Just checking in . , ,

Who knew getting three folks ready to go to the beach for three days could be so difficult?

Not me.

I haven't had to pack for a trip with this bunch since Thanksgiving. And this time, we'll have four people in our four-seater car (instead of three) so I have to be extra special careful about using our space wisely.

Jason used to have a rule that before we left on a trip, the house had to be clean.

I say "used to," because somehow, that rule has flown out the window - maybe one day soon, it'll take the "clean the car out every time you get out of it" rule with it. I really hate that one.

Did I mention - both Tom Jones and Usher are performing at the hotel on Thursday night! Not that I have tickets for either, but the potential for random meetings is there, all the same.

(And did you know - someone tell me if this is true or not - I heard today that Tom Jones insured his chest hair, like with Lloyds of London or something?)

Well, break time is over - back to packing.

Get a glass of tea.

This could be a long post. Sorry this has taken me a while to get up.

But -

Monday was Pink Palace day, and Tuesday we went to the auction to have lunch with Jason, and yesterday I participated in a mock-emergency exercise at the local college.

So here I am. The one that you love.

And here are the Pink Palace pictures.



No, I didn't take this one - I couldn't get this close to the mansion. Can you see the pink marble? It's really beautiful. This is the "old" part of the museum. I didn't get a picture of the front entrance in the newer part. It's just boring brown brick.



Contrary to what I'd expected, Jason sprung for us to see an IMAX film - Deep Sea. Since I couldn't take pictures during the film, you'll have to take my word for it that it was spectacular. Here, Anna Marie is barely able to contain her excitement before the movie starts.



Anna Marie looks into a microscope for the first time. I figure this must be what it was like for Einstein.



It's a mastadon! How funny is it that Anna Marie turned to me and said, "Mom, you've got to get a picture of that!"



The faceless mannequins! The very ones that scared me as a preschooler! Can't you just feel the creepy? And I just noticed - that one on the right has a sleeve missing! Maybe if I'd noticed it at the museum, there would've been some explination close by. I think I was too distracted by the creepy.

They didn't seem to bother Anna Marie much. Maybe if I'd seen them for the first time when I was six instead of three, things would've gone better. The really, really bad one is around the corner, in the Yellow Fever exhibit. She's apparently a widow, all dressed in black, in a corner display case. I've never actually gotten close enough to read her story. She's almost as bad as the lead - yes, I said LEAD - coffin in that same area. It's in an alcove to itself, with a weird purple light shining on it. It looks just like a Pharoh's coffin, because it's in the shape of a person.



Turn-of-the-century toys. Anna Marie noticed the blocks right away, because they're almost exactly like some she has.

Moving on.



This is a huge, very detailed scale model of a circus. It's supposed to move, but right now it's under renovations by students from the physics department at the University of Memphis. Why physics? I have no idea.



Did you know that the founder of Holiday Inn, Kemmons Wilson, was from Memphis? And that the very first Holiday Inn was here? And how many of you remember these old signs?





Since the founder of Piggly Wiggly, the first "modern" grocery store, was the same guy who built the mansion, there is naturally a replica of the first Piggly Wiggly inside the museum.



Clarence Saunders, who built the house (and the Piggly Wiggly) died pennyless before he finished the mansion. I think it had something to do with the stock market crash.

Speaking of the mansion, its exhibit space is mainly dedicated to life in the 1920's and 1930's, when the house was being constructed. Talk about suffering for beauty's sake!



Did anyone really think this would help?

(Oh, and notice the lack of faces. It's like a theme or something.)





And these are costumes from the Cotton Carnival. It's a celebration held every January in Memphis. It used to signify the end of the cotton harvest (and that everything sold for a good price). Now, it's mainly a charity focus. There are "secret societies" that host parties all month long, with club names like the "Crewe of Hathor" and other mythological-sounding titles. These costumes are from the 1950's and 1960's, and I think they rock!

Whew! I'm tired, aren't you?

And now, I look forward to the next couple days off - whenever that might be.

All I want is a couple days off!

With apologies to Huey Lewis, of course.

And guess what - I seem to be set up to get them!

I've actually taken two whole days off from work - in a row! I'm so excited!

Anna Marie is having fall break on Monday and Tuesday, and instead of trying to find someone to watch her on Tuesday while Jason is at the auction, I decided to give myself a bit of a fall break too.

Because, dang it, I deserve it! Elections and magazines and lawsuits, oh my!

I've just been giddy thinking about it.

And as hard as last week was, with all my meetings, I just kept thinking, I get two days off next week. If I can just survive and put this paper to bed on Friday, I get two whole days off!

It's almost unreal. And that's sad, folks, that I get this excited over two days off in a row.

Little AM spent the night with Gramma tonight. She looked like a little street urchin, because she'd been playing outside in the dirt and had some on her nose, and I hadn't gotten around to washing her face yet.

Tomorrow we're headed to the Pink Palace Museum in Memphis. Jason also wants to hit the IMAX theater there. Anna Marie's never been to an IMAX movie, and the one that's playing is one of those "under the sea" jobbers, so I think she'll be suitably impressed.

I know I was, when we saw a similar film in Chattanooga on our honeymoon. And so was the little boy sitting next to me that day, about six years old or so, whose dad kept telling him that the sharks were going to get him.

I don't think I'll take that tack with Anna Marie. If she has nightmares about sharks, guess whose side of the bed she'll end up on.

Yeah. Mine.

Hopefully, she won't be as freaked out about the faceless mannequins as I was when I was a kid.

Just a couple days. . .