Thursday August 5, 2010 Band Mom’s Mom passed.
Here’s a link to her obituary at the funeral home: obit
The next few posts will be the story of the past couple of weeks. Its been busy and I haven’t had a chance to post anything for a while.
Band Mom’s Mom will be missed. Thanks to all who sent well wishes to Band Mom and all of us. The support of family and friends was much needed and appreciated!
The combo was good and bad.
Early in the week Band Mom and I were talking about taking an over night mini vacation. She needed a break from home, so we decided to go out Friday and actually spend the night at a hotel just to get away from the house for an overnighter. Pooh was all set up to babysit the girls and Band Mom’s Mom. Then things got changed.
It all started Wednesday night. Band Mom’s Mom was not having a great day. A bad cough and some confusion. Nothing terribly bad, but noticable. Band Mom had a meeting in the evening so after work I was home with Band Mom’s Mom. After the meeting, Band Mom thought maybe a shower would make her mom feel a little better. No luck there. It actually became very obvious during the shower that something was actually wrong. Band Mom’s Mom had trouble sitting up or standing. Wasn’t responding verbally well. We actually had to carry her down the stairs to get back to the living room. At this point Band Mom decided we needed to call an ambulance and get her mom to the hospital.
Pooh ended up taking Thing 2 home with her and Thing 1 stayed next door with JuJu. We spent many hours in the ER. And finally got her mom admitted and moved upstairs around 3 in the morning. I obviously called off work. We got up the next day and after we got moving headed up to the hospital to see how her Mom was doing. She seemed a little better, but no real explanation of what was wrong in the first place. Band Mom suspected infection (correctly it would turn out). After leaving the hospital, Band Mom decided (and it took no arm bending for me to aggree) that we should make a casino visit since we didn’t know if we’d be able to go this weekend, since we didn’t have any clue what was going on with her Mom.
So we killed a couple of hours there and both did pretty well. We weren’t sure what a Thursday afternoon would be like, but it was good. Except we were a minority there as far as age goes. Afternoon’s are definitely for the older crowed. I actually had a guy sit down at a machine beside me and ask, “How’s it goin’ young fella?” I almost peed my pants! Which ironically probably wouldn’t have been out of place in that crowd. 
After a couple of hours we headed home and Band Mom took a nap and I almost did. I just knew that if I did I wouldn’t sleep well at night and probably miss a second day of work. We ate and got an update from Pooh (who visited Band Mom’s Mom around dinner). The kids came home and then decided to stay the night with JuJu again. I eventually headed to bed because Friday was still a work day for me.
Friday I was at work. Band Mom fought with doctors on the phone most of the day. They weren’t finding anything when it was obvious (to Band Mom) that they should be since something not cancer, chemo or transfusion related was wrong. After 16 months Band Mom can tell what’s normal issues and what’s not…
Pooh decided to take Things 1 & 2 and go see a movie in the evening. Band Mom and I went to an open house of a new cafe that will soon be (actually at the time of writing this is) opening downtown, Cafe Bellatini (sp?). Band Mom did her social networking thing, while I just hung out in the background like I normally do at these types of things. I gotta say thought the food was excellent. After we spent some time there we headed up to visit her Mom.
The difference between Friday and Wednesday nights was noticeable. Obviously whatever they were doing was helping. The hospital still had no clue, but we obviously made the right call bringing her in. We visited for a while then said good night and headed out.
Since we were kid free and Mom free, we decided to hit the casino. We got to The Meadows and it was packed. Parking was non existent. So we decided to head to Wheeling Island. We were too late to hit the seafood buffet, but we weren’t that hungry anyway because to the open house.
We both did okay at the island, each did about even or a little better. Of course it was too early to head home so we headed to The Meadows. I did okay, but Band Mom made some green by the time we headed home.
Saturday rolled around. My mom called and wanted to take the girls on an “adventure”. She wanted to surprise the girls so no details were given. My folks picked up the girls and Band Mom and I were on our own again for the day/night. We got some stuff done around the house, then before our dinner time, we visited Band Mom’s Mom. Still no real answers but improvement still daily better. After visiting we decided to head back down to Wheeling Island for the buffet, oh yea and some gaming, duh. As for the gaming, I lost a couple of bucks, nothing major, but Band Mom was winning again. After a couple of hours there of course we headed back up to The Meadows again. I broke even there and Band Mom kept on winning. She was hot this weekend. I didn’t lose money, but didn’t win either, she on the other hand won nicely.
