Happy Birthday Angela!

Friday was my favorite realtor's birthday and last night we went out to celebrate! 

Angela and I met 3 years ago (almost to date) when Keith and I were house shopping.  We came into Indy one weekend to buy a house!  That was when we were still naive enough to believe that our house in WV would sale and all the pieces would fall into place and enable us to buy a house instead of moving into an apartment.  At the time, we didn't know what complete jerks lived in our neighborhood in WV and didn't realize they would sale their souls (if they had them!) to stop the sale of our house!  (That's a topic for another blog!  ugh!) That reality was quite a shock but everything works out for a reason!  We spent the weekend looking at all the houses we thought we would love, we didn't love any of them. 

Two months later we moved to Indy, in an apartment, and continued the house hunt...for another YEAR AND A HALF!  Yes, we started looking at houses in April 2008 and didn't buy a house until October 2009!  I've seen nearly every house that's ever been on the market in Hamilton county!  Honestly, it probably didn't matter if it was in my price range or not!  I looked at everything for sale just to get a better idea of what I wanted.

I found a tiny little, over priced, house that I was convinced I wanted to buy.  I went to an open house, had a showing for Keith, then another showing for my mother in law and finally Angela said "let me show you one in that other subdivision to get a comparison"  She showed us, we fell in love, and here we are!  It's the wonderful house we live in now and LOVE! 

In the course of that year and a half Angela and I became great friends!  Her daughter is now our babysitter, her son is an occasional playdate, and her husband is an all around good guy! 

With all that said, last night was Angela's birthday outing.  We went to Britton Tavern and saw this great band Lemon Wheel.  In true Angela fashion, she invited nearly every person in Hamilton County, also known as her facebook friends!  Ha!  Angela has a dancing background and loves to dance, her husband made the comment, as he and I nursed our drinks from the table, "she'll be out there all night."  (I left at midnight, and she was still going strong!) 

At one point, I may or may have not, mentioned to Jeff that Keith and I met when he was teaching dance.  Jeff RAN with that info!  Within about a minute flat Angela and Jeff were both grinning from ear to ear.  They approached Keith and before I knew it Keith and Angela were busting a move on the dance floor!..

Based on that video, the future will see more of Jeff and I nursing drinks and more of Keith and Angela breaking it down!

The night went on and everyone was having a good time, it really was a lot of fun!  But the highlight of my night was when I got to meet the police officer who gave Keith his ticket!  Ha!  Turns out, he and Angela & Jeff are friends!  When I realized who he was, I had to meet him!  I quickly introduced myself and explained how I "knew" him.  .

He then told me "As much of an asshole as you think I am, I could have made it a lot worse on your husband I even took it easy on him, his shit was a mess." 

 I quickly said "no, no, no...you misunderstood what I meant!  Actually, you are kind of my hero!  You really leveled the playing field at my house!" 

We all laughed a little and chatted some about my blog and I said "I have to point out (again) that in the blog, we didn't actually bash you and we took full responsibility for our tickets...they sucked, but we earned them!"  He agreed then made some sort of super flattering comment about what a fabulous writer I am (just remember...it's MY blog, I'll write the story how I want it!) and how super awesome my blog is!  I wandered away and talked to some other folks and so did he.

As we were getting ready to leave, I felt compelled to "officially" introduce Keith and this officer.  Everyone was cordial and although I'm pretty sure I enjoyed this interaction FAR MORE than anyone else, it was epic!  I managed to talk them both into smiling for a picture!  I said "I won't put this on facebook..." I heard the officer say something about my blog but it was so loud, I couldn't make it out.  (maybe something about not blogging it...I don't know!)  Of course, me being me, insisted that I was going to put the picture on the blog...and I am!

Okay, so I did a little editing to keep his anonymity but you get the idea!  Everyone was smiling and we all had a good time.  If you are a close friend,  all bets are off, I will exploit every angle of our friendship in the name of humor.  However, if you have a gun and the right to arrest me...you get a little leeway on my blog! 

It really was a good outing and it was nice to meet some new people and even nicer to meet the officer who leveled the playing field at my house!  Ha!  Happy Birthday Angela!

Carmel PD Strikes Again!

I was so excited to share this that I had to turn American Idol off so I could blog about it! 

Keith left around 8:15 to get a hair cut and I told him to get some diet cokes too, I can't get my stroke fast enough!  ha!  Anyway, during this time both kids got out of bed with a myriad of complaints as to why they shouldn't be in their beds.  I finally got 50% of our children in bed (Hadley) and the phone rang.

"well, I had something interesting happen just now," Keith hem haw's around.

I'm getting mildly nervous, but also irritated by his slow pace (nothing new, he is just like Hadley, two speeds-slow and stop!)

"I just got pulled over and got a ticket..."

Internally, I'm screaming "SU WEET!" after he gave me heck for my ticket.
Externally, I'm much more supportive "what happened honey?"
Internally, I'm chanting "speeding ticket!  speeding ticket!"

"well, you know how I got that letter that my registration is expired? I've been trying to email and they said I have to go in...well, turns out my car isn't registered.  Apparently when I bought it they just put my old tag on and it was never registered.  The police man said there's no record of my car at all."

First of all, it took him ten minutes to say what I would have said in three minutes.  Secondly, I was a little bummed that it wasn't a speeding ticket but was livid that it was registration related. 

