If she had the proper words to say,

I win! It's me!

In Gret's journal, that is. I am TEH WINNAR!

(Though I must admit that I never dreamed she'd actually count up responses, so I was quite surprised.)

Edited to add: And now there are virtual gifts on my profile from the lovely Gret! Wow-eee!

I owe kristchan pictures tonight, and that's foremost on my agenda. Eating? Pffft. Pictures, people!

A.J. was out of school today for a teacher in-service day, but Jack still had preschool. So A.J. went with me to drop Jack off, and then we went out to breakfast together. I get tons of time with just Jack, but not a lot of quality time with just A.J. Then he helped me run errands, and we were back home by 10am.

We've eaten lunch, and we're waiting on Kris to arrive with her daughters from South Dakota, and then we're all heading out to the zoo. It's been overcast all day, but not actually raining - I hope it holds out. Afterwards, we'll have dinner at Runza - chili season starts again today!

As I mentioned yesterday, we had plans to see rafferty for some bread-giving. He arrived around 3pm - right on time, and yet I still wasn't ready! I'd been planning to put my hair in a ponytail (I usually have it up, but just hadn't gotten around to it by then), and I was sitting at the computer trying to figure out how a random person had found my journal once again. I had music playing kinda loud, and I stood up to go in the kitchen for something, and I saw Herb standing in my living room! I'm not sure if the boys or Philip let him in, but I'd missed it. If nothing else, he's punctual. :-)

And we chatted from that point on. Any time the kids had a break in their own conversations with Herb, that is. He didn't leave until after midnight, so we had nine solid hours of getting-to-know-you time. Philip had to leave at 4:30pm for work, but we just kept on. He saw the exciting display of me cleaning out toy shelves and drawers, and he didn't run away! The boys took really well to him (of course, it's not like they're ever shy anyway) - especially Jack. They had him dueling with lightsabres in the living room and discussing all of their Star Wars toys. Jack wanted Herb to play nearly every board game we have, and he indulged him in quite a few. They played a tight game of checkers while I was cooking dinner, even.

As for dinner, I'd been using my oven for zucchini bread in the afternoon, and I hadn't been able to start the turkey dinner early enough, and I had to save it for another day. Since I was woefully unprepared for dinner, I made do with breakfast fare - pancakes, scrambled eggs, pineapple and grapes. Bless Herb, he didn't complain. (Then again, I didn't make him eat grapes, either...)

And speaking of grapes, I'd served us little glass cups of grapes and pineapple. Both boys ate their pineapple first (it was on top - I'm sure that was the motivation), and then used their fingers to pick up the small grapes. Jack was eating his enthusiastically, but A.J. was plodding through his grapes much more slowly than his pineapple earlier. Finally, he asked if he could give the rest of his grapes to Jack, seeing as how Jack was shoveling them in and wanted more. I agreed that it would be okay, and as A.J. was pouring his grapes into Jack's cup, Jack announced, "I'm a great lover!"

Herb and I caught eyes over our drinks and nearly snorted our beverages at the remark. When I asked Jack to repeat what he'd just said, he answered smartly, "I'm a GRAPE lover." Still, I think we're pretty sure that's NOT what he said the first time around.

As bedtime approached, Jack tried to convince Herb to sleep in his bed. He really wanted him to stay the night. However, Herb lives here in Omaha, so sleepovers aren't too practical. ;-)

Once the boys were asleep, we got to engage in more conversation, actually getting to hear one another without interruptions. He's an easy-going guy, easy to talk to - meaning that the first time I met him, when we saw Click together and went to IHOP for a snack - wasn't a fluke. And I like non-fluke friends. Heehee.

But now he really, truly knows the ins and outs, the nitty-gritty of my rainy Saturday kind of life. He knows firsthand how boring we really are, though I've sworn him to secrecy, and the rest of you shall never learn and shall continue to believe that we lead the snazzy lives of kings and queens. ;-D

I had a fabulous dream last night starring my good buddy bigbrain61. Wow.

(It was totally unexpected, too. What the heck did I eat last night?!)

Slowly, but surely.

Remember the icon meme I posted several days ago? I'm sure a lot of you are wondering if I'll EVER finish. I'm getting there, but I'm going at it much more slowly than I'd imagined - it seems there's just too much going on in the summer for me to sit at the computer for very long at a time!

