Part Five - Fun times

Yay, all the yucky stuff is behind us. I hope :)

It's Wednesday, Thurs and Friday (otherwise this week's worth of blogging will be as long as a book).

Wednesday, Rob decides to take Mike flyfishing for trout. Mike's never been and as he's a total cityboy this should be fun. That's Bre helping Mike get his wader's on (I almost had to call them flyfishing thingamajigs, because I couldn't remember what they were called for a bit :) ). It's not a look you'll find me in anytime soon! Mike made Bre put them on also and she had her pouty face on the whole time, I can't say that I blame her.

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We decide while they're out we'll pick up the grandma's and go shopping. Unfortunately, Rob's mom was at the hospital with Don, which is a whole 'nother story, but.....we had a very pleasant day with my mom.

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The guys are suppose to meet us for pizza at Sam & Ella's but 9pm gets here and no guys. We go and pick up pizza because we're craving it and the men finally drag their butts in about 10pm. Mike caught 3 trout and Rob 4. Though we voted Mike best fisherman as one of his was a brown which are harder to catch. Rob was like a proud papa. They cooked their trout and Bre and I ate pizza. I don't like trout. Ick.

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Thursday is beautiful, so we pack up the cooler and head to the dock. Poor boat hasn't been out all season. The lakes still high, but I've been on it so much I pretty much know where to avoid. So we do some tubing. And let me tell you I'm very adroit at flipping a tube :) Not only did Bre have a time of it trying to stay on but so did her swimsuit top.

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Friday saw Bre and I get up early and it was pouring but we had important things to do. We were meeting with my Dr to get our underarms lasered. It hurt a bit but not having to shave, uh YAY. He just bought a laser and they were training so we were guinea pigs. Turned out great. I'll have it done once, maybe twice more and then no more shaving for me....ever. He's going to do Bre again when she gets back. My brother and sil came in that evening....so we headed to Wallyworld to pick up supplies for the float trip on Saturday (which btw thanks for all the good thoughts, weather was perfecto!) and then went bowling. Where I broke 4 nails, ugh. But I bowled a respectable 210. And then we went to this new bar that opened up in town, Granny's Attic, my kind of place :) Actually, it reminds me of Cheers with a shuffleboard table. Bre and I lost to Mike and Rob, they cheated.

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So to bed with us. Long day on Saturday.

see, three days in one post is so much better :)

Part Four - Road trip

Before we left for Missouri I told Bre to get everything she had with her, dog tags, orders, med records, etc. We headed out early and the trip went fast and smooth. For once, yay. I'm thinking Mike might be our lucky charm.

Rob's waiting for us in Springfield, so we pick him up and head down to the driver's license bureau. You can tell Bre's getting anxious and probably a bit sick at her stomach the closer we get. Luck was smiling on us this day. There is one person at the counter and a sweet looking young girl maning the counter. Bre's number is called and she explains the situation. The girl's all "oh honey, it's all okay" asks a few questions and wa-la "here's your id". I love this girl. She's thanked profusely. The id gets passed around. People are wishing Bre and Mike good luck. In the meantime Mike has a funny look on his face, I asked him what was wrong. His reply "um, I have one of Bre's old driver's license in my wallet". What?! Women are cracking up, he gets hit a few times. Seems he snagged Bre's old expired permit and put it in his wallet. It wouldn't have gotten her on a plane as it was way expired, but it would have maybe waylaid some anxiety on getting her driver's license! Smack that boy!

We want to go to Nakato's for dinner, but know Rob's family won't want to. So we ask if they want to me at Barnes and Nobles. We get there and I have to say I really like Bitnop's (I'm not sure if that's how it's spelled but that's the way you pronounce it) boy's. They are adorable. She's sweet but very shy and speaks almost no English, so it's a struggle somewhat. Jack wants to take us to this Vietnamese restaraunt, we're not sure about this but okay.

I ordered a soup, all the while keeping in mind I'm going to pigout at Nakato's later that night. That soup was awesome! Clear broth, with chicken and uncooked fresh veggies, bean sprouts, cilantro, etc. Yummy.

