Look who is being nosey

And we are off!

Wade and I have officially started the new floor. Lookin' good!

Nature's Wrath

This is the only photo I can share of my bout with poison ivy. It's also probably the worst of it. The rest is all over my arse and my stomach.

It actually feels even worse to the touch. The entire area is raised and puffy. I am doing my best not to scratch, which given my pension for scratching open any wound, it's not an easy feat.
I went back to the Dr's for the good drugs cause the steroid cream was like putting a fire out with a water gun. The steroid pills will hopefully kick it's butt, but right now the steroids are kicking my butt. It's kinda hard to fall asleep and I am bruising easily. Last night Chewie was on my lap and jumped off. The pressure of his weight pushing off of my leg caused a bruise. Considering how klutzy I am, this could be interesting.

Poison ivy, bruising and lack of sleep has not deterred me from prepping as best we can to get ready for the new floors. The trim and walls are painted - going to touch up the hallway walls today and tomorrow is the ceiling. I am trying not to be too OCD about everything, but if we are going to do it, might as well do it right.

The floors have been delivered!

Of course I had to open one of the boxes to see what they look like. This project is gonna be the best puzzle EVER!

I didn't realize until checking the blog that Kittie made a surprise appearance in the photo. She has been hiding all day - she is not a fan of manual labor.

Alice In Chains

New guy sounds great, but it's still kinda sad without Layne. Stupid heroin.

My camera takes the Worst video clips - sounded like I had the phone in the blender. But I found this great clip YouTube. Tim - this clip has a good solo from Jerry and it shows how they played right into the next song. What a great show.

The new lead singer is from the area and his 83 year old grandmother was rockin out at the 9:30 club last night. So cute.

I wish someone posted a video of the three tools slappin da base and jamming. Every now and then they would turn to each other and get in unison. It was very entertaining.

New Message

Lunch time with the apollo 11

In line at moes for 99 cent burritos!

Going to the FAA.

That's the old Smithsonian looking to the left/West of the front of the FAA facing Independence Ave. The Air and Space was to the right and my office is two blocks behind me/south

FW :New Message

New Message

Team Edward!

FORE!!

The boys spent the night after DM so we goofed around all day. We ended up at Top Golf and harassed Tim that we were golfing and he wasn't Ha Ha.

We're golfing. And you're not. We're smart, and you're not. We were right, you were wrong. We are very good-looking. You are not attractive.

Depeche Mode with the phews!

Ah, Memories

Misty water-colored memories... of the way we were.

Last night was the happy hour reunion for the class of '89. I had a great time reliving the past with some old ;) friends from Hellfield. Amanda Farrar (88), Chris Sutton(88), Jason Whitt (89) and Jarod came over last night to partake in some liquid courage and reminisce before heading over to O'Connell's.

We made a quick appearance to see some of the old faces and make some new facebook friends. We didn't stay too long, it was terribly hot and Jason had to be back to Richmond for an 8am jump at West Point where Jason is an instructor.

Mostly we spent the evening at our place laughing and joking about the past. Some of which I remember, some are lost in the cobwebs of my mind and some are burned into my psyche no matter how hard I try to suppress them. :)

I pulled out the photo albums and yearbooks for a quick recap of faces to names. I will have to scan a few to share. Although if I have anything to say about it, the photo Chris Sutton dropped on me - like a bomb - will be burned before scanned. Working at Express during high school was a great way to make money, but somewhere along the way I was brainwashed into thinking the clothes were cool. Alas, I was mistaken and Chris has the pictures to prove it. Express was pushing mom pants as cool way before Wal-Mart was around. Express ruined my '80's (it was funny last night - you might have had to be there)

I will have to steal some pictures off of people's facebook pages because I totally forgot to take pictures at our place.

I did get this one camera phone shot.

Even with it as blurry as it is, you can tell the 20 years have treated us kindly. Jarod is not too bad either but twenty years ago he was rockin' the babysitter rather than studying for the SAT. Who am I kidding, we were not really studying for the SAT's either.

I got a few comments about looking like I did back in the day. I don't know if I should be that happy about that fact after seeing some of the old pictures. Ugh. But I guess it's true because someone recognized me from working at Bennigans and waiting on him.

No Kittie, That's a Bad Kittie

The Kitten has so much fun playing in the curtain that the shear fabric has been shredded a wee bit.

I would be a little upset if she wasn't so cute and enjoying it so much.

Tatumpalooza

I have been a bit neglectful posting - mostly due to the TONS of pictures that need to be sorted, uploaded, blogged, facebooked.. it gets overwhelming so I just play sudoku.

But the ones of the Tot yesterday were so cute I had to get my procrastination under control. We did a lot in only a few hours. Which may explain why I took a 6 hour power nap today.

We went on a bike ride.

Danced - in the cute new outfit from Aunt Gerda and Uncle Gil.

Puzzled.

Did some crafts.

Played some pool.

And some ping pong!

During it all we took tons of pictures. Sometimes Tatum cooperated.

And sometimes she wouldn't.

And sometimes she was just.... Tatum. the kid can be a goof ball.



