Insomnimusing: Allons-y!

Do you mind terribly if this post has no particular focus? "So what else is new?" you say. Yeah, I do tend to ramble and wander sometimes, so if you're here, you're probably used to it. What's up? Well, if you recall, my daughter Gin had a trip to the emergency room a few weeks back. She slipped on the stairs and turned her ankle. There was no real injury, but I guess she was feeling particularly fragile that day, so she insisted on going to the hospital. The bills are in: $1,026 all told. How's that for ya? Pooh's getting a new car soon - new for him anyway. My mom's decided he needs one, since his 1998 Toyota Corolla has been through some few levels of hell. She's giving him her 2000 Honda CR-V. I've got a 1999 CR-V. And she's replacing hers with a 2004 CR-V. Have you noticed, we love the CR-V? Yep. We do. It's the perfect car - except for a frustrating audio system with a PITA volume control (PITA=pain in the ass). Seriously though, ...

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It's amazing what can get accomplished in a long weekend if you actually set your mind to it. Some weeks ago, we had a pile of clothes suddenly appear at the bottom of the stairs. Miraculously, about the same time, the carpeting of my daughters' bedroom suddenly appeared as well. I started tackling the pile, then it suddenly disappeared. The carpeting in my son's room appeared about the same time. I later discovered the storage room below the stairs filled about halfway with Mt. Laundry. I informed the children, we would be scaling Mt. Laundry this weekend. First thing when I got home Friday after work, we started into a continuous cycle, and as things came out clean and dry on the other end, they got sorted to remove anything stained, damaged beyond repair or too small to wear anymore. Saturday, we got Book and went to my mom's for lunch. We decided it was time to break down her pool for the season, so in our quest to figure out how to drain it without flooding the nei...

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of USC . All opinions are 100% mine. As many of you well know, I'm in the newspaper business. I work for a community newspaper in a rural county, so naturally, the school systems are a big topic in our paper. More than once - in fact, more than a dozen times, I'm sure - I've looked at the stories and said, "I should have gone into teaching." From the standpoint of a journalist, it starts to look like a pretty good deal. Now you can get your Master of Arts in Teaching from the prestigious USC Rossier School of Education online, with the privacy and convenience of working from home - around your schedule. The program includes a highly interactive online course combined with real-life field experiences. There's also a tuition reimbursement program, and you can complete the accelerated program in as little as 12 months. Scholarships are available, and you have the opportunity to become a part of the elite USC Trojan...

Ding dong, the witch is dead! Which old witch? The one that liked to shove its broomstick up the backsides of its employees for fun and giggles. The one that continually made bad business decisions, bringing the misery upon its employees. The one that went off half-cocked and half-assed pushing through poorly thought out get-cash-quick schemes while refusing to consider ideas that would genuinely increase profits and serve customers better. The one that..... Oh never mind. They're not worth the effort of trying to itemize their acts of utter idiocy. In sum: my paper's under new ownership, and I don't think there's a broken heart to be found in the office anywhere about now. Nor would I expect to find one in any of our sister newspapers' offices either. Suffice it to say, the old company saw its ruin in unrestrained greed and selfish tyranny. I, for one, am more than happy to have been around to see it get its comeuppance. It's overdue. I welcome our new ownershi...

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of NMEDA . All opinions are 100% mine. No two people with disablities are exactly alike, and they don't have the same mobility needs. The National Mobility Equipment Dealers Association understands this and can help you find an NMEDA qualified dealer to provide a safe, reliable vehicle with the modifications and enhancements you need. NMEDA doesn't sell anything. They're a non-profit trade association that will help you find a dealer you can trust to get the handicapped-accessible van or vehicle modified as you need it. NMEDA qualified dealers provide an in-person evaluation to be sure you are getting the right driving solution to meet your needs - as well as any training you might need to learn to use the modifications of your vehicle. NMEDA not only can match you with a dealer, they also have the Quality Assurance Program. This is the only nationally recognized accredited program for the adaptive mobility equipment industr...

Ok, maybe I don't really do the "fretful mom" thing. If the cat scratches Munch and she comes running to me, I don't give her, "Oh, you poor baby!" I tell her, "Go wash it with soap and water, and stop picking on the cat." I got to spend this evening in the hospital emergency room with Gin. She fell down the stairs and twisted her ankle. Personally, I thought it was an overreaction. We spent two hours there. (Surprisingly brief, I know.) She got an x-ray and an air cast and has to get crutches. Why? - because they're not going to say, "You're fine. It's a little owie. It'll go away." However, by the time we got home, she was walking around on that air cast like it was nothing. Seriously, there wasn't even any swelling. I took a much harder spill down those stairs a month or so ago, but I dealt with an achy hip for several days, watched the massive bruise change colors over the course of a week or so and moved on. Life ...

