goo gooby goo

Facebook rules my life right now (not really) so I laid this blog down for a nap.  It's still napping, but every once in awhile I try to lift it up again and remember how much fun I had playing with it.

It's still sleeping, but I'm just about to lower the crib side and see if it can stand up for a moment.  Come to mama ...

Ooh, the knees are a bit wobbly.  The feet are struggling to stand ... but that hand is reaching out for the pacifier.  And a bottle.  And ... an entire box of Arrowroot cookies.  Yep, that's my child.

While the ol' blog is blinking and trying to get a feel for the world again ... let me grace you with this little bitty napper.  She was mad at her daddy for leaving her ... and going off to the military to save the world ... and save Kauai from Hurricane Iniki.

When they were reunited ... well, I'm just glad I had my camera rolling.

:)

happy heart day

H
  A
    P
      P
        Y

VALENTINE'S 

D
  A
     Y

!!!!!!!!!!

❤💛💜💝💓💗❤
             ❥

* tap tap *

Is this thing on?

* tap tap *

It's just me, checking in again, albeit way late ...

It's cold in McKinney, there's ice on my car, my garage is full, my storage unit is full, my daughter sold her car and she's driving Rick's now.  He's carless and hating it.  We spent the evening at WalMart last night (whee) and I came home with a new trash can.  Again, whee.  We're headed to a basketball game tonight and I'm looking forward to eating the peanuts.  I'm carb-free now ... so I'm hoping I can have the peanuts. 

Liz has a new job at a book publishing firm and she's just been promoted to a publicist.  Ted Danson's ex-wife is one of her clients and that seems to be all she can talk about ... Casey Danson this and Casey Danson that ...

And I'm in the process of buying a new car.  My lease is up in April and I want to have another car all ready to go.  Like now.  I can't seem to stay off of car-buying websites.  Jeep. 

Low carb, SUV, Cirque D'Soleil, Sunroof ... those are the only words in my vocabulary anymore.

Maybe summer.  That word figures in there pretty often, too.

Jeep.

december 20th

It's only been a month ... that's not so bad, given what all has happened in the last 30ish days.

Rick decided that he hadn't been to the hospital in awhile and thought it would be fun to be there over Christmas.  Yeah, no.

So, ho ho ho.  Oh ...

Rick was in need of some attention ... so he had us take him to the ER.  He likes the nurses there.  He likes nurses everywhere, actually.

We hadn't had our Christmas card photos taken this year ... seemed like a good time to get this done.  Yes?

Christmas dinner is all taken care of ...

And we'll be using our finest silver.

Oh vey.

Ho ho ho, NO!

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november 30th

... is fast approaching.  IF there was still going to be a wedding, it would be missing a few things.

We do have a dress and all that goes with that.  No shoes, though.  But Elizabeth wanted to wear tennies anyway.

We did have a cake ... um, that's partially in our freezer, partially in my tummy.

We had a venue, we had a getaway car and we had the table decor.  We also had the easels for holding the games and the photos and such.

So ... Liz was going to be partially dressed and I was going to be partially fed.  We could've sat at a beautiful table and looked at some easels.  And then made a quick getaway in her little red car.

Sounds like a good wedding to me!

Now ... if we only had a groom.

He's back in Hawaii, wearing tennis shoes and playing the games.  But you know what? 

I have the cake.


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it's been awhile ...

... and so much has happened to our little Kahle klan, most of it heartbreaking.

I doubt the details are as important as the fact that the Kahles are recovering and pulling themselves up by the bootstraps and moving on.  That truly is the most important part.

It's November now, the month that the Wedding of the Year was due to take place.  It will not be.  There's no more Ben ... in fact, was there ever a Ben?  Well, there was ... but not the Ben that we all wanted and hoped for and yes, even loved.  That Ben no longer exists.

There's still an Elizabeth ... and she's recovering.  She was hit (read: blindsided) the hardest by the cancellation of the wedding.  But she's in her own apartment now and starting a new life in Frisco, Texas.

There's still a Kris ... and she was hit hard, financially.  The apartment she signed her name to still exists along with a second one that she is downsizing to.  The invisible Ben never moved into the original apartment and the very visible Elizabeth now occupies the smaller one.  Nothing occupies my wallet anymore.

And there's still a Rick.  He sat back, watched it all unfold and just shook his head.  He's still shaking his head.  And his piggy bank.

But ... you know what?  We're just fine.  Elizabeth was shown a tremendous amount of love through all of this and so were we.  Our house is coming along fine and soon the holidays will be here.  I found my Christmas decor and I'm bound and determined to put it all up, all over the place.  I love me some Christmas decorations and I'm gonna smear them all around our house!

Ho Ho Ho!   Wait, Gobble Gobble!  Gotta get some turkey in me first.

