My sister was telling me Kerry flipped someone off and it was on tv. I couldn't believe it so I spent some time this evening researching it. The only "news" source I could find was NewsMax which says "NewsMax is already the leading conservative news site on the web" There is no photographic evidence and it wasn't picked up by any mainstream media (though she thinks she saw it on a mainstream news show). So you have Cheney who needs his mouth washed out with Soap who tells congress off on C-Span and you have Kerry who may or may not have flipped a guy off named Ted Sampley as he reported it to "NewsMax" and he has a track record as a Kerry hater. No one else appears to have come forward. Which would you be more offended by?
I was having Safari trouble and my dad recommended that I reset Safari, I did without understanding the ramifications. I lost all my fill in the blanks on forms so all my user names and passwords are gone, and I must remember them. It means I couldn't blog until Jack refreshed my memory. I'm back now ;)
Megan's first word was "Happy", this of course doesn't take in to account Dee which clearly had meaning. She now says Dinner "Dean arr", Bird "birr" Ball "ba" Mommy "ahmmy" and daddy "daddy" she has also said the following but has not repeated them often - goldfish, Grandma, Jenny, Pops, Milk.
She has lots of other sounds and talks constantly with perfect conversation like inflection. I need to record her jabbering away this week so we can keep it and embarrass her later.
On our flight yesterday, I was so annoyed with Delta I forgot a few points...Megan had a diaper malfunction in the airport and ended up peeing on me. I had a change of close for her but none for myself so I figured it didn't matter. Jack suggested I by a new shirt at the gift shop and I said no. While waiting for the plane at the gate, I started smelling the pee more and more and decided what the hay I need a shirt from Atlanta. The shop keeper wouldn't let me change in back and suggested the rest rooms some 10 gates away, I said forget it - a nursing mother has lost all modesty anyway and just changed right there in the front of the shop! I think I gave the poor girl a heart attack.
But there were good bits too, Grandpa was waiting for us at the airport, and after we managed to get all the luggage in his car we went back in to have "Din-arr". Megan ate and was happy and I had a beer and was cooled down, and relaxed for the long drive to Ocala. Dad got pulled over in tampa which freaked us both out, me cause I knew he wasn't speeding and him cause he never gets pulled over- turned out he had his high beams on and was "giving everyone a tan" so said the cop. We got to the house around 11 and Miss Megan went to bed after a quick bath, and I soon followed (after my delta winge) I think that is everything I wanted to mention. I'm off to bed.
Jack has done a marvelous job with the wiki for the family reunion in SC. I contributed a few recipes, but no red sauce as I don't remember what all I threw in there. We are enjoying Florida. We had breakfast with Dad's gang, a trip to publix for munchies. A quick lunch, a long nap, and short swim, a great dinner at Kotobuki, quick trip to Target for diapers, and then home and Megan and I visted with Dad's neighbors. She was so tired that when I started singing our song after we brushed teeth, she just pointed to her bed and went straight down.
Tomorrow we're going to sleep in and meet grandpa for lunch at the hospital where he volunteers every monday morning.
I thought today was the going to the be the day Delta tried to win me back, and it started out really well, I checked in well enough, the gentleman working the delta curb check in was really nice, but then I boarded the plane - 30 mins late, followed by and extended delay at the gate. Turned out we were on Song, Delta's answer to Jetblue, so the TV at the seat was nice, but when the pilot taxied out a little girl got injured and we had to go back to the gate, wait for the EMT's to come and check her out, then over an hour for them to bring us an unopened first aid kit. We were finally off, and the rest of the flight was fine. Oh but I forgot to mention the worst part - NO A/C. The plane was hot sitting at the gate in Atlanta, Hot taxi-ing to the runway and back again hot sitting at the gate waiting for the first aid kit, hot taking off, hot in the air and - you guessed it HOT landing. It was miserable. Megan fell asleep during take off so the heat was good for something, but the (*&^#$* pilot came on about 30 mins out to tell us there was a delay and he had to circle around st pete to get into Tampa and the (*&$*$( speaker was on way to loud and woke her up -- not the HAPPY Megan everyone loves but a very tired cranky annoyed Megan who proceeded to cry all the way to tampa, all the way to the ground and all the way to the gate.
