goo gooby goo

Facebook rules my life right now (not really) so I laid this blog down for a nap.  It's still napping, but every once in awhile I try to lift it up again and remember how much fun I had playing with it.

It's still sleeping, but I'm just about to lower the crib side and see if it can stand up for a moment.  Come to mama ...

Ooh, the knees are a bit wobbly.  The feet are struggling to stand ... but that hand is reaching out for the pacifier.  And a bottle.  And ... an entire box of Arrowroot cookies.  Yep, that's my child.

While the ol' blog is blinking and trying to get a feel for the world again ... let me grace you with this little bitty napper.  She was mad at her daddy for leaving her ... and going off to the military to save the world ... and save Kauai from Hurricane Iniki.

When they were reunited ... well, I'm just glad I had my camera rolling.

:)

* tap tap *

Is this thing on?

* tap tap *

It's just me, checking in again, albeit way late ...

It's cold in McKinney, there's ice on my car, my garage is full, my storage unit is full, my daughter sold her car and she's driving Rick's now.  He's carless and hating it.  We spent the evening at WalMart last night (whee) and I came home with a new trash can.  Again, whee.  We're headed to a basketball game tonight and I'm looking forward to eating the peanuts.  I'm carb-free now ... so I'm hoping I can have the peanuts. 

Liz has a new job at a book publishing firm and she's just been promoted to a publicist.  Ted Danson's ex-wife is one of her clients and that seems to be all she can talk about ... Casey Danson this and Casey Danson that ...

And I'm in the process of buying a new car.  My lease is up in April and I want to have another car all ready to go.  Like now.  I can't seem to stay off of car-buying websites.  Jeep. 

Low carb, SUV, Cirque D'Soleil, Sunroof ... those are the only words in my vocabulary anymore.

Maybe summer.  That word figures in there pretty often, too.

Jeep.

december 20th

It's only been a month ... that's not so bad, given what all has happened in the last 30ish days.

Rick decided that he hadn't been to the hospital in awhile and thought it would be fun to be there over Christmas.  Yeah, no.

So, ho ho ho.  Oh ...

Rick was in need of some attention ... so he had us take him to the ER.  He likes the nurses there.  He likes nurses everywhere, actually.

We hadn't had our Christmas card photos taken this year ... seemed like a good time to get this done.  Yes?

Christmas dinner is all taken care of ...

And we'll be using our finest silver.

Oh vey.

Ho ho ho, NO!

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it's been awhile ...

... and so much has happened to our little Kahle klan, most of it heartbreaking.

I doubt the details are as important as the fact that the Kahles are recovering and pulling themselves up by the bootstraps and moving on.  That truly is the most important part.

It's November now, the month that the Wedding of the Year was due to take place.  It will not be.  There's no more Ben ... in fact, was there ever a Ben?  Well, there was ... but not the Ben that we all wanted and hoped for and yes, even loved.  That Ben no longer exists.

There's still an Elizabeth ... and she's recovering.  She was hit (read: blindsided) the hardest by the cancellation of the wedding.  But she's in her own apartment now and starting a new life in Frisco, Texas.

There's still a Kris ... and she was hit hard, financially.  The apartment she signed her name to still exists along with a second one that she is downsizing to.  The invisible Ben never moved into the original apartment and the very visible Elizabeth now occupies the smaller one.  Nothing occupies my wallet anymore.

And there's still a Rick.  He sat back, watched it all unfold and just shook his head.  He's still shaking his head.  And his piggy bank.

But ... you know what?  We're just fine.  Elizabeth was shown a tremendous amount of love through all of this and so were we.  Our house is coming along fine and soon the holidays will be here.  I found my Christmas decor and I'm bound and determined to put it all up, all over the place.  I love me some Christmas decorations and I'm gonna smear them all around our house!

Ho Ho Ho!   Wait, Gobble Gobble!  Gotta get some turkey in me first.

Anyone seen my platter?

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October 3rd and counting

Elizabeth is home from Hawaii, possibly for good.  Ben is coming home (to what will be his new home) on the 30th of October.  We have finally vacated our beautiful apartment in Frisco and moved into our horribly hoarder-ish house in McKinney.  There are boxes everywhere and no matter how many I unpack each night ... more boxes appear each day.  I wake up and there are six more boxes blocking my view of the backyard.  Only the dog is happy.  He gets to sit/sleep/lounge on the couch at will.  We can't find his bed.

