10 days and floudering

I've decided to delay Christmas this year. I won't be ready by the 25th so I would appreciate it if everyone would just give me a week or so extra. We'll have Christmas for New Year's this year and save us all some trouble.
I think that's a good plan especially for those who would be up for Midnight Mass anyway.

ZD has taken off for a little work related trip. 1o days before Christmas is the perfect time to take off on little work related trips, don't you agree. Especially ones that suck a whole day's worth of productivity away from me.

I did get some entertainment out of watching pack his briefing materials though. As he walked through various rooms collecting all of his supplies, Anders followed him, hot on his heels and talking non-stop. ZD responded vaguely with "reallys" and " yes, I sees" which did nothing but encourage Andrew in his non-stop monologue.
I particularly enjoyed the Doppler effect of the conversation leaving and then re-entering the room. I swear ZD keep moving just to see how long the kid would follow him around.

He says that the boy gets that from me. I don't know where he gets that idea, just because I picked the bathroom door so I could continue a conversation once.

Vacation

It's almost time for my Mommy vacation.

Yep, it's that time of year when I ship the boys down to the farm for a Week At Grammie's House. I'll spend the week cleaning, planning, doing little projects, and shopping in all those stores that I can't seem to shop in with four boys in tow.

I also have to look for a new dining room suite.

While I'm doing all that the boys will be doing this....

And some of this....

And probably a good bit of this....

and all that other stuff they do while hanging out at Grammie's house. After a week, they'll come home rested, pampered, and spoiled rotten.

Spoiled but not rotten

A, our third boy, turned 8 years old the weekend. Because we were out camping this weekend, we waited to do presents until late this afternoon.

When I asked him what he wanted for presents, he said that he wanted a DS game and some Yuh-gi-oh cards. That was all.
Oh...and he wanted his old bike fixed.

Well, that was a problem because for some reason, his bike tire just will not stay inflated. We've replaced the tube several times. We've even replaced the actual tire. No matter what we do, it always goes flat within a few days. ZD determined that there was something wrong with the actual wheel and called the bike shop about replacing it. It turns out that it would cheaper just to buy a new bike than to order a new wheel.
Remembering that, ZD asked, "Would you like a new bike instead of a DS game?"

"A" jumped at that suggestion. A new bike would be great! And he could always get a DS game with his own money, he offered.

So fast forward to this evening, when the boy is opening his presents.

Present #1 was a new pair of swim goggles because "A" lost his in the lake this weekend. He was very thankful to get them.

Present #2 was a set of 150 crayons of his very own. Excitement! "A" immediately offered to share them with his brothers.

Present #3 was four packages of Yuh-gi-oh cards including a special 'rare' card. Big smiles and happiness there.

Present #4 was supposed to be his big present. He opened the bag to find a new bike bell, reflective arm bands and some reflective stickers for his bike.
"You can put them on your green bike," ZD told him as I showed how the arm bands worked.
"A" was so excited about them. ZD told him to grab a screwdriver so he could install the new bell and then they could put the new stickers on. That boy had the biggest grin on his face as he ran out the door.
He was so incredibly thankful for his "big" gift, I almost cried at the sweetness of it.

As he hit the sidewalk, he ran into a camo colored bike and nearly knocked it over.

"Hey, who left their bike here?" he asked as he looked around for the kid who must have left the bike. In his head, there was no other reason for it to be there.

"That's your bike," I told him. "Happy birthday."

Astonishment!

As he rode off on his new bike, ZD said to me, "We spoil these children too much."

Yeah....we do. But they aren't spoiled rotten. He would have been content with just the new stickers for his old bike.

Oh....a little advice. When you switch from a regular bike to one with gears....make sure the rider knows that they must use the hand brake instead of back pedaling to stop.
"A" learned that after the fact. Thankfully, he figured it out quickly.

The Farm

When we aren't at home, playing baseball, running around town, or doing our normal daily stuff...we head down to the farm.

The farm has been in DH's family for over 150 years.

This old house was built by ZD's Great-great-grandfather. The top tin roof was replaced a few years ago. It was over 100 years old so I guess it was about time. I've seen a picture of the man who built it standing beside the giant fir tree back when it was about 5 feet tall. He planed all that cedar by hand. Can you imagine? (MIL has a big brick house down the road from the old house.)

Uncle F has started selling off some old farm stuff. he can't believe the prices that "city folk" will pay for a decoration for their yard. At the last auction he sold an old mule plow for $700. I'm with him...I can't understand it either.