So that's 3 strikes against DELTA, the ticket fiasco, flying to atlanta and now flying to Tampa. At least we have a break before we have to fly them home.
PS - note to Jack I still can't email out. :(
Megan has been having a marvelous time here, but she hasn't been sleeping enough. So last night after she went down, she woke back up at 12 and was up for 2 hours before she just cried it out. Today she was her usually happy self, as we went on boat ride with all the kids that here and some of the adults. She came back for a nap and I while I was exhausted from sun and fun and lack of sleep, headed out the 25 min ride to Seneca to get fixings for dinner, and some blank CD's for a personal music project.
All was well, Found a staples, and shopped at Ingles, and then on the way out to put the groceries in the car I noticed the rental had a flat. I called Carlos who told me where the closest service station was to me, and I headed to a Shell, however they only had air and no actual service station stuff.
I tried the air and nothing, I could hear the air coming out as I tried to get the air to go in. I called Hertz and they tried to locate me on a map, and then determined that the closest service station they could use was in Clemson, a town away. So I waited 30 mins and called Jack to tell him I wouldn't be back for dinner with the gang.
My two rescuers arrived and spent a few minutes trying to figure out how to get the spare tire out from under the back of the SUV, while I got to "enjoy" views backsides as their pants were creeping south and more than anyone one should see was showing. All was well though, they replaced the tire and took the flat with them, for me to pick up tomorrow. All in all it was an OK experience. The lady working the Shell mini-mart sold me a cooler and gave me free ICE for my cold foods, and when I returned to Lake Keowee Dinner had already been served and it was delicious! Tom, Carlos's son-in-law had made a wonderful Moroccan stew and a chick pea stew with Cous Cous, that and the Sangria and I was much relieved of my evenings troubles. I am absolutely exhausted though so Its off to bed for me, and hopefully Megan will sleep through the night.
OK I'm a Kerry Supporter. I am Democrat, I'm very liberal, probably more so than Kerry. I was po'd when Bush was appointed president, and I probably was never willing to give him a chance. He is a moron and I couldn't believe he was our president. I lived in a fantasy of Martin Sheen's character being our real president...Until 9/11 when I had to accept that Bush was it, and I even started supporting him, because I was so horrified at what had happened and I wanted a leader to unite us and make us strong.
I read many many blogs, and the following is a bit I stole from a liberal one that I wanted to share. It summed up my current feelings on Bush' job as president beautifully.
"I've now had four years to evaluate his job performance. He has taken a budget surplus and pissed it away to his rich friends. He has taken a surplus of global goodwill and wiped his ass with it. He has started a war against a country that has never attacked us, and benefits no one except an elite hand-picked group of his corporate friends. He has encouraged companies to ship American jobs overseas. He has turned American against American. He has turned the entire world against us."
Bush really had a chance to win me over and he blew it. His whole bloody cabinet blew it. And that is why I'm voting against Bush. I really don't know much about Kerry, but he's definitely getting my vote. There is no way he is as bad as Bush for America.
Megan is a fish. We have spent 3 days here and each day she swam in the lake. Today she figure out how to float on a Noodle. She is amazing. Today we spent the whole morning at the beach playing in the water and sand. Sharon even caught a fish in the kids toy net. We had fun splashing with Cooper and Jack too.
OK so Whoopi compared Prez Bush to a woman's nether regions - I stand corrected. Still won't be buying slimfast (but then I never did!)
Slim Fast has fired Whoopi as their spokesperson because she has agreed to speak at the Democratic convention. Not only is this ridiculous, but I'm never going to buy there products in protest. They are headquartered in Florida and I guess are another company that don't want to piss off the Bushs. I hope they let their employee's vote for who they want.
You know Whoopi is a public personality and if I see her speaking on a political issue or for a specific candidate I wouldn't assume that slim fast agrees with her. I assume she has a mind of her own, just like the rest of us, lets wait and see what happens in November.
