Hallelujah, Hallelujah!!!

The little darling’s are back where they belong.
I had nary a blog entry all summer long and that is a direct result of what kind of summer it was.
In a word… “Speedy”!

Toward the end of June, we lost a very, very dear friend of ours, Bobbi.
She and her husband Doc were (are) basically surrogate parents to Mike growing up in Beatrice Nebraska. Bobbi truly loved Mikey as one of her own and her passing was a difficult time for all of us. It was, as services go, beautiful and fitting for such a grand lady with several services and Rosaries said from Dallas, to Beatrice to Omaha. Bobbi was the kinda gal that when you left her and Doc’s home, you couldn’t help but have a little more spring in your step than before your visit which was always filled with food, drink and an abundance of laughter. The family home is quiet now; we vow to do all we can in the coming months to help bring life and laughter back to it.

Most of the summer was a blur of volleyball camps and lessons for Jordie as well as trips to the lake with friends. She attended the University of Nebraska camp which really opened up her eyes to big-time VB. Today begins a week of tryouts for High School so it will be a bit tense around here for a few days. As a sophomore, the hope is to make JV; as a parent, the hope is to just make it… period!

Nicky is playing football for the first time; the coach sure liked it when he sauntered up. He has grown over 3 inches this year and is tipping the scales like he’s been corn-fed. The issue however is not size, it’s aggression. He has none. Think “Gentle Giant”… that will be him. After the first full practice in pads and helmets the poor kid came home with some other kid’s jersey emblem embedded in his arm, that’s how hard he got hit. When I asked him how he was, all he said was, “I’ve got to get down lower Mom”. I hope not “stretcher” low… my old heart can’t take this! He did however take first place in the Skeet Shooting Finals at a 3 day camp he attended. I’m not quite sure what I should be hoping for here… gun accuracy or the ability to pulsate people. God knew what he was doing when he gave my Mom all girls; she would never have made it through the “boy years” and I’m not too sure I’m cut out for them either.

Mikey went back to work for B&V last winter, his travel is way down and we are all so much happier. (Well everyone but that “other” family I was convinced he had in New Orleans!) He’s all ours again with just the “right amount” of travel sprinkled in. One of his jobs is in Hawaii… so we don’t feel too sorry for him when he has to go although he whines about it pretty bad. I suspect that’s for our benefit, like we’re really buying it!

One of the highlights of our summer was the new addition to our family. “Murphy” is a hybrid… half Bichon Frieze, half Yorkshire Terrier. (Remember in the old days when dogs bred outside their breed and we called them “mutts”?) Murph is actually Mom’s dog… we have shared custody of him. When Mom travels, Murphy will come live with us. He is an absolute joy, Mom has just come back alive caring for and playing with him. He’s our newest blessing and we love him. As for Tucker, let’s just say he’s “practicing tolerance”.

As for me, I spent most of the summer building my Real Estate biz. I am under the umbrella of Keller Williams, but I am an independent contractor. I named my business “ChrissyCan” because TC always told me that. She always had incredible faith in my abilities from the time we were little girls. One time before her cancer came back, she, my Dad any I were having lunch together and I was lamenting that I had no idea what I wanted to do now that I was no longer working in Corporate America. It was a scary time for me and TC, having just been through what we thought of at the time as the battle of her life, basically dismissed my doubts. She looked at my Dad, rolled her big blue eyes and said to him… “Chrissy can do anything. Always has, always will”. I wish I could say that was an “immediate” defining moment, but her confidence in me at the time was clearly much higher than my own. It has caught up to me however and I appreciate those words and her undying belief in me more and more each day. Before she died I shared with her my intention to donate 10% of the profits from each transaction to the KU Endowment Fund in her name. Specifically, 100% of these monies are designated to the Kansas Masonic Cancer Research Institute. KMCRI is coordinating the designation plan for the University of Kansas Medical Center and the University of Kansas Hospital to achieve National Cancer Institute (NCI) designation as a Comprehensive Cancer Center. With this designation, Kansas City will join 39 other cities in the United States as home to an elite research, treatment and education center. This goes beyond breast cancer, one of the most highly funded cancers there are. These monies will help every one of us who sadly, the odds say, will be affected by some form of this monster disease.

