happy heart day

H
  A
    P
      P
        Y

VALENTINE'S 

D
  A
     Y

!!!!!!!!!!

❤💛💜💝💓💗❤
             ❥

* 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.

.

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 ~

.

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.

.

desperation

Fearing that my house will never sell, I done went and lowered the price again.  We are now $25,000 lower than when we first started this game.  This silly, silly game.

That's $25,000 that I will not have to buy a new car (I wasn't in the market anyway), $25,000 that I won't have to spend in Hawaii (and yes, I could find a way to spend that in Hawaii) and $25,000 that I won't have to spend online at Zulily.  Shut up.

Hey, maybe I could retire!  Oh wait, I'm not actually getting that $25,000 ...

But, it's all good.  Because our house, the one that's being built, is done and ready to inhabit.  See?  All the walls are up and it's beckoning us in.

It just looks so inviting ...

I can see the front door.  Right there.  Riiight through there.

Good thing there's no rain in sight.

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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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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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in honor of easter ...

Since Easter was yesterday and since I'm all about posting opposite of what everyone else does ... here's a video that I found quite amusing.  No religious tones (although I AM all about that) and no chocolate bunnies (had quite enough of those yesterday, thank you very much) ...

Enjoy.   And yep, this is pretty much what I see and hear everyday.

or ....

https://youtu.be/lGvV-ha6x7Y

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spoke. too. soon.

There will be no surgery today and poor Rick was counting the moments. 

Rick needs an Echocardiogram (EKG?) and a stress test.   Those two items alone we were told he'd already had so there was no need to worry.  Well, I should've worried.  I'm worried now ...

So:   new roof  -  check
         new wall  -  check
         new non-buckling floor  -  check
         new house  -  check
         new back surgery  -  FORGET IT.

I am not frustrated, I am not frustrated, I am not frustrated, I am not frustrated.
I AM FRUSTRATED.

Those thirty-seven days till surgery?  The count is growing ... with no end in sight.

Forty-five, forty-six, forty-seven, one hundred eleven ...

.

Two thousand seventeen ....


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hello? hello?

I just had the oddest phone call.  (Of course I did.  Do I get any other kind?)

"Hi, this is Kris ..."

"Hi, this is Lexy from Empire and I understand you have some buckling in your new ..."

... followed by screaming.

... shrieking.

followed by another blood-curdling scream.

I kid you not.

Then the phone went dead.

With all of the school shootings lately and all of the gun control issues in the news right now ... I feared the worst.  I was truly left worrying about Lexy.  That scream was not a giggle, therefore this was not a joke.

Five minutes later, my phone rang again.  

"I am so sorry," Lexy said.   

I told her that I had been sitting here worried sick about her ...

She simply said, "I saw a bug."

Okay ....  

Ya' know, I like Lexy.  A girl after my own heart.

;)

okay, not funny, God.

So ... remember this check?

And remember how excited I was that our deductible for our house claim was $2500?  And how fortunate I felt to have received the money that would cover our repairs ... on the exact day that we needed repairs?

Um ...

Um ...

Today I learned that our deductible is actually $25,000.  Twenty-five THOUSAND dollars.  Not $2500.  Not hundred.  But thousand.

I'm not laughing.

*

Be right back ...  gotta go rob a bank.

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me and noah

Because we are about to move into a new home ... we are just about ready to list my house for sale.  Well, we were anyway.

And because we were just about ready to list my house for sale ... the world began to flood.  My world  began to flood anyway.  Noah's got nothing on me.  My house has become a virtual ARK.

Except not exactly that cute.  Maybe more like this:

Maybe MORE LIKE THIS:

That's about all that's worth keeping in my house.

Wait.  Maybe more like this:

Yep.  For sure like this.  My house sprung a leak and the water poured in for a full day ... and then suddenly stopped.  The rain didn't stop, but the leak did.  Where all the water went is a good guess.  Okay, I know where it is ... it's in the wall.

I am sickened by my house every time I walk by that wall.  Or any wall.  Every wall is trying to get back at me for trying to sell the house.

GET ME OUT OF THIS HOUSE!

But there is a bright side to all of it.

We were involved in a class action lawsuit for one of the meds that Rick takes.  Apparently we were WAY overcharged and somebody figured that out.  And, out of the blue, a check for over $2400 appeared in our mailbox.

I wanted to jet off to Hawaii STAT but God had other plans for us.  To get our damaged wall fixed, we will need to pay our deductible.  Guess what our deductible is?  Yep, $2500.

God is amazing.

He knew that we would need some money for all of this mess ... and here it came.

I have no words.

I have no house, either.  Mine is about to float down the river.  But I've got the peace of knowing that I don't have to come up with $2500 to pay my deductible.

Yay house!  Go house!

Seriously, GO house.  Just go away.

.

ha. ha. and ha.

These bark.





These do NOT bark.




These bark.




And this barks, too.




HOVERBOARDS do NOT BARK!
          Not even this one ...




So, when you take your car into the shop for a "barking noise" and the dealer CONVINCES you it was just the hoverboard you had sitting in your back seat ... rest assured that hoverboards DO. NOT. BARK. 

You don't remember the story?     Check it out,  HERE.

Anyhoo ... my hoverboard does not bark, never did bark and it most likely never will.

My car, however, truly did.

And the dealer called me yesterday and said, "I have good news and bad news.  The good news is ... your car really did bark.   The bad news is ... your transmission is blown.  And you need a new one.  And it'll take a good week to order it and replace it.   The good news is ... you're getting a brand new transmission!"

The dealer must not know that I don't own this car.  It's only a lease.  And I couldn't care less if I have a new transmission or not.  I only wanted him to admit it wasn't the hoverboard.  And he did admit that.

So, the joke was on him

Wait.  The joke is on me.   I'm the one paying for a new transmission.

I think I'd rather have this:




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valentine's day

I knew Rick had gotten me a gift for Valentine's Day because he has zero sense of secrecy.  The email came to MY email (I didn't open it, I promise) and then the box came and he left if sitting by the front door.  I didn't open that, either.  I really didn't want to.  Have you seen Rick's gifts?  Ahem.

But knowing that a gift was coming to me, I had to get him something, too.  I'd actually hoped that this year, with the purchase of a new house and with surgery constantly hanging over our heads, that we could skip the gifts.  I've seen Rick's gifts.  We could definitely skip them.

As February 14th neared, I guess I had in my head that we were going to skip the gifts ... and suddenly, on the 13th, I had no gift.  WHY HAD I FORGOTTEN THE GIFT????

But I actually did have one for him.  Something I bought for our new house, that I knew Rick would like, suddenly came to mind.  It was sitting in the backseat of my car just zooming around and around ... and just like that, it became a Valentine's Day gift!

Wanna see what it is/was?

This.       Except not this.

Nor this.  Nope, not that, either.  

The tank that I gave Rick was missing one important item.

These.

And this ...

This one's awesome ... wish the tank had this in it.

Or this one ...

Or this one.

Nope, Rick's new tank only had these.

These are kinda pretty.  But Rick needed a more manly tank ... so he got a lot of these: 

Still none of these, though:

Maybe for Christmas.  First I have to gift him some water. 

That'll be his Easter gift.

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