my sissy is gone

they just left. they're actually heading west an hour or so to drop their boy off with friends and then they'll head back home. sadly, it seemed like a very short visit. but we had a great time. saturday we had a fun time at the beach and pool with boogie boards and my duckie. my duckie was a huge hit amongst all of the chilluns. there was then some afternoon nappage followed by a nice evening of walking around our favorite shopping plaza and dinner at a place we had not yet tried. there was even some late night rock band jamming.

sunday was a more adventurous day that started out with sissy and the chilluns flying around.


the boys thoroughly enjoyed taking a dip or three.

the girls were happy hanging out together.

it was then time for maiden voyage - the sequel. our new kayaks with their matching life vests were anxious to prove they were better than the other 'yaks.

the whole family got in on the action after hubby and i had our fun. bro-n-law was a fierce paddler.

he even tried to t-bone his son.
nephew² enjoyed surfing.

sissy braved the deeper waters a bit.

and even niece caught a wave.

we followed all of that water play up with some lunch and relaxation and then some frisbee and pool play. when everyone was done outside, hubby and i had dinner, movie, and crabbing time with the kids while my sissy and bro-n-law went out for the evening. it was a wonderful weekend and i'm already looking forward to their next visit (thanksgiving?). luckily, we won't have to go through withdrawals too long since we'll be going to see them next weekend!

wii wanna rock and roll all night

and sleep in all day long! oh, to be fifteen again, without a care in the world! (wait, no, i had a job at fifteen and had to work when i wasn't at school)

in one weekend wii have already unlocked 45 of the 63 songs. clearly, wii are going to need more songs.




it's been a great way to pass the time.

trying to fit in with them young whippersnappers

last night we tried out the concert in the park gig. i was a bit disappointed. it was a great venue filled with groups of people picnicking and having a good social time. it was terrific people-watching. but the band was pretty awful. it was supposed to be classic rock but it was just a bunch of tone-deaf geriatric guys. seriously, it was sad. even the couple of songs that i knew were barely recognizable after being butchered by a tone-deaf singer. of course, the girls were bored out of their minds a quarter of the way through the first song. they immediately asked for the iphone and stared myspacing. we stayed for about an hour, until a break, and then left before they could come back and butcher some more. i'm sure hubby and i will try it again because it really could have been much more fun with slightly better musicians. and a picnic. we should have picnicked. i'm not sure if we'll be doing the cinema under the stars tonight or not. they're doing bee movie which i never really cared much for seeing but i love outside movies and i think we could have a good time if we picnic and do it right. anyhow, after the first set, we put our chairs back in the car and walked around the mall a bit. i ended up getting a new outfit that i was coveting the other day when we were there. i love the shirt. and i love the idea of the shorts but they are outside of my comfort zone so i'm not completely sure yet. i don't think my hubby likes the shorts but they are what all the "kids" are wearing these days and i'm trying to stop looking like the curmudgeonly old woman around here. stop judging me! anyhow, after stopping in a few shops, the girls wanted to go to target so while they were shopping around in there, we headed to the electronics department. kids, i cannot tell you how pained my husband was when he saw rock band for wii sitting right there, just as pretty as could be. he paced back and forth in front of it for a good two minutes. then he put his head in his hands and walked up and down a couple of aisles. then he picked it up - just in case - since it was the only one there. he found a cart to put it in and walked around the store asking what was wrong with him. finally, he ended up at the register with it and told me to do the deed while he went to retrieve the car from the other end of the plaza (honestly, i think he just couldn't bear to witness the purchasing). it was quite amusing. he has been dying to have this game though, so i was glad that he decided to go ahead and get it. it's only money, right? the girls were pretty happy about the purchase, even if a little disappointed that we deemed it far too late on a work night to be opening the box to set it up and play. hey, i said we're trying to be young, i didn't say we were succeeding. so, regardless of whether we make it to a movie in the park tonight or go walking down the strip, there will definitely be some rocking going on around our house!

weekend plans

we're starting to put some sketchy plans together for the weekend. tonight, we'll be doing concert in the park (free) at the waterford-like plaza. tomorrow, we may be doing cinema under the stars (free) at a different park. at some point, we promised we'd walk the girls down the strip a little (probably to the waterford-like plaza) so that they could experience the cruising and cat-calling that happens on the weekends. we drove them down the strip a little piece tuesday night and they had a good time rolling down their windows and hollering at boys. teenage girls are funny. i think a movie they would like is coming to the $1 theatre in town this weekend so that may be on the agenda as well. hubby and i went to that theatre tuesday night while the girls walked around the mall. it was one of the old theatres sans stadium-seating and it wasn't very comfortable at all but it was a dollar so it was worth it. i haven't been to a dollar theatre in years. anyhow, we're trying to come up with decent activities to keep the girls entertained and out of trouble. although last night we just stayed around here. i had a headache so hubby took the girls down to the beach and pool for a bit. when i was feeling a bit better, i started dinner and went down to join them at the pool. we came back and ate dinner and sat around and looked at pics for a while before going to bed. i hope they're having a good time.

