Dial-a-Pansy

If there is one thing I've learned recently, it's that the three year old toddler mind is a complicated one. Chase will remember something from days ago and bring it up in random conversation with just one small thread tying it all together-much like a crazy person. I've made it somewhat of a game to find that thread and figure out just what it is so I can fully understand where Chase is coming from when he says the things he does.

So Chase and I were eating some leftovers from Thanksgiving dinner last weekend when he eyeballed my plate suspiciously.

Chase: Mommy, what's that? *points to my plate*
Me: It's cauliflower, honey.
Chase: *thinks to himself for a minute*
Chase: (Did) it answer? Daddy didn't answer his phone.

Now to the outside world, his response to my answer would make no sense. But to ME, it makes perfect sense. A week ago we tried calling Chuck on our way home from work/school. He didn't answer his phone. It was a quick moment in our life but something that obviously bothered Chase since he decided to bring it up again. However, what was the thread that brought that memory back to him? The thread was the cauliflower. You and I would have heard my answer to be "cauliflower". But Chase heard "call-a-flower". So he simply wanted to know if it answered when I called it. And for the record, no, it did not.

Happy Halloween!

Chuck and I recently stayed at The Elms Resort for a mini anniversary celebration. We did the spa thing, did dinner and had an overall good time...except for the haunting.

I was so exhausted that evening that when I fell asleep, I slept like a rock. The following weekend was when I found out that I was pregnant so I suppose that would have been the reason why. Anyway around 2:00 in the morning we began hearing some yelling. Loud yelling. Me being out of it, I only remember vaguely hearing the yelling but I never did wake up enough to remember what was being said. Chuck, however, remembers it vividly. Apparently, a man and a woman were yelling in a panic, "Everyone get out! Everyone get out!" The thing is, we heard nothing after that. Not a peep. So Chuck immediately assumed that we were being haunted and nothing was getting him out of bed. Approximately 30 minutes later, the knocking began. A steady knocking on one of the doors in the hall went on for a while and then silence. Chuck was pretty freaked out at that point so he tossed and turned the rest of the night.

The next morning he was telling me all this and I quickly wrote it off as some rowdy neighbors. While I firmly believe the existence of ghosts is possible, I've never encountered it myself so it's never been an answer to anything for me. As we were checking out however, I asked the lady at the front desk if she had ever heard of the hotel being haunted. She told me that she had never experienced anything herself but then she handed me an 8x10 laminated picture. It was a picture of a woman who was obviously in one of the guest rooms. It looked like a very ordinary picture. She was smiling at the camera and I just didn't see anything abnormal whatsoever until the television caught my eye. I wish I had a good way to describe this because just the sight of it sent chills up my spine. The television was obviously turned off but there was a definite image of a ghostly face on it. A ghostly screaming face. On the television. In the guest room. Ooooo, it still gives me the chills thinking of it.

So of course the first thing I did when I got home was googled The Elms and ghosts. It returned some very interesting results. The Elms website itself has this to say:

Over the years, the Elms has been said to be host to several spirits. The origin of these ghosts have been the source of many a 'spirited' discussion. While the hotel had seen two devastating fires, no fatalities had occurred. Rumors have persisted that one of the spirits was involved in one of the fires. The lap pool area supposedly entertains the spirit of a gambler involved with illegal activities during the speakeasy days of Prohibition. The housekeeping staff has a spiritual adviser in the form of a ghost wearing a 1920's style uniform. One thing everyone seems to agree on is the friendliness of the spirits. These gracious ghosts may act as spiritual guides to the next adventures that await the grand hotel.


The website Legends of America had this to say:

However, the Elms, like many historic hotels, is also said to play host to a couple of unearthly guests. The lap pool in the basement is said to be haunted by a man traced back to the hotel’s “speakeasy” days. During prohibition, the gangsters used to store their liquor and hold their all-night gambling parties in these blocked off rooms. The spirit is said to be that of man killed by the mob during one of these illegal drinking events.

Reportedly, on the third floor the hotel, staff and guests alike, have often seen a maid wearing a 1920s style uniform. Seemingly, she is extremely benevolent and only there to watch today’s housekeeping staff to ensure that they are doing their work correctly.

