THE ICE IS STRATING TO CRACK

Hell has offically frozen over and I am first in line to lace up my ice skates and take a spin....okay well I would be if I had ice skates or ice to skate on....and since its 90 plus degrees out lately, I guess we will just go with the metaphore!! The BROWN shirts that have caused me such frustration and given me eye ticks for the past 6 long months is GONE.....all 4 of them!!! GONE...GONE....GONE!!!  Maybe it wasn't exactly all on Prince Chamerings own acord.....could have something to do with the fact that they were starting to disinagrate in the wash, or as they were on the way to the dryer I would get so frustrated at seeing them day after day after day....that I begin tugging just a little harder each day on the collar or the bottom where holes were forming! I know it's not something  that is going to get me the "Mother of The Year" award, these days I am anything but that But a mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do!!! At least he was able to finish the school year in his beloved brown shirt...but the first day of PC's summer break on May 31st they were done...gone...over with!! Ending  the school year with 5 A's and 2 B's WHOOO WHOOOO!!! PC was excited to actually go to camp this summer.....for the first time ever....he was excited because it's Technology camp!

Camp has started and on Day 1 PC woke up excited, full of energy and tells us that he is excited  because it'll be the 1st time ever that he is attending a camp where the kids are like him, and will like the same things he does. Yep thats great right, only it makes you feel like the shumck  of the year for making him attend all those others camps that kids would die to attend!! Week 1 went great PC loves it, only came home early one time because he was uncomfortable on the field trip .....which included all the recreation centers together for a big field event.....needless to say he wont be attending those and they fall on Thursdays....okay I can deal with that, one day a week he will miss. Well ......... then you have swim days, the child refuses to go in a public pool....okay well you cant really argue with that now can you? I've seen what people do in those pools.....I've heard what people do in those pools.....I can only imagine WHAT  1000 kids do in those pools ewwww!! So Swim days which thankfully there are only 5 for the summer he will go to camp in the afternoon....well at least thats the deal, lets see if he holds up his end of that deal!

Here we are on  Week 2 already and he has attended 6 days of camp....in a row! Amazing since last year he went like 8 days out of  10 weeks!! I get home on Monday the start of Week 2 and ask how was camp today? PC replies with a "Ughhh"  and "HOT" and there you go...... it begins.....

I can feel the ice that I was so cooly  skating on before begin to creak as I was foolishly thinking that this summer is gonna be fan-freaken- tastic!!! I can feel I am losing traction and we are only in week 2 ....day 6 of summer camp...the same summer camp he was so excited to attend...the same freaking summer camp, I had to  beg and pled and drop names to get him one of the 8 freaken spots they had to offered!!  I  go out to the kitchen where the hubster is whipping upa delicious  homemade meal and said to him...."So camp was HOT eh? Well it is summer, I hope he doesn't try and pull anything because he will be going to camp! " Hubster....... " Well he was hoping to stay home tomorrow and have Will come over and he is going to bring his bike"

 UMMMM can you see the huge crack forming under my ice skates??? Sure the kid can bring his bike with him...doesn't mean they will be out riding it....it will sit right next to PC's and collect dust just like his is doing......it's HOT out remember what makes you think they will be out riding bikes and not sitting on their ass like they do daiuly on the computer or watching TV in the nice cool AC????

Hiccups Along the Way

The past 2 ½ weeks seem like a blur. Our celebration of life for Papa was beautiful; we had a huge turnout of friends and family for his send off to the great blue sky. Of course with any thing in life you have a few hiccups along the way. And I was the one with the hiccups ...... My aunts thought I should read my last blog post as a tribute to Papa, (clearly they are delusional) and since there is no way in hell I would ever consider doing that I did the next best thing, I wrote a new tribute told some of his stories added pictures and rolled it up, tied it with ribbon so that everyone could take home with them. Problem solved .... or so I thought!

After working on a memories video much of the weekend and finishing it up on Tuesday night, the hubster burned several copies for me to give to the family. Wednesday morning I asked Prince Charming to put the DVD in the player so I can make sure it worked, since I have no earthly idea how to work any of the electronics in our house besides my computer and that’s if-y most days. So there we are and it looks great on the big screen and then..... it stops mid song and PC looks at me and said "well that was nice mom"....I start to stutter..... "NO ...NO ...NO why is it stopped?" He shows me that it's the end of the video...NO NO NO ...it has lots more pictures and 2 more songs to go!!! We tried another copy and it did the same thing, stopped in the same spot and everything!

UGHHH I take PC to school, return home to see what we can do... really that means see what the hubster can do...but he was on a call with work so could not come to the rescue! So I got another disc and tried to burn a new copy, made a cup of coffee and took a deep breath. That's when it caught my eye, the bottle of Kailua. Just sitting there at the end of the bar, as if it were calling my name, I walked over to the bar, looked at my watch and thought what the hell ..."Its 5 O Clock somewhere" and I started pouring it in my coffee, yes at 9:30am. Next up was Mama Pepper was calling to see if I was on my way and did I have the video done.... ahhhh yes...lets add another shot of this yummy Kailua ~ shall we! "Yepper I am on my way".

