Wildlife of our back yard

We own almost a quarter of an acre. The yard is long and lean, like a stretched out domino piece or a stick of gum, maybe. The back yard is the largest portion of our lot, yet the dog only cares about the perimeter. Who cares if he could frolic around the square footage of the yard? He only wants to admire the places he can’t get to because of that fence. Oh, that fence, which made purchasing this house so much easier. Seriously, I love that we didn’t have to put one up, although, I think we’re eventually going to have to make it more private.

The powers that be are widening the road outside our neighborhood and thankfully, that includes replacing a bridge that rates a 3 out of 100 on safety. I’m not kidding, that’s what the current bridge rates, so I hold my breath when I cross is. Meanwhile, the right of way behind our back yard has water drainage issues, so they recently put in a new pipe, buried it, and covered it with hay. Two Sundays ago it snowed, and yesterday was over 70 degrees. I think the shake up of road construction, pipe installation, and dramatic weather change has made our back yard feel a bit more like a zoo.

So far, we have various small bird varieties, including the Cardinal couples. One couple appears to live to the yard right of ours, and the other on the left. The females of each couple do NOT get along. The Sunday it snowed, I watched them for a good 15 minutes, that’s how entertaining they were! The Left Cardinal Couple tried to fly in for some birdseed. The female of the Right Cardinal Couple dive bombed the Left Cardinal Female about 20 times in the course of the viewing. Every time, the Left Cardinal Female yielded to the Right Cardinal Female. The Right Cardinal Male always came as backup. The Left Cardinal Male kept flying away to check out other options. Any time the Left Cardinal Female had success in getting some seed, she chirped for her male to come on over, and he would. Shortly thereafter, the dive bombing began anew.

Hunter got into a fight with a cat through the fence on Valentine’s Day. The cat, whom we know to be called Caspar, sat curled up in a ball for 20 minutes as Hunter bounded back and forth, barking at the cat. I thought the cat would finally slink away, but, no. Instead, the cat reared up like a Kung Fu fighter and pummeled Hunter’s schnoz through the fence. Poor dog got cat swipes all over his face, plus the metal of the fence cut him a little bit. I was pretty mad about the whole thing, but now it’s kind of funny.

There’s a hawk – either a Cooper’s hawk or a young redtail, we’re not sure – who frequents our back yard. He was laying low the day the tornado came through. Well, it was a funnel cloud, but I did see it – first time I ever saw one – and he was a sign that it was not safe outside. Spooky. He still frequents our back yard. I think the hay-covered area is a goldmine of sorts for him.

One night last week, Hunter almost snagged an opossum by the tail. It was trying to enjoy some compost contents in the back corner of our yard, but Hunter interrupted. Josef said he jumped up as high as he could, but he was just a little off from getting the tail. I guess the opossum is lucky that playing dead didn’t involve falling off the fence and into the yard.

Last animal sighting was a bunny. Josef got this mack daddy flashlight that’s crazy huge and crazy bright. You could use it as a spotlight for a theatre, I swear. Hunter was going nuts one night at the back of the fence and surely enough, when I shined the flashlight (I am always scared it’s going to be a coyote setting Hunter off), it was a bunny hopping along, seemingly unfazed by Hunter’s threats through the fence.

Of course, we are in a pretty heavily wooded area, which I adore. Other neighbors have seen deer and owls. There’s a pond where turtles hang out that is on the nature trail. We’re really blessed to have our own nature show in the Big City!

I just wish I could stop dreaming about animals, though. I dreamed about hamsters, alligators, and, last night, an injured hawk that my father left in my care. It could even talk!

Hi, faithful readers!

All five of you. I feel badly when someone I like a lot says, “Oh, I love your blog!” And then I remember, durn it, I still haven’t written a new post in almost a month, fer cryin’ in the mud!

So, what’s up? How ya been?

I’ve clearly been busy. And everyone else has been, too, it seems. I keep having conversations with various folks about how easily we fool ourselves into believing that the post-holidays will be a time of rest and reprieve from the rampant pace of the obligatory rat-race that stretches from Thanksgiving to New Year’s.

Bull honkey. It’s March, and I am exhausted.

But, I am sooooo happy to see daffodils and forsythia bushes in bloom. The pears are starting to bloom, too, and some Japanese magnolias. Yep, this is the good life: spring in the south! Even though it snowed on Sunday a week ago, it’s now gorgeous weather and the promise of the end of winter is tangible. Yay! (If you live somewhere cold, I am sorry. I am sure in a month or two – you know who you are – you can say nah-nah to me when the south is hot and unbearable and you are enjoying the nice extended spring that we don’t really get. Our spring usually lasts about a month. Then it’s summer time for real.)

