You are currently browsing the monthly archive for September, 2008.
Olivia and I are walking with Shannon this Saturday, October 4. I think we all know someone in our lives who has been affected by breast cancer. Earlier this year I was evaluated and, being in my mid-30s with no family history, it was quite scary. My findings were benign, but that is not the case with so many others. I know it’s short notice, but I’d like to ask anyone who is able to please sponsor us in this walk by clicking here.
Thanks for your support!
Susan and Olivia
P.S. Don’t forget it’s a tax deductible donation!!
Last night we went out to eat dinner and there was a family there whose son was dressed up like something. I’m not hip on my superheroes or costumes, so I don’t know what he was.
I know kids go through phases of things they want to wear all the time. However, Will and I made a pact, solidified with a pinky swear, that there is no salad worth having if Olivia has one of these phases.
(Waving madly at you) Sorry I’ve been MIA. Life moves at warp speed! But I’m here now so I shall begin the updates….
THE outfit update: Has been located in closet in Tennessee. UPS call tag will be issued to have said outfit returned to me. Yippee!
What did I do about the wedding? Ya’ll axed it…here it is.
Decided on Plan-B outfit. Ya’ll know how I lurve me some Plan-B. Cute black skirt with white embroidered pattern and a white twinset. P.e.r.f.ec.t. Yeah, okay. No pantyhose. I know what you all are saying, “Ewww! I hate pantyhose.” Yeah, well so do I, but my legs are so pale they could almost be deemed translucent. At least this option would give me a faux shade of healthy color. So, then it was on to Plan-C, which turned out to be a good thing…you’ll hear why later. Plan-C was a pair of pin-striped slacks and aforementioned twinset with my favorite black loafers (not a heels chick, either).
Will looked nice in his slacks and shirt; he was spared the tie. Olivia’s frock was pressed and gorgeous, but she got changed in the gas station parking lot on our last potty break. During said break, Will bought me a Twix and a Diet Coke. Well, I was wearing a white top so I made extra special care so as to not drop chocolate on my sweater. I didn’t! As I was getting Fabul-O out of the car, he screams, “You have something on your butt. What.Did.You.Do?” I answered him in my it’s-so-freaking-hot-and-she-won’t-get-away-from-the-dirty-tires voice, “I.Don’t.Know. You have been with me in the same car for the past two hours. What could I possibly have done?” It turned out it was his fault. Remember the Twix bar he bought me? Well, apparently a hunk of chocolate fell, unnoticed, between my legs on the seat and the last ten minutes of my drive were just enough to bake it nicely into the seat and into the back of my pants. Woo-hoo! One baby wipe and some Sprite later, my pants were not noticeable, but the chocolate arse print on my car seat? Well, let’s just say there’s an appointment in my future to have the interior cleaned. So we make it into the church for the wedding.
Olivia freaked out – I think mainly because of the pipe organ. I held her close and after the bridal party and bride marched in, she decided, “I DON’T WANT TO BE HERE.” (That will be cute when they watch the wedding video, right?) Before anyone gets on the “you’re so rude, child at wedding, blah, blah, blah wagon…Yes, we were at the back of the church just in case something happened and it was a big sanctuary and I checked with the bride to make sure it was okay if I brought her since we were headed to visit our friend who is deploying afterwards. Two potty breaks, one round of negotiations, and swiping of every piece of literature the lobby had got us back to hear the last part of the ceremony. Why didn’t we take something to keep her entertained? Sweating in the 9000 degrees of the afternoon sun scraping chocolate off my tushie caused me to forget it and it was quite the hike back.
