unfruitful shopping

There really isn’t anything to this post, other than I’m frustrated and want to vent.  And nobody reads blogs on the weekend anyway, right?  : )

So anyhoo… I’ve been needing a few clothing basics for fall and winter.  I got a Lands End catalog and found a few things.  I ordered a denim pencil skirt (it was on clearance and only available in one of my possible sizes) and a khaki skirt in a couple of sizes.  None of it fit!

I have several basic winter tops that I love. I got them from Penneys. I had a JCP sale catalog that came in the mail and noticed those same items again.  I thought about ordering them, but then decided I’d try to see if they had them in the store. I would rather try them on anyway.

On a side note:  I like the feel of those tagless tshirts and stuff… BUT… it wears off and when I need to buy more of the same thing, I have no idea what size I wear. I can’t just look at the tag.  It’s gone.  *sigh*

So I went to JCP and they had everything I saw in the catalog. I was so excited! So I picked up all my 3/4 length v-neck tops and headed to the dressing room.  First of all, they seem to be making the shirts smaller around now.  My old ones fit fine… but my new ones of the same size, are too tight across the chest.  Aaaaand the 3/4 sleeves are longer and they just took goofy. You’d have to be a monkey for the sleeves to fit.  So I put them all back on the shelf.

They also had a rather cute denim jacket that would be a rather stylish layering piece.  Again with the monkey arms.  The cuffs were down below my fingertips!  What is up with that? I don’t even have short arms!  *sigh*

So I left with nothing.  And I’ll have to take my Lands End things back at Sears.  I get so tired of just trying to find the simplest thing to wear.  Like I said, I’m not even talking about something overly cute or trendy… I’m just talking about basic everyday tops here!

My older things are beginning to look worn. I guess I’ll just keep wearing them and hope I stumble upon their replacements SOMEwhere.  SOMEtime. 

Dunno where or when though! 

“always”

I didn’t share as many pics from my DC trip as I would have liked. Life sort of got in the way and then I just lost interest in it. But this morning, I remembered.

I remembered all the things we saw and heard at Arlington National Cemetery. It was quite sobering.

Below is the grave of the Pentagon pilot on 9-11.

There are so many graves there it takes your breath away!

They go on and on and on. It seems like as far as the eye can see.

We noticed right away that the flags flew at half-staff. Our tour guide told us it is because there is always a burial going on there. I couldn’t get that out of my mind that day. Always.

I hope we never forget those who died for our freedom just like I hope we always remember 9-11.

it’s a date

A court date, that is.  Tuesday made me one step closer to finishing out my dad’s affairs.  I went to probate court.

I’ve never even seen a real live courtroom before. And I have to tell you, it was pretty intimidating.  The building is old and has a lot of character.  I was instructed to wait on my lawyer on the benches outside the courtroom.  Wooden benches.  That looked distinctly like pews.  So I did. 

While waiting I had time to take in my surroundings… from the old moldings around the ceilings to the red granite or marble or something on the walls and everything in between.  I had to walk around a bit to find my courtroom, so I’d know which benches were 'mine’ and noticed every judge has rules posted outside his courtroom.  The room at the other end of the hall had ‘silence cell phones’ on a small wooden stand and that was IT.  But on MY end of the hallway in MY courtroom the list was much longer. No talking. No gum.  No shorts.  No mini skirts.  (and seems like there are a couple of things I’m forgetting) Aaaaaand silence your cell phones.

When she arrived looking all fresh and young and lawyer’y looking, we got down to business.  She reviewed the questions she would ask me and my answers and reminded me again about the gum and the no talking parts.  And then we made our way into the courtroom.

It was fascinating and equally as old and full of character as the hallway. The ceilings were very high and the light fixtures looked like they were from another era.  The bench… is that what they call it?… was big and old and wooden and very intimidating.  I sat there taking it all in.  The judge had not entered the courtroom yet and the bailiff was there working the room, giving out the same instructions I had read and been reminded of in the hallway.  No gum. No talking.  And he told us about having to escort a man out for wearing shorts before the judge actually saw him.  He was lighthearted and jovial and seemed to enjoy himself.  My lawyer told me she had never seen him talk so much.  You see she was allowed to talk since the judge had not entered the room yet.  So everyone whispered very reverently while we waited. 

The bailiff left the room only to pop back in a side door a couple of times as if to practice and make sure we were going to hush up when the time came.  One time he told us he would say something really clever like ‘all rise’ when the judge was actually coming in.  And soon he did.  And we did.  And we got the show on the road.

Thankfully there was a lady ahead of me.  I was glad I wasn’t first so I could watch and see how it all ‘goes’.  Yes, I am a big, nervous chicken in unfamiliar surroundings.  So anyway, I watched the older lady and her attorney approach the judge and watched her swear and answer the questions.  Different ones from the ones I’d be asked, but the same idea.  And then she signed some papers and that was it.  We were second. We did the same thing.  Only Mr. Judge threw me for a loop and asked me something else.  I turned to the lawyer because we had not practiced that part. Thankfully my lawyer was ready to chime in to answer anything I didn’t understand, but the judge sternly shut her down by saying “I’m asking her!”, so I stammered through a short answer. He seemed ok with my response and I got my ok on things and talked to the clerk.  I was so glad it was over quickly and I could get out of there. He made me nervous.

