Venting.....again

So, I got a response to my blog this morning and read it thinking, "wow, that DID sound like a busy weekend, but it was more than that....it was NUTZ.  I thought, "Hmmm, did I leave something important out?"  This afternoon I was reviewing the weekend, trying to put all the "haps" into perspective.  The first thing  that popped into my mind was what I like to call "The Big Blueberry Blunder".  Remember I mentioned the boys going golfing Friday?  Those of you who are familiar with the three of them know that  there will  absolutely be beer drinking in conjunction with golf anytime they're out on the course!  And what happens after a hot day of beer drinking?  Ok, so about 3:00 that afternoon Carrie calls to say " OMG,you won't believe what the kids just did!", then had to hang up before she told me what went on.  Intuitively, I know there is trouble (ok, so everyone who knows the little Frosties knows THAT) and decide to go take them off Spencers' hands for the afternoon.  "What happened?" I ask Gabi.  "Well, you know sometimes Corbin and I like to make our own snacks and so we were making PBJ's and I couldn't find any jelly, so I thought that I would use the blueberry syrup, but it got out of control (and the next thing she knew there was blueberry all over everywhere.)"Why didn't you ask your Dad to help, "I ask.  " He was napping and we didn't want to wake him".....You can imagine how thrilled Carrie was upon arrival home from work!  That evening she invited me to a jewelry party at a friends house where the kids went along. The house was gorgeous, with glass enclosed railings going downstairs and I just kept thinking....blueberry syrup.....Earlier that day I had taken Gramma (per her request) to Wal Mart shopping and then had to spend 45 minutes at her bank trying to figure out some account issues while she sat in the car.  Dealing with that bank totally tested my patience.  "Hi there, welcome to ------Bank. Can I get you a freshly baked cookie with some freshly brewed coffee or some ice cold water?"  Hey, how about you just get someone over her to help me with this f---ing account? I'm thinking.....Really, has the world really come to needing a hostess at a bank?????
Saturday comes around and Corbin is the chosen one to spend the day with me while the moving continues.  He is great!  I would have to give him an "A" for his behavior and we get stuff ready for Grayson's party, me cooking and he helping Gramma wrap her gifts.  So sweet!

 

 

 

After the party, (which I mentioned was a great time), Sophie and Gabi were plotting to have a sleepover.  "My Mom says its' ok with her."  Ok, go ask your Dad.  Five minutes later...."He says it's ok with him".  Did you ask YOUR Mom?  Yeah, she says it fine with her".  So it's a deal.  ONLY, nobody really said yes to any of it!  They did have a sleepover and actually did sleep!

So that brings us to Sunday, with the gy-normous wait for breakfast, followed by a near breakdown by Carrie begging for my help....with the kids? with the move? with unpacking. JUST HELP ME! etc.  We went home for awhile to get Sunday dinner started and so that Brad could mow the lawn. Then,  Brad and I took Corbin and went to Home Depot to get blinds for all of the empty windows at Gramma's house.   After a lengthy time of cutting and measuring shades, we attempted to install them and discovered they were all 1/2" too wide. AHHHHKKKK!!! Now, I can't remember if this is where I had my meltdown/tantrum or if it was following the longest breakfast service in the history of the world, but I DID realize a few minutes into it that I had forgotten to take my happy pills for the past 3 days.  The entire family was staring at me in disbelief and Curt mumbled to Brad that he couldn't imagine how Brad could take that behavior....  Carrie rescued me with a hefty dosage (STAT!) that helped calm me down.  Meanwhile (since there wasn't much going on...) Curt and Spencer got a call from the Yaws family in Nebraska asking them to do an electrical service call on their former home (now a rental) and were A.W.O.L. from the moving scene for a few hours....Seriously????? And Amie, (who was nice enough to keep Gabi)  called to say that after getting $20 worth of ingredients to make a peach cobbler for Brad (a very sweet gesture), had assembled it and trashed it, claiming the recipe info I'd given her sucked....I don't doubt it!

After dinner, which was scrumptious,  Spencer brought over the last of the remaining "unpackables", including the ping pong table.  Rory and I were excited to start playing only to discover we had no frickin balls!   Rory  said, "Now that's something you'd never wanna hear your Gramma wish for!"

 

 

 

Just venting.....again!!!!

Happy Monday, Ya'll.

