New Neighbors

Just out of harms way an new family has moved in-- nesseled in the Rose of Sharon Mike found these new neighbors--meer feet away from where I park every night.. and just above the point where tippy toes would let you see what was there.....

email

So my mother in law sends me the following little ditty-- and while internet jokes and stories pop into our in boxes daily most of them we dismiss rather quickly.. But you know what seems like a haha in the morning can leave a lasting impression by mid-day sometimes. After much thought I have decided if one of our presidental candidates came up with the below plan I would be willing to follow it... sure in practical purposes it would mean alittle pain.. probably alot of pain but really we would rebound and we would be better for it. And I would bet we could even create jobs here in our own country again... steel mills, oil wells, clothing districts.... Where is this candidate? And why have special interest groups been allowed to ramrod their needs above the needs of the collective US?

READ ON AND ENJOY--

Leave it to Robin Williams to come up with the perfect plan . What we need now is for our UN Ambassador to stand up and repeat this message. Robin Williams' plan...(Hard to argue with this logic!) "I see a lot of people yelling for peace but I have not heard of a plan for peace. So, here's one plan."
1) "The US will apologize to the world for our "interference" in their affairs, past & present. You know, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Tojo, Noriega, Milosevic, Hussein, and the rest of those "good 'ole' boys", we will never "interfere" again.
2) We will withdraw our troops from all over the world , starting with Germany , South Korea , the Middle East , and the Philippines . T hey don't want us there. We would station troops at our borders. No one allowed sneaking through holes in the fence.
3) All illegal aliens have 90 days to get their affairs together or leave. We'll give them a free trip home. After 90 days the remainder will be gathered up and deported immediatel y, regardless of whom or where they are. They're illegal!!! France will welcome them.
4) All future visitors will be thoroughly checked and limited to 90 days unless given a special permit!! No one from a terrorist nation will be allowed in. If you don't like it there, change it yourself and don't hide here . Asylum would never be available to anyone. We don't need any more cab drivers or 7-11 cashiers.
5) No foreign "students" over age 21. The older ones are t he bombers. If they don't attend classes, they get a "D" and it's back home baby.
6) The US will make a strong effort to become self-sufficient energy wise. This will include developing nonpolluting sources of energy but will require a temporary drilling of oil in the Alaskan wilderness. The caribou will have to cope for a while
7) Offer Saudi Arabia and other oil producing countries $10 a barrel for their oil. If they don't like it, we go someplace else. They can go somewhere else to sell their production. (About a week of the wells filling up the storage sites would be enough.)
8) If there is a famine or other natural catastrophe in the world, we will not "interfere." They can pray to Allah or whomever, for seeds, rain, cement or whatever they need. Besides most of what we give t hem is stolen or given to the army. The people who need it most get very little, if anything.
9) Ship the UN Headquarters to an isolated island someplace. We don't need the spies and fair weather friends here. Besides, the building would make a good homeless shelter or lockup for illegal aliens.
10) All Americans must go to charm and beauty school. That way, no one can call us "Ugly Americans" any longer. The Language we speak is ENGLISH ..learn it..or LEAVE!!

Now, isn't that a winner of a plan? "The Statue of Liberty is no longer saying "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses." She's got a baseball bat and she's yelling, 'you want a piece of me?' "

Weekend fun

This is what the weekend was all about-- alot of resting and sunshine! Water was alittle too cool for swimming -- that and the scary swimming cobra that tried to attack me. I did survive despite the fact that no one was willing to actually jump in and rescue me and my jetski from the jaws of a snake who I know wanted to join me on the jetski--

Mothers day should be a week long holiday

Found this on Lisa B's blog... seemed appropriate...

Its raining again....

