30 minutes in Hell

Since I was unable to get my hands on Xanax, this is my form of self medication the day after my 30 minutes in hell.   As many of you surmized, T and I got separated at the mall.   It happened in a frickin' instant. And it was all my fault.  I was certain that she came in GapKi ds with me.  Apparently she didn't she continued walking.   By the time I turned around and couldn't find her, then started yelling in the store...which is annoyingly connected to 2 other stores...GapBabie and the adult Gap, she was nowhere to be found.   I go run out into the mall and nada.  

Every frickin capital sex batt case I ever handled or know of, every kidnapping and agg child abuse I ever had, followed up by poor Adam Walsh and all the other milk cartan kids went flashing across my mind.  I wanted to throw up.  I was so certain that T had come into the store w me and I know that she would never, ever leave the store without me.    I started demanding that the employees call store security...who failed to respond or answer to which they said call the police.

Suffice it to say that a 911 call later, me walking through the mall screaming her name, and a platoon of concerned young women and moms later,  T was recovered at guest services.  As I was walking like a maniac through the mall screaming her name (and anyone who knows me know just how loud I can be), a young woman in her early 20's came up to me and said she saw T at the other end of the mall and took her to guest services.   As I sat there with T waiting for the deputy to respond, a few good samaritan women came up and said that they were scouring the mall and had asked others to as well.  A side effect of my job is that I forget how many really nice people there are in the world.  Meanwhile, why was it only the women who came up to me?  Where the hell were any of the men? ...but I digress

Anyway, We go to guest services, I see T from afar, and start bawling my eyes out. 

T reports that when she couldn't find me, she said she started walking around trying to find me.   Suffice it to say, we're having all sorts of conversations around here about mall safety and what to do if we get separated.  

My nerves were literally shocked for the rest of the night, and even the whole rest of the day.  I had to laugh b/c as we were driving home, a song was playing on the radio..."What doesn't kill you makes you stronger" so similar lyrics.   I disagree.   What doesn't kill you, shatters your nerves and drives you to the brink of insanity.  

We basically stayed home wednesday as well, since we had T's 7 yr old wellness visit with the doc.   T is officially 47.5 inches and 45 pounds.  and healthy as a horse, so I'm busy counting my blessings.

The Safari Continued....

 Here's a last picture of the part of the waterpark, so you can get an idea of what it was like.   T thoroughly enjoyed it.  We then paused for lunch...hotdogs, chips, and slurpees.   As I always say, the fun doesn't begin til somebody's got a blue tongue!

 We then went off to feed the giraffes, which T balked at doing at the last minute.  I couldn't blame her, though, as it was a bit intimidating being so close to them.  Their heads look little from the ground, but up close they are huge.   Even though I know they are not carnivores and only eat leaves and twigs, I couldn't get the picture of them chomping off T's hand, so I was secretly quite relieved!

 We then found a little area, and paused to take funny picutres.

 It's great....to be...a Florida Gator! 

 So, we quit monkeying around the phony picture shots, and went on to enjoy the rest of the park.  There was a small gooney golf area, a merry go round, a ferris wheel that we did not do, paddle boats that we did not do, all kinds of animal displays that we observed, and some shows that we never seemed to be in time for.

 As the afternoon wound down, I realized that we were very close to the Wellington Green mall.  Gorgeous newer mall with the only Naartjie store in Florida.   We headed off there intending to do a bit a shopping and get some dinner while we let rush hour traffic die down.

More on the mall trip later.  It turned out to include the most stressful 20 minutes of my life...to date.  All is well though, and we are having a slow day today to calm my nerves.

Lion Country Safari...

 We woke up bright and early and headed out to Lion Country Safari.  Its about an hour's drive north of us.  Basically, its a zoo that you drive through.   Animals can come right up to the car.   I had not been there since about 1970 or so.   Boy have things changed since then.   The biggest change is that the lions are now behind a fence and can not go up to a car.   Back in my day, they could.   I'll have to search westlaw using the name of the park to find the court case that brought about the fence.  I feel certain that there will be one. 

 Since the speed limit in the park is no faster than 8 mph, I let T out of her booster seat and come up to the front seat for the first time ever.   She was thrilled.   She has a whole lot more pictures of all the other animals.  I may post them separately, for posterity.   All the pics in this post were taken my me.

 My favorite animals were the zebras...

 Followed by the Girafes...

 Even better from in my day, is that there is a second whole half of the part.   In my day there was just the drive through zoo.  Now there is a whole little theme park that goes with the deal.

 There were lots of pretty flowers everywhere.   Here's my little flower posing in her cute outfit...

 Note to self....don't purchase T a chocolate ice cream with chocolate hard-shell sauce when she's wearing white capri leggings.   Duh!

Luckily, I can crop the pants right out of the picture!

 The highlight of the park was the fact that it contained a waterpark.  We came prepared with our suits and T had lots of fun running around and cooling off from the heat.

 Wait for it...wait for it.....BAM!

TO BE CONTINUED....

Happy Easter Everyone!    Today it was just Tand I.  Dot is out of town.  Our friends with whom we usually egg hunt with were out of town, so there was no real celebration of any kind.   I had the bright idea to put on our easter dresses, and go wander around the Falls mall.  Luckily I had the foresight to check in my iphone before getting too far from home, and discovered that everything was closed today. 

