Good morning! It's such a lovely day here this morning, soon to turn rainy for all the birds and trees, lol.
Last night Ted and I celebrated his birthday quietly with one of his favourite dinners of marinated chicken kabobs and a big salad. We'll have the cake and family over on Father's Day this Sunday. He was really disappointed that the local liquor store is no longer stocking his fave chardonnay, Black Opal, and I came home with a substitute that just didn't have the oaky attitude he likes so well. Next time I'll head to a big LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) for it. Live and learn.
It's been a combination of dead quiet and chaos around here lately. Last week we had a house full of workers doing up Nick's room, Tony and tribe along with my parents for tea on Saturday, then unexpected guests for dinner on Sunday (Mike and Maya). They had come to drop off the little bar fridge we'd lent my parents, dinner plans fallen through, and after lifting pot lids on the stove, managed an invitation to stay and eat. We had no sooner settled down on the patio with aperitifs than the sky opened up, of course, lol. So in we scuttled and ate downstairs.
So what's happening today? We haven't been chatting much this past few days and we need to catch up, if only to exchange our boring details, lol.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Ted!! A quiet celebration is always nice, in my opinion...
Today is the birthday of a childhood friend whose surprise party Jim and I attended on Saturday. Her mother's birthday (now deceased) was yesterday too, like Ted's, and it was always a family joke that Ann was her mother's little birthday gift.
Ann's daughter now lives in the house (across the street from my old one) where Ann was raised, and Ann lives just down the street. Sara worked really hard getting out-of-town friends here for the surprise, putting together a memory book, making food, etc., so it was a nice party.
Sara had told all of us that gifts were not necessary, but because I'd been wanting to make a butterfly doll for Ann for a very long time, I thought that a birthday party for my childhood friend might be a good opportunity. From one playmate to another, as we enter out dotage!! Ann is a cancer survivor, and when she was going through chemo a few years ago, she used to visualize fields of butterflies to get her through the ordeal, and now collects them.
We're having someone come by late this afternoon to try to help us get this yard under control. Jim is going through additional back problems (had an epidural last week), and our needs are really more than I can handle by myself, at this point. It's gone too long... If that wretched Mike had done what he was supposed to do, and promised to do for us, it wouldn't be so bad! Anyway, it looks like Jim can't leave work early afterall, so I'll show the guy around, and get an estimate. Scary...
Our oldest and Loren flew up to Vermont last Friday, and spent their first three nights in a bed and breakfast. Loren is from Vermont originally, and hasn't been able to get back up there for a couple of years. He and our daughter have driven up from NC to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas here with us, but getting up to Vermont, and back down to NC under time constraints just hasn't worked. So, Loren was very excited to get back up there! I think they're flying back to NC tomorrow.
And AZ-daughter was also airborne on Friday, on her way to Chicago to see boyfriend Kyle. He's interning for Grainger this summer, and wanted to show our daughter around the city. I have pics!! It was a very quick trip, but Kyle's mom drove down from Wisconsin on Sunday so that the three of them could have brunch together, and then AZ-daughter flew back to Phoenix.
And SPEAKING of Phoenix, Sky Harbor airport has gone completely NUTSO with their security!! Our daughter uses her first initial and her middle name, and that's what's on her ID. She'd made her reservations using her middle name only, so security hauled her into an isolation room to make certain that she wasn't a terrorist. I'm not kidding. Their policy now is that names MUST match EXACTLY, so even though the middle name matched, the reservation had left off the initial "S."... She was so freaked out because she was afraid they weren't going to allow her to board the plane!! Not only that but the bastards actually SCANNED HER SHOES to make certain that she wasn't a carrying any explosives. RIDICULOUS!
After they decided she wasn't any terrorist threat, and she was permitted to return to gate seating, she noticed that everyone was staring at someone behind her. When she turned, there was some wrinkled elderly man who was wearing a thong, a shirt that didn't even cover his belly button, and some kinky get-up covering the entire thing, and yet SHE was the person hauled into quarantine...
Oy.
Fortunately, she didn't have a similar experience on the return trip, so it's apparently Sky Harbor policy. SHELLY -- make sure that you, and all your family remember this, the next time you, or they, are flying out of that airport!
Kyle will be graduating in December. He's an honors student, on scholarship, in the ASU business school, and his expertise is in "supply chain". As an honors student, he's required to carry a heavier workload than the others, and is also held to a higher standard. He's currently upset with himself because his GPA recently slipped just below the 4.0 he's maintained for the past four years. Yeah...let's smack the kid. He's clearly a slacker!!
Here are some of the pictures. I really like the one of our daughter on the Ferris Wheel, and the one of the two of them by the lake.
