LID-iversary # 14

14 months down. A bunch more to go. Have no idea who this guy is or why he shaved the number 14 on the back of his head. Just swiped the pic from the world wide web. I think it's a cool look though. I considered doing it myself but figured I'd wait until a really big significant date. Like 36 months or something.

They Made It!

Finally! My dad called this morning to tell me they rolled in at 4am Wyoming time. After a little sleep, they're packing dad into the RV and heading into Yellowstone to camp for a couple nights. My step-mom and youngest sister, Lauren, are meeting them there after spending time getting our youngest brother, Ryan, settled at school in Nevada. Oh and my bro-in-law discovered a loose or broken wire on the RV. He fixed it and now it's running fine. Uhhhh wonder if that's all it was this whole time? Boy that would suck.

Carla & Bobby's Not So Excellent Adventure *Updated Again*

This afternoon my sister and her husband loaded their four kids into the RV for a road trip out to Wyoming to visit my dad. It was supposed to be a three day drive. They drove about three and a half hours and got as far as Illinois. Nope, that's not a pic of their RV but it accurately depicts what happened.

The poor family was stuck on the side of the road for hours while their 1-800-roadside-assistance people tried to find a mechanic willing to look at this thing before Monday. You can't expect to just pull an RV mechanic out of your ass at nearly 5pm on a Friday out in the middle of nowhere, now can you?

They finally found a company willing to tow them to Peoria so someone could look at it in the morning. Which was 50 miles away from where they were, by the way. It was going to take awhile for the tow truck so they decided to send sis and the kids on into town to find a hotel. But no rental car place would come out to them. Plus it was over $100 a day for a mini van rental. (Remember there are four kids so a regular sedan wasn't gonna work.) So my sis and her four tired, hot, bored, cranky kids and a bunch of their stuff rode in a taxi van for an hour to Peoria. At a cost of $100. Ouch. When I talked to her, which was now after 8pm, hubby still had not arrived. Last she saw him, he was stuck on the side of the road waiting for the tow truck. I sure hope he's there by now. Cuz she sounded like she was about to lose her mind. I think she may have discovered a new level of hell.

The kids are happy though. For now. They were excited because the hotel had a pool. And it's 5 feet deep! They all took note of that fact for some reason and reported it back to me.

We're all really hoping they get this thing running tomorrow. If so, they can continue on with this trip. If not, they'll be looking for some place to entertain four kids in Peoria until Monday. The kids will be really disappointed, too. They haven't seen their grandpa in several years and they were all extremely excited about their 'cation. That's Tatum's word for it.

So send some good mechanic ju ju to the great state of Illinois tonight for my poor, frazzled sister and brother-in-law. Oh and when they get back, I probably wouldn't ask them how the vacation went if I were you......

*Update* Saturday 3:30pm
The fuel filter was clogged so it was fixed. But the mechanic suggested a new fuel pump also. At a cost of over $700 total. My bro-in-law said no thanks since he's a mechanic and decided to just buy the part. Total cost was still $400!! The plan was to keep chugging along and try to get to Wyoming. They got about another half hour west when bro-in-law decided they just weren't going to make it. So they pulled over in an abandoned parking lot so he could put on the new fuel pump. So as of right now sis reports that she is sweating her ass off trying to entertain the kids while the hubs is sweating his ass off underneath the RV working on getting them up and running again. Hopefully, they will be back on the road again heading west within the hour. Reminds me a little of those Chevy Chase vacation movies. I hope she's taking pics of all this.

* Saturday 7:30pm
My dad spoke to Bobby on the phone who was somewhere in Iowa washing his hands after having just replaced the second fuel pump. It seems RV's have a front and rear fuel pump. So now this one has two new ones. Maybe the problem is solved now.

* Sunday 2:00pm
They're still 600 miles from their final destination. And there's still something wrong with their RV. It seems they can't let the gas tank get below half a tank or it starts chugging like it's running out of gas. Even though it's not. So every 120 miles they stop for more gas. And to think my sis thought it was too expensive to just fly. Wonder if she's thinking the cost would have been better than all this headache? Wonder if their family will ever take a road trip again? Or will they all be permanently traumatized by this event? Well, at least her kids will have some really funny stories to tell their kids someday about that family vacation where mommy and daddy were really mad.

I'm Really Over This

The weather man on the news the other night said this past week has been the hottest in 10 years. I don't know if I believe that or not. But it sure sucks. I hate to say this but I'm so over the summer. I'm ready for it to cool down. My flowers are all wilted. But I'm ready to rip them up anyway. I'm tired of watering them. I'm tired of weeding them. I'm tired of sweating my ass off to do it. And they look like crap. They've turned a hideous crunchy brown here lately.

It's downright miserable to be outside. It's the kind of hot and humid where you just can't breathe. The heat index this afternoon was up to 106. The actual temp was hovering around 96/97. That's too hot for Ohio. I can't wait to see what my electric bill will be next month. I'm sure it won't be pretty. I keep my house cold enough that I need sweat pants on. Love that. Not sure that'll work when baby comes home. But for now I snuggle under my covers at night. Ahhhhh....thank goddess for central air.

