8-30-08

Hi Deee Ho...



What a wonderful day with my love.



We went for breakfast then back to my house. We couldnt decide what to do. Then, like a light bulb, it came to me. Lets go to the Zoo! Its becoming 'our' thing. Museums and Zoos. Weird. Kinda like us!!



Well, that was a short lived idea after I told my hormonal pregnant daughter. She flipped and told me that I dont spend any time with her anymore. Jeeeeez! I think I would spend plenty of time home with her if she were actually home!



ANYWAY....



We axed the zoo idea after telling her that we would go to the zoo on Sunday, with her and the boyfriend, and decided to go antiquing. I love to hit the antique stores. You just never know what youre going to find.



Eric printed up a list of stores around the area. Some I knew of, some I didnt. I crossed out the ones that 'didnt count' and off we went. Creston. Maybe 100 people live there. They have a great antique store though. I ended up with another grater and 3 plates. (I collect graters....like cheese and other)

Then we went to Maple Park. Maybe 300 people live there. Gotta love old country towns in the middle of nowhere. This antique store, if that what you want to call it, is at somebodys home. She has a huge barn and a few smaller buildings. The temperatures in these buildings range from a normal outdoor temperature to a that of a sauna. Along with the psycho miniature horse running around, the chickens, a lazy goat, a few horses, and a dog, I ended up with an old apothecary drawer. She knocked the price down from $25 to $17. Deal! OH...and as I was checking out, she had freshly baked cookies near the register. Some fabulous concoction of dark chocolate, frosting and a hidden cherry. Damn, they were good. Eric, being allergic to chocolate, gave me his. AWWWWW...

Off to St. Charles. Wonderful town. Perhaps 30 thousand or so. Hard to tell. St Charles is like a distant suburb of Chicago, so all the towns melt together. We hit up a few stores there. Kinda pricey, but still cool to go through. I dont think I got anything there.

After a bit of shopping, we hit the road to nowhere. We had no place to be, no kids to worry about, and time didnt mean shit. While driving, we stopped and played a round of mini golf. He kicked my ass. We had a bet, a wonderful bet....I will keep it to myself. Lets just say, everyone will be a winner in the end. :)

A Sonic opened up in a nearby town this past week. It is now the closest one to us. The next closest one is 100 miles away. We lost our directions, somehow, and just winged it. Amazingly we found the place with no help. Still not sure how we did that. We pulled up and it was so busy, they were using part of the Walmart parking lot as theirs. There were so many cars, they had to direct traffic. Once in 'line' we were told the wait was 40 min for any kind of food. Fuck that!

Instead of Sonic, we went to the rocking chair store....aka Cracker Barrel. Eric had never eaten there. Yeah, I was surprised too. I think that man has eaten everywhere at least once. The meal was amazing.

A 40 minute drive home with the setting sun. It was pretty. We arrived home and my dog was a tad bit happy to see us. We grabbed her zippy leash and off we went. Shes now crashed in the living room.

I got the mail after the walk, and my ring that I bought the first time in Pittsburgh had finally arrived. They didnt have the size I needed in the store, so they had to special order it from Ireland. It took longer than expected. Its a beautiful silver and pearl ring with the trinity symbol on both sides. I bought the necklace, which I loved as well. I cant seem to take it off as Im such a sucker for pearls. Set complete....for the most part. Eric bought me earrings to match, which I love. Hes so damn good to me.

Its been another great day with Eric. I love him.

We have so much fun together. We laugh. A lot! We are a goofy pair, but in a good way. We dont argue. We dont fight. We are able to talk about things openly. He is a perfect match for me. I thank God everyday that he found me. I thank God that he has the patience I dont have. I thank God he understands me.

Sap mode, off.

All for now. We are going to the Zoo tomorrow. I need to go take care of our bet and get to bed. I hope everyone is having just as much fun this weekend as we are.

Peace out....

