Blackbeard's Wyfe

Missing My Dad

2011-11-06T23:43:00.001-05:00

This is my father's graduation picture.

I'm not sure what year it was taken but it was when he was a young man on his way to a life in the United States. From his warm South Sea home he came to the mid-western city of Chicago IL where he first experienced snow. To this day I am still in awe that he left his home to go to a place he had never been to and make a new life for himself. I can't imagine the courage that must have taken him.

Working with a microscope.

Here he is in the back of the class taught by a nun.

This is a picture of him at 27 with my mother in the Bahamas.

I like this picture because they had gotten all dressed up to go to a swanky dinner club.

Today was his birthday and tomorrow is the 10th anniversary of his death. I remember him asking what day it was and waiting until his birthday had passed before letting go. My aunt and I took him back to the Philippines and placed him with his parents. I can't believe that 10 years have passed. He was an extraordinary man and I miss him.

Holding on to Broken Glass

2011-10-26T23:07:00.001-04:00

These are not my hands, but they are doing what I have been doing for quite some time now. Lately I have kept my hands full of broken glass, and it has paralyzed me. Some days I let it just rest in place and other days I squeeze it tightly to remind myself of my so-called suffering. I have been quite busy holding on to insults, hurts and disappointments.

I know that I am not the only person travelling this world who is struggling. In the last year particularly I have had challenges that I did not think I would ever encounter. My struggles have been both personal and professional.

My personal struggles revolve around reconciliation with my brother and sister. My father died 10 years ago. In a nutshell they decided to challenge his will and sue my aunt and me. I didn't know at the time they were drug addicts. I just couldn't figure out why they were being SOOO awful to us. My sister finally went to prison for her addiction. I was so relieved because I lived in this fear that the next news I would hear was that her body had been found. Likewise with my brother. With him things were a bit different because he had returned to AZ and was not so immediate in my life. He spent time on the street and got clean a few years ago. Last year he returned to NC to get his life back on track and wound up needing my help. So far so good. It has been good to see him and spend time with him. He is back to the guy that I grew up with. My sister is in a halfway house and doing very well in a different city. All those years they blamed and abused me as being "difficult to get along with". It still stings and I still can't seem to set aside the fact that they used me and sued me. I wasn't the bad guy during that time.

My professional issues are a bit simpler, but still painful to me.
I worked for a monster. The whole time I worked for him he did everything in his power to make me quit. I liked the job, so I hung in thinking "It will get better." Seven other women who worked there gave up and did as he demanded of the women there.....quit (actually one lady died..... He worked her to death.). Not me. I was going to prove that I could do the job no matter what. Keep insulting me, demeaning me, refusing my input to the department, changing my schedule, threatening me with what ever fantastic tale you thought might make me break. I worked through the corporate chain of command and was constantly told that I could not be removed from his supervision. My breaking point came when I was suspended from work for making a comment on a log sheet. Less than a week later, a man made a very similar comment and was praised.......

So I found another job and a reduced pay rate...but away from the monster. I was still a chemist but playing in a completely new sandbox. The new company tested chemicals for purity as a raw material for drug manufacturing. It was meaningful work that I also enjoyed. Everyday was a new challenge. You were expected to work quickly and exactly. In one day you could be working from up to 7 different pharmacopoeias.

Did you know that in the US pharmacopoeia a chloride test requires dropping the pH of the sample and adding silver nitrate and looking for a cloudy result? The Japanese pharmacopoeia only requires that you add Silver nitrate and not acidify the sample. The European pharmacopoeia has you acidify the sample and then pour the acidified sample into a tube containing the Silver Nitrate. The British Pharmacopoeia, American Chemical Society, Federal Food Codex, and Japanese PE all have their own methodologies and each one may only have a minor subtle difference in technique to achieve the same result. A chloride test. The answer to the question of whether or not a chlorine atom is present. No big deal and a very common test. The big deal came in perfecting the nuances of the test methods and write ups.

