Well…I had this wonderful post about the Olympics and what I did this weekend all typed up and Xanga ate it. 
So…I’ll attempt to put things back up here for you in a nutshell. 
I watched the incredible Opening Ceremony on Friday night. Did you see it? I was unbelievable!!
I mean…who wouldn’t want to compete in a place like this?
Absolutely breathtaking!!
I also did some necessary reorganizing in the kitchen…which wound up being a very good thing…but wasn’t the easiest of tasks.
You see this? This is what my spice cupboard (yes I said cupboard…I know most people have spice racks…but we have a cupboard) looks like now…but you should have seen it before I got to it!!
The middle shelf is still bowing a bit…but it was so bad before I cleaned it out and reorganized it that both the top and middle shelves were bowing so badly I was afraid it was going to collapse! There was SO much STUFF in there!! Expired spices that dated back to 1982…kid you not! See, this is all the stuff that my mom has had for years and wouldn’t let me touch…until now and that only ocurred because I gave her no choice.
Yes, there was crying and nashing of teeth while I was doing this little procedure…but hey, it looks spectacular now!
There were medicines in there that were expired and just tossed all over. No organization at all!! So I took it into my own hands and moved all of the medicines into a differnt cupboard and put them into a container and up on the top shelf where little people cannot get to them. Yup…I thought that was a good idea also. 
After long talks with my mom, I finally got her to understand that she needs to let go of some things like the cups and saucers that haven’t been used in 20 years and the plates that once matched are all gone now. In fact, we decided that we’re going to get rid of all of the dinnerware and start over fresh!!
This will be our new set!! Beautiful isn’t it?
We also talked about ways to do some much needed makeovers to the rooms in the house, including the kitchen, and bring some color into the home. It’s just not warm enough for me…and she agreed. So I’ve got a new project!
Hopefully now that I’ve got her thinking this was all her idea…I will get the cooperation that I need in order to complete this project. Wish me luck!! 
Ohh…one other thing, please think good thoughts for those who are in Florida right now. They are dealing with a major aftermath from this last hurricane. Sixteen people have died and the damage is beyond horrific. Eric emailed me this morning and said that they are lucky to have power and that most people in their area don’t have any and won’t for days. He also said that most of the gas stations were destroyed so they are having to conserve gas.
President Bush has declared the Orlando area (along with many many other areas) a disaster zone.
Schools…a Baby…& a Wedding
Well…Caleb met his teachers and his therapists and feels right at home in his classrooms now! It was nice to see him exploring things in the rooms and all. I’m very glad that I had a chance to take him over there to do that. I think that it will help him a great deal next week…and the teachers as well.
Everyone at this school seems to be very nice and helpful…I think that we’re going to like it there, which is very comforting for me and a bit of a relief.
I know that I told you all that my best friend Eric (the one I visited at WDW in May) is going to be a Daddy. I did tell you that right? Umm…hmmm…I can’t remember if I did or not. Well…anyway, he IS and the baby is due January 26, 2005!!! I’ve even got a picture of the new little family member!
I’m very excited for him and his girlfriend…err…I mean fiancee. Yup…they’re getting married!!
Not only are they getting married, but they’re getting married in two weeks!!! 
August 24th to be exact…which also just happens to be my eldest daughter’s (Dora) birthday! Yeah…that’s my Eric…always associating things back to me somehow. 
He says, “this way you won’t ever forget my anniversary…well, and neither will I”. That doofus!! 
Spoken like a true man eh? 
Now…because of the wedding being so soon, not many people are going to be able to attend…including myself. 
In fact, I think only his and Kippie’s (the bride) parents are going to be able to make it out there. I think that’s good though, at least they will be there for the ceremony.
I feel bad that I can’t be there for Eric on his wedding day. He and I had talked about the wedding while I was there…and he hadn’t even talked to Kippie about it yet at that time. He didn’t purpose to her until about a week or so ago. I know…last minute everything!! Anyway, when we talked about what he wanted for the wedding…one thing was he wanted me to stand up with him. I know, not traditional…but hey, we’ve been best friends since high school and we’ve gone through a lot of crap together. Besides, he would’ve been at my wedding had he been able to get time off of work…but at that time the was in Dallas, TX and working for ABC Radio…things were going downhill for their department and the boss said no more time off. So…he didn’t make it to Vegas for our nuptials…but we had Wil there and it was still a perfect day. 
Oh man…I got a bit distracted there…sorry.
Well…I just hope that I get a chance to see the baby after the baby is born. Eric’s parents are planning on spending a lot of time out in Florida to help out for the first few months…so there won’t be much room in the apartment for guests. However, I may wind up having to get a hotel room or something…but I want to see that baby…end of story. 
Ya know?
Okay…I’m babbling now. I’ll visit you soon…have a great day!!
OH…and don’t forget Miracle Run comes on again tonight at 9pm est/pst (7pm mst) on Lifetime if you missed it. 
Oh yeah…I’m off to meet a fellow Xangan for lunch!! Have a great day!
UPDATE:
Jason and I just had lunch with this lovely lady and it was just so wonderful!!!
Also, Eric emailed me these photos just a few minutes ago of his neighborhood in Orlando!!
This pic is of a billboard that was completely uprooted!!
See that blue car on the left…that’s Eric’s Mustang!! That tree barely missed his car.
This is the entrance to the appartment complex.
Eric emailed me this description of what he experienced with hurricane Charley…he’ll send me more pics as he is able.
