The Cupps Come!

This weekend was such a blast with the Cupp Clan. The girls are absolutely adorable and we had loads of fun. Since it was October, we had to keep with the Halloween theme. We did Halloween crafts and colored some spooky masks. Richie, John and the girls spent a few hours carvings pumpkins which was so funny. Mary Claire wanted nothing to do with the "goo" that was inside the pumpkin while Kathryn dug right in. The girls and I made Halloween cupcakes that turned out adorable. The girls help mix all the ingredients and put all the icing and sprinkles on. What a mess, but it was so worth it. I had a blast- maybe even more than the girls. We also discovered orange food coloring which turned out to be the theme of the weekend. We had orange milk, water, cupcakes and anything else I could turn orange. The weekend flew by very quick and all of a sudden it was time for the gang to leave. We missed them the second they left the driveway!

Work

August and September are two of my busiest months at work. I have been kicked in the rear a few times. So much so, I almost couldn't get up from it. Of course, everything has a way of working itself out, so finally I am over the hump. I can sit back and relax until next year. I am sure I won't be busy for awhile- Not like there is anything like H1N1 around. HA!

Football Season is here

Football season is right here, I can smell it in the air. Oh, how I love thee! Tonight kicks off football season with our Steelers playing. We are so excited. Hoping for a repeat season so we can be #1 again!

Labor Day Weekend- Extended

Labor Day weekend is over and so is the summer. I decided to take an extra day off and I am so glad I did. I went shopping and cleaned the house. The bedroom was scrubbed from top to bottom, baseboards included. It was a tough task, but glad it is over. We went to the pool and had once last hooraw with Becky and company. We also went to the Bowers and spent the day at their pool. We had a great time. Even though last year this time, we were in the Dominican Republic, I still had a great time with family and friends. I am so thankful for everyone in my life!

Shame on ME!

Where did the summer go? What about all my blog entries? Who knows, but time is flying way to fast for me to keep up!

The summer was super exciting for us. We spent many days at the lake, pool and the beach with family and friends. Some friends traveled from afar while others were right down the street. Some places we traveled and other times people came to us! Dinners out, hanging at friends houses, cookouts, parties, motorcycle rides, eating hot dogs, steak and lots of beer, shopping, hair salons, buying new mattresses and working our butts off. We had good times, we laughed and laughed some more. It was all that the summer could be and I will miss all our summer activities until next year! Now onto

Don't forget your key

We are back from our weekend up north. Certainly not the best trip when you have to go to a funeral but seeing family was nice. It is true the older you get, you only see your family at weddings and funerals. Sad, but true. Friday was the service and all went as well as it could. The pastor that did the service is the same pastor that married Richie and I. He is a goofball and that is putting it lightly. The church we got married in was the church my Aunt Ruth went to for years and lovvved the pastor. Richie and I met with him and although a little goofy, we moved forward. We spent about an hour discussing our relationship, how we met, our loves, Steelers football, etc. During our ceremony, he did not mention one thing we discussed and went off on a crazy tangent about college football and he once drove through the city we lived in. I was so irritated that if looks could kill, he would have dropped dead right there.....Any who- at my Aunt's funeral he did the same crap...somehow started talking about college football. Now, my Aunt knows nothing about football and sports-AT ALL! It was so ridiculous that I almost stood up and took over. He is a douchebag!
After the service, we all went to the cemetery and then to a luncheon. The luncheon was also in the same place that our wedding reception was. This is the place that everything in our family is heard, birthday parties, wedding, funeral luncheons, anniversaries, Christmas parties, etc. It is an automatic decision. Kinda funny! The luncheon was small and nice. I got to visit with my cousins that I grew up with and her little girl who is about 18 months old. Very adorable and lightens the mood.

Saturday, my grandmother, Mom and I went to visit my other Aunt and Uncle. The same Uncle that recently got out of the hospital. My Uncle Charlie was upset my grandfather did not come down to the house with us and it started a family bickering session. I did not think it was a big deal until my grandmother asked me to bring her home. I didn't realize it was that serious. I think it had been a rough 2 days for my grandmother and was blowing the situation a little out of proportion but there was no rationalizing. I took her home and then went back to get my mom. It was a silly situation.

Later in the evening my Mom and I decide to go met up with my cousins. It is a big running joke that my grandparents do not let us out late at night. It we are out passed 10pm, we get locked out of the house and all the lights are off. Usually, we have of key, but there has been many times where we had to bang on the door for a long time to get let in. Keeping in mind that I am in my 30's and my mom is on her 50's. Well, we get the the sportsbar around 8pm and I call my grandmother and tell her we are meeting my cousins. She told us not to stay out too late and I said okay. My cousins finally get there at 10pm. 10 minutes after 10 my grandmother calls my cell phone and is so upset we are not there yet. I really thought we were off the hook since I talked to her earlier. I explain that my cousins just got there and she said "great, then you got to see them". I was in such shock. My mom gets on the phone and gets yelled at. When she gets off the phone, she turns to me and says we have to leave.....I could do nothing but crack up the entire time! We paid our tab and left. I think my grandmother just had a lot on her plate and broke down. All is well now and not a word was spoken about it again. Too funny!

