Andie is back in the hospital.  I'm not sure what exactly is going on.  One message from Matt said she'd be there until T is born any day now-I guess they have her on all kind of medication.  I don't know when they went to the hospital or really what is going on.  I have everything set up so I can be out the door in 10 minutes.  I want to call him but I'm sure a lot is happening right now.

Okay-here is a place where I can be perfectly honest. Yes, it did cross my mind that the shower may not happen on Sunday. I may be getting ready to be a grandma, but I am only human.....at times.

I've got a feeling it will be a long night.  My phone is permanently attached to my left hand until Tristan is born I guess.

I have a 30 minute window with no interruptions (I hope!), so quick post.

Darn shower is looming over my head.  Wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't at the McMansion.  I became a mom there for the 2nd time, that was the last place my mom was for a month before she was taken to a hospice and died, my marriage painfully ended there,  2 years later I met someone and fell in love, and then I moved here.  In a nutshell, way too many memories there.  So I'm handling it in my own special way.

I was telling a friend Sunday that my fashion rule is to look like I'm expected to at my ripe young age of 54 and then add 25% on top of that for my own personal signature.  My 25% for Sunday?  Got my nails done (conservative french manicure).  However....my toes are golden with a light coat of glitter guaranteed to sparkle in the sun when wearing my new sandals on Sunday.  Hey, a girl has to have a little fun.

San Diego made the national morning show that I watch this morning.  8:55pm-slow far off rumble that became louder and Louder, and LOUDER followed by massive boom.  Sam was gone.  I went out front and back-nothing.  Back in the house to calm down 4 very upset cats/dog.  I thought a plane had gone down somewhere nearby.  Nothing on the Internet.  Went to bed planning to solve the mystery in the morning.  20 minute massive fireworks show that 500,000 people came out to the coast to see at 9pm malfunctioned.  Started at 8:55 and lasted all of 15 seconds with ALL the fireworks going off at once.

At least it wasn't a plane going down, so all is good.  Except for the pissed off 500,000 people who got a 15 second show instead of 20 minutes.  Guess its on youTube now.

Tristan is still where he needs to be.  I'm caught up enough around here that I'm good to take off at any moment.  I still need to get his blanket done, but this time of year I can't imagine the boy needing a crocheted blanket to stay warm, and its only going to get warmer over the next couple of months.  I'm making a bigger sized one that will cover him nicely in his crib.

Gotta run, well-move carefully.  Still having back pain and popping Motrin.  But my plan is to get everything done by 3pm for "The Mentalist" marathon.  Neko is at the vets and can't come home until she pees so they can check her urine.  But other than that, its house stuff with Sam being my assistant for the day doing any lifting that I need done.  

If I were the rock star that he is, I guess he'd be considered my roadie.

Experiment to see if I can post pics taken with my life support device, I mean iPhone.First try not successful.

*edit*

Going to try again...struck out again.

My back was feeling pretty good yesterday. And then I had to take Neko to the vet.  Done in by an 11lb cat in a cat carrier.  Now if I wasn't me, I'd spend the day on the couch with my heat pack resting.  But I'm me.  I'm still going to go see "Brave" and "The Avengers" this morning.  However, I won't do any housework and will have Sam take out the trash.  And I'll be on my couch for a solid 2 hours this afternoon watching "Independence Day".  A couple of long hot showers should help, too.  Atleast in my head it is.

Once again I never heard from Andie's mom about going shopping to get stuff for the shower last night.  She did the same thing on Sunday when I thought we were going.  I called her Monday and she said she got busy but we'd go last night.  If she can't make it, I just wish she'd call me or text me to let me know.  At this point, I'll show up Sunday at 11am (shower starts at 2pm) and help with whatever needs to be done.  Or watch the caterers set everything up.  I honestly don't know how this is going to work.

I got up around 4am to bond with my Motrin bottle.  Found a magazine open on the breakfast bar.  Life in this house revolves around the breakfast bar-its the hub of the household.  Gifts, messages, and whatever is left there by all who reside here.  Anyway, I hadn't had my first cup of tea yet so I'm looking at this thing, trying to figure out what I'm looking out.  Then I had the lightblulb-over-the-head moment.  But it came slowly.