The bride was someone I went to high school with. So, I figured there would be someone from high school I knew there that would give me someone to talk to. There was one. I thought I recognized her, so I asked her name. (I’ve been out of high school for 17 years and see very few people from that time in my life and we’ve not had a reunion of any sort) Okay, so we’re at the elevator heading down to the reception and we start chatting. I gasped. She was wearing my PLAN-B skirt and the outer layer of my twinset – the same one I was wearing. She spiced hers up with a red tank and some super cute shoes. So I was actually glad to have worn my Soprano-esque pants. Can you imagine: Seeing her for the FIRST time since graduation and we show up at a wedding wearing the.same.thing. I wouldn’t have re-introduced myself. I would have hung out by the punch fountain. (Dudes and -ettes: I LURVE me some green wedding punch)
Fabul-O ate more butter mints and peanuts than should be humanly allowed and sucked down the great green punch and then professed her utter hatred for anywhere but home. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the receiving line and bee-lined. We talked for a minute, had a piece of cake and had to hit the road; we had dinner reservations with our other friends in a town two more hours away. We pimped Uncle D and Aunt T until she collapsed from the sugar high. Will and I had slight melt down on the interstate, but we managed to pull it together and had a wonderful evening with lots of love from the kids and a great dinner. Good friends, cheese fries, blooming onion, bread, butter, and a big ‘ol plate of pasta with shrimp swimming in Alfredo sauce. That makes for a wonderful evening. Big hugs and not wanting to let go, we said our good-byes and hit the road. This was a combined brain child idea. We left home at 11:20 a.m. It was now 10:20 pm and a solid 3 1/2 hours from home. Collectively, we had this wonderful idea: The likelihood of us going to bed before 1 a.m. was slim and none and we’d have to get up super early to drive home because Will was going to have to work for a few hours on Sunday anyway so why not just drive home Saturday night. About 20 minutes into our trip I was out. Will woke me up 40 minutes later to tell me he was tired and I needed to drive. So I did. Thank goodness for iPod, XM and random radio stations. So, we covered about 465 miles on Saturday in our whirlwind round trip. We did get to sleep a little late and actually got about the same amount of sleep had we stayed over so it was good.
D begins his deployment journey in single digit days. We wish him all the best and we want T and those fantabulous kiddies to know we’re right here if they need us.
Not one single picture taken all day.
Obviously, updates are working backwards, but I’m pleased as great green wedding punch to have accomplished this one.
…when you’re laying out everyone’s clothes for an out of town wedding tomorrow and it’s almost 10 pm and after searching high and low and wondering where your outfit – THE outfit – is, you realize you think you left it in the closet when you came home from vacation?
Yeah. Smart, huh?
Driving home today…la, la, la. This is what happened.
Fabul-O: Look, Mommy. Da Bird.
Me: Bird?
Fabul-O: Yes. Look.
I looked in the back seat and someone has taught my child to flip.the.bird.
Niiiice.
We remember.
Our thoughts and prayers continue to go out. We continually give our most gracious thanks to those who defend us at home and abroad and this doesn’t just include our military. It’s a collective effort and we are grateful we are still able to live in the land of the free and the home of the brave. In spite of the things that divide us, we are still the greatest Nation and we should all be proud.
Many of us will stand together today in remembrance. We should still stand together tomorrow and every day that follows. Uniting is what makes us strong, but it needs to be continual; not just half a dozen times a year.
Our friend D called with some news today. (The same D that came to visit with his family and I made the delicious Boston Butt – Carolina Style for.) D is going back to Iraq. We were at dinner chatting it up and Will dropped this bomb on me. I dropped my napkin, lost my breath and tears fell. Silly me. We knew the possibility was there, but we figured it would be later than sooner. He and Will were deployed with my friend Wendy’s husband. So, I figured D would head back when Wendy’s husband does. Um, no. Not this time. He leaves in double digit days and it ain’t 99. D&T welcomed a baby boy into the world at the end of July (Hey, Baby S #3) T is a strong, strong woman and will do fine. I know her type. I strive to be her.
So, why the unexpected reaction? I don’t know. I simply don’t know. I think maybe because this is our first close-friend-outside-our-unit deployment and it was pretty off guard.
Will is next in line followed by Wendy’s husband’s unit. Crap. If that was my reaction to D leaving, you guys better Kleenex up for my turn ’cause I’m seeing some weak places in my foundation for this. Buy two boxes, I’ll need one when the next unit leaves, too.
Please stay tuned for the following:
- Vacation highlights and photos
- SpouseBUZZ Live highlights
- Senseless rambling brought on by a souvenir from vacation. Wrap ye olde mind around that one, wouldja
Peace.
I wasn’t going to blog about it, but now that I don’t heave when I think about it I will.
Friday afternoon I was indulging my sweet tooth. I was eating some chocolate devil’s food cookies. (Kind of like the Snackwell’s, but not the name brand) Okay. I had eaten some of the cookies, but needed to pull the plastic tray out that was inside the wrapper. I saw something brown and thought one of the cookies had crumbled and it was a crumb. That was until IT MOVED! Holy hockey sticks! I dropped the package and a ROACH ran out of the pack. I lost it right there – literally. Ewwww…I just got the heebie jeebies so I gotta go.
