Yes, I know I am a little late posting this. His birthday is on 12/21. It was on a Friday, his last day of school before break.
From David, Isabel and I, he got Sony Acid Music Studio 7. It allows him to create music on our computer. He never smiles, but he kept thanking me all day for buying him this. We also got him a Domokun sweatshirt..JPG)
It's a random Japanese cartoon character.
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My daughter Isabel......has a Gummy Bear Vitamin Addiction.
She loves Gummy Bears, so we bought her vitamins in Gummy Bear shapes. She can get 2-4 a day. She usually plays us; she'll ask David for some, and then later she'll ask me for some. We have to coordinate our Gummy Bear dole-age.
Today David calls me at work laughing. This morning he let Isabel pick the gummy bears herself from the jar. She reached in and grabbed about 5-6 of them. David tells her "No, no, baby, you only get two." In that moment, her little bear-addicted brain made a split-second decision....
She shoved her entire fist with all 5-6 gummys in her mouth and ran.
I went to lunch with David and Isabel today at a fast food joint. We sat down facing the soda machines (self-service). I see something happening and I pay attention.
A thin Hispanic (looks like Puerto Rican) guy in his 20's was filling up water cups with soda. The manager came out and told him that he asked for water cups, and that those cups were for water only. If he wants sodas they are $1.39 each. She takes the cups away from him and throws them away. I sort-of snicker to myself. Then I see BIG fat Puerto Rican man (20's as well) come over to the table right next to me, where a young 20-ish woman pushing a stroller with a toddler has just sat down. She has a 5 year old with her as well. BIG fat man says, and I quote, and in front of me & Isabel and David: "What a F-ing C*nt. Did you see that B**ch? I'd have thrown the F-ing drinks all up on her." The young woman proceeds to agree with him saying stuff like "BullS&*T" and "b**ch." They get caught STEALING, but the manager is a C**t & a Bit**??
Young guy comes to the table with ANOTHER big guy, and what looks like a late 40-50ish year old lady - possibly the mother to some of these people and the grandmother to these little kids. Grandma says "What a F-ing B..." and they proceed to go off again cursing.
The five year old is right next to me. We're sharing a LONG bench booth thingy. The 5 year old says "Sh*t. I wanted Coke!" OMG, you guys. I did not finish my salad. I made the excuse "David we have to go, I have to get back to work" and left.
I was SO mad. THESE are the kinds of people that give Puerto Ricans a bad name. I was so embarrassed to be sitting next to them, knowing that I am Puerto Rican, and these people are a prime example of why we are looked down upon in Central Florida. Call me the 'white sister' all you want, that is NOT acceptable behavior! WHEN did this ever become o.k.? It is NOT. It is never ok to speak like this...especially in public....ESPECIALLY in front of your children/grandchildren.
Like a co-worker said when I told her the story: Trash is trash. White, black, tan, yellow, purple. Trash is trash.
How was YOUR lunch today?
Hello All,
I just got back from Chicago. I arrived this morning at my house at around 12:30 a.m. Late flight. I flew up Wednesday afternoon, and flew back Thursday evening. COLD!! Wednesday night, 6 of us went to dinner at a fantastic Italian restaurant. The kind where the people are actually Italian. The food was GREAT.
Thursday was spent in a conference room, brain-storming. I had a really good time and met people I had known through work for years and years, but never met face to face. One hired consultant, our Vice President /Inventory/computer guru who I love to death, and four "Power Users" of our computer system. That would be moi. It is nice to be appreciated for your talents. Really, I am not kidding.
Just some airline observations:
Apparently, carry-on luggage dimensions are "optional" for some people.
PAY ATTENTION to what socks you are wearing, because you have to take off your shoes. Holey socks - not so nice. I am talking from experience here. Manicure your toenails, too ladies.
Yes, you have to take your jacket off.
Yes, you have to take your laptop and camcorder out of their cases.
Yes, it really is only 3 ounces of liquid/gel items that you can take on a plane. For the 10th time, No, you can't take that water bottle in. No, that monster-sized toothpaste is not considered 3 ounces just because you squeezed half of it out.
Those 3 ounces of saline/perfume/toothpaste, mouthwash, etc. etc......they all have to fit in one quart-sized zipper-type plastic bag. Not a gallon size, not two quart-sized bags. One per person.
