Toothbrush... check. Comfy sweats... check. Laptop and a sufficient supply of Chardonnay... check check.

Ya know how it is when you leave home and how freeing it is suddenly to feel so unemcumbered by all the details of your life? Yet sometimes you just keep wishing that you'd remembered to bring this or that?...
Or maybe it's just me.

Anyway, I think I brought all the essentials.

Meanwhile, while I'm settling in... here are some of those *encumbrances* I just couldn't bear to leave behind?...


Clay Content...

• Merry Christmas!.. in June. -- Three different yet equally incredible versions of "Emmanuel" from Joyful Noise 2.
  
  
• Metomorphosis. -- My complete take on the shock and awe.
  
  
• Bookends... -- "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me"... then and now.
  
  
• Oh Ye Of Little Faith -- AI5... my first thoughts. Nothing "rocketscience."
  
  
• Anomally?... Smomally! -- The Lord will fight for you. All you have to do is stand still. -Exodus 14:14
  
  
• How Loud Can I Holler Shhh? Just a little pretty with an accent on the "Eeeee."
  
  
• My Montages -- Don't get skeered there's only three.
  
  
• The Past... And The Prez... -- An LBFCA Main Page I did a while ago.
  
  
• Salt Lake City_Independant -- I've kept this story private for quite some time. Not sure why.
  
  
• My First BEVR (Broads Eye View Report) -- An unforgettable "first."
  

Kid's Stuff

• From This... *impromtu*... Moment -- I love this!... but of course I'm the mom.
  

  
  

• The Wedding -- A brief pictorial recap.
  

  
  

• Daryn's Demo -- I think she's amazing. I take no credit..
  

  
  

• The Calendar "Tradition" -- I had intended to do one each year, but then... the summer of '03 happened...
  

How I Spend My Summer Vacations... or "Me and My Four Wheels... In High Gear."

I've attended 23 Clay Aiken concerts.

To some that may seem like a pittance. To others it may seem like... madness. I guess it all depends on your perspective.

There are people a plenty in my life who DON'T get him. I have been asked (at least a time or two) why it is that ALL I ever seem to do anymore is "chase Clay." As if.

I mean, if I knew where he WAS... maybe.

All I know is that I do WHAT I can, WHEN I can... and why? Cause I can't help it. But as for it being ALL I ever do anymore??? I think I'm gonna have to respectfully disagree.

First of all... I awake at 5:30 every morning just to be able to get to work on time. And then work is work. No time for "Clay chasing" there... no siree. But I usually get home right about on schedule, around 6:00 each night. And that's pretty much when all the fun begins...

Because second of all...I have a really, REALLY big yard.

And it has to be mowed...

Now... somewhere along the line somebody got some crazy idea that "mowing my lawn" meant something else entirely. I have no idea why. Perhaps it's because every time I've ever said "OMG... I love him!.. He's so pretty!.. And hot!.." I always followed it with a "Ooops, gotta go mow my lawn now..."

Hang in there for just another minute and it'll all make sense.

At first glance my lawn, though it does go on and on, may not appear to be excessively expansive. I talk to others who have to "mow their lawns" too and they all seem to take it in stride like it's just another "chore." Like "doing the dishes" or something.

So let me put it in perspective...

I know! You can't hardly see it, can you!!?

Here's my lawnmowing schedule:

• Monday Night: Mow the back acreage cr*p, which may look pretty from here but trust me it's not!... after opting to have TruGreen stop at the tramp to save dough. Plus, if it rained over the weekend?... just ick.

• Tuesday Night: Drag the tramp south over the part I just mowed to get it out of the way and then crisscross north... right down to the edge of the pit/picnic table/willow. This part of my yard is "mole heaven" and it's just tons of fun in the heat of July.

• Wednesday Night: I save this one for hump day because that's the only thing that gets me through it cause it's a ding-dang obstacle course!

• Thursday Night: Edge, hedge, whack, pull and trim all the stuff that's been growing like a weed since last Thursday.