Sunday was just some more stuff around the house and a visit to the hospital. The kids were back home. Still no real diagnosis for Band Mom’s Mom…
Monday I was back to work. Band Mom got some actual answers from the hospital. Turns out she had a sinus infection…Which I’m pretty sure Band Mom told them to look for the minute we walked into the hospital, but since she doesn’t have an alphabet soup after her name, I guess she doesn’t know what she’s talking about…We took Things 1 & 2 with us to visit after I got home from work. Then the 4 of us went out to dinner at Old Mexico.
Tuesday after work, Band Mom and I headed up to the hospital and brought her Mom home. She’s still on some meds, but wow the difference a week makes. Wednesday she felt so good, she had Pooh take her out to get a pedicure. Today(Thursday) she’s at the doctor for routine blood work so we’ll find out if there is anything else going on…
All in a the weekend was a combination of the good and bad, but it worked out well in the end.
First a little catch up since I haven’t posted since Mother’s Day…
The big thing that has changed is that a month or so ago Band Mom’s Mom moved in with us at our place. We had to do a lot of remodeling in a very short time to get the house ready. Big changes for everyone. Once Pooh headed off to college in the fall, Thing 1 took over her room and left the other bedroom to Thing 2. We had slowly, starting around the same time, converted our former office into a secondary TV room and had pretty much just gotten it to a place where all were happy with it. And before the decision to mover her mom in was made Band Mom and I had ordered new living room furniture.
Well in about 5 days the whole house was changed. Thing 1′s stuff was moved out of her room and back to the shared bedroom with Thing 2. That room was then turned into the secondary TV room. What was the secondary TV room was turned into an apartment for Band Mom’s Mom. Cleared out, new carpeting, furniture from her apartment. The new couch for the living room came in. We needed to put a sink in the upstairs bathroom so there was easy access for the family if her mom was using the downstairs bathroom. We got it mostly done before her mom moved in. We spent the next week or two still finishing up with things like a door on her room, a railing on the steps leading to the upstairs and other stuff. We’re still not quite done, as the girls’ room still needs a lot of work…oh and beds. So we’ve been adjusting to having a new house mate.
But this past weekend was my birthday weekend. And that’s always a fun weekend. The weekend started Thursday night. Pooh came over to spend the night and babysit for us and keep an eye on Band Mom’s Mom. Band Mom and I had to go judge some karaoke for a contest after dinner. Not my favorite activity, but beer helps. And since I took Friday off, I could have a few. After the contest Band Mom and I headed to the casino. We lost our pants it wasn’t a good night we should have left early, but it was part of my birthday present so we splurged a little.
Friday, my mom took the girls’ swimming and then they were staying the night at my folks’ so they could get up early on Saturday for the parade. Band Mom’s Aunt came into town and took Band Mom’s Mom back to her old apartment for a couple of days so we could have some time off and so Band Mom’s Mom could go through stuff to decide what she wanted/needed to bring back to our house. Band Mom and I lazed around most of the day and got stuff ready for Saturday’s birthday party.
We were originally going to head to the casino in the late afternoon and check out the new table games. It was a friends and family night for the dealers (of which we know at least one) where there was no real money and it was just a practice run for the dealers. By the time we were actually gonna go, we decided it was gonna be a mad house and we still hadn’t eaten dinner. So instead we headed to Wheeling Island for the seafood buffet and some gaming. The buffet was excellent! And the gaming was okay, I was not doing well until we were about to leave and I hit a machine that took about back to even. We left and headed back to our normal casino. We played till about 4 in the morning and both did really well. Basically we made back what we lost the night before and then some. And the fact that we didn’t have anyone at the house that we had to worry about the next day, we took full advantage.
Then it was my birthday. Band Mom, as always, planned a big ol’ party. We got the last minute stuff and then waited for people to start showing up. We had a bunch of friends, my folks and the kids there and had a ball. Band Mom bought a fire pit so once it started to get dark, we had a nice little fire. I also got to set off some fireworks. Thanks to everyone who came out we had a ball.
We realized we’re getting old when by 10:30 most of the party was gone. Some because of kids, some because of other commitments, some just because their old. But that was okay, if everyone was gone early enough Band Mom and I were heading back to the casino. But no luck…Once everyone was gone and we cleaned up the basics, it was real late and we kinda had to get up in the morning to get Band Mom’s Mom back home.
