Bat-men

  This is an awesome little boy I saw playing in Central Park when I went to NY to help J & L when S was born.  I thought he was SO cool!

     HA!!  I was right!  The bat acted alone.  There were no other bat-conspirators.  Son #1, a.k.a. "Mr Smarty Pants-I know more than you ALWAYS and even if I don't I'm going to sound like I do" was wrong.  He knoweth not his bat lore.

We had a guy come out and check the house and we are clean.  No mice, no rats .... no bats.  He said it was a healthy, young bat that probably didn't listen to it's mom (huh, wonder who that sounds like?) and probably got lost going back to its nest.  He headed to the first safe place he could find, not knowing that he was entering the "room-from-which-there-is-no-return".  Poor little thing.

Oh well.  I'm good with that.

         This is Jim w/ 5 of the kids (Son #1 is on the other side of him.  I'm not sure where Daughter #1 is ---- it's highly doubtable that she was fishing).

     OK, time for an update.  Let's see ---- I got a pink hoodie in the mail yesterday with "Harvard" on it!  It's sooo cute.  Oh, and Daughter #1 sent a note with it.  She wrote that she hoped I like it --- it just looked like me.  "It was very Legally Blonde."

Hmmmmmmmmmmm .............................................

'Nuff said.

     Daughter #3 went to an audition yesterday.  One that could potentially land her in front of the judge on American Idol.  And she made it.  She made the top 10 of that day's auditions (she thinks they did 3 days of them).  Sunday afternoon she goes to the next audition.  That is SO cool!!!  She said she was shocked when they called her number.  She didn't even realize it was her number at first --- she was looking around for who they were calling!  So she could stop now and be very, very happy.  I wish I could have been there.

     I received an e-mail from the military school stating that they are changing the date of registration (i.e. the day Son #2 goes).  It was on the 16th and now it's on the 30th.  This is supposedly because of Hurricane Dolly.  I'd love to get my hands on that girl.

     Daughter #2 sent me a long letter from camp.  It made me cry.  She has no access to a computer or internet so she hasn't kept up with the blog for over a month.  Yet in her letter she told me some of her favorite memories of her dad.  So I thought I'd use one.  

     She wrote about the annual picnic fundraiser they have at camp.

"I keep thinking about last year's BBQ.  I just remember getting to walk around w/ Daddy & having him help me set up for my week on "Night Owl" (a group of campers stay up all night for the week and sleep during the day).  And how he brought Daughter #3 and I that Pirates of the Caribbean sun screen (which I just found in the boat this week).  That was such a random gift.  I always think of that, though, when people ask me what I miss most about him.  I'm not really sure why, though I guess because it represents him in a lot of different ways.  It shows how thoughtful he was and how funny he was and how much he cared about me -- that he would think about me when coming across such a random object in a store.  I also remember how proud he was of me.  I think he really thought it was cool that Daughter #3 and I worked here."

That's just a paragraph of a lot of other memories she shared.  

Son #1 is counting the days, minutes and seconds until he leaves on the 20th.  Seriously -- he has has some little widget thing on his computer that counts them down.  Sheesh.

Son #3 is begging me for a dog.  The boy is completely off of his rocker.  Daughter #3 and her puppy (sigh) will be coming to visit tomorrow.  I. can. hardly. wait.  (double sigh)

Actually, I can't wait to see her, I'm a little apprehensive about the dog --- and the 3 cats.  (triple sigh)

      I think I'm singing in the choir at a memorial service tomorrow.  We-shall-see.

And tomorrow night Daughter #3 and I are joining several friends to go see John Mayer.  I heard he's not as cute with no hair.  Of course, I don't know what he looked like with hair so it's no big deal.

     OK, I think that's it.  I seem to be doing well on the meds for the kidney infection.  Don't have any pain -- yay for that.  

There are no rodents in or about my home.  Double-yay for that.  

My home is still worn up.  No yays for that.

     Oh .... and this is Son #3 eating a chicken sandwich at a place on the lake.  This piece of chicken was bigger than his face.  Seriously.   It was obscenely and almost grotesquely big.  And he ate for about 5 minutes before he even got to the bun!  He managed to eat about 1/4 of it and then finished it off later (maybe in 2 different meals).  Hopefully he'll avoid the "bigger than your face" chicken sandwich next time.  And that's totally how they should advertise it:  "Come on in and eat yurself  a chicken sandwich that's gosh durn bigger'n yur face.  We garonteeee it!"

Sigh ---- we do live in Texas, ya know.

Before I complete this post I want to say hello to a very special group of people.  The KPMG/Andersen people.  I thank you from the bottom of my heart for the comment that was posted the other day.  You don't know how happy it makes me to hear from you and to know that you do still think of him.  Truly.  It's impossible to really convey that to you.

Before Jim died, KPMG was a big part of his life.  And so it was also a part of my life.  Since he died it feels like that, too, has been ripped away;  the friendships that were made, the connections that were there, the office parties to look forward to, etc.   That is now gone from my life.  Gone in a flash and I had no vote in the process.  I miss that part of OUR life.  Our life "before".  So just know that when one or two or even more of you take the time to post a comment on the blog, send an e-mail, or a card or letter, you have given me some joy at the memory of something I used to have.