Random notes on post-Thanksgiving shopping

1. The only REALLY good sale item I wanted I could get on-line
2. There are WAY more people in the DC area than there ever, EVER are in the Triangle
3. It was amazing how many of the sale items were the high ticket items. Sorry, but I'm not likely to buy a $350 coat, EVEN if it's 50% off
4. It is, though, nice to not get up at 5am, so perhaps I shouldn't be griping about the shopping!

Oddest breakfast experience ever...

Or, at least in a really long time.

So, I (sadly) woke up about 7 this morning; David and his crew didn't get rolling till later; not really sure when, other than they didn't call me saying they were ready for breakfast till 10 or so.

We'd gotten a recommendation for a place near the hotel that had good pancakes, crepes, etc, so headed there, not even thinking that they might be closed.

But, of course, they were.

Had we been thinking, we'd've gone across the street to the Whole Foods, but sadly, we weren't. We did, though, see and interesting place just a few stores down; the sign said Maria's Cafe and Bakery. But it also had some Chinese characters on the storefront. We immediately christened it "The Chinese Italian Cafe and Bakery"; we went over, and they were indeed open, so we went in.

There was, without a doubt, the most GORGEOUS array of pastries I've ever seen in the display cases. We considered getting an assortment and calling THAT breakfast, but they also had table service, so we sat down.

They had a very, um, eclectic menu; some french toast, some sandwiches, lo mein, omelets, noodle soups...And for some reason, all the omelets had peas in them.

So we ordered; I got a ham, onion, mushroom and pea omelet. It came with fries (I'm not sure I've ever had fries for breakfast, but I suppose it's not THAT much different than home fries). The french toast was deep fried, rather than grilled. The omelet was fine (hard to screw up an omelet, and I kinda liked the peas).

But I'm kinda thinking we should've just gotten the pastries....

Happy Thanksgiving?

This was meant to be a nice, brief (well, for me anyway) post wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.

Then I woke up to the news of a terrorist attack in Mumbai; 100 people killed, hostages being held, hundreds injured. No word on who's responsible; India, of course, is blaming Pakistan, there are also rumors of Kashmiri involvement, or the possibility of the attacks actually being aimed at Americans, in which case there's no telling who it might be.

Sometimes it seems we don't have a lot to be thankful for; we're in a lousy point in the economy, there are nutcases out there who thing they can make their point with a bomb or a gun, and it seems people are more concerned with getting the latest gadget than with the fact that some people can't eat.

But, here are some things I'm thankful for (in no particular order):

1. My kids, every day, every hour. Even when I'm angry at them (which, of course, NEVER happens) they make me happy in the core of my soul
2. The rest of my family wherever they are and whether they're "blood" family or the people that have become family over the years
3. David
4. the fact that I can, more or less, say whatever I want in this blog, and not get in trouble
5. That, with a few obvious exceptions, I live in a country that's safe, and wealthy
6. that I'm healthy
7. Kitties purring on my bed in the morning
8. Doggies who look at you as if you are the BEST person in the world, when they just met you five minutes ago
9. people who make me laugh

I'm sure there are more, but it's early yet, and I've only had one cup of coffee. And, I suppose I should add this blog to the list; I was rather grumpy when I began this post, and am much happier now!

So Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!!!

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Why I don't live in DC

Driving to the DC area today; a good trip, for the most part, except for the last hour (during rush hour)...

When we covered 15 miles....

When I had to PEE!!!!!

Dang, one hour to cover 15 miles? That's just nuts. I kept calling people to take my mind off my bladder!

Jack's Turn

Several weeks ago, Dusty got out. In true Dusty form, he had a daring and dangerous escape; he waited till we were gone one night, pushed the screen out of the playroom window, then after a daring and dangerous two-story leap, was free!

Except he did it right as we drove home, so we caught him and brought him back in.

Jack's adventure, in true Jack form, was not quite as exciting.

The kids had come over with their Dad to get some things they'll need for their trip to Florida; as they were leaving, I was standing in the door to the garage, saying goodbye and going over some last few details.

When Jack just toodled out the door!

