javajanie

I like Tampa, I really do

nobody@vox.com(java janie) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 23:54:03 -0400

I was just looking at my blog and realized I haven't actually posted anything in awhile. Moblogging is so easy, I just forget to post real stuff sometimes.

Tampa has been awesome. I must confess, I wasn't too impressed when Steve and I came down in May. Granted, we only had 1 day to really explore the area. Now that I've had the last couple of weeks to explore the area, I really like it. Honestly, there is more stuff I'd like to see, but we're leaving tomorrow.

I got my beach fix. Growing up going to Ocean City in Maryland makes me yearn for days on the beach, arcades, and miniature golf. I love the smell of the beach, sunscreen mixed with the ocean. I love the sound of the seagulls overhead, well, as long as they aren't stealing the food from our hands.

The food has been ridiculous. I love eating, I really do. We've had Hawaiian fusion, good old Southern cooking, Polish, and seafood. There are still places I haven't had a chance to try yet. There's a place that has Kobe Beef sliders that I've been wanting to go to, but we just don't have the time. Hopefully, Steve will get to come back in a week or two and I'll get to try it out. We'd love to go out and get some more pierogies too. It makes me sad to think this could possibly be my last time here.

Now Steve and I are enjoying watching Vh-1's top 100 songs of the 80s. Such sweet memories. I don't know that Steve is enjoying me bursting into song everytime they play a new song, but I'm enjoying it. And really, isn't that what matters?

Pink lizard

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Gah

nobody@vox.com(java janie) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:10:57 -0400

I just had a 7 paragraph blog post about everything that we've done in the past week and lost it. Grrrr. Maybe I'll try again tomorrow. But for now, I'm in Tampa, without kids this week. And Steve bought me my own Flip video camera since the kids don't like to share. Maybe I'll post a video of me talking about the past week, but who knows. Ugh.

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A Seagull Story

nobody@vox.com(java janie) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:59:01 -0400

The kids and I packed up early today and headed to the beach. We didn't make it yesterday. Some of the kids were in desperate need of bathing suits so it was Target and hotel pool day. It was also Ash's birthday, so she got to pick dinner. She went for chinese and lucky for us there was a PF Changs nearby (double pan fried noodles are the best!).

We stopped at a different Target to pick up buckets and shovels so we could play on the beach. There are a plethora of seashells to dig through on the white sand. Keeps the kids occupied for hours.

The kids and I arrived at the beach around 10am. We plopped down our towels and other junk and staked our claim on the beach, then headed for the water. Seriously, it's so warm you can just wade right in. We could even see our feet, unlike the Maryland beaches I grew up playing on. We also discovered that Clearwater Beach has a ton of fish in the water, just swimming around your feet.

I'm not much into tanning (note pale skin in various pictures on my blog), so I spent most of the day in the water with the kids. During one of my breaks, I was sitting on my towel, watching the kids play in the waves. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a seagull. He was eyeing up a shell. Then I noticed the shell was moving. I jumped up, shooed the seagull away and rescued the hermit crab from becoming lunch.

The kids came up and checked him out. I let him sit on the sand beside me for a bit. The seagull watched from a distance and attempted to come in a couple of times and snag him. These seagulls aren't very shy down here in Florida. Finally, I told Ashley to take the crab down to the water, where he'd be safe.

Later on, the kids were hungry and I started dealing out sandwiches. Ashley took hers out of the baggie. Suddenly a flurry of seagulls flew overhead. Ashley yelled, "Hey!"

I looked over at her. She had a stunned look on her face. "That seagull took my sandwich!" Sure enough, the seagulls were fighting over a sandwich a little way down the beach from us.

"I only took one bite." She lamented.

"Were you holding it up?" I thought maybe she was teasing them when they snagged it.

"No, I had it right here. I took a bite, then I felt feet on my head and they took it!"

We all burst out laughing at the thought of a seagull landing on Ashley's head to grab her sandwich right out of her hand. Guess it was payback for returning the hermit crab safely to the water for me!

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Not even a new dress and a pair of shoes could coax me out!

nobody@vox.com(java janie) — Wed, 07 May 2008 16:13:04 -0400

So, I'm in Tampa. Yesterday was awesome. I don't think we could've jammed more into our day. I've been in the hotel room most of today. First, I attempted to sleep in. Didn't exactly go as I planned. I think I have the most uncomfortable bed ever. Much tossing and turning occured last night. Steve didn't sleep well either, so it wasn't just me.

