HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

have i mentioned how nice it is to be home? last night, we went to the gym for a while and then we took some wine to the hottub and soaked a bit. tonight, my hubby took me to a movie and yummy dinner. it was wonderful. i've also managed to tame the laundry which has been piling up for a month with no w/d and unpack several boxes. who knows, maybe one of these days we'll be moved in. here's hoping since i think we've got company coming in two weeks. and yes, SEARS, YOU STILL SUCK!!!

bestest birthday gift ever

after a very tiring, sad, and trying week, we are finally back home. it feels so good. we worked from granny's one last time yesterday. it felt odd to be there all day just the two of us. most of her stuff is gone already, all of the pictures are off the walls (there were tons of photos of her family on every wall). when we started to pack up our stuff, we both started crying - it was like watching them close the coffin all over again. visits to wedowee will never be the same. on the way home, we had more of the continuing appliance saga. i can tell you this much: i will never again set foot in a sears store. i wouldn't buy a pair of socks there. if i had ty pennington's home number, i'd be raving to him because i bet he could get a manager to call us back. anyhow, my blood pressure shoots through the moon when i get started on sears and our lack of kitchen so i'm not going to bother getting into it. it's enough to say that it does not look like we will have anything more than a refrigerator and toaster oven (that we were forced to go buy because of sears) in our kitchen in the foreseeable future. SEARS, YOU SUCK!!! we got home late last night and it felt like a weight was lifted. luckily, my birthday present from my hubby is the month of february (i know, pick the shortest month, why donchya). he has promised that, barring another emergency, we are staying home to get unpacked, settled, and relaxed for the whole month. that may be the best birthday gift i've ever gotten.

we'll miss you, granny!

we're in wedowee. gma moore has passed away. she's the younger gma, 83. she's the one whose house we installed dsl at so we could work from her house and visit more with her. she's the one we spend hours playing dominoes with. she's the one who has made our closet so colorful. she came to our wedding. we took her to disney and to the mountains years ago when she was well. randal was the first grandkid, born on his grandfather's birthday, and lived with them for a couple of years in high school. randal is taking it very hard. i'm taking it very hard. we were in target last night buying a toaster oven (remember, we had no way to cook dinner last night). i was three aisles down from randal and i heard his phone ring. i was able to hear him say "which grandmother?" and i dropped what was in my hand and ran to him. i'm such a girl. my husband finds out that his grandmother died and i'm the one bawling in the middle of target. we bought our toaster oven (already picked it out and had it in the cart so might as well), went home to pack, and we were on the road about an hour later. it was a long night and a sad one. we're over at her house now and it just doesn't feel right. it's hard to believe that she's not sitting in the kitchen griping about us having the door open letting cold air in. she had cooked some food sunday night for another funeral and it was still in the fridge so everybody is getting one last bite of granny's cooking. randal's cousin just took me aside and said that she just wanted me to know that granny thought the world of me and spoke very highly of me. i broke down. i have a memory of about six years ago when my mil said something about us needing to get married and granny said that the only granddaughter-in-law she would ever have would be the ex. i was so hurt. i guarantee you she wouldn't even remember saying it. it was one of those comments that you make without thinking, without meaning anything ugly, and without ever thinking about again. over the years and the games of dominos, i knew in my heart that she had grown to love me as much as i love her. granny has a gruff demeaner but she's a tender-hearted woman. to know that she truly had grown to love and respect me - god, i'll miss that woman! they say she went peacefully in her sleep. her blankets weren't messed up or anything. thank God for that. when randal spoke with her saturday, she said she was feeling the best she had in a while so i'm glad that she wasn't sick or in pain. today would have been her and paw's 64th anniversary. i'm glad she made it home to him for their anniversary. please pray for us and the whole family. granny's departure will be felt for a long time.

