Just Stroll-ing Along . . .

My Gran's in the hospital :o(

So . . . we had a lovely, relaxing vacation! We spent most of the time either in the Gulf or the pool. Gramma, Uncle Jeff and Aunt Carol made everything very comfortable and welcoming for us. We ate a lot of good food and went out on Uncle Jeff's boat and most importantly, relaxed. It was so nice to just lay around and not really have anything to do. I didn't wear my watch even once while we were gone. The only problem I had was that nobody in Florida knows how to make good lemonade! What's up with that!
Brian ended up having to fix something on our car while we were gone, but it didn't take too long and wasn't very expensive to replace. I only read three books - Murder on the Orient Express, Morality for Beautiful Girls, and The Sunday Philosophy Club. I also started my biography on John Adams. (I changed up my reading list quite a bit!) Anyway, we had a fabulous time, but now it's back to the real world!
Brian started working at Dillin this morning - the engineering company he used to work for. He's temporary (probably 50 hrs a wk) at least through the end of August, so that gives us some financial relief for the time being. He also sent out a bunch of resumes this week, so we're hoping he hears from some of those places soon.
Yesterday was Jonah's 5th birthday! We all went out to Gramma & Grampa Tegtmeier's for a pool party to celebrate and poor Amelia got stung by a wasp. Logan and Laken's adoption is final the end of the month (maybe even now?) and they are the greatest kids. Logan reminds me of Matt and Laken is the sharpest little girl I've ever met . . . she doesn't miss a thing.
Mar and Dad are coming over for supper tonight, so I gotta leave here so's I can get home and clean.
This weekend should be good - we have Mud Hens tickets for Sunday, and Dad (Fred) might take us out on the boat Saturday down the docks for supper! Yay!

We're home!

. . . and we got two beautiful handmade cards . . . one from Mindy & Brandon and the other from Eric & Kim . . . those girls should go into card-making business. Oh wait. Kim already did!

Last night we ran errands and started packing, trying to get everything done before we leave tonight. We stopped at Eric & Kim's for a while - they gave us a gorgeous vase with a dragonfly etched into it (anyone who loves Crate & Barrel has probably seen it) - I love it (thanks again, guys). Anyway, it's a good thing it's raining today - Brian doesn't work when it rains, so he can get all the rest of our stuff done while I'm at work! I'm so glad I have a house/regular husband! lol.

I just spent the last 3 hours of my day in my boss's office, learning how to use Top Producer. I had read the handbook - it was thoroughly confusing. It was much easier learning it hands-on. So now I know how to create listings and stuff like that. How cool!

In honor of our 1 year anniversary!
July 16, 2004

Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Aron Ralston

Mudhouse Sabbath
Lauren F. Winner

Morality for Beautiful Girls
(Book 3, No.1 Ladies Detective Agency)
Alexander McCall Smith

1776
David McCullough

Asassination Vacation
Sarah Vowell

44 Scotland Street
Alexander McCall Smith

13 - Tammy's birthday
16 - Our 1st anniversary
25 - Jonah's 5th birthday
27 - Debbie's birthday
27 - Maire Belle's 2nd birthday
29 - Papa's birthday
30 - Mindy & Brandon's 11th anniversary

We're over at Mar & Dad's for the afternoon. We're glad Dad's home from his big fishing trip. He told us all about it, and it sounds like he had a really great time with the other guys (Adam, Matt & Mr. T).
Friday night we went to the St. Jerome Festival with Bohnsack . . . it was like every other festival! Drunk, white trash folks everywhere! We stayed the night with Mar, Jonah and Beth and then yesterday morning we took them down to the Erie St. Market for breakfast. We did some shopping, too, and then we all went on a boat ride down the Erie Canal (Swan Creek), which the kids LOVED.
Brian was gone last night with Fred and Chris, so I put on my pj's, took a little nap, watched a movie and gave myself a pedicure. After he got home, we went cruisin' for a while in the Camaro. It was a good night for cruisin'.
Checked the 10 day forecast for Englewood - rain, rain and more rain! Oh well. It's the rainy season, after all!

I just got back from showing my first apartment! It went pretty well, but the guy seemed kinda weird . . . I think he's a doctor. Anyway, he seemed to like the place, and I think I did a pretty good job. I was supposed to go to a house with my boss today - he's going to show me what exactly the process is for listing a house, measuring, taking photos, etc - but he hasn't been in all afternoon, so I guess it'll have to wait until tomorrow.
Today after work, Brian and I are going to run a few errands and do a little shopping for our trip . . . we leave a week from today! Yay!

Saturday:
Detroit Tigers v. New York Yankees! Top of the 9th, with men on 1st & 3rd, the Yankees' DH, Bernie Williams, brought it all home! I, of course, was ecstatic - Brian and Bohnsack were not! But it was nice to actually see them WIN . . . they ended up winning Sunday's game as well, 1-0.
Sunday:
We hung out with Mar and Hunter, and went to Gram and Papa's for the afternoon. Brian finally was able to finish working on their car, so we got ice cream to celebrate (lol, any excuse for ice cream). After that we hung out with some friends of ours and watched Sylvania's fireworks. Chad tried killing us all on the way home. . . . that was fun.
Monday:
Kind've a crappy day over all - I wasn't feeling well and it was hot. Brian & I hung out with Mar again in the afternoon (gotta take care of her while Daddy's gone) and then went downtown and had a cookout with Chad before the fireworks. Hanging out with Mar was good and the cookout was good, but it all went downhill after that. Chad and I were sitting right underneath the Hi-Level bridge (Brian was messing around with something in the car), just sitting there minding our own business, when suddenly we both get wet. It had looked like it was going to rain for a while, so we got kind've upset, because it was only about 45 min to the fireworks and we'd been sitting there for like 2 1/2 hours, so we didn't want to get rained out. So we're trying to clean up, and Chad comes over to me and says, "SMELL MY ARM" - not too strange a request if you know Chad. So I smelled it and was grossed out. I was like, "WHAT IS THAT" and he said, much to my MORTIFICATION - "it's PISS... SOMEBODY PISSED ON US" So yeah, turns out someone peed over the side of the bridge and it ended up getting all over us. Our hair, our shirts, our chairs. So we scrubbed down with ice (the only thing we had) and tried waiting it out ... we couldn't leave, because we were blocked in. I couldn't take the smell for very long, so I ended up going into the car, taking off my shirt and just wrapping myself in a big blanket the rest of the night. And to top it all off, the fireworks SUCKED. So needless to say, the whole evening pretty much was a big bummer. The story is funny now, but let me tell you, at the time I wanted to kill the bum that did that.
So after work yesterday, Brian surprised me with flowers and then we took Bonnie out to dinner (mmm, Texas Roadhouse!). Then we went to Target to get a few things for our trip. Then home to bed! It was nice having a long weekend, but we hardly got any sleep. I'm still worn out.

By the way, we broke down and saw Batman Begins last night. It was good - it answers the major questions about Batman. I was mostly thrilled with it, of course I have been secretly (or not-so-secretly) in love with Christian Bale since Little Women. And Katie Holmes wasn't too horrible . . . she was better in this than she has been in all the rest of her movies combined.

My Daddy is gone! He left this morning with Adam to go fishing in Canada for 10 days. They were so looking forward to it and I hope they have a wonderful time. Mar is watching Hunter this weekend, and after work today Brian and I are going to go out there and spend a little time with them. Mar's going to start her big project next week and I am going to help her! It's a surprise for when Dad gets home.
Can't wait for the long weekend!