I was at a pep rally today, also attended by two high school bands.
I love the drumlines of marching bands. Maybe it’s silly, but it reminds me of fresh fall air, football, and the company of friends all crammed into the bleachers together.
The two drumlines today were good, but the music the bands played was quite different from old FHS. The songs could’ve been pulled straight from tonight’s playlists on the local Hip Hop stations. There were songs by Sean Paul, Beyonce, Ginuwine, and Bone Crusher to name a few.
On one hand, the lyrics to some of the songs weren’t what I imagine a school might want to endorse. Especially the one about getting “in your jeans.” At a pep rally last year, the crowd ate up a particularly nasty song by the now late Camoflauge (sic).
But, that’s part of the key. Today, the crowd was completely into it. The band members were far from geeky. These kids were cool. They were having fun. And in the end, they’re still learning to play instruments and getting the benefit of music education. They’d be listening to these songs anyway. And I imagine if these schools played the old classics like my high school did, a lot of the students wouldn’t want to participate.
I had a bit of an adrenaline rush at work today.
A photographer and I were heading to a story when suddenly, two police cars swerved around a corner and into the road in front of us. We stopped because they were headed our way and veering a bit into our lane of traffic. Then they screeched to a stop in front of a barber shop, and the officers got out, squatted a bit, and drew their weapons.
“Jim, we have got to get this!” I yelled. “Something’s going down!” I expected him to jump out of the car and grab the camera in the back. But instead, he put it in reverse, and yelled, “He’s got a gun!”
My eyes were glued to the cops, and I was thinking, “Well, of course the officers have guns.” I was still saying we needed to get out and roll on it, but Jim slammed on the gas and we started speeding backward up the middle of the street. Thankfully, no cars were behind us. Jim yelled, “There’s no way we’re going to be hostages in this. I’m getting you out of here.”
What I hadn’t seen, was a civilian standing in the street, holding a gun, sweeping the weapon back and forth in our general direction. Jim had started backing the car up when the armed man began walking our way.
Later, when Jim told me this, it all made sense. We even had a laugh. The whole time I’d been wondering why he wouldn’t get out and shoot the incident, he’d been wondering why in the heck I wanted to get out of the car while a man was holding a gun on the street corner. I’m sure glad Jim was paying attention.
As it turned out, the guy with the gun wasn’t the bad guy. Police say someone had just robbed two people outside the barber shop. My guess is, and it’s only a guess, the guy we saw with the gun was going after the robber. The robbery suspect was caught after a chase down the street (and with the help of the K-9 team). The guy we saw with the gun was later talking to police, cooperating, so they obviously didn’t think he was a threat.
I suppose it ended well – the suspect in custody and no one hurt. It sure made for a crazy afternoon though. Jim teased me the rest of the day about being oblivious to the real action and not seeing the guy with the gun. I have a feeling I’ve not heard the last of it.
What a great movie. Lee and I went to see Spellbound tonight. It’s a documentary about the National Spelling Bee. Anna recommended it months ago, and she was right – it’s great.
The movie introduces you to several of the spelling bee contestants. You see how they live, how they practice, the kind of pressure they are under. It’s amazing to see how different the contestants all are. One kid is from a farm in Texas. Her dad doesn’t speak English. Another is from an upscale area of California, and his dad hires tutors who work with the boy for hours every day on nothing but spelling while the grandfather hires 1,000 people to pray constantly during the competition.
The movie was at the same time funny and sad. It was shot very well and edited brilliantly. The girl I was really cheering for didn’t win, but that’s what makes it a real-life documentary. Your favorite doesn’t always win. But the girl who won was still nice, so it works out.
In the movie, people kept talking about how spelling was such an American tradition. Really? I wasn’t aware. I remember spelling bees from elementary and middle school, but I don’t ever remember them being big deals. I think the last spelling bee I was ever in, I was eliminated in one of the first rounds. The word was “cautious.” For some reason, the word “cat” popped into my mind, and I spelled it C-A-T-I-O-U-S. Stupid spelling bee.