Sunday was another birthday…the country’s! We got up and got Band Mom’s Mom back home. There were some problems there (just confusion from the change), but nothing we couldn’t handle. Band Mom had invited a smaller group over again for dinner and she got to cooking in the late afternoon. She put out a good spread and we all hung out by the fire pit again and waited for the fire works. After the fireworks everyone headed out. The kids and Band Mom’s Mom were back home. But after Band Mom’s Mom was asleep, we had a neighbor sit with the girls and we took our winnings from Friday back to the casino We both did ok. Not good, but we still walked out with money in our pocket.
Monday was just a clean up and relax day. The girls went to the pool with my parents and sister and then to some festival after that. A couple of friends stopped by around dinner, so the four of us had some burgers on the grill and sat around the fire again. Unfortunately, I had to head to bed at reasonable hour since it was back to work on Tuesday…
Thanks all for the Birthday wishes and coming and hanging with us this weekend! It was a fun weekend with a much needed break. This week its back to the grind.
First off, I hope all the mothers out there had a happy Mother’s Day! If it weren’t for mothers, there would be no one…
Mother’s Day weekend was pretty chill around our house. Friday Pooh came over to babysit while Band Mom and I headed to the casino. We should just stay out of that place on Fridays. We tend to have pretty bad luck and this Friday was no exception.
Saturday, I was up relatively early. I did some stuff around the house then ran out and picked up some Mother’s Day cards for Band Mom, my mom and her mom, because today was our Mother’s Day. To avoid the big Mother’s Day crowds we decided to do a Mother’s Day lunch/dinner today. Around 3, we headed over to Band Mom’s Mom’s and met up with my folks and Pooh and her beau. Then we all headed out to eat.
We went to Hokkaido, the place we went for Mrs. D’s birthday a few weeks ago. We were there for almost 2 hours (with no wait to sit). Everyone just had a good time eating and talking that we didn’t even realize how long we were there. After dinner, my folks took Band Mom’s Mom home and Pooh and her beau to their car. Pooh and her beau then went out together and Band Mom and I settled in for a night at home with the girls.
We got home in time for me to watch the Pens win game 5 and take a 3-2 lead in the conference semi-finals against the Habs. The girls worked on some crafts that they wanted to give Band Mom for Mother’s Day on Sunday. Late night Band Mom went on a short excursion to the casino with our neighbors. When she got home we headed to bed.
Sunday I was up relatively early again. We let Band Mom sleep while Things 1 & 2 and I kicked around the house. When Band Mom finally got up we all started getting ready to go. Band Mom wanted to go look at some furniture at the local DFW then get some groceries and go out to eat somewhere.
After the DFW store we decided to head up to Robinson and check out the Value City Furniture. She ended up liking a 2 piece sectional at both places so it was just going to be a matter of deciding which one she liked more and which would fit better in our house…more on that in a bit.
Then we decided to hit Golden Corral for grub. That plan was quickly nixed when we got there and the line was out the door and down the sidewalk. None of us was that set on eating there. So we headed back into town and decided on USA Steak Buffet. A couple of plates in and Thing 2 out of no where pukes. Well…dinner’s over time to head home.
There was no more sickness for the rest of the night. Obviously something just didn’t sit well with her so that was good. Band Mom and I spent pretty much the rest of the night measuring or living room and figuring out how we (read she) wanted to rearrange the room. We came up with some neat ideas including my idea of mounting the TV above the mantle…I don’t think we’re going to do that one, but it sounded cool.
Finally the kids got showered and ready for bed. Band Mom and I spent the next 2 hours playing with room configurations then I headed to bed and she made a quick run to Wal Mart for a much needed grocery run.
All in all I think Band Mom got a pretty decent Mother’s Day weekend and I hope all the mothers out there did as well.
The first of May is a big day in our house. Its both Band Mom and Thing 2′s birthday. Its hard to combine birthday parties for a 7 year old a slightly older person. So this year we spread it out. Band Mom had a party at one of our local watering holes on the last Saturday in April. A good bit of her friends showed up and some friends of our provided the musical entertainment. I think she had a good time and I’m pretty sure everyone who came out to celebrate with her did as well. Of course after the night at the bar Band Mom and I hit the casino.
