It was twenty
nine years ago that someone named Brian Moehlmann showed up at my doorstep wearing this shirt. (Yes, I have kept it all these years. A couple of years ago he put it on and told me it still fit. I told him it fit like the Hulk was wearing it, about to bust out of it. It was so funny looking on). Anyway why I ever got into the car is beyond me. Most likely because my really good friend Lisa Rush fixed us up because Brian was thin and I liked thin guys. Something must have clicked on that date because it’s been 29 years and still growing strong. I met his mom on our first date too. I am not sure where his dad was but they had just gotten a fairly new dog that was being stubborn about potty training. We ended up playing pool in his basement. Or I should say he played, I watched. I rarely play pool to this day because he is some sort of pool shark and I suck! It’s only nine more days until we have been married for 24 years. Allyson told us a couple of weeks ago that we will never be divorced. We both shook our heads and then smacked our foreheads and said bummer! Life with moles, interesting in a bizarre sort of way!
Category Archives: Family
Another day, another adventure
My day started yesterday with Emily waking me up to tell me her car was dead again. It had died two days prior at school and Rockhurst security jumped her. She drove it for a while. She said her lights were on both times and she didn’t leave them on. That kid has never left her lights on so I am thinking is it some weird glitch from the dash being ripped apart. She found a ride to school but she was supposed to babysit for Shelly for the first time and asked if she should cancel. I said no way you made a commitment and we will figure out a way to make it work. After thinking for maybe five minutes I knew I was going to have to go and switch cars out to bring it home and have it looked at. I think PT school might actually be worse than nursing school! I remember my stress level and considering Emily is just like me there is no way she could deal with trying to find a place to have her car looked at, being without a vehicle for a couple of days and all the other crap that goes along with it. She will be home in two weeks but no way could she deal every morning was her car going to be dead or start. So the dog and I took a road trip. The dog got play with her PT friends on campus and loved it. We went out to lunch/dinner and then called the triple A guy. Emily had to leave to babysit before he showed up. He checked the battery. Said it was four years old and being totally discharged twice in three days it was pretty much shot. He offered to put a new one in. I said heck yes then I could stop to use the restroom if needed and the car would start. He thinks the fuse to the radio is still in the on position (normally turns off when you turn off the car) and is draining the battery so Brian’s job is to get it off. I think we might have to take it in just to make sure they didn’t jack up any other electrical stuff when they destroyed her dash for the cheap radio. So so annoying.
I had plans yesterday to work on the California trip and to run. I knew yesterday it was going to rain today so I decided if it rained all day then I would just watch Criminal minds (it was on last night while I was driving home) and use my treadmill. However it stopped raining and I got my run in. I think I have finally found the key to that. I have only been running two days a week and my foot has been incision pain-free since the Ovarian cancer run. Now the goal is to break the thought in my head to try three days a week! I need to be content with two for now because two is way better than NONE!
Sticker shock at the orthodontist today
Allyson finally had enough baby teeth fall out that she could see the orthodontist So before I made the appointment i learned Dr. Herr (in Arnold) had retired but someone has taken over his practice. The new guy is still there Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and then up north on thursday and Friday. So we went today and as we were driving there I was thinking about Kayla’s x-rays. Her bottom teeth touched the roof of her mouth so her mandible was jutted so far forward Dr. Herr was concerned and said it was a good thing she came in when she did. Well Allyson’s x-ray was even worse. Her front top and bottom teeth came together in such a way that it looked like she had a bird’s beak going on. Rather freaked me out and the doctor too. But when he evaluated Allyson mouth it turned out it was more the way she held her teeth but her jaw was in good alignment. She still has four baby teeth, three of which are molars. She is 13 1/2 and he did not recommend waiting until they finally fall out as they are impeding her jaw bone from growing evenly so her teeth look like they have hills and valleys. He said she can get the bands on first if the dentist can’t get her in. So tomorrow I will call for that appointment.
