June 11th

Hi, It’s Christina –

Happy, Happy Hump Day! I know I said today’s blog will be back to normal, but I guess I lied. It’s coming a lot later than normal because I needed to get Lys to the train station this morning, and we had the chaos of two teenage girls trying to get ready at the same time…with only one bathroom. It’s never a pretty sight.

Anyway, Lys is off to Long Island to spend a few days with Tyler and family. Depending on the weather forecast, they may be back on Friday. If it’s nice on Saturday, they will be going to the beach. If not, Lys will just stay in LI and come home on the train Saturday evening.

I’ve told you before how insane my sister in law’s life is, juggling her three kid’s crazy schedules. Well, Cindy was my photographer for both parties this past weekend, and I guess she has not had the time to send over the pictures yet, but I did not want to push off the recap for yet another day.

Saturday went extremely well. My husband was shocked, but that was not the only surprise we had that day. I had a suspicion it would happen, but because I wasn’t sure, I kept my mouth shut; well, almost. I did say something to Lys, but told her not to say anything because I really did not know. The little stinker didn’t let on that she knew all about it.

Kyle

The big surprise was when my nephew Kyle waltzed into the party. He really shocked his mom. Fran was in tears. I wished someone had videotaped it; it probably would have gone viral like all the other soldier’s surprise homecoming videos. We have not seen Kyle since the few days he had at home after graduation in January. He’ll be here until the twentieth, then it’s back to Mississippi for more training.

When he joined the Marines, he wanted to become an air traffic controller, but because he is slightly color blind, he is unable to pursue his first choice. Now the Marine Corp has him training in some type of intelligence field, but he can’t really talk about it. He seems okay with the change of plans, and still loves being a Marine, so I guess that’s all that really matters.

We managed to get everything broken down from Saturday’s party and transported over to Bri’s house for Sunday’s party before ten o’clock; thanks to Kyle and my “other son” Jason, who were my muscle men. The only things I needed to get over to Bri’s late Saturday was the beer and some food. All along, I thought we would be breaking down and hauling stuff into the wee hours of the morning, but as it turned out, we were all in bed by midnight.

Brianna & Dani Rose

Sunday was another perfect day weather wise, sunny and eighty-two with a refreshing breeze. The church service went well. Dani was funny. She said she looked out into the congregation and half the church was there for her. Well, she did exaggerate a bit, but there were twenty-eight people in church just to see her get confirmed.

I only have one photo to share with you from Dani’s Confirmation. Please excuse the quality, it was taken from my phone. Both her and Bri looked so beautiful, and so grown up!

As I said, this isn’t going to be a usual blog because I’m not going to give you a writing challenge today. Frankly I’m still whooped from this weekend and I don’t have enough time before I have to get ready for work. (I have the ten minutes to do the last prompt, it’s the coming up with a new prompt which would be too time consuming.)

So, until tomorrow, I hope you have a fantastic day, and happy writing!

June 8th

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning! One down, one to go, and if I could stop sneezing my head off this morning, I might actually be able to get done what I need to get done. Dani is already up and in the shower. When she finishes, I need to wake up Lys and my niece Shelly. Then the hard part, I need to get my husband’s butt out of bed. Let’s just say, he thoroughly enjoyed himself yesterday, and may have issues with the bright beautiful sunshine and the boisterous organ music today. LOL

Only one barely averted calamity yesterday, so I did good. My girls were on my last nerve, nerves which normally get frayed when I host events, so I left early to pick up the keg of beer from the liquor store. They had just loaded it and the bags of ice into my car, and I decided to call my hubby to spin the line that I just got a call telling us friends were sleeping over, and he needed to straighten up the family room for me. The call goes through and I can hear he’s talking through his Bluetooth. I ask him “whatchya doing?”, and he says “running an errand.” I ask, “where too?” and he says, “Petrock’s” which is the name of the liquor store where I’m currently sitting in the parking lot. AAAAAHHHHH!