Auth Ruth

My Aunt Ruth passed away unexpectedly last night. She was 82, but you would never know that looking at her. She was complaining of abdominal pain and thought it may have to do with her hernia.. After the pain meds were not working she was transported to the hospital. After some tests, the doctors determined she need emergency surgery. Upon opening her abdominal cavity, all her large intestines and some of her small needed to be removed. They were necrotic (tissues were dead). She never regained consciousness after the surgery. Years ago she declared herself as a DNR (do not resuscitate) and did not want to be kept alive by machines or medicine. After the surgery, she was on a breathing machine and meds to keep her heart beating. My cousin who was power of attorney took her off the machines. A few hours later she peacefully passed. I was okay with the decision especially because she was a DNR for years. She would never want a colostomy bag either- she was much to vain for that! :-) We will be headed north again for the second time in 3 weekends to celebrate her life. She will be greatly missed!

Lovin the Lake

We went to the lake and had such a great time. David and Catherine bought a new boat, so we took it out. Richie also had a jet ski from work and we made a day out of it. Dluv, Cat, Laura, Richie and I went out early and spent the entire day on the water. It was a beautiful day. Rick, Kristen and the kids met up with us out in the water with their boat. We threw anchor and swam up to land. We layed out with blankets and fun adult beverages. There is something so incredibly peaceful for me being on the lake. It gives me such a feeling of contentment. It is so hard to explain in words! At some point, Richie fell off the jetski and hurt his ribs. I new he was hurting but still got on the jetski and rode some more. I really didn't think much of it. Later in the day, we had to pull the boat up at the marina. We realized that Richie was one the jetski, David had to back up the truck and trailer. David forgot the bumpers for the boat so we couldn't dock it. He was worried it would get scratched and being a brand new boat, I didn't blame him. I knew I could pull the boat up on the trailer since I had done it several times with my parents boat. It had been years and there was never the pressure of scratching or doing something to my parents boat. This was pressure. David was getting stressed and I told him that I could do it and not to worry. Even though, I was a little anxious, I never led on. Richie and David got the jetski out of the water while Laura, Catherine and I stayed out in the water floating by the ramps. I didn't want to keep anyone held up so we went out a little further and just waited for the guys. It was funny because all these people were trying to dock and here are 3 chicks in this brand new boat. A man with his camouflage bass boat cam over and talked to us...."aaa girls, whats up" What a silly man! Soon after the guys were ready and we were out. I pulled the boat straight onto the trailer on my first try. I was really relieved. I knew I could do it, but there was a lot of pressure since it was a brand new boat. Yay me! We all decided we were going to go eat Mexican food so we hopped into the trucks and were ready to go. Richie looks at me and says his ribs hurt so bad that he thinks he has broken them and can not drive the truck. Greeeeat! So we had to switch and I drove to the Mexican place with the truck and jetski in tow. Richie has been complaining about his ribs for a few days now. I do not think they are broken, but badly bruised. When he went to bed the first night, I ran my fingers over his ribs and didn't feel anything broken....and he didn't wake up while I was pressing pretty hard on them... The problem with being a nurse's husband....you don't get much empathy..Walk it off! HA

Big Girls Don't Cry

I had to give one of my best friends, little girl, immunizations today. She is 11 and I have know her since she was a little baby. It is amazing what a beautiful, intelligent young lady she has become. She had to get 4 shots and I wasn't sure how she would do. I knew she would do well, but wasn't sure if she was going to have some anxiety prior to me getting there. Once I arrived, she was ready to go. I wanted her to eat a little snack first while I got the vaccines drawn up. She was so calm and wanting to get it over with so she could go back to playing with her friends. Her mother told me that she told her friends that she had her own personal nurse. How cute it that. She received her shots and had no problems. Of course, she went back to playing soon after. I wish all my patients were are good as her. I spent the rest of the evening hanging out with mom and dad. It was definitely a business and pleasure kinda day!

Back from an extended Vacay

My mom and I went to visit my grandparents this past weekend. Also, we had to check up on my Uncle Chalie. We spent a bit of time visiting him in the hospital. He seems to be getting better, slowly, but definitely getting better. Really, isn't that all that matters? The hospital is in downtown, off the expressway, so my grandmother was able to go with us a few times. Otherwise, she would never drive the expressway. My Uncle was having stomach problems and was slowly starting to eat again. He had a breathing treatment while we were there and pretended he was smoking a cigar. What a nut- glad his humor is back.

We hung out with my grandparents and I did some work around the house. It is crazy how I turn into the electrician, carpenter, painter, etc when I go to their house. They need work done, but I am not sure how they think I can do all of this stuff. I just wing it and give it my best shot. One day, I was using the miter saw cutting wood for my grandfather. YIKES!

My mom and I decided to go to the beach to meet up with some family members. We were only going to stay 1 night but had so much fun we decided to stay another night! We both called into work and enjoyed a fantastic day at the beach. There was about 40 of us staying in the huge house. We stayed up all night playing games and just hanging out. I wish we could had stayed longer, but we figured we had to go back to work. boo! I hope we can do it again next summer, but stay a lot longer!


Picture of the house we stayed at and the ocean! Love them both!

Kitty Update

She seems to being doing well. No additional seizures, which is making me a little more relaxed. I will be heading north this weekend and she will be home with Richie for a few days. I know he will do just fine, but I can't help being a little worried.