Mothers Day the condensed version

My house seems really quiet tonight... My parents have gone home, Madison has gone home and both kids poof gone...
We had such a nice Mothers Day in spite of the raging floods going on outside-- it was nice and peaceful inside. Both kids were home Saturday night and we all got to spend the day lounging for Mothers Day... And my mom was here too... couldn't ask for much more than that! And for dinner??? Dad and Christopher went out and brought us home Crab legs, Clams and Shrimp!!! And despite the pouring rain and hurricane winds Mike moved the grill close to the back door and cooked up some yummy steaks!! Yes I know the diet is shot to hell... but hey It was Mothers Day..
Of course we paid for that peaceful day--Monday every road I tried was closed due to floods. It took me until 10am to get to work and it was not better on the way home. I added an additional 20 miles to my trip home and saw some back roads I don't think I have ever seen before... Spring has got to be coming soon right???

Virginia Tech Graduation Weekend

We may not have been the loudest group or the largest but I can honestly say we were the proudest parents at VT this weekend. My baby did it!! She has officially graduated and I saw her do it in style. She marched into the stadium grinning and only briefly stopped to do her happy dance!!! I only wish I had that picture on film... but it will be engraved in my memories forever.. so her.. so happy...

The university ceremony was far from boring. They managed to have a wonderful keynote speaker Hoda Kotb, an NBC anchor who totally connected with the graduates at one point she turned on her ipod and put it to the microphone and had the kids jumping from their seats to Sandman-- And in turn the graduates turned their Hokie pride on her with the We are Hokies cheer--- Both the President and Vice Presidents of their class were also amazingly entertaining to listen to... The president started alittle slow and the crowd didn't respond as quickly as he hoped but then he made mention that it looked like a Harry Potter convention behind him (all the professors in their gowns) and that quickly drew a big laugh and set the tone for the rest of his great speech. It was a really good night and being in the stadium meant we had great seats so we could see our graduate up close-- We topped off the night with a late night celebration dinner at the Farmhouse.
But the weekend wasn't over! We got to see our Manda cross the stage and actually receive her diploma on Saturday. Burruss Hall has an elegant auditorium and we arrived just in time to get seats up close and center of the stage. Prime seats to see the Scottish Bagpipes and all the Biology graduates march in. We hooted and hollered as our girls name was called.. but apparently not loud enough--she expected more!! but regardless we tried to show our pride!
If hearts beating loudly and swelling pride could make a sound we would have been louder than any cheering section!!
Then it was our time for the happy dance!! As a parent I think seeing both my children graduate from College was probably one of my happiest moments. Unlike so many other things in life.. this was something they did on their own. They set a goal for education and achieved it. And for Amanda she did it in four years--certainly something to be proud of.

Counting down

Just counting down the time until we leave for Blacksburg... hard to imagine that 4 years has come and gone. This time four years ago we were worrying about what to pack for a freshman dorm and now we are worrying about what to do with all the accumulated college "stuff". With 5 cars coming home we can only hope that her college life will fit! (hmmm that and two dogs!)

Time sure flies... Woodbine Baptist Preschool graduation... Coles Elementary Graduation, Brentsville and now Virginia Tech... I happily sat through them all... but this one... I'd be ok to let this one wait awhile. The candles on the cake may say she's all grown up but I'd be just as happy to let her be our little girl just alittle while longer.

Sappy stuff aside... Our Big Brained gal is graduating weather we like it or not and boy oh boy we couldn't be prouder!!!
GOOOOO HOKIES

Richmond

Nothing says the start of spring like a flyover at Richmond International Raceway. You can say what you want about rednecks and Nascar but there really is nothing more patriotic... Where else do you get a flyover? The pledge of allegiance and alittle rendition of the "Land of the Free???" all served up under the hot sun with cold beer?

We had another incredible time at the racetrack. Two full days of tailgating and for the first time the whole family saw the race together. I have been to a few NASCAR races with Christopher and last year we took Amanda to see her first race in Martinsville but this time out all four of us were there... Along with a few of our friends and a few of the kids friends..

I took a moment to try and gather a few of the kids from the "ville" for a photo op--- Most of these kids grew up together-- its so fun to see them as adults out enjoying themselves. I hope 20 years from now they will look back and still be hanging out together under a tent at a racetrack somewhere. I got the nicest comment from one of our friends that we have known since high school this weekend... They told me I did good with Christopher and Amanda and that my life was something to be proud of. And you know what? I couldn't help but agree.