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Hampton Hotels . All opinions are 100% mine. This summer, Hampton Inn is giving you the chance to win AN ENTIRE HOTEL for a weekend in the Hampton Chain of Friends Sweepstakes ! That's right. I said, an ENTIRE HOTEL. Not one room - 100 rooms! For two nights! Imagine the possibilities. That's just the grand prize though. They're also giving away a daily prize of a weekend stay for you and three friends. It couldn't be easier to enter. Just visit the Hampton Chain of Friends Sweepstakes page and complete the simple form. You know - all the usual stuff - name, address, phone, email - that kind of thing. Who doesn't need a little weekend getaway? If you're one of the daily winners, you get to grab your three closest friends for some much-needed rest and relaxation. And if you're the grand-prize winner of the whole hotel? Well, that's a party, isn't it? :) Where would you go? Well, Hampton Inn's got...

How strange it is that we can spend a year living in the same town, going to the same high school, even sharing some of the same friends with a person, but we never meet. Then one day, 20 years later and 2,000 miles apart, we should discover each other. Technology at work again. I suppose it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise to me. Indeed, when I think on it, it doesn't strike me as much of a surprise at all. The circumstances of my life have distanced me from everyone who was a part of my life in my youth. And I've had no real opportunity to develop new relationships, outside my interactions online. Perhaps living in the isolation that I do - in this village of 600 tight-knit Catholics all intermarried, and working in a job where my single colleagues are 25 or 80 - it's not a surprise my friendships all live their lives in cyberspace. So my new friend, from my old life, might be coming to Ohio for a visit, and we'll see each other in person. We'll have t...

Well, tonight's the final performance episode of this season's So You Think You Can Dance, and here in Shelby County, Ohio - HOME OF KENT BOYD - we've been watching with great pride as our little hometown boy has overcome the perceived "disadvantages" of growing up in a small town and attending a small local dance studio as his only training. He's certainly given us reason to be proud, hasn't he? I haven't voted for the past few weeks - though when things started, I was putting in between 450 and 500 votes each week. I'll be back to dialing tonight for sure! There's a parade planned for Kent this Saturday, as he'll be returning home to Botkins - presumably not for long. The kids and I will be attending. What an exciting development for our little corner of the world! Naturally, also in my mind and boosting my adrenaline levels is the start of the Premier League season this weekend. I got to see that great 3-1 win over Chelsea in the Communi...

The fact that I haven't blogged about my trip to see Man United in Kansas City on Sunday yet just goes to show you how severely overworked I've been lately. But here goes - How do I describe something that is beyond words? At work today, I kept being asked, "How was it?" I answered, "It was a religious experience," which always got a laugh. But it wasn't funny. It wasn't an exaggeration. It wasn't even adequate. I started out with my daughter in tow at 4 a.m. on Sunday. We drove 12 hours, and for a lot of it, I didn't know if I was going to make it. I'd only managed to get about 4 hours of sleep, so I was exhausted even as we began. We made it, with little time to spare, and since I couldn't get an early check-in to my room, my Twitter friend Dee said my daughter could hang out in her room during the match. Upon arriving at the hotel, I immediately got a burst of energy. There were people in the parking lot tailgating, and everywhere ...

I am a firm believer in fantasy fulfillment. I believe that life is made up of your memories, and if you have a chance to make a memory, you should go for it! We all live our day-to-day lives, and yes, there is purpose and meaning there, but what do you sit back and recall on quiet nights? What do you tell stories about when you're with your friends? What do you tell your kids and your grandkids about when you're old? What just makes you smile when you think about it? It's not going to work every day, doing housework, etc. It's those MOMENTS. Sometimes the moment is just a minute. Sometimes it's a night or a weekend or a once-in-a-lifetime or just a first-in-a-lifetime event. But it's all about the MOMENTS. I get to make another memory this weekend. I'll be hitting the road in just about 10 hours to drive to Kansas City to see Manchester United play live for the first time. It's not Old Trafford, and it's not the way my first Man United game was su...

I got to take two days off work Monday and Tuesday to "pay" me for the work I did before I got on payroll. (Corporate said they couldn't pay me for the last of my freelance work since I'm on payroll now, so the boss said take the time off as time worked to make up for it.) It's a good thing I took the time when I did, because it's getting busy for me now. We're in the midst of the big vacation blitz, so people are taking days off every day, and I'm in to pick up the slack for them across the board. I guess that's what happens when you've done everything in the department. My crunch is getting worse though, because the webmaster who replaced me when I left has gone off on maternity leave, so I'm left to fill in the web duties for my paper, in addition to my regular work... and filling in for vacationing people. I won't be able to breathe for a while. Yesterday was her first day off, so I started the web duties. I didn't get any slack...