TC cried and cried when I told her and showed off my new business card which states my donation intention; I will never forget that moment as long as I live. I have 4 closed transactions since January when I started and nothing excites me more than cutting that check to KU. It is my single biggest motivating reason to be successful; TC is proud of me and that’s enough for me.

Just last week we finally snuck a quick family vacation in, we headed to the mountains in Aspen and did all that “good-clean-living” stuff. My “arse” still hurts from our 5 hour trail ride, but not as bad as my heart from pounding. I had a stubborn horse named Tucson who was the horse-version of Tucker. He did what he wanted when he wanted, including stopping to graze on a 14 inch wet and rocky path which offered very little security between it and the canyon thousands of feet below. Between that and Mikey driving us over Independence Pass in a rainstorm, Jordie and I have decided unequivocally that we are “beach gals”. Plant my feet in and on the sand, give me a drink with a little umbrella coming out of it, a good book and sunglasses…voila’… that’s a vacation!

Jordie drove herself to school today for the first time (feel free to fill in your own interpretation of my thoughts on that!), the sound of Nicky’s bus is just a faint memory already, I just drained the last cup of coffee out of the pot, and I have a welcomed calm and quiet enveloping me at this moment. I’ve got to hurry up and enjoy it though… school gets out in a mere 4 1/2 hours!

I hope your summer was free of heartache, filled with fun and did not pass by near as quickly as mine. But I know there's fat chance of that last one being the case! At least we've got our memories... for now!

I’m a V.I.P. Who knew?

It has been a very long time since I was a V.I.P. of anything, and even then, in retrospect… that was probably all in my head.
No… more recently and somewhat reluctantly, I’ve realized I’m more O.P.
Ordinary person.

But I didn’t feel very ordinary today, and neither did Jordie.
Today… we were Rock Stars!

It all started oddly enough with Mikey telling me about a sale at Nordstrom.
I’ll admit I like new stuff, but I also hate to shop.
I’m an online gal, or if I have to go to a store, it more than likely has a parking spot right out in front of it.
I am definitely not a Mall girl.

But it started to rain mid-day, I needed a break from what I was doing and Jordie was still without a birthday gift from last weekend when she turned 15.
We decided to hit Nordstrom.
It should be noted at this point that when I decide to do something on a whim, I tend to not pay too close attention to what I look like.
Suffice it to say I was none to “Nordstromy” looking!

The rain was coming down sideways when we pulled up to the Mall.
I had about 3 minutes worth of patience to find an open parking space in the covered lot which came and went quickly.
“We’re runnin and gunnin Jordie” I said, and with that I whipped into a space and we ran like the wind to dry land.
As luck would have it, we entered into the Men’s department.

“We’re just checking out the sale rack Mark, my husband needs some new shirts for the office” I told the clerk when he offered his services.
Being the efficient shopper that I am, I scooped 4 shirts up and looked around for Jordie to check out but she had moseyed over to the shoe department by now.
I asked Mark if he could hold my stash at his register, we were apparently going to look around the store some.
No problem he said asking me my name; I told him we’d be about an hour.

I didn’t immediately find Jordan in the shoes but I did run into a neighbor/friend of mine. She has 3 boys and a husband… a day out shopping alone must be a dream to her!
What caught my attention first actually is she had on a shirt that I had just this morning received in the mail… further proof of my online shopping habit.
It looked completely different on Dana than me, she’s tall and thin and I’m, um… not!

When I actually looked up at the face behind “my” shirt I was thrilled it was Dana.
She was trying on a pair of fancy shoes for her brand new fancy dress she needs for a party in Switzerland next month.
She also had several pair of boots spread out around her; when touring the Alps, one must have proper footwear!

