Have ya noticed that the sap moon is coming?

Now does that mean we're looking of looneys wandering around in the moonlight cuz I've seen that bit before? Or does it mean that the full moon next is called so because the sap is rising in the trees? Just thought I'd shake up the sap.....tee hee.

A birthing day gift and other nice things to do............

This is not one of those saccharine sweet, lookie what I did kinda posts. I say that because sometimes I look back at what I have said I have done with the grands or SM or my daughter Shelley and kinda get ickified thinking.....I wonder if they know I don't think I'm such and such or so and so. Cuz most of the time I am a so and so. But I digress as usual.

It just so happens that on occasion, possibly not as often as it should, when I am in a weakened biotch condition,  I can be nice. Or at least I have experienced that a couple of times. tee hee

When Shelley was but a wee young one, before Oprah was the font of advice on how to be......and do.......and have............and behave, you know when folks were or were not schooled as children, in the art of social interaction and how to be polite "out in public" behavior (usually at the end of a willow switch or paddle and applied when the learner was small). I heard some friends discussing getting flowers for different events in their lives. And this older woman (about 40, yikes, that's funny now) said that she didn't get flowers very often but gave them because it made her feel good about herself and she loved the expression on other's faces when she gave them the bouquets.

The one she talked about that hit a cord with me was the flowers she gave to her Mother on this lady's birth day as a birthing present to say thanks Mom for going through all you went through for me. So being the follower and copier supreme, I gave my Mom flowers on my next birthday. She was of course shocked, dumbfounded and stupefied. What the................? And my Sister was pissed at me and my Dad said I made him look bad and so I never did it again. All in all, it didn't quite work out the way I though it would have......with Snow White singing and blue birds flying and my Mom dancing around with tears streaming down her cheeks and a look of appreciation on her face. Oh well, I tried. I wish I had read "Dancing with the Goddess" by Morrison and Madden back then. I could have used my favorite quote, on my family. *be careful what you say, your next word could be ribbit*.

But little Michelle Leigh was and always has been an observer of all things soft, smooshy and warm. Even drew with it on her crib when she was a baby....oh no never mind.

My Michelle has a tender heart and a good grasp of warm and fuzzy, yeah that's better. And has since she could con her Dad out of some money for my favorite yellow roses, gifted me with those gorgeous buds of love on her birthday. As she got older, the number of roses increased from 1 or 2 to a dozen. There have been years when she didn't have the financial where with all and sent me a card or just called and you know.....that was plenty. At my other blog, I explained our birthing situation, she and I alone without assistance in the hallway. Somehow, that has forged a very strong, you and me bond.

So this year, I didn't expect roses. I was surprised and pleased. I hope that she knows how much I appreciate her kindness and loving attentions to her Mom. I think she does but it never hurts to say "thanks sweetie, you da bestest".

And I hope that others know that I can be thankful and do appreciate all that I get and have from others.....but like the other (older) lady, I like to be the giver most of the time. And sometimes the giving is the best gift.

52 card pickup..........

As a kid, did you ever get tricked into playing 52 card pickup? I remember my brother (the biggest stinker in the world) introducing me to this frustrating bit of haha when I was about 6.

For those who don't know.....you ask someone if they'd like to play cards because you have this great game called 52 card pick up. When your intended victim is ready, you shuffle the cards but not on a table top. Just let them fly and they go everywhere and then you announce there's your 52 cards......pickup.

Anyway, that's what we're doing here at Casa de Cuckoo. We're switching rooms instead of cards but it feels like 52 card pickup. For those of you who know what it's like to redecorate, restorate, upgrade or have add ons, then you know of the pain in the butt, of which I speak. But this isn't because we will have anything new except maybe better "feng shui" in the house.

GK is getting to be so grown up, so quickly and it's about time that she had her own space. I was raised as an only child so I never had issues with a younger brother always up in my "bitness". But GK and Ry in the same room is verrrrrrrry interesting to say the least. In their shared room, he (who is only 6) leaves his cars, trucks, dinosaurs, blocks, whatever all over the floor and is hard pressed to understand.....people walking here Ry! She, (almost 11) leaves her stuffies, clothes, books, homework and DS anywhere it happens to land and also is hard pressed to understand, if ya don't put it back in the same place........um, hmmm, it might get lost or worse buried. (Or borrowed by your little brother for one of his science experiments...it's happened.)

As those of you who have been following me for awhile know, I am in a constant state of flux. I long for static living. Or at least I think I do. I have moved my "studio", I forget how many times in the last 10 years. Least important always moves first is the thought process, I guess. But here I go again.....the funny thing is, my studio "area" is only moving a few feet. Whereas the rest of the rooms we live in are doing the 52 card pickup thang.

Breakfast area will be no more. Bye, bye. Computer (since we only have one now) will move into that space. Living Room and Dining Room will switch places so that we have a table to eat upon. And Shelley will move to what used to be the computer room which means we have an empty space for Ry to move into and GK gets the whole room to herself.

Sweet Man and I always lay down a tactical plan when we get ready to do anything like this and so we have our ballet well choreographed. We didn't just sit around and watch Sesame Street when Shelley was little without coming away with intimate knowlegde of the Ernie and Bert cooperation game. We know how to pour out the milk in order to store the bottle cap collection which is replaced in the cigar box with the dirt from the flower pot which now holds the milk. Understand????? Me too.

