Holiday Weekend...

Wow...it's hot!!!

We've had a great holiday weekend. Elliot went running Friday night with his "running wife" Cathy. I of course held down the driveway with my friend Stephanie and a daiquiri, which I managed to do well I might add. I was also fortunate enough (ha ha) to be preached to by my nosey, butt-in-ski across the street neighbor lady, who thought 11:30 at night would be a good time to let me know about John 3:16 and thought I should open up the bible and read about Revelations. Ugh. Thank God I had a buzz is all I have to say. I love them to pieces, but believe me, I will be happy to see them move in 2 weeks. I'm just sayin.

Saturday it was my turn to get a new pair of running shoes. I didn't get exactly what I wanted, but I found some that are pretty loud and ugly, but oh so comfy. I can't wait to break them in.



After shoe shopping, my uncle Gene came to town so he and Elliot could get their IRONMAN tattoos that they've been talking about since their race in September. I guess since we found a good tattoo guy, Elliot finally decided it was time to get it done and since we're all going to the beach in 3 weeks, they both wanted them healed up by then. Elliot's is the symbol of the race that they did - The Redman - and Gene's in the traditional "M-Dot". I think they turned out pretty good...(although I am having fun teasing Elliot that he now has a bathroom symbol on his chest)...





After the tattoos, Elliot, Gene and the boys went down to the lake. Elliot & Gene had a poker game to go to and the boys were going to get some good quality time with aunt Debbie. I stayed back to be here with the dogs and went on Sunday. I spent all night Saturday night cleaning, doing laundry and talking to my cousin on the phone. My night did get thrown out of whack a bit when the garage door decided to come off the track and not close. Thank God my friends' husband was able to come by and help me get it closed until we can get someone out here this week to fix it. I'm sure that'll cost a small fortune...grrrrr.

We spent all day Sunday at the lake and had a blast. The kids had so much fun playing in the water with their cousins and it was fun to see them do what I used to do every summer growing up. Back in April there was a tornado that buzzed by Debbie & Gene's that took out a couple of trees and several of the boat docks, but we still had a great time and Debbie & Gene were fabulous hosts as always. I can't wait to spend a week with them at the beach in a couple of weeks.







Now that the weekend is almost over, I've got tons of stuff to get done for this week. It's the last week of school and I'm sure it will be over before I know it! I hope everyone had a great weekend. Here's to an awesome week!

One More Week...

I can't believe it, but the end of the school year is almost here. My "baby" will be a 6th grader next year...ugh. I cringe only because I know how 6th grade boys were when I was in 6th grade. I just hope he's not one of them - lol! Aidan will be a 4th grader and that's only funny because he's still so tiny and oblivious to everything going on around him. Oh well. He'll survive - at least that's what I keep telling myself.

We have no huge summer plans - other than our trip to the beach in a couple of weeks. The boys are so into playing outside with all of their friends that I don't think they'll have a shortage of things to do. I know personally I'm looking forward to sleeping in a little bit.

It's been so hot this week and it makes being outside or doing anything between the hours of 1 and 6 so uncomfortable. I think I've decided that 85 is my max then I start to shut down. I've been getting my runs in early in the morning before it gets too hot and that's even gotten to be no fun.

Speaking of running, Elliot's been training for his next 50 mile race that's coming up in July. It's called El Scorcho for good reason. The only shining light is that it starts at midnight, so hopefully he'll be done before it gets too hot out. He's going to start doing some of his long runs at night with his "running wife" Cathy - his running partner. They'll leave here at around 7 tonight and be home sometime after 11. Eventually they'll work up to running in the middle of the night. I think they're both insane. Luckily my friend Stephanie is going to come over tonight and have daiquiris with me in the driveway to keep me entertained - she's awesome and thank God she only lives a block away.

Elliot had his "Man Weekend" last weekend at his friends' ranch in Santo (????). He had a great time as usual and even managed to squeeze in an 18-mile run on Saturday morning while the other guys were sleeping off the alcohol from the night before. He did have an encounter with a skunk but managed to get away without being sprayed. I would've loved to have seen that one. The kids spent last weekend in Granbury with Elliot's parents and had an awesome time. They went to a rodeo thing Friday night, then spent Saturday at their cousin's soccer tournament and a movie at the drive-in. They were exhausted by the time they came home Sunday morning, but it was a good tired. I spent the weekend hanging out with some girlfriends and had so much fun doing things I wanted to do.

