Some Days I Wake Up Grumpy, Other Days I Let Her Sleep

Well she's travelling again, this time it's back to Connecticut to visit our Grandson Sean and she said she is also on a mission. Here we go again. She wants to look for a place to spend her summers in the state that she hated for twelve years. While we lived there she belonged to a support group that consisted of other women who also hated Connecticut. Outside of two daughters and one niece there is NO ONE else. Her one and only Connecticut friend, Lorraine, lives in Stamford but has a house in Spring Lake, NJ that she stays at 5 days a week in the winter and seven days a week in the summer. I hear "The Madge" talking to other people saying "Let's get together". These people DO NOT live in CT and SHE will be getting together with them????? Her car is almost three years old and she has 5100 miles on it. She is afraid to drive on freeways, turnpikes, highways or toll roads. I am sorry, but the only way to get to Long Island is using one of those type of roads. Oh well. I will let her go out with some real estate agents if she really wants to BUT she is not to buy anything without talking to me. The house we live in now "The Madge" bought without me and it took me almost six months before I set foot in it. This will not happen again ( I Hope). I can see it now, the house "The Madge" will look at is below and the one I am thinking about is right under it.

"The Madge's choice"

What's realistic

The Aqua Tot Is Ready For Some Competition

Memorial Day has come and gone. Caden drove his parents down on Thursday night and left Monday afternoon. He was a little bummed out that we didn't have nice weather for the entire weekend but he did manage to get some swimming in Monday morning. The first day he hit the pool both he and his parents complained that the water was a little chilly (please see the prior posting). Well he sweet talked his Pops (me) into heating the pool, I tried a few times to shut it down but his parents weren't happy until it was 87 degrees. That is a perfect temperature for algae to grow, not to worry though I kicked up the chlorinator's production. We did have the pleasure of having a few people stop by for cocktails, Marilyn, Ken, Connie, Bob, Kathy, Dave, Kay, Joe, Colleen and Mark. Mark wound up being the cook for the day and made BBQ peaches for dessert. Enough of me writing, here are the various pictures of Caden and finally a few of him being the Guppy in the pool, I wonder is Michael Phelps knew how to swim before he could walk.

Another One Bites The Dust

Another birthday party down and one more to go. As previously mentioned Caden is having numerous birthday parties and the last one will take place this weekend here in Spring, TX. Since he has been taking all these swimming lessons, I assume he (or his parents) would want to show off going under water. Our pool officially opened last weekend and at first it was a little temperature shock getting in but once fully submerged it felt great. Now last Sunday a front blew in from the north bringing with it rain and much cooler temperatures, 76 day - 55 night. I know that the pool water has dropped a few degrees, wonder how the little guy is going to handle it. Brrrrrrrrr. Here are a few pictures of Caden's last birthday party with the Struck family. Please notice two things, first he is wearing a "Master's shirt" and second he is sporting a Oklahoma State hat. If you go back through this blog you will notice Caden wearing A & M (Dad's), Texas Tech (Mom) and now OK State (Grandfather). You wait, Caden will teach them all a lesson and go to Baylor.

Happy Birthday Caden and more news

It's official, Caden H. Struck turns ONE today. Since Erin does EVERYTHING by the book he can now sit facing forward in his car seat and drink whole milk. I am not sure of the other things he is allowed to do once he hit the magic one year mark. Well Happy Birthday Caden and now in accordance with the self inflicted tradition please view the following You Tube Link or play the video

Let's see this should just about do it. Oops, the title said Happy Birthday Caden and more news, hmmmmm??? What is the news? Henry getting a job, Colleen moving to New Joisey, no already covered those. Oh, I've got it. Caden's father Brad quit his Job. It came as a big shock to his employer as Brad just concluded a very big contract with Lockheed, but since Brad spends so little time at home (probably 11 days a month) I don't blame him for changing jobs. However Brad just did not only change his job but he was hired as a Vice-president of Transwestern, a commercial real estate firm. Congratulations and success to Brad.

A Happy Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day, so relax, stay in bed, don't cook, go out and buy something nice for yourself. Wait a minute that was yesterday and Friday and hold on, that's a typical day in the life of "The Madge". On a special day like today "The Madge" deserves the best. She is something of a collector, if she sees figurines, plates, pottery, glassware or other little items that people have been collecting of years "The Madge" doesn't waste time, she buys the complete set in a matter of minutes. Well this year I found some figurines that I know she doesn't have. I sure hope she likes them.

In Texas you will come in contact with someone from Mexico, either legal or illegal, and the guys that work around this house would scramble if I yelled "Green Card Check". Well, with all the health issues in Mexico and our own government warnings, one gets a little nervous about contracting the Flu. Lately I have been feeling really really run down with aches, coughing and running a fever. Boy, I hope I'm not catching anything. Here's a recent picture of me that "The Madge" took.

Caden, the old man.

It's been a while since our last posting and some things have changed since then.

1. Allison's boyfriend Henry will start work this Wednesday as assistant to the Dean of Social Science at Fordham University. One of the perks of working there is "Free Education", and Henry will probably go after his PhD. Congrats to Hank.

2. Colleen - - here's an announcement that Shell sent out

"Effective May 1, 2009
Colleen Murphy-Smith, JV Formation Project Manager, will transition to the role of Wholesale Sales Manager - Northeast, reporting to Jim Deakin. In her new role, Colleen will be responsible for overseeing the day to day activities associated with the wholesale market in the Northeast region. Colleen joined Shell in 1992 as a Territory Counselor. Over the past 17 years, Colleen has held various roles including Sales Consultant, Marketing Program Coordinator, Marketing Implementation Manager and Wholesale Account Manager. Colleen has a Bachelors of Arts degree in Advertising from Texas Tech University. Colleen will be relocating shortly to the Northeast to begin transition activities with Terence Fitzgerald, who will retire November 1, 2009."

The blurb about "relocating shortly" is an understatement, as I am typing this Colleen is on a plane heading to Philly to get a feel for the area. Her new territory is Maine to Virginia but Shell "suggests" that she resides in New Jersey. We spent 12 years in CT living close to Meg and Allison while Colleen and Erin were in Texas, now we move back to Texas to be close to Colleen and Erin??? Maybe it's us??? I am just waiting for Erin to drop a bomb on us saying that she will be moving to CT.

Spent the last few days in Frisco with Caden and Sean. Sean flew down from CT with Meaghan and Allison to help celebrate Caden's first birthday. This "birthday celebration" will be the first of many, his real birthday is May 12 and the schedule looks like this, May 1st - birthday with Aunts, cousin Sean, Mimi Murphy and Pops Murphy. real birthday the 12 will be spent with his Mom as his Father will be out of town, May 16th - birthday celebration with his other Grandparents, May 29th - last celebration with Mimi and Pops Murphy.