Bumpy moments

The grooms men were supposed to meet in a room at noon. The Hubs got dressed and walked over at 12:05pm. I guess the rest of the guys weren't dressed yet. They were supposed to all go out to lunch and then get dressed. No one mentioned that to my husband. They ended up NOT going to lunch because there ended up being no time left when all the groomsmen showed up.


After the ceremony (at 3pm), they took photos. The reception didn't start until 6pm. Remember how the guys didn't have any lunch? They didn't have any food in the trolley that they were going to take to the reception. My SIL and I ended up driving over to a local hot dog shop and getting our husbands something to eat.


Dinner served. Lots of kids. No pizza. No nuggets. No french fries. UH....bad news!


There we were driving to the airport and the Hubs looks at me. "Where are my sunglasses?" I had no idea. He happened to leave his sunglasses in the jacket pocket of his tux. The tux he'd given to one of his cousins to turn in for us.


We arrived back home and walked to the car. I got into the truck when the HUbs turned and opened his duffle and started to rummage around. "Where did I put the stub?" He was in search of the parking stub. He never found it. We drove out after they looked up his license plate number. I got his duffle. I looked for the shirt he wore the day we flew out. I looked in his shirt pocket. I found the stub.


In the big picture, it wasn't bad at all. Not too many things went wrong.

Sleep has forsaken me!

What sucks the most? When you wake up and can't get back to sleep.

Me?

I woke up at 1am.

It's now 2am.

I was productive and did some work. Shot off several emails. Tried to put out some fires.

Granted...I went to bed around 9:30pm tonight but that's not the issue.

The issue?

I'm supposed to wake up at 4am.

[waiting for people to check out the time]

Yes.

I am supposed to wake up at 4am to get ready for the airport.

And I have been up since 1am! That means I've only gotten less than 4 hours of sleep and the odds of me getting any quality sleep from now until 4am? NOT VERY GOOD!

But at least I can sleep on the plane. I've got a pillow -- the Hubster!

What I'm wondering about today

# My parents are in town. This is my Father's first visit to our new house. The house we've been living in for more than a year!

# The Hubs and I are going away for the weekend. Just the TWO of us!

# I'll have to be on 'good' behavior this weekend because we'll be attending a wedding for my MILs side of the family. UGH!

# Will I actually be able to relax or am I going to constantly think about work since I will NOT be brining my laptop with me?

# What the heck was all that on LOST last night? Still trying to wrap my brain around the fact that Desmond didn't leave the hatch for 3 years while the other guy went out. Why was Charlie so snarky faced when he came back from the hatch? How the heck did that chick find Desmond? And was she actually looking for him or just monitoring electromagnetic anomalies? DANG! Too much to deal with!!!!

# Why the heck is my personal desktop SO much faster than my laptop?

# Will we have tons of turbulence on the plane or will it be a smooth ride?

# My husband better have picked a good hotel for us to stay in!

The last few snippets about the wedding

Look how adorable my two look! We had to take about 4 inches in around the bodice of the Princess' dress. My little guy's tux shirt was too long on him. But they look smashing! The second photo is of the two practicing their dancing skills after the ceremony at the church.

They scheduled a cocktail hour where everyone could congregate since the reception didn't start until 2 hours after the ceremony. It was nice too. It allowed the photographer to take lots of shots around the hotel while the rest of the guests were occupied. The photo below is from our hotel room balcony.

As we were lining up outside the reception hall, the wedding party was dancing and singing and laughing.

A group of about 8 people came walking up to us. They saw us all having a good time...

"Hey guys? Why don't we go to this reception? This looks like a fun group!"

Nice way to start a reception right?

What was the funniest is that ALL of us bridesmaids wore flip-flops to the reception. SERIOUSLY! We had simple spaghetti strap long dresses.

It definitely was a good time. We had a fabulous sit-down meal. Either steak or halibut. I had the halibut and it was YUMMY! While we ate, we had entertainment! We had three different ladies sing ballads while we ate our salads. Then we had a Polynesian dance company wow us while we finished our entrees.