We were all stunnned for a moment; then Jeff tried to catch Jack, but that of course just startled him, and he scooted towards the road. So we stopped that, but he still wandered around a bit, till finally got close enough that I could pick him up and carry him back inside.

Silly, silly, boys

North Carolina Fun

Adrianne sent me an email today, entitled "You know you're from North Carolina..." I won't include it all, 'cause it had 100 items, but here's the abridged (and annotated) version:

You know you're from NC if:

1. You've gotten used to the smell of cow manure on a car trip to Raleigh.
As a Carolina Grad, I won't say what I think when I hear the words "cow manure" and "Raleigh" in the same sentence

2. Saying "y'all" isn't just a cute expression; it actually means something.

4. You give directions using KFC and Waffle House as landmarks.
Don't y'all?

6. You can't imagine life without Bo jangles' sweet tea.
Why would you want to?

11. You can tell the difference between cotton fields and tobacco fields while driving.
Yep, and soybean, too. And I can tell the difference between tobacco and collards (in the field)

14. You've been "properly raised", and yankees love it when they hear you say "ma'am" and "sir".
Um, actually, I've been raised right, thank you very much!

16. You know the difference between a "redneck" and a "hick".
No lie: David and I were having a conversation about just this on Saturday!

17. You own at least one t-shirt from Bert's Surf Shop, AB Surf Shop, or The Sanitary Fishmarket.
You forgot Howard's Pub

24. In summer you have home-grown tomatoes with every meal.
No, but I wish I did!

28. You can recognize a copperhead and your heart drops when you see one.
Actually, I can recognize a copperhead, and get 20 8 year old girls past it without anyone screaming!

29. You have at least one relative that raises collards.
No, but my boss does!

30. You know Krispy Kreme makes the best doughnut.
Unquestionably

31. You have an opinion about UNC. You went there and loved it, or you hate everyone who did.
Guess which one!

32. You know the difference between eastern BBQ and western BBQ (see number 85).
Of course

33. You would rather eat at Bojangles than McDonald's.
Good Lord, who wouldn't?

34. You have actually uttered the phrase "It's too hot to go to the pool".
Yep, I actually have. Several times a summer, even!

45. A tobaggan to you means a knit cap, not a sled.
Yes, and it's pronounced TOE-boggon

46. You sold Krispy Kreme doughnuts for a school or church fundraiser before those glazed doughnuts went global.
Yep, several times

48. You remember watching the ACC Tournament on television at school.
Um, yeah, or taking a day off...

49. The local newspaper covers state, national and international news in one page, but sports requires six pages.
as it should be, particularly during Basketball season

52. You have no problem spelling or pronouncing “Conetoe", “Topsail", or “Beaufort."

54. Your school classes were cancelled because of cold.
55. Your school classes were cancelled because of a chance of snow.
56. Your school classes were cancelled because of heat.
58. Your school classes were cancelled because of a hurricane.
59. Your school classes were cancelled because of hunting season.
Yep; yep; yep; yep; nope, but it was an excused absence if a kid "got into a patch of ramps"

62. You know more about ACC basketball than professional basketball.
To do otherwise is to be led by fools....

63. You know that "Carolina" refers to UNC-Chapel Hill, while "State" refers to NC State.
And don't let anyone from SC tell you otherwise

64. You think South Carolina was dead weight well shed.
see above

72. Priming was your first job...and you know what it means.
No, thank God, but I know what it is

74. You say catty-wampus, yunto, ill-ass and ah-ite.
And even know what they mean!

79. You can spell words such as Ocracoke, Fuquay-Varina and Chocowinity.
And even know people who've lived in each!

85. You know that barbeque is a food, not an occasion, and it applies to pork, not hamburgers or hotdogs. You also know that the best of any version, whether chopped or pulled, vinegar or tomato, can be found somewhere in NC.

86. You know what a "pig pickin" is and you can't wait to go.
In college the kids from NJ always got so confused when we planned the dorm pig pickin.....

91. You dip.
God, no, but I (sadly) considered it a high honor in high school if a guy asked me to hold his spit cup

93. Pop refers a lot of things, not including soda.
And if you ask someone to get you a coke, and they say what kind, Sprite (or ginger ale or Pepsi) is an acceptable answer

95. You listen to beach music and you can shag.
Yes, and that would be shag the dance for any Brits reading this

98. You constantly see signs for tractor pulls and turkey shoots while driving through eastern NC.
Yep! Never understood them, but I've seen them!

