AH! Really don’t blame you Joe. Things need to be ‘gotten done’. Certainly understand that and you need rest and fun time as it looks like you stay very busy (not to mention the books you’ve probably not read yet).
Funny, was just telling someone my next WV trip was coming up soon. I ‘will’ drive alone, I ‘will’ spend the night and if I see ya anywhere, I’ll buy you a Harp.

Cheating here. Totally, not my fault that I have to work on Sunday–my choice of career entails Sundays, what can I say? No rest for the wicked.

JK, I am proud of you for changing your mind; I do it often, and why commit to going someplace, anyplace alone if you don’t want to? That’s too much money to spend if you’re not really into the whole thing. Or so it seems to me.

What do y’all think? (that was my four word input, by the way)

There’s no place like home! (sometimes) You sound just like me…I’ll plan these trips to get away without kids, and then feel guilty that they’re not going with me. My husband and I took our kids on one of our anniversary trips once. We went to Charlottesville and stayed at the Boar’s Head Inn and had a great time!

However you spend it, enjoy your time off!

I took my day of rest yesterday and went with my 2 oldest daughters to Roaring Run Falls in Botetourt Co. and spent some quality time with them. It’s a very easy hike and the scenery is beautiful. I highly recommend it if you’ve never been.

ABunDance…..The Discovery

(Or the New Adventures of Sadie and Ol’ Ward…)

My pretend boyfriend, Ol’ Ward, says don’t mess with his Guy-dom stuff in the garage. Do not snoop and be a nudge and then get your betty all twisted up because your WildGirl imagination has gone straight to hell in a handbasket full of insecurities.

I try to listen to him. Sometimes I am even successful at paying attention when his mouth flies open and he enlightens me with Guy-dumb cuteness and brilliance all wrapped up as a cleverly disguised responsible adult with a checkbook.

His words of Wishdom were never so loud and clear as just the other day when I accidentally found his new reading material…stuffed in the bottom of his tool box hidden under his veerry ample toolbelt.

It was in a brown paper bag and the cover had been ripped off, but I just had to take a peek, you know, so’s we would have something in’erestin’ to argue about, I mean discuss, over the meat and potatoes supper I had carefully poisoned with artery clogging goodness.

The first chapter was a bodice buster…”How to meet the woman of your dreams out on the Superhighway of Life,” it said. The bodice of my dress just about busted wide open when I yelped.

…to be continued…

Since you gave us a day of rest, I must obey your orders. nap time

Joe, will you please tell us about this new gig of yours? (And let me know if they’re looking for any more writers.)

Manbegging? :::: rubbing my eyes::::

Did I just read Manbegging?

Andrew…. If you can get Joe to give it up about the new job then we women have lost our touch!

Ain’t no way, children, that I will talk about my new job, because it’s not my place to.
Once I start, I’ll feel more comfortable, perhaps, about releasing some details.
Andrew, I know you’re thrilled for me and satisfied just to know that I have found a challenging field at this time in my life.
I hope you’re as fortunate, truly, no joke about that.

Hang in there Joe. I too have planned many trips, only to find out that I couldn’t trip and paybill’s out of the same paycheck. Then I remarried and can’t do either! Enjoy the Roanoke valley, It (nature, leaf colors) doesn’t get any better, than what you have locally.
Charles

I was going to comment, good luck getting that job info. out of Joe, but he beat me to it!

To all you 70’s music lovers: I just spent the last 4 hrs. listening to the sounds of Elton John, Billy Joel, Phil Collins, The Doobie Brothers, CCR, Eric Clampton, The Pointer Sisters, The Police (Sting), The Eagles, to name a few; driving my college-aged daughter to EHC and then back to Roanoke. On the way home, I belted out those tunes…couldn’t believe I actually could remember most of the words. I know I must have looked ridiculous, but I didn’t care, I was by myself, in my car, on the open road!

No, Joe. I want to know what your new job is. Most people, you know, tell other people — at least once the job is official.