 

show me da monday

Who looks forward to Monday?  Maybe the Simmons Clan?  After packing (literally) in as much as possible this week, we are all looking ahead to a more relaxing week.  The Frost family is out of their old house and into Grammas' house (mostly, anyway), the POD is stuffed with their stuff, along with the overflow in their storage unit, and a few things at our house.

 We took Gramma over to see the (semi) finished result and she mostly approved, but didn't like the cabinets painted in the kitchen.  We all think it updated the house considerably, and the stench of the former smoking inhabitants is finally gone!  The kids will have some adjustment getting used to sharing a room, sleep wise anyway.  Spencer leaves Tuesday morning for a football camp in Pueblo and won't be back until Friday with a plethora of stuff to do beforehand. 

Saturday was a big birthday celebration of Grayson's second birthday.  Hard to believe how fast that two years has flown.  He is definitely a joy!  (Mostly, anyway, as are all two year olds!)

Who gives a 2 year old an Icee?
His Grandma, of course!

 

We had a great party at Curt and Amie's with some great Mexican food, wonderful families and good times with the water slide.  Matt and Heather and Roger (Amie and Heather's Dad) joined in and presented Roger with his Father's Day gift, a card announcing their due date!  We are very excited for them!

 

 Father's Day was memorable this year, anyway, with good intentions of making it special.  We had breakfast reservations at 9:00, and finally got our food at 10:15, with some squirmy and hungry kids and some irritated adults by the time it arrived.  Afterwards, Curt, Spencer and Carrie moved more stuff while Amie kept Gabi and Corbin stayed with us.  Brad got the lawn mowed and I got some laundry done as well as dinner ready for later.  Then it was back to the moving fiasco for the remainder of the afternoon, until we were all DONE!

moving is tough on everyone!
The fathers (Brad, Curt and Spencer) did get to golf over the weekend. It's been a long time since any of them have golfed, and it was definitely a well deserved break!

 

 

It's all about me......

Just sayin, this is how the mind of a 93 year old works.  Very much like a toddler.  "I want what I want when I want it!"  Tonight I drag home from work (6:30am to 5:30pm...it's a long day), change clothes (it's 95 degrees out so I throw on my nightie and robe) and try to come up with something for dinner.  It's slim pickins here at the Simmons place, just because we've been too busy to grocery shop, but I scrounge around and finally come up with a meal plan.  Moments later, here comes Gramma, shuffling into the kitchen with her walker and wants to know if Brad is home yet.  "No," I reply, having just called him on the job site (now 6:15) and his response was that he'd be home by 7:00..."Well, he was supposed to pick up my medications today at Walmart."  I ask, "why didn't you call me and I would've gotten them on my way home from work?"" Well", she says, "he was going to be going that way anyway today" (ummm, which way is THAT way?).. I tell her," he won't remember to pick those up.  You need to call me with errands like that." She still doesn't get that he is not the person he used to be.  His memory is almost nonexistent when it comes to short term stuff. And WHY, dear Lord, does she wait til the last day to call in her refills when she sits in her chair day after day doing absolutely nothing????  At dinner (finally at 7:00) she asks about her prescriptions.  He stares at her blankly (like wtf are you talking about), then offers to get them tomorrow.  Oh no, gotta have them tonight.  She's run totally out!  Need that tramadol!  He gets up from dinner and off he goes.  She shuffles back into the kitchen and says, "he's SO tired tonight. I feel bad making him go."  This is where I raise my voice (not quite to the outside voice level) and reiterate that she needs to call ME for things that she needs, OMG! She never hears ANYONE come into the house EVER, but the second he walks in with the goods, she comes rolling down the hallway to retrieve her precious pills.  And then, just like a child, wants him to open them, because they do have childproof lids!

Life in the POD

Hope everyone had a relaxing weekend and are revitalized for another work week!  Umm, yeah, probably no one in our family could say THAT.  As the Frost move countdown comes to an end, the work load has picked up.  They had a POD delivered to their house Sunday, and it was already filling up...

Carrie is taking time off this week to fill the POD with aspirations of moving into Gramma's house by the weekend.  Speaking of which....the boys put in the back splash tiles Friday night (after one of those frustrating 2 hour trips to Home Depot by Brad and I) and hopefully, Spencer will get the grouting done before the move.  Brad and I spent several hours at the house this weekend, painting (my never ending task) and replacing all of the electrical outlets.  Gramma has not yet seen the house, but I'm hoping to get her over there before the move.  I think she'll be surprised!

