Thursday 13: May

Thirteen Things about What we did in May 1) May 1st, 8th, 15th & 22nd. Darly has Gymnastics class HERE. What do I do while she's in class? Sometimes I read, sometimes I knit (I'm not very good yet) and sometimes I go shopping. 2) May 2nd. First we started off the morning with a Field Day. Remember back in school when we went out to the foot ball field and did all sorts of running and relay races to just wear us out? Well that's what Darly did! She had fun and won lots of cheep prizes...happy day. Then we had a field trip to Buffalo Bill's grave on Lookout Mountian. (I couldn't get the link to work when I was posting this...hopefully its back up now.) The museum has lots of cool stuff about Bill and his show. Did you know that they parked a tank on his grave to keep people from digging him up? Apparently a bunch of people were not too happy that he was burried in Colorado instead of WY and NE. Weird. 3) May 3rd. We went to see Slim Goodbody! This was a really cool show where the kids learned about the different systems in our bodies. I kinda think that Darly already knew most of what Slim had to say, but she learned some really cool songs to help remember it all. 4) May 4th. We had a play date at a friend's house and stayed very late. They have a trampoline...need I say more? Nope! I wasn't on it at all. I stayed on terra firma next to the fire pit because it was chilly that day. 5) May 5th. Girl Scout meeting. Well it should have been a meeting, but instead we went to a play called The End of the Beginning. Oh this was hillarious! I would highly recommend seeing this if you can. The ant character kept popping up in the audience (when your attention was focused on the stage) and hollering at the cast to hurry up...too funny! 6) May 6th. Home Depot Kids Workshop. Check the Home Depot in your area for this and its tons of fun and FREE!!! Every first Saturday of the month they have a free workshop where the kids come in and build a wood kit. This month's was a planter for Mother's Day that Darly gave to MIL. It was very nice. 7) Nope! It wasn't on May 7th...hee hee. It was on May 10th. This was a class that I taught the kids on how seeds travel and grow. First I had the kids disect a lima bean and taught them the different parts of the seed. I figured out later that I should have died one with food coloring because the parts were pretty hard to see. Then the kids went on a seed hunt to find different kinds of seeds in the park and we talked about how they travel. And finally the kids got to plant some seeds to start their own gardens. One mom said she would be bringing her kid's seedlings to my house if they made it because they have no yard. 8) May 17th. I was sick that day so we skipped our regularly scheduled park day and went to the Scholastic Book Fair Warehouse sale where all the books were 1/2 off the cover price...except for the books that were $1 or $0.25 each. We got a ton of good stuff, including "Ya-Yas in Bloom" that I just finished reading and a Rachael Ray cookbook for kids. Love those sales. 9) May 18th. We went to the Cheyenne Mountian Zoo and had a guided tour. It was very nice...great weather. And I got to pet a Walaby! I tried to upload a picture here, but its not working for me...probably protected on shutterfly. 10) May 22nd. We went to the Manitou Cliff Dwellings. I blogged about it HERE. We had a great time, but I was really bummed to find out that the dwelling were not originally constructed there. But it makes sense...especially since there were so many walls taken out so that us HUMONGOUS people could fit into them...the indians who built these dwellings were all less than 5 feet tall. I got to feel like a tall person!!! 11) May 23rd. We went to see Cosmic Journey at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. It was a nice show and I would have never gone to the Planetarium otherwise as the non-group price even for members is really steep and I'm a cheap person. 12) May 26th. Presentation Club! This a little program put on my our Homeschooling Group once a month where the kids get to work on their public speaking skills. Its known that if you can overcome your fear of speaking in public at an early age you do much better in life. I myself am terrified of speaking in public...but Darly doesn't have a problem with it. This month's topic was Books so the kids could talk about any book they want to. Darly chose Meet Felicity, part of the American Girl Collection. 13) May 31st. Another play date with the trampoline. But today it rained so we left early only to run into hail when we got closer to home. We hid out at our local library until the storm passed and then went to buy some flowers for the yard.

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more bed talk

Uisce said...
I could fall asleep on the hard cold floor of the garage if there wasn't a car there. Come to think of it, I could sleep on the roof of the car, but I'd worry about falling off!

12:07 PM

Okay, Uisce's comment on my mattress post got me thinking of our time in S. Korea. While we were there we frequently went shopping in the Korean stores. Sometimes these could be quite an adventure, but usually the shops had been recommended by other families who had already checked them out and the shop keepers were excited to try to sell to us.

