A long week indeed...

This past week, we watched our god-daughters Hailey and Natalie while their parents celebrated their 10th anniversary in Key West. I'm exhausted. I had no idea how long it took 2 girls to get ready for bed. By the time I got them bathed, dried, in the bed and read stories, it was late...like around 11:30..even when I started at 8:30 or 9.The first night Natalie insisted she could take a shower on her own and ended up crying for an hour because she got soap in her eyes. I should stop and mention that she whines constantly. And I do meant constantly...even when she doesn't want something. She whined because a moth was on the ceiling. She whined because her hair wasn't curly like mine. She whined because her cup wasn't blue like mine. She whined because I accused her of whining. It gets old fast.

We cooked dinner 3 nights and ate out for 2 since we went to the zoo and the Renaissance Faire. We had lunch out 3 days since we were already out and about. It was a very expensive week. Between buying them outfits for the faire and having to buy Hailey a new outfit because of an accident at the store and then buying them stuff at the zoo gift shop and the faire and then all the food and snacks..I'm broke. I was going to buy Jeff a nice birthday present, but I don't think I can now.

It was fun though, despite the whining and sisterly bickering. For the most part, they were really good. I did have to take the karaoke game away from them because Hailey was apparently "making" Natalie mess up her songs. They fought over who was going to get my lip gloss when I never said they could have it to begin with. They soaked my bathroom during bath time and went through all my stuff and moved it to other areas of the house. They chased my cats and dogs and were obsessed with feeding my turtles and fish. I read them a ton of Dr. Seuss books and watched them inhale my cooking. They had a blast at the faire and participated in a lot of the acts and dancing there. They even slept on the trip home.

Sunday, we drove them to Charlotte to meet up with Ronnie and Misty and hung out at the mall until it was time to meet for lunch. Then it was off to Bass Pro Shop and the mall for a few hours before heading home. We got home and crashed, but the house was very quiet. Elvis resurfaced after hiding for 5 days and I was glad to see he was still alive. I took Monday off to recoup from my long week and got my laundry done. My house is still messy, but it'll just have to be that way.

Then there was the whole VT "Massacre" that happened. It sickens me. I consider VT part of home. I grew up going to football games and walking around campus. I'd go visit my uncle there when he was in the dorms. I'd visit cousins too. Then I visited my sister when she went there. I still go visit since she only lives 5 minutes from campus. My brother-in-law still goes to school there. I know people who teach there and have a cousin who got her engineering degree from there. It just shocked me that something like that could happen in a place like Tech. It's totally different from any other campus I've been on. Here at UNC, most people are kind of off in their own little world.... self-absorbed rich kids who think they're too important to bother saying hello to strangers. At Tech, it's like one big family. Everyone's friendly and goes out of their way to help others. That's how it felt anyway. You can even tell the difference going to football games.

At UNC games, they boo the visiting team and are generally rude and very fair weathered. If UNC starts losing, the crowd leaves. At VT, even when they're losing, the fans are still cheering them on and stay until the very end....and you'll never hear them booing the other team.

It also upsets me that VT is getting so much criticism on their response time. Since I work for a campus police department, I can tell you..it's no easy task to shut down a university of Tech's size..or UNC's for that matter. There's too many roads and trails into the campus and not enough people to staff every entrance/exit..not in that short amount of time anyway. Trying to notify thousands of people without creating a panic is next to impossible...you'd risk others being injured by trying to get them all off campus at the same time.

How were they supposed to know the 1st shooting was just a prelude? No university will shut down the whole campus just because of a single shooting incident that appeared to be domestic. They'd shut down that area and clear the one building, then send out a warning when they had time..just like VT police did. When we get a robbery or rape or shooting on campus, we secure the area, put a lookout for the person over a 50 mile radius if he/she hasn't been caught, then put out a media alert for them and warn the students not to walk anywhere alone and be aware of their surroundings, blah blah..and life goes on. We don't shut down the entire campus for a single act of violence.

After the 2nd shooting, they responded very quickly and shut everything down as quick as they could...so I think they did a phenomenal job in handling the situation. After any type of tragedy, people are always finding ways to pull it apart and sit far away from the situation and tell others how it should have been handled..when in truth, if they'd been there..they wouldn't have known what to do. They did the same on 9/11, Columbine, Hurricane Katrina..the list goes on and on. I mourn for the loss of so much life and I'm angry that the shooter took the cowards way out. No one these days is willing to take responsibility for their actions..but he'll pay for it while he spends eternity burning in hell while being mercilessly tortured and spat upon.

Every time I hear the words VT Massacre, it feels like a punch in the gut. Life will go on, Tech will recover and become more united than ever. I pray for the families of the victims lost in Cho Seung-Hui's senseless and irrational rampage. I pray for the entire Blacksburg community and for all those who feel a strong connection to Virginia Tech. No words can bring them solace, but they're not alone and that in and of itself is a comfort.

