Never Kill a Boy on the First Date - 05/24/2006

I was talking yesterday with my brother-in-law, David's youngest brother, about how David and I met. When I told him, he thought I was kidding. So did David's mom, for that matter. So, it's share-time.

Back in 1998-1999, cell phones did not have the great plans they have now. Free nights, weekends, free calls between network people, etc. Also, I didn't have a cell phone. :) I talked to my sister Vicky practically every day, but the long-distance bills were rough. We got AOL and talked all the time via IM instead. We would be up till 2 a.m. addicted to AOL. Vicky had an ad with AOL's dating service. It used to be called Love at AOL (now, it's actually merged with Match.com). She would send me links of all the scary guys who would answer her ad (she got TONS of replies) and I would laugh with her, . She started sending me links to guys in Orlando - scary guys. We'd laugh at them all, because "occasionally, I'm callous and strange". . She sends me a link and writes "This one's cute." I open it and it is a picture of David. She also IM's "Aaaand he's on-line right now. I dare you!" Yup, I did. I sent David an IM. He said he was busy and had to leave and could I send him a picture, since I had already seen his. (he was on his way out on a date, by the way). I sent the picture and thought that was that.

The next day, I get an IM when I am on-line because, again - addicted to AOL. We talked on the phone and via e-mail and eventually set up a date. We met at Applebee's and had dinner. He was goofy, but I have a thing for goofy guys. (side bar - David had a date w/someone else that he cancelled after meeting me - LOL)

Yada yada yada.....MARRIED. OK, not that fast. We dated 3 years before we got married.
And that's our story.

Dopplegangland - 05/21/2006

So, when did JC Penney become Sears? Really, when? I went there last night with my daughter. I've noticed this in the past. This store is always having these amazing sales, almost as if they were going out of business. I have noticed this change for about a year, as well as a lack of customer service.

I'm not rich by any stretch of the imagination. Shopping at JC Penney does not bother me. They have cute things at cheap prices. I know several people in my circle of family/friends/co-workers that would turn their nose up at it. (Like one who complains about being in debt, and then shops at high end stores or spends $85 on a pair of shoes. There may be a correlation between the being broke thing and the shopping thing.) Lately, I could see their point in turning their nose up. The store here in Altamonte Springs is a mess. A mess. Anyone who knows me, knows that I can't do messy stores. I want to organize things, fold things and put clothes back where they belong. lol There are hardly any employees working the floor. I had to walk to another department to find someone. There are no longer cashiers in every department. Now, there are "customer service" centers in main aisles. One or two cashiers handle several departments, and there is almost always a line. I feel like I'm at Wal-Mart, or Sears. Sears started this "Customer Service" centers thing a while back. Then again, they are now owned by K-Mart, so maybe that's why I get the Wal-Mart feel in these stores.

I got the cute brown shoes for $20. They are technically for work, so some people may find them dull. I'm going to wear them with these brown wide-legged slacks ($20) and a blue shirt. I'm trying to dress nicer for work.

Out of Mind Out of Sight - 05/18/2006

Hey it’s Thursday! How did this happen? A very busy week at work, let me tell you.

The house inspector for the buyer comes tomorrow! I am trying not to hurl. Please send your prayers and well wishes our way.

School is almost out. “J” has three more days. THREE. Can someone please slow time down? We have no idea what he will be doing this summer. We’re not signing him up for the summer camp this time. We need save money right now during this selling/buying phase.

Really nothing new to report. Oh, we’ve rented Season 1 of Veronica Mars (UPN show). We’re really liking it. Even David. We’re getting them from Blockbuster on-line and are very impatient when we don’t have the next dvd in hand. What the heck is happening w/my font size?

Living Conditions - 05/14/2006

Take 3!! I kid you not. My computer FROZE twice while typing this update. The second time, I copied to the clipboard as I went, and guess what? It didn’t save it either. Wahhhhhh!

OK, sigh; let’s see if I can remember what I have already typed twice today.

With all the goings-on this past weekend (travel to Seattle and death of a loved one), I forgot to mention that we got three offers on our house and we have a contract. Hopefully, I will get this right (not good with the details, I’m afraid), but I am sure David will correct me :P

Offer # 1: Couple offered 10k below our listing price. No other conditions (other than the usual inspection stuff) and they were pre-approved.

Offer # 2: Man offered 5k below our listing price, but wanted us to pay his closing costs. This turned out to be over 6k, so in effect, his offer was over 1k less than the one above. We declined it.

