UF vs FSU 08

The forecast was 30% chance of rain...yeah, well, turned out to be 100% for 90% of the day. Bry's friends picked us up and we headed over to Chad's friends house, that's, lucky for us, located about 5 minute walk from the stadium. We hang out for a while, watching Georgia get embarrassed by Georgia Tech. We decide we'll head out at 3:09 (yeah, I'm serious.) It was sprinkling, and at 3:09, the bottom broke out, and it started pouring. The first 10 steps, we worried about trying to stay out of puddles, after that, it was pretty much useless. It was pouring, and we were walking through a river running through the apartment complex. We actually saw a kid bite it, and fall into a 4 foot ditch full of water.

The whole walk its pouring, people are in rain gear, sloshing towards the gates, everyone chanting and talking trash. We finally make it into the stadium, my shoes are no longer just wet, they're basically holding ponds.

Our seats were great, we were near the south end zone, and we actually had some room around us. That might have been due to the fact that right in front of us was an obnoxious, uh, jerk. He tried talking trash (he was Florida state) for the first three minutes, then realized they were going to get their butts kicked, so he kind of backed off, talking to us at least. And, no lie, he hit his friends on the butt like 15 times. And not just a slap, like you're playing football and did a good job, he did a whole grab-lift move. Never quite understood what was going on there.

Towards the end of the first half, I notice a guy across the tunnel from us...at first he looks, "mentally challenged" but then I realize he's just drunk. And then, THEN, then he pukes all down the bleachers! I'm so not kidding. And does it several times.

The rain was off and on most of the game. Just when we thought it'd be okay to take our hoods off, we'd see more rain coming and a wave of people trying to get back in their rain gear. We were soaked. I finally tied a trash bag around my waist, wearing it like a skirt to keep my legs dry and warm.

The most ridiculous thing I've ever seen....the whole stadium cheered...I mean, seriously cheered when Percy Harvin got hurt. What is that? Seriously? You have such low class that you cheer for someone getting hurt. But, Tebow said that's what got him going...he asked coach to give him the ball so he could hit someone.

After the game, the rain kicked it into high gear again, started pouring. I've never stood in the rain that long. My feet were numb and cold. But what a great time.

Thanksgiving

Some things I'm thankful for...
Bryan and Landon - Bryan is the perfect guy for me. And even though he gives way too much details, he's a great husband and a wonderful dad. I love that we spend most of our days together (apart from while we're at work and even then, we usually IM or text.) I'm thankful we enjoy the same things, want the same things in life, appreciate the same things. Landon is lucky to have a dad who is always there for him, who plays with him, who wrestles with him, eats with him, gives him baths, sings good night songs to him, cuddles with him. I'm thankful for Landon, that God gave us such a great child, one that we are teaching to live just like us, that hopefully one day he will be a great a father and husband as Bryan is to us.
My family - my sisters, my brothers, my parents, my step-parents, my grandparents, all my aunts and uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews. I've been blessed to have a large family and even though we don't all agree on everything and most of us are very stubborn, we still love each other very much. Since I don't live close to them anymore, it may be weeks or months before I see or talk to some of them, but they're always ready with open arms to welcome me when we get to visit.
My friends - they're my family away from home. Always there to listen, to offer advice, to vent with me, to laugh with me, to cry with me. Even for Landon, he gets to have "family" here in Houston, people to spoil him like my family would if we were back home. (Thanks especially to Nic and Danny - who love Landon more than anything and I know he feels the same way about his Me-Cole and Ma-Dee. He loves you guys.)
My job - even with complaints about my office, my co-workers, etc...I still really enjoy what I do. I love figuring out things and correcting them, making them better, getting everyone to be happy with our products (yeah, so Docm is going to take more work...lol)
Landon's Grandparents - Landon is lucky to have his Grammy and Bubby, GJ and Grandpa Foster, Grandma and Grandpa Rhodes, Granny Foster, Grandma and Grandpa Purvis, and he was so very lucky to have two years with Grandma Calton. We live several hours away from all of them, but even from afar, they love and still manage to spoil him. (Have to add in Nana Sharon too - cause she definitely adds to the love - and the spoiling.)

