boating blog test

Is it really Friday!???

How fast can a week fly by? Too fast. Especially when you have a bazillion things to do.

So far this week I have driven to 2 separate golf courses way too many times to count. I have driven Riley to ride her horse a few times (yes even in this heat) I had my friend Anne over on Wednesday for the day. We pooled it - with 7 kids between us the pool seemed like a good idea (she has 5, I have 2 - although, I told her if she had another one, I'd take it off her hands, she has cute babies!) I wish she lived closer to me ... Anne was my best friend when I lived in Richmond and has been a bestie ever since. I love you Anne and your family.

She has great kids too, well behaved but not boring. I do, however, think William will need counseling for his long hair fetish... just sayin' :-P

Yesterday I drove Denton to her golf program at 10 picked her up at 12 noon. Came home had 2 people look at our house, drove Denton to Farmington for her golf lesson. I got there at 1:50 pm and we left to come home at 5:25 pm.... I did get to sneak into Barnes and Noble for 1 hour to cool off.

Today I ran, now I'm goofing off and shouldn't be. I have to take my horse from Jenny's farm back to Karen's farm then Riley has a pizza party for making a perfect score on her (SOL'S) Standards of Learning test in math for 5th grade - don't know where she got math skills...I can't even use a calculator beyond + - X /

I then have to pack for vacation to Clayton NY and Kingston Ontario Canada. We are staying on my in laws boat - it's a big boat - although I can't remember how many feet 35 or something like that. It has A/C, a coffee pot, a potty, TV, a queen bed and bunks... I will live through this. It's not camping I keep telling myself. My brother in  law and sister in law are going to be there as well (not on the boat with us) my in laws are staying in a cottage in town while we have the boat, and we get to meet our niece Chloe for the first time in person.

The next bonus is cooler temps and lower humidity... now THAT is worth a 10 hour car ride... I think. Did I mention that I have not packed ONE SINGLE THING FOR THIS TRIP? Probably not because I am in denial. I also have to go to a farewell party from 6-8 pm tonight for a colleague of Scott's. It's at Morven (formally John Kluge's Estate) and it's open bar I believe... I just want to see the house personally.

I have yet to tell Oliver that I am leaving him for the week, he will not be happy y'all. As soon as I pull out my suitcase he will climb in and park himself burrowing under my shirts- seriously, he will lay there until I toss him out... and then he'll whine. And my heart will break. :-(

Enough, gloom. I have 4 books to read on my vaca, and there is some crazy talk about riding bikes around Clayton... I do not know how to ride a bike. THERE I said it! I never really learned. I had a horse for goodness sake - let's see----- horse----bike---- uh HORSE! I lived on a sandy dirt road - not good for bikes, great for horses. Scott is determined that I WILL ride the bike - I actually HAVE a nice bike. Scott bought it for my birthday many years ago. I wasn't real excited about it then and so I now have tried to give it to Denton...Scott says NO... ugh.

Surely, they'll have those adult tricycle's to rent - yes? With a basket for my books and stuff.

Wish me luck, I might not be able to blog much (or at all) - I know everyone is sad. :-) My goal is to come home tanner, cooler, more learnted on beach trash novels and ready to tackle back to school shopping - school starts in 31 days! Not that I'm counting or anything.... Oh and Lee if you read this take your medicine or I will hurt you!

Where is that d*mn maid?

Oh...... wait that would be me.

I hate cleaning my house. Hate it. I can always find something else that doesn't need to be done - like writing on my blog. Cleaning makes me mean, grouchy, unpleasant to be around.

Mainly, because when people "help" clean they do it "wrong".

For example. Do I REALLY need to tell people that when they vacuum, they need to move the stuff on the floor and vacuum under it? And that you need to pick up trash instead of having it get stuck in my vacuum. And socks are not items that are allowed to be sucked up either. Spiders, yes - socks, no!

