Happy Birthday, Daddy (7-24-11)

This post should have been posted on the 24th of July which would have been my dad’s 87th birthday.  This post, however, was on a USB key I have been taking to work so that if I do personal things at work I could put them on the drive to bring them home.  I password protected that key so that if I left it at work or someone else got a hold of it they could not access the files on it.  I forgot the password until the other day and then that password ended up being wrong as well.  I finally remembered the correct password today….so here is the post that was supposed to be a letter to my daddy on his birthday.  I miss him so much, may her rest in peace.

 

 

July 24, 2011

Dear Daddy,

Today is your birthday.  You would be 87 years old today if you were still around.  Hard to believe it has been almost twelve years since I lost you.  I miss you more then you could ever imagine, or maybe you can.  It is hard every day for me to see other people with their dads or complaining about their fathers, because I would give anything to have my daddy back and with me.

I suppose you know that I have three children now.  Robert is fourteen now and starting high school.  I know if you were still alive that would floor you as you were there when he was born.  I am glad you got to see him but so wish you were here to see Alexander and Samantha.  I think you would have gotten a huge kick out of Alex, he is quite the little boy.  Very much into “military” and boy things.  He is so smart.  Samantha is sassy as can be.  Mom says she is a lot like I was when I was her age.  She is a beautiful little girl with blonde hair and blue eyes and I am sure she would be grandpa’s little girl if you were still here.

Some things have happened in my life that I wish I could have picked up the phone and called you or just had you there to turn to.  Today is an anniversary of another major event in my life and I am sorry that event happened on your birthday.  Maybe remembering it was your birthday contributed to what happened that day.  I never meant to dishonor you.

Bill and I still keep in touch.  We email on occasion and call (usually play phone tag with one another).  We use to talk weekly, every Wednesday but that got harder when we made the move to California cause of time difference; and now with me working and Bill working our schedules don’t always match up.  I don’ hear from John at all but then we never really were the “sibling” type where we?  And Janet I think has pretty much ignored the fact that I am even here.  Things have happened with her that I am not happy with and I tried but you can only try so much before you break because you just can’t put forth the effort when it isn’t returned.

We moved back to Sebring, and every day I have to remember that you aren’t here in the place I consider home for me to call or for the kids to see or to invite to dinner.  I wish you knew Richard better but am glad the two of you had the opportunity to meet one another before you were gone.  Mom and I have had our moments but I love her and I know she loves me.  And I know she didn’t handle things correctly but Jack was not a bad guy and he cared about her, and me and the kids.

I wish all the time that I could just see you one more time.  I didn’t expect you to be gone as soon as you were.  I thought I had time to go back to Houston and make arrangements to come back with Robert.  I thought you would come out of it and I could get you to come to Houston with me.  I thought that maybe, just maybe I’d have you for a little while longer.

It is hard to lose your daddy at twenty.  I know that is not what you intended and I accepted when I was about fourteen that I would not have you forever or as long as perhaps some of my friends would have their dads but I really thought I had more time than twenty years.  And maybe it is selfish of me because I did have that time with you but I feel cheated as well because I wanted so much more.

Happy Birthday, daddy.  I love you and I miss you.  I hope you are proud of me; and I know you are watching over me.

 

Love your little girl,

 

Kelli

My 10 Summer Must Haves

I was prompted on the idea for this thanks to the lovely, and wonderful Nicole and her post about ‘Summer Must Haves‘.  I have seen a few other lists as well on blogs, websites and in magazines.  Here is my ‘ 10 Summer Must Haves’ List:

1.  Sun Block – We currently favorite the following in our house and use them on every outing that involves the sun, especially our boating excursions.  We have been lucky enough this summer to only have a few occasions were sun burns happen, when in other years it was a constant during the summer.  However, thankfully in the process, we are all developing ‘Florida tans’.  I use a trick I was told in Hawaii of putting on the SPF for protection and then tanning lotion for enhancement.  It seems to work, or at least I think it does.

Coppertone Waterbabies SPF 50 – for protection

Neutrogena For Faces SPF 70 – for the face

Australian Gold Tanning Lotion SPF 15 – over top of the SPF 50

2.  Flip Flops – A must have every summer I think in every state….but especially in Florida were you can wear them almost year round.  I currently own more flip flops then other type of shoe and in many different styles and colors.  I would love to own a pair of these

Fish flip flops

 Or these:

Hello Kitty Flip Flops

3.  First Aid Kit – These are also a must, at any time.  We have one in the truck, one in my car, one in the boat and a travel one that is usually in my purse or whatever bag I happen to be carrying at the time.

4.  Bags – I have an assortment of canvas and cinch bags I put things in and carry with us.  I have a bag for the boat (titled ‘The Boat Bag’).  I also carry plastic grocery bags as well, especially on the boat and to the beach to put wet items in.

5.  After Sun Lotion – Ok so maybe this should have been up with or closer to sun block but a must have in my household during the summer is Banana Boat After Sun Lotion with Aloe.  It helps to take the sting out of burns as well as moisturize the skin and allow tanning to last longer with out peeling.