There was never any rhyme or reason regarding which tests may be assigned in a single shift. Sometimes a single test could last several days. All tests were dependent on whether or not there was enough reagents, glassware, and equipment time. Also each and every test activity had to be recorded in a notebook. All the times, equipment and chemicals used in the test had to be logged in the notebook as well as the results. If there was an aberration, a Laboratory Investigation had to be initiated to determine if the aberration was due to technician error or if in fact the chemical was contaminated or defective in same way.
It was a lot to learn and you were expected to be able to be productive so that the company made money.

Meanwhile, I filed a complaint against the monster and that company that refused to work according to its own published standards. The EEOC set out the hoops and I dutifully jumped through them. My eventual reward was that I was given a "Right to Sue" notification. A prize form I thought. Finally proof that I wasn't crazy, incompetent or difficult. HooRay!!! My boss was an ASS!!!

But guess what? In NC it's not against the law to be a jerk........at least that's what several lawyers told me when I tried to engage their help.

Then I lost my new job. Bonus Boy was suspended from school for 10 days....... OK I thought, losing the job is God's way of resetting your path. Take care of the house for awhile. It will be OK. I babysat a rebellious 16 year old for 2 weeks and went down to the local CC to get signed up for the Medical Coding classes. After Bonus Boy was received back into the company of his classmates, the Old Salt started having some health concerns. I spent another 2 weeks taking him around to his doctor's appointments and making sure that he was getting the care that he needed. How lucky was I that the timing of losing my job was so right and that I didn't have to fight the guilt of not being available for my family. I was so lucky that the company that let me go gave me 2 weeks severance and 60 hrs of PTO!! That was enough to get by on until the unemployment kicked in!! Whooppee!!!

I filled out the forms and a short time later, I got this official looking letter in an official looking envelope that told me that I had been fired for misconduct and therefore was not eligible for unemployment.

What???? I have worked for years and paid into the system for times like this!! I was fired for misconduct? I got a severance package. They don't give those out to employees who steal things, break things or fail drug tests! This must certainly be a clerical error!! I called the ESC and after my time on hold, was told that I could appeal the decision. I explained how I received a severance package.......why would they give an employee severance if I had engaged in misconduct? The woman was as nice as she could be but didn't have the authority to change the decision over the phone.

So here I am like millions of others these days.........wondering if I am going to be able to keep my house, wondering if I will be able to receive unemployment and wondering if I will be able to successfully complete the required coursework to make a career change.

This marks the official end of my pity party.... I'm going to stop holding on to broken glass. Only if I drop the broken glass will the stings and hurts go away and then I will have room in my hands and heart to hold on to things that really matter.

This post is entirely too long and I thank you for your indulgence.

The Old Salt......

2011-10-02T12:11:00.000-04:00

A couple of years ago Blackbeard and I bought our current house and remained in our same neighborhood to remain near to both of his parents.

By near, I mean 4 blocks from the Old Salt, and 2 blocks from Mama Blackbeard.
(Thirty-odd years ago, they separated to their own quarters and never divorced.)

Luckily, both parents of Blackbeard are alive and sailing the seas of retired adventure.

So about a year ago, Old Salt decided that he needed some shipmates and rather than move us onboard to his his ship, he took quarters in the chamber next to the deckhands (aka eating machines).

Since moving in much has changed around here.

SeaDog and Sister Sarah no longer heed my beck and call.

They are never far from the Old Salt and his endless supply of biscuits and cookies. If he leaves, they sigh and pace around until he returns. Before he gets to the door, they bark for joy and dance to welcome him home!

They carefully sniff him to make sure that he is safe from harm and that no strangers assaulted him while he was away from their careful protection. They show him how since he left them they grew weak from hunger and that now their ribs are showing.

They guide him back to his room and show him how well they guarded the treasures he keeps on the shelf. Then they encourage him to take the treasures from the shelf so that he can see for himself that they haven't moved at all in his absense.......

You don't need me to tell you how this story ends.....

