Mom is still crazy....

So my lovely sister had a surgery recently. She had her ...um...internal female parts removed.

We sit making small talk to try to cut the tension. Well the word Cancer had come into play and we discussed family history etc.

So my Mom in her infinite wisdom looks at me in the waiting room and says....

"You might feel better if you just had it out too...." I said no I will deal with whatever comes along.... and she says, "well is might ease your mind and you aren't going to use them anyway."

Thank you Mom for giving up on me once again.

She has given away or sold all the toys she was saving for my children. I have been given the blankets that my late Grandma made for my children (it is traditionally a shower gift given to you). She purchased the "final set of stockings because we aren't adding anyone else to the family"

Why should I not begin to expect these things from her? After all we had to buy back some of the family heirlooms from a local consignment shop. She wouldn't give them to us or let us buy them because we "couldn't afford them". Well I bought them for half of what she wanted to sell them to us for :o)

Boundaries are a wonderful thing! She has been home from the southern regions of the US for over 2 months and we haven't had her over to the house...and have no intentions of making that invite. We are doing great at meeting at neutral places...so far....

Anyway....Mom is still crazy....

Let it snow let it snow.....

The snow is deep, 7 inches I believe, but we have not seen a snowplow yet on our road. Mr. X from this blog did come over and use the snowblower to dig us out so we could at least open the doors that had been blown shut.

Mr. X had to use the snowblower (by blowing a path) to get across the street.

Mom and Beau just called from the south and she was "upset" because it would not hit the 80 degree mark today....Mom who????

This is one of those times when I wish I still had the 4x4 Blazer that was totaled while parked on the street.

A snow emergency has shut down most of the city so today I hope to curl up in a blanket with some coffee and watch some movies on Lifetime.

The hunt is STILL on

The job hunt is an ongoing process....

Sigh......

I had 1 interview today and another on Thursday with a different company.

Right now my job is...finding a job...at least that's what Dr. Phil would say.

The thing I like right now is that I can sleep in until 7:00am, take the Squirrel to school and grab a cup of coffee before I start the search. I sure don't miss the phone calls at 5:00am when someone called in sick and the mad rush to get there before the first child arrived.

I do however need a job so I can move out and give my nephew his own room. Not to mention that the money would come in very handy with Christmas approaching.

Oh Wait! We just had our Christmas and Thanksgiving combined up at the lake in a restaurant because Mom and Beau are leaving for the south of the country this Thursday. This Thursday. I am not sure when they return but I am thinking someone might have mentioned April?

I still want a job so I can move out and feel like a grown up!

Some interesting facts I have learned on the World Wide Web:

Earthworms have five hearts

SCUBA divers cannot pass gas at depths of 33 feet or below

More than 90% of plane crashes have survivors.

Watching television can act as a natural painkiller for children

Iceland has the highest concentration of broadband users in the world.

The two most famous actors who portrayed the “Marlboro Man” in the cigarette ads died of lung cancer.

Men with a certain rare medical condition can breastfeed babies

The largest pumpkin weighed 377 pounds.

On an average work day, a typist's fingers travel 12.6 miles.

On average, a 4-year-old child asks 437 questions a day.

Nondairy creamer is flammable.

More American workers (18%) call sick on Friday than any other day of the week. Tuesday has the lowest percent of absenteeism (11%).

Average number of days a German goes without washing his underwear: 7.

The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are useable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies.

The average person will spend two weeks over their lifetime waiting for the traffic light to change

Donald Duck comics were banned in Finland because he didn't wear pants.

Tokyo has had 24 recorded instances of people either killed or receiving serious skull fractures while bowing to each other with the traditional Japanese greeting.

The cleaning frenzy

Due to me losing my job...why do they call it that? I didn't lose it...I know right where it is, they are the ones that lost it went... crazy and decided that 1 mistake was not acceptable...

Anyway...what was I saying?

Due to some unforeseen circumstances Mom, Beau, myself and an Aunt have been cleaning, sorting and hauling all of my Mom's JUNK out of this house. This has been interesting to say the least. At last count they have taken 4 trailers of stuff out of here of my Mother's things...Trailer like the size of a U-haul truck type trailer.

And did I mention that it did NOT include any furniture...just paperwork and all of the stuff she has hoarded all of these years.

