Grandma Jean was here to babysit, so we were able to go out for our traditional Chinese dinner (Mon Jin Lau if you’re interested—it was VERY good and I would highly recommend it)!
Our 8th Anniversary!
Category Archives: Holidays
The 4th of July is over. Please be quiet. Part 2.
So, a big THANK YOU to the neighborhood jackass(es) who are still popping firecrackers and noisemakers on the 7th of July and waking me up from a dead sleep at 10pm.
Can I please come wake YOU up with a crying baby at 2am? If only I knew exactly who you were…
The 4th of July is over. Please be quiet.
Ugh.
So right now, the neighbor boy is lighting off what I can only assume are leftovers. Not even fireworks, but just shit that makes loud pops and bangs. Really >:XX irritating to me since the baby is napping, I’m trying to nap, and the dog is freaking out.
It’s just not necessary.
I know, I know, it’s a boy and boys do crap like that but the parents are obviously letting him. Whatever. It’s still >:XX irritating. I can literally feel my blood pressure rising with each bang and pop.
Yes, I’m turning into a crotchety old person. GET OFF MY LAWN.
Happy Birthday!
In a spurt of creativity this morning, I thought I would try to get a photo of Owen to send to his Aunt Kathryn…and it came out really cute so I thought I’d share it here!
Happy Father’s Day!
We started the day by trying out the Bumbo seat—and he barely fits in it! (Well, he fits fine—I’m sure it’s supposed to be a little form-fitting. But his little chunky legs are somewhat wedged in there.)
Anyway, we should have been using it WAAAAY before now, but we were waiting because we thought he was supposed to be able to hold his head up on his own (when sitting upright) before using it—but he did just fine.
We also tried more oatmeal (cereal) while he was in the chair…and he actually ate it! We probably got about a teaspoon total before he got cranky! He didn’t really like it going in (we got the screwed up WHAT DID YOU JUST PUT IN MY MOUTH? face, but it stayed in and he let us do tiny spoonful after tiny spoonful!). YAY! :>>
And then it was time for a cute new outfit. And guess what size it is? JUST GUESS. No, it’s a 9-month size! NINE MONTHS! And it’s just about too small!! He’s not even five months old yet!!
Then we had some mommy time:
And finally some daddy time!!
Favorite Mother’s Day Moment
Great email story—who knows if it’s true or not, but it’s certainly hilarious!
So, we had this great 10 year old cat named Jack who just recently died. Jack was a great cat and the kids would carry him around and sit on him and nothing ever bothered him. He used to hang out and nap all day long on this mat in our bathroom.
Well we have 3 kids and at the time of this story they were 4 years old, 3 years old and 1 year old. The middle one is Eli. Eli really loves chapstick. LOVES it. He kept asking to use my chapstick and then losing it. So finally one day I showed him where in the bathroom I keep my chapstick and how he could use it whenever he wanted to but he needed to put it right back in the drawer when he was done.
Last year on Mother’s Day, we were having the typical rush around and try to get ready for Church with everyone crying and carrying on. My two boys are fighting over the toy in the cereal box. I am trying to nurse my little one at the same time I am putting on my make-up. Everything is a mess and everyone has long forgotten that this is a wonderful day to honor me and the amazing job that is motherhood.
We finally have the older one and the baby loaded in the car and I am looking for Eli. I have searched everywhere and I finally round the corner to go into the bathroom. And there was Eli. He was applying my chapstick very carefully to Jack’s . . . rear end. Eli looked right into my eyes and said “chapped.”
Now if you have a cat, you know that he is right—their little butts do look pretty chapped. And, frankly, Jack didn’t seem to mind. And the only question to really ask at that point was whether it was the FIRST time Eli had done that to the cat’s behind or the hundredth.
And THAT is my favorite Mother’s Day moment ever because it reminds us that no matter how hard we try to civilize these glorious little creatures, there will always be that day when you realize they’ve been using your chapstick on the cat’s butt.
To Those Born 1930 – 1979
From an email that is circling around these days which I thought was pretty good and worth a reprint here:
TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the1930’s 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and 70’s!!
