Milestones

Lots of landmarks this week! First, a couple of days ago (not sure exactly what day to be honest) marked my second anniversary of blogging. Thanks to all of you crazy people who keep coming here to read this insanity. Second, yesterday was our fifth wedding anniversary. It makes me feel old. Yesterday we had exactly the kind of weather I was afraid of for our wedding: cold, windy, generally miserable for Florida in March. Alfred and I went out to dinner. Pizza and beer, nothing fancy, but it was somewhere I had been wanting to go and it was really good so that's all that matters. Third, today is Ella's seventh birthday! Talk about feeling old! We sent her a couple of sundresses for her gift. She's definitely old enough now to have her own opinions on clothing and stuff, so I hope she likes them. Happy birthday Ella!

We've been house/dog sitting for Max and Robyn the past couple of days. They're in Milan for about 5 days, Max went with a friend of theirs for work and invited Robyn to come. Lucky stiffs. Really, we're just keeping Ellery company while he takes care of everything. Although I have walked the dog a couple times, so I've been mildly useful. It's a whole different traffic situation going to work from here, but at least I had to go to work really early yesterday (yeah, that's really a great thing) so I beat most of the traffic. I get to go in today too, but the weekend should be fine traffic wise too. Oh, and speaking of traffic, I thought of something yesterday that I definitely do not miss about our old house: all the motorcycle traffic from Bike Week! They're loud and go too slow and band together so you can't pass them. But I don't have to deal with them this year!

water sports

Luckily we're busy making granola and on the phone trying to get our satellite service working again, so I got to finish this post! Finally! I've been intending to post these for years. Days, anyway.

So we got this really cool waterproof case for our camera, and Tony and Mike took it with them diving to test it out.



This is the same place Katie got certified last summer. This picture is so cool. It's looking up towards the surface from probably 30-40 feet down. I'm guessing, I wasn't there, but I've done this dive.

Ok, enough of that. What we really want to see is cute kid pictures! Here's Ella getting ready to go.

The kids playing under a fountain at the first hotel we stayed at.

We spent a few days at the beach, too. They loved the water (Ella especially, she was boogie boarding like a pro), but we spent some time playing in the sand too. Here's some evidence.

They just look like they're having a blast here.

And Mason, chill-axin' after a rough day of fun.

#300!

This is my 300th post. Neato. It's also Father's Day, so happy Father's Day. I also missed Robyn's birthday last week, so happy belated birthday to Robyn. I think that's it for important dates. So, as promised, the cupcake pictures. First, Mason. He did not want his picture taken, so I told him I'd just take one of his cupcake. That's why he's not smiling.

And Ella. She was perfectly happy to pose for me. She had been hitting the frosting pretty hard, in case you can't tell by her face.

Then Tracy spent 30 minutes cleaning up sprinkles. But the cupcakes were delicious!

Another weekend at work, another weirdo

I just say here and watched a woman change her kid's diaper on the seat of the trolley they park out front to attract customers. Um, we do have bathrooms. Just sayin. I'd love to be nosy about this family, they have 2 one-year-old girls, one looks white, the other black. I mean, they could be cousins or something, but I'm curious. But alas, I will not ask. Oh, the grandmother just came in to use the restroom. Hope that trolley seat wasn't too hot for the little girl. It's supposed to be in the 100s today. It was 90 when I got to work at 10:00. Nuts!

So Tony and Cathy and the kids left yesterday. Ella, Mason and I made cupcakes on Thursday night. They helped me measure and pour and everything, then picked colors to dye the cupcakes and helped me decorate them. With sprinkles. Which, in hindsight, was not the best idea. Well, the idea was fine, it was the execution that was the problem. Sprinkles everywhere. Mason went through almost an entire container on 1 cupcake. I got a couple of pictures, I'll have to post them later.

