We got back from Vacation very late last night...
our plane got in at 7:30pm and then we had to wait for the shuttle to take us to our car...on the way it stopped at a hotel which was a total shock to me!!! And we had to stop the driver from unloading our bags at the hotel.
Then we drove to MIL's to pick up our very Happy dog who was fitting in just fine at Grandma's house, but also extreemly glad that we came to get her. I think she thought that Grandma's was her new home... She sniffed Darly and didn't think too much of her, but once she sniffed me she was like "OH BOY! IT'S MOMMY!!!!!!!!!"
We then drove home and arrived sometime around 10pm or so. I had to unload the suitcase quickly or DH would have taken it upstairs and I wanted the dirty laundry to stay by the washing machine.
I then conked out on the couch...zzzz
In case you're wondering, I did have internet access during our trip, but I just lurked at your blogs. You'll hear all about it when I post my vacation stories...yes, Dawn with pictures. It's coming soon. Today I'm doing laundry and all the back from vacation chores...like weeding through the mail & email & voice mail.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Monday, September 18, 2006
Creapy!
A good friend of mine posted a copy of a picture of Cindy Crawford's baby girl modeling swimwear that grossed me out. I guess to each their own, but you won't find my baby in that.
I'm not going to copy the picture, but you can find it here.
I'm sick of Bratz (dolls with oversized heads, undersized bodies, too much make-up, too little clothes and big feet.) And all the other attempts to make little girls dress up like street walkers.
that's why my blog has a Mom's for Modesty link in the sidebar.
I'm not going to copy the picture, but you can find it here.
I'm sick of Bratz (dolls with oversized heads, undersized bodies, too much make-up, too little clothes and big feet.) And all the other attempts to make little girls dress up like street walkers.
that's why my blog has a Mom's for Modesty link in the sidebar.
silly rabbit
Darly came upstairs from feeding the rabbits and told me that Trudy had gotten herself stuck in the towel. Oh my.
Darly said that she had tried to get the towel off, but couldn't.
I asked if she was struggling and Darly said that she was not...so that's a good thing.
So I ran downstairs and sure enough she was sitting there, pretty as you please, with a towel wrapped around her body.
She had chewed a hole in the towel that was big enough for her head and front paws, but that's all. So I reached in to where she was and she ducked her head from me, but didn't run off. I'm assuming that maybe she couldn't run off.
I picked her up and noted how blog worthy she was. She wasn't in any noticable distress, so I told Darly to go get the camera. We took her picture so you all can
Then I set her down so I could get a good look at the situation. Well she was stuck. There was no backing her out or pulling her through. So I had Darly run back upstairs for scissors. As I was trying to get the scissors between her and the towel without hurting Trudy she decided to wiggle. I tried to throw the towel over her head to calm her down but that wasn't working. So I picked her up and was able to get the scissors in where I needed them and I cut the towel. Then I set her back down to see if she was indeed free and she hopped away...under the work table.
Darly, ever the mother, was worried that I wouldn't catch her... but I wasn't concerned and sure enough Trudy decided that under the workbench was not where she wanted to be and let me take her back to Trina who was hiding in a box and promptly thumped at me when I came in.
I'm sure both rabbits are now eating and talking trash about me.
My new pretty purple corderoy shirt was covered in rabbit fur (no that wasn't the look I was going for today.) So I had to use the lint roller on it. That took two sheets of lint tape and I'm still not hare free.
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Sunday School Cancelled
Due to severe shortage of teachers, they cancelled Sunday School at the 10:30 hour at my Church.
I'm glad that they did it on the one hand and bummed on the other. They also said that starting in November they would have Children's Church...which is basically the same thing only all the kids would be together with fewer teachers. Hummmm... how did this solve our problem?
So now parents who want their kids in Sunday School will be bringing them to the 9:30 hour and stuffing those classes full and burdening those poor teachers.
My Pastor said that the thing that bothered her the most was that many parents had put down on the Emergency Contact info that they would be at HOME while their kids were in Sunday School. WHY aren't they at Church helping? I could understand if they were at Church in service...but AT HOME?!?!?!? And I know one of the moms...grrr
My DH & I were thinking that perhaps instead of cancelling Sunday School they should offer it only to the classes that have teachers. Then some of the kids could go and some couldn't. Perhaps parents with kids in both classes would be more inclined to help if they could get all their kids in class at the same time.