we don't need no stinkin' kitchen

i tell you, there's just nothing about this move that has been easy. today we're dealing with an appliance fiasco. you'll recall that we bought all new appliances back in december and sold the brand new ones that came in the condo. since we knew we were going to be out of town for the last couple of weeks, we set the delivery date for today, as well as the pickup for the others. that's over three weeks since we ordered. i got a call late saturday night letting me know that they would be delivered between 09:30 and 13:30. this morning, i got a computerized call letting me know that the range we ordered would not be delivered until the 28th. gee, thanks for the notice. especially since we're not going to be here again next week. after i was just about done fuming over that, the phone rang again. it was a person this time letting me know that only half of our appliances were there and did we want to have those delivered today or just wait until the 28th to have it all delivered. ticked does not cover it. we ordered these a month ago! it's not like we went in there this weekend and said deliver it tomorrow. luckily, the appliances that they are able to bring today are the fridge, washer, and dryer. since our old appliances are getting picked up in about an hour, we absolutely had to have a fridge to transfer our food to and we're about out of clean clothes too. i'm so pleased with my new appliances. they are so pretty. i did a load of laundry already - kid with a new toy, i am. i was very entertained with watching the washing machine go (front loader) and i was astounded by how quiet it is. for those who were priviledged enough to have experienced randal's old washer, you'll know why. that stupid thing shook and shimmied and you could hear it miles away. i'm still ticked that we don't have a stove, microwave, or dishwasher. but at least we got the important stuff. although i'm not sure how we're going to cook for the rest of this week. woohoo, no cooking!

hu hot

it's been a great visit but i'm happy that we're heading home. maybe we'll be able to get moved in. my hubby came back late thursday night. there's a restaurant called huhot that has become my cousin's and my sister's families favorite restaurant. i decided to take advantage of that so i arranged for all of us to meet up for dinner friday night. and since we were all getting together, i invited my dad to join as well. it was a big gathering for our family and we had a great dinner. it's a very yummy and fun place. it turned out to be a surprise party when we were through eating and they came out singing and carrying a cake for me. i invited everyone and arranged everything and then they surprised me with an early birthday celebration. i was full of warm fuzzies.

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY, BRUDDER!!!

i'll be calling him to sing at him (again - poor guy). luckily i was able to semi-celebrate this milestone birthday with him this year when i took a cake cookie to him and sang at him this weekend. i hope it's a fantabulous year for him!

blast from the past

we packed a lot into this weekend. saturday morning, the men folks had a man-project going on. once they were to a point where i could steal my man, we went to my dad's for a visit and Christmas exchange. we had a great visit and dinner with them and then we left to meet up with jenny and some of her friends. they were at a little greek restaurant around the corner from her new place so we stopped there to meet up with them. we were there a few minutes when a guy came up behind me and put his arm around me and said, "i knew it was you when you walked through the door." folks, this was very, very exciting for me. i know that i'm a weirdo and all but i have been confounded over the fact that i grew up and went to school and worked in orlando and have NEVER run into anyone i know since i've left. this was a guy that i worked with almost TWELVE years ago! he remembered and recognized me from when i was fifteen years old. i was amazed and so pleased. it really made my weekend. i'm probably revealing my crazy here, but the part that really excited me was not so much running into someone from my past, but that someone that i knew for a matter of months over a decade ago would bother to remember me. i've alluded to it in past rants that a good portion of my thoughts are thinking about people in my past and wondering how they are and who they are now. perhaps it's kind of creepy but it's what i do. and i often wonder whether i've ever made a big enough impact on people's lives that maybe they would think of me once in a while. so for a guy to remember me by name after twelve years - well, it made me happy. and no, there is no chance that he only remembered me because of some romantic complication as he was several years older than me and batting for the other team so nothing like that existed between us. /tangent. so when we got to the restaurant, jenny and friends were finishing up and waiting for their checks so we weren't there long before heading back to her place. we got there and played scattergories for several hours and ended up getting back home around 0100. sunday morning, i slept in a bit while my man got up early to continue the man project started the day before. they finished early in the afternoon and we headed out to see my brother. we stopped along the way to get an oversized birthday cookie for him since i doubt i'll see him on his birthday wednesday. we got there and sang happy birthday to him and gave them their Christmas present and watched some football and chatted for a couple hours. we then headed to katie's for a couple hours before heading back. this morning, my hubby left me for a business trip. he'll be gone for four days. i'm taking advantage of being husbandless by making arrangements to help jenny with being a bride. it should be a good time.

