I know you’ve noticed that things have been a bit lacking on the website lately. I’ve been feeling all sorts of sick, and the computer hasn’t been on my comfort list. However, I’ve started to feel a little better the past couple days, so I’m happy to report that all is well. Actually, things are great

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The Ringl’s are Pregnant !!!

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and now for a true personality shot:
(a big guess about who has the bigger personality)

I know, it’s pretty awesome & exciting news  :)
So our family count is going from 2 to 3 (currently we are at 2 & 1/4 !)

For the past 2 months the local news have been talking non-stop about the oil spill. I know it’s a horrible situation, and it devastates me that our own “needs” as a civilization lead to something that could cause so much environmental destruction. I have been ignoring the news lately because it’s so upsetting, but it really hit home today.

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My mom & I at the beach 3 weeks ago

My mom loves the beach. She loves the water, the sand, every bit of it. I love going with her because it’s like we’ve jumped back to when I was a kid. We pack some snacks, grab some cold beverages, talk, and if we’re lucky, take a short nap on the sand!  It’s an escape from the everyday wakeup, go to work cycle of life.

Today though, today changed a few things for my happy escapes with mom. Our city thrives off tourism, most of the FL coast does.  The picture above, white clean sand, beautiful clear water, well it doesn’t look like that anymore.

Today, tomorrow, months, or possibly years, that spot now looks like this…

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That beautiful blue sky doesn’t match that scene at all.

The beaches are now closed. My mom and I aren’t able to go out there and spend time together. Actually no, we aren’t allowed to do that anymore.

This oil spill hit home today. I pray that it doesn’t affect as many jobs as predicted. If surf shops are affected, that will put my job at risk. It will put a lot of jobs at risk of disappearing.

So, as much as I’ve been ignoring this situation I literally can’t any longer. I work less than 2 miles from that spot. I see the ocean from my windows at work. I guess it’s time to enjoy that clear and sparkling view while I can.

I have been wanting to start cycling for quite some time. With our zero access to a pool and the fact that it is WAY too hot to run, I figured a bike was a good compromise. After a bit of convincing, Stephen now agrees with me =)

After a few weeks of looking around at the different options (and Stephen researching the quality) we went ahead and got ourselves some this weekend. I was beyond excited!  There are several trails in our area, and I can’t wait to visit them. Until we have the chance to go, we have been exploring the streets around us on these:

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A Hybrid bike for each of us!

To be honest, I don’t know exactly why it’s called a ‘Hybrid’ bike. Stephen could tell you in 2 seconds.

This is what the internet told me, “A hybrid bike is one that blends the best characteristics of both road and mountain bikes into a bike that is sturdy, comfortable and fast, and ideal for riding on streets and bike paths.”

Alright, sounds good to me!

The one above is the exact one Stephen got, and mine is the same, but maroon.

Searching for bikes was kinda funny. I was the “that ones cute” shopper, and Stephen was the “What are we buying them for? What type of riding will we be doing? We need to find out the pros and cons of the different types.”  He is a good balance for me.

I know it’s only Tuesday, but I can’t wait until this weekend so we can go into town and ride. There are so many great buildings and houses in the historic area we drive through. I plan on bringing the camera to capture the images and them find a place for them in our home. I love that we moved into an area that is surrounded with history, and has kept the buildings and homes untouched. I’m sure I’ll have a lot of pictures to share next week (rain, please stay away!)

Until then, here is something Stephen brought up on our drive home after work yesterday. He thinks this would be a great addition down the road:

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Ya, I laughed at him too.

After getting home from work and having some delicious (Firehouse) sandwiches I had a music moment. Stephen was playing a video game and so I got on the computer to watch the ‘Glee’ finale. I haven’t kept up with the show, except on hulu every now and again, but the music and talent on the show surprises me more each time. One song in particular really grabbed me today.

This is what I’m talking about friends:

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I don’t know if you have heard of Israel Kamakawiwo’ole, but he does an AMAZING rendition of  ’Somewhere over the Rainbow. I’m not much for emotions, but this song really tugs at my heart when I hear it. Something about the combination of a soothing voice and a, get this, ukulele. It’s surprisingly wonderful. It gives the song an entirely new feel, and ‘Glee’ reminded me of that today.  I immediately got on Grooveshark so I could snag up the song before I forgot. If you haven’t heard of grooveshark you need to start, it’s like iTunes, but the songs are free! While you can’t put the songs on your iPod, you can listen from any computer by signing into your account. No, Grooveshark isn’t paying me to write this, haha, it really is just that impressive! An endless & free version of iTunes, it doesn’t get much better.