8-26-08

Well hello there....

I bought corn on the cob, freshly picked off the stalk today....green beans, freshly picked off the vine today....potatoes, dug from the black dirt today....marinated some chicken. MMMmmm.

I bought some charcoal and lighter fluid because my brother tried to grill corn and turn it into POPcorn. Cooked it on the grill for 4 hours. (This is what happens when I go to Pittsburgh for a few days) Um, it didnt work.

Had all the kids around for all of 30 minutes, then like a fart, they were gone. Yeah, I could still smell 'em.

My delicious meal was postponed until tomorrow. Damn!

Eric and I had a little alone time, and spent it wisely. Went and got some chow. Kids are slowly but surely coming home.

The silence was wonderful.

Eric is going to stay here until next Tuesday. It will be 2 1/2 weeks together, and I havent wanted to kill him yet. He has had a few 'moments', but for the most part, this has been amazing.

'Move in' amazing? Hold your horses, Charlie. Im nowhere near ready for that step. I have nothing but time. He has nothing but time. Im not going anywhere and I know hes not either.

Ive got nothing new from yesterday.

Kids had their first full day today. My youngest has her eye on some boy. She also brought home paperwork for her drivers permit. OMG! My baby, driving. Scarrrrry!!!

The weather here has been cold as hell. It feels a lot like October. Im not ready for summer to be over. Seems like it just started. Why is this always the shortest season? I need to move south...

Im going to go play with my PSP for a little while. Eric has one and I played with it a little bit while I was there. This was my excuse to finally get one and retire the old school Gameboy. When my boys arent playing Madden 09, I find a few minutes and unwind.

Have a great night.

Peace out....

8-28-08

Ok, I just erased.

Its been a while since Ive done that. It felt good!

It is Monday. I had only one person on my team of 3 today. My asshole boss was being bossy. I found out Im getting a new boss whom I dislike even more than my current one. It didnt get over 70 degrees today. I hate the cold. My tire looks flat. Im tired. The dishes I washed about an hour ago have reappeared. Damn!

Eric is still here. I applied for 2 jobs today. My daughter cleaned up the house. School started. We got a lot of work done today. Eric surprised me at work with a sweet tea from McD's. My son is staying here. My kids are happy. Eric makes me happy. I am loved.

Peace out....

8-22-08

Hi...

I sit here blogging while my boyfriend is groping me. Its an interesting predicament Im in. Im loving it though....lol. He laughs.

Hailey and I had a wonderful time in Pittsburgh. She had her moments, but in the end, a great time was had by all. Her favorite part was the plane ride. For me, it was the worst. By the time I got to Erics home, I had been up about 25 hours. I was a tired mess, but it was still great to see him.

Im not going to go into details of everything we did. Pretty much the same as last time I was there. I had so much fun the first time, I wanted to do it all again. We did hit the zoo, and it was ok. Weird zoo. Typically zoos are a free for all, but this zoo was a pathway everyone followed. We were with the same screaming kids the whole way through the zoo. I do not like screaming kids.

Speaking of kids....I had the honor of going to my daughters first doctors appointment. She had an ultrasound done and I got to see my Grand'daughter'. Yes, I think its a girl. I hope it is, at least. So the baby is 4 1/2 cm long and it amazed me how clearly we could see fingers and toes. I need to upload a photo and share it. Its just amazing. Due date had been bumped up to March 10th.

Eric is here. *sigh* I love him. This is the longest we have been together. So far, its like water down a stream.....smooth. I like that.

We had a wonderful drive back to IL. To me, it seemed that it went quick. When we pulled up in my driveway, I wanted to be back in Pittsburgh. I do not like living here. Pittsburgh isnt that bad. Im kinda getting to know my way around. I think I could make it to the local Target, but dont test me.

