I love these people

Last Wednesday, I got together for dinner with some friends and family.  Specifically my mom, Charley (my moms boyfriend), Aaron (my brother), Gordy and Tom.

(my brother, Aaron is missing from this picture…the lameass decided to leave early and missed the group picture)

I have known this freak, Gordy (aka Nodrog) since, goodness, I don’t even know! 

 My mom’s cousin was good friends with his parents and we used to go camping together at Lake LaDonna in Oregon, IL (southwest of Rockford).  Wow, he used to be so annoying and well, I guess not much has changed    I kid…I kid.  Goodness, those were good times. 

Until the douchebag felt the need to disappear from our lives.

Fortunately, my mom went to a family wedding where she was able to ask her cousin, the murderer, (another story for another time) for Gordy’s phone number and voila, here he is again, blessing us with his presence.

*Gordy, I expect a nice lump sum of money for talking about you so nicely here on my blog.

Last April, Gordy introduced us to Tom.  We love Tom.  I think that if Gordy ever felt the need to separate himself from us again, we would be OK with that.  As long as Tom stuck around.

Seriously though.  Tom is just a wonderful guy – sweet and genuine to the core.  I first met him last April when we all went to dinner for my mom’s 50th birthday and don’t know that I’ve ever known someone who fit in so well and so quickly with our “group”.  I’ll be the first to admit, we are a very close knit family and have some very close friends.  I think people find that intimidating and find it difficult to be a part of our group.  Not Tom though.  He felt like one of us from the start.  And, he makes the best ever sangria.  And I have the secret recipe.  No, I can not share.  I am under orders.  From Tom. 

Charley is also a newbie to our group – my mom and he have been dating for a while now.  Does this make him her boyfriend?  I can’t recall that she’s ever referred to him as such but…when you see someone at least 5 times a week, talk to them everyday and take weekend trips together for at least the last 6 months, doesn’t that make you boyfriend/girlfriend?

We like Charley though.  He’s not afraid to carry a purse.  Truly though, he also is a very genuine and interesting person.  (Nothing personal mom)…But my mom doesn’t have the greatest track record when it comes to picking men.  So naturally, I decided that I needed to be more cautious about forming a relationship with anyone she dates.  I tried to do so with Charley.  But, it just didn’t happen.  He didn’t let that happen.  Despite his whining antics when we whoop him in water volleyball, he’s a good guy.  Anyone that genuinely and truly cares about my mom gets my vote.  And, you can tell he cares about her just from how he looks at her.  And with how treats her.

And now I’m bored with writing so I’ll leave you with a few pictures of our fantabulous evening.  One that we’ve decided needs to happen more often, like once a month often.

(note my glorious new Ann Taylor Loft sweater – bought on sale for $28!)

Elf Yourself

I thought my sister and brother needed a good laugh today, so I elfed us.

From left to right:  Marcie (my sister), Kathie (my mom, the picture is from the 90’s so don’t hate on her glasses), Aaron (my brother) and me.

 Please laugh.  I did, lots.

Turkey Raffle & Evictions

Saturday, my mom came to visit. 

 Obviously she loves to visit with us    But her true intentions for the visit were because she needed to serve a 30 day notice to someone that is currently renting part of a house she owns in Kenosha. 

It’s quite the interesting situation.  My aunt and her husband live on the main floor and this guy they know, John, lives on the second floor.  They share the common areas such as the living room, dining room, kitchen, etc.  During the entire time my mom has rented the house out, she has never made it a secret that she had planned to sell the house at one point in time.  I even think she informed everyone, 4 years ago that she would be selling the house in 2007-2008. 

Well, John felt the need to call the realtor and trap him on the phone for over 1/2 hour to discuss his living arrangements.  If you’ve ever had a conversation with John, it is a PAINFUL experience.  Well, during the course of the conversation with the realtor, John rambled on and on about how he is a long time resident of the house and would like to remain so (UMMM…the house is being SOLD.  Why do you think you’ll get to stay?) and inquired about what it means with the house being in foreclosure.  Yes, you read that correctly.  He TOLD the realtor that the house is in foreclosure and that is ABSOLUTELY NOT true.  Never has my mom even made 1 late payment on the mortgage.  EVER.  So, the rational is that if John is saying this to the realtor, what is he telling prospective buyers?  So, buh buh John.

John never made an apperance at the house on Saturday so the three of us (Jay, my mom and I) decided that my mom would need to come back on Sunday so she could give him the 30-day notice.  Jay thought it would be fun to go back to my mom’s house, with her, spend the night and go to the Turkey Raffle that she and her boyfriend Charley had planned for that evenings excitement.  Kristine, our wonderful friend and petsitter came to the rescue and agreed to come by and take care of our zoo, so off we went to East Dundee, IL and our first ever Turkey Raffle. 

At a turkey raffle, you essentially sit around, drink beer and buy raffle tickets to try to win different packages (all included either a turkey, ham, duck or some combination of the three).   The turkey raffle was not as lame as I was thinking it would be however I think I probably would have enjoyed it a little bit more had we actually won.