Life As an Afterschool Special

I asked my mom for a recipe for the bake sale we are having for United Way at work.

Here is what she emailed me.

I love this recipe. Drive to your local bakery and tell them your doing a fundraiser… They will donate a dozen of cookies… Take them home and put them on your platter… Wrap them in colored wrap, put a label on them with “made by Jamie” and call it a day.
Yummy Yummy. Happy Birthday my baby girl.
xoxxo Mom

yep. Thats my mom.

And that is why I am the way I am.

(my aunt mindy upon hearing the story informed my mother she forgot the part about putting on my pearls. My mother of course, thought that part was a given)

I posted this on the Rumor Forum, but I havent written on my blog in so long I thought I would post it here too.

I have had the WORST headache all day today. Its right under my eyes and is KILLING me.

I am at Centerpoint, which is a massage school, and I told them I had a headache and so far I have been given healing stones, had my shiatsu points on my legs pressed, reflexology done on my hand, and given some terrible ginsing tea.

And none of these things cured my headache.

So I call my dad to chat, and in passing I say “I have a terrible headache… I have had it all day”

And my DAD says “You should hypnotize yourself”

What?!

And my dad says “Yeah, I just got hypnotized” and proceeds to tell me about how I need to regulate my breathing, close my eyes, focus on a happy place like a forest, and not allow headaches into my happy place. And then I will “wake up” with no headache.

What?!

First my mom and her “box” and now my dad and his “happy place”

No wonder I need therepy.

But I laugh and he says “I am serious. I just got hypnotized and learned how to do it myself today. So I quit smoking. Now I am going home to hypnotize Mom.”

What?!

Doesnt anyone believe in asprin anymore?!

My dad is amazing and he loves me.

In the past two weeks he has come to my house to fix my car when I couldnt get it to start, and then towed me from the middle of a cornfield when I blew up my radiator.

He let me drive his truck to work while my car was broken.

He has spent hours fixing the battery, altenator, radiator, and sensor on my car.

And then he washed my car, cleaned it out, vaccumed it, and put gas in it before he gave it back.

He is good to me.

When I was younger I sometimes had a hard time knowing that he loved me. He always lived so far away, and he a man of very few words.

he was never good at calling or writing…

But as I have gotten older I have come to understand that my dad loves me not by what he says, but by what he does.

He is always there for me, always ready to help, to fix, to take care of things…

and the is no question in my mind that I am loved by him….

The saga continues

Today I had the day off work, so I went with my sister and spent the day lounging by her dads pool.

I decided to take the back way home from Grove City to Galloway.

As I was driving down the back roads, I heard a loud pop and then steam began pouring out of my car.

When I got out to look I discovered the radiator has busted and I lost a belt (how proud are you of me that I figured it out all by my self!)

The major problem was I was literally in the middle of nowhere. Cornfields as far as I could see.

And no one would answer their phone.

Well Kim and Dena answered their phones, but they don’t even live in this state.

I was outside, in 93 degree weather, wearing a bathing suit and a towel, and I couldn’t get anyone on the phone to come get me.

At which point I did have a complete meltdown, and sobbed.

I cried for a good 45 minutes sitting on the hood of my car wearing a bathing suit, surrounded by cornfields.

Its just been a really really really hard day… Hard week… Hard month.

Finally after waiting just over two hours my stepmom showed up, took me to go get a belt for my car, and then we met my dad back at my car.

They used my dads truck to tow me back to my dads house…

My step mom poured us a glass of tequila.

And I know its just a little thing… But all the little things are starting to add up…

Yesterday I found a piece of my past at the thrift store.

I was so excited to take it home and show my sister, who I knew would be as thrilled as I was.

She went out on the front porch, and I put my new treasure in the CD player, turned it up loud, and went to join her. I wanted to surprise her.

After a few notes she sat up and said “SHUT UP!”

“I KNOW!” I squealed.

I had found Tiffany’s cd.

I remember summers at my dad’s house, when Erica and I would go into the basement and put our Tiffany tape in, and make up dances for hours and hours.

Sometimes my brother would join us. Sometimes our friends would come. But Erica and I were always the stars.

