DAy 148: Paint Ball

Scared!

Thanks to a dear friend, I was able to go paint balling today. It was truly a thrilling experience. For most of the time, I was really scared even though I knew it was a "game."  It is hard not to get frightened when there are people hiding in the woods with guns aimed toward you and your child. I learned that I am NOT an adrenaline junkie. I like my heart rate at a nice calm pace and I am not energized by fear. However, it was fun to try something so  exhilarating with a great group of people. And any time spent in the woods is time well spent.

DAy 147: Learn the Words to a song

I chose "Firework" by Katy Perry after seeing the video. I wrote the lyrics down (didn't print) and then followed along with the song.
This is what I memorized:

Do you ever feel like  a plastic bag
drifting through the wind
wanting to start again?
Do you ever feel so paper thin
like a house of cards one blow from craving in?
Do you ever feel already buried deep
6 foot under screams but no one seems to hear them
Do you know that there's still a chance for you
Cause there's a spark in you
You just gotta ignite the light and let it shine
Just`own the night like the 4th of July
Come on baby you're a firework
Come on show em what your worth...

I also made a new play list of empowering songs including this one, Jenny from the Block, Im a Survivor, Soul Survivor, and Shes Always A Woman. These songs will help me get ready for the 5k I am going to complete in November.

Day 146: Date Night

JP and I went out tonight for a long over due "date." We went to our regular place and watched the LSU game with friends. I enjoyed my favorite Wintzell's dish: Caribbean Jerk Nachos and a few libations. It was fun to get out of the routine and pretend it was Friday night even though it was Thursday.

Day 145: Ask Questions

In May of 1977, what were Sandra and Butch thinking? Why was Sandra cutting hair on her back porch? Why were these children taken to Olan Mills? Why is this poor boy wearing cut offs in a portrait? Did the photographer hope to fool people into thinking these children were standing in a creek? Did this really happen? Was money spent on this 8x10? Why?

Day 143: Discover New Poetry

As a teacher, I am exposed to a wealth of classic poetry. Not very often, to I seek out and explore new poets or new poetry. Today I spent time reading poetry from artists I am familiar with as well as some I have never heard of before. I discovered a new poet, Khalil Gabran. He was a Lebanese poet who lived from 1883-1931. The poem "A Tear and a Smile" was my favorite. :
"I would that my life remain a tear and  a smile, a tear to purify my heart and give me understanding.."
But my favorite discovery/rediscovery today, was Maya Angelou.
A good poem is one that still resonates even days after reading. I found one of hers that continued to make me think. Its title is "Men." This poem was so powerful and personal I felt like a voyeur for reading it.

Men by Maya Angelou

When I was young, I used to
Watch behind the curtains
As men walked up and down the street. Wino men, old men.
Young men sharp as mustard.
See them. Men are always
Going somewhere.
They knew I was there. Fifteen
Years old and starving for them.
Under my window, they would pause,
Their shoulders high like the
Breasts of a young girl,
Jacket tails slapping over
Those behinds,
Men.

One day they hold you in the
Palms of their hands, gentle, as if you
Were the last raw egg in the world. Then
They tighten up. Just a little. The
First squeeze is nice. A quick hug.
Soft into your defenselessness. A little
More. The hurt begins. Wrench out a
Smile that slides around the fear. When the
Air disappears,
Your mind pops, exploding fiercely, briefly,
Like the head of a kitchen match. Shattered.
It is your juice
That runs down their legs. Staining their shoes.
When the earth rights itself again,
And taste tries to return to the tongue,
Your body has slammed shut. Forever.
No keys exist.

Then the window draws full upon
Your mind. There, just beyond
The sway of curtains, men walk.
Knowing something.
Going someplace.
But this time, I will simply
Stand and watch.

Maybe.

Day 142: Play in the front yard at night

Tonight with the moon so robust and voluptious, the kids and I went outside and played with our shadows in the front yard.  It was just cool enough to play a game of chase and watch Ansley perfrom cartwheels. Sometimes, bedtimes should be ignored.

Day 141: Spend the afternoon on the back porch

Normally, I spend Sundays doing a variety of chores to prepare for the upcoming week. today, I took a magazine and a glass of lemonade to the back porch and enjoyed the weather. I read an article about giving praise and compliments. Following the directions in the article, I began to send text messages to my friends (who receive texts- sorry mom and Carrie) with compliments. The responses I got in return made me realize that clearly, I don't compliment enough. After telling Kristen she is a great cook, I received this message: "was this meant for me." Marilyn responded with a "Huh?"  A new lesson: out of context compliments confuse and bewilder friends.

