"I'm Batman."

This makes me laugh out loud every time I watch it. The best part is the last half where Superman and Batman are having coffee. Heeee-larious!

Letting Go

For those of you used to the sarcasm and unmatched wit that oozes from most of my blog posts, prepare yourselves to be...well...bored possibly. I got the phone call from my attorney's office today letting me know that the judge has signed my divorce decree and I am officially an unmarried woman. As you can imagine, as much as I know this is the right thing for my emotional health and well-being, I had mixed emotions when I took that call. Today I literally stumbled upon an excerpt of someone's written thoughts about marriage and divorce. These very much reflected how I feel about my situation. I found them to be very profound. They express better than I could how I feel about things, so I thought I'd share them on the blog.

LETTING GO OF THE LIFE WE HAVE PLANNED IN ORDER TO ACCEPT THE LIFE WE HAVE WAITING FOR US

"When you meet someone and fall in love it feels sort of like fate, that it was "meant to be"-- as though the planets aligned in a sure sign giving us a feeling of confidence and almost euphoria that everything is right and in order and in harmony. Things are settled; our future path seems clear- we have a definite plan with definite goals and a definite way of achieving them. No more anixety about how will it turn out, wondering whether we'll get what we want, or whether we'll have a date for Valentine's Day. So. . . . . .when things turn out so differently we're hurt and disappointed; it shakes us to the core. How could something which seemed so much like it was "meant to be" turn out "not to be?" How can the clear path suddenly be jackhammered away into a pile of rubble? The demise of our dream of how "it's supposed to be" is so hard; we want to cling to it with every last fiber of our being and it becomes almost unbearably painful to give it up. Giving it up also means re-entering the realm where there are no sure signs of how it's supposed to be, returning to an uncertain future where we're not sure what's going to happen, no definite plans or goals or ways of achieving them. No idea of where we'll be or who (if anyone) we'll be celebrating with on our birthdays or Valentine's Day.

But something richer-- even if less "secure" and "certain" --awaits: the experience of living the unanticipated life. The twists, the turns, the roundabouts, the knots, the thorns, *and* the unimagined joy all are part of the journey. There is something comfortable about the peaceful life, but there is something exciting and interesting about the life that leads us down the unexpected path. We don't know what's around the next corner; heck, we don't know who's around the next corner. It's like visiting Europe- not as safe and familiar as your own neighborhood, but not experiencing it would be foregoing an amazing experience. I believe it's the same with relationships. Our former spouses, for better or worse, were in some respects safe and familiar even if they often annoyed us. But if we'd stayed with them we'd never have a shot at experiencing the remarkable friends (and lovers) who will come into our lives in the future."

Sidebar: Do you love those faces OR WHAT??? Credit to my cute friend Polly for the photos. She does amazing work.

Good News and Bad News

The good news is...my house is going on the market! The bad news is...my house is going on the market. We finally got the back landscaping done and got it ready to sell. Our wonderful, magnificent, and most beautiful of all real estate agents, Lisa Hare, and her husband/business partner came today to take the pictures for the virtual tour. So OF COURSE the house had to be in absolute perfect condition for its photo opp. I'm putting these pictures (I took these, not the realtor. Theirs are much better and will be on Lisa's site shortly if you're interested or bored) on here because I want the world to see how clean my house is! My house hasn't been this clean and de-cluttered since...er...my house has never been this clean and decluttered. Likely it never will be again. So where's the "bad news" part of all this? The memories of selling our last home less than two years ago are just all too fresh and painful. Yelling at my kids every time they brought out a toy or spilled a drop of juice on the carpet because "SOMEBODY MIGHT CALL AND WANT TO SHOW THE HOUSE AT ANY MINUTE!!!" The insanity that occurred every time someone actually DID want to show the house, because it was a mad dash to get it immaculate and load every kid in the car and get them out of the house before the realtor got there. The disappointment every time it showed and someone was interested but then changed their minds. It's a few hours away from being listed on the MLS, and I'm already feeling like I need a massage and a whole lot of oreos. Remembering my breathing: hee hee hoo hoo hee hee hoo hoo. I can do this. I can do this. I can...

I've Died and Gone to Heaven

Well, not really. But I do think there will be always freshly-cleaned carpets in heaven. I mean, I
ask you, is there anything in the world prettier than this? I just love it when the carpet cleaning man comes and takes all the nasty junk out of my carpet. Let's see...this time around, we're talking vomit stains, pee stains (no, I don't have a dog, but I have a difficult 5 year old), blue food coloring, dried-on toothpaste (from the tiny almost-two-year-old who likes to walk around brushing his teeth, then tosses the brush on the floor wherever he happens to finish), milk stains, and oh too many more to mention. I stood at my window and watched the dirty water go through that little see-through container out to the big truck, and I was rather disgusted. I'm surprised the poor guy's machine didn't start coughing and sputtering and smoking and ultimately explode. Dodged the bullet on that one. And why do they have to make that container see-through, anyway? I don't want to see that! Do I really need such a reminder of my less than stellar housekeeping skillz? "Hey lady, look at that! Your water is BLACK! Betcha didn't know your carpets were that dirty, didja?" What-ev-AH.

To even FURTHER make my day, the nice carpet cleaning man gave me my very own bottle of his super duper ultra mega strength magical spot removing solution. I think he could tell how smitten I was when I watched him spray it on the food coloring and vomit stains and they just...poof! disappeared! He doesn't give EVERYONE their own bottle, you know. (I'm pretty sure he was in love with me)

But just look at these beautiful carpet tracks! I need to go now. Wanna go stare at them for a while. HEY! KIDS! Get away from that carpet! You'll mess up the tracks...!!!

Faces I Love

No event or crisis or birthdays to talk about here. Just 4 cute kids. Love my blue-eyed boys and blonde-haired girly girls.

And the winner is...

ME! I did it! I finished my nursing assistant course. And for everyone who may not be aware, what that means is that I did the following over the course of three short (yet oh, so long) weeks: sat through approximately 30 hours of classroom lecture, spent approximately 50 hours in the trenches of the local nursing home doing hands-on clinicals, took 9 tests and got the highest score in the class on every single one of them, thank you very much (yup, I'm quick to point that out every chance I get), and ended with a 99 on my final exam and a 98 overall for the class. Yup, that's right, the highest in the class. GO ME!!!


This is my pal Wendy. She let me do icky things to her like practice wiping her bottom and swabbing out her mouth and sticking a bedpan under her bum in just the right place. Isn't she a great guinea pig? And dontcha just love the look of horror on her face? I do! That's the face I would see every morning when I walked into the classroom. Gosh, I'll miss ol' Wendy.

Now, I've said this a hundred times and some may even be sick of hearing it, but one more time: THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to my wonderful friends and family who absolutely made this accomplishment possible for me. When I think about how quickly and unselfishly everyone jumped in to help with...well...everything from kid-sitting to the support I needed to keep from going absolutely mental...let's just say I get a little teary eyed and choked up. Nuff said. I love you all. If any of you ever need your vital signs taken or need help getting to the toilet, you know who to call. I'm here for YOU.