"What the...why wasn't it registered?  What does the "L" stand for in TTL if they don't actually LICENSE it?"

"I don't know but he said there's no record and for all he knows the car could be stolen..."

Well, I'm calling BS!  If the cop thought it was stolen do you seriously think he'd left it sitting on the side of the road?  I don't know what capabilities these guys really have but, clearly, he knew it wasn't stolen.  Moot point, I know.

Long story short; the officer told him he couldn't even drive it home (less than 3 miles) and had to either leave it in the parking lot or tow it home!  He's going to go to the BMV (yes, Indiana calls it the BMV, not DMV like every where else I've ever lived.) in the morning and straighten this all out.  I'll be calling the dealer and not so politely blaming them for this fiasco!  (just for the record, I'm not asking anyone for their opinions-if you don't think it's the dealers fault, I don't care!  Keep it to yourself! ha!)

Our great friend Jason went to pick Keith up and he's safe and sound on the other end of the couch right now.  When he got home I cautiously asked him how his mood was, he said it was fine and then presented me with a gift!

Oh! Yes! He! Did!  It's a pic of the officer who pulled him over!  Now, he's not as blatant as I was and it's just a reflection but, YAY!  What a wonderful hubby!

The funniest part of all came later...Keith said when the officer came to the officer came to the window he was very authoritative and cautious.
 
He said, "sir, put your hands on the steering wheel where I can see them." 
So Keith did, then came "do you have any deadly weapons in your car?" 
I can just see Keith raising an eyebrow when he answers, "umm, no..."

Keep in mind that Keith A.) is as harmless as can be!  (this is the same guy I made the blooper real of, last week! So, we know he can barley walk!  What would he do with a deadly weapon?!?) and B.) He drives a PRIUS!  Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!

In jest, I say Carmel PD strikes again but I want to make it clear that Keith and I both take responsibility for our interactions (sort of, on Keith's part anyway but it wasn't the police officer's fault) we are thankful for the great work the Carmel PD does!  Seriously, I love that we live in a safe place here; the police don't overlook the little things until they escalate. In the wise words of Barney Fife, "Nip it, nip it in the bud."  Way to go Carmel, but seriously, you're safe from the Richardson's! 



Waste of Makeup!

That's what today was!

I wasn't feeling good when I woke up but I pressed on thinking that if I could get into the day I'd feel better.  I took Lydia to preschool, returned some things to the store, got gas, picked up some things at Whole Foods, then perused JoAnns for a few minutes because I was early to pick Lydia up.  As I was walking out of JoAnns I realized that I had forgotten to pick up pictures that Hadley needed for a school project.  I loaded Lydia into the car and we scooted to WalMart (which I hate but that's a blog for another day!) I got what we needed and decided to hurry to the other side of town to see if I could pick Belle up before Hadley got home from school. 

That's when the highlight of my day occurred...I got my first speeding ticket!  Some of you may laugh, if you knew how reckless I was in my younger years, but I NEVER got a ticket!  I had to have kids, drive a minivan, and drink starbucks before I got a ticket!  UGH!  I was going 17 over...I think a warning would have sufficed considering it was my first ever ticket, the officer didn't see it that way.  He did, however, knock it down to 15 over so I'd save a few dollars.  (I just looked at the back of the ticket and by marking it down, he saved me $5 WHOLE DOLLARS!  Shawn says he must have a heart of gold! Ha!)  I, honestly, didn't realize the speed limit was 30.  I should have, but I didn't.  I really thought it was 45 or at the very least, 40...it's not!

I have a sinus infection, I haven't been sleeping well, I'm tired, I'm grouchy, and I'm hungry!  NONE of that worked on the very young version of Ponch who pulled me over. 

To add insult to injury, I called Keith to tell him.  I only called because I seriously considered NOT telling him and I felt guilty because something inside said "you shouldn't hide things from your husband" so I reacted by calling and confessing!  His reaction was initially pretty relaxed...

THEN, I said "I really thought the speed limit was 45."

"Is it posted 30 or 45?" he says, kinda snarky.

"I don't know, seriously" I reply

"Well, you were speeding, whether it was malicious or accidental, you were speeding" he says, in that tone!

"DUDE, I admitted I was speeding!  I wasn't TRYING to get a ticket today, it just happened...what's your problem?"  I was mad!

"Well, I'm driving downtown, and there's traffic, and..." he starts.

"I'm going to hang up now, bye"

"BYE" he replies curtly.

I stomped around the house, mad for about 10-15 minutes and then the phone rang again, I almost didn't pick up, but I did and it was Keith.  He apologized and we are fine now.

The best part of the ticket was that Lydia kept saying "mommy, why are we stopped in the road?  Mommy, what's that man doing at our window?  Why are you talking to that man?"  Over and over and over!  Then I texted Shawn during the pull over and she thought it was hilarious that I was texting her WHILE being pulled over!  If she only knew what else I was doing...

Yep, I took a pic!  Why not?  He's going to charge me $145, I might as well have a picture to remember it by, or at the very least-blog about!

So now I'm getting ready to go pick up the dog at the groomer and I'm hopeful for a quick (NOT speeding!) trip, then a good meal of potato soup and corn bread and hopefully an early bedtime for all!  Overall, though, I stand by my original statement; today was a waste of makeup!