rayvyn2k: cute icon (kermit woot)
2008-03-29 08:50 am
Entry tags:

Welcome visitors

My dad and stepmother are visiting for the weekend. Last night me, hubby, my son and his family, my daughter-in-law's mother, b/f and son and my dad and stepmom all went out to dinner together. There was spilled soda and spilled beer, good food and loads of laughs. My dad looks great, he has fully recovered from the mono he had earlier this year...he lost a bunch of weight...I need to get mono too...maybe it would help. ;)

Yesterday I took some PT and shopped, cleaned (got rid of a bunch of clutter), and prepared food for today. Dad and stepmom are coming over and even though we were supposed to go out to eat at Carrabba's I mentioned that I had thought about making lasagna...Dad said it was one of his fav foods ever...and I was hooked. So yesterday, I grocery shopped, made sauce (with meatballs and sausage) and made dessert...put together the lasagna (after our dinner out) in-between cleaning the apartment enough for visitors. Oh, and I decided to make pulled-pork BBQ for lunch, so I put the stuff together in the crock pot and let it cook on low all night. OMG, the house smells so good right now. I pulled the pork this morning and it just fell apart in the pot. It tastes so yummy.

There is talk of maybe going to a little pioneer village nearby today, but I'm so stiff and sore from yesterday, I'm not sure if I can manage it...

I also need to get more cheese for the lasagna...and a bottle of wine...
rayvyn2k: kitten applause (kitten applause)
2007-07-03 07:59 am
Entry tags:

Visitors from Home

This evening, if all goes well, my dad and stepmother will be arriving in town for a couple of days. Needless to say, I have been cleaning like mad to get ready to actually invite people into my apartment.

(Two clutter-bugs should not be allowed to co-habitate.)

I've also made a huge lasagna, made some truffles and bought the most gorgeous cobalt blue dinnerware set... so my table should be beautiful. If I think of it, I'll take a picture after I set it.

We have to work today--bummer--but hopefully all of my preparations will make things easier tonight. Although, I forgot to buy aluminum foil, so I'm sending hubby out tonight to get it for me. heh.

I hope all of my American friends have a fabulous Fourth!
rayvyn2k: cute icon (Yay Kermit)
2006-07-25 05:48 pm
Entry tags:

Tomorrow, tomorrow...

...my son and his family will be here tomorrow night! I'm soooo excited! They are only here for a couple of days, looking around and scouting out apartments. I really hope they find something that they can afford and they like it here.

I spoke to him today and he was all business...LOL, my son can be self-important sometimes. When I reminded him not to drive too fast, he was in a big hurry to hang up. LOL.

They are stopping at my dad's house and spending the night in the guest house before starting off again on Wednesday morning. I'm really glad about that because I was worried about them driving all night.

They don't know it yet, but I'm bringing them to work Thursday morning to show them off a little bit before getting down to business.

I'll take pics, and post them once they've left.

Even though my son can get on my last nerve, I'm so very glad they are coming. :)
rayvyn2k: cute icon (Default)
2005-09-15 08:50 pm
Entry tags:

Some Randomness before Leaving

Tomorrow night at this time I will be in Ft. Lauderdale! YAY!!

My daughter wants to have breakfast and some "alone time" on Saturday morning. Yay, again!

I cannot wait to breathe the salt air of South Florida again.

But how could I leave this face behind? )

Here's a link to the new Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire movie. If the movie lives up to the trailer, it'll be the best one yet. My heart was pounding after I saw this! It looks like they've gotten all of the high spots of the book and the few things they've added are not TOO outrageous.
http://movies.aol.com/movie_exclusive_harry_potter_goblet_clip

I've already bought my hubby's anniversary gift and our anniversary is still over a month away. Five years! That's wood, and I've gotten him something that matches. :)

Random pic of a cute kitty...it's Merry on a box! )

Guess that's it for now, nothing much else going on. My bags are packed and I'm ready to go! Leaving straight from work tomorrow, so I won't be back on (except for some sneak peeks at work) until Sunday.
You guys behave and don't break the internet while I'm gone. I'll have pics when I get back!
rayvyn2k: cute icon (Default)
2005-09-09 07:45 am
Entry tags:

Friday!

