previous // May 19, 2008
// 11:51 a.m. // next
Did you know that New Kids on the Block have a new song? First in over ten years. I'm a little excited about it, since I was HUGE NKOTB fan when I was little. I had posters, a couple tapes, the Step By Step tour video, a Donnie and a Jordan doll, a pillow, (fire retardant) jammies, and various other articles of clothing. I specifically remember three things involving NKOTB:
* playing with my oldest niece (who was maybe 2 or 3 at the time) and having her ask me who the guys on my purple sweatshirt were. Being a stupid 7 or 8 year old, I told her I didn't know. She saw right through me, the little smarty pants.
* I had two babysitters, twins. I spent more time with one than the other, but both were NKOTB fans like me. I remember having to stay at their house late one day after school (their mom babysat me too) and they dragged out all their NKOTB tapes and played some for me. I didn't know they had so many albums! I was a happy kitty that night.
* One night Mom and Dad had somewhere to be, who remembers at this point, and one of the twins came over to babysit. This was just after their Step By Step album came out, and of course I was married to it (and I think Jordan at that point; I was also affiliated with Jon and Donnie at various points in my love affair with NKOTB). We had this neat fireplace with this long bench in front of it and recessed lighting to spotlight the mantle area. It was warm out, that much I remember because our big fan with the light blue plexiglass blades was out (side note: my parents still have that fan and it largely still works). Anyway, my babysitter and I had been listening to that tape while we hung out and got it in our heads to put on a concert for my parents. I got out my microphone and its stand and we trained the fan on us for effect. We turned off the other lights in the living room so that the fireplace lights were our stage lights. We made our own choreography and rehearsed all night. My parents weren't happy that I was up late (it might have been 9:30-10 p.m. when they got home, which was scandalously late for an 9 year old in 1990). Mom did let us do one song, 'Tonight'.
Anyway... enough strolling down memory lane.
We did end up spending two days at the farm. This is getting reminiscent of last year, when Mom C became unnecessarily clingy. May seems to be Cling Month. We spent the first weekend of May at the farm. Granted, she wasn't home but still. We spent last weekend up there for Mother's Day. And now this weekend because of her birthday, which was yesterday. I already see her once a week, and don't mind one extra day. A second extra day is in that gray area of almost being too much.
I love Mom C, honestly, but I lived with her 24/7 for over two years. That's a lot for an almost-in-law. I spent most of my early 20s pining about getting out from under parental scruitny and traded my parents for MB's mom. Now that we've finally got our own place, I need a break! Plus, it's getting hella-expensive to just run up to the farm. And now that the semester is officially over, that gravy train has all but stopped. I'll still be at the Learning Center one day a week and the two schools I sub at are creaming themselves with excitement that I'm available more than just on Fridays again, but look at the calendar; that'll stop soon too. It was hard to save money when it was coming in regularly, now that it's dwindling it'll be even harder... and putting it in my gas tank every time I turn around to run up to the farm just doesn't seem practical to me any more than the one day I've already conceded to Mom C.
It was a busy weekend involving manual labor. Saturday was spent listening to dual chainsaws as MB and JC took out junk trees around the barn and the fenceline nearby. I was largely useless Saturday, trailing Mom C around as we avoided having to lug branches like MB wanted us to. I contented myself to playing with puppies and pulling up burdocks and other weeds. Yesterday we took Mom C out for breakfast and then, since it was raining (perfect, in MB's opinion) spent a large part of the day in the barn working on stalls. MB plugged away at Cajun's stall, taking out layers at a clip and rediscovering the base layer. Mom C and I took a sad little layer out of Junior's stall and called it good, much to MB's displeasure. He and his mom have differing opinions as to how stalls should be done. I see both sides but lean more toward MB's (though I'd never say it to Mom C's face). I just did as I was told and shut my mouth.
I'm definitely feeling it today. I'm very aware of the muscles I've been half-assed working in my arms, my neck and shoulders, and back. I took a hot shower this morning and while it was great temporarily, I'm stiffening up again. MB's got some muscle relaxers around here somewhere. After I turn in my final grades, I'm making a bee line right back here and popping one or two. Hopefully they won't throw me for a huge loop, but in case they do, I don't plan to do anything more strenuous than lay on the couch. I'm giving myself a mini vacation this week before I rediscover being a responsible adult and do things like laundry and dishes and ::shudder:: clean the shower and litter box.
Aching for a cause,
Ter
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