So, have you ever seen a minivan lay rubber? It was a near miss, but I did manage to get out of the parking lot and into the one across the street without him spotting me.

After that little fiasco, the rest of the day went smoothly, except everyone asking about the raw chicken. I had two half pans of chicken legs, which I wanted thrown on the grill and barbeque sauce added to them. After the sixth or seventh comment referring to the “raw” chicken, I snapped. The chicken was fully cooked. It had boiled for over half an hour, and then sat in the hot water for at least another half an hour, because I couldn’t get to it because of all the other stuff I was trying to get done. If anything, it was overcooked; but apparently because it was cold and white, everyone thought it was raw. Well I cooked it on Friday, what was I supposed to do, leave it out so it would be room temperature?

Anyway, considering those were the only two “issues” I had, I think the day went extremely well. My hubby was shocked, everyone had a great time, and the weather couldn’t have been more perfect if I asked. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures to share today because my camera isn’t working, and I have to get the photos from my sister in law.

Okay, Dani’s out of the shower, so now I have to get the other girls up, so I should go. I hope you have a blessed day, and happy writing!

June 7th

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning! First off, I want to wish my mom a very Happy Birthday! Thanks for letting us use your birthday to surprise my hubby!

For the second morning in a row, my dang dog started barking his fool head off at 4:45. Luckily, unlike yesterday, he quieted down after a few minutes and I was able to fall back to sleep for an hour; and after yesterday’s nineteen hour day, I needed the sleep.

I spent all day yesterday alternating between cooking, running errands, running Dani all over hill and dale, and running supplies to the two party houses. I think I put over a hundred miles on the car just puttering around town and two trips to the next town over.

Today I will finish up the food prep before my husband wakes up so he doesn’t see and question the large quantities of food, and then the girls and I will be out of the house before he wakes up as well. If we’re not here, we don’t have to come up with fibs as to where we are and what we’re doing.

The only thing I haven’t quite figured out yet is how I can finish straightening up around here before he wakes up. I can’t exactly tell him there are people staying at the house tonight. Then again, I was thinking of coming back early from setting up at his parents’ house and saying the guests called me and said they were coming later tonight so they could be here in time for Dani’s confirmation. It’s not too farfetched, because they live down the shore and it would be tough for them to get here by ten. It just might work. This way, I can also get him to help me clean up…hee hee.

I almost stumbled yesterday when he asked me if we needed to get beer and stuff for Sunday. I told him I dropped off wine coolers and sangria (which I did, but at his sister’s house, not Bri’s house), but then I did lie and tell him Bri’s dad was taking care of the beer. Actually, I got a keg for today, and we are just transporting whatever’s left to Bri’s tonight. I’ll be picking it up around two, because that’s when some muscle will be arriving at my in-laws to help out.

My son will be there around noon, but he’ll be getting the horseshoe pits ready, which means I still need to stop at Lowes to pick up sand. I also need to pick up balloons. My husband thinks there’s a gymnastics party going on at his sister’s (who lives next door to his parents), so I used the colors of my nieces gym as our color theme – aqua, silver and black. It was perfect because all those colors are in the 50^th birthday decorations I got.

Okay, I have tomatoes and onions to slice and eggs to devil, so I have to run. I hope you have a stupendous day, and happy writing!

June 2nd Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning! I don’t know if you know this or not, but late yesterday we lost another beloved television icon. Ann B. Davis, better known as Alice the housekeeper from The Brady Bunch series, passed away after she slipped, fell and hit her head. She was 88 years old. Well, Ms. Davis, thank you for the many laughs and memories, and may you never have to lift a feather duster, cook for an army, or play referee to a bunch of spoiled rich kids again. God bless you and may you rest in peace!

As anticipated, yesterday blew moose chunks. Seeing the house all packed up, and then packing up stuff myself was really difficult. I had to stop several times while I was pulling up the stepping stones, to pull myself together. The day was hard enough for Sharon and Nan, the last thing they needed was me losing it; so I sucked it up and muscled through.

