So, Scotty P’s on the internets now. He done moved to TX, got himself a long, tall woman, a pack of dogs, a gun collection, and a blog.
Check him out at The Austin Affair.
Old Friend on the Net
July 26th, 2008Computer Literate Two-Year Old
July 25th, 2008Me: “Tiller, you wanna watch t.v. while Mama gets dressed?”
Tiller: “Yes, Dora, please. It’s on pbskids. . . “something garbled that I couldn’t understand.
Then it occurred to me.
Me: “On Pbskids.com, Tiller?”
Tiller: “No, Mama,” shaking her head as if I’d said the silliest thing ever, “it’s on pbskids.ORG!”
I look at her in amazement as Todd busts a gut laughing from downstairs.
Glory Days
July 25th, 2008Day before yesterday, the family and I had to make a detour from the lake to Athens on the way home; Todd had to return a bike that they didn’t use for a shoot last week, and so i called my friend Opel to meet us for lunch. We had the dog and kids with us, so Taco Stand (Milledge, of course) was an obvious choice. I had already dragged Todd there during some portion of our courtship; He was still unimpressed, but i have years to force him into submission. I had forgotten that Athens is so dog-friendly, so i had the pleasure of eating my favorite college hangover food with my 8 year old dog, who had never been there with me. And the kids got to try it, too! They even have a tv on the deck, which i don’t think was there when I was in school, and they had on Tom and Jerry, which bought me tons of time to hang and chat with Opel.
I’m pretty sure that one of the most fun times in my life was when i lived on Pulaski Hts in Athens, with Honey and Scott. Opel and I were talking about how much we loved that house, and how he would go to class and then end up at our house just about every day for a year or more. Lying on the vinyl couch. Playing darts in the massive 70s kitchen. Going down to the tracks to throw rocks at the train. The day in March when we had that crazy snowstorm and then tons of people came over and partied all day. Curt Cobain died when I lived in that house and I remember Chris Bilheimer and I finding out from a Grill coworker and then i walked home and went to the Quarry with Scott, Dave, and Karen. She drove her jeep. Ah. . . Warm days at the Quarry or at the river out 441 with the railroad trestle. Watching the fire at Hoyt St. The hot guy that lived on the corner, whom Honey and I lusted after when he mowed his lawn. The crazy woman who lived across the street. The hippie bus in the wooded lot across the street. The water tower bases at the dead end.
After we left Taco Stand, I made T. drive by the Pulaski Heights house. Truly odd to ride in my family van, with my kids and husband, up the hill to the old house. Todd mentioned that it was really steep. I told him i used to walk my bike up that portion of the ride home. On the way out, i pointed out the houses that were the same, the house were Sheila and Debbie had a really fun party where Touch Me I’m Rick and Sheila were naked, and where i took my underage sister and her friend to their first college party. When we came back from that party, someone had broken into our house and torn the window box off Scott’s window coming in, and they stole his pants.
Good times, all. When I think of those days, i think of Honey and Scott, Zach, Opel, and Dave. Camille and Ryan and Dave and Rich. Katie and Karen and Donnie. These pics are for them. Apologies to the people who live there now, who were probably thinking, “Why is that old lady wandering around taking pictures of our little dead end street?”
The house and surroundings look a little different. I can still remember everything about what they used to look like, though.
The house on the steep hill. It used to be white. And a lot more run-down looking.
The front view. Looking at the porch makes me think of the porch swing and making wind chimes with scraps of metal from the railroad tracks behind the house. I loved hearing the train whistle at night.
This new construction is behind the red house on the corner of Pulaski and Pulaski Hts, and where the old Hippie bus used to be! I guess it’s going to be some kind of studio or guest house. Pretty cool!
This kind of floored me. It is a fence and gate constructed in front of the old water tower site. When we lived there, only the water tower bases were there – huge concrete slabs that used to hold up a water tower, but without the water tower. Very cool, and pretty creepy. Hard to explain, but it was kind of like having your own Stonehenge. This is a neat addition, but odd, because there is no fence – you could just walk around it and go over to the stones anyway. I guess the woman from across the street did it. There are still a couple of old shack houses down at the end of the street, almost overtaken with kudzu, looking exactly like they did back in the early 90s. 
Evan’s Wedding
July 24th, 2008All joking about reading addictions aside, Evan’s wedding was a blast. Can you say Tiki bar? How about Shrimp and Grits? Not just seeing old friends, but getting to see them, without kids, for two days straight? My belly laughed like it hadn’t laughed in years – I was sore afterwards. (Or maybe that was all the waterlogged Flying Burritos I got in the pool at 1 a.m.)
Best of all? Nightswimming in a calm ocean under a full moon. What hurricane?
Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the weekend, along with a link to the whole set on flickr.
Evan getting last minute lovin’ from the ladies on Friday night.
Fran the Cougar with her prey, Dan.
Me and Jason, friends since 10th grade biology.
Me and the Creeker boys.
Dan and Wendy at the Reception, which was extremely hot. I think you can actually smell Dan from this picture.
