The Boys of Summer

Boy, I'm so happy its finally baseball season again! I wish Rhi cared as much about baseball as I do, then we'd have an excuse to go to the high school games, since there's nowhere within 500 miles (actually more than that) to watch a professional game & you couldn't pay me to watch the Salt Lake Buzz, or whatever they're calling themselves these days. We moved from Colorado the year the Rockies came into being, and although I'm a fan, I had a couple of teams I loved before them, and would love to get Red Sox tickets or Braves tickets (and be able to afford to go to Boston or Atlanta to watch them play). That would be my dream vacation.

Finally Married

The wedding was beautiful. They chose a gorgeous location the weather was perfect, even if it was a little hot, everything went off as planned, at least as far as the guests were concerned. The reception was very nice & the food was very good. It was a double ceremony, with Sarah & Mark (who are old friends of ours, we've known Mark for about 10 years) and her sister Liz & Chris, so there was a 3-section cake that was just gorgeous. It was a long and very tiring day, though & Troy & I were in bed before 9:30 & the lights were out long before 10.

Today, Rhi & I are going to the store to window shop for her birthday gift. Her party is next Saturday & she turns 17 on May 7. Where did the time go?

Fabulous Friday?

Super-busy today. Well and tomorrow, too. Today is payday, so we have bill paying and grocery buying this morning. I usually drive Rhi to school on payday, so I have to pick her up after school & then I told her we'd pick Will/Kris (we call him by both names) up at his high school & take him home, so they'd have a few minutes together. Then at 7 we have a wedding rehearsal for our friends' wedding, which Troy & I are officiating at and Dawn & Vicki are bridesmaids in. After that, I believe we're grilling with everyone else & just kind of hanging out. Tomorrow of course, is the wedding, which we have to be at the site by 12:30 and it ends at 6, so that's pretty much the whole day, right there.

I had a terrible night last night.I woke up to use the bathroom at about 2:45. Came back to bed & started feeling a familiar pain. It just kept getting worse over the next 30 minutes or so, then the nausea from it started, so I knew then, for sure, that another stupid ovarian cyst had burst. It always leaves me feeling so helpless & wiped out, I'm so tired today & so can't afford to be.

Anyway, off to shower & make my grocery list.

A Shopping Question

So, lately, I've been using the mid-week grocery ads as a basis for my grocery list. I try to make sure that most of what I buy every payday is on sale & generally stuff we'd normally buy. I've been saving a lot of money by checking out the manager's specials in the meat department, too. We got two packages of pre-seasoned chicken breasts (they each have 2 full boneless breasts in them) for less than $2.00 each last time. So, my question is, do you shop using a grocery list? If you do, how do you make it? Do you make your menu up & then buy what you need or do you use the ads like I do & then make your menu?

Mid-Week Stuff

Rhi's geek-fest went well, she said. She came in 12th in the contest to see who could put a computer together the fastest, although hers was the only one that could be booted. She scored the highest in the A+ testing, too. She apparently had a low blood-sugar incident during the computer assembling thing & fortunately, her boyfriend was there to make sure she got some sugar & then some food. (as he said, "I handed her a Sierra Mist because it was the closest drink & then I made her eat a pizza." LOL)

The dentist visit went well, too. Rhi had to have 3 fillings, so they did the first two, a check up and x-rays & they'll finish up in May. The things that aggravated me were, we were there early, her appointment was at 4:00, so we got there at about 3:45 or so. She didn't get called back until 4:20 and we weren't done until almost 6.. we were the last people in there, the hygienists were cleaning the office while we were sitting there waiting. THEN we're told we have to pay 20% of the bill because our insurance only pays 80%. What? Since when is a check up, x-rays & 2 fillings not considered basic care? So, of course, we had to put that on the credit card, because we're broke. Hopefully we'll have it all straightened out in a while & get a refund, or at least not have to pay anything when we take her in for the last filling.

The Fastest Geek

Tomorrow is one of Rhi's favorite days of the school years, the Fastest Geek contest at our local university (Southern Utah University), which is a full day where she gets to compete in different tech related categories. She can hardly wait. It seems that I live in a house of geeks, where I'm starting to feel like a dinosaur. Rhi uses all kinds of image software that I have no idea how to even get started with & Troy uses a bunch of security & consolidation software for work that I have no idea what its used for let alone how to actually use it. I used to be the software geek in the family, if anyone needed to know how to use a program, they came to me. Now I have to say, "Go ask Rhi. She'll know." I'm not complaining, I'm very proud of her, as she's one of the few girls in our school district that's qualified to compete in these fields, and she loves doing it.

