The Roots

Getting back to our roots, met up for a little mother-daughter melee at Grassroots. Seems like the daughters are now having more fun than the moms - how did that happen??

Tee Pee

Every single time I've walked into Tee Pee I've thought, "When are they going to change something around here?" The ripped up red booths, the weird hallway, the tiny bathroom. For almost forty years, no matter the crowd or the chips or the pitchers of margaritas, it's always the same. Until today! 

Check out the non-enchilada-sauce smudged new Tee Pee menu! The owner was even walking around helping those of us that needed assistance, pointing to the lunch special section on the new colorful, laminated work of art. After a text to Amy (stuck in NY with bad Mexican food), she was so excited I had to drive back over and grab a decades old smudged one for a souvenir. Ole!

The Wheels On The Bus...

My first back-to-school day in almost two decades without a back-to-schooler. Shana sat on the counter this morning, legs dangling down, all dressed up, eating one of the little eggy quiche muffin things she made ahead of time on Sunday to help the morning rat race before work go more smoothly. She's figuring it all out. She's all grown up. The tank tops and flip flops have been replaced with pencil skirts, cardis and heels. I asked her if she misses school and right away she said yes. The friends, the Tucson house, the campus, I'm sure. But then came reality. "Well, I don't really miss the tests. Or the studying. Or writing all of those papers." Then she gathered up her laptop, the just-texted Starbucks order from her new BFF at work and hit the freeway, leaving me to watch the neighborhood kids walk by the window to the bus stop. And even though I've got her at home for another month before she moves out for good, I took one look at the bus today and cried.

Crazy Cat Lady

'Cuz four would be weird, right?

Movie Madness - Ruby Sparks

Write on!

If I was going to make up a life-long soul mate character that would trek through my days with me, he might look a lot like this.

(Not the shake, the adorable guy behind it)

But instead, I snagged my in-the-flesh Dr. Everythingwillbealright from out of the Monday coal mines and dragged him to Movie Madness where we laughed ourselves through a great flick, putting a big, fat cherry on top of the day.

Put 'er down ('94)

A little boy wanted Shana. Not more than three years old, the kid walked right up to Shawn in the adorable Montessori classroom, sized him up, looking six feet high straight into Shawn's eyes and quietly, but firmly, demanded, "Put 'er down."

Shawn was still laughing when they got home.

Book Club - Death Comes To Pemberley

Didn't make it through this month's book, Death Comes To Pemberley, but I'm betting somebody died in the end. The author took Pride and Prejudice, threw in a murder mystery and by about page thirty, I gave up and thought - lady, think up your own book. I found some better drama with our own little book club - Mariah and the stolen car, the manly shower scrubbing, the Jersey shore, the LMCers, the B students, the cat hoarders and the mini cupcakes.

Not one to skip reading, though, focused on a few good men this month on the nightstand.

Hemingway


Jobs


And Mr. Christian Grey...

Egg Foo Yummm

"They tried to sell us egg foo young," sang Old Wildcat. And they were successful tonight at a just-like-back-in-Chicago kind of joint for a fill up on life lessons din din with Dad.

YipeeeEmail

Lisa,

I have verified that the report is not tallying right and you are entering the data properly. Keep doing what you are doing and we will fix the report. 

I will let you know when it is fixed. 

If you have any other questions let me know.

Thanks,

Alex S---------

Sounds like a pretty normal email, right? So when I almost started to cry when I got it, I realized I've been waiting around for normal for a very long time. Since April, April 2011, living in crazyland, a place where ten or so people in some building in Atlanta and little 'ol me in my office in Arizona and a dark, rainy "cloud" server somewhere in between have not been communicating very well, instead playing their ignore, delay, blame, pass-the-buck or promise-me-the-moon-and-hang-up game. If I could fire them, I would. If I could stop paying them, I would. If I could sue them, I would. But I can't. So I wait. And wait. Like, for example, the above report in question that needed to be fixed. Bad software. I knew it was wrong, but they said, "Nope, looks good to us." Case closed. I kept calling. Explaining. Showing them the data. Providing all the facts I could for weeks on this one thing (since May 13th, to be exact, but who's counting?) This one report that is holding me back from so many other things. "Nope," they said again and again, like talking to a panel on Fox News, "still looks good. Must be you." Case closed. So today, out of the blue, Alex from Atlanta, my new hero, pops a professional, competent, honest email in my inbox. Finally. I'm not crazy. Just a little teary-eyed.

24 Hour Theatre Project

Another great year!
Hormel New Works Festival