Schools out..........for summer

We said good-bye to the teachers, the parents and the students. A handful of kids are leaving the school and won't be back next year. The 8th graders, who have been with Madison since pre-school, graduated. It was an emotional day.....for me. The girls were just happy to start summer break.

We don't have too much planned for the summer. They both have summer reading lists and goals on reading. I'm planning some interesting homeschooling assignments. Madison will get braces. We have company coming in five days, and we are heading to Indiana in mid July. I'll do some teaching in the pool, and the girls are going to swim on the local summer team. We might get Tom off on a vacation in August, but for the most part we are hanging out at home in the backyard pool.

Each year seems to fly by now. After I first had my children it seemed to pass at a nice steady pace, but now it is passing at a rapid pace that I can't stop. My youngest turns 10 in less than four days. My oldest is heading out to a teen party tonight. My face is fuller and there are bags under my eyes. How did all of this happen?

I think for the next three months I'm going to try to slow down time. I'm going to try to make each day count with my girls. I'm going to practice patience. I'm certainly going to hold them tighter each and every day. I can't hold on to time, but I'll hold on to the memories we make this summer. And of course, I'll blog them all so that when my mind starts slipping I'll have something to remind me.

Happy Summer to everyone!

Leaving the teaching to the experts....

Monday evening after a full day of shopping, Darcy announced that she and Sarina were having two tests the following day. Since it was time to shower and get ready for bed they only had a few moments in between teeth brushing to study. I promised to help them the next morning.

The next morning Sarina was first out of bed and dressed. She and I sat in the kitchen. She ate and I quizzed her on her vocabulary. She passed. Darcy came in next and she too passed. I moved on to the spelling words for their spelling test. I started with Sarina again. When she missed a word I would go to Darcy. If they both missed it, Madison got a chance. Funny how great Madison was since she can't spell worth a darn any other time.

Sarina got stuck on the word, "brief". She kept wanting to spell it b-r-e-i-f. I would say no and she would try again, b-r-e-i-f-e. I passed on to Darcy who spelled it the same way with the "e" in front of the "i". The spelling words were words with long "a" and long "e" sounds. I was annoyed because they had told me they had no homework over the three day weekend, so I wasn't as patient as I normally am when helping to study. (hmmmm...)

After listening to Sarina do the b-r-e-i-f again I said, "Hello? "i" before "e" except after "c". Turns out she had never heard of this before so I begin explaining how words that have have an ie following the pattern of the "i" first, followed by the "e", with the exception being if it comes after a "c". Sarina was quite interested in this. Darcy apparently already knew this little rule so she chimed in with a few words that she knew. We finished up the words, and off to school they went.

When I picked them up after school I asked how the tests had gone. Both girls had gotten in the 90's on the vocabulary test, and we discussed what had been missed. I asked about the spelling test and both girls responded that they had missed two words. Two words that they hadn't missed at all when spelling them that morning with me. When I questioned why in the world they missed those two words.......

Sarina: "Because I was using that rule you told me about today. I spelled "seize" and "sleigh" with the "i" first because there wasn't a "c".
Darcy: "Yeah, those are two words must be the exceptions to that rule. I didn't know that."

Just another reason why I'm not a teacher.....

This should be mine

This was a truck outside of our haircut salon. It was parked in the row in front of mine, and as soon as I spotted it I pulled out the camera to capture it's unique color.

Then as I drove closer to get the picture we noticed it was changing colors depending on the angle from which we looked at it.

It went from multi iridescence to purple as I circled it to view the other side.

Then to this salmon color from the front and then a darker blue as we kept circling it. I kept hoping no one was standing in the parking lot wondering what the hell was going on as my van just kept going around in circles with all of us going, "ooooh, aaaaah, wooooow!" And then of course I was hanging out of the driver's side window snapping pictures as fast as I could without paying much attention to my circling.

Anyway....I want one.

And we're off

Kelly and I got on facebook the other night and chatted. Here in order are the topics we discussed:

1. Started off by discussing my facebook status regarding horsing around all day on the computer, and since I was still on it at ten o'clock at night, I guess it was a reasonable thing to discuss.
2. Discussion on Kelly's apartment and whether she had cleaned it out. I was informed that there were only a few goodwill items and her bike.
3. Kelly wanted to know if she had the girls on Saturday and that led to discussion of weddings, my not having an outfit to wear, and a discussion of the bride and groom.
4. Kelly told a story about her nephew and two nine year olds walking into town at Fire Island in NY. It was an entertaining story and quite interesting. Bet you wish you knew it, but it isn't my story to tell.
5. Kelly made Waldorf salad and we discussed the ingredients. I let her know I didn't like walnuts, but would eat it.
6. Discussion of birthdays and what she had to do tomorrow regarding the salad. It then got a tad raunchy, but hey, we are women.
7. I asked if the beach house was clean and she gave me a list of all the things she has taken care of in the last week including laundry (which I told her to do on Mondays and Thursdays) and making her bed (which she hardly ever does). I was very proud of her.
8. Talked about the mops we bought.
9. Facebook kept booting her off so we talked about that and how irritating it was. Somewhere in there I got hooked on the word poof. I used it every chance I got. Then a few naughty words were typed.
10. I was listening to country classic music so I quoted a few songs to her. She and my brother love to do this, but she didn't appreciate it from me.
11. Then she quoted one and that set us off on our bodies. She listed my good points. I listed the bad.
12. Ended up back on the birthday and what had to happen tomorrow for the birthday employee and all the work she would have to do.
13. I told her about my underwear purchase at Victoria Secrets. She wanted to know if they were thongs. That led to my story on Darcy finding the thongs at VS and wanting to know what they were.
14. Discussion of my recent blog about Madison and shopping. Someone commented on my blog and then copied it on to some website without my permission. We talked about setting up a sting.
15. Snickers ice cream bars
16. More underwear discussion
17. Used the word sans 4 times
18. Whether or not it was cool in the beach house with the a/c off and the windows open
19. Whether or not anyone could see her through her shower window. This led me to a story about my cousin Maya's bathroom window.
20. Weight again. Kelly listed her bad parts list, and I chimed in with her good ones.
21. I told a story about i before e except after c. She added what she learned. We decided she paid better attention in class. Look where it got her.
22. Discussed a family in our old town.
23. List of projects for both of us to work on.

