For Granny

Dear Granny;

Although you've been gone for 11 years, I still think about you every day. I really miss you. Lately I seem to miss you more than usual. Perhaps it's because July 1st is drawing near, and still after all these years, the holidays don't seem the same without you.


I miss the way you closed your eyes and threw your head back when you laughed. I do that too.


I miss how you welcomed the chaos that was a house full of grandchildren. You seemed to thrive in the insanity that was our big, loud family. I miss the taste of your hot cross buns, bbq chicken and potato salad. To this day, no one makes it as good as you did.


I marvel how you cooked huge holiday dinners in that little tiny kitchen, with no counter space, no air conditioning, and for many years, no dishwasher.


I miss all your "grannyisms" like : "Good manners and a good set of clothes will take you a long way". I laughed at them all back then. But, you were truly wise, and now that you're gone, I find the memories of your advice invaluable.


I miss our drives when we would just drive around and go to the store for a Fresca and a Royale chocolate bar.


I loved how you would say, "Everyone needs to be quiet because my show is coming on!" and within five minutes of Matlock or Murder, She Wrote starting you would be sound asleep -- and snoring so loud it raised the roof.


I miss the smell of Oil of Olay and Chantilly Lace. I miss you letting us all crawl up on your big bed to watch TV.


I really hate that you died, before my two youngest children were born. I think you would adore them, although I'm sure that you met them before they came here. I also believe that you are watching over the baby that I lost. But, I really wish that my boys could have known you. I can't think of a better role-model, mentor, relative or human being than you. I am so proud to be your grand-daughter.


I know it was a gift to have you around as long as we did, but that doesn't mean I will ever stop wishing that you were still here.


Love you forever;


Erin

Oy! I've been such a slacker

OK, so I've been mired in sports and moving stress, and now.......I'm sick. Not just, "ugh, I don't feel good sick", but I mean "Holy crap, I just wish I could die rather than endure this pain and suffering, have to stay away from work, don't want to breath on anyone, just want my mommy" kind of sick.

So, I really apologize that this blog has been somewhat neglected over the past couple of weeks. But, just for today, I thought I'd write a few thought provoking "have you ever" questions, and see if you, my fabulous readers, would let me know if I'm the only one in the world who thinks the things I do.

So, here we go:

Have you ever taken a picture for no reason at all?

Have you ever done something that terrified you?

Have you ever laughed so much you peed a little?

Have you ever choked on your own saliva?

Have you ever allowed your children to do something just because you were too tired to argue about it?

Have you ever worn orange?

Or bright green? (Why?)

Have you ever smelled your dog's feet?

Have you ever barbecued a banana...with chocolate chips...brown sugar and marshmallows on top?

Have you ever appreciated another person's kindness?

Written a thank you note for something small?

Told someone they are "swell"?

Have you ever thought that summer would be even better without mosquitoes?

Have you ever thought that Lindsay Lohan might die young?

And thought Bret Michaels might just have 9 lives?

Have you ever wondered why anyone would allow a picture to be viewed by the world (Kate Gosselin)?

Have you ever wished for less freckles?

Wrinkles?

Stretch marks?

Cellulite?

Have you ever wished you looked like this?

Have you ever {really} missed someone?

Have you ever felt alone?

Have you ever wanted to be alone....just for a bit?

Have you ever stopped...looked around and thanked God for your life?

Me too.

So, Ryker is 6 today.....

It's really hard to put into works how I feel about my youngest child, my baby, turning 6 years old. It's like the beginning of a whole new chapter, and one I'm not entirely sure I'm ready to embrace. I am no longer the mother of a baby boy. He's growing up......literally, right before my eyes. He's taller, he's losing his baby looks. He's so proud of the fact that he finally has two loose teeth......because that means "my baby teeth are falling out, because I'm not a baby anymore". And today, he told me that when he grows up he want's to be a paleontologist......and he KNEW what it meant!!!

