Exceedingly Mundane

Another busy day – Tim does so love to stay busy on the weekends! That Type A personality in constant motion.

He did a bunch of woodworking, painted the gas grill, worked on the car, and various and sundry other tasks. I did some stuff in the house and finished my latest book (Shopaholic Ties the Knot – gotta do the review soon). We went and ran some errands. Went to Sam’s and got the aforementioned 7 dollar sweatshirts to put up for next year. Tim got one more and I got two! 🙂 Gotta love big comfy slouchy sweatshirts to lounge around in while watching football 😀 Then we went to Home Depot and got some woodworking stuff and also some replacement landscape lights.

Afterwards, …
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I just added a couple more new pictures of Grayson and Ava Clair in the Hambones Photo Gallery – go check them out (if you are a registered user!). Shanna sent me some from a recent outing to the zoo with her brother Jordan, and a couple from Easter.

We LOVE getting pics of the kids – send more!

Geesh, it sure is cool and breezy outside today. We had such an early Easter, and I knew there was a little bit of cool weather left. It’s supposed to be in the upper 30’s again tonight, and the wind is really chilly outside this morning.

We had originally thought we might work in the yard some today (well, I thought, but I don’t think Tim agreed!), but the weather has convinced me to stay inside. Tim is going to work outside on the vehicles and his woodworking. I’m going to do some cleaning up, paperwork, and organizing today. And – hopefully – read my book! Like I told Tim, woodworking is a hobby, so is reading, so I can do my hobby too! 😀

I’m about halfway through my latest book “Shopaholic Ties the Knot” and it’s funny and very entertaining – so much so that I really don’t want to put it down!
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Wow! We watched the season finale of Battlestar Galactica last night, and all I can say is that we didn’t see that coming! Commander Adama was shot at the very end, and neither one of us saw that coming at all – I wonder now if Edward James Olmos is going to be back next season. We both really like this show. I used to watch the old one when it was out 20 years ago, and this one is SO much better, even Tim really likes it!

Needless to say, we hate waiting till July to find out what happens!

Missed this one, it was posted yesterday. I usually love this one, so I had to go do it. Sorry if it’s too much in one day! Gotta catch up, you know!

1) Let’s say this summer you could take a two week vacation anywhere in the world – – money is no problem – – where would you go? Well, at the top of my travel list is where I have wanted to go my whole life – England, Scotland and Wales. If money were no issue, I would go there, and do it RIGHT! Second on that list is an Alaskan Cruise, but that would only take one week 🙂

2) Summer also is the time most people get a tan. What kind of tanner are you? (bold your choice)

A) Fake & Bake (tanning bed)
B) Turn Or Burn (layout responsibly)
C) Stick A Fork In Me (bake for ages no matter the consequences)
D) Spray Me Baby (go to the salon and get a spray on tan)
E) Rub Me That Way, Ohhh Yeah (use a sunless tanning lotion)
F) Pass The Sunblock (no matter what you do you just can’t get any color)
G) Ahhh Sunshine & Fresh Air (just spend time outside and get that golden brown)
H) Tans Are Out Of Style (don’t tan at all)
I) Tan? Who Tans? (none of the above)

3) For those who use tanning oils and / or lotions – – what kind do you use? Normally Neutrogena. I branched out a bit last year and tried Banana Boat, which I liked almost as well, and it sure was a lot cheaper! I also got a bottle of Avon sunless tanning lotion from Amanda, and it was ok, not quite as good on my skin as the other two.

Some interesting tidbits I just gleaned from Fox News…

The lights in the pope’s apartment in the third floor are on now, but will be shuttered later on when he has passed. Also, they keep speaking of Bronze Doors that will be shut (Gail and I heard about this earlier)

Once John Paul II has passed on, a conclave of approximately 117 cardinals will be convened, no earlier than 15 days and no more than 20 days after the death of this pope. Conclave actually means “to be locked in”.

What I remember distinctly about this process, from the last one, is the ceremony of the smoke. That always fascinated me for some reason.