"That guy in that picture looks familiar.  And so does that other guy in that other picture, too."

Wait for it, wait for it...."THAT'S SAM AND THE BAND!!!"

Its a motorcycle magazine published only in California.  But it was an article about a huge ride in May for the Armed Forces.  The guy who started the band also builds motorcycles, so the band does a lot of events for rides.  One picture showed the band all together and the other showed Sam playing on stage.  He had told me he thought there was about 1,000 people there.  According to the article, there were 2,000 people at the after party-the biggest crowd he's played for so far!

My son, the rockstar!  And his mother couldn't be more proud.

Another night with no phone call or text from Mandie, so Tristan is still waiting for just the right day to make his appearance.  When Matt was here yesterday, he told me he honestly has no idea where they are going to put all the baby stuff in the apartment.  Its a really small one bedroom.  I told him they can store whatever they need to here.  I just keep thinking to myself, 80+ shower gifts.  And then more gifts when Tristan is baptized.  I've been told there will probably be 150 to 200 people there for that.  I'm getting a crash course in the Portugese culture here!

I have to say its wonderful getting up in the morning and not feeling like I can't make noise.  Sam's bedroom is in the back part of the house, next to mine, so he can't hear me puttering around in the kitchen making tea, etc.  The washer/dryer is in the room next to the kitchen that Mandie was living in.  It used to be a garage, but was turned into a really nice, large room.  I started laundry yesterday morning at 7am and got 4 loads done by 11am.  Sam and I are definitely enjoying having our house back.  No more yelling-except for us and we do it for fun-no more door slamming in the middle of the night.  No more piles of camera equipment stacked in the diningroom for me to climb over and around.  I still have one whole shelf in the fridge devoted to film (Matt shoots both digital and film), but that should be gone by the weekend.  I know it will take a couple of weeks to get the house back in order.  But it sure is nice have the pets outnumber the people living here again!

Dear Tristan, if you choose to buy into the cliche of "but you get to have fireworks every year for your birthday" thing, I'm okay with that.  But "Brave" starts at 10am and I really want to see it even though I've been told I may cry.  Since this will be my third time of seeing "The Avengers", I'm okay with missing that.  But I sure would love to see Chris Hemsworth as Thor again-he's so pretty to look at!  When you are older, you will understand Grandma needs her eye candy.  And you will look at me and do that head-down-shaking-your-head-at-me thing your dad and uncle do oh so well.  I hope you realize that, after Sunday, you will have more stuff than your mom and dad combined where you are going to live.  And a little part of me finds that sort of funny.  Yes, Grandma has a very warped sense of humor.  But I am loads of fun so it all balances out in the long run.  See you soon!  Love Grandma

I just looked at the clock and went EEEEK!  Seriously I did and it freaked the cats out.  Another hundred-mile-an-hour day.  Matt has been in and out moving stuff to the apartment.  I told him I really wouldn't mind if Andie went into labor in the next 24 hours-I could use some time sitting on my butt reading my Hollywood Reporter magazine in one hand and iPhone in the other for about 10 hours or so.

Bits and pieces-Sam and I went to Mandie's for her birthday last night.  She loved the necklace I got her.  She seems happier now they have their own place and we are getting along better.  They have a huge livingroom window that I could see all the Sea World fireworks from which was cool.  She was telling me all the gifts (crib, stroller, car seat-the big stuff) that have arrived at her mom's from various relatives.  Andie knows who gave her what.  Now this is where it gets weird.  They will all be wrapped and carted over to the shower.  Andie will sit there and unwrap them and we all have to go "ahhhh....".  The shower starts at 2pm.  80+ gifts.  I may be home by midnight???

I'm going to see "Brave" and "Avengers" tomorrow.  I have too much to do to tack on a 3rd movie.  Plus I have to watch "Independence Day" dvd and see Will Smith kick alien butt.  Don't know what Mandie and Sam are up to.  I'm going to cook up a couple of burgers.  Maybe even sit back and relax in the national park known as my backyard for an hour or so.

I'm seriously hooked on this app/website that I discovered-Mouse Wait.  All Disney geeks like me.  Real time updates and chat rooms.  I'm planning a trip in October and may meet up with some people there-I think we'd have a blast and they (unlike Sam) would be totally cool with me parading around the park proudly wearing my leopard print mouse ears.