99. You mash buttons and eat creamed potatoes.
And cut on lights and get my picture made...

100. You show this to some Carolina friends ‘cuz ya know it’s true, darlin'!
Shouldn't that be 'cuz ya know it's true, Sug?

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Es-Silly

Last night I had bells from 6-7:30; Peter had ball practice at 7:15. Since I haven't QUITE figured out how to be in two places at one time, I got Kathy to take Peter to his practice.

Apparently as they were walking across the parking lot, he looked up at her and said, "Que pasa, perro?"

Which, of course, is Spanish for "Whassup, dawg?"

Lord, have mercy.

Really? You can do that with Mentos?

I imagine years ago, if a child showed an interest in math or science, their parent might say to them, "Work hard in science, and someday YOU could work for NASA". Or Bell Labs, Microsoft, Dow, whoever the 'cool' science guys of the day were.

And what I said to Peter tonight?

"Work hard in science, and someday YOU could work for Mythbusters!"

Of course, I think mainly he wants to blow things up!

Why geeks shouldn't shop

I was doing some clothes shopping today (aside: why are pants cut in such wonky ways these days? I have never in my life tried on so many pants that were SKIN TIGHT in the butt and thighs, and HUGE-MONGOUS in the waist!!! WTC?).

Anyway.

When I was done, and heading to the checkout line (with ONLY shirts, thankyouverymuch) I took a side trip to the purses. For some reason, I really, really want a purple purse this fall, but I'm picky about my purses. They can't be too big, because I'll fill it and hurt my shoulder. They can't be too small, because then they won't hold everything I need (and I need a lot, but nowhere near as much as Adrianne, who carries cinnamon in her purse...).

It makes it difficult to shop for purses, particularly since there are so many different styles; it's hard to tell if purse A, which is long and narrow, is bigger or smaller than purse B, which is more square.

So, I'm wandering through the purse section, looking at purple purses, trying to figure out if they're too small, too big, just right, when suddenly a very, very geeky thought flits through my head:

"You know, they should put the volume of the purse in cubic inches on the tags, so you can adequately compare different styles!"

Sheesh.

In my defense, though, I've recently bought a backpacking pack for Peter, and volume IS printed on those tags. And, yeah, I severely chastised myself for being such a geek....

Can we just stop now? Please?

Sometimes, it just doesn't pay to go online.

I'm kidless again this morning (for a weekend when I HAVE my kids, I sure am spending a lot of time WITHOUT them!); G is taking an optional test this morning (don't ask me, she wanted to).

So, I dropped her off, and came home to clean, but needed to do some work-work before I did house-work. Since I was online anyway, I checked in on email, Facebook, and blogs.

My friend Bruce's status was that he was "praying for a great many things", followed by many comments that peoples prayers were going out to him and his family. Since I hadn't heard of anything happening, I did some poking around to see what I could find. Eventually, I went to his main page; it turns out that his brother-in-law was shot yesterday. His BIL was an executive with a startup technology firm; an employee who had recently been laid off came back to the offices, and shot three people, Brian among them. He leaves a wife and two young children.

During my search trying to find out what had happened to Bruce's family, I went to Trina's blog (Bruce is Trina's cousin). I didn't find out what happened to Bruce there, but I did see a blog post about a demonstration in Dick and Trina's neighborhood last night; supporters of California's Proposition 8 came to the Castro to demonstrate. I have no details, so I don't know if the demonstration was initially peaceful or not, and if it was I don't know which side escalated first.

But I do know that the situation became tense enough to call in the police; there was a police line at the corner, and Dick and Trina had to show IDs to prove residency before being allowed to walk down their street. Apparently their block had become a focus point for the demonstration (not entirely sure why, it's pretty residential).

Now, I'm not going to get into the issues behind these two incidents. Anyone who reads my blog with any regularity knows my opinions on the economy, gun control, and human rights (yes, I have the radical belief that gays are human). I do, however, know that my beliefs are just that: mine. They are not shared by all people, and perhaps not even by most.

