This morning I was checking out my Facebook feed when I ran across a post by my friend, Jill of Scary Mommy. Apparently Jill's hair stylist had left her position at the salon where Jill gets her hair done and this has caused some serious hair-raising dilemmas.
I sent Jill a message asking for either the stylists name or the name of the salon she had previous worked at and with that information I began my search.
Google was absolutely no help at all. Facebook was also a bust without a last name. MySpace was equally uneventful.
But then I remembered that cosmetologists are licensed by the state in which they work. Hmmmm, that got the gears running in my brain and so I looked up Maryland's licensing board and did a license search for the stylist's last name.
BINGO!
I got her full name, address, and cosmetology license number and with that I was able to track her down via her Facebook page which even showed her past employer as being the very salon where she did Jill's hair.
Am I good or what?
I don't know when I realized I was good at finding missing things or, more importantly, missing people. I think I can chalk it up to being married to an attorney for 10 years who spent the better part of his practice tracking down deadbeats and non-payers for his clients.
I knew there was a perk to that marriage.
So, who needs me to track down a lost love, deadbeat dad, or missing hair stylist?
This Saturday the hubby and I headed to Maryland's Eastern Shore for some old-fashioned rest and relaxation amongst nature.
Stop laughing....I'm serious.
Saturday also marked the day I was finally going to learn to fish. The only previous experience I had with fishing was when I was 17 and my high school sweetheart and my mom would fish in the river just outside our house. On a particularly long day of fishing I decided to try my hand at it and proceeded to reel in a 17" rainbow trout on my first cast. I was happy and was looking forward to getting the hook out of the poor thing's mouth when my boyfriend proceeded to whack it on the head with a blunt stick and throw it into a bucket. Apparently, we he was going to be eating it for dinner that night. I was devastated.
I remember crying over that damn fish.
No wonder he broke up with me a few months later.
But this time was going to be different. I have embraced the fact that God gave us animals for eating and while I am not ready to visit the local slaughterhouse and chum it up with a cow about to be sent to the giant pasture in the sky I have made peace with catching, cleaning, and eating a fish.
I've come a long way, baby.
We headed to the Choptank River Fishing Pier (also known as Bill Burton Fishing Pier State Park) in Dorchester County, Maryland with my new fishing license in hand and a bag of lovely carnivorous worms to use as bait.
For the next 7 hours I caught these small fish called spot that Mike would then use as bait on his giant mumbo-jumbo 15' poles in an attempt to catch Striper, Blues, or Sea Trout. We caught loads of spot but sadly not any bigger fish that we could keep and take home for our Sunday dinner.
Tweeting and fishing...the wave of the future!
At 10:00 pm we loaded the car back up and prepared to make the two hour drive back home. It was going to be a long ride but we had a pleasantly calm and easygoing day together and we felt good.
That is, until 11:30 pm.
Mike was driving (and for that I will be eternally grateful) because when Bambi decided to jump 8 lanes of traffic and a jersey wall ending up directly in front of our car which was moving at sixty miles per hour he knew to slam on the brakes and not attempt to swerve out of the deer's way. If I had been driving I am sure that I would have panicked, lost control of the car, and then rolled it.
Despite Mike's best efforts to miss Bambi we hit her head on with the passenger side of the car taking out the hood, lights, fender and bumper of the car. We pulled over and checked the car, did a brief look/see for Bambi but then realized there was no way she could have survived that kind of impact.
I do admit to crying over that damn deer. But I am rather sure my husband will not divorce me for it.
He's awesome like that.
We both thanked God for protecting us and I said a little prayer for Bambi since the bible says he watches out for the Sparrows and I figured he certainly might notice the loss of one of his bigger creations.
We made our way home grateful to be alive. Thankful for the fun we did that have day and considering the fact that we seem to have a better track record at hunting than we do at fishing.
Good to know.
*On a side note...I had some awesome pictures from our fishing trip to share in this post but Blogger had decided to freak out on all my photos and flip them on their side so if you would still like to see them you can access them via my Facebook page!
I met the coolest gal when I went to Bloggy Boot Camp in Philly this month. Her name is Roo and she has one of the greatest blogs I have seen in a very long time.
Have you seen her adorable stick figure drawings? NO?! Go take a look. Its okay, I'll wait for you.
Seriously..aren't those awesome?! When I first saw them I thought to myself, "Why didn't I think of that?!"
Well, today Roo is hosting a great meme in which we all share what we carry with us in our purses/ bags and given my posts have been a bit heavy of late I decided it was the perfect time to do something carefree and fun on here.
So here it goes!
My Vera Bradley purse looks small but its mighty! Mighty full, that is!
Inside you can find the following:
Iphone 3GS
Orbit Sweet Mint gum
My blingy sunglasses that my hubby picked out for me
Thank you so much to everyone and their kind comments on my post yesterday. It has meant the world to me today as I have read over them and let them sink in.
What I have come up with is that I am immensely blessed beyond measure.