Ended with Kelly needing to get to bed and me writing this blog to show everyone how the world's problems are solved.

Our shopping experience

Yesterday's shopping trip went very well. The three girls (we have an extra daughter for a week and a half) were delightful and fun. Darcy and Sarina were patient and helpful. Madison was open to ideas and trying on everything. She wanted me to take pictures of her so she could see herself. Not sure why this was better than the mirror, but we did it.

This pink dress we bought for the outdoor 8th grade graduation ceremony. Madison's 6th grade class has to make presentations on stage so she needed something nice. Unfortunately she told me that they aren't allowed sleeveless dresses. What? We live in Florida and sun dresses are sleeveless! We bought a pink sparkly scarf to wear around her shoulders if the higher ups don't like this dress.

This dress almost made the cut before the pink dress above. She tried on this dress first and we all liked it. It is a little more dressy than the other one, but the colors were nice on her. Browns are definitely a good color with her hair. I would have bought them both, but she out grows clothes so quickly I wasn't sure all of them would get much wear.

This was our fourth store. We hit three other stores before reaching the mall. We found our cocktail dress at the third store, but Madison wanted to make sure she didn't find something she liked better. I told her we could always take the dress back if she found something better. Thus she tried on more at JC Penney's.

We liked this purple dress too, but it wasn't better than the dress we had purchased at Kohl's (sorry Susan, know you don't like that word). We really did find a nice selection of dresses at these stores and the prices weren't bad.

Darcy and Sarina would take a shopping basket and would wheel it around the store throwing dresses in it for Madison to try on. She gamely tried all of them. By the time we got to this store the two girls and I were pooped, but luckily this was a huge dressing room with a big bench for us to park our rears while she strutted in front of us.


This dress was the last dress she tried on. By this time we were done with dress shopping and had moved on to finding her some shorts for summer. The pairs we had were too small so we sent Darcy out to get bigger sizes. Darcy returned with the shorts and this dress which she liked. Again, Madison gamely tried it on. We liked it, but she is so pale that the white sort of washed her out. Still not better than the dress we bought at the third store.

We started the day at our local outdoor mall. The first store she tried on several outfits, but they were all way too big. She needs junior XS and that is very hard to find. Even the 0's and 1's were too big at this store. We left and headed toward the mall, but we got sidetracked by Applebees where we went in and had some lunch.

The second store was outside of Applebees so we looked in it too, but it was an outlet and there wasn't anything in there. We hit the road and stopped at Kohl's where we ended up spending quite a huge amount of time picking and trying on clothes. While Madison and I were in the dressing room trying on the clothes the other two had chosen, Darcy got bored and decided to help herself to some of the same outfits she had chosen for Madison.

She would meet us as we came out of the dressing area and she was definitely better about strutting herself up and down the runway. Sarina too tried to show Madison how to model her clothes, but Madison stuck to her guns and ignored the two of them.

This dress to the left was actually in the kid's department at Kohl's. We found these after spending an hour in the junior department. I thought this dress was a tad too young for Madison, and after seeing Darcy in it she agreed and went with......



this dress. This is the one that she will wear on Saturday night at the country club for the 8th grade graduation party. Sarina is standing behind her holding up her hair in the style we thought should go with the dress. She will wear one of my necklaces (the one I wore on my wedding day) and some fake diamond studs in her ears.

Only problem.....she needs shoes. And she is a ladies size 9 so all the shoes we found had huge skinny heels that made her look like she was playing dress up in Cinderella's shoes. She may just end up with the shoes in this picture because I'm not sure I can stand to do this all over again.

When we got home she put on the dress and necklace and came outside to show her father. He was cleaning the pool. He took one look at her, standing before him in her finery smiling, and he said, "You shouldn't be out here by the pool in that outfit."

I understood. I've had more time to get used to this. He will need even more time.

It's only the beginning

The past two days have been full of food, alcohol and plenty of socializing. I need a break. That break, unfortunately, isn't going to be today as I'm taking Madison clothes shopping. While this might seem like a grand adventure to some, I must admit that it will be more like being strung up by my feet and having my eyeballs picked with an ice pick.