So there was this one "Department store" that we would go to. I've forgotten the name of it. But it had some pretty good stuff. We still have some of the items we bought there. I should talk Darly out of some of the toys. Anyway...

The Department store was actually kinda like a flea market in that each section was owned by a different person. I guess they just leased space in the building. And the floor that we liked the most had a furniture store on it. And of course the furniture store sold beds. They carried what we would consider a traditional boxspring & mattress type of bed...but...

They also carried a bed that was a slab of marble. There was a really nice bed stand with a headboard and then the slab of marble. I have no idea how people slept on these and I have no idea how they moved them or what one costs either. I do know that Korean appartments are very small and that one would have to be quite rich to afford one of these as all the furniture was expensive.

It was good for wondering about.

off to get a new mattress today...

DH and I have been complaining about our mattress for a long time. Not that it's uncomfortable...but that it has two dents in it. I guess my neck isn't too happy with it because I do wake up crunchy.

The current mattress is a Sealy and was bought about 8 years ago (when Darly started hogging all the room in our bed!) But now it has two distinct dents and its time for an upgrade.

So we are considering all of our options in the mattress market. Luckily we have quite a few places that carry multiple types so we can test drive a few without too much driving all over the place. I've also done some internet research and checked out consumer reviews.

I know a few to avoid, but I still have to test drive a few of the more expensive types to see if we think they are worth it.

DH is now saying that he doesn't think that he'll be able to tell the difference. And since I have the back that is in worse shape we'll deffer to me anyway.

I would like to go right now...but as you can tell (I'm blogging...not shopping) DH feels that we should wait until after lunch. "Are you ready for lunch at 10:30 dear?" hee hee

Update: We are back and we have a new mattress. It was delivered today in fact! *happy dance!*
First we went to Mattress King and checked out their selection. I have to say that the one we really liked the best there was the Thermapedic. But I was bothered by how difficult it is to turn on that mattress. People always say that you don't toss and turn on them, but I wonder if that is because you can't.

Dh liked the Beauty Rest and I liked a Sealy, but I wasn't thrilled with either. So we then went to the Mattress Firm. They carried many of the same brands, but different models. They also had 3 different brands of the Therma-Foam beds. Darly spent a lot of time on those...she really wants one. We suggested that she get a job to afford one as they are about 3 times as much as a regular mattress...depending on the brand.

At the Mattress Firm I really only liked the Sealy and only the Sealy that they use to judge how firm you like your bed. The rest were just not right. I felt so much like Goldielocks...this one is too hard, this one is too soft. DH liked a Sealy, but he liked the cheap one that was on clearance. That sucker was as hard as a brick! There was no way that I was buying it. So DH said I could have the one I liked.

So now he's up stairs trying it out. I don't hear any noise, so I'm guessing that I didn't do too bad. I'll update by Tuesday with how it went.

