Happy Halloween!

How Much? No Way!

I can be a nerd. I am a number cruncher. I do the whole online banking thing as well as keeping track of our monthly spending on a spreadsheet. See I told you I was a nerdy number cruncher. I had not looked at the spending category totals until yesterday. I was in shock to see we had shelled out $1450 at the grocery store so far in October! Take into consideration we do eat in a lot. I've mentioned our son and his 3 turkey and cheese sandwiches a day for lunch. Our total dining out which included lunches for my husband, coffee for me, etc. was $100. That figure was low. You'd think after spending so much on food, our fridge would be full and our pantry shelves overflowing but that's not the case. It would appear I don't buy sale items and shop at the gourmet grocery stores. Again not the case. It is depressing how food prices have skyrocketed.

Good News

As I already posted on this Twitter, Mom got good news at her doctor's appointment. She went in for her first evaluation after undergoing 2 types of radiation treatment as well as chemo. The tumor in her lung has shrunk 50%. She gets a few weeks break then will start back with radiation and chemo later in November. Hopefully the tumor will continue to shrink or at least remain the same and the chemo will keep the cancer from spreading to other parts of her body. It is encouraging news.

To the other side of the family, my paternal grandmother turns 100 tomorrow. We went out to eat last night in celebration at one of her favorite restaurants. Tuesday I'll head over to the assisted living and party it up (at 2:30 pm) with the old people.

Why You Need Friends

Our game yesterday was Black Saturday. Everyone was encouraged (threatened with bodily harm) to wear black. I made cookies in honor of the day. I have to say tailgating did not start off too pleasant for me. I read the forecast, listened to my husband and therefore was not dressed warm enough. It made me mad. ASU is in the mountains. I know the weather is in constant change. I have all the proper warm clothes - unfortunately they were sitting in my closet 2 hours away. I sent a distress text to my friend BlueRidgeBlog who lives in the area. She came to my rescue with a jacket and hand warmers. I was able to enjoy the rest of the day. Being weird mountain weather, I think it was colder early on than during the game. Next time I'm going to bring all my winter outerwear to point I could sweat if I wanted to.
Final note: If you have to sit out in the cold then your team better win. ASU 26 Furman 14.

Would A Candidate Have A Chance If ...

he or she ran only a positive campaign? This questions stems from a conversation I had with my daughter. She announced that she didn't feel like voting for anyone because of all the negativity. Granted she is only 11 and was talking about Kids Voting. Still I'm sure her thoughts are shared by registered voters as well. Could a positive only campaign be successful?

Voting - Early or Election Day?

Some of you have mentioned voting early. I did so last presidential election. It turned out my wait was much longer than my husband's who voted on Election Day. I still went to the polls that day to take my children for Kids Voting. The Board of Elections answered the demand for early voting and have opened more places and extended hours to shorten the wait. This year I think I will go on November 4. Schools are closed and my daughter wants to join me. I confess I need more time. I know who I am voting for President, Governor, Senator, Congress etc. but I should study the other offices and issues on the ballot.

What about you - have you voted or will vote early or will wait until November 4?

Realizing You Need To Turn It Off

A typical weeknight at our house: I'm on my laptop. Husband is on his. Our son is using the desktop in the next room. Daughter is involved in some craft project that overflows into every room.
One evening when my husband and I had a rare moment to have a private conversation, I told him something had to give. We weren't getting anything done around the house. We weren't reading (except on the computer) like we use to. Our son was doing homework while IM'ing and surfing the Internet. Yes, Husband and I were using the computer for work (well some of the time) however we weren't setting a good example for the kids. The whole thing had taken its toll. Yeah you can justify your usage in many cases but we finally looked at the overall picture - not good. Ironically the more time I spent on the computer the less I blogged. I guess if you aren't doing a whole heck of a lot, there isn't much material to write about.
We set up some rules. I wasn't going to be on the computer from the time my daughter got home from school until 10pm. Husband's limits were when he got in until 10pm as well. Mornings before the kids got up were fine as well as when they weren't home. Our son got 45 minutes of computer time a night. Our daughter isn't into the whole computer world yet except for specific homework assignments.
So far so good. Each evening I've read the newspaper thoroughly. I've read magazines I had set aside. I baked. I did housework. I was more organized about cooking dinner. Husband is working on our bathroom renovation.
I'm not going to say exceptions won't be made. Knowing us, there's a good chance we will fall back into bad habits. I hope not now that I realize how deeply I've gotten sucked into having the computer screen constantly flashing before my eyes.
What you about you? Do you feel you spend too much time on the computer? If so, has it affected areas of your life?

My View of a Recent School Field Trip

First of all, my camera has been repaired and I picked it up today. It is gloomy but here are pictures of our nearby reservoir.

Let me tell you about yesterday. I chaperoned a school trip to Discovery Place in Charlotte. My daughter and I had to be at school at 6:40 a.m. I estimate there were 450 students and 7 or 8 tour buses. The trip took around 2 hours. I listened to appropriate podcasts like the Amateur Traveler, inappropriate ones like Russell Brand and dozed. I hope I didn't snore. I know I didn't drool.

