Happy Birthday!!!

Auntie Joan and Lynne arrive from England on the 10th. Since Bob and I were out of town the weekend we didn't see them until the big birthday dinner Tuesday night. Jean turned 80 on the 15th and Joan turned 88 on the 16th. We had a wonderful celebration at Zoes on 19th Street. Joan and Lynne both are loads of fun! It was awesome to see them again. Since Herb, Jean and Joan were leaving the following morning for Myrtle Beach, I planned to go to hang out at Mike & Paddy's pool with Lynne. Peanut and I had a wonderful afternoon visiting with Lynne and Grendle. We had such a nice day I decided it would be a good plan for Thursday as well! Bob stopped by after work and we all went to a nearby Mexican restaurant for dinner. I've had such a wonderful time getting to know Lynne more these last couple of days. It really makes me want to go to England even more now ...

... and tomorrow I head to the OBX for the weekend!! sigh ... life is good :)

The Big Game ...

Dallas - Washington Game

On the 11th Bob and I drove to Harrisonburg for a short visit with Cari before heading to the Redskin/Cowboy game in DC on Sunday.  We had a wonderful dinner at Kyoto with Cari, then ended up at the movie theater. "The Expendables" was playing at the right time and came recommended by a couple of the guys working there. We bought tickets and walked into the theater, which we pretty much had to ourselves. Long story short, it was a decent movie - not a must see, but not a complete waste of time either. It made me laugh; it also made me cover my eyes a few times. Cari and I played with my new iPod (birthday gift from Bob) the rest of the evening. I learned how to get some fun new apps and we traded music and had a wonderful time!

After having an early lunch with Cari, Bob and I headed to Fredericksburg to check into our hotel before going to the game. I think we were parked and tailgating by 5:30 or so - the game started at 8:30 so we had plenty of time. Of course Bob had his Redskin shirt on and of course I had my Cowboy shirt on. :) There were LOTS of Cowboy fans, thank goodness. We grilled some chicken breasts and hot dogs and just enjoyed the moment. Our hike to our seats was a workout. Bob was so excited to see our seats for the first time! He was like a kid at Christmas! Anyway, we all know the outcome of the game by now. It wasn't pretty. While "hiking" back to the parking lot (and I use that term loosely - it was a field) Washington fans were chanting, "Dallas Sucks!" I chanted with them. It was about 1am by the time we got out traffic and on the interstate and 2am before we were back in our room. Needless to say, we slept late Monday morning. It was a busy but fun weekend!

Turning 50 ...

I'm not exactly how this happened either, but I turned 50 this month. Wow! There are quite a lot I like about being 50 ...

I like where I am with myself. I like that I don't feel the need to impress others or be what anyone else thinks I should be. I like where I am in my life - my ability to not punch a time clock for an employer, the luxury of being able to work my schedule to fit my day/week, being able to enjoy rainy days from inside my cozy home, etc. I like the fact that both of my daughters have grown into beautiful, compassionate, self sufficient, incredible young women - and thankfully they still "need" mom from time to time. I like that have some of the most wonderful girlfriends on the planet. They really do try to keep me sane - "try" being the main word - and sometimes it's nearly impossible. I recognize that. We've even begun naming our inner bitches - my mom named mine, "Cruella." I think that's appropriate. Anyway, that's not all I have to be thankful for but it's a good starting place.

There are also some things I'm not very thrilled with about being 50 ...

I started "falling apart" around 38. Apparently, that was my first cycle of decline so to speak. That's when all kinds of things started changing and not working quite right. I guess 48-49 was my second cycle. I got prescription glasses for the first time a couple of years ago, came off the pill at 49 (can you say hormone hell?), I have aches and pains that are really, really annoying & things just keep popping up that make me ask, "what the hell have I done to piss you (whatever particular body part) off now?" Oh and the memory thing? Oh good Lord - it's just a shame! Sometimes I start typing a sentence and can't remember the end of it! No joke! But for the most part I'm relatively healthy. I'll take that.

more reading ...

Last week I re-read "Lake News" by Barbara Delinsky. I read it for the first time about ten years ago. When I found the sequel to it, I decided to read it again so the characters would be fresh when I read, "An Accidental Woman." Besides, do you have any idea how many books I've read in the last ten years? I couldn't begin to remember the story anyway. It was almost like reading it for the first time. I think I enjoyed it just as much reading it this time as I did ten years ago. Jumping right into "An Accidental Woman" was effortless and I breezed right through that one too. I don't think I've read a Barbara Delinsky I didn't like.

