Friday, July 27, 2012

What's for dinner?

Last night in the middle of dinner I got a text from my eldest son asking for directions on cooking green beans and corn-on-the-cob. Ever since he moved to Tennessee I've gotten several of these texts asking for help with things such as how I cook a pork roast, how long to boil chicken and what to do with the broth, and what's my recipe for Ritz Chicken. I'm excited that Mr Picky-Eater is not only learning to eat new foods but is also wanting to expand his cooking skills. 

I also can't help but feel a little guilty that I didn't put more emphasis on teaching him how to cook while he was still living at home. But, with cell phones I'm only a text or call away. I was also able to let him sign into my Evernote account and he now has access to all my  favorite recipes. As long as he can come up with the money to buy groceries I'm pretty sure he won't go hungry. And who knows, if he keeps watching all those cooking shows, chances are he'll end being a much better cook than mom!

We exchanged photos of our meals, first mine 
and then his 

His actually looks like the more balanced meal but in my defense I have all my veggies mixed into the omelet. Too bad I forgot all about making the hashbrowns that usually accompany this dish. 

Anyway, I'm proud of my boy for how far he's come. But, there is comfort in knowing that my little mac-n-cheese lover still loves the blue box delicacy.  So, for those meals where he's low on groceries or feeling lazy, as long as there's a blue box sitting in the pantry he's not going to starve! 

Monday, July 23, 2012

Vacation - prior to Work-cation that I've already blogged about.

As mentioned in my previous blog my honeybun was on vacation last week. We wanted to go to the beach but it just wasn't in the budget cards so we settled for puttering around the house and seeking out local things to do. Yeah, we're a cheap date!

On Monday we took my mother-in-law out to lunch and for a walk around the mall. Well, we walked and she rode in a wheelchair. She probably could have walked but to be honest I was a little fearful of someone knocking her down. Have you ever noticed how many rude shoppers there are at the mall? Everyone is walking 80 miles per hour and most are in their own little bubble with little regard to the people around them. People - put down your cell phones and walk! (The sadly ironic thing was most of the rude jerks were adult women.)

Anyway I guess, at 90 years old, she's earned the right to ride through the mall. I did offer to see if one of the mall security guys would let her ride his Segway  but she turned me down.

After a lap around the mall she suggested getting an ice cream cone. Since we had walked off our lunch we thought it wouldn't hurt to indulge ourselves. We found out later that wasn't a great idea. Evidently Alice has become lactose intolerant. YIKES!

I won't go into the details, let's just say her caregiver has now given us strict instructions that she is never allowed ice cream again, no matter how much she begs for it. 
That's right, you smile now lady 'cause that's the last ice cream cone you're gonna get!

On Thursday we trekked up to North Georgia to Helen and Anna Ruby Falls. To be honest I don't know why we keep going to Helen. What was once a quaint little village is now one big tourist attraction trap. The shops are a big joke, containing nothing more than the same generic trinkets that can be found at any souvenir shop along the highway. There are plenty of places to eat if you have an arm and a leg to leave for payment. Fortunately we ate lunch before we got there so all we ended up buying was a $5 lemonade and a $2 bottle of water. Yes, seven dollars to quench our thirst.

We did play like tourist and take the obligatory photos of ourselves.

hey, how does this reverse camera thing work?

there ya go, is that better?
Can you see the sweat pouring off our bodies? It was 90 degrees outside but felt more like 190. I couldn't believe the people I saw running around in jeans. People, have you lost your minds??

 This sight was much more refreshing. It was all I could do to not jump into the fountain. The only thing holding me back was fear of arrest and having to ride home in wet clothes, though I'm pretty sure I would have dried off pretty quickly in the heat.

I didn't take any other photos while in Helen. The shops all had signs that it wasn't permitted to take photos, video, or make sketches of the crafts within. No worries there folks, nothing here I want to copy. I guess I could have taken pictures of the buildings and people milling around but honestly I was too hot and cranky. I do regret not taking a photo of the woman taking up parking money. She was a hoot, with her toothless grin and her mountain accent. She entertained us with some chit-chat and I swear she was flirting with my husband. Back off woman, he's mine!

We had briefly entertained the idea of tubing down the river while we were here but I didn't think it was such a great idea for someone who was finally free from back pain. After we got up there and saw how hot and miserable it was I regretted our decision not to bring swimsuits. We also thought about playing a round a putt-putt but, again it was just too dang hot to enjoy it. So, we decided to leave Helen and drive on up to Anna Ruby Falls. Surely it will be cooler there?