The benefit lady told me that they have Allyson’s birthday wrong with our dental insurance. So it took her a while to get our benefits. She tried arguing with me that I had a 1500 lifetime max. I said no we have crazy insurance and have 1500 a year to spend however so if I put it all towards braces then preventive care will be out-of-pocket. She was convinced I was crazy. Well when she came back, guess who was right? Yeah me. She said that it was the craziest thing she ever heard of. I said tell me about it, it’s the third time I have dealt with it and it makes it really difficult to determine how much will be paid towards braces. So since she will have them on for two years I can get two years worth and we agreed on having the insurance cover 2000 giving me 500 a year for preventive care etc. There is a chance that two of Allyson’s bottom permanent teeth will have to come out in six months which will then make the braces stay on 30 months instead of 24. I told you her teeth were a mess. So what is the final cost of these braces you ask.
FIVE THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS! So I will be paying 3300 out-of-pocket. It’s a good thing Kayla is going to community college this year. These kids cost a small fortune. I thought diapers and formula were bad. Emily’s braces 12 years ago was 3500 and Kayla’s were 4200. Thank God I don’t have any more kids because I would have to tell them you can have crooked teeth and learn how to be a ventriloquist. Haha just kidding. Well sort of!
The best laid plans always go awry
Such is the life with moles. Today was teacher development day (which prior to attending school board meetings, I always thought was teacher goof off day. However,I know for sure the principal’s have to lay out a plan to improve all the scores in their school and present to the board in two months so I imagine they will use this day for that.) Anyway, Allyson was off of school so we made plans over the weekend to go apple picking at Eckert’s and then see the Cahokia Mounds today. We saw both places earlier this summer only long enough to take a picture with the cake and we wanted to come back and enjoy the day. So we made it to Eckert’s and had fun picking the apples. I think we brought home close to 17 pounds. So I have already made applesauce and have pie crust chilling in the fridge. So I looked up the address to Cahokia Mounds to GPS our way there. And guess what they are closed on Monday and Tuesdays so we couldn’t even go. Everything I ever plan seems to turn into a big fiasco! It’s why I never entertain or leave the house. Ok so I am really antisocial and I am blaming it on bad luck. BAHAHAHA.
We had a good day and have decided we will see the mounds on the weekend and drag Brian along. I am sure he would really enjoy that Indian stuff too. One thing about driving all over creation to find cakes is we have seen a lot of places we never knew existed and want to go back and visit them!
Rachel you know you are a little OCD?
If you are wondering how I responded to that my answer was “a little OCD, I think I’m a lot OCD.” I then went on to say right now I’m obsessed with the cakes and the Fox C-6 superintendent debacle. The guy I was talking to follows me on Facebook so of course he cracked up.
My obsessive side of my personality can be a good and bad thing. Let’s look at the cakes for example. I got the idea in my head the week of July 11. On July 19 Allyson and I saw our first cakes which included the big bottle of ketchup. In just seven weeks I have dragged various people to 249. I am waiting until Emily comes home to see the last two because I came up with a fantastic way to end it three weeks ago. So the good is I set a goal and finished it. The bad I have done nothing else but cake plan and go-go-go for fear I would not finish before December 31 when the cakes are removed.
Unfortunately for my Facebook followers the superintendent fiasco is going to drag out much longer. It seems almost every day more and more shocking stuff is revealed.
Now back to being obsessive. That has been a plus in I have learned a lot about computers and technology and how to fix things myself. When I can’t take it anymore and I crack and call tech support and they start by saying unplug the cables I say I’ve already done the basics jump ahead a few screens.
I put a lawn mower together when I was 12. My mom couldn’t figure it out but I did. So yes I freely admit I’m a little OCD. Now if I were only that way about keeping an organized house or cooking.
I am working on my next obsession. I have to get back to scrapbooking. I’m a good two years behind. I am working on the cakes in an on-line photo book and I need to figure out how much to charge for t-shirt quilts. If it were up to me I would do it for cost of materials because get it keeps me from eating or driving all over St. Louis.
Mole moral- life is best for mom mole when she had a project going on.
Soleil goes to the vet
We just got back from Soleil’s annual vet visit. First of all fat fry has lost 7 pounds so we should really call her skinny fry. The vet also has animal rescue and had an adoption event going on. In the next room there were kids playing with puppies which really had her attention. I have never seen her crooked ear up so much! However when the vet tech came in and attempted to draw blood, she wanted no part of that and ended up with a partially blown vein. It would take the vet to get her blood. Also Soleil is really getting grey in the face so I asked Dr. Smith if she was older than we thought. She said nope she’s just prematurely turning grey. So I guess that’s what life with moles does to you, makes you turn grey way too early!