Offer # 3: Couple offered 10k below listing. They did not have a pre-approval letter. It was also an FHA loan, which means $1k more out of our pocket. They also wanted a home warranty, another $365 out of our pocket. Their agent appeared to not have a clue either. He used the wrong forms (our broker specified which forms), his contract was not signed completely, he asked us for Lead-Based Paint certifications (our house was built in 1994, so that is not even applicable, and he wanted some letter from our Home Owner’s Association. Our contract clearly stated, “No HOA.” Derr. We turned it down.

We went back to Offer # 1 and raised it by 5k. They were going to come back with only raising it 2.5k and play some kind of bidding game, but David told our agent that we would not go below $5k more and she told them. They agreed and signed the contract. Papers were faxed to Seattle for me.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…The agent for Offer # 3 got his act together. He either got help or really smart overnight. The offer was on the correct forms. No FHA, no home warranty, with a pre-approval letter from Bank of America and…..here’s the kicker, ladies & gents: They came in at 1k OVER listing price. They were giving us listing price plus 1k more. So, $6k over the offer we had just signed!!

Hindsight is 20/20, and we can play the “What-If” game until we are blue in the face. We had an offer and we took it. We need to sell this one in order to make the purchase of the other one happen. So, June 19^th will be the closing on our current little home, at which point, we will be wealthier than we have ever been and…oh yea, homeless. The closing on the new house should be a few days after that, at which point we will be poor again, but no longer homeless.

I want to take time to paint the rooms before we move in, especially the bedrooms. The formal rooms downstairs I am not so much worried about. We’d need furniture for me to worry about painting around it all. J But definitely the bedrooms. I just don’t know how much time I can take off of work and how much I could get accomplished with Miss. Squeaklefritz in tow. We’ll have to figure something out.

So that’s our story (which I saved on Microsoft Word as I typed, before putting it on this blog. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times, oh computer, and you’re getting a very-literal bat in the face).

Storyteller - 05/12/2006

I hope you moms had a great Mother’s Day. I got taken to The Melting Pot, which is one of my favorite-est-est places to go. We have not been since before Isabel was born, because…pricey. We were scared of how she would behave. The first half hour was touch and go. Then, she decided she was ok, and sat there eating crackers & raisins. (I went prepared!) We had a fun meal!

More random things from this week:

1. I finished Prince Caspian, by CS Lewis. Liked it much better than The Horse & His Boy. MUCH!

2. I finally finished all the books in the “Belgariad” series. The end was a bit anti-climactic, but I enjoyed it.

3. I cannot, cannot, cannot seem to finish this book, Why Buffy Matters, The Art of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, by Rhonda Wilcox. You all understand the depths of my Buffy/Angel/Whedon-verse obsession, and yet…I can’t. It is like…reading a college essay. A bad college essay with way too much quoting of other people’s ideas. She bounces around, changing themes mid-sentence. Arrrggh! It’s depressing, because I am one that can’t NOT read a book I started. I have to finish. I am only on page 87 now. There are still more books on my Yahoo list on the “Whedonverse” that I will get, I just pray they are better than this. Sad side note: On the cover, there is this recommendation:

It’s the best Buffy book so far. When it comes to Buffy studies, Wilcox is the Slayer – Michael Adams, author of Slayer Slang

Dude, I hope not.

4. “I” keeps taking all the pencils & pens out of the kitchen junk drawer and depositing them in J’s room. He has a cup with pencils, so she feels she must keep him stocked up. Memo to me: remove scissors and pointy things from there.

5. Her feet smell.

6. Dinner’s in the oven. A recipe I got out of a cookbook, that I put on my weekly menu, thankyouverymuch. It’s a Ham, Cheese, Hash brown, Egg, Mushroom, and Red Pepper bake. And it’s looking rather iffy. L

7. Why can’t boys wear socks? J wore his kewl shoes out without socks last week….you have NEVER smelled anything more revolting. Seriously. Worse that “I”’s feet. And then he has the nerve to ask for new sneakers.

That’s all for now. Happy Monday!

After Life - 05/11/2006

On the way to make my flight this past Sunday out of Orlando, I got a call from my ex. His mother passed away that day. My son's grandmother. I stood in the airport and cried. I'm sure people thought I was just crying because I was leaving someone. I wanted to tell yell out that this was more important than that. That tough old broad passed away. My son lost his grandmother before he even became a teen. And there I was, on my way to Seattle for a business meeting, flying away from him.


