I Need a Nap

Actually, I've never been much of a napper. I'm not a morning person, so taking a nap means having to wake up twice in the same day. Not something I can get excited about. There is a picture of Jessica taking a nap that has always made me laugh. It was taken the day after her 9th birthday party. It was a "slumber" party and so, as is usually the case, there wasn't much "slumbering" going on. So that next afternoon she got her silky comforter and settled in on the sofa to take a nap. Wrapped in the slick blanket, she slowly slid off the couch onto the floor...head first...and never even woke up! Now THAT'S a nap!


A few years ago I saw a picture frame that I liked. It says, "Nap like you mean it." I laughed and bought it and thought immediately of the picture of Jessica. But looking at it again, I was reminded of how poor the quality of pictures from the 80s are compared to what we take today. And I got looking at the pictures we have now and realized I had plenty of candidates for the picture frame. I've always liked this one of Jeremy and Emery taking a very serious nap. But I have so many others that I love, too. I'll post a few here. The last one is a little blurry, but it cracks me up. That is Emery sleeping in the bookcase! He got in there when he and Savannah were playing hide and go seek. She got distracted and didn't go looking for him and he fell asleep.

Along with the pictures, I'm writing the lyrics to a song called, "I Need a Nap". It is from a wonderful CD called Dog Train that the grandkids love to listen to. We like it, too. This particular song is a duet sung by the unlikely duo of Kate Winslet and "Weird Al" Yankovic. The tune is terrific and I wish you could hear it...but here are the words:

Well, the sun is still high in the afternoon sky,
but the morning seems so long ago.
I was happy before and I'm not any more,
though why there's a change, I don't know.

I'm so tired of this day and I don't want to play

and I' don't want a story to read.

But I look in your eyes and at once realize

that I know what it is that I need...

(Chorus) I need a nap! I just can't take any more.

I need a nap! Can't stay awake any more.

No more running around I just need to lie down and sleep!

I don't know what to do.
I just can't make it through.

I want something,

or nothing, right now.

I am mad and upset.

What I want, I don't get

I don't know what I want anyhow.

I've been doing my best,
now I just want to rest --

on the rug, on the floor,

I don't care.

Now the feeling's so strong,

but the song is too long --

it's the wrong kind of song --

and it seems to be going nowhere.

There are times in your day

when the going gets tough,

when you just have to say

you've done more than enough.

I can't think of more stuff

that will rhyme with "enough"...

So enough is enough...is enough

is enough...is enough is enough! (Chorus)

Why does this song go on?

When all my strength is gone?

Please let me close my eyes.

I don't want to...harmonize!

I just can't take any more.

Can't stay awake any more.

You can follow my lead

as the song loses speed

now I need an immediate

NAAaaappppp.....................

Reignited

Sadly, there hasn't been much "progress" on the Work in Progress blog this past year (or more). I'm going to blame it on Facebook. It's just so much easier to jot a note on what you're doing on there than to get into your blog and write. If it takes more than a sentence or two, then it gets put on the back burner until it's old news...and too old to write about. Except for our trips last year, I barely posted once a month. Well, things are gonna change!

The fire was relit under me this morning. I got an e-mail from my life-long friend, Jackie. She's getting ready to retire. (In Georgia they would say she's "fixin'" to retire.) She's getting old and will be going on Medicare this year and all of that.

For the past several years she has been very busy. Besides being a wife, mother and grandmother she has had a full-time career which required her to travel a great deal. In the time she did get to herself, she has been indulging in her hobbies of cooking, reading, painting and her latest -- jewelry making. This morning I got an e-mail from her that said she is starting a 2nd blog (!!). Her first one is where she posts all the beautiful jewelry creations she makes. That one is http://www.crowsfeetcrafts.blogspot.com/ Check it out -- she's amazing!

This new blog is http://www.ayearofdefiningnormal.blogspot.com/ She will be writing about this year of transition for her as she leaves her "business suit" behind to discover who she is without it. She started by sharing a Yiddish folk tale about a young man and his suit. I was glad she didn't choose the story of the Emperor's New Clothes! I can't wait to follow along with her this year as she shares this adventure. I have a feeling she will be equally as talented at writing as she is at painting and jewelry making.

