What's New?

Mariah: Has been a BORED only child for much of the month. She has been mostly glued to the computer due to lack of excitement elsewhere. Bless her heart. She finished her volleyball camp and last week she did the Red Cross babysitter training and First Aid/CPR Certification. She is now golden for babysitting! This photo was taken before we headed home on the last day of the Red Cross camp. When I arrived to pick her up, all the girls were getting wrapped up. It was fun to watch. Apparently, they all wanted to go home that way! Mariah wanted to fool her dad when she got home, so we devised a great "believeable" story about how she came to become injured while doing CPR training. We laughed all the way home practicing it. It went something along the lines of when her name was called to get her CPR card, she tripped over the CPR dummy and she fell, hurting her arm. The instructor felt like it was a great chance for the entire class to practice splinting since they had just learned it the day before! So she used Mariah as an example and it was so embarrassing! (Pouty face accomplished with much practice and pulled off with an academy award performance!) The punch line was that amazingly enough, ALL the girls tripped over the CPR dummy and they had to be splinted up too.

Taryn: Is still at her college summer program. Here she is the day she arrived. Facebook is about the only way to know what's going on, or texting if you happen to be on her GOOD SIDE. But if you call her because she hasn't called you, and you would like to know how she is, any little tidbit about her life she cares to share, etc., she will tell you to ask Gib because she just got done texting him all day. Uh-huh. I called and woke her up 11:30 p.m. because it had been too long since I had any contact with my Little T and I didn't know about the texting l-o-v-e between sibs and none for me! Well, she is doing well, is happy, having fun and getting good grades, ask Gib if you want to know more, thank you very much. Guess I will know more in a couple weeks when she comes home. That is, if I get a chance to ask before her WISDOM TEETH COME OUT! We have a couple of days to catch up on all that happened during Hit the Ground Running. Indie will be picking her up at MS & T since the rest of us will be at Waterworld. We are bummed the girls won't be with us for the annual family/Scouting lake trip, but what can you do? I wish I had some photos.... TARYN!!! I hope you have taken some!!

Gib: See above. Taryn probably knows more than I do. He just got home all super tanned from his kayak trip, and will be leaving again on Wednesday for Waterworld with Mike. When he isn't texting Taryn he runs into the room shooting you with his new iTouch game app that has some kind of machine gun on it. He thinks it is especially funny to aim it at Chino or me. We are ignoring it with regal looks of displeasure. (it is funny though and sometimes I laugh which only makes it worse). Indie took him to the Ortho today and he got one of his permanent retainers put on and we'll be going back after Waterworld for the other one. He recently got his hair done as a "model" by my friend's daughter who was hired on at a very posh salon right out of cosmetology school. Basically, that means it was free (but I tipped her the price of what I usually pay her for a cut)while she is learning her craft at the hands of the salon owner. About $200 bucks worth of services - I'm telling you this place is POSH! He hates the photo, but you can see his cool new Transitions glasses which do the shades thing for outdoors and are regular glasses indoors.

So, when I want to know what REALLY happens on exciting adventures like EFY or his kayaking trip, I just wait for other people to put up fb photos, or blog about it. Looks like it won't be long now and the Scouts will tell me what happened on their trip! Here's the teaser I got just today:

Scouts and adults returned from the Pamlico Seabase high adventure sea kayaking trip Sunday afternoon. Captains of the armada of kayaks with names such as SS Minnow, Titanic, Cornelia Marie (which I think is Spanish for "Corny Mario"), Flying Dutchman, Time Bandit, Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria rowed approximately 40 miles in 4 days up the Pamlico Sound from Harker's Island to Cedar Island near the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

I wonder which kayak was Gib's? Let's guess shall we?! I'm going for.... Titanic. Although I'm kinda tempted to go with Pinta knowing Gib's fondness for play on words and Pinta is close to Pinto, and thus Pinto Beans. Always good for a laugh. Hmmmm, I might rethink my vote.

Indie: Remember my Punch Buggy blog?
Well, let's just say I'm totally PSYCHIC!! She is now learning to drive a stick and we are punching each other alot when we pull into our driveway. And that's all I can say about that right now. Inquiring minds will have to wait for Indie to tell them more.

Indie has also been petsitting for the past 3 weeks or so. In that time she has pretty much earned what she would have working part time for the summer, so we are thinking this is probably the best way to go next summer as well. Trying to line something up for what remains of her time after a mission trip is difficult and she will be going on another one next year. I think word of mouth will spread about the wonderful college student who kept dogs, cats, birds, and even a grandma fed and happy; plus she kept plants & flowers alive throughout a massive heat wave. Her last job had a pool where apparently the entire neighborhood had a pass to come hang out if they felt like it. Indy met several people who liked her, and a petsitter is alot less expensive than a kennel and their pets will be alot happier.