Arriving at the funeral home I gave the video to the young girl Brittany to start it. And that's when it happened.... the blue screen said ERROR no disc! UGHHHH I said here try this one....ERROR No disc.... she looked at me and said " Oh this happens a lot that our player doesn't work" OMG are you SERIOUS???? I was having flash backs to Aunt Doll's service and her video! And this was a different funeral home! Ok, ok , ok just breath.... I spot the cord hanging from the TV and grab it and said 'Do you have a computer or Laptop we can use?" Her "No - sorry we don't" I start waving the cord like a crazy lady saying "But that's what this is for!!" Pretty sure my voice was about 3 times higher than usual and I think she jumped back about 2 steps..... We ran back and got a laptop and Problem Solved ......well except for the video would not loop so I had Mama Pepper every 13.56 minutes saying can you start it over!

After the family and friends had visited, we had the Priest come to say a few words and tell some funny stories. As I am up front with the aunts and Mama Pepper she starts pointing to me and mouthing "Are you going to read it" Me shaking my head and waving my finger” NO NO NO ..... everyone has already been able to read it" (See she is now delusional as well) so she nods her head as if she understands and agrees.... okay this is where all my problem solving blows up in a cloud of smoke.....because as the Priest finishes and says " Does anyone want to come up and speak? " That Mama Pepper, and her 2 sisters “The Aunt’s” with a grin on their face and ALL SPOKE UP AT ONCE WITH " Pepper has something she will be reading"

OMG ARE YOU SERIOUS!!!! Did you not understand the NO NO NO with the shaking of the head and the finger waving???? I stood up and said "Well I guess that i have been volunteered to do this and it's a really good thing I have already started drinking this morning!!!Amazingly enough, I did not faint or throw up ....since there was a possibility of both things happening! It was a full house....about 115 people And I made it all the way to almost the end before my lips started to quiver and thankfully Mama Pepper jumped up to the rescue to read the last few lines with me.

Even though I thought I'd strangle MP and the Aunts for throwing me under the bus, I'm glad I did it. I know Papa would have been proud of me and he always did enjoy a good story teller and I made sure to tell it just the way he would ~

Papa ~ The Life of The Party

The mind is a funny thing, as I sit here and try to process  that my Papa ( grandfather) will now be earning his angel wings  only 2 short months later to be with Aunt Doll who was not only his best friend, but his big sister and the glue that held this family together.It feels like just yesterday as I wrote about their adventures as  they lived together the past few years, enjoyed a daily happy hour and the wonder of speaker phones ( to everyone else's dismay).As my heart breaks, and the tears are filling up in my eyes..... I can't help but to laugh, because the thought that keeps running around inside my head is who will be the one telling the stories now at the most inappropriate times....like um...... funerals... as he did during Aunt Dolls?

Whether you called  him Fred, FJ, Uncle Sonny, Dad, Papa or even Great Papa  we all knew him as a great man that was the life of the party, who could hold your attention with his smile, his laugh or his stories! You could here him yell " Hey Doll remember when ...." and she would laugh and say "Oh FJ stop it ... that didn't happen like that!" And they would both be laughing before they could even finish telling the story!  Just like Aunt Doll he never missed a good party or a chance to get on the dance floor! He was game to do anything or go anywhere all you had to do was ask!

Growing up Papa had this big house over in Oldsmar, Florida it sat on 3 lots and was the supreme house for parties! Block parties, birthday parties, graduations, holiday cook outs, reunion's ~  you name it he has hosted it! The entire town and family near and far would show up, everyone bringing something to eat or drink the men would all be lined up at the grills, his buddies would sing and do the polka dance while the kids all played in the yard. We had enough food to feed a small army, which I guess is what we were. There wasn't a person in all of  that town that didn't know Papa and to know him was to love him.

There was this huge tree out back that we would climb up in and grab the rope swing to fly down like Tarzan! We would race up the stairs to play in the hidden closets in this great big house, going from room to room to play hide an seek, jump from the top of the stairs to the bottom. The house was always filled with love and laughter I cant  recall a time that Papa ever raised his voice or got mad  or even yell at all us kids to knock it off like most would have done! Does that mean we were all exceptionally well behaved kids? I guess that is possible.....highly unlikely thou, I think he was just an exceptional man who knew we were just kids being kids and that was good enough excuse for our behavior as any! I guess I need to remember that lesson in my own life.

