I was only back from Turkey for 2 weeks when winter hit us with an ice storm. It wasn't as bad as the one we had last year that devastated numerous trees, already weakened by a strange wind storm which occurred the previous summer. Some of my friends said they could hear trees cracking & breaking under the weight of the ice last year but luckily, we heard no such action from the trees in our yard or on the bluff behind. We did lose a small flowering tree in the front yard but I don't think the ice or wind storm was to blame.
The ice came on a weekend and some of the kids had to get to work which caused Jim to begin the search for the ice scrapers. We had already been up in the attic getting the Christmas decorations down and he couldn't remember seeing them up there. You see, ever since we moved into the house in June, 2006, Jim has been "reorganizing" the garage. The problem is that since he won't part with his 4-wheelers, they take up a car's worth of room and you can imagine the amount of "stuff" we have after combining our households with accumulations of years in the making!
Patrick had to leave for work and Jim's years of being Mr. Mom kicked in. He went up in the attic to check and the ice scrapers were not to be found. Thus, the mad dash began. When I suggested that Patrick just start his car, turn on the defrost & let it warm & defrost naturally, Jim said he still needed an ice scraper to keep in his car. I also suggested that Patrick buy one on his way to work but Jim searched the garage, the two storage rooms in the basement, the closet in the entry hallway, the entry cabinet and God knows where else. He was like a madman driving himself crazy over where he could've put the ice scrapers! It finally dawned on me that this was our second winter in the house and perhaps he had given out the ice scrapers last year. I told Jim that I had an ice scraper in my trunk and he probably gave them out last year. You could see the relief on his face. He admitted that I "might" be right and proceeded to check with each kid as he saw them. Lo & behold, everyone had an ice scraper except Patrick!
This past weekend was our first big snowstorm for the winter. We were having a Christmas party Saturday night so Jim decided to keep up on cleaning the snow off the sidewalk for our guests. Thus, the search for the snow shovels began. Last year we had a big snowstorm and Angie & I (snow day for JCI!) were the ones to get out and shovel the driveway while the boys slept in and Jim went to work. The shovels were all bent and crappy and probably 10 years old. We didn't get the whole driveway (parking lot) cleared, it would've taken us 8 hours and why should the females do all the work! When I talked to Jim later and complained that we girls did all the work, he said that he doesn't shovel snow, he waits until it melts on it's own, but if we were having guests, he'd clear it off. When I commented that maybe he should consider shoveling so I didn't fall on it, he laughed.
I won't get into the frantic search for the snow shovels, you get the idea. He never found them and proceeded to go outside every 1/2 hour to sweep the snow off the front walk with the broom. The only thing I can think is that the shovels were so crappy we threw them away. Guess what someone's getting for Christmas?
Last week Jim & I started working on the Christmas cards. The deal was that I'd address them and he would sign, seal & mail them. I did my part in one night. The only thing I was missing were the last names of two of his recently-married nieces and their addresses. So Jim's assignment was to get this info and we'd be done. He was happy to report that he got the names the next day, but unfortunately, he didn't write them down so when I asked him last night, he couldn't remember and had to call his dad to find out again. They are now in our address book so we shouldn't have this problem next year.
I woke up this morning with a cold. Welcome winter....
Monday, December 17, 2007
Monday, November 26, 2007
I Won't be Outdone by Big Sister!
Although the work began on Thanksgiving Day with Jim & I bringing all the boxes down from our pull-the-stairs-down attic (yes, I'm the one on the bottom 2nd or 3rd tread with arms up in the air to catch the boxes), I didn't actually start my decorating until the day after Thanksgiving. I have so much stuff that I decided it's not even worth putting up unless I do it early enough to be able to enjoy it for at least a month before the chore of packing it back up. And yes, I loathe packing up the everyday decor in order to make room for the festive! Every year I tell myself that I'll get rid of some of the older decorations to make up for the inevitable day-after-Christmas 1/2 price bargains but I don't want to hurt Jim's feelings by singling out the few decorations he brought into the marriage!
