Saturday, February 2, 2008
Friday, February 1, 2008
Departure to Mardi Gras!!!
My mom, Grams, came to Tampa to watch Morgan so that Mike and I could go to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. GRAMS ROCKS! Thanks again Grams.
Of course, the first morning as we are getting ready, Grams goes to help Morgan get her lunch ready while I am upstairs. Morgan, who usually takes a very full lunch, tells Grams that she usually only takes 2 things. So, the morning starts out with Grams saying that she is worried that Morgan doesn't eat enough. I wish Grams could see her normal lunch. Oh well. :)
Grams takes me to work, and it is a pretty good day. We review a few last minute directions, and I think Grams has her lists completed. :) Linda takes me to the airport on her way home. Thanks Linda! Of course, in typical Amy fashion, my flight is delayed by 2 hours or so. I read my book for the several hours at the airport (Water for Elephants is the book). I read some on the plane, and then I collapse into a very deep sleep. I even miss drink service. I had been up pretty late most nights trying to get our release ready for shipping. Mike met me at the airport, and we take a cab to the Holiday Inn Express on Carondelet (much more about this later). The cab driver was a student at Xavier, and he was very cool. A parade is going on, so the traffic is pretty heavy near the hotel. We get in the long line to get checked in. Mike had called the hotel prior to our arrival and was told that we had a room with a good view (501 I think). So, after waiting in the long line to get checked in, we are given room 222. Mike says that we were supposed to be in 501, and she says someone else is already in there. When we walk into the room, it is the smallest hotel room I have ever seen. It has ONE DOUBLE bed in it. The view is of an alley wall and a dumpster if you look really hard to see the street in between the hotel and the wall. We don't so much care about the view because we don't plan to be in the room much, but the King size bed is something we care about. So, Mike calls down, and they say that the bed we have is a queen (hmmm....last time I checked a queen wasn't a double). We laugh because the headboard is much longer than the actual bed. Maybe they don't even know what they have in there. Anyway, the lady at the desk, Ms. Sharice, says that when you book on hotels.com, you get a "queen." Of course, Mike used his frequent stay points to book the room through Holiday Inn (supposedly a thank you for staying with them so much). If this is how they treat loyal customers, we are scared to see how they treat non-regulars. Anyway, Ms. Sharice says that they will probably have openings the next day, and she tells us to check with her in the morning to see if we can move. So, we are careful about really unpacking so that we can move in the morning easily. It is after midnight now central time, but we decide that we have to go look around a little bit. So, we walk down Bourbon Street for a bit, have a few hurricanes (which I found help more with kidney stones than ANY pain medicine I have ever had). It is not as crowded as I remember it from my last Mardi Gras (in 94), but it is getting close. There are girls showing their cleavage for beads, but Mike and I are just in the wander mode. We head back to the hotel and go to bed. Wow, I am so glad that we have a Queen bed at home. A double bed is really not very large. Mike is like a heating pad in bed, so I have no room to escape the heat. :)
Of course, the first morning as we are getting ready, Grams goes to help Morgan get her lunch ready while I am upstairs. Morgan, who usually takes a very full lunch, tells Grams that she usually only takes 2 things. So, the morning starts out with Grams saying that she is worried that Morgan doesn't eat enough. I wish Grams could see her normal lunch. Oh well. :)
Grams takes me to work, and it is a pretty good day. We review a few last minute directions, and I think Grams has her lists completed. :) Linda takes me to the airport on her way home. Thanks Linda! Of course, in typical Amy fashion, my flight is delayed by 2 hours or so. I read my book for the several hours at the airport (Water for Elephants is the book). I read some on the plane, and then I collapse into a very deep sleep. I even miss drink service. I had been up pretty late most nights trying to get our release ready for shipping. Mike met me at the airport, and we take a cab to the Holiday Inn Express on Carondelet (much more about this later). The cab driver was a student at Xavier, and he was very cool. A parade is going on, so the traffic is pretty heavy near the hotel. We get in the long line to get checked in. Mike had called the hotel prior to our arrival and was told that we had a room with a good view (501 I think). So, after waiting in the long line to get checked in, we are given room 222. Mike says that we were supposed to be in 501, and she says someone else is already in there. When we walk into the room, it is the smallest hotel room I have ever seen. It has ONE DOUBLE bed in it. The view is of an alley wall and a dumpster if you look really hard to see the street in between the hotel and the wall. We don't so much care about the view because we don't plan to be in the room much, but the King size bed is something we care about. So, Mike calls down, and they say that the bed we have is a queen (hmmm....last time I checked a queen wasn't a double). We laugh because the headboard is much longer than the actual bed. Maybe they don't even know what they have in there. Anyway, the lady at the desk, Ms. Sharice, says that when you book on hotels.com, you get a "queen." Of