It has spoiled my kids though. They think every family has a grandma with goats to chase.

And a pond to fish in.

And everybody should have an Uncle who comes fishing just to help bait hooks, untangle line, show you how to cast, and then clean the fish for you.

It's a great place for boys. There are always animals to hunt, rocks to dig up, fish to catch, and arrowheads waiting to be found. If you get bored you can tool around in the Gator or go see what the beavers have done to the branch pond.

Those are some busy beavers.

Almost.....

The camp out is almost here and pretty soon my life will be back to relative normal.
Until then here's a little update.
ZD has been travelling....a lot. In fact he's out west this week and is absolutely no help to me whatsoever. He'll be back in time for the actual camping.

We got a new cat. She's not here right at this moment because she was spayed today and is at the vet's under observation. Her name is Cleo and she was a stray on post. She's about 18 months old. She spent the last 4 months living at the Veterinary center in a small kennel...waiting for a home. She spent the previous 14 months trying to survive and having more kittens than her body could support. She's about 6 pounds and you can tell that she was malnourished during her formative months. She's sweet as can be and already fits right into the household.

Baseball is still going strong. We'll miss this week's games due to the camp out. Oldest boy took a hard pitch off his knee cap at the first game. It hurt him for a while but he's back to 95% now. Second boy is playing catcher and loving it. Third boy is getting a hit in every game...which shocks ZD and I. He just loves to play and is quite oblivious to any sort of competitiveness. And Sam, well, he hasn't knock anyone out yet. I'm glad he'll be moving out of t-ball next year. We really should have played him up this year.

Thankfully, we don't have games next weekend. ZD and I had planned a little couples retreat for the long weekend. With his work schedule and all my stuff, our weekends are full. We're so busy working and being parents that we don't have enough time to just be husband and wife. But, I overlooked an all day play practice for the boys so there goes our little trip together. (Seriously, who the heck schedules practices for Memorial Day Weekend. Especially in an area that ends school that week!)
I'm trying very hard to not be angry about it and failing miserably.

School is just about done. Then it's time for my favorite time of the year. PLANNING!
No, just kidding. I get to spend all day at the pool. Monday through Friday, from 10 am to 2 pm....if you need me, I'll be at the pool. This children are counting down the days until May 26th. The swimsuits are all located, the towels are clean, and we have new pool toys. All we need are snacks and sunscreen.
(Which reminds me....."theatre week" will encroach on my pool time. snarl I swear, next time someone says, "Oh come join the homeschool drama. It will be fun. Your kid will love it." Please smack me. Scouts takes up less time than this play has. Cub and Boy Scouts combined.)

Pop!

At about 11:23 this morning, my head exploded.

You may have heard it if you live in the south east. But then again, you may not have. I haven't straightened my hair today so the hair poof may have muffled most of the sound.

At 11:35, I closed the laptop, took a deep breath, and tried to find my happy place.
Unfortunately, my happy place seems jammed with laundry, Standardized tests, camping gear, and a pack leader roster that is getting smaller and smaller.

Whew.

I have a lot going on through the end of May.
I have homeschooling to do. The boys are all playing baseball and 2 of them are in a homeschool play. There is Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts. I'm planning events with my local Homeschool support group and I have to oversee standardized testing. And I'm Cubmaster of a pack that has some burned out leaders who have been carrying too big of a load for too long of a time. I have to plan a camp out and bridging ceremony in less than 3 weeks. I have to meet with committee and schedule next years' activities and somehow convince people to get involved with some of this stuff so the same 5 people aren't doing all the work. And I have to plan tomorrow nights pack meeting. I just remembered that. (sigh)

Adding to my stress is ZD's new work and travel schedule and my mom's upcoming eye surgery. My sister is expecting a new grandbaby soon and will be out of town, which means I have to take care of mom's stuff. ZD is working so hard at the new job that he is not available to help even when he is town.

And there is tutoring and speech therapy. Yard work must be done. The house has to be cleaned. I need to pay bills. The dogs have to go tot vet. And darn it....I would like to knit some.

I won't have a day off until ...... May 24th.

So if you "see" me anywhere and it looks like I'm really not there ... it's because I'm sorting Scout information, or doctors appointments, or trying to figure out where I'm supposed to be next and how I'm going to get there on time.

Day 1: Sea World

Day one of our vacation to sunny Florida, had us visiting all the critters at Sea World. (And let me point out that the ticket price for Sea World is insane! We would not have gone if not for the "Salute the Heroes" tickets.)

