Tickets have been purchased. Hotel rooms booked. And I am beyond excited.
We'll be going with Frodo and Buttercup to Dragon Con in Atlanta during Labor Day weekend. We are really going with Frodo and Butter - but they will be there and so will Tobey and I. Anyways.
Butter and Frodo are dressing up as Ursula and King Triton from Disney's The Little Mermaid and while this is my first costume (complete with animatronic purring/walking kitty):
Harry Potter's Dolores Umbridge
I thought it would be cool to put together a costume that complements the kids' costumes - so I am going to attempt to make myself into Flounder with Sebastian on top. I'll be sure to blog our progress.
Sweet swirling onion rings my friends. If there are any left who read me as my posts have been sporadic at best.
There is just SO much going on that there is no time left to gripe blog about it.
First up is work. Meh! I can't discuss it but trust me it isn't good and I am fed up. The sad thing is that after dedicating almost 7 years with this job - in the end: I don't matter one little bit.
Second up: Barbie. She has rashly decided to hitch her wagon to her on again and off again boyfriend's wagon and move to Connecticut. Which would be fine if there relationship wasn't a roller coaster of every other month break ups. And it would lessen our worries if she went up there with the funds to be able to support herself if something bad happened - like they break up yet again. But she doesn't and she doesn't seem to mind it - so I guess I shouldn't worry at all. Right?
Third. I just got back from the local college. My third trip up in as many weeks regarding Chewie. Chewie just found out that three weeks ago he was dropped from all of his classes again. If you are counting this is the fourth time he has been dropped. His teacher took role today - and he was on the list. But again: dropped THREE weeks ago and he was notified of it when? Today.
The reason you are wondering, as was I, is because he didn't attend the first week of classes. Well. Duh. He didn't attended because the college dropped his classes twice that first week. So how on earth can you drop someone who wasn't even registered at the point you are holding them accountable for being in class?
We get told his loan didn't go through because his classes were dropped. And he can't get it reinstated until he gets reregistered. Which he has to email all of his teachers and ask for them to add him back in and if not then he has to go to the department chairs. We were told he really needs to see an advisor but there aren't any working when we were there on the day they stay open late. Which begs the question of "Why stay open late if there is no one there to help the students out?"
After this bombshell and whilst Chewie is frantically emailing his teacher - he gets a call saying his loan is fine and all he has to do is get the teachers to add him back in. The kicker to all of this is that the kid has been turning in assignments, taking tests and going to class the whole dang time. And when I say dang I mean dang. Actuallly... I mean something else altogether.
Yanno that movie Heartbreak Ridge with Clint Eastwood and that cutie pie Mario Van Peebles? The scene (I think) after the battle where some big wig military type asks Clint's character what he thinks of the whole mess and Clint comes back that it is a ****bad word***. Yeah. I have dropped the word so many times while at the college. There is NO communication between the departments and having the students run around and fix the problems that the college is/has created in insane.
Considering last time they told us we had to physically go to another campus and speak with the department chair to get the original mess cleaned up - AND - after I pitched a fit saying 'we' didn't need to go anywhere since 'they' already said this mess was all of their fault - AND - miracuously they were able to fix all the problems 5 minutes after that..... I have zero tolerance for the runaround Chewie is getting.
I am sure they are all excited there to know that I register for classes on March 28th. The joy. I can't wait.
So my whole "I'ma live a stress free life since yanno I had those two heart attacks last year!" - well that isn't working out like I planned.
When I got home today I asked Tobey if he had heard that Davy Jones died. He hadn't. Then there was much discussion about who actually sang Daydream Believer. Tobey said it was Micky Dolenz. Ha. So I pulled up the video and proved myself right:
And then I realized. I married the drummer from the Monkees: Is that Tobey or Micky Dolenz?
And dang it all friends - I have laughed and laughed and laughed over this. Tobey? Not so much.
Last weekend we loaded up the truck and the Challenger and headed off on our annual Presidents' Day camping trip. Chewie's girlfriend, Tater Tot, came along for the fun. She had never been camping before and boy was she in for a treat. This year we went to Falling Waters State Park which is about an hour west of Tallahassee and about six hours from home. Which reminds me - it has now been a year since we adbucted rescued Pete from the wilds of Ocala on last year's camping trip. Happy Anniversary Sweety Petey Boy!
