Ahhhhh, Weekends, Fine Weather & Wine

Now, my good buddy Mixter knows that I had plans to drink for the both of us this weekend, and I want her to know that I did my best, BUT this photo is NOT from this weekend, but from a small back story that I am going to share momentarily along with a couple of bits about the weekend that I am still enjoying this morning!

This delightful photo comes to us courtesy of my hubby when he was in Qatar. It was early May and we were having that very unexpected weather in the upper 80's. I had worked all morning and then gotten home and walked the dog AND did yard work. I was not only hot, but tired as well. So it seemed the natural thing to do and have a nice, chilled bottle of a great summer wine!! A wine that went down REALLY, REALLY fast!

Then John called, on Skype, and I brought my laptop out in the back yard to sip some more wine and yak with him. I can not tell you how long we were in to the call, but at some point I passed right out, or should I say, fell asleep!! :-D Next thing I know he is playing some loud music in Arabic over the sky waves and wakes me up. "Nice nap?" He asks. I laugh and we continue, not knowing how long I was out I then receive the photo next day by e-mail. I laughed for a very long time. I am just glad that my laptop did not fall off my lap and into the yard.

The yard is exactly where I am sitting right now, as the sun is coming up, having my coffee and listening to as well as watching the birds. Yes, I have the day off and I am milking every bit of joy out of it that I am able. I plan to buy a few dollars worth of flowers and put them in the bare spots that are left in my garden. It looks like all the seeds John brought me from Australia are coming up. I saved the seed packets so I will be able to identify them and will post a few pics when they bloom.

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at friends having what I call a feeding and wine frenzy, beer for John. They had their pool open, but WAAAAY too cold for this gal. Only kids can tolerate pool water at this early in the summer. Our pal Ed always cooks like he is in the Army and also many varieties of meat, so I decided to allow myself a carnivores delight and had some of all of them. Nothing says summer like the taste of crispy, charcoaled meat from a grill!

Along with the usual, and plentiful side dishes, there were also PIES!! an I just tell you that both John and I were so full that we were really miserable! Both of us had to come home and put on pj's to be more comfortable. I think I may not eat at all today. Seriously, I am just now feeling human again and less like my dog.

Along with that there are three of us here and we are down to one car. The brakes just went out on Max's and, thank God he works the night shift, we are going to shuttle him to work and let him get a ride home.C an't help him out on this one, sadly. Now he can get a feel for real world stuff and see what he will face in a life without the military. That is a story for another time and one that I am not ready to talk about too much right now.

Work is going well and I am assuming the role of leader and playing the corporate game. Proudly serving my corporate master. Hopefully by fall I will have had all the trainings and be ready to take that promotion.

John is leaving at the beginning of June for India and that might be the last job prior to a lay-off. We are hoping not, but he does not believe that they have sold anything. With his company that can change in a split second, so never say die! He thinks there might be a job in Norway. We are hopeful. I do not relish the thought of having to try and live with unemployment. Things are very tight now, but there is a smidge of wiggle room, bu there would be absolutely zero of that with unemployment. We can only hope that India lasts a few weeks,. long enough to make a bit of money and have a few sheckles for an emergency.

Other than that....all is well and Hope it is also with you! Welcome to Guy and it is awesome to have his input and perspective here at the Mix!!!!!!! Guy, you know I adore your sense of humor and look forward to your posts!!

It's Been a Month!!

It has been over a month since I last sat down and blogged. So much has happened, not just in my life, but in the life of friends as well. I am sad to say that Mixter has shut down her blog. It was one of the first political blogs that I found when I first began to read blogs. Long before she invited me to join her I was a fan. It is going to be sad for me to finally remove her link from this site. I hope that she will occasionally stop by to read this little rag and maybe post some scathing commentary that we all came to love and enjoy! Miss ya Mixter! It was a joy to post with you and the other liberal gals at the Mix.

I was on an 11 day vacation this past week. One would think that I would have had the time for much reading and plenty of blogging, but as life would have it I had a huge curve ball thrown my way and I did not once even get on my computer. During this time we had an incident, at home with our teenager, that sent us in a tailspin. One that I am not going to elaborate upon, but enough to say that it is a hard job being a parent and you never know what is going to come your way. They grow up so fast and suddenly they think that they are adults.

I did buy a new book during this vacation. "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch. He was the professor at Carnegie Mellon that actually did give a last lecture as he was dying from pancreatic cancer. My girlfriend is reading it and told me that she was gleaning much knowledge from it, so John and I headed to Borders one night and I got it for 13.00, not bad considering that it was 21.95 originally. I am just beginning it, so any thoughts will have to come later. It is a very small book, so I expect to finish it in a few days.

I also finally got myself an MP3 player to run with. I can not believe how much easier it makes the task of running! I have even increased my gait which means that soon I will have to add on some more time. Could be a curse as well! :-) So, last night as we sat outside with a fire, John & I had my player plugged in to the car stereo, and an entire evening of debate ensued about the music that we each have on our players. He was genuinely surprised that I did not have more music from my growing up years. I only went back and put on a few of the hits from the 80's that I really loved from the beginning of the "New Wave" & "Punk" movements; Clash, Blondie, Squeeze, Joe Jackson. The bulk of what I put on is today's music; Seether, Hinder, Staind, Fallout Boy, 3 Doors Down and the like. John could not believe that I did not have more of the 70's and old school style rock and disco. He has that and Neil Young, Van Halen and guitar rock that never was my thing. We talked about what would be considered "age appropriate" music and why does someone have to listen to what might be considered "more their style" and not outside their realm. It was kind of like discussing religion or politics. Everyone has their own tastes and beliefs. It was fun and we laughed often.

I got a new camera cell phone, we bought Max a car for his 18th birthday and have started to talk about what our life will be like when we no longer have a child in the home. I am going to begin the paperwork to get my passport so I can begin to travel with John. Maybe as soon as next year!

We have been avoiding all news, except the Daily Show. I have not even been reading any of my news sites. I am tired of anything that has to do with the election, the price of gas and how airlines are raising their prices and charging for everything. I LOVED the ad that Paris Hilton came out with as the retort to John McCains ad. It really made me laugh. I think I might vote for her!

Travelog

Mixter had it right when she said that the "liberal ladies" that contribute to her mix are busy...and sick. I seem to have come up with a nice cold/upper respiratory mess. I am losing my voice and generally feel like crap. So, I have decided to warm us all up with a travelog of John's travels. You will find some shots of his apartment in Broadbeach which is on the famous Gold Coast of of Australia. It is quite famous for its surfing as you will notice by the size of the waves. He said that they were small that day, but that he has seen some really huge ones that just tossed him around like a toothpick in the water.

His apartment is the brightly colored building and the view behind it is the awesome one of the beachline. Yeah, I want that job!! I have also included a few of the cool native birds. Since we are both avid birdwatchers he likes to check out all the local ones and send me info on them. I have included two of the more colorful for your viewing pleasure.

The really cool looking wavy building is an office that has, of course, a Starbucks on the bottom level. He tries to hit them up in all the countries he visits and pick up a city mug for me and my boss.

He has basically been gone for the entire, coldest parts of our winter. This week makes 7 weeks that he has been abroad. No return date yet.