Sleeping In, Airplanes, and an Interesting "Encounter"

Ok, so...day started with the alarm snooze button being hit more times than it should have been. Let's just say, the 6:20am airplane flight to NY turned into a 10:30am flight. I'll leave it at that. I said, though, might be a blessing in disguise -- Cam has some homework to get done, I think a few hours in the airport might take care of some of that.

Here's my, well, interesting encounter at the doctor's office this morning. (It's long, sorry)

I was sitting in my doctor's office this morning, waiting for my re-draw of blood, when the office door opens, I notice a man come in and he goes to the window. The window is opened more quickly than usual, not sure if the man even wrote his name down on the clipboard that we mere mortals have to write our names down on. Even those of us not needing to see a doctor, we just want to breeze in and out with a quick draw of the blood. Anyway, the receptionist chats with the man, at first I didn't pay any attention, but then looked up to hear his voice that sounded familiar. Something about his co-pay and does he still have some kind of insurance. It appeared that he whipped a bill out of his wallet that looked like a bill I would barely recognize since I don't normally carry such large bills around, a $100 and hands it out to the receptionist who declines to take it. Think she says something like your sister already paid or that's what your sister pays? I don't know. But by this time I figure out from his voice who he sounds like. He turns from the window...the tension is mounting, isn't it? Comes and sits down 2 chairs from me. I'm looking at him, can't help it. He looks at me, he needs a shave for sure. i say something like, how are ya? You can't go anywhere w/o that voice being recognized, he is pleasant, says, "not many places". Of course I have to keep chit chatting with him, that's the way I am. I ask him, so do you think they're going to be able to do much this year. He says, "they have a shot". I said "what's up w/spezio". He says, "I am kind of far removed from them right now. i just know what's out in the public domain (yeah he used those words), I said, what's in the public domain, all I know is that his finger is infected? (I am really falling down on my job, I normally am up on all of this.) He says, Oh, he's in rehab. I shreiked! I didn't know that, did you? He says, yeah, I don't know what for, just rehab. I was shocked. I said I saw him in spring training w/his wife and young kids, that is a shame. He says, yeah it really is. Then more quickly than anyone in a doctor's office I have ever seen get their name called, the receptionist opens the door and says..."Joe"? Mr. Buck rises from the chair, gives a little smile and off he goes. Oh, forgot one thing: at the beginning of my chit chatting, I couldn't resist. Have you seen that commercial w/him in it where these dweeb guys say to him "can I touch your throat while you say, swing and a miss"? I couldn't resist, I said something like, "I could give it one of these", and touched my throat -- he did crack up. I said you have to admit that was funny. He said, yeah it was.

Now, for the moral of the story. There was an older gentlemen sitting in the office with me, of course he didn't strike up or participate in the conversation, I am like that, though. After Joe went into the office, and the nurse asked him if he could give urine sample -- Joe says, "I'll give it a try", (sorry, couldn't resist that), the other man and I chatted. He commented on how crazy these people with all of this money get themselves messed up in drugs and other things. I said it just goes to show, money is not the answer. The man says, "well it sure couldn't hurt." I said well, I guess it sure can. If you don't have a relationship with God, and have a plan for your life, all that money does is bring havoc on alot of people. Granted, I'd like to give it a try sometime :) but here are those people with all of this money still searching....for happiness I guess??? About that time, the man kind of clammed up, then his name was called.

Getting Ready for a Big, Long Weekend

We have an exciting weekend coming up. Ken and Cam leave bright and very early for New York on Thursday morning. They are both really looking forward to it. Cameron can't wait to see Tommy and the rest of his cousins, Aunts, Unlces and Grandparents. I remember the first time Kelsie made the trip with Kenny and I stayed home. Wow, that was hard. I remember worrying about Kelsie getting a bath and about me missing her. How important it was for her to have a trip like that with her dad. Now all of these years later, I've grown up a little bit, but I'll still miss him :) And, I still know how important this trip is for him to be with his dad.

Kelsie and I have a big weekend ahead of us too. She has a lot of things on our agenda. I won't post all of the details, she might be a little upset with me if I told everything! :) Anyway, to those of you out in NY, Kelsie and I wish we were coming out to see you. Have a great Labor Day weekend and give Cameron a kiss for me every time you see him!

Love Chick-Fil-A?

I love Chick-Fil-A -- if you do too, here's a link for some free chicken and a coke... ENJOY!

https://www.freechickenandcoke.com/index.html

2 Birthday Shout Outs

I know I will not remember to give all of my family and friends bday shout outs, I probably never should have started, because I really do not have a very good memory. AND... I switched my whole "calendar way of doing things" this past year which has totally thrown me off track. Hopefully I haven't missed any of our nieces and nephews (under 18, that is - ha) bdays this year, if I have, I am very sorry.

So, here are the 2 shout outs for today: My sister-in-law Jenny, who is SLIGHTLY younger than me :) has a big bday today -- let's just leave it at that and say a "happy birthday" to her. Our friends Mark and Janet from NY had a beautiful baby boy 1 year ago August 7th (I failed to write his date down last year, so had to ask his mother this week when it was -- I knew it was coming up or just passed). Anyway, Steven, I hope you had a happy 1st bday. I can't wait to see the pictures -- hint, hint mom and dad :) Do you think he's too young for me to send him a copy of Richie's book for a present? :)

My Early Review of Richie's Book

Ok, I have it in my hands..."My Life; Ignored!" (I think you are supposed to underline titles of books, but I can't find the underline key, so, " "'s it is). Alright, I have made it thru the forward, the preface, the introduction and part of Chapter 1 and I had to get a kleenex in the middle of the first forward. Alright, so maybe if you're not "part of this family" you wouldn't be grabbing for the kleenex box, but I can tell you that it's already making an impact on me! I brought work home tonight, of all nights. It may be a sleepless night. AND...my name was even spelled right! :)

Read on!

