Money for nothin'

It's been a rough couple of weeks. We've been living in repetitious cycle, consisting of the following fun activities with our daughter:

Step 1: Refuse to do something (such as brushing teeth)
Step 2: Refuse 2nd request, stomp feet
Step 3: Refuse more loudly. Scream if necessary.
Step 4: Start the waterworks. Continue refusing, even when presented with potential negative consequence, such as possible time out.
Step 5: Scream, yell, and/or hit, as needed when being escorted to naughty chair
Step 6: continue yelling and screaming. Stand firmly, arms crossed, chin up when refusing to sit in naughty chair. Ignore various warnings that time portion of punishment will not start until properly seated
Step 7: finally sit. Try to play with cat, talk to /yell at parents while seated
Step 8: When finally released from punishment, behave for 3 minutes before finding another reason to repeat cycle.
Start again with Step 1.

In an effort to break the cycle, we decided to put in an incentive plan for good behavior - a star board. If she behaves (as she ought to without promise of recompense) she gets a star. If she gets 10 stars, she can pick a prize from a bowl of $1 target bin goodies we picked up this weekend. Stars do get taken away if she behaves badly. So far, so good. She's up to 5 stars, and is enthusiastic about earning more. Let's hope we've turned a corner!

I Statements

Ava continues to work on her "I statements" at home. These are phrases such as "I feel sad when I have to go home at the end of the day". Apparently, according to one of her teachers, this exercise is supposed to enable her to communicate why she is behaving the way she is, and so on. (Because all of you who have met Ava know that she's seriously deficient in communication skill.)
At our house, however, the I statement is a clearly manipulative tool, meant to garner pity and gain one's hearts desire. "I feel sad when you won't take me to a different park," and "I feel mad when you punish me for throwing the kitty".
Durr. Yesterday, Casey and I must have spent the better part of our day lecturing how the world did not revolve around Ava, and that how she was really barking up the wrong tree if she thought such blatantly manipulative statements would convince two parents who were both youngest children, and as such, were complete masters of much more sophisticated tools of parental manipulation.
Much yelling. Many many trips to the Naughty chair.
Finally, near the end of the night, after stories were read, and Ava was in bed, I thought we were finally having a breakthrough with the lesson. When I told her that she needed to care more about what other people thought or wanted, she replied: "I care about Daddy's feelings." Ok, I get a skip. I can live with that.
Then, after rubbing her back for a time in our nightly ritual, I lean over to kiss her goodnight. I hear her whisper, "I'm sorry, Mommy." My heart melts. Until she continues: "I'm sorry I didn't get to go to the park."

First Day of Kindergarten!

I have to say, I'm kind of stunned.

After all my worries, all the fears that such a big change would be hard to take, Ava practically ran away from her dad and I to get to her first day of Kindergarten.

The morning began well - she woke up by herself, and even got herself dressed, without prompting, and before breakfast and cartoons. This is unprecedented. There were no last minute attempts to change outfit to a dress, nor complaints about wearing shoes instead of sandals. Again, unprecedented. It felt strangely as if she'd been doing this for months.

We did get some photos, and the Celebutant posing was about the only throwback to the Ava of the summer.

When it was finally time to leave for the school, she literally bolted! We had to keep telling her to slow down, and wait for Mom and Dad!

She picked the backpack herself. The tee shirt also. Also hippie purse, although I kind of like that one. As much as it pains me, she should be allowed some artistic expression.

Once she met her new teacher, Mrs. Fairchild, she was happy as could be and glommed on to her like the teacher's pet /pest she was meant to be. ( I knew she got some of my genes! Casey said if she'd been like him, she would have either hidden in a corner, or hit the other kids.) Ava stuck by Mrs. Fairchild's side, and introduced herself to others when Mrs. Fairchild went to meet them! (yeah, ok, BIG teacher's pet.) Soon enough, it was time to line up, and say goodbye to Mom and Dad.

