The craziness continues as usual in my world.  Had a spat with Nonna, shipped off Bonus Daughter for a week and finally got the cable buried in my yard.  Yes, cable, no dead body.  Here's a little more of the details of what I have been doing...

Nonna -
Well, Nonna has been pretty quiet lately. I knew it couldn't last though.  Little by little she has been sending her junk stuff, my way.  I have been diligent in trying to find places for everything she wants to keep, but I informed her that the inn was getting full and she hadn't even sent any of her "real" stuff over yet.  I had to remind her once again that she has two rooms in our house.  Not lots of rooms in our house.  Two.  She keeps spilling out into the general areas and "suggests" how some of her things would look better in specific places where I have proudly put my things.  Nope, not working for me...

Bonus Daughter -
We have had Bonus Daughter living with us since the end of the school year (about June 1st) and things have been going pretty smoothly if you ignore her Momma Drama.  Her mom sold her house and they were not due to move until September.  The new owner sold their house sooner than expected and all of a sudden the move date was the first week of July.  Mom said she wanted us to keep Bonus Daughter and she was going to go live out of town to get herself back together.  After many tears and finally acceptance from Bonus Daughter ("really, we're not that bad" I kept telling her) we were ready to have a full time Daughter.  Only to have her mom change her mind at the last minute, literally, and now Bonus Daughter will be going back to live with her Mom in August. 

Cable -
When you build a new home, the cable company runs a line from their box to your box on the outside of your home.  This line lays exposed on the ground until another crew comes back and buries it.  After over a month of waiting for this to happen, I called the cable company and spoke with a nice man in a third world country somewhere.  After clearly explaining what I needed done, the man sends a repair technician to my home.  This technician politely tells me that he only fixes the cable, he doesn't bury it.  I told him I was sure that I had a shovel he could use.  He didn't even crack a smile.  So I call the cable company again, again I am connected with a person that is not from this country.  After explaining to her several times in several different ways, I am assured that a specialist will be coming to my home to bury my cable. And to not be confused.  What? I'm not confused, you're confused.  Whatever.  So, cable technician #2 is scheduled.  I take time off from work to be there.  That morning I receive a call from the contracting company that actually buries the lines.  The wonderful technician that had originally arrived was evidently impressed enough with my desperation that he contacted someone to finish the job. YEA!  Now I don't have to take time off from work and the cable has been successfully buried.  Little does Technician #2 know that if the contractor hadn't interceded on his behalf, there was definitely a shovel that would have been used...

That's all I have to report for now.  Jet setting off to Phoenix again tomorrow.  I think I have started getting mail there.

Dust in the wind...

I was out in Phoenix earlier this week for work and came across an honest to goodness sand storm.  Two days in a row.  The second day I was at the airport, anxiously awaiting my turn to leave and out the window I see this.

Of course in my mind, it really looks like this:

So I start to panic. 







You could tell which people at the airport were from the area and which ones were visiting because about half of the people started milling about with concern while the other half acted like they could care less.

I knew better though, secretly they were worried that we would find out their secrets.  That there in the desert they were hiding this:

Oh wait, that was me this morning after the whole 5 hours of sleep I got...

Rooster-pox

I've gone crazy mad with Rooster Pox.  At least that's what the hubby thinks.  I found this awesome rustic rooster lamp that is going to go in the showcase part of our entry as well as a rooster night light and rooster canisters.  I never had a thing for roosters until The Bloggess posted about her rooster Beyonce. I loved the story so much and after sharing it with my friends, I got my own Beyonce as a wedding gift.

There were many of my "other" friends that didn't know the story behind Beyonce and really thought maybe I should be friends with people that were so tacky they would give me the best present ever!!

Some people are in love with elephants or turtles, even frogs.  Me, it is the glorious rooster.  Even a chicken is a great second, but roosters are my new favorite.  I have never been one to collect anything, ever.  Now, I am a rooster collector. 


Canisters




My New Lamp

 The Night Light



 
  

Where has the time gone?  It is almost the end of June already and I am not ready for it.  The temps have started soaring and so we will be in the 100's again.  Hopefully not as many as last year's record!

