Visiting Michigan

We are expecting out-of-town guests today. Vic's friends from Alabama are supposed to arrive late tonight and stay until the middle of next week. She hasn't seen Steph since high school, so Vic is really looking forward to seeing her again. Weather guy is calling for rain almost the entire time they'll be here, which sucks, but I'm sure we'll still be able to find stuff to do. This will be the 3rd time we've had visitors since we moved almost 2 years ago. I wish I could convince more of our friends to make the trip north because Michigan is really beautiful in the non-snow months. (It's pretty in the snow months, too, but it's also a bitch to get around.) In August, Vic & I are going to drive over to Goderich in Ontario, Canada (about 2 hrs away) to check out their huge Celtic festival they have every year. Musicians come from all over the world to play here. We missed it last year due to Vic's surgery, but we've already got room reservations and plan to make the trip this year, no matter what! So, if anyone wants to take the trip with us, we'd love to have you! The Celtic festival isn't technically in Michigan, but you'd be based here and can tell all your friends you traveled internationally! Think about it...

Detroit & Cleveland

Did you see me & Vic at the game last night?? When we awoke yesterday morning it was drizzly and overcast and we were both kinda bummed ~ nobody wants to watch a baseball game in the rain. By game time, though, the sun came out and it was an absolutely beautiful evening for baseball. Not for the Tigers, however. Both the Tigers and the Pistons played Cleveland last night and both Detroit teams lost. Vic and I had pretty good seats and we had a great time, but it would've been nice to see the Tigers win. I guess if they have to lose to somebody, though, the Indians are my choice to lose to. I'll always be an Indian, but for right now, I'm first and foremost a Tiger.

Tobey

As I sit here waiting for Vic to get all dolled up before we head out to the Tigers game, I thought I would introduce you to the newest (and smallest) member of our family. We have a spider living in our bathroom. This doesn't bother me in the least ~ when you already share your home with more than a dozen animals, what's another little spider or two? Vic, however, hates spiders and I know that the first chance she gets, she'll be whacking away at it with a shoe (mine, probably). It's for this reason that I didn't name my new 8-legged friend Charlotte. I'd feel just terrible knowing that my girlfriend was the homicidal maniac responsible for the murder of Charllotte the spider. I've instead named him Tobey after Tobey Maguire who plays Spiderman in the movies. I was going to name him Peter after Spiderman's alter ego Peter Parker, but I feel funny about calling anyone Peter, so Tobey it is!

A Day of Case

Today is yet another "Day of Case." I took today off so I could sort out my schoolwork and prepare notes to study for my final test. I picked today, especially, because it's supposed to rain. Shitty weather helps me study ~ if it's nice out, I want to be out. I did go by Home Depot today and got about half the things on Vickie's list. Vic loves Home Depot, but sending me there to get stuff is like me sending her to a craft store for scrapbook and cross-stitch stuff. I must've called her a dozen times to see what size doohicky she wanted and what color thingamabob we needed. One of the things she requested was yet another hanging plant (we have 200 already). So I picked out a nice full one with hangy down flowers and everything, brought it home, introduced it to its new siblings, and then took out the receipt to record it in the checkbook. $27.99!!!! That's how much this hanging flower pot thing cost! I have a feeling it's going back to the motherland tomorrow. Never more. I'm going to spend the rest of the day on school stuff now.

One other note: Vic & I are going to the Tigers/Indians game Sunday night and not only is it floppy hat night, but the game is going to be televised on ESPN. So look for us! We'll be the ones in floppy hats!

Feast One Hundred & Forty Five
Appetizer
Name a sound you like to hear.
The sound Shannon makes when she's stretching after a long nap. And rain.

Soup
What is your favorite kind of cheese?
Mozzarella.

Salad
Do you sleep late on Saturday mornings? Why or why not?
When I used to work mids I would sleep until about 2pm. Now I'm usually up by 9ish.

Main Course
When was the last time you forgot something? What was it, and how long did it take to remember it?
I forget.

Dessert
Fill in the blank: I notice ____________ when _____________.
I notice it's harder for me to study when it's nice outside.

4 Things

Nothing new and/or fascinating going on in my life right now, but I wanted to blog anyway, so I'm borrowing something from Shawn's blog for today.

4 Things to know about me
I'm moderately humorous
I love to travel
I hate to work
I love to read (I used to read about a book a week before I started back to school)

4 Things that may surprise you
I'm very distrustful of strangers (due in large part to my job, I suspect)
I'm afraid of being alone in my old age
I'm mildly afraid of the dark
The belt loops on my jeans make me crazy (I'm always pulling on them until they finally rip)

4 jobs I have had
Communications-Computer Operator/Technician/Supervisor (dontcha love military titles?)
Pet store employee (I quit after 4 weeks - I constantly felt sorry for the animals)
McDonald's cashier
Police dispatcher

4 places I've lived
Ramstein, Germany
Washington, D.C.
Los Angeles, CA
Pensacola, FL

4 favorite foods
Pepperoni pizza
Fettucine Alfredo
Chips & dip
Flavored Twizzlers (I've just recently developed a craving for them)

4 favorite TV shows
Grey's Anatomy
Ugly Betty
Hustle
Tigers baseball

4 places I'd rather be right now
Ireland
U.K.
On vacation anywhere
Outside (It's beautiful out and I'm going right now)

Trip Report

We're back from our trip to Cleveland and I must say, we had a wonderful time! I was expecting the worst, but Vic & I both had a great weekend. We started our trip on Thursday morning ~ my plan was to be up and on the road by 8am. We pulled out of the driveway at around 10:30. A little behind schedule, but it was no biggie because we were in no rush.