This weekend kicks off our month (or so) of house sitting for Ilya and Mercedes. They're in Spain for a few weeks, so we get to hang out with the kitties. It's a good distraction so we don't have to notice how quiet the house is without guests. Ok, time for my leftover mac and cheese lunch and some more "work."

cathy's pictures

I just downloaded Cathy's pictures and wanted to add hers to Mom's from yesterday. First up, a couple of shots of Mike and Cathy grabbing hold of some double D's. And in Disney World, no less!













I just think this one's cute.

And now, back to the drinking. Luckily Cathy had her camera with her when we were out in search of dessert Saturday night. We made a stop at a gas station at one point to buy more beer (which we then carried up and down the road before hiding it in the bushes in front of the hotel) and for some reason Alfred bought a can of cat food. And then took not one, but two bites.













Ugh. Moving on. They gave us crayons to keep us entertained and out of trouble while we waited for our food. Mike apparently got bored by coloring on the paper table covering and went for Cathy's face instead.

And then I got my water, tried to take a sip, somehow stuck the straw up my nose, and then dumped it into my lap.













And one last group shot. Good times.

my bad

As Katherine pointed out to me today, I haven't posted in 5 days. I've just been so busy having fun and whatnot. Today was my first day back at work since last Thursday, and so along with the end of my 24 hour a day, non-stop fun comes the return of the blog. First up: Orlando!

Everyone flew into Orlando on Thursday, and we headed down there to meet them after we both finally got home from work. Clearly, we did some drinking. Friday we went to Disney!

The kids had a good time, although they got a little tired of walking at times.

That night, more drinking took place. Obviously. I think that was the first night we did a power hour. That hotel had a little balcony that we all crammed onto and got drunk on. We did a whole lot of swimming before that. Ella is a crazy woman in the pool. She swam non-stop for like 2 hours. It's no wonder she's so tiny, she should be eating all day to keep up with the calories she burns.

Saturday Mike and Tony went diving (they took our new waterproof camera case with them, so at some point I can post pictures that they took underwater) and the rest of us hung out at the waterpark at the hotel.

We had to switch hotels that day, then off to a pirate dinner adventure. It was fun, with an extra pitcher of beer. Mason was laughing his head off watching one of the pirates get whipped. How adorable.

And another power hour that night.

Ella helped us keep things tidy. She also earned some good money in tips by pouring us our shots.


We were using our new power hour program on the computer, so we knew that none of us were sober enough to drive by the end. So instead we walked around, up and down the road that our hotel was on, looking for some place to get pie for an early birthday celebration for Mike. Eventually we settled on Denny's, a mere 100 or so feet from our hotel, after walking back and forth for an hour or so. Mike went wading in the retention pool in front of the hotel. Alfred ate cat food. I think there are pictures somewhere.

And then we left. Tune in tomorrow for episode 2: the beach!

it's back!

Briefly, at least. Obviously it went out again the other day after that short post, but right now it's back. I started writing this Sunday and hopefully it will post today. We'll see.

So what have we missed? All sorts of fun stuff! For one thing, we opened 2 new programs at the new museum last Thursday. I was insanely busy Wednesday through Friday, getting things ready and set up, and then making sure everything ran smoothly with groups. There were a few really long days, but in the end, everything went very well. Except for a slight mishap first thing Thursday morning: I smashed my thumb with a hammer. Hard.














It's doing better now, the swelling has gone down some and I can bend it almost all the way. The bruising is healing a bit already, too. It doesn't hurt to touch at least, but I can't put any pressure on it yet. It's interesting to see how often you use your left thumb. Toothpaste, for instance. And it's a good thing I cut my nails last week!

Friday was also Ella's sixth birthday! Mike sent me a picture of her with her cake that he took on his phone. Freaking cute. Damn kids, getting old.

This weekend was nice and calm, but productive. We made a whole mess of jam, since we still had some frozen strawberries from last spring, and they're on sale right now since they're in season.

We made strawberry kiwi, strawberry rhubarb, strawberry ginger, and strawberry apple. Now all we need is some more yogurt to eat it all with. The goat we get our yogurt making milk from should be producing again, so that's exciting. I think this weekend I'm going to make some bread to eat it with, too.