As we started on the trail  we quickly regretted that we'd also forgotten to bring proper foot gear. Dale had on tennis shoes but they weren't his best walking shoes, and I was wearing sandals. Oh well, we've come this far, we might as well push on.

After we got a short ways up the trail Dale stopped to take a picture. 

 it was then that I realized I didn't have my phone with me. Guess I won't be taking any pictures. Honeybun's gonna have to do it for me so I will have blog material. Unfortunately that means photos of me get taken   In case you can't read lips, I'm saying what I always say when someone tries to photograph me, "hurry up and take the picture!"

As we continued on up the trail two things became glaringly apparent. First, we are horribly out of shape. And second, we had forgotten how steep some of the trail was. For the young and fit it was a piece of cake. For two middle-aged fatties it was a real workout. I'll go ahead and admit it right now, we had to stop several times to sit and catch our breath. At one point a guy passed us jogging. Showoff! I really wanted to trip him as he ran by but that wouldn't have been very nice, AND at that moment I didn't have the strength to stick my foot out.

We finally made it to our destination. Did that sign at the beginning really say it was only .4 miles? It sure felt more like a mile or two or ten. But this view ... it was worth it.  
and here we are, all hot and sweaty.  It's a lot harder to take our own photo with Dale's phone. Curses on me for not remembering my phone with the turn around camera (insert iPhone commercial here).

Here Honeybun, let me take your picture. .
Turn about is fair play. 

Wait, come back here. You're supposed to be posing, what are you doing?

I can't. Look here, pretty butterflies 
They're everywhere.  It's hard to tell in the photo but they were a very pretty blue/violet color. And I'm not too sure, they might be moths not butterflies. Did I mention there were LOTS of them and they were everywhere? And, quite aggressive! 
Here I am doing the duck and run. Honeybun thought it was funny, as well as the other people around us. Ack!

Speaking of other people around, I just have to tell you about this one family that came up after us. DISCLAIMER:  I'll admit it right up front - the next part is me being very judgmental. So, stop reading if me being so will offend you. 

Anyway, the family was a mom and dad who looked to be in their late twenties, early thirties, and two kids, a boy and girl maybe around 5 to 8 years old.  They were all nicely dressed unless you count the UGA cap Dad sported ( ugh!) and Mom's tattooed riddled body. Sorry, I think it was the cap that bothered me more than the tattoos, but the real thing that chapped my hide was not how they looked like but rather what Dad was doing while Mom had the kids looking out over the waterfalls.

Dad was sitting on the railing .... with a pocket knife .... carving his initials into the wood! I couldn't help but stare at him in disbelief. I glanced up and saw another sightseer looking at him, She looked at me and simultaneously we both just shook our heads in disgust. I'm sorry but it's bad enough when it's a kid or teenage pulling such a disrespectful act but here we have an adult, with children, acting like an idiot. Sadly, you can't help but wonder how the children will turn out with this role model.

Ok, back to our happy little trip. 

After we had rested up and cooled down (yes, it was much cooler here by the falls) we started back down the trail. Going down was obviously much easier and less strenuous. Still, I was really happy to reach the end of the trail. Let's pose for one last photo  or two  and grab another water bottle and head for the air conditioned car. It's time to hit the road.

Before I leave you, let me show a couple more photos taken in the same area at different times in our lives

Here we are in the winter of 1988, still considered newlyweds. We were on a trip with four other couples from church.

and here we are in the fall of 2002. 

We had the kids with us this trip  Ian was just a few weeks shy of thirteen and Andrew was eleven.  Ian was already a good bit taller than me and Andrew was getting close. Those were the days ....

Despite all my moaning and groaning, we had a nice trip. It was nice just getting away from home. But I promise you this, if we go back again, we are NOT going in the summer time!

Sunday, July 22, 2012

How not to end your week of vacation

Drip, drip, drip.  One of the most annoying sounds on earth. You want to know what is more annoying (and terrifying) than drip, drip, drip? That would be gush, gush, gush! 

Welcome to my world ... Saturday morning ... 5:30 A.M.