Madison hates shopping. She dislikes trying on clothes. If she had her way she would wear the same clothes forever, food stains and all. Perhaps it is just shopping with me that she can't stand. What I like, she doesn't. What she likes, I don't. If I say I like something, she wrinkles her nose and decides against it. But since she is still not old enough to hang at the mall without me, we are stuck. She needs cocktail attire for a graduation party that she is attending this coming Saturday. We attempted a shopping trip this past week after dinner and she was quite stoic. She stood in the dressing room and tried on every article of clothing that I shoved under the door. It is difficult for her to find clothes as she is tall, skinny and right in between children and teens in sizes.

This year seems to be the year of long dresses. She chose one in shades of browns and burnt orange with a criss-cross wrap bodice that tied around the neck and went off to try it. When she came out of the dressing room I wasn't sure if I should cry or scream at her to get that off! She looked so grown up. The dress was beautiful on her. It hugged her skinny little waist and the bodice hung just well enough to give the impression she had a bigger chest without it being obvious that she is just beginning. Her curly hair was down for a change and she stood before me with a look torn between amazement and regret. She is at that stage where she wants to take the leap, but yet, doesn't. She claims she will stay with us forever in our house and will never leave. She makes faces when we mention boys. Yet she is reading love stories and becoming more self assured.

I stood and looked at her and thought I would cry. I saw instead that little girl with the mass of curly hair that use to run around our house carrying her Elmo and a sippy cup chattering and asking "why". I wanted to yank the dress over her head and pull her into my arms and hold tight to her forever. Instead I did the next best thing. I told her I liked it. She wrinkled her nose. I asked her what she thought and mentioned again that I liked the color on her. She shrugged and said it was okay. I asked if she wanted to get it. She said she'd rather keep looking.

We left the store holding hands. My grip was a tad tighter than normal.

I don't mean to brag, but....

I forgot to post this little piece around Mother's Day. Probably more about feeling funny about tooting my own horn, but my kids are really proud so what the hell.....

http://news.cnnbcvideo.com/?nid=laYGajN2yA9erv9ZV9bCNjEyMjgxOTc5&referred_by=16004603-DWOHNhx&p=moveon


Thanks Susan!

Email Info

Bouncing this along:

• A used sheet of bounce can be used to clean your TV screen and eliminate static electricity as well as keeping dust from resettling.
• A sheet of bounce will take out the odor from old books and photo albums that aren't used often.
• Clean your shower with a sheet of bounce and dissolve soap scum from shower doors. Hmm....I don't have shower doors, but I do have soap scum.
• To freshen your home place a sheet of bounce in a drawer, hang in your closet, or place one in the vacuum cleaner. I can see this working. Wonder how long it will last?
• Prevent thread from tangling by running a threaded needle through a sheet of bounce before sewing.
• Place a sheet of bounce inside empty luggage before storing, in the bottom of your laundry hamper, in stinky sneakers, and in your wastebaskets to eliminate odors. Like the luggage idea as we store ours outside above the garage door....in the heat.
• Freshen your car by placing a sheet of bounce under the front seat. I'm doing that after I get off the computer.
• Use bounce to clean venetian blinds. Well, hell, I just cleaned Darcy's blinds first in the bathtub and when that wasn't good enough I sprayed them with a hose.
• Golfers place a sheet of bounce in their back pockets to keep away bees. I don't golf and I like bees.
• Use bounce to collect cat hair and sawdust from areas. Could have used this when cleaning Kelly's apartment.

I should have kept my fingers shut

While eating a small wad of blue cotton candy at Disney World a couple of weeks ago, I broke my crown. It really wasn't because of the cotton candy. It was because I angered the dentist gods by publishing my blog archives on my one and only crown experience. This I did because my dear sister-in-law needed a crown and requested some information. Now I am paying for what I did.

Yesterday I went to the dentist to have him take a look at the broken crown. Now, let me just start off here by saying that I have a different dentist then the one that put on my crown. I ditched that lady dentist awhile back. The dentist I have now is male. He works in a state of the art office and still takes classes on dentistry to stay updated. I think he may teach the classes.

A couple of years ago this dentist recommended I have a root canal because I was having sensitivity under the crown. It was so sensitive that when he put a piece of ice on the crown they had to peel me off the ceiling. He sent me to a wonderful woman who did the root canal while I lay back in the chair, ear buds in my ears, watching a movie she let me pick. She told me the tooth was full of rot and decay and it was good thing I had come in. All has been well since then. Except that unbeknown to me, my crown has had a hairline fracture that my dentist has been keeping an eye on.

Now I show up with a chunk taken out of my crown. He gives me the news. The hairline fracture. The large chunk that is in a place where it will be hard to fix. Blah, blah, blah. I looked at him and said, "This crown has been nothing but trouble for me. Take the damn thing out. Do it right this time."

Three hours later I left the office with my temporary crown. The experience was so different from my first crown experience that I wanted to float through the door singing. I wanted to stand outside the door on the highway dressed as a tooth holding a sign that advertised his dentistry. I wanted to kiss him.

Instead I forked over $600, made my appointment to receive the real crown, and bought a Steak n' Shake milkshake on the way home. Being a princess is damn expensive and time consuming, but this time I feel like a queen.

This princess is now thinking tiara instead of a crown

Dental Archive Story #3

One more dentist story, and then I promise to never go again
July 28, 2004

My crown is here. Not the one for my head, the one for my poor cracked tooth, that is now filled with some god awful goop and is the size of a pea. I have had a terrible time with this whole mess.

