Whew, That Was a Close One!

Just got off the phone with Blingdaddy - guys, we just had a close call!!!! Blindgaddy was asked (briefly, thank heavens!) to go to Korea for two years!!!!! I am so glad that Larry found someone else's name to put on the proposal, because I really did NOT want to take Tom to Korea for high school, and I certainly did NOT want to be thousands upon thousands of miles away from most of my Dearly Beloved Children!!!! Of course, when Blingdaddy called earlier to tell me of this situation, I seriously thought he was kidding, because it is SO something he would kid about.....I, for one, am quite happy that we will NOT be packing our bags for Korea any time soon - although I have a number of countries on my 'to see' list, KOREA is NOT one of them!!!!

Aimee and Matt had a bit of craziness at their house the past few days with most of the front of the house upstairs not having power. Thank heavens, it was something that the electrician found somewhat quickly, and was able to fix! Blingdaddy had a call in to Uncle Ken, the Master of Electricity, but UK didn't get the message until this morning, when the electrician was already performing his magic at 409!

I know that there was some other interesting news, but I can't remember it right now.....oh, well, one little tidbit is that Matt and Kelly are going to wait until June for Kelly's birthday trip to DisneyWorld, because then they can stay a week rather than just three days if they go in March. Good things are worth waiting for! :) What a delightful birthday gift!!!! I guess I might as well not even attempt to get Miss Kel a gift, since nothing can compare!

Kate reports that Brent has been enjoying his new position at Macaroni Grill. Miss Kate spent about twenty four hours with Blingdaddy, Tom, and me on Saturday/Sunday. It was a fun treat! Blingdaddy, Tom, and I had driven up to Highland Park on Saturday, so that Tom could drool over some Fender Custom Shop guitars at a store there, and on the way back, we stopped to pick up Kate and go to dinner at Red Robin in Stratford. Kate and Tom drove back to the Blingmansion afterward, and Kate graced us with her presence overnight!!!! :) It almost felt like the good old days when we had more children than just lonely Tom in the house...

Saturday morning Tom had a solo & ensemble contest at the high school - he was required to attend by the band teacher - LOL. Guess what? Tom is actually seriously considering switching to the string bass and orchestra next year! Kelly has him pretty convinced that it would be a fun experience. Now I just have to look into how much renting a bass would cost - I am guessing it would NOT be cheap! But the good thing is that the school would provide a bass to have during orchestra class! No toting THAT puppy to and from school! LOL

Saturday morning, while Tom and I were at the high school, Blingdaddy was doing his best to obtain tickets for the June 29th Eric Clapton Crossroads Guitar Festival. And, guess what? He did it! We are looking forward to twelve hours of fab performances, including one by John Mayer. :) Tom is in his glory!

It snowed again at the Blingmansion this morning......I am getting a bit tired of the Snow Removal Patrol, but then again, it is nice exercise!

It's time for Kiersten and I to make a grocery store run. TTFN

Happy Earthquake Day! :)

So, by now everyone knows that we had a small earthquake in the Chicago area this morning around 4:00 AM.....Tommy, Blingdaddy and I all woke up. Of course, poor Tom had no clue as to what was going on, but Blingdaddy and I, Wise Creatures that we are, knew immediately.... :) Mike Maxstadt told me that he at first thought that the snowplow had hit their mailbox and went outside to look, whereupon he found his neighbor across the street ALSO outside checking to see that her mailbox was still intact! I think that a LOT of people in the area lost a few hours of sleep last night! I know that I, for one, have been up ever since it woke me, and will probably be feeling quite droopy later in the afternoon......

Congratulations to Brent on being hired at Macaroni Grill yesterday!!! Kate called with the happy news. Sounds like a (hopefully) fun job, and once they hear him sing they will not want to ever let him go! :) Gosh, it's a crazy world when you need to have two interviews for a serving/singing job, isn't it?

In other news that may or may not have made its way around the Family Grapevine, Aimee, Matt, Paytie, Blingdaddy, Tommy and I are all set with hotel reservations for Spring Break in Sarasota, Florida. :) We are looking into renting a minivan now so that we can all travel together. Airfares for that week are ridiculous, and Aimee convinced us that driving will be the way to go. HOPE we don't regret it!! Can you just hear Tommy and Paytie bickering in the back seat???? Actually, I know that Paytie is a great little traveler....it's TOM I'm worried about! LOLOL Kate might also come along. :) Poor Kelly's break is the week before.....boo hoo.

Speaking of the Kellster, she's been a bit under the weather lately....a nasty cold that brought on the crappy asthma.....hopefully she doesn't make Matt sick for his 25th birthday on Friday! That would NOT be fun......and she is still hating her new apartment. She had a talk with at least one of the girls about keeping the door locked, but it didn't seem to do much good. Please say a few prayers that the Crazed Rapist on the campus doesn't find his way to her door. I just feel sick over this, and would love it if she could find another, safer place to live, but it seems as though that isnt' gonna happen.

Tommy and I looked out the back window late yesterday afternoon to see three coyotes/foxes/who-knows-what-they-were? running through the marsh area.....and about twenty minutes later there was a spate of eerie howling. Wonder what they were doing?

I was happy to talk with Miss Jules the other day! :) And in case no one else has seen it, take a look at the FB picture of Scott resting in the rocker/glider in the nursery. Such a pretty color on the walls! :)

Which somehow reminds me that I need to give Grandma L a call. Have not spoken with her in a bit and need to catch up on Brian Doings. Aimee got to meet him on Saturday night when Grandma and Brian stopped by to visit for an hour or so, being in the area for a party as they were....

Speaking of grandmas, Grandma L's new wood flooring is being installed today - started on Monday and yesterday she was dismayed to learn that Carl's son (Carl being the floor installer that we used for the bedroom) did not show up on Tuesday, having gone out drinking the night before.......today Carl showed up for work with two different people - heaven only knows where his son is. Grandma learned the other day that he has already been convicted of two felonies! And he's only 19.....hmmm, I would think that if he had two felony convictions he might be in jail.......

And moving on to more family news, Uncle Ken and Aunt Corinne (or as I usually call them, Uncle Corinne and Aunt Ken) are in Florida on their trip to Key West. They flew into Miami yesterday and are driving the rest of the way, stopping to see Cousin Sue along the way. She lives on one of the more 'northern' keys - maybe Key Largo? The memory fails.....Jenny and Mike get to stay home and take care of Clint. They must be really happy right about now, don't you think?

So, I think that's all the news that's fit to print for now. :)