Fourinarow.net

No… it’s not that.  (A month later, we STILL don’t know what part of Chicago we’re going to.  But, for now, let’s get off that nasty subject.)

It’s a HAPPY DAY because my mom found my missing camera!!  No - it wasn’t my kick ass Nikon DSL that I lost, thank God, but it was my little Nikon digital - with a LOT of pictures on it.  Including pics of my kids with Troy’s kids.  And Maddog’s 70th celebration.  And Maria’s 5th.  And Sam’s 2nd.  Oh, and a couple in front of the Magnolia hotel.

So, I’m doing the happy dance!  I thought the camera was gone, gone, gone.  It was SO frustrating not being able to find it - many of us looked EVERYWHERE.  I was left to assume it had gotten mixed up with birthday paper and thrown out by accident.

However, Mom found it - right next to a bag of birthday paper in the garage, waiting to be taken to the garbage can.

WHOOOOOHOOOOOOO!  St. Anthony rocks, by the way.  He helps finds things every time - even when you think there’s no hope.

Okay. So. After a VERY long night of traveling, we all slept in at our “hometel,” as Lukie has come to call our current place of residence.

We needed breakfast. I suggested donuts and Dan said he’d prefer the Cracker Barrel. Fine by me.

After getting the little ones rounded up, dressed, shod, etc., we headed out. And, of course, found that at 10:40 a.m. on a Friday, the Cracker Barrel was packed solid.

We headed to iHop. To find, at 10:43 a.m. on a Friday, there was a line wrapped around the building.

Dan and I debated. He suggested going places no woman would deign to go and I again suggested donuts.

I prevailed.

But.

On the way, we passed The Looking Glass. I had never been there, but had heard it was good. Dan had been there with a co-worker and his boss. I suggested going there.

“It’s a girly place,” was Dan’s reply.

“That’s okay. Let’s go,” I suggested.

And so we turned around.

Like fools.

Immediately upon entering, I knew we were somewhere we didn’t belong - with or without our kids.

This place was… Fancy. Whimsical. Cute. Nice. Knick-knacky. Not H-kiddish.

We had a wonderful server. (I’m pretty sure she was trying to head us off at the pass.) She brought bread. She brought drinks. She brought fish food (for the koi in the pond outside). She brought a chocolate chip cookie cut evenly into four pieces, on the house.

We were hoping for breakfast, but missed it. Only the lunch menu was available. So, the kids had grilled cheese sandwiches (on funky bread.) Which, of course, they didn’t eat.

Dan and I ate our meals faster than no people have eaten before, in an effort to get out of there before the kids killed the indoor fish and/or scared the birds to death.

It was a neat place. The tables were draped with fuchsia tulle-like material, weighted by disco ball-like beads. There were real, bright pink cloth napkins, which Maria insisted on tucking into her shirt. The butter for the bread was carved in a fancy pattern. (Completely lost on Luke, who ended up with a glob of it in his ear.)

It would have been GREAT for a Fancy Nancy party with my sisters, mom and Maria. But not really with Dad and the brothers.

Once again. We live and learn.

We’re in Texas. Finally, I can blog about it.

We’re here in Austin, TX for my Dad’s surprise 70th birthday party, of which I’ll blog about at a later date. Right now, I have to tell you about a little side trip we took to Dallas.

We arrived in Austin LATE Friday night. My Dad’s party was on Saturday. On Sunday morning after church, Dan, the kids and I headed north to Dallas. We went to visit my very, very, very good friend Michelle and her family, as well as Sarah and her family. Not only do I not know when we’ll get to Dallas again, but Michelle is the one who lost her dad recently. I had to see her, if only for a little while.

We drove up, celebrated her boys’ birthdays at a bounce house with about 100 other kids and then went back to their house, where we were met by Sarah and her family. We ate, drank, talked and swam (kids and dads, anyway) all afternoon.

Since Michelle and Juan were heading to Cancun for a much-needed family vacation early the next morning, rather than crash at their place, Juan set us up with a free hotel room a free suite and adjoining room at The Magnolia in downtown, where he works.

