Gram's New Digs!

My mama moved from her little cottage by the river to a house by the cove back in early August. Still in Urbanna. I expected the transition to be more painful. Aside from a little hip pain/arthritis from the move itself, everything has been super smooth. We packed up the kids to go visit and help her settle in some more this past weekend. By settle in, I mean, hang pictures, rearrange furniture and make Hung do work.

The usual.

Gram's old place was a-dor-able. Very cute, very sweet, very very small. TINY. Basically two rooms with a kitchen and a bathroom and a small laundry room. It was great for her when it was just her, it was supertight as our family grew. Lately, though not consciously, I found us going less and less to visit because it was just tight. Sweet, pleasant, but tight.

The new place is HUGE in comparison. Two real bedrooms, each bigger than the one in the old place. 1 1/2 baths. A nice living room and proper dining room, a real kitchen and another "bonus" cute as a button room between the two bedrooms. For now it is set up as a reading/playroom. I never realized how much difference a little extra elbow room could make.

We really enjoyed our visit and I expect now that we all have bedspace and room to breathe we'll be visiting more often. Oh, and she still has a lovely little view of the cove that leads to the bay and we can walk to most everything. There's even room for Butter!

Perfection. She loves it. We do too. Feels like the best of both worlds!

How I Feel Today

Max circa 03/2007.

Quote of the Day

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Timeless.

2nd Grade!

Seriously, who did this? My girl is going to start the 2nd grade in about 10 days. She is so excited. All I can think is that I only have 11 years until I will be dropping her off for college! I know 11 years is a long time...but the first 7 have gone so fast. I think I might need a good cry. Just to practice.

And to think I thought she looked all grown up when she started kindergarten.

Nerves of Steel

I am not sure how to crop something from youtube but skip to 2:37 or so. How he maintains his composure is beyond me. Amazing.

I heart Juan ... even if he's in Nascar now and even if he is sometimes a little crazy. In case you don't know, Montoya is also the only driver to have competed in all three major events at Indianapolis, finishing fourth or better in each event. He finished 1st in the Indianapolis 500, 2nd in the Brickyard 400, and 4th in the US Grand Prix.

Wild WVA Weekend

My good friend has a summer house up in the mountains of WVA. Very beautiful place. Relaxing, serene, lovely.

We try to do a girls trip every summer. This year there were 7 of us. We decided to take a side trip to the WVA State Fair.

















This Goat loved me. He wanted to really LOVE me. Its ok to love your pets, just don't LOOOOVE your pets.

Next Up, Nazis

I couldn't say it any better so, Leonard Pitts: Nazi label devalues the Holocaust.

Though I will say, this is my favorite part:

"And, yes, you are even protected if you liken Obama or Bush to Hitler. Yet every time I hear that, it makes me cringe for what it says about our collective propensity for historical amnesia and our retarded capacity for reverence. Once upon a lifetime ago, 6 million people with DNA, names and faces were butchered with gleeful sadism and mechanistic dispatch. Six million people."

And, for the record, though I called former Pres. Bush (43) many things, I assure you Nazi and Communist were not among them.

Maybe its just the cynic in me, and yes I KNOW EVERYONE WHO DOESN'T LIKE OBAMA IS NOT A RACIST, but I am thinking many of these "protesters" (who couldn't form a coherent sentence explaining what it is that links Obama to Hitler, but proudly show signs of #44 defaced to look like Hitler) would rather call him something else that starts with a "N" but know they can't. Well at least not in public.

And Barney Frank gets on my last nerve sometimes, but here, at this moment, he said what needed to be said.

Communism

Well, that didn't take long. 6 months into office and the proverbial shit has really hit the fan. Is it just me or are all the people at these town hall protests strikingly similar to one another? Is the issue really health care? For some reason I think the level of ferver and frenzy may just be tapping into a bit of a deeper seated anger/hostility/resentment. Dare I say, racism?

For the most part I am doing what I can to tune it all out. I am probably more politically inclined/interested than most, but the insanity and irrationality of it all just wears me down and does nothing to improve my mood or my day.