THEN I picked up "The Castaways" by Elin Hilderbrand. I'd never read anything by her before but it sounded interesting so I picked it up at Walmart. Ugh! Bad decision! I managed to make it through 100 pages before getting so disgusted and fed up with these whiney, immoral characters. For one thing, each chapter is from a different point of view. There are six different characters, actually eight but two of them are dead, who share their thoughts, memories and such. Good grief it was boring and morose! so now I've started another one by Dorthea Benton Frank,"Shem Creek." I'm only about 50 pages into it but so far, so good. :)

"Look Again"

"Look Again," by Lisa Scottoline was surprisingly good! I had not read anything by her before but ended up buying the book because it sounded pretty interesting. I didn't start the book until about 11pm (I usually read before turning out the light) Monday night. Even with only small windows of reading throughout the day (breakfast, lunch, waiting on dinner to finish, etc) I was on page 150 by dinner. It's an easy read, the print is not small and the story just kind of sucked me in. By the time I picked it up to eat lunch yesterday (Wednesday) nothing else was gonna get done until the last page had been read. Granted it wasn't the best book I've ever read and it's not on my five star list, but I liked it and will definitely look for more of Lisa's books.

I'm now finishing the 4th book in a series I started getting from Annie's Attic, "The Lady in the Attic." After receiving this last book in the mail yesterday (don't know how many are actually in the series), I canceled my membership. The books are nice (hardback) and not too long, easy to read ... but the stories are just lame. I mean, they're just okay. The books alone are $13, then they add $4.95 s/h which brings the total to nearly $19! After reading three of them, I can tell you they just aren't that good. If I was paying $10 I may continue my membership, but for $20 - nah.

Oh I did read a book on vacation too ... lemme see what that was. Hang on ... okay it was "Isle of Palms" by Dorthea Benton Frank. Again, this was a new author for me. It was interesting enough for me to turn the pages but it wasn't one of those books impossible to put down. The story takes place on the South Carolina coast outside of Charleston and is about a woman trying to get her life together. It had me laughing out loud quite often. The characters were quite likable and quick witted. I wouldn't say it's a "must read" but is an easy and entertaining read.

Think I'm going to my local second hand book store to see what else I can pick up of these two new authors ... will let you know what I find!

Move-in day ...

What a summer this has been! It sure started off with a bang - our Nashville trip - But then took a dive off the deep end. It's hard to wrap my head around the fact that for all intents and purposes, it's over.

Went to S&B this morning. Girlfriends. It's the perfect way to start off the weekend. I love my S&B peeps. They keep my sane - or try to. Actually, I think we all try to keep each other sane. Do you know what a blessing it is to have such an awesome support group and a safe place to just be yourself? I digress - I could go on and on about my peeps and how blessed I am. It's just that I haven't made it to many Friday mornings this summer and I can really tell. I'm anxious to get back to that particular part of my routine. But back to move in day ...


Basically, it went pretty smoothly. It was a l-o-n-g day but no glitches thank goodness. Saying goodbye is always tough for me. Knowing Cari is happy, though, makes it so much easier. She was so excited to move into her very first apartment - sharing with 3 roommates is going to be challenging at times but they'll all figure out how to make it work.


By the time we left that afternoon, Cari already had most of her bedroom put together. She had Bob hopping all over those walls hanging stuff up for her. It'll be pretty cool when we go back in a few weeks to see what else she's done. I know she'll have it feeling like home in no time. :)

Peanut update

The bloody cone finally came off yesterday. Peanut wore that thing for ... let me see ... from July 7 until yesterday, August 15. Usually it would've come off on or around July 26 but with Peanut's history of attacking his eye, I was too paranoid he'd get to it again - even with the cone on. If we hadn't gone out of town I probably would've taken it off sooner, but didn't want Mom and Dad to have to worry about him getting to his eye so just left it on while we were gone.

Since he had an appointment this morning I decided yesterday was a good time to take it off and groom and bathe him. I think he's done ok with it off. The doctor clipped that little finger of the patch that was supplying the blood supply. She said it looked good (although there are a couple of stitches that haven't dissolved completely) and he shouldn't need to be seen again for three months. We still have to continue these damn drops though, and she added the antibiotic drops back 3x a day for four days. I understand why but  ... ugh!! So that's where we are right now - hopefully he will continue to heal and life will get back to normal.

a mini vaca ...

We managed to squeeze in a 5-day get-a-way to Myrtle Beach before Cari's heads off to school. It's been one of those crazy summers, again, where we haven't gotten to do nearly enough of the fun things we had planned. I guess that's just life. This summer our curve ball was Peanut's eye issues. Life goes on - you just have to deal, right? So we dropped Peanut off at Mom and Dad's Sunday morning and head out to Myrtle Beach. I was SO ready to get the hell out of Dodge for a while. This was one vacation that wasn't "planned out." Our "plan" was to do nothing - the entire time. We haven't had one of those in a long time. Usually, we like to go somewhere new and explore - which is awesome, but it can also be exhausting. We walked on the beach, played in the pool, ate in some dives, read our books and just hung out. It was wonderful.

