Mood:  celebratory

So I'm on the Alice Cooper's Maidens Yahoo Group last Wednesday & someone posted that Alice has a concert coming up in Oct. in Houston.  My reply - "Too bad he's not coming a little north to the Dallas area".  Not ten minutes later another poster responded "Ask & you shall receive." Complete with a link to Ticketmaster.  Yep - the Coop will be at the Majestic Theatre on Oct. 23rd. So of course I hurried & emailed my dh the info - thinking the entire time - yeah, we're not going.  The price for tickets is a luxury we don't really need right now.  So he tells me to tell him about it later at home.  Of course I do - the presale starts the next morning - OMG - the VERY next morning & he didn't say one way or another.  So I ask before he heads off to work that Thursday if I should try to get tickets - he responds in the affirmative!  Of course trying to figure out how & where to call to get the presale password was a long process.  I'm on a list for a call back for the pw.  No call.  Then I checked Ticketmaster later in the day - presale now will start on Friday.  So the next day I do the whole thing again. I'm told I'm still on the list.  About 3 that afternoon Ticketmaster shows that the presale has started so I call the radio station back & once it is confirmed I'm on the list, they give me the password.  Hurriedly (& I mean very quickly as the website only gives you a minute here or 2 minutes there to enter info before you lose those seats!) I complete the stuff & before I knew it, I've reserved 2 box seat tickets!

The last time I saw Coop in concert was Dec. 4, 1987!  So it's almost 20 years!  I'm so excited!  Stay tuned, Dear Readers, for more on the saga as the story unfolds!

Posted by wendylittrell at 8:39 AM CDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Mood:  blue

Since our family lost a great person - my brother.

 What makes it different this year then the other years since he passed away, is the day.  When Jim died on Aug. 31, 2001 - it was a Friday.  Well - today is Friday.  So this afternoon around 1, I will take more than just a moment to say a prayer, converse to my "guardian angel" brother, and remember what a truly unique and special brother he was.  Not just to me, but to my sister.  She got to grow up with him, to see him change from kid to teenager to young man.  By the time I was born, he was 21 and married - already through with the school stuff and poised on the brink of a (should have been) long, happy and vibrant life.  Sixty-one years old is still quite young for him to have left us.  There were many things left unsaid at his death.  I wished I would have been able to tell him how important he was to me, how I wished I had not taken his being my brother for granted. 

I miss hearing my brother's voice.  I miss seeing new pictures of him.  I miss getting emails from him.  I miss the way he called me "Sis".  I miss the fact that my kids didn't get to have their "Uncle Jim" in their lives longer.  I'm sad that he hasn't been here to tell him stories about his nieces and nephew or about his great-nephew.  I'm sad that he wasn't here for me to tell him about my youngest grandson.  I'm sad that he left so many people who loved him when he died.

Now knowing that the pancreatic cancer would take him, I wished I had really (I mean truly) listened to his list of symptoms and complaints.  Anyone who has lost someone vital to them will always do the "what if" or "I should have" or "if only". 

Jim, I miss you. 

Posted by wendylittrell at 8:32 AM CDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | View Comments (1) | Permalink

Mood:  accident prone

It wasn't enough that with the first day of school came the possibility that I could get back into the "work out" mode every day or the fact that I started getting either a cold or was hit by some strange hay fever like allergies - OH NO! 

I am typically a "clutzy" person.  As a kid my mom would often refer to me as  a "bull in a china shop" - I was all the time running into things, running things into walls, doors, furniture, knocking stuff down, breaking stuff, skinning/scraping my legs/knees/arms/elbows.  Unfortunately one of my daughter's takes after me in that respect.  She'd always run into stuff.  When we had new carpeting put in and had absolutely NOTHING in the hallway, we figured it was her big chance to not run into anything - NOPE!  We would still hear a big thud as she ran into walls or doorways.  I was witnessing my own youth!  Anyhow in all my "accident prone" life, I've never broken a bone (at least none that I actually had diagnosed as such!).  I've hit my head so many times (no - that is NOT what is wrong with me!) that I'm sure I've had small, teeny weeny skull fractures at one time or another.  I hit my hand on a ceramic towel rack years ago & when the weather changes I can feel it!  I've stubbed both my pinky toes so many times I'm sure I've broken them over & over again.

