Andy Baby...

I took a fair amount of photos of my children when they were young, but no where near what I would take if they were young now. It's so easy to take hundreds of photos in a very short time with digital cameras, and  even smart phones.
But one thing that makes film so cool is that you have to wait and be patient for days before you can see how your photo session went, sometimes a little patience is a good thing.
While I LOVE being in a dark room and manipulating my own photos, using that wonderful paper that gives such deep, dark blacks, the paper that makes the photo look so deep I could stick my finger in it, I love even more being able to get instant gratification and see my photos Now!. (for me, black and white is harder to achieve with digital than film, but then, I'm not very good with my camera).

This is my favorite photo of my second child, my oldest son Andy.
Notice all the texture in the photo...that's natural aging...no layering here. ha!
He's looks so sweet and innocent and vulnerable. Look at his fingers and toes and little up-turned nose his blue eyes and soft hair, his sweet mouth...sigh...sniff
I get a pain in my chest, a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes every time I look at this photo.

Christmas Eve…

I hadn’t seen Andy in 7 months. I had to work on Christmas Eve day, so I didn’t get to pick him up at the airport, which was probably good, because his friends did something pretty cool. They were dressed up and had a sign with Andy’s name on it like they do in the movies for people who don’t have anyone they know to pick them up. Actually, I saw a guy at the Phoenix airport with a sign. Then they went out to breakfast. So I didn’t get to see him until our Christmas Eve church service was almost over. We were humming Silent Night and walking out of church with our lit candles and in the very back pew sat Andy, looking all cute and Andy like with his black wool jacket and scarf, little scruff on his chin, holding a candle and smiling. I blew out my candle in the Narthex, turned around, went back in church and gave him a hug. I told him he would probably be safe making a break for it. I guess I taught him right, because he waited a little bit longer before sneaking out. After a couple more hugs, we hung around a bit to have cookies and punch and to let some other people say Hi.

We got home and put together all the food and drinks while waiting for the others to stop by. We had hard and soft tacos and chips and salsa, cheese and crackers and of course cookies. Andy was disappointed that we had tacos and not prime rib, but we never have a big meal on Christmas eve, never had and probably never will. We have our big meal on Christmas Day!

We took our time chatting and eating, trying to waste time until Ethan got home from work. He was to get off at 8 pm, but it ended up being a bit later. Once he got home, we Skyped Kira and proceeded to open up presents.  Kira’s boyfriend John was with her at the time, so he got to meet all of us and see how strange we are, but then, aren’t all families strange? We had a really nice Christmas eve. We got to have Ethan at home, we got to have Andy back at home and we got to visit with Kira complements of technology.

1500 miles...

David and I spent over two hours on Skype talking to Andy and Kira tonight, and Ethan joined us for a while at the end. We got to do a three-way conference call. It was pretty cool. The unfortunate thing about this is that the conference calling isn't free. I'm not sure yet if we all have to pay for it, or if just one account is needed. I guess I'll have to check this out.
I google mapped the driving directions from Andy's apartment to the Phoenix Zoo and the miles they quoted me was 1570 miles. That is one heck of a long ways apart, but through the miracle of technology, we were all able to see one another. We were even able to take a screen snapshot, and I just may have to use it as our Christmas cards. Both kids took us on a tour of their apartments by walking their laptops around with the webcam capturing their everyday lives.
I really thought I was taking their absence quite well, considering that this is the first that Andy has lived away from home, and Kira and I did tons of things together when she was home. I realized that wasn't true two weeks ago at choir practice. We were singing a Christmas song, 'Gloria in Excelsis Deo' and I got to that line and couldn't sing anymore. I was immediately transported to one of the pews in the front of Parkway UCC, on Christmas Eve, standing with Andy to my right and Kira to my left and we were singing that song, and the lower part of my mouth started to quiver and I got tears in my eyes. Geez, I'm not certain that I will be able to sing any of the Christmas Carols. Thank God I don't have to sing 'O Holy Night', because even though I sang it as a solo several times, the duet that Kira and I sang was very, very special, not to mention, really, really fun to do. This will be a year of change for the Christmas Eve service. We have a new minister, and taking out 'O Holy Night' and maybe the pageant will be something totally different, which I think needs to happen. We'll come up with something quite special and beautiful and meaningful to give people peace and comfort. I'm looking forward to hopefully being able to brainstorm some ideas for a superb service.
Andy's plane arrives Christmas Eve morning and of course I will be at work. I won't get to see him until he walks into church that evening, unless of course, he stops by the hospital to say hi on his way home from the airport.
We plan on Skyping Kira Christmas Eve, if I had an iPhone, I could Skype the church service too, maybe Andy could!!

