Monkee and The Bee

Apparently, thre are a few of you left :D

2018-12-12T14:43:00.002-05:00

I had two whole comments on my last blog! YAY!

I have tried everything to UPDATE this blog, however, while I can still post, it won't let me do much else. I have started a NEW blog (but with a link back to this one, where I started). For the two of you who check on me (or anyone new who happens upon this) my NEW blog is at..

www.monkeeandthebee2.blogspot.com

come be a part of the new blog!!

Five Years

2018-12-11T17:18:00.000-05:00

Hi.

Wow, it's been a long time.

5 years. Five. A lot has happened to my little hive.

I have really missed writing in my blog. No one ever really read this. Mainly because I didn't share it with my facebook people because I wanted a place I could come and vent my feelings without hurting any one's else's feelings. I wanted a place where I could bitch about my kids' bio-mom without starting some massive drama. This blog may have had few readers but, it accomplished everything I wanted it to, and more. Best part? Today, almost nine years after starting it, I can go back and read the mundane day to day details I faced as a insta-mommy and newlywed! It's amazing. I have grown SO much since then. I've changed a lot, too. However, I also wish I could go back to a lot of that :D

So what's the haps? What's new?

Well, my last post here was June of 2013. In July of 2013, I lost my mama. She passed away of what was officially called "Valley Fever". That is what ended up actually killing her. However, the real issue was she didn't take care of herself. She smoked like a chimney. She had heart disease, C.O.P.D, and diabetes that she all but ignored. She got sick with the flu on the way home from my wedding in January of 2013. She ended up in the hospital where she contracted MERSA She got well enough to come home and was on the mend when she fell in late February 2013 and broke her shoulder. My dad is older and couldn't pick her up, so they had to call the ambulance. They took her to the hospital where she stayed a few weeks to see if they were going to do surgery or let it heal itself (doctors said the feared she was too weak for surgery). She ended up with MERSA again. She finally came home but her spirit had already given up. She wouldn't eat. She wouldn't get out of bed. After several weeks, she started to get bad bed sores so the home health care nurse had her sent back to the hospital. She coded a few times. Ended up on a ventilator. She held on for the next 3 months until my dad finally got on board with letting her just pass (she BEGGED him for several weeks to just let her go to hospice). My sister and brother and I made it out to Arizona the day before she passed. We were with her in her final moments and while she had very little mental clarity while we were here, there were moments she was fully with us and knew we were there. She grabbed my hand and squeezed it and pointed to my ring and her heart letting me know she loved Bee and the kiddos. It was really hard. hardest thing I ever had to do. Shortly after she had passed, my sister and her then boyfriend decided to move out to Arizona to be close to my dad. Now that mom had passed, he was alone. I was happy he would at least have someone out here to kinda keep and eye on him.

Then, in January 2014 Bee and I were SUPER excited to find out we would be adding another little bee to our hive. On October 2nd, 2014 Jackson Zebadiah Brown (he can thank his daddy for that middle name and be THANKFUL mama convinced him to let it be a middle name instead of his first name :D) He has been the final piece we had been missing. He is beautiful, smart (oh LORD is he smart!), silly, independent, bull-headed, and ALL BOY. He has no fear, and is completely NOT like my other 2 children. He is feral. LOL I kid...but not really. Watching him grow up these last 4 years and getting to be his mama have been a HUGE blessing. Exhausting, but a blessing none the less.

In February of 2015, we decided to fly out to Arizona as a family vacation to visit my dad, sister, and aunt's and cousin's we have out there. My dad had flown home to be with me for Jackson's birth but, I knew if WE didn't come out and visit, my sister, aunt's, and cousin would probably never get to meet Jackson (or "Beboo" as we call him :D) We left Cleveland in the middle of a huge blizzard and freezing cold temperatures. It was February in Tucson which meant that the mornings and evening were in the 50's and the day time it warmed up to mid 70's low 80's. With zero humidity, that made it HEAVEN on Earth for my little family. We had been on the ground in Arizona about 7 hours when Bee looked at me and said, "I feel GREAT. I don't hurt. I can actually MOVE!" He declared right then and there he wanted to move to Tucson. I told him I was down. Get a job out there and we will make it happen. Well, by April 2015, he had a job in Tucson. He packed as much as he could into a 1995 Jeep Wrangler and drove across country to stay with my dad and save some money. I stayed behind with the kids and packed up the house and waited until school was out for the Summer and on May 28th, We loaded what we could and my dad drove the moving truck and I drove the SUV and we left behind everything we knew and everyone we knew and embarked on a new adventure.

We lived with my dad for a few months and then found a house to rent. We rented for one year and then BOUGHT OUR FIRST HOUSE! Well, MY first house. This is like, house number 4 for Bee :D
We have been in our house for a little over 2 years. We found a decent high school for the kids. C graduated this past May. She is working for In-And-Out burger. She makes REALLY good money (she makes quite a bit more than me!!) She still lives at home. She tried living on her own but she moved in with someone she was dating and the relationship turned sour so she came home. However, we never see her. She is always working or with friends. She might stop by for 5-10 minutes to grab some clothes...or to visit her baby brother (who ADORES her. They are thick as thieves) but she is happy and 18 and living her best life. If SHE is happy then, *I* am happy.

Little man however, is not so little anymore :D He is 6'1 and 225 lbs! He still plays football. In fact, he started this year on the JV team but, after 2 games, he was promoted to Varsity and after one varsity game, he was a starter!! Pretty good considering the only other sophomore on the varsity squad was the QB who helped take the team to the semi-finals this year (if they had won, they would have played for the state championship). He no longer plays basketball but he works out all year to stay in shape for football. His voice is deep and most times I can't tell who is speaking, Bee or him. He is a wonderful big brother and Jackson loves "beating up" on "dak". He will be driving soon and what hair I have left that is NOT grey will be soon ;) .

As for Bee and I, we will be celebrating 10 years together and 6 of those years as a married couple this year. I don't handle change very well and even though I wanted to move out here just as much as he did, I didn't handle the change all that great. It's been a rough couple of years. I had a hard time finding a job. I LOVED my job in Ohio. That place was like a sparkling unicorn. One in a million place to work. It had it's ups and downs, but they treated us employees REALLY well. That place was my FAMILY after 8 years and it was super hard leaving them and no place will ever compare. I have had to start all over in terms of pay scale which was REALLY hard to swallow but if I was going to work, which we found out QUICKLY that I needed to, then it was just something I was going to have to deal with. I have found a job that I like, is not soul sucking, and seems like it could become the like the family I had to leave behind at my old job. The pay is...well...GOD do I miss my pay checks (and bonuses :D ) from my job in Ohio but, I don't plan on going anywhere and I will move up and the pay will become better. In the mean time, it helps pay the bills which is good.

