Broken Road Journey

ORLANDO WITHOUT DISNEY

Ξ July 29th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Family Fun, General Interests, Lyndon, Victoria |

Yes it is possible, and enjoyable.

No matter how great a vacation is. . . it is sure good to be back at home when ya walk back through your own door and nestle down in your own bed, isn’t it?

I love it every few months when we have gone off for a bit, but it is always soooooo comforting to get back again. We had a great time in Orlando this month, early on, during the Microsoft Tech Ed convention. Walter got to spend time with M.S. Guru – Bill Gates, whom is retiring next year “so he says” anyway, heck – he has enough money to last him the rest of three lifetimes don’t ya think… We spent a lot of time in the pool, which was wonderful because it had a rock wall with several waterfalls that poured into the pool itself. Standing chest deep in the water and having that pounding fall on your shoulders and back felt fantastic. We went out there bright and early every morning, again after lunch and yet again for a couple of hours at night before bedtime.

The food was pretty good, believe it or not Dennys had the best service for breakfast… and the best tasting food too because some of the other places gave you those fake nasty eggs, but Dennys was the real deal, although IHOP gave Walter a massive sized ham & 3 cheese omelet. For dinner we tried some of the local places, which were “ok”, but really the best most delicious and filling meals we had were at two of our favorite places close to home that we frequent on pretty regular basis – Olive Garden and Outback. Because we were on the 10th floor we had a breathtaking night skyline view for mile & miles of all the twinkling lights and sparkling displays different places were exhibiting. I suppose Jacksonville also has such vistas at night, however I have not been that high up here to be able to see it.

We found time to squeeze in a trip to Ripleys Believe It or Not museum, which was interesting – but let me tell everyone this, it really is not much fun for kids. There are some displays there which Victoria liked, but for the most part it would not interest kids under the teens. To get a lot of the knowledge of what the display was about you had to read a script about each item in that particular exhibit – something 9 year olds don’t have the patience to do…. It is a LOT of reading to be able to really appreciate the oddities….

WONDERWORKS was much better and more worth the money, so if you ever go with kids it is great and they will love it. Whereas as Ripleys was done in an hour (because the kids were bored with it) – it took us about 3 1/2 hours to do WONDERWORKS and they were wide open and entertained the entire time had we slowed down it would have taken longer – both Lyndon 18 months and Victoria 9 years old. As well as having plenty to do for the kids, there were also activities fun for us grownups to play too, such as giant bubble making…. , landing the space shuttle virtual reality, create your own roller coaster virtual reality, baseball throw virtual game, and so much more that both kids and adults loved. Victoria had fun laying on a bed of nails….. There were skill tests, reflex testers, mind challenges, optical illusions and sensory exhibits all scattered on about 3 different floor levels, or it may have been four – I don’t remember – but there was Lazer tag as well on the top floor. The place is divided into differnt areas of similar sections – here you see Vicotira and Lyndon in his favorite exhibit of all, he spent almost 20 minutes playing with the switches and knobs and screamed bloody murder when I made him come out so others could explore. For some Non-Disney fun, I think everyone in the family will love this place. On the way back home we stopped in Sanford FL to visit the Central Florida Zoo. Although it is not as big as and doesn’t have as much botanical variety as the Jacksonville Zoo, it was still a delightful place to spend some time. Between the exhibits you were on this great boardwalk and shaded almost completely by trees and other greenery. They have a few places where you are on trails of mulch or bark, or natural ground but 95% is on the boardwalk. It winds through the woods at the back with many places just to relax and have a quiet moment. They did have Elephants, cougar, and other wildcats and well as birds and reptiles and a few hoofed beasts as well as such domesticated animals such as Turkeys, Llamas, and goats. The common animal life was just as amusing as the caged animals. . . squirrells followed you everywhere and were rather comocal with thier antics. Before leaving the kids cooled off in the water play area and then slept soundly most of the way back to the house. All in all it was a wonderful time for us… we are so blessed, God has been so good to me.