Day 140: Go to yard sales alone

I woke up early before everyone else and slipped out unnoticed. I spent the morning following signs to different yard sales. Everyone was up early and so cheerful and kind. I bought toys for the kids, some framed pictures, and two plastic pumpkins. It was a nice way to start a beautiful Saturday. The rest of the day was spent watching football with friends and celebrating our victories.

Day 139: Make a list of my top 100 songs

The list is alphabetical rather than in order of significance. These are songs that I never get tired of hearing, singing, or dancing to.

1.        1989 (Kid Rock)

2.        American Pie

3.        And It Stoned Me (Van Morrison)

4.        Another Brick in the Wall

5.        Beat It

6.        Behind Blue Eyes

7.        Blue Skies (Willie Nelson)

8.        Blvd of Broken Dreams

9.        Boom Boom Pow

10.     Born in the USA

11.     California Dreaming

12.     Californication

13.     Changes in Latitudes

14.     Clocks (Coldplay)

15.     Cold Black Heart (Sean Mullins)

16.     Cover of a Rolling Stone

17.     Creep

18.     Dead and Gone

19.     Desperado

20.     Don’t Phunk With My Heart

21.     Don’t You Forget About ME (Simple Minds)

22.     Dr. Loves Traveling Salvation Show

23.     Dream ON (Aerosmith)

24.     Drive (The cars)

25.     Edge of 17

26.     Evil Ways (Santana)

27.     Exodus (Bob Marley)

28.     Faithfully (Journey)

29.     Fight For Your Right

30.     Firework (Katy Perry)

31.     Folsom Prison Blues

32.     For What it’s Worth (Buffalo Spring field)

33.     Free Bird

34.     Get the Party Started (Pink)

35.     Gimme one Reason (Tracy Chapman)

36.     Gin and Juice (Snoop Dogg)

37.     Give up the Funk (Parliament)

38.     Hand in Pocket (Alanis Morrisette)

39.     Hey Ya (Outcast)

40.     Holla back Girl (Gwen Stefani)

41.     Honky Tonk Heroes (Waylon Jennings)

42.     Hotel California

43.     I Gotta Feeling

44.     I Heard it Through the Grapevine

45.     I’m Amazed (Wings)

46.     I’m Bad (ZZ TOP)

47.     Imagine (John Lennon)

48.     Jack and Diane

49.     Jessie (Carly Simon)

50.     Kashmir

51.     Killing Me Softly (LAuryn Hill Remix)

52.     Lay Lady Lay

53.     Lean on ME

54.     Leather and Lace (Stevie Nicks and Don Henley)

55.     Let It Be

56.     Life’s Been Good TO Me (Joe Walsh)

57.     Like a Rolling Stone (Bob Dylan)

58.     Losing My Religion (REM)

59.     Love Her Madly

60.     Love Hurts

61.     Me and My Bobby McGee

62.     Milky Way (The Church)

63.     Moon dance

64.     Mr. Jones

65.     Old Man (Neil Young)

66.     OMG (Usher)

67.     Once in a Lifetime (Talking Heads)

68.     One (Metallica)

69.     Orange Crush (REM)

70.     Piano Man

71.     Poker Face

72.     Reflex

73.     Refugee (Tom Petty)

74.     Regulators

75.     Riders on the Strom

76.     Rock star (Nickelback)

77.     Runaway Train

78.     Say Hey (Michael Franti)

79.     Shake Dat

80.     She’s Always a Woman (Billy Joel)

81.     Shooting Star (Bad Company

82.     Should I stay or Should I Go

83.     Sitting, Waiting< Wishing (Jack Johnson)

84.     Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana)

85.     Soul Sister

86.     Soul Survivor (Akon and Young Jeezy)

87.     Stairway to Heaven

88.     Subterranean Homesick Blues

89.     Sugar Magnolia (Grateful Dead)

90.     Sultans of Swing

91.     The Needle and the Damage Done (Neil Young)

92.     Time of Your Life (Greenday)

93.     Tiny Dancer (Elton John)

94.     Turn the page (Bob Segar)

95.     Under the Bridge (Red Hot Chili Peppers)

96.     Who do You Love (Bo Diddley)

97.     Windows Rolled Down

98.     Yesterday

99.     You Can’t Always Get What You Want

100.  You Shook Me All Night Long

Day 138: Laugh Until it Hurts

Once again, the picture will explain everything.

