I wrote this post a long time ago...

There are times when I really love trips where somebody drives and I can get something done. Sooo, back in October, we went to Pennsylvania for a quick weekend visit. I hate that they are always short but I enjoy the moments so much. So here is what I typed in on car rides to and from until my 'puter battery gave out or my eyes got too tired of squinting.
Pennsylvania – October 2008

Beca – before going – “I’m going to be in the Halloween Kaprade!”, “Grandma is going to tell me something and Grandpa is going to say Go ask your grandmother”, “I told you you could do it Oma!” when mom got a DVD going in her car.

On the way there - “Quick, we have to get there before Grandma goes to sleep”, “You have ear pads too Oma!” “We both have ear pads!” (headphones)

I escaped work by going in obscenely early and skipping lunch. Had to finish packing with Zoe running around and doing the freaked out poodle thing so by the time I walked out the door, her ears stank. Lovely. At least the next person she would see is Steve – I bet he got a double punch of Zoe paws and she’s just the right height!

We got on the road fairly quickly, with a stop at the gas station. She was watching her Jane movie (Peter Pan 2: Return to Neveland) with her headphones on which she likes to hold on with both hands and elbows pointed out. Beca fell asleep with the headphones on just before we got onto I-95 and stayed that way until we got towards Richmond! On 295 at the big bridge, Beca got freaked out because she couldn’t see the road.

Stopped off 295 at a McDonalds and Beca really did not like the bathroom and really wanted to go on the playground. She shoveled her chicken nuggets which meant she had way too much in her mouth and it actually took her longer to eat than if she had just taken real bites of it. Her reward for 3 chicken nuggets and some French fries and all of her chocolate milk was that she got to go on the playground. Turns out she didn’t really like it – it was dark and scary – a weird maze and she decided part way in to turn around and come back. So she came back to the table (which was not attached to the kids area) for some McFlurry with M’n’M’s courtesy Mommy’s October addiction with McDonalds for Monopoly tags. I think I like playing online because I never get to play it anymore. I should probably just stop it but it’s always nice to lose weight during November right before Christmas Cookies arrive because I gained some in October.

Back on the road, I get to work on the computer because Oma sits in the back with Beca. They watched the Halloween sing-a-long. Twice. Then we convinced them to watch Sleeping Beauty with their “ear pads” on so we could listen to the Country stations on the satellite and check the DC traffic/weather. I love Satellite radio! Lucky for us, most of the traffic nastiness was in the south-bound lanes. For those that don’t drive in DC, it is the worst place to drive. There’s going to be construction somewhere and a bridge is always down to one lane! And PA falls into one of those areas where they have two seasons – winter and construction. But they block off like 6-8 miles at a time for a 500 foot span. And it’s been blocked off since we were up in June. Weird. Beca had a fit about something and when we laughed at her 3 year old logic, she yelled at us to stop laughing at her. She also panicked on the back roads because it was dark and scary. We told her it was a rollercoaster and she put her hands up and said “whee. Be careful , ok?” We arrived around 11:30pm at Grandma’s – she was up watching the Red Sox play Tampa Bay. It was at least 12:30pm before Beca got to sleep. And 6am Friday, she was up needing to go potty. I got her to lay down a little longer and then she got up when she started hearing others (Oman and Pop-pop). We had a slow start to the morning but Mammy came up with Grandpa. Beca did not want to wear jeans but eventually agreed to it along with a Trick or Treat shirt. We piled in the van for the Bowmansville trio special – Uncle Henry’s, Country Maid and Kings. Uncle Henry’s is a Mennonite farm that has a bit of a factory for pretzels. Thee women all work in the factory, bagging pretzels coming out of an oven at 625 degrees. I figured out last time that you could get 5 soft pretzels for a dollar and they are so yummy. You can also buy bags of broken pieces – we got a bag of regular but the special of the day was 2 bags of darks which is what my dad gets. Beca likes them too. The funny thing is that they even have a website for their pretzels and really nicely printed store bags for their pretzels. Every time we go, it seems there are more women in there. Sometimes even the little girls are helping. The second stop is the Country Maid bakery for doughnuts and sticky buns. Their doughnuts aren’t fried but they are good. There’s different creams – my favorite is the regular cream. Mom’s too. Dad likes the chocolate so ofcourse Beca does too. They had pumpkin right now. They also had cheese sticky buns and raisin sticky buns. It’s soooo good. Last stop is Kings – they have a lot of bulk made items including Penna Dutch pastas. It’s so much cheaper than grocery store pastas. Thy also have bulk candies and Beca got butterfly gummies. This is also where we pick up ring baloney and cheeses. Beca likes ring baloney like a good Penna Dutch girl!

