It's been a long, loooong time...6 years!!!

Wow.  Six years since I last posted on here, cannot believe it has been that long.  So what has happened?

We just moved back in our house about six weeks ago after a complete home restoration.  On 2 January, while Randy and I were at the Tampa Bay Lightning game, I got a call on my cell phone from Emily's.  I thought it odd, then had a moment of panic when I thought something might have happened to mom or pop (who were staying with us at the time and were home with the girls) and Randy quickly told me to answer it.  I was not prepared for my mom to be on the other end of the phone telling me there had been a fire in the house and that we needed to come home.  She stressed that the fire department had been called but I heard panic in her voice so about halfway through the third period of the game, Randy and I hightailed it out of there and drove as quickly as the radar detector would allow to get back home.  When we came in through the front entrance, I saw a fire truck leaving so took that as a not-quite-good, but better-than-I-thought sign.  When we rounded the curve before our house, I was relived to only see one truck left in front (there had been three).  I vaguely remember even putting the SUV in park before jumping out and running up to the house.  The girls were on the sidewalk, mom was up towards the house, pop was in their car with their two dogs and our two dogs, and both front doors were wide open.  I could smell the lingering tmell-tale smell from an electrical fire.  And the house was cold...every single sliding glass door in the house was wide open to dissipate as much of the smoke as possible.  And while one fireman was standing in Randy's office, the other one was taking tons of photographs of our 180-gallon fish tank...from the top of the hood to the floor.  Something electrical under the tank itself had caught on fire.

Thankfully no one was hurt and everyone quickly evacuated the house.  Mom had been in the spare bedroom (with the door closed) just down the hallway from the living room/office where the tank was.  Pop was in the family room with the dogs watching a movie and the girls were down the back hall in their bedroom playing on the Xbox.  What we learned was that mom and the girls smelled something around the same time.  Mom realized it was the fish tank and yelled for everyone to get out of the house.  While mom was trying to get her and Grace out (pop headed out the back door), Emily grabbed the nearby fire extinguisher.  While mom was calling 911, Emily completely extinguished the fire before the fire department even arrived.  Her quick action kept our house from burning down.  As it was, the only damages we could find from the fire itself was our now-defunct fish tank and what we could see of the wall behind the tank.  Smoke had permeated throughout the house though.

I contacted our insurance company Monday morning (the fire happened on a Saturday night) and started the claims process.  Before that time, I had never filed an insurance claim for anything, not even with auto insurance.  Our adjuster was great, though, and walked me through what needed to be done.  He arranged for a fire inspector to come out to see if he could determine what caused the fire as well as another inspector to give an estimate on cost of repairing the house.  They were both there within two or three days.  The fire inspector pulled out much of the equipment in the stand below the tank and found a burnt-to-nothing strip cord.  That's where the fire had come from.  He also noted that the plug in it (there was only one) was also damaged, that one being to the hood lamp, so he took the strip cord and the lamp with him.  (It was later determined that the hood lamp had overheated the power cord, but fault was undetermined.  good news for us, we weren't found liable.)  The other inspector came out, noted the damage on the wall (what he could see of it since the tank was still there and could not be moved), noted floor damage in the office, noted that there was also smoke damage in our bedroom (right off the living room/office) and the dining room (open to the living room).

Several days later I received a copy of his report.  It called for a complete replacement of the wall with fire damage.  As a note...the fire did not breach the sheetrock behind the tank.  Emily's fast action is to be thanked for that.  The estimate also called for the replacement of the floors in the living room, dining room and master bedroom as well as cleaning of the popcorn ceiling in all three rooms and repainting of all walls in those three rooms plus the entryway and hallway.  Whew!

We eventually settled with the insurance company on personal property...the fish tank complete setup, curtains, dry cleaning that was hanging on our door, and the signed Peyton Manning college jersey that was matted and framed and hung above the fish tank.  I had a couple of companies come out and give estimates on repairing the wall.  Each one I talked to said they would not do all of the painting nor would any of them touch our popcorn ceiling.

