I have 7 minutes left until I have to hit the ground running. Today is going to be busy. Tomorrow even busier. I'm not thinking about Friday yet because that might send me over the edge. Now, had I not procrastinated when I wasn't busy on Monday and Tuesday and cleaned the house alot more, I would not be so busy this morning....but oh well, I'm a big believer in "Down Time".
Today we have an appraiser coming. This is not my favorite thing. They take pictures of every room in the house. I however, have lost my need for perfectionism, which I consider a good thing. I would like it to look nice, but it doesn't have to be perfect. So I need to get off the computer now and go take care of my assigned rooms. I sure hope the kids have done their portions, or their rooms will look very bad on the photos. BTDT. Then you have Cranky Mommy. She's not fun.
Gib and I have to leave for an eye dr appt and we'll be back hopefully before the appraiser arrives for last minute screaming, oops, I meant to write, SCRAMBLING, if the other children didn't do their assigned rooms.
The reason for this interruption of our summer laziness? We are refinancing one last time to take advantage of 4.5% plus whatever little extra Mike bumped on there to pay the fees. So it's probably 5%. It will save us $ each month and that's a good thing! Then we have to start co-signing on Taryn's college student loans and by the time that is done, there is a likelihood we will be co-signing on Gib's college student loans or possibly Indy's graduate student loans; or both; or maybe Taryn's too; or all 3. There could be a marriage in there, or two! And we'll be worrying about Mariah dating right about then.
Hey, have I ever mentioned that Mike's hair is turning gray too?!
Oops, my 7 minutes has tuned into 11. Whoa, I'm gonna have to sweep somethin' under a carpet now.
2023
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Friday, June 25, 2010
Taryn's Birthday
I will put Taryn's Birthday photos up tomorrow too.
Taryn had a great birthday and she just looked so beautiful the day she turned 18!!!
Mike and I took her to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. It is not a tradition for us to do this, but it was something fun and events led to this being the only way we felt we could spend some special one on one time with Taryn before Mike had to leave to head for Atlanta to collect Indie at the airport, and Taryn was going to the movies for her birthday with a friend, and people were scattering to the winds.
As soon as we got home Taryn got to open her presents. She had a great time, especially with the College Survival Kit stuff. She really enjoyed the variety and odd assortment of stuff and creativity!! My mom also made her a scrapbook of her life and a beautiful green quilt that she's been working on for a couple months. I helped choose the fabric. I love doing that - it is my favorite part. After that I don't want any part of quilting!!
Later that night, when everyone except Mike and Indie, met up at the house again, and Taryn was ready for dessert, we had Ice Cream cake. It was probably around 11 pm!! Gib saved the day earlier when he and Brett walked down to Walgreens and bought us another #8. I don't know where these number candles go. But I hear we need another #2 and a 0, and a #3 and a #9. I think we probably should just get a complete set and put it under lock and key!!! Hmmmm... maybe that would be a really good gift for someone - a full set of matching numbered birthday candles! It is very stressful to not have the right number when it comes time to light the cake!
Tonight we went out to dinner. It wasn't exactly Taryn's birthday dinner. It was kinda just a family dinner so Indie could have some real food for the first time that sounded good to her. She chose Mexican. We are going Skydiving this weekend. When we head home, Taryn can choose the restaurant and that will be her birthday dinner topping off her birthday present from Mike and I. She can't wait!!
Taryn had a great birthday and she just looked so beautiful the day she turned 18!!!
Mike and I took her to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. It is not a tradition for us to do this, but it was something fun and events led to this being the only way we felt we could spend some special one on one time with Taryn before Mike had to leave to head for Atlanta to collect Indie at the airport, and Taryn was going to the movies for her birthday with a friend, and people were scattering to the winds.
As soon as we got home Taryn got to open her presents. She had a great time, especially with the College Survival Kit stuff. She really enjoyed the variety and odd assortment of stuff and creativity!! My mom also made her a scrapbook of her life and a beautiful green quilt that she's been working on for a couple months. I helped choose the fabric. I love doing that - it is my favorite part. After that I don't want any part of quilting!!
Later that night, when everyone except Mike and Indie, met up at the house again, and Taryn was ready for dessert, we had Ice Cream cake. It was probably around 11 pm!! Gib saved the day earlier when he and Brett walked down to Walgreens and bought us another #8. I don't know where these number candles go. But I hear we need another #2 and a 0, and a #3 and a #9. I think we probably should just get a complete set and put it under lock and key!!! Hmmmm... maybe that would be a really good gift for someone - a full set of matching numbered birthday candles! It is very stressful to not have the right number when it comes time to light the cake!
