totally random ...

As happens each and every May, time somehow becomes compressed - as a result, my calendar gets squeezed and without any warning, I find myself backlogged and overwhelmed as the school year winds down.  So here's another collection of random thoughts from the last week ...

• Last Thursday, I did something crazy ... I took a "day off" from chores and errands and put on something other than jeans and a sweatshirt - and there might even have been a touch of makeup involved.  Just sayin.  And after packaging myself up as an intelligent and productive member of society, I went with a couple of friends to attend a lecture and lunch at a really wonderful local museum.  The speaker was none other than Livingston Taylor ... unfortunately for him, he's more often known as James Taylor's younger brother, but he is an a.m.a.z.i.n.g. singer and songwriter in his own right.  And he was terrific - a great storyteller and singer, he talked, he sang, he got the crowd energized and laughing ... I would highly recommend you to see him if he ever comes your way - it was so much fun!   Way to live outside the box on a school day, momma ladybug!

• Last Friday was May Day at school.  Last year, my sweet little ladybug joined her 3rd grade classmates as the headliners of the entire production - they were the special kids who got to wrap the maypole after an hour or so of school-wide songs and celebration in the gym.  It was an amazing day filled with joy - you can see photos from last year here.  Sadly, those are the only photos you'll ever see of May Day because I now see that life on the other side isn't nearly as fun - once you're past 3rd grade, it's all over ... you've peaked.  This year, the girls hemmed and hawed, they didn't want to dress up, they didn't want to go, they didn't want to sing ... complain, complain, complain ... geez, take away the spotlight and they want nothing to do with it ... sigh.

• Over the weekend, the carnival came to our tiny seaside town.  It's a small-time operation that comes each year on the first weekend in May - it's a fundraiser for the high school and it gets set up in the parking lot of our beach.  Probably about a dozen different rides that can each pack up into an 18-wheeler truck - everything from your standard carousel and "dizzy dragons" for the little kids all the way up to the "octopus" and "salt-n-pepper-shakers" for the teenagers.  There's also a host of familiar carnival games like whack-a-mole and of course, plenty of friend dough and cotton candy.  For the kids of the town, this may as well be the coming of Justin Beiber ... they go nuts.  For me, not so much.  It's a lot of giant things, from the rides to the people, all crammed into a filthy dirt/sand parking lot, not good for my space issues ... and naturally the cost is outrageous ... as in, rob an ATM first.  I shouldn't complain, because the photos are going to make it appear as though it's the best thing since sliced bread ... and for them it really was ...

waiting in line to purchase ride tickets

the octopus

swings = dizzyyyyyyy ....

super cool shot as the dizzy dragon whirled past - do you recognize little ladybug on the left?

• Saturday was busy - sports in the morning, house/yard chores in the afternoon, and a fun party in the late afternoon/evening that our friends host annually for the Kentucky Derby.  I put all my money down on Pants On Fire - a gorgeous horse with the only female jockey - but just as with the carnival the night before, I lost all my money and still managed to have a good time ...

• Sunday - Mother's Day - ah, the bliss!!  This year, it was my perfect day in every way ... the ladybugs were happy and cooperative, I got a beautiful breakfast in bed, I got to spend an extra hour+ in bed afterwards to surf my laptop (I have a new obsession** that I can't wait to tell you about - thank you, Dana, it's as addictive as heroin) ... then later I snuck out of the house with another mom friend of mine and caught a 2:45 movie we had been dying to see ...

Truth be told, friends, I am a complete Brit-lit nerd ... love love love all things Brontë and Austen ... just a romantic fool am I ... if you are, too, you should put this movie on your to-do list - a world apart from the ridiculous 1996 film with William Hurt (but if you have the time, nothing beats the 4-part Masterpiece Theater version!) ... oops, have I said too much?  Yes, I'm a Brit-lit and Masterpiece Theater nerd all at once ... don't judge ... anyhoo ... the day got even better when I returned home to find that everyone wanted to go out to Chinese for dinner ... so fun, so delicious, and no cleanup - yay!!  Yup, the perfect Mother's Day ... what a lucky lucky momma ladybug ...

** full-length post forthcoming ... once I can manage to unplug myself from it ;-)