This weekend is going to be a little busy for us. We are going to our local festival tomorrow night. Typically it is downtown, but this year they decided to do it at the airport. Im not too sure how much fun that is going to be. Everyone here is used to it being downtown. There are many businesses that are protesting it being at the airport. Less business for them. I cant blame them.

Sunday we are going to Chicago with some of my kids. Im not sure which ones yet. They keep changing their minds. We are going to the Museum of Science and Industry. Always a great place to go with the kids. Eric is looking forward to it, as am I.

I hate my job. Anybody out there hiring? Yeah, Eric needs a job too. We are dependable, hard working, loyal, and very trustworthy. I will add that I like to have fun at work. Eric wants to add that he will keep his hands off me...mostly. lol. freak

I need to get off this damn thing. I have errands to run and Eric has been trying to....no wait....he HAS been distracting me to get me off this thing. He has other things in mind, no such luck sweetheart. Later.

Thanks to everyone for such nice comments on Erics blog. I do love him. No pulse checks needed. He is most amazing to me and Im so very thankful that he found me. Hes grinning from ear to friggen ear right now. He knows I love him.

Peace out....

Nicole....move on please.

8-12-08

I just realized that I didnt finish my trip. I didnt get to tell you what exciting things happened to me on my last day in Pittsburgh....

Eric and I got up early and went shopping, again. Exciting, huh. My goal was to get some cute bracelets while I was there. I found some. I bought some Brighton jewelery. If you dont know it, look it up. Its very 'me'. So I got a few bracelets for me and then one each for my girls. It was fun shopping for them. Then we went to the COACH store. I walked in and told the girls that I wasnt going to buy anything, but I just HAD to look. Luckily, they didnt have anything that I had to have. Im very purse picky.

After shopping we went to the Phipps Conservatory. It was beautiful! We got in on a free day, which always makes things better. We walked around and enjoyed each others company. They were also having some 'thing' going on with chocolate. Eric, being allergic, meant I got his. That was exciting!

While we were there, my daughter called and asked me how the weather was. Weird. I told her it was sunny, warm, beautiful. The proceeded to tell me that it had been raining in Chicago all night and day. Wonderful. She was able to pull up my flight and tell me that everything was still on time, and I was good to go. Man if I had only looked in my crystal ball that day....

Eric and I decided to head towards the airport after we had some lunch. Lunch was amazing. He took me to an Italian restaurant and I got my favorite. Chicken Parmesan. It was amazing! I almost couldnt believe how much I ate, but I couldnt help it...lol.

We stopped at a mall near the airport because we had time to kill. We walked around window shopping. That is until I spotted 'it'. A Dale Jr jersey for my dog. I had to have it. We made our way down to the kiosk and I snagged a size small for my Kadie. The damn thing was $30, but I didnt care. My dog had to show her support. I went to pay, and the very nice lady told me the jerseys were 75% off!!! Holy Shit. I could have bought 2!! (Kadie loves her Jersey. Will post a photo soon)

Off to the airport. We sat in a little cafe and talked for a few minutes before I had to leave. We made a decision that instead of him coming to see me in 2 weeks, I would come see him and we would drive back together. Yay!!

I got through inspection, with my love watching me the whole time. One last kiss and wave goodbye. I will see him in 2 weeks.

I got to my terminal no problem. Sat, read my People magazine, chilled. My plane never showed up. I should have figured something was 'up'. We had to board a different plane a few terminals down. No biggie. We get on the plane at 730pm, taxied out, then sat. WTF! We ended up having to sit at the end of the runway for close to 3 hours. The weather in Chicago was THAT bad.

I was on the phone with Eric and my daughter. There were tornadoes going through the area. Horrible winds and rain. Ohare airport was closed for business. I was at the end of the runway with around 120 other pissed off people and all I was thinking was....I had to be at work at 4am. Shit! I called the girl that was picking me up, she works for me, and told her not to leave til I called her. She had no problem with that because she then went on to tell me about the weather.