Another spirit is said to be that of a woman who walks through the hotel looking for her child. Distressed, she has been known to pull people’s hair or throw things across the room.

Both guests and staff report the feeling of an unearthly presence in several areas throughout the old hotel, as well as unexplained noises and the occasional glimpse at one of the three spirits.


Oh and for future reference yes, we were on the third floor.

So the jury is still out on whether we were actually haunted or not but it was still enough to give me the chills...and keep me away from the third floor next time we go.

The Gift of my Nightmares

Hold me.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Chase!

October 2006


November 2006


December 2006


January 2007


February 2007


March 2007


April 2007


May 2007


June 2007


July 2007


August 2007


September 2007


October 2007

Where did he learn this?

People have been asking me how I've been feeling since I found out about the new baby on the way and really, I haven't been bad at all. I have been very tired at times over the past couple weeks but really, that's it. Lucky, I guess. Chuck and Chase have been so good about letting me crash out on the couch when I need to that I may be taking it a little for granted.

Yesterday Chase and I were at home and I just couldn't shake the drowsiness that morning. So I napped lightly on the couch while Chase played with his toys and watched a little TV. Around 11ish, Chase came over to me and told me that he was getting hungry and he wanted some peanut butter and jelly. I told him that was fine and if he woke me when Franklin was over, I would make him some lunch.

Twenty minutes passed and I heard the credits start to roll. Chase came over, pulled the blanket off of me and says, "Time to wake up, Mommy. I'm taking your blankie." Then he walked away with it!

I think sometimes he takes after his mother a little too much.

Numbered Paragraphs-My Favorite!

We've been pretty busy lately and I have quite a bit to talk about but I'll make this short and sweet. How about a few numbered paragraphs?

1. We're going to see Garth Brooks in a few weeks. Now, I'm not a country fan. At all. I know nothing of Garth's new music, nor do I have any desire (I'm sure he'll get us up to date at the concert). However the man is a cultural icon and I don't want to miss it. Plus I hear he puts on a good show...or at least he did 10 years ago. Plus! It's at the new Sprint Center here in Kansas City and that's reason enough to go right there. I'll try not to break anything.


2. We went to the zoo last weekend and had lots of fun. I rode a camel, Chase got a tattoo, it was good times.

3. We bought a new car that's growing on me. It's a 2005 Escape (essskahpay). I like it and it saves us money. Bonus.

4. Chase's 3rd birthday is quickly approaching. We're having two parties. Yes, I'm nuts, thank you. It's just that with such a big family...*sigh*...there's no excuse. Moving on.

5. Watched a great movie recently, The Prestige. Highly recommend!

6. Oh! And I'm pregnant! Yes, 4 weeks along and feeling fine. This was definitely a shock for us but that's OK. We're all very excited. June 10th is my due date as of now but I see the doctor next week. Chase has been taking it very well and seems to almost be getting it. We had a nice conversation about it and he seemed to understand. A little while after our conversation, however, he comes up to me and this is what transpired:
Chase: "Mommy, you have a baby in your tummy?"
Me: "Yes, that's right." *beaming that he caught on so quickly*
Chase: "So yummy! So yummy!"***
Me: "Hmmmm, maybe we need to review."
So yeah, he thinks I ate the baby apparently. We'll work on it a bit more.

That about wraps things up, other than the fact that we got haunted at The Elms Resort a few weeks ago. I think I'll save that story for Halloween though. OOOOOOOOOOOO! I bet you can't wait!



***If this makes no sense, please review the little green monster video in my previous post.

Yo Gabba Gabba

Move over Bob the Builder, there's a new TV king in our home. Yo Gabba Gabba is rockin' our house something fierce. The characters are great and while the music sticks in your head for days and daaaayyyyys, it's actually NOT BAD. Watch this and get back to me tomorrow. Still stuck in your head? Yeah, we can sing it together.



Oh right, and the other cool thing? Chase likes it too. I'm so proud.

