THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER: VOLUME 56 MAY 2010
Dear Readers,
April was such a busy month – I was buzzing around like a bumble bee in a hive swarming with visitors every weekend! To take the sting out of all the bed changing, cooking and cleaning I drank a few extra sips of my nightly nectar.
The month began with Sean moving into his new Condo. Joshua, always quick to see a financial advantage for himself, volunteered his handyman skills to Sean in exchange for free rent. This arrangement cost me one of my spare beds because Coryn didn’t want Josh to move his bed out of her house – probably fearing that her rent check would never return.
As Sean’s self appointed interior decorator I was actually quite pleased that Josh was helping with the manual labor, thinking that I could just focus on picking out paint colors and a few accessories. Josh and Sean had other ideas. Much to my amazement I was usurped by Joshua’s transformation into a HGTV worthy decorator. He came up with the idea of a textured wall in the dinning room to cover over the numerous marks left when we removed the ghastly gold streaked mirror tile. My expertise with a toilet plunger came in handy for that task! I plunged the mirrors right off the wall! Josh used his connections at Ferguson to purchase high end oiled bronze and brushed chrome plumbing fixtures at flee market prices – much nicer than anything in our home! Then he sold Sean on a French inspired kitchen – a rich gold above the chair molding and a deep wine red below set off with white trim and cabinetry and stainless steel appliances. I was entrusted with the task of helping Sean select the colors at the paint store. Unfortunately whether due to the store lighting or a newly developed color blindness my gold pick turned out to be bright orange on Sean’s walls. The boys were not happy. I tried to sell it as a different country – more Spanish than French. Sean didn’t want to swap countries but ever frugal Josh suggested they wait to see if it looked better when dry or in different light through out the day. Fortunately they have adjusted to the bold, energetic and youthful orange and red walls after some compliments from friends.
After this near decorating disaster Norm was enlisted to help decorate the two bathroom vanities –now Norm may have studied at the Chinese School of Brushwork in New York around the time I was born and be a fairly accomplished artist but we all know Mother is the queen of faux painting- and I wasn’t even consulted! One bathroom now has Norm’s calligraphy adorning the vanity while the other has bamboo branches trailing across it. I have been demoted to cleaning and relining the kitchen cabinets.
The demands of my children are making it almost impossible to write this newsletter. Monday Coryn showed up unannounced at supper time with Ollie and Buster, we were briefly joined by Mary and Elizabeth with Mia and Drew. They were in a hurry to get home and ready themselves for their trip to Fort Madison the following day. Drew will be christened there this weekend. After a thrown together fettuccine dish Coryn and I settled in front of the big screen downstairs to watch Dancing with the Stars. Josh dropped by on Tuesday around lunchtime, then Bryn appeared after work (dinner time) as he had a soccer game in Olathe that night .Then Sean arrived as I was racing around the yard with my weed whacker trying to get the edging done before American Idol started. Sean wondered if I would help him pick out picture frames at Gordmans for your dad’s artwork that he planned to hang on his condo walls. I made it quite clear that it would have to wait until my show was over. Sean decided to have a frozen pizza for supper and watch Idol with me. Once back in the house I saw that Sean had not come alone. Three loads of laundry were sitting in my kitchen. He explained that he couldn’t possibly be expected to pay seven dollars and fifty cents at the condo laundry facilities when his Mother could do it for free and fold it all too! I hope I’ve shrunk all his T-shirts so I’ll never be asked again! At least he started his laundry while I was watching Idol.
My birthday was very memorable this year as Becky, Evelyn and Sherry drove down for the weekend. As you all know my birthday is on the 11th and Becky’s is on the 12th –to make the whole aging process more bearable we made a pact a few birthdays ago to celebrate our 65th birthday together in England! This way we almost look forward to getting there! My friends arrived in time for my lasagna supper on Friday evening and we had our first ever Martha Stewart dinning room experience without the potty humor of my absent children or a plastic milk jug on the table.
Saturday the girls were up long before me: being a thoughtful hostess I left sweet rolls by the microwave and the Folger’s can by the coffee maker the night before. I let them know there was fruit in the fridge and cereal in the pantry. It was a treat for me to wake up to a pot of ready made coffee!
