It's 6 something in the morning... The sun and I have yet to rise...

**boodoop--BEEEdoop**

That's my '24' ringtone on my cellphone. I stumble out of bed and follow the sounds of CTU to my phone, which is not in it's normal location beside my bed for whatever reason.

"CTU, Almeida" I breathlessly whisper. Okay, actually it was more of a groggy "...h-hello?". "Hi, Ang?" says the familiar voice at the other end. "Oh..hi Grandma..." "I didn't wake you up did I?" "No, I'm up. What's going on?"

The cobwebs upstairs are starting to clear and I now remember my Kansas City family went on a cruise over New Years, and I was going to try to meet up with them at the airport when they returned!


From left to right is my cousin Brandon and his girlfriend, Aunt Shelley, cousin Lindsey and her husband, Uncle Don, me and Grandma Lola.
So, tell me this... why is it they spend ONE WEEK in the tropics and have a nice tan-- where as I have lived in the tropics for 3 years (working outside, mind you) and look like I live in Darkyearound, Alaska?

Dave and I introduced them to Cuban Coffee! You can tell by the looks on their faces they just loooooved the cafe cubano!


Cuban Coffee packs a punch. I love the stuff, but I rarely drink it because I also enjoy sleeping at night!

I'm sure every family has their favorite stories they like to tell. A memory that always gets a laugh every time it's relived.
"Ang, do you remember when you got your arm stuck in that doorknob hole?"
This particular memory has been relived many, many times. :) A family classic. And I remember it as clearly as the day it happened--in 1979! Yup, nearly 28 years ago. I was only 4 years old. I was playing in Grandma and Grandpa's spoooooky basement. I loved going down there and scaring myself pretending there were monsters. Okay, I say 'pretending', but, in my 4 year old mind there really were evil creatures lurking about. Grandpa had this red light on in his workshop that made the whole monster bit quite believable! I went inside the dark closet that held the water heater. There was no door knob on the door. I decided it sure would be fun to stick my hand inside the hole where the door knob would be.

Why my hand was small enough to fit inside the hole, yet too big to get back out of the hole is still a mystery to me. But there I was, stuck, alone-- with only the eerie creeky noises that followed every footstep upstairs and a red glowy darkness to keep me company. I tried for a very long time to free myself...but eventually I gave in to my desire to scream and cry like a 4 year old stuck in a room full of monsters. My Mom, who was VERY pregnant with my brother, flew down the stairs!

Grandma always says she thought Mom was going to fall down the stairs she came running so fast! That's about where my actual memory ends. I have a flash of Dad working to get my hand out.
Don't worry, I returned to battle all the basement monsters. In the battle of tiny Angela V Basement Goblins-- tiny Angela prevailed!