Ketchup and...mustard

So much to blog about...where to start is a good question!

1) The Tarheels! I was sort of disappointed that they won so easily against 'Nova. I wanted a heated matchup....one that would have Al on his toes! But it didn't work out that way. So tonight's the night... I've got my toes polished with Carolina Blue nail polish...Let's do it, guys. Don't let Mamma Sherrie down.

2)Al is still fighting a respiratory illness. He drove me crazy last weekend. Wouldn't go to the doctor to get meds. He coughed so violently that I thought his lungs would explode. Couldn't eat. I made chicken soup. Friday night, all day Saturday and Sunday, I beg him to go to Urgent care to get cough meds and antibioditcs...but no, he kept saying he was getting better. When I left Monday morning, I told him he should get dressed and go on... he said No... Then at around 1 pm, he calls and tells me he gives up...that he wanted to go to Urgent care and would I take him. I was at work...covered to my ears in photos. I just couldn't drop everything and drive 40 mins to his place. So I told him I couldn't get there until 6:30. That he needed to be ready to go because they stop taking patients at 7. Was he ready? Hell no! He was primping in the bathroom and then at 10 til 7 he calls the Urgent care place and hands me the phone. They confirmed what I thought...they weren't taking any more patients. So ... I wasted a trip up there. Now ... what really made me irritated was that he drove over to his barber and got a haircut...why didn't he go on to the Urgent care then!! But he did go the next morning and got what he needed.

3) Went on a field trip with William's grade this past Friday. It was to the Marbles Kids Museum and the Imax Theatre in Raleigh. Really cool! The Marbles Museum is sort of like a huge exploration station thing. Lots of activities for the kids to do. They had a Power Food presentation and I cracked up at William, his best friend Dylan and another boy named Brandon trying to make a meal for Lance Armstrong. I should write Lance and tell him what they planned to feed him: A sandwich with lettuce, tomato and celery. Some slices of turkey on the side and water. I kept telling them that he needed fruit and grains and milk. Finally his teacher came over and told them the same thing...and they listened to her.

After that they played hockey (there was a small rink set up and the kids could put on jerseys and wack pucks. William jumped right in...something I've never seen him do. Then he and his two guys went to the pirate ship and spent almost an hour playing there with a bunch of little tykes of around 5 years. I laughed at them because Dylan was the top pirate. He stood up in the Crow's nest, yelling out instructions "Swab the deck"...now "sword fight"..."sweep the deck".."Hoist the anchor." And all the kids listened to him. They were working like a well-oiled machine. One mother of one of the 5-yr-old kids said, "I can't believe my son is sweeping." I suggested she turn his bedroom into a pirate ship and then the cleaning worries would be over.

Later we ventured to another area called "World Trek"... this exhibit covered the Artic, Rio Del Janero, Moraccoo and Berlin. There was an igloo section where the kids could make igloos and hide in them with these big stuffed huskies. The Rio Del Janero (spelling?) had a big set of drums and a carnival mask making section. There was a huge TV screen that showed a segment the largest parade on the earth--called Carnaval. It was really cool. Loud but cool. No one seemed interested in the Moroccian Street fair section with an outdoor market. And even worse...no one noticed the section of the Berlin Wall.

I did. I touched it and was so humbled that I felt like crying. To think that so many died trying to get over it to Freedom, something we all take for granted. Below is a picture I took of it. Strange that I got it because the camera would not take any pictures of the hockey session or of the pirate ship activity...yet it took this picture....and then nothing else.



After a few hours at the Marbles museum, we ventured over to the Imax theatre. If you've ever been to one, you know how cool it is. If not...you're missing out. We saw a movie on a Coral Reef outside of Australia. At an Imax theatre, you wear 3-D glasses and the images come right up to your face. The underwater scenes were very realistic. You could see debris floating in the water. Fish and other thingies like sea snakes, jelly fish, sharks and sea lions came right up to your face. I didn't care for the snakes..they were eerie but I did fall in love with the Sea Dragons--they are similiar to sea horses. It was really cool. Jim Carrey narrated it.

4) On the way to Raleigh, we drove up I-40...Thomas lived right off that highway and when we passed the exit, I felt a sadness so sharp I thought I would lose my breath. But I didn't. It was too much for me though. But I didn't dwell on it because my sister is a horrible driver and I spent a lot of time holdin' my breath and praying. On the way back I had her drive the 401 by-pass...it's a little longer drive but my sanity was intact...plus to be honest, I couldn't take driving by Teez's exit. I think that's what set off one of the worst weekends I've had since he died. I was on the edge of tears most of the time...and Sunday I spent a lot of time wiping tears away. I felt his loss so strongly that I thought I would break into two pieces.

I'm better today. Don't know why...but I am. Maybe I'm learning to tolerate the loss.