Even though they are calling Group # 2 to board, half the people from Group # 6 are blocking your way in to the plane. Because just by standing near the gate door, the space/time continuum will speed up and they will get on.
All planes leaving from or going to Orlando will have kids on it. Crying kids, happy kids, whiny kids. Deal with it. It is ORLANDO.
I hate turbulence and those fluffy clouds that cause it.
I LOVE how, when we have just taxied to the gate, everyone rushes to stand up, get their items from the overhead bin and THEN.....they wait. And wait. And Wait. Why are they STANDING there? You are not going anywhere until they actually open the door. I call it the "Hurry Up and Wait" portion of the evening.
Thankfully, expense accounts take care of the $34 parking fee for one day and half.
Feliz Navidad Todos! We hope you are having a great Christmas Day. We've had a swell weekend.
Last night, Wednesday, we had our company Christmas Dinner.
Howdy. I know, I said I'd "write tomorrow" a few days ago. Can you believe I have not GOTTEN ON LINE until now. I mean, other than for work. SO busy. It may have something to do with a certain fruit of my looms...loins...that has a certain project of the science fair nature that this certain fruit has known for months and yet I only find out about it a day or so before vacation. I digress but I am explaining why we're all with the "busy."
Thursday - Turkey Day. 16 people to feed. David's parents (with a little help from me & Grandma) kicked patootie in feeding 16 people. I helped make this casserole, where almost everything was a slight substitution off the original receipe. It was funny...and delicious. We should have made 2, it was gone in a flash. The only down-side? No leftovers!! Gasp! I loves me some leftovers. I think the only things left were an assortment of stuffings and a little bit of turkey. Good eats = no leftovers I suppose.
I think we played a board game that night, or was that the following night? I know we played Pictionary one night (Team Kaaren/Tricia/Jacob came from behind to victory!) and another night we played Apples to Apples.
We're back. Spent a week in Lookout Mountain, GA. It's so pretty up there. We did not get there until Monday night (10 p.m. or so) so we were really there Tuesday through Friday. We drove back Saturday, so that we could unpack the Jeep and the U-Haul-O'-Stuff we brought back with us. I'm still kind-of pooped. Had to go back to work after being gone a week. That's always a bummer. I need to hop over to AOL real quick and upload some pictures. I took WAY too many and this website only lets me do 50 a month. I think I'm at like 20 so far. I'll put what I can here, and then I will have to link the rest.
Tuesday we just kind-of putzed around. I went to the very quaint post office (think Mayberry, and not in a bad way or anything) with my m-i-l, while David went though boxes and boxes of stuff he had stored at his parents house. You can see me twitching, can't you?
Wednesday, we took the kids and David's grandma letterboxing. We were one for two. Here's Grandma, Isabel & David looking at a view at one of the letterboxing locations. Didn't find this letterbox. The second location was in this terrific park up there. SO much fun for kids. The kids played while grandma & I found the box. Victory! Here's Jake sliding down a humongous slide at this cute park, called The Pumpkin Patch.
Wednesday night was bowling night. Bizarro bowling, as they had you prepay for your games and then they'd randomly turn off our lanes when the prepayments would expire. We could not understand how, if you prepaid 6 people for a game each on one lane, how do you run OUT of $$ if you have not finished bowling. Weird. David's brother Kevin kicked butt. It's cause he's so tall. His arms practically reach the pins anyway. LOL
Thursday! Turkey Day! But before I proceed, let me take you back to....oh, 1975. Meet Hugo, the Man of 1,000 Faces. This creepy little toy was very popular in the 70's. He came with scars, toupee's, two sets of glasses, fake teeth, etc. etc. Creepifying. Apparently, my husband used to scare the heck out of one of his brothers with it. (By the way, THIS picture is from a set currently for sale on e-bay. They are at $51 right now). So, David wants to get rid of Creepy-Hugo, only....Isabel. She...loves Hugo. *shudder*
Here she is, in her beautiful Thanksgiving dress....playing with Hugo. She'd try to stick one of his noses on, and give him kisses. I caught her one night out of bed, down the hall, grabbing Hugo from his box. (She was SOOOO good going to bed. Not crib. Bed. She could get out of the bed, but she wouldn't. She'd lie there like a good girl....except for the Hugo incident). Hugo, alas, is still up in Lookout Mountain. He may get "e-bayed" as well.