 

Well all have “one of those days” every now & then…

Ξ July 29th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Just For Me, VINTAGE FAVORITES |

THIS IS A COPY OF A NOTE i SAT AND WROTE TO MY HUSBAND TODAY, AS I WAS RECOVERING FROM MY MORNING ADVENTURES…. OUR LIVES ARE SO BLESSED THAT I CAN SIT AND WRITE AND LAUGH AT MYSELF AND NOT MIND ONE BIT SHARING MY DAY WITH EVERYONE ELSE…. AND ALL THIS BEFORE NOON.

@@@@@@@@@@@@

How goes your day?, mine is as follows, feel free to share this with anyone who complains they are having a boring uneventful day.

I am not having a good day. I am going to blame it all on *@*@*@* with his WTF wake up call this morning at the butt crack of dawn.

I could not go back to sleep, but that was ok,

So I got up and got Victoria up and to school. Then I came home and decided to mow the yard before Lyndon got home. But I had no gas, in my mower or in yours….

So I gathered both cans up and carried them out, going through the garage doorway I made sure I only lifted it up SLOWLY so it did not bang all the way up, and I left it down just a little cause you said I should not let it go all the way up, or it gets sticky and doesn’t want to roll down.

So I came back and mowed the front yard, but the wind was blowing and it blew the back blow of the dirt and mowed grass into my eyes. I feel my way back to the porch, hoping no one steals the lawnmower while I am inside.

So I went inside and washed that out and finished mowing the front, and then mowed the back small yard and ran into a big ass spider web built between the branches of the fallen tree I was trying to mow under.

So I ran around the back yard squealing and waving my arms smacking myself in the head until I was assured that if it was still there it was squished enough that it would not be able to bite me (or crawl in my ear).

So then as I continued to mow… ever so slowly a little forward a little backward, I worked my way over to the area where the air conditioner is… and hidden completely by the seaweed grass we have which grows above ground and over everything else was an L shaped piece of broken concrete …. and guess what? I ran over it and it got stuck up under.

So I tried to pull it out, it no budgie. . . I tried to kick it out. . .it no budgie. I go and find a prybar bangy thing and beat on it till it chips and then it loosens just a smidgen and I fight wiggling it back and forth and back and forth, scraping my knuckles and eventually it comes out.

So I go back to mowing, and it cuts like it should but every so often it makes a loud banging noise for no reason. With my brilliant powers of detection I determine … the blade must be bent. UUUUGGGH.

So I go get your lawn mower, it has no gas. So I figure I will fill it up too, I did not figure on getting into the light so that I could see as it began to be full, instead I opted to stay in the shadow and pour gas all over my dog shit covered shoes. Which will come in handy later when I burn them, but right now, it was frustrating.

So I tried to get yours to crank, and I couldn’t get it to go. GRRRR. Ok, fine, I will go get a new unbent blade for mine. I change out of my gas soaked shoes in the drive way and go to get my good shoes out of the house and my sock snags on the brick steps somehow and tears a hole in my sock, and I nearly bust my ass going up the steps.

So I get my shoes on and load the lawnmower, taking a moment to be thankful I didn’t somehow cut off three fingers or cause a spinal injury putting it into the truck, and I drive it around to the guy next to the Frozen Egg Store and he looks at it and says “Yes’m you done bent up yo’ blade thar, but I reckon I got one up in here for ya” He changes the blade and puts on a brand new one.

So I pay him the 15 for the new blade and putting it on and he cranks it up mowing a bit of the grass there, hooray, no more banging noise!!!! But before turning it off and putting it in the truck he looks at me, drags it backwards over to a line he has some clamps on and says “cmere” . He puts the clamp on to hold the bar up to keep it running and then lets go of it.

So we stand there looking as the lawnmower kinda does this thing that looks like a cross between the hokey poking turn it all about and the skip of a two step. It turns itself in a circle with a vibra-hopping motion.