Tobey, Chewie, Tater Tot and Nappy
With the six hour drive and stopping for breakfast and lunch and all - we arrived around 4:30 and got to setting up the camp. Everyone was so tired from the drive and the set up that we all retired to our tents after the sun went down.
The next morning we headed over to the Falls.
Tater Tot and Chewie
The reason I chose this spot to camp was because Falling Waters boasts the highest waterfall in Florida. And of course the 'falls' depends on the amount of rainfall the area has received of late.
The whole gang
Now the weather forecast hinted at having a few showers. Alas that was not to be. We had a monsoon! The rain was so bad you could barely see your hand in front of your face.
And it knocked down the gazebo.
The firepit was surrounded by a two foot moat and every tent was flooded out. I had left my keys out and Chewie left his phone out and luckily despite finding them both in a puddle - they survived. Most of Sunday morning I spent at the local laundramat - good times. I have never seen so much camo and so many folks sportin' mullets in my life.
Later on we strolled down to the little lake and here is Tobey being as serious as ever.
Despite the trails looking to be pretty flat for Tater Tot - they were anything but and Chewie did some minor carrying of his lady and the guys took turns pushing her up and down the trail stairs.
Our final night was freezing cold. Remembering freezing our butts off last year in this neck of the woods - I brought electric blankets this time and we managed to stay nice and toasty. Tater Tot introduced us to Phase 10 and we played some Uno as well.
Oh and the s'mores. Tater Tot really liked the s'mores. Chewie even accidently invented a new s'more. It was nighttime and he really couldn't see what he was doing. They decided to make a double decker s'more with a Cookies n Cream chocolate bar and a Hershey bar. Only Chewie left the chocolate bar on the outside and the graham cracker on the inside when he constructed it. Tater didn't complain though - she loved her some s'mores!
The Shrekmobile got new tires today for our President's Day Camping Extravaganza this weekend. Of course they told us everything else that was wrong with Shrek and since he is getting up there in years and miles - we decided to go and look at new cars. Pft. Every time we go and look we end up with a new car.
Initially we were looking at downsizing from the Grand Caravan to a small SUV. Which I can't type. I always type in SVU - where's Stabler? We test drove a few - a Dodge Journey and a Durango. But man - they had these Challengers on the lot too. The whole idea about getting a SUV was so we would have enough room to put all of our camping junk. But - the SVU...dang...SUV would be too small for that and we would always have to take the truck with us as well.
The theory goes that if we have to take two cars camping then why not actually get a car instead of a SUV. So. We did.
And friends - I really dislike car salesman. We decided to trade in Shrek - he's an '05 with barely 74,000 miles with one little dink in the back. I had already checked the Kelley resale on the van and it was right around 10k. Tobey said we would only get half that. Ha. I told him there was no way I was going to trade the van in for that. No. Way.
Wouldn't you know that is exactly what they offered us. 5k. And the $800 we put into the van today for tires and new shocks? *vaporized* The salesman said, "Well, the Challenger has new tires on it as well!" Hardee har har.
I was so beyond twerked. And I finally said as much. I told him I was insulted by their offer since they were going to detail it at no cost to them and sell it for 10k and make a $5,000 profit because we took good care of the van. He said it had high mileage. Er. Nope. At seven years old and an average of 12k a year in mileage would equal 84,000 miles on most trade ins of that age. I told Tobey the way they are working it was for every two years we owned the van we lost 25% of what we paid for it. 5k my butt.
So the 5k they offered became 6. Still not good enough. I wanted 8 and not a penny less. 6250? Um. Nope.
We ended up with $7200 for the van and $2600 off the sticker price.
Now the problem is that this car is like wayyyyyy to cool for me. I had to call my brother Matt Damon and share the pics with him. Matt loves Challengers and has been working on restoring one of his own for the last few years. I told him that car was too cool for me - people would laugh when they see this fat, middle aged woman driving her around. He said, "That is why the windows are tinted!" - but upon closer inspection - they aren't!
So after work on Thursday we go to pick her up and trade off the van. And you know what I kept thinking - we bought the van brand spankin' new the Christmas after Mom died. She never got to see it. And now we are trading the van in. That much time has passed. She has been dead long enough for us to go through the life of an automobile. I know. It's weird to think that - but there you have it.
Hello my lovelies! As you may recall Tobey gave me Bocelli tickets for Christmas and yesterday was the big day for the concert in Orlando. Now after the December concert and forking out $300 a piece to see my Andrea - our budget wasn't going to take another hit for tickets in that price range. And honestly I didn't care where we sat - as long as I could hear my Andrea I would be happy as a lark. Of course Tobey says next time we won't bother with purchasing tickets and will just sit in the parking lot.
Well my friends. When we arrived we weren't all that surprised our seats were in the nose bleed section and our seats had been labeled "obstructed view" . And that was fine with me. Bocelli = squee - who cares where I sit, right Now our seat guide immediately advised us to go to Guest Services and get our seats switched. I was a tad leary - seats switched? "Is there a charge for that?" I asked. And he said that it was free and he was recommending it to everyone because our seats were so lousy. No kidding.
I couldn't believe that there were even seats available to switch to since the Tampa concert was virtually sold out. So we went to Guest Services but the line was a mile long and we decided to just sit in our assigned and purchased seats instead of waiting in the line and possibly missing some of the concert.
The little blue star shows where we were. About 10 rows from the ceiling. I tell you the truth when I say aircraft flew lower than where we sat.
Anyways. We made our way up again to the nose bleed section and got comfy in our $70 seats. As comfy as one could in seats that were at such a weird angle and all. My knees were literally inches away from the gentleman in front of us and if I was so inclined I could have cracked his head like a walnut with my knees alone.
After about 15 minutes of sitting in our seats I was beginning to get a little ill - from the height and the angle and all. And since Tobey suffers from the Vertigo I told him to sit tight and I headed down to Guest Services. And there was NO one in line. None. We were moved to this little blue star. Stage right. 15 rows from the stage. 15. Rows. From my Andrea! For $70. These were better seats than we had at the Tampa concert with our uber-expensive on the floor seating.
Two other couples followed us and had their seats changed as well. Hi Nancy! And I for one was giddy. Beyond giddy. Being on stage right we could watch my Andrea enter and exit the stage as well as having a completely unobstructed view upclose and personal. Couple that with the fact that I smuggled in my zoom lens this time.....I was in heaven. Tobey? Well he tolerated it all pretty well.
With my newly recovered stolen cell phone I took a few videos. Y'all remember how bad I talked trash about Tobey and his National Geographic video skills while in the Badlands... well - I turned my phone sideways thinking the video would shift. And it didn't. Plus the video is simply horrible and fuzzy. But. The audio is terrific - just ignore my lack of the Spielberg skills just like the last concert. To quote Tobey from the Badland days: Awesome! Not so much but you get the gist.
Heather Headley performing Somewhere Over The Rainbow. Love.Her.
A few seconds of New York, New York.
A sometimes sideways Andrea singing More.
Before Andrea sang Amazing Grace he dedicated it to Whitney Houston which so beyond touching in my opinion. And while at the last concert I taped him singing - this time I watched. And I cried my eyes out. One day I will listen to that song and not be reminded of Momma.
Well I hope you enjoyed the pictures and award winning video of my Andrea. I can't wait for the next concert!
Mrs.Ohtobe: Our heroine. Mr. Ohtobe: Handyman and Mrs. Oh's hottie.
Frodo and Buttercup: Eldest son (23) and his wife. Frodo attends SPC and Butter graduated from Agnes Scott in May, 2009.
Simba and Barbie (22), our twin daughters.
Nappy and Chewie (18), our twin boys who are seniors in high school now high school graduates.
Baby Girl, Max, Daisy and Pete, our puppies.
Yoda and Okie Won Catnobi a.k.a Yodie and Okie, our kitties.
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Last weekend we loaded up the truck and the Challenger and headed off on our annual Presidents' Day camping trip. Chewie's girlfriend, Tater Tot, came along for the fun. She had never been camping before and boy was she in for a treat. This year we went to 
And it knocked down the gazebo.
