One of the benefits of taking endless pictures and then never deleting them from my computer is, I can almost always find a picture to go with the 'theme' of a blog post,lol. Yesterday, which was back to school day for April, I was looking for a Back to School graphic, and then ended up never getting the post done before I had to leave for work.
This morning, I suddenly remembered 'Hey, I HAVE a picture of a school bus...from one of Dustin's track meets two years ago." (and yet, I didn't remember what my work schedule was for this Friday,lol, go figure.)
So, voila, with the 'picture to fit the theme'. April started back yesterday, big Miss Sophomore now:) She said her day went well. It was Bryan's birthday, but I didn't get a card to him....me, the letter and card lady, I know, I'm a slacker! I gave April a ride to school, she can't get a ride with Bryan because he is driving the Exchange Student That Isn't Living With Them Until Jan to school everyday (the exchange student is living with another family for the first half of the year, I guess that's the way they do it. There was supposed to be a Third family involved, but that didn't pan out. Personally, I think I'd rather stay with only One family for the school year,but then again, what if you Hated the family you were with? so I guess that's a good way to work it.)
Sorry, I almost lost track of my train of thought there,lol. Anways, there's a Virginia law that you can't have more than one other passenger in your car that is Not related, if you're under 18, or something like that (to stop hordes of young people riding with a new driver). Although April keeps protesting that Bryan Is her cousin, I don't really think an officer would agree that a nephew of your aunt-by-marriage is a Close relation? and so my answer is just 'No', to her riding with Bryan and Exchange Student.
But it wasn't the Young Drivers that scared me to death yesterday when I took her to school,lol, it was the Parents! First of all, for a brand new high school of only a few years, I have thought since last year that the traffic pattern for dropping kids off there just sucks....why would you build a school and route the drivers dropping off kids through the high school parking lot,anyway? (to drop your enrollment figure when said parents run over the poor kids trying to walk to the school doors?to see how well your students respond to the stress of dodging traffic?I've never been able to come up with an answer.)
Also, the middle school is only a few miles from the high school, and they start a few minutes later....so you have parents barrelling into the high school parking lot to drop off those children, and then zooming 100 miles an hour (ok,maybe not That fast) to run to the middle school and drop their younger children off there. All of which meant that I felt like I was lucky to make it out of the parking lot alive yesterday,lol, and I also griped like a snippy elderly woman 'where are the police officers when you need them, they should Be here for the first day of school because these people are driving like they're in a Nascar race!"
Well, the police officers were there Today,at least, so everyone was driving more sedately this morning.
Speaking of driving, all April needs to do is take and pass her test for a learner's permit, and she can start driving. Yikes! how did That creep up on us so quickly?
Except, she keeps saying "I can't find the booklet to study for the test." Which doesn't give me a whole lot of confidence,lol, in how much she'll pay attention When driving...(but it Does give me the opportunity to give that lecture about 'well, if you'd organize your room.....!":)
I imagine we'll get to it sooner or later. If she's not pushing it, I'M not going to. I know we survived all the others learning to drive, so we'll survive this too, but I can't say I'm looking forward to it again....mostly because that 'phantom brake pedal' STILL doesn't work on the passenger side,ha ha, plus I also think I need to renew my prescription for anti-anxiety meds from the last new driver we had, before we start this.
Choir practice for church also starts for April this week, and handbell practice starts in two weeks for her. And she is in the chorus for that Singers Glen Opera, which Bryan has a lead part in.
So, we are back to being busy again!!
Well, as I sit here writing this, I am lobster-red. Sun-burnt,fried, toasted to a crisp....whatever euphemism you wish to use,LOL, I am the poster child for Too Much Sun:)
I applied sunscreen yesterday before we went to work at the fair (and why exactly did I think that only One application would be sufficient when I was spending 5 hours in the sun? can't recall.) I actually was more worried that April had not applied sunscreen at all, in our rush to leave the house.
As it turned out, she ended up working in a booth in the shade for her shift....the poster-dart booth, I suppose you call it....you know, pay 2 dolla and throw a dart at a poster, if you hit a poster you get it.
I ended up working the kiddie fun house...which was Directly in the sun the entire time I was there.
Even though I got burnt,I had a Great time! I got spoken sharply to by a carny supervisor at the beginning,lol (gee, nothing like finding out you're not cutting it as a carnival worker,for pete's sake,rofl)....actually, he was very nice but just gave some suggestions for how better to run the job.
What it consisted of was letting mostly smaller children in groups of 3 to 5 through the funhouse, and then you had to Watch them going through, and be ready to turn off the barrel at the end of the ride, as some of the really little ones couldn't walk thru it, or were scared.