Holy crap, Batman! We were stylin’! You should have seen the place! Feather beds on all the beds. High-count sheets. Starbucks coffee in all the rooms. Artwork on the walls. (Not the kind you see starving artists selling on the side of the road, either, but real, gallery, artwork.) Huge bathtubs and fluffy robes (the kind that sell for $45 in the lobby.)

We were impressed.

We were on the 12th floor, in an end-suite and connecting room, so we had a great view of the streets of downtown. Dan and I felt like kids in a candy store with our pockets full of money. It’s the nicest room we’ve ever stayed in. We didn’t exactly jump on the beds, but, like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, we were pretty excited to be stying in such a posh environment.

I don’t know how the other guests felt about us in our rumpled play clothes, my mommy uniform and our ripped luggage (avoid luggage shopping at Target), but oh, well. We sure enjoyed ourselves!

Holy crap and thank the Good Lord.  Three of the four are ASLEEP!  Right now!  At 3 in the afternoon!!!  YEEHAW!

No one got much sleep last night.  The kids wouldn’t GO to sleep and when they finally did, it was after 10 p.m.  Dan and I slept on the pull-out couch thinking the kids would sleep in if they were all in a darkened bedroom.

HA HA HA.  They were all up at FIVE THIRTY.

I’ve felt like a zombie all day.  I sure wish I could take a nap.

Anyway, YAY! that they’re asleep, but needless to say I won’t be dancing the same jig tonight when everyone is up all night after having taken their great naps.

That’s okay.  One day we’ll live like normal people the same way we used to… right?

I’m still here. So are all the children. And Dan. The packers showed up this morning, along with the washer/dryer-disconnect guy. I wonder if all the women give him the evil eye? I mean, how can I have had all my laundry done by 7 a.m.? Needless to say I got up at 5:30 to get what I could finished. Then the guy showed up late. Dammit.

We put everything we didn’t want to end up in storage for God-only-knows-how-long in one closet and told the kids to keep away from it. I told them that if they left their blankies lying around, they’d get packed, so they better keep them in the Do Not Pack closet.

That worked… for about 12 minutes. Then everyone wanted their blankies because, you know, there was nothing else to do. Several times throughout the morning, I found blankies not in the hands of a child and not in the closet. I returned them to the closet only to find them again with the child they belong to a little while later.

At one point, Jack, Maria and Luke were all on my bed, blankies in hand, watching TV. “You better be careful,” I told them. “You don’t want those blankies to get packed.”

“Mine won’t,” Maria informed me. “I told those guys not to pack it.”

Great.

As soon as the words had left her mouth and Luke had had a chance to digest them, he bolted up the stairs to where the packers were packing and said, “Hey Packer Guys! Don’t pack my blankie!”

A second later he was back. “What’d they say?” I asked Luke. “To put it in the closet.” Hmm.

What shy, shy children I have.

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Dan had errands to run and boldly offered to take three of the four, which left Jack and me sitting around in front of the TV. We watched a little Discovery (some Most Dangerous Fishing thing) and then we put it on the Cartoon Network for some old Tom and Jerry re-runs. (We came across that channel the other day and found The Smurfs, Huckleberry Hound, Tom and Jerry and others I used to watch. The kids LOVE them. And, I think they’re much better than some of the crap on today.)

While Jack and I lounged around, Dan didn’t fare so well. He came back P.O.’ed, to say the least. The kids were HORRIBLE. They dropped the equipment (several times) in the Charter office before he could return it. They ran wild at his office while he talked to a colleague. I have no idea what happened in the bank drive through, but I’m sure it wasn’t pleasant. And to top it all off, we found out that the house appraised for more than what we sold it for. He was so upset that I at first thought it hadn’t appraised. But, no, it did. But now we didn’t sell it for enough.

