PSA

When you are attending a concert or any other event where the expectation is that you will sit quietly and listen to the performers and/or speakers, please people ...

STFU!!

That is all.

Tuesdays With Noirrie

Revelation

My whole two regular readers had, I'm sure (??), noticed that I didn't blog much for a while. In fact, that's how Tuesdays came to be. I wasn't randomly blogging so decided to make it a date. I wasn't really sure why I was slacking off so much. I thought I just wasn't feeling talkative (HA!) or that maybe there just really wasn't anything going on worth talking about. This weekend, I had a revelation. I wasn't blogging less often because less was happening. I was blogging less because I'd had less fuel. Huh? you say. If you've read my blog for a while, you might possibly remember a few PSIL (psycho sister-in-law) posts from the past. After having a very brief encounter with her this weekend, the epiphany hit that the lack of exposure to PSIL had contributed greatly to my reduced urge to blog. After all, this is my space to spew. And, generally, any encounter with PSIL, creates a great urge to spew.

SO ....

Steve had two tickets to the OSU-KSU game in Stillwater this weekend. His family being great KSU fans, he invited his brother (BIL) to go with him as a birthday treat for BIL. And, surprisingly, BIL accepted. Now, I must clarify the "surprisingly" part. Always in the past BIL has refused Steve when he's been invited to games or pretty much anything that doesn't include PSIL. She keeps him on a VERY short leash. But, with her new grand baby, she's been busy lately. And here I really must divert again for a minute ... When I say grand baby, I mean the child produced by her 21 year-old, won't work, frequently on drugs and usually drunk son knocking up his 17 year-old, completely irresponsible, spoiled rotten girlfriend and, rather than be concerned over this, PSIL was thrilled. But, the birth of PCHNHFTFWTPSH (poor child having no hope for the future with the parents she has) has freed up lots of time for BIL as PSIL is, most weekends, either visiting the baby or has the baby at their home for the weekend. SO, BIL was allowed to go to the game.

It was a night game. It was 1.5 hours from here. It was late when it was over. Steve and BIL had a blast. They very rarely get to spend time together just the two of them and I thought it was great. PSIL had told us she was coming for the weekend as well. I'm not sure when that changed. All I know is that she seems to have stalled out at her sister's house 15 minutes from here and never made it. Oh well. Not that I was heartbroken but it seems like, when you tell someone you're spending the weekend with them, courtesy would dictate a quick call to say you'd changed your mind when you do. Then again, this is PSIL we're talking about so the general rules of polite society do not apply.

Then ...

Despite telling us THEY would be here at 8 p.m. on Friday, she didn't allow BIL to come until Saturday afternoon. Really, just about in time to grab a bite to eat and then head to the game. Then she called here at 10 a.m. on Sunday absolutely furious. Why? Geez. I don't know. All I know is that I answered the phone and she asked me if BIL was there. When I said sure, I'd get him. She very acidly informed me that she did NOT want to talk to him. Um, okay. Just ask him what his plans for the day are. Um, BIL, what are your plans for the day? BIL responds with a typically male non-committal grunt. I passed that on. Oh, well now she's REALLY pissed. (I still am not sure why but wasn't about to ask her.) So she huffily informs me that she'll just go run with her sister then. Um, okay. BIL finally left and went to meet his doom about two hours later. Poor guy. At least we were able to give him about 11 hours freedom from her. Even now, I have no clue why she was so furious. But I'll bet poor BIL found out in a hurry.

Ah, and just think ... the holidays are coming and we'll be getting to see her soon. Stand by for future spewing.

Tuesdays With Noirrie

Books ....

A little sad here. A couple of years ago (? - not sure of the timing and am too lazy to go look it up) Sue Monk Kidd released her first novel, The Secret Life of Bees. It was a WONDERFUL novel and if you've not read it, stop, go do so now. You'll love it. I know I did. That's why I was so happy when I noticed a new book by SMK on the shelf - The Mermaid Chair. Starting a new book is always just a tiny bit like Christmas anyway. First you see the pretty outside package, pick it up, perhaps even fondle it a bit. Then you crack open the wrapping and get your first glimpse of what lies inside. Finally, you read through it, discovering the complete gift. This delicious anticipation is even sweeter when said novel is a new one by a particularly beloved author.