My little girl cat, Neko, is going to the vet today.  I'm thinking bladder infection.  I just want to get her looked at before the holiday and weekend.  I don't think I've ever loved a cat like I love her, and have never been loved by a cat like she loves me.  She's 10 now, so I am really keeping a close eye on her health and can't stand to think beyond that.

I may be going shower shopping with Andie's mom tonight.  Not sure what that involves since the event is being catered.  I've gone to catered events before, but have never participated in the production of one.  Is it wrong of me to hope we end up not going?  Because I could really use this evening to get more laundry done and cupcakes made.

Sam got me going on a show on Netflix yesterday.  Made me watch the first episode and then chortled gleefully knowing that I was now fully hooked.  Bad Sam!  Its a British show called "Luther".  Cop version of "House" with same type of characters.  And I've been playing around with Instagram and finally have it figured out.  And I played Scrabble for the first time last night on line...at 12:30am.  

I seriously need about a week of 48 hour days-I don't think that's asking too much.

Keeping this short and sweet-seriously jacked up my back last night and my heat pack is calling.  We had a major skunking incident with Buk.  Even after a bath with Nature's Miracle, he still smells.  Sam and I's rooms smell.  I'm pretty sure I still smell.

I had a wonderful time at the movie.  A certain scene came on that I personally felt was worthy of applause and started clapping loudly.  The audience apparently agreed with me because they started clapping too.  There was definitely some whooping and woo hooing going on also.  Lauren's movie moment was when she whispered in my ear, "why isn't this movie in 3D?"  Lemonade Berry Fusion Icee came flying out of my mouth.  Fortunately, no one was sitting directly in front of me.

I got a cute outfit to wear to the dreaded shower on Sunday.  Saw it in the window, walked into the store and said, "I'll take that".  $40 later (jewelry included), I no longer worried about what I'd be wearing.  The shopping gods were with me.

Mandie update-Tristan is still exactly where he should be.  Matt has now reached zombie stage.  He looks like crap.  He spent the day moving boxes from Andie's house and trying to get the apartment set up.  Now Matt is about the least domestic thing on the face of this earth.  No matter how hard I tried, he must have been born without that gene or something.  Then he had an all day shoot.  He and Sam are going out every night to shoot pool for about an hour-the apartment is right across from where we play all the time.  Right now I think those are his only moments of sanity.  I'm doing what I can to help.  Today is Andie's birthday.  I got her a very nice turquoise necklace that I knew she'd love.  Matt hadn't gotten her anything yet-no time and no idea what to get her.  To keep the peace in their household, last night I simply handed him the box.  He looked so damned grateful that I wanted to cry.

Today is a "good enough" day.  Managed to slap on enough make-up and do something with my hair-looked in the mirror...good enough.  Got the house straightened and a couple of things done in the kitchen...good enough.  Fortunately I have a ton of paperwork to do and can lay on the couch with my lap desk to do it...good enough.  Leon the Maine Coon cat has a manscaping appointment (we have to get his butt shaved or there are serious litterbox malfunctions) today at Pet Smart.  I'm going to get more Nature's Miracle to work on Buk with.

And I think this posting is-you guessed it.....good enough.

What a 24 hours and its just going to keep on going.  Around 8am I had made a lovely breakfast and carried it out to the deck where it was sunny and beautiful.  Egg with melted mozarella cheese and salsa on it, big bowl of cantelope-strawberries-bananas, chilled oj, my latest copy of the Hollywood Reporter.  Buk laid out in the sun at my feet while I had a leisurely breakfast-truly what I now call a "resort moment".  I started coming back to the real world and cleaning up when I got the text from Matt that Andie's water had broke. Dashed around getting the pets ready to be alone for a maximum of 24 hours, threw some makeup on (I knew I wouldn't cry as much if I was wearing makeup), let Sam know, threw water bottles in the totebag I had pre-packed with snacks, etc for the hospital waiting room and took off.  Halfway there I got another text-false alarm.