“Friday evening close to 8pm…VERY VERY VERY VERY STRONG WINDS hit our area of Orlando (we live approx 10 minutes north of Orlando Int. Airport) and we lost power. Shortly after that, the winds became even MORE fierce and we had palms and other trees bending all the way down to the ground. At that time, Kippie and I took shelter in our master bathroom vanity area with a mattress in case the ceiling came down (which, thankfully, it did not). If it weren’t for that radio…we’d have gone insane from hearing the winds bash against our building!! We could literally hear trees smacking up against the side of our apt building!!! We could hear the howling of the wind upstairs…as if the roof had been ripped from the upstairs apts…but it wasn’t. We heard plumbing “rocking” within the walls…some God-Awful squeaking/whining noise…and God knows what else we heard, but it was mass-confusion and very scary!!!!! I can tell ya that much!!! “
“After we could hear less of the wind and pure hell that was being unleashed on our area, we stepped out of the bathroom and into the bedroom…only to find that the wind was STILL really really strong…we just couldn’t hear it as well in the bathroom. So, the wind was that much more potent during our “bathroom adventure”!! I can’t even begin to describe the awesome power of this hurricane, and how fortunate we are to be alive right now. There were several deaths around our area in less fortunate families, and our prayers go out to them…as well as the poor folks who still have yet to have power returned! There is an ice shortage, gas shortage and all sorts of other issues!! Some gas stations lost their overhangs over the pumps, and others don’t have power to distribute gas to customers! There are (“were”) tall, thick brick walls that are no more…and SO many trees in SO many streets rendering some people helpless in becoming mobile again. The best way to describe what happened (including the aftermath and current “helping” situation) is ”purely catastrophic”!!! There are billboards missing from 528 and some others “bent over” along I-4. Also, the roof of a 3 story motel off Sand Lake (right down the road from where Kippie works) was blown off!!!!!! There is a particular billboard I like to reference “post-hurricane” that is on its side…and the supporting pole was as wide as 2 vehicles sitting side-by-side and made of STEEL!!!! Thick, steal support pole was not “snapped”, but was completely removed from the ground and knocked over!!!” (the pic above)
“We left the bathroom and got into the master bedroom and still heard the wind howling and knocking a lot of stuff against the walls of our building! We cautiously went to the living room and peered out the sliding glass door in the back and saw trees STILL being smacked against the ground and swaying back and forth, and LOTS and LOTS of water!!!!!! Shortly after the winds FINALLY died down just slightly, a couple hours later, (still storming, but not NEAR as bad) we saw people shining flashlights from their apts into the courtyard in the back…where we finally saw our first “aftermath” sighting……several trees lay on their sides!!! We looked out the front and saw many trees uprooted there as well, and one of them that was directly next to the “porch” of sorts for the apts was uprooted and fallen in a parking space…luckily where no car was parked. Then, another HUGE chunk of tree lay in the middle of our parking lot…blocking the exit by our apt. This was approximately around 11pm (give or take an hour. Hey, we were without power so I’m guessing…lol). Finally, the wind died down enough to go outside (close to midnight), where MANY people were walking around with flashlights, making sure others were ok. And, let me just say something…the sight was HORRIFIC!!!! There were trees all over the place, completely uprooted and “flown” to another location…other trees were just uprooted and fallen over…there were trees in front of our area that weren’t even there before…there was no power anywhere and it was DARK….SCARY…..and horribly silent!!! I think we spent the “hurricane eye time” in our bathroom as well. From what we saw on TV before losing power, the bad storms, winds, tornadoes were on the east side of Charley…yes, we got tornadoes during this, too…..as if the hurricane wasn’t bad enough alone!!! We got some massive winds still from the west side of Charley, but not near as bad as the other side!! We assessed the damage with neighbors…walking the parking lot to see what we could see.”
“The next morning, she woke up and headed to work (we had no power, so we had to wake up to my Mickey watch alarm) and I woke up to check out the aftermath!!! At this point, I was like, “YES….WE HAVE LIGHT!!!”. Kippie took some shots with our digital camera, then I got ready after she left for work and drove up and down streets in our area, and what I found was nothing less than catastrophic…..also referred to as “hell”!!! There were no more traffic lights…and I don’t mean out of power, I mean “GONE”!!! There was a gas station leveled just down the street…not even a block from us!!! Most of the trees (including HUGE trees) were uprooted, and a lot even blown away or “flown” to other locations!!! There were some boats in the lake close to us…mostly trashed, some were “relocated”!!! I made my way down a couple lights, then went west 1 street over and came back towards the apt. The total path I traveled was approximately 3 miles or so, and I got a lot of different pics!! There were thick, brick walls torn down completely…buildings demolished, some hit with trees…most gas stations around the Disney area (and our apt area) have lines down the STREET waiting to get gas!!! There is a gas station across the street from our apts that lost power, but late Saturday night…the power was restored and they even had a line going down the street to our nearest intersection!!! People in this particular line were waiting at least an hour just to get through the line for gas…and it was pay at the pump only…as the store wasn’t open.”
OUCH!! 
I informed her that this was not the way to get out of gym class!!
That makes me feel good because I really want to make this house more my own considering I’m not able to buy another one and it’s much more feesable to stay in this one for a few years. So, I figure if I can do some remodaling and fix a few things up along the way, it will add value to the home and when I do sell it…I’ll get 
more for my money. 
However, he has studying to do…so, we’ll see how much time I actually get to spend with him. 
congratulations to he and his new bride Kippie!! 
No? 
Damn…well, then I guess I’ll just say I’m sorry and be over with it! 
I’m telling ya…if I have to pay one more school fee for a while…
…well, all I have to say is…bring it on…we’ll scrap. 
around 8:30pm…so I got some quiet time…FINALLY!! Thank God they get up so early now…it means that they will go to bed early as well! 
I was so shocked! 
for me!! Have a great Hump Day! 
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