Spooks and Goblins

Halloween is definitely upon us. The ghosts, spooks and goblins have been out! Sunday night, or should I say Monday morning, we were awakened by the smoke detector going off, and not like the battery is low but like grab the baby and get the heck out of dodge! 2:45am.....Holy Toledo! I think that added about 10 years to my life.

Two side notes: 1) why do smoke detectors always go off in the middle of the night, why not during the day when we are coherent and 2) I really need to get lasik eye surgery. I lost probably a good 5 seconds trying to find my glasses and then actually getting them onto my face.

Ok, back to the story. Greg and I ran out of the bedroom and started smelling and hunting through the house. (I immediately flashed back to my grade school days when the fire department taught us about fire safety (don't open doors w/out checking the door knobs for heat). Quick shout out to the ACFD). No sign of smoke or fire , thank goodness. Just as we crawled back into bed and my heart started slowing down, it went off again! We were back up, back to smelling, back to hunting. Again, nothing. So, we did the next most logical thing - we took it off the wall, removed the batteries and stuck it in the bottom of a drawer. Now for you worried grandparents, we have a smoke detector in Carson's room, so all is well. :) Long story short, it was a faulty smoke detector and Gordon (the handyman) replaced it on Monday. We are back in working order!

We've also been having a "toad sound" in the kitchen. And when I say toad, I mean a HUGE toad. It was the weirdest thing. I had finally convinced myself that we had a pet toad, that we couldn't see. Enter Greg. He realized it was a piece of ice stuck in the ice maker (I know, not very exciting). Goodbye pet toad....

Lastly, we've had some high wind warnings the past couple of days. As we were shutting down the other night, I noticed the motion light in the back yard was on. Of course, I freaked out! Greg didn't help the situation either. He said it's probably someone trying to break in, the house is haunted, etc. Anything he could think of to scare me. Needless to say, it worked! I'm chalking it up to the wind blowing the leaves, therefore, triggering the motion light. Please don't try to convince me otherwise. :)

So we are in full spirit for Halloween! The village area of Redondo Beach (little downtown area w/ shops and restaurants) will block off the streets on Sunday from 4pm-7pm for the kids. We'll make sure to take and post lots of pics!

The good, the bad and the ugly...

The good:

1.       I have to start with a video of Carson. This is actually the GREAT! I love it! This kid is cracking me up. Any type of quick fast motion really gets him going! And, I love it when he notices the camera – everything stops. I can’t blame him, I don’t like being on camera either….unlike his father! :)

2.       The Aggies won today!

3.       Texas lost today!

4.       OU lost today!

5.       The house is coming together! We have the big pieces of furniture in place, pictures up, etc!!!

6.       Greg is getting things in place to get the grill up and running! Yay!! I need some good ole Texas cookouts! I told him we should host a Texas style cookout and invite some of the neighbors. He didn’t like this idea too well – said he gets nervous when he has to cook for other people (he’ll probably kill me for saying this).

7.       We saw the beach today…finally! We went down to the Redondo Beach Pier. I’m not counting this as anything official though – I want to actually put my toes in the sand!

8.       Booked a meeting! I made quite a few sales calls this week and a prospect called me Friday afternoon and is ready to meet! Woo hoo – it’s coming together. (Interesting fact – when I tell people I just moved here with my family, they love it! People can’t wait to give advice, ask about the weather difference, etc. Don’t think I won’t be milking that one for awhile!)

The bad:

1.       Oklahoma State lost – we are no longer undefeated – we didn’t get the game w/ our cable package….let’s move on.

2.       This rain has got to go! I guess Southern California has had some crazy weather this summer. I’m kind of over it…

3.       Carson has a cold or allergies or something. But as you can see, that’s not stopping the laughing!

4.       Time change – I think Carson thinks we’re still in Texas. He has been getting up at 6am versus 8am. It’s cute, he’ll lay in there for about an hour just talking to himself but once he’s had enough, he’ll let us know. Greg and I just roll over and look at each other and play the “who’s getting up this time” game. I’m sure most of you have played that game a few times in your life!

5.       We’ve been to the AT&T store, collectively, four times in two days. First – my BlackBerry died so I had to get a new one (yeah Torch!). Second – the sales rep forgot to put my power cord back in the box so Greg went by to get it. Third – I needed an air card for work (needed one anyways) but the previous home owners finally cut off their home internet (we were just simple “borrowing” their service, haha). Lastly, my air card would not work on my work laptop. I worked with an AT&T rep on the phone for over an hour this morning with no luck so I went back to the store. Funny thing is, they all recognize me now! That’s one way to make friends! Rickey and I worked on my laptop for a couple of hours, again with no luck. It works on our personal laptop so I’m guessing it’s the work laptop…guess it’s time for an upgrade!;)

The ugly:

1.       The 3^rd bedroom/office. Wow – looks like a tornado hit that room! If we can’t find a place for something, guess where it goes. So….we need some visitors to motivate us to get the room finished. Any takers??!! :)

A lot has happened in a week and a half...