Weekend Wash- Sorta

I spent most of this weekend stressed about our kitty. Friday, was a complete wash because I couldn't leave the house. Saturday, Richie had off and we planned to go to our friends John and Jackie's house around 3pm. I was worried all day about leaving the kitty, especially because my mom would be gone too. I finally decided in the morning that I was going to go shopping and make a flag cake. This way, it would force me or at least make me lean towards going to the party. Plus, it distracted me. The cake was done and I was packing stuff into the car. I wanted to see everyone and hang out at this 4th of July party. I went in to say bye to the kitty and she started having another seizure. This one was the smallest of them all. Just lasted about 2 minutes with less body jerking. Her neck moved involuntarily a few times, but stopped very quickly. Her eyes where dilated and had a slight involuntary movement. About 3 minutes all together, she was back to normal and looking at us lying of the floor beside her. I think, she thought we were losing our minds.. We waited about 25 minutes to make sure she did not have another seizure, since this one was so small. She seemed fine and got on the bed herself and went to sleep. It actually made me feel a little better, thinking she would probably just rest the entire day while we were gone. And so we left.
The party was fantastic and I was so glad we went. They had a pig on the grill, cornhole in the backyard, along with a pool, good friends and good music. It was such a good time. I saw friends that I had not seen in awhile and watched all the kids run around and play. We got in the pool and played a game of volleyball. Later in the night, we watched fireworks and sat outside. The boys played poker and the girls chatted. Richie and I left earlier then normal because I started wondering about the cat. It had been several hours, so I needed to put my eyes on her. My mom was home when we got there and she said Love was fine. She ate her tuna and was laying on my mom. I felt very relieved. What a great day.
Sunday, the weather was a little rainy in the morning. We were going to go to the pool, but got rained out. The kitty seemed fine so we headed to Patrick and Nikki's for a cookout. My Mom was on babysitting duty! We hung out at their house for a few hours. Patrick put chicken on the grill and Nikki had made all the sides. It was awesome. We hung out and admired all of Patrick's electronic gadgets. We reeeaaallllyyy need a flat screen TV. Especially, now that we have seen Patricks! :-) We were exhausted when we arrived back home. What a busy, fun, stressful weekend all rolled into one!
The kitty did just fine last night. I did not sleep very well at all though. I was just listening for any little noise. There were 44 hours, between her first and second seizure and 36 hours between her second and third.. so I was nervous through the night. So far today, she is doing well too. Richie is home with her and keeping his eyes of her. Good thing!

Whats Love got to do, got to do with it...

This stuff with our kitty, Love, has to stop for my own sanity. About 3:30am she had another seizure. This one was not as bad, but still a scary situation. The duration remained about the same as the first, but the muscle and body tremors were not near as bad. Plus, her eyes came back to normal a little faster. After about 8-10 minutes she was completely back to her old self and got on the bed and went to sleep. Of course, Richie and I were bright eyed and could not go back to sleep. She woke up to get some water and we were both still awake. She seemed pretty tired today and slept most of the day. She still ate, drank water and used the bathroom as normal. I was suppose to go to the pool all day today, but felt guilty for leaving so I spent most of the day cleaning the house. Boo- Not what I had planned, but I couldn't leave. I called the doctor early this morning and it took awhile for someone to call back. I was starting to get annoyed. The doctor still doesn't think we need to do anything different yet. Putting her on meds would be the last resort since the meds are highly toxic to the liver. In an older cat, it might not be the best option. Plus, he said meds are for when they are having continuous and numerous seizures during the day. It was 44 hours between seizures, so we have to wait to see if there is more. Lets hope not. We do not want numerous or continuous seizures at all. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Kitty Kraziness

Yesterday, was an emotional day. Out cat, Love is okay now, but I wasn't sure if she was going to be. After we returned from dinner with David and Catherine the other night, our cat was sitting in a strange place. She looked funny to me in a way that is hard to explain. It looked like she was moving her head, but her body wasn't moving with it. I ask Richie to go pick her up and he said she was fine. He put her down on the floor and she ran to the bedroom. This is her way of telling us, it is time for bed and she leads the way - Her usual nightly routine. All 3 of us went into the bedroom and Love jumped up on the bed, as usual. After about 30 seconds, she started to pee on our blanket. -- Gross, I know, but I was too concerned to even move. She has never done anything like that and has not once, in almost 10 years, went to the bathroom anywhere but the litter box. She jumped down and I quick cleaned off the blanket and threw it is the washing machine. She seemed fine, got water, food and acted pretty normal. I was completely puzzled by the whole thing. So yesterday morning, I was in the bathroom and Richie started to yell for me. I ran out of the bathroom and found Love and Richie on the floor in the living room. Love was having some sort of seizure. Her pupils were fully dilated and her eyes were rapidly moving back and forth, her body and neck were moving in weird ways. I wasn't sure if she was having a seizure, a stroke or dying right there. It was horrible. I just tried to talk to her and pet her. About a minute and a half later, her body stopped moving involuntary, but her eyes were still going. Richie picked her up and we got in the car on the way to the vets. For the first 3-4 minutes of the trip, her eyes were still moving quickly, but then, the next time I looked at her, her eyes were back to normal. Of course, we get to the vet at 8am and the doctors are not there yet. We talked with the tech and sat with Love in a room. At this point, she seems back to normal. The doctor came in shortly after. Love stayed at the vets all days, where they took blood and urine and ran some tests on her. The doctor called me at about 3pm and said almost all of her results came back negative, which was good. Unfortunately, we just don't know what caused the seizure, don't know if it will happen again, just don't know. It is a terrible feeling because she is our baby! Richie found her outside at my parents house about 10 years ago. The doctors thought she was a year or so old, so we estimate she is around 11 years old. She could be older though. She is the very best and if she has any kind of problem, Richie and I get all worked up.

