Silly Boy Fun

Spring Fever, part III:

This time, as experienced by the males in my household, plus my brother visiting for the weekend...

Family sophomoric humor has just been added to The Thanks Ranks.

Peach Mango Iced Tea

Spring fever, continued... Kirsten, don't hate me because it's 80 degrees today with sunshine. ;-)

Strolling with a friend down Main Street in historic Stone Mountain Village yesterday, we came across this sign in the window that we couldn't resist.

"Refreshing Peach Mango Iced Tea. Come in and try some!"

We did, and after paying a mere $5.33 for two large cups, we delighted in this nectar-of-the-gods tea that is still on my mind almost 24 hours later.

I'm trying to resist making the drive and getting some more today. I think I've found my Summer Love 2008 beverage already in spring.

Continental Coffee & Sweets, if it's got high fructose corn syrup in it, I don't want to know. You've just been added to The Thanks Ranks.

Spring Fever

I've got it. Bad.

Love, love this weather we've been enjoying in Atlanta. Perfect day for celebrating Earth Day.

Green goodness has just been added to The Thanks Ranks.

Literate Friends

Having great friends is a wonderful thing. Having great friends who also read is the best thing ever. 'Cause they share things with me that I might have otherwise missed, and these are often things that speak to or resonate with me, and then I'm all the better for it.

I have a number of terrific friends who are readers (guess as they say, "like attracts like"), but today I'm thinking of one in particular who dropped some knowledge on me this past Sunday that I'm still chewing on, and I love that.

For keeping me real and simple, Traci, you've just been added to The Thanks Ranks.

Happy 14th B-day, Ryan! Where did my baby godson go?!

Bluehost and Hubby-Honey

Hello! Great to be back. Are you even still out there visiting? I hope so.

The Thanks Ranks blog and my corresponding email have been down for the last week due to a really lousy merger and acquisition of my old host by a new, very unhelpful one. We had to take matters into our own hands and go elsewhere.

So to my new friends at Bluehost and my tech-savvy Hubby-Honey who wears an 'S' on his chest under his pocket protector ;-), for getting me “live” again, you've just been added to The Thanks Ranks.

The Opening Scene of The Lion King Musical

The Lion King roared into Atlanta last night, and Hubby-Honey and I got a chance to see it.

I first saw it on Broadway almost 5 years ago, but I was pregnant with Big Boy and more concerned with if I could hang on and wait 'til intermission before disturbing folks with my needing to make a run for the restroom. So it was nice to experience it this time around without such distractions.

Both times, I got so choked up at the opening scene. It's just... beautiful.

If you've never seen The Lion King and you get the chance, go. This gives you a sense of what it's like, but really, you have to be sitting in the midst of it to really get the full affect.

Getting a second chance to take in sheer pageantry and artistic brilliance has just been added to The Thanks Ranks.

Lessons from a Four-Dollar Face Lift

I rolled the dice, and got snake-eyes.

Actually, I got one eyebrow that's thinner than the other and an expression that looks half angry and half quizzical.

My lessons are:

1) A $4 eyebrow threading at a salon is NOT a better deal than a $15 eyebrow threading at a spa if you come out looking like the Joker.

2) You get what you pay for.

3) Wearing a paper bag over my head with the eye and mouth holes cut out is not going to work, because it scares my children.

4) It's only hair and it will (hopefully), over time, grow back.

Justifiction for returning the spa for the sake of my pleasant appearance has just been added to The Thanks Ranks.

Hubby-Honey's Home!

After being in New York since Thursday, helping his mom get wired with her new computer and easing her onto the information superhighway with the rest of us, Hubby-Honey has returned home safely.

Commence to Big Boy, Baby Girl and me doing a happy dance. Single moms: my hat's off to you.

Being reunited has just been added to The Thanks Ranks.

Rock Monster

This is courtesy of Big Boy and Baby Girl. Fair warning: it is going to play incessantly in your head after you hear it.

Rockin' out with my kids has just been added to The Thanks Ranks.

The Stone Mountain Ministerial Association

My kind of Easter service. No fancy 'do or duds required--just a warm family huddle. And the kids were occupied by the magnificence of nature ("Bye-bye moon! Hello sun!"). All followed by sweet slumber and a relaxed afternoon.

For a new Easter family tradition, Stone Mountain sunrise service, you've just been added to The Thanks Ranks.

Happy Easter, everyone!

Ms. Rena Belle

Today my friend Theresa buried her 80 year-old mother.

The service was a celebration of life. In the midst of her grieving process, Theresa gave the family's acknowledgements in her own unique, "Big Love" manner.

Though people had attended to show support for her and her family, Theresa, in her typical fashion, ended up giving us all a gift to go home with, and I'll share it with you.