Teen life stuff…

Remember when you moved away from home for the first time? What did you pack to take with you? Just the things you thought were important, right? How about all the stuff you collected while growing up? The dolls, drawings, crafts, scout badges, projects, hot wheels, stuffed animals, cards, high school letters and awards. I’ll bet you left them home for Mom to deal with, because you really didn’t want to take all that old junk with you to your new place. I’ll also bet Mom saved it all for you, in boxes, or plastic bins just in case you wanted to look through it when you had kids of your own. Actually, I’ll bet she just couldn’t part with any of it and thought that you wouldn’t be able to either. I know this is what my Mom did, and I am really happy she hung on to it all because it has been a lot of fun to look through the boxes and report cards and art work and things that I thought were so, so, important at one time.

So, I have packed plastic bins with Kira and Andy’s stuff. Kira, being a girl, has WAY more stuff than Andy will ever, ever, ever have. They wanted to keep all their college books and papers which makes perfect sense also anything that they just didn’t know what to do with, only they knew they didn’t want to toss it and they wouldn’t be able to take it along. High school is a big part of what makes a person who they are and a lot of that had to be saved. I had already planned on keeping things from their childhood, because that just sparks so many memories when you look through it, especially with your own children. I was kind of hoping that they would take all this other stuff though, but really, is there ever enough room in an apartment? Just so they know that as soon as they sign the purchase agreement on their first home, I’m carrying these bins to the truck, driving on over and delivering their ‘life’ to them. 

Now all I need to do is clean, sort and rearrange my own stuff so I can fit in their stuff. At least I’ll get to that gross kind of cleaning that always gets put off until a cold winter day. Someday I’ll have a clean house. hahahahahahaha

 

Oh, I almost forgot…many, many, extra cords and such!

Little Bit…

Poor Kira, we save the yucky jobs for her! Just kidding, we can actually do them ourselves, it just takes 10 times longer.

Seriously, whenever Kira is around, we ask her to cut the cats nails. She is young and still has close-up vision so she is able to see the nail, get the clippers around it and clip before they pull their paw away. It’s quite amusing when David and I tackle their nails, he holds the cat, I take OFF my glassed, get real close to their paw and slowly get the nail in the clipper. By this time, they start squirming and it’s only the first nail, we have nine more to go. I’m making this sound much worse than it is, but it really does go so, so, so much smoother when she does it.

Still, Little Bit doesn’t seem to be enjoying himself…(Andy, where are you?! Little Bit stays still way better when you hold him!)

Just look at that face, if looks could kill…I think someone would be in for it!

Cell phones…

 

Having Kira come for a visit after nearly three months in Arizona didn’t seem a bit strange. I was getting nervous about her visiting, thinking the house was a pit and I hadn’t gotten things done that I should have in three months time, the usual thing that I go through whenever anybody comes over, (I’m just weird like that). But really, it felt like she had never been gone. The only thing that I can attribute this to is…the Cell Phone! It’s so nice to be able to text or talk anytime I want. I absolutely LOVE texting, because I can text a comment like ‘Eric…OMG!’ and more than likely she will know what I’m talking about. My older sisters don’t text, one doesn’t even have a cell phone, but if she did, she wouldn’t text either. They think it’s too impersonal, a person should call and talk, not text. Well, neither of them have children, and they just don’t get it.

