Happy Birthday Bobby!!!

Happy Birthday to my bud from work Bobby!!!  Here's a pic of him being serenaded at lunch yesterday but the work crew.  I never knew he could get so red!!!

TGIF!!!

Just When I Thought It Was Over....

The boys are gone for a month with their dad, which means peace, quiet, and a fairly clean house.  Michael came over so we could relax all day, grill steaks, and enjoy the noise of fireworks outside.  However, we didn't plan for "it" to rear it's ugly head again.  Yes, I'm referring to the GARAGE DOOR OPENER!!!

Leaving for the store, we exited the garage then pushed the button to close it.  It went down like a charm then....opened up again.  Shut it again.  Opened again.  Shut.  Open . Shut.  Open.  Swear words.  More shutting.  More opening.  Escalated swearing. 

At that point, we got out to investigate.  Nothing was blocking the door or the sensors.  Michael stayed inside to determine what was happening while I pushed and repushed the button.  Michael ended up having to pull the cord for manual operation; all of a sudden, the opener came off the track!  Electronic operation was now kaput! 

Michael later called the installer for Sears via the handy 800 number on the wall unit .  They apologized for the problem and said they would call in the morning to schedule time to come out and fix it.  We breathed a little easier and enjoyed the rest of our evening, which included cleaning out the fish tank, installing a new filter, and adding two more fish to my menagerie of aquatic creatures.

Morning arrived and while I went to work Michael took over garage door duty.  Brian with the installation company called at 8:30; after asking if Michael could fix the door himself (uh NO), he said he would be at the house today.  Michael then waited.  And waited.  And waited some more,  Finally at 2pm Brian called only to say (without seeing the opener) that he didn't feel it was an installation problem and Michael should call Sears, which he promptly did.  Sears was none too pleased to hear about the installer passing the buck and said they would take care of it.  Shortly thereafter, old Brian called back, told Michael he was mistaken, then asked to reschedule for a new day.  Michael politely declined and told him he had waited all day for the job to be done and it would have to be done today.  Brian understood the urgency of the problem and said they would be leaving Vancouver to make their way to my place.

The installer, not Brian but his partner, showed up about 4:15 pm to inspect the door.  He said it WAS obviously the installation - the original technician had not installed the rail extension correctly.  He apologized to Michael and said Brian wasn't going to be happy learning that Michael was right and he was wrong, 

At last the garage door opener was fixed.  The angels then sang when I arrived home, pushed the button, and voila!  The door opened!! 

A big thank you to my man Michael for kickin butt and keep the installers in line in order to get my garage door opener up and running!

Enjoy Your Holiday!!!!

Spa Toes To Die For!!

Aren't these cute?   One of my co-workers, let's call her "Spa Diva", showed off this work of art on her toes.  Not only did she paint these herself but she insisted on contorting herself into a position which allowed her to paint her toes holding them extrememly close to her face!  It was very impressive and ala Cirqu du Soleil!!!  I think she has missed her calling!!!

Reunion - Chapter 2

After recuperating a few hours from the family reunion, I made my way over to the historic Monticello Hotel to meet up with my 1982 classmates from R.A. Long High School.  There were a ton of us there!  In earlier reunions, it was, of course, about who married whom, where people were living, how many children, etc.  For the 30th reunion, the tide has turned and classmates appeared to be grateful to relive memories with everyone no matter the background, simply being thankful we were alive and well.  We've experienced a few deaths of classmates in recent months so perhaps that spurred the attendance, along with the continued publicity of the event on Facebook. 

Along with my twin brother, it was nice to meet up with some of my close pals from high school - Lisa, Marie, and Carri, along with seeing old neighbors and frequent friends from Facebook.   I have to give a special shout out to classmate Sue H., who confided to me she loves the Diva Blog, going so far as to email it to herself at work so she could read it daily within the electronic rules of her job.   Now that's a true House of Diva fan!!

We may have been fatter, have crow's feet, were gray, and bald but this didn't matter.What mattered is we met again to celebrate one of the most iconic moments of our life - high school - and there were no longer cliques or divisions.  There was simply a gang of friends getting together to hug, enjoy each other, empathize about the bad, relive the good, share email, commit to staying in touch, and look forward to our 35th reunion!

P.S. Big Kudos to my brother Todd who worked so hard behind the scenes to make this event successful! 

Darby, Todd and Pam - the hosts with the most

Jamie and Russ

Jamie, Lisa and Russ with yearbook in hand

Me familia - Todd and Angie



Lifelong buds Carri, Lisa, Marie and  Diva

Packed lounge

Reunion - Chapter 1

Saturday started off with a bang when all of my family met up at Red Lobster to celebrate June Birthdays along with my son Jordan graduating.  It was a very large and loud table!  Following lunch, we headed over to Arlene's for cake, ice cream and more visiting.  It was almost like Christmas with the whole gang together again!  It made me wish for a weekend getaway with all of them so we could have more one-on-one time with each other to catch up and talk.  Perhaps one day soon we will be able to book a beach house in order to have an extended round of R&R with each other!