I'm sad to report that Mermaid was a big disappointment to me. I can't pinpoint the exact reason. The writing was good. The story should have been good. But, for me, it was all just "okay". By the end I was wading through it, not because I was still interested, but because I had come that far and was determined to see it through. There was nothing at all that really captured me about it. In the case of this book, I excitedly unwrapped the gift only to find that it contained socks and underwear. And not the kind of underwear your hubby would buy you at Victoria's Secret. The kind your granny would give you. Anyone else agree? Or am I alone in this assessment?

I re-started a Stephen King novel last night. Or, more accurately, a collection of novellas ... The Bachman Books. Have you all read a SK book yet? If not, stop now and go do so. Do this before you read Bees. It's okay. This'll wait. Seriously. Even those of you who say you don't like scary books. Did you know that 90% of SK's books aren't scary? And quite a few of them aren't even all that weird (although I must admit that the majority of them are). I recommend The Stand for a first SK read. Yah, it's seriously long. Quit whining and just do it. If you want to be a big baby you can read the original, abridged version which contained only abut 2,847,938 pages as opposed to the later-released unabridged one which contains 3,469,324 pages. But if you're gonna commit, commit. Go for the unabridged. You won't be sorry.

Oh, and when reading any SK book, always read the prologue. I don't always read these in books. Mostly, they're boring. I usually start them, just in case they contain information I need to have to enjoy the book, but get bored (impatient?) before I finish so skip the rest and hop into the novel. Never, ever skip the prologues in SK's books. They're as entertaining as the books themselves.

I'll expect a report in two weeks.

World of Warcraft ...wha huh?

I couldn't believe it when I saw this commercial on TV this morning.

Tuesdays with Noirrie

BTW, that name does make sense. You know the book. My main WoW character is Noirre (that's her on my profile - ain't she pretty?). So ... Tuesdays with Noirrie.


Dianaology

[Brought to you by a long-ago SS blog challenge that I didn’t do at the time.]

ARCHAEOLOGY: the study of material remains

My house is already well on its way to becoming an archaeologist’s gleeful find. In recent years, I’ve tried to be very good and clear out the various no-longer-used debris of a normal life. And yet, there are things that escape my cleansing frenzy from time to time. There a number of elderly items that have been saved on purpose … the Little Bo Peep Storybook doll my mom had as a girl and later made into a Christmas tree angel, the “squaw” dress my great aunt made and wore when she was 15, the various family heirlooms my mother-in-law has been passing on to us for years. And then there are those ancients which need not stay, but have escaped my notice. A pair of size 4 jeans tucked away in the top of Levi’s closet – what are these doing here? My home is a haven for both intentional and accidental artifacts.

BIBLIOLOGY: the study of publication

Ah, books. You will find books in literally every room of my house. Even the bathrooms. I’ve tried more in recent years not to collect quite so many of them. But some books must be kept. I own every single book Stephen King has ever written. Most in hard cover. There are a few other authors I collect – John Grisham, J.K. Rowling, Terry Goodkind - but none so prolific as SK. If I were only allowed to have one book, ever, for the rest of my life, I would have to keep SK’s The Stand. If you haven’t read it, do.

CARDIOLOGY: the study of the heart

Dictionary.com defines heart, amongst other things, as:
* The center of the total personality, esp. with reference to intuition, feeling, or emotion.
* The center of emotion, especially as contrasted to the head as the center of the intellect.

Much as I hate to admit it, I’m an emotional creature far more often than an intellectual one. Oh, in many circumstance, my head plans and organizes. In all too many others, my heart leads a blind charge.

PHYSIOLOGY: the study of physical function

Average height, average weight, average brown hair, average, average, average. Seriously, I could probably rob a bank and no one would remember me. Should the coroner ever need identifying marks, I do have a few scars. Never seen them? Probably never will then.

