Back from Alaska

The men made it back from the great state of Alaska. Randy had a great time in spite of the airlines losing his luggage. He was able to buy, borrow, rent some stuff. The only things he really missed were his boots, fleece jacket and rain gear. The other stuff ($3000 plus) is just icing. Oh yea, he did miss his gun. Nights are tough in the wild when you just have a bear whistle and fillet knife for protection. They caught lots of fish, had a bear charge them, a moose sighting, saw beautiful sunsets, wild flowers and just enjoyed the peaceful surroundings. It was most likely his last trip to Alaska, he wants to try some other locales to fly fish. I would like to go as long as we could stay in a lodge (room service).

**** Erinn loves her new mattress
Alas.ka Airlines gave Randy $250 to buy new stuff and will give vouchers
Nor.thwest Airlines has given him 5000 miles (not happy)

Do Again

The wonderful world of a toddler, doing the same thing over and over like it is the very first time.

Can you tell the difference?

Erinn started her third year at UF this year. And for the third time (& last time!!) she is moving into different accommodations. She is sharing an apartment with 3 other girls. (sisters of different sororities, I think this is allowed as she is on hiatus from AOPI) She needed a bed. I decided the easiest way to accomplish this task was America's store Sea.rs. BIG MISTAKE!!! It all started out so perfect, went online, found one, ordered it, selected the delivery date. Bingo, Bamo, Done!! Fast forward 2 1/2 weeks. Fay arrived in central Florida. Delivery was pushed back until Saturday, no problem we would be there. 12 hours later, 3+ hours on the phone, numerous promises and no bed. Sunday 2 hours on the phone, no bed but a promise for Monday. (they kept me on hold for so long my phone went dead). Monday, received a phone call at 7am bed will be there at 1pm. Erinn arranged for her friend, Jessica to be there to receive bed (pesky college she had class). One piece of bed arrives (they were told it was the mattress) Jessica makes up bed for Erinn and leaves. Erinn comes home, takes a nap, wakes up, calls me complaining the bed is too hard. I said are you sure it is a mattress? Yes, Mom it is. Double check I say (I am not real happy at this point) and guess what IT IS THE BOX SPRING!!! Now wouldn't you think 2 bright girls would know the difference? Back to the phone for about 2 hours, was told to call back in the morning at 8am. Another 1 1/2 hours later I think Lisa has solved the problem.. Last night I received the phone call that confirmed a delivery time of 9:15 until 11:15am. Informed Erinn to skip a class and stay put. I received a phone call this am to confirm time, would it happen? At 9am Erinn called to say she was in possession of her bed, YEA!!!!!!!!! Now want happened to customer service, no one wanted to go out on a limb and actually solve my problem except for Lisa. Now today I get to call back and confirm the delivery fee has been waived and our 100 bucks in gift cards are on the way. And guess where we get to spend said gift cards? Yippee!!

Back from Austin

Erinn and I arrived home Thursday afternoon, it was stormy. We had a time getting out of Austin due to the weather in Houston. Upon arriving home we discovered a leak under the kitchen sink. It was a small one, I think the line to the ice maker broke. The first knob I turned stopped the leak. After cleaning out the cabinet I discovered black mold on the wood. I sprayed with bleach and got most of it off. When Randy gets back we will need to remove the wood and replace it. With all the rain, the cats decided not to go out on the lanai to their boxes and decided the kitchen rug would do and of course the bathroom rug. Out went the rugs. I am so over these cats that my daughters left behind!! Around 5:30 the power went out and stayed out until noon on Friday. I was so exhausted it did not matter until I woke the next morning to no coffee. Yikes! Yet another reason to be married, Randy would have had the coffee going on his old camp stove. Jack and I ventured out in the rain, drove to Aunt Sheree's house coffee in hand to make a pot. Two cups later and life was good. My neighbor called to let me know that an avocado tree fell on my fence but not to worry her Dad would take care of it. A storm would not be a storm without losing power and a tree falling on the Ryan's property. During a lull in the afternoon Erinn and I loaded up the cars for the final move to Gainesville. Sheree and Manny made the trip with us on Saturday. We unloaded in record time and were back in Longwood around 1pm. Of course Sears failed to deliver her bed and now it will not arrive until Monday. Another long story with the result the same, no bed.

We had a great time in Austin hanging with Brenna and Hunter. Hunter is a kick always on the move. It rained every day we were there so Brenna put us to work by repainting the den and kitchen. It looks awesome! (as long as you do not look too close :-) ) Hunter was a great help.

**Jack and I just got back from our walk and the ponds are full. In 14 years they have never been this high. The Duncan Park pond has merged with the one in Sweetwater and it continues with the back one. Unbelievable!! It is a good thing FEMA made us get flood insurance.

Cheese Hunter

Hunter, following in Mommy's footsteps

Erinn and The Boys

Erinn with Bear and Jack

Project Over

I felt I needed a launch party last night. Brenna's Wedding Scrapbook is finished!!! It only took a year. Of course I did stop a few times, 3 baby books, 3 wedding books for gm's & mil, a 3/4 Christmas stocking, vacations, a few novels and life in general. It looks really good and I hope Brenna & Edward like it. I like it when you have a idea and it comes to reality. Now on to the 3/4 finished stocking and the other 2 stockings. How many days until Christmas?

Alaska Food

I helped Randy finish up his food shopping for the big Alaska trip. He and Edward are responsible for 3 days of meals. If I were going I would only eat lunch on their days (chicken or tuna salad) The other guys are offering up kippered herring, sardines and my all time favorite vie.nna sausage. Who eats that crap? Would any of these men eat this at home? I guess when you are sitting in a large rubber raft in the wild of Alaska you will eat anything. Randy and Edward are also offering up scoobies and snick.er candy bars. Yummy!!
(I sure hope Brenna is planning a more appetizing menu for us!)

What to blog????

Now that I have this fancy blog page, what do I do with it? Do I talk about my scrapping (I am totally over the color purple, the color not the movie), walking my dog, pretending to go to the gym, my wonderful grandchildren, my love of cookies? I could talk about the lives of my 3 daughters but as you guys are some of my only readers that would get awfully boring. I guess it needs to be about me. Wow, what a concept, me.