My life almost ended yesterday

As I was pulling into my dad's driveway to pick up Chase yesterday, I noticed something in the path of my car. It was a short round tube, much like a toilet paper roll but I couldn't tell if it was metal or cardboard so I did my best not to run over it. I slowly got past it and as I got out of my car, I looked back to see what it was. I glanced and still couldn't really tell but I was in a hurry so I wasn't going to go back to look. I shut my car door and turned around to go inside and as I picked up my foot to take my first step, I happened to look down. I was about 3 inches from stepping on a snake!!! Oh my gosh, I can't even hardly type that without gagging. Now anyone that knows me, knows that I am DEATHLY afraid of snakes. I cannot look at them. Period. Having my foot so close to one's head is the stuff my nightmares are made of. I felt my heart leap out of my chest right that second. I screamed, turned quickly around and ran the other way. After hyperventilating for a good 30 seconds I finally got it out to Debbie why I was about to die. She calmly walked out and disposed of it. Later I found out the stupid thing was dead already. Really though, it doesn't make much difference to me. Even if I HAD known it was dead, I still would have panicked, I'm sure. Anyway, the whole time Chase is looking at me intently. I sat down on the couch and my sweet little son looked me straight in the eye and said, "Mommy, you're crazy." *sigh* I know, son, I know.

He was so excited

He was so excited to be among all the shiny new toys.



Until I reminded him that we were at Jackson's birthday party and they were
Jackson's shiny new toys. It wasn't much fun after that.

Cousins

What I have been doing

We've been pretty busy lately but I'll spare you the wordiness and just show you in pictures.

Chase went to his first Royals game.





We celebrated my aunt's husband, Clayton's, 50th birthday.



We watched Gary's first parade in the Oriental Band as a Shriner on the Fourth of July.



I went to the lake with family last week.



Had some drinks...not as many as them, though.



And just because I can.

The 60s Walk it Out

Ok,I'm way behind on updates about what I've been doing lately and really I should post about that but I HAVE to post about a video that has made me laugh nonstop recently. It's my duty to share this with the world. There is a STRONG possibility that most people have seen this already but I'm not about to take that chance.

The following video is a 60s dance routine by Bob Fosse, who apparantly was way ahead of his time. Anyway, the song is called "Mexican Breakfast", from what I gather. Watch a few moments of this but don't feel that you need to watch the entire thing. Just watch long enough to get a feel for it.



60s all the way, right? Well watch the same video below but this time it's set to "Walk it Out" by Unk. Seriously, it will brighten your day.



You're welcome.

Road Trip!

A couple weeks ago we took a little summer vacation and had a great time. We went to Branson, MO and stayed in a 4 bedroom lodge along with my dad and stepmom; my sister Katie, her husband Gary, my nephew Jackson; and my sister Mandy, her fiance Tim and my nephew Ashtin. We had a really good time and other than Chase running a fever for part of the time, we really enjoyed it. However, I did not take too many pictures but I did want to share the ones I took.


This is my dad and my nephew Ashtin on the deck of our lodge. The boys adore my dad...



as well as my stepmom, Debbie.



Chase is finally big enough this year to ride some of the kids rides at Silver Dollar City.



But the puddles were a big hit too.



Well, that about wraps it up. Like I said, I didn't take many pictures this time. We all had a great trip, even if some of us were a little Grumpy by the end.


And oh yeah, I turned 30.

*cute cat to distract*


photo courtesy of www.lolcats.com

Now THAT kid has some timing!

Today was the big day. Chase started preschool. *sigh* I'm not going to go into the fact that he ALSO had to start big boy underwear today because his school doesn't allow pullups but really I'm ok with that because we weren't getting anywhere with them anyway but I did have to bring 50 pairs of underwear and shorts because the kid will just NOT tell us when he needs to use the dang potty even though I KNOW he's a genius and that he's just being stubborn. But like I said, I'm not going there.

Instead, let me tell you how our morning drop off went. Wait. FIRST let me tell you how I EXPECTED it to go.

EXPECTED VERSION:
I take Chase to his classroom and he throws a crying fit, grabs my legs, pees his pants, refuses to let go and I have to peel him off me to make a mad dash to my car. There I sit sobbing in the parking lot for an hour while I can see him at the window still crying and wanting me to take him home. I finally make it to work where I have to leave early because I just can't take the pain. I rush to pick him up, find him still bawling uncontrollably and we decide we will just have to homeschool. A little dramatic? Hell, no.