First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn’t get tested for diabetes.
Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking. As infants and children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts or air bags.
Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank kool-aid made with sugar, but we weren’t overweight because…
WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING! We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We did not have Play stations, Nintendos, X-Boxes, no video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVDs, no surround-sound or CD’s, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or chat rooms…WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!
Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever! The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!
If YOU are one of them . . . CONGRATULATIONS!
You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good and while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave (and lucky) their parents were.
Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn’t it?! :>>
What an eater!
So last night didn’t go as I expected. What else is new, right? :))
It took forever (it seemed) to put him to bed. I think we started at about 7:45 or 8 and the last time I looked at the clock (when he was still wiggling about) it was 9:30.
So, I figured, cool—he might sleep until 3:30 or 4:30.
Ha.
HA HA.
He was up at—are you ready?—12:30! HE ONLY SLEPT THREE HOURS! I debated just giving him a tide-me-over bottle but then thought no, I might as well just do our usual routine, so I made the full 6oz. And the little bugger snarfed it…and wanted more! So I ended up making another 2oz!! 88|
So I was back in bed by 1:30 and he was still wiggling away with his mobile on…but he was quiet, so all was well. And then he slept until 5:30—or four hours. Which, I remember being excited about him sleeping four hours in a row—but after nights of six and seven hours, four sucks. Especially since I thought maybe since he only slept three at first, the long shift would come second. Nope. Stinker.
Then when he got up at 5:30, I made another 6oz bottle (normally I would do 4oz but I had a feeling)…and he ate the entire thing! I hoped he would go back down for an hour or two (because I was exhausted) but, alas, he woke up when daddy came home from the gym (to shower) so we were both up for the day! XX(
But, holy wah, by 6am he had already eaten 14oz, or just about half of what he has normally been eating in a day (anywhere from 28-36, but usually about 32)! As of 11:30, he had eaten 22oz! I can’t wait to see how much his total is for the day. I am hoping he eats enough so that he doesn’t wake up tonight and sleeps right through to (at least) 6am. But I am guessing it’s a growth spurt and the non-sleeping will continue.
I know it’s only been four months (his four month birthday is next week) but at this rate, I am not sure he will have a sibling because I really don’t want to go through this again. |-|
What a weekend!
What an amazing weekend this has been…
Why, you ask? What could have happened to make it so amazing?
Well, Tom had most of it off!! Yes, the guy who typically works six days a week, up to 12 hours a day, and who rarely gets weekends off…got Friday off, most of Saturday off (he worked until about 10am), Sunday off, and Monday off!!
When he first told me (Thursday night), I was just stunned into silence. What were we going to do? We hadn’t had that much time off together…since Owen was born! Of course all our to-do lists popped into mind, but mostly I just wanted to have family time—time for daddy and Owen to spend together!
After the first day (Friday) it already felt like we had had a week off! It was that amazing! I didn’t even mind him going into work on Saturday because I knew we still had lots of time left together! We also had lunch with cousin Lori at a new restaurant (for us) and had a very enjoyable time! When we got home, Michaels called and said our photo was done. I love love love how it turned out:
At this point I can’t even remember all that we did, but I know we all had fun! Of course we did get to some of the to-dos (the garage is now mostly organized) but those weren’t our main focus! Daddy and Owen played quite a bit, and daddy even took over most of the feedings so mommy could have a break! And mommy got to sleep in three mornings instead of just her normal one (Sunday)! (It would have been four mornings, but all of us were actually awake, so we all sat and played in bed!)
The weather was gorgeous, so we grilled each night and ate most of our dinners outside (when dad and Lin were here last week, we got the patio furniture cleaned and ready to go). Tom was able to mow the lawn. We went to the park and played on the swings (see this post on the Baby Blog).
In short, it was heaven…or, for most people, what a normal life must be like.
I wish it could be like this every weekend, but I will take what I can get!!
More swinging!