So he says, “Yo mower is vibrating cause ya done bent yo’ shaft a little bit too”. I let out a deep sigh and says “well dayum”

So I make sure it is ok to finish mowing with it like that, and he says “Yeah, it be ok as long as you can stand the vibratin” The guy what owns the place is not there at the moment and he is the only one that can do the “unbend magic” it is that capable of straightening the slight kinds of bends. And he “ain’t sho how much it’ll be cause I ain’t the one whut does ‘em”

So I load it up and come home and wait for the Unbend Wizard to call me back about how much it will be to do the shaft magic. I unload the lawnmower and put it in the back yard and get ready to start mowing when I realize I still have my good shoes still on.

So I go all the way back towards the front of the house to get my gas soaked dogshit crusted shoes on and as I am trying to get two hyper bouncing waiting to get fed couple of big ass dogs out from around me, I slam right into that little bit of garage door that I had left hanging down. The impact cause the garage door to go all the way up as the weight on the lift slams all the way down and I damn near hit the floor myself.

So I am sitting here through my blurred vision from the concussion with my greasy petroleum product and grime covered fingers waiting for the courage to return to the back yard to come down from the stars still floating around my head.

And off I go.

I love you, if I am not in the house when you get home, please come immediately to the back yard and rescue me…… if you cannot find me, watch for buzzards.

 

KEWPIE DOLL HAPPINESS

Ξ July 29th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Family Fun, General Interests, VINTAGE FAVORITES |

Domestic Bliss… I am soooo happy with life!!!

Every person has their own interpretation of what makes their home life fulfilling . . . what they feel is peaceful and harmonious. For some people it may be having an immaculate environment from the pages of a magazine to showcase their importance to the world. For others it may be entertaining guests with dinner, wine & small talk. For some it is having a space that is filled with the laughter and chaos of children & family.

Every home and every heart and every lifestyle are differently reflected in the surroundings that bring them comfort. Our home is not yet what it will one day become, we still have several different projects of renovation underway gradually etching their way toward completion, but the dishes are done, the table is cleared and the kids are around us. The baby is wandering around dragging a light saber throughout the house having fun with the different sounds it makes every time he bumps it into the furniture or scrapes it along the walls; Victoria was on the couch using MoonSand to create a water-volcano on a table tray but has since lost interest in her eruption and moved on to the computer in the dining room; Kat is on the phone (duh) walking from her room to the computer to the front porch and then to sit on the bottom steps of the master suite so that she can let Max (via the phone) listen to Walter whom is upstairs in the still-under-construction master suite filling the house with melodic drama.

I sit in the chaise lounge in the living room breathing in the notes drifting throughout the house, warm light cascades across the walls and lands in arched pools cast down from the curves of the antique shades. Shadows lurk in the adjoining hall and dining room but I bask in the lamp lit glow of soft muted greens and the gold cast of the lights. The dark rich woods of the furniture give the feeling of solidity to the room, a sense of being secure and grounded, like being in a forest of strong elder trees which have survived through thousands of years… I love this room, even if it is not yet completed either…

The day is not what others may deem ideal or perfect, I ruined dinner (no really, the London broil was the most horrible thing I have ever made, I spit it out right there at the dinner table – so much for those new spices, they are going right in the trash) Walter had a stressful day at work, Lyndon has pitched fit from noon until about 6 this evening, my truck got a flat tire from a screw in the driveway (all new tires by the way) and I broke the can crusher in the garage. . .

However, when the evening came, it’s all irrelevant. Walter and I snuggled up on the couch, and everything is ok. I ran him a hot bath, and afterwards he played for all ears, we all found ourselves together happily and safe and enjoying just being in our home. Albeit tripping over blinky blinky jingaling toys, negotiating truces between a teen and an 8 year old, slowly but surely transforming our home, and just loving one another.

I am so blessed.

This is the good life. This is our domestic bliss.

And if you think I am flaunting my happiness in the face of those less fortunate, I guess that means that you are not only less fortunate (ie: miserable with your own life) but also a sadistic bastard for reading this whole thing knowing it is about me being happy…..when you apparently aren’t.

