I still say getting up early is wrong.

So today is the exchange the kids day. No, their lease isn’t up. Although if kids came with a red carpet lease, when they got to the moody teenager phase, we could just turn them in for a model that only spits up and doesn’t talk back! I jest!! No really, two come back from pre-teen camp and one went on a youth mission trip. The last but not least will go off for a few short hours to nature day camp. Needless to say, this weekend has been a whirlwind of laundry, cleaning, packing, more laundry, and lots of cooking. Oh, and throw in the buying of 2 TV’s and the taking back of one. I know, we’re crazy. I never said we weren’t certifiable!

Daughter #1 had a "party" with 3 of her friends. Let’s just say, they giggle A LOT! I surprised myself and didn’t do what I have done in the past, i.e. shush them all night long or retreat into my room. I was too busy cooking homemade stir-fry and hand rolled california sushi rolls!! I know, I’m crazy. Her friends weren’t adventurous as they claimed they would be if we had asian cuisine, but Lauren enjoyed it greatly! I did too, yum!

***CUT!!***

I had this post all planned out in my head yesterday and it sat there waiting to be finished, but duty called and I got to drive all over hither and yon and watch some kids. It didn’t get done, and now my thoughts are long gone. *sigh* I was so tired yesterday, I was ready to go to bed at 9pm! Unheard of for me unless I am ill or on pain meds. MJ was so tired after his nature camp, play at best friends house, then plan again at other friends house, that when we met Dad for dinner at Taco B, he laid down on the booth seat and fell asleep! I couldn’t wake him up no matter what I did, so Dad carried him to the car, he slept on the way home, then when we pulled in to the driveway, he woke up and demanded to know why we hadn’t stopped for dinner! I told him it was waiting for him but he fell asleep and he said "Yay!", then walked in the house and ended up falling into his bed and sleeping for another 1 and a half. He woke up just in time for us to want to go to bed. Hopefully today he’ll make it through dinner.

2010 already?? That was fast.

I am feeling better and almost back to my old self. That is if my old self was something I wanted to get back to. I would actually like to get to my new self where ever she is. Hopefully she’s in her clean house and surrounded by her polite lovely children. Her husband is cooking something that doesn’t involve the grill and/or pancakes and he picked up flowers on the way home from work.

It’s ok to feel bad…for a little while at least

I’m perfectly content in a foul sort of way to sit here in my dark room and avoid dealing with the world. More specifically dealing with my house. Once again I have fallen into a rut of not wanting to dive into the cleaning that has piled up. My excuses are many, and some of them are legit. They have all swirled together to make one ugly giant mess of anger at having to do a lot of it myself. So instead of chipping away at it, or killing myself by doing it in one long day of dread, I do what I do best. Nothing. It’s a talent I know.

Pep talks just make me cranky and “Rah rah GO!” just grates muh nerves.

So- I’m giving myself a deadline to sit here. I will be done being a hermit on July 27, 2010. No…just kidding. Tomorrow we go to a Roughriders game and in order to go, we are doing some work.

Don’t worry…these times don’t last long for me lately. I’m really ok. I promise.

On this day I married my best friend….

Fifteen years ago today, I married the love of my life, my best friend.  Most everyone knows how we met, but for those of you just joining us here is our love story, Angie style.

In September 1991 I was living in San Diego and I joined a 32 line BBS called San Diego Connection (for those of you reading under the age of 20, that is Bulletin Board System, you know before the Internet WAS. Hard to believe, I know). Anyway, we were both members there and talked to lots of people before meeting each other. We most often would gather in a "room" and play Trivia with a group of people. In between questions, we would /p (private chat) each other. We seemed to hit it off fairly quickly and after a couple of months, decided to put faces to names and meet up one week.

