The Day After

Yep, I am sitting here wondering how in the hell did I get so old. Last night we went to a surprise party for Uncle Greg's 60th. 60!!!!!! I am not supposed to have friends that old because I am not old. Of course, neither is Greg. We had a great time watching some REALLY bad kareokee (spelled right?) I guess if you drink enough courage you think you can sing. There were a couple of people that were pretty good, but the rest of them were just flat out having a great time. It was so good to see some of the Chapin family that I don't get to see often enough. The weather basically cooperated until into the evening the humidity decided to show up. Well, at least I am blaming the humidity. Kristi was the PERFECT hostess. She went around with a fistful of clips and scrunchies to all of the women and pretty soon, everybody's hair was up on their head. Earlier, Kristi went around with this apron on that had 6 pockets in it and all were full of beers, waters, sodas and she was carrying a pitcher of Mai Tai's. She is too organized for me. She was as cool as a cucumber about anything and everything, I have to say, I have never seen her blow a gasket. Thank you Kristi and Charlie for a great party. Now this afternoon we are going to Chip's house to celebrate his baby girl, Victoria engagement and 21st birthday. I am making a new dessert to take, what better victims than my in-laws. Well, I still get one more day off and then school is back!!!! Also, tomorrow Hawk Chapin will be born. What luck that Kaleigh, Brock's wife, gets to have labor on Labor Day.

Summer Is Gone!!

Well, summer may be over as to the school calendar, but it is still sweltering here. Yesterday was absolutely miserable!!! There has been not much going on this past week. I got some good news and then some not so good. The not so good is that a very dear friend of mine FINALLY told me that she has been having health issues, I am so very upset by this. I will not give her name because she has asked me not to say anything. But, I am praying for her. The good news is that Tyler got his transfer to Chino Hills. He will get his schedule on Sept. 5th from the Chino Hills station and will continue to work Big Bear until he starts here. He has been using Shelley's car to drive back and forth for a couple of weeks, so it will be good for him to be here. Vicky and Greg got a new house. It is the best looking fixer-upper I have ever seen!! I haven't seen the inside, which Vicky says is a disaster, but from the outside it looks gorgeous! Vicky had plans for this house from the day she saw it. If it all works out, her son Brock and his family will be moving into a house a mile away. Vicky already has plans for a nursery in her new house. I am so looking forward to school starting, I like having a schedule, I am too unorganized otherwise. There will be a couple of mornings a week that I will have no one here, unless I get a new kid, and I can't wait to go to the store BY MYSELF!! Well, even though it is only 8:45 am, I need to go and turn the air on, the humidity is getting BAD. See you all soon

It's True!!!!

Well, I now know for a fact that possums do play possum. Last night, I went into the backyard to play with Payton. She had kept coming in and bugging me, so I figured that she wanted to have me throw stuff for her for a few minutes. She kept running over to her bird and then back to me whining. OK, I go and went over to pick up what I thought was her bird, it was dark, and there was a possum laying on the ground. GREAT, now Payton is a killer! She kept nugging it with her nose and I even tried to give it a little kick to get it moving, but nothing. I called for Rick and he came out with the broom and pushed at it and nothing. Payton's first kill. I then sent a text to Tyler and Erik and brought Payton into the house and shut the door so that she wouldn't tear the poor possum up. I called the dispatch at the Sheriff's office to get a night time number for animal control, there is none. The Deputy I spoke to said to double bag the dead animal, put it out to the curb and call the number he gave me and leave a message. I told Rick about this and he just layed on the couch. Rick is on vacation this week and he is taking it to the letter! I have nicknamed the couch Rick's single wide. He gets out of bed and goes directly to that couch and lays there all day, at one point there were 2 days worth of newspapers, etc. Too funny. The Deputy also told me that I shouldn't be surprised if the possum is gone when I go back to take it out of the yard. Well, 30 minutes later, Rick gets up to get a shovel and 2 trash bags and we go out to the backyard. Sure as shit, the possum is gone. I can't believe this, they really do play dead. I am just thankful that the possum didn't tear Payton a new one, the Deputy told me they are VERY mean. This possum is the 2nd one this week to come into the yard. When animal control called me back this morning, I was told that possums will tear up a whole yard looking for food. YEA!!!!!!!!!!!