I have a feeling letting her get on the plane tonight to fly back to Arizona is going to be harder than I’m anticipating, although it went a whole lot smoother getting both her and Andy to their new places than I had thought too, I’m gonna keep my fingers crossed nevertheless.

A conversation I had via text with Andy today, was about school loans, transferring money and ended up with changing my depends when I’m OLD…think about it. hahahahaah

So it is now 3:40 on Friday, September 3, 2010, Kira is having coffee with a friend, I am typing, David and Ethan are getting electrical stuff for the basement. I have No Name steaks thawing for dinner that I have to have ready by 5:30 at the very latest. We need to leave for the airport by 6:00 and her plane leaves at 8:40. It will be quite a few months before I see her again, and I’m not sure when I’ll  see Andy. Thanksgiving and Christmas should really suck this year, but they are only as far away as a phone call, or in my case, a  text!

Sunday evening Skype...

Andy called the other night wondering what was up with Ethan. I had posted a comment to Ethan's post about not ever wanting to come back here (home). Andy got a little concerned that maybe Ethan had just up and left, but I assured him that it was just me not leaving well enough alone. Sometimes I just don't feel like keeping my thoughts to myself, I do think about what I'm going to say before I say it, and sometimes I just let it out. This was one of those times. Anyway, we got around to talking about Skype and he told me we should set up a Skype date with Grandma and Barb on Sunday or Monday. I thought this was so cool of Andy to suggest it and I jumped at the chance to get us all together to chat.

I worked today and I told them I would make something for dessert. When I got home, I realized that the house was just too much of a pit to let them see, so I hurried and vacuumed, cleaned the bathroom, washed, dried and put away the dishes and straightened up. Mom had left me a message that she would bring a pie that she made, so I didn't have to worry about making anything. Yeah!

I set up the time with Andy of 7 p.m. Cincinnati time which was 6 p.m. our time. We had to try several times to get a hold of him on line, and I ended up giving him a call and telling him to turn on his computer. Once he did, we were connected in no time. We talked for over an hour, which is just amazing. He's doing really well, loving cooking for Boca and they are very happy he's with them, even going so far as to actually 'tell' him. Not all places of business bother to tell you when you are doing a great job. He doesn't get to see Lauren very often as she works days and he works evenings, she's asleep when he gets home and he's asleep when she leaves for work. It won't always be like that, but for now they just have to put up with it.

Mom and Barb were pretty amazed to be able to talk with him face to face. The connection wasn't the greatest, but it really doesn't matter when you don't get to see a person for months at a time.

I'm quite proud of him and what he's accomplishing. I think he will go far in life.

Mitsubishi...

Foreign cars run rampant in our household (with our kids at least). We sold Kira's Galant a few weeks ago to a man that was buying it for his daughter to tool around in. Whew...I thought that car would be a permanent fixture on our driveway. Then just today, we sold Andy's Spyder to a man buying it for his daughter that doesn't even have her license yet. I would not have gotten a sporty little rag top for a brand new driver. One accident and she'll
be dead. Maybe she'll be a good driver...cough! The parents on the other hand were driving very safe cars, he a newer, big, pickup and she a newer SUV, hmmm, they probably could have afforded to pay a few hundred more. Oh well, it is sold, it is out of our driveway, we won't have to pay insurance on it and Andy had a little more in his account, well on Monday he will.

Gone…

Ethan and Dawn left about 3 hours ago to make the 12 hour drive to Cincinnati to visit with Andy and Lauren.

Now, Ethan is gone ALL the time, so it shouldn’t feel strange at all that he isn’t here, but it is strange. It’s strange because I KNOW he isn’t here. I know he’s in a car driving, and they will be driving, all night long until they get to the 4th and Plum apartment.

Lauren will probably already have left for work, and Andy would normally be sleeping, but I bet he’ll be sleeping with one eye and one ear open, waiting for Ethan and Dawn to arrive.

I wish I was going, I miss him.