That was a defining moment in my day.
As I stood there in shorts and a T-shirt from Target that I am almost certain did not cost a combined total of $20, I felt invigorated by my pricey surroundings.
I asked the “shoe salesman” who was helping Dana if the new season’s “must-have” UGG® boots were in yet.

“Michael”, in a very professional way, let me know that he is not merely a shoe salesman.
Michael is a “personal shopper”.
Michael… is Dana’s personal shopper!!!
He has worked for Nordstrom’s for 13 years, and has opened stores on both coasts.
I fell in love with Michael; he’s the perfect combination of fashionista with just a hint of snarkyness.
I want him to be MY personal shopper!

About this time Jordie sauntered up; she’d been hunting for the new UGG’s.
Michael asked if we were V.I.P.’s.
“Not that I’m aware of Sir, and I’m typically pretty well aware”.
“Do you have a Nordstrom card?”
“Nah… I’m a cash and carry gal I told him. If I don’t have the cash, I got no business carrying it home.”

He seemed to like that answer and said “come with me”.
Jordie and I were very excited when he led us into the back of the store; he had to use a key!
Once back there he explained what all the shelves full of beautiful shoes and boots represented; the newest fall line from the biggest designers.
We, meaning Jordie and I, can pick from them now before the “general public”… (boo-hiss on them)… AND we get very special-won’t–happen-again prices!

“What a deal” my friend Dini used to say.
She would have LOVED Michael… Dini was a shopper!

Jordie picked out a pair of “Cardy’s” by UGG®, and a sweet pair of Ed Hardy’s.
When Michael heard us discussing a designer purse, he brought us over to that department’s “locked doors” to peruse those too. As I was trying to explain to Jordan how important it is to dollar-cost-average an expensive bag over a few years, Michael stepped in and said she could buy 3 or 4 fun purses instead of the one Juicy Couture® she had her eye on that will be “oh so last year” in a matter of months. “There will come a time Jordan, when a nice designer bag is important to you, but it shouldn’t be now” he told her.
I liked Michael even more after that.

Since his next appointment wasn’t coming in until 3, and he seemed to like slumming it with Jordie and I, he insisted that he take us up to the 3rd floor and introduce us to Sarah, another Personal Shopper only a few years older than Jordie. Brass Plumb is the name of the department up there and it is chock full of great teen clothes at un-Nordstrom-like prices. They too had a room locked and loaded full of the Fall Season’s must-have’s. Jordan chose a pair of skinny jeans, and a great cable knit and wool vest. The wool pattern is that of a man’s plaid/hound’s-tooth combo, all the rage this year according to those in the know! She got the newest Northface that was just put out and a cable knit cardigan with cap sleeves… cute, cute, cute.

Everyone gave us their card; Michael even put my # in his cell phone.
Sara and Jordie exchanged phone numbers and voila…
We have personal shoppers at Nordstrom!

3 and a half hours later, we tried to slither past Mark in the men’s department who was holding those 4 shirts for Mikey.
I didn’t know which I was more mortified over, the fact I was 2 and a half hours late, or that I pretty much ran out of money in that time.
But as luck would have it, Mark spotted me and asked me if I was ready to ring up.
I told him about our huge haul in the rest of the store and how we spent all kinds of money but won’t actually have anything to show for it until next week, which is odd.
“Oh, he said. You must be a V.I.P. That’s when instead of “buy now, pay later… you pay now, buy later”.
Well yes, yes I am a V.I.P. Mark”, somewhat confused how I just dropped all that cash but have not one shopping bag for all my trouble!
(The “I” in V.I.P. apparently does not stand for intelligent!)

“I’ll tell you what” he said. “Can you get your husband to come in here and let me give him a good once over with a measuring tape? That way we will know his exact size and you won’t be having to be comb over the sale rack, take a gamble by bringing it home to him just to bring it all the way back here if it doesn’t fit.”
My thought is again like Dini’s… what a deal, now Mike has a personal shopper too! But could I get it past him?
We took 2 of the 4 shirts (that’s all we could afford!) with us and promised Mark I would run his idea past Mikey, of which I did.