Since it was a gorgeous day, we all headed to the park! Most of his outfit is made up of pieces I bought from my friend Jen in Jacksonville…the Nautica sweatshirt, Ralph Lauren cap, and gray sweatpants!
A great first Mother’s Day!
Technically my day started at 4am when I got up to feed the boy, but I’d say my day really started when Tom took the boy so I could sleep in—which I did until about 8:30! 😀
Then Tom made me a breakfast of scrambled eggs with sausage and cheese, and said he was going to head to Lowe’s to get planting soil and more basil—and he was going to plant everything for me! The boy’s eating and napping schedule changed that slightly, and we ALL ended up going out for errands. We talked about maybe going somewhere for lunch, but figured that since it was Mother’s Day, every place was going to be packed—so we thought we’d just play it by ear.
On the way to Lowe’s, I remembered that we had to stop by Michael’s to check on our frame job (two weeks ago we finally took in our canvas photo from the cruise and apparently the frame was messed up, and we either had to pick another frame or wait for the frame to come off of backorder).
After we took care of that, we were walking back to the car and I happened to notice across the parking lot that Fuji Japanese Buffet was open. What’s Fuji Japanese Buffet you ask? An all-you-can-eat sushi and Asian food buffet! We have talked about going there before but have just never made it. So over we went! (So the boy had his second restaurant outing in as many days!)
And WOW was it yummy! They had a Mother’s Day special running which was a few dollars more per person than their normal price, but they had more specialty items as well. (We said we’ll have to go again to see what a normal service includes.) I stuffed myself silly on sushi—but only managed to eat two plates full! I still got my money’s worth, though, so it was all good!
Then it was off to Lowe’s where we picked up the gardening stuff we needed, and then it was back home—just in time because Owen was ready to eat.
It turns out Tom didn’t do the planting because it is supposed to frost tonight—so that will come tomorrow. But I did get in a nap!!! YAY!!! And then Tom watched the boy so I was able to make dinner! (He apologized for me having to make dinner but I was more than happy to do it since I hardly even have the time or energy to do it anymore!)
So it’s been a WONDERFUL first mother’s day!!!
In honor of Mother’s Day
This was an email forwarded to me by my mom!
Before I was a Mom,
I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn’t worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.
Before I was a Mom,
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.
I slept all night.
Before I was a Mom,
I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.
Before I was a Mom,
I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn’t want to put her down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn’t stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.
Before I was a Mom,
I didn’t know the feeling of having my heart outside my body..
I didn’t know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.
I didn’t know that bond between a mother and her child.
I didn’t know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.
Before I was a Mom,
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth,
the joy,
the love,
the heartache,
the wonderment,
or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn’t know I was capable of feeling so much,
before I was a Mom…
Happy Easter!
Owen’s first Easter! In little man clothes!
Owen’s Official Birth Story, Part 2
https://www.hudson2001.com…ial-birth-story
I have finally written Part 2 of the Official Birth Story—but have included it in the original post. You can get to it by clicking the link above.
I thought it was appropriate, writing it on his two-month birthday. B)
Schwalmlette & Smithlette Name Draws for 2009
Since I always seem to lose the list from year to year, I thought this year I would try posting it on my blog so I KNOW where it is. 🙂
The results of the random.org list generator for Christmas 2009 are:
Filipek buys for Coe
Schwalm buys for Hudson
Coe buys for Filipek
Hudson buys for Schwalm
Marie is elated because this means she FINALLY gets a calendar. 🙂
29 Weeks
WebMD:
Your baby measures about 10.4 inches from crown to rump, or a total length of about 16.7 inches from head to toe, and weighs about 2.7 pounds. At this stage a fetus’ eyes are almost always blue and can distinguish bright sunlight or artificial light through the wall of the uterus. Baby is performing fewer acrobatics as conditions in the womb have become cramped now that he is getting bigger. Your uterus is about 3.5 to 4 inches above your navel. Weight gain is probably between 19 and 25 pounds. If born now, your baby could probably survive outside the womb—although in a neonatal intensive-care unit. As your due date approaches, you may be feeling relieved and excited, or anxious about motherhood, your baby’s health, and labor and delivery.