course, Mike used his frequent stay points to book the room through Holiday Inn (supposedly a thank you for staying with them so much). If this is how they treat loyal customers, we are scared to see how they treat non-regulars. Anyway, Ms. Sharice says that they will probably have openings the next day, and she tells us to check with her in the morning to see if we can move. So, we are careful about really unpacking so that we can move in the morning easily. It is after midnight now central time, but we decide that we have to go look around a little bit. So, we walk down Bourbon Street for a bit, have a few hurricanes (which I found help more with kidney stones than ANY pain medicine I have ever had). It is not as crowded as I remember it from my last Mardi Gras (in 94), but it is getting close. There are girls showing their cleavage for beads, but Mike and I are just in the wander mode. We head back to the hotel and go to bed. Wow, I am so glad that we have a Queen bed at home. A double bed is really not very large. Mike is like a heating pad in bed, so I have no room to escape the heat. :)
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Hurricane Anyone?
The past few days have had me laughing a lot (of course, I have also been screaming a lot at work so maybe it all balances out). We are undergoing some process changes at work to work more efficiently together and to provide better customer service. Of course, with all changes, there is an adjustment period. "Hurricane Amy" has come through several times lately, but I think we are improving. :)
Mike was a sweetie and got me a "Volunteer Parking" sign to hang in the garage where I park my car. He also got a Vol lightswitch cover. To top that, he even bought my brother Mark the same thing in University of Georgia flavor. Anyway, he was holding up the lightswitch in the Tennessee bathroom (yes, I have an orange colored Tennessee bathroom and love it!), and he realized that the switch in there has two switches and the plate only has one. So, he asked if I would want to hang it near the kitchen. I was surprised, so I said, "Are you sure you would want it where it is so visable?" Mike said, "Orange is the new white. I am so used to orange that I don't even notice it any more." I thought that was so funny. The things spouses get used to being around. :)
Another thing that is funny to me is that Mike and I are silly about certain things, and I think it is all because we have been divorced before. For example, we still pack our Christmas ornaments in different boxes. It cracks me up. I still remember dividing up the Christmas ornaments and how painful that was. We also still have our own silverware container. Now, this one is probably because we have a lot of silverware, and we have started to co-mingle it a bit lately. We have our own bank accounts and deposit money into a joint account to pay bills, groceries, and joint things. Kind of funny when I think of it just because I think it is so different than when you get married the first time.
Yesterday, we were watching the Florida primary results, and Morgan saw the results on the screen. Of course, she didn't really understand what was going on. She saw that Hillary Clinton was winning by a lot, and she got this panicked look on her face. I thought she was going to cry as she said, "Oh no Mom, does that mean that Hillary Clinton is now the president?" I couldn't help but laugh as she is definitely my daughter! :) I explained to her that hopefully this will not be indicative of the results in November. :) It made me laugh about when she told her first grade friends that they should get their parents to vote for Bush because voting for Kerry meant less toys for the kids. We had talked about the election the night before, and I had tried to explain that I thought our taxes would go up if Kerry was elected. She asked what that meant, and I told her that higher taxes meant less money in my paycheck. So, she told her friends that he would mean less toys for kids. Her teacher was not amused. :)
My mom is coming into town tomorrow to take care of Morgan while Mike and I go to Mardi Gras. Mike has never been to MG, and I haven't been in years and years. I was laughing recently because Morgan wanted to know why I was cleaning up the house before my mom came to visit. She said that she doesn't clean up for me. HA. I told her that maybe she should try it sometime. :)
I will try to do some mobile posts from Mardi Gras. I have been thinking about the last time I went to MG when we had a bunch of people all stay in one hotel room. I remember how beads were almost like money. I met a judge last time when I went, and he said that he and his wife and girls (probably my age or older) go every year. He said that he sees all of that crazy stuff in the court room all year long, and he goes to Mardi Gras to let it all go. :) I remember leaving the hotel with 20 people holding on to each other, and then realizing that a short block or two along that we were no longer together. I remember a friend of mine sitting down to talk to some homeless people, and we tried to convince him not to stay there alone. He didn't listen, and he ended up getting robbed. I also think of my grandfather, Paw-Paw, who celebrated his 90th birthday in New Orleans. We ate at Commander's Palace, and he wore a chef's hat that he adored. Ahhh....New Orleans. I am excited about going again. I can't wait to see what Mike thinks. I also can't wait to have a hurricane. It appears that each one is about 6 points. However, I think my flex points will probably be gone by Friday at midnight. So, I will just have to enjoy it and get right back on track when I return.
