Get to check it off my list

So we went to the reunion and survived it just fine. It was a lot of fun to see everyone back in one room again. Surreal in a way, but really fun. Glad they had alcohol on hand, because I think it gave me just the nudge I needed to go up to people and start conversations. I should be clear though - I didn't have to do any of this on my own. I had two of my best friends from high school there with me - Denise and Kelli:

It's not as if I had a lot of memories to share with very many people there, but we just remember each other from so long ago. As I mentioned before, I went to school with many of them from second grade on and some from even kindergarten.

Of course, some people changed more than others. There were those who had "come out" and those who had surgically changed themselves - boobs and botox were obvious on a couple women. And then there was the guy who went from a very clean cut, geeky type to a Rastafarian, minus the black skin.

Anyway, I still can't figure out what the $60/person paid for, but I'm glad I went. And thanks to Alan for being a great date. He didn't get mad that I totally ignored him half the evening or that I probably forgot to introduce him a number of times. He was, as usual, just fine handling things on his own. (And by the way, thanks to Denise for the photos.)

Thirst

Oddly (odd because of its subject matter), this is a site/blog I've recently started reading. It's all about beverages, but it seems as long as the writing is interesting and funny and smart and adult-rated, I'll read just about anything. It's worth trying, really:

www.knowledgeforthirst.com

Hi there

So I haven't had much to say the past three days, but life has been kind of boring this week. Well some of it boring to me, and other parts fun to me but probably boring to anyone else out there listening. Like yesterday afternoon when Denise and I flipped through three years of high school yearbooks, basically cramming before the big reunion on Saturday. I loved it. I loved seeing the snapshots of how badly we all dressed for example. Seriously, what was happening in the 80s that girls thought it was attractive to wear frumpy, old women clothing? Nothing gave any indication that you were indeed a girl except for the occasional knee-length skirt, whose shape was far from flattering. And the hairstyles - oh, those bi-level cuts. I see women today that have yet to escape that style, and I'm just sad for them. The 80s are over, honey. Move on.

And it was also interesting to see page after page of the confederate flag, especially the photos from football games. The crowd was just a sea of blue starry X's on red backgrounds. Weird.

On to other things....Addison had her wisdom teeth taken out today. It's always comical to be around someone immediately following surgery of that kind, but I don't think it's going to be very funny tomorrow. Here's hoping Lortab does its job and makes her recovery somewhat bearable. I really wanted to take pictures of her while "high," but I guess that would have been mean. Funny, but mean. :-) So basically I'll be taking care of her today and tomorrow, although Bailey and I plan to sneak away tomorrow for some school shopping. Let's just call it shopping and not think about the school part. I like being home. Freedom is nice.

I wanted him to lose weight, but not this way...

What did I do over the weekend you ask? Cleaned up cat vomit and other excrements that we won't go into. I wasn't alone though - Alan cleaned up his fair share as well. I didn't see the movie, but I remember a clip from "Daddy Daycare" where Eddie Murphy's character sends a little boy into the bathroom to do his business. The boy comes out of the bathroom, announces "I missed," and Eddie Murphy walks in to discover a mess that goes from floor to ceiling. Junior had a similar experience in our little master bath, although the mess didn't quite reach the ceiling. It went about a foot and half up the door and wall, and the smell could knock you over. We took him outside, and I hosed him down while Alan held on tight.

We're not sure what he might have eaten or what caused all of this, but it was pretty sad. I think as a general rule, cats hate to be dirty. So I can imagine how traumatized he was in that little room until Alan rescued him. And although it was nice to get to baby and pet him for those 24 hours without being subjected to a bloody attack, I'll take the healthy, evil Junior any ole day.

I guess I should also mention that it was Bailey's birthday on Saturday, meaning my youngest child is now 13. Between both households and her grandparents, she got most everything she asked for (except the trampoline). But considering how good a kid she's been these thirteen years, it's okay to spoil her every once in a while.

I can't help myself - he's just so pretty. You have to check out the larger view:

I do stuff

I've had some help this week with my jigsaw puzzle. Yes, I do those. I also do crosswords. And I read books intended for 12 year-olds. And I take too many pictures of the cat.

I may have said this before, but I really think it's time to put up the automatic feeder:

Shut UP!!!!