Baby Gaga:
If you’ve been feeling butterflies moving around in your belly, it’s not just your run-of-the-mill pre-birth performance anxiety. No, it’s your amazing baby with a case of the hiccups: a fairly common occurrence at this point resulting from practicing breathing for their big birthday. In addition, to getting a round of butterfly-like hiccups, your little swimmer has arduously managed to accumulate enough baby fat to account for nearly 3.5% of their overall body weight. Yeah, compared to we adults, it’s not a lot, but when they’re little like that—it’s certainly a healthy (and warming) accomplishment in its way. Another fantastic accomplishment: your baby’s spleen is now in charge of hematopoiesis—the 10 dollar name for the process involved in building up certain important blood components. Another fantastic-accomplishment: your little monkey has been peeing into their amniotic sac for a little while now (this is why potty training takes a while) and if you didn’t know, actually swallows it along with the rest of the amniotic fluid. Although the concept is nasty, their urine is sterile and as part of the amniotic fluid base, is replaced several times throughout the day. So if you didn’t know before, now you can tell people, that yes, you drank your own urine—you were still in the womb, but nonetheless, you’ve been there.
Happy Halloween
To hand out treats or not—that is the question.
Pros?
- It would be a nice welcome to the neighborhood—show who we are, that we’re nice people.
- I have the pumpkin.
- I have the treats.
Cons?
- The pumpkin isn’t carved. (I personally HAVE TO HAVE a carved pumpkin to hand out treats, even though it isn’t technically necessary.)
- We will have family visiting—and most likely eating at the witching hour.
- We don’t have a good setup. The screen door makes two doors to open. Even if we leave the main door open…
- We have to make sure three animals don’t escape—which can be done but with everything else, just adds to the not-wanting-to-do-it feel.
So, we might just have a bag of candy for ourselves this year (instead of just the leftovers).
Cinco de Mayo
YAY for Cinco de Mayo!
Or rather, I should say YAY for a husband that went shopping at Trader Joe’s after he dropped his mother off at the airport, and brought home yummy mexican appetizers for dinner…and had a margarita waiting for me when I walked in the door.
Red Lobster? Not again anytime soon.
Marsha picked Red Lobster for her birthday lunch. Of course, she was going on the thought that HER Red Lobster has great service and good food… We have had varied experiences there, but we thought we’d give it a shot and hope for the best.
Needless to say, we don’t need to go back to this Red Lobster anytime in the future.
We only had to wait about 10 minutes to be seated (not bad) but it got worse from there. The service sucked—a waitress didn’t even approach us until we had been sitting there almost 5-7 minutes (and in the meantime, we saw two girls arguing over who would take our table—then it took another 3 or so minutes after that for someone to actually come over).
And then the waitress was slow, talked too softly, and didn’t really seem to care. Tom and I ordered the Endless Soup & Salad, thinking “How could they screw that up?”
Well, some of the lettuce in our salads was half wilted, the soups were lukewarm at best, and we didn’t get the biscuits until about minute 35 (after everyone was done with their salads and before the meals came out). Marsha said the breaded shrimp was dry, the breaded fish was inedible, the tartar sauce was bad, and she didn’t really like the other thing she got (I forget what it was).
When the waitress came back to refill drinks, she made a comment about needing to bring us more ice, so didn’t fill the drinks to the top—but then never came back with ice.
To make matters worse, a table of eight that was seated after us (right next to us) had a different waitress and got drink and appetizer orders taken with two minutes of being seated—so we were even more ticked at the poor service.
The manager did come over to ask how things were, but at that point we were just on our salads, so the worst hadn’t even come yet—and to be honest, we didn’t want to upset anyone mid-meal, LOL, for fear of what could potentially happen.
As we all agreed, we’ve had far better and far worse meals. So we left a bad tip AND a full comment card with our phone number and copy of the receipt.
It doesn’t feel like Easter.
I hate it not feeling like Easter.