Day 137: Start a Diet Plan

Not so much to lose weight, but more of a way of imporving our overall health, today I started a "diet." With Atkins as my guide, I plunged into the day avoiding anything white, sweet, processed, or good. Im hungry, tired, and thankful that this will end soon.

Day 136: Watch Ansley cheer at her first football game

Hopefully the picture will capture how precious she is

Day 135: Girls Day with Ansley

Ansley and I left the gulf today and of course, ti was beautiful. The clouds were breaking up revealing the familiar blue sky we love. We enjoyed some excellent sushi at a restaurant in Gulf Shores and then spent the rest of the day shopping. It took us several hours to make the return trip home because of traffic, but since it was just Ansley and me, it wasn't long enough. I love this girl and I love any opportunities to spend the day with her.

Day 134: Goto FloraBama

When it is a tropical storm at the beach, what better place for a refuge than the infamous FloraBama lounge. We spent the afternoon people watching and by the end of the day my eyes and mind were overloaded. After what I saw on Sunday afternoon, I wondered what in the world was the place like the night before.
 I have FloraBama memories from every stage of my life: including preschool. When it was just a one room bar, I played on the beach while my parents sat inside. I would check in occasionally for snacks. As a teenager, I didnt remain outside and thanks to ODoul bottles that could be refilled, I escaped the watchful eyes of security. Much older, we would take the boat there from my parents house on the river. This was a day long adventure. Earlier this year,  we went there for the polar bear dip. We were seconds late fortunately, but we all vowed to try again this New Years.
The FloraBama is a squalid, overcrowded, loud, play pen for adults. It is where you watch a barefooted, shirtless  man dance/sway slowly on the dirt floor holding tightly a much larger and much meaner woman- even after the band stopped playing. It is where the bartender escorts the totally blind man to his seat underneath a string of bras and then brings him a pitcher of beer and a set of scratch off lottery tickets. It is where men with black eyes and HArley shirts sit next to sorority girls from Auburn clapping to David Allan Coe. The FloraBama is a place untouched by time, progress, hurricanes, or etiquette even after four decades. 

Day 133: Drive to the beach during a tropical storm

Despite the weather warnings, we were determined to spend Labor Day at the beach. We spent the day inside welcoming the start of college football. We managed to run to the ocean just once where we weer assaulted by blowing sand. But still a bad day at the beach is still better...

Day 132: Attend a high school football game

Friday night lights at West Side park in a torrential down pour! St Luke's Wildcats didn't actually win but they sure gave 100% to McIntosh. Personally, I think the opposing team substituted grown men for the teenage counterparts, because these were some abnormally large boys.
The best part of high school football is the raw unbridled passion the boys have for the game, win or lose. This is the game in its purest form: apart from offers, contracts, deals, scholarships, and subversive handshakes.   This is where the fathers let their boys loose on the field not knowing if all those days tossing the ball in the yard paid off. They stand nervously on the side lines, gripping the fence, watching and wondering where did the time go. It is the game in its roughest, purest, sweetest form.

Day 131: Take a picture of the Hummingbirds

I convinced my family I had important duties outside on the back porch. Here I sat very still for a very long time trying to capture the image of one of the countless hummingbirds that have made our home a rest stop. After several hours, I did not get the prized winning photo I wanted, but I did get some solitude on the back porch. Much better!

Days 114-130 Figure it out

In the first two weeks of school, my intentions were to manage my time more effectively to allow for more personal/fun activities to negate the demands of a rather demanding job. I was hoping by simple mind control techniques and prioritizing, I could continue the joys of summer well into winter. But that just didn’t happen. It was clear after a few days of school that lounging in the pool after school wasn’t going to happen. Ten minutes after the first bell rang I was already weeks behind and I have yet to catch up. I did manage to cook a dinner, remember when and where to pick up each kid each day, and create a path of toys, shoes, books, and assorted food wrappers to our respective bedrooms. It became clear that in order to survive the first quarter I would have to regroup and try again. I tried blowing it all off and going out with friends for drinks on a Wednesday night. This proved to be a very poor idea especially when the students the next day decided to be even louder and needier. So then I tried coming home and just watching TV. This ended when the cable company cancelled Fox and there is nothing else to watch on the other 78 channels. The first two weeks were spent establishing a routine more for survival than pleasure. With dance, cheer, day care, faculty meetings, band, Bible club, field trips, Mardi Gras meetings, working out, doctors appointments, parent conferences, overdue library books, broken house windows, and potty training to fill up my day, I realized I was going to have to get creative to find time for what really matters: me!