I picked her up yesterday afternoon and she seemed to be back to herself. She was very sleepy, but that was expected. We kept a close eye on her last night and seemed to be okay. This morning she was limping a little on her back legs. I bet she is a little sore from them taking blood and giving her some fluids. She ate her food, drank some water and used the litter box, so she seemed pretty good before I left for work. Hoping a incident like this will never happen again. Too much stress!

Dinner Duo

Tonight we had dinner with David and Catherine. We had not seen them in a few weeks, so we decided to meet up. Initially, David asked if we could meet up the night before, but Richie did not feel like going out. When David said "Fine. how about Tuesday night" I thought they had something to tell. Maybe an engagement, preggo or moving to the beach together. David swore he did not have anything to tell, but I thought something was up. To my surprise, the did not have any news, so we just ate dinner and chatted. Our schedules are pretty packed the next few weekends, so we may not see them for awhile. We had to get some face time in and our evening was a lot of fun!

Good News- we found out our friends, Trey and Carrie are pregnant. They have been trying for awhile and have had some bumps in the road, but all looks good for them now. YAY!

The Garage and the Lake

It is funny how the older we get, I find that all we do is hang out in people's garages. Usually, it is our garage, but we seem to rotate garages. It is pretty funny. Saturday, we went over to Bryan and Stephanie's and hung out with them. We went up to the pool for a little bit and went back to their house and ordered pizza. We hung out in the garage, drank beer and just talked all night. A few neighbors came over and entertained us. Stephanie, Alyssa and I were the only girls and we belly laughed the whole time. We had a blast.

Sunday, Richie brought home another waverunner and we took it to the lake. Bryan brought his boat and we had a party on the lake. By the end of the day, Bryans neighbor, Les, his son, David L, Brian B and Clay all joined us. We spent all day at Falls and found a quiet cove to hang out in. We randomly ran in to some old friends that we had not seen in about 10 years. We visited for a few minutes and got our contact info for future visits to the lake.

I did bang myself up though. Some times, I feel like I am 16 years old again and can do anything. After we pulled the boat out of the water, I was unloading all the towels out of the boat. When I was done, I hoped off the back of the boat and completed misjudged how far the ground was...I thought a foot, in reality it was about 3 1/2 feet. Needless to say, my feet hit the ground but my body was still in motion. I bit the ground and skinned up both knees. It was funny and stupid, but what can I do now? I got a nice bandaged up knee and a story to go with it!

Swollen Eye

Last night after crying and being upset about my Uncle Charlie my mom's contact was bothering her. She rubbed her eyes and they became very red. She took her contacts out and went to bed. Richie woke me up this morning saying "your moms eye is swollen shut". I was in such a deep sleep, I thought he was talking about his mother. Too funny. Indeed, her eyelid was swollen and she was unable to open her eye. She must have scratched her eye pretty bad. I put a cold compress on it, gave her some Advil and told her to rest. I had to do a work function, so I had to leave. On my way home, I got some drops and an adhesive eye patch for her. She was been wearing it all day and the swelling has gone down. The eye heals pretty quickly, so hopefully, she will be okay tomorrow.
Update: 6/30/09 Her eye is much better now- She can open it and see out of it. It is still a little red and she is a little sensitive to the bright sun, but it is almost 100%!

Uncle

My uncle Chalie had a valve replacement today. Although he is fine now, it did not look good for a few hours. Evidently, he had a tear somewhere and they could not stop the bleeding. A surgery that takes 6 hours, was in it's 8th hour, when doctors said it did not look good. Another doctor came out and said he was not going to give up on him. 10 hours after his going in for surgery, they came out very pleased and were going to close him up. It was amazing, a miracle, perhaps. My mother was so upset and sobbing. I refused to give up hope. He is now breathing on his own and in a lot of pain. The next few days will still be critical, but he chances are good now!
UPDATE: 6/30/09 Uncle Chalie is doing well. He had to have a permanent pacemaker put in yesterday. The doctors are very pleased and thinks he will recover well. He was a little agitated yesterday from anesthesia and the pain, but that is pretty normal. He is still in the ICU, but think he will be in his own room in the next couple days. Shewww!

Michael Jackson is gone

Hard to believe that Michael Jackson is dead. He floods my brain with so many memories. As a child, I l-o-v-e-d him. I made posters with pictures of him and kissed it all the time. I know, my mom still has it somewhere. He was a musical icon and I am saddened that he is gone. I ache for the 80's MJ that I loved dearly. In his later years, he was a little wacky, but I still believe he is innocent of the child molestation charges. Call me crazy, whatever.