Back to my daughter, and the beauty and perfection that is my daughter. (We'll just ignore the humming thing that drives me, as well as restaurant patrons, bonkers). Here she is in that dress again (quite possibly humming, too). Gahh! Gorgeous!
Anywhoo, it's 11:33 p.m. and I HAVE TO WORK IN THE MORNING! Wahhh! I'll continue tomorrow
After the Bar Mitzvah, we came home and I took a NAP! A Much needed, rather disjointed, unfulfilling nap. Isabel was down for all of a half an hour. We got ready at 10 till 6. Dinner's at 6, but they are all of our yard the street and their yard away from us. This was the first time we were meeting the wife. We've talked to Litrell several times. He's a good looking man. Even David said "Is Litrell good-looking? I think he'd be considered good looking to women." To which I said "Uh HUH," and to which he rolled his eyes. I had seen Stayce from afar (skinny little thing) but had never met her. We walked over, cake & flowers in hand. They greeted us at the door and led us in.
Their house is a two-story by the same builder, but a slightly different floor plan. And also, it looked like a model home and made me feel like "Kaaren & David", the Puerto Rican/White trashy decorators". LOL It was GORGEOUS. They had neutral colors on their walls (unlike K&D,PRWTD), all sorts of pretty pictures, painting, decor. It was nice. The family room? Hello! Looked like a single's pad. Beautiful glass entertainment center, leather couches, just beautiful. They have a KID! A four year old! My family room looks like The Toys R Us giraffe threw up in it. They have a smaller upstairs loft area, but they had a foosball & air hockey table. Jake was in love. 4 bedrooms (one was made into his office). Hey, don't worry. I LOVE MY HOUSE. Love, love, love, love. I love all the wacky colors. I think it is awesome, in a lived-in sort of way.
Some other friends were invited for dinner too. Their daughter plays soccer (SO cute) with the daughter of this couple that came over. And for the record, everyone was so so pretty. And I'm not saying that in a catty way, cause, hello? I'm including myself in there. *snort* They were, though. Stayce is very pretty & sweet, the other couple, Brad & Angela, were very attractive and their daughter was gorgeous as well. Reminded me of a brunette version of David's oldest niece.
The 3 little girls ate first, in the breakfast nook table; hot dogs & Mac & Cheese. Can't go wrong with that. Then the 3 girls went upstairs to play while the adults ate dinner. Dinner was held in the formal dining room. You know, like the purple formal dining room we have....only with furniture. Our formal dining room is currently home to Dora's Talking Kitchen, a basket full of toys and a K'Nex Roller Coaster David and Jake are building. We had steak, baked potato, salad & bread. It was really great.
By about 8:30, Isabel was pretty much done. She had had only a half hour nap. Jake had gone home to get Cranium Turbo Edition so we could all play. David said he'd take Isabel home and we could play the game. That was 8:30. At midnight, Jake & I stroll through the front door. LOL The game was fun, but took forever, because of pauses for more refresments, cake eating, chasing after two little girls who completely trashed the upstairs loft, etc. Fun conversation & fun time. They even asked about grandma, as they had seen the ambulence at 2:30 in the morning that day, and Litrell had asked David about it later on.
All in all, we had a great time.
(Life of the Party, Angel Season 5, Episode 5)
Holy cow, we narrowly missed a complete screw-up!
We have had plans to eat dinner with the neighbors for 2 weeks. We told them that on Saturday night, we could not do it because of a Barmitzvah. It was decided that Friday night, the 10th, we'd have dinner with the neighbors.
All week, we heard nothing. David took the night off for this too. Then...today arrives. We still don't know when dinner is. David was home all day but the neighbors were working. In a panic, I rush to the grocery store on the way home, to buy a cake, some flowers for the hostess and cookies for the little girls. I get home...to see the male neighbor get in his car to go to the gym. His wife and daughter are not home yet. We're confused. Did they forget? Is it going to be late? I keep telling David there is no way they would not tell us the time. We need to know, to get ready. So we're all stupid, lol, because no one wants to go over to talk to the lady when she gets home. What if they forgot? I did not want to make them feel bad! We waited until about 7:30 & finally went to dinner.
