Bring it on, Edouard!

It appears that we are in the path of a Tropical Storm, possibly strengthening to a category 1 hurricane by the time it makes landfall tomorrow morning. I'm ashamed to admit this, but I'm excited. No, I don’t want anyone to die or for the storm to severely damage or flood anyone’s property, but I do admit that I like storms. My friend, Kelli, and I are always excited when we find out we may be getting bad weather, especially TS or hurricane type weather. I guess that makes us twisted individuals or something. I have a friend in Corpus that is the same way and we usually fight over whose turn it is to get a storm. (Houston/Galveston or Corpus Christi/Padre). It’s usually just us wanting a day or two off from work! Since I'm off for the summer that really doesn’t apply now, but I'm still excited so I guess I really am twisted.

I was in junior high in 1983 when Hurricane Alicia hit. I remember the heavy winds and stormy weather very well. It was exciting and scary. We lost power and ended up all playing games and huddling together waiting on it to blow over. We were without power for almost two weeks afterward and had to stay with my grandparents. Being without A/C in Houston (especially in August) is never fun.

In 2005, when Hurricane Rita was churning in the Gulf, the city personnel and media had the entire state of south Texas in a panic. Evacuations were mandatory in most places, voluntary in others. They were preparing us for storm surges and major flooding. People panicked and the majority of the population in the area decided it would be safer to evacuate, mandatory or not. Most people began leaving their homes two days before the storm was scheduled to hit land. She was going to be a category 5 and people were terrified.

It was a big deal and the city was basically shutting down. I didn’t get off work in time to leave with my family and my husband was required to stay for his job. Once my parents and siblings had left and were already on the road, I really didn’t want to take a road trip with the kids and dogs all alone. I ended up waiting around before deciding what to do before what I was seeing on the news helped make the decision for me. All roads and freeways leading out of town were like parking lots. It was complete chaos. People were running out of gas on the feeder roads, driving the wrong way on the freeways trying to get off and find somewhere to get food and gas, getting sick from the heat, running our of food and water in their vehicles, etc. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing on the news and wanted no part of it.

It took my family, who were all driving in a caravan with a travel trailer and RV over 24 hours to get to my grandma’s house, which is typically a 3.5-hour drive. It was a nightmare.

The kids were upset with us for deciding that we would stay here. They wanted to be with their cousins on what they thought would be an awesome and exciting road trip/adventure. Plus, they thought we were basically setting them up for sure death. I saw the news and was in constant communication with my family. I knew it was no adventure that I wanted any part of. Funny note: (sorry, Mom) my mom actually had to squat in a parking lot to go potty. There was no other option for her at the time. That was huge and probably a first for her. I was so proud! I never knew she had it in her.

We were prepared to go to work (the police station) with my husband if things got too bad here. The building is old and tough and safer than our modest home. I took all of our pictures and home videos and stacked them up high in the house in case of flooding and we waited for the storm of the century.

The city was like a ghost town. Stores were closed. Roads were totally clear of other cars. I think we were the only people on our street that stayed. Our entire neighborhood seemed deserted and we seemed to be the only people left for miles. All of our friends and family had left. After two days of complete boredom, constantly watching the chaos of the evacuations on the news and the anticipation of what we had in store, we decided to go for a drive to get the kids out of the house.

It was so cool. We were the only car on the entire freeway. We drove for miles before seeing anyone else on the road. We drove to Kemah, which is usually packed with people on the Boardwalk and surrounding restaurants. There wasn’t a soul in sight.

On our way home we actually passed an open convenience store and everyone got so excited. We stopped, mostly to stock up on junk food, but I think we wanted and needed to see other people. At that point, we were feeling pretty alone. There were a few people inside. I remember meeting one couple that had stayed to keep an eye on their restaurant. We told the kids to get whatever they wanted. We were sick of them whining about the fact that we were the only people who stayed and how we should’ve gone, too. Believe me, the people who did leave went through hell trying to get out of town and I did us all a huge favor by not joining everyone else. We spent $60 on junk food before heading back home and that shut them up for a while.

In the end, the storm took a turn east more towards Louisiana making landfall as a category 3 and all we got was some heavy rain and winds. There were some branches down in the yard, but the storm barely even woke me up. I slept in the living room with the kids and when I heard the wind I got up and checked things out but then fell right back to sleep.