Things 1 & 2 were spending the night at my folks’. Since the newest addition to our family, Jet, hasn’t been home alone for very long since he’s only been with us for 1 week at this time, my parents agreed to take him for the overnight as well. He did pretty good on the overnight trip and I think my mom was sucked in by his cuteness…
Jump to the following weekend. Friday night, Band Mom was supposed to go to some fund raiser dinner. While she was out Things 1 & 2 and I planned on grabbing some dinner and birthday shopping for her. Well she ended up not going and throwing a wrench into the works. So all of us headed out together. We shopped for some other stuff for a while. Then we split off from Band Mom for a little while and got some shopping done for her birthday. When we were done shopping all of us headed to Ci Ci’s for a quick cheap dinner. Bonus is they have TVs so I got to catch part of Game 1 of the Pens 2nd round playoff series.
After we ate we headed home. After the girls went to bed, I headed back out and finished shopping for Thing 2′s birthday. And picked up something extra for Band Mom.
Saturday was Thing 2′s party. This year she decided on a roller skating party. So a little before 2 we loaded up the car and headed to the rink. I think Things 1 & 2 both had a good time. A couple of Thing 2′s friends from school came. Some mutual friends of theirs from the neighborhood came and then some of the kids they know who are the kids of Band Mom and my friends. Plus my folks, Band Mom’s Mom and some others. Thing 2 made out on the gift front. By the time the party was over the kids were tired from 2+ hours of skating and we all headed home. Pooh and her boyfriend came to the party and were also heading back to our house and Pooh was on babysitting duty for us for the night.
After a couple of hours at home, Band Mom and I headed out to guess where. How’d you know. Of course, the casino. We played for a little bit before heading upstairs to Bistecca for a nice birthday dinner. We’ve eaten there a couple of times before and it was never that busy. But tonight it was packed. We figured it was a combination of the fact that we usually dine later that we tried, the 9 o’clock giveaway of a 2010 Mustang and the fact that the Kentucky Derby ran not long before we got there. So we couldn’t just sit and eat. We made a reservation for later in the evening around 10, but they said to stop up around 9:15 or 9:30 as there would probably be a table available by then.
So we headed back down to the casino floor to play for a little longer. We met up with some friends who came to visit with Band Mom for a little before splintering off and playing some more. We finally headed up a little after 9 and were able to be seated. We had an awesome dinner (even if Band Mom’s steak was a little over done). After dinner it was back to the floor for more gaming.
Band Mom and I bumped into a couple of other friends as the night progressed. Finally after many hours, Band Mom was getting tired and we headed home. Band Mom was up a few bucks and I was down a couple, but overall we were up on the night (not counting dinner!)
Sunday was spent recouping from a long Saturday.
Hopefully my 2 girls had an enjoyable birthday weekend!!!
Its been a while since I blogged. I’m getting lazy. There just hasn’t been anything very interesting to write about. So I’m going to catch up a bit by talking about the past couple of weekends.
Quick Summary:
Last weekend (specifically Saturday) Good
This Friday Good
This Saturday Bad…:(
This Sunday Getting Better
Long version:
Last weekend was nothing overly special. Friday night Band Mom and I stayed home with Things 1 & 2 and hung out around the house. Saturday we had lunch with Band Mom’s Mom and my folks at Red Lobster. After lunch my folks took Things 1 & 2 with them and headed out to see the new movie How To Train Your Dragon in 3D. Band Mom and I took her mom home, then headed home ourselves for a while.
We decided we were going to have dinner at the casino and then play a bit. We got there and decided to play a little before eating. We weren’t there 10 minutes and Band Mom already started a good win streak. We then met up with our friends Double D, Mrs. D and Jags. Band Mom was doing so well we kinda skipped dinner. Then at 11:00pm Band Mom won a drawing for $1000 Free Play. She was rolling in luck this night. We ended up stopping after that and getting some grub. Then playing more. Do you know how hard it is to spend $1000 in Free Play. we ended up staying at the casino till like 6 in the morning and she only spent half of her free play.
Sunday afternoon I got the girls back and it was putz around the house cleaning day for the rest of the day. I also made plans with my folks to watch the girls on Friday so we could head back to the casino so Band Mom could use the rest of her Free Play before it expires
Friday came and after work I dropped the girls off to my folks. Since it was Mrs. D’s birthday, Band Mom made plans to go to dinner with Double D and Mrs D and also KJ and Princess. Mrs. D wanted to go to a restaurant called Hokkaido. Band Mom and I never new this place existed. It was awesome! It reminded Band Mom and I of some of the buffets we visited when Band Mom’s folks lived near DC. There was a ton of selection and just everything you could want. A Mogolian grill, sushi (not the cheap stuff on most Chinese buffets, but real stuff), Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Korean. Everyone had an awesome dinner.
