KG's Hideaway

We're back from Memphis. We had a FABulous time! I guess Ryan recovered from her DISASTROUS (okay, disastrous might be a bit strong a word but still) tournaments the two weeks before in Birmingham and in Atlanta. I guess the coach telling her that the calls were pouring in from the colleges in SPITE of how badly she played must have given her some confidence because she KILLED. She hadn't played with any confidence all summer, and I'm not just pickin' on her here, I mean that. She's really just played with half a heart or something... I don't know, but she went to Memphis on a mission.

We went to the Lorraine hotel where MLK was killed. It was pretty sad, but we ate our sadness away at Corky's BBQ. Tore it up on ribs. I ain't even kiddin' ya... I ate my weight in ribs. Good God, I'm surprised some over eager hunter didn't get me caught in his scope as we were headin out of town. I tried to eat healthy while I was there but it's just damn near impossible. Feel me?

So we get home and not only am I up to my ears in laundry, but there is a shit load of dirty dishes that Austin left in the sink that pissed me off from the get-go. Then, all of our bedroom stuff is still packed up and stacked in the dining room and in the front living room because they finished putting in the wood floor on Thursday night but we left Friday morning for Memphis so all that was back in our bedroom was the furniture. Then, yesterday I went and bought all new comforter and bedding crap because we're changing everything in here which isn't making Craig too happy because the comforter on our bed is basically brand new and it cost me almost $300. It's a denim Ralph Lauren that I didn't often use because of the dogs AND because it was just SO heavy. So this new stuff isn't nearly as expensive but when you add all the stuff up for the bed it cost the the same as the comforter... just don't tell Craig. Yet.

Cleaning out the TiVo took For Freaking Ever today, too. I skipped the first two games of Ryan's tournament today because I'm just too tired and as I was clearning all this out I found the next to the last American Idol where Katharine McPhee sang Over the Rainbow the 1st time. God, that is SOOOOO good, that's why I saved it. But it reminded me about how weird it is that people think that's some happy song. WTF people? Listen to it. It's NOT a happy song. I love it, but it's not happy. It's terribly sad. Sad, sad sad. And I love love love it!!! Just call me Goth I guess. Blah.

Posted by at 7:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Well, I thought today would be alot tougher and that there would be ALOT more work in getting everything out of my room. It was a snap! Well, it was dustier than I would have liked ANYone to have seen but other than that it took me about two hours and that was it.

I AM pissed off at my home warranty company though. My air conditioner hasn't been cooling very well, and even though it's been 107 outside it shouldn't be 82 degrees inside. So we called the home warranty company to send out an A/C guy on but of course they're dragging their feet because they've pretty much replaced everything in our house in the last year. We've waited almost a week for this shit and I'm not waiting another fucking day. Tomorrow will be bad because the doors will be open alot while they're working on the floor plus I'll be doing laundry and packing for us to leave for Memphis on Friday. Shit.

Posted by at 4:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Well, the day has finally arrived!!!! I have to finally take apart the rest of the master bedroom so that the movers can get it out in the morning and put in the new wood floors! I can't wait! They aren't scheduled to finish until Friday afternoon, and we are scheduled to leave for Memphis at noon so I won't get to see it until we get home on Tuesday unless they finish it tomorrow afternoon. We were told there is a SMALL chance they will, but our room is a large bedroom (with lots of furniture, too- it's 22x24).

Anyway, I'm excited! Yay!!!!

Posted by at 10:21 AM | Permalink

Ryan got her second offer today. And they want to come watch her again in Memphis this weekend.

This is huge considering she is only about to start her Junior year of high school. We'd like to have things done completely before the start of her senior year. I don't even want to be waiting until the first day of her senior year. I want it done. Don't get me wrong. I'm not doing anything today, but it's nice to know that the offers are coming in and there is something out there for her. Now, she's just got to keep doing the work and let the chips fall into place.

Posted by at 7:39 PM | Permalink

Well, it finally happened! Last night the phone rang and someone asked for Coach Hughes. Of course, it was a wrong number, but we knew something was up because that is Ryan's coach's name. About 10 minutes last Ryan's coach called and said that a coach from one of the colleges that was watching in Atlanta called and wanted to know about Ryan and what other colleges were trying to recruit her so they'd know who their competition was in trying to recruit her! They definitely want her and two other girls from her team.

