Spring Break 2014: Friday & Saturday

Friday, Isabel and I drove down to Orlando to go to the cake supply shop. Daddy was working in the morning this time.

Sadly, we don't have a cake supply store anywhere in our county or the next closest county. I have to drive 40 minutes to the nearest cake supply store.  I don't go to Michael's when I need to get fondant.  The only brand they carry is Wilton. GROSS.

We ate lunch at Chipotle and came back to relax/nap before we headed off to dinner at one of our Grow Group family's home.  It's a church thing. We're in small groups to get to know each other better. I really like our Grow Group and can't wait until David has a Friday night off when he can go. We meet every other Friday at someone's house, eat, have Bible study and talk time, while all the kids play. Just great fun.

Saturday, Isabel left around noon to go play at her best friend Lisa's house. They have a pool.  Enough said.

David was off the ENTIRE WEEKEND. You have no idea how rare this is.  We decided to air out our tent, as we have a church camp-out coming in April and we have not used the tent in...oh...about 9 years or so.  This lead to David and I (mostly David) clearing the heck out of one part of the garage.  I'd say he cleared/swept/rearranged about 1/5 of the garage.  He got a lot of work done.

We set up the tent first.

Roomy.

Hello there.

While the tent aired out, we consolidated boxes, cleaned doors, swept and re-swept the floor, washed camping dishes, pots and pans, and threw out a bunch of stuff.  Sadly, like I said, we only hit 1/5 of the mess in there.

Five hours after she left, Lisa's mom brought Isabel home. She was so excited to see the tent. She's been begging us to go camping for over a year.

Daddy sneaks a picture of me and my gal in the tent.

After taking the tent down and packing it away, David grilled some bratwurst and we dinner and YUMMY drinks.

Then, we watched "Frozen" again, this time with David.

Party Like a Pony

Isabel's 9th birthday party was a rousing good time!  Boy oh boy, was it a long weekend this past weekend.

The week ended rather rushed for me due to work issues.  One manager on vacation, another out of town for work and I was left to fend for myself.  This made me late getting home several nights and I was in a slight panic come Friday morning. I had to get home that evening and put a cake together.  I had not even started coloring fondant yet and I needed to assemble everything AND set up the party for the next morning.

While at work, my older sister Brenda in Palm Beach county sends me a text asking me if I had finished the cake.  I replied that I had baked a cake, yes, but that I had to get everything done that night and it was going to be a looooooong night.

I race home and immediately set to coloring fondant.  "Moooom, what's for dinner?"  "Nothing!  Eat an apple!!"  LOL, that's how I felt. Rushed and crazed!  Isabel started watching a movie and there was a loud scene.  I thought I heard a knock at the door but then I thought it was the surround sound for the movie.  Best go check.

I open the door and there's my sister Brenda, fresh from her 2.5 hour drive to spend the weekend and help me with the party. I was SO happy.

While I colored fondant, Brenda set to getting the house decorated for the party. Jake was sent off to buy dinner after setting up a foldable table in the entrance way.  Armed with scissors, balloons, a party paper plate and miscellaneous items from my house,  Brenda proceeded to create a centerpiece and decor for the tables.




She then headed back to help me finish decorating the cake.






My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic!  If you have not heard of the newest incarnation of the My Little Pony brand, where have ya been??  SUPER popular show, even with the college crowd and the cosplay fans.





I decided on a cupcake decorating station because, hello?  I have everything here and I thought it'd be loads of fun.  After games and pizza, we got to the decorating.




It was a messy, fun time!



My sister Jany above in red came from Tampa too with my niece.  She helped me clean while big sis Brenda entertained the gals.

She gets embarrassed every year when we sing to her.

The party was from 11 to 2.   All the gals went home with a goody bag and a carry-box for their cupcakes.

And then two party guests show up at 2, because the older sibling misread the invitation.

Oh, I felt SO bad for them.  The older sibling was mortified, so big sis Brenda and I set these two up in the kitchen with pizza, cake and soda, and then we brought everything back out to decorate more cupcakes with the new arrivals.  We played a couple of board games and two hours after they arrived, I sent them home with cupcakes and goody bags.

Then I passed out on the couch in the loft.  I can't party like a pony anymore.  Too old for that hay. :)

BFF's are hard to make

One of my best friend's (since high school, we went to college together too) dad passed away overnight.  Thankfully for me, this friend knows I am rarely on Facebook and sent me a message.  She was too choked up to call but wanted me to know.  I immediately started crying and was grateful that I was alone in the office.

