About that wedding present...

Previous entries have mentioned a wedding present that I recently finished and had framed. Well, the happy couple have received it and given it rave reviews, so now I can unveil it here!

The mystery piece is Dragon Dreams "Fantasy Wedding Blessing":

My framer did an absolutely stunning job on the mats!

When weekends attack...

Sometimes long weekends just aren't long enough.

We had a 4-day weekend - DH and I get every other Friday off work, and Monday was Memorial Day here in the US. Friday was DD's last day of school, so life began as usual. After school, we drove over to the Zellwood SweetCorn Festival to meet up with friends, including DD's bestest friend H and her family. Other than the blazing heat, we had a good time, and enjoyed seeing Christian rock band MercyMe in concert. Loud, but enjoyable. And the corn was good, too. Our main purpose, though, was to rendezvous with H's family so we could get an early start Saturday on taking DD and H to Disney's Magic Kingdom, which was DD's birthday treat in lieu of a party.

We arrived at Disney not long after opening, and made the rounds. We hit the Haunted Mansion first, and had a very short wait. Most people tend to go for the popular attractions near the entrance first, so hoofing it to the further areas of the park first can sometimes pay off. That, and FastPass is a wonderful thing - you can only have one FastPass active at a time, but it really does help with the waits for popular rides. All told, we did about 17 different attractions, including Splash Mountain (DD and DH did - H didn't want to so I stayed with her), Thunder Mountain, and Space Mountain (which ROCKS!). The girls went on everything they wanted to do, which was good. Most of our waits were half an hour or less, which was pretty good considering Memorial Day weekend is probably when summer tourist season kicks into full gear. Our longest wait was for the Dumbo ride, which was a simple carnival thing, but we were stuck in the middle of the line when the ride started having technical difficulties, and what could have been a 20 minute wait was nearly an hour. Not my idea of a good time, personally, but DD and H had wanted to go on Dumbo, so we waited.

Despite living only an hour away from Di$ney, I've only been a handful of times, and this was my first trip to Magic Kingdom in 12 years. Many of the items were new to me. The Hall of Presidents has been massively updated since I last saw it - it's quite different now, and I really liked the little 'fidgety' touches that some of the animatronic presidents performed while others were speaking. PhilharMagic was new, and very cute. DD and H really liked the 3d effects. Space Mountain rocks, but then I am a professed adrenaline junkie when it comes to coasters. And the Buzz Lightyear ride was pretty cool as well - each little car comes with a pair of laser 'guns' that you use to shoot at the passing scenery to defeat the Evil Emperor Zurg. I got a modest 5300 points - DH got a whopping 132400!

So all told, we survived a 10-hour day in the beating sun schlepping along two giggly 7-year-olds, with minimal dehydration, and the only sunburn victim being yours truly. (How I got burned and my equally-fair DD didn't, I don't know. Especially since I forgot to sunscreen her). I admit it was fun, although I think next year we'll just stick with the party. Cheaper, and much less time consuming.

We got home late Saturday, just in time for me to catch the third period of the Oilers-Ducks game (I bet Christine's and Nicole's ears are still ringing over the Oiler win!)

Sunday and Monday were spent trying to recover from the previous two days! On Sunday DsS, DD and I saw _Over the Hedge_, which was pretty funny. DD got so into it that she didn't even eat all her popcorn. Normally she finishes hers and mooches off everyone else. Not the best movie I've ever seen, but still quite enjoyable. Yesterday I finished reading Terry Pratchett's _Going Postal_, and started _Monstrous Regiment_. Very enjoyable - Pratchett is always good for a quick and funny read. After _Monstrous Regiment_, I'm going to be rereading Sharon Kay Penman's _The Sunne in Splendour_ in preparation for our upcoming UK trip, especially since there will definitely be Ricardian sites on our tour list!

I need a weekend...

Something I really ought to keep in mind...

Hanlon's Razor: Never assume malice when stupidity will suffice.

Stanley the Storm Magnet?

Last night DD watched the Buffalo Sabres-Carolina Hurricanes game with me. I was pulling for the Sabres, but DD decided she wanted the Hurricanes to win.