Well let me just tell you about Monday - 4:30 p.m.  Walking from the Kitchen to the LR, my hands full of newspapers for the recycling bin and a bag of trash to take out, I was walking & talking to Senior daughter (not the clutzy one!), couldn't see my feet (now you know why I always watch my feet when I walk!), & ran smack dab into the corner of the couch.  I thought - oh, great stubbed my toe again.  Then I looked at it.  It was sticking out at a 90 degree angle.  Immediately I fell to the sofa, dropping everything in my hands & my daughter began laughing hysterically - causing me to start laughing.  I said "I don't think it's supposed to look like that!"  Long story short - I drove myself to the ER.  Dr. repositioned it.  Yeah, watching it on ER is a little different than actually being on the receiving end of the bone crunching - PAINFUL - procedure.  Now, my toe didn't hurt until that point - then the pain radiated for a couple minutes.  Three x-rays later, the dr. said that yes, it was broke.  They could tape it, give me an anti-inflammatory shot, give me a script for pain if I needed it, and give me a very attractive orthopedic shoe!  Wow - the shoe was black & actually almost matched the sandal I had on the other foot!  Sent home with orders to keep it up & ice for 20 minutes every 2 hours. 

Then yesterday I went to work & after a couple hours, I started freezing.  Ok, I generally am cold at work but I was shivering & feeling icky!  When I got in the van to leave, I did NOT turn the a/c on.  Even the Texas heat felt good to me - I was that cold.  After I got home & got everything I needed to lay down (the phone, my orange juice, the remotes, the tissues, etc.) I put ice on my foot for the required 20 minutes. Then after that I proceeded to sleep for over an hour.  Later, I checked - I had a fever.  This had nothing to do with my toe - this was my cold or whatever it was.  I spent most of the day on the couch.  Poor kids - they get home & try talking to me & I just can't follow what they are saying - I am so miserable.  Made the mistake of eating a Wendy's Frosty & then I started shivering again.  Took tylenol & went to bed about 9.  Sometime in the middle of the night I think the fever broke - I slept so good.

Today I just have residual sinus draining & a sore throat.  My toe feels better (looks terrible - all black, blue & purple).  But no "working out" for another few weeks until my toe is all healed.  Will life ever be normal? Whatever that is?

stay tuned, Dear Readers, for more fun tales from the house of "clutzy-ville"!

Posted by wendylittrell at 8:30 AM CDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Mood:  energetic

Not RICK SPRINGFIELD!!

Wow!  Was that just amazing or what?  In case you missed it - Rick Springfield sang "Who Killed Rock & Roll?" on General Hospital today as part of a storyline that's been going on for awhile.  Summary: Neurosurgeon - Dr. Noah Drake (Rick Springfield) is a look-alike for rock star Eli Love (also Rick Springfield).  Which is still not all well & good for Noah has quite a disdain for rock & roll musicians.  Except . . . Eli needs brain surgery and . . . he's scheduled to perform at a benefit concert for Lifebeat (www.lifebeat.org) a REAL organization dedicated to helping find a cure for HIV/AIDS.  So Anna Devane (Finola Hughes) - who has this super, gigantic crush on Eli Love, persuades Noah to take Eli's place.  She gets him "rock star" ready.  Yesterday a case of nerves almost screwed the whole concert but a gentle talk from Anna (who he started to become romantically involved with until their adult children stepped in - but that's a whole other story!) - Noah shook off the nerves and was prepared to go.  Then there was a huge crash - gear & a mike stand fell on Noah - most importantly - on his throat resulting in a bad case of bruised vocal cords (only in soap land!).  What to do, what to do?  Of course - temporarily release Eli Love from the hospital and have him sing the vocals backstage while Noah lip-synced on stage.  Sounds like a plan!  Actually it was plan B or something!  Noah starts to play guitar - the band starts and whoops!  There's a glitch with the sound!  So of course Anna provides some good delay tactics - first giving Noah a great big kiss!  Then talking about all the wonderful things Lifebeat does.  Tears were shed.  Finally the sound is working & it's a go.  The band begins, Noah hits the guitar & Eli (backstage) begins singing. 

Kudos to General Hospital for always being on top of the game by promoting these real life charities and organizations.  Kudos to the writers for creatively (sometimes silly-ly!) writing it so we can hear Rick Springfield actually perform on the show without a major character change.  Kudos to GH for close-ups of Rick's real band!  Kudos to Rick who excellently portrayed both Noah Drake pretending to be Eli Love and the Australian Rock Star Eli Love.  Kudos for having Eli be from Australia so Rick could speak in that wonderful Australian accent we never get to hear!  Kudos to GH for NOT breaking up the song in commercial breaks! 

 So Rick Springfield performed as Noah Drake performing as Eli Love!  What a wonderful (sometimes funny) roller-coaster of a storyline but today was all worth it!

