Kool Aid Man

I found this while searching the web today! I thought it was hilarious! Someone was apparently tearing down a brick wall and then put up this cardboard sign!! I showed Mason this and he's been walking around for the past 15 minutes yelling, "OH YEAH"! Funny.

My Pumpkin Pie

For as long as I can remember I have called Mason, 'Pumpkin Pie'. I don't know when it started or how it started, but every night before bed, after we have our nightly talk, I say, "Goodnight, Pumpkin Pie"! I imagine on his wedding day, I will call him that (quietly, though!). I am so blessed to have been blessed with this kid of mine! He is getting through this tough time, with a lot of help and support. I encouraged him to write his feelings down, like I have been doing in a notebook. I told him to write whatever comes to mind, it could be his feelings or his likes/dislikes, anything goes. I caught a glimpse of what he wrote yesterday:



{aahmmm..pay.no.attention.to.the.last.one..aahmmm}

He is so sweet. He is my world. And I am his world. I am the one who is his 'constant'. Constant, stable caretaker. I am the one who is here everyday to make sure he is doing his best. I am the one he knows will never leave him no matter what. He knows this and he finds comfort in it. His responsibilities have been stepped up a notch. Unfortunately, they had to be. It takes a lot to run a household. I'm not making him do dishes/laundry/scrubbing floors (ok, I don't even scrub floors!!), etc. But he has his fair share of chores. He has very strong feelings about what has happened to this family. This life-altering event has changed him forever, his views, his feelings towards certain people and his relationships, no doubt. He has told me things that I never even knew he felt before. He is much more relaxed and stress-free now that the toxicity has left. He feels that he can be more open about things and I like that. It makes me happy to see him grow into a young man, who only has the sky as his limit. He's going to be ok, he is working hard and so am I to ensure that he is going to be ok. He needs to reach out for help. After all, you can't go though life-changing events in childhood and not get help. The problems, if not faced, will only follow you, eventually making things worse. Luckily for Mason, he has a Mom (who is awesome!!) that will not rest until he is ok and that would never choose anything or anyone before him. I will not settle for anything less than the best for him. Not every kid gets a Mom like that in life, but he's my Pumpkin Pie and I love him to pieces!!

My Brain Is Going To Mush.

Well, not exactly. But sometimes I feel like it is. I feel like sitting outside, late at night next to a bonfire:



sipping an ice cold Sam Adams with a lime wedge. I am craving adult conversation and interaction. Anything that does not contain words like, "really rare Koala Bear pencil topper", "iCarly", "animal bracelets", "the new Mario wii game", "accidentally flushing a plastic cup down the toilet", shall I go on?? I just want to sit around with good company and not have to think about a.n.y.t.h.i.n.g. But, I don't see that coming anytime soon. I was helping Mason clean his room yesterday, and under his bed was a jelly bean (from Easter, I presume, I hope it was THIS Easter) and before the words, "Don't you dare eat that" went from my brain to my mouth, Mason popped it in his mouth. Do you see what I'm dealing with??!! Oh my.

Mason was supposed to have a game tonight and we drove the whole way out to the field (the game was away, about 35-40min away) and they called the game. Ahhh. So, I decided that cleaning needs to be done, but I'd rather give blood. It is so hot in my house because I can't get the air conditioner up from the basement because it is so heavy, so I have been suffering with all these hot, humid days. Gross. Maybe I shouldn't have complained at how cold it was this winter, I'd take that right about now!!

I suppose I should get off the computer and clean now, but Facebook is calling my name! It is so addicting, sometimes it drives me crazy. It wastes way too much of my time. I used to (well, it's still active) have a myspace account. I went on it the other day just to see what has changed. It was so bad, I spent about 5 minutes on it and got off of it! It is so, childish, I guess would be the word! I did check my photos that I had on my account and Mason looks so small! It was all family outings photos from when he was about 6 or 7, I can't believe how much he has grown! I'm off to go eat dinner and then get some cleaning done, or maybe crafting. Who knows!

Can you believe it is June already??

RIP Dennis Hopper, he was a great actor and I have this uncontrollable urge to watch "Speed" right now, one of the best movies ever made!

