All About Me

Free at last

Free at last

Thank God almighty...

my son left for camp today

Just kidding.

But he really did.

So this week it's all about me. When I get in the car, I will drive where I want to go. When I get money out of my wallet, I will be handing it to a salesperson. When I watch TV, I will watch anything but Band of Brothers or Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory. When I walk through the living room, I will throw away only my popsicle wrappers.

Yep, this week it's all about me. I'll miss him. But it'll be nice.

Basketball news: This past weekend Eric played 8 games in 3 days. His school's two freshman teams from last year were randomly formed into two teams for a high school tournament at Saint Louis University. Both teams ended up in the finals against each other. Eric's team lost by only a few points. It was a great game, and the boys played hard since all are vying for 13 JV spots for next year. There are three 8th graders (incoming freshmen) who all have a good chance of making the JV team. One is about 6'5" and another is 6'6" or 6'7". So Eric will have to work hard to make it.

The camp he left for today is a basketball camp at UCLA through FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes). I dropped him off at the airport at 7:45 this morning wearing all USC attire -hat, shirt and basketball shorts. He said he's not going to tell anyone while traveling that he's going to UCLA because "no one gets it," that someone could possibly like two rival schools. When he's traveled alone in the past - not realizing how young he is - people have asked if he plays basketball at USC or UCLA, depending on what attire he has on. Of course he lies and says yes. He thinks it's funny. And kind of cool.

I met the CUTEST Sky yesterday...

Yesterday I went to our neighbor's house to take pictures of their baby lab. This is the fourth lab they've had over the years. The new baby's name is Sky, and I am in LOVE! Their other dogs names were Stormy, Summer and Stars.

Can you guess our neighbor's occupation? Ooh, this is a tough one. LOL

If you said meteorologist for the local news station, you are right.

Here is 10-week-old Sky...









Hubs holding Sky



Sittin' pretty


Walking the backyard trail

Weekend Pics

We had a very busy weekend.

I took Stella and KC to a doggie play date.

Here is Stella with Frankie.


Belle


Frankie (Stella in the background)


Andy


Gus


Andy smiling for the camera


Andy being "nosy"


Andy and Gus introducing themselves


KC and Chrissie


Gus cooling off while KC gets a drink


Frankie, Stella and Maggie


Then...

Eric's big brother Brian (through Big Brothers/Big Sisters) came over with his fiancee Marlys. I addressed envelopes, in calligraphy, for their wedding invites so when they picked them up we went swimming. If you missed the post I wrote about Brian, click here.

Marlys and me - the unsuspecting bystanders...


What the....?


Leave it to Brian and Eric...


to plan something...


like this...


BOYS!!! Harumpf! (Marlys, you better get used to this kind of stuff!)

"I promise, I won't push you in" (famous last words)


Brian and Eric perfecting what they've done for the past 8 years


And then last night...

Father's Day dinner at our house


Can't wait til next weekend to see what it brings!

"Catastrophes Hit St. Louis Home"

Missouri is known for its swirling tornados and catastrophic tsunamis, and hit one St. Louis family especially hard. The following pictures touch upon only a portion of the sadness and tragedy they endured on one hot summer day in June.

First the tornado, which miraculously only hit Eric's room...








Eric escaped without injury, but when he went outside to survey the damage, he realized that there is more to a tornado than meets the eye.

Flying debris had hit the family car...





Eric then hurried to the back yard to see what damage had been sustained there.

When he saw KC sitting on the pool deck with her jaw open and a terrified look in her eye...



he looked in that direction, and that's when he saw the tsunami.

And that's when he flew into action.




Risking his life to save the lives of his beloved dogs - KC...







and Stella...




Eric was able to move both dogs to dry land.

Stella was frightened and shaken from her ordeal, but safe.





Sadly, despite Eric's heroic efforts he could not save KC from the rushing waters of the great tsunami, and she perished before his eyes.

The family is still recovering. The car (which was actually hit by one of Eric's friends trying to back their car out of our driveway) can be repaired. But never will they get over the death of their precious little pup.

The End

P.S. She's not really dead. She was just wilting in the 97 degree weather :)

Family News

My mom finally went to the doctor yesterday. Her fibula was broken all the way through, but it was a clean break so she doesn't need surgery. The doctor said it was her choice whether or not to have a cast. She decided to go with a boot so she could take it off and on. So that's good. When Eric broke his ankle it was such a pain for him to shower because he had to keep the cast dry. She'll wear the boot for 6 weeks. The bummer is - like I said before - their elevator will not be working for another month and she lives on the 5th floor, not the 3rd as I had said in the previous post, so she won't be going anywhere unless my brother Gary gives her a piggy back ride up and down 80 steps. Her birthday is on Saturday, so obviously the party (the family) will be coming to her :)

Eric is working at the basketball camp at his school this week. He is reffing and coaching. He hated it the first day because he got stuck with the little kids (3rd grade) and wanted the older kids (5th or 6th). Plus, he said his team was horrible (and you know how he hates to lose). The first day they were 1-4. Yesterday, though, he really got into it because his team (UConn) lost by only 1 point to the best team (Mizzou). His team was up with 5 seconds left and the other team scored to win. Today they have a "draft" where they get to keep their best 2 players. He bribed some kid yesterday with a quarter (a quarter?) to come to his team today. He's all into it now. The camp is from 8-3 this week and ends on Friday. (Brian: Eric said Steve Stipanovich's nephew is the best player in camp. He's in 5th or 6th grade.)

