Spousal Conversations

The conversation went like this:

Paula: I just want water to go down a hole. It's not rocket science.
Craig: No, it's much harder than that. It's plumbing.
Paula (after she stops laughing): That was funny.
Craig: It's true. And I'd rather do rocket science.

Say, Huh? (#8)

The conversation went like this:
Gman: How long has it been?
Craig: Since what?
G: How long has it been?
C: Since what?
G: HOW. LONG. HAS. IT. BEEN?
C: How long has it been since what?
G: Since the start.
P: 8 million years
C: Since the start of what?
Al: *snicker*
G: What time is it?
C: It's 7:10
G: But what WAS the time?
P: Who's on first?
A: *snicker*
C: When?
G: what time was it THEN?
C: THEN what?
G: *Sigh* Just tell me how long has it been.
C: How long has it been since what?
G: Since then!!!!!
C: *SIGH* What do you want?
G: One of the orange juice popsicles Mom made in the freezer. How long has it been?
P: 8 million years.

Craig survived my 1st day @ work!

A few weeks ago, when I was offered this job, my fear was that the first day would come and it would be a snow day for the kids. I really didn't want to have to "call in" on my first day, so Craig arranged today to be a vacation day for him "just in case". I was so shocked to wake up today and find that it was in fact a snow day!!!

As I was packing up to leave, I discovered soda dripping down the back of the fridge.
As Craig & I were getting things out of the fridge to get to the soda, Kool-aid was dribbled All. Over. The. Kitchen.
Al entered still feeling sick (suspect strep).

I ended up having to leave Craig to handle it all, with a cheery "Love ya! Please don't forget to ask for his Rx refill while you're at the peds office. Bye!"
Isn't he a great guy!?
Great first day of new job. Al has just a cold.
Life is good.

The Job

For the first time in nearly 6 years, I'll be working part-time! And its been 7.5 years since I worked in an office. I've been shopping for work attire and shoes since I'm pretty sure dust and dry rot are not in vogue. This will be my first time working/parking downtown. I'll have to walk a block or so, too. I'll be working 5 days a week, and will get home with only a few minutes to spare before the little ones get off the bus. When will I do laundry? Grocery shop? How will I remember to take something out of the freezer before I leave...I have a hard enough time remembering to do that now! I will definitely have to start thinking of all the logistics! But I'm very excited!

Chili Pepper !!

Craig and I had a lunch date a Chili's! Today only, Chili's donates the day's profits to St. Jude's Children's Hospital. I got the. very. last. package. of the Chili Silly Bands in all of Lexington--I know this because I wanted more to send to the Funaholics and asked the waitress to call the other Lexington Chili's for me. (proceeds also go to St. Jude's--bonus!!).


Too cute!

Can't Fool Mother Nature

The conversation went like this:

Princess: Do I need to wear long sleeves today?
Me & Craig in unison: Nooo! It's gonna be HOT!
P: But it's the first day of fall!?
Me: Somebody forgot to tell Mother Nature. Go get dressed, you're late.
(She walks away) She has no idea what that means.
C: Yeah, she'll me ask on the way to the bus stop.
Me: Sorry 'bout that.
C: That's okay. I'll just tell her to ask you because you know Mother Nature better.

Happy Anniversary!

I love you, Sweetheart!

From our 2006 Anniversary

Vacay, Day 3.....aka Parade-palooza

Day 2 was just driving the rest of the way to Orlando. Made it to the condo in time to stock the kitchen, then head to the pool for a luau complete with Hawaiian dancers!
Day 3-- Went to Disney World...Where all your Dreams Come True (c)
Of course, we had to take a pic with The Castle! (all these pics can be clicked on to see them enlarged)

Disney does not do anything by half!! Including parades!
The afternoon parade at Magic Kingdom had ALL the characters owned by Disney...here's just a few:




It's not disney if you don't get a few pics with characters! Gman R-E-F-U-S-E-D to get in a picture without Daddy to protect him from imminent danger posed by giant creatures, no matter how beloved.