She's gotten more than 100 letters from colleges across the country, but this is the first REAL deal, but we'll see. We're pretty stoked. Back to bed for me!

Posted by at 5:05 AM | Permalink

Well, everyone made it home safe and sound. They didn't get home til around 10pm but they were starving so I made some chicken fried steak, mashed potatos and gravy, with some corn on the side and they were happy. If I'd have been thinking about it I'd have made some hommade rolls earlier in the day but my mind was occupied with our damn contractor who'd been here since 8am yesterday morning. He didn't leave until 10:30 last night. Our bathroom still isn't finished, and that's all I'm going to say about it.

The wood for the bedroom floors is being delievered on Tuesday and it's being installed on Thursday and Friday, so everything has to be out of my room by Wednesday night... except the furniture. They move that. W'ere leaving for Memphis on Friday, so I won't even get to see it until it's been in for a while. ::sigh:: I'm so overwhelmed with all of this schtuff. It's sooooo much!

I'm also convinced that my sister is going to have her baby early. According to her sonogram the baby is due August 21, but to look at her there is just noooooooo way she'll make it, plus is you go by her period date she's due at the end of this month. I think she'll have it by the 28th. I have sooooo much baby stuff is this house that it's running out of my ears. I'm trying to clean out the front living room since we don't even use it so that we can just put baby stuff in there... ya know?

Anyway, I'm outtie. Late.

Posted by at 9:34 AM | Permalink

Craig and the kids are almost home. I've missed them quite a bit, believe it or not. Plus, I'm tired of dealing with the contractor by myself. This is now the 5th deadline for our bathroom that has come and gone without him finishing. We've paid dearly for this bathroom and it's been WEEKS, and to top it all off, he isn't even finishing it... Craig will be. It has to be painted, the vanity and sink installed, the shelving system on both ends of the tub for towels and stuff... at this rate it will be done around Christmas.

Posted by at 5:50 PM | Permalink

omg my life fucking sucks right now. I mean not really, but mostly. Jeez... I'm almost completely moved out of our bedroom so that the flooring people can put in the wood- laminate floor. It probably wouldn't have been SO bad if I hadn't chosen to paint at the same time because that also meant that everything had to come off the walls too.... so that LITERALLY means everything comes out of my room. But at least they move the furniture.

The other bad news of the day is that I'm finding out just what an awful housekeeper I really am. My GAWD! You should see the dog hair in this room! There has to be more on the floor than on both of my dogs put together. It's disgusting!

Ryan's team has won two of their three games in Atlanta, and according to Craig she's played really well. (Hopefully the scouts will take that into account after her disastrous tournament earlier this week in Alabama!) He said she's playing really aggressive and getting key rebounds. Several of the Texas colleges that have been scouting her were there this morning watching.

My bathroom is almost finished. Can I get an Amen? kdgr

Posted by at 10:15 AM | Permalink

There is a bit of good news, evidently. Here is a picture of my daughter in the tournament against that tough girl in game #1... she's blocking a shot. Made the FRONT PAGE!!! Yay, that's my girl! (7-12-06 edit: the pic has been changed to other girls, but I managed to snag it before they took it down. I'll try to post it soon. It's awesome!)

She's 00 on the Texas Dream Team. And for the record... girls basketball (read: competitive girls basketball is far and away more competitive than almost any sport out there and often rivals boys basketball. The talent pool is amazing and most people who don't follow it would be blown away at what they'd find if they walked in to a gym to catch a talented girls' game on the fly. In fact, I'm issuing you a challenge.

Posted by at 10:41 PM | Permalink

7-11-06 5:34pm

Well, the day started off good but it appears it has gone to hell in a handbasket. Ryan's first game this morning was a loss but she played well and was high scorer, ass well as kicked as defensively. Then, Craig just called me during half-time of their 4:40 game to tell me that she picked a lovely time to let her game slip. Kansas State's associate head coach, Kami Ethridge, is sitting on the sidelines. Great. He said Ryan is doing ok offensively and driving the basket but she's getting beat on defense so Vance (the coach) pulled her out late in the 2nd quarter. Who can blame him? I'd have pulled her out, too. Every scout we could possibly have cared about watched the first two games, and she did well in those two. But the ONE she cares about, the ONLY one, shows up to this game (there are others there, but this is the one she wants badly) and she's sucking ass. Craig says he'll call after the game. We'll see if it gets worse.