Grandma made yummy soup for lunch. Mine never turns out that good. I also had a headache – little sleep over the past week and my jaw was taking the stress. So I took a nap while Pop-pop took Beca to the little park – she went on the little horses, the slide, the swings, the teeter-totter (the still exist somewhere!), and then went for a long walk by the pond where the geese, ducks and swans are. They continued up the path past the golf course and watched some golfers for a while before hiking back the path that goes behind my grandparents’ house. She was almost ready to fall asleep but picked the one clothing item no one could find – her princess nightgown which I had put in her car bag just in case we needed it later in the evening. It was all a ploy to keep herself awake. So when I got up from my nap, Dad wanted to go to the outlets to look for sneakers. We took Beca (now in a pumpkin dress) and she was asleep before we got half way there. She slept an hour and a half while shoe shopping, party supplies shopping, tasty cake shopping, and more party supplies shopping. When we got her out at Grandma’s she said “why aren’t we going shopping?” Luckily, Missy and Sara showed up soon after with Noah and David. David is adorable and he hides his eyes behind his sweet chubby baby hands every time I say hi to him. He also grins – a lot. They headed out to have dinner with their other grandmother and we ate with Grandma, Grandpa and Mammy. Grandma made a really good shepherd’s pie as well as ham, pasta, and other yummies! My head was a little better and the food was really good. Maybe it’s just better when you aren’t the one cooking. Aunt Lynn had stopped for a bit and had taken Mammy home but she had forgotten her food in the fridge and she was worried about it so much that right before we left to go into Boyertown, Aunt Lynn called asking about Mammy’s food! Hehehe! Luckily, we were on our way in and already had it packed in the car. After dropping off the potato salad and leftovers and a doughnut, Mom, Dad, Beca and I went to Denise and troy’s (Dad’s brother) – Beca loves to play with Rachel and Andrew but she was already tired and wallowed a lot. Joanne (Dad’s sister) also brought Dayna and Blake over. Couldn't these three be sisters?!?!? We had fun chatting for a while and just visiting. Beca finally got her princess nightgown (reward for going potty) and then we had to drive back. She did not fall asleep this time. So bedtime was a little difficult and I finally just let her sleep with me. Didn’t take 3 minutes for her to fall asleep finally. Oh well – she hardly moved until morning when we both started coughing (after I got up at 5am to close the window). I like fall but to go from 85 degrees to 60 and not even 40 at night is just crazy.

Breakfast was pretty quick so we could get ready for the main reason we drove to PA. Beca didn’t want to wear pants again but I finally convinced her to wear a Halloween tee shirts and polka dot pants. The tougher struggle was getting her to wear her chucks but she was fine with it once they were on. And then we had to struggle in Dollar Tree regarding a pair of broken fairy wings – 50 cents eventually but a lot of screaming too. We also left with purple princess hair, a fairy skirt and an orange “Ta-ree-ra” (tiara). Grumble, grumble. She was out of sorts off and on for a while. We had a great party for Grandpop and got a good picture of the family that was there. Beca and Noah had fun on the swing at my Uncle Glenn and Aunt Dawn’s house and they have all kinds of room in their new house. The basement is pretty much an open room still – they’ve got a TV cabinet, large table, office chair and two camp chairs. Looks more like a interrogation room than anything but Noah and Beca had plenty of room to run! And they ran a lot. Lunch was turkey, stuffing, pastas, and bread. There was a lot of food and it was good. Beca and Noah had their own table and they did pretty good. They ate because Aunt Dawn told them there was cake. And there was cake and it was good. We celebrated number 75 for Grandpop – or “Foxy G” as my cousin Kat is allowed to call him. He got a pile of presents, some more useful than others. Aunt Dawn had buckets and fun foam Halloween shapes – funny pumpkins, bats, etc. And the kids ran around again, this time with Pop-pop and Uncle Glenn chasing them around after we sent the kids down because they were bugging us upstairs and we were half-heartedly watching college football games, some more heartedly than others.

Hoping the children would nap in the car, we left for Aunt Lynn’s. Beca did not nap but Aunt Lynn offered us the opportunity to take Mammy back to her house. No sooner did we pull out of Mammy’s driveway than she was asleep. Then I did a dumb thing and tried to carry her into Lynn’s house. Big mistake. She saw the cats in Lynn’s room and woke up. So Miss Wendy Whiner came out until Kat and Sara volunteered to take the kids down to watch a movie. Whew! Until David woke up and didn’t know where he was and nobody was there to tell him it was ok. Suddenly everyone else started showing up and it was time to hit the parade. We hadn’t gotten the kids dinner but oh well. Beca got tights, leggings, 2 pairs of socks, Red Sparkle shoes that were a size too big, a long sleeved tee and a turtleneck under her Minnie Mouse dress. It was much colder than what we have been used to over the past few weeks. Noah was an elephant which proved very amusing throughout the entire parade as either Democrat or Republican floats and campaigners went past. One float had a Donkey roasting an elephant. David was all cozy warm as Mickey Mouse. The parade was a lot of fun and Beca really enjoyed the music. She did not like the horn honking from the big trucks. She was intrigued by the twirlers, especially the ones that had the fire on their batons. The tiny girls were cute because they had glow slicks on theirs! Neither of the kids liked the hearse that blew fire out of two pipes on the hood – they both hid. Beca under a hat and Noah into his Auntie. The highlight for Beca was Aunt Dee, Rachel and Andrew coming by and giving her candy! She really got into getting candy but Max and some other boys that encroached on our space kept getting in front of her. Lucky for her someone dropped a big pile right where she could get it and with two fistfuls of candy, she came back to me and said “I got all the candy, Mommy!” We’re so proud. About 2/3 of the way through, she said “I’m done. I want to go to Aunt Lynn’s and get something to eat.” So we left early but since the remainder of the floats and groups were on our way, we pretty much saw everything else by walking past it. Beca kept asking “where is the rest of my family?” Beca had a blast, got ¾ of her bucket full of candy and for a week Beca has been saying “remember when we went to Aunt Lynn’s Halloween Parade?”. the ride home was long but all the girls got a nap in. All in all a good weekend!!

Copper for 7 teaches lesson in Madness

Got your attention with that title, huh? That's for Stephanie!

The Copper for 7 is a reference to the fact that the traditional gift for anniversary #7 is copper. My DH bought me a Sirius Satelite radio for my car that goes only in my car but is somehow semi-transportable if you buy a boombox type device to plug it into. The idea was ingenious but I just got it in my car about 10 days ago. I do love it. I can actually pause songs (sort of like Tivo) and then listen to that song over and over again. So when I was in a foul mood the other day, I listened to Pink's new song "So What" over and over until I really did want to start a fight. And I don't normally want to physically fight. I prefer dueling with language and terrific commentary (as long as I'm winning). I'm mostly thankful that he did not get me anything in the "wool" option for traditional gifts. Our friend Jeff wins the most from this information and Steve is is new savior. Steve informed Kristin of the Copper for 7 ruling and she realized that green lighting the new TV was going to have to happen in order to reward her DH for their 7th anniversary. Way to go on the cool flat screen, my friend!