The ironic quotes of the week so far have come from the Aunt:

"I have known your Mom for over 60 years and I have just now realized just how much stuff she hoards!"

She went on to tell me how apparently my Mom has also been complaining to her about the house being a mess and how it is all MY fault for the way it looks.

"One4JC you do not even have a fourth of the items in this house! It took you ten minutes to clean your stuff out of the living room and days for her to get her stuff out!"

However I am excited because I now have a dresser in my room and we cleaned all of her things out of my closet so I have places to put things.

It is no joke when I say we have been working nonstop since Saturday getting this place cleared of her stuff and getting things more settled around here.

And the real kicker is this:
Beau walks in yesterday morning and has the nerve to say,"So have you gotten a job yet?"

Silence.

I stumble out a "No not yet I have been a little busy around here helping you guys."

He then goes on to tell me he thought maybe something would have fallen into my lap by now etc.

Crickets chirping.....................................................................

So off the computer I must go so that I can look for a job and be a productive member of society again...LOL

Whew!

These last 2 1/2 weeks have been enough to make me want to start smoking again!

Here are the highlights (or lowlights depending on your perspective):

I have written up an employee...suspended her...and now at the request of my supervisors fired her because of her actions. Talk about a nice start to the day at 6:30 am!

I have come precariously close to losing a major funding source. I think I managed to pull that one out of the crapper in the nick of time.

I am in the midst of completing a 9 hour online training so that I can test out of it on Friday.

I informed my Mom today that an apartment has been chosen and the move in date is a week from Saturday! I am trying to talk her into selling me the washer and dryer from the current house to take with me but....

I have worked several 12 hour days (oh the joys of being on salary!), worked the last 3 Saturdays and one Sunday (for a few hours) and been told that I needed to put in more overtime to get things done.

Hmmmmmmm....

The thing that bugs me about this is I could go to a Department store and make what I do now (if not more) and only work 40 hours a week. BUT this happens to be my passion and where God wants me right now.

The fun this week

Work was NOT fun this week! I had issues with employees. I had issues with funding sources. I had issues with my office.

I also am trying desperately to locate and lease an apartment within my price range. Mom and Beau have been here almost every day. I have managed to avoid them purely by coincidence. I have put in so many hours at work that by the time I get home at 7:00pm or later they are gone for the day.

In fact I will spend most of the day tomorrow at work as well trying to play catch up from being in a classroom. I had teachers suspended, sick AND in the hospital this week. I do have an appointment to look at an apartment at 4:00pm and then probably to the laundromat to do the daycare laundry for the week.

The sooner I can get out of this house and into my own apartment a lot of my stress will be gone. I need to feel independent again...that is something that Big Red took from me in the divorce.

Once I get past this month at work and get my staffing settled a bit it will be less stressful there as well. What with Picture Day coming up, a retirement of an employee and appointing a new Assistant Director all this month it is no wonder things are a little tense in the building...

I never did manage to get a motorcycle this summer. I seem to have run out of time as far as the weather is concerned.

As you see I played with the layout a bit. I am not done but I am growing tired so alas maybe I can get back to it this weekend.

Actions have consequences...

Actions have consequences even if you apologize. An employee this week learned this the hard way where I work. Yes One4Jc is fairly laid back and easy going BUT I do have my limits. She is the first person to push me far enough for serious consequences. Being "written up" is not good but an actual unpaid suspension is a sure sign that you have pushed too far.

She is appealing the suspension but it doesn't look good for her. Several of my supervisors thought she should have been fired over the incident not just suspended.

My actions have consequences as well. I missed a deadline and I am paying the penalty for it. It is repairable but time consuming. I got too caught up in enrolling new students, staffing issues and other paper work and the deadline whooshed up on me today and the items are not ready. The kicker is that I got a letter of "recognition" of my mistake today...before the actual deadline had passed...so did my boss. Whoops.

The last actual day off I had was Labor Day...I have been working through the weekend to play catch up on all the things I have missed by being bogged down with other stuff like ...oh say....staffing classrooms. Looks like I will work through this weekend as well.

And my Mom wants me to get this apartment when???????

Oh what a morning...

Not for the weak stomached...

Yesterday afternoon I was summoned across the street to gather up the littlest dog at my sister's humble household. She had a seizure and the little fellow wouldn't leave her alone.

So he awakened me nice and early this morning to go outside for his "daily business" as my grandma would have called it. Not a problem he went out...