Thursday 13: Its time to Garden

Thirteen Things about my garden! Let's just hope that I have 13 things to say about my garden...I'll take some pictures tomorrow for you...but there isn't much to see yet. 1) The weather has been just awesome lately (today we turned on the AC for the first time) and I've been itching to get my garden planted because I long for my own fresh produce. 2) It is probably very silly that I even plant a vegetable garden each year because I am the only one (besides Trina, Trudy & Lilly* see their interview below) who even eats the vegetables. 3) but I share the extras with all my friends and they all really appreciate them. I once brought cherry tomatoes (didn't plant those this year) to park day and my friends were eating them like grapes. Personally I can't handle popping cherry tomatoes this way...I've gotta cut them in half cuz I can't do the squirting. Blech. 4) I hardly ever have to take any of my veggies home with me when I bring them to share. Although when I bring MIL squash she prefers the tiny ones and they tend to get very big on my plants very fast. One day they are like 4 inches and the next they've grown to 12. 5) So I first turned the soil in the garden at around the beginning of the month. I was just too excited. I knew that planting too early in Colorado will get you frozen plants, but I had to turn the soil. 6) MIL's neighbor orders 2 yards of dirt for her yard each year, because the smallest amount the landscape supply will deliver is 2 yards. Her daughter's husband was supposed to take part of the dirt for his house. He NEVER came to get the dirt (this man is a jerk who takes advantage of his MIL.) So Miss B offered the extra dirt to MIL & us. We offer to pay, she refuses, we take the dirt. So we carried dirt home in 5 gallon buckets, old tree pots, flower pots & old fertilizer bags. We did 3 trips. 7) My garden looks very happy with the new dirt mixed in with the old. We also mixed in a good portion of compost from our compost heap. Last year's garden didn't get the compost because the pumpkin seeds that I tossed on it from our Halloween pumpkins started growing...we got lots of pumpkins last year. :D 8) So we mixed all the new dirt and the compost and turned the soil again. It's very soft in the garden from all the turning. The carrots should love it. 9) I planted pumpkins, bell pepers, green beans, spinach, about 5 different squash varieties, tomatoes, carrots, radish & parsley. The parsley is an attempt to bring back the swallow tail butterflies. We had two catapillars on it two years ago, but I think the birds might have gotten them. 10) Oh, I have strawberry plants that have been in the garden since we first moved in. They do very well, but I had to get a snake last year to keep the grasshoppers & mice out. Luckily I found a bull snake in the yard (well actually, Lilly found the snake...I just carried him over.) The snake wasn't too happy about the move at first, but I found him a few days later sunning himself on the strawberries. 11) Lilly decided last year that she likes homegrown carrots, fresh from the garden...she started digging them up herself. So now the garden has a fence to keep her out. 12) Last year I went out to my garden to watch a momma robin showing her babies my strawberry plants. They get covered with netting now... and since robins were eyeballing my flower garden in the front after I planted, I decided some netting insurance over the entire garden might be a good idea. 13) Unfortunately, I couldn't get the netting all the way up to the back fence so there is a gap, but I don't know if the birds will try to get in. I guess it depends on how determined they are. Hopefully if I keep it wet enough they won't bother and the seeds will germinate quickly and I can remove the net to just the strawberries. Now I've got to figure out how to get the ants off my fruit (apples & cherries too) without making them poisonous to humans. Any ideas?

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Cool stuff!

This is the very cool field trip that we went on Monday with my good buddy Jen.
Edited to add: I guess you would like to know where we went, huh? This is the Manitou Cliff Dwellings in Manitou Springs, CO. There! That's better.

We all had a blast and I even put Darly to work!


She's doing a great job grinding the corn and we should have enough for corn bread by friday if she doesn't take any breaks.

WARNING! Watch what you blog about!

Warning to everyone. Watch what you blog about. For the last Thursday Thirteen I compaired DH's family to mine...showing how different they are and showing my strong bias toward DH's family and how I was thankful that my family lives in another state.... Well guess what? My Mother called. No. She didn't read my blog. She doesn't even have working internet right now...whew! Nah, she called me because she is SERIOUSLY considering moving to my state!!!! Currently Mom lives in FL...land of huricanes and great big old sink holes. Not that she lives in an area that actually gets affected by either of these phenomena, but her homeowner's insurance company has raised her rates because of them. Originally when she first bought the insurance she bought just enough to cover her mortgage (gambling on the highly likely possiblity that she would NEVER have to file a claim and so far she's been right.) However, the insurance company decided that they didn't like this and made her change her policy to cover replacement cost of the house which increased her payment. And now they want to increase her payment again. This will add an extra $500 per month to her mortgage (they're payed together). So Mom wants to get "outta Dodge!" And move to lovely Colorado that doesn't have huricanes or sink holes. Mom was thinking that since we had all those mountain fires a few years back that possibly that land might be for sale cheap... (I explained to her that the insurance companies are doing to mountain homes what they're doing to huricane homes in FL... oh...) She longs for a home in the mountains with a fire place... (I don't think she's thinking of the logistics of mountain living and proximity to grocery stores and employment.) She can afford a home that costs $120,000... She needs to keep dreaming! So my task appointed to me by her is to help her locate a house in Colorado. So I have a question to ask myself. 1) how close do I want my mother living to me? I saw a "Everybody Loves Raymond" episode once where Raymond and Deborah are discussing where they should move (this was a flash back to when Deborah was pregnant with the twins.) Raymond pulls out a Map of New York and marks where his parents live. Then he draws a circle that encloses about a 5 mile radius (maybe further). He calls this the HOT ZONE. The HOT ZONE is too close to live to his parents because it would mean that they could visit EVERYDAY! This is NO GOOD! Then he draws a bigger circle that is to show the outer edge of the next zone. Any point past the edge of this circle is too far away because that would mean the OVERNIGHT VISIT which is also no good. So the ideal location would be inbetween the hot zone and the overnight visit zone. I'm thinking the overnight visit zone wouldn't be too bad either because that would mean visits spread out further... See, currently MIL lives in the good zone. Too far away for everyday visits but too close for the overnight. However she lives close enough that having her come to watch Darly when we go out of town is very possible (of course MIL travels to NC to babysit BIL's kids all the time, so any distance would be okay for that.) So the ideal location for Mom to move to would be about 30 minutes and further away. Then we have to consider... her price range of $120K her need for employment (and that of my step-dad) her proximity to supplies her desire to live in the mountains and her desire to have a fireplace (which is really a non-issue because most homes come with fireplaces here...although the closer to Denver, the more likely that they must be gas or you can't ever use them.) BTW: she has and uses a fireplace in FL! Oh yeah, I forgot that she is not at all willing to consider a townhome, even though stepdad would prefer a yard that is easy to take care of. Anyone ever wonder why I'm so stubborn? I know that this isn't really a Monday Memory...but it took a long time and it's all true. If you leave me your link, I'll visit you and comment too. :D