We got to pet the dolphins.

This is the dolphin nursery. There were a couple of juveniles and several round "Mommies." The momma dolphins would occasionally do a trick or two which was so sweet.

Here's one of the Busch Clydesdales. These horses are huge! I heard the "clop, clop, clop" behind me and was completely gobsmacked when I turned around. The guy handling the reins was over 6 feet tall.

Last time I was at Sea World, I saw a baby sea lion born in this very tank. The keepers had to jump in and grab him because all the female sea lions started fighting over the new cub. Now you can buy fish and feed the sea lions.....none of my crew wanted to touch dead fish so we just watched.

We did touch these though.

These are cownose rays and are quite a bit bigger than the ones at the Georgia Aquarium. Sam was the most prolific "ray toucher." They seem to go out of their way to swim up to him.

Did you know that Sea World now has rides? This is the Kraaken.

The orange shirt in the second to the last seat is the oldest boy. This was his first roller coaster.....ever. It was a bad choice.

The things scared the heck out of him. He used it to compare every ride afterwards, "It wasn't as bad as the Kraaken."

And in an even worse moment of judgement, we took all the boys on this ride.

The Journey to Atlantis. Even I freaked out because I thought it was just one drop and that was the whole ride. Nope.

There's three drops...all about this high. And there's a roller coaster part inside the building...in the dark.

I'll have to scan the picture of us from the ride to show you the children's looks of abject terror.

I felt so bad afterwards. But they were able to ride a lot more stuff in WDW that they would have because, "it's not as bad as the journey to Atlantis."

Then we visited the star of the place.

There's Shamu. And this was the last picture my old camera ever took. Right after this one, Shamu's Daddy came out and did a lap in the show tank.
Let's just say that....that whale can splash a lot of water with that tail of his.

And just for your information, 52 degree seawater does not have a good effect on video devices. I dropped the camera in my lap and covered the little ones when the water hit. (But at least I was better that the lady they featured on the jumbo tron....she hid behind her baby....who was small enough to wear a onesie. She's never going to live that one down.)

On our second day in FL, we had that freak weather that hit the southeast. It was too rainy to go to the parks, so I set out to buy a new camera.

So now instead of having lots of pictures like this.I can take pictures like this.

Cool! (That's uncropped and unedited....just straight off the memory card.) His eyes are really that pale grey.

He did it

This is the baby sporting his relatively new glasses and playing around with my old camera that I gave him.
"It's new to me," he said before setting out to figure out how to take pictures with it. He couldn't just let me show him how to use it.

Isn't he just the cuteness. (Y'all ignore my voice on there.)

Hey Y'all

Guess where I've been?

We took the boys on vacation to someplace warm and sunny. Well, a little warmer and somewhat sunny.

We had a fabulous time and I managed to get a new camera out of the experience. (More on that later.)

So to start the story....we have to begin in the van.

Day one: the drive.

Can anybody guess where we're off to?

Please excuse the crappy photography. I was driving while being chastened by the GPS to take the right exit but stay in the left lane. And attempting to dodge a dozen motorcycles.

Anybody recognize the skyline?

This post has been disinfected.

I am sick.

Really sick.

And I don't get sick. Sure, I might get a little sniffle or two but never a real "cold."

I have one now though. Ugh! And it's a bad time for me to be sick. We have stuff going on every weekend and most of the week days. Stuff that I can't get out of either. I just have to suck it up and drive on.

I have learned a few valuable things so far this week.
1. I cannot take Tylenol cold medicine and expect to stay vertical. It does alleviate my symptoms but has the unfortunate side effect of making me feel like a bobble head.

2. I cannot take Benadryl at night....not and sleep anyway. Adding further insult, the Benadryl makes me unfit to knit and doesn't help my cold at all. So I'm still stuffy but also jumpy, unable to sleep or knit.

Vicks vapor rub has been my dearest friend, but you can't go out in public reeking of Mentholatum. I'm hoping that ZD will bring home a wonder drug that will help me sleep, function, and get better quick.

For his sake as much as mine. I've sufficiently germ'ed up the entire bed, blankets, and all the pillows. And he's the only one in the house that has escaped this little virus.

Saturday's recap

Today was an insanely busy day for a weekend.

We got in late last night after digging some post holes, stringing some electric fencing, and eating MIL's meatloaf for dinner.
So the plan was to sleep in a little today.