She instructed me to wait on the benches again and she went to another room to get the paperwork ready that I had come for and I was back out in the Texas heat in no time.

We waited six weeks on a date for this and we were in and out in 5 minutes and walking out in 30 minutes.  But it’s done.

some Windows Love

I’m ‘hearting’ me a little bit of blog community tonight.  I love how when one is hurting, another comes along side for a hug and kind words.  Or when another had a crazy day or did something silly, someone is there to laugh along with us.  This journey has so greatly enriched my life.

But I didn’t think anything could enrich the actual technical aspect of the blogging itself until today.  I read this post and many of my blogging dreams came true.  I’m learning how to do things I never thought possible with my pics and I’m looking forward to the freedom this platform gives me.  And I can do a strike out without even going into html. {cue celestial singing}  And I’m figuring out a bunch of other stuff too! : )

I heart blogging.. and all of you.. and my new ‘love’…Windows Live Writer… which by the way, every time I type Live, it accidentally comes out Love.

Coincidence?  I think not! : )

my bathroom 'helper'

Hello... you're in my space.

Um.. yeah, it would be nice if you moved over just a tad.

You could sit in front of the other sink and I could use this one.

or not.

(don't look at my cluttered, outdated dusty vanity, k?)

getting it out of the way

I knew this morning that there were things I needed to get done. Things I've been putting off. I had a Chickfila coupon so I went 'out' to breakfast. It was free. : ) And then I came to stare at the calendar and noticed that sticky note I've already moved from 'August' to 'September'.

Take pages of Daddy's book to be redone after school starts.

Well school has started. But I haven't gone to the funeral home. So today I took the pages that were misprinted and got new ones on order. (they give a guest book thing that has his name and dates and funeral service info etc printed in it) And then I asked for a map to find my parents grave sites. I've been there before but knew I didn't have a clue exactly how to find them. So a nice lady came and brought me a map and offered to drive me out there. I told her no thanks and headed out. I found the general area, parked the car and started walking. She showed me how to look for a marker with the name of Sprinkle near the street and then start heading toward a tree and it should be 'right there'. Well, I did everything, but I still couldn't find it. A kind gardener noticed the lost look to my body language and the map I held in my hand and got me pointed in the right direction. Finally found it. Them. The year marker has been screwed into place. So I can check that off my mental list.

I decided since I was already doing fun stuff, I really should change Bub's flowers. They've been there a year and are starting to look kinda sad. So I went to a big chain store and the flowers were too expensive and I couldn't find exactly what I wanted. So I went to another chain store and found something more wonderful for half the price of the other store. AAAAAND.... they had these little butterfly pick things to go in the arrangements... in green no less. So I bought that and some pretty yellow roses. I carefully twisted the wire of the butterfly around the stem of the flowers so it doesn't blow away.

It turned out really pretty. I like the butterfly. He would have too. : )

open house

Last night was open house for Miss Boo's first year in high school. She goes to a 'small' private school. I say small in that compared to public school, it's very tiny. But compared to a lot of the privates in the area, it's HUGE. And to her, it's HUGE because she used to go to a much smaller private school and there were 40 in the entire middle school. Now, there are around 400 high schoolers. A big difference to her. She carries on about how many halls there are and how big the building is, but it's tiny compared to the public schools the hubs and I went to. So we just smile and nod when she carries on.

We got to meet all her teachers and see her classrooms. We hit each one on a seven minute class time with a five minute passing period. She only has two women this year... the rest of her teachers are men. Isn't that somethin'? She is taking sign language (ASL) for her foreign language. She seems really sweet. We also met her English teacher... the other female. Lots of reading this year. oh boy.

And now for the rundown of the men... her Algebra 1 teacher is an interesting character... former attorney... gives out candy for correct answers. LOL We met her Bible teacher. He is young and energetic and sees teaching Bible as his ministry and wants to get to know each one of his kids and really work to nurture them spiritually. How cool is that? : ) There is a new science and technology building and her Biology class meets in there. Really nice building. Nice older gentleman teaches it. She's taking Technology Application Survey...meaning a little bit of everything to get her feet wet in technology... from circuits, to programming to robotics. I think she will love it. We've already done some of the things they will learn there, here at home, just for fun. (circuits, robotics)

She's also taking Ancient World History. Another man teacher. He gave the rundown of the usual things like late work policy etc and asked if there were any questions. This one lady pretty quickly asked the funniest thing! "I know I've taken a lot of classes and this has got to be just about the boringest class there can be... ancient world history.... what are you doing to make it fun and interesting?" Cue the crickets there for a second or two! But he recovered quickly and told how he keeps things interesting by doing little projects in class and having groups and different things like that... just to keep the kids hopping and not sitting there staring at him or a book. Good answer. But what a funny question!

It's always nice to put a face to a name and feel like we understand what's going on a little bit better. Hoping it's going to be a great year. : )