Okay, so what do I need report on? I am job hunting. I have even more motivation to get a new job because the part of my job that is not admissions is now gone. So, I am really, really hopeful that I can find a teaching job. I have a few good leads, have had some interest, so that buffers me. One day I was really down, recently. I had totally given up on my dream. When I got home, though, I had a huge packet in the mail from my college. Transcripts! I have a lot of them, now. And their arrival was an answered prayer. I mean, yes, I ordered them, but I received them when I was feeling unsure about my path.

Emotionally, I am feeling excited about our upcoming trip to Europe! I can’t wait to see our friends and experience a whole new culture. I know it’s not quite so different as a trip to other parts of the world would offer, but it will still be awesome.

I’m pretty sad at the same time, though, because we are missing two weddings and the end of our church’s youth program for the year. The first wedding is the day before we leave, but it still isn’t feasible to attend as it’s pretty far away, but I hate to miss it because they are moving away from Atlanta. One of the youth interns and youth advisors (they are married) aren’t going to be with us next year, either. So, along with most likely leaving my school, I’ll be saying goodbye to quite a few folks over the next few months. I do hate to miss the weddings of both of these girls because they are both so special to me and I’m honored to be invited. I’m bummed.

Josef’s traveling a bunch for work now, too, but luckily he’s not gone for big stints of time. I am always grateful for his safe landing.

I had a nice walk today. A good friend who lives in our neighborhood got an adorable dachshund last year. We took our dogs on a stroll around the ‘hood and I was worried at first because I couldn’t find Hunter’s harness. I had to walk with a leash on his collar, which worries me because I don’t want him to get hurt or easily slip out of his collar when he wants to attack another dog (highly probable with Hunter, unfortunately!). I was really relieved that it all went well! Sawyer, the dachshund, was more aggressive between the two of them, although Hunter did kind of “go off” when we passed a few dogs. I think Hunter is mellowing out a little bit, finally. He is, after all, almost 10!

What else did I want to mention? We had fun hanging out with a fellow Susan, her fiance, and her future stepdaughter last night. I’m still enjoying yoga. My hair is getting ridiculously long, but I’m getting it trimmed on Thursday. I am looking forward to a lighter work week, even though most of the rest of the school is on spring break. I’m helping plan a baby shower for a much beloved pastor at our church.

Alright, gotta run for now. I hope to be blogging more regularly! And I need to go catch up on the blogs I enjoy! Enjoy your week!

Busy

Woah, how did it get to February? Plus, how did it get to be over one third of the way through February? It’s my friend Nicole’s birthday today, otherwise I’d be oblivious to the date still. I missed another friend’s birthday last week and I feel terrible about it as a result because she came to my birthday outing. Work has been really busy, but rewarding, too. Although, I am getting edgy, and I don’t mean to be. Also, I feel totally stunted creatively.

But, there are some good things going on that keep my mind out of the paperwork on my desk and the voicemails on my work phone, etc.

I’m really enjoying yoga class at school. I can already tell that I am becoming more flexible in my spine, which I wasn’t expecting to happen right away. I always feel great on Thursday afternoons.

The job hunt is going okay. More on that later. I am in that uncomfortable spot where I have a job, so do I really need to be looking for something? But then I have that chat with myself about following my dreams and believing in myself. I am really getting good at that personal pep talk.

In hillariously fun news, Octave was invited to audition for America’s Got Talent. We tried out on Sunday, which was fun, and we might get invited back, who knows? Maybe we’ll get to meet “the Hoff!”

That’s about it for now. The Europe trip is a little more than two months away! That keeps a smile on my face, for sure!

It’s all about me, you know.

Well, it is my blog, duh.

I thought I’d share some fun stuff about myself.

Like, for instance, a video of my solo that I sing in Octave. I hope if you check this out that you’ll also check out our other songs.

Also, on my birthday, my gal pal, Christy, A.K.A. Diva Lee Roth in Atlanta-based Sherupton, an all-female Van Halen tribute band, lent me the title to Diva for the evening:

And in the interest of full disclosure, here I am making fun of myself for the fact that I am wearing a tiara in public:

I wish I were also wearing bright pink satin gloves. That would have made it even easier to laugh at myself!

Here are some of my Octave gals. We’re demonstrating the need for long hair.