8 Years Ago.......

2011-09-30T16:07:00.001-04:00

Eight years ago Blackbeard decided to make an honest woman of his wyfe!!!

We went down to the local Magistrates office, pushed our way through the rabble and ne're-do-wells to the front of the line and declared our intentions. We filled out the form, pushed it back through the little gap in the glass all the while grinning like the giddy lovebirds we were.

Next we heard "Everything seems to be in order here........That will be $20.00." Blackbeard reached into the pocket where he keeps his loot and proudly shoved a rectangle shaped piece of plastic through the little gap in the glass. The Magistrate looked down at the payment, pursed his lips, shifted his weight and said "Um....We only accept cash."

Blackbeard withdrew his wallet from his pocket, replaced the refused plastic and searched around for the requested green paper bills. Out came a five, and 2 one dollar bills. He flipped around searching through the secret compartments used for hiding money and found a ticket stub, a driver's license, grocery club card, decrepit library card and a scrap of paper with ancient scribble on it. He looked at me "Do you have any money?" " Why would I have money?" I replied. He looked around at the group of rabble and ne're-do-wells to see if he recognized anyone who might make him a loan.

"Here." came a voice from behind us. We turned to see my wonderful aunt rooting around in her bag of goodies. Out came the requested funds which were quickly shoved through the little gap in the glass.

The Magistrate smiled broadly, shooed off the riffraff and ran for his robe. We followed the kindly man to a beautiful courtyard were he commenced with the ceremony.

A few short moments later, I was elevated from the lowly status of "gyrlfrynd", to the exalted stature of "Wyfe".

So far we have ridden the waters as they have carried us. Happily riding the rough seas as well as the calm. I am the luckiest Wyfe in the world!!

Thank you Blackbeard. (Don't look so stunned)

The Wyfe Returns.................

2011-09-26T22:49:00.003-04:00

Where do I start?

How can I apologize to my imaginary fans for my long absense?

Will they forgive me?

Do I still have a witticism or two to share?

Is blogging passe now?

Is it vain to blog?

Can I keep this template under control?

Mostly I just want to return to a hobby I started to amuse myself then I neglected for far too long.

Stay tuned..........

Foul Weather And Foul Moods Afoot

2009-01-24T00:09:00.009-05:00

Dear Mr Weather Man,

FYI...... I live here.

Yeah, I know that one's a little hard to read.

So let me begin again,

Dear Mr. WeatherIdiot,

I LIVE HERE!!!

Specifically so that I don't have to see any of this......

And what did I spy when I looked outside the other day!!!

Curses and more Curses!!!

Luckily we had these "gifts" that we haven't had the chance to "regift".

This cold air phenomena is making the whole house act a little crazy.

Even poor Seadog doesn't quite know how to behave....

Next week I better see some of this or we're going back to the olde wyves waye of casting the weather!!!

Who Says Frivolity Can't Be Frugal?

2009-01-14T00:11:00.000-05:00

Lookie here!!! Lookie What I Got!!!

Mirrored Op Art

This modern 3 dimensional sculpture by Kenneth Wingardplays with light and shape in a way that can make a room. This glittering piece of wall art is made of dozens of mirrors attached to moveable wires. This sculpture is perfect for above a bed, sofa or any blank wall that needs some "pop". This Op Art sculpture measures 25" on diameter. Wall mounting included.

And do you think I paid the glamour price? Nooooo!!!

I got it at a YARD SALE!!!!

I traded a crisp $20 bill for it!

See!! Here it is!!!!

Here it is on a buff wall........

Stunt shot of it on a blue wall......

Bedecking a Red wall.

I admit, I LOVE yard sales. I love plundering through the junk to find the treasure. Going to them is a luxury that I have not been able to enjoy for some time now. Today was the magic day and I found a fun treasure to start decorating the new ship!! Please forgive the poor photography and do your part by helping this poor wyfe decide which wall it should decorate......

Buff, Blue, or Red.

Disclaimer: I have no grand prizes other than a shout out and a BIG Thank you!!