Why? Because, to her thinking, if the Hurricanes win then maybe we won't get any hurricanes down here this year. If I could convince myself of that, I'd cheer on the 'Canes too!

Although, thinking on it, maybe there is something to it. The Tampa Bay Lightning won the Cup in 2004, and we had one of the worst hurricane seasons in memory. And last year was a doozy as well, while the Bolts were still defending champs because of the strike. So maybe if the Hurricanes win, all the storms will head north. (Not that I'd wish a hurricane on anyone...but I've had my lifetime supply, thankyouverymuch)

But then again, if the Oilers win, maybe the balance of nature will be restored. I doubt there are many hurricanes in Alberta.

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On a somewhat related thread, my newly-minted 7-year-old came up with this gem last night:
Q. What do hockey players drink?
A. Skater-ade!

Email forwarding...

I'm not a big forwarder of emails. Sure, some of the ones I see can be cute, and once in a very great while I'll forward something funny to maybe one or two people that I think would appreciate it. But there are a great variety of annoying ones out there. I really dislike the 'forward to 10 people you know' that many of them have. For one thing, chances are, the 10 people I know either have seen it already, or couldn't care less. Nothing horrible will happen to me if I don't forward it, and I'm not a bad person if I don't forward it. Internet petitions don't work, anything that tracks numbers of forwards doesn't work, anything that says "(random cool thing) will happen if you forward this" doesn't work.

My latest annoyance, though is the "This is important - please forward this to everyone you know." type email, that a simple check at Snopes.com could easily reveal to be a hoax. Today, I've been spammed, at work even, by the Ashley Flores hoax...

First, two different people forwarded it to the *entire company*. This was followed up by 3 different 'reply alls' stating "this is a hoax"...
...which was followed up by *25* different "reply alls" saying "remove me from your list". *rolls eyes*
Finally, one guy did a 'reply all' saying it would keep our inboxes less full if everyone would just stop doing "reply all". So far there haven't been any new emails on this, but it's only been about 10 minutes.

Oops...spoke too soon. Just got two more...

I pity anyone here who was away from their email for the past hour or so. And I almost pity the original sender. Almost.

Dibs!

As soon as I got home from work, I looked at my kids, who were camped in front of the TV, and announced:
"I have dibs on the TV at 8."
With a chance for a hockey playoff series to be closed out, I was not going to miss it! And I was not disappointed - it was a great game!

Although I did miss the first goal....I'd started DD's bathwater, then got caught up watching the beginning of the game. By the time I remembered, the tub had overflowed a bit, and the Oilers scored while I was cleaning up. D'oh!

So now I have some tough decisions... Ducks or Oilers? Sabres or 'Canes?

No respect!

Yesterday afternoon, I finished Paw Printings "Butterfly Waltz". I started this when DD got her tonsils out last month, and once it gets back from being framed, it will go in her room.

I finished this mid-afternoon, about two hours before the hockey games started. I spent most of my TV time working on DD's First Communion veil - I'm up to 11 little squares now, with a long way to go! Good thing I have almost a year...

Anyway, despite my making pretty things for DD, I apparently am a mean mommy for usurping the TV to watch the aforementioned games. Halfway through the second period of the Devils-Hurricanes game, DD presents me with a ticket for the offense of "Hoging [sic] the TV". (Talk about the pot calling the kettle black...) My reaction to said ticket garnered me another one for "Laphing [sic]". Too cute!

Even if Mommy gets no respect.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all my readers, and to the moms, wives, daughters, or sisters of readers who are moms or stepmoms. It's a tough, but important, job, and while Mother's Day has been Hallmarked to excess, I do agree that we should give credit to those in our lives who have nurtured us, fed us, disciplined us when need be, and whose influence on our lives has been so important.

So far I've had a good Mother's Day. DD gave me a handmade card and flower she made at school, as well as a little ceramic black cat figurine. DH gave me a box of Scottish Breakfast tea, and a tin of Scottish fudge (including a whiskey fudge - gotta try that!). The three of us went out to lunch at the local Indian place, where they had a buffet, which was quite good. DD got a free gumball from the machine as we were leaving. (Ah, for the days where happiness can be obtained by a mere freebie gumball...)

