Mother's Day

My present early on Mother's Day? My DH actually got out of bed before I did to help with potty duty. Next present was a new little camera and a case for it. My original Sony T1 was the original in the series of slim, fast, large pixel size cameras - the commercial was the one where the girl whips it out of her pocket and gets a shot of Steven Tyler from Aerosmith while all her friends fumble for their cameras and cell phones. Now, several years later, it met with an unfortunate screen malfunction - big, nasty crack down the middle as a result of years of being hidden in a makeup case and tossed (yes, I mean tossed) in my purse - lovingly of course. So the new one is a great little camera. Better than hauling the big Digital SLR out for the most part - the SLR still gets some better shots but it's great for everyday.
I made pancakes for breakfast and unlike most weekend mornings this is attempted, this time they turned out great. Steve even ate some and he generally doesn't eat breakfast. Then we wrapped presents and got ready for the day.
First stop - Wake Forest for Taylor Anne's birthday party. It was rainy and a little cool but we had fun. Had to leave earlier than cake and presents but I know TA had a great day - her mom is like a sister (Thanks Em!!) and it was fun seeing how much of a mom she is!
Second stop - Nici and Richie's!!! (or Jan and Rich). We got to see Traci and Carl and wow - Traci's hair is awesome! It looks so good short - post-wedding haircuts always seem to be some of the best ones! Beca enjoyed hunting through the toy baskets, as she always does and came up with these goggles:
Isn't that hysterical?? She also found a bumble ball, which she loved. Eventually, we had to go - Beca never wants to leave there, though. Something about having another set of grandparents that spoil you with toys, oyster crackers and "em-uh-em's". She's never said it quite like that but I think that's the gist of it.
OK, so in the car - have to go run a dreaded errand. Figure out if the phone can be restored. Blah, blah, blah. took too long and I only sort of got what I wanted which was the new phone returned and the old one reactivated. Good thing was that they didn't charge me again. Beca falls asleep, head back, mouth open, etc. while Steve is driving around so I can complete this task. We get home and it has started pouring again. Beca, of course, wakes up.
Eventually, we have dinner (steaks and my favorite twice baked potatoes) with my parents and Beca gives her Oma a present and demands that my father roll over on his stomach so she can blow up her horsie. HAHAHAHAHA! Steve called his mom and the rest of us took a walk on the relatively new path behind our house - it's a great loop to walk unless Zoe spots a bunny, dog, kid or adult - misery only lasts a few seconds usually!

All over, a great day! Now, if I can just get some sleep! Oh wait, laundry...

Phone drama and a wonderful visit

OK, so there's an end to the phone story. Saturday, just a few hours before I got on my flight, my Dad got a call from Northwest that they found a phone and his number was in it under "Dad". Apparently, it was in a green duffle bag and they were sending it back on my flight. Kindly enough, they had packaged it in a box inside the empty duffle bag so it wouldn't get damaged and I picked up my suitcase, a new pink duffle bag (which I had to buy - details below), and dug the phone out of the bag. Left the bag - it had lotion or something poured all over it. OK, good news/bad news when I visited the Verizon store. They took the phone back but couldn't put it back on my card or give me cash because they didn't have enough in the store (what???). Weird but whatever. the new phone is back and my "old" phone reactivated so I actually have all my contacts and cell rings and all that. So, overall, yeah!