Fine Dining…

Andy just sent a Facebook post…Just cooked a truffled halibut en pappiote for OWNER or the food network. Said it was the best halibut he’s ever had.

Yes!! I said he’s a fabulous cook, and mother’s ALWAYS know best!!

I expect to see him in a Food magazine someday as a featured Chef of some fancy, fine restaurant. He will be well known in some capacity.

Good job Andy Baby!

He’s just a little bit happy…go figure.

Noel at Noon...

I've meantioned Andy moving out of state, to a few people at church and their reaction is, eyes wide, panicked look, "What about Noel at Noon? We'll have to go back to soup and sandwiches. Do you think we can pull it off?"
Now I KNOW without a doubt that I could Never pull off anything as scrumptious as he makes, but I do plan on giving it a try. I will contact him near that time and have him work out a recipe for me, so I can try to muddle through it. Then with luck and a lot of prayers (it is for a church function after all) I along with my family and any other poor soul that's willing, will put out the best meal we are able to fumble through.

Leaving town...

This is going to be a very difficult spring and summer for me. I'm quite happy and quite sad at the same time.
Lauren is graduating May 23 2010, and she will be moving to Cincinnati, Ohio to start her year long training in her dream job/career. That is wonderful, although it would have been even better if she would have gotten the Chicago job (it didn't pay nearly as well). The only problem with this is, she is taking my son with her. Now that really doesn't sound fair, I make it sound like it's her fault Andy is moving too. Well, in a way I suppose it is, because if he didn't care for her, I doubt that he would uproot himself to move to Ohio. Chicago, yes, in a heartbeat, but Ohio, no. Even though this will be hard on me, I am happy to see him moving on. I don't think this decision is hastily made, because if there is any person that thoroughly thinks through a situation, it's Andy. He absorbs little comments I send him, runs them through his mind, keeps and discards some, and comes up with a solid final decision.
He's a little worried about finding a job there, but I have no doubt that he will do fine. I expect one day to see his name 'Chef Andy' in a magazine about Food and Restaurants, and I will cut it out and put it in his scrapbook.
I regret not following my dreams when I was young, and I would never stand in the way of my children's dreams. I will try to get them to see all options and scenarios, but I'm not going to talk them out of taking a chance to do something different with their lives. That would be going against what I've worked so hard to instill in them.
Not married, no children, no monetary obligations...what better time to find yourself, see other places, do things that matter. Actually, I'm jealous, jealous of their youth, their knowledge, their opportunities, their dreams and desires. I would do things so differently if I had the chance to do them over. Well, some things, like what I'm doing for a living...NOT my children. I would not trade them away for anything.
So, in a couple of months, I will tearfully say good-bye to my second born, wish him well, hope his dreams come true, pray that he stay safe, and (most important to me) pray he doesn't forget me.
Whoa, I'm crying already.
In the mean time, I hope to get to know Lauren better, because the little I know now, I like, and apart from her allergies, I think she is very good for Andy.

Car...

