Nothing but Rain

Yep. Two plus weeks of it. We still managed to enjoy our time with family and friends. And I always adore some alone time with my man. Nothing like it.

Ron and Bon joined us for a week and Lauren and Nathan came down for Easter weekend. Rick and Ron caught plenty of fish. Enough for a Good Friday fish fry and then some. Ron caught a 20lb. spoonbill catfish that he cleaned and fileted. Not knowing what it would taste like we cooked a small portion and all decided it was not fit for human consumption. However, it was the biggest fish Ron has ever caught. Go Ron!

Nathan trailered his new motorcycle down here but only got a chance to ride once. I felt bad for him. All he wants to do is ride that bike. When he was buying it a few weeks ago I told him he needed to get a helmet for my daughter and he did. He is such a nice young man. The nicest boyfriend Lauren has ever had. I can't find a thing I don't like about him. Makes me suspicious, just my nature. But I'm going to try and lighten up. Lauren, Nathan and I stayed up late one night playing Sorry and the two of them were so busy jumping each other that I won. Twice. I love it. I never win at Sorry but they won't play Scrabble with me anymore. I'll have to wait until we go to New York this summer to play Scrabble. Gotta beat Caroline.

And then there was the egg coloring party. Rick made his usual "Floyd" egg and Nathan made a "John Deere" egg. Yes, he's a farm boy. Lauren made an "I heart U" egg for Nathan. I looked at Nathan and said, "I used to get the "I Heart U" egg!" So Lauren made another one for me that simply said "Mom." Oh well.

We had some of the most incredible storms over the past 2 weeks. Several trees in the hood are down including two of our neighbor's trees that fell on her boat dock. A total mess. It looked as if the neighbors would be able to salvage their boat dock but after more heavy rains and rising waters the dock just couldn't take anymore and went under. DOH!

Rick had a client come down for a weekend of fishing. Something they have been trying to do for years and finally managed to get it together. Well, needless to say there was no fishing. It was all we could do to get to the dock. But the inventor and the patent attorney put their heads together and came up with the Redneck Raft. I have to say it worked pretty well except that you really need to step onto the raft in the middle. Learned that the hard way.

Last but not least, our house was struck by lightning. We were lucky, though. No fire and no serious damage. But it did fry our TV, surround sound, my beloved ipod, the Wii and my Jacuzzi tub. Currently waiting for Lakeysha, the insurance adjustor, to get back to me. I have expect to get screwed by the insurance since insurance is the biggest "legal" scam going. As soon as you make a claim, boom, up go your rates. We'll have to see what happens with that. I sincerely hope I am wrong.

Cadiz April 2011

A couple of weeks ago was my last Mom's weekend at U. of I. Colleen flew in from New Mexico to tag along with me, Karla and Michaelene. Then, just for fun, Rick came down on Saturday. That meant that Rick, me, Karla, Mikey and Colleen all shared a hotel room Saturday night. Rick has been known to crash Girl's Weekend in the past and the girls never seem to mind. He fits in quite well. So we get back to the hotel on Saturday night about 2am, Rick is parking the car and we are heading to the room when someone says, "Do we have to sleep in our bras?" Turns out it wasn't an issue since we were all tucked in by the time Rick got to the room. Lights out, ready to crash and who starts the giggling? That's right, Rick. We all were like, "REALLY Rick?" Guess he never had too many sleepovers.

Lauren has a good friend, Billy, from high school that pitches for U. of I. baseball. Billy and Rick have always had the baseball bond and have talked incessantly about the game over the years. It was fortunate for us that Billy was pitching that Saturday of Mom's Weekend so we finally got to see him play. Rick sat right beside the girl with the radar gun and asked her after each pitch how fast Billy was throwing. Billy was so thrilled that we came to see him play that he got Rick a game ball signed by the entire U. of I. team. It now sits in a case on our fireplace mantle in the basement. A nice addition to our sports memorabilia collection.

Oh, and Ozzy loves college!

Mom's Weekend U. of I. 2011

Next up is graduation weekend. Where did those 4 years go?

A belated happy birthday shout out to Justin. Love you and miss you man.

And Henry is walking! Look out world!

OMG!

That was my response when Lauren called today to tell me that she was the proud recipient of a full scholarship to Pepperdine University! Actually, it may have been, "Are you fucking kidding me?!" It was one of those. We are so proud, as are her brothers. She has worked so hard for everything. I have always said that good things come to those who do good. I think she just might believe me now. She told me she posted something to that effect on her facebook page. The time has come. I must do the facebook thing. UGH!

Oh......and Happy 50th Birthday to my big brother Michael! So good to see you today. May you have 150 more!