The continuing saga

My Braves haven't been playing so well recently. I had to turn the game off in the seventh inning last night because it got too pathetic. It's the top of the first inning and their opponents (Cincinnati Reds tonight) just scored two runs. I know my boys can do better than this. But enough about baseball.

I had some COFFEE this Afternoon!! With CAFFEINE! WEEEEEEEEE!!!

Twitch has been transferred to the store in Simpsonville (Arby's). It's an hour away. He has no car, no drivers license. He's got the learners permit, and has been driving Superman's truck with me in the shotgun position. I actually enjoy the drive, or have come to feel that way about it this week. I like it better when I drive. He's not too bad at driving, but he's new and nervous, and I like being behind the wheel when I'm in the car, you know? Today we took my truck, which is a piece of shit with a manual transmission which Twitch doesn't know how to drive. I like my truck better. The thing is, it takes an hour one way to get to Simpsonville and uses a bunch of gas. I drive back home, only to go back to get him six to eight hours later. That's a LOT of gas. Which costs a lot of money. He's helping with the expense, but not as much as all of it. I'm trying to get him to save so he can secure housing in that area. I've spent four hours on the road every day this week. I have mixed feelings about this.

The poor guy (Twitch) had to work ten hours today. I got there an hour before he got off, not realizing he would work that late. It all worked out well, though, because I'm easy that way. I needed some new shoes anyway and hadn't yet found a chance to shop. There's a shoe store half a mile up the road from Twitch's shop, so I wandered up there and had my favorite kind of shoe shopping experience. This is a representation of what I bought.

(One beer down) I asked the nice sales associate lady for those old fashion ugly Crocs. She said they only had that style in mens, which is fine by me. She showed me what they had, three different colors/styles. The camo print was an easy elimination. The other shoe was brown with a leather (or leather look) patch on the top of the upper. It was $15 more than the black ones. Though they had the brown in a size 7 (my size in mens shoes) and the smallest size black was an 8. I tried them both on, and went with the 8. Crocs are supposed to be kinda loose anyway, right? And it has that strap thing on the back that helps keep the shoe on. So it's all good. I told the friendly sales lady that ugly and old fashioned was kinda my style. You know, I'm so fashion backward. So I got a pair of shoes I like for less than $35 and took less than ten minutes to complete the entire shoe shopping experience. Yeah, that's how I like to shop. I feel good! (The caffeine and beer help. 'Bout to start on my second beer, so watch out!) 

After the wonderful shoe shopping experience I stopped by Starbucks. I don't think I've been inside a Starbucks in at least two years. I got myself a short "tall" black coffee, then went back to the Arby's where I bought the last chocolate turnover. Man, those Arby's folks have the best turnovers, and the chocolate is extraordinary. Been wanting one of those for a while now. 

Oh, and in other news, the weight loss thing isn't going so well. For example, there's an IHOP beside the Arby's. Twitch has had to be at work at 8:00 every morning this week, but Arby's isn't open for breakfast. Leaving home before 7:00 hasn't given me the opportunity to eat before leaving. So twice this week I had the Bananas Foster Brioche French Toast at IHOP. Oh boy.

I mean look at that. Who could resist? Who knew warm bananas could taste so good? 

I recommend them if you aren't trying to control your BMI. So good! I got myself a bowl of cereal before leaving this morning, so was able to forego the cost and calories of that particular temptation today. Then I had a chocolate turnover this afternoon. In my defense (which isn't a good defense, by the way) I had a V-8 for lunch. *sigh*

Half way through the second beer. Feelin' good! I haven't been drinking much recently, like less than a beer a day. Maybe two or three beers a week. So two beers has a bigger impact. Oh, further along on that beer than I thought: just finished it. Weeee! And now I don't even care that the Braves are playing like shit. My tongue is going numb. Nice buzz.

Superman is on his way home from work. Yes, it's 8:40 on a Friday night. He's been working a lot of long hours recently. The plant just had a power surge and he lost the PowerPoint he'd been working on for over an hour, so he's chucking the whole thing and coming home. I suspect he'll have to spend a couple (or more) hours at work tomorrow.