However, I'm going to take a moment to showcase the few icons that I've finished:

For gilliannegarret, the fastest commenter EVER -

"Fireflies"

For welfy, based on a combination of 'Amish' and 'cute old couples' -

"Old Love"

For owensboro_hope, taken from her love of all things Indiana Jones -

"WTF?"
... as well as a more "G-rated" version:

"WTH?"

For redwink, the first to proclaim her love of the Oregon coast -

"Oregon, My Oregon"

For prairie_chica, one constantly in need of "the good stuff" -

"Orange Juice"

For thespis_mellie, who likes to boogie old-style -

"Swing"

For tylerbaby, the nicest "snob" I know -

"Sushi Snob"

For mostcurious, the fan of great French literature -

"Le Petit Prince"

For poetlady, who is both expecting and who loves Mr. Holland's Opus -

... of which I actually made three more versions, since she doesn't yet know the gender of her bundle of joy:


And that's all I've completed so far - 9 requests out of 32. I'm doing them in the order I received them, so if you're further down the list, please keep waiting for me! I'm tickled to death that most of the folks seem to love their icons - some even made my creation their new default - wow!

As to these icons, if there are any that you'd like to use as well, I'm all for sharing... but I also understand if the recipient of the icon would rather keep the "gift" for themself. If you would like to use a particular icon, please comment to the person it was MADE for - NOT me - and ask them for permission. However, please do be sure to credit me in your keywords* for the icon, okay? Thanks!

---

* If you're unsure how to credit icons, just copy & paste the following into the "Comments" section as you're uploading the icon:

&copy <lj user="navygreen">

My pal rafferty posted a meme yesterday in which, if I commented, he promised to make me a userpic from one of the interests listed in my userinfo. I thought, "What the heck? Why not?!"

This morning I woke up to my prize, and it's perfect! He combined TWO of my interests, AND he added humor! I love it! I would never have thought of it on my own, but it is so great!


"Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr.
Pepper. Even Hermione
gets lost in it."

Thanks so much, Herb! :-D

---

And now, my dear LJ friends, I will pass on the meme to you:

1) Comment and I'll pick one of your LJ interests and make you an icon.
2) You have no say in what I make.

Depending on how many folks decide to participate, I will not promise that all icons will be made today. Or tomorrow, even. But I will do my very best to get them all out within a week or so.

I spoke with soopageek about an hour ago, and he and welfy are headed here soon! They're coming in the loaner truck, and then we'll find something to keep ourselves busy in this glorious weather, I'm sure. I'm so excited to meet them, I'm practically bouncing up and down!

*bounces*

I'm really in the mood* to blow off today. Really. I'm not sure why, but I'm just feeling like it.

My next girly appointment is scheduled for 2:30pm on May 18th. Some will remember that I just saw the doctor for my girly check-up on Feb. 28th (after they forgot me in January, that is), but I have to go back for another swabbing. The results of this last exam brought me to my fourth consecutive "abnormal" pap smear, and that's got to be checked out. Again.

I'd reallyreallyreally like to be "normal." Are you there, God? It's me, Nicole, and I'd really like to be normal.

...

Philip bought a new toy today - his long-awaited X-Box 360. It comes with a controller, of course, but even so, the four controllers we had for the original X-Box are not compatible with it, so he also bought a second controller - a wireless one. I'm sure he will be playing with it all night, especially since it's his first night off (he's off Friday-Sunday this week). I'm planning on chatting a bit of the night away with a pal I'm missing, so at least I won't feel guilty that we're not spending this time together.

...

And in other news, Philip is now slated to go back to Iraq in March 2007. How's them apples, you ask? Pretty darn rotten, I'd say.**

---

* When I tried to type that word, I accidentally typed in 'moddo' first. Moddo? WTH? *shakes head*

** For any newbies to my friends' list, he just returned home October 6th last fall after being gone nine months to Iraq, having left in January.

Considering that I woke up expecting the day to be - more or less - a flop, it turned out amazingly well!

I woke up this morning to several messages on my machine from a florist. It seemed that there was a delivery that needed to be made to me and, "When would be a good time for that?"

Eeeee - yay!

I took a shower then, and as I popped out and was getting dressed and stuff, the phone rang. It was a surprise call from the lovely and soon-to-be-famous author Amber - she called to tell me that she just finished her first Draco/Hermione fanfic - wheeeeee! ( Maria, remember how I was *just* telling you last night that she was planning on writing one? Coincidence, I'd say!) Amber and I chatted for a bit about our regular random things, and she ended by wishing me a Happy Valentine's Day. It was so sweet of her to call. :-)

Next, my friend Janiece came by to borrow Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban for her and her daughter Kristen to watch. She brought both her daughter and her son David, one of Jack's classmates, so an impromptu playdate ensued. It was a fun time, but the kids were so sad to have to leave. :-(

(And I hear that she and Kristen really enjoyed the movie... hello? How could you *NOT*?! Heehee.)

