"He smiled at me and then the music started playing..."

Lately I feel like my blog has become a series of lists and/or how I spent my summer vacation type posts. I haven't actually had a summer vacation and in fact it isn't even technically summer yet but you know what I mean. Lists and recaps. Which is fine but I like to have a little bit of substance on occasion here too. Now, if you're thinking I've said all of this as a way of introducing a post of substance think again. I've been out of town and we all know how that goes. I need to regroup today... laundry, groceries and I may even have a date with my vacuum although it's possible I'll stand him up.

Do you find that sometimes you need to just dive in to a post and start writing to get some of the randomness off the top of your head so you can really think? That's how I'm feeling today so whoohoo! Lucky you!

First things first-happy anniversary to us! Today we are celebrating 27 years of marital bliss. And by celebrating I mean hubs will be spending all day and all night on a flight home from India and I will be at home in NJ doing all the fun things I mentioned above...laundry, grocery shopping, vacuuming. We know how to live it up, don't we?

Hubs posted this picture on my facebook page this morning. Yes we are reduced to communicating via facebook sometimes but its fun and allows for a certain amount of creativity don't you think? Sorry for the poor quality but if you knew how long it took me to get that picture off of facebook and on to my computer you would be surprised there is a picture here at all. I don't know if you can tell but there are literally thousands of flowers in that vase. All for me. Well, technically the picture is for me and the flowers are for whoever but the wishes hubs and friends are sending are just for me.

I suppose I could have written a post of substance regarding married life. I think I'll just say that sometimes its hard and sometimes its wonderful and sometimes its just eh. I mean that in the nicest way of course. Year one, year twelve, year twenty seven....whatever the number they are each one filled with ups and downs, highs and lows, happy and sad, hurt and forgiveness, joy and contentment. They are also filled with the mundane. The day to day living that involves bills and kids and car repairs and did you call the plumber and what do you want to do about Christmas and you have a dental appointment on Friday and love you, good luck in your meeting today and on and on it goes....Do you want to know what the secret to a long marriage is?

Staying married. Really, sometimes it is as simple as that...plowing ahead and thru instead of backing out. If you are divorced please don't take offense. I know everyone has their own circumstances and situations to deal with but in our case this is what has worked. Shortly before I got married my mother gave me some advice. She probably gave me a lot of advice but this particular bit I chose to follow. She said this-there will be days when you will wake up and look over at your husband and feel like you are the luckiest girl in the world. Remember that feeling because some days you will wake up and look over at your husband and wonder how in the world you ended up married to him. Just carry on, because eventually that other feeling will come back around again, maybe in an hour, maybe in a week, maybe longer, but it will come back around if you keep calm and carry on. Thanks mom!

Marriage is fluid...it grows and changes and bends to the point of almost breaking sometimes. The secret is to go with the flow and not get bogged down on the shore somewhere. Does that last line sound like something you'd hear on The Bachelorette? They love their metaphors don't they? Is anyone watching? I have one word for this season-pitiful. Here's another piece of advice regarding marriage-it is highly unlikely you are going to meet your mate on a reality television show.

Well I guess it turns out I did have something semi-substantive to say today. Who knew? And I haven't even recapped my weekend away. Oh well, tomorrow is another day in the blogosphere, right?

And what's an anniversary without music?

Medley sounds so much nicer than random

I can see why Linda needed a break from hosting the weekly random dozen meme every Wednesday. Coming up with a dozen random bits of nonsense on a weekly basis is hard even for me. Especially when its the middle of a hot and sticky summer and you're not venturing out and about too awfully much. We'll see what I can come up with today....

1. It's hot and sticky. Did I say that already?

2. The Bachelorette. Oh my. Actually I could probably come up with a dozen comments on Monday night's train wreck show alone but I'll leave it at this....the drama feels so staged and crazy its not that much fun anymore. Oh, and I need a trip to Tahiti.

3. In keeping with my television theme...Pillars of the Earth begins on Friday. It is a 6 part mini-series based on Ken Follett's book which was fantabulous. Pillars of the Earth tells the story of the building of a cathedral in Kingsbridge England in the mid-12th century. I read this book before I ever had an inkling I'd live in England so that was not why I loved it. And the book is historical fiction which is not my favorite genre but I picked it up because it had generated so much talk. In reading the back cover my first thought was...bo-ring. Oh but it was not boring. It was a great story and I can't wait to see how the mini series is done.

4. Hubs and I saw the movie Inception last weekend. Wow. In the words of Rick James it was super freaky. It's long and in the first few minutes lots of things are happening that you don't quite understand but it soon makes sense. My husband said it was a little too long and he had to think too much. However, last night as I was getting into bed he said, "So explain to me how the architect part worked." Yeah, it kinda stays with you.

5. Sunday morning a ginormous hawk landed on the rock wall in our back garden...

We see hawks around here a lot but never down in the yard. He did something strange too...he spread himself flat out on the rocks. I took a picture but the combination of my not wanting to startle him, my stellar photography skilz, his camouflage, and the awkward pose he was in make it a little bit hard to see.

