I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I'm cold!!! And, I like it. It's a cool low 40's right now here in Tampa. I guess the pool is officially closed until we flip on the heater. I'm just enjoying having the windows open and the AC off. However, it's supposed to be short lived. We are supposed to be back in the 80's on Saturday.

Hard to believe October is almost over. Man it's flying by. Mark has his Halloween costume ready to go for Friday. He's a skeleton. We finally came up with a Book-O-Ween costume too. He is going to be Jack from the Magic Tree House series. Since the kids aren't allowed to celebrate Halloween in school, they have Book-O-Ween where they dress up as their favorite book character. Last year he was a cub scout from the Berenstein Bears series. It's fun to come up with the ideas but there are parents who go way overboard. There are also a lot of parents who come up with the coolest costume/character ideas. I remember growing up making our Halloween costumes out of boxes and stuff. We never had costumes bought at the store.

Last week was an absolutely crazy week. The garage door broke yet again. They had been out to fix it on Thursday. It was raining on Friday and since the garage door was in need of repair again, Steve took my van since it's windshield has a leak (I need to put that on the top of my to do list). Since he works downtown, the van would be in a parking garage. So off he goes with the van I and I drove the Camry. About halfway home from dropping Mark off at school, I realized that there is no house key on my Camry ring. Hopefully, the garage door would open since the house is locked. Nope. So, as I sat in the car in the rain, oh yeah, in my pajama's, I pondered what to do. I called Steve to come home. Guess what? He doesn't have a house key on his van keys. Uh oh. So, we sat and waited for a locksmith to come and let us into the house. $55 later, I was in my dry house. The garage door guy came that afternoon and found the "real" problem. He felt so bad, he fixed it for free and didn't charge us for the new part. Lesson learned here is not to rely on the garage door or it's key pad to let you in. So, we will now have house keys on every key ring (another thing to add to my endless to d0 list). Also when said garage door was acting up, a snake was able to make his way into the garage. Not uncommon here in FL but he was a "bad" snake. With a water bottle and broom I was able to get him out. But before I could get to the shovel he was blocking, he got away. I had the heebie jeebies for days after that. I have no sympathy for snakes. If you come into my yard, garage or my pool, be prepared. Now my only problem with the garage is the "mystery odor". The garbage is out and the fridge is clean so I have no idea where/what the smell is. So, this weekened it will probably be a day to haul everything out and find the mystery smell.

Liz is coming home on Friday. Woo Hoo. Just in time for the new mall that is opening down the road. She's freezing up in Gainesville so she needs to get what few "winter" clothes she has. She is also requesting, closed toe shoes. She's a flip flop gal. She's definately changed her tune. I even convinced her before she left for school to invest in gym shoes (which she did). Since she joined a sorority, she's had to do a lot of crafty stuff. She likes it! I love this new side of her.

Baseball wraps up this week too. Yeah. I will finally have my late afternoons free. Other than Mathnasium tutoring, I will not have to get out in that traffic. Oh happy day. Oh yeah, Steve was able to score World Series tickets last week so he and Greg got to go to Game #2 (which they won). I really hope the Rays can win this. They are such a fun team. Go RAYS.................

Well, better get my butt into gear. Today is a half day. The teachers will now have one Wednesday a month where school gets out early so they can have a planning day. When we lived in Utah, they had a planning day one day a week! Kids are looking forward to it though. I reminded them though that they still have homework and it's not "a day off".

Have a wonderful Wednesday. Make it a good one.

Finally

Fall has finally arrived in Tampa. Hopefully it will stay. For the first time since last Spring, we've been able to turn of the A/C. It was in the low 60's this morning. There is nothing like opening up all the windows and sliding door and have some fresh air in the house. The high today is supposed to be only 83--a much welcome relief since we have had a hot Fall. Hopefully it will last but I know we are not done with the high 80's yet. This is the time of year I really miss living in Ohio. The cool, crisp air. Not to mention the beautiful leaves changing color. But, I don't miss the long, dreary, cold winters. We usually flip on the pool heater and swim on Thanksgiving and over Christmas break.

How about those Tampa Bay Rays? Wasn't it great that they were able to finally pull off the championship. I was beginning to lose hope after that disastrous game #5. I cannot wait to experience World Series festivities again. When the Reds were in the World Series back in 1990, it was awesome. I was working downtown and it was like a party every day. Hopefully, it will be like that here. The Buccaneers won last night on Sunday night football. The Super Bowl is here in Tampa as well. Would that be great to see the Bucs play in the Super Bowl in their own town? It was a good day for the Tampa teams. The mighty Bengals?? Lost again.

Yesterday, my friend, Terri, Emily and I drove up to Gainesville to visit Liz. It was so fun. Her dorm is so cute and all her sorority stuff is cute. Terri and I decided we want to go back to college and start our own sorority. We went to brunch and then did some shopping. Didn't buy very much but she now is no longer a starving college student and has a fridge full of food. I totally forgot to take some pictures. Took the camera but got all caught up visiting and just having fun. She's not able to come home until Thanksgiving so I may just take another road trip up there in a few weeks. I'm so happy that she is enjoying it there.

Today it's off to a birthday lunch with my friend, Barb. Other than that, it's just another day for me. Laundry, picking up kids, Greg has a chiropractor appointment. Just the usual stuff. Thank goodness gas is finally coming down.

Have a wonderful Monday.

{Homecoming 2008}

Well, here they are. This year's Homecoming pictures. This was his first year going (he's never wanted to go before this). This is also his first tux. Is he handsome or what? He just got his braces off earlier in the summer so this picture is just perfect to me.

Here's Miss Em. This is her first ever Homecoming as well. How pretty is she? I loved her dress. Purple is definately her color. We went this afternoon and had her hair done and it turned out so pretty. Can't believe she's in high school now.

I made them take this picture together. All the pictures have been of Greg and Liz but now that Liz is off to college and Emily is at the school, I will have pictures of these two together for two years. This time next year will be Greg's final year in school and hopefully by then he will have an idea of where he wants to attend college. I don't know if he will go up to UF or attend somewhere else. His dream colleges are the University of Cincinnati, Xavier or Ohio State. Since they are out of state, I don't see it happening. I would love for him to be a Gator. It would make my life so much easier if they were at the same college, but it is his choice.

I cannot wait to get my hands on the hard copies of these photos and start scrapping them. I have a few ideas in mind what I want to do. Right now, my problem is staying up late so I can go pick them up. The dance is over at 11 but they are going out afterward for dessert. Lucky me though--they are both going to the same place. I'm just not one to stay up late. But, it doesn't happen that often so I can do it.

Tomorrow I'm off to a craft show and then come home and bake goodies and food for Liz. Sunday, I am driving up to Gainesville to spend the day with her. I can't wait to see everything she and Heather have done to their dorm. Plus, I promised to take her to the grocery store.

Have a wonderful weekend. Don't forgot to root for the Rays. After last nights game they need all the "positive vibes" they can get.

Getting ready for homecoming here. Not trying to get one kid ready but two. Tux is picked up, hair is done, just waiting to get dressed and get the night started. Be back soon with pictures.

This is what I was able to catch on my camera earlier. I was coming home and it was drizzling. It was also sunny out. You can see where it was raining and the bright blue sky with white puffy clouds. This is typical here in Florida. It never did start to rain. As I look out the window as I type this, the moon is as white and clear as can be. I really do wish it would rain though. We need it so bad. Today was HOT. It was about 91 degrees. When Emily and I left in the car earlier, the thermometer in the car said 98 degrees. Don't forget to factor in the humidy.

What a great weekend is was for Florida sports teams. First, the Gators kicked some LSU butt. Liz said the game was fun but wild. They ended up leaving at halftime to avoid the mayhem that usually happens with these two teams. How about those Rays? I can't believe we stayed up until 1:30 am watching that game. I am paying for it today. We also had to flip and see who won the NASCAR race--Jeff Burton. A good guy won for a change. Finally, today, the Buccaneers kicked butt against the Panthers. It was a great Sports weekend. Those Bengals? Lost again. I've had to put the Bengals jerseys away. Kind of embarassed to wear them.

These weekend flew by. Homecoming is Friday night and I think we are finally good to go. Emily and her friends are having dinner here and then going on over. Greg is going with a group of his friends. He rented his tux today. Can't wait to take those pictures. They will be priceless. I'm ordering a lunch meat tray for Em and her friends. I figured why risk getting something on their dresses. I love Subway trays so that's what we have planned. She also requested salad and mini cheesecakes for dessert. That I can do. I'm so excited for her. This is her first Homecoming. Just seems like yesterday, Liz was going to hers. I think I did the same thing for her and her friends that year.

Next weekend, she asked me to come up to Gainesville to visit. I haven't been up there since we moved her in but she has come home twice. She wants to show me all the stuff they've done to their dorms, see the sorority house and of course take her grocery shopping. She's asked me to bring up some homemade pasta salad and rice. I can handle that.

Well, I'm off to keep organizing and purging my scrapbook space. It's so out of control. What better timing too--The Amazing Race is starting.

So, that being said, have a wonderful evening. Hopefully everyone will have a great week ahead.

Here it is Tuesday again. Where is the time going? It's been a few busy weeks here in our house. First, there's this. Finally! Those two front teeth finally came out. The one was really stubborn and was looking pretty gross so he wiggled and wiggled until it finally came out.

Steve and I celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary. We spent it at the Elementary School's Fall Festival. It was fun but not my idea of how to celebrate an anniversary. Saturday was too busy as well so we are hoping to go out to a nice dinner this upcoming weekend. I spent Saturday making cards for the Veterans Hospital. It was World Cardmaking Day. They turned out really cool. Steve did get me a new hot pink Ipod Nano. Love it. I'm working on getting all my tunes loaded into it.



Also Friday night Liz's big sister revealed herself. She was thrilled and I was able to get some of the pictures off her Facebook.

Look how cute they are. She is loving being a Phi Mu.

Less than two weeks until Homecoming. Emily is pretty much all ready to go. We still need to find some silver shoes. Doesn't anyone make shoes for teens anymore? Everything out there looks like "hooker heels". Geesh people. I don't mind heels but some of these heels are ridiculously high for a 14 year old. We still have to get Greg something. He's thinking he just wants to wear black pants and shirt with a tie. I'm ok with that. If he would only make up his mind!

How about those Tampa Bay Rays? I've always been a Cincinnati Reds fan but since moving to Tampa, we try and go to a few Rays game every year. It's cheap and it's easy to get tickets. I'm sure they won't be anymore. Who knew a team could turn it around like they did? It's so cool to watch them. We've been to a few games this year and we are trying to get play off tickets but so far no luck. You have to enter a pool and so far we've been unlucky. How cool would it be to get World Series tickets if they make it. I guess the Reds only have one more year here in Florida with their Spring training camp. We go to those too but they are up and moving to Arizona. So, I think we will officially be a Rays family from now on.

That's about all that's been going on in our house. It's just been run, run, run. People say that the economy is bad but I can tell you that I am doing my share to keep it going. :) The gas stations love me and with all the shopping I've done lately, I'm sure some department store stocks should go up with all our Homecoming purchases.

Have a great one!

{It's Renee's Special Day}

Go check out Renee's blog Life With My Special Ks. Today marks her one year blog anniversary. I actually don't remember how I came across her blog, but I was hooked. I have my coffee every morning to her blog. She is an amazing woman with an amazing family. To celebrate her blog anniversary, she's having an awesome give-a-way. Go check out her blog. Once you do, you will find yourself having your morning coffee with her too.