Neener neener neener

((sticking out muh tongue))

 

ENGLEWOOD SENIOR HIGH

Ξ July 29th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ General Interests, Kaitlin |

Has totally pissed me off. Sadly, it is not the first time, but this is the most extreme thus far. I went to the school at the last minute to pick up my 15 year old daughter, for just a few hours to help with Lyndon during a dental appointment, when I arrived I went straight to the “Student Services” section where you have to go to sign the kids out, and yes I admit it I knowingly walked right past the main office, despite the big ass bright yellow sign about 7 feet tall that says ‘ALL VISITORS MUST GO TO THE FRONT OFFICE” because I wasn’t there to visit, I was there to say “I want my kid” and then leave…. no big deal…. so I thought…

Well I sign her name in the check out sheet and tell the lady whom I am there to pick up and she promptly informs me that I “need to go to the front office first” Grrrrrr…. so after finishing up filling out all the information on the check out sheet, I head back to the front office, and I am standing in line for what seems like forever for simple tasks to be completed, and then have to be redone for others because they were done incorrectly the first time . . . As I am waiting I hear them paging my daughter over the main intercom for the school, which I thoguht was rather odd… but hey whatever.

Finally it is my turn and I tell her why I am there and she asks for my ID and is in the process of making a badge which she answers on speakerphone and it is the lady in the student services office where I had just come from, she asks the lady I am there with now if Mrs. Walters is there (why she asks this is beyond me because my name and my relationship are on the form I filled out to check Kat out and is on her desk right in front of her) and so the Main office lady asks if I am Mrs Walters and I said no I am Mrs “Woodruff”, but I am there to get my daughter Amanda “Walters”, so they banter back and forth for a minute getting the names right while I stand there patiently with an obvious “you are an idiot” look on my face.

The Main Office lady picks up the phone from the intercom to listen to whatever it is the Student Services lady is saying. She hangs up the phone and says to me, your daughter is not here. I am like “Excuse me?” To which I am informed that my daughter was not in her class, nor had she been in any of her scheduled classes today. I am stunned. WTF? I step out into the hallway and start trying to call my daughters cell phone and get no answer (no surprise there) . . So I go back to the Student Services lady whom again tells me Kat is not in school and that I can go up the the Attendance Office lady and find out if my daughter even reported to her homeroom or first period class at all, or if she cut right after being dropped off.

So I go to see the Attendance Office lady, I stand in the cold with the baby and Victoria in tow and wait for all the ignorant baggy ass pants wearing nimrod mouthy punk waste of good oxygen kids argue and talk back to school staff trying to get them processed for either being late, or not having thier ID badges or whatever. . . finally the lady behind the glass acknowledges me (thanks to Lyndon vocalizing his impatience) and once I explain what I need she informs me that although she is the one that could give me that information, she cannot give me that information because she has not yet completed the tasks of scanning the roll sheets to generate the data I need. Grrrrr.

I go back to the Student Services lady and she prints me off a sheet showing from the beginning of the year and points out that Kat was also “absent” from her fourth block class this past Friday, but that she had been to first second and third blocks.. She points out that it is possible that she had cut that class as well, but that I really need the data from the Attendance Office lady to get an accurate printout.

I leave the school and head around to the local restraunts that are within walking distance from the school, the Kyrstals, Dairy Queen etc… All the while I am trying to call Kats phone… no answer no answer no answer. I circle by the house and send her a text message from the computer, because she usually responds to those even when she cannot answer or talk on the phone…. no response. I go back to the school and try to find out more information and there is nothing more they can tell me but that she is not there. . . I am steaming by now, and really frustrated that noone seems to be concerned about the fact that my daughter is missing from school where she was dropped off this morning in the middle of a city where crime is rampant in a society where young girls are never really safe off on thier own, but they have the “ph well she cut class and skipped school it’s no big deal” mentality not seeming to be the least bit concerned for her welfare. I didn’t know what more to do, after having called Walter, Terry, and called and cancelled the dental appointments. . .

I leave there and drive to her boyfriends house, and on the way I call her brother so he can call her father as I did not have his contact information with me…. I get to the boyfriends house, and talk to the mom (I had tried calling the number he calls from on caller ID but got a generic answering machine) and inform her that Kat is missing from school and that I doubt that she would leave school without Max and that she needs to call the school and find out if Max is in school, and for her to let me know if she finds him, and I will let her know what I find when and if I find out anything.