She was the better dancer by far, but I was the dramatic one. Between the two of us we had whole productions… with props and costumes and dramatic endings… we even have a few of our plays and dances on tape somewhere…

“Wear your jacket like it was her own… I used to wear it so well”

As the Tiffany sang that line last night I had flashbacks to Erica and I in the basement, jean jackets tossed over our shoulders, singing our hearts out about love and loss and things we didn’t really understand…

At one point last night, I couldn’t contain myself any longer, and I jumped from my seat and began to dance around the porch. Oh yes… I so remembered the dance to I think we’re alone now…

Erica and I were both laughing and singing really loud, until the neighbors came out and Erica told to me to sit down because they were watching.

“Running just as fast as we can… holding on to one another’s hand… trying to get away into the night… and then you put your arms around me and we tumble to the ground and then you say… I think we’re alone now”

Man… good times!

I have a HOT date

So I got call tonight from an older man who asked me to go out with him.

He said he is going to pick me up at my house tomorrow night at seven, and I should wear a dress. I asked him what we were doing and he said it was suprise.

How fun! I haven’t been this excited in quite a while.

I think what makes me most excited is that I really do care about this man.

In fact, at this point in my life I cant think of a single man I would rather spend the evening with then him.

He is handsome.

He makes me laugh.

He makes me feel safe.

He is strong and smart and loving and gentle.

He is loyal above all else.

He is an overcomes.

He is humble.

He throws a GREAT party.

He likes to dance and sing and he can be so silly.

He rides a Harley.

I know he loves Jesus.

Truthfully I know he loves me, and that he would do anything for me.

What more can you ask for in a date?!

So tomorrow I will put on my dress and wait for this man to show up at my house. And when I open the door I will look into a face that I know so well. I will look into the face of my father.

Yay for “daddy daughter date nights”!!!!!!

This is my new niece Allie June. She is the cutest thing I have even seen in my life, and I plan to spoil her. I already have ideas of pink dresses and ribbions and tutus.  

I think to truly understand why my life is an afterschool special you need to spend the weekend with my family.

They are wonderful, and so much fun, but where my family goes adventure soon follows.

This weekend was no exception.

I was at my mom and dads house in Michigan. On Saturday night we had a house full of guests and my mother wanted to make something for dinner for all of them. She was cooking lasagna, spaghetti and meatballs, and garlic bread all at once while we played cards and caught up on each others lives.

She called for the girls to come and help her and as we walked into the kitchen we saw flames coming from the stove top. The oil from the noodles had spilled over onto the burner and ignited.

Oh yeah, it was on fire.

We all stood looking at it for a moment trying to decide how to put it out. We knew enough to know you couldn’t put water on it.

My little sister Staci was the first to spring into action. She grabbed a towel and started to fan the flame, which of course made it grow.

My Aunt Mindy yelled for my mom to put baking soda on the fire. My mom looked in the cupboard and yelled she didn’t have baking soda, so she reached in and pulled out a box of corn starch and threw it on the flames, which also made it grow.

My Aunt Mindy said “I said baking soda not corn starch.”

My mom yelled back “Its the same thing” and then yelled for my dad to help.

So now my mom, my Dad, my two sisters, my sisters boyfriend Ben, five of my cousins, my aunt, three of my uncles, and I are all standing in the kitchen watching the fire.

My Aunt Mindy yells for salt to throw on the fire and my mom reaches over the stove and grabs a salt grinder and starts twisting.

My aunt tells her that wont work we need baking soda and table salt.

My mom turns and yells. “I don’t have any. What do you want from me. Do you want me to go to the store and get some”

At which point my sisters and I start laughing and are of no use at all.

Finally my sisters boyfriend reaches over and grabs a lid to a pan and throws it over the flames, which causes it to die down but not extinguish, so he sets the lasagna on top of it too. Then me and my dad blow out the fire.

My mom opens the oven to get out the garlic bread and it is on fire too.

There is smoke everywhere, corn starch all over the kitchen and us, the dinner is burnt, and my sisters and I cant stop laughing.

In the end we survived. We laughed and ate burnt Italian. It was wonderful and it was family.

My mother called it the fire of 2005.

And every time we tell the story it gets a little better.

because that’s just part of having a life as an afterschool special.