About six weeks after the fire, I was on the phone with the insurance adjuster and he asked me how the repairs were coming along.  I told him I hadn't even started because, to be quite honest, I didn't know where to begin!  He said no problem, they had a company they worked with that sort of acts like a general contractor...that company would hire the subcontractors, monitor and approve/disapprove their work, pay them, etc.  He put in a request to have a rep from that company call me.  And the next day I got a call.  Belfor Restoration came out and did a walk through the entire house.  Over the course of about a week, a change in project managers and much numbers crunching, the estimate came in for them to do their work...at a whopping four times more than the original estimator.  I was stunned.  Instead of repairs to the living room, dining room, master bedroom, entry way and front hallway, they included the spare bedroom, kitchen, nook, family room, both back bedrooms and the girls' bathroom.  It included the removal of all of the popcorn ceilings...in every spot of the house...repair of the damaged wall and baseboard in the living room, repainting of all walls in the house, carpet replacement in the living room, dining room and master bedroom with tile deep cleaning throughout the house and carpet cleaning in the other three bedrooms and family room with determination to be made later on replacement.  That's a heckuva lot more than the original estimate!  Oh, and Belfor would come in, pack up all of our stuff, take it to their warehouse to clean and have another company come in to remove and clean all of the bedding and window treatments. This would mean that we would be moved to a hotel for the duration...original estimate of three weeks.

Once everything was removed from the house, the painting contractor and his team came in and hung plastic on every wall and covered every floor surface...removing of the popcorn ceiling was going to be a huge mess.  And messy didn't even begin to describe it.



Even though the insurance company only paid for the removal and replacement of popcorn-to-popcorn, pretty much no one does that type of ceiling anymore...so we ended up with textured!  And yes, we are the envy of the neighborhood...LOL!  After 5-6 days of ceiling work, the painting crew started prepping for painting. The fun part in all of this is that I was able to pick out new paint colors for every single room in the house.  And I definitely love what I chose more than what was here when we moved in!  All-in-all, the painters were here about 2-1/2 weeks doing everything, including painting all the baseboards, the wainscoting and even the built-ins in the family room.  They finished and the flooring guys came in. While they got started, Belfor sent in one of their guys to try to clean the carpet in the bedrooms and family room.  It didn't work, there were still signs and odor from the smoke so the adjuster was contacted and approval was given to replace that flooring as well.  We ended up electing to have wood laminate installed in every area where there had been carpeting except the family room, we chose to replace the Berber with Berber.  They ended up taking 3-4 days to do their work.  Then it was scheduled to bring our household goods back in.

All told, by the time they were done, we had spent 33 days in the Residence Inn in downtown Tampa. During this time, I was driving Grace up here so she could go to school every day.  Emily and I were staying at the house during the day...it saved us from driving back and forth to the hotel twice a day and allowed Emily time during the day to do her schoolwork.  It made for long days.  So naturally, when they gave us a date that our HHG would be returned, we started packing out our little apartment at the hotel.

By Friday, 8 April 2016, we were back in the house.  Randy had asked me a week or two earlier what I wanted for my birthday and I told him two things...to be back in the house and to have steaks on the grill.  We made it back in the house two days before.

It took a lot longer unpacking the boxes than I'd planned, but I have done almost all of them myself so I could clean out and clear out...keep, donate, throw away.  I did get some help from two friends and it was appreciated more than they will ever know.  Dana even came over one day and helped me hang up Randy's "I love me" wall.

I have boxes here and there, probably no more than 2 or 3, in the house that still need to be unpacked but I'm getting there.  The garage is another story.  Before we temporarily moved out of the house, I cleared out my craft room to give to Grace when we moved back in, finally giving her and Emily their own rooms again.  But everything from my craft room is now in the garage waiting to be gone through and gotten rid of, including the furniture.  The garage also has close to 200 flattened boxes in there that I am holding for a friend who is moving this summer, but she will be here this week to take most of them.  I guess we're going to have to break down and rent a Hippo trailer and clean out the garage because right now you can't even walk through it.

That is pretty much the gist of what happened since we had a fire in January.  So much more has happened since then, I'll have to save everything else for another post.  It's late and I'm tired and my alarm goes off way too early in the morning!

Doggone it, Jenny!

Ok Jenny, you ignited the fire and I'm back!