They also have a night-time parade--supposedly for this summer. Story has it these were from a parade many years ago and they are going to throw it out after getting one more season's usage.
I personally thought it was the coolest thing all day!!! We went back and watched it another day (I'll most more pics then)

Vacation 2010

Last year, we didn't do a real "vacation vacation" because we were saving up for Vacay 2010....boy it's a good thing!

Day 1--Driving & visiting:
Taken while still in the garage I think (they're still smiling because at this point, they didn't realize that it would be 2 days in the van):


We stopped off in Atlanta for a visit with the Fun Family at the World Of Coke. The girls were like best friends all over again! And nothing like good ol' American Coke to clear away the after taste from the Beverly.



After driving a little bit past that, we stopped in Macon, GA for dinner and a visit with some other friends--MamaBrande & her crew. After many attempts to get a smiling pic of all the little kids, I gave up and opted for silly faces:

Memory Lane Monday #21

I took a road trip this Memorial Day weekend--literally and figuratively! My carmates (or should I say new-van-mates? I traded in the Uplander last week): Princess, Gman, and my mom & dad made the looong drive to Enterprise, in southern Alabama on Saturday--I lived there for 9th-12th grade. It's the one place we lived in all my military-brat days that I truly did not want to leave and consider to be "home".

Enjoyed a BBQ and pool party that evening at my folk's friends' house--John & Debbie Railsback. Their sons Travis & Shawn are my age--Shawn and I were friends in Germany first, then our dads were both sent to Ft. Rucker, Alabama at the same time! Few military brats get to go to school for 7 years on 2 different continents with the same person!

On Sunday morning I had brunch with my girlfriends from high school....although honestly, we couldn't tell that 21 years had past! We had sooo much fun traveling down Memory Lane together!!!! Unfortunately it was too short and incomplete with Alison not being there (she was very ill). But we'll definitely be planning a REAL get together soon!!!

May 1989, l-r: Alison, Cynthia, Cathy, Marissa, me
May 2010, clockwise from top: Marissa, Cynthia, Cathy, me



After brunch, the folks, kids & I packed back in the van and drove to central Alabama for a surprise 50th Anniversary celebration for some dear family friends my parents have had since I was 5. It was wonderful to see them again!

Long trip, short time, but oh so very worth it!

Chee-burger! Chee-burger! Chee-burger!

All of my kids are picky eaters. The younger two are hit-n-miss as to whether they'll try something new, but Al R-A-R-E-L-Y tries any thing new. And for the last 10 years, the only meat he likes is bacon and those that come in a tubular form--bologna, hot dogs, pepperoni. He'd eat beef if it was in an entree/casserole/etc; but only because he knew it was a losing battle; and he'd always go down complaining.

A few months ago, Craig appealed to Al's love of onions and got him to at least attempt a White Castle. Not really meat if you ask me, but it takes baby-steps, even with a 13yo. Al's opinion was that it was "ok." As we were driving back to Lexington this evening, Al informed us he was craving a cheeseburger! (SHOCK!!) We convinced him to upgrade to Wendy's.



He's declared that he *officially* likes cheeseburgers now!!!
*sniff* My baby is growing up!
Next step----Chicken!!!

New Year's Resolution: Pointless

I pondered the first week of January what I really, truly wanted to change. Sleep. I want more sleep. I should've known better. My life is filled with way too many independent variables to ever accomplish any resolution.

Jan. 6th (aka Night 1): I average 5-6 hours on most "school nights." Got in bed a whole 10 minutes earlier than my usual "Way way toooo late." But, due to an un-warranted snow day, I got to sleep in! Hey, this is my resolution, it counts!

Night 2: Going into it, I knew Friday was a snow day but still got in bed at 11--over 30 min earlier than usual (yay me!) thinking, "Cool, I'll get to sleep in til 8 too!" That's when every. single. flippin'. independent variable conspired to sabotage me in one night.