I proceeded to check the email, get ready for church and dink around the house...well I dinked a little too long I guess.

I am walking through the living room to get my keys to take the lad back before church and I interrupted him "doing business" on the living room floor. I yelled his name and he stopped... tried to run away but dropped little presents across the living room during his great escape.

I guess once the process is started...

My lovely cat is following me down the hall as she isn't thrilled that we have a house guest. They get along but she doesn't like competing for my attention. I guess we have been alone together too long. When we have a guest human or animal she sticks really close. REALLY REALLY CLOSE. I tripped over her at least 6 times since he came to visit.

Back to the story...where was I? Dog pooping...cat following..dog running leaving a trail...oh yes!

As I yell his name I stop at the entrance of the living room and the smell hits me...then the smell hits the cat and the cat starts throwing up! I try to grab my cat and take her to a non carpeted place...but she runs.................... and continues to puke. In different spots down the hallway before I manage to pick her up.

Let's recap:
* Running late for church
* Dog poops
* One4jc yells
* Cat pukes

Any guesses???
I walked across the living room, grabbed my keys, grabbed the dog and took him home all the while praying that my Mom did not show up between now and when I got home from church.

So I went to church arriving only a few minutes late and came home to clean it all up after church.

Wow makes me wonder what this afternoon has in store...

Yet another new experience...

Last night was awful! Yesterday was not the greatest day ever but I had no idea what the night had in store.

I am a person who on occasion has nightmares. They have gotten much better since I have grown older and well... all those years of counseling have helped tremendously.

Last night I had a hard time falling asleep to begin with because I could not get my mind to "turn off" for the night.

It seemed like I had only been asleep minutes when I sat straight up in bed with THAT feeling in my stomach.

You see I had been having a horrid dream that I found to be truly upsetting.

I woke up so upset by this dream that before I was even conscience I found myself running to the bathroom.

Now a little side note here would be that I detest vomit. Once upon a time I was so skinny that I was constantly accused of having an eating disorder. I would laugh at them...I hate puking that much...no amount of weight loss could coax me to purge.

Of course after the "event" I felt fine. I couldn't go back to sleep because I was scared to have the dream again but I felt fine.

I basically have been awake since 4am and have been eating things slowly just in case but so far no problems what so ever.

I did skip church today so that I could try to sleep in but that didn't work. I will be doing a load of laundry so that my nephew will not get the "kitty sniffles" tonight when he sleeps over and then I am off to a softball game with the young lad later this afternoon.

I pray for good sleep tonight as missing work tomorrow to sleep all day is not really an option.

So busy...

I have been very busy at work trying to get everything in place for the new school year which starts on Monday.

We are adding an additional classroom which means waiting for the room to be available. It became ours late Friday afternoon. This of course means I will be cleaning carpets on Monday morning and trying to get materials etc moved by Weds. at the latest.

For this coming year I have enrolled at least 10 new children into our little center. Let me tell you that is a lot of paperwork! I believe we may have killed several trees in the process.

I also had my review at the new job...I don't know anything yet but I hope to receive word soon on if there is a raise in my near future.

As for this house thing....I think that if I purchase my Mom's house that I am living in I will regret it. I think she will always be in it...I will never have any privacy...it will be held over my head and she will think somehow I will be ripping her off. She actually asked my sister how much money I make. Growing up there were 3 absolutely taboo things you did not ask anyone:

1. How much do you weigh?
2. How did you vote in the last election?
3. How much money do you make?

So far since meeting and marrying Beau she has violated all of these plus some... she seems to under the impression that I am lying about my finances. I want to stand up and yell, "I WORK IN DAYCARE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!"

I will never be rich in this field.

That is an understatement.

I am seriously looking into renting an apartment. Starting over will be hard but eventually it is something I need to do...plus I don't think she would EVER have all her stuff out of this house. I think having a place that is all my own with all of my own things will be the final thing I need to get my self confidence back. Don't get me wrong I have come a long way since Big Red and I separated and then divorced. I am not even a glimpse of the shell I was back then. But there is still more to be done in my spirit.

Anyway I hope when things settle down a bit I will be back to posting more regularly.

A trip down memory lane

I remember very little about my junior high and early high school years. I have blocked most of it out as it was a very dark time in my life....