I was asked to drive by some houses after the storm to evaluate any damage, since most people were stuck out of town for a few days waiting to get back home and were anxious to know what, if any, damage they were coming home to. Fortunately, no one had extensive damage, mostly just fallen branches and limbs.

The city has since worked on improving emergency evacuation routes but I don’t think most people have much faith in the system. For the most part, the next time we are encouraged to leave, I seriously doubt that most people will go willingly after their hellish experiences in 2005. It'll be like crying wolf, in my opinion. No one will ever believe the big one is actually coming.

As far as this latest storm goes, it doesn't sound too scary. I have candles on hand (always do) but don't anticipate needing them. Cassidy and Caden are at their Grandma’s and we’ve opted to leave them there. She lives farther from the coast than we do in a house made of cinder block. (That house isn’t going anywhere). I’m sure she’ll try to coax me into coming over, too, but I’ll just stay here with the dogs. I’m trying to persuade Lauren into staying the night here just because I'll feel better if she is with us. As a precaution, most people are off from work tomorrow so maybe I’ll have a few friends over tonight for a hurricane party! Of course I hope and pray that no one is injured or loses their homes and/or businesses. Really, all we ever want is just some heavy rain and a day (or two) off from work. Is that asking too much?

Here are some before (the calm before the storm) and after photos from Rita, in no particular order. (Notice the looks of sheer displeasure on the kids faces).

And This Years Award Goes To.........

We went to Incredible Pizza tonight and most definitely got our moneys worth from our visit. We had two coupons for one free adult and child dinner, plus a $10 token card that expires Thursday and we didn’t want those to go to waste. We all ate and played for free. We actually have two more left but I seriously doubt we’ll use them before Thursday. That just might be too much pizza and fun for one week. Although, it would be another free dinner and I’m all about not cooking whenever I can get away with it.

We all bowled and played miniature golf. The kids rode go-carts and bumper cars before we left for the movies. This is where I earn myself yet another nomination for Mother of the Year. I know, I really should let some of you other mother’s out there have a fair shot at this nomination and award, but I just keep going that extra mile.

We’re all big Will Ferrell fans in this house and were dying to see Step Brothers since we saw the previews. I just didn’t know that it was rated R until after we bought our tickets and were actually walking into the theatre. Cassidy brought it to my attention. We really do have a PG 13 policy. There are exceptions, (like allowing Cassidy to see Strangers, which was rated R for violence and language) but for the most part, they aren’t allowed to watch rated R movies.

So, there I was, faced with the realization that I wasn’t expecting. I had screwed up by assuming it was PG 13. I cringed and hesitated before finally going on into the theatre and hoping it wouldn’t be that bad. I guess you could call that wishful thinking.
We covered their eyes twice (in between bouts of our own hysterical laughter).

It was somewhat awkward sitting there laughing hysterically and grimacing at the same time. At one point I actually asked Les if we should just get up and leave and we both gave it some serious thought before agreeing that they’ve probably heard it all before (and maybe even worse) at school. I mean my first rated R movie was Young Lady Cha*terly, which made this look like a G rated Disney film (and I was younger than Caden when I saw it late at night on cable TV)!

As we were leaving the lights were still off and Les whispered to me, “Let’s get out of here quick before someone sees that we have our kids with us”. Then we walked shamefully to the car.

We're Back! (In One Piece)

We pulled into the driveway last night (ummm, or this morning) at 3am. Ahhhh, home sweet home. We decided we couldn't miss the fish and shrimp fry so we stuck around for dinner and got a late start back home. We were technically paid to stay through Sunday but always prefer having a full day of recovery before going back to work, so we didn't care what time we got home as long as we woke up in our bed today. (which by the way, was after 1pm) Of course, this is my first year to not have to return to work tomorrow since I'm off for the summer but Les has my deepest sympathy.

In spite of it raining the first three days we were there, we still had a blast and were actually wishing we had stayed the full two weeks. I'm actually leaning towards going back with Lauren and her friend tomorrow for a few more days. It's a five hour drive but worth it.

Highlights (and non-highlights) of the trip:

Having Lauren ride to and from with us for the first time in about five years. It was nice to have her stuck in the car with us again for a change.

Les and I being stuck in the tent in the rain for hours at a time on and off for the first three days then realizing we'd forgotten to even pack a deck of cards. At least we had vodka, 7 Up and our excellent personalities to keep us from shooting ourselves.

Repeatedly sweeping our picnic area off and hosing down the dirt from our outside camping stuff after each downpour, only to have another round of rain come through a few hours later making everything dirty and nasty again.