Was going to go to bed early last night and then I saw The National Geographic Channel was showing a documentary called "Inside 911". I started watching it and couldn't stop. It was a very comprehensive, detailed account of everything that happened on that terrible day. Watching brought back all the feelings I had while I was watching when it happened...we were at work and they turned on the televisions after the first plane hit, so I saw everything that happened from then on...I can't believe it's been four years already.

On the way to work today I saw some folks standing and waving in front of a church and there was a sign that said "Drive-thru prayer"...interesting concept...I honked at them and they waved.

Dad is supposed to be visiting one day this weekend, so we have to stop being lazy and get the bathroom cleaned and the carpet vacuumed. Yuk, I hate housework.

Right, back to work.
rayvyn2k: cute icon (Default)
2005-09-04 08:58 am

Neil Gaiman Rocks (but most of you already knew that)

Neil Gaiman has become one of my favorite authors ever since Gregory introduced me to the Sandman series of graphic novels before we were married. Now, I think I've read everything he's ever written and am anxiously awaiting the release of "Anansi Boys" http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/006051518X/qid=1125842471/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-9427230-1647806?v=glance&s=books which is his latest novel.

I also read his blog religiously, and this week he has a combination of found kittens, Satanic tomatoes and hurricane relief information. Please check it out here: http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/journal.asp even if you just want to see a picture of a cute kitten.

On the homefront, hubby and I are simply relaxing this weekend--playing video games (yes, BOTH of us), watching the kittens and writing. I also need to finish crocheting the blanket I've been working on for one of my co-workers as this is her last week at work before she has the baby.

In two more weeks, I'll be in Florida! I'm only going for one day, but my sister is having one of her infamous cook-outs, so I'll get to see everyone. Can't wait to see how much the grandbabies have grown and I will be sharing pics once I get back.

That's it for now, just mostly wanted to post the link to Neil's blog since there's lots of info there.
rayvyn2k: cute icon (Default)
2005-04-24 01:26 pm
Entry tags:

Pics from my brother's party

As promised, here's some pics from my brother's 40th birthday party. We had such a great time!
Behind a cut out of respect for my pals on dial up )
It was a wonderful weekend!
rayvyn2k: cute icon (Default)
2005-04-12 06:11 am
Entry tags:

I can finally update!

I have been dying to tell everyone about what's been going on lately, but I couldn't. My sister and I were cooking up a surprise for the family and some of them read this LJ.

What was the surprise? Well, my sister got quite a hefty bonus from work and she decided one of the things she wanted to do with it was to bring me and my hubby down to Ft. Lauderdale for my little brother's birthday! She found some (fairly) inexpensive airline tickets online and called me. Of course, I was thrilled. As you know, I have been pining for my family for ages, and this was just the ticket.

We went last weekend, and it was fabulous. I will update again later when I have more time with all of the details--we surprised everyone!

TAR is on tonight and I want Lynn and Alex to be eliminated. I was so upset that the cute, funny brothers, Brian and Greg, were last to the mat last week. (But I was so happy that Rob and Amber got there first!)

I'll have a longer update with pictures soon!
rayvyn2k: cute icon (Default)
2004-10-13 11:55 am
Entry tags:

Heading South

Tomorrow morning we are heading south to FL for the inturnment of my brother's ashes on my Dad's property.

Tonight after work my husband is going to do the laundry (yay! even though I have to fold it to prevent it looking like it just came out of the bottom of the closet). After that is finished, we have to go drop off an apartment key to my MIL so she can check on the cats while we are gone. Then it's off to the airport to pick up the rental car and back home to pack and (hopefully) load some of the stuff.

Somewhere in there we have to find some supper.

Tomorrow morning we are leaving for the 8-9 hour drive (depending on who's driving, heh) to my father's place where we'll meet up with my other sibs. Friday is supposed to be the event...my mom is coming with her husband then. Saturday will see an influx of about twenty other relatives. EEK! I don't know how many are staying over, many I think. We are all scattered in the motels in the area.