Tonight we went out to dinner. It wasn't exactly Taryn's birthday dinner. It was kinda just a family dinner so Indie could have some real food for the first time that sounded good to her. She chose Mexican. We are going Skydiving this weekend. When we head home, Taryn can choose the restaurant and that will be her birthday dinner topping off her birthday present from Mike and I. She can't wait!!
She's Back!
I don't have any photos yet.... but it has been wonderful after a L-O-N-G month of no contact whatsoever of a personal nature to be able to see, touch, and hear Indie again! She has been entertaining us today with some stories and we expect to get bits and pieces some more as she processes her experience. I can't wait to read her paper.
She had a good trip. Let's do a bug report first, shall we? We get alot of those stories since Indie and I share a similar revulsion of the critters. But, all's well! The special clothing, and the repellent treatment worked! Plus, when they were told to choose huts, Indie went straight for the one closest to her and, well, it was the only one that had a mosquito net that was treated to KILL the bugs that flew into it! And somehow their hut just didn't have the bug problem that all the other huts had. Was Somebody Upstairs looking out for my daughter or what?! Other people had to pick tons of trapped live bugs out of their nets and off their floors every morning and get rid of them. They did not really have that problem. And not just mosquitoes...we're talking scorpions and nasty acid spitting bugs too. Ew, ew, ew.
I was so relieved to hear Indie did well physically. She had a problem with her eye and couldn't wear her contacts for most of the trip which was a huge bummer, but didn't suffer like the others did from many of the other common problems that are expected. She was blessed! She worked hard and was able to keep up with the physical demands of carrying 50 lbs of sand up the mountain. They were at an elevation of over 5,000 feet. 3 of the team members were unable to do this, and one could not even carry 2 liters of water the mile uphill. Indie of course was not one of those! She was a workhorse and hauled sand with the best of them, side by side with the Sisit women and guys on the team, and the professors and the other couple of girls who could do the work. And it was challenging, grimy, and exhausting work. Followed by classroom work in the evenings.
The one challenge she had to endure and will continue to wrestle with for another week is a side effect of the anti-malarial and that is nightmares. I hope that now she is home, her subconscious won't be so freaked out by weird experiences of the day and they will subside. She is so tired from not sleeping well.
Indie has a gift for telling the funniest stories and we are having a great time listening to her adventures. We were all rolling hearing about one trip to a market where 3 warriors were encountering some trouble with an angry cow tied to a rope. It was hobbled and only had 3 good legs to drag these warriors around with but that was all it took. It had a nice set of horns that Indie felt were deserving enough to run from when the cow took one look at their group and went after them. It kinda knocked one girl aside (she wasn't hurt) and Indie took off running! She got behind a hut and was peeking around the corner laughing at the whole scene...because let's face it, this is funny stuff. Bascially a 3 legged cow because one leg is tied up, 3 warriors trying to keep it under control, and it's going after the Americans. All of a sudden the cow sees Indie as they are going past her and it makes a sudden detour and heads straight for her. She pretty much stops laughing and starts screaming and running. She had to hurtle 3 half walls to get away from it. The whole time the market was in an uproar of laughter, as were all of her companions and their professor. Afterwards, Indie walked away waving and smiling, and saying "Jambo! Jambo!" She says they were suitably impressed with her speed and jumping ability! It was a really funny story. I hope she will retell it in her own words because that was the very short version of a very funny tale!
She had a good trip. Let's do a bug report first, shall we? We get alot of those stories since Indie and I share a similar revulsion of the critters. But, all's well! The special clothing, and the repellent treatment worked! Plus, when they were told to choose huts, Indie went straight for the one closest to her and, well, it was the only one that had a mosquito net that was treated to KILL the bugs that flew into it! And somehow their hut just didn't have the bug problem that all the other huts had. Was Somebody Upstairs looking out for my daughter or what?! Other people had to pick tons of trapped live bugs out of their nets and off their floors every morning and get rid of them. They did not really have that problem. And not just mosquitoes...we're talking scorpions and nasty acid spitting bugs too. Ew, ew, ew.
I was so relieved to hear Indie did well physically. She had a problem with her eye and couldn't wear her contacts for most of the trip which was a huge bummer, but didn't suffer like the others did from many of the other common problems that are expected. She was blessed! She worked hard and was able to keep up with the physical demands of carrying 50 lbs of sand up the mountain. They were at an elevation of over 5,000 feet. 3 of the team members were unable to do this, and one could not even carry 2 liters of water the mile uphill. Indie of course was not one of those! She was a workhorse and hauled sand with the best of them, side by side with the Sisit women and guys on the team, and the professors and the other couple of girls who could do the work. And it was challenging, grimy, and exhausting work. Followed by classroom work in the evenings.
