Since WHEN is it OK to cancel Big Brother for pre-season football, for a team that hasn't won a game yet????
I love me some Chiefs, but damn it all. Now I have to wake up an hour early, just to watch online to see who was evicted. Do NOT leave a comment with the answer, until after 8 am, Central time tomorrow....please?
10 years and 9 months ago, I found out that Natalie was on the way. 6 months later, there was trouble. I was diagnosed with polyhydramnios. It is basically "too much water" and there could be trouble. The excess fluid could keep the baby from growing. I would require at LEAST one ultra sound per month, and if she stopped growing, I would need to have labor induced.
I took those ultra sound tests, and each time, the fluid was less and the baby was more. By the time they induced me, she was almost too big to give birth to. Stubborn? Yeah. It runs in the family, and she was starting off strong.
For a baby who was to possibly be delivered early, she was late, induced, and 10 lbs, 3 oz! At her two month checkup, she was 18 lbs. This kid was growing fast! The night I had her, I was having trouble sleeping. I kept the TV on in the hospital room, and when I woke up, I thought I'd had a dream that Lady Dianna had been killed in a car wreck. Turns out, it wasn't a dream. Kind of sad, but I'll always remember the date.
Today was good and bad for Natalie. She had tons of homework, but got to hand out cupcakes and be the "birthday girl" at school. She got the "night off" from chores, but her shoulder hurt from her heavy backpack (from the tons of homework.)
The morning crew at the radio station gave her a shout out, as did the afternoon DJ. She got calls from family, distant and close, and friends, and her brother came for a visit, and had cake with her. Her gift that we had planned didn't pan out, but we gave her cash in a Hannah Montana card for now, and are still trying to make the gift work. More on that later.
It was a good day. I can't believe my baby is in the double digits, and is growing up so fast. I miss cuddling my little angel (although, as Mom pointed out, she was never all that "little") I am happy with who she is becoming, but I would love to be around a baby again. I miss my babies.
I love you, Natalie! Happy Birthday, sweetheart!
OK, so Y'allapalooza was freakin' awesome! We saw 10 or more bands before leaving. Yeah, we left early. I didn't want to, exactly, but Natalie was fading fast, and I had to go to work on Monday. We got lots of little freebies, the girls jumped rope in a competition, we saw a drunk that needed to be cut off, and we danced, sang and laughed. A good night indeed.
My baby...the youngest, my tiny little baby....the last I'll ever have...turns 10 tomorrow. Yup, double digits. I'm old. I want her to quit getting older, but she can't. Let's deal with that tomorrow.
I have a customer in need. If I need to go help them, I will, but I hope it waits until after Tuesday. I need my 4 day weekend. One of their main employees, their full-time photographer, was hit by a pickup...WHILE ON HIS BICYCLE! He is in really bad shape, and needs prayer. Please, if you pray, pray for Gerry...or Chief. His friends call him Chief. He has 6 broken ribs, 2 broken vertebrae, and a bruised heart. A. BRUISED. FREAKIN'. HEART! I don't know what to do, other than offer help. Do I want to go out of town again? No. But I will, if they need it.
OK, time for bed. I will check back in tomorrow, for my tiny baby's birthday. *sigh* I am getting old.
I took my camera to the Chiefs game on Thursday night, and as you can tell by the previous entry, it worked fine. I came home and posted an entry, pulling the images from the memory card, and it worked just fine.
At work yesterday, my friend Michelle said, "Can I borrow your camera really quick?" She needed to email a picture of a product to someone, and a point-and-shoot is easier and quicker than one of the dozen or so professional cameras around there. I handed it to her, she turned it on and said, "What's up with this?"
The display had MEMORY CARD ERROR! across the top of it. It wouldn't take a picture, but it would display the ones already there. I formatted the card, took one picture, and got the error again. I started sweating JUST a bit. I've fixed memory card errors in the past, but the concert is in 2 days!
Co-worker Mike took the card, and ran a recovery software on it. It pulled up pictures that had long been deleted (that's a warning to you bad people who think deleting something from your hard drive gets rid of it!) and it seemed like it was OK. I put it back in the camera and turned it on. MEMORY CARD ERROR!
I formatted again, and it seemed to work. I took two pictures and got the error again. This morning, I ran BOTH kinds of formatting on it, and it seems fine. I've taken several pictures. Still, I think I'll borrow Mom's spare card...just in case. Sunday will be 12 hours of memories with my girls, and I don't want ANYTHING to mess it up.
More Chiefs tickets, much better seating. Lower level is cool. I am tired. Enjoy the pics. I have to go to bed.