Looks like it’s going to be a good day for memes and questionnaires!

Friday, April 01, 2005

Appetizer – Describe your week in one word. Normal

Soup – Tell about a funny practical joke that you’ve played on someone (or that was played on you!). I don’t play jokes on other people, and I’m sure I’ve had plenty played on me, but I think I have blocked them all out! 😀

Salad – Name someone you had a crush on when you were a kid. I liked the Hardy Boys guys on TV – Shawn Cassidy and Parker Stevenson 😮 I think I even went to a Shawn Cassidy concert when I was really sure, but I’m not 100% on that (you know me and my terrible memory about my childhood)

Main Course – If you were a member of royalty, what would your title be? Duchess of something or other. Definitely a Duchess

Dessert – What colors are the clothes you are wearing today? Grey sweat pants, white t-shirt. ACK!

I found another Friday Five meme site today, in addition to the normal one I frequent. This one is at This site.

1) What’s the one movie you’ve seen more times than any other? Probably the original Star Wars, possibly followed by The Sound of Music, which I loved growing up

2) If you could turn one book, comic book or other print story into a feature-length movie, what story would you pick and why? I’d love to see the Mitford books turned into a movie, or maybe a miniseries on TV. I would love to see Father Tim, Cynthia, Dooley and the Mitford gang in a movie, it would be so clean, heartwarming, quaint, funny and charming! 😀 Another I would like to see would be the new books I have found, the Stephanie Plum books by Janet Evanovich, but again, they would be better suited to TV, cable TV, more than the theatre.

3) Whom would you cast? Not sure about that…

4) What one movie would you like to see “updated for the year 2005”? (Ie, a remake) I’ve always wanted to see an updated version of “Imitation of Life”, one of my favorite older films.

5) What one movie are you most looking forward to this year? Good Grief. Hands down, Revenge of the Sith, I have a counter on the side of this blog, counting down the days!

So far, this day has been uneventful, except in world news. No April Fools jokes played on me, or anything like that. 🙂 It’s quiet here in my little corner of the world. Grey and cloudy outside and looks like it could rain any minute. I’m staying home today, after being gone most of yesterday and half of last night. Gotta catch up on laundry and stuff around here.

The failing health of the pope is on the news right now. Yesterday, it was the coverage of Terry Schiavo’s death. Today, it appears the pope will not last much longer. He has been the pope for such a long time, isn’t it like 24 or 26 years? I can hardly remember the pope before him, and barely remember when he was elected and became John Paul II. Even though we’re not Catholic, I’m very interested in things like this, it’s the history buff in me. Rather morbid, I know, but still very interesting.

It’s late, but I didn’t want to miss out on one of my most favorite memes of the week! From This site:

::Hot Dogs and French Fries::

Onesome: Hot Dogs–Spring picnics and cookouts are coming! Is it hot dogs or hamburgers you want to have on your plate as you head back to the table? I actually prefer hot dogs, believe it or not! Tim is the burger eater around here, but I’d take a hot dog or sausage dog most every time! I definitely prefer to take hot dogs on picnics, they are a lot easier to deal with 😀

Twosome: and– …and what else is on that plate that you just cannot be without as you work your way through the crowd? Potato salad? One of those huge pickles? Come on, there has to be something ! I would pick either potato salad or Gail’s crunchy slaw. Tim would probably say baked beans (ick, I don’t like those much at all, but I always try to make them for him).

Threesome: French Fries– …and the real toughie: do you have to have “fries with that’? …or will chips do well enough for you. Just curious… Again, I would pick fries any day, but I think Tim would pick chips. I’m just not a huge potato chip fan (although I do have my favorites like Fritos, Cheetos and Funyuns!). And these days, I am working really hard on reading those labels and cutting out as much trans-fats from our diet as possible. It seems bagged potato chips are loaded with them!