Going out into the rain about 100 times to move the dogs from their chains to the tree to inside of our utility trailer to keep them dry. Fun? Not so much.

Taking the kids Geocaching in the rain. That was really cool. If you haven't heard of Geocaching before, it's basically like a scavenger hunt for something that you use a GPS to locate. People from all over the world participate and post the coordinates of things they have hidden on a website. Les had written down all of the ones located in the park prior to our trip so we decided to go even though it was raining. You have to use a GPS to locate it. We were basically hiking through the hills and trails trying to find the hidden object. Other than the fact that I forgot my tennis shoes (among other things) and got two huge blisters on my feet from wearing my water sandals, it was awesome and the kids loved it. The rain made it more adventurous.

Staying up with some people in our group late into the night laughing and sharing our greatest poop stories of all times. I laughed so hard my stomach and face hurt. A few of those stories might make it to the blog one day (with identities protected, of course).

Losing track of the day of the week and having someone else remind us that it was our 21st wedding anniversary. Hey, at least we BOTH forgot!

Sitting down at the picnic table and being stung where the sun don't shine by a bee. I ran into the tent screaming and jumped onto the bed sitting up on all fours asking Les to make sure the stinger wasn't still in. It wasn't, but it hurt like hell for 20 minutes. At least he finally quit telling me that the bees weren't going to hurt me anymore. LIAR! I knew there was a good reason to be scared of them. They hovered over the kids empty Coke cans all week. Those sneaky and unwelcome bastards!

Making it through the entire trip without a single episode of family drama!(Or at least any major drama!) Record books! Note: This could be a result of the fact that our site was located a good distance from camp central, so we had more of our own personal space than usual.

Sleeping in a tent while it rained. Now that's a relaxing and peaceful sound.

Not having to use the park showers one single time, thanks to our new handy dandy camping shower that TOTALLY rocks. (see below) Note: Sold at Academy for $40 and worth every cent!

Having great mother daughter bonding time with Lauren for an entire day of just the two of us relaxing in the water for about five plus hours. We got so burned! Turns out she loves sitting in a chair in the water for hours on end as much as I do. (as long as the cooler is nearby) Who knew? Oh, and among other things she shared or confessed to me, she told me all about the times she used to sneak out of the house during her junior and senior years. What am I supposed to do now except laugh? It's not like I can ground her now. I was actually so shocked that I couldn't stop laughing! OMG! I was the master at that age but had no idea that she had ever pulled it off. She even used the pillows in the bed trick. Whatever, I invented that! I threatened her with her life that she better not ever tell Cassidy her tricks.

Having to use wet wipes to clean my feet every night before climbing into bed to wipe the dirt off of them. You just gotta love camping!

Washing dishes after the guys have cooked for like 40 plus people, not so fun.

Our tent totally rocked and withstood the rain very well. It was big enough for our bed, two chairs and the tons of tubs containing all of of our "stuff". Plus, we could easily walk around and had plenty of open space. Everyone made fun of us for bringing two TV trays to use for our night stands. These would be the same people who are living it up in their travel trailers! We have an air mattress on a stand so it's pretty cool that it doesn't sit on the floor. Oh, and did I mention that we also take a portable air conditioner every year that keeps us from dying in the Texas heat? We're usually freezing in the mornings. (see below) Does that make us real redneck campers? Please, don't answer that.

I actually had so much fun that there's a good chance I'll be going back for a few more days with Lauren and her friend for the rest of this week. She came home with us to ride back up tomorrow with her friend (and to see her boyfriend for a few days) before returning for the rest of the week. Caden decided not to stay for week 2 but if I end up going back tomorrow, he's going back with us.

It felt good to sleep in my own bed and to actually have and keep clean feet after a long, hot BATH, but I would love a few more days of the river and some quality time with the friends and family.

These are the pictures I took with my phone, I've been way too tired and lazy today to bother loading the pictures from the cameras. Did I mention I slept almost all day? Cut me some slack on run-on sentences, spelling or grammatical errors.......I'm still recovering. I have two huge trash bags of laundry to do and 2,000 tubs to unpack but haven't so much as lifted a finger all day. Sigh. However, Caden and I are catching up on all of the shows he DVR'd while we were gone.

Here's a little taste of our week.