Anyone seen my platter?

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October 3rd and counting

Elizabeth is home from Hawaii, possibly for good.  Ben is coming home (to what will be his new home) on the 30th of October.  We have finally vacated our beautiful apartment in Frisco and moved into our horribly hoarder-ish house in McKinney.  There are boxes everywhere and no matter how many I unpack each night ... more boxes appear each day.  I wake up and there are six more boxes blocking my view of the backyard.  Only the dog is happy.  He gets to sit/sleep/lounge on the couch at will.  We can't find his bed.

Elizabeth's best friend is getting married on Saturday and tonight is her wedding shower. 

Every night this week and next and next and next ... are all booked.  And then, of course, there's a wedding coming.  Hers.

How are the wedding plans coming along, you ask?  Well, we have a dress.  And a venue.  And that is darn close to all we have.  This move has been the death of us ... and nothing else has gotten done.

So here I sit.  "I Love Lucy" is on in the background and there's a water bottle in my hand.  And a laptop in front of me.  So much to do and ... absolutely no desire to do it. 

Remind me not to move again.  Ever.  Not even off of this couch.

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wow. just wow.

July was a long time ago.

Nah, not really.  Not when you've moved twice or three times or four.  And not when your daughter has moved countless times, too.

And your fridge died and your house flooded (again) and it's rained and it's rained and it's rained.  My back went out, my hip went out and today I have a headache.

Are you done complaining, Kris?  No, not quite.

My daughter and her fiancee broke up several times and my own husband went into the hospital.  Our mail got lost and my dog got out and got lost.

I'm going to move to the Adirondacks and start over.  Wanna buy my car?

And that was just all in July.

Just kidding.

Let's catch up real quick ... Today is September 14th and Elizabeth recovered from her Celiac Sprue flareup and is now back in Hawaii living and working on a cruise ship.  She's performing her heart out, I hear.   Ben is there, too, pouring enough drinks to sink a ship.  Rick lives in McKinney, out of my hair.  He has officially taken up residence in our new house.  Buddy lives there, too.  He did get out and explored the neighborhoods, late one night ... in the rain.  Good thing he has a GPS around his neck.  And a light.  He was NOT incognito like he though.  Jeannie and I are still in the apartment, cleaning it up and closing it down.  I'm getting it prepped for a stint with AIR BNB because I'm an expert at it now.  Okay, I'm not, but I like to think I am.

And one of our two PODS arrived yesterday and boxes are EVERYWHERE in our new house.  Good grief we have a lot of stuff ... and that's just the beginning.  We have another whole POD to go AND a full double storage unit.  Never mind all of the stuff that's still in our apartment.

I can't even wrap my head around all that still needs to be sold. 

Garage sale anyone?

AND ... the new house has ants.  THREE WHOLE DAYS worth!  Yep, I've been exterminating ants for three days.  409, my go to bug killer DOES NOT WORK on McKinney ants.  I guess McKinney ants are indestructible.

The coffee pot isn't though.  I plugged it in and it instantly died. 

We are down one fridge, one coffee pot and one Kris.  I'm about to die, too.

I'll never move again.  I'll never move again.  I'll never move again.  I'll never move again.  I'll ...

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sailing, sailing ... flooding, flooding ...

So, we did go to Hawaii.  We were fortunate enough to set sail on my daughter's ship, The Pride of America, and get to see her in action at some of her work events.

We also met her "intended", Ben Adams.  Lovely man.  Lovely couple.  We will be proud to have him join our little family.

While in Hawaii, we heard the most beautiful words in the world; "You have an offer on your house" from our real estate agent.  You don't know how much I wanted to hear those words.  I nearly cried.

Being in Hawaii though, I realized that I would no longer be able to hide scuff marks or cracks in the walls nor water damage.  I became stressed, worrying about hiding things and making the house sellable, but what could I do?  We had an offer.  And those words sat above any concerns that I had for the house.

We accepted the offer from the kind folks who wanted our house ... and we were still in Hawaii when the inspection happened.  Yeah, I really was forced to lay down my paintbrush and stop the madness.  I did it willingly.

We witnessed our future son in law ask for our daughter's hand in marriage.

We returned to Texas to begin packing up our big ol' house ... and start the closing process.  And find a new place to live.

AND THIS IS WHERE THE CRAZINESS BEGAN.

We packed and we packed and we packed.  And Rick got sicker and sicker and sicker.  And the Texas weather got hotter and hotter and hotter.  And Elizabeth and Ben (the intended) jetted off to Scotland and England ... and watched their luggage not follow them.  They spent two weeks with us in Frisco all the while waiting on their luggage to catch up to them. 

And wouldn't you know it?  The ring that Ben had planned to propose with was IN the suitcase that hadn't found them yet. 

