Donuts, Potholes, and Tulsa Hair

I'm in the car right now, returning home from my little brother's wedding. It was a good time, aside from the obligatory wedding drama, and it was fantastic to see my brother and his wonderful friends, which isn't something I get to do very often.

It was my first time in Tulsa, OK, and I have a few observations:

• Tulsa should be voted "worst state in which to put on eye makeup in the car", because the potholes are intense! I very narrowly escaped putting my eye out several times, and spent some time with eyeliner in odd parts of my face.
• The names of businesses in Tulsa are odd. "Cowboy Sharkies" is a popular bar, and other bars include "The Dusty Dog" and "The Blue Turtle Tavern" and "Magoos Eatertainment", but I think my favorite was the office building called "McJunkin Redman". What does that even mean?
• Tulsa folks love them some donuts. There are donut shops EVERYWHERE! Not just your standard Dunkin or Krispy Kreme, either, these are donut shops of no particular brand, many of the signs just say "Donuts".
• Easily 50 % of the population of Tulsa has some variation on this hairstyle:

Now, this is not to say that it all looks exactly like that. No, there are many many ways to wear it, but it is all the same basic cut. Old ladies have that cut. Young men have the David Cook version. Girls have it wavy, straight, styled towards the face, styled away from the face... the list goes on. In my humble opinion, the hairdo is a little wacky to be so prevalent! But I have a theory. Remember how Oklahoma is the place "where the wind comes sweeping down the plain"? Yeah, it really really is. The wind is so crazy that I basically spent the trip despairing of having even passable hair. So I think the Tulsa folk have hit upon a solution- make your hair all wacky and sticking out all over the place, and then when you get stuck in a crazy windtunnel just trying to get from your house to the car, no one will notice.

Anyway, I have to say I really enjoy traveling, and seeing new places, even places full of potholes, donuts, and unusual 'dos. And this trip was worth it just to be able to share my brother's wedding with him.

Congratulations, Marion and Sarah! I hope you continue to grow in love and friendship, and your union is long and full of peaceful happiness.

Welcome to My World

It's been suggested that I start blogging, and this morning seems as good a time as any to open a window to our world and allow a glimpse. I should start, I suppose, by introducing myself... wife, mom to three kids and multiple pets, terrible assistant to a virtual tour mogul (who happens to be my dear cousin), member of the home school community, all around random human...but it will give you a better idea if I just jump into this morning's narrative, I think.

Actually, in order to explain this morning, I have to go back to yesterday, but to explain yesterday requires an understanding of the whole week. Do you see why I haven't blogged before? Too complex. Let's jump right in, shall we?

• Monday- first day of school. No outside commitments! Whee! Only one little child at home! Yippee for me! Small one refuses to nap until time for bigs to get home, day is not so easy, middle child misses bus home, I make her take public transit because really, I'm not so much going to wake up the baby to pick up someone who can't be bothered to walk out to the free transportation parked at the curb. Bigs come home totaled from school, I end up running errands on their behalf until 9pm, dinner is atrociously late.
• Tuesday- Hooray! No commitments! Whee! End up watching my niece and nephew all morning, nap time ends up pushed back until bigs get home, still MORE unexpected errands to run, dinner is atrociously late.
• Wednesday- the Man's birthday. Whee! Big plans include a craft project with small one, a run to my friend's house for supplies, and an elaborate Indian dinner. (Made from scratch, of course!) Day goes off in a ditch, late to friend's house, lose track of time there watching our littles play together, bigs end up locked out of the house and surly. Naptime never occurs. Dinner is atrociously late. (Do you see a pattern?)
• Thursday- no commitments? (Cautious whee?) EXTREMELY productive morning. Small one and I have a whole preschool kind of a day, with science and art and singing and puzzles. Go, me! I'm so pleased with myself that I decide to nap when small one does. Afternoon falls completely to pieces, with big kids needy and less than thrilling, dinner is (say it with me) atrociously late, despite being "eat what you can find night". The night ends with middle child performing some sort of perverse fashion show until almost midnight, desperately searching for an outfit that makes her look neither weird nor emo.

Which of course brings us to the originally scheduled narrative: this morning. After having been up from 5-6am with the small one, whose schedule has been thrown hideously off this week, I check to make sure the bigs are up, and then go back to sleep. Sadly, middle child misses the bus, and since the Man is running late, it falls to me to drive her. I pick up the sleeping toddler (which breaks my number one life rule "never wake a small sleeping child") find my keys, stagger out to the car... notice the garbage hasn't gone out to the curb, insist middle child (who is being quite surly) help me drag it out, race off to the high school. Drop her off 1/2 hour late, make my way back home.

Did you read any mention of coffee in all that? No? That's because no one made coffee, causing me to have to drive to the high school and back without the benefit of caffeine. Isn't that against the law?

Get home to find the dog basically crossing his legs and jumping up and down by the back door, so I thank him for not peeing in the hallway, let him out, and head to the kitchen to make coffee. No sooner have I thrown away the old filter than I hear the dog barking at the top of the driveway!!! I mutter a not so nice word (you'll learn this is a major flaw of mine), snatch small one up and run up to the top of our quite lengthy driveway, nervous that I'm going to have to go all the way down the block, toddler on hip. As I do so, the INDOOR ONLY cat runs out, because he is an ass. (see, there I go again) Dog is at the top of the driveway, blessedly, and when I snarl at him to get inside, he becomes instantly apologetic, bowing and scraping and showing me his belly. ("Yes, you're right, I AM a bad dog! Many apologies! Can't tell you how VERY sorry I am")

On the way back down the long driveway, I manage to scoop the big fluffy cat under my arm, and as I am heading inside, wriggling feline in one arm, squirmy toddler in the other, dog VERY anxious to make amends by constantly flopping at my feet to show me his oh-so-submissive belly, I think...

...yeah, ok, I'll write a blog.