And for those keeping score.. yup it was Amanda (and Natalie's) driver that won on Friday night -- #11 Denny Hamilin and Mikes and Christopher's driver that finished 1st on Saturday night #07 Clint Bowyer.... Don't even ask me where my driver was... Cause I don't think kissing the wall gets any bonus points at the end of the season

Mr and Mrs Reeves

Despite a forecast of possible rain-- the sun shined brightly for John and Debbie's wedding. While we didn't know any of the guests it was great fun to hang out and celebrate with family from near and far. While I can't say that I know Mikes extended family that well I have met them all over the years and yesterday it was fun to hang out with them for the day. They were great dinner companions and even better dance partners!
The highlight of the ceremony was probably Jackie's reading. It rang so true and I think the whole audience was nodding their heads in agreement as they wiped away the tears. It was nice to attend a ceremony that was personalized and not stuffy but showed the bride and grooms personality.
The reception was held at the Grand Atrium in Tyson's/Vienna--The food was great and it had a unique layout with dining upstairs overlooking the downstairs dancing and cocktail area. I must say I was surprised at the lack of dancing. Of course our family (to include the far away Jackson's) didn't miss a song on the dance floor. We all agreed that Christopher was indeed the perfect package... He's sweet, kind, always happy, awfully darn cute and HE DANCES. Some girl will be very lucky to land him... they just don't know it yet. Not sure why the other men in our lives won't dance...

Today

I have a puppy

Its Friday

Spring has arrived

Enough said

Nashville

After a few days of sleep-- really good sleep I might add I think I am finally rested from my weekend away! With all my plane mishaps my scrapping buddy Heidi and I actually landed right around the same time in Nashville and met up in the luggage carosel area. Thats a nice start!!

It was an odd weekend. This is the first time we had attended this event (Scrap Etc) but we had attended CKU at the same location two other times. The Gaylord in TN is a huge (ok GIGANTIC) conference center and you can easily get lost and spend hours looking for where you are supposed to be, but like I said we were seasoned pro's and it didn't take us but a few hours to gain our bearings. As always it is a gorgous location, I can't think of a better place to spend a weekend if you are going to be a captive in a hotel.

While our classes were good, and some of the speakers were amazing I think the oddness was due to the fact that we were used to a more "professional" event. The event hostess I think tried but its a hard act to follow when the CK machine has these types of events down to a science. And in many cases her idea totally failed... the closing session was a disaster. 600 women in one room with a poor sound system and not enough table space to do anything.... but don't get me wrong these little things did not dampen our fun... as a matter of fact I think this event I got the least amount of sleep than any of the others before.... Seems we would loose track of time... giggling does that to you and before we would know it is was 2:30am and our alarm (excuse me wake up call) would confuse us at the early hour of 7am each morning.

I am glad we went-- I am grateful I went with Heidi-- we always have an amazing time and I can't wait to figure out where we will go next year... the pact has been made no more TN trips... we need to spread our wings and find a new location!

A journey through time and space

So I went away this past weekend to Tennessee. It took a total of 4 plane rides to go round trip. And before I go on, left me explain that each of these planes was filled to capacity, so any thought that Americans are slowing down on air travel due to rising gas prices... wrong. What else is wrong is how horrible flying can actually be. Case in point...my trip.



1) Flight number one- I booked this trip through travelocity, the flight was expensive compared to past flights (due to fuel prices I am sure) but doable. I was supposed to go from Richmond to Memphis to Nashville. When I arrived at the airport (following our post 9-11 directions) an hour early for my flight at the ungodly hour of 6:30am. I marched myself lugging my belongings behind me to the Northwest counter where I typed myself into the "Self checkout" computer. Of course it came up with the ever popular message- sorry please see the ticket agent. No problem at that hour of the morning there was no line. I gave them my name and was informed that I missed check in for my flight. Quizzically I looked at her and said "but my flight is at 7:30am and its now 6:30am and aren't I supposed to be here an hour early?" to which she responded "your flight is leaving the ground right now" I pulled out my on-line confirmation which clearly showed my 7:30am flight-- she was puzzled and announced there is no such flight number... to make a long story short I was rebooked on the next flight out, which happened to be a 7:30 am flight to Minneapolis Minnesota-- yea nothing like trying to go South to end up going north....