Thursday 13: His VS Mine

Thirteen Things about Comparing DH's family against mine. Disclaimer: While I dearly love both families there are some differences and I thought that it might be noteworth (or funny) to point those differences out. 1) Phrases heard at each families' home... DH: "You can always tell a German, but you can't tell him much." (they're German and it's funny.) Mine: "We are equal opportunity offenders here." (I like to say that I was raised by wolves. Mom taught us that teasing was fun. But now I see it as her being insecure.) 2) Guest rooms at our parents' homes... DH: Fully furnished bedroom with a double bed, TV and empty dressers to store your stuff in. There is also a completely stocked bathroom that is solely for the guests use. Mine: Nice bedroom with two twin beds (one with a very bad mattress!), No TV, dressers are full of Step-dad's things and he gets offended if you open the dressers looking for a place to put your things while staying there for 2 weeks. Because mom doesn't like to clean the shower in the "guest" bathroom you have to trek threw the Master bedroom and use the Master bathroom to shower in...DH refused to do this and used the guest bathroom anyway which horrified my mother because she hadn't bothered to clean the shower first. 3) Meals... DH: Nice meals that are usually DH's favorite foods, lovingly prepared by MIL. You are always welcome to help with the dinner prep, but it's never expected and you'll get shooed out of the kitchen when it's time to do the dishes. Mine: You had better come prepared to cook and clean up after yourself because "we ain't runnin no restraunt here!" 4) Laundry... DH: MIL will ask if you have any laundry that you would like her to do while she is doing hers anyway. You'll get it back all folded and ironed if necessary. Mine: You have to ask to use the laundry room. And the water there smells bad, so you really don't want to wash your clothes there at all if you can help it. 5) Transportation... DH: MIL will let you use her car anytime you want and will obtain a car seat too. Mine: Stepdad & Mom will drive you along anywhere that they are going, but Stepdad does this floor it and coast thing with the gas pedal that makes you toss your cookies...so you're better off renting a car. 6) Entertainment: DH: MIL will offer you magazines, TV, games, etc... Whatever they have at the house, it's yours to use while you are there. Mine: The last time we were there, Mom was doing yard work (even though she knew that we were coming) which consisted of buring tree branches that had fallen from the last string of hurricanes...we were invited to help. (although, Darly loved tossing acorns into the fire and hearing them pop!) 7) Going to dinner: DH: MIL will fight you to pay the dinner check, everytime. Mine: Stepdad will offer to pay, but Mom won't offer but will gladly accept for you to pay. 8) Visiting the rest of the family: DH: The reunion was scheduled for a certain time on that day and the rest of the time we were there we were free to do anything that we wanted, but SILs' homes were always open if we wanted to drop by. Mine: Mom wants us with her 24/7 and was hurt that we decided to get a hotel room the last time we visited, *see the bathroom incident above for reasoning*. Brothers don't bother to return calls. And Grandmother returns the call on the day before you are leaving to set up a get together for that night after favored cousin gets off work...he is late and so the get together can not start until he arrives...meanwhile we still have to pack to go home. 9) How the familes get along with eachother: DH: While there are some squabbles, for the most part everyone gets along very nicely. Family get togethers are never a stressful event. Mine: Mom isn't speaking to her mother or her sister so you have to schedule different visits ("is she going to be there?") My youngest brother is really mad at my mom so he won't be at anything with her there, but will come to my grandmother's. Go figure. humm...running out of good stuff here. 10) Family gossip... DH: (the tables turn here...) MIL will tell you everything about everyone and her opinons about it all. I have to wonder if she's telling me all this stuff about the rest of them...whats she saying about me to them??? Mine: Well since no one is really talking to Mom, she doesn't have much gossip to spread. Although she will complain about how Bro#1 hardly every comes over and when he does they barely stay long enough to say hi. 11) Family size... DH: has two sisters & two brothers Mine: I have 3 brothers 12) Family rank (or birth order) DH: he's the baby of the family Mine: I'm the oldest child 13) MIL experience... DH: when we got married, DH was the 4th to go down the eisle. MIL being the baby in her family had lots of experience with In-Laws and shared with me this advice..."Every family is different. You may not always agree, but you compromise." Mine: I got married second and Mom spent the entire time since Bro#1 got married criticizing how different SIL#1's family was. She was once heard saying "Well no wonder he had a Heart Attack! Look how she makes the gravy!" So there you have it. I made it to thirteen, yay. I'm very glad that mom lives in FL and that MIL lives here in CO. We are all the perfect distance from eachother as to not get on eachother's nerves. Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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Monday Memories: My mother's day