I just spent the last hour going through my blog, reading old posts and even tried to update the picture of Randy and I that's on the top (because anyone who has seen me lately KNOWS I don't look like that anymore!)...but I can't figure it out!  UGH!

Reading through old posts was fun though, also sad...but it re-ignited the fire.

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I had a conversation with one of my Pavelow sisters last week.  Kim is one of the most wonderful women I have the pleasure of knowing and she was one of the first who welcomed me with open arms into the Pavelow family after Randy and I married.  She and her husband recently moved from Hawaii to DC and Kim was posting from a hair salon.  She was so excited because she found a stylist and fell in love!  It got me thinking...when you move, what is the most important 'service' to find?  Family doctor?  Lawn service?  Pool service?  Nope, we agreed three things are more important to be taken care of first and foremost...NAILS, TOES and HAIR!  I love my hairy godmother.  I found her on the recommendation of someone I thought was a friend but even though THAT relationship ended, the more important one, that with my hair stylist, has endured for the 4-1/2 years we have lived here.  I lucked out in the nails/toes category - I walked into a salon one Saturday and have been going back ever since.  Mai is magical when it comes to taking care of my nails and toes!  Of course I found the necessary doctors, lawn service and pool service...but those came secondary!!

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We inherited another dog.  Yep, you read right.  We had no intentions of getting another dog...ever...after we inherited Missy but we couldn't say no.  Her name is Bella and she's a black lab mix.  She is the absolute sweetest dog we have ever had...either of us!  She has a health issue and is doing well with treatment.  We have to keep her in the crate most of time to minimize her excitement but we do let her out with us at night when we know no one will be knocking on the front door.  She's great about going and staying in her crate though.  Two more weeks and she gets her next treatment and hopefully the vet will give us the go-ahead to keep her out of the crate.  Since she's a lab, she loves to run so walking her out to go potty is a challenge.  But she's adapting well.  I've promised the girls that when the vet clears her, we'll go spend the afternoon with Bella at the dog park and let her run until she exhausts herself.

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Missy and Bella are not our only pets.  Last year before I left Fort Walton Beach after the ACA Reunion (Randy had to stay for work so I was by myself), I stopped off at one of the cheap tourist shops on the island and bought the girls two hermit crabs.  I bought them each a container for it so they'd have their own but then we read and learned that hermit crabs survive better when not left alone.  So, we consolidated the tank thingy-s (still not sure what to call them - they're not aquariums) and put it on the counter above the kitchen sink.  Welp, here it is August, 9-1/2 months later and the darned things are still alive!  I have no idea how they're surviving - we water their sponges and leave water in their shell-bowl-thingy but they don't eat anything!  We feed them but they don't touch it!  I can't remember what Emily named hers but Grace named hers Chubby...for the fat claw.

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We also have fish.  This time last year, Randy received his second bonus from Cubic and since it was a *good* bonus, I suggested to him that he use it on himself (after all, he went from being off work for almost a year to landing an awesome job and in my opinion, he's more than earned it).  He pondered for a week or two on what he wanted and finally settled on a saltwater aquarium for his office.  When you walk into our house through the front door, the room directly ahead is traditionally used as a formal living room.  Since we have no use for a formal living room, we use it for Randy's office.  So, a fish tank in this room would be openly visible.  We found a 180-gallon saltwater system with a complete setup and fish...and went about to get it.  We contacted the owner, who said he'd need some help tearing it down but in return, he'd help us set it back up.  We spent 10 hours between that guys house and ours and finally set it up across from Randy's desk where Randy can take breaks from working and relax, watching his babies float around.  The girls set about quickly naming the fish!  We have Moe, the king of the aquarium - he's a large, light- and dark-gray Tang who turns wickedly dark when he's agitated.  We also have Dori, just like Dori from "Finding Nemo," who is hilarious to watch swimming throughout - you can almost hear Ellen Degeneres' voice when watching her!  We have Bubbles, the yellow Tang, and again, just like the yellow fish from "Finding Nemo,' who loved bubbles.  There are Electra and Stripe and several others, not to mention the number of crabs and snails.  We used to have a spiny blue lobster, the girls named Larry, but all we can guess is that he reached old age and passed...he was a P.I.T.A.!  That darned lobster ate the hermit crabs and snails!  We had to get all new!