But I'm thinkint that instead the kids will all probably get dumped into the 9:30 classes...which I agreed to help teach a second 4th grade class of.
UPDATE: The Pastor had decided that we will cancel Sunday School at 10:30 completely for now. And she agrees with me that the Children's Church is not the answer for finding more help.
I'm glad that they did it on the one hand and bummed on the other. They also said that starting in November they would have Children's Church...which is basically the same thing only all the kids would be together with fewer teachers. Hummmm... how did this solve our problem?
So now parents who want their kids in Sunday School will be bringing them to the 9:30 hour and stuffing those classes full and burdening those poor teachers.
My Pastor said that the thing that bothered her the most was that many parents had put down on the Emergency Contact info that they would be at HOME while their kids were in Sunday School. WHY aren't they at Church helping? I could understand if they were at Church in service...but AT HOME?!?!?!? And I know one of the moms...grrr
My DH & I were thinking that perhaps instead of cancelling Sunday School they should offer it only to the classes that have teachers. Then some of the kids could go and some couldn't. Perhaps parents with kids in both classes would be more inclined to help if they could get all their kids in class at the same time.
But I'm thinkint that instead the kids will all probably get dumped into the 9:30 classes...which I agreed to help teach a second 4th grade class of.
UPDATE: The Pastor had decided that we will cancel Sunday School at 10:30 completely for now. And she agrees with me that the Children's Church is not the answer for finding more help.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Sunday School apathy
It is my personal belief that if you have a child that you enroll in Sunday School that you should offer to help with Sunday School in some way. Not many of the parents at our Church feel the same way. It seems that they use Sunday School as free child care for while they attend Church and don't give it another thought. I've had one parent tell me that she just can't teach. I just don't get it...why not?
This year we have a SEVERE shortage of teachers for the Sunday School. It is so bad that there are many classes that just won't happen at all because there is no one to teach them. Now whether or not the Church really cancels the class remains to be seen...in the past they have combined classes (stressing out the teachers we do have) in order to have Sunday School.
I really hope that they cancel classes. These parents need to wake up to the fact that they need to help. I would really like to one Sunday march the kids upstairs, announce "Sorry Sunday School can't happen this week because we have no teachers." and have them go sit with their parents in service. I wonder if that's what it would take to get them to come help?
This year we have a SEVERE shortage of teachers for the Sunday School. It is so bad that there are many classes that just won't happen at all because there is no one to teach them. Now whether or not the Church really cancels the class remains to be seen...in the past they have combined classes (stressing out the teachers we do have) in order to have Sunday School.
I really hope that they cancel classes. These parents need to wake up to the fact that they need to help. I would really like to one Sunday march the kids upstairs, announce "Sorry Sunday School can't happen this week because we have no teachers." and have them go sit with their parents in service. I wonder if that's what it would take to get them to come help?
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
September 11, 2001 I remember...
I remember that day so well, as I’m sure that everyone who is old enough to remember does. I woke up that morning to hear the TV on downstairs in my mother-in-law’s home where we were living at the time. I went to the landing to see why she had it turned up so loud and saw the loop of the air planes being flown into the World Trade Center. We watched in horror and prayed that the people would make it out okay. The TV reporters were talking about what had happened so far and were commenting on how the buildings were built in such a way that they were strong enough to take this hit. They didn’t show the actual horror of people trying to escape the buildings, just the buildings from a distance getting hit by the planes, over and over. And suddenly they stopped the loop to show to our horror that the towers were falling. We still prayed for miracles and we cried too and we watched our TVs for days trying to find out all we could and make sense of it all. We had to explain to a three year old what was going on…there was no explaining why this had happened. And finally after a day or two we had to turn off the TV because there was nothing more to learn and all they were showing it seemed was the same loop tape.
No one that I knew personally died that day that I know of. So I feel at a loss on how to begin a tribute to a man I didn’t know.
Here’s what I do know about him:
Joseph Plumitallo, 45, bond broker shared love of horses with his son
The Cantor Fitzgerald employee owned several trotters
Date of Death 9/11/2001
By Frank Williams
Advance staff writer Staten Island Advance
Tuesday, 11/27/2001
Joseph Plumitallo loved owning horses.
The former Oakwood resident could be seen most Saturdays "scoping out" his trotters at the Freehold (N.J.) Raceway with his 5-year-old son, Joseph.