But when did it become OK to react to those who believe differently than us with violence? When did screaming, and shooting, and hatred become the way we express ourselves?

Yes, I know that these incidents of violence have flared up at various moments in our past. I'm not a mo-ron, and I WAS a history major.

But aren't we supposed to be progressing? Don't we want to improve? Why do we keep falling into the same patterns? Why is it that we don't debate those who believe differently, or simply share our beliefs, but instead we want to destroy, literally, those who are different? How can this possibly be right? And why aren't more people outraged over this type of behavior? How can we, in good conscience shrug these things off and think they don't matter?

I'm sorry, but they do matter. We've become a nation of isolated, insular pockets, unwilling to acknowledge others' opinions without restort to screaming matches, name-calling, or outright violence. That's wrong, and it DOES matter.

Crosby, Stills, Nash and (I think) Young once extorted us to teach our children well.

Are we?

Oh, my

A sign that you're WAY the heck older than the average college student (not that I needed reminding, mind you):

"Wishbone is the most educational show EVER"

sigh.

I can't love Fred anymore!

I used to love Fred. I really did.

But Fred has left me.

XM Radio, in all its wisdom (or, I suppose, possibly as a result of the merger with Sirius), has renamed Fred; it's now 1st Wave.

So, I still love it, but it was more fun to say I loved Fred!

Lunchtime Sadness

I had my yearly physical this morning; my doctor does fasting blood work (two words I always try to combine into bloork....), so I couldn't make my oatmeal this morning.

Which aparently translated into my mind as, "I should not bring ANY food from home today!"

I had a lovely salad and some beef vegetable soup all ready for my lunch. They're sitting in my fridge, wondering why they got forgotten....

And I now have to run to Harris Teeter!

My silly (but worldly) kids...

We were getting silly at dinner last night, and at one point I asked my kids the classic question from Stand By Me (or, for you purists, from The Body by Stephen King): "Micky's a mouse, Donald's a duck, Pluto's a dog. What's Goofy?"

They, of coures, replied, "He's a dog!"

So I said, "But Pluto's a dog. What's Goofy?"

Finally Grace got exasperated with her mother's stupidity, and (very patiently) said, "Mom. Micky and Minnie are both mice. Donald and Daisy are both ducks. Pluto and Goofy are both dogs."

At which point Peter cried out, "Hey, Pluto and Goofy are gay!!!"

Melancholy, Baby

A friend sent me a link today from the Daily Telegraph, 50 things you don't know about Barak Obama. One of the items was that he has a carving on his desk of a hand holding an egg. It's apparently a Kenyan symbol of the fragility of life.

So, I've decided if I ever do get a tattoo (which, yeah, is not real likely), that may be what I choose.

Not that I'm overly pessimistic, mind you. But life is fragile, and it's worth remembering that. I've had an odd few weeks; not bad, mind you, but it's left me considering such ideas, and in a bit of a melancholy mood.

Now, most people thinking about the fragility of life, would immediately think of death; Lord knows there are enough instances to remind us that life can end abruptly (like the deer that ran in front of my car last night, missing the front by about 5 feet!).

But it's not just life that ends. Relationships change, or end, and that too is part of life's fragility.

Warren Zevon had a song several years (Um, yeah, or decades) ago called Accidentally Like A Martyr; it's really about a love relationship ending, but one line strikes me as being apt for the end of many relationships, romantic or platonic: "Never thought I'd have to pay so dearly for what was already mine, for such a long, long time"

We fall into relationships easily, without necessarily planning or thinking about them. One of my oldest friends I met because she was wound up one night at UNC's Freshman Camp, and tickled me; I screamed, she laughed, and we've been friends ever since. My son became friends with his best friend because they wore the same shirt the fourth day of kindergarten. We become friends with our kids' friend's parents, with the people who live across the street, with our in-laws, with the folks who all go to the coffee shop at the same time we do.

We fall into friendships somewhat randomly. And if we're lucky, they're ours, for such a long, long, time.

Until they change, or end, or both.

Children grow up and go to different schools, and we lose track of the other parents we hung out with.

We graduate from college (or high school), and move in different directions than our friends.

