crossrhodes

Today was a perfect day to work outside. Partly cloudy and cool (too cool for bees and mosquitos to come out, but just right for me). We’re getting the new camping trailer ready for summer. I cleaned the interior while Don powerwashed the exterior. I stripped the linens to wash; Don’s replacing the floor. Then we move all the gear from the old pop-up to the new hybrid.

James changed the oil in both cars. Yup, he can do it all by himself now! Don taught him when he was 14. Today, Don let him drive the tractor lawn mower for the first time. Why do we have a tractor lawn mower on barely a quarter acre of land??? That’s a whole ‘nother blog :-)

Meanwhile, the For Sale sign is posted. We’re saying goodbye to the old pop-up trailer! Don may put it up on eBay. This originally belonged to Don’s grandparents, btw. Sentimental fool that I am, I feel it should be handed down to his family. It still has some life left in it. A little more duct tape here and there and it’s good to go! (Whatta ya say, Mark?)

So, on my lawn this weekend are two trailers and a tractor. Why, just call me Elly May Clampett!  Yee-haw!

I’m feeling a weird sensation like I’m missing an appendage. Then I remembered that my brother borrowed my camera for a wedding. I still have my point and shoot Canon all charged and ready to go, but it’s not the same anymore since I’ve been shooting w/ a DSLR for 6 months.

So, until my baby comes back to mama, feast your eyes on some of my favorite flickrs and photographers who inspire me. Enjoy!

Click on a thumbnail to view the photo in the artist’s gallery.

…Chinatown, that is. Had a fantastic night out w/ the girls in the city! (THE city only refers to NYC. That’s a universal truth! :) I didn’t get home until 3:00 this morning!!! Of course, I live the furthest but it’s always worth the drive to celebrate w/ the sisterhood. Last night, another YaYa turned the big 30.

Leaving the kids w/ the husbands at home, we drove into the city to a familiar place on Mott St. For an inconspicuous joint below street level, this modestly decorated corner landmark serves up fast, affordable, and some of the best Cantonese food on the eastern seaboard.

Between laughing and chewing, we managed to scarf down and order seconds of salt & pepper squid, sauteed crabs, fried flounder, steamed kangkong (greens), peking pork chops, fried noodles, and snails in black bean sauce.

After dinner, we went on a scavenger hunt for bubble tea. It was late on a week night and only a few tea vendors were open. Our first choice was closed. Our second choice ran out of… ummm… balls. It was funny, a la Seinfeld episode, but you had to be there.

For those who don’t know, the “bubble” in bubble tea are tapioca pearls. Or as we were calling it all night, tapioca balls. “No more balls!!!” “No more balls???” We were so loud, a passing stranger stopped to point us to another store down the street that serves balls.

And I don’t know whose idea it was, or if the group just unintentionally mosied over that way, to stand downwind from a pile of garbage. We stood on that spot for an hour or so, talking and even opening gifts, before one of the girls finally said something. I noticed it from the get-go but didn’t say anything coz I didn’t want to be labelled the country bumpkin who lost her sense of Scents & the City.

So that was our lovely evening. I’m waiting on more pictures from one of the girls to add to our scrapbook. In addition to getting together on birthdays, we added a new tradition of scrapbooking each event into one collective album.

Happy birthday, H! Love you girls! YaYa!

• James passed AP Calculus!!! *whew* Thank God that’s out of the way already!
• I got my first spa pedicure of the season and a couple pairs of new flip flops. Yey, spring!
• I’m finally caught up on laundry and spring cleaning our bedroom.
• I didn’t have to cook dinner tonight and have leftover shrimp/scallop/crab imperial for lunch tomorrow.
• There’s a new episode of Desperate Housewives tonight.

LOL! I don’t really care about the last point there. I just overheard the TV announcement in the other room.

James and I spent half the day yesterday in a Navy recruiting office. He recently applied for an ROTC college scholarship and was called for an interview within a week or two.

The chief recruiter’s exact words to me were, “He stood out among the rest, at least on paper.” She looked forward to meeting him and said it was “a blessing to present him to the board” who gives the final yea or nay.

While “Miss Daisy” was shuffled from office to office for a couple of hours, I (aka taxi-mom) burried my head in a book in the lobby. Every now and then I raised an eyebrow to a passing man in uniform :) Love the tailored khaki look! The Navy must’ve changed their uniforms because I didn’t see a “Popeye the Sailor Man” anywhere on the campus.

Anyway, we won’t hear yea or nay until his senior year of high school.

Meanwhile, the much anticipated letter from radiology school arrived yesterday. And I quote,

“The [Admissions] Committee was unable to decide upon an avenue of acceptance and tabled your application request until the June, 2007 meeting.”

Basically, there are two rounds of admissions; one in April, one in June. They put me off till June. *sigh* Waiting… waiting… waiting. I’ve done everything on my part: finished all my pre-reqs w/ a 3.75 GPA, paid all the application fees, sat through interviews and info seminars, and even bought a new suit (w/c pisses me off coz I can’t return it anymore). What other “avenue of acceptance” do they need? I have a 15 yr professional history, am more mature and capable than any 18 y/o fresh out of high school, and can pay the tuition in full. I haven’t told them the latter. Hmmm… maybe that’s what it will take.

If God closes this door despite all my effort, I have to trust He has better plans for me. I just wish I knew the details in whole, not in part, to discourage my kicking and screaming through the proverbial open window.