FYI- the photo I took for this page is of the boats at St. Andrew's marina (my fave part of PC) facing the state park/ Thomas Drive/Bay Point area of the beach. I always like the Thomas Drive part of PCB the best, the lagoon area, Spyglass Drive, and all the little beach neighborhoods hidden in between. To the left, out of view of course, the great view of the Island and the open pass between them both. Uncle Ernie's has a close view but not quite as good. We used to sit out back at SA Bay Seafood Restaurant and enjoy that view with some wine and sun. Now there's a condo. Guess we'll have to get one soon. I know the old mayor has the penthouse there so it must be nice:)

Sunday rain

Went to bed at 10 thanks to some allergy medicine. After watching Law and Order CI Unit reruns while Phillip worked. Like the ones with that big guy in them before he wents nuts. Can't figure out if he's still on the show since they've got Chris Noth back.
Woke up at midnight to the sound of thunder ...how far off I sat and wondered....
- a very unusual sound these days in drought stricken water restrictive Florida. Lightning, hard rain, resting for a while then beginning again around 4 a.m. My husband slept on the couch trying to recover from a cold which may be allergies, being nice and thoughtful but Mother Nature kept him up. Crept up this morning while still dark to make omelets with peppers, onions, mushrooms, maters and cheese and bacon. Healthy. I make up for it by eating Kashi the rest of the week, ok people? Still being lazy, still raining. Trying to decide when we're all going to be motivated to go the new houe to work more. New fridge being delivered tomorrow. Carpet for bedrooms on Thursday..opted out of tiling that whole part of the house so Nick can have some soft places to play. Also better insulation for the feet on cold winter mornings. Someone needs to walk the dog, no volunteers. when it rains we can't let him in the back yard or else he'll come back looking like a baby hippo who rolled in an African mud bath. Need coffee...have a great day ya'll!

Saturday! And stoner movies.

it's great to get up at 6am on a Saturday! Yeah for us! It's not even light out yet:) Anyhoo, Phillip just went over to the new house. We spent yesterday there after a two hour closing - gotta love Florida real estate paperwork- mostly putting up blue tape for painting and cleaning tiled floors and dusting. Slowly, the house will lose that abandoned feeling and will be filled with our family's noise, playing, cooking and yes, Dude's white hair. The neighbors came over to say hi- one a retired Clearwater policeman who has this gorgeous German shepard. He gave us the lowdown on the water restrictions- once every Tuesday after 6 pm. Similar to this house. I didn't tell him that we're a cult that believes in legalizing marijuana and worships the Egyptian god Isis.- Just kidding! We will be moving this week after all the painting is complete. For the first time, we'll have a bigger space with some room to roam- a luxury for us after 6 years of moving around the Southeast.

On another note- we watched "Pineapple Express" last night. After weeks of being delayed by Netflix, I had really high expectations. I thought it would be the holy grail of pot movies. In my opinion, it was ok. Merely entertaining. Have you ever watched a movie and said outloud- "That's really funny" but not really laughed along? That was us last night. We were dog tired, muscles aching and weary from cleaning. But, the movie had a few crazy funny scenes to keep us interested enough to not stop. I'm getting tired of Seth Rogan as the chubby nerd guy who plays the lead actor in alot of Jud Apatow films- the novelty wears off, similarly with the Ben Stiller movies. James Franco and especially Danny McBride (hope i got that right) as Red were a fun surprise as the other stoner buddies who get mixed up in some plot that I lost around 15 minutes into it. I knew the plot wasn't important anyway, so just enjoyed a goofy, half-baked story about marijuana, it's dealers, it's many "types", it's effects, it's glory, it's path to destruction.....ok.... it was a fun movie with some well written witty dialogue (Apatow's good at that) and the very last scene was a nice finale. Watch it if you need to mellow out, without thinking too much :)

A little salt...

Language and our bastardization of it has always interested me. No wonder I got into Literature and Journalism back in the day. This article is entertaining and made me go- Hmm... and not because they start it off about Britney Spears. Get past that point and enjoy. I knew James Joyce was a nasty boy, but the adult twists on language he uses and songwriters have used always catches me by surprise.
www.slate.com/id/2214106/...
article named If You Seek Amy's Ancestors.

What happens without television.

