Giving Things Away

You know me...I read some blogs like I read magazines. One that I enjoy reading is over at "Nothing But Bonfires". I have been reading her for some time and enjoy reading her insights, reviews, travel stories and most recently have followed her fun while she planned her wedding (this past September).

Her new thing is that she gets asked all of the time to review products and then she usually gets one to give away to her readers. She has given away one or two Nintendo Ds's, facial products, and a miriad of other things. She collects comments and then gets a random number generator to pick the winner. So far I haven't been lucky.

She currently has two giveaways going on over at her blog. One of the giveaways is for a nifty little device called a Viliv X70EX. The other is for some wonderful sounding French facial products.

You can enter her contest too. Just go over there, read her review, and then answer her question in the comments section. Easy as that! Winning....well, there will probably be 1000 (give or take) entries, so you never know. But one day....my luck has to break, right? And if you win, I want to at least see your new gadget!

Was Mickey Mouse really a Mickey Rat?

Mickey Mouse made everyone love him. He had big, cute ears, big, dark eyes, and a super long tail.

He was a rodent. And his pointy nose and long tail really point to rat-type rodent, wouldn't you say? But we all loved him; because he was so cute!

I don't mind rodents. I've had hamsters and hosted the school Guinea Pig at our house this summer. I even enjoy looking (and occasionally oohing and aahhing) at rodents in pet stores. But I draw the line when they move into my house not in a cage. You know...just move in because they like my digs. I can't, and don't, tolerate it.

You may remember me mentioning some of the times we had run ins with mice when we lived under the red tin roof. These little mice were very cute, but very irritating. Always in the food cabinets. We trapped some, sticky trapped one (never again), and then trapped some more. We even let Felix have a run at getting one out of the cabinet in the kitchen. It took him about 10 seconds. I am not exaggerating. It may not have even taken that long.

So here I am at the new house (not that it's really new anymore since we've been here three years, it's just not the Red Tin Roof) and several weeks ago I walked the family to the car as Bryan took them to school and a motion caught my eye. It was a mouse in the dog's water bucket. So, I took it outside and poured it out. The poor little guy had been treading water for quite some time and just laid their catching his breath (ie: panting hard) when I dumped him out. I then realized that this mouse was pretty big for a cute gray mouse. Then it dawned on me that his nose was a bit pointy and his tail was twice as long as his body. OK...I had a rat. And I had just let him go.

What to do??? Get Felix. So I went and got Felix and introduced him to the still panting and out of breath rat and went back inside. I peered out of the window a few times and could see Felix up to something with the rat. After an inspection later I found no rat, but Felix seemed awfully content.

So a few days later, Bryan and I noticed a rat (or two) scurrying away in the mechanical/furnace room. There are a few places where you can access the bowels of the house if you're the size of a cat, so what did we do? We went and got Felix and put him in the mechanical room.

We then went next door to visit our neighbors and have a cocktail. About 10 minutes later we got a call from Julia that there was a dead rat in the floor of the playroom. NICELY DONE, FELIX!

So for a few days, we just let Felix come and go as he pleased in the furnace room. I thought we were done. I was also wrong.

We then began noticing rats in the garage. Up on the shelf where we store the pool umbrella, on the tool table, running up the vacuum cleaner line, and even simply scaling the drywall at face level scaring poor 11 year old girls.

So...Felix got to stay outside for several nights. But I never saw a dead rat. I also didn't really see them much after several days. Then they were back. I went and bought a BEAR TRAP of a rat trap as well as a conventional snap trap for rats. A few bags of poison were also thrown around some of their favorite haunts (away from my pets). All of this before Thanksgiving, and still no dead rats.

Until yesterday.

Driving in after getting the children from school there was a rat in the process of dying from poison in Bryan's spot in the garage. So he got scooped up and slung into the marsh behind the house. Then, this morning, the bear trap rat trap had done it's job and caught one too. Get that...nothing for weeks and then two in one day.

And let me tell you, even though they are in the bowels of my house and garage (luckily no evidence of them anywhere else), and even though I don't, let me repeat, DON"T want them in my house, I still feel awful when I see them dead or dying. Why...because I love animals. And because they are so danged cute. Seriously...see....

Happy and Funny Snipits from the Last Week

My college alma mater is going to the ACC Football Championship game in Tampa, Florida. GO TIGERS! (Clemson Univeristy for those of you who may to be familiar).

My husband and I are lucky to have a close group of friends all going together. We are also lucky enough that one of these friends has family that lives in Tampa and her Dad has helped secure a "Suite" of seats in the stadium. We will all be spliting the cost of the tickets (there are 8 seats, 8 of us going) and the catering of food and drinks to the suite. These petite athletic boxes (as I like to call them) are enclosed and climate controlled. But since it's balmy Tampa, there is also the option of opening the window so we can enjoy the weather, the atmosphere and the sounds that go along with college football. We get to do this on December 5th.

Our wonderful team has never been to a conference championship game (our conference has only been big enough to split and have this championship game since 2005). Being conference champion used to be something that happened regularly, but we haven't been Champs in a long time (long string of coaches).

So...Tampa, here we come.

Next...out of the mouths of babes..."So Mom?" (coming from Legare), "what is a taint?"

Seriously...I got this question. I asked how he heard it used in a sentence, because he clearly asked what one was. No "It Ain't" contraction here. And I asked him to use it in a sentence.

He then said that it was on one of the "Harry Potter Puppet Pals" skits on youtube. And then he said, "You know, like Leprechaun Taints".

Hhhmmmm..... This caught me off guard. To say the least.

So after a bit of thinking, and telling him it was a word that could get you in trouble, I told him about the contraction. And then I told him how it described areas of your body. I then reiterated that it was a word that could get you into trouble. And I also let him know he should stop watching things on YouTube without my presence.

He understood the "words that can get you in trouble" concept well due to the trouble made the week after Halloween when the older boys in the neighborhood taught him the game about how you make a word by "taking the first two letters of FUn and the last two letters of duCK". He thought that game was great and took it to school to share it with others. Yay, us! We've been calling it the "Fun Duck Incident".

Let There Be Light. Please!

I have hung a new bathroom fixture in the hall bath. Why? Well...the old light fixture had burned out 2 of the new CFL bulbs in 3 months (both on the same side), and since they're supposed to last for years I was getting nervous that there was a short or something in the old fixture. So OUT it went. And when it came down, guess what I found? The whole socket was hanging on by a thread. Nick of time!

I tried to have the new fixture hung before everyone got home from school/work so it could surprise them when they turned on the light. Before the "hanging" project got started I had to mount a metal "plate" to the outlet box that was behind the sheet rock. Unfortunately for me, the directions left out one, key step of how to attach the light fixture to the "plate" that you just mounted on the outlet box.