6.  Nail Polish – although I might not get regular pedicures (because of time & price constraints) I do regularly work on my feet at home and keep my toes painted.  I love colors and love to change colors, sometimes weekly.  My favorites right now are:

Sally Hansen – Hard As Nails – Xtreme Wear – #42 Gunmetal

Sally Hansen – Hard As Nails – Xtreme Wear – #140 Rockstar Pink

OPI – Texas Collection – Houston We Have A Purple

OPI – Texas Collection – Austin-tatious Turquoise

OPI – Pirates of the Caribbean Collection – Mermaid’s Tears

OPI – Pirates of the Caribbean Collection – Skull and Glossbones

OPI – Pirates of the Caribbean Collection – Steady As She Rose

OPI – Hong Kong Collection – Jade Is The New Black

OPI – Alice In Wonderland Collection – Thanks So Muchnesa

7.  Fruit – Gotta love summer fruits….grapes, strawberries, blueberries, cherries, raspberries, blackberries, pineapple, watermelon….all so good.

8.  Bathing Suit – I recently found a full piece that is perfect for me.  It fits me well, covers enough but also shows enough – if ya know what I mean.  It is black with design and has a ‘boy-short’ type bottom even though it is a full piece.

9.  Hair stuff – I always have a ouchless pony tail holder in my bag or around my wrist.  I try to buy ones that are brown in color to match my brunette color so they aren’t as noticeable but I also have ones in colors to match different clothing I have.  Also, my hair is naturally curly and living somewhere like Florida, humidity is a problem and so is frizz.  My current frizz product of choice is Agadir Argan Oil Treatment.  Plus it smells really good.

10.  iPod – got to have your tunes while relaxing by the pool or on the beach.  My playlist changes quite frequently depending on my mood or where I am going.  The iPod is also good for long car rides to get to the destinations.

Meal Planning, Grocery List & Couponing

I have always tried to be a meal planner. When we moved to California, I would plan out the whole weeks meals on Sunday, we would grocery shop for the items needed and then all that was left to do was actually prepare the meals. I would sometimes pre-chop things (i.e. onions, peppers, carrots) days in advance depending on what the meals called for and place them in tupperware or zip-loc baggies. I would do themed weeks were I would make a full week of Italian or Mexican or Asian cuisines; and even a few times let the kids pick the menus for the week. This made things so easy because I knew ahead of time what was planned and knew I had all the ingredients I needed. I also was not working so I could spend all day in the kitchen if I need to do so.

I haven’t done much meal planning at all since we moved to Florida.  I just kind of buy things and fly by the seat of my pants depending on the night.  Before I started my new job that was a little easier to do because I had more time at home, but now not so much.  The crock-pot is about to become my friend again, which I don’t mind at all as I have quite a few crock-pot recipes that are really good.  However, I need to orchestrate the planning part again.  Even knowing I have the crock-pot to do a lot of the work for me, I still have not planned things out as thoroughly as they should be.  In the coming weeks it is only going to get busier and more hectic with the hubby in Houston and the kids starting swim lessons.

So here I am back to planning out the meals.  I think it will take some stress off of me and everyone will know what is for dinner instead of me being asked as soon as I walk in the door from work.  With planning the meals out, I can also feel more comfortable about returning to a regular work out schedule as I won’t have to rush to fit dinner in as well if it is already cooking (in the crock-pot) or planned and thawed.

My second biggest challenge here is my grocery list.  I have a habit of just assuming what I need sometimes and well….we all know what that does.  I need to be more thorough about going through the cabinets, making lists of things I already  have and then processing lists for shopping based on what I have, what I have planned for meals and what is still needed.  This is another technique I was using in California that saved a lot of time (and money) at the grocery store.

Now a lot of you are involved in couponing.  I don’t really understand the whole thing but if using coupons can save me some money I am not against it in the least bit.  I don’t want to get extreme and have stock piles of things I may never use; or buy something just because it’s on sale or I have a coupon for it.  I buy a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables so a lot of time there aren’t coupons for those things; however, we have our staples and snacks that we buy that couponing could benefit.  This shopping list/trip I am going to try to use as many coupons as possible and utilize as many of the in store sales I can.

So where does that leave me now, well it leaves me with a big chore ahead of me of starting in the cabinets and making a list of the items I do have, and I mean everything even spices.  From there decide what meals I making for the next week or two and then compile my grocery list based on what I need versus what I have already.  Once my list is complete I can check for coupons and sales at the local stores (I mostly shop at Publix).  And perhaps I will start posting the weekly meals again as I did for a short while.

If anybody has any tips or ideas, I am open to them.  Also, if you have recipes to share…especially crock-pot ones…I am open to trying new things and new ideas all the time.

Wordless Wednesday – Remembering

Kemah Boardwalk - Rich & I - 1999

Kids - Halloween - 2009 - Texas

Isa & Elaine - Christmas 2007 - Texas

Sammi & D - Sammi Birthday - April 2010 - California

Nic, Miss & I - #VegasBB - December 2009

Napoleon & Mei-Ling