I go back to the school to track down one of the resource officers because I am outraged that we are helpless to do anything to find out when and where kat went missing from the school… and why noone called. . . So for the third time I am back at Student Services to find the Resource Officer, but he is on the phone, so I have to wait. While I am waiting I watch this thick white guy using a flat iron that gets hot just like my daughter uses at home to make his bangs flat while sitting in the office. Ok, now I know damn good and well that if MY child brought hers to school she would be suspended for having a heat generating weapon, but this kid sits bolding in the office doing his hair until someone finally notices because he waving it around and takes it away from him… This same kid later tells Kat that he wants my “digits” so obviously he must need to be in Special Ed.

Anyway, I get in to talk to the Officer and when he asks me what he can do for me, I tell him “well, it appears that my daughter is missing” and he asks me to explain what I mean, I do so briefly going through the mornings events, and he says to me “So you mean she “just” skipped school?” … well yeah it appears she has skipped school, but as she is not where she is supposed to be, and noone knows where she is or who she is with – or by what means she left the school – then to me … SHE IS MISSING.

He asked if I had had them call her from her class, and I was like “Uuuh Yeah, that is how ya’ll came to the conclusion that she was not here and told me that she had not been here at all today” he asks for her name (for the third time) and steps to the doorway and asks the Student Services lady to call Kats class and see if she is there… (this is the same lady that I had asked to get Kat earlier that morning and that had told the Main Office lady that Kat was not here) I hear her call on the intercom and the teacher say that Kat is there and that she will send her up to the office.

OMFG… I am fuming do you hear me, I am livid with this school by this point. I try calling my son back so he can get in touch with his Dad for me, if he hadn’t already, and let them know she is ok and there, I also call Walter, and Max’s mom… Kat gets there and reveals she has been in class all day since she got to school, says she didn’t respond to anything on her phone because her phone had been taken away from her by her first block teacher because “one of her friends” was using it for something and got caught..

I was so frustrated with these people at this school that I just got up and walked out of the office with Kat, I went and talked with her teacher that had taken the phone, proving she had been in the class as well. . . and with the fourth block teacher about last friday, during which her dad called and I let him know that she was there and ok, and so he then had to call her brother that was already on his way to get here to help find her (and who she may have been with) .

It was a whole fucked up mess. My blood pressure went through the roof, I had an instant migraine that was throbbing, Victoria had gotten upset about the whole ordeal worried that something bad happened to Kat, and Lyndon was restless from being dragged in and out of his carseat. I hate Englewood, if it weren’t for having to burden the whole expense on our own, Walter and I would put her in a private school in a heart beat, when we were both working it was seriously being considered but Kat begged and begged us out of it, now with me at home, we just cannot afford it by ourselves… She really is the smartest kid, gifted for 7 years until she no longer found an interest in staying in it, and honor student until the last grading period when her grades dropped below honor roll level.

Well, maybe by the time Victoria hits the age to move out of Elementary and into middle we will be able to place her into private school, I loved Englewood High when I went to school there, but I loathe the place now. yesterday was just another example of why.

 

FRIENDSHIP PARK PHOTOS

Ξ July 29th, 2008 | → 1 Comments | ∇ Family Fun, General Interests, Lyndon, Victoria |

We took the kids to Friendship Park, to let Lyndon run amuk on the expanse of concrete and grass around the fountain.

He had a blast but the sun was a bit bright, and he would pitch a fit and throw himself down every time we tried to divert the direction he was headed in..

or this one ..

Victoria took her time exploring here and there and wandering through the trees & shrubs…

The flowers are just starting to bloom on the azealas..

We took his little buggy he got for Christmas (well one of the three)…

Lyndon discovered grass and dirt . . .

I love this picture of Lyndon holding Walters hands as they walk down the steps from the garden area…

As Victoria grows up she looks so much like her grandmother on her fathers side….

And in the end he was exhausted and ready to go home…