You know you want our hair. It looks so glossy! And Fab-O!

This is the guy responsible for the pictures, Max. You should check out his photography. He rules! I know him because he works with Josef, but he’s successfully been acquired as my friend, too, and I have Facebook to vouch for that.

Max took this neat picture of our friend, Lindsey:

Apparently, the way it turned out had something to do with the lighting. I just think she has a happy pink aura.

And, I’d like to thank the ever-wonderful, ever-generous, Love of my life, Josef for organizing the Birthday Weekend! Here are a few shots of us:

Just showing my appreciation!

Dinner the next night – not the best of either of us, but this shows my hair aspiring to be curly!

This is at Nakato, a Japanese steakhouse that Josef’s high school friend’s family owns and operates here in Atlanta. We had the green tea cake for my birthday! Yum!

Hope you have a great week! It’s been a wild one for me, work wise, but at least I knew it would be and at least I had a fun weekend before it!

You Want a Carlisle Elementary T-Shirt?

You know you do. They’re red, with white lettering. And there’s the head of a tiger or wildcat on it. I can get back to you about what animal is on it.

Ah, let’s face it, I never actually saw what the shirt looked like that I was supposed to sell in 3rd grade. All we had was a sheet of paper with a drawing of a t-shirt on it. We were to sell as many as we could, and the class that sold the most, well, man-oh-man, we got to have ourselves a pizza party!

I am normally not a competitive person. I am cool with letting people bask in their own glories, and I am sincerely happy for other people’s accomplishments. I deflect praise when I’ve earned it. I’m HUMBLE, okay???

Except, there was this one girl in my 3rd grade class — let’s call her Sarah — who insisted on competing with me. On everything. Artwork. Grades. Friends. T-shirt sales. It was exhausting.

I don’t know why I couldn’t take the high road in my interactions with her. I can see now that she probably was jealous of me, because in comparison, I did make better grades and wiped the mat with her art work as mine outshone hers every time. But I wasn’t trying to be better than she was at these things. Honest. Back then, she was just a continual pain in my hiney.

As you can gather, the t-shirt sales became a battle ground. Sarah and I were sitting in carpool after school a few days after Miss Bird (name also changed) told us about the competition to sell the most. There was a deadline that was maybe a week away. I had seen the form, had probably shoved it into my backpack, never to see the light of day until I cleaned out my backpack in June. I knew even back then that I was not a good sales person.

“So,” Sarah began to engage me in conversation, “how many t-shirts have you sold? I’ve sold 8 already.”

In my 3rd grader’s mind, there’s something about an interaction like this that made me become a not-very-nice person. I couldn’t let this interaction go down as a loss. I needed something to buy time and shut her down.

I cooly replied, “Oh, my mom’s sold, like, 20.” Take that, Sarah!

“Oh,” she replied, ending our conversation.

I went home and completely forgot about the exchange. And about selling t-shirts.

At school the next day, Miss Bird suddenly said, “Susan! You’ve sold 20 t-shirts????” She said this with such pride, such excitement, that I didn’t have the heart to let her down. Plus, Sarah was standing there, having just told Miss Bird we’d win the competition because of me.

I nodded very weakly, but it was enough to secure the victor’s pizza party – and bragging rights – in her mind. Crap. I guess I needed to sell some t-shirts.

Side note: I was not the best person in third grade. I forged my mom’s signature on a faked book report on a book that didn’t exist. Of course I got called out for it. Also, I did a drawing of people kissing. Most of the girls liked it, but one girl, Miss Bird’s teacher’s pet, did not. She told on me. Teacher’s Pet was promptly put in her place by all the other girls who had liked the drawing. All year long, I wanted to like my teacher, but she didn’t seem as nice as she wanted us to think she was. All the same, I wanted to stay on her good side. She gave out grades, after all.

Back to the story. After I got Miss Bird’s hopes up about the t-shirt sales, I again promptly forgot about the competition.

Deadline day arrived and the class was passing in their forms and checks. I hoped that Sarah and Miss Bird would forget about me, that the class could win without my phantom contribution.

Not so. Miss Bird asked me for my form.

“Oh, I forgot it. I’ll bring it tomorrow.” Yes! Brilliant! She’ll forget by tomorrow!

“But, Susan, the orders are due today. We need yours to win the competition. I happen to know of some other classes that are ahead of us at this point, but your sales will put us ahead.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

“Well, you want to go call your mom so she can bring it by?”

“She’s at work.” Double brilliant! Mom’s busy!