I can't wrap my brain around it. Today, I wore my "Ode to Michael Jackson". Black pants, black shoes and bright white socks! LOL

C-Town Visit

Our C-town visit was awesome. The baby is precious and is such a good baby. She is happy and content doing her own thing. We arrived about 7 pm on Saturday night and were greeted with jager bombs. HA! It is tradition! We spent the evening hanging out, talking and cooking chicken wings. Paul received a big fryer for an early Fathers Day gift and of course, had to try it out. He made fried mushrooms and chicken wings. They were so good. After dinner we played Pop 5 and had a blast. Pop 5 is also tradition! Sunday we got up and had breakfast and headed to downtown C-town. We walked the riverfront and took in all the sites. We went to a rooftop restaurant that over looked the whole city. It was breath taking. We went to another restaurant later in the day by the marina. We sat outside and watched the yachts and shrimp boats come through the channel. It was pretty cool. We went home and grilled out and spend the rest of the evening hanging out on the back porch. What a great visit.

I did not enjoy Monday morning- I woke up and was very sick to my stomach. I had some kind of 24 hour bug that was attacking me with a vengeance. The worst part was I was 4 hours away from home. Needless to stay, the trip home was not pleasant, but all is well now. I am not sure what is was (we all ate the same thing and I was the only one sick). It took me a few days to feel back to normal, but now I have my appetite back and don't feel any weirder than usual . :-)

Farmers Market

I had to work close to the Farmers Market and after we were finished we decided to stop in for some lunch. I had never eaten at the Seafood Market and let me tell you...It was fantastic. I had fried shrimp and it was the best I have had in a long time. It was so good, I had to stop eating it, so I could bring some home for Richie. I would not be able to describe to hum how good it was, so I made sure to bring some home. The portions were huge! After Richie got home from work, I heated some up for him and he agreed, they were great! Reminded me of being at the beach.....Yummy!

Leaving tomorrow for C-town to visit Paul, Joanne and Hunter. Hunter is 3 months old already and we haven't seen her yet! I am so excited to see them...it has been too long. (4 months) When you go from seeing them everyday to not at all, 4 months is a long time! Can hardly wait!

Relaxing Weekend

Richie and I had a pretty laid back weekend. We hung out at the pool and relaxed. I was there on Saturday with my mom and then Richie , my mom and I went again on Sunday. We spent most of the day there and Becky joined us late in the day. We all decided that we were going to go to Rudinos and have some good food. We hung out on the rooftop, had great food, cold beverages and listened to a band play. It was a great end to a great weekend.

Waverunner Fun

Richie was able to get a demo waverunner from work and we spent the day at Jordan Lake with Trey and Carrie. We had a blast playing around with the waverunner. It was a beautiful day and we really enjoyed ourselves. While on the lake, we started to talk about food and what we wanted to eat...Mexican food. We all began craving it and had to go find the nearest Mexican restaurant. We left the lake and found a little taco shack. From the outside, it looked a little sketchy, but had great food. Good thing! Looking forward to many more days like this!

Skid Row Inc.

We all planned for a month or so to go to a live concert downtown last night. We met at David and Catherine's for a cookout and hung out there for awhile. We grilled up some burgers and sat outside on the deck for hours. Then we all headed downtown for the concert. Right before we headed out we doing a head count and packing into cars. I realized it has been a long time since all of us were together. There was 16 of us together and wouldn't you know, not one of us had a camera! Too funny! It has been such a long time since so many of us were all in one spot. Everybody has family things and other commitments, so when there is more then 6-8 of us-it is a big deal. We preceeded downtown to the concert and had a nice time. We kept losing everyone, but we had a "lost and found" spot. After the concert we all went out for drinks and shut the bar down. I am really hoping we can all get together again real soon.

A Drill and A Valium

Richie had his dentist appointment today to fix his front tooth. Unfortunately, all did not go as planned. He had way too much anxiety about the whole thing. He has very sensitive teeth and just talking about drilling teeth just makes his skin crawl. He freaks out and works himself up. I have a hard time relating because I enjoy going to the dentist. Maybe I am the twisted one. :-)
Basically, his blood pressure was way too high for the dentist to work on him. She said she has a range that he must be in and he exceeded that range. Now, he has to reschedule and go back- next time with a Valium. Boys...

Back To The Grind

Back to work after a 3 day weekend. We had wonderful weekend filled with friends, family, food and good times. I spent all day on Saturday at the pool. It was quiet and peaceful. The water was freezing, but I still went in. It was way too hot to just sit around the pool. Sunday, back to the pool. David, Richie, my Mom and a few of her friends all hung out together. We decided to do a Memorial Day cookout. (Did you thank a soldier and honor those we have lost?) We grilled steaks and chicken, had potatoes and corn on the cob. It was fantastic and hit the spot. Sunday we joined our friends Trey and Carrie on their new boat. We went to Jordan Lake and spent the day there. Their boat was fantastic and we had such a great time. It was a beautiful day and the sun was out! We did have about 45 minutes of a rain storm though. We spent most of those 45 minutes "running" from the rain. We raced the clouds and kept moving around the lake to avoid the rain. I think we got rained on for a total of 5 minutes. It was so much fun. Looking forward to many more lake trips!

How Old Am I?

I think the older we get the faster our birthdays come around. I can't figure out how some years take forever and then others just fly by. This was a very fast year for me. As fast as a little girls spin- You know, pretend....Spin, your hair is blowing back in your face, almost like you are trying to catch it. You are dizzy and have no idea where you are. It only lasts a second and then back to reality. Back to the reality-we are all getting older.