Her dad had remarried and lived in Georgia.  Eventually she and her mom moved up there as well, to a different city.  I remember when her parents were married.  I would go to their house to eat or hang out.  When Paul had a beard, he eerily looked like my dad looks like with a beard.  It was crazy.

We had several messages back and forth today (she'll call me tonight, she can't sleep, etc.) and then she told me how much she loved me, and misses me.  She told me that even though I have tons of sisters, I was her sister (she's an only child) and she missed me.

And I was crying again.  In her time of pain, she made me feel so loved.  It's so very hard making true  friends when you're older.  Usually you end up making friends at work (I work with 6 men), or at a gym (don't go), at church (sadly, don't have a church) or at kids' school events (never really happened for me.)  The only close friends that I made after high school and college were when I first moved back to Florida when Jacob was under two.  I made some fantastic gal pals who then moved to Alabama and Minnesota.  Go figure.

I have wonderful work friends who came to my wedding 10 years ago and with whom I still talk to every day.  Their locales?  Boston, DC and Seattle.  All over the place.

Locally?  Nobody. I live in a rural community where no one else I know lives.  My sisters who I love are in S. Florida (2.5 hours away) or Tampa (2.5 hours away).

Jacob's aunt is still a good friend and wonderfully keeps in touch with me, but she has her own close-knit group from when she was in school, and we usually see each other 3 or 4 times a year.

Neighbors?  I has some cool ones 6 years ago who moved 6 months after we moved here.  The rest hide in their homes and the ones I do talk to are really more of a "wave hello" kind-of thing.

An old co-worker and his wife moved back a few months ago from Miami.  I was ecstatic.  She and I used to hang out a lot, but I'm so very afraid to scare her off by latching on to her.  She has tons of family and friends.  We talk about hanging out, but because I live in a rural part of northern central Florida & she lives in southern central Florida, it's about an hour one way to each other's homes, so this has not happened yet.

It's easy to say "It's easy to make friends" when you've never left the hometown area you went to high school in.  As an adult, making real friends is so hard.  (Maybe that's why I adore the Yada Yada book series, not classic fantastic literature,  with these women who make these amazing bonds as adults; because I really want that too.)

I have amazing friends.  They're just so far away.

I love you Kelli-Kelli-Elliot (not her real name; college joke) and I am so sorry about your daddy.

Graduation Party

The next day after graduation, we had our party.

A shout-out to Sonny's Real Pit BBQ! We were wondering what we were going to feed people and I really really did not want to cook.   Jacob's aunt recommended it because she used it for Rachel's graduation party and really loved it.  MAN!   Did they ever take care of everything.  Meats, sides, breads, drinks, ice, cups, plastic ware,  plates, napkins, sauces, serving spoons, tongs, tubs of butter and lemons.  They were amazing.

So here are some pictures of our fun party for Jacob.

Shrine o' Jake. 

Cake pops

Edible Arrangement from Jacob's aunts and uncles.

The cake. :)

Sonny's BBQ in the formal dining room.

Extra tables set up on the formal living room aka the piano room.

Dumb pin, but I like my hair.

Co-workers.

Sing it, Jacob!

Jacob and friends playing Rock Band 2 or 3.

Can you tell this is Florida?

We also had a lot of family in other rooms and upstairs.

Babies everywhere!  My sister Vicky holding Miss Ava.  

Ava!

Isabel photobombs a picture of her cousin.

It was fun!  What was not fun?  Figuring out what to do with all the leftovers.  We consolidated, we gave away, we had a TON.  We ate leftovers for several days and I even invited Jacob's friends over again to help us eat all the stuff.  In the end, David took what was left to work to share with his co-workers.

Knee Update Day 2; hiding in the bathroom

Day two, Friday, found my knee/leg a little stiff, but not to bad.  Still had some drugs in me I suppose.  Isabel had to go to school but she remembered my telling her she could draw on my bandages "tomorrow" so she was up bright and early with her markers.

I tottered around with the walker most of the day.  Took a "bird bath" with one leg in and one leg out of the tub (NOT EASY when you can't bend the knee) and was pretty much waited on all day.  :)

My Seattle corporate office sent me a lovely bouquet with an unintentionally funny card.

Whoever wrote the card at the floral shop missed a vital punctuation mark.  It should have read

"Wishing you a speedy recovery and a return to running.  From your friends at S*****s."

What is said was

"Wishing you a speedy recovery and a return to running from your friends at S*****s."