I was nervous about meeting Jon. He was funny and witty online and I was intrigued by his Military career. I was taking a shower the night of the "meet", and the water in our building went out. You know those movies when someone is washing their hair and the water is cut off and they are left in the shower with soap in their hair and eyes? Yeah well, that was me. I wrapped my hair in a towel, soap and all, got dressed and went to my Mom’s office to use the sink in the bathroom there. Her office was my only source of computer time when I talked to Jon. Often I would go home after work, pack a brown sack lunch and go to the "Office" to chat and eat. After I washed my hair of the soap, I finished with my primping and headed over to the bar. I of course was very late, almost an hour I think. No cell phones or texting at this point, just waiting to see if someone shows or not. Luckily he stuck around long enough for me to get there. I sat at the bar with friend (drank a diet coke because I was not even 21 yet!) and waited. About 5 minutes later, Jon walked up to me and introduced himself. I apologized over and over and told him about my hair and why I was late. He listened and smiled and then he said, "I have to be to work really early in the morning and I have Duty tomorrow as well, so I have to go." And with that, we said our goodbyes, and he left. I don’t think he was there more than 10 minutes after I got there.
I thought for sure he was unimpressed with me and my tardiness and for goodness sake, I was wearing a black and white and red color blocked shirt that buttoned at the collar with black pants. It couldn’t have been more Kid N Play 1990 pseudo Hip-Hop than that! I shudder to think just how awful that looked. Oy.

I guess I impressed him enough that he asked me out on a real date after the New Year. He was away from the BBS for a couple of weeks and I was dating someone else briefly during the Holidays. He was up in Oregon for Christmas, while I spent time with a jerk that stood me up on New Year’s Eve, who I promptly dumped that night.

Jon asked me out to the movies. We planned on seeing JFK at Horton Plaza, Downtown SD. I even went out and bought myself some new threads for the date. Again I shudder at my choice. Was I trying to impress him?? Did I want a second date? By my choice, one would think HELL no! I wore a Purple and Fuchsia Tye-Dye shirt and matching fuchsia SWEAT pants. What was I thinking?? I know it was January 25, so it was chilly, it is California and all that, but sweat pants? I think I even had a leather jacket on as well. Jon wasn’t exactly in a tux either. He had on boat shoes, jeans, and a blue and yellow windbreaker with a t-shirt on underneath. We were both stylin’! And I in true Angie fashion, I was late. I started out great, plenty of time for the buying of the tickets, popcorn, drinks, and finding seats. Then I got lost. Downtown San Diego is a maze of one way streets and if you are not careful, you’ll end up in the industrial district near the convention center and no way to get back to where you need to be. Read: no cellphones or OnStar or Google Maps. I realized once I got there, that I drove past it several times, but there was construction going on around the entrance I was supposed to use, so I kept driving past it.

We missed our movie, so we decided to hang out and catch the next one, 3 hours later. We sat and talked for about an hour, asking each other questions, and enjoying great conversation. It was like I had known him forever and we picked up right where we left off before. My insides were going gooey and we hadn’t even finished our date yet! My gooey insides were getting hungry, so we walked around some looking for a place to grab a bite.  As we neared the end of the mall area, he grabbed my hand and we walked. It felt comfortable and right. I hoped he could be the one. Then we went to Taco Bell. The End.

Just kidding, it wasn’t the end. In fact, it was just the beginning! Jon stepped up to order and when he was finished, he paid. At first I was surprised that he didn’t pay for my dinner after all, he did ask me out. He didn’t buy my movie ticket either and I have since forgiven him for his blunder. Years later I discovered he wasn’t being a jerk, he was just broke. Good thing my Mom suggested I take $50 dollars with me that night! Turns out because we stayed so long to catch the movie, Jon almost didn’t make it out of the parking garage! He was 3 bucks short, but a kind person let him pass. It was probably because he or she saw the stars in his eyes after having just kissed his future wife.

Speaking of kisses. That night, not only did we decide we liked each other a lot, but when he asked to kiss me goodnight, (he asked! Most guys don’t, so I knew I had a winner here…) it was tender and sweet and made my toes curl. I knew this could go somewhere. A girl just knows.

The next day Jon called to ask me over to watch the superbowl game. I don’t watch football, but I wanted to see him again, so I agreed. I don’t remember who won the game, but I do know who won my heart. We have been together ever since and I am so glad I met him late that night. It was meant to be!

One year and 3 months later, Jon just having returned from a 6 month deployment, proposed to me at Seaport Village, just down the street from our apartment. He actually proposed via email one night after I got home from work, and I printed it out, but the dot matrix printer it was printed from has long since faded and become unreadable. I of course replied yes to the email that changed my life. I made him propose on one knee on the water soon after…the proper way!

Thank you honey for more than 15 years of happiness and unconditional love. I can’t wait for what the next 15 years will bring. I love you. Happy Anniversary.

Beauty and the Geek…AKA what I do when I am not on FaceBook

A river floods through it….