Mike was a sweetie and got me a "Volunteer Parking" sign to hang in the garage where I park my car. He also got a Vol lightswitch cover. To top that, he even bought my brother Mark the same thing in University of Georgia flavor. Anyway, he was holding up the lightswitch in the Tennessee bathroom (yes, I have an orange colored Tennessee bathroom and love it!), and he realized that the switch in there has two switches and the plate only has one. So, he asked if I would want to hang it near the kitchen. I was surprised, so I said, "Are you sure you would want it where it is so visable?" Mike said, "Orange is the new white. I am so used to orange that I don't even notice it any more." I thought that was so funny. The things spouses get used to being around. :)
Another thing that is funny to me is that Mike and I are silly about certain things, and I think it is all because we have been divorced before. For example, we still pack our Christmas ornaments in different boxes. It cracks me up. I still remember dividing up the Christmas ornaments and how painful that was. We also still have our own silverware container. Now, this one is probably because we have a lot of silverware, and we have started to co-mingle it a bit lately. We have our own bank accounts and deposit money into a joint account to pay bills, groceries, and joint things. Kind of funny when I think of it just because I think it is so different than when you get married the first time.
Yesterday, we were watching the Florida primary results, and Morgan saw the results on the screen. Of course, she didn't really understand what was going on. She saw that Hillary Clinton was winning by a lot, and she got this panicked look on her face. I thought she was going to cry as she said, "Oh no Mom, does that mean that Hillary Clinton is now the president?" I couldn't help but laugh as she is definitely my daughter! :) I explained to her that hopefully this will not be indicative of the results in November. :) It made me laugh about when she told her first grade friends that they should get their parents to vote for Bush because voting for Kerry meant less toys for the kids. We had talked about the election the night before, and I had tried to explain that I thought our taxes would go up if Kerry was elected. She asked what that meant, and I told her that higher taxes meant less money in my paycheck. So, she told her friends that he would mean less toys for kids. Her teacher was not amused. :)
My mom is coming into town tomorrow to take care of Morgan while Mike and I go to Mardi Gras. Mike has never been to MG, and I haven't been in years and years. I was laughing recently because Morgan wanted to know why I was cleaning up the house before my mom came to visit. She said that she doesn't clean up for me. HA. I told her that maybe she should try it sometime. :)
I will try to do some mobile posts from Mardi Gras. I have been thinking about the last time I went to MG when we had a bunch of people all stay in one hotel room. I remember how beads were almost like money. I met a judge last time when I went, and he said that he and his wife and girls (probably my age or older) go every year. He said that he sees all of that crazy stuff in the court room all year long, and he goes to Mardi Gras to let it all go. :) I remember leaving the hotel with 20 people holding on to each other, and then realizing that a short block or two along that we were no longer together. I remember a friend of mine sitting down to talk to some homeless people, and we tried to convince him not to stay there alone. He didn't listen, and he ended up getting robbed. I also think of my grandfather, Paw-Paw, who celebrated his 90th birthday in New Orleans. We ate at Commander's Palace, and he wore a chef's hat that he adored. Ahhh....New Orleans. I am excited about going again. I can't wait to see what Mike thinks. I also can't wait to have a hurricane. It appears that each one is about 6 points. However, I think my flex points will probably be gone by Friday at midnight. So, I will just have to enjoy it and get right back on track when I return.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Double 1st Place!
Morgan's Mini and Youth cheer teams competed at Jamfest today in Tampa. The Florida Wildcats were rocking the house and started the day with 4 first place victories!!!!!!!! The juniors, who are usually the BOMB, had a rough day and got 3rd. I am not sure how the seniors did because sickly Morgan was ready to go home (and so was Mom).