"He loved the excitement and the animals themselves. Always, even as a kid, he loved the races," said his wife of 18 years, the former Doreen Manno. "My son loves the horses, too. The two of them would go to the barn for a visit after my husband picked my son up from karate. It was something they did together." Some of the 45-year-old's favorite trotters were El Diablo, Almahurst Frontier, Rebel Rouser and Apple Picker, which was his first.
Mr. Plumitallo, who is among the missing in the attacks on the World Trade Center, had been a bond broker at Cantor Fitzgerald for 18 years. He was at his desk on the 104th floor of 1 World Trade Center on the morning of Sept. 11, talking to a friend when the plane hit the building, and the call was cut off. Born in Brooklyn, Mr. Plumitallo moved to Oakwood in 1989 and settled in Manalapan, N.J., in 1992.
"He was very happy. He was a guy who always saw the glass half-full," said his wife. "He found good things in everybody. He loved life itself." And he was always there to help out his family and friends.
"He was the big brother I never had," said a friend, who asked not to be identified.
Mr. Plumitallo, who loved getting the family together on weekends, enjoyed taking his daughters, Genna, 11, and Lisa, 9, to father/daughter dances and watching them perform in dance competitions.
An avid sports fan, he regularly attended Rangers, Mets and Jets games as well as many Stanley Cup, Super Bowl and World Series games, including last year's Subway Series.
Mr. Plumitallo, a member of New York Sports Club in Travis, also enjoyed playing racquetball and golf in his spare time.
"I'm going to miss everything about him," said Mrs. Plumitallo. "Especially, watching him play with the kids and that cute way he looked at me when telling a story."
In addition to his wife, Doreen, his son, Joseph, and his daughters, Genna and Lisa, surviving are his father, Louis; a brother, Louis, and three sisters, Phyllis Volpe, Joan Pecocaro and Nancy Brady.
There will be a memorial mass Saturday at 10 a.m. in St. Thomas More R.C. Church, Manalapan.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Another memorial that I found~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From A&P to Wall Street
Hey, tell the guys in Bensonhurst: Joe's horse came in first at Freehold the other day.
Yeah, the same Joseph Plumitallo who used to be the stock boy at the Stillwell Avenue A&P, where at 17 he caught the eye of Doreen Manno, 16, the meat wrapper. Got married and lived in a room in his parents' house on Lake Street. Talked his way into a bottom-rung job on Wall Street. Rode the F train to his future, as a Cantor Fitzgerald bond broker. Went from a polyester suit at the 1976 Lafayette High prom to wearing pinstripes, buying a few horses, and, at 45, treating clients to Super Bowls.
He was quite a talker. He would start that story of how Ms. Manno nodded off after one drink on a date at Dangerfield's, slept through dinner, dessert, "the whole show, asleep" and — here's where his smile would widen, eyes locked on Ms. Manno's, for the punch line — "in the ladies' room." And so many other stories.
Dressed impeccably, he would take his daughters, Genna, 11, and Lisa, 9, in new white outfits, to the hometown Father- Daughter Dance in Manalapan, N.J. He would drive his son, Joseph Jr., 5, over to the stable at Gaitway Farm on a Saturday to watch his favorite, El Diablo, get ready to race.
Are Diablo and the others still racing? You bet. It was Genna's wish, and Lisa's, and Joe Jr.'s. And you have to believe it would have been Joe's.
Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on December 11, 2001.
JOSEPH PLUMITALLO, 45, of Manalapan, N.J., loved the ponies. A bond broker at Cantor Fitzgerald, Plumitallo could be found most Saturdays checking out the horses he owned at the Freehold Raceway with his young son. "He loved the excitement and the animals themselves," said his wife Doreen Plumitallo. "Always, even as a kid, he loved the races." Plumitallo was talking on the phone to a friend when hijacked airplanes hit the World Trade Center Sept. 11. Besides his son, Plumitallo had two daughters. "I'm going to miss everything about him," his wife said. "Especially, watching him play with the kids and that cute way he looked at me when telling a story."
Copyright © 2001 The Associated Press
********************
I found that New York City named a street after Joseph in Staten Island. They renamed a lot of other streets as well, look here There was also a Memorial Golf outting in his name
Blogger isn't letting me post any pictures today...I'm guessing it's because everyone else is also posting these tributes...which is a good thing. To see a picture of Joseph click here. And here is a picture of a memorial that was placed in his hometown.
I know from what I’ve read that Joseph was a good husband and father. I know that a huge hole was torn in all our lives that day but nothing compared to what happened to those families. I still pray for them all.