Check out the blog at http://rickspringfieldandus.blogspot.com - there is a clip on there!  And for more Rick Springfield information: www.rickspringfield.us

More later, Dear Readers!

Posted by wendylittrell at 9:55 PM CDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | View Comments (1) | Permalink

Mood:  lazy

SCHOOL STARTS MONDAY!!!!!

Oh, wait a minute - was a yelling - in upper case bold print?  Guess I was!  For the first time in many years I haven't been mumbling "can't wait for school to start" while nervously biting my nails in the corner!  This has been a pretty decent summer.

All the school supplies for Soon to Be First Grader are purchased with the exception of the required tissues & baby wipes.  All the clothes, shoes, etc. have been purchased.  They're just all waiting to be used.

My plans for next week include: general cleaning, laundry, the changing of the bed linens, organizing Soon to Be First Grader's room (will be changing his name to Just First Grader soon!), updating my genealogy files - actually getting them organized for the first time ever - doing general filing.  Egads - that will take me until Christmas.  Maybe I should re-think my "have to do list" into smaller portions so I don't feel so overwhelmed.  Also on the list: finish DVD that was supposed to be ready for Baby Grandson's first birthday, work on some digital scrapbook kits and get started on my high school class scrapbook - have 2 years to complete that!

We'll see how all that goes.  Have a bunch of shoes I need to pitch. Would give them to the local charity but they have holes, rips, etc. and can't be re-sold.  Time to weed out Soon to Be First Grader's clothes and remove all those that are too small for him.  That'll give him some room in his chest of drawers.

Okay - off to finish supper.  Who's hungry?

Until later, Dear Reader.

Posted by wendylittrell at 4:48 PM CDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Mood:  don't ask

Somehow I ended up smack dab in the middle of the mall doing after thanksgiving shopping tax-free weekend shopping.  And yes, it looked amazingly the same as the Friday after Thanksgiving.  If you don't live in Texas or a state that offers this spectacular event, you haven't really gone shopping!  Imagine a family with two, three, four or more school/college aged kids on a quest for the right school clothes and any other item that qualifies for tax exemption!  Now granted, the most you can save is $8.25 (in my city) out of every $100 of merchandise.  But that $8.25 is like manna to some people.  Not only that but most of the stores had these great sales going on.  Luckily, instead of dragging this shopping experience out of the entire three days, we managed to get it done in less than 5 hours - spread over two days (mostly afternoons).  We shopped in so many stores not normally frequented by "my age" types, that the bank called to make sure our card hadn't been appropriated by a Lindsay/Britney/Nicole/Paris wannabe who was trying to update their wardrobes.  Alas, no - it was just us.

Holding up this cute little shirt I found in the Jr. section of the JC Penney outlet, my almost a senior daughter cringed and said, "NO!"  Then I informed her it wasn't for her, but me.  She just kept saying "no, mom". I asked her if it was because she really didn't like the shirt or because her mom could wear jr. style clothes. "Both" she told me.  Aah! 

It's also great when you have a child who works in retail - you can get their store discount.  Not the puny 15% but a whopping 30% & on top of that get 50% more stuff due to the sale! 

And there you go - both kids (almost senior daughter and soon to be a first grader grandson) are set - at least for a few weeks!  I found some cute new clothes and shoes.

The weekend was going along just great . . . I was almost bored with how wonderfully easy it was . . . and then . . . out of nowhere came a verbal slap up side the head that I didn't see coming.  But that's another story - one of which I won't post here. 

So, Dear Reader, regale us with your back to school shopping story!

Posted by wendylittrell at 7:44 AM CDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | View Comments (1) | Permalink

Mood:  caffeinated

SCHOOL STARTS IN 12 DAYS!!!

And this is probably the first year in a long time that I really am NOT counting down the days.  Had such big plans for the summer - go to the museums, the zoo, get 1st grader to start reading, planting lots of flowers, so on & so forth.  So what have I accomplished?  Well I did plant some flowers - not as many as I wanted.  Took kids to a local art museum - unfortunately just not when the exhibit the Senior wanted to see was there.  Visited family.  That's it.  Senior girl has a job now and without a 3rd vehicle, that means I'm her ride.  Spent almost 2 weeks planning for a birthday party - actually working on a picture dvd.  Glitch there was that my computer didn't like to finish recording it the right way so when we played it at the party - no music. 

This weekend is Texas Tax-Free (sales tax) weekend so will go clothes shopping.  First grader still as many uniform pieces that still fit so all he'll need are more shorts and new shoes.  Senior will be all over the mall looking for clothes.  This year backpacks are on the list so First grader will get a new one of those.