So, there is a song that they like to play on one of the stations that reminds me that one definition of Madness is doing the same thing and expecting different results. It amazing how much this applies everywhere in life. "But this is how we've always done it" is a phrase I hear more often than I care to and find it coming out of my mouth even on occasion, though I try to use different phrasing. I feel like I'm always doing the same thing because someone elses thinks it will get a new and different result. Not so much. Can't make chicken salad from chicken poop no matter what other ingredients you throw in with it.

Our anniversary present to each other was a wekeend in Myrtle Beach at a resort and spa. We spent all day Saturday getting massaged, sugar scrubbed, facialed, pedicured and manicured and fed too! Sunday we said no to a time share (and Steve kept doing some lame fist pump he picked up at work) and then went shopping, eating and played 54 holes of miniature golf (or "minotaur goff" as one very interesting course deems it). It was completely worth it although the harsh reality of work slammed full force on Tuesday. I've determined that I need an entire 8-10 days away from work to actually feel truly rested. Luckily, I am 100 days away from that reality. One must have something to look forward to in life, you know.

And in case you are wondering, here's a nifty little website with the traditional and modern and alternate anniversary gifts.
http://www.happy-anniversary.com/year-of-marriage/index.html
I really liked it because it listed the jewelry and alternate jewelry!

Insanity ensues in my world so it is now time to finish packing Beca-Boo and myself for a weekend trip to Pennsylvania (still pronounced "Penn-sul-bania"). Yeah, that's right - I got home Monday, scrapbooked Tuesday, 5 loads of laundry and packing tonight and we are leaving tomorrow right after work. I think the washer is a bit agitated with me. I hope the Halloween parade in Boyertown, PA is a lot of fun although the forecast is a bit of a shocker considering the 85 degrees today. A 25 degree drop in the high for us. Hopefully Beca can be bribed with a delightful array of new clothes that just came out of the bottom of her closet. And hopefully, I remember my camera.

Pictures - various

Yes, finally, pictures.

So, in the beginning of September, Beca decided she was going to have a tea party with her princesses. Here they all are:
Alice, Jasmine, Aurora, Merriweather, Flora, Cinderella, Ariel, Beca, Baby Ariel, and Cassie. She names all dolls "Alice" unless otherwise directed. Here's our new orange room! The shelves have a lot more on them now!! I'm still not finished emptying out the craft stuff from my old room! Happy Birthday to my Mom! Cape May, NJ - all the ladies. My flibberty-jibbet of a camera decided that the remote could only go that far if I used it when no one was out there except me. Whenever everyone came out, it stopped working. Thankfully, a nice man on his way back from the Wawa stopped and put his coffee down to work the remote for a picture! From left: Dawn Wagner (DIL #1), Dawn Leister (Daughter #2), Sara Wagner (the mom/grandma), Stacy Wagner (offspring of DIL #1 and son #2), Angela Cottle (offspring of daughter #2), Melissa Lee (offspring of daughter #3), Lynn Burkett (daughter #1), Jill Stahre (daughter #3), Kathryn Burkett (offspring of daughter #2), Megan Wagner (offspring of DIL #3), and Andrea Wagner (DIL #3) not everyone could join us but it was still lots of fun.. I made sweet tea (pomegranate the first batch and mango passionfruit for the next 2 batches). Sunset over the harbor by which we sat outside and stuffed ourselves with calamari, shrimp, garlic bread, and various other goodies.
Mom and I liked this sign:
Pop-pop's birthday - Beca's getting the hang of the "blow out the candles" part. The cake was Coldstone and it was good.

Beca was "reading" here. She is starting to do much better recognizing letters - still favors numbers but she is our child. She has a series of books with very short sentences and words that she can sort of read.

Alrighty, here's some that I took at the wedding in the beginning of September. Some are just the artsy shots that I took. Mostly, I'm showing off. I really enjoyed this and I anjoyed more just handing the bride a DVD and saying, enjoy. They are her memories not mine. I just got them saved in digital format. I know some photographer out there is going to be aggravated with me for saying that but I showed herr how to upload to Shutterfly, order good pictures for a really reasonable price, and share the pictures on Shutterfly's site with her family. the only thing I did was run around on the beach and try to remember that I could do whatever I wanted, I was the photographer and if I stepped in front of someone, oh well. And that I wasn't directing the wedding. that was hard too. I am so proud of this picture! No one ever gets Alex to smile on camera! And I love his grin!

It's hard to see now that I have it posted, but this picture has tons of stars in it. the moon was amazing!Whether he realizes it or not, Steve can take some really cool pictures. This one of Alex is awesome. I think he sees things a little different and it's nice to have shots by different photographers.

Where oh where did September go?

My, my, time it does go 670,616,629.4 miles per hour. Yes, I still love my science. And no, I do not remember that off the top of my head. Chemical Engineering is more about finding the appropriate location for information.
So, here I am into October and I am still delinquent on pictures. Since the wedding weekend, I worked crazy hours, threw a birthday weekend party for my mother, traveled to Minnesota & Wisconsin for work (technically fly into MN then drive into WI to the actual plant, then had dinner and went shopping in MN, then back into WI to stay in a hotel before going back to the plant, going back into MN for dinner in Stillwater on the St. Croix River, then WI for another night's rest and short morning visit to the plant, then back into MN to get on a plane and come home), home for 13 hours (actually in the RDU area for 13 hours and 24 minutes but that's only because we switched vehicles), off to Cape May, NJ via VA Beach, VA to pick up or drop off some baggage (and Jill and Missy), home once more, more work, catch a minor virus from my mother, take care of Beca not feeling well, more work, manicure/pedicure (that I paid for even though one of the Procurement guys told us he'd buy us manicures), more work, Parata Employee Day and Duke football game, friends over for dinner 2 nights in a row and then spent the rest of the month (yes all 2 days) recovering from a stomach virus. The result of which is now I have a cold again. As does Beca. Icky part - skip this next paragraph if you don't want to listen about my malady.