What was interesting was that there were more kids around the stage area than I thought were at the reception. Turns out those kids were from the reception NEXT door to ours. That's right. The people attending the reception in the other room sent their kids into our room to watch the dancers! Would you ever do that?

After dinner, the band that my new BIL is a part of started their set. That got the dancing started big time. My new BIL started dancing. His brother started dancing. It was like a dance off. Lots of laughing. Lots of dancing. Lots of smiling.

The Princess and I danced together. She got to stay up late -- until 10:30pm!

The flowers were SO pretty! And it was a fabulous time for all. My sister & BIL are still in Hawaii on their honeymoon. They'll be back this weekend. They'll move the last remnants of my sister's stuff into the home they'll share as man & wife.

Bathing suit weather?

Yes. It's true.

Yesterday our city "officially" hit 100 degrees.

Today I will be in a bathing suit today. In about 3 hours.

[gulp]

With clothes on, I look okay. I'm a size 6. Some folks would jump for joy with that number size. But it's how I look without clothes that frightens me. AFter birthing two kids, this body is not the same "shape" as it once was.

But I should be okay.

The event I'll be at is the last field trip for my daughter's school. They're going to a park with a pool next to it.

So I'll be driving my girl over around 9:30am and staying there until about noon. I am not letting her go to a pool without me or my hubby. Not when there are a bunch of other banshees running around. No way. No how!

It'll be an interesting morning though.

Hopefully it'll be fun for all!

Thank goodness it'll be just a bunch of kids and their moms!

Making Mommy Laugh

Conversation heard in the car today....

Princess: "Hey Bear?"

Bear: "Wha Sissy?"

Princess: "Do you think these sunglasses look cute?"

The Princess turns to her brother wearing her aqua framed sunglasses with polka dots.

Bear: "Ohh.....dows aw pwetty!"

Mommy in training

Last night, we had dinner at a very prominent fast food joint. We ate dinner there because my daughter's school was having it's last fund-raiser for the year. A percentage of the money from food purchased inside from 5:30pm - 7:30pm was being given to the school. So all the parents took their kids.

We got there right on time. We were able to get a table. We ate. We purchased raffle tickets. I got a $125 carwash for $25. Ronald McD was roaming the place entertaining the kidlings. Thankfully, the Bear was NOT freaked out by this guy. The big blue fuzzy character? He was the one entertaining the kids the last time. The Bear would NOT let us put him down after he saw this big blue fuzzy thing walking around. NO WAY!

Anyway, you all know that this place has a play area. Right?

After we finished eating, one of the Princess' friends from school ran up to her.

"Princess! Princess! Let's go out there and play!"

My daughter looked at my husband. My husband looked at me. My daughter looked at me.

"Fine. Let's go."

I'm not one to let my kids go into one of those places unsupervised. Heck! There's a sign in the room that says the kids need to be supervised, right? Yeah...right.

Anyway, we start walking the direct route to the play area. Uh. No. Ronald McD was standing in the way with about 10 kids singing.

What to do? What to do?

I grab the Bear's hand and take a LONG way around. So instead of taking that straight line to the door. We walked around in a big square.

I knew the Princess would follow me. And when I turned around as I approached the play area door I saw her....

She followed me alright. And she was holding her friend's hand. Leading her friend along the route.

Did I mention that this friend is a boy? A boy who is shorter than her.

So she took care of her friend. She took care of him just like I was taking care of Bear. Hence...the title of this entry....she's a little Mommy in training.

Joy of my heart...

Found the most amazing thing this morning at 'bucks.

Guess....guess!

I found a pumpkin loaf AND pumpkin scones in the display case.

Say WHAT?

Turns out that "someone" at the corporate office "accidentally" removed these items from the pastry list.

More than a couple calls from store managers came into the main office asking "WHAT THE YUCK!"

I guess whoever that "someone" is that removed the items...is no longer there at the corporate office.

Go figure!

YEAH! Pumpkin scones! Pumpkin loafs!

