Congrats, Lori

Congratulations on finishing your house, Lori. And thanks to Jim and Kathy for posting the "after" pictures. It looks cute, cute, cute!

Lori's Home

Some pictures we took at Lori's Open House.

Sunday, Sunday

I was thinking about you all day, Lori, and wishing we could be there for the Open House. Can't wait to see pictures of the "finished product."

Not much going on around here. I still LOVE my job, although I don't have an office or permanent workplace yet. I share a small (really small) cubicle with my partner. He places students who are returning to Pinellas County from DJJ (Department of Juvenile Justice) commitment programs back in an educational setting and I follow-up to make sure they get there and are attending. If not, I bug their Probation Officer to do their job because most of the kids are under "School Rule" which means it would be a violation if they did not attend. Once they are in school, we have a GRAD team that works with them to earn a diploma or GED. Luckily, he is a very nice guy and we get along great.

The office is having a get-together next Friday after work so Jerry will be able to meet some of the people I work with.

I saw my shoulder doc last week and he is sending me for an MRI; I scheduled it for Wednesday. The cortisone shot helped a lot, but I still have a lot of pain if I move my arm the wrong way.

I went for my walk early this morning and it was already 77 degrees with 93% humidity. This is the time of year I miss the north. We'll have at least another month of this heat. The love bugs haven't even started yet; that's the real sign that Fall is coming.:)

Happy Friday!

I just love Fridays! This has been a short week for me. Flynn was pretty sick earlier in the week. He woke up on Sunday a different kid, he was tired and really cranky. Had a terrible cough, and a slight fever. He spent most Sunday asleep, which gave Pat a peaceful football day while I was at Bears. By Monday, Flynn was still feeling awful, so I stayed home and took him to the doctor. She said it wasn't a flu or an infection, but probably a bad cold. As of Monday night, his fever was still present so we kept him home another day. By Tuesday, he still sounded hoarse and his cough was still there, but his fever was gone and he was mostly back to himself. He went back to school Wednesday after a follow up at the doc.

Tonight I have my first game of the season at United Center, preseason hockey. Doesn't sound too exciting, but I'm working on a new machine this season. I went in for training on the new Crossfire machine last week, but tonight's the night I get to try it out. It's basically the same as my previous animation playback machine, just a few different bells and whistles.

Saturday morning we're heading to Jackson for Mom's open house. Flynn's excited, yesterday he was on his tricycle and said he was going to ride it to Grandma's party. We're looking forward to visiting, the work that she has put into that house is amazing. She's really turned it around into a beautiful home. Hope to see some family there!!

Have a great weekend all!!

It's Friday

YAY! We decided not to go north because rain (and cold) is forecast for the entire weekend. I'm spending time with the Miller kids on Saturday and we will probably take Melodie out for her birthday on Sunday. I'm still getting tomatoes from my grape tomato plants and big ones from my one other plant. That one is going gang busters. I could easily pull out my canning equipment again but I'm freezing some now. Yum!

Miller update

Hi all,

Sorry I missed the NL cutoff, but between this blog, Facebook, and our own blog, I feel like we keep everybody pretty well informed of our goings-ons. Especially since there aren't all that many that aren't baby-related.

This past weekend we had our 1-year birthday celebration. For an update on that click here! We held it at a pavilion in a park near our house, and Scott's mom came over from WV to join us; we had a lovely weekend.

Evan and Rowan's one year check up was yesterday and they are doing very well. If you want to read more about what they are up to, click here! Evan had his first real haircut a couple weeks ago, and he looks great.

Scott's job is going great...he's traveling a bit more, but usually for just a day or two at a time. He's extremely busy. Healthwise he is back to normal, thank God.

The rest of us had a round with a nasty cold last week, but we're all 100% now, too.

Next month we have plans to go to Grand Rapids for a wedding overnight, and the following weekend are going to the UP for our friends' Chris and Kay's son's baptism (Scott is the godfather...just as Chris is our kids' godfather.) Chris and Kay also have twin boys, so that should be a fun visit. I'm also selling a bunch of our loot at a mom-2-mom sale with my twins club. Hope to make some good money on all of our baby gear, but am not looking forward to the organizing it will take to get ready. Oh well.

Other than that, life is status quo and we are just busy trying to be good parents.

Love to all!

(p.s. if you do not have access to my blog and would like it, just let me know!)