Speaking of Jim, he has taken it upon himself to be the outside decorator. So every year, "Sparky" stresses about the lights and how they're going to work. This year there were houses in our neighborhood that had their lights up the week before Thanksgiving and Jim was appalled! Are they crazy? The biggest question he had was how they put up all those lights without the problems he has with the fuses blowing or the bulbs going out or the whole strands not working. And how many strands do they connect together? He asked me these questions repeatedly until I told him to go ask one of the neighbors. His reply was, "I'm not going to ask them, I don't want to talk to them!"
As we were enjoying our Saturday morning coffee & tea, we were looking at the store ads in the newspaper when Jim saw a buy one get one 1/2 price ad at Walgreens for lights. I told him I didn't like buying anything before Christmas because I could get everything for 1/2 price after Christmas and besides that, he told me not to buy any lights last year after Christmas because we had plenty. He said, "but the ad says they're HEAVY DUTY and you can CONNECT SIX STRANDS!" I figured it would be easier on him to buy them. So we went to Walgreens and while I was looking for a few things on my list, Jim found his lights. Now, I like it when everything matches or is coordinated. I looked at the lights Jim had in the cart and there were 2 boxes of multi-colored, 2 boxes of blue, 1 box of red and 1 box of clear. When I asked why he got all different types, he said he likes to "mix it up & be different". Whatever...it's not worth fighting over because I've learned that in certain things, I will not get my way.
We came home, I continued decorating inside and Jim got to work outside. Everything went well, I finished up the inside and for once all the lights outside worked perfectly! I have to admit they look good even if they're not what I would've chosen. For Jim's sake, I hope they last!
I want a Christmas closet...
Speaking of Jim, he has taken it upon himself to be the outside decorator. So every year, "Sparky" stresses about the lights and how they're going to work. This year there were houses in our neighborhood that had their lights up the week before Thanksgiving and Jim was appalled! Are they crazy? The biggest question he had was how they put up all those lights without the problems he has with the fuses blowing or the bulbs going out or the whole strands not working. And how many strands do they connect together? He asked me these questions repeatedly until I told him to go ask one of the neighbors. His reply was, "I'm not going to ask them, I don't want to talk to them!"
As we were enjoying our Saturday morning coffee & tea, we were looking at the store ads in the newspaper when Jim saw a buy one get one 1/2 price ad at Walgreens for lights. I told him I didn't like buying anything before Christmas because I could get everything for 1/2 price after Christmas and besides that, he told me not to buy any lights last year after Christmas because we had plenty. He said, "but the ad says they're HEAVY DUTY and you can CONNECT SIX STRANDS!" I figured it would be easier on him to buy them. So we went to Walgreens and while I was looking for a few things on my list, Jim found his lights. Now, I like it when everything matches or is coordinated. I looked at the lights Jim had in the cart and there were 2 boxes of multi-colored, 2 boxes of blue, 1 box of red and 1 box of clear. When I asked why he got all different types, he said he likes to "mix it up & be different". Whatever...it's not worth fighting over because I've learned that in certain things, I will not get my way.
We came home, I continued decorating inside and Jim got to work outside. Everything went well, I finished up the inside and for once all the lights outside worked perfectly! I have to admit they look good even if they're not what I would've chosen. For Jim's sake, I hope they last!
I want a Christmas closet...
Saturday, November 17, 2007
The renewed vow
The last time I traveled alone with a co-worker after Congress was in 2004 after Fukuoka, Japan when I went to Tokyo with Jessica since Jim wasn’t meeting me. Jessica, (who is from Nicaragua) and I spent 3 days in Tokyo and I told Jim when I got home that in the future if he wasn’t going to meet up with me, I would be coming straight home after Congress. You really learn a lot about a person when you spend a few days of 24-hour-straight-time with them. I learned that Jessica was very spoiled and decided I didn’t like her that much. Before the alone time, we were semi-friends but we didn’t really hang out outside of work Besides her being 20 years younger than me, our backgrounds and upbringings are quite different. We didn’t fight or anything but I did have to bite my tongue quite a bit. After all, we did have to go back to the reality of work at JCI together when we got home.
