Roller Skating

I was looking for something to do on a Saturday afternoon and I stumbled upon a roller skating rink giving lessons to kids for $5. Brett was home for the day so we decided to check it out.

It took about 45 minutes to get there and then Brett and I needed to buy socks. I thought that it was just for kids but the sign said "Kids $5 and Parents Free". Woo Hoo!! Although, I cannot tell you the last time that I was on roller skates. I am sure that the last time I was on anything that rolled, it at least 15 years ago or even longer.

Anyway... we walked into the place and it was like we were back in the 80's. It was pretty cool ~ the huge disco ball hanging from the wall and the 80's music on the horrible sound system, the snack bar, painted walls, arcade games... We got our skates and I don't think that they have changed those since the 80's either. The shoe strings were ripped and they were very well used skates.

I got Katherine's skates on her and Brett took her out on the rink. I finished putting mine on and Wow... it had been awhile. It took a little time to get used to them again but the feeling came back. I guess it was like riding a bike... once you learn, you will always know how to do it.

Katherine did great! At first, she fell a bit but then she got the hang of it. It was a ton of fun and a very different way to spend our Saturday.

Later that night, there were muscles a bit sore that probably haven't been used since the last time I skated. I am not sure if we will go back but it was a great experience.

1985 Mercedes

Several years ago, a family friend of Brett's gave us a 1985 300SD Mercedes. The car was in great condition when we received it and only had 100,000 miles on it. It had a very distinct sound... only a diesel could make. Brett loved it and had a blast working on it.

When we moved to Palm Springs, we let one of the tenants use it and he abused it. It was really sad. After that, no one else got to use it except us when we were in town. It lived in the hanger until we needed it. For the most part, it worked well. There were a few times that we had to get a "jump" or a rental car just because it really needed more love than what we were giving it.

When we moved back to Phoenix, the poor car sat out in the hot sun. It no longer lived in the hanger as that is where the airplane "sleeps" as Katherine would say. With Brett being gone so much, we decided to sell it.

It was sad to see it drive away but it went to a very good family. They are up in Flagstaff and the car will do very well there.

As Katherine said, "Bye, Bye Mercedes. We will miss you".

Damage

The day before Katherine and I went to Medford, a girl (yes, someone much younger than me) ran a red light and hit us. Nobody was hurt but my car. My light had turned green and I started to go. If you have ever been to Phoenix, you would know that most stop lights near the freeways stop way behind the intersection. So, we got the green light passing the on ramp of the freeway and coming up to the off ramp. I watched as two cars did a "California" stop before turing right on their red light. Then just as I was coming up to the off ramp, a blue car was in their right hand turn lane and not slowing down to turn on their red light.

I honked my horn but it was too late, she hit the back right of my car. I pulled over and asked her what happened and she replied, "I ran the red light". Huh? It's like she didn't even care. No one was hurt and we exchanged info. As we drove away, Katherine said, "Mama, slow down". I tried explaining to her that it wasn't my fault but Katherine didn't get it.

I got home and immediately called my insurance and put a claim in. The last time I was in an accident was when I was in high school ~ so it's been awhile. Katherine and I went to Medford the next day and when I returned, I was going to take my car in to be fixed. I then received a call from the other insurance company stating that their client STILL had not put a claim in and they were not going to pay. Again, HUH? It had been about a week after the accident and still no claim.

Flustered... I took my car in anyway. I was told by the shop manager that the other insurance was still not taking fault for the claim. So, I called my insurance AGAIN. My adjuster told me that when she spoke to the girl that hit me, she was very casual and said, "I ran the red light". She admitted it but wouldn't put it in a statement.

Anyway... I am having my car fixed. I have to come up with my deductible and my insurance is going to to after the other party's insurance and hopefully I get my $500 back. After all... she hit me!

Yes, I do have a rental car. I was told that I would get a comparable car but not that's the case. It doesn't even have automatic locks and drives at 40 MPH no matter how far you put your foot on the gas. That is all I am saying.

I am ready to have my car back (it's only been 1 day without it). There isn't a lot of damage so hopefully it will be done next week. I am not sure when we are going to see our $500 for the deductible that I have to pay for someone else hitting me.