(Various shapes and sizes of outlet boxes)

The problem was that the "fixture screws" (that I put through the plate before I mounted it to the wall) were too long. When I added the decorative "nut", that shows on the front of the fixture to hold it on to the wall, there was way too much room between the nut and the surface of the fixture. Like about 1/4 of an inch of screw was showing, NOT securing the fixture to the plate. So because I thought I put the wrong screws in, I found myself re-hanging the thing to put in shorter screws. Which meant I had to take off the fixture AND the plate.

I did this several times with several increasingly shrinking screws (maybe 5 mount jobs in all for this one fixture). I finally called the customer service number and they told me that I had skipped the step about how to adjust the "little nuts" on the "fixture screws". I looked back over the directions and this step WAS NOT THERE. Very frustrating.

Basically the fixture screws got threaded out of the back of the plate and their little nuts hold them tightly in place. Bad thing was that when I went to reattach everything to the wall, the screw heads stuck out of the back of the plate. which they were supposed to do. But since the outlet box wasn't exposed (because it had been sheet rocked over, remember) there was no empty space for the screw heads to back into. So, after detaching everything again, I took a screw driver and poked holes in the sheet rock so that the screw heads could back into the space inside the outlet box.

After all of this, it was very rewarding to show off the new fixture to the family. I didn't get it done in time for the children to be surprised by it, but they got to enjoy helping me finish and getting it ready for when Bryan got home.

And man...I had no idea that there could be so much light! It's almost blinding.

A Star is Born

Well, not quite born, but definitely incubating.
We went to The Miracle Worker callback last night. After arriving and having the group of girls called upstairs for a quick video to introduce themselves and their ages, the director came down and let us know that we were there because our girls were going to be in the production.

What?! IN the production?! Oh my gosh - in the production! Julia's dream is coming true. She is going to be a "Perkin's Institute Girl" in The Miracle Worker. This is going to be a great introduction to theater for her because the role will also have her aiding in the placement of set props during the performance, being a (digitally altered) voice in Annie Sullivan's head during her nightmare sequences, and we'll find out later if she will be an understudy for Helen Keller. The director has promised at least one performance for the understudy. OH MY GOSH! That's all I can keep thinking to myself.

I am so proud of her for wanting something, researching the possibilities and following through with me to help her get there. I hope that this experience will enrich her in good ways. We'll see if this bug sticks, or if this will be enough to cool her jets.

Since We Last Spoke

Since we last spoke I have taken Julia to another audition. This one was for "The Miracle Worker" (you know - the story of Helen Keller). She had me put on the application that she was trying for the role of "A Perkins Institute Girl" (girls from the school Annie Sullivan came from) or Helen Keller (in that order).

That was Monday. I will admit that I think the role of Helen Keller would be a little much being that she's never been in a true theater production before. I was excited at the order she wanted me to put the roles in on the application. Well to be honest, I think she just wants to do something, anything. Right now acting may be a glamorous thing in her head, but I think given the opportunity she would really be good at it.

The director told us on Monday he would let us know one way or the other by Wednesday. That's today. I was told he would touch base by email. Around 7:00 this morning, I went online just because I was killing time while Bryan was getting ready for work (the children had a teacher work/conference day - no school - yay!) and almost overlooked the email from the director. His name wasn't familiar to me and I almost sent it to the spam folder until I read the subject line: "Callback List for the Miracle Worker".

Of course, I got excited. Then I got nervous. This could be a good letter, or a "thanks, but no thanks" letter. The opening of the letter said thanks for bringing our children, the role of Helen Keller had been cast and that the following list of girls (about 15 of them) were being called back to re-read for the Perkin's Institute girls. (still nervous)....

....so I scanned to the bottom of the list looking for her name (our last name starts with "W", remember). No Julia. Shucks.

Then it dawned on me to scan the whole list. And there her name was, right smack in the middle. I was so excited! I shared this new with Bryan. He was excited too. I was going to wait until Julia woke to share the news with her (remember - no school today).

After Bryan went down to go to work, he saw the children in the playroom and brought them back up. When I shared the news with Julia, she was very excited. No wait, she was VERY EXCITED.

So on Monday I'll be taking her back to re-read. If she gets one of the roles of the girls, it will also entail being the voices of some of the voices in Annie Sullivan's head/nightmares, and helping move set pieces on and off the stage during the performance. Oh yeah, and a possible understudy role of Helen.

So, keep your fingers crossed. We'll see what Monday brings. I'll be sure to let you know.

Quick Hello

I've been online a bit more than normal lately. I frequent online often enough these days that I'm back to each person's blog LOTS before they've even had a chance to write something new...I think I need a new book to read.

But, I have found a fun game on Facebook - Guess a Sketch (which means I've been on FB more than lately too, which kind of scares me). Facebook just scares me in general for some reason. I shouldn't have said yes to friending some of those people who weren't my closest of friends in highschool; I've realized I don't really care if they can see what I'm writing or playing, but I do think it's kind of fun letting all of you guys know what's happening more realtime. Am I the only one that feels like this? That's the pleaser in me though, make everyone happy, sacrifice for all.

Anyway, got a phone call from the theater company that Julia wasn't chosen for a part at her audition. She seems a bit disappointed but overall ok with it. So, now she's all about auditioning for Helen Keller. I told her I'd take her to as many auditions as she wanted, she just needed to let me know when she'd had enough. I also reminded her that it takes lots of attempts -some of the most famous actors/actresses have been turned down lots. And she seems totally fine with it. I hope so. I am so proud of her though...finding it, wanting it, practicing for it. What an 11 year old she is!

Tea, A drink with Jam and Bread

We just had a very fun weekend at Garden City (thanks, Aileen and Spencer!). We had fun at TWO honest to God arcades, enjoyed some (pretty chilly) pirate Putt-Putt, watched a few great college football games, ate on the waterfront in Murrell's Inlet, and watched some riveting "Moustrap" building. It was a great weekend! It ended with me taking Julia to audition for a part in "The Sound of Music" with one of our local theater companies. The auditions started at 7:30. We arrived a few minutes early and were still 55th.

Julia's music teacher at school has been helping her with an audition song. They settled on (and have been working on at lunch) "In My Own Little Corner" from Cinderella. When I heard it on Thursday night (finally) I was blown away at how good it sounded. Not that I thought it wouldn't sound great, but I was very impressed. She brought tears to my eyes (not really surprising, I know), but she also brought tears to the neighbor's eyes. They were here because we caught them Boo-ing us. I swear Betsy let more tears drop than I did.

We got to the auditions at 7:25, and at 5 til 11:00 we were done. We were a bit encouraged that Julia was one of the few that sang a song NOT from The Sound of Music. Mr. Ivey seemed really pleased with her. I was the mom listening at the door...literally with my ear pressed as hard as I could get it. As she was leaving (when they opened the door) they stopped to ask her another question and then both (Mr. Ivey and the pianist) called out that she was really enjoyable.

Yay, Julia!