this few hours of quiet brought to you by...

lazy teenagers who sleep till noon. those two are the only ones left and we haven't heard a peep out of them yet. hopefully they're still breathing. apart from some moments of frustration, i honestly enjoyed having the family here this weekend. i'm not sure if we'll try having the entire family at one time again as it was just too many people to agree on stuff but i'm hoping that individual family units will feel welcome to come back and visit again. it was particularly nice to spend time with bro-n-law's family since we don't see them often. unfortunately, yesterday turned into a hellacious day. no guest behavior issues - just a truly unfortunate circumstance that couldn't be helped but wreaked havoc in our home. it was 02:00 before i got to bed and i was not able to rest well after all of the commotion. fortunately, i can thank my sissy for cheering me up with her fun sunday ordeal:

puppy found out the hard way that the tasty looking blue liquid in the pen isn't as yummy as it appears. she said the sofa came clean for the most part. you know, considering she's got three kids, two cats, and a puppy anyhow.

it doesn't feel right

i think the wii has been more popular this weekend than the beach. good investment on our part. the pools have been pretty happening too. other than the headaches of deciding where eleven people want to eat, it's been a good time. we've gotten to spend some quality time with his brother's family that we never really see except on holidays and funerals. speaking of which, his sis-n-law was telling us a cute story about niece (she's about six months younger than my niece). her and her mom were getting a shower yesterday in our bathroom and niece kept saying that "this doesn't feel right; it just doesn't feel right". th asked ag what didn't feel right and ag basically explained that she felt guilty because they don't see us very often and she felt like they shouldn't be in our house and using our stuff. i thought it was very sweet.

wii are family!

well half the family got in a little after lunch and the other half arrived a little after dinner time. unfortunately, my sis-n-law, who got here in the first bunch, is already just about home. not long after getting here, she got a call from her husband (the only family member that was not able to come) stating that he had broken his leg and was on his way to the emergency room. she fretted about it and fretted about it and finally got in the car and headed back north. please think happy thoughts in dw's direction. in the meantime, the rest of us have had a very nice time. we didn't end up going to the concert in the park gig but we did spend some time on the beach and at the pool. this is our youngest (two year old) niece's first time at the beach so it was a momentous occasion. she isn't taking to it quite as quickly as her sister did but she did seem to enjoy digging in the sand (as long as it didn't get on her - ewww). i think she had a better time at the pool though. she laughed and splashed and had a great time. tomorrow should be fun for her. the mushroom fountain will be on for them to play in (it was too late this evening when we were down there). we came back up around sunset and broke out the wii. so far, the nephew, niece, and sis-n-law have created their miis and played around. i boxed the nephew and came close to beating him but alas, ran out of steam. i didn't feel too bad though since hubby got ko'd by him in the first round. i at least made it most of the way through the second round. this is the most fun we've had with the wii yet. it's great for us old folks to be able to play with the youngsters, on the same level, and have a good time.

on the way

at least half the family is on their way. they called a while ago from about two hours away so we're expecting them shortly. which should be interesting since we still have to work for four more hours. i think we've got everything ready for their arrival, including, of course, a freshly baked cake. no word on the other half. they may all be together but we just don't know. it should be much easier to host them this time since we are in our own place with our own stuff. it was pretty difficult hosting in a rental. it's going to be a big crowd this time. the whole immediate family - ten of them - with the exception of the bro-n-law whose spot is being taken by the niece's friend. that's a lot of people for this little condo but i think we should be able to make it work for a few days. tonight if free concert in the park so the first night's entertainment is already lined up (at the right price, no less). i hope that your weekend is as fun-filled an adventure as ours is sure to be.

headed home

yay, i get to see my hubby again today and he's taking me home! i've missed him so much this month. this week he's been at a conference at disney. it's been very sad for me to know that he's so close but not with me. i've gotten to do some extra visiting with my cousin, which has been very nice. and i finally got to see katie for the first time in the four weeks i've been here. but i'm ready for my hubby to take me home. it's really just time to go home. and i really hope he'll stay with me for a while.

disney and kids and us, oh my!