Me & Mike: Have been taking the kids through our revolving door. But I have to say, Indy has been doing almost as much of this as we have with Gib. For some reason pretty much if Gib needs to be taken somewhere, or picked up it's about 50/50 that Indy will be his ride.

We also have been fixing the place up. Our current project is painting the damaged cinderblock walls in the garage with Dry-Loc paint to prevent any water from seeping through again. I think it will take 2 if not 3 coats. Ugh. All by hand too. Double Ugh. The basement company has been here and gone and the house is all "piered up" and we won't be sliding down the hill anytime soon now. Now we are awaiting plans for Phase 2 of the fix to redirect the water from the topside. Which means basically ripping out the old deck and making sure the grade around the house directs water away and not toward the foundation. It looks like there will be a beautiful new arbor, a window to the backyard for mom, and a new stone coated concrete patio instead of a wood deck. The preliminary plans look great and nicely tie in the limestone walls and landscaping work we have now.

I have been finishing painting Gib's room. I don't have a picture of that yet. I should have taken one before he came home and messed it up but I didn't! It's very awesome though! Mariah and Grammy helped me paint it. Mike hung up the new curtains and helped me put stuff back together, and Ricky put in a new bathroom light fixture - twice! The first one didn't work. Bummer. I decided to buy another matching shower curtain and turn it into a window treatment for the bathroom; I shop, Grammy sews. How perfect!

So that was the month of July. Now we are off to Waterworld. The guys have to get ready to go. Mike has already gone shopping with his Kitchen Co-Chef and Mariah and they have food for I guess about 75 people for 3 days, plus Sunday b-fast and light lunch. This year Mariah and I will be "camping" at the Lodge just us two girls. We've always stayed in a cabin, so it will be weird but I think we will manage to have great fun just the two of us! We are used to having 4 or 5 teenagers. There will be so much more bathroom time in the morning that's all I can say!!

Time for me to go to bed. I have to make a bazillion sales calls for CWC tomorrow. Sadly, it turns out I'm good at it and now I guess it'll be my job forever. I get to go into work 3 hrs earlier than scheduled just for this purpose too. Oh well, "I get paid in clothes, I get paid in clothes..." and psst....35% off the entire store this Saturday at your nearest Coldwater Creek!

Punch Buggy

Gib recently started a Punch Buggy war.



It began innocently enough when he Punch Buggy'd me. I had completely forgotten about Punch Buggy and he had to explain what in the world he had just done to his mother. Punch Buggy Green indeed!

Not to be the last to be punched, I went right out and punched Mariah the next morning when I was driving her to volleyball. She was soooo bummed and demanded, "Where?! Where?! Awwww, man!!" I was excited to get Gib back in another ride with an Ivory one, only he gave me grief because I yelled Punch Buggy Ivory and he said I should've just yelled White because nobody says Ivory. Well, that started a one-sided debate on colors because everybody knows there's White, Ivory, Beige, even Tan, on the VW palette and you better darn tootin' yell the right color if you punch me! I say it was a one-sided debate because Gib was an unwilling participant, and wouldn't confirm or deny the existence of a Gold VW. Luckily for Gib, we were on our street, or I might have launched into the need to specify Lime Green for example vs. just plain ol' Green. Hmpf!! What a spoil sport. :)

Within a couple of days, Mariah and I were smacking each other left and right, only Mariah had some new rule: punching ME after I had clearly spotted a VW bug and got in my Punch Buggy Yellow in first! She slugged me with a "Hahah! Punch Buggy Yellow with no punch backs!" What's with this?!


A few days later I was out with Mike and saw a VW, and mentioned the Punch Buggy war. (I didn't actually punch Mike, but I did say Punch Buggy and pointed at the VW instead). It's a reflex now, I even do it when I'm alone in the car to keep my quick draw speed up. Mike responded with an enlightened "So THAT'S what that's all about!!" (which is code for "our child is behaving weirdly and you are, as usual, at the root of it!"). He explained that Mariah had been punching him like crazy yelling Punch Buggy! But apparently she'd been hitting him for every small car she thought MIGHT be a VW, like PT Cruisers and stuff!"



I thought that was hilarious. Poor Mike! (here's a photo of a Cruiser in case you might be similarly confused... of course being distracted by the coolness of the flames and in the heat of the moment, hah, anyone might make the same mistake, especially if you're 12 and constantly getting out punched by your insane 45 yr old mother. C'mon, you gotta win over somebody, why not your dad who doesn't have a clue what you are doing?!)