In a way, it was really anti-climactic! Or maybe I should say well organized and planned, and in perfect harmony with the personality traits of our little-miss-sociable.

We decided to let her have the full day - kindergarten, afternoon wondergarden, and a bit of the "kids club" afterschool program on the first day, so that she could meet everyone, and not be the odd-man-out on the second day. I was concerned that it might be too much...what if she'd had a melt-down mid day and now felt abandoned?

When we went to pick her up at 4:15, she saw us come in the door...and started pouting that she had to leave. That's our girl.

I Love my Mother in Law

She watches my daughter 3 days a week in the summer (at her house), and wishes it were 5.

She babysits on weekends. She'll drive an hour to come to our house to do this.

She openly wonders how her son managed to get such a fine wife.

She buys me goofy dish towels, and handy kitchen gizmos.
She came over and spent one weekend helping me strip, sand, and varnish 24 cabinets/drawers in 85 degree weather.

She came two weeks later for another weekend to help me prep and then paint the kitchen. Hell, she did MOST of the prepping and painting herself!!

I love that woman.

The flash makes the cabinets and paint look a little weird...green is a bit more muted, and cabinets less shiny. But you get the idea. Not Architectural Digest, but not bad for what we had to work with!

Nature Walk

Jen was kind enough to take pity on me and my husband-less state a week ago, and suggested we meet up for a Nature Walk. We went to the Lloyd Stage Nature center in Troy, a place I'd never even heard of before, but it was really nice - especially for the purpose of doing a circuit with 5 and 6 year old nature lovers. Ava then invited herself over to Jen's house, to which Jen graciously accepted, and we all hung out for a bit. Very nice Saturday. Sure beats kitchen remodelling, which has seemed to be my life in August.

First Baseball Game

Thanks to Grandma Joan and Grampa John, Ava went to see her first Tiger's baseball game on August 29th. It started out a bit drizzly, but not too bad. Ava loved all the people in the stands that she could talk to, and younger kids to smile and make faces with. She was also bound and determined to get some ice cream out of the adventure.

Here she is transitioning from the faux-unhappy face that she's been so fond of lately, to laughing. You will note that she's not exactly in the best positon to be watching the game.

After about three or four innings, the ice cream man still hadn't come by, so we went off to explore the other delights of Comerica Park, including the Ferris wheel. I was really stunned and amazed at the dearth of ice cream vendors....we covered a good 1/4 of the perimeter without so much as a popsicle to be found.

We did finally find one near the ferris wheel, though we had to "settle" for scoop ice cream in a waffle cone, instead of the desired ice cream bar. Life is full of disappointments, I know.

The ballpark also provided Ava with a first-time fan certificate, and a poster of her "favorite" Tiger, Justin Veerlander. Granted, it's the only Tiger she knows, but not a bad choice...and I always thought he looks a lot like Casey, if Casey had facial hair. I hate to even write that line, because knowing Casey, it's like daring him to grow some ridiculous facial hair.

Tigers did well, and we wound up getting out of there just in time before the rain started coming down, and the sugar started wearing off.

20th Reunion weekend

Yep, I'm old. Or, as my dad so delicately put it when I told him I was going to my 2oth High School reunion, " Aw, Sh*t."

There was a bit of drama in the run up to this fabulous event - in the form of who, exactly, was going to come with me. In the end, Dear Husband was called into reluctant action, but was happy to be told his tour of duty would end when the open bar did.

Before the actual reunion, I had a little mini-reunion with Jen, Stacy and Lori at the Chalet. Frieda was working it that night, and plying us with more drinks than we really ought to have had. (She did reciprocate Katie and Tim's shout-out, BTW). We gals had a fantastic time chatting and catching up with Lori, who we hadn't seen in a while. We also had a sneek peek of Saturday in the form of some other Seaholmites who were also making the pilgrimage to the Chalet. Too much fun.

