeared on American Idol, stated that he would be back on AI & would appear on Ellen the following day, I immediately was excited. I called my sister to see what she knew about it, but she didn't answer. I then sent a text to my nephew asking him what was up. He didn't know anything about it but told me he would find out & let me know. A few minutes later I got a text telling me Ricky was playing an April Fool's joke. Haha! Well, of course, I had already started to spread the word that Ricky was back on AI. How dumb did I feel. 

Apparently this planted a seed with my nephew. He lives in Nashville & has had the good fortune to become well acquainted with some celebrities there. So Wednesday night as I am driving home from tennis I get a call from him. He tells me he has some good news. My friends who are riding with me suddenly stop talking since I am shrieking excitedly as he tells me an elaborate story. He begins by telling me that one of his connections had set him up with an interview/audition. Making it very believable he describes his nervousness & his concern that his voice wasn't 100% due to a recent cold. All the details of this meeting were meticulously narrated including the names of everyone present for the group Rascal Flatts. He proceeded to tell me that their keyboard player was taking some time off since he & his wife were expecting a baby & that they seemed to like his audition. He went on to say they called him back & offered him a job going on tour for 6 months beginning in a couple of weeks. To further the story he said he went right out & bought a new car which he also described. I suggested that he email me a picture of the car; he agreed & asked me to check it out & call him back. After we hang up my friends & I are excitedly talking about getting tickets to see him on tour. I was so pumped about it that I forgot to check my phone for the picture. When I finally did, I saw a text message instead from my dear nephew stating "April Fool." Well, yes this year I am the April Fool! 

Twitterific

It started as a lark. My kids were talking about twitter so I decided to sign up & check it out. At first I only followed my kids plus Tony Caridi, the WVU play-by-play announcer. Easy enough, manageable . . . took only a few seconds a day. My son, Trent, then pointed out that I could get twitter on my iphone. Twitterific! One day I decided to add a couple of people that I knew were on twitter. Then these people added me. Soon strangers added me so I added them. Then I discovered celebrities on twitter so I added people like John Mayer (who twitters so much I may have to drop him!), ET & Ryan Seacrest. Then a friend of my nephew's was on American Idol so I added both him & his fansite. Of course, I was also twittering (tweeting) while I was adding & being added to other accounts. It wasn't long before I got some direct messages so I fired messages back. Recently I discovered both the head football coach & basketball coach at WVU were on twitter . . . couldn't add them fast enough! Soon I began checking my twitter account at red lights & while grocery shopping. I find it fascinating to not only keep up with those in my family who tweet but to also get random comments from miscellaneous other people.

I know I have an addictive personality (thank God I never tried drugs!) so I guess it's not surprising that I have now become a twitter addict. Is there a 12 step program for this? 

De-frazzling

After spending the majority of the weekend gathering data for FOUR tax returns, I am rather frazzled! Today I will drop all of this off at the accountant's . . . yippee . . . It will be off my back & become someone else's problem! I don't know why I find this so daunting. Perhaps it's because the IRS is pretty formidable, & I'm afraid of making a mistake. A prison term is not part of my long range plan! At any rate it will be a great feeling to have this over & done. What a bummer to spend most of the weekend immersed in paperwork though!

My project of having the main bathroom renovated was supposed to take a week. It was bad enough that the bathroom was torn apart the day before Ryan, Renea & Owen were coming for the weekend, but I thought it would be worth it to have it finished by Friday, March 20. Here we are on March 31st, & the bathroom is still a work in progress. Yikes! I'm sick of living with the mess not to mention the inconvenience. Contractors are just in a league of their own when it comes to deadlines!

On the home front there are a couple of exciting tidbits of news:

It was discovered on Saturday that 5 year old Owen is following in his father's footsteps & is a natural breaststroker! He also has signed up for a t-ball team.

It was believed that Drew, who will be 3 in May, had narrowly missed the cutoff to play 3-4 year old t-ball (can't really even wrap my mind around that!) this summer, but they will make an exception for him. Alrighty then, let's play ball!

TREATS!!!

Who knew? Apparently everyone but me! I only get unsweetened iced tea at McDonalds & don't give their menu a passing glance when I go to the drive-thru to order my tea. The other day my friend, Nancy, came back to the office after lunch with a treat for me. McDonald's low fat yogurt with berries & granola. Whoa, this is wonderful! In addition, my eight year old niece told me you can get apple slices with fat free caramel dipping sauce at Burger King. Well, I tried that & YUM! So I have been sharing this information with my friends all of whom already knew about these treats. Yikes, I feel like I've been living in a cave!

One thing (inevitably) leads to another . . .