When I relayed the funny message to my HR rep, she replied if I tried running from them, they'd drag me back.  :)

The rest of the evening was uneventful until... the storm.  Suddenly, the skies darkened, the winds rolled and a smattering noise was heard.  Hail was falling hard against the house.  Jacob looks out our back yard and panics.  "Mom!  We need to get into the bathroom now!"  OK.  I had surgery YESTERDAY and he's panicking about getting into the bathroom (one of two completely self-enclosed rooms in the house) on the first floor, because the winds in the back yard are in a funnel shape.  Not a full on twister, but he was correct; they were moving in a (I think) counter-clockwise rotation.

Jacob turns off the major appliances (computer, flat screen, PS3) and we hobble my butt into the bathroom. The power keeps flickering and we can't get any news so we call Jake's aunt Denise, who is further south of us, to see if she has access to the news.  Powerful storms in the area for the next 20 minutes.  We wait it out for about 10 and then I'm done.

The back yard is flooded, but that lasts all of 5 minutes before the parched earth sucks it right up and there's ICE on the ground!  ICE!

See the ice on the edge of the concrete slab there?

My sister Vicky mocks us for hiding out.  I send her this picture of a house half a mile away from us.

Taken by Jacob on his way to a friend's house.

Better safe than sorry, sis.

After that excitement, Jacob reluctantly leaves for a party but promises to be home early and tells me to call him if I need anything.  (David works nights, remember?)  Jacob loads the coffee table with my book, my Nook, all the remotes, my phone, a blanket, a cup of water and a kiss.

Isabel puts herself to bed a little late (it's Friday, it's allowed) and I hunker down to watch some "Downton Abbey" season 2.  Ah, Mr. Bates, how I love yeh and yer Anna.   (If you have not seen it, do it.  It's AWESOME.)

Abuelito

This is my abuelito.  He is my father's father.

 He is 89 years old and lives in Puerto Rico.  He came for a visit this month and was staying at his sister's house in the Kissimmee area.  She's his younger sister; all of 83.  Due to some crazy changes, what was supposed to be his staying at my house for 4 days, turned into him leaving the day after I had arranged it for him to spend those 4 days with us.

Scrambling on a Thursday after work, David brought the kids to me at work.  We then spent an hour and a half.....an HOUR and a HALF, stuck in ridiculous Orlando rush-hour traffic!  Poor abuelo actually thought we were not coming.  It was a stressful ride (and I left straight from work, hence my looking like a lump) but we made it to see him.  We arrived some time after 6:30 p.m. and we still had to drive back home on this school night.

I wished he could have stayed.  Yes, he's old & persnickety sometimes, but he's my grandpa and my elder. I definitely can handle persnickety with respect.   I really wanted my kids to see him.  This is their great-grandfather after all.  They have two great-grandmothers, but only one great grandpa, and I really want my kids to say they remember him. I mean, he's 89.  He loved that Jacob is a musician.  My abuelo loves music; he sings and plays guitar.  He even makes guitars in his garage.

I gave him a careful hug; he's all angles and bones, and we talked while he ate at the house of a neighbor of his sister.

 Sadly, by this time the kids were STARVING and whining about it.  We ended up only spending about an hour with him before we had to turn and make the 1.5 hr ride back home.

Here's my abuelito.

Princess Tea Party

Isabel was invited to a Princess Tea Party, which she attended this weekend. Isabel wanted to be Snow White. No, Cinderella. No wait, Snow White.




Cinderella won out. I wish she had picked Snow White. There were zero Snow Whites and five Cinderellas at the party, plus a couple of Sleeping Beauties, two purple princesses and more. :)

The party was for a Pre-K classmate and was held at the Boston Coffee House. We love the Boston Coffee House, always visiting the one in Orange City. We had no idea there was one in Deland. It was a comfy place right in downtown Deland. They converted the back two rooms into a tea party for the girls, who all had to dress up as a Princess.



The lounge was set up for the girls' tea,



while this side room, above, was set up for the adults. There was an open window in between the rooms. The Boston Coffee House had an assortment of sandwiches, cold salads, fruit trays, water and coffee set up for the adults. It was a delicious spread.

The girls were served tea, then were giving grilled cheese (shaped like hearts, how cute!) or PB&J sandwiches and chips.

The girls had such a good time (giggles and squeals do not lie), as did I, talking to moms and dads. The staff was so nice and attentive, the food was great, and the grandparents of the little girl having the party were so appreciative of everyone being there for their little girl's day. It made my day seeing how happy they were with the party and how happy their granddaughter was. Happy Happens, you know. :)

Maybe next year, we'll have a party here too!