 So, I did a quick uturn and headed to Chez Dot.   T had a fun time swimming in her pool, then it was home to play with her easter basket stuff.   Since poor T never eats any candy, the easter bunny filled the thing with fun stuff instead.  A skylander, the new Muppet movie, a nintendo game, etc.  She was thrilled.

 On friday night, we had our official 2012 Egg Dying Egg-stravaganza!   Jodie and Taylor did a fine job coloring up the eggs this year.   They went hi tech this year, and added a machine to the works....The Egg Spinner.  Piece of junk.  Might as well have been made by Ronco.  T, of course, loved it.

 Also new this year, was shrink wrapping.  The girls were wielding a blog dryer and shrink wrapping decorative plastic wrap to the eggs.   They were actually cute.  Glitter and sequins also were added to the mix.

T has officially started her spring break.   We're having a stay-cation instead of a vacation.  Dot is out of town and Icolene is in Jamaica.   There is a fill-in aide at my parents house for the next 2 weeks, so I have to stick close to home.   On tomorrow's agenda...LION COUNTRY SAFARI!

Haven't been there since about 1972 when I my mom drove us there when my Aunt Poe was down from Chicago visiting.   It will be real interesting to see if its as how I remember.

That's it for now.

HAPPY EASTER, EVERYBODY!!!

Skating Party Extravaganza!!

Today was the big party.  T had a fab time.   T was thrilled that her one true love, Daniel, pictured above you'll note, came to her party.  He was a good sport...especially since T made him sit next to her to eat, at a table filled with girls.

 All the kids had a great time, even the ones who didn't know how to skate.   Blood was drawn from only one child, when she wiped out and hit the wall. Luckily, it was a 6th grader and not one of the little ones.   We only had tears from one of the little ones.  So it was a true success.  As I always say...its not a party til someone starts crying or bleeding.  We had both!

We sang the song, we cut the cake, mom wrote out a check, and we walked away.   My kind of party!!

We're now at home playing with all the gifts.  My house runneth over with barbies, skylanders, girly  lip gloss and glittery stuff, and even a bikini!

 She's SEVEN, baby!  Count 'em  up!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAYLOR!!!

Back In Business

Well, I think that I have figured out how to get pics back on my blog. I can't go through Picasa anymore, as that seems to screw things up. I have to individually attach the photos to the post, which takes alot longer. We are getting very excited around here for the big birthday party. I'm annoyed that over 1/2 the attendees have STILL failed to RSVP. What's the matter with people these days? T and I are under the weather. Both have headcolds. Thank god for sudafed benadryl, and advil. T insists that she is sicker than I, in her true dramatic fashion. Funny though, how she seems miraculously cured since I've given her her bday present. I got her Skylanders for the Wii game. google it. its really cool. Its basically a video game that one uses little figurines, to go in and out of the game. One can, of course, collect the figures. Marketing genious and opportunity for future presents. A Girl can only have so many barbies, right? I have no idea how the game works, but it does. T has announced that she will be playing the game all day long. So far, she's true to her word. My parents are surviving. My poor mom's health continues to decline very slowly,but my dad continues to be managable on his meds. So that's OK. What a relief.

Daisies Nabbed at Police Station!

 

 

 

 

Teacher Work Day

Today was a teacher work day.   As I posted on facebook today, 30 to 40 years later and I still LOVE teacher work days!   The beach was packed with what looked like high school students. 

Now, I consider myself slightly liberal.  (Many others consider me a left-wing commando, flaming liberal).  I confess I don't mind that description at all.  Anyway, even me with my live and let live attitude was slightly shocked  with all of the tatoos, body piercings, and butt cheeks hanging out of microscopic bikini bottoms that were intentionally designed not to cover anything.  And these were young, normal girls who were acting totally appropriately.  They in no way acted as if they were skanks in search of a pole.

Good lord have times changed. 

Anyway, sweet T had a fine time playing in the surf.  We then had lunch and returned home.  Dot stayed home cooking, as we had friends over for a small dinner party.

Of course, true to form with my crazy sister, disaster struck.  Remember her greasy hands pulling the cord out of the socket, slipping and hitting the underside of the cabinet and requiring stitches on thanksgiving day a few years ago? 

Well, this time her greasy hands dropped a big bottle of Baileys.

It shattered and baileys went everywhere...along with glass.  Of course what made it worse, is that she was mopping it up  and slipped on the slick tile, fell down, and bruised her knee.   Its all swollen and looks like it will be bruising with all colors of the rainbow.   She doesn't think its broken, and can move it well.


























Of course, the final result of the desserts was delish, even without the baileys.   We had a rum cake, fresh fruit, and a pecan pie.   The sports bottle/sippy cup you see on the table was filled with some maple boubon sauce stuff, courtesy of the pioneer woman.  Slather that stuff on all of it and you will no longer wish for whip creme.  Its just that good.

So the house is back in order, and we will probably be having a slow weekend.

Long Weekend

We have a long weekend coming up, courtesy of St. Petes having scheduled a teacher work day.   T and I have big plans to hit the beach and dodge scattered rainclouds.   Surf will be churning, so T will be quite annoyed that Mom will make her keep her swim shoes on, due to the danger of jellyfish.

T's bday party is shaping up nicely...despite a number of people who have still FAILED  to RSVP.  What's up with that???  I'll refrain from further comment here in an effort to keep it clean!

  I've ordered the loot bags for the kids, and they should be delivered shortly.   Only thing left is give the numbers to the rink, write a check, then walk away.  No muss, no fuss. 

I can't wait!

My Little Leprechaun