After dinner, Band Mom and I headed to the casino to play out her free play, while the others went to see a band. The casino treated us both well. Band Mom used her Free Play to great advantage, while I finally had a winning night, breaking a few month losing streak on my part. When we got home Pooh was asleep. She was home because on Saturday she was babysitting for a friend of ours.
Then Saturday happened. This was the bad day. It started out innocently enough. When I got up I called to see what the little ones were up to. I made plans to take Pooh over to visit around 1:30 and then drop all the girls off to Band Mom’s Mom’s to visit and take her shopping for a little bit. While they were all gone Band Mom gave me a haircut. Then in the late afternoon everyone was home.
We were figuring out what we were going to do for dinner. Then I let the dog out for a bit. This is were things started going bad. He started barking to come in. I went out to let him in and something was wrong. He couldn’t stand up. His hind legs weren’t working. Now he’s been having problems with his hips for a couple of years now. The vet said it was arthritis. He has good days and bad days, but never anything like this. Some times he would fall out of nowhere, but get right back up and act like nothing happened. But not this time.
Band Mom started calling all of the vets in the area, while I sat outside with the dog keeping him company. It wasn’t looking good. She finally found a 24 hour emergency clinic in Wheeling. And they offered euthanasia. That seemed like the only option. He was obviously in so much pain. So I picked him up and got him into the back of Band Mom’s truck. And we drove to the clinic. It seemed like the longest drive ever…
We got there and discussed our options with the vet and the only plausible option was to put him to sleep. So the vet gave him a dose of Special K to calm him before the final shot. This was probably the hardest time of the day. Waiting for that final shot after all decisions were made. We finally got through it all. I loaded him back into the car to take home and bury.
While we were gone Pooh took Things 1 & 2 to my folks for a little bit. She had to go babysit. So on the way home we picked up the girls and all headed home. They all went inside while I dug the grave in the back yard. After what seemed like forever, Band Mom and I lowered Loki into his final resting place, then the girls came out to say there last goodbyes. We refilled the hole and all went back in sided. Band Mom had made some pizza and wings while I was digging since she and I hadn’t eaten all day and it was now around 11 at night. We all sat and ate a little. It was one of the quietest nights in our household ever. Everyone hit the sack way earlier than any of us normally would on a Saturday night.
Sunday came and we were all up kinda early for us. So I proposed heading out for a nice brunch to try to lift everyone’s spirits. Pooh was visiting her Dad’s so she wasn’t there but everyone else was. By the time we all got ready it was a little later than we planned on heading out. So I suggested we head to Robinson and have a nice buffet lunch at Golden Corral and after lunch we could stop at Pet Land and LOOK at puppies. If everyone promised there would be no crying when we didn’t buy. This was supposed to be an information gathering visit. Seeing what type of dogs everyone liked so later on down the road we could discuss getting a new puppy that everyone agreed upon.
I loved my dog. I would want another midsize dog or according to Band Mom a big dog. Something that could act as a protector. Band Mom wanted something smaller. In his later years Loki was could only be handled by me. And he was big enough to be scary. He wasn’t fast in his old age, but he still had some massive teeth and crazy jaw power. Band Mom didn’t want that worry again in the future. So we were focusing on dogs that even when full size could be handled by Things 1 & 2.
The three of them decided they wanted to visit with 2 of the dogs that were there a long hair chihuahua and a miniature pincher. They put us in a little visit room and brought out the chihuahua. This thing full size would be smaller than the steel toe boots I was wearing, I wasn’t real comfortable with something that my fat ass could easily step on and crush to death. There was another family waiting to see the same chihuahua longer than us so after a few seconds with the puppy, with apologies, our sales person took the dog to the other family and brought us the mini pin. This dog was bigger, but still way small and full grown could be picked up by Thing 2. The dog immediately bonded with Things 1 & 2. It came in our room and went right over and laid on their laps and started playing with them. Band Mom instantly fell in love…I admit it was awesome to see Things 1 & 2 really click with a dog. Loki was around before them and was in all reality my dog. He tolerated the rest of the people. When we had Daisy, that dog was just insane and too hyper for the girls (and Band Mom and I). This dog was small, affectionate, playful, but not hyper. So how can Dad say no to all that….