Easter used to be this great day when my whole family (mom’s side) would get together at my grandpa’s house (an 1.5 hour drive for us, we’d go for the whole weekend), you’d get dressed up, the house would smell for hours of delicious things like sausage (oh, the sausage…the stuff of dreams!), cheesy potatoes, ham…and the side dishes like deviled eggs and our family’s homemade dill pickles. After dinner the guys would do the dishes (no dishwasher at the old house) and then we’d spend the rest of the afternoon playing cards and chatting. And there would always be the delicious leftovers to take home (well, minus the deviled eggs!).
Now we have moved away. And my grandfather has died. And my mom just told me they aren’t even getting together this year because too many people couldn’t make it.
I know people are busier than ever in today’s world, but I honestly wonder why so many of them couldn’t make it to an afternoon meal?
Oh well.
I just really miss family get-togethers, and it makes me sad to miss them—and to know that even though everyone (except us) still lives close enough to each other to make it work and it still doesn’t work? :'(
So our Easter is going to be spent outside on yard work: We have to pull up a dead tree in the front yard and replace it (already purchased). Tom wants to fertilize the lawn. Bushes need to be trimmed. Weeds need to be pulled. Hopefully it will be another perfect-weather day like yesterday (mid 70s, breezy, and sunny) so being outside will be wonderful.
But it still won’t feel like Easter.
New Year’s Weekend in Raleigh
https://www.hudson2001.com/scrapbook/2007/rrnye2/
I spent New Years in Raleigh again this year, with the same people we spent it with last year. Of course it really stunk not having Tom there—and everyone REALLY missed him—but I did manage to have a good time! Tom was also able to call at his normal times, so he got to talk to probably 10 different people over the course of the weekend!
One of the first highlights of the trip was finally making it to a Trader Joe’s—if you haven’t heard of it, it’s a very cool grocery store. Andrew was kind enough to tag along and give me his recommendations. I was limited to non-perishable items, so I only spent $50, and when I told Tom, he said “ONLY $50?!” I didn’t have time for a return trip, but I do know that when we make the pilgrimage when he returns, we are taking two coolers. So far, I give thumbs up to the Dark Chocolate Edamame, Buttermilk Garlic Mashed Potato Chips, and some sort of spicy/jalapeno Flatbread that went wonderfully with the horseradish cheese dip. Those things didn’t make it out of Raleigh. The Dark Chocolate Pistachio Toffee gets a major thumbs up and the Asiago Peppercorn bread was okay plain–but much better toasted with a dab of butter and a sprinkle of fresh romano. The sweet potato chips were MEH (I keep thinking I will love them, but they are just okay). On tap (read: not sure if it it will survive until hubby gets home) are Sweet Potato Bisque, Rich Onion Soup, Mint Hot Chocolate, Dark Chocolate Covered Mints, Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Filled Pretzels, Piccata Simmering Sauce, and Wasabi & Tamari Almonds. Sorry to blab so much about food, but you KNOW how I am about great grocery stores!!
A second highlight was our “high end dinner” Saturday night at Nana’s—a five course chef’s tasting menu with wine pairings. I knew I wouldn’t be thrilled with the wine, but I wanted to try it. Needless to say I would do the chef’s tasting again in a heartbeat, but would skip the wine completely. The interesting thing was that just reading the menu wasn’t that appealing to me—foie gras, escargot, root vegetables, grouper, cabbage, etc… But OH MY GOD was everything DELICIOUS! Aside from the venison dish, I actually think my favorite was the cold foie gras appetizer! Who would have ever guessed? (If you want to skip right to those photos, click here.)
We had a great dinner at Brasa, a Brazilian Steakhouse that serves you meat on a stick (so very YUMMILICIOUS with just as yummilicious waiters), another fun putt putt outing at Frankie’s (I had two holes in one and still only won by the skin of my teeth!), and a fun girls-only expedition to some, ahem, adult stores for some belated Christmas presents and some Welcome Home gifts. :>
The actual New Years Eve party wasn’t quite as crazy this year, as we only had about 30 people as compared to the 60 last year, but we still had a ball! I managed to stay sober this year, so was able to drive us all home when the party finally broke up about 1am.