There are so many things I'm thankful for...I need to be more aware that I realize that and don't take any of them for granted.

Saturday with Friends

Lan got to have a grand weekend with his friends. Maddox came over on Friday for the fire-roasting hot dogs and marsh mellows. He and Landon were nuts the whole time, they had a wonderful time playing together and watch Scooby Doo. At one point, they were in the backyard and wanted to get up on the slide without crawling all the way around. They tried getting their from the window ledge - no good. Then Maddox says, "Wait, I've got an idea!" and starts dragging their little table over. We all laughed and convinced them both that going around and climbing up was the better way.

On Saturday, Seth and Sage came over for the afternoon. Lan coo'ed at Sage and thought it was hilarious when he talked back. But most of the afternoon, Seth, Landon and I played together. We went outside for awhile, playing in the hammock, and then taking turns playing baseball. Seth would pitch to Landon, then Landon would pitch to Seth. It was pretty hilarious to watch. Then we went back inside and played with cars, blocks, and animals. Seth and Landon had a great time, and from all the coo'ing from Sage, he enjoyed sitting and talking and playing with Bryan. They watched the Florida game together. Fun seeing Bryan with a little one again. He loves kids, you can really tell he enjoys making sure the kids are having a good time, not focusing on himself. Big man coo'ing at a little baby, too precious.

The pic is of Landon after Seth left...he wanted to see if "Seff" was coming back.

Give Thanks

I know this will be a recurring blog theme this week, but two things I want to mention.

First, my little brother's girlfriend was in a car/train accident. Basically, her car got stuck on the track, she tried to get out just as the train hit her. And no, no alcohol was involved. She's doing much better now, lots of stitches and pain, but she's alive and coherent (started out in a coma.) Tanner's helping her as much as he can, with physical therapy, eating and just keeping her going. Both of them really need prayers right now.

Second, one of my Chi O sisters passed away this weekend. She died from carbon monoxide poisoning. She left two children and a husband.

Just appreciate the family you have...give them a hug and a kiss today. And tell them how much you love them.

Pacifier?

We had a good cold front come in last night. The high today is only in the low 50s. I searched and found my orange wool coat...reached in the pocket and found one of Lan's old pacifiers.

Which, yeah, I guess the last time I needed a coat - last January, landon still used a pacifier. Seems like forever ago.

Broken Boot

This morning, on the way out the door, the heel of my brown dress boots came off. Well, not the whole heel, but the cap part of the bottom of the heel. Landon and I turn around and head back into the house. I explain to him that my heel broke and I have to go change.

I change clothes and go back in to the living room, sit down to put on my black boots.
Landon: "you can't wear those."
Me: "why not? these aren't broken"
Landon: "outside will break them. they'll break outside."
Me: "lololololol...ahem, uh, no, these are good, only the brown ones break."
Landon: "yeah, the brown ones, no good."

My turn

Bryan had to go to work early, so it was my turn to take Landon to school. Mondays are always hard, but especially if Mom's doing the dropping off.

This morning, Landon and I went into the kitchen and I said, "oh man, dad forgot to make some coffee." Lan replies that we have to go to Bucee's. LOL. Smart boy.

It was pretty cold this morning, somewhere in the 40s. But all Landon will wear is crocs. So, jeans with crocs...and then I wrap him up in his blanky. Bryan calls us on the way to make sure we're up and going. Lan yells "you forgot the coffee dad!" Landon spotted some gummy worms while at bucee's so we had to pick up some of those.

Then to school. I had to fight to get him out of the car. Today was Spanish class. So I got to sit and count to 10 in spanish, then sing "Feliz Navidad" - but when the teacher brought out a video of Rodulf in Spanish, I made my exit. Poor Lan. I know we need to get him there earlier so he'll have a chance to play before going straight into school work. And that's all on me.

He's really excited about Christmas. We got a Santa blow up this weekend for the yard, along with a winnie the pooh and tiger that pop out of a present. Lan had a great time punching them, then bouncing off.

Beautiful Morning

It's beautiful out today. After a very windy night, the cold front has moved in. I think it's in the 50s out now.