Elizabeth's best friend is getting married on Saturday and tonight is her wedding shower. 

Every night this week and next and next and next ... are all booked.  And then, of course, there's a wedding coming.  Hers.

How are the wedding plans coming along, you ask?  Well, we have a dress.  And a venue.  And that is darn close to all we have.  This move has been the death of us ... and nothing else has gotten done.

So here I sit.  "I Love Lucy" is on in the background and there's a water bottle in my hand.  And a laptop in front of me.  So much to do and ... absolutely no desire to do it. 

Remind me not to move again.  Ever.  Not even off of this couch.

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sailing, sailing ... flooding, flooding ...

So, we did go to Hawaii.  We were fortunate enough to set sail on my daughter's ship, The Pride of America, and get to see her in action at some of her work events.

We also met her "intended", Ben Adams.  Lovely man.  Lovely couple.  We will be proud to have him join our little family.

While in Hawaii, we heard the most beautiful words in the world; "You have an offer on your house" from our real estate agent.  You don't know how much I wanted to hear those words.  I nearly cried.

Being in Hawaii though, I realized that I would no longer be able to hide scuff marks or cracks in the walls nor water damage.  I became stressed, worrying about hiding things and making the house sellable, but what could I do?  We had an offer.  And those words sat above any concerns that I had for the house.

We accepted the offer from the kind folks who wanted our house ... and we were still in Hawaii when the inspection happened.  Yeah, I really was forced to lay down my paintbrush and stop the madness.  I did it willingly.

We witnessed our future son in law ask for our daughter's hand in marriage.

We returned to Texas to begin packing up our big ol' house ... and start the closing process.  And find a new place to live.

AND THIS IS WHERE THE CRAZINESS BEGAN.

We packed and we packed and we packed.  And Rick got sicker and sicker and sicker.  And the Texas weather got hotter and hotter and hotter.  And Elizabeth and Ben (the intended) jetted off to Scotland and England ... and watched their luggage not follow them.  They spent two weeks with us in Frisco all the while waiting on their luggage to catch up to them. 

And wouldn't you know it?  The ring that Ben had planned to propose with was IN the suitcase that hadn't found them yet. 

Hundreds of phone calls to the airline and I finally jumped in and alerted the media.  Yep, I did.

WFAA's Monica Hernandez came to our little (big) house on Creek Point and filmed a story about a guy who wanted to propose to a little Texas gal ... but didn't have his luggage (and all of his worldly belongings) and didn't have the ring.

One phone call from WFAA and dang!  The airline found the luggage!  In Baltimore, of all places.  Go figure.

More packing, more closing junk on the house .... and finally the luggage arrived.  WFAA arrived, too.  They came back to film the actual proposal ... which was pretty darn cute!  We all hauled off to The Shops At Legacy and watched Ben propose ... and watched the news station film it.

AND .... right before we were slated to close on our Creek Point house ... we had a flood inside.  Of course we did.  OF COURSE WE DID! 

Got that all cleaned up and we were all set to close on the house ... WHEN RICK GOT SICK!  Ambulances and everything. 

Sigh.

Just when you think you've got it all under control ... the escrow folks would not close until Rick could sign, OUTSIDE of THE HOSPITAL, which he couldn't do.  Why?  Because Rick's little bout of a bladder infection began to spread ALL THROUGH HIS BODY ... enough that his bloodstream was infected and he had to be put in isolation.  NO ONE would go through the trouble to gown up and go in for Rick to sign the closing papers.  Not even the HOSPITAL NOTARY.  Like, seriously?

So, we waited.  And we extended our closing date.  And we searched for an apartment.  And we found ourselves NOT getting into any of the apartments that we wanted to ... sad tale after sad tale.  We were about to be homeless.  And you know what?  I didn't care.  I knew we'd be fine. 

So, Elizabeth was now engaged, Rick began to improve by leaps and bounds (turns out he was also a bit toxic and had to get some of those awful pain meds out of this body) and dang if ELIZABETH didn't turn around and get sick.  OF COURSE SHE DID.

We were still packing and packing and packing ... and getting further and further behind it seemed.

We finally had to call out for help ... which we did get, in the way of four women who stepped up and helped us.  Note: Women.  Yep.  Women for the win!