Mike went and picked up Katie so that she could watch Morgan's cheer competition. For some reason, Dana thinks cheerleading is awful, and she was giving Mike a hard time about Katie going. She said that she didn't want Katie to be exposed to cheerleading as they "go around naked with too much make-up." I totally don't understand this. For one thing, Katie does Baton, and they walk around in a leotard only which shows much more to me than Morgan's cheer outfit. It is a short skirt I guess, but they were bloomer shorts under it. It does show some belly, but it is definitely less than a bikini which Dana seems to be fine with. Hmmm...Morgan exercises 13 hours a week by tumbling, stunting, dancing, and running. How exactly is that bad? Maybe she missed that lesson that says that people should exercise?
Mike went and picked up Katie so that she could watch Morgan's cheer competition. For some reason, Dana thinks cheerleading is awful, and she was giving Mike a hard time about Katie going. She said that she didn't want Katie to be exposed to cheerleading as they "go around naked with too much make-up." I totally don't understand this. For one thing, Katie does Baton, and they walk around in a leotard only which shows much more to me than Morgan's cheer outfit. It is a short skirt I guess, but they were bloomer shorts under it. It does show some belly, but it is definitely less than a bikini which Dana seems to be fine with. Hmmm...Morgan exercises 13 hours a week by tumbling, stunting, dancing, and running. How exactly is that bad? Maybe she missed that lesson that says that people should exercise?
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Fever, Bucket List
On Friday, Morgan called me at work from the gym and said that her head was hurting really badly and wanted me to come get her. Since this was an extra practice before the competition on Sunday, I wasn't sure what to do. So, I went to the gym, and Morgan said she could make it. So, I wasn't that worried. Then, she didn't seem to be feeling well that night, but it was too late to go to an urgent care. Saturday morning, she was pitiful. Off to the doctor we went. Even after Advil and drinking cold gatorade, her fever was still 102.
The doctor gave her a shot of Rocephin (even though she didn't think a BOY should give her a shot). :) She got Amoxicillan and some cough syrup. Of course, the cheer competition is tomorrow. The boys wanted to see a movie, and it seemed like a good calm activity for Morgan. So, off we went to the Bucket List. It was a great movie. I really liked the ideas behind it, the humor, the depth of the relationship. It was very good. Morgan, however, was not so fond of it. :)During the movie, my phone rang, and I was shocked as I had turned the ringer off. Sometimes, the change to my volume doesn't work if you close the phone too quickly after you change it. I guess that is what happened. Anyway, I am frantically tyring to get "Low" to stop playing in the movie. I don't even think anything of it until we are on the way home. I call Denise back, and she reminds me that I was supposed to be at her house 30 minutes before to go to a party. OOPS. So, Mike drops me off at her house, and I go to the "girls" party. The person doing the party didn't show up though, so we just hung out. It was still fun.
The doctor gave her a shot of Rocephin (even though she didn't think a BOY should give her a shot). :) She got Amoxicillan and some cough syrup. Of course, the cheer competition is tomorrow. The boys wanted to see a movie, and it seemed like a good calm activity for Morgan. So, off we went to the Bucket List. It was a great movie. I really liked the ideas behind it, the humor, the depth of the relationship. It was very good. Morgan, however, was not so fond of it. :)During the movie, my phone rang, and I was shocked as I had turned the ringer off. Sometimes, the change to my volume doesn't work if you close the phone too quickly after you change it. I guess that is what happened. Anyway, I am frantically tyring to get "Low" to stop playing in the movie. I don't even think anything of it until we are on the way home. I call Denise back, and she reminds me that I was supposed to be at her house 30 minutes before to go to a party. OOPS. So, Mike drops me off at her house, and I go to the "girls" party. The person doing the party didn't show up though, so we just hung out. It was still fun.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Haircut
Morgan decided to get her haircut. Of course, she had her hair like this about 2 years ago. She wanted to grow it long because the cheer girls had it long. I still remember the day that she got it cut before her first cheer competition ever. I got them worst looks from the cheer moms. How could I?? So, it is very funny to me that she wanted it cut back the way it was after 2 years of growing it. Of course, Morgan said that it is the new style. I think it turned out perfectly! I love it.
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