So I promised pictures from when my parents were here and we went to the oh-so-lovely tractor parade, and today I finally got my firewire cord back…

The tractor parade… see, I told you.

The giant cow. I asked my dad if he wanted to go and stand by it while I took a picture… his response, “Do you want me to pretend I’m giving it a mammogram?” Yup. That’s my dad, lol.

Say it with me now… “ewww.”

Since I know how much Harley loves toe socks, I couldn’t resist… lol.

My dad scared me shitless with this thing.

It’s freaking uge. (No, that’s not a spelling error—it’s a word. 😉 )

My dad in the rearview mirror. Isn’t he cute? 🙂

My dad using his loops to fix my windchime. It’s so handy to have a doctor for a father. 🙂

There are more, but I’ll spare you.

You know you are my favorite person, yes? 🙂 🙂

Thank you doll! I love the sign—and the tea stuff… how did you know I needed the little trays?!

Oh, and thanks for not peppering the box with confetti. Bless you. 🙂

Working at main office today. STOP. Going very well. STOP. Had Mexican food and Starbucks. STOP.

Big smiles all around. STOP.

Is it so very wrong that watching Al Roker fall on TV made me laugh really, really hard?

Yeah. I thought so.

Grabbed this from her.

It’s only logical that less than 12 hours after my parents leave, I get a leak in my ceiling. I mean, why not?

The upstairs tenant left water in his sink (or something) and it leaked through my ceiling. Lovely. Fortunately, everyone is congenial and so the landlord will spackle, plaster, paint? my ceiling tomorrow.

My apartment is back to being very quiet. The cats are ridiculously pleased and I am quite happy to be in my own bed.

It’s been quite cold these last few days—39—and I’ve had to turn the heat on and put the electric blanket on my bed. 🙂

I can’t wait for it to snow…

My dad’s hardly ever allowed to go shopping by himself. Mainly because he a) tends to come home with too much random stuff, b) spends to much money on random stuff and c) forgets what he was supposed to buy in the first place.

His latest toy—which he hasn’t purchased because my mom would have killed him—is the Roboraptor from Radio Shack. He wants to use it to chase the cats at home. :::eyes rolling:::

Anyway, the other day he was at Walmart buying a vacuum cleaner (which he subsequently took back because it was seriously used… then the people at Walmart thought he hadn’t paid for it and was returning it, etc., so they gave him grief and after returning it, he left and went to Target… vowing to never, ever step foot in Walmart again)—and he saw a movie bin and decided to paw through it. He came home with a vacuum cleaner and four movies, but without the Diet Coke. 😛

One of the movies he got was Alexander.

“It was a really great price,” he said. “I couldn’t pass it up.”

So after cooking lobster tonight (yum), we decided to pop in a movie.

Alexander was first.

I couldn’t manage to jump to the menu on the DVD.

It was just a “Making of” feature.

My dad asks, snickering, “Did you put in the wrong DVD?”

So I went over to check and see… and lo and behold, I did not.

In fact, I had put in the right DVD. The only one he brought home.

It wasn’t my fault he didn’t read the DVD case.

That read, in bold type, right on the top of the cover:

EXCLUSIVE PROMOTIONAL DISC
DOES NOT CONTAIN THE FILM

My mom and I were convulsing with laughter.

Of course, that could be partially caused by the large quantities of vodka and rum we have consumed.

hehe 🙂

My dad is watching E-Ring. It’s a new Pentagon-based drama with Benjamin Bratt in it and my dad has never seen it.

Every time they mention a weapon or helicopter, my dad goes into an “Oooh,” and then I get to hear a short story about when he was in such and such and those helicopters (the Spector) saved his life. He’s saying, “It has a cannon on the back and it has a vulcan mounted on it and it can fire 100 rounds a second.”

He has this giddy grin on his face—he really needed to have boys. He needs a son, lol.

——————–

Earlier today we were heading to lunch and my mom mentioned that dad had bought me a toolbox. An actual toolbox, not the cardboard box I had been using… 😛

I was laughing, and he said, “Well now when people come over and need a hammer, you’ll be able to find it.”

I replied, “Oh well the hammer is right by my bed. Just in case, you know.”

And he rolled his eyes and said, “Oh I moved that and replaced it with a boot knife.”

Then I rolled my eyes.

“I also put one in the kitchen and in the living room.”

“Dad,” I said, “The hammer would’ve been fine. But anyway it’s a very safe area and I’m not concerned.”

He shook his head. “No, the knife. A hammer could be snatched and used to beat you with. It’s much harder to wrestle a sharp knife from your hand.”

It was about this time that he mentioned he had been planning our next vacation…

He wants us to go to a gun training camp in Nevada for a week, it’s called Frontsight. For firearms training.

He said, “I’m thinking it’s a Christmas present for everybody.”

