scriggle

I do not like it at all when certain words are shortened. The 2 biggies that come to mind are "meds" for medicine or medication and "tat/tats" for tattoo/tattoos. I'm not really sure where my dislike came from for these abbreviations.

I used to REALLY hate it when people called me Deb. However, it wasn't all people. Only when it came from the mouths of people that I had just met that very moment or even near strangers like the teller at the bank.

I will admit that this dislike came from a time when I was working at a place that had several people with variations of the name Deborah. A couple of them preferred to be called Deb and so that translated itself over to me. One of these "Deb" people was a complete bitch and I did not want to be associated with her in the least so I insisted that people call me Debi or Deborah.

I am many years removed from that situation and so it doesn't bother me so much anymore but I prefer that only my friends and/or family refer to me as Deb. It is more of a personal name to me and I don't want just any joe schmo off the street calling me that which is reserved for the people who really know me.

My good friend p|b calls me "Debs" and I love that. It is so appropriate coming from her and it makes me smile when I hear it. My aunt calls me "Debi Doodle" and has since I was a kid so that name has great memories of it. I even have a good friend now calling me that which is awesome. We called my grandfather "Daddybear", so I often greeted him with "Hey DB!" to which he would reply "Hey DD!" (my last name starts with a D as well). For some odd reason it was always sort of said with the tone of Yogi the Bear saying hello to Boo Boo.

My wonderful neighbors across the street always call me "Deborah" which I've never really been called before, even though it is my name. I'm not really sure how that happened, I don't introduce myself that way ... one time I even told them that they could call me Debi if they wanted to but they said that I will always be Deborah to them and so that is what they call me. I love that.

One of my very best friends now is named Debora and the fact that I share a name with such a fabulous person thrills me to no end. Plus its nice to have someone else of my age with the name. There aren't a whole heck of a lot of us out there in our 30's.

Names are a funny thing ... It took me a long time to really LOVE my name. Now I will never change it, it defines who I am in my mind. I'm proud of it and what it means, how my parents discussed and thought about what to name me. It had to be a difficult thing to do. That is a huge responsibility.

Mom, Daddy ... thanks for giving me my name. I appreciate it more than you know. Love, Debi

Labels: family, me

Posted by scriggle at 8:06 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

OK, as promised ... not the most beautiful picture ever, but it gets the point across. I have begun this project. So far I am through the back left (of the back left, back middle and back right), and am about to start the back middle section. It is fairly simple considering the pattern is 4,000,000 pages long (ok, 3.5 really).

Labels: crochet, family, hobbies, photography

Posted by scriggle at 4:34 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Today would have been my Grandmother and Daddybear's 70th wedding anniversary if they were still with us. Daddybear passed away in March of 2003 and Grandmother in February of 2005. They were married on January 8, 1938 and stuck together through a lot of good and bad times. I miss them both very much every day, but am glad that they are together now ... and forever.

Labels: family

Posted by scriggle at 2:15 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Today is our anniversary, hubby and me. 5 years ago today we tied the knot. It has not always been easy but it has been absolutely worth it. We eloped, nobody knew - not until it was over and done. That's the way we wanted it. It was the day after Thanksgiving in 2002, we went to the JP and got married. Quietly. Peacefully. Calmly. With no advice or chaos or hurt feelings because we didn't have this dress or that kind of cake or these flowers or that song. It was about what it should be about. The two of us getting married. To spend our lives together.

We didn't want a wedding. The dress, the tux, the cake, the music, the flowers, the guest list, the reception, the gifts ... its not about that.

It's about the good days and the bad days, the frustration and arguments - followed by the apologies and knowledge that you've grown a little bit closer and gotten to know each other a little bit better because you worked it out. It's about having someone that makes you laugh so much that you can't catch your breath. It's about waking up in the middle of the night after a bad nightmare and having someone there to hold you and tell you it was just a dream. It's about the joy of doing things together; buying a house, picking out furniture, getting a kitten, painting a table, playing a game, going on vacation. It's about having someone to hold you up when you lose a grandparent ... or a parent. It's about living your lives together and loving each other. Every day, no matter what. I didn't need a dress or a cake and some flowers to make that happen. I just needed him, and he needed me.