Monday Memories: Did I ever tell you about How my Mother's Day went? Okay, okay. I know this isn't some old memory...but hey, its Monday and I'm tired and I've got a sore throat and whine whine whine... So yesterday I get up and shower for Church at 7:30am. Then I come down to the 'puter to check out what all happened while I was up at Estes Park. Soon I get the rest of the family up and ready for Church and we head outside to leave. But I noticed that my nextdoor neighbor was finally at home and I've been meaning to share some Iris with her (MIL's neighbor gave me 5 boxes full!). So we're talking and DH shows the neighbors the car where we hit the deer. We get to Church a little late and I run Darly down to Sunday School...there is no Sunday School. So we head back upstairs. I missed the honoring of mothers...oh well. But they did honor Sunday School teachers, so I got to stand up for that. It was a very nice service. We get home and Darly and DH are going to make me lunch. DH is trying to find out what I would like for lunch, Darly really really wants to make me waffles. So I agree to that. They make the waffles and I get a little more time on the 'puter. As we are eating the waffles, I get to open my Mother's Day cards and find out why Darly really wanted waffles...she had written in my card that she hoped I enjoyed my waffles. Poor kid, what if DH had talked me into what I really wanted...a turkey sandwich? So then DH & Darly emptied the dishwasher and cleared away the dishes and we did some yardwork. I pulled some weeds in my garden and took the rest of the leaves off of my strawberry plants (they will winter well if you cover them with staw or leaves...I think I prefer straw, its easier to remove.) Finally we head over to MIL's house. DH mowed her lawn and applied this sulfer stuff that is supposed to help with the dead spots in her yard and the neighbor's. (MIL's neighbor is a little looney...she's the one who pulled out a 5 boxes of iris to plant something new in her garden. But neighbor buys this very expensive sulfer stuff and offers to MIL that she can have some too if DH will apply it to the yard...she even has the sprayer. We didn't bother to tell neighbor that you are supposed to apply this product from Sept to May every month.) Who knows? Maybe it will work anyway. The stuff is supposed to be highly caustic so DH had a change of clothes wore gloves and a mask. He changed and cleaned up, storing his clothes in a plastic bag for the trip home. We had a lovely dinner that Darly helped prepare and we talked about my neice's (Darly's godparent's) engagement. And that's about it. Pretty quiet but a nice day. But now I've got a sore throat...yuck. OOPS! I almost forgot the loot. Darly made me a ceramic bunny when she was at Estes Park. And DH got me a bunny votive holder. both very nice. =:3 Links to other Monday Memories

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Oh Deer!

Last night we were driving home from an overnight trip up to Estes Park. We had gone up there for a LLL Leader retreat at the YMCA camp. It was a fun trip.

We left Lilly at my MIL's house but she was now happily riding in the back of the car. Dh was driving my car. Less than a block from our house a deer jumped out in front of the car and we hit him pretty square on. DH had tried his best to avoid the deer, but the darned thing jumped in front of us. The deer was thown about 6 feet into the other lane and it rolled at least once (maybe more). It then got up and ran off into the park. There's a cow pasture on one side of the road and a park on the other side so it's common for the deer to run through there. We've just been lucky that this was our first time hitting one.