Jason and Laura
My nemesis for the weekend, Kyle, a.k.a. Corey Haim.
Me and the ole ball and chain, all spiffied up. 
Me and D, who is no longer a delinquent teen, but an upstanding husband and father, with some damn cute kids and a hot wife.
The happy groom and me.
I Think I Need An Intervention
July 23rd, 2008So, if you read Dogwood Girl much, you are probably wondering what happened to me. Well, I left for Hilton Head on Thursday of last week. That was the day I started my 544-page “beach read,” Twilight.
I didn’t know much about it, except that over the course of the summer, I kept on seeing high school girls at the pool reading this thick-ass dark book. Lots of girls reading them. Female lifeguards taking it on the stand with them, blowing the whistle for adult swim with one hand and cracking the book open with another. Anyone who knows me knows I love a big-ass thick book. Everybody had copies of the first book, and then I started seeing a second and third one, all with these slick dark-looking covers, and I thought to myself, that looks like something I would read, and then i thought, it also looks like a V.C. Andrews-type thing, which, let’s be honest, is just plain crack addiction reading. Knowing I’d be hanging out on the beach, and not wanting to read anything too heady while I’m drinking beer, I picked it up before we left. (By the way, South Carolina, no alcohol on the beach? $1,000 fine? Dumbest law on the books EVER, totally would kill tourism to enforce, plus, I’m pretty sure that telling people they can’t drink on the beach is un-American and considered a terrorist threat on American society. Also? Girls with “Cocks” on their shorts should just be shot.)
I proceeded to read that thing all the way down 16, only pausing to look up at that Christmas tree in the median, and then put on a bathing suit, and took it to the beach with me. I didn’t put it down again until dark, when i was forced to go to dinner. I read it when I came in drunk at 1 a.m. after drinking with my old friends. (Had to read that little section over the next morning, I admit.) Took it with me to the breakfast buffet, but didn’t crack it, only because Todd stared me down disapprovingly when I reached for it. Started reading it back on the beach that morning. Read it after everyone (finally!) left me at the pool that afternoon. Read it after getting dressed for the wedding until time to leave. Read it after the reception in the 30 minutes we took to get changed. Thought how wonderful it would be to read it at the reception, but resigned myself to an evening of drinking with my favorite high school friends and their wives. Sigh.
Read it like a fiend all the way home on Sunday, up until about bedtime, where I flipped through the remaining pages. Only about 50 pages left, i thought. Like a nicotine addict worrying about the pack of cigarettes being there in the morning, I debated putting back on clothes and finding the nearest bookstore before bedtime, so that I would have Book II there when I woke up and drove to the lake.
Finished Sunday night. Drove to the Lake on Monday morning and promptly used new nephew as an excuse to get out of the house. Hauled baby all over middle Georgia on a mission to find a bookstore. Found one. Bought second and third books in the saga. Noted with relief that there is a fourth one coming out August 2nd. Shed an inner tear that the saga would end. Drove to best coffee shop in my universe (apologies to Joe’s!) and prayed for baby to sleep while I started reading 2nd book.
Reluctantly went home when needy three-week old nephew got hungry. Committed crime of lying by omission when asked by husband if I bought another of “those books.” Silently fumed while husband and sister made fun of my high school vampire obsession. Later loaned first book to sister, as her interest was piqued, and who doesn’t like a good vampire story when a newborn is sucking you dry every two hours?
That was Monday at noon. I just finished 600-page book 2 about 30 minutes ago, and I am just blogging about it so that I can draw out starting number three. I mean, I only have eleven days until the fourth one comes out.
Are they good? Well, they are young adult fiction. They are definitely in the romance genre. About on par with a Harry Potter, as far as suspense goes. I would be lying if I didn’t say that they could use more sex, violence, and strong language. I would be lying if I said I didn’t cringe when I watched a teaser trailer for the movie and then listen as my husband derided it as Goth Gossip Girl in the Cascades.
Um, yeah, they’re pretty damn good. Look out, Jamie Fraser; We might have a new hero in town.
We Always Thought . . .
July 17th, 2008That Ev. would end up with Judd. . . but we are very happy that it will be Kim.
For information on this photo, and how it came about, please see the comments. Jason B. will have to explain the details of a wager that went horribly wrong for E. and J. All complaints about the posting of this photo should be filed with Jason, as he is the proper owner of said photo and released it to me for online publication.
This is just my very mischievous way of saying I will be off to the beach to see Evan get married this weekend. I am very glad to say that, because he is a gem of a guy, and I’m glad he finally found someone who appreciates his special brand of fun and games. Also, he was the last unmarried Creeker, and frankly, we were all getting a little jealous of his singledom.
If you are reading this and going to the wedding, wait till Jason and I have a few drinks and then come sit by us at the reception for some really good Evan stories. We have them in spades.
Evan, if you are reading this, this is kind of like when you left for college, and J. and I sat up all night, smoking and drinking, and writing the longest list ever of things that cracked us up about growing up with you. What I’m trying to say is that we love you, and are very happy for you and Kim.