So, being the Good Mother that I am, I took my Little Grasshopper under my wing and on our next car ride, began some valuable instruction on what constitutes a VW bug or beetle, and what does not. As I was in mid-lecture, I went to take one of my favorite short cuts to the drug store. It just so happens to be right through the BMW/Volkswagon dealership. Who knew?! I never really paid that much attention to it. As I am explaining the whole V/W on the grill, I go, "Oh, like that Mariah!!" and point to the GIANT blue sign as I pull into the street next to the dealership.

We drive right by an entire row of VW beetles.... do you see where this is going?!

We both gasped, our eyes grew wide........

"PUNCH BUGGY! PUNCH BUGGY! PUNCH BUGGY!"
We quickly gave up on saying the colors and just concentrated on trying to get in punches. As we were in the pharmacy drive up window we could still see the VW's and feeling that neither one of us had really gotten in enough punches, every now and then (OK, about every other second) we would yell PUNCH BUGGY! and giggle and try to score another punch. I'm pretty sure the pharmacist questioned handing over those meds.
Or, perhaps, maybe she felt they were long overdue.

Das Auto.

Gib's Bday

This is for Taryn, but all can enjoy! The story behind the video: Taryn felt Gib needed to have more than one scent of Axe. We didn't get around to getting it before he left on his Florida trip, so we made sure he had some for his birthday. Then we found the PERFECT card. It just had to be from Taryn, even though she wasn't here to see him open it, since she left the day before he came home. I had problems getting it to download all at once, so I had to break the video into 2 parts.

The Gift:

The Card:

Brief Update....

Brief Update: Hahahaha! Not! Bail now if you only like brief updates!

All is as well here as can be expected - a major fix it is about to begin on the house to shore up the foundation. A basement/foundation company is coming in and will drill through our garage floor and around the man cave to put in 20 some-odd piers which go down deep into bedrock and act like underground stilts to keep your house from shifting and sliding. Our house has experienced some major foundation movement which if left unattended could cause alot of damage inside to the walls and doors, and make it virtually un-sellable in the future. Not fun to deal with at all. In the masonry fix to the brick work on the outside wall, I am hoping to see my mom get a window to the backyard paradise she has created so she can see it from her kitchen. She is cut off from viewing the backyard in her part of the house, as you know, and I think she will enjoy living and looking at her gardens from her room as she meanders around. I know I would! The contractor who is handling the removal of the deck and will discuss further waterproofing of the outside of the brickwork and will repair the masonry damaged by the shifting will put in her window. He is designing a new patio for us too. Probably some kind of deck stepping down into a patio so that there is a better control of water coming at the house from the hill than there is now. Mom and I will be happier without the current deck. Mike not so much. So let's hope the contractor can make us all happy. He has his work cut out for him, that's for sure!

After her month long mission trip to Africa, Indy was happy to learn she has a job pet/house sitting for the next week-plus. A preschool coworker is out of town and she is taking care of her house, dog and her dad's dog. Out of that came a referral to pet/house/grandma sit, so Indy might have another job piggy-backing this one! A friend of my coworker is also leaving town and needs someone to take care of the usual, plus Grandma. That one involves making dinner and taking care of Grandma who lives there. Indy is not so sure about that one because of the words "making dinner". She does not cook! Now, if she can run up to Publix and buy their warm dinner entree each night, or order out, they will be OK! This is pretty much wonderful news because when she returned from Africa it was to find out the job she had lined up at Red Lobster was gone. RL had to lay off recently because business has been really slow. Speaking of Indy, she is probably going to kill me for even repeating this.... but SHE IS A TEN COW WOMAN!!!! Yep, there was an offer of 10 cows for my daughter's hand... the guy asked not once, but twice just to make sure that her parents weren't around to present his generous offer. So sad...for him. She is a catch!! That is a fortune in Africa. Mike made sure she knew that fortune would have gone...to HIM!!! Gib took it a step further, and surmised as we were giggling about it, don't ask me how it came up in conversation driving to the airport, that the fortune would eventually be used to get him a wife.... geez, gotta love male logic. Next time anyone mentions that 5 cow movie, you tell them you know a real 10 cow woman, but don't tell Indy you know about it!!! Indy’s trip to Africa was incredibly successful and she did wonderful physically which was my main concern. I am still waiting on photos, just so you know! Her camera broke mid tour so she has been waiting to obtain pictures from her group before she gives everyone the synopsis. She also has some school work to do (written papers) to wrap up the trip and that has priority.