What a joyful way to spend the day:) with hordes of laughing and giggling 2 to 8 year olds running through the funhouse, and trying to come out through the barrel. There were older kids coming through sometimes, but it mostly seemed to be the little ones. I had to stop the barrel twice and go in to 'rescue' some Really little ones who just stopped and started crying about halfway through,LOL, and I had to let one mother go in to get her little one Out one time, but overall most of the kids were having a wonderful time:)
Because of the way I had to stand (with my back towards the sun, as I had to have my hand on the control to stop the barrel rolling) I am weirdly burned....my neck and back, of course, and then my calves,for pete's sake...so I suppose when this fades I'll end up with lovely tanned calves and pasty white shins,rofl, which doesn't everyone aspire to? My shoulders are burnt, and just my cheeks on my face....so I guess more than anything I look "Splotchy" :)
I volunteered to run the ride because you had to be at least 16 to run it, and we were out of 16 year olds in our group. Several of the other parents who went along,Tony included, ended up being 'relief staff' where they just went around to the various games and booths that the kids were working and gave them a 15 minute or so break by taking their place. Two of the relief mothers got bored with doing this, as the kids didn't realy need That many breaks, so at various times they came over and helped run the funhouse with me for awhile, and also had a blast doing it:) and Tony came by twice to give me a break, and then just stayed there with me the last hour to help run it.
I had ended up getting only about an hour and a half of sleep after getting off work in the morning, tossing and turning I guess because I knew I only had a short time to sleep. So, we got done at 5 pm for running the rides (the games workers worked till 6 pm) and once we stopped? I realized how Tired I really was,LOL.
We grabbed dinner at the fair while waiting for April to be done, and then she decided to stay on and ride some rides. She ended up also going back and working again with the 'evening shift' from the school, when she ran out of money and tickets,lol, but I knew nothing about this at the time, because once we got home? I laid on the couch and was completely dead to the world for about 4 hours, till I woke up enough to go to bed and crash for another 6 hours.
It was a Beautiful day yesterday, clear blue skies and a nice breeze blowing and only a high of 81 degrees. One of the parents who had worked two other days at the fair commented that yesterday was the 'funnest' day she had had there, and I had to agree that I had a lot of fun, so I guess we picked the right day to do our turn helping out the fundraising.
Someone had asked if I'd take pictures? but honestly, I didn't have time. There were Very few lulls at my station, and I had decided against trying to keep up with the camera while I was there,anyway.
What do I have planned for today? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING,lol :) If it's nice out, I may go out and just float in the pool (perhaps trying to burn the parts of me that aren't already burnt,ha ha) but otherwise, my biggest plans are just to be a 'slug':)
I work tonight, and then after just a few hours of sleep for me tomorrow, Tony, April and I get to be 'Carnies' tomorrow, and work at the fair.
Here's an article that was in the local paper, about working at the fair.
April went to the Dierks Bentley concert last night at the fair, and had a great time:)
Came across a mention of my brother by a financial blogger today
When I logged on the computer awhile ago and saw this news story
Click here: News - Tonight Is the Night for Fireball Gazing - AOL News
I was awash in a flood of memories of the first (and best) time I saw the Perseid meteor shower.
The year was 1974, and I was a 14 year old on a 'primitive camping' trip with the Girl Scouts, through Camp Merrie Woode out of Plainwell,MI.
Normally I went camping At Camp Merrie Woode (and by the way, I found pics of how the camp currently looks here ,which I thought was way cool :) but for 'primitive camping' we campers and two counselors went out to someone's farm, on their 'back 40',so to speak, and set up a camp from scratch.....yes, dug our own latrine, set up our tents, fire pit, and I remember lashing together a table of sticks to use for our meals. I also remember using some kind of tablets to treat our water that we got from a stream on the farm, which tasted 'ew',lol.
The folks who owned the farm drove out on Aug.8,1974 to tell us that the President was resigning and they wanted to bring us in to watch it on TV, as they thought it was an historical moment that we should not miss. The counselors agreed, so we all piled into the back of their truck and went in to their big old farmhouse to sit on the floor in their living room and watch Richard Nixon's resignation speech.
Indicative of a 14 year old mind,lol, I recall nothing of the speech and I'm not sure I understood at the time what a huge deal this was. All I have is a snapshot memory in my head of the President talking on the screen of a wood floor model TV (this Was '74,guys:)
It was what We said while we were there that led to us seeing the meteor shower. Someone mentioned the mosquitoes that were at our camp, and the folks who owned the farm in the next few days after that came out and sprayed around where we were camping to try and get rid of them. (what did they spray? no idea.)
Unfortunately, their good intentions went awry, and it seemed that they only managed to drive even Moremosquitoes into our camp.So much so that, after getting bitten unmercifully all day, we decided to abandon our camp for the last night we were there, and take our sleeping bags out into the middle of a huge field that was nearby. (we were camping in the woods.)
Only we hardly slept. We just so happened to have chosen a night that the Perseid meteor shower was occurring (didn't know that was what it was Then, found out later.) We had set up our sleeping bags and were lying in them idly chatting, when we saw the first meteor shooting across the sky...and then another, and another.
33 years later (good heavens,I'm old:) all it took was me seeing the news story above, to transport me back to a Michigan summer night when I unexpectedly saw the most beautiful celestial show I've ever seen, lying in a field and gazing up at a clear sky filled with heavenly fireworks.