She & I have been Spring cleaning since yesterday, trying to get the house looking & smelling nice. I guess we're all trying to get the negative emotions out of here & trying to get a fresh start.

Still Learning

I learned a valuable life lesson this weekend. People will misconstrue your intent, no matter what you say or do if that's what they want to do. Its ok, when my friends yell at me for being concerned about them or caring, that's when I stop caring, so one less worry, right?

My headache hasn't gotten any better, its killing me today & has been since I got out of bed. Part of it may be because I overslept, but then I stayed up really late, too. Anyhow, maybe I'll update this later, Rhi & I are gonna clean house today & I need to get dressed & go to the store.

Stupid Headaches

Over the past week I've been getting some really terrible tension headaches, ibuprofen & acetaminophen just aren't touching them, either. The only thing that has worked, even marginally lately has been just going to bed, but how many afternoons can I spend in bed? I've really been thinking about going to my doctor & asking him for a prescription for Fioricet, if they don't stop pretty soon. Hopefully, with things starting to mellow out on the Erin front (I kicked him out of the house on Monday afternoon when we found out he's been smoking pot) my headaches will follow suit. Or at least, I'm hoping they will.

Trying to Get Back into the Swing..

Not the world's greatest picture, but it'll have to do until the professional shots come back from the photographer. Her dress really wasn't as poofy as it looks, the wind was blowing behind her. She said they had an awesome time & Will/Kris looked really nice, too. Unfortunately, she forgot to take the camera in & took a couple of pics after the dance, where they're both tired & sweaty looking. Apparently someone spiked the apple cider, and Rhi smelled it & texted me. I just told her if it started making her feeling buzzed to stop drinking it. She did anyway, since she knew she had to drive later. I feel bad for the kids that didn't realize it & possibly went home drunk, since this is a highly Mormon community & a lot of kids wouldn't even know what alcohol smells like in a drink.

At any rate, they had fun, they looked good & it made everything leading up to it worthwhile to me. You're only young once.

I've had some more disturbing news about Erin, I'm not quite ready to share it here right now, but let's just say, I'm pretty pissed off about it & I'm considering making him move out because of it. I already know that as soon as Troy hears about it, he'll want Erin out of the house. Anyway, I need to get off of this thing & try to find my scissors so I can assemble the invitations I made for Morgan's baby shower.

The Fog

It rained last night. A lot. When I got up this morning it looked really cool outside, but I didn't notice the fog until Tiny started barking out the window. I looked out & saw Rhi's friend, Ryan, appear out of the thick fog, wearing his long, black trenchcoat & it looked like a scene from a thriller. It was pretty cool & I could see why Tiny was freaking out. The drive to the school was interesting, because there were times when the fog was so thick we couldn't even see the oncoming traffic and we'd turn a corner & it was like it was never foggy to begin with. At least you can definitely tell that geography plays a huge role in the weather, but I've learned a lot about that just by driving the kids to school in the past 4 years or so.

Have You Ever Thought..

I guess that having relatives in the death care industry (Troy's step-father owns a mortuary) colors the way you think about dying and paying for funeral costs and all of that, since you hear about how so many families aren't able to afford to pay for even the lowest-priced package at time & have to split the cost through the entire extended family, or try to figure out something else to do. It hurts me to think about leaving those costs to my kids, and picturing them not only dealing with losing me, but trying to figure out how to pay for a funeral, too. Funeral Insurance is a good idea, its fairly inexpensive and it helps cover a lot of expenses people leave when they go, like mortgage, car payments & the costs of a funeral. Starting a savings account ear-marked for those final expenses is a good idea, too, if you aren't into the whole insurance thing, or even a prepaid plan with a mortuary can help out a lot. I do think you need to plan ahead, way ahead. Your family should know your wishes and how you feel about the way you want your final arrangements handled. Don't tell a couple of people & hope the word will get out, tell everyone who matters to you & will have any sort of a say in things. Garrett's grandpa always wanted to be cremated & then have his ashes scattered in a place that was very special to him, but he didn't tell both of his kids that. He only told his son & his daughter is the one who handled things, and his ashes didn't end up where he wanted them. The thought of that has always made me a little sad. I'm sure she thought she was doing what he wanted, but it really caused a lot of hard feelings between her & her brother.

