3 day weekend...

I may, just may....

Wait for it...

READ A BOOK.

Luxury.

Remembering MJ

Ok, so I know the Michael Jackson stuff is all played out at this point, but I have to take an opportunity to express my deep sadness at his passing. See, I was a huge MJ fan, long after it was popular to be one.

Born in '76, some of my earliest childhood memories involved MJ. I remember being in second grade and watching tv while eating a grilled cheese in our observatory (yes, it still strikes me as hilarious that I had a room called an obervatory growing up), and flipping the channel (on the tv, you know, when you had to get up and turn the knob?) onto MTV *just* as MJ was turning into a werewolf. I quickly flipped it off again... it totally freaked me out.. and then it fascinated me.

My sister was a huge fan, she owned the red Beat It jacket and everything. I remember her going to the Jackson Reunion tour in Philadelphia. Afterward, my dad, big brother and I went to pick her up. As we waited for the show to end, my dad stepped up to the venue's fence and put me on his shoulder's so I could watch. I was fascinated.

Then when I was in high school, I watched the Oprah interview right when things were really going downhill for him and for some reason I was fascinated yet again.. I just became so amazed at his brilliance as a musician and songwriter and dancer and for a few years became his biggest fan.

When I graduated high school, he had married Lisa Marie Presley and they were doing a really awesome official Elvis anniversary tribute in Memphis at the Pyramid Arena. I convinced my mama to drive me and brought along my two best friends. Sure enough, they announced at one point that Lisa Marie, Priscilla, Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson were in a box watching the show. We were slightly disappointed he didn't perform. My friend and I raced around the arena to get to the box right as he was rushed out the door into an elevator.

A year later I saw an ad on tv for the VH-1 Honors awards. The second I saw MJ was supposed to be there, I was all over it. At 19 years old, I hopped on a plane to Los Angeles without a credit card or a cell phone and went to the Shrine Auditorium in South Central L.A. It was actually one of the best shows I've ever been to with amazing duets (Annie Lennox and Smokey Robinson!). It was a star studded, televised event and this little girl from Louisiana didn't really know how she wound up allowed in the building! And sure enough, there was Michael Jackson, stepping on stage to do a little bit of a song with Boyz II Men. It was so very exciting.

As we all know, things continued going downhill for Mr. Jackson after that and slowly my love spread to other music. However, I always always always will love his music and will forever mourn the fact that I won't see him peform again.

One Year Later...

So I have been thinking this week about the fact that it's been one year since I took custody of the kids, moved them across the country and started our new life together.

It has been the most difficult year of my life.

I realized it was going to be hard work and sacrifice going in, but I never realized how completely consuming it would be. I am so fortunate to have an understanding place to work, because I would have fired myself by now. So many unexpected absences, having to leave the office everytime a child got sick or a child care person failed to show up. My mother's immediate and significant health problems. The time during the year when the small child support check we get for one of the children dried up and my phone bill doubled (my sister in jail thinks I should pay for her to call at liesure). So much stress and worry, which contributed to me having my own mysterious health problems for the first time in my life. And then, right at the point it started to feel just a bit less overwhelming, my niece's school comes in to kick me while I was down, unwittingly throwing the entire thing up in the air, at least in my head. Certainly we're just now recovering from the trauma. I spoke a bit about the problems in a previous post.

(Which, by the way, I mentioned before that I found the school's actions horrifying and completely unacceptable, and it certainly wasn't helped after I attempted to speak to the principal and she (1) refused to show for a meeting I set up with her and took off work to attend (2) ignored an email request for information (3) got snippy when I requested the information again a second time three weeks later and (4) to this day has not spoken to me directly as I've requested.)

The whole situation makes me wonder if I would have been treated like that if I was the biological mother. Something tells me no. At least lets hope and pray that school doesn't treat all parents like that.

But no matter.. one day Ms. Principal and I will be at the same place at the same time and I will be oh so happy to introduce myself then.

Ahem. Anyhow. Moving on.

We are doing good right now though... summer has brought a calm and peace and time to do the things we really enjoy. So for now I will be grateful, continue to take it day-by-day, and look forward to tomorrow. Or maybe even one year from now.

