Could I be further behind?

I am not sure I can remember what I have done every day since I last check in. I guess I better figure out the highlights.

I know on Monday the 21st, Ping had Daisys after she and Yamira went to swimming. Ping earned a few patches that night. I attended the ceremony alone so that the younger ones could go to bed. It's easier than taking them out at that hour.

On Tuesday I took Yamira to the library after school to play with Sophie and Skyler. In the afternoon, I took Ping to skating.

On Wednesday, Yamira had therapy. She usually goes on another day, but I was leaving for Florida the next day, so I had to take her early. In the afternoon, the girls went to gymnastics. Yamira was really badly behaved at gymnastics. She has been for weeks now. Bill was so angry with her, so I decided to take her this week. I spent the day cleaning, pulling out clothes for the kids for the next few days and packing for myself. I didn't want to leave as there was so much stuff to do around here, but I was determined to go and so I did.

I got up at 6:00 am on Thursday morning. I had a van coming to pick me up at 7:30 pm. I actually slept a little. I usually never sleep the night before a morning flight. So I was fairly shocked that I actually slept. I got up and finished packing. Everyone in the house got up despite how very quiet I was. So I had to contend with the kids, the cats and Bill before I left. I did need my luggage carried, so Bill was actually a help. The kids were fine though, so no complaints. I wasn't sure if they would go nuts because I was leaving. They knew I was as I prepared them for days in advance, but still. One just never knows! The van came to get me and into Logan we went. There were no other pick ups, so that was great. I got to Logan around 8:45 am or so. I waited for Meg to meet me at the Jet Blue counter because I had her ticket. She was driving in from NH. Once she got there, we dropped off our bags and headed to the gate. Unfortunately, about an hour before take off we found out that our plane had been pulled for service. However, they had another plane on it's way, so we could still leave, but there was a two hour delay. We passed the time chatting and munching on some healthy snacks that we paid an arm and a leg for at the airport. We boarded right on time based on the delay. We had a smooth flight. We both passed out for a few minutes, but it is not easy to sleep, so we really did not get caught up on any rest. We grabbed our bags easily enough and set off for our rental car. We got to the counter and realized we had a Prius to drive. We immediately upgraded to something a little more deserving of our butts. We chose a Mercury Milan. Damn, forgot to get a picture of it. Oh well. They asked what color we wanted, black or silver. I said black so we would be styling, but Meg said silver so that the car wouldn't bake. Too funny. I never even gave that any thought. I have thought of that in the past, but not this time. We had a good laugh. I told her we were going to be old fogies sitting in a silver car. Of course I was teasing. I wanted black with tinted windows. Hell we deserved a convertible, but those are not cheap! So we jumped into our Milan, plugged in the GPS and off we went. We headed for the hotel. We headed for the hotel. We still headed for the hotel. I finally turned to Meg and said "Where they hell did they stick us for this conference?" We passed orange grove after orange grove and trucks taking corners with their oranges falling out. A lot of dead oranges in the street in Florida. Better than road kill, that is for sure. We finally made it after two hours. We sat in bumper to bumper traffic for the first hour, but then we were able to find the place easily enough. I was told it was an hour away from Tampa. Somebody lied!

So we pull into a spot and get our our luggage. This is when you remember why you got married. In all honesty, we did not over pack at all, but our luggage was heavy. We headed in and checked ourselves into the hotel and headed off to our room. Now we knew this hotel was old and didn't have the newer and nicer amenities, but we were cool with that. We were up to an adventure. We get to our suite and frankly, there is nothing sweet about our suite. In all honesty, it was really cute and quaint. However, the bathroom was between our bedroom and the couch and refrigerator area. It was so odd. It was not a big deal, but here we are two women who have never traveled together and we have both had surgery, which makes the bathroom more of an emergency than normally plumbed people. It was fine though. Our bedroom was small, but we each had a bed and it was fine. The room at night was very, very bright, but we were so tired that we hardly noticed. We unpacked and headed out to the Olympic for dinner. Nothing on the menu interested me at all. I got a salad and struggled through it. What a waste. Meg got a glass of white wine that was hot and a potato and chicken dish. Hers was okay. We then headed back to the room and chatted up a storm till heading to bed.