The last 2 nights we have had the most delicious, gorgeous salads for dinner, using lettuce that we bought from the farmers market. There's only 1 true local farmer there, and it's the lettuce/green leafy veggie guy. It was so good, I didn't even use dressing. Also, I'm listening to the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle in the car on my way home from work (mornings are for NPR) and I'm turning into a total hippie. I want to move to a farm.

Ok, I think we're pretty well caught up now. In case the internet doesn't work (assuming this posts), I may not post again till Saturday. I hope you can all hold out until then.

power hour live blog: the aftermath

Our shot glasses have been approved for future power hours. Ok, from this sentence on I am not going to edit my typos. We just got off the phone with Tony and Cathy and the kids, Ella wants silly string for her birthday burt she isn't going to tell her mom, cause her mom wil freak out! So I'm totally buying her silly strong. her birthday's coming up. That means my blog-aversary is coming up. Woprd. Our pizza is baking, hopefdully it's awesome. It's a rasta pizza plus half a pizza worth of banana peppers. For those who do not know, rasta pizza is pepperoni, green pepper, and pineapple. It's fantastic. Wow, it's awful how many typos I have. HBowever, it's an authentic representation of the fact that I have completed a power, plus half a beer, plus maybe 2 sups of another. Dang, I keep wanting to correct my speelling but I commited to bot fixing it. Mike just said cream.

eyelid update

I think my eyelid issue is resolving. I woke up Saturday with eyelids so swollen I could only open my eyes about halfway. So I stopped using a bunch of different things for the weekend (like lotions, shampoo, stuff like that), and they've gotten much better. I'm going to slowly start re-using the things I stopped using and see if I can figure out what it was. So that's good news.

Saturday we also did something we very rarely do: we went shopping together! Not grocery shopping, we do that fairly regularly together, but clothes and other stuff shopping. And - the most unusual part - we bought Alfred a pair of jeans! The boy hates shopping for and trying on clothes, but he was bitten by the fashion bug so off we went. It was fun, actually. We looked at Christmas decorations too, Alfred wants to put up more lights this year. We thought about starting to put some up this weekend but decided to screw it. (I was going to put in a picture of our house decorated for Christmas in the past, but can't seem to find any. Too bad. Instead, here's a picture of tiny Ella feeding beer to a stuffed animal. It was taken at Christmas time. Good enough.)

I did manage to get over my cold this weekend, but have been stuffy all day today. It's getting a little ridiculous.

Happy Birthday Mason!

He's the big 0-4 today. I have to call him today to wish him a happy birthday, hopefully he's not too busy to chat for a minute. Or maybe I'll just talk to Ella instead. (On her birthday, she was busy opening presents and wouldn't come to the phone, so I talked to Mason. And Tony. But Mason was funnier.)

I had to MacGuyver the box I sent his gift in a bit. We got him a Sponge Bob sidewalk paint set, and it was about 2 inches too long to fit into the priority mail box that they have at the post office. So I took it back to my office, turned it inside out, and made a new top for it with a piece of another box. Brilliant.

For good measure, here's another picture: us cutting a rug together at my wedding. I have to say, he didn't really know what he was doing, but he followed my lead and we were ok. Luckily he's damn cute!

Fun with Young Children

Scene 1: church, during one of the hymns

Ella: Is there only a piano at this church?
Katie: Yup, just a piano.
Ella: No trumpets?
Katie: Nope, no trumpets.
Ella: Not even any cymbals?
Katie: Nope, just a piano.
(pause)
Ella: Trombones are my favorite.

(I don't know what kind of church this kid's been going to, but it sounds entertaining.)


Scene 2: the living room of my parents' house

Ella (coming up from the basement): Uncle Mike, they won't let me do whatever I want.


Scene 3: the basement of my parents' house

Kristin: Ella's uncle told me that I was in charge of the lights cause I'm the biggest kid here.
Me: Yup, that's right.
Kristin (worried): Well, did he tell Ella they were going to take over the world?