So right now I am sitting on the couch with both the ‘Glee’ & ‘Ukelele’ version of ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’ playing on repeat. I’m surprised Stephen hasn’t handed me a pair of headphones yet. Then again, that would mean he’d have to pause his game… ya, I should be good for a while.

Sorry for the lack of a post yesterday. We are having a few issues at the house that we are trying to fix, and last night was a doozy.

We aren’t sure yet, but I think we are having a problem with our air conditioner…

This of course stems from the fact that it was hot in the house ALL night, despite the air running the entire time. I feel air coming out of the vents, but it sure doesn’t feel cool to my hand. Plus, this ancient thing isn’t helping me see what temperature it is even set on:

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It looks like the air is set at 75, but last night it was cooler outside than it was inside, and in Florida that is never a good sign!

Now, for problem #2. Yes, the evil house spirits didn’t stop at just 1, they decided to attack full force (and I’m not including the leak under our bathroom sink and the kitchen sink – those are on a complete different “fix it” list).

Next up we have these moochers that have decided to take over our house:

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That is what it looks like inside our laundry room door. These guys have been sprayed, but it’s just an example of the amount of un-invited guests that are using our home for their own.

They have already taken over our yard, but I guess that wasn’t enough room for them.

Here is what the room looks like all the way across…

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All those little black spots are recently dead visitors (I hope they’re all dead). Anyone have a solution for killing off 1000′s of  Pyramid Ants?!  Yard included?!  We have the pests man coming by today to do a temporary fix, but I want these guys gone for good!

I mentioned before that we have an ant problem. Well it has officially become an ant invasion. Imagine Mars Attacks, but with ants, and instead of killer laser guns they have nasty stinging bites and can fit in every little hole and crevis imaginable. Also – rather than landing outside your house inside a big UFO, they are crawling all over the outside brick walls of your home. Ya, it isn’t a pretty picture.

I am so excited that we officially have plans for Memorial Weekend! We will be traveling a few hours north to my grandparents lake house on Lake Martin. I love going up to the lake. Not only is it a mini-vacation, but it’s a beautiful site to look at.

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The lake is absolutely gorgeous. It’s peaceful, serene, and relaxation central. The older I get it’s becomes more difficult to go visit like I used to. We used to spend weeks at a time at my Papa’s Lake house, and now we only get to visit during holiday weekends. That is one reason why I am SO very excited that it’s Memorial weekend, and we will be spending it on that lake!

I plan on doing a few things while we are there.

First, spend time with these people

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Papa & Grandma

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My Papa built his house on the lake before it was a popular place. He spent every weekend up there hammering, sawing and piecing his home together. What started as a small cabin, with no air conditioning, is now a 6 bedroom home with plenty of air conditioning and a newly renovated kitchen! My grandma had to wait many years for that, but it was well worth the wait! When we were little we would ride in the boat and the houses were far between. Nowadays the houses aren’t only closer, but HUGE and definitely expensive! Some people have pools, which makes me laugh since there is free water just a few feet away, and others have huge boat docks with sun decks on top. It’s always fun to see what new homes have been built each time we visit.

Second, I plan to stay super busy right here:

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That’s right, I plan on floating in the water as long as the sun allows. Then, when I’m not floating in the water, I plan on laying on the dock soaking up rays, and thirdly:

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the grandchildren eating at the “kids table”

I plan on eating BBQ, fruit salad and everything else put in front of me! We always eat so well at the lake  You can’t say no to grandma’s cooking and grandpas grilling!

I have spent many wonderful times at the lake. With my Papa back home after spending a few unexpected months at the hospital, I am more excited than ever to visit and hear him tell stories of when he was a kid and what mischievous adventures he took part in. I’ve told him time and time again he needs to write a book, and I pray that one day my own kids are able to hear him tell his stories.

Here are a few things that happened today:

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My brother got a pep talk from Jon DuBois

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Then he got to marry this beauty!

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I kissed this guy quite a few times

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Snapped a quick photo with my new sister and bro

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Participated in a lot of this action!!!

