I must remember this

mine is not a better way, mine is merely another way

-Neale Donald Walsh

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.

Frayed

All morning long I have been rambling around, not feeling like doing any of my usual routine. I have things that I need to do each day to keep my house, my life, in order. Not to mention the outside work that I do to bring in a little income. I just can't seem to wrap my head around any of it today.

The thought that keeps coming to me is "frayed". I feel frayed around the edges. Just a little worn down, and no longer the crisp fresh person I was. Like all those tiny little things that really don't amount to much have slowly started to erode over time. Those itty bitty pieces just seemingly bump into to me, then fall off without seemingly have left a mark. But if you look close you will see that each one of those little life issues have taken out a small little chunk of me until I am just a soft blur, not the crisp focused person I used to be.

blah

I'm very beat down and tired this week. Rationally, I know that a large part of it is female issues, but that doesn't make it any easier. I've had some pretty messed up pipes the last several years, which made the conception of Izzy such a shock. For ten or eleven months after his birth I was regular as could be, but then the old "everything is messed up" crept back in, and I just had my 1st period in 3 months. That emotional roller coaster is a lot to take, never mind the shit your body puts you through. Palmer has been having some pretty severe allergic reactions to something - we don't know what yet - and because he is a man and doesn't do well with any form of illness or infirmary, he has been Crabby McCrabberson. Really? I don't want to be dealing with my own shit right now, I don't want to have to shoulder his too.

We are preparing to go on a little mini vacation. Five days at the beach. It should be fun, but the preparation is, of course, all on my shoulders. A family of six does not just up and leave. I have to plan 5 days worth of meals (we'll have a kitchenette, so we will be eating mostly at the resort), pack beach gear, pack groceries, pack clothes, get the dogs scheduled for boarding, AND still do my little part time work at home job, parent, clean, and all the zillion other things I do.

Frankly, I'm exhausted. And I just want to be left alone for a few hours.

(oh don't worry - I'm just having a poor me party - I'll be back to my Pollyanna self in a day or two. )

Send help!

My crazy mother in law arrived last night. (Yes the same one who thinks she loaded Palmer 5 grand when he was TWELVE)

If you are reading this, send help in the form of pills, booze, ear plugs, what ever you got to help me get through the next two weeks.

Or else, I'm afraid I slowly descend into madness...

Ok, no slowly about it - I'm in a fast car and heading straight there.

oh, I have issues

Something happened this past weekend that has gotten me so livid, it has taken me this long to cool off to be able to write about it.

Some back ground 1st. When Palmer took the promotion that moved us to Orlando, he also got a raise. Just out of habit, we do not discuss financial issues with family. Especially things like salary. The moment he told his mother about the move, she began hinting around about how much he was making. Snide little comments like "You will have so much money now, that you won't know what to do with it all". Yes, Palmer makes good money. It allows us to live in a nice house (but not a grand house), it allows us to drive a nice car (but we only have one), and it allows me to stay at home with the kids (but I did work for years - and me staying home took us over a year of financial planning and cutting back - hence the one car!), and, lets not forget that we are raising 4 kids - which is not cheep! Oh yeah, and we do plan to actually retire someday! But as soon as we announced our move, she started planning her move in with us. NOT that she was invited. But all of a sudden she is now "going blind" (yet she continues to drive? I thought that for sure you couldn't drive if you were going blind) and she on the verge of dying of a heart murmur, (one that she has had all her life) and she outright TOLD us that we need to buy her a condo in Florida so she can be with us. All the while, she was bad mouthing us to her best friend, who happens to know my mother, and the best friend then proceeded to lecture MY mother on all the evils that Palmer and I do to MIL.

Oh yes, I have issues with MIL. They are many, and they are deep.

So anyway....

My MIL called Palmer on Sunday and told him "remember that TEN GRAND I loaned you - I need it back." Palmer and I were just floored. WHAT 10 grand? She said that she had 3 10K savings bonds from her mother, Palmer’s grandma. I know that was true. But she says that she cashed one and gave Palmer 5k and gave her sister, Palmers Aunt, 5k. Then a few years later, cashed one again - gave Palmer 5k, and gave Palmers Aunt the other 5. But I remember when she cashed one. She did give Palmers Aunt half, but she used the other half. Palmer and I never saw any of it, nor did we expect to. Get this... the 1st time she said she cashed one and gave Palmer the money... TWENTY FIVE years ago.

Yes, that's right.

25.

Years.

Ago.

That would make Palmer 12 when she supposedly gave him 5 grand. The second time was supposedly around 14 years ago. That would be right when Tyler was born. Well, we had just sold a car right before he was born for 20k. Why would we need to have borrowed money from her? We never have borrowed money from her. NEVER. And get this - the reason we borrowed money from her? "Dayle had gotten you into a financial hole, AGAIN".

Excuse me BITCH, you call and want money, make up some cock and bull story to get it (or maybe in her mind she really thinks we did - that is always a possibility with her) and then slander my name? All this days before she is being flown out here on OUR DIME to come visit her grand kids???