THANK YOU

I had to do a seperate blog so that I could say THANK YOU to Jamie and Jamie for all their hard work for the wedding shower. There is no way I would have been able to pull this off on my own. Thank you for all the things you made and did. I am so lucky to have you guys in my life. I felt like a penny with change when I realized that you were cleaning up the mess yourselves while I was out in the backyard. You guys are the best. I LOVE YOU

WOW What a Weekend

It is Monday morning and we had a VERY busy weekend. We had Christianne and Oliver's family wedding shower here yesterday, the prep work was huge!! Last week, Erik worked like a slave on the planters, even getting his friend Ryan in on the action. They took out ALL of the dirt, which may not sound like much to you, but it filled a dumpster!! Then Thursday night, Rick decided to put some of it back because there was too much for the dumpster. It was a crack-up. Our next door neighbor Felix came out to help as he ALWAYS does. There they were "sifting " the dirt that was being replaced into the planters. Hey guys, topsoil is CHEAP!! Then Saturday morning, Brock, Vicky's son, came over with his steam cleaner and cleaned the outside of the house and the cement. We had no idea how bad the cement was until he was done, there were cracks there that we never knew excisted. Then later, after we went to Roscoes for lunch, Rick and Erik went and got plants and more topsoil for the planters. On Sunday morning, the shower was at 2 that day, they started to plant what they had bought. The lawn was still covered with everything that Rick had taken out of the garage a week and a half ago. Talk about cutting it close, as the first guests were arriving, they put the last item back into the garage and shut the door. WHEW!! Jamie C and I had been working on the inside and shopping for the shower (Jamie spent WAY TOO MUCH on beer and supplies) and as much as I thought I was going to be ready, I wasn't. I hate not being ready. Shelley came and asked if there was anything she could do, and I put her to work. The Jamies decorated the backyard and it was really pretty, well as pretty as you can make that piece of crap patio cover look. I got a waterslide and it was in the backyard. The little ones had fun in it and Jerry's kids, Spencer and Jordan, had to be drug out and they were not happy about it. With Rick's birthday on Friday, Jamie C's on Saturday and the shower yesterday, we had a full weekend. Tonight we get to go to Aiden's swim lessons and there is no excuse for Rick to be late, he is off this week. Clever Rick, take the time off AFTER the party work, Thursday he and his boys are going golfing and I hope they all end up here for BBQ, we have LOTS of beer left over. I want to thank Jamie Bengard, Jamie Cacavalle (soon to be Jamie Bengard) for all their hard work on the shower. Kim brought all the stuff to make Mojitos, thank you Kim. With all of everybody's efforts it made for a great time for everybody.

Absolutely Horrible!!!!!!

Let me start out with PLEASE PLEASE include my neighbor Barbara in your prayers. Yesterday, she got the devestating news that she has 1 year to live. How can a person deal with that kind of news?? I am so angry with the way her treatment was done, or not done. It is easy for me to be angry, I am not the one who is in the predicament. Eddie is upset that they put all their trust into this doctor she has and it is gone crap on them. A while back Barbara was told that the chemo was not working and they would have to do some radical surgery. OK, that is what is needed, so she was OK with it. I thought that it was only 6 or 7 weeks that Kaiser waited to do the surgery, it was 12!!!!! That is so totally beyond comprehension!!!!!!! They are killing her. I had told them about Oasis of Hope in the very beginning, but the doctor convinced them that she knew what she was doing and could help Barbara. NOT TRUE LADY!! I told Barbara's daughter that they have a raving malpractice suit available, but that doesn't change the fact that she is in the state she is in now. To wait 6 days would have been stupid, but 12 WEEKS!! I hope that Oasis can help her now, and I pray for her several times a day. Would you please do the same?? Just a simple, Lord get Barbara thru this, would help. I know that Kaiser has been good for other people, but not this time, they blew it and it may cost a good person her life.

It Can't Ever Be Easy

It is early Tuesday afternoon and we have no running water. The guys putting in the gate have to do it differently than they planned on and to do the first part they had to cut the water line that comes into the house, so No Water!! I am SO excited. The best part is that for 2 days we will have NO GATE. SO SO excited. Payton will only do her "business" in the backyard. This means that I will be up most of the night because she will keep coming to get me to let her out to go and I will have to stand there to make sure she dooesn't head out of the yard. The weather has been so nice at night that she has been sleeping at the open door to the backyard. I will be spending the majority of my time sitting out front with the kids and her on her leash. Excuse me while I go have my own little pitty party.