Bryan was funny...he didn't say much to me about her auditioning before hand. However, last night as she was in bed and sleeping, he looked at me and said something like, "How about Julia actually wanting to try out and actually doing it." She was, afterall, the one that presented me with the possibility of doing this after Googling "auditions in Charleston for kids". This was all her idea.

Tonight was the second and final night of the auditions. I don't know when or if we'll hear anything, but I'll make sure to keep you posted.

I swear she didn't even seem nervous. Giddy is more how I would describe her. I was glad to be there to witness it.

I Promise This Will Become a Story About Legare

Here I am. (But most of you are probably gone by now, huh?)

Been pretty busy. Who hasn't, right?
I haven't even been online to read my old standby blogs (those in the side bar and others that I vulturize on a daily basis). I don't know if I could tell you what it is I've been doing other than running children to their activities and celebrating birthdays. Bryan's was Sunday.

I had a few people over on Friday for enchiladas and Sangria, we went out on Saturday night with some friends, and then went to his mother's on Sunday. We were out of town weekend before last, and we're headed back out this weekend coming.

So we've been busy, but we've been having fun. I do have a funny, kind of endearing story, to share about Legare though.

Legare has started cub scouts. He loves it, and man is he handsome in his uniform. He is really taking it very seriously so far and every now and then he will even say..."Mom, I'm doing my best. Just like a scout is supposed to do." I say - scouts...why did I wait so long to sign him up?

Well, last night's meeting involved learning about pocket knife care and safety. So I went out to WalMart and Lowe's to see which Swiss Army/Victorinox knife I wanted to get him. I ended up with this one. But at WalMart I paid way less than the price listed here.

Anyway, they learned safety. How to handle it, close the blade, when to use it, when not to use it, etc, etc. They even started whittling/carving a block of soap. Legare was really excited to show me that he had cut his finger but he "didn't even know" he had done it until he looked down and saw blood. The band aid was a nice green, cloth camouflage.

Then, when I encouraged him to show his Dad the new knife, he eagerly grabbed at his cargo pocket on his pants. And that's when the color left his face. Because his knife was not there. Long story short...after many disappointed tears and searching the house, the car, and both again, Bryan took him back down to the car to look one more time. And sure enough, the knife was there - wedged under the seat where it landed when it feel out of the before mentioned cargo pocket. This brought relief and many more "relief" tears. I've never seen him be quite so hard on himself before. It was really sweet.

But I did say this was a funny story. Bryan and I both started laughing about how ironic it was that he was at scouts to get his Pocket Knife Responsibility badge. And that, within 30 minutes, he had cut his finger and lost the knife.

Our Sweet Animals Love Us So!

Over the years I've had many sweet gifts from my animals (can you feel the sarcasm yet?).
What kind of gifts, you ask? Many of you animal owners will have had some of these yourselves...

(live variety)
Lizards. Frogs. Mice. Baby Possums. Snakes

(half-alive variety)
Lizards. Frogs. Raccoons. Moles

(dead variety)
Lizards. Frogs. Raccoons. Moles. Rats. Mama Possums. Chickens (yes, chickens). Various Birds. Snakes. Fish. Bugs.

(dead and in the house variety)
Lizards. Bugs.
Until yesterday lizards and bugs were about the only critters that had actually been brought inside the house for us (or killed while in the house), most of the others (ie: the bigger ones) have been left at the doorstep or somewhere in the yard. But yesterday, I had a critter in the house that beat all critters....

Dead bird. In the middle of the carpet in Julia's room. NICE.

And it was a fledgling - still had pin feathers. I'm thinking the dog (who can hide all kinds of things in her very gentle, Labrador mouth) must have brought it in with her as we came in from school.

Just thought I'd share. (Have you had similar gifts left for you?)

Happy 11th!

Happy, Happy day to you, Julia! We all love you very much...there is no way it has been 11 years, has it? You are growing into such a wonderful young lady (of course you are, you were already a wonderful little girl).Happy Birthday!

Go Scorpions! Go Julia!

My American Girl is Named Julia

I picked her up from school early. She was brought to the office not knowing I was there to pick her up...she wasn't really sure why she was in the office, she was just going with the flow. The receptionist pretended to be on the phone and handed her the American Girl magazine to look through while Julia waited for her to get off the phone. When I came around the corner this is the look I got when I asked her if she was ready to go to the American Girl Bistro.
This is what happened when she realized we're leaving RIGHT NOW, and on a plane! (a few happy tears in case you can't tell in the picture) . . .


This is the first time she can remember being on a plane (she was about 15 months old during her last flight). She was very excited!

When we landed I took her to eat at the Benihana's Japanese steak house that was down the street from our hotel. This is the birthday hat they made for her and had her wear as they sang Happy Birthday.


The next morning we woke, showered and got ready to go eat breakfast at the Bistro. The empty (clean) table was ours. Notice all of the pink and shades of purple. Any girl's paradise.
Here are some shots of the cute lighting fixtures around the restaurant. . .
This is us enjoying our breakfast. We (and Melanie - the doll) had complimentary strawberry muffins. Julia had the largest chocolate milk I've ever seen served to a child (already cleared in the picture).

The doll even got her own chair and menu too. Then after breakfast, Julia was served a birthday ice cream sundae, complete with chocolate sauce, sprinkles, a Happy Birthday song from everyone in the restaurant and two spoons (yay me!).



This is Julia waiting on her doll, Melanie, to get the "do" of the month and her ears pierced. That's Melanie in the pink/orange outfit almost behind Julia.
All finished with hair and ear piercing (the dolls...Julia's were pierced several years ago - not on this day). Now we're ready to shop in the Boutique!



An hour or so later, we were all finished shopping. Birthday presents included a new doll "Julie", a new winter outfit, shoes, and new earrings (all for the doll of course). The sticker on Julia's shirt was from breakfast and says "It's My Birthday" (it's really this coming Tuesday). I might add that "Julie" is the new historical character from 1974. She has all of the things I had as a child. Makes you feel kind of old when the new historical character is from your childhood. I am not historic! (ha)



Now we're ready to go hit the mall and kill some time before a late lunch and time to travel back to the airport.




There was a beautiful carousel in the mall. The cute frog and it's duck, lady bug and flowers caught her eye. We laughed and said this was the AFLAC frog.

So she rode it.

This is us trying on cute feathery headbands in "Icing" and taking our pictures in the mirrors over head. We had fun pretending we were divas in these things.


This is just a cute shot of her coming out of one of the stores - I just couldn't resist posting this one.



When we went back to the Bistro's dessert counter to have an afternoon ice cream treat. The store allowed Julia to pick a doll to join us since our bags were already in the car. Julia chose this cute thing. She got her own muffin again. Julia didn't eat it this time...her ice cream float filled her up.




This is Julia enjoying her "Black Cow" root beer float. One scoop vanilla, one scoop chocolate, chocolate sauce, and of course root beer. She loved it.