What else? I suppose I could update the Sproing drama. Yesterday was hell. Did I mention in my last post that he'd been before the judge on the ... wait a minute. Let me check the last post and see if you are up to date with his latest criminal activity. (insert Jeopardy "wait" music)  Nope. That last post was written before his latest criminal activity. Last weekend he stole Superman's debit card, took it to Wal-Mart and spent approximately $150. When this breach of trust was discovered, we called the police. Because DAMN! We live in the city, Wal-Mart is in the county outside city limits. So to make life more difficult (because damn) the offense has been divided between city police and county sheriff's departments. The theft of the card is a police matter, the use of it is sheriff's domain. He's had his arraignment with the city. We're waiting on the sheriff's warrant, when we'll have to see a different judge because fuck my life. The municipal judge considered putting Sproing in jail, but released him on a personal recognizance bond of $5000, with restrictions. The judge, bless his heart, wrote his direct phone number on our copy of the paperwork.  If the boy gives me any grief I can call the judge and he'll revoke Sproing's bond, sending him to jail until his June 5th court date.

Well, yesterday Sproing was being an ass, at which he has a special gift. I asked him to fold and put away the load of towels in the dryer. Oh. My. God. You'd have thought I asked him to donate a kidney. After the judge had a serious talk with him about doing the right thing and respecting his Mama. And it got worse from there. I finally told him that I was done, and would call the judge tomorrow. (Which was today, for the record) He kinda freaked. (What the fuck. What does he expect?) Then he (Sproing) asked to talk to the sheriff's detective who questioned him about the charge, a guy who used to be the resource officer at the high school. Evidently Sproing feels comfortable with the man. So I called the sheriff's department (at 9:00 in the evening) and asked for the detective to call me. Which he did. I'm impressed. He talked to Sproing, calmed him down. After the conversation Sproing was way more copacetic. He apologized and everything. So I had pity on him and didn't call the judge today. So far today he's been calm, but I've hardly interacted with him at all. He got home from school right before I left to pick up Twitch. When I got back I went to the beer and baseball, and Sproing is doing his thing away from my presence. So far so good. Tomorrow is Saturday and we'll probably have more opportunity to interact. Oh please oh please oh please let it be peaceful!

Sproing got the warrant from the city, which is what sent us to the municipal judge. He hasn't yet gotten the warrant from the county, though. Once he does, we'll have to go to another judge to repeat the process. I don't know how that'll work out.

Oh, and of course all this shit violates his probation with Juvenile Justice. I talked to his probation officer. She said she'd wait to see what the city and county do with him before taking any action. She thinks it'll work itself out without her having to interfere. You see, since he's 17 years old now, he's treated as an adult when he fucks up like this. DJJ is a secondary concern. Damn, I hate this. Sproing can be such a nifty guy. But he can also be a pain in the ass. As you have probably realized by now.

HA!! Braves won!! Finally. Maybe this portends good fortune for this weekend. In my life, not just for the Atlanta Braves. That'd be nice.

Today I've been in a good mood. Last night I felt like wringing Sproing's neck. Today I spent pretty much all day without Sproing, and got to drive my truck, which always makes me happy. I had a lovely almost three hour nap this morning when I got back from Simpsonville, finished my sappy gay romance novel, had a good shoe shopping experience, drank CAFFEINATED COFFee and ate chocolate yummies. And now the Braves have just won their game (yay, about damn time boys) and I've now had three beers. The buzz is strong in this one. Time to end this post, take a shower (because I'm kinda ripe) and kiss all over my husband who has finally gotten home from work. If there was anything else I meant to say in this post, well, it won't happen.

Until next time

Whilst wandering around YouTube

It started with a video in an email from my mother, of all people. One that she sent to me and my two brothers.

My grandfather on my daddy's side was proud of his Scottish heritage. He had not only a kilt, genuine made in Scotland, genuine family tartan, but also had the formal shirt and vest/coat thingie to go with it. He cut a dashing figure. I'm not sure if he'd be proud or scandalized by this video. With him, it could go either way. He had a healthy and somewhat perverse sense of humor along with fierce Scottish loyalty.

And you know how YouTube leads you on with suggested videos. So, speaking of kilts...

I especially like the sweet fella in the shorty kilt. Also, my grandfather told me that a woman's kilt is called a kilty. I looked it up and found this:

which looks like a woman's shoe to me, so perhaps Grandpapa was blowing smoke up my kilt. Or maybe the definition has changed, or is different by location. 