The first day of school in my district was Monday. The schools were closed the rest of the week because they don't have air. Wonder how that's going to fair this year seeing as how they've already used 4 of their 5 calamity days during the first week? That can't be good.

Feel free to remind me of this post in about 5 months when I'm bitching about shoveling snow.

Weekend Update

Just cuz everyone is DYING to know what I did this weekend, I'll give you the run down. Try not to fall asleep.

Friday evening I was off to PF Chang's to meet Connie, Sam & Andy, Robin & Marty, and Rhonda & Josh for dinner. Seems the Canadian crew made an Ohio stop during their vacation. So of course, they had to include a blogger get together in their sightseeing. I was the last to arrive, naturally. We had an interesting dinner where I tried a few new things. This was my first time at this restaurant. The place was a little cramped and very loud. But the waiter was cute. Even so, I'm not sure I'll be rushing to repeat my visit. I wasn't all that impressed. The cocktails were delish. But aren't they always?

Had a little gift exchange where Mia (and momma) got some great loot. Sam made an adorable little taggy blanket out of the most darling fabric. She also included a penguin squirty bath toy. Robin made Mia a corker bow in scarlet and gray. Now all I need is to pick up a tiny matching OSU jersey. There are football parties in our future with the Buckeyes & Eggrolls crew. Rhonda & Josh brought the sweetest little momma and baby stuffed penguin which will have a special place in Mia's nursery. They also gave me a Toronto Police coffee mug, a Chinese key chain, and a cute Canadian ladybug tee shirt for baby. Thanks so much for all the gifts.
Saturday I spent the day at my BFF's place. She and her husband just bought a new house. I was recruited by their 13 yr old, Peyton, to help paint her room. Peyton has new bedding with stripes and polka dots. So guess what she wanted on the walls? Yep you guessed it. The room was painted lime green. We then taped off two walls and painted turquoise blue stripes. The other two walls are covered in the same blue polka dots. I need to get a picture of it. It's very ...uh, overwhelming. But cool if you're 13, I guess.

Sunday I made a little road trip to Buckeyes & Eggrolls country where the afternoon was spent with the same crew from Friday's dinner plus Sam's munchkins and a little buckeye grandaughter. Their house is beautiful. Except I think Marty may have had a few too many when he built the shed. Click here for an explanation of the joke (and as a bonus you'll get the recipe for an amazing cheesecake made by Connie). It was a relaxing afternoon spent with great food, gorgeous cocktails, and a bunch of wonderful new friends.

Oh... and Marty, you had me at margarita! (wink)

I Luv Reality TV

I admit it. I'm hooked. This is my summertime guilty pleasure. I know there are others who are watching. So let's dish, shall we? Don't read any further if it's TiVo'd and you haven't seen it yet.....cuz I'm about to ruin it for you.

First of all, I was very sorry to see Nick go tonight. He's so pretty. And he liked to walk around without a shirt. No complaints here...

One word. Jen. What a self-centered bitch. But I want her to stick around cuz I love the drama! It's Jen-uinely entertaining. LOL! The tea poured over her head by E.D. was priceless. I thought robot girl might just short circuit. But maybe she really is a human?

I'm way over Amber. I'm tired of the endless crying. Over Every.Single.Thing. Get a grip already! Seriously. Somebody needs to adjust her meds.

Evil Dick is a riot. (No Connie...you're thinking of Spotted Dick. Totally different thing.) He's so obnoxious. Such the instigator. I think he may just punch Jen in the mouth soon. Did you see when he stepped into the bathroom and let a bunch of ...uh.... flatulence go during a group meeting, continued with the conversation and sprayed air freshener around his arse like all of that was perfectly normal? I thought I was going to pee my pants.

I hate Jessica's voice. She sounds like she sucked down some helium. So far haven't really made my mind up about her. She seems to try to lay low.

I don't think Kail is much longer for the house. She made her bed early on with the whole freaking out and trying to control the game thing. She's not playing the game very well. It's going to cost her. But more importantly, what's with the name? Kail? What's that all about?

I like Jameka. I think she has class. But the whole biblical influence over everything in the game is kind of silly to me. I gotta agree with E.D. about the whole "Power of Veto for Jen" cuz of the divine intervention of picking her name out of the bag. I mean, really.

I have no opinion of Zach. He seems to annoy the other house guests for some reason. Don't care if he stays or goes.

The America's Player thing with Eric is kind of cool. I wonder if the house guests will think it's amusing when they find that out. The whole weird eye looks he does are getting on my nerves though. What's with the eyebrow raising all the time, dude?

I like Dustin, too. The whole Joe/Dustin drama was funny to watch. That ended too soon. But talk about airing some dirty laundry when Joe announced on national TV on the very first episode that Dustin had given him a not so pleasant little venereal disease. Ouch.

Right now I think my favorite is Daniele. Yes, she was a little naughty with the whole boyfriend at home vs. Nick love triangle thing. But did you get a good look at Nick? With his shirt off? I'm giving the girl a pass on that one. Can't really blame her, ya know. Appearances can be deceiving cuz she actually seems very smart. And considering that E.D. is her dad, she didn't turn out half bad. She's got some sympathy points from me for the whole estranged father issues. To have that thrust upon you in this environment has got to be hard.

Can't wait to see what happens next. My DVR is set to record every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Is yours?