But today I inhaled deeply and drove myself to the dentist to receive my crown. I had been told this was the easy part. All the people with crowns, and may I say that there are a ton of crown people out there, told me that this part was a breeze. Well, they obviously did not know about me and dentistry.

The first sign that I knew it wasn't going to be a breeze was when I signed in. "Hello, Cara," the office girl sang. "How are you today?" But I heard what she was thinking, "Oh, yes, you miserable, whinny bitch, today is OUR day."

I smiled back at her and sat down, smiling broadly at all the other poor slobs waiting for torture. Out came the dental hygienist to call someone's name. "Hello, Cara. How are you today? Where are the girls?" She too was singing, but thinking, "My god, is that woman here again? I thought we finished her a long time ago."

Finally, the woman who made my beloved cap came out and called my name. "Hello, Cara," she said somberly, definitely not singing. "Are you ready to get your crown?"

She took me to the chamber. The torture chair would not recline. She pushed buttons. She plugged in plugs. She pushed more buttons. She moved me to the other torture chamber....the chamber where it all began, actually. I reclined, opened my mouth and POP off came my cap. She cleaned my nub, had me rinse, and stuck in my new crown. Immediately, I noticed the difference. It felt like a real tooth. Smooth on the sides, pointy at the bottom, just like a real tooth. It did not fit.

Out came the crown. Out went the cap maker. In came the dentist. Again, I want to state that my dentist is a beautiful, soft spoken, very qualified technician, but in my mind she will always be the torture master. She put in the crown and had me tap, tap, tap. She nodded at the fact that the crown was hitting my teeth first. She took off the crown and went to work on the sides of my crown with that horrible ear splitting device that makes me want to curl into a fetal position with my hands over my ears.

Back inside my mouth went the crown. Still no fit. She then put inside my mouth a black piece of what I thought looked like carbon paper. I had to tap, tap, tap and slide my teeth from side to side. She and the cap maker then studied the black paper as if they were grading my PhD dissertation. Again the drill was turned on, the crown sides reduced and again it was popped into my mouth. IT FIT. Oh, yes, it fit. I practically jumped out of the chair, clapping my hands in glee. "It fits," I shouted. "I can't feel it at all." You see, I am not a hard nosed, whinny patient after all, because it fits now.

They both smiled at me and sent me to have an X-ray. An X-ray? My god, I've had so many X-rays in the last three months since cracking this tooth that I can stand next to an electric pole and tune in my favorite radio station. I just told them that the damn crown fit. Why the need for an X-ray. What? I can't feel that it fits? Pat, pat, the cap maker soothes my shoulder before sticking in that giant metal pole with the small poky, scratchy tab attached that gouges your gums when you bite down. Back I go to the chamber to wait. Ten minutes go by and in comes my dentist. "Good news, Cara," she sings, "the crown fits."

I refrain from throwing my arms over my head and shouting, "Praise Jesus!" I wait instead for them to mix the cement (visions of my driveway came to mind when I heard that word), goop it into the crown, and again insert it into my mouth. She pushes it in tightly, removes some excess cement and smiles at me. "Good?" I bite down. It doesn't fit.

Now, I will admit that in that moment I felt somewhat smug. "Can't you people get this right?" I wanted to shout. That moment did not last long as my dentist stuck her finger into my crown and shoved the darn thing so hard up into my mouth I thought it would come through my nose. "Good?" she asked again. I thought about lying, but instead I meekly admitted that it did not feel good. Out came the black paper. Again the two hunched over it, whispering, every so often stealing a glance at me.

Finally, my dentist sighed and told me that the cement they were using was probably too thick and that they would have to mix up a thinner batch. They disappeared. They were gone so long that I pictured the cap maker leaning over a cauldron of cement, stirring and stirring with a long broom handle. I seethed in the torture chair. It wasn't my fault. I'm an easy going, fun loving person. Ask anyone who knows me. I do not cause trouble. I do not seek out trouble. People actually come to me and pour out their problems! This whole tooth thing was not my fault.

The girls returned and we went through the whole procedure again; mix, goop, insert, shove hard up into the gums. "Good, Cara?" the dentist asked, and before I could answer she pushed in a wad of gauze and told me to close. She ran out of the room.

I sat and silently willed myself not to throw up the foul tasting cement that was sliding over my tongue, gums, and teeth. I sat for two minutes. The cap maker reclined me, took out the gauze and wiped my tooth. I cautiously bit down. It fit. I smiled weakly and admitted to her in a soft voice that it fit. My crown was cemented in place over my pea nub and it fit! She wiped away tears. We shared a moment.

It didn't last long. Out came the torture instruments. Long, pointy, metal sticks with poky hooks. She went to work on the leftover cement in my mouth. I thought my head might actually fall off and roll on to the floor she was jerking so hard with that torture stick. Pieces of cement were falling on to my tongue and blood was pooling in the back of my throat. Thankfully, she did clean this up before attacking more leftover cement. When she stopped I sighed a tiny sigh for surely that was it. No, out came the thing that I hate more than all the other horrible things associated with dentistry.....dental floss. I actually moaned and she actually said, "Oh, yes."

She flossed the front of my new crown. She flossed the back of my crown. The floss did not come out. She pulled on the floss. It stayed. She rapped her finger around the floss and pulled and jerked and pulled and jerked. It stayed. She tried to pull the floss out from the other end. It wouldn't come out. She stood, braced her foot against the chair and pulled and jerked some more. And then she then left! I lay there with my mouth opened, dental floss sticking out, cement on my tongue, and I knew that I needed to seriously think about finding a lawyer.