Oh, and here’s a cherry to go on the very top of it all: an email from Chicago that says… be patient, everyone. No assignments yet, but if you want to go ahead and house hunt, go for it. (No matter that there are FIVE offices in the Chicago area and we know NO ONE who can help us sort through the fourth largest city in the country to find an area we’ll enjoy.

__________________________

I am now relaxing pulling my hair out with three of the four MONSTERS in a very small hotel room while the fourth naps and Dan supervises the packing back at the house.

No matter.  I’ll survive.  Somehow.

For the kids… Dan and I worked our asses off getting ready to move in the next few days. The kids, on the other hand, stayed in their sleepwear and watched TV all day.

Apparently some were lazier than others… Lukie apparently couldn’t even be bothered to put his undies on right this morning.

This is Lukie.

He’s mad at me right now.  Is there a child in the universe that can get his brow lower than that?

Thankfully, he doesn’t stay mad for very long.  In no time he’ll be telling me he loves me and doesn’t want a new mom after all.

I went out on a limb this afternoon and mowed the lawn. Front and back. This wouldn’t be a big deal, except that a) I’ve never done it before; b) I wasn’t completely sure how to use the riding mower; and c) three of the four kids were conscious.

I had Jack show me the ins and outs of the mower. (Dan has shown me once before, so it was really just a refresher course.) Jack also rode with me for a while and pointed out the places I’d missed. While we mowed, Maria and Luke played outside. For a while. Then they disappeared into the house.

I knew I should check on them, but didn’t want to stop mowing. I sent Jack off and told him to bring me back a report. He did. “They’re eating suckers,” he told me. Well, that didn’t worry me too much, so I kept on.

After the back was finished and Jack got in some joyriding by himself, I moved to the front yard. Jack gave up and went inside to work on his trains.

Knowing that my luck couldn’t hold out too long, I mowed as fast as I could. Until I ran out of gas.

I went in to get Jack so he could help me fill ‘er up and found the entire bonus room littered with dum-dum sticks and wrappers. I didn’t bother to count them, but I think you could have built a tall building with the number of sticks there were. (We buy the BIG bag.)

Oh, well. The kids needed dessert after having had ice cream for lunch, right?

Closing my eyes to the situation, I went back outside. Jack showed me where the gas tank was located and and a few minutes later I was finished mowing. As were the kids.

Appraisers, inspectors, and bankers, OH MY!

So far, so good on the house.

Of course, we still have no where to go…

As I was pulling out of the drive yesterday afternoon, I was stopped by the UPS man. He had a box for me! Flowers!!!

Who, I wondered, would be sending me flowers? Were they actually for Maria - an early birthday present? But they were addressed to me. I didn’t have a birthday coming up… No anniversary… I hadn’t done anything particularly nice for anyone lately (you know me!). Hmmmmmm. I knew they weren’t from Dan. (First of all, they’d been sent UPS. Secondly, well… you know.)

I made a big production of bringing the HUGE box into the house. Dan asked, “What’s that?”

“FLOWERS!!!” I said, excitedly.

They turned out to be from my wonderful friend, Kristina. They were in thanks for the driveway space we lent her and her husband when she deserted me for Washington D.C. They have a third car (a vintage Mercedes) that needed to be shipped. With gas prices what they are, the car shipping businesses won’t haul a truck that isn’t fully loaded. Meaning that they aren’t exactly reliable about setting dates or prompt when picking up a car. So they had to leave the car behind, in our care.

The car was only here a few days, though, before it was picked up. I certainly didn’t deserve flowers. (At least not from her. *Ah-hem*) Lending out driveway space is easy work. Plus, Kristina’s done a lot more for me over the last three years than I have done for her.

Gotta love the card she sent. It was almost as good as the flowers!

Susan,

Thank you SO MUCH for helping us with the Mercedes situation. You are a great friend. Feel free to blog about how I gave you flowers and your husband didn’t.

Again, thanks.

Jason, Kristina, Riley and Kung Fu Panda

I’m sure going to miss that girl!

P.S. Here’s a pic of Dan in the Mercedes…