While I didn't personally loose a friend or loved one that day this has touched me personally. My next-door neighbor's Son is currently stationed in Iraq and his wife could be sent over too leaving their 9 month old son. My brother is going to Kuwait for a year. My friend's husband is going to Afghanistan for a year. And there is always a chance that my DH could go too although currently his position is taking care of our homeland.
There were 2996 Victims/Heros/Angels that day. Men and women who gave their lives because of some man who is believed to be hiding in a cave half a world away hates Americans. Part of me wants Bin Laden to be dead and rotting in a cave and another part wants him to be alive and still rotting in that same cave.
My Pastor said that he saw a comic strip after 9/11 that had in the first square people wearing t-shirts that said African-American, German-American, Asian-American, etc. The caption read "Before 9/11." The next square showed the same people with shirts that said American. The capition read "After 9/11."
If the goal of the terrorist was to separate us, they failed miserably. All they've achieved is to stir up a hornet's nest.
We'll never forget and we'll never back down.
I borrowed this from Maremagnum. I thought that we could use a little Hope. It takes a few seconds to load.
No one that I knew personally died that day that I know of. So I feel at a loss on how to begin a tribute to a man I didn’t know.
Here’s what I do know about him:
Joseph Plumitallo, 45, bond broker shared love of horses with his son
The Cantor Fitzgerald employee owned several trotters
Date of Death 9/11/2001
By Frank Williams
Advance staff writer Staten Island Advance
Tuesday, 11/27/2001
Joseph Plumitallo loved owning horses.
The former Oakwood resident could be seen most Saturdays "scoping out" his trotters at the Freehold (N.J.) Raceway with his 5-year-old son, Joseph.
"He loved the excitement and the animals themselves. Always, even as a kid, he loved the races," said his wife of 18 years, the former Doreen Manno. "My son loves the horses, too. The two of them would go to the barn for a visit after my husband picked my son up from karate. It was something they did together." Some of the 45-year-old's favorite trotters were El Diablo, Almahurst Frontier, Rebel Rouser and Apple Picker, which was his first.
Mr. Plumitallo, who is among the missing in the attacks on the World Trade Center, had been a bond broker at Cantor Fitzgerald for 18 years. He was at his desk on the 104th floor of 1 World Trade Center on the morning of Sept. 11, talking to a friend when the plane hit the building, and the call was cut off. Born in Brooklyn, Mr. Plumitallo moved to Oakwood in 1989 and settled in Manalapan, N.J., in 1992.
"He was very happy. He was a guy who always saw the glass half-full," said his wife. "He found good things in everybody. He loved life itself." And he was always there to help out his family and friends.
"He was the big brother I never had," said a friend, who asked not to be identified.
Mr. Plumitallo, who loved getting the family together on weekends, enjoyed taking his daughters, Genna, 11, and Lisa, 9, to father/daughter dances and watching them perform in dance competitions.
An avid sports fan, he regularly attended Rangers, Mets and Jets games as well as many Stanley Cup, Super Bowl and World Series games, including last year's Subway Series.
Mr. Plumitallo, a member of New York Sports Club in Travis, also enjoyed playing racquetball and golf in his spare time.
"I'm going to miss everything about him," said Mrs. Plumitallo. "Especially, watching him play with the kids and that cute way he looked at me when telling a story."
In addition to his wife, Doreen, his son, Joseph, and his daughters, Genna and Lisa, surviving are his father, Louis; a brother, Louis, and three sisters, Phyllis Volpe, Joan Pecocaro and Nancy Brady.
There will be a memorial mass Saturday at 10 a.m. in St. Thomas More R.C. Church, Manalapan.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Another memorial that I found~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From A&P to Wall Street
Hey, tell the guys in Bensonhurst: Joe's horse came in first at Freehold the other day.
Yeah, the same Joseph Plumitallo who used to be the stock boy at the Stillwell Avenue A&P, where at 17 he caught the eye of Doreen Manno, 16, the meat wrapper. Got married and lived in a room in his parents' house on Lake Street. Talked his way into a bottom-rung job on Wall Street. Rode the F train to his future, as a Cantor Fitzgerald bond broker. Went from a polyester suit at the 1976 Lafayette High prom to wearing pinstripes, buying a few horses, and, at 45, treating clients to Super Bowls.