Emily Mole + Post office = Disaster
I use to love the post office until this summer. It’s been one fiasco after another. It started off this summer with the post office losing her textbooks and filing a claim to get the money back. I swear they took it out on Imperial post office. Every time I go to mail something they ask if I want insurance. I swear they know me. I have paranoia issues. Anyway the next thing to happen was my Uncle sent her an iron skillet cookbook from Amazon. Someone else signed for it and stole it. He contacted amazon and a new one showed up. We are unsure if they sent a new one or tracked down the person that signed for it. On Saturday Emily gets a voicemail from a detective about stolen mail. I was a little skeptical it could be a scam like the IRS scammers saying if you don’t pay them right now you will be arrested in two hours. Now I should have known better, it was legit. It seems a suspect was apprehended and found with a bunch of people’s mail including Emily’s. What did they take of hers you ask? Why her birth control pills of course because we have to use a mail order company out of FL. They are so stupid that one of Brian’s doctors swear they operate out of the back of a tractor-trailer and get the medicine from Mexico. Anyway we have to call them and have them resend. They are liable to charge me full price but perhaps a police report will help. I cannot believe this. I don’t think she will get them back anytime soon if ever. And certainly not before they expire! Oh the life of a Mole.
Mole moral: If you mail Emily anything send it certified so she has to go to the post office and sign for it!
This weekend’s cake adventures
Yes I am still obsessed with the stl250 cakes that are planted around St. Louis. I have successfully found and photographed 224 cakes while dragging various family members and friends of family members with me. This weekend I conned my niece Sierra into going with me on Saturday and then Bridget with me on Sunday. It’s what happens when my immediate family leaves me for a weekend of fun and I am working on Labor Day.
Yesterday started out with a bang. We went to the Harley Davidson store to see that cake. Well my sister decided to park in the motorcycle parking because she didn’t see regular car parking. As we walk to the cake all the Harley dudes are inside the place watching us. As we are leaving the owner comes out and gives her crap for parking where the motorcycles go. As we are leaving Sierra yells from the back seat “Mom don’t hit a motorcycle.” We always run into other people who are out taking pictures of the cakes as well. While at the civil war museum cake we asked the cake group to take our picture together.
The cake that surprised me the most was at the youth bridge community foundation. You see above it was a sign that said Haven House. This place provides a place for out-of-town people to stay and is cheaper than a hotel. We use to send the NICU moms there before the Ronald McDonald house was built on Mercy property. It was really cool to see the place after hearing its name all these years.
Our 200th cake happened to be at the YMCA where my good friend Meg Barry goes. We attempted to make 200 with our hands forgetting it looked right to us but was backwards to everyone else.
I think the most awkward cake of the day was at Old St. Ferdinand Shrine. There was a wedding getting ready to start so I simply jumped out of the car, zoomed my camera and took a picture as fast as possible. It is the only cake so far that doesn’t have someone in it. I thought it might be just a little rude to say hey wait a minute can you let us bust through the gate and get a quick photo!
So today Bridget and I head out and our first clue that today was going to be a nightmare was when part of the road to Bevo Mill was shut down for a carnival. We parked and walked to it, and got whistled at on the way. We both looked at each other like did that really just happen. I haven’t been to Bevo Mill since I was a school nurse and we had lunch there at Christmas time. What’s really weird is just yesterday when I was out walking the dog I ran into Anne who was also a Lutheran school nurse at the same time I was. She lives in the neighborhood behind me. The last time I saw her was when she had her daughter who is now six.
I must say that the Dogtown cake was the absolute worst one to find ever. It said it was located on the median on Tamm Ave. Ok that was total BS. There is no median anywhere on Tamm because Bridget and I drove the entire road twice. The address listed was in front of a church and there was no cake there. I almost got hit by pulling out in front of someone because of looking for the cake. I happened to randomly look up a street not even close to the address and there was the cake. Some guy yells out the window at us not to be taking our picture with the cake or it will cost money. I kid you not, I was about to knock on someone’s door on the street and ask them where the cake was. You see I get super obsessive when I can’t find something or figure it out and no way was I leaving without seeing the cake!
