Memorial weekend overload

When it rains it pours, right?

We usually go through months worth of nothing to do outside of normal household maintenance activities and/or events other people have planned and graciously have invited us to. But this weekend was different. Ha! Finally! And Mr. "Realistic" (I say sarcastically) predicted a Mommy meltdown.

Friday started with a fabulous trip to the farm, followed by an unplanned trip to the car dealership to have the tires re-balanced from a routine check-up on Thursday. (Is tire balancing really that hard?) That in itself was enough to make me crash later on that night because it meant unloading two car seats and two kids into the shuttle van to take us home for lunch and lay them down for naps. Then, loading the car seats back inside the shuttle van with two sleepy kids along with all their stay-the-night paraphernalia. Unloading and loading it all back inside the newly re-balanced car to head south.

This is where I must digress . . . Have you ever seen a woman carry a car seat from one car to another with a child in it? Twice? I haven't either and I know why. They (the car seats, that is) are way too heavy, bulky, awkward and full of dead weight. The woman, with diminished arm strength compared to a man, has to hunch over, bear hug the car seat and use the top part of her thighs to help hold it all up, while annoying latch straps dangle and get caught underneath the seat after she's managed to heave it inside the car. So why would a woman do this? Ironically enough, laziness I guess. I was the hunched over woman who was frankly so sick of loading and unloading all that crap, because someone couldn't balance the tires correctly, that I was willing to take some short cuts. And boy did I look like a beauty queen in training while doing it.

Back to the story... Thankfully, the in-laws were bravely going where few choose to go on purpose, and were watching the four middle munchkins overnight and all the next day. We were on a time crunch trying to get out of the car dealership so mommy and daddy could have some big people time. So I rushed south, dropped the little angels off, rushed home and at the last minute we headed off to our most favorite restaurant of all time, The Columbia.

The Columbia has ranked extremely high on my list of all-time favorite places to eat since way before kids. Their 1905 salad was my first official pregnancy craving with Katherine and anytime we get a chance to "get out", we'll usually head to St. Augustine to sample their exquisite cuisine.

So off we went to St. Augustine. We decided to stay the night and chose a hotel on the beach just north of there. I've always loved beaches. Jim hasn't. He pretty much only goes to them because of me. Isn't that love? We had a lazy walk along the water's edge the next morning while collecting shells for the princess, made a trip to the Outlet malls nearby and ate way too much.

Later on that evening, we pick up the exhausted kids and headed home. The next day Sunday, was pretty routine until that evening. We took both kids to my grandparent's pool and Jim got to see how much of a fish Nathan is turning into (or his lack of respect for the water, whichever it is). They both swam and swam and swam. It really is tiring to watch them constantly because they both are so eager to get in and enjoy the water, but their skills aren't there to support it.

Monday morning, we woke up and headed to the lake to meet my dad and brother's family. Dad brought his boat, which I was a little apprehensive about, but much to my surprise Nathan was extremely still as long as he was "driving." Go figure. We did the usual grilling of hamburgers and hotdogs, ate too much again and got back in the water. The kids swam and swam and swam, again and were crazy-tired that evening.

One important side note: Katherine reluctantly learned how to use the bathroom while at the lake. Let's just say, no one ever says they have to go pee while at the lake, they just take care of it. (wink, wink)

And then, to top it all off, we visited some friends for some more grilling and to let our kiddos play some more.

Needless to say, we opted to not go to our usual day of school today and chose to stay home and take it easy.

I am proud to announce there was no Mommy-meltdown, but there were some seriously tired kiddos with a tad bit of 'tude. But, it was all well worth it. They are so fun right now and I so enjoy spending time with them.

The cruds, Columbia, coupons and cleaning

It's been a while, where do I begin...

Since the last post, Nathan was feeling yucky. Monday's Dr. appt. yielded no ear infection, but by Friday it was official. Start the meds, get him feeling better 'cause daddy is supposed to watch the kiddos all weekend for my girly-girl weekend (because I don't want to leave nor will I have a good time if my baby is sick). Thank goodness, he was feeling better before I left.I remember when Katherine was 6-10 months old. At one point she had 7 ear infections in a period of 4 months. She was on antibiotics for 70 out of 120 days. It broke my heart. I'm so thankful he hasn't been anywhere near as sick as her. This is only his 2nd.


Good new was I did get to attend my annual Girly-Girl weekend guilt-free. This year we went to St. Pete Beach. It was very relaxing. Saturday, I think we laid on the beach for about 3 hours, sometimes throwing in a conversation or two. It was a struggle to make myself be still. I'm so used to trying to rush to get things 'done', but I managed to force myself.

We've started a tradition of eating at The Columbia for our girly-girl weekends and thankfully we didn't stop this year. The Columbia in St. Pete is bee-yu-ti-ful! The outside makes you wonder if you're at the right place, but 4 floors up the restaurant is surrounded by glass windows looking out over the pier, harbor and inlet. They must have set us at the best table in the joint because the moon was just starting to rise and its reflection glimmered on the water. And to top it off, at just the right height in the sky, the moon coupled with its reflection, was joined by a sailboat lazily carving a path through the black and silver ripples of the sea. The pictures I tried to take on C's camera didn't do it justice. This weekend provided me much needed forced rest and 4 hours of uninterrupted drive-time to think. My time away always makes me miss my family therefore I was soooo happy to see them when I returned on Sunday. And the feelings were reciprocated.


Monday we started cleaning up the yard, trying to prepare for someone's birthday party coming up. Katherine enjoys helping me pick up the wretched Magnolia tree seed pods that can cause a mean twisted ankle.These things are as big as my fist and EVERYWHERE.
Nathan even likes to join in on the fun of picking up sticks.

I went to a Coupon workshop Monday night. Don't think I'll be able to take it to the extreme T does, but I did learn this:

• Manufacturer's coupons can be coupled with store coupons
• Publix takes other store's coupons
• At Publix, you can use the manufacturer's and store's coupons on top of a Buy One Get One (BOGO) promotion (which is where some people actually make money)
• Cut coupons in doubles, for the BOGO deals. It is possible to walk out of there getting 4 of something and only paying for one or a portion of one.

I just don't think I'm that interested in having 4 bags of Chex mix in my pantry. I'll then feel compelled to eat them before they go bad.


Tuesday, we got some much needed haircuts. This is Nathan's second and he did awesome and Katherine sat there like a mannequin.


To wrap this up, I took a look at one of Katherine's school papers before I dropped her off this morning. It was a sheet her teacher filled out after she asked all the kids how they show their families they love them, then made a copy and gave one to all the students. Her response has me wondering whether or not I should be proud or ashamed. She said she shows her family that she loves them by: helping to clean the house. The other responses were hugs, kisses, take care of baby and read a book.

Should I be ashamed that she feels obligated to 'clean the house to keep mom happy' because that's what I put emphasis on? Jim and I have had many discussions about how I don't make enough time to do house stuff because of my strong desires to spend time with our children and enjoy them while they're little. Just yesterday I put away 12 loads of laundry. Yes, its been that long. And many times sections of the house are so disgusting they should be condemned.

Or, should I be proud that her definition of showing love is larger than just hugs and kisses or that she even may find it fun to help me clean. Go ahead, laugh. She might, just might, like cleaning. I used to beg my mom to clean my brother's room. It was always a disaster. I'd move all the toys around, vacuum, rearrange the furniture, all while irritating my allergies so much I'd be hopped up on Contac and sleeping for the next 4-6 hours. Just the other night Katherine was begging me to help scrub the tub.

I'm going with being proud of her for many different reasons.

8 Years!

(Yellowstone, 2004)

This week we celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary. We love to go to St. Augustine and eat at the Columbia Restaurant. Particularly, their 1905 salad is what we drive there for. It gives us 3 hours of uninterrupted drive time to talk, which is something we rarely get a chance to do.

The Columbia Restaurant has their own parking lot with an attendant. Since I can remember, we've seen the same guy manning the entrance/exit and he is VERY hard to understand. He has a strong Spanish accent and we always get a kick out of me not being able to understand him. Even though I know the general idea of what he's going to say (here's your voucher, get it stamped by your waiter and bring it back so you don't have to pay for parking), I literally cannot understand but about 1 of every 25 words that come out of his mouth. One year, I was driving as we entered the parking lot. I knew what he was going to say, but I was so frozen with not understanding him that Jim finally said, "I understood him, go park." It still didn't register, my brain was too busy trying to decipher his words; my mouth was open, I had this dumbfounded look on my face, and the guy was shifting his eyes from me to the car waiting behind me. I finally drove forward asking within hearing distance of him, "what did he say?"

So this last visit, before Jim drove up, I made a conscience effort to listen carefully and try very hard to understand him. I got one word out of his 2 sentences: 'voucher'. When I asked Jim what he said, he acted as though he speaks Spanish fluently. He squinted his eyes, scrunched up his forehead, cocked his head off to the side slightly and said, "You can't understand him?" He easily recited almost word for word what the man said. I'm still totally baffled.

On the way out, I decided to ask the man how long he has worked there. His response, interpreted fully by Jim after we left, was that he had been with the company for a total of 42 years; worked at the Sarasota and Tampa locations and had been in St. Augustine for the last 10 years. Currently, he lived above the office and watched after the place. Wow! 42 years! That's impressive!

It was a great reminder for our marriage. Even though manning a parking lot probably wasn't what he thought he'd be doing after even 30 years of working for a company, the man is dedicated. He sits out there in the rain, lightning, cold and scorching hot Florida weather. Probably deals with lots of gringas like myself that don't understand a word he says. I certainly don't know all the details of his employment, but there had to be some sort of committment on his part to make it 42 years. Dedication, committment and hard work; ingredients for a marriage that lasts.

Jim, I love you and appreciate all you do for our family. You are without a doubt, the most giving man I've ever met and I am thankful for you. I look forward to many more years with you.