BUT.... I do remember going on a few Youth Group excursions to see concerts in far away cities...well sometimes they were only a day trip. I remember the first time I saw DC Talk in concert was in Dayton Ohio when I was at a 3 day conference/youth rally.



And if that doesn't take you back to the 80's then I am sure that one of my other favorites from that same rally will. I LOVE Whiteheart! The first time I heard this song about forgiveness it was a totally new concept to me. I grew up in a house where everything was held over your head. To this day I am still reminded by my Mom of the time I spilled a quart of paint on the carpet and how they didn't have enough money to go buy more paint because it was a special color etc etc etc etc etc...

The little dialog he has before the song really helped me to understand what forgiveness was about for the first time. Of course it took another 14 years before the concept of God's love really sunk in but nonetheless here is one of my other early favorites.

I have a new(er) computer!

So after fighting with my old computer and battling a virus (and being off line for almost a month) I am back!!!!

My computer guru sister has assembled a new computer system for me and after much debugging, defragmenting and fine tuning I am finally up and running! I think she got me back online to help deal with the REALLY ODD emails that our Mommy Dearest has been sending :o)

I have so much to say but I will start slow and catch you (all 4 readers I have) up over the next several days.

THE UN-ANNIVERSARY:

So earlier this month I would have had my 6th wedding anniversary. It happened to correspond with the Women of Faith conference this year. This helped tremendously. The theme was Amazing Freedom and that is what I was trying to grasp onto as this day rolled closer.

I am Free.

I am free of Big Red. I am free of the pain he has brought into my life. I am free to live my life according to God's will. I am free to date. I am free to hold onto God tightly as my Rock and source of courage and strength. I am free to be me!

It is a lot easier to type that out than live that out. But I try.

I have been reading a lot in the Message version of the Bible lately. This has caught my eye:

2 Corinthians 5:17

16-20Because of this decision we don't evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don't look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We're Christ's representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God's work of making things right between them. We're speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he's already a friend with you.

Oh Mommy dearest....

If you have read this blog for very long you will know that I am not a Pink Feather Boa type of girl.

You will also know that I live in my Mother's house and she does not.

She made an appearance at the humble home today while I was gone.

Every time she comes somehow my bed gets filled with things.

Today I came home to find a Pink Feather Boa wrapped around a hat, a trash can, a newspaper and a lampshade all on my bed. They had moved a file cabinet out of my bedroom and replaced it with an end table. I knew they were coming and had prepared my room the best I could but somehow these things HAD to be placed on my bed.

THEN she had enough nerve to reprimand me for not having a dresser or Chest of Drawers in my bedroom yet! I explained that it was buried in the garage and I couldn't get to either of them.

She said if I got rid of the Pepsi boxes (which I was saving for a Fort at work) I would have enough room for the stuff in the garage to come in the house.

There are 7 boxes. Total.

It is a full one car garage.

Hmmmmmm.

I don't think so.

I did manage to stop short of telling her to get her crap out of the house so I can see the house uncluttered before I buy it!

I am buying it...just not fast enough for her.

A bittersweet day

As I have posted before my Dad was my Superman. Today was the 8 year mark since he passed away. Even all these years later, on this day, I can look at the clock and tell you what I was doing at that exact time on THE day. I know my Mom is happy with Beau. My Dad would want her to be taken care of... it is just still hard to swallow at times.




The other part of my day has me quite excited! I went to the license branch today and went inside expecting a line. I walked up to the counter directly and they sent me to take my test. I took the test AND renewed my plates for the car and was out the door in less than 20 minutes!

Yes you read that correctly 20 stinking minutes.... I think it must be a record of some sort... at least for me anyway!

Anyway back to this test. That's right. I passed! I am now an official permit carrying motorcycle wannabe chick! Now let the REAL shopping begin for a motorcycle!

And yes Patty... I am keeping the car for when the weather gets crummy. And yes I will wear a full face helmet with the wind guard... Any more concerns out there?

The crazy I call family

So my presence was required at the land up north for the birthday party of Beau...the man my Mom married last September.

