Wow, I so remember this day and all the pain and sufferring it used to bring!

After a summer of laziness, it’s time to get up early…AND take a shower…AND wear decent clothes…AND go to school??? For the whole day? “Can’t we just do a half a day for the first few weeks and ease in to this?”

The ride to school (or walk, as many of us did) was so long.

The walk up the sidewalk was too.

Inside, it still smells just like last year. “It’s gonna be a long time until next summer!”

What was that familiar smell? Looking back, it must have been a combination of books, bread baking in the cafeteria, and terror.

The first sight of a friendly face was such a welcome vision! “What did you do all summer?” “Nothing. What did you do?” “Nothing.” “School sucks!” “I know!” A little exchange like that took the edge off, and the next thing you knew, you were walking home from that first day and kind of looking forward to seeing your friends again on the SECOND day of school. After day three, you stopped giving them numbers and it was all routine again.

The top things I learned in school:

Be polite. It counts for a lot.
Don’t two face your friends. You can’t get far enough away to outrun the shame of it.
Try. If you make an effort, you’ll get help. If you don’t, you won’t get any sympathy for being lazy.
Be part of something. Don’t let it all pass you by.

Of course, I learned all these things years after I threw my last stack of school papers high in the air. If my time machine worked, I’d go back and do it right.

My sweet uncle is in the hospital right now in ICU. Long story short, he went in after having bad abdominal pains and they ended up having to remove part of his colon. He has been in the hospital for close to a month now…he went back into surgery again yesterday because his infection was getting worse…and on top of that he has a touch of pneumonia. As of today, he has eaten REAL food (solid) and has been sitting up. This is a big plus. It’s so hard to see people who are always the ‘strong’ ones sick. It’s hard to even wrap my head around. This has been really difficult considering he is not only a TERRIFIC uncle, but he is also my second dad….he is my dad’s identical twin brother. He and his wife were never able to have kids, so my sister and I have played that role since day one. They are my godparents and I could not ask for a better family. Hopefully after this past surgery things will start improving. I’m not sure what I would do without him. I know that sounds so morbid, but I can’t seem to shake these tears. It’s just like I want to fix it…I really am going through my head trying to think of what I can do. Anything to make him comfortable…bring him something extra special…I don’t know…anything. I made him a little photo album last week with pictures of him and Tyson and dad (his brother) and the HUGE cookout we just had for Tyson’s birthday. Dad and Uncle Larry were the ‘chefs’ and handled all the grilling along with my other uncle. I thought maybe the pictures would give him an extra ‘umppp’ of strength. The twins always wanted a boy, so I finally gave them one…it’s just their grandson now! Prayers are much needed and pray for my aunt too. She just recently overcame and survived breast cancer…wow…what a trooper she is! She has been practically living at the hospital with my uncle. So, here we are…and as my uncle put it ‘it’s just part of life’ with a smile on his face. He is strong and I PRAY that he gets better soon. Ok, well I am off to see him. As always, make it a good one. Carmen  

Wow…it is amazing when you get your hands on a great novel and it becomes addictive…you cannot stop turning the pages. Usually I get restless in a car on long drives, but yesterday on the way back from the beach I read almost an entire book. I finished while I was cooking little man’s lunch for the next day. It is rare I guess for mom’s all around to get time to ACTUALLY read a book! Good luck with that. Anyway, the novel I read was ‘Running with Scissors’. I had no idea what I was getting into when I picked it up. I had seen a preview for the movie…a long time ago…and thought…hey, what about reading it first and then watching the movie. You know as well as I do, it’s never the same, but it is so much fun to create the characters in your head…then see how they are portrayed on the big screen. It is a raw, twisted book…if you are a PG type person, I would not recommend it. I had no idea how disturbingly funny it was going to be. Very twisted…very funny…especially if you had a messed up upbringing with a lot of crazy people in your family. Still, I could not imagine living a life this raw and crazy as the young boy in the story. Anyway, you should pick it up if you are not offended easily. Take note of that. Well, this weekend when I get a chance, I think I am going to rent the movie. We shall see! I’ll give you an update. If you have any ideas on any good books to read, let me know. I like to escape when reading…no war type books or scary. Not into that. Hope you are reading a great novel and turning up the radio every morning! As always, make it a good one! Carmen 

Anybody else got a strange feeling? Don’t get me wrong, I still love that it’s Friday. It’s just an odd day.

Maybe I’m feeling like the kids heading back to school next week or something.

“Bet You Won’t Play It Friday” was awesome! This week we got more calls than we have lately and we really really worked on playing all the songs requested. It’s impossible to play them all in the 4 and a half hours they give us on the air, but this week I was really jammin’ them in. I hate to ever miss a single one.

If you’ve never called, do it next week! You don’t have to go on the air with us, but we would love for you to. Here’s the number: 336-373-0987.