That was the plan until I remembered what I actually had to do today. I hate it when plans interfere with my sleep schedule.
We started the day by getting our (including mine) scout uniforms ready. My Webelos had a tour of the Federal Court house. Very, very cool. Not many people get to see the federal court house and I'm hoping that we'll only go there for field trips and not for legal matters.
Anyway, the court house was built in 1915 and is covered in marble and beautiful hardwoods. The doors to court room are covered with leather.
Gorgeous! But I don't think that most people in the court room are there to admire the architecture.
We got to meet and talk with a Federal judge (they are appointed for life by the POTUS), a county judge (they are elected by us voters), a State Marshall, and a county deputy.
And we were served cookies and hot chocolate by the Federal Court Clerk and given napkins with the court house seal embossed on them.
I'm not making this up.

When I got home it was time to drag out my 700 pounds of Christmas decorations. I'm not kidding about that either. I have 11 totes of decorations. 2 full sized trees and 6 small ones. One of the full sized trees and the 6 small ones went straight into the back of the new van for use later. (new van fact of the day: when I put the van in park, the driver's door unlocks automatically)
And the boys unloaded all that firewood that they cut over Thanksgiving weekend. Including a huge stump of fat lighter. (Woooooooo.....fat lighter!)

After sorting through decorations and cleaning out the garage it was time to take the two cub scouts to decorate the Christmas float. The parade is tomorrow, but we have to get everything set up ahead of time.
We had a great turnout. I think the parents had as much fun as the kids. Our theme is "Christmas camp out." The dads set up a tent and a fake fire with a dutch oven hanging over it. The kids put together my big tree and decorated it with yellow and blue garland and cub scout patches. Then we added the 6 smaller trees as a little forest. (It really is a small forest of little evergreens.)

Once the trailer was festooned with ribbons and garland, and all the little trees had been decorated and nailed down so they wouldn't fall over during the parade...we were off to Wally world where I had to buy more garland for the boys to use in decorating their bikes. They'll ride those in the parade tomorrow and they have to have a festive ride. I bought a pair of blinking reindeer antlers for me to wear. ;)

Then it was home to cook breakfast for dinner. I think I ate a half pound of bacon myself and now I'm feeling a little ucky about it. Bacon remorse is a cruel thing. It's not nearly as bad a Krispy Kreme doughnut remorse.

Tomorrow, we'll get up and decorate bikes then set off on the Christmas parade adventure. 2 vans, 3 bikes, 6 water bottles, 2 mobile phones, and 4 and half hours counting wait time.
It should be a fun, fun, fun day.

Ha, ha, ha, ha....where's the straight jacket?

I'm slowly going insane and all my stuff is falling apart.

Here's a list of things that have had to be replaced, removed, repaired so far this year:

Refrigerator supply line (repaired)
Kitchen sink cabinet (replaced)
Kitchen faucet (replaced)
Kitchen floor (replaced)
Dishwasher (replaced)
Giant pine tree (removed)
Bradford Pear tree (removed)
Driveway (in process of replacing)
Stump from the Bradford Pear Tree (removed)
ZD's car (repaired)
My van (oil leak repaired)
My van (another oil leak repaired)
My van (body damage caused by a lady that hit me)
oldest boy's teeth (new braces)
TV in the living room (bought a new one)
Lawnmower (bought an electric one)
storm door handles (replaced)
and newest on the list....Front door (thought we could repair but we'll have to replace it.)

It's ok really. I have hated that door for almost 10 years. I don't mind getting a new door at all. However, I do mind that the Lowe's people have to come over and measure the door before they can order the one I want. Like I can't tell that I need the 32" door versus the 36" door.

But the new door is all picked out. I'll still have to paint the thing which will set off a whole chain reaction of painting/replacing. (New door will need new light fixtures, numbers, and shutters. I'll never match the old door color....not that I really want to.)

So what color should we paint?

Honestly, he really loves animals.

I walked into the house from homeschool PE and found that ZD had set up a table in the living room. And he filled it with file boxes from the attic.

This wasn't done on a whim, he needed copies of orders from 1985.
I'm not kidding.

Even more amazing was...he found them. I don't think I own any paperwork from the 80's except my high school diploma.

After about 10 minutes in the house, the sound finally registers with me.

"merow.....merooooooow......meeerrrrroooowwwww"
"Is that Mango meowing?" I asked when no one reacted to the very loud plainative cry.

"Oh, yeah" ZD piped up as if he just remembered something. "Mango might be locked in the attic crawl space."

She was.
She sure was glad to get out of there. At least the kids know where the saying "Curiosity killed the cat" came from.