Good Night.
We have a tradition in this house. We don't have many traditions, other than Pringles and beer while Survivor is on, but we have a couple. One of them is me taking the girls to school on their first day. I've been doing it since Monica started school, 7 first days ago.
Part of the tradition is the picture taken by the door of their classroom. They roll their eyes about it, but they've always put up with it....UNTIL NOW! Monica let me take her picture at home. She let me take her picture on the way to school. She even let me take her picture in FRONT of the school. Once we crossed the threshold of those hallowed hallways, though, it was O.V.E.R.
I tried to reason with her. (I really look forward to it and it will only take 10 seconds.) I tried to beg her. (But honey! This is the last year of elementary school for you, and I'll never get to do this again.) I even tried to twist her arm a bit. (Seriously, Monica, what's the big deal.) By then a few friends had arrived, and she had that *look*. That, "oh my sweet Jesus, why won't she just go to work already?" look. I honestly think she was about 5 seconds from screaming "STRANGER DANGER!!!!" right there in the hallway. I dropped it.
I left, and called Kevin, exclaiming "MONICA CUT ME OFF!" I know they're too old for it, but let's be real....I'm NOT too old for it. She would rather her friends didn't know she HAS parents. Brett never cut me off. He would hug me in the hallways of the high school if I wanted to, so this is a first for me. *sigh*
This tradition always makes me arrive at work about 30 minutes late (with approval) so I was trying to hurry to get there. I was stuck behind a VERY smelly livestock truck for 20 minutes! Yuck.
By the time I got home, the girls couldn't wait to tell me how great the first day was. I'm so fortunate that they love school. They both had a great time; they both love their teachers; they both can't wait until tomorrow. The whole "walking to school" thing is new this year, so I followed in the car, to make sure they remembered all that we told them (it's 6 blocks, for heaven's sake, but I worry) and they did great.
Here's to another great year!
Stupid AOL! At least, now I've learned to copy my text, before hitting "save." That way, when AOL craps out, I can "paste" it in later. PHEW! OK, here goes:
Tonight was Tiger Night at school. We met the girls' teachers (Natalie has the same teach for 4th grade that Monica had) and dropped off their supplies. I also brought home a stack of papers to fill out and send back with them tomorrow. I hate paperwork.
They're excited to start school. Their lunches have been packed, their clothes are laid out, and they're talking non-stop about school. I'm glad they enjoy it. Monica will do 23 book reports this year. Sheesh! Both must read at least 20 minutes each night, 5 nights per week. Even with all of that, they're ready.
My day was a typical Monday. Anyone seen "Office Space"? "Someone's got a case of the MONDAYS!" Bah, Humbug. I was just glad to get it over with. Even with the hot, horribly humid ride home, I was glad to get out of work. It was just one of those days.
Closing thoughts: It's hard to believe school starts tomorrow, and Monica will be in Jr. High next year. Sixth grade will be tough, but she's ready. Why do I always have tons of homework on the first few days of school? I graduated 20 years ago! I wish it would rain, or stop with the muggies. I was quite moist when I got home. Probably smelly, too. I like frozen pizza. Wine is good, too. So is Diet Coke. And beer. And Doritos. I want to see Mars, but the clouds will have to clear. August 27 will be the best time. Are you ready? Where is the telescope? Crap, I gotta find the telescope. I better go get ready for Super Nanny. That show makes me appreciate my good girls. Ciao.
There are projects that we get done the day we set out to start on them. There are projects that are done within a week. There are project-type chores that get done weekly, and others daily, with no problems.
Then, there are the other projects. Oh sure, we start them. We go like gang-busters for a day or two, but when the weekend is over, we are done with it...no matter what stage or condition the project is in.
Linda gave me two rose bushes, warning me to plant them right away. I planted them that same day, and watered them faithfully. I thought they were just slow to come to life. Guess what? Yup, nothing. That was in spring. They are still in the ground. Pushing up daisies. ROFL!
In May, we tore all the tile out of the bathroom. I was so excited to give the tiny room a new look. We worked and worked, and did all that could reasonably be done that weekend. The walls were covered in grooves of thick, dried, old tile adhesive. Every time I went into the bathroom, I thought, "Sheesh, this looks nasty. I hope nobody stops by, and needs the restroom while they're here." Obviously, it didn't bother me enough to do anything about it, though.