This morning, Steve's 11am meeting got bumped back to oh, 2pm. And the guys he was meeting with wanted to go to lunch. That left poor ol' me sitting in the hotel room. I was still stuffed from dinner last night (Awesome Cuban restaurant and dude, there was flan, I had to eat it). I didn't anticipate being hungry anytime soon. Steve tried to encourage me to go out to explore the city, ALONE. Seriously, women rarely go to the bathroom by theirselves and he expects me to walk around a strange city. Then he had the audacity to suggest I go buy myself a new dress and shoes. Tempting as that was, that would require me to figure out how to get across town AND spend the day wandering by myself far from the security of my hotel. Ok, I have issues, I'll admit it. So I didn't attempt it because I am a scaredy cat.

I did walk 4 blocks to get lunch and buy deodorant and hairspray. Sure, the hotel gave us complimentary deodorant, but it was made in china and with all the lead scare lately, I just wanted to get some of my own. I did put on the hotel deodorant before I left because having body odor is scarier to me than getting lead poisoning.

I stopped at a deli and got a Cuban. At first, when researching Tampa, I read in many restaurant reviews "and the Cubans are awesome!". I'm thinking, wow, I'm glad the local people are nice, but it seems a little un-PC to refer to them like that. So I did a little more research and found out that a Cuban is also a local sandwich. Me, I'm all about diving into local culture and cuisine so I braved the 3 blocks to the deli for lunch. It was good, but I don't think they made it right. I should've taken the hotel shuttle to Ybor City to get an authentic one, but, uh, yes, I was scared. And I had no cash to tip. That's downright embarrassing to me, so it sealed the deal that I wouldn't be venturing far from the hotel.

Tonight, I think we are going to try this Brazilian steakhouse I found on the internets. (I love yahoo's city search type stuff.) I'll leave all the picture posting to Steve. He's much better at it than I am. I am also too lazy to upload and edit the photos. I think I'll just nap while waiting for Steve to get back, shouldn't be too much longer.

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These Are The Times That Try Men's Souls

nobody@vox.com(java janie) — Fri, 02 May 2008 12:26:52 -0400

After a particularly difficult week (which felt more like a month or two), I'm getting a break. Tuesday, Steve has business in Tampa and I get to tag along again! I've never been on the Gulf Coast side of Florida. I'm pretty excited. I even get to fly on a plane and I do love flying. I'm so thankful my mom is willing to come and play chaffeur and nanny to the kids while I get a mini-getaway with my best friend. Woohoo!

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I don't want to pack!!!!!

nobody@vox.com(java janie) — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 19:59:18 -0400

I am so tired. Last night, Steve was tossing and turning in his sleep. I was in and out of nightmares during the brief period that I did sleep. Steve is still in pain, not as much as before, but it's still pretty bad. He's drugged up on some narcotic/tylenol combo.

I was fine most of the day. Mrs P, Grandma (Mrs P's mom), and I took the kids over to Grandma's sister's house. She has a pool. Well, that just made their day. Steve was able to stay behind and get some sleep. He also finished his parent's taxes for them. After we got back, he decided we needed to go see the swamp and hopefully a gator or two. Obviously, I moblogged that. Steve and I took pictures with the good camera too. I'll let him post those pictures. Especially since he was the photographer for the gators.

Now we are back at the house. My tummy is full of Taco Bell and I really need to pack us up. I want to get as much driving in as we can tomorrow. There is a nor'easter coming on Sunday, and I'd rather not drive too much in the rain. I'm not sure if Steve will be up to any driving. So right now, I'm just planning on it being all me. I wish we had an extra day or two for the antibiotics to kick in, but we don't.

I guess I ought to get off here and do something, but I am the self proclaimed Queen of Procrastination. So I think I'll wrap this up and read some more blogs.

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Disney World Hangover

nobody@vox.com(java janie) — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 17:00:02 -0400

Boy, I am still exhausted from walking around Epcot all day yesterday. It was a fun but exhausting day. Now we have done 3 out of the four parks. We did the Magic Kingdom and MGM two summers ago when Steve was on a business trip to Georgia. We figured we were half way there already, might as well drive down to Orlando and take a couple of days in Disney. Between Marriott points and the gas from Maryland to Georgia being a business expense, it made the trip quite doable. Now we just have Animal Kingdom to see. Maybe if we come down in the fall we can get that in.

We really enjoyed Epcot. Much different from the time we went with my grandparents when I was a kid. It had just opened and well, it was lame. I would have to say, that my favorite rides were Mission:Space and Soarin'. Although I must admit that I almost had a major panic attack before Mission:Space. They started showing the video instructions and it was a capsule that seated 4 people with a screen and fake control panel. After they shut you in, the control panel comes toward you, about 12-18 inches from your face. It was all too reminiscent of my MRI. I totally freaked out. I decided, 'Ok, I am an adult, I can do this'. We had already convinced Ashley it was a safe fun ride. If I opted out because I was scared to death, um, yeah, we lose all credibility for the rest of the day. Despite feeling like my heart was going to beat out of my chest, I hopped in and had alot of fun.

