The sky is falling, the sky is falling - AAAACK!

Funny thing that "irony" is. So, we had spent the whole day gushing to our gusts about how great the ceiling in the kitchen was and how easy it was to install. Then, after most everyone had left, the Blooms and my parents were still here playing with Beca. Mom and I were in the kitchen and all of a sudden the ceiling cracked over my head and started separating! Yikes! So we had 4 of us on chairs pulling down tiles. Steve got aggravated that Mom was taking a picture but I thought it was freakin' hysterical and we needed a picture of this insanity!! So, eventually we have to take them all down and figure out what to do in the kitchen. I believe it will still involve the tiles but may also involve some glue. Additionally, there is apparently a pressure build up between floors and this contributed to the problem soooo we'll be having out an HVAC professional whenever he gets a chance to check in with us. Oh well.

Beca's haircut and a WTF moment

OK - the scene is this - a children's salon that cuts children's hair and has toys for kids to play with and of course purchase. A Sunday afternoon (the day after the birthday parties and ceiling collapse). A couple is finishing watching their little boy get his hair all neat and trimmed. Another couple is waiting to have their son's shaggy mullet shaped up. A young girl sits in a jeep having her hair parted by one of the 2 hairstylsists. An adorable little girl named Beca and her parents show up 5 minutes early for an appointment. But they overhear the hairstylist named Sarah working on the little girl in the jeep. Her father just dropped her off and poor Sarah doesn't know what to do with the girl's haircut - apparently there are crazy parents out there who yell at hairstylists for not giving their little precious the most perfect cut ever! HELLLOOOOOOO - IT'S HAIR - IT WILL GROW BACK! and really, if you went to school to cut hair, why aren't you doing it? I did not go to school to learn to cut hair - that's why I love my hairstylist of 8 or 9 years. She did go to school and still goes to classes as well as teaches color classes and she can pick a style for me that looks good on me. That's what I expect of all hairstylists.
OOh - that was a tangent...

The sweet little girl is just staring at the Dora show on the screen. So Sarah decides to put Beca in another chair - a boat - and starts cutting her hair, understanding clearly from me that I am not the hairstylist and I just want my little girl's hair to not be unruly and I won't be mad at whatever it looks like, especially when I relay that Beca's bangs get trimmed to an almost Scandinavian short style when I do them and they are generally not very well done because I do not understand the oddities of trimming a cowlick, even though I have one.

The receptionist asks the little girl if she knows her mom's number and the girl rattles off all 10 digits without batting an eyelash. She just goes right back to staring at her screen. It was so sad how she just sat there and acted like this happened often. The receptionist's side of the conversation with the mother was additionally sad. She tells the mother that she's new and didn't realize what was going on and she needs to come back over in the next 15 minutes from Target where apparently it was necessary to go shop during this haircut. The mother apparently rattles off instructions to make sure that Sarah understands the kind of haircut but the instructions make little sense to Sarah. Phone call over.

So Sarah is now focusing on Beca's hair. She's mostly finished when in comes the father who almosts blasts the receptionist with the line "If I had known it would be a problem, I wouldn't have left her." UMMMM, WHAT THE????? Are you kidding? Can anyone tell me when it is ok to leave a 6 year old (hell, even a 10 year old) alone in a shop of any kind other than one that is specifically designed as a day care? Steve and I were flabbergasted. Then the mother meets the father outside and there's a slightly heated argument but it seems to be more regarding the inconvenience and embarrasment he imposed upon her. She pops in and kisses her daughter on the head and huffs about a simple little haircut. Now, I'm starting to will Sarah telepathically to hurry up and finish my little birthday girl's haircut and she is just patiently gathering the top knot up and slicking Beca's hair with shimmer glitter hairspray and adding a little blue bow. It was really cute and worth the trip. And we got to remind ourselves that we really are ok as parents because our daughter falls out when we are not around, not nonchalantly watches Dora with 3 clips holding up her wet hair. I still pray that the little girl will learn more out of life than parents don't give a rip and I really hope she doesn't do it to her kids. But, it is a cycle generally. I've seen it get broken - even within my own family but often it just repeats.

Anyway - here's Beca's haircut and the 2 bathtime Disney Princess Barbies that she picked out at Target with birthday funds. Weird thing about them is that they tout they are for bathtime but they are only color changing (meaning a streak of hair changes from blue to purple and Ariel gets tatoos and Cinderella's bodice turns purple) in cold water and go right back to "normal" in warm water. So I have to go get ice cold water to color change - luckily Beca has yet to realize that this is really an option. But she loves bathtime with her princesses and we are excited to possibly empty some of the bath toy bin!

Beca's birthday parties

FINALLY I finished this post - and just a warning - lots of pictures! We had 2 birthday parties on Saturday (the 7th) - one for her friends and one for our family-friends. The kid's party was fun but it was so hot. Payton, Kate, Allie and Forrest all helped Beca celebrate. We had decided sprinklers would be amusing and it was!The beach ball sprinkler is the best invention - turn the water up high and you're covering a 15 foot diameter (at least) with water. It was crazy and the girls loved it. So did our grass. There were also bubbles and everyone had to take turns catching bubbles on their legs.
Then they all decided about the same time that they were done and they wanted to dry off and go inside.
Inside, there was several naked girls running around for a little while (no happy daddies). And there were all of Beca's toys! Then they had lunch, which everyone ate well at! There were also Rocket blow-outs - lots of fun for everyone. Beca remembered her party hats before her mommy did. oh well.