He was quite a talker. He would start that story of how Ms. Manno nodded off after one drink on a date at Dangerfield's, slept through dinner, dessert, "the whole show, asleep" and — here's where his smile would widen, eyes locked on Ms. Manno's, for the punch line — "in the ladies' room." And so many other stories.
Dressed impeccably, he would take his daughters, Genna, 11, and Lisa, 9, in new white outfits, to the hometown Father- Daughter Dance in Manalapan, N.J. He would drive his son, Joseph Jr., 5, over to the stable at Gaitway Farm on a Saturday to watch his favorite, El Diablo, get ready to race.
Are Diablo and the others still racing? You bet. It was Genna's wish, and Lisa's, and Joe Jr.'s. And you have to believe it would have been Joe's.
Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on December 11, 2001.
JOSEPH PLUMITALLO, 45, of Manalapan, N.J., loved the ponies. A bond broker at Cantor Fitzgerald, Plumitallo could be found most Saturdays checking out the horses he owned at the Freehold Raceway with his young son. "He loved the excitement and the animals themselves," said his wife Doreen Plumitallo. "Always, even as a kid, he loved the races." Plumitallo was talking on the phone to a friend when hijacked airplanes hit the World Trade Center Sept. 11. Besides his son, Plumitallo had two daughters. "I'm going to miss everything about him," his wife said. "Especially, watching him play with the kids and that cute way he looked at me when telling a story."
Copyright © 2001 The Associated Press
********************
I found that New York City named a street after Joseph in Staten Island. They renamed a lot of other streets as well, look here There was also a Memorial Golf outting in his name
Blogger isn't letting me post any pictures today...I'm guessing it's because everyone else is also posting these tributes...which is a good thing. To see a picture of Joseph click here. And here is a picture of a memorial that was placed in his hometown.
I know from what I’ve read that Joseph was a good husband and father. I know that a huge hole was torn in all our lives that day but nothing compared to what happened to those families. I still pray for them all.
While I didn't personally loose a friend or loved one that day this has touched me personally. My next-door neighbor's Son is currently stationed in Iraq and his wife could be sent over too leaving their 9 month old son. My brother is going to Kuwait for a year. My friend's husband is going to Afghanistan for a year. And there is always a chance that my DH could go too although currently his position is taking care of our homeland.
There were 2996 Victims/Heros/Angels that day. Men and women who gave their lives because of some man who is believed to be hiding in a cave half a world away hates Americans. Part of me wants Bin Laden to be dead and rotting in a cave and another part wants him to be alive and still rotting in that same cave.
My Pastor said that he saw a comic strip after 9/11 that had in the first square people wearing t-shirts that said African-American, German-American, Asian-American, etc. The caption read "Before 9/11." The next square showed the same people with shirts that said American. The capition read "After 9/11."
If the goal of the terrorist was to separate us, they failed miserably. All they've achieved is to stir up a hornet's nest.
We'll never forget and we'll never back down.
I borrowed this from Maremagnum. I thought that we could use a little Hope. It takes a few seconds to load.
Monday, September 11, 2006
How do I explain it all to her?
I know that I probably should have told Darly about 9/11 before now...I just couldn't figure out how. I know that if she had been in public school she would have been taught about it by now...but how? Would it be the way I want her to hear it? I don't know....
So today on the way home from Gymnastics class, I was mentioning that we needed to get home to take in the flag before it started raining...and Darly said something to the fact that today was just another normal Monday. She didn't understand why I had put out the flag today. There was my opening
I told her that No, today is not just any normal Monday. Today is the Anniversary of when terrorist highjacked airplanes and crashed them into 3 buildings killing nearly 3,000 people.
and then I waited for the questions...
that haven't come yet.
I plan to show her the pictures, show her some of the tributes that we have posted, and tell her about what has happened since. But I've always believed that it's better to eat an elephant one bite at a time...so we'll take this slowly.
So today on the way home from Gymnastics class, I was mentioning that we needed to get home to take in the flag before it started raining...and Darly said something to the fact that today was just another normal Monday. She didn't understand why I had put out the flag today. There was my opening
I told her that No, today is not just any normal Monday. Today is the Anniversary of when terrorist highjacked airplanes and crashed them into 3 buildings killing nearly 3,000 people.
and then I waited for the questions...
that haven't come yet.
I plan to show her the pictures, show her some of the tributes that we have posted, and tell her about what has happened since. But I've always believed that it's better to eat an elephant one bite at a time...so we'll take this slowly.