So, to summarize, we finally did close on our house once Rick was out of isolation.  We nearly emptied our Creek Point house (a wayward desk and a few garage items had to stay behind, sadly) and moved into an apartment complex overlooking a baseball park in Frisco.  We have belongings in two different PODS and a storage unit AND WITH OUR MOVING COMPANY.  Yeah, don't tell me about having too much stuff.  That's all I hear from my dear, darling daughter.

107 degrees, 108 degrees, 109 degrees.  The temperature kept a'climbin'.  Life got hotter and busier and crazier ... but we were out of that house. 

And ... on July 31st, I returned to work.  Suddenly my summer break was over and you know what?  I'm totally ready.  That was the wildest summer ever and I'm happy to see it go.

Rick is home in the apartment with me.  Buddy and Jeannie are there, too.  And Elizabeth is recovered and prepping to return to her ship for one final contract ... and to her beloved, Ben.

Anyone doubt me when I say that we had a flood on day one?  Yeah, didn't think so.

And there's a wedding in the works (November 30th) and that's what's on our minds now.  Floods don't bother me now ...   HOWEVER, if the wedding goes off as planned, well, it'll be the hottest day of the year and yet, it'll rain.  We won't be ready on time and the dress will be delivered to Kansas.  And the whole place will flood.  I just know it.

'Cuz we're Kahles.

but before we can go ...

"Excuse me, Ma'am.  We can replace this blown air conditioner for a mere $9000.  Shall we go ahead."

Yep, it got a might hot in our house two days ago.  And the puddle on the floor beneath one of the a/c returns got a might big.  I had the choice of calling a plumber or an a/c repairman for help.  Opted for the a/c man ... and whaddya know!  I was right!  I only had to pay an a/c man this time.

$9000 later, we have a new, working unit.  Of course, we are $9000 poorer now.  Heck we're just flat-out poor.

Rick explained to the repairman that we are poor ... and that we are headed off to Hawaii on Saturday.  That nice man gave us a discount of $1000.  Thank you, Rick.  Next time keep your big mouth shut about heading to Hawaii.

$9000 ... according to EVERYONE I KNOW or have ever met ... is WAY over-priced for an a/c.  AND we didn't really get a new one.  Just a bunch of new parts. 

Ugh.

I am going to Hawaii to rest, recover, relax and FORGET about life in the states.

In case I don't have very good reception on the ship (that's my daughter's excuse for why she doesn't text/call/email very often) I will see you all when I return on the 27th.  My daughter will be 27 then, engaged, embarking on a new life ... and I'll still be poor.  POORER, in fact, just thinking about a wedding.

~ Aloha ~

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so saturday is the day ...

This very Saturday, this coming Saturday, I will ...

meet my daughter's boyfriend
meet my daughter's soon-to-be fiance (yes, same person)
see my daughter's workplace
see my daughter's living quarters
eat at the restaurant that she eats at daily
eat at the restaurant that she can never eat at (but I can)
order drinks at the bar that she hangs out in (her bf is the head bartender)

and just, in general, enjoy all that Honolulu has to offer ... aboard a big ship.

Sunday we'll head to Maui and start the process all over again.
Monday we'll disembark and try out the "Road to Hana".  I've always wanted to do that.
Tuesday we'll head to the Big Island and see if it's still there.  There's been a volcano erupting, I hear.
Wednesday we'll change positions on that Big Ol' Island, provided it's still there.
Thursday we'll head to Kauai and take in a Luau.  The pig is already trying to escape ...
And on Saturday, back we go to Honolulu for an extra day. 

It's a whirlwind and I'm very nervous.  Yes, I am.  And I don't know why.

Maybe it's because of Rick and his pain problems.  Or his cognitive problems.  Or all of his problems in general.  Maybe I'm the problem.  Most likely ...

Maybe it's because I was just in Honolulu in October ... and it weren't real pretty.  Maybe it's because I don't like ships.  Or harbors.  Or flying.  Or travelling.  Or vacationing.

Odd.  I used to live on a cruise ship.  I grew up around harbors.  I used to be a flight attendant.  I used to be a travel agent.

Hmmmm.  Maybe I just drank too much caffeine this morning.

anyone seen the flashlight?

So this happened.  About three houses down from where I live ... this happened.  And it happened four times.  Four LOUD bangs, pops and ka-booms!

Four times my power went off.  The fourth time, it stayed off.  