Anyway after all this planning and sitchamatating.....the kids say they are fine with staying in the same room together......oh hell no.

How fun is this??????

The kids are out of the house. No really. Everyone is out of the house. SM is at work left at 5:30am. Shelley and the kids left about 6:45am (on a Sunday) to go to the International Balloon Museum here in Albuquerque. The sweetheart balloon festivities are today and they've gone for watching, and perhaps getting a hot air balloon ride. Mommy has a regular customer at the restaurant who went to school with her. She and this woman were not friends in school but have struck up a friendship within the last year. The woman's husband, who put in my ceramic tile floors, owns a balloon and now there is a standing offer to "come take a ride with us". How exciting is that?

Last night the Mommy and kids went to the Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus. I thought of you RV Linda, getting to see all the circus things in your travels. I still haven't talked to the kids because they came in after I had gone to bed last night, but I should imagine a good time was had by all.....well maybe the kids more than Mom. Shelley is afraid of clowns.

It's all my fault, I guess. When she was little I wanted her to see everything fun there was to see and took her to all the circus' that came to town. I always loved the little ones that set up in the parking lots of the big shopping centers. The ones with only a few people to do all the jobs. The clowns were always up close and personal and sat right next to you at the circus. Or maybe it was the Bicentennial Circus where a clown came up into the stands and got Shelley and took her down to the performance floor for her to ride on an elephant in the closing parade. Whatever it was, she has since she was 5 been scared of people in makeup as clowns or those costumey mascots for restaurants, or shows or whatever. Poor baby.

Well they've come home now and I can hardly wait to here of the adventures of the balloons and circus. See ya later and Happy Sunday.

Many of you have asked..............

When I was young my parents had friends galore. They were always having cocktail parties and "do's". And as a young girl, I thought that was very exciting and glamorous. As I got older I realized that most of the people that came to the parties were from specific groups....office friends (my father sold insurance for a big company and my mother worked in a bank). relatives (my fathers family was close and he was the middle child of 18) and political friends (it was a family tradition to be involved in local politics). But as far as having close friends....no, they just didn't.

When I became and adult, SM and I have had friends that have come into our lives and then moved away or we just didn't have things in common with them any longer. Never because of trauma or drama but just life moving on.

But I have never had friends like I have since blogging. Not the imaginary ones my chiropractor jokes with me about. He says that cyber friends are like having imaginary friends when you are a kid. He's wrong. Even when I worked in the church environment as an educator or when I was a teacher, I never had people act upon friendship in the ways that all of you have. Reaching out and touching my family with love, respect, concern and warmth.

So in answer to your questions (as much as I can go into detail with the stalkers) GK is thriving. She came through what was a very difficult situation and is okay. I know someday she will be braver, stronger, more resilient and capable of handling herself than she would have been if she hadn't gone through this event. And I also know, as I have stated before and can never say it enough, she is blessed because of you and your love. So know that because of who you are, she is going to be a woman of strength and "walk in beauty" as the Navajo people say.

Namaste
Blessings on all of you

Here we are looking at a new week........

Last week was loooOoo0ooooo00oooOooooooong. (the last word has 6 syllables, btw)

The beginning of the week was stressful enough on it's own. And thanks once again for all the love and support. Then we got the snow storm from hellishness central and our world got smaller.

The kids were home all week long because we live in the Land of Enchantment, not the Alaskan tundra for goodness sake. I mean, we get snow and ice...which lasts for a day at a time here in the city. We have snowplows, sand, salt and snow removal thingies....but not enough plumbers. When pipes freeze you cannot throw sand on them to fix them. You cannot ignore them when they freeze, cuz they are going to thaw and somebody is gonna be doing the back stroke. That's why the kids didn't go to school. More than 20 schools had frozen pipes and water was everywhere...at least we knew where the water was because someone lost our natural gas.

Not really, it was stuck in Texas somewhere and so........that's why our pipes froze. At the beginning of the "crisis weather" the natural gas company said, hey don't worry, we've got you covered, no sweat. And they meant that....no one was sweating....we were freezing. There was not enough gas to cover the "crisis" -16 degree temps and so there were whole communities that had to go without........WITHOUT heat for days. Schools, businesses, government agencies all closed and turned down their thermostats..............and then the pipes froze. We were all asked to turn our thermostats down to between 65 and 68. For us that's not an issue cuz that's where we keep our thermostat in the winter. 62 at night when we are sleeping and up to 68 at first when everyone is showering and getting ready for work and school and then when all of them are out of the house (oh wait, I don't think that has happened in months, that I get rid of all of them at one time, oh well) I turn the temp down to 65 and bundle up and keep busy. But I guess for alot of folks that isn't the way they roll normally so it was a hardship.

Are you getting the feeling that in the Land of Enchantment, we don't do this often and have shit for brains? CUZ that's what I got from all this excitement.

The first day we all had snow fun outside, then the artic blast came and the kids stayed in and it's been close quarters ever since. I swear if they don't go to school all this week I'm going looking for the missing gas in Texas all by myself. If not, I will gladly make the call to the men in white coats to give me a social call .....just for the rest and relaxation.

On each other's nerves had taken on a whole new meaning for us at Casa de Cuckoo. It ain't purdy ya'll.

autism reality....................

I know all of you know about my precious grandson Ry. Well this is like this young man is telling you about Ry some years in the future.