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Been a while...

My daughter-in-law asked me a while back what happened to my blog and to be quite honest, I don't know!  Life got busy, I guess.

We're staying busy here in the Anderson household!

Grace is entering the third grade...I have such a hard time saying that!  She's still my baby but is definitely growing up!  She's excited about school starting up in the next few weeks, ready to see her friends again.  She didn't have the opportunities this summer to see her friends that Emily has had and it never hit more close to home than when I overheard a conversation between them.  Grace commented that she wants to move to California, specifically San Diego where daddy's home office is located.  Emily told her she'd miss her friends but Grace replied she didn't have any.  Yep, I privately teared.  Maybe this will be Grace's year...*fingers crossed*  Up until this week she's been taking gymnastics but decided it's not really what she's interested in so she wants to start playing piano!  I've found a teacher locally so she'll start up lessons soon.

Emily is my big-shot fifth grader, wise beyond her years and far too mature for my comfort.  Despite our attempts to keep their environments age-appropriate, she's just beyond that.  Lord, please help me NOW!  She's excited about being in the top grade at the school, and has developed a wonderful group of friends.  She received a phone for her 10th birthday but she's good with the rules...and I end up with it more than she gets to keep it!  Her friends learned quickly that I read her text messages!  What a great group of mom-friends I have with her friends' moms!  We watch out for each other and have no problem jackin' up when necessary.  The kids have learned fast that we talk and nothing is kept secret.  Yes, I know they'll find ways around it, but for now I'm ok with it.  Now if I could just get a handle on her mouth and attitude!  LOL!  I know, the best is yet to come, right???

Randy is blessedly employed and truly loving his job.  The corporation he works for is creating a Special Operations and Intelligence Division!  They will be their own entity.  His boss is absolutely awesome, a former Unit Commander and one of the absolute greatest people you will ever meet.  A few months ago, another Unit member was added to the team with the promise of more operators to be added in the near future!  Business is growing!!  Randy's doing more than just holding his own with everyone he's working with...and I am so proud!

He was elected as Treasurer of the Air Commando Association Tampa Chapter last year and has been actively involved.  He came home a few weeks ago from an officers' meeting and said that they were going to have a membership drive in September and oh, by the way, would you organize it?  So of course, I said yes.  I've spent the past few weeks securing a location and food vendor, working on appropriate entertainment and helping plan a 9/11 Remembrance ceremony.  I've spent the past several days going through music, listening to LOTS of 9/11- and America-themed music and really feeling proud of our troops.  And yes, I do miss being active duty Air Force.  One of the greatest things about the path of work Randy chose post-retirement is that it still keeps us in the community, keeps him actively involved, keeps us involved.  I love the men and women who wear the uniform and serve this country!

Once again, for the fourth year, I find myself part of Maniscalco's PTA...and for the third year as president.  Things are kicking into high-gear for us with school starting in just 2-1/2 weeks.  I'm blessed to have a FULL board of volunteers this year!  I look forward to working with the outstanding group of women who have volunteered to serve this year.

Randy and I are headed up to Fort Walton Beach up in the panhandle again this fall for the Air Commando Association reunion.  Oh!  And a collection of his writings about military life was compiled and submitted for publication in the August edition of the Air Commando magazine.  He's going to be published!  I am so proud of him!

The rest of the family is good.  Our granddaughter, Liliana, began first grade this week.  Katie and Lili are still in Georgia, Efren in the Azores, waiting on orders so he can come home.  Ryan, Jenny and Nathan are doing well, too...Nathan starts preschool soon (still can't believe that!).  Ryan and Jenny are both in school as well.  I miss them all terribly!!!!

Until next time...and hopefully that will be in the near future!

I do believe in having faith.

It's been a busy month around here for our family!  Grace celebrated her 7th birthday on the 12th of February and enjoyed a party with a few friends at Sweet 'n Sassy.

Before...

Before...

...and after.

...and after.

In March we (the girls and I) went on a little vacation.  We first spent a couple of days up in the panhandle with my dear friend Tammy.  ...

The girls in front of a Pavelow helicopter at the Hurlburt Field Air Park.

