Gotta Love Her

Caitlin locked the keys in the car for the fourth time today!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our Christmas Story

It was good this year,
Small expectations.
small treasured moments,
We drew names which took so much of the pressure and stress off this Santa. (wow, thanks, Mariah)
We started the season with Cookiefest at Stephanie's with Dana, Paula, Caitlin, Kat, Molly and Erin. low key and cozy, as Stephanie is reeling from a divorce.
Then there was the fun but ill-fated anti consumer Christmas where we wound up with all the junk..... attended by Pat and Eileen, Terry and his granddaughter Morgan, my old next door neighbor Jutta,the fading playboy about town, Jerry, Stephanie and a numerous bunch of very well behaved teens. (at least while in view)
Then, on Christmas Eve Eve, Stacey, Craig, his son Montana , our boy Ian arrived. Stephanie
and her girls came for dinner drinks and a fire! What a cozy night. Tom played his guitar as we congratulated each other on being family.
Then on the big day, we slept late until nine, sigh, no little ones to drag us from our beds.
But Mariah and Terry brought my mom and we opened the presents Tom and I had braved the warm wet rain to buy the day before.We read the
Christmas story, ate breakfast and opened gifts in the candlelight.
Mariah bought Caitlin a lovely purple coat hat and mittens, Terry gave me a Netfix subscription, I bought Tom a great snuggly brown hoodie from CF Martin's 175 anniversay celebration.Tom got Mariah lovely crystal wind glasses and a hand blown wine stopper, Caitlin got Terry cologne and an Itunes card and boxes of a chocolate he craves. The mood was festive and sweet.
Then on to Granny's for a patented Granny hug.My neices and great neices were all excited about a trip to New Yourk after Brittany's kidney transplant.
Ern and Russell brought the star of the hour, Miss Aiden, all of 6 months old.
Poor little David who got a 4 wheeler and a swing set for Christmas, rolled off the couch and broke his collarbone!
I visited with Judy and Eileen, the best fringe benefits of my marriage, the greatest sister in laws of all time and my heros their husbands Patrick , who can (and has ) fixed everthing and David who deals with illness with quiet strength.
Then home for a snuggle on the couch with Christmas in our hearts and plans for New Years!

And so this is Christmas

It's still as magical to me and it was when I was five and got the doll that got chicken pox.
Love to all,
Marti

The Backfiring Christmas Party

I had this great idea.
An anti-consumer Christmas party.
Everyone would bring a wrapped gift of something they no longer needed they had lying around the house and we would play Dirty Santa.
One person's trash would be another person's treasure.
We would all clear some junk out.
Well, everybody but me got rid of something!
My house is more cluttered than ever because all my friends left their crap here!
It was a major fun time though!

Getting the Tree

Tom saw this tree growing out of a crack in the sidewalk.
"It wanted to live so bad", he said.
He pulled it up, put it in a put and loved it.
Now it's our outside tree!

Catching up

Thanksgiving was great.
Everything I was thankful for in one room.
I will add pictures soon as I can find the camera.
I haven't been posting much because I want this blog to be full of things I want to remember.
Work is hell.
I want to forget my psycho principal as soon as I can.
I really think one day I just will not be able to go in.
Life goes on
So do I
Waiting for better days
trying to learn the lesson I need from this situation.
Keeping my chin up,
Marti

Strange Story

I am siting at my computer on Facebook
when a message pops up
"I need to talk to you"
It is from a high school friend that is now in California.
I talk to him online from time to time
He wanted my phone number.
To my surprise when I heard his voice
It was exactly the same
and in my mind's eye
I saw the gangly boy I used to sit across from
not the middle aged man in the picture on my screen.
That is the first strange thing.
It was like I had run into him at the Mall yesterday. No "How have you been?"
He asked me about a mutual online friend who also went to school with us
Turns out he had run into her
in a foreign country.
They had a torrid affair!
(Second strange thing)
and suddenly I realized nothing had ever changed
we were still 16
standing in the hallway
books in arms
asking a friend
"Do you think she likes me?"
(third weird thing, if you're keeping up)
Never think you are anonymous on the Internet
The high school gossip monster is still alive and kicking!