Yes, a long week indeed. Now I'm back at work and able to focus on other stuff instead of reflecting over events of the past week. I'm so tired though. I need a long holiday..to recharge my batteries and reconnect with Jeff. We get so lost in everyday life that sometimes we feel like strangers to each other. So..I'm going for now to research a vacation destination for us. Somewhere warm and far away from reality....

Back In Time

This past Saturday, Jeff and I went back in time to the Middle Ages. The NC Renaissance Faire in Raleigh was incredible!!! I'd never been to one before and was extremely excited about going. I haven't had that much fun in a long time! There was something to see everywhere. Jugglers, magicians, acrobats, storytellers, sword fights, jousting, dog races, exotic animals, palm readers, gypsies,equestrian shows, vendors galore, displays, belly dancers...you just couldn't take it all in at one time. Everyone was in costume and speaking in Elizabethan English. We got there right after the village gates of Kingston Upon Hull were opened and were greeted royally by the villagers. It was just ...wow. There was royalty, peasants, gypsies, fairies and pirates galore. The food was great and we got a TON of pictures. I got my palm read not long after we'd gotten there and she was extremely accurate on a lot of stuff, but I'll have to save that story for another time since I left my notes at home and because it's lengthy.

We watched the coursing of the hounds and visited the greyhound tent a few times just b/c they were too cute and sweet. . The acrobats called Barely Balanced were extremely talented and funny also . Most places you go, you pick and choose what you want to see...but here, you want to see them all. They were all really entertaining..not one thing was bad.

Towards the end of the day, I did something completely insane. I have a purple velvet skirt at home and I was trying to find a shirt to go with it. Originally, I was going for a peasant or gypsy kind of look, so I stopped at this one vendor and looked around. All she sold was corsets and the skirts to go with them. Well, she talked me into trying one on and then the other girl said that since I was playing dress up, I might as well try on the skirts too. She made it look bustled and added the hoop skirt too. I looked awesome! I was uncomfortable, but I looked great..lol.

So..after parading around in front of the mirror and watching Jeff drool over me, I asked how much it was. My jaw dropped, but Jeff told me that you only live once and that I looked great and reminded me that this was a one of a kind piece. No two corsets of hers were alike....they were all different and reversible..so I'd be getting 2 corsets. Soo..I said I'd take it, and Jeff surprised me by offering to buy the skirts. He wished me a happy early anniversary and we paid for it all and left to see the rest of the equestrian show.

Here's where I should mention that what we paid for the corset and skirts would've fixed my car or gotten both of our cats declawed. Or bought a Wii. I still can't believe it. We're going back in a couple weeks to take Hailey and Natalie, so I'll wear it then. And, since we had so much fun, we're planning on going to several others in the area...Atlanta, Charlotte, Virginia and Pennsylvania..which is the large one, so I will get to wear it quite a bit. Now we just have to find Jeff something to wear. I'm thinking a knight, or a pirate...or a swordsman of some sort.

Once we returned to reality, totally broke..and wearing my corset, we made a stop at CompUSA since the store was going out of business and the printer ink would be cheap. I had to wear my corset into the store..totally revealing my farmers tan I'd gotten that day. I had 3 male clerks tell me to find them if I needed help..lol. After that little excursion, I put my regular shirt back on b/c I knew we were going to go eat and I couldn't stuff anything else in that corset. We went to the most awesome greek restaurant...Taverna, Agora. It's on Glenwood Ave. in Raleigh for those of you who want to go. It was just..Oh my God..good!! This is what we had...for an appetizer, we had bread with lemon garlic EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) that everyone gets..even it was out of this world! And Jeff ordered:

Flambéed Greek CheeseSaganaki
Seared kefalograviera cheese with EVOO & fresh lemon over tomato slices. Flambéed with brandy- OPA!! 7.95

For dinner, I had:

Chicken Fettuccini Helopites Me Kota Lemonata
Lemon chicken fettuccini with sautéed spinach, garlic, tomatoes, & fresh herbs in a white wine lemon sauce with manouri cheese 13.95

It was to die for!!! I'd never had greek food before..and gyros don't count. It needed more manouri cheese..but I cleaned my plate.

Jeff had the special which was chicken with shrimp in some kind of red wine sauce with vegetables. For dessert, they had Baklava Cheesecake, Chocolate cake w/ Mocha frosting, something I don't remember and then we got tapas filled with custard and honey, topped with whipped cream. I wish I'd gotten my own instead of sharing it...lol

Sunday was supposed to be a day of painting the den and getting everything back in order, but we were so worn out from the day before..that we got nothing done. Uploaded pictures and talked about the faire..that was most of our day. I can't wait to go 2 weeks from now. I think the girls will love it! I should've been going to these longggg ago. It was nice having something new to do with Jeff that neither of us had done before. It was a day of firsts for me. My first Ren Faire and my first Greek food. Such a great day...I need to have those kinds of days more often.