The haven't seen Bre since she left for bootcamp 4 years ago so there's alot of catching up to do. It was actually a much more pleasant visit than I anticipated. And they didn't grill Mike once.

We took our leave and stopped at the bank so I could take care of some business while in town. And then we four piggies headed to Nakato's, the best Japanese steakhouse ever built. I'm thinking there's no way were going to eat much. I was wrong. We truly are pigs this day!

After dinner we head back home and make it with no other incidents. Yay us.

Part Three - The day we should have stayed in bed

Once again, should you be reading this start with part one.

So it's Monday and lots to do. This is how we planned our day......Get up, have breakfast, drive in to Broken Arrow to pick up rental car so the kids would have their own vehicle, drop off my car at a friends for today and tomorrow, head to hospital to visit father-in-law, pick up Mike at 4pm and then meet friends for dinner at Ricardo's. Head home.

This is how it actually played out.

Slept thru alarm.....actually two alarms. Ack. We grabbed a bowl of cheerios and head out. Thank goodness we took showers the night before. We get in to the rental agency and ack again, I left my wallet with my credit cards on the table. So Bre pulls hers out, the guy behind the counter says it'll be an extra charge because she's under 21. Grrrr. She tells him she read on their website that if you are active military then that is waved. He pushes some buttons on his computer and viola.

So now we're thinking so far so good. Right?

Bre jumps in the little rental car and we head to Broken Arrow to drop off mine. The rain comes in hard and heavy and Bre's nervous about driving in Tulsa. Pffft, Honolulu's traffic is MUCH worse. So far, so good.

She wants me to drive. So we play chinese firedrill in the rain and head to the hospital. Don's surgery went fine, the tumor was fully encapsulated and they're waiting on the path report on the two spots on his liver. He's in the Cancer Centers of America, holy sheesh. This place has valet parking, they give you this nice fluffy robe, a really good continental breakfast is laid out for guests and relatives. Very nice place, not that I want to ever need it, but....A++ for aesthetics.

As we're walking in Bre asks if I locked the doors because she forgot her wallet. Yes, does she need the keys. No she says, as long as I locked it. So we go up and visit for about an hour and then we're headed to pick up Mike. It's pouring when we get outside. Pouring.

Bre gets to the car and waits while I unlock it then starts looking for her wallet. It's not there. She's freaking, I'm freaking, it's pouring and we're soaked. I'm sure it's slipped inbetween somewhere and tell her when we get to the airport we'll find it. The airport has covered parking so at least we won't get soaked.

I'll finish the post by tonight, I promise myself.......

Keeping my promise:

Ok, picking up where I left off.....we get to the airport and tear the car apart. It's nowhere. OMG. Bre's about to cry, she had all her credit cards, drivers license, military id, birth certificate (don't ask), etc. Her life, and we women know exactly what that means. Mike's plane is landing, so we meet him at baggage claim. Poor Mike, I think he was already regretting coming. But he was really good with her.

We called the rental agency, the information place at the hospital, drove to the agency, back to the hospital and out to the friends. Nothing. We still think it was dropped at the friends where their dog found it, raped it and buried it.

Luckily she had not changed her drivers license to Hawaii and we already had a trip to Missouri planned for the next day. So I was hoping that we could get a copy with no other id. She called credit card companies, who were great btw. All said they would expedite cards out to her and she would have them by the end of the week. She contacted her Commander who is going to be in California when she's there and he said not to worry he would escort her onto base where she could get a new military id. Of course all of this hinges on getting her drivers license or she won't even be able to get on the plane.

Mike and Bre and 6 others have a Vegas trip planned and will be leaving on Tuesday. So we have to get a picture id before then.

We meet Lori and family for dinner, where by this time Bre and her wallet had become a joke, which she bore gracefully. She takes after her mom :)

Got home and I went to bed.

Tomorrow ~ Trip to Springfield, pick Rob up, try and get driver's license, visit Rob's dad and the new family that speaks fluent Vietnamese and little English and get back home in one piece.