Well, after I had lunch with Daddy, he left heading home to Hattiesburg. I had some errands to run, and went to a few stores off County Line. I got home in the late afternoon and Tim surprised me by getting off early and getting home not too very long after I did. 🙂

He came in and offered to take me out to dinner – wow, two meals out in one day, now that’s a treat! I already had stuff out for supper, but I’m not one to turn down a free meal, and he seemed like he wanted to go, so off we went. We had supper at Garfields – Tim’s choice. Tim did really good and ate a big salad (the chicken quesadilla one he had there last time), since he has to weigh-in at work tomorrow. I was still really full from eating out lunch with Daddy, so I just had the chicken quesadillas off the appetizer menu. It was good, and I enjoyed our early date night out! We had a lot of fun tonight, drawing on the white paper tablecloth that they put out on the tables there. We played tic-tac-toe, and the connect the dot/draw a box game. Tim beat me pretty much every single time we played! 🙂

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Highlight of the day – I got to see my dad!!

He drove up early this morning from Hattiesburg for an 8:00 appointment at the VA hospital here. They ran a CT scan on the carotid artery on the left side of his neck. He had the right side operated on last year, when it was about 70-80% blocked. They have been checking the left side since then, and a Doppler test in late Feb revealed a 60-80% blockage. They wanted to do a CT scan to check. Since he was driving from so far away, they scheduled him for the CT scan first thing, then said they would do an “emergency read” and scheduled him for an 11:20 appointment in the vascular clinic to get the results. But, of course, they didn’t have it ready.

Now, I think the VA is a great thing. Don’t get me wrong. I really do. They do a great job taking care of all of our veterans. Including my dad, my father-in-law and possible one day, my husband (proud USAF vet that he is!). And for that, we are grateful. They have done really well with preventitive and maintenance type stuff on my dad and FIL both. Daddy has had his carotid surgery there, and a colonoscopy, and they have his cholesterol regulated now. Plus, he got new digital hearing aids last fall. All great. But, they are not the fastest organization on the planet! Normally, it takes 10-14 days (or more) to hear anything back from them. So, going in, I was already skeptical as to their promise of an “emergency read”.

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Not a whole lot going on to blog about. I’ve got to get up in the AM and head down to the VA to meet my dad. He has a test run on his carotid tomorrow morning to check for blockage. He had the left side operated on last year, and I think it’s time to do the right side.

We went walking tonight then watched some of our favorite tv shows. There was a new Lost on tonight, then a new Alias. Then we watched the premiere of the new show on ABC after those two called “Eyes”. It was pretty good. Not that we need to add any more TV shows! And darn it, I forgot to tape the Idol results show. I think I just read on another blog who got voted out. Will have to double check tomorrow.

I’m off to read my book for a bit before going to sleep. Night 🙂

Well, the post last night about the Schiavo thing and my wishes has me all melancholy and thoughtful. I heard this song a few minutes ago, and even though I have heard it several times before, it really hit a lot closer to home this go-round. It’s called “If Heaven” and is by Andy Griggs. I don’t own the mp3 of this song, and despite a quick Google search, I couldn’t find a free one (gasp!) to download to my PC.

Several parts of the lyrics really got to me…

“and everyone I loved was still alive”
“if thats what Heavens made of, then you know, I ain’t afraid to die”
“if Heaven were a pie, it would be cherry”. 🙂

I did find a place to play the video and/or music from it, so try this if you want to hear what it sounds like:

For Windows Media Player (video+music) click Here

For Real Player (music only) click Here

Obviously, you should be on a high speed connection to do these. It’s a nice song, and it fits my mood for today. I’ve been thinking about my blog entry, and as it turns out, this is one of those days when I’m missing my mom more than normal.

A Meme for today… might do a one question poll later! 🙂 This one came from This site.

Either… Or

1. Gap or Old Navy?: Old Navy
2. McDonald’s or Burger King?: Burger King
3. MTV or VH1?: VH1
4. 90210 or Saved By The Bell?: Neither!
5. Explorer or Netscape?: Explorer