I first knew something was wrong when I leaned down to put food in Luca’s bowl this morning. There was still food in it. My cat is a fat cat, not the kind to leave food in her bowl.
Then I realized I hadn’t seen her all morning. Luca usually wraps her substantial body around my ankles, begging for food as I walk around the house getting ready for work.
But, she’s a cat. Sometimes, she’s aloof. I started looking around the house, calling her name, shaking a container of treats. I called Lee at work. He hadn’t seen her this morning either. I turned on the electric can opener. She didn’t come running. She must’ve escaped.
Lee decided to come home to help me look for her. Luca doesn’t ever go outside. She doesn’t know about busses and cars, and the only dog she knows is one she can beat in a fight. I imagined all the horrible things that could happen to her.
As I waited, I went on the front porch and called her name, shaking the treats. She’s not the kind of cat to come when called, unless food is involved. I went back inside.
But when I shut the door, I heard her cry. I started calling for her again. Was she stuck in a closet? She cried again, and I opened the front door. There she sat, on the front porch, looking up at me. She pranced inside. I grabbed her, hugged her, called Lee’s cell to tell him she was found, then gave her a treat. She seemed unharmed and happy.
I think she must’ve gotten out last night when I came in around 8:30. Sometimes she sits near the door, and can slip out quickly when you come inside. Who knows what she did all night or where she was. At least she’s back home.
Crazy kitty.
It’s project time again.
Every now and then, Lee and I get it in our crazy minds that we want to do something to spruce up our house. It always costs twice as much and takes three times longer than we expected, but we do it anyway.
A few weeks ago, we bought a new slipcover for our dog-drooled-on, cat-scratched-up sofa, and this weekend Alva sewed nifty pillows for it. We also recovered a chair and a junk store find now looks like a Pottery Barn purchase. While fabric costs more than I thought it would, the results were worth it.
Next – the front of the house. Mainly, we just need to clean. Not sweep and such, but scrub with bleach. Some painting may be in order. We want to sod the yard, too. Actually, we want to pay someone else to sod the yard. I know it’s probably not difficult, but we tried to plant something in our front yard before with poor results. Stupid mondo grass.
I used to think older houses had charm. But now, vinyl and astroturf seem the way to go. Okay, not really. I love our house.
I love a good bargain, and sometimes I like to brag if I get something at a great price.
But I never thought it was “cool.”
Today is the first day of school here. Kids are wearing their new clothes, new sneaks. I know some people like to keep the tags on their new hats, but today I saw a guy with the tag still on his shoes. They were bright white shoes, and the big, orange, square tag stood out. So did the words, “Sale! $24.99”
I mean, I like telling friends about my bargain – but do I want the world to know I’m cheap? And this kid is in middle school, where I wouldn’t think frugal = cool. Goes to show how much I know.
Lee and I have been experimenting with new food dishes the past week or two. It has been fun. We’d grown tired of eating the exact same things over and over.
Lee set up my computer with a recipe database, and then we both surfed the web finding recipes that sounded good and putting them in the system. Some have been excellent, some have been okay, and others were gross. But it has made cooking (and even shopping for crazy ingredients) more of an adventure. Tonight, we’re grilling Tilapia. Yum.
The pork chops pictured above go into the so-so category, but we found a chicken recipe that’s quick and easy that we like. I just didn’t have a picture of it.
Here’s the recipe:
Ingredients
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
4 ounces Honey Dijon salad dressing
1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
1/4 cup bacon bits
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Cooking Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Place chicken in a 9×13 inch baking dish. Slather mustard evenly over chicken, then pour teriyaki sauce evenly over all. Sprinkle with bacon bits, then cover with cheese.
3. Bake at 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) for 30 minutes.
Tasty!
Today, Lee and I went to Athens to help Erin move to a new apartment. We drove round trip in one day, about 8-9 hours total.