• I did not go out on the jet ski because I was the only person present with the knowledge and/or skills to drive the jet ski. Therefore I would have been responsible for taking everyone else on the rides they would have wanted. Not usually a problem BUT there are two boys in this family that I do not trust and would not want to be stuck in the middle of the lake with them.
• One of the step sisters drives me nuts. She has never uttered the words Thank You but she orders everyone around down to the food we will serve her because she has MD and is in a wheelchair. Apparently she was this way before the wheelchair but now she milks it for all it is worth.
• She even drove back to the house because we didn't give her enough chocolate cake in her take home package, even though she had 4 pieces of white and 4 pieces of chocolate. She didn't get any more.
• Beau opened a card from Mom and Mom was honestly shocked. She addressed it and signed the card but has no memory of the card at all. She says it might be from his birthday last year....and it happened to be on the table with the other cards.... I wish she would talk to a doctor about this since HIPPA has our hands tied.
• Mom also tried giving away one of my favorite stuffed animals. The one my grandparents got me when I was in the hospital once. BUT NO...she insists that a neighbor bought it at a garage sale for her last weekend. This would be the equivalent of giving away your childhood blankie...(yes I know, sis, but it wasn't my fault!).

I am ready for sleep and off to work this week. I have more to share about the weekend but that is for another day.

The weekend in a nutshell

So I spent the day on Saturday up in the great north attending a whole town type garage sale. There were about 100 sales and I think I was at about 90 of them...
with my Mom.

Sigh.

I did however clean up for the daycare. I think I bought every piece of Little Tykes equipment I could find.
I bought a slide, a stove, a ride on dump truck, a baby care set with a changing table and swing, a rocker, a baby cradle, a ride on tractor with a tow behind trailer, a desk toy and a bulletin board.


I also picked up some orange cones, a few baby toys, a Boggle Jr. game, a bag of dress up clothes, puzzles, hard dress up hats (firefighter etc) and a walker for the baby room. Not bad for only about $41.00.

The haul of goodies made it worth spending the day with Mom when she's not firing on all cylinders...you know when she forgets stuff and complains all. day. long.

We had a very powerful sermon today at church. Actually it was more of a monologue. One of the Pastors who doesn't normally speak on Sundays stood and gave a dramatic presentation of the Sermon on the Mount. I can't even begin to do it justice here so I will not attempt it. I can say he stood at the front and quoted the entire chapter word for word with props and pauses.

Wow.

I didn't get the lawn mowed or much laundry done. The next free evening I have is Thursday and I probably will be cited by the city for a stand or two of grass being too long. I wish I knew a neighborhood kid I could pay $5 bucks to mow it just this once. Hey $5.00 is a deal for as little as the yard is!

I'll have to do laundry at some point this week or by Weds. I won't be able to attend work in anything but PJ's!

I might as well go throw a load in now...

Ta Ta

Mother's Day is FINALLY over!

Every year I dread this holiday for several reasons. Obviously you know about the kids that I don't have with me. But the other reason is my own Mom.

Growing up we were taught that we had to do everything for her on this day. But this wasn't really much different than other days we just were expected to smile about it and present her with a card for our efforts.

Remember the Mommy Dearest Post?

I love my Mom. We have our moments where our family looks more like Roseanne than the Brady Bunch.


Sometimes it is hard to work up the nerve to go see her because of the energy required to steel yourself against the barrage of negative comments. I truly believe that at times she doesn't realize what she is
saying.

But sometimes I think she does and has just reached the point where she doesn't care what we think.

In her later years it has become more challenging to overlook these little family idiosyncrasies. In the last 10 years there have been many times that I thought we may really need to call Dr. Phil.

I did manage to make it most of the way through church this morning before I fell apart during the final prayer. I even made it passed the point where they asked all Mothers to stand and be recognized.

Maybe I am just a little bitter today. Tomorrow will be a different day...a better day.

Arrr Matey! Who needs fertilizer when the neighbor has a dog!

Ok so I am exhausted! I have learned a few things today. I spent most of the morning scouring garage sales for new equipment and toys that the center I am working at seriously needs. I came home and decided that the yard needed mowed in the worst way.

1. Who needs fertilizer when the new neighbors have a dog? All over the front yard I had these nice little spots that had sprouted lush green grass. I thought the lawn might be making a comeback from the brown stubble I was left with after winter had had it's way with it. After the first sweep with the mower I realized I had the neighbor's dog to thank.

2. My new neighbors have a pirate flag hung in the window of the screened in front porch. It is right next to the bumper sticker in the window that reads "Insured by Glock"


3. Sometimes grass is too thick to let the blades rotate thus killing the motor. I was unaware this could happen. Mental note to self:don't let grass get that high again before mowing.