They served us drinks....um, duh, and popped a movie in. I was texting Eric and getting updates. He so badly wanted to come pick me up, but couldnt. It pisses me off to this day that they couldnt just let us sit in the terminal. At least we would have been comfortable.

Finally, we got the window to fly. Coming into Chicago was interesting. As we were flying over the city, the lightening was striking all over the place. It was cool, but scary. We were coming down the runway and I swear to God we werent stopping. They guy next to me even made a comment on how long we were 'stopping' for. We taxied around for a while, not going anywhere near a terminal. They parked us in the 'Penalty Box'. Yeah, who knew there was a penalty box for airplanes. Once again, we sat. They couldnt let us off the plane because the lightening was too close. We had to wait for the storm to pass so the ground crew could bring us in.

After sitting in the 'box' for an hour, we were moving again. This time to someplace so far away from the airport, we couldnt see the airport. The problem now was that because so many flights had been cancelled, they didnt have an empty terminal to park us at. We now had to wait for some flights to take off and snag a terminal. This took another 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, my ride was sitting at an oasis waiting for my phone call. She had to be at work the same time as me, so I couldnt really call off. Sleep on the plane? Yeah, no. Lights all on, 120 people, had to pee....sleep was the last thing on my mind.

Finally, we parked. Got off the plane. Before getting off the plane, they gave us a website to go to and get a $25 voucher towards our next flight. Yay.

It was weird passing so many people in the airport at 130am. They were in lines for customer service. They were sleeping in chairs. In window sills. On the floor. It was crazy.

I got outside and my ride pulled up. She was a little tired, but no more than me. An hour later, I was home. I got inside, got kisses from my dog, kiss from my daughter and then I hit the shower. I had to get ready for work.

Work sucked that day. I fell asleep on my desk at lunchtime, but somehow I made it through. I got home, did some laundry and went to bed early.

I had the most amazing time in Pittsburgh. I dont really care about my trip home. The time spent with Eric way made up for it. We had a great time.

Here I am, on Tuesday night just two days before I fly out to see him again.

This time, Im taking my youngest daughter with me. I asked my other kids what they thought of her going with me, and they were all for it. They said she needs to get out more. It will be good for her to get away from her computer for a few days. She may reconnect with the real world.

We have so many plans....which include going back to Kennywood. You guessed it, Im going on the Thunderbolt at least 2 times!!! Eric is so looking forward to us coming out. He fixed up his front porch so I can sit out there. He painted, put a rug down and is going to drag out his chairs. I love it out there. Great view. Its such a busy intersection and there is so much to watch.

We are also going to visit a few more museums. Go to a ball game. Visit his mom.

Tuesday we are driving back to my house. Hes going to be out here for.....um....I have no idea how long hes staying. Doesnt matter. This will be our longest time together. It seems that every trip gets longer and longer.

Im excited to see him. I miss him. I need a hug.

Things at work arent going well. My boss is being an asshole, again. The fucker wrote me up for not keeping a door locked after I leave the store. Now, how in the sam hell am I supposed to keep a door locked after I leave the store??? If I had the only key I would understand, but there are many keys to this room floating around AND it has a computer in there that people need to use quite often. Hes a dick. He gets off on this shit. I dont care.

I have Eric. I have my kids. I am happy. Who needs a job....lol.

All for now. I need to do something, like sleep, maybe.

Im off to Pittsburgh in 48 hours. I wont bore you next time with our day to day activities. I will blog from there so you will hear from me soon.

Have a great weekend...be safe

Peace Out....

8-6-08

On to Sunday....

OK, so we were up early again. 730ish, if I remember correctly. Eric took me to breakfast at Pamelas. It was pretty amazing. Afterwards we decided to go to Shadyside for some shopping. Unfortunately the stores didnt open until 11 or 12, and we were there around 10. We spotted a few we wanted to go in, and made a mental note.