So I am back from Missouri. From the looks of my blog, you would have thought I was never coming back, but alas, my husband and children really missed me. I know! I was surprised too, but really…they ran out of food and toilet paper, so I had to come back home.

While I was in O’Fallon, I saw the river and heard the news go on and on about the flooding of the Mississippi. For a while there, I wondered just how the surrounding area would be affected by the rising water and selfishly hoped it didn’t put a damper on our adventures. It seems that just before I left, it crested and hadn’t risen any higher, but still caused great damage, both near and far. Poor Iowa. No more carn for them for a while.

Speaking of carn. Yes, I know I spelled that wrong. That’s how my Dad pronounces corn in his native St. Louie accent. Carn (corn), sharts (shorts), farty (not the flatulence, but the age or number, Forty), harses (you know, those four legged animals that run races? yeah, those), and last but not least, warsh (or in our area, wash. as in, we are washing our sharts.) Needless to say, I picked up on a few of those words, and enjoyed thoroughly using them in everyday conversations. I mean this sincerely when I say, I am not making fun of anyone who talks like this as I enjoy the way it sounds. Feels like home and family, even though I grew up in California with a somewhat valley girl accent. When I hear those words I fondly remember my Missouri family and how much I miss being around them. *sigh* I so want to move there, but I know my whole network of support is here in Texas. They are just as much family to me as my own is….what a dilemma!

While I was there, my Dad and I made a stop in a cool little town in St. Charles, MO called New Town at St. Charles. I had never seen anything like it. Check it out. It’s way cool. Here is a little taste of what I saw.

I will put some pictures up on Flickr soon. This place makes me want to jump into a Norman Rockwell painting and live there.

Like everything else I do in life, I put off what needs to be done. for far more important things, like Facebook or scrabble. Things I put off doing?? Mostly sleep.

I need to be up early to take Jon to a doctors appointment. He is feeling ill in the lower regions of his body, mostly the backside, if you get my drift and so the Doc thinks there’s an infection. Time for a MRI. At 7am. Oy. It comes early and I have trouble falling asleep. Darn Internet. So, I’ll be picking up where I left off tomorrow.

Stay tuned….

Sometimes you’re the windshield, sometimes you’re the bug…..

So…here I am again…at the airport, waiting for my flight. I would have left already, but the flight has been delayed due to weather. It all started in Orlando and just backlogged until it got to Dallas. I guess weather has been an issue all the way across the country. Dern it.

I contemplated taking an earlier flight, but being the kind considerate Sister and Daughter I am, I didn’t want to make Leslie take off of work early. SO! I picked the cheapest, latest flight I could so they would have time to eat dinner, relax, and then come to the airport to pick me up. No such luck for them or me.

Since I have so much time on my hands, I’ll recap the ride to the airport. It went a little something like this.

Angie: yelling from the bedroom “Jon!” “We need to hurry and get going, even tho my flight is delayed, I have to check in an hour before the originally scheduled flight!”

Jon: sitting at his computer “Ok! Let’s go kids…..shoes…pillows…whatever! Move it.” inaudible yelling at Lauren for not being ready and logging off the computer while she is talking to her friends.

We all pile into the car, put luggage in, and head over to the pharmacy to pick up my prescriptions. The time: 7:40 p.m.

On the way to the airport, snippets of conversation.

Brenna: “I’m like sooooooo bored. Seriously.”

Lauren: singing “We live we love…we forgive…and never give up.”

Danny: sticking gummie worms up his nose because he likes the way they smell and then touching Brenna with them until she screams.

Michael Jon: Snoring in back seat with is legs all contorted and tied like a pretzel, sucking his thumb.

Jon: listening to Angie complain about how small the seats on the plane are and why the middle seat next to her is ALWAYS the last to be filled. While he is listening to her, he is deciding when he will go to Fry’s to buy his Father’s day present, that Angie didn’t get him yet, and how much he can get away with spending.

Angie: complaining that she is some sort of leper, or she smells because the seat next to her is ALWAYS the last to be filled. Then she decides that everyone is just too stunned by her beauty and they are intimidated to sit next to her because if she talks to them, their face will melt off from the shear glory that is her voice. She further concludes that if they look at her for more than a second, her eyes will pierce their very soul and they shall never forget her. After all, she is married and so they MUST vow to forget her or else their life will be filled with longing of the one woman they can’t have. The end.