Bee has found a wonderful job driving a cement truck. They LOVE him and treat him really well. He found his work family quickly. His boss is a lot like the boss he had back in Ohio. A good, honest dude. Bee treats the company well and respects them in everything he does. His professionalism shines through in everything he does and in that industry, let a lone his company, that is rare. They treat him amazing in return. Which, considering I took almost $25 K year pay cut, is a VERY good thing LOL. My husband works REALLY hard and I am very lucky. As I said, I did not handle the change to being out here very well and the last couple of years were rough. However, what HASN'T changed is that I love that man with everything I have and everything I am. Your valley's are what make your mountain top's that much better. We have been through the ringer but we have only come out of all of it that much stronger and that, to me, is what living your vows is all about.

Well, this update has been long enough LOL. I think this will conclude this entry for today. However, I plan to keep up with this again. I would like to post at LEAST once a week. Possibly more?

Until next time!

Cleveland...at night :)

2013-06-19T08:19:00.001-04:00

My first REAL Photography job :)

2013-05-23T12:01:00.000-04:00

I have been wanting to be a "real" Photographer (ie: PAID) for awhile now. The only problem is, my confidence in me and my equipment. :) I am terrified that I will take crappy photos for someone who will feel their result was not worth their payment. I don't have backdrops, fancy lights, or even fancy lenses. I do have a decent eye, and an expensive camera that I mostly know how to use ;) So, when an aquantince of mine asked me to take her daughter's senior pictures AND was willing to hand over a nice sized amount of cash, I was at a loss. Most of me was like "YES! YES! YES!" and a small part of me was all "No thank you. We don't really want to put ourself out there. What if you hate the pictures? What if I fail?!".

In the end, I told that small part of me to shut the hell up and eat a cookie :) I took the job and while I was so nervous for the 3 weeks that led up to it, I still was also excited! It ended up being so much fun!! My subject was great and we had a lot of fun (even though it was 9,000 degrees with 10458% humidity!). They wanted to go downtown and get some pictures there and shoot some at Squires Castle (giant castle/park). Due to filming a movie downtown and Tribe Game traffic, we opted out of downtown for right now, but plan on getting together next month during the work day to do the downtown pictures :) I also found a sweet photo editing software that was free and like photoshop, but WAY easier to use :) What do you think?

Hi and waiving!

2013-05-03T14:25:00.001-04:00

I'm still here! I have been a huge slacker at work lately. This has caused a medium sized, but sneaky mountain to grow at my desk. At some point a week and a half ago it threatened to topple on top of me if I did not attend to it toot suite.

So, there's that.

But, now I am here. Medium sized mountain vanquished and all. So, this is what's been up.

1. The Church. We didn't qualify for a mortgage. It really didn't surprise me. Bee and I both agreed that while the price was waaay right for us vs. the square footage (8,000), what worried us was being financially able to fix it in the timely fashion it required to make it livable (like, adding a bathroom and putting in showers). Also, heating it. Good Lord. While it was zoned heating, we figured we would need to keep at least 2-3 zones heated at a time. It is a HUGE steal at that price and it's a really sweet building, but right now is not the time. I look at it this way, it's been for sale for 3 years and no one has even come close to buying it. If it's meant to be, it will happen. The whole thing DID show us however, how to get to the point where people will be throwing mortgages at us. It's going to take about $700.00 and a years worth of time :)

2. Basketball. It's my life. This weekend will be the first in almost a month we aren't packing up and heading out to some all day tournament. Instead, we are going to Detroit for a Football game of Bee's. At least we are staying in a hotel. Was supposed to be an ADULTS ONLY weekend, but every adult that we trust with our kids (or at the very least , the law says we have to trust with out kids) is out of town. C has an ALL DAY track meet and a friend of ours is going to let spend the dark time hours with them. That means, Little Man is with us. No biggie. I really don't mind little dude tagging along. The only down side is, because he is with us, we have to get a room with two beds. Which means my excitement of having a KING bed for a whole night has been dashed and therefore replaced with the dread of a gasp, DOUBLE BED. Bee and I don't work well in a double bed. Sigh. He better win this damn football game. And, he better give me money to spend at the flea market the next day. LOL

3. The Dentist. Canceled on me before. Was supposed to call and reschedule. Had yet to do so. Then, Tuesday night, I bit into my dinner and my bridge snapped in two. I picked up the phone right away and called my dentist. He got me in the next day. New temporary bridge is in place. Looks great. Feels WAY better. Cost me lots of money. I now need to get a second and third job :(

4. I was asked by a friend of mine to take her daughter's senior pictures! She's paying me too! If it goes well, maybe I'll put it out there that I can do that. Maybe make some cash to pay for the above!

5. Cats. I wish THEY could pay for their pictures being taken...

6. Last weekend's fun :)

I've been a busy girl

2013-04-19T10:23:00.002-04:00

Work and personal life has been kickin my butt :) Well, that mixed with a touch of lazy :) Here's what we've been up too...

Cats:

Fatty was upset her nap was disturbed

Last weekend we were all over the place for C's various games...and this weekend will be the same thing! But, we LOVE watching her :)

Fatty Likes sitting in the window.....

She likes to stare at the tree right outside of it. It "buzzes" because for the 4 days it has these blooms on it, it's COVERED in thousands of honeybees :) (You know. The BIG FAT ones)

And Finally, it tickles me to find stuff like this on the back of Little Man's school papers :)

Happy Friday everyone!

It's already the end of the workday, Tuesday..

2013-04-16T16:13:00.001-04:00

Busy, busy, busy...

Friday Afternoon, my Dentist called and canceled my appointment. Sigh. Apparently, he broke one of his tools that would be needed for my procedure. He will reschedule once the new tool comes in. This made me happy in the sense that I got to then watch my girl in all her events on Saturday with my favorite people. This also made me bummed because really, my anxiety level rises dramatically when you mention the dentist. Double that, when you mention all day at the dentist. So, I really just wanted to get it over and done with since I was mentally preparing myself for the day. Oh well. Like I said. I got to be in my favorite place to be, which is watching my kids do their thang.

Saturday was long. It was cold. It was also rainy. This was fine except for the 3 hour period while we were outside, 15 feet from the lake for C's flag football games. And Pictures.

Speaking of Pictures, I was offered a photography job for the studio that does all the sports pictures in town. I was pretty jacked. It would be part time, but still. The learning alone would be so valuable. The only problem is, this is also my busiest time of year. Ok, one of the busiest times of year for me. I don't think I could juggle one more thing on top of everything else. Maybe in Winter!