• Friday Night: Mow the front yard...

• Saturday: Work in the garden, sweep the deck, clean the house, pay the bills, do the laundry, shop for groceries... um, sorry got a little off topic there.

• Sunday: Besides church? Not much of anything thank you very much. This must be the day when I do all that "Clay chasing."

  Anyway thanks for listening. And here's a fun game! Remember all those IQ tests they made us take in school?

  Well try this one on for size...

As:

(A)

(B)

(C)

(D) ALL OF THE ABOVE.

The correct answer is (B) of course. But if you chose (A) (C) or (D) I'll give it to you anyway... heh.

Happy Fathers Day... Dad!

~~ My Dad wasn’t around at all when I was growing up...

He never walked the floor with me late at night to give my mom a break.

He wasn’t there to hear me speak my first words… or see me take my first steps... or to drive me to the hospital after I swallowed that ghastly mixture of laundry fluid...

Neither was he there to walk me to my first day of Kindergarten… or to watch me graduate.

And all those ballet recitals, choir performances and community theater gigs? Nope, no Dad there either.

But then... in 1974, when I was only 19 years old… "Dad" finally met mom... and made up for lost time.

~~ Thanks Dad, for always being there… during every single moment of my life since then.

Thanks for all of your help in practically raising my kids and for all of your support and encouragement in every little crazy thing I have ever done or attempted to do.

Thank you for being the very best friend my mom has ever had… and for loving her so.

And a special thank you for always managing to find a discreet way of facing in the other direction before rolling your eyes at me...

I love and appreciate you SO much!

{{{hugs}}}...Jannet

**And a Happy Father’s Day to my birth father too!... who I still can't help but believe always tried to do the very best that he could.

LARGE PRINT VERSION especially for you Dad... because after all, it IS your day.

How Does This Thing Work???

While I'm going through the painstaking efforts of trying to figure this out... please feel free to enjoy this.

OK... This was WAY too easy... 'cept not so much.

Once upon a time, before I had even mastered the technique of making paragraphs, I'd made it a goal to one day have my own little place on the internet.

Mind you, at the time I hadn't even completely mastered the concept of Email so it WAS a seriously lofty goal indeed. But somehow I did it! Even though it ended up being lame... I called it "my pathetic little website" for forever I think. And maybe it still is... sort of. But the hours that it took to figure it all out are unimaginable. Talk about feeling inadequate! And THEN after I finally figured it out... it just sat for years (ok, I'm exaggerating) because sometimes the the thought of venturing back into it was just too...overwhelming.

But then Clay Aiken, the consummate teacher, came along and suddenly my belief that "necessity is the mother of invention" was reinstated. And somehow he made it all fun ... and easy! (OK, so it's never been easy!) But I mean, when I think about it, I could have gone back to school and learned how to do this stuff... But why?

I wonder sometimes if he realizes that we're not just a continuous mess of fangirliness, but that at times we are exceptionally brilliant. I am forever amazed at the techno-savvyness of the people I've met because of him. People who may have never had the inclination or motivation to have learned this stuff otherwise... and yet ironically have somehow put the "professionals" to shame. You all know who I'm talking about...

Do you think that he knows the extent of the education he has provided us with which would have cost us big time otherwise?... (ok... probably not as much as it's cost us in the overall scheme of things...) but that's beside the point...

Anyway... I regress. I just had to create a Blogger... not that I even know what I'm gonna do with it now!... but I wanted to be cool with the rest of you. Peer pressure at 52! And maybe I'll play here somemore eventually. Who knows? But geesh, I've already nested a nice little comfy and cozy little place for myself elsewhere. A comfy and cozy purple place, albiet... but subtly muted. And anyway, I'm not sure I'm ready to abandon it just quite yet.

So anyway, please feel free to drop by... any time. I can't promise what you'll find there at any given moment... so just be sure to come casual. We'll do ... lunch pretzels. And please be assured there'll be a nice cold six pack of Chardonnay in the fridge.

There always is.

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