No shopping turned into going to the Heinz History Museum. We were only going to the gift shop, but decided to check out the place. They had a real cool display of glass. Eric would want me to note that glass was the first major export of Pittsburgh...I think. They also had a decent sports museum within. We wandered around for a few hours. We also checked out the gift shop. I was looking for anything 'pickle'. My oldest daughters nickname has been pickle since she was around 3 months old. Honestly, I think she could live on the things. I was able to get her a few pickle pencils, a whistle and even a cookie cutter. They had an ornament which was cool, but it was $25. Yeah, no. She does already have 2 pickle ornaments, both of which were much cheaper than what they were asking.

After the museum, we headed out to see Erics Mom. It was a long drive, and because I didnt sleep well, I slept most of the way. Upon arriving, they were putting her to bed. Eric was able to stop them and we had a chance to visit. I met...'The Mom'. One of the first things she said to me was, 'I didnt think you were going to come see me'. I had to laugh a little. Shortly after that, she asked me if I liked her son. That did make me laugh. Eric made a comment that I will like him until I get tired of him. I assured her that when I did get sick of him, I was going to drop him off there, with her. She liked that.

After a while, she wanted to go outside, so, we took her outside. It was a beautiful day and the back patio was nice and shaded. We were outside for about 5 minutes or so and Erics brother Dan and his wife Grace came outside. They stopped dead in their tracks, with mouths ajar. They were a little shocked to see me. We were introduced and it didnt take long for us to start chatting. It seemed that they liked me. At least I hope they did. We stayed and visited for a few hours. It was great to meet part of his family.

After seeing his mom, we went to Primanti Brothers. That was an experience. I didnt like the slaw, but the sammich was great. After a stop at the local Target, we went back to his place for a few minutes. Off to Tims house. This is Erics best friend and lives a block or so away. We went for a short visit and stayed for a few hours. I saw his car, a Scion. Hes got it all decked out. We lit some tiki torches and enjoyed the night.

We went home, talked for a little while, then went to bed. It was a perfect day. I met friends and family. I think his mom liked me. From what I understand, shes a tough cookie. No woman is good enough for her son. I hope I made a lasting impression.

My trip is almost over....even though Im home now. Typing it makes it seem like it went so fast, but it really didnt. I keep saying what a great time I had. We had fun. No responsibilities. No kids. No pets. Nobody there except Eric and me. It was awesome.

All for today. I will finish up tomorrow at some point.

Peace Out....

8-5-08

Im home. Had a pretty shitty flight home. More about that another day. Hopefully when Im not so tired.

Im going to start where I left off....

Saturday in Pittsburgh...

We got up early. I mean early to Eric is like 9....we were up 630 or 7. We got ready and walked over to the small bakery near his home. It was amazing! Very nice people in there as well.

Every morning while Eric was getting ready, I was sitting on the front porch watching traffic. I loved his porch. It was a great way to start my morning. There were so many cars whipping around the corner in front of his house. I think I was waiting for an accident. Didnt happen. Oh, and why do they put a stop sign up if you dont have to stop? Weird! Here is a big ole red stop sign and under it, it says, 'right turns dont need to stop'. WTF! If you saw this corner, everyone should have to stop. Im sure Eric has a photo of this intersection somewhere in his collection.

After watching traffic and getting ready, we took a drive to the 'Strip district' in search of 'shops'. All I found was food. Oh, and a place that sold fresh duckling. Why in the hell would you want a duckling? Do you eat them? Do you make stew? On second thought, I dont want to know. No shops, but it was a bustling place, none the less. A huge farmers market. Provided you could find parking, its a great place to go.

After driving around, and stopping for a sweet tea from McDonalds, Eric took me to PNC park. It was pretty cool. Beautiful views of the city. We tried to go to the souvenir shop, but they werent open yet. Instead, we went to the Carnegie Science Center. The Declaration of Independence was there, closely guarded by two of Pittsburghs finest. Im not sure what copy it was, but it wasnt signed. I was a little disappointed by that. What the hell though, I saw this important part of American History and it was cool as shit! We spent a few hours at the museum goofing around and enjoying each others company. We also saw the submarine they have there. Besides being very cramped, it was damn cool. Enjoyed that a lot. After the science center, we went back to the souvenir shop and got things for my kids. All of which they loved.

