Dusting off the old blog...

I am so sorry for all the dust that has collected around here over the last month-and-a-half 2 months! It isn't that I haven't had anything to say... just no time to say it. There, now I am officially a blogging cliche! Wait, hold on. Let me get that cobweb over there... Omg! Is that mold? Ugh, disgusting. Sorry about that. Let me just pull out the bleach and a sponge and we'll be all set. You might want to wear a surgeon's mask if you are going to stay more than a few minutes. Do you mind if I scrub and write at the same time?

Where to start? Well... how about where I last left off.

Hawaii: The trip went well. My aunt and I spent most of our time there with my grandfather. The first day there was his 90th birthday. We took him out to lunch and then to the
cemetary where my grandmother's remains are kept. He seemed in really good spirits which was exemplified the second day when we came in the morning and he was dressed and ready to go with the day planned out for the three of us. The whole trip was like that. We stayed in a hotel in Waikiki and left each morning for Kaneohe where we would visit with grandpa and take him out for the afternoon. Then each evening returned to Waikiki where we would indulge in tropical adult beverages with umbrellas and solve the world's problems.

Trip to the Emergency Room: Well, what can I say? Our family was due for a visit sooner or later. We managed to make it through the summer but were only living on borrowed time. The very next weekend after I returned from Hawaii, Woody was playing in (what else?) a soccer tournament. On Sunday as he and his teammates were gathering around one of the unused goals just before taking the field for warmups he decided to jump up on and hang from the crossbar. He jumped down and as he did the muscle in his neck spasmed and he couldn't move. Of course nobody knew at that moment what had happened, how he was hurt or what to do, so the paramedics were called and I very nearly (Okay I totally panicked) panicked that he had some kind of spinal chord injury. The paramedics determined that he had a severe muscle spasm of the neck and helped me get him into the car and off we went to the emergency room. There he was given a muscle relaxant, anti-inflamatory medicine and something to manage the pain, all through an IV. He was released to my custody care and was excused for the week from PE.

The Baby Shower: Drama's baby shower was an outstanding success. We had it in her apartment complex's club house which turned out to be very luxurious and boasted a huge kitchen and seperate TV area where most of the kids hung out. True to form, my kids took early control of the remote and kept it on the Sharks game most of the evening (and kept their mom continually updated on the scoring). She got a lot of really nice gifts and everyone had a nice time.

Soccer end of season: For one child at least. Buzz's season ended with a perfect 10-0 record. They had their end-of-season party at Roundtable and won't start up again until late March. Yay! A break. Not really. Woody's team still had one final district-wide tournament to play in and then he would be done for the season. Not. He was invited to play with another team (whose goalie broke his ankle playing basketball) through the winter in two different tournaments. This team is much better then Woody's team and play against much tougher competition. Woody seems to be really into it and hubby says it will be good for him to play up against better skilled opponents.

Thanksgiving: Thanksgiving started out early with me stuffing the bird and getting that sucker in the oven. Only not in my oven, because my oven is broken. *Sigh* Hubby was able to ask a friend who owns a restaurnant nearby if we could cook our turkey there in his restaurant, and he agreed! So, I stuffed and he hand delivered the bird to the restaurant to be cooked. Then we took Woody to a soccer scrimmage. Because doesn't everyone play soccer on Thanksgiving? It was fine and probably for the best for Woody to be able to play with his new teammates before the played in a real match. When we got home I prepared all the sides while hubby went to pick up the cooked guest of honor, our turkey. #91 came over and we had a really nice Thanksgiving feast together. Then? He took the kids with him to spend the night at his apartment! Happy Thanksgiving to us! Hubby and I got some much deserved alone time and all was well on our Thanksgiving holiday.

Black Friday: I had never gone out shopping before on Black Friday. That's not exactly true. I've been out, but never at the crack of dawn. So, wanting to truly experience "the hunt" I convinced hubby to venture out for a 6:00 am opening at Target. Ha! It was hilarious! I didn't end up really buying any gifts for anyone (I mostly bought gift wrap, boxes, etc.), because we were having too much fun watching the half-crazed people shopping. People, I saw a woman in Target with 3 shopping carts. No lie. Flat panel televisions seemed to be the most popular item. Every other person had one in their cart. There must not have been a limit because the woman with 3 carts had four of them. Again. No lie. Maybe one of you or someone you know is on her shopping list? We eventually transitioned over to the mall where, the wine from the night before and lack of sleep got the best of me and I begged to be taken out of there. We went out to breakfast and then went back home to bed.

The Sharks: The Shark's are off to a great start and we finally went to our first regular season game! It wasn't one the more exciting games but it gave us the bug again and we have tickets for two more games at the end of the month when the kids are on break from school.

Hawaii, epilogue: Since the trip grandpa took a nasty fall and was hospitalized over Thanksgiving. He has a severely bruised hip and the doctors say his heart is getting weak as well.

The Wedding: The weekend after Thanksgiving (12/2) in Mesa, AZ. My cousin Jeffrey (son of my aunt that I went to Hawaii with). Buzz and I made the flight out to Arizona on Friday (Woody stayed home with Hubby so he could play in his soccer game). Buzz was great company and very well behaved. Buzz (and Woody too) was in my other cousin's wedding two years ago and a lot of people at this wedding remembered him and gave him lots of attention. The outside ceremony was beautiful despite the chill in the air and the reception was snazzy and fit my cousin and his wife's great style and taste perfectly. The best part? There were cakes at every table. And they were goooooood! Buzz danced the night away with some of the bridesmaids (much to the chagrin of the single guys) and had a great time.

Well... this pretty much brings us all up to date. Thank you everyone for your comments and I promise to be around to visit soon. Be careful as you leave, the floor may still be slippery...