Part Two

If you're one of few that read this you should start from Part One, unless you're a rebel like Bravie.

So Sunday is Father's Day and after getting a late start due to a very late night, Bre and I finally get around and drive over to my parents. My sister and her boobs are meeting us there. I swear she should name them. Something like Anna and Nicole would work. They get bigger everytime I see her, I think one of these days I might ask her if she had an inflatable pump installed.

She comes with nimcompoop husband. He doesn't think anything is funny unless it's humiliating to someone else. Can you tell these two are my least favorite of all of my family?

Anyway, we take dad to dinner and give him our gift cards, that's all he gets anymore as he's the hardest man in the world to buy for! Spend some uncomfortable time and the Bre and I head home. We're pooped, so we watch some tivoed shows and go to bed.

Tomorrow we have a rental car to pick up, a hospital visit to fit in and Mike to pick up. If we'd only known what the day was going to hit us with we might have chosen to stay in bed.

To be continued......

Bre's visit Part One

Did you know that kids never really grow up? *grin Our visit starts out as a comedy of errors, but bear with as no one gets killed :)

Saturday which is really Sunday morning finds me at 12:30 am re-arranging furniture waiting for Bre to call saying she's in okay and on her way. I get the phone call all right, but it starts off with a voice saying "Mom, don't hate me." Rut-roh, I've heard that plenty of times and it's never good news and usually entails me dealing with something I don't want to deal with.

Seems she reserved a rental car but never checked for a confirmation. They didn't confirm, have no cars to rent and all other rental agencies are closed. So yes, I'm dealing. I get dressed, airport security probably doesn't want to see a middle age woman in a t-shirt that's seen so much church it's the holiest of holey! And thank God I did as, as soon as I got on the highway there's a roadblock. Tons of red and blue lights. I'm thinking.....major wreck. So I slow to a crawl and am looking for somewhere to turn around. A cop steps into the road and motions me forward rather impatiently. I pull up and ask if there is a wreck, to which he responds with a "your an idiot" look on his face. No it's a sobriety check point. He asks for my license and then asks if I still live in MO. Um no. But I'm not tell him that. And for the record I have been meaning to change my license from MO to OK for a long time it's just not been a priority, ok!

Have I been drinking? Not today I respond, but give me time. And yes I'm know I'm starting to skate on thin ice but sheesh. He tells me they're looking for bad people. Seriously, he said that. To which I respond, I'm good, I'm really, really good. 10 years ago I bet I would have seen interest instead of indifference dammit!

So I'm waved thru and off I go again. I make it in record time as there aren't even barflies about by the time I get into T-town. I call Bre and she meets me at the curb. Yay. Poor kid hasn't had anything but peanuts since leaving Hawaii. I promise we'll stop at MickeyD's on the toll road. Since when did they start closing at midnight!

So sandwiches and a beer when we get home. See I told him to give me time. We see the digital clock hit 0530 and say goodnight. Tomorrow (today) is Father's Day and lots planned.

To be continued........

Tickets in hand and other stuff

Woot Bre has tickets and orders in hand. She'll be landing in Tulsa at 11pm Saturday night, Mike will follow on Monday and get here at 4pm. He wanted to give us some girl time so he's following a couple of days late. For a youngster he's purty smart :) They'll be here until the 24th.

You can tell she's nervous bring him home. She hasn't brought a boy home since high school and then it was just me and Rob she had to bring him home to. Now that I live back in Oklahoma it's the whole family, both sets of grandparents, aunt, uncle, cousins. Poor guy :) She asked me to talk to Rob's mom as she's the one that would interogate him, as in tied to a chair with bamboo under his fingernails. I promised I would run interference.

On to grandparents ~ we found out Monday that Don, Rob's stepdad has cancer in his kidney and they think two spots in his bladder. He will be having surgery the day Mike comes in. They are going to take part of his kidney and both spots out of his bladder. No chemo or radiation.

Even though this is the man I butt heads with all the time and we see nothing the same. And he's a complete and utter bigot, I wish him the best. I told him he's too much of an ass to get any sicker.

