Pre Mother's Day Freak Out...or Just Another Saturday.

It happens out of the blue as it normally does, at innocent times, down times when you're doing something so daily and mundane that your mind has time or space to wander. The Freak Out. Mothers know exactly what I'm talking about. I have a sneaky suspicion that fathers do too, only to such a less degree that it doesn't even register on any scale. Especially no scale that interrupts a perfectly normal day.

Today's freak out is due partly to Mother's Day that's just around the corner. It happened in the way that was described above. I was making lunch for my daughter which is the same thing everyday: soy chicken nuggets and some sort of veg when I recalled an article discussing the long term affects of soy on women. Horrible things were listed which all boiled down to the fact that some scientists think it messes with the reproductive system. Oh Lord!!! I've killed her baby making parts, and who knows what else!!! Never mind the fact that she is 7, I'm clearly overreacting and scientists get stuff wrong all the time! It's to late however, one freak out leads neatly into one or eight more. And all those boil down to: am I doing this right?!

When doing any other thing in life you can look at it and clearly see if you are doing it correctly. When I'm knitting I can look at stitches and see if they are twisted or dropped. I can't look at my daughter and tell if she's twisted! That doesn't manifest until later in life, right? TEENAGERS!!! How is that even measurable?!

Mothers don't come equipped with any type of manual. Grandmothers may but that's only because they survived our childhoods and have running notes that they have written themselves. I may never know because I may never be a grandmother because I may have killed her uterus with to much soy at an early age.

Even if we did get a manual upon motherhood, I'm sure it'd be at least three pages long with chapter titles such as "The Art of Winging It" and "How to Apply Band-aids, Even When They Aren't Needed".

Meanwhile we're brought back to the real world with the ding of a microwave letting me know that those deadly "chicken" nuggets are done when suddenly I'm reassured, that yes, I must be doing something close to right when two little arms wrap around me and that sweet little voice says "You're the best Momma, I just love you!!" Okay, freak out over.

Happy Mother's Day!! Be sure to call her and remind her that she is the best in the world, you love her, and yes, she did it just right!

Love and Life in the HOV lane.

When you ask people who really know me to describe my interests you're very likely to hear anything. You know for a fact you'll hear something about yarn, but up until last year you know what you wouldn't hear...cars. Yep. Cars. Actually if you were to ask me right now my response would be "nah, not really but John loves them so I notice them more and they are a bit more interesting."

So many things have changed in my life lately I can't even (nor do I want to) list them all: my divorced was finalized, my ex-husband got remarried and already has a new baby...that crazy list goes on and on. I do, however, have someone new who fills so many blanks and changed my question marks to exclamation points. John. John loves cars. John who loves cars and loves me even though I don't.

John and I met on one of those online sites that I probably mention for legal reasons. But I can say it worked. I had my doubts but Jang Soon, the Ethel to my Lucy, encouraged me to do it, and wow am I ever glad she did! In fact while we were talking last weekend the topic of modern day cavewomen and their hybrid car "clubs" came up. Ooops! The question just floated in the air around us: How would my car loving partner respond to the use of cars as weapons to meet men? Well, he'd just better be darn thankful that A) I don't own a hybrid and B) if I did own one I didn't run him down with it because if the opportunity had presented itself, I would have! (Of course he'd jump up worried about fender damage and know how to fix it!)

So now I find my spare weekends, when M is at her dad's house, filled with things such as lunch with other car enthusiasts (where I listen politely to conversations that I don't understand), garages (I can knit in garages!), and scenic drives(where I could knit, but then I'd miss the views)...and I wouldn't change a thing!!! Because when people find out how we met they always ask: "if they approached you to do a commercial for that site where you met, would you do it?". The answer is always a resounding yes! Maybe they can film us driving into our sunset, because that's what my life has become- love in the HOV lane, and we are thrilled to be traveling together!!!