Since then, Jim & I have traveled with some of my co-workers, but we were together in our own hotel rooms which enabled me to escape and be alone with him. Well, although I didn’t forget my vow, I did it again. The lure of seeing historical sites in foreign countries got the best of me. Congress ended and I traveled with Earl, a man from my office and his wife, Mary. Originally, there were supposed to be a bunch of us taking a post-Congress tour for five days. We were going to travel in a private van or mini-bus with an English-speaking guide to see Ephesus which is where the Virgin Mary lived out her life after the crucifixion of Jesus, Pamukkale which is an area with limestone deposits that look like a bunch of waterfalls and some other sites before ending in Istanbul to see the Hagia Sophia which was a Byzantine church turned into a mosque by the Ottomans dating back to the 5th century BC and the Grand Bazaar, among a few other things. Well, the trip was planned, people backed out and then the situation in Turkey got a little bumpy with the USA. Needless to say, that side trip was cancelled.
Earl suggested we go to Istanbul for a couple of days and then to Athens for a couple more. There was going to be me and another girl from the office along with him and his wife but the other girl ended up backing out so I was the third wheel. So now you have a little background information.
Earl and I get along real well at the office and are sort of confidants. I like his wife, Mary real well, too. We left Antalya Sunday the 11th and flew to Istanbul, arriving at our hotel in the early evening. We took the suggestion of the hotel manager where we stayed and went to a dinner-show at The Orient House. It was pretty neat with a whirling dervish, belly dancers, singers and other weird stuff I’ve never seen. We got back to our room a little after midnight. Yes, we shared a triple room (I was trying to go cheap, Barb!). Well, we were getting ready for bed when I noticed a contraption Earl was plugging in. Lo & behold, a breathing machine! It seems he has sleep apnea. Unfortunately, I have sleep menopausea! I haven’t been able to sleep a full night straight through in months! Although he assured me that it wasn’t loud, it totally made my already torturous sleep even worse. Not only that, but I was also unfortunate enough to hear the unmistakable sound of flatulence during my perpetual sleeplessness. I would say the only good thing about the face mask he had to wear was that he couldn’t snore with it on but his wife made up for that. So, I had a horrible week of sleep. I was actually looking forward to the flight back to St. Louis if you can believe that. I awoke at 4:30 AM and started from Istanbul to London to Chicago and I arrived Lambert at 6:15 PM. I usually can’t sleep on planes no matter how long the flight is but I figured as sleep-deprived as I was, I’d take my little “helpers” and zonk out. I decided to wait until the longest leg of the flight from London to Chicago which was 8 hours before taking my cheaters. I didn’t realize I had a seat smack-dab in front of the toilet….
So, I'm renewing my vow to Jim.
Since then, Jim & I have traveled with some of my co-workers, but we were together in our own hotel rooms which enabled me to escape and be alone with him. Well, although I didn’t forget my vow, I did it again. The lure of seeing historical sites in foreign countries got the best of me. Congress ended and I traveled with Earl, a man from my office and his wife, Mary. Originally, there were supposed to be a bunch of us taking a post-Congress tour for five days. We were going to travel in a private van or mini-bus with an English-speaking guide to see Ephesus which is where the Virgin Mary lived out her life after the crucifixion of Jesus, Pamukkale which is an area with limestone deposits that look like a bunch of waterfalls and some other sites before ending in Istanbul to see the Hagia Sophia which was a Byzantine church turned into a mosque by the Ottomans dating back to the 5th century BC and the Grand Bazaar, among a few other things. Well, the trip was planned, people backed out and then the situation in Turkey got a little bumpy with the USA. Needless to say, that side trip was cancelled.
Earl suggested we go to Istanbul for a couple of days and then to Athens for a couple more. There was going to be me and another girl from the office along with him and his wife but the other girl ended up backing out so I was the third wheel. So now you have a little background information.