Anyway, once we had sexy men in sexy kilts, it was a logical leap to this:

which, I mean, wow.

There's another suggested video at the end of this one showcasing the Tom of Finland Spring line from 1999. Haven't watched that one yet, but it's queued up.

The situation warrants

an update. Yes, I am in Baltimore. Right now I'm sitting in Indigo's living room on his new recliner. It's very comfy, and it reclines so as to comfortably allow me to type away on the computer. What fun! Indigo made waffles this morning! 

I actually left home at my target time! I was so impressed with me. I woke up Friday morning 15 minutes before my alarm was set to go off. I had set it to 4:00 a.m., but evidently I'd had enough sleep fifteen minutes before that. I had packed almost everything into the car the day before, so there was not much to do to get ready to go. I pulled out of the driveway at approximately 4:50. I would have been here at the 12 hour mark had I not arrived in the greater Baltimore area right at rush hour. I made very good time until I was within about 20 miles of my destination. That final 20 miles took 45 minutes. Ah, well. I made it, and have been enjoying myself ever since. 

Indigo and I went shoe shopping yesterday. A refresher in Java trivia: Java hates shoe shopping. We went to the DSW store. I found the shoes I needed with the second pair I tried on!!!! Yes, I only tried on two pairs. The lovely young woman assisting us was a pleasure to work with. Indigo and I were having lots of fun being silly, and she joined in the fun. I'll have to take a picture of my new shoes. 

I have some pictures I want to share, but they are still in my camera. I'm too comfy in this comfy chair to get my camera and download the photos. I will get to it later. 

I drove through the Shenandoah Valley. Wow. Gorgeous! I love that area, slightly east of the Appalachian mountains in North Carolina and Virginia. I would move there if the opportunity were right. I stopped at one point somewhere in Virginia to stretch my legs and use the bathroom. It was so pretty, but it smelled of skunk. I assume all of the Shenandoah Valley doesn't always smell of skunk, but the part I smelled was stinky. I will forgive. Heck, I'm over it already. 

There may be a few other things I wanted to tell you, but I can't remember right now. I'll get around to yammering on about other stuff within the next day or so. In the meantime, enjoy your weekend, and for those of us in the U.S., enjoy the holiday weekend. 

Monday mish-mash

As I sit in my nest I look out the window at the sunlight shining on the tree outside, just the top leaves are in the sunbeams now. There's a lovely gentle breeze, not too warm, not too cool, coming through the open window fluttering the edges of today's newspaper. It is early evening, 5:30 as I begin this post. This is just about my least favorite time of day, even on a gorgeous day like today. As the sun sinks lower in the western sky my heart seems to go with it, down, down, almost extinguished now. Once the night takes over and there is nothing left of sunlight except the faint traces of color on the western horizon, then I get a second wind and can work on into the night. But right now I am all sadness. It isn't a specific sadness, I can't tell you what I'm upset about, but I feel as though I'm about to cry. 

I had another interesting conversation with Twitch on the way home from school this afternoon. Almost every conversation with Twitch is at least interesting, quite often surreal. Nevertheless,we saw the school bus that comes through this neighborhood, the one he would ride if I wasn't such a softy to take him to and from school. He rode that bus once or twice when we first moved to this neighborhood. It was a negative experience. I waved to the driver as she went by (an acquaintance of mine, of course) and Twitch said "That's an awful bus." I asked if he refered to the bus itself or the students who ride the bus. As I suspected, it's the students. He said he didn't like them because they all thought he was gay.  HUH? I need more information about what you just said there, boy. He says there's nothing wrong with being gay (good, glad you agree). Is there something wrong with other people thinking you are gay? No, not if that's all there is to it. What he objects to is the way he is treated if they think he is gay. Ah, I begin to see the light. And he begins to feel the sting of homophobic bullying. Just a small taste, but I think it will help him to be more sympathetic to the plight of the repressed.  And it increases my general sadness.

On a somewhat lighter note, I thought I'd share with you the costume idea Superman has for this Halloween season. He did this to me Friday night. It was painful. Frightening. Shocking, as he rounded the corner and I was assaulted with THIS.

It's Dr. Plaid!

He defeats the evil foes (and everyone else within sight range) by blinding them with his offensive fashion sense.

