Happy Birthday, Lily!

Lily Rebecca turns 17 today.  I can hardly believe it. Oh, it's not her advanced age that stuns me.  It's the fact that I actually let her live this long.   LOL  She has always been quite the character.  I used to tell her when I was pregnant with Robin I drank fine wine and listened to classical music and when pregnant with her I drank beer and watched The Beverly Hillbillies.   Whether getting in trouble (ask her about the Silly Putty Incident sometime) or out of the blue telling me how much she loves me, she never fails to keep me entertained.   She has brought so much laughter and fun to our lives.  I'm glad she's here. 

Off to the Races!

“More business is lost every year through neglect 

than through any other cause.”

 - Rose Kennedy

I hope my neglect of this blog hasn't lost me any readers...I don't have that many to spare.  Life has been pretty crazy lately, mostly work related.  It will be at least three more weeks before it's back to normal, please bear with me - or bare with me.  Whatever. 

I did do something fun this weekend which I will tell you about.  Many years ago - January 1997 to be exact - we got a computer and connected to the internet; Al Gore came over and hooked everything up for us.  John immediately got on line and started looking up old girlfriends, and I found an All My Children message board.  I had been watching AMC off and on since 1975 and it was really fun to find a group of people who enjoyed it as much as I did.  There were a few renegades who split off into our own chat room which eventually turned into an e-mail loop, trading jokes, recipes, advice and life stories.  This group of ladies and one gentleman have had enough material over the last 12 years to write our own soap opera including - but not limited to - marriages, divorces, births, deaths, breast cancer, an accidental outing, a mugging and an inappropriate encounter with a brother-in-law.  Some have left the group, and others have brought on new friends.  Over the years, several members have actually met in person, and these encounters always live up to our online friendship, and that's where this weekend comes into play.

One of the ladies from our west coast contingency - Jan and her husband, Mike - were taking a tour of the midwest.  They decided to spend a few days in Louisville, KY where one of our other ladies - Diane - lives.  Those of us who were within a reasonable distance and had the time got together this past weekend to finally meet in person and spend the day together.  It was me (Indy), Pattie and Jackie (Cincinnati), and Suzanne (Barren Lake, KY) bringing along assorted guests.  We met at Diane's home in old Louisville around 10:30 a.m. on Saturday.  After some initial squeals of happiness and hugs, we took the tour of Diane's BEAUTIFUL 100+ year-old residence - totally jealous.  Don't ask me why I didn't take pictures.  Around 11:30 we headed off to spend the day at Churchill Downs.  I had never been to a horsetrack before.  I'm not a big gambler, mainly because I'm not lucky and I'm cheap, but I figured what the heck.  Even if you are not a fan of horse racing, there's something to be said for being in a place that's so famous and steeped in tradition.  We had tables reserved in the dining area where you can watch the games on TVs or head outside to one of the boxes.   I have NO idea how to read the racing forms, so I just picked horses based on any connection I might possibly have to the horse or jockey's name.  For the first race, no one really jumped out at me, so I just picked horse #2 because 2 was the first number Robin learned when she was little and she used it for every answer.  Guess what?  He won!  The next race I picked Citizen John and he ended up in third.  There was a jockey with the last name of Reyes so I bet on him in every race he rode.  He won something two of the three races in which he rode. Of the ten races I bet on, I won a grand total of $98!  
This drink is called - appropriately enough - Lily.  It's sweet and pretty, but the next thing you know, you've been knocked to the ground and wake up to find all of your money is missing.

I enjoyed watching the races on the turf.   I highly recommend going outside into one of the boxes to watch the races.  Very exciting.

Here's our intrepid group of gamblers...Left to right:  Roberta (friend of Suzanne's), Jackie, Jan, Diane, Pattie, Carol (Pattie's partner), Paulette (friend of Suzanne's who may or may not have a weird thing for armadillos), Suzanne and me.

Throughout the course of the day, we all had the chance to chat and eat and eat and chat.  It was a lot of fun and these are some really terrific women.  I haven't watched AMC in probably nine years, but I will definitely continue to keep these ladies around.

Prom 2009

Okay, I've finally recovered enough from Lily's Prom to do a post about it.   Everything actually went pretty smoothly, it's just a lot of activity and coordinating.  Fortunately, Lily took herself to get a mani/pedi earlier in the week, so the only place we had to go on Saturday was Tyler Mason for a special event hairdo.  I dropped her off  because I needed to hit Lowes and pick up some flowers and tomato plants.  Before you accuse me of being a negligent mother, I made it back in time to pay for the aforementioned hairdo.  There was a quick stop at Kroger to pick up Josh's boutonniere which was $2 more than they originally told me but, at this point, what are you gonna do?  We were home between 2:30 and 3:00, which left about two hours before the other parents descended upon our house.  Lily worked on her make-up and her BFF Kaylee's hair and then it was time to get dressed.  Kaylee's sister, Courtney, was also going to Prom, and she showed up early so she and Kaylee could get pictures together.  Shortly after Courtney left, Corey and Josh appeared with assorted parents, step-parents and a random grandma in tow, followed closely by my sister and John's parents.  Unbeknownst to me, Corey's mom had wanted the kids to come to their house for pictures because they have a staircase.  Yeh, yeh...that's nice for photo ops, but I bet they don't have chihuahuas rudely wandering into every picture.  Seriously, I don't know how our little cracker box house ended up the place to be.  Although Saturday started out pretty cold and windy, the sun came out just in time for pictures. 