After we all arrived at the airport, lots of hugs and kisses ensued and off I went. To wait. Two hours. In the airport. Because of weather. Stupid weather.

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On a happier note, I got a new camera last night. It’s pretty. I would take a picture of it, but well, it’s not very good at taking it’s own pictures. Heh.

Too bad we didn’t buy one sooner, I would have taken more pictures, but because it was old by techie standards, it didn’t take very good pictures. Jon’s camera phone took better pictures than our Kodak.

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As a fitting end to an eventful week, my computer battery is running low. Time to find a spot by the gate and plug ‘er in.

See ya laterz…..

Procrastinators Unite….tomorrow!

I have so much to do. I want to do so much.

• remodel the kitchen
• redo the fireplace
• paint every room in the house
• put new flooring in the entry
• re-tile the bathrooms

If all that isn’t enough, I am shuttleMom for camps and summer activities, which I am excited about because all of their camps sound like so much fun: for them. Me? I get to enjoy some peace and quiet….and more time to do my projects! But alas, all those projects take money and saving money takes time unless you are independently wealthy, which we are not. So, why put off tomorrow, what you have to wait 489 months to save up for?

Things I can do right now: this weekend I am going to see my Dad. I am looking forward to the visit, but in order to get me there and not be arrested for being naked with no clothes to Missouri, I have to actually go thru all my clothes and sort and purge. The two fold benefit is that my closet gets cleaned out and laundry gets done. The down side is the work and the irritating thing is the decision making involved. I tend to keep everything, so that is a problem. I guess this is my time to only keep what I love and what looks good great on me (which is almost everything thus the problem!)

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On a medical note: We took 3 of the kids for their yearly checkup and all are doing fine with the exception of 2. Dan is blind and Michael Jon’s tonsils are the size of large grapes. So trips to the Eye Doc and ENT are in order.

I give you grossness at its finest. Don’t look if you are squeamish.

See that thing peeking behind that right grape? That’s his uvula. He is hoarse and coughs a lot and isn’t eating much, so I think those puppies need to come out. He heard the Nurse Prac. talking about an ENT Doc and possibly needing them to come out, and MJ immediately looked at Dan and said, "I won’t share any of my ice cream with you!! NO way!" Then he left and said, "Ok! Let’s go get my tonsils out. Now. Then I can have ice cream!" When Jon explained taking your tonsils out required a visit to the hospital, going to sleep, and the doctor cutting them out and he was like, "NO WAY! NO KNIVES ON ME…!" It was pretty funny, but by the looks of things, unless a miracle happens and the shrink by themselves, it looks like this summer might be spent with some ice cream and pain meds. For me. Wheeee!!

A girl, a ball, and a bruise

Today I did it. I actually played a sport. I know! Don’t faint. It was softball….shhhh. Don’t tell anyone.

I took a challenge of a friend who plays and organizes our church co-ed softball league to come out and throw a ball or two, to try it out. You know, see if I could do it.

Read more…

Nuke it real good.

So we bought a new microwave after our last one started throwing sparks and small blue flames. I didn’t want to buy a regular one only to turn around and get an over the stove microwave, so we waited until we got off our butts and looked for just the right one. (read: in our budget) Jon and I headed over to Home Depot where “We can do it, they can help” to take a peek at what kinds of deals they had. Boy howdy did they have a great deal on a stainless steel (to match our other appliances) over the range, space saving pretty little number for are you ready? $180 bucks. It was in the clearance aisle originally priced at $239 and someone brought it back because they were stupid and I guess bought the wrong one? I don’t know and I don’t care. I just know it wasn’t damaged and was perfect. We snatched it up before anyone else could and headed home to figure out when we could put it in.
It sat in the garage for about a week and this last Sunday we had some friends come over and help us install it. (read: Jon and Jason and Skip installed while I was project manager and cleaner-upper gal) It’s gorgeous and I love it and it made both Jon and I talk about redoing the whole kitchen. We are still in the planning phases, but it looks like we can get all new cabinets for about $3,000 and then we have to add the window and a counter top. We are working in phases, so I hope we’ll be all done by this time next year. Yay us!

Here is the new beauty.

If you look close, you’ll see the cabinet we had to buy to replace the one we had as it was too big for the space. The color of the new cabinet will not be the one we go with, but we thought about it.

I want bead-board cabinets from Ikea.

I’m going for the whole farmhouse look.

Yay us again!