disturbing

I had a great weekend - hung out with old friends, watched the Indy race (Jocko was there, I watched on TV), ate lots of bad food - just a very nice weekend.

But I called my mom and the weirdest thing happened to my little sister. So here's the story.

Preface - My little sister, Susie, will be a sophomore at WMU in the fall, she is at home for the summer. Home is a nice neighborhood in Troy, MI.

Story - On Thurs. at about 7:30 my parents took my brother and sister to DQ for ice cream, they were gone maybe 20 minutes and came home like usual. My Dad walks down the hall to the bathroom and glances towards the laundry room - he realizes someone has broken the window to the side door of the house. If you know my parents you understand that this is where panic ensues.
So they call the cops and then check out the upstairs - the cops advised against doing this in the future, and they emphasized the point when they checked all of the closets and shower stalls with their guns drawn. None of my mom's jewelry is missing, the laptops are all accounted for and nothing else seems out of order.
This is where it gets creepy.
My mom asks Susie if she left her bedroom light on and her door open when they left for ice cream, she says "no," and heads up to see if any of her stuff is missing. Nothing is missing, but... Whoever broke in dumped out her dirty clothes hamper and took all of her dirty underpants and spread them all over the bathroom. GROSS!
Now the Troy Police have about a half dozen pairs of my sister's dirty undies as evidence, ha, ha! And my mom and Susie ripped through her room to make sure nothing "odd" was left behind. So all is now well, and Susie gets to go to Victoria's Secret and buy all new undies.

etc.

Yes, AJ, the cocktail sauce was to die for. Not sweet, just tomato-ee and spicy and yummy, I even dipped my bread in it. If any of you ever come to visit me save your pennies, because we are going to St. Elmo's for dinner, I loved it.

In other news, Mel came with Kobe and stayed at my house! We just hung out and let Kobe bond a little with his "Uncle Taco" and we went shopping, and the security guard at Nordstrom followed us around. I couldn't believe it! Did we really look that threatening? Mel's theory is that she carries the worlds largest purse (a very cool one, I might add) and was rifling around in it, so they probably got a little paranoid, even so I can honestly say it was the first time I have ever been tracked by mall security.

I'm cleaning house today and then running downtown to pick up Allison, one of my best friends from way back in middle school, and then we'll come back to my house and wait for Merissa and Adrienne - the other two best friends from way back - to come into town for the weekend. Yea, more friends!

Jocko is currently in Maryland for the weekend to watch his brother graduate from the Naval Academy. We're pretty proud of the little booger, he's graduating valedictorian. It's so funny to see him do that, and all you can think of is what a bonehead he is sometimes - but we love him.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Happy Happy

So today was my birthday, and it was nice. Jocko got me a frog garden statue, it's actually just what I wanted, and I hid it in the bushes in front of the house. I like it when there are little things hiding for you to find if you only look hard enough :)

This afternoon we went to the track because it was pole day for the upcoming race. I put on my sunscreen but forgot the tips of my ears, so they are a little crisp. We had a lot of fun, I won;t be going to the race this year, so it was nice to still be able to go to the track and see the cars run. I love how fast they are and the noise, and the smell, too. Then on the way home we went to El Rodeo (small, hole-in-the-wall Mexican place) fro dinner, mmm...good food!

The real birthday present is dinner tomorrow night. We are going to St. Elmo's, it's a super-nice steak house downtown that is famous for its shrimp cocktail sauce. Jocko says that it has so much horseradish in it that if you take a wiff your nose hairs will singe - can't wait.

Waiting

I am cutting out fabric for my window treatments in the dining room, it's not hard, but you need to concentrate, and it makes my head hurt. So I took a break and flipped on the TV and Sylvia Browne was on Montel (note: I never watch Montel, was just flipping channels). Have you seen this woman? She is a "psychic" but I got this vibe (through the tv, I know) that she just throws out random answers at people, but people were sobbing at her revelations about their loved ones. Oh, the power of suggestion.
Jocko is on his way home! So now I am waiting for him to get here.
Happy Friday!

PS - I bought a package of "krab meat" this week, I forgot how absolutely wonderful cocktail sauce is........mmm, I want to drink it!

Melon

The mystery smell was the melon, or rather the rind, a renegade piece had catapulted out of the trash can and didn't make it to the garbage in the garage. But I must say I was a bit excited to read Head's theory that I'm pregnant. I called the Taco and told him, he laughed and then he asked if I really thought I was. I'm not.

So after fighting with odors and running errands yesterday I came home and proceeded to lock my car keys in the car. Not a big deal if I wasn't living alone this week, but there wasn't much Jocko could do to help me from OH. So I called the good old insurance guy, and of course his office was closed so I get connected to the "Good Neighbor Help Line" after they check to see that I have a policy with them the girl asks if I want to call my own locksmith, or should she look one up for me, hmmm.... please look that up for me because I am currently in my garage because I can't get into my house. So I call the locksmith and he heads right over.

And while I waited I read the MTU Alum magazine because it was in the mailbox.

I don't know about you, but when I hire someone to break into my home/car I would hope I am dealing with a professional - I kind of expect some sort of uniform. Instead I get a guy straight out of the hood; his girlfriend/wife is all cracked out in the passenger seat and there is a baby (at least the child was properly restrained, and very cute)and a big, crazy looking guy in the back seat. And he didn't pull into my driveway, he parked in the street - not pulled off to the side, but in the middle of my narrow subdivision street. It took him about 10 minutes to get into the car and of course every single one of my neighbors rolled right passed while he was working - I felt so dumb. But, I got into my house and car.

I am taking a spare key to the neighbors house tonight.

PU!

There is a hidden source of stinkiness in my house; I don't know where it is coming from and it is super disturbing. At first I thought it was the garbage in the kitchen, so I took it out and aired out the house and lit a candle; I thought the stench was gone so I closed the windows and BANG! there's the stink again. Was it the candle -maybe?- so I open the windows again and the smell is once again gone. Ok, I'm thinking, it was definitely the clearance candle, throw it away; meanwhile I go upstairs and do some work. I come down later and am hit with this odor again! Seriously. Now I'm thinking it's the cantaloupe I just bought, so I cut it up and put it into the fridge and take the rind to the trash can in the garage. I'm thinking this has got to be the root of the offensive smell. No such luck.

Please help me figure out where this horrible stink is coming from, it smells like rotting fruit and I'm running out of possible causes.

Student Driver, School Buses, and Stevie Wonder

I went shopping this afternoon becuase Zippy needed a few things and I still had to buy wedding gifts. So on my way to the first set of stores I am stuck on the loop behind a student driver, AAAHHH!!! then we hit a death-trap on-ramp and 2 school buses merge in front of us. I felt like I was the last float in the Shriners Parade. But I was rocking out to Sttevie Wonder, so it wasn't that bad, plus I was wearing my new bright pink Born mules :)

I got everything I needed and the shopping monster was mostly contained, mission accomplished.

T*O*G*A

Remember how fun it was to put on a toga and put fake leaves in your hair? I just found these old pictures and thought I'd share :)

If you look very closely you'll see that the toga I am wearing in the picture on the right is the same toga Head is wearing in the picture on the left; she willed it to me when she graduated and I loved it, ecxept that it came to me with a bobby pin clipped on and when I tried to fold it the bobby pin whacked me in the head. OOFFF!

Speaking of Senior Wills - who remembers The Kimomo?

MELANNA!

Over the weekend I threw a wedding shower for my soon-to-be sister-in-law (now that's a mouth full). So on the way to Muskegon I stopped in Zeeland to visit Mel and Scott and baby Kobe.

We took some pictures and, as usual, we were unable to take one decent "serious" picture.







Kobe and his favorite Auntie Alanna, I just love his cheeks!

What I Love Right Now

* Lost - I am addicted to this show, I must Tivo it each week, and then dissect each episode with Jocko.
* Juicy by Better Than Ezra - why is this song so great? It seems like it should be mildly annoying, and yet... I don't know.
* Fat Free, Sugar Free Chocolate Pudding- not the instant kind, though.

I Thought my Theme Song was "Alanna Broccolli"

Your Theme Song is Beautiful Day by U2

"Sky falls, you feel likeIt's a beautiful day Don't let it get away" You see the beauty in life, especially in ordinary everyday moments.And if you're feeling down, even that seems a little beautiful too.

What's" Your Theme Song?

I Wish Jocko was Home

So, for the past 12 weeks Jocko has been working in Findlay, OH and has only been home on the weekends - it sucks; but now that the weather is nice and things are growing I have to mow the lawn. I had not mown the lawn since I was 13, and then it was with a self-propelled mower, we have a push mower and a HUGE yard. I am tired, and I know I will be sore tomorrow, and even though I've showered, I smell like a gas can.

In other yard realted news, we put in a few new bushes and some more day lillies this past weekend, and it looks like I'm getting my patio this year :)

Why I Love Spring

I love Spring!

Maybe it's because the weather is nice, but not too hot, leaving endless outfit options, maybe it's because you can wear fun colored makeup again, maybe it's because of the tulips :)

I was going to take a picture of my tulips for all of you, but it decided to rain, and now it is dreary outside. So tomorrow I will take a picture and post it, and you can all see my pretty, pink tulips - there aren't a ton, but they make me happy.

A Quick Recap

I'm starting this blog in an attempt to reconnect with everyone; so here's a quick recap:

Jocko and I were married in Sept. of 2003 and we had a cute little old house in Findlay, OH that our parents affectionately called "the money pit." It sucked up all of our time and money, but it was so darn cute! Fast forward to the end of Sept 2004, Jocko is transferred to Indianapolis and Alanna needs to sell the house and find a new one in Indy, both happen quickly and we moved into our new house on Nov. 12, 2004.

Since then, everything has been really mundane.