A family of chipmunks live in this wall...maybe an entire clan, and they are neighbors to a family of groundhogs so I suspect the hawk was looking for breakfast. I was sure we were going to have a Marlin Perkins moment but all the little creatures stayed out of sight and he eventually flew off to greener pastures.

6. You can see the tips of a five foot high tomato plant in that picture that to date has produced zero tomatoes. We were thinking of chucking the plant because its kind of like Jack's beanstalk in that it keeps growing and growing and growing but still, NO tomatoes, not a single bloom. Then suddenly, on Saturday, a bloom appeared. And another. And they are at the tip top of the plant so it will need to be staked yet again but still, tomatoes...yay!

7. Sunday night I clicked on my blog and saw I had six comments to moderate. Five of those comments were on a post I wrote back in May just before my daughter graduated and they were made on the date the post was written. They were all from readers who regularly comment and I have absolutely no idea why they popped up now. One of the mysteries of the internet universe I guess.

8. We had dinner guests last night, two co-workers of my hubs but they are both also old friends of ours. I had not seen one of them since we both moved away from NJ the first time round, 1994. He and his wife have sons about the same age as our daughters and when we all lived here before we used to get together for dinners and fun with our toddlers. The toddlers are all college or (gulp) post college kids now. Seriously, time? Slow down!!!

9. I made a delicious peach cobbler for dessert last night. I haven't had peach cobbler in forever since its not technically on my list of approved foods which, by the way is heavy on salads and light on desserts. Is there anything better than warm cobbler with a scoop of cold melty ice cream on top? No. There is not.

10. Daughter2 is working for a babysitting service this summer. This week she has been caring for a 14 week old baby boy and his 2 year old sister. She arrives at their house about 6:45 am and babysits until about 3:30. She is exhausted. Yesterday she said she got home about 4 and napped until almost 7 PM. A little taste of the reality that smacks you in the face when you are raising young children. Well, all except for the three hour nap bit...I'm pretty sure I was never able to grab a three hour nap during the dinner hour ever when my kids were that age, could you?

11. I read a blog post yesterday that I thought was hilarious..if you have toddlers or have raised toddlers and you have ever in your life been to a fraternity party click here to read...'Why having a toddler like being at a frat party." There are some really funny comments too.

12.

Cutest dog ever, yes?

Hey, I needed an even dozen.

"Monday Monday...so good to me...

Monday Monday...it was all I hoped it would be." Remember that song by the Mamas and the Papas? Well it was a good one and it seems appropriate.

I'm spending a few days with my girlies and here's how I spent Monday....

shopping with daughter2

much conversation

more shopping with daughter2

more conversation

get in and out of car no less than ten times

it's hot

and steamy

but we don't care

we talk so much we forget it's 99 degrees

and 100% humidity

lunch at Paneras

more talking

so much talking the woman at the table beside us gives up working on her laptop to get a better listen...I fully expect her to weigh in on a conversation we are having about a boy

she doesn't...but I know she wants to

apparently we haven't had enough shopping so...

more shopping

it's still hot

and steamy

we need to cool off

pit stop at Rita's Italian ice...even the fat free and sugar free are yummy

back to daughter1's apartment

book flights for girlies to spend next weekend at home in NJ

yay!

their mema is celebrating her 80th birthday and needs all her girlies there

daughter1 arrives home from work

big smile because daughter1 has a job

leave daughter2 on the couch to recover from shopping

and all mom's questions

take daughter1 to supermarket to restock her frig

no need to fill her gas tank today since that was on Sunday's list

two girls=two cars=always on E when they know mom is coming to town

I don't mind

much

feel impressed at daughter1's cooking skills

and her interest in trying her hand in the kitchen

unload groceries

sweat

a lot

spend time watching boys swim in the pool outside the living room windows

discuss said boys

walk over to pool and say hello to boyfriends

as a mom of daughters and not sons I enjoy watching boys be boys

leave boys in pool and go to dinner with daughters

we never run out of things to talk about

hurry home so as not to miss a minute of The Bachelorette

do happy dance because we get to compare thoughts on all the drama/insanity/totally real true love in person instead of via text message like we normally do on Monday nights

Justin Justin Justin...tsk tsk tsk

Istanbul=pretty...hubs will be sorry he missed this one since he was in Istanbul just last week

to my knowledge he did not do any olive oil wrestling while there

we laugh

and cringe

a lot

we move on to bigger and better? drama

NJ Housewives

oh dear

boyfriends stayed in their own apts.

for some reason they did not want to join in the reality programme fest

I'm pretty sure sports are all the reality programing they can handle

I usually stay at my sister's house when I'm in town but I spent last night at daughter1's apt.

daughter1 has the day off on Tuesday

you know what that means

more shopping

and still more talking

Monday was a good day.

Tuesdays are good too.

Really, any day spent with daughters is a good day.