I was dancing around the big speakers (it isn’t the size of the ocean, but the motion of the ocean) to Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch’s version of “Good Vibrations”. I told the better-half “here’s someone who isn’t all that good looking but who is All That”. Give it up for Mark Wahlberg.
A miracle just occurred at my house. The garage door opener (that has lain silent for more than a year) just raised the new garage door and then lowered it. Ticker tape fell from the ceiling and champagne corks popped all over the garage. I’m really surprised the media didn’t immediately swarm our property to carry the news live at 6 pm.
Not related in the slightest but still cool:
I meant to write this entry hours ago but I forgot. See, I’m at an age where I forget things. This is completely germane to the topic at hand. This entry is specifically geared to anyone who has kids in their family. Guess what? The kids grow up. They actually have the audacity to get old. And, cranky.
Here’s my beef. Thanksgiving is a week away (get thee to a turkey market). We heard through the grapevine that the feast is being held in Northern Virginia at the better-half’s aunt’s house. The better-half had to finally fire off an email to his aunt to ask whether or not she was hosting, what time should we show up and to tell her we’d like to bring country ham. Then when the better-half told his mother that he’d finally heard from the aunt, his mother copped the “I thought I told you” plea. Sorry, folks. We’re adults. We need a DIRECT invitation or we’ll make other plans. Really. Last year was one of the best Thanksgivings since we got married because we spent it alone. I mean no offense to family members but, seriously, we’re torn asunder during the holidays trying to make everyone happy. Everyone else is happy and we just sort of shrug and say “eh”.
Just because we still have parents (thankfully) doesn’t mean that we’re still dragged to family events by our parents. We’re adults. We have jobs. We pay taxes. We own property. We’re weary just like you are. You invite your neighbors to come to the feast. Extend the courtesy to your family. Thus endth my rant. Stay tuned to the next holiday induced rant.
Speaking of–since when did the Christmas holiday start weeks before Halloween? Do we, as a nation, really just go from Labor Day to Christmas? It sure seems that way.
A few years ago House Republicans wanted to show the “Great American People” how ethical they were so they passed a little rule that said if you are indicted where you might have to serve a 2-year sentence then you must step down. Today they threw that out to save one of their own. Explain to me how that’s ethical?
We had a good time in Florida. We got to see actual pieces of the space station that will eventually get hooked up and used by people living in space. How cool is that? I’m wearing my space shuttle pin right now. How geeky is that? About as geeky as I felt when after watching the simulation of the Apollo 11 launch and I wanted to shout “Yes” and pump my fists in the air. It took a lot of will power to shut that impulse off.
Other things experienced over the weekend:
-a parent decided to wait until we were on the soul-sucking tour bus at the Space Center to change her child’s poop-ridden diaper. Holy Cow, my eyes nearly watered.
-we got to see some manatees.
-we got to see the husk of the 400-lb pig my sister saw on her way to work the other day–she sees lots of dead animals on her drive through the Merritt Island Wildlife Preserve.
Speaking of pigs, here’s a tip to all you house-hunters out there. Homeowners know when you’ve been screwing with their stuff. Open all the closet doors you want, but turn off the lights, lock the door behind you and keep your hands off my stuff. As soon as you write us a big fat check, you can leave all the lights on and leave the doors open and unlocked all you want.
The weather has been great so far on our mini-vacation. Last night it rained and this morning I heard rain smacking into the windows but an hour later the sun was out. Today is the first day that the ocean looks rough. It has been nearly flat like glass but the wind has shifted around and the ocean is all white capped.
We’re headed to the Cape to check out space stuff today. I’ll probably take the camera with us so I can completely play the tourist.
We went to sleep with the sound of the ocean just outside our doorstep. I woke up this morning with the crashing of the surf. How could that be a bad thing?
We’re staying at a “resort” just down the road from my sister’s place. I’m not really sure what the “resort” part means to everyone else but we are basically staying in a place the size of an apartment I used to live in (complete with full kitchen, dining area, balcony and bedroom) but instead of facing a parking lot like my old apartment, we face the ocean here. I guess that’s what makes it a resort for me.
Last night we were exhausted from staying up so late the night before and then hauling ourselves down here to the Sunshine State. I called my sister from Georgia and said we’ll just have to see you in the morning. The better-half is still sleeping, but that’ll have to change soon. I need breakfast.
We finished working on the basement at 12:40 last night. It looks like a beautiful blank canvas for the new owners to do whatever they want. I just hope people see it that way and not as “holy crap look at that crap”.
The better-half and I just woke up and we’re tackling a few last minute items and then we’re driving to FL to see my sister and her husband. Yeah, we’re fools. If you see a blue Honda on 95 South today with two really happy people in the car, that’s us. We’ll be happy because we aren’t working on the house.
For the few of you following along at home, you’ll be happy to know that we now have local channels again. I guess enough leaves have fallen off enough trees and the planets have aligned. Whatever the reason, we can now watch local channels again. How did we find this out? Late Friday night the better-half was in charge of the remote and he could not/would not stop watching that show on HBO about the bail bonds family. I couldn’t take it any longer and told him to change the channel or I was going to snatch the remote back (in our world I’m the remote hog). He changed the channel and then the next thing I know the bail bonds family is speaking fluent Spanish. At first I thought the better-half had inadvertently turned on the secondary language but NO! We were actually receiving HBOL (which I assume stands for Latino).
I was able to tape the repeat showing of Enterprise and enjoyed it at 6am on Sunday. The 6-7am hour on Sunday morning has proven to be a very valuable time for me getting things done. I still haven’t been able to sleep past 7 since the time change happened. Makes for really long days, but at least we’re getting all the channels again. There’s so little that’s making me happy at the homestead right now that watching so-so SCIFI on Sunday mornings is a good thing.
The better-half is talking to his aunt. This is the aunt that is really pretty interesting but her problem is that she loves to talk. If there is empty air surrounding her, she fills it up with her talk, talk, talking. He has been on the phone for more than 45 minutes. Around here if you are on the phone for more than 15 minutes, that’s a long phone call. We’re just not sit around and chat on the phone people.
Before he returned her voice mail from a few days ago, the better-half said “I must warn you, sambuca is in my future”. I promised sexual favors and to pour him the drink if he kept me off the phone with his aunt. So far, I’ve poured one drink and will have to follow-up on the other part of the promise soon enough.
Update: Grand Total of Phone Call–2 hours and 50 minutes.