Lauren and Caden used this tent. (mostly Caden) Lauren had her stuff in it but for the most part she floated from trailer to trailer (and earned quite a reputation for making her rounds through the park! Ha! Of course, they were people in our group!) Cassidy visited us but she and her friend had their own bunks in MeMe and PawPaw's trailer.


"The shower"


The good 'ol A/C. See it down there on the right?


Our site.


The master tent that totally rocked. It's new and pretty roomy.


Oh, the view and just a short walk away from our site. Also where I spent the majority of my time RELAXING in my chair.







The dogs haven't moved since we got home.

Dreams Really Do Come True

I have been holding back on some major news from our household because I wanted to make sure that Lauren had the opportunity to share her latest (and greatest) accomplishment with the family herself before they read it on my blog.

Lauren has been accepted to


and will be leaving for College Station in August.

She has wanted to be an Aggie since, well, I can't remember exactly how long, but it's been a long, long time. Her room was covered with Aggie logos and all kinds of Aggie stuff. My laundry hamper was always filled with assortments of A&M clothing (shirts, sweats, hoodies, shorts, etc. Don't even ask me to count the Aggie hats located in this house!)

We are so FREAKING proud of her and ECSTATIC that her biggest dream in life is finally coming true.

Hey, world! I'm an Aggie mom and DAMN proud of it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gig 'em, Lauren!!!!!!!!!!!!

We love you!

P.S. Speaking of Aggies..........Hi Trey! Looks like we'll be seeing you soon, when we're hauling that truck load of furniture up that way.

Garner 2008 Here We Come

It's almost time for the annual camping trip to Garner State Park. Ask any kid in the group going, and they'd choose GSP over a trip to Disney World or anywhere else any day. Their My Space pages all have count downs showing how many days left until they leave for their trip. The kids live for this vacation.

GSP scenic photos from the park website

I'm not quite sure how many families are in the group now. It grows larger every year. Once a kid hits age 13 or 14, they typically bring a friend. That just makes for a growing group picture in front of the tree. (see below)

Days typically consist of river floating or "river sitting". Personally, river sitting is my favorite thing to do. All we have to do is load the cooler, the floats, chairs and dogs, then walk down the hill to the water for a day of NOTHING but sun.

Dinner is never anything less than delicious. We eat like kings. We all live for Uncle Danny's famous fajitas. The fish and shrimp fry is a close second. Breakfast is pretty hearty, too. My kids have pop-tart and cereal withdrawals the first few days. They don't know what to think of getting pancakes and eggs everyday. There's usually no need for lunch as everyone is pretty much stuffed for the rest of the day. (Don't even get me started on how many dishes must be washed after each meal, and that is with using paper plates and cups!)

On a typical day the older kids head to rock beach for swimming and cruise around the park in their pick up trucks. Frisbee football at the pavilion seems to be a highlight of the trip for them, too. They also like to spend a day hiking and going up to the caves to explore.

Rainy days consist of kids piling into the trailers to play Play Station or X-Box. Hey, we come prepared. The adults take turns pushing the collected water off of the top of the big canopy. We don't want it to collapse like it did the year of the flood. Or, they might go into town to do a few loads of laundry and stock up on more eggs and milk.

The annual Garner trip is two weeks long. Some families (like us) only stay for one of the weeks so we pretty much have a steady flow of people coming and going at all times, but the two week die hard campers are there for the long haul. My kids refuse to leave with us so they get pawned off on the family for the additional week. (My sister, brother and parents are die-hards).

Ok,.......truth be told, I love my family very much, but I can't do the full two weeks because by the end of one week I'm already on the verge of hurting someone, or they're on the verge of hurting me. Either way, one week is all I can handle. And I KNOW it's mutual. I could blog about the negative aspects of the trip but I won't! By the way, I'm needing some Valium for the trip if anyone has any to spare. Everyone would benefit if I actually had some. Ha! (Don't get mad, mom. You know I speak the truth.) We mutually drive each other crazy, along with a few other people I shall refrain from naming. In the end, the trip is always fun, minus a few mishaps or misunderstandings resulting from all that sweating in the hot sun and so much togetherness.

The dance is fun for all. People line up their chairs to watch all evening. They're as young as two and as old as eighty out there on the floor. It's also like a reunion of sorts. We run into all kinds of people we grew up with that are staying elsewhere in the park.

Every night after the dance everyone gathers at camp central (my brother and sister's combined camp where all of the essentials are kept, and where eating and socializing takes place) for dessert. The women talk, the kids hang out and the men start up an all night game of washers.