I don't want to sound racist, I really don't. It's narrow-minded, hateful, ignorant, and dangerous. Having said that, I see no reason to make excuses for the 90% hispanic audience at the dollar movie Sunday night (and I'm being generous with the 90% - I'm thinking Alan and I were perhaps the only white people.) They were loud, inconsiderate, and could apparently care less about their kids' behavior. After being bopped repeatedly in the head, getting my hair pulled, and having both our chairs kicked about 10 times, Alan and I finally got up and moved to the back. And then there was the loud talking, not whispering. Not to mention the random, outright SHOUTING during the movie.

Like I said, I'm not making excuses for this audience. If this were a fairly diverse group of people, I could mention that. If it were largely white trash, I could mention that. It could have been a group of doctors and lawyers and I could mention that, too. Maybe instead I should describe the audience as low-income, for after all we were at the dollar theater. But then I would be making assumptions. My point is that however unfair and ignorant stereotyping is, there are experiences that can influence our opinions of people if we allow it. But I'm not going to go there - I'm just going to chalk it up as Asshole Night At The Theater.

And besides, I happen to have a 13-year old daughter who, while hanging out with large groups of white middle-class kids at the "regular" theater, has been kicked out more times than I want to know. A number of non-white movie goers have probably gone home many times complaining about those spoiled, inconsiderate white kids.

A positively better week

I've heard of business casual and totally understand what that means. But "dressy casual?" Isn't that an oxymoron? Anyway, that's the attire for my upcoming reunion. Oh well....so I get an excuse to go shopping this week.

And hopefully this week will be a little more productive than last week. I just didn't have the mental energy to do anything. Man, I was down in the dumps and for no particular reason. I did paint our front door, but that's about it. I'm hoping this week to get my butt in gear and get back to working out as well.

Bailey's 13th birthday is Saturday, so that's another thing to get ready for. Teenagers = not cheap. Her gift suggestions are: a new cell phone, an Ipod, a digital camera, or a trampoline. I remember those b-days when I could buy them clothes at Wal-Mart and other stuff like $15 Barbies (Addison usually wanted ethnic ones, and those were especially cheap), Disney movies, etc. Actually though, the gifts they want these days are more fun for me to borrow...

This picture has nothing to do with anything. I just like pictures and my daughters are pretty. :-)

Hit or Miss

There are reasons there are few pictures of me and Alan together, this being one example. They usually don't turn out that well. And why must I always be doing something weird with my mouth as if I'm saying, "Yuck, what's that?" And this might be the only picture of me from the trip where I didn't have something in my teeth. In several pics of me and Addison together, you can see oreo cookies. In another one with Bailey, I think I spot a piece of funnel cake. And then there's Alan....he typically has his eyes closed or his mouth open from what must have been a funny joke told before every shot.

However, look at this picture of Alan. Specifically, look at those feet (click for a larger view). He has great feet. In fact, when I saw him in sandals and saw those perfectly groomed feet the first time, my heart skipped a beat. Alan could walk a mile on gravel and his feet would still be clean and smooth. I'm not sure how he does it, but I hope it stays with him through our elderly years.

I'm sure I'm normal

There are days when I wish I had another blog. An anonymous blog that I tell noone about. On this blog I would talk about all the evil thoughts that ramble around in my head that I don't have the nerve to share with anyone I know. Perfect strangers, sure I can share all my deepest thoughts with them. But who would read it? Just the random, very bored internet addict who keeps clicking on "Next Blog" when they have nothing more meaningful to do. And that's only if my blog happened to be next in the queue of blogs.

I think I forgot to take my happy pills today.

More trip stuff

Here are a few more pictures and a little more about the trip. We were in our hotel room by 4:30 Friday and half an hour later were in swimsuits on the beach. Gladly, we found our beach jellyfish-free. The waves were HUGE, none of which can be seen from the pictures. There was a sandbar quite a ways out that we could swim to and catch some bigger waves. Really cool.

Saturday we went to the sea turtle conservatory, which was mostly a cheap way to waste an hour or so before heading to the beach. We spent about five hours at the beach Saturday, and 3 out of 4 of us paid the price that night and next day. (The $22 for the umbrella and chairs was a great investment, as I spent half of my time lounging and taking in the view.) That evening, I made a trip to the store to get aloe and the three of them spent the evening nursing their burns. Bailey was worse in the morning. Her nose and upper cheeks were swollen with blisters, but we still had a full day in the sun planned for the next day at Schlitterbahn Beach. I was pretty upset with Bailey's condition and didn't handle it very well, but we made it work.

