Greetings From East Jesus, VA

I am blessed

2008-07-24T14:04:00.003-04:00

Overheard @ Trop's

2008-07-23T13:26:00.006-04:00

Trop: What are you doing this afternoon?

Amanda: Some slappin' and
poppin'

It just sounds dirty to me, like doing too much of it will make a person go blind.

Self Portrait Tuesday

2008-07-22T16:13:00.006-04:00

Despite my many years of education, an internship, and six jobs; I still under estimate how frustrating and hard it is to learn a new thing.

I hate when I forget a birthday

2008-07-21T21:02:00.002-04:00

Happy birthday Yankeegirl!

Next time, bring a rope

2008-07-21T14:28:00.017-04:00

We nearly lost MM (age 9) yesterday, right at about this point, at these rapids.
We went tubing on the James, and had just launched ourselves into the river. Everyone got out into the current, save for MM. She fell out of her tube and was stuck on the very rocky shore. Somehow Court managed to break loose and get to her, while I held on to M & S for their dear lives.

The kids & I got through the rapids and paddled toward shore, where we planted ourselves on a rock and waited for Court and MM to float to us. MM was traumatized, and a bit scraped up.

What upset her most was fearing she might need stitches for a cut on her hand. Despite Court's motherly assertions that stitches were unnecessary, MM worried. So Court told her to ask me, 'cause I'm a "doctor" who used to be a lifeguard. I examined her cut and told her she would not need stitches. She was comforted; all was well.

Once rejoined, Court and I used our PFDs to tether the kids tubes to ours. Despite our rocky start, it was enjoyable. In all it took us two hours to reach our stopping point. The kids (even MM) said they had a great time.

Next time, I'm bringing rope. We'll tie our tubes together before we hit the water.

And I'll also wear these on my feet in the river instead of these. I nearly broke my ankle on a rock and worse, my pedicure was all scraped up.

Tubing was just one of the several fun things we did during our day at Natural Bridge.

$6.62

2008-07-19T11:16:00.004-04:00

That's the kid's 100% take of loose change recovered while cleaning Court's car. Cleaning up our cars is no minor undertaking.

The boy channels his energy productively, I can say that.

The six of us spent the day at the waterpark yesterday. We had so much fun, but we got completely baked.

Today is a workday for me. I have some models due Monday, and they are giving me fits.

Cross another one off

2008-07-17T12:40:00.001-04:00

All six of my coolers are squeaky clean.

Step stool recollection

2008-07-17T11:54:00.004-04:00

I can't remember the last time I had a step stool in my bathroom.

I love the young woman Amanda is becoming; but sometimes I really miss her wee days.

Vacationing Dave Ramsey style

2008-07-16T12:48:00.008-04:00

Take a look at the cash cache for the three weeks the kids are with us:

Everything is done with cash in this household, including vacations. The cash budgeted for each of our various activities while the kids stay with us has its own envelope.

Court broke in a new teller at our bank. This one barely masked her contempt as we withdrew more than $2K in cash, with Court requesting the money in specific denominations, including 249 one-dollar bills.

The teller needed more than 20 minutes to count out the withdrawal. Customers behind us in line FUMED.

I just chuckled.

Honey do list

2008-07-15T17:05:00.000-04:00

I'm getting so many of my backyard chores done this week...

Take THAT ClearChannel

2008-07-14T18:53:00.004-04:00

East Jesus has a new radio station. And I love it.

Great music, and the station runs on a business model that offers commercial-free public radio without government support. The antithesis of ClearChannel [...and NPR].

Quote of the day

2008-07-14T17:54:00.003-04:00

"Sorry kid, this ride's closed so we can clean up all the vomit."

--Ride Operator
@EJVFD carnival

Welcome to our humble home, sibs....

2008-07-13T19:55:00.003-04:00

Court's in charge.

Road trip

2008-07-12T07:51:00.004-04:00

We're on the road this weekend to middle TN and back. My in-laws are bringing the kids half way from Little Rock. The kids will be living with us for the next three weeks.

Two moms and four kids (8, 12, 14, 15). A reality show in the making: Kim & Court plus Four.

This post brought to you by...

2008-07-11T16:27:00.004-04:00

...my inspiron 1720.

The imaged hard drive came today. So far so good.

The sucking and swallowing continues...

2008-07-10T10:33:00.005-04:00

The hard drive arrived yesterday. It was fitted for the secondary drive spot. WTF? So I had to exchange parts to get it into the primary spot.

And for the umpteenth time, I launched the operating system installation, only to see it fail, as it always does.

More time on the phone, repeating my story, up the chain. I'm getting better at line jumping...

I reported my problem unresolved. Dell is sending another hard drive, this time imaged with all of the software I purchased when I bought the thing. Suj (the Dell operator) had the near-misfortune of suggesting "if THAT drive doesn't work, it is a motherboard issue."

You can marvel over how calm I remained at her suggestion. Thank you Brandon.

Tomorrow I'll see the DHL guy for the third time this week.

Blog tag milestone

2008-07-09T12:35:00.000-04:00

I will regret this one, but it's too funny not to share

2008-07-09T11:09:00.000-04:00

= NSFW

Bartender Brandon puts out

2008-07-09T09:56:00.000-04:00

Dr. & Mrs. S. get tipsy.

Overheard @ Trop's

2008-07-09T09:35:00.003-04:00

Amanda: Goldilocks would say "momma bear, momma bear and baby bear..."

This one will get me in trouble

2008-07-08T14:20:00.007-04:00

I always knew the Democratic Party was slow on the uptake. They chose an ASS for their logo after all.

My assessment was substantiated today when the confirmation code for my unsubscribe request arrived in my in-box 24+ hours after my request.

Dell sucks and swallows

2008-07-08T09:16:00.005-04:00

Dell returned my laptop, $500.00 later, and didn't do a fucking thing to fix it.

FUCKERS.

I am spitting mad.

If they only knew

2008-07-07T08:53:00.005-04:00

Do you think my clients would still deferentially call me "Dr. Singin" if they knew I am adorned in one of these?

Speaking of my name, you must read this.

The cure for lesbian bed death

2008-07-07T08:25:00.006-04:00

Reading Salon.com this morning, I happened upon an antidote for lesbian bed death: The Bacon Bra:

This sucks, part two

2008-07-06T14:27:00.003-04:00

The withdrawal continues. I've taken the next step down. I first went from 300mg to 150mg. Now I'm stepping down to 75mg.

It's just like that time I nearly vomited all over myself at the Bedford County Fair after riding the tilt-a-whirl.