So Very Much.

Been dealing with a dear friend's serious illness and hospitalization for the past couple of weeks. Her situation is serious and chronic and it breaks my heart. I fear for her and her family. I am hopeful but scared. I want everything to be "normal" again but don't now if it ever will be. During her hospitalization, I've been amazed by our close group of female friends. How they've all stepped up and responded. We are a shadow family. During times like this, we come out of the shadows.

Went to the funeral of another friend's father on Monday. She lost her mother to breast cancer in 2001. And now her father is dead. She is my age.

A third friend is being challenged for shared custody of her son by the boy's mentally ill, ex-con, chemically dependent father. This "man" doesn't give a shit abut his son. What he does care about is holding my friend emotionally hostage, which he has done over and over again for many years. She is stronger than she has been in the past and will get through this. No judge in his right mind would allow this man shared custody of this little boy. Eventually, karma will catch up with this sick bastard and he'll get his. But watching my friend have to go through this bullshit and knowing the dear, amazing child at the center of this who has done nothing to deserve this jackass as his dad, punches me right in the gut.

The Geej got her report card last week. She made A/B honor roll. She was proud. I am proud. I want her to value her brain as much as she values sparkly clothes and brushing her hair. I don't know that she ever will. But then again, she's only six.

Work is ver busy with big things and small, but I am having trouble focusing. My mind is flying away. I foresee many late nights of catch up in my near future.

BH got accepted into a special wildlife certification program with his work. It brings together two things--birds and Texas prairie habitat--that he is very interested in and knowlegable about. He is excited. I am excited for him.

I got accepted into one of the three* summer writing programs that I applied for. The one in Oregon. In July. For eight days. I got registered for the program yesterday, and got the workshop and instructor I was hoping for. I cannot begin to describe how thrilled I am about this. Every single time I think about it, I get butterflies. I discovered a friend-of-a-friend on Facebook from Austin who is ALSO going to the same program. We've been emailing, and she seems way cool and interesting. We're meeting for lunch next week.

*I ended up applying to a 3rd program I found out about by a fluke. It's in Arkansas. Not sure if I got accepted into it yet. If I do, it will be an honor. But I'll decline. I'm going to Portland.

Outside, it is a cool spring morning. The raised beds that BH built in the back yard are planted with tomatoes, garlic chives, basil, yellow squash, eggplant, cucumber, Anaheim chili peppers, cilantro, sugar snap peas and an artichoke. We are also growing oregano, Italian parsley and blackberries. Every day I check the progress of the growth of these plants. Right now, however, they are just sprouts with promise.

So very much, my friends. So very much.

Exhaustion

Friends. Where do I even begin?

1. A week from tomorrow, my team and I will be giving a presentation to The Powers That Be that will try to a) justify our existence thus far and b) ensure our existence moving forward. Everytime I think about this, I want to vomit. When I think of how hard we've worked and how much we've gone through over the past few years, I am utterly offended by this task. However, I'm also insanely* hopeful about the fact that someone is (finally) asking us what we think and what we want to be doing. My team has been simply amazing in terms of their enthusiasm and creativity in the face of this latest challenge. I am very, very proud. But I'm also a total stressball. I just want to grab the leadership of my company by their non-existent lapels and shake some goddamned sense into them.
*By "insanely" I mean literally, I'm not right in the head.

2. As you know, The Geej's 6th b-day was last Friday. That night, Dah, BH and I took her out to dinner (with pumpkin pie for dessert, her choice!) and then we came home and opened presents. I gave her the Birthday Book I'd made with the "We're Going to San Diego" story in it. And although it took a while to sink in, she finally "got it" and got super excited. Now we're--literally--counting down the days to the trip on a calendar.

Yep. That's my girl. And that's the shirt Dah bought for her. Sigh.

And these are the shoes Dah bought for her. Sigh, again.

2.The big "Geej Turns Six" fiesta was also last weekend, and OMG it was fun, but it wore me out and cost way more money than it should've. It was perfect weather for a water-slide party--sunny and 100 degrees. There were a lot of munchkins who showed for the party, but not TOO many, which was good. It was also nice combo of her school friends (and their parents) mixing with her other friends (who are basically my friends' kids). The bottom line is that she had a blast.