My M-I-L (we still called each other mother & daughter-in-law, even though I was remarried. I had her grandchild and nothing could change that for us) terrified me when I first met her. I was 19. She was THE BOSS and no one forgot it. She was meticulous, clean. If we showered in her bathroom, we had to wipe everything down in the shower with a towel - the walls, the floor if we dripped, the sink if we spilled water there. I was so afraid to drop crumbs on her floor.


She was a strong woman. Her first husband left her with 4 kids. She had 5 kids. One died at age 3 in the backyard lake, before my ex was born. Then she met Al. This man, a Marine, married this woman and adopted her kids. He took care of them (he is truly an amazing man). He was a Marine (Sir, Yes Sir!) and still....she was the boss. They raised 4 kids and 3 aren't so bad. Hee hee. I'll behave. She & Al even took in my ex's first son (my son's half brother) and raised him since he was about 2 years old. My ex gave up his parental rights to him before I ever met him. I met J's big brother when he was 3. He is now...19 I think, and a really good kid. He lost not only his grandmother, but really, his mom.


She smoked. Her husband, children and grandchildren constantly nagged, pleaded and yelled. She ignored. They nagged some more. She ignored some more. Then, I want to say in late 2003, she was diagnosed with lung cancer.


We had about 2 & 1/2 years with her. She was an hour away. My ex would not come see my son, but my M-I-L would still call me and ask if I could bring J over for the weekend. I would drive the one hour there and back to drop him off, and the hour there and back to pick him up. I wanted him to know his family. Just because his father and I were no longer together did not mean that I disliked his family. I love them. They have always been there for me. Buying J clothes or saving clothes from their kids for me. J's aunt buying me school supplies when I could not figure out how I was going to pay for them. They are great people. I wanted J to be part of their lives.


She went down-hill pretty quick. I hadn't seen her in a few months. J went to their house to spend the night last weekend, the weekend before she passed. He said it was like a party. One of their many, many, many family get-togethers. I miss those. Even with all the arguing & bickering.


I will miss her. Nancy, I will miss you.

Family - 05/06/2006

Today we had to leave the house several times for showings. Not complaining! We are happy we have a lot of interest. One couple liked the house & asked if we could close this month. Eeeep. We said not until June 20-something (about a week before closing on the new one). Another couple liked the house but not the neighborhood. They were young (20's) and stupid. LOL OK, not to be mean, but the neighbors & neighborhood is really nice on our end of the street. It is truly their loss.


I took the kids to my dad's house for the afternoon. It was about an hour & 1/2 drive one way. My grandfather is in town from Puerto Rico so I wanted to go over there and see him, and have him see us. David had to work. While at dad's, (dad was at church), we went to Applebee's for lunch. Stepmom, gramps, me, the kids. Grandpa wanted a salad. We read off the salads (didn't want the Santa Fe because it had pico de gallo), so my step-mom points to the Oriental one and tells me to order him that. I do. It has chicken, crispy noodles, lettuce and almonds. The salad arrives and grandpa did not know what those noodles were, and wanted to know where the tomatoes, cucumbers, etc. were. He ate it, but said something to the effect of my step-mom ordered wrong. To which she replied something to the effect of Kaaren ordered him the salad wrong. *sigh* She pointed, said order, and I ordered in English. So yea, I guess it was my fault. He cracked me up though. We told him he could return it, but he kept saying no, no, it's ok. And then would mention that Wendy's salads have croutons, not these weird crunchy things (oriental noodles).


The rest of the visit was short but nice. Mrs. Squeaklefritz thought my gramps (her Great-gramps) was fun. He kept goofing with her until she finally warmed up. Then she was all over him. He's a short version of my dad - very goofy. He has a quick wit and very good with word play between English & Spanish words. Half the time, he'd say something that would go over J's head, but would have me cracking up.


We drove back and got home around 7-ish. Now...time to pack for my 3 days in Seattle. Don't miss me too much while I am gone.

Restless - 05/03/2006

The house is up for sale. I'm trying not to panic. The sign is still not on the front yard though. I realized that I was holding my breath as I turned the corner on to my street this afternoon - looking for the sign.


Random Thoughts from yesterday & today:

There's some guy in Altamonte Springs (next city over) who still has his Christmas tree up. David saw it last night at work. That has to be the epitome of laziness...except of course the neighbor at the other end of the street who has had their Halloween decorations up...since 10/2004. I kid you not! Black cat cutout, purple door decoration, spider banner. Since 2004.