From there, Eric drove up to the top of Mt Washington and stopped at one of the overlooks to take photos. OMG, it was amazing. It is such a beautiful city from up there. From there, we drove back down to Station Square and wandered around. Had lunch at the Hard Rock, which was awesome and did a little more shopping. We took the incline up to the top of Mt Washington and took even more photos. Northern Illinois has nothing like that.....unless you count the Sears tower, and well, that just doesnt count.

After going up and down the incline, I spotted what they called 'a subway' car. It was no such thing. We agreed that it was more like a trolley. So we rode it across the river and back. The destination was to go to Point State Park, but because of the wind, the fountain was turned off. So we took a few photos and headed back.

We came home around 530ish to relax and put our feet up. Then around 7 or so, we went to Dave and Andys for ice cream. Eric has talked about this quite a bit, so I was anxious to check it out. I got the most amazing ice cream I think Ive ever had.....coconut with toasted almonds blended in. It was like eating coconut cream pie. It was damn good. Not good for the diet, but after all the walking we had done in the past two days, I could justify.

After eating ice cream, Eric wanted to take me for a drive. We saw everything!!! We drove up one side of the river and down the other. We were out and about for well over an hour. It was so pretty. I really do like the city. Im not sure I could drive around without getting lost, but it is still an amazing place to visit.

We got home, and crashed. The last thing Eric said was.....lets see who can fall asleep first. He won. I didnt have a very good nights sleep that night. He has the hardest damn bed Ive ever been on. He kept trying to convince me it was good for my back. Well, when you cant get comfortable, its not good. He slept like a baby, snoring the whole night.

It was another action packed day for us in Pittsburgh. It sure seems like we are forgetting something. We did so much. Walked a lot. Talked a lot. It was wonderful. I love this man.

I think tomorrow Im going to book my flight to go back out in 2 weeks. We have museums to still see...

All for now. Will post what happened on Sunday, tomorrow.

Peace Out...

8-3-08

Hi....This is what we have accomplished in the past 3 days. I will write again in a day or so so I can write about our last day together.

Friday....

Plane was an hour delayed because we didnt have a pilot. I didnt mind waiting, really.
Got into Pittsburgh around 1230 and went to Quaker Steak and Lube. It was amazing. Went to Oakland and wandered around a few shops. Went to the Art Museum and because we snuck in and didnt pay, didnt hang out there long. Went to the Cathedral of Learning 36th floor to make out and check out the view. While there we checked out Nationality rooms. Way cool!! Eric found a piece of chalk, and well, I left notes on a few chalkboards. Went to the Fine Arts building. Came home and chilled for a bit. When I say a bit, I mean about 30 minutes. We went to Kennywood around 630 and got in as Senior Citizens. It was awesome!! Went on the Jackrabbit roller coaster. It was ok. Went on the Log Jammer and got damp. Went on Raging Rapids and got fucking soaked. Went on Thunderbolt and OH MY FUCKING GOD!!! That is the best wooden roller coaster I have EVER been on....IN MY LIFE! We ended up going on that 3 times. The last time, it was lightening on one side of the sky and fireworks on the other side, all in the dark. It was pretty cool. A very late dinner at Taco Bell and then we crashed. And we crashed hard. We were tired after all the walking we did.

It was an amazing day. The smile never left my face. I had only left Eric 2 days before, so we picked up where we left off. We had a great day. Im so damn happy I came to see him.

Heres the scoop. Its 1115. Im tired and Im going to bed. Im going to get help tomorrow writing so I dont forget anything.

I love him.

Peace Out....