We've had a problem for the last couple of years with water dripping from the handles in our master bathroom shower. Previously we had the same problem in the tub of our other bathroom and several years ago Dale and a friend worked all afternoon fixing it. It wasn't easy due to old plumbing and lack of proper tools. But they prevailed and for the most part fixed the problem. I say "for the most part" because one thing they couldn't remedy was water still coming out of the faucet while the shower was running. Fixing it was simply out of their league and our budget. So, for the past few years anyone bathing in that room took a shower/bath.

Imagine how embarrassing it was trying to explain it to overnight guests. But hey, I figured as long as they were getting clean who cared "how" it happened.

Meantime, the handles on the shower stall in our master bath started the same ol' drip, drip, drip problem. It wasn't quite as bad as in the other bathroom and if you pushed real hard when turning the water off you could get the dripping to stop. Remembering how difficult it was to work on the other bathroom, my Mr. Fix-it husband kept putting off tackling the problem, "Sherri you know if I start it, it won't go well, and it's just not something I want to fool with."

I really couldn't argue with him because I don't think we've ever tackled a home improvement project that went smoothly. Either we didn't have the tools we needed,  something else broke while trying to fix the original problem, or the replacement part needed was no longer available, etc. It was always something and sometimes it was multiple somethings that kept the project from running smoothly. So, I agreed with him and learned to just live with and deal with the drip, drip, drip.

I guess it should come as no surprise that as time went on the dripping got worse.  It was getting harder and harder to tighten the handles and it was even harder for me (cause I'm a weakling girl?). There were some mornings when I couldn't for the life of me get the infernal drip to stop. Some days I'd just give up and leave it til hubby got home from work. And, as if the dripping wasn't enough, we were no longer just dealing with dripping handles but now, while showering, just as much water was pouring out of the handles as the shower head!

Now I'm sure some of you are wondering why don't the knuckleheads just call a plumber and have the problem fixed? Well, for one thing, we're the kind of folks who believe in trying to fix whatever we can. There's nothing like the feeling of accomplishment one feels when a project is successfully completed. Ha,ha, ... there's also the main fact that it's a whole lot cheaper to fix something yourself than to pay for a professional to do it for you. So there you have it, we're cheap-o do-it-yourself-ers!

Anyway, a  week or so ago there was a change in the situation. My guess is that each time we twisted the handle just a little tighter it started popping the threads or something because suddenly, more times than not, when we went to turn the handle it just kept twisting. It took a lot of special maneuvering to hit the right spot, but with a lot of work we could stop the flow.

We wondered how long our luck would hold out. In fact, just last night we had a discussion about the handles and hubby stated it was probably just a matter of time before no only would we not be able to stop it from dripping but, "one day that knob is just going to keep turning and turning." Terrified of that scenario I suggested that maybe he and I should just stop using the shower and use the other bathroom. "We'll see, maybe if it gets any worse ..."

Such prophetic words.

Last night I went to bed around 2 AM. Before climbing in bed I went potty one last time. And, yes I'm 55 years old and I still say potty. As I walked into the bathroom I heard it.

Drip, drip, drip.

Dang it! What should I do? Should I try to stop it or should I ignore it and go on to bed? I chose to ignore it. There was no way I was going to fight the drip, drip, drip at that hour. So, I did my business and merrily went to bed. Tomorrow we'll deal with it. Well, techically it was already tomorrow, I guess I meant later-tomorrow.

I guess my big mistake was not letting my husband know the plan. Of course it never dawned on me that he would get up during the early morning hours, hear the drip, drip, drip, and try to stop it.

Silly me.

Around 5:30 AM I woke up. What was that sound coming from the bathroom? Was hubby taking a shower? Sure did sound like it. Silly man. He must have woken up, thought it was a weekday, and was getting ready for work. Hmmm. What was that other sound. Scrape, scrape, scrape. Sounds like he's turning the knobs on the shower

and

they're

not

stopping.

They're turning, scraping, turning, scraping, and the water is running,

running,

running.

Hubby opens the door. Looks at me in dispair and says, "I tried to stop the dripping and now it's running full blast. It

won't

turn

off!"

I jump up and stumble into the bathroom. Trying to be helpful I say, "let me give it a try." (Obviously I'm not working with an awake brain here.) Several more attempts by both of us try and stop the water proves futile. A few choice words are spoken and hubby leaves the room. Moments later the water stops.