REALITY:
I took Chase to his classroom and he immediately takes off for the toys. He was very excited to see the other kids and smiled at his new teacher, Miss Leah. I dropped off his belongings and asked him if he was going to be a good boy for Miss Leah. He replies "Yes" and continues moving some beans that Miss Leah had set out for them to work with later in the morning from one bowl to another. I told him to give me a bye-bye hug and kiss and that I had to go to work. I thought to myself, "Ok, this is where it all starts." He hugged me, kissed me and went right back to the beans. At that point I found MYSELF getting a little teary. I was appalled at myself and quickly stood up to shake it off. Miss Leah must have noticed because she said to me so sweetly, "He'll be just fine, don't cry." I gulped, told her thank you and walked out of the classroom.

As I was walking up the stairs to leave a little boy stopped me and asked me who's mommy I was. I told him and then he said to me, "You look very beautiful today." It was so sweet, so genuine and so thoughtful that it caught me completely off guard. I almost didn't notice my heart breaking. It was just what I needed.

Ode to the Bird Whisperer

Last night we had a bit of drama in our front yard. Chase and I went outside to water the flowers and as I was happily spraying down my impatiens, Chase says, "Oh, Mama" and points. There was a tiny little baby bird just sitting there.



We got a good long look at him and then since I had no idea what to do with a baby bird, I told Chase not to touch him and I went back to watering. A few minutes go by and Chase says, "Oh, Mama, more birdies!" Sure enough, a whole nest of baby robins are in my front yard. Two were dead, sadly, but two had survived their fall from the tree. It had been a very windy day and the whole nest had just dumped these poor babies completely out of their warm little home.



By this time, I was full of guilt. I had to do something before a neighborhood cat came along and snatched up the other two. While I was standing there deciding what to do (and cursing Chuck for being at softball at the time), I saw a robin a few feet away from us with a worm in it's mouth. I thought that it might be the mommy robin so Chase and I went and sat on the porch. Sure enough, Big Mama came over and fed one of the babies. I felt like such a part of nature, right that second. Wild Kingdom in my front yard! Yeah, I don't bond with nature very often.

After leaving a nasty voice mail for Chuck, cursing him for not being home to do his manly duties, I do what any woman in my situation would do. I called my sister and had her make her husband come over to take care of it.

Within 30 minutes, Gary the Bird Whisperer had arrived. He knocked the upside down nest out of the tree and put the babies back in it.





Then he put them in a more secure part of the tree.






Meanwhile Big Mama watched from the neighbor's yard.



I took a peek at them this morning. They immediately chirped "Hello" at me. I even got another glance at Big Mama, who's still hanging around. I think we are all going to be just fine.

THANK YOU BIRD WHISPERER!

Toilets, Hogs, Boxes and Germans

This was a big weekend for us, folks. One that will require multiple exclamation points. You've been warned. BIG WEEKEND! Guess what we did this weekend!! We pottied in the toilet for the first time!! Hoorayyy!!! No, not me. I'm very skilled in this area already. Chase! Chase pottied for the first time this weekend! I'm a proud mama and have been telling everyone. EVERYONE. He is embarrassed, of course.

So embarrassed in fact,that he decided to move out. He and Ashtin hit the open road and headed to his Papa's house.



Good thing his Papa had a wide assortment of boxes to make a home.



He shacked up with some German chick and has refused to take my calls. (Please note the fabulous home furnishing drawings... and the family self portrait. Skills, People, I have mad drawing skills.)




In the end, I promised to stop embarrassing him with my pride. He left that German bitch and moved back home. So I guess I'll stop gushing about it. Except for this one last time of course. Good job, Chase!!!!! Yay!!!!!!!!!

Purple Rain

Um. Hi. What the hell just happened to the last month? My last post was seriously on April 12th? And today is May 6th? Wow. What have I been doing? *looks around* I have no idea. I really feel obligated to post something meaningful. But I have nothing at the moment. So let's do a recap of my weekend, shall we?

Friday at 5:00- Went to happy hour with some coworkers, had a few too many Vodka Tonics (VTs in the houuuuuse!) and may have asked a coworker to do something that she "just isn't comfortable with". So wudevah. It's never really stopped her before. Anyway the establishment had a "problem with their sewers" and we all know what a buzzkill that can be, so home I went.