His suspenders are red with little images of Christmas ornaments on them. He has a pair of rainbow suspenders that I think would be more (in)appropriate. We shall see. Though it is hard to tell from this picture, he is wearing argyle socks. He says he wants to find a plaid cap, something like these tam o'shanters. 

(when I was taking these pictures and groaning about how terrible he looks, Diva asked if I would delete the pictures, since he looks so bad. I told her "No, honey, I'm going to post them on the internet for the whole wide world to see.")

And while we are on the subject of frightening images, this is a picture Sproing took of me.

He wanted me to take off my glasses, so when I did I also shook my hair around. When I looked like this he exclaimed "Mom! You look just like a rock star!" and took my picture. Oh dear.

You may rest at ease now. I come to inform you that Sproing has new shoes. His wonderful daddy took him to get new shoes late last week, shortly after I told you the story of the poor boy being without shoes that fit. He is very proud of his new shoes.

When Sproing and I were goofing around with the camera the other day Superman was lying down like a tired man in the bed.

 

I took this picture because I like his feet. Doesn't he have nice feet? (To those of you who aren't averse to feet) I like the way there's a bit of hair on the top of his arch, and the feet are attenuated, alluding to a grace he does not possess. I like the way his legs flop when he's lying in bed like this. I like that it's cool enough for him to wear sweat pants. :-)

There is more news on the laundry/washing machine saga, but I think I'll wait until tomorrow to post that. This post has gotten long and has too many elements to keep track of anyway.

Mixed bag

We found a source for parts for the washer, thanks to Mimi's reference. Last night Superman ordered what we need. He told me the part should be here within 3 days. The instruction manual to install the part will be here in approximately 3 weeks. I see a potential problem here. Aside from the obvious, let me just remind you that Superman is an engineer. A Georgia Tech graduate with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Yes, mechanical, as in machine, as in washing machine. If you think "Well, then, he should be able to figure this out with no problem," then you are very naive.

If you have been following this saga for any time at all, you will know that I love my husband very much. He is a wonderful man with many talents and abilities. However, when he attempts a project like this without benefit of an instruction manual he frequently breaks more than he fixes. Not always, mind you, but often enough for me to be nervous about this turn of events. Because he is a guy, and worse, an engineer, he will be sorely tempted to fix the machine before the instruction manual arrives.

Updates as the situation warrants.

On a closely related note, we are running out of clean clothes. I'm writing this at 7 a.m. and Sproing is getting ready for school. He cannot find a pair of pants that he's willing to wear. His distress is loud and dramatic. I can either do the pioneer adventure thing and wash clothes in the bathtub (fun, fun, fun) or load stuff in the van and take another trip to the laundromat. Either of these choices is marginally better than a root canal.

Peace has been restored to the home. Everyone just left for school and work.

Sproing had a traumatic morning. In addition to not finding suitable pants, the poor young'un has outgrown his shoes. He has two relatively new pairs of athletic shoes, neither of which fit is feet. He's been asking for new shoes and I, seeing that he has two pair in perfectly good condition, have brushed his requests aside. Superman discovered this morning that the poor boy can't get his feet into the shoes. Ah, I see the truth of it now. His feet are growing very quickly if he outgrows them before he can destroy them. We usually buy the Wal-Mart specials, cheap and not well made. They don't last long. Note to my childless readers: shoes are a major expense when raising children. 

We made it to October! This is very exciting. I mentioned that August is interminably long. September is hopeful, but much of it is uncomfortably warm. In October, the hope of September is realized. Cool temperatures! This morning the cup of water I got from the cold water tap in the bathroom was actually cold. In the summer we get warm water from the cold tap. Almost but not quite bathwater warm. (In Macon, GA the "cold" water is plenty warm enough for bathing, but way too warm to drink in summer.) Throughout September the cold water has been getting somewhat less warm. This morning, though, it was comfortably cool. This is one more reason fall is my favorite time of year.

In relaying my story of embracing the gay the other day, I realized that I was a fag hag of sorts in college. Well, technically a "fruit fly" since my guy friends were not of romantic interest to me. But I'll use the fag hag term in the general sense. I had a couple of guy friends, not close best buds or anything, but fellas I hung out with a lot. As I look back on it now, my retro-vision gaydar is maxing out on these guys. They weren't out, and I have since lost track of them so I don't know for sure if either of them has admitted to being gay, but oh, it's so obvious!