She hasn't made a peep in 20 mins. Guess i'm heading back to bed :)
Night all
Megan has been up now for over an hour. She woke up screaming and I looked at the clock and though it was after 6, so I let her get up and we cuddled, she followed me to the bathroom and then we went back to bed and talked for 30 mins or so, then I realized it was really only 3 so I told her we had to go back to sleep, she said "NO" So I put her back in the crib and tried laying in bed - but her being able to see me meant she screamed very loudly. So I got a pillow and went out to the couch - The suites in Embassy Suites means we have 2 rooms. She's now crying every few minutes. She not sick, we're both just tired. So .... my apologies to the people in rooms 146 and 148 but I need to let her just have it out, or we're never going to go back to sleep.
We arrived in Atlanta, 15 mins early. I managed to get Megan, her car seat, our 50lb carry bag and the stroller all the way to the Rental car counter. We upgraded our car to a SUV, found a sky cab and he helped me get our 4 checked bags to the shuttle bus to the Hertz land. The driver of the bus dropped us off at the car, loaded all our bags and even helped me get the darn car seat installed. We then headed the mile back to the airport and went about one mile beyond to the hotel. Embassy suites is by reputation a fairly nice chain. This one is a tad ragged around the edges, and not as clean as I would normally like, but I'm tired and I don't really care.
So tomorrow we'll head off to SC to visit with the Luria/Bolduc/Herrington/Gehrt/etc family reunion!
We'll probably goto the zoo tomorrow while we're waiting for Aunt Marcia to arrive at 4.
Now onto the our flight. Lets just say that I won't be traveling on Delta again after this trip. I may have to if I loose my battle to get reimbursed for being over charged, but after all that is tied up I'm avoiding Delta form now on!
First was the whole being way over charged for our tickets and them not wanting to credit back the difference but offering me "travel Vouchers" This I've already blogged about. Then when we got to the airport and the plain started boarding the gate attendant wouldn't let me board till our row was called. So they boarded 1st class then starting in the back the loaded row by row (actually zone by zone) we were in the row at the front of the plain one up from 1st which mean we were the last to board. I have to have the stroller gate checked, get Megan and our 50lb carry bag and her car seat to our seat. Car seat then has to be installed, Megan installed in that ... and we're the last on the blooming plane. Every other airline has me board first, to spread things along - but not Delta, oh no they must make my life as complicated as possible.
The flight for the most part was uneventful, but I noted that they are now charging for food on Delta - paying extra for airplane food- have you ever heard of anything so ridiculous? This meant that food service took over twice as long as on any other flight. I chatted with one of the flight attendants about it while waiting for the toilet and she said between giving customers menus, putting the menu choices in her hand held computer and dealing with either credit cards or cash, the whole process takes so much longer for them.
They didn't really do anything else to annoy me. I'm just annoyed about over charge, non early boarding policy.
But hey we're here and its a whole 8 days till I have to deal with Delta again!
Here's a link to a great weblog called Dooce I've been reading alot lately. Anyway - her blog about getting ready for her trip was so funny I laughed my butt off. I had to share it.
Enjoy....
One day to plane flight and turns out we leave an hour earlier than I remembered so... that means I won't have much time in the morning for last min. prep. Today I had to pick up a life vest for Megan so she can safely go boating next week, she'll love it its bright orange and has lots of the buckles she loves to do up.
I also wanted to mow tonight which I just finished. I have a gardener for the front, but with the dogs we've learned its best to handle the back ourselves. Well, it seems to sad to be mowing perfect rows in green grass for no one to enjoy. The sole purpose was so that when I come back its manageable. Well Sadie will enjoy it, though she doesn't seem the least bit fazed by tall grass or short grass.
So I've re-discovered FIBS and have started playing it in my spare time. If you read this and are ever on ... I'm "Piter." I'm sure once I've packed tonight I'll be online while I watch who gets kicked out of the big brother house and what the British version of "Queer Eye" is like (saw the opening credits and its freakily the same as the US version).
