Into the Black Hole

Yes, I realize I haven't posted anything in 5 days. In my defense, I did just get back from the most amazing vacation and am moving in 2 days.

Goals for today:
*Hit the sales at Target and get stuff super cheap and resist the temptation to buy lots of cool stuff for my new house. Done with the exception of the cute bathmat I got for the girls.

*Take Zac to football, Alyssa to work and go to my bosses' birthday party. (Yes, I have grammar skills. Both of my bosses have the same birthday, thus justifying the plural possessive.) Done

*Pack china cabinet contents. Almost done

*Pack majority of kitchen. Not even close

*Save several posts in Blogger to appear while I'm in the black hole of no internet. Not likely at this point

Kevin scheduled the transfer of our dish/phone/internet service which is all with the same company. He gets to have tv on Monday, but I have to wait until Wed. to have internet again. Very suspicious if you ask me.

We're on schedule to close tomorrow afternoon and will start moving/painting Friday.

Messin' up my kids at the Met

Apparently "scarring my kids for life at the Met" is a hot topic, so I'll go ahead and address it even though that was the last day of our trip and it totally goes against my orderly personality.

Now, we knew that we would encounter some um..human art at the museum. We had already had a small sampling at the Museum of Natural History with some abnormally proportioned totems, and that's all I'm going to say about that topic. Anyway, I was planning to just avoid those particular exhibit rooms and enjoy the rest of the museum. That plan went awry the minute we stepped off the elevator and came face to backside with a bronze sculpture derriere. Quickly leaving that area, we entered the main gallery hall which was filled with Greek and Roman sculptures in all their glory. Aphrodite was the only one wearing clothes, oddly enough.

So we quickly left that area. Every time we asked directions to another area of the museum, the answer always included "walk through the main gallery, and turn...". Need to go to the bathroom? Walk past that naked man and turn left. Want to see Monet? Walk through the proud Greeks and turn right. Alyssa kept repeating "Look at your shoes, just look at your shoes."

We did still have fun despite our unwelcome anatomy lessons. Alyssa's pretending to try on a tiara that was really enclosed in a glass case.

Nathan's favorite was the Superheroes special exhibit. This is the Batman costume from Batman begins. We also saw Christopher Reeves' Superman costume and Toby Macquire's Spiderman but that was after we got in trouble by the guard for taking pictures.

This sculpture was on the roof and looked just like a giant balloon animal.

Coming soon: more pictures and some travel tips for seeing NYC's famous attractions, like have a chat with your children about the fascination with the human body in the 16th century before you go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

A week in NYC...in incomplete sentences

After waking up at 3:30am eastern time to catch our early flight this morning, we arrived home at 10:30 central time. And now that the delivery man from the airport has delivered Zac's duffel bag, all our luggage has made it home too. I'm so tired I reset my watch to the central time zone twice and it took me till 4 to figure out I was functioning in the wrong zone.

I'll go ahead and apologize now for the gross amount of posts about New York, but you couldn't really expect me to go to NYC for a week and not bore you with details now could you? For now, here's a quick run down of our week. See something that needs more explanation? Leave me a comment and I'll elaborate another day.

Friday...Miley Cyrus sped away in her Escalade...My little pony car on the ferris wheel in Toys R Us...sweltered at the statue of liberty...Nathan got to open the doors of the subway

Saturday...M&M and Hershey stores in Times Square...Boys: Yankee game and Espn Zone...Girls:shopping on 5th avenue--American Girl, Tiffany's, H&M and lunch in Trump Tower, Cirque Dreams on Broadway...supper at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co...baked in the sun on a night double decker bus tour when it wasn't night with a stuttering tour guide

Sunday...baked in the sun on a double decker bus tour in downtown Manhattan...ate New York style pizza...American Museum of Natural History...uptown bus tour inside the bus

Monday...saw rats in the sewer...bought t-shirts at Julliard...Central Park carousel and zoo...ate hot dogs in the park while we listened to musicians play some jazz...sailed remote control sailboats...almost left Nate on the tour bus...consumed a molten chocolate cake at Chilis in less than 30 seconds

Tuesday...scarred the children for life at the MET...lunch in the MET cafe...collapsed in the hotel early in preparation for...