The cap maker did return. She had another tool in her hand, but by this time I had my eyes closed and was doing some serious chanting to all the lords and gods that I remembered from mythology class. She picked, prodded, jerked, yanked and out came the floss. "See," she said brightly, "all done." She then pushed the button, and up I rose into a sitting position. I rinsed, and I mean to tell you that I am not exaggerating when I say the sink was red when I spit.....again and again.

She gave me some final don'ts (after I asked) and told me to have a nice afternoon. As I passed by the front desk I saw the dental hygienist and the dentist sitting tightly together, smiling brightly at me. I raised my hand and turned my head. "Talk to the hand you two torturous bitches." I thought.

"Good-bye," I sang aloud.

5 Shows I watched this week

• American Idol - I started out a Danny Gokey lover and ended up an Adam Lambert lover. While the finale wasn't up to other Idol snuff (Fantasia and last year's Davids) I thought both men did as well as could be expected considering the songs that were chosen for them. Seriously, they have got to get songwriters who write that last number for the artists who are left standing. Kara's song was not an Adam song, and I didn't think Kris did much better.

• Glee - I read about TV all the time, but I had not read anything about this show. It was like Fox didn't have a clue what to put in the slot after American Idol. I only watched it because it looked odd and caught my attention. I paused the DVR and returned to watch it later. I'm so glad I did. I haven't laughed that loud or that long in months. A hysterical show that makes fun of other shows within its show. The rest of the episodes won't be on until fall, but if you missed this first episode you should check out fox online. You won't be sorry.

• Scrubs - I thought it was a fabulous ending to a great show. Now I just read that the show isn't going to be canceled after all, which is quite annoying. Either way, Zach won't be back. He told me so....on Regis and Kelly.

• Lost - For a woman that only caught up on this show this past fall, I am hooked. I thought the season ender was a good one that left me wondering, thinking, wondering, thinking. The best part? The writers and creators actually have a timeline to end the whole series despite the high ratings.

• Survivor - I can't get enough of the show. I think it is still going strong, and finally, FINALLY, two contestants stood up to the jury and said things like, "Hello? This is a game. Damn right I lied my ass off, and if you didn't, well, that's the reason your ass is sitting in the jury." And Jeff Probst? Still sexy in my book.

And it is only Monday....

Phone Call #1

Me: "Hello, Kim, I have chipped my crown."
Kim: "Oh, no. Would you like to come in today?"
Me: "No, I have to take someone to the airport and don't want to have to worry about that."
Kim: "How about Wednesday?"
Me: "That would be great as I thought I had an appointment to have my teeth cleaned then."
Kim: "I have you coming in on the 9th for that."
Me: "Yes, I know. I have a card that says I'm coming in on Wednesday, the 21st, and then I got the card in the mail telling me my cleaning is the 9th. I guess you changed it."
Kim: "Huh. That is strange. Let me look here. Well, Cara, you came in last year on May 21st."
Me: "Oops. My bad."

Phone Call #2

Me: "Are you packed?"
Jyoti: "What? Packed? For the trip? Oh, just about halfway."
Me: "Halfway? Didn't you want me to take you at 1:00?"
Jyoti: "Yes....on Wednesday."
Me: "Wednesday? You said Monday."
Jyoti: "No, you suggested I go on Monday, but I made the reservations for Wednesday. Remember, I asked you if you could take me to the airport on Wednesday, and you said, 'no problem I only have something to do on Thursday.'"
Me: "No, I thought I had an appointment on Wednesday, not Thursday. But it turned out I was wrong. Only now I do have an appointment on Wednesday, but it is early in the morning. I have to get that chipped crown fixed."
Jyoti: (laughing) "You scared me there in the beginning."
Me: "Well, you told me Monday."
Jyoti: "No, I told you Wednesday."
Me: "I heard Monday. I even wrote it on my calendar."
Jyoti: (still laughing) "What do you have on Wednesday?"
Me: "I have that dental.....oh.....uh, nothing. I have the dental appointment written on Thursday."
Jyoti: "See! See, you told me you had something on Thursday."
Me: "Well, now I see what happened. I found that card and it said the 21st so I wrote it down on the 21st which is Thursday, but because the card says Wednesday I thought the 21st was Wednesday."
Jyoti: "Because last year the 21st WAS on Wednesday."
Me: "Oops. My bad."

A week in review

• I should've never revisited and posted my crown escapades because while eating blue cotton candy over last weekend my crown chipped. How is that possible? Now my tongue scrapes against it daily. I didn't call the dentist as I thought I had an appointment this coming Wednesday. Saturday I received a reminder card and it says June. Now I have that card and the card that says my damn appointment is this Wednesday! Which one is right?

• I spent most of Wednesday cleaning Kelly's old apartment as I am determined that she shall receive back her security deposit. I moved everything still left in the place into one room. I filled the room. How anyone can own so much stuff, have it all in a two-room place, and not have it noticeable is beyond me. I think she is magic. The worst part of the whole cleaning process was not having a place to sit and rest as the furniture was all gone and I'm too old for the floor.

• I started back at the gym on Tuesday and by Friday could barely walk without limping.