We brought the new puppy home obviously. His name is Jet. I think everyone is happy with the decision to take him home. He took the car ride home very well. He sat between the girls on the back seat and didn’t freak out at all. At home, he was very well behaved on his fist night. No messes in the house. No chasing the cats.
The new morning routine for Thing 1 is to let Jet out of his crate and take him out to potty. Then give him some breakfast. She did well on the first morning, lets hope it keeps up…
A post script about things happening when they are supposed/need to…
Saturday having everyone home when all the problems happened was very odd…Thing 1 was invited to a sleepover birthday party on Saturday. Unfortunately for her, she forgot the invitation at school on both Thursday and Friday. So she didn’t have a phone number to RSVP. Friday night and Saturday during the day, she tried to get a hold of another friend who was also going to the party to get the RSVP number. She had no luck with many phone calls and a couple of emails. If she would have RSVPed she would have been at the party. Since she was at a party Thing 2 would have wanted to do something. That probably would have been staying at my folks’ by herself since she didn’t get to go to a party. Pooh was only home because she agreed to babysit for a friend of ours. Otherwise she would have been at school. Band Mom and I had gone out on Friday, so we were kinda planning on staying home on Saturday anyway. It is very rare to have all 5 of us home on a Saturday evening any more. I’m glad everyone was there and able to say goodbye…
This weekend was pretty laid back. Friday the little ones had school canceled again. For like the billionth time this month. Even still a friend of Thing 1′s wanted her to come over and spend the night. When I got home from work we ordered some pizza for dinner. Not long after the pizza got there, Pooh’s dad dropped her off. She’s on break for a week. After eating, I took Pooh and dropped her off to visit a friend at college, and Thing 1 at her friends. Then it was back home.
I played with Thing 2 for a little bit and watched a bunch of TV/DVR/Netflix. Band Mom and I planned on just hanging out at home all night. Pooh ended up catching a ride home from her friends around midnight courtesy of our neighbor, who is a security guard at the college she was visiting. Thing 2 had tried to stay up until Pooh got home, but didn’t quite make it.
After Pooh was home, Band Mom started to get a little itchy to go to the casino. So around 2 in the morning she and I headed out for some gaming. We played for a while. Longer than we realized actually, we ended up getting home after the sun was up…
Saturday, for some reason both Band Mom and I were up pretty early (for what time we actually got to bed that is.) Thing 1 was dropped off a little after 1 in the afternoon. Everyone spent the day just kinda lazing around the house. For dinner we ordered some Chinese. After dinner, I got a shower and got ready to go.
I was heading out to see Keyz’s band Evolution they were opening up for a band called Ardor. Both bands kicked ass! Its been a while since I’ve been out to see some original bands and it was well worth the trip.
While at the bar, I got a text from Band Mom. She was going to head into the casino with our neighbors around midnight and I should meet her there. So after I left the bar, I hit the casino on the way back home. We stayed for a while (not nearly as late as Friday night though) before heading home and to bed.
Sunday I slept way in. The past couple of nights catching up to me. Not that I was missing anything. I did get up in time to get some grub and then get settled in to watch the big USA/Canada hockey game for the gold medal at the Olympics. Dorka stopped by to pick up his mail and stayed for the game as well. It was a good game with the US tying the game with less than 30 seconds in regulation and then Canada winning in OT off of a goal by Sidney Crosby. Mixed emotions on that…Damn US lost. But awesome that the game winner for the gold was from Sid.