2) Flight 2-- no real issue other than I was in Minnesota.

3) Flight 3-- Coming home. We get to the airport early because we had to take a shuttle bus. And guess what--flight delayed 30 minutes... ahh no problem I have a 2 hour layover in Atlanta.

That is it was no problem until when they were getting ready to close the airplane door --they counted the passengers... seems we had 66 people aboard.... and we were only supposed to have 65. They recounted 3 times before they decided we should each tear our boarding pass in half and hand the nice stewardess lady the half with our name on it. The pilot did mention that since 9-11 it was kinda important to at all times know who was on the plane.... That statement sure quieted down the chit chat on the plane. yup 10 minutes later they figured it all out and off we went.

4) Flight 4- Atlanta was a busy busy airport.. Packed is a good description for it. Even with our delay I had plenty of time to make the 3 mile trek from Gate C to Gate A. I did decide to make a pit stop and get a Cinnabon Cinnamon bun and milk since no one feeds you on board anymore.

Once on board I discovered the nice clerk never gave me a fork... I am sure the guy sitting next to me was pleased to have the lady next to him eating the stickiest food ever with her fingers but you gotta do what you gotta do. Did I mention I also spilled my first sip of milk right down the front of me? Again I am the passenger everyone wants to sit next to.... (seriously don't you want to spend a few hours next to a sticky woman who smells of sour milk?) So they closed the doors and about 2 seconds later the pilot gets on the speaker and says...."folks it seems there was some debris on the runway (pause) and it was sucked up into our engine...." At that point I audibly laughed out loud-- sorry but with all the mishaps I had had up until that point I found it amusing.... he went on to say that he was waiting for the mechanics to find a place for us to go so that it could be checked out.....

A few minutes later the plane moved alittle... by then I had settled into reading my magazine. yes a magazine that I had lugged with me from Richmond to Minnesota to Nashville to Atlanta....and then awhile later he came back on telling us that all was fine and we just needed to wait for the head mechanic to bring the log book up to the plane for him to sign off on it... Apparently they have a window in the cockpit that they can pass the clipboard through.--- Smooth sailing from then on right???? yea well kinda... once on the ground it took about 20 minutes before any bags came off the luggage carousel... That's a really long time for an airport the size of Richmond... but I was closer to home than I started the day so all was good! Christopher was a good sport about having to wait for the delayed plane... and the rain was slowing down so my drive home wouldn't be too bad right????



HA! 2 hours from Richmond to home.... the longest trip ever....

Richmond

So my weekend starts now! I made it safely to Richmond.. even found Christophers house all by myself. Next stop Nashville!!

Christopher might be at work but Furby and I -- we are living it up here in the 'hood.-- Seriously I think Furby is wondering what is going on... probably the first time she has ever seen a vacuum... even if it is a shop vac. Somewhere along the way I failed my son... while his home is very tidy-- its seriously in need of a mop.. which I come to learn he does not own... also I think someone forgot to tell him that thing on the top of the dryer is a lint holder.. (no worries I emptied it!)

The neighborhood is surprisingly quiet--and the frig does have food... what more could a girl want?? perhaps a cork screw??? yes he was kind enough to leave me a nice bottle of wine but alas nothing to open it with. I guess I know what I will be sending him home with on his next trip up north.

Well I have some last minute repacking to do--and somehow I have ruined my manicure.. so I gotta figure out what to do about that... I am thinking in this boy house there is probably no nail polish remover.

brrrr

So the whole banishing winter thing might not have worked as well as I hoped. Saturday was gorgeous-- defiantly a flip flop day- we opened every window, sat on the deck and enjoyed the day.. This morning we woke to (windows still open) the heat running in high gear. Being ever the optimist I turned off the heat and threw on a bathrobe.. surely it would get warmer? Nope-- lets just say by 10am the heat was back on and the windows were firmly closed. Even Mike decided that the shorts he choose for the day needed to be turned in for sweat pants.