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Then had far too much fun with the farewell bubbles

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How about the rest of you. What did you do Friday night?  Any fun weekend plans? Right now I plan on sleeping in tomorrow and enjoying a beautiful day in sunny Florida. Perhaps the beach will be on the agenda. We shall see…

I am coming to you from a new spot today. Well, actually I’m in my usual spot on the couch while Stephen catches up on last night’s episode of LOST, but I am typing to you on new keys. Not only new keys either, I’m on an entirely new operating system, on a brand new laptop. Yep, you read that correctly. Here’s a little picture for ya:

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Isn’t it exciting?!  Stephen decided to get me a new laptop. I think he wanted a new one and decided to use me as his vice. It’s okay though, I’m certainly not complaining! He asked me a few months ago what kind I would like and after thinking it over for a while I finally made a decision. I have been using a netbook for a little under 2 years, this one to be exact. Stephen surprised me with it as a graduation present when I finished my Bachelors Degree. While I love the little machine, especially it’s portability and battery life (fits in my purse and has a 4 hr battery), I’m afraid it was time to move on to something more functional for me.

I know it probably seems like I throw these posts together in about 6 minutes, but sadly that isn’t the case. Or well, maybe sometimes it is (shhh). All day at work I am usually dreaming up the things I would like to be doing at home, especially project ideas. I assume that most women are like me in that area. Thinking of their to-do lists while working on the I-don’t-wanna-be-doing-this-but-I-gotta-get-paid job tasks. Sometimes when I get home the last thing I want to do are the things on my own to-do lists. Go figure. Friday after work Stephen took me to Bestbuy to play around on computers. After finding one I liked we were disappointed to find out that it was out of stock. We checked around to see if there was another Bestbuy near and found out the closest was in a different state. We decided to be spontaneous and took a trip to Spanish Fort, AL. Thankfully Alabama isn’t too far away from where we live on the Gulf Coast!

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After a lovely 45 minute drive we arrived at our destination. Oh, but don’t let me forget our stop for dinner. Take a looksey:

Oh Taco Bell, why are you so scrumpteous?!

Nothing like a $5 dinner date!  So after we got to BestBuy and browsed their computers I was sad to discover that they didn’t carry the one I was looking for. Should we have called first?!  Maybe. But it was a fun trip and we didn’t leave empty handed:

We found some great Mother’s Day cards!

We didn’t actually purchase this card since it’s in Spanish, but we seriously considered it because my mom loves to speak spanish when we go to mexican restaurants {love you mom}.

We headed back to town after our card purchases and couldn’t help but stop for a late night snack…

sooo good !!!

Back to the main story. The weekend passed and I was undecided about a laptop. I get major shoppers withdrawal before even purchasing an item. Fast-forward to Tuesday and here is what we have:

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Isn’t it pretty? I went back and forth between the Sony Vaio and the new MacBook Pro, but finally decided I would like to keep the extra $600 in our savings account!  Since my hubby is a computer savvy man he made sure I got a computer that would work perfectly for me. I know it’s only been a day, but I’m one happy computer owner!

This is for my brother Matt.  Happy Birthday Bro, I love you!

I posted this story on a co-blog with my friend Sarah in Texas. Since most of you don’t visit that one I wanted to share this experience with you as well   Enjoy!

I had a really weird thing happen to me the other day.

I’ve mentioned before that I work part-time. Well because of that I have 1 day off during the work week, and I usually use that day to run errands. Although I don’t like the income of working part-time, you will never hear me complain on Thursdays, especially when I’m lounging around the house with my late-morning cup of coffee.

Yesterday, after finishing my errands, I was driving home and had something totally bizarre happen.

Where we live there are quite a few roads that are 35 mph. Then there’s me, and I’m a 5mph over the speed limit kinda gal, unless I’m on the interstate (but let’s just keep that between us). So when I was going 38 on my way home I made a new friend. Well, we aren’t actually friends, but I thought he wanted to be because he was riding so close to me. We eventually came to a part of the street where you can pass, and well, he did. He didn’t just pass me either, he totally left me in his dust. I’m not an aggressive driver, but I may have mumbled “he should get pulled over” after he passed me.

Well, you can’t imagine how surprised I was when about 1/2 mile down the road I saw him punch on his brakes. Then, I saw why. Turns out there was a cop parked and waiting for his next victim. I ended up passing them both parked on the side of the road.

I didn’t mind that he passed me, for all I know he had to pee real bad and was rushing home. When I passed by those 2 cars that cop looked mad. He was t-i-c-k-e-d that someone would speed that fast in his territory.

How weird is it that I made a wish and it came true? I wished a guy a traffic ticket, and he got one. Oh and trust me, it was probably a biggey!

So, to the guy who passed me on Hamilton Bridge Road the other day, my bad.