And its DONE!!!

My son is a married man! I am officially a mother-in-law! And I am somewhat exhausted by all of the festivities of the past few weeks. We had son's college graduation AND wedding in a 2 week span. Whew....that was a LOT of stuff going on.

I am happy to report that the wedding was beautiful. It didn't go off without a hitch. There were a few minor situations here and there. Like, for instance, just a few minutes before we were supposed to leave, I discovered that I had forgotten to pack Hubby's shirt. He had a suit.
He had a tie. He had no dress shirt though. I panicked. He was wandering around the hotel, visiting with all of the family we had staying there, and I couldn't find him. I ran to Dad and Barb's room almost in tears, and on the verge of a serious break down. But Dad had an extra white dress shirt. And it fit. Well, almost. The neck was a little tight, but it sufficed and I was grateful. I found out later that Hannia's Dad, Rodrigo, had a similar situation and he was also wearing a borrowed shirt...haha. Funny.

Anyway, it couldn't have been more beautiful. Stephen and Hannia were so perfect and so obviously in love. Even my sister who is not overly inclined to be emotional got all choked up when she said to me, "He just looks at her in this way that makes you KNOW he loves her."

And then the reception....we had a blast. There was much dancing, and music. My daughter did a most excellent job of her best man's toast. I got a little teary over that one. It was sweet, and heart felt, and I loved every word of it. Every minute of the ceremony AND the toast has been captured on video, so I can relive it all over and over again....haha.

Also? I have heard briefly from Stephen, and they made it safely to Madrid. The place that they are staying apparently has really unreliable internet. So communication has been limited.
But its their honeymoon, so I didn't expect to have long drawn out conversations. I was thankful just to know they are safe, and everything seems to be fine.

I'm sure there are about a million things that I want to write about the past few days, but I'm tired and my brain is frazzled......I will get back to you all later. To sum it up in a couple of words: Good times!!!!

P.S.

I meant to say this in my last post, but I forgot. Kudos to California for finally realizing that denying someone the right to marry is treating that person like a second class citizen. Maybe the rest of the US will wise up and stop trying to force our laws to conform to a select group of religious protocols.

Remember the plane?

Remember the remote control airplane? The one that got stuck in a tree? Well, spring came and the trees grew enough leaves that we could no longer see it sitting up there mocking us. But....yesterday hubby was out cutting grass and lo and behold he spotted the plane. On the GROUND! We have no idea when it fell out, but its really nice to have that little fiasco over and done with. The plane is no longer in flying condition after all this time. Its been stuck up there since February.
But it still might be useful for spare parts, seeing as how hubby went out and bought himself 2 more planes after that one got stuck.

Anyway, I apologize if I am a little slack with the postings this week. We have so much going on, I can't even begin to tell you. Stephen and Hannia are trying hard to get their new apartment ready. Which is a HUGE amount of work. I spent this afternoon over there trying to do a little bit of cleaning and stuff. And then: dun dun duh (musical prelude intended) THE WEDDING! This time next Sunday. Everything is just a whirlwind of activity right now. So much to do, and the clock is ticking down. But I have faith that its going to all work out. And we are going to party like its 1999 (does quoting Prince lyrics show my age??? haha) when this is all over and done with and we can relax and enjoy the reception.

Also? My back is feeling quite a bit better. I am heading back to work tomorrow for the first time in a week and a half. I want to be really careful so this doesn't happen again. It wasn't a whole heck of a lot of fun. I like to use my sick leave time when I'm feeling fine and can do something fun. Haha....yeah, I know, but everybody needs to sneak in some off time when they are feeling good every now and then.

Happy Birthday Darling Daughter!!!

Today is Erica's birthday. I can't say how old she is because she asked me not to.
Which is funny to me because I am a billion times older than she is and for some reason, I don't really mind telling or discussing my age. But I am going to publicly wish her a VERY Happy Birthday even if I don't reveal how many years she is celebrating...

Happy Birthday Erica!!! We love you, and we hope that all your wishes and dreams come true. I can't imagine having a more awesome daughter than you are. I hope you eat cake and celebrate today...and all weekend! When a birthday falls on a Friday it calls for a full 3 day weekend celebration.

