CHUCK IN A BOX

54 more days until my much deserved and very needed vacation (not that I’m counting or anything).  I’m so looking forward to whole ritual of making lists (a habit I developed from my mom), getting everything all together and packed, loading up the car and arriving at Recess.  Heck even the drive is exciting to me – especially the moment you come around the bend on Rt. 158 at Point Harbor and see the Wright Memorial Bridge crossing the Currituck Sound – that’s when I know I’ve truly arrived!

This year should be interesting – we’re gonna have a house full:  Keith and I, Jeff and Maria (friends of ours from NY), Allie (Keith’s daughter) and I think a friend of her’s from college, my niece Amber – yay Plan B. (maybe her boyfriend Johnny – not sure about that one yet) and maybe even Ashley (Keith’s oldest) and her boyfriend.

I’m kinda bummed that Ian and his family won’t be able to make it (I was really looking forward to crabbing with him again) but, it sounds like they’ve got a number of other summer vacation plans so it all works out in the end.

I think I’ve talked mom into using Outer Beaches for next years vacation – this time dad is gonna pay – since it looks like they (Outer Beaches) are going to continue their ‘Vacation Lay-a-Way‘ program.  I have to say, that is one of the best marketing ideas – you just have the total rental broken down into 12 payments which are automatically applied to your bank account or credit card.  The old way of paying for vacation homes was about 50% down within 30 days of booking the house with the remaining 50% due 30 days prior to arrival.  They do not charge interest at all, nor do they charge some of those ridiculous fees that other agencies charge.

I’m looking forward to sharing my OBX passion with Jeff and Maria – I don’t think they’ve ever been to the Outer Banks before.  Hopefully they won’t be bored with a more laid back vacation destination and will enjoy themselves quite a bit.

Family…Food…Friends…Fun – in no particular order at all, these are really things that make life worth living.  This was a GREAT Easter weekend and I had a blast.  Saturday we had an Easter egg hunt with some of the younger members of our family and extended family and Sunday we had Easter dinner with my best friend and his partner.

Saturday morning sort of had me worried – I mean it was supposed to be in the low 80′s and it didn’t get there fast enough – the day actually started out kinda cool and overcast but that changed just in time!  We had Ian and Nicky with Audrey; we had April and Shannon with Aden along with April’s mom and her new beau; and we had Isabella (Isa) and Antonio (Toni) all over for lunch and the hunting of pastel, plastic candy-filled eggs.  Apparently the warning I’d given the twins earlier about letting the little ones get a chance at the eggs must have fallen on deaf little ears.  We had to reign them in a couple of times so that Aden and Audrey could get some too.

The weather was great and we had a simple lunch of hot dogs, chips & hummus and beans – had to have something the dwarfs would eat!  Sadly, Audrey wasn’t feeling well – the poor thing was coughing up a lunch – so Ian and Nicky left a bit early to get the baby to the doctor.  Keith later told me Ian or Nicky had called to let us know that apparently Aud was having an asthma attack – egads but she was feeling a bit better.  After the rest of the folks left, the twins and I hung out until our 4:30 showing of How to Tame Your Dragon (in RealD 3D) – side note – it was a SUPER movie and I swear the 3D effects actually seemed better than those in Avatar.

Sunday we futzed around the house doing some gardening and cleaning of the pond and Keith did some cooking.  Ben and Tim came over after going to the annual Easter event, ‘Monument on Parade‘ and we had a nice dinner.  Keith made cauliflower and blue cheese soup, a delicious green bean/red onion/olive/hard boiled egg salad, leg of lamb roasted with fingerling potatoes and olives and for dessert a yummy Meyer lemon crepe cake that he found in the Easter edition of Martha Stewart Living.  Although I didn’t really eat my lamb (it’s just a me thing – I think the idea of a baby animal coupled with the musky smell/taste is just something I can’t hack) I did wolf down 2 bowls of the soup and ate everything else — yes, yes I put my NutriSystem on hold for the day but, I’ll be back to it tomorrow.  (Hell, I’m just proud I’ve gone from 232 down to 215 in about 2 months – YAY ME!)

Now, I’m winding down my day on the back deck with a glass of Barefoot Moscato (thank you Nicky for turning me on to this – I think I like it even better than my normal Chateau Morrisette ‘Our Dog Blue‘!!) and my laptop (yay home wi-fi) blogging about my fantastic weekend filled with family, friends, food and fun!!

Or….Adventures in House/Pet Sitting.

So I’m house sitting for my best friend Ben and his husband Tim while they are in Phoenix visiting Tim’s parents, not a bad gig at all.  The house is great, tons of movies, the dogs are easy, takes less time to get to work than driving from P’Burg, etc. but, this morning the house alarm starts beeping at 3:30. 