I love birthdays and enjoy the day being about me (although it should be about my Mom).
We celebrate by exchanging a few gifts and going out to dinner. Richie excused himself from the table and my Mom and I chatted. As I see Richie walking back to the table, he looked as though he had seen a ghost. He is upset, sits down, covers his mouth and says he chipped his tooth. Of course, I wanted to see it. Sure enough, he has a chunk missing from his front tooth. Evidently, he was biting his fingernail and somehow the tooth cracked. He must have done something prior to it and did not realize it. Who knows. Either way, my man looks like he just finished playing a very physical game of hockey with the Pittsburgh Penguins.! I know he will be able to get it fixed, so I was trying to make him laugh about it. He did not find the humor and is upset he has to go to the dentist. He is not a big fan of the dentist, but he has no choice. Those who know me well, know I have a thing for peoples teeth. It is the first thing I notice about a person.
After all the drama, we had a lovely dinner and Richie gave me a beautiful necklace and ring. He also gave me a huge Steelers throw for our couch. This throw should replace our other one, but I don't think I can let my old one go. :-) I will need some time to think on that one....

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful Mothers. May you spend this day being pampered with love. I love you, Mom!

"Mothers love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible." ~Marion C. Garretty, quoted in A Little Spoonful of Chicken Soup for the Mother's Soul

"My mom is a never ending song in my heart of comfort, happiness, and being. I may sometimes forget the words but I always remember the tune." ~Graycie Harmon

Believe it or Not

We are still moving my Mom's stuff out of her house. We are almost done with just one bathroom and closet remaining. Will it ever end? We now need to clean the house. I am just ready to pay for a maid service to come in and clean it. My back says it wants nothing to do with cleaning base boards.

Today was such a beautiful day outside. People were outside and birds were chirping. Yet, I felt like a little kid that has been grounded. I could look out the windows and see people enjoying the pool or just sitting around the pool sun bathing. I wanted to be there, but there is work that needs to be done.

When I was about 8 years old, I was sent to my room. More then likely, I had been "talking back" which is something I mastered at a young age. I had a toy chest that sat right under my window. I would go and sit on it and watch all the kids play in the street. I would sob just knowing I wouldn't be able to come out and play. I just wanted to go outside and run around, play, laugh and just be happy.

After today, I really miss my toy box.

Happy Birthday, Mom

Today is my Mom's birthday and what better way to celebrate, you ask? A Jimmy Buffett concert. The weather could not have been any more beautiful if it tried. We tailgated for about 4 hours before the concert started. We went with a group of people, set up a table, ran the blender and enjoyed our cocktails in the sun! Then we went into the concert, found a spot on the lawn and danced the rest of the night away. What a great time!

Finally= Progess

We have spent the last 10 days at my Mom's getting her stuff moved. Yesterday, was the epiphany- I finally saw progress and lots of it. Lots of her big stuff got moved out and put either in my house or in storage. I was so excited to see it actually coming together and the rooms starting to become empty. We are all mentally and physically drained today! Of course, I am the only one who had to work today! Boo! Richie has Mondays off and sometimes he forgets I have to work. Sundays are his big days because he has an extra day to rest. Basically, it is his Saturday! I have to remind him that at 11:30pm, I really need to go home and go to bed or else I could not function at work. I need my sleep. Today, when I woke up I was not as sore as I thought I would be. My back was throbbing last night and I had no idea how I would feel today. I was pleasantly surprised. I have may other muscles that are sore, but I can deal with that just fine.
As long as I can see the finish line in the near future....Hooray!

Happy Easter 2009

Happy Easter!
We have been in the process of moving my Mom into our house and it seems to be a never ending ordeal. We have been working like crazy the last few weeks and have seen minimal progress. It is so frustrating. I know that eventually it will all come together, but I am exhausted. Luckily, Richie has given us the afternoon "off" since we are going to cook Easter dinner. It will just be the 3 of us though. I am hoping Richie doesn't get a second wind after dinner....

Home from Charlotte

We are back home from our Charlotte weekend with The Cupp Clan and we had a blast. It is so quiet in our house and Richie and I are just staring at each other with nothing to do. Friday night, we has a wonderful time at John's 40th Surprise party. It was at a bbq restaurant and the food was great. The decoration were awesome and the cake was the best part. (We continued to eat the cake for the rest of the weekend.) I think John was surprised for the most part. I think he recognized some of the cars in the parking lot. He just has no idea who else was inside. We sang karaoke and just had a fun and crazy time. We went back to the house and hung out some more. The girls were already asleep, so I had to wait until the morning to see them. Although, Kathryn did come downstairs for a second, but I think she was partly sleepwalking. Haha. We hung out with the girls in the morning and decided to venture to IHOP in the rain. Rain would never get in the way of PANCAKES.... MC and I bonded that morning while putting on make-up, so we were buds all day long. Potty breaks included. Later that night, we cooked out on the grill. Yesterday, we got up, played with girls, visited with John and Leah, went to lunch and got on the road. It was a fun packed weekend and need to do it again sometime soon.

Pic: I wasn't initially in the picture, just jumped in. Looks silly because everyone else is positioned. Still think the pic of Richie and the girls is adorable.

Charlotte Bound

We are going to Charlotte this weekend for our friend John's surprise 40th birthday party! Richie and I are so excited. We have not seen The Cupp Clan in forever. John, of course, has no idea we are coming and that we are staying the weekend. We haven't been down to Charlotte in a couple years so it will be so nice to see everyone. The girls are 5 1/2 and 2 1/2 and loads of fun. I can't wait to see them. Gotta go pack for our weekend getaway!