Coming Home

It's calm and quiet.
Tomorrow this house will be full of friends
the family we have made for ourselves
I cleaned for two days
seeing my house
through "company eyes"
and I like it
shabby
cozy
full of books
music
pictures kids drew
Looks like lives are well lived here.

Bookmarks

In the mornings,
My daughter Mariah brings me a cup of coffee
just the way I like it
to my bed
At night
Tom has the bed turned back
covers fixed just so.
Bookmarks of my day.

Good Day

So
I got to work today and discovered that the cat apparently pissed on my sweater that I had laid out to wear!
And this was a good day!

November Sunday

This is one of those days I will keep like a talisman in my pocket....

It is Caitliln's birthseason
eighteen years of this funny little sprite
laughing
mimicking
never still
what a gift!
So for our first celebration
we went to Bay St Louis MS
where my sister in spirit lives
Stacey
mother of Ian
born one week after Caitlin
we have pictures of us with pregnant tummies touching
they like to say
they were friends before they were born
we always celebrate the passages of life together
on the beach
watching the fire flicker across well loved faces
I think of all the cups of coffee
all the stories told and retold on porches late into the night
all the noses wiped
all the children tossed into the air
and I am so proud of the family we created
as I see our children growing up
and loving each other like we taught them to
BTW, Elvis is alive and well in a cardboard cut out at the rest station at the Mississippi state line!


Caitlin's actual natal day we spent quietly
watching Breakfast at Tiffany's
shopping for a cute dress and "hurt my feet shoes"
Mariah cooked a birthday dinner
I baked the traditional funfetti cake
my mom came and ate.

Teh next weekend it was time for birthday celebration number 3
The girls had tickets to "so you think you can dance " tour
I tagged along for the ride to visit Paula and Dana
other members of the tribe
in FL
so off we go
we are late
we are lost
tension in the car is high
since I am the mom
it is somehow my fault
I get out of the car at a Tom Thumb gas station
adn refuse to get back in.
I do this with the absolute certainty that Paula or Dana will come get me
even though I have no idea where I am
What friends I have!
So it's a margarita night
a pier sitting morning
and I am ready for whatever may come this week!

Changes

My baby is 18
sending out college applications
scared
proud
excited
(she and I both)
changes are in the wind
My oldest is getting married
Caitlin leaving home
I'm retiring next December

When All Else Fails, Throw A Party

It's been a rough few weeks on the porch
I hate it when I want to bitch
And then I think how much worse off other people are
And how I should count my blessings
then I feel bitchy
and guilty
So I tried to think positive
I walked the dog
I prayed
I meditated
I did my Yoga
then I called all my crazy relatives
wrote a hot check to buy beer and hamburgers
and threw a party
I'm fine now!

Figuring This All Out

Well, the new neighborhood is pretty
I'm slowly starting to settle in
after being dragged here kicking and screaming
somehow I have my old dear Porch Stories twice
(It said the first attempt failed)
so with heart in mouth
I did it again.
Then I got this new Porch Stories
Somehow I can't find my address.
The one they gave me says
"There is no blog by this name but it is available"
The hell you say!
It's been me forever!
So I want to change my dear old name to Old Porch Stories
I want to have an address
(I still feel like I'm living in a cyber cardboard box)
and I want to talk to all my friends
Who's out there?
I found dear Paula from the country and my good old Lurkynat today!
Where's Jude from My Way?
Come to my new porch and help me read the house numbers!
I'm not as desperate as I sound
(Cue maniacal laughter in the background!)
Still a little lost,
Marti

still trying

This is a whole new roll down the hill over here.
Like the new kid at the party,
I am looking for people I know
I'm not the kind who
runs into the room yelling
"Here I am!"
I'm more the
"There you are!" type.
So where are you?
Today is my MIL's 85th birhtday.
She is about 4foot 11 inches of feisty woman.
She could probably run me down if she had to!
She has 9 kids adn more grandkids than I can figure up in my head right now
not to mention great grand kids and general hangers-on.
Oughta be a party.
Counting Candles,
Marti

So

So I guess I've moved just one step short of being evicted...hmmm
it' s happened in real life
wasn't expecting it on the internet
so what's the neighborhood like here?
Lost,
Marti