Variable: Mother Nature. As I've been approaching the 4-0, I've sometimes suffered out-of-whack-hormones-induced insomnia. Kept me laying there for 1.5 hours.
Variable: Facebook. I'm only supposed to get FB texts up til 9pm. But for some reason, an 8:45pm text circled the stratosphere for 4+ hours and hit my cell at 1AM.
Variable: Alexander Graham Bell. A wrong-number phone call at 3AM.
Variable: Hubby. 6AM. Technically not his fault that he has to work, but he's been to blame for keeping me awake many other nights, so no extra credit.
Variable: Al. This is the kid I have to physically drag from bed at 7:20AM for school. So WHY? WHY would he intentionally set his alarm for 6:55AM when he knows it's a snow day?!? He's incapable of hearing alarms go off 2 feet from his head. I have to get up to turn of the alarm.
Variable: Princess. 7:05 wanders into my bed. Not a problem. She'll fall back to sleep. "I had a bad dream about alligators." 5 minute discussion about alligators vs. climate/living conditions.
Variable: Gman. 7:25 wanders into my bed. "I had a bad dream that I went to get a Pop-Tart and someone ate them all. Can I watch your TV?"

Al goes to Washington

Al and I went to see my grandfather in Washington. Had a great visit with him! He lives on the coast. I've taken a few trips there, but this was Al's first time in Washington.


We drove out to the shore on the one day that it wasn't raining there, but the wind still made it pretty cold. The tree in the background is actually GINORMOUS! It washed up on shore in a storm about 2 years ago.


Of course, with this being Al's first trip to Washington, it wouldn't be complete without spending a little time in Seattle seeing what it's most famous for (other than rain....which we saw P-L-E-N-T-Y of while at Grandpa's. We just happened to go site-seeing on the beautiful weather day.)

Pike's Place Public market. This is where a scene from Sleepless in Seattle was filmed.


The guys who are famous for throwing the fish.


The "first" Starbucks is at the Public Market. Although technically this one is not the first. The very first one was a few stores down, they had to move it because the building it was in was being torn down. So this one is really kind of the 4th Starbucks that's treated as if it were the first.
































And what's Seattle if you don't go to the Space Needle?

The Minor League for the Minor Leagues

Lexington now has a new minor-minor basketball league team--The Bluegrass Stallions. Coached by Kyle Macy (a former UK starter on awesome UK championship team in the 70's). Many of the players on the Stallions team are former UK players and one former EKU player--my alma mater! Craig, the little ones and I went to the game last night (Al was with his dad). As we were heading to the ticket window, some random stranger walking near us gave us his 4 extra tix! Thank you random stranger! Some funny rules--they have 4 and 5 point shots.








They had one of the big bouncers for kids.

Conversation:
Mom: You look cute in that turtleneck!
Gman: I don't have a turtle neck!!!







The intermission time-filler was the game where 2 random people were chosen to shoot and make a lay-up, a free-throw, a 3-pointer, and a 1/2 court shot in a minute or less. They gave the girl (who appeared to be about 10yo) a break, she didn't have to do the 1/2 court shot. The prize: "Chick-fil-A for a year." The guy couldn't get the 1/2 court shot. But the crowd went WILD when the 10yo girl completed her round!!!! Afterward, the announcer interviewed her. She plays organized basketball but had never made a 3-pt shot before that one!



How many Chick-fil-A cows does it take to make a herd?

Helpful husbands

Craig: I'm going to the grocery store real quick, you need anything?
Paula: Look at the list on the fridge.
Craig (returns with the list): Chicken stock?
Paula: It's in a can. Basically, chicken juice.
Craig: Do they give that willingly?

St. Judes helped keep me out of the kitchen

We did our part for the "Pepper of Hope".....We had dinner at Chili's this evening to benefit St. Jude's Children's Hospital.



