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I’m just opening a Word Press account ’cause everybody else is.

Reunion

Nicole -another South London American expat blogger – wants to go to her 20th high school reunion this year.

I do, too.

I mean – not to hers. That would be weird. Plus, I bet her reunion is in Vegas and I’ve kinda sworn I’d never pay to go there again.

No, I want to go to mine. Mine should be sometime this year, too. My 20th high school reunion. Holy moly.

I gotta lose weight and make up a convincing, yet over-the-top tissue of lies and half-truths about my glamorous London lifestyle. And get a haircut.

And now I ask you…

OK, do you like the new look? The Vol-in-Law hates it. He’s offered some constructive and un-constructive criticism. He says I should go on my baby discussion forums and say:

“DH says my blog looks like cr@p. Tell me it doesn’t, support only please.” (You have to spell crap like that because the discussion forum has naughty word filters.)

I don’t have a lot of time to wrangle with HTML or CSS, but I can always go back to an earlier version.

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How do you feel about the Princes in the Tower. I mean did Richard III do it, or did he do it? VolMom passed along a book which exonerates Richard. I haven’t finished the book, but I’m pretty unconvinced.

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Tortillas: Corn or flour?
Popcorn: Butter or plain?
Peanut butter: Crunchy or smooth?

a bit of light

Yesterday we had our first blue skies in a while

Missed chances

Here’s the thing about growth spurts. Certain outfits are too big, still too big, too big…oops…too little.

So yesterday, I finally dragged out the real tree baby camo outfit. And dang if it wasn’t just a little too small. My mom paid full price for that outfit down in Loretto, so we wedged him into anyway.

Before he was born, I had planned on a little photo shoot – putting the baby in his real tree camo in the leaves – captioning it “Where’s the baby?” But he mostly sleeps during our walks in the park and I couldn’t really justify dragging him out of his cosy warm blanket just for a funny picture. Though I did think about it.

He was wrapped in his new fleecy Vols blanket, before we put it on him I asked the Vol-in-Law if he thought hunter camo goes with Tennessee orange.

“I dunno,” he says. “Shall we be the first to try it?”

Eight random facts about me

This is a curious meme. I know that there are blogs which are focused, on topic and on target. But this ain’t one of them. This whole blog is a collection of random facts, mostly about me. (Or at least my take on them.)

I was tagged by Katie Allison Granju. One of her random facts is also true for me. She hates mayonnaise. Blecchhh. I think it’s disgusting. Get it away from me. I could say that was my random fact, too – but here’s a slightly different one to start off with:

1. Off and on I keep a small jar of Hellman’s Mayonnaise at the back of my cupboard. It remains unopened until I have some mayo fiend guest demanding their stuff for a sandwich. The last couple of jars expired and got chucked out before ever having been used. Best way to do mayo, in my opinion. There’s not a jar there right now, but I might get one before my mom comes to visit.

2. Although most of my life has been spent in the great state of Tennessee, the greenest state in the land of the free, I’ve lived longer in my current London house than any other place I’ve ever lived in. After that, a house in Knoxville. After that, my grandfather’s house in Lawrenceburg.

3. The job I’ve held the longest was at a garden center in Knoxville. Oakes Nursery. I think it’s shut down now. I didn’t hold the post continuously though – as the work was seasonal. I really enjoyed it and learned a lot about plants and people. Everyone should work retail (or wait tables) for at least three months.

4. Shortly after I started blogging, I saw an online discussion about me – and who I was. This blogger said something like “For all, I know we could be cousins”. And it turns out that we are, distant, but still. Heck, we’ve probably been at the same family reunion (at the picnic shelter at David Crockett State Park). I was the surly teen trying to figure out a way to sneak off for a cigarette. Well, given our genetic disposition – that’s probably not much of a clue.

5. I have SunDrop in my house right now. It’s liquid gold. I only refrigerate one can at a time so I don’t go through it too quick. My husband put an empty can in our transparent recycling bag, and I grant is a perfectly normal thing to do. But I had this paranoid fear that some SunDrop addict would walk by our house, see it and then break into our house to steal my stash. That’s the grip SunDrop has on you.

6. I use commas and dashes, way too much. Regular readers will know this. I’m aware of the problem – but I just can’t stop. Every time I stop typing, I add a comma or dash. I paused, I want you to pause. Just think of it like a blog conversation, and I sigh and take deep breaths a lot. Don’t think that’s your opportunity to start talking though. No. Just leave something in the comment section when I’m done.

7. I can play the fiddle, but I haven’t for five years. And I want to start back, but I’m finding it hard to pick up the bow again.

8. I can’t stand for the sappy works of Celine Dion to played in the house while I’m in it. (This random fact prompted by someone forgetting that very important rule.)

OK, so with memery – the idea is to pass it on. I’d like to see some random facts from Rachel at Women’s Health News, the eight random facts could be about women’s health. I’m going to randomly pick the rest of my tag-ees from my blog roll once removed (somebody whose on the list of somebody on my list who isn’t on my list.)

From Mel’s Diner I choose Dixie Peach and wouldn’t you know, her most recent entry is about mayonnaise.
from Ginger Snaps I choose My Quiet Life (actually I’m not sure why he’s not on my blog roll, he’s in my Flickr contacts, which is a great pleasure)
from Haiku of the Id I choose Change over the waters
from Jen’s Den of Iniquity I choose Noble Savage (another one I don’t know why isn’t on my list)

OK, that should be enough to be getting on with

Blogging block

I think I’m having a little blogging block. Partly because I’m really, really tired. I don’t do well without sleep. You know those torture techniques, I think I could keep a secret through pain and threats of pain. But deprive me of my sleep – I’ll tell you everything.

Anyway, in place of any actual blogging, here’s some random thoughts about today’s ripped headlines:

Writer’s strike: Well, I don’t care, since I’m mostly watching the Rockford Files, Columbo and four year old Maury shows. That Maury, he’s timeless.

Pakistan and martial law: err, still lawless. Obama’s idea of kicking butt and taking names seems more sensible all the time. Although I don’t really mean that, because I think we should take a little break from invading countries until we can get it right.

The Vols – hey, we got our sacrificial homecoming win. Hurray. Go Vols. Now, to beat Arkansas – all you true orange blooded Volunteers should get busy writing poetry for the weekly Hail Mary Haiku contest. And in other football news, did y’all see this? Those kids must have a lot of character built up by now.

Oh…and since I also blog about babies now – here’s a picture of the tyke – the reason why I’m getting no sleep.

Five months old

He’s five months old today

quoth the crow

give me more

Happy Halloween

feeding the crows at Wimbledon Common

Contact me

It’s been pointed out that I don’t have a contact email listed – I used to, I had to change it and I never updated. Here it is:

Vol_abroad AT yahoo.co.uk

or if you know me

firstname last initial 2005 AT yahoo.co.uk – in such a way that if my name were Jane Doe, you could contact me at JaneD2005 @ yahoo.co.uk