Who knows what it is that makes this Friday feel just a little bit “off”? Perhaps my red meat level is dangerously low? Better go steak up.

Very expensive research tells us that most Simon listeners are “dog people”.  This is only to say that they own dogs more often than cats, not that they have any distaste for cats.  We didn’t research that part.  The facts show that most of us have at least one dog.  With this in mind, we often deal with pet related issues on the GET UP show. 

Today, we offered translations of dogs barking.  There’s a new product out called Bow Lingual. Here is the audio of our translations:  http://www2.987simon.com/listen/dog-tran…

Well, it turns out the original inventor of the “Bark Translator” was listening to Simon this morning and called to tell us about it. Unfortunately, she could not get a patent and the invention was sold to a Japanese company. She now produces a cat translator. Here is her website:  http://www.animalvoice.com/

What do you think?

When scientists taught a gorilla to speak in sign language, she eventually was able to communicate with her handlers. After she had become fluent in signing, she would sign the same message to the humans around her over and over. After spending so much time humanizing her, all she wanted to say on her own was, “Let me out!”

So, dogs aren’t gorillas. They need us…But, are they trying to tell us something? What do you think?

Yesterday was such a sweet day, little man was baptized at the same church my sister and I were. It was not what I thought it would be…it ended up being kind of comical. It was his naptime, so we were already off to a rough start. All he wanted to do was run down the isle…he did not want to be held! Then of course, he’s a clown. I can not wait for the letters I get from his teachers one day. He’s always trying to make someone laugh! Anyway, he did pretty well, he just squirmed trying to get down and run…I had to hang on for dear life when the preacher was talking! He had a few moments of silence, and then he was trying to make everyone laugh with funny faces and making pig noises. It took everything I had not to start cracking up! A couple of times I had to turn my head because the laughter was just pouring out. Is that bad or what! Either way, when the preacher went to put the water on his head, he got completely still and silent. My eyes welled up with tears. Little man looked at him like ‘hey, I know what you’re doing…and thank you’. It was so sweet. After it was all said and done with, we celebrated by going to lunch. It was awesome. As soon as we got in the car from our long adventure, he fell asleep before we made it out of the parking lot.  Ahhhh…what a blessed day. As always, make it a good one! Carmen

I’m looking forward to the Wyndham this year.  It brings great thing to the triad. If you don’t like golf its still a fun thing to do. There is always free stuff and beer. In fact you don’t even have to watch the golf. Just walk around and see all the cool people like me.

Watering Garden while it’s raining!

So, yesterday I looked at my garden and my poor flowers were looking rough. The temperatures have been super hot, as you know already, so they needed 911 help immediately. It started to sprinkle a bit, but not any sign of heavy rain. I decided to pull out the hose and start watering my babies. About hat time the rain picked up and I continued to keep on watering. Ok, at this point my neighbors think I’m crazy!! Ha-ha – It’s just that every time it has rained…it’s a little here a little there, not enough to help my plants. So the point to this story is, if you see me watering in the rain….have no fear…I’m still mentally stable! As always, make it a good one! Carmen

We’re experiencing the hottest week of the summer in the lovely Triad area.  People are sun burnin’, heat strokin’, and forgetting that this IS Summer. 

It’s interesting how the heat affects people in such dramatically different ways in different settings.

Heat in Punta Cana, “Wow, it’s so tropical!”

Heat in Greensboro, “This s*%$# is getting ridiculous!”

Heat in a live volcano, “How amazing!”

Heat in High Point, “I cain’t stand this hot.  I don’t feel like doin’ nothin’.”

Heat in Memphis (my favorite), “Let’s go to the Peabody and get some drinks.”

Heat in Winston, “Let’s go roll in that cool mud where the ballpark is going to be!”

It’s so hot that the swimming pool water is all warm, like a bath.  Some people love that feeling, but when it’s 100 and you jump into a pool, isn’t it awesome to get that shock of cold water?  That’s living.  When you jump in and it’s as warm as cheese dip, it takes some of the fun out.  The heat hasn’t bothered me so far.  It makes the AC on 65 feel great and it makes the PBRs even more refreshing.  They didn’t win that award for beer excellence back in the 1890’s for nothing!

Enjoy your hot days.  The winter will be here before we can turn around twice.

This week has been a tough one. My mother’s eye has had an infection and we had been trying to figure out what was wrong with it since last Thursday. We went to her family doctor Friday, the hospital Saturday, a specialist Sunday, and a plastic surgeon. Yesterday the doctor lanced it and let it drain. So now, she is feeling a bit better, her eye is still swelled up. Hopefully she will be back to her better self by the end of this week. Anyway, between all the family stuff going on, I have not slept a lot. Little man is doing well, he is getting his shots today. Ahhhhh! I hope it doesn’t hurt that bad. Wish us luck! Today calls for a good nap and maybe a big steak!!

As always, make it a good one! Carmen