Apparently...

I'm on the once-a-week plan here at Xanga.

Sorry about that... I just don't know where the time goes! I feel like I've been going 90 mph for the past few weeks, and any time I've had a few minutes to write about what's going on, it's been easier to just sum it up in one sentence on my Facebook status line

So let me bring you up to date: over the weekend I went to Baltimore with my sister, brother-in-law and nephews, Matthew and Thomas. Ryan was supposed to go, but his baseball team had two playoff games, so we made it work without him. Though it wasn't the same.

We went because they had never been to Camden Yards; it was one of those things that we talked about a few months ago and it was sort of like "Oh yeah, that would be fun... we should do that this summer!" and then probably figured we never would. Then I got an email from TravelZoo about a deal on rooms at the Westin (oh... my... gawd... Heavenly Bed!) that was completely do-able. So I reserved the rooms, my sister bought the tickets to the Orioles game and we were all set.

First stop was Inner Harbor for crab cakes, which yes -- were as delicious as we expected them to be. It was unbearably hot on Saturday, so we weren't so inclined to do much sightseeing. Have a crab cake, drink a cold beer... head to the stadium to sit in the shade. With cups of ice.

The game was a good one, though none of us had any real investment in either the Orioles or the Tigers; it was mostly about exploring the stadium and just trying to stay cool.

And pass the time till we could get into our Heavenly Beds.

My sister, her husband and sons

The boys and me at the game (Matt and I were faking being Orioles fans)

Matt and me at lunch

Great place to see a game

Tom and the boys -- they had SO much fun!!

Matt and me at the game (Thomas, where are you?!!?)

My sister and me looking oh-so-fresh and lovely at the beginning of our day....

... and so not at the end of the game!

Exhausted? Ready for (Heavenly) bed? Uh, yeah.

Dog days of summer...

I feel like there probably is a lot to write about, but lately I just haven't been feelin' it.

So, pictures will have to suffice for now...

Last weekend, Ben was completely enthralled by the sparklers. I think it's perfectly normal for a 2-year-old to play with fire, no?

Then, this past weekend, we played with bubbles. And by that I mean that I'd probably still be sitting there blowing until I passed out, had I not forced myself to stop. I mean, look at that face! How do you say no to that?!

After the bubbles, we strolled down to a house a few doors down where they had a small dog that Ben was in love with. Of course, he has his own chocolate lab at home, but he's too big. This one? Just the right size, thanks.

He just plopped himself right down and started talking to the dog. I swear sometimes I think he's trying to make my heart explode by being so cute.

I've said it before, but I'll say it again: he's become such a little boy. I put cartoons on for him Sunday morning and he climbed right up onto the couch and settled in.

And guess what? He's going to be a big brother come February '09!

Currently Reading Generation Kill By Evan Wright see related

OK, OK....

I'll try to figure out something to write about... but I'm warning you, it's not going to have any rhyme or reason.... just sort of random thoughts tossed out there.

Just got back from a preview screening of The Dark Knight and can I just say that Heath Ledger was hauntingly mesmerizing.... Whenever he was on the screen, it was like everyone in the theater was holding their breath. Truly, truly amazing. And I'd never succumbed to the charms of Mr. Christian Bale prior to this... but good lord is he hawt!! Maggie Gyllenhaal I can certainly do without; Morgan Freeman rocks whatever role he has.

But the best part of the night had to be watching Ryan enjoy it. He was positively giddy all day; he could hardly sit still in the theater before the lights went down... he burst out cheering and clapping during the movie, as if he were the only one it was being shown to. He was drawn in from the moment it started to the very end. That? Was the most fun for me.

Let's see, what else? Well, July 4th weekend brought horrible weather, so there was really nothing else to do but shop. So I did. And had a great time. As much as I would have liked to have had my sister with me (purchases need to be discussed, you know) I did enjoy some alone time. I had nowhere to go, so I took my time.... stopping at Marshalls and TJ Maxx (personal favorites) and then J. Jill and Chico's (anyone who sees me going into either of those stores again, please tackle me. Thanks.) And through the wonder of camera phones, it was almost as if Andi was with me; though I looked like quite a nutcase holding shoes and bags out at arm's length, trying to take the picture. Oh, we also went to see Hancock, which was a perfectly fun summer movie.