Postgame edit: Ryan didn't do badly, she just didn't do GREAT and it was compounded by the fact that KState was there to wacth. However they came over and complimented her on a smart game so I guess she's ok.
bleh... I'm going to bed.

Posted by at 5:39 PM | Permalink

8:02pm- I'm waiting to hear how Ryan did. I'm watching tv, but it's hard to concentrate on the shows even though they're ones I love to watch. I hate missing her tournaments and it pisses me off that this sorry bastard has caused it.
8:13- Halftime. Craig just called. She's doing great on defense, which isn't such a shock. But offensively she's 0-3. She drove the lane from the 3pt line and drew a foul so she's showing she's not intimidated and she's being aggressive. That's what the scouts said they have to show. Aggression was right up there second only to "Do you want to play at our school?".

Hopefully when he calls me after the game it will not have gotten any worse.
8:59pm Post-game phone call to mom- status unchanged. She played REALLY well on defense and had a pretty good game offensively (4-7 not good) but she keep the other girl on the floor and off her shot in the game and even blocked 3 of her shots. We're in an open peeiod, I think, down there so I'm wondering how this will all go. It better go well. kdgr

Posted by at 8:23 PM | Permalink

Well, Craig, Austin and Ryan left for Birmingham and Atlanta last night. I obviously did not. I'm stuck here at home because the fucknut working on my bathroom STILL isn't finished. STILL. So Kyra and I are just chillin'. It really pisses me off, though.

Tonight is Ryan's first game. One of the scouts told Craig that Ryan needs to bring her "A" game because she'll be playing against the #2 post in the country and this girl makes all her opponents look like kindergartners. He said that if she does well she'll be on the radar of every college in the country and will be guaranteed a DI scholarship. We'll see... I hope she doesn't get too intimidated and even if she doesn't get intimidated, I hope she does as good as she can. We played this team last year but our coach didn't put any posts in, he tried to play them will all guards. It didn't work. He told Ryan to expect to be on the court every second that this girl plays. hmmmmmmm. I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M MISSING THIS!!!!!!

My sister's baby shower was yesterday and she was so cute!!! She totally made out on stuff for the kiddo. I've never seen so much stuff! It was alot of fun seeing our whole extended family there and ALL of my grandmothers on my dad's side of the family. (There are 3. The funniest part of it is that they all ALWAYS sit together anytime they're together so they can gossip. They're all really good friends!) Needless to say, it makes for a very large extended family... and some hilarious family stories.

Posted by at 11:43 AM | Permalink

Good God... I must be living in some parallel universe of torture. As if all the bullshit of the masterbathroom wasn't enough drama, now the kids' bathroom has decided to "have issues" as well. It appears that the toilet isn't getting any water to it at all. This ought to be fun. So now, we can use the toilet in the master bathroom but all other bathroom activities are limited to the other end of the house. Oh joy.

Now it's looking like I'm going to be staying home from Birmingham and Atlanta (maybe even Memphis, too) to get all of this crap done. We paid for the new wood floors to be put down and they are pressuring us for a date to install, but we need to get the bathroom done and paint the room before we install. What a mess. I'm ready to choke someone.... now!!!!

