Leaving on Vacation

The laundry is done, the house is clean, and we are almost packed for vacation. We need lots of extra stuff for this trip, like golf clubs and boogie boards and lots and lots of food...but it's all coming to together. After all, I have helpers...if I can find them!

Alex has two games today, neither of which he is playing in. He can actually walk without crutches now and the swelling is way down. Brian is at the pool with his friend, Jack. Matthew is in? Hmmm...let me check. Minnesota today. Wisconsin tomorrow.

Got wii?

These are my helpers. =0) Too bad you can't hear them. Actually, you probably CAN hear them, wherever you are!

In a little while, we are going to go out to my garden to see if we can figure out what kind of critter is eating my tomatoes. Probably something that I would normally find cute, if it wasn't destroying my garden!


Yesterdays zucchini haul, next to Alex's size 11 shoe! These things are massive! (We are leaving one on the vine to see just how big it will grow...lol!) None of my neighbors would come to the door when they saw that I had these...and they call themselves friends? =0)

Last day of June

It takes a lot to get me in a funk, and today I am in a funk. We've been battling our health insurance and I am at the point where I don't care anymore, even if I know that they are doing the wrong thing. Matthew is gone (Minnesota today) and I just really miss his presence when he is not here. The dishwasher is only half working. Sigh. But the biggest thing of all is the door knob. The front door knob is broken, and it takes an act of God to be able to get in and out of our house. What should be an amazingly simple thing to do....replace it!, isn't such an amazingly simple thing to do.
We've lived in this house for 11 years tomorrow. It's the 1st home we ever owned, and it took a lot of struggling for us to even make it work back then. 6 weeks before we moved to California, we were starving students with 2 children and $400.00 in our checking/savings account. If that. Suddenly, Michael was a college professor and we were homeowners of a house we bought sight unseen. That I hated when we first drove up.
And then I fell in love. With my home, my neighbors, my neighborhood, the schools, the location to Michael's work...and 11 years later, to the itty bitty mortgage.
But the door knob is broken.
It's not just a door knob, though. Our windows are almost 30 years old and half of them don't shut. The other half don't open. And the front door is crooked and warped. If you buy new windows, they throw in a new front door. For free! The locksmith would then be able to come once to key both the front and back doors together. All in all, it's lotsa bucks.
However, our furnace/AC is also almost 30 years old. And they tend to get tired in the middle of running and stop running to take a rest. Which is fine if it is not 95 outside. Again, lotsa bucks.
But it's bigger than that. Either we put the money into this house, or we move to a bigger house. With a bigger mortgage. But more space. The funny thing is, we live in the smallest house out of all our friends, yet everything is always here. My boys friends are always here. Parties happen here, even if we are gone. This house just has a very, very happy feel to it. But it IS small. Tiny, in fact.
We've been living with the broken door knob for about 6 months, but just last night Michael couldn't get it opened and had to come in through the back door. (Which actually made us laugh for quite a long time...especially when our neighbors stopped by and we had to wave them around, too!)
So, because of the door knob, we have a big decision to make. We are heading out on vacation and have decided to have a decision made before we come home.
And walk in through the back door. =0)

All About Alex

Today brought 4 hours spent in the car taking Alex for his cast and Brian to a new chiropractor. Alex has found that taking pictures of himself makes for great entertainment...

...and so does my lipstick!

Simple pleasures! =0)
Brian was watching every move his big brother made from the back seat...too funny!

As for the current injury...a stress fracture to his right foot. He'll be in an 'air' cast (Thank you, Amy! It pays to know your Dr!) for a few weeks, though he seems to think he is playing basketball games this weekend. NOT!

I've been dealing with health insurance woes (more on that in a later post, after I've had time to chill!) and was feeling pretty stressed...and then Tammy called! (From my favorite Boulder restaurant, too.) =0) My dearest friend from Colorado, who along with her gorgeous husband, Chris, have 3 daughters. I told my boys it was time to go back to Colorado to choose a wife, and Alex says, "I'm NOT marrying my cousin!" I've been hoping some inter-marrying would happen, but whose idea was it to start this whole Aunt/Uncle/cousin thing???? It's backfiring!

Kathy!

