The Truth About Florida

So, everyone seems to have gotten just bits and pieces of what went down in regards to me going to Florida. At some point a rumor had even surfaced that I had left Ray and moved to Florida.

Let me set the record straight. I have not left my husband. And we have not been stationed to Florida.

I took a trip to Florida for what had to be the longest distance and most expensive babysitting job in the world.

Corinna and Mike had planned a cruise trip for the two of them and everything was set up for Mike's parents to watch the kids while they were away. Well, due to unforeseen illness the babysitting plan fell through and Mike and Corinna were left with only two options- try to fit all three kids into their suitcases or find another babysitter.

This is where I come in. Corinna called and explained the situation to me. My first thoughts when she asked were, (and I'm sorry, but I must be honest), "Hell no! I just spent all last year traveling back and forth with Elektra in tow. I don't even want to look at a plane let alone spend six hours on one. Don't people remember, I HATE flying!"

But luckily for Corinna she said the magic words, "You don't have to give us an answer right now. Think about it for a few days, talk it over with Leonard and let us know."

I spent the first 24 hours pouting and steaming over the idea of getting on another plane. One of my New Year wishes were to not have to do any major traveling this year and a six hour flight to Florida was definitely major traveling. But then I started to soften up.

I would be able to see the kids and see how they were doing. I would be the first family member to visit the Brown tribe's new house. It was an all expense paid trip to a place I've never been to. And what really sealed the deal, was that I would get Christina's old IPod since she just recently upgraded to a newer one. (Okay, a chance to get a teenager's used IPod may not be enough to get you to take a six hour flight with a cranky 13 month old, but it worked for me).

The call form Corinna came a few days later. They couldn't thank me enough for agreeing to come and watch the kids. Ray said Mike and Corinna just racked up a whole summer of 'you owe us big time' babysitting points just off this trip alone.

So off to Florida we went. We'll just call the flight going there the 'pre-IPod flight'. It sucked! I had to transfer planes and both flights were packed. Between dealing with a cranky toddler, having no leg room and sitting next to twig-thin teens who's intellectual conversations consisted of whether of not Brad Pit was hotter when he was married to Jen or now that he's married to Angelia, you can understand why at several points during the flight I started entertaining the idea of stabbing myself in the neck with a pencil. Instead, I just drowned my pain with several glasses of ginger ale. (I was a dollar short of being able to purchase the glass of wine that I really wanted.)

Finally we arrived in Florida with Elektra soaking through her diaper and me wishing I had one on as I scrabbled to get off the plane and to the nearest restroom. We made our way through the maze and when we finally got out of the restrooms we made our way through the even bigger maze that was Orlando Airport. Eventually we found Corinna, Mike and the kids.

I'm sorry to say that my time there has now become somewhat of a blur to me. No, I didn't get a hold of Corinna and Mike's alcohol stash and drink away my pain the entire time I was there. Although I will admit to looking for the liquor, but alas the cupboards were bare. No, instead I caught a really bad case of the flu.

From what I can recall, the kids were wonderful. The boys were well behaved and Christina was a lot of help. I did get to meet the 'man' in Christina's life, Robbi, whom Ray and I have nicknamed, "Chicken Legs". (You would have to see Robbi's MySpace picture of himself at the beach to fully appreciate our chosen name for him).

Anyway, I also remember feeding the fish at the nearby pond, making cupcakes for Caleb's birthday and ordering pizza one night. There was also the trip to Chucky Cheese and going to the beach and having dinner on the pier.

In the past when family have watched the house for Corinna and Mike something always died. I was determined not to follow tradition. Everything stayed alive even if I did look and feel like walking death during the end of my stay. Despite getting sick, I did have fun being in Florida. The weather was wonderfully warm.

My 'post-IPod flight' home was more pleasant. Elektra had also caught a bit of the flu so she spent most of the flight cuddled in my arms fast asleep. As we landed in California it dawned on me- I had just been in Florida for a week and not seen even a glimpse of Disney World! Oh well, guess we'll just have to save it for the next trip.

Total thanks to Corinna and Mike for the trip to Florida, for having cable T.V., for watching Elektra when I needed to rest, and for having enough cold medicine to keep me going those last couple of days.

Also a big thanks to Christina, Zach and Caleb for entertaining Elektra and me, for making me realize that cupcakes and spoons full of frosting is an acceptable dinner option and convincing me that although having just one child would be a lot less stressful, it would not be as much fun as having three. Thank you!

Superbowl at the Mattingly's?!

No, this is not some early April Fool's joke. No, it was not the result of losing a bet either. And no, it was not caused by a moment of temporary insanity. We, (yes, we), actually hosted a Superbowl Party this year.