Earl and I get along real well at the office and are sort of confidants. I like his wife, Mary real well, too. We left Antalya Sunday the 11th and flew to Istanbul, arriving at our hotel in the early evening. We took the suggestion of the hotel manager where we stayed and went to a dinner-show at The Orient House. It was pretty neat with a whirling dervish, belly dancers, singers and other weird stuff I’ve never seen. We got back to our room a little after midnight. Yes, we shared a triple room (I was trying to go cheap, Barb!). Well, we were getting ready for bed when I noticed a contraption Earl was plugging in. Lo & behold, a breathing machine! It seems he has sleep apnea. Unfortunately, I have sleep menopausea! I haven’t been able to sleep a full night straight through in months! Although he assured me that it wasn’t loud, it totally made my already torturous sleep even worse. Not only that, but I was also unfortunate enough to hear the unmistakable sound of flatulence during my perpetual sleeplessness. I would say the only good thing about the face mask he had to wear was that he couldn’t snore with it on but his wife made up for that. So, I had a horrible week of sleep. I was actually looking forward to the flight back to St. Louis if you can believe that. I awoke at 4:30 AM and started from Istanbul to London to Chicago and I arrived Lambert at 6:15 PM. I usually can’t sleep on planes no matter how long the flight is but I figured as sleep-deprived as I was, I’d take my little “helpers” and zonk out. I decided to wait until the longest leg of the flight from London to Chicago which was 8 hours before taking my cheaters. I didn’t realize I had a seat smack-dab in front of the toilet….
So, I'm renewing my vow to Jim.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
The Heavy
Normally at the JCI annual World Congress I handle the on-site registration of delegates which can be very stressful the first day or two for various reasons. Sometimes the registration system goes down due to the internet being overloaded (or lousy internet providers, depending on the venue & country), other times the volunteers helping get in the way and don't know what they're doing, but most times it's because the members registering are impatient complainers. This year I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the Congress Organizing Committee (COC) in Turkey had hired Dekon Congress & Tourism, a professional organization that is owned by Cenzig, a JCI member in Istanbul. I didn't have to handle pre-registration which starts months before Congress on our JCI website, nor would I handle the large groups who send in wire transfers with a list of names that they constantly change. I was happy to learn that I also wouldn't have to deal with the cancellations and refunds of members who could not obtain visas.
Since registration has always been my primary responsibility at Congress, I wasn't sure exactly what I'd be doing this year. We had our Finance & Audit Committee meetings before the start of Congress so I got that stress out of the way and began asking everyone if they needed any help. At our nightly meeting one night, Leandro told me that I would be needed at registration the next day and thereafter to help handle problems. Without going into detail, basically there were several problems resulting from the accommodations due to the all-inclusive concept. I wasn't real happy about this turn of events since I didn't even know their system and Leandro said I didn't need to know their system as I was supposed to just sit off to the side and when Dekon sent their "problems" over to me I was to be the tough one. I gave myself the official title of "The Heavy". When I told Edson later on that I was going to be "The Heavy", he said, "it's your dream come true, Jean!" You see, I've got a reputation around here of being kind of mean. I know it's hard to believe, but true.
So I went down to registration the next morning with my official JCI nametag on my lapel (to give me more authority) and met Ebru, who had diamond studs above her eyebrow, below her eyebrow and IN her front tooth. She's from Istanbul and works for Dekon, traveling throughout Europe & the Middle East. She was very friendly and told me that her and her team had been working so hard on JCI the past month that she had less than 5 hours of sleep each night. I could tell by the way she could barely keep her eyes open.
It didn't take long until I got my first victim who was throwing a fit over 50 Euros which is about $75. She accepted my answer of "no" pretty easily and walked away. Boy, did I feel powerful! I spent the rest of the day bored to death as nobody else was sent my way. I was sitting next to Aysegul (pronounced like icecycle) who had the unfortunate luck to handle the Nigerian group who changed all their roommates & transferred registrations from one person to the other due to inability to get visas. The Nigerians are always a pain in the a-- and I chuckled and gloated to myself that I didn't have to deal with them.
The next day was pretty boring sitting there because there was nobody sent my way. I sat and watched as Ebru dealt with one problem after another but she didn't send anybody over to me. I felt kind of guilty because the people giving her a hard time were JCI members but after a while, I decided that I wasn't going to sit there and wait for her to send someone to crab at me. After all, she wasn't a volunteer, she was working for a professional company and she was getting paid. Besides that, the problems were because of their system which I didn't have anything to do with. I made the decision to go back up to the office and told Ebru to call me if she needed my help.
