Latest Happenings, and Happenings to be...

Man, I haven't written here very much lately! So sorry to anyone who actually reads this thing! The thing is that I just haven't had a ton going on lately. Here's a rundown of things that have happened and things to come.

1) Got the carpets cleaned on Monday. Not exciting, I know, but I was happy. And they weren't nearly as bad as I thought, and some big yucky stains in the dining room came up great. Now I know when they've been done, and we hired a local Howell company to do it, which makes me feel good. The tech was very nice and he was in and out in 2 and a half hours for the whole house. Not bad! And the price wasn't too bad either!

2) I do not have an update on the 19 year old marrying the 75 year old guy situation. I asked my parents when we were up there for Tim Brown's open house last weekend, and they haven't heard anything. I am dying of curiosity!

3) I've been working and working again, which is fine. Money is nice. I was supposed to have two weeks off at the beginning of the month, and it ended up being shortened. There's not much in August yet from what I hear. Miss April, I want to come out and see you or have you come and visit the house again! I know you didn't get to see much when you came for my party! And thanks again for coming, I'm so glad you did.

4) We leave on Wednesday for our trip up north. Very excited! I got Brian a new camera for our anniversary/his birthday, so there may be good pics to post! And the campsite and inn both have wi-fi, so they may be up quickly, if we get around to it!

5) I've also had a request to take pics of the house for my friend Miss Laura (Newly engaged! Congrats!) out in California so she can see the house. She's asked me to post them here. I'll try to do that, so sorry I haven't yet!

6) Finally, just a quick update on baby stuff. In a nutshell, there is no update. The more intervention we try, the less pregnant I get. I do not expect that I can put myself through this crap much longer. Brian is getting tired of it too, and he's not even the one getting poked and prodded and on medicine all the time. So, we may stop this pursuit soon and move on to building our family in another way. I am very excited about that prospect!

Fourth of July Weirdness

So, I know I posted this a little on FB, but I must elaborate on the the weirdness at my parents' house on the Fourth of July.

First off, its really true that Brian and I were REALLY out of place. We were completely surrounded by 17 year olds and 70 year olds. Grant had a ton of people there, probably 20 teenage kids, some who seemed nice and some who were annoying, as many teenagers are! I can't get over how old these teenage girls look now--is 15 the new 25? Good lord, those girls are more made up and put together than I am now at 30. What happened to braces and pimply faces? For those of you who read this who knew me in high school, we DID NOT look like that 12 or so years ago.

As for the 70 year olds, my parents friends seem to be aging at a rapid rate of acceleration--a few short years ago, it seems their friends were their age. Now, it seems that they have about 2 friends their own age, and the rest are all literally senior citizens, which my parents are not. So, Brian ended up hanging out with my cousin Cory all night (age 21, and he even felt old next to the kids) and I talked to my mom and grandma, and hung out with Brian and Cory. And Holly and Denny later when they came over! Holly did not bring the kids, which was probably for the best, and so Emily got to stay at home with her Grandpa Jim (Holly's dad), who she proudly informed her mother is her "BFF." Where the heck does a 3 and a half year old learn BFF???

Finally, we get to the part I know many of you are wondering about....the 75 year old marrying the 19 year old. Here is the story. This guy Ron has been a friend of my parents for a long time. He's also done a ton of carpentry/building work for them, which is his forte and he's very good at it. I guess a few years ago he bought a house in the UP up by the Soo and began spending summers up there, working and enjoying himself (For a 75 year old, this guy looks like a healthy 60 year old and could outwork any of his reading or writing this blog!). Across the street lived this family of a single dad with 3 kids, mom took off to Ohio. I guess they are kind of wacky religious, and the kids, especially the 2 girls, are not allowed to talk to anybody not approved by the dad. They've been homeschooled, haven't had jobs, etc. These people are also really poor, and Ron would frequently raid my mother's garden for all sorts of stuff to take up to them so they'd have food. Well, this girl starting hanging around Ron, and dad let it go, probably thinking he was harmless. When he came back down to Mayville for the winter, she kept calling him and calling him. He would pick and talk to her, partially to not be rude but I'm also sure he enjoyed the attention. He claims that he told her repeatedly to go get a boyfriend her own age, to no avail. Well, the absent mom comes in the picture and tells Ron to quit talking to her daughter, etc, and his response is "She's been calling ME, all I do is pick up the phone." Fast forward to this summer, and they are apparently getting married this week, and might be already as I write this blog. When I saw them at the party, I seriously thought it was his cute little granddaughter, until Jim tells us all otherwise, and my Mom confirmed the story. We totally thought he was pulling our leg, but no. Obviously, this girl sees this as her way out, and I'm sure Ron enjoys having a cute young girl on his arm. If everyone is going into it with eyes open, not my business.....but I was grossed out a second time when Jim wondered out loud if the girl might be pregnant.....

Where the hell did June go?

Um, so 2 weeks have passed since I last blogged. I have no idea where the hell the month went since my party. I've just been very very busy! Not much to report on this last day of June. I'm happy Candace and Oliver are coming back tonight, as I'm now off on break from work for 2 weeks and desperately want to hang out! I think we may go to the Zoo, hang out at the pool, etc. I'm excited. I'm also very excited that Brian and I are going up north for a few days at the end of July, beginning of August. We're camping in Grand Marais with my aunt, uncle and cousins, and then heading to Houghton/Hancock for a few days to see my friend Mary and drive up to Copper Harbor! Fun! This coming weekend is the Fourth of July, with my mother's yearly party that Brian and I have never actually attended together. We've always had other plans! So this year, that's it. I feel like so many things are going on, before I know it, fall will be here and I'll have missed the summer totally. We have the Kid Rock show to go to in a few weeks, and Jimmy Buffett in August, after Brian goes camping. We're so busy, its crazy! I hope to talk to everyone soon!

They Say It's My Birthday!

So, sorry it took me so long to do a recap of my par-tay. Sunday was spent cleaning up and sleeping, and I've worked a ton Monday, yesterday, and today. So, for those of you who weren't there, or who haven't heard the whole BB gun story, here goes!

Brian and our friend Paul did sooooo much prep on Friday night. Brian had said it would be a couple hours, and it ended up being 7 hours. I was so stressed out. Paul was at our house until almost 1 am. I felt really bad that we kept him away from Marcy and Merina for that long. And he was back at the house at 11 am Saturday morning. It was crazy. Also, my kitchen was COMPLETELY trashed and Brian kept assuring me that he would clean it up before everyone got there, which I knew was completely impossible, which stressed me out even more. So, Grant and I ended up cleaning when Tim and Brian went to go the get the keg and go to GFS. I was going totally nuts. The weather also had me nuts, as it rained the whole morning before the party started, and despite the fact we had a tent, I did NOT want people to have to sit out in the rain. That totally sucks.

So, the party started on time, and guests started arriving, which is always the fun part. The preparation leading up to the party is always the worst for me--the party itself is fun, because I enjoy seeing everyone. It was very good to see family, as always, and I particularly appreciate friends that came from far out of town, like Kate and Paul, April and JB, and Tom and Mer. (Another shout out Miss A!) I was in the kitchen when Kate and Paul arrived, and suddenly I turned around and there was Paul, and I screamed like a teenage girl. I asked where Kate was, and Paul said she was coming in. Well, I sprinted for the door, flung it open, and there she was. I again screamed like a little girl, and then tackled her so hard her beer went flying onto my laundry room floor. Hell, that's why it's tiled right? I was also thrilled when April and JB arrived with Miss Olivia, and later on when Tom and Mer came. I'm also obviously always happy to see Holly and the kids and Candace and Ollie! I was also happy to meet Kelly and Shawn's new baby, Aiden.

The party went well, the pig was great. My mom was nice enough to carve it up for Brian, and a few of the kids found it very fascinating that the pig had a face. Some of the adults were simultaneously grossed out by that fact. The food that Brian and Paul made was great, and there were ample drinks. We actually ended up having TONS of the side dishes left over, so much so that my mom and Holly each took several trays home, and we have 3 or 4 in the freezer. Later on in the day, the family took off and it was all of us and our friends, which was fun. We FINALLY cut Marcy's awesome birthday cake, which was round and looked like a beach, with an umbrella, beach shoes, towels, etc, all that were edible. It was awesome and people loved it!

Okay, so here's the deal with the BB guns. Earlier in the day, my neighbor had come around and warned us that kids were riding around the sub in a golf cart shooting BB guns. Not cool. So, we had some warning of what was going on. About 9 pm, Brian and a bunch of our friends were in the garage hanging out, and I was inside, when all of a sudden, BB's starting being fired into our garage. Grady and Laura got hit, but they are okay. Brian and a bunch of our friends took off through the woods and across the fields to the kids' house, which is a farm house behind our sub. They found the kids with their parents, and a few friends that they had over. The exchanges were heated at first, until Brian calmed people down and the guys presented evidence that it had, in fact, been those boys who did the shooting. The dad proceeded to smash the BB guns and the mom freaked out when she found out there had been roughly 30 little kids running around all day. Brian and the guys came back to the house, and a bit later, we ended up calling the cops to report it. The State boys came out and talked to us, and went to the boys house, and they got stern talking to. Sunday night, they came to our door with their dad and apologized again, and we all had a discussion. I think the cops scared the crap out of those kids, and I think they've hopefully learned the lesson. I don't think we'll be seeing them around the sub again.

So that's what went down! To all of you that attended, thanks for coming, and for those who couldn't come, I wish you'd been able to!

Celebrate Good Times Come On!

Okay, so I realized the other day I haven't written in my bloggedy-blog for about 2 weeks. I fell off the wagon! I had a few minutes before I start work this morning, so decided to talk about my party that's coming up!

My birthday's on Saturday! I'm so excited! I hope everyone's coming and the weather stays nice and we all have a good time. Brian has done a good job getting things organized, everything is mostly bought and the few things that aren't will get taken care of Friday. He took the day off work to party prep and the boys are coming down with the dead pig to stay the night. They'll start that pig first thing on Saturday morning! There is going to be plenty of food and drink for everyone. There's going to be the pig, obviously, and all the sides. Baked beans, hawaiian rice, 2 kinds of potatoes, fruit salad, (among others) and 4 different kinds of sauces for the pig. And Marcy is making me a cool luau themed cake. We rented a tent and tables. Our friend Chad is not going to be able to DJ as he had thought about doing, as he has to be out of town for a family party, but we'll have music outside, I'm sure. Brian reserved a keg of Labatt's Blue Light, and we have alcohol to make big containers of mai tais. We also have plenty of pop, water, and juice for the kids.

So, come one, come all, to the best party around! Can't wait to see some of my friends whom I haven't seen in a awhile, including frequent reader Miss April, and my friends from South Bend Kate and Paul (aka Katers and Paolo). And of course I'm always happy to see all my family and friends, and Brian loves throwing a party, so this was a great excuse!

See you all there, gotta go, work is starting!

Visits, Yard Work, Party Planning and Fenderbenders

Boy, the title to this post just about says it all regarding what's been going on with me lately. Here's a quick rundown, giving some more details!

1) This past weekend I drove to Gladwin and visited my old friend Mary at her home there. She and her baby were down from Hancock (in the UP, where Michigan Tech is) having a huge garage sale and getting their house ready to sell. It was so good to see Mary again, as we had sort of fallen out of touch since before I met Brian. She was having some stuff go on in her personal life, I was busy with law school, and she and Ted moved to Gladwin, so it just sort of happened. We reconnected via Facebook (the only person I've reconnected with on FB that I'm really happy about.) Mary is the same old Mary, in a good way. Still the most bad ass chick I've ever met, even as the mother of a super cute daughter named Elaine. I'm so glad to be back in touch with her.

2) Brian and I remulched the front of the house yesterday. It took 6 yards of mulch and it wasn't quite enough. We'll have to go get a few bags to finish it up, but all in all, it looks really good again. We did it a lot thicker this year than last year, and it is much better that way. Brian worked really hard, much harder than me, and deserves praise (which he got).

3) We've been working hard to get the final details of the party planned out. Tent ordered, drinks planned, plates and stuff mostly purchased. Headcount is mostly complete. Can't wait to see everyone!

4) Today on my way home from seeing Candace and Oliver, I went to Meijer to get groceries on the way home. As I was leaving, I carefully looked around and proceeded to back out of my spot, at the same time a crazy middle aged lady in a Chevy Impala who had passed behind me proceeded to slam on the brakes and back up at about 30 miles an hour to get that spot that's all of 5 feet closer to the store. And you know, in the process, backs right into me. Gee thanks. I probably need a new bumper. It's not that bad, but the way cars are built now, they have to replace the whole damn bumper for a minor injury. Argh! Just trust me when I say that this was not my day. It was sort of a rough morning, for reasons I'll keep private.

More updates later!

Fainting Update!

Miss April specifically asked me and others might be interested, so here's an update on what's up with my fainting.

Basically, I took some tests last Friday, namely a glucose tolerance test and a full thyroid panel. The thyroid panel was actually at my request, just to check it. My TSH is normal, but I've never had the full panel done, and thyroid issues can cause miscarriages and other problems, so for my peace of mind, I asked for it. My doctor is so cool, she had no issue with me asking and added the tests to my lab order. Of course she's cool, she went to Western too! (And she's only 2 years older than I am!).

My test results came in on Tuesday. And the grand verdict is..........There is nothing wrong with me! My sugar was normal and so was the thyroid. Apparently, I just like to faint for no reason. She said at this point, she didn't need to see me, and advised me to make sure I eat regularly (not a problem) and to eat more protein and less sugar (will be a challenge, as sugar is my favorite food group). She said if it happens again, come see her immediately, as there are other, more invasive things she can check me for (like heart stuff, etc). I did have an EKG in the ER, which came out normal. So, I guess, sometimes people just faint.

Also, just thought I'd throw in here that my dog bite bruise is healing well and looks a lot less gross. And I finally fixed my torn pants. But I'm really disappointed the owners of the dog never came to see me after their vacation, like they promised they would. The next time I ride by their house (very cautiously, I might add), if I see them, I'm going to stop and call them out on it.

That's all for now. Bye all!