Nice Night Out - Blenhiem Vineyards

My family is participating in the Best of What's Around CSA. I decided to join one because I think it's an awesome idea and I have such a weird relationship with food. I have no idea how to cook it or prepare it or store it and am therefore very much afraid of it so I just eat crap. But, with me taking the kids, the last thing I wanted was for them to pick up my bad habits, so I thought this was an ideal way to learn about food.

It's been a somewhat mixed experience. I truly have learned a lot. I look forward to each week's share, and I have tried many recipes. But I also struggle big time with knowing what each thing is (they label only the new thing each week). So I frequently have ten bags of things (usually greens) that I have no idea what they are and as I am such a novice I'm too afraid to just throw them in a pot. I try to share with my people at work but right now some of it IS being wasted and that kills me.

But I'm learning. Today I made a sausage soup, which sounds quite unappealing if you ask me, but it has spicy sausage, carrots, onions, purple cabbage, zuccini, etc. According to my people (kids included) this was a success!!

So anyway, as members of the CSA, I got an email yesterday advertising a wine tasting/pizza thing at Blenhiem Vineyards. My mom rarely gets out so I asked her if she wanted to go and she did. We went out today and it was actually quite nice... we really just had a chance to sit and talk without the kids and it struck me that we don't really *talk* anymore. The ladies at the vineyard were very kind and did some of the running for my mother and it was just an all-around relaxing night. Oh and they had a dog there I want to steal and keep as my own! Such a big goofy sweetheart.

Struggling for Topics

This past weekend was a fun one. I allowed my niece to bring a friend to the ACAC Fun Festival for swimming, etc. Then on Sunday was a going away shindig for a friend/former coworker who is moving away. We went to the King Family Vineyard and then on to the Blue Ridge Brewery. I have to highly recommend both places - such great atmosphere at both and we had such a great time!

My Uncle Cookie just passed away. He's been sick, and my mom went to say her final goodbyes a week or so ago, so it's not a complete shock. But we saw him at Christmas and he sat right there in my Uncle Bobby's living room and bullshited just like normal. He was a big, strong, capable, foul-mouthed, caring man and it is a huge loss.

We Have Babies!!!

In the past couple weeks, Z has been obsessed with our kitchen window. He is there when I wake up, stays there pretty much all day long. We figured he was just watching the birds, but one morning I really stopped and petted him and looked and finally saw - in the bushes directly in front of our kitchen window was a pretty bird in a nest! While this kind of sucked, since that bush was scheduled to be trimmed significantly this weekend anyway, it was a very sweet development.

But so we've delighted in watching the bird (and Z has continued to be obsessed). Then, on this mother's day morning, I went into the kitchen and as per normal pulled Z away from the window, at which point the bird jumped out the nest and flew off and then I could finally see baby birds screeching and sticking their heads up in the air yelling for mama bird to come back!! I ran around the house waking everyone up - WE HAVE BABIES!!! The little girl was so excited. We are going to have so much fun watching them develop!

Happy Mother's Day! To mothers both new and old! :)

My Good Friends, the Neville Brothers..

I just saw that the Neville Brothers will be coming to the Pavillion in August. As a native New Orleanian-ish, I was very excited to see this and look forward to attending. But I also remembered quite possibly one of my most favorite stories from the past.

And those few long-time readers who have heard this story or lived through it with me will just have to grin and bare it! :)

So, several years ago, I was in Houston at the Four Seasons. I had stopped off on the 4th floor to check out the pool/exercise area. I hit the 'up' button on the elevator and was quite surprised, when it opened, to see about 5 very large guys standing there staring at me. Now, we women have a self-preservation instinct a mile wide so everything in me said I probably shouldn't get on an elevator with 5 big guys. However, we also are unfailingly polite for the most part and I couldn't think of any legitimate way to NOT get on the elevator. So, caught up in my thoughts and this decision making, I absent mindedly got on the elevator.

The guy to my direct right started reaching in his pocket. I was looking down and watched as he pulled out a money clip with his license. I noticed immediately that it was a Louisiana license so of course I thought, hey, I wonder if I know him! So I slowly look up, look at the guy's face, and realize that I am standing next to Aaron Neville. And then I slowly look around face to face and realize I am on the elevator with all of the Neville brothers. I was so shocked that I believe I wondered off on the next stop, which wasn't even my floor. I never said a word.

So I will go to the show at the Pavillion and smile when my boys come on stage and remember when... :)