Now, maybe … just maybe, watching the extended uncut version of  The Strangers was not my best idea last night.  When the beeping starts all I can think is “OMG WTF do I do now there might be someone in the house!”   I cannot explain just how weird it felt to have the fight or flight thing kick in and the adrenaline rush.  Let’s quietly open the bedroom door and see if we hear anything downstairs in the totally dark 3000+ sq. foot house.  Out onto the landing I creep and turn on the foyer light still listening – what if they are in the shadows?  I summon my inner ‘butch’ and yell out “Hey, is someone down there?!” (Yes, like the criminale’s are gonna answer me?)  No answer.  I start realizing that if the alarm had actually been set off, surly the alarm company would have called by now asking if everything was okay, right?  Next I decide I shall pull a Montgomery Burns and order Smithers to ‘Release the Hounds!’ (Said hounds being a teacup Chihuahua and 2 small Cockapoos).  They don’t exactly go charging downstairs either….nice.

NOT what I wanted to see.

I decided to butch it up even more and try to find something to bash possible intruders with – now Ben and Tim have lots of nice things, a collection of ruby glass, various pottery pieces (yeah I’ll throw a piece of Roseville pottery…NOT), and other decorative objet d’art but nothing really usable as a weapon.  I finally settle on a metal finial/obelisk that I could use as a club…I guess and start downstairs with telephone, alarm fob (panic button FTW!), dogs (even remembered that I had to carry Lucy – the Chihuahua – downstairs).  Wow if a burglar had been there, imagine the site…..white guy in t-shirt and sweat shorts with pockets bulging from stuff; a chihuahua in one hand and an artful club in the other – I could disable the intruder with fits of laughter maybe?

Walking around turning on EVERY single light in the house and checking all doors and such didn’t take much time and I started to calm down.  Maybe it was a power surge/outage – nope, the clocks on the stove, microwave, dishwasher, etc. were not doing that flashy thing.  I did, however, draw the line at creeping around outside to see if anyone was out there but, surely a brightly lit house would deter them if they were still lurking.  Certainly the alarm company would have called if someone had set off the motion detectors or one of the window/door sensors.

Now I was wide awake sooooooooo let’s get the girls breakfast and make coffee … since we’re already up (I doubt I can convey the sarcasm strongly enough).  I guess this means that I will get an early start to head to the ‘burg to visit with Keith, my pups, and my bed today.  Tomorrow, he’s going to come up to Richmond and spend the day with me here. 

So yeah, that’s my day so far and it’s only *looks at clock* 5:41 AM now.  YAY the coffee is ready!

Miss America pose with Birthday Princess crown!

So, this past Sunday was my 40th birthday – I have officially entered ‘trolldom’ well, at least that was how I used to view it.  Now….not so much – I’m actually very happy with my life.  I knew I was having a party (well, if Keith knew what was good for him that is, I was going to have a party) and up until last Saturday, I thought the party was going to be Sunday.  My best friend, Ben, had invited us to his house for dinner Sunday evening and I figured that was the same ruse as I used to get Keith to Ben’s house for his 50th so he must have been using the same thing for my 40th.

So Saturday I bought some new jeans, a new shirt and said I was going to run out Sunday morning to get some new shoes so I could be all dolled up for my ‘surprise party’.  Later that night I asked what was for dinner and Keith said we were having Tomato soup  and grilled cheese – a little lackluster but still….yummy.  My phone rang and I didn’t recognize the number at first so, I ignored it then the same number called again and I thought it looked a little familiar but still didn’t answer.  I checked the number and it was Kristy’s – now since Keith had told me I was not allowed to talk to anyone because I’m one of those naturally nosey people who try to worm details (say about an upcoming party) out of folks – so I told Keith he might want to call her back.

Keith called Kristy and I ended up on the phone – it seems she’d bought a load of books (she owns Minerva Books – a great new & used bookstore here in the ‘burg) and couldn’t get anyone to help her unload them.  Her partner Beth was at reserves for the weekend and no one else was available to help.  Since I like her I had no problem helping….she offered to take us to dinner for our trouble but, I wouldn’t hear of it, after all, what are friends for, right?

I had already settled into my flannel lounge pants, grubby t-shirt, and house slippers for the evening so, I just threw on some dirty pants and slipped on my shoes – after all, I was just going to be hauling boxes of books, right?  During the short drive to Minerva’s Keith was chattering away and in retrospect, I think he was doing it to take my mind off of my birthday.  We pulled into the lot and after getting out I thought,”Wow, that BMW looks like Terri and Kartik’s car and wait a minute, that’s a Mazda 5 like Shannon and April have.”  Kristy met us outside and as we were walking to the door, I could see the balloon bouquets – too late I realized what was going on and I had no choice but to go on in.  Me….who won’t go to the mailbox without fixing my hair was being delivered to my surprise party without having bathed, without deodorant or cologne; with my hair a mess; and wearing a dirty shirt, pants, slip on shoes and a wind jacket.  OH the inhumanity of it all – for documented proof —–> Click Here

All in all I had a wonderful time and was actually surprised.  It was so nice of my friends and my family (well my Aunt Joey and Uncle Leon) to celebrate a milestone birthday with me!  I felt bad that my mom had made it about a block away but, got confused since she doesn’t really drive at night or in Petersburg and went home.  I sort of fault my father for not coming with her but, what the hell I had a good time even if my parents, sisters, nieces, nephews, son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter didn’t show – nope…not the least bit bitter.  Yeah Right! LOL.  

Hey, it’s all good – I got my Wii and I got to spend time celebrating with many of my best friends and family!  I especially liked the ‘Birthday Princess’ crown LOL!!