Actually, what Ebru and her team didn't know is that I'm really a chicken at heart and hate confrontation.
Since registration has always been my primary responsibility at Congress, I wasn't sure exactly what I'd be doing this year. We had our Finance & Audit Committee meetings before the start of Congress so I got that stress out of the way and began asking everyone if they needed any help. At our nightly meeting one night, Leandro told me that I would be needed at registration the next day and thereafter to help handle problems. Without going into detail, basically there were several problems resulting from the accommodations due to the all-inclusive concept. I wasn't real happy about this turn of events since I didn't even know their system and Leandro said I didn't need to know their system as I was supposed to just sit off to the side and when Dekon sent their "problems" over to me I was to be the tough one. I gave myself the official title of "The Heavy". When I told Edson later on that I was going to be "The Heavy", he said, "it's your dream come true, Jean!" You see, I've got a reputation around here of being kind of mean. I know it's hard to believe, but true.
So I went down to registration the next morning with my official JCI nametag on my lapel (to give me more authority) and met Ebru, who had diamond studs above her eyebrow, below her eyebrow and IN her front tooth. She's from Istanbul and works for Dekon, traveling throughout Europe & the Middle East. She was very friendly and told me that her and her team had been working so hard on JCI the past month that she had less than 5 hours of sleep each night. I could tell by the way she could barely keep her eyes open.
It didn't take long until I got my first victim who was throwing a fit over 50 Euros which is about $75. She accepted my answer of "no" pretty easily and walked away. Boy, did I feel powerful! I spent the rest of the day bored to death as nobody else was sent my way. I was sitting next to Aysegul (pronounced like icecycle) who had the unfortunate luck to handle the Nigerian group who changed all their roommates & transferred registrations from one person to the other due to inability to get visas. The Nigerians are always a pain in the a-- and I chuckled and gloated to myself that I didn't have to deal with them.
The next day was pretty boring sitting there because there was nobody sent my way. I sat and watched as Ebru dealt with one problem after another but she didn't send anybody over to me. I felt kind of guilty because the people giving her a hard time were JCI members but after a while, I decided that I wasn't going to sit there and wait for her to send someone to crab at me. After all, she wasn't a volunteer, she was working for a professional company and she was getting paid. Besides that, the problems were because of their system which I didn't have anything to do with. I made the decision to go back up to the office and told Ebru to call me if she needed my help.
Actually, what Ebru and her team didn't know is that I'm really a chicken at heart and hate confrontation.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
It's Official ---- I'm Old!
Last Saturday Jim went for an overnight with Ron to go fishing at Mark Twain Lake. This is highly unusual as he hardly does anything without me, his social director. It just so happened that I had washed the sheets that morning, mostly because Jim had them all ripped out from being tucked under the mattress. You'd think he was over 6' tall the way he can tear the bed up! I guess he had an active night! And it also just so happened that I went to J C Penneys that day and bought a new comforter set which I immediately put on the bed when I got home. I had been looking for a long time and finally found one that I thought was really nice and a good bargain.
My plan was to go get my hair cut & roots done at Celeste's house Saturday evening and Laura decided to ride along with me. We planned on going out to dinner beforehand so when I picked her up in the old "hood" I begged her to go to Ponticello's with me. It had been years since I was there and it was just the same as I remember. Of course I couldn't resist talking to our waitress and telling her that I used to live in the area and hadn't been there in years. She asked where I lived and when I told her St. Charles she said that probably 75% of the people she served also used to live in North County but had moved over the bridge. I had a great meal of the Ponticello's special salad and pizza. Talk about memories! I remember when Dad used to bring pizza and salad home when he thought we were all sleeping so he could pig it down himself!
We drove over to Celeste's, she did my hair, Mike started up his firepit and we sat around and talked and laughed for awhile. The whole time I had in the back of my mind that I would get the whole, clean, new comforted bed to myself that night. I was really looking forward to it. Nothing against Jim, but you married folks know what I'm talkin' about!