When we arrived at Discovery Place, in addition to our 45o kids, there were many other schools. The scene to get in the place looked like a mob going to a concert. The whole entering and getting wristbands probably took 30 minutes. I was in charge of 6 girls who were (thank goodness) well behaved. They loved the interactive exhibits. Unfortunately they could not see everything because we were rushed to see an IMAX movie on ancient Greece. The movie was a process because it was sold out. After the thrill of the special effects wore off, I think the movie bored them. Sitting up so high coupled with the IMAX experience made me quite dizzy. Afterwards we rushed through our brown bag lunch to get to the Pompeii exhibit. Again even despite having tickets, it was a line to get in. The exhibit was very interesting to me but it again didn't hold their attention well except for the statue of the naked man. The students really wanted more time at the interactive area but not on the schedule. We rushed to get back on the bus. Our whole time inside Discovery Place: about 2 1/2 hours. Again I listened and dozed on the way back to school.

Was it worth the time, expense ($40 per student and chaperone) and chaos? No. I did enjoy spending time with my daughter getting to know her friends and teachers. I'm sure the children enjoyed a break from their regular school day. From a "green prospective", I cringe at all the fuel used for those tour buses. It doesn't seem responsible. I think in these times $40 is a hardship for some families. I wondered what other enrichment activity either local or in-house could have been planned for that amount of money or less.

What I'm Listening To

I like making mixed cd's for just driving around. I rarely label them so it's always a mysterious what cd it is and the songs on it. I realize my taste in music have changed a lot in the past years. I should be mellowing out but instead I listen to what my daughter calls "old school funk, rap, and hip hop" along with a heavy dose of the Chili Peppers. Of course, many of these songs have very adult lyrics so I usually jam when I'm alone in the car. Here are a few songs I can remember that I put on my latest cd:

• Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker) - Parliament
• Mama Said Knock You Out - LL Cool J
• Wild Thing - Tone Loc
• 8th Wonder - Sugarhill Gang
• Let It Whip - Dazz Band
• Funky Cold Medina - Tone Loc
• Fire - Ohio Players
• Apache (Jump On It) - Sugarhill Gang
• Give It To Me Baby - Rick James
• Baby Got Back - Sir Mix A Lot
• The Humpty Dance - Digital Underground
• Burn Rubber On Me - Gap Band
  

Ironically I don't remember any of these songs when they were new. I've heard them through friends, dancing at clubs and wedding, a few are even played during timeouts at ball games.

Many years ago I was into British pop. Later I was into college indie such as early REM. I can't remember the other bands. They must not have done well. Also, I was a huge U2. I would play U2 again and again in my car when I had a long commute to work. Now it's mostly the radio when the kids are in the car otherwise my mixed cd's and RHCP when I'm alone.

What are you listening to? (Good news I should get my camera back Friday!)

Where All My Money Goes

• 3 deli sliced Dietz & Watson turkey sandwiches with bacon, lettuce and mayo on very large sandwich buns I make myself
• 1 sandwich size ziploc bag of pretzels
• 1 sandwich size ziploc bag of potato chips
• 6 cookies (this week I made sugar cookies with chocolate chips)
• 1 apple
• 1 bottled water

That's what my son took to lunch today and it's pretty typical. My daughter takes her lunch about 3 times a week but only 1 small sandwich sans bacon, 1 salty snack, 2 cookies, 1 fruit and her refillable Sig bottle of water.

The four of us rarely eat out together. Usually on the weekend my husband or I will have one child and eat lunch out. My son has friends who drive and he will do his own thing sometimes, too. I can't say we all sit down at night around the table at night. My son has football practice after school. My daughter has activities once or twice a week - still there is food prepared and on hand.

I am a nerd. I keep a master grocery list on an excel spreadsheet along with a listing of meal ideas. No lie Sunday I spent over an hour making up the list and planning the dinners. I went to the store, spent my usual $200 or so and declared I was not going back again. If we are out then we will make do. I'd had gotten lazy and started buying a lot of pre-made items and individually packaged snacks. I'm trying to make more from scratch and buy in bulk. Do I enjoy all this work? A big NO! I guess I am getting depressed at the economic situation and all the rising prices. Our retirement and college funds have taken a huge hit. A lot of things I don't have control of but the groceries I do - to an extent.

If You Are Happy and You Know It

How do you act when you are happy compared to when you are sad or depressed? The signs can vary greatly from individual and can even change during one's lifetime.

• Many people eat when feeling down. Not me. If you see me eating, I'm happy as a clam. In recent times, I've started baking when I'm up. During my rough spells, I have no appetite and have lost weight.
  

• What about your energy level? When I was younger and upset, I would be very restless. I wanted to be on the move, out in public. I didn't sleep well. Now in the same scenario, my energy is zapped. Doing simple tasks is overwhelming and I'm tired. I still don't sleep well at night but could doze on and off all day if I had the chance.