With my friend Stacey and the girls in front of TGI Fridays in Mary Esther, FL.

(and I just realized I never did get a picture with Tammy while we were there!)

...and then continued north to Randy's mom's house for a few days.  The girls always enjoy seeing their Grandma Judy!

Emily, Grandma and Grace out for dinner.

After leaving middle-Tennessee, we drove to Georgia, back to Warner Robins where we used to live.  We enjoyed a great dinner with our former neighbors, as well as Randy's daughter and granddaughter.  It was fun watching some of the little girls (who aren't so little anymore!) together again.

Finally after catching a good night's rest at Katie's, we headed back home.

Emily with her sister Katie.

 Grace with Katie.

Randy told me some awesome news while we were gone...the company he's been working for as a temporary employee (Cubic Defense Applications) decided to hire him on as a full-time and permanent employee!  One of the conditions of employment is that he get his PMP - certification as a Project Manager.  So he spent last week in Bonita Springs, down south of here by Naples, in a boot camp.  He took the class several years ago but since he needs to test again, the company put him through a refresher course.  He spent 4 x 10-hour days in the classroom with an additional 4 hours or so of homework every night.  To say he was completely exhausted by the time he got home on Friday is an understatement.  We're waiting now to find out when he can take his certification test.

This week he's traveled up to Hurlburt Field for just a few days.  The day he returns my folks will be here.  Randy has to leave 3 days later for a week-long conference up in Nashville.  Yes, I miss him terribly when he's gone but I'd never willingly trade him being gone for going back to our year of hell when he was unemployed!

Emily turned 9 on the 19th of March.  We had a get-together with her friends at Busch Gardens this past Saturday.  The girls had a blast and we all got soaked on the water rides.

Emily, Aubrea, Sol and Jaden at the start of our day.

The 4 girls in front of the flamingos...

 ...in front of the butterfly of flowers...

...and after lunch in front of one of many waterfalls in park.

So that's the latest goin's and doin's in the Anderson home.  We're looking forward to our visit from Momo and Poppa.  Emily is especially excited to show momo her new room and bunk beds.  Em has really surprised me since she was moved into her own room again.  She goes to great pains to keep it clean and is finding 'homes' for everything.  She's even taken to making her bed in the morning! 

I do believe in faith.  God provided for us while Randy was out of work and recently took great care of us with Randy's employment status.  He's always provided.  Now if I can only continue that faith that one of these days Grace will take a hint from Emily about her own room!  LOL!

My child just said WHAT?!?!?!?

True conversation last night at the Anderson dining table during homework...

Emily...Mom, I don't think Grace should be friends with ####.

Me...Why's that, Emily?

Emily...Because she's saying things to Grace that are inappropriate.

BIG sigh from me.

Me...What Emily?

Grace...Mom?  What is passion?

Me...Passion?  (Insert audible COUGH!)  What do you mean?

Grace...#### said to me that passion means boys' weiners.

.....

.....

.....

.....

Actually, there were a few more pauses than that while I tried to compose myself and formulate an answer.

.....

.....

I finally got up out of my seat, walked over to her and reminded her gently that she is 7 years old...with a look to Emily and a reminder that she is only 9...and that private parts are private.  I also told them that passion is something for grown ups, much more grown up than their 7 and 9 years.  Not knowing what else to say (I mean for crying out loud!  I should not have to be having this conversation with them at this YOUNG age!!), and grateful that my answer satisfied them, they returned to their homework and I returned to what I was doing.  I was relieved to not have to say anymore.

O.M.G.!  It reminded me of the time when my younger sister Stephanie was somewhere around Grace's age and asked my dad the difference between boys and girls.  My dad was SPEECHLESS until my older sister Leann piped up that 'parts are parts!'

This morning I spoke with Grace's teacher about what had been said.  Another teacher was in the room when I repeated what was said and her response was perfect..."What exactly does that mean???"  LOL!  Thank you Ms. D for the laugh...I sooooo needed that!

First grade teachers...not something you'd think they'd have to deal with but they did...and are...and I'm hoping for a reprieve of anymore of these conversations in the near, near future!  But to be honest I'm scared...what on this good green earth am I going to do, how am I going to answer when the BIG questions come???

