After a day of much needed rain, the sun shone bright this morning. And I woke up feeling great. Don’t you love it when that happens?

I got up, jumped in the shower, got dressed and came to work. Mark asked me before I left “You gonna walk this morning?”

Shit. I knew I forgot something. THAT’S why I set the alarm.

So, it’s to the gym tonight. This will be the first workout in a while. I’m down 22lbs (almost 2 stone, Grant) and though I’m proud of that…if I don’t get this tub of lard back on the elliptical, and hit the weights again, I’m gonna find the tub expanding again at twice the speed of light.

Did you know that 14 lbs equals 1 stone? I always thought it was 10 lbs. Nope. It’s 14. Isn’t that just interesting?

I’ve been thinking about the late 80s and the early 90s alot lately. I’m feeling a retro-blog coming on. Especially if I can find some pics of me with the big hair and short skirts. I may have packed them all away in a “to-be-opened-never” vault–but if I can find some, I’ll scan them and post them.

My trip to Atlanta and the RWA National Conference is 2.5 weeks away! Where has the time gone? I swear it was just Christmas.

I heard from the lads and both are doing well and having a good time with their week off. They’ll get their assignments on Sunday and next week, some other lucky family will get to spoil them.

After a day of much needed rain, the sun shone bright this morning. And I woke up feeling great. Don’t you love it when that happens?

I got up, jumped in the shower, got dressed and came to work. Mark asked me before I left “You gonna walk this morning?”

Shit. I knew I forgot something. THAT’S why I set the alarm.

So, it’s to the gym tonight. This will be the first workout in a while. I’m down 22lbs (almost 2 stone, Grant) and though I’m proud of that…if I don’t get this tub of lard back on the elliptical, and hit the weights again, I’m gonna find the tub expanding again at twice the speed of light.

Did you know that 14 lbs equals 1 stone? I always thought it was 10 lbs. Nope. It’s 14. Isn’t that just interesting?

I’ve been thinking about the late 80s and the early 90s alot lately. I’m feeling a retro-blog coming on. Especially if I can find some pics of me with the big hair and short skirts. I may have packed them all away in a “to-be-opened-never” vault–but if I can find some, I’ll scan them and post them.

My trip to Atlanta and the RWA National Conference is 2.5 weeks away! Where has the time gone? I swear it was just Christmas.

I heard from the lads and both are doing well and having a good time with their week off. They’ll get their assignments on Sunday and next week, some other lucky family will get to spoil them.

Sometimes I hate having an extra day or two off work because it just makes coming back that much more difficult.

I have a lot on my plate today and really need to get with it–but I have the attention span of a midge on crack right now, so I think I’ll blog again.

Hmmm. It seems all I’ve talked about lately are the lads. It’s probably time for me to move on, however, I’m not quite ready yet. I think Fishdog thinks I’ve lost my head, but he’s too smart a man to tell me that.

One thing that amazed me about the lads’ visit was their genuine joy or amazement in discovering something new.

Like getting bitten by a mosquito for the very first time. “Mum! I didn’t feel it land and then it stung me and now look!” And I look to see the familiar little swollen bump on Grant’s arm. Not five minutes later, Simon runs up, “Mum! Make it go away! It hurts!” and sure enough, there’s that familiar red bump on his leg.

They were amazed.

But when we took them by the Ole Miss football stadium that’s when I saw true joy and amazement. Their professional soccer stadiums aren’t half as nice as our mediocre (but wealthy) college football stadiums. Hell, Ole Miss’ practice field is nicer than the pitch their national teams play on.

And they both kept saying: “All this for just 5 games a year?”

Yeah. And honestly, isn’t that a little sad?

Americans are a spoiled lot. I’ve known this all along, but sometimes it takes something so small as the comparison of stadiums to remind me.

It’s cloudy here today–which is good, we really need the rain. Of course, the grass in my yard is brown and ugly again; but the grass in my flowerbed is flourishing. AGAIN.

I have been thinking about my story a lot lately. I’ve been on a dry spell with writing–this happens sometimes–but I’ve never let the story go too far away from my head. It’s time to hit the keyboard running again. I miss my British thief…and since I also miss Simon and Grant…I can just use them as inspiration….if only I understood half of what they said.

Nine times out of ten, this is what I heard: “Humina-humina-humina, bonny lassie.” or “Humina -humina-humina, Mum.”

I bet I can use that in my book though…

and momma bird don’t like it.

It’s too damn quiet! I got so used to having a house full of loud, obnoxious foreigners that I don’t know how to handle all this silence.