It's Like a Game of I Spy!!

2009-01-10T08:21:00.000-05:00

I Spy with my little eye.........

The contents of a Junk Drawer!!

What on earth will we find in here? Gold maybe?

Hey!! Here are my glasses I can never find!! Now I will be able to see!

(and maybe take a picture that is actually in focus!)

Still blind and taking pictures.... I come across an assortment of grooming aids

(now I can get all pretty for Blackbeard!)

I can fix my hair now too!!

Here is some booty I like to decorate myself with......

Air mattress plugs for missing air mattresses, playing cards and an assortment of writing devices that may or may not be filled with liquid ink.

Radios for camping trips, an ipod hard drive 2 magnifying glasses and 3 deathtraps for vermin. The list goes on and on and on......

What's in YOUR JUNK DRAWER?

Crashing Against the Rocks.......

2008-12-30T13:33:00.005-05:00

To Anyone Left Who is Remotely Interested.........

Life on the ship lately has been through some rough seas lately................

Most tragically, days before Thanksgiving, my beloved nephson was orphaned by the death of his wonderful father. His dad had not been feeling well and thought he had the flu. He was sadly sicker than he realized, and my nephson came home from school to find that he had passed. The coroner did not do an autopsy, so we will never really know why he died other than "natural causes". Most people who die at 51 have been chronically sick for a period of time or in poor health. It is a mystery that will haunt us for a long time. I am in the process of applying for guardianship of my nephson and getting him through this sad event. I love him so much, but am a poor substitute for his beloved father..........

During this time Blackbeard, Bonusboy, Seadog and I relocated to a bigger ship. It is a block and a half from the previous dingy, but has room for my nephson to have his own space here. Let me advise and strongly warn all who move...

....DON'T DO IT DURING THE HOLIDAYS!!!

Enough said about that.......

So the new year is upon us and I wish you all a Happy and Healthy 2009. I myself am looking forward to returning to calmer seas and posting more regularly.

Rare times on the Ship

2008-11-19T00:42:00.020-05:00

Blackbeard surprised me the other day!!!

He got this out of its hiding place! I heard we had one, but since I never see it, I thought it was idle gossip......

He got it out to advert disaster on the ship..........

Our tiny tiny room with the special chair was out of order........

I wanted to call on a specialist, but he would have none of that.

(this is where he is ALL ABOUT BEING CHEAP (WHOOPS!) Frugal)

He disassembled the special chair while I had my finger on speed dial. I tried to tell him, its not like a computer, you just can't start tearing it apart and somehow figure out how to put it back together......

Well I must admit, he shamed his wyfe and her doubts. Before I knew it, he had it reassembled and water was where water should be......

He strutted out quite please with himself and decided to leave me to the aftermath while he moved on to other projects.

He passed on this project......

I don't think he saw this disaster........

Seadog did his best with the tile, but was unfortunately hampered by the lack of thumbs.......

oh well, I can't blame him........but someday, it will be time to call a professional..

Nephson

2008-11-11T17:33:00.026-05:00

Anybody besides me have a nephson?

He's my heart if anyone ever was. I like to torture him by telling him how exciting it was for me the day he was born, as well as any other big life moments of his. Like all teenagers, his response is a dramatic eye-roll and something to the effect of "Don't you have any new stories?"This year he is a senior in high school.

He is steadily counting down the days until he is free of compulsory ed

ucation and off to spend his relatives hard earned money on just the right school of higher learning.

Today we began our University Education Shopping.....

There is nothing better than going back to school. Especially when you know that you are helping to find the right fit for what will be the most definative time of a young adult's life. (and especially since I won't be the one having to buckle down and study.)

We obediently wandered around following our tour director/student/sales rep.

Most campuses have some of these.

and these

and these.

Bonus Boy tagged along for early exposure.

He was most concerned with the whereabouts of the dining hall.

These made my heart go pitter pat.....

(It was very difficult to maintain my composure when we passed the second one.....)