Figured since I was out, I'd run a couple of errands and head home.  Picked up a second bench for the backyard like the new one on the porch and headed home.  Matt showed up looking very frazzled and shook up.  He had taken Andie home to their apartment and she had fallen asleep.  Fortunately for both of us, XGames was on and it was BMX Park.  He personally knew all the guys riding.  It was kind of cool watching it with him.  As the camera panned around, he pointed out where he would have been shooting everything, told me stories about all the guys riding, and was naming off all the tricks as they did them.  We freaked out all the pets because we were yelling at the tv and cheering on his good friend who we wanted to win.  It was a moment we both needed.

As of right now, Tristan could be born any time this week.  I'm anxious to hold that little guy for the very first time, but really hope he holds off just a couple more weeks.  He is 4 pounds now-I'd like to see him gain another pound.  Sam was early and a 5 pounder.  I know how hard this is on Mandie because Matt's dad and I went through the same exact thing with Sam.  Every little twinge you think "is this it? Is this it?"  Andie hadn't packed a hospital bag, so Matt went home yesterday to get it ready.  We decided yesterday morning was our dry run for the real thing.  I am keeping Buk's dog food bowl topped off and made arrangements with my neighbor to come over and let him out as needed.    I put a large bowl of dry cat food under my bathroom sink (the cats eat on my bathroom counter) to put on the counter as I head out the door.  My tote bag is packed with snacks and magazines for the waiting room.  All I have to do is grab a couple of bottles of water.  We. Are. Ready.

Of course, the ex had to drive me crazy yesterday morning.  I got the text and am running around.  He calls.  "Well, do you think the shower will still happen next Sunday?  Because this is what I'm doing to get the house ready..." and proceeded to start telling me about people washing windows, guys working on the landscaping, yada, yada, yada.  I didn't lose my temper but calmly informed him I was only looking at the next 24 hours and the shower did not fall within that window.  Ten tables seating ten people each will be set up around his pool for the shower.  Can I accidently trip him and watch him fall into the pool during the shower?  Please?  I promise to take pictures!

Sam and I went to see "Ted" on Friday and had a lovely day.  Friday morning started out with yet another Mandie fight which was the reason for the happy dancing Friday night after seeing the mattress drive away.  Its been really nice for Sam and I to get the house to ourselves again, and know its a permanent thing again.  I get up early in the morning and actually feel comfortable making noise in the kitchen!

Today my neighbor and I are heading out to the first showing of a movie that we really want to see.  We were going to hold off until she got back from her vacation next weekend, but she said "Leopardditz-you NEED to go see this and have fun right now".

We are seeing the 10am showing of "Magic Mike".  I downloaded an app to my phone last week that makes the screen go black and then all these colored fireworks go off.  I told her I may turn that on and hold it up when Matthew McConaughey appears on the screen in the buttless chaps.  When I told the boys we were going, I got the they-put-their-heads-down-and shake-them-because-mom-is-doing-it-again thing.  Matt keeps telling me that's the first thing he will teach Tristan how to do.

Then I think I'm going shower shopping with Andie's mom this afternoon which should be interesting.  I don't know what will happen with the shower if Tristan is born this week.  We all split up the invite list and make 80 to 90 phone calls to let everyone know it will be rescheduled?????  Again, I'm applying the 24 hour at a time rule here.  Its working for me, to hell with everyone else.  I'm in survival mode here.  But I am wondering what to do about my plans for the 4th.  I was going to be at the movie theater from 10am to 6pm seeing "Brave", "The Avengers", and "Moonrise Kingdom".  Since I live so close to the beach, I typically head inland in the opposite direction of everyone in the county heading my direction.  But what if Tristan picks that day?  I could keep my phone on vibrate.  I will be halfway to the hospital already from the theater.  And it would be better than sitting at home waiting for that text from Matt.

*pant, pant*

24 hours at a time, Leopardditz, 24 hours at a time.

Dear Tristan,  After I found out that it was a false alarm yesterday, I texted your father.  "Atleast the boy is demonstrating a fine sense of humor getting us all excited!"  I applaud you, but let's not do it again.  I am completely ready to meet you at any time now.  However, can you please hold off, if you choose today, until after 12pm?  I have a movie I'd really like to see.  I promise to stand in line with you at Disneyland on whatever ride you want to go on, no matter how long the line is.  And buy you your first pair of Mickey Mouse ears.  Love, Grandma