I asked Riley to do chores while I dropped Denton at golf, picked up a copy of her vaccine record, went by the high school and then came home. I asked her to sweep the front porch. She did, sort of. If you don't stare you think nothing of it. If you are the owner of the porch and you look closely you can see LOTS OF DIRT & SPIDERS!

But does anyone look that close? Probably not and do they care?...probably not. So why do I care how she does the chore I assigned? I probably shouldn't.

I asked her to empty the garbage cans... she did, but there are a few pieces of paper around it. So, in order to get through the day ...I am not going to care. She unloaded the dishwasher and got water on the kitchen floor. It will dry or the dog will lick it up - right? So, I'm not going to care.

I left the really nasty stuff for me to do. Bathrooms, kitchen floor, spider web removal, basement room where the furriest dog alive sleeps at night. If you turned on a leaf blower in there it would look like a snow globe. My mother would die of a stroke if she saw that room. For real- she would.

So, I have two families coming Thursday to see this house. It's not officially for sale but we'd do it if the price was right - we'd have to rent something. Hmmmm, maybe this isn't such a good idea. Maybe we should just stay put? Moving takes work - lots of work, boxes, ect... and that makes me want to drink alcohol at lunch.

And no one wins if I do that.
Oh well, at least my buddy Anne will not have worry about her 5 kids getting typhoid in my house when she visits tomorrow ... that's a much better reason to clean up anyway!

A little piece of my heart now baby...

So Denton has been 14 for 2 days. I feel ancient. I always look through her baby book, read her birth story (wonder at that point how I EVER managed to be pregnant again - Denton's birth was less than routine) I'll spare you the 52 hour ordeal.

I look back at pictures of how she grew. She has always been fiercely independent! She learned to crawl at 8.3 weeks then stood up and walked a week later. There was something very odd (and quite frankly - freakish- kids aren't SUPPOSED to walk that early) seeing a 9 month old kid walking around the house. She's always been funny and loves to make people laugh. She has her own idea of what is cool. She has always pulled off "a look" - something I never had the guts to do.

She has known her own mind from the beginning - I nursed her for 9 months and she decided one day - that was IT! I want that stuff you eat at the table lady... no more milk from you. I secretly think it bothered her to have to lay down to eat? She has never been a big snuggler, which as a mom is hard, I always wanted to hold her while she slept. She wanted to stretch out in her crib. At least until she was 13 months old and started jumping ship. I'd find her in the guest bed (in her room) sound asleep most mornings. Alas, she got her own bed at that point.

Her first day of Kindergarten she desperately wanted to ride the bus. I was like NO WAY! I'll take you to school honey, you don't have to ride that awful bus. So, I let her ride the bus. I also followed the bus every day for a week the 2 miles it went to drop her off. I took pictures the first day of her getting off the bus at school and she screamed "MAMA what are you DOING here"!!! Like I was a stalker or something. She would be so tired after school (full day Kindergarten) that most days the driver woke her up to get off at our stop.

My girl has always had plenty of friends. Never lacking in social obligations. She has also tried EVERY sport known to man. Even though she really isn't that competitive - she just liked the outfits and uniforms we found out thousands of dollars later. She is a great swimmer but you really need to be concerned about that other people racing against you - she wasn't. We called her the Barbie swimmer. Beautiful to watch but no drive to be first. And she had years to perfect the Barbie freestyle....

5 yrs old to 11 yrs old

We have now come to a sport she picked grudgingly. Golf. Amazing that this child has such a natural ability for it. We would never have guessed. Riley was the first to take up golf and we kinda made Denton do it, too - easier to drive 2 people to one place - right! Now, I catch her watching golf on TV lately. A joy that I'm sure equals paint drying to most. I drop her off at the golf course to practice, drive her to lessons, she participates in 1st Tee and hopes to be a coach at some point. She also longs to be on the high school team. Either this year(if she makes it or next) she has set long term goals with her new love - golf.