Her energy puts me to shame and looking at her blogs made me miss my own. So here's to a year of better (at least more frequent) blogging for me. Thanks, Jackie, for getting me fired up to write again.

Before going, I wanted to share this picture. We collaborated on a project for charity a couple of years ago. With the help of some of my friends, I made a bright quilt with tulips on it as a donation to a fund raiser for the hospice that Jackie was associated with in Mt. Vernon, Washington, where she lives. Mt. Vernon is known for its tulips. She did a group of painting to go with the quilt to make a "package" item for the the auction. I thought she did an awesome job!

Best of luck on your new venture...and adventures, my friend.

What is it - Part 2

Haha. No, you're all wrong! (Doesn't ANYBODY read my blog any more???).

I would have thought it would be some kind of a weapon. Probably a laser-type thing to send out deadly rays to foil the bad guy.

But no.

In Emery's mind it's a sandwich maker! He held it by the smooth part (on the right) and aimed it like a weapon of mass destruction, but then explained to me that the WHITE bread hangs on the hooked part in the center and the peanut butter comes out of one side and the jelly out of the other side.

So there you have your answer. Now you can sleep again.

What is it?

Okay...obviously, it's a piece of a tree root. But in the hands of a 6-year-old boy with an imagination who comes across it while hiking in the woods -- as Emery recently did -- what do you think it "became"?

Answer next week.

Family Time

We had our "family fall getaway" the week of October 16th this year. We started out doing a weekend...then an extended weekend...and this year we made it for almost the whole week! Jeremy was fishing in the last FLW series tournament of the year at one of his favorite places -- Lake Guntersville, Alabama. So we decided we'd get a cabin and tag along to support (and feed) him.


We've been getting away together this time of year for 8 years now and we have gone to a variety of places and had a variety of weather to deal with. The year we went to Pigeon Forge, TN, it was downright hot; and the year we went to Blue Ridge, GA, it was cold and drizzly and we spent the whole weekend snuggled up in the cabin. This year we had a little bit of everything as far as weather was concerned. The first two days were unseasonably warm and the kids loved playing basketball on the court next to the cabins. And Jeremy enjoyed practice fishing in the beautiful lake. It was also great for a bonfire after dark and making S'mores.

Jodi was home schooling the kids that week, but that means field trips are an acceptable way to spend the day. On Tuesday we went about 45 minutes northwest to Huntsville to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. That was very educational...for all of us. Grandpa and Emery got to see what it was like to ride in the nose cone of a rocket. They were hitting all the switches, but didn't come up with the right combo to get them launched into space. Good thing or not? We report -- you decide.

By Wednesday, a cold front had come through and changed the weather dramatically. We just stayed hunkered down in the cabin all day and Jeremy got his boat ready for the start of the tournament on Thursday. We went down to see him weigh in and the lake was choppy and cold. All the fishermen were saying it had been a miserable day out there.

But by Friday it had moderated and was just very nice fall weather. Great for relaxing in the hammock with Aunt Jess and a better day on the lake. We took another field trip on Friday. This time we explored a huge cave...at Cathedral Cavern State Park which was just up the road from where we were staying. It was neat and we got done just in time to go to the weigh in. The kids love to go to see daddy weigh in his fish because they get to go up on stage with him and get to be "interviewed". The get to say their name and give an opinion on whatever is asked. They aren't intimidated because it seems like a small audience there -- but they forget that they're on TV and the internet. They just have a good time...and so does dad.

So the family fall getaway for 2011 is now one "for the books"...the scrapbooks, diaries, blogs and photo albums. We look forward to it for so long, it's hard to believe it's here and gone already. Can't imagine where next year will take us.