At the end of the day, we drove back to return the rental car and patiently waited for the shuttle to take us to the airport. Julia enjoyed caring her big red bag with her new stuff in it. We both truly enjoyed ourselves. We laughed, we giggled and we tired each other out. This was the best gift ever! And it wasn't even mine. Seeing her smile and glow from excitement these two days was enough to warm my heart for a long time. I highly recommend something like this. Start saving those sky miles now!

Give Me The Keys, I'll Drive

I have been quite busy with plenty of things to do, keeping me away from here...laundry (I've actually done an ok job keeping it up to date this week), a trip to go see the Tigers play this past weekend, and lots of looking and re-looking at the e-receipts for this Friday's quick trip to Atlanta (I'm really getting so excited and I think she has no idea). In admiring the rental car reservation I was actually able to secure a new, and lower rate! So, good stuff is happening to all the re-looking I'm doing.

This past weekend up at Clemson was a fun one. We got there early and pretended we were still college students and graced downtown with happy hour and games of pool before we went to have supper at Calhoun Corners (where we actually got to see Danny Ford enjoying a meal - very exciting for all of us 40 year olds! Seriously.).

After the game, upon packing up, we realized that at some point during the post-game tailgate I lost my car key (it had been in my pocket and in cup holders). Now mind you, I never left tailgate, but the key was no where to be found. So at 11:30 I got to call AAA to help us find a locksmith to get a key made. The car was unlocked and a window was rolled down, and luckily I had the code for the key to be made, but there was no one on the locksmith list with AAA.

So we decided to tow the car back to the hotel (which is on campus and only (maybe) a mile away from where we tailgate so that we could try to find a locksmith on Sunday morning (Sunday morning of Labor Day weekend, no less).

Well, at 2:30, the tow truck driver #1 arrived and realized we didn't have a key (don't know why AAA didn't tell him that) making him have to wake up and dispatch tow truck driver #2 to come help us out.. Though I'm a bit panicked and kicking myself mentally, my friends had decided to turn this awkward situation into a party. All of them refused to go back to the hotel and let Bryan and I wait out the tow trucks by ourselves, instead, they insisted on turning up the music, tilting back the adult beverages (including some Boone's Farm - told you we reverted back to college days) and enjoying the moment. The tow truck drivers said it was the highlight of their night seeing these wonderfully crazy friends of mine in action. (Imagine lots of dancing and laughter - even some dancing on the flat bed of the tow truck).

At one point, while we were waiting on tow truck driver number 2, driver 1 was telling us he had to get the other truck because without being able to unlock the transmission and put it in neutral, moving my back tires to get it on the dolly would "tear her rear end up!". (said with the nicest of upstate accents). This of course sends Ashley over the edge with laughter. Her reply is (in her best mock, upstate accent), "Well, I know Anne does not want her rear end tore up!". Of course we all roll at this come back (including the tow truck driver) - I think it becomes the highlight of my evening!

So by the time we get my car on Driver 2's truck/hauler and get back to the hotel, it's 3:30 am. Oh, forgot to mention that during all of this, all of the loud music playing from one of the other cars has caused its battery to run low and we had to stop the hoisting up of my car to get my jumper cables so we can jump it off. The battery had gotten so low that Driver 2's "jump pad" didn't work. I got to crawl inside the car while it was suspended in midair to get the cables. Driver 2 did lower it a bit, but it was still UP. It was kind of fun to do this for some reason - another highlight of the evening.

And I know you're wondering, but yes we exhausted ourselves looking for the frickin' key. We unloaded both cars (twice - before and after we called AAA). We unloaded tailgate food. We reopened tailgate chairs. We used flashlights to search the ground. We even went back Sunday morning for one more once-over (I guess this would technically be called the twice-over). Nothing. And nothing now that everyone is home and unpacked either.

We did find a very nice locksmith who only charged us $125.00 on Sunday (Labor Day weekend) morning to come and cut us a key. He even threw in an extra key just because he was nice (seriously - this man was wonderfully nice). There was still some tension until he actually got the car cranked because. . .well you know. . . you just don't know if it's going to work until you know it works. With all the talk AAA had been doing about hoping we didn't have a computer chip on our key we were seriously weighing the options of how to manage the 4 hour ride back home without a car - ha (I don't think the friends we were with were coming all the way home until Monday). So if the locksmith hadn't been able to work his magic we would have been in a pretty tight spot!

So, let's hope I can do better this weekend as I leave the car at the airport. At least if I loose a key this time, I'm just a phone call and 20 minute ride away from having my husband deliver my free key!

P.S. Ashley photo documented this whole event, once she shares I will too.

And the Next Birthday is.....

The Next Birthday is Julia's (Sept. 15).

So this is what I have cooking for Julia's birthday...
She's turning 11 and still likes American Girl dolls. And even though she wants a Nintendo DSi she would love to go to the American Girl Experience or the American Girl Bistro (basically anywhere she can travel by plane I think would be fine too. And since I've driven around Atlanta before, not Chicago or NYC - Atlanta is what I chose for such a quick trip).

So, since we've accumulated LOTS of sky miles over the years of using the Amex, I decided that I'm going to (surprise) take her to Atlanta next weekend to go to the American Girl Bistro. I have booked the plane, the rental car, the hotel and our breakfast at "The Bistro". I have even gotten the teachers to ok a surprise early dismissal from school. The only thing I have left undone is where we will eat on Friday night (there's a Bennihana's right around the corner from the hotel. There is also a gracious plenty other fun looking restaurants around, so there should be no problem to pick something she will think is a fun thing ).

I am so excited I can hardly stand it. I think what I will do is pick her up from school and have all of her American Girl dolls in the car so that she can chose which one to take to have her hair done while we are there. The nice lady on the American Girl reservations line said we should make sure that Julia has the doll out and in the airport (she has an AG backpack to carry the doll in) because sometimes there are AG ambassadors at the airport handing out certificates to the girls with dolls. So we will definitely be doing that.

I have already started putting together some of our travel liquids...shampoo, conditioner (hotel versions are never good for my hair), travel deodorant, travel toothpaste, moisturizer, etc. The one thing that I'm having trouble with is contact solution for Julia.

The TSA allows you to pack 1 quart size zip lock bag per passenger, holding as many 3 oz. containers as you can fit (they call it the 3-1-1 for Carry ons). the problem is, the small contact solution I'm finding is 4 oz. It states (even shows a picture) right on the package that it is TSA approved, but I wonder how that is true with it being 4 oz? The last thing I want to do is buy a special size but still have it confiscated at the airport, causing us to buy another one once we get there. Of course if we do this, we'll just get to hand it over again as we get ready to return 24 hours later. Money well spent, don't you think?

Well I think I will be making a call to either the maker of Opti Free or Delta to see what I should do. I have only been to two stores, so there may be other options for travel sized solutions at Walmart or Walgreens that I can choose from.

Anyway - wish me luck keeping it secret. I can't wait!!

My Relationship with Coffee

As a kid...I didn't like coffee. I tried to like it on and off for years, but it just never "took".

