The Leo Curse, Part Deux

A few weeks ago I wrote about our rolltop desk fiasco.  Long story short, as they say, things turned out fine after all.  It was a bit complicated--bought desk #1 which turned out to be too small for my needs; listed desk #1 on Craigslist and ended up selling it for more than we paid for it; purchased and picked up desk #2 which turned out to be perfect.  Here are pictures of the new desk. 

                                      Pretty, isn't it?

                            Lots of neat cubbies and drawers.

                                The piece de resistance........

                               .......my 17" laptop fits.  YAY!!!

Ready for the next Leo Curse crisis?  Stay tuned--I'll keep you posted!

Is my face red!!

Last night my daughter emailed to tell me that one of the blogs I follow on "My Blog List" had an--ahem!--inappropriate picture and some writing in a foreign language.  When I checked it out, I almost died of embarrassment.  In the place of what had been an interesting and informative political blog there was now a sexy picture and something written in Russian.  I clicked on the link just to see if perhaps it was a joke, but it wasn't. It was some kind of Russian pornography site.  Ick!!  So I quickly logged in and removed the link.  I have no idea how long it was on my page, but I do want to apologize if anyone saw it and was offended.  Lesson learned: check blog often!!  You never know when you're going to be hacked, or when a Russian pornographer is going to co-opt one of your links.  :-(

Early Summer Fun

I just thought I'd add a few pictures of Leo and Etta being cute this summer so far. They both love the pool, and since summer came so early this year--temps in the 100s from early June--we've had lots of opportunities to enjoy the water. Leo will be 3 at the end of August and is smart as a whip, and Etta, who will be 6 months old (I cannot believe it!) July 7, is growing and flourishing like a little weed. We can't wait til the Cribbies return in August from their summer at Kanakuk so we can get all the cousins together again!!

Here's Etta showing off her pink tutu bathing suit.

 

                                  Can she be any girlier??

                      Leo, of course, is all boy and all fun.

                Etta, sporting her sun hat before a dip in the pool.

                What a life--floating in a dolphin with mama nearby!

     Leo is really into water noodles.  He likes to line one up with the pool jet so the water flows through to the other end.....

                                           ....like this.

          After a refreshing swim, what could be more fun than playing 2 recorders at once?

Or showing your flexibility by sucking on your own clean feet?

The saddest day of the year

You may be wondering why I'm so sad with this beautiful trio to delight and amaze me on a regular basis.  Today is Wednesday, and 3 days ago these sweet angels left with their parents for the annual 3-month stint at Kanakuk Kamps near Branson, Missouri. It's a wonderful experience for the kids, and Jenni and Dave absolutely love working there.  Kanakuk summers are the reason Dave gave up a career in aerospace engineering to become an AP physics teacher.  That move was engineering's loss and education's gain.  He's a wonderful teacher.  There is a multitude of good reasons for their commitment to Kanakuk, and they look so forward to their time there every year.  But with every passing summer and each new addition to their family, it gets harder and harder for those of us they leave behind.

I know, I sound like a whiney puss.  So many of my friends' kids live across the country from them, and I am so blessed to have mine close by.  Still, it's a jolt to suddenly go from easy access to the kids whenever I want, to Skyping with them once a week.  I always pray they'll remember us when they come back at the end of summer.  Zoey will, and maybe Ruby.  We'll have to get reacquainted with little Maggie, though.  A lot of changes take place when one is growing from 4 months to 7 months of age.

An unexpected turn of events caused the family's normal 7-hour trip to turn into a 27-hour nightmare.  As they approached the last leg of their drive, the giant storm that caused all the destruction and death in Joplin, MO engulfed them in northwest Arkansas.  It was so bad they eventually had to find a hotel for the night because it was getting dark and the weather was making driving hazardous.  It's a good thing they took shelter, because there were tornado warnings for the entire area.  The next morning, after a relatively good night's sleep, they were able to continue on to Kanakuk, and while the weather was still pretty bad, driving in daylight wasn't quite so treacherous.  Needless to say, I was more than relieved to hear they had made it to their destination.

The following are some recent memory-making photos and videos of the girls to help Grammy get through the summer.  Enjoy!!

                                           Zoey

Ruby

 

                                                  Maggie

                                   Decorating cookies with Grammy

                                          Chatterbox Maggie                            

                                      A tender moment between sisters

The Leo Curse

Many of you know I retired in November after more than 20 years as a medical transcriptionist. I wasn't really ready to retire; my major account was outsourced to the Philippines and none of my transcription buddies had any extra work to share. Tony was very supportive and encouraged me to embrace retirement, and I'm very glad he did. I love being retired with him!!

Over the past few months I've dispersed all the accoutrements of my profession: books, headphones, foot pedal, software, and the enormous desk that took up half my home office. This left me with nowhere to stash my laptop and stuff, so we went in search of a smaller, more appropriate desk. None of the furniture stores we visited had anything that clicked, so phase II was initiated: Craigslist. I finally decided on a rolltop desk, since the desk would be one of the first things people would see when they entered our house, and the rolltop would hide my--ahem--untidiness. The space I wanted to use for the desk was limited and rolltops, I've come to discover, come in a multitude of sizes, shapes, and dimensions. I finally found one I liked that would fit--in Caddo Mills, TX. Caddo Mills is a tiny hamlet of just over 1,100 people about a 2-hour drive northeast of us. (Incidental info--it boasts 3 fine dining establishments: Bucky's Cafe, Subway, and the infamous Mona Lisa Pizza) The owner of the desk was a precious, 71-year-old grandmother who no longer had need of the desk and was selling it for $100. That alone made it worth the 5 or so hours we spent Sunday afternoon driving to and from Caddo Mills to pick it up, and the tankful of gas for son-in-law Dave's Suburban. It was a very pleasant drive, even listening to engineer Dave and Tony discuss solar panels and other technical matters that normally hurt my head.

The desk was in immaculate condition and it fit perfectly into its designated spot. I fell in love with it immediately, and I couldn't wait to start filling its drawers, nooks, and crannies. First things first, though--to see how the laptop would fit on the desktop.

Ever since Tony and I joined forces in 1974, we've had a running joke about the "Leo Curse". It's similar to Murphy's Law. That, combined with my innate clumsiness and absence of visionary attributes, is an almost certain recipe for disaster. Sure enough, the curse struck with a vengeance Sunday. I pushed up the rolltop, set my laptop on the desk, and opened 'er up.

I could only open the laptop about halfway before the bottom edge of the rolltop stopped me in my tracks. Of course I had never even considered such a potential problem. After all, Tony has a rolltop desk in our master bedroom, albeit a little larger than mine, and his laptop fits with room to spare. But my new/old desk is designed a little differently, and it's not only shallower from front to back than Tony's, but it is also arranged differently on the inside. There is no way the laptop will fit in its open position. We are currently trying to find a solution to this obstacle.

That's as far as the laptop will open. Sigh.

Of course, I could type with a third of it hanging off the edge of the desk, but that's not an optimum solution.

We're open to any and all suggestions. Anyone who comes up with a workable arrangement will be awarded a yummy treat from Mo's kitchen. Seriously!!

Happy Grammy with all her angels

April 18, 2011.  Clockwise from top left: Maggie Cribbs ( 3 months), Grammy (61), Etta Wiese (3 1/2 months), Zoey Cribbs (4), Leo Wiese ( 2 1/2), Ruby Cribbs (2).

Excitement in the 'hood

We had a bit of excitement/fear/uneasiness on our street this morning.  Tony and I had been out and were on our way home when we heard sirens.  Not unusual, right?  Imagine our surprise when we got home and found that the sirens were headed our way.  A house just up the street was on fire!  Fortunately, Lewisville's finest were here within moments, ready to get things under control.  In fact, a total of 12 fire trucks, EMT vehicles, and other support vehicles showed up, discharging personnel like clowns from a VW.  The reason for all the trucks and firemen was the wind.  It's been extremely windy and dry here for the past few days, and fire personnel had to act quickly so the fire didn't spread to neighboring homes.

They did a magnificent job, controlling the situation and preventing further destruction.  The resident of the home, an elderly lady, was evacuated quickly with no injuries.  At this point we're not sure where the fire started, but there was a lot of water-soaked debris piled up on the driveway in back, and the firemen cut a 6' x 6' hole in the roof with a chainsaw.  And a truck from the electric utility company showed up a short time later, so the source of the fire may have been a wiring problem. 

We haven't had this much action on our street since our very first Thanksgiving in Texas.  Tony, the girls, and I had been here about 4 months.  We were enjoying Thanksgiving dinner in our new dining room when we saw something that assured us that we were, indeed, living in Texas--a man on horseback was chasing a cow up the street, lasso in hand!  You just don't see such things in Boca Raton, where we had previously lived. 

I guess now we can go another 27 years before the next big event on our quiet little street.