Life in an Elevator

Anyone remember the CHS Band trip to Disney World in 1997? An entire marching band, their instruments and chaperones loaded into 6 (7? 5?) buses, caravaning to Florida. First incident was the issue of the Senior Bus. And one senior's annoying Freshmen girlfriend and her friends. Of course, they whined enough to ride with us. Incident #2 involves a woman named Cheryl who deserves to have her license pulled and then she should be held in a deep freeze for hours. Cheryl was our over night bus driver. She was falling asleep at the wheel... so she turned the air conditioner on so high that most of the Class of '98 (along with a few Freshmen) got sick from the cold. Yeah... Cheryl. Our saving grace? Band Mamas Radke and Smith bullied the evil Cheryl into submission, and a 65+ temperature, as opposed to 40 degrees in tanks & shorts.
The last major incident occurred on our stop over in Cocoa Beach, Florida. A few days for the Iowa kids on the beach. We made a stop at Ron Jon's Surf Shop and Anousha and I happened to step into the glass elevator with the senior boy and his freshmen girlfriend and her gaggle of annoying friends. And they proceed to tempt fate by jumping up (together) in the elevator to see what happens. And when the elevator gets confused... it gets stuck. For 2+ hours. With the annoying freshmen and one other semi-normal person besides us. With 3 glass walls where everyone proceeds to stare and make fun of us. Yeah... It's been almost 11 years and I still do not like long car rides or elevators.
So, when I saw this article in the New Yorker, it brought back all of those memories. And I thought I'd share. :) Check it out:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/video/2008/04/21/080421_elevators

More Notes on a Scandal

Last week, I received a note from the person who spoke so horribly about me, and who tried to ruin my relationship with my husband. In the note, this person asked for my forgiveness and for Scott to forgive her as well. She was having a bad day. (So let me get this straight. Her day was going so bad that she felt the need to basically call me a Cheating Whore to my husband? right....) On top of that, she asked me to remember the Lord, and to forgive her as the Lord forgives us all our mistakes. Call me crazy, but isn't that taking the Lord's name in vain?
I am working on a response back, basically forgiving her. But not before I air my grievances, six years worth of grievances. I need to make it clear how much I was hurt, and how hurt Scott was. And how I will not tolerate something like this happening again. So... yeah, I am responsible. Who knew?

Coming soon: Weston's Des Moines Baby Shower!!! We had a blast at our co-ed shower over the weekend and there are tons of pictures thanks to our friends, Jason and Erika.

Planes, Trains and Dragons?

Weston is growing. At least I hope it's him that's growing and not just me. He started moving around about 2 weeks ago and for the most part was fairly consistant. He would start moving around 9pm every night, or in response to Daddy's voice. And he loved using my bladder as a trampoline. I swear. I had gotten so used to feeling this, that it took me a little while to panic when i didn't feel anything. (That's not to say he wasn't moving, but I wasn't feeling him.)

So I have been very careful, and resting a lot. Poor Scott gets home from work at 845 or 9, and as soon as he gets home, I say hi and go to bed.

After 2 days, my son has once again decided to grace me with his presence. I asked and begged him to move for 2 days. What did I get? Nothing. I even tried to get him to move last night using Scott's voice. It was like my child was too smart for me, and totally knew what I had planned. This morning, I sit down to try and work, and he starts moving and squishing his way all over the place. Nice. Is this normal? The whole move a lot thing, and then the going into hiding part? Someone please clue me in.

Oh! The Dragon is something we are doing for Weston's room. :)

Notes on A Scandal...