When we got home we looked at the car. Dh said that it was running funny. The only apparent damage was the head light was pushed in, the side light was cracked and had some deer fur in it and there were two small dents in the hood.

I called up the police non-emergency line when we got home to report the accident. The officer who took the call said that there was nothing to report unless someone (human) was hurt or the damage to the car was over $1000. So that was it. DH & I were both concerned for the injured deer, but in the city limits they don't hunt it down to put it out of it's misery.

So then this morning we got a better look at the car. My bumper is smushed in and there's quite a dent in the driver's side front pannel where the bumper bent it. So maybe it will be over $1000, but we aren't going to report it because the car is so old (1994) that we probably won't get much of it repaired...just make it drivable again.

I asked DH if I might get a new car out of this and he says that now even more than before I have to drive it into the ground. Boo hoo. I've been longing for THIS! Oh well.

So I'll let you know how much the damage to my car is. All that is likely to get repaired is the headlight & sidelight.

I forgot to mention that the speedlimit is only 35mph through that part of town. I typically travel at 40, but DH follows the rules. So with the breaking we weren't going more than 30...right.

Yeah, the deer is probably just fine. Meanwhile I don't like driving a smashed up car! It makes me feel trashy.

Thursday 13: Bunnies!

Thirteen Things about Bunnies! These are all pictures of rabbits available for adoption from the Colorado House Rabbit Society. 1. Dudley 2. Dempsey 3. Wesley 4. Benny 5. Mara 6. Aurora 7. Emilio 8. Happy 9. Dwight 10. Fynn 11. Elmo 12. Luna 13. Alfred Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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Monday Memories: another tornado & a near miss

Monday Memories: Did I ever tell you about Texas Tornados & a near miss Dh & I moved to San Angelo, Texas, in 1992 about a month after we got married. And since there was nothing better to do with my time there I decided to go back to college at Angelo State University. But that doesn't have very much to do with my story. Because Texas is in Tornado Alley (that part of our wonderful country that is prone to getting lots of big terrible tornadoes) they would hold Disaster Drills to be prepared for them. Disaster Drills for those of you who haven't heard about them is where they pretend that a big disaster (natural or man made) has hit and test all the city's resources (police, fire, medical) to see if they are ready. So the city decides that do a Tornado Disaster Drill and offers to residents of where we lived to be participants/victims. Being a victim can be really cool. First they have folks come and make you up with fake injuries and then you are given a "part" in the "play"/drill. I really wanted to be a victim but unfortunately I had class that day. I returned home that afternoon to see them cleaning up and found out from a neighbor what the senerio was. They pretended that a tornado came threw destroying my nextdoor neighbor's house (the other half of my duplex) and lots of damage to my house. My DH was watching everything from his office on the computers. So if I had participated he would have seen "female victim @ 12435 OurStreet. Condition: whatever condition they decided I would be in." I was so bummed out. I'm not sure why but that seemed like it would have been really cool for DH to see me on the computer. Oh well... Flash forward to Labor Day weekend, a few years later. DH & I had made plans to go to Las Vegas for a vacation. But before we left, we were invited to a dinner party at our next door neighbor's house. The day started out beautiful but as normal in TX a storm soon blew in. We were busy enjoying the dinner but looking outside from time to time. Soon small hail began to fall and I wondered if we should go move the cars under the carports before the hail got bigger (you don't want to be outside with hail larger than a pea!) But we decided to just keep an eye on it. We flipped on the TV to watch the weather, but nothing bad was happening except there was a tornado watch. After the party when we returned home the news had finally caught up with the storm and we learned that a rather large tornado had hit our town with major damage to DH's place of work. DH made quite a few phone calls to check on things because normally he would have been in charge of clean up and re-construction. But everyone said that it was okay for him to go ahead with his vacation. We left for Vegas the following morning. We check into our hotel room and see the message waiting light flashing on our phone. We thought the message must have been for the previous occupant because we weren't expecting any calls. So we enjoyed our vacation and ignored the light...until the final night of our trip. We figured that we would clear out the message. We then learned that the message was for DH. Luckily it was just some guy from work informing him of the tornado and telling him that it would be okay for him to stay (he didn't have to report to work.) Whew! When we got back we learned that the city had major damage and that a wall of DH's office building had been ripped off! But since they were building a new building DH would have to work from the damaged office for another 5 months (threw the winter) with a sheet of plywood over the window and plastic tarps to keep out the weather. Other than freezing his tail off that winter, the storm wasn't too bad. Oh and my near miss... Way way back when I was a Junior in High School, a guy that I was dating took me to a Major League Pre-Season foot ball game. He didn't live too far from the stadium so we walked. As we were leaving the game we were crossing the entrance to an office building when this car comes roaring into the parking lot. I was right in the middle of the entrance, when BF pushes me out of the way. No one was hurt and the car sped off. Don't know why the car was in such a hurry...probably just a bunch of kids off for a joy ride. Links to other Monday Memories