Larry's dad is in the hospital. He went by ambulance at 4:00 yesterday morning. They're running tests still and are not sure what's wrong with him.

My library books I have on order keep coming in so I'm getting behind on my reviews. I just finished "A Lion Named Christian" and got an email today saying "The Girls from Ames" is ready to pick up. Off I go!

Break a Leg!

What a strange comment to make to an actor to wish them luck, huh? My mom isn't an actress but break a leg she did. In the middle of the night. When nobody was home. While walking downstairs from her upper level. In the dark. Carrying dishes in her hand. She heard a crack. It wasn't the dishes. She hoped it was just a sprain. But sprains don't make cracking sounds. She crawled to the kitchen for some ice. She's a nurse and she knew she had to put ice on it. All she could reach was a bag of frozen peas. She crawled to bed. And waited. Until morning. She didn't want to bother anyone. Besides, she thought, it's just a sprain.

Okay, enough with pretending I'm writing a novel, but that really is what happened. She thought she was at the bottom of the step and wasn't. She didn't want to call 911 because she didn't want to bother them. She had to wait until noon the next day when my brother Mike got home from taking finals at school. He took her to the urgent care center because she still thought it was just a sprain. She actually broke her fibula. They put it in a boot splint and she has to see the orthopedic surgeon tomorrow. Bob was in Palm Springs (he's back today) and all my other siblings have been busy, so thank goodness for Mikee. He is an angel! Since she fell on Thursday night, besides sitting in the urgent care center with her for 3 hours, he cooked for her (he is an amazing cook), wired and installed a phone in her bedroom so she could have a phone near her, rearranged her bedroom furniture to make it more convenient for her, washed her bedroom sliding glass door so she could see out, set the coffee maker timer for the morning before he left, and then showed up the next morning at 7:30 AM. Thank you Mike!

The worst part is that my mom's condo is on the 3rd floor, and the elevator - the only elevator in the building - is out of commission for 8 weeks while they install a new one. Not sure how she is going to go anywhere for awhile.

Mi pobre mamasita. Ay ay ay.

Did You Know...

Did you know that...

...Eric got a 3.6 GPA for the year? I'm very proud of him. This last semester he got 3 As, 3 Bs and a C+ and received Second Honors. One more point and he would have had a B. Not too shabby considering he had to adjust to a new school, new grading system, and new kids. Good job, E.

...Eric does his own laundry? Hallelujah.

...I'm bummed that the Bachelorette - Jillian - dumped Mike the baseball camp owner? Of course I'm partial to baseball players, but what was she thinking? He seemed like a nice guy. Glad Dave is gone, now she just needs to get rid of Wes.

...I want to live on a farm some day. I feel like I'm in my element around cows and horses and chickens. Honey? How's that sound...fun? Maybe we could find a farm near a race track.

...I have four followers on my blog? FOUR. You're impressed. I can tell.

Books and Boats and Bouncing Boys

I just finished this book and absolutely loved it. Check out my review here
I cannot wait to get another book by this author. In the meantime I'm reading "The Invisible Wall."

We just got back from Lake of the Ozarks last night. What a great time we had. Eric brought 4 friends, and 4 of their friends were down there already, so they all hooked up. They went go-carting together one night and the girls came on the boat with us one day.

The boys getting ready for the 3 hour car ride (and later fighting over who had to sit in the middle)...



We stopped at a place on the Lake for lunch...








Me on the wave runner...







Me again...






Those are Eric's legs flyin' in the air...








Eric and the girls racing...










Eric, Billy, Mike, Keith and Tyler...








Larry driving the boat did his best to flip the boys off the tube...








Hangin' on for dear life....








Billy, Tyler and Keith showing us the "go faster" sign...








Billy and Keith in the boat, with the rest of the boys on the tube....



Larry in the position he was in for two straight days, driving the boat...
Thank you, Honey, for the awesome trip. The boys had BIG fun!!





One last thing: While you're at Target buying one of Diane Chamberlain's books, ya gotta get some of these Champion running shorts for $14.99. My sister turned me on to them. They fit really well (all body types) and they have a liner inside. They're also long enough to hide any cellulite. Not that you have any, but if you did...

Really. Try 'em.





And no I'm not getting paid to advertise these. Darn.