• I prepared only one somewhat healthy meal this week and it was something I had cooked previously and frozen.

• I did five loads of laundry on Monday morning and forgot that my new favorite pair of pants had something spilled on it. I washed and dried it and now they are my pants to help Kelly move in. They go well with my car repair shirt.

• I went to Target and only spent $22.

• I bought four new shirts to help cover the economy and my big belly.

• I did not stick to my goal of drinking nothing but water until the weekend. I consumed diet coke, a mike's hard lemonade, peach tea, coffee, cranberry juice, and lemon tea.

• I researched homeschooling so that I can keep my children involved in school over the summer. First on the list is "handwriting" as their handwriting is horrible. Years ago when I brought this up with one of the teachers, she responded with, "They don't need handwriting or know how to spell. This is the age of computers and spell checking." And to think I pay for this school!

• My library books are overdue.

• I did buy plane tickets for this summer and that is a huge relief and great weight lifted off my shoulders. Now I just need to plan another week.

• School is winding down and there is something going on daily: 

*I drove some of the middle school students to the nursing home they visit for community service. The residents threw an ice cream party for the graduating 8th graders. Interesting to chat with some of the residents. 

*Madison's middle school class performed A Midsummer's Night Dream in drama. Madison played Puck. A great job even though the language was strange. 

*Madison's sports banquet was Friday. The accolades went on and on for each player and there wasn't any alcohol served.

Photo Archive - or more appropriately - Hairdos that come and go

It's that time again for old photos of people that read my blog. Today's photo gallery is my sister-in-law, Susan.

At first I thought this photo was taken in Indiana at Susan's house during her birthday. This is a piece of jewelry that a friend of mine's daughter made. I thought it looked like something Susan might wear (as I didn't own button-down shirts and you had to clip it under the collar) so I gave it to her as a gift. I assumed my father had taken this photo to send to me to show me how Susan liked the gift. But then I looked closely at the picture and realized this picture was taken in Florida at my mother's condo. I would say this was around 1995 or 96.



A lot of my pictures of Susan are at Christmas time in Indiana. In this picture, she was downstairs sitting next to my father and my grandfather. I cut them out as I didn't want to distract from Susan's beauty.

The most vivid memory of my sister-in-law in those days was the amount of time she spent in the bathroom on her hair. We made fun of her all the time, but by golly, she stuck to her guns and didn't let our heckling (or anything else for that matter) stop her from her routine.

Good thing she didn't or I wouldn't have had any great photos of her to post! I took this picture back in my days of following in my father's footsteps as a family photographer.



This picture was taken in Florida on another visit by the family. On this day we took everyone to the beach to walk around before having lunch on the patio at a restaurant on the beach. That is Madison she is holding. Madison and Austin were running all over the beach while we waited for a table, and since Susan loves the sand, salt, and sea we let her be in charge of rounding up the children when it was time to eat.

This is also around the time she started posing for my photos. Some of my brother rubbing off on her, I think.











Another Christmas photo, this one from 1992, and one in which I cropped out the other couch patrons, myself and my Aunt Helen.

Not sure what was happening in the picture, but I would guess not much of anything as that is how our holidays went in the frozen tundra of Indiana winters. We sat around talking, or working puzzles, or eating.
















This picture is one in which Susan has not done her hair or her face for the day. This is a getup and go morning. We are at the beach and obviously under a pier of some sort. This could be in Dunedin or Clearwater, but I'm not sure. I do remember the day was a tad windy thus we were taking cover.

Goodbye Toby....it was good while it lasted

Last night Darcy discovered the turtle was gone.

This was the conversation:

Darcy: "Mom? Did you give Toby away?"

Me: "Why would you think that?"

Darcy: "Because the towel is gone."

Explanation: Toby was living in a plastic container. The container was on top of a towel that was on top of our bookcases in the library. When I took Toby outside every day for sunning the towel would remain on the bookcase.

Me: "Why were you looking for Toby?"

Darcy: "I went to feed him."

Me: "Well, Darcy, Daddy took Toby away 13 days ago, so if he had still been here at home he would have been damn hungry after 13 days as you didn't bother to feed him any other time."

Darcy: "I actually noticed it last night."

Me: "What do you mean?"

Darcy: "I walked by and noticed the container wasn't there."

Me: "Where did you think Toby was?"

Darcy: "I thought he was still outside."

Me: "You noticed he was gone at 10:30 at night and assumed he was still outside yet you didn't bother to go outside to get him and bring him inside?"

Darcy: "Well......yeah."

Me: "This is why you shouldn't be a pet owner."

Also: Madison had not realized Toby was gone, but she heard me talking to Kelly about feeding the fish while we were at Disney. Then I said to Kelly (only because Madison was listening, and I was still counting how long it took them to notice the missing turtle) something about feeding the turtle. Only Madison thought this was code for Kelly to come and get rid of the turtle just as I had gotten rid of Kelly's cat. Because that is what friends do our world......we get rid of pets when the need arises.....

The turtle is happily living his life in his natural habitat. He is swimming in a larger area and enjoying food and the company of other turtles. Life is good. He thanks us for finding a better home for him. All is good.

Our two fish are still living at home with us. We love them. Madison and Tom care for them without any fuss. Life is good for me all of us.