Taryn is resting up for her 3 weeks of "Hit the Ground Running" at MS&T. She leaves on July 11. I am gearing up for sending another baby off. It’s hard to let go! She is home for 2 weeks and then is off for the Real Deal!!! Wow, it makes my heart hurt just to think about it. She will be missed greatly by all, but probably by Gib the most because they hang out a lot together, and when he gets bored late at night when computer/texting is off, and he is not, he goes in her room, wakes her up, teases her, sits on her, wrestles her, tries to make her laugh, etc. Indy said the other day she walked by and Taryn was under the covers telling him to go away (but not really meaning it!) and Gib, who was waiting for Indy to leave his room because she uses his bathroom for showering, was dancing shirtless in apparently some pretty funny “chesty moves” saying “c’mon Taryn you know you wanna look!” Indy said she just laughed and kept on walking!! I was bummed she didn’t clue me in so I could look!!! I wanted to! I love it when he is texting me late at night. Those are the funniest! It gets pretty noisy up there, especially when Mariah jumps in. One night I got a text from Taryn saying “make Gib go away I am trying to sleep”. Unfortunately for Taryn, I had just said good night to Gib who was texting me from Taryn’s room because I couldn’t keep my eyes open another minute, and she was 2 minutes too late ….seriously! I read it the next morning. Never even heard it come in! Poor Taryn! She will text something to me like “make them go away!” but I have often already fallen asleep and she is out of luck! Hey, sorry but I am worn out and I don’t have someone jumping on my bed to keep me awake!

Anyways, back to Hit The Ground Running! It is a pre-college program of math, science, english, and chemistry. It is exactly as regular college classes will be only abbreviated. It will count as 3 college credits. Great experience and a glimpse into how to study, where to study, how much fun is too much fun, how much fun is just the right amount of fun, entry level experience at the cafeteria - what to make a beeline for, what to run from, how late you can stay up and still function the next day and get good grades at the collegiate level....for 3 weeks running, We hope it is as wise an investment as we think it is. We also just made a switch in her ADHD meds to see if a different brand might be an improvement for her. We are trying Vyvanse. Mariah wants to switch too. I’ve heard from 2 people in 1 week that it was better with much less side effects and I just got “that feeling” so I made the move. Taryn did not want to switch. She knows what to expect from Adderall, but it is highly unusual for someone to stay on one drug for so many years, and go down in mg's to boot, so considering that and the fact that she pretty much avoids taking it at all costs due to the side affects she doesn't like (afternoon drag, dry mouth, no appetite, inhibited-personality feeling) and that can have disasterous affects on her grades.... I was seeing a scenario at college that wasn't pretty. I'm sure you saw the exciting video and pictures of her 18th birthday skydive, right? That was alot of fun! It was a quick experience though. We arrived and checked in and they rushed her on the plane that was leaving immediately! She loved it. I keep hearing talk of an August jump with Indy before the girls go back to college. I'm soooo tempted.

Gib left for Florida to visit his Grandpa Fred and Jan for a few days and learn some golfing skills. They will then drop him off at the EFY (Especially For Youth) Church Camp. They will also pick him up when it's done and he will get to spend more time with them and they will take him to the airport and I will meet him at his gate. Not baggage claim! Per his request. We hope perhaps there is a genetic inheritance for him in golfing, since it is so big these days. It would be fun for him to take up a sport of some kind. Soccer was just so-so for him. He does a lot of Scouting, and enjoyed backpacking. So maybe he is like his grandfathers. He did a pretty good job at track, he could run/jog a decent distance, so if he can swing a club... he'll have tagged all 3 of you geezers' fun hobbies/sports! hahaha! Right before he left for FL, I called to check on when Gib was supposed to get an eye exam thinking he'd better get a new pair of glasses for school. Turns out that "last summer" struck again. Gib hadn't been seen since the summer of '08. So I squoze him in, and got an appointment for Mariah a couple days after. Whew! Luckily, alot of people are down at the gulf or something this week. We hear it is still pretty and there is so much sympathy for the plight of the people (and the 60% off your stay is a deal) that many are going despite the fact that ocean swimming is out. Anyways, Gib found a pair of cool glasses. Actually, I should say, like the professional shoppers we are... we walked up and said, "find us the best pair of glasses for this boy's face" and the lady went right to work and did! It is so much fun to see someone start grabbing frames left and right and in under a minute have 3 serious contenders! They have this computer that takes your picture wearing 4 different frames and you get to see your face in each and you can compare side by side which one you really look best in. Gib wanted to have his glasses become his "shades" too, so then she colored the glasses so I could make sure they wouldn't look dorky as sunglasses. They passed that test on the computer screen too. Then Gib went in for an eye exam. Now that was a hoot!