On a sad note, my niece Brooklyn - Tommy's newborn daughter - has been in the hospital for almost 2 weeks. She was having some issues with reflux and had to have surgery last Friday. They were able to make a flap in her stomach that will hopefully help with the reflux and also gave her a g-button so she is able to feed. She's also having some breathing problems, which are eerily similar to what Aidan went through. She had a bronchoscope on Wednesday and they found that she has "impressive laryngeal malaysia" where her voice box almost completely collapses on her airway. She's been having trouble maintaining a good breathing pattern and has been having apnea episodes. If that continues then she will have to have a tracheotomy. We're hoping it's something she'll grow out of, but it's so hard to tell at this point because she's so little. Please keep her in your prayers....

Well, I guess that about catches me up on here. It's been a busy couple of weeks and I'm looking forward to the down time that's coming up. We're heading out to the lake this weekend - my favorite time of year and I can't wait to see my family again. Enjoy the long weekend!

Take Your Projects and Shove It...

There are officially 3 weeks left of school. We all know that May is pretty much a blow off month as far as education goes - right? I mean, field days, field trips, "movie days"...c'mon. The kids (and the teachers) are all ready for the school year to be done and are just biding their time for summer vacation. So, can I ask why BOTH of my kids have projects due this Friday? Seriously?

Liam came home with a "State In A Bag" project. He has to pick a state, other than Texas, learn what he can about that state and put everything he's learned and any other "extras" in a bag. What kind of bag? Not sure. It just says "bag". Gotta love the instructions these 5th grade teachers are sending home. Love it. I'm hoping this is something easy enough that Liam won't need much of my help on.

Aidan has to do a research project about a Rainforest Animal. Any one. This seems easy enough, but my complaint with this one is that Aidan doesn't know how to do research. He's 9 and lucky enough to be able to read a story about a rainforest animal. He's special ed remember? So, this project falls into MY lap. Yay. I hope I get an A.

This week has been pretty good. Nothing too exciting going on. My allergies are crazy right now. I heard on the news this morning that we've set a record today for the Mold count. That would explain the sneezing fits I keep having. Benedryl and I have become good friends this week.

Oh I did have one crazy thing happen on Monday. Rocco, my sweet, dumb bulldog got into a fight with our fence in the backyard. The dogs were out back Monday morning and the people behind us were having their yard done. They were weed eating along the fence and my dogs started chasing the weed eater back and forth. I came outside to stop it and when Rocco turned around, his face was covered in blood. COVERED. I kind of panicked. I'm great when it comes to kids needing some kind of urgent care, but what do I know about dogs? Zero. To make a long story short, I tried to get the bleeding to stop, but I couldn't, so I rushed him up to our vet and they had me leave him there so they could check him out. Turns out, he just got some abrasions on his bottom lip/chin area from the fence and the ground and he only needed some antibiotics. He's better now, but still has a fat bottom lip. Bulldogs are the third dumbest breed of dog...now I know why.

The Big 100...

This is my 100th blog!! I've felt the pressure to make this one good, but I don't think that's gonna happen. I've got nothing "good" per say to talk about. Just a bunch of the usual. Oh well. Movin on...

This week was busy. Aidan had a field trip on Tuesday and both of the boys had field day on Friday. Liam tested for his second black stripe on his orange belt on Thursday and did excellent. Elliot took the boys to a Ranger game on Wednesday night. Heather needed alot of work from me. And to top it all off, Liam and Elliot went on their annual guided striper fishing trip at Lake Texoma Friday night and Saturday. I've managed to squeeze in quite a bit of me time though - which always makes for a happy Lorrie. We all know happy Lorrie is a good thing. If I didn't have a little bit of time to myself I might go insane.





