Cards by Roxy

So Roxy is trying her hand at making cards.  She is sending mixed messages, I think.

After handing me this precious card, she reminded me that I have not paid her allowance this week.  Ouch.  I wonder what kind of card I will get if I forget to pay her allowance and forget to pack her lunch for school?

The Novel and the Poo

The Franks family had a random roadtrip last night because fall is in the air and Scottie got the urge to explore mountains.  Now that we have two children in two different schools with two different release times, we can't get away until much later (bummer.)  But we took off anyway.

And we got lost.  Of course.  But not before we found the Curl Up and Dye beauty salon.  You can get some good Georgia har in thar.

GPS?  Scott don't need no stinkin' GPS.  This is a Montana boy we are talking about here, and he can sense mountains and trout with his fabulous nose.

Luckily for the girls and me, I can sense Sonic with my fabulous Okie brain.  At least the girls and I had a brown bag special to tide us over.

We turn around, stop, consult useless maps, then Scott opens up a book on North Georgia Trout Fishing.  Darby's astute and ironic comment was, "You're getting our directions from a novel?"  Yes people, we were looking for a fishing hole mentioned in Scott's book where the specifics included:  turn left on main street and follow the road straight until it turns to gravel.  No street names, no road side markers, no comment about how there never was, nor never will be a straight road in all of Georgia.

We figure out that we have actually driven in a scenic circle, so forged ahead and found our fishing spot.  It looks pretty good, so I think we will fish there sometime when the sun is up, because at this point it was gone.  We attempted to skip stones - I am hopeless at this skill and the girls have never learned it either, but we do enjoy looking for rocks.  It is at this part of the evening that Darby mentions that something stinks.

It was worse than a stink, as a matter of fact.  When we got to the car, it was the worst aroma possible.  After everyone looking at everyone else, I shout out, "Check the shoes!"  And the award went to Darby, who managed to plant her all-terrain shoes in something unimaginable.  I must say, it was very dark and damp and there is no telling what possessed her to step where she did.  We are still dealing with her shoe of poo, but hopefully after getting soaked in the creek and left out on the porch in the pouring rain, all scent will be gone.

And so the roadtrip ended.  Don't you wish you had been there?

Check This Out

How to Be an Eskimo Pirate - The 70s Era

Atlanta is flooded, school is cancelled, and I am looking at old photos.  My daughters find it very odd to imagine their parents as children, let alone seeing them in old pictures.  Roxy is still not quite sure what to think about this one.

I am including it as a glimpse of what has changed in the world.  Daily I get an email from Halloween Express, wanting me to purchase a mass-produced, slave labor crafted costume that will disintegrate within 12 hours after being worn.  To date, my daughters have always worn costumes that were pretty elaborate, although last year's owl costume was more creative with the makeup that the actual costume.  But in the old days, you purchased nothing for Halloween, except for maybe a mask at TG&Y.  Your costume makeup came from your mom's lipstick collection.  And, nothing matched.  At all.

Scott's creation, shown in this picture, appears to be that of an Eskimo Pirate.  Poor Montana kids - bundled up so they don't get hyphthermia.  Scott's brother is even more creative - he wanted to be a mean pig.  Now who wouldn't want to give these boys candy?

Second Grade Literature

It's time to share Roxy's story with the world.  I like the way she goes through all the stages of grief in this short story - it's profound.  Very in touch with her emotions.  And, please, notice the perfect penmanship and not the imperfect spelling - just smile and love on all the seven year olds in this world who are trying so hard to perform for their teachers, their parents, and their standardized tests.

It Takes Both Sunshine and Rain

I am in hibernation mode due to rain.  I kind of love it.  Nesting instincts kick in, like baking cookies and trying new recipes.

This photo is my attempt to show some of the double rainbows we saw in Montana this summer.  Just outside Bozeman, we kept seeing full rainbows, double rainbows, and more rainbows than we could count.  It's more difficult to find rainbows in Georgia because we have many, many tall trees.  But with all the rain, I keep looking.

Taking a picture through the windshield is not conducive to making a moment memorable, but I tried anyway :)

My Memories Have a Soundtrack

So, it seems like many people are dying lately.  I realize that death is common and happens all the time, but I am now of age to have memories to go along with the death notices, and that feels a little weird to me.

A notification about the death of Jim Carroll popped up yesterday and it put this crazy punk rock song in my head, appropriately titled, "People Who Died."  Jim Carroll lived a very hard, fast life and wrote a book about it called The Basketball Diaries.  The book, later made into a movie with young Leonardo DiCaprio, inspired the Columbine high school shooters.  I remember Jim Carroll because he was so strange and compelling and he could write, and the song "People Who Died" had been in my head all day.