All of the neighbors came out of their homes (of course, everyone was curious) and it really was a pleasant evening, chatting with everyone, meeting new neighbors, asking if anyone wanted to buy my house ...  yes, I actually threw that comment in a couple of times.

Seriously, it was pleasant.  I've always liked catastrophes, though.

Most of the neighbors got their power back on within the hour.

MOST of the neighbors.

I, however, live on the street where the explosion happened.  I was without power for nigh on seven hours.

I was told to go find my candles and flashlights while we still had some daylight.  So I did that.  None of the flashlights had batteries and I only found two candles and no candle holders.  I was not worried, I had a phone.  Of course, the phone was nearly without power.  Okay, THEN I worried.  

Sitting in the dark was ... quiet.  Rick was napping (he never knew what hit him) and the dog and I had literally nothing to do after we'd exhausted all of the fun of searching for candles and flashlights.  And the house just got darker.

Eventually, Kyndra, our upstairs tenant came home and I finally had somebody to play with.  I like Kyndra cuz she had a working phone.  With a light on it.  And she had a deck of cards.  We were ready to have some fun now!

There we sat, at my kitchen table ... looking something like this:

It was a pretty fun card game ... IF you could actually see the cards.

You probably wouldn't believe me if I said I won.  I wouldn't believe me, either, though.

Kyndra's phone flashlight was fading ... and she suddenly discovered a way to make the phone shine a bit brighter.  She placed it under the dome of a cake plate that I had sitting on the kitchen table.

Voila!

The room lit up!

Well, not really, but it did make for some pretty interesting light pictures on the ceiling.

The lights finally came back on at ....

1:30 AM

when the whole house suddenly lit up very brightly.  Yeah, it's hard to turn all the house lights off when you have no idea which lights were actually on when the explosion happened.

I awoke to this the next morning, still sitting on my kitchen table.

I have no idea what card game we were playing ... 

but I did win.  

No really, I was winning.

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checkin' it all out ...

Since we were forced to give up our half-built house because our main living domain hadn't sold yet, I was forced to select a different house, one that hadn't even broken ground yet.  But all was well, because I actually like THIS house better than THAT house.  THAT house was darn cute, it was ... but THIS house is darn fancy, it is.  And I prefer fancy.

Thought you'd like to see the house that we'll be moving into, now that it's finished ...

This is the site that we were stuck with chose for our final house building project.  

Pretty normal.  No views.  And actually we had no choice.  If we wanted THIS house, it went HERE.

*

And THIS is the finished product.  All ready for us to move in to.  This was just two weeks later.  That building team works fast!

We took the 'open air' option so we could enjoy those warm summer days ... and pretend we were at the beach.

*

We paid extra for guest bathroom.  Feel free to stop by and use it.  Our door's always open! 

The guys below are working on MY room.  I picked the corner spot ... so I'd be closer to the restroom.  And any guests that stop by.

This is the room Rick picked.  No bathroom in site.  He says he doesn't need one. 

Good thing Rick doesn't need a bathroom, too.  Our neighbors behind us have too good of a view of his room.  And his bathroom, if he had one.

We ordered a fancy address sign for our front yard.  I wish I could design like that ...

So there you have it.  Our new house.  There may be a few other finishing touches added over the next six months but for now, it's just perfect.  We couldn't be happier.  Even if the house DID have a roof.

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because i'm crazy ...

I just decided that I won't have enough granite in my upcoming new house.

I will have it in all but one bathroom, and of course, it will be in the kitchen.  But I began to feel that the dining room and the family room would feel left out ... so I just signed away to have granite put there, too.

Hey, it's only money.    Sure hope my house sells.

And because I'm crazy, I decided to have a garage sale this weekend.  It's supposed to rain.  Strike that, it's supposed to STORM! 

And because I'm crazy, I just signed up to be a hippo in a game at my school.



Never mind that my back is out currently.  Never mind that I'm risking it to go back out during this game (assuming it ever comes back in.)  And never mind that I'm NOT 21 anymore.  Nor 31, 41 or even 51.  Never mind that I'm crazy.

By the way, those fools on the floor grabbing balls?  Those are the hippos.  The very thing I signed up to be.

Sure hope my house sells.

But speaking of really, really crazy ... I reorganized my garage last night.  (Gee, I wonder why my back is out!)  Stuff I'm keeping over here ... stuff for said garage sale over there ... and stuff that I'm hiding from Rick goes under here.