NL oops

Missed the NL this month, so small update here. '01 Grand Prix has a broken sway bar on left front, courtesy of wear and tear and Chicago speed "humps." Makes loud thunking noise sometimes, so didn't want to chance driving to Midland for twins' party yesterday, which I regret. Realized it's time to store the '01 and get used to my "Florida" '04 car, especially since I get a $6 refund on my insurance, if you can believe it.

One noteworthy event occurred on my way home from Chicago to Jackson. On I-94, in middle lane, I look in side-view mirror and see short headlights for a long distance. Considering all the trucks and SUVs on the road, it caught my eye. Eventually, 22 (yes, I counted them) Vipers passed on my left, with snazzy personalized license plates, a race car No. 91, convertibles, etcetera. Just a surprising delight.

One more reminder: My open house is this Saturday, 9-26, from noon to 6:00. Would love to see family before heading south for the winter.

Tomatoes

Since Sandy shared last week I thought I would share our 19 quarts of tomato juice we canned Friday night. Today we helped move Jim into a house he is sharing with someone he works with. I only have a partial address so will wait to share that.

Happy is this day. After reading ALL the blogs, facebooks and comments I'm honored to be the beginning of all this, as you claim.
It seems chocolate cake was a hit Tracy and thanks for fulfilling my wish. Of course, the kids thank you too.
I was so engrossed in absorbing all the news and pictures this morning Dad had to remind me to shower and get ready for our eye app. How mundane can that be.
Oh well, he is now shaving and we will be out of here,
Love to all. Gram

Birthday Wishes

Happy Birthday to Evan,
Happy Birthday to Rowan,
Happy Birthday dear Miller Twins...
Happy Birthday to you!!!
xoxo

Welcome!

Welcome to the family, Brandy Lynn Dewey......

Weekend

It was wonderful to spend some time with Vanessa, Patrick, Flynn, Suzanne, Jim, Doug, Brian, Nikki, and their assorted friends the past couple days. Flynn knows exactly how old he is, and was thrilled by people singing "Happy Birthday" and blowing out candles. Still a novelty, I guess. Got to fly my Macaw kite yesterday along Lake Michigan. The wind did all the work, and it pulled valiantly to stay up.

Joni was gracious enough to order my washer/dryer combo for the last appliance needed in my Jackson house. It's a stackable, apartment size, and the best option for the space.

Turning a negative into a positive, a lesson learned via Eric and Joni's challenge is cover all your bases, all the time, taking no chances with so-called professionals. Asking for names of all contacts, keeping records, getting supervisor's approvals, is still no guarantee of a fair fight, yet can make one feel less helpless. There are ways of salvaging bad credit.

Suzanne is struggling in this economy as well, so my thoughts and prayers go out to all family and friends in their times of need.

Horray!

Big Day indeed! Good luck Candi and Alan, praying for you guys and thinking about you! Can't wait to hear the news!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EVAN AND ROWAN!! I love 1! The day after Flynn turned one he started walking.... its so much fun!!

Big Day

We'll be thinking of you today, Deweys. Good Luck and Best Wishes!

And a BIG Happy Birthday to the Miller twins.

Beautiful weekend in Dayton

Hello all,

Sorry I haven't written sooner after my last post. I hate that it was such a downer...don't like being a gloomy Gus, even when circumstances may warrant it. As for our situation, we are investigating our options for fighting the outcome. Thanks to all of you for your words of support and encouragement.

Moving on...it has been an incredibly gorgeous week here and we've been taking advantage of the weather as much as possible. Eric's friend, Chris (a.k.a. Heavy), from Massachusetts arrived on Thursday morning and they immediately headed for the golf course. Friday the guys hit the gym and played some basketball then we all went for Chinese food for dinner and then stayed up late playing cards and Wii Bowling.

Saturday we slept in a bit then ate a big breakfast and the boys played video games for awhile. Then we met a bunch of people from Eric's work at a local bar and we all headed to the Italian Festival. We had a great time just hanging out, drinking a little wine, and people watching. After a couple hours we headed to a local wine bar with a couple of the girls and had a fantastic time! When we arrived, there was a small wedding party there dancing and having a great time. The bride and groom included us as if we were invited guests - even offering us cake! The bride and I are now Facebook friends and she invited me to join her and a couple of the girls that were there for their weekly Girls' Night out - yay!