I got home around 11:45 and went to bed shortly after. I pushed Jim's pillows to the side and carefully arranged mine in the middle of the bed. I stretched out, with my arms & legs spread out, hogging the whole bed and felt like I was in heaven. Everything was great until about 5AM when I woke up because my hand was on fire. Carpal tunnel! I was in severe pain and I couldn't get rid of the numbness and burning sensation for about 30 minutes. Well, so much for my "heavenly" night of sleep!
I've been dealing with carpal tunnel and had gone to the doctor who sent me to a neurologist for testing a couple of years ago. The results were that I had mild carpal tunnel, so I bought a splint and withstood the suffering up till now. I knew the pain would just get worse and I couldn't imagine going on my JCI trip to Turkey and waking in the middle of the night in a strange country, a strange room & a strange bed, so I called my doctor first thing Monday morning. She referred me to a specialist and I made an appointment for Tuesday morning. I predicted to Jim and a few other people that I would have to go through more tests and a bunch of other crap before anything would be done. From past experience, I've learned that's usually the way these things go, and for that reason alone, I put off going to doctors as much as possible.
So I went to the doctor (a hand surgeon) this morning and was I shocked when he didn't take x-rays or send me to a lab or anything to run more tests. It took about 10 minutes where he explained carpal tunnel to me (I didn't tell him I was an expert as I already had it during my pregnancy 23 years ago and had self-educated myself via the internet) and did a few little pin prick tests before he explained the surgery. Unfortunately, due to my trip coming up in 2 weeks he advised it wouldn't be good to perform the surgery and then me having to haul luggage around. So he suggested a cortisone shot. Now, I remember my mom getting cortisone shots for the arthritis in her elbow and thinking that's a drug for old people! Plus, I don't really like needles, but I didn't feel like I had a choice so I took it with a grin. Hopefully, it will last until I get back and have surgery at the end of November.
Now, if I can just get past the colonoscopy next week............
My plan was to go get my hair cut & roots done at Celeste's house Saturday evening and Laura decided to ride along with me. We planned on going out to dinner beforehand so when I picked her up in the old "hood" I begged her to go to Ponticello's with me. It had been years since I was there and it was just the same as I remember. Of course I couldn't resist talking to our waitress and telling her that I used to live in the area and hadn't been there in years. She asked where I lived and when I told her St. Charles she said that probably 75% of the people she served also used to live in North County but had moved over the bridge. I had a great meal of the Ponticello's special salad and pizza. Talk about memories! I remember when Dad used to bring pizza and salad home when he thought we were all sleeping so he could pig it down himself!
We drove over to Celeste's, she did my hair, Mike started up his firepit and we sat around and talked and laughed for awhile. The whole time I had in the back of my mind that I would get the whole, clean, new comforted bed to myself that night. I was really looking forward to it. Nothing against Jim, but you married folks know what I'm talkin' about!
I got home around 11:45 and went to bed shortly after. I pushed Jim's pillows to the side and carefully arranged mine in the middle of the bed. I stretched out, with my arms & legs spread out, hogging the whole bed and felt like I was in heaven. Everything was great until about 5AM when I woke up because my hand was on fire. Carpal tunnel! I was in severe pain and I couldn't get rid of the numbness and burning sensation for about 30 minutes. Well, so much for my "heavenly" night of sleep!
I've been dealing with carpal tunnel and had gone to the doctor who sent me to a neurologist for testing a couple of years ago. The results were that I had mild carpal tunnel, so I bought a splint and withstood the suffering up till now. I knew the pain would just get worse and I couldn't imagine going on my JCI trip to Turkey and waking in the middle of the night in a strange country, a strange room & a strange bed, so I called my doctor first thing Monday morning. She referred me to a specialist and I made an appointment for Tuesday morning. I predicted to Jim and a few other people that I would have to go through more tests and a bunch of other crap before anything would be done. From past experience, I've learned that's usually the way these things go, and for that reason alone, I put off going to doctors as much as possible.