“As long as he doesn’t touch my junk” is all Mikey had to say.

So now I’m broke, have nothing but 2 sale-rack shirts to show for it, and am for some reason ecstatic with my new V.I.P. status.
Michael says he’s going to call me next week; that’s when we get to come back and pick up our "V.I.P. only” stash.
Gosh… I hope it’s not a zoo.
But I doubt it will be; they obviously keep out the riff-raff.

Cha-Ching!

Do you think he’s going to eat her?

Meet Kip.
If any of you are fans of the show “Lost”, Hurley lives…
Right here in Overland Park, Kansas.

Today was the first day of Jordie’s official Driver’s Ed.
She completed the classroom work, and has about 30 hours of driving with Mike and me under her belt.
But this is the real (insurance mandated) deal.

First a little background.
How, you ask, do you “choose” a driving school?
Well by the CARS they offer you big sillies!
Harding Driving School offers the kids Mustang GT’s…
Nuff said.

The kids drive “alone” with the instructor 3 separate times for 2 hours at a stretch.
I was very clear that I wanted Jordan driving with a woman, or else I wanted a background check on whatever hormone driven male specimen was driving off with her.
They gave us “Pam” last Wednesday morning.

Wednesday came, and I offered to help Jordie out with her Nanny duties that day while she drove.
“Oh, I cancelled today Mom, I’m driving Saturday now instead”, she informed me.
No biggie, end of conversation.

Today roles around, Mike and I are out front with Tucker when the bright yellow Mustang with the blackened windows pulls up.
Expecting petite little Pam to step out, you can imagine the shock and horror on our faces when “he” emerged.

“Hi, I’m Kip”, he says reaching to shake our hands.
Small talk followed not really anything to do with driving or her current ability to do so.
No, it was more like babbling, clearly in shock that we were letting our little girl drive “into the country” without armed guards following her.
In our (lame) defense… it all happened so fast.

My motherly instincts must have kicked in though, because when I ran for my camera, much to Jordan’s chagrin, all I could think was “I gotta get an “Amber Alert” worthy picture and a good one of Kip for “FBI’s Most Wanted”!
And away they went.

Mike, uncharacteristically, didn’t have much to say.
But as they drove down the street, he slowly turned to me and said, “Do you think he’ll eat her?”

They’re back now.
And in true Baker fashion, it was NOT uneventful.

Jordie got Kudos’ for hitting the squirrel in the road “dead-on” (pun intended) rather than steering into oncoming traffic in order to spare the little guys life. (R.I.P little fella!)
She also scored high on the back-ass gravel country roads (where the 2nd death of the day occurred, this time a big black snake slithering across Quivira), because that’s where most of her driving experience comes from.

The highlight of the day was still ahead.
Back within city limits, they came upon an intersection that was in Jordan’s words, “confusing”.
There were police and a lot of people, but no sirens.
The police officer directed her to turn, almost like a detour.
A minute or so later, 2 horses came up on either side of them; they were clearly suspicious that all was not right.
Startled by a toy sounding horn, Jordie “honked back” at the tiny little car that weaved its way right in front of her.

Kip realized it first….
Somehow they were directed to participate in the Shriners Parade!!!
Maybe they thought there was a Beauty Queen in the hot yellow Stang!

Whatever the case…
She’s home, she’s safe, and there is no flesh missing.
I hope the same can be said for Kip!

Like Mother, Like Daughter....

Trust me on this...
No four words in the Enlish language make me cringe more, when being told a story about my daughter.

Jordan had the good fortune to be invited down to her buddy's lake house over the holiday weekend.
The name of this playground is "Lake of the Ozarks" and I was younger than Jordie when I started to go most every weekend with my friend and her family.
Even in 5th grade, it quickly became clear to me that this was a Party place.
Me likey!

