Birds of a feather flock together and crap on your car.

When I’m feeling down, I like to whistle. It makes the neighbor’s dog run to the end of his chain and gag himself.

If you can’t be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.

Don’t assume malice for what stupidity can explain.

A penny saved is a government oversight.

The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right time, but also to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.

The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight, because by then your body and your fat have gotten to be really good friends.

The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement.

He who hesitates is probably right.

Did you ever notice: The Roman Numerals for forty (40) are ” XL”

If you think there is good in everybody, you haven’t met everybody.

If you can smile when things go wrong, you have someone in mind to blame.

The sole purpose of a child’s middle name is so he can tell when he’s really in trouble.

There’s always a lot to be thankful for if you take time to look for it. For example I am sitting here thinking how nice it is that wrinkles don’t hurt.

Did you ever notice: When you put the 2 words “The” and “IRS” together it spells “Theirs.”

Since it’s the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late:>))

Posted: May 20th, 2006 under Other Stuff.
Comments: 1

Here’s a picture of the flowers that Heather brought me for Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day Flowers

I should be working but I’m soooo tired tonight. I think I will just sleep instead…

zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Posted: May 17th, 2006 under Other Stuff.
Comments: 1

Today’s stuck song:

E Ho’i I Ka Pili

E ho’i i ka pili
E ku’u ipo.
E nene’e mai, e nanea mai
E ke aloha,
E ho’onipo käua.

He lei wehi ‘oe
No ku’u nui kino.
Lei ‘ala ho’onaona lua i ka poli
E ke aloha,
E hanu lipo käua.

Ka nehe a ke kai
O Kahakuloa
Kai ko’o häku’i pi’i ka pali
E ke aloha,
Pulupë iho käua.

Puana ‘ia mai
E ku’u ipo.
E nene’e mai, e nanea mai
E ke aloha,
E ho’onipo käua.
— Keali’i Reichel

I know the ‘okina is backwards, but what the heck… it’s a sweet Hawaiian love song and I like it. Besides, no font that I know of does the ‘okina right anyway.

Maybe tomorrow I’ll post the translation.

Posted: May 15th, 2006 under Other Stuff.
Comments: none

It was a really nice Mother’s Day after all. I bet my boy thought about me, at the very least. Maybe he wrote me a letter, who knows.

Heather and Paul came by for the afternoon. We moved some stuff around in the guest bedroom, set up the queen bed in there, and then made steak on the grill for dinner. It all turned out good. We watched some TV, chit-chatted about this-n-that, drank margaritas (Heather didn’t drink). They brought me flowers, butter toffee candy and a single carnation corsage. I told Heather the story about the single carnation corsages I helped my dad deliver to the entire neighborhood early one Mother’s day monring. So she had to get one for me.

It’s a work day so I”m keeping this post very short. Laterz…

Posted: May 15th, 2006 under Other Stuff.
Comments: none

This is the first Mother’s Day that I woke up alone, no kids in the house. This is also my first Mother’s Day without my boy. :cry:

It would be nice to hear his voice, but I’m already expecting not to. I have found a wonderful group of people on Yahoo Groups, called Marine Moms Online. They’ve all said the same thing: it would be nice but it’s not gonna happen. *sigh* Oh well. I’m 99% sure I missed his first phone call to say he made it safely and all… I understand that phone call is made with the drill instructor (DI) breathing down the recruits’ necks. So he didn’t even leave me a message! Dangit!

Despite the gloomy weather and the lack-of-boy, the day WILL get better. Heather is coming over and she says Paul will be with her. She’s maybe bringing sushi. That would be great! They’re going to help me move some stuff around in here, get the guest bedroom set up, and then we’ll have a steak dinner if we’re all hungry. She’s such a good daughter! As we both get older, it seems we lean on each other a whole lot more. She’s my rock when I need one, I’m her cheerleader when she needs one. With all this stuff happening because Brian is leaving, I am very lucky to have such a wonderful daughter.

So the beginning of the day is sort of empty but the ending should be great.

Happy Mom’s Day from a Proud Marine Mom(PMM) of recruit Brian!

Posted: May 14th, 2006 under Other Stuff.
Comments: none

I found the ‘matrix’ of what Brian will be doing in boot camp. I added it to my links in the side-bar so I can refer to it daily and know what he’s doing on that day. Sort of makes me feel a little bit closer. Plus, it gives me a countdown of the days.