Kathy came to visit! There was only one problem, we had to stand outside next to the car the whole time. She was borrowing a friends car and somehow managed (?) to not be able to restart the car once it had been turned off. Which in all honesty, I am never going to be able to forget, and will remind her of it each time I see her.

=0)

Anyway, Kathy is our amazing foodie, Italy loving, music loving, Harry Potter friend, (we cried together on the phone after reading the last book!) who left us to move to the East coast. And came back to visit looking young and healthy and happy. Somewhere, she has tapped into the fountain of youth. And got an amazing new hairstyle to boot. Maybe next time she'll be able to come inside, or maybe we'll just have dinner in the running car!

Greg and Joanna and crew were supposed to come for dinner, but baby Logan woke up from his nap with a high fever. With Kathy gone early, (before she ran out of gas! Bahahaha!!!) no dinner plans, and no Matthew to drive, we did the next best thing...margaritas! The first of many to come this summer! Add a few burgers on the grill, a little corn on the cob, and we were set to go.

A student of Michael's knocked on the door just as we were sitting down, so we fed him dinner and the two of them were able to talk. I love that his students, both old and new, feel they can just stop by if they need to talk...it's the part of his job that I like best.

It turned out to be a really nice evening.

As for today, I did my Meals on Wheels run and picked up Brian from VBS. Michael and Alex squeezed in sushi after having Alex's foot xrayed - more on that later. As for Matthew, he has a show in Oswego, IL tonight. Praying for safe travels for him...

1st Week of Summer

I can feel it coming...late nights and lazy mornings are right around the corner. Are they here yet? Not so much, but they are close!

Brian is at VBS this week, so we've been out of the house by 8:15am. Alex has basketball camp every afternoon this week, but was hired to work at the morning camps also. He's pretty excited about his first 'job'...making money playing basketball? All is right in his world!
And Matthew? He flew out on the red-eye last night for Chicago, and is in Plainfield, Illinois for the next 2 nights.

Michael is working today and I am cleaning (shhhh!) the house as we speak. It's a tad too quiet for me and I even have Bruce Springsteen (just LOVE his newest CD!) blaring on the stereo. I asked for quiet and I've got it. =0)

Last night after Matthew was dropped off, we took Alex and Brian and went to our new favorite Mexican place and had dinner. This picture looks disgusting, but LET ME TELL YOU!, it was the most amazing tomato soup I have ever had. I love tomato soup. Good tomato soup, not the stuff from a can. This soup was a roasted tomato soup and it was smoky, and creamy, and spicy. YUM! It was the special of the day (and perfect with a lobster taco and sangria) and so Michael asked how often it is on the menu. The answer? Once a month. Once a month? Yes, only once a month. I may have to camp out so I don't miss it!

We then walked over and saw 'Evan Almighty'. Very cute...not one we will buy, but worth seeing and discussing after. It was a great movie for all of us to see together, that we all liked, which isn't always easy with an 8, 13 and 17 yr old!

Back to cleaning for me! Later Gators! =0)

Melon Mania

Last May while Michael and I were in Italy, we ate the best Tuscan melon while in...well, Tuscany. Florence, to be exact. We bought it at a market and devoured it while on a picnic, and then I had an idea. (Scary!) Like a freak, I gathered the seeds in a napkin and stuck them in my pocket. Fast forward 13 months, and my brilliant idea worked...we have a 'real' Tuscan melon in the garden! It's been hiding it's pretty little self under a bunch of leaves, but while watering this morning I found it...and 5 others. If only I had brought home that leg of prosciutto to go with it!

Saturday night we saw Matthew perform for the last time until later this summer. We loaded up our car with a bunch of his friends, and met up with Greg, Joanna and Katharine at the show. We were able to see him afterwards before they packed up and drove all night to Arizona, where they performed tonight. He'll be home tomorrow night and then flies to Chicago on Tuesday and won't be home for 2 1/2 weeks. Do I like it? NOPE! (But I am glad he's having fun...)

Haircut for Alex

Alex finally gave in and went for a haircut today, though in all honesty, we didn't give him much of a choice. (Though I really think he believes he had some say in it!)

Trying to get a picture of him is impossible!

Lovely

Lovelier

And on goes the beanie.

What a funny kid, he is! =0)