Just Call Me the Memolator...

Sorry for the prolonged absence but I have been having a small nervous breakdown

obsessively watching clips of Matsui on youtube

running away with the pool boy dealing with some family issues. I have eluded in the past that one of my family members was gravely ill and he passed away last Monday. Although this was anticipated this doesn't really assuage the pain and grief my family has felt recently. I know he is now hanging out with my mom, playing bridge and drinking champagne with no more worries of addiction but I am going to really miss his presence on this earth. He made the world a better place. He remembered how important civility and humor and intelligent dialogue was (even if you didn't agree with the person you were having dialogue with). I wonder, if a person believes in heaven and does the things it takes to go there, if you get to drink in heaven with no fear of addiction. Do you get to eat ice cream all day without getting fat or having lactose intolerant issues? Do you get to chill with your favorite animals and people? Can you just sleep for a hundred years and not worry about much of anything? My mom believed in some form of the after life (and she was a very good person) and my uncle believed in the after life (and he may not have started great but I think he ended things on a high note). In my very liberal religious Unitarian world I hope that the after life is everything they wanted it to be. We went to Pine Bluff, AR last weekend and said good bye to him. During the service I couldn't help but think that I really hope I die before Hubby because I just don't think I am strong enough to survive my soul mate. My aunt seemed so honest in her emotions, she had been married to my uncle for almost 30 years and they were best friends. I haven't even been married for 10 years and I just think a huge part of my would die without Hubby (and not the part the drives me bat shit...that will live on for eternity). I would lose the good part, the part that reassures me and always makes me feel like I have a parachute, who doesn't let me take myself too seriously but can be serious when I tell him to shut the F-bomb up, I am serious. He is the one who tells me, when I have run 13 miles and am crying because it hurt so much, that he can't believe how incredible I am (even though I am all sweaty and nasty). I tear up just thinking about it (right now he is reading this and thinking 'you need to chill out, you are stuck with me'). This weekend was emotional.

The only damage done was that I got second degree burns from my venti half caf coffee. I spilled it on me while we were in Little Rock. The roads were bumpy, the coffee really hot and the cup shoddy. Ouch. I also spent over 1000 miles in a car with my uncle and three cousins and we still a like each other. I think that is a phenomenal achievement.
In Arkansas I saw a truck that had a bumper sticker that said 'thank you baby Jesus for my red hot smoking wife'.

Little Rock is a very cool little town. It's like Chattanooga or Savannah or Asheville. It has a Clinton memorabilia store. We didn't go in to find out if they sell cigars.

I am also facing the fact that we have to put our very old cat to sleep. She was my mom's cat. She is happy even when she is peeing on the furniture, the child and the rugs. The vet says this is common and the decision is OK but I feel like I am a terrible person.
So in my absence I have been tagged not once but twice. Chicky Chicky Baby tagged the infamous Cape Buffalo who then tagged me for the real mother's meme. The meme is this (per PDX Mama): The "how to": write a post "Real Moms [insert what you do here]", followed by an explanation, a picture, and a "Real Moms. Making ....". Then tag five people.
I don't tag people (the memolator is a person who ends a meme by not tagging - I made this up today chatting with Kara. I am a memolator).
So here is my meme:

Mothers teach their sons and daughters the appropriate use of hairspray. I don't think there is a need for an explanation...
I am also going to throw in a pair of Ginsu knives and do the second meme I was tagged for (and again, I am going to memolate the hell out of it...)

Tony over at Croutonboy was tagged (or tagged himself) and someone else was tagged and it goes on and on. I think maybe the first place I saw this meme was over at Cynical Dad. The gist is to name seven songs you are listening to a lot these days and link to the song or youtube or something. Tony did MP3's and Chag did links to youtube songs and I am doing the songs. Not even an explanation for the songs. I am a slacker.

TV on The Radio - I Was a Lover

Lilly Allen - Alfie

Amy Winehouse - Rehab

Big Country - In a Big Country

REM - Pilgrimage

The Blow - Parentheses

The Black Keys - Busted