Popcorn's Presents

The upside of birthdays has always been that yummy feeling of feeling loved. All year long you know it, it's a given, it's there. But on the actual birthday when family and friends go out of their way to let you know, it is just so uplifting. Here's a little list of fun things that happened on the 29th....

1. My friend Susan, who hates to bake, baked me a birthday cake. She stirred it with her precious grandson on her hip, who she babysits several days a week. She baked a delicious chocolatey cake and decorated it with candy corn and a candle. We all LOVED it Susan!! Thank you so very much. You should definetely bake more often.

2.I received phone calls and e mails all day long from my friends and family telling me they were thinking of me and hoped that I was having a good day. Such a simple gesture that feels so good.

3.My friend Carol tried very hard to chase me down so she could bring over my "happy", but alas we never found each other. But just knowing she was on the hunt for me was gift enough. Thanks Carol!!

4.My hubby and my son took me to dinner at one of our regular haunts and celebrated over our favorite plates of delicious food. Simple and fun! They gifted me with jewelry that was so pretty. Thanks Pophub and Popson!!

5. Both Popdaughters made double dog sure they called me and told me they loved me. Thanks girls!

6. My mom spent the night after attending Popson's football game and choir concert. She gifted me with a stack of "cabbage leaf" plates that I've wanted for a while. The next morning we hung out in our robes and drank coffee, then headed to ihop for some yum breakfast, then hit some stores around here. That was fun! Thanks Popmom!

The upside makes the downside easier to take, if you know what I mean Vern. xxoo pop

Happy Halloween and Goodbye Lovely October

October is my favorite month of the entire year. Love the weather, love the season it ushers forth, love the cheerful orange and fiery red tree hues, love the apple crisp mornings, love the light October casts both a.m. and p.m., love homecoming games, love that I was born in Oct., and LOVE HALLOWEEN. Love trick or treaters, love their costumes, love the doorbell when it is pressed by a little ghoulish finger, love the protective parents watching from the street, love the candy, love my jack-o-lantern, love my canine witch and skeleton. I know you love it too, how can you not? Happy Halloween and farewell lovely month.

Popcorn's Perfect Weather

I'm sorry but may I brag?. South Texas has some awesome weather. I like it when it's hot, I like it when it's cold, and I LOVE it when it's cool....like today. October mornings in Texas are a little slice of heaven. My neck of the woods is the perfect place to own a convertible. We have just the right amount of cool to zip around the neighborhood with the top down, a light jacket on, my favorite sunglasses and a pretty scarf around my neck. I turn the heater on so it will blow on my feet and I am telling you it is the coziest spin ever! Zooming around the bend under trees and dappled sunlight is glorious. Sometimes my new driver (favorite son...only son) and I will just pile in the thing at night, me wrapped in a furry blanket, my little McKauley in my lap, and go for a starry- skied drive around the hood. It is so much fun! I swear that's all the happiness I need in life. Cold air, my son driving, my little schnauzer's tongue flappin' in the breeze and stars twinkling in the big Texas sky. I am counting that blessing right here with you as my blog witness. Thank you Lord!

One Little Thing and Popcorn's Toilet Paper

The older I get,(and I'm getting older Wednesday of this week which perhaps explains this line of thinking) the more I worry that one little thing I choose to do might change the complexion of my life, my child's life, my husband's life, my dog's life, our happy lives. I guess that comes with getting enough years behind me to cast backwards glances at choices made and how they affected life from that point forward. This all born from the realization that one little thing can, has, and will again, certainly cause change for better, or for worse. The circumstances of my life have been forever altered by who knows what frivolous or hasty (read: selfish or impulsive) decisions I've instigated. In our youth it is impossible to have this prospective. This is mental torture only maturity can bring. Yippee. I can come at this thing from many different angles...the first of which is to do a mental 180 and look straight back, scanning the landscape of my mumble mumble years. Past decisions TO do one thing over another. (request a particular kindergarten teacher? Or keep big pie hole shut?) Or NOT TO do something.(Face facts or remain in blissful denial?) Or to meddle with something that I had ALREADY decided, and changed my mind mid decision. Or talked Mr. Popcorn into. Or told Mr. Popcorn that I wanted this or I wanted that, and Mr. Popcorn being the adorable thing he is, proceeded to move heaven and earth to get it for me. Only for me to decide three days later that naa, I don't guess I really want to buy that, go there, move here, eat then, drive that, pursue that career, you know small, iffy things like that. Another way to play with this mind thing is to hesitate suggesting something for fear that once you suggest it, and the suggestion is acted upon, I've now propelled something in motion that one second ago was not going to take place. I have manipulated fate. What if something bad happens??? "Honey, just ride your bike over there." "No, just have so and so drive over here instead." "Why don't you consider so and so college?" I worry that decisions I make have the potential to have negative ramifications that I didn't consider when making the decision.(I've burned myself so many times before) Sure, a move might mean greater convenience, a larger den, but what unknowns lurk hidden that might alter the happy little shindig we've got going on? Why change something that is working just fine and dandy? Is this why older people resist change?I ask you is this why? Oh my gosh. It's all becoming clear to me. I'm getting old. Besides the blood pressure medicine on my nightstand, I had a little foreshadowing of this the other day when I stacked two rolls of toilet paper on an a cute little iron paper towel holder and put it by the powder room potty. I stood back and looked at it trying to decide if it was tacky or not. I said to self, "Now self, that sort of rings old ladyish", but I left it there. Practicality won over style... Oh my gosh. Is this how it starts??? Am I morphing into a granny? The flappy too short pants, now the extra toilet paper in plain sight?? I'm getting that toilet paper out of there this minute.