This was a little secret surprise.......

Over all I'd say that things hadn't changed much since my co-ed days.....

1988

2008

Except for this....

Stay tuned for more inland adventures....

I work in a factory

2008-11-08T22:25:00.005-05:00

Friends, Foes, and Secret Admirers.....

I have a sad truth to share about my life. I work in a factory. Not a pretty perfume factory or even something as swanky as, oh, I don't know... a decorative glass factory. I work in a dirty nasty food chemical plant.....and so that I don't get fired.....that's as far as I'll go.

Anyway, this job thing has deprived me lately of the joy of this blog thing I've started. I was checking my schedule the other day and said "Oh Goodie! I only have to work 48 hours next week!!"
So if I post a lame picture or amusing comic, it's not that I'm being uncreative...it's just that I'm stuck at that factory that pays my bills......

Note to Everyone.....

2008-11-05T04:37:00.006-05:00

marriedtothesea.com

Woo Hoo!!! The Mojo is Back!!!

2008-10-31T08:23:00.012-04:00

I don't know what lucky accident did it, but there is happy dancin' goin' on here!! I'm going to stop the tinkering for awhile and get back to the tale telling........

Here's one that is related to my She-ro Bossy. It's about frugality-sorta. Now with the media overkill regarding the state of the economy and real estate and groceries and gas and blah blah blah......

Doze off, wake up, oh yeah. I've heard more than one pundit say (here's where you have to use your Chicken Little voice) "Stuff your money in a mattress and hide in the closet!!" Don't budge, don't make a move........because blah blah blah blah.....

Well to buck the trend, Blackbeard, Bonus Boy, Seadog and I are making a move. It's 2 blocks exactly. Glamourpuss and Mr. Glamourpuss are selling their Glamourhome (which I have shamelessly admired for several years). They are moving 2 blocks down to their backup pad. The renters in the backup pad are moving 2 blocks away (and so on and so on).

And yep, moneylenders are THROWING offers left and right. Anything to get piles of signatures onto piles of paper.

Oh yeah!!! Just call us the Jeffersons!! Forget about Frugal because we are movin' on up!!

And until we can get this dinghy sold,

we will be eating ramen noodles and drinking koolaid. For special occassions, we will frequent the low-rent version of this.

Curses!! and More Curses!!!

2008-10-28T21:06:00.003-04:00

I was SO Proud of the blog template I nabbed the other day!!! It had Ships and a Cup of Coffee, and a certain level of sophistication that I liked a lot.

Not too busy.....

Not too girly....

Now look at it!!! DRAB, BORING, MONOCHROMATIC!! Where is my BLING!!! IF ANYBODY COMES ACROSS IT PLEASE SEND IT HOME!!!

Finally!!

2008-10-25T23:22:00.007-04:00

Blackbeard's Wyfe would like to thank her 2 paid viewers for their kind patience over the past few weeks. You see, Blackbeard's Wyfe has endured what could be politely termed "glitches" with her blog.

She could not guess which "bits of code" were fouling her waters and even worse her mood (and we all know how dangerous that can be).

Hopefully now that the seas have calmed and an acceptable template has been installed I can get back to the "bidness of blogging". I still have stuff I want to figure out how to do (like install fancier fonts), but now at least I have an idea of what NOT to do.....

Stay tuned.

Wanna See Something Scary?

2008-10-23T09:23:00.006-04:00

I came home the other day to this.

It was a bit unnerving to say the least. Blackbeard goes to pieces if his favorite gadget is not working "just so". Unlike me, who is content to curse and "hope that it gets better on its own", he digs right in. After removing two offending wires, and rearraging some shiny stuff, and plentiful coaxing and cursing from his Wyfe, we are happily navigating the information highway.

Ever Met a Tightwad?

2008-10-14T09:14:00.008-04:00

Here's my recommended reading. I wish I knew what happened to my copy, but this woman started a little newsletter that turned into several books. I had some friends that wore the tightwad badge so proudly, that they split the price of a subscription.