Shortly after graduation Superman and I were involved with a Bible study group in one of the big downtown churches in Macon where we lived at the time. I remember two guys, both of whom were very outgoing and musically talented, who I now suspect are gay. Neither of them was as obvious as my college buddies. I can't remember the names of my college friends, dad-gum-it, but I do remember the names of the guys in the Bible study group. I did a search yesterday for both of these men. I found references to both. There is very little information on one of the guys. The other one, T, I also found very little about, but in one source there was a profile. In the entry for "spouse" was the name Gene. As in Eugene, a guy! Yes! Superman laughed at my accurate gaydar. This is hardly proof, but it seems significant. I'd love to contact this guy and see what he's doing now. For that matter I'd like to talk to the other old buddy, too. The contact information I found was sketchy, and the phone calls I made based on the info were both wrong numbers. 

It's been a busy week so far. I can't remember most of what happened, but I know I have been busy. I took Sproing and Diva to their soccer game Monday night because Superman was sick. He usually takes them. The excitement of the game sometimes gets to me. So do the crowds. And the bugs and humidity. I'm a wuss. But I went and watched the game. The kids' team won, and Sproing kicked in the first goal. It went well.

Tuesday I did something, but can't remember what. Yesterday was the lunch with that women's forum group that I first attended last month. It was good, very thought provoking and stimulating. I learned a lot about various community services offered in the area. You know how I love to learn things. :)

And I have been trying to get here to write about it since Monday. Something always seems to get in the way. I got up early this morning so I could have time to write this. I can't quit you. Don't want to, either! I just get busy sometimes.

New shews

I got the boy some new shoes.

Hmmm. They seem to be out-of-focus shoes. I hadn't noticed that before. No matter.

'Twas Tuesday he came to me complaining about his shoes. Once he decides he needs something like that, he thinks he needs it immediately. He nagged me about it all afternoon.

"Mom, will you take me out to get some new shoes?"

Not right now. Maybe Dad can take you when he gets home from work.

"Mom, I really need new shoes!"

I know. You will get new shoes. But not now, and maybe not today.

Then I asked him to wash the outside of the windows along the front of the house.

"If I do, will you take me to get some shoes?"

Not necessarily. Go wash the windows. Argh!

I went out with him to help with the rinse, and to take pictures of the old shoes. Diva joined us and had a lovely time scrubbing the shutters.

There are no pictures of Diva enjoying herself with the soap because I'd put the camera inside so it wouldn't get wet. Twitch did the windows, Diva did the shutters, and I rinsed.

I really hoped that Superman would take Twitch out to get shoes. I do not like shoe shopping! I'd rather take him than Diva, though. That girl loves to shop for shoes. She'll try on every pair she can get her feet into just for the fun of it. I do not see the allure. Drives me nuts.

But when Superman got home he felt icky, like he was coming down with a cold. We did something for dinner, I can't remember what. Diva and Sproing were getting ready for bed, and Superman was sprawled out on the bed looking tired and sick.
There was nothing left but to do it myself. Dear me. So Twitch and I headed out to the shoe store. By the time we left the house it was after 8:30. Of course the shoe store closes at 9:00. We entered the store at 9:50. *

We tried to be quick. The boy has a large wide foot with practically no arch, so it isn't so easy to find a shoe that fits. He wanted a shoe in a dark color, not white. As you can tell by the picture he had to settle for white. I told him we could come back after school Wednesday and look some more, or go to another store Wednesday afternoon. But no. He had decided he needed shoes that day. So he settled for white. Whatever. No skin off my nose.

Here he is Captain Morgan-ing it up for the camera in his nice new shoes. I had the clerk at the shoe store throw the other ones away. Good riddance

And here's a picture Twitch took of himself. Doesn't he have gorgeous soft brown eyes? And a big nose? (bad camera angle there)

*I know those clerks weren't happy. Sorry. I don't like to do that.

Tell me what you think

Twitch wants a new pair of shoes. He needs a new pair of shoes. The stitching has come out of one of the side seams, so there is a large gap. He was complaining to me about this hole. It is getting bigger. He said the hole used to be the size of a vagina, but now it's big enough to put a baseball through.

Based on this information, can you determine Twitch's sexual orientation?