My life this week - the good parts

This week has been full of ups and downs, and not moderate fluctuations. No, these have been high amplitude fluctuations. I'm grateful for the highs. Frankly, I haven't had many highs recently. 

So should I start with the wonderful things, or save them for last? Oh, lets start now. 

On Thursday after classes were over I took my beloved truck and drove into the mountains of North Carolina. This is the thing I need to do whenever I need a thrilling rush. I love driving my truck in the mountains! I love seeing how fast I can take those tight curves. The road I was on has a speed limit of 45 miles an hour along most of the stretch between towns. Of course as curvy as it is, one rarely can reach 45 mph, but I did as much as I was able. I discovered that most of the curves marked 25mph can be successfully navigated in 3rd gear at 35 mph. The ones marked 35mph I was often able to take at 45mph in 4th gear. I didn't spend much time in 5th gear until I got to the straight stretches. 

I forget how much I love driving in the mountains. Before long I found myself spontaneously whooping on the tight curves. Whooping, you know, as in "Yee-ha!" I laughed loud and strong. FUN. I rarely have real fun. I should do it more often. It's good for the soul. 

I went to North Carolina for a specific reason, not just for the drive. I allowed myself to experience a fulfilling cultural event and meet with a dear friend. Chanticleer performed at Brevard College Thursday night. Every time I hear those guys my soul is enriched. They are nice to look at, too. The main reason I went all the way to Brevard, though, was to see Gregory. He blogged for a while as the Ubiquitous Hobbit, but had to close the blog when he became a public figure. He is one of my first online friends. We spent a couple of hours together after the show just chatting and eating fattening food in a diner. It was fun.  

Then I got to drive the 2.5 hours back across the mountain and into the guts of South Carolina. It was 3:00 a.m. when I got back to town. Since I was still awake anyway, and needed some stuff, I went to Wal-Mart. I like shopping at 3:00 a.m. There are so few customers in the store then. The last few times I've been in that store I've gotten cranky about how many people were there. 

I had a nice 3 hour nap when I got home, and was in my 8:00 class Friday morning. I can do that occasionally. It actually thrills me to do that occasionally. If it happens too often, though, I get sick. I knew I had no tests or assignments due Friday which is why I allowed myself to indulge in the trip to Brevard Thursday night. It was the right thing to do. 

Today is a fun weather day. We've got real rain, not just little drizzly sprinkles here and there. And thunder!! I like thunder. The windows shook a couple of time earlier this morning. As long as I don't have to be out and about in weather like this, I really like it. Really. A lot. 

Light is home for her Spring Break. It is so good to hear her voice in the house again! She is a bright spot in my life. I think one of the reasons I enjoy her being here is that she's not here all the time. It's a pleasant break from normal for her to be here. I like talking with her, sharing our various experiences with each other. This is her home, but I'm really glad she has a college home too. I'm proud of myself for being so emotionally healthy about my young adult daughter striking out on her own. I like the way the college experience works for young people. They are quasi-independent, but have a home to come to and work from. I think it helps the growing up process. 

Those are my happy things. It goes downhill from here. This post is long enough as it is, so I'll write another one about the down side of my week. It follows this one. Read it if you want, don't if you'd rather not. I must write it, for that is the therapeutic nature of blogging for me.

Busy days

I finally got my chance to hear Gregory sing! * He recently joined the ensemble group Chanticleer and has been on tour with the group for the past 2.5 weeks. Tuesday was the last concert in the tour, and was at the Newberry Opera House. Newberry is a small town along Interstate 26 between Greenville and Columbia, South Carolina. Their claim to fame is the Opera House. It's about 40 miles east of here. I hadn't been before Tuesday. It's a nice little place, the town and the venue. But that's not the important thing. No, the important thing is that I got to see Gregory! And hear him sing! I have tried but failed to see Gregory a couple of times this past summer. Here we are in the lobby after the performance. He looks great. I look big. Never mind. 

He is one more blogger friend I have now met. I so enjoy meeting my blog buddies. Gregory has a personality as big as all outdoors and it shows in his writing (to which I cannot link. Sorry if that frustrates you. Trust me, dears, he is fabulous!) When we met Tuesday afternoon it did not seem like a first meeting. I felt like I was having lunch with an old friend, which I guess I really was. The transition from reading his blog to exchanging email and text messages, to giving him a great big hug was smooth as silk. 

Superman and I got to Newberry around 3 in the afternoon on Tuesday. Gregory was just chillin' at the hotel, so we met him there. We took a walk down Main St. to a local eatery where Superman and I had late lunch/early dinner. We sat in a booth there in the restaurant talking and laughing for a couple of hours before Gregory had to go to rehearsals. It was so much fun! 

Superman and I hung around, walked around downtown Newberry, chilled in the lobby of the hotel (which is right across the street from the Opera House) until time to go to the show. The show, let me just say, was fantastic. If you ever get a chance to hear Chanticleer, take it! They'll be at the Met in early December for 4 shows. There's a concert calendar on the Chanticleer website. 

'Twas rather late when we returned home Tuesday night. I was so pumped that I had a hard time getting to sleep. And Wednesday I had to get up early and do Good Mommy things.