The weather was a tooch overcast when we crossed the state line, but no great gobs of rain or anything, so we actually had a nice drive.






Almost immediately after we crossed the MI/OH border the farms started popping up everywhere! The drive thru Ohio was beautiful. We had a lot of rolling hills and farms along our ride. I had been to "Amish country" in Ohio a long time ago (a 2nd grade field trip, I think), but Vic had never been, so our first night was spent in Berlin, OH.

The closer we got to Berlin, the more buggies we saw. There were even some with headlights and turn signals! I thought there would be more Amish people riding bikes, but we only saw one. And they worked in all the stores we shopped at. I guess I figured they only worked on their farms.

Here is the picture we take on all our trips. I like to think of it as the "We really need to take someone with us so we can get pictures of us" shot.

This is just one of the many beautiful farms we saw along the way. Ohio's countryside is just breathtaking!

Even though we only spent one day in Berlin, all of our pictures are from there. I just forgot to bring the camera with us to the church or the reception! What a maroon! The church service was small, but very nice. The reception was also kind've on the small side, but also very nice. Some of my cousins that I hadn't seen in over 20 years were there and it was great catching up with them! (I really wish we had taken the camera with us!) Vic enjoyed the open bar and finally got a chance to meet my mom. We've been together 9 years and this is the first time they've ever met! Probably a good thing we had that open bar. It was really nice seeing my brother again, too. I hope that since we're only 4 hours away from each other, we can get together every once in a while. I'm going to really try to work on our relationship.

In all, we both had a great time. It's always nice being back home, though. I really missed Shannon and all our stuff. I think this coming weekend we're going to work on getting some stuff done around the house and preparing for Vic's friends visit. They are going to be here next Thursday and stay thru the weekend, so I'd like to get a few things done before they arrive. We've also got tickets to the Tigers game on Sunday ~ our first game this season. I can't wait for the weekend to get here!

Tests & Packing

Looking back over the past weekend, I see I got very little accomplished. Vic & I are leaving for the "weekend in hell" tomorrow morning and I really wanted to get all our stuff packed by now. I've got most everything we need together, now I just need to pack and organize. The weekend was spent not packing, but mostly studying for the two tests I took this week. (I know I got an A on today's test, but it's iffy on Monday's test.) So now I have a lot of little stuff to do before we drive off in the AM. I'm actually looking forward to getting away for the weekend, but I'm going to miss Shannon-banana a heap. We've got a babysitter for the kids, but I'll still spend at least a small part of this weekend worrying about them. I'm also looking forward to the Amish village we're spending our first night in. I'm not at all looking forward to the Cleveland part of the trip. At all. Maybe my mom won't be there. More on this Monday...

Hibert

Hibert
Originally uploaded by wahoo1265.

Vic bought me a lovely hibiscus for our anniversary and he's just opened up one of his flowers today. Last year we had a really pretty coral colored one and this year's Hibert looks to be a little on the orangey side. We should be planting ground cover flowers soon. I'm not sure if it'll be this weekend, though, because we have a lot of stuff to do before leaving for Ohio next weekend. So the "festival of flowers" may have to wait until Memorial Day weekend. We had a sort've snow storm here yesterday. About a bajillion little white fuzzy things started snowing down on us from nowhere. Our grass is still covered in them. They looked just like snow on Shannon.

Feast One Hundred & Forty Three

Appetizer
Tell about a time when you had to be brave.
When I had surgery a couple years ago I was really really scared, but I tried to be brave.

Soup
Which upcoming movie are you excited about seeing?
Vic & I hardly ever go to the theater, so I guess tI'd have to say the new Harry Potter movie. We recently got "Notes On a Scandal" on DVD, but can't seem to find the time to watch it. I'm really looking forward to finally watching that one.

Salad
Name an item you try to always have on hand.
Diet Pepsi. Whenever it goes on sale, Vic & I stock up.

Main Course
Imagine the most relaxing room you can think of. Now describe it!
It would be outside, but covered to shield the sun's harmful rays. There would be a slight breeze blowing in off the water and classical music playing faintly in the background. And I'd be relaxing in an adirondack chair with an umbrella drink.

Dessert
On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being highest), how spiritual or religious are you?
Maybe a 2 or 3. Vickie is much better at the God stuff than I am.