Ah yes, turn off valve in the workroom. Yay, no more cascading water! Hubby tells me to go back to bed and we'll deal with it all later. That works for me especially since I've only had three-and-a-half of sleep and am obviously not running on full cylinders here. Of course once I return to bed I can't just fall back to sleep. Nope, not me. First I have to lay there and fret over the situation, wondering how we're going to "fix" the whole problem and of course .... how much is this gonna cost us?! After an hour or so of tossing and turning my brain finally clicks off and I drift back to sleep.

All too quickly 9:30 rolls around and hubby has waited long enough. He's ready to tackle the job ahead and thus commences with banging, and sawing, and drilling, and swearing. I won't bore you with all the gory details. Let's just say the job was just as bad as he feared.

The stems to the handles needed to be replaced and they refused to let go of the pipes. I guess they figured they've been around 40+ years and didn't plan on leaving without a fight. One of the stems gave up early on but the second stem was one stubborn piece of @#$% metal. The job took eight hours, two trips to Home Depot, and lots 

and lots of tools. It was also a three man (well, two guys and a girl) job. When Dale started sawing with a hack saw I knew it was time to bring in the reinforcements. He's just getting over severe back/shoulder/arm issues and no way did I want him doing anything to aggravate it so Andrew was routed from his cave to provide muscle and moral support. I was more of a behind-the-scenes helper as I searched the internet for solutions and suggestions, and I also provided lots of fretting and hand wringing.

My guys prevailed and finally success was theirs. Par for the course there were the mysterious "parts" that didn't get used  and a huge mess to clean up. This is the only shot of the mess that I dare show online 
Here you'll see the residue from all the sawing and if you look close (STOP! Don't really look, it's too gross looking) you will see pieces of drywall, metal shavings, and the one fatality of the whole ordeal, the tile behind the cold water handle.

So, there you have it, our story of how we spent the last day of vacation. Now wasn't that a lot of fun? And, if you're expecting a final photo of our new, non-dripping handles, I'm sorry to disappoint. Didn't I mention that our projects never turn out like we planned? That darn broken tile ruined what was ultimately a successful albeit time consuming home repair job. For now the tile hasn't been replaced but sports an ugly patch which will hopefully one day be remedied. Meanwhile I'm keeping it hidden and instead ending with a photo of our little girl.


All the sawing, hammering, drilling, and yells of frustration scared her away form the scene of the crime. She spent most of her day sitting in this box lid, waiting for things to settle down. (And yes, there is a bunch of crap on the floor around her including a used dryer sheet. The silly cat loves those things, drags 'em all over the house. She's weird). I was too busy fixing the dripping shower and didn't around to my weekend chores. Go ahead, make my day. Fire me! As for me, I think I'll hit publish post and then I'm off for a nice long, hot shower.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Ready, set, FLY!

Soooooooooo, my oldest son is moving out this weekend. Not only is he moving out, he's moving away. Tomorrow  Ian will be packing up his car and heading back to Knoxville. Only this time it's not for school. It's for a job, an apartment, and a new life.
one last mowing job before heading north

For the record, I'm not sad.

Ok, I'm a little bit sad, BUT I'm not wallowing in misery.

I knew this day would come. In fact, I've been preparing myself and him for this day for 8,271 days.


 It's just hard to let go and admit that the little boy no longer exists except in videos, snapshots, and a mom's memory.

such a happy toddler

I'm excited for him and the adventure that lies ahead. I would be lying though, if I said I wasn't a little anxious. My husband said we need to just pretend he's going back to school.

first day of school



I think it's an excellent plan.



first time wearing a tux

Meanwhile the three of us left at home are fighting over what to do with his room. I want to move the elliptical in there and also use it as a guest room. Andrew wants to set up his drums in there and Dale agrees it would make an excellent music room. We'll have to see who wins this battle.

playin' baseball
the evidence - yes. he went through an earring stage

moving into JU for the first time
For all those parents who cry the first time they drop their baby off at daycare, pre-school or Kindergarten let me tell you ... This day caused even more tears. Tears of joy, sadness, fear of the unknown, and the realization that he's literally on the edge of the nest ready to soar.

first step to becoming an adult, now the real "work" begins!
Tomorrow he spreads those wings and flies!

Guilty!

Caught someone doing yard work. He says it's ok 'cause his back/neck/arm is feeling much better. This is my defense in case I have to kill him!

Monday, July 9, 2012

Sometimes I annoy myself.