"I" has been so sweet these past 2 days. All hugs and kisses and goofy grins. My kids are gorgeous, BTW.

"I" is also weird. She went to the pantry, got a jar of sweet potatoes and walked to her high chair. So, I gave her some. She ate every bit of what I gave her.

I made a coffee crumb cake last night. I thought it was OK, but "J" proclaimed it the "best cake ever, mom." Thanks, Bisquick. lol

I'm reading 3 books at the moment: Prince Caspian by CS Lewis (one of the Chronic-What-cles of Narnia. & If you get that reference, you rock!), Castle of Wizardry, from The Belgariad Series by David Eddings (actually, David is reading it to me when I go to bed at night. He's so cute.), and Why Buffy Matters: The Art of Buffy the Vampire Slayer by Rhonda Wilcox. (Holy Moly, is she ever the word connoisseur. So much of the text is proliferated with such grandiose verbiage and rhetoric that one tends to get bogged down in the text versus its meaning. *snicker* Ok seriously, though, she tends to quote so many other works and authors, half the time I don't know if the opinion or comment is hers or someone else's. I'm only on page 55 of 205, so I hope it gets better.)

Thus endeth the blog...for today.

Conversations with Tweens - 05/02/2006

My ex is a worrier when it comes to our son. My ex was a troubled child, to put it in PC terms, and therefore projects all those fears onto our son. He called me today, after seeing my son this weekend, for the first time since December. He was concerned about J, and whether he was being bullied, and whether he was odd, and saying that his sister (J's aunt) said that J had problems (I'm gonna place a little phone call on that remark, you can best be sure), etc., etc. This grated on me all day. My ex is always doing that.


I was washing dishes while J did homework. I looked at him and said "J, I was talking with your dad today and he mentioned that he thought you were quiet and unhappy." (J's face has a curious look) "And he thought maybe you got bullied or something. I know he worries a lot about you because he's not around, so he asks you a ton of questions. J, are you happy?" His eyes widened and he said "Of course, mom!"

Me: Cause I think you're happy most of the times

J: I am! I really am.

M: And you're not getting bullied or think you're weird or something?

J: No...

M: Cause I think I'm the kind of mom you could say anything to, you know that right? (he nods). You know you could tell me anything and I'd be there, right?

J: I tell you everything (gives me a sheepish smile) Well, except about homework.


I loved this conversation. Now, off to make that phone call to his Aunt.

Ah sed... my nothe ith stuffy. - 05/01/2006

I am sick. Sinuses are driving me nuts. My nose is stuffy. I felt horrible all day long. Tonight, after the crazy toddler is in bed, I have to scrub the kitchen floor. Hands & knees scrubbing. The Realtor Lady is coming tomorrow to take pictures. Ugh. My head hurts and I get to get down & scrub. Did I mention I have been getting dizzy spells for the past 3 weeks? I made a doctor's appointment....3 weeks ago. They could not get me in until this Thursday. Good thing I'm not sick or anything!!


J went to take out the garbage and said "Wow, there are a ton of people outside." Slight exaggeration, but there were several neighbors out. Neighbor Mark the mechanic talking to a friend, Mr. Cathy's husband washing his truck, the Hispanic vet nurses (husband & wife) across the street, Vic/Vin/Mick next door. All of a sudden, I felt really nostalgic. I like my neighborhood! And I am leaving. Male vet nurse even said yesterday "I wonder who will buy your house. What kind of people they'll be." To which I replied "Yes, because they can't be as cool as us." And he replied "You're right." Awe.


Oh Vic/Vin/Mick - that's one guy. When he first introduced himself, I was not sure if he said Vin or Vic. Not wanting to ask, I never called him by his first name for fear of getting it wrong. When I'd talked to David about him, I'd say "Vic/Vin said ....." It was an inside joke - I had no clue. Then, one day, across-the-street neighbor yells to Vic/Vin: "Hey Micky, come here!" Not Vin, Not Vic - his name was Mick. So now, we still call him Vic/Vin/Mick. Not to his face, of course. If I just say to David "Mick said he'd loan us his saw," David gives me a blank stare, until I say "Mick? you know, Vic/Vin/Mick?" Then comprehension dawns on his face. Hee hee.


I'm gonna miss the neighbors