I'd like to say Schlitterbahn Beach was a blast, but really it was somewhat disappointing. It's a VERY small waterpark and seems to be geared towards the younger kiddos. The rides noted as "Thrilling" were not all that adventurous, and that's according to me - the less brave of the four of us. So back to the sunburns - everyone had to wear t-shirts all day at the waterpark and Bailey never took her cap off. It's not as if we didn't have fun at the park, it just wasn't the excitement we were expecting after last year's trip to Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels. So my advice is to save the extra 3 hours of travel and go to the hill country.

I was surprised at how small South Padre Island was. It's just a narrow strip of an island, so anywhere you stay will be close to the water. There's no way around it. We were very pleased with our hotel (Travelodge), especially after our ghetto-like hotel at Corpus last year. And the owners spoke perfect English and were NOT of Middle-Eastern decent, if you can believe it. No offense, but they seem to have lower standards at their hotels. That comes from personal experience, not stereotyping.

Basically, I don't see a reason to go all the way to Padre when you can find beautiful clean beaches at places like Mustang Island or other places around Port Aransas, Portland, etc. All in all, we had a good time together. Seems like those times when the four of us are away together, away from computers and cell phones, we really enjoy each other's company and have some good laughs. And we must have gotten a good workout everyday, because we all were asleep no later than 9:30 or 10:00 every night.

So one more family vacation down and a few more memories made. Perhaps next year we should head north and try whitewater rafting or something like that. I think we have enough beach experiences for a while.

Back from the Beach

We're back and a little tired, but it was a pretty good trip. Here are a few photos.

Looks like the lens was a little dirty from that good ole beach residue. See me there in the sunglasses, hat, and sitting in the shade? That's why I'm the only one who didn't need aloe vera smeared all over them afterwards. I'm a sun worshipper, but there are limits.

Bailey burned everything including the whites of her eyes.

Bailey and Alan. This was right after we got there - had to run down to the beach to check it out.

Addison's foot and that little figure in the water is me. I don't mind swimsuit pictures taken at that distance. :-)

Weirdness all around me

It seems there are people out there who still don't know about Salad Fingers. (These must be the same people who have never heard of "Laguna Beach.") Click on "Watch this Movie" (not really a movie) next to the weird little face, and a list of episodes will come up. It's odd, creepy, but mesmerizing in a bizarre way.

I'm in day-before-travel mode. By 8:30 a.m. I had the oil changed and had gone to the grocery store. So much to do....and how weird that the other three people going on this trip have no clue what all went on behind the scenes to ensure we have a great trip and have everything we could possibly need? WHAT IS THAT LIKE?! Unfortunately, I know I've been on the receiving end of all this pre-work, but was too young to remember. So here's a much belated thanks to my parents for those years of packing up the car, camper, and boat.

Something getting in the way of my packing is baffling me. I have claimed for some time now that I can't stand Kathy Griffin, the comedienne. I've been watching her on Bravo for over two hours this afternoon and possibly love her now. Next thing you know I'm going to be a fan of Jimmy Stimmel. I can only pray that will never happen.

Note: I forgot to say goodbye until next week when we get back from the beach. Here's hoping we avoid the jellyfish stings of last summer and come back home with all our appendages.

Back to the groove

Leigh left early this morning and Ed left a little while ago, so although I enjoyed our time with them both, I'm going to enjoy my time alone today as well. Leigh is an amazing help around the house - he repaired stuff, painted, made coffee every morning, drove to get a newspaper every day and always pulled out the crossword for me. He was also chief cook at the party, freeing Alan up to hang out with the crowd. Ed, on the other hand, plays video games and smacks like a starving wild animal. He doesn't lift a finger, but he was a lot of fun and good for many laughs. (He gets big points for doing the crosswords with me, too.) He also made a cheesecake and a couple batches of drinks for the party. And it gave Alan a chance to hang out with a good friend for several days. As I said, I'm glad both came to visit.

Had to throw in a couple pictures taken at the party and then later at The Ranch last Saturday. We hadn't been to The Ranch since our night-before-the-wedding party nearly five years ago. The one of me and Alan dancing is just comical. I was hoping we'd look better dancing than that. And the flip-flops are truly classy.

Still preoccupied...

But this is kind of fun. Go to this site and see what celebrities you look like. It's free, but you do have to go through a quick registration process. It says I look like Rickie Lake and Lucy Lui, among others. Weird, because I always thought my eyes were strangely Asian. Anyway, it's not very accurate but still fun to do.

Doing some small projects around the house and getting ready for vacation. Still have company.

Delay

Between company being in town since Thursday, having another party last night, and getting ready for vacation coming Friday, things have been a little too busy to blog.