I really hate to bother you Ma’am…..

That’s what the policeman said the first time he came to the door. “I really hate to bother you, but is that your red car out there?” He said this as he pointed to Doug’s red Torino that was parked in the cul-de-sac. Yes, Doug’s red Torino….. that is…one of Doug’s 1975 red and white Torinos…..one of his 1975 "not a Starsky and Hutch red and white Torino" but more like a Huggy Bear "looks like a pimp drives it" red and white Torino. Yes, one of the 1975 red and white Torinos that he bid on on ebay and won and flew across the country to get this fall.

“Yes, it is,officer,” I reply. “Well, one of your neighbors has complained that it is parked in the wrong direction and has been that way for weeks.” I’m sure the expression on my face gave away my disbelief. The officer apologized thoroughly for having to come to my house about such a petty thing. I told him I would move it and he left. So I turned it the other direction.

I, of course immediately called Doug to let him know someone in the neighborhood undoubtedly did not share his appreciation for cars made in 1975, especially ones that are red and white and look like they belong to people with un-reputable professions.

This happened about four or five weeks ago. Since then we have regularly joked about it considering half the cars on the cul-de-sac are parked the wrong direction. But last night as Doug and I joked about it again I decided we needed to just let it go….we needed to get over it and love our petty neighbors no matter what. He agreed……until today.

“I really hate to bother you ma’am.” That’s what the policeman said this morning, the second time he’s come to the door. “Is that your red car parked out there?” You’ve got to be kidding, right! Nope. “Someone has complained that your car never moves from the cul-de-sac, does it run?” Wow, I’m thinking what kind of neighborhood did we move into? The officer was very apologetic again and said as long as it runs and we drive it occasionally then it can stay on the cul-de-sac. Wow. I was pretty stunned. I mean,I know my husband is crazy and I know that car is ugly but hey, that's for me to say...not my neighbors.

Ok, so it's really time to catch up....don't you think.

I haven't blogged in a while because all my blogging energy the last few months has been sunk into my first graduate course, "The Integration of Psychology and Theology". I did manage to get a couple of blurbs up on MySpace but nothing much. To catch up here, I'll start with Mother/Daughter activities.

In September, Ashly and I had our first Mother/Daughter trip. We went to St. Louis. Because Joyce Meyer is one of my heroes and she was being joined by such greats as Lisa Bevere, Darlene Zschech, and John Maxwell, I wanted to go to her Annual Women's Convention. I wanted to take both girls with me but Sarah was afraid she would get bored. She opted out. Ashly, on the other hand, could not pass up an all expense paid trip so she and I went. We had a great time. In addition to laughing hysterically at Lisa Bevere and enjoying all the conferences, we managed to cram in some sight-seeing. We walked under the Arch but did not go to the top. Doug thought it was a crime that we didn't go up but she and I decided it was one of those things like bungee jumping or going to DollyWood..we were pretty sure we would be ok if we never got to do it..(for me it was never got to do it again..I've been). We also ate some good St. Louis BBQ and went to the Zoo but the best thing we did was go to Historic St. Charles. It is a cute little town with cobble stone streets and little old houses converted into gift shops. We went during an Irish Festival so all the shops stayed open late and there was Irish music and such. Lots of horse and buggies, too. It was great fun.
Also, she and I learned something about each other on this trip. I learned that she suffers from lilapsophobia and she learned that I have macrophobia. (I'll make this interactive by letting everyone look those up for themselves). HA.

Ok so I had another Mother/Daughter activity in October. This time it was with Sarah. This activity was nothing I anticipated, planned, or particularly wanted to do, but I did it anyway because I'm good like that.
Sarah and I hold a common admiration for the Christian poppish-punkish rock band, Relient K. She of course loves them enough to want to see them in concert whenever she can. I prefer to listen to them from afar. Well, about the third week of October she found out, quite by accident(it was not well advertised), that they would be in Seattle on Halloween night.
When she discovered they would be here, she immediately bought two tickets without even knowing who she would bring. Now it was only a week before the concert date and the concert was on Halloween, do you really think she could find someone without plans...she's 19. Of course not. Guess who she chose for a backup date. That's right, me. Now, I don't mind seeing people like Jars of Clay in concert..they're pretty benign but Relient K with four other rock bands...That was another one of those things I was pretty sure I would be ok if I never got to do...But, got to do, I did. And even though two of the bands were extreme (heavy-metal, screaming, head-banging, jumping into the crowd kind of guys) I did survive. I don't know if it was because the venue was small (as well as the crowd) or that I just underestimated my ability to tolerate loud music and chaos but it really wasn't that bad. (I was also very grateful that I was not the only old person there...there were at least several moms and a couple of dads). Yeah, so the whole thing was not all that bad.

Ok, well that is all the news I have for now....

Fountains and garden gates

It's Official.......

On August 11, 2006 I graduated from Saint Martin's University with a BA in Psychology. My diploma is in the mail....YAY.

Assorted garden photos and a really big spider.....