Friday night there was to be a bar night at Dick O'Dow's in B'ham, but where the mind might have been willing, the body definately was not. Aside from that, I generally try to make myself available to my child and husband for at least a couple of hours a week.

Saturday, I did get a happy surprise in that Stacy, at the last minute decided to go to the reunion. Casey tried to get a last minute reprive, but to no avail. Off we went to Birmingham.

I had a genuine blast. You forget how many people you know, sometimes, and how long some of these folks have known you. At least 5-10 of the folks I talked to have known me since I was 6. I was also really pleased to see how great everyone looked. Yeah, I know this statement is being met with huge guffaws, but truly. No, I'm not going all Melanie-Hamilton-Booth on you, I just figure it means I don't look so old either!! Probably my only regret is that I couldn't keep myself off of the dance floor. Not that I didn't enjoy dancing, or worried about being judged for my usually-over-enthusiastic gyrations, but because there were so many people I missed talking to...should have focused more on that. It was like my wedding - it went by so quickly that I was stunned when it was over. But, those of you who know me well understand that me passing up dancing when there's great music is a virtual impossibility for me. Depending on who's reading this, you'll all either be proud or ashamed of me, as I did manage to control myself enough to pass up on the invites to continue the party at 220. Had to drive myself home, after all.

Turns out that was a good idea, since I got pulled over about three blocks after leaving the parking lot. (Apparently, I missed a no-turn-on-red sign.) Thankfully, the ridiculously child-like cop let me off with a warning. (another reason to always fight your tickets people...if I'd had a record I'm sure I'd have gotten a ticket).

The other advantage of not partying too hard was that I could really enjoy going out to golf with Casey and Ava on Sunday. Still golfed horribly, but that's noting new or surprising!

The summer of bummer

I realized, when giving someone the rundown of what I've been up to in the last couple of weeks, it's really been kind of cruddy summer. Plans cancelled, friends hurt, husband unable to golf, kitty dead, all kinds of household annoyances, cold and relatively rainy summer. Hopefully, this weekend will be a turning point, and we can banish "The Summer of Bummer" for the rest of the season.

Last weekend, we pulled up the parquet on the kitchen floor, trying to prep for a new floor. Guess what we found? More floor. Yep, 60 year old linoleum under about a quarter inch of glue. The wallpaper-happy-glue-crazed prior owner strikes again. We were hoping that by removing the parquet ourselves, we could significantly reduce the cost of the new floor, but perhaps no...we'll have to see. Let the quoting process begin! On a happier note, our garbage men rock, and will take anything away, including overloaded barrels of wooden tile.

Sunday, I took Ava to the water park and beach at Kensington. Here she is, shivering under her towel. 72 degrees and windy isn't the best weather for pool play....

This past week was birthday festival at the Fox house --- Casey and I took off his birthday, the 16th, and mine the next day, and got to do a host of things we like to do - eat out, go see HP movie, go to the zoo, go out to dinner, etc. Very nice. We also managed to be somewhat productive, and shopped for fridge, etc. We're such party animals these days.

Note to my dear readers: Save the date: Saturday, July 16, 2011. Planning ahead for Casey's 39th and my 40th.

Remembering Roadkill (aka Kitty, Big Dummy, Ol' Blue)

For those of you who didn't know, we had to put Roadkill to sleep this weekend. He stared getting sick this spring, and we found out his kidneys were shutting down. As you know, we're not the type to shell out thousands on cat dialysis, and the vet did say that sometimes these things do resolve themselves, so we focused on keeping him happy, and trying to get him to eat food with a lower protein content. Alas, he seemed to be turned off by eating, and kept getting thinner and thinner, no matter what we tried, including his original food. We've been debating what to do for a couple of weeks, as he's been a little bag of fluff and bones. We decided that while he still seemed happy, best to wait it out, love him up as much as possible, and if the time came when he seemed to be suffering, we'd put him to sleep.