Just in case I’m gonna TiVo Channel 10’s news for a while.

Oh no Joe, you are cheating, Suppose to be a day of rest. We do want to know about your job but we will just have to wait and see. Is the the Homeless Shelter, or that Wonderful place that does so much, Easter Seals. What about the Cancer Society. I still think it is United Way. But where ever it is, we all know you will do great.

from one of your children

Thank you, Charles Thigpen, it helps to know that others have backed out as I did. Why leave here, especially in the fall, indeed?

Md.Mama - I saw the Doobie Brothers in the spring of 1973 at the Roanoke Civic Center…. they were the warm up group for Rod Stewart that night. I spent the day with my daughters too, however I chose to ride in the back because that way I’m farther away from the speakers.

My oldest made fun of me singing along with the radio when she was in the 6th grade…. one of those eye-rolling episodes complete with pre-adolescent paroxysmal gagging and throat clutching. I made it my goal the following week to learn how to rap or die trying…… and was pretty darn successful. Then I loaded up the trusty minivan with ohhhhhhhhh, 5 or 6 of her girlfriends and we schlepped up to Richmond to see Barnum & Bailey Circus. I kept my cool… waited for the right moment….. and when the one song I’d practiced all week came on the radio, I serenaded them. To this day I haven’t heard one single complaint about my singing. The youngest daughter was barely 4 so she doesn’t remember the incident, however I remember overhearing her older sister tell her years down the road…”Don’t say anything bad about Mom singing with the radio…. if you do she’ll start rapping.”

I’m paying close attention to Andrew’s technique here.

Went to a new restaurant in Roanoke today. My daughters love Indian food so we tried Taaza and loved it. There was a buffet and so we got to sample many things. The service was wonderful, the price was reasonable, and we had a grand lunch.

You got a new job? That’s wonderful!

I just got home from dinner. After I got home from my glamorous job, I had a family feud going on, so I broke it up, solved the world’s problems, and took my kid out to dinner so that his father could have some peace and quiet.

Now I’ve folded the laundry I put in to wash and dry before I left for work this morning, have put the washer stuff into the dryer and started another load of washing. That’s how I spent my “day off”. It’s 8:44 p.m. and the husband’s already asleep. I guess he wore himself out watching sports today while I was at work.

The single life is a fond, but distant, memory.

Maybe I’m reading your post wrong, but are you leaving Roanoke for your job?

And yeah, like Dorothy said in ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ ‘there’s no place like home.’ I don’t blame you a bit for staying home. There’s just too much interesting things to do in Southwest Virginia. :)

Janet, no, I’m not leaving Roanoke. That would be the last option I’d ever think of at this point in life, not that I’d say never about anything happening eventually — perhaps when I’m 90, and too feeble to fight off the people who want me to go elsewhere (unless they were my kids, in which case I’d go happily).

Joe’s new job is. . . .
a. Head of Roanoke’s Bird Flu Readiness Task Force.
b. Working as a pimp on Salem Ave. (not that different from being a columnist really).
c. physicist
d. Searching the far continents for a replacement for Ruby at Mill Mountain Zoo. (not that anyone could ever replace Ruby).
e. Clinton’s Southwest Virginia campaign advisor (hey, Mudcat, won’t work for her, someone has to step in).
f. Newest contestant on Project Runway.
Andrew, anyone, other ideas?????

Or ..
a. chief curator for the new Art Museum of Western Virginia (look for LOTS of sports photos and paintings).
b. Executive City Manager for the merged Roanoke, Salem and Roanoke County,to be known as “New Salem”. Term begins Jan. 1, 4001.
c. Manager, Salem Avalanche.
d. Champion Mud Bogger for 2007 in the 1998 Ford Explorer Division.
e. Old guy in wet overcoat getting some shelter and reading newspapers at Roanoke’s Main Library on dreary winter days.