We had lunch at the Biergarten German Buffet complete with schnitzel, spaetzle, sauerkraut, and apple struedel. Needless to say, I stuffed myself. Luckily we saw a show after that. If we had done a ride, I'm sure I would have spread a little german cheer all over the place.

Poor Steve, his tooth started bugging him and he went off in search of some medicine and a bench to chill out on. The kids and I hung out in Innovations. It reminded me of a Science Center type place. We played the Great Pizza Game and won. It was one of the high points of the day. It was a fake game show and we got to be contestants. Totally smeared some middle aged couple. We rock!

Now Steve is in bed waiting for the pain meds and amoxicillan to kick in. The dentist seemed to think that Steve may have bitten down on something hard, shoved the post from his crown down into the root, causing an absess, or something like that. So far, the pain meds aren't doing a thing.

I think I might just venture to Wal-Mart with the kids. Steve told Alex he would take him to find a remote control sailboat. I don't think that they would have a sailboat, maybe a speedboat. Either way, it would get us out of the house for a bit.

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If you feel so inclined

nobody@vox.com(java janie) — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 10:49:03 -0400

say a prayer for Steve. He has a horrendous toothache. So I made a dentist appointment for him. He goes at 12:30 this afternoon. Pray that they can make him all better. He is in a world of pain!

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Enjoy the Silence

nobody@vox.com(java janie) — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 07:55:28 -0400

I'm trying to buy myself some quiet time by getting up before the kids and sitting in the sunroom while everyone is still asleep. Hopefully the clickety clack of my fingers on the keys of the laptop doesn't disturb the children.

So far I'm enjoying myself down here. I enjoy the slower pace of life. I enjoy taking walks after dinner through the retirement village waving to all the grey haired neighbors. I think it's about time I retire to Florida. I do have to say that I stress about the kids driving my in laws crazy (especially my father in law, he enjoys his quiet time). We plan on staying til Saturday, but we don't want to over stay our welcome. Wouldn't want them saying, "Boy are we glad they are gone!" I'd rather leave them missing us than bidding us good riddance. Heh. Hopefully I can keep their bickering to a minimum and make sure they get out all of their energy outside and not running through the house!

I think today, as long as the weather holds up, we are planning to head to a state park down the road. It has nature trails and stuff. Victoria has been bugging us to see a live alligator while we are here. I thought I saw one in the overflow pond by the mall, but I didn't care to stop and go find out. I prefer some space between myself and the reptilian creatures.

We went to the mall yesterday. I wish I had thought to take a picture with my phone of the music store. There was a salesman playing an organ. I glanced inside the store, looking to see the pianos. I do love the piano, but strangely, they only sold organs. When was the last time those of you living outside of Florida saw an all organ store? I didn't realize there was such a demand for an organ store. Guess there is down here in the land of retirees. There was also a store where all the windows had mannequins sporting clothes that looked like they could've come straight out of my Mom-Mom's old closet. There were no teeny bopper stores in this mall. The rest were all geared toward the area's demographic.

I'm going to take advantage of this quiet time and surf the net, catch up with everyone. Once Steve and the kids get up, there isn't much computer time left over for me. You know what they say, "The early bird gets the Dell!"

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Icky Rainy Days

nobody@vox.com(java janie) — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 11:01:11 -0400

I'm tired. It seems that the lovely warm weather has been replaced by cold rainy weather. It announced it's arrival with a lovely thunderstorm around 5ish this morning, just interrupting my last pleasant hour of sleep. Ugh.

Days like this don't do much to motivate me in the first place, but being tired doesn't help get me moving. I'm really looking forward to ten days with my husband. He just really makes family time special. He's great to travel with. Doesn't mind taking his good old time to get somewhere, seeing sights along the way. (Don't worry Steve, I won't make you stop at South of the Border this time. Wouldn't want you to back into Pedro again anyway!) He loves our family and being with us, making special memories together. He's just so great. (Hey, honey, may I go out and buy myself new shoes and an Easter dress? *bats eyes and smiles*)

So I'm thinking I going to head to the store, get a Starbucks for some energy, maybe some sushi for lunch and come back here and tackle the laundry. Although, I do have one more day after today, and packing is so much fun if you cram it in at the last minute, right?

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