I'll add I'm feeling fine right now. I did go through a rough patch at the end of the summer after Mom was diagnosed with cancer. I felt guilty about my inability to get a grip resulting in my kids being cheated out of the last few weeks of summer fun. I'm past that now. Life has ups and downs. Happiness is not guaranteed.

How do you differ in the good and bad times?

By the way, I had to send my camera off for repair. Fortunately it's under warranty - just no pictures for a while.

An Amazing Family Story

My fellow Mountaineers are familiar with Pierre Banks and his story. Aside from being an outstanding ASU linebacker - part of 3 back to back national championship teams, he is one of 17 children ranging from ages 18 to 51. Two of the children went into the military, 1 is still in high school, and the rest all went to college. Pierre got his bachelor's degree in 3 years and now is working on his masters. To read more click here.

Pretty amazing.

I Didn't Get Any ...

sleep. At times it seems like sleep is the most important issue in my life. I just don't function well if I haven't had a good night's worth of shuteye. Honestly the day after not getting any (ha, ha) is bad. I've had to learn work. Last night was no exception. I blame myself. I took some OTC pills. I have a history of OTC sleeping products and medicines such as Nyquil having the reverse effect on me. I had not tried Tylenol Simply Sleep and I guess I was optimistic. Will I ever learn? Probably not.

On to other things. It seems like posting frequency has dropped off considerably for many of you. I'm no exception. Can you attribute your decline to any one reason? Is it all the bad economic news, busy schedules? I can't pinpoint one factor. I have most of your blogs set up in my Google reader. I find myself lurking more than commenting. I don't plan to quit blogging but on the other hand I don't seem to have the creativity and enthusiasm I did in the early blogging days.

Getting back to lack of sleep or rather lack of. I'm trying to be proactive today. I've had coffee. Now I'm sipping on green tea then doing some exercising. I'll take those energy vitamins recommended by Katie and get on with my day. Have a good one.

Where I Spend A Lot of Saturdays

We went to the ASU vs Citadel game Saturday. The Mountaineers won! The official name of our stadium is Kidd Brewer but we call it The Rock. The mountain in the background is Howard's Knob.


Here is a view from our seats looking across at what was the visitor's side. Now that it have been renovated and expanded it's called the East Side. The 2nd level is new this season. Our marching band is known as The Band of Distinction. They are showing their "ASU".


We sit on what is now called the West Side. It is undergoing a 2 year expansion. I don't have any good pictures since I'm too lazy to walk over to the East side, look across and snap a few. These 2 architectural renderings (courtesy of goasu.com) show what the project will look like at completion:

Missing Piece of the Puzzle

While on digg I came across these old photos of U2 at the Red Rocks concert in June 1983. I saw the band 2 months prior. It was pouring rain and Bono was climbing all on the scaffolding. An awesome show. I wrote about him and that day in this earlier post. I didn't go into the details. Honestly I don't know them all myself. My friend doled out alcohol in various bottles. I got stuck with a Seabreeze bottle - you know the stuff you put on your face. I could taste the wonderful skin toner but it didn't stop me. I remember the show. I recall a guy drove me from Chapel Hill back to Greensboro (about an hour away) to my parents' house. I couldn't remember who the guy was though I was sure I knew him from somewhere. 6 years later I ran into Richard (a friend from high school) at Ziggy's (RIP) in Winston. He said he hadn't seen me since he drove me back from Chapel Hill. Mystery solved.
Yeah, I was stupid. Fortunately for the most part, it was a different time compared to today.

I'm Okay. Are You?

I appreciate your nice comments, emails, texts etc concerning my last blog post. I'm fine. Life goes on. Now if only Grey's Anatomy was on tonight, I'd be much better.
How are you doing?

Times Are A Changing

I had mixed feelings last night. My son said (actually in a nice way) he doesn't want to go to the big homecoming game at App Saturday. He and his friends have plans. In fact, he will miss the next 3 games due to activities, a dance, and his own football game. I understand. I'm glad he's happy but it will mean my husband and I leave him behind if we are comfortable with the arrangements made or stay home and not attend the App game(s). I feel both sad and resentful.
I'm sad thinking the kids are growing up. Going up to the App games was something we all had fun doing for a short time - just a few seasons. This year we even bought 2 extra seasons tickets so the kids could bring friends. Before we starting doing that, we spent 7 years - spring and fall involved in our son's soccer instead of doing activities as a whole family. It took its toll especially when he reached the level of regional travel and tournaments. We finally made him stop. He was mad at first but later said it was the right decision. I was hoping to squeeze in a few more fun things in the next years. We looked at these games as a chance to do so.
I'm resentful because now that they are older I am ready to do things I want to do. By golly, all 4 of us at these games having fun is what I want! I'm not as patient as I use to be and I guess I'm getting more selfish. I love my kids but for almost 16 years a part of me has been on hold. I realize being a parent means responsibility and putting others first. I'll add a 3rd feeling to sad and resentful ... guilt ... for being resentful. In such a short time, none of this will be an issue.