Supreme Cuteness

Travel Preparation

Now that school is over and Nannie's Big Ass Party is past, it is time for me to prepare things for my month-long absence in July. Just to make things interesting for myself, I'm heading to Vegas on July 2nd to visit Dad and Stepmonster, get home at 1:45pm on July 6th, and leave for Australia with Marvelous Mom at 6:30pm on July 7th. Thank God for drugs, I'm hoping my doc will give me Xanax or Valium or something for the plane trip so I can sleep.

Luckily the wardrobe for both trips will be completely different so I can be packed for down under before I leave for sin city.

The final complication in all of these plans is that Daughter leaves for a 3 week tour of Europe with her Art class on July 13th so I need to make sure she has everything she needs before I leave. Husband will make sure she has everything on her list packed and take her to the airport to meet her group at o'dark thirty but other than that he will be working (someone's gotta pay for all this globe-trotting) so I am going to do everything I can to make sure she is ready to go too. I have to order her a *shiver* debit card so she can get cash while on her trip, make sure she has enough of her medications, all the clothes on the list, etc. etc. etc.

I'm not sure I'm ready for the shopping princess of Puget Sound to have a debit card yet.

So from now until July 2nd I will be in full on Travel Preparation mode. Thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster for checklists!!!

The Big Ass Party

After the Memorial Service at the church, everyone gathered back at our house for the Big Ass Party Nannie requested. I estimate we had 100 people at the house over the afternoon and evening so it was DEFINITELY big ass! We ate, drank, told funny stories about Nannie, drank some more, played a very funny game around the fire that was just a little bit too complicated for my slightly drunk self, and generally celebrated with friends and family. It was perfect.

Goodbye Nannie. We love you more than you can imagine.

The Memorial Service

We had a lovely service for Grandmother on Saturday. Years ago she had marked the hymns she wanted at her service in Marvelous Mom's hymnbook and we managed to get all of them in so it was full of music. The photo board showed just a tiny fraction of her adventures over 95 years of living life to the fullest...

And here are her boys with Marvelous Mom. They both got up and spoke, I was so proud of them. Grandmother would have been proud too.

And this is Husband with two of my cousins. It was such a gift to get to see them both since they live in different states.

Number 1 son is on the aisle (the one with hardly any gray hair as he is so fond of pointing out to Dad) and Number 2 son is next to him. Grandmother loved her sons more than anything else in the world and was never happier than when sitting in between the two of them.

Finally, no gathering for Grandmother would be complete without a baby. Here I am with another cousin's beautiful boy. We have lots of pictures of Grandmother holding him just a few short months ago and he has a little hat that she knitted for him...although his gigantic head is too big for it now.

The service and music were absolutely perfect, Nannie would have loved it - not least because she was the center of attention as my Dad pointed out. It was not easy, I cried as well as laughed, but am so glad we set aside this day to remember Nannie. She made sure our family bonds are strong and I will never cease to be thankful for that wonderful gift.

I Quit

I am becoming closely acquainted with Craig and his List these days, happily pouring over photos of cars, blue book values, and engine specs. Daughter showed me her schedule for next fall and there is no WAY I will be able to get her to 5 dance classes and 2-4 dance team practices every week. Not to mention the Friday night football games, after school events, and study club meetings at our local library. And since we are selling our extra car to my BFF so she can chauffeur her lovely littles around for the next 15 years, we have to buy Daughter a car.

Car shopping is one of my favorite activities. I've been know to look at cars for sale even when we are NOT going to buy one. My idea of a perfect car for daughter is something small and cute. I've been lusting after this for years...

Or one of these. LOOK AT THOSE ORANGE WHEELS! So freaking cute.

Unfortunately, Husband is only willing to part with enough money to purchase something like this...

Cheapskate.

And Daughter is No. Help. At. All. I've already told you about her curious lack of interest in cars and driving and the situation hasn't improved at all. When I asked her what kind of car she would like - 2 doors, 4 doors, sedan, hatchback, etc. - her answer was, and I quote, "I dunno. Not green". NOT GREEN. What kind of teenager, when asked for input on what type of vehicle they like, answers with NOT GREEN?!?!

I suspect this particular car search will take all freaking summer. Or I'll just say to hell with it, I'm buying something I like.

Either way, come the end of August, I am resigning as her chauffeur.

What A Year

If someone had told me what a roller coaster the past nine months would be I don't know that I would have gone ahead with grad school on top of it all. This cake that a classmates wife made for our end of the year grad school cohort party made (representing a sick inside joke :) is pretty much how I feel right now...

Roadkill baby.

But I survived the twins first year of high school, my first year of grad school, daughter driving, losing Nannie, sending my babies to the other side of the planet, and having a bloody obnoxious puppy. Phew.

Grade report - 4.0 in all three of my classes for spring quarter. Even though I know that grades don't matter in grad school, it is impossible for me to not work my ass off in search of a perfect grade. It may not matter to anyone else but it matters to me. And, I'm guessing, my parents. They're always really happy to hear that I did well in school. It makes up for all the slacking I did in high school. Heh.

My summer is going to be busy but FUN! Next year will be even crazier than this year has been so I intend to make the most out of the next three months. Saturday our friends and family are gathering to celebrate Nannie's life...I'm both looking forward to it and dreading it. I still burst into tears at weird times and haven't begun to work thru all my feelings about losing her but it will be nice to hear everyone's memories and stories about her. Family is coming from all over, including her Canadian nephews who we don't see very often and it will be a wonderful party to say goodbye to an amazing woman.

July is my travel month. I get six days of doing NOTHING while visiting Dad and Stepmonster in Vegas with BFF Cousin and then three and a half weeks dodging Sharks With Frickin' Lasers in Australia with Marvelous Mom.

August will be a blur of drivers ed classes for Thing 2, band camp for daughter and the dance team, parades, 2 days of student teaching seminars, sunshine (I hope) and training the damn puppy so I don't have to kill him.

Life marches on.