I never did call the realtor about the church. In my defense, I totally meant to. But forgot. She called me though, last night. I took it as a sign and returned her call today. I got her voice mail again, but I just left a message. If it's meant to be, it will be :)

I will have more to update tomorrow. Perhaps even a picture or two...but that's it for now!

It's a stew!

2013-04-12T11:49:00.001-04:00

Just a few things...

1. My nephew is adorable. Like, super dee duper cute. My niece is also adorable. Together, they will take over the world! Bask in their adorableness :)

2. C was hand picked by the high school track coach to do track. He also told her he wanted her to do pole vaulting. However, the middle school doesn't do pole vaulting. So, while she won't compete for another 2 years, she is training with the high school kids so she will be an old pro by the time high school rolls around. She is also doing the 100 and 400 meter dash. Crazy kid. Glad she loves to run because I for one hate to run. lol

Meanwhile, the Boy, who is doing no sports this Spring, is content to just sit back on his haunches and watch. He and I like being #1 fans :)

3. The cats have discovered our bedroom. They would never come in there before. Now? Now we have to leave the door open during the day so that they may come and go as they please or else they get pissed and poop in some one's shoe. The other morning I forgot something in my room before leaving for the day. I walked back in and this is what I found when I turned on the light...

Someone was not happy that I turned the light on and disrupted their slumber. As for chubbs, he only ever leaves the bed now to tell me to feed him...He likes the "burn holes in me with his eye-lasers" method of asking for dinner,,,

Aren't our cat dishes fancy?

4. As for the weekend, I will be spending the whole gosh darn day at the dentist office. The whole day. Sigh...the only thing getting me through the thought is I can come home and take my pain meds and sleep.

The rest of the family will be driving all over the northern half of the state of Ohio all day watching a whole lotta this..

and flag football. I'm not sure who is getting the better deal on a cold, wet, rainy, Saturday. Bee and lots of driving and deadlines, and bleachers...or me, in a dentist chair all day....the difference is I get to come home and take pain pills :D I'm also guessing since my Dentist has bankers hours, that his version of "all day" is really like from 10 am - 4 pm. Don't get me wrong. That's a long time to sit in a dentist chair...but Bee's day will begin at 5:45 am (he has to have C at her first game by 8 am and it's an hour and 15 minute drive) and will go all day and into the evening with her last game at around 7 pm. He will have both kids too. Like I said, I guesstimate I will be home, in my jammies, napping by 5pm with a beautiful new smile I can be proud of!! :)

5. The church we want to buy....I heard back from the realtor....Last Friday. I have yet to call her back. Partly because I have been busy. Also, partly because I'm scared. That's a huge grown up step to take. I'm afraid of being laughed at? I guess? I dunno. My credit is shaky at best. Like, I got my car loan, and even Bee's with no problem. I mean, my interest rate isn't single digit or anything, but it's not super horrible. However, I don't ever qualify for credit cards, personal loans (I just tried in November for a $5000.00 loan so that we could get a lawyer on retainer to deal with the EX WIFE and was turned down flat). The problem is, we make plenty of money to cover it, but because of Bee's ex wife who destroyed Bee's credit, we can't ever list him on credit applications because he never qualifies. So, we can only list me. Which means only my income can be counted and my income will more than likely not support a house payment, two car loans, and other bills. I will say that succumbing to fear will guarantee that I not get the loan and someone else will buy the place. Today I WILL call her back and schedule a walk through. The weird thing is? I made the call last week and left a message on her voicemail. I prayed and asked God that if this was not something we should do or if we didn't have a chance in hades of getting this place, don't let the lady call me back. I would simply take that as a sign I shouldn't pursue it. She called back within 12 hours. Ever since I have gotten emails (some junk, some are newsletters for lists I belong too) all talking about buying a house. Buy, buy buy! and Even got a phone call from my secondary bank on a "whim" to see if I needed to refinance my mortgage because they have awesome rates right now. So, let's take a chance and let God take it, shall we? :)

6. Babies. I finally got through to someone about having a baby. Apparently, Bee and I have to come in for a meeting with the lady. She will explain the whole process to us. Then, before we can even start, we each have to get blood work done. Ok, fine. However, it's a special test (there is nothing special in the actual drawing of blood...just the screening they do it in the lab later) that screens for every possible STD ever created. Ok, once again. Fine. However, here is the kick in the pants. Insurance doesn't cover this test. We are free to go anywhere we like to have it done. However, it's $2,000.00. Each...... that's two thousand American dollars. Each. Or, if we don't want to do that, we can have it done in their office and they will send it to their lab and by doing that, they can offer us the majorly discounted price of $145.00 each. Now, while that is waaaay better than $4000.00, it's still $290.00 we don't have to pay for a test, we already know the answer too. Then, we get to pay for the process to get me pregnant! Sigh. Another set back. I guess we will be waiting now until July when my already badly needed, and mostly spent (in my mind, that is) bonus check will come. :( I LOVE my husband. I also knew, and agreed to still love and still marry him knowing Getting pregnant would be slightly difficult considering his situation. It still doesn't stop me from feeling a teeny bit angry/upset/hurt that I have to go through hoops galore just to get pregnant when there is nothing wrong with my body. I just want a baby. I want a baby from my DNA. From my body. 1st world problems, I'm sure...but still...

oh well. Tantrum over :D I guess it just means that I have 4 more months to drink wine every night :D

Alright, that's it for me for today. Maybe...if I'm feeling brave, I'll share my before and after smile shots? Maybe.... :)

Picture This

2013-04-10T11:28:00.001-04:00

I apologize for the neck strain. I am not sure how to rotate the picture. I thought there was a way...apparently not.

Anyway, This is going in a package I am sending my parents just as soon as I find a box for it lol. In case you can't read it, it says "Poppy, of all the dances and all the walks we've shared over the years, these were my favorite. I'll always be your little girl". Damn Pinterest making me cry :D I also have a few other pictures in regular frames to send, a slew of pictures loose in an envelope, and the two coffee mugs I made for them. It's going to suck to ship it, but I'll be excited for them to get it! :)

Well, hello there!

2013-04-09T12:07:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was crazy!