Steve also had the stomach virus but gratefully Beca has not. It was the worst illness of my life. I would rather be 40 week pregnant and recover from foot surgery and a C-section at the same time than do that again (although the whole you can't take a shower because your foot can't get wet and you can't take a bath because you can't soak the incision would horribly complicate the whole matter at least in terms of the way I smelled). 6 hours spent actually sick after 2 of which the cramps started. When the cramps started, I couldn't lay down or every muscle in my body cramped up simultaneously. I couldn't stand up because I was exhausted. There was no way to get comfortable and I just got more delirious. Don't blame me, I just tell it like it is. And that sucked. The flu for a week isn't as bad to me as this was. By 3AM, I was praying for death. By 6am, I found that I could actually drink a completely flattened Sierra Mist which tasted like the most scrumptious treat in the world. i had a total of 10 crackers over the course of the next 24 hours that counted as my intake of solid food. I'm still tired from it three days later.

So, details, my friends, on the joyous occasions, now that the nasty bits are out of the way. My Mother's 50th birthday was September 12. It's amazing to me the number of celebrities that turned 50 this year - Sharon Stone, Annette Benning, Madonna, Prince, Marty Stewart, crayola's 64 count box, Holly Hunter, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michelle Pfieffer, and the Peace Sign!! Plus some more great people that we actually do know! But out of all of those, my favorite person is my mom. She's really my best friend - we grew up together. We talk every day and she listens to every grievance, whine, story, hilarity, whatever. Dawn's heart is one of the most amazing. The number of people that she has helped over the years is truly amazing. She refuses to take sides against friends for other friends, chosing to maintain her friendship with each. She unconditionally loves her grand-daughter to the point that she and Steve have a dance of "am I visitng too much" and "am I asking you to have Beca too much".
So for her actual birthday, we had a great weekend with some family in town, lots of friends, and yummy cakes. My favorite thing about birthdays is cakes. So there were two. A Peanut Butter Playground from Coldstone and a fabulous cake from Blue Moon with Chocolate Raspberry Mousse! The whole theme was "What's One More Candle?" - originally Mom had said she didn't want anything for her birthday. After a friend passed away over the summer, I knew we had to have a party for her. Thinking back, I wish I would have been feeling more with it. Next time, I hope I'm not as frazzled with so many other things around the same time.
The next weekend, she and I joined her mother, sisters, 2 sister-in-laws, and 4 nieces in Cape May, NJ. It was a beautiful weekend to be there. Nice and warm during the day but not so stifling. The houses are amazing there and I took massive amounts of pictures of houses. Not necessarily a place I would have picked on my own (NC beaches are still preferable for me) but a good meeting place for us all. In order to get there, we end up taking a ferry across Delaware Bay - it was not a nice ride on the way there but on the way back, it was a beautiful morning and very nice. Although the movie screen in the van is always kind of nice to have!

Beca this month has been hooked on Peter Pan and Return to Neveland. She refers to them as Wendy and Jane, being the adorable girls in each of the movies. Her favorite thing to watch in the van is Robin Hood. I cannot imagine how many times Steve has listened to it. And she also loves Aristocats, and has now taken to yelling "Momma, Momma" just like Marie when she is attempting to tattle on her brothers. Those that knew me growing up would know that this tone of voice is truly inherited and her pension for ratting others out seems strong. Every week we get to hear about what Jordan or Eli or someone else and what they did that was naughty. Tattle, tattle, tattle. There is drama at school though. Erin, Flora and Beca are all about the same age. Someone is always odd man out. That never was as much of a problem with Payton and Kate but I guess they were 2 and not 3. She also insists on playing dress up everyday and wearing a dress (again, an inheritance). thankfully, her wardrobe is plentiful and it really more depends on whether we feel like she needs to learn a lesson that you can't always get what you want and by just asking nicely or repeatedly, that doesn't mean it is really going to happen. I think this tires me more than anything. Except maybe looking back on my schedule of events this past month.

Fun names

A copy from Stephanie's blog - I was highly amused - however, since everything is Beca's favorite, I had to rely on certain continual shriekings of "that's my favorite" - colors are consistent as well as the ever longing for a baby alligator to join our family.
Here's me and Beca:

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME (first pet, current car): Franchelle Altima, Zoe Barbie PowerWheels

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME (fave ice cream flavor, favorite type of shoe): Strawberry Mary Jane, Mint Chocolate Chip Croc

3. YOUR NATIVE AMERICAN NAME (favorite color, favorite animal): Green Puppy, Pink Baby Alligator

4. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME (middle name, city where you were born): Dawn Honolulu, Dawn Cary

5. YOUR STAR WARS NAME (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 of your first name): CotAn, CotRe

6. SUPERHERO NAME (2nd favorite color, favorite drink): Blue Lemonade, Purple Mook

7. NASCAR NAME (the first names of your grandfathers): Fernley Rodman, Keith Willie Franklin

8. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME (your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter): Bailey Bangkok

9. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower): New Year's Daisy, Birthday Rose

10. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now): Apple Jeans, Raspberry Blueberry Strawberry Pajama

11. HIPPIE NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree): Biscuit Mahogany, PopTart Teak

Hanna and a beautiful wedding

Hanna - a meandering rain on the west, wind on the east event that threatened cancellation of several celebratory events for people who planned weddings on the first weekend in August. I cannot at this time post pictures regarding this post - I have over 1200 just from Saturday to hunt through. I know they are not all good.