I love you James. Thank you for the past 5 years, and thank you for all the years to come.

Labels: family

Posted by scriggle at 8:33 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Just got home a little bit ago from taking hubby to get IntraLasik on his eyeballs. Everything went really well, it was super fast - only about 25 minutes. He's sleeping now, they told him to for at least 3-4 hours. Apparently the eye heals faster when its closed. Who knew?!

However, now I want to go and have it done. Like now. I don't want to wait. I'm tired of wearing glasses and hate it when they fog up when you go from inside to outside. Sigh. But I do know this, since none of the kitties wear glasses, I'll be the next one in this house to get it done. So there.

Labels: family, me

Posted by scriggle at 10:43 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

I have a new niece born yesterday .... Bailey Grace, 7lbs 4oz, 19in long. This is my 19th niece/nephew. Yes, you read that correctly. Nineteenth. Is it no wonder hubby and I aren't having any kids. Our siblings are populating the earth just fine without us.

Mom, Dad, Baby and Big Sisters are all doing good. I don't have any pictures yet, but I hear she has a bunch of hair and looks like her dad :)

Welcome to the world Bailey, we are glad you're finally here.

Labels: family

Posted by scriggle at 9:59 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Monday morning brought more sunshine and relaxation. We got up around 10am or so and wandered down to the beach where some of the family had gathered. We got 2 umbrellas and 4 chairs and plopped down our stuff and headed out into the water - that is me, hubby and the uncle. Mother-in-law and the aunt stayed on dry land lounging under the umbrellas and waving at us.

We remembered to apply plenty of massive sunblock before heading down to the beach which I think saved us some burning and pain, so that's good. We waded out into the waves, the water was sorta chilly at first but you got used to it after a bit. There wasn't any seaweed or anything like that floating around which made it much more pleasant for me. I'm not typically one to get into water where I can't see my feet, but I was trying to be brave so I went for it. We jumped around in the waves for quite a while, it was a lot of fun! I got knocked off my feet a couple of times and ended up with a mouth/nose full of salt water at least once but that's the way it goes. After we were exhausted from the never ending waves, we all climbed out and hubby and I collapsed on the chairs under the umbrella for a while. Mother-in-law and the aunt & uncle went off for a walk down the beach while hubby read his book and I enjoyed the sound of the waves. I probably would have stayed all day long except that hubby isn't much of a sun person and we were both getting hungry as we'd not eaten anything yet. So, after some resting and drying off we all headed back up to the aunt & uncle's condo where there was food and had some lunch.

After we'd filled our bellies, hubby and I went off wandering. We window shopped and actually bought a couple of things. Being thoroughly shopped out, we went back to our condo and napped. I love vacation. You can nap whenever you want and nobody bugs you about it. The aunt & uncle were making yummy spaghetti for dinner so we went down to their condo to have some grub with the family later, then the cousins came back with hubby and I to watch some TV on our big screen! It was time to pack up as we were heading home the next day.

I'm going to go ahead and include the last day in this post because it wasn't horribly exciting as it basically consisted of us waking up, driving to the airport and flying home. Whoopdee Doo! The trip home was very uneventful, which is good, and we were more than ready to get back to our own house, sleep in our own bed, and see our fabulous kitties who we missed terribly. All in all, it was a great vacation. We had a fabulous time, got to see lots of family, hang on the beach and rest a lot. What else could you want in a vacation?

Now its all building up to the big vaca in October .... stay tuned!

Labels: family, vacation

Posted by scriggle at 10:39 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Sunday began with us sleeping in til nearly 10am which was fabulous - and very apt since that's what Hubby and I like to do when we aren't working, sleep in. Mother-in-law awoke at 7am as usual and exited quietly to go over to her sister's condo and begin with the wedding preparations.