Garage Work Con't

Since Richie built this nice storage loft above the garage door, we also decided to finish the drywall in the garage. When we have people over to the house we usually wind up hanging out in the garage. I never noticed how crappy our walls looked until I took pictures of people and the background looked horrible.

When the built our house almost 9 years ago they did not finish the drywall in the garage. Evidently, they are only required by code to finish the walls that connect to inside walls of the house. They wanted to charge us an outrageous amount of money to finish it completely. Back then, we thought we would do it and it would cost less if we did it ourselves. Boy, do I wish we just sucked it up and paid them. It was a lot of work. We spent a lot of time on ladders, mudding, sanding, taping and more sanding. Then we primed and painted the whole thing. Richie also added cabinets in the corner for more storage. Now that it is done, we are very happy with it.

This is the loft built above of garage door. It is about 20' in length, 8'depth and 3 1/2' in height. Lots of wasted space that we can now use for storage. YAY!
This is the garage finished with wet paint (that's why it is so shiny). I should take another picture minus the tarps.

Me Time

I just returned from a 4 day/3 night work conference. I was about an hour and half away from home and the conference itself went really well. The conference was for people all over our state and I was the only one from on county going. I did not know a soul. Most if the day we were in classes, but that was not the fun part. I had a hotel room by myself the entire time. It was great! I don't think I have ever in my life spent any time away from home by myself. At first, I thought about bringing Richie, but he had to work. Then I thought about taking my Mom, but after seeing my schedule I didn't think it would be worth it. I went to class and went back to my room, checked emails, ordered food and just did whatever I wanted! Bonus: my bed was made for me, the room was cleaned and fresh towels were placed in the bathroom. I realized that although this trip was work related, it felt more like a mini vacation. Now, that I am home and back to reality- I am off to do laundry! :-)

Happy Birthday.

Today is Richie's birthday. He has never been one to celebrate his birthday, so it will be a very low key day. My Mom is coming over and the 3 of us are having dinner. Then we are meeting some friends some out at a bar and grill. I still love celebrating my birthday- actually my birthday month. It reminds me of being a child and getting all exciting about birthday parties, cakes and being with friends and family. Even though, I get older those feelings are still there. Richie just lets the day pass like any other day. It drives me nuts and on the flip side, I think I drive him nuts for trying to plan something for his birthday. Oh well. Happy Birthday, Richie!

Projects

Richie is working on about 4 different projects right now. Although, he will finish them all, I don't understand why he is not finishing one before moving on to another. Right now, he is putting plywood down in our storage areas in the attic, working on a friend's motorcycle, remodeling his tool area in the garage and also building a storage loft in the garage. In between all this madness, my Mom will be moving into our house. We decided that my mom is going to come and stay with us for awhile, maybe a year or two. She is going to rent her house and save money. Since the economy is still not great, this will be the best option for her and also us in the long run. After we decided that this is what we are going to do, the projects began. Richie is adding all kinds of storage to our house. This will be great when he is done, but the process is such a pain. I have started cleaning and condensing closets to make more room also. We will see how it goes.

Medication Stupor

So just returned from a trip to my grandparents house. Although, not all the best circumstances, all is well now. My grandmother called me and 5 am on Tuesday morning stating that my grandfather was acting weird and seeing people that weren't there. My grandfather is a stubborn man who once, many years ago, had a stroke and waited 4 days until his already scheduled doctors appt. Why go to the doctors early..when he can just wait for his original appt. Grrr. My grandmother wanted to know what she should do since he would refuse to go to the doctor or hospital. She listens to him regardless and it bothers me that she won't use her better judgement and make the call. Different people, different times, I guess. After asking her a few questions, I didn't think he needed to go to the hospital, but if anything changed my grandmother was instructed to call 911. I called my mom and we headed 7 hours north. I was nervous and worried that he may have had another stoke or a transient ischemic attack (TIA). It was fear of the unknown and when you are in a car, driving a fast as you can-it is high anxiety. When we arrived, I looked at him and realized he was looking right through me. I asked him how he felt and he said "terrible". He was hallucinating and talking to people how were not in the room. I can't even explain in words, how I felt. I looked at his medication and realized he was taking WAY too much pain medication. I stopped the medication immediately. As a nurse in the family, they think I am suppose to have all the answers. I do not claim to know everything, but some things are just basic nursing skills. Although, not a doctor, I do feel more confident in my judgement than the judgement of his 85 year old, near death or retirement doctor. After a day or so without all the pain medication, my grandfather began feeling better and more like himself. What a relief that was. I wrote down all the medications they are taking and have made a pack with my grandmother that they are not to take any medications again, without checking we me first. Hopefully, this will work and we will not be in the situation again. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Happy Valentine's Day

Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day. Richie and I went out to dinner at the Olive Garden earlier this week. With V-Day falling on a Saturday, there was no way I was venturing out into that mad rush. Plus, I had been craving Olive Garden for a few weeks and this gave us the perfect excuse to go. I always get Chicken Parm....yummm. We spent Valentines Day with my mom, her friend Becky and Becky's daughter Amanda. We had a Mexican buffet and played games all night. It was such a blast. Since Richie was the only guy there, he decided that he was going to be the man of the night....He had bought roses for me, but prior to giving them to me he pulled a rose from the vase and presented one to all the ladies...it was very sweet. I sat back for a moment and looked at him in awe. Of course, I did not mind sharing my flowers because it made every one's night. He made my V-Day great by thinking of others who didn't have a valentine. Gotta love em!**Not my flowers, took a pic off the internet