we decided to give my sissy and bro-n-law a day off so we asked my dad and his wife to get us and the chilluns into disney yesterday. we packed up the kids and left the house right before 10:00, met up with my dad, and were in the park by 11:00. we did the muppets at mgm (it will forever be mgm, i don't care what they say) with the grandparents and that was enough for them so we parted ways back at the park exit and we five headed over to animal kingdom, which has become my favorite park. we immediately headed over to expedition everest to get our fast passes and were pleased to discover that the girl child is tall enough to ride. we did the asian jungle trail, ate lunch, watched the bug show (which was some welcome a/c and misting effects on such a bloody hot day), and then went to ride everest. the kids had a blast on it. next was the african safari and a parade before we left to go back to mgm. at mgm, we got our fast passes to tower of terror. while waiting for our time, we watched about half of the beauty and the beast stage show. when it was time for terror, the younger nephew was disinclined to do any dropping so hubby took him for a nap on the great movie ride while i took the oldest and youngest to the tower. though the girl child squeezed my hand ferociously throughout the line and during the ride, she proclaimed afterward that it was not even scary. we grabbed five fast passes for rockin' rollercoaster before going to meet up with the other boys. we walked around a bit, did the backlot tour, and made our way back for our scheduled aerosmith limo ride. the was the first time for both younger children and they were both a bit dubious about wanting to ride something that went upside down. when it was all over, they both loved it. they didn't even notice the upside down loop. *sob* my chilluns is all grown up *sob*. we had a snack outside the coaster and decided on the animation class to kill time before the big fantasmic show. we were only able to do the first little movie before making our way to the show to ensure we got seats so we figured we'd go back and do the actual drawing class after the show. fantasmic was fun and we headed back to draw as planned when a cast member stopped us and told us to go try out the not-yet-opened toy story ride. we did as told and i am so glad because it was the perfect end to the day. it is like the buzz lightyear ride/game at mk but much more fun, imho. of course, it does help that i totally whooped the kids and randal. both times through (since it's not "open" yet, there was no line at all). the second time, i heard randal proudly proclaiming his score of 147,500 from his car, which was a significant increase over my first score (132,200) when i beat them all. however, he was not happy to hear that my score the second time around was 158,700. yep, i creamed them. i may have even gloated... just a smidgen, of course. throughout the day we took iphone pix of the kids in front of their various conquests and emailed them to the parents and gparents so that they knew could be jealous of what a fantastic time we were having. after toy story, we left the park and went in search of a quick, light dinner (yes, at 22:30 - the parents would kill us). we successfully made it home, ordered showers, allowed each child a two-minute visitation with the dog, and had them in bed by 23:30. it was a long, tiring day but worth it. i think the kids had a great time too. and they were absolutely wonderful the whole day, no attitude or sniping at each other. which i found impressive because as hot as it was, it could have been ugly; i can't be the only person who's temper increases with the temperature. in the meantime, my sissy didn't get home until after 01:00. they had a nice day sans les enfants. and they used the blue man tickets we got them for Christmas. naturally, today is going to be a very lazy day for all of us.

love my husband!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, HUSBAND!!!! he gave me the most fabulous gift, too. he called last night and said he was at the airport on his way home to me! that's a whole forty-eight hours sooner than i expected him!! i was so excited, i completely drove past the mall i was headed to and had to u-turn several miles later when i realized that i wasn't paying any attention to where i was going. when i asked if something was going wrong with work he said no, he just told the customer that he wanted to be with his wife on our anniversary. what a wondereful boy i've got! after getting this terrific news, i finished my shopping and headed over to my cousin's for friendly poker and guitar hero night. i then less-than-patiently waited around for my hubby to call requesting his airport pickup. he called just after midnight and he was in my arms by 00:30. it is so, so nice to have my hubby back. he snuggles so much better than a pillow.

aggravation, they name is IT

the only thing more aggravating than having to work is not being able to. yesterday was one of those days. on the bright side, i wasn't on the phones (have i mentioned how much i abhor the phones?!) because my phone software was playing dead all day. unfortunately, instead of enjoying the respite from the phones, i was stressed and frustrated all day trying to troubleshoot my computer and software. after working almost all night on it, i finally uninstalled and reinstalled just about every program i use for work and finally got my phones working again. whoo. hoo. clearly, no fun visiting last night. sunday was nice though. i went to church with my sissy's family to see the kids do their special mom's day celebration. i spent the afternoon with jenny and did end up ordering my dress. i was then invited to my cousin's for dinner and spent the night having quality time with her. a good, busy day to distract me from thoughts of extreme sadness. and tonight i'm getting together with jenny and some of her friends for a free dinner. yummy!

driving across greater orlando

mental note: do not plan to visit dad and brudder in the same day. i was already sleepy when i left my dad's this afternoon so the hour and fifteen minute drive across central florida to see my brother was a bad call. it was an exhausting day, although i did have great visits with both family members. last night i had dinner with an old friend i haven't seen in a couple years. funny thing about her is that we met playing softball for one season when we were nine years old, we never went to the same schools, and yet we're still friends all these years later. isn't that nice? tomorrow i'll be spending most of the day with jenny and hopefully purchase my moh dress.