His nickname is Peebs. Short for Pee-buh. A nickname he accidentally gave himself. When he was first learning how to talk, I used to call him "my little peanut". Well one day, I called him by his actual name, and he looked at me with all the seriousness that his two year old self could muster and said, "I not Ryker, I Peebuh (Peanut)" And the name just sort of stuck with him.

Sweet little Ryker. You were either really stubborn, or really just quite content where you were.

So I was induced.

You are the child I gave birth to with no epidural, or drugs of any choice really. And let me tell you, that was not easy. But Grandpa Monte convinced me that it was the best thing for you. So, I toughed it out.

You were the happy baby that smiled at 2 weeks old and never stopped. I look back now and see your true personality was so crystal clear and yet I didn’t even realize it at the time. You will do anything to get a smile out of us. It is who you are.

You were the baby that always wanted to keep up with your brothers. And so you crawled…FAST!….at 7 months old. You walked at 10 months.

You are my curious child with no fear.

You loved to climb. Actually, it should come as no suprise to anyone that your favorite animal is a monkey.

The whole family is crazy about you, kiddo.

Idol Chatter: The FINAL Two

OK, peeps. This is likely to be my final American Idol post ever. Without Simon next year, I'm not sure that I will be watching. I may have to start blogging about his new show, X Factor. Anyway, I was really going into tonights show with a clear head about not siding with either contestant. I've said from the beginning that Crystal was going to win it, but after last week, I think that Lee definately has what it takes to pull it out. So here is what I think about our final two contestants:

*Lee --

1) "The Boxer": I liked it, but it didn't blow me away like a semi-finalist should. It was a little sleepy, but it was defintately better than the first time. He needs to get a lot more pumped tonight if he wants to win this. I don't understand why he didn't do "Hallelujiah" again. I know he only did it last week, but he got raves about it more than any other performance, so to me it would have been a no-brainer.

2) "Everybody Hurts": Again, I wasn't hugely blown away here. He had trouble with the high notes in the beginning, and he turned it into just another average rock ballad. He stripped all the pain away from the essence of the song.

3) "Beautiful Day": Wait....isn't this a U2 song? Are the American Idol execs so apathetic that they can't even give the winner an original song this year? How sad.....and Lee sucked at this song. He didn't sing it well at all. I hated the entire performance.

Overall, I wasn't hugely impressed with Lee at all tonight. He just didn't seem hungry for it like he did last week. I'm thinking he is in trouble.

*Crystal --

1) "Me & Bobby McGee": Again, better than the first time. She is a consumate professional. She sang that like she meant it. She's here to win, and it's completely obvious. Fantastic job.

2) "Black Velvet": Hmmm......not really liking this arrangement. She was too shouty and the music was too loud behind her. I love her, but this song left me pretty unimpressed.

3) "Because you asked me To": This is why she deserves to win. Brilliant performance. It gave me goosebumps. I loved everything about it. If that song didn't just hand her the title, I don't know what will.

So in the end, I think Crystal deserves it. Yes, Lee has grown more than anybody else, but Crystal has been a solid artist right from day one. I would buy her album today.

10 Things I Hate About You

You know who you are....you take away the few precious seconds I have to run into the market, you made me lose my prime parking spot and you made me miss the light.

10. You are so busy texting you don't notice the light has changed until 2 seconds before it turns yellow

9. You are trying to reach over into the passenger seat to do Lord knows what and swerve into my lane

8. No matter how much mascara and lipstick you put on, a pig is still a pig, so just drive the car

7. You block the parking lot waiting for some chick to load 80 bags of groceries into her car because you're to lazy to walk

6.You don't seem to understand that the lines are to park in between, not on or over.

5.You park so friggin close to me I need liposuction to get into my car

4. You pull up next to your buddy and chat. Blocking the road, carpool or the parking lot

3. Your so busy handing out snacks, yelling at your kids or trying to keep your youngest awake so he'll actually sleep at home that you drive like a fool (Oh wait that's me, scratch that one)

2. You take up 8 spots because your car was made in Germany

1. STOP backing into to spots! It takes longer to back into a spot then it would take you to back out. You make me growly all you backerinners.