I told myself that I needed to start doing more things that I enjoy doing - hanging out with friends, socializing, whatever. I've been spending alot of time outside while the kids play since the weather has been nice. Luckily, I've gotten to know my new next door neighbor Alyssa who's 5-year old Dru adores Liam. So, she has become my new driveway friend and we sit out a few times a week talking and having an adult beverage. Wednesday night, my friend Cindy came by while the boys were at the baseball game and she ended up staying for almost 4 hours! We had a great time chatting about life. I needed that for sure! Friday night, my friends Jana and Stephanie came over and we all sat outside with some adult beverages (geesh, I sound like an alcoholic!!!) and they kept me company since I was all alone. Aidan ended up going home with Jana, which left me completely on my own, but I managed to make it through the night. Thank God for 3's Company reruns and my DVR. I spent all day today (Saturday) doing absolutely nothing until everyone got home. Now, it's life back to normal. The washer and dryer are going 90 to nothing as we speak. I guess the world can't completely stop spinning...

Well, that's about it. I've got some stuff to get done for NEXT week...PTA meeting on Monday, more karate, school project for Liam, work, life. Need to get some rest for sure! Have a great weekend everyone and enjoy it!

The Lucky # 13???

May 10, 1997 - Our wedding day...

Goodness how time flies. I can't believe it's already been 13 years!

I don't remember much from my wedding day. I do remember that I couldn't sleep the night before and my awesome friend Krista was nice enough to spend the night with me at my apartment. I think I was packing for my honeymoon at 4 in the morning??? I got up and had my makeup and hair done at the salon, ran through Jack In The Box to grab some french fries on my way to the church and from there it's all a blur. I do remember after getting my enormous dress on, I had to tinkle. So, all of my bridesmaids and my aunt Debbie were in the bathroom with me hiking up my dress and pulling down my panty hose...all modesty goes out the window when a girl has to tinkle. I do remember walking down the isle and crying. I couldn't play it cool at all. Despite being a cheerleader for 10 years, I had (and still have) horrible stage fright and never did well being in front of a huge audience...especially when all eyes were on ME!





Elliot and I had a catholic wedding, so our guests got their money's worth with us. Our ceremony was long, but not dreadfully long - just 40 minutes. After the ceremony, we had an awesome reception at Westbury Manor - which is no longer standing. It was so much fun and I'm sure people still think we had a pretty kick ass party! After the reception, we went to Jack In The Box again (really? twice in one day???) and had a quick dinner because neither of us had a chance to eat at the reception. By the time we got to our hotel, the prom parties were in full swing but we didn't care - we were exhausted. We caught an early morning flight for our 5 day honeymoon in Las Vegas - and we had a BLAST!

We've been through alot over the last 13 years and I'm grateful to have Elliot as my partner. He's been my rock when I've needed it and sometimes I wonder how he's been able to put up with me for this long. I guess he's just lucky - and so am I :)

Getting Back To "Normal"...

Well, Grandma's memorial service is done. It was beautiful and it was one of the hardest things I've had to get through, but we did it and we were all happy with how it went. My Mom and my aunts were amazing and I admire they're strength. I'm a lucky girl. I do have to admit it was nice to have almost our entire family together for the first time in a long time.

Now, life goes on. The kids are back to school. Elliot's back to work. I'm back to doing whatever it is I do. Tuesday was a hard day and it felt weird to get back to "normal", but I know it's what we have to do. Wednesday was easier. I slept so good last night and woke up this morning feeling great. I even went for a run this morning *gasp*!

Things for our family will change now. My Mom's Sundays won't involve a 3-hour round trip commute to visit my Grandma. My aunt Debbie will have time she doesn't know what to do with - although I'm sure she'd be happy to spend it quilting :). We will all miss my Grandma, but I know she's in a better place now.

Other things going on?

We're not going to buy the house on the golf course. It was ours, but I guess we decided that we weren't willing to take the risk. It was an older house that had alot of problems and we weren't ready to take it on. The more we looked into things, the more we found wrong and it's heartbreaking. We both loved that house and can't even talk about it with each other. We looked at a house last night a few blocks away, but it just isn't something we're interested in. So, we're back to square one.

That's about all I've got right now. I need to get off the computer and get things going around here. My laundry is demanding my attention and I guess I need to suck it up. Have a great day.