Although I still feel a lot sad, I think I’m getting over it. I wrote Brian a letter yesterday but I don’t know where to send it yet. I’ll just keep it until time to send. I spent a lot of Thursday crying, wishing for things that won’t be, and searching for Brian’s blue blankets. Couldn’t find them. Friday I went to Platteville with Susan to get some more of his stuff. I found the blue blankets! Brian has had these blankets since he was a lil baby. When he was smaller, and he knew I didn’t feel good or was upset about something, he would give me one of them, telling me that they always made him feel better. Maybe it would help me too. Even though he gave me such a hard time for so many years, he is still a very sweet boy.

So now I have the blue blankets. They’re old, faded, raggedy-tattered and on the fragile side of life. But they needed a good washing so I risked it and put them through the washer/dryer. I guess they lost a bit of substance, but it was worth it. Now I have one with me in my bed, and when things get to me in the middle of the night, I can feel him close by again through the blanket.

Why is it so hard to watch the boy become a man?

*sigh*

I brought back the fish tank yesterday, among other things. I got it all set up and now Punkin is absolutely fascinated with the fish in there! Although over the years their numbers have dwindled to just two fish, she still sits next to the tank on the bench there, staring into the tank. It’s cute to watch. I’ll have to go to the pet store soon and get some more fish for her to stare at.

I have some work to do this morning so I guess I won’t sit here till 1pm like I did last weekend (was it last weekend?). Heather is coming by tomorrow, I thnk she’s bringing Paul too. They’re going to help me get things set up in the guest bedroom. Brian will have a place to stay for 10 days after he graduates.

Life goes on, and so must I…

Posted: May 13th, 2006 under Other Stuff.
Comments: 1

Yes he’s my youngest, that makes him my baby…

Brian is gone to boot camp. He called me Monday morning and said if he didn’t leave Wednesday morning, he would not be able to start aviation mechanics school on time. SO… :cry: I had to drive him to Dubuque yesterday, and drop him off with his recruiter. They drove him to Des Moines last night where he spent the night in a hotel. Then he got on a plane this morning and reported to boot camp some time this afternoon. Here’s a pic of us at the recruiter’s office yesterday:

I managed to make it through the entire ordeal without crying but now I feel like I’m on the verge of falling apart. I know Brian did not need me crying cuz that would have really bothered him and I didn’t want his last thoughts of me to be that I was sad. He is following his heart, he really wants to do this. I am happy that he’s excited and looking forward to his future. I hope he makes it through boot camp ok.

He brought out a bunch of stuff on Saturday, then again Monday and Tuesday. I still have to go back to the apartment in Platteville to clear out his larger pieces of furniture. Susan is going to help with that. So I have piles of stuff in here that used to be piles of stuff in his apartment.

I have all around me, all of his dreams… his former future dreams. His sketches and drawings, his art portfolio; his metal shop projects; his skateboards n parts; his rifles… I’m trying to figure out a way to make all this feel good instead of bad. I’ve left it all laying around the apartment because it makes it seem like he’s around or coming back soon or something.

Yeah yeah I know he’s coming back. Hard to see that at this exact moment. Time will go by and before I know it, I will be standing there watching him graduate and be done with some of the worst weeks of his life.

I have a couple more pictures, here’s the links:
Brian’s “Before” boot camp picture
Big sister, little brother - Brian and Heather

Ok so for now I’ll sniffle and wipe away the tears and tomorrow I’ll start a new day. Boy oh boy am I ever glad I have a job to take my mind off things!

Goodnite…

Posted: May 10th, 2006 under Photographs, News.
Comments: none

Here’s a link to a picture of a Vice that Brian made in school. It’s very cool, and VERY heavy too. I think this was like one of his final projects or somesuch. Anyway, it turned out really good, and he says it’s a tool that he will be able to use for years and years to come.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzz… gniters

Posted: May 7th, 2006 under Photographs.
Comments: none

Ok maybe it wasn’t that difficult to get these mood icons working. Just took a bit of fiddling around. Altho I’m still not entirely sure how it works… It uses custom fields. I need to read up more on using custom fields. Maybe I can use it to post what I made for dinner that day or something… What’s on tv when I’m posting? Could be interesting.

I added one more new theme, Ginseng Coffee, today. It’s nice looking, in my opinion. So enough messing with the blog today! I’m going to try to get things done this afternoon so very soon I will start this day.

Posted: May 7th, 2006 under Other Stuff.
Comments: none

This Mood Icon stuff is not as simple as the plug-in author made it seem. I just might delete the entire plugin/directory. hrmph

Posted: May 7th, 2006 under Other Stuff.
Comments: none