So I went to the doctor (a hand surgeon) this morning and was I shocked when he didn't take x-rays or send me to a lab or anything to run more tests. It took about 10 minutes where he explained carpal tunnel to me (I didn't tell him I was an expert as I already had it during my pregnancy 23 years ago and had self-educated myself via the internet) and did a few little pin prick tests before he explained the surgery. Unfortunately, due to my trip coming up in 2 weeks he advised it wouldn't be good to perform the surgery and then me having to haul luggage around. So he suggested a cortisone shot. Now, I remember my mom getting cortisone shots for the arthritis in her elbow and thinking that's a drug for old people! Plus, I don't really like needles, but I didn't feel like I had a choice so I took it with a grin. Hopefully, it will last until I get back and have surgery at the end of November.
Now, if I can just get past the colonoscopy next week............
Monday, October 8, 2007
Washers
The annual washers tournament was this past Saturday and boy was it hot. I originally started this tournament when I was a single mom living in Florissant, my partner was Laura (we were a pretty darned good team!) and it was the last weekend in September. Well, there were a couple of years when it got too hot so I moved the tournament back to the first weekend in October. It was meant to be an end of summer/beginning of fall party where the weather was cool during the day and cooler in the evening so as to have a bonfire. Last year was pretty hot during the day but it cooled off enough in the evening for the fire. This year, we almost broke a record at 91 degrees! It was so hot that when Janet & I were playing a practice game before the start of the tournament, I requested we take a break in the middle so we could go into the a/c to cool off. I was sweating so bad and the tournament hadn't even started yet. We never finished the game and Janet says I quit because I was losing but I have grown out of my sore-loserness and I swear it was only because I was hot.
Although I was a little bummed out about the poor turnout this year, it worked out pretty well because we put off starting the tournament until Ronnie demanded that we needed to begin or it would get dark before we finished. So we braved the heat & beating sun for a while until Jim said we needed to break so he could spray Yard Guard since the bugs started getting to us. (At least we didn't have to contend with a cloud of dust & floating particles from the farmer cutting his crops down below like last year!) Everyone practically ran into the house for a cool-down. Once again, big brother Ronnie got us back out there to finish the tournament. He was also the one keeping track of the winner's & loser's brackets and who played who. Would you care to guess who won the tournament?
Next year I'm thinking of moving the tournament back again to avoid the heat, or, better yet, virtual washers anyone?
Although I was a little bummed out about the poor turnout this year, it worked out pretty well because we put off starting the tournament until Ronnie demanded that we needed to begin or it would get dark before we finished. So we braved the heat & beating sun for a while until Jim said we needed to break so he could spray Yard Guard since the bugs started getting to us. (At least we didn't have to contend with a cloud of dust & floating particles from the farmer cutting his crops down below like last year!) Everyone practically ran into the house for a cool-down. Once again, big brother Ronnie got us back out there to finish the tournament. He was also the one keeping track of the winner's & loser's brackets and who played who. Would you care to guess who won the tournament?
Next year I'm thinking of moving the tournament back again to avoid the heat, or, better yet, virtual washers anyone?
Monday, October 1, 2007
Aaaarrrrr Matey!
I went to the Pirate Festival for the first time over the weekend. This was the second annual at Rotary Park in Wentzville and Jim was not very thrilled with this idea but since I'm the social organizer in the family and we were meeting friends, he went along with the plan. (However, he didn't bring home the eye patches I asked for from his work.) We were greeted at the gates by some "Frenchmen" who very jovially took our $20 entry fee and boosted my ego by flirting in a fake French accent.
There were alot of people dressed in costume and it was really funny to see these adults who seemed to think they were from a different era. They all spoke with English or French accents and said things like "ahoy me hearty" and other stuff I couldn't understand. I didn't even like Pirates of the Caribbean because I couldn't make out what they were saying half the time! It took about 10 minutes until I was getting the rolling eyes look from Jim. We had come upon some craft booths and ever since we got married, he's not so keen on shopping. I whispered to him "okay, so it's lame and we'll never come again".
We decided to make the best of it and have some beers. Next thing you know, we came upon a few pirates wearing kilts! I couldn't resist being snide and telling them that I never saw a pirate in a kilt & I didn't know there were Scottish pirates. Jim & our friends lingered in the background probably afraid that I would embarass them until I motioned for them to come listen to the history lesson from the kilted pirate. I won't get into the details, but did you know that pirates were really the good guys and they weren't thieves? I learned a whole new take on pirates that day!