Tuesday Repairs

Well, it is Tuesday morning and we have 2 repairs being done today, this is a record!! The big TV went out Friday, and Erik got Rick to replace the gates, well hire someone to do it at least. So, by this afternoon we will be all good. Last night I got to see Aiden. We went to his swim lessons, late of course, but I still got to see him play in the pool. What a water boy he is, so comfortable in the pool. I spotted him and his goggles that he wears all the time as soon as I walked into the pool area. We then went to dinner at Pat and Oscar's. It was such a beautiful evening we ate outside. We will make it to his swim lessons on time next week, Rick has decided to take next week off, so there won't be any reason to be late. When we left I got an unsolicited hug from Aiden, it was so special to get one when he isn't told to. This is Balyssa's last week here. She told me that her mom said that I am going to cry really hard when she leaves. Sure. Well, I have to go and make another list for the shower, I have so much to do that I don't want to miss anything. Taco Tuesday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just Monday

Well, how was your weekend?? I had a pretty good time, even though Friday night started out crappy. All of the Friday night Tony crowd either were out of town or just didn't make it, I miss the visits. When we got home, EARLY, Erik came in from work surprised to find us there. He told us Jamie and himself were meeting her parents for a late dinner. Well, out of sympathy I am sure, we were asked if we wanted to join them. SURE!! We love our future in-laws and were glad to get together. We had drinks with them, they ate dinner and then we came home. Well, half-way thru the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, the TV goes out. YEA!!!!!!!!! I Tivo'd the ceremony, so it is not a big deal. I just wanted to see the show. I could care less about the march of athletes. Rick brought out a 19" tv and hooked it up so that at least we could glance at it while we are SUPPOSED to be getting ready for this Sunday's wedding shower here. It is a crack-up, this dink of a tv is in front of our larger one on a tv tray. How trailer is this???? We got to see Vicky , Greg and their family Saturday. I LOVE them. We were there for a baby shower for their oldest son, Brock and his wife Kaleigh. The food, beer and company was great. We stayed into the night, watching drunk bachi ball and visiting some more. I found out early in the evening that Kristi's husband Chalio, I call him Charlie, came out to our table earlier with the intention of a drinking contest. This was unknown to me, and I have no idea who won!! I am willing to place a bet though. Then yesterday, the cleaning began!!! Rick is STILL working on getting things back into the garage, it has only been since Thursday, July 31st. Color me surprised!!!! Brock is coming on Wednesday to return Colleen's chairs and is going to steam clean our cement, so Rick has to finish by then. Jamie brought her dog Rook over to play with Payton, they have a blast chasing each other around. After Jamie left,we had Wendy's food out on the lawn at 9:30, how healthy is that? I have no kids today, so I can get some stuff done that I could not do if I had to referee the kids. Then tomorrow is Tuesday!!!!! YEA Taco Tuesday!! I am looking forward to seeing Cindy and Larry, they were vacationing last week so we missed them. They are our Tuesday night dates. After Gary finishes his backyard, they can get back into the swing of things again and rejoin us. He has put in a lot of work and it is looking really good, I am jealous. Well, I could sit here all day, but I need to take advantage of the emptiness. Hey Charlie, 2 more for me and 1 for you. HA HA

Almost Done

Tonight after I get done here, I am meeting Robin over at my mom's place to try and get the rest of the "shit" out of there. Tyler went over yesterday and did a lot all by himself. I will be so glad when this is all over with, as I am positive Robin will be too. I wish I had money, I would just hire someone to come in and take it all. Today is going to the stores day and then the usual sprinklers in the backyard and then out front to watch the kids ride bikes. Even though I sit in the shade I am getting a tan. I am not even trying, but like Vicky has always said, tan fat looks better. Yesterday we went to the Splash Pad but it was closed for repairs. I saw Jamie's friend Lisa and her 2 kids Jack and Grace there. I have been watching them grow up on their babysite and it was nice to see them in person again. Well, that is my dull life for now.

It Starts Today!!!!

YES !!!!! NFL football starts today with the Hall of Fame game. I love football, both pro and college. How is your weekend going? It is Sunday morning, and I am getting ready to finish a baby blanket. It has been a mixed bag this weekend. Friday night startd dull, we were the only ones who showed up at Tony's. Then after I told Rick lets go by and see all the work Gary has done with his backyard. They were home having a BBQ with their friends Dave and Rose. We busted in anyway. They have done so much in their backyard, it is going to be beautiful. I wish there was that much work going on here, ha ha. Rick started unloading the garage last week and it is still out in the driveway. Jerry came over yesterday for help with his van and we went to Roscoes for dinner. He has been hearing about it and wanted to give it a try. Of course I protested :) He was impressed. I texted Vicky before we left to let her know that we were going, and I got the reply Bitch!!! Yes, and I was a happy and full bitch!!! Alex, Jamie and Aiden are in Palm Springs this weekend at Jeff and Bill's place. Jamie will come home to a sparkling house because she has a cleaning lady that started Saturday. That would be so nice. Well, I am going to go and work on this blanket and wait for the game to start at 3 PM.