I had my regular 6 month mental episode on Thursday at work. Largely due to the general feeling that I am going crazy lately. I knew this month was going to be hard in my personal life but the past 6 months at work have been so trying and I am only able to hold it together for so long. I even owe Cynthia Hippo hugs - why in the world do I blow up at those closest to me and not the idiots that cause the problems? I am still in need of a manicure but at least my outburst got some other things in motion. I honestly think it is about every 6 months that I do that (except when I was pregnant and the filter was completely absent).

So, I can count the number of drinks I have had since Beca was born on my two hands - all wine. Except Thursday night. I called on my way home and asked what liquor we had. Turned out to be Rum. Fine - we had Coke too. And it mostly worked. Except I forgot to take my night meds and did not sleep all that well. I was nervous about Friday and the weather and everything with the wedding. Friday morning, I finally got to see Beca before the clock clicks to PM on a weekday. After that, I managed to pack Beca and Zoe's things, introduce Zoe to my friend at Biscuitville and get Zoe a dog bone biscuit at Biscuitville (I miss that place when I'm gone), pick up some new orthotics, drop Zoe off at Mom's with all Beca's stuff and set out all Zoe's appropriate sheets and such (all while she huffed and sighed and glanced pathetically at me from the mat by the back door - "lift eyes, sigh, lower eyes, sigh, huff, lift eyes, sigh, huff, lower eyes"), get my glasses adjusted, buy some camera stuff, go to the grocery store, drop off stuff at church, empty my car (a LOT of Biscuitville bags), vacuum my car, pack my stuff, clean my camera, and finally Steve and I strapped the gazebo to the deck. We have yet to determine the final resting position for our gazebo structure on the deck and it was easier to use bungee cords to lash it to the deck and some chairs. And just as we left the Raleigh area (1:10 pm with picking up lunch), the MOB calls and I told her we would try to be in North Myrtle by 4pm. And it had started raining. Various rain bands caught us all the way down 40 (there sure were a lot of people going the opposite direction from us!) and then as soon as we got around Wilmington, we had no rain all the way down 17! It was great! And we got there right at 4pm! I will not divulge my speed but I swear the 17 bypass takes sooooo much time off that trip. I'm sticking with that. The rehearsal was inside with a rain band driving steady rain outside and was only interupted briefly by a visit from a police officer. Apparently the house they were renting sits right next to people who have nothing else to do but complain that cars are in a driveway next to theirs. The NMBPD is on their speed-dial so the officer was more aggravated that they called up during a storm (like the cops don't have anything better to do and are you really planning on venturing out during this weather?) and that they always threaten to sue because they are convinced they are going to pull out into a car coming down the road. It was an amusing addition to the fact that there was a tropical storm already putting a damper on the wedding festivities. The rehearsal finished, everyone knew what they were going to do (well, sort of - I directed the last wedding with the bride's family so I knew a few things that would change from what the Pastor was mandating would happen while he was standing up in front of everyone but it all worked out), and we all went to dinner. It was a neat place - been there a long time and has a lake out back. The kids quickly spotted the alligators! What fun! The dinner was great and the DVD of the bride and groom's lives was wonderful! So are their friends, who we sat with. Everyone was so nice and willing to flex with the craziness of the weekend.

I got our hotel room with my points that I earned last year staying at LaQuinta for weeks. Pretty much glad it didn't cost anything. Next time, I'll spend some money. The only good part is that the King Jacuzi suite was the same number of points as a regular room. Unfortunately, the bathroom floor had been raised up when they put laminate over whatever was there so the bathroom door didn't quite clear my pinky toe and pulled the nail up. And the light on the desk was coming apart - you could pull the part of the light that holds the light bulb completely out of the base piece that it is supposed to sit in. And the wireless was non-existent.

Saturday morning, we slowly awoke and went for the all necessary Starbucks for Steve and sweet tea for me. It was a relatively quiet breakfast for us. I didn't once have to remind anyone to sit down or eat your food or anything. By the time we arrived at the house, the folks running errands had already gone and the rest of the group was slowly waking up. So Steve and I went and checked out the wedding location and then went shopping - it's bad news for me that the Disney outlet moved onto 17 - it was much more difficult to justify a trip there when it was at the Myrtle Beach Factory Outlets past the Waccamaw area. Oh well. We mostly bought stuff for Beca.

Beca's comments on the phone while we were gone "Are you in Muh-rtle Beach? Is it wet? If it's wet, you need to make sure you put your shoes on!". Then when I told mom that my neck had broken out again (ongoing "travelers disease" - happens any time I sleep anywhere that is not my own bed and is aggravated by hair products, sun screen and who knows what else - the QE has found not good pattern and cannot devise an appropriate design of experiment to really figure this one out) and Beca asked me "Mommy why you break you neck?" She's so funny.

By the time we were done shopping and eating lunch, the wind had pretty much died down and it was back to being a typical sticky summer day at the beach. We took short naps (mine shorter than Steve's), got ready and got to the house. I stayed to help the girls dress and Seve kindly became Petie's gopher. They got everything over to the wedding site. I had the girls go to a house near the wedding site to take some pictures - those turned out well and it gave the bridemaids and brides a chance to sit down for a bit before the wedding. The flowers were gorgeous - orange stock for the girls and various oranges and whites for the bride. The bridesmaids had on turquoise dresses so the colors just looked amazing together. From then, everything went off pretty well. The storm had washed ashore lots of creatures - big shells, starfish, urchins, spiny things, slimy things, shelly things, smelly things, and the kids had a blast catching them all. I fussed over the position of the sun and the groom got tired of me taking pictures. The bride was darling through the whole thing. She was just happy everyone was there and that they could be on the beach. Instead of a unity candle, the MOB and MOG presented their children each with a vial of sand - bride had pink, groom had blue. The bride and groom poured it together into a large glass vase. It was very elegant.