 The hardwood floors refinished beautifully!  In fact, Rory said, "you mean these floors were under the carpet the whole time?"  Crazy, huh?

 

Speaking of Gramma....she fell in her room "getting all tangled up in her walker"  Tuesday morning.  Fortunately, Brad was still home to help her up. Her most significant injury was a bruised chin where she hit her end table and she says that she is still sore...knees, arms etc. She was lucky!

Brad and I made a trip to University Hospital this week (our monthly visit) where he had an MRI prior to his appointment with Dr. Ney.  Everything looks great, according to the doctor and he will continue with the same chemo protocol as before.  He is feeling remarkably better after changing some of his meds last month. 

On Friday, we took Corbin and Gabi to their swim lessons, where they are both doing really well.  Over the weekend, they were both jumping off of the diving board!  Gabi would really like to be on swim team and is now able to swim 4 widths of the pool!  Corbin is an incredible swimmer while wearing his snorkel mask!

That afternoon, they conned me into taking them to TCBY for a treat.  I think they love the challenge of getting as much frozen yogurt into a cup with as many toppings on it as they can!

 All for only $12!

We didn't do Sunday dinner this weekend as frankly, I was too pooped!  We did go over to the Frosts last night for some dessert (a yummy lemon confection made by Amie) and had a little time with the other kids.

 Hard to believe that Grayson will be 2 next weekend!
He is talking so well and last night mimicked Amie by saying, "I am NOT happy!", something she says when the kids

make wrong choices.

 

That's How We Roll

Yippee!  We survived another weekend, and now we (or least me) can go to work and rest up! 
On Friday, the four little ones were here while Carrie was working and Amie had an appointment.  Boy, that  Grayson is quite the busy guy. At one point, he had dumped a container of garlic salt into a skillet and was just about ready to empty it into my recliner, when Corbin shouted, "Grandma, QUICK!"  The "three amigos" spent a fair amount of time creating funny things on the computer with JibJab, laughing all the while.  After Sophie and Grayson left, Gabi, Corbin and I spent time playing board games.

Friday night we celebrated Dave (Fields) 40th birthday party at Old Chicagos'. We had a great time hanging out, and took turns holding new baby Harper (whose family is relocating to Wisconsin).

On Saturday, Carrie and I attended a baby shower for Tracy's sister, Paula.  It was fun seeing the "Bittersweet girls", Carrie, Tracy and Lauren together again. 

Also, nice to see Becky Davis and Whitney (Davis).  It's been 10 years or so....

Carrie and I took our paint clothes with us and headed over to Grammas house afterwards to paint, cuz "that's how we roll", literally!  I gave the living room a second coat while Carrie gave the trim a first coat, while Spencer finished up the kitchen floor.  It's amazing how much work this has been (and continues to be).  There are time when I think it would've been easier to level the house and start fresh!  The Frosts are supposed to move in 2 weeks from now, but are having some roof issues, which hopefully won't impact the sale on their home.  The new buyers think they deserve a new roof, apparently. 

Sunday was more of the same (painting) for Brad and I.  We finished the trim and also completed  one bedroom. Gramma wanted to know if the basement was done yet?  We came home just in time to get Sunday dinner ready,  making  two kinds of fajitas, chicken and beef, one in the oven and the other stove top, chili rellano casserole and guacamole.  (Can I mention again how much I don't enjoy cooking when I have to look up recipes?  I much preferred Brad's former ability to "wing it" in the kitchen.) Amie brought a yummy chocolate ice cream dessert, which we enjoyed afterwards on the deck.

  The weather was perfect for sitting out there, and the kids found some neighbors to play with, trying out their trampoline. The kids all voted that we should buy one for our yard!

Love me some chocolate!

 

Rory finally made it back from his trip to Washington D.C. following a three hour flight delay.  I haven't talked to him yet, but have kept up with the trip through the blog, which is   http://unioncolonywashingtondc2013.blogspot.com, for those of who  have not seen the pictures.  What a great experience!  I want to go!

Mom got moved to Denver this week, finding her new place smaller than she had thought, but adjusting until one of the bigger units opens up.  Spencer was able to meet up with the moving truck Thursday morning and bring back her piano, with plans to have Gabi and Corbin take lessons. 

The Taylor's went shopping at the mall in North Platte yesterday, Emma reported.  She said it wasn't all that great, but better than the Alco store in Ogallala. She has been "skyping" with her Greeley friend, Mary this week, while anxiously awaiting the pool to open today.