have i left for vacation yet?

omg! what a long strange trip it's been! we got home last monday early morning like 4:30 am. we were driving thru kentucky on i-75 thru that most beautiful part where you come around a mountain and down into a valley where all of the sudden cincinnatti blasts forth on the horizon. this time it was night and it was really pretty with all the city lights and the freaking MILES of TAIL LIGHTS in the FREAKING TRAFFIC JAM we hit!! no kidding it took 3 hours to get thru it inch by inch---miles of backed up holiday traffic going into cincinnatti. sorry no pics of this - was much too tired to grab the camera.

but at least we were in ohio and that felt good after 16+ hours.

before that we had stayed overnight at Red Top Mountain, Georgia. I thought we loved Fort Mountain, but this place was pretty awesome too. campsites cut into the side of the mountain where you overlook lake allatoona, which was missing several feet of waterline--how sad that was. we hiked down to the lake and stood on and among huge boulders that had not too long ago been covered in water.

thanksgiving was spent in a tiny itty bitty town called CITRA florida, in a tiny itty bitty church that had a small event hall. we had 45ish people for thanksgiving. 7 turkeys. it was good seeing my husbands family again. they are so much fun to be around.

we were in south florida prior to that in west palm beach visiting friends and family and i visited by office in boca. missed those guys, but totally do NOT miss working in an office. everything was exactly the same as i left it 3 year ago. i think even the dust was the same. lol

uggified

"...ahhhhhhhh...", said my bare feet when i put on my new uggs for the first time last night - and lemme tell you, the weather totally warranted bootage last night.

they were absolute heaven. and yes, you wear them barefoot - no socks - your feet do not sweat and they stay at normal body temperature - you can wear them to the beach if you want.

i recommend that you try them - be nice to santa if you need to ;-) but definately figure out a way to get in a pair.

jefferson starship

i really dont know why, but i've been reaching back in my life and jefferson starship has been consuming my itunes/ipod lately.

i just love them and i seem to have forgotten how much. it makes me happy to sing with them again i guess.

pb&j

when life gets you down: eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich

thats my new motto. there is something so pleasant and sweet in eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

dont you agree?

i love my son---no really, I do...

i was doing some straightening & cleaning upstairs tonight when suddenly i was sucked into that BLACK HOLE that is my sons room. this makes the 3rd time this year. usually when i walk by, i close the door, horrified. but i didnt this time. my evening is now shot.

i emerged, victorious, 2 hours later, with 1 full garbage bag and a few boxes of CRAP i packed away, amid a few arguments of what is garbage and what is not garbage. i dont think we will ever be on the same page with that. at least not until he has a son of his own some day, who will undoubtedly think every shred of paper is important, and every rock he has collected is worth its weight in gold.

we sorted and re-organzed everything from hot wheels to rocks to baseball cards. we have a collection of shoeboxes, stuffed with odds & ends - you know - important 9 year old things and top secret papers and treasures.

at 10:00 pm i told him that he is dead meat if i ever have to come in and clean like that again. joe often mocks me: "Stop! or I'll say stop again!"

i made my way to bed to catch up on my blog, when joe appears and say hey you need to change the channel to HDNet - there is a movie on about soldiers in iraq ... so i turned to it. i couldnt watch too long, i was mortified by what i saw, and i wont elaborate on that.


10:15 PM ET7:15 PM PT
RedactedR - 1:30 - 2007 - Cast: Izzy Diaz, Daniel Stewart Sherman, Patrick Carroll, Director: Brian De PalmaA fictional documentary which is centered around a small group of American soldiers stationed at a checkpoint in Iraq. The film alternates points of view, balancing the experiences of these young men under duress and members of the media with those of the local Iraqi people, illuminating how each have been deeply affected by the current conflict and their encounters with each other.

ugg-a-licious

TAH-DAH!

ok kerry - i would have to say that these rank right up there with your new dansko's ;-)



edited: and these I can sorta get away with without hiding them in the closet - since i work in the shoe industry, i am privy to lots of "samples" laying around my work space --- KWIM?

so me & kerry BAHHHHHHHH! there must be some sort of vibe - because just yesterday I was thinking to myself - why are we skipping right over thanksgiving and going straight to christmas? its a stewpid question because i know the answer...the walmart gods want us spending money NOW. holy crap, their latest commercial is just over the top...gag me. we're not shopping in the typical way this year. I just decided that

my name is jodi and i am an anti-walmartaholic

my winter flip flops

ok so they're not flip flops-but they are definately just as cool

she's pretty cute - part ii

ok - so i failed to mention that yesterday morning during this top secret conversation with my son - that he very specifically told me DONT TELL DAD!

i couldnt help it though. but joe is sworn to secrecy, and is to tell nobody --- forget the fact that its on my blog. blogs dont count.

further---we had parent teacher conferences last night, of which I was a very proud mom, walking out of there finding out how good a citizen my son is and how he is a volunteer in class and also helps read to the younger classes and volunteers to help with the special education students. you know he even told me he helps them in lunch line? empathy is a very special gift and I am sooooooo glad my son has it.

elise's picture was on the classroom door. she is pretty cute. long blonde hair. i pointed her out to dad and we had a good chuckle in the hallway before we entered the room.

ughhhhhhh!

PS: nicole - i am so glad I dont have daughters...bras, periods, DRAMA! I can live without it!

she's pretty cute

ok.
so.
that day has finally come.
the one where your 9 year old boy drops the bomb.

the "there-is-this-girl-i-like-in-class" bomb.

i simply turned around and smiled. gently asked her name.

and then told him, ok, well, now you REALLLY need to make sure you brush your teeth!

i also added that girls dont like gross things. they dont like earwax contests. they dont like dirty fingernails and they certainly dont like smelly stuff.
so now, everyday, you need to make sure you do your hair, clean your ears and wash your fingernails. and a little super secret smell good formula wouldnt hurt!

niagara falls

our 2nd big trip (remember, the first was out to dinner) in the big ole rollin turd was this past weekend and we took it to niagara falls. a place i havent been to in nearly 20 years and a place where my husband and kids have never seen ever.

unfortunately, the extra amenities there all closed down in october, so parking the big rig was a challenge...we looped around town twice before we gave in and parked all the way down there in motor coach ville (in its own zip code perhaps?), where during season, they have a shuttle service. but no. we hiked about 3-4 miles before we even got close to the falls. not bad though. it was exercise we all needed. how things have changed! we were excited to see the "new" casino, which is actually 12 years old now LOL - but still. we plan on going back without kids soon so we can play big kids stuff.
we tackled the climb up the clifton hill midway, with my bad back pushing a stroller. I made it though! and i wasnt laboring for oxygen either.

we went to the hershey store where a 5 pound hershey bar was 45.00 (but Joe, i said, sometimes its not about the money, its about the experience and being able to say you did----he wasn't buying it. he didnt buy the hershey bar either!)

(i managed to master the night shot!)

the boys were real troopers - all three of them. mom got her own version of niagara falls and turned into medusa on the way home.
i will post one of the 90 gagillion pictures of horseshoe falls later - the flash card is downstairs and i'm all curled up under blankies and am not getting up.

fraidy cat

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