Last night, we decided to do some prelim Christmas shopping. So, off to the mall. And then we waited. and waited. Traffic was horrible. And its not even December yet! The mall was full for a Friday night. We wondered around, didn't find much. Headed over to Toys R Us which was also packed. They were having a late owl special or something...again, didn't find much. Landon wanted a Thomas bike, but Bryan really tried to push the spiderman bike - which, turnedd out to be too big for Lan to peddle.

Don't have big plans for the weekend. I got some glass yesterday, which I'm hoping to cut and fire for pendants this weekend. Have some more returns...and of course, we've got another turkey in the fridge waiting to be fried.

Pictures - if we lived in the past...

I love this "feature" on my photo software. Here's two pictures of Landon - how they would have looked had I taken them with a camera back in the 1800s.

An end to the day...

So, I mentioned that it was Bryan's birthday. We decide to meet the gang out at Saltgrass at Kemah. A lot of that area is still recovering from Ike, but the Kemah boardwalk is "mostly" open - all the restaurants are getting back on track. So, yeah, we sit down, and we have a waiter in training. Or a waiter, with a waiter in training following him...you couldn't really tell which one was supposed to "know the ropes."

Then - THEN - then! the fire alarm goes off. We look around...none of the staff are addressing the situation - the chefs' obviously aren't running from the kitchen...so we stay seated. The screeching alarm goes off. We all laugh.

THEN - it goes off again. And again....and AGAIN. I'm talking 20 minutes of it going off, stopping for a while, then going off again. We're holding our ears, shouting to each other, holding the kids ears. Not once, in that whole time did the manager address anyone in the dining area. We mention this to our waiter, he apologizes over and over...half of us go outside, wondering if we should just leave (which would suck for the waiter...but come on! 20 minutes of deafening alarms!?) Oh, and did I mention that the fire department NEVER showed up. Good thing it was a false alarm. After it was finally over...we sit back down to eat our salads, which have been waiting at our table. Our foods also ready, so we cram those plates on the table too.

And, never, did we get addressed or an apology from the manager. Our poor waiter (in training?) apologized over and over and was probably scared to death we were going to rant and rave. Which we did, just not to him. LOL.

So that's how this day ended.

Today

Why today is crappy:
1. Incorrectly linked everything on one of our major web pages to one link. My software only let me "undo" four of the links. I had to manually replace all the others, that's somewhere around 175 links.
2. Several XML files are missing on our server. No explanation.
3. I have a document due for a meeting this afternoon. Found out at noon that what I had put together wasn't anything like what was requested.
4. Aunt Flo came, early.
5. I dropped an earring in the toilet.
6. The ceiling in our office has water stains, again. Apparently, the roof hasn't been fixed from IKE.
7. Did I mention having to fix 175 links cause I jacked up somehow?

Why today is going to turn out okay:
1. It's Bryan's birthday
2. We went to IHOP for breakfast.
3. My BFF went home with me at lunch and we both got to vent about our day (and yeah, it was only half way through.)
4. I'm eating a Sonic cheeseburger (and I have reese's in my purse.)
5. It's not raining and its not hot.
6. Because I'm going to choose it to be...

I'm not so young anymore

Man, I hurt.
Old Lady hurt.
Old Lady, out of shape, hurt.
Old lady, out of shape, with no lung capacity hurt.

Last night was playoffs. We placed first in the season, so we had the first game. I kid you not, there was no AC running in that gym. By the end of the match (3 sets) I was soaked from head to toe. My shorts, my shirt, my sports bra, knee pads, I think even my socks were soaked. And I was exhausted. We had to set a match and then we played for the championship, which we lost in the third game. By the time I got home, I could barely move. I wasn't even sure I'd be able to lift my arms to shampoo my hair.

And this morning? Yeah, I feel old. We used to play 5 times a week. Seriously, for like 4 hours a night. (Then we'd go eat Mexican food or Taco Bell or some other crap.) But that, yeah, that was at least five years ago. Back in my twenties. LOL. And I'm definitely not that age anymore.

So, once I recover, I'm going to spend the next few months (the season won't start again til next year) getting back into shape. And maybe, just maybe this will become a running blog again.

