A Random Snippet Day

Should I be slightly concerned that when I called the elementary in the neighboring town to talk to someone for work, the secretary recognized my voice? I didn't even have to tell her who was calling. She used to work at the elementary here when Hannah and Eli went there, but moved to the other one about two years ago. Perhaps that means I used to call the school a lot, what do you think? We had some problems with a few things back in the day, and I think that anyone who saw me coming or heard my name on the phone would cringe. Not so this woman; she told me, "Oh, you were always so much fun to visit with! And I loved your kids!" She talks so that you can actually see the exclamation points after sentences like that. I think it is because her husband is a pharmacist; I mean, if I had a husband, and he was a pharmacist, I am pretty sure I could find a way to be happy all of the time. That said, I really like her, even though I am pretty sure she used to be a cheerleader AND she is still beautiful.


My mom called last night and invited herself, her "gentleman friend," and my grandma to my house for Christmas. Apparently after, oh, 6-ish years she has realized that every time she asks us to spend Christmas in the bar with her and a few dozen of her closest (drunkest) pals , I am going to say no. Go figure. I found it a little bit odd that she would feel free to just invite herself over, but at the same time, it will be good. She is even going to send me the funds with which to purchase the food to make the meal, which is quite thoughtful as well as necessary if she wants something fancier than cheeseburgers. I think-since it isn't MY money-I am going to try a prime rib. We'll see. It is funny, though, that last week, Eli was saying, "Why can't we just have Christmas dinner at home? We haven't been at our house to eat in years." Which is quite true-I don't really care to cook a feast for just the five of us, and we have always had invites to other places. So this year, we are going to have a feast of my making (and I am not really exaggerating to say that I am, in fact, a damn good cook!), with the kids all pitching in, and I am strangely excited about it. My mom and I have a very conflicted relationship, and I have experienced a lot of repressed anger toward her since this stuff with Hannah has come up, so I think that it will be good to have this one day where we can all just be together. She won't be drinking, either, which makes her much easier to deal with.

Sam has his first orchestra concert tonight, for which he is really excited. Me, not so much. I mean, I love him, more than I can say, and I am thrilled to see him learning (albeit slowly and painfully) to play the violin and all of that, I really am. However, I hate those concerts. The auditorium is always too cold, and there are those parents who stand in the aisles and snap photos like they are doing a shoot for GQ even though they tell us all at the beginning that they will provide "photo ops" at the end of the concert and to please not take them during....and there are also the inevitable screamers, those children whose parents let them run up and down the aisles (BTW, I have very judiciously made other arrangements for Owen, she says self-righteously). My only hope for the evening is that one of the kids forgets the whole "don't lock your knees" spiel and falls over. And I hope it isn't mine. I know, I know, I am the world's worst mom-but only because I say it out loud.

My office is about three doors down from a bar, and several days last week I would walk from my car to the office and encounter a puddle of frozen puke. It got to be kind of like a lily-pad of puke in all of these random places because every day there was a new puddle. That is bad enough, but worse is the fact that I think it is the same guy based on what it looks like, and I think he should change his diet.

So there you have it-just a few of the random things going on in my brain today. I thought we all might need a bit of lightening of the mood on my dark blog....but also because I know nothing new yet, and because life keeps moving on.