This path of mine, the one I have placed myself on, is not going to be an easy one to traverse given how deeply entrenched I have made myself in this pattern of self-loathing and numbness...but getting out of it is one thing I know I must do.
And there is a peace in that knowledge.
Today I did something big. HUGE.
Its something I should have done a very very long time ago.
For now I am going to stay on this path by myself for a ways. At some point I hope to blog more about it but for now I know this is something I have to do privately.
But, don't worry.
This path I am on is the right one and right now it only has enough room for two.
Its just enough for me and God.
And I am hopeful I will see a clearing on the horizon.
My boys are similar to many individuals with autism in that they do not particularly like being touched or held. There are times that on their own terms they may come plop down in my lap or lay across my back while I am laying down, but for the most part touch is not something they seek out.
It is especially something they do not want when they are hurting.
If they have fallen down and scratched their knee, or have bumped their head on the edge of a counter, or sometimes when they are sad and they can't tell me why they will run off by themselves to a corner or will scream loudly and writhe on the ground.
But to be sure they do not want Mommy to pick them up and hold them, to comfort them and to remind them I will always be right there no matter what. They do not want my comfort.
They simply can't stand it.
And that breaks my heart.
I remember all the times my mother's arms and soft voice healed me more than any bandage ever could. How when I was hurting her name was the first I would always cry out. It was the loss of that when she died that grieves me still today. That enormous gulf of separation.
When my mom died my relationship with Jesus was what buffered me from passing over from grief into mourning. The promise of heaven and of reunion was what I clung to.
And for a while, that was enough.
Somewhere along the way and in the years since her death I lost that tight grip I once had on my relationship with God. It was a gradual chipping away of my faith. It was around the time that my second son, Noah, was diagnosed with severe autism that I could feel the internal crumbling of God's foundation in my life.
To be clear it was not God who was backing away...it was me. I was holding Him at a distance and filling myself with things of this world that could not ever heal the pain I felt inside.
These "things": a return to overeating, drinking more than I should, backing away from friendships and opportunities were not because I felt anger at God for the death of my mom or my two sons' diagnoses. It was so much worse.
It was numbness and a consistent deadening of the pain and the hurt I felt.
And somewhere along the way I realized that numb was a whole lot easier to stomach than hurt.
And then I heard this song.
I was driving in my car and I had to pull over.
I wept.
I prayed.
and I asked for forgiveness and for renewal.
This song helped me to see that my running from God was just as hurtful to Him as my boy's inability to allow me to comfort them was hurting me.
The only difference was that I had a clear choice. But time and time again I chose poorly.
I chose the here and now over the tried and true.
The fleeting over the eternal.
And today I am here to say that I am done with that. I am done with numb.
I am kicking it to the curb and I am taking back the best parts of me that include sometimes feeling sad. The parts that accept the fact that my mom is gone. The parts that feel fear when I consider my boys' future and my the part where I worry that I may not be strong enough to care for them as long as I need to.
I don't really know where this path will lead me. But I have some pretty clear ideas on how to start walking it and I hope you will join me on this journey.
You don't have to be religious or even somewhat spiritual. You just need to be fed up with the rut you've found yourself in and ready to make a change.
After all, when you hit rock bottom there is only 2 directions you can go....sideways or up!
And personally my friends, I'm aiming for the moon.
Last weekend I attended my second Bloggy Boot Camp in Philadelphia, the City of SITSterly Love.
I was lucky enough to be able to travel to the conference with my Bloggy BFF, Daune AKA: The Grasshoppa. We drove her Grasshoppa Express as fast as its little wings would carry us all while singing along to the soundtrack from the movie, Grease.
We made it to the Hyatt at Penn Landing just in time for the beginning of happy hour with all our fellow SITStahs. Before we knew it we were wearing feather masks, blinky rings, and drinking an obscene number of appletinis from the bar.
At happy hour I learned a very important lesson...do not order 3 drinks without asking the price of said drinks first. WOWZA!
We had an amazing dinner at Triumph Brewing Company where we dined on chicken, gnocchi, and pan seared salmon. I believe there may have been more cocktails.
Many more cocktails, my friends.
We made it back to our hotel and stayed up until late in the night talking, laughing, and tweeting our little hearts out.
Also, there may have been a glass or two of wine consumed. I think.
The next morning came and there was a flurry of excitement as we made our way to Bloggy Boot Camp and a day full of networking, education, and support.
Lolli from Better In Bulk taught us all about our cameras and
what they can do to improve our blog's photographs.
The talented Cynthia of Napwarden knocked our socks off with her video presentation
and encouragement to create a blog design that makes a great first impression.
CecilyK spoke about blogging through the good times and the bad and how what we share can impact others around the world. Her story was amazing, shocking, and truly awe-inspiring.
Tara of Feels Like Home knocked all the cobwebs loose in our minds so we could better understand SEO and how important it is for our blog's success.