Gregory had to leave a bit early because our new air conditioner developed a leak. We were not happy to say the least. Luckily they replaced the entire unit. Poorly, it started leaking again and they had to come back, again. Ahh, the joys of incompetence.

Tim and I finally figured out how it was possible to actually play a bit of pool while the Tot was in the same room. Tatum was so cute and her laugh is just contagious. Then she would go spaztic to wacky in a span of a second. Once you add M&M's to the scenario she became posessed.

From Tatumpalooza

Lots more pictures and videos available on line. Double click on the slideshow and you can watch the videos and see her in all her glory.

Independence Day

Another Long Overdue post. This one was from the 4th of July. We actually broke our record of staying home on the 4th and enjoyed an afternoon at Todd and Jenn's. It was a bit of a haul, but worth it - their place is beautiful and full of toys. One of the toys I found was a storm trooper mask. The guns are all mine.

Taters and Cooper were in heaven playing with all the toys. But they really enjoyed the indoor jungle gym - Todd.

Super Tatum

A good shot of Tim and Jenel.

But the cutest couple was Tatum and Cooper Dooper. He calls Tot his Special Girlfriend.

Sure it's cute now, but in 10 years Cooper isn't getting near her without adult supervision!

Then again, maybe it's Tatum we need to worry about. Cooper was done kissing, but Tatum had other plans.

I don't think Coop minded.

Jenn's due in August, but she could go any minute. Even full on preggos - the girl is beautiful.

Group shot the of best friends.

I got a couple pictures of me and my favorite guys. My bro.

And my man. Dang - I think I need to start washing my hair on the weekends. I am looking all kinds of shiny and greasy.

Tim and Jenel showing off how cute they look together.

While Greg and I did enjoy ourselves, we were home before the fireworks started. That tradition is holding strong. Lots of people, traffic and bugs. All for fireworks. No thanks. Plus, nothing will ever beat the fireworks we used to have in Jersey. Those suckers were amazing. I am pretty sure they were illegal, but worth it. Damn they rocked.

Paiger Picasso

some nice artwork from Paige during their recent visit to VA, a couple of welcome home drawings for their Aunt Karen---

 
 

Apollo 11

The Web site — WeChooseTheMoon.org — goes live at 8:02 a.m. Thursday, 90 minutes before the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla. It will track the capsule's route from the Earth to the Moon, ending with the moon landing and Armstrong's walk — in real time, but 40 years later.

http://wechoosethemoon.org/

MJ memorial

I am in LA for an Autism Speaks event on opening night at the Staples Center on Wednesday night. Staples Center you say? On Wednesday - how can that be when the Michael Jackson Memorial is at the Staples Center on Tuesday?!?! The answer - not easily. The load in was pushed back by 10 hours - the Elephant Walk had to be pushed up to 4 AM, and all the wagons had to be relocated to the top of the Marriot parking garage. Yet - as the saying goes - The Show Must Go On. It is pretty amazing to see how everyone takes each barrier and figures out an alternative solution - even when that solution means working all through the night to load in the circus for a 6:30 start.

But before our Circus can begin, we have to get through the MJ Circus beforehand. Michael's is complete with something our show has done away with for years - the Side Show. The freaks have certainly come out for this. And no one is more excited about the possibility of chaos than the MEDIA - they are like a cockroach infestation - they are everywhere.

The other thing that is pretty amazing is the ungodly amount of money being wasted, er.. um.. I mean spent on this monstrosity. The LAPD must be expecting another Rodney King incident because they have pulled out the punches. Here's a quick shot of police cars, motorcycles, horses and even golf cart contraptions.

But that is not all that is around here, they are also on scooters and every special vehicle has been cleaned up and is out on display. My favorite one is a cross between a hummer and a brinks truck which is bullet proof, flame proof and can take down a house in 2 minutes flat. We were lucky enough to get an up-close view and some gruesome details of all the things this sucker can do. I will share more when I upload pictures.

If anything does go down, because we booked our hotel early we have a front row seat. Here is the view from my window. They certainly have not made this easy on people. The winners were announced on Sunday - then they have to go to --- to pick up the tickets which is miles away from Staples. Then the police have blocked the streets surrounding the event - so the impromptu gatherings have been kept to a minimum. The other thing I have found out is people in LA are apparently lazy and went home rather than staying through the night.

I know this because we had to get up at 3AM! for the Animal Walk. I would get up at any hour for an Animal Walk - I LOVE walking with those gorgeous girls. The walk was interesting. The Staples Center was built in an area of LA that was not prime real estate - with the hopes of building up the area. It has worked...to an extent. The couple blocks around the arena can be walked without feeling the need to carry a weapon. The blocks around those- not so much. And by the time you get to the area where the train drops off the animals. Look Out. It was an interesting walk past many strip joints, pawn shops and about 20 Mexican restaurants. There are more Mexican Joints than Starbucks in LA. I have a pretty sweet photo of the elephants walking past a strip joint (not Brand approved) I will share after I get a chance to upload some pictures. The only ones I can upload are the ones I got off of my camera.

That blob in the background is the Staples Center.

The only good thing that is coming out of all this is that since every media outlet in the world is here we are getting good press. They take better quality pictures than my flip phone.