Especially since Ian is staying with his grandparents for the rest of the week. Sigh.

Speaking of Ian–how freaking handsome is he?

I guess Rader will have to just entertain himself with the Gameboy–or as I am now starting to call it–videocrack. Jesus. He just won’t put it down! Here’s a rare glimpse of the boy without the little blue addiction in his hands.

I heard from both Grant and Simon. It seems that the day they left me, they had separation anxiety and had to numb the pain on Beale St. (Hahahahahaha) I’m not sure exactly how much adult beverage was consumed, but I have it on good authority that it was quite a lot.

The lads are spending this week in two different necks of the woods. I’m not sure how they’ll handle being apart. I swear, they’re attached at the shoulder. But, I’m sure they’ll be fine.

The lake was absolutely beautiful and yesterday was the most perfect lake day EVER. It wasn’t too hot–it was actually overcast for a while. We swam and played all day–for more than 6 hours. We came home, ate and then well all fell asleep in the living room before dark. I got up and went to bed at 8 pm and left the rest of the gang where they lay.

Now we’re watching The World Cup. Actually, Mark is trying to fall asleep–you’d think he’d have gotten plenty of rest last night…oh well, he’ll just have excess energy later on…

I have several new blog readers thanks to the lads. Don’t be afraid to pop in a comment and say hello. And lads…that means yous too.

This picture is just for the lads:

Yes! it’s a lake blog…albeit a quick one.

Mark and I drove down to the lodge to gank the wireless internet connection. I needed to send an email and decided I would blog while I had the connection.

Ouachita is gorgeous and we had a great time on the lake. It was HOT today, but that’s not a bad thing. We were on the lake for six hours and now I’m the color of a nice cup of tea.

My niece, nephew, and brother are here and we’ve enjoyed our time with them. Mom and Dad are bickering as usual. I’m not sure why they find it necessary to treat us like we’re still 12 years old, but they do. Thank God for strawberry margaritas. They make the difference between a great time at the lake and a honkin’ (hi, lads) pisser of a time.

I’m still feeling a little sad that my newest sons have departed. I’m sure I’ll get over it eventually. One thing is for certain, this was great training for when my bio-kids decide to move away. I always joke about how it can’t be soon enough, but since my heart still aches a little after only a week with these guys, I can’t imagine how big that ache will be when my real kids take off. I don’t know how Grant’s and Simon’s real Mums handle them being all the way across the ocean. I know they’re big boys—adults really—but still, it’s hard to imagine letting them go.

Tomorrow and Monday will fill with more lake sunning and playing. Lots of rock skipping and goofing off. It will be fantastic.

Wish you guys were here…

Yes! it’s a lake blog…albeit a quick one.

Mark and I drove down to the lodge to gank the wireless internet connection. I needed to send an email and decided I would blog while I had the connection.

Ouachita is gorgeous and we had a great time on the lake. It was HOT today, but that’s not a bad thing. We were on the lake for six hours and now I’m the color of a nice cup of tea.

My niece, nephew, and brother are here and we’ve enjoyed our time with them. Mom and Dad are bickering as usual. I’m not sure why they find it necessary to treat us like we’re still 12 years old, but they do. Thank God for strawberry margaritas. They make the difference between a great time at the lake and a honkin’ (hi, lads) pisser of a time.

I’m still feeling a little sad that my newest sons have departed. I’m sure I’ll get over it eventually. One thing is for certain, this was great training for when my bio-kids decide to move away. I always joke about how it can’t be soon enough, but since my heart still aches a little after only a week with these guys, I can’t imagine how big that ache will be when my real kids take off. I don’t know how Grant’s and Simon’s real Mums handle them being all the way across the ocean. I know they’re big boys—adults really—but still, it’s hard to imagine letting them go.

Tomorrow and Monday will fill with more lake sunning and playing. Lots of rock skipping and goofing off. It will be fantastic.

Wish you guys were here…

I’m not sure how that happened. These two idiots walked into my life 6 days ago and I fell in love. Seriously, I may as well have given birth to them, I love them so much.

Fishdog and I would adopt them if we could.

We also had the privilege of meeting the other coaches and hanging out with them. Karl, Becky, Ian (Nizzy if you’re nasty), and Stephen. It was an amazing week and I’m very sad to see it come to an end.

Guys, I know you’re reading this…keep in touch or I’ll hunt you down and guilt you to death. (and that means all of you)

BTW–I’m headed back to Lake Ouachita today for several days. Will blog again on Wednesday when I return.

Meanwhile, I’ll leave you with a couple of fond memories from the week.