There were a couple of stages set up to look like ships and some actors performed skits that were quite comical. We saw a battle between pirates on a ship and the French and/or English, their accents changing at will. I'm chuckling to myself just thinking about how seriously these people took their parts. I guess you'd have to commend these actors for being able to portray a sea battle with no water in sight.
I think you could compare them to the Civil War reenactors. I just wonder what they'll come up with next. Whatever it is, they'll probably sucker me in at least once!
There were alot of people dressed in costume and it was really funny to see these adults who seemed to think they were from a different era. They all spoke with English or French accents and said things like "ahoy me hearty" and other stuff I couldn't understand. I didn't even like Pirates of the Caribbean because I couldn't make out what they were saying half the time! It took about 10 minutes until I was getting the rolling eyes look from Jim. We had come upon some craft booths and ever since we got married, he's not so keen on shopping. I whispered to him "okay, so it's lame and we'll never come again".
We decided to make the best of it and have some beers. Next thing you know, we came upon a few pirates wearing kilts! I couldn't resist being snide and telling them that I never saw a pirate in a kilt & I didn't know there were Scottish pirates. Jim & our friends lingered in the background probably afraid that I would embarass them until I motioned for them to come listen to the history lesson from the kilted pirate. I won't get into the details, but did you know that pirates were really the good guys and they weren't thieves? I learned a whole new take on pirates that day!
There were a couple of stages set up to look like ships and some actors performed skits that were quite comical. We saw a battle between pirates on a ship and the French and/or English, their accents changing at will. I'm chuckling to myself just thinking about how seriously these people took their parts. I guess you'd have to commend these actors for being able to portray a sea battle with no water in sight.
I think you could compare them to the Civil War reenactors. I just wonder what they'll come up with next. Whatever it is, they'll probably sucker me in at least once!
Friday, September 28, 2007
My first blog
I decided to start my own blog because I enjoy reading Barb's & Mindy's. I keep up-to-date by reading theirs, get a laugh and figure I can be just as entertaining because goofiness runs in the family! Just ask Angie & Johnny and they would agree.
Speaking of Angie, she just turned 23 Tuesday the 25th. She would be doing great if it weren't for the problems she's had with her teeth resulting from a car accident over 5 years ago. She has been going through the procedure of 2 more implants on her lower front teeth and found out a few weeks ago that one of the implants failed and had to be removed. She has to wait a few months before another can be implanted due to healing. So last week she's out with her boyfriend waiting in line at a restaurant and faints. Unfortunately, she was walking away from him (so he didn't catch her!) to go sit down when she fell smack on her face & her front top teeth! She was in pain and went back to the oral surgeon because the teeth were moved and she was afraid she killed them. He said it's too soon to tell and he didn't want to maneuver them back into place yet. She says she will NOT go through more implants. Since she's so hard on them, she has suggested getting false teeth!
And speaking of Johnny, he just purchased his first vehicle on his own-I didn't have to co-sign for him. He has become quite the responsible one.
Sorry if my first blog is not funny. I promise to do better next time.
Speaking of Angie, she just turned 23 Tuesday the 25th. She would be doing great if it weren't for the problems she's had with her teeth resulting from a car accident over 5 years ago. She has been going through the procedure of 2 more implants on her lower front teeth and found out a few weeks ago that one of the implants failed and had to be removed. She has to wait a few months before another can be implanted due to healing. So last week she's out with her boyfriend waiting in line at a restaurant and faints. Unfortunately, she was walking away from him (so he didn't catch her!) to go sit down when she fell smack on her face & her front top teeth! She was in pain and went back to the oral surgeon because the teeth were moved and she was afraid she killed them. He said it's too soon to tell and he didn't want to maneuver them back into place yet. She says she will NOT go through more implants. Since she's so hard on them, she has suggested getting false teeth!
And speaking of Johnny, he just purchased his first vehicle on his own-I didn't have to co-sign for him. He has become quite the responsible one.
Sorry if my first blog is not funny. I promise to do better next time.
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