Suite 300

We're on the second week of Landon being in suite 300. The teacher over there are great. But every morning, Landon cries and begs to not go to school. Then every afternoon, I have to drag him out of the class...he never wants to leave.

Bryan had some insight and thinks its due to the fact that when he gets dropped off, its usually story time or spanish class. So all the kids are sitting in a circle. So instead of playing when he gets to school, he goes straight to the learning aspect and has to sit and be quiet.

So...

We can get him up earlier, and try to get to school earlier. Which, in turn, would mean we'd have to get him to bed a little earlier, so that he'd wake earlier. I think this is definitely what needs to happen.

Oh, and every day, he tells us, "No jakey at school today" - his best friend Jakey hasn't moved up yet. I know he misses him.

Officially Bronchitis

Yep, after 1 chest x-ray, 4 viles of blood, 1 shot in the booty, a second antibiotic, an inhaler, and some cough syrup with codeine, I'm FINALLY down to only about one coughing attack an hour. Yay-who! And amazing, it hardly hurts to breath now.

Wow, what a difference. Thanks to my friends and husband who convinced me to go back and get a check up. And Target pharmacy has been so helpful.

Its late now, I'm off to bed, I'm so excited about getting a good nights sleep, as I'm sure my husband is too.

Halloween 08

I went home from work sick on Friday, but managed to wake up in time for Landon's halloween party. It was his last day in that class...he's potty trained and that means he gets to move up. The party was chaos. Too much food for little kids. Most of them were no longer wearing costumes, which was probably a good thing since they were all making a mess with the cupcakes, cookies, juice and candy.

Landon and I came home and fell asleep on the hammock outside. After about an hour, we moved inside. Landon stayed asleep and after getting a few trick or treaters, we decided to wake him up. He was in no mood to go out. He didn't even want to put his batman costume on. After several more trick or treaters, he decided that yeah, maybe he did want to go out for some candy. It only took two doors befores he had the act down pat. We went around the neighborhood, making it over to Mr. Danny's before Landon started getting picky. Then he'd only go to houses that had some kind of halloween decorations. Any house that wasn't decorated, he'd tell us, "they went night-night" even though their lights would be on and sometimes, they'd even be at the door.

We made it back to the house, divided up the candy. We had a few more trick or treaters, but not as many as I thought. Needless to say, we have a ton of candy left over.

The rest of the weekend was spent convincing Landon not to eat all his candy at once. I think he's forgotten about it now. I'll have pictures to post tomorrow.

Sick and Tired of being sick and tired

Yes, another post about coughing. Seriously, when is this going to end. I went to the chiropractor yesterday thinking the pain I have under my right breast was simply a rib head out of place. Unfortuanately, the adjustment didn't solve the pain and it looks like I've pulled an muscle from coughing.

And six days of antibiotics later? Still coughing, still blowing my nose, still feeling like crap. And now, the coughing really is a pain. Every time I feel a cough coming on, I hold my boob and brace myself. LOL...I'm sure I could get volunteers for this job...but once they heard the hacking they'd prolly run. I'm actually out hacking the old smoker in our group. Now that's impressive.

As for the rest of my life...wait, there is no rest of my life right now. I'm putting everything on pause til I can get over this junk. I came home early from work today and took a much needed nap. Then Landon and I got some ice cream and now Bryan's going to grill some steaks.

It should be an interesting night. I hope its a final decision and we don't have to go through recounts. Nice...the news anchor is talking to us during the national anthem. I'm so ready for this to be finished and decided.

Coughing

Okay, after 12 days of coughing, I'm still at it. made it in to see Dr. D last week. I have a upper respiratory infection and an ear infection. Antibiotics and a decongestant waiting for me at the pharmacy. And five days later, I still feel like crap. I used the weekend to sleep as much as I could. Landon and I actually fell asleep outside on the hammock on Friday. We had to wake him up to go trick or treating.

Didn't do much the rest of the weekend...tried to keep Landon from eating candy all day long. And tried to sleep as much as I could. I love the time change. its nice to get into bed before 10:00, of course, I could have gone to bed at 5 yesterday.

Hopefully the meds will kick in soon and I can stop being such a downer.