Mary-Oh my gosh, I did something totally similar to my eldest daughter when she was about 10. My daughter and her best friend would always make fun of me and her mom, who was my best friend, singing along to the radio. Remember the expression “gag me with a spoon”? That’s pretty much how they felt. So my friend and I decided to learn the lyrics to MC Hammer’s “Can’t Touch This”. About a week later, we performed this song along with our attempts at moon-walking and break dancing. They sat there in utter shock and then laughed so hard at us. My daughter still tells this story to her siblings and others, too. But as you say, they didn’t say much to us about our singing after that! However, they did ask us to NEVER break dance again!

or…

a. Ad consultant for the Roanoke Weiner Stand.
b. Teaching old dog new tricks.
c. Contestant on “Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader”

Joe’s real calling in life…..
1. Barstool warmer at (fill in the blank) Pub
2. Darlene Burchum’s new gofer
3. Neon tube replacement guy for the star
4. Taste tester at some cuppajoe place
5. Comment editor for the wild and crazy people who want to blog on his blog…..

I LOVE THE 5th GRADER SHOW!!!!!

For all of you who have a file on me in that chocked full of in’erestin’ stuff brain of yours ~
please do not give said file to the DMV. They still don’t know how old I actually am…
actually.

and then the DMV will call and say, “You are so busted.”
and I will answer, “Thank you, I get them from my mother’s side of the fam’bly…”

Yes, today I am 35 years young and I have been celebrating all month!
If you wake up in the morning and your face hurts…

from LAUGHING…..because you have been out the night before with your friend John celebrating your happa birfday and he takes you up on the roof of his building to see the Star on Mill HIll and the city lights and you don’t fall off onto the pavement of Salem Avenue….and you sell the cute bracelet you are wearing to another diner at the restaurant, so’s you can eat lunch this week…..and you have only one margarita and you don’t fall off the barstool, or your hooker heels…and you order tiramisu for a mini birthday cake…and then you eat it……and then your sister calls and you feel all warm and fuzzy…..and then your brother calls and you gather more material for why you may some day poison his evil wife….and then your mother calls and tells you YOU are her favorite first born child…..and then various friends send you emails saying they still like you, even after all these years….and then a cute little girl wearing black patent leather mary jane shoes runs into the downtown coffee shop and presents you with your lovely birfday gifts carefully wrapped in fresh, new tissue paper…and then a woman comes over to your table where you are slaving away, pretending to be a writer… and gives you a few words she just cut out of the RTimes Horror Scopes column that says…

Today’s Birthday ~

“The magic comes from you this year. You act on your inspired ideas to create beauty in this world. This month brings new interest in your work. A big sale is featured in November. Love takes you distances in 2008. You’re braver than ever before when it comes to risking your heart. You share a special connection with Virgo and Aquarius.”

….welcome to the party….when can I schedule you in so’s I can open my birfday present(s)?
…..just wondering…..

p.s. sometimes I transpose the numbers in my age so I will not have to go back on Prozac…
-the girl with so much to say.

p.s.s. Many new magician scarves coming my way? Isn’t my natural inner beauty enough? Do I have to get a real job, why can’t I just live off my good looks, it worked for my mother. Hope I don’t have to have a backyard sale and sell off all of my china and pocketbook and shoe collections and get a cot at the Rescue Mission so I can serve Turkey Day pie. Hope Love takes me on his personal jet to Paris and Vienna or even just to Vegas for a quickie so I can live the life of Pamela Anderson. I’m sure hoping I meet some cute guy with a compatible sign and nice shoes that don’t have thin soles that click annoying on the wood floors…

If you waked up this mornin’ again and yo’ face hurts…

Be. Grateful.

Pam,

Happy Birthday!

ps….breathe…
pss..that officially puts you in the older than dirt category, so I’m told.
psss..if you transpose the numbers in your age, it puts you closer to my age, and that’s the 10 minutes older then dirt category (possibly the mud category), so you might want to re-think that one, I would!

Pamela???? What was IN that margarita?!?!?!?!!!