Fashion

Have you ever experienced that strange sense of panic after getting yourself stuck in some article of clothing? I think my first real panic attack was when I got myself stuck in a pair of pants as a kid. I had pulled my jeans on over my shoes and about half way up, my shoes got stuck in the legs. They wouldn't go up or down. Then this dreadful feeling of panic hit me.. like "OH, My God! I'm stuck!!!" Then I started struggling and pulling and trying to get myself out of them, making the situation even worse. Finally something gave (I think my shoes came off) and I got the jeans back down my legs. "Whew!" That was a horrible feeling. I'd love to say that never happens anymore but....it does (usually not with pants over my shoes though, I learned that lesson). But, I have gotten myself stuck in dresses as I'm pulling them over my head.......... nothing like flailing around with both arms stuck up in the air......it's horrible.....and I still get myself stuck in my jean jacket when I try to take it off without removing my arms first.....and that's like tying both arms behind your back.....You would think now that I'm an adult some rational reasoning like "Hey, this is just cloth....it can't be permanent....what's the worse that could happen.....I could always cut myself out of it"......or some brilliant thought like that would keep me from panicking, but it doesn't. I think it must be related to claustrophobia or something.....anyway, Sarah experienced a similar type of panic while shopping at Ross yesterday. She went in the dressing room to try on a couple of shirts while I was still shopping.I knew it was taking her a long time.....when she finally came out she had one of the shirts on. I thought she was just showing it to me so I said, "I think it's too tight." She grimaced and said, "You think! Come here." That's when she frantically whispered, "I can't get it off! I'm stuck! I need your help!" "Heh, heh, heh," I snickered. And I gleefully followed her to the dressing room to help peel the shirt off. Snicker, snicker.

Accidents will happen......

So Doug and I were driving down Meridian the other day, in stop and go traffic, minding our own business, when the boy behind us accidently used the back of our car to stop his. I really don't like the feeling of getting slammed from behind...it's disturbing...BUT I'm glad he wasn't going very fast (nothing like the time I got slammed into in my Escort). I felt sooooo bad for this boy, though. He was only 18 and he was so upset he almost cried. He had to fight back the tears the whole time he was talking to us. I don't know if he was just afraid of what his parents were going to do or what....but if he had not cracked my bumper I would have just let it go. We talked to his dad last night...I did ask him not to be too hard on his son since accidents will happen..."I know," I told him, "I have two daughters that have wrecked our cars multiple times." His dad was reassured after that.....so.....now I'll just be without my Mustang for three whole days!

More photos

Photos by request......

Ok so it appears.......

that I took a rather long hiatus from blogging but honestly I was just MySpacing for a while. Both Ashly and Sarah have MySpaces and they wanted me to have one too, so I made one. It was quite fun for a while.

Meanwhile, Doug and I have bought a fabulous new house. It is not only bigger than our last house but much better, too. It's a split level that allows Mom to stay on one floor only. She was having a hard time with the stairs in our old house. It also allows us our own space for entertaining. (We've already started!) Best of all though is the incredible, incredible yard!! It was professionally landscaped for wedding photography by the previous owners.

Sooooo........ we've inherited 42 rose bushes of various styles and colors, eight or more hydrangeas also of various styles and colors, two kinds of honeysuckle (the hummingbirds love it), three clematis, numerous rodedendrons, four peonies, a butterfly bush and much much more. Some of the stuff I don't even know what it is. Oh, yeah, there is a wysteria....several Japanese maples, and other assorted trees,as well. The only drawback to all this beauty is the amount of work it takes to maintain it. Who knew it could take soooo looong to weed a garden! Wow!

Another interesting feature are the hundreds of garden spiders that build their little webs in all sorts of inconvenient places.....like doorways and pathways and in between trees and bushes and almost anywhere you would like to walk. Doug, Sarah and I are perpetually running into them then frantically asking..."Do I have a spider in my hair!!??" That's annoying...but those guys are not nearly as scary as the spiders who have set up home under the hottub gazebo. Those guys are Scary! One of them looks like he's been eating something more than bugs for dinner......I don't think we can allow him to live much longer! Seriously.

Aside from all that fun.....I finally finished school. As of July 18th I finished all the credits I need for my BA in Psychology. Now it's just a matter of formal paper work and I'll have my degree in hand! Yipppee! I'm taking 6 months off before I go back for my Masters'. Hopefully, I won't lose too much momentum!

(Oh, yeah, in the middle of all the craziness....buying a house, finishing up school, moving, and trying to sell our old house...we managed to squeeze a trip to Hawaii in. We took Sarah with us this time.....she loved it....)

I'll blog photos next time.

No time for blogging..........

I'm taking four classes this term. I'm taking "Learning and Behavior", Personality Therories, (uh, oh, watch out, I'm analyzing you),"Abnormal Child Psych" (uh, oh, now I'm analyzing your kids)and "Psychology of the Family". This is keeping me reeaaally busy so I might not be on here for a while.......but who knows....maybe I'll squeak something in if it strikes me as blog-worthy.

"And over to you, Dan, for the weather...."

Jars Of Clay - Flood


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Here's something to think about......

Organic socks. Yes, you can now buy your socks organic. That's right....right between the "Goldtoe" and "Hanes" you can find "Sara's Organic Legwear". Isn't that something.