I have always enjoyed the smell of coffee; and on the occasions I would try it, I was always disappointed. The aroma of coffee is a wonderful one and it makes you (well me) feel like when you get it into your mouth it should be full and rich. But it was always just scented, hot water as far as I was concerned.

So I ate coffee flavored ice cream instead. Now that is what coffee was supposed to taste like: rich and creamy with that most heavenly smell.

As I started getting older I began drinking coffee as dessert after dinners at restaurants. With lots of cream (or some Bailey's). These moments were very few and far between as they only happened in restaurants.

Fast forward through college, through marriage, to 2004-ish. This is about the time I've had both of my children and they are both in pre-school. It's also about the time I was afforded the opportunity to meet other girlfriends (with children who had also gone to pre-school) for morning coffee every now and then. I will admit that at first I would get everything but coffee. Then I discovered Starbucks and its wonderful frappuccinos. Coffee just the way I like it - cool, rich and creamy!

Eventually I started realizing that this was ridiculous money spent. Especially when the Starbucks showed up inside my grocery store and became easy access. I also started realizing the ridiculous amount of calories I was adding to my day with these creamy delights. So I started going smaller (is that Tall or Venti - I can't remember) and I started to choose Latte's instead of Frappuccinnos. I still added mocha syrup, but I was trying to wean myself from my former days of all the mocha and caramel and whipped cream. I even started realizing that some of the local coffee shops were way better than Starbucks.

Then, almost two years ago, my sweet husband got me a Keurig coffee maker for Christmas. For those of you not familiar, this is a coffee maker that brews one cup at a time (cause I don't warrant a whole pot yet). You buy these cute little "K cups" (which you can now get at Costco, Target and Walmart, not just online), available in every flavor you can think of, and enjoy at the touch of a button. Instantly.

This machine came with a plethora of samples. I enjoyed the flavors and the different blends, I enjoyed the fun of ordering different flavors, and then I realized I was gravitating to "Newman's Own Special Blend" and was always disappointed when I ran out. This "Blend" was just yummy, basic coffee.

So today, I have a few flavored coffees (that I mostly save for use as after-dinner desserts), I am currently embracing regular 'ol coffee. Sometimes I still choose a diet coke on mornings when I am hot and sweaty (cold caffeine is better than hot caffeine on those mornings), but I am finally enjoying coffee that I tried for so long to like.

And did I mention that I still add lots of cream? Lots. I use Fat Free 1/2 and 1/2 because of this. (And it's only fat free because they've found a way to add more sugar).

Well right as I have started to really enjoy my coffee I have noticed that it's starting to taste kind of funny. Maybe I don't like it as much as I thought I did. Hmmm. Such a shame.

Then the brewer tells me I need to descale it. This means I spent yesterday brewing lots of white vinegar to clean it of the mineral deposits from our hard water. Yesterday was the third time I've had to do this since I've owned it. Descaling seemed much easier to do this time luckily. And it was worth it because man - the coffee is heavenly again this morning.

Coffee and I are safe for now.

That's One Wrong Step for Annekind

What am I doing, you ask?
Nothing. Everything. Getting back into routine.
School started yesterday and today is the first full day. The children have been very excited and have rushed out of bed each morning (we'll see how long that lasts - it's only day 2).

I am in charge of the school's store. Part of what we do is coordinate the purchase and delivery of school supply kits for the children whose parents have ordered them. Not a hard thing, but the week before last I was at school overseeing their delivery to the school and then I labeled and got them to the classrooms. Lucky for me there are not quite 200 people in the school and not everyone ordered.

After that we went to stay at the renovated Holiday Inn on Folly Beach for two nights. We had a ball! Bryan does some work for them out there and a lot of them knew him. They were always asking if they could get us anything. We felt pretty special. We enjoyed adjoining rooms, great food, good weather, fun and fruity drinks, the pool, the beach, and the kids enjoyed the fitness room and a room service meal while we went downstairs to dinner by ourselves on the second night (the children insisted - it was great). We played cards in the very relaxing lobby area that looks right out onto the beach, and overall enjoyed just sitting still for a while.

This past Sunday we attended the end of the year awards party for the swim team the children were on. Julia was awarded the "Coach's Award" for the female swimmer. And yes, I fought back very proud tears. The things they said about her were very rewarding as a parent.

I have spent the last few days (and will finish out this week) putting the finishing touches on the school store and its volunteer schedule and making sure any glitches with school supplies were ironed out. I also culled out 4 bags of clothes from the children's closets (that didn't fit them anymore) and have already dropped them off at Goodwill.

I've been busy. I'm tired. And I"m also sore. But the "sore" is because I took a good tumble next door on Sunday night. The same next door where the dog pulled me down and forced my hand at buying new jeans last year. This time I was out looking for the cat due to the fact that there was some serious "cat screaming" going on outside. It was about 9:00pm.

As I got outside I realized that it was very dark. The neighbors had all of their lights on so I head up their tall flight of very pretty, brick stairs to ask them if they would mind turning on their back light to see if we could round up Felix (the Trouble cat). We live on a cul-de-sac so their yard is quite a distance from mine and is also where the awful screaming was coming from.

As I near the top of the stairs (did I mention it is REALLY dark?) I could tell that a planter was right in the middle of the last step before you reach the landing. So I adjust my path, move to the right, grab the hand rail and continue to the landing(aka the front porch). As I do this, my left foot steps on something metal that feels like a grate (yes, I was barefooted - it's summertime. I'm in the south. I'm always barefooted. Even when it's not summertime) and I instantly started taking a quick ride sideways and backwards down the stairs, on one foot, while on top of this grate.

As I land (or you could say "as I fall") - it was a full-on splat on the entire left side of my body - I landed partly on the stairs, partly on the porch. My forearms caught my upper body and I found myself wondering what in the world my neighbors were thinking - cleaning their grill grate on the front porch!? My head couldn't get around that they had done this. Their grill is usually on their back deck, but this sure felt like grill grease I spatted in.

I picked myself up, still frightened for my cat, and headed to the door to let them know I was the loud "thump" they had just heard in the night. I was going to explain about the screams and the cat and ask them if they could turn on their back lights so we could see what was tangling with the neighborhood cats. On the way to the door my left and then my right foot did a "squish and slide" as I took my steps. It dawned on me that this "grill grease" I thought I landed in was probably not "grill grease" at all. Instead, I think it's PAINT. And I had just immediately prior to these steps landed fully in it from the hip up. Yay, me!

So I freeze (so as not to get paint on any part of their white and brick house - it's on the market I might add - or any more of me). So there I was frozen in mid stride with the left leg in the air. I stopped. I thought. And then I knocked on the door with the back of my hand.

