easter 2008

My goodness, it’s been a long time since I’ve written! Last weekend was Easter, so we all went to visit my Grandma Cook in Illinois. We stayed at the Baymont Inn and Suites. Usually we stay at the Holiday Inn Express, but it was booked. Honestly I don’t think it made a difference. We all stayed at the same place, so that was nice. When I say all of course I mean Beth, Russell & family; Abbie, Carl & family; and Amy, Rodney & family.

We went to the Children’s Museum of Illinois in Decatur, Illinois. It’s usually a toss up between the Children’s Museum and Scovill Zoo, depending on the weather. The kids LOVE the museum. It’s a nice size. There is lots of role playing/hands on stuff for them to do. It’s just enough to keep them interested for a while (various age groups) and not overwhelm them. I think that my favorite part is the make believe town area. It cracks me up. There is a little grocery store (complete with dairy, produce and milk sections), cash registers, play money, and little carts. It’s so cute to see your kids walk up to the register like little grown ups and unload their mini grocery carts. There is also a post office adjacent to the store. It has mail slots complete with addressed letters that need to be sorted, a mail box, scales to weigh packages…even a little honorary postmaster badge and mail carryin’ sling. Too cute. And, there is a bank. It has a drive up window, a safe, a calculator and debit lookin’ machine. There are deposit slips, checks. It’s pretty extensive in its detail. I have heard that the Children’s Museum in Cincinnati I think is this same concept but much more elaborate. I think that in the next few years we will have to make a point to go there, because even though they love a lot of the exhibits at the Children’s Museum in Illinois I think that this is the one that uses the most imagination that they have the most fun at.

After the Children’s Museum we drove around a lot. I showed the kids Millikin University (where I went to college my sophomore year), the ZTA house on the corner of Main St. and Decatur St. (the sorority that I rushed). I also drove them by the Family Drug on the South side of Decatur Lake where I worked in college to pay my bills.

We swam in the pool when we got to the hotel. Of course Olivia had a life/death experience. She is a very eager swimmer, although she isn’t as fearful as I sometimes would hope. When she has her life jacket on I have no problem with her swimming and jumping back and forth, but, when she uses the bathroom sometimes the whole “putting the jacket” back on escapes her and she jumps in sans floatation devices. Luckily she’s a good enough swimmer that she can tread water until she realizes her error and someone saves her. This time it was a nice stranger staying at the hotel who happened to be relaxing in the pool. DON’T JUDGE ME, I was on my way over….he was just right there so he grabbed her quicker 

The kids all slept well. And, the evening before Easter, I met with my sisters (Beth, Amy and Abbie) in the lobby with our bags full of goodies to fill Easter baskets-while eating Monical’s Pizza of course! Which reminds me, I still owe my sister Beth about $10. I better put that down in writing because even though I will quickly forget, she will keep it in her mental log book forever…. It was funny because before Ryan even unwrapped everything in his basket he was negotiating up and down the hall with his cousins, trying to use what he had gotten to get what he wanted!

We then went to Grandma Cook’s to eat lunch, visit with family and have the Easter egg hunt. Grandma’s house is REALLY crowded (3 bedrooms and 1 bath) so we always pray for good weather to allow us to spread outside. Not this year though, for the first time for as long as I can remember it snowed while we were out there hiding eggs. Big white fluffy flakes. It didn’t deter us though; the Easter Egg hunt went on as usual.

The only thing that I can remember that went wrong is that Ryan forgot an entire small suitcase full of his stuffed animals (I think about 11, mostly pigs) and Grandma had to mail them to us. We had told him not to bring them, but alas, it was inevitable. How Grandma got that many swine in a little 11 x 13 x 4 box will always amaze me……

This year Easter was on March 23rd, which also happened to be Erik’s birthday. I got him a DVD (Harold and Kumar goes to White Castle) and some slippers that he LOVED from Pamida, but I don’t think that he was very happy, or impressed. That night when we got home and collapsed in our own bed, completely tired and exhausted, he solemnly asked me, “Why don’t you every do anything for my birthday? I know that you are nice to me everyday, and I really shouldn’t even complain……but it just hurts my feelings…..”