This morning I went to church while the guys worked on waking up. Currently, the boys are at B-dubs for an afternoon of football. Mozart and I are hanging out with the windows wide open, enjoying the beautiful afternoon.

Hope all of you are well and have a wonderful week ahead!

Did you know?

For football fans: In the 1931 Rose Bowl game, Five-Yard Fogerty carried 25 times and gained exactly 5 yards on each carry. It was in that game that teammates celebrated the oddity of Fogerty’s feat by slapping palms—the practice now known as exchanging high fives.

I am amazed by the procedure that zapped my varicose vein. There was one day of minor tenderness, but no real pain. The hardest part was trying to find something to wear with the lovely compression stocking. :) Although, it did feel good to wear it. I decided to go ahead and have the left leg done and that appointment is tomorrow morning. We're switching insurance companies next year and who knows if they will approve it?

I know we've got a few CMU fans out there, but can you believe that game? I bet Dantonio had some choice words for his Special Teams guys.

Happy #3 to Flynn!

Saturday

Whew! Tracy and I canned 55 quarts of tomatoes today. I was at it from 8:30 until about 6:00 and Tracy and Scott arrived around 1:00. She helped me tremendously - I would have had to can for 2 days to get what we did and I'm exhausted as it is. It was great having the twins here at the house and we even let them open their birthday gifts a tad early. Ray was happy to show them the chickens and ducks and a horse at the neighbors. They were quite amused by it all. I'm going to bed early tonight - like soon!!

Friday Fun

Just got back from 'End of the World' Bookelia, excellant fish.
We took our time traveling to show Teri and Brent the changed scenery along the way. We turned on Matlacha Blvd and toured the area to see canals with boats and pretentious places. It was most interesting.
It sounds like a busy, fun weekend for most of us, including here in Florida.
Teri and Brent worked diligently at my list today and I will have to dream up some more jobs, sorta.
Cards sound interesting to me.
Enjoy your weekend and Love from us.

finally FRIDAY!

Hey fam! I'm feeling a little giddy because its Friday! It's been an extremely hectic first week of school for us. All kinds of tech issues that we have to resolve, plus all the video documenting I have to do. We even had this huge production company rent out our Recital Hall for a press release of Billy Elliot, the musical. Hopefully things will calm down soon.

This weekend is going to be great! Brian and his gf, Nicole are coming in tonight, and my Dad is coming in later. We're having a 3rd bday party for Flynn on Sunday. My Mom will be coming in Sunday for the party and his actual bday (monday). He's so excited, he actually walked into our room this morning, and told Pat, "Daddy, wake up, Grandma and Grandpa are coming today!" He's never gotten out of his room to wake us up, guess that's something to get used to.

Hope everyone has a great weekend! Stay tuned for some picts from our party.

Thursday

Hubby is finally home from RNR - hope he stays for a few days. Planning to can tomatoes on Saturday; the Millers are planning to come over to help. Work is ridiculous busy - yech!

Leg

Good Morning. The procedure went fine yesterday. I even would have made it to work on time if the doctor had been on time because it only took about 15 minutes. It was not painful, just stung a bit when he was sticking the numbing compound into the vein. This morning, my thigh is a bit sore, but not bad. I have to wear a compression stocking for 10 days during the daytime and go in this afternoon for an ultrasound to check it. But it isn't so uncomfortable that I'll miss work or skip having the other leg done next week.

Holiday End

Hi, all. We had a nice Labor Day. Jason came over and we went out for lunch at a cool marina-side restaurant called Ozona Blue. Many of you have been to Molly Goodhead's not far from there. This had indoor & outdoor seating with a dock for boats to tie up. There was a pool and misters and fans to cool things off. (We ate inside:) Then Jason got to look at our vacation pictures. Don't laugh, he said he enjoyed it!
He has a new roommate. Ross is a friend of a friend and Jason knew him in high school, sort of. He works at the Home Shopping Channel as a cameraman. He has a dog and Toby seems to mostly enjoy the company.
Tomorrow morning, I have the varicose veins in my right leg laser zapped. They have been hurting and this is the latest and greatest treatment. It isn't surgery so there's no prep and no restrictions post-treatment so I am planning on going to work right afterward. I'll let you know how it goes.

Jason and I went to the Tigers-Rays game Sat night. Jason's friend gave him the seats (right behind first base) and a parking pass real close to the field. We had a great time and the Tigers won. However the cowbells gave me a huge headache.

Labor Day Weekend

Hello all...hope all of you are enjoying the long weekend! Our weather here is gorgeous - highs in the low 80s during the day and low 70s high 60s at night. Even though Eric and I both worked Friday and we both work tomorrow, we did have yesterday and today off together. Yesterday was very laid back. We slept in, caught up on the newspaper, and then went grocery shopping.

Today was a bit more productive. I went to church this morning, then this afternoon we went to a festival that is an annual event for a local high school. We were amazed how HUGE it was! They had rides for little kids and big kids and games for kids and adults. The most popular games are Black Jack and Texas Hold 'Em - they even had custom Black Jack tables that had the schools mascot and logo on them. It was pretty cool!

After checking out the festival, we headed to Meijer to finish our grocery shopping and then headed home to start cooking...and cook we did! First I made smoothies as a "snack" to keep our tummies happy until dinner. Then I made meatballs and meatloaf and Eric grilled marinated chicken. With all the choices, we had to pick something for dinner...so we made angel hair pasta and shrimp tossed in pesto topped with grilled chicken - YUM!!! And we're set for dinner for the week - so many delicious choices and we don't even have to leave home!

Eric is co-chairing a Fantasy Football League for J. Alexander's (the restaurant where he works) and the draft is tomorrow night after work. He's been planning/prepping for his draft for over a month now, he's like a little kid, he's so excited! :)

That's all for now...hope you all have a wonderful Labor Day!

Friday before holiday weekend.....

3:00 PM - On your marks.........

TGIF!

Joni and Eric, I can't tell you enough how bummed out I am for you both. I can't stop thinking about your situation. Hoping this stays in the past where it belongs, and doesn't effect your future. It just flat out sucks.

Things are going well with us. Scott is at about 95% and is back to work full time. He even started exercising this past week, though he is taking it easy so don't worry...It's been great having him back to normal.

Evan and I have been fighting a tummy bug all week. We both feel pretty close to normal, but Evan now has quite the diaper rash on his bum. I guess we should consider ourselves lucky that this is his first real bad case of it. I've been letting him parade around without any pants or a diaper every once in awhile and that seems to be helping. I hope I'm not setting myself up for future pants-less behavior, but it's probably coming anyway, so what the heck. It's been helping.

We don't have too much going on this weekend. My dad and stepmom are still in the area - staying at Midland fairgrounds - so we'll probably go visit with them tomorrow so they can show off the twins to all of their friends also staying there for the RV rally that's going on right now. Sunday we have a BBQ to go to, and Monday we'll just take it easy. Nothing too crazy.

Hope everybody has a great loooong weekend!

change of scenery

Well everyone, we're finally finished moving. Mostly anyway. There's a small load of stuff that is left at the old place, along with cleaning supplies and tomato plants...both things we have to have. Jim and Suzanne helped with some painting on Tuesday, and Suz went back last night to start the clean up job. I plan on returning Saturday morning to finish everything, turn in my keys, and NEVER go back!

We managed to fit all our stuff, after a bit of downsizing, into our new apartment. It actually has a lot more space than I thought. Flynn's room is the only room totally set up, complete with new Race car bed, that's the picture. Got both our couches and TV in the living room, still leaving enough space for Wii playing. We have a lot of work to do on our dinning room, and getting all our clothes put away. I think we're going to make room for our fish tank again, Flynn just loves fishes. Met our neighbor yesterday while the movers were doing their thing. We live in a 2 flat, and the basement is reserved for the landlords traveling family whenever they come through. So the residents are us and this other family living above us. Stay at home mom with 2 daughters, a 6 month-old, and a 3 year old, just a week older than Flynn. Dad works downtown by day, rocker by night, just like Pat. I hope we'll be great friends!

Moving stinks, I'm glad its over now. I hope the next time we move will be to our own purchased home instead of rented apartments. That's our goal. Thank you so much Mom for coming by and helping! Suz, thank you a thousand times for helping, bringing Jim, and just offering your overall kindness and support. Couldn't have done it w/o family!

Things in Dayton

I'm feeling pretty crummy for the fourth day in a row. Started with a sore throat and stuffy head, now the congestion has moved into my chest giving me a rattling cough. Ugh...