Last week, he took a turn for the worse, and stopped drinking. We tried putting some fluids into him (vet gave us a kitty IV), but on Friday night he was laying on the bathroom floor with labored breathing. Finally, Saturday morning, he was barely concious and couldn't stand, so we decided the moment had arrived. We explained to Ava what was going on, and we all cried a little, and hugged and kissed him goodbye. Casey took him to the emergency vet.

We will all miss our big, dumb, slow, huggable love muffin. He may not have been graceful, or brilliant, but he was loyal, quiet, affectionate, and maintained a perfect track record with the litter box, all the way till the end. He was clever enough in his own way...he knew I was a total sucker for him when he sat up, so he'd be sitting up in the kitchen when I'd wake up in the morning, just waiting to be flopped over for a belly rub. Casey had him since he was a little kitten, when the two were almost inseparable, so he's understandably upset, although cheered by the fact that Big Kitty had a very good, and for his breed, a long life. We'll miss him very much.

Ava Fox - youth counselor

Ava may have some issues (as do most kids....and most straight men, for that matter) with being considerate of other peoples feelings, wishes and desires when she's in her normal operating mode, but when it comes to helping someone in distress, she's a little angel.

As evidenced at the pool today. First photo - normal mode, perhaps thinking, "hey, there's a tush!" or "I hope I didn't look as awkward getting out of the pool"

Then, little William, in process of having a meltdown is spotted:

Comfort provided. So proud of my little sweetie.

Who sold us this bill of goods?

I'm curious as to what evil think tank ever sold us on the joys and financial gains of home ownership. Granted, I wouldn't be whining about it too much if it weren't for the current real estate market - or if our house handn't decided that this was the year to have a bunch of things go wrong at once.
My current discontent stems from the fact that the AC decided to go on the fritz (and drip condensation water in the basement ceiling) leaving me hot and bothered, and not in the good way. The fridge also decided that it was time to start leaking water on to the kitchen floor, which happens to be parquet, so those started buckling as well. So, now we need a whole army of various workmen to come out. And as you working homeowners know, this isn't easy, cheap or convenient, even when they DO show up when they are supposed to show up. Durr.
So, it got me to wondering...between the repair / replacement costs, regular indoor/outdoor maintenance, lost vacation time, and of course the mortgage, are we really coming out ahead? (if we tried to sell now, I could give you a resounding "NO") This doesn't even take into account the regular, irritating things going wrong, like the constant battle against weeds, mega bushes, invasive mint-and other irritating growth, and the normal wear and tear items, like roof, furnace, driveway, etc.
On the plus side, we don't share a wall with neighbors. Hard to find apartments like that... Guess the heat is just getting to me. AC guy comes tomorrow. Back to more optimistic thoughts then.

Creepy information

When I changed the format of this blog, I lost the counter at the bottom. Instead of using a new counter, I opted to use Google Analytics. (Ok, I just couldn't remember how to set up the counter) Google Analytics shows # of visits, and also some other things, such as which site referred people to my blog, etc. These are meant for marketers.
I was curious, though to see where my "traffic" was coming from - Facebook? Mostly, it was from people in Blogger.
What was creepy, though, was the one referral, for someone searching for the following key words: "Spank Her." Ewww.

Resigned to adulthood

While I still feel internally like I'm 18 years of age, I have to remind myself that the body is not.

Friday afternoon was our company picnic. As part of the picnic, we get a keg. I, forgetting that we have reduced our staff by half, put in our normal order for 1/2 barrel. (That's about 15 gallons of beer) Of course, we had a TON left over, which was good news for me as HR. Bad news is that I took the thing home, in a misguided attempt not to waste good beer. Casey, Brett and I gave it our redneck-garage-squattin-beer-drinkin' best, but were unable to so much as dent the thing. (My best these days is probably 3 or 4 beers). Regardless, it was enough to really do me in, and I wound up creeping down into the basement to sleep upright in the cool air, fighting wreched nausea and headache. Yet another reminder I'm not as young as I feel, alas!!