{Happy Memorial Day}

Just got back from the annual Memorial Day Parade! We could not have asked for better weather this weekend. With all the outside stuff we did this weekend, I was glad that it wasn't too humid! It's funny how a great, funny memory can instantly make you hurt, when your life is in a tailspin. As I was watching all the cars go through the parade, it reminded of a time, quite a few years ago that I was going into the post office in the town we used to live in, and suddenly we became part of the parade!! We had to get out of downtown, so we just kept driving and went along with it and waved to all the spectators, so funny! But it has a much different meaning to me now, unfortunately. Well, here's Mason walking in the parade (he's hiding behind the boy smiling!):



As I was cleaning and putting stuff away in an attempt to de-clutter, it seems that things that have been in a certain place for so long kind of 'become' that object. I was cleaning off the fridge and, even though I see this everyday, I took it down and shed a tear, Mason made this card for us when he was 5, 4 years ago:

Front:


Inside:


Back:


It breaks my heart, this is how he saw his family because we were that family. I loved it so much that I've kept it on my fridge for so many years. I will treasure this card forever. He's such a good kid who is going through so much right now, he should have his mind on summer, baseball, and swimming at the pool with his friends, not all this stuff in his life right now. I'll just tuck this card away in my 'memory' box and I'll take it out someday when he is older and we can talk about it. Isn't it strange how something so little can mean so much?

Happy Memorial Day. Remember those who served, are serving and those who gave all. God Bless each and every one of them.

[Happy Birthday To Me].

Fun, Looooong Weekend!

Tonight Mason was supposed to have a game, but we had a huge downpour and the game got cancelled, it was a make-up game due to rain, so now we'll have a make-up, make-up game! So instead, we went to the library and then got some ice cream and came home and watched a Scooby-Doo movie while eating pita chips and hummus! Sounds like a great night to me!! We have a ton of stuff planned this weekend, however I can't wait to relax! It's been awhile since I've had a 3 day weekend and it also happens to be my birthday this Sunday! Yes, another year older. This is the first birthday I will be spending 'alone' since my 19th birthday, 12 years ago. But I'm not really alone, though I will get to spend the day with Mason and his present to me is a morning at the flea market (and no grouchy attitude)!! I'm hoping that because it's a holiday weekend that the vendors will be out in full force. This flea market has gone very down-hill in past years, but I'm really hoping for the best, I have fond memories of this place, so I hope it doesn't let me down on my birthday!

Junk Day was a success! As I was going through the basement to find stuff to get rid of, I came across a CD cover from the CD "NOW". These CD's are filled with the latest 'pop' music. I had the original one, 'Now 1'. As I was walking through walmart the other day I saw, 'Now 33'! OH MY, do I feel old, lol!! The original was bought waaaaay back in 1999, so needless to say, as I flipped over the CD in the store, I hardly knew any of the 'artists' and didn't know any of the songs. Not real sure why I had the original anyway, pop music was never my thing.



Well, I succumbed to the pressure! Mason and I were coming back from his game last night and as we were turning towards our house, someone had put out a wicker, folding bookcase with 3 shelves! It was too good to pass up, we got a few laughs as we were trying to shove it in the car, but I really think Junk Day is just another word for 'free entertainment'! It's really nice, though, it is!!

So, the final episode of 24 aired on Monday. Mason had a game, so I DVR'd it and was just hoping that I could watch it before I heard what had happened. I didn't get to watch it until Wednesday night, but it was well worth the wait. I thought for sure they were going to kill Jack, I mean that would have been the perfect ending. All that he has been through and then he dies, but they didn't and the ending seemed to me to be open, as if it's not really over. It was a good ending, but I really think it could have been better. But in honor of Jack Bauer's last hours, some AWESOME t-shirts:





And my personal favorite:




I'm going to miss that show!

So, some genius decides to make .01 rubber bands into animal, food, and sports shapes, sell them for $2 a container, then market them to 3rd graders and retires as a billionaire:


(Mason took this pic because he was so thrilled to show these off!!)
I have never seen anything like this before! These things are like 'the coolest things ever', so I'm told. I went to the store that sells them to pick Mason up a pack, and there was a swarm of people digging through this enormous bucket filled with shaped rubber bands! As I made my way through the crowd to get a chance to pick through them, I hear a lady scream, "THERE THEY ARE", pointing to the bucket!! So funny! So, I got Mason a couple of packs and it made his day!

I was taking some pictures of a swampy area on my way to work and then played with editing using some color:






I love how they turned out!

Mason has a party to go to this weekend for one of his friends, so I made a card:



Now, first of all, there is a story behind the "Brojangles", that was really funny, so I thought that I would incorporate that into his card. Second of all, it's really hard to make a card for boys (or men, even). I guess I never feel I'm going to get it 'manly' enough! But this was a simple card with boy colors. Hope he likes it!!

Well, that's all for now, I'm just going to enjoy the rest of the night, maybe put in one of my horror movies and relax! Keeping my fingers crossed that the flea market rocks on Sunday!!