In ninth grade all I could think about was not tripping over the curb at school or not making a fool of myself too often. I had no self confidence like my girl does. I also wasn't 5"10', blond, and thin. Maybe that would have helped? Who knows. I'm just so thankful and feel so blessed to have this child that even when she screws up - she's learned to own it. She's not perfect, never will be, but has learned to admit she is wrong and move on. Try not to do a repeat.

When I say she's gracious and has good manners I mean it but she can also be a stubborn, irritating teenager. Stomping around the house, saying nasty things under her breath, slamming doors, torturing her younger sister and the most useful tool she learned from her mother - the eyeball roll. She must have paid close attention to that lesson from mommy :-) OK I should not be proud of that but, it is an art you know.

So, for my beautiful, sweet, pushy daughter - I love you. I feel so close to you. I love when you talk to me about problems and joys. I love that you WANT to talk to me period :-) I love that you grumble in the mornings when I wake you up to run with me. I love that you still want to sit on my lap, watch TV, ride to the grocery store, talk privately when I kiss you good night.  I love that you listen when I tell you WHY I wouldn't advise you to do something because I've been there - done it- and it didn't turn out well. I know you'll make mistakes, even the ones I've warned you about but I think you have plenty of sense and you've paid attention over the years.

You make good grades, you are very self reliant, independent, you can cook really well, clean, do laundry, mow grass, clean the yard, use a leaf blower, dig a hole, water a garden, set up a tent, fish, drive a truck, drive a boat, swing the heck out of a golf club and even though it isn't your favorite thing you'll horseback ride with me. It doesn't hurt that your the cutest thing ever!

I love you so much. And even though I yearn for your baby, toddler and little girl years (actually it makes me ache inside to the point of pain)- I am excited watching the person you are becoming. The young woman I see has a bright future. Nothing Ho-Hum for you ...but a life that is full of surprises, full of love, blessings and rewards for hard work.

Happy Birthday - Peapie
love, love, love - Mommy

Time Flies.....

I just can't believe my sweet little Denton is 14 yrs old today. Hard to believe I had her when I was like 12 - right!? I'll write more tomorrow and share her day with you. I did want to acknowledge  her special day. She was born at 2:11 pm and weighed 7lbs 15 oz (not exactly tiny...)

So far our day has been great. She passed her next level of golf certification, had lunch at 5 Guys, got new golf shoes and has a golf lesson at Farmington in a while. I also bought out the Harris Teeter crab legs! Her fave!

Tune in tomorrow while I weep and cry about how my baby is 5'10" tall and hardly fits in my lap, although she tries! I love who she is becoming...and I regret it all at the same time. It's hard to let go....

Oliver...makes my heart go pitter pat.....

I love my Oliver doggy...love love love him. He has that sweet face,  those big brown eyes, no back talk EVER, kisses galore, he is ALWAYS glad to see me - even if I just walked up to get the mail, you'd think I was gone for hours?- I have some of my favorite pictures of him...

My family is groaning right now- can you hear them - or at the very least, rolling their eyes. They are jealous of Oliver- that's the plain and simple truth... for that reason I have to protect him constantly. :-)

This is when I first got him. 

He immediately became best buds with Birdie who was only 4 months old at the time.

As you can see above they both grew bigger and the bed did not...

He has the most wonderful face and yes that is a bow- it has dog paws on it

OK I got them a bigger bed.... neither looks too pleased about it

My love...there's only you in my life...

and then there's this... he looks angry..."He's an angry little elf!"

(name that movie people!)

If he could he may have eaten parts of my face off in my sleep. 

But he would NEVER do that. Because he knows I only have his best interest at heart...

Right up until I did this... 

I do not dress up my dog - UNLESS there is a great photo op afterward :-)

He has a "God, please please help me" look on his face doesn't he...

that is not to say my children do not torture him...

see why I have to be so vigilant!

again...just think if the leash weren't attached!!!!!

because if I'm not SUPER careful THIS will happen... 

Birdie lives a dangerous life in the hands of these kids...