I have great insurance, yet, yes I am 100% for health care reform. There is a lot of money at stake, and really do you think the insurance companies have your best interest at heart? Um, no. Death panel! What the hell does that have to do with the larger issue of the massive number of people either wholly uninsured or marginally insured in this country? I have Blue Cross Blue Shield. A PPO no less. When my husband recently went to the doctor about a hurt foot his doctors eyes literally popped out of her face like a cartoon character when she found out what our insurance was. And then .... she recommended surgery. Hello, do you think the fact that he has great insurance coverage had ANYTHING to do with that recommendation? Call me cynical but I do.

Back to the subject at hand, Communism. The thought that somehow Health Care reform (a public government option) will somehow eventually lead to rationing, lack of care, long waiting lists and subpar care and OHmyGOD eventually "we are just like COMMUNIST RUSSIA" kind of, just a little bit, unhinges me.

First, there is the its totally off the logic train part. People are spewing what they have been told to spew with no personal insight, thought or examination. Do they believe it? I am not sure. Does it matter to them? Nope. It bugs me to no end when I hear anyone (on either side) simply regurgitating what this blowhard or that blowhard tells them to say. It bugs me as much to hear recycled Rush Limbaugh as it does to hear recycled James Carville (though I do like to listen to the ragin' cajun Carville rant). THINK for yourselves people. Get your heads out of your asses.

Second, and even more disturbing, is the Communism/Nazism angle. I, personally, and this is just MY PERSONAL OPINION, think that what they really want to call him (the One, President Obama) is unacceptable in polite society and thus they come up with the 2nd best and somewhat socially acceptable option. Nazi. Communist. Marxist.

Perhaps, I am just particularly sensitive to the calling of someone SO OBVIOUSLY NOT any of the above, the above. Perhaps it was the conversation I had with my 70 year old immigrant mother-in-law Monday night. She's recently been diagnosed with lung cancer and with that comes a lot of thought about the end of her life, her estate, her legacy to her 5 sons and her 13 grandchildren. She has a sizable estate. She was talking about how much she wants all that she has accumulated to go to her sons and their families and how though her friends say she should spend it all or keep it for herself really all she cares about is leaving what she can to her kids. That, she says, is how her father raised her. How it is done in her family. Then, with tears in her eyes she starts to talk about her father, my husband's grandfather, and how in North Vietnam he had amassed a small fortune. He worked his fingers to the bone and scrimped and saved and everything he had he hoped would go to his children. Then communism came in and took everything. Every single house, every single piece of jewelry, every single penny. They fled from North to South Vietnam. They started over. He never recovered. Soon thereafter he began vomiting blood, broken by actual Communism. A man who had worked his entire life to amass something for his children and grandchildren to only have it swept away in a minute.

My mother in law and father in law started over in South Vietnam. They amassed a significant fortune. Had 5 sons. 5 nannies. A driver. Beautiful homes. Maids. Until again, communism, the REAL COMMUNISM, stepped in and took it all away. They fled, with only what they could carry on April 30, 1975, the day Saigon fell to the Communists (the real ones). Fortunately, my father in law had connections and got them out on one of the last boats, another miracle they all survived and all made it, eventually to the US. With nothing. Absolutely nothing but the clothes on their backs and a few pieces of jewelry that my mother in law had managed to smuggle out.

The started over, once again, from scratch. They built businesses and worked hard every day for years and years. My husband had two childhoods, maybe even three. One in Vietnam of great luxury that he doesn't even remember. He was after all just shy of 3 when they fled. One in the US scraping by with hand me downs and leftovers. And another in the US that started when he was about 15, when his parents, after many many years of hard work reestablished their financial security and began to reap the benefits of living in this great country.

So yeah, call Obama whatever you want, but please ... drop the Communist label. Have the balls to say what it is that really is bothering you about him.

Fall Projects

About a year ago, I took a long hard look at our budget. Hubby is hellbent on getting a boat next year, so I knew there would need to be a savings plan enacted and belt tightening because there is no way in HELL I am financing a boat! Period. /of story! He gets it, but still wants his damn boat thankyouverymuch.

