Monday, November 30, 2009

In The Blink Of An Eye

Five days off. ::blink:: Their gone. So fast.

The first two days (Wed & Thurs) where spent chilling out poolside and on the phone with the kid. She thought, just maybe she could get home for Thanksgiving. She was gonna get a ride to Tampa and we could go pick her up there on Thanksgiving Day. For her, 11 hours in the car one way was soooo worth two days at home. Excitement abounded!! We were gonna put off Thanksgiving Dinner until Friday so we could all enjoy it together. This was a small Thanksgiving for us. Just my parents, my brother and I. Christmas is when we're trying to get the majority of the clan together.
I got a call early Thanksgiving morning from her stating that she just couldnt do it. She was sooo sorry and didnt want us to be upset with her. Yeah, she could get the ride, but that wasnt the issue. See, she had duty on Sunday and she thought about blowing it off as the person in charge was her friend and would cover for her. (I didnt know about the duty or the whole idea of a visit would've been squashed at the get go) People blew off duty all the time and got away with it. Her gut was telling her not to do it. As much as I and the family would have loved to have seen her I have to say, Well Done Sailor on making the right decision. You see why I'm proud of this kid?? It seems incidental and such a small decision. But alas, its the right decision and she's getting very good at making the right decisions. Some will say the thought should never have entered her mind knowing she had duty but she is still a kid in some aspects and learning/growing all the time. She'll do well in the Navy and the Navy is lucky to have her.

Third day (Fri) was spent cleaning up around the compound, putting up some Christmas lights outside and trying to decide what to do the rest of the weekend. I watched a couple of movies; Four Christmases (very funny!) and Marley & Me (so sad). I also caught up on some of my series; Dexter and Californication. Also, I need to note here....Do Not Watch Marley & Me if you have a yellow lab or any dog for that matter that you love very much. I had read the book a couple of years ago and bawled thru the last 3 chapters. I've been putting off the movie because I KNEW it was gonna be a bad scene. If I said, blubbering idiot, would that give you a picture of what I looked like at the end of that movie?? Too much. Took me to a place that I avoid in my mind and the thought is there more than not as Jake is almost 9 years old and well, lets just not go there right now.

Forth Day (Sat) I went to Home Depot with my dad. He had to get a few things for some of the stuff he's fixing around my place. I wanted to get some more Christmas lights but they didnt have the kind that I wanted. pffft. Needless to say, Home Depot is like a candy store for my dad. He can spend HOURS in there just wandering the isles making a wish list of toys he wants. Can you say BORING!! Remind me not to go next time he asks me. Anyway, I found my way to the paint area. I love painting. Its actually very relaxing for me and I really dig the whole process. Picking out a color/colors to put in a room is like breathing new life into a place. You can change the whole vibe with a gallon of paint. So I started thinking about my bedroom and what I wanted to do with it. When I moved in it had recently been painted a pale yellow. Boring. Or at least boring to me because it wasnt MY vision. I wanted blue and I wanted a bold blue that made a statement. I'm not so sure this pic gives the true picture of how this room looks, but you'll get the idea.

This blue is actually darker than the picture makes it look but it works well. There is a ton of light in my room via sliding glass doors and two big windows. Plenty of light for a darker color. I also have all white wooden furniture and want to get long white sheer curtains for the slider and shorter sheers for the windows. Prettyness that is very coastal/beachy like I like!

Fifth Day (Sun) was spent painting an old wooden adirondack rocking chair that I aquired when the old tenents moved out. Great chair with a lot of character. (That means weather beaten and old lol) I had picked up the paint the day before.
I didnt take a before picture (I know I should have but forgot) but heres a pic of one sans paint that I found.

And heres my masterpiece! I was going for a nautical look and not so sure I got it but it did come out good and it looks awesome out on the back deck!! I'm pleased.


My plan is to get another one and I want to do it in Navy colors. You know, navy blue and yellow. I think it will look cool!

So that was my long week/end off. Not so eventful and it really did go by in a flash. I'm trying not to get my hopes up for Christmas with my kid but I will anyway. Its inevitable. Oh!! And my brother got some great pics of the boys...I'll post them tomorrow! ;)

I hope you all had a great holiday with your families and are getting in the Christmas Spirit!! Because it is ALL about Christmas!!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

I'm thankful but I want..

Ok Kids, I'm off work in a couple of hours for the next five days. That means no 'puter at home and just my iPhone. So, I'll be readin all your blogs, just not able to comment on some of them (I dont know why, it must be an iPhone thing).

So with that, I'd like to say Happy Thanksgiving to you all and enjoy whatever you do and wherever your gonna be.

I'm thankful for my family, pets and friends. Its that simple.

I also want my kid home and that aint happening. Again this year. So if you sense a little pissy annoyance, your right.

I miss my kid. I want my kid home. Not happening. Lets hope for Christmas.

I really miss the fun we have when we're together.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

I been busy, and I dont mean "gettin busy"

Let me state the facts:

I have no internet at home still. FUCK YOU COMCAST and your goddamn wireless router shortage.

