5 places I'd like to visit again from my childhood

5. Camp Vandevander, summer of 1977
My dad was the camp counselor of a local Boy Scout camp, so we lived in a cabin all summer long. We had the run of the place, and we spent hours catching frogs in the creek.

4. My grandparent's house.
Both my grandparents died in 2002, and their deaths turned a new chapter in my life, i.e. "The Chapter Without My Grandparents." I remember entering their house, and the smell of my grandma's White Diamonds and my grandpa's aftershave hit me immediately. They had knick-knacks from everywhere they'd been, and each time was a new story they could tell.

3. Southside Park, early 1980s
I lived a block away from this park, and at the time it was at its peak. Every night there were softball games on the field, and the bleachers were PACKED. We could go inside the concession building and get sno-cones and Charleston Chews until our teeth rotted out. Our parents were nowhere to be found, and it was OK. Even the creeps down there I'm still nostalgic for. My best friend lived directly across the street, and I remember one night some drunk guy got on top of the announcer's box screaming and hollering and staggering. It was my introduction to intoxication as neither of my parents drank, and it totally intrigued me.

2. Six Flags, late 70s/early 80s
I can't smell hot asphalt without thinking of the Tom's Twister. At the time, the parachute ride was still operational, and it was just the greatest thing ever. Six Flags was so innocent back then, without the Loony Tunes merchandising EVERYWHERE you look and the people in the plaid yellow and brown uniforms. That my friends was heaven on earth. Give me some fudge and then stick me on a roller coaster.

1. Pantera's Pizza circa 1984
Pantera's was THE place to be. It had all the cool arcade games, even the new ones, like Burger Time. Plus it always upgraded the Pac Man--Ms. Pac Man, Super Pac Man, Pac Man Junior, it had them all. And the pizza was delicious!! They had the biggest screen television I'd ever seen, and a jukebox to pick from Madonna or Stray Cats or Ray Parker, Jr. Plus they had the coolest teenagers working there, you wished you could be old enough so you could make minimum wage in such an awesome establishment.

We could never have loved the earth so well if we had had no childhood in it. ~George Eliot

Eerie Love on the Panama

So in two weeks I will be getting a ROOT CANAL. Oh, even writing it sounds so daunting. But it must be done. I haven't been able to chew on the right side of my mouth for 2 years. So how is that for looking forward to a lot of pain to get rid of pain??!?!

Whenever you hear, "getting a root canal" it just immediately forces you to cringe. Someone messing with the roots in your canal, man, it just can't be good.

I never had cavities. Never. Then I had kids and they sucked the calcium right out of my teeth. I went to the SAME dentist since I was 4 years old, and so he filled my cavity.

And it did not work.

I went back again. He put ice on my tooth OW!!!! He did some stuff.

It did not work.

I went back to this guy SIX. TIMES. SIX TIMES PEOPLE.

And he did not fix it.

What do I do? Decide to let it go for 3 years, yes, that is the best idea I've ever heard of. Right. Neglect it and then it will just get better on its own!

I had a dream the other night that I went and the dentist fixed it with lasers and it didn't hurt and took like, 4 minutes to finish. For some reason, this dream was the epiphany that led me to wake up and finally call a new dentist and schedule an appointment.

This new dentist is great, wonderful in fact. But, uh, it's gonna hurt and she said it will average about 2 1/2 hours to complete. (oh and yeah, by the way it's gonna cost like $700)

GAHHH!!!!!!

So, when people hear 'root canal' and cringe, are they cringing for the pain or for the price???

World Turning

It is 11:16 am on Thursday, and I had to write something before I left for the gym. I just finished reading an email from two male old friends (one being my husband) and I started to cry. I've known both of them for almost 10 years, and it is just now I realized how life can change a person.

There just comes a point when you start living for different reasons.

I guess that's why they call it grown-up.

Melon-collie

The sun is shining today so I am happy! I don't mind the cold so much as long as the sun is out. It snowed last night too, so it is very pretty outside.

I hope the sun improves my husband's mood. He is the type that keeps it all bottled up and then BAM for a week he is just tired/sad/overwhelmed/unhappy. He's had a lot of responsibilities put upon him lately (promotion, family issues, etc.) but he will go full speed, solving everyone else's problems and getting things done when he finally just collapses from the stress. I hope he feels better, otherwise I fear he might come home driving a new Corvette or something. When he has a crisis, it doesn't come cheap.

Ah, but I'm sure glad 2004 is over. That story is for another day.

I started a new book, "The Five People you Meet in Heaven". I wanted to know what all the fuss was about. I'll probably be done with it today. It's good so far. If you have any book suggestions please feel free to give me some! I'm always looking for new books to immerse myself in.