Of course, checkout and the goodbye breakfast came too soon—no one ever wants to have to leave! And we’re already all talking about NEXT New Year’s Eve!
Christmas Eve Dinner
So, funny story.
I am eating my Christmas Eve dinner at the computer. Exciting, right? |-|
It’s frozen crab rangoon, from Sam’s, totally nothing to write home about, but it’s somewhat tradition to eat hors d’ ouevres on Christmas Eve (mom and I started it a long time ago), and this was all I had in the freezer. (Tradition also includes a bottle of Tosti d’ Asti, which I forgot to chill, so I am drinking the next best, our favorite Moscato d’ Asti.)
So, I have eaten one or two rangoons with no issue. Then I bite into one and the thing splits open and crab rangoon innards go shooting across the desk and land—are you ready?—ON THE CAT. Oh my god, I thought I was going to die laughing between the actual sight of innards shooting out of the rangoon and the look of surprise? terror? on the cat’s face. Of course she didn’t want to lick it off, and made to leap away to try and run from it, so I had to grab her and clean her (okay, wipe most if it off and then let her do the rest).
There’s nothing like crab catgoon? cat rangoon? crab rangcat? for Christmas. 😀
The most non-Christmas Christmas ever.
This does NOT feel like Christmas. At all. In ANY sense of the word.
Obviously the biggest thing is that Tom isn’t here. And I’m not with family. And there’s no snow. And I didn’t even put up a tree. And my Christmas presents are sitting on the dining room table—how is that for pathetic?
It just really SUCKS because Christmas is my most favorite holiday EVER.
I’m not depressed about it or anything—it just does not feel like Christmas and that is weird.
I am running SO behind schedule!
I have to admit that I am behind schedule for the first year in, oh, I can’t remember when. Typically by this time (December 15th), I have been done with my shopping for a month and I am putting the finishing touches on homemade gifts and my holiday letter. Not so this year! You would think with Tom having been gone most of the year I would have had more free time, but for some reason it just hasn’t worked out that way—which is good for the most part!
But I am just starting my letter (I usually write it all year, so at this point, all I have to do is print it) and I hope to get it done tomorrow so I can start printing! I did start my calendar base template a few months ago, but now comes the personalizing which takes some time. And I just realized I don’t have the right paper—I know I bought some last year but it’s not where it should be, so I have to go buy more before I can start printing.
And I have only done a little bit of shopping. Amazon, here I come. 🙂
Thanksgiving with movies!
I spent Thanksgiving with our good friends the Mitchell’s. The food was yummy, of course, and it was nice being able to spend the day with friends.
The most bizarre thing to me, however, was that the weather was SO gorgeous. I think it got to 74—and even though I logically knew it was warm out, the Michigan girl hidden deep inside me expected it to be cold and wintry outside! But, since it wasn’t, we decided to watch movies under the stars! They have a projector and screen for outdoors, so I ran home to get some Christmas-themed kids movies and then we sat outside for hours! It did get chilly, but we just brought out the blankets and it was great!
First we had A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, then a Charlie Brown Mayflower one I’d never seen, the kids wanted to skip A Charlie Brown Christmas in favor of The Grinch, and then we moved on to the more adult Christmas Vacation, and then the very adult non-holiday-themed Casino Royale (the newest Bond).
It started sprinkling toward the end, so we had to bring everything inside and finish the movie indoors, but still, a good time was had by all!
Happy Halloween
Since I didn’t carve a pumpkin this year, I am posting a picture of an old favorite!
Charleston, SC, with the peeps!
https://www.hudson2001.com…charleston0507/
I drove to Charleston, SC, to spend the weekend with the peeps! Who are the peeps, you ask? They are the same group of people we spent New Year’s Eve with in Raleigh.