i'm not dead yet... i feel much better...

yesterday was a nightmare migraine day. i emailed my boss around lunchtime, took a handful of motrin, wrapped my head in a blanket and slept all afternoon. i woke up just in time for our after-hours conference call and managed to drag my computer into my lap to get dialed in. i took more motrin and made it through the call. i made it through dinner and guitar hero III and a tv show and took more motrin before bed. this morning, thankfully, the migraine is gone and the headache is mostly gone. that means it's going to be a great friday, right? it's just as well that yesterday was a bust since the plans we had for last night got blown off. wednesday was good though; we had a fun night with my cousin. we walked over there after dinner to poke some cards but ended up poking balls instead. i'm pleased to say that even though i'm about the sorriest billiard player around, i managed to win two games. we even wii'd a little before heading back home that night. i'm not sure what we'll be doing tonight. i was going to make calls last night to try to get some plans going for tonight and sunday but the migraine kept me from getting very far with that. i think i made one unsuccessful call and sank back into the couch to watch more ghiii. we'll come up with something. if nothing else, it's family pizza and movie night here.

maze o' cubicles

another long day. i actually had to go into the local office today. reminds me why i'm very lucky to not work in a corporate office. the bright side was that it was in the neighborhood of my sis-n-law's restaurant so i was able to drop in and surprise her first thing this morning. i think she was pleased to see us because she fed us really yummy eats. hopefully we'll get to see her and my brother later this week or weekend. work was work but at least i wasn't tethered for the day so there was that. after work, we went out to dinner with a couple coworkers. it was quite an agreeable time and the restaurant was fabulous. we went to seasons 52 which looked far too hoity-toity for my pallate but the food was exceptionally good. i even discovered that i don't hate asparagus (at least not when it's cooked right by someone other than myself) so that's a plus.

it's a great, big, beautiful tomorrow

i'm just worn out. after a very tiring week of attempting to get settled in the new place (no, we aren't even close), we drove all night friday to orlando. we got in after midnight and were up again at 0730 to get ready for a day at disney. let me tell you, disney with three kids is tiring enough but adding car fatigue and too little sleep on top of it... exhausting. it was a good day though. we did the magic kingdom and the chilluns experienced several firsts. both boys rode space mountain for the first time. this was an especially momentous feat for the younger boy who has not been very adventurous with big rides since he's been tall enough for them. he was behind me but i was told he even held his arms up! all three kids rode thunder mountain and enjoyed it. all three kids also did the haunted mansion, although two regretted that decision afterward. there was a new interactive monsters inc® show that yours truly got called upon to take part in. it was cute and highly embarrassing. i don't do well with being put on the spot. at least i remembered my name and sense of humor (yes, i have one!). when the sun set, the castle was lit up much, much prettier than i have ever seen it in my life. it truly was something to behold. at the end of the night, my bro-n-law complained about nobody asking him what ride he wanted to do. we humored him and went into the carousel of progress. while i appreciate the nostalgic value of this attraction, i'll admit that i have not been in it since i was a kid and really hadn't thought about it since either. i figured it was long gone and didn't care. if you've never been in it, it was walt disney's own vision, which he presented at the '64 new york world's fair. it has animatronic tableaus of the how the typical american family uses technology from the turn of the 20th century forward, complete with an annoyingly cheerful jingle-song between each. anyhow, you get the picture on why it's not the most popular attraction at disney anymore. so we're on the second scene (the 1920's) and the annoying song is sung and the seats start to spin us toward the third scene (the audience seating moves, not the stage) when a strange noise is made and we stop moving. the song finishes and scene two starts again! everyone in the theatre is amused by this and making commentaries throughout the scene. an agitated male voice keeps coming over the speakers advising that, for our own safety, everyone should stay in their seats PLEASE. and then the annoying music starts up but we move not at all. and then scene two plays again. and the mass-psychosis is already setting in as we all get silliar and silliar. a woman suddenly jumps up and runs back to the exit door. she looks back at us long enough to say that there's a way out before disappearing forever as the agitated voice comes on again reminding us that our safety hinges on us staying seated. we audibly wonder if she made it to freedom. and the annoying music starts again. and you can just hear all of our sanity congealing into a pile of mush on the floor. as scene two starts up again, there is talk of a riot. about halfway through the scene, just as the overloaded fuse is about to blow sending the house and then the neighborhood into darkness, the agitated voice pipes up to tell us that they are experiencing technical difficulties (really?) and will have to evacuate the theatres (freedom!!!) and please stay seated (huh? how are we evacuating while seated?). a teenage boy dressed in an embarrasing disney costume appears out of nowhere and leads us (in the dark because they chose that part of the scene to evacuate) all to the exit door and down a corridor to freedom. all told, we were in that theatre for more than thirty minutes with that song and scene playing all the while. it really could have only been worse to be stuck in "it's a small world afterall" hell. in all my giddyness, i admitted that was the most fun i had had all day. with a couple more stops for restrooms and popcorn, we left the park and made it home around midnight. yesterday we met up with my cousin who helped us on errands such as buying my sis' Christmas gift and finding dishes in ikea. we managed to have our gift exchange with my sis and her family last night. the kids all seemed very pleased with their gifts, my sis and bro-n-law were ecstatic with their blue man group tickets, and we received many wonderfully fun things. it was a fun weekend but oh so tiring. i need a nap.