Saturday - Woke up, took dog to vet, 250 dollars later came home and had lunch. Went tanning, bought hair color, came home. Had dinner, Chuck left to see his girlfriend, er, Gary, and then Chase and I went after ice cream. On the way there, Chase declared "Wait a minute! I have an idea!" He refused to share this idea with me. We ate ice cream, colored my hair, burned an awesome 80s cd with my recently fixed cd burner (seriously, I should be in the music industry with my mad mix tape skills), I watched "Night at the Museum", liked it, went to bed. Wow, ok, yeah that was boring. Sorry, should have skipped Saturday.

Sunday- Woke up to a thunderstorm hovering over our house that decided to remain there all day. Seriously I have a pool in my backyard as we speak. I could do some laps. I'm not sure what I did with my morning but my mom and I took Chase to see "Meet the Robinsons" at 3. It was his first movie. He ate popcorn off the floor. *sigh* We came home and sat our butts on the couch for the rest of the evening. Now I'm going to bed.

So there ya have it. Life has been a little unblogworthy lately. All my creativity has gone into my mixtape cds. You can't have it both ways, Readers. It's mixtape cds or blog. These 80s cds just don't burn themselves. All I know is I never meant to cause you any sorrow. I never meant to cause you any pain. I only wanted one time to see you laughing. I only wanted to see you laughing in the purple rain.

Hope Everyone Had a Happy Easter!

Chase the Builder

Chase's newest obsession lately has been Bob the Builder. It's a television show for kids on PBS about Bob (a builder, obviously), his talking machines and their daily adventures and lessons. It's not too bad of a show, the first 500 times you see it. Chase loves it so much however that he's even memorized the theme song and will sing it at any opportunity. It's a cute little song but unfortunately will stick in your head like a bad commercial. I finally caught him on video singing it and while it's very adorable, don't blame me when you find yourself singing it at unexpected moments. Just call me up and we can sing it together...like good friends should.





Bob the Builder, can we fix it?
Bob the Builder, yes we can!

Scoop, Muck, and Dizzy
Roley too
Lofty and Wendy, join the crew
Pilchard and Bird, Travis and Spud
Playing together, like good friends should!

Bob the Builder, can we fix it?
Bob the Builder, yes we can!

Happy Monday

I have some Chase video that I'll be uploading in the near future (I hope) but in the meantime, here's something to make you smile on a Monday. It was forwarded to me and now I'm passing it on. It doesn't get much better than this.

You Never Even Call Me By My Name

Chuck and my brother in law, Gary, cleaned out our basement this weekend to get rid of a bunch of junk that we've been hoarding for way too long now. They did a great job and I cannot even believe how much crap they were able to actually get rid of. It was an unsupervised job so really I have no idea exactly what they threw out, which does make me a bit nervous. I'm really trying not to dwell on it.

While they were down in the basement, they came across my old love letters from past boyfriends. Oh my. There was some funny stuff in there. When your sixth grade boyfriend professes his undying love to you, now that's just classic. Part of me is praying none of those boyfriends kept any of MY letters. I can only imagine.

However, Chuck and Gary decided to read a few of those without my knowledge, which is fine, but I always like to be able to defend myself in these type of situations. Chuck was concerned about a couple though and even brought one upstairs. As soon as I saw what it was, I quickly yanked it away from him. As I sat down to read it myself, Chuck seemed a little bothered and he mentioned that he needed to talk to me about that particular letter. And not in a good way.

I started reading it and groaned most of the way through it. It was from a boyfriend, Randy, that I had in middle school and it was particularly gooey. All about how much he looooved me and how I had made him a better person, yada, yada. We all know what was really on this boy's mind. As I'm reading it though, I wasn't getting what the issue was. I mean, yeah, it's another guy but Chuck's not really the type to be too concerned with some random boy from middle school. Then I got to end of the page. Randy signed it as "Brandy", which was my nickname for him. Chuck didn't know that. Chuck thought "Brandy" was a girl!! Chuck thought I was a middle school lesbian!

I laughed at him for quite a while but he was seriously concerned (and not in a good way, like I would have thought) that there was a part of my life that I had not ever told him about. Of course while he was looking through that old box of letters, he came across some letters from a boy named Aaron, except he spells his name "E-h-r-e-n". So that didn't help matters.