Rain, Rain

It's raining here in the great state of Michigan, so I'm guessing that'll mean no Tigers game tonight. I'm just a tooch miffed about that, but just a tooch. Although it's raining pretty hard here, it's nothing compared to other parts of the country, so I guess I'm not complaining. Actually, I like the rain. It makes for great napping weather (which I just did) and great studying weather (which I'm about to do). The biggest drawbacks for us is that too much rain floods our backyard and too much thunder scares the bejesus out of the Sweet Baboo (she shrinks to about the size of a chihuahua).

I've been making the rounds of area hospitals trying to land a job, but still no luck. A couple of the HR people seemed very nice, but they said that it can take up to 2 months before anyone even interviews for the open positions! In the mean time, I go to work sporadically. I called in sick yesterday & today. Not a smart move, I know, but going in is making me physically ill. I have a feeling that I'll be unemployed (either by my choice or theirs) by the end of the month. I've decided to take Pathophysiology this Summer. I have to register by Monday and I was still debating on what, if anything, I would take, but 2 of the girls in my A&P class are taking it so I figured I'd go ahead & get it out of the way. It's always better to take a hard class with someone you know. Mary and Laurie are both pretty helpful, too. Wish me luck!

Yard Stuff

This was the weekend of yard stuff. We finally got around to cutting the grass and we also bought some really pretty flowers in hanging baskets to add a splash of color to place. We had a beautiful flowery yard last year and we hope it'll be that way this year, too. It's still a bit early to plant, though. Everybody says to wait until after Memorial Day to put anything in the ground. We still have just Dafne (none of her siblings have popped thru yet), but it looks like our hyacinth is ready to bloom any day now. I also repainted the hammock stand and touched up the Adirondack chairs. I think I got more paint on my hands then I did the chairs. Vic & I also got the garage cleaned out and finally took all those cans in for recycling. Remember blogs ago I mentioned that our bags of cans for recycling were taking over the garage? We've been tossing them in there since last Summer and just kept putting off taking them in. We had $160 worth of cans out there! More, actually, because we overlooked two bags! We're going to put it right into the vacation account. So, our weekend was spent mostly tidying up the yard & garage ~ nothing exciting, but we still had a good time doing it all together.

Mom Update

Vic's mom has taken a turn for the worse. She had to be taken from the home to an area hospital because her temperature wouldn't go down and her blood count was out of whack. Seems she has pneumonia and will be spending at least a few days in the hospital. I know she's pretty upset about this because the doctor had told her she would probably be going home next week. And poor Vic is just stressed beyond belief. She called me to meet her at the hospital less than an hour before I was supposed to be at work. I'm happy for any excuse to call off from work, so although spending 6 hours at the hospital isn't the most fun you can have on a Friday night, it still beats going to work!

Feast One Hundred & Forty Two
Appetizer
Name something you would not want to own.
A white car. We've had two and I'll never buy another one.

Soup
Describe your hair (texture, color, length, etc.).
It's shoulder length and in desperate need of a little Loreal. Vic does a really good job coloring my hair, but she hasn't had any time lately so I'm looking a little greyish.

Salad
Finish this sentence: I’ll never forget ___________.
The day Shannon found us. She was skinny, hungry, and scared. She's now chubby and sleeping soundly at my feet.

Main Course
Which famous person would you like to be for one day? Why?
J.K. Rowling. Not only would I get to spend her bajillions of dollars, but I'd also have access to the last Harry Potter book and would know how it ends before all the other kids did.

Dessert
Write one sentence about yourself that includes one thing that is true and another thing that is not.
I love to travel and simply adore it when there are screaming children and snitty flight attendants on my cramped plane.

Happenings

Current events...

* I still hate my job. As a matter of fact, I spend the entire 8 hrs I'm there thinking of ways to not be there & things I could be doing if I wasn't there.

* I am currently getting a A in both my A&P class and lab. Both classes require a ton of studying, so I'm kinda proud of my A's.

* Shannon is absolutely fucking obsessed with the "monster under the house." Vic saw a small mouse or mouse-like thing scurry from under the house one day and, unfortunately, Shannon also saw it. Now whenever she goes outside, she spends the entire time looking for the monster. She forgets to pee and then does the pee-pee dance after she gets back in the house. She is just unbelievably stressed about it.

* Vic's mom is supposed to be moved from the assisted living place in the next week or so. Vic gets NO sleep and is even more stressed than Shannon is about her monster.

* Our grass in the backyard is as high as an elephant's eye. Stupid rain.

* I need new shoes for my "wedding outfit." I think we should just send a nice card & spend the weekend in the U.P. Vic is looking forward to seeing me in agony.

* Did I mention I still hate my job?

* The Summer class schedule comes out tomorrow, but I'm still undecided as to whether or not I'm going to take anything. I'd like to catch up on some fluff reading, so I may take the Summer off.

* We desperately need a new weed whacker.

* I've started drinking grape kool-aid again. It makes your poop green. I like that.