I have a list a mile long of things I want to accomplish after school starts and I have the days to myself (quiet - no interruptions) to get done.  Unfortunately, I'm still working on last year's list!

So, Dear Readers, what are your plans for when your children go back to school?  Have you done what you wanted to do this summer?  Stay tuned. . .

Posted by wendylittrell at 8:08 AM CDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Mood:  silly

THINGS I STILL HAVE NOT LEARNED . . .

1. I wouldn't be ON a deadline if I started earlier!
2. If things were put where they belong after being used, there would be less stuff to put away when I'm facing the so called deadline!
3. People will always be stressed when faced with an event they are putting together.
4. I am not the only one who lives here
5. and the others in the house can (& usually do) their fair share
6. Even if it's not exactly the way I think it should be
7. It's ok!

Posted by wendylittrell at 7:46 AM CDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Mood:  celebratory

Twenty Things I've Learned In The Last Week

1. 24 people WILL fit into my Living Room
2. Kids will not stay outside to jump in a bounce house if the temperature is 100 degrees
3. Party City is way too busy to have balloons blown up on a moment's notice.
4. I do know how to find things at Home Depot
5. Even though panels and valances don't match doesn't mean my kitchen will look tacky.
6. New light panels make the kitchen brighter and look cleaner.
7. Teenagers who need money WILL clean the bathroom the right way.
8. And not complain about it.
9. After said teenager cleans the bathroom and makes sure it stays clean until a party, no one at the party will use it.
10. Even after I buy home decor items to make the bathroom look warm and inviting.
11. Don't buy kitchen accessories without first checking to make sure those are really roosters on the curtain panels.
12. Even tho the "roosters" turned out to be vines of flowers on the curtain panels, the deep red and green of the rooster decor still matches
13. Sort of
14. The kitchen counters can be spotless, less cluttered, and saturated in antibacterial cleanser yet sugar ants will still like them.
15. Moving vehicles out of the driveway to allow for guests to park there does not guarantee that they will.
16. It takes longer to decorate for a party then to take said decorations down.
17. When I'm on a deadline, I can get way more done than normal.
18. No matter how much or how little food is bought for a party, there will still be way too much left over.
19. Even when there's no "end" time on the invitations, people will still leave at a decent time.
20. The honored guest can have a complete meltdown an hour before their party but look like they 've been all sunshine and happiness when the actual event begins.

Next time . . . Things I still haven't learned!

Posted by wendylittrell at 3:59 PM CDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | View Comments (1) | Permalink

Mood:  rushed

Dear Readers - Just when I thought summer was winding down and I could start enjoying the rest of it before school starts - everything has hit at once!  You know that feeling, I'm sure.  Never have managed to get to the zoo or the art museum yet - 2 things that were on my "I really need to do this" list for the summer.  So what have I been doing with my time?  Spent a week "on vacation" so to speak.  Was nice & enjoyed the kids.  Getting in dr. visits (kids) and other projects.  Decided that I really need to get proficient with this digital scrapbooking stuff in order to get some kits ready for resale.  Just when I was diving full steam into that, I find out that I've been volunteered to be on a committee at church creating a new brochure to be mailed out in about 6 weeks.  So minus the week or so at the printer, the time it takes to stick mailing labels on all of them, and get them mailed - I don't have a whole lot of time.  And since out of the 3 of us, I'm more of the "graphic designer", I'm working on the mock-up for approval.  Now if that's not enough, I agreed to hold my youngest grandson's birthday party at my house - in 2 weeks!  I don't think I've cleaned thoroughly since school ended in May.  I mean with a 6 year old home every day, toys being dragged all through the house, mail stacked up here & there until DH finds a place for it, purchases I've made that don't have a home, no time to clean, etc. I can tell that the week of the party, I'm going to be sucking down the caffeine & running 200 mph just to get this house ready for guests.  On top of all that, my daughter has asked me to create a dvd of the baby's first year - I don't think I'm going to be sleeping much!  Then I decided it was easier for me to find something for my mom - who lives several states away - so she doesn't have to run all over her area looking for this particular thing.  So you may be asking - why am I blogging when I have SO MUCH to do?  I honestly do not know!  I'm such a procrastinator!  Better get to it - oh, yeah & on top of all that - I have a lunch today - my fun thing to do!  Tune in tomorrow (or next month!), dear Readers, to find out if the brochure got done on time, if the dvd will be ready for the party, if the party guests run like the wind because I've forgotten that one cobweb in the corner!

Posted by wendylittrell at 9:04 AM CDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink