Arbitrary
I am amazed that the Chiapet people think that making an Obama chia head could in any way be construed as “honoring the President”.
By Sandi | July 1, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Local fauna
I finally had a chance to wander around a bit in the neighborhood and took a couple photos of some of the things that caught my eye.



There is so much more to explore and I promise I will take pictures of the beach….eventually…..when I sprout another set of arms to hold babies and take pictures.
By David | June 28, 2009 | No Comments »
Doncha just love these faces?
How can there be a problem?

Look at that face!

Look at that smile!

Never mind, Houston…….everything is just fine.
By David | June 26, 2009 | 4 Comments »
Houston, We Have A Problem!
The girls? They toddle. They are EVERYWHERE. Into EVERYTHING. That’s a problem, actually, when the house is not quite child-proofed yet and you’re still living in boxes. Or when they seem to enjoy crawling into the dishwasher. Although? Maybe I should just take that one as the half full kind of thing – easy bath-time! Score!
And I DO have video of the toddling, but I’m going to have to wait to post them until I’m not quite as buzzed as I currently am.
So. Florida is hot. HOOOOTTTTTT. And the locals say THIS hot is abnormal. Which, of course, means that we brought it from Texas with us. And I can promise you, I don’t remember packing that box. Which is saying something, because I packed almost all of them. And if I DID pack that box, I swear, I did NOT use bubble-wrap.
Josh has been sporting quite the teenage attitude since we arrived. Or left. It must have been since we left because I remember dealing with it on the trip. The good news is that we haven’t killed him yet. The bad news is that we haven’t killed him yet.
I get that he had to leave all his friends behind. But I don’t see how telling us what he is or is not going to do benefits his “getting to go meet new friends” goal. To me, this all seems more like the “I’m pissed, so I’m going to show you! I’m going to ruin my life!” kind of anger that kids feel toward their parents. Which baffles me, because why did ANY kid ever think that would work? I don’t care if he ruins his life and has no friends as long as he goes to college. And if he refuses to do what I ask, I’m duty-bound to make him miserable. What is there not to understand about that????
Hannah used to be the whiney baby, but lately Morgan’s joined in. Not always, but sometimes. They both follow me around and whine “Ma-ma” until I pick them up, and if I’m doing something – like….I dunno….making dinner – they just hang onto my legs and cry. Tonight, they both did that, while Josh was busy telling me that he was NOT going to do what I asked him to do, and then David wanted to know when dinner was going to be because it was getting much later than normal, and I had had more than enough. I cried in the bedroom while trying to remember how to count to ten. I was still trying to remember over dinner. David came to the bedroom to try and help me remember myself, and I made my intentions to consume vast amounts of alcohol known. He picked out a wine that we bought during our honeymoon. He got bonus points for that. It’s always good to remind a wife that’s losing it of her happy place.
So at this point, everyone but me is in their bed. There’s a little more than one glass left in the bottle, but I still have about 1/4 of a glass left, and it’s getting sleepy in here. So we’ll end by discussing what I’ve learned so far about Florida, m’kay? Okay. Here we go…
- TV here happens later than at home. I’m used to being able to be in bed by 10 PM. Here? The news doesn’t even START until 10 PM. I liked being in bed by 10 PM. It was good for my sleepies. Especially since the girls aren’t sleeping through the night, and morning happens at 6 AM.
- The news anchors here are different. I assumed that meant all the ones I know were missing, but David assures me this is NOT the case. The Florida Sheriff’s office agrees.
- Storms here are a lot different than at home, but do not seem to cause less damage. We live about 7 miles from the nearest beach, but there was a lightning storm on the 2nd day we were here. That lightning storm sparked a wildfire at the beach (which was surrounded by trees and marshes), and the whole kit ‘n caboodle was on fire for 3 days. Not only was the heat a problem when outside, but the smoke was everywhere.
- The other two days following that that we spent playing at the beach made up for it all.
- The girls love the beach. Well, they love the water. They call it the “baa” (read: bath). Hee!
- Getting a child to unpack boxes of his crap and find places for said crap is next to impossible. Threatening the well-being of his Wii and cell phone helps.
- I’m still afraid of heights. My husband is not. My husband enjoys driving over bridges that have been built over water.
- Bridges over water are really, really high.
- Florida is NOT only full of old, retired people.
- It is, however, mostly full of old, retired people.
- Who are over 100 years old and don’t yield. Or read stop signs. Or care about stop lights.
- However, they think speed limits are about 35ish miles too fast, and they adjust according to their beliefs. Sometimes suddenly and with no warning.
- People still stare at the girls as if they are wearing wings and singing hymns. I can assure you that they are NOT. They CAN, however, smile as if they were. Do not be fooled. Evidence of horns can be found if you follow us home.
Okay, sleepy is happening. Nite nite, people.
By Sandi | June 24, 2009 | 5 Comments »
We’re BACK!!!
This is just the first note since the move. Our internet is now set up, so there will be MUCH more to follow. I hope every one is doing well.
By David | June 24, 2009 | No Comments »
Florida Gives Me Boob Sweat
We can’t find underwear. We can’t find 1 of the 3 children. However, only half the truck is unloaded, so there are still possibilities of locating her. We’re figuring she’ll turn up when she gets hungry. Captain Stinky spends most of his time on the phone with his cronies from the old neighborhood. He’s a bit homesick, but enjoying the lavishness of his new room.
The girls, when we could find them both, were exploring everything, and finding all new tones of Mommy’s “NO” voice. Most of the bottles are dirty, and can’t be washed because we haven’t uncovered the bottle baskets yet.
I am sore. I feel a little like I’ve been run over by a truck. David’s equally tired. The girls are so sick of being in the car seats they cry when they see the car. Truthfully, so do we.
More later as possible.
By Sandi | June 16, 2009 | 4 Comments »
“Floridian” Sounds Like A Dental Disorder
We are actually IN Florida now, although not quite to our new home yet. That part will happen tomorrow. Saying goodbye to my family in Texas was torture. But, we’ve made it to Tallahasse without leaving any kids at any truckstop along the way - there’s always tomorrow!
David wants to officially put Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama on notice that he wiped out a majority of their bug populations with the windshield of the moving truck. He says no thanks is necessary – he did it for the good of humanity. He’s selfless that way.
We’re dead on our feet, so more later.
By Sandi | June 14, 2009 | 4 Comments »
Storms & Goodbyes
Well, for those of you watching the Weather Channel (and you know who you are), yes, there was a batch of severe storms that blew through our little Texas town tonight.
They claim there may have even been a funnel cloud that touched down RIGHT behind our house.
However, we are all perfectly fine and there was no damage to our home, cars, trees or persons.
Today was my second to last day at work here in Texas. There were many people to whom I said goodbye that have become friends during the past 16 months. Even though I only knew them in a ‘work capacity,’ I will miss many of the 100+ people I have worked with for nearly a year and a half.
Tomorrow will undoubtedly be a very bittersweet day. Glad to be done and moving on to new and hopefully brighter opportunities and yet sad to be leaving some of those people behind. I keep toying with the idea of giving them the blog address, but……yeah….probably not. Such is life.
So, again. To recap: we’re all fine and tomorrow is my last day at work (in Texas). It is very unclear as to when the next few updates will be made, but we’ll try to keep you all posted (because I know you are just hanging on our every move, happening and even misstep).
Ciao!
By David | June 10, 2009 | 8 Comments »
Waiting to Sleep When You’re Dead Only Makes You Dead Faster
So here’s what I’m thinking – I think I’ll take a nap for a few days and the rest of you can decide among yourselves who will watch which child and who will be doing the packing. Okay?
By Sandi | June 8, 2009 | 4 Comments »
Children Turn You Gray
So we’ve been packing like mad people. Mad as in mad, not mad. Anyway, so packing. Lots. And since this is impossible to do with infants crawling around your legs, my mother’s been watching the twins for the last 2 days.
Yesterday morning, I was out in the front yard around the time my son left for school. I was putting the car seats into my mom’s car, wearing my ratty pj pants, a shirt that doesn’t always stay buttoned when/where it should, and a seriously old bathrobe open and flapping in the wind. Occasionally I would even wave and say hello to my son’s friends as they walked by on their way to school! (You’re welcome, honey!)
Where was I? Oh, yeah. Ratty bathrobe and pj’s installing car seats. So mom walks out and stands behind me. Suddenly, I feel her picking at my hair, as if she’s found a piece of fuzz or something she must extract from it immediately. I assumed that must be what was going on, right until I felt that little pop. I turned, and she was flicking something from her fingers distastefully.
“I just pulled out a really white hair.”
“I found it because it was glinting sunlight back at me.”
“REALLY white gray hair.”
“There’s more back there, too. But I wouldn’t want to start pulling them ALL.”
I guess maybe it’s time to think about coloring. *sigh*
By Sandi | June 5, 2009 | 5 Comments »
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