The day after a storm at the beach is always amazing. The sky is bluer, the sand is cleaner and the clouds shimmer. Everything was amazing for this special couple. God knew how to bring this together. And it was good. Great, even.

Psych you out

So, one reason I haven't had "time" to blog is because one of my 2 favorite shows has been running season 3 episodes. If you have not tuned into USA to watch Psych, you are missing a hilarious crime show. I love the multitude of 80s references (probably because I get them) and the cast is just very funny. I have no clue when it actually comes on (though I think it is right after Monk usually) - we DVR it (but what is that verb supposed to be, really???).

My other favorite show starts its new season on our 7th anniversary - How I Met Your Mother is the only thing I have found that adequately replaces my "Friends" addiction (that I went 3 years of having to record on a VHS because I kept getting labs scheduled for that night - stupid chemistry that I never use).

I own season sets of both these shows. It is necessary for me to have something funny that is not so serious. unlike my daughter who had a conversation that went like this:
Beca: You are the same, Mommy and Daddy - you have the same hair"
Steve: That's right
Angela: Well, actually, Daddy has a lot more gray in his hair than Mommy.
Beca: Oh
Steve:*big fat eye roll and a grunt*
Beca: Mommy, you need more gray hair
Buh-dum-dum!

Really, I can only laugh at that under my breath or it starts something much bigger and I'm likely to hear "You need gray hair" for a while. Unfortunately, I was picking on Steve one day and told him to "Walk it off". Now Beca tells him that all the time - it's much cuter with the "walk it Off, Daaa-ddddyyyyy" and a big giggle so he can't help but laugh but I didn't think the gray hair bit was nearly as funny as Shawn Spencer and Gus Burton on Psych. It's "lengen - wait for it - dary"!

the REST of August...

I can't believe that month is over and I'm already 3 whole days into September. That was the fastest August I've ever had - of course last summer was so hot it felt like it would last forever.

I LOVE MY NEW ORANGE ROOM! I love it even more because after we attended to the mess that is our jobs all week and Beca's new bedtime schedule and then the fun craziness that is a TEC weekend (copies, take pictures of everybody, make fun CD's!), we went and bought shelves for the room. See, it isn't a dining room - never has been for us! It was largely Beca's playroom with a big old filing cabinet that I got at an NCSU surplus sale (my word that thing is heavy, even without being full), a corner cabinet with my "treasures" (shockingly, mostly Disney), a wire rack for extra kitchen junk (9 foot ceilings/cabinets in our old house to a smaller kitchen with 8 foot ceilings - had to put stuff somewhere), and Beca's toy pile. Oh and there was a hutch in there. Since we never use our fine china and don't actually have a dining room table to sit at and use it, I decided to pack it up and sent the hutch back to Mom's. NOW - it has all my scrapbooking stuff, stamping stuff, place for my computer, AND Beca's stuff, filing cabinet and a somewhat organized wire rack. We divided the room up but by putting the shelves in, I can actually work on my projects at night rather than pray Bea will fall asleep eventually so I can sneak into the room next to hers only to hear "Mommy, what are you doing?" I haven't been caught once! Now I just need a desk chair and I'll be pretty good to go! I can arrange my piles for sunday school, TEC, cards, scrapbooking and everything! So great!!! Plus I type faster when I'm not scrunching up my fingers in my lap. Ooh, and I can see ALLLLLLL of the paper and stickers I have bought. I think I need to use a few things... And Beca's craft supplies will get to join the shelving as well! Actually, one shelf has toys on it already. I have lots of reasons for loving this space but best of all - my scrapbook albums are all out in one place where I can see them and I can remind myself just how much I've done in the few short years since I started. Maybe one day, I can start on Beca's baby book.

Work has been hard lately - I'm now an inspector and not an engineer though at least I am still paid like one. We are short so many resources and the executives don't want to believe that good quality systems will save you money in the end. Oh well. Just keep plugging along...

I'm looking forward to pursuing more photography but we'll see what Miss H. Hanna has to say about that (since the wedding is supposed to be at the beach). I hope she's liking the north a little more than the south for the bride's mother's sake! hehehe! I know whatever the event, it will turn out great and just as it was meant to be.

September is shaping up for a bit of craziness. At this point, I'm just willing myself to hold it together and take it one thing at a time. I am very certain that all the good things will turn out GREAT!