freshly baked bread

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KATIE!!! hope it's a good one for you! and now i'd like to take a minute or several to gripe. we just finished lunch. granted, it was just sammiches but i went to special efforts for them sammiches. i ask my wonderful hubby, "how was your sammich?" "it was fine," he replies. fine? fine! that sammich was made with fresh, hot, just-out-of-the-machine, homemade sweet bread! fine. it was freeken fabulous is what it was! that was no month-old, hard and stale merita loaf bread from the fridge. no, it was a gourmet sammich right here in your own flippin living room! men!!! and he wonders why i hate cooking. /tangent. so, yeh, happy birthday to you, katie.

happy new year!

welcome to the year 2008! we celebrated by officially moving in to our new home. we rang in the new year in rare-for-us whippersnapper style and then spent our first night here. we went out to a club for dinner and dancing and live music and left there around 0200 to stop in at another party. it was 0400 before we got to bed. i really can't tell you the last time that i stayed up all night like that on purpose. and i felt it yesterday. i slept in until noon, moved to the couch and napped until 1730 when the hubby got a burst of energy and insisted that we attempt to unpack some. he accomplished much. i sat back on the couch to make my new years phone calls. i did get part of the kitchen unburried. today i got enough of it dug out to actually cook dinner. we've had multiple obstacles in the new abode, mostly network issues which tried to give us an extra vacation day. i think i've counted that i've moved ten times in the last nine years (pretty impressive when you consider that we lived two years in our first apartment and almost four years in our house) and this is by far the hardest move i've had. not only does it feel like it's just dragging on, what with us moving out of our house four months ago, but i just can't seem to fight the discombobulation. we moved all of our stuff in from storage over two weeks ago and yet there is still more in boxes than not. and the boxes are EVERYWHERE. i've never spent this long boxed up. i just can't seem to wrap my arms around it at all. but on the bright side, we spent a fortune this past weekend (enough that we both received calls from discover's fraud protection people asking if we were aware of all of the large purchases on our cards). when we get back from orlando in a couple of weeks, we'll have all new kitchen appliances delivered and a washer and dryer (which will be very much needed since we do not have a w/d at all right now). i'm very excited about my very pretty new appliances. next step is a bed for us. we've got it narrowed down to three. i'm hoping to have that when we get back home too. the air matress just isn't holding air like it used to. so much still to do. will it ever slow down??? anyhow, i hope that 2008 has good things in store for all of us!