I have to actually work at work these days. The days of fucking off for 6.5 of my 7.5 hour day are over people. I've decided that even though I dislike my job, I need my job.

I got nothing else. THATS why I havent posted. I'm in a dry spell and I dont even "write" write so whatever that means, run with it.

This if for you Jessica, ie: booshy. She's got a kickass blog so go read it when I'm absent cause she's funny as shit and writes even when she doesnt "feel" like writing. THATS a real writer for ya.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Oasis of the Seas

At 7:50 this morning I'm sitting at my desk, gazing out the window, drinking my coffee and wishing this slightly fuzzy headache would go away. As I'm blindly gazing my view focuses on the most ginormous thing I've seen in a LONG time. I'd forgotten that this ship was coming into port today. Had I remembered I would have gone down to the inlet and watched it arrive. I plan to go down to the port this afternoon to check it out in person.

Royal Carribeans Oasis of the Seas is the worlds Largest Cruise Ship to date. Just to give you some perspective.....my office is on the 7th floor about 5 miles from the approximate location of the ship. These pics were also taken with an iPhone so sorry for the quality.





From our local news station this morning:


I found these online...
The Atrium. OMFG!


The Aqua Stadium.


And on a side note...we're having a small soiree this weekend on Sunday afternoon with about 50 of our friends, so if your in town please come!!! My email is over there to the right, send me a message and I'll send you the address. ;) BBQ, Booze, Good Peeps, Muzic and its supposed to be in the low 80's. =)

Have a great weekend all!

Thursday, November 12, 2009

moving, partying, life

Sorry I've been so lax lately, I know my 3 readers get upset when I dont prolifically post. JUST KIDDING.

The move is over, my brother is a fantastic roomate and the boys are happy in their new home. So am I!

Gingers in town until next Tuesday. Ouch. Forgive me liver. It starts tonight with those vicious $3.00 Long Island Iced Teas.....



Oh, and just for the record...My Dallas Cowboys are in sole possesion of the NFC EAST!!! Just sayin.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

The Nomad Is On The Move Again

I'm moving this weekend, starting tomorrow. YES I KNOW, moving again. This time is it, I swear!! Bigger place, my big bro is gonna be my roomate, house is next to my parents house, pool, lake, moms cooking!!! The biggest plus is its bigger than a postage stamp.

Anyway, I wont have a wireless router for a couple of days/week because I'm switching to Comcast. Dont ask why, the reason is stupid.

EDIT UPDATE: Last night we started moving things over and everything came to a screeching halt.... BECAUSE WE HAVE PRIORITIES!! We havent got a third of the shit moved in to the new house yet.....but we got the 65 inch TV & XBox working. Nothing got done after it was moved in. ::shakes head:: LOL



Heres a couple of cute puppy pics to keep you all busy while I'm gone.

AND no, there will not be drunk blogging this time. ;) Unless you supply the booze!




Tuesday, November 3, 2009

One Year Ago...

Tomorrow will be one year since my baby left for Bootcamp in the US Navy. We've seen each other for a total of 18 days in that time. We're gettin better at this but its still hard. I love you Lauren Jessica deVegh, I miss you and I'm beyond proud of you and what you've accomplished so far.

This is something I wrote for another blog I had on Myspace, right before I left for Chicago to attend her PIR (graduation) from boot camp. A little background...due to some bad luck and just the way the ball bounced, we did not talk to each other thru-out most of her boot camp experience which is 8 weeks long. NEVER had we gone so long without speaking. We wrote letters and that was a savior, but not speaking was soooo hard. We also missed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years together. Talk about shock. We were emotionally drained at the end of the whole Boot experience, although I dont think either of us, especially her would trade it for anything different.

"A Letter to Lauren and Other Thoughts"
Wow, eight weeks. Time has crawled yet flown by at the same time. Who'd a thunk we could go 7 weeks and 1 day without talking to each other? That sucked big monkey bawls. Yet, once I talked to you, all was right with the world. My baby was ok, you survived. You didnt need me to make everything all right. You are taking care of business yourself and doing it in a large way.

Is it hard? "Absolutely Mom." Does it suck? "Absolutely Mom." Is it rewarding? "Absolutely Mom." Are you having fun too? "LOL yeah, sometimes." I'm going to try and quote you correctly in something you said to me on Christmas Day (our first convo in 7 weeks). "Mom, Its everything I wanted it to be. They are teaching me Leadership, Patience and how to Control My Anger. There are some real retards to deal with here and it can be tough." LOL, you are my kid. You have no idea how happy I was to hear those words. I knew at that moment the Navy was right for you.

I'm so proud of you and I love you bug.

Momma Navy has taken over where I left off. Taken you under her wing, teaching you and molding you into the woman you are supposed to be. Confident, Sure, Proud.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am always proud of Lauren, anyone who knows me, knows she's all I talk about. Sending her off to the big ol' world alone is one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life. And leaving her home, family, friends and city she loves I'm sure is the hardest thing she's ever done. But, she wanted more and I can appreciate that.