Last year our group of kids decided to have a few theme nights at the dance. (Drag night, Toga night and boxer night. See below.) Bahahahahahaha!

We still do the tent thing. We're one of the few families in the group without a trailer. We have considered renting one but I don't so much mind the tent factor, unless it rains(and rains, and rains). We have an A/C unit in it. How cool is that? We also have a porta-potty for those 4am full bladder wake ups and a really cool tent shower. And the air mattress is pretty comfy.

We'll be leaving this weekend so we've been busy trying to gather up all of the camping gear from the storage room and condensing it into a spot in the garage. I had to take the kids shopping to make sure they had cool clothes for the dance. If it wasn't for the dance they could get away with just packing swimsuits!

Did I mention we have a busy week of packing ahead of us?


Garner 2007. The group at the dance.




See me dad's eyes below? This is his typical expression just prior to dozing off in the chair. You can usually find him swatting flies all day at the camp or dozing off somewhere!



Even with the sometimes crappy phone service up in the hills, the kids can still manage to find a spot to chat on their phones.



Drag night.





Boxer night.







Typical night after the dance.





At the dance.



Guess she couldn't find a gossip magazine. (I usually stock up for the trip)

Mother Nature

This is what we saw from the car tonight on Beltway 8, along with an awesome lightning show. Spooky!

Why a Girl Always Needs Her Mother

Cassidy brings me her phone, as mine was tucked away somewhere in my purse. (I’m so bad about that. That, and leaving it on vibrate all of the time)

Cassidy: Lauren wants to talk to you.
Me: Hello?
Lauren: Mom?
Me: Yes?
Lauren: (in very high-pitched, little girl, whiny voice) I’ve got 102.5. It won’t go away. I’m freezing. My stomach hurts and I just want to take a hot bath but I’m so weak I can’t get up. What should I do?
Me: Have you eaten? Have you taken anything for your fever?
Lauren: No, nothing sounds good. Yes, I took my antibiotic.
Me: Lauren, an antibiotic won’t help your fever. You need Tylenol or Ibuprofen or something.
Lauren: Oh.
Me: Do you have any?
Lauren: Yes.
Me: Okay, get up right now and take some. It’ll take about 30 minutes but it should help with your aches and fever.
Lauren: Okay.
Me: I’m making Mexican Lasagna for dinner if you want some.
Lauren: Ewww, no, nothing sounds good to me.
Me: You need some soup.
Lauren: Okay, we have soup.
Me: Okay, try to eat some soup and you can always come stay here if you feel that bad. Go take something right now.
Lauren: Okay, thanks.

Two hours later her dad delivers her potato soup and bread from Panera. She is feeling amazingly better. Go figure. You gotta love Ibuprofen.

This is yet another reason why I have anxiety about the twenty-year-old leaving home to live on her own, and going on a train trip next week traveling to Canada with two of her friends of the same age. Yikes!

I admit she has actually been doing very well at her new place. I just can’t figure out where she was all those years when I was shoving pills down her throat for her signature high fevers and they were not antibiotics. Maybe she was delirious.

Nawen, I love you. Get well soon so you can enjoy your trip. I don't want to have to worry about you being so far from home and being SICK.

T-R-O-U-B-L-E

Lauren's roommate, Ashley, has provided us with a good laugh. In Travis Tritt's song, T-R-O-U-B-L-E, she thought he was actually saying "I spill tea all over you Billy". Oh, that totally cracks me up.

I told her about my bag to make her feel better.

Song

Song Lyrics

My Daughter, The Queen of Pranks

If you haven’t seen Strangers you might want to skip this post. I’m not going to give it away, but there will be some references to the movie here.

I took Cassidy to see Strangers Saturday night. I don’t typically let the kids watch rated R movies unless I have a rundown on exactly what is inappropriate. I was told there were no illicit s*x scenes, just violence, (ha) so I figured why not. She was dying to see it so we went.

I was under the impression that it was based on a true story but the ending left me wondering. According to my internet searches, it doesn’t appear to be true, but I'm still not certain.

I had mixed feelings about the movie. The acting was good. The fear factor was pretty intense. As I already mentioned, I wasn’t all that happy with the ending but if you’re just looking for a flick to get your adrenaline going, I’d say it will do the trick.

This isn’t supposed to be a movie review, but I had to give the background story to prep you for this.