Epcot's International Flower and Garden Festival

Epcot had the International Flower and Garden Festival going on this month. Everything was coming up roses...or...flowers. It is truly amazing the work they do in putting this together. I kept picturing Edward Scissorshand on anything bush-like.

The above pictures is at the entrance to Epcot. Behind the girls are several Disney princesses including Cinderella and her prince, as well as her coach, Snow White and the dwarfs, and Beauty and the Beast. Edward was definitely in find scissor happy shape.

The next pictures are from the walkway to the Future World. It was from The Lion King and had these two as well as Simba's parents, Scar and his bird side-kick.

Of course, there was an area devoted to the head honcho, Mickey Mouse. As there should be.

Disney World - Day 3

Sunday, May 10th - Mother's Day

10:30 AM - Check-out time today was 10:00 AM, but because through Connie's generosity I too am a President Reserve Points Holder in Wyndham, I called down and requested a later check-out time yesterday. The first time I called I was told to call back after five when they would know more (?). I did this and was told that my room was booked for Sunday and the latest they could do was 10:30 AM. I thought about mentioning my 11:15 "welcome" appointment, but decided against it. I really wanted to let someone know that I would be missing this meeting because I wasn't allowed a noon check-out, but I figured up and at 'em was better in the long run. We were all a tad tired, but we made it.

Because I have written about my past resort experiences, I shall now list the negatives about Wyndham's Bonnet Creek Resort. I feel this is important for those out there that might be thinking of purchasing, or who already own, points in this program. I have listed the positives throughout my blog about the vacation so it is only fair that I list the negatives:

• The mattress cover that went on the pull out sofa bed was so badly ripped that it was unusable.


• The duvet cover on the master bed was ripped across the top (about 24 inches) so that the duvet kept pulling out of the cover every time we moved or tried to get warm.


• It was very hard to get a hold of the front desk. I was put on hold a couple of times and left there so long I finally had to hang up.


• The pool was not well managed by security. At the resort in Daytona Beach security was constant. There was no horsing around in those pools at all. Here there were tons of teenagers that congregated and pushed and pulled each other into the pool and the lazy river. I had to tell two young boys, around nine years old, to stop diving into the lazy river, and I stopped two others from running. An entire group of people, adults and kids alike, got into the lazy river at one point and stopped it up with their bodies, not allowing the rest of us to pass. Instead, they began making tons of waves so that the river was lazy no more. In the evening the pool was supposed to close at ten. Friday night we left at a quarter to eleven and the pool was still hopping with tons of rowdy kids and adults with coolers and glass bottles of beer.


• I did not receive my paper as a Presidential Reserve Member, which I am entitled to. When I called down the first morning to ask where the paper was the girl at the front desk wanted to know if I was a gold, silver or platinum member as they only had me down as a presidential reserve member. Well, chickie, a presidential reserve member IS a platinum member. Now get me my paper! Which she did. I did not get one the next morning, nor did they bring it up after calling.

Other than that, I can't complain. I will still need to visit the resort again to check out the other amenities that I missed by only staying for the weekend.

11:30 AM: We have dropped Camille back at the JW Mariott and we have parked in Epcot. It is very hot and already we are sweating while we wait for the tram to arrive. Tom and Madison have opted to walk to the entrance. The rest of us are waving as they head off.

1:00 PM - It is hot! My shirt is sticking to my back and sweat is rolling down my face. I am not having what I would call the perfect Mother's Day, although Disney greeted all of us with pink and white carnations as we entered the park. It was a nice gesture, but I'm thinking they should have done this as we exited as carrying these flowers around all day will be quite a chore. We have gone inside the ball and enjoyed that ride. They roped the line off well enough to keep everyone shaded for the most part and this ride is one that moves at a rapid pace. Darcy and I were seated together because she said she enjoys our little discussions while we are inside. This meant me adding to Disney's history trip through the ball. Good to know she is paying attention.

This ride was one of the many that Disney closed for updated renovations. It used to be sponsored by AT&T and mostly showed a history of communication from the stone ages to the future.

It was updated because that "future" is now a reality. Now instead of the family mannequins talking to each other via computers from one country to another, you have your photo taken as you begin the journey. Each seat has a computer screen and you plug in answers to questions regarding the future. After you learn our nation's communication history, the seat rolls backward through the area that was once the exhibits, but now is darkness so you can see yourself on the computer screen in the future of your design. This is Darcy and Cara eating breakfast in our future home in the city.

4:00 PM - One of the reasons why we are at Epcot is because Tom's Disney fanatic co-worker told him that there was a new Kim Possible exhibit at Epcot. We found it and signed up for a mission to help Kim and Ron save the world. We plugged our tickets into a slot, answered questions on a computer screen, and a paper printed out for our next assignment.

The problem was that we let all of the kids do this so that we ended up with three missions instead of one. And they were all AT DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. We hiked into the World Showcase, but got side tracked by the first country, Mexico. That is because there is a restaurant right there at the entrance that serves frozen margaritas and that is how I wanted to celebrate Mother's Day. So we ate lunch, and then while Jyoti and I drank margaritas, Tom took Darcy to Norway to pick up her communicator. It was a cell phone that Wade would call you on to fill you in on the mission. Her first mission was to start in China. Darcy and Sarina agreed to work together on this mission and then to work together on Sarina's mission later.


Tom took Madison and headed off to get her communicator. Her mission was in the United Kingdom and the two of them had fun completing it. I had another margarita and then headed with the others to China.

