Let The Games Begin!

Abby went to the ob doctor recently and we have a date.  She will have a baby on July 11.  7-11-11 is a good birthday.  She'll either be induced the night before or she will have a C-section that morning.  I get to meet Baby Emily in 2 weeks!  Yippee!!

Andrea will be induced on Tuesday July 19 so Baby Rucker will arrive either that day or the next (depending on when she's induced.)  I am so excited to see if Baby Rucker is a boy or a girl.  Such anticipation!!!!



Of course these babies are really the ones calling the shots. . . if they want to arrive prior to the dates above, then all this planning goes out the window.  I'll keep you informed as the days go by........

Hot, Hot, Hot!!

I do not like heat.  Pure and simply.  Hate humidity.  This past weekend we went to the lake for a long weekend celebrating Tom's birthday, Abby's birthday and Father's Day.  Tom & I took our pop-up camper to use as our 4th bedroom.  We let the kids, spouses and grands use the 3 bedrooms in the cabin.  Thankfully, we bought a camper with an air conditioner. 

We had a great weekend.  I, of course, got sweaty many times, but I still thoroughly enjoyed the grands and their parents. 

However, on Sunday, during the packing up process I seriously felt like I was near heat exhaustion.  When I finally went inside, I drank so much before I felt any relief.  I put a cool, wet towel over my head and just sat and tried to "revive" myself.  It was horrible. 

We've had temps in the 90's since the middle of May.  Ridiculous.  Today is the first day of summer.  Oh, how I wish it was the end of summer.  This will be a long, long, long hot summer.  As for me, I'm in air conditioning and I plan to stay here until it gets into the 80's again.

Pictures are coming with scenes from our lake time.

AND The Saga Continues..........

I received a recorded phone call from Charter Communications this morning to verify my appointment time.  The message said, in part, for me to "have a government-issued photo ID present."  Really.  If he asks for mine, I'll ask for his. 

Travis, the technician, came and was very nice. (He didn't ask for my ID!) I realize that none of this is his fault and I'd never be rude to a technician.  He's just doing his job.  He commented that he has many, many service calls to make in this area.  I told him that my service was back and running, but that I had an unresolved issue with my alarm system/phone service that I need him to take care of.  He commented that, yes, the service was back on in this area, but almost no one had cancelled their service calls.  Little does Travis know, but all of us are so furious with crappy customer service that no one bothers to cancel the service call.  Travis said that there are different "nodes" in the system and that Charter (on Sunday) changed and added more nodes, changing some customers from one node to another. He said "something happened" Monday morning and service went down, causing multiple outages.  (Remember yesterday when I called, I'd get a recording saying there were multiple outages, yet when I talked with the representative, they said we see NO outages in your area????)  Why, oh why, (if Travis the technician knows about a problem in my area) why didn't several service representatives know this?!!!!! I'm tell you, the right hand at Charter doesn't know what the left hand is doing!!!!

Props to Travis.  He's so nice and is trying to get my alarm system to work properly with the phone system.  Bless him.  Plus Travis explained to me why we haven't had service in a few days.  And THAT is something that 6 customer service representatives have not been able to explain to me. 
. . . . . . . . .
Travis just left.  Our alarm system is working properly with our phone system. All is well in Ruckerville.  Hallelujah and Amen!

Busting My Buns In The Bathroom

Tom's bath needs an overhaul.  It needs a complete overhaul.  However, it's only gonna get a partial overhaul.  Time is of the essence.  My plan is to do everything we can by the first week of July.  I've been scrubbing tile the entire day.  There was lots of soap scum on the shower walls and the only thing that worked was good ole handscrubbing. My arms and hands are actually sore from all the work.  
Now it's Tom's turn to do his magic.  And since he only has weekends, he'll be very busy between now and early July. 

I can barely type b/c my hands are "wilted".  I probably should have used gloves, but I'd just as soon get my hands into what I'm doing even if that means my hands are in strong chemicals. 

Totally changing the subject:  We went to Ab's tonight to see them.  They just returned from a beach trip.  Cady is a real talker.  You never know what will come out of that little mouth.  She was telling us about walking on the beach with her other grandparents.  She said, "That water came and got my flip flops all wet."  I said, "Well, did you giggle when that happened?"  Cady, said (complete with extreme facial expressions and hand motions), "No . . . I just cried and cried." 

Now I'm ready for Brie and family to return from their beach trip tomorrow.  I'm ready to talk to her and get her take on the ocean.  Wonder if the water got her flip flops all wet?

Time Just Doesn't Mean Much To Me Anymore

I found this picture via the internet.  It is almost identical to Brady, Mark & Andrea's Labradoodle.  Brady is really a precious dog.  He's very easygoing.  An excellent pet.

