the grass is always greener…

this morning, on the news, they talked about the sexiness of girls’ costumes nowadays.  then they discussed it on mike & juliet, also, with a dad who owns a costume company (his 13 year old was dressed as a sexy witch, complete with garters) and a mother who is disgusted with the choices (her 11 year-old was dressed as Juliette, but really wanted to wear the ‘racy referee’ costume).

apparently these costumes are marketed toward tweens.  that’s what the news anchors were up in arms about.  the argument was made that these girls don’t understand the raunchiness, and it’s only for one day, for goodness sake!

as a mother, it would bother me if my daughter wanted to wear such a costume.  her daddy would never let her out of the house dressed in these outfits.  I know we’re blessed with such a modest daughter.

here’s what I want to know, though: where we these costumes 25 years ago, when I could have filled them out to perfection? (as opposed to overfilling them now!)

one year in high school, I spiked my hair into a purple mohawk, put on a black trash bag-that barely covered my ass-purple tights and strappy stilletos.  then I walked 4 blockswith my best friend to our high school for the halloween dance.  on the way, 2 different guys offered us a ride, but we kept walking.  now, I can look back and realize that I must have looked like such a skank, at the very least, a punk prostitute.

so, maybe it’s a good thing there weren’t these sexy costumes when I was younger.  who knows what kind of trouble I’d have gotten myself into.

this little boy who lives in my house loves the newsboys. this is a love that I have passed on to him, that I thought we could share; however, his passion far surpasses mine. I still love them, but this kid REALLY loves them.

when he goes to bed, he blasts their ‘go’ cd.  when he wakes up in the night, he blasts that cd, and most mornings when I go upstairs to wake him, that blasted cd is blasting.

don’t get me wrong, I still love the newsboys-is it a sin to be infatuated with the lead singer of a christian band?-but…it can get tiring.  he loves one song more than the others, and that’s the one that plays, over and over. and over.

it’s called ‘something beautiful’, and it really is a great song.  it’s got a rockin’ beat, great lyrics, and a totally hot singer.

I wanted to include the lyrics here, but it would take up an enormous amount of room since I can’t single space it.  so, here’s a link, in case you’re interested.

what makes it even better is the aussie accent the kid adopts when he sings their songs.  I wish you could sit in my living room and listen to his serenade.  it makes my heart happy.

out mah back door, originally uploaded by hockamama.

monday morning, I heard what sounded like a helicopter landing on my roof. I went to the back door, and saw this giant balloon. I LOVE blimps! they are so cool. I snapped this shot before it got too far away from me, then I grabbed the baby, threw on some clothes -I know, scary thought- and hopped in the car. I chased it for about 12 miles, before I lost it. thank you very much, old dude in the van going 35 mph!!

oh, well, atleast I got one picture!

this comes from my precious 10 year-old son…

of course he’s planting his foot on the offending glut…

but he’s retaliating for me squirting him in the face with my squirt bottle…

of course I was getting him back for his ninja moves, stealthily creeping up on me from around the corner…

but he was seeking retribution for my karate kicks to his small body…

of course I was giving him his just desserts for sneaking around, wielding his sword, using a star wars voice…

but then I was the one who told him he could test out his new store bought ninja costume…

ah, the memories made at hockett house…

following the leaders, originally uploaded by hockamama.

there’s a great park in greenville, ohio. it sits slap in the middle of a really nice neighborhood. it’s beautiful, with duck ponds, fishing ponds, a couple of pretty bridges. they have 3 peacocks in a fenced area, and lots of geese, ducks and a few swans. there is a high school and a public pool in the park. it’s the site of many weddings.

we used to take the kids there most weekends, and let them feed the geese. they were very aggressive -the geese, not the kids- and would charge you, hissing. after several visits, the kids weren’t afraid anymore. if you just happened to be sitting on a bench close to them, eating, but not feeding them, they would try to take your food. it was as comical as it was annoying.

this year, however, there was a sign that requested demanded no feeding of the water fowl. at first I was upset, having bought 2 cheap loaves of bread, but after awhile, I noticed the change. the birds were no longer aggressive and hissing. they didn’t come at us. in fact, they acted like they didn’t know we were even there-that is, until tony decided to follow them.

apparently the no feeding rule is working. the park is much more peaceful, even though it was very relaxing to begin with.

we’ve lived in our house 9 years now.  on the left side of us, lives patsy, junis and john.  patsy is mama’s age, and a widower, for about 4 years now.  her husband wayne was a really nice guy, typical southern man.  a couple of years before our arrival, wayne had a stroke, causing him to speak like boomhauer from king of the hill.  sometimes patsy would have to translate for me; I always felt bad when I couldn’t understand him.

now patsy’s boyfriend junis lives with her, along with her son john, who is about 27.  john is a firefighter, emt and also works at the 911 call center, so he’s rarely home.

on the other side of us lives doris and her boyfriend lloyd.  doris is patsy’s mama. she and lloyd are both older than dirt.  lloyd has been living with doris for 20 years or better, and patsy cannot stand him.  apparently, they’ve never gotten along; the police have visited both houses more times than I can count, just in the last 9 years.  tammie-from whom we purchased our lovely abode and became good friends-has also plied us with abundant stories.

at some point, long ago, his pilot light blew out and hasn’t come back on.  at first, I thought she was exaggerating, but over time, I learned different.

people ‘break into’ their house and:

• hide the television remote/keys, etc.
• steal the spare cases of soda hidden under his bed
• steal bags of sugar from the stockpile in the basement
• steal food out of the cupboard
• steal one sock from every pair, forcing him to wear only one kind of sock, so when he replaces them, he doesn’t have a whole bunch of extras
• unplug the washing machine/microwave/dishwasher

people have also broken into his car, only to change the radio station and lock the doors behind themselves.

because these same people would take lloyd’s pajamas off the clothesline, he finally quit hanging them out.  when he was still hanging clothes out, he would roll up the clothesline and take it into the house when he was done using it.

unfortunately, as time has gone on, lloyd has only lost more of his mind, and now doris has been diagnosed with alzheimer’s.  lloyd has always kept the house locked up tight, going as far as locking the screen door behind him when he would go out to the mailbox.  he has nailed the front and back doors shut, and the carport door is locked with a deadbolt that takes a key to open.

3 times a day, patsy and junis deliver their meals and medicine to them.  they have to stand outside for several minutes while lloyd locates the key -providing it wasn’t stolen in the meantime- to let them in.

lloyd has always suspected patsy of being his thief, so he won’t give her a key.  she did happen to find an extra key one day, and hung it on a nail inside the utility room, just in case something happens and lloyd doesn’t/can’t come to the door.

over the years, we have laughed at his nutty behavior, and have tossed about the idea of toying with him, but our consciences won’t let us.

however, rich and I do get tickled. every night…EVERY. NIGHT.  lloyd opens and shuts his door several times.

last night, in the space of about 30 minutes, lloyd opened and shut his door 43 times.  most of the time, it was open for less than 5 seconds, but sometimes as long as 30 seconds. a few times, he reached out and rattled the screen door, to make sure it was good and locked.  then, a minute later, he would check it again.

I feel bad for patsy, having to watch her mama decline so much, and not be able to do much.  at this point, her options are to keep up this routine, or put her mama in a home.  pretty depressing choices.

for now, though, I enjoy watching the checking of the locks every night.

I’ve always heard that the camera adds 10 pounds, but mine always, consistently, never fails to add 25!  there are so many pictures that I’d like to post, but I look huge in them, much, much bigger than I do in the mirror…

we pulled into the garage last night around 9:30. it was nice to see everyone in ohio, but it sure was good to be home.

we got to rich’s cousin lisa’s house late friday night. saturday, I hooked up with my cousin sheryl. we haven’t spoken to each other since we moved, other than a short and strained visit a couple of years ago. we used to be really close, more like sisters than cousins, but I was angry when I moved, and pretty much severed the relationship. the stupidest part is that I can’t even remember what the anger was about.

thankfully, she was more than happy to put the past behind us and meet with me. we had a great time, it was just way too short. now I hate that we live so far away.

saturday night we took tony uptown to the pumpkin show. woo hoo! it’s just like any other little festival, food vendors, rides, games, music, gambling…what makes this one different is they sell bags of confetti, which gets tossed all over you. in your hair, your mouth, your eyes, down your cleavage, etc. apparently they’ve been doing this for most of the festival’s 79 years.

at some point during the years that we’ve been gone, someone got the bright idea to add silly string. that crap is greasy, did you know that? it’ll leave a stain if you get it on your clothes. and how could you not get it on your clothes, what with stupid little teenage pranksters, getting some kind of kick out of accosting unsuspecting passersby.

tony and I were walking down the street, on the way to meet up with rich and his boys-these 4 guys have been friends since kindergarten-and some kid squirted tony’s glasses, just completely covered them! he was so upset. it comes off glasses pretty easily, though, so we were able to get past that problem without too much fuss.

tony rode rides for 2 hours. I just walked around behind him, from one ride to the next, watching and waving. he had loads of fun. and the food was sublime. I adore festival food, the smells beckon, the sizzles call my name.

the rest of the weekend was pretty relaxed, just visiting here and there. tony played outside with lisa’s 2 big dogs most of the time. he didn’t even watch much tv, he wanted to be outside. the weather was great, nice and cool. it didn’t rain until we were leaving, and we outran it in west virginia. we really need some here, so it would have been nice to bring it with us, but I reckon we’ll get some this week.

every time we go up north for a visit, mama worries that we’ll decide we want to move back. no matter how many times I reassure her that won’t happen, she still gets anxious until we come home and exhibit enough relief to be here.

it amazes me how much things change when your back is turned. sometimes it jolts me back to reality, when I go to the old neighborhoods, the ones in which I grew up. life went on without me. none of the people I used to know are there anymore. the places we used to hang out are different. my school is gone. and then I think, there are people who feel that way about where I live now. they went away, and when they come back, so many changes have happened.

oh, well. it’s just good to be home. 😀

…today…my husband turns 45.  being an introvert and something of an eyeore, he’s never been much for birthdays, but the last few years have really been hard for him, because

…today…is the day we buried his daddy, my beloved father-in-law, 3 years ago.  I don’t think he’ll ever enjoy another birthday.

…today…I was called to jury duty.  I tried to get out of it, to no avail.  I will sit on this jury for a projected 2-3 days.  this may put a crimp in our plans to leave friday afternoon to visit family and friends in ohio.

…today…I was not able to make rich’s favorite birthday meal of chicken and dumplins and red velvet cake, because I spent the entire day moving from one chair to another at the lovely courthouse in the middle district of north carolina.

tomorrow will be better.  I will make sure of it.

the other day, I was crossing the bridge over the tracks on the way to a friend’s house. I noticed this…