I need to find that button and dust it off...

The Tightwad Gazette was one of the BEST guides to frugal living ever published.

How to be Poor

2008-10-08T16:15:00.004-04:00

My heroine Bossy is starting a get out of debt club. I'm in even though I don't feel like we are really poor by the world's standards. On our ship will really NEVER truely know what it is like to be truely hungry. We might be eating Ramen noodles and drinking koolaid, but we are eating. Driving used cars, taking day trips instead of real vacations, and working over 200 overtime hours just this year so far.

None the less, we owe owe owe.

Castle for a Queen

2008-10-01T21:26:00.012-04:00

If you had asked me as a girl what I would do when I grew up, I'm sure that I would have told you that I was going to marry Prince Charming and oversee his Kingdom as Queen. I'd have servants roaming about the magnificant palace keeping space spotless and orderly. That is how a good Kingdom is kept, while I spend my days searching high and low for baubles and bits to keep myself well groomed and fashionable.

Here was my ideal adult home.... all I needed to do was grow up and move on in!

The reality of my grown up life is more like an episode of RoseAnn.

I have no servants roaming about my shoebox palace keeping things in there place. I think the dog would help out if he had the benefit of thumbs. Other than his desire to be useful, it is left up to me to maintain some semblence of order here.

So to make myself feel better I decided to Goggle..whoops Google "Castle". Lots and lots of castles suddenly appear before my eyes. For a bit I ooohhhh and aaahhh.......castle....here's where Prince Charming lives...... I'm movin' in!!

Now that I'm truly grown up, I think this is more to my liking.

It's a start, I think its got a workable panache to it.

This one is the runner up..... I'm just not sure that I'm all that crazy about that ginormous mosquito farm in the front yard though.

I considered this one for a moment, but as you can see, it is too much "fixer-upper" going on.

Unfortunately, after investigating Blackbeard's Checkbook, this is all the castle this unfortunate Queen can afford.

The Best Blanket Ever?

2008-09-25T02:17:00.012-04:00

Blackbeard's Wyfe must be from Mars. Some stuff Blackbeard's Wyfe just doesn't get.

Now when did a blanket become a garment?

Isn't this just a glorified poncho?

Blackbeard's wyfe has just never had the problems that the makers of this silliness describe. They make it sound like the blankie we've all lived with through the ages is just obsolete and dated. Well Blackbeard's Mother-in-Law gave his wyfe a blanket as a young wench in training. She has never seen fit to upgrade. This blankie still has the perfect fit and feel that a well loved blankie should. The only modifications that his wyfe has allowed was for a special cover to be sewn about the frayed remaining bits.

Check it out and tell me what you think. Meanwhile, I know two fashionistas that I need to report this outrage to.

She's Making Me Take Another Look....

2008-09-23T22:13:00.006-04:00

For Oh so long..... the last year exactly, I have paid as little attention as possible to the politics at hand. I would kindly read the emails with political jokes, forwarding the ones I deemed funny, but for the most part taking my usual stand of "Whoever is running the show; My life will really not change at all."

Naive I know. Condescension at its worst. We live in a country that lets us pick our leaders and toss them out when we're tired of them. All without political instability. Lucky us. Strangely, we will continue to take it for granted and lazily agree to whoever the pundits trot out for us to admire (vote for).

Well, then she shows up. Well now I'm (and several other millions) taking a closer watch. Adding her name to the ticket was sheer political genius on the part of the McCain party.

I'm not saying that I'm sold yet, but ya just gotta like the spunky little thing. She's more like me than any other candidate I've seen. Her life is not perfect. Her past is not perfect. Her closet is full of fumbles and missteps. She is already has the hardest job there is, and anyone who has children won't deny that raising kids is not for sissies. She's put a wind of fresh air into an excruciatingly long campaign.

Most importantly, what are the Bunco ladies going to say?

Please forgive my fonts....still figuring blogger out. BW

This time last week......