Minnesota turned out to be a wonderful visit. I had a brand-new PT cruiser to drive around - just over 300 miles on the car. The work part of the trip was good and I got to do a few things I do best. Then I headed towards St. Cloud to visit my old TEC friend, Anna, and her husband and daughter. Sylva, her daughter, had just gone to bed so we headed out to run an errand and so Anna could show me the campus she teaches at - St. John's University is an extremely interesting place and her office is in the old church - it looks like a European cathedral and is very beautiful with a lot of brick. The new church is beautiful but very modernistic. Oddly enough, it is the largest monastery in the world. Who knew? OK, probably plenty of people - just not me. We also went by the sister school, St. Benedict's but it had gotten quite dark. We stayed up for a long while talking and had the early wake up call of a 21 month old! Sylva was a little confused that I was there. Eventually, it was back into the city to pick up Anna's mom, Bruce. I had spent many weekends in high school and college with these two and it was wonderful to meet up in a city so far from home! Lunch and shopping, IKEA, MOA (second day in a row), and then an amazing night in a suite at a beautiful hotel. Walleye for dinner (yum, yum!) and watching ducks in the middle of the hotel. Crazy! Next morning, I slept in. It was so nice! Had to repack in order to fit in a baby shower present, birthday presents for a 6 year old, various items for Beca, and fun little things from IKEA. So lucky I don't have one closer by. Eventually, we had to go our separate ways - Anna had a graduation ceremony to attend and I had a plane to catch. But first, I had to get to Target and buy a duffle bag to put all the extra goodies in. Airport leaving was routine until I looked up and another engineer from work was sitting in the terminal. Neither of us knew we were flying that day - weird. OK, then more weird. I had switched my seat the day before from 6A to 9A, then noticed 10A, which is an exit seat, was open. 6A, was next to a bratty 4 year old who spent most of the flight yelling at his elder statesman dad - whew. 9A ended up being my work buddy's seat. And a couple walked up to me and asked if I would like to sit in first class so the man could sit with his girlfriend. Crazy!!! Totally nuts - the room was great - I actually worked and could spread my stuff out a little. It made the flight seem so much shorter. Then it was home to an excited Beca and an excited Zoe. Overall, a god trip but as always, falling asleep on my pillow, in my bed, felt better than anything!

A travel day misery

I can't believe what I did today. It actually started last week when I was told within the 7 day window that I had to go to Minnesota/Wisconsin to visit a build. On the flight up, I sat next to a couple who looked like they had a lot of fun together over the years and, oops, she got pregnant. Not married and they were kind of standoffish with each other. Odd, but they were nice. then there was the guy behind me who dropped his drink twice and countless other things. So when I was getting ready to get off the plane, I heard a thud, visually checked the floor, saw nothing, and got off the plane. I realized later, I could not find my phone. I didn't bother to freak out - I have to drive by the airport tomorrow. I can only hope that someone heard us call it repeatedly and turned it in.
Maybe the worst part - I waited 2 years to get a new phone (I hated my last one) and I just got this phone a month ago! Blasted!
And Northwest is the least helpful airline regarding anything. Unfortunately, there is no other airline that flies direct to the Twin Cities.
Good thing - there's a Verizon store somewhere.

long week

Ah, almost three. There's a level of frustration with Beca all the time right now. I think it's because all her friends are starting to move up to Children's House. She screamed the entire time I was in the house this morning (before I left to take Zoe to the groomer, go to the chiropractor, get my normal breakfast at Biscuitville and get to work) and then broke down on me during a walk (wagon and getting out and not in was involved) after dinner but before bath, continuing the pattern until we finally got her dressed. But she had helped me right after dinner to plant the first two geraniums in our yard - I decided she needed them close to the swing set. I have since recalled that geraniums love sun and having them under the playset wouldn't exactly work. Right now, they sit in a precarious position that Zoe will inevitably knock them over from. Well, at least not tonight. Zoe not only had her monthly-ish haircut (being a poodle means soooo much more "pampering" than most other breeds), she also went for her yearly check at the vet (random goo up the nose, blood drawn, too personal with the vet tech, and a shot) so she is beat - curled up in her ball. She actually fell asleep on Beca's bed while we were reading stories and Beca was repeatedly kicking at her and whining "I don't want Zoe on my bed".
Steve started on a project that we bought the wood for last week - it's one of my wishlist items from my birthday. He's building flower beds for me to better define the sad little beds in front of the house. I am not very good at landscaping but so far Steve has gotten a great big new drill bit, a new saw and a stand for the saw. He also got to pound things. Less landscaping and more carpentry. Hopefully we can get the camellias in (and ugly boxwood out) very soon. While planting the 2 geraniums for the back yard, Beca kept telling Steve "Look Daddy, we are gar-den-ers". She also watered her plants. She's so funny.
Work sucks but as Steve always reminds me "They don't call it happy fun time for a reason". Sadly, my biggest frustration is that I can't do what I really want to do, what I really feel needs to be done. Frustration all around.