"Old" Friends

Well, I like to think we're not "old" age-wise, but we are old friends...our friends the Frakes' from the Dallas TX area and the Schultes' from way down in South STL County met us at Union Station last weekend. We had a great time catching up and meeting each others' kids -- 5 great kids between us. I promised I would post some pictures so here they are...

I hope we see each other again soon...either in STL or in TX!

The Book is Ready for Purchase

My brother-in-law's book is ready for purchase at the following link:

http://www.thinkhdi.com/estore/viewByEStoreProductID.aspx?EStoreProductID=257

We ordered 3 tonight, to be shipped UPS (of course) overnight. So, we're excited to be motivated by the book.

Happy reading!

1st Day of Middle School and 4th Grade!

Power was back on throughout the district, so...let school begin! For some crazy reason, the middle schools start at 7:30, which means a pre-7:00 bus trip to school -- harder on me than on Kelsie. We managed today, although no time to put the contacts in :)

I can't believe she's off to Middle School!

She didn't want me to really hang too close, so I kept my distance; thank goodness for zooms on cameras.

Off she goes...I can't wait 'til she gets home and I can hear all about her day!

2nd round. Cam was up at the crack of dawn -- he said he had a hard time sleeping, he was so excited!

Off he goes!

This is the first year I haven't had a picture of Kelsie with her teacher on the first day. Thank goodness Cameron still humored me and let me take a picture of him with his teacher :)

Let the fun begin :) I headed off to my annual breakfast with the 4th grade moms (we started as kindergarten moms together and look how far we have come!) .

Now for some relaxation! Jewel was totally chilling out, celebrating the first day of school in her own way :)

First the top of the cabinets and now the fridge. A cat's life!

School Canceled...Because of Snow???!?!?!

Cameron came into our room this morning bright and early, about 6:30am. He likes to get on the computer before anyone else does...something about Club Penguin :) Anyway, he remembered it was the first day of school. Then I told him school was canceled because of snow! He's like, "No Way!", but he went to the window and lifted up the shades to find out for sure! No, it didn't snow, but school was canceled. I guess there was a storm overnight that knocked out power to some of the schools in the district, so they canceled all classes in the district. The exciting first day will have to wait...until tomorrow (hopefully).

Almost forgot...the Best Buy Saga...

In case you are wondering about the continuing saga with Best Buy, here is the latest: Yesterday they FINALLY admitted that the hard drive was destroyed :( very sad. Funny, but the corporate rep who hung up on me last Friday had a different attitude yesterday. They are willing to work with us to compensate us for our loss. Hmmmm. However, any claims over $1000 have to go thru their legal department, so the negotiations on compensation have just begun. 2 years worth of data, including all of our pictures??? It's hard to put a price tag on that.

Cam sees Ankiel hit his first homer

Who said Rick Ankiel wouldn't be back in the majors? Well, probably me at one time or another. But welcome back! Cameron went to Thursday night's game with a friend and was sitting in the 9th row, behind the Cardinals' dugout when Ankiel hit home run number 1 in his return to the majors. In case you missed it, he hit 2 more tonight :) in the Cardinals' win.

Too Cute not to Post

Finally some camp pictures!

Getting ready to go...Cam is calm, cool & collected :)

The girls look excited...for the most part :)

It was kind of tough on me sending Cameron off for the first time...but I looked at the bright side...home "alone" for 5 days :)

They had a great time! I am not sure how many times Cam actually showered during the week, though!

The girls loved it! They showered a few more times than the boys!

Until next summer....

Happy Birthday Devin!

It's my nephew Devin's birthday today -- I can't believe he's 10!!! That means my baby is going to be 10 in January -- where does the time go? Have a great day Devin!

Coming Soon..."My Life; Ignored!"

We now have an author in the family...check this out...

http://richhandband.com/page5.html

According to his "Blah Blah Blog", my brother in law's (Rich Hand) book, will be ready in about a week. There will be a link on his home page soon to purchase the book, so keep your eyes open for more info. I have his web page linked under "My favorite Blogs" here on my page.

Oh I love having the computer back!!!!

Adios to the Library Computers!!!

The laptop is back! Woo hoo! Thanks to my brother for finishing the work up. Still serious problems with Best Buy and our old hard drive and our adapter, more to come on that. Hopefully this week I will be able to post some pictures. It's going to be a very busy week, getting ready to start school and work some last minute summer fun in.

Everyone have a great week and it's great to be back!

Catching Up

Hi everyone...still working off of the library's computer...hopefully soon we will be back in business. Hope everyone is having a good start to August. Kelsie is in QUEST for 2 days -- it is a program at her new middle school, it helps the students get acquainted with the building and the workings of middle school. She loved it yesterday and was excited to go back today. Cam and I are out running errands, trying to catch up on a few things. It seems Best Buy cannot locate our hard drive -- it's been a real pain trying to get anyone to do anything over there. So...heading to meet the store manager after our library stop...we'll see! This weekend is school supply shopping -- yikes -- I hate waiting until the last minute, but this summer has been so hectic, not much choice. Kenny is talking about going out to NY for the "Hand Family Open" over Labor Day. He will be taking Cam if he goes. Hopefully next time I post, I will be doing it from our computer at home :)