Goodbye to You - 11/15/2007

We're sad. The cool neighbors moved one month early. They were leaving in December. These are the neighbors that gave us their lawn mower and whose daughter is Isabel's first *real* non-family friend. *sigh*

Mr Neighbor came over Saturday to say they moved up their move...to Thursday! WHAT? Huh? No!

I planned on making a scrap book of all the cool times Isabel and their daughter spent together; Isabel's birthday, her birthday, 4th of July, random days where we watched her or she came over to play, the football game her dad officiated and we went to see. I printed pictures, bought a mini-scrap book and went to town. I finished it last Friday. He told us they were moving the next day. Talk about timing. (and "chip-missing" David turns to me in front of him and says "Hey, did you finish that thing you were making for them?" My reply, "Yes, you moron." Anyone have a sensitivity-chip available?)

I invited them over to dinner on Wednesday. In the meantime, random things kept appearing in our garage. Three gallons of unused bleach. A bike. Car mats. Yesterday, they came over for dinner and asked to borrow Isabel's wagon. They emptied their fridge and freezer and brought it over. Holy cow. And all their cleaning supplies (the moving company won't transport chemicals). We had fajitas (steak, shrimp & chicken) with all the fixings, including rice and refried beans.

Mrs. Neighbor loved the scrapbook.

The moving van just left. Mr. Neighbor came by to bring more cleaning supplies, give me a hug, and drop off a $100 Visa gift card (he said for mowing their grass while their house stays on the market, but that was what the lawnmower was for). There they go.

Business in the Front - 11/07/07

For the past few months, I've had odd encounters with some neighbors. I use the term loosely, because they don't live on my street. They live on one of the streets that my street intersects. This street is the "back" way to the Wal-Mart that's less than a mile away, hidden (for now) by trees. I use the "back way" only when I go to Wal-Mart. In going this way, I often pass by the Burnt Orange Hummer House. (The Hummer's orange, not the house). Often-times I pass the Hummer itself driving on the street. The driver, I can't tell if it's a he or a she, emphatically WAVES at me. Full-on spaztic "HEY THERE" waving. I have no idea who they are. We have never met, never spoken. *I* think they are confusing me with another Silver Jeep like mine whose owner lives somewhere in this neighborhood and I have seen a few times. I'll lamely wave and kind-of shrug. Sometimes, I'll drive by their house, and the lady of the house waves enthusiastically at me as I drive by. I smile and wave back. No clue who they are.

David and I are driving the back way from Wal-Mart one day and it reminds me to tell him about Hummer people. Right as I start to say "Oh, yea. There's these people in a Hummer...." the Hummer drives by and arms wave happily. I wave and finish my story with a "See?? See?? Who are they?" David doesn't know them either.

This Saturday, as I come back from buying something I am sure we needed, I pass by Hummer House. Never again shall it be called "Hummer House," because...as I drove by and waved back at the man riding the lawn mower, all I could think was...."Business in the Front, Party in the Back."



The man possessed the most perfect, most fantastic, most mulletastical mullet EVER. Pin straight LONG black hair, stopping right at his lower back. Oh, yes indeed there is a party in the back. Spikey short hair up front, for those board meetings.

Mullet Mansion man and I, waving emphatically back, will share that memory forever.

Life of the Party - 11/12/06

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)

Blind Date - 11/10/2006

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.

Sleeper - 11/09/2006

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.

Just an Aside - 11/02/2006

I forgot to mention this about our night out trick or treating.

We're about 2 streets away at a house giving out candy. David turns and mentions that he can see our house from here. The guy (a VERY hyper man who needed to either lay off the caffeine, or quite possibly the speed, not sure which) asks "The two-story one?" David answers yes. The guy then says something like "Oh yea, we see you guys walking by The Amityville Window all the time. Just tonight we saw a guy with a HUGE afro." That would be Jake in his costume wig.

They see our window. They named our window (The Amityville Window), two blocks away. As we walked away, David finally admitted that I was right, we do need some kind of cover over the HUGE window in our house. It is so far up, we're not sure how we'll get to it, but it MUST be done. I have been saying that I feel like the world is watching us. It has.

Bargaining, Pt. 1 - 06/12/2006

Today is the first walk-through of our new home. Eeeep. I'm going to be late to work, btw. Right now, I am waiting for David to finish his shower & "I" to finish her "brekbist." "J" is with his dad.

The move is officially a week away. A week from today. Can I say how my emotions are all over the place lately? Of course I can, it's MY blog. Last night, I was crying. I was upset that all my friends or family live out of the darned state or far enough away that help for a middle-of-the-week-move is impossible. Also sad because...all my friends or family live out of the darned state or far enough away. I was bored to tears yesterday. Literally. It does not help that I am PMS-ing either. Stupid Eve.

And, how am I going to move with "I" in tow, running all over the place? My babysitters? One moved to Minnesota, the other...she's going to Puerto Rico on vacation.

I was also sad to be leaving this house. The house that I bought, all on my own. Me & "J," that's it. Not even any child support from "J"'s dad ($19k and counting). My own house with a nice piece of land. This is the first house Mrs. Squeaklefritz came home to.

Speaking of...she's calling me. Time to get her dressed so we can go check out the new digs and make sure the house looks good.

This Year's Girl - 06-07-2006

We have a male neighbor with a young daughter. She visits with him every other weekend. Now that school is out, she’s with her dad a little more. I think she is truly going to miss us. I feel a little sad for her. Her dad is a great guy, I just don’t know so much about her mom (her parents are no longer together). Little things she says like “You cook a lot” and “What is THAT?” (to my trying to feed her cheese-covered broccoli, make me sad. I cook a lot? How often does she get a home-cooked meal? She also says things like “We don’t have a dining room table. We eat dinner on the floor in the living room” when I make her eat her snack on the dining room table and NOT in the living room on my new carpet. Her dad has all these things, but she only sees him every other weekend. What must weekdays be like? She also said “We have to move in 30 days.” When I am not home, she always asks “Where’s Kaaren?” and when I get home, she jumps up & down. Isabel loves her. Loves to play with her. I am going to miss her, even those times when, like tonight, we said we were going out to dinner. She said, “OK, so am I” and RUNS to tell her dad she’s going to dinner with us. How can we say no? (and we actually got treated to dinner by her dad for taking care of her at no charge). I do hope “J” & “I” appreciate all we do for them. I do.

OK, new topic: Cell phones in restaurants. ARRRGHHH. Does Arrrgh get my point across? We went to breakfast on Sunday. Three people at the table 12 inches from us are talking. The one girl gets a phone call. She proceeds to answer it and “blah blah blah hee hee hee blah blah NOOOO…Nooooo, she said that? Noooo.” I wanted to shove the cell phone in her uneaten scrambled eggs. Anyone who knows me knows I cannot stand cell phone use in restaurants. I will not answer it if it rings. I cut the call. I am there to eat dinner with whomever I am there with (my husband, my friend, my grandpa, whoever). I am NOT there to have a random conversation on the phone, leaving my lunch date hanging. One word: Rude. Stop it. NOW. WHAT can be so terribly important that you have to ignore the people you are eating with? Are you that self-centered? No, really, you do NOT look important. You look like a dork. A Rude Dork. * ahhhhh * I almost feel better.

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.

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