Posted by at 5:42 PM | Permalink

I'm ready to drop dead from exhaustion. Last night kicked my ass, but that was just the knockout blow. I won't go in to the disaster of the previous days except to say that we've been doing some serious construction on our house, remodeling and rebuilding the master bathroom during the last two weeks. Well, this weekend the whole thing decided to take a dump. I'm not going to dredge up all the details here because I'm almost over it and its almost repaired back to where we were so I'm leaving it alone. But last night pissed me off AND has me exhausted. I'm only typing this now so I don't forget it in case I have to recall details. I usually don't, but you never know. Then, I'm going to bed... for days.
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Here are the details I know: Austin left the house to go out and said he be home around 2:30 am to talk to me and Craig. We waited but he didn't show up. I was pissed off at him for not even coming home the day before to put the stereo back into the Lexus because I'm basically giving to a guy across the street. I'm not giving it to him literally, but he's getting it cheap even though he still has to fix the bushing behind the front wheel where it broke. (the repair man said he'd do it for $120, so its dirt cheap!!!) Anyway, I was pissed that he didn't show up because Craig and I pay his insurance (which, btw is MORE than the full coverage on mine and Craig's two cars COMBINED!!!) as well as his cell phone bill (with his 57 downloaded ringtones. I'm not shitting you on the # of ringtones either. That's literally how many Tmobile is moving, only they have to do it 20 a month!) So I got pissed off and temporarily shut off the cell phone. When he didn't show up by 3 I asked Craig if I should be worried about Austin not being here. (I ALWAYS get a funny feeling, like the hair on the back of my neck standing up when something bad is going to happen- I'll come back to this point) He said, noooooooooo don't worry about it. He's probably just trying to make you worry so you'll turn it back on. I sort of agreed, but I just had "that" feeling... ya know?

Anyway, about 4:30am telling me that he was at Amanda's (his gf) and her roommate's bf had taken several swings at him (and connected) and when Austin just laughed at him because it didn't hurt they guy ran out side, ripped his shirt off and wrapped it around his hand then smashed it through the back passenger door window. Not good!

So I get Craig and we drive over there only to find a house full of drunken idiots. They weren't happy that I was calling the cops because most of them were under the legal drinking age, but the guy that did it IS 21... and he was beyond wasted. Most of them scattered like cockroaches when the light comes on but a few managed to find a set of balls and hang on for Fort Worth's finest (who took 2 HOURS!!!). Obviously, Cory Brazil- the person who vandalized the car, assaulted Austin and then trespassed in Amanda's home had left the scene. We spoke to him and he "promised to pay for the window" (if I interpreted his drunken slurs correctly) but I knew if I left there with the car we'd have nothing when we got home except a car with a broken window.... no witnesses.

The officer, if you want to call him that, finally gets there and gets out of the car with a SERIOUS need for caffeine or our assumptions that he didn't give a shit are correct. Anyway, he asks everyone what happened and I finally find out that this happened right as Austin pulled up and got out of his car. The dude just went ape-shit. Come to find out, little miss room-mate got him a little worked up about Austin because she was pissed off that Austin and Amanda are either back together or not together... I didn't get which. Doesn't matter. He got in Austin's face and Austin just kept walking. (I have ALWAYS told Austin there are only TWO reasons to fight; someone hurt his sister, or he is protecting himself from someone HURTING him... "hurt" being the key word. If someone hits your sister, lay 'em out. If they are hurting you or have you in a corner then you can absolutely swing away. But, if you so much as lift your fists for ANY other reason I will personally kick your ass. And if you happen to land in jail for it you will sit there til a judge sets you free).

So when this kid started hitting Austin, he said it didn't really hurt even though it was coming pretty quick and it kept coming... but he said he sort of laughed and told the guy to "... back the fuck off." Then the guy when after his window then came into the house for round three. Round three involves the gf... who HAD ALREADY MADE UP WITH HIM ON THE PHONE BY THE TIME WE LEFT..... but it is also when Austin found out that Cory had broken the window so he started to go look, not knowing that he was outside still. Then the guy came at him again. Everyone there said this guy was fucking psycho by this time, talking about... "666! Satan will come for you!" And he just came at Austin hard core, so Austin bowed up all 6'4 of himself and let the guy come at him.

The guy knocked the shit out of the side of Austin's head and Austin said, "Ive never been so mad in my life!" He decided that the guy wanted a fight, he'd give him one. At this point... finally, everyone saw that it was about to get ugly and held Austin off. (I'm baffled as to why they held Austin off of him instead of the other way around. WTF were they thinking and why didn't they do anything the first time???)

Anyway, the guy evidently has a warrant for his arrest today on no less than 3 charges. I'm supposed to be able to get the report by the end of the week. If the officer got his fat ass to the freakin' station to even file it.

Here are some pictures, but with the background on my blog it makes it look like there is body damage or something on the car. There isn't except for one place where he kicked or kneed a dent in the rear door but I think that one will pop out in the hot weather. Just the window.

Posted by at 8:28 PM | Permalink