Thestrals

I want to have a somber moment today before I begin.  I just found out that my honorary grandma died last week.  My grandparents lived so far away, that for me, Bob and Cece filled the role.  For those of you who had the chance to meet her, you know that Cece was pure awesome.   She was what happens when you mix honesty, reality and a genuine happiness for life.  Bob and Cece lived down at the bottom of the hill when I was growing up.  My parents were down there so often that our dog Chico, who never left the yard, would run straight down there to find my mom (or maybe he could hear her laugh, I’m not sure. : ) When I got off the bus, I often stopped at Cece’s on my way home – just because.  She taught me how to dive – all while floating on her back, drink in hand, not getting her hair wet.  To this day, I don’t know how she was able to manage this feat for so long.  She also had the only rotary phone I knew of and adored Sinatra and Jimmy Roselli.  I’m not doing this well, I’m not capturing her.  I wish I had my quote books handy so I could share exactly what kind of things she would say so you could see how her humor was born of no nonsense effervescence. Maybe when I dig them up I’ll have a throwback update so I can share moments with them with all of you.  I feel like I lost her twice.  The first time was a slow sad slip of time until she really didn’t remember us.  So, when I got the news this morning, I wasn’t expecting the blow.  I guess what I’m saying is that she has been missed and will continue to be missed. 

And now I’ll commence with the update.  On Monday, I went down to play with my nieces.  We played the Harry Potter Scene it game.  Bailey and I were separated because technically, I’ve read books 7 times and seen the movies at least 4 times.  However, it’s been a while, and my memory isn’t as spritely as a 14 year old.  While I was able to keep up, it must have been painful for everyone involved because my answers when like this:

Q: What is the Felix Felicis most commonly known as?

Me: Fool’s Gold… Lucky duck…. LIQUID LUCK!

And Bailey’s when like this:

Q: I forgot the question.

Bailey:  Thestrals.  Remember because on the same page Luna and Harry…

We also played Pictionary.  The girls got to choose the teams.  When Stacey and I heard that we were on the same, we both said, “Really?  Are you sure?” And then… no one else got to leave the start square.  To be fair, Bailey had an upward battle with her 7 year old partner who, for example wanted to draw “Front Door” would start with the top of the chimney… and when she finished with the chimney, another team had already gotten it.  As always, Bails was a good sport.

Before I had arrived, the girls had been making video’s with Barbie’s.  In one video, Jackie (11) asked the Barbie’s, “Did you know that Ken is… CHEATING ON YOU?”  In another series, Ken asks Barbie to marry him and she answers, “Ken, you can’t just spring that on me.  You know I have to talk to all of my friends before I make any decisions!”  Then Ken leaves to go to the bathroom and gets murdered.  I’m going to skip ahead to Barbie, played by Jackie and a “friend” played by Morgan (9).

For New Year’s Eve, I went to a party at Mo’s where Percy was more freaked out by the small children then the two large dogs. He did alright though, and we ended up doing a count down and cheers’ing with kid wine at 8:30.  Then we played one last game of Canasta for 2012.  On Tuesday, Mo and Kyle shoveled small paths through the snow on the driveway so that Percy could run around and get tired for his trip back to Seattle.  I wish I had taken a picture – but to be honest he was so close to my heals, I would never have been able to capture the moment.  (I did capture this moment though with him and Nala from yesterday: )

I got to Newark with plenty of time to get on the plan… or so I thought.  It took over an hour to just get though the bag drop line.  Every single person from United was mean to me.  They also had me bring my bag somewhere else – even though they knew I only had 30 min to get through security.  All of the people on all the lines were delightful, so I don’t know why United was so mean.  I got to the gate with ten min to spare, but they told me I couldn't get on the plane.  Mind you, every person refused to make eye contact when they were being mean to me.  I’m not ashamed to say that I cried.  I also set up a space for Percy to stretch his legs a bit – and REALLY wanted him to make a “mistake” on their rugs – but he went for the potty pad anyway.  I took a flight two hours later, which wasn't terrible, but meant that I got home after midnight and at that point Percy was ready to play play play.  So glad it was a three day work week.

After being on the east coast last week, I've decided to break down and get a pair of UGGS.  I made this announcement at work and people were VERY adamant about me not getting them and I’m not going to lie.  Every proclamation indicating that I was making a bad decision, just made me want them more.  Honestly, they don’t have to be UGGS, I just want a really nice pair of warm and cozy boots.  The search is on.

Saturday, I had brunch with Becky, Jared, and Becky’s brother and sister-in-law (who were visiting from Alaska.)  We went to the British Pantry, because tea and crumpets are awesome.  Then I took Lucas down to IKEA for a shelving unit to hold all of his gaming stuff.  We lost the piece of paper with the numbers on it… so we kind of just guessed at what he needed.  That always works!  (Wait for IKEA part II when we have to go back to return/get what we really needed.)

(ACTUALLY… I bought Dr. Rach and Anders knives because nothing says love like a multicolored set of knives from IKEA.  )

That evening was Dr. Rach and Ander’s engagement party.  Everything was lovely.  I only got into two situations.  One, when I watched the host cut the cake.  I mentioned to Anders and Rach what I would do to cut the cake more easily.  But then, when they didn't pass on the knowledge I ended up having to speak up.  Slightly too late, I was told but I don’t know them!  I can’t go around telling strangers what to do… or can I?  Then we had a puzzle contest, which I protested because the winners worked as a team.  I gave them a 5 minute time out – but I didn't time it or anything. 

Yesterday was seriously lazy.  I did wake up early and got donuts for Lucas’ birthday, but then there was a lot of chilling, training Percy and hanging out with the pups and Zach.  Until Lucas and Mariana got back from the pin ball museum and then we got his birthday dinner – Subway.  He totally chose that!