One of the girls was having a surprise 30th birthday party for her husband, and invited us all down for a long weekend…and since it was close enough for me to drive, I just had to go! I took Friday off so I could get there with some time to decompress from the drive (I hate driving, especially when I don’t really know where I’m going, and I knew I would arrive with a headache). I had about an hour to relax at the hotel before my roommate showed up and we ordered chinese/thai for dinner since we weren’t in the mood for pizza. After we ate, we headed to the host’s house for some Wiiiiiii and visiting (and some banana coladas—yummilicious, Eddy!). The schedules were a little off on Saturday due to unforseen circumstances, so we hit the beach for a few hours and had some great food at a place called The Mustard Seed, topping off the night back at the host’s house.
The plan for Sunday was brunch, then a fun park for mini golf and go-karting, Pirates of the Carribean 3, and then the “Memorial Day BBQ” (a.k.a. surprise party). I begged out of the movie to “visit with the girls” and helped get everything set up and ready for the party! He was surprised, so that was good!
The best part about the weekend—aside from meeting Eddy!—was Tom texting me at midnight on Sunday to tell me that his leave dates were changed and he is going to be able to go to Orlando to the Tivo Con with me! (The Con is another huge party/meeting with this same group of people—although usually there are 50+ attendees.) Originally, he was going to be leaving for Iraq the same day I was leaving for Orlando—but after some haggling with fellow marines, he was able to push his leave back!! Of course, everyone was THRILLED, because they can’t wait to see him again—and they know how excited I am about him being able to be there!! When I told them, they all cheered!!
Monday morning was just a quick breakfast with my roommate before heading home. She let me borrow her Garmin Nuvi GPS for the ride home—lots of people in our group have them, and are ESSENTIAL when driving around at out-of-town meets—and Tom and I have been jonesing for one, but I didn’t think they were really that useful or cool because I hadn’t really paid close attention to them. So, Tammy let me borrow hers (she also has one in her car) to see if I really liked it or thought we could use it. And I have to say it really is very cool, but we probably won’t need one until we move somewhere larger where we know nothing about the area…or, if we end up doing more travelling here. It really is SO much easier and less hassle than having printed maps. (One of the best things? If you miss a turn, it will automatically reroute you to get you back on track!)
So, it was a very nice weekend…and it was nice to get out of town, even if it meant I have to make up 8 hours of work (remember, I used all my 2007 vacation to come home at Christmas) and even if I had to drive through Myrtle Beach (yuck). The peeps are always worth it!!
Welcome to Dallas!
https://www.hudson2001.com…007/dallas0507/
This past weekend I was off to Dallas, Texas, for a birthday party!
The strange part is whose birthday it was—someone I had never even met! It was the mother of one of my new Tivo friends, and it was a surprise 50th party!
To be completely honest, I was actually going more for the abundance of other Tivo peeps that were going to be there—ones I hadn’t met yet, since there is a LARGE Texas contingent that don’t often make it to the east coast meets.
I was picked up at the airport by a new (CJ)) and old (Jeff) friend, where it was off to a yummy Thai lunch. Then it was off to a gaming place where we met up with a bunch of others to hang out, chat, and play games. (While I was there, our friends from home who were watching Maggie, called to say that our garage door keypad died so he couldn’t get Maggie right away—he had to go to the store for batteries!)
Then it was back to the hotel to rest and relax a bit before dinner—everyone was splitting into smaller groups for different restaurants, and our group was going to a mexican place—which was perfect since it was Cinco de Mayo! I was sharing a room with Jennifer, who I had never met. Luckily we got along SMASHINGLY!
The next day was lunch at Mia’s where I was [easily] coerced into trying their famous Brisket Tacos. OMG. TO DIE FOR. Then it was back to the hotel where Jen and I offered our room as Party Central—for peeps to gather and drink between party events (basically to drink cheap drinks instead of paying bar prices) and then watch the Kentucky Derby (complete with mint juleps, courtesy of Jeff #2, aka Smeek, our resident foodie). Here I am with two of the cute boys in attendance, David and Scott. ;D
Then it was time for the birthday party downstairs! During the latter hours of the party, it was off to the Pudding Shack—or, technically, OUR ROOM. :>> You see, a local peep is famous for banana pudding, and since we were all staying at the hotel, they needed a place to keep it cold…so we kept the Party Central and turned in into the Pudding Shack, since the pudding ended up in our tub:
Sunday morning it was time for people to start leaving—the worst part of any meet weekend. Those of us with later flights went to a game park and played mini golf (I beat the guys, YAY!) and rode go-karts.