I love my life!

Days like today are why I love living in Florida.  It is February 24th, it is 81 degrees out, there are a few light clouds in the sky, a wonderful breeze is blowing through the trees and the girls just rode their bikes down the street to play at a friend's house.  It is absolutely glorious!  And yes, remind me I have said all of this come July when the temps reach 100+ degrees!

It seems like it's been forever since I last posted (and no, I didn't look).  It has been a busy couple of weeks in the Anderson home.  We seem to be getting into the swing of the new semester at the girls' school, both doing extremely well I might add...PROUDLY!  Now if we could only improve their organizational skills!  LOL!  I laugh because I know they get what they have now from me!!  I had a setback last week with some oral surgery that is taking me longer to recover from than I had expected, but slow progress is better than no progress as all.

Randy is staying beyond busy with work.  He's still a temporary, part-time employee but his hours have really increased.  He's traveling here and there - several days up in the panhandle of Florida in our old stomping ground last month as well as an overnight up to Fort Bragg.  Last month he spent the good part of a day here one-on-one with a former United States Special Operations Command 4-star general.  (Gen Holland is also a former commander of Air Force Special Operations Command - AFSOC - where Randy and I both worked.)  Shortly after that visit, Randy was contacted by the vice president of the Air Commando Association (ACA), a retired colonel from AFSOC, who asked him if he will write the nomination package for Gen Holland into the ACA Hall of Fame.  What an honor!

Speaking of his writing...apparently TTB is a HIT!!!  For anyone who does not know, TTB is Trailer Trash Barbie.  A couple of years ago, Randy started posting as his facebook status about the girls' Barbies.  He'd find them laying around in various positions and 'scenarios,' find the humor in them and post to his wall.  He began to develop a following.  But think about the irony in it...here you have an almost-27-year veteran of the USAF, served more than 22 years serving as a combat operator...a warrior to the core.  And now he's dealing with Barbie dolls and a 3-1/2-foot Barbie house 5 feet from his desk.  LOL!  Then came TTB.   Randy's creative juices started flowing and he began writing The Barbie Chronicles, a name dubbed by his following.  The first storyline surrounds Ken after perching himself on Randy's desk one night for a chat...Randy directed Sgt Joe to 're-school' Ken and the story begins with Ken being picked up at the airport by TTB after his training has ended. 

Some of the stuff that comes out of Randy's mind absolutely amazes me.  He truly is creative and gifted in being able to take that mental creativity and commit it to paper.  I hope one day he actually does take everyone up on their suggestions and urgings to have The Chronicles published.  This past week we took the storyline off his facebook personal wall to a facebook public page.  House of the Pink Bows (again, think the irony) is up and running with new LIKES every day.  As friends are liking the page, we are adding them to a private group where you can read the entire saga of TTB from start to present, as well as read installments as they are added.  If interested, send me a message so you'll be added.

The 5-little girls sleepover...

I'm not sure what possessed me earlier in the week, but I decided to contact the moms of a couple of the girls friends about having a sleepover at our house tonight.  Emily has two friends here and Grace has one.  Of the five, 3 are seasoned veterans at the sleepover thing and 2 are newbies.  So far, so good.

We started off with pizza, which the girls all scarfed down.  Then they all did Valentine's Day crafts.  After that, daddy grabbed a couple sets of tongs out of the drawer and started chasing the five of them around the house.  Oh my goodness, it was one of the funniest things I have ever seen...and then he put a bright blue colander on his head!  The girls howled!!!  I can't remember the last time  I laughed so hard.  I know my girls are now almost 7 and 9, but when they were running through the house I could almost hear the pitter patter of their feet from when they were so little.

Grace and her friend Alyssa

Emily with Aubrea and Jaden

Right now the little ones are playing Donkey Kong on the Wii while the older ones make jewelry in the other room.   In the background I can hear the game and quite frequently I hear one of the many eek out a little giggle.  I love it.

We still have fingers and toes to paint with little stickers to put on them and then maybe I'll make them go to bed.  At the request of Emily, I'm going to make abilskevers for breakfast with fresh blueberries...or beignets...or cold cereal if they don't like either!  LOL!