(yes, yes he did)


Scene 3: photography studio

Cathy carries Mason into the studio. He's a little cranky and doesn't want to cooperate. He's rubbing his face, and eventually his finger makes it into his nose. When he pulls it out and holds it up, there's a giant booger on the tip of his finger.

weekend recap

No pictures today, but a story about me being a drunken fool! Almost as good!

It was a nice weekend, though the reason for it was sad. If you've ever read Tuesdays with Morrie, though, she did not want to get to that point, and for her sake I'm glad she didn't. The funeral was very nice, the priest was good friends with both of my grandparents and did the mass for my grandfather as well. He was able to make it very personal, and he actually teared up at the cemetery. He was the priest that confirmed me, my brother, and a couple of my cousins, but I did not feel the need to go relive old times with him. I'm sure he would vaguely remember me because of my grandma, but he doesn't need to be reminded of me specifically. I wasn't the most pious teenager. Heck, the most I remember of the weekend retreat we had to take was going upstairs to the boys' hallway, and flirting with a couple of guys I liked.

So we decided to have a night out with (almost) all the cousins Saturday night. We started out with a power hour (complete with Uno) at 6pm. Luckily, we had 2 19 year olds that could be our DDs, but unluckily, they joined us in the power hour. By 7 we had moved outside (after Mike knocked over about half a dozen bottles on the living room floor) and my cousin Kim had brought her 3 kids over (my mom was having a sleep over with them and Ella and Mason). So we spent some time chasing the kids around and playing with them, I attempted to clean up the bottles and shot glasses (fully intending to clean them up on Sunday), Mike got denied buying beer at a gas station because he had an out of state ID, and Katie and my cousin Aaron raced each other around the block on my grandma's motorized scooters. By maybe 8 I think my mom's head was ready to explode, and everyone was there by then, so we headed off to a bar/restaurant.

I will add at this point that I had made it through the power hour and, while I was feeling somewhat intoxicated, I was really doing quite well. So I decided to have a couple more cans of beer. Smart move.

So we get to the bar, and we order some pitchers and food. That's when things start to get fuzzy. I think I drank some more, and I know I had at least 1 piece of pizza. Apparently there were also wings, fries, chicken fingers, and all sorts of other stuff, but I have no recollection of that. I spent a lot of time working the table, circling around and talking to everybody, and I called one of my cousins who hadn't come to try to convince him to join us. I'd love to hear that voice mail. Tony and Cathy told me Sunday that I got sentimental. I didn't ask what they meant. I also started taking little walks. I kept going outside and walking around the shopping plaza we were in. At one point I walked across the plaza and into Mighty Taco (drunk food of champions), walked up to the front, studied the menu for a couple of minutes, then walked back out.

Eventually I decided I needed to go home. So I started walking. I texted Alfred to let him know, he called me, and that's when I got emotional. I was on the phone with him for the next 18 minutes while I walked, crying my little eyes out, because I was wasted and felt bad leaving. I seem to get very emotional when inebriated. Once Alfred's sister and a couple of her friends came over and I ended up doing a bunch of shots, put myself to bed early, texted Alfred and Katie a bunch, then came back downstairs and spent an hour or so alternating between playing Mario Kart and sobbing uncontrollably. I think because a glass broke. Sometimes I get mad instead and yell. I have a problem. Where was I? Oh yeah, walking home crying. Katie caught up with me right when I got to my parents house and started laughing at me. Next thing I remember it was 3:30am and Alfred was handing me my phone (I should ask him how he got it). He told me the next morning that when he got back I was passed out in bed with my glasses on and the lights blazing. I did manage to take off my eye makeup, take out my contacts, wash my face, and put on my pjs.

