I almost miss the stress

After so many weeks of aggravation and the most grueling mortgage approval process in the history of the world (it sure felt that way), after nearly 300 emails from realtors, mortgage brokers, underwriters, title companies, etc., after what seemed like a hundred faxes and possibly a thousand phone calls, we finally had a closing date. Yesterday at 3:30. Our flight landed at 11:30. Our realtor picked us up from the Tampa airport, drove us all the way to the townhouse in Spring Hill for the final walk through (everything was absolutely perfect), drove us back to Tampa where the closing was taking place. We then had a couple of hours to kill, so we had lunch. At 3:00 we went into the office. "The package" had not yet arrived. What we learned at that point was, that "the package" consisted of documents from the underwriter. Once it arrived, there was approximately 45 minutes worth of preparation from the title company. Let's bear in mind that our flight to go home was scheduled for 7:15. Let's also bear in mind that we were 45 minutes away from the airport. Let's also bear in mind that it is summer in Florida, so that means it was POURING RAIN. Let's also bear in mind that the closing process takes a minimum of an hour. 3:30 no package. 4:00 no package. 4:15 the package arrives. 5:10 we start the closing. My heart pounding out of my chest as we sign our lives away.... At 6:20 we leave for the airport. Did I mention it was POURING? Did I mention we were in down town Tampa at rush hour? Did I mention the flight was at 7:15? Actually at this point, we had learned it was delayed 10 minutes, so 7:25. STRESS!!!! We arrived at the airport at 7:00. RAN through to the security gate. Of course there's a huge line. Tick tock goes the clock. Poor hubby had to run to the gate holding his belt in one hand and his shorts up with the other!!! We run, run, run to the gate ....... only to discover the plane isn't even there yet! Thank goodness for the rain. It was delayed an hour. We had time to eat. We've been relaxing ever since. I'm not sure what to do with myself...

Two short videos

Here's a clip of the kids walking into the courthouse to put on the ball and chain: (Take special notice of Justin's hand placement as Vanessa snaps the picture!!)



And here's a little clip I'll call "Step Brothers..." Sorry about the blurriness at the beginning...

Prada Puppy greets us at the airport!

So, with much help from the hubby-we figured out how to upload the videos. Now that I can do it, I will post more possibly tomorrow. For now, just keep replaying this one and keep looking at my sweetie......

Gone in a flash

As I sit here writing this from my living room back in RAINY, New York, I can't help but wonder where the past week disappeared to. So many things were jammed into one week's time, that it all seems like a dream. Yet, when we pulled back into the driveway last night, it felt as though we were gone forever. The first day in Clearwater, we (from here forward, "we" refers to the hubby, all three kids, (Justin, Vanessa, and Josh), mother in law, Charlotte, and brother in law, Rob)walked over to a little restaurant called "Lenny's." It was right next door to the hotel, looked decent, so we figured "why not?" It was awesome! I had matzah brie!!! It was as good as my mom and grandmas used to make!! Who would have guessed, in Clearwater?!! After lunch, we were able to hit the beach. Hot sun, white sand, green water, that taste of salt on the lips...what's not to love?








































A previous post described day two, so I won't repeat that here. Day three was the walk through of the townhouse in preparation for what we had hoped would be the closing on Friday.


































































































































































Day four was my then-soon-to-be-daughter-in-law, Vanessa's, nursing school graduation(which originally was the reason for the trip).


























































































Day five was reserved for relaxing at the pool. Because day six was the wedding. Congratulations to my son, Justin and his wife, my new daughter in law, Vanessa!!


































































































































































On day seven there was more relaxing at the pool (those pictures seem to be missing in action, although we've got great video, which I can't seem to upload here). We also played miniature golf, because, as my brother-in-law, Rob, says - "What's a vacation without putt putt?" And, alas, I must admit defeat, by 3 strokes to the hubby - bummer. Day eight was spent at the pool in the morning and a trip to the airport because the in laws went home. Hubby and I decided to take a gamble and stay a couple of more days with the hope of closing on the townhouse. No such luck; however. We made a short visit to the flea market on Sunday and spent Monday laying low. Our flight was delayed an hour coming home. Upon going through security we discovered that you cannot take snow globes onto the plane. (Since nearly all the souvenirs I purchased were snowglobes or some variation of such, we had to buy a small bag at the airport to put them in.) I carefully wrapped them all in my sweater, put them in the newly acquired bag. Hubby was escorted by security back to baggage check (clear across the airport) while I waited at the gate. Upon our arrival home, we unpacked the bag to discover nearly everything was broken. The blue water inside, staining my sweater. Oh well, at least we didn't come home to a flood this time!!!!

Eat at Crabby Bills and get Free gulls on the side

Day two at Clearwater (we'll get back to day one later). Dinner at Crabby Bills. El Fresco. Shrimp, scallops, salmon, oysters, sea gulls. Yep. They came right in, circled the tables, marked their target, and came in for the swoop, score.......luckily it was a woman's plate who was 2 tables away! True story though. We got it on video. Only problem is I still can't figure out how to upload vidoes on here. I mean, I know how, but when I view the blog, they're not there. Oh well. We'll discuss the previous events of the trip later. Ta ta for now.

Talk about everything at once.....

We are leaving for Florida in the morning. We will be there for 8 days. This trip was originally planned four months ago for this particular week in order to attend my soon to be daughter in law, Vanessa's nursing school graduation. As it turns out, not only will we be doing that, but also during this timeframe, we will be attending a a wedding ceremony, a closing on a townhouse, and a celebration dinner for all. Oh and I will get to feel my granddaughter up close and personal! The weeks building up to all these events has been well, let's just say there have been a myriad of emotions. I don't know how many of you have gone through the purchase of a home since this economy hit the (well, you know). It seems it might be just a little bit easier to be cleared to work for the secret service, than to get a mortgage approved. I swear, I'm waiting for the phone to ring and them to ask for some teeth out of my mouth, or perhaps some blood, or maybe one of my kids as collateral!! Ugghhh!!!!! Anyhow, the latest word is that by Tuesday we should have the definite closing date, which we are hoping is Friday. On Tuesday, Vanessa graduates nursing school and I could not be more proud of her - for sure I will cry! On Thursday, Justin and Vanessa will become Mr. and Mrs. Wise. Through those tears will be excitement for their new life together and more pride for me as I can officially call her my daughter. As mentioned earlier, hopefully the closing will be on Friday and then we can return to New York, just before we would have to help the kids move!!! Through all this, my boss retired. Today was her last day and that in itself was quite emotional! I sure hope somewhere in this schedule is time for relaxation.........and maybe a licky or two from my Pradapuppy!!!!!!!!

Granddaughter update

In case anyone's curious - this is what my granddaughter looks like in her momma's womb now. Almost 1 foot and nearly 1 pound!! Fascinating, no?

22 Weeks Pregnant

Who says big boys don't cry?

Last weekend we had a surprise 80th birthday party for my uncle in law,
Boxy. He thought that he was making the trip from Baltimore to Stewartstown, Pennsylvania because it was a birthday party for me. (He didn't know my birthday is in December). Cousins, nieces, nephews, inlaws, outlaws (ha ha), daughters, and many other family members and honorary family members joined in the celebration. When he walked in, he was so surprised that it brought him to tears. I must say it was the best surprise party reaction I have ever witnessed. Especially when his daughter "came out of the woodworks!"

One thing I especially enjoy when chatting with folks of his generation is the storytelling. I asked him where the name "Boxy" came from. At first he said he did not know, that he had had it for as long as he could remember. Then it came to him -when he was a youngster growing up in Baltimore, he had a part time job delivering groceries. The produce was always packed in a box. The patrons would eagerly await their deliveries and when they saw him approaching up the block, they would yell out "hey box boy......" Eventually "Box Boy" turned into "Boxy" and that is what he is affectionately called to this day - nearly 70 years later. I don't even know his birth name!

Check out a picture of Boxy in his newly acquired Yankee jersey. (I wonder where he got that from?!!!) Orioles fan that he is, he still took on my father in law's tradition of proudly wearing Yankee gear, because it was given by someone special!!!!

Installing a husband

The following was emailed to me but I found it so funny that, well, here you go:


INSTALLING A HUSBAND

Dear Tech Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slow down in overal

system performance, particularly in the flower and jewelry applications, which operated flawlessly

under Boyfriend 5.0 .

In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as
* Romance 9.5 and
* Personal Attention 6.5,

and then installed undesirable programs , such as

* NHL 5.0,
* CFL 3.0 and
* MLB 4.1

Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2. 6 simply crashes the system.

* Please note that I have tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.

What can I do?

Signed,
Desperate.

DEAR DESPERATE ,

First, keep in mind,
* Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while
* Husband 1.0 is an operating system.

Please enter command: ithoughtyoulovedme.html and try to download Tears 6.2 and do not forget

to install the Guilt 3.0 update.
* If that application works as designed, Husband1.0 should then automatically run the applications

Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5.

However, remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to

Grumpy Silence 2.5 , Happy Hour 7.0 or Beer 6.1 .
* Please note that Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download theSnoring Loudly Beta.

Whatever you do, D0 NOT under any circumstances install Mother-In-Law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the

background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources.)

In addition, please do not attempt to re - install the Boyfriend 5.0 program.

These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0 .

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot

learn new applications quickly. You might consider buying additional software to improve

memory and performance. We recommend
* Cooking 3.0 and
* Hot Lingerie 7.7.

Good Luck Desperate