Yes, I know how unbelievable that sounds, but it's true. We really did invite people over to watch a sports game with us. Okay, wait, let me clarify that. We invited people over to watch a sports game with my husband while I watched Elektra and knitted a scarf.

Several of Ray's co-workers came over with food and kids for an afternoon of shameless couch potato munching and whatever else guys do when they sit around a television watching football.

The spread was worthy of a Methodist potluck. We had Hooter wings, veggie trays, cheese trays, chips, dips, and a chocolate fondue with slice pound cake, oranges and cookies to dip in. Ray and I also contributed two cakes- one decorated to look like a football field, while the other was shaped and decorated to look like a football.

It was a great party. The kids all behaved while the adults were all loud and rowdy. Of course I have no idea who won or even who performed at half-time, but the Hooter wings were Awesome!!!!

Elektra's 1st Birthday!

It's Birthday Time For Elektra!

On January 20th our little girl celebrated her !st Birthday.

We had hoped to spend her birthday either in Phoenix with family or at least in Disneyland. But both plans fell through. We settled on just celebrating her B-Day at the park, but even that plan was soiled with the start of a downpour that morning. So we found ourselves spending her birthday indoors where it was warm and dry.

Because of Elektra's allergies we couldn't give her a regular cake. The cake we needed could not have any eggs or dairy in it. It took some searching online, but I did manage to piece together a recipie for a cake that Elektra could eat.

The cake itself came out more dense then a regular cake. It was more like a pound cake in it's texture and feel. The taste remined me of sweet bread. Since there would only be the three of us I made to small cakes. One for her to eat now and one that I froze for a sweet snack later.

The chocolate frosting was made from cocoa powder, powdered sugar, canola oil, imitation almond extract and rice milk.

We made a princess party hat and laid some decorative cloth over her highchair, (mainly for the sake of protecting the highchair).

We put Elektra in her highchair, gave her a toddler fork, placed the cake in front of her and then stood back. Unfortunately she didn't give us the, 'cake all over the face and all over the place' moment we were hoping for, but she did have fun stabbing the cake to death and running her fingers through the frosting.

The Stress Is Getting To Her

This shopping stuff is just too stressful. That's it, next year for Christmas everyone just gets a gift card!

The Santa Picture

So we almost created a moment for our child to use as a guilt trip on us later in life. We almost forgot to get Elektra a picture with Santa Claus! (Gasp!)

It's not that we forgot or anything. I mean we had good intentions of dressing her up and taking her to the mall with the other heard of parents. We would stand in line with the other kids all in itchy outfits waiting our turn to plop Elektra on some strange man's lap. He would ask her what she wanted for Christmas and her response would be a high pitch cry that could be heard as far away as the food court. Then we would stand there as proud parents watching her get temporarily blinded by the camera flash. And for the price of a full tank of gas we would walk away with 4 wallet size photos of an event she won't remember or even care about when she's 15. At least that was the plan.

Well, with all the activities going on, the whole Santa thing sort of got pushed to the back burner. But not to worry, where theirs a will theirs a Mattingly willing to dress up in a Santa costume.

That Mattingly would be David, Elektra's grandfather, Marine, retired DPS Officer and now undercover Santa Claus.

Let me just say that Elektra adores her Poppie David, but when he put that white beard on it was a scene from one of those 1980's stranger danger videos they use to show you in school. Elektra wanted nothing to do with Santa and she clung to us for dear life. Trying to sit her on his lap you would think we were trying to make her sit on a pile of hot coals.

We did manage to get a few pictures for Elektra just had enough. And, of course, as soon as the beard and hat was off, Elektra was back to loving her Poppie.

Christmas Morning At Grandma Ann's

Behold!

BEHOLD!
The Drama.
The Spectacle.
The Awe.
Christmas Morning At Grandma Ann's House!

The Big Surprise

December 20, 2007

We flew into Phoenix to spend Christmas with the family. As usual, what was originally planned as a relaxing vacation was turning out to be several days packed full of activities with the family.

With Corinna and her clan flying in from Florida, the whole family was in town and we took the opportunity to get some professional family photos done. I even managed to drag my mom into the photos. It has been over 14 years since the last time she had any professional photos done of herself. We called in the expertise of Lori Lott, our wedding photographer, to handle the herd of Mattingly's that had taken over Linda and David's house.

The following days were filled making our rounds to spend equal time with parents and grandparents. To reduce the amount of luggage we took we decided not to do our Christmas shopping until we got to Phoenix. (At some point near the beginning of December I swear we had all decided that because everyone's money was tight we would not buy any gifts for each other. But apparently the holiday spirit is stronger then the will of the wallet.)

So on top of all our, "you're-in-town-so-you-need-to-come-visit-us-because-we're-family-and-if
-you-don't-you-know-you're-going-to-feel-guilty-about-it" obligations, we also needed to shop for gifts, wrap them and get them under the tree without other family members noticing. We realized there would hardly be any time to hang out with our friends. So we promised ourselves we would visit them on our next trip down.

As the days went by my fantasized vacation slowly started to evaporate. There would be no dropping off Elektra with the grandparents and having a date night with my hubby that included wining the jackpot on the nickle machine at the local casino and celebrating with a big scoop of ice cream at Mary Coyle. (Hey, I'm allowed to dream!)

We did get a chance to have the grandparents watch Elektra for us, but not for a romantic evening out. Instead, we needed to do some more last minute shopping. The whole family had planned to get together for dinner at Linda and David's that night. Near the end of our shopping Ray started receiving phone calls from his mom. Supposedly Caleb and Zack were hungry and getting restless. We were holding up the dinner train and we still hadn't finished buying everything on our list. So we made a mad dash through the aisles and threw what we could find into our cart.

The cell phone was still ringing as we loaded the car and headed to Linda and David's. When we got to the house we parked in front since the carport was full. Rather then waist time opening the garage and going through the garage door we went through the front. We didn't want two hungry boys waiting a second longer then they had to for their dinner.

As the front door opened, I only had a second to notice the lights were out in the house. Then everything went bright as a large group of people crowded into the front room yelled, "Surprise!".

Ray, my sneaky little hubby, had planned a surprise birthday party for me and invited my family and all our friends. The party was awesome. I couldn't believe how many people showed up, especially with it being only a couple of days before Christmas. I discovered later that all those phone calls Ray was receiving was to confirm last minute party details and to check-in on where we were at.

Ray's brother, Frank, served up bowls of homemade chili. There was also chips & dip and of course a huge birthday cake. I think our friends were more surprised then I was when they found out that I never suspected a thing.

Well, it wasn't the jackpot at the casino, or a double scoop of honey banana ice cream, but with over a month of planning, Ray had pulled off a surprise 30th birthday party that was nothing short of perfect.

The Christmas Battle

Christmas 2006 season was complete chaos. It had nothing to do with fighting the holiday crowds while shopping for gifts or dealing with tangle messes of Christmas lights and decorations.

No, I wish it was that easy. Here is a recap from last year: There was the two and a half week energy blackout, the crisis that sent me to the hospital and being surrounded by slippery ice covered hills that made it impossible for this preggie woman to get to her pickles and ice cream.

Now this Christmas, in our new house, we wanted to make up for lost holiday spirit. We didn’t just put up a few lights and decorations, oh no, we went all out, Mattingly style!

We found out that the residents of Willow Glen traditionally put out a small ‘Charlie Brown’ type tree in front of their yards, decorated with a simple strand of lights. So, not wanting to stand out as the odd couple, we purchased a small tree of our own.

(Side story: We had walked up to the store with Elektra in her stroller. Our intention was to buy a couple of items that we needed. On a whim, we saw the trees for sale outside the store and decided to buy one. So here we were in the middle of the night, me holding Elektra, and Ray pushing the stroller that was now carrying a fresh pine tree that seemed to wiggle in the stroller a lot more then an 11 moth old baby. Needless to say we got a lot of strange looks from everyone in the parking lot and on the street.)

Okay, so back to the original story. We pulled out all the decorations we could find and did the usual sorting of what goes where and what needed to be fixed or replaced. The living room was rearranged to fit the tree and the fireplace mantel was cleared in order to set up the nativity scene.

Thanks to a great dumpster dig by Ray, we had accumulated two large wreath swags on polls and about a dozen loose plastic pine garland. We hung one of the polls in the living room and one outside our front door.

The house was starting to take shape and look very festive. I was responsible for the inside decorations, Ray was in charge of the outside, and Elektra was in charge of making a mess.

Every day after work, Ray would come home and work on the lights. The inside window lights went up first. After some torn fingernails, several near misses of the staple gun going through the fingers and many sailor curse words, Ray managed to get the lights in place. Each window was now filled with the glow of pretty blue lights.

Next was the outside lights. We had unopened boxes from the year before and now that we had a ladder, Ray was itching to get the lights up. Of course, after getting all the lights up, Ray realized that we didn’t have an outside power source to plug them in. The lights would have to be plugged into the nearest power source which was the garage. So, happily, Ray announced that we needed to make a trip to Home Depot.

An extension cord, some self-timers for the inside lights and a few strands of lights (hey they were on sale), later, we were back at home and Ray was back to work. We underestimated just how long of a cord we needed to run the lights to the garage, so the next day I went to the store and purchased yet another extension cord.

As Ray finished hanging the lights, our neighbors across the street, which we have so fondly dubbed the ‘college frat house’, started putting up their decorations. They trimmed their house with lights and placed lights in their bushes.

Well, Ray then decided to add lights to our bushes. Then he used some of the pine garland and made a swag going across out gate. And of course the swag had to have its own set of lights. If that wasn’t enough, we also added a big red bow to our garage door.

I had ran out of hooks for the tree ornaments, so we took a walk up to Walgreen’s where I knew they would have some. There Ray spotted the lighted candy canes that you could stick in the ground. They were too cute to resist. So we bought several boxes of them to line our walkway. As Ray planted our candy canes he discovered that we were about a box short of fully lining the walkway, but it was okay, it still looked nice. We had went out that night and on our way back we saw that the college kids had put out a row of cute cut out snowmen that were trimmed in lights all along their banister.

“Oh, look honey. They have cute snowmen on their house.”

“Oh, it’s on now!”

“Now Ray, we’re not trying to keep up with the Jones.”

“Uh-un. They started it. They think they can out due us. They don’t know who their messing with.”

The next day we went back to Walgreen’s to see if they had any more candy canes. We picked up the last box they had as well as two pop-up snowmen complete with their own scarves and hats. We also had to go back to Home Depot to pick up a multi-outlet rod to house the plugs for our lights that were now starting to multiply in front of our house.

Ray set up the snowmen, strung more lights around our bushes and our tree, then added lights to our already garland wrapped banister. Since the snowmen didn’t have their own lights, Ray laid some more lights behind them to make sure people saw our snowmen at night.

Then the college kids put a white artificial tree in front of their house. So once again Ray was out there adding more lights to our tree along with some red ribbon garland and unused ornaments.

Finally came the straw that broke the camel’s back. Driving home one afternoon from shopping, Ray shared with me his plans for next Christmas of putting a big peace sign on our roof top and having our family re-enact the Nativity scene in our front yard. As we pulled up to the house we saw the college kids out in their yard with two light up reindeer and a thick strand of blue lights that they were trying into a shape on the grass to look like a little pond. As I was starting to wonder how much hay would be needed to make our front yard look like a manger, Ray got out the car and walked over to the college kids.

“Okay, I’m throwing up the white flag.”

“Man, we were getting ready to call a truce. You keep adding more stuff, we just can’t compete”

So the battle was over with the results being the best two decorated houses on the block. Of course now I’m thinking of adding a star of David and a life-size lit up menorah to next year’s decorates. Hey, it’s just a thought.

My Birthday!

Yes, it has finally happened. I've turned 30!

The day started off like any other day. (Well, except for the words, HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY written in lipstick on our dresser mirror).

I got up and had breakfast. Ray was already at work and Elektra was still asleep in our bed. The usual routine had occurred of cleaning, checking emails, feeding Elektra and cleaning some more.

Halfway through the day a FedEx truck pulled up and dropped a package off on our front door. It was addressed to me. I brought the box in and opened it. Inside was a beautiful bouquet of 24 roses.

I called Ray at work and thanked him for the lovely flowers, then spent the next half hour fussing over them- pruning the ends, trying to find the best vase, displaying them just right on the table, etc.

After all the fuss over the flowers, I went back to my routine. I was enjoying the fact that for once in a very long time, there was noting going happening on my birthday. In the past there have been rehearsals or theatre performances or other parties and events that always seemed to fall on my B-day.

But today there was nothing and for me that was a gift in itself. Elektra's extra long nap allowed me to play some computer games and indulge in one of my guilty pleasures- looking at pictures of Daniel Radcliffe and Elijah Woods, my fantasy boy toys.

Elektra woke up just before Ray came home. He didn't pull all the way into the garage like he usually does, but this didn't surprise me since he's done it before. Ray then came in and fussed it me for still being in my PJ's. So I left him with Elektra as I went to go change into something more presentable.

When I came out of the bedroom, Ray and Elektra was waiting for me with a half dozen roses.

"So, how many roses do you have, honey?"

"Well you gave me 24 roses."

"Yes, and Elektra just gave you 6, so what does that make?"

"Oh honey, you gave me 30 roses. Thank you. That's so sweet."

"30 roses for a beautiful 30 year old women. Now finish getting dressed."

After some puttering around the house some more, we were on our way to I didn't know where. It wasn't long before I realized exactly where we were going. We pulled into the Black Angus parking lot and went inside.

We've realized in our short time living here that people seem to eat really late. You can go to a place at a 5:00pm and there is an echo in the room. But come back to the same place at 8:45pm and there is a line outside the door. So, we had the whole place almost to ourselves.

After dinner we went to the movies and saw, "The Hitman", which was awesome! There is nothing like a good shoot-them-up-and-blow-them-all-to-pieces movie to end an already perfect day.

Overall, it was the best way to turn 30. I could not have asked for more.