For the first 3 years of our marriage, Phillip and I didn't watch cable tv- didn't have it. Ok- there were the 4-5 public access channels including a Spanish one and a Christian network that managed to make it through the airwaves. So, at times, I would put on PBS to catch some Jim Lehrer news hour (didn't care for Sesame Street back then- this was BN- before Nick). Our next move is in 10 days and we're going to try that route again. Only this time, with child. What happens without television, in our experience, is the following:
1. Alot of free time to fill after work- but since I am still a stay at home (for one more year)- I will have more to keep me occupied.
2. The creative side comes out- i did more painting, crafts, renewing furniture, and organizing in our home.
3. Since of accomplishment- at the end of the day, I always felt like I didn't have that list of things to do tomorrow- because I had them done today!
4. Phillip played guitar more often, and I played my keyboard with old piano music weekly.
5. I read alot more- during Nick's naptime, I can catch up on reading which is usually saved for late night while half asleep.
6. Experimented more with dinner recipes and had fun with food!
7. More time to exercise and get outside- no excuses!
8. More time to work on the yard and house projects.
9. Phillip and I would meet up almost every day after work in PC (those 3 years) to socialize with new friends and old ones, and threw get -togethers weekly.
10. Once we have established a few really good baby-sitters here, we will resume that life and enjoy more live music, dancing, and entertaining friends in our new home.
11. With the tv off- we always had our stereo on playing a 5 cd changer full of good music. Every day, something different put in depending on the mood.
12. always a good excuse to try new wine and discuss like experts. Fruity! Dark! Bouquets! Legs! Crisp aroma! Pinot or Sauvignon Blanc?
13. Having more time to chill together playing Scrabble, dominoes or card games that I learn and then have to re-learn. but still... quality time as a couple without the drone of television in the background.
14. Never had one in the bedroom- good rule of course.
15. More time to catch up with family via phone calls and handwritten letters :)
gotta go ! drama in the nursery.

IRISH MUTTS RULE

For starters, half my family, the McMullens, descend from Capt. James McMullen who came from Scotland and who had many many sons. Therefore, here in Pinellas County there is a McMullen cemetary (where I can be buried for free), a 6 lane highway called McMullen-Booth Road, many old McMullen homesteads that are county parks that one can visit, and a very large McMullen reunion in Largo that is a blast only because every time I go I meet some new second or third cousin. My mom's side of the family was prolific down here in the citrus industry, the oil industry and there are still successfull McMullen Roofing and various other businesses that my uncle and more distant relatives run. My dad's side is the McCarthy side, the name being the most common in County Kerry, Ireland. Also on his side were some British folk (two older aunts of his I was too young to meet used to have tea every afternoon). On my mother's mom's side (Emily McMullen- maiden name Daeger), her mother Anna Daeger came from Austria in 1912 on a boat and they have found her signature at Ellis Island. I still need to do more digging to find out more about the McCarthy side, but I do know my Grandpa McCarthy raised my dad and his sisters in Elgin Ill, which I can thank for my dad's wonderful pragmatic Mid-Western personality. I always liked that he wasn't the typical good ol boy from Bay County.
My husband's last name is Roosen- not common in the south but more in the north. In fact, his father's relatives are scattered throughout Ohio and he spent time there as a child and we have visited his peeps up there while married. Roosen is a Belgian name, and he has discovered Roosen relatives that live across the pond in Belgian that he should visit someday. There is also some Spanish blood on his side maybe explaining his love of spicy Spanish food?
Anyhoo, we're all mutts and I am planning a big St. Patricks' Day party for next year. Bud Light is allowed but it's preferred to be dyed green if you must drink it!
Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Hulk Hogan and other things

Today we went ot Nick's speech therapist and then headed over West to Indian Rocks beach, which is south of where we usually go, but a beautiful place. Indian Rocks is a nice strip of developed beaches with lots of smaller townhomes, cafes, oyster pubs, and condos that aren't over about 6 stories tall. We used a public walkway and while there I took pics with our Cannon (the real camera I call it, not digital) of the water, the colorful umbrellas, and the tall whispy pines they have down here called Austrian Pines (correct me if it's something else). The beaches down here have tons of whole shells and there are spots full of white washed out rock that gives it a neat sundrenched desert look. I miss the wild tall dunes and grasses of Bay and Walton counties, but like the treasure hunting here for sand dollars, sponges, coral and Spanish medallions. :) It's also nice to listen to the European and Canadian crowds while sunbathing...everything is Eastern European or sounds like the characters in "Fargo". I am sure when I speak in my native drawl and newly acquired Nashville twang their ears go "huh?" and they look around for the closest language abuser. Also spotted- a few banana hammocks (courtesy Europeans I assume?)
Upon leaving and driving north on alt 19 we came upon the swanky Bellair Beach, home to footballers, minor celebrities, Middle Eastern millionaires, and old money country clubbers. I say this tongue in cheek.... the most infamous celebrity of late is Hulk Hogan and dismantled family who live scattered throughout this beach and Clearwater. I kept looking at the golf carts cruising up and down the landscaped grasses for Linda or mini-me Brooke but it was like shooting fish in a barrell- lots of those types here. Hogan's son recently drove him and a friend into a tree and put his friend in a lifelong veggie state, sadly, and Nick was freed from jail lately. Soon after, the friend's father was caught trying to pay a Clearwater cop $1000 to kill his wife. That is the saddest situation.
So, no Hulk sightings today. My husband has seen him at TIA flying out. Maybe another celebrity will come to Clearwater and cause less harmful drama for us locals to be entertained with. Ending a sentence with a "with"- isn't that wrong ya'll? I'm still looking for Tom Cruise and fam outside of the Scientology compound downtown. Those jerks made the old Methodist church stop chiming it's bells at noon because it interrupted their blackmail sessions- I mean meditation. Have I said that before? I'm a totally a biased Methodist. Well- tata for now. Have fun out there!