“Well, let’s have you call her at work. Maybe she can bring it by on her lunch break.”

Miss Bird and I walked to the front office so I could use the phone. It was at the secretary’s desk. There was no privacy to be had, and I was out of luck.

One last hope appeared in my mind: maybe Mom could save the day.

“Hi, Mom?” I asked upon reaching her at work on the phone. “Do you remember those t-shirts I was selling for school?”

I knew I had never even mentioned the t-shirts.

“No,” my mom said, but I could tell she was trying to understand what I was talking about. I was not doing a good job conveying my thoughts to her. Also, my teacher was standing right there and the phone was physically ON the secretary’s desk, so I couldn’t confess to my mom the error of my ways.

“Um, remember how you sold, like, 20 t-shirts for my class?” People at her work had bought other fundraiser items from me before. Because I had asked them.

“No, honey, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I looked at my teacher and shrugged my shoulders. I gave up. I handed the phone to Miss Bird and awaited the judgement.

“Unh huh,” Miss Bird said to my mother. “Well she said she had, so she didn’t?”

Crap.

We walked back to my classroom. I felt awful for letting our class and Miss Bird down. I felt badly that I had risen to Sarah’s challenge when I should have known better. I also felt badly that I hadn’t even tried to sell the t-shirts. Maybe I could have. I felt like people needed those t-shirts, and I hadn’t so much as bothered to offer them the chance to buy one.

At dinner that night, my sisters kept giggling. They were in junior and high school, and they just knew everything. I wanted to be like them, but I also was competitive with them in my own way, in terms of being loved by our parents. I’d told a big fat lie. That means negative points in parental love, right?

Dad asked how everyone’s day was.

Katherine snickered and said, “Would you like a Carlisle Elementary t-shirt?”

Dad was confused, Mom gave Katherine a “hush!” look, Amy and Katherine cracked up laughing, and I promptly lost it. I was totally ashamed and knew it was entirely my fault, but at the same time, I felt that what had happened was bigger than I could understand as an 8-year-old.

It wasn’t until years later that I realized: who the heck would actually buy a Carlisle Elementary t-shirt anyway?

It’s random, but it’s a post.

I fight January blahs (you KNOW you have them, too) by shaking things up a bit. You know, like pepping myself up by reminding myself that I am alive and I should try things once. Or, as is more actual, we took down Christmas (as evidenced in the last post a few weeks ago), and the house seemed a bit empty.

Where are the garlards? My brain itched to know.

Um, lights? I need bright lights, inside and out. And Santas galore. And a tree full of sympolic plastic or glass thingies.

Where are you, Christmas? sang my inner Cindy Lou Who.

(OMG, Isn’t Gossip Girl the best show ever???? The girl who played Cindy Lou Who is on it, but she’s taller and grew into her face. Kidding! About the face, not the actress being on the show.)

The other day, as Josef ran errands and I cleaned the house, the emptiness started to get to me. Plus, as is witnessed in the female side of my family members, we Freeman girls like to make the most of what we have and rearrange the crap out of the furniture.

Side story: in the 8 years I’ve known my husband, his parents have lived in three houses (one was a rental as their first house sold faster than they could find their present home). For the last 5(?)ish years, they’ve lived in the same house with, essentially, the same furniture layout. Things just have a home and they stay put. I admire that.

As for my parents’ household: anytime my mom got bored, stressed, sad, or inspired (and possibly a mix of any or all of these necessary ingredients), it was coming: the furniture would be rearranged at some point. And, ever since I moved out (even just to college), I do the exact same thing.

Luckily, my husband doesn’t seem to mind. And he even helps me!

So, I lugged the big green chair that was in our bedroom and its matching ottoman downstairs. I want to also bring down the ottoman I made from a coffee table (search for repurposing on this blog to see it as I am too much on a roll to go search for it) downstairs to our den as I am pleased with the two barcelona chairs cozying up like a couch, so I have an empty spot where the tree was and one of the Barcelona chairs was before that.

After that, I’m moving my dresser somewhere else in our room, likely in the cavernous space vacated by the massive big chair. I swear, this furniture set reminds me of 90s fashion – shoes in particular – the chunkier, the better. I do love our couch though, and I like having the set sort of together on one level. It’s like family.

I also plan to rearrange the guest room, although, truth be told, I am now a little split. I wanted to turn the bed 90 degrees and allow for space to move the keyboard into the room (Josef got me some software to arrange music for Christmas! Score! Get it?? Har har.).