The walls in the living room and dining room that we redid over a year ago took a lot of hard work. I don't care WHAT the sample looked like, or WHAT the name of the paint was...when all was said and done, it was bubble gum pink. Pepto pink. Cotton Candy pink. We both hated it, but worked so hard, we decided to wait and see if we got used to it. We grew complacent, but never learned to love it. We had the paint that we wanted to replace it with for a couple of months now, but just never quite got started.
Today, we discussed the fact that our Texas guests will be here in two weeks, and we were ashamed of the pink, and the tile glue, and the bare walls in the guest room. Oh, we finished PAINTING the guest room, the very day we started. The pictures have been leaning against the wall since then.
Yup, it was time to get up and get moving. Kevin worked REALLY hard with the orbital hand sander, getting rid of the glue. It turns into an ultra-fine dust that envelopes the entire house. It creeps into closed doors and places that you could never imagine finding the stuff. It was 3 rooms away! The walls are now ready for painting, though. He cleaned and swept and wiped things down. I think the clean-up took as long as the sanding.
I taped off the dining room and living room...everything below the chair rail, getting ready to paint. The problem with this plan is that Kevin LOVES to paint. On one of his breaks from sanding, he started painting. We ran out of paint (we knew we were short) but it's over half done, and it looks great! He'll get more paint tomorrow, on the way home from work.
I helped where I could, and played domestic goddess (OK, I cooked and did the dishes) and stayed out of his way. I also finally got around to hanging pictures in the guest room. I wish the newly painted walls would photograph better. With the flash makes the green look lighter than it is, without flash makes it look darker. All of my pictures and such have ivy green and burgandy in them, so now the ivy green paint and the bugandy chair rail compliment them nicely.
Thanks Kevin! We may have this place looking decent after all! Look out, David and Suzie...you have NO idea what this place looked like a couple of weeks ago.
Where have I been? Well, Jonathan and Ashley were here Tuesday night, and stopped by before heading home on Wednesday night, so I was not on the computer much. Thursday, on the way to work, Kevin called me and asked if I wanted to go to the Chiefs game.
It seems that he was able to get tickets from work. At $52 for the cheapest seat in the house, I figured it would be our one-and-only chance to ever get the girls inside Arrowhead Stadium, so I said, "let's do it."
To say these seats were bad is an understatement.We were 2 rows from being the farthest seats from the field...in the whole stadium! BOY, were we up there. Parking was $22, so the game was NOT free for us. It was fun, and the girls enjoyed it, but we left at halftime. Work the next day, you know. Plus, we'd been sitting there getting sprinkled on for most of the time we were there.
We listened to the rest of their loss on the way home. Everyone who watched on TV says we were robbed, but we didn't get to see it, so who knows. Friday night, I watched Big Brother online to catch up, and here we are...today. It's been a good day.
Kevin got the yard mowed and went to the store (I love it that he likes to do the grocery shopping. I HATE shopping.) The girls start school on Tuesday, so he got lunch fixins for them to tote in their new lunch boxes. He got lunch fixins for ME, too. LOL
Closing thoughts: I'm glad it's not 100°. I hope we get some rain. Dustin needed to go, but Eric is going to get himself in trouble if he's not more careful. The girls are stoked about school starting, and I'm glad they like school. I can eat ice cream if I take TWO lactaid pills, and all this time I thought the pills didn't work. I love onion rings. Time to go watch football.
Where do I start??? Sunday, I took the girls down to the school to check the classroom lists. Not only does it show who the teacher is, it also shows how many friends and enemies they have in their classrooms. It was priceless to hear them. "Awesome! EWWW! good, good, yuck, gross, good, nasty, good, good, GREAT, ick....etc." What fun. I remember doing that.
Jonathan and Ashley finally got here close to 8 last night. It was so good to see them. I stayed up until around 11 talking to them, and enjoying their company. I hated to go to bed when I did, but today was rough enough without staying up later. I usually go to bed around 9. LOL Jonathan is such a cool adult, and Ashley is a doll.
Natalie called her favorite stalking victim, errr, I mean DJ at the radio station, and reminded her that she had promised to send Ya'llapalooza tickets if she could. She said, "You need 4, right darlin'?" She put them in the mail today! We're going to Ya'llapalooza again! WOOOOOHOOOOO! I can't wait.
OK, back to surfing and listening to Q104 and chatting with the girls about our plans for the concert. ONE WEEK FROM SUNDAY!!!!!!!
Later, gators.
Well, I sulked. Then I put on my big girl panties and got over it. I watched Big Brother (Dick must go!) and enjoyed chili dogs with my family. That's enough to make anyone forget the blues.