Chris & Paul

I did pretty well except for two times. The first time was when the neighbors, Chris and Paul, stopped by. They are such a wonderful couple and reality set in that I would probably never get to see them again. I teared up when I gave them a hug goodbye.

The second was when I was packing up the kitchen and I came across these stupid plastic yellow cups that Nan wasn’t planning on keeping. Every night, Pop would fill one of those dang cups with milk, and pull out three (never two or four, but three) Oreos, and they were his “midnight snack”. As far as I was concerned, they weren’t going to be left behind, so I packed a couple of them up, and left the rest.

The stepping stones were a pretty cool tradition Nan started when Beth and Christopher were little. I think it was in 2002 or 2003, a stepping stone was made with Beth and Christopher’s hand print, and the year. That stone was

"Thumbody loves Nan & Pop"
with PJ, Lys and Dani's thumb
prints.

placed in an area of stone between the grass and the deck. After that initial stone, if you came to stay at Nan and Pop’s, you made a stone to commemorate the visit (no, you did not make one EVERY time you were there, just once).

I dug up all the stones, and Dani boxed them up. At the end, we had five boxes filled with 8 – 10 stones in each; countless happy memories were made by many people at that little bungalow on the water. While Dani was boxing up the stones, I started boxing up some of the other things which still needed to be done in the house. I can’t even count how many times Nan said, “There’s no room!” meaning we had nowhere to put the stuff to bring back.

HAH! Even after knowing me for over thirty years, she still doubts my packing abilities. I wish she would have let me pack her car as well, because if I had, she wouldn’t have to be making a trip down next weekend again. I would have been able to divide stuff differently between the two cars, which would have allowed me to take some of the bigger things which were left behind. Oh well, whatchya gunna do?

Shortly after my hubby leaves for work today, his dad is going to swing by to pick up the tables and chairs to bring them back to his house for the surprise party on Saturday. After he leaves, I’m going to start my running around. I have to order the balloons, pick up the decorative dessert plates and decorations, then get everything back over to my husband’s parents’ house so he doesn’t see them. I also have to cook up some kind of story to get the girls and me out of the house early on Saturday so we can set everything up and get the food prepped. I can only do so much at home, and say it’s for Sunday’s party, before he starts to get suspicious.

Okay, I need to go get dressed before Dad shows up, so I’d better run. I hope you have a wonderful day, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

Either start or end your story with the following (random line from a random book off my bookshelf):

“She raced up the steps to the entrance of the church.”

She raced up the steps to the entrance of the church. Her heart pounded and she felt sick to her stomach. What if she could not stop her sister before it was too late?

“STOP!” She screamed as she burst through the door. “Janie stop!”

All eyes were upon her, and she couldn’t blame them. She knew she must have looked like a crazy woman. Amongst shocked gasps and murmurs, she trudged up the isle toward the bride and groom.

When she reached them, Janie hissed, “Where the hell have you been Zoe? We waited as long as we could. Some kind of maid of honor you turned out to be.”

“Janie, I’m sorry and I can explain, but you need to come with me. Now.” Zoe looked at the thunderous expression in her sister’s eyes and the confused one in her soon to be brother in law’s. “Sam, you need to come too.”

Without waiting for a response, Zoe grabbed Janie’s hand and marched her to the alcove behind the alter. Sam dutifully trailed behind.

When they were out of eye and ear shot of the guests, Janie wrenched her arm away and demanded, “You’d better have a damn good reason for ruining my wedding Zoe.”

“It’s Michael.” Zoe whispered.

Sam tensed, and Janie raised an eyebrow, “What about Michael?”

“Janie,” Zoe said as she grabbed her sister’s hands. “Michael’s alive. He’s alive Janie.”

Zoe would have continued her remarkable news, but all color had drained from Janie’s face. She would have collapsed on the floor if Sam had not have caught her.

Your Next Challenge is:

That sure went to hell in a hand basket in a hurry.

You have ten minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count, and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.