I'm not sure what's on the agenda for Sunday and then Monday we are heading back home.

I hope the cats don't destroy the apartment too much while we're gone...
rayvyn2k: cute icon (Default)
2004-09-21 09:58 pm
Entry tags:

I'm Baaack!

I had such a great time in FL...I got to stay with my son and his fiance and their new baby. Tyler is such a good baby...it was a joy to be around him. I kind of wished my hubby wanted a baby...but--maybe not.

I will do a longer update soon...but right now I just want to say...

YAY!!!!!!!!!!

Chip and Kim won The Amazing Race!! I am so glad! This is the first time since I've been watching that a team I was rooting for has actually won. They played the game so well, they never gave up, and they had the best attitude throughout the whole race. I just fell in love with them and they totally deserve it.

I am sooo damned tired, I'm going to bed. I'll post a more detailed account of my trip (along with pictures of the babies) soon, I promise.
rayvyn2k: cute icon (Default)
2004-09-16 04:41 pm

Up, up and away!

Just a quick entry to let you all know I'm going away for the weekend...going to see my family in Ft. Lauderdale. I can't wait to hold the new baby! And the "old" baby, too! And to see everyone...it'll be nice.
There will be limited (if any) computer access, so I'm just saying "See you all later!"
rayvyn2k: cute icon (Default)
2004-08-23 10:02 pm
Entry tags:

Quick update before bed

My sister is back in FL, my hubby started his new job, and I'm finally updating again.

The weekend was fantastic. My sister arrived on Thursday night and we headed to Ruby Tuesday's to meet my hubby for dinner. Much laughter and good food ensued. Afterwards we came back here, introduced her to our kittens and watched the Olympics for a while before heading to bed.

Friday dawned gray and rainy. We puttered around the house for a bit, got showered and dressed and headed to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. My sister couldn't decide, so we each got something different and shared. It was nice to have a taste of all different things.

After breakfast we headed to Nashville and the Parthenon. http://www.nashville.gov/parthenon/
It is an awesome structure and we love to take first-timers there. It had stopped raining by the time we arrived. Pictures were taken outside and then we headed in. There was a cool exhibition of Olympic art/photography in their gallery (not to mention their awesome permanant collection) to see and then we headed upstairs to see the statue of Athena.

It is awesome. Standing there looking up, one can imagine why the ancients believed the gods (and goddesses) were present in their temples. If you ever get a chance to visit Nashville, stop by the Parthenon.

After we had looked at everything inside, we went out to the manmade pond and fed the ducks some bread I had brought with us. They were fun and cute and we enjoyed that too.

Then it was into the car and off to my in-laws' house in the country. We arrived and showed my sister where our house is eventually going to be built, then we took her to the farm. She was impressed, and my MIL fed us BBQ and all the fixins. We visited for a bit and then went back home.

More Olympics and then early to bed.

Saturday, we got up and ready early, stopped by Sonic for breakfast and then headed to the Wilson County Fair. http://www.wilsoncounty.com/fair/
We walked all around looking at the animals and stuff. Then we sat and listened to a bit of the bluegrass guitar picking competition. Hubby spotted his grandfather in the crowd and we said hello and introduced my sister. Then it was off to see more stuff...bunnies, chickens, cows, etc---and we rode some of the rides and ate some fair food. (mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, fair food) We were there for hours...just doing fair stuff. We left before the demolition derby and came back here for more Olympics! We got take out food and talked and talked. We didn't want it to end, but it had to. We went to bed, sad because my sister was leaving the next morning.

Sunday morning--we got up and my sister got showered and packed. We went to Cracker
Barrel again (YUM!) for a last breakfast with my sister before taking her to the airport. Then we took her there, and dropped her off...I was so sad. *sigh* On the bright side, it was a fantastic visit and I am going to Ft. Lauderdale next month to visit my family again!

I guess this went much longer than I intended.
I miss my sister so much!