Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Baby Doc Duvalier was talking about cheese...

It's Tuesday... I think it's Tuesday anyway. I have strep... I could be on a different planet and I wouldn't know.  I've been full on fever, chills, the whole bit for say 26 hours now.  My throat is swollen to the rediculous and feels like David Banner is squeezing it around my vocal chords... I sound... well awful.

I'm taking drugs.  Omnicef for the strep and Lortab for the pain.  This has resulted in some pretty wicked hallucinations today.  Random Oompaloompas (although they might have been munchkins) birds, and by far the best... Baby Doc Duvalier.  He sat on the edge of my bed and told me his favorite cheeses.  He's been living in France since he fled Haiti... seems almost logical.

Friday, January 14, 2011

shouldn't have done that...

I found a random (almost clear) 2 inch hair on my inner thigh... tried to pull it out. OUCH! My leg hurts... shouldn't have done that...

Thursday, January 6, 2011

you bastards!

I was sitting in the bedroom doing something..? when I heard a crash from the kitchen.  I didn't do anything because I didn't hear a shatter... the furry minions from hell (Percival and Lucretio) knock crap over all the time.  They race from one end of the tube to the other at record speed.  Two cats sound like a herd of elephants.  They do aerials that are the envy of circus performers everywhere... and they knock shit over.

I finally got up from whatever to investigate when I heard Em exclaim "YOU BASTARDS!" from the kitchen... seems they knocked over my iced tea from dinner that was still on the table.

I can't punish her... and I can't really be mad either.  I have the mouth of a sailor on leave and she used the phrase correctly.  Kinda like the time Clyde said the phrase (in it's singular form) to her father... she was still in diapers though.

Oye...

Why I no longer drink to excess

at one point in this evening Wendi and Shelly hit on the cute boys that lived next door... only problem was they were ugly girls... college... nuff said.

p.s. loved that table!!

wise, dead, and unhelpful

At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want. - Lao Tzu

I must find my way to the center... there should be an app for that.

** Lao Tzu (Laozi) Author of the Tao Te Ching, traditionally considered the founder of Taoism.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

VeVa Hicks, my Great Grandmother of no relation, and how she came to me

My Grandmother was born into a hospital and left.  Harry and Elizabeth (Bessie) Mack chose her to be their daughter.  They named her Mildred Lucille Mack.  Elizabeth's cousin and her husband also chose a baby girl for their own.  They named her Velma.  MyMom and PopPop took Velma home to live in the city.  Harry and Bessie took Mildred home to live in the country.  Elizabeth became ill and Harry moved the family to the city to be closer to family and medical care.  They moved into a house across the street from MyMom, PopPop, and Velma. 

When my grandmother was seven (or perhaps 14; my mother and I remember the story differently) Elizabeth passed from this earth.  MyMom stepped in to help Harry raise Mildred.  The story I heard was that MyMom stepped in out of obligation.  Providing the basic necessities a girl needs, but not much more. 

VeVa and Elmer Hicks lived next door to MyMom and PopPop.  VeVa was Elmer's second wife and a decade younger than MyMom.  She was the Fairy Godmother to MyMom's wicked stepmother.  Of course neither is an entirely accurate description, but it makes things easier to imagine. 

I grew up knowing VeVa as my Great Grandmother.  I never knew the difference.  My Great Grandmother... She visited every state, and every continent.  She lived to be 101.   Born February 12, 1894.  She told me stories of snuff boxes, the great floods, panning for gold, and the necklace made of her grandfather's buttons from his civil war uniform.  She made sour cherry jam.  She spent a lifetime bowling.  She donated blood to the red cross every chance that she had.  For her 90th birthday she wanted to go skydiving.  At the age of 76 VeVa had a hip replacement.  This in itself is nothing... old ladies have hip replacements all the time. What is unusual is how she broke her hip.  The story I was told (by her) was completely VeVa.  She was sitting on a porch in the summer doing needlework (or at least pretending to).  In truth she was watching the kids in the lot across the street play baseball.  She decided that sitting on the sidelines was what an old lady would do.  She crossed the street and took her place at the pitchers mound.  I never saw VeVa in anything but a dress and pumps.  She was wearing pumps that day.  She planted her foot and threw a pitch.  Her pump stuck in the soft earth.  Her body turned, but her hip didn't.  Amazing woman.

My daughter Claudia was born on September 25, 1995.  Just a few days later she made her first outing to the funeral home and then the cemetary.  VeVa was laid to rest peacefully next to Elmer in the last days of September, 1995.  My Great Grandmother of no relation. My family.

Friday, December 31, 2010

Pajamatini

Pajamatini - an all ages pajama party with too much food, gossip, and booze.  Tonight there are 7... s e v e n... of us ranging in age from 6 to 39.  We have food for at least 25.