All was fine until lunchtime. In fact, all was great until lunch time. It was warm-er, the sun was out, I heard, Journey, Bon Jovi, Phil Collins, and "Lean on me" on my way into work. Then, lunch time. I realized just how broke I am right now. I decided to wallow in my misery by spending my last $2.39 on a Dunkin Iced Coffee. I wanted to try one of their new ice cream inspired flavors. As usual. Disappointed. I went through the drive thru (It's pretty much the only option at the one by my work. Their parking lot is almost impossible to get out of if you park in it) ordered my coffee. It "looked" right, I pulled away, and tasted it and thought..."hmm...it's nothing special..." and then I realized, it was plain coffee. They didn't even give me CREAM which I asked for. It pissed me off, but I didn't have time to fight the traffic and the line again to go back. Boo. Then, I got back to work and things went down hill. By the time I got home, I was irritated and so I cleaned. All night. Which really, is what I did Sunday...but minus the foul mood.

I cleaned our room on Sunday. Good Lord have mercy, it needed it. It was awful. To give you an idea, my wedding dress and veil were in the same exact spot that they hit the ground on my wedding night 3 (almost 4) months ago. Yeah. Bad. Took me all day. Even tackled the green room (extra room attached to our room) that Bee destroyed before after his hunting trip in February packing and unpacking. There were guns, ammo, and clothes everywhere. But it's all beautiful now. Including our bathroom. We even managed to bag up four lawn sized garbage bags of clothes for purple heart. Woot!

We rule.

Anyway. I figured the rest of the house could be cleaned this week. It needs to be done by Saturday because I will be at the Dentist all day Saturday getting major work done. I will be in no condition to clean (or do anything) after and I really don't want to stare at a messy house. Last night the mud room, kitchen and dining room got mostly done. I just need to sweep the kitchen and dining room real good. Mop the kitchen, and de-clutter the mud room some more. At the moment though, the mud room is holding the garbage bags full of clothes so it just looks messy to me. Oh well.

As for other news: Heard back from the Realtor on the church. I need to call her back and schedule an appointment to look at the place :) And on the baby making front...I called to make an appointment today with the people who are going to make it happen. However, I think I said the word "sperm" more than I ever have in my entire life to at least 6 complete strangers. The clinic has one phone number. For the whole hospital system. You call it, you get a call center. They take your info and route it to the people it needs to go to. This is fine if you are just calling to make an appointment. If you have questions for your doctors office, you tell them and they forward you to the correct office. However, I couldn't remember the doctor I had seen there, One time, over a year ago. Anyway...eventually I got to where I needed to be. They left a message and the girl is supposed to call me back. Sigh. I was kinda hoping for more progress than that. But, I'll take it :)

Well, that's all I got for now! here is a picture of the sunset I took Sunday night! :)

Fingers Crossed!!

2013-04-04T12:34:00.001-04:00

So, I have rented my places of residence ever since I moved out of my parents house. I enjoy renting. I'm not locked into anything. At least for any longer than a year. I don't need to worry about land taxes, roof leaking, or any other major repair. If my hot water tank breaks (which is did a week after living in my current home), I call my landlord. It's his responsibility. Being that Bee and I live pay check to pay check with no savings, and no credit cards, this is our safety net. In fact, I have never desired to own a house. Ever. It was only within the last year or so that I even thought about it. And then, it wasn't like I wanted to move. I wanted to buy the house we are in now. Especially after the stress and the madness that was our last move. I swore I would die in this house. And really, it's a great house to die in. If I had to spend the rest of my life in it, I would be pleased as punch.

There are a few down sides to renting. There's the whole equity thing. Then, there is the fact that people kind of look down on you when you said "we rent". I don't mind those things though. I do get stressed out over paying my rent on time. I know that you have to pay a mortgage on time, but a landlord can serve you with eviction papers way easier than a mortgage company can. I also stress when things get broken. Or when my lawn is a day or two past needing to be cut. Then, there is the cats. We aren't supposed to have any. We have two. I'm always worried he is going to want to come over and then what am I going to do with them? (I know, I know. Had I not gotten them in the first place it wouldn't have been an issue...)

Anyway, ever since Bee and I have lived in the city we do (going on 3 years now!), there has been an old church for sale down the road from us. Beautiful old church. I love old churches. Every time we drive by, we fantasize out loud how cool it would be to buy it and turn it into a house. Every. Single. Time. In fact, last weekend, we even drove into the "U" shaped drive to take a closer look. It's all we have talked about for days. So, on a whim yesterday I looked it up online.

Ya'll...

It's been on the market since 2007 (but the owners have kept up with the property) and they are asking only $165,000! They are also "open" to taking offers. I text Bee and he was all, "LET'S DO IT!" and I was all like "YOU BET YOUR BISCUITS WE SHOULD!" Ever since then, it's been all I can think about. I emailed to realtor and she hasn't gotten back to met yet (I'm going to call her at lunch today.).

I really want to own this. Like Really, Really, REALLY. It will need some work to convert it into a home, like installing a shower, for instance, but so long as the electrical is up to date, there are no structural issues, and the roof is good, then it really won't take a whole, whole lot.

The big issue here will be financing. Bee's ex-wife destroyed his credit. I mean like, took a wrecking ball to it, then brought in a back hoe, then poured gasoline all over it and lit a match. He will have to be removed from the picture as far as financing goes. Which leaves me. My credit is limited. I've had a car loan since 2005 and I have paid it every month, on time, without fail (that was two different loans, for two different cars. by the way) and as of November of last year, I picked up another loan for Bee's car. That's it. No Credit Cards, No, Student Loans, No outstanding anything. That's good...but it's also bad. People would sometimes rather take a chance on someone who has applied for, gotten, and then defaulted on loans/credit cards, than someone who hasn't because they are an unknown. Then, there is the fact that even though together, Bee and I make decent money, I have to cut it in half because he can't be figured in on the credit application. That aside, I only have $600.00 in outstanding debt I have to pay every month. Everything else is utilities and rent, which the latter we won't have if we are buying a "house".

At any rate, these are uncharted waters for me. Never done this process. I hate buying cars because the process is so involved and that's just a car. I know it's much worse for home-buying. We are going to take it one step at a time though. First one is talking to the realtor....

But really, how cool would it be to live in this?!

Front

Side/Back

Side View

Other side

Inside the sanctury. We would remove all the pews and make this a giant game room. Projector for movie nights, basket ball hoop, pool table...weights, excersise equipment

This is right next to the kitchen. We would use half for a dining room, and the other half for a living room

Other half of the parish hall

Kitchen. HUGE. Ugly color. This would be fixed immediately.