I rallied reasonably well, and we headed out for breakfast with Ava. The Jones' took Ava off our hands for a few hours, and Casey and I ran a bunch of errands.

For Father's Day, we made Casey some eggs Benedict, and generally acquiesed to his wishes. We made a goodwill run, and then a run to Meijer's to get Ava a small toy in exchange for donating a bunch of other toys to Goodwill. Amusingly, she picked a kitty that looked just like ours, and like ours, named it Roadkill too! (Although her Roadkill is a girl)

The Jones' offered (again!) to take Ava for a bit, so I could finish weeding and mulching. We definately owe them some serious babysitting.

Wee little rant

Yes, I rant. And more than occasionally rave. Get used to it. The subject of today's rant is people who can't differentiate between people and pets. Don't get me wrong. I love our cat, but I remain aware that he is a cat, not a child.

The reason I bring this up is because one of my best friends was recently attacked (mauled, not just bitten) by a dog. She hadn't been baiting it, or threatening it, or acting aggressively. She was at a loss for the trigger for the attack. You'd think, especially in light of this, that the dog's owner would have some serious misgivings about the dog, and would put the dog down. Of course not. Excuses galore, and the blame game "you must've done something." I can understand the impulse for this - we never want to believe that something (note the use of thing, not one) we love can be bad, or have flaws such that existence is no longer a reasonable option. Perhaps we've all become so isolated and individualized that we no longer prioritize what is best for the world at large over that which is desireable for ourselves. (There's ample evidence for this, I think) But that doesn't mean it doesn't drive me absolutely crazy.

Granted, I am not a dog owner, and feel that it's very unlikely that Big Dumb Kitty is going to be going for anyone's jugular at any point, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't give him the needle if he became a menace. I'm also comfortable putting a price tag on his head...if he needed $2,000 surgery, he'd be getting the $100 toxic sandwich. Call me cold - maybe it's a product of my upbringing, only a generation or so away from farmers who considered animals assets, not amigos - but that's just how I roll. I'm a people person. :)

Summer of Ava

Today is the first day of Ava's three-day-a-week excursions to Grandma Sue's. Already (it's 11:40 am at the moment) I've gotten the following:

This was at 8:30. What are they making for breakfast? Cake? Cupcakes? She's not even out of her pajamas....

And a trip to the Strawberry picking place. At least those are good for her! Wow. What's for the afternoon - a trip to Chuck E. Cheese? Casey and I are going to have to do some serious deprogramming when she gets home. We can't (and wouldn't even try to) compete with Grandma.

Affection gone awry

In our house, Ava gets spanked a lot. Of course spanking involves rapid soft pats on the tush, and is a sign of affection, not punishment. I don't know how it came to be, but we all do this. It's such a habit that we've had to deliver numerous lectures on why spanking mom in Meijers isn't appropriate.
On Saturday, at the end of some trivial, playful arguement, I grabbed Ava, put her across my lap and started "spanking." I told her that since she was so naughty, I was going to spank her all day. Her response?
"I LOVE IT!!"
I have done wrong.

The power of b*tching

I'm proud of my hubby, he continues to grow and learn in the battle for truth, justice and good customer service. This week, aggrivated beyond belief by his cell phone, he went in to our cell provider to, in his words, "stuff this piece of cr*p down their throats!" I expected a phone call from police.
Surprisingly, I got a text from my over-my-text-limit husband, saying they'd provided him with a new phone.
In related news, he is also now an associate pastor for the Church of "Always Fight a Traffic Ticket."

Graduation

Today was what I hope to be the first of many (at least four, preferrably five) graduation ceremonies for Ava.

This one was for the grand transition from Pre-School to Kindergarten. Never mind that she'll be going again tomorrow, same as usual!