Know what Rick said when he noticed?  "Hey, I like what you've done with the garage!"  Um, all I did was push stuff to one side, push the other stuff to the other side and remove a car.  Pushing that car out was a killer. 

There's now room for us to play "Hungry Hippos" in our very own garage.  Wanna play?  Yeah, me neither.  What if I put some granite in there?

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gettin' ready

Our little rondevous cruise is over a month away.  In fact, it's 5 weeks away.  It's also 38 days away.  It's also not close enough to begin packing for.  And yet, that's what Rick is doing.  Packing.

I'm packing, too, but not for the trip.  I'm packing for a move down the road.  Up the road?  Either way, I'm packing up everything I see.  Rick is packing up everything he sees, too, but he ain't helping me switch houses.  He's readying himself for a vacay.

We're both ready for a vacay.

Rick has been through a not-so-fun surgery and I've been through wall painting, spackling, packing, planting, cleaning, patching, band-aiding and hiding.  I haven't been hiding, but I've been hiding cracks.  I've hidden the dog a few times, too.  The cat pretty much stays hidden all the time, so no worries there.

I've also driven through every drive-thru in Frisco that gives out treats for dogs.  Yes, we head out with our dog every time the house is being shown.  The dog does NOT love it, until we get to Andy's and get him ice cream.  Our local ice cream shop gives out ice cream to traveling pups.  Starbucks givcs out puppucinos and if I could remember the other three places I've learned about, we'd head there as well.  For now it has to be puppucinos and ice cream.

They have finally broken ground on our new house (our THIRD new house ... no, I don't own three new houses ... I just can't seem to hold on to one) and here's a peek at what we're getting.





Apparently we're getting a swimming pool in the front yard.

Oh goody.  More things to patch and repair.



I don't see a bathroom.  Do you suppose we just use that box-thingy?



Here's a better shot of where we're going to be living.

Glad summer's coming.  The spring hailstorms will be killer ...

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aloha oy

We'z headin' back to the land of sunshine and industry.  Yep, Hawaii.  It just ain't what it used to be and it just ain't paradise.  It IS industrious, though.  But nope, nothing paradis-y about it no more.  But we're going.  And this time we'll get to actually set foot on Elizabeth's ship.  We didn't do that last time (in October) when we went to surprise her ... and when I went to celebrate turning ... turning ... well, turning THAT number.  Still can't say it.  Let's just say I'm old.

So, we'll take her cruise, watch her work and then head back to the mainland, as the islanders call it.

We'll disembark on a Saturday and oops, couldn't get a flight back until the next day.  Dang.  Have to stay one more day in Paradise ... even though it ain't Paradise.  But it really is.  And day on vacation is paradise to me.

And since we just had to stay one more day ... I had to get a hotel room for said Saturday night.

After studying prices and location and proximity to the beach, I picked out a Marriott, cuz, let's face it, I do Marriotts and Hiltons.  Occasionally I'll even do a Sheraton.  But this time?  It was a Marriott.

I scoured and poured over all of the hotel photos and was surprised to learn a few facts about my beloved little Marriott.  Maybe even about Honolulu in general.

The hotel I picked has a lovely ocean view.  I can only hope that my room gets to share in some of that view ... but what the heck.  If not, I can force myself to go downstairs and see it in person.

But that's not what I really noticed.

*

I noticed this ...

The lobby.

The empty, empty lobby.

What?  Does no one work here?

*

Apparently no one works here, either.

And not only that, there's no PEOPLE milling around.  Where are all the people???

*

No one here ...

*

No one here ...

*

and

No one here!  Not a soul eating or drinking.

Have I landed on Mars?

*

Heading on over to the convention/banquet rooms, I see this ...

NO ONE conventioning nor banqueting!

What the heck?

*

More 'no peopleing'.

At least this room has tables, though, in case, you know, I may want to sit down.  Not sure who'll wait on me, though.

*

Heading back outside to see if the view is still there ... and I decide that THIS won't be my view.  It just won't.  With the kind of luck I have ...

*

THIS will be my view.

*

See?  Here's my room.  You can see my awesome view through the window.

And look!

More no peoples.

No one sleeps at this hotel!

*

Good grief.  I was right.  It ain't Paradise and no one wants to come here anymore.

I'd complain ... but there ain't no one here to listen.

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