Vacation Over

So I covered most of Friday and Saturday in yesterday’s post; Saturday night and Sunday morning was mostly more of the same. We ate, we slept, we rode around on the golf cart which was my favorite I think, riding the same trail over and over and never seeing it the same way twice. I’m going to share the photos before I tell you about the ride home.

Real men take fire seriously.



Real men kill stuff.



I would  have stuffed a pillow under my shirt,
taken my shoes off and held a beer and cigarette in one hand
with the gun in the other,
but this is all the redneck I could muster on short notice.
I think I look convincing don't you?



That goat was MEAN. He eats his own babies.
I don't know why I was surprised
when he tried to take a bite of mine.

Now, the ride home.

We left the ranch right around 10:30, about an hour before Laine’s nap time. So Laine was tired, and she was upset over having to leave my mom and dad behind and she wanted to be held because it was nap time, so she cried and screamed or three hours. THREE HOURS of a baby crying is long enough to drive anyone up a wall, but Erik had to get into the office. He had to. We were unable to stop for Laine, so she cried. For three hours. When we stopped for gas Erik bought Laine a small cup of Dippin’ Dots and that made her happy for almost an hour so that she didn’t start whining and crying again until we hit Katy.

By the time we got home, it was almost three o’clock (yeah that’s a 5 hour trip packing into a 4 ½ hour trip with gas stops and one stop to clean up the vomit after Laine cried herself into hysterics included) and we were all running on fumes. Erik stayed only long enough to help me unpack the car before heading out to the office. Laine and I ate some leftover twice baked potatoes (thrice baked) and hung out in the living room for the rest of the day, I was doing laundry and Laine was taking out every toy she owns and throwing at the wall and me until about 10:00, at which time I held her down until she cried herself to sleep, she woke up an hour later but snuggled down with me, put her hand on my face and smiled at me.
My vacation at the ranch was so wonderful and so relaxing that having Sunday happen was like a bucket of boiling oil being poured into my socket after someone tore my eyeball out with flaming tongs; it’s Tuesday and I still want to cry thinking about Sunday.

Cazadora Ranch

This past weekend Erik, Laine, Alicia and I all drove 5 hours to a friends ranch and had three wonderful days of doing whatever we wanted. Most of it included naps and food and playing on the playground but some of it included the ranch itself. We rode the property on the golf cart a few times, we fed the horses and had moments with a goat who wanted to eat my baby.
Friday, Erik, Alicia and I were all able to get the day off of work so we were able to be on the road by 9:30 after I dropped off the cake balls to the WOMAN WHO MADE THE FIRST EVER ORDER OF CAKE BALLS! That was exciting. We met and exchanged cake for money in a gas station parking lot. It felt like a drug deal, I totally got an adrenalin rush. Once we got on the road Laine fell asleep and I was able to concentrate of some barrettes for about two hours, then she woke up and we stopped at a burger king when she started getting rowdy. After a bellyful of food and some running around we piled back in the car and made it to the ranch just after 3:00. That’s some pretty dang good time for driving with a toddler. Once we got to the ranch we got the tour of the most wonderful most beautiful place in the world. I mean it’s amazing. It’s peaceful and quiet and there are no people around and no traffic and no smells or sights besides that which God planted and I LOVED IT! There were no people! It was heaven for me.
We piled into a golf cart (all 6 of us) and drove around the property for about a half an hour, taking photos of things that probably won't interest me again but totally fascinated me there. We saw rabbits and roadrunners and eagles and red-winged blackbirds and turtles and otters and deer and hogs and trees that have been around longer than my family name! There was so much to see and at the same time absolutely nothing to distract you from the beautiful place we were in.
We got back to the house and unpacked our bags, I traded in my sandals for boots and we got started on dinner, steak and potatoes of course. However when I say steak and potatoes there is no way for you to understand the amazingness of that meal unless you’ve eaten with my family. If you have you know, if you haven’t you haven’t ever really eaten.
After dinner we played with Laine on the playground that was right in front of the house; a huge wonderful playground with a slide and swings and amazing happy rays of sunshine sprouting out from it in all directions totally intoxicating my daughter with laughter and bubbly giggles for the entirety of the trip. I love that playground.
Bed time came around 9:30 for Laine and me, even Erik crashed earlier than usual. Being outdoors eating mad amounts of good food and drinking very cold beer can wear you out if you aren’t used to such wonderful conditions. My city body had to adjust to the easy life of the country.
Daddy woke Erik up around midnight to go out hunting and while they were gone Laine woke up, of course flipping out, in a strange place in a strange bed and it was super dark and she couldn’t see me so it took me a while to calm her down, but after I told her “It’s okay, we're sleeping in DonDon’s bed” it made her a lot more curious than afraid of where she was. And that started the next two days worth or “It’s DonDon’s bed? It’s DonDon’s chair? It’s DonDon’s house? It’s DonDon’s? It’s DonDon’s? It’s DonDon’s?”
It’s really cute is what it is.
Saturday morning Laine and I were up at 7:00 for breakfast and cartoons for a few hours before everyone else got up and started moving around. We spent the morning with coffee and campfires and good company a hammock and some music. A beach vacation with pina colada’s delivered to me by ethnically handsome young men can’t even touch a morning like we had in the hot and dry side of Nowhere, Texas.
We went for another ride around the property, took some more photo’s and enjoyed the cool breeze that was missing the day before. We played with Laine on the playground and had conversations usually reserved for Sundays. We prepared then ate more food and took naps. TOOK NAPS. Sorry, didn’t know if you saw that. I TOOK A NAP. Yeah I did.
We slept until around 2:00 and then waited for everyone else to wake up form their naps, we sat around the fire again and played at the playground again and we fed the horses some apples and we made the acquaintance of a very mean very ugly goat that literally kept trying to eat my child’s feet.
Yeah, I snatched her up and ran away.
Yeah, my dad laughed at me.
Oh and how my dad laughed! All weekend, all day and night and day and night again. He laughed and when he wasn’t laughing he was smiling. The place we were in was amazing enough on it’s own but to have the music of my dad’s laughter covering it all was like all the beautiful things you can think of wrapped up in all the beautiful things you can’t think of and smooshed together with all the beautiful things God hasn't made yet. It’s was so nice. I really, really hated to leave.
I’ll have photo’s tomorrow.

Dolls, Sleep and a Broken Streak

I am literally having to pull myself up by the hair and taping my hands to the keyboard to get this written. I hope you can appreciate the effort I’m making.
For the last four days all I’ve thought or dreamt about are dolls, it’s getting a little out of hand. I didn’t do laundry or dishes all weekend. Not one load in either machine. Laine only got one bath all weekend and that was on Sunday night and it was only because we were at my mom’s house and it was embarrassing how much she needed it. I know I’m a horrible mother; Laine could have contracted some insane disease from the bacteria and dirt. Whatever. She’s fine. And clean now. Plus she’s a toddler; there is a Clorox like excretion on her skin, like whatever touches her, she kills before it can hurt her. Unless it’s a cold germ, then she’s helpless. But like I said, now she’s clean and I have my ideas finally situated. I’m glad I took the time for myself. It would have been awesome if I’d had someone to help out and take care of the house and baby for me while I was taking this time for myself, I’m thinking that maybe I’ll start dating again, boyfriends are so much more helpful than husbands. It’s worth bringing up to Erik, maybe over dinner tonight. If I cook for him; I may be making a doll.
So far I’ve been working from a pattern that was someone else’s, it’s not copyrighted that I know of but on the off chance that it is and on the off chance I decide to sell one or two I don’t want any problems. And I’m pretty sure I have it all worked out now, at least I have the idea worked out. Now I need to figure out how to take that idea and form a pattern out of it. Once that’s done its cheesy peasy fresh and easy. I have some amazing fabric that I picked up on Saturday and some super cute little buttons and beads too. I’m ready to do this thing; I just need the thing to get done so I can do it. You know?
So Friday. Friday I got off work around 3:00 and headed over to my persons house, where she was napping and I totally made the dogs bark and wake her up and then I felt bad and offered to leave but she was already up so I hung out for a little bit, the girls woke up from their nap soon after and it was a nice visit. I went home to piece together a doll I had been thinking about before going to go and get Laine from daycare around 6:00 and she and I headed into Friendswood to watch Josh play basketball. He’s so much better at it that Jacob was at his age, he gets on his man and stays there and totally took the shot when he had it, three year olds are amazing. Especially the ones related to me, because they all get their amazing gene from me. If you know my family and are questioning this, you can just shut your pie hole. You don’t have to understand it for it to be true. Science schmience.
When we were leaving the game Laine FAAAHH-lipped out. To the max. Apparently my mom pinched her right as I was putting Laine into the car seat, but Laine thought that I did it so she got all hateful towards me and started crying for Nanny. It’s the only explanation there is; if you were there you’d know.
Laine cried for a while in the car then started doing that sniffing thing, like she’s been crying for hours and her body doesn’t know it’s done and so it keeps faking the motions but there are no more tears. Ugh I hate that. It breaks the heart even worse than the crying, she even did it after she fell asleep. Then when I got home I walked in the door with her passed out but then April came barreling around the corner and clipped the back of my knee and I jostled Laine awake. She stayed up for another couple of hours before finally passing out for good. I can’t remember if she woke up or not, if she did I’m sure she went back down easily enough. I stayed up until a little after midnight sewing my doll and got everything but the stuffing done. So when I woke up the next morning I stuffed and stitched it up and took it with me to show mom at Jacob’s basketball game.
Erik had said that he’s got way too much to do around the house to go to a basketball game, so Laine and I tried waking him up when we got up around 6:00 but that was dumb, and it didn’t work. We tried again at 7 and 8 and finally I got testy and at 8:45 I told him if he’s too busy to go to a basket ball game I’d assume he’s too busy to sleep the day away. I snapped at him and stomped around the bedroom, turning on lights and yanking the covers off him because yeah, he decided he didn’t feel like going to my son’s basketball game, I DON’T CARE IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT, YOU GO. Like you go to work and Sunday school. Then I got all involved with being pissed off that I didn’t realize how late I was running to the game myself. I got there a little late but beat Momma and Daddy. When I texted to find out where they were Mom used the “We’re old and move slow” card that I am pretty sure she’s never pulled out before. She was probably doing something with dad that she didn’t want to share because she knew I’d share it on here so she said she was just moving slow. Joke’s on her though, because whether they did or not you are all totally thinking they were “dancing the mattress jig” now aren’t you. Ha. They probably were. Rabbits.

After the game I headed to the house. I was going to just get my doll pattern and head to mom’s house so that together we could work out the idea for the shape of the body but Laine fell asleep in the car so when we got to the house we just stayed there and I let her nap. When we were at the basketball game Josh had asked me to make him a boy doll and since I have no idea where to start on that I made him a little monster instead that turned out really cute. I finished it up right as Laine was waking up from her nap and at the same time Erik walked out of the bedroom freshly showered and ready to go to Nicolette’s birthday party, and tried to tell me all he’d done around the house which was a whole load of nothing. It was all garage stuff that I’d never be able to know for sure if he did it that day or months ago. I’m pretty sure he watched TV the whole time. And even though I took an entire weekend to sew I can still be a horribly bitter person about him taking time to do his own thing, because at least I didn’t lie. I have no proof he lied and I’d probably never say it to his face, but still. Liar.
We headed over to my persons to celebrate Nic’s first birthday, and it was such a great party. Exactly what I want for Laine’s, family only and as soon as everyone is assembled its gifts and cake and thank you for coming now get out. Ah, that would be so nice. Thirty minutes and you’re down to just the people you really want to be there. Or you’re down to the people that think you really want them to be there. Those folks are generally the ones you do want around and if you don’t it’s really your own fault for faking it and making them think that. Yeah, we stayed.
Laine got to hit a piñata kind of by herself for the first time and when the candy came out she jumped on it like a rabid dog, she stuffed every single lollypop she could find into her bag, I think she may have even stolen some out of the other kids bags. They all got left behind because we don’t do candy at the house ever, but for a short time they were "MINE!” I’m pretty sure it’s about as epic a moment as she’s ever had.
We gave Nicolette the Colette doll. She seemed to like it, whether she really does or not though I guess is fine, it matched her room anyway, so that’s lucky. I’d like to make her an owl soon too, that would match her room even better, I found a owl mobile pattern that was flipping amazing, and I know she’s a little old for a mobile so it could be a ridiculous thing to do but I never really claimed to be in my right mind.
We left the party and headed home around 4:00 I guess, my allergies were nowhere near as bad as they could have been but still I needed to take a few minutes to breath deep once I was home. I took some Sudafed and made a cup of Theraflu and was finally able to stop sniffling. I really hate that I’m so sensitive to other people’s pets; it’s inconvenient and makes me feel like I’m insulting that person or their house and that makes me feel horrible.
Saturday night Erik had to drive out to James’ house to pick up a used faucet that Erik wanted to use for our kitchen sink and while he was gone Laine and I started climbing the walls with boredom so I took her with me out to JoAnn and she was a big help picking out the felt and buttons. She was a not so big help when it came to no chewing on the buttons but I take what I can get with her. Since it was too early for Laine to fall asleep in the car I stopped halfway home when I started seeing her doze. I pulled into the Kroger at 528 and Bay Area and decided we needed toothpaste anyway so we walked around Kroger for an hour. Have you been in that Kroger? It’s huge. We were there for an hour and I didn’t even get to see the Organic section. That part was waaaaay over on the other side and I got side tracked by the Pepper Wall and the four choices of Brussels sprouts. Amazing. Laine was totally into the miniature cart she was able to push around the store, not really functional if you’re doing any real shopping but for one or two things it was a ton of fun. But even the most funnest things in the world get old and boring given enough time and a toddler’s attention span so we finally got on the road close to 7:30 and she passed out again in the car but this time stayed out all night. Until 2:00. That’s her witching hour apparently, when the scary things come out and she has to be awake for an hour before going back to sleep. It’s become a regular thing, something I can’t even complain about anymore because it’s become my life. My regular routine is to wake up at 2 and stay up till 3 then sleep again until 5:30. No complaining because there is no changing it. Unless of course I get that boyfriend.
Sunday morning came at 5:30. Surprise! Laine let us stay in bed until 7:00 but then she started getting rowdy at which point I popped Erik on the head and told him it was his turn to get up early. And to his credit he got up right away, no complaints or arguments. He went downstairs and forgot the baby, but he did come right back up to get her. No, I didn’t get any rest in the extra hour I was in bed, I was terrified he’d forget about her again and I just knew at any second she was going to scream out because he’d stepped on her or something. But she didn’t. Still I didn’t sleep. I did however stay in bed then whole time, it was an exercise in restraint but I made it through, I even took a shower by myself. That’s a really big deal. I went downstairs to find Laine and Erik still in pajamas with fifteen minutes to get out the door. I should have known better but I didn’t fuss, I’m getting used to it I guess. Laine and I were dressed and headed for the door while Erik was still searching the house for a pair of pants. Genius should have looked in the closet but I didn’t say anything.
At church I found it difficult to hold my head up much less keep my eyes open, the only part that grabbed and held my attention both services was Russell’s singing. If he made a CD I’d buy it. I miss the Willingham’s doing worship, but mom said I may see more of them soon, so I’ll just keep my fingers crossed for that.
I worked in the nursery for second service and by 11:30 I was nodding off in the rocking chair with the girl baby so I had to have Erik come in and play with the boy baby. Me and the girl snuggled down and got our rock on for the last half hour and by the end of church I was finally getting my energy back up. It didn’t last long though, once I was in the car I fell asleep. Erik decided to drop me off at home and take Laine out to lunch with my folks. AMAZING IDEA! The best idea he’s probably ever had. I did sleep then, for a whole three hours I slept and I didn’t even move. My leg was still half off the bed when Laine came tearing into my room to wake me up at 3:30. She’d taken her nap on Erik’s shoulder while he was shopping at Lowes. He said he had a basket in one hand and Laine in the other, and he didn’t set her into a cart because he wanted her to sleep and that by the end of the trip his arm was dead. I let him boo-hoo about it because I’d just had a nap, but after complaining about it for fifteen minutes I told him “yes, dear, I know it was probably very difficult, I’m sorry about that but I’m so happy that you let her sleep. It was a very good daddy move” but my tone said “Shut the eff up dear, I love you but I’ll punch you in the no-go hole if you say another word about how hard you had it for the last three hours” He caught the gist of it though I think because he dropped it.
Once I was fully awake and we were all enjoying eachother's company watchign TV Erik said he wanted to do a few things around the house but throughout the day Laine had become attached to him and wasn’t letting him work (GOD! I WONDER WHAT THAT’S LIKE?!) So to pay him back for taking care of me I took Laine over to my mom’s where I was finally able to get her input on the doll, we didn’t get to talk about it too much but we did get to hang out. Daddy was busy with bills and taxes so Mom and I got to hang out just the two of us and watch a movie. At one point Laine left us to find my Dad, she ended up falling asleep on him so it was really REALLY just me and mom for almost an hour. That never happens and it was GREAT.
Around 8:00 I bundled up Laine and took her home, she woke up and went back down about three times Sunday night but each time was shorter than the last so I was still mostly rested on Monday.
Work was fine, I had a couple of things to do and was glad to have it to do, and I am still waiting on that big job to come in. Just waiting… At 5:00 I left and got Laine, she and I got home and made meatloaf and waited for Daddy to get home. He got there starved and impatient for dinner, and even ate seconds when it was done. It’s been a long time since he’s asked for seconds, made me feel like maybe this loaf was a better loaf than the last loaf i made, even though I know it wasn’t. I told Laine “He likes the meatloaf; that means he likes me.” And Erik looked at me like that’s not at all what that means, and I got all hurt and he tried telling me that he likes me with or without the meatloaf and I was all “so you don’t like the meatloaf?”and he said that no, really it wasn’t his favorite but it was okay, and I was all oh, it’s okay well let me just go set it on fire because we can’t have okay food here, it’s got to be perfect then Erik said something about insane and committed and too expensive, I don’t know, whatever. But he did have seconds.
We watched TV for a while before bed adn I saw this commercial for Dexatrim Max and it says you can lose weight three times faster. Three times faster.... THREE TIMES FASTER THAN WHAT?! I'll never in my life get over how incomplete that comercial left me.
Today, I broke my streak. I had gone nine days without calling Erik. I had to call him this morning though because I’d forgotten the last two days to take diapers to the daycare and I needed him to drop it off for me. He picked up on the second ring. TWILIGHT ZONE!! I almost forgot what I was calling him about.
Tonight we are eating leftovers and I’m going to finally figure out my pattern, hopefully. That’s the plan anyway.

Christmas. Check.

Christmas is finished. I'm happy and sad. There really is no other holiday that completely takes over entire families like Christmas does. Everyone feels obligated to be nice and to visit with people you wouldn't normally visit with during the other parts of the year, and if they are anything like me, instead of reminding them why they don't visit normally it reminds them that they are a jerk for having missed out on their company for so long. I love Christmas because it makes me feel like a jerk; and for at least a few weeks after the holidays I keep those folks in mind and I call and email and may visit a time or two, but it's too bad the holiday spirit doesn't stick around after the holidays. That would rock, but then again it would just be July, not the holidays anymore, but if everyone kept the holiday spirit year round I guess we wouldn't miss the holiday time of year, because it would be all year. Get spirity people! Let's holiday the crap out of this year!

This Christmas Erik was adamant about us not getting stressed out by bouncing back and forth between the families... the families that live five miles apart, the families that understand we have other families to see and visit with and love on. Yeah, he was the only stressing about not stressing, and by the time we finally collapsed onto the last couch of the night he still couldn't relax because he was Stressy McStresserpants. I was eating my second plate of cheesecake by the time he calmed down. Next  year I think I'll make out a chart or timeline or Excel spreadsheet for him. (7:00 Home, 10:00 Porters, 16:00 Rosendahls, 22:00 Home.) I love making lists and spreadsheets so that's no hard thing for me to do, though I don't know if I would be able to handle super serious Daddy with a list, Mommy's with lists are fine but give a Daddy a list and all of a sudden there are bullwhips and cattle prods and "Where are you're shoes, soldier!?" and as much as Erik is suited for that line of torture I'm really excited to see what kind of a monkey wrench a three year old will be in any plans we make for next year. Ha! never underestimate the power of the Laine.

I didnt' take near the amount of pictures this year as I did last year. I was a little busy chasing Laine and eating. Mostly I was eating, so there are a select few photographs this year, but you won't be able to tell the difference seeing as how you only get shown the best anyway. I'll know though, my December '10 folder is tiny compared to my December '09.

So to round up the holiday, here are the best of the few shots I got. I hope every one who celebrates Christmas had a merry one.

 

Thanksgiving Weekend Update

Sorry this has taken so long to get written. It hasn’t been because I couldn’t think of anything but that I had so much that typing it out seems like such a huge job, it’s going to take hours (and it did) editing is not my strong suit. I make other people give me the two sentence version of things because I can’t stand to even try for the interest to listen to a story but I can’t whittle my tales down to less than two and a half pages typed. I’m a hypocritical person. Yes, we know this.  

So were to start? Last Wednesday? Oh I was a horrible mother last Wednesday. I was off work and I still took Laine to daycare. I know I know, special place in hell, whatever. I totally got my house spic-n-spanned so that when we got home Friday night I came home to a clean home with fresh sheets to crawl into, it was like getting an extra night on vacation. So yeah, I wasn’t working but I still took Laine to daycare. Hate me if you want, it’ll make me cry, but I got my stuff done. And I was able to spend the rest of my weekend focused on Laine instead of the kitchen counters and laundry like I am most weekends.

So, Wednesday (after I was done being horrible) we headed out to Corsicana. We’d planned to be on the road around noon but didn’t get out of League City until almost 2:00, I worried a little about Laine sleeping during such a long car ride, on the one hand it would be helpful if she slept some of it because I don’t’ have that many car activities for her and there really wasn’t any room for me to sit in the back seat with her, so I was kind of hoping that she slept more than no. on the other hand however if she slept too much in the care she would stay up all night or at least that’s the way it would normally go. For this trip Laine slept the whole way there, we had to wake her up at the bed and breakfast at 6:30. I mean that’s a four and a half hour nap! Well since Laine was awake and would be for a while we decided to drive out to Sydney’s dads house to see Levi for a while but he was coming into town so we met him at Gander Mountain instead. Laine was a holy terror running around the store, in of course the cutest way humanly possible. There was a large wooden stage area where they displayed their bbq pits and smokers and Laine liked how her boots made loud noises when she stomped on the stage. So she stomped. And jumped and danced and fell down and kicked and it was really kind of adorable, even if strangers were staring. After a while we hunted my dad down again and found Levi. LEVI!! It was so good to see him. It’s always a shock to me when I see him after so long and he’s still not 12 years old. I don’t’ know why I expect to see a little kid anymore. He’s huge now and you’d think I would get used to that, but in my head he’s the kid who forgot there was breaks on the snowmobile and almost killed me. Sigh, I miss that kid. 

So we shopped for a bit and then we headed out to Kit’s house. It was warm when we got there so he had all his windows open and it smelled like wood and nature and felt so country and homey I really couldn’t wait to leave so I could come back and spend the whole of Thanksgiving just sitting around that house. After we left Kit’s Wednesday night we headed to Chili’s for quick bite to eat. Mom had stayed at the bed and breakfast because she wasn’t feeling well and we were supposed to bring her back some food. I sent a text saying “Chili’s. want us to bring you anything?” but apparently I didn’t’ send it to mom, I sent it to my boss. Yeah. I got back a text saying “”this is major tom” which was so funny I almost pee’d because who knew that man was funny? I do now. Anyway I was just able to apologies and see that he’d replied to me again when my phone died. I wasn’t able to see that he’d wished me a Happy Thanksgiving until Friday morning.

For the couple of nights prior to us leaving Laine hadn’t been sleeping all that well. She’d wake up and want to be in my room and wouldn’t’ let me sleep so I was completely exhausted Wednesday night, ready to crash and sleep for weeks but the room Erik picked for us since we had out choice from the entire house, was the one with the smallest tallest bed. No way would two adults plus baby be able to sleep in it, plus I almost had to just to get up in it and it terrified me to think of Laine falling off onto the hard wood floors, but that’s the room Erik wanted and since I was tired and whining about it Erik took Laine and slept with her on the futon at the base of the bed. Laine only woke up like four times and popped up her head and called for me, but then she’d drape herself over Erik and pass out again, Erik didn’t wake up once. So except for the four wake ups that I fell right back to sleep after I didn’t get bothered and it was some great sleep. He did the same thing for me Thursday night but I’ll get to that later.

We met mom and dad downstairs for breakfast around 7:30. Coffee was being brewed and eggs and bacon were cooking in the kitchen and I can’t even describe the smell. Old homes and fresh baked rolls and coffee is Heaven. I was in Heaven. No lie. Heaven.
After an amazing breakfast everyone went to their respective corners to shower and get ready for the day. Erik Laine and I had a tiny little one person shower and we all three squeezed in. we did more laughing than washing but it was fun. When everyone was appropriately attired we piled into daddy’s car and headed to the party. We got there a little earlier than the rest of the family so we were able to dig our heels in and get comfortable before meeting all the new people. Most everyone had been at Levi and Sydney’s wedding so there was at least some recognition there for me but I am horrible about remembering names so everyone was ma’am and sir for me. I’m not sure anyone noticed though, I was ma’am and Erik was sir to everyone else too.

Sydney’s family was such a comfortable group of people to be around. When I first started dating Erik I was pretty put off by how different our families were. The Rosendahl’s had no family traditions in common with the Porters at all except for the fact that yes, they did celebrate Christmas. And the food! Different as hummus and mashed potatoes. Rosendahl’s love their onions and olives and Porters don’t. well they do but not in everything they eat. So, tangent that was, all to get to this. The Herrington’s are like the Porters long lost twin. Eating at Kit’s house was like eating at Grandma’s. I was familiar with every seasoning used on the meats, no vegetable casserole was a stranger to me, and I could readily identify every pie cake and cookie. It was like going ton vacation but staying home at the same time. Did I tell you it was Heaven. It was Heaven.

After we all ate our fill the first time half of the party settled in front of the TV to watch the Saints beat the Cowboys. Then they turned on the A&M game and I’m pretty sure there was another one in there too, I was in the other room with the other half of the family, sitting around the fire talking abo9ut politics and religion and enjoying every minute of it. Another thing about the Rosendahl/Porter vs. Herrington/Porter thing I’m envious of. Herrington’s know how to talk instead of debate and debate instead of fight. As much as I love the rowdy throw downs with Erik’s family the witty discussions with Sydney’s family made me feel a little more comfortable, I even threw in a cent or two which I never in a million years would have done with my in-laws.

However nice it was to be around like minded people though, I love my in-laws. They challenge me and keep me on my toes and instead of getting contented which would make me bored I know I have a group of people on my side that will always keep me entertained. I really wouldn’t mind spending more time with the Herrington's thought. It’s amazing to me that something so familiar can feel so refreshing and new.

We finally decided to call it sometime around nine or ten, and headed back to the house for the night. Everyone went directly to their rooms and settled in, I read a few pages and Erik watched a Bond movie until we finally slept at least mostly through the night again.
Friday morning was just as wonderful s the one before it. The lady of our house made us an amazing quiche with biscuits instead of crust. Heaven. We enjoyed our slow morning drinking coffee and letting Laine run around the downstairs of the house for a while.
We have a kind of ghost story about the house we stayed in, apparently when the owners of the house first got the place they had some psychic come by to do whatever they do to see if a place is haunted and the psychic claimed to see a woman standing at the top of the stairs and she described her in detail. A few days later a family member of the previous owners stopped by to give the new owner a photo of the older owner’s family, to put on the wall I guess for historical reference and there in the photo was Miss Fanny. The ghost at the top of the stairs. (Ooooo!) So the new owner told us that anytime anything mysterious happened or if anything was just weird they’d blame it on Miss Fanny. Ha! Well Friday morning I went down to mom and dads room and mom asked us what we were doing upstairs slamming doors and stomping down the stairs in the middle of the night. I’d slept through the whole night so I had no idea what she meant but I told her it was weird that both doors to our room which I had closed incase Laine woke up before me were standing wide open, and mom said that the door on the stairwell that the owners said not to open was standing wide open last night too, letting in freezing cold air and dad had to close it around 2:00 in the morning. So when Erik wakes up we ask him about it, did he stomp around and slam doors last night, he said no, he did open our room doors though and opened the balcony door for a bit to let in some air because the heat had risen to almost 90 degrees in our room, but he closed the outside door and left our open for circulation. (the balcony door is not the door the owner said not to open, Erik said he didn’t’ touch that door, hadn’t even gone near the stairs.) so…. Dun dun dun, that leaves us with someone not Erik stomping upstairs and slamming two door shut. I went upstairs and walked around a bit then came back down and asked mom if she’d heard us walking around she said no, so I went up and down the stairs and she said no it didn’t’ sound like that, I tried a different pair of hoes and she said it was more that those but still not quite so….. Dun dun dun! It’s Miss Fanny! It had to be, we were the only people in the house and no one was admitting to stomping, slamming doors or going near the stairs or opening secret passageway doors. (which is totally what it was)

Gasp! Ghosts!

We were all completely entertained by the idea but not enough to stay another night, so after breakfast and showers we got packed up and checked out. We drove around Corsicana for a while before stopping for lunch at Roy’s. Roy’s is a diner in town that is exactly like the one that Friendswood is missing. Friendswood needs a greasy diner. I’d go at least once a week. Probably more if they served good soup and grilled cheese like Roy's. Before leaving town we stopped by the fruit cake place and the pickle place and bought something at both. It was getting close to 1:30 and Erik then decided to tell me that he had a family thing we were supposed to be doing at 4:00. In Friendswood. Der, maybe we should get going doofus. So we left without being able to see Levi and sydney and kit again which totally made me tear up. And I won’t be okay with it even a little bit until I can get hugs for Christmas.

We made it to Erik’s parents a little before 5:00 to find that the party was actually planned for 6:00 and then even later we found out that James and Cassie were told it was at 7:00, so 7:00 is when we ate and I had been hungry since 4:00, ugh! Alicia made an amazing brie pastry raspberry cracker topper thing that I ate until my stomach hurt though so all was well. Sinner was nice, the company was better, the coffee even better than that. Laine played hard until it was time to go and we finally made it home around 10:00. To a clean house. And clean sheets. It felt like a win.

You Are Getting Very Sleepy... And You Want To Clean Your Room

Mom and Dad and I went to the movies a weekend or two ago and afterward they came into the house for a short visit. !!! I know right? I never let ANYONE in my house. I mean it’s Colleen and the maid. That’s it. My house is my business, my personal sanctuary, the only place I have that is all mine. And I let someone in! I’m crazy proud of myself.

I know my mom and dad shouldn’t count as people, I mean they are family and should be able to come and go as they please and if we were talking a day or two after the maid visits then yes I’d agree with you but this was like a whole week after Katia came and did her magic and my living room had vomited all over itself and when mom asked if they could come in for just a minute to get a glass of water I so almost said no, but who tells their mom that they can’t come in the house? Especially when their mom is my mom and my mom pays for more than half of my maid every month? So after the initial stomach jumping into my esophagus part I told her sure, come on in. and how happy was I that no lights were on? So happy! And the gates were up so there was only one path strait to the living room which Erik had made a valiant effort to clean before we got home. They sat and talked and watched a little Mythbusters and drank some water and left and the whole time I couldn’t sit still with the picking up of all the things that had been sitting so quietly before I left for the movie and that were now screaming “Hey Nanny look at me, I’m right here where I’m not supposed to be!!” Stupid stupid empty milk glasses on the table and stupid stupid candy wrapper on the floor. UGH! How is it that a mom can turn an almost 30 year old into a 15 year old and not even know or try to do it.

I hope I have this power over Laine one day. It’ll only be fair.

I have the Mommy spit but I want the Mommy mind control too.

Laine Loves Pawpaw

Stars

Something cool happened this morning that will probably never happen again for as long as I live. I was fumbling with my phone in the car this morning (no, that will happen again) and I was trying to sort through the six phone numbers I have under Keith Porter in my phone to call Daddy and say Happy Birthday (in the most singsong-y annoying voice I could manage at 7:00) and I look up just as I’m pulling up to Dixie Farm and 518 and right there in the middle of the sky, bright as can be and quick as lightning, I saw a shooting star. I’d never seen one before and I bet I’ll never see another one again but the four cars ahead of me immediately slammed on their brakes, apparently they’d never seen one either and were going to, I don’t know, catch it? So I pressed the call button and told Daddy to make a wish, I’d just seen a shooting star for his birthday. That’s a pretty amazing thing I think. I’d take that as a birthday present even if it is just a flaming ball of galactic trash.

The rest of this blog has been written and deleted a couple of times now and each time I get closer to what I want to say but not exactly there. How do I say happy birthday to my daddy in a meaningful way while also conveying the importance of him and his love of me to all of you. It’s hard. And you know me, anytime it’s someone’s special day I like to single them out, make them feel special, bring them to the center of attention, make them wear a sombrero and sing at them while taking photo’s to forever shame them, like you do. But Daddy’s a little more laid back now and it isn’t quite the ordeal it used to be to get him to wear a sombrero and he isn’t even going to be home tonight for me to take a new birthday video, I won’t see him for a day or two at most which is totally cool, he’s going hunting with coworkers and that sounds like he’s going to have fun and I’m happy for him. So I’m going to hold off talking about Daddy’s birthday until I get to spend some time with him first. Maybe Monday I’ll have something for you on that, maybe not. Maybe I’ll just keep it between me and Daddy. Maybe you’ll never know.





Daddy's Day Is Coming!

My daddy’s birthday is tomorrow. I can’t help but think this year is flying by a little too fast.  I mean I just posted a blog about Daddy’s birthday and the video... my goodness, Laine was so tiny! And it’s amazing how even more laid back with her Daddy’s gotten, a spoon in the face isn’t anything she could get away with now but “Pawpaw Pawpaw Pawpaw Pawpaw Pawpaw Pawpaw” is like music to him and that’s beyond me because “Daddy Daddy Daddy Daddy Daddy Daddy Daddy Daddy” would have gotten a “WHAT!?!” where as her Pawpaw’s get “yes ma’am’s” it’s flabbergasting and wonderful to see.  I’ll try to write more about all that tomorrow or the next day, my goal will be to get good video of them together each year. I’d love to have more video of me and my Pawpaw.