I am not, in theory, opposed to the idea. I love boats. Love the water. Practically grew up at the marina where my mom was a secretary and time keeper and my stepfather was the head carpenter. Ran around docks and on and off of amazing yachts from about 5 on up. It was a good childhood. It also gave me very expensive taste. That said, we are looking at boats. Not Yachts. Just a boat. Not even a sleep aboard. Our approach is to get something in the smallish, towable range. Figure out what the hell we are doing and then in 2-5 years upgrade to something we can sleep on. That is the plan. Good intentions pave the way to hell is the saying, right?

Anyway, what the hell does this have to do with Fall projects. Very little, other than the fact that when I started the long range budget to work in this yet to be purchased boat, I also worked in (smartly I think) funding every quarter to 6 months for home maintenance and/or projects.

First up, something I have wanted and put off since the DAY we moved in to our house. A storm/screen door so that in the fall and spring we can open up the house and let the breeze flow through. For me it really is the little things. So that is my little Fall luxury to come. That and we are going to replace some rotten trim above our garage doors and reseal and paint all the trim around there. Not nearly as exciting as a storm door, but a necessity.

At least I have something to look forward to once the pool closes!

DMB Concert

On another note, the DMB Concert was absolutely freaking fabulous! I love him, it is true. I can't deny it. I won't even try. Anyway, he played a lot of stuff from his new album, Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King (basically a tribute to the their deceased sax player, Leroi Moore). He also played some very old stuff that I had forgtten about. Above is my favorite song from the concert (this version is from 2000), he rarely plays it live and I love it!

Another favorite moment was the rendition of Burning Down the House. It was unreal! I wonder if his leg ever stops moving, or if it keeps going all the time, even when he sleeps.

Updates!

Well, its been a busy couple of weeks. First up was a work conference in DC. I think having this big annual conference in DC this year lulled me into a false sense of security. I kept thinking I had all the time in the world and then BAM! conference time. That said, it was a VERY successful one - our largest, by almost 1000 attendees - ever. Nice, especially considering the economy. I also found out that I was an excellent drunk shuffleboard player.

We got some good/interesting press. Another first. The Post ran an article in the style section and we made the front page of the NY Times. Not too shabby! At least the profession that pays my bills is not dying. Hey, they may even be improving their image.

Post-conference I napped my way through a long weekend. Friday was my day off, thankfully. Max and I hung out and he has basically been THISCLOSE to me ever since I returned. I think he missed me. Even if he won't admit it!

I am in denial that the summer is rapidly coming to a close. Is it really August 11?!?! How in the world did that happen? Or as a precocious child once said, "Who did this?" Ella is wrapping up week 2 of Nature Camp and next week has Art Explorers Camp. Of course the hottest, nastiest week of the summer waited for the week she would be outside all day every day! She's toughing it out.

In just a few weeks the pool will close and she'll head back to school. AS A 2ND GRADER! Another WTH moment. How did this happen?

I am just looking forward to this weekend away with some girlies in WVA and then about a month or so down the road our VA Beach week. Then I have San Fran in January to look forward to (work trip). And finally, it looks like I'll be going back to St. John practically solo (at least kid free) in March. In season. Another first for me.

I have lost about 26 lbs. Since April. Slow going and I have another 26-56 to go but who's counting. I am pleased with my progress and really am doing nothing special other than eating better and less. Not by any means starving myself. That kind of "diet" would never work for me. I like food too much. Hung has lost about 24 or so pounds as well. More importantly he dropped his cholesterol reading by 60 (yes that is SiXty) points.

My mom moved.

I inherited a kitty (technically it was my cat to begin with, but my mom took her to raise about 8 years ago when we sold our 1st house, moved in with my mother-in-law, and waited for our current house to be completed).

Speaking of my MIL, she is doing well. As well as can be expected. She has another appointment for another CT Scan and biospy tomorrow. After that, they will decide when to do surgery and how to proceed.

Last but not least I am starting to make plans for a big trip to Vancouver. Our conference next year is in Vancouver and the plan is to fly the kiddos, hubby and gram out to join me at the end and take a week to explore. I am even looking for a 3 day Alaskan cruise. I want to go see Sarah. It's true!