I pretty much feel like I am visiting when I am at home these days.  My job has me traveling a lot and the inside of a hotel room has started to feel like home.  It is a hard balance.  Most of the time I really do love my job and I love the people I work with, but I miss my family and my home when I am not here. 

I keep telling myself that it won't be this way forever and that helps me to get through it.  I just don't want to miss out on anything.  The husband is doing a wonderful job of picking up the slack, but it has been hard on everyone. 

I am thankful to have a job, a home and a family so I continue to press on and do my best.

In 50 Years...

I spent the weekend with my extended family in Florida celebrating the 50th wedding anniversary of my mother and father in law.  They married back in 1962 when they were oh so young and in love.  Their actual anniversary was at the end of May, but we chose to celebrate on the 9th so everyone with kids in school could make it.  Little did we know that Joe would pass four days after their actual anniversary. 

You would think that the celebration would have been turned into a funeral, but true to form, his wife took it in stride and continued with the anniversary party.  She wanted to remember the 50 wonderful years they were married with happiness instead of looking upon it in sadness.  She is an amazing woman and I am so very fortunate to be part of her family.

In 50 years, I will be too old to blog, but I sincerely hope that my husband and I can look back at our time together and smile the way that she smiled the entire day.  Everyone shared their memories of how Joe and Donna came out to the baseball games and a million other great times that were had in their presence.

It makes me wonder what people would say about me if I were gone.  Would they say how kind and patient I was, or how organized and clean I was.  As I am pretty sure I know the answer to that, I am definitely going to have to reconsider my OCD tendencies about how clean the house is!  I need to sit back and relax with my family more and worry less about the mess and more about those I adore.  That's my new mantra...

Summer Rules...

My step-daughter is staying with us for two months this summer, so Saturday morning I dutifully laid out the ground rules for the duration.  My husband - her father, sat idly by nodding his head every so often.  Evidently he figured I had this one.

1. You must bathe - at least once every 48 hours.  With soap...
2. You must make your own bed - every morning, completely, not half way, not most of the way, all of the way.
3. If you take it out, put it back when you are finished in the same condition you took it out in... (this rule covers a plethora of things so don't think I didn't provide her with a list of at least 30 situations in which it would apply)

I have added one rule to the list just last night.  After completing your shower, hang up your wet towel.  Do not throw it in the laundry basket to mildew until it can walk itself to the washing machine.  You might think it will lead the other clothes with it, but it will only crawl into your bed and strangle you in your sleep. 

Yes, she thinks I am completely insane...

I think 4 rules is getting off pretty light.  When we were kids, Mom would leave us at home during summer break and give us a list of chores so long, it would take half of the day to get them done.  I know it was her way of thinking we would be too busy to get into trouble, but we could get into a ton of trouble in the other half of the day and before doing all of those chores, we relished in our schemes of how we would complete the tasks without actually doing the work...

Kids today have nothing on us!

Does anyone remember hearing the garage door and frantically shouting "Mom's home..." as you ran around the house completing the tasks on your list that had conveniently been left undone?  We definitely perfected the art of procrastination.

Happy birthday to the best guy I know...

I had to specify with the best guy that I personally know because I am sure there are a lot of wonderful men out in the world.  Men like Gandhi, Pope John Paul II or heck, even Jesus.  Don't get me wrong, I know Jesus, just not in the same way...

Now that I have secured my own personal spot in hell...

Today is my hubby's birthday.  I started it out with a birthday wish and a card to show that I knew in advance that today is his birthday.  On Sunday, I am willingly let him meet with the geeks technicians from Best Buy so he can design his new media room.  What he doesn't realize is that his gift is the consultation...  At $99 I think that is a heck of a present, don't you?  LOL!

The new washing machine was delivered today and I am sitting at work thinking of all of the laundry I will be running it through tonight.  I wonder if I can sign up with GE to be a field tester?  I would be willing to bet I could make a living out of doing laundry and providing feedback.  Two of my most highly qualified skills!!  Oprah envies my spot removal abilities and congress is considering my most recent feedback of what they can do with their latest decisions.

On to another busy weekend but am so glad none of it will involve packing or unpacking.  YIPPEE!!!