Why, oh why do I let little things bother me? I'm talking about small, insignificant things. Things that probably wouldn't even be a blip on someone else's radar are a CAT 4 hurricane on mine. The problem I have is once I've "seen' them, I can't "un-see" them. And, once they're seared into my brain, I can't let them go until there is some sort of resolution.  Being me can be oh, so tiring!

Today's insignificant catastrophe ... I've just spent the last half hour fretting over a gadget on my computer desktop that isn't working correctly. 

It's a snow globe. It's supposed to give me the current temperature and a four day forecast. The problem? It's eleven a.m. and even though we've had some wickedly hot temps this summer, I'm pretty sure it isn't already ninety degrees outside. 

Does it not working correctly affect my use of the computer? No, not at all. Does it not working correctly mean I'm in the dark concerning the weather? No, there's always the app on my phone or the weather channel on tv that can update me. Not to mention there's an outdoor thermometer right outside the kitchen window. (Hmmm, Why do I even need this many ways to check the weather anyway?)

So, why is it such a big deal and why have I spent an hour of my day trying to fix it? I guess the answer is - because it's there. Plain and simple. It's there, staring me in the face. Taunting me.

I don't like things taunting me. Telling me I can't do something. Daring me to rise up and overcome.

It's not like I don't like a challenge. It's just that I like them to be on my terms. Challenges I choose to seek out and tackle. Not challenges that hunt me down and tackle me to the ground. Like this stupid snow globe ... refusing to refresh itself.

And, now - it has the audacity to update itself and tell me it's



wait for it




91 degrees!  Say it ain't so!

Not one to just let things go, I checked the outside thermometer 

and my phone 

This snow globe is defective I tell you! Who needs it anyway? Begone snow globe! Off the desktop you go!

Two bad I didn't do that sooner and save myself an hour of frustration and angst. Like I said, sometimes I annoy myself.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

It's the 5th of July

and I'm throwing caution to the wind. Benedryl on hand, just in case!

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Something new

Several things have been going on in my life which I have been hesitant to discuss on my blog. It's really sad because blogging is supposed to be about expressing yourself and talking about what is important in your life. Unfortunately when you express yourself and talk about your life on the internet you are opening yourself up to all kinds of reactions, some good and some bad. Seeing as how I've never been one to easily accept criticism nor do I like feeling like I've disappointed anyone I have forced myself to be silent on certain topics in order to not bring about the negative reactions.

Needless to say it's not just about blogging either. I find myself in real life situations where I put on a mask so the people around me will see the person I think they want to see, not the person I really am. Living this life is exhausting. And discouraging. And I'm tired of it. From here on out I'm just putting it all out there. If it negatively affects the way you see me or causes a rift in our relationship, I'm sorry. Just try to look at it this way, I'm still the same person I was yesterday, you just know more about me now than you did before!

And now I'm sure some of you reading this who know me IRL (in real life) are thinking, "what in the HELL is she leading up to?" Yes, I did just use a bad word in my sentence and THAT is exactly one of things of I'm referring to.

Sometimes I use inappropriate language.

I have tried to avoid using no-no words in my writing. IRL I try not to be vulgar and don't regularly speak profanities aloud, but frankly sometimes certain words just need to be used. Therefore I now publicly proclaim this blog to be rated PG-13 for language. I may also throw in a bit of violence, and some topics of a sensitive matter. However, I can promise you there will be NO nudity or mention of sexual matters. There are still some boundaries I refuse to cross. ... and everyone heaves a sigh of relief.

Now that I've decided to open the door and let the real me out, I can't decide where to start. What boundaries should I cross? Should I talk about politics or religion? Should I express my thoughts on gay marriage or abortion? How about breastfeeding in public, or circumcision, or homeschooling, (oops, that's the one controversial topic that I've already addressed), or Obamacare? Hmmm, there's a whole new pool of topics out there for me to tackle. I guess you'll just have to stick around and see what comes out of the new me.

On another note please don't worry about the old me. She's still around and fully intends to continue to regale you with stories of kittens, home improvements, big-bad bugs, kangaroo dreams and such. I think there's room on here for both of us, hope you do to.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

The crazy things we dream



I had a dream the other night and it's driving me crazy that I can't remember anything about it other than it involved us owning a kangaroo. Yes, a kangaroo! Weird, huh? I really wish I could recall the details because I'm sure it would be entertaining. Meanwhile, just for fun, I thought I'd do some digging on the meaning of kangaroos in dreams.