i am iron man

i miss my hubby so much already. i got up at 0400 to take him to the airport this morning. that was painful, especially after not being able to sleep much last night. i want him back and am very bummed that he's going to be gone for two weeks straight. the weekend was spent mostly spending all the time i could with him. my dad and his wife came over saturday for grilling and swimming but that was the only visiting that went on outside my sissy's family. yesterday we went to church with them and then made a day of shopping and movie. one of my bro-n-law's relatives told him that iron man would be good for the kids so we went to see that yesterday. the previews were bad enough but it was probably twenty minutes into the not-kid-friendly movie when they left the theatre. my hubby and i stayed to watch it while they exchanged their ticket for a more appropriate movie. it was a good movie... for adults. i am appalled that his relative thought it was one for the kids. he also checked a movie review website for kids (i don't recall which one) that made it sound like it wasn't bad. i really couldn't believe all of the little kids that were watching it with parents that didn't seem to care what they were being exposed to. my parents never restricted what we watched. i watched cujo when i was four, child's play when i was eight. i remember seeing s3xu@l situations in movies before i was in gradeschool. and i think it was all extremely inappropriate for me to have been exposed to so early. i remember twisting my teddy bear up and stabbing it with a pencil before bed every night to make sure that chucky was not in there. not a positive behavior for a kid. i'm not saying that iron man was that bad but it did have several moments that were not suitable for chilluns. /tangent. have i mentioned i miss my hubby?

we will, we will rock you

how dare my sissy and bro-n-law keep me up until 0100 playing rock band! didn't they know i had to work today? sheesh. so we had a good visiting weekend. spent a nice afternoon with my dad saturday, relaxed saturday night, spent time with my brother and sis-n-law yesterday, and had dinner with my jenny last night. i also managed to make plans for the week last night like jenny and i are going to look for bridesmaid dresses wednesday night and i managed to invite myself to a free movie with my cousin for tonight. it's been forever since i had a girls-only night with my cousin. i feel a little guilty having two girls-nights this week when my hubby is going to be gone all next week but it's also nice to have friends around. i think him and bro-n-law are talking about a golfing man-date wednesday anyhow. oh, and you'll be shocked to know that my body has been vehemently disapproving of my run on saturday. my poor quads.

early to rise, work those thighs

after getting in to orlando late last night and staying up even later to watch some dog whispering (yep, my sissy has inexplicably converted to dog-person), i actually got out of bed early-for-me today and went running! no, you didn't misread that. i did two laps around the neighborhood (2.17 miles each lap) in exactly one hour. i know that's not great, but it's fantastic for me. i jogged every cul-de-sac once so i'm guessing that i jogged about a third of the total distance. that's really good for me. now that i'm showered, we're going to head out to visit my dad for the afternoon and maybe make it back for grown-up movie night.

brudder talk

i had the most wonderful conversation with my brother last night. not only did he call me (returning my call from earlier in the day when i left a happy anniversary vm) but he also talked non-stop for twenty minutes. not many of you know my brother but he is not a talker. at all. generally, when i call him (he never calls me) i struggle to carry a conversation and give up after about two minutes because he is king of the monosyllabic responses. calling my sis-n-law is much more fruitful if i want to know what's going on in their life. not last night though. he talked and talked about all kinds of subjects (including the topic that he has not broached with me at all in close to two years and i was so relieved to know that he understands it's not me). anyhow, never, i mean NEVER, have i had a phone conversation like that with him. and not since before i left home have we had any conversation like that. it was so nice to actually talk with him. he sounded great and was thankful that i reminded him of his anniversary. i was all kinds of happy after hanging up with him and told my hubby all about it as we walked on the beach. also last night it was decided that my boy has to fly north week after next so i'll most likely be in o-town for two weeks since it's cheaper for him to fly in and out of there. although being home to paint that room before the furniture is delivered would certainly be a plus, spending time with my friends and family is much more fun.

no need to squeeze, the melons are ripe

i had my first medical 6006-squeezing this morning. no worries; just early screening because of family history. i was pleased when the tech said that since it was just a baseline, i shouldn't need to have it done again for five years unless necessary. it really isn't pleasant - not that i've ever heard any woman claim that it was. 6006s should really never be squeezed so hard or in such akward positions. i really felt like i deserved a nice dinner and movie for all that. after work today, we'll be heading to al. happily, the quarantine was just lifted this week so we'll be able to visit gma h. i'm looking forward to seeing her. poor woman probably thinks she was abandonned after two months of quarantine (not just her but the whole facility was locked down to keep the flu out). from what we've heard, she has been recovering from her surgery remarkably well. i still am amazed at what a strong body she has at 97 years old. mine would never make it that long. this will actually be our first time back since gma m passed away. it makes me very sad to think we won't be playing dominos with her tomorrow. visits to wedowee will just never be the same.

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.