Meg got up early on Saturday morning. I slept in till 9:30 am or so. Meg headed down to the breakfast. I had no desire. There was nothing there I could eat. They really only offer bread stuff at that kind of breakfast, so I preferred to get some extra rest. When Meg came back to the room, she told me there was a street fair that was being set up across the street. I was so excited. I love fairs. Meg does too. So I got ready and we hit the fair. It was huge. Lots of great stuff. I bought an outfit for Yamira and a dress for Ping. I got them each some pretty flip flops too. I got Manny a little wooden elephant with his name on it. I also got him a wooden truck. I got a few other things, but nothing huge. We spent a few hours out in the sun in 85 degree weather. It was pure heaven. We just meandered around. We had the best time.

We headed into the hotel to see if we could catch any others coming in from the conference. We saw a few people. We then headed out to do some shopping. Meg was wonderful. She wanted to go shopping with me to find some clothes to fit me. She said my clothes were too big. They were, but I hadn't really realized that they were. So off we went to a store they have in Florida. I got 3-4 pairs of pants and a few tops. Meg has been through this, so she knew what I needed. She was so focused on just me which was really sweet. I kept saying "Don't you need something????" So we got a few things and headed out the door. We headed back to the hotel to see who else had checked in. At that time, there was a bunch of us. I saw Bonnie and John. Bonnie was my litter mate. It was so nice to see her and her sweet husband. After a quick run to the room, we all headed to Ruby Tuesdays for dinner. We ended up driving right back to where we had just been! Everyone ordered something, but since I still don't eat really well, I didn't want to get anything. I ordered a salad and tried three times to get through it. I barely got to the end. I just gave up. Nothing was agreeing with me. It was nice to be out and with others that have been through what I have, but so many of the others can eat really well. We don't know why I struggle with food, but I do. A lot of them are a few years out from having surgery. I am less than a year still. It was nice to chat with the others and see what they eat and such. Once we finished, we headed back to the hotel and the "Clothing Exchange" opened. That is where everyone brings their old ill fitting clothes and puts them out for others to take. I fell in love with a 2X shirt, but once I tried it on everyone said it was too big. I was actually bummed, but more surprised. I couldn't believe it was too big for me. Not a bad problem to have, right? Meg and I didn't bring any clothes because it is too much to lug in a suitcase. Most of the others came from Florida or stay in Florida at this time of year, so it was much easier for them to bring clothes and they brought bunches. I didn't really find anything, but it was fun to see all the difference sizes that people used to wear. After going through the clothing, we all sat out on the veranda and in the common area and just chatted the night away. It was a great way to get to know the others. This was my first time going, so I knew basically 3 or so people. We then all headed to bed. We had a big day the next day and wanted to get some rest.

We got up early because registration was at 8:30 am and the presentation was supposed to start at 9:00 am. The conference was about finding out what personality you are. I loved it. There are basically four different kinds. Sanguine, Choleric, Phlegmatic and Melancholy. We had a break for lunch where we all gathered and ate what was brought by the organizers and then we went back to the conference for a few hours. A lot of people were not feeling well or were not interested, so they didn't hang in to the end, but I loved it and so I stayed. There were a few of us that stayed till the bitter end. Not only was the topic great, but the speaker was fabulous in my opinion. Once the conference was over, we headed to our room to freshen up a bit and then out for dinner at the Olympic. We didn't know when we chose the Olympic the other night, that we had reservations with our group there for Saturday night. It was so much better with the group. Everyone ordered with the exception of me. Again, I don't eat well. For me it would have been a complete waste of money. However, Meg being the sweetie she is gave me her left over chicken. It was yummy. She gave me some salad as well. So it isn't like I didn't eat. Just doesn't make sense to order a $15.00 dinner to not eat it. I wasn't going to eat at all, but the chicken on Meg's plate looked wonderful and so she shared. MGBers share because we all eat small portions. I have never seen anyone try to share so much as these people. Every time it was time to eat people would say "You want a bite of this or that?" I said "Nobody shares at home with me!!!!" So it was sweet and funny to me.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel to have a Formally Phat PJ Party. Everyone wore their old pajamas. They were hanging off of everyone. It was a funny sight to say the least. I wore an old tee and my old bathing suit. We played a game of who knows the MGB facts better. There were two teams. Needless to say we all got a little competitive. We tied and so we all got to share the price. They were bottles of bubbles! The funny thing is that none of them worked. Oh well, it was just for fun. We talked into the early morning. Man was I tired, but I could have stayed there for much longer. One thing that really interested me is that we had a medium among us. I had no idea. I heard her talking and before you knew it, there was a few of us tuned in. I asked her if she would do a reading for me the next day if she had time. I was anxious to hear what she had to say. She said she would, so off to bed I went. I had to get up semi early for the reading. Not early by others standards, but by my standards.