Please take this time to adjust your driving to accommodate me, OK!
Thanks Love Ya!

Idol Chatter: The Final Three

So tonight, we finally get to hear two songs from the finalists; one they chose themselves and one the judges chose. I have a few thoughts on both. But first, my song choices for this week. Since our first song would be a choice of our own, I think I would go with something like this:

Now, for the judges pick, I can only speculate as to what they would choose. Maybe something a little more country rock. Sooooo maybe something like this:

And now onto the REAL contestants:

*Casey -- “OK, It’s Alright With Me”: Yet another lackluster snooze of a performance by Casey James. Standing there with his acoutstic guitar like he's done a million times. He made the mistake of singing a song that not a lot of people would know, and he sucked at it anyway. The guy has absolutely no heart or passion when it comes to singing. This has become evident week, after week.

His second song was "Daughters" by John Mayer. Kara and Randy picked this song for him, and I think they sent him on a suicide mission with it. The arrangement was WAY to slow, and whe whole thing was just as boring as the first performance. If he was looking to redeem himself with this one, it didn't work.

*Crystal -- "Come to my Window": I completely hated the arrangement for this. I know, it was vintage Crystal, and probably something that would show up on her debut album, but I didn't care for it, and the mouth organ didn't do her any favors either.

Her second song was "Maybe I'm Amazed" by Paul McCartney. I really wasn't impressed with this as a song choice, and though that Ellen really dropped the ball with this one. I mean having a girl sing a song that had repeating lines of "maybe I'm a man" probably wasn't really smart. But she still kicked Casey's butt, and probably solidified her place in the top two.

*Lee -- "Simple Man": This is one of my favorite Skynard songs ever. So, I was really excited to see what he would do with it, and man.....he didn't disappoint a bit. I thought it was fantastic choice. He sung it brilliantly, and really proved himself to be a contender.

"Hallelujah": I have to admit that I wasn't sure what Simon was thinking when he chose this song for Lee. It just didnt' seem like something he could excel at. And again, I was proven wrong, and pleasantly suprised. Lee hit this one out of the park. Probably my favorite rendition of this song since K.D. Lang did it at the Vancouver Olympics.

My thoughts are that Casey is going to be going home tonight. I think that is a no-brainer. But everyone has expected a Lee/Crystal finale for weeks. However, where I once thought Crystal was a lock to win it all.....now I'm not so sure. She needs to really blow it up next week. It's gonna be an interesting final outcome.

A Downward Spiral Into Boredom

Again, at a loss for meaningful words tonight, I'm resorting this time to a meme. So, I searched out a short and, what I thought was funny, meme. Try it if you want! No obligations to do anything else except laugh.

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) Reuben Caravan (lame!)

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (favorite ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) Mint Chocolate Chip (lame again! What kind of gangsta is that?)

3. YOUR "FLY Guy/Girl" NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) EMor (yawn)

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Red Spaniel (oh, my word, so lame)

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) Rebecca Magrath(I guess that could work)

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) MorEr (could these get any lamer with my name? Really. And I'll stop using the word lame now.)

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (“The” plus 2nd favorite color, favorite drink) The Purple Pepsi (Bwah ha ha ha -- That would be me.)

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) Willie Max. (That's pretty Nascar, alright)

STRIPPER NAME: (the name of your favorite perfume/cologne, favorite candy) Ange ou Demon Mentos (Gah!)

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother's and father's middle names ) Margaret Lee

11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter) Wagner Waterton (Lame....oh yeah, I wasn't gonna use that word anymore)

12. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower) Christmas Orchid (ppth)

13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”) Watermelon Shortie (that sounds like a new character for the Pee Wee Herman Show!)

14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree) Muffin Wisteria (LOL!)

15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your favorite hobby/craft, favorite weather element + “Tour") The Singing Tsunami Tour

Alright, play along if you want. Let me know if you do so I can come read yours.