Classrooms. We would turn these into bedrooms. I think there are 6....Depending on size, we would knock out a wall and make two into one master. :)

Last night out

2013-04-03T08:30:00.000-04:00

BFF Rose's sister got married on this past Saturday. It was supposed to be our last time seeing her and her lovey for a long while (or until I go visit her in Florida). However, her sister was supposed to let Bff Rose stay at her house for a week while on her honeymoon because Rose has one last meeting she needs to attend before moving and it got scheduled on the 6th and last minute (like, Friday morning) she told Rose she could no longer stay at her house. This caused a huge ruckus. Rose refused to give the maid of honor speech, and well, no one was talking to each other come day of the wedding. Awkward...

Anyway, Bee and I went because, well, it was going to be the last time we would get to see them for awhile...and really? Free food? Free booze? Let's do it! :) Rose is going to spend the last week with us at our house, so that was an added treat :) I sure am going to miss her. Look how much fun we are! :)

BFF Rose and her lovey, Ray

Ray doing what he does best....talking.. ;)

Pouring his champagne for the toast

Family Picture!

Rose and I

Two important men to me :)

I loved her dress and her shoes. She is letting me have the dress, the shoes won't fit my big feet :(

Mmmm...margarita!

Rose's son, The Dizzle

Evil Asian stare. The, "I'm not drunk yet, so stop taking my picture or DIE" stare ;)

Me and my Dizzle

Ray and I. Ray married Bee and I. He was our officiant :)

Mother and son love :)

Rose's Mommy and Daddy

Best Man and Maid of Honor

Ray and the Dizzle

First wedding we attended as a married couple. We were the second couple to sit down during the anniversary dance :)

"Why, Yes! I've love some!"

Beautiful Stained glass windows

Poor Sammy!

2013-04-02T08:18:00.000-04:00

Sammy, my boy cat, is a long-hair. He has thick, long, cat hair that when it comes out, it comes out in kitten size fur balls. Now that spring is approaching, he is losing his winter coat. It was looking awfully "dead" and matted and he was cleaning himself non-stop and therefore coughing up hairballs all over the place.

Gross.

One of our friends told us they get their cat shaved. I was totally down with that idea. Bee said we should try it ourselves to see if he would even let someone shave him. Why pay the money only to have him freak the freak out?

So, this weekend we went at it.

Before:

Now, I'll tell you, it wasn't his favorite thing. He was scared, but he let us do it. However, he didn't stand for it forever. We eventually had to call it a day. He looks "choppy" in places because we aren't professionals. Nor do we have professional tools. However, he does look better. I haven't had to clean up hair balls or loose fur. When it grows out, he will look more even. For now....We'll take it. He'll thank us when it gets up to 89 degrees with 87% humidity in the summer....

After:

This was right after. Look at that face!

Another friend told us they get their cat shaved all the time. They take them to the vet and the vet charges like $165.00, but they put them out, check their teeth, trim their nails, shave them, give them their shots, and treat them so they don't get fleas. In my opinion, that's a great deal :) We will go that route next time :)

Happy Birthday Little one!

2013-04-01T10:08:00.001-04:00

Yesterday, March 31, 2013, Easter Sunday, at 6:36 pm my nephew Xavier McKinley Rose came into the world! A healthy bouncing baby boy weighing in at 8 lbs 13oz and 20.5 inches long!!

I can't wait to meet him!! Momma and baby are doing well and big sisters Aubrey and Isabella are over the moon excited. I told their mom that I would take Bella for a weekend in the next week or so and let her and baby have some alone time :)

He looks so much like Bella did when she was born 3 years ago :) Same little face. Same thick black hair :)

Bella, less than an hour old on top, Xavier, less than an hour old on bottom. My little peanuts :)

Goofy Pictures of my cat

2013-03-29T10:30:00.000-04:00

If I wasn't married, I'd say I was destined to be that crazy cat lady.... LOL

Here comes Peter Cotton tail?

2013-03-28T10:52:00.002-04:00

This is what outside my window looks likes...

Happy Spring?!

Meh. I really shouldn't be surprised. Our weather is wacky. Still pretty though.

So this is what I've got...

- Tomorrow is Good Friday and Sunday is Easter. I Have no menu planned. I have no Easter Dinner bought. I'm broke. I haven't even reminded anyone what time to be at my house. I always have an "open invite" out there for Holidays...

- Along those lines, I have no Easter Baskets for my kids, either. Some would say 12 and 10 are too old for Easter Baskets. To that, I say I was still getting an Easter Basket of some sort from my parents up until my Dad lost his job last year and the moved to Arizona...we will find a way. We always do...it's just I'm feeling a little..."meh" about it all this year. Not that I don't appreciate Jesus dying for me. I do. But, HE doesn't require I make a big dinner, Host all the family, and get everyone over priced pastel candy and put it in a basket that will get broken or thrown out in a week.

-Bee is not one for Holidays anyway so he really cares less either way. While I feel "meh" about everything, I still feel like I can't just let Easter go by without a dinner and at least a colored egg or two...

-I think it's because I spent 6 months stressing over the wedding...through the Holiday Season, that has me all like "whatevs". Because No one is getting married. And hosting a house full of people for this holiday.

-On an unrelated note, more for my own documentation purposes if anything, Last night was a "phone call" night. C made sure she was not home. She went with Bee to his Chalk Talk Session. Little Man said he didn't want to talk to her if she called. She did not, so it was moot....but still...

- I find I haven't had a spare moment to read anything lately. However, I love reading. I also find myself hating most music lately and not in the mood to listen to anything other than talk radio (Is that a sign of getting old? I remember all the "old" people I knew listened to talk radio...) and most talk radio is tiresome at best. So, I tried Audible. It's a free app from the app store. You have to buy books, which in my opinion are expensive (most are between $15-$25), but I signed up for the $14 a month plan and you get one free book of your choosing every month. They run deals too. Right now, there are $6 mystery's to choose from. Anyway, I've listened to 4 books in the "Odd Thomas" series by Dean Koontz and one book called "14". So far, I have really enjoyed them. "Brother Odd" in my opinion was the best so far of the Odd series and "14" was amazing. Now I'm listening to "The Killing Floor". It was on the best sellers list. I think they made a movie about it with Tom Cruise. I didn't really pay too much attention, but the main character is named "John Reacher" and I know Tom just did a movie playing a guy by the same name. Maybe it's a series. Anyway. I suggest it highly!

That's all I really have for today...

Looking Back and Looking forward!

2013-03-26T10:32:00.000-04:00

When BFF Rose's sister named the date of the surprise going away party, I started working on a photo album for Bff Rose as a present. I went through all my pictures and gathered up copies of pretty much every photo we have together. One thing was missing though. Our vacation in May of 2008 to Panama City Beach, Florida to see her parents after they moved down there. I didn't know where I had stashed them. They weren't on facebook, nor were they on any of my photo printing sites. It was only recently that I remembered they were on MySpace. I logged on my long ago forgotten account and there they were! Oh how fun was it to look back. That was pre-Bee even! Well, I had met him already, but we had not become friends yet.