Zippity Do Da

Last year Jerry was reading an article in the paper about zip lining. Where you put on a crash helmet, strap yourself to a wire and go zipping along between the trees. The fact that that sounded like fun to him and sounded terrifying to me just goes to show that sometimes opposites do attract. Since the place he was reading about was somewhere in North Carolina, I just said, "Oh, sure. We'll have to do that some time." In my mind a good time to do that would be just as hell was freezing over.

But early this year I got one of those coupon deals in my e-mail that was for 60% off two rides on a zip line at a place here in Georgia. I knew he would love to do that, so I got it for him for Valentine's Day. But I also knew it would be fun if he could share it with somebody. Somebody other than me!! I knew right away who that "somebody" would be. Jessica. She shares her dad's love of being off the ground. She went in the open biplane ride over Atlanta with him (when Jeremy chickened out) and she and Emery accompanied him in a helicopter ride. So I got a coupon for her, too. (Is it just me, or does that picture make you start singing "Coal Miner's Daughter"?)

One hot day this summer, we drove up to Blue Ridge, Georgia so they could use their coupons. I rode along because someone has to be there to take pictures and bring the body bags. After a summer with drought -- like so many lately -- we picked a day that was threatening rain. We hadn't had rain at home, but up there in the mountains they'd had a lot of rain the night before. So when we got there, they told us it was too muddy for the vehicle that takes them up the dirt road to the top of the line. They said to come back in an hour or so and give the sun a chance to dry the road. We went into town and had lunch. The town of Blue Ridge is neat and we walked around a little and went into some of the many shops. But for most of this time, it was still cloudy and we couldn't see the sun coming out any time soon to dry anything up. Just as it was looking like we'd made the 2 hour (one way) drive for nothing only to come back another day, the sun did come out. Then it got hot as all blazes. We called the place and they said we could come back and they could take their ride now. Jess said the scariest part of the whole thing was the ride up that dirt road!

It all worked out and they did get to go zipping after all. The information for the place looked and sounded very exciting on line. It is called Fire Wire Zip Lines and says "Exhilaration overcomes you as you soar 1500' while reaching speeds up to 40 mph. For anyone who has ever wondered what it would be like to fly, your wait is over." In reality it was short and, except for looking at the beautiful mountains in the area, not very scenic. They "flew" over an open pasture. But they did have two rides, so they got to take the exciting trip up the dirt road to the top again.

What they did get from it, though, was a burning desire to do it again. We picked up some brochures about other places. One is closer and looks like a lot more fun. That place has you go through the trees and then hike over bridges, etc. and then ride again. This goes on for quite a while and then you take the last drop to the exit platform. So they want to do that some time this fall when the weather is cooler and the trees are pretty. I'll ride along again to take pictures, but I'll take a good book for the 2 hours I'll be waiting while they zippity do da one more time.

Big Boy

Emery turned 6 years old this summer. Ever notice how birthdays are much more exciting when you're in your sixth year rather than your sixth decade? He's been talking about this event ever since he ate the last piece of birthday cake when he turned 5! He's told me many different ideas over the past year about what kind of party he was going to have when he turned 6. But when the big day came, the only "party" he had was one with family. He didn't seem to mind a bit, though.

We all went bowling and had a great time. I really don't remember the last time I was bowling and it felt pretty awkward. The next morning some of my "bowling muscles" were saying, "What the heck???" It's fun to go bowling with kids now because they have those little guards that pop up and block the gutter and it gives them a little bit of a chance. I don't know what the age requirement is for those, but they ought to be put up for geezers, too.

Savannah and Emery have been bowling before, so they were like old pros. Telling us where to get our shoes, what kind of ball we needed, and how to do almost everything. Emery cracked me up...but then, he always does. His form was "enthusiastic" if not "perfect" and he can really deliver the ball. It was their family as well as Jerry, Jessica, me and Papa Jim.

After bowling we all went out to eat. Emery's choice...Mexican. He's all about the chips and cheese. (Me, too.) Then we went to Chick-fil-A and he opened his gifts and the kids played on the indoor playground for a little while. A good family fun evening to usher in this special date.

Happy Birthday, my little man. I hope I can help you celebrate many more!