2008-09-21T15:12:00.032-04:00

I can't believe that a week has passed already. My trip is just a fleeting memory of girl time and relaxation.

One of the cool things about traveling with another girl is that you get to eat under these...

In courtyards with these.....

On ladylike plates like these.

Swanky as it looks, We DID NOT eat here...

Before we sat down to our dainty feast, we spent the morning roaming the Asheville Farmers Market.

Aren't these pumpkins pretty?

Here are some of the flowers and plants we saw...

I don't know what kind of beans these are but they are so pretty.

I bet they taste good too.

Designer pumpkins we found.

I'm not so sure they will make very scary jack-o-lanterns.

A bounty of squash.

Finally, ladyfingers....more commonly known as okra....

Thanks for stopping by.....

It will NEVER be for sale....

2008-09-17T09:20:00.002-04:00

One of Glamourpuss' and my favorite things to do is to check out Real Estate. It's just a fun thing to do. We steal ideas and question taste.

So who's invitation did we accept out this weekend?......

Why the Pickerings of course!!

Did you know that the ancestor that built this bueaty was a 27 year old man?

Let's see, 27 years old, rich beyond belief, and not afraid to spend on a house........ dreamy......

Of course lots of it is a bit overdone for my taste, but I admit, its something I'm willing to overlook for the sake of peace in the house. This is an outside picture of the grand staircase. Some of the windows are actually doors that lead to a tiny balcony. We were told that the help kept falling off while washing those windows, so the Pickering ancestor relented and installed a decorative if tiny balcony. Anything to keep up appearances.....

So after a lovely lunch at the carriage house and an afternoon wandering the gardens, Glamourpuss and I accepted and invitation to an evening tour of the garden carpet. I must say it was a perfect evening. There was free flowing wine from the vineyard and a smooth sounding jazz band to serenade us under the stars. We were lucky, because the next day, they tore up all the beautiful plants to make room for the fall garden.

Here is what happens when you let a wine drunk do-gooder take your picture at night.

Off to Asheville....

2008-09-15T23:18:00.000-04:00

Once in a while you just have to leave it all behind and take off with one of your girls. This weekend Glamourpuss and I left our men by the sea and took off to the mountains for some girltime.

We invited Miss Garmin to tag along and we all had a girly good time........

If you have never travelled with Miss Garmin, you must immediately invite her and NEVER doubt her abilities. She never lies. She can tell you which lane to travel in as well as when your sorry ass will get to where you're supposed to be. She remembers where your hotel is and whatever nearby sights you might want to see. She also is very good at finding food and gas. She's a girl's best travelling buddy!

We left Friday and stopped off in Lumberton for breakfast. Mr. Glamourpuss shot dove recently and fixed us a faboulous feast of breakfast and dove! (This is where I have to admit I'm a bit jealous, because poor old Blackbeard has no idea how to turn the "thing I cook on" to ON.)

We got to Asheville in fine time and here are some of the things we saw on Friday night.....

From frustrated hippies to delicious desserts!! Asheville has it all!

A Slow Slow Start

2008-09-06T00:27:00.000-04:00

Well, I got this stupid idea over a year ago that I could somehow have a blog. I have admired the boys, the Ree, and the Bossy and how they have been able to craft their blogs by telling us all interesting things about their interesting lives. Well my BIGGEST problem is that I don't have a particularly interesting life. But having been stumped for a year now I'm game to begin..........

Where do I start?

First of all I am a bonus Mom. Mostly. Some days I'm sure I'm a step-monster, other days I don't even matter.

See the guy in the green cast? He is the hostage taker of my heart. I'm going to have to do a bit of work to get some better pics of him.

See the guy with the boob job? He's the one I married and adore. I never thought I'd find a guy that I'd fall in love with and marry, but there he is.

See the guy who sheds all over my house? He's the only one around here who doesn't complain. I can't tell you how much that makes me love him. He doesn't care what I what I do, what I cook, and that maybe the dishes need to be done. He just wiggles his tail and makes me smile.....