Saying Goodbye to a Family Favorite

This weekend a family favorite closed at Hollywood Studios, and we were all sad to hear it.  Although, the Muppets in 3-D had needed to be updated for a decade or so, we would all miss it.  Bean and the 3-D character Waldo had been on my nerves for years, but even though I wasn't quite ready to say goodbye.  There had been a lot of fun family memories made in the show, and I know that all of the Heinisch children could recite the pre-show verbatim, tripping exactly when Gonzo demonstrated why it was important to find a seat before putting on the 3-D glasses.  Sam the Eagle's line "It's a glorious three-hour finale" followed by Kermit's response "You've got a minute and a half" could still bring a laugh in our home.  

Making the event even more bittersweet was seeing all of the goodbye pictures and finding out that Jim Henson's daughter had been the last person to walk out of the theater after the final showing.  I could still remember when the Muppets' creator died of pneumonia over thirty years ago.  Finding out that Muppets 3-D had been the last project he had worked on made it even sadder especially since I was there the year it opened.  Even before that, I had always been a Muppets fan starting from the moment I first saw Kermit on Sesame Street. I was glad that I passed that love along to my own children.  Nothing showed that more than the Sam the Eagle shirt that Brett wanted to wear to his rehearsal dinner or Cal asking Paw Paw to build him a bed for his beloved Kermit doll.  Although Meg had the most Muppet stuffed animals out of all of the Heinisch children, nothing proved loyalty more to the famed group than Cameron's infamous line "What if we all become Muppets when we grow up?"  

I guess that all good things must come to an end.  Thankfully, we got to experience the show many times over the years.  The other good thing that has come out of it closing is that the Muppets will now be taking over Rock N Roller Coaster.  Doug and I probably won't see them on that ride, but I know that all of our children will be glad to hear that.  

Where Are the Lemons?

When we first moved down here, Doug and I bought a lemon tree at the plant sale at Kanapaha Botanical Garden.  We were both excited, but I was probably more so since I would now be able to grow my own lemons to make lemonade just like Granny did years ago.  I even found her recipe and couldn't wait to try it.  We watered the tree, fertilized it and found the best spot in the yard for it to get both shade and sun.  After that, we waited . . . and waited . . . and waited.  Fast forward almost two years later and we are still waiting for our first lemon.  The tree has blossomed, but so far it has produced no fruit.  

On the flip side, the lime tree that we bought this past October already had several limes growing and one that will be ready to pick next week.  With that being the case, I decided to search Google to see what the problem could be.  One thought was that the lemon tree wasn't pollinating itself.  That usually only occurred when the tree was indoors, but it was flowering without any issue, so maybe the internet was right.  Since it was very easy to pollinate a tree, all I had to do was rub pollen from one flower to the other with a Q-tip, I decided to try that first.

While I was pollinating the tree, I realized that there were snails crawling all over the area close to where the lemon tree was.  I didn't know how the snails had gotten into our backyard and was sure that they were harmless but thought that I would check Google about those as well.  As soon as I clicked on a website about snails in the garden, a lightbulb went off.  Snails loved lemon trees and tomatoes and caused damage to both.  It made sense to me since the two plants that were suffering the most were the lemon tree and tomato plant.  I looked through all of the remedies and finally decided to buy slug and snail bait from Lowe's.  I spent an hour this morning putting it down all around the border of our fence and back porch.  I don't know if it will work or help our lemon tree grow lemons, but my fingers are crossed.  Either way, it was a lot easier than picking all of the snails out of the yard like I tried in the first place.  

Get Ready, Promotion

Cal texted the family group chat today to let us know that he had been promoted to manager at Plante Moran.  We were not surprised to get the text as we knew that he had been working hard the past few years to reach this goal.  Even though, Doug and I were extremely proud as this was a big milestone in the public accounting world.  Cal said that his responsibilities wouldn't change much as he was already fulfilling the role of manager on most of his jobs now, but his pay would increase greatly, which was wonderful for him.  

As proud as I was of Cal, I was even more proud of my children's texts in the group chat.  Every one of them congratulated him and recognized the accomplishment that he had just made in his career.  Although, I am sure that there are times that they drive each other crazy as most siblings do, I love that they are not jealous of one other and celebrate each other's wins in life.  My favorite text of the day came from Meg as she sent the meme of Patrick Star parachuting in to celebrate Spongebob's big promotion to manager. Although it didn't really work out for Spongebob, we were glad that Cal's promotion was real and there were a lot of reasons to celebrate at the "Goofy Gooby" tonight.

