Category: Pay attention to me…me me me…

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….

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…..

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!!

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.

Continue reading “A girl, a ball, and a bruise”

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!

You Are Marcia Brady

Confident yet kind. Popular yet down to earth. You’re a total dream girl.You’ve got the total package – no wonder everyone’s a little jealous of you.

What Brady Are You?

and I feel……fine? Ask me again later. Pretty much a depressing sort of day. I quit before we closed our doors, so I can’t really complain. Okay, so maybe I can complain, but I won’t. I will revel in the compliments that our school was a wonderful experience for so many people. It’s the thing that kept me going when I wanted to throw in the towel, and the relationships and friendships I formed from there will have a special place in my heart for a very long time.

Jon and I are going out on a date tonight to just be together, so he can hold my hand and make me feel better. We are going to see Made of Honor and eat dinner at Chili’s. Just what I needed. Time with my favorite person.

I’ll be back later…..

The Newest Graduate……Next stop, Kindergarten. OMG! Look out world. Tonight was MJ’s Preschool Graduation Ceremony. I spent hours decorating and they walked in to Pomp and Circumstance. It was cute and sweet, and just the right send off for the Class of 2008 Kindergarten Style. He was so proud to sing a few songs, do the Seed Story Drama and walk up and get his Diploma. He brought me a giant pink Gerbera Daisy. It was awesome. Only 3 more months Mikey and you are a KinderKing! Let the countdown begin.

He also recieved an award for Best Letter Recognition in his class. I thought he should get best looking Mom, but they didn’t have that award.

She gives warm hugs that you don’t want to end.
She is tender-hearted and compassionate.
She is funnier than she thinks, but not as funny as me.
She worries a lot about hurting others, so she is careful with her words and actions.
She raised me to be the same way by her example.
She is the woman who I see in my own reflection and feel proud to be like.
She is a peace maker and negotiator.
She is generous to a fault and would give you the shirt off her back if you asked for it.
She listens with out judging and thoughtfully gives you her opinion.
She is the Mother who I see myself becoming when I am with my children.
She created two women who are independent, spirited, loving, and gorgeous!
She is all these things and more.

She is my Mom.
Happy Mother’s Day Mom, you make me feel like the most special daughter in the world. You celebrate with me and cry with me. I know I can count on you to be there for me in all ways. I don’t know many people like that. You are one in a million and I am so happy you are mine. I love you!