This is how I'd like to think they'd care for Oliver in my absence - with love
and all the fresh hamburger and chicken he can eat
Although, if you really look at Denton's expression - she looks like she could - oh never mind I'm imagining things... right?

Who woulda thunk it....

I have to brag , just a bit, on my oldest child (who BTW, will be 14 tomorrow). She is tall - 5'10", she is thin, she is blond, she has big blue eyes. She is also hilariously funny and is so comfortable with herself that it scares me! She will roll her eyes back in her head, cluck like a chicken and waddle around - and she will do this ANYWHERE at any time.

Many times it is highly inappropriate and she resembles a person with Tourrets Syndrome - and she doesn't care. As long as she makes you laugh. People think she is much older that she is, which also has them thinking she should be acting a little older then 13. I just shrug and walk away and pretend  I don't know her.

BUT today, I'm so proud, she got a call from the golf pro at Farmington (a really exclusive golf club here in Cville - Howie Long lives there and there is no way in hell we could EVER afford to have her there for any length of time). He would like to mentor Denton's golf ambition. He saw her during a golf outing last week and came over to her and worked with her for the duration. He was insistent that he could help her - she has talent.

I am always HIGHLY suspicious of men around my children. Right now, Denton in particular. She doesn't look her age and it's frightening. But we had him checked out (I really didn't think he could be all that bad- too many people around here know him and I'll be staying for her lessons) and she starts tomorrow...

After the hellish start to 2010 things are starting to look up - FINALLY. This is just one more event that makes me realize that life goes up and then it goes down. Sometimes WAY, WAY down....

I'm going to enjoy the view I have right now - on the upswing....

the REST of the story....

after my post yesterday I got a call from Jenny. Her truck overheated (as I said) and she had to be at work at 3 pm. It was not looking good for a timely arrival. It was also raining and she had tired crabby children along for the ride. Thankfully, Mary Ann was behind her by 30 minutes and was able to stop and help. It was also good that she made it to a gas station with a restaurant to stop at. As they had not eaten lunch.

We all know what happens when you are tired and THEN throw in hungry, it equals disaster as far as kids go. They made it home, I picked up Riley and left my horse at Jenny's. It was raining like crazy and I had unhitched my trailer at home so Scott could use my truck because his AC went out....wait - I digress.

Jenny looks like she is about to drop from no sleep and stress and yet has to work -  Mary Ann has a wild look about her as well. I'm glad I came home Sunday night. As I'm leaving with a tired Riley Bug Mary Ann yells - "you missed all the fun" - huh?

Riley then proceeds to inform me that they went on a trail ride Sunday late afternoon that should have been like and hour long... they got home at 10:30 PM  they got lost and then it got dark and they couldn't see the trail map - had no idea at all where they were...

again, I am glad
#1. I went home Sunday
#2 I did not have any knowledge of this.
I would have called Search and Rescue - the State Police- SWAT - the Governor - a psychic ....

Alas I have my Sugarbunnie home safe...I picked a few more ticks off of her, gave her a shoulder massage, fed her spaghetti and sent her to bed - she is still there, sleeping like a baby at 9:50 am - I wasn't even tempted to let Oliver go in and assault her with his kisses - and that's saying ALOT. I love nothing more than to unleash Oliver's rapid fire tongue on a unsuspecting sleeping child...

Girls Rule! Cowgirls that is....

I made it home from my first horse camping trip as an adult! You know the kind where you are in charge. Where if you don't set up the tent you sleep in the car or if you don't figure out the scary Coleman stove you starve ... or if you forget the TP ..... you get the point.

My friends Mary Ann and Jenny and 5 of our girl children went on the trip to James River State Park waaaaaay down in Virginia. Well, 2 hrs or so hauling 1600 pounds of horse butt behind you. I trailered my friend Vicky's horse for me to ride. CiCi is a Norwegian Fjord Draft horse. She is beautiful but young and Vicky wanted miles on her (and to see how close to death I would come trying to get her to cross over a creek!) Mary Ann picked up Merlin (Riley's horse) for me.