I got up and headed to my 9:30 am reading with Jackie. She was with someone else, so we didn't get started till nearly 10:00 am. It was a nice reading. Unfortunately, she had to check out and everyone was running around because we were meeting Dr. Peraglie at 11:00 am for a buffet breakfast. Meg and I were staying, so we were not worried about checking out. However, it was a little stressful for the others. I didn't want to take up much time. Jackie was there for the conference, not for a reading, so I didn't want to burden her, but I was curious to see what she had to say. There were a few things she said of interest. My Mom came through and was discussing my eyes. That could be two things. One being that Mom paid for my eye surgery and two being that the last two days, I had struggled with each eye. Not sure if it was due to an allergy or what, but they had both bothered me. One on one day and the other the next day. So odd. She also said that I very much looked like my mom. She said that my Dad had something going on with his teeth and that he got an infection and died from it. That was odd. My dad was diagnosed with lung cancer and yet when he died, we were shocked because he was doing so well. He was in the hospital, but before that he was doing fantastic. He just took a sudden turn and that was it. We never had an autopsy done because we knew he wouldn't have wanted to have that done, but it's always been a true mystery to me and my Mom as to what happened. Even the doctors were shocked and bewildered. Was it something with his teeth all of a sudden. She wasn't sure, but she felt it was teeth related. She also thought some type of poison was in his system that he got an infection from. Not a poison that was introduced, but in the way that the body turns on itself. Very odd. She went on to say that Manny would be a genius and that he needs all the hugs and loving we can give him. He will be the one that takes care of us and will make quite a bit of money. She also said that Manny can see my parents and if he ever babbles something, we should listen closely. If he ever babbles numbers, we should play the lottery. She said she could see a miniature scotty dog, but I never had one, so not sure where that came from. Maybe an animal in my parents past? Maybe when they were younger? She mentioned something about earrings as well, but I can't remember what the reference was to. Lastly she asked if we were shopping before we were leaving. I said no. She said if we did, then we needed to buy a yellow bunny for Manny to sleep with. We did end up stopping later at a store and seeing some bunnies, but none yellow. That was odd too. Anyway, we finished up the reading and headed to our rooms to do a few things and then Meg and I headed down to the buffet.

When we got downstairs, there was Dr. Peraglie, his wife and little boy. It was so nice to see him. He was being swarmed by all of us. I waited until some others took some pictures with him and then I approached him. He was shocked. He knew I was going to be there. He has seen pictures of me, but seeing me in person is obviously different. How proud he must be of all of the people he has done surgery for. It is truly lifesaving. He took a few pictures and then we headed in to eat. I tried three different things, but nothing worked for me. In fact, I felt sick. I ended up getting out of my chair and walking around and chatting. We then headed back up to the veranda where we sat around in a circle and asked questions of Dr. Peraglie. It was gorgeous out. I forgot the temp, but it was hot and I was getting red. Needless to say, I kept zero color. Boo. Before we knew it, everyone was gone. Everyone had a long drive home. We were staying one more night because it was cheaper, so after hugging everyone, we went to our room. Meg and I sat around and chatted and then we headed out for a little drive. We stopped at Olive Garden for a salad and just chatted. It was great. I thoroughly love chatting with Meg. She is so easy to get along with. Very open and very intelligent. I would travel with her anywhere on any given day. After dinner, we headed home and sat around chatting some more before heading to bed after midnight.

Two and a half hours later, I was up and getting ready. We had to leave the hotel at 4:00 am to make the ride back to Tampa airport. We left shortly after 4 and drove through the worst rain storm and lightening. It was unnerving to tell the truth. Here we are two grown women and we are ducking our heads in the car. It was just scary. However, we made it in record time. Our flight was on time as well. We both tried to nap on the way home. It wasn't working for me, but that is okay. Before you know it, our trip was over and we were saying goodbye in the baggage pick up area. Meg drove back to NH and I grabbed the van for my ride home.