After they opened and I apologized for it being so late and explained why I was coming over at 9:00 pm, I reminded them that their porch was wet and that I had been successful in splatting myself right in the middle of it. I found out that the paint was in fact stain and sealer, not paint. Yay me, again! This was not as bad as I thought it was. And though I felt like I had done the equivalent of a snow angel in it, it didn't seem to look horrible or be as all over me as I thought initially. (My clothes ended up being fine...I'm still waiting on a return phone call to see what the mess looked like Monday morning.)

Back to the story...we went to the back deck and looked for the cat. Julia then let us know the cat had come home and my neighbor lovingly led me with a flashlight through the dark to home (I'm sure he was hoping I wouldn't fall again). Once inside, I told Bryan what I had done, and as I looked down I realized that I had "knocked the bark" off of my ankle, knee and hip. And the ankle was bleeding a bit. And everything was a bit swollen. And I was feeling it all pretty good at this point. I wiped off and laid down and Bryan brought me some Advil. I awoke Monday morning and didn't hurt as bad as I thought I might and began picking all the flaking skin from each of the areas. (I told you the bark got knocked off...more like scraped up and I chose to pick it to get it to come all the way off).

Today - well, today my ankle still stings a bit and the hip still has an egg sized lump. Not the goose egg that it was, more along the lines of chicken egg today. I can see the beginning of a bruise on my hip, but most of the other swelling in the ankle and all of the swelling in my knee is gone. Bryan and I decided we need to demand some free dental work (or teeth whitening paraphernalia) since this is the second time I have come home with skinned up legs from their house. Did I mention the neighbor is a dentist? But we aren't really the suing kind. And I like these particular neighbors a lot. So instead, we'll just laugh about it.

Seriously though, I did call yesterday to see how badly I messed up the porch and I still have not heard from them yet.

So....in a nutshell, that's what I've been up to lately - what about you?

Birthday Surprises

As I get further and further away from my last post, it gets harder and harder to want to write. Too much catching up to do if you know what I mean.

I have pictures off the camera and on to the external hard drive, but Picasa is giving me fits. Mostly because I'm learning as I go and I don't have the time to devote to it right now.

Legare turned 9 on Monday. He danced a jig for a few days before and continued through yesterday. I'm sure as we wake he'll continue. Bryan and I both commented on how we had never seen anyone quite so excited about a birthday. And it wasn't even a big one. No double digits or anything...just good old 9 is all.

He got everything he wanted for presents. And all of them were Lego Star Wars things. You would have thought they were all bars of gold. And equal excitement was given to all of them - huge and small alike.

The one that we gave him is called a Republic Attack Gunship (you've seriously got to check out the picture of the thing). He watched a cute video clip of it on Legos.com for days, maybe weeks, leading up to his birthday. And I see why...I have not seen so many moving doors and hatches on one piece in a while - it is truly a neat "ship". It took about 2 days to build with over 1000 pieces. He was very proud, I was very impressed. He even asked me to join him on the building of it - truly sharing his pleasure. I was honored and enjoyed every minute of it.

Then, disaster struck. We finished the ship around 5:00 and worked together to put together another of his gifts (I really did enjoy doing this with him - sissy was at a b-day party so it was just us). He couldn't wait for his dad to get home to show off his new creation. He flew it around and played until bedtime. I should mention that this thing probably weighs 12 pounds.

Not long after we tucked him in he was back in the den with what we thought would be the "I can't sleep" song. Instead, he let out the saddest cry ever to come from a 9 year old boy. His ship had broken. And it was devastating.

We reassured him that it could be fixed, it just had come apart. The Legos we were sure hadn't broken. And my thought was that this things was so big and beefy it was probably 5-7 big pieces that could easily be put back together. WRONG. Imagine our surprise when we got to his room and it looked as if the ship had taken part in a gun battle. I bet there were 500 individual pieces of Lego or Lego chunks in one pile on the floor. My heart sank with him and we all kind of started laughing out loud at the ridiculous pile. It couldn't have looked much worse had you just opened the box and dumped out all of the pieces.

I bet it will take 30 minutes at a minimum to get the thing back together. And he did not start it today - he decided to enjoy the others for a while. I'm betting that's on our Friday to do list. I have told him that I do not have super glue!

Quick Note from Vacation

OK...we're on vacation, but I wanted to get this written before I forgot about it, and it's too precious not to memorialize. With all the goings on about Michael Jackson's death recently, Julia has discovered that I have several of his songs on my iPod. And she is thrilled.

So, the other day as we were listening to "Beat It", she asked a very interesting question about Michael Jackson. A question that really is relevant to her understanding of MJ, but at face value seems ridiculous if not insensitive (so glad she's an innocent child).

QUESTION: Mom, was Michael Jackson black or white when he sang this song?

This was also quickly followed by: He was white when he died right?

My answers went like this: Well, he was always a black man - he just did something to make his skin look white. And when he sang "Beat It", he was somewhere in between.

That seemed to satisfy. Oh, the innocence of children!

P.S. I will post some cool spider pictures after vacation.

Wedding Weekends are Busy

This weekend one of Bryan's cousin's was married. Early on Bryan offered to sign for her reception to be at the Yacht Club and we have had a lot of contact with her and her family since. It was great getting to know her so well - she is a beautiful girl inside and out.

She asked our daughter to be her Jr. Bridesmaid - of course Julia was thrilled. She doesn't live here in town, so she made the most of getting to know Julia on the few times she did come into town for planning and visiting family. We were able to go to lunch several times and of course attended a great engagement party. This past week, Lofton even invited Julia to go out to for lunch and ice cream. We all went to the rehearsal dinner and Lofton included Julia in the Friday manicure/pedicure appointments. She even gave Julia a beautiful Felice Designs necklace at the bridesmaid's luncheon on Saturday. The necklace was just like the bridesmaids, no separate gift just 'cause she was "Jr.". Lofton including Julia like this made her feel very special and it warmed my heart to see her treated so kindly. It also saddened my heart to see her acting so grown up - ugh - slow down Father Time, please!

During the wedding, Julia was escorted out of the church by two groomsmen due to the uneven numbers and it was precious. These 20 somethings were very sweet to my almost 11 year old. They actually talked to her like she was a 20 something herself. Because she was a child I was afraid that they would ignore her, but they treated her every bit the part of a young lady.

The reception was wonderful and didn't get over until sometime after 11:00. Julia and Legare were going strong. Julia had danced ALL NIGHT long and even got invited up by the band to dance with the bride and one of the other bridesmaids who knew the band because they played at her wedding. All three girls did a really cute rendition of "the jerk", "the swim", and "the twist" while the leader singer was leading the dance moves.

We got home and put the children to bed (a few minutes past midnight) and woke Sunday to start yet another busy day. It started with 9:00 swim practice for the city meet Sunday afternoon. After practice ended at 10:00 we went straight to the Charleston Aquarium for a wedding brunch and then back home to rest before the 2:00 warm up at the meet.

