The Meade Feed.The Life of Whitney Meade

Do you ever wake up on Saturdays and just sigh, because hey, it’s Saturday and you don’t have a thing planned.

Me too, except not this morning.

I woke up at 4:32AM crying. I had a terrible dream, and in my dream, I was bawling. So I can’t believe that I didn’t wake Kris up. But still, I had to go in the bathroom, wipe the streaming mascara from my face (no… I didn’t wash my face last night), and pray.

Then when I woke up again at 10 until 8, I sighed, because hey, it’s Saturday and we didn’t have a thing planned.

After our morning coffee and finale episode of Work of Art, we hopped in the car and spent some time at Hobby Lobby buying Livingston’s first baby book. Where again, I started to cry in the check out line because “I can’t believe that I’m expecting a baby and buying scrapbooking materials to make a baby book.”

Kris looked at me and said, “It’s a new season!”

Next, we drove to the Pee Dee State Farmer’s Market for green peanuts to make boiled peanuts! I have to say, my husband takes beautiful photos, don’t you think?

Our fridge is now stocked with glass bottle Coca Cola, and the peanuts are boiling on the stove. Happy Saturday, y’all!

(PS – I’m skipping the next two days of the 30 Day Blog Journal – a fiction book and a non-fiction book – because I don’t have any books to share! I haven’t read for fun, besides magazines, in the past 2 years. Oops! I guess my brain is so tired from writing all day long for work that the last thing I want to do is look at words on a page.)

This has been one of the most unbearably hot summers that I can remember. What’s making it worse is that we’ve had a ton of rain, which only adds to the humidity. You literally feel like you’re swimming through the air.

Not to mention that I’m growing a PERSON on my insides.

Our house is set at 71 degrees and it’s STILL hot inside. It’s enough to make you want to draw all of the shades, strip the covers off of your bed, and not emerge until November.

But hey, who says that even in December it’ll be cold outside? Remember the Christmas of 2008? I definitely wore a sleeveless dress that day.

This is looking really good to me right now:

Don’t let the “90s” fool you. This doesn’t include the heat indexes of around 103!!

I’ve heard on more than one occasion that it is trite conversation to discuss the weather.

I’m going to deviate from Emily Post for just a sec.

IT IS HOT OUTSIDE. And not just normal South Carolina in July hot. It is like… “when you go outside at 11:00 p.m. and you could still suffer a heat stroke” hot.

And what happened last night? A BLACKOUT. At 10:30 p.m.! We were having dinner with the Blantons when the lights first flickered (during the prayer for our meal, of all times. Kris added, “Yes Lord?”) But then, as we were about to leave, the lights completely shut down to what we first believed was our block. (We live very close to each other.) But as Kris and I drove home, we realized that it was more widespread. All of the neighbors were hanging out in the street with flashlights, and this prego didn’t feel like being attacked by mosquitoes. So Nimbus and I hung out inside in the dark on hold with Progress Energy, where the kind call center employee informed me that over 750 homes in our area were without power. The estimated time of restoration was an hour and a half later, but they weren’t “really sure.” So Kris and I decided to utilize the A/C in our car and drive to the Super Walmarts for candles, where we were greeted by the Gangs of Florence.

Seriously… that’s where they hang out on Saturday nights. You do not want to go there.

That being said, the power did eventually come back on and we watched an episode of Cops and ate ice cream and everything was fine.

Except it’s still really hot…

So hey, it’s Monday. It’s 7PM, and we are going to throw some stuff on the grill. Kris just came in and asked what sides we were having (so that he can gauge how long he needs to wait to fire ‘er up), and I’m all like, on the couch under blankets being emo. “Squash and something.” That was my response. Que romantico.

I am under blankets because I am exhausted, but I did SO MUCH LAUNDRY yesterday and that is a feat. Not that I don’t have tons more, but it just feels good to have a clean closet floor.

I want to add that if you are looking for a cinematic adventure tonight, you should probably rent The Sum of All Fears, with an old school Ben Affleck. We are into “Harrison Ford as the President”-ish movies, and it was right up our alley (and the perfect Sunday afternoon flick, accompanied by Starbucks Coffee ice cream, natch.) (Sorry Mom.)