I totally forgot to tell the dr filling in for us, because we didn't get our usual dr, about Gib's "funky eye" and she is new to the practice and doesn't have the hang of the paperless office and computer system yet. Somehow she missed that Gib has "Duane's Syndrome" and while he was trying to read the chart with his right eye covered, his left eye just does not see much. He was tilting his head all over the place and she was adjusting the lens and could not figure out why in the world this boy could not read the line! Now you have to imagine the conversation because that was the best part... she was from England so she had this total "here ya go, luv...try this one.. is it more defined now?" And Gib goes, "uuuhhhhh, E, dot, dot, dot, F???" We all busted up laughing so hard. THAT'S when it ocurred to me, and I go, "Gib? Is that you're FUNKY eye?" and the Dr, goes, (British accent, mind you!) "Funky Eye?! Funky Eye?! Wotz's this?!" Aw, it was great, I tell you! So, after it was all sorted out, we got a school letter for next year so Gib will sit on the correct side of the classroom so his Funky Eye doesn't have to work so hard, since he obviously can't even see out of the poor thing.... E dot dot dot F, indeed!! Especially since I have no idea if the dude even wears his glasses which is doubtful if his last exam was in '08 and he never once said, "Hey Mom, these glasses don't work at all anymore, I can't see a thing!". Side note: he did ask to try contacts again. Maybe in August or September I can afford another trial. He and Mariah both want them. Poor guy has really long eyelashes, and big guy hands. We've already tried twice. Bad combination!

Mariah got her braces off on June 23rd! She looks so beautiful and grown up now I can’t get over it! She also just finished her eye exam yesterday. We fitted her for the cutest pair of designer glasses frames you ever saw! We had a different person help us this time. He wasn't around when we got there so we started fumbling around ourself. One of the top contenders we found ourself, so kudo's to us!! She had about 20 pairs to try on at one point. This guy is super serious about his craft. He is the buyer for the place. They buy internationally. He about has me talked into the funkiest pair of glasses from Germany that you ever did see. But you know what, he's right, they are very cool looking on. When Mariah was getting her eye photographed I was getting to play with the camera/glasses technology! Shhhh, don't tell! So, we narrowed it down to two frames and Mariah really liked one, but the other one was really a better fit. So, what to do? Well, they guy takes her by the arm and they polled everyone in the place!!! Mariah was appalled at first but she really got into it after the first two or three voted for her favorite and not his!! She even initiated an opinion from someone who came by to speak with the guy! When that gal voted for Mariah's frames too, you should have seen the smile of Triumph that spread across her face! Troy only got 1 vote, Mariah scored like 5! We also sent a photo via text to a BFF and she voted for the cool frames too. That sealed the deal. Troy lost. LOL!

Next up for Mariah is volleyball camp, Red Cross babysitter camp, and painting Gib’s bedroom camp! We are going to paint it while he is away this month. Gib is only home for a few days in the middle of the month. Mariah’s stomach under the incision areas have been bothering her quite a bit lately. I think I will need to call her surgeron and see if it is normal healing or if there is a problem. I’ve given it some time to see if it was the healing he said the body would do on its own, which I suspect, but maybe it’s time to have an ultrasound to make sure. The only way she can describe it is it hurts sometimes like in her stomach muscles, like if she laughs or sometimes for no reason at all for a little while. She’s been having a lot of stomach-aches in general as well. And now, since her surgery, if she chews any kind of gum, minty or fruit, she gets a horrible stomach-ache. Weird, huh?

I am enjoying working at Coldwater Creek. When preschool starts back up I will try to juggle both jobs. I had a super busy day and topped it off with a shift there. It was one of those days where I only stopped off at home to grab a kid, drop off a kid and get a new kid, and then leave again. Came home to change and go to work. I was shaking with anxiety and hunger, and ate a protein bar and swigged a Coke on my 1.5 minute drive to work! Wow. Huh?! I was so happy to get inside the store as I could feel my nerves calm down and the tension fade away as the pretty clothes and textures soothed me. I hung things up in the proper places, tidied up piles of sweaters, organized a few things, spoke to customers, and in 15 minutes flat I was calm as could be! I have found it to be an environment I can spend 4-6 hours in and not go crazy or be bored. That’s a good thing. All the pretty clothes are soo tempting though….

OK, I am tired of updating now, and I’m sure you are tired of reading!