Happy Birthday, Jeff

Today is Jeff's birthday, but he is in Seattle this week, so we will be celebrating it sometime after he returns. Being on the west coast yesterday, he was able to delay his turning another year older by three hours. Right now, though, on any time zone in the US he is a year older. :)

Happy Birthday, Jeffrey!!!

House Guest

Well, it was two weekends ago, but I finally am going to take the time to write about it! We had a guest, a friend we met on the internet, and he stayed for 4 days and we all survived! He had just gotten home from a 7 month cruise deployment in the navy and had a couple of weeks vacation. I kept in contact with him while he was away, and when he said he didn't know what to do I told him he could come and visit us if he wanted. He accepted for whatever reason. Temporary insanity or something.

I picked him up at the airport on Thursday. I was supposed to get him and Jeff at the same time, but Jeff was delayed on his job and didn't get to come home until Friday.

The very first thing we had to do was go to the baggage claim people because it seems they lost his bag. He wasn't overly thrilled with them losing his bag, but they would deliver it to my house later that evening, so there wasn't really anything we could do.

His name is Kenny, and he fit right into our crazy house. Conor took to him immediately and started asking him to play video games with him. He bugged him just like he would any other person who walked in the door.

He and Allie have a lot of the same music tastes, and she also got to play with his new phone he just got. I think she and Chrissy used it more in one night than he did all weekend.

We had a lot of fun while he was here. We didn't really go out a lot, other than Saturday night, but somehow managed to entertain him anyway.

On our way home from the airport on Thursday, we went grocery shopping. Because Kenny wanted to make us some tacos, and he wanted to go with us to get the ingredients. Apparently I can't be trusted to get the correct ingredients.

After the shopping we went home where I prepared a meal of ... breakfast. It was kinda late to start anything time consuming, and after all the running around and shopping... it's just what everyone wanted. Can't really go wrong with bacon and eggs, and I attempted to make a gravy with the bacon grease, but it didn't turn out too well.

That was when I found out what a liar Kenny is. Because he said it was good. I have taste buds, you know? I found it very ... frustrating that he was so agreeable. If I gave him options? His response was, "I don't care, whatever you want." Sheesh. I worked the weekend to break him of this agreeability (is that even a word? I'm sure spell check will reject it...). We made a small amount of progress by the time he left.

Friday morning, I got the kids off to school and let him sleep in. When I heard him in the shower, I fixed him breakfast... French Toast and sausage. I think. It's been a couple of weeks, ya know? I'm old and don't remember insignificant stuff like that. Or the significant stuff for that matter. ;)
I said, "Would you like OJ, Milk, Chocolate Milk, or something else to drink?"

He said, "It doesn't matter, whatever." !!!!!!! I forced him to make a decision on that one. But then... later he said he doesn't really eat breakfast. So ate it, even though he didn't want it.

We went and picked Jeff up from the airport, who wasn't in the best mood after an uncomfortably long flight from Pheonix, but after ranting and raving and scaring Kenny for life talking about it for the entire ride home a little bit, he relaxed.

We dropped Jeff off at home so he could relax a bit, and went to pick up the rest of the kids. By the time we got home from getting Conor and Ceara, Jeff had fallen asleep, so we let him rest while we decided on dinner.

So, Kenny made us tacos for dinner. He made the chips and taco shells himself - and they were great. I made a chocolate sheet cake for dessert - so we were all in the kitchen listening to music and cooking. It was a lot of fun. Allie's friend Chrissy spent the night with us as well, and they forced him to watch a chick flick, because...well, that's what teenage girls do. I would have made them put something else in, but I figured it was his punishment for being so agreeable. Heh. So, we watched Georgia Rule. Not exactly a romantic comedy... and not exactly something that a guy wants to watch.

Saturday, for lunch, we had Marion's Piazza - because it is definitely a Dayton thing, and it is SO GOOD. It was a beautiful day. The whole weekend he was here was pretty nice.

I had decided to make a new recipe for dinner on Saturday night, and I got a late start to it, so by the time it was actually done, it was time for us to leave. Kenny and the kids had time to eat it, though. He said it was good, but I didn't trust his opinion by that time and made Ceara eat some and tell me. I tried a small bite, and it was OK, but not spectacular. I had told Ceara earlier that day that it was probably dumb to try new recipes out on guests... but hey. It looked good. Oh, well, he survived. ;) But I sure did have a lot of leftovers.

Jeff and I took him to a local comedy club Saturday night and afterwards we went out and shot some pool. The comedian was great - we were laughing all night! It has been a while since I've played pool, but I didn't do too badly. I even won one of the 4 games we played. Although, Kenny was a little blind because the one pair of contacts he brought were torn. Yet he still managed to beat me 3 times. I guess that doesn't say much for my ability! lol I just need practice, dang it. I want a pool table at my house...

