Yesterday, I picked up my son from school.  In his haste to get to the car, he accidentally knocked over a little girl who was standing near her mom.

I watched as he put his book bag down, helped the little girl up, and apologized to her.  Then he walked over to her mother and apologized to her as well.

And he couldn’t have made me more proud.

First week of school down - I can’t believe how fast the summer went and how big Turtle is.  We have signed him up for fall baseball and that starts up right after labor day. 

Been working on the bathroom - painting and hate the color that I picked out, so I might be heading back to Lowe’s soon.  Also - I think it’s really sad that I’ve been going around bragging about my new toilet - which advertises itself as able to flush two dozen golfballs.  For those of you that do not have little boys, that might not sound important.  For those of us that do have little boys, well.... we know…

Speaking of which - I tried this toilet paper with Turtle in an attempt to teach him how much paper to use… Then the dude came and told me that the paper freaked him out so I stopped buying it.  I have no idea why I share this detail with you - I guess because it never occurred to me that toilet papers with puppies might be a little creepy.

In other news, I had forgotten that Tennessee hosts an elephant sanctuary - and after watching these videos, and sobbing, I want to go visit it.

Go ahead - watch these…

I also want to adopt an elephant baby and bring it home, but the dude says no.  I have no idea why not.  Instead, Turtle and I decided to send money to feed Dulary for a few days.

I have woke up every morning this week and have felt like a Semi had found it’s way into my bedroom during the night and had it’s way with me.  Seriously - I’m exhausted and just not feeling up to par.  Course the reflux has been acting up too. 

I’ve been wasting time in the evenings looking up old tv shows on Youtube.  Some of the best are the Dean Martin Roasts.  Go ahead… search for them and play them.  That is quality television folks.  All those celebs up there, totally wasted, smoking cigarettes and talking smack about each other.  Who would not want to watch that? 

Also - I love watching old Carol Burnett show clips.  Particularly the skits involving Mama’s family.  I ran across this outtake a couple of days ago, and me and my friend Kel can’t stop watching it.

I have two albums that are currently in heavy rotation on the CatMac - Brandi Carlisle and the Fleet Foxes.  Both are worth a listen.

Em sent me this link and said if I was ever short on blog content, I could consider this as some fodder.

While I’m never short on blog material - especially these days - I am LAZY about posting blog material.

But this one is easy… so if you play along, let me know.

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile (I have had gator… but I guess that doesn’t count)
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans (the dude has enough rice and beans in his pantry for us to have a daily meal of it for an entire year, I’M NOT KIDDING)
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar - no to the cigar, but yes to the Cognac!
37. Clotted cream tea - Bea and I had clotted cream with our scones in London (and it was FANTASTIC) but we didn’t try it in our tea.
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more - I’m assuming that malt whisky is like Scotch, and I’m sure that the dude has some bottles that are worth that amount in his house, but I tend to stay away from the stuff.
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal - hello, ever been a poor college kid and a big mac meal was the perfect thing to cure a hangover.
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

I didn’t want to cross out anything, because I figure - hey… who knows… But I have to tell you that Headcheese - I’m thinking no.

I was always so depressed the last weekend of my summer vacation.  I remember getting out of school in May and thinking I had ALL THIS TIME to enjoy not being in school - and then all I did was sit around and complain to my mother that I was ‘bored’ or that there ‘was nothing to do.’ I long for those days of boredom.  And then when the middle of August rolled around, I found myself moaning about not wanting to go back - and my moaning got worse the older I got.

My son is not like me.  For weeks now, he’s been floating around the house talking about GOING BACK TO SCHOOL!  And how he’s going to be UPSTAIRS this year!  And he’s a THIRD GRADER NOW!

Thank God, that I did what I did not do last year and went ahead and bought his school supplies from the school.  In August 2007, I raced around this city trying to find purple zebra striped folders with pockets.  I’m exaggerating, but not by much.  Turtle has reached the age where all of his teachers belong to that colored folder cult and so I have to send two pocket/three ring folders in every color found in a skittles packet.  Plus - for added fun, some of the folders might have to be plastic and if that is the case, then just go ahead and put that six pack in the backseat of your car because you’re going to need it after DRIVING ALL OVER THE CITY to every staples, office max, kinkos etc trying to find those f’ers.

But this year… this year Turtle is set.  And all I had to do was get his uniforms and go to the grocery yesterday to make sure he has his lunch supplies.

I’ve tried to have as much fun with him this weekend as I can (while also trying to get some things done around this house).  Yesterday we made a peach-blueberry cobbler and this morning I made a southwestern chicken brunch dish.  So at least we have been eating well.

My dad is coming over this morning to look at this area where my refrigerator sits.  The idiots that were in his house before me, never finished walling all the way around that area, so my dad and I are going to see if we can just get some sheetrock and finish up their halfass job.  One more thing crossed off my list.

There are days where I am really excited about moving and can’t wait, and then there are days (like today) where I am overwhelmed at the number of pieces in this puzzle.