Goody bags. Which, from this day forward, are deemed illegal and rude for hosts to provide.

So sayeth Karla May.

Waterslide Madness!!

3. Geej started her theatre camp this week, and I was nervous about it. New location. New teachers. New friends. But so far, she's really been enjoying it. This week, they've been making a movie (totally doing all of the story creation, sets, props, costumes themselves), and tomorrow is The Big Screening. Next week, the "theme" is songwriting/performance. So next Friday (right after the Big Presentation mentioned in item #1 above), I'll be attending THAT performance. Keeps life in balance, I suppose.

4. The Summer/Fall of Concert Attendance (which includes Louis C.K., Pavement, The Pixies, Levon Helm/Ray Lamontagne, Aziz Ansari, etc.) began last night with a trip to see Crowded House. I cannot tell you how much it meant for me to see them and how much I needed them last night. Neil Finn is one of my all-time favorite songwriters. His lyrics, compositions and harmonies can bring me to tears in a heartbeat. Plus, his vocals are always right in my range, so he's a blast to sing along with. Last night, they were at Stubb's and (thanks to the simultaneous Bob Dylan show going on at The  Backyard) it wasn't uncomfortably packed (which is good on a steamy, August night). Plus, with an older crowd (like Crowded House brings out) most people were there to actually LISTEN to the music. It was easy to get up front, leave to go get a beer, and get right back up front.

My boyfriend, Neil Finn.

There were more than a few magical musical moments during the show (especially when Neil's very talented son, Liam, came out and joined him on several songs).I found myself beaming throughout the night.

5. I am not a huge "Reality T.V" fan. I mean, I can watch nd laugh along with the best of them, but rarely do I get, like, emotionally invested in a t.v. show. But y'all? "So You Think You Can Dance" has totally KILLED me this season. I'm not even sure why I started watching. Maybe it was my friend Jaye assuring me that I would love it, but whoever reality t.v. crack dealer it was who gave me my first dose, I was hooked after episode one. And now we're down to the last three and I don't know if I can even handle it.

See what happened to me while watching this week's performance episode?! It's NOT pretty, people!

(BTW, BH makes ruthless fun of me--as he should--for being such a weeping freakazoid about this show. And it was HIS idea to photograph me "emoting". Bastard.)

6. Back to The Geej. Here's what a clueless dork I am: I totally forgot that you have to actually register your child for school when s/he is beginning studies at a new institution. Forgot!! Aren't I an awesome mom? Thankfully, a much smarter and "with it" friend of mine who has her child in public school reminded me of this fact in the nick of time. Registration is next Wednesday, and I just got clued in about my need to register the Geej this past Tuesday. I hope AISD will accept a Russian birth certificate. What a DUMBASS!! Plus, I've got to get her after-school care situation figured out. I've got tours with two potential after-care providers tomorrow morning. Oh, have I mentioned how busy/stressed I am at work?

7. And public first grade starts at 7:45am in the morning?! WTF?! This is going to take some major adjustments for our household. I mean, the good thing, is that I'll be getting to work way earlier and will (almost) be guaranteed a parking place. But the bad thing is that I'm going to be even more grumpy than usual. So, yay.

7. As I mentioned in my previous post, we're (accidentally) growing effing watermelons in our backyard.

It started out with a seed packet that The Geej brought home after a trip to Home Depot. Then, with all of the rain we've been blessed with this summer, it turned into The Vine That Ate Our Yard. In fact, BH had to cut it back substantially, aborting several watermelon fetuses in the process, prior to The Geej's b-day extravaganza--a fact she was pretty pissed off about. But we've got about three of these suckers left and I, for one, can not wait to chow down on them once they're ripe.

8. I am praying for a calm, uneventful, productive weekend ahead. I'm also hoping to catch up on some damn sleep. We'll see how that all goes.

Headline News

Remember the Kactus Kitteh Kollection (tm) given to me by my mom some time ago? I hate to tell you this, but it seems as if one of the kittehs has developed a pretty serious looking brain tumor. It's growing right out of head above her right ear. Sad, no?

In happier news, some Morning Glory seeds I planted a while back have taken off, and we got our first bloom last weekend:

And in non-plant related news, it appears that Doug is a big fan of warm, clean piles of men's underwear and socks: