I must remember this

mine is not a better way, mine is merely another way
-Neale Donald Walsh

The never ending battle

Around here we have a constant struggle for TV rights; who gets to watch TV on the flat screen in the living room. Some where along the lines the kids came up with the rule that if they all 3 cannot agree on a program that the TV must go off. I have no idea where they came up with that rule (certainly not from me yelling in sheer frustration "If you don't stop arguing the stupid thing is going OFF!!) We have 4 televisions in this house, and yet they still feel the need to argue!

But when Palmer comes home? All that stops! Why? Because dad is the king of the remote. Dad doesn't give a flying leap if you are desperate to find out if Hannah Montana will make it through her latest escapade, that remote, and thus Ultimate Power, belong to him.

All electronics fall under his jurisdiction.

Including headphones and ear buds. Palmer goes through them at an amazing rate, so he is always claiming other peoples. Last night he even claimed the last pair I had in the car dvd case! He goes thorough roughly a pair a month, because he tends to leave them laying around where Izzy can find them. And once Izzy gets a hold of a pair of headphones , they are done for! He pulls ear pieces off like other kids pull off wings on bugs. The rest of us have learned to hide our headphones from both Palmer and Izzy.

I've just learned to DVR what I want to watch then watch it later when they are all gone to school and work.

I think that makes me the winner in this battle!

The Tail of Lizzy

A bright green lizard just crawled under my front door. He was about 6 inches long, and rather cute, so I instantly said "I shall name you Lizzy!But you can't stay here Lizzy, you must be an outdoor lizard, so out you go!"

I got a bowl and manila envelope to try and catch him. I decided I could put the bowl over him, slide the manila envelope under it, and take Lizzy back out side.

Lizzy didn't like that idea much, so he started up the wall, thus earning the notice of the giant ball of fur we call a dog.

(can you see where this is going?)

I'm tying to catch Lizzy. Furball is trying to EAT Lizzy and Lizzy does not want any of that. So Lizzy tries to make a break for it. Right at me. Now, I'm screeching in that girl meets spider/bug/insect voice, Furball is scrambling on the tile trying to catch the tasty green morsel that is getting away, Izzy is terribly excited by all the commotion, and Lizzy is making a mad dash for the toy box, which offers apparent lizard sanctuary.

I am, of course, in between the dog, the lizard, and the toy box. So I am dodging Lizzy, trying not to get barreled over by a giant ball of fur, and shrieking like a school girl. Lizzy makes it to the toy box, which just send Furball into a toy box knocking over tizzy of spasmodic proportions.

He catches the lizard.

Now I am yelling at the dog to let go of the lizard, and get the dog out of the house, so when he lets go, Lizzy can be free.

No such luck. Lizzy is no more.

I put Furball outside, just in case lizards don't digest well, if you know what I mean.

I walk back in, and Izzy hands me the still twitching tail of Lizzy. Just what every mother wants, a twitching lizard tail from their toddler. I'm just glad he didn't try to eat it.

This is my life, I swear to you, I could not make this up!

Reunion shmounion

Our 20th class reunion is coming up this weekend. Actually it our 19th year, but they are combining 1990 and 1991. We are not going, because I am just to spending that much money to fly six of us back to the other side of the country to see people that I haven't seen in 19 years, and frankly didn't like that much back then anyway!

Palmer was all for us attending the reunion, even to the point of making it a cross country family trip in the car. Um... NO. Those people that matter to me, I am in touch with all the time and miles apart don't factor in. The other people whom I haven't seen since the 10 year reunion aren't all that important in the scheme of my life, and if I really wanted to see them, I'd just Facebook them. And honestly, I don't remember much about my 10 year reunion anyway because I was on deaths door step at the time anyway. (Seriously, I nearly died and ended up in the hospital for a long time - but that is another story for another day)

Palmer has always been the type of person that remembers people. He'll say to me "remember that guy that we met 18 years ago at the party hosted by some other guy, and you only met them for maybe 3 minutes and have never seen them since, and why don't you remember them, how could you forget?" Or maybe I'm paraphrasing. Anyway, the point is Palmer remembers people who never even made a blip on my radar. He can meet a person and is instantly friends with them and thus has great legions of friends spread out all over the world. I, on the other hand, have a handful of friends and take a long time to let anyone into my "inner circle", but once you are there - you pretty much are never gonna get out unless you turn out to be some huge douchepickle.

But all this reunion talk has got me thinking about how long ago it was that I was in high school. I remember when MY parents went to their 20th reunion, and they were OLD people at the time. I am certainly not OLD and therefore cannot possibly be having my 10th class reunion. Wow! Did you catch the slip? I am in such denial that I typed 10th class reunion. See - There is no possible way I could be ready for my 20th!

I wish I could have gotten out of there sooner!

Continuing in my "Let me tell you about where I've been" line of postings, I would like to tell you about Wishes Brew tea house in Hunters Creek.

I found Wishes Brew on line before I even moved to Florida, so I was very excited to go and have a cup of tea. I am a tea lover, and love to sit down with a hot cup of fragrant tea. The whole tea experience tends to be calming and spiritual to me.

I thought it would a fun experience for grandma, daughter-in-law, and grand daughter to go and have afternoon tea together. When we arrived, we ordered our tea and some food. My mother in law chose to have a chicken salad a croissant, I chose the turkey and cheddar sandwish (yes, they call them sandWISHES, which I thought was a cute play on the name) and my daughter got the kids pizza. Because it was so unbelievable hot that day, my mother in law and I ordered our tea in iced tea form, while my daughter got the hot chocolate. That's Kaitlyn for you - gotta be different!

When the brought our drinks... one at a time... 20 minutes after we ordered them, the brought us hot tea. My mother in law sent hers back, but I elected to not fuss with it and just kept mine hot. The teas were very good, and so was the hot chocolate. I have zero complaints about the tea portion of our time there what so ever.

The service how ever left a lot to be desired. Just like the drinks, none of our food was delivered at the same time. There was at least 5 minutes between each of our plates arriving. My mother in law did not get the croissant she ordered with her salad, until her salad was almost gone. And yes, she reminded the server... TWICE. After delivering my mother in law her salad, they then told me that thy did not have any turkey. I said ham was fine, and my sandwish was good, but certainly nothing that I couldn't have made for myself at home, for far less expense. My daughter's pizza was just a simple frozen pizza that had been stuck in the microwave and warmed up. And it appeared to be as tasty as it sounds.

Twenty minutes after we had finished eating, and had sat there with dirty dishes in front of us, I asked our server for the bill.

and waited

and waited

and waited

Thirty minutes later, I asked again.

and waited

and waited

and waited

Finally I asked another person for my bill, and told him that if I didn't have in 5 minutes I was walking out with out paying. And presto! My bill appeared. I did not tip them at all, and I was sure to write on the receipt that the service was terrible, and took nearly 45 minutes after the 1st time I asked for my bill for it to be delivered, so that management was sure to know.

So, the tea list was amazing; the tea was marvelous; the decor was warm and friendly; and the food was acceptable. However, no matter how much I enjoyed the tea and would like to try some of their other flavors of tea, I will not return simply because the service was atrocious.

Just pick one, already!

My Dearest Mother Nature,

I thank you so much for giving me a wonderful world to live in. I am a huge fan of your fall collections! The colors, the cool air, the crisp evenings. I just love it all. It is very hard for me to criticize you. After all, you have been doing this job for many, many years. You know your stuff.

However.... (you just knew that was coming, didn't you?)

I am not a huge fan of the gray hair that I constantly need to cover up, when it is combined with a pimply breakout so massive, so huge, of such epic proportions, that even scrawny A/V club teenagers are shirking away from me in horror. I feel that I have indeed put in my "dues" and I can live with the gray hair, but I cannot tolerate the nasty pustule filled sores. I am no longer a teenager; I am in fact a decade or so past teenybopper, and there for demand that you take back the teen skin that you have cursed me with this past week.

Gary hair or pimples. You can have one. Not both.

Sincerely,

Dayle
Who vastly prefers gray over a pimply forehead.

Arabian Nights = family fun!

When my mother-in-law was here, I was looking for things to do that we could do with her, which would be fun for the whole family and not break the bank. While she may think we are made of money, my pocket account knows otherwi9se, so I was determined to seek out the biggest bang for my buck, while keeping everyone from age 1 to age 10 happy. Not an easy thing to do!

I had driven past the sign to Arabian Nights dinner show many times, and something in me decided to give them a look on line. Their website promised a fabulous dinner, and a thrilling show. It was enough to intrigue me! The prices ($30.00 - $50.00) was within my budget for a nights entertainment, so I thought "Hey! Lets give this a shot!"


We went for the VIP tickets which got us each a drink (beer/wine for the grown ups, and a much more tame soda for the kids) before the show while we waited in the VIP area. There was a great stage out front with acrobats performing to help pass the time, and it really kept all the kids happy. Then our VIP tickets got us down on the arena floor before the performance, where some of the staff members told us about each breed of horse used in the show, and other staff members brought the horses out. After the little "show and tell" of horses, they let us roam the arena floor and go up to each of the horses. We got to pet them, ask the handlers questions, and the kids even got to sit on one of the horses. Izzy was totally mesmerized by the horses. I have to tell you, this was my favorite part of the night! I kind of thought that Izzy would be my only issue with going to a dinner show. But he was so taken with the horses, that there was none of the usual baby "I have sat here long enough and I am not going to sit here any more" antics!



After the VIP part, we went up to our seat for dinner. Seating is long bench style stadium seating, so there really isn't a bad seat in the house. I can see how if you had a bad back, the lack of a seat back could be bothersome, but it didn't bother any of us at all. Dinner was not fabulous, but it was quite tasty, and the portions were good sized. Desert was very yummy, and it was great that they gave us plenty of food to feed the baby as well as ourselves.

But we didn't go for the food, we went to see the show. It was spectacular. When I call it mesmerizing, I truly mean that every one of us could not take our eyes off the horses and their riders. The tricks were amazing! Bare back riding! Acrobatics! Jumping through fire hoops! All of it was just breathtaking. I can only imagine the thrill the riders must feel being able to control such magnificent animals. Truly, it made me want to take up horse back riding!

All in all - it was a great show, and I can't wait to take my parents and grandparents when they come this winter.

**I have to admit, this is not my picture. My camera acted up so none of my pictures turned out as I had hoped they would. I freely admit to borrowing this one off the website. **