Let’s all say it together….”THANK YOU STEVIE WONDER!!!!”

Yeah, baby! You are the apple of my eye!

“If you want to accomplish big things, I am convinced that you first have to have big dreams”

Carlton Hilton

I have been so sore the last couple of days.  My shoulder, my lower back, my butt.  What the hell???!!  I’m not that damn old, yet!  I was all worried about my premature aging and getting feebly before my time, and then I remembered that , duh!  I started to work out again last week after, oh, like , 12 years!  Huh, jess, maybe that has something to do with it!  (I’m so brilliant sometimes!)  I started going to this place called Curves and I really like it.  Even more so now that I’m realizing that it’s actually _doing_ something!  My butt really does feel like it’s been worked out!  And my thighs.  Boy do they need it!  I feel better when I sweat for a little while, I guess, even though I hate to sweat.  I really do.  It’s worth it though.  I need to lose a couple of sizes before October.  right now, that’s not looking very realistic, but at least I can give it a shot!  My Step Brother is getting married in Vegas and it sure owuld be nice to have a sexy dress to wear, instead of the tents that I’m wearing now.  Ugh.  Maybe I should just get rid of all of my mirrors.  I usually feel fine until I see myself in one. 

I LOVE fireworks!  We saw a few really great ones last night in a “Preview show”  at some friends house in beaverton. They were great.  Nicholas was not as thrilled as I had hoped.  But I’m taking him to see them big show tonight, so I’m hoping he’ll really enjoy himself.  I have always like fireworks….

I was just 5 years old.  I remember thinking that the funny fireworks we had were about the coolest things I’d ever seen!  The sparklers were especially cool, because I could actually hold them in my hands while they went off!  How funny!  (In the background, my father’s Purple MG.  How I loved that car!!!)

Exactly what you’re NOT supposed to do…light another firework with a sparkler…ACK!  Well, I still have all my fingers, so it can’t be that bad, right? 

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!

140 years ago today the three-day battle of Gettysburg ended, leaving
over
50,000 dead and wounded Americans on the fields, and roads, in the
college,
the seminary, the homes and hills and forests around the town.

“…that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in
vain,
that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that
government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not
perish
from the earth.”  -Abraham Lincoln, 1863

Have a peaceful and happy 4th of July.
(stolen from Chris gattman..thanks, Chris!)

Well, we did today what we always said we’d never do. I guess the old adage, never say never is true, eh?  We took our three year old to a movie that was definately not a childrens movie, simply because we couldn’t wait to see it!  We’re bad, people, I know.

Terminator 3!!!! Or T3, I s’pose.  Great film!  Not as bad as I thought, violence wise.  Which isn’t really saying much, because, well, if you’ve seen either of the other two, you’d know to expect more violence than your average movie.  But it really wasn’t _that_ gratuitous.   I had the idear that the boy would sleep through it, but he didn’t fall asleep before the film and there was way too much action for him to go to sleep durring, so he watched the whole thing.  He cheered right along with the rest of the theater when the “bad guys” got their butts kicked.  It was really fun to tell you the truth. And it kind of ushers in a whole new phase in our lives with a child.  Like we can actually start having lives again!  WOOHOO!  Not that I’m going to be taking the little guy to grown-up flicks often, or anything. But it’s nice to know that if I really need a change of scenery, he will cooperate.  COOL!  I love going to the movies, you know.  It’s just so darned expensive….

We went out last night to the club in Portland where Greg sometimes gets work.  It’s a “Dueling Piano” bar called Wallbangers.  Fun!  The guys working last night are all people that Greg has worked with either at the  club or on the ship.  They are SO funny!  I mean, I’ve seen and heard almost ALL of the bits that they do, and still I was cracking up.  It was great fun.  It could have had something to do with the two Long Island Ice teas that I had….the bartender there is RUTHless, I tell you!  Watch out for him!  Greg actually had to drive ME home!  What a switch!  I didn’t even really realize how bad off I was until our son woke up crying at about 3:30am.  Oh, my head!  Poor little guy, he had a rough night last night.  He so rarely wakes up in the middle of the night, I was a little concerned.  And Greg and I really don’t know what to do, because it happens so infrequently.  I ended up laying in my sons bed with him until he could fall asleep again.  That seems to work fine.  He was up until about 12:30am, too.  My mom doesn’t know how to get him to go to bed, I guess!  Oh well….we got to sleep in today, a little bit!

Tonight, Karaoke with a girlfriend (greg may come along..we’ll see..) and then back to work on Saturday.  My life of leisure is once again coming to an end.  *sigh*  I’m not cut out to be employed full time.  I have too many projects around the house that need to be done!  At least almost all of my shifts are in the evening, so I can still make playgroups and do fun stuff with the boy.  When I went to work on Tuesday, my son wept bitterly.  It really broke my heart!  he kept saying, “I want you to stay with ME, mommy!”.  I almost called in to work, “I’m sorry, my son needs me, I can’t come in today!”  Huh…how would that go over!  Oh, to live in a world where that is considered a “valid” excuse.  *grumble*

Greg is coming home tonight.  I was at work today, and I had a woman for a client who was telling me about her husband, who was a firefighter when they were first married.  He was gone a lot too, and she was sympathetic to my feeling as though I am losing my independance.  It’s hard to go from doing _everything_ to having to share responsibilities again.  The transition is always difficult.  Completely unrelated, it turns out that her son and I went to school together, and I had probably met her when I was in high school.  How wierd!  It’s so nice to have a great client like that…makes the whole day! 

My day was also made to feel very, very loooooooong, mostly due  to the fact that I was at a Birthday party last night and *ahem* imbibed a little more than completely necessary.  ugh.  Now I remember why I don’t do that kind of crap anymore.  Getting only 5 hours of sleep, and working all day and then coming home to take care of Nick, I’m just about done in.  And I have to leave for the airport in an hour.  *sigh*   A lady’s work is never done!

While I sit here typing, my son, recently turned three, is working on his own computer next to me, “reading” a story and playing games.  *sigh*  Soon he will surpass my flimsy computer knowledge altogether.  At least then I’ll have someone in the house who knows what they are doing! 

We successfully unloaded ALL of the the stuff from the yard sale.  We didn’t actually sell it all, but the Veterans came and picked up what we didn’t and now it’s GONE!!! BWAHAHAHAHAHAH!!! I’m absolutely thrilled!!  I’m ready to get rid of more, to tell you the truth.  Getting rid of the first batch was so  empowering that I’m thinking we should do it at least once a month until we are like minimalists.  I’m seriously considering getting rid of my love seat, to make more room for a chair that I like. hmmm….decisions, decisions…Should I do it before the man gets home and just take the consequences?  (actually, it’s _MY_ loveseat, if you want to get technical. So there should be no crap to dole out, I suppose.)

So we spent out big wad of yard sale dough at Goodwill today. Well, half of it, anyway.  My son got a new soccer ball and a pocket etch-a-sketch (I loved mine when i was a kid).  I also got him a little tape player.  It has a mic so you can record yourself.  he might be a little to young right now, but it won’t be long, I tell ya.  The kid is s-h-a-r-p.  I also found a nice outfit for myself, featuring my favorite color, Purple.  It’s a nice flowing broomstick skirt and a cotton blouse.  I love it when I find clothes that actually fit me at the Goodwill!  It’s so exciting!  I told Anj, who was with us, that it would be my new country Fair outfit!  Ha!  I’ve never even been to the country fair.  Maybe this year, eh?  Hey, Linda!  Get busy making hats so we can have a booth!  I can make some too, and we’ll sell our wares and then sit around the drum circle all night chanting!  Yeha!!

I LOVE summer!