I remembered just how much fun we had! Even the trip down to Florida was fun. The road trip part was great. The fun stuff we saw. The scenery change from chilly and dreary. Everything still in that lifeless "grey" drab, to Mountains, to warm, to warm and palm trees. Sand, Surf, Green, salty air! Oh, I would give anything to go right now!!

I decided to google how long of a trip it would take to drive from my house to BFF Rose's new house. 16 and a half hours. The best part? Since they will be living in Tampa, it will require us to take a different route (BFF Rose's mom and dad used to live in the pan handle. It required us to drive through Tennessee, Kentucky, and Alabama the whole way) This new route will take us through Virginia, West Virginia, both Carolina's, Georgia, and finally, Florida! It also includes driving smack through Savannah, GA which is where I have wanted to visit for many, many, years!

So, I told Bee that next Summer, when I get my bonus, we WILL go on a family road trip to see BFF Rose. We will leave on a Thursday night after work and drive until we can't drive anymore. We will then stay the night in the cheapest hotel we can find (I figure, we can make it at least as far as North Carolina, or half way there). Then, get up early and hit the road and make it there by early afternoon. Rose has a pool and lives across the street from the Gulf coast! The kids (and us) can swim all day long, BBQ, sit out on the beach and sun, go see the sights, and maybe, if we watch our pennies carefully, spend one or two days at Disney (they live 45 minutes to an hour away). After 8 days, we will leave on a Thursday night and drive until Savannah, GA. Then, spend the day/night there, and then head out Saturday morning and make it home late Saturday night, early Sunday morning. Oh how much FUN we will have! BFF Rose is already excited too :D

I mean, how can we NOT have fun together? ;)

Pre-Goodbye Goodbye's, and Horse Racing!

2013-03-25T11:28:00.003-04:00

This past weekend was a bittersweet one.

Friday was BFF Rose's surprise going away party. We were late, as usual, because apparently, that's my life now, and missed the "SURPRISE!" part, but it was still nice. I made chocolate chip dark chocolate cupcakes with raspberry white chocolate frosting (thanks, new frosting's at Wal-mart!) which made every one think I was some sort of bakery genius. Not so much, lol but it did make me want to get more and try different combinations. Anyway, it was really busy in there and we ended up having to take little man because C went to the school play. He didn't really mind too much. Pop and Pizza with a side of loaded fries was his reward for sacrificing his time. Plus, he got to see BFF Rose. That's his girlfriend :)

My friend Nancy, Little Man, and BFF Rose's Boyfriend Ray. It was his party too

Bff Rose and April

The Dizzle. He is going to miss his mom like crazy.

Bff Rose was surprised and touched that the party was for her. I gave her a photo album filled with pictures from when we first met, up until now :) It was kind of fun too, to sit with her and her friends and family and reminisce about all the fun and crazy times :) In fact, just thinking about them makes me weepy. Saturday before Easter is her sister's wedding. It will be the last time I see her before she moves. It's going to be rough :( Sure, I can always visit, but it's far. Far = expensive. Especially when you have 4 other people to bring. I can (and will) go by myself sometimes, but even still. Oh well. She deserves to be happy too and I will support her wherever she is!

After the party, we left and went to Bee's practice for a bit. One of the coaches was in Florida coaching the Police team, so Bee stepped in for him since he still can not practice. We eventually came home and got to bed around midnight. I was soo tired.

The next morning, C had basketball practice. I felt like warmed over death (No, I was not drinking the night before) Thankfully, Bee said he would take her. Little Man and I stayed home and I went back to bed. I slept until 11 am when I peeled myself from the bed. I was fighting a headache and was feeling worn out and tired. Bee wasn't feeling so hot either. Just Blah. We had made plans to go with The Jones's to A Night At the Races, and they had already paid for us, or else we would have just canceled. It ended up being a fun little evening. We won a few races (we put our winnings back into betting), The Jones's won a few races, "bought" a horse that one ($25 pay out for them), and Marcus won on a side board ($78). Later, when they did the Chinese auctions, our friend Nancy won a $25 Barnes and Nobel gift certificate and a board filled with scratch off's (She won $65 off of those) and I won a really cool blanket that I really wanted. All in all, it was fun :)

Me and Bee

T, Nancy, and Me

T, and me

Scott and Nancy

Sunday, we blissfully did nothing. This kids played with their friends in the snow. You know, because Spring is when the snow comes...Anyway, it involved a lot of this...

Couldn't ask for anything better :)

Behold! The Beauty!

2013-03-22T08:30:00.002-04:00

This. THIS masterpiece is/was Bee's Football cake :D Isn't it lovely? Don't you like how I even managed to get my feet into the picture? That's because I am an award winning photographer :D

Hehehe :) Yes, this is the cake that fell apart when I took it out of the pan. Whomp-Whomp. Oh well, It's still perfectly good and perfectly tasty. I didn't want to throw it away. Bee said he would not eat an un-frosted cake, sooo...well, here ya go! To make up for it, I made him my famous snicker doodle cookies that he LOVES. He would much rather eat those than cake :) The kids will make short work of the cake.

Last night our friend Reggie came out and met Bee and the kids at Bee's work (the kids wanted to go and "help") to work on Bee's car. I silently rejoiced inside at the prospect of having the house (and the evening)
to myself for a few hours. It was bliss. I turned on my audio book on my phone (because I'm 80) and listened while I baked cookies and made awesome cupcakes for BFF Rose's going away party that is tonight. All without being interrupted or having to worry about someone else. Don't get me wrong. I love my family. I love the sounds they make that makes my house feel like there is life inside of it. But sometimes...sometimes it's nice to have peace. Especially after this crazy busy week we've had and how due to C having AAU Basketball, Track, Civil Air Patrol, AND Flag football, the next two months are going to be a blur. :)

I am not going to lie though. While those 3 hours were bliss, it was sure nice to have my crew come home :)

How we roll

2013-03-21T10:24:00.002-04:00

Birthday's have always been a big deal to me. Mainly, because growing up, they were made a big deal. I'm not saying that my parents spent large amounts of money, or threw big parties, but you always could be sure that the day would be about you. Bee's family, I don't think anyway, did the same thing. At least, Bee doesn't. He prefers to let all birthday's pass with a simple "Happy birthday".

I'm still working with him...