I made a Rocket cake for her Little Einsteins birthday. Really, it is way easy. The most frustrating part was baking a cake in a batter bowl (Pampered chef's big one - make sure yours can go in the oven!) on a hot night for over an hour. It was a 9-inch round, the dome cake, icing in 3 colors and 2 ho-hos (original recipe called for twinkies but EEEEWWWWW!). I used a toothpick to make the antenna - my favorite part about Rocket is how they use his antenna to give him his personality so it had to be there. And I don't know why but I keep buying the Duncan Hines Whipped frosting and I don't even like it! Next year, I'll have to make my own - but of course, I said that last year. The "red" is more of a pink but maybe that's because I've used those icing colors before. The only thing Beca didn't like about the cake is that I wouldn't let her have a piece of it during the first birthday party.

Aidan, Elijah and Baby Emily were at her evening party, along with many of the adults that "belong" to Beca. We get a lot of "it's my Oma, it's my Cynthia, it's my Nici" - everyone is hers and not somebody else's. We have a lot of fun teasing her with "Oma is my mommy and Pop-pop is my daddy" and then she gets wound up about her Oma and her Pop-pop. We do it with all of our family members right now - Uncle Kyle, Uncle Bobby and Aunt Jenny being brothers and sisters is not acceptable!

Anyway, we had more bubbles and bouncing fun and present opening.
This is her magic wand. It does not actually turn red into green, rocks into gold or anything else, contrary to what our project manager at work seems to believe. It's just pretty and fun to wave. But, oh, if it were real...
No, magic was not a factor - Jason is just way cool to Beca and she "let" him wear a Little Einsteins hat while they waved the wand over the grocery cart. Now if she could just do the grocery shopping, that would be even cooler.

After most everyone had gone home, the sky fell down. Literally. Next post, I'll cover that event.

Birthday parties for the 3-something set

History - In Beca's short life, she has spent 2 of her 3 years with 2 other very special little girls - Payton and Kate. All blond hair, blue eyed, and each with their own personality. One of the fun things about them is that they take turns being the leader of the trio. And they all like to push each other's buttons and know just how to do it. Beca's teacher, Beth (or "Jeffy" as Beca calls her), said it's like fourth graders trapped in 3 year old bodies! Payton is 10 days older than Beca (they were originally due on the same day) and Kate is 2 months younger and the only one with a sibling (younger even). Sadly, they probably won't be in the same class as they move up - Payton already has and we know Beca is in a different class but that they share a playground.
So, Payton's birthday party was one weekend and Beca's was the next. Little girls = lots of squealing. Both were fun parties! Here's some shots from the first party (the "game" is called "Crush ___" - in this case, I think it's Beth who's getting the crushing):


















I'll let this be the end of this posting because I am beat tired. It was over 100 degrees yesterday and today and that heat just exhausts me. So the remainder has to wait for yet another posting on my blog!

More Home Improvements

Ok, so I have some catching up to do. The past few weeks have been completely insane. Steve spent a week in Wilmington with his step-father (finally out of the hospital), we went to Beca's first party for a friend's birthday (Payton's birthday is the same day as my brother!), and then Steve and I painted our living room (ceiling too) and set up a gazebo structure on our back porch. The living room is awesome and exactly what I wanted! It was so pretty, I couldn't put Beca's bookshelves back in front of the mantle so we packed up all the formal china (since we don't even have a real dining table to eat off of anyway). Then my Mom's hutch was moved back into her house and Beca's toys moved into one room. That is until five 3-year-olds had too much fun - that's for another posting! And then there was one last thing to take care of - the fireplace is drafty and until we feel like getting a gas pack put in, a piece of blue foam board has been in front of it. It's not pretty and very Carolina Blue-ish, which is icky for us. I found these cool wall dots squares at Lowe's and they went right on! Take a look (wall color is behind the chair - Beca is listening to her Ariel birthday card):
There will be more shifting furniture and things very soon - the dining room will get painted and my "office" will move downstairs. I can't use it right now since Beca stays up until 10 or 11 pm every night and her room is right next to the office.
Oh, and there's that ceiling thing. But that too is another posting.

Gas prices is really your excuse

Random work rant - I had to book a flight today for another trip to Minnesota. So, if ticket prices rising are really because of gas prices rising, why does it cost less to fly to Minnesota through Dallas than through Chicago or St. Louis? Dallas is sooooo much father away
Yes, I get the different plane aspect and all that. But if you just base it on miles, what is the deal?
I think the gas thing is all a game, made up by politicians. Somebody made the suggestion to me the other day that they think the Republicans are making some of it up to discount the Democrats. But then the Dems are making the other portion up to make everything seem worse than it really is so that the Reps will be voted out of office. Either way, I'll be glad when it is November and things look more stable. Then the most yelling in ads will just be from the goofy car salesmen.

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.