I woke up Wednesday morning at 7:00. I rolled out of bed, took my meds and used the bathroom, slipped on my shoes, grabbed my purse and was out the door. I took all the kids to school and Superman to work. I went from there to Wal-Mart where I bought stuff that Diva and Sproing need for the field trip they are on now. [Field trip aside: The 5th grade classes at the kids' school go on an overnight field trip every year to Myrtle Beach, where they "sleep with the sharks" at the Ripley Museum thing over there. They sleep in the walkways that run under the big shark tank. It's a big deal. Diva and Sproing have been looking forward to it for months. They left this morning (Thursday) and will be back at the school tomorrow at noon. It's very peaceful at home this evening. :)]  After checking out at Wal-Mart and getting the cash I'd need to give the kids for their trip, I took my tired old self to the laundromat. Superman and Twitch had put a few loads of our dirty laundry into the van before we left home. 

Wait, there is an addendum to this series of events. After I left the store I had to get some food and coffee. I stopped at the IHOP for a good breakfast (pumpkin pancakes at the IHOP this month y'all. Go. Eat. Enjoy) and coffee. My waiter was a fabulous little cocoa fruit cup with huge "diamond" earrings. I called him "dear" and "honey" and smiled so sweetly at him and gave him a big tip. It was a wonderful breakfast all around. 

OK, so now off to the laundromat, my favorite place in town. (cough, hack, gag) There are so many dirty clothes, towels, sheets, etc. etc. Way too many for me to deal with all at once. Sproing wanted something specific to wear on the field trip which of course was dirty, and requested specifically that it get washed. So I told him to put it in the hamper that Twitch was loading into the van. They loaded towels (we have an amazing quantity of towels, even considering the size of the household) and jeans and Superman's work pants. Heavy stuff that is very difficult to wash by hand. 

I only took 3 hampers, one of which was half full. It made 5 loads in the washers at the laundromat. I can handle that. It isn't overwhelming. I ponied up the cash for the dryers, too. It took an hour and a half, I think, and I got everything washed, dried and folded. It was so exciting. The clean stuff is still neatly folded in the hampers right here beside my bed. Follow through is a problem in our home. 

I got back home sometime between 11:00 and noon and was hot, dirty, tired, and my head itched. I got a shower and shampoo then went through my email for a little while. I napped for less than an hour, then it was time to hit it again. I picked up Twitch from school, wasted an hour doing I have no idea what, then took Sproing and Diva to their soccer game. Superman and Twitch went to gather a load of firewood from a source we'd discovered. (fallen trees, not nicely chopped and split cords of wood). 

Last night's soccer game was the last of the season, so we had the awards "banquet" afterwards. The team met at the local Pizza Inn for the buffet and awarding of the trophies. It was ... an experience. Similar to other soccer award banquets I've been to. And that I don't want to repeat. And that I didn't want to do last night.  It's another one of those good mommy things, you know? The kidlets had a blast, and it's over, so we smile and soldier on. 

Once we got home and the kids were preparing for bed we realized that the clothes Sproing wanted for his field trip did not in fact make it to the laundry basket in the van. I wondered, because of what I washed yesterday morning the only thing he had in the load was a couple pair of underwear and some socks. So at 8:45 last night I took another load of the kids' clothes and lugged my tired ass back to the laundromat. It was anticlimactic. 

I did however feel very "good mommy" yesterday. In addition to washing Sproing's clothes on a special extra trip to the laundromat, I got all kinds of goodies for their trip. I filled up a bag for each of them with a disposable 35mm camera, a book of games and puzzles to do on the 5 hour bus trip, snacks for the bus trip, a white t-shirt for the art project they are supposed to do during this educational experience, mechanical pencils (that don't need sharpening) to use on their puzzle books, and money (cold hard cash!!) for tonight's dinner and the gift shops. 

By the time I got to bed last night I was exhausted. Unfortunately I had Coke with my pizza at the pizza buffet. Coke, you know the stuff with caffeine? Bad idea. I was very tired but couldn't go to sleep. As I lay in bed wishing I could sleep the pizza came up and bit me in the esophagus. Acid reflux. Ick. I had to get up and stay vertical for an hour or so. I piddled around on the computer, mainly read my email, for that time. I was too sleepy and weird to write anything coherent, which is why I'm posting this entry tonight rather than last night. I finally was able to lie down and go to sleep about 1:30 this morning. Superman, the dear that he is, took all the kids to school this morning. When I woke up and looked at the clock I was shocked to see it was 11:55! Yay! I slept almost 11 hours! I needed it. My muscles are sore from all the walking around we did in Newberry on Tuesday and shopping, laundry, and going to the soccer game yesterday.

It's 8:00 now. I'm tired (still or again, I'm not sure which). Sproing and Diva aren't here, so it's relatively peaceful. Superman is going to take me out to dinner soon. We'll bring back something for Twitch. 

Tomorrow I see my therapist. Visits to her office usually do me a lot of good, help give me perspective, and encourage me. I should take the next category of laundry to the "wash-ateria" as my Grandmama used to call it. Don't know yet whether I'll have the gumption for that little adventure. The kidlets will be home after school tomorrow, and I'm sure I'll be bombarded by excited and very tired younguns. But right now I'm going out to eat with my sweetie. 

*I would link to his blog, except he has deleted it since he is now such a public figure.