Before dinner tonight, Josef and I discussed even MORE rearranging we want to do downstairs. We’re particularly interested in decluttering all our crap – I mean, beautiful stuff – and possibly moving some furniture around. He likes having the big green chair downstairs. We talked about moving the dining room table around. We talked about staining and painting some of the non-matching pieces so we don’t have so many colors going on. He’s hoping I’ll get off my duff and finish a painting I started ages ago because it will look really good above the big green couch.

So we’re slowing getting our act together. I love it that he wants to help me and that he likes to be involved and inspired by my ideas. How cool is that? Also, I got pretty giddy when he told me that he loves this soup I’ve been buying. I don’t know why that makes me so happy, but it does.

Wintertime: we’re going to make it through. Work will be tiring and hard for me (it’s our high season upswing as of today), it will likely get colder before it gets warmer, he’s going to be gone a lot because of his work travel. But, hear this, January blahs. To your blah, I have HAs!:

1. Even though it’s wintertime, The days are getting longer now. HA!
2. Even though it’s depressing old January, My birthday is coming up, which is awesome. HA!
3. Even though it will take a while for them to bloom, The tulips are coming up in the back yard. HA!
4. Even though I feel lost about my next career move steps, I meet with the guy who is helping me to look for teaching work tomorrow. HA!
5. Even though I have felt like a hermit lately, I have a great life, filled with wonderful friends. HA!

So I guess my need to change and rearrange is my inner need to express I am not stagnant. I am vibrant and full of wonderful potential. I have to have faith in my attempts to rearrange my life where I need it: job, shedding hermit pounds; because it will be just as rewarding as making our home as wonderful as we want it to be.

By the way, it’s raining buckets outside now. What a gorgeous noise to experience when I’m inside, safe and dry.

Christmas Inside!

If you think the OUTSIDE of our house is filled with Christmas cheer, just wait until you see the INside.

My parents thought of me when they were going through my grandmother’s belongings and they found this boot.

Christmas is just in every direction you see in our house at the moment.

Ain’t it purdy?

These are the gumdrop lights from Target. LOVE them.

It’s a little blurry, but you surely get the idea. Hunter wants you to know he wishes you a Merry Christmas, too. And I want you to overlook the extension cords. Tacky, tacky.

Yay! Pretty!

You can see Hunter’s Advent Calendar here. And a reflection of the Christmas tree. Yes, Hunter has an Advent Calendar. You’re hung up on that, right?

The banister is bedecked with Santa figurines, Santa ornaments, polar bear Christmas lights, a garland, and red and white Christmas lights. I love the way this room looks right now. So cozy and festive! Just don’t look at those tacky extension cords, ‘kay?

If you were spying on Santa, this would be one potential area to spy. The tree is not, after all, near the fireplace. So we give Santa a little bit of exercise? What’s it’s gonna hurt?

And thus concludes the tour of the downstairs Christmas Land. Hope you’ve enjoyed yourself! There are more photographs besides these, but lest you think we are really over the top with our love of Christmas decorations, I will spare you. I will point out that the chandelier in the den is decorated, but you can’t see it very well. And there is a mistletoe ball hanging from a ceiling globe on the way into the kitchen in the picture that has Hunter in it.

MERRY CHRISTMAS to you and your loved ones!!

Handel’s Messiah

I just joined in a huge tradition at the school where I work. Every Christmas, on Thursday night and Friday morning assembly, the high school chorus and orchestra – with their new best friends from the faculty, staff, and returned alumni – perform selections from Handel’s Messiah.

It’s a lot of fun, and this year, I was able to sing with girls that I know because I’ve coached them and/or know them from church. Kinda made me miss choral singing.

It was fun, even though it was hot onstage under those lights. A few girls on the front row passed out during a long stretch. Poor girls – I am happy to report they are okay!

It definitely put me into a great mood! Here’s a funny contribution from the Peanuts:

I am sure I will write before Christmas, but I hope you have a Merry one!

Pretty Chihuly Post

Just to celebrate the way glass looks when it comes out of  Chihuly’s workshop, because it makes me so happy:

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

OOOOOOOOhhhhhhhh

WWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWwwwwwwww

Enjoy!

The Outside Christmas!

I’ll take pictures for our inside decorations, too, but for now, heeeeeeeeeeeere’s the outside!

And at night, the top story disappears! Magic!

I can take maybe – and this is stretching it – 1% of the credit. 99% (and then some) of the planning, execution, and meticulous care credit goes to Josef! Good job, sweetie!