Dress Up

Today was our "Dress Up Day".
So what started out as dress up day for Katherine... it became dress up day for Katherine, BJ and Lucky. We had a ball. Not sure if the dogs were so into it as we were but we gave them lots and lots of treats for their participation.
Katherine loves to dress up. She would rather wear a dress than shorts any day. Pretty much all of her dresses are play dresses. The only dress that she hasn't played in yet was the flower girl dress that she just wore last weekend. I am sure that it will make it into the play bin soon enough since I am not sure what we are going to do with that dress.
Anyway... after moving and unpacking ALL our boxes, I found my veil from our wedding. My dress was preserved but I didn't know what to do with the veil so I gave it to Katherine to play with. Not sure what I would do with it anyway.
So, Katherine came out of her playroom this morning asking for help in putting the veil on. She then went to get a beautiful dress along with the crown, jewels and rings. Don't forget the necklace that sings. I then suggested that we dress BJ up. BJ was a pretty good sport but she had a terrible time walking around in the purple dress so we changed it to a blue tutu. Katherine also put the blue beaded necklace on BJ.
That wasn't enough though... Katherine wanted to wear angel wings. BJ had a pair as well. With the two of them playing dress up, Lucky looked like he wanted to get in on the fun. NOT! He was dressed in a pink tutu, with a green necklace and black wings.
It was a ton of fun and I gave the dogs a lot of treats for their participation. I can't remember when I laughed so hard!

Flower Girl

Little Miss Katherine was asked to be the flower girl in my cousins wedding. She loved trying on the dress... didn't even want to take it off ~ even with Chuck E. Cheese right next door. For all that know Katherine, Chuck E Cheese is one of her favorite places to go.

I finally got the dress off of her but we didn't walk out the door without buying anything. She got new shoes and a little shirt that said Flower Girl.

That was back in January... flash forward to the end of May when we actually bought the dress. Now one would think with me being a former Wedding Coordinator, not to wait until the last minute to buy Katherine's dress. Well I did and luckily they had her size. I was hoping though that I could save $20 and buy the 24 month size since she is a smaller girl instead of the 2T but that didn't work. I had to fork over the extra $20 because as we all know... weddings aren't cheap!

So after buying the dress, shoes (2 different pairs), tiara, the bow, and the basket... we were ready for the wedding.

Katherine and I went by ourselves at the last minute because Brett had to go to training. I haven't traveled commercial in quiet sometime and after our experience, I do not think that I will be doing it again for a long time ~ the nice perk of having a husband as a pilot and our own plane.

We got to the airport an hour early to check in. I called the TSA the day before to make sure that it was okay to bring juice boxes for Katherine. I was told that it would be fine just as long as they were in a plastic bag and out (not in the bag).

Getting up to security, I had Katherine put her bag on the belt and take her shoes off. Oh, she so did not like that. She wanted to know where her bag was going and what about her shoes. Of course we stopped the entire line because the TSA took her juice. They opened the boxes for vapers. Really?

Katherine wasn't happy about that... no more juice or chocolate milk. Then we get to the gate and our flight is delayed to SFO. I asked the gate agent if we were okay to make our connection. She said that we were going to be fine. We were going to be landing at 12:30pm and our flight wasn't until 1:05pm. Well that didn't go as planned.

We landed at 12:40pm, had to wait for our gate and Katherine and I were in the back of the airplane... the second row from the back. We RAN to the connecting flight to make it to the gate at 1:02pm and they wouldn't let us on. The plane didn't push back until 1:14pm. It was a nightmare!

Then they said the next flight that they could get us on was 8:30pm. What?!? Seven hours in an airport terminal with a three year old?!? They really didn't care. So, I called Alaska Air. Yep, they had a flight that left at 3pm but when I got to the ticket agent to pay for the flight, she said that it wouldn't get into Medford until 9pm. Well, that was out of the question. Yes, I was sobing and Katherine kept telling me that it was going to be okay. I tried talking to US Air since they are the ones that I bought the tickets through on United. Not sure how that worked but it didn't do me any good. Again, crappy customer service.

So, Katherine and I got back on the Airtram and went back to Terminal 3 to United. Talked to a supervisor and he put us on stand by for the next flight that left at 5:20pm. By this time, it was close to 3pm and we hadn't had anything to eat so we shared a hamburger, went to our gate, talked to the agent that said that he was going to get us on, and then went to the play area until we got to board.

Yes, it was nice to get a ticket onto the flight but we did miss the rehearsal but not the rehearsal dinner. It was a nice dinner but Katherine was done by the end. It had been a long and emotional day.

The wedding was the next day and it was beautiful. Katherine loved being with the girls and having her hair done. She sat for about an hour for them to fix her hair. Then she had a blast playing Yactzee with the bridesmaids during pictures. She was a little ham when it was her turn for the pictures. Oh, and there was no way that she was going to carry the basket with petals. She wanted flowers like the bridesmaids. So... I made her a make shift bouquet and it looked great!

When it was time to walk down the aisle, she did an awesome job considering she didn't have a rehearsal. She even stood up with the bridesmaids the entire time of the ceremony. She took the hand of one of the bridesmaids when it was time to walk back down the aisle.

We had a great time seeing family that we haven't seen in years.

The only thing that Katherine wanted during the entire reception was cake... then we could go.

We spent the next day in Medford seeing family and on Monday we flew home. Yes, we made our connection but only by 5 minutes. If we would have missed it, we would have been stuck in SFO for 8 hours!