While shopping for a new WVU t-shirt for myself, I went to the boys department since those shirts fit me better & are generally less expensive. I found a shirt, but before I could buy it I spotted a WVU warm-up suit in Drew's size 50% off. Naturally, I had to have this too thinking I could save it for his birthday. I then went to get a baptism gift for Tyler. After I purchased his gift, I thought that I might as well give Drew the warm-up on Sunday when Tyler will be getting lots of gifts. So, that should have been the end of it, but a couple days later when I went to Walmart to purchase a cd, I saw a WVU basketball uniform in kids' sizes so I bought both Drew & Owen a uniform. Then I needed to get something more for Tyler so I bought him a couple of WVU onesies. Things seemed to be pretty even-steven at that point, but unfortunately, before I could check out I saw Spiderman t-shirts in Owen's size. So I picked one out, then went to see if I could find something comparable for Drew & Tyler. As luck would have it, I was able to get Spiderman t-shirts for them too. I proceeded to check out without a glance to the left or right since I feared I might find something else that would be just too cute to pass up. So not only have I purchased what I had planned (a little gift for Tyler's baptism & a t-shirt & cd for me), but I have also bought a warm-up, 2 onesies, 2 basketball uniforms, & 3 t-shirts. (Think I may refrain from shopping for awhile!)

Baffled

Today as I was cleaning up my computer desktop & assigning photos to various albums, I came across this picture. I know that it was taken by my camera, not my iphone, but I have no idea who it is or where it came from. Owen & Drew occasionally will take a picture, but this is so random that I'm baffled by it. Before sending this to the trash, I thought I might just see if anyone could identify this person.

Reality Rant

This week my reality tv life started out well with perhaps the best show of them all--The Amazing Race. My only real complaint with this show is that sometimes winning does not give the team a time advantage on the next leg of the race as waiting for flights or for a specific business to open allows other teams to catch up. I'm sure this is done to keep the whole thing competitive though.

On to Monday's Bachelor--yikes, there are no words! I haven't watched this show for quite a while, but there was something really appealing about Jason Mesnick, single dad of a 3 year old son & two-time loser in love. He seemed like such a stand-up guy. A couple weeks prior to the finale though, the sleaze factor emerged for me as he spent the night with three different women in the span of a few days. (Anyone else worried about STD's?) In addition, he was routinely shown kissing & making out with all of them in the same day & sometimes even on the same date! As you may have heard, he was torn between two women in the end. Now in my opinion these conflicted feelings should have been enough for this man to know he was not ready to propose marriage to anyone, but nooooo! He dumped one, sobbed uncontrolably, then proposed to the other all on the same day. Fast foward to the show immediately following the finale--Six weeks have elapsed from the proposal to the taping of this After the Final Rose show. On this show, he changes his mind & dumps his fiancee; then asks the one he rejected to take him back. Like a fool she agrees! Of course, in five minutes they are making out. The real winner here--bachelorette Jillian, who made it to the final three & was then eliminated. Well, I'm so angry that I wasted three hours watching this on Monday & that I ever actually thought this man had any redeeming qualities. Somewhere his ex-wife is probably laughing her head off!

Last, but not least, American Idol. For me this show has become over-produced & far less of a "reality" show each season. In the preliminary auditions, they cut a huge number of people who can actually sing so that some of the crazies go through to see Randy, Paula, Simon, & Kara.
That might have been a mildly entertaining in the first season, but it's become old & tired now. It seems the power-that-be at Idol are more interested in drama, backstories, etc., than in providing an opportunity for an unknown singer to emerge to win a recording contract. As a viewer I would like to see all singers who make the top 36 have a televised audition. Since the show chose to show drama instead of singing in the early weeks, a few of the top contestants were seen for the first time the night they had to sing to be voted through to the top 12 while others already had been so heavily featured that they already had fan clubs & had the message boards buzzing. Level playing field? I think not! Yes, I've become cynical & am so over watching this contrived show!

The good news . . . Dancing with the Stars premieres on Monday!

Inept!

What was I thinking? I should never buy furniture that comes in a box! Over the weekend I bought a new tv stand, & thought it would be easy enough for me to assemble. I guess prior episodes of having parts & pieces scattered all over the room with no real ability to make sense of it all had faded from my memory. Last night I spent over an hour trying to figure it all out to no avail. If I could have managed to get all the pieces back in the box, I would have returned it to Walmart. Now I'm stuck with a tv on the floor & pieces of wood, screws, tools all over the room. I guess it will be necessary to do what I always seem to do when I have a crisis that requires tools; I'll call Trent.