Some of the best fun we had was "planting cherry trees." This tradition began two years ago in Yosemite. We sat on the deck of our rental house seeing who could spit cherry seeds the farthest. It's amazing how much fun you can have doing something so simple. This year we had to exercise some patience waiting to spit our seeds in between people walking by. I imagine we got a few looks from people wondering what in the world we were laughing so hard about. 

We learned, though, that four days of that just isn't enough. It takes a few days just to unwind. By the time we really started getting relaxed, it was time to pack up and come home again. Oh well, it was something. Bob wants to go for two weeks next year. :) Fine with me! Anyway, here are a few pics from the trip ...

Now we're back home getting things together for Cari's move ... I'm sure I'll be back with fun stories about that!

til next time ...
QB

the "yewts" ...

So, we met "the boy" on our last day in Nashville. Strange how a series of events had to occur for us to meet. First, Matt had been vacation the week before and just arrived back home Saturday night. Unusually, he was called in to work the day shift (which he said doesn't happen) and it was on a weekend (which he said doesn't happen). Secondly, Cari and I didn't always go back to the hotel before the night concert at LP Field. Sunday we did. He was there. We talked for a half hour or so and then again while waiting for the shuttle to go back to LP Field. After four days of heat, humidity, exhaustion and fun we were beat and decided to leave the concert early. Got back to the hotel around 10pm - Matt's shift ended at 11pm. Cari and I flew home Monday, the Facebook chatting started Monday evening. The texting started two days later and they were talking non-stop on the phone by the end of the next week and he was already making plans for a visit to Va. Beach. When Cari told him about the Rascal Flatts concert July 30 he had his arrival date.

Cari had lots of things planned: the Rascal concert, meeting Nana and Papa, making him watch "My Cousin Vinny" (yeah, I know who hasn't seen that already?), lots of restaurants, Water Country and more. They didn't get to do everything but I guess that leaves something to look forward to for next time huh? The afternoon before his flight home we had a very small window to go shoot some pictures - even though it was sprinkling. By the time we arrived at our destination it was actually raining. Even so, we still had fun:

Looks like the visit went well. For now, life is good. :)

FREEDOM!!!!!

Tomorrow will be four weeks since the beginning of my incarceration at home with Peanut. I've gone through several different phases of grief: disbelief, anger, resentment and finally resigned acceptance. Yesterday, however, I moved into defiance. It's not that I feel the need to constantly run the roads, but the mere fact that I can't do anything, go anywhere without arranging for a Peanut sitter gets overwhelming at times. Therefore, I just quit even trying to do anything ... until yesterday. I went to the grocery store by myself and left him home alone. Today is Day 18 since his second surgery. He's still wearing the cone - I'm afraid to take it off because he still tries to rub at that eye occasionally. I'm paranoid, I know. I can't help it. BUT, I have gotten to the point that I'm done. Sacrificing my freedom for the past 4 weeks will have to have been enough. I'm leaving the cone on but I am no longer willing to provide 24/7 supervision. If he screws it up this time, at this point, he screws it up. I don't know what people do  in this position who have lives they don't have the "luxury" of putting on hold. Crating would not have been an answer. He could've messed his eye up with his back paw if he had been crated. I don't believe boarding him would have been enough because even in a crate he would need to be watched. So what would a person do? I don't know, but I do know I won't do this again - not for this length of time. If I had had any idea we'd still be dealing with this situation this long, I'd have been more proactive about other options. On a happier note ...

I got a small taste of freedom Friday night. Since Bob was on his 4-day golf trip, I had to take Peanut to my dad's Friday afternoon so I could go to the Rascal Flatts concert that evening. PITA, but ya do whatcha gotta do, right? The weather could not have been more perfect. The high was in the mid 80's that day and there was a delicious breeze too. To be on that lawn with good friends, listening to awesome country music (Chris Young, Kellie Picker and Rascal), sucking down a Blue Moon too? Well, life was pretty good. Cari had picked up Matt from the airport that afternoon (they met while we were in Nashville for CMA Fest) so he got to meet some of the crazy clan. Saturday he was introduced to Nana and Papa when we picked up Peanut. Dad said he didn't seem like a "dumb ass" and got two thumbs up. LOL So far the visit seems to be going well - they both seem to be pretty happy and have had fun getting to know each other better. Cari's introducing him to Water Country today. Can't wait to hear about that!

I'm really starting to look forward to our Myrtle Beach get-a-way. I desperately need some "me" time - time where I don't have to take care of everyone else. Less than a week later, though, we move Cari into her first apartment. That's gonna be bittersweet for me. I'm excited for her, but will really miss her around here. I wish we had had more time to play this summer and go shopping together. We had to cram most of a summer's worth of shopping into mostly one day last weekend - when the thermometer reached 105 degrees both days - and that doesn't take into account the heat index. Brutal doesn't even begin to describe how miserable it was. The pool table is piled high with her loot and we aren't done yet. We'll have a few days after Matt goes home before leaving for Myrtle Beach so maybe we'll get a few more things done. Time is just ticking away ...