If my life were a song it would be called “On the Road Again,” or perhaps, “More Than a Feeling” or, more poetically, that timeless classic, “Boogie Oogie Oogie.” If you can hear those songs in your head as you read the titles, you are either over 40 or very weird…
The weekend was all about pursuing goals. Yesterday, I got up early and drove Alesia to her final SAT prep class. On the way I had to stop and get her some coffee at McDonald’s so she would be coherent, and then we passed hundreds of people running down the street – some charity “fun run” which I think is a total misnomer. Runners never look relaxed and happy, they look like they are being pursued by attack dogs. Then we got into the school parking lot and the band or some organization was handing out vast quantities of citrus fruits, and highly annoyed that we were there for an academic reason which had nothing to do with fruit. I dropped Alesia as close to the door as possible, then gunned and took off, escaping the Fun Runners and Fruit People as quickly as possible.
The second goal was Kroger. Mother and I sat like generals planning food for the next week, including Thanksgiving dinner. The irony is, we will only be feeding two extra people on Thanksgiving day, Bruce and Lesleigh. Since we made the turkey and dressing a couple of weeks ago and put them in the freezer, I am not stressed. We are free to clean up and make pies, always my favorite part of Thanksgiving – the pies, not the cleaning. Kroger is inundated with Christmas stuff, which ticks me OFF. Out with Halloween, in with Christmas. Skipped Thanksgiving altogether. I saw one little toy turkey, that was IT. Ridiculous. Christmas trees are everywhere already.
It was 60 degrees yesterday. Hard to think Christmas when you’re wondering if you need to wear sunscreen while you rake leaves. I don’t expect people anywhere else in the country to understand this. This is HOT-Lanta, where you turn on the heat at night and the air conditioner in the afternoon. If you’re in my house you don’t open the windows, not ever. Why? Mother has allergies and asthma. I have sinus issues. Fresh air means pollen and pollen is the bane of our existence. Michael has been very sniffy of late, too. I dream of the day when they invent an antidote to pollen, and I can get a nice screened-in porch.
Today, goal #2 was accomplished, the scrubbing of the kitchen floor. A few years ago, before Michael came home, we had 4 rolling chairs at the kitchen table. The floor is rough-textured tile. The wheels kept breaking off the chairs. They were cheap chairs. Finally, we got rid of most of the chairs. Now we have mismatched but totally functional chairs, including a very nice rolling chair for Mother that a kind neighbor gave to us. So we don’t need the carpet. The carpet was getting really dirty and was difficult to clean. So I got the kids to help me this morning and we got the icky carpet off the tile, and scrubbed the tile. The tile is tricky. It doesn’t show dirt. It gets very dirty, however.
We had lunch at Twains, a favorite Decatur haunt now. The weather was cold and rainy, so it was nice to be inside. All our sandwiches were terrific. Michael stuffed himself with nachos. Michael and I had two tacos – the menu said “the taco of the day.” Now, I know “the soup of the day” – a/k/a the soup du jour, but I was unaware of variations on tacos. Our tacos were soft, and were stuffed with chicken, chipotle sauce, fried onions, and blue cheese crumbles. Sounds weird but they were great. I also enjoyed black beans. After we ate, the kids went off the throw darts, and Mother and I could talk. The food is better than Fuddruckers and darts are cheaper than the videogames, so it’s a winner in my book.
I love this poster, because the profiles spoof much more "serious" posters and it also looks very 1950's.
We came home and got Mother settled in, then the kids and I went to see the new George Clooney movie, Men Who Stare At Goats. I put that imdb link almost reluctantly, because the idiot who reviewed it on imdb clearly didn’t understand the movie at all. It was about the army training special “psychic jedi,” and the whole premise is farcical. It spoofed the army and the new agey stuff equally. I thought it was going to be very anti-military, but was glad to see it was pretty even-handed. It was funny. I confess, I really just wanted to see Ewan MacGregor. What a hunk. Clooney has never interested me – reminds me too much of my brother – major ick factor there. Ewan, though, what a hottie.
Below, see Ewan and George together. George looks ancient, and seems to have dentures. Even Jeff Bridges, who is much older than Clooney, is a lot sexier, in my book.
A while back I wrote a funny little poem for a website run by a friend of mine, Vox Poetica. If you want a giggle, check it out here.