We got to the campsite around 4 pm, set up camp, settled the horses in the stalls and had a much deserved beer. Jenny got there after us... we watched a whole bunch of dark clouds moving in, saw some streak lightning (my favorite NOT!) and listened to thunder. I thought, well isn't this gonna be fun. First off I hate camping for various reasons- no potty close enough, no showers close enough, bugs, bears, crows that eat your hot dog buns, peck your apples in 2 places and move to the next apple. You get the point?

So I'm watching this storm moving in (did I mention that I was filthy dirty already, sweating like crazy already and still had a tent to set up!) and I think "PERFECT ! I get to sleep in a tent while the wind howls and we get soaked! Mary Ann offered for Riley and I sleep in her trailer in the bunks by the way. Wonderful friend that she is. The storm seems to blow by a little - we cook dinner - I figured out the stove AND set the tent up (I look at NOAA.GOV and the radar on my phone - YIKES!). Riley is looking at me with blind admiration and is really excited about sleeping in a tent, with mommy, and riding her horse tomorrow. She could care less about the typhoon getting ready to hit that night.

We go up to the showers illegally letting 5 kids ride in the back - is it illegal if you don't get caught? Come home and go to bed. Then it starts raining and it's really humid. Riley asks while reading her scary Nancy Drew mystery "is the rain gonna get in the tent" I lie and say "of course not! I put the rain fly on!"Because I KNOW that no matter what you do, the tarp I put down first, the neat sheet on the floor of the tent, the rain fly. It won't matter if tornadic strength winds blow rain sideways... it will soak on top of the tarp and spread... oh welll....

Thankfully, none of that happened. It rained pretty hard that night. Funny how loud rain is when you are in a tent - I slept maybe 3 hours at best. Riley slept less. We woke up, the rain stopped, the sun came out we ate, tacked up horses and rode for hours!

Only one person got dropped (Jenny's littlest girl hit the ground when a bird flew between her pony's feet) good thing Trixie is a very small pony and Ginger only had a short distance to fall.  We had lunch after we put the horses away and went tubing down the James River. Funny thing : the lady in the shop threatened us within an inch of our lives if we got to the pick up point past 6 pm. It was 3 pm and the float is like 1.5 hours. We though, good Lord she's kinda psycho about that pick up time...$12 per hour for every 30 minutes you are late - like we'd EVER do that. What does she take us for ? Irrisponsible hoodlums or sumthin'?

Strangely, we encountered a head wind... not to mention Mary Ann fell asleep in her tube and floated WAAAAY behind and too far to one side. We had to stop and wait while she caught up. Meanwhile we are getting blown back toward the put in area - geesh!

We were all together...we floated and the wind died down a little, we still had to paddle but after 4 rapids and lots of seaweed stuff we made it to the pick up point. BTW not one of us had a watch on. We get there paddling like crazy because the wind is back up. We get in the van ... guess what time it was....????? 6:37 pm... HUH????? The tubing lady let us off with a stern warning and cursed under her breath about headwinds screwing up her dinner plans....

Saturday nite was peaceful. We had spaghetti, bread on a frying pan, salad and BEER! Not the kids..they had Root Beer - we adults had Corona Beer. And well deserved! We built a fire, the kids put on a silly play , we had smores, feed horses, watered horses, mucked stalls, showered and went to bed.

I almost forgot, we got blue lighted buy the park popo for having the kids in the back of the pick up this time. So we had to take 2 cars.. dang cops ruining our fun...

Saturday nite was great camp sleeping weather - cool temps, breezy and a 1/2 a benadryl (for me and Riley)...ahhh  good sleep. Sunday morning was socked in with fog first thing but turned clear and sunny quick. We had coffee- cereal, protienCiCi (who was more than eager to get on the trailer and get the heck outta this place! - she told me she would never have agreed to getting on the trailer in the first place had she known WORK was involed) Vicky I think CiCI may have a few words for you. :-)

Ariel and I made it home around 6 pm yesterday - Ariel had been at camp for a week and then went camping with us! She looked like she may drop dead at any moment, her mother and I decided a kid trade would be best for everyone. We got home tired and dirty and smelly - So I turned her towards Denton's bathroom for a real shower and she put on good clothes and then they walked to DQ and I'm pretty sure they didn't eat supper... that's the kind of mom I am...