Weird neighbor alert

We had the most strange situation in our neighborhood last week.

We had just finished dinner when I heard a big bang.

I looked out in the backyard and saw some dust in the air. I thought it was a big gust of wind or something.

Then I really looked past our backyard into the natural environment ditch behind our house. There was a CAR in there! A car that was still moving!

The car shot up the embankment and back onto the road. Back onto the road and sped up the street. The street that has no outlet. So it was inevitable this vehicle was going to need to drive back down past my house. I did happen to catch its license plate number so I got on my phone and called the non-emergency police number.

I explained the situation.

Dispatcher: "Can you describe the vehicle?"

Me: "Dark green older 4-door Toyota Camry"

Dispatcher: "OK"

Me: "I also got the license plate number...it's ######."

Dispatcher: "Can you describe the driver?"

Me: "Caucasian male."

Dispatcher: "Huh?"

Me: "It was a Caucasian male with dark brown hair. You know. A WHITE guy. And there was a passenger with him."

Dispatcher: "Oh. Okay."

As I was on the phone, I saw this car stop onto the driveway next door to us. The corner house with the single guy. Then I saw the two guys put the car into the garage and close the garage door!

WEIRD!

Well, I let the police officer know of the latest development. I also happened to notice another neighbor on his cellphone outside. Yesterday, I saw this neighbor outside and I walked over to him. We had the most interesting conversation.

He told me that he was outside when he heard the big bang. He ran over to see what happened. That's when he saw the car drive out of the ditch. Then he saw the car drive up the road and then witnessed the guys put the car into the garage. Then he said he watched the guys get into the white truck. Actually, they stumbled into the white truck and drove off.

Me: "I hope that the owner doesn't renew the lease to this guy."

Neighbor: "What? That guy is a renter?"

Me: "Yup! The owner is actually a gentleman who lives in Hawaii."

Neighbor: "Oh really? I didn't know this guy was a renter."

I saw the wheels turning inhis brain.

Me: "Why?"

Neighbor: "Because I'm a realtor and I can find out who the owner is and let him know about the situation that just happened. He's opening himself up to some liability with the renter driving crazy in the neighborhood..."

So....weird eh?

Prepping it up

8am on Saturday morning, the bridesmaids all met at my parents house.

We were scheduled to leave for the church at noon.

There were 3 additional ladies there. My Mom's regular hair lady along with her daughter-in-law, who is also a stylist and make-up artist. And some other lady who my sister found at a bridal convention.

My sister (the bride), me, and the two maids of honor were all going to get our make-up and hair done by the bridal convention lady.

The rest of the bridesmaids, my Mom, the Princess and my niece's daughter (who were both flowergirls) were getting their hair done by the other two ladies.

My make-up went on right after my sister's hair got up in curlers. The lady took a LOT of time. She put a bunch of different lotions on my face. I guess I needed a lot of help. Me being the oldest in the bridal group I didn't want to skimp on any help to make me blend more with these young-uns. And if you saw the photo in a prevous post...then you KNOW this lady did a lot of work!

My sister and the other two got their make-up on. The other girls were getting their hair done.

But suddenly it was 11:30 and one maid of honor and I had NOT gotten our hair done yet.

Uh...we were scheduled to leave in half an hour!

So she and I looked at each other. The one lady was working on my sister's hair. No rushing that one. So we kind of rangled our way to the other two ladies and sat down. We both got simple up-dos. Think Audrey Hepburn. Sideswept hair up front. Smooth pulled back hair. With a pincurl bun in the back. Classic. Easy. Quick to do!

What was the most irritating was my sister coming up to us at 12:15pm.

"When are you guys going to be done?"

I held my tongue. If we hadn't asked the other two ladies to do our hair then our hair still wouldn't have been done! The other lady didn't manage her time too well. She left us hanging!

So the limo had to wait. We didn't leave until 12:45pm.

But we got to the church and were hanging out deciding what to do next when the church coordinator came in not 10 minutes later.

"What're you all doing?"

"We're relaxing."

"It's 1:20 already. We're going into the church in a couple of minutes."