The one challenge she had to endure and will continue to wrestle with for another week is a side effect of the anti-malarial and that is nightmares. I hope that now she is home, her subconscious won't be so freaked out by weird experiences of the day and they will subside. She is so tired from not sleeping well.
Indie has a gift for telling the funniest stories and we are having a great time listening to her adventures. We were all rolling hearing about one trip to a market where 3 warriors were encountering some trouble with an angry cow tied to a rope. It was hobbled and only had 3 good legs to drag these warriors around with but that was all it took. It had a nice set of horns that Indie felt were deserving enough to run from when the cow took one look at their group and went after them. It kinda knocked one girl aside (she wasn't hurt) and Indie took off running! She got behind a hut and was peeking around the corner laughing at the whole scene...because let's face it, this is funny stuff. Bascially a 3 legged cow because one leg is tied up, 3 warriors trying to keep it under control, and it's going after the Americans. All of a sudden the cow sees Indie as they are going past her and it makes a sudden detour and heads straight for her. She pretty much stops laughing and starts screaming and running. She had to hurtle 3 half walls to get away from it. The whole time the market was in an uproar of laughter, as were all of her companions and their professor. Afterwards, Indie walked away waving and smiling, and saying "Jambo! Jambo!" She says they were suitably impressed with her speed and jumping ability! It was a really funny story. I hope she will retell it in her own words because that was the very short version of a very funny tale!
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Itsy Bitsy Spider
Today I took the van to work. I drove with one eye on road, and one eye on the look out for "The Spider". Judging by its web, it wasn't so itsy bitsy either, but who knows; it hasn't been found!
See, the other day I was leaving for work, kinda in a hurry because I had goofed around a tad too long, then had to talk to the kids on my way out the door. Luckily Mariah was around on my way out the door because as I went to put my purse and lunch in the seat next to me my hand went THRU a huge spider's web!! Yes, inside the van!!!
Give me a live mouse, give me a snake, heck, give me a stupid cardinal pecking at my window for days on end... but not a spider IN the car with me!! Somewhere.... lurking. With its web across the two seats in the front, as big as a human body!! You could see it perfectly too. It was a rather nice web as webs go.
I, of course, evacuated. I had to ring the doorbell so Mariah could bring me new car keys. I told her to have daddy take care of the spider's web for me and if Taryn needed the Volvo... well, someone would have to drive the van to the mall and switch out cars and keys!
Then I drove to work and arrived a couple minutes late. And it was all the spider's fault. That's my story and I'm sticking to it... haha, get it? Sticking to it... webs?!
Today on my way home it was soooo hot (we are hotter than central Florida and only a couple degrees cooler than Waco, Texas!) I had all the windows down to blow out the oven temps as I was leaving the mall after the van sat there for 6 hrs, and when I got home a massive fly was in the car. Dang! That spider missed it by a day - I shoo'd out the fly before I shut the windows ALL the way this time!! Hope the heat killed the spider...surely it would, right?
See, the other day I was leaving for work, kinda in a hurry because I had goofed around a tad too long, then had to talk to the kids on my way out the door. Luckily Mariah was around on my way out the door because as I went to put my purse and lunch in the seat next to me my hand went THRU a huge spider's web!! Yes, inside the van!!!
Give me a live mouse, give me a snake, heck, give me a stupid cardinal pecking at my window for days on end... but not a spider IN the car with me!! Somewhere.... lurking. With its web across the two seats in the front, as big as a human body!! You could see it perfectly too. It was a rather nice web as webs go.
I, of course, evacuated. I had to ring the doorbell so Mariah could bring me new car keys. I told her to have daddy take care of the spider's web for me and if Taryn needed the Volvo... well, someone would have to drive the van to the mall and switch out cars and keys!
Then I drove to work and arrived a couple minutes late. And it was all the spider's fault. That's my story and I'm sticking to it... haha, get it? Sticking to it... webs?!
Today on my way home it was soooo hot (we are hotter than central Florida and only a couple degrees cooler than Waco, Texas!) I had all the windows down to blow out the oven temps as I was leaving the mall after the van sat there for 6 hrs, and when I got home a massive fly was in the car. Dang! That spider missed it by a day - I shoo'd out the fly before I shut the windows ALL the way this time!! Hope the heat killed the spider...surely it would, right?