Once home, I immediately jumped into doing stuff. Cleaning, organizing, going through mail, going through 700 emails, etc. I also took Ping to Chuck E. Cheese for a Daisies event. That was tiring. Needless to say, I stayed up till 1:30 am! I was exhausted. I was clearly living off of some strange energy. I knew I would pay for it the next day.

On Tuesday, I slept in a little. Bill took the kids to school. However, I had somewhere to be for 12:30 pm, so I got up and headed out to The Great Escape to meet with some other Mom's. I took Yamira so she could play at the indoor playground. Before I knew it, it was time to get Ping from school. We all headed to pick up Ping at school and then we headed to skating for Ping. Then we headed off to Walmart for a bunch of things.

On Wednesday I went into help with Shayla's class. That is always fun for me. Love getting to know the kids better and better and to see what they are learning. Bill had a doctors appointment and so I took the kids to gymnastics. Ping did great. Yamira has had some bad weeks, so I warned her to watch her behavior. She did great until the last 10 minutes. She was literally carried out of class with hands flailing in the air. She was fooling around and being coy with the teacher. At one point she walked to the back of the bouncy thing they had out and she sat down. The teacher thought she was being too dangerous to everyone around her due to taking all the attention away from the others, so she had to be brought out to me. It was horrible. Then Ping really hurt her foot somehow. Not a fun time at all. Ping never complains, so if she complains, it's worth complaining about! We came home and I gave Yamira a 10 minute time out due to her behavior. However, I didn't take anything else away because she was good for most of the class.

On Thursday, I slept in a little and then headed off to get Yamira from school. We had a play date at the library with Sophie and Skyler and Teresa. They had a great time playing and we had a nice time chatting. Too short, but we are busy Moms. I spent the rest of the day on business calls and organizing 2,000 photos from Shutterfly. I hate that job, but it needed to bed one. Tonight I am going to stuff all the photos in albums and get that done and behind me.

Today the kids didn't have school due to an electrical issue. Not sure what the issue is, but school was canceled, so they had Daddy up early for their tiger cereal. Frosted Flakes is tiger cereal around her. I stayed in bed till 9:00 am and then got up and put my bathing suit on. I took Manny to his swimming lesson, flew home to shower and then took Yamira to therapy. I have been home for the rest of the day. The two youngest have been off the walls today. Screaming, not listening, jumping all over the place. I could not wait till we could get them all into bed. I tried to get them to watch a movie and have some popcorn this afternoon. That didn't even do the trick. So it was dinner, bath and then bed. We just put them to bed about 20 minutes ago. I am now here trying to finish up this blog post.

Tomorrow we have a few things going on. On Sunday, Bill is working all day, so I will be entertaining the three alone. Fun, fun. Well off to post some pictures and get this blog post finished. I was so far behind, it's taken me nearly two hours to write this up.

Hope life is grand for you right now. Man I miss Florida and the sunshine.

Mama Out!!!!!!!!!!!!


Ping getting her award and singing a song.

Rocking the boot look, no?

Best Buddies.

No extender finally.

Living room part.

Bathroom in between rooms.

Bedroom.

Lobby.

Lobby.

Dining room.

Hanging out.

The hotel.

Clothing area.

Bonnie and John.

Chris and his daughter Jill, Lia, Chris (?) and Meg.

Meg with a tutu on her head. Yes, this is who I roomed with.

Like my bathing suit?

Bonnie, John and Carol.

Chris and Sheba.

Bra fitting anyone?

Flo, me, Bonnie and Dr. Peraglie.

Me and Dr. P.

Meg and Tiffany.

Dr. Peraglie and CJ.

The weight we have lost.

Flo, me and Dr. Peraglie.

Meg in the orange grove.

Me being silly.

Me being sassy.

New outfit for Yamira.

Daisies at Chuck E. Cheese.

Ping's new dress.

Bill with the free crosses I got.

Sophie.

The Great Escape.

Ping skating.

Teresa, Sky and Yamira.

Addition.

Bedroom.

Bedroom #2.

Tub.

Family room.