Long Lost Friends

Once upon a time, I lived in a small rental neighborhood in Oviedo (a one-man corporation owned about 12 duplexes) with lots of nosey neighbors. *grin* Most were terrific though. In the "group" were me, Kathy and Julie. Crazy Irish Kathy and her loud family, skinny skinny Julie from New Yoahk and quiet shy me. Yes, me. Quiet and shy. I was married to my ex and I was lost in someone I wasn't.

I eventually left my ex, straight from that neighborhood, but I kept Julie and Kathy's number. They each bought homes in Winter Springs and we would do "girls night," usually at a karaoke bar or Pleasure Island.

The years took Kathy way to the panhandle of Florida, I bought my first home in Longwood with just Jacob. Julie and I still hung out and her new neighborhood friends became my new friends. She had a very close-knit neighborhood of young 20 & 30-somethings. It was a fun time.

Job transfers took Julie and her family (2 kids and hubby) to N. Carolina and then to Minnesota. I have not seen her in five years. She was the glue to the group, the common denominator to how we all knew each other, and we all slowly moved out of the neighborhood into bigger homes.

Julie, ever faithful, calls at least once a month. Five years later, we still talk monthly. She came down this weekend for a 5-day weekend, and the "group" (minus Kathy in Pensacola) was back.

Dinner Saturday night catching up with old friends was followed by a pool party Sunday afternoon at one of the friend's new home in a beautiful gated community. We were all so glad to see each other. I miss having them around. I sent the family who hosted the party a homemade thank you card, with my address and number. I hope we can keep in touch.

Isabel and Jake enjoy the community pool.

David enjoys the shade.

The males in our party enjoy a Cornhole Tournament.

Julie and I. And no. Regardless of how much weight I have lost, there will be no bathing suit pictures.

He's weird, I know.

DING DONG

Aaaaaakkkkkkkkkk!

That sound, that "ding dong" drives me nutty!!!! It's the sound of the front doorbell. It's the sound of the front doorbell ringing five minutes after I have walked into the house from working all day.



Isabel has a neighbor friend who is on the lookout for me. The minute I get home, neighbor girl (n.g. for the rest of this post) is bolting from her house for my front door.

Why, you ask? Because for some reason my hubby once-upon-a-time told her and her brother that they could not be over the house unless I was home. I have control issues and David has tunnel vision and notices nothing. Long story.

Well, the n.g. and Iz play outside now. I can't remember the last time they were in the house. I like that Iz gets outside exercise and she has a friend. But PLEASE LET ME RELAX FOR MORE THAN 5 MINUTES!!

Gahhh!!

I have told the girl on several occasions "I just walked in the door, let me get settled," while Isabel is screeching in the background that she wants to go out to play.

I don't let Isabel outside by herself. She's 5 and a very young, naive 5 at that. I go out there and read a book or talk on the cell while they play in the opened garage or back yard.

I just want 5 minutes to get relaxed and maybe another 30 minutes to start dinner before being dragged outside. I hate being the grumpy lady that won't let Isabel play, but come on!

Edited: 45 minutes after this post - "Ding Dong!" The doorbell rang. But hey! It's 2 hours after I got home! Dinner was already done and cleaned up!

Bye Christmas, Hello Neighbors!

New Year's Eve, David was catching up on Bones Season 3 episodes that I had already watched (Christmas present to me from David and the kids), so I decided to start taking down the decorations.

I did the entire house, watched the crazy neighbors one street over set off some amazing fireworks (I'll try to post a video Jake took with his camera) and then went back to do the tree. That's a long project but by 1:30 a.m., the tree too was done.

In the morning, I hear Isabel gasp downstairs. "The TREE!" she cries. "The ormamints and the angel are gone!" We explained that Christmas was over and we would have to put everything away until next Christmas. "O.k.," she says and skips away.

David's job was to take down the actual tree, put all the boxes back in the garage and remove the lights from the bushes and trees outside. We'll have to wait for the weekend to borrow our neighbor Charlie's really tall ladder to take down the roof lights.

As all this is happening, really cool neighbors that moved last year send me a text message. Their house across the street, the one David's been mowing the grass for, the one that's been for sale for a year, finally sold. We have new neighbors. From the looks of it, it's a lady with 3 young girls, Isabel's age! We've seen a lot of people helping, so we don't know who belongs in the house yet. We're being cautiously optimistic. What an amazing start of 2009 for them! I'm going to give them time to settle in, then I'm taking over a batch of Killer Brownies and introducing myself.