I personally, slept like the dead in my big king bed (I rhymed) with the tempurpedic mattress - ugh I hate camping. I really do, BUT I'd go again with my girl friends... it made it tolerable and really fun! I do have a few extra bug bites and pulled 2 ticks off Riley before I left yesterday. I haven't heard from Jenny who is bringing Riley home as we speak. I do hope that child behaved and took good care of her horse in my absence - I know she is exhausted and I'll bet she'll be glad to see me when she gets home :-)

Best of all  I did NOT trash the tent and I did NOT blow off an arm or put out anyone's eye with the propane stove thing. Life is good....

NOW- it can rain...... I hear thunder.... and Jenny just called and her truck has overheated in Lovingston... oh boy!

ps check my FB page for picks! not of the truck overheating mind you....I'm at home all unpacked and clean...

Time to hit the trail...

This is it! The horse camping weekend...Jenny, Mary Ann, myself and 5 kids are going to James River to horse camp.
Normally, it takes an act of Congress to get me to camp. I just don't like it. Last time I went with my family was 6 yrs ago or so. If horses were not involved I would not be going. As much as I love my friends I would never agree to camp with them without the horse option. I did find out there is a REAL potty and REAL showers. That helps. No turn down service though :-(
I have never set the tent up alone, I have never used the camp stove alone (the propane bottle things scare me actually), I have never used the percolator alone, there is no electricity to dry my hair (that should be interesting), no place to charge my phone, no AC. I have never camped without a man present to do all that stuff. Throw 2 horses into the mix and I'm not sure I'll ever go back but I'll try it once.  I have also been threatened within and inch of my life if I wreck Scott's Kelty Eureka tent??? What's that all about? If I am found mysteriously dead - well, you have the answer.
I'll be sure and take tons of pics for FaceBk - although, I find riding and photography combined can be distracting. We are tubing one day on the river which reminds me I need the waterproof bags... and wouldn't you know it's supposed to rain!
BTW Denton has refused to participate...she states she hates horses and will only camp when forced under family law (and that happens in Oct when Scott takes them Daddy camping - no potty, no shower and there ARE bears! No thank ya!

Morning Sunshine!

Good Lord it is hot as heck again today! I thought the weather liar said 92 degrees! I was really excited about this artic blast. But when I dragged Denton out of bed to run at 8 am it was already humid and gross and getin hot...

Once again I drove the kids to golf, then I went home to start organizing for this girl weekend of horse camping, then the grocery store then to golf for pick up. Lunch at Chipolte Grill yummy! Doctors appt for Denton's school physical to try out for golf and track. Came home dropped off Denton, picked up my horse trailer from Jenny's, picked up my horse from Karen's (thank you Jesus he loaded with no issues today) then took the horse to Jenny's where he is now frolicing with Ellie...

Tomorrow better be cooler - just sayin'
K

Can it get any hotter?

I just went to the grocery store to get lettuce (I'm so sad my lettuce is over for now, sniff sniff) I think that if you are hot and you just can't stand it you need to send someone that can stand the heat to the store for you.

Isn't it illegal to not wear a bra after a certain age? And men should wear shirts in public (stores, ect...) cause everyone doesn't look like Daniel Craig shirtless. And going braless, does it "cool you off" really???  I think not.

And yes you AND your children have to wear your shoes in the grocery store!!!! I made my kids wear theirs! It's the rule, law, ect... errr! I'd rather go spend another morning in the DMV...well, not really.

Some one get the smellin' salts!

