November Showers

Ok... more baby stuff I have to share.

Today my sister and friend, Fachaitte had a baby shower for our little jewel and we had such a good time! We got a ton of neat things plus loads of cute cute little clothes! We got a bicycle trailer and a gymnasium for her to play in/on/with, plus diapers and wipes and booger suckers, and blankets and toys and pacifiers. We got quite a bit to help take care of our new little joy.

The centerpiece for the snack table was a diaper cake (non-edible). How cute is this!?!??


You can never have too many diapers and wipes! THANK YOU!!!


Such fun times...


Circe sent a pink camo outfit!!! *kisses* Circe! Thank you!! That was so sweet!!!


My friend Tanya and her sister along with Lisa. I worked with them (minus Tanya's sister who is here visiting from Russia) at Chaos College.


Kitchen table chit-chat


Everyone had a onsie to decorate for the baby to have to remember her shower.


I gave each of the hostesses pink fluffy slippers, glitter lipgloss and jewelry. Check out the diva shoes!


The hostesses with me.


Me trying on one of the onsies for size...


Another one of the onsies... design by Dawna


Thank you everybody!!!

Return to Sender

A woman finds a romantic letter in a bottle washed ashore and tracks down the author, a widowed shipbuilder whose wife died tragically early. As a deep and mutual attraction blossoms, the man struggles to make peace with his past so that he can move on and find happiness.

I rented the sappy tearjerker, Message in a Bottle, a few weeks ago. For starters, I think Kevin Costner is a puss (IMHO) so that made for Strike One. I realize there are legions of Costner fans walking the earth, but I’m not one of them. Secondly, the characters didn’t even bother attempting realism by speaking with a southern accent. This dreadful tale is supposedly set in Wilmington, NC, and having lived in North Carolina for several years, I can attest to the fact that true Tarheels do indeed talk with a pronounced drawl. And that brings me to Strike Three—it’s supposed location. As I watched the movie, I looked in vain for any familiar beach shots that vaguely resembled the Outer Banks. HA! For whatever reason, the powers that be chose deception over truth by saying this drivel took place on my special coast when in actuality, it was Maine’s seashore used for the setting. Guess they figured no one would notice. At any rate, I almost had to restrain myself from applauding at the end when Kevin’s character met his untimely demise. *said in loud umpirish voice,* “Yer out!”

Birthday Party Pics

I've finally had a chance to sit down and get the pictures from Richard's birthday off my camera. I made him a German Chocolate cake (his request) and drowned it in icing. Yummy!



He spit on it for us to get the fire out.


I told him it was going to be the best birthday ever ever! He was shocked.... a happy shocked. He got an Xbox 360... the one thing I did NOT want in my house because its only breeding grounds for trouble. I bought it.


The happy birthday boy with a hot party girl.

Picture Perfect

Another ‘happening’ this past weekend was the family photo shoot. In all honesty we have never ever had a fam pic so this was quite an extraordinary event. My talented niece flew out from NC to visit and while she was out here, picked up a few bucks on the side by putting one of her many skills to good use. Sis and gang opted for the white shirt/bluejeans look while the Circe menagerie went with the more GQ black polo/khaki visage. We occasionally let the pure silliness shine through resulting in joyful merriment rather than tedious chore. Afterwards we all enjoyed a relative-intense cookout featuring grilled chicken, baked potatoes, veggies, salad, and a hefty bottle of Merlot. As we toasted marshmallows by the crackling bonfire and turned them into gooey S’mores, leftover fireworks burst above the appreciative crowd.

TBC finally broke down yesterday and had me call AT&T ("the new Cingular") regarding his notoriously popular cell number. If you recall the story, a certain female in town has a vast collection of unsavory friends who are forever either in dire need of a. some sort of ‘package,’ or b. assistance in detention springing as they frantically employ the get-out-of-jail collect call. Alrighty then. In the months he has had these mobile digits, the calls have never lessened as her buddies apparently cannot distinguish between the numbers “6” and “8” when they are higher than a kite. At any rate, he’s now the proud owner of a brand spanking new number that the rep promised had no previous owners or dubious history. The irony was not lost when he informed me this morning that his phone jarred him awake at 2:30 am by someone named “private.” WTF?

Shake a Tail Feather

I’m sure I’ll be feeling some residual aches and pains this week as I recover from our lively Latino dance party last night. Though our gathering was small and intimate, we managed to rattle the walls as we twisted and twirled to the music. Mischief, the only male (kitty) allowed to remain, was terrified and hid out in the bedroom when he wasn’t playing soccer with the whipped cream cap. After chowing down on chips, dip, root beer floats, and brownie sundaes, the festivities got under way with a loving and painstakingly compiled multimedia slide show of “S’s” personal six-month DR experience. Thanks to “S’s” patience, I can now say with confidence that I have danced the Bachata, Cumbia, Salsa, and my personal favorite, the Merengue. I had to be reminded that I had already received lessons for the Salsa when we stayed at the tropical resort. Um, I've slept since then... As yet, I cannot distinguish among the differing melodies for the first three, but by golly if my feet cannot stop tapping and my hips rhythmically undulate on their own accord to an irresistible, catchy beat, I know it’s the Merengue! We worked up a lot of sweat, laughed ourselves silly and hopefully burned off mucho calories. Of course, we each had to bust our own unique American moves occasionally, but all in all, we threw our heart and soul into the seductive swaying. (I tossed in a few energetic pirouettes for good measure!) The party was still in full swing when I bid my goodbyes (some of us have to work on Monday), but the evening was a resounding success. Whose up for big band swing dance lessons? :)

Let There Be Light

Today was Richards birthday... here's how we've spent it...

In the dark.

Our electricity has been off more than its been on. We fixed lunch (electricity had already been off and back on once), then started in on cake and ice cream and the electricity started in... off, on, off, on, etc. Finally, it came on and stayed for about an hour. We opened his gifts - which i'd love to share pictures of, but I cant get to my computer without electricity! All the boys sat down to hook up the new XBox 360, I headed out for my pedicure... and my phone rang. They announced the power had gone out again, so they were going shopping. HOURS later, we all return home to find no power yet... and the house is hot.... the air is still... and our entire neighborhood has set up camp in their driveways.

We opted to go see a movie. Mr Bean... and in my opinion not very funny. Everyone else laughed, but I wasn't seeing the humor. Anyways ... we headed back to the house to find a completely dark neighborhood. UGH! So, here we are sittiing at my sister's place while kids do homework and I surf the net and Richard celebratets the last moments of his birthday day, watching Attack of Mars or something like that.

Apparently, there are about 775 customers without power and they dont have an explanation why. Oh the joy.