Saturday, September 09, 2006
The Camping Reports
We're back from our camping trip early. I see that no one came to clean the bathrooms...must find a better incentive!
I'm going to let everyone tell you about our trip...first off...LILLY!
The FOOD report. Well I like camping because of all the food. Especially when we go camping with our friends with the bazillion kids. (editor's note: they actually only have 6 kids, for a total of 8 kids camping.) There was food hitting the ground everywhere! I was eating like a Queen! (except she looked like a pig with all the mud on her face from eating off the ground!) Mom gave me my regular food, but she added some yummy water to it (hot dog water) which made it taste gooder. Mom also gave me a bunch of tater chips (they fell on the ground when I opened up the car). The bazillion kids gave me some pancakes and some smores, but mom screached at me when I tried to pick up the chocolate and moved a box over the chocolate so I couldn't get it...bummer! I made sure that our campground wouldn't attract any bears or other wild things by picking up all the food that hit the ground. I also made sure to clean up Darly's plate so it would be all ready for the washing pot.
The SNUGGLE report. Well with all those kids there was bound to be lots of snuggles and I was right. Those kids were all over me...who can blame them? What's not to like with this cute face and extra soft fur??? And Mom gave me lots of snuggles too since she was proud at how well I was listening to her...except for the smores part, but I couldn't help it that that lady put the smores on a table that was just perfect for me to get at. She should have put it up higher.
The EXTRA DOG report. The lady with the bazillion kids also brought along her two dogs. They were okay ...well almost okay. The one kept baying at me...he's a hound dog and everytime he wanted something he bayed...he was baying lots. I came up and said hi to both dogs...but they were on chains so if they bugged me too much I just walked out of their chain range. Mom let me be off my chain for most of the time and I was pretty much good. I always came back when Mom called so I got extra snuggles for that.
The SLEEPING report.
Well here's my sleeping quarters. You can see behind me that Mom & Darly had nicer accomodations. But Mom did bring my favorite blanket and some extra blankets too which was a good thing cuz I wanted to sleep in front of the door. It took a while for me to go to sleep cuz the lady with the bazillion kids and two dogs kept hollering at her brood to quite down, go to sleep, shut up, quit kicking your sister. I kept trying to tell them to quite down, but Mom & Darly kept telling ME to be quite...I was just trying to help. I woke up and Mom & Darly wouldn't get up, they kept telling me to get out of their faces and let them sleep. The sun was up, what's with these lazy bones? *sigh*
Okay Lilly, that's enough. Let's give the rest of us a chance to talk now... Darly you're up.
Oh Hi! Well this camping trip wasn't as much fun as some of the other times we went cuz of all the rain. I got lots of play time with one of my friends and we did lots together, but the rain made things cold. Mom and I were having a nice time reading & doing crafts in the tent which was fine by me, but then our friends decided that they wanted to leave. I kinda wanted to stay and camp but Mom told me that Kennedy's mom wanted to leave and Kennedy wouldn't want to leave if we were still there and Kennedy would want to play with me and I don't like Kennedy all that much cuz all she wants to do is play the same game over and over and I don't really like that game at all. So I said it would be nice to go home and have dinner with Dad...so we packed up. Well Mom packed up while I played some more. I wanted to help and I did some helping.
Well this picture of me looks terrible...but that's what I look like when I'm camping. We had a new tent for this trip and we had cots which made the sleeping better, except for our blankets slid off onto the floor. I'll have to come up with a better system for that. Our new tent is very nice and much more roomy. We didn't feel like sardines in there so reading in the tent was much nicer. And this trip wasn't as cold as our last attempt at camping.
But keeping a fire going with all the rain took a lot more wood. I think we used 8 bundles of wood! I'm so glad I finally got a stove which made dinner much nicer...no smoke in the face and I finally had a NICE CUP OF COFFEE for breakfast.
Lilly is snoring beside me and Darly is sleeping upstairs in her bed. I'm on my way to visit everyone who came to see me while we were gone.
I'm going to let everyone tell you about our trip...first off...LILLY!