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How do you raise a Bookworm?

I've been pondering... what was it that I did or didn't do that made Darly love to read so much. I'm not sure.

Here's what I do know...

DH & I both love to read. If we've got free time (or sometimes we make the time) we are reading.

When Darly was little, we both read to her all the time.

When Darly was older, I took her to the Library for story time every week and we would check out books about anything she wanted to hear about. I would say "what do you want to hear about?" and we would search the computer to see what kinds of books they had on that topic and check out 10 or 20.

When Darly was even bigger, she would "read with us" or look at the words while we read the story.

Darly had those foam puzzle alphabet blocks. At first we learned the letters from them, then we learned the sounds from them.

Then I tried the book "TEACH YOUR CHILD TO READ IN 100 EASY LESSONS", but when I was buying it the website suggested that we also try "BOB BOOKS FIRST!" When Darly got ahold of those books she could care less about learning lessons. She could read these and away we went. She read all of those. And then I found "Now I'm Reading"

And now after reading all the Easy Reader books at our library, she has read the "Junie B. Jones"; "Geronimo Stilton" and now the "American Girl Collection"

I think the real question is how to get her to stop reading...but I'm not asking!

Thursday 13: Interview with Darly...by you.

Thirteen Things questions >YOU ASKED DARLY Darly is my 8 year old daughter and here at the answers to questions from you! SurrenderDorothy said... Darly- 1.) What is your favorite color Pink! 2.) and why? Its Pretty! It comes in many shades. 3.) What is your favorite thing that is your favorite color? My bedroom. Mom's notes: Darly's bedroom is painted in two tones of pink with a ragged effect. We did this when DH went out of town. Bone said... Darly, 4.) What's your favorite cereal? Oatmeal Raisin Crisp 5.) Can Bone have one of your rabbits? Uuuummmm… NO! Mom's notes: Sorry Bone, but the rabbits aren't Darly's to give away...They're MINE! and nope, you can't have them. However, there are lots of wonderful bunnies in need of a good home available at your local shelter or a House Rabbit Society near you. Carmen said... 6.) Darly, what do you want to be when you grow up? This has changed a few times over the years. When I was 3, I wanted to be a vet. But then I wanted to be a ROCK STAR! and then for a while I wanted to be a Rock Star and a Librarian. But now I want to be a Librarian. Mom and Dad both think that's a great job for me and I think it will be good too because I love to read books. Denise said... Aw..that's cute! Darly, how do feel about the rising cost of fuel? KIDDING! The only time I notice really is when Dad is looking at the Discover bill and hollers out about how much Mom has been spending... "Since when does it cost over $40 to fill up that car?!?!?!" Mom's notes: Actually DH usually complains about how much I spend in general, but doesn't seem to factor in that about 1/2 of the bill is for groceries and then there's about 1/8th for gas with the remaining costs for stuff we need or a few wants. Seriously.... 7.) What's your favorite book? Right now I'm really into the American Girl Collection series. I really love the Felicity books. You can read about them on my favorite website American Girl I love to play the games and wish I could buy all the stuff there. And I really want to go to one of the American Girl Place stores. Mom's notes: We were at the grocery store the other day and the Checker commented on how Darly had her nose in a book. He asked how I had gotten her to be such a bookworm and the only answer I could come up with at the time was "Good Books." Better Safe Than Sorry said... awww, what a cute list! 8.) let's see, if you could pick whatever you wanted to do on a Saturday, what you would pick, anything at all! Play all day with Dad! Mom's notes: yeah, she gets very upset when Dad has to do something silly like mow the lawn or pay the bills. She would spend 24/7 with him if he were here. Jen said... 9.) Darly, what's your favorite food? Pizza with pepperoni 10.)Where's your favorite place to go with your mom and dad? Museum of Nature & Science There, I can't think of any more at the moment! Uisce said... I wish one of my kids would become a vet... we have dozens of animals here on the farm! 11.) What is her favorite animal? For a pet: dog Wild: Giraffe Mom's notes: Darly really loves all Mammals. She's not such a fan of reptiles and she likes birds too, but they're a bit jumpy for her. She says that when she's an adult she wants to get a cat. Leanne said... 9. What is your favorite subject in school? I’m homeschooled but I like Science the most! 10. Do you always wear your hair the same way? No. 11. Do you have a favorite pair of shoes (yet)? I really like my butterfly sandals that I got for Easter. 12. Do you buy lunch at school or bring it with you? Make it at home since I’m usually there anyway. Unless we’re out on a field trip and then sometimes we bring it and sometimes we buy it. 13. What's you favorite dinner that mom makes? Steak with garlic buttered noodles. Mom is letting me help cook dinner more now and that's fun. Norma said... Librarianship is an interesting job, Darly, but increasingly you need to know a lot about computers and how to unjam printers. Are you up to that? I like computers a lot, so that’s no problem. And Mom is really good at unjamming printers & copiers so she’ll help me learn that. But keep on reading. I think those American Girl books are fabulous. No problem! I love books. Mom & I are going to another Scholastic Book Fair Warehouse sale soon…I can’t wait! Links to other Thursday Thirteens! SurrenderDorothy, Bone, Carmen, Denise Better Safe Than Sorry, Jen, Uisce , Leanne , Norma (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