—I couldn’t remember what the site was called, so I asked him. Then as we were talking about it and I was laughing, he said, “Hey, I thought everyone would appreciate it, but fine…”

To which I responded, “Dad, you’re just a blog posting a day, do you know that?”

He’s cracking up as I finish this. 🙂

—————–

We had lunch at a fabulous little Portuguese restaurant. They’ve never had Portuguese food, and the steak plate and the Shrimp Mozambique was a huge hit.

So were the homemade hot peppers and bread.

We got some of both to go, lol.

The coworker will be so pleased. 🙂

We slept in today. That’s one thing I know I learned from my parents… how to sleep late. 🙂 Seeing as how it was about noon, my mom suggested we eat hoagies for lunch. The best place in the world to get hoagies is this tiny little town in PA, where you call in your order to the American Legion. Since we aren’t members, we then drive around back and go in through the kitchen to pick them up. My mom won’t eat hoagies anywhere else but here. Something about the best bread and hot peppers in the world. 🙂

The Legion was having a gun show, so my dad decided he’d go in and look around while my mom and I went back to the house to eat. He bought knives and debated a few guns. He’s an Army man, Ranger, Green Beret, etc. Apparently, when he was waiting to hear about his acceptance to medical school, he told my mom if he didn’t get in, he was going to be a professional soldier. I learned that this afternoon, sitting at an old kitchen table with my mom, munching on hoagies.

It’s easy to talk to my mom… particularly when she’s not stressed out about work. Somehow her hometown makes her reminisce. I’ve never really heard the entire story of how my parents met, how he proposed, when they lived together, etc., so I asked. And she will always tell us if we ask—it’s one of the things I love best about her. She never lies or tries to hide anything.

My parents lived together for two years before they got married, and that’s a real sore spot for both of them—it’s exacerbated now because my sister lives with her boyfriend back home in WA. Being Christians now, that’s a big no-no… but my mom didn’t give me the religion perspective. Instead, she explained why it was hard for her and their relationship… the revelation about the career soldier thing was explained because it hurt her so deeply. Being a career soldier kinda eradicates plans for a wife and a family—to her, he was saying she wasn’t as important as medical school, etc. The day he got accepted, they made plans for the wedding.

They’ve been married for 27 years, through good times and bad, and they’d never survive without each other.

Then again, my dad was shooting spit wads at me through his straw at the restaurant this evening… he might not live for much longer. 😛

Somehow, due to rain, traffic, road construction and stopping for lunch and to shop a little (Dad needed some new shirts… :P), a 450 mile trip managed to take almost 12 hours.

Synopsis of the trip:
Dad wants to invest in robots… I got a two hour lecture on robots.
Dad wants to know about websites… I gave a two hour lecture on websites.
Dad has a patient in the hospital back home who has multiple problems… Dad was on the cell phone for probably three hours altogether explaining this to: the patient, her husband, the nurses and two other doctors.

My parents live an incredibly stressfull life, and they can never seem to get away from it. I think that’s one of the reasons I shy away from stress and conflict… partially because I have a very empathetic soul, which I try desperately to control, and partly because that stress colored my childhood.

I grew up fast.

Anyway, we’re staying with the most fabulous older woman. She’s in her late 70s and spry as all get out. Her husband was quite well off, so she lives in this big house in this tiny little town where my mom grew up. And she’s a riot. My mom and I have stayed with her before and she’s just so much fun and sweet and I want to be her when I get old.

We were running late (five hours), so we called her, just to see if we needed to stay outside of town and not arrive at 1230AM. She said, “Of course not! I’m wide awake.”

And she was. And the first thing she said when we walked in? “Hi you guys. Did you have a nice trip? Who drove?”

We all pointed at me.

“Honey, do you still drink straight vodka? I bought a bottle just for you. Let me go pour you a drink.”

I love this woman.

My dad is upstairs now, on the phone with the patient again, and my mom, E and I are, to quote them, “shooting the shit.”

Tomorrow, the festival begins with a tractor pull and a parade… then there’s going to be apple butter, cider, pie, etc. being made and pigs being greased.

Ah, small town life. 😛

I slept in. I ate sushi. I played with the cats. Then I went shopping and bought new sheets. And a Waterpik shower head.

I’m quite excited about the fact that my parents will be here in a few days. My mom is bringing me Almond Roca, and dad is going to install the new shower head. Yay. 🙂

Anywho, so I’m all mellow and just puttering about the house.

Then I attempted to turn on my ceiling fan in my living room. Sparks flew, something popped and the damn lights went out. I think, I think I might have a short. Uh huh. Fortunately the landlord was up and he flipped the breaker switch and then came upstairs and poked at the fan.

He’s going to come back on Monday. With an electrician.

And the day was going so well… lol.