We just got back aroud 9:30, and neighbor guy is pulling in his driveway too. David yells his name and walks over to the street. They thought we were doing dinner tomorrow!! We reminded him we had a barmitzvah to go to Saturday night. He apologized profusely. David then says "Let's see if we can still work it out. Kaaren, what time is the Barmitzvah?" I can't remember if it is six or seven at night, so I walk in the house to get the invitation.
BOY AM I GLAD I DID! The barmitzvah....is at 9:30 A.M.!!!!! I had NO clue!!! We would have missed it COMPLETELY. David looks at our neighbor and says "I guess we're coming after all."
Jake & I are going to Wal-Mart in a bit, after I get our girl out of the tub. It's open 24 hours. I need to buy a CARD to put Ben's gift/$$ in.
Holy shnikes, I'm tired. Tuck me in, please?
Grandma's back in the hospital, in Puerto Rico. :( The fluid is around her lung again. Her daughter and husband are there, so they will take good care of her, if the hospitals can't.
Um....oh, tomorrow night we're invited to dinner at the neighbor across the street's house. Dang it, I meant to bake something and I forgot. What should I bring?!? Wine (ew)? A pie from Publix?
Speaking of Publix....I GIVE ALREADY!! Gaaahh! I give. I have to shop there. Their bakery, deli, produce and meat departments cancel out the fact that they overcharge for the dry goods. I give UP driving further to a store that doesn't carry snap peas or runs out of celery. Celery! *shrugs shoulders*
Saturday night, we're going to a Barmitzvah for one of the boys in Jake's old Cub Scout group (1st-5th grade). Yay Ben! I am very excited to go. Everyone has something nice to wear, but me. Cause of the fatty fatness & all. I have something to wear, just nothing to write home/blog about. I have never been to a Barmitzvah. I've been to a Bat- but not a Bar.
We're working on The Amityville Window. Wait till you see what we did. We should be done soon. I'd say this weekend, but we have too much to do already.
Veronica Mars season 3 is shaping up to be Buffy Season 4. As in, the season that must not be mentioned. I can't even say that. Buffy season 4 was VERY disjointed as far as the arc went (The Initiative? Spike with a chip? Werewolf chic? Riley with Buffy? Please.), but at least it had some terrific stand-alone episodes. (Something Blue, Emmy-nominated Hush, Who are You, Superstar, Restless). Veronica? Not so much this year. Please let it get better.
Off to finish yesterday's episode of Lost.
Grandma wants to go HOME already. Poor thing. Nothing new to report. The doctors are really not telling them WHEN they can leave. Annoying. Here are some pictures:
Grandpa and his two great-grandsons.
Someone got a hold of the painter's tape.
We dressed our girl as a fairy and visited grandma right before bedtime - around 8 p.m. Grandma really enjoyed it.
Tonight, Wednesday, we had a mini-family reunion in the room. 9 people, counting me & grandpa too. David stayed at home w/the kids. It was fun but I forgot the camera. :( OH, and she told my second cousin that she was fat. My cousin's a size 2. LOL!! EVERYONE'S fat.
(Eternity, Angel Season 1, Episode 17)
Learned a few things these past few days.
(Life Serial, Buffy Season 6, Episode 5)
The other night, we were watching a local news station, and kept seeing commercials for seafood restaurants in our new county. The restaurants were all on the water, with outdoor tables, tons of steaming shellfish and cold beverages. I told David that that was the kind of seafood place I wanted to go to one day. We last went to Red Lobster. I like Red Lobster, but it's more of the "fast food" joint of the seafood restaurants.