Off to the Dance

The kids both looked great tonight. Will's tux was very nice & Rhi's dress was beautiful. I really didn't get to see much of them, because they were running late, but that's ok, they had their pictures taken & I'll be able to scan those later. Rhi texted me shortly after they got there to tell me the apple cider smelled like alcohol, but didn't taste like it, so I just told her that if it started making her feel funny to stop drinking it. Oh, from what I could see of Rhi's corsage, it was very pretty, too. Anyway, I guess you're all probably tired of hearing about it, huh? :)

Troy & I are officiating at a wedding later in the month. Our friends Mark & Sarah are getting married in a double ceremony with Sarah's sister Liz & fiance Chris. I'm fairly nervous about it, since I really hate speaking in front of crowds, but I'll Troy with me, so hopefully, I'll be ok. I'm just gonna keep my eyes on the couples & do my best to stay calm.

I'm also extremely ready for Spring to come back. Anytime now.

Gearing Up

We're starting the big fundraising push for Faire already. We've started to solicit donations from local businesses, both in cash and merchandise (some of the grocery stores donate food to us for cake walks and such), planning two fairly large fund-raisers, like a food booth at the opening ceremony of the Utah Summer Games in June and another one at a local store. We're starting to order the t-shirts we're having printed to sell, since this is the 25th year and we want to do something special. We've been looking at things like collapsible flying disks, mugs and logo pens, too. We need to raise a lot of money, we already have entertainment booked that we need to get paid and I know there are other things they want to get booked. Its shaping up to be a very busy spring, already.

Ahhh... Youth...

So, its the big night, finally. The dress is ironed & ready. The crinoline skirt is made. The wrap is ready to go. The boutonniere is made & waiting for Rhi to take it with her to pick Will up. His tux is rented, picked up & ready, the corsage is waiting for her. I even managed to come up with money for pictures, plus the camera has a clear memory card & fresh batteries. Rhi's in the bathroom doing her hair & getting ready right now & I'm pretty excited to see the final result, she looks so pretty in orange. I am afraid she's going to be ready way early, though. I think she just got overly excited & was tired of waiting around, so she started getting ready to give herself something to do.

Yay!! New Clothes!

I love it when I order something from Ebay & it gets here when it should & fits wonderfully, too. I've had a few really great experiences with sellers on there lately, especially those that sell dresses. I bought Rhi's Homecoming & Prom dresses from 2 different sellers & while I did have to alter the Homecoming dress (to make it smaller in the waist) it was gorgeous. Her Prom dress fit beautifully, like it was made for her (in a way, it was, since it was made in China after we ordered it & then shipped to us). I just bought myself a new dress for a wedding Troy & I are officiating at later this month, along with a dress for Faire & one for Dawn, and they're all just beautiful, and mine fit me perfectly, too. (I'm sure Dawn's will, too, I just haven't taken it to her yet) I'm really excited to wear them now!!

I went & bought some tulle to make Rhi's slip & found some awesome fabric to make her a little wrap, too, so I'll probably make those tonight sometime, or tomorrow afternoon. Yay :)

Countdown to Prom

Prom is in 2 days & Rhi & Will are getting pretty excited about it. I need to find some tulle & make her a slip, get some orange fabric for a wrap & make a boutonniere for Will, too. None of those things will take me very long to take care of, thankfully. I found the prettiest Asian print in orange & yellow that I think she'll just love. Other than that, its just the usual happening around here. Erin has pretty much stopped talking to me, other than to tell me hello when he sees me. That's fine, I understand that he's probably trying to distance himself because he thinks it'll make it easier on me when he leaves. It won't be, because I'll be able to handle it better this time because I'm ready for it.

Not so Happy.

So, Easter pretty much sucked. It seems like Rhi & I spent the entire day fighting. I think I'm just going to stop paying attention to the standard Sunday holidays, since they suck for me anyway. I'm so tired of trying to hold everything together all the time. If the freakin' kids don't wanna be here, I'm not gonna force it.

Anyhow, nothing exciting happening here today. Just sitting on my rump avoiding housework & such, like usual.

Yay!!