Kaylee chillaxin' with Ringo before pictures.

Lily's grand entrance.  

Please note: 

Isn't She Lovely? is playing on the music channel on TV.

Isn't she lovely?

She looks good coming AND going!  LOL

Kaylee and Corey

Pinning Josh's boutonniere.

Aunt Sarah was a wedding photographer's assistant in another life,

 so here she is coming to the rescue.

Boys have it so much easier.

Robin, Lily and Tom.  

Good thing we had Security there.  

BTW, after this display of sisterly love, 

Lily called Robin an a-hole on Facebook the very next day.  

They get that loutish behavior from their father.

The gang!

Josh's grandma gave Lily that ring to wear.  Wasn't that sweet?

Speaking of sweet, Lily remembered at the last minute her gas light came on earlier and she had no money for gas.  I ponied up for that, and Kaylee's dad went and filled it up so she wouldn't have to do that in her fancy dress.  Of course, the evening wasn't without a little drama.  They got lost going downtown to the Indiana Roof Ballroom, couldn't find the free lot so had to pay $25 to park in the garage, and got lost coming home from downtown.  They ended up on some back roads out by the new airport, (not really by our house if you were wondering) and Lily swears they were actually driving on the runway at one point.  They made it home safe and sound without a police escort, so it's all good.

So...here's the tally:  

prom tickets - $90; prom dress - $200; shoes - $35; hairdo - $60; mani/pedi - $50; boutonniere - $9; gas - $20; parking - $25; the last bill in my purse for emergencies - $10. 

Lily having an evening she'll never forget....

$499!!!

I bet you thought I was going to say "priceless," right?  HA!  She just informed me she can't wait until next year's prom...see you then.

Happy Mother's Day!

If you read my last post, you know that Robin had something up her sleeve for Mother's Day.  She told me to plan on being home and to get John out of the house for the evening.   While that alone would have been enough of a present, there was actually MUCH, MUCH more.  She and her BFF, Ashley Mango, organized and prepared a Mother's Day dinner for me and Ashley's mom, Sarah.


The bomb diggety meal included:  tossed salad, fruit salad, crescent rolls, pasta, grilled chicken and Cowboy Brownies.  Oh, and my new favorite... Gewürztraminer wine.  Sarah brought a bottle over, but it just so happens I had one chilling as well.  Never hurts to be prepared.

While the girls really did do a fantastic job on the meal, I most enjoyed getting to spend time with three women I love having in my life.

Thanks, girls!  Makes us moms very proud to have raised such thoughtful, beautiful people!

Odds & Ends

My good friend, Karen, actually sent an e-mail asking why I hadn't posted anything new on the blog in awhile.  Awww....that warms the cockles of my heart.  I did not realize it had been more than TWO WEEKS since the last post.  That must mean I have a pretty boring life.  So, here are a few things to tide you over until the excitement of Prom on Saturday when I can live vicariously through my daughter.  ahem...

Speaking of Karen, she and her man-friend/lover boy/fiance Dave got married!  They went to the courthouse, said "I do", then went to work.  Romantic, huh?  Rumor has it, they went to MCL for their wedding dinner that evening.  Those crazy kids.  Seriously, I wish them the best.

I attended a going away party at Agio's for a co-worker who is moving to New York City.  Shawn's wife got a job as the project coordinator for a pain study at the VA in Manhattan.  Kate is a big city girl and could no longer ignore the siren call of The Big Apple. Fortunately, Shawn will still be working for the Institute, making return visits to Indy every six weeks or so.

Agio's is a cool Italian restaurant on Mass Ave.  The creme brulee and chocolate mousse were divine, but I have to confess, my martini was more like berry-flavored turpentine.  However, I paid $10 for that sucker, so you better believe I downed every drop.

Kate made these terrific tie-dyed cupcakes as favors for the guests.  They were as tasty as they were cute.

  

On Sunday John and I drove 2+ hours one way to Brookville Reservoir to check it out for boating this summer.   It's a pretty nice lake, but there is not one main entrance, rather several ramps all around the lake.  

Good thing we figured that out now, and not when we're dragging that !@#-ing boat around behind us.  There is a really nice marina with condo rentals and Ainsley's Cafe where we ate lunch.  I was surprised at how good it was.  We stopped by the Visitors' Center to get info on the lake, and there were all these awesome antlers lying around.  John was an unwilling model, but he quickly realized it was easier to just do what I wanted.  

This stuffed badger was also on display.  I looked exactly like this after spending the day confined in a truck cab with you-know-who.

Monday I broke down and did some seriously overdue cleaning while I was watching Dancing With The Stars.  I found a penis swizzle stick in the TV cabinet in our bedroom.  Huh.

 Admit it, you thought I was making that up.

So, that's it for now.  Saturday promises to be a big day:  Not only is Lily going to Prom, but Robin comes home for the summer.  YAY!!  Robin told me not to make any plans for Saturday evening and to make sure John is gone for the evening.  I know you're as intrigued as I am.  Stay tuned...