5 favorite movie quotes

1. "I'm your huckleberry." -Tombstone

2. "I gave her my heart, and she gave me a pen." -Say Anything

3. "All Jedi had was a bunch of Muppets." -Clerks

4. "Can I borrow your towel? My car just hit a water buffalo." -Fletch

5. "You don't want to get mixed up with a guy like me. I'm a loner, Dottie. A rebel." -Pee Wee's Big Adventure

Rug musings

Rug is my 5-year-old. She is so very entertaining. She also has a knack for mispronouncing just about everything, and I can't correct her because it's so darn funny. There are 3 words I cannot, no matter how hard I've tried, to get her to say right:

"Vacation" translates into: "Mom! Remember the fun we had on our buhcation?"

"Supposed" translates into: "You are not apposed to do that."

"Another" of course, translates into: "I don't want to wear this. I want the nother one."

For some reason I imagine her meeting a man when she's older and her telling him, "Sorry, dear, I can't travel with you to Buenes Aires. I'm not apposed to go on nother buhcation."

Stay at home Mom Syndrome

I walked out of the door today to go to school, and I looked in the mirror and realized I did not have any makeup on, AND I was wearing jeans from yesterday that had ketchup on them.

D'oh!!!!

Crackalactic

I wrote a post last night after my shopping spree (I was coming down off the high) and left it up while cooking dinner...so Aaron read it and inadvertently deleted it. It's alright though--he did the dishes! He is so funny, I guess he thinks he is going to find some amazing revelation about me on my blog. Most likely though he's waiting for me to start complaining about him. Oh give me time!

Well I posted about how I went CRAZY CRAZY and bought a bunch of clothes yesterday for my impending jump back into the workforce. I have my degree in Psychology, and without a Master's it serves me little purpose other than knowing a few things for Trivia Night every now and again. When I quit working in 2000 after Riley was born, I started transcribing focus groups for a university study, and liked it so much I decided to get my certificate to do medical transcription. So I've finished all my classes and am now at the clinical part of the program. I am required to do 80 hours of work in a health facility/hospital setting. And I am required to look 'professional'. So I got that going for me.

For the past 5 years I've been a SAHM for all you computer geeks...that's stay at home Mom. So my professional wardrobe consists of sweats, T-shirts, tennis shoes and skrunchies for my hair. I need some new threads!

So I took the girls shopping with me yesterday to the mall and Lerner had a sale of buy one pair of pants get one 50% off, so that was a good deal to me. I rewarded the girls by taking them to see that aforementioned doggy cute movie, and it certainly lived up to its doggy cuteness.

It was nice to get all those new clothes, but as I sit here typing in my sweats and T-shirt, I am wondering what I'm getting myself into.

This is the End....

Well, I can hang up my youth as of today. My husband LP and I have decided on our next Big Purchase...the 2005 Honda Odyssey Minivan. I am officially an Old person. Yowza.

We haven't gotten it yet, but he did the taxes and whatnot today so we are projecting an August purchase of the Enemy. And, I am *gasp* actually looking very forward to it. Imagine being able to let the kids in the car using a remote! And enough space for all their friends! And them being far away enough in the back so I can talk dirty to my husband!!

So anyway. It was a gorgeous day today and the girls and I went for a walk, which was very pleasant. Rug, my 5-year-old, is doing really well on her bike, while the older one, Al, has given it up entirely so she used her scooter--which is enabling her and I need to have a talk with it. Then I finished up laundry and LP took them out to play soccer in the backyard. And THEN he cooked dinner. Oooh he is so awesome.

Tomorrow they have the day off so I will be taking them to see "Because of Winn Dixie". They just love them some cheezy dog movies.

So, in conclusion, I am Debbie, I've hit the wall, and I will not be shaking my ass on the hood of Whitesnake's car anytime soon.

And I'm okay with that.

It's my first time

I've been wanting to write a blog for some time now, but do not have the computer abilities to make it look good. So for the past few months I used the blog that was on myspace.com, which I was invited to by a friend.

Well, I realized that my friend was the only one reading it, and then I started getting all these lewd messages from 18-year-old boys, i.e. "Wanna be my soccer mom?" etc. So, I decided that was not exactly the environment I wanted to surround myself in. I knew blogger was one of the most popular, and it seemed safe. So let's give it a go!

Anyway, my name is Jana, I'm 31 years old and I have 2 children. I stay at home right now, but that won't last much longer as I plan to plunge back into the work world shortly.

I'm not a swinger, I don't do drugs (anymore anyway), and I have no tattoos. This does not make me uncool. I am very open-minded and try to give everyone the benefit of a few doubts.

I love my husband too, and no I will most certainly not be your soccer mom.

Well, make me an offer.