I left the kids home alone last night while I ran to Wal-Mart. It was after 9pm when I left and within half an hour of my departure they were already texting me about picking up shakes from Sonic on my way home.

I pulled into the driveway at the same time as my husband who was returning home from an extra job he had worked. As soon as he unlocked the door I knew something was “up”. The house was completely dark. Red flag, red flag! I wasn’t worried because they had been stalking me via text wanting an ETA on their shakes, so I knew they were up to something and not victims of any horrendous crime.

He flipped on the light and the first thing I saw was a small mirror lying on the floor that read, “Where’s Tamara?” in red lipstick. (That was from the movie) I smiled and told him to hurry up and turn the lights back off. We walked around in the dark and found no indication of any hiding children so he let the dogs into the house to help sniff them out.

In the meantime, I had to go pee because I was getting that “I’m so scared I might pee in my pants feeling” from walking through the house in the dark wondering when a kid was going to jump out and scream boo. So, after my brief pit stop I walked towards the bedroom where Les had flipped on our bathroom light.

Just as I was walking down the hallway, Caden came running out of our room claiming his innocence. That’s when I heard the music playing. (Also just like in the movie) Ha! It was Merle Haggard’s “Mama Tried”. This song played over and over during the scary parts of the movie. There was still no sign of Cassidy so I went into our bathroom and just as I did she jumped out from behind the shower curtain and screamed. She was dressed in all black and wearing a mask that she had made identical to the one the guy in the movie wore, and my bathroom mirror was covered with messages written in red lipstick. (Again, just like in the movie).

First of all, I wasn’t expecting the kids to be in the back of the house hiding. They’re way too scared for that. (Or so I thought) Jaxon had pretty much outed Caden, who was hiding in the closet, so he just gave up and came out. Cassidy was just waiting for someone to find her so she could jump out. We sort of blew her plan by turning on the bathroom light and the laptop messed up delaying the start of the song but overall, her little prank went over pretty well and she most definitely gets an A for her effort. I probably would've been more spooked if I had been walking through the house in the dark all alone. Good thing we both arrived home at the same time.

Let me add that before I left for Wal-Mart she had already scared me causing me to scream VERY loudly. It was one of those unexpected jump out from behind a door scares that I hate so much, unless I'm the one behind the door. Trust me when I say that she has a big pay back coming and she so needs to be watching her back. When she least expects it, I will make my move. I don’t care if it takes all summer for me to get her back. I will do it and it will be good.
Bahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!

Check out her creativity.

Guys and Dolls

Here are some shots of Caden in the school musical last week. He had a few parts and did a great job. (and I'm not just saying that because I'm his mom!)

The Carri Rant

The spelling of my first name is somewhat unusual. I'm sure there are others out there, but I haven’t come across anyone with the same spelling before. (Except for a niece on my husband's side and they purposely spelled her name like mine when she was born so that doesn't count).

Over the years I have grown used to it being spelled incorrectly. I’m actually surprised when I do see it spelled correctly. People typically add an E to it, which is usually no big deal. It only bothers me if it’s misspelled on something important or official.

My husband was actually the first one to ever complain about it a few years ago when we ordered new checks from our bank and they came in with a big E on the end of my name. He wanted to know why people always think I forgot to add an E to the end of my own name and then kindly add it on for me. He did have a good point that I’d never really thought about before. It's not like I had called in the checkbook order and they'd gotten it wrong over the phone. I had actually filled out one of those reorder forms and it was written in black and white right in front of them, but again, someone thought I forgot my own E and kindly added it for me. Since the check incident I tend to notice it more often now.

When I started my new job I filled out mounds of paperwork and printed my name nice and neatly. Whenever they set up my email, log in information, etc. I was Carrie on everything. I really hated to be petty and contact the IT department but I couldn't stand it so I did and they changed it. The only thing I let slide was my user name on one of the systems I have access to. It just wasn't worth the hassle of contacting someone to correct it, so I'm still logging in as Carrie on one thing at work.

I haven't met that many other Carri's before, so I found it a little odd when Cassidy had two friends over last night and both of their mom's are also named Carri (or Keri and Kerri). For some reason, every time I have met another Carri, the spelling of our names is always discussed, almost immediately upon introduction. It's almost like some unspoken rule or standard Carri protocol thing. Maybe people are always throwing E’s around for them, too.

Oh, and Cassidy is sometimes known as Cassi. Maybe I just have a thing against E’s.