After we shook the sleepies off we headed over to the WORLD'S WORST McDONALDS! This was located right next to the condos we were staying in, and apparently everyone else on the island decided to go to this particular McDonalds right at the same moment that we did. We got in and placed our order .. while we were waiting for our beverages we noticed that the coffee pot was brewing away some nice fresh hot coffee. Into nothing. No pot, no cups, nothing. Just flowing all over the heated base of the coffee thingy and all over the floor. Several employees walked past it (since it was right next to the soda machine) and looked at it and did NOTHING. We finally pointed it out to our order taker and he laughed and then put a pot under the flowing liquid. Nice. I must also mention that people really do not take notice of how they are dressed while wandering around South Padre Island. They will go into any location half dressed and dripping wet with no shoes on, its kinda nasty. But I digress. Once we did get our food, it was very tasty - they are just slow and extremely disorganized.

After the McDonalds experience, we headed back to the room to get on our swimming gear and head down to the beach to meet up with the cousins. As we walked down the path to the beach, we had to pass one of the pools ... and lo and behold, there were the cousins in the pool! So, we stopped there and jumped in with them. It was awesome, the pool was not crowded and we were able to talk and laugh and have a great time visiting with them, all the while getting some rays and enjoying the beautiful day. It wasn't til about 45 minutes after we got there and were swimming that we realized we hadn't put any of the sunblock on .. the sunblock that I had to buy with my hard earned money from the worst store chain on the planet. Hubby jumped out and put some on himself since he will get a sunburn from watching Baywatch on TV. I didn't put any on that time, because I am less sensitive. But I did have a pink face later on and for the rest of the weekend. Its now a toasty brown :) After a while the cousins needed to get out .. one to go put her little one down for a nap and the bride to go help the mom's with setting up the deck for the reception. So, we all got out and dried off and went in.

After dressing and resting a little while, Hubby and I decided to go take a walk. We headed out from the condos down the main strip of the island. Not with anything really in mind, just exploring. We stopped in a couple of the shops along the side of the road ... you know, the ones that say things like "Everything $7.99 or Less!" or "Beach Towels $2.99!" and "Prada, Louis Vuitton and Gucci - Half Price!". I tried to get hubby to get his hair braided with beads to get into the beach spirit but he didn't go for it. We also contemplated getting either an airbrush or henna tattoo but the decision proved to be too difficult so we chose to forgo either option. After wandering for about 20 minutes we turned to head back to the condo (returning down the beach, which was much better to walk on than the road) to rest and get ready for the wedding.

We knew the wedding would be casual, so we put on our comfy clothes and flip flops and headed down to the beach. It was really beautiful, they'd set up an arch with greenery and flowers and chairs for people to sit in. Soon after, the groom and best man came down and took their positions. The preacher looked like a total hippy, it was awesome. The atmosphere was so relaxed, it was probably the best wedding I'd ever been to - save my own of course. A little bit later here came the bride and maid of honor. Everyone looked beautiful. The groom's sister was the photographer and videographer (she's just graduated from film school at USC), I can't wait to see all the official pictures! The ceremony took about 10 minutes, all in all we were on the beach for maybe 25 or 30 minutes. After some pictures, we all headed back up to the condo's for the reception.

The reception was held on the 7th floor outdoor deck of the condo building. We had a nice dinner catered in by a local place - chicken, beef or shrimp kabobs! They were really good. The cakes were yummy and everyone had a fun time dancing and visiting. There were bubbles and poppers for the kids to play with. Although at one point a security guard from the condos came up to let us know that one of the kids was throwing dinner rolls off the balcony down into the pool below! Ha :) After much dancing, drinking, eating and merriment we were beat and headed off back to our room to let the younger folks party the night away. And so they did, we heard that many of them were out partying til after 3am. There is no way I would have made that!

Another wonderful day in sunny South Padre, and a beautiful wedding to boot. We were so happy to have been there to help celebrate. And tomorrow was going to be even better!

Padre, Part 3: Surf, Sand and Sun .... coming soon!

Labels: family, vacation

Posted by scriggle at 12:43 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

We've been back from our mini-vacation for several days now, and as it seems to always go, life swept me up into itself so I'm only just now able to sit down and put the recap into words. Hubby and I plus mother-in-law headed down to South Padre Island, TX for 4 days to attend Hubby's cousin's wedding. I don't believe I've ever been to South Padre before, or if I had it was a long time ago when I was a wee child.