The truth is…… I just don’t care. God, written out that sounds terrible…. What I mean is, birthdays just don’t mean a lot to me, so the fact that they sometimes mean a lot to others eludes me. Wow, that doesn’t sound much better. Truthfully when it comes to Erik I have a lot of ideas. Another backscratcher. A pedi-egg. A neck pillow. An I-Pod. A gift card to Best Buy. A new grill. Grilling accessories. A gift certificate for a massage. A cool/awesome electric razor. A pair of hair trimmers. Clean out, organize, and insulate/drywall the garage. But all of these things take money, which I never have. And the creative, non-expensive solutions that sound fun at first thought, become cheesier and cheesier as time goes by, thus leaving me giftless ( and without an explanation) on the special day.

And, in my defense, he’s not exactly great all the time either. When I was scheduled to be induced on 2/13/04 with Olivia and Rebekah he had a huge tax refund check in his pocket and still didn’t bother to stop at the sale table outside of the hospital gift shop to buy me a Valentine’s Day Present*—after I had given birth to not just one, but TWO of his children. I, in turn, had bought cards for him, Chelsea, and Ryan, in anticipation of Valentine’s Day the day after my delivery.

And I am nice to him EVERY single day. I send him nice notes. Drowned him in compliments. Fix him his favorite meals. Buy him ice cream. Let him sleep in. Rub his feet. I would quickly say to another, within earshot of Erik, that I spoil him a bit.

But, irregardless of that, this whole gift thing is clearly a hot topic for him. Christmas was the same last year. Money was tight. I said no gifts. Everything was going to the kids. He bought me a $20 coffeepot with a timer and carafe from Wal-Mart, I got him nothing—as agreed. Who do you think was the scrooge? Exactly!

Anyway, as I said, he was disappointed that I didn’t get the parade together on his birthday (of course I am exaggerating, lol) so I had to redeem myself, after the fact. So, with help from his best friend Chris, and his wife Amy, I was able to schedule a surprise 38th birthday party on Saturday, April 5th. It was a success. There were a lot of people. Not everyone that I had hoped, but enough to make it fun. I made little smokies wrapped in bacon and dipped in brown sugar, and spicy buffalo chicken dip. Amy made pulled Italian Beef sandwiches (see drive in entry on 7/7/2008 for the recipe!) It was a good time. He was completely shocked and surprised. Unfortunately I had to leave early because I had a nasty migraine that made me start getting sick—or maybe it was too much Buffalo Chicken dip . But he got see some friends and spend some time sans kids, so that’s always good. That was his gift. A few hours with his old friend Independent Erik.

*side note: He did, with the tax check the next year, get me a kick ass digital camera and printer. And has also gotten me an I-pod that I adore. So when he has money, like me, and almost everyone in the free world, he does o.k.

Easter 2008

A once in a lifetime experience!

Easter is always the 1st Sunday after the 1st full moon after the Spring
Equinox (which is March 20). This dating of Easter is based on the lunar
calendar that Hebrew people used to identify Passover, which is why it moves
around on our Roman calendar.

Here's the interesting info. This year is the earliest Easter any of us
will ever see the rest of our lives! And only the most elderly of our
population have ever seen it this early (95 years old or above!). And none of
us have ever, or will ever, see it a day earlier! Here are the facts:

1) The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be the year 2228
(220 years from now). The last time it was this early was 1913 (so if you're 95
or older, you are the only ones that were around for that!).

2) The next time it will be a day earlier, March 22, will be in the year
2285 (277 years from now). The last time it was on March 22 was 1818. So, no
one alive today has or will ever see it any earlier than this year!

e-mails

Here are some emails that a couple of girlfriends and I sent back and forth today, I put a lot of thought into my responses and think that A) it says a lot about me and my state of mind right now, and B) might be helpful for myself to look back on someday when I need that advice!

To Angie re: having a bad day

I am so sorry that you had such a bad day. Some days are just like that! I had a yucky day too. I just cried and cried and cried off and on all day. Anyway, I started my period, I have only $16.42 in my checking account until Friday (I couldn’t even get a drink at Starbucks, I had to get all parched and then suck down the warm diet cherry coke I had left in the car when we were done at yoga last night—although of course I didn’t tell ANYONE that!). The little light on my gas tank came on when I pulled into work, so I am going to have to use most of that $16 to get some gas to keep me going until Friday morning. I had some leftover pizza when I got back last night, only to discover that Chelsea had broken a glass on the counter earlier that evening and the secret topping in my pizza wasn’t really hard/gritty onion, but instead shards of glass, lol. I suspect she is trying to kill me, hehe. I guess she didn’t succeed, because I haven’t had any side effects as of yet……..btw, if you happen to run into a dr. today at work ask if small pieces of glass can slowly kill you or rip apart your intestine, lol. And I guess tonight I will have to write a bad check to Hungry Howies (because I have no food and they take DAYS to process their checks). OR, go to Kroger, buy some groceries, and write the bad check for $20 over the amount so I can have some gas money too…..Kroger takes about 3 days too, so I MIGHT just get away with it.