On Sunday, he got exposed to my family at Sunday dinner. Dinner was at my aunt's house on that Sunday because... well, because she does that every once in a while to give Grandma a break from cooking. Also, it was her grandson's birthday.

He did better than some others who have gone, we can be an overwhelming bunch. He was quiet, but he did participate in the conversation a little bit. I tried to get him to go through the food line with me (we all just line up and go through the kitchen filling our plates) but he said, "I'll wait til everyone else is done." He soon figured out that it wasn't really going to die down for a while, so he did finally go through and get some food. We sat around and talked for a bit, then I took him on a drive through my hometown. That took all of 5 seconds and we went home.

We got home and some of the neighborhood kids came over and played the Wii a bit. I believe it was very entertaining for him - laughing at the kids who were doing the hula hoop and ski jumps. It is funny to watch. I tried to tease him into getting on the board and doing the hula hoop, but he refused to embarass himself in front of everyone. I know he went home and ordered one for himself so he could do the hula hoop, too. ;)

I made Chicken and Noodles for dinner, and was planning an apple cake as well, for dessert. I had to run Jeff to get his rental car, so I started on it when I got back. I asked Allie to peel some apples for me, and Kenny said he would help too... and OMGosh, neither one of them know how to peel apples. It was comical watching them chip away at the apple's skin. Ceara joined in too, and I think she paid attention when I showed them how to peel apples before, so she was doing slightly better. I just left them to do it however they could.

They ended up peeling too many, so after I got the apple cake in the oven, I put together a pie with the remaining apples.

It was an uneventful night, Allie and Kenny listened to music while I cooked and cleaned up, Ceara had gone to her mom's for school the next day, and Conor was playing the Nintendo. We all just kinda hung out - the kids had school the next day, and Kenny was flying home the following morning as well. He started opening up a bit about what he really thought about some things... which was good! lol

So, Monday morning everyone went off to school and I took Kenny to the airport. That would be AFTER I froze him to death the night before because someone (and I don't know who!) opened the windows on Sunday because it was nice, and someone forgot to close the window in the bedroom NEXT to the one he was staying in, and it got really cold that night. He didn't want to wake me up to get him another blanket... and I forgot to show him where the extras were - right inside the closet of the bedroom he was in.

He said he had a good time and would like to come back sometime, but that he will drive the next time so he's not trapped there with the crazy people, and just come for a short weekend. He may have been just being polite... but I do think he had fun while he was here. We loved having him, and everyone had a good time while he was here.

One of the reasons he came in the first place was to have some home cooked food. I'm not sure I did so well in that area, because even though he said he liked stuff... I don't think he really did. He did like the crash hot potatoes, though. He might have liked the chocolate sheet cake, but... I'm not really sure on the desserts. He didn't eat whole pieces of any of the desserts. He claimed to be full or something, but said it was delicious. Same thing for the apple pie. And the apple cake. He took a small apple cake home with him, but... he could have done that out of politeness and dumped it in the airport trash before his plane took off. Hmmmmm. I mean really? How could you not like Chocolate Sheet Cake? I could understand the apple stuff, he might not be an apple person. But... *sigh* Jeff would say he's an alien if he doesn't like chocolate.

Guess we'll see if he really comes back for another visit. Once he gets more comfortable with us he will feel OK saying, "I don't like this."

He did give me a bit of honesty and said he didn't love the corn casserole... which, you know... is every one's favorite thing ever when I make it for other people. He said it was "OK" but not his favorite. So with that comment, I question his taste in general!

I'm sure I will get a comment on this post from him when he reads it - although not in the comment section! He will just email me. :)

No, I didn't get swallowed by my closet

I've just been busy and haven't really taken the time to sit down and write stuff. We also survived our visit with our internet visitor. We had a great time, it was a busy weekend. Jeff and I were fairly certain that he would be bored out of his mind while here, but he says he had fun. Of course, he could be just being polite.

I'll write more later about all that, just wanted to let you know that I was still here! :)

Quick Update

Conor does not have strep again, he has a sinus infection. His doctor did recommend us to an ENT, though. So, I will be making that appointment soon.

And I finished his room finally since I was home yesterday. My living room is back to normal, and his room looks pretty good, if I do say so myself.

Now I have about... 8 or 10 boxes full of stuff sitting near my front door to be gotten rid of. Amvets will be here later this month, and my aunt is also going to take some of it to a local women's shelter.

So, things are looking up! :)

Tonight? I'm going to tackle my closet. If you don't hear from me for a while, you might want to stop by my house and check to see if I'm still stuck in there.

Ha! I'm only kidding. It's not that bad. Shouldn't take but an hour or so. I just have to get in the mind frame of... I'm really never going to wear that again. It will never be back in style and it will never look good on me no matter what I think of it on a hanger. :)

My Baby

Conor has been sick for the majority of the year this year. And quite a bit of the last months of last year. He has had strep throat 2 times so far this year, and quite possibly has it for the third time now.

