The Fire

On Sunday afternoon, after a very productive morning, I was lounging on my front porch talking to my Mom, when my sister in law buzzed in on the other line. I switched over to see what she needed (she doesn't call just to gab), and she told me that her Grandparents' house was on fire.

YIKES!

Chris immediately got his shoes on, we packed some sandwiches, water and lawn chairs, and he headed to his grandparents' house. I arrived later with our second car. I can't go too much into it, or my blood pressure will start rising again. But it's absolutely heartbreaking. His grandmother has lived in that house for 68 years. She raised two children in that house. His grandfather has lived there for almost 40 years since they got married when Chris' Dad was a teenager. They've invested their lives in this house.

Chris took some photos of the outside, but it's the images in my head of the inside that are haunting me. I wasn't allowed to go to the second floor without a fireman, so I stayed downstairs.

The photos are here, if you'd like to view them. They lost everything on the second and third floors, which is primarily where his grandparents' live. Chris' stepbrother, niece and nephew live on the first floor. They suffered a lot of water damage and smoke damage, but many of their things will be salvaged.

Derby Day!

People in Kentucky take the Kentucky Derby VERY seriously. That's why celebrating with Jenni and Aaron Huff is such a delight!

Bourbon balls (0r cubes), mint juleps, cornhole, jello shots, KFC (YUM! brands), a visit from the cops, and White Castles at the end of the night.

And a "doing dinner soon is NOT an option, it's a must, by one councilman, Mr. Huff made it SUCH a fun night!

And yes, it's 12:40, and i'm going to bed. But 8 hours of drinking is pretty good for me these days!

Brother Update

My brother took off for SanDiego on a total whim on Tuesday. My parents came home to a note from him - he hadn't even called work. And he hadn't shown up in two days. He hadn't locked up his house, he had windows open and expensive tools in the bed of his truck.

He's clearly very upset and beside himself. I'm so worried about him!

Ugh! Dandelions!

I'm entirely too lazy to take any photos of what I just did, but I filled my small garden trash bin with dandelions I just dug up out of my yard. It's so exhausting!

On top of it, I just took the dog out and spied a few more that I missed. I can't decide if I should go out after more of them, or give it a rest. Chris REALLY needs to cut the grass (and I sure hope he'll be home tomorrow night to do it - in my own defense, the self-propeller is broken on our lawn mower, and I can't get it up our front yard hill, or i'd totally be out there cutting it myself, because Chris is allergic to grass and he's miserable when he cuts it!). Maybe i'll aim to go back out there Thursday night.

I LOVE gardening season, but I sure hate the weeds!

A little too wrapped up in myself

Apparently, with all that's been going on in my life, I haven't stopped to call my little brother.

And he and his girlfriend of nearly six years broke up a couple of weeks ago. I found out yesterday when I went to my parents' house to pick them up to make a drive to Dayton to see my new cousin. My brother had shown up there really really broken up about the situation, and that's when my Mom told me they had broken up almost two weeks ago. Boy do I feel like an asshole.

Tara moved all of her stuff out of Brian's house yesterday with the help of her parents. It's not looking good for them getting back together. I'm really hurting for my brother, and for my whole family, because she really was part of the family.

Chris and I were thinking about it last night: She was at our engagement party, at all of our wedding festivities. Helped us to plan my parents' 25th anniversary party, and both of their 50th birthday parties. She celebrated my college graduation, and my brother's trade school graduation with us. She's become part of our Christmas traditions, and my grandmother even gave her a piece of family jewelery.

The thing is, I know it's what's best for her right now. My brother and I are not very close, and in fact, we couldn't two more different people. He's a typical 25 year old male. He drinks too much, he parties too much, he's promised to quit smoking and never has, and many of his friends are inconsiderate jerks who show up unannounced and will never grow up. I wouldn't want a life like that either.

It really comes down to feeling like Brian and Tara are getting a divorce. I really do hope they get back together...only time will tell!

Stolen from Huff's Myspace

Fill this out about your SENIOR year of high school! The longer ago it was, the more fun the answers will be!!

1. Who was your best friend? Chelsea, Julia, Jason, Julie (I had lots of them, okay)
2.What sports did you play? Softball - but not FOR my high school
3. What kind of car did you drive? 86 Buick Regal. That car was the shit!
4. It's Friday night...where r U? either working, or hanging out with my high school boyfriend, Jeff
5. Were you a party animal? not really
6. Were you considered a flirt? I was actually pretty shy
7. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir..? nope
8. Did you ever get suspended/expelled? I never had a single detention in my life!
9. Can you sing the school song? They taught it to us for graduation finally. Do you really think I remember a song I sang once or twice?
10. Who were your favorite teachers? Hmmm..Mrs. Kramig, Mrs. Wessels (Art!), Mrs Yeazell (English!)
11. Where did you sit during lunch? I worked the room. I had study hall during lunch, too. So I just wandered around for an hour and a half lunch break!
12. What was your school's full name? McAuley High School
13. School mascot? Mohawks
14. Did you go to Prom ? Yep. Stag. Long story.
15. If you could go back and do it again, what would you change? I'd probably be more confident if I knew then what I know now. I'd get more involved in things like Drama and clubs. And I might have worked a little harder.
16. What do you remember most about graduation? Ha. A bunch of girls in my class got caught smoking up on a class field trip in the last week of school. They weren't allowed to walk and quite a few of my classmates tried to protest.
17. Where did you go senior skip day? We didn't have Senior Skip Day. We had our walk the morning of prom, which traditionally people skipped out on. But if you didn't show up to school that day, they threatened not to let you into the prom that year. So I sat in study hall instead of walking. It was my own little protest
18. What clubs were you in? Art Club
19. Where did you go most often for lunch? we weren't allowed to go anywhere but the lunchroom
20. Have you gained weight since then? Um. Who hasn't?
21. Who was your Senior prom date? Myself. My date fell through at the last minute. He was my boyfriend. He was a jerk, too!
22. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion? I skipped it.
23 .Who will repost this? who knows
24. Who was your high school sweetheart? Jeff
25. Are you still together? HELL NO! :)

Some of my favorite pics from the weekend!

I only took a few, but thought I'd share!