After the game Dorka headed out. Eventually everyone was ready for dinner so Pooh and I made a run to Arby’s to pick up some grub. We ate and then hung out til bed time. Monday was on its way and that means back to work for me and back to school for Things 1 & 2…
Well, I haven’t written here in a couple of weeks. I work all day on a computer. When I get home, I very rarely pull out the computer to do anything. Most of my blogs are posted during some free time at work. Unfortunately (for the blog) or fortunately (I’m busy) depending on how you look at it there hasn’t been much free time at work the past couple of weeks. But today there is a slight opening so I’m going to get this bad boy caught up…
First the last weekend in January…
Friday was a calm stay at home evening for the fam. We just stayed in watched some tube and had a nice relaxing evening at home. Saturday in the afternoon, my folks stopped by on their way home from shopping and picked up Things 1 & 2 for the night. Band Mom ran out and took care of some stuff during the late afternoon/evening. After a quick fend for yourself dinner we headed out for the evening. We picked up Marc, and then our friends Larry and Crystal. We all then headed to the bar to meet up with some other friends. This was a combined b-day celebration for Princesses sister and going away party for Larry and Crystal who are moving to Minnesota at some point in February. We all had fun b s ing, drinking and throwing darts. Well except for the weird dude who plagued Band Mom for what seemed like forever with stories about the hotel at which Band Mom no longer works and couldn’t care less about…
Around 1 we rounded up our three riders and made the rounds to drop them off. Then Band Mom and I headed to the casino for a few hours of playing. While there we met up with Ms. K and Mr. H off and on. After a few hours and Band Mom breaking even and me only losing a couple of bucks we headed home and to bed.
Sunday was spent putting a new flush assembly in the downstairs toilet. The kids came home in the afternoon and most of the day was spent lazing around the house watching the Pens play the game of the week.
The rest of the week was for the most part uneventful. Band Mom and I both hit the casino separately on Thursday to get our 5000 bonus points. But other than that not much happened.
Until Friday night…
That’s when we got an assload of snow. It started snowing a little before I left work. We decided to order pizza for dinner, but rather than have it delivered, I’d go and pick it up. This was around 8. And the roads were already awful. But the new four wheel drive is sweet! So we ate and prepared to hunker down for the night. Around 11, Mr. H asked if I could give him a lift to work since his car wasn’t going to be of much use in the weather and especially by the morning. So I did that. Even with the 4WD we had to dig my truck out to get it going. Once we were on the road it was smooth sailing.
The kids fell asleep around that same time, then BOOM out went the power. Band Mom and I didn’t know what to do with ourselves without TV, internet or phone. We had the cells, but they were draining fast. I plugged mine into a laptop and drained that battery for my phone. Band Mom and Ms. K went out to Band Mom’s truck for a while to charge their phones. Around 2, it was starting to get a little cold in the house. We decided to wake up the girls and bring them downstairs and we were all going to huddle together and sleep on the futon to stay warm. Of course, as soon as we got all set up and the girls were up to the point where they weren’t going to fall asleep for a while, the power came back. We cranked up the furnace to get the house as warm as possible as quickly as possible because we figured the power was going to go out again sooner or later. And it was sooner. After about half an hour out it went again. So we all stayed on the couch and slept for the night. I woke briefly around 5:30 and the power was back on.
When we all finally got moving Saturday morning, it was pretty much done snowing. Our city had already declared a state of emergency. We had about 19 inches of snow. Crazy snow. It was about as tall as my dog. Who loves the snow, but he was having trouble that day. We all got bundled up. Band Mom wanted to get the cars dug out just in case we needed them. So the girls played with a neighbor in the snow for a while, while we shoveled the front steps and dug out and cleaned of the cars. Our neighbors were out doing the same thing. After a couple hours of shoveling (and we don’t have a driveway or sidewalk…I feel bad for those folks) we headed back in to keep warm and laze around for the rest of the day.
Finally around 9PM the plow hit our street for the first time. All it really accomplished was to re-bury all the cars on the street. I went out and helped Mr. H dig his car out since he was going to take it to work that night. It was dark and cold so I didn’t dig our cars out while I was out there.
I should have though. Come Sunday, the mounds had frozen and were a bitch to dig out. Band Mom, Ms. K, Mr. H and I worked together to get all of the cars clear and open up parking for both of our houses. We had originally made plans to take my Mom out for dinner Sunday night with the whole family and Band Mom’s Mom for my Mom’s birthday. We canceled all of those plans since noone really wanted to go anywhere. Eventually, Band Mom and Ms. K headed out together to go grocery shopping. They weren’t the crazies stocking up because the ohmigodthesnowitstheendoftheworld it was just the weekly grocery run. They said though it was worse than Christmas shopping. That’s how long the lines were and how bare the shelves were. But they made it out alive.
We got a call from Things 1 & 2′s school and school was being canceled on Monday. Monday I made it to work and outside of our street and Route 40 in WV, the roads were pretty clear. Monday we found out that school was canceled on Tuesday as well. Now its Tuesday and I’m at work eating my lunch. It has started snowing again. We’re supposed to get another 6 – 12 inches by tomorrow…
So much for global warming!
