less than a week left...

and we have crammed in ALOT of laughter, eating and work since we landed!! Our flight was delayed out of Midway for no apparent reason, so we missed our connecting flight. Of course, we find this out from Melissa via text messaging, (the fact that our flight was delayed) and so I started a worry list (not sure I'll keep doing that) with one item: We will miss our connecting flight. Lo and behold, by the time we actually took off, there was no mathematical way to catch our flight. Air Tran was on the ball though...as we deplaned, there was a customer service gal there with our new boarding passes and seats (we went from row 11 to row 24, but still got to sit together). Off we went with a brief "voiding" stop...and the worse event of the trip happened in those toilets...there was some chick in sweatpants who was wearing a thong that was clearly bothering her, so she just kept dropping trow to adjust. In the time it took me to wash my hands (which did NOT include the entire happy birthday song..sorry Melissa C!!) I saw her rear end (as in the ENTIRE, not a sorry glimpse) three times. Really!! I was mooned by a bleached blonde traveler....
So off to Orlando, where I am practically SALIVATING (ok, probably NOT practically) for my Carvel and a smooch with my Shrek guy. Carvel was closed (we landed at 9:00 and Shrek was in hiding), but just as we got to the escalator (my nieces inform me that my depth perception issues HAVE to be getting worse!!), there my my Meliss!! All doing the happy dance and bringing Chris to be our pack mule. It was a happy reunion that got me $10 because Meliss hugged me first. (I was closest, so it made sense!!) The humidity hitting the parking deck was 2 steps beyond oppressive, but that's was a/c is for!!
Melissa's condo is adorable, with great bright, warm colors that are fabulous to work with. She got a suede couch, well, sectional really, in a fabulous red color and we found some perfect accents...her big girl furniture is exactly what I would have gotten...mission style and perfect.
Thursday, Meliss had to work a half day (turned into a 3/4 day!!) and while she was gone, we got her bedroom unpacked and made a list of things needed to organize her closet. She says it's not overflowing and that she got rid of BAGS AND BAGS.. I'm not arguing that. I'm just saying it's STILL overflowing!! LOL Chris made us his famous meatball subs in vodka sauce, while we went out to get what turned out to be not enough hangers (there were hidden piles of clothes) and sweater boxes and shoe boxes. OMG!! There was a serious downpour, complete with lost power in Walmart. Melissa was freaking out (she may deny it, but I was THERE) and all I could think was I BETTER not have to recreate this stinkin overflowing cart because we can't check out!! But all's well that ends well...we did check out and came home and hammered away at the closet.
We discovered (that would be ME doing the OMG gasp while Meliss was driving...not a good thing!! LOL) a great bead/scrapbook store. We'll be going back for SURE!! The owner was all about scrapbook stuff on the wall, and didn't care if I took pix, so I spent the entire time snapping pix while the girls checked out the beads. AND...they had my flex ruler I've been looking for for months. We're going back to make necklaces..

Friday, we slept in and went to a cute little mall here, but some of the store's power was out and we ended up going to rack room shoes for a pair of flip flops and dumping an entire box of dark chocolate raisinettes on the counter. Of course Meliss caught THAT on film!! LOL

On to pick up her cap and gown at UCF. She was so excited...and so were we, but we must not have shown it enough. It's kinda a bittersweet moment...here she is graduating, after working so hard, and I"m so proud and happy for her, but I'm also aware that this means REAL adulthood, which has already started impeding on our hanging out time. It's the last cap and gown she will pick up... on the other hand, maybe she WILL take the Joliet job that will inevitably be offered!! LOL
We worked on Melissa's room some more, got it 90% done but there's 2 more boxes and they are her desk boxes and some other stuff. Not sure where that's gonna go!!
IN the midst of doing her closet, Joseph called to say he was home from camp. Sigh. I wasn't home to hear about his 4 phone numbers, 10 myspace names, 3 emails,etc. The numbers may be off, but you get the drift. Somewhere along the way, my son turned into a stud. He was glad to have run into almost everyone he hoped to...and met a bunch of people from pretty local areas. He's hoping to hang with them after he gets his license. He said he loved the worship part and that his feet hurt. Somehow those two things are connected...didn't get why.
Saturday was our fun day...we laid out (for an HOUR they tell me) and I really liked it. The difference between doing it alone and having people to yap with while sitting there baking is a BIGGIE!! I have a tan line, which I'm fairly confident will be gone when I get home...it's supposed to rain EVERY SINGLE day till I leave. Of course, we were laying out with a giNORMOUS rain cloud threatening, but got an hour in.
Off to Hairspray, which made us laugh so hard tears were running down my face and Melissa and Meesh both said it would have had Paul snorting. And then we ate at Cheesecake factory... that was another we laughed so hard...we are just idiots together. Have to do nothing to have fun. I think this was the point where Melissa said "this would be so great if Cassie hadn't gone off the deep end and had been here with us". The girls miss her, and are really stymied and sad with the choices she's making... I never know what to say except "yeah, I know"
On to the pottery place...ladies night out. But their selection wasn't great and the prices were high. And by now, we were so sick from eating too much (how do bingeing people do this all the time???) that we were giddy and I'm pretty sure the Michael's people thought we were drunk or something, but it was just US!! LOL We went home, complaining of our bloated stomachs the entire way, with my eyes slitty and barely open. I felt like I had a carb hangover. ..with good reason: popcorn, artichoke dip with chips, fried mac and cheese (I thought it was regular) and cheesecake, with a pink lemonade drink along the way. That's more carbs than I eat in a week. So we roll home and hang for a while...then off to bed.
The apartment is silent and cool and the girls are snoring on...and Melissa DOES snore. We heard it the other night but confirmed last night that those window rattling noises were emitting from HER. Earplugs didn't stand a chance!! LOL