I looked online and found several interesting interpretations.
To see a kangaroo in your dream refers to maternal and paternal protection. You may be expressing your nurturing and mothering nature. Perhaps,  you are being too overly protective. Alternatively, a kangaroo symbolizes aggression. If the kangaroo is hopping, then the dream is analogous to how you jump from one thing to another. You lack the ability to stick to one thing. To dream that a kangaroo attacks you indicates that  your reputation is being called into question.  
 If your dream consists of seeing or being near a kangaroo then this shows that in some part of your life their is a huge need to care and mother someone close to you. If you dream involves baby kangaroos and you see them in a pouch then this can show that you need to act more softly with co-workers. Make sure that you use conflicting approach within business meetings. Kangaroos which are their original colour also signify the natural world and time planes, therefore your actions within this world are important to your spiritual development going forward.
To see a kangaroo in your dreams, you will outwit a wily enemy who seeks to place you in an unfavorable position before the public and the person you are striving to win. If a kangaroo attacks you, your reputation will be in jeopardy. If you kill one, you will succeed in spite of enemies and obstacles. To see a kangaroo's hide, denotes that you are in a fair way to success. 

A couple of these could apply to what's going on in my life, but others wouldn't seem at make sense at all.

For instance: If your dream involves baby kangaroos and you see them in a pouch then this can show that you need to act more softly with co-workers. Make sure that you use conflicting approach within business meetings. makes no sense because I don't work outside the home and have no co-workers. I do however have an underling so maybe it's telling me to act more softly with the ten year old.  And, we did have somewhat of a conflict last week over a mis-communication of a summer reading assignment. I ratted him out to his parents and in return received a glare that if looks could kill, I'd be 6-feet under right this minute. So, maybe my kangaroo is Eddie needing a softer approach?

There's this one: If the kangaroo is hopping, then the dream is analogous to how you jump from one thing to another. You lack the ability to stick to one thingwhich makes me laugh. Do you have any idea how many unfinished projects I have? And while I'm not really feeling overly anxious over their incompletion, I am irritated with myself when I think about them.

And there's this one: Kangaroos which are their original colour also signify the natural world and time planes, therefore your actions within this world are important to your spiritual development going forward, might be significant because of recent changes my husband and I have made. It's not something I've written about here but is something that I want share. But that's for another blog on another day.

The one that probably makes the most sense however is this: To see a kangaroo in your dream refers to maternal and paternal protection. You may be expressing your nurturing and mothering nature. Perhaps,  you are being too overly protective. and this:  If your dream consists of seeing or being near a kangaroo then this shows that in some part of your life their is a huge need to care and mother someone close to you. These interpretations seem reasonable because of two major "things" going on with our family right now.

First, my youngest son finally had the opportunity to purchase a used car. His elation over acquiring a car was quickly dampened when we discovered some significant problems with it. Having spent all his money on the purchase of the car, there was nothing left for repairs. We did what we could to help out and a generous loan from a not-to-be-named person allowed him to fix the car. Imagine his disappointment and angst when he discovered this past weekend that a problem still seemed to exist. His dad and I have both been sick with anger and frustration that all this was happening and there was nothing we could do to help. Our parenting skills were even brought into question (at least in our eyes) because we allowed and even encouraged him to purchase this automobile. So, yes, this could be my kangaroo.

Second, and even more likely to be my kangaroo, is my eldest son and his desire to move forward and make changes in his life. Ian has decided to return to Knoxville, not to attend school, but to live. I have no problem with that part, in fact I think it's good for him because he has friends up there, a church he enjoys, and even an apartment and a roommate. What he doesn't have is money in the bank or a job lined up. That is what is scaring me to death. I worry that he's going to starve or that his aging car will die. I am concerned that he will have trouble making student loan payments and wonder if he's truly ready to take over responsibilities like paying rent and utilities in addition to car insurance and phone bills, all things that up until now have been provided by us. Ultimately I know that it's no longer my call and it's time to let him move on. I also know it's time to stop thinking of him as the little boy who needs mom and dad to guide his moves. I need to be confident in how we raised him and trust him to make good decisions. But, it's so hard!!

So, who knows who or what the kangaroo in my dream was. For all I know it was just the result of something I saw on TV or read in a book, or it could have been the late night snack of strawberry ice cream. For now, I'm just going to accept it and look at it as a positive thing because it's forcing me to think outside the box and examine what's going on in my life, my head, and my heart.

G'day, mate!