So I switched over to the new commenting and well now no one can comment. Jack promises to figure it out, but I don't think he'll have time until ... who knows when. So you can't attack my political blogs. :)
so much to do to get ready to leave and I'm hosting a scrap booking night for some mom friends instead. Looking forward to sitting down and sorting through photos. Can't believe I'm a scrap booker! Megan will love having these albums when she's older though - As the baby of 5 all I got was a manilla envelope with snapshots and a empty baby book.
I'm still trying to figure out how two people of the same sex, who love each other and want to spend the rest of their lives together, will hurt my marriage. A contract between two people is just a contract. Why do we need marriages defined by the government. Church's can and should define marriages for their parishioners and the rest of us heathens should have the right to define marriage for ourselves. I never thought I would feel so embarrassed to be heterosexual.
I am so offended by the Amendment that the republican's are trying to pass right now. To put hatred into our constitution is an affront to America, our forefathers, and the constitution itself. I wish I could take a bigger stand, something more than just signing a petition, like saying Jack and I will burn our marriage certificate if it passes, for we don't want to married in a country that does not treat everyone equally. I know its not going to pass, but to put it out there is to say that hatred is OK, that THEY have the right to tell us how to live our lives, is wrong.
If we are not hurting anyone at all, and we are just living our lives as we choose than WE SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO LIVE WITH AND LOVE AND MARRY OR NOT MARRY WHO WE CHOOSE.
UPDATE: - it failed this morning to pass a procedural vote. I'm sure it will be back, but maybe there is some hope for common sense.
Megan fell asleep last night by 8, was zonked in my arms as we listened to music before bed, and she s just starting to stir now -its 8:50 am. One missed nap and we're back on schedule.
Today we are off to Little Gym. It's our teacher Ms Kendra's last day and we will miss her, and its our last day for a month.I'm glad we have such a big break since we are loosing our teacher. When we come back it will all be new.
The pool yesterday was nice, For a change Megan was the only kid in the baby pool except during adult swim when we were overwhelmed. It seemed to be dad's day as I saw lots of kids with dads and granddads but I felt like the only mom. I think that will be our last trip there till we get back. Guess that's all for now.
Megan went to bed last night at 8:30. When she was still awake at 9:30 I went in and tried to tell her sleepy time - she said "baby Baby" because she wanted to play more with Josephine, Pam and Yvonnes daughter. they had been over in the evening and the 2 girls had run around and around.
Megan slept in today till 11. She's now enjoying an apple before we head out to do some shopping and get lunch. We're going to go to the pool today during her usual nap time and then hopefully she'll go to sleep at her a more normal 8. Of course on Friday we leave for a month on the east coast and all bets are off as to when she goes to sleep and when she wakes up while we are there.
Had a great day wondering around the Santa Cruz Boardwalk and enjoying the rides, sun and sand....enjoy the Mostly Megan Pictures.
I thew out about a gallon of frozen breast milk yesterday. It had been victim to the freezer incident of 2004, but more than that it was over a year old and no longer had a willing consumer, as Megan likes her milk either fresh from the cow or chocolate.
I was so concerned early on that I wouldn't have enough milk, that I pumped and pumped and pumped. Turns out, I had more than enough. I think we'll probably go on till she's 2, unless she decides to quit sooner.
Last night while talking long distance to my sister Robin, got a call on the other line. I'd been waiting all day for the vet to call on Sadie so I clicked over. The woman identified herself as "Regina with DYG, Incorporated", looking for Jack, I told her he wasn't available and she asked when to call back I said LATE EVENING.
Imagine my surprise when at 6:57 in the morning Regina called us back waking not only Jack and myself up but Megan as well. I curse you Regina at DYG. The best one I can think of this bleary morning is... may the flees of a thousand camels infest your armpits!
We just got back from the Giants game (vs the Colorado Rockies) and what a way to see the game. Jack's company owns one of the boxes, and we enjoyed hanging out with his work crew while watching the game and eating great food.
It'll be hard to go back to cheap seats, for our next sporting event.
Megan loves her Sadie and thankfully Sadie loves her Megan otherwise THIS would never happen.