Where do I begin...let me warn you, this will be a lengthy post and I may touch on every topic under the sun!

We are officially in California!! Greg and I both agree that we are glad we made the drive out here - we got to see parts of the country we may have never seen and we have some fun memories, BUT we don't want to do it again anytime soon!

I'll recap for you:

Monday - we hit the road. First stop - Amarillo. We were 10 miles from our hotel and I heard Carson stirring, so I leaned back to check on him. To my surprise, he had poop (yes poop) all over his legs, hands, etc. I yelled out, "sick there's poop everywhere, exit now!". Greg and I were laughing so hard trying to clean him up and Carson was all smiles (of course he was, anyone would feel better after that). We had him completely stripped down, laying on a changing pad in the grass at a truck stop. Pretty classy, I know! To add to this, we had so much stuff to take into the hotel each night...it was unreal. Here'a picture but it doesn't even come close to the load we had!

Tuesday - We stayed in Albuquerque (I still have to Google the correct spelling). And I have another poop story. We were eating dinner on a patio and, of course, Carson needed a diaper change. The restaurant didn't have a changing table in the bathroom, so I strolled him over to the side of the building. As I'm elbow deep in a dirty diaper, a guy walks up to me and asks if I have a pen. I gave him the craziest look and said "WHAT?? NO!"

Wednesday - Flagstaff. Cool temps, it felt great. The next morning we drove up to the Grand Canyon since we were only about an hour away. Wow - is all I can say! I had no idea what to expect but it was amazing. Here are a few pics we took.

Thursday -Coming down from the elevation was horrible for poor little Carson's ears. I felt so bad for him. He cried hard for about 45 minutes but once we got to the hotel, he was great. In fact, I even got some good laughs out of him! We ended our day in Lake Havasu. HOT! We got out of the car and it was 99 degrees, a big difference from where we were just a few hours before! Little piece of trivia we learned, Lake Havasu is not actually a lake, it's a river.

Friday - we pulled into town...finally. We met the home owners (super nice) and crashed at the hotel.

Saturday - Moving Day! We were completely in the house by mid-afternoon. We immediately started unpacking. For those that know Greg well, you know the boxes were killing him! He couldn't get them unpacked fast enough! (I'm not complaining, trust me!)

Fast forward to today, Tuesday. All of the boxes are unpacked and we just need to organize and get everything put away. I think we'll have it done by the end of the month. I'm working from the house (through the end of the year). It's not bad, in fact I enjoy it. I just lock myself in the back bedroom and come out at lunch and when I hear Carson wake up from his naps!

A couple of fun facts on the house:
1. We have an avacado, lemon, pear, apple and grapefruit trees. Crazy!
2. There are a ton of light switches. I know this may sound odd, but it's hilarious. For example, 6 switches in the master bath, 7 in the master bedroom, 4 in the guest bath. I don't think we'll ever get them figured out

Ok, I think that's it for now. We are adjusting and getting settled in! More to come from California!

The first Hodgepodge Hodges post!

Welcome to the crazy, unpredictable blog of The Hodges family! I have no idea the direction of this blog - the plan is to just play it by ear.
Today was a big day. We began the process of moving to California. The movers came, packed and moved our stuff away in 6 hours! These guys were machines! Let's just pray that everything makes it there...and in one piece. While the movers were doing their thing, we were hanging out two doors down at Missy and Mickey's house. Thank goodness they live close - we were able to camp out but also keep an eye on the packing/moving.
Tonight, Greg, Carson and I took a stroll through our empty townhome. Wow - the memories came pouring in. I remember walking through the townhome when it was still being built. It was cold out and I was wearing my Texas A&M sweatshirt. We talked about that 3rd bedroom being the "baby's room" someday, even though there was no thought of a baby at that time. We got married when living there, we had some highs and lows there, and welcomed Carson into our lives. It's hard to leave a place that has so many memories, but I look forward to what lies ahead.
I am truly blessed to be married to the greatest man in the world. Greg is the most supportive man I've ever met. He is my rock and I thank God everyday for him. Little does he know, but he has the most important job right now - taking care of Carson. Not something we planned but God sure has his was of working in our lives. We don't question it, we just pray that he leads us down the path he has for us and we go with it!
Thank you Lord for all of the blessings in our lives so far and we can't wait for what's to come!