A Plumbing Problem

I might have mentioned this a time or seven but it seems as if every time Jon goes out of town, something crazy with the house happens and I have to take care of it. You might recall the story of the storm and the tree falling on the carport, or perhaps the "monster in the hamper" incident when a possum some how crawled into my house and into my laundry basket.

Well, here we are, again. Freaky emergency.

Tonight, I had to pack for my big trip to meet my family in New Orleans. I got in all my shows (Dancing with the Stars, My Boys and Rescue Me) and was feeling pretty good about going to bed at 11pm.

Fast forward to 1:30am.

I'm dead asleep. Then, I hear it, gurgle gurgle gurgle water rushing gurgle water rushing, coming from the bathroom.

I leap out of bed and immediately see that the tub and the toilet have water and it is rising. I grab a plunger. No help. I try to use it on the bathtub. No help. I start to run through the house. No liquid plumber. Can't find the snake. UGH! Gurgle gurgle water rushing....

Call Jon. No answer. Call Jon again. No answer. Water rushing gurgle gurgle water rushing.

Stop.

Wha? It suddenly stopped. Water starts to drain from bathtub and from toilet. Ok, bad dream. Go back to bed. Call plumber in the morning.

15 minutes later. Gurgle gurgle gurgle water rushing water rushing. Call Jon. No answer. Darnit Jon where is your phone??? Find the snake. Try to snake the bathtub. No luck. Where is the water cut off? Call Jon. No answer. Must make horrible call to Jon's mother's house phone at 2am. Oh, God. "Um, Phyllis? I'm so sorry to bother you, there's a plumbing emergency. May I speak to Jon?"

Jon gets on the phone. No answers to my problem. No idea where the cut off is. GREAT. Must take trip to CVS at 2am to get liquid plumber. Jon says to call him on his cell when I get back home.

Get back home, liquid plumber goes in. All water gone.

Call Jon. No answer.

Sleep well, honey. I've got it all under control over here.

JazzFest Weekend

Ok, lots to post today.

Jon and the kids are in New Orleans at the JazzFest. I had a conference here this weekend in Dallas so I stayed behind to work.

Now, before you all think I've lost my mind and missed my FIRST JAZZFEST IN 19 YEARS, not to worry. I'm heading out there on Wednesday. Oh, have I mentioned that Jon Bon Jovi is playing there on Saturday?? YES! BON JOVI IS AT JAZZFEST! Wahoo!!!

Anyhoo, thought I would post a couple of pics that Jon sent to me of the kids. They, of course, went to see the Imagination Movers on Saturday. They loves them some Movers!! Oh, and for those Mom's out there, recognize the gal with the kids?? It's Nina!

Hand and Foot

Sometimes bad days can just be very well-timed.

Four weeks ago, we had scheduled a gathering with some friends to play Hand and Foot tonight.

For those not in "the know", hand and foot is an awesome card game very simliar to canasta. It is the main source of entertainment for my family when we gather together.

A couple of weeks ago, I taught some friends at our girls weekend away to play. We sat down and played for 7 straight hours. It was so much fun.

As we all sat down to play tonight, I felt very "Desperate Housewives-y" as my girlfriends gathered to gossip, drink wine and play some cards.

Since I had left the office depressed and since I'm at home all by myself (Jon and the kids are in New Orleans at the JazzFest), this diversion really helped pull me out of the funk.

It's so great to have girlfriends. I'm so blessed.

Maybe It Was the Cheez-its

Well, talked to the doctor today. Turns out that Eva's HVA counts are up. Actually, a pretty big jump from last month . Her VMA counts were down just a bit.

So, what does that mean for those non-NB pals of mine? Well, these are tumor markers. Eva shows whether or not there is cancer present in her body based on these levels. The higher the levels, the more likely there is for tumors.

Good news is that the doctor is not pushing the panic button for now, as the counts are still within normal level. The last time we went through this in June, the counts stayed in "normal" for several months, slowly increasing towards abnormal.

The next step is to have an MRI, which we already scheduled for early May.

Another piece of good news is that it may be nothing. These tests can react to food that you eat. It is not likely that they will jump so high as a result of food, but hey, at this point, I'm going to hold on to anything.

Keeping Eva away from those Cheez-its.

Another Angel

I'm in NC today with my family for Easter. I sat down this morning to write a post about Easter and all the antics of the kids today.

Before I started writing, I went to check on a neuroblastoma friend Erin only to discover that God has another angel.

I have been following Erin and her amazing story ever since we entered this crazy world a year or so ago.

Erin was gorgeous, brave, hilarious and had the happiest smile you have ever seen.

On this Holiest of days, please keep Erin in your prayers as she makes her way to her new home.
Erin, thank you for gracing those of us who knew you with your wonderful personality. I, for one, will never forget you.

Monsters vs. Aliens

Spent an awesome weekend away with the gals camping in East TX.

When I got home, I had planned to take Jack to see Monsters vs Aliens. Like my BFF, Jana, who also took her kids today, I had reservations about taking Jack to a PG movie at age 5. But, they were really marketing this to a young audience and I had done lots of internet and personal research to see if people thought it was appropriate for Jack's age. Everything I heard said yes. Additionally, it was a movie about Monsters and Aliens, two of Jack's favorite topics.

So, off we went to the 3-D version. I was really excited because I thought that Jack would think the 3-D was incredibly cool. That, he did. I don't know I'll ever forget his excitement when it started and things were just popping out all over the place.

As for the movie, well, it was definitely PG for a reason. Some of the jokes were potty driven and thankfully, Jack did not get them. Some other jokes were definitely aimed at adults and were hilarious. Some of the situations were a bit grown up for Jack, too. For example, at one point, the main character referred to her ex as a "selfish jerk." I groaned.

It was pretty action-packed in 3-D. So, when the giant choppers were trying to kill the main character as she was dangling off the Golden Gate Bridge, Jack had to sit in my lap. In addition, at one point, you thought a character was killed and that was tough for me to explain to Jack.

I will say that although he was pretty scared much of the time, when it was over, he could not stop talking about how much he loved it. We went out to dinner, just the two of us, and he just went on and on about how much he liked it. I asked him his favorite part, he said, "everything."

Bottom line? If you have kids under the age of 6 or so, you might want to see the movie first and decide for yourself if you think your child would like it. It might be just fine for your child. Jack really liked it but in retrospect, I probably would have held off and maybe rented it.