The Taste of Carrot

This little dude was crying the other day; Tears streaming down his sweet little cheeks. I gave him a hug and told him I was sorry he was having a bad day. He looked up at me, licked a tear off of his cheek and said ...

"it's ok, I like the taste of my tears; they taste like carrots"
(he took the "carrots are good for your eyes" connotation to a whole new level)

I couldn't even remember what he was crying about after that line! lol.

Continue reading →

Mama needs a new pair of shoes ... or two, or three, or four.

You all remember this photo from my mud mania post, right?

They were digging for discarded shoes and clothes after all of the muddy fun.

I couldn't believe it.  

Watching person after person strip their kids down, and then just toss their muddy shoes (and clothes) into a trash can. It was nuts! 

Seriously, people?!

It's just MUD.

It WASHES off.

I thought for sure I was mistaken. I had assumed all of the cans around were trash bins, but surely they had to be recycling bins of some sort. People who didn't want to go through the hassle of rinsing off their muddy shoes and clothes could just put them in one of the bins set up around the park, and then they would be picked up, hosed down, and distributed to local shelters or something. Right... that had to be it! 

NOPE! We asked the event staff. They were, indeed, trash cans. Everything in them would be (as they are every year) taken to the dump. 

Whaaaaaaa?!?!

There were atleast several HUNDRED pairs of freakin' shoes thrown in them!!!

Un-fucking-Believable! 

There were a few larger families there that brought boxes specifically for discarded shoes. I spoke to one family with 6 kids who were on their way out of there with 3 or 4 new pairs for each kid! Score.

We got some trash bags from the staff so we could rummage through the trash cans ourselves, plucking out all of the shoes and clothes to bring home, clean up, and donate to a shelter.  We're not talking cans full of ripped up ol sneakers that were on their last leg anyway; there were only a handful of those. Most of the shoes were pretty brand spankin' new! Insane!

We wont be here next year, but I'm going to see what I can do to get some kind of donation/volunteer system set up for subsequent mud mania events. It just makes sense... if there are THAT many people who don't want to deal with rinsing off muddy shoes and clothes, and would rather just throw them away ... why not have a station set up to accept the items; with volunteers doing the cleaning and distributing.  C'mon, people! 

The absolute wasteful nature of Americans is appalling, truly. I'm still shaking my head in disbelief.

Exhibits A / B / C / D / E and F... 

Continue reading →

Sunday's Songbird ... Coconut

As I mentioned yesterday (earlier this morning?) Zach Deputy was headlining the Mountain Sports Festival in Asheville yesterday. We stopped by the festivities before heading back to Columbia ... I was too excited to see Zach live that we couldn't NOT to go. He didn't disappoint! I love his one man band; and his smile is super infectious!

I'm really far too tired to decipher the lyrics for you, so this one is going to be lyric-less. 

It's ok ... it's more of a "get up and shake it" kind of song anyway!

Enjoy!

Continue reading →

Doing Asheville

7 days, 5 people, 2 dogs, 2 cats, 3 sleeping bags, 1 motel bed, and a tiny mini fridge.

The best part ... we get to do it again in a week. Weeee!

I'm exhausted. We spent the past week up in Asheville looking for a house. We found several, but none that have been just right yet (one that we LOVE!!! but it's a bit further out of the city then we want to be, so we've reluctantly decided to let it go).

Owens Birthday is on Wednesday, and we have a few appointments here in Columbia on Thursday ... so it looks as though we'll be heading out of here on Friday and taking up permanent residence in a motel until we find something. Social Security came through. A years worth of back pay in one swing is pretty nice, ha! The VA process is also pretty much done. All appts have been complete; now his claim is just waiting to be sent up for ranking, and that can't happen until he's officially retired (June 7th). So really, we've got nothing else to do but bum around in a motel room for a while. 

And we love Asheville ... the motel room wont see much of us!

we ate

and ate

we shared a bed

we met new canine friends

we climbed fences and gazed at the action on the other side

we visited more funky shops

and had a field day with all of the accessories.
oh happy day!

we played the "who can stay on a wiggly log the longest" game
ahem, me!

we climbed small walls

and big ones

enjoyed our first festival in Asheville
and were giddy to see all the HOOPS!

and a hoop maker on the spot!
oh happy day, AGAIN!

we tried out long boarding
and now all my boys are hooked

listened to live music

music in the name of Zach Deputy!

and we ate some more!