News

MIL's surgery went well. She's up and about. She even insisted on spending tonight on her own. I guess she's gotten sick of being "watched over." ZD has to go back down there tomorrow to take her to for her check up.

But today he was home digging a hole. A really big freaking hole. A hole so big that Sam fell into it and couldn't get out.

We look like we're on our way to having a moat. Actually...we kind of are since it is filling with water.
You see, we have a root that has made it's way into a pipe. My sewer pipe.

UGH!

The county came, cleared the line, and stuck a camera in there. That's when we discovered the root.
ZD decided that he would tackle this problem himself.

Of course, ZD had no faith in the County guy's spray painted mark. Noooooo....he had to dig a 6 foot long trench and then take it down 6 inches across.....back and forth.

Where did he find the pipe? About 4 and half feet down...right where the county guy said it was.

sigh

Today he dug the hole and bought the materials. (And griped about the fact that there is 4 inch line and 4.5 inch line. And how you really can't tell the difference without cutting the line.)
Tomorrow, he's cutting the line and hopefully....cross your fingers, pray, sacrifice a chicken for me...he'll get the line repaired.

What constitutes fun at our house.

Hey....there's a nice shot of my horsebutt....Um.... "Ponytail" paint.
That lump under the passel of boys is ZD. I believe he was trying to take a nap before the melee broke out. I'm not sure what the carrying capacity of my couch is....but it had to be very close to maxing it ou when I took this shot.

I am so blessed to have a husband like mine. He is such a good father and mentor. He's a little lax on discipline but he more than makes up for it with his dedication to providing for us. His whole world revolves around us and we know it.

However, don't take him shopping with the boys. I can take him or the boys....but not all of them. ZD behaves quite well in public...by himself. The boys follow rules obediently....when Dad is not around.
But put them together.....and I have to stop, put my hands on my hips, and lay down the law.
When this happens in the very crowded canned food aisle of the commissary, the little gray-haired, retiree wives get tickled at my outright annoyance.

"Bless you honey....they won't be young for long."

Yeah....But it's the biggest one causing the most trouble.

News from the zoo

Yep, that's my Andrew finally learning to ride a bike on his own. His occupational therapist will be so proud. This was another one of those things that he wasn't supposed to do until much later on. (He wasn't supposed to toilet train until he was 5. Bike riding was expected around 8.)
He ran into the house and demanded that ZooDad take off the training wheels. 10 minutes later....this is the picture I took. 10 minutes after that, he was pedaling down the road with ZooDad running to keep up.
He hasn't mastered the trivial details like steering and stopping...but that's what grass is for.

Of course, now we have to get a new bike for Christmas and keep Sam back just long enough for Andrew to back in his own success.

Here's the new mom of the house.

Don't let that sweet face fool you. She'll chew your fingers off to protect her wee little bundles.
Here's their first picture taken at 4 days old. There are four of them. They are currently 11 days old. They are fully furred, their eyes are open, and they are just started to walk around the cage. In another week, they'll be fully weaned and can be separated from Mom.

Hmm...while I would feel a little sad about raising my kids in 18 days. I would love a 18-20 gestation period. I think the hamsters totally lucked out.

Boys of Almost Spring ----Worst Mom Ever

Baseball has begun.
It wasn't a great as we had hoped.

I'm coaching t-ball with a Dad helping. He's used to the older kids. I'll have a better plan for next week so the boys can get few more basics. It doesn't matter how well you hit if you have no fielding skills.
But they did learn the bases and all the infield positions. Not bad for a bunch of 5 and 6-year old boys.

M has practice the same time as A. So I won't get to see his practices since I'm coaching. This bothers me. M has young coaches again this year. I don't view this as a bad thing. I just wish he had a "Dad" like figure to coach him while his Dad is deployed. He seemed to have fun but I can tell that he's not happy about me not being there.

J's team...well...the coach seems very....um...driven. More so than we're used to.
He also forgot J. He was about to dismiss practice when J finally yelled out that he had not batted.
Instead of apologizing, the coach seemed annoyed. I'm hoping that he was just embarrassed that he missed a child. J was upset by it. No one likes to be forgotten, even with good reason.
He's a good kid. He doesn't cause a scene. He doesn't act up. He does what he is told to do. Sometimes this allows him to blend into the background. Thankfully, he has not decided to "act up" in order to get attention. I encourage him to stay that course. I told him that I would keep an eye on the situation and would intervene if necessary. I'm going to pray that I won't have to.
Of course, to add insult to injury...I didn't see the incident or his batting.