Amanda did her MS Walk yesterday-- usually this walk is riddled with rain.. but she got lucky this year- Which is good because her walking partner, Madison, does not care for wet feet. We are always so proud of the fundraising she does for MS.

I actually was feeling quite like an overachiever today as I started packing for my Nashville trip-- although I don't leave home until Wednesday night (A night in Richmond at Christopher's house) I thought I would use my time wisely today and at least get my gear in one pile.. one thing lead to another and before I knew it I was packing a suitcase. Don't know if I'll be changing my mind on the clothes choices between now and then but it does feel good to be "done".

serious case of spring fever

Its true, while Amanda is battling a case of senioritis, I have definitely come down with a serious case of spring fever... The weather has finally made a turn for the better and its been a tortuously long week.. weekend is not coming soon enough. I pledged last night that yesterday was the day of socks and closed shoes... its time for sandals and flip flops and defiantly time to break out the "happy purses". WINTER I BANISH YOU!

I know I am probably jumping the gun.. but a girls gotta take a stand somewhere. And I choose spring..

Tomorrow come rain or shine I gotta finish up the taxes.. write the check that will keep me out of jail for another year and be done with that nonsense.. and then hopefully I can play in the garden, take stock of my pond critters and think about packing for my well deserved Girls weekend in Nashville!

Friends

This one was working on patience this weekend .... Madison came home for the weekend and brought her friends Cooper and Zoyie-- Needless to say the carpet cleaning that was on the list for the weekend didn't take place... But we did get cars washed.. did I mention it rained?

taxes

Its more of the same.. hmmm... so exactly what is about taxes that brings out the demon in me? I have struggled for 2 months to figure out where I went wrong .... why oh why does uncle sam want my hard earned money so badly? I know exactly where the mistake is on my tax return but can't seem to figure out how to make the change...
Tonight I bite the bullet.. and for a small fee I took my COMPLETED tax returns into H&RBlock and let a professional explain cost basis and deprecation to me one more time.. I think I've got it now... but will it help??? don't know... at this very moment I am still stroking a check...Did Uncle Same not hear?? I gotta a wedding to pay for!

My son on the other hand keeps learning all about grown up life... the president gives you $600.00 and the tax man comes back and sends you a personal property notice for $450.00 so really what did you gain?? just another reason to invest in Asprin...

And if your looking for roses and sunshine.... finding the wedding chapel probably isn't the place to look... as I have mentioned before even god is in the business of making money... but we do have a few leads to follow up on. A scrapbooking buddy of mine Sue let me know her church might be worth checking out, and she even let me know about another church down the street from hers that definatley fits the denomination. I spent alittle time on the website of Sue's church.. and I must say if I lived closer to Alexandria I would be inclined to take a Sunday visit. I truely enjoyed reading the bio of her pastor, he definately sounds like someone you could relate to-- although in the back of my mind I can hear my mother telling me that he's not catholic... Ahh religion.. seems to me its the same God everyone prays to... the packaging is just alittle different. And in the end isn't it all about the package???

today

Global warming?, a sign spring is never coming?, or just an unexpected surprise?

No one said it would be this hard and last this long

Parenting:

When they are little you know nothing.. they escape childhood despite your lack of wisdom.. There are problems and despite yourself you can and do- fix all the problems as if you had a magic wand...Why is it when they grow up and have real problems and need real answers that same parenting fairy doesn't come along with answers?