Most likely, this will be the most enjoyable one...the graduates and their lower-level peers seranaded us with several songs, and as there were only about 15 graduates, the walk segment was pretty short, and followed by lunch! I imagine that elementary to middle school graduation will be punctuated by more angst and sullen scowling than song.

Ava was pretty excited, and also very distracted. Casey said he's going to start calling her "Fade" for her tendancy to sing a line or two, then stop, look around a bit, then sing another line or two. She had a tiny little solo during one of the songs, which she sang perfectly in the car on the way to school. However, her joy in being the center of attention seemed to have an effect on her memory, but she covered well, using that tried and true "I'm just a girl" shrug & smile routine. I'll have to work harder on subtly infusing her mind with a feminist world view. I'll start with angry letters to the producers of "Max & Ruby."

There was one (only one, surprisingly) little boy who cried throughout the ceremony, and continued to cry during lunch, etc. Casey and I asked what was wrong, and turns out his parents didn't come! I felt so bad for him! I know it's a ridiculous little thing, but neither one could come? I hope they were saving up vacation days for a grand trip to Disney or something. Poor little guy.

yeah, beaumont!

I can never understand when people who will go to four different stores to save $0.25 on a single item, or wake up at 3am and fight crowds on Thanksgiving day won't take the time to research their own medical care. I get a good laugh when these are the same idiots who are usually the most gung-ho about the evils of socializing medicine....(something about which I can see both the pros and cons)...these are the people that get interviewed on the Late Show and can't identify three of the past four presidents.

But, as is usual for me, I digress. What I was meaning to say is that I am glad my dear MIL is not one of these folks. There were some moments when we were worried, but eventually she decided that those of us who loved her and badgered her were right, and that she should probably seek out different medical care than those who promised that lumps in her breast "were nothing." I don't care who you are - your medical professional should never say anything they can't identify "is nothing." That's what pathologists are for. Sue followed recommendations to try Karmanos and Beaumont, and found a doctor she really liked that made no such promises...and explained a lot more of what was going on.

In and out of Beaumont Troy today to remove what appears to be benign growths. Those folks are fast.... results should confirm soon, but Dr. said she believes all will come back fine.

Busy Weekend

Again, precious weekend is gone within a blink of an eye.

Friday night, we broke our years-long tradition of lying to our daughter about the source and nature of rock music and hyperactive children's screaming behind our house, and took her to the Ice Cream Social. This event is right behind our house, and seeing as Ava will be attending in the fall, (and would likely have questioned our lies this year) we decided to go. Have to say, it was quite nice! We took the Jones' along with us, and all kids had a great time. Brett and Casey remarked that our house was conveniently located, allowing for brief cocktail breaks. Ava and Georgia particularly enjoyed the inflatables, hair spray color, and (in Ava's case) the fake injury tent. All the attention and gore, but none of the pain, I suppose. James enjoyed a couple hours of time playing Simpsons Game on the PS2, while the men took over the PS3.

Saturday, we took the dreaded I-94 out to Kalamazoo to attend a graduation open house for Danielle, Casey's cousin's youngest. I-94 didn't disappoint. We spent about 1/2 hour in construction gridlock, made frightening by the pronouncement from the back seat: "I really have to go to the bathroom!" Yes, as ever, this proclaimation was made approximately 5 seconds after we passed the last exit and 10 seconds before we hit gridlock. Lucky for us, the kid has a powerful bladder. OH was fun, and I particularly enjoyed playing with Ben's (Danielle's older brother) new puppy, Grandy. Cute little chocolate lab. Seeing family was nice too, of course, but they aren't nearly as soft and fuzzy. From there, we took off for Lansing, to drop Ava at Casey's mom's house. By the time we got back to Northville, we couldn't even capitalize on our childless state by going out to dinner - but the blowout by the Wings was good consolation!

Sunday, we planned all kinds of errands - clean house, trim bushes, get stuff at the 'Po, etc. We managed Dinner and a movie. I can live with this.