So ...it's a mixed bag. I'm doing triple duty as Mom, Dad, and Coach and feeling like I'm selling all four kids short. I'm just stinky Mom this season. Too many boys and just not enough me.
(sigh) Only 9 more weeks to go.

Earlier in the day, the boys' speech therapist expressed concern about A and M's motor skills. It seems that they have had a serious regression in sensory issues in the 6 weeks they've missed OT. (due to insurance issues...not my choice.) A is covered in bruises. He fell down the stairs twice. He's bumped his head numerous times. And he can't seem to stay seated in his chair at all.
M is twitchy, unable to concentrate, and can not focus his eyes as well as he used to.
I feel guilty that I haven't fought this harder than I have. Tomorrow, I'll finally get the needed paperwork to appeal (again, a delay not caused by me but I still feel bad about it.) and hopefully they will be back in OT by April.

So, two stinky days in a row. M had his Ophthalmologist appointment on Monday. His eye alignment is way off. Way. off. So bad that his doctor cried out about it. (As in, "Oh my gosh....what in the world is going on here?") We go back in 3 months for another re-check. If he's not doing much much better...something will have to be done.
A third surgery could be in the picture. It's been 2 years since his last one which was just on his right eye. His first surgery was on both eyes. Now he's having trouble with his left eye.

5 out of 5

so much for the lucky one.
Apparently this particular stomach bug has a 48 hour incubation period. I'm glad my firends didn't come over tonight.
But I am worried about the neighbor's kids who came over to play in the yard today.
I don't think it would impress my new neighbors much if I got thier kids sick right when they moved in.
In my defense...I thought my kids were all well and I didn't let the neighbor kids in the house.

I'm hoping my oldest one bounces back as quick as his brothers did and doesn't linger like his poor mom did.
Either way, it's another long night for me.
I can't sleep when the boys are sick.

Happy Valentine's Day...

from the luckiest mom in the world.

There are some great advantages of being mom only to boys. Sure it gets a little stinky. It's noisy too. It's busy and messy...but I'm queen of the house and their Daddy has set a good example.

This morning, as a rare treat, I slept in until 8 am. Right as I was about to get up, my 8 year old, peeked in my door.
"Don't get up Momma," M told me with a sneaky little smile, "We're cooking you breakfast."
I found this when I got permission to get up.
My morning paper, two origami hearts, a big glass of milk, and if you look closely at the bread "I Heart U Mom" carved in the butter.
The two dozen roses that ZooDad sent yesterday, pale in comparison.
Later I received another origami heart from M. He folded and colored it himself. He has fine motor issues but he was determined to fold a heart for me. It took him almost an hour to get one that he was satisfied with. His older brother sat with him and helped him until they got it just right.
A, who is 5, made a card for me. He wrote the word love and then surrounded it with red hearts and birds...."Love is in the air" he told me, quite proud of his pun. Inside was a drawing of me planting flowers.
To top it all off, my oldest (age 11) wrote a poem for me. The kid is amazing.

Mom's Poem

Roses are red.

Daisies are yellow.

To have you for a Mom

I'm one lucky fellow.

Violets are blue.

Cherries are red.

You take care of me

and keep me well fed.

Grass is green.

The sky is blue.

You're the best Mom (in history)

and I love you.

Tangerines are orange.

Hear me say.

Relax a bit

It's Valentine's Day.

Hallmark couldn't have made something better.
They are going to make four women very happy some day.

Conversation with the guy working at The Game Stop at 12:30 pm, two days before Christmas

Imagine two very long lines. People all waiting to buy mulitple video games. I had one in hand and had pre-ordered another when the guy at the register realizes that the credit card authorization is down. Down as in not working at all. Down as in...tried to call stuff in over the phone and even that didn't work. Then as the poor guy then realizes that this also includes check authorization is down.
It was a look of total panic.

"Um......," starts the poor guy who is a total loss of what to do. "Do you have cash?"

I replied, "Yeah...I do. It's ok. It sure sucks to be you though."

Big smile from me. Nervous smile and look of slight nausea from the guy behind the counter.

Him: "Thanks for being so cooperative. I'm sorry about the inconveince."

I felt sorry for the three guys in there. I hope they got everything all squared away. I was just glad to procure Super Mario DS for the oldest son and to pre-order the new Zelda game.
That was my second to last Christmas item. At 9 pm, I finished my last item: Sis's new blue lace socks. Check them out.