Al has asked me why we don't have any good pictures of him.
I present Exhibit A:


Craig's mom is visiting us for a couple days, so whats a better way to further convince that I don't cook?

We bleed Blue

I have always loved watching football. In high school, my friends would want to just walk around socializing and I'd beg them to sit and watch, or at least stand still so I could watch. I've been a 49ers fan for as long as I can remember, although I've not watched pro-ball in years other than the Super Bowl. But I love watching college football! We are University of Kentucky fans, I've made no secret of that, but I wear maroon and white to the UK v. EKU game because EKU is Craig's and my alma mater. We have unintentionally brainwashed the little kids...They used to instinctively say "blue and white" when asked what their favorite color was. They've been going to UK games LITERALLY their whole lives, even en utero. I suspect my OB planned Gman's c-section for that Friday to keep me from going to the season opener only 4 days after finally getting off modified-bed-rest. Gman was only a couple weeks old at his first.

At this year's Fan Appreciation back in August: Free hot dogs!



Gman didn't want his picture taken with QB Hartline, but insisted he get to take my picture with him using my phone's camera. Hartline's comment "I'm impressed...I probably couldn't figure out how to take picture with a phone like that and he's ALOT younger than me!"


The kids have made friends with the other season tix people around us. This year G has befriended Denise who commented that she feels like she's watching our kids grow up.


Princess befriended Jeanne and Kenin years ago and talks about them all year long. Every time we pass by Commonwealth Stadium, she yells "There's Jeanne and Kenin's house!"



The one person we've not been able to indoctrinate is Al. Hard to believe that he's half my gene pool....that's him reading Harry Potter at the game yesterday.

Genetic Puzzles

Gman, Princess and Craig were working on a puzzle today. Didn't take long before Princess and Gman bailed and left Daddy to finish it. Lo and behold...
Craig: Hey, there's a piece missing!
Gman (comes running back over): I've got it!! I've got it!!

Little dude was holding it so he could put the last piece in!

What is it with males and hiding puzzle pieces?!?! My brother did it when we were kids. Craig says he used to do it when he was a kid. And now my 4 year old son is doing it.

There has. got. to. be. a gene found ONLY on the Y-chromosome that drives them to do that!

Memory Lane Monday (#18)

I stopped by my friend Carrie's house this morning. She was doing some "attic cleaning" and found a box from her childhood. She asks me, "Did you ever do any L'il Missy Beaded Dolls when you were a kid?" I had no idea what she was talking about until she showed me. Yes, I did!!! I didn't have near as many as she did, but I did have a couple. One of them was this one: Wintertime Wendy

Memory Lane Monday (#17)

My dad was in the army for the first 18 years of my life. We moved every few years, resulting in a lot of friends over the course of my life! I've lost track of so many of them over the years. This picture is from my 13th birthday sleep-over in Stuttgart, Germany. We had plans that we were all going to work together when we grew up. For years, I wanted to be a pediatric nurse in a hospital nursery. Kristie wanted to be an OB/GYN, our friend Sarah was going to be a pediatrician....etc, etc, etc. We all had it all worked out!

Top: Andrea, Kathy, Michelle, Amy L.
Bottom: Me, Kristie, Jenny and Amy W.
I lost track of all these friends within a year of moving since most of us moved that same summer. About 11 years ago, I started searching for them and found Andrea after I started calling every one in Pennsylvania with the last name "Bertz"--I eventually found a woman who said "I think I have a cousin that was in the Army that had kids. Could be him." I found Kathy and Kristie a few months later. We had a reunion in Chicago. I think this pic is from 2000. We had so much fun!!! Didn't feel like 20 years had passed!


I found Jenny and Amy W. later that year and we had another reunion a year or 2 later. But Amy missed her plane and didn't make it. Ironically, none of us work in a hospital or the medical field...except Kathy who is an EMT.