Other grandparent ~ We will be taking a short road trip to Springfield to see Rob's dad, Jack and his family. He's the one that has the mail-order family from Vietnam. Bre's never met them and I've only met them once for a short period so this should be interesting. Rob sometimes lucks out on not having to do these things, he won't be in until Wednesday morning. Ugh.

Rob's going to teach Mike how to ride a motorcycle while he's here. If we break him before he leaves we get to keep him right? I thought about "accidently" breaking Bre's leg while she's here, would that keep her from going to Iraq? I've actually gotten okay about this Iraq thing, we'll until she actually leaves the States anyway. Then, who knows.

And for all the listies out there:

Activities for the next week and a half-

1. Roadtrip
2. Hospital visit
3. Motorcycle teaching riding
4. Bowling
5. Boat - skiing, tubing
6. Flyfishing (guys) laying by the river, talking and reading (girls)
7. Family reunion picnic
8. Float trip
9. Horseback riding
10.........Collapsing

Rain, rain, go away

It's raining. Again. Pouring, in fact. And if it's not raining it's blowing. Ugh. It started raining at 1:32 am and hasn't let up. How do I know the exact time? I tend to look at the clock after I push a fuzzbutt off my face. Actually, to be accurate I should say it started thundering at 1:32 last night. Poor puppy.

I've been working from home for exactly a week now and so far it hasn't been fun. I've had server problems, phone problems and unreasonable patients. I guess the one really cool thing about working from home is that instead of having to drag my sorry butt out of bed this morning at 5:30, after a restless night of panting puppy, I rolled over and went back to sleep. Didn't get up until the first time the business phone rang at 9:30.

I have to get into "Bre's" room this week and "finish" the unpacking that I've been doing for 6 months. You know that old saying "outa sight, outa mind"? Yep, that's me. The rest of the house has been "done" since Christmas, but.......

I made Beef Stroganoff this weekend, sometimes (alot of times) I forget I'm the only one at home and still cook like there's still the three of us plus whatever kid has tagged along home with Bre. So I will be eating alot of Beef Stroganoff this week and freezing the rest. *sits here wondering how long it takes to break old habits*

Mike's coming home with Bre, and as much as I adore that boy he's a strange eater. No condiments, nothing white, no cheese, etc. How does an Italian from Philly not eat cheese?! Anyway, being the sweet person I am *snort* will try not to shock him with too many weird meals. And please say a little prayer that the weekend of the 21st and 22nd are nice and sunny. My house is too small for a party of about 25 to be stuck in doors. Plus floating is no fun in the rain.

I just finished "The Book of Air and Shadows" by Michael Gruber. It was a pretty good read, a little dry but all of his books are. I could see it being made into a movie, easily. It was a nice change for me. I tend to get into one genre and burn myself out.

Take Two

I wrote this really long post yesterday only to have the electricity flicker and lose it all. Ugh.

I just moved my office home, as the Doc I work for is moving to Texas. Thank goodness for the computer age or I would be drawing unemployment. It's taken 3 days to organize all of my books, papers, files etc. And I have come to the conclusion that I do NOT need 2 staplers, 3 paperclip dispensers, 5 envelope openers, a mess of scissors, a gaggle of pens and a pod of paper clippy thingamajigs!

I've slept late every morning and stayed up late every night this week. This is bad, and I have promised myself that I will start regular work hours next week.

One good thing is there is not a weed in my flower garden and I've started cleaning out a new bed for more flowers. Which brings me to my help me question - my shasta daisies, not doing so well. Every single one is drooping or dying while everything around them are thriving. Any words of wisdom for Shasta's?

Brangelina - 70 million dollar chateau in France. How do I become an employee? I think I would make a great housekeeper! I totally would be a great celebrity employee, I'm very discreet. So if you all know someone that knows someone, put in a good word for me, won't you?

My post yesterday was much more fascinating *sigh

Maybe 9 days until Bre is home *crosses fingers They still haven't given her an OK to leave yet.