One Tribute of Millions to the King of Pop

Mr. Michael Jackson died today.
Michael was born in 1958, two years prior to my birth. He and I cut our teeth on our older sisters & brother's rock -n- roll music that was labeled 'wild' and the teenagers 'were out of control' in the early sixties and seventies.

Michael Jackson - and his brothers - forming the Jackson Five in total, were part of 'my crowd' - their music was what we sang - their voices what my friends cried over. The Osmond Family, the Jackson Five and The Monkees; a little bit of the Beatles and drips of Elvis - what a great young life and early teenage life of music I got to experience.

I prided myself - and my voice - on being able to copy some of Michael's high notes in the song "Ben". I always seemed to want to croon this song along with Michael everytime it came on the radio - wait, I think I have the 45 Record!!! I tried singing along with it this afternoon in a small radio tribute to Michael - and I must say, even after several decades of abusing my voice with smoking, I can still hit some of the notes - and I still love to sing the song.

On my 30th Birthday, my ex husband took me to see Michael in Dallas at Reunion for his "BAD" tour. We had great floor seats - but as usual, with it sucking royally to be short, I saw most of his concert on the two big screens on either side of the stage - because I couldn't see the stage over the people. Still - great. Absolutely great. I'm Bad, I'm Bad - you know it!!

We hadn't heard alot about Michael lately; God love the man - he lived quite a tortured life. Personally, I don't believe in pronouncing guilt on someone I don't know - and, I personally have no right to judge his actions or lack thereof. Michael was ONE OF A KIND. No, he wasn't Elvis. He was Michael Jackson. Like Elvis, he left his own brand on this world - this lifetime - and my life. Can you say that about your own life? I know I can't.

Thank you, Michael - for all you brought into this world, for all you gave to us - your music - and your life. You will be missed.

Another weekend morning - thoughts and ramblings

Bright blue today. The color of the sky when the weather is going to be beautiful. Wishful thinking today? Probably. I always said that Summertime was my FAVORITE time of the year; I still basically believe that's true. However---it's already friggin' HOT here during the day, and I still don't have a swimming pool in my backyard. Let's not get me started on that topic, shall we?

Neighbors across the street are having a garage - well, yard - sale. Good for them this morning, bad for them this afternoon. I may be having a garage sale with the stuff I have to pull out of my garage just to get my car back out! The threat of severe weather sent me scrambling last night to clear out my one-car garage just enough to get the SUV inside and out of what was deemed in Weatherford as 'softball sized' hail....well, that didn't make it to Garland (thank Goodness) but - hey, you never know! Anyway, yay for my industrious neighbors and their sale. Not only am I not going to join them and have one - but I'm not going over there to have a look-see either. They have a dog and two children...can't think of a thing I'd want.

Not much on the plans for the weekend; I do believe we will make a trip to Arlington tomorrow to visit with my Mom. Tori won't be too happy that Ireland isn't there. C'est la vie, my darling daughter.

Well, I'm off in search of the ever elusive 'good deal' vacation spot. The road trip I talked about previously is in question - I really want to go to the beach. Really. Want. To. Go. So, I'm all about the information superhighway to locate the cottage by the sea of my dreams - just one that won't cost $1500 a week.

Ya'll enjoy your weekend!

Weekend mornings....

Another one of the absolute best things about not smoking is that I have my sense of SMELL back. And, that sense grows stronger with each passing year. This summer has been quite a delight with the fresh fruits (I think I buy peaches everytime I go to the produce section whether I want them or not) and oh my gosh, the pineapples? Did they always smell that good?

Weekend mornings are also exceptionally nice, because I spend some of the early morning hours outside on my screened in porch on the front of my house. (By the way, brewed coffee? Oh my, does that smell good too!!) The smells of summertime - freshly mowed grass, flowers in bloom, gentle breezes - and yes, even the smell of HEAT saturates my senses to the point of - well, for lack of the correct word here - oblivion!

The sun is up - and shining on my left shoulder. The birds are flying and chirping. I have the slightest cool morning breeze flowing over my skin. A cuppa Joe, and today - I have you for company. Can weekend mornings get any better than this? (Maybe talk to me in the winter, where my sense of I WOULD RATHER STAY WARM kicks in...)

Off to begin the morning abolitions....a single homeowning mom's chores are never done.

Mesquite Rodeo! June 5th, 2009

Hey, we had a BLAST last night at the Mesquite Rodeo that reopened this weekend after undergoing - what I understand - is a major renovation! Got them a couple of small jumbo-trons (is there such a thing?) (Speaking of jumbo-trons, the new Cowboy Stadium in Arlington is bosting the country's largest flat-screen weighing in at 660 TONS. Now, I'm just thinking, I hope to gosh that they didn't put SEATS under that thing...), also the MR is showing off a cool laser show at the beginning - and - did YOU know that a RODEO arena can handle all that plus a motor-cycle stunt rider (TROY - THE WILD CHILD)??

All of the bronc-busting, bull-riding, barrell racing and general horse showmanship was really good. I have to place a side note here - it is a RODEO and there needs to be much, much more of all of the above mentioned RODEO items. A little too much talk ! Oh - and we probably could've done without Leisel's piano playing to whoever the 'lady' was trying to sing opera...(yeah, they did)...all in all, the cowboys that were playing in this arena this night were very good - and put on a good show.

Sonny B's Barbeque was really good and a great choice over the hamburger/hot dogs that the Rodeo itself had to offer (again, my mind is thinking - wonder what all those BULLS were thinking about the smell of Barbeque lingering in the air?? - why am I so weird sometimes?) and the price was RIGHT. For around $11 I had myself a great BBQ dinner with all the fixins' including lemonade! (The kids who didn't want BBQ had A (one) hotdog, chips and a drink for $7...now there's just something criminal about that). We managed to do the right thing and get there early enough for dinner and a show - cannot beat that!

Good job, Mesquite! We'll be back!

High School - 1 down, 3 to go!

Well, it's quite possible, that we're on to 10th grade....amazingly!
Tori's 9th grade year has gone quicky for her..."can you believe it's already over, mom?"... and mom...well I cannot believe that it's gone soooooooo slllllooooowwwwllllyyyyy. Now, I'm sure that one day I'll look back and agree with her - as the rest of my beautiful daughter's life has flown by in the blink of an eye....but right now? High school cannot finish soon enough. (But of course, I mean COMPLETELY, and not EARLY).

Hoping that an additonal level of maturity is reached before next year.

Congrats, Miss Tori! As you say, darlin' - passing is passing....