I finally got up for the day at 9:15 with a little bitch of a hangover. We had to leave for the airport at 10:30. Luckily I felt much more human by the time we left (15 minutes late) but we had no problems checking in and got home fine. I didn't have time to clean up the bottles and cans like I thought, but hey, you do what you can. Fun times.

house meeting #3

(James Blunt sucks. All of his songs are the same. Lame guitar/piano music, then the same 3 lines sung over and over and over. I bet they're easy to write. I know they're easy to get stuck in your head. Guess what we were listening to in the car.)

So Alfred went to another meeting about the new house yesterday. This one was with DEP, who we had already met at the house site and who indicated it wouldn't be any problem to get a permit from them. There was also a woman from Water Management there, and she apparently was not so easy. We now have to pay an engineer to say that our house will not cause the surrounding area to flood. It seems a little silly to have to go through this step, since we're surrounded by swamp, which is connected directly to a canal, which drains into a lake, which connects to the St Johns River. We are literally less than a mile from the lake, less than 2 from the river. We couldn't flood the area if we tried. But we have to pay someone to write this down for her. Stupid rules.

The good house news is that between moving the house by 5 feet and shrinking the pad a little, we only need to request a permit to fill .06 acres of land now. That's almost half of what it was before. We're submitting the paperwork to the Army Corp today, hopefully he'll be satisfied with what we've done and will just give us a damn permit. He said if it all looks ok, we can have a permit in 3-4 weeks! That would be great. I just hope he accepts it, he said at our meeting it's a 1 try thing, if he says no the first time we can't change it and try again. It's a little nerve wracking, but hopefully it will work out ok.

In other news, my parents are on their way down to visit. They left yesterday and should be here tonight around 6 or 7. We bought lots of meat and TP at Costco last night. I hope we make it through the week. My dad's on a diet because he's either borderline or actually diabetic, so I'm going to make a brownie recipe that has black beans and splenda instead of oil and sugar. I'm obviously not telling him that's what's in them until they're gone. I bet he'll like them until he finds out about the beans, then he'll hate them on principle. I made a similar recipe for the Superbowl and they were actually pretty good.

Hm, no pictures yet. Well, since Alfred's the one who bugs me when there are no pictures, here's an old one of him holding Ella. See, he totally loves babies!

MN continued

I got Katie's pictures last night, so here are some more from our trip! We went to a hibachi place for Lisa's birthday, it was kind of funny because the guy kept dropping stuff and messing up. He threw one of the eggs too high, it hit the ceiling and broke and fell into the shrimp, then he kept breaking the other ones when he tossed them on his spatula. He was rather entertaining. Look how snazzy we all are.


I was taking a picture of Ella playing with the Wii and Tony and Mason just happened to be in the bottom of the picture. I think it's so cute.


Drunky McDrunkersons.


Some more dress up.


Ella helped me make a cake one night. She kept sticking her fingers into the eggs as we beat them to see what it felt like. Then I turned around to get the pan, I turn back and the girl's coated in chocolate - she just dunked her hand in the batter and started licking it off. It got all over her bathrobe, her face, in her hair, everywhere. It was pretty damn funny. (Please note the bottle of gin behind her. She asked when we were putting that in the cake.)

back to real life

Our trip to Minnesota was awesome. We had lots of fun. We drank a lot, played lots of Uno and Wii, hung out. Thursday night we knocked back an impressive 7 bottles of wine. This isn't the best picture, but it's probably the funniest. Although Cathy has a sequence of 4 or 5 pictures of Tony that are hysterical.

The kids were super cute, of course. We watched some Star Wars, played some beads, several dozen rounds of hide and seek. A couple of times they hid so well we actually didn't find them, but I'm going to assume the 7 bottles of wine had something to do with that.

Also, lots and lots of Wii. Tony and Cathy don't have one (yet), their friend Lisa had just gotten one for her birthday and brought it over for us to play with. We all had sore arms and backs from all the boxing, but hey, at least we didn't just sit on our asses the whole weekend! Me boxing Tony (and losing, if I recall correctly; golf was my game):


Tony and Cathy resolving a marital dispute:


And Ella, with a little backup from Mason and his squirt gun: