Something about Nothing, come join in........ Part 2

[keishashadow]

Half-time - Steelers 10 (unanswered points), Eagles 3...both teams look bad.

note to self - fill yorkshire pudding w/wavy gravy. grits are gross ; they're "gritty", taste like paste...believe they're made from corn meal

I was raised on hamburger helper...haven't eaten it once since i left home.

forgot to velcome home Kstarfish isn't reaclimating a pia?

Good Evening...sounds like something a crypt-keeper would say

off to take a benedryl to try & fall asleep...1st day of skool i hate the fall

 

[the Dark Marauder]

I may be posting a "day-to-day" TR, if I feel so inclined. I leave on Friday!!!!

I also saw Harold & Kumar Go To WhiteCastle last night. That movie =

 

[KStarfish82]

Oh geez...I didn't realize that I said "Good evening" quite a few times in my live TR. Sorry......I'll stick to the more upbeat stuff

Tomorrow is the first day of swim practice! 9 more days until the kiddies are back and I'm back to the old grind....sigh....

And only 6 more days until I'm a quarter of a century..

Man the end of August is depressing...

 

[AlexandNessa]

Oh geez...I didn't realize that I said "Good evening" quite a few times in my live TR.

No, no silly. It's a normal thing to write, but how often do you say that out loud to someone who greets you? Just disregard the sleep-deprieved ramblings of an idiot.

 

[yankeepenny]

Vanessa-
bring a variety of clothes for Kennebunk, been weird weather for 2 weeks.

huge protests out on walkers point(bush # 1 summer home) on Saturday, like4 thousand folks showed up to argue about the war. and "w" was not even there

how long you staying????????

 

[yankeepenny]

5

 

[yankeepenny]

okay my time to vent


i can cook a nice meal and yet if i serve mac n cheese and hot dogs he is just soooooo happy!

 

[t-and-a]

Vanessa-
bring a variety of clothes for Kennebunk, been weird weather for 2 weeks.

huge protests out on walkers point(bush # 1 summer home) on Saturday, like4 thousand folks showed up to argue about the war. and "w" was not even there

how long you staying????????

I'm sorry, not trying to pick on you Penny, but Jodie, has your cat been posting?

5 days Penny!

Welcome home Kstarfish82! I enjoyed your live trip reports!

 

[AlexandNessa]

Hi Penny! We are heading up on Thursday and leaving on Tuesday. I was hoping for a bit of nice weather as we love to sit outside at the Wharf; guess we'll see!

Oh, and no worries. I answer to just about anything!

 

[yankeepenny]

Okay
I need everyone to please post their name-
i am getting confused.

 

[keishashadow]

Glad to hear someone's doing something cool for Labor Day

DH sits by the phone & hopes to be called into work (triple-time ). Best we'll do is go to local Labor/Union Fair/Flea Market/Carnival/Petting Zoo...a one-stop shop.

DS back to skool

oh yeah...Steelers rocked the house

 

[yankeepenny]

isnt Jerome Bettis adorable? and even better now that we shall see him broadcasting??????????

 

[RVGal]

What are grits?

Grits are common to the southern region of America and mostly mocked everywhere else. Think of a corn pudding and you'll be close. You have to salt the water when cooking them or they will never have any flavor (salting after the fact and you just taste... well... salt). There is a constant debate about how you should eat them. Just salt and butter? That's traditional. Add cheese? That's my favorite. Add sugar or honey? Those are the people that think they are eating oatmeal or the like.

I have come to the conclusion that if you don't grow up eating grits you will never acquire a taste for them.

Good morning, everyone.

Did I just say "morning?" Well, it is... for me anyway. Good evening to everyone else. I hate "good evening." It sounds so pretentious or something, doesn't it? It's not a natural greeting.

Good evening always makes me think of Alfred Hitchock. Remember the opening of his show? "Good Ev-ah-ni-ing."

The Hamburger Helper story had me in stitches. Yeah, like you were so thoughtless to make something he would normally enjoy and couldn't read his mind that he had decided to go on a FOUR DAY DIET. Four days? It takes me four months to lose any noticable amount of weight. Men.

And, I can relate to the "not having the drivers license" thing....when we left for the shore a couple weeks ago, DH didn't bring his wallet. I asked him "aren't you going to need it?" DH said "what for?" So I say, "Well, we ARE driving out of state, dontcha think it'd be a good idea to have your ID?" uugghh....(we weren't far and turned around to go back and get it)

So, is that a guy thing? I've lost count of how many Sundays we've headed off somewhere and DH didn't have his wallet. He tells me that it is because it is his day off and his "routine" is thrown off. Huh? So if you don't wake to an alarm, you forget to put your wallet in your pocket? How does that work?

I may be posting a "day-to-day" TR, if I feel so inclined. I leave on Friday!!!!

Friday!

We're going to get addicted to the "on location" Trippies...

Tomorrow is the first day of swim practice! 9 more days until the kiddies are back and I'm back to the old grind....sigh....

And only 6 more days until I'm a quarter of a century..

Man the end of August is depressing...

Depressing? You're *almost* 25 and planning a wedding.

5

Yeah, Penny! 5 more days!


Good Morning Everyone!

I've had an interesting morning. And for those of you taking notes, "interesting" in my house means "crappy".

Today was DS5s Lucky Duck Day at school. What is a Lucky Duck Day you ask? Well, give me a minute and I'll tell you. Lucky Duck Day is the day your child gets to be the Lucky Duck. They are the line leader... they get to bring something in for Show & Tell... they get to be the teacher's special helper... oh, yeah AND they get to provide the snack for the class.

These means that instead of being able to use the drop off driveway at school, I have to try to find a parking space in the tiny parking lot and help him haul in a bag of snacks and juice boxes. We need to leave early for that so that we don't run late and *GASP* have to go by the office for a tardy slip.

So, I'm up early... still feeling icky from my head cold (that I'm starting to think might be more like a sinus infection since it isn't going away)... and trying to get everyone moving so we can leave on time. DS5 was no problem. He was all excited about being Lucky Duck and all, but DS2 wasn't really in the mood to be bothered yet.

I'm watching the clock and trying to keep us on schedule when suddenly DS5 freaks out that he can't find the staff that goes with Tails (from Sonic the Hedgehog 2). Tails is what he has chosen for Show & Tell, but we can't possibly take Tails without his staff. The light-up staff is what makes him so cool. Now, I'm watching the clock while I look for a 3 inch long piece of orange plastic. By some miracle, I locate the missing staff in his room and come triumphantly back into the kitchen to show him what a wonderful mother I am and he can stop losing his ever-lovin' mind over a stupid piece of plastic.

I walk into the kitchen and stop midstride. DS2 is squatting on the kitchen floor and... oh, how do I describe this scene... if you have a weak stomache or don't want TMI, stop reading now... okay, DS2 is squatting on the kitchen floor with his hand in the back of his Pampers Easy Ups. (We are in the middle of potty training him and he is quite fascinated with the whole process... especially when it involves Number 2.) He has taken some of what he found in the back of his Pampers and smeared it on my kitchen floor. It is all in his hands and elsewhere on his shirt.

I have to pick him up carefully by the armpits... take him straight to the tub... and wash him head to toe. Then I had to clean the kitchen floor. All the while, DS5 is whining and fretting that we are going to be late for his Lucky Duck Day.

We weren't late, but it was close.

They did NOT cover this in the prenatal classes. Breathe, breathe, push, push... and your done. Yeah, that was the easy part.

 

[loribell]

Hi everyone! I have missed you all terribly. Things around here have been completely wacko! Got home to a dead air conditioner & 100 degree temps. Got to spend the next week at the in-laws waiting for the repairs. The kids started to school before we were even able to stay home. UGH!!!!

I know there is absolutely no way I can catch up on all I have missed so I'm not even going to try. I hope everyone is doing well. Hugs & prayers to all who need them.

I'm not going to do a trip report this time. Our trip was nice but I just don't have it in me. I never even took the camera into the parks. I think it may be time for a break from Disney/Universal.

The family joining us this time just really didn't work out to well. We had a good time but I just don't think it is a good idea to invite any of them other then my mother to join us again. The rest of them just don't seem to appreciate it or enjoy it so what is the point.

Marci I am so sorry we were never able to meet up. I think that bothers me more than anything else that went wrong during the trip.

Anyway, the parks were great & the resorts were great. It was very hot so the pools were even moore enjyable then ever!!!

Sorry to be such a downer. I am happy to be back posting again and anxious to get back to talking to everyone.

Have a great day everyone!!!

 

[marciemi]

Okay, I'm baa-a-ack! It wasn't that horrible setting up on Friday night. By the time DH got home and grabbed his stuff, we didn't head out until after 7pm. Which of course means we didn't get there until after 9 to set up. However, it wasn't raining and I don't think not having electricity made a difference - either way you can see nothing backing the camper in, so we stationed a kid by each tree and I yelled guidance for backing in. Actually brought a lantern this time (last time we had lost ours and decided we could do without one - not a smart move!) so once we got the popup "popped" just lit that to help see inside.

We did have beautiful weather. DH & DS12 golfed on Saturday and said the weather and course were gorgeous. DS14 and I did some biking around and saw some of the sights (lighthouse, ice cream store!). DS15 laid around and pouted that we'd made him come and that his back hurt so he couldn't do anything. But it was mid 70's and sunny the whole time. We all did a bit more biking, including mountain biking on Sun (minus DS15). Fun and beautiful trails.

Okay, now for the problems! We don't camp without electricity very often, and have a large plug-in cooler that we normally use which latches closed. This time we bought a block of ice and just brought our wheeled cooler instead. The lid on this one just closes down. Evidently that didn't present enough of a challenge to the raccoons in the area, who Saturday night decided to invade the cooler. Ripped out all the bags of tortillas, the chicken, the chip dip, the eggs, and all the Hershey's bars! And of course spread the residue and wrappers all over the campsite! Luckily we had most of the food in the camper, but this definitely affected our meal plans on Sun! Had to make do with the remaining eggs, some spaghettios and leftover hot dogs and salad for lunch that day. I think DS15 ate 5 chocolate donuts for breakfast and a powdered sugar one for lunch - yes, a healthy day!

Next problem - another TMI so avoid if you're squeamish! Our popup has a built in "potty" that you put chemicals into. Everyone knows that it's only for "potty-ing" - anything else you walk to the bathroom, so that's not a problem. Well, we could tell on Sat. that it was getting full (little indicator switching from green to red), so I tell everyone that they have to walk to the bathroom (or in the guys' case, find a tree after dark!) instead and it's only for emergency, middle of the night, use (which means me!). Of course we don't do the obvious thing which is just take the potty to the dumping station to empty it - no, that would be too easy!

Well, I get up around 6am, use my "emergency use" and flush the little handle, and....nothing happens. Evidently the potty was 100 percent full, not 95 or so like I thought. Now you can't pull the potty out without opening the valve and dumping, um, potty, all over the compartment below. So, I get the pleasure of digging through the bins and finding an old package of pullups (the advantage to never cleaning out your camper!) to use along with paper towels to soak up everything before pulling the potty out to empty it. Joy! As I'm doing this DH is coming in to complain about the raccoons and the mess of garbage all over the campsite - yes, it was a fun early Sunday morning!

But we're back and unpacked and moving on to getting ready for school. Tricia - we like our pop-up to some extent. We've had it since 96, so this is our 11th season of actually using it, so we've certainly gotten our money's worth out of it. But it took us half a season to realize that it's just a piece of junk. It's a Viking, and I'd certainly never recommend it to anyone. The thing is literally built out of corrugated cardboard and staples. (And now, years later, LOTS of duct tape!). The heat no longer works, the fridge only sometimes works (moot point when we don't have electricity), the door no longer fits in the slot and pretty much anything that can break has, at least a couple times. I will concede that it doesn't leak in rain (and we've been through some pretty bad storms with it), but that's about all the good I can say. Basically, we're trying to have it last until we no longer use it with the kids, because I don't see DH & I camping without them. Definitely tapering off - we used to use it 30 days or more a summer - this summer it was about 9. Lives are just too hectic now!

 

[marciemi]

Okay, we're up to day 4 I think from the Disney trip. I'd include some pics of our camping trip this weekend, but, um, we didn't take any! I can just hear your disappointment! Anyways, day 4 was MGM, however, this was by far the hottest, most miserable day of the trip (I know everyone says AK is worse, but we didn't agree), so there are very few pics! In my photopass book I'm making, I didn't even do an MGM day, but I'll give you guys a few pics so you at least believe we went there!

Us outside the gate - again first in line at the turnstiles:

A closeup of my "daughter" , wait, I mean "son" - if only I could get my hair to look like that without doing anything to it!:

Once inside the gates, but waiting for rope drop and working on our strategy:

Yes, we did actually make it on a ride and take a picture. I cannot believe how miserable we were at this point - it was just unbearably hot, humid, and just plain unpleasant:

Hopefully some happier pics next time!

 

[keishashadow]

isnt Jerome Bettis adorable? and even better now that we shall see him broadcasting??????????

dethroned Bradshaw, my fav Steeler

Older 2 DS used to be training camp regulars, both for the action and autographs. Most players couldn't be bothered

When Jerome came to us he had a bit of a bad rap as a "loud-mouthed, trouble-making punk from the hood" . Middle DS worshipped him, we waited thru 2 practices and team dinner (10 hours). He walked down the hill and crossed the security line to meet with my son - who he recognized wearing his old team jersey (LA Rams). Posed for pics, signed tons of stuff, & best of all - talked to him for a good 5 min.; asking if he played football & commented that he was built just like him (a short, big boy). He laughed when he found out my son's name Jeremy - who i now refer to as Jerome lol...i'll never forget his kindness.

while he admits to unsavory stuff in his youth in his new book coming out next week, at least he'll pulled himself up & out of the muck (unlike Vick who's people are blaming his upbringing for abhorent behavior).

Jer - ome

marci -

lori - my ac broke too hang in there

 

[marciemi]

Okay, Tricia - a popup pic for you. This one from my brother's wedding, a decade ago next week. Love DS14 (then 4) in his tux! Sorry it's a really old pic from 2 computers ago:

 

[RVGal]

But we're back and unpacked and moving on to getting ready for school. Tricia - we like our pop-up to some extent. We've had it since 96, so this is our 11th season of actually using it, so we've certainly gotten our money's worth out of it. But it took us half a season to realize that it's just a piece of junk. It's a Viking, and I'd certainly never recommend it to anyone. The thing is literally built out of corrugated cardboard and staples. (And now, years later, LOTS of duct tape!). The heat no longer works, the fridge only sometimes works (moot point when we don't have electricity), the door no longer fits in the slot and pretty much anything that can break has, at least a couple times. I will concede that it doesn't leak in rain (and we've been through some pretty bad storms with it), but that's about all the good I can say. Basically, we're trying to have it last until we no longer use it with the kids, because I don't see DH & I camping without them. Definitely tapering off - we used to use it 30 days or more a summer - this summer it was about 9. Lives are just too hectic now!

Something must be in the air this weekend that we both have dealt with "potty issues".

It's funny to hear your description of your pop-up. The reason we don't sell them anymore is that Hubby decided a long time ago that they were not worth the headache. As a dealer, we didn't make much profit off them to begin with... then what profit we did make would usually get eaten away by warranty work. We haven't found a brand that holds up well to normal wear and use. Plus, when we sold them new, we had to take used ones in trade. As you've just described, what good did a used pop-up do us? You can never sell a used one for more than a few hundred dollars... maybe $1000 if it is in mint condition. There hasn't been a pop-up on our lot in over 5 years. I don't miss them at all.

Glad you had a (mostly) good weekend!

 

[RVGal]

while he admits to unsavory stuff in his youth in his new book coming out next week, at least he'll pulled himself up & out of the muck (unlike Vick who's people are blaming his upbringing for abhorent behavior).

Have you heard all the different spins they are trying out for Vick?

Poor man... I mean boy... since one of the spins is "he's young".

He fell in with the wrong crowd. The whole dog killing thing? Peer pressure.

He was brought up wrong, that's it. He wasn't taught any better when he was a child, so we can't really blame him now, can we?



As long as I never have to see his name on the back of a Falcons jersey again, I don't care what happens to the guy. I just hope that the court of public opinion finds him guilty. A celebrity/pro athelete can't compete against that.