Tonight is the pinnacle of Boot Camp. Battle Stations 21. Its everything Lauren and her shipmates have worked so hard for over the past eight weeks. 12 hours of all out intensive mind & body breaking battle stations. They will start tonight as recruits. They will finish as US NAVY SAILORS.

Good Luck Bug. Show 'Em What Your Made Of! Ooh-Rah! Your gonna be livin your dream before you know it!


Congrats on your one year anniversay bug. =)

Monday, November 2, 2009

I know where I'm gonna retire

Someday, many moons from now, like 27 years worth of moons I'm gonna retire to the Keys. Much sooner than that if the Fl Lottery system would give me a big win. And I'm not picky, I'll take any one of the Keys. Key Largo is the exception...its way to close to Northern Cuba, errr I mean Miami. They all have the same thing going for them though....sand, palm trees, the ocean and THE MOST RELAXED LIFE EVER.

What a fabulous 4 1/2 days that just kept getting better and better until it was time to go. My buddy Josh and I left Fort Lauderdale at about 1pm on Wednesday for the 3+ hour drive down to Big Pine Key. One cooler full of Malibu Bay Breezes later, we arrived, slightly toasted. Good times on the drive down with lotsa laughs and a State Trooper that was behind us for about 25 miles. lmao. Poor Josh is a paranoid boy. I have no idea why ;)

Upon Arrival we set up camp and got down to the serious business of relaxing and deciding what was really important in life; getting up to get another adult beverage or just sitting there staring at the moon rising over the water for awhile longer.

Thursday morning we awoke with the sun shining and calling us to play....

And play we did!! We went into town and got some live shrimps and frozen shrimps to fish with. Now the big decision was whether to fish from the beach or go up on the Seven Mile Bridge. (thats the bridge you see in the pic above) The bridge won out. Heres Josh in his quest for the "big" one.

and you see that fishing pole he's holding right there??? Well, lets put it this way, he left the bridge without it. lmfao!!! poor poor Josh, had a little accident and dropped his pole over the edge while trying to get his line unsnagged. doh! I didnt say a word. Nope not one word while he sat there and stewed and cursed. I offered him mine, but he wasnt having it. Anyway, I caught a fish!!! I got a Yellowtail Snapper. ::big cheesy smile:: But I didnt get a picture of it because I wasnt prepared with my camera and I wanted to get it back into the water before it croaked. I'm nice like that.

After the fishing pole incident, (it was referred to as such through the whole weekend) we decided to go back to camp and chill for a bit and have another adult beverage. Imagine that! On a side note, we met a couple, Maggie and Rich down there that we know. Josh and I both work with Maggie and she is the sweetest person ever! Her husband Rich is really nice as well. They were there for 10 days and a shit-ton of their friends were there for the weekend as well. So all together there where about 30 people in the little group that was our compound. It was really cool and they were all real nice rednecks from central Florida. So that night we just partied our butts off and played games and laughed our asses off. A Lot! Josh decided he wanted to go in the water (pitch black water at night) and I was having non of it. I tried telling him at night the ocean belongs to the sharks but he was too buzzed to care and its a good thing I wasnt right or he woulda ruined the weekend if he'd been eaten by a shark.

Friday dawned just as beautiful as ever and today was snorkling day!! We walked over to the other side of the campground and near the swimming pier is the Marina that you have to pass. As we passed by there were two boys that were on the dock with the UgliestThingIHaveEverSeenLiveInPerson.......

Apparently this thing, I think it was a Morey Eel had attacked them while they were snorkling in the Marina (which your not supposed to do) and the boys shot it with a spear gun. It was still alive and squirming around and I was beyond flippen grossed out. And a little freaked out too. I was not about swimming with Floatsam & Jetsom.

We left the gross beast behind and tried to put it out of our minds as we snorkled in the cutest little cay. Absolutely beautiful!!

When we were done snorkling, we got crazy and ran and jumped off the end of this dock and swam around for awhile.


Later that night we went to No Name Key for dinner at this great pub called, No Name Pub. hmm imagine that. Its been there since something like 1938. Crazyness if you ask me. Same building and in the middle of no where. I couldnt have found it if I tried. In fact its the logo on their shirts, "A great place if you can find us".

Thats Maggie, Josh and Rich.
Anyway this key is home to an endangered animal....Key Deer. They walk around all over the place!!! They are tiny little things and very cute.......


I know I'm probably boring you all by now, so I'll finish this up. Here are a couple of more pics from the trip....

Ghetto Beach Club


Perfection


reflection of sunset on the clouds...


And finally, I know some of you are looking for the drag queens from Fantasy Fest....well, we didnt go. Key West was was another 25 miles south of us and the traffic was stoopid on Saturday. They estimate 50,000 people go to this thing. Plus, the drive back would have been a drunken shit show. And I dont like shit shows when I'm tryin to relax.

Thats about it. We had a great time, and it is a slice of heaven down there. I could definately see myself spending my golden years there. Thanks for reading this long ass post and its obvious I missed you all as I was logging in and drunken blogging on Friday night. Fabulous. ;)