Digital Photo Frames
So my big surprise for all the parents this year was a digital (LCD) photo frame—and as I predicted, they all LOVED them! And I was THRILLED to have found such a perfect gift.
Well, you should have seen my sad little face when I got home…because I didn’t get myself a frame. I had seriously thought about it, but then thought naaaah, I don’t really need one. But then I played with the other ones (getting them loaded with pictures) and missed having it on my desk at work (I had had to test it out, make sure it worked easily)…so I’ve been looking for one, watching the sales, deciding if I really wanted one or not. And yes, yes I did.
Having seen how two different models worked, I knew what I wanted in mine—and I found a decent one at Amazon, although it was a little more than I wanted to spend. But, I rationalized, it’s still a good price—just a hair more than I paid for the Christmas gift frames, with the addition of it being a larger screen! So I bought it. And thank goodness I did when I did, because three days later, the price on Amazon jumped over $50!! 88|
So now I have my own digital photo frame for my desk at work—currently loaded with 1544 pictures, with room for as many more! I highly recommend these as gifts for anyone, and—as evidenced by my experience—a nice gift for yourself!
RRNYE!
I don’t even know where to start…so I will say that this past weekend had to be one of the best weekends of my life. Seriously. We both had so much fun it was crazy. (This morning wasn’t too fun…but at this point, I’m still recuperating…but it was well worth it.)
So, what happened this past weekend that was so great? RRNYE, that’s what!! And what exactly was RRNYE? A huge group of people I’ve “met” online that were all meeting in Raleigh for a big NYE bash (Rockin’ Raleigh New Year’s Eve)! People came from all across the country and we just had a complete blast!
To start, I was completely nervous about meeting everyone, and welcomed the chance to pick up someone at the airport, so I would have at least met one person in a calm setting! I recognized her immediately, and the meeting went well.
That said, walking into the bowling alley (the first meeting spot) was an entirely overwhelming (wait, OVERWHELMING) experience. Us three walked in, and immediately all heads turned toward us, then all I saw was a mass of people moving towards us in one big rush. There were introductions and hugs and I was trying to place names to faces and trying to remember to introduce Tom, as well.
At dinner that night (we broke off into groups and went to different places—we were dining on Italian), I was still feeling a bit overwhelmed, but it got easier. It took probably an hour or so before I finally started talking and being more myself. By the time the group lunch and trip to the fun park rolled around (mini golf, go karts, etc.) the next afternoon, we were having a great time and felt way more at ease! I even took a spin on the go-karts, which I haven’t done in probably 15 years!
By the big party, with more than a few drinks in me :)) it felt like I’d known everyone forever and we were having a blast! Everyone made me feel very welcome and I think Tom was surprised at how much fun he had with everyone. The food was great, I had a fun time being a bartender (with another girl who actually was a bartender in a past life), and we had a great White Elephant gift exchange, in which I ended up with a Christmas ornament (perfect!).
The funniest thing, I think, is how many people expressed their hesitance/reservations in meeting me. I’m not quite sure what they expected, but needless to say they were a bit unsure about me. But, apparently, from everything everyone told me (and what I heard from others), I fit right in and they needn’t have worried about me! Anyway, hearing that people’s worries were unfounded and that people actually liked me…well, that made me feel good, because of course I was sorta scared about the whole thing anyway.
The only bad thing was that we didn’t get to say goodbye to people! We sort of rushed out of the party because I wasn’t feeling well (too much to drink!) and honestly it was sort of a blur…and I was thinking we’d get to see them in the morning…but, alas, I was definitely NOT in any shape to go to the planned brunch, and Tom wasn’t much better.
Now, we can’t wait to go to more meets—we loved everyone and can’t wait to spend more time with them!