I plan to do a bit of celebrating myself, because today is the day that I saw my daughter for the very first time (you know...however many undisclosed years ago). Today is the day that she made me a Mom.
And I have never ever regretted a single second of that particular role that I have been blessed to play.

New Toys, Turtles and Laptops....

First, my new toy: The Bissell Pet Hair Eraser Vacuum!!! LOVE IT! I have been researching vacuums for a while now, trying to find one that could stand the constant battle of dog hair. I think I have found it. We just got it today. I couldn't wait to try it out. Can you believe that? I was actually looking forward to vacuuming...hahahaha. Anyway, so far, I am well pleased. I think we made the right choice.

About the turtles: My hubby is a self-proclaimed saver of turtles. The ones that get stranded on the road in danger of being squashed by oncoming traffic. He will jump out of his car in a heartbeat to rescue the turtle and return him to safety. We see them alot around here. He generally gives me a saved turtle-count on daily basis. He averages about 2-3 a day. Today, on our way home from vacuum shopping (at Best Buy, so he was a happy camper to get to browse there for a while) we spotted a huge turtle slowly making his way across the road. There was a line of traffic behind us, so we couldn't come to a screeching halt. Instead, we drove just a little further down the road until we could turn around and go back. By the time that we got back to the turtle spot, another man had stopped his car and was in the process of playing turtle hero. It made me happy to know that other people out there in the world care about things like that. Its a small thing, I know. But it restores my faith in humanity to some degree. Turtle savers are awesome.

And now the laptop....Its finally fixed and in the process of being shipped to me. For real (I hope...they wouldn't lie to me would they??). Hopefully by Thursday it will be delivered back into my eager waiting hands again. Because I missed it dearly. I feel like planning a welcome back party for it. Any cause to celebrate is definitely a good thing...

We're Back, Son is home and all is well!

We had a nice graduation week-end. It was hectic because we were also moving Stephen out of his apartment, but its all done and we are back home again. The graduation ceremony was well organized and went smoothly despite the fact that there were about 8 billion kids in that graduating class. Well, more like 800 (I think...?), but they kept it popping along so it didn't drag on all day. There was ample seating and we managed to get parking directly across from the front entrance. That was wonderful. Greg and Lori had a hotel room so close to the convention center that they were all able to walk. It worked out well. I consider this weekend a success!!!

Saturday night we all decided (after having a huge lunch with Greg and Lori and the girls) that none of us were particularly hungry. We set out to celebrate instead and Stephen took us to this cute little pub on the main street shopping area in downtown Blowing Rock. I think it was called The Six Pence Pub...?
Oh my God, we had some of the best Mojitos there that night. And desserts...yummy. My dinner basically was a couple of very strong mojitos and the best Irish Creme pie that I have ever tasted. Thats fine for a celebration, isn't it??? Dad and Barb had an excellent bread pudding, and somehow, someway, Barb managed to charm the actual recipe out of the bartender. Who was young. And cute. And very charismatic...haha. I think Barb even walked away with his email address.

Anyway, yesterday we drove the rental U-haul straight from Boone directly to Stephen's new apartment here in town. His stuff is all there, but its not live-in condition yet.
Its a great place. A 2-story end unit with 3 bedrooms, 2 and 1/2 baths. It has a fireplace, and a decent sized patio in back. It just needs a good cleaning, a little paint, and a few cosmetic repairs. The former tenants treated the place fairly rough. But with a little work and some tender loving care, this has a lot of potential for the kids. The best part? (for me anyway), is that its like maybe 5 minutes away from here....10 if traffic is heavy. Hehehe. No, really, I am going to TRY not to be imposing on those kids. It just makes me happy to have a child of mine living in the same town for a while. And I might impose...just a little...over the summer, because they have a great swimming pool at this complex, and its literally just across the driveway from their door. Hahaha!

Hell Explained...

I received this in an email today....

HELL EXPLAINED BY CHEMISTRY STUDENT

The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry mid term.The answer by one student was so "profound" that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well :

Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant.

One student, however, wrote the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today.

Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added.

This gives two possibilities:

1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.

2.If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell,then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over. So which is it?

If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year that, "It will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you," and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number two must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over.

The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct......leaving only Heaven, thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting "Oh my God."

THIS STUDENT RECEIVED AN A+.