AXIOLOGY: the study of the nature of values and value judgments

Values. Those are trickier when raising kids than one might think. I’m a mostly honest and law-abiding citizen. Gasp! Mostly?? Oh, come on, are you really telling me you don’t speed on occasion?? Are you telling me you’ve never picked a grape in the produce aisle at the grocery store and quickly popped it in your mouth? Never fibbed to someone when they needed reinforcement, not honesty? But, when your kids are watching you, these little dishonesties are examples of correct behavior. Or incorrect behavior. But, when they see you doing it, they assume it’s right. Or, at least until they, say, take driver’s ed and then constantly monitor your speed. I never have to worry about speeding again with my own, private on-board speed limit consultant. But having kids does make one examine one’s own behavior a little closer. And such scrutiny is not always comfortable.

TECHNOLOGY: usage and knowledge of tools

I used to be much more technologically adept than I am now. Oh, I’ve never been a whiz at any of that stuff, but I could at least program the VCR and perform the functions of the average tech consumer. And then Lane came along. He’s just so darned quick with that stuff that I’ve allowed myself to become lazy and just hand those things over to him. I don’t know what I’m going to do when he leaves for college. Have to find my own two technology feet again I suppose.

GENEALOGY: the study of relationships within families

Family … both the blessing and bane of my existence. I come from a biggish family – five kids. Most of us get together on a regular basis. The ins and outs and ups and downs of our relationships are ever-changing, endlessly annoying, continually interesting, and forever precious. Still, I won’t deny that there’s days I wish I were an only child. And an orphaned one at that.

My day

Well, this is handy. I no longer have to recap my day when someone asks what I did. I'll simply refer them to this video.

Tuesday’s With Noirrie

I have been a very bad blogger for some time now. You know it. I know it. What’s the reason for this? Hmmm, I’m not certain. Perhaps I’ve been lazy. (Who, me??) Perhaps nothing much has been happening. Perhaps the blogging muse has simply deserted me. Or maybe, just maybe, it’s because I’ve spent so little time with Psycho Sister-In-Law recently that there’s been no fuel for my fire.

I’ve made an attempt to keep this blog from becoming a what’s-been-happening forum. Why? Dunno. It started out as my forum to blow smoke when I needed. It’s my place to mull over things that pinged my radar, that got my hackles up, that struck me as particularly incongruous. But, either those things haven’t been happening lately – and, really, those things do happen often – or I just simply haven’t been taking time to write them down. More likely the latter I suspect. So, in order to rectify this, I shall attempt to blog, at the very least, each Tuesday morning. Why Tuesday? Oh, no particular reason. I’ll just say that Tuesday’s tend to be my productive mornings. No special reason for that, they just are. Okay, FINE, damn you! Tuesday’s are Warcraft maintenance mornings so I usually get loads of miscellaneous chores done, including most of my computer updating of calendars, correspondence, etc. Anyhoos, since I’m usually here and not in Azeroth, it might be a good plan. We shall see.

Thought for the week … I really, seriously, desperately need to get a king-sized bed for Steve and I. Or, even twin beds. Better yet would be separate bedrooms but that’s not possible until we kick one of the kids out. Now, I know that sounds sad to you singletons or short-time marrieds. Trust me, give yourself several years of marital bliss and you’ll probably understand. It’s not that I don’t love him. It’s not that I don’t want to spend any … um … “awake” time in bed with him. I just don’t much want to sleep with him any more. He was out of town all weekend. I sleep sooooooo well when he’s gone. And then, in the morning, I just have to smooth the blankets down a bit and the bed’s all made. When he’s home, he and/or I tend to toss and turn all night. For one thing, he has developed the habit of late of scootching over to my side before I come to bed. Oh, did I mention that I don’t like him touching me when we’re actually sleeping? So now I have to make the decision to lay there and put up with it, meaning I can’t fall asleep, or try to push him over to his side, thus risking waking him which makes him grumpy. In the mornings, the covers look like a WWF match has taken place in them. A king-size would greatly reduce most of these problems. Not eliminate, but alleviate to some degree. Now I just need to figure out how to convince him that we really, truly, desperately need a king. Maybe I’ll go out of town for a night or two, hope he sleeps really well when I’m gone, then make a full-court press for one as soon as I get home while the memories of those blissful nights are still fresh in is mind.