I've never seen the meteor shower as clearly again, and maybe the magic of that memory was that it wasn't planned, it was just a happy accident that we decided to sleep in that field on that night.
But it still remains one of my most treasured memories, and since the news story sent me 'down memory lane', I thought I'd share it :)
Always so cool, to see the brother quoted in Reuters:)
Here's today's forecast:
Click here: WHSV - Weather WHSV - Harrisonburg, VA Weather
( A "slight break of Lower 90's"????? ROFL.)
Go check it out Here
Yesterday, I mentioned that April and I were going to go swimming.
Several things happened that, sadly, I know fall into the category of "it could only happen to me."
(but, on the bright side? it's more material for letters to soldiers,LOL:)
First of all, we had gotten the air pump back from the person who borrowed it, and the top part of the pool needed some more air. I hooked up the air pump and happily stood there for several minutes enjoying the sunshine :)
Until, of course, I realized that I had hooked up the air pump Backwards, and so I wasn't putting air Into the pool......I was letting air OUT!
But wait....there's more!
I had recently spoken with the neighbors next door, who have a little girl, and told them I'd invite them over next time we swam. So, I did, and the mother and daughter came over.
We had a nice time swimming....it all turned ugly when they went to Leave.
We have locks on both the gates on the fence since we put the pool in, and so to get to the pool you have to go down the stairs and out through the basement. When they were ready to leave, April and I walked up the steps with them and discovered....we couldn't open the doorknob on the door at the top of the steps!
(we'd been having more and more difficulty using this doorknob prior to this.)
April ran back downstairs as I unsuccessfully kept trying to turn the doorknob and get the door open. We couldn't use our keys to unlock the fence gates as, you guessed it...the keys were on the Other side of the stubborn basement door. So, April (Miss Resourceful:) was getting the pool ladder out of the pool, to use it to try and climb over our fence...when, thank goodness, her Dad drove up.
She hollered over the fence at him and tried to explain that he needed to come let us out. I'm not sure he understood exactly what she was trying to say? since 'we're trapped in the basement,come let us out" yelled over the fence didn't really seem to make much sense to him? :) but,eventually, he understood and came inside to open the door.
Only, it wouldn't open for Him,either!!
Now, he was going back out to the truck to get tools to try and turn the doorknob, my neighbors are looking more panicked, and I am disgusted at this point, calling out to April "Just tell your Dad to throw the keys to you, and we're going out the fence gate!" because I have just given up on ever getting out the door.
We got out the fence gate, and my neighbors left. (do you think they'll ever come back?LOL) and as it turned out, Tony never could get the doorknob turned and finally had to take it completely Off in order for us to be able to use the door.
After he did, he turned to me and said "Between you getting locked in the shed like you did back in Feb, and now getting locked in our own basement? I'm not sure it's safe to let you go ANYWHERE, even in our own House!!"
And that was my latest dork adventure :)
The granddaughter of one of Kyle's old babysitter's sent me this last night, she'd just come across it and thought I'd like to see it.
Someone asked if all my family in MN were OK, and yes, thank God, they are.
If you'd like to donate to the Twin Cities Red Cross? From their website
Twin Cities Red Cross Responding to Hwy. 35W Bridge Collapse
Our hearts go out to everyone affected by the 35W bridge collapse tragedy.
The Twin Cities Red Cross is responding to the this disaster by providing mass care, mental health counseling and more to those affected.
NOTE - Due to call volume, we are currently experiencing difficulties with our phone systems.
Register as SAFE and WELL
To register yourself as SAFE and WELL or to search for information on a loved one - please visit www.safeandwell.org. Concerned family and friends can search the list of those who have registered.
To Donate Money and Blood
The best way to help those affected by this and other disasters is to donate money and/or blood.
To make a financial donation - CLICK HERE. You can also call 612-460-3700.
You can also mail financial donations to:
American Red Cross - Twin Cities Area Chapter
NW 5597
P.O. Box 1450
Minneapolis, MN 55485-5597
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My thoughts and prayers are with all those who lost loved ones yesterday, all those injured or affected by this, and with all those still working on rescue/recovery efforts.
Thinking of Christmas in August:)
We'll be going to spend Christmas with my family in MN, and the flights were just booked yesterday...YAY!
I have not been together with my whole family since my brother's wedding in Hawaii in 2003
although I did visit Mom and Dad and my sisters and their families in 2004.
And April visited with them in 2005, but I was unable to go.
Since Hawaii and the last time I saw my brother and his wife, they have had TWO daughters!
And the last time I saw my sister Sue's son,Jake, he looked like this
and now he looks like this!
The last time I saw sister Sue's daughters, they were still 'girls'
and now they have grown into beautiful young ladies
(as has April, who would shriek with horror,LOL, if she knew I had posted old pictures of her:)
Hopefully by the time we visit, Tracy and Adam will finally have the child they are in the process of adopting from China
and even though MN will probably look like This while we are there
I don't really care what the weather is like (as long as it doesn't mean our flight is cancelled,LOL)
I'm just going to be so excited to be together with everyone again!! :)