I don't know why I'm "yaying" maybe because its the last day of school for the week & I can sleep in. Rhi gets a four-day weekend, so we can get caught up on our restin' and relaxin' :) I'm not feeling great, but that's ok, I'll survive, I always do.

My dad called me yesterday to give me the update on my brother. I guess he showed up at my mom & dad's right after they got there the other night & he took Jaycie back home. He didn't even speak to them, he just knocked on the door & took her with him. She was crying & upset that she had to leave, but its like dad said, he couldn't keep him from taking her. He's just about fed up with my brother & sister-in-law though. Like us, he's finished trying to help them and only cares about the girls. I have to wonder what's going to happen now. I guess I'll just wait & see.

I Miss my Brother

I'm not sure who this man is, the one that lives in my brother's body, but it isn't the Steve that I've known as an adult for the past 20 years or so. This one is much closer to the boy I knew, the teenager that got into constant trouble, the one who was violent & angry all the time. I really wouldn't care if it was only him & his wife that were being affected & hurt by his behavior (and her behavior, too), but there are two girls living in that house that deserve so much better than what they're getting.

Last night, at about 8:30 or so, my phone rang. It was my 10 year old niece, Jaycie. She was crying & she said "Aunt Dyane, you need to come & get me, my mom & dad got into another stupid fight." I asked her where she wanted to go & she said to grandma's or my house, so I told her to wait outside & I went & got her. The poor thing was standing out in the dark, in her PJs, with wet hair. Her dad was too drunk to notice she wasn't home or that I pulled up & got her. Her mom was gone in my parents' truck (which she wasn't supposed to be driving because she isn't on the insurance).

She told me, while we were driving to my house, that her dad started screaming at her sister Allison, about cleaning the bathroom and then started throwing things at her and calling her names. He wouldn't even let her eat dinner. Eventually the SIL got involved & started yelling at him, and finally Allison took off & ran up the street, Jaycie left & ran next door & the SIL took off in the truck. So I brought her to my house, called my folks & told them what was going on.

So, they headed into to town to get their truck & I fed Jaycie some spaghetti & we watched TV & loved on her a bit, then the SIL called & asked if Jaycie was with us and started making excuses, saying she didn't know what was going on but that Steve just "snapped" then she claimed that she was coming over to talk about things & about 15 minutes later Steve showed up, looked at Troy (who was outside with Tiny) and said, "Why's my daughter here, Troy?" and Troy just looked at him & said, "She called Dy & wanted her to pick her up, so she did." there wasn't a lot he could say at that point. So he came in, looked at her & said, "Let's go, girl." and left with her.

About 10 or 15 minutes later, my mom pulled up & honked, so I went out & Jaycie was in the car with her & mom said she was taking her home with them. I asked Jaycie if her dad was screaming at her & she said, "Yep. As soon as I got in the truck." I told her to never let her dad stop her from calling me when she needs to. I think she needs to know that there's someone she can count on 24 hours a day, because she sure can't count on her parents. Anyway.. Steve apparently blames my parents & us for everything. Yeah. I put the beer in his mouth & made him swallow. Jerk.

Here We Go Again

I really do have to wonder why in the world Rhi keeps applying for jobs that involve her sitting in front of a computer, using the phone all day. Its her first day & she's already bitching at me about the fact that she has to work 8 hours, today. I really wish she'd realize that she has a choice to make, work & enjoy having money & insurance, the ability to drive & spend time with Will or not work & not have those things.

She did just call & say she was sorry & that she had been sent home early because her production is down, which is fairly normal (the sending people home).

We're Grillin'

What we ended up doing was calling Ryan & having him meet us at W@lmart so we could get a grill. The one we had looked at & decided on a few weeks ago was sold out, so we got the next model up. This is what we got. So, Troy & Ryan spent the rest of the afternoon putting it together, I started thawing out steaks and a little chicken & we grilled. Even Erin got in on it by grilling a couple of veggie burgers. I'm so happy about this, we've wanted one for so long & kept putting it off & putting it off. Even Troy said we should've done this long ago. Its so nice to be able to have the kids & their friends over to eat & hang out in the yard.

Earlier today Rhi & I ran up to the grocery store to grab her something to eat at work today & they had trees out for sale, so we picked out a Corkscrew Willow to plant in our yard. I'm going to talk to Troy later, when he gets home & see if we can go & get it. (yeah, we'll have to call Ryan again) I'm so excited about making our yard nice for the summer this year!!