Payoff

Richie and I paid off his truck today! We paid it off a year earlier than expected so I am very excited. Since we bought Sammy (the Saturn) a few months ago, we have been making double car payments. I know this is probably normal in most households across the world, but it drives me nuts. So much money a month out the door. So we tried to budget well and pay the truck off early. Success! Hopefully, we can do the same thing with Sammy and then it will be time for Richie to get a new truck. If we can keep it to one car payment at a time, that will make me happy. Randy (the Ranger) has had a hard year so he needs a little TLC. Ever since I rolled him right before Labor Day weekend, he hasn't been to happy with me. :-) Hopefully, by making him officially ours, he will begin to like me again.

Super Bowl Sunday- Go Steelers

Steelers won the Super Bowl. We are so excited! The game came down to the last few minutes and boy, were we a nervous wreck. Luckily, they pulled it off! We had a few people over and had a great day. We played football out in the yard, drank cold beer, watched football and hung out with great friends. What a great day...just bummed that football season is over.

Super Bowl Saturday

Paul, our old neighbor, came into town and we decided to go out. We went to a little hole in the wall bar that a friend of ours works in. Paul got a new Steelers jersey for his birthday and wore it. We all decided to wear our Steelers gear out too. I think there was 6 of us wearing jerseys. It was pretty funny. I usually do not like wearing jerseys out on a random night because people get nasty. I just don't understand why people want to pick fights over football teams. We got lots of good hoots and hollers this time though. We all came back to our house and it became a really late night. I was not anticipating such a late night since I still have so much work to do for the Super Bowl party we decided to have. Lets just hope that doing things differently doesn't jinx of tomorrow for the game.

Deja vu~ Seeing Snow

I got to see snow again, although this time is wasn't many, many miles north, it was in my backyard. We have not had any snow accumulation in about 4 years here. It was very pretty to watch fall from the sky, but as expected it shut down the city for a few days. School was out for 2 days and many businesses closed. I did get a snow day out of it. Richie and I just vegged on the couch and did nothing. We had done a few projects over the weekend, so decided we just wanted to lie around and just watch the snow fall. We did venture out later in the day, threw a few snowballs and called it a day. A little glimpse of our street.!

Steelers

The Steelers are going to the Super Bowl. We are so excited and can't wait. We are debating about having a Super Bowl Party. Although, our house is the place we gather at especially in the summer and for special occasions, we can't decide what to do. See there is superstition that plays a role in this. Richie does not want to mess up the mojo! My mom, Richie and I have to sit in our special spot on the couch. This also requires wearing the exact same thing that we wore the weekend before when they won. If we have a party then things would be different. So, if we lose-guess who takes the blame! Of course, it is all in fun except Richie means business. :-)

The picture is of Richie right after the Steelers won and YES, that is a fathead on our living room wall!

Seeing Snow

Just returned home from visiting the family in the northeast. We went for a long weekend to celebrate a late Christmas. We had a good time and were actually able to see snow! Seeing snow for a day is beautiful. No worries, the roads were salted and the city did not shut down for an inch of snow. Amazing- here an inch could shut down the city-yes, really. We have experienced that on more than one occasion. My grandmother in doing well, but my grandfather is not in the best shape. He is just starting to feel better about a 6 week bout with shingles. He is still in a lot of pain and is very uncomfortable. His color is not good and he doesn't really have an appetite. It is really scary, but I am hoping he will get better soon. For what I understand, shingles is very painful and unpleasant. He, of course, still has his humor which kept us pretty entertained for most of the weekend. I bought him a fart machine from Spencers for Xmas and he loved it. Although every time one of us bent over he pressed the button- Too funny. Later in the weekend, he began answering the phone with it. The phone rang, he picked it up and pushed the button on the fart machine. It was hysterical. We are a twisted family, but laughed every time- Laughter is the best remedy, right?

Happy New Year 2009

We went to a party at my mom's friends house New Years Eve. We all had a great time. There had to be about 40 people hanging out. They had awesome food and drinks and went all out for New Years. We did a Spanish tradition- when the clock strikes 12, we eat 12 grapes, one for every month for good luck. The key is that all 12 have to be eaten before 12:01am. It was so funny to watch everyone throw grapes in their mouth as fast as the could. My mom dropped one and quick picked it up. She said "oh no, that was August" and threw it in her mouth. 5 second rule, I guess. It was a riot. I like the grape traition much better than pork and sauerkraut. Pork and sauerkraut has been our family's long lasting tradition. Eating P&S on New Years Day will ensure good luck through the year. I never liked sauerkraut and still don't like it. As a child, I dreaded the whole routine. I would hold my nose, take a pinch of sauerkraut and swallow it with one giant gulp. Awful! I remember once or twice, my parents did not think I had taken enough and I had to do it all over again. 2001 was the last year I ate P&S. After moving into my own home, I decided that I would no longer carry on this tradition. I did not like it and was not going to force myself to do it any longer. Of course, my family was a little upset, but I started my own traditions that year. Sauerkraut not included. :-)