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Party Animal
In the 5 weeks since school got out, I do believe that Gib has single-handedly surpassed both Indie and Taryn's cumulative social activity/party/hang-out gatherings of ALL FOUR YEARS of their high school careers...not the summer's mind you, but ALL FOUR YEARS!!!!
Gib often packs in 4 parties in a 3 day span over a weekend. Gib will even bail out on one pool party when he is texted by another friend to come join them at theirs. His explanation? He spent the day before with the one group and they had enough time with him already, and it was time to go to the other party. The "real" reason? A girl. Wouldn't you know it! We figured that out pretty quick. :)
One of my favorite parts about driving Gib all over town to these activities is when he calls to say they have left one location and are now at a community pool in another. When it is time to get him all I am told is what pool he is at. Like I will immediately know exactly how to get there. He has no idea where he is really, what street it is on, or how to get INTO the neighborhood by car in the first place. Thinking he has solved the direction problem, he has written down directions that are the absolute vaguest thing I have ever encountered. We get to the intersection and he says basically "we have arrived". And I'm all like, "Gib, there is not an entrance to a neighborhood in the middle of an intersection!!!" Then we finally find it, thanks to me not his dumb directions, and I turn into the neighborhood thinking Gib now knows where to go since his lovely directions end at this point and he goes, "drive to the pool". I look at him blankly and ask him, "and how do I know where the pool is?!" We laughed and drove around trying to guess where we would put a pool. Luckily a golf cart dude was putt-putting around or we would have never found it. Of course Gib didn't have a phone number of the friend who could have helped get us there. Noooo, that would have been too easy.
So, what I've learned is to get a street name, map it on my way out, and then put it into my iphone and save it for future reference. Thank goodness I have an app for that!!
And by the end of summer, my knowledge of the location of several community pools will be increased substantially!!
Gib often packs in 4 parties in a 3 day span over a weekend. Gib will even bail out on one pool party when he is texted by another friend to come join them at theirs. His explanation? He spent the day before with the one group and they had enough time with him already, and it was time to go to the other party. The "real" reason? A girl. Wouldn't you know it! We figured that out pretty quick. :)
One of my favorite parts about driving Gib all over town to these activities is when he calls to say they have left one location and are now at a community pool in another. When it is time to get him all I am told is what pool he is at. Like I will immediately know exactly how to get there. He has no idea where he is really, what street it is on, or how to get INTO the neighborhood by car in the first place. Thinking he has solved the direction problem, he has written down directions that are the absolute vaguest thing I have ever encountered. We get to the intersection and he says basically "we have arrived". And I'm all like, "Gib, there is not an entrance to a neighborhood in the middle of an intersection!!!" Then we finally find it, thanks to me not his dumb directions, and I turn into the neighborhood thinking Gib now knows where to go since his lovely directions end at this point and he goes, "drive to the pool". I look at him blankly and ask him, "and how do I know where the pool is?!" We laughed and drove around trying to guess where we would put a pool. Luckily a golf cart dude was putt-putting around or we would have never found it. Of course Gib didn't have a phone number of the friend who could have helped get us there. Noooo, that would have been too easy.
So, what I've learned is to get a street name, map it on my way out, and then put it into my iphone and save it for future reference. Thank goodness I have an app for that!!
And by the end of summer, my knowledge of the location of several community pools will be increased substantially!!
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Decamping
Well, the girls are feeling better. Gib was entertaining Taryn until about 1 a.m. and texting me until nearly the same time. I know I didn't make it until 1 a.m. though because last I remembered I texted Gib "Nite". When I woke up I had a text from Taryn asking me to tell Gib to leave her alone so she could sleep. Sorry Taryn! You were about 2 minutes too late in your request!
Volleyball Camp is officially kaput. I told Mariah we wouldn't even try to go to the last day today. I can't see her running and hustling for 4 hours. I've called to put Mariah in the next one that will be held in July instead. I hope they will just transfer her enrollment and I won't have to pay again, or let me pay for 1 day since that is all we attended of this one, which is 4 days long.
Poor Mariah, the bad news just kept coming. Turned out her much anticipated overnight volleyball camp has also been cancelled. Last year she went to it, but didn't stay in the dorm rooms, we drove her there each day. Some huge political rally is being held there instead. Gotta say I don't think much of a college that has planned something in advance, taken your money and then says, oh we think this political party needs to have a rally and they are more important than these 100 girls so taataa darlings. Mariah was crushed. It was her overnight camp!!! Girl party! Dorm Rooms! Up all night! Talking! Giggling! Eating! Oh, and of course...the Volleyball! The opportunity that has been lost just can never be reclaimed. You are only 12 once you know.