Today I start a new blog. I haven't used the old one in a few years. Actually, I have an unhealthy addiction to facebook and I quit writing & posting on the old blog. I am pretty sure all 560+ of my closest FB friends do not give a flip or want to know the chaos I live in daily. Therefore, I spare them my rantings - most of the time.

This is not to say I will not post on FB, I am addicted remember! But this will be more of my whining, complaining and more personal stuff. (I'm pretty sure my family just rolled their eyes) trust me I would never hurt anyone on here...embarrass the heck out of you YES! but intentionally hurt feelings NO! That's not how I roll. I also get to ooze about how great my doggie Oliver is...he is my 3rd child..the son I never had... (I think I just felt the eyeball roll again)

Right now in the beautiful, yet liberal confines, of Charlottesville, Virginia it is hot as 3 hells! (thank you Lee for the quote). We left Camden SC (God's Country) after a 4th of July at the lake and drove straight into a furnace. It was in the upper 80's in SC, a God send. And it was 103 when we landed in our driveway on Monday.

We traveled 350 miles with 2 adults, 3 children (the oldest girl took a friend), 2 big dogs that panted, drooled and nawed relentlessly on pig femurs. Pig femurs smell bad. And last was the best passenger of all Oliver. He slept..on my lap...the whole ride. The children ate all the snacks in the 1st hour, then were hungry for lunch at 11am and then watched horror movies.

Please take note:  one should NEVER let a child watch a horror movie in the car wth headphones. Why Karen, you ask? Because children
1. should not watch them, it leads to nightmares.
2. they suck in their breath and you think an 18 wheeler is barreling down on you *but... it's.... not.
3. they scream randomly and you think a dog has run in front of the truck or it just scares the crap out of you and causes swerving.
Who let them rent those movies anyway? We think "anything for a peaceful 5+ hour ride".

After 2 days of Wateree Lake tube rides & tube burns, getting pulled by DNR on many occassions, 2 fireworks displays (one that went well & one that was busted up by the po-po), packing 8 people in a golf cart in the pitch black dark with no flashlight to get from my parents next door neighbors house to theirs (its a 1/2 mile away), getting to see my granmother who is almost 97, being with my entire family, eating enough food to encourage me to run in 100 degree weather for the past 2 days, drinking enough Corona Light to hit the wagon for a week and giving myself a huge case of homesick - we came back to Va.

Don't get me wrong, I love the state of Va. Mountains, beaches, the Chesapeake Bay, history galore! I just tend to not feel settled here. Not all the way. Not the way I do in SC. When I talk of traveling to SC I'll say to a friend "Oh we are going home for a few days". They've all asked "Home? You live here, here's your house Karen, I'm sitting in your family room." Nope- SC is home.  I have issues with truly liberal people (and a pile of them are right here in Cville). I think if you work hard you deserve to make it far in the world. If you don't...we'll maybe you are being weeded out? Or hopefully, if you can't, there is a hard worker in your family that can help.

Before someone yells at me- I'm not talking about the truly disabled, the elderly, ect... I'm talking about people that work the system - I will digress..... BUT I live in a county that wants everyone to have everything that all the hard working people have - even if they don't work.... go figure.

I also live in a neighborhood. Which is a bad thing, for me at least. My neighbors are not fond of my little band of truents (dogs & kids & OK, me, too).  I need space, open space. I need my horse in my backyard, chickens and a goat because I am "afreared" of poison ivy. A garden spot in a place that my chicken wire fence doesn't draw stares and doesn't incite photos being turned into the community association...

I feel like most days I am so simple and low maintainance that if I got anymore laid back I'd be dead. I do have my moments. On occassion, I have no guilt in sitting on my porch and reading a book all day. Other days I'm driving kids to golf, horseback riding, the mall, friend's houses, my husband to the Audi dealership to get that old as heck car fixed one more time. I hate being inside. Unless it is REALLY cold- like it was this winter. I hate inside because that's where the laundry pile awaits and I'm not good at laundry - ask anyone on a Monday morning looking for clean undies. Plus there is chocolate inside and it calls me from it's hiding place...