The sky was so wonderful. Not because it was sunny and blue all day, but because of how varied and changing it was.
In the beginning, the upper sky was a brilliant blue with wisps of cirrus clouds, fading to a very light, nearly white blue in the lower portion of the sky. I thought there was a lot of whitish-gray smoke on the horizon and was preparing to call work on my cell phone to report a wildfire (wildfires were common last year), when I realized they were just very low, fast moving clouds. They looked strange, hovering so low, because it wasn’t foggy.
Soon, the low clouds dissapated. When we got closer to Athens, the sky grew steely gray and rain began to fall. This part of the trip wasn’t so pretty. We arrived, thankfully the rain stopped, and we moved, ate, moved some more, then began to retrace our route home.
The afternoon had grown sunny again, and this time, the sky was electric blue with huge puffy white clouds. The tops were so fluffy, I could imagine what it would feel like to jump into them. I know I’d just fall through, but it sure looked like you’d just bounce and land softly in a warm cushion of white.
About an hour into the return trip, we saw a rainbow. It stretched about a third of the way up, then faded into the blue sky. It was beautiful. It always looked so close, like we were just about to drive under it, then around the corner it was still there, just off in the distance, almost within reach.
A few moments later, another small piece of rainbow arched into the sky. It didn’t touch earth, just hung suspended between two towering clouds.
The trip was punctuated with periods of brief rain, then periods of sun. Another hour, and we saw a third rainbow. Then a fourth. By that time, I caught myself constantly looking at the skies, in my rear-view mirror, side-view mirrors, looking for another brush of color. The rainbows seemed to be everywhere.
As the sun began to set, we saw no more rainbows. But the light show wasn’t over. Behind us, the sun burned a hot orange spot into a cloud, and splashes of orange and pink were reflected on other massive clouds around us.
One day, when I have children, I wouldn’t be tototally against having a TV and VCR in the car to keep them entertained on long trips. But if mother nature provides another show like the one I witnessed today, the TV gets turned off. They may whine, but they’ll get over it. Some things in life are just too good to miss.
I realized I was skipping. At work.
Today, my company held a quarterly meeting, but decided to make it a more festive affair. As I drove into the parking lot this morning, I saw them setting up. Lots of tables and chairs, a big barbecue grill, and two big inflatable game-areas – you know, like the moonwalk kids play in. One was a soccer thing, another had a basketball thing.
After being out all morning, I got back into the office just in time to change into comfortable clothes and join my friends in the parking lot. That’s when I skipped. I felt like a kid headed to the playground again. We played the games, Lee joined me and we ate hamburgers and hotdogs, and roasted in the sun. It was too much fun to be work. I want to be a kid when I grow up.
I feel a bit like a failed mother, but our options were getting slim. We began medicating Millie today.
I love her dearly, but last week I said to Lee, “I don’t care if it’s her or me, but somebody’s got to get a happy pill.” He has often said the same thing. Millie has a long history of separation anxiety. Sometimes, she seems better, then she’ll relapse and be so upset again. Medicating her is partly for us, because she is a lot to handle when she gets like that. But it’s also for her. I feel horrible when I have to drag her out of some hiding place and into her crate when I go to work, as she shakes and whines. But we can’t leave her out of her crate, because her separation anxiety sends her into a rampage of destruction.
I think at least trying the medication was the right choice, but I feel like it means I’m not a good parent. Maybe a better parent could’ve worked with her more and not resorted to pills.
Lee and I also worry about her losing her personality. I don’t want her to lose her spunk, just her spells of insanity. Lee called me this afternoon after he’d given her the first pill, concerned. He said she immediately fell onto the floor into a dead sleep, and twitched. This isn’t very uncommon. She has two speeds – asleep or running – and she does both with gusto. Still, he was constantly checking to make sure she was okay.
Tonight she seems like normal-dog Millie, which is a good thing. I guess we’ll see tomorrow when it’s time to go to work whether or not the pills are having any effect. If not, I’ll start taking them for her.