I also had to move Mariah's Red Cross Babysitter Boot Camp from next week to end of July because she needs to get her braces off on 6/23. Mariah wants to be a babysitter so bad she can taste it! If only she lived close to that rich supply of cousins out West. Out here, getting Red Cross Babysitter Certified is a golden ticket that mom's look for before hiring a young babysitter. It is a two day course, 9 to 4:30 both days and teaches some of the tricks of the babysitting trade, including safety, first aid, choking and CPR. (I think Taryn should take it again. She texted me the other day when she was babysitting wanting to know if I would come do the "dirty work" for her. I told her she would have to do it, and explained how - Mariah was giggling in the front seat of the car the entire conversation. Then I mentioned to Taryn that maybe she better wait a REAL long time before ever having kids.) Either that, or live REAL close to Mariah, who will never let HER Red Cross Babysitter Badge get that rusty!!
A couple days later, I was thinking about the Ortho thing, and asked Gib if, when he made his last ortho appointment, did he finally make the braces off appointment the dr had been postponing all summer or another tweaking appointment? He didn't know, so I called and it was another check up. Which frustrated me, because back in April, we had decided to take his braces off before July. So I told them I wanted to pre-book the braces off appointment right then for something no later than July 1st because he leaves for Florida, and will only be home once for a couple days in mid-July and then again for a couple days the last week of July. And I wasn't going to wait until August when we had agreed in April that these braces were coming off before July!
It took a conversation with the Dr, but finally after ALOT of searching, we found two appointments in the two tiny windows Gib is home in July. I am not thrilled that they are booked so solidly that you need 6 weeks to find an appt, but I am happy to know that we will soon be done with braces, and that we won't have two ortho appointments we have to work our school schedules around. When Gib gets back from the lake it's just one week before school starts for us. Whoa.
Volleyball Camp is officially kaput. I told Mariah we wouldn't even try to go to the last day today. I can't see her running and hustling for 4 hours. I've called to put Mariah in the next one that will be held in July instead. I hope they will just transfer her enrollment and I won't have to pay again, or let me pay for 1 day since that is all we attended of this one, which is 4 days long.
Poor Mariah, the bad news just kept coming. Turned out her much anticipated overnight volleyball camp has also been cancelled. Last year she went to it, but didn't stay in the dorm rooms, we drove her there each day. Some huge political rally is being held there instead. Gotta say I don't think much of a college that has planned something in advance, taken your money and then says, oh we think this political party needs to have a rally and they are more important than these 100 girls so taataa darlings. Mariah was crushed. It was her overnight camp!!! Girl party! Dorm Rooms! Up all night! Talking! Giggling! Eating! Oh, and of course...the Volleyball! The opportunity that has been lost just can never be reclaimed. You are only 12 once you know.
I also had to move Mariah's Red Cross Babysitter Boot Camp from next week to end of July because she needs to get her braces off on 6/23. Mariah wants to be a babysitter so bad she can taste it! If only she lived close to that rich supply of cousins out West. Out here, getting Red Cross Babysitter Certified is a golden ticket that mom's look for before hiring a young babysitter. It is a two day course, 9 to 4:30 both days and teaches some of the tricks of the babysitting trade, including safety, first aid, choking and CPR. (I think Taryn should take it again. She texted me the other day when she was babysitting wanting to know if I would come do the "dirty work" for her. I told her she would have to do it, and explained how - Mariah was giggling in the front seat of the car the entire conversation. Then I mentioned to Taryn that maybe she better wait a REAL long time before ever having kids.) Either that, or live REAL close to Mariah, who will never let HER Red Cross Babysitter Badge get that rusty!!
A couple days later, I was thinking about the Ortho thing, and asked Gib if, when he made his last ortho appointment, did he finally make the braces off appointment the dr had been postponing all summer or another tweaking appointment? He didn't know, so I called and it was another check up. Which frustrated me, because back in April, we had decided to take his braces off before July. So I told them I wanted to pre-book the braces off appointment right then for something no later than July 1st because he leaves for Florida, and will only be home once for a couple days in mid-July and then again for a couple days the last week of July. And I wasn't going to wait until August when we had agreed in April that these braces were coming off before July!
It took a conversation with the Dr, but finally after ALOT of searching, we found two appointments in the two tiny windows Gib is home in July. I am not thrilled that they are booked so solidly that you need 6 weeks to find an appt, but I am happy to know that we will soon be done with braces, and that we won't have two ortho appointments we have to work our school schedules around. When Gib gets back from the lake it's just one week before school starts for us. Whoa.
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