After getting only five hours of sleep Friday night, I took the kids to the Cincinnati Zoo yesterday. We got to see Burned Jesus , formerly known as Touchdown Jesus or Big Butter Jesus, officially known as King of Kings, now known as The Monument to Our Robot Overlords , along the way. If we'd gone when I originally planned, we would have seen it intact. Funny sort of irony that it was thunderstorms that kept us from going then, and it was a thunderstorm that destroyed it. It was raining throughout the entire drive. As we got about halfway there, I started to feel a little odd. It was similar to a couple of weeks ago when I was driving Book home and my heart suddenly started racing and my head went a little dizzy. It wasn't as extreme this time, but since I was driving with all the kids on the interstate through a construction zone in the rain, I thought it a good idea to pull over and see what happened with my head. It eased up and I didn't experience anything else odd thr...

I've been wrapped up in So You Think You Can Dance for the past few weeks. I am every season, but I have extra motivation this time. One of the contestants is a boy from the county where I live. And as if that isn't cool enough, I interviewed him for the paper when he was 11 years old. And as if THAT isn't cool enough, he just happens to be one of the most beloved dancers of this season. That's right. I'm talking about Mr. Adorable himself - Kent Boyd. :) And you can see here, he was adorable then too. One clarification though - he's from BOTKINS. His address is Wapakoneta, but really he's a Botkins boy. The package on him during the show where he auditioned is all shots from Botkins, not Wapakoneta. Apparently, the whole Wapakoneta-pronunciation spin was too irresistible for the producers, so they don't plan to clarify it as it should be. My understanding is that the mayor of Botkins actually called the show to explain it, but they said they're stic...

Okay, I've been pretty busy, but not quite busy enough to really justify my absence here. I probably could have - should have, even - squeezed in a couple of posts here and there. But I didn't. Catching up: I helped my mom put up her new pool a couple of weeks ago. I spent four hours in the sun without sunscreen while doing it, so I got more than a little scorched. It stung for a couple of days, then itched, and it's been peeling ever since. I haven't actually gotten to swim in the pool yet. I cut off more of my hair,so it's actually only about an inch long all over now - and blonde. I'm hoping it doesn't turn green when I do take advantage of the swimming pool. It's pretty cool. I've gotten a lot of compliments - and one or two glares or raised eyebrows. So what? I'm still a rock star. ;) This weekend I picked some cherries, and I've started a batch of cherry liqueur. This is my first batch. I usually make wine. The liqueur will take much lo...

All day yesterday I kept thinking that I was forgetting something. The date kept repeating in my head. May 25. That means something. I should remember something. I thought it was something I was supposed to do. Maybe a bill to be paid or an assignment that was due or a meeting I was supposed to go to or something for the girls' school. May 25 was something. But I couldn't quite place it. This morning I remembered. It was two years ago. May 25 was the day of my son's graduation. That's not what made the day stick in my head though. On that day, P left me. He left me devastated. I won't bother to replay the situation. It's all be chronicled here before - too much. It was months and months of misery for me - so naturally the date stuck. I felt a little better when I remembered what it was. What felt particularly better was the fact that I HAD forgotten - that I'd managed to forget. No matter how I felt that day two years ago, the fact that I could ever forget t...

I'm going through the early stages of Man United withdrawal already, but it hasn't set in too hard just yet. I staved off a little of my symptoms by watching part of the Inter Milan match. I was quite happy to see them win the Serie A, but I have to admit I had a little hope for Roma as well, since of course my favorite player, Luca Toni, plays for them. Either way, I would not have been unhappy with the results from today's matches, I think. Roma did win their game, but much like United's final win, as far as the league title went, it was largely irrelevant. A bit sad, really. Now that Luca's no longer with Bayern (thank goodness), I won't have any conflicts at all for the Champions League final. I will be pulling for Inter all the way. Of course, I have been ever since Man United were knocked out of that one. By Bayern, no less. Kick their asses for me, Jose. :) After that's over, my footie fixes will depend on the World Cup. First match June 12 between th...

The girls returned from their trip to Illinois this evening. Both of them got sick while they were gone, and Gin's still feeling pretty lousy. When Jen returned the girls to me, she told me she was disgusted by my ex. Join the club. She said he slept the whole time - which I expected. He took Friday off work - even calling me at 7:30 a.m. to tell me that he was taking off and would be spending the whole day with the girls. Jen tells me that he slept the whole day. (Jen is married on one of his coworkers, btw.) She said they went to a family fun center, which is like a Chuck E. Cheese, and he even slept in the booth the whole time. Then, after having told her that he would split the bill with her, when she handed him the receipts, he asked her what the hell those were for. She even bought each of the girls a Webkinz toy and a pair of socks, and he told her he wasn't paying for it. She told me the girls were great and he was lucky to have them and was disgusted by his behavior. S...