Hope you have a better day today!

Have faith in yourself, you know what’s best for your son. You are a great mom.

Be nice to your husband [a police officer] (I like him, and he carries a gun, lol).

Men are jerks sometimes. I mean, we mothers can’t be perfect ALL the time for goodness sakes! Even God took off the seventh day! It always amazes me how Erik never notices me juggling 1200 balls effortlessly, but is so quick to stop the world from rotating on its axis if God forbid one hits the floor. Don’t let your husband make you feel bad for dropping the ball….make a point to recognize all the great things you accomplished this week, heck….even just today.

But seriously, time will fix all of these problems. Just “keep swimming.”

To Melissa re: Happy Birthday

The kids are doing fine. Chelsea has registration tonight. She is just “itching” to buy all her school supplies and stuff. We can’t even start until we know what class she is in because each room is so freakin’ specific. Sometimes it makes me wonder if they are all teaching the same curriculum. How come one needs a protractor and the other needs a disposable camera? Ryan has a “meet the teacher” on August 8^th. It’s not for the kids though, just for the parents. I have to bring in his school supplies and stuff (which is good because they have to bring in SOOO much stuff-I didn’t want to send it all in on that first day). I went with him the other day and let him pick out his backpack. He got a Spiderman one with a mini-skateboard. What a little man! The other day I brought him and and his cousin to Burger King and to see Ratatouille (great movie by the way-Finding Nemo good) and I stopped at Target to get their pics taken—my little men, getting ready to start kindergarten! They are so cute! Flexing their muscles and stuff.

Chelsea, well…..she’s just Chelsea. Drama. Drama. Drama. Sometimes I think her entire world is a stage and her family is just the inadequate understudies she got stuck with. It’s as though she has some invisible script that no one else can see…..and we just keep have to keep doing the same scene over and over and over again until we get the lines right and complete it to her satisfaction! The arguments are so ridiculous, and redundant. Usually it’s her attitude and tone, which of course is a gray area that pre-teens like to exploit. I can’t PROVE that she rolled her eyes, so in her mind she can’t be called out for it. I think it will be a close race in the end….her graduating from high school alive, and me keeping my sanity. I just hope there is enough left to struggle my way through the other three’s adolescence.

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Mine is coming up September 22^nd. I pretty much have put it on the calendar as being a sucky day. It’s not as though anything catastrophic happens to make it horrible, but any not so great thing is WAY exaggerated when it happens on your birthday. That is the day you were born. The day the world changed. There should be parades, ballads, sonnets for Christ’s sake! People should be reflecting on how your birth changed their lives (the world at large) and singing your praises. They should be thanking you, honoring you. It should be the one day a year when you are not taken for granted-----BUT, it’s not. And it won’t be. Probably ever. Put it on your calendar as just another day, cause truth be told…..your kids (and maybe even your husband), they aren’t thinking about the enormous ramifications of your birth and how thankful they should be that you came into their lives—they are just wanting cake! And probably, in your husband’s case, sex. You have to make this day special, if not “today” then some day soon. Do something for yourself. Ask your mom to watch the kids at your house and go to hers to take a nap. Call a friend, ahem, and schedule a movie. Meet someone at the Cheesecake Factory for some well needed sugar. Or do all three. Honor yourself. Reward yourself. Be proud of yourself. You’ve accomplished a lot these last 6 years Melissa, and you are working hard to make some big changes in the future—for yourself and your family. They will be proud of you for that someday, but you owe it to yourself to be proud today. Just make a decision that no matter what you are going to take a deep breath and be happy today….I mean look at all you have to look forward too….cake AND sex, lol.

NOW---Go get your cake on girlfriend.

angie, melissa, chelsea, ryan, birthday