Anyway, I am always broke when his birthday rolls around. I'm not really sure why. It's the same time every year. My cousin's birthday is the 23rd and back when her and I were thick as thieves, it was the same thing. My point is, I still try to do something to make him feel special. Normally, I cook him a favorite meal, bake him a cake, and wait on him hand and foot (the latter is actually a normal thing at our house lol) I also try to get him a sweet card and an few little goodies to mark the day as special. I guess, that's because that's what I want on my birthday. Nothing big and over blown, just simple, small, and filled with proof that someone cares.

Yesterday, before I left for work, I took the cards I had bought (one from me, and one from the kids. Theirs signed like kids do, and mine with a sweet note inside) along with a bag of goodies I bought the day before (A mega slim jim, a single serving "adult juice box" of margarita, a king sized "cookies and cream" Hershey's bar, a bag of cookies and cream Lindor truffles (drool), and a giant bag of completely frosted animal crackers) and I placed them in his chair so he would find them after work as he went to relax.I also made him a football shaped cake. Unfortunately, that fell apart as I took it out of the ban. Boo. I still have to figure out what I am going to do with that. It's a perfectly good cake. Just ugly as hell and it's going to be a pain to frost...and Mr. Birthday Boy says "I will NOT eat a cake without frosting!" Humph...

All in all, he enjoyed his birthday treats :) Instead of a home cooked dinner, we went out to BW3 because the offensive line has "chalk talk" every Wednesday there, and my guy refuses to miss football...even if his birthday happens to fall on a session this year. So, we all went. In the blizzard. Because that's what he wanted. :)

Sigh.

What the birthday boy wants, the birthday boy gets :) He also got the bill...but that's here nor there ;)

All in all, I'd say he had a pretty good birthday :) Let's hope he remembers that come November 14th ;)

Happy, Happy birthday, Baby

2013-03-20T09:18:00.001-04:00

Today is the day that my sweet Bee was brought into this world. This world has had his special light for 43 years and it only gets brighter and better with each passing year :) I thank God every day for bringing him into my life and for our marriage this past December allowing us to be together forever :) I love this man like the dickens and even though, like anyone, he has his faults and we have our ups and downs, I only love him more in spite of all of it :) He is my rock, my laughter, my sanity, my truth. He is my best friend and I am so very happy he was born today :) Happy Birthday, Lovey :)

One tough cookie

2013-03-19T08:32:00.002-04:00

Even with a gash on her foot big enough that it probably required a stitch or two, she is still out there giving it her all. Never once complained the whole two hours of practice....

That's my girl :)

What a week...

2013-03-18T12:17:00.001-04:00

I don't have a whole lot of time for posting right now. I'm taking a little break from my work. What.A.Week.

Seriously.

Tuesday evening, I spent cleaning my house. My landlords kids (who technically own the house...) were nostalgic and wanted to "come by" and walk through the house because they "missed it". I would think it was for more sneaky reasons, but really, my landlord is the type to just come out and ask if he suspects something. The kid's lived there with their mother until she died. They haven't been in the house in 3 years and the oldest boy is on his first spring break from College. I get it. However, it couldn't have come at a busier time for us. Even though they are all the nicest people around, I get really stressed and nervous in dealing with them. Add to that C had Civil Air Patrol and Bee had a meeting and it was one of those nights where I didn't sit down until 10pm.

Wednesday I was stressed at the thought of having my landlord's kids over, preparing for Bee's surgery the next day, and on top of it, a cold/sinus thing from hell that popped up outta nowhere. Luckily, last minute, the kids bailed on us and we don't have to worry about it until at least summer :) Bee went to his meeting and took C with him and Little Man was Content to play with the neighbor boy.

Thursday, I woke up sick.as.a.dog. and my throat was on fire. No matter, because we needed to get to the hospital because Bee was having surgery. He had a hernia repaired and a cyst taken out. The procedure took way longer than I thought it was going to take, but all turned out fine. After being there all day long, we were finally able to come home around 4pm. He was sore, and uncomfortable, but he was doing ok. By the time I got dinner and his medicines, and we all sat down, it was 7:30pm. The kids were supposed to go to the Grandparents of doom's house this weekend to visit and go see their mom. Little Man told me in the car to please not make him go see his mother. He said he wanted to see his Grandpa, but not his mother. He said seeing her makes him "mad and sad" and that he hates how she constantly drills him with questions about Bee and I, which only makes him more mad. Inside I celebrated. Outside, I told him he would never have to go anywhere he didn't want to.

Friday, Bee and I stayed home together. Me, to take care of him and recover myself, and him to recover from surgery. It was glorious. There was a lot of napping going on. When the kids got home, we had Little Man call his grandparents and inform them that Little Man wasn't going to see the mother and that if they wanted, I could bring him by afterwards. The Grandpa said that he wasn't going on the visit and little man could visit with him. Then, we went to C's AAU Basketball practice, and then to Bee's football practice to drop off the footballs before heading home. It was a long time to be out running around and Bee and I were both over exhausted and tired, so right to bed we went.

Saturday Morning, we were up at 6:45am to wait for the Grandparents. They finally arrived and I went right back to bed, where I stayed until 10:30am. Saturday was filled with naps all day as well...

Sunday, We both were feeling just better enough to be bored but not well enough that it annoyed us we couldn't get out and do something. The kids came home around 5pm and told us about their weekend. Little Man did NOT go see the mother, but it wasn't like him and Grandpa did something quality like I think Little Man thought that maybe they could do. Instead, Grandpa watched TV while he ate "snacks" (they don't know what to do with him, so they just shove food at him). C said that Grandma and the "mother" got into a huge fight while she was in the bathroom. She came back and "mother" was crying and Grandma was saying how she was selfish and ungrateful. Then, the mother cried to Little Man that "he is forgetting about her". Then, at some point over the weekend, The Grandmother told C that she hated Bee and never wanted him to marry her mother in the first place. Then, tried to make everything better by buying C $120 pair of shoes and $70 jeans.

This is where I have a HUGE problem.

1: You don't say things like "I hate your father and never wanted your mother to marry him in the first place" Why don't you just go ahead and say "I wish you were never born"

2: No 12 year old needs or really, should have $70.00 jeans. From Hollister. I'm not even saying C is to blame. I m sure she never even asked for them. (She might have...who knows) but it goes against what I am trying to teach my daughter. Which is, Money isn't everything. You don't need Name Brand everything. That $70 could have bought 3 or 4 pairs of jeans at another store. Or, IE: DON'T TURN OUT LIKE YOUR MOTHER.