We've also had a trying week in regard to the townhouse we left behind in Fort Myers. As many of you already know, we started trying to rent it out as soon as we learned we were moving. After four months and no lookers (because of a saturated market) we decided to bite the bullet and list it for sale - knowing it would be a Short Sale. We made payments as long as we possibly could and stayed in constant communication with the bank. As a matter of fact, we were in touch with the bank BEFORE we ever missed a single payment to let them know our circumstances. The response: "You are currently not in default on your loan. Therefore, not a priority. We are only working with homeowners in default 90 days or more."

Since we'd carried two house payments as long as we could (mortgage in Florida, rent in Ohio), come January we could no longer make the mortgage. Again, we filed the proper paperwork and hired a real estate agent that specializes in Short Sales.

We received and accepted an offer for sale in April and submitted it to Wachovia along with a VERY long list of information they demanded. After months of following up via phone calls, faxes, emails, and letters - meeting their EVERY demand - we were consistently told that they were inundated and had not assigned a loan negotiator to our file.

Then at the beginning of August we received a letter in the mail saying that a final foreclosure has been issued and it will be sold in foreclosure on Aug 27. I immediately called our Realtor to find out WHAT THE HECK???

She was stunned and said she'd find out ASAP what was going on. She spoke with the bank and found out that the loss mitigation department had NO IDEA we had a short sale submitted. They said that they would put a "stay" on the foreclosure if we submitted updated paperwork since everything was "outdated" from the April submission. We did so, immediately, and once again played the waiting game. Meanwhile, our Realtor was in contact with the bank on a DAILY basis.

Then last Tuesday (8/25) the negotiator the Realtor had been working with added 2 additional documents to the "MUST HAVE" list before they would officially postpone the foreclosure. Negotiator said we had to have it in by 3pm on Wednesday (8/26) and we complied. Then on Friday (8/28) our realtor received a phone call followed by an email, stating that all information needed for a complete package was received "too late" to submit to the attorneys and postpone the foreclosure.

The foreclosure went as originally scheduled on Thursday (8/27) - screwing the buyers out of the house, our realtor out of ANY compensation for her eight months of hard work and us out of any chance to salvage the damage to our credit.

Our realtor called me with the news while I was on the road for work and I had to pull over b/c I was sobbing so hard. This is the most infuriating situation I've ever been in. We followed all the rules and not only paid by losing our home and credit...but now, Eric's opportunity to find a better job could be compromised because of bad credit. We've found (through personal experience) that more and more corporations are giving credit scores and history a lot of weight in the hiring decision - even if all the other job criteria is met.

I know "this too shall pass". And I'm glad that it's over, in spite of the means, but right now I'm furious and am mourning the loss.

help

Monday hauffeuered a neighbor to the Retina Eye Center and it took 2 hours to get checked. He had little bleeding and did not get a shot in his eye and we were thankful for that. He took us to Shrimp Shack for supper and when we got home he sent 1/2 homade lemon pie with us. He is close to blind and a severe diabetic, can't drive anymore and the folks in the Park take turns transportating him.

FYI our Sunday night card playing group were together and the women slaughtered the men. Card game was bid euchre and it challenges all. Of course the men "let us win" but the score indicated otherwise.

Busy week

Ray left for RNR yesterday but had trailer trouble before he got to Clare. The spring on the Gator trailer broke but he was rescued by Paul and another friend of Ray's. I'm going up Friday after work, one of the thousand flocking north for the last hurrah of summer. Ray said the trees are already changing color up north. This pic is from a couple years ago.

This is a busy training week for my new person. It will be quite intense starting today after lunch. But to assuage that, Tracy is bringing the kids over to MP for lunch and "show and tell" for Gemma at the office. A great relaxer for me!

Update

I sat through the calling of 3 prospective jury panels. They randomly call 30 numbers at a time and missed me each time. Yay. Job is still going great. Our DJJ team has a meeting tomorrow to get our "process" down on paper so we meet the criteria for the state & federal grants. This might clear up some questions for me.

Next week, I'm having my right leg treated for varicose veins. It is a relatively new procedure called endovenous laser therapy and uses a laser fiber inserted into the vein. Laser ablation inside the vein makes the vein close up. The veins are quite painful during/after jogging and even walking sometimes. It is very low risk, there is no general anesthesia so no prep, and I can go to work right after. The left leg is scheduled for the following week.