Ah, the city meet. Some 20 city teams meet for the championships. Both of my children swam. Legare swam freestyle and back stroke and Julia swam backstroke, butterfly and IM (Individual Medley - one lap of each of the four strokes). I was really nervous at how the children would perform after such a busy weekend but they did fantastically. I wonder how they would have done on a full night's sleep???

Each event had 6-8 heats (6 swimmers per heat) for over 40 swimmers competing for each age group's stroke. On his stokes, Legare was the heat winner and finished 24th 23rd.

Julia finished her strokes at 20th, 15th, and 23rd.

And when we left the city meet around 8:00, it could be said that our weekend was finally over - whew! We do have one more day of swimming at the City Meet on Tuesday for the relay races. Then we're off to Kiawah on Saturday for a week with Bryan's family - this is always a lot of fun!

Eeewwwhhh!

You know that sunburn I just posted about?
Well, it's getting ready to peel (and that's not what I think is eeewwwhhh, by the way). Wanna know how I know? Well....

Turns out that the cocoa butter has done a pretty good job. Bryan's back is very itchy and as of last night didn't look like a peel was coming any time soon. He checked mine out and thought the same thing. He actually even stated that mine had totally soaked in.

And then, just now, as I'm sitting reading all of the blogs I like reading like magazines (moose in the kitchen, nothing but bonfires, etc.) I felt as if I was itching at the base of my neck just under the collar of the shirt I'm wearing. So I reach back to give it a good scratch - thinking to myself,"self, the peeling has got be going to start soon - Bryan must not have had good lighting".

And just as that thought was clearing my head (here comes the eewwhh) I realized that the spot I was scratching was kind of wet and gooey. It then dawned on me that I must have popped a blister (as of last night there we no blisters). And sure enough, there was a bit of peel-ish skin that I could get off my back, and now it's kind of stinging. And itching. I can't wait to get Bryan to look at it and report. Maybe I can figure out a way to see it in the mirror (more eeewwwhhh I know, but you have to admit it's like a car accident - you don't really want to know all of the gross details but you look in spite of yourself).

A Bunch of Rambling

Been up for a while at this point.
Not quite sure why.
I have been playing some mean games of Gin Rummy over at games.com. I think it could even be said that I kicked some computer ass!

I used to go online and play LINGO. That was a fun game too - especially when Bryan and I would sign on and play against each other. But I can't ever find the old LINGO anymore. They've re-tooled that website.

Don't know why I'm boring you all with this drivel about games, just seems to be what was on my mind I guess. I could have written about the 4th. That was a fun weekend, but nothing really earth shattering or particularly fun to share.

oooh - except that I burned the fool out of my back. Yep. Not that this is fun to report, but funny and may make you laugh. I lotioned up everywhere but couldn't reach my back. And there was no spray sunscreen around. Everyone was on the boat tubing so I didn't think it'd be a big deal to wait for a while - I was just in the chair reading. Then I forgot to ask anyone when they came back to lotion me up. But I was still mostly in the chair reading. Guess is doesn't provide as much SPF as a good 'ol T-shirt does cause I am FRIED. Cocoa Butter actually soothes it pretty well.

Last night was the last swim meet of the season. We only won 2 meets this season. But that's to be expected with a roster of only 57 swimmers. Last year we had over 80. And when everyone's at camp and your numbers are down in the 30's for meets, you just have a bunch of holes in your heat sheet and there's no way to win. The children that have been swimming have been doing a great job though. And our coaches are fantastic.

One of them has called Julia, "Julia Gulia" since she started the team in the 6 and under age group (reference to a character from The Wedding Singer and what her name will be when she gets married). Anyway, he and Julia want to register as Julia Gulia next year. That will be pretty funny until she goes and has a city record with back stroke or something and gets listed in the paper and the record books forever as Julia Gulia. But kind of a funny thing, none the less.

I think tonight may be the first night I actually prepare supper (more than the left overs and yummy casseroles everyone brought us after the surgery). I'm craving Mexican, so I may do burritos, I may have a taco night. We'll see. Pretty sad that at 6:30 in the morning I'm already day dreaming about supper.

I'll come up with some better topics later - right now I'm going to go lay back in bed until Bryan gets up. He's been getting up pretty early lately, so by the time I get there it may be no time in bed at all.

Have a great day everyone. Oh, in case you haven't seen it already, enjoy the little you tube parody that T-Pain did with Taylor Swift at the CMA's to help fulfill her dream of rapping with T-Painl Pretty Funny!

Lost and Found

I occasionally misplace things.
I am usually pretty good at retracing my steps. Every now and then I enlist the help of others.
For instance....on the way to the hospital, I decided NOT to take my phone in, too much for my loved ones to keep up with, so I left it in Bryan's car.

After remembering this 5 days later, I ask Bryan to look for it for me in his car (bending at the waste was slightly uncomfortable). He didn't find it. I get slightly panicked, but mostly sad that I can't find it and will have to rebuild the numbers that were on the sim card.

Guess who found the phone? My daughter (after I bribed her $10).
Guess where she found it? Under the seat in the car - where she could see it from her seat in the back.

So, this weekend, as my children get their Godparents, officially, I wanted the camera to snap some shots. I ask Bryan to go to my car to get it; telling him it's in there somewhere - I had it when I picked up Legare from camp and didn't bring it in.

He looks. He can't find it. So I go behind him and look under the seats. I found it today (a day too late). Guess where it was???? In the middle of the back seat, behind the other stuff he moved on top of it while looking for it. I didn't look on top of seats this weekend thinking he did - I looked under them.

So I guess we are both to blame. However, I think I need to either stop asking him to find stuff - cause he never does - or we need to invest in some kind of "How to Find Things" 10 step program for him.

Slow Driver

Hi, Slow Driver. How in the world did I get behind you and why are you going so slow?
Especially right beside this big truck.
Don't you want to get in front of him?
Because I never like just riding beside them like we're buddies.

Oh, Slow Driver, I just realized that you can't even see how quickly I've come up on you because your rear view mirror isn't positioned to see me - you must have been checking for boogers or spinach in your teeth and forgotten to put it back so you could see out.

Wonder when you're going to realize that I, in my big 'ol, non PC, gas guzzling SUV, have come up behind you? Do you feel me staring yet?

Oh, wait - something is in your hair - I can see you flicking it about. A lot.
I hope you don't have a pesky bee in your car.

Smart move, pulling out your make-up brushes to put that magical bee repellent on your face. That should definitely do the trick. Smart thinking - I should go get me some to keep in the car too; pesky bees. And I'll have to remember how the little hair trick definitely makes it stick better. Never mind that you almost hit the big truck - I"m sure he would understand the importance of proper bee repellent application.

You bee careful now.

Weird. Not HaHa.

Well, it'll be 3 weeks on Wednesday since my surgery.
All is still going well. I have been told that the tiredness of anesthesia has an equation.
It takes 3 weeks for every hour you were under for it to totally get out of your system.
That means I have 4 1/2 more weeks to go before I stop feeling tired after taking a shower or walking 100 yards. Just about 1/2 way there.