Then I hear about Patrick Swayze dying.  So the Jim Carroll song is out of my head now, only to be replaced with the soundtrack to Dirty Dancing.  My friend and I cut French class one day to go see the movie (no worries, the teacher was allowing a ditch day because her pom-pon squad asked for one and she just loved all those pom pon girls.  I mostly tolerated those girls.)  I think I saw Dirty Dancing about three times, plus I owned the soundtrack.  My favorite Patrick Swayze moment is probably when I first saw him in "The Outsiders."  That was when I also first saw Rob Lowe and Tom Cruise and Matt Dillon.

I am wondering who will be the next announced death.  The soundtrack of my memories will continue...

She's Fierce

Not everybody can draw the sword from a stone, but Darby can!

Let It Be

I watched a documentary about the Beatles on VH1. Apparently it was released in 1995, but I was so smitten with my fiance and wedding plans and work, I missed the whole thing. It was a very interesting documentary, though, and it made me remember lots of things I had tucked away into my brain.

I learned about the Beatles from my brother, who gleaned most of his Beatles knowledge from our cousin. The big splurge for us was a double album on 8-track, which we memorized on our car trips. When my brother bought the record of the White Album, he would play some of the songs for me. I learned about the Gideon's Bible found in motel rooms because Paul sang about it in "Rocky Raccoon." I still have no idea why they put "Number 9" on that album, but we listened to it backwards, just like you were supposed to hear it. And I learned not to reveal too much to Mom because there was a not-so-Christian song on there about a road and doing something in it...

I remembered the not-so fortunate school picture of my sister where she wore John Lennon hair and glasses. It was the seventies, and everybody wore that hair and those glasses, but she was really channelling John that day. Last night, I could not forget my sister's photo.

I remembered teaching Yellow Submarine to Darby and Roxy. They don't love it like I love it, but I can play that one on the piano so there. I like Yellow Submarine because of the Beatles cartoons that I would watch in the mornings before I went to school. I would catch those when I didn't like the episode of I Love Lucy or Green Acres. (My TV addiction started early.)

I like psychedelic Beatles the best, and I like the Paul the best. "Let It Be" is the best song of them all. I asked Scott his opinion, and surprisingly enough, he does not have a favorite Beatle, much less a favorite song, but he is very anti-Yoko.

I want the Beatles Rock Band really really really bad. I hope Santa remembers this.

Roxy's Protective 'Fro

It's time for the back-to-school lice checks. Roxy's friend was sent home today - eek! I am counting on Roxy's 'fro to protect her from these evil little boogers. I cannot fathom ridding her 'fro from lice.

As I type this, a Google ad for pet product Advantage comes up. Maybe treating her like a pet with a collar that repels ticks would do the trick for lice. She STILL wears the cat suit regularly (yesterday, as a matter of fact, she dressed as a cat and sang karaoke to "Pocket Full of Sunshine." It was a surreal musical experience, let me tell you.)

Do these pictures look like something lice might find desirable?

I'm Alive - August Is Over!

August is definitely a beast of a month for familia Franks. It is not my fault that Scott ends up booked every weekend, two of those where he is gone. I wish it were not an expensive month with back to school shoes, supplies, meal plans, school shirts, etc. Every August I find myself trying to figure out how to celebrate Darby's birthday in August, because there is always too much to do, too little money, and oops where's Daddy?

School started and all's well, especially considering how I thought the year would start. Roxy has quickly made friends and did not forget everything she learned in first grade. Darby can see the good points of middle school, she has teachers she respects and likes, and she has mastered the school locker and the PE locker. She is learning life lessons every day, like how athletic type-A people like the coach get really irritated by unathletic type-Z people like her. With one month of school down, I think we have a solid start.

Thankfully, August is over. Scott promised me that September would be great. I think he can wake me up when September ends.

Darby's Vocabulary Word of the Day

I'm back in my blog world (for now.) The self-imposed vacay has been good, but then Darby came home with a new word.

Darby had a science presentation today where she and three other classmates put on a news report. She wore a jacket, wrote her script, passed on the props (even though I suggested she use some) and she enjoyed her project. Until...

another group put on their newscast skit. They used all the props and took a long time setting up. Darby was offended because the other group knew she was doing the newscast and copied her idea.

To quote Darby (from just 20 minutes ago): "They infantilized our skit!"

Sorry babe. Next time, bring props.