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HELP

My good buddy Jen thought that last week's TT was so cute that I should do a similar interview with Darly. But I need some questions to ask her. I could post the questions that DH used to quiz her with the other day...but you would grow bored with that, I'm sure. So fire away and I'll ask her. I might even dig up a picture of her too.

Monday Memories: a twisted dream?

Monday Memories: Did I ever tell you about A Twister hit my house?


I don't remember exactally how old I was, it was some where between 8 and 11 though. I can date it to there because of the clothes I remember.
We were living in Benton LA where I spent a good deal of my childhood. I just tried to get a satelight map of my old house but for some odd reason the map doesn't even show the streets...I did the same for my current house and can see the streets very clearly. Maybe the streets in Benton don't show up because they're made of cheap asphalt?

Anyway I'm digressing here. I should first tell you that I'm a very heavy sleeper. I can sleep through anything...like when we lived in a trailor in FL someone who was driving drunk crashed into our trailor shoving the AC system completely under the trailor...I never woke up, even slept through the sound of police sirens and my mom talking with the police in the trailor. I didn't even believe my mother's "story" until I went outside and surveyed the damage myself. Okay, I've established that I can sleep through anything...

So it was a typical spring night in Benton and a storm was rolling in. My mother had run around the house opening the windows a crack so that they would not get sucked out and my father went out to try his best to keep his rabbit pens from blowing away.... I was asleep in my bed.

My father was at the rabbit pens and watched as the twister (small tornado) picked up one of his sheds and threw it at our house...about 4 inches from my bedroom window that I was sleeping under! The shed of course broke into many parts and some landed on our neighbor's house, right outside my other bedroom window (which was also open). I slept on. Had this shed hit the house 4 inches the other way, the window would have broken sending glass all over me...and I may not be here.

This same twister also took off the top portion of my favorite climbing tree. Previously this tree stood twice as tall as our one story house and about 15 feet from the back door. The twister took off the part that stood higher than the house and pretty much dropped it right next to the original tree.

The next morning was a normal day. I dressed to go to school in a sundress that my aunt had sewed for me. But it was trash collection day and my mother wanted the top of the tree in the trash. Since my father had refused to move the tree, she had me and my brothers help her drag the tree top to the street for the trash men to take. The bark on the tree trunk stained my dress...it was ruined and I had to still wear it to school because as soon as we got the tree moved the bus had arrived.

The next door neighbors an elderly (and crabby) couple had called and requested that we remove the shed from their roof. My mother was not a happy gal.

I don't remember any other twisters at that house... my next tornado story happened in Texas.

Links to other Monday Memories

The Shrone
Jen
Yellow Rose
Uisce
SurrenderDorothy
LibraGirl
Beckie
Mom’s secret life



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