Everything is going rather well, I'd say. Except . . . my boobs still got sore this month as if I was getting ready to start my period (I do still have my ovaries, so hormones definitely still work). I think "it" would be happening about now. Imagine my surprise today when I realized that my abdomen is a bit swollen. Could it be bloating? What is there to bloat? Or could it be that I really just walked a hell of a lot today as I was getting Legare situated at camp?

I guess I'll know better next month if it happens again. Kind of funny (weird, not haha!).

Fleas

Yep. Fleas. All of my animals have them.
So, I do what any self respecting mother does and hop on PetMeds to order more flea medicine.
I did this Monday or Tuesday....it's already here today - can you believe that!?

I'm so excited. So I dose everyone up with the stuff you squeeze on them and give them each a Capstar. That's the pill that begins killing the live fleas within 20 minutes so that the topical stuff can start working it's 4 week magic more effectively.

I've always kind of felt sorry for, but also giggled a bit, at how funny it is to watch the animals scratch to death while the Capstar works its magic. It's a few minutes of misery until the fleas are all dead. Then - relief.

Except that I'm feeling awful for Felix (aka Trouble Cat). As the fleas began to start dieing this time he began running all over the house trying to find the perfect perch to get away from what ever it was that was making him itch. He was literally going mad. He jumped on the counter and tried to hide, he jumped on me and tried to hide, he RAN as I opened the door to go outside. He went under bushes, around the tree, up and over the fence...just like someone was chasing him. All the while letting out the most mournful cat sound you ever did hear.

He scaled the fence to get away and ended up hiding under the trailer in the driveway next door. Still with this awful moan. And panting. I am not laughing anymore. I am feeling horrible for my cat and hope he can make it through the next few hours of flea death. However, he has white fur and I was seeing a gracious amount of black spots surfacing in his fur, so hopefully it wont' take too long. Poor Guy! And per the Capstar product insert - this whole scenario is something, though rare, that can happen to cats.

And you wonder why we call him "Trouble"? If he's not into it, it follows him around.

Terrible Tuesday

It actually wasn't so terrible, I just couldn't think of something better to title this post about the odd things that happened to me yesterday - Tuesday.

It started out rather grand. Aileen (and her parents) had come to be with children while I went to the doctor for my two week checkup on Monday. This lead us to my children having a spend the night Monday night with Aileen and her family. All children involved were VERY excited. This lead to a wonderful evening of Mexican food for me and SLEEPING LATE on Tuesday morning.

Who am I kidding, my kids don't ever bother me in the morning - they're old enough that they rise and go do their thing without needing any help from me - usually. It still made for a very quite house. Bryan even woke later than normal and he even shut the door to the bathroom to filter the shower noise so I wouldn't be woken. It was great.

After he kissed me good bye, it didn't take but about 1 minute for him to be running back up the stairs hollering for me. Apparently our garage fridge had stopped working.

What? There were two frozen casseroles, frozen chicken packages, numerous frozen pizzas, one and 1/2 frozen popsicle bags and numerous "No Worries" drink mixes in the freezer. There were diet cokes (which is what he was going for), a full case of beer (which I'm sure will now taste bruised), a full bottle of uncorked wine and some Red Bulls that had been left here by some one some long time ago.

All of it had to be brought upstairs. To the already full fridge up here. Well, 20 minutes later the fridge up here was packed. TIGHTLY. with the things from downstairs. You know, most of you know what my house looks like, but for those of you who don't and are a bit confused by the upstairs/downstairs thing...our house is raised. We park our cars underneath on one side; the other side is finished and is the children's play room/media room. Upstairs is the actual house. All of the living space "upstairs" is on one level. There's not a second "upstairs".
The refrigerator "downstairs" was left here inside the house and when we moved ours in upstairs, it moved down to the garage to become a holding tank for food/frozen items and a pool beverage cooler. This morning I realized I how much we have been relying on it. I love our ugly little fridge down there.

A little putting 2 and 2 together and we have decided that the freezer door had not been shut fully upon last use causing this meltdown (I think that was me, by the way, not a child- ugh - and I know better). The fridge is now cycling again...items to be moved back down soon.

Then, I decided I had to vacuum. Even though Julia had done it for me on Sunday. The shedding of the cats is making it an every day necessity for the moment. The doctor told me to let my body be my guide. And since we have an in line vacuum system and I'm not toting around a big, heavy machine, I decided to vacuum the den and kitchen. I'd say it went rather well.

Then, about 5:00 as I'm getting the children fed an early supper so they can be full for their swim meet, the craziest thing occurred. As I was walking down the hall I had the feeling like I had just peed. Just like that. No warning, just the sudden sensation of "you've just wet your pants, you idiot". It came from no where. I was instantly irritated because I had been so excited and encouraged on the urination front since this surgery of mine. I couldn't believe this had happened.

So, I go to my the bathroom (I was just leaving the one in the hall), and what do I find? Instead of peeing on myself (in my pants), I find that I have actually sprung a leak. A blood leak. And it's more than a leak, it's a gracious, gushing amount.

I panic.

Of course, I have a fantastic doctor and she has given me her cell phone number. I call, we chat, she's going to call back after we give it a minute to see if it'll slow. I call Bryan crying and get him coming home. I call another mom in the neighborhood to get her to come get my children for the meet, I call my mom do get her on standby.

Doctor says this is probably nothing, hematomas sometimes bust through the suture line left behind "in there" and this occasionally happens, but she wants Bryan to bring me to her office anyway so we can all know and not have to wonder all evening.

So, a trip to her office and an elapsed time of 2 hours later - sure enough. . . no big deal. I've been prodded and poked and swabbed down, put on antibiotics, and told I would be sore for the next day or two because of all the poking, etc. to make sure to take some ibuprofen. Resume activities as normal. Vacuuming is o.k. (quick aside, when Mom asked what I had done earlier in the day activity wise and she learned of the vacuuming she actually scolded me with my maiden name. You know I was in trouble with that - ha).

And another aside, did you know that the Publix grocery store pharmacy offers FREE, yes, free oral antibiotics? So my generic Cipro - FREE. Thanks doctor for calling that one in!

So more of a crazy Tuesday. Not really a Terrible Tuesday. But Crazy Tuesday just doesn't have the same ring to it.

Summertime

Recouperation is going well.
I was afraid one of my puncture wounds was going sour on me, but after yesterday's doctor's visit I got the all clear on it. Just need some watered down hydrogen peroxide for cleaning for the next few days.

I'm excited that it's summer (even though we have already had so many summertime showers that it's CRAZY!), and have tried a "summer sherbert" look here.

It may get on my nerves and I may move it back to the refreshing blue. I may even try some more colors right after this is posted.

I am a bit disappointed that there are not any more colors to choose from on the template page. I can't quite get the actual color I'm looking for.

Enjoy the colors. Enjoy you summer!