not so caring healthcare

So wanna rant about our healthcare system??? Exactly what is the deal? We pay an incredible amount of money for healthcare every month...let just say it tops out over $450.... and today when I called to question why a 3 month mail order (supposedly the cheaper way) prescription cost me $350 I was politely told it was because I had the choice of a generic drug and I choose otherwise.... now normally if you go for the real thing you pay what they call tier 1 charges $60.00-- so in my mind I am thinking 60 x 3 months= $180.. but no if your doctor doesn't check the box that says no generic... and you choose brand name you pay the difference.... Does this sound right???? Why make brand name drugs if you aren't allowed to use them???? And without brand name drugs how can anyone make generics???
And since every insurance company has different rules.. its not like your doctor knows which drugs fall under which tier... I guess we have to take laptops to the doctors office from now on so we can check the website to figure out if we can afford our health care....
And the worse part... once you have the drugs its not like you can return them!!! so for now... these babies are worth $3.88 a day.... and geez for that price we might as well find a guy on the corner and find something that would add alittle excitement..
And when I asked Mike if he thought he could get his moneys worth (again its $3.88 a day) each day -- it was an emphatic NO---
So the question of the day... have you figured out your insurance company?? Is your healthcare providor worth what you pay???

Alittle Easter cheer-- While the egg hunt only had one participant this year--Ryland-- we did out do ourselves with wonderful food-- I swear Jackie's Sweet Potatoes were meant to be a dessert--Yummy Goodness even before the desserts were brought out...

And while Christopher made the decision to skip on dressing for dinner he did sport a traditional Easter day hangover-- some traditions just won't fade away....

And of course some family pictures were taken... so sad that all the ones on my camera looked like a free get out of St. Elizabeths card was granted for Easter.... these were the best of the best....

As always it was fun to get together!

Happy Easter

Lack of sleep for no reason other than Madison can't get the whole vertical vs horizontal thing right in bed... but I got moving enough to make Fruit salad and a potato casserole for today's Easter dinner.

No dyed eggs in my house this year... just doesn't seem right not to have egg salad and deviled eggs the week after Easter... of course Easter in March seems a bit off too. But the bunny did visit leaving the obligatory Chocolate bunnies...Too bad they aren't on anyones diet... I guess the bunny didn't get that memo.

Amanda came home for another 4 day weekend... (must be nice) and we used our time wisely looking at dresses... This has got to be my favorite part of wedding planning. There are so many styles and designs-- its a shame you only get one dress.... although I now understand people who marry seven and eight times (Liz Taylor) wedding planning is fun and choosing just one style dress or one theme is hard....doesn't seem fair... I think the whole process would be easier if she didn't look great in each and every dress she tried on....I can envision her wearing all of them! I think she has a style narrowed down--although for the sake of ultimate secrecy I won't share what that might be--but I will share this-- one of the front runners in my opinion... of course in the end its not my opinion or choice--she will know which dress to pick

We also looked at veils-- who knew there were so many styles, types and lengths.. and who knew that for alittle tulle they would charge upwards of $400 for those babies??? Definitely seeking out other shopping options! And a quick call to mom had her pulling out her veil! Now if only we could get her into the techno world to scan or take a picture of it and email it!! haha--I can see I am going to have to make detailed instructions on how to accomplish that task!

Still looking for a church to wear this finery in-- again we are learning that if you put the word wedding in front of anything people-- oh yes those god fearing Christians too--decide that there is money to be made.... Who knew we would have to be budget conscious looking for churches?? I think the process might be easier if I knew the Alexandria area better... Corey and Amanda did an initial search-- starting on the Internet-- Why don't churches put more information on their websites??? then by cruising the area... I have a feeling a few more drive arounds will be in order to find "the spot"-- if not we will all just commute from home! not the first choice but it just may be the best choice.

Count down to spring!

Tomorrow is the first day of spring. I am watching the weather every day, seeing what is happening with the trees==can you say obsessed? Like I can predict what the weather will be like next year at this time. Amanda has moved her wedding date back one week... the offical day is March 28---2009 all in hopes that it will be just alittle nicer outside... she has thrown her winter wedding to the wind.. she will offically be a spring bride!!! Global warming sounds good... really good at this point. Tomorrow I plan on visiting the florist.. just to peak at what they have in stock.. whats readily available at this time of year. No need to wish for out of season flowers. Its all about the budget...