Ted Rubin from the OpenSky Project spoke about the company and its influence of bloggers, celebrities, and innovators being brought together to build a new marketplace ecosystem. OpenSky offers a chance for anyone to couple with manufacturers of products they believe in and then offer them for sale on their own blogs. This is something I will definitely be taking a closer look at in the weeks to come.
Many of us that attended this Bloggy Boot Camp had also been at Baltimore's BBC earlier in the year so Tiffany, Kat, and Jill decided to host a breakout session for us veterans. We got to ask questions brainstorm answers. This session allowed us to get to know each other better and share our blog's focus and future.
and Lolli of Better In Bulk were just some of the attendees of the breakout session.
THE PEOPLE:
I met so many great friends that until last weekend only lived in my computer. Getting to put blog names with faces was the best part of the whole weekend.
Heading to dinner with some great ladies.
Mavin of Savin, Coma Girl, Dutch Being Me, A Million Boxes, and All Things Fadra.
Saturday night all the SITStahs were treated to an awesome cocktail and dessert bar from the Bloggy Boot Camp sponsor, VirtuaWoman.
The Grasshoppa & Tiffany from SITS
Check out the dessert bar! I only had 1 thing and I am STILL kicking myself for not trying more!
Sunday morning came entirely too soon and we were forced to say goodbye to friends new and old.
Bye Napwarden and Dutch! We'll always have appletinis!
Daune and I escorted Dianna to the airport in the Grasshoppa Express!
But, before we left Philly there was one stop we HAD to make.
Geno's Steaks
Pat's: King of Steaks...and also panic attacks.
We had to have an authentic Philly cheese-steak before leaving this great city. These 2 locations are practically an institution in the city and after attempting to order my cheese-steaks (wit whiz or wit provolone) I was almost ready to be checked into one.
We went to Geno's Steaks first and that was pretty easy going. Pat's Steaks? Not so much.
Apparently when you order your sandwich at Pat's you had better know exactly what you want, have your cash in your hand, and for the love of God do NOT step to the side because if you do the cashier will admonish you and tell you that he could have given your steaks to someone else and then you would have been s#*t out of luck with no steaks.
No, I'm not kidding.
Thankfully we made it out of there with our steaks and I hung on to a thread of my sanity.
Its long overdue for me to share these recipes with my friend and family. It seems every time I make them I get asked for the recipe and try as I might I rarely get around to sending it to the person who wants it.
It is 7:45 pm. On most nights my children would be at their wildest right now. Noah would be jumping up and down on the couch and flipping the toy box over so he can stand on it. Sam would be flapping his hands wildly around his face while listening to music on this computer played so loudly that my eardrums would be bleeding. But not tonight. Nope, tonight they are both snug as bugs in a rug in their own little nests bedded down for the night. To whom or what do I owe this great achievement? To my new best friend, the local Chick-Fil-A.
It was a stroke of genius this afternoon when I suggested to my best friend Becky that we take the kids to Chick-Fil-A for dinner and let them run off some steam. My kids don't even eat the food at the fine establishment. They simply use it for its unending supply of entertainment in the form of stairs, slides, drive-able cow cars, pinwheels, and fun-house mirrors. Don't misunderstand me, I am not a total freeloader, I eat their food. I love their food. After tonight I might consider buying stock in their food (which is a bold statement given the current economy). However, even if I hated Chick-Fil-A's food and was a lifelong vegan and hater of all things meat, tonight's miracle of finding both my children asleep before 8 am would make me strongly consider enduring it. Often.
So tonight I will say a special prayer for the lovely owner's of the Owings Mills Chick-Fil-A. You have made one mother very very happy. And apparentely, also her two sons.
If I could go back and write this post again I would have included pictures of my sons, Sam and Noah. I would have paid attention to the spell checker and even added a link to our local Chick-Fil-A store which has the best customer service I have EVER experienced in a fast food restaurant.
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What about you? What was your first blog post about? What would you change about it if you could?
You can answer these questions and more at the SITS BlogFrog Community discussion going on right now! Today is my day to keep the discussion going and encourage all my SITStahs to visit each other's blogs and do what we do best...Comment and show some bloggy love!
You can get more information about SITS and our Back 2 Blogging Challenge going on right now by clicking on the hyperlinks!
Early Saturday morning the boys and I headed out to one of the local playgrounds to shake their sillies out. We were there for close to 2 hours and in that time the boys swung, slid, and sanded.
Noah's love of throwing sand is just one of the many reasons we go to the playground in the early morning when its empty.
Nothing riles up a group of Mommys like a kid throwing sand!
As you can see Noah's Boundless Joy is not only limited to the swimming pool!
Noah the Nomadic sand man!
I'm king of the playground!!!
Some kids climb on the jungle gym, others go up and down the slides, or play in the sand box.
Not my Sam! He grabs a stick and finds every metal surface possible to drum on.
Here he has found the water fountain and is going to town on it!
Heading to dinner with some great ladies.