Tonight, we went out. I thought we were going to Target to shop and then grab a bite to eat, only we went left on the main road instead of right. I thought maybe we were going to the shops in the next city over. Instead, David asked the GPS to find us seafood restaurants. We ended up in New Smyrna Beach. We drove up & down A1A looking at restaurants and decided on PJ's. It wasn't on the beach side, it was on the other side of the island. The lagoon side? Whatever. We sat outside in the cool, cool weather with the sun setting. We ate seafood-stuffed mushrooms and salads with fresh-baked bread. Our girl saw them take the bread out of the huge, round oven she called a "cave." J had a mushroom cheese burger, our girl had chicken nuggets, David had seafood-stuffed jumbo shrimp and rice, and I had Steamed Crab Legs & fries. It was messy and terrific. I told David that the restaurant was just what I had envisioned. He raised his hands in the air and did a white-boy dance. It was a fun time. We got in the car and drove up & down A1A looking at all the condos & homes on the beach. It took us about 25 minutes to get home
I'm sitting at the dining room table, while dinner is in the oven, with a pen & paper. Spread out across the table were 3 cookbooks (Betty Crocker - don't laugh, it's great, Fix it & Forget it for Crockpots, Rachel Ray 30-Minute Meals 2) and a Recipe Keeper binder. I was picking recipes so that I could plan my weekly shopping list. All the books are open and I'm writing away. My little girl walks up, sees the cookbooks and says "Food. I...wuff...food. I wuff hot... dogs." I laughed aloud and grabbed her for a smooch. She loves her hot dogs.
"Fool For Love," Buffy Season 5, Episode 7
"Go, Go, Go, Go Kaaren, it's your birthday, we're gonna party like it's your birthday, we're gonna drink Bacardi like it's your birthday, and you know we don't give a ..cause it's your birthday."
Don't like Bacardi, but it's My Birthday!! Yay & Yuck. I am old. Mom called and sister Brenda text messaged me. Mom also sent me a box with a pair of HUGE pants. Very comfortable khaki colored drawstring cotton/linen pants, but very huge. I wore them to work on Friday. I also got candles, a purse and some jewelry from mom. Brenda sent me two t-shirts; one I wore yesterday, the other I am wearing now. David's parents sent me bubble bath for my huge tub. I have body gel coming out my ears but no bubble bath. So, I got some and used the Cherry Blossom scent in the tub last night.
We went to brunch at IHOP and had lousy service. The waitress had too many tables and was very forgetful. J & our girl both needed a refill and never got one. David needed tabasco. He never got it. He ended up walking to a table across from us to ask to borrow theirs. I wonder how David tipped. She was just plain bad.
We went to Kohls to return a pair of pants I got last week and just did not need. I wanted to use the refund to get some new place mats to match the new kitchen colors, but every time I'd find something I liked, there were only 3 or 4 of them. I want 6. I guess I'll have to go to Bed, Bath & Beyond during my lunch break & see what they have there.
Howdy all. My sisters came last night and left today. Brenda invited our other sister Vicky and, surprise! She came along. We had Brenda, Jonathan, Vicky and of course Miss Diva over for the night. Brenda brought up the picture she made for our girl.
When our girl saw the picture, her eyes got wide and she said "D
owa!" (Remember, click the picture to make it bigger. If you right click and do open in new window, you'll be able to scroll up & down each picture).
Awesome, right? And since I was taking pictures, here is the rest of her bedroom. This is what you see when you walk in her room.
The crib is sort-of a daybed right now, but the side guard is so huge, it still keeps in her her bed. She can't get out unless we help her. Those are the Disney colors we were discussing. There is a border of "fairy dust." It was done with a Disney stencil and was quite the pain. When you look straight to the right on the wall here, we have a shelf with drawers, where we hung her fairy wings from last year's Halloween costume.
Notice that David painstakingly painted all the edges/molding by hand. Also to the right when you walk in is her closet and her changing table.
Straight ahead is a wall with a window. Notice the toy chest David & I (mostly David) finished & sealed. We put up some shelves here as well. The Dora/Diego picture is already hanging on the wall now. There is still the large wall over her bed that we need to do something with. Just not sure what that is yet.