I've got plans brewin' in my head. That always scares the HELL out of Kevin, but it's fun for me. Some are plans for next February. Stay tuned for those. LOL
The other plans are going to solidify within a few weeks. We have some long-time Internet friends that I got to meet several years back. Kevin wasn't along on that trip, but I enjoyed their company more than you can imagine. Now, THEY'RE COMING TO MISSOURI TO VISIT US!!!!! I don't mean that "we're on their way to where they're going." I mean, "they're coming JUST to see us!" I can't wait.
Oh hell. There is so much to do before they get here. We have to finish the bathroom and bring the love seat back up for more seating and plan meals and wash windows and plan activities and......oh crap. I'm tired.
OK, the main thing is to finish the bathroom. It would also be nice if we could paint the living room before they get here. I have to hang pictures and such in the guest room, that haven't been put up since we painted, but that's a 1 hour job. No biggie.
Can you tell that we don't get company much? I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!
Although Mom told me about Dad's trouble working on his riding mower, I somehow thought it had been resolved. Kevin went and got it, but no belt on the mower deck. No lawn mowing today.
My car didn't hold the charge. I woke up this morning to no a/c. Oh well, I've gotten by without it this long.
We cut down the Morning Glory's and the Hibiscus, since the drought had about done them in. They needed to go, but it's kind of sad. There's always next year.
It's 100°, with a heat index of 110° out there, and the little bit that we accomplished came at the price of a headache and soaked clothing.
I cleaned and scrubbed the back porch in the heat, and it felt good to get it done, but made me miss Lucy.
I think I'll go sulk in the other room, in front of the fan for a while. There is still a lot to be thankful for, but I need an hour or so to feel sorry for myself. Then I'll put on my big girl panties and get over it.
There is football on TV.
My car now has working a/c.
I had pizza for dinner.
Mom's modem is working.
Life is good, my friends.
Just 2 things that make me happy: Walking in to the house to hear "MOM!!!" from both girls, and seeing a bouncy dog. Knowing that Friday evening means I have two days off.
Just 2 things that make me crabby: Excessive heat. Stupid people.
Just 2 things that I love to eat: Pizza. Pringles.
Just 2 things that I love to drink: Diet Coke. Michelob Ultra
Just 2 things that I love to see: A great sunrise/sunset. A picture from way back, that I'd forgotten about.
Just 2 things that I want: To go "out". More income/less outgo.
Just 2 things that I want rid of: Excess dog hair. About 50 lbs.
Just 2 things that I dig: New pear cartoons. Sitting on my new deck, looking over the river bottoms.
Just 2 things that I find comfort in: My bed (I would never leave if I could get away with it.) Spilling my guts to Kevin.
Just 2 things that I freak out about: Getting down to 4 or fewer rolls of toilet paper. Finding that I'm out of clean socks.
Just 2 things I won't miss on TV: Big Brother. Survivor. (oh, there are SO many more.)
Just 2 things that I am thinking about right now: How stupid this project probably is. How I've wasted your time for a good 5 minutes. (sorry)
If you're really bored, I'd love to see other folk's answers to this silly thing. If you have a life, I understand.
Well, here I am. It's still hot, but thank God we got almost an inch of rain last night. Last night, the wind picked up ahead of the storms, and the umbrella to my new patio set got ruined. Monica forgot to take it down. She was so sad that she caused it, but it's just a material possession, and she is forever. I forgave her pretty quickly. We'll get a new umbrella some day.
Not only is Hawkeye doing well with Lucy being gone, he seems happier. That little jerk. He's more animated and playful. I guess he was only lonely because he watched her run around like a banshee. Who knows?
Driving home in this heat is starting to get to me. "I see dumb people." No, wait, that's normal rush-hour traffic. Never mind.
I'm off to prepare for Big Brother, now. Yeah, I'm a dork, but a lovable dork, don't you agree? Nah, maybe not.
My horoscope said "start the weekend early tonight." I don't believe n horoscopes, but I believe I'll have a beer in honor of the horoscope. Russ? Wanna join me? Amy? Little girlie drink, maybe? Let's go, friends of mine, let's have an early weekend. Other than the whole "working tomorrow" thing, we'll have a ball.
"It's not the heat, it's the humidity."
Kevin works outside for 12+ hours a day. He comes home soaked in sweat.
"Is it hot enough for ya?"
I drive home in a car with no a/c.
"What's with this heat?"
My parents, in their 60's, live with no a/c in their home.
"Good LORD, it's HOT!"
Yeah, it's hot, I've got it. I am hot, too.
"Did you hear about the heat advisory?"
No shit, Sherlock. It's August in Missouri.
"Take care of the elderly and your pets."