This morning Mark called to be sure that I was getting Brady today, just as we had discussed.  "Of course," I said.  "Is it still ok if I pick him up right after lunch?"  Mark said that was fine.  So I continued slaving in the house. (Tom has been out of town and I've stayed home and have been doing some major work around here.)  About 12:30 I left to get Brady dog.

When I walked into their kitchen to retrieve his dog food/bowl, I saw a note on the counter addressed to Mrs. Rucker.  I read with interest that Mark's friend had noticed that I didn't come get him on Tuesday so the person took Brady out early this morning and fed him.  The friend further said that she would check back later in the day to be sure I had come.  WHAT?  Today is Tuesday and that's what Mark had asked me to do.  Hmmm.  Rut row!  Oh, My Gosh!  Today is Wednesday!  I had forgotten to get him yesterday.  Actually, I was still thinking that today is Tuesday and that I would get him tomorrow.  Thank goodness for nice friends.  I felt like a bad grandmother to this granddog.  I immediately called Mark and left a message that I was SO sorry and I tried to explain my stupidity. 

Mark later called before listening to my message.  When I explained, he just giggled.  He said when he called this morning he wasn't going to make me feel bad.  The neighbor had called him and he knew that I had forgotten (or more accurately that I was confused on what day of the week it was!)  Boy, oh, boy.  When Tom is gone and I'm focused on my house work, I completely lose any sense of time and apparently any sense of what day of the week it is!  Just confirms the fact that I'm just a tad loopy!

A Very Creepy, Slimey Dream

Last night I had a bad dream.  It's really a two-part dream.  In the first part I was with friends and at my home.  Someone mentioned how destructive raccoons can be.  (I had read all about this subject last night before I went to bed.)  My friends were talking about how raccoons can damage property while trying to find food.  I starting looking around and got upset b/c raccoons had damaged my deck (I don't even have a deck) and they had so badly chewed up the trunk of several of our huge oaks trees that I knew they would die.  Fast forward to the second part of my dream.

Suddenly, we were all camping.  We were in the kitchen area of someone's very large camper and most everyone was sitting around a table playing a card game. All of a sudden snakes starting appearing from all around.  I HATE SNAKES.  The odd thing was that everyone sitting around the table took the snakes with a grain of salt.  They just kept their heads down, looking at the cards in their hands.  I was freaking out!  Then, suddenly, snakes were all over me.  I was down on the ground and remember screaming b/c I felt the snakes were wrapping themselves around me.  My friends continued to sit around playing cards and ignoring me.  I screamed for help one more time and finally Doug Hogg walked over and got the snakes off me.  I remember running out of the camper as fast as I could.  Then I woke up. (The snakes looked just like this picture.)

The only thing that could have made the dream worse would have been to put a family of mice in the mix.

This is one blog that I'm anxious to complete!!!

Babies and Guests

If you think your summer might be a little crazy, read what my summer has in store for me.



(That cartoon actually resembles me!)

Abby is due with a baby girl on July 16.  Andrea is due around July 17. (Can't wait to see if it's a boy or a girl.)  Of course, they will deliver in two different hospitals in two different cities. 

Mark and Andrea are building a house.  PTL, because they really need the space.  Today Mark called and said they have a renter for their townhouse.  The renters need to move in on July 9.  Mark's new house won't be finished until around July 19.  So, the first week of July, Mark and his very pregnant wife + Brie + dog will move in with us. 

To make matters more interesting, Abby could possibly be induced the first week of July because her baby girl is "a whopper", according to the doctor.  So Abby may have her second child the same week Mark & family move in.  Andrea will probably be induced during the week of July 18, which is the week their home will be finished, IF all goes according to plan.  It's a distinct possibility that Mark & Andrea may be bringing their new baby home to OUR house.  Plus Andrea's mom will be visiting from Canada, which I'm so happy about.  Every pregnant woman needs her mother close by.  Plus Brenda is fun and will be helpful with Aubrie.

Many years ago when we bought this house we only had one child.  I'm so glad we looked ahead and bought this one-story house (who knew I'd have bad knees!) with multiple bedrooms.  Every bedroom will be filled in July.  I told Tom at lunch today that we could move into our new Pop-up and give Mark and others the house!  I was kidding, but we actually could do that. We'll see.  I can do anything for 3-4 weeks.  No problem. 

All this craziness actually excites me.  I love my family.  I love having people over here.  I love to cook.  (Not so much a fan of cleaning, however.)  I'm happiest when people are around.  So, during July I should be one happy camper!!!!

 

Now, let me go and clean out some closets for my upcoming guests!