I do have to make one comment on Terminator Salvation, which was our chosen flick....You'd think Skynet would consider mustard gas or something much less pricey than terminators. I'm just sayin'.

Moving Targets

Other than the aforementioned purchase of the bug, and the return of the van without incident, this has not been our best car year ever.

The first incident, which we should have seen coming, happened this spring. Dad and Monica like to avoid leaving a car at the airport when the travel, and have asked us in the past to use one of their vehicles to drive them to the airport...the "plus" of this is that we get to drive one of their (generally more luxurious) vehicles for the week while they are gone. First year: Navigator develops weird grinding noise in wheel well, and must be checked for repair. Second year: Lexus completely dies in random parking lot, and must be taken in to repair. This year: Casey is driving the Navigator with Ava when someone darts out into a gap in stopped traffic, hitting him as he moves into the left turn lane. Thankfully, not so much as a scratch on Casey or Ava. Unfortunately, can't say the same about the Navigator.

In what Casey feels is a gigantic Novi plot against him, he gets the ticket. Thankfully, we're able to get it thrown out in court, since it's kind of ridiculous to get a ticket when you are the one with the right of way. However, I can tell you that it's only marginally easier to call your dad and tell him you (or your husband) crashed the car at 37 than it is at 17. That's one of those youthful experiences that I was hoping was far behind me.

Flash forward to this weekend - Casey instructs me to take his Nissan on my errand to the grocery. As the bug's behind our recycling and other items to go out that night, I comply. After buying the groceries, I'm check behind me, and start backing out of my spot very slowly, as I know that this lot has a lot of problems, including the blind turn I'm looking at, when CRUNCH, I get hit on the other side. On the plus side, the lady who hit me was very apologetic, and probably did have a hard time seeing me when backing up her large SUV. So, for the second time in three months, I have to call someone to tell them of an accident. I think that has to be my 20 year quota.

Thankfully, damage seems to be pretty minimal, and I think we'll be able to handle it without insurance. Still, I'd much rather be spending the same money on something like a new TiVo, or even kid's college fund.

Recent events

Ahhh, again I slack. I suppose I've been doing too much Facebook, not enough blogging.

To pull out a Master-of-the-Obvious phrase - much has happened.

Nothing earth shaking mind you - it's not like I've had a good excuse, such as a debilitating disease or epic struggle against evil to keep me from the blog. Just me. Those of you who love me will have accepted this by now, and undoubtedly will take consolation in the fact that I've probably seen you since the last post!!

Now the hard part...what the (*$&**& have I been doing since the last post? Ahhh yes, I do remember one reason for not being super candid...a couple of days after Halloween, we had to announce we were laying off more than 1/2 our staff. As (evil) HR, I was pretty deeply involved in this. (We moved two entire segments of our business down to our Mexican sister company) Thankfully, Jatco allowed us to offer our employees a good severence package. I also found a government program for employees displaced by movement of jobs to Mexico (part of NAFTA), so there were some good benefits to be had there too. Still really really sucked. Almost all of the employees we had to let go were long-term employees, well trained, loyal hard working folks, who just got skunked by the economy, and the lower cost of labor in Mexico. While it's easy to grumble at Mexico, or other so-called "LCC"s (low cost countries), whenever someone starts to do it to me, I just ask them if they shop at Wal-Mart. Or, alternately if they make sure to select products made in America, even if there is higher cost (and perhaps lower quality).

But as Casey would joke, "I digest". Layoffs for most were final on December 23rd, with a few employees staying over until the end of March. True to form, our folks were as good as gold through the end of their jobs, and we didn't have a single incident, accident, or other problem. In fact, they did such a great job that all the work needed to be completed was done early, so I wound up proposing that they spend the last month or so on the job doing some community service, instead of sitting here bored out of their minds. That was well received too, and we got a couple of nice thank-you notes from the various charities they assisted. Now, it's way too quiet around here. While I'm very thankful to still be employed, it's a different company than it once was, and it's going to take us some time to pick ourselves back up again.