We spent the remainder of our evening yesterday YouTubing even more old school Busta Rhymes videos. Anyone remember WOO HA! WOO HA! No? I didn’t either. BUT. It was an enlightening experience and I have been rapping Busta all day long in my pantyhose and corporate attire, complete with rapper moves. I think my coworkers thought I’d gone a little crazy. Plus I had to squeeze a stress-kidney for about 30 minutes today. Long story, but I’m glad that we have promotional items like stress-kidneys laying around the office for just those moments when I feel like I’ve been pushed off an emotional cliff.

WELL FOLKS, I am off to discover side dish #2. Send warm wishes (or dishes…tee hee) my way.

There’s no “PC” way to put this. Kris’s radio studio is in the ghetto. Often, he is approached by homeless folks (or people just looking for their next crack fixes) for money. If he has some dollars, he’ll share them sometimes. Usually, they walk straight to the liquor store. Anyway, when he’s in his studio, he keeps the door locked to prevent people from just walking in.

One day a few months ago, Kris didn’t have the door locked and this man walked in. He starts telling Kris this long, drawn-out story about how he “Just got out of jail, and he’s a born-again Christian, and as Christians, the Lord says ‘ask and you shall receive.’ So I’m askin’. Man, we gotta help each other out. Can you share with me?” Kris is like, “No, man. I’m sorry. I don’t have any cash.” The guy keeps pressing Kris. Kris keeps saying that he’s sorry but he can’t help him. All of the sudden, the guy’s face scrunches up, and he exclaims…

“I’M HOOOONGRY!”

Kris busts out laughing, walks him outside, and points him to the Manna House.

Fast-forward to a few weeks ago. We’re hanging out with the Blantons, and Hugh tells us a story of how he was approached at the Piggly Wiggly the other day by this man who kept saying that he “just got out of jail, ask and you shall receive, blah blah blah.” Kris connects the dots.

We pull up the Florence County Sheriff’s Office website, and they about die laughing when they realize that they have been approached by the same guy… LEON!

SO. This past week, a man approaches Kris outside of the studio and launches into the same story. Kris stops him and says, “Man, just stop. I know who you are.” The guy goes, “You do?” Kris says, “Man, I even know your name. You’re Leon.”

….
….
….

“HOW YOU KNOW ME?!”

WOW, what a week I’ve had!  I feel like there are so many things that I need to tell you.  But obviously, the most important thing is…

THERE IS NOW A DUNKIN’ DONUTS IN FLORENCE. Yes, it may be 17 miles away from our driveway, but I am not against the haul for a taste of DD.  After we picked Nimbus up from his weekend with his Nana & Dadu, we hit up the goods.  And it was worth it.  So worth it.  And I may have also consumed a jelly doughnut (which was really not necessary considering I’d gorged myself on Soby’s and Trio in Greenville during the previous 48 hours).

Actually, the most important news is not the new Dunkin’ Donuts.  We had an incredible fundraiser banquet for Radio Free Florence and the Leeland/Brandon Heath/Francesca Battistelli concert was awesome!  I got a chance to meet the artists briefly before the concert and they were really nice.  We had a wonderful vacation weekend in Greenville – it was just what we needed.  We capped our weekend off by going to see THIS IS IT – the Michael Jackson tribute.  What they don’t tell you ahead of time is that you get a commerative lanyard.  You know how I feel about lanyards.  SCORE!

Happy Monday!

Baby Nimbus - Halloween 2008

Well girls, the holiday season has arrived!  Happy Halloween weekend! We have low-key plans for the weekend: a little shopping tonight, relaxing tomorrow morning, and Hugh and Laurie Beth will be coming over for a spooky celebration tomorrow night.  We are going to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters, stop in at our neighbors’ shindig, and have a Halloween-themed meal.  I’ll be sure to post pictures on Sunday!

I am still undecided about my Halloween costume.  I want to make a quick stop at Dance, Etc. today to see what they have at their shop.  I bet something with an eye mask would be cute.

From Etsy

Also, I want to hit up Hobby Lobby and Target tonight because their Halloween sales are going to be off the chain and I can make our house super fun-looking tomorrow night on the cheap!

Anyone know where I can find orange glass-rimming sugar in Florence?  That’s on the “hunt” list for tonight.

If you are last-minute party planning like me, you should check out Hostess with the Mostess.  She’s got some GREAT ideas on her blog!

Have a SPOOKTACULAR weekend!

XO, W