This & That

Recently a local radio station was promoting an appearance by Steve, the Regurgitator. Naturally, Nancy & I were curious as to why anyone would want to pay money to go watch someone vomit. The thought of it was nauseating! So we googled him & found this video. I wonder at what point in this person's life this would this seem like something he would want to try to do for a living! Stevie Starr the Regurgitator

Owen, age 5, has been playing floor hockey so I traveled to Ohio to catch a game. Amazingly, these four & five year old kids wielding hockey sticks all seemed to grasp the concept of getting the puck & pushing it toward the goal. Other than the time I was snapping a picture of Owen & he stopped playing to pose for me, he took the whole thing pretty seriously. There were times it all was rather hilarious, but I found my competitive spirit kicked in when Owen almost scored, & I nearly jumped out of my seat! He did score recently & called to tell me about it . . . it seems that while scoring he simultaneously lost his shoe!

This past weekend I took care of Drew & Tyler while their parents went out on a date night. With very busy lives & two young children, Adam & Kelly don't get to go out together that often. After about five books & several stalling tactics, Drew seemed pretty compliant about going to sleep. Then I heard him "fake" crying & went in to ask him what was wrong. He then said "I NEVER get to see my daddy (awww, I thought . . . Adam had a game the night before, & I guess Drew was really missing him) . . .  or my mommy (Kelly is with him just about 24/7)! I then realize that Drew is just being a little dramatic. So I tell him that his mom & dad will be home soon & will check on him & kiss him goodnight. "Ok," he says, "love you." And that was that.

Whew!

A week ago I received a phone call about 9:30 pm from a man whose name I did not recognize on my caller ID. Reluctantly, I answered the call & was immediately asked some questions. The caller asked my name & if I had a credit/debit card with a certain bank. I responded rather cryptically. The caller then asked if my card was in my possession. I told him that I was sure it was since I had used the card earlier in the day. He asked me to go check so I did. My card was missing! He then asked where I last used it, & I told him. As it turns out he had found my card lying in the entryway of that store. So he now tells me he would like to return the card to me & begins to give me directions to his house. In my mind a red flag goes up . . . he lives on a road in a rather remote area . . . so I tell him I am unfamiliar with that road & doubt that I could locate his house at night. He then suggests meeting in a parking lot of a business that I know would be closed so I tell him I don't know where that is either. He offers to bring the card to my house, but I do not want to give him my address. I suggest meeting in a Dairy Mart parking lot since I know it will be well lit & should have people milling about. I think this man finally sensed that I was uneasy with all of this & offered to bring his wife along. While I was driving to meet him, a zillion thoughts go through my mind as I am rather afraid. A few minutes later we did meet at the Dairy Mart. This man turned out to be quite nice, & (anyone who knows me well will not be surprised) we talked for about 15 minutes. As it turns out he had a son in high school with two of my sons & called me because he remembered the last name. Upon meeting he told me he remembered my son as a high school football star . . . & my (looking back on it) somewhat egotistical response was "which one?" All's well that ends well, but I was really frightened! Unfortunately, it's difficult to trust anyone in today's world, but as it turns out this guy was a good samaritan!

Catching Up

I guess I wanted to start 2009 by being better organized & by getting back to the healthy eating & exercise that became rather sporadic over the holidays. This plan was thwarted by a bout with the flu that sidelined me for several days. Having already used 2 of my 5 sick days for the year in January is a real bummer!

The holidays were fun, crazy, chaotic . . . lots of family & food! I then felt it was my duty to eat anything left over including the sweets so I may have been on a sugar high for awhile. When I wasn't on a sugar high, I definitely also had my quota of alcohol with delicious after dinner coffees laced with Tia Maria or Starbucks creme liquor as well as Eddie's Irish coffee & lots of wine. We were able to get a rather amazing group photo on Christmas day of the family gathered at my house for dinner. It was amazing in that no one looked bad. With a group this size (23) & no professional photographer plus several kids, this is quite an accomplishment!

So I'm attempting to now get back to real life . . .  back to the gym, back to the brown bag lunch, back to finding some sense of order both at home & at work. The social media has grabbed me to the point that I could spend literally hours reading blogs, listening to podcasts, texting, & twittering--yikes, it can be a real waste of time, but it's such a quick & easy method to keep up with everything! Finding out that President Obama was twittering throughout his campaign has rather legitimized it for me, however, I'm sure his answer to "what are you doing right now?" is way more riveting than my "getting ready to take a nap" or "watching the Steelers!"

As a quick aside, my little grandsons are complete delights who continue to amaze & enthrall me! It is quite a tall task not to spoil them rotten!!! 