The communicator was interactive. Wade told the girls that Monkey Ninjas were causing havoc, and he gave clues of areas within China to help them complete their mission.

The girls had to find certain areas and then push buttons on the communicator. One such area was a red hotel door and when they pushed their buttons on the communicator the door unlocked and popped open. Alas, it did not open further and Wade told the girls to duck for cover because the bad monkeys had planted a bomb or something. I wasn't paying too much attention as the two margaritas weren't mixing well with the heat.

It was a cute thing to do and it was done well. It also got you to explore each country where the missions were held. There were two different missions at each country, I believe, or at least there were different things happening in the country because Darcy and Sarina never went to this statue that glowed with a code, but Madison did. We ended up going to Japan for Sarina's mission, but I opted to fall asleep outside Japan on a bench under the shade while that mission was being performed. When they woke me I was drenched in sweat. No more liquor for me.

5:30 PM - We are back in the car and heading toward home. We ended the day by standing in line for an hour to get on the Soaring Ride, but it was inside so I can't complain. My Mother's Day Disney souvenir that I purchased was one of those squirt bottles with a fan so the rest of my trip was somewhat bearable.

Our plan is to stop in Tampa for dinner. It was a nice vacation, but I'm thankful that my passes are not usable during the summer heat!

Disney Vacation - Day 2

Saturday, May 9th

7:40 AM - The phone just rang with a reminder call from Wyndham that my "welcome" appointment, complete with continental breakfast, is at 8:00 AM. Sleepily, I told them we would have to reschedule that appointment. We made it for tomorrow at 11:15 AM.

10:00 AM - We are all up, dressed, and fed. Madison's friend, Camille, is here in Orlando as well and we are to meet up with her today. Unfortunately, she isn't answering her phone.

11:00 AM - We have reached Camille and we are to pick her up at the JW Marriott. Tom has taken out his trusty iPhone for directions, choosing to ignore the directions Madison wrote down per the JW Marriott concierge's instructions. Once again I have opted to sit in the back.

12:00 PM - We have finally found the JW Marriott after much confusion and following of the green dot on the iPhone. Jyoti has kept her cool in the front seat. I haven't done as well from the back seat. Turns out we should have followed Madison's instructions. The women and children are now eating the lunch we packed to take into Disney.

1:00 PM - We have entered Disney's Animal Kingdom. The theme this Spring is "Celebrate Today". Little do they know how hard we have tried.

5:30 PM - We have conquered Disney's Animal Kingdom and we are on the way home. Disney's Animal Kingdom only stays open until 5:00 PM every day so that the animals can be fed, watered, hosed down, and put to bed. The park is one of my favorites because it's shady. I also like the educational experience. The Conservation area has live animal surgeries you can watch and all sorts of educational information. I love that there are animals throughout the park everywhere you roam from ride to ride.

The girls wanted to get Fast Passes for the Kali Rapid River ride. Fast Passes are passes that you can get to come back to a ride and pretty much just glide right through to the front of the line. You can only hold one Fast Pass at a time. As we walked to the Rapid River ride, a young man approached us and offered up four Fast Passes to the Expedition Everest roller coaster ride, and Tom, Madison, and Camille took off to take advantage. Jyoti and I took the younger girls and waited the 20 minutes to get on the Kali River. Then Jyoti ducked out.

I took the girls on the ride. Darcy has gotten smart. She brought her bathing suit and so the two girls changed before we got into line. I did not. Nor did I bring a change of underwear. You would think I'd learn. We were in a raft of adults and teens. I was sharing a side with a man about my age. He and his family had never been on the ride before so I gave them a heads up on putting their sneaker-clad feet up on the rail. Otherwise...you walk around the park in wet sneakers. Ugh.

I love this ride because at the end right before you make the huge drop the raft spins and whoever is sliding down backward is exactly who is getting wet. It is so much fun to watch people who don't have a clue what is coming. Unfortunately, you can end up being that person. I was. Twice!

We rode the ride again with the entire group (minus Jyoti) directly after getting soaked. The second time we were on a raft with all young girls. When we spun around we just kept spinning until Tom and I were backwards once again. I was drenched from the top of my head to my knees. My feet, however, were dry. It took about an hour to dry out in the 90-degree temperature.

We spent quite a bit of time in Dinoland where the girls rode another roller coaster, and we zipped through the Dinosaur ride, another of my favs. Our legs are hurting now and we are headed back to the resort for some swimming.

8:30 PM - We are now entering Disney's Magic Kingdom for the evening. It stays open until 11:00 tonight so we are hoping for a cooler and less crowded experience. We did some swimming down the lazy river at the resort, had Indian leftovers and pizza poolside, and have showered. Now we are ready for a magical evening.

The girls are interested in Splash Mountain, as well as the smaller rides like the teacups, the merry-go-round, and the race track.

12:00 AM - We are heading back to our car. The park is closing and we are pooped. We have done quite a few rides and we have stood underneath the fireworks show. Tom, Sarina, Madison, and Camille rode Splash Mountain over and over as the attendant kept letting them get back on as soon they got off. When they met up with us, Tom was sopping wet. 

Jyoti and I just know we are going to sleep well tonight. We've had tons of exercise, been in the heat and sun, and are satisfied we have done are children proud. We're definitely going to sleep well.

Day 2 has ended and already Day 3 has begun.