Did I happen to mention that NONE of us were dressed? We had clothes on. But we didn't have our gown on. We all were in our wedding party gifts. Light pink knee-length robes. Yup! The BEST gift ever.

Anyway, once the coordinator said that we hauled a$$. Once we got dressed we had to help my sister into her gown. And we still had to take individual photos with my sister! Talk about mad dash in the back room, eh?

But we all made it. No big.

And the makeup lady? As a result of the plaster she put on my face, I've been having to battle the acne all week. My face feels dry. I can feel stuff under the surface just waiting to erupt. I've had to put on a clay mask every other day to help open up my pores. But that make-up stayed on ALL day, so it was worth it I guess!

Going according to plans

Last night, I noticed a flashing sign as I crossed under the freeway on the way home.

Road Closed 5/9/06

6:30pm - 5am

Road construction. Fine.

Move to this morning as I'm headed out to drop the kids off.

The main road is full. FULL? All the lanes are stacked with cars.

The road construction?

It wasn't done at 5 this morning.

It was 7:45am and the road STILL hadn't been opened yet.

As I sat at the light before I got to the closed intersection, I noted some orange vest moving some pylons (sp?) so I went straight instead of taking the detour.

I was in the first set of cars to go through the re-opened intersection. YEAH!

But the road was closed almost 3 hours PAST the posted time.

@^$^$@^

Can you just imagine how many people ended up being late for work today?

What'd you say Willis?

There we were in the nail salon.

All of us girls. My Mom. My younger sister (the bride). Sister #1 and her 3 adult daughters (Niece #1, #2, & #3). Sister #2 and her 3rd grad daughter (Niece#4). Me and the Princess. And a couple other bridesmaids from my new BILs side of the family.

We totally overtook that salon. It was great!

We all got manicures and pedicures!

Anyway, we sat in the comfy chairs soaking our feet. Had our leisurely pedicures. My Mom was finished first. She hadn't noticed that the chairs and a massage function.

Sister#2 showed my Mom the control that was on the arm of the chair.

Mom: "Oh, Sister#2! It's like the vibrator you have at home!"

Sister #1 and I clammed up (as we were in mid-conversation) and looked each other intensely in the eyes. Kind of like trying to figure out if what we'd just heard is what our Mom had actually said.

And yes...that is EXACTLY what she said.

Funniest thing said the entire weekend.

Fun all around

I had a wonderful time this weekend.

Yes. I know. I was dreading it but I had a good time.

There was a little drama but not with my family.


The Hubs, the kidlings, and I drove out on Thursday afternoon. We got there around 10:30pm. We stayed at a hotel that was a new one for us. It was called the Staybridge Hotel. The reason I made a reservation there was because it was less than 1.5 miles from my parents' house. And because it was a 2 bedroom suite. YES! TWO BEDROOM suite! What was the best was that it was the same price as the 1 bedroom suite hotel that was 5 miles away from my parents house. So we were able to stay closer to my parents at the same price and have more space. So one bedroom had two double beds and one bedroom had a queen bed. PLUS it had two bathrooms!

You know what we ended up doing? The Princess took one double bed with my hubby in the other one. I ended up sleeping with the Bear in the queen bed. Yeah....go figure that one...

What's even more amazing about staying at this hotel? It had a 24/7 little store with snacks and personal items along with breakfast. Not just the regular continental breakfast. They had HOT food every morning. SERIOUSLY! Friday morning they had breakfast burritos, scrambled eggs, and ready-made oatmeal. They also had 7 cereals, yogurt, boiled eggs, cottage cheese, yogurt, juices, coffee, bagels, toast, and fruit. HA!

It was the BEST place to stay for a family. Lots of room to spread out in the suite. AND breakfast food that everyone could eat. We didn't have to go out to eat each morning.

What I found out too late was that the pool that I saw in back courtyard was actually a HEATED pool. So we could have taken a swim even though it was cloudy outside...next time!

But there is MORE to tell you about our weekend away.