-- Edited by Moore ideas on Tuesday 16th of June 2009 01:54:19 PM
Tony and Karin had their wedding reception and rehearsal dinner party at Vermont inns. We have some wonderful memories of that time! (They were married in a chapel on the Dartmouth campus in Hanover, NH.)
Phoenix has been in the news here big time lately too! A Canadian billionaire (he and buddies invented the blackberry) tried to bring the Phoenix Coyotes up to Ontario and a judge stopped it. Much grumbling here amongst hockey fans. I couldn't care less, but there ya go, lol.
Nick starts his new job as webmaster for Whistler Tourism on Monday the 22nd. We're so relieved and happy for him. I'll nip down and take some photos of his room tomorrow morning when the light is good.
I could add my two cents about the security in airports but it would come off as a politically incorrect harangue. Suffice to say I'm all with Moore in her outrage.
I'm sorry about the sinus infection. Those things are nasty, and can be really painful.
I remember the days of needing to get the kids outside, to burn off a little energy. We've had SO much rain around here this spring that I've felt really sorry for the local moms of young kids who must be completely bonkers by now.
When our son was a little boy, we'd had many days of rain, and it wasn't quite spring yet, so it was still cold. The poor kid was climbing the walls. The very first day that had a few hours of sun, I sent the kids outside to play, and our son found the one low area in our yard, and sat (winter coat and all) in a giant mud puddle! I was so exhausted by then that I didn't care. I figure that both he and the coat were washable, so I just let him play and be happy.
Desperate times call for desperate measures...!!!
__________________
"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"
(Dumbledore to Harry Potter)
Things here are good. As I type this I have a very gassy Grace. She does not give up burps like her sister does. Angela burps like my little brother does. Anyways, so that makes for some fussy moments. I have decided to give up nursing. I have never made enough to give them strictly my milk and I think that going back and forth between milk and formula has been hurting their tummies. We have an appointment with WIC tomorrow. Hopefully they won't say that we make too much money. I will never understand how a military family could possibly make too much money but they did when we applied after having Jolene.
Anyways, I am doing okay. I have been on my own for a little under a week and think I am doing okay. My biggest thing is making sure that I drag my butt out of the house everyday. Its hard but I really need to get Jolene out and running every day.
Kae I am happy that you guys had a quiet birthday for Ted. Quiet is good. Especially as hectic as your house can get I bet he enjoyed the peaceful dinner. And moore do you have pictures of the doll you made for Ann? I would love to see.
Thank you for the pictures of AD. I love Chicago. Its a great city to visit, not sure I would ever want to live there though. And thanks for the advice on the airport. Its crazy but I can recall flying out of Pensacola with a 2 month old Jolene and they actually searched her. So yeah, crazy things can happen at all airports.
Jessica feel better, it is nice to see you are alive.
Jess, my friend Christine had a really, really bad flu with a sinus and ear infection. She was even in the hospital one night. You guys know how I'm always touting natural remedies whenever possible, doncha? I made Christine some barley and chicken stew when she was so ill and it seemed to have helped her. Try some, Jess. It would be dead cold and yicky if I made it here and sent it to you. :( Feel better, Jess.
Uh oh. After months and months of avoiding it, Ted was finally given a blackberry today. His boss in Ottawa wants him on a really short leash. I was the first call he made from it as he was leaving the Broadcast Centre. I asked if it has the same plug-in-the-wall thingy as his old razor phone and he gasped, said he'd better go back to his office for the box. *sigh*
Awww thanks guys! Luckily I am faring fairly well. I'm not a fan of antibiotics, but I knew this was one of those cases where I'd just have to bite the bullet and take an antibiotic. LUckily for me it worked very quickly!
Oh KaeEll, I am SO sorry to hear that Ted now has a Blackberry. I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to take Jim's away, and just stomp on the thing! Just smash it to bits. They're the most intrusive pieces of **** ever invented, and I strongly URGE you to insist that Ted turn the thing OFF after a reasonable hour in the evenings.
Shelly, I'm the WORST person for taking pictures of my dolls, so, no, I didn't take one of the butterfly doll, but I could probably take one the next time I see Ann. We're going to try to get together in the near future. I was kind-of avoiding her the past month or so because I was afraid she might smell a rat about the party, and ask me about it. Well, anyone who knows me also knows that I can't lie, and even if I tried to, for something like maintaining a surprise, my face (and all its contortions while trying to think of a plausible, but truthful reply) would give me away instantaneously. This is one major reason why I decided never to enter into a life of crime! LOL...
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"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"
(Dumbledore to Harry Potter)