   

Wasting My Time

I left the meeting on Monday night so frustrated that I actually started to cry.  Nothing bad happened at the meeting and no one was mean, but out of the two hours I was there, I participated in seven minutes of it.  It was an important part of the meeting, but the rest of it was completely irrelevant to me.  It was a lot of talk about next year and ideas that were read from the suggestions given at the last meeting of the year.  

As I sat at the meeting, I thought back to all of the times that I had to go to Smart Start as a teacher.  Most of the meetings were a complete waste of time.  I listened to someone else talk and tried to be supportive but realized that the person speaking could care less about my opinion. Because of those early mornings, I had become extremely apathetic about non-collaborative meetings.  I have been reading on my own for over fifty years, if someone was just going to dictate to me, then I would strongly prefer for them to send their thoughts in an email.  I would read it and respond if needed.  Otherwise, don't waste my time.

Because of all of this, I decided that it might be time for me to move on to something different.  When I said that I would run for office, I never dreamed how much time this would take up of mine.  I would be ok with it if I felt that I was helping someone or making a difference.  I am not, however, and hate missing time with my family for no reason.  I have decided that I will take some time to think about what I want to do and how much time I have to help in the future. Thus, I am extremely thankful for a break this summer to do just that.  

Athens

Cameron's study abroad trip officially ended on Friday, but he and his roommates had made plans to stay in Athens this weekend to take in several of the tourist destinations in the Greek capital.  They found an Airbnb that was small, but close to everything that they wanted to do.  It was also inexpensive which they appreciated very much.  They ate their meal at local restaurants and found a rooftop bar to hang out at night.

Of all of the wonderful things that Cameron did in Greece, his time in Athens was my favorite.  It wasn't because of his visit to the Acropolis or all of the ruins and ancient artwork that he shared with us via pictures.  It wasn't even because I was a history nerd and enjoyed listening to all of the artifacts that he saw and the relics of Greek mythology.  What I actually loved was that by accident he stumbled upon Mars Hill (or Aeropagus in Greek).  I had been talking about the famed landmark since he first arrived in Greece seventeen days ago and couldn't believe that he had actually visited the spot where St. Paul gave one of the most famous speeches in Christian history.

The importance of Aeropagus wasn't lost on Cameron, Tyler and Zach.  They spent quite a bit of time there reflecting, watching the sunset and just hanging out long past nightfall.  Cameron told me that once he landed today, he couldn't stop thinking about how he had casually visited a spot where people pilgrimage to every year.  It was on the best experiences of his life.  I was happy to hear that and how much he enjoyed his trip.  I was also extremely glad to have him back in the states.

Tennis

Doug stayed in Orlando tonight since I had a board meeting for CCW.  Meg and Nick were happy to host him and the three of them went to the park near their apartment to play tennis.  Doug was really looking forward to it since he hadn't played tennis in several years.  I wasn't surprised to hear later that Meg dominated on the court.  Meg had a lot more tennis skills than either Nick or Doug, so even though she hadn't played much this past year, I knew that her game would come back quickly.  Doug said that he struggled with his serve tonight.  I wasn't surprised as it had always been his biggest weakness.  Pickleball in the driveway helps to keep the net game alive but doesn't do much for serving practice or ground strokes.  Meg did say that Nick was a lot better than she thought that he would be.  I wasn't surprised to hear that either as sports were always an important part of his life when he was younger.

In the end, the score did not matter.  I was just incredibly pleased that the three of them had had an enjoyable evening together.  Meg had spent a lot of time with her dad when she was younger, especially playing sports.  It was nice to hear them rekindling that bond tonight.  

Moving In

Last weekend, Brett packed up his apartment and moved to Columbus.  When we were in Bloomington in April, I was very worried about how he was going to get everything there.  Thankfully, all of our help and planning then paid off now.  I had given Brett a list of what needed donated, what needed thrown away and what would need to be moved with him.  Doug and Brett started on the donation list giving a lot of the items to St. Vincent de Paul a month ago.  They also threw out several big pieces of furniture that would not be making the move and weren't worth donating.  While I was visiting Brett over Easter, we also looked up moving truck rates and talked about friends that Brett thought could help him on moving day.

I talked to Brett almost daily this past week.  He felt very good about all that he had accomplished.  The truck worked out perfectly, his friends were a big help as they got everything over in one trip, and he had started on the unpacking process. I know there will still be a lot to do, but he has given himself until the end of July to be completely moved in.  I tried not to give too much advice, but I did have to comment on the post he made on Facebook.  It seemed funny to have all of the empty boxes stored in the second bathroom shower, but I was afraid that they would find a permanent home there.  Thankfully, Brett listened to my concerns about mold and bugs and promised to have them out soon.  I reminded him that I will never know what he does, but at least mentioning it, relieved my anxiety quite a bit.  No matter what, I am very happy for him and the new life that he will be starting in Columbus.