Hundreds of phone calls to the airline and I finally jumped in and alerted the media.  Yep, I did.

WFAA's Monica Hernandez came to our little (big) house on Creek Point and filmed a story about a guy who wanted to propose to a little Texas gal ... but didn't have his luggage (and all of his worldly belongings) and didn't have the ring.

One phone call from WFAA and dang!  The airline found the luggage!  In Baltimore, of all places.  Go figure.

More packing, more closing junk on the house .... and finally the luggage arrived.  WFAA arrived, too.  They came back to film the actual proposal ... which was pretty darn cute!  We all hauled off to The Shops At Legacy and watched Ben propose ... and watched the news station film it.

AND .... right before we were slated to close on our Creek Point house ... we had a flood inside.  Of course we did.  OF COURSE WE DID! 

Got that all cleaned up and we were all set to close on the house ... WHEN RICK GOT SICK!  Ambulances and everything. 

Sigh.

Just when you think you've got it all under control ... the escrow folks would not close until Rick could sign, OUTSIDE of THE HOSPITAL, which he couldn't do.  Why?  Because Rick's little bout of a bladder infection began to spread ALL THROUGH HIS BODY ... enough that his bloodstream was infected and he had to be put in isolation.  NO ONE would go through the trouble to gown up and go in for Rick to sign the closing papers.  Not even the HOSPITAL NOTARY.  Like, seriously?

So, we waited.  And we extended our closing date.  And we searched for an apartment.  And we found ourselves NOT getting into any of the apartments that we wanted to ... sad tale after sad tale.  We were about to be homeless.  And you know what?  I didn't care.  I knew we'd be fine. 

So, Elizabeth was now engaged, Rick began to improve by leaps and bounds (turns out he was also a bit toxic and had to get some of those awful pain meds out of this body) and dang if ELIZABETH didn't turn around and get sick.  OF COURSE SHE DID.

We were still packing and packing and packing ... and getting further and further behind it seemed.

We finally had to call out for help ... which we did get, in the way of four women who stepped up and helped us.  Note: Women.  Yep.  Women for the win!

So, to summarize, we finally did close on our house once Rick was out of isolation.  We nearly emptied our Creek Point house (a wayward desk and a few garage items had to stay behind, sadly) and moved into an apartment complex overlooking a baseball park in Frisco.  We have belongings in two different PODS and a storage unit AND WITH OUR MOVING COMPANY.  Yeah, don't tell me about having too much stuff.  That's all I hear from my dear, darling daughter.

107 degrees, 108 degrees, 109 degrees.  The temperature kept a'climbin'.  Life got hotter and busier and crazier ... but we were out of that house. 

And ... on July 31st, I returned to work.  Suddenly my summer break was over and you know what?  I'm totally ready.  That was the wildest summer ever and I'm happy to see it go.

Rick is home in the apartment with me.  Buddy and Jeannie are there, too.  And Elizabeth is recovered and prepping to return to her ship for one final contract ... and to her beloved, Ben.

Anyone doubt me when I say that we had a flood on day one?  Yeah, didn't think so.

And there's a wedding in the works (November 30th) and that's what's on our minds now.  Floods don't bother me now ...   HOWEVER, if the wedding goes off as planned, well, it'll be the hottest day of the year and yet, it'll rain.  We won't be ready on time and the dress will be delivered to Kansas.  And the whole place will flood.  I just know it.

'Cuz we're Kahles.

but before we can go ...

"Excuse me, Ma'am.  We can replace this blown air conditioner for a mere $9000.  Shall we go ahead."

Yep, it got a might hot in our house two days ago.  And the puddle on the floor beneath one of the a/c returns got a might big.  I had the choice of calling a plumber or an a/c repairman for help.  Opted for the a/c man ... and whaddya know!  I was right!  I only had to pay an a/c man this time.

$9000 later, we have a new, working unit.  Of course, we are $9000 poorer now.  Heck we're just flat-out poor.

Rick explained to the repairman that we are poor ... and that we are headed off to Hawaii on Saturday.  That nice man gave us a discount of $1000.  Thank you, Rick.  Next time keep your big mouth shut about heading to Hawaii.

$9000 ... according to EVERYONE I KNOW or have ever met ... is WAY over-priced for an a/c.  AND we didn't really get a new one.  Just a bunch of new parts. 

Ugh.

I am going to Hawaii to rest, recover, relax and FORGET about life in the states.

In case I don't have very good reception on the ship (that's my daughter's excuse for why she doesn't text/call/email very often) I will see you all when I return on the 27th.  My daughter will be 27 then, engaged, embarking on a new life ... and I'll still be poor.  POORER, in fact, just thinking about a wedding.

~ Aloha ~

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