Continue reading →

Sunday's Songbird ... Sick of You

The Moon is shining red tonight; if you catch my drift.

This is the second song I've chosen to highlight based on my cycle. Starting my own "Period Mix" (courtesy of No Strings Attached), lol! Although, instead of my songs being about bleeding, or flowing, or strings; they'll cater more to the "you fucking bastard" mood-swings that seem to be chucked around willy nilly while in the thick of flowing through my moon cycle (pun definitely intended).

Yea, thanks bitch!

On my way down from the swing, I can smile and rejoice in the joy of being a woman. I honestly don't mind the ol' gal. My period is in sync with the moon in a very natural and beautiful way (full moon = she's baaaaack); it gives me a very balanced/zen like feeling. It's only 3 days, and if I'm eating a pretty healthy and clean diet, I have virtually no cramps to deal with. But those mood swings ... oh, the mood swings! They swoop down and choke the zen-ful rejoicing right outta the moment. Again, I say bitch! The thieving bitch!

More then you cared to know about my "inner" workings? lol

Without further adieu ...



Sick of You ~CAKE
I'm so sick of you
So sick of me
I don't want to be with you

I'm so sick of you
So sick of me
I don't want to be with you

I want to fly away
I want to fly away

I'm so sick of work
So sick of play
I don't need another day

I'm so sick of work
So sick of play
I don't need another day

I need a hide-a-way
I need a hide-a-way

Every shiny toy
That at first brings you joy
Will always start to croy and annoy
Every camera every phone
All the music that you own
Won't change the fact you're all alone
(All alone!)

Every piece of land
Every city that you plan
Will crumble into tiny grains of sand
Every thing you find
That at first gives you shine
Always turns into the same old crime
(Same old crime!)

I want to fly away
I want to fly away
I need to fly away
I need to fly away

I'm so sick of you
So sick of me
I don't want to be with you

I'm so sick of you
So sick of me
I don't want to be with you

Every little dance
Every hidden back romance
All alone
(All alone!)
All alone

Continue reading →

Mud Mania Twenty-Eleven

The Annual Mud Mania for kids (spin off of the Marine Corp Mud Run for old'ens) was today. They have a fun obstacle course that the kids can run through again and again (and again, and again, and again, and again, and...) 

Mud + Boys ... I mean, c'mon! 

Noone's getting out alive, er... I mean clean!

Whooooooooooooo's ready to get muddy???

yea, that last photo - lol ... I'll explain what my little dumpster divers were doing in my next post!

It's good stuff!
News worthy stuff!
The stuff legends are made of!

Or maybe something a little less theatrical; but still good!
You wont want to miss it!

Continue reading →

the one where she does a Photo Update

Things have been quiet around the blog lately, and I'm slowly working at figuring out some balance. Balance amidst our very unbalanced life right now.

I haven't yet found my stride in "retirement blogging", lol! 

Working on it. Check.

We're still here, in Columbia, in an empty house, sleeping on the floor, living out of suitcases, eating out of boxes. 

There you go; that's the jist of it; all caught up. 

But, because I have a gajillion photos in my camera, and I miss posting them, I'm going to do a photo-synopsis of our lives over the past month or so. 

Excited, right? 

I know ... me too! 

we watched our stuff being packed into trucks

we turned in a stack of medical records to the VA that could have made it in the world records book

we made faces at dad ... a lot of them

we scaled mountains
(ok, we climbed the nice winding trails, but still, we went to the tops of em)

we targeted some new awesome funky shops ... and spent some mooooooola

we danced in dandelion fields

we had our LAST appt with the "broken arm doctor"

we drove to and from North Carolina a whole heckuva lot

we hooped

and hooped some more

we hung out in the laundromat ... knitting!

we listened to some great live music

we nurtured a budding photog at his first concert gig

we celebrated Mother's Day!!!

we were witness to ALL THREE kids falling asleep in the car at the same time!

we read books

we hiked

we found a creepy cemetery in the middle of the woods during said hike.
(no trail or anything, just this sign, pointing that way. strange!)

we went to the track and ran a coupla miles under the moonlight

we had some crazy boy bonding time

and some crazy Mom bonding time!

we smiled

we loved

we grew up!
(taken two months apart) 

we found wildlife

and we enjoyed being together

Continue reading →