I made it safe and sound into Hampton Roads. I must say, the trip started out less than desirable. The investment in my mack daddy Michelin’s this week paid off greatly. My other tires were just stock tires that came on the car and only had 20k miles on them, but they sucked at handling in wet conditions and did I have some wet conditions. Oh.My.Goodness. I finally moved faster than the rain about half way through my trip. I’m here. Safe and sound. Dry. Tired.
I love the smell of the air here. I hate the humidity. My usually straight hair hates it to, but it conspires with queen humidity against me and it ain’t perty.
I’m whooped…more soon.
Susan
I’m utterly stoked about this one. So much, in fact, I’ve had my reservation since April to make sure I got a room at the same [insert Fabul-O's accent] ho-tay-yul the event is being held. I’m attending my first ever SpouseBUZZ Live event in Hampton Roads, VA this weekend. I didn’t realize until February I had missed the one that was almost in my back yard last fall. It also means I get a weekend away in Virginia Beach! Fabul-O and Will are staying behind. Not on purpose, simply because of other obligations (That kid of mine…sheesh, can’t keep up with her schedule)
SpouseBUZZ is a wonderful site for military spouses, significant others and parents to learn and share experiences.
Long drive, but I’m packed and ready to roll. I’m practicing my couth for when I meet some of the wonderful bloggers I’ve been reading for so long. Ya’ll know how giddy it can be meeting e-pals and bloggy buddies for the first time. (I don’t have lipstick on my teeth do I?)
Peace!
*****
P.S. Vacation updates will resume ASAP. I know you’re all dying out there.
Rain was in the forecast for our first full day in Pigeon Forge, so we chose to hold off on the excitement of Dollywood for Friday (closed on Thursday).
Petting and feed ‘em zoos are always a good time and typically don’t take that much time. We loaded up the car and set Roxy (my aforementioned GPS) to Happy Hollow Lane and went to Deer Farm Zoo. Not too much detail. You buy cups of delightful food for said animals and work your way around.
We were greeted by this young fella…
"Peek a boo! I see you!"
Babies need food, too. You big ones wait!
Yuck. I need a wipe.
If you hang around the goats long enough, you realize they are hip to being green…they “recycle” – quickly. No pictures of that, though. Sorry.
The face only a mother could love. Or those of us with cups full of feed.
No trim job for bad summer shedding. (The camel, silly! Will had his hair cut before we left!) Will lurved feeding the camels. Took him back to days of seeing camels roam the sands of Iraq.
"Hey, kid. C'mere. I know Santa. Yeah, the big man in red. You bring me an apple I'll make sure you get hooked up." Obviously reindeer enjoy the Great Smokey Mountains in the off season.
"Open wide. And you better not let me down. Here's my list..."
1/3 of the way through and they had already used two cups of food. Yes, they. I was the photog. That and I don't dig animal slobber. Blech. "Daddy, we need more!" And we bought more. $10 worth for the day.
He hissed at us. I know! I didn't know peacocks hissed.
"I had fun, grandma." "Me, too, Olivia. Me too."
Well, our time in TN has come to an end. It was a nice trip. I learned something very valuable about vacationing during the week. Do it, especially if the weekend at the end of your trip is attached to a Monday holiday. Oh, my…who knew traffic would be so bad? I suppose if I had thought about it, I would.
When we made the executive decision to pull the plug on Disney, we had to decide where to go because once Will’s vacation is set on the calendar at work, there ain’t no changing it. After long thoughts, we had a family meeting and I told him that we should head to the mountains and see if his parents wanted to join us. Yes, folks, I vacationed with the in-laws. They love the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area and, while it was quite a drive for them, they pulled through and were snoring away by the time we arrived at the condo.
I originally found a kicking cabin in Gatlinburg, but Will’s parents said we would probably be better off staying in Pigeon Forge. As I have mentioned before, we are timeshare people and with the proper planning, I would have been able to use our time to stay there. However, since this is a Plan B vacation, things were a bit different. A website I turn to often is Vacation Rentals By Owner. There is only one time I have found a place to stay and not been totally pleased and that was on the Tiara Girls trip last fall. Anyway, this time we chose a condo vs. a cabin, mainly because it had a pool and we were able to know exactly where it was so it made it easy on everyone involved and, if all else failed, Olivia loves to go “fwimming.”
Day one recap on the way….