So when Jordie got home, sunburned to the bone, she had a zillion stories to share with us.
They rode the ski boat, partied on the Pontoon boat, raced ski-doos and caught major air tubing behind the boats. Fun, fun, fun in the sun.

Just as I thought she was wrapping up her stories about the lake, she blammed me with one more story. One I was clearly not ready for!

"We went to a bar called Big Dick's and I shot a minnow Mom!"
"Shot a minnow?" I questioned while (seriously) envisioning them shooting a 22 caliber rifle into the lake at unsuspecting minnows.

"No Mom, I had a shot glass of sprite with a live minnow swimming around in it. I shot it up and swallowed it, and slammed the glass back down on the table letting out a big howl, just like you and Aunt Tc taught me to drink my medicine when I was little!"

"Oh my God"... is all I could say. "What did the people around you do?"

"Well as soon as I opened my mouth and stuck out my tongue, the crowd went wild! High five's were everywhere, it was awesome!"

Now I would like to state for the record UNEQUIVOCALLY, that I have never swallowed a live minnow. Or any other fish for that matter. A worm yes, one time....but that was under duress. Which quickly turned to undressed. Yes it's true... tequila makes your clothes fall off!

Jordie doing shots, slammin them down and firing up the crowd.
Somehow I'm oddly OK with that.

But the first time I see a worm in that shotglass... all bets are off!
This time it will be Daddy with the 22 caliber rifle.
And them won't be minnows he's shootin at!
Run Forrest, Run!!!

25 Reasons I Owe My Mother...

My friend Jeanie sent me this. She was a single Mom for a good portion of her kids upbringing and I used to chuckle when all she wanted for Mother’s Day was for her “Ex” to take the kids that day. I didn’t have kids of my own back then, and now that Mikey travels so much, I have a better understanding of her wish! Mike’s in Hawaii on “bidnez” for a couple of weeks… so my kids are up for grabs Sunday. Take a number!

1. My mother taught me: TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE .
'If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning.'

2. My mother taught me: RELIGION.
'You better pray that will come out of the carpet.'

3. My mother taught me: TIME TRAVEL.
'If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!'

4. My mother taught me: LOGIC.
'Because I said so, that's why!"

5. My mother taught me: MORE LOGIC.
'If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you're not going to the store with me.'

6. My mother taught me: FORESIGHT.
'Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident.'

7. My mother taught me: IRONY.
'Keep crying, and I'll give you something to cry about.'

8. My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS.
'Shut your mouth and eat your supper.'

9. My mother taught me: CONTORTIONISM.
'Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!'

10. My mother t aught me about STAMINA.
'You'll sit there until all that spinach is gone.'

11. My mother taught me: WEATHER .
'This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it.'

12. My mother taught me: HYPOCRISY.
'If I told you once, I've told you a million times. Don't exaggerate!'

13. My mother taught me: THE CIRCLE OF LIFE.
'I brought you into this world, and I can take you out.'

1 4. My mother taught me about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION.
'Stop acting like your father!'

15. My mother taught me: ENVY.
'There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don't have wonderful parents like you do.'

16. My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION.
'Just wait until we get home.'

17. My mother taught me: RECEIVING.
'You are going to get it when you get home!'

18. My mother taught me: MEDICAL SCIENCE.
'If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they are going to freeze that way.'

19. My mother taught me: ESP.
'Put your sweater on; don't you think I know when you are cold?'

20. My mother taught me: HUMOR.
'When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me.'

21. My mother taught me: HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT .
'If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up.'

22. My mother taught me: GENETICS.
'I swear you're just like your father.'

23. My mother taught me about my ROOTS.
'Shut that door behind you. Do you think you were born in a barn?'

24. My mother taught me: WISDOM:
'When you get to be my age, you'll understand.

'25. And my favorite: My MOTHER TAUGHT ME ABOUT JUSTICE:
'One day you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you!

Happy Mother's Day ladies... enjoy!