I leave you with a shot of me after we got my makeup on. I ended having my hair up in an up-do....think Audry Hepburn style bun with smooth sidesweep up front. This is glammed up as you'll ever see my face so I thought I'd share it (even though I'm in mid-sentence).

Summer School!

I've been on the hunt for a summer school for the Princess.

She is NOT going to be staying home with me all summer long. She'll be bored by the end of the 10th day at home. I know her. I know me too. I'm going to be WAY too busy to entertain her. To give her the attention she deserves.

I read in a local kids newspaper that the one program that I felt pretty good about had a deadline of LAST WEEK. ^@&&@^!!!!

I called yesterday and left a message for the coordinator.

This morning I got a call from the coordinator. They've EXTENDED the registration period until May 17th! HALLEUIA!

Next week (after the wedding), I'll be handing in the forms and a check. I am so ecstatic that they've still got space. AND that they're still accepting applications. I found out that the classes are going to have a limit of 10 kids each. So it'll be good for her to really meet the other kids and also get personal attention from the instructors.

Reel it back....

There I was sitting. Enjoying an evening out with adults. Good food. Good drinks (read that as ADULT beverages).

I was relishing in being out. On a school night. Talking amongst adults.

Then I was stuck. In the middle.

Between two men seriously on opposing ends of a topic. Apparently a hot topic.

Education.

What is currently wrong with the system. Ways people are fixing it. How to fix it overall.

A genormous topic, right? There's no 'right' or 'wrong' answer since the issues are so diverse based upon region. Based upon state. Based upon city. Based upon community. Based upon individual school.

But these two guys. These men were deeply entrenched in their own thoughts. Their own stance on the topic.

Both these men. Who had NO CHILDREN.

Yes. You read that correctly. These two adult men were having a serious discussion about education. And they had no children.

Now me? A parent to two kidlings? I stayed out of the conversation for the most part. I interjected a couple small snippets.

The lady across the table? She stayed silent too. Uh....she used to be an elementary school teacher.

Well...I stayed out of it until they hit some bump in the road where I felt I needed to jump in.

"Wait. Wait. WAIT! Now Lyn here used to actually used to TEACH elementary school aged kids. Maybe SHE has a practical hands-on opinon on this one..."

Yes. That's what I did. I threw a wrench in the heated discussion. That someone who was actually IN THE TRENCHES was sitting across the table from these boys. Observing. Listening to these boys.

Once she finished speaking, I kind of jumped back in

"Well, I went to the elementary schools in our area before I signed my daughter into kindergarten and I found...."

I have to say that they stopped in their tracks once she and I put in our two cents into the mix. That our experiences weren't theoretical. That it was hands-on. Seeing kids. Being around kids.

I just find it funny when people in general have such strong opinions on whatever topic. Topics where they have no actual experience in. LIke my SIL who commented on her pregnant cousin "OMG! She gained SO much weight during her pregnancy." Who knows HOW my SIL would be as a pregnant person. Who knows if she'd only gain 15 pounds. or even 60 pounds? She's never been pregnant! So I feel she's got NO RIGHT to have been so nasty in her evaluation of her cousin.

It just continues to blow me away when I meet these people! Just reel those opinions back in people. Put a leash on it!

TV personalities

Turns out that I know TWO people who are tv.

No. These people are not actors by trade. Yes. You guessed it. These people are on 'reality' shows.

The first person was someone that my husband knew from school. Nice person. Can you say "too" nice? Yes. Too nice to the opposite gender. This person was the one-night-stand person of my husband's MBA class. So I was shocked to hear that person was on tv. And on the show that this person is on. What's even more interesting is how this person has actually found a career and seems to be doing well. Good for him/her.

The second person is someone that I just met. We were out to dinner and this person was chatting with someone else at the table about the show. I listened and asked a couple questions. Then I quoted something from the show....the person flipped out!

"Oh my God! You have seen the show!"

That so cracked me up. It's like...you're on tv....you should EXPECT people to recognize you. Funniest thing ever.

But do YOU know anyone on tv? Reality tv?