Popcorn Ponders Oddities of the (my) Mind

Today I was driving on Beltway 8 and when I reached a particular part of the toll road, my thoughts drifted to refrigerators, then to cook tops and dishwashers. It seems that each time I drive on that stretch of that freeway, I think about first refrigerators...then on to other, well, appliances! Odd. Is it because I am near (can't see it though) a Sears store where we bought some appliances about 20 years ago? Did you know that I can just THINK about a particular maternity outfit from Pea in the Pod (pink drop waist long sleeved tunic thing with leggings) and feel nauseous? There's a certain box of Tide whose odor affects me the same way. Nasty odd. When I smell Aramis cologne, I am 16 again, with hubby (then boyfriend) at a movie theater with sparkly pavement where we stood in line to buy tickets. Sweetly odd. I have a pair of black capri length work out pants that are sort of bell bottom shaped and flap my ankle when I walk. (hate that) Every time I wear them, I can't quit thinking about my mother in law. I actually FEEL myself looking like she looked in her pants. EEWE. Scary odd. (Currently they are in the give away pile because I just can't keep going there) When I stand in certain places in my house specific memories always start swirling around in my head like a vapor. Quietly, unobtrusively, but every bit present EVERY TIME. Melancholy odd. When I decide to wear red nail polish, the same thought scrolls across my brain..."Mrs. Popcorn, when you were my teacher I always watched your hands, they were so expressive." I ran into a student years and years and years ago that said this to me. I must have been wearing red polish as I listened to her talk about my hands. Now it's stuck in there. Irritatingly odd. Gosh, I wonder if this is common, or am I just odd? I wonder.

NEWSFLASH: POPSON HAPPIEST KID ON PLANET TODAY

Today is a huge day for precious Popson. Our last offspring was granted a driver's license very early this a.m. We were the first in line, a barely sixteen year old nose practically pressing on the glass door of the DPS office. I made no mothering mistakes this morning: I showed up properly armed with all required hoops of fire, (documentation) cash to pony up, key to hand over. He rattled off the letters in the vision tester with his 10/10 vision, pressed thumbs on fingerprint infrared, smiled for the birdie, and it was a done deal. YEA!!!! He is one happy birthday boy. Happy 16th birthday to my son, who will, if I do say so myself, be an excellent addition to the Texas roadways.

Popcorn's Pearly Whites

As of 4:00 today I have a perfect mouth. No more cavities to fill, no more pending crowns to seat. I vow to never ingest another morsel of enamel eroding sugar. It's a financial issue for crying out loud. Do you know how much we've spent on my teeth just this summer alone? Let me just say, way too much. All because I love these:

Fall Fun

All photos by popdaughter (in black)

Popcorn's Plumber...not your average joe

My brother is the owner of a very successful plumbing company. His trucks roll all over this huge town we live in. With his skills and talent he grew our dad's business that provided very nicely for both of us as we grew up. His business acumen and people skills have honed his business into a large corporation that employs many and has a stellar reputation. I am amused by the media and their handling of the Joe the Plumber story this week. I kept thinking they need to interview Daren the Plumber, because he is NO average Joe!! Love ya bro! xxoo

Popcorn's Poem: On The Corner of Never

Just out of reach is your favorite address

all my letters return such a stamped up mess

The envelope holds solutions and love, suggestions yes pleas

That always bounce back knocking me to my knees

Where is the wisdom holding the key

to the residence walls that keep you from me?

Wondering and asking and seeking and crying

The cycle appears that so feels like dying

Can't you hear where you live? Don't you feel the vibration

of caring and longing, some kind of sensation?

Surely memories sustain in your mind's sunny spaces

Emotion's train traveling through happier places

You must disembark and unpack your thoughts

yes right here, change addresses

Move into the Light, relocate forever

Since letters return from the corner of never

Such a Pretty Season

Popcorn's Picture Slappin'

Here are some sweet pics taken by Popdaughter in Austin this weekend when she was there for Austin City Limits. Enjoy....

Is Blogging An Excercise in Narcissism?

"Everything is about our efforts to be significant. We slap hundreds of pictures up about ourselves and want people to come and look. We post a bazillion facts about ourselves and we want people to come and look. We post thousands of inane stories about ourselves and we want people to come and look... We write blogs for a year or so and suddenly believe that we are Faulkner."

This is a statement I read on a good friend's blog recently. It really did a number on my head. I felt guilty about my blog posts. I actually have several blogs saved in draft form that I haven't published yet because I kept thinking "My word, that is inane!" It made me ponder why I enjoy writing this blog. Geez, is it an effort to be significant? Gosh, are my posts inane? So do I think I'm Faulkner? To quote Pooh..."..think, think think..." Uh, um...well, I do not think it is to establish self significance. That isn't on my mind at all when I write. It is just simply one little page in cyberspace where I try my hand at writing. I enjoy it.I write about what's on my mind. Whether or not anyone "comes and looks" is really not important. If people stop in and read my posts, great. If not, I'm still going to write out of enjoyment anyway. Yes, my posts are inane. So? Who cares? We need inane sometimes. I like inane. I love reading other inane blogs. It's like a little window into people's lives. I feel a sense of social connection. There's a common denominator between bloggers, which is the hobby of writing little posts. Do I "believe I'm Faulkner"? In a word, no. I'm just a girl who likes to write little inane blog posts in hopes that it will serve as a momentary bit of thought food for those that like to read blogs. That's all. Nothing psychologically sinister or narcissistic about it...Shoo. I feel better now. Stay tuned for more picture slappin', a bazillion and one more facts, and less than Faulkner quality inane posts. Come and look, if you please...or don't. My significance doesn't hang in the balance.