He finished his medication from the last bout with it about 3 days ago. And then he started with this cough. Other than the cough and the stuffy nose, he seemed fine. I gave him cough medicine and cough drops to try to lessen it, but it didn't work that great.

So, today I went to pick him up from the daycare after work and they told me that he wasn't feeling well. That he hadn't eaten lunch, just laid his head down and said he didn't feel good. I'm not sure why they didn't call me to pick him up, other than they thought he wasn't as bad as he became. We got home and he went straight to Allie's room and fell asleep. I stayed in the living room still working on the pile. I am making progress, but that halted when he came out of Allie's room a little bit later crying.

His head hurt, and his stomach hurt. So, I went to get him some Pepto Bismol to settle his stomach. I handed it to him with some water and went to get some cough medicine for him as well. As soon as I walked out of the room he spit the Pepto Bismol on the floor, and into the sink. He said when it hit his throat, he couldn't swallow it.

So, I looked at his throat, and the left side is swollen, again, pretty badly. Like all the way to the middle of his throat.

He was hungry and asked for some strawberries. I tried to talk him out of it because I didn't think he could swallow them. He begged, and I felt bad for him, so I cut one up to see if he could swallow it. He did. So I gave him like... three cut up. He ate them all and then asked for some oranges. Fruit is supposed to be good for you, right?!?! He ate some oranges too.

He was laying in my bed and said his eyebrow hurt (which is code for a headache) so I went to get him something for that (I hadn't given him any medicine up to that point). I walked back in with the medicine to find that he had thrown up three times. Twice on the floor, once on my bed. RED and ORANGE.

Lovely.

Sorry for being so descriptive, but... just sharing my pain.

He went to the bathroom, then we got him in the shower and brushed his teeth. I cleaned up what I could of the mess in my room, and got him out of the shower and into bed. Where he fell asleep. I never did give him any medicine, seems I always got distracted from it.

Anyway, so off to the doctor tomorrow again.

I don't know why he is getting so sick so often this year, but I am getting worried. I've been giving him vitamins (Flinstone) and making him eat better, and I'm not sure what else to do. =\

On top of that, I've just about used all my sick days this year so far, and I'm sure my boss is getting a little peeved with me at this point. I've never called in so much! I hope that is in my favor that he knows me and that this isn't normal.

Hope you are all staying healthy out there!

Coffee

I love coffee. I love cappuccino, mocha, espressos. French Vanilla, Caramel, White Mocha. Mmmmmm.

I also love coffee mugs. Not your normal, every day ones, but colorful and unusual ones. It's kinda the only collection I have. I don't do nick knacks. Or other things that people collect. But I do love coffee cups/mugs/whatever you call them.

Here are some examples:

I have this painting hanging in my kitchen. I bought it at the Cafe-a-go-go before they closed their doors and broke my heart. I still miss that daily coffee! I've never been able to replicate it!

Here are some of my mugs. The one in the middle was given to me by Naomi for Christmas. There is a set of them, as well as plates to match.

The one on the left we got as a reminder of our trip to New Orleans many years ago. I want to go back there someday!

Here are my more unusual ones. The one on the left in the front there is another one from New Orleans. I love it! The two with the crazy colors and the balls for the base? Those were a gift to me from a coworker. They were an out of the blue, gift sitting on my desk when I arrived one day. It was not a holiday or my birthday so I didn't know what it was for. She bought them because she knew I wanted them. We had gone shopping during lunch one day and she saw me admiring them. I don't buy many things for myself (and they were a little pricey for a cup anyway) so she bought them for me. Totally made my day. There are dots on the inside of them too, you can see that in a second.

This is another one that I admired for many months before breaking down and buying it for myself. I couldn't not have it... it is beautiful. And those bricks on it? You can feel the texture of them in the cup.

As for the handles you see, those are the handles of measuring spoons...

Coffee measuring spoons. And they have little hooks to hang them up, but I haven't done that yet. Maybe some day...

And finally, the mug on the right is my coffee cup each day. Hee hee. Not really. It is a planter I found over the weekend that I fell in love with! Beside it is one of the mugs from my cabinet - so that you can see the size difference. And you can see the dots on the inside of that cup.

I bought the planter to transfer a plant that was given to me when my brother died. It has been on my table for 2 1/2 years in the same little plastic planter that it came in. I saw this one and I had to get it.

I transferred the peace lily plant yesterday, but I didn't get any pictures of it. I was too busy working on that mess you see in the picture below.

I would have after pictures of my living room without the mess in it... but, ummm. I'm not quite done yet. Hey! It was a bit harder than I thought. I have made progress, and it will be done no later than Thursday. I have other things I'm working on as well. Laundry. And I have to feed the kids and dog. Which makes dishes to do.

Plus, I need someone who does not remember when he got certain toys, and who gave them to him... heck he was having an easier time saying "get rid of" than I was.

Ugh. Where are those Clean Sweep people when you need them?