The FOOD report. Well I like camping because of all the food. Especially when we go camping with our friends with the bazillion kids. (editor's note: they actually only have 6 kids, for a total of 8 kids camping.) There was food hitting the ground everywhere! I was eating like a Queen! (except she looked like a pig with all the mud on her face from eating off the ground!) Mom gave me my regular food, but she added some yummy water to it (hot dog water) which made it taste gooder. Mom also gave me a bunch of tater chips (they fell on the ground when I opened up the car). The bazillion kids gave me some pancakes and some smores, but mom screached at me when I tried to pick up the chocolate and moved a box over the chocolate so I couldn't get it...bummer! I made sure that our campground wouldn't attract any bears or other wild things by picking up all the food that hit the ground. I also made sure to clean up Darly's plate so it would be all ready for the washing pot.
The SNUGGLE report. Well with all those kids there was bound to be lots of snuggles and I was right. Those kids were all over me...who can blame them? What's not to like with this cute face and extra soft fur??? And Mom gave me lots of snuggles too since she was proud at how well I was listening to her...except for the smores part, but I couldn't help it that that lady put the smores on a table that was just perfect for me to get at. She should have put it up higher.
The EXTRA DOG report. The lady with the bazillion kids also brought along her two dogs. They were okay ...well almost okay. The one kept baying at me...he's a hound dog and everytime he wanted something he bayed...he was baying lots. I came up and said hi to both dogs...but they were on chains so if they bugged me too much I just walked out of their chain range. Mom let me be off my chain for most of the time and I was pretty much good. I always came back when Mom called so I got extra snuggles for that.
The SLEEPING report.
Well here's my sleeping quarters. You can see behind me that Mom & Darly had nicer accomodations. But Mom did bring my favorite blanket and some extra blankets too which was a good thing cuz I wanted to sleep in front of the door. It took a while for me to go to sleep cuz the lady with the bazillion kids and two dogs kept hollering at her brood to quite down, go to sleep, shut up, quit kicking your sister. I kept trying to tell them to quite down, but Mom & Darly kept telling ME to be quite...I was just trying to help. I woke up and Mom & Darly wouldn't get up, they kept telling me to get out of their faces and let them sleep. The sun was up, what's with these lazy bones? *sigh*
Okay Lilly, that's enough. Let's give the rest of us a chance to talk now... Darly you're up.
Oh Hi! Well this camping trip wasn't as much fun as some of the other times we went cuz of all the rain. I got lots of play time with one of my friends and we did lots together, but the rain made things cold. Mom and I were having a nice time reading & doing crafts in the tent which was fine by me, but then our friends decided that they wanted to leave. I kinda wanted to stay and camp but Mom told me that Kennedy's mom wanted to leave and Kennedy wouldn't want to leave if we were still there and Kennedy would want to play with me and I don't like Kennedy all that much cuz all she wants to do is play the same game over and over and I don't really like that game at all. So I said it would be nice to go home and have dinner with Dad...so we packed up. Well Mom packed up while I played some more. I wanted to help and I did some helping.
Well this picture of me looks terrible...but that's what I look like when I'm camping. We had a new tent for this trip and we had cots which made the sleeping better, except for our blankets slid off onto the floor. I'll have to come up with a better system for that. Our new tent is very nice and much more roomy. We didn't feel like sardines in there so reading in the tent was much nicer. And this trip wasn't as cold as our last attempt at camping.
But keeping a fire going with all the rain took a lot more wood. I think we used 8 bundles of wood! I'm so glad I finally got a stove which made dinner much nicer...no smoke in the face and I finally had a NICE CUP OF COFFEE for breakfast.
Lilly is snoring beside me and Darly is sleeping upstairs in her bed. I'm on my way to visit everyone who came to see me while we were gone.
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Why does this bother me so?
Am I alone? I don't know.
I've been able to wear pretty much the same size for a very long time now. But it seems I've been dupped by clothing manufacturers. It seems that as I've been getting bigger so has the size of my clothing although it says it's still the same size.
Why do I get such a "high" when I go clothing shopping, spend tons of time in the dressing room with 5 different pair of the same jeans and cheer when I fit into the the smallest one? Especially since I know that if I pick up a different brand that I'll need a size or two "bigger."
Lately it seems that the stores are not ordering the size that fits me. I wear small sizes and sometimes that means a size 4...but the stores order a size 6 and bigger. I'm not paying full price for clothing to have to take it home and learn how to alter it. That's crazy.
So I bought a pattern to make my own clothes. I've been sewing costumes for years...regular clothes can't be that hard, right?
But then I take my measurements and it says I wear a *gulp!* size 10! WHAT THE? Since when did I get to be a size 10? What is going on here? And the sad part is that I can't make