So I guess the funniest/most unusual thing that happened to me recently was my trip to the eye doctor for my dad's appointment on a day the temperature was -3. Across from us in the waiting room was a 30ish man wearing boxer shorts (or boxer-style shorts . . . I'm not sure if he actually was wearing his underwear) with hunting boots. I could see way more of him than I wanted to & couldn't imagine why anyone would choose this attire on any day let alone the coldest day of the year! It was so entertaining that the staff one by one found an excuse to visit the waiting room to check it out. I just crossed my fingers & hope that my dad would reserve his comments for later which thankfully he did!

(For anyone who missed it, check out my nephew Brooks Parker on youtube singing with Sarah Chapman in an Amy Grant/Vince Gill Christmas concert in Nashville.) Baby Its Cold Outside - Sarah Chapman & Brooks Parker

Deck the Halls

In the summer most residents in my development hire a service to groom & maintain their lawns. There are a few who cut their own grass with a riding mower. I, however, am the only one who does her own mowing with a push mower, &, of course, also do my own trimming & weed eating. I'm sure it's quite a sight to see this girl chasing a self-propelled mower since I often forget to release this feature going downhill! I could sell tickets!

Yesterday it was unseasonably warm . . . that is, the temperature climbed all the way to 50 degrees. I lamented that work & evening tennis would prevent me from using this warmer weather to put Christmas lights up outside my house. About 10:30 last night it occurred to me that I could just go ahead & put the lights up right then. So I dragged out the lights, extension cords, ladder, etc. & went to work on it. During my time outside, many cars slowed to see what the heck I was doing. About midnight I finished . . . just in time to unplug them for the night . . . but I do have a sense of accomplishment. And once again, I'm sure I provided entertainment for the neighborhood.

Thanksgiving

Nothing brings joy to the holidays more than children, and this year Drew & Tyler did not disappoint! Drew announced that he would be Brooks' & Brett's little buddy all day, & although he was, we would also need to include Uncle Eddie in that mix. Tyler very sweetly let everyone have a chance to hold & cuddle with him. Jan, Kelly, Rachael, & I managed to put together a wonderful meal. The entertainment was often provided unwittingly by Drew & his oh so hilarious comments. It was great to see my dad laugh & enjoy himself so much! (Brooks had a surprise gift for us that still has me on Cloud 9!)

On Friday WVU finally faltered enough to drop out of contention for a Big East Championship & a BCS bowl. The sting of losing the backyard brawl (WVU-Pitt) was lessened somewhat by watching it with the family. Jack & Pam came in bringing several pizzas, & we managed to stuff ourselves while yelling at the tv! Ah, yes, misery does love company, & we shared our disappointment & frustration.

All Atwitter?

Just when I think I'm all new age with blogging, something new comes up . . . twittering! I'll admit I know very little about it. I don't think it's supposed to replace blogging since I read that twittering increases traffic to your blog. I'm under the impression that it may be some kind of a social network, but it seems to be something easier & less involved than facebook or myspace. Is it a low maintenance version? Who knows? I have read that there's a 180 word limit to a twitter. Would it be interesting? I guess that depends on how it's used since I really don't care too much for a bulletin that someone has gone to lunch or is watching tv. I do plan to investigate this, however. It could be fascinating or just another way to waste time on the computer!

Halloween Hooker

On Halloween I dressed as a punk rock chick for work. Although I had bought a blonde wig with a patch of black hair that looked pretty cute on the package, when I put it on it looked like witch hair. Nothing I tried would tame it so I teased my own hair & added color with eye shadow & blush--this was visible under the lights at work. I used some heavy make-up as well. I put on a mini skirt, tights, boots, a feather boa, & a shiny top. I added lots of jewelry including some large hoop earrings. All of this was fairly effective on Friday morning. As the day wore on though, my hair flattened out some & my make-up wore off a little. I needed to go from work to Adam & Kelly's to see the kids dressed up & pass out candy at their house while they were trick-or-treating. After several trips to the door with candy at their house, I decided it would be easier to just sit outside with the candy bowl. I removed the scratchy boa & put on my jacket. In a few minutes a man from across the street (he & his wife were also passing out candy while their kids/grandkids were out) walked over & struck up a conversation. He thought I looked familiar & in the course of our conversation we discovered that our paths had crossed in college & numerous times since then with our kids' sports. We talked for several minutes before Adam & Kelly returned, & we all went inside. Suddenly I realized that this man may not have known I was supposed to be in a costume. My hair & make-up were not as extreme as they were in the morning; my funky boa was in the house. I think that perhaps I just looked like a cheap hooker! I can only imagine the conversation this man may have had with his wife after talking with me . . . "she seemed like such a nice girl in college--wonder what happened!" He probably thought I was headed for the nearest street corner as soon as trick-or-treating ended.