Taking a Break.

Okay...so things aren't just busy in my world: they're CRAZY busy.

On the upside:
I got Monday's homework done today.
I get to have an online class this week, so I save myself a trip during the week.
I got my midterm grade: 100%.
I got my project grade: 94/100.
I got my 31 page paper turned in! (really, the last several pages are references...plus a title page....so it's 25 pages of text, but 31 pages sounds much more impressive, right?)
Had a date-night on Thursday night. Woohoo.
Gage is kickin'a$$ in karate! so proud!

On the downside:
I'm exhausted.
I've still got a LOTTA court visits to do for my internship.
I still don't know my final grade on the mega-paper so I'm just DYING to know if I'm all done with it or if I will have to revise & resubmit it...
My grandpa's not doing well.

So...I've got a lot on my plate.
I may or may not blog this next week.
Miss me.
And I'll be back soon.

Ewwww. Dog Lick.

Gage, this is future blackmail material.
How many times do I have to tell you not to kiss the dog in the mouth?




Ewwwwwwwwww.

Thanks, Direct TV.

Okay....so this whole Direct TV thing.
It really makes me miss AT&T U-verse.

I haven't figured it all out yet...like how to hide the PPV porn shows.
"Horny Hungarian Ho's"
Don't get me started on the grammatical/punctuation error there. My concern is that in the near future, when he's able to sound that out, that he's going to ask me what that's all about.

So anyway...I've got a short little while to get it figured out before he starts sounding it all out....but I just wish we could get U-verse out here! I didn't have THIS problem with U-verse!

Snow Fun, from Saturday 3/20/10

More Snow.

It's snowing here.
Lots of snow.
:)

Introducing: The NEXT Karate Kid!

Here's Our Little White Belt!


{the above photos were actually taken at home, AFTER our first lesson, and AFTER he got his first ever uniform!}

We had our first lesson today.
The first little bit was rough, and Gage reeeeeeeeeeeally had to warm up to the whole concept of karate/taekwondo. But, man, when he did---he had a GREAT time!





{Really? Is giving a 4 year old a pair of Nun-Chucks in ANYONE's best interest? Really?}


And, to celebrate---I got Gage a new shirt:

{A little bit tacky, I know...but I couldn't resist. Target was just daring me to buy it. And I can't really pass up a dare like that, now can I?}

Poor Buddy....

Gage came in from the backyard just a cryyyyyying.

Gage, what happened?
"I threw the baseball up, and it came down and hit me in the head."
Gage, didn't Mommy tell you not to do that? Didn't Mommy tell you that if it hit you it would hurt?
"Yes."
Where does it hurt?
"Here. And here."
Did you do it TWICE!?
"Yeeeeeeeeeeeessssss." {still crying.}

I had to remove myself from the room b/c I couldn't stop laughing.
Poor buddy.
I felt bad, but come on! TWICE?

He's so his father's son.
When Hubby was little, they had multiple ER visits in the SAME day because Hubby thought it was a good idea to ride his tricycle down the stairs. After the first time, his mother took his tricycle away. Well, needless to say, he found it & tried his stunt again.
Some kids never learn.
...and the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

Poor Buddy...
"It hit me right here."

There He Goes.....

....he's getting so very big.

I feel like Pizza Tonight!

Or rather...on St.Patrick's Day night....







Man, that was fun.
:)

What a beating of a day.

My day: (took the day off work to work on my mega-paper)

wake up 7:30

Gage, up, dressed, breakfast.

8:45 Out the door to take Gage to Memaw's

9:30-10:30: exchange Gage's shoes @ Target b/c Hubby bought a pair (FIVE SIZES) too small. (WTF was he thinking!?)

11:00 home, gather paper writing junk. Open laptop.

WHAT THE F*CK? The screen went black.

Every time I turned it on, it turned off.

Run up stairs----use that computer to find a place to buy a new battery for the laptop. Why??? Because the draft of the paper is ON the laptop. NO, I didn't save it to the little memory stick thing because when I was going to---the laptop kept turning off!

Closest place that has the battery: Plano's Batteries Plus.

fine. Go there.

$100+ later---I've got a new battery.

Problem: that's only 1/2 the problem. Screen won't light up.

Go to Computer Junction in Richardson.

fine. $75 to plug in a cable that came loose?

fine. pay it. Go home.

2pm: lunch.

And now, my day off has been WASTED with running around, and I've only added 2 pages in length to what I'd hope to finish today.



I want to take a nap.

:(



that's my whine for today.

thanks for reading.

I'm still typing, and that means that I am procrastinating.



....crickets....crickets......

Okay---fine! I'll log off! I'm leaving now. Back to work on my paper.

My Papa.

My Papa's health isn't so great.
It hasn't been so great for some time now....but now, it's REEEAAAALLY not so great. We joke, saying that he's been dying for years now...and who knows, maybe he'll pull out & surprise us all. But, it's not likely.

He's got CHF (congestive heart failure),renal failure, & a list of other things. He says, "I've had or got just about everything you can" relating to his health ailments. He's also got skin cancer on his head for which he was doing chemo. He's not doing the topical chemo any longer because he calls it "fire water." He says it just hurts too bad.

It's taking a toll on my 89 year old grandmother, and something just has to change in this situation.

So, pray for my Pop. Pray for my Gammy.

But---I don't want to end this on a sad note.
I want to end it on something sweet. So here's a story.

As we were packing things & preparing for our move. I got a few pictures out of the old secretary cabinet. Gage saw the picture of a trio of soldiers on the beach in the Phillipines. It was Papa and two of his soldier buddies from years ago. I told Gage that the picture was Papa, and that he used to be a soldier.
"He was an Army Dude?"
Yes.
"But it doesn't look like Papa."
Well, he was much younger then.
"He wanted to be a grandpa when he grew up? And he got his wish!!!????"
Yes, buddy. Something like that. He got his wish.

Mad Crazy SKILLS!

Sunday fun: Gage & I have mad-crazy-playdoh-SKILLS!

M&J came to visit! {Saturday}

Hubby's bestie, Mark, came for a visit.

I tell you---he & Hubby are two peas in a pod.
Jana, his wife, kept joking, "We'll give you guys some privacy if y'all want a room."

It was sooooo great to see them!
We last saw them when Gage was little. Like a year old.
It's really been about 3 years now.

Anyway----they used to live in ATL, but they've just recently moved back to Texas, and we're mentally making big plans to visit them this Summer in San Antonio! Hello, Alamo! Here we come!

They are up in Big D for a whirl-wind weekend of visiting family & friends, and guess what? We got them first!!!

We had fun playing Catch Phrase, and just catching up. J's gone back to school. M's an architect, and studying for...something. A big test I think. I forget what it's called. And M&J will probably just laugh at my architect-lingo-incompetence here in this section.
That's okay. I willingly laugh at myself.

:)
Pics from the evening:

{J,M,Me,Hubby,Gage,Ranger}


{Playing Catch Phrase...I believe Hubby was trying to get Mark to guess "bootleg"}

The big Losers!...I mean, Winners. {I'm still convinced they cheated.}


We all had such a great time, and stayed up way past our bedtime.
:)

M&J----we enjoyed it! Come again!!!

Leslie's Shower!

I attended Leslie's shower on Saturday, in preparation for Baby Kailer's arrival in April.
:)
But--------since the move I haven't yet unpacked or been able to find my stupid camera cord to upload the pictures, and I didn't have the memory card in at the time, so they are saved on my camera. Those will have to wait.
:(

Picnic fun....

So, I tried to do this whole "suburban life" thing... Gage & I were stoked to load up the wagon with a picnic basket & blanket. We were all going to walk down to the playground, which we'd just passed when driving into the neighborhood. It was hopping with families. So, as soon as Daddy got home---that's what we all did.

Um---newsflash: 6pm is apparently dinner time for anyone & everyone out in suburbia, and NOBODY was at the park. And apparently pizza was the dinner of choice for most of the people around us, b/c I couldn't count the # of times we saw pizza delivery cars drive by. {which, is actually promising b/c I didn't even think we could GET pizza delivered all the way out here...}

Anyway....we had a good time, but I'm still going to have to get the hang of this whole "suburbia" thing.

Oh---and speaking of suburbia/"the sticks"....neighbors??? What's up with all the neighbors? We've only met the people next door, and really I've only met the husband part of that duo. I've seen the wife part, but she's never said anything to me. We just wave. Everyone else: I see their cars come & go. I see the garage doors go up, they park, and the door is closed before I ever see anyone get out. Where in the world is the "Bree" of this Wisteria Lane? Where's our "welcome to the neighborhood, neighbor!"????

I know---I'm being incredibly presumptuous to think that anyone should welcome us to the neighborhood or give us a basket of muffins or something. That's soooooooo not want I'm trying to portray....I'm just saying---isn't it better that they come to us & say "hi" & introduce themselves, or should I just go & introduce us? I don't know!

when Tera & Nathan moved in across from us---we went over there. We said, "hey, here's this young couple that's moved in by us, let's go say 'hi'." WE did the welcoming, and WE did the introducing.

On the flip side: Hubby took Gage for a bike ride one day, and got to talking with this mom in our neighborhood (down the way, and around the corner). Mom of 3. ...chat, chat, chat.... turns out, she knows me! Says that we went to school together, told Hubby to tell me "hi."
Guess what????
Hubby can't remember her name. He's come up with a few variations with some of the same consonant sounds---but he's not really sure WHAT her name is.
Here's what I have to go on: "She's blonde, has 3 kids, and I think her husband's name is Nick."
I think I may have it figured out---but, what if I'm wrong.
Do I just stop by her house to see if I'm right? Really---this person was always a very nice person, and I would be delighted if it's her! But, what if it's not. What if the person answers the door, and I don't have a clue who it is??? Or what if it's someone that I didn't particularly care for in the past???

Oh, the drama.

So, I'm done with my ranting for today.
I'll leave you with these picnic pics (although none of them actually reflect that we sat & had a picnic, but I promise---we did).

Another First for Baby Gage

Earlier this week, Gage saw his first ever real-life rainbow.
:)






He LOVED it. He was just so amazed.

Catfish Dog.

Here's Ranger with his bad haircut.

Dammit Arlene, and Dammit Direct TV

So, it's past bedtime around here, and I'm up blogging.
why??
Because my frick-frackin' laptop overheated (what? you shouldn't use it for like 5 consecutive [or more] hours while it's propped on your down comforter???) and I really started to get the vibe that it was about to fritz out on me. So, I hurried & emailed myself an attachment of my paper. Schlepped my stuff upstairs to Gage's computer, which luckily has the internet, but doesn't have the same Word stuff installed, and I need all kinds of product keys & codes to adequately configure it....yada, yada, freakin' yada.
Point is: I was chugging coke to vamp myself up for a few more hours of quiet homework time. And now---I'm taking a break, and hoping that I'm giving my little laptop a little time to cool itself down so I can get back to work soon.

So, in the meantime.....I sent a little statement to the Customer Service people at Direct TV {after all, THEY sent ME a customer service response card to fill out. It's only appropriate for me to tell them how I really feel}.
Here are my questions relating to the service at the Casa de Lainey-Paney:

1) I've had service for about a week now. Why have I already gotten a bill for a months worth of service?
2) A bill for $102? What happened to the nice price they quoted by phone that was in the $60s? When I said, "does that include the 4 receivers?" I was told "YES" not "Well, there's a $5 charge for each of those, so no, your bill will actually go up by twenty bucks right there."

So far, the only thing I've liked about Direct TV: (1) the installation guy was nice, respectful (covered his shoes to walk into our new house!), and taught me how to use the product. I appreciated that. (2) The fact that I now get the Sprout channel for my son.
THAT's IT!

......I miss AT&T U-verse. I knew this whole "livin' in the sticks" thing was going to pose a few problems....

Little Drummer Boy

...he has a ton of toys...he even HAS a drum {again, thanks Colin & Melis}, but he insists on constructing a make-shift drum set out of all kinds of things. This time: two unused Rubbermaid organizers & 2 pencils for drumsticks.