It was her admonishment to make the most of the time you have, right NOW, to:

* let those you love know you love them,
* address grievances and grow past them,
*call, write, visit, thank those you've been meaning to...

so that when the time comes (and you don't know when), and you or they are the "guest of honor" at such a ceremony, you can have the peace that comes in saying goodbye with a conscious that knows all that was left to said and do was said and done--with love.

And hence, you will be able to experience joy in the midst of grief, and celebrate in the midst of mourning, because you made the most of the moments together you had.

Perhaps no easy undertaking, but well worth it in the end, don't you think?

I do, judging by the way Theresa was able to stand at that podium with a smile and share these words with us. There was no denying that although she will miss her mother, she will be able to go forward knowing in her spirit that the time they were blessed with was time well spent. She has the loving memories to prove it.

For the reminder to give folks their flowers while they're still here, Ms. Rena Belle and Theresa, you've just been added to The Thanks Ranks.

First Day of Spring

Next to the first day of summer, to me, it's the most wonderful time of the year, and it's just been added to The Thanks Ranks.

House Spared

My beloved Atlanta was hit pretty hard this weekend with unfathomable tornado activity.

Friday night into Saturday morning made for a scary, stormy time that had even the best of us "brave adults" a little rattled.

Then to have daylight reveal the damage, and to spend a good part of Saturday afternoon playing "dodge the tornado activity in metro Atlanta--Round II" after we'd tried to get out and get on with our day--ducking for cover in the mall, at my folks' house, anywhere with lower level covering--it was all a little much.

But what really, really, did it was for my family to drive around familiar neighborhoods of those we love today and see trees and roots where they didn't belong, and roofs and walls missing from where they ought to be. It broke my heart.

I ache and pray for those who were affected. I am humbled and grateful beyond words that our house was spared. Can't even give a cutesy, "Just been added..." ending this time around, but my gratitude is deep.

Organic Valley Milk on Sale at Publix

Adjusting to our new status with Hubby-Honey not working in the traditional sense to which we were accustomed, I have to be a little more selective with what I purchase on my "Whole Foods runs".

This morning, it was Publix Super Markets proving itself worthy of my purchasing dollars, with Organic Valley milk half-gallons on sale for $3.29. Big Boy and Baby Girl want their "special" and "choco" milk--they don't care where it comes from, so long as it's in the fridge when they're asking for it.

Big Boy had his "Trike-A-Thon" at school today. "Milk makes me strong and healthy!" he exclaimed at breakfast this morning. The secret to his pedaling success, I guess? Milk in place, meltdown avoided, a triumphant trike-a-thon tale this afternoon.

Organics at a bargain and biking at its best has just been added to The Thanks Ranks.

Human Who?

Human 'being' or human 'doing'?

Given this inspired word, I do believe I've been a human 'doing'. I want to change that, moving into my 'being'ness.

This realization, and the joyful shift it has brought about has just been added to The Thanks Ranks.

More to come in this space. Getting back to basics. It feels good.

Happy Birthday, Little Mai!

Spring Forward!

Daylight Savings Time has just been added to The Thanks Ranks!

Recharged!

I just took a look at my blog for the first time in a long time. Read through some old posts--things I never looked at after writing them. In reading them now, I can't believe how quickly a year plus has flown by, and yet I note just how much has occurred in such a seemingly short time.

I'm a little saddened now by what I could be missing out on this time next year, given all the gaps that have appeared in The Thanks Ranks in recent months. What to do? Start again--today. And then start again--tomorrow. And then start again--the day after that...

It's not so much what I was writing about (one day it was dishware, for crying out loud!), it was the fact that I was writing. It's time to reclaim that again, for myself.

'Recommitment' has just been added to The Thanks Ranks. I don't care if it's not a real word. It works for me and I'll use it. :-)

B-day Credit Where Credit is Due

Ma B,

If it weren't for you, I'd have no Hubby-Honey to celebrate. That was a fine thing you did, birthing him 40 years ago today. I appreciate it. You've just been added to The Thanks Ranks.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUBBY-HONEY!!

And again, to all of you who recently or way back when decided to join the movement to help put him in pinstripes, I thank you deeply. A round of Thanks Ranks for everyone!!

Just Do It

Those whose historical hard-fought efforts make it possible for me to cast my vote and make my voice heard today have just been added to The Thanks Ranks.

And if you don't know, now you'll know...

Technical Difficulties

"At this time there are no web audio servers available. We will try again shortly."

This is what the blogtalkradio.com pleasant-voiced recorded lady has been repeating to me ever since I first attempted to dial in and start my weekly 3:00 p.m. Thursday podcast show, "Thanks Ranks Radio".

In all my time doing the show--and it soon will be one year--this has never happened. Freezed out from airing? Huh?

It's just a testament to how much blogtalkradio.com has grown. Good for them, though today, too bad for me.

There was a time, maybe two years ago, where I would have been having an anal, it's not perfect, freak-out moment over this. Now, ever more increasingly, I just go with the flow.

The reminder that sometimes, whatever will be, will be, has just been added to The Thanks Ranks.