The next few cakes were uneventful and then we went to fountain park where the cake was located by the Martin Luther King statue. The area was really cool because it was sort of like a round about but with houses everywhere. We jump out and take the picture and head back to the car. There is an older couple outside in the front yard fussing at each other. I am trying to quickly put in the next stop when I accidentally honk the horn. Ok that got like four people’s attention. I was like I cannot believe this we have to get out of here. I have had a couple of people ask me if I would do this without GPS. There is no way. I have zero navigational skills and even if I had directions on paper if I got lost there is no telling where I would end up. I have seen parts of St. Louis that I would have never seen otherwise. First of all I would have never been able to find them and if I did stumble onto them I would never find my way back home. One of the better gifts God ever gave me was the GPS navigational tool. Oh and Siri was getting on my nerves so bad, I changed her to a male voice. But by the end of this day sex change Siri was on my nerves too!
We ran into more cakers at the cemetery who told us about a really close cake so we headed off to the old chain of rocks bridge. Once again the address put us in the middle of a field. Luckily they had given us some direction although they said they drove down the bike trail to reach the cake. I don’t have that kind of nerve so we went down the road farther and found the cake. It also said it had bathrooms and it had been quite a while so Bridget and I said cool. Yeah cool alright they were the nastiest Johnny on the spots I had ever seen. I think we would have been better off finding a bush. The cake was really cool so it was worth the drive.
There is a cake at the airport so that meant we had to park to go see it. It cost us five dollars to park for twenty minutes. Talk about a rip off. It explains why most people use the cell phone lot when picking people up from the airport. You sit on a parking lot that has an electronic sign that tells you when the flights have landed. When the passengers get their luggage they call you and you pull up and pick them up. Anyway the airport had banners that explained the 250 cakes. Hopefully if I post the pictures that I took of them you will be able to read them. It kind of explains why they are all over the place and not necessarily just in St. Louis. They made the trip and the five bucks worth it. I think I missed the 50 places banner. Well bummer!
The ALS ice bucket challenge
The ALS ice bucket challenge has been going around social media for the past few weeks. It’s simple someone calls their friends out and then dumps a bucket of ice water on their head. The person called out has 24 hours to also dump ice water on their head or to donate to ALS. Well all along I thought dumping ice water on one’s head is stupid and I would just donate. Thursday night as I was trying to fall asleep I thought about my friend Bob Stehlin who has been battling ALS since 9/11/09. Obviously the five-year mark is less than a month away and the disease has robbed him of almost everything except the ability to eat and move a couple of fingers. He has not been out of his wheelchair in a year. He can no longer hold his head up. This disease is horrible! Actually there isn’t a word strong enough to actually describe it unless I would launch into a sailor mouth type of speaking. Anyway as I was falling asleep I thought man if Bob could stand up and dump ice on his head, he would do it in a heartbeat. And from there I decided who I was calling out. The girls I work with call me CR (crazy Rachel) and with good reason. Please watch the video and understand the nickname. My daughter stopped the video because I forgot to tell her that I was going to say a couple more things. I was going to say if you would like to learn about Bob’s story visit http://www.rascals.org. (That stands for Robert A Stehlin Cure for A L S).
Also if you haven’t donated and would like to donate directly to Bob and Laura you can do so here.
https://www.giveforward.com/fundraiser/xs45/robert-a-stehlin-family-benefit.
Enjoy my video, share if you want!
My text from Emily
While at work today I receive a text from Emily that says If I hear “Emily Valentine, America’s sweetheart, the girl next door” I’m burning down your homecoming float. For starters are there any 90210 fans out there? Because they would understand this. You see in one of Emily’s PT classes she shared how she got her name. Yes her mother named her after Brandon’s girlfriend Emily who turned out to be a psycho and set the homecoming float on fire. I really liked the actress that played Emily (too bad I don’t even know her real name) so that is how I came up with Emily. As for Caroline, that is my middle name and my great grandma’s middle name. So at least it wasn’t a double psycho name. Just a psycho and a crazy! It takes a real nut job to admit they named their kid after a character on a TV show! And to top it off the character goes nuts! That is my story for the day!
LifeWithMoles 