Wednesday....up at 3:30...in the car at 4...missing Zac's luggage...found an invasion of fleas at my house...mirror broke in my suitcase...toothpaste exploded in my cosmetic bag...must go to bed now...

Today is my birthday!

What did you say? You forgot to mail my gift? No problem, I'm in New York for the next 6 days so you can go ahead and mail my present. It will be here waiting for me when I get back and I'll never know that you forgot!

Need suggestions? Hmmmmmm, I think I would like...
* a roomba, even though I still think it would refuse to work for us
*a laptop so I wouldn't be tempted to throw my 5 yr old desktop in the street
*Photoshop elements, since I should have cool editing software to go with my new camera
*a $5000 shopping spree like on What not to wear; there is some consolation that I don't think I would qualify for the show

That should give you enough ideas. Now go shopping!

I'll have lots of NYC stories and pictures for you next week!

One more day.....

It's Packing for Nyc day and I check the weather to see how cool it will be since we're going so far north and this is the symbol on the weather site for NYC tomorrow...

What the heck? I'm going I don't know how many miles north and it's going to be hotter than it is where I live? The high here in the midwest is 85 but it's supposed to be mid 90's in New York.

I'd love to chat with you some more but I have to get a termite inspection on the new house, sign off on the inspection done yesterday on the new house, call my landlord and tell her I'm moving out, call the school and tell them Zac is changing schools, clean my house, wash all the laundry, take Alyssa to work, pick up Zac from football, pick up Alyssa from work, go to Target, and pack. Ugh, I'm tired just typing it all. Thankfully, Kevin is off work today to help with the list. Visions of the Statue of Liberty dancing in my head will motivate me to get it all done...

Happy Anniversary to me (and Kevin)!

Today is our 18th wedding anniversary. I'll spare you the ooey gooey details of how we met and fell in love, but here's a few fun facts you might not know about us.
*We dated 2 years and I was still just 18 when we married.
*I turned 19 on our honeymoon.
*I wasn't allowed to drive the rental car on our honeymoon; I was too young.
*We have been together more of my life than not.
*Kevin was my prom date.
*Our parents worked together before we ever met.
*Our first date was to the county fair.
*We chose our wedding date based on when 1st summer session classes were over and before football practice started.
*My wedding dress was purchased by a member of the Murphy family (as in Murphy Oil) as a wedding gift.
*Three weeks after we were married, Kevin had to move into the football dorm for two weeks of summer practices. We got to see each other on his lunch breaks ocassionally.
That's enough Cottrell trivia for one sitting. Now flash back to 1990 and remember when white tuxes with tails were cool........

Blissful and Pathetic, simultaneously

I am having a blissful afternoon which is either wonderful or depressing, I can't decide. We had a great time of worship this morning at church. Kevin didn't go with us since he is technically on vacation. If you've ever worked for a church you know it is virtually impossible just to go to church and not get trapped into working. Don't worry, he didn't skip completely; he went to a church plant about 30 miles away that our church started. So, in a way, he was still working by checking on our church plant, but most people there don't know who he is so they wouldn't ask him to do anything anyway.

After all that unnecessary explaining about our morning, I can tell you about my perfect Sunday afternoon. I love sitting on the couch with the newspaper and my coupon box, trying to figure out which items I can get for free or almost free at Walgreens and Target. Getting toothpaste and cereal for free from unsuspecting retailers just warms my little Proverbs 31 heart. While I look for bargains, I like to watch a movie, preferably one I've seen before so I don't have to give it my undivided attention, just in case I feel the need to squeeze in a little nap. Today, it was The Majestic followed by Gilmore Girls season 4. While I am enjoying my afternoon, I wonder how pathetic it is to be entertained by pinching pennies and watching Rory for the thousandth time. But then, I remember in 4 more days I'll be strolling the streets of Manhattan, shopping at Tiffany's and seeing a Broadway show. My life's not so pathetic afterall!

Yippee!

We are officially buying lucky house #13 (see below)and should close on the 31st because my life is not crazy enough already, I had to throw in a move in 2 weeks. And 1 of those weeks I'll be in NYC on vacation. I think we're just going to skip packing and throw it all in the back of the van to save time. Yes, I know, I'm way too organized to actually let that happen, but I have decided just to concentrate on getting ready for our vacation which begins Thursday---My birthday!! Then, when we get back the following Wed., I'll concern myself with moving a family of 6 about 9 miles across town in the most efficient manner possible.