Mid-August

When we got back from the beach, Beca went to school and I worked from home. After I rode my bike to pilates, did pilates and then rode home. It was quite nice except that drivers of cars don't pay attention that there might be something on the road smaller than they are. I got cut off several times. But I felt good and didn't waste gas. Too bad I haven't done it since. I've had to do evening runs and after the beach, the screaming started. My child became possessed or something. Steve spent the whole weekend at his buddy Joe's, playing cards, computer stuff and other things that sound like binary when they speak of it. They probably drank a lot too. Wish I would have. Beca spent the whole weekend yelling at me. Long screams that took every micron of air out of her lungs and tensed every muscle. I could do nothing right and she did not want to listen to any suggestions I had. So when Steve got home Sunday, I went and took a nap. She did this attitude thing for the next week.
That Thursday, Steve had sinus surgery and as I have said before, I am so very blessed to have my parents near me. They took care of Beca most of the weekend. Steve did ok with the surgery but got a little nauseous because he wouldn't eat much right away. Luckily, with this surgery (as opposed to the first sinus surgery), he only had sinus passages opened up so his throat wasn't sore and he ate Chinese food that night. I stayed home the next day but had plenty of work to do on my computer from home. It was a little crazy. And with Beca's new attitude problem, I needed a break. I had begged that a playdate be arranged and Kate's mom, Kristen, came through for me! I got to run a few errands and get some laundry done (I know, exciting) and then made it back to get Beca. She had not napped and in fact she and Kate had woken up baby Melissa! Beca was apparently behaved until I showed up and the screaming started again. Ugh! Oh well - she fell asleep on the way home and then fought me about going back to sleep for bedtime.
So, Sunday, Steve was sill under the anesthesia effects and i decided that it was time Beca go to bed early. By 7:15pm, she was asleep. the next night, tried again - same thing. All week that worked pretty well.
The next weekend was pretty tame - we helped at a friends. Well, Steve and my dad helped Dana with her wiring. I sat at a table and made cards (which I forgot to send later anyway) and Mom and Beca entertained Dana and her mother. Then we went to church (Saturday night service) - first try since the new bedtime. It went pretty good and then we decided to go to an Italian place for dinner. The sky had one fairly small black cloud so we decided to sit outside - Beca can be a little louder that way and not frighten other patrons who would probably scoff at us for having our 3 year old out that late at night. Oh well - she was actually pretty good and VERY silly. We ate and intermittently watched the small black cloud grow larger and darker but not actually move from above us. Lucky for us, it didn't rain on us! Beca wanted to spend the night at Oma and Pop-pop's and since they said ok, we agreed. haha! Actually, we asked. So we could paint our dining room on Sunday. orange. bright orange. yes, intentionally! And with the ceiling painted (oh yeah - had to VACUUM that first - Eww!), the room looks so much cleaner and brighter! Now to figure out where everything went.

Again, no pictures....

Back up to the beginning of the month...

That went fast - we've had a very busy few weeks. And I have tried to update this a bunch of times but it is taking me forever! The pictures will just have to come later (or not at all until I do the scrapbook of all of them - yeah, that won't be any time in the near future).

I headed to Wisconsin again at the end of July - I'm getting tired of the airline industry. Mostly, I feel sorry for the junk food vendors on the plane - or are they supposed to be flight attendants? I just want to know when I'm going to get a hot dog guy and not crappy candy. So I bring my own food and don't give a rip. (Big travel tip - carry an empty water bottle through security, then fill it up at the first available water fountain). I took direct flights because I booked early enough that they really weren't that much more and the guy traveling the same days as me got stuck getting out of Charlotte because of a connection problem. So there - I love my direct flight - you can actually watch a whole movie on a flight (or do what I did and work on data crunching that I get interrupted at my desk doing). I got called up to the desk before the first flight and asked to change my seat so a family could sit together, putting me in an exit row. There was so much moving around and people trying to sit together that my head was spinning. On the way back, I was exhausted, had a headache (another time I'll discuss my hatred of hotel beds), and had a very obnoxious older hippie with little kids ("I finally found myself at 40 and decided I needed kids - and for some reason 4 of them and take them traveling") sitting just in front of me and she talked the whole time. Her voice was really grating and she was overindulgent to her children's every whim. I think I would have rather listen to the kids whine and scream. It was a tough trip for me and for Beca. She didn't want me gone.

She had sprinkler day the next day at school so I got to wake up and tell her that she could wear her bathing suit and water shoes to school! I thought it odd that she was the only kid running around the playground with water shoes on. But when she got home, she did tell me that she didn't have to say "ouch, ouch" all over the playground! The next day I made it to pilates on my bike in the morning then rode back, then showered and went to work because there was too much for me to do and my VPN/wireless connection at home does not like certain applications from work and things take FOREVER to do. When I got home, we had to go buy a birthday present for Kate. Yes, BFF Kate is now 3 too!! After getting home, we had to pack.

Saturday (like the first one in August) was Kate's birthday party - it was an awesome tea party! they made cute hats and even had their cake on beautiful tea plates with real (totally breakable with pretty flowers) tea cups and saucers - for their milk of course. Kristen Sullivan is an awesome mom! OOh - and we all love Neil (Kate's dad) because he got Chick-fil-a and ribs from Harris Teeter (man - Saturday - rib deal in the deli at the HT - it's awesome!!) The girls had a blast with dress up and shoes and Kate got a new guitar - that kid is going to be a singer and musician. And baby Melissa has my favorite baby grin - she's so content just to watch the 3 big girls (she's 13 months).

OK, after Kate's party, Beca hung out with Oma so we could pack the car which inevitably tookk longer than we wanted it to. Then we were finally headed east on 40! We made it to Steve's parents for dinner with his siblings and to meet Bobby's new girlfriend Melissa. Beca was so excited about her uncle Bobby! Plus there were presents awaiting her! We had a great dinner and great conversation and then a good drive to Topsail. We finally got to check out our Halo lighting in the top of the van - it's sooooo cool! And Steve's TomTom, albeit slightly misguided sometimes (umm hello when does shortest route ever include DIRT roads?), is pretty cool. The house we stayed at is Steve's aunt's husband's family's house. It had an elevator and was a gorgeous place! Took us a while to get Beca calmed down and bathed, etc. and then my parents arrived just before midnight (more elevator trips!). Eventually, we all got to sleep.

The next morning, Beca almost burst from her excitement regarding going to the beach. The adults had to appease her for a bit until we got breakfast and the morning going. We knew it was going to be a busy day but it was really great, too. We headed to a family reunion for Steve's family - it's on this beautiful piece of property that overlooks the sound behind figure eight island. And there is so much food - lots and lots of fried chicken!! Beca had a hard time paying attention to any food. She chased Uncle Bobby and played with Aunt Jenny and Aunt Tracy (Steve's cousin). Several trips down to the dock - which is just awesome. We had to watch the hermit crabs and ghost crabs running in the sand. And there was an osprey family in one of the trees. I gave my Dad the camera with the big lens on it and he got some great shots of the family. The hill we sit on is really nice until the breeze stops - then the sun just gets too hot and we decided we needed to go. Dinner was really good (maybe service a little slow) and the shrimp the best I've ever had - the breading was so light but just enough flavor! Unfortunately, Beca was a pistol that evening and even a walk on the "beach" - where at high tide there was almost no beach - didn't actually calm down. Eventually Beca got to bed.