Swimming in December

Greetings from them wet soggy state that is Alabama. Today would have been the perfect day to stay in bed with a good book (had I not been so lazy and actually gone to the book store and bought one...still haven't bought the new House of Night book...shame on me) or finish up that knitting project that I'm giving as a gift tomorrow. Nah! I'm writing from the freezing comfort of my desk at work, and pretty darn happy about it. Yeah, did you see it? Alabama is apparently the 9th happiest state in the U.S. It feels good to come in near the top of some list!! And what a list to be near the top, I mean how can you not be happy about being one of the happiest states? If you ask the people who research the education standards across the U.S. they'd tell you its because we don't know any better! We'll take it though however we can get it, and with a smile on our face! I hope the other people here at work read that article and come in in a good mood today!

Its been forever since I've been here. I know, and I'm sorry!! I have a good reason for not getting to greet you all in almost two months too! I managed to join the world of the working class. I've been tucking back stories that at least make Jang soon laugh (but I worry about her because she has a sense of humor like mine). I can't go into details here but I promise soon (this weekend--with my fingers crossed) I'll sit down and share a story with you. Have you heard the one about the missing bathroom mirror or the one about the sexy lights? You will.

Happy Fall!

I know, I know, the official start of fall was last week. Today, however, is the first day of October, and to me October says fall. I've started on my daughter's Halloween costume. Last year saw 10 yards of tulle, I'm going to see if we can top it this year! I've bought my first mum of the season and who knows, today may have a pumpkin purchase tucked in somewhere! Last year I think we had 6 pumpkins, I'm going to see if we can top it this year!

With the fall season comes cooler weather, beautiful new colors and somewhat crazier animals. You know the ones! Especially squirrels, those little devils dart across the road on their search for tasty bits. For example one almost lost it's life this morning as I was taking my daughter to school. Who knows, if that squirrel had bothered to look more like a leaf I might have slowed down sooner or swerved more suddenly. As it stands we all made it out alive; it on the side of the road (I swear) chewing on some tasty bit, and my daughter and me in the car wondering what in the world just happened and why of all times is the thing choosing to eat now.

And now as a final thought... be nice out there. Nice matters. Nice always matters. In the car, on the sidewalk, in stores, and in gardens. We may not have to like people, what they do or how they act, but we can choose to be nice. And who knows being nice to that one person may set off some kind of chain.

And as a final final thought October is also breast cancer awareness month, so don't forget to get out there and support the women in your community. Run, walk, donate, wear pink as often as you can, get tested, encourage others to get tested, lend where you can, offer a shoulder where you can't lend.

Now, if you'll excuse me I'm off to enjoy the cool morning by looking for pumpkins!!

Mother Knows Best.

I was relating the lesson of the hybrid to my mother as we were in the car last week because she doesn't do the whole computer thing (meaning that she logs on to balance her checking account and then logs straight off). And just to prove that mother knows best she turns to me and suggests that maybe I should consider trading in my car for a hybrid so that I could have a better shot at running down my jogger! Again, seriously I'd never knowingly run down a fellow human, but you can see the application of the lesson of the hybrid, right?! Not to mention I've noticed several "clip worthy" joggers in my area. I can just see my trophy case now.... (I keep it in my cave next to my "club").

Saving Leaves and Lives

Ok, you are all going to think that I'm a bit crazy or you may think that I need my eyes checked. I can't think that I'm the only person in the world who has done this though. I'm driving along when I see something scuttle across the road and I swerve (not violently) to avoid the little critter, only to realize that its a leaf. I swear it looked like a lizard! This isn't the first time that its happened, I have to admit. In fact I have to face the fact that it may happen more often now that we are coming up on fall. My best friend laughed at me and asked how I'd explain wreaking the car over a leaf. I don't know!! Of course I laughed at her the day that she told me that she was almost run over by a hybrid car because they are so quiet that she didn't hear it coming. Yeah, I laughed at her! I mean how can you not hear a car coming right? No, she was right. As I was walking across the bookstore parking lot (by the way don't read new books while crossing a parking lot) one almost hit me. I swear I didn't hear the thing coming!!! I called her to apologize. Because I laughed at her being run down by a hybrid I can only hope that because she laughed at me for saving the life of a leaf that the same thing doesn't happen to her. I want you all to drive safely and watch out for leaves and hybrids because they really can sneak up on you.