Marriages end, and our in-laws become our ex-laws. Or out-laws, pick your term!

Colleagues change jobs, people move, life comes along and takes us in many and varied directions.

There are a million ways it happens, but in the end, what it boils down to is the moment when "Take care and I'll see you soon" really means "Goodbye"

And, I'm sorry, but that sucks. The world needs more friendships. They need to be easier. They need to be angst free. They need to NOT make other people unhappy, or threatened, or uncomfortable.

But sometimes that's not possible. And we wind up wondering why we're paying so dearly for what we took for granted for so long.

Now, I'm not necessarily advocating we all move towards a touch-feely-hold-hands-and-sing-Kumbaya kinds of life.

But I think we do need to take time sometimes to stop and think about the people in our lives who are important to us, and to realize that, if we're surrounded by a group of friends, we are incredibly lucky, and blessed with a treasure that may literally disappear overnight.

And work very hard not to let that happen.

I can haz de Indee?

It's a Friday afternoon; we've already had a (nearly) major crash today, so I'm kinda scared to do more real work.

So I'm surfing, and I found this:


more animals

Notice the paper in the lower left corner (which, I guess, the kitteh iz eetin). It's one of my favorite local papers: The Independent.

Cool!

More ways to embarass one's children

So, I was driving the kids to choir last night. It was a really nice night, temperature-wise, so I had the windows open. And, of course, was listening to the radio.

When Cameo's "Word Up" came on.

And, no, I don't know every word. But I think I still know as many as I did in the mid-80's!

So, there I am, radio blaring, windows open, singing at the top of my lungs:

"If it's music we can use it, give me the chance, we don't have no time for psychological romance. No romance, no romance, no romance for me, mama, come on baby tell me what's the word, word up!"

Grace just thought I was crazy.

Peter was appalled. I got a raised eyebrow from him, and then when we got to the "W-O-R-D UP!" bit, I think he buried his face in his hands!

It's SUCH fun to mess with them!

The things we stress about

Last Sunday I had a bit of a frightening email. Peter is of an age to Acolyte in church, and Grace is a Bible Bearer. Our Director of Family Ministries, Miss Beth, coordinates acolytes and Bible bearers, and usually sends out an email the week before reminding the ones who are scheduled to do it on Sunday.

Well, I didn't read email after Thursday of last week, and last Sunday when I got back online, there was an email from Miss Beth. I panicked, thinking I'd forgotten about having the kids do their stuff. Luckily, though, the email was a reminder for THIS week, and also a request for me to help the kids out and get them going down the aisle at the correct time. Miss Beth is going to hear her middle son preach.

I was happy to do it, but apparently it caused more stress than I realized, because I dreamed about it ALL last night!

First I dreamed that the kids needed to ride horses (NO idea where that came from....). I woke up from that one and pretty quickly realized that was just silly. But then I started worrying that I'd miss church (I hate time changes), and suddenly became convinced that the kids needed to do it at both the early and the late service (they don't), and random other crazed neuroses!

It's funny, because this is Peter's second year acolyting; he's a pro at it. And this is actually Grace's 3rd time Bible Bearing, so it's pretty much old hat to her, too. They both do well (though Grace is wearing black go-go boots today, which is going to look interesting under a robe and surplice), and I'm not at all worried about them.

I'm apparently terrified that I'll screw something up! And, yeah, my part is pretty easy: light the acolytes' wands, send them down the aisle, then send Grace down after. Not tough.

But apparently stressful!

A Regular!

This morning the kids and I went to The Waffle Shoppe, as we do nearly every Sunday they're with me.

The staff at The Waffle Shoppe always wear Waffle Shoppe T-Shirts, in various colors; the shirts read (on the back) "A Chapel Hill tradition since 1972" but today they all had on white T-Shirts that read "Hernandez: Since 1998!"

One of the cooks, Carlos Hernandez, was celebrating 10 years at The Waffle Shoppe!

It was very sweet; Carlos always has a smile for us when we come in, but today's was LITERALLY ear to ear.

Daisy, the manager, was going around taking pictures of some of the regular customers to put into a scrapbook for him, so the kids and I got our picture taken, too!