The next morning, Beca and Steve stayed at the beach while we drove with Traci and Carl back home to a funeral - actually a celebration service of Judi's life. It was amazing to hear her husband express Judi's wishes for everyone else. She wanted everyone to have a personal relationship like she had with God. She was one amazing and special person in this world and so many people were blessed by her prayers, cards, and letters. Judi touched so many people so driving back from the beach was just a way to honor her. I'm really glad I was there. And like that, it was over. We drove back to Topsail to find a cranky girl and her aggravated daddy. They had gone to the beach and played for a while. We got back and went to dinner - we had another good meal at a place on the beach. Good food and a really nice place to eat - almost felt like we were out side. Beca and I watched a waiter try to slide a beer down a wire to a kite surfer. It sooo didn't make it. Got stuck on a knot. Then once they got it over the knot, the kite surfer got it all the way down but then the kite sank real quick and the beer hit the sand and spilled all over. Beca was just enthralled with the kites. It was impressive to watch those guys! We also found a little ice cream shop that had Raspberry ice cream! I can never find that stuff - which is probably for the best. Of course, Beca had to have Mint Chocolate Chip (isn't it odd that her favorite ice cream is also the favorite of BOTH of her uncles!).

The next morning, we took a while to get ready and headed to the other end of Topsail to visit with the Blooms and family! Beca was so excited to see her Traci and Richie, along with Papoo, Pam and Allie. Rich helped Beca start a fishing line on a princess reel. She started reeling in after feeling something on the line and as it got close to the surface, Rich grinned and said "Uh-oh, she may not like this". On the end of the line was an EEL!!! Beca's first fishing experience and she gets an eel - that got turned into bird food and fish bait because it wouldn't stop wriggling enough to get the fishing line untangled from around it. Then, she wanted to try again. So Rich set her up again. This time, almost right away, she caught a little silver pin fish - she was really excited! The most amazing part was that she didn't even lose the bait! We put the fish in a bucket of water and she stood so proudly by it! She was soooo funny! then all the sudden, she announced she was done and wanted to go sit on the swing. She also wanted to go to Traci's beach - which meant the beach close to Traci. Down at the beach, we found Tricia and Big Becca (or Becca 2 C's). It was a lot of fun and Rich started Steve on a hunt for "sand fleas" or "sand fiddlers". My dad dug out a big hole (that ingeniously filled itslef in quickly when the tide came in so as not to cause any permanent harm to humans or turtles) and little Beca had fun in that. Beca somehow convinced Rich to pull her around on a boogie board for a while, squealing all the way. I'm still not sure quite how we got her off of it without wailing but I think she was getting hungry. We left "Traci's beach" to get lunch and help Mom and Dad pack up and they headed home. I think we tried to take a nap and then went to the grocery store and got some pizza at a little NY style place (very good but the service was a little less than desirable - I think I remember that being a theme on most beach vacations of mine).

Wednesday was a crazy fun day! Beca, Steve, and I went to the beach early on - she squeals at the waves a lot. We tried building sandcastles (which she had been helping with all week) and I made a moat around this one so the water would just fill in once high tide came. It was very hot out - heat index was about 105 - so thankfully the water was cool. Steve went hunting for sand fiddlers again and I happened to spot a little tiny one before he ever found his first one. Then we started seeing them all over the place. Not my favorite thing and Beca just kept wanting to let them out of the cup or wherever. I think she liked watching them scurry into the sand and burrow down. We weren't out long, knowing we had visitors on their way! I started getting food ready for lunch - we had a big crowd join us! Steve's mom, aunt, sister, nephew, grand mother, great aunt, cousin and her son all came to play at the beach. Of course, we had to eat first and I had been craving a chicken apple wrap - it's been a weekly thing for a little while now. I get one at this place in Durham and I figured I could somewhat copy. Mine had lettuce, chicken, celery, apples, pears, grapes, cranberries, and a ginger pear dressing. It turned out pretty good on a spinach wrap and I had found a few other kinds of wraps too. I also found out that you had to make and eat it right away - it did not sit well overnight. I made a bowl of Ceasar wrap filling too - Steve won't eat much with fruit in it. Then everyone started getting ready for the beach and we all waddled down! I loved watching Steve's mom and aunt head straight into the waves! Corey (Steve's nephew) went right out too, as did his cousin Tracy and her son Aidan. Beca did not want to be out in the waves much. Mimmie and Aunt Margaret looked so content in their beach chairs on the sand! I had to go in early to get some work done. plus, my neck had broken out again - heat or sun must be a triggering factor but it isn't the only one. sunscreen also aggravates it and I had to head in. So, I got my broadband card out and happily worked on the porch for over 2 hours before the beach crew came struggling back in - Steve had to carry Beca the whole way back. But it was worth it! Everyone had to leave but Steve's mom stayed a little longer and got more Beca-Boo time in. That evening, we started packing and cleaning and the next day, Beca and I made one last trek to the beach. She was tired and really cranky but we played in this really cool little tidal pool that had not been there any other day. She had lots of fun just splashing in the water and filling her bucket with water which got more sand than water usually (by volume not weight). She also chased a lot of birds. Then she got screamy about how I did everything and it was a good cue to get off the beach. It was good to get home that night and sleep in our own bed. Granted, it was a day earlier than we had planned but it worked out for the best.
I'll finish more of August another day. At least for now, some of the voices inside my head can chill out about the beach trip.