I know we will survive as a family, I know we will move forward and move on. They taught us to be strong, independent, honest, to be loving and caring and to make everyday count.  But I also know that things will never be the seem again, not with both Aunt Doll and Papa gone. Our hearts will still ache but I know they would want us not to be consumed with sadness, but to cherish the here ~  the now and to celebrate the life they had with the people they loved. They would want us to continue sharing stories because that's how you keep the memories alive, and we all have plenty of stories to tell! I know that old traditions we had as a family will now have to be new traditions made without them.

Papa and Aunt Doll
The Best of Friends

I will always cherish my memories and the times we spent together. I cherish  the thought that my little Prince Charming (PC)  got to know and love both Papa and Aunt Doll, that he will share in the "remember when stories" as they are being told. He has a whole collection of Hess Trucks from Great Papa that he has received every Christmas since he was 1 years old. He loves his collection and will always remember who they are from and will have stories of his own to pass along.

 PC was so sweet and so helpful with his Great Papa, at the last family wedding we went to, he held him up as he was unsteady on his feet when he walks, got him his glass of wine ( which didn't help he be any more steady on his feet)! He sat and they chatted, he went and got them each dessert and helped load him into Aunt Wendy's car. After we waved good by PC turned to me and say " We have a great family mom, and I really love Great Papa", I  looked over at him and smiled  (as I cant say I looked down on him since he is taller than me) and said "Yes buddy, that we do".

I know they always say that God has a plan......that plan does not always match up with our plans............ because we didn't plan on Papa joining for happy hour quite so soon in the great blue sky! They better watch out up there ~ the party is just about to get started now that he has arrived!

My Supreme Skills

My painting privileges  have been re-instated, clearly the hubster has long forgotten why he revoked them! Once upon a time....... when he was pre-hubster ..... he painted my entire house inside, all the rooms and all the trim in one long day....while I....painted the fireplace....with a toothbrush and q-tips...in yes the same long day!  In my defense it was brick and I was making certain bricks match the trim! And what a fine job I did....even if it took the whole friggen day!

Then while he was still playing the pre-hubster role, we moved in together (of course there was no pre-material activities happening during that time ~ so not to worry any relatives reading this) we worked different shifts, and I had a part time job at a paint store in the décor department which equals...discount...which also equals ....no paycheck but lots of paint and borders and wallpaper!! I painted floor to celling iris flowers in the spare room, sponged the wall a lovely pink (shocker) and green color with a huge border in the craft room, wallpapered the bathroom...... yes I was a busy gal and I was also planning the happiest day of hubsters life....our wedding!!!

That would be a few reasons my painting privileges were revoked, I could go on but I will spare you! So for the past 15 years I have been band ...until now.......so either he figures my 15 year hiatus of being aloud to actually touch the house with a paintbrush has made me a better painter....maybe he figures that I have soaked up all his skills by simply observing them..... or he has lost his mind. I am thinking he has lost his mind or he's desperate to get the house finished that he has enlisted my supreme  skills.......

Yep hubster had to go out of town as we are in the mist of getting the house prepped for painting and  I was left  in charge with painting supplies and my little Prince Charming to help me finish getting the house primed. Clearly this was not a well thought out plan for several reasons.....

I Need your ID

Whew - it's been a long weekend...and by long...... I mean L-O-N-G!!! With Friday being a National Holiday ...aka Prince Charming's birthday, we have been on the go, go , go all weekend long with Busch Gardens on Friday, Go Kart Racing on Saturday, slumber party and a cookout on Sunday so the family could see the little Prince! Monday I will need to go back to work to rest!!

 Friday we were going over to Busch Gardens, hubster and I got dressed and ready and we waited...and waited ...and waited for the birthday boy to emerge from his room and be ready to go.... he emerged all right in his long sleeve brown ***** shirt and his green hoodie.....did I mention it was 90 degrees out and we were going to Busch Gardens? Usually at amusement parks, people are half naked, even when they should NOT be! My eye started to twitch and I had to head to my bedroom to grab a few orange rubber bands to complete my outfit.......you know so that I could snap the shit outta my wrist instead of start an argument with PC about how he would have a freaken heat stroke since it is HOT out and he is on long sleeves and a sweatshirt!!!!

 I thought maybe once we arrived he would come to his senses and at least take the hoodie off and leave it in the car, I was wrong! I did look at him and say "I better not hear even one time that you are HOT!" Hubster and I were surprised to see that PC was not the only jackass wearing long sleeves and a  hoodie ~ some of them even had jeans on ~ at least PC had on shorts....well because he doesn't even own a pair of pants!

 After we had had our fill of fun at Busch Gardens, and everyone (including us I am sure) was starting to stink, we headed back to the car to go have a late lunch, that would not require taking out a small loan.  As we sat down and relaxed in the nice cool a/c I ordered a "Watermelon Margarita" ahhh doesn"t that sound yummy and refreshing??
WAITER: "I need to see your ID"