Andy has a friend from Ai International that had a 2004 Monte Carlo he no longer wanted. He had moved to Boston and found out he didn't need it there. He didn't want to pay for upkeep, tabs, insurance because he wasn't using it. On a visit here over Christmas, he got together with Andy and told him if he came out to Boston, Andy could have the car, it just needed tabs, and a new battery. That was all easy enough and happened without a hitch.
Andy found cheap tickets for his girlfriend Lauren and himself. They were going to stay with the friend a couple nights, drive to New York and stay with her grandparents and see some sights, drive to Chicago and see some sights then drive home to Minnesota.
During the day they were going to be driving home from Chicago, it had been raining/freezing/raining all day and evening. I text him that the roads here were nasty and to be careful. I didn't hear back from him. I text him again later on, and still no reply. I went into my worried mother mode and sent a text to Lauren. He replied back then, that he didn't feel his phone vibrate and they were fine.
About 9:15 that night, he called to say they were stopping at A&W and that the car got great gas mileage, was real quiet, ran great, but had some wetness on the passenger side. He figured he would take up the carpet, take care of the problem, clean the carpet and it would be fine. I told him once again that the roads here were nasty. He said the roads they had been on were fine, but that he would be careful.
I was on my computer later on, when all of a sudden I got that sick feeling in my stomach...the one when you know something is going to happen. I though to myself..Don't even go there!
A little after 11:00 Andy calls again...this in itself is strange, because he doesn't call very often...to say they just rolled the car. Now he has a habit of saying things with a real straight face, and I couldn't tell if he was kidding or not, so I said, "What?" Then he calmly said it again, "We rolled the car." I asked if they were ok, and he said they were. He had been sleeping in the back seat, not belted in, and Lauren had been driving. He woke up when he heard her scream. She hit a patch of black ice, started to skid and slammed on the brakes. This was the wrong thing to do, but she panicked, and by then it was too late. Because of the speed they were going, 65 mph, and braking while skidding, they flipped over, hit the roof of the car, and landed back on the tires.
The driver's window was gone, the driver's side of the windshield was spiderwebbed, quite badly, the roof was caved in, the driver's door was dented and the whole front was kind of crooked? Fortunately, the frame wasn't bent, the tires didn't blow, and the car ran fine. The police stopped to make sure they weren't hurt and said they would come back after they made a drop off at the jail. In the meantime, a guy in a Hummer stopped and pulled them out of the ditch. They made a stop to get plastic to cover the window, and that's when he called me. It turned out they were FINE. Andy didn't have a scratch on him and Lauren just had a scratch on her arm, along with tons of glass in her hair. They were very shaken up, but thankful to be alive. They both have convertibles and if they had been driving either of those cars and flipped, we would probably be making funeral plans.
Andy and his Dad took the car to the insurance adjuster the next day and as they were driving up, the guy in the building thought to himself, Oh boy, that's going to be totaled. I guess the Blue Book on the car is only about $4400.00 or so in perfect condition. It will probably cost more to fix it, but we're keeping out fingers crossed.
Andy it quite bummed, he was looking forward to having a decent car. His brother, Ethan could fix it, but it would take him a while, and he would need some equipment that we would have to buy, so we'll just have to wait until the verdict comes back from the insurance company.
I guess this just confirms the fact that Nothing in life is FREE, there is always a CATCH.
I'm actually not sure who I feel more sorry for, Lauren, for being the one who was driving at the time, or Andy, for trying to get some sleep and not being in control. It's always easier to accept the ruin of something if you do it yourself, then you only have yourself to blame. But in the end, the car is just a thing.
So much more could have happened. 65 mph, skidding on black ice, flipping over, and walking away without a scratch...their gardian angels were certainly paying attention, and I thank God for that.

Noel at Noon...

Andy will be cooking the meals for the two Noel at Noons at Parkway UCC in December.
I think he has ribs in mind for one of the meals, I don't know if he's thought of anything for the second.
I will post the menu with pictures when the time comes.
I'm looking forward to helping out again, it's really fun, but I sure would not want to work at that pace everyday. I'm wayyyyy to old for that.

Viva Las Vegas...

Middle Child and his girlfriend took a little vacation to Las Vegas from Aug 5-Aug 8. We got up at 4:30 to get ready to drive them to the airport by 5:00. Their flight didn't leave until 7:00, but you have to get there in plenty of time, you know. I mentioned to him that he might want to call the Credit union when they opened and let them know that he would be in Las Vegas, using his credit card, so they wouldn't STOP his account because of suspicious activity. (I got this idea from a woman I work with. She had a friend that went to the middle east, where she grew up and still had family, and had her account stopped, because the bank thought someone was using her account without her knowledge). Well, suffice it to say that he didn't call, it left my mind, so I didn't call, and YES, they DID stop his account. Murphy's Law...we're very close. But, they had a great time anyway, lost money gambling, spent a gob on food, played in Mandalay Bay. Next time they'd like to see some shows. They were a little shocked at how very expensive everything was. Shar said she remembers (quite a time ago) being able to get .99 buffets.