This weekend is the premiere of our miniseries, Generation Kill -- it's about the first Marines into Iraq in 2003. I've seen the first five episodes, and I love it (and war stuff generally isn't my thing). If you have HBO, I highly recommend it; if you don't I suggest you get it (at least for seven weeks). We are also reading the book for our book group -- again, not my style generally speaking, but so far I'm really liking it. I'm sure it has nothing at all to do with the hot men in uniform.

I had so much fun with Benjamin over the weekend... He's turning into such a little boy (wasn't he just a baby?!) and has the sweetest disposition. His new thing is "oh no!" and smacking himself on the forehead. We were walking around our little town during the July 4th parade, and he strolled into the laundromat; he was very, very concerned about the clothes that someone had left in the dryer. I had to try to convince him that it was ok -- someone would come to get them (this, after about 15 "oh no!"s) After that we headed into the florist, where as soon as we walked in, the girl behind the counter was like "Oh, I know what he's here for!" and he headed right over to the box of balloons. The kid loves balloons. Loves. Balloons. I spend a good half hour the previous day blowing them up until I almost passed out. This was better because she gave him one that was already blown up, and seriously, the kid could not have been happier. Until it got loose and flew away. But really, even that didn't seem to bother him too much. Why? Because he's perfect.

And I'll end with this.... really DeAnna? You chose Jesse?! Not in a million years did I see that one coming... so I guess I have no choice but to believe you really have feelings for him. Good luck to ya.

And where have YOU been?

OK, OK... I know it's been a while.

I wish I had a really good excuse. But I don't.

I could go with "I've been sooooo busy lately that I haven't had time" or "absolutely nothing has been going on, so what's to write about?"

It's actually somewhere in between those two.

And now? I'm leaving for the weekend. The weather doesn't look to be beach-y, but I'm still looking forward to just being away and not doin' a damn thing.

On that note, I will wish you all a safe and happy July 4th weekend.

And hopefully by Monday-ish, something will happen that I can actually write about.

Small world...

I took today off so that I could take Ryan out to school for his week of R.A. training -- he essentially had to move back into the dorm for the week, and while I had been planning to just put him on a train (Mother of the Year anyone?) I realized on Sunday night that that wouldn't really be possible. We still had errands to run, yellow t-shirts to buy (they were broken up into groups -- his group was the yellow team -- thus, the shirts), grocery shopping to do, and probably laundry, but somehow that fell by the wayside. I'd much rather just buy him socks and underwear than do laundry.

Anyway, there was a LOT of running around today, so it was nice to finally meet up with Tiffany at school, get Ryan's stuff into his temporary room and then head to Ruby Tuesday's and just sit (and eat -- I do love their salad bar) for a little while. After one last trip to Target, they headed back to school and I went to Century 21 to return a few things.

When I went to the customer service counter, the guy at the register asked to see my license. When I handed it to him, he looked at the picture, then looked up at me. I said "Yep, it's me. That picture is from 8 years ago!" and he said "No, wait. Are you Ryan's mother?" It turns out it was Ryan's friend Daniel... from elementary and junior high school!! I would never in a million years have recognized him, but once he said his name, I knew right away who he was. He was part of Ryan's little "posse" that used to run around the neighborhood finding any trouble they could. (Not literally -- they were all pretty good kids).

He asked me if Ryan kept in touch with anyone from back in the day, and I told him that he was still in touch with Anthony (his friend from 1st grade), but that Marco and Hassan had both passed away in separate car accidents. Just saying that part of it made me so sad... in a group of  5 or 6 boys that grew up and hung out together, 2 of them were gone. How can that be?! My heart breaks every time I think of their parents.

So, after Daniel rung up my bras (yes, bras.... it had to be that, right?!) I walked away and of course called Ryan. He was so excited, so I went back and gave Daniel my phone so they could talk. They exchanged numbers and hopefully will get together soon. It was really so cool; they were both so happy to have "found" each other. When I was talking to Ryan, he said "Mom, you remember Daniel; remember that day when you couldn't find me anywhere and you went to Marco's house like 4 times looking for me? And you were freaking out and about to call the police? I was with Daniel." (That is a day we talk about often... it was one of the few times from Ryan's childhood that I seriously panicked and was convinced something had happened to him. Not pretty.)

And now Ryan is gone until Sunday, and I'm kind of missing him. It's been fun having him home for the past several weeks. He was really looking forward to this orientation, though, so I hope he enjoys it.

Also, it would seem that I might have a teensy bit of a shopping problem (read: I can't stop) so I'm going to go unload all my bags now. I might need an intervention.