I never have that much fun on my birthday!

MM, Annette, Katherine - - we have to go find Pamela and put her in a cold shower before she goes off looking for Kid Rock or Tommy Lee Jones!!!

Happy Birfday, Pamela!

To MM, I purposely transpose the numbers in my age so my mother can continue fudging on her age…
To Mary, I just hang out with the fun people…
And as a matter of in’erest to all’s of you, I’m sure…I only make friends and stay friends with the folks who make me laugh the most. John is one of them and I’m ever so grateful to have met him.
Thank you for the Happa Birfday! wishes.
If you remind me, I’ll be sure to send you an e-card on your birfday…so you, too, can have a face that still hurts like mine does.

Manbegging worked! But… I am sworn to secrecy.

So, ha!

And: Happy birthday, Pam! I guess those birthday brownies were good, huh?

To Andrew, thanks, Man!
You tell on yo’self…
every time mouth opens…

Four words from a gal:

Loose lips sinks ships

Pamela…. we need to give Andrew one of those margaritas you had last night and then ply him with our womenly charms so that he SPILLS THE BEANS!!!!!!

Andrew is being held under guard until I give the word for his release. If he somehow conveys my secret to any of you, you will be responsible for a most fortunate outcome — and for finding me a new blogmeister at a rate not to exceed what Andrew receives.
Listen to Maryland Mama: Loose Lips Sink Ships.

“Loose Lips”…sounds like the next chapter of my sleazy novelette that I am sure you are all waiting for with beer breath.

JOE!!! SHUT YOUR MOUTH!!!

I’m not gonna give away your secret, but we could at least let them TRY to ply with with those womanly charms!

Happy Birthday Pamela !!

Now you have me wanting a delicious strawberry margarita!! I have the sweets tonight so I’ll
have to settle for a smirnoff raspberry BURST !

LOL MM : “can’t touch this” .. I love that song and it’s a good one to dance to, ha. I’m trying to catch up..

who mentioned Kid Rock & Tommy? MARY.. hee, forget kr unless Pam digs’em. I’d go with ya Pamela to find Tommy but I’d rather find Steven Seagal ! “Hello Mr almighty, where’s my birfday preSent??” He could buy you another maagaareeTa!
(It’s still not too late, I can tape 2&1/2 men~

And let’s see , who mentioned the show about smarter than a 5th grader? …
.. MM agai, HA! Good Luck Joe!

Oh, Andrew. They’ll never get it out of me no matter how they try. I’ve been plied and I’ve been played by the top plier and player in the land. They might as well save their strength.

Andrew.
Southwest Gigalo? (How on earth do you spell that?)

Joe,
we can change plans, have the beer “feast” at your house, help you paint, git-R-done and get you drunk.. then you can Spill It!
:)

The whole idea to paint the room sprang from a female friend last spring. We went to Wal-Mart, to Target, to who knows where in search of sheets and paint and stuff.
The first night we painted, everything went well. The second night, we drank Harp, and the borders were none too exact.
There hasn’t been a third night. But she promises to turn up one night next week. I’d better double-check that.
In any case, the lesson was clear. Painting and beer don’t mix, although we did laugh our heads off.

Maybe you don’t want them to try, but did you ever think that letting them ply their wiles is the fun part?

Once I was dating a young lady, and we went to dinner with a (female) friend of hers — a rather attractive one.

“What would you do if she came on to you when I was out of town?” my girlfriend asked. Clearly this was a trap — either say I’d be unfaithful or dis her friend.

“Easy,” I said. “I’d bring her home, give her a glass of wine, and let her get undressed. She’s quite attractive and I’d love to see, um, more. But then I’d have to kiss her on the cheek and tell her I was taken.”

Best of both worlds, man. Best of both worlds.

> Southwest Gigalo? (How on earth do you
> spell that?)

