Famous people....

I was just enjoying my current favorite after-kid-bedtime/pre-my-bedtime lazy activity....watching Oprah on Tivo. They shot for a second over to Gayle King and it reminded me of the time I saw her live in the flesh and I nearly had a cow. I think it's so cool to hear stories about seeing famous people out and about in real life, so I wanted to do this post and invite everyone to respond about your brushes with famous people throughout your life. It does not count if you saw this famous person in their famous habitat. For example, I don't really need to know that you saw Billy Joel at his piano in concert. What I want to hear is that you saw Billy Joel in the back of a hay wagon in an Iowa Corn Days parade....or whatever. It needs to be one of those moments when you said to yourself (or out loud) "What the....???" "Is that.....????" "Oh my gosh!" You get it, right? So here are mine:

1. I saw Gayle King at the 2005 Men's NCAA Championship Basketball Game (between Illinois and North Carolina in St. Louis...North Carolina won, of course!! Yes!). She was in the bathroom at the same time as me and she also was seated about 4 rows in front of us. We had great seats. Also at this game, we (Richard and I) saw all sorts of various famous people from broadcasters, to coaches, to NBA players (like Carmello Anthony who was one row BEHIND us...did I mention we had great seats? Thanks Hansbroughs!) It was great. When I saw Gayle in the bathroom, I had an overwhelming urge to hug her. But, I refrained. Alas.

2. I once sat across from Naomi Judd in the airport. She was hiding behind gigantic sunglasses and a newspaper, but it was her, no doubt. She was about 5 feet away. She was also on our same flight to Virginia that day.

3. Same trip as #2, Richard and I saw Morgan Freeman get out of a black Lincoln in front of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington D.C.

Plant problems...

If any of you have seen the tragedy that IS the landscaping out front of my house recently, thank you for keeping your thoughts to yourself. When we moved in last September, this brown thumb girl inherited an overstocked plethora of annuals and perennials that would make a horticulturalist's head spin. As fall turned to winter, all I had out front of the house were piles of brown stick structures and dead leaves. I seriously had to call a landscaper to come over and pull out all the disposable junk (annuals) and leave behind the dormant (I thought, dead) perennials that I hoped would make a reappearance in Spring. Well, some of it reappeared. Some of it really was dead....and subsequently yanked when the weather warmed up. That left me with lots of bare spots this spring which I promptly filled in with nice little onesy-twosey annuals of varying color. That worked well until about mid Summer until it was evident marigolds (one orange, one yellow) were on a mission to overtake the entire yard. They truly were the biggest things that have ever grown under my care (well, other than my first and second born.....the plants ARE bigger than Richie). Meanwhile, all the nice little flowers died in the heat and weeds sprouted up everywhere. I couldn't keep them out. At one point I had weeds as big as the gangly marigolds. Grr.

So, at the inspiration of a landscapingly-gifted friend, I've decided to start afresh. Today, it began. I ripped out every single plant and weed save two that actually look decent. I got all of them out except for one. One particularly stubborn one at the end of the driveway. I first went after it with my shovel. But, it was attacking my legs with its thorny, overgrown limbs. So, I took the clippers (or whatever those giant scissor things are called) after it. After I had whittled back the tenticles I went after it again with the shovel. That crazy plant would NOT for love or money come out of the ground. I literally did not have the power to extract it. I hope my neighbors didn't see me because I was in all sorts of positions with that shovel that a girl really should never be. I tried standing on the shovel to get it to go deeper into the ground. When that didn't work, I jumped on it and nearly fell and broke my neck. I tried the backward push--leaning full force on the shovel in the opposite direction. I tried the see-saw, an incredibly unflattering pose in which the shovel was under the plant and my entire body was suspended in the air on the other end--all of my weight didn't make it budge. Now, I know I'm not a big person, but I would think that a full grown woman ought to have the power to uproot one medium-sized plant. I couldn't do it. It stands waiting for my super-strong husband to come home and flick it out of the ground with his pinky finger.

After that, I'll plant anew.

Carson's lip...

Today is Labor Day. I spent my morning at Urgent Care. Carson and Avery were playing around and she somehow caused him to fall into the couch (while he had a blanket around his head and face) and he busted his lip wide open on the couch. He came running into the kitchen, blood dripping--that's a sight that will get a mommy's heart racing! The cut was deeper than what I thought might have healed normally by itself, so after a quick call to our friend who is a doctor, we decided to run up to Urgent Care. There is a new clinic in our town that we decided to try. It seemed really nice...friendly people...and we didn't have to endure the unfortuante customary 45-60 minute wait that doctors normally require these days. We were in within 10 minutes...paperwork and all! The doctor decided that Carson needed one stitch in his lower lip. And, since a shot to numb the lip would cause the same amount of pain as one stitch, we decided to forego any proper anesthetic and just go for it! Carson's did get to spend 5 minutes up close and personal with an ice cube to help numb it, but by the time the doctor came back, the cube was melted and his lip didn't feel cold to me at all. But, my brave little boy laid right back and took the stitch without any problem at all! No crying or anything. He is awesome! He got a sucker and a sticker and the doctor prescribed ice cream for later today. :) They didn't have the dissolvable stitches on hand, so we have to go back in a week to have this one removed. The kicker is that this little procedure cost us $226!!! I mean, can someone please explain to me how in heaven's name one stitch can possibly cost that much? Oh, and that was AFTER they gave us the 30% self-pay discount. And, this is AFTER we already pay hundreds of dollars a month for health insurance that doesn't cover minor sick visits such as this. Grrr. Oh well....such is life. Thankfully he was able to handle the ordeal without pain medication....goodness knows that would have probably doubled the cost of the visit! One of our kids is going to have to become a doctor so that later in life our family can get free medical care.

Silence is golden...

For awhile now, Richard and I have been making time for monthly date nights. We have a fabulous babysitter that is scheduled for a certain night each month so that we can get out of the house. We used to joke when we were dating and first married about how we could always tell which couples in restaurants were dating and which were married (probably with kids). The ones who are dating are smiling, looking in one another's eyes, engaging in meaningful conversation, perhaps even holding hands. The married ones are not talking, not looking at each other, spend most of their meal in silence and certainly are not touching....except maybe to accidentally bump hands as they simultaneously reach for their shared appetizer. We have officially become the latter! When we go out to dinner, we don't say much. If we do talk, 80% of the time it has something to do with the kids. Rather than gazing deeply into one another's eyes he is usually watching whatever ballgame is on overhead (yes, we seem to usually chose "those" restaurants) and I'm studying the menu or staring blankly out into space. It's so funny! But, the reason we do this is not because we're disinterested in one another. I think it's because we are genuinely welcoming the silence. To have a meal in which we have the pleasure of not talking...not chopping up someone else's food...not cleaning a spill....not negotiating the last few bites of cheese among the kids....well, it's rather refreshing. Now I can empathize when we see those other married couples having dinner together in complete silence. It's not that they're upset or completely bored with one another. Chances are, they're relishing the quiet of a dinner without kids! And, chances are, these same people will do what most other married people we know do for after-dinner date activities.....no, not that! We all roam aimlessly around Target/Lowe's/The Mall with no agenda, making no stops at the "potty" and not carrying another human on our hip! So, date nights may not be what they used to be 10 years ago for us....but in some ways, they are equally satisfying. And, somehow just being with one's spouse, whether we're talking so much or not, really is bonding in its own special way.