We left Saturday morning from home about 10:30am to head towards the airport. Our flight didn't leave until 1pm but we had a few errands to run on the way. Getting to the airport was pretty uneventful - in fact, the entire trip was uneventful in a "disaster" kind of way. So, if you are waiting for that you will be sorely disappointed :). This was the first time in her life that my mother-in-law had ever flown anywhere on an airplane! I couldn't believe that when she first told me ... but she did really well, wasn't freaked out by the flight at all. I was more scared than she was! Of course I do have a bit of an irrational fear of flying - but that is a post for another time.

We've been having major rain here in DFW for the past, oh I don't know, 80 days or so, so we were a bit concerned of storms hindering our departure. We did leave about 10 minutes late which put us arriving at our destination about 20 minutes late but all in all that isn't bad. We were flying from Dallas Love Field to Harlingen with one stop in Austin. Upon arrival in Harlingen we walked into SUMMER! It was hot and humidy and sunny and rainless. Just what you would think June in Texas to be like. Finally! Weather for swimming in. An exit was missed on the way to South Padre Island from the airport so we actually went on a detour through lovely Brownsville, TX. Ha! Oh well, worse things have happened.

And did. I had to do something that I hate doing with every ounce of energy in my entire body. Those of you that know me, know that I would not have done this if I had any other choice. We needed to stop and pick up a few things before getting to the condo. We were in Brownsville. There were few choices. Then it happened. We arrived in the parking lot of the local Wal-Mart Supercenter. I won't go into much detail because I'm about to go eat lunch and would really like to enjoy my food. Let's just say that every reason that I hate Wal-Mart is still there, and magnified 10 times over. It was dirty and dark and there were screaming children and rude adults and we were accosted by a group (literally standing in between the exit door and the parking lot) of people as we left attempting to guilt us into buying these crosses made out of wood and giant nails to raise money for some youth organization so they could go to church camp. *Sigh*. The only upside I can think of is that this particular location had self checkout which I opted to use so I wouldn't have to interact with any employee at all. Thank goodness. But, lets move on to happier things.

We got to the condos and checked into our room - after only a slight key mishap. These are privately owned condos that the owners rent out during the summer so they are all decorated differently. And might I say, we hit the jackpot. We stayed in a 2 bedroom condo with us in one room and mother-in-law in the other room. It was 2 stories, bedrooms/bathrooms downstairs and living areas upstairs. We had a phenomenal view of the beach and our condo looked like it had been recently decorated with not many expenses spared. All the furniture was beautiful as well as the linens in the bedrooms. There were gorgeous 12" tiles laid in the entire upstairs. We had granite counter tops in the kitchen as well as a large screen TV. These people knew how to have a beach condo! We got settled in and rested for a bit and then all went off for a "rehearsal" dinner, even though there really wasn't a rehearsal :)

We ended up at a restaurant called Scampi's which was pretty nice. Now .... I am not a seafood eater. At all. Ever. And being as how we were on an ISLAND at a restaurant with the name Scampi's I was pretty sure this was going to be a seafood restaurant. However, as with most seafood places I've ever been to (which admittedly is not many) they offered steak for those of us who aren't friends with the food from the sea. I had a lovely steak and baked tater and all was good. There were lots of people there and we had a really good time visiting with everyone and meeting this new extended part of our family. After a lot of food and fun, visiting and pictures, we headed back to the condos to collapse and get ready for a full and fun day of sun worshiping and wedding festivities.

Padre, Part 2: Sun, Swimming and Wedding .... coming soon!

Labels: family, vacation

Posted by scriggle at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Yesterday was my car's birthday ... yes, I named my car. His name is Gus. After my grandfather who passed away March 22, 2003. His name was also Gus, August Gustav Christian Becker Jr. If that's not a German name, I don't know what is. That's why I named the car after him - he was a German guy, my car is a German car!

My little Gus was 2 years old yesterday, he came home with me on May 13, 2005 and I just love him. I'd wanted a Beetle for a while, and come to find out many people in my family had once owned Beetles, although I'm the only one so far with the new body style. The others were way back in the 50's, 60's and 70's.

Anyhoo ... Happy Birthday Gus, I hope there are many more to come. And, I miss you Daddybear.

Update: 2 days after Gus' birthday he passed a milestone :)

Labels: birthday, family, me, whatnot

Posted by scriggle at 4:44 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post