I’m a Slacker
July 16th, 2008
I have really neglected old Dogwood Girl this week. I guess getting ready to go to the beach and trying to get all my workouts in, while doing laundry, and being a singlish mom (what i call myself when Todd has a busy shoot week) has put DG on the back burner. Sad, because i had lots of ideas and thoughts i wanted to get down.
Anyway, this photo doesn’t take much explanation, but it is a significant milestone.
Anyone who is a parent can identify with the horrible feeling of trying to watch young kids around water. It is kind of like constantly having lost your keys or purse. You feel slightly naked or vulnerable, and you have a little panicky feeling scanning the area to keep tabs on both children.
Or maybe that’s just me.
So, when we are at the Lake, the kids have to wear their life jackets whenever they are near the water, on the dock, in the boat, etc. But this past 4th of July weekend, the water was low enough for both kids to stand on the bottom near the seawall. (Our lake level, unlike many in GA, has not been affected by the drought.) That means that, with their life jackets on, and their feet on the bottom, Todd and I could SIT ON THE DOCK AND WATCH THEM SWIM.
This may not seem like much, but you try to relax and drink a beer, while standing in lake water with two kids arms clinging tightly around your neck. Normally, one of us has to be in the water to drag their butts back when they start flowing downriver.
It was like glimpsing a bright, sunny, relaxing future. My future. With children who can stand up on their own.
On another note, this is also one of very few pictures where both kids are a) looking at the camera and b) smiling, rather than trying to beat the shit out of each other.
Okay, maybe this photo did require some explanation.
Dash Update
July 11th, 2008Here is an update on Dash, from his Mama:
“Looks like Dash is a-okay. He had his repeat ultrasound this morning and it shows no changes from the one on Sunday. The part of his stomach they were worried about is on the “large side of normal” but still within normal range. Since he’s doing better they’re not going to worry about it unless he starts exorcist vomiting again.
Went for his 2 week appt today and he now weighs 7 lbs, 9 oz. Little pig!”
Rollie of the Day
July 10th, 2008
Another old picture of Rollie that just cracks me up. Yes, we were drinking beer while Rollie sat on the beach and ate some kind of seaweed. Good parenting.
This was in Key West. I think later that night Rollie went to his first Fantasy Fest. . . maybe not the best idea for those under 18, but you know we like to live on the edge.
In the Principal’s Office
July 9th, 2008I registered Rollie for school yesterday. I had met his pre-K teacher at the open house in May, and I liked her very much. Yesterday, when we went in the office, there was only one other family (incidentally, a little boy who will also be in Rollie’s class). The Principal was working the office and he remembered me from the Open House a month earlier, and explained all the paperwork to me. (I’m pretty sure that it is easier to buy a handgun than to register a 4-year-old for pre-k.) I liked him immediately.
Anyone who knows me is probably aware that I have some serious doubts about how America educates (or fails to educate) her children these days (don’t we all, to some extent?) and how much we have agonized over where to send our child to school, where to move, etc. How would we find a school that had decent to good test scores, racial and cultural diversity, but not so affluent that my children would be so sheltered that they wouldn’t know that not everyone lives like they do? Most of all, the school had to be safe and in a decent middle and high school district.
Todd and I have decided to have Rollie repeat pre-k this year, since it will not seem to him like he is repeating, as he is going to a new elementary school, and will have a new class. He was having some problems keeping his frog on the lily pad last year, which basically means that while he did fine with the “academic” parts of school, he was struggling to control his behavior, follow directions, and generally play well with others. His teacher thought that it was probably just emotional immaturity and an inability to control his impulses, and that holding him back wouldn’t harm him, and might help.
I talked to tons of parents of late-summer boys about the holding back issue: Those that didn’t hold their boys back were split down the middle concerning their feelings about it; About half of them regretted not holding the boy back. On the other hand, not one single parent I’ve talked to regretted holding their son back. It just felt like the thing to do for us.
Fast forward a month to Rollie suddenly reading whole books. We started having doubts about how he would fare in Pre-K if he could read and other kids couldn’t. Would he be bored? Would he be a frustration for the teacher? Would he languish without attention or challenge?
This parenting thing, it’s pretty complex, and it is a game of stamina, like some mindfuck marathon that you just keep running, with diverging paths, and a finish line that keeps on slipping in and out of sight. Honestly, I think it has finally sunken in that there is no finish line.
I decided to talk to the Principal about my concerns (also making sure that if he needed to, Rollie could move up into Kindergarten.) I was so happy after my discussion with him: He said that they see kids across the spectrum in the Pre-K; that some come in not speaking little English, or not knowing their ABCs. Some know letter sounds. Some are starting to sight-read words. And that some can read sentences and books.
My favorite part? Every Friday, the kids who can read in the Pre-K and K classes come into the Principal’s office and read books with him. I like the idea that my child won’t be bored or ignored, and that he will be put into a group that is on his level, and that his accomplishment will be rewarded and acknowledged.
Anyone know if this reading group thing is common practice in elementary schools? Does anyone else have experience having been held back, or having held their child back? I’m curious what others have experienced.