Nope. I thought I'd let them fry in the sun...thanks, though.
DUH PEOPLE! It's hot. I've got it. I don't need your cliche's or your constant small talk about the heat. We do this dance every summer. It's hot, and we'll survive. In January, you all will be making stupid small talk about the icy roads and the snow drifts in your driveway. Let's all carry on, and get through this heat wave and get on with life. We'll be fine. 100 years ago, you'd be working in a field in long sleeves, coming home to cook without a microwave with no a/c to be found. Deal with it.
OK, I'm coping with Lucy being gone, and she's doing very well over there.
There are some major changes around here, and they've been good for all...so far. It's day 1, so we'll see how we feel by the end of the week, but it's all good for now.
Kevin is working tons of OT right now, so he was in bed by 7. *sigh* Poor guy.
Hawkeye just wants a cookie.
Natalie just wants me to listen to this ONE song.
Monica just wants me to see her with tape on her mouth.
I just want to have an uneventful day at work.
Everybody wants SOMETHING, so let's all get what we can.
I WILL listen to Natalie's song. I WILL look at Monica with tape on her mouth. I WILL send Kevin off to bed at 7. I WILL give Hawkeye a cookie. I WILL do everything I can to make tomorrow perfect at work. I will do what I can, and let the rest fall where it may.
Kevin and Monica just left to take Lucy to her new (old) home. She's going to live with his work friend, Keith. That's where we got her as a pup. Her daddy was Keith's dog, and got scared and ran off on the 4th of July, never to show back up, even though they walked the neighborhood putting up signs and knocking on doors. It devestated him.
He loves Lucy very much, and had they been able to keep one of the puppies, it would have been our Lucy. Lucy is home for 12 hours a day with no interaction while we work. Keith's wife is at home during the day, and there are two little girls there, too. Natalie and I were too sad to ride along, so we stayed to do our crying here.
It's for the best. She'll be better off, and in some ways, so will we. For now, though, Natalie and I will cry a lot and feel sorry for ourselves.
Today is my husband's birthday. Poor guy. We've been married for 12 years, and I can count on one hand the number of good birthday's he's had. For two of them, I was quite large, expecting one or the other of his children. Once, I had surgery, and was trying to heal. Once, he had his shoulder in a sling, post-surgery, and another time, he was on crutches, post-surgery.
This year, I was going to try real hard to make it a good one. I took a couple of vacation days, even. Well, I have been needing some MAJOR dental work for a few years. I had to get an appointment on a Friday, so I could heal up before going back to work, where I talk on the phone all day. Yup, you guessed it. It happened yesterday.
I knew that there were 4 teeth that needed to come out, due to breakage, etc. and I planned to get 2 pulled, then later go back for the other 2, then start the rebuilding process. When I got there, the consensus was that I may as well do all 4, and get it over with. When the surgeon looked, he said, "why not all 5?" FIVE??? I guess I had one lonely wisdom tooth in there, and it needed to go, too.
Yes, folks, I had 5 teeth cut out yesterday. Happy Birthday to Kevin! Thankfully, Russ drew him his own (very appropriate) pear cartoon, which made his day start off with a bang. I don't hurt too bad, so I'm going to try to do all I can today, and let him take it easy. The girls will help me.
If we aren't successful, we will reschedule his birthday for another date. We were trying to avoid that, but sheesh, the guy's gotta celebrate, right?
Today was the day to buy those pesky school supplies. I hate shopping for school supplies. It makes me mean and crabby. I decided that the girls were old enough to do it on their own, so we grabbed mom and ran off to WalMart. The girls headed in behind their grandma.
The girls both grabbed a shopping cart and a supply list, and Monica found the supply section right away.
They found a bin full of great bargains, and didn't leave until they had checked them out fully.
Natalie checks the list again and again, so she won't miss anything.
Monica was quite pleased with finding of the right color scissors. Green is all the rage this season.
Each "beep" of the register sounds hollow to me. I can almost feel the cash depleting from my account.
And Monica's cart isn't even unloaded yet!
It just kept coming and coming, beeping and beeping. I was getting weak in the knees.
We got home with quite the pile of stuff.
But, I mean seriously, isn't this a tad much?
I need to go lie down.
I'm sick of ducks, and I'm sick of being gone. I had a great time, but it's SO much better to be home with my girls and my husband. Now, I'll go out and sit on the deck with the girls, and call my son to visit, while my dear, sweet, overworked husband sleeps on the couch. I'll even change the TV to a manly show, so when he wakes up, he'll feel tough.
I love you, Kevin.