4. Some people who hold garage sales think their items are brand new and try to charge as if they are.

5. Some people also believe that people attending their garage sales will buy just about anything. I don't believe I will buy a half used bottle of shampoo or more than half burnt candles at a sale anytime soon.

6. Petrified dog poop run over by a lawn mower can travel quite a far distant.

7. I do NOT like sweating... nor getting bits of my hair stuck in tree branches.

8. I bought a small fish tank to put on my desk at work. I find fish to be very relaxing.

9. I like self propelled lawn mowers but do not like not being able to breathe when I am done with the lawn.

10. I have been done mowing for about an hour and my hands are still vibrating from the mower.

11. If my Mom even comments on the quality of job that I did on the yard.........well it had better be positive!

12. I would rather go to my church tomorrow but my presence is required at a different church so I must go.

Back from no mans land?

Sorry I have been missing in action lately. Rest assured that my cat is not happy with my absence from home either.

Once I hire a couple part timers you will be seeing me more often.

On to the highlight reel:

Mom and Beau have been scarce in these parts recently. I am not complaining but my inbox has been much more free from the numerous daily emails.

Big Red has FINALLY gotten my name off the house! YEAH! Only the truck to go and we will have no (current) financial ties.

I was able to download the coolest ring tone to my cell phone. Have you guessed it yet? .....The Superman theme song! All for the low price of $1.99!

Stomach flu and seasonal allergies are the topics at work right now. Let me tell you how NASTY it can be when a baby is eating sweet potatoes and then ah..ahhhh.....aaahhhhh......Achoo! Yeah not one of the "perks" of my job.

There is a cool little local coffee shop across from my work. They make GREAT white chocolate mocha's 20 oz for only about $2.50.

Unfortunately Dairy Queen is also very close to my work...I foresee a potential problem there.

One of the "perks" of my job is being needed to help a tired baby be rocked to sleep. There is one little one whose Mom is built in a similar way as I am in the chest department who loves to nuzzle up to me and coo and she drifts off to sleep.

God is good.

Crazy...

So I had a meeting with a friend today...we hold each other accountable for things. Just kind of a checks and balances type system to help keep me (and her) on the right track with our faith.

Well and.... we tend to keep each other out of trouble...

Today we discussed many things...her side I will always keep confidential. For my part we discussed how I am dealing with the divorce being final among other things. My Mom came up on several occasions. Well when you put together Big Red and my Mom in the same conversation with the two of us in a car at a baseball field watching her son practice in the falling snow the above song came up on several occasions.

It was a little tongue-in-cheek but then I remembered Cindy's Diner downtown. When we were dating and for the first couple years of marriage we would go downtown on Saturday mornings and have breakfast. If you are familiar with this little diner that "serves the whole world 12 people at a time" you know that they have little jukeboxes on the counter that you may pop a quarter in a pick a song. Big Red always picked this song along with "Splish Splash" and "The Monster Mash".

At the time he would sing it to me but in hind site I should have listened to the words a little closer. He always said he was afraid I would leave him when I "got tired of" him.

Well I guess I did leave him...but it had more to do with him sleeping with other women than me getting tired of him!

I'm just taking a trip down memory lane. It amazes me the things that trigger memories.

The smell of a musty smoke tinged garage reminds me of my Dad. Or fresh brewed coffee first thing in the morning. So does the smell of the perfume called "Millennium" that Avon used to sell. It is what I was wearing the summer I spent so much time at the hospital when he died.

The smell of fresh line dried laundry reminds me of my Grandma. She was the only person I ever knew that dried her clothes outside.

The smell of a freshly tarred road reminds me of where I grew up.

The smell of sawdust reminds me of Jamaica.

Seeing an old Simpson's t shirt reminds me of High school... well that and Salem cigarettes, Fuzzy Navels and a few other things.

Hearing the song Unskinny Bop will always remind me of my senior year. And this one reminds me of my "angry days"...no my Dad was not the guy.

This song reminds me of when I found out I was pregnant with the twins.

Agnus Dei reminds me of when I became a Christian. The line " Holy, holy are you Lord God almighty" suddenly was a statement to me instead of a question.

Magic Windows remind me of the innocent days of my childhood.

Wow what a trip..... does any smell or song remind you of anything?