The boys and I then went out for lunch. They chose McDonald's, but I had Runza. Mmmm, mini corn dogs. After that, we came home to wait on my 'delivery.'

My flowers arrived soon, and they are SO GORGEOUS! See?


Yellow roses from Philip.

Yellow roses have always been my favorite (hey, I'm from Texas, remember!), and Philip never fails me on getting the most beautiful ones I've ever seen. For a little comparison here, you can tell how HUGE this arrangement and the long-stem roses are by realizing that the candle off to the side is a 3-wick candle!

( More rose pictures )

Once the flowers arrived, I took the boys outside to play. Today was absolutely perfect weather - sunny, bright, not windy, not too wet, etc. We had to take advantage. The boys drew lots of chalk pictures on the driveway first:


The boys draw with chalk on the driveway.

( More chalk pictures )

Once they tired of chalk, the boys switched to a new game that A.J. calls 'Near & Far.' Personally, I think it would better be known as 'Yell at Each Other From Across the Yard and Then Quickly Switch Places to Yell At Each Other Some More.' One would stand by our tree, and the other would stand waaaaaaaaayyyy over by our mailbox.


A.J. playing 'Near & Far.'

( Do you even need to guess? More 'Near & Far' pictures behind this cut! )

After their 'game' was over, Jack decided that he'd like to touch Daddy's ribbon on the tree. He was a bit short by himself, but A.J. was more than happy to try and assist him:


A.J. tries his hardest to lift Jack up to touch the ribbon on the tree.

Finally, finally... it was time to come in. It started getting dark on us, and Heather had arrived so that I could give her a Valentine present. (She drove over 'Smooth Cat,' by the way.)


Valentine Day sunset.

Heather stayed for just a short while, and after she left, I called Maria to tell her that her own gift was ready. About 4 minutes later, the doorbell rang. I couldn't figure out why the heck Maria didn't just come on in like she normally does, but I went to the door anyway. A gorgeous chick in a black dress and all dolled up was standing next to Maria with a basket of yellow carnations. Seeing as how I'd already received the delivery from Philip (and plus I'd never seen a delivery person look so good before!), I at first thought that the person must have the wrong house.

(Maria's just standing off to the side, giving the gal a 'who-the-heck-are-you' look, while at the same time giving me a 'what-the-heck-is-going-on-here' look.)

I tentatively opened the door, thinking that I at least needed to let Maria in and tell the one chick that she probably had the wrong address. No sooner did I push the screen door open though, when the gal burst out in a bubbly voice, "This is a special delivery for you from Northeast Nebraska!"

I paused for just a second... *smacks head*

"Oh my gosh, Gretchen! What a surprise! Oh my gosh! Come in, come in!"

It was SUCH an amazing surprise! She came all the way from Newcastle, Nebraska and she brought me flowers! She and her friend were all dressed up to go to a concert tonight, but she'd planned this little surprise all along! They even spent an hour being lost in and around the base trying to find me! I was so amazed and so happy to finally meet her, and to meet her in such a BIG way!

Of course, we had to take a picture to prove she was really here. And of course, I had not done anything to make myself lovely today (because I certainly wasn't expecting anything like this!) And naturally, I got to pose next to the drop-dead gorgeous Gret... :-P


Gretchen and Me!

( And my flowers, of course... )

It was such a surprise! (I keep saying that, don't I?) I only wish we'd had more time to visit!

After Gretchen and her friend left, Maria and I chatted for a bit while A.J. finished up some last-minute homework for tomorrow. Jack fell asleep on the couch before dinner even, so I just transferred him to his bed, and he barely even stirred. I talked to my mom for a long while tonight, thanking her for all of her Valentine goodies throughout the past few days. I also got to talk with Philip for a bit - he called to wish me a Happy Valentine's and to make sure that the flowers had been delivered okay.

Edited to add: Oh, and today's mail brought me another surprise Valentine - this one was from the awesome 'Beanpop' Karen! I'd forgotten you said you were going to send one, so I got another lovely surprise! :-D

A very lovely day indeed. :-)