The family arrived while I was at work - some time around 3:30 p.m. I got off work around 4 p.m. and got home at 4:40-ish. David had to work. :( The sisters walked around the house again, commenting on this & that, while Jake & Jonathan played Guitar Hero. Like Dance Dance Revolution, only with a guitar. The boys also played with DDR. It was hysterical watching my nephew try to figure out the dance steps. I tell ya, it's really difficult the first few times. Jonathan is hooked and wants to buy DDR now. We went to a local strip mall where there was a Chinese & an Italian restaurant. We each ordered take-out (3 of us Chinese, 2 of us Italian) and brought it back home to eat. Mrs. Squeaklefritz went to bed, the boys continued their dance-a-thon, and the sisters sat downstairs in the family room gossiping (yes, we talked about you) :)
I woke up at 4:00 a.m. to find Jake & Jon still playing and I told Jake is go to sleep already. By the time my girl woke up at 8 a.m., everyone was scattered throughout the house. Jake fell asleep on the big couch in the loft. Jonathan slept in Jake's bed, Brenda was in the guest room, Vicky & Diva were downstairs on the family room couch. David was snoring away in our bedroom. Vicky & Diva moved up to the guest room when we all got up & started making noise in the kitchen. We just lounged about pretty much doing nothing until they left at 1:40 or so. (Vicky, you left your pajama pants. They're in the dryer right now. I threw them in the wash with all the towels). It was a quick wham-bam-thank-you-visit. :) Funny side note. My sister Vicky is the home decorating queen. When I got home from work at 4:30, she had already taken down my family room curtains and rearranged them, because I had "threaded them wrong." Something about one pointing towards the window and one away. I also noticed that the garbage can in the downstairs bathroom had been moved. LOL As she talked & walked through the family room, she was straightening my pictures and books. As she IS the home decorating queen, I am totally cool with any help I can get. Oh, I got presents from Vicky too. A gift card to Old Navy (shop-piiiiiiing) and a Booby Fairy.
Sorry, Vicky, but I am pretty sure the Booby Fairy moved on to greener pastures....like 20 years ago. The big butt fairy, though, is alive & well and living in my closet.
"Belonging," Angel Season 2, Episode 19
These love bugs are driving us BONKERS! If you're not from the south/southeast, you may not know what a love bug us. Meet a love bug couple.
She's two, I get that. She can barely say words. She's not potty trained. I get that. I just cannot understand whyyyyyyyyyy she must use her HEAD as her napkin. My girl! She of the bologna-smelling head. No matter what she is eating, it must be eaten with her hands. Try explaining to a 2 year old that soup is not to be eaten with one's hand - one's entire hand completely submerged in the bowl. But most importantly, that one's hair is not a napkin. Hand in soup, suck hand, wipe hand on hair. Repeat. Take sandwich, separate the meat & cheese from the bread. Eat the mayonnaise-covered meat. Wipe hand on hair. Repeat. Ignore spoon given with Dora Yogurt. Shove hand in yogurt. Suck hand. Wipe hand in hair. Repeat.
Try combing her hair after this. I mostly feel like laughing hysterically........ and licking her head
You Florida people....where do you shop for groceries? I...am in a quandary. I normally shop at Winn Dixie. The Longwood Winn Dixie on 434 is terrific. Much better than the one on 434 closer to Winter Springs (it was technically Casselberry). The Casselberry one was icky. The Longwood one, although older, is much cleaner and has much nicer employees.
We moved to Deltona so I reluctantly had to find a new Winn Dixie. I did, about 3 miles away. Not too shabby - I just had to get used to their weird floor organization. Two weeks ago, I go to this Winn Dixie only to find a sign saying they were closing, and I could visit one of the 2 other Winn Dixie's in Deltona. *sigh* I went to the next closest one. *shudder* NOT a pretty neighborhood. The Winn Dixie looked like it was built in 1970...and had not been cleaned since 1980 or so. That was the first and last time I will step foot in that store. Let's not discuss the scary people shopping there.
So now, my problem is...I have to shop at Publix. For those of you not in Florida, Publix is a very nice store. MUCH cleaner and hoity toity than Winn Dixie. WD is more for people wanting to save $$. At Publix, you're paying more to shop at a cleaner, nicer looking store. My problem? I don't CARE that Publix is the hoity toity store. I do not want to spend more $$ to buy the same darned items! Can of Crystal Light at Winn Dixie: $2.89. At Publix: $3.99. Can of Hunts Spaghetti Sauce: WD= 99 cents. Can't beat that! Publix? $1.29. Package of Rice-A-Roni pasta mix: WD = 99 cents. Publix? $1.19. And so on & so one. I'm shopping at Publix and I'm MAD because they are overcharging for everything.
I will give them this - they have an amazing deli & bakery. I'd go there to get my breads & lunch meat any day. But paying more for the same name-brand items drives me fruit!
I spent $99 at Publix today on things I *know* would have totalled about $75 at Winn Dixie. I'm thinking of shopping at the Longwood Winn Dixie when I get off work, on nights David does not have to work. Have I bored you to death?