Once we were all up, showered and dressed we headed to Gordman’s where we all bought something new to wear and the girls each bought some garden hooks. We checked out Steinmarts and then headed to lunch at Mimi’s Café. Sherry was thrilled as her daughter, Lacie, had raved about eating at one and wanted her mom to have the experience with her sometime. Afterwards we headed home and regrouped for a trip to the Arboretum. Unfortunately it was not as pretty as usual because so little was in bloom - hopefully the girls will be able to come down later in the season. As we are all avid gardeners we headed to Suburban Lawn and Garden – a truly huge garden center and loaded up on plants, fountain pumps and ceramic pots. Not everything fit into the trunk of my Ford Focus so the girls had to squeeze plants in besides themselves, between their feet and on their laps!
Coryn, Josh, Bryn, and Sean hosted a joint 58th birthday party for Becky and I on Saturday evening. We took advantage of the beautiful weather by eating on the deck. The kids treated us to Oklahoma Joe’s Barbecue and an ice cream birthday cake! Coryn’s friend Becky joined the party too so we had a party of ten.
Saturday night we plopped ourselves down in front of HGTV to recoup from all the day’s activities. Sunday morning found us at the Ace garden center, just a block from my house where the girls found even more plants they just had to have. There was some concern that all these plants might not fit into Becky’s PT Cruiser but she was confident that she could cram them all in - I thought they were going to need a roof rack!
Once back at the house the girls ingeniously managed to get all of their bags, shopping and plants into Becky’s car. The person in the back seat must have felt like they were in a tropical rainforest! After lunch we decided to tour Sean’s condo because it’s just off 435 on their way home. Becky followed me in her plant laden car. Unfortunately when I made a lane change on the interstate Becky couldn’t see out of her back window because her double decker shelve of foliage obscured everything! She had to rely on her passenger for clearance! I thought I’d lost her for awhile! I suggested that it might be safer to start selling the plants out of the back of the car until they sold enough to have a clear rear view.
Once in Sean’s Condo the girls were very taken with his kitchen chandelier – a ghastly metal bouquet of daises with numerous leaves and lights. Personally not my taste but I thought it would be a sensational garden accent so it is now hanging in my backyard from a tree overhanging my bistro set. They were impressed with all the space Sean has for the money. Maybe I’ll be able to convince them that Kansas City is the place to be!
The following weekend Leslee and Craig arrived- separately- but within an hour of each other as Craig flew in from Vegas where he had been working. Sean took the day off work so that he could pick them up at the airport despite the fact that Bryn and Josh were both available to do so that day! Nothing like brotherly love. As always I was hoping that Craig saw a role for me in one of his shows but he seemed much more interested in hanging out with his bro’s as he affectionately calls the Lowe boys. After losing to them playing racquet ball on his last trip he was determined to even the score by taking them on at basketball. He went down to my athletic sons –a gift they inherited from me – again. However he and Leslee did make it to the final two in a bizarre rematch using the hoop in our yard. The boys and Leslee were challenging each other to ridiculous shots – like from my wheelbarrow and the ball was landing in my plants as often as the net. I dread to think what the neighbors thought as they saw this spectacle and heard me screaming at the boys to mind my daffodils, Rose of Sharon or Viburnum. In desperation I planted myself in the middle of my flower bed in an effort to catch the ball before it landed on my beloved plants.
Once again we lucked out with the weather so on Saturday night we were able to enjoy a taco supper I set up buffet style on the deck Jeremy and Fred joined us after a day on the golf course with Coryn.On Friday and Saturday nights your dad and I enjoyed the peace of our home while the kids went out on the town.
Amber Scott flew in from Chicago the weekend of the 24th planning to visit with Coryn and help out with the preparations for Jeremy’s birthday party which was being held at his condo building’s penthouse. Elizabeth had also been helping Coryn shop for decorations earlier in the week while I took care of the kids. Thankfully Jeremy was involved with the food shopping as Coryn thought her two cheese balls would suffice for a crowd of forty! I must say everyone was most impressed to think that she had finally managed to put something edible together and she is confident that her cheese balls will become a party favorite.She did do a good job of presenting the assorted hors d’oeuvres
and even set up a chocolate fondue fountain. Elizabeth, Amber and I and of course Norm all congratulated her on her surprising hostess skills
Your dad was quite excited to be invited to this big social event and despite my fears that it might be too physically taxing for him he did really well, sitting at the bar swilling his Sprite and chatting with the young crowd who as always thought he was so cool. He even put together a co-coordinating pair of khaki jeans and a fuzzy!