Friday after work I took Things 1 & 2 over to my parents for the weekend. Band Mom and I were going to enjoy some alone time. We decided to go out to a nice dinner so we headed to Bistecca for dinner. In case you missed my anniversary blog, Bistecca is a nice steak house inside the casino. Band Mom again had the Filet Oscar and this time I had a crab stuffed lobster tail. Both were awesome. Band Mom skipped the appetizer this time so she could have room for dessert, but still was too full for dessert much to her dismay.
After we ate we headed down to the casino floor and played for a while. We didn’t have the luckiest time on the floor, but we did have fun. It was a little early for us to be there, but still fun none the less. On the way home, we stopped at Wal Mart to pick up a couple of things, since we figured we weren’t going to be leaving the house much on Saturday.
Saturday, we got to sleep in a bit. Or at least I did. Band Mom got up and started cleaning. I got to sleep until she came to inform me that she ripped the Wii‘s sensor bar cord to shreds with the vacuum. Oh well. Now I was up. After a little bit of cleaning by Band Mom we basically lazed around and watched some TV together for the majority of the afternoon. It was pouring rain all day, so we just couldn’t bring ourselves to leave the house to accomplish anything else.
For dinner, we were going to meet Princess and KJ at T.G.I.Fridays. They beat us there and found out that the wait was going to be like 45 minutes. So we all decided to bag that idea and ended up going to Waffle House. We had dinner and chatted for a while. Then we headed to a local bar for a couple of drinks.
After we were at the bar for a little bit, Double D called to see where we were at. We were supposed to all meet him and his wife and a couple of their friends at the casino. More specifically, the bowling alley. We got there and it was insane. There were a ton of people there. They said it would be like 2 hours before we could get a lane. So instead we headed to one of the bars upstairs in the casino where smoking is permitted. We hung out there for a while and then Band Mom had to hit the machines. I managed to stay and chat a little longer, but not long after I also headed out to the gaming floor.
Everyone else ended up leaving after a little while longer and heading to a different bar, but there is not getting Band Mom or I out of the casino that early. We both played for a few hours. To some better luck than the night before. We met our neighbors there for a little bit as well. Once we had had our fill though we finally headed home.
Sunday we got to sleep in a little again. We laid around again watching some TV. We finally got moving around 3:30. We headed out to Pooh’s Dad’s to pick up Band Mom’s Mom’s car. The last time Pooh was home, she got a flat and we didn’t want her driving the car back to our place on a donut since at that time the snow was pretty bad. So we went and got it and I drove it back to town. I parked it at Sears so on Monday Band Mom could go and get a new tire.
Then we stopped and picked up Things 1 & 2. We headed to Wal Mart to get some needed groceries. After that we headed home. Band Mom made a dinner of spinach salad and chicken wings. We ate and watched some DVR. The girls got to stay up later than normal since they didn’t have school on Monday. They finally went to bed around 10:30 and I headed to bed around 11 since I didn’t have Monday off.
Outside of a few little bumps, this was a nice relaxing weekend with Band Mom. We had a good time meeting up with friends and hanging at our favorite hang out.
Saturday was spent kinda lazing around and cleaning up after Thing 1′s party. Lunch (and dinner) were left over pizza. At night JuJu came over to baby sit so Band Mom and I could go out for a little bit. Gee, where did we go? Duh, the casino. It was a pretty good night.
Sunday, we slept in a little but got up and got ready to go. Sunday was the 4 year anniversary of the passing of Band Mom’s Dad. It doesn’t feel like its been that long, but it has. We all got ready and then headed to pick up Band Mom’s Mom. The 5 of us then headed out to go to the mausoleum. We spent some time there paying our respects.
After the mausoleum we stopped and had some Chinese buffet. Had to have some sweets for dessert to remember Band Mom’s Dad. I remember going to a buffet with him in DC where his first plate was nothing but cakes. I thought Band Mom’s Mom was gonna have a cow. The man had hidden candy all over their apartment. He was like a magician and could make a sweet appear from thin air. He loved having grand kids, because he wouldn’t get yelled at for sharing candy with them. That gave him more sweets.
The cat was a genius to boot. He had a PhD in engineering. He had a couple of patents in his name. Dude even has a theory in text books with his name on it. Fire suppression systems that he designed are still in use in mines all over the world. But best of all for me he raised an awesome daughter!