Hmmm, that’s actually not a bad plan. Now just to figure out where to go. Anyone want a house guest for the weekend?

And the clouds parted …

… and a light shone down from above and lit the face of a humble hunter. And it was good.

I don’t remember how I first found Big Red Kitty’s blog. But, since that date, I have become an avid reader. BRK is not only highly informative, but he’s just plain amusing to read most of the time. Being a total non-gamer, there’s zillions of things in WoW that I don’t fully understand. I play, I learn, I grow. But, often, there are questions I don’t even realize I should be asking until someone answers them. BRK is a good source for just such answers. A couple of days ago I linked BRK’s blog here. And then … BRK his mighty Dwarven self posted a comment! I am humbled. I am blessed. I have been touched by the Big Red Hand of Awesomeness. (And at the same time I vaguely wondered how he knew I linked him? Does his all-knowing, all-seeing eye reach even beyond Azeroth? Apparently so.)

Of course, reading BRK’s blog makes me realize on a daily basis just how little I really know about WoW in some ways. Oh, I’m a soloing demon. One doesn’t make all those trips to the cemetery without learning something. But, honestly, I’m pretty much a Carebear. I like to instance but don’t often get the opportunity to do so. Even so, I feel I’ve learned even more through these grouping ventures. But reading BRK’s discussions of end-game groups, stats, recommendations and, well, all of it, makes this little Draenei’s head spin. It makes me realize even more that I really have no business in this game. If I could change my character’s name, I swear I’d change it to Stillanoob.

Am I ready for end-game? Not even close. Then again, hunters are one of the (“the”?) most highly played classes and, in fact, two of the three 70s added to our guild recently have been hunters. Those to be added to the several 70 hunters we already had. I highly doubt my services will be needed. I’m coming to realize more and more that level 70 represents end-game for me in a different manner than it does for most. For me, it’s pretty much going to mean the end of the game in some ways. I’ll finish skilling up those professions, get some decent gear when others need help in the regular 5-mans, feel powerful when helping lower guildies and then …. ?

But, as usual, I digress. If you play WoW, especially if you play a hunter, check out BRK’s blog. Kitty is good ... Kitty is wise ....

And they're OFF!

Ever since the boys were big enough to be involved in activities, I have wanted to slap the holy crap out of the person who coined the phrase the "lazy days of summer". Our summers have been packed full, possibly even fuller than the school years. It never really seemed like we had a true break from the busy-ness of the rest of the year.

And then came the summer of 2007.

We actually have had a lazy summer overall. Lane worked a lot during the first half. But that meant working 5-6 hours a day. That left the rest of his day free. And even that didn't affect me much as he can drive himself to work. Levi went to 4-H camp. Again, just another mini-break for me. Even our vacation was somewhat lazy as we didn't really do a whole lot. I've even been very lazy about blogging as I'm sure my one, lone reader will have noticed.

And then school started ...

Thursday - school, open house at the middle school
Friday - school, youth symphony rehearsals
Saturday - youth symphony rehearsals all day
Sunday - an actual day of rest *sigh*
Monday - two orthodontist appointments for Lane in Wichita requiring us to stay there all day
Tuesday - school, orthodontist appointment for Levi
Today - school, guests for dinner which has sent me into a cleaning frenzy (because, to be honest, I've also been pretty lazy about cleaning this summer)

Whew! Ever hear of easing into things? Instead we kind of got SLAMMED into our new schedule. I guess you'd call this the immersion technique. I'm sure we'll get used to it, well, because we're going to HAVE to get used to it.

In the meantime, I think I'll take a little nap.

Funny Fourteen

Levi turns fourteen today. I'll dub him Funny Fourteen. As in it's funny how quickly these fourteen years have gone by. As in, he can be really funny (when he wants to) with that quirky sense of humor of his. As in, funny ... I don't remember him getting taller than me. As in, what's that funny smell coming from his shoes? As in he's really funny about some things - like the tendency to wear long-sleeved shirts, often layered UNDER a t-shirt, even when it's 100-degrees outside.

He's funny, but he's mine and I wouldn't trade him for anything.