Bryn picked Elizabeth up as Brent had a double header that day playing golf and attending the Royals baseball game in the evening so he was a late arrival. I was happy to see her enjoying plenty of male attention in his absence! Amber was also enjoying the attention of one of Jeremy’s single friends so maybe we’ll be seeing more of her soon! Bryn looked the part of a professional photographer in one of his artsy fashion forward outfits as he clicked away with his camera capturing all the party goers. He did a great job of putting it all together on face book.
The boys were keeping a very close watch on me as I sipped two small glasses of wine and were quite shocked when I swallowed a Jell-O shot with the younger crowd. They decided this rendered me unfit to drive and Coryn was admonished for serving their mother too much alcohol – she assured them that I drank more in my one medicinal wine glass every night. Despite her assurance and mine that I was fine to drive the boys insisted on driving us home and returning my car the next day. Norm was very grateful that the boys were so concerned about his safety and didn’t want to leave him to the mercy of me at the wheel. It seems as if our kids are doing a role reversal with us to me!
Norm and I loved seeing Amber again and enjoyed lunch with the girls in our home on Saturday and spent Sunday afternoon drinking endless cups of tea from Sean’s birthday gift to me – a flowering tea pot. The tea is sown inside a real Chinese flower that blooms when dropped into hot water .In keeping with our Asian theme we picked up Chinese food for supper and then Coryn drove Amber to the airport to catch her flight back to Chicago.
I think your dad has a food fetish. I have noticed that his salivary glands seem to have become hyperactive – about the only part of him that sees much action these days! He saw a flyer for The Macaroni Grill on the kitchen table one afternoon and strolled into the living room and asked if I liked the place. I like any place that means I don’t have to cook so I said we could try it out again sometime soon. Your dad’s response “how about now”? Since it was after 4pm I decided to indulge him and myself in a calorie laden heart challenging delicious pasta supper. Norm is definitely influenced by media advertising as every restaurant's advertisement catches his attention and merits a “that looks good, we’ll have to try it”. He has all the specials memorized but can’t remember what I said to him two minutes ago
One day he tried to get me to take him to Joe’s Crab Shack at two in the afternoon! I explained that it was too late for lunch – which we had already eaten any way and too early for supper. Your Dad was salivating and drooling all over me just thinking about a crab pot dinner. Never one to play hard to get I promised him a hot date at Joe’s that night if he would just quit rubbing his tummy and smacking his lips. I E-mailed Coryn to complain about her dad’s appetite so she decided to surprise us by showing up at the restaurant just as we were ordering. Norm just beamed with delight when she sat at our table – anybody would have thought he hadn’t seen her for months instead of days! He thought it was a wonderful surprise – I was just surprised that I hadn’t realized that Coryn would probably invite herself to eat at our expense – actually Jeremy’s as he had given your dad a gift card for Joe’s. Your dad was out on the deck this morning trying to fix one of our wooden chairs – he’s
drilling so many holes in it that I think it will turn into a sieve every time it rains! Apiece of trim has flown off my roof and my new patio door has just shattered. Your dad and I heard what sounded like a gun shot this morning – I think our neighbor’s grandson may have hit it with a pellet gun! I called Josh to return my shop vac so I can clean up and E-mailed Coryn to see if Jeremy can fix the roof problem. Maybe your dad and I should consider one of the maintenance free condos that are for sale in Sean’s complex!
Your honey of a mother needs to start buzzing around her hive again: Ming-Lee, and two of my favorite people, Lori and Roger Griswold will be here next week to experience one of my sweet lunches!
I’ll be waiting by the mailbox with my phone in hand this weekend children – lets hope Marc remembers! Love your devoted and deserving Mother.