S-L-E-E-P-I-N-G O-N T-H-E S-O-F-A F-O-R-E-V-E-R

Funny Joe,
If you want to keep the memwaas of that fun night, tho you won’t forget anyway.. don’t touch thecrooked borders.. leave them and you can still paint and it looks like you could have plenty of help from all these women here if you’d just ask. Haaaaaaa.. you might have 20 gals in your bedroom, many which are just ‘lurkers’ and waiting for you to say “okay, lets ‘Git-r-done people’.. the guys here could help too!
Too funny ~~~~~~~

Katherine, I’m of a mind to finish it myself. The only deterrent is the el cheapo wal-mart ladder, which alreay has begun to bend at the bottom. My luck: It’ll topple over, I’ll smash my head off the corner of the bureau and … well … we won’t go there.

Andrew!!

You’re a bad boy!
Kiss on the cheek?
Oh no you wouldn’t.
especially if she undressed.

Okay this is semiPG.
That’s all I’ll say.

Geeeeeezzzz, I can’t get this
four word thing outta my mind!

Imaginations will run Wild!
Seldom, thoughts are mild ~~

Dang Joe,
shoudda went to Lowes & gotta a good one. Kinda like the water hoses? Buy a Good one and you have a lifetime guarantee… don’t know about the ladders tho.. water hose burst that you payed over 30 or 40 bucks for , okay it’s needs replacing (again).
Just wear some pads or something to protect yourself.

Well, if you had bought your ladder and supplies at WOODS, you might not have to fear for your life! See, you shouldn’t let these “players” lead you around by the nose. You were most likely perfectly happy with your bedroom the way it was before!

Ah, she wasn’t a player, just a friend. I been played. She wasn’t a player.

Yes. lets have the beer fest at Joe’s house. He can furnish the beer and pizza and we. I mean you’ll can help him paint. I will be the beer tester. Then we will force his new job our of him.

Pam, did you eat some of those brownies on Desperate Housewife’s. You are too wild. Wild and Crazy Gal.
Happy Happy Birthday. You are not getting older just better.

How many weeks have you had yer blogger friends helping you along in life and the phrase ‘G. R. Done’ has been mentioned more than once. Could we all just agree that those three words should be erased from our conscious and unconscious vocabulary? Pleez, thank you.
The above is my personal mission.
Burn yer tee-shirts with that on it, too.
Some Guy has that as his vanity plate.
Could we do a group ‘totaling’ of his manly-man-truck?
The real question, Joe, is do you like the color you so carefully selected for your sacred space?
That is the burning question.

WOO HOO! If Joe falls, he’ll need a nurse so that means I get to go paint!!!

Joe falls….
Joe hits head….
Mary performs neurologic exam to make sure head is ok…..

Joe, who is the President?
Joe, what is today’s date?
Joe, how many fingers am I holding up?
Joe, stand on one foot, rub your tummy and pat your head.
Joe, Finish this sentence “In Fourteen Hundred and Ninety-Two……..”
Joe, How many Harp beers did you have before you fell?
Joe, What is your new job?

Poifect!

>Kiss on the cheek?
>Oh no you wouldn’t.
>especially if she undressed.

1. Oh, Katherine, you don’t know me.
2. I didn’t specify which cheek. ;-)

Oh, Andrew, you are so bad……….

Andrew must have a lifetime supply of special brownies in his freezer. And he is sooooo transparent in his attempts to get someone to share them with him. To the sofa, you.

Mary, that might be very entertaining to see…..

Andrew is a Bad News Bear.

Pamela:

I wear my husbands “Get-R-done” tshirt I bought him months ago. Larry may come across as dumb & stupid but he’s funny. So is Jeff F… and the other guy.. he always has a drink in his hand.

Katherine,

We won’t hold it against you…the fact that you like to wear your husband’s tee shirt because it smells sweet like him, I’m guessing, not because of some words printed on it.

Just a note Pam,

Thats not the one I cling to every night in bed. The others were already washed & I wear different ones in the mornings. Another one of my stupid favorites?.. ’shut up and fish’.
And I do write.