3: The shoes. Ok, Here's the thing on the shoes. Grandmother bought them for "school". C has 4 pairs of shoes for "school". FOUR. And they aren't cheap walmart or payless shoes. These are all easily $100 shoes. One pair, Bee bought. They were $100 on sale for $50. Another pair were $120 on sale for $45 that her Grandmother bought her 2 months ago...the other two she paid well over $100 for, but she bought them with birthday and Christmas money. She didn't need another pair. However, the blessing in there is that she starts track today and she needed track shoes (which none of her other shoes qualified because they were basketball shoes) and at least this pair can be used for track and it saved Bee and I $100 because that's how much track shoes cost. I guess it's the idea that she just bought them for her to buy them...not for any real purpose and it just so happened we actually had a purpose this time.

Meanwhile, her brother, who desperately needs shoes because his are falling a part with holes in them and needs pants because he owns 3 pair that fit properly came home with nothing. Oh, my bad, he got a new squirt gun....

Sigh.

I'll be happy when the kids can decide not to see any of that family anymore....

Ok...back to work...

Spring Forward

2013-03-11T13:37:00.000-04:00

Time Change + Weather = Zzzzzzzz.....

Oh, wait. I need to be productive today. It's a Monday. It's hard to form sentences today. I was dozing off on my way into work this morning. Which, would have been fine except I was driving. And it was raining. There was just enough chill in the air that required the heat be on too. So, we have a tired Monkee, plus darkness, Plus rhythmic rain, plus warm comfy atmoshpere....yeah, it was a long way in this morning :(

I went to bed at a decent hour too. Bee and I were sleeping by 10pm which, was really 9pm before the time change...Work has been hard to keep my peepers open too. Sigh. Almost lunch time.

As for the weekend, it was a pleasant one :) C's party went...well. She had 8 girls show up (out of 15) and they went and got the neighbor boys for good measure. I spent $101.00 on food. GOOD food. I even put out 5 boxes of girl scout cookies. (We're talkin the "good stuff") and not one child ate. Ok, I'm being dramatic. C had two pizza bites (From Pinterest. I will blog about them tomorrow) and a chip, and one other girl had one chip dipped into the loaded baked potato dip. THAT WAS IT. There were apparently too busy running around outside making copious amounts of noise, pissing off a neighbor, or clucking like wild turkeys in my living room (no joke, they sounded like a flock of em) playing x-box.

Oh, and tormenting my poor cats. They were the stars of the party, really. :) Ms. Kitty was not really sure what to make of it and Chubbs (Sammy) just hid. lol

Eventually, the boy came home from 4th grade fun night with a buddy who was spending the night. They were excited to hear that the girls didn't touch the food. At least they dug in :) Then, it was off to do what they do...

The girls all eventually left, Bee came home from practice and we went to bed. On Saturday, we had Bee's scrimmage, then later, him and I went out to see a show at the local comedy club with friends of ours. It took us a sweet forever because one of the main highways was shut down due to a dump truck accidentally leaving it's dump up and taking out a pedestrian bridge...

On Sunday, it was 72 degrees!! My kids were outside all the live long day. Around 4pm, I dropped Bee off at his bosses house to help with some tree removal while I took the boy out to buy a present for his friend's birthday party, then on to the party we went! After dropping him off, I went back to Bee's bosses house to pick him up. We grabbed custard and headed home. After picking up the boy, we came home and the kiddos got showers and then went to bed and we followed soon after :)

Hoping the week goes by fast!

Technology!

2013-03-09T09:00:00.000-05:00

Bee and I were watching a video on the Youtube from our favorite vlogger, Jenna Marbles. She was talking about little white lies we tell and why we tell them. Some to avoid hurting people we love's feelings. Such as, "you can do soo much better than that loser!" or "No, that dress doesn't make you look fat!" and yet others to maybe avoid getting out of some trouble. Like, "Sorry mom, I didn't call you back because I ran out of quarters."

The latter made me laugh and I looked at Bee and said, "Isn't it funny that our kids will never be able to use that excuse?" Think about it. I'm 32 years old. I am the last generation who really has a firm grasp on what a payphone is. Probably the last generation to use one on a regular basis. My friend's daughter who is slightly younger than Little man actually asked her what in the world exactly was a payphone?

That got me thinking...what else will our kids never get to experience? I made a list of the ones that came to my mind and really, it boggles my mind to think about some of this stuff. Especially since they were all a huge part of my life growing up.

Payphones- There was one on every corner. Every business, restaurant, bus station, gas station, bowling alley, bar, and grocery store had one. If not, you paid an employee a quarter to use their office phone. I remember when phone calls were 10 cents as well as 25 cents. My dad never let me leave the house without $0.50
Calling Collect- in the rare chance you didn't have a quarter, Or you were calling long distance, but didn't want/couldn't pay the charges, you could call 1-800-Collect and place a collect call. Or 1-800-ATTCollect. Sometimes, we would just say "ComePickMeUp" when it asked your name, then hang up. It was free that way.
Long Distance- My kids actually asked what that was. FACEPALM. I remember when Ohio got overloaded with new phone numbers and a new area code had to be added. Calling some of my friends because Long Distance because it was outside my area code. OH THE HORROR!
Busy Signal- this is a foreign concept today. Everyone has call waiting standard. I remember getting soo pissed because I was waiting for a call and my mom was on the phone with her sister. I also remember getting in trouble because I was on the phone with my friends and my mom was trying to call me.
Sharing a land line - We all used one phone. It didn't text, nor did it have unlimited ring tones. Caller ID was new and only fancy people had it. Also, you had to share the phone.
Pagers- Beepers. I fought and fought my parents on letting me have one. My dad said they were only for doctors and drug dealers even though he had one (for work) and he was neither. I finally gone one at 15 and it was so.cool. I had lots of different cases for it. I looked cool. Later, I paid the up charge and had voice mail on it. Awesome, until I realized that I had to pay .25 to call my voicemail and see who paged me, and then another .25 to call the person back if I wasn't at home and I rarely had that extra change because I needed every available dime to buy Cigarettes, which were $1.43 a pack...
Gas- was .75 cents a gallon when I started driving. When it was approaching $2.00 a gallon, we would drive across town to fill up at a station we found to regularly have gas at $1.50.
Dial-up- I used to use an early form of the internet called FreeNet. You had to dial in. Most of the time they were always busy. You had to dial and dial, and dial, and dial, and then eventually, you would get in...but you only got an hour...and then you had to relog. Sometimes, on a Saturday night, you could wait 3 hours before getting in.
"Please get off the computer, I need to use the phone" - or even worse, being in the middle of a conversation with someone online and have your dad pick up the phone because he needs it, kicking you off the intertubes....

That's all I can think of for the time being...Any one have any they want to add?? :)