Lucky House #13

Kevin and I will celebrate our 18th anniversary next week. We are living in house/apt. #12. 12 times in 18 years I have moved. I'm quite good at it. I can pack a whole house and have the pictures hung at the new place in a matter of days. I have moved 5 times with 4 children. I should get an award for this or at least a piece of low-carb cheesecake!

We've been renting here the past year, getting accustomed to our new town. Our lease is up in 21 days so we've been having the never ending discussion: do we stay or do we buy? After all my moving, I'm pretty picky about my house requirements. After you read through my list, you'll understand why only 3 houses were even worthy of our scheduling a showing.
Absolutely necessary:
5 bedrooms
3 bathrooms
2 living areas
2 dining areas
big kitchen
laundry room that does not lead to the garage
Pretty kitchen cabinets
big closets
fenced yard

Suggested:
*3 car garage to store 2 cars, 6 bikes, 2 scooters and a lawnmower
*jetted tub because I am a mom of 4 children
*neighborhood park so I don't have to buy yet another swingset
*neighborhood pool so I don't have to get a second mortgage to support our trips to Leslies' pool supply
*nice neighbors who do not have loud pets, parties or do anything to provoke the police to show up at 2 am with a search warrant
*3 bedrooms downstairs and 2 up so we can keep the children of opposite genders from hurting each other.

House #1 didn't have a big enough game room.
House #2 had a very small kitchen and the pantry was in a stupid place. (They really should hire moms not architects to design these things.)
House #3 pink carpet, 'nuff said.

Then today, this little jewel hit the market:

Don't ask me why it has a frame around it. I guess I'm supposed to love it so much I want to hang a picture of it over the mantle after I move in, but it has everything on both of my lists! The perfect floor plan, neighbors we already know, and a pool within walking distance. There are a few things that deserve an explanation: mint green paint throughout the master suite and a bedroom with vinyl flooring and fluorescent lighting. But, those are easily fixed/painted. Now to just be patient while we pray and decide if this is the right move for us. I'm planning on this one being the final one for a long time.

A Cheesecake Tragedy

Kevin and I went birthday shopping last night for Zac. I can't tell you what we bought since his birthday isn't till Thursday. Afterwards, we decided it would be fun to go have a piece of cheesecake at my favorite place, The Cheesecake Factory. (To find out the extremes I will go for a piece of cheesecake, click here.)

We are seated, given menus although there is/was only one thing I can have there thanks to my diabetic diet, I ask for it and then he says the dreaded words: "Ma'am, I'm sorry but we are reworking the recipe for the low-carb cheesecake. You can check back with us in October and see if it's back on the menu." What? Are you kidding me? There was nothing wrong with that recipe. It was near perfection. I want to know what I ever did to the Cheesecake Universe to deserve this torture. There should have been a news bulletin, petitions signed, something to prevent this tragedy.

I don't know how I'm going to go on without cheesecake in my life. My kids gave me springform pans for Christmas about 3 years ago. I asked for them and had good intentions of learning how to make cheesecake. I guess I'm going to have to get my little self in the kitchen now and make good on those intentions, but I'm not going to be happy about it!

Nathan's quote of the week

During a recent discussion of where we should go eat dinner: "Well we can't go to the Chinese buffet because Mom doesn't like old food."

News for the week

*After delayed and rerouted flights, Kevin finally made it home from Mexico at 3 am Sunday. At one point, he was sitting on the runway at Oklahoma City but they wouldn't let him off and made him fly to Dallas where he had to wait on another plane for 4 more hours.

*After 18 hours on a charter bus, Alyssa and Zac made it home from youth camp at Panama City Beach. They both had fun and are very tired.

*Everyone in our family except Nathan and I were on facebook. I have now caved in to the peer/family pressure and have a facebook, so if you're on, search for us and add us all as friends.

*Katie got braces on Monday. I haven't caught her with the camera yet, but I will!

*We have been renting here the last year, getting accustomed to the area. If we can find a house we like we may be moving again in a month or 2. We'll be househunting next week.

*12 more days till we leave for New York!!!!!! If you have suggestions for what we should do, leave them in the comments.