In the mean time, Thanksgiving came and went. We had my mom and John, Casey's mom and Steve over for dinner. We brined the turkey according to Alton Brown, and it was delicious! Thank you food network.

Christmas really snuck up on me, since I was so busy with the layoffs here, but as always, it's nice to spend time with friends and family.

Spring brought Ava's 5th birthday (how is that possible?) We opened a few presents right after waking up. Once the easy bake oven was discovered, we had to make "breakfast cake." Being a little sweetheart, though, she made the cake, frosted it, and then saved it for Daddy. We had had taken the day off, for festivities. We grabbed her buddy Georgia, and made a day of kid friendly activities, such as hair, nails and makeup at "Sweet and Sassy", fed the ducks, etc. Nothing like purple and pink hairspray to make a girl's day.

By the time March rolled around, we were waaaaaay sick of snow, and generally depressed, laying off the last (and best) of our people scheduled for cuts, and then, to add a new level to the overall feeling of instability at work, our President resigned, and announced our new President would be starting in a month, at which time he would depart. Niiiice. Thankfully, I knew the guy slated for the spot from some of the many trips to Japan, and knew he was a very nice, cool guy who spoke English really well, and would be a good fit for us.

March also brought medical madness to the house for a bit, when Casey finally scheduled his shoulder surgery. During the rafting trip last year (I think I did a post...) another person in our raft was launched forward, hitting Sara in the head (thought she'd broken her neck) and Casey in the shoulder. While we were far more worried at the time for Sara, turns out that Casey's injury was more enduring, and they wound up having to go in there and shave a bit of his collarbone off, so that it would stop rubbing up against other bones. All went really well (and FAST - surgical report said surgeon did the whole thing in just under 15 minutes) and Casey was hooked up with interesting painkilling catheter, which blocked the nerve for a few days. I think Casey was more annoyed with carrying around the little pump than anything else about the whole process, and was bored of being at home after about 2 days. He wound up back at work in a little less than 2 weeks, and fully functional at about a month. Now he's looking forward to golfing.

Seemed like Spring took forever to get here. Maybe it just seemed longer because I was waiting to take the top down on the VW bug we bought in December. Yes, crazy time to buy one, Crazy like a FOX! I'm really going to have to start annoying people by using that phrase more often. The fact that it kept raining and snowing a lot probably had something to do with the whole doesn't-feel-like-spring-thing too. April seemed to slide along slowly, without a lot of distinguishing features.

In May, though, we had something to look forward to - a vacation in Hilton Head with my Mom, John, Angie and Crawford. Mom and John had gotten a condo rental in a charity auction some months before, and we'd all arranged to go down for a week. Hilton Head was very different from Outer Banks....much more golf oriented than beach oriented, at least it seemed to me. Certainly very lushly green compared to OBX. Very pretty. We were really happy to see Angie and Crawford, who is getting so big. He and Ava got along well, and we all had a nice time, if a little subdued, due to the large number of rainy days. Still, we did manage to get pool and beach time, and quaff many glasses of wine. Always a plus.

The Saturday after our return, Ava was the flowergirl in Steve's daughter's wedding. Surprising no one, she loved the dress, the attention, the flowers, everything. Surprising me, she was really well behaved at the altar, and stood through most of the (short) service like a well-trained bridesmaid. She only broke ranks and headed for Grandma Sue when she saw the big bag of popcorn they were using to keep 2 year old Van quiet. Had to get some of that.

Last but not least, we celebrated out 7 year anniversary yesterday, the 1st. It seems like yesterday....but that's a good thing right? I'd imagine it would feel like eternity if you weren't with someone you loved!! We had a very romantic dinner of tacos and chips, with white cheese dip brought up from South Carolina. Mmmm tacos. tastes like love.