The one bright spot of the day was Gary, though. He promised me that if I had been a lesbian in middle school that he wouldn't judge me. I can always count on him.

It just isn't St. Patrick's Day without a good fight.

St. Patrick's Day has always been one of my favorite holidays. It's a pretty big deal here in KC, for those who don't know. There's a huge parade through downtown and always a big celebration in Westport (an area downtown that has a bunch of different bars all within a few steps of each other) afterwards. It's been a big tradition for my friends and I to skip work that day and spend the day having a fabulous time.

The past couple of years, however, I just haven't been feeling it. The parade has gotten dangerous with riots and gang fights and I dunno, I guess I'm old and just don't want to take those kind of risks anymore.

But this year was different! My friends and I did skip the parade but decided to all meet up in Westport a bit later in the afternoon. Because we wanted to avoid the physical violence. Funny.

The meeting spot was supposed to be at The Cactus Cafe around 4ish. A small group of us met up outside the bar and waited in line for 30 minutes or so to meet up with the people who were already inside. We finally made it to the front of the line and as we were paying, a huge fight broke out inside the bar. I was far enough inside to get the hell out of the way but as the bouncers were kicking out about 15 different people, some of MY people got pushed around and scraped up a bit. It was minor but not the best first impression of the bar you are about to hang out in.

So we finally met up with the rest of our people and one of the girls phone rang. Well, come to find out, one of our friends was in the middle of that huge fight. Her husband had just been arrested and she was leaving with another friend of ours to go bail him out. This is NOT the way I like to start my day of partying, ok?

After all that drama, we headed to a different bar to change the atmosphere a bit. We ended up at the Beaumont Club and had a really good time until the very end. After quite a bit of drinking, one of our guy friends got into a huge fight with his brother's wife-it included some slapping. I didn't SEE this one happen but when I got back to where our group was, there was drama. His brother's wife had already left but it was still a bad situation.

IN BETWEEN those two dramatic events, we did really have a good time. I saw some people that I don't get to see very often, drank some beer that I don't get to drink very often and slept in that next day like I don't get to do very often. So overall, I'd give this year 4 stars. But NEXT year, we are making tshirts!

Vegas in Review

It was brought to my attention this past weekend that I promised Vegas pictures here and did not deliver. Don't worry, I'm very disappointed in myself too. Without any further delay-VEGAS IN REVIEW! (Ok so, I admit, I don't have many. I don't think I took my camera out of my bag the entire time so I had to rely on friends. And they didn't take many either. And a lot of these? Yeah, they could have been taken anywhere. So basically, all you are getting are a few pictures of me and my friends. You are disappointed again, aren't you? *sigh* Well, I did go to San Antonio a few weeks ago and I got a picture that PROVES I was there. Maybe I'll post that one soon.)


Ok, this one was taken on the strip. How can you tell? Well by the big neon video sign behind us, of course! I could have sworn the Eiffel Tower at Paris was in the background of this picture but I guess not. Let's just say one of the highlights of this trip was being introduced to Mr. Vodka Tonic. I love him and he did show me a fabulous time. Even IF some of it is blurry... and missing an Eiffel Tower.




This one was taken in front of our hotel as we were headed to Studio 54 the first night. We look so sober. Awww. From left to right: Dru, Kristin, Julie, me and Jen.




Ok THIS one was taken AT Studio 54 - after we had been there for a while. Jennifer was in the process of spilling her cold drink down Julie's back. Julie screams as Jen says, "Ohhhh nooooooo!" I am obviously unfazed by the drama that is taking place around me. I think this is my favorite picture.



This one was also from Studio 54 and makes me laugh as well. Doesn't Julie's head look a little disembodied?




This next one is from Rain. It was a little smokey there, in case you hadn't noticed.


Finally, the picture you've all been waiting for. Those who have asked me time and time again, "Just what do your toes look like?" Well, here's the answer to your question. Now if you can just pick me out...



So, like I said previously, we had a fabulous time. I mean, really, Vodka Tonics and disembodied heads. What more can a girl ask for? Other than to have an Eiffel Tower show up now and then...