I picked them up on Saturday evening when we were having a heatwave. It was near 90 and probably 90% humidity, with NO wind. I got there a little early and ended up going around the pickup loop 6 times before they got out of the airport and they said it was SO much hotter here than it was there. Minnesota gets very humid in the summer thanks to our 10,000 + lakes.

Graduation Party...

We had a graduation party for Middle Born this past Wednesday, June 24. It had to be a Wednesday because that is the only full day he has off work. When you are a chef, your weekends belong to the restaurant. He did all of the cooking, and First Born and I assembled, and assembled, and assembled...for six hours we assembled. Whew! What a lot of work. I was glad to go to my actual job the next day. I knew it would be less stressful, cooler, and way less work. Because we were soooo busy, I completely forgot to take pictures. I cannot believe that I have NO pictures of the entire day. What a poor excuse for a mother I am!
I guess I'll just have to try and remember what we made...
*crab and mango empanadas
*prosciutto with pineapple and gorganzola cheese on chiabatta toast
*chorizo with sweet melons
*bacon wrapped Medjool dates on polenta
*greek-style quesadillas
*asian pesto-grilled chicken skewers
*butternut cashew pohpiahs
*crabmeat beggar's purses
*spicy chinese five-spice-rubbed chicken wings
*fried crab wontons
*chocolate drizzled cream puffs
*tres leches cake
*lettuce salad with strawberries, salted almonds and raspberry dressing
*fresh fruit
*cranberry raspberry punch
It was all so very yummy. I really enjoy helping him with these special dinners. I take directions very well, and now that he's been working in the field awhile, he gives directions very well. He has a real nice way of telling or showing you how to do something without yelling, belittling or making you feel stupid.
We were still scrambling to get things finished when guests started arriving, so we didn't get to talk to everyone, especially Andy, the one the party was for. He got to spend time with his friends after the party though, they had a bonfire and s'mores and lots of alcoholic beverages.
Dad and I did ALL the clean-up. There was a whole lot of oil used that day. Yuck! Thank you Dawn...you keep your end of the deal.
So, even without pictures, it was a very fine day.
Congratulations Andy!

23 years...

First born is house/pet sitting for us this weekend while we take a short anniversary trip. Our two guys are still living at home, but Dreaded Middle Born has to work, like constantly, so he gets up minutes before he has to leave, then is gone the entire day/evening. The poor dog wouldn't be able to hold her legs together for that long, and the cats would probably pee on something for spite. The Baby just doesn't wake up very easily, and the animals would be no better off I'm afraid. First born is used to getting up early, and she has a little more empathy where the animals are concerned, plus she's desperate for money. ha ha ha I'll take lots of pictures (hopefully good ones) for her to see. (She is a photo nut!)

Birthday boy...

Someones having a birthday today...Dreaded Middle Son turns 22 today. In a little less than 12 hours to be exact. I threatened him that we would all pile into the restaurant with balloons and presents. He was a little panicked, he didn't know for sure if I was kidding or not. He just said, "Please don't do that." Hmmm, it sure would be fun, but I don't think I could pull it off, so he's safe for now.

Birthday...

Dreaded Middle Child is having a birthday this week, Saturday the 23rd, to be exact. Of course he will be working on Saturday, maybe we'll hop on over to the restaurant and give him his present. I wonder how well that would go over?!! Probably better to give it to him at home. But, you know, that restaurant idea sounds kind of interesting. We do of course have to eat anyway...ha, ha, ha!

Sharp objects...

When Dreaded Middle Son was little, I'm thinking about 1st grade or so, he was very interested in sharp objects, mainly knives. He would take them from the kitchen and hide them. ??? I could never figure this out, I don't know if something happened that I don't know about, or if he was just facinated with knives. Did he feel threatened? Scared? I just thought he was a little bit of a kleptomaniac. He always denied taking them, even when they were right by him. Strange. I wonder if he remembers taking them, and if so, what possessed him to do it. Funny that he is in a profession that deals with knives. Coincidence?? I don't think so!