I hope to spend the rest of Mother's Day taking it easy - I'm a working length away from finishing Butterfly Waltz, and then there are two hockey games to watch tonight. My Bolts got eliminated in the first round, so I've been a while in deciding who I want to go all the way. I think in the West I'd like the Oilers. Still not sure in the East, but I'm leaning toward the Sabres, I think. Maybe because the Sabres won the game that I delayed DD's birth for. (The nurses came in wanting to break my water, but it was Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, beginning of the third period and the Sabres and Leafs were tied at 3. I had them wait until after the game...)

In other good news, we FINALLY got some rain here on Friday morning around 2am. I'd stayed up to watch the Sharks-Oilers game, and a storm rolled through not long afterward. We only got about half an inch, but that's more than we'd gotten total since early February. Any rain helps the fire situation - we had a couple of days were I couldn't constantly smell smoke outside.

Yesterday I picked up the wedding present I'd taken to the framer, and I must say I am VERY happy with how it turned out. I'll post a picture after it's arrived at its intended recipients - at least one of them has my blog address, and I don't want to spoil the surprise!

He shoots, he SCOOOOOOORES!

Yesterday, an old friend of mine came down from Minnesota on business, and we met him for dinner. It's always good to see old friends again, and I think he got on well with DH and the kids. We all had a good time. (Note to self: Get back up to Duluth sometime...)

He also clued me into a station that *is* airing the NHL games: OLN. So I checked my digital cable lineup, and I do indeed get OLN. And there was much rejoicing! So last night I caught the 3rd period of the Devils-Hurricanes game. Life is good. Thanks, D!

Of course, I only get it on the main TV with the digital box, which means I have to compete with DD wanting to watch digital kid channels, and DsS using it for his Xbox, but it at least lets me watch the games.

I may have to do some creative bargaining for TV time, though!

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In less pleasant news, we're still under siege from brush fires. The smoke was so heavy this morning it was starting to seep in around my front door and I could smell it in my living room. And although I was only outside for all of two minutes this morning, I can smell it in my office. I think it's gotten into my hair! Absolutely nasty!
We're supposed to get some rain soon, but I'll believe it when I see it...

Friday follies

This will be mostly drive-by blogging. Little notes, but nothing terribly in-depth.

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In August, when I start whining about how much rain we're getting, remind me that in May I was whining about the lack of rain. Florida is known for Tourist Season and Hurricane Season, but one usually doesn't hear much about Brush Fire Season. We're having a bad one this year - the local park has had two large fires in two months, and about 30 miles north there's one that's been burning off and on for over a week. Just when they think it's under control, the winds pick up and it flares up again. There's been so much smoke that they've closed the Interstate multiple times up there. And there's the constant acrid smell of pine smoke. Just nasty.

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We have a new central air system now! So far so good! We'll need to fine-tune the programmable settings, though - this new system has humidity control, so it seems cooler than the same temperature on the old system.

We also had to replace the water heater. When things start to go south on a house, everything seems to go at once.

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I have a framing gift certificate that expires on Sunday (a Mother's Day gift from my stepkids last year). I took the wedding present to the other framer (since she does more specialty stuff), but I'll take the smalls to the place with the gift cert. I'm also hoping to get at least the border on Butterfly Waltz done tonight or early tomorrow so I can get frames and mats for it and the smalls, and try to do some framing work myself.

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So I'm sure dream interpreters would have a field day with this:
The other night I had a dream about a movie...where Ioan Gruffudd was portraying Geddy Lee from Rush.
I don't think even *I* want to know how my mind came up with that one.

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One of DD's favorite songs right now is Cheap Trick's "Surrender". Maybe because of the "Mommy's alright, Daddy's alright, they just seem a little weird..."

I mean, how else can one describe that dream?

Let loose...from the noose...

Shamelessly stolen from a fellow caffeine hound....

Your Theme Song is Back in Black by AC/DC

"Back in black, I hit the sack, I've been too long, I'm glad to be back" Things sometimes get really crazy for you, and sometimes you have to get away from all the chaos. But each time you stage your comeback, it's even better than the last!

What's Your Theme Song?

Once in a blue moon!

So I donated blood today. First time in 5 tries that I haven't gotten deferred for low iron, so I'm very happy about that.