I am not going to say who said what, but I need to vent.
First of all, many of you know that I am immensely loyal, almost certainly loyal to a fault.
And I am not one who will cheat on her husband. I would file for divorce first, but that's not the point. The Point is that I am loyal, and that I love fiercely.
So - Imagine my surprise when I am told by a person who would never lie to me, could never lie to me, that someone is spreading vicious, scandalous lies about me! This person is trying to convince someone that I trust with my life that I am going to cheat on my husband! We'll call this overly-talkative person the Liar. And the Liar's only reason? Because I am a married woman, and one of my best friends happens to be a man. Because women cannot have friends who have a Penis. (I wonder if my homosexual friends are included in this group of No-No's?)
I am immensely upset about this. The Liar is a person very close to our family. In the almost 6 years that I have known the Liar, it has taken the last 2 years for the Liar to stop talking badly about me to anyone who would listen. In these last 2 years, the Liar has made me feel like part of the family, has made me comfortable. And maybe that's my fault, I got too comfortable, and this person finally had the ability to shatter me. But the funniest thing of all? I am the most pure person in the Liar's social circle. I married the only man I have ever been with. Making me much more pure than the Liar. Why is it that I am labeled a cheating, tramping Whore?
But, I digress. When Scott and I discussed this, he was not pleased. He is supporting me 100%, and is supporting our friend 100%. But... what do I do? The Old Erin would have retaliated with such force that the Liar would have been obliterated in front of family and the town where the Liar resides. (The Old Erin had her ways.) In all honesty, I kind of miss the Old Erin. Because now I have to be a responsible adult, a wife and a mother. (Scary, I know.) New Erin... hasn't really spread her wings enough to know how to deal with this. So I called the most polite and proper, but cold-tempered, person I know. I called Grandmother.
So here's the plan: I am to ignore the Liar's calls, requests, everything. I am no longer allowed to volunteer my services as caterer, party planner or family counsellor. When asked to visit, I will not answer, and I will control Scott's answer. In short, the Liar has ceased to exist for me. To further drive the isolation home (this part was all my idea) I am continuing to contact all the regular people surrounding the Liar, keeping things as normal as possible for them. Scott will also have minimal contact unless he changes his mind and proceeds on his own. This is his decision. After my son is born, the Liar will get a sit-down talk. If the Liar wants anything to do with Weston, it must be approved by me and supervised by myself or my husband. If this isn't satisfactory, then all contact will be stopped. No problem with me.
Anyone have a better method for dealing with Liars? I am trying to maintain dignity and decorum, and to continue to be the "better person," all in accordance with my Grandmother's decree.

DRAKE BULLDOGS

Ok... So I am very sad today. After an amazing run, The Drake Bulldogs' Men's Basketball lost their game today, ending their dreams of playing in the Final Four.

I am not a huge basketball fan. I can follow a game, and sometimes even enjoy a game, but I only went to 2 games the entire time I attended Drake. I think I went to 10 games in my 4 years of high school (mainly to watch Pete Walker... but that's another sad story of my teenage stalking/crushes.) My 2 favorite bosses, Ed & Don, set the TV in the conference room to show the game. They watched over lunch, and invited me to watch when I got back from lunch. I caught the last 5 minutes of regular play and the next 5 minutes of overtime. It was the most entertaining game that I have ever watched. It felt like watching Glory Road or some other Disney produced sports movie. The only difference was that the best team didn't win in the end. No Disney-sugar-coated happy endings here. It was so exhilarating to watch Drake go from a 16 point deficit to catch up by the end of regular play and then to see them 6 points ahead in overtime. I honestly thought that they had it in the bag. Even when the "slow" looking kid from Western Kentucky State (wasn't that the opposing team from Glory Road??? Or am I dreaming?) shot the game winning 2-pointer from almost 3-point heaven, I thought he would miss. It did not seem possible that after the game I saw, that Drake would lose.

So... here to Drake! For once giving me an athletic team/event (other than Relays) that I can be proud of. And a team that the entire state of Iowa can be proud of. GO BULLDOGS!!!

Onto... other things

Ok... So i haven't been to the movie theater in quite a while. Everytime I think of spending money for a ticket, i just can't come up with a reason to go. It seems stupid to pay that much for a ticket when, in most cases, I'll come out disappointed in what I have seen.

I have said it over and over again... there just aren't that many good movies these days. I mean, I've bought Pretty in Pink and Adventures in Babysitting twice each on DVD. Yeah... .

So you can imagine my surprise when i found this article on MSN. It talks about the lasting effect of John Hughes. Check it out and let me know what you think.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23677561/

Baby Jones

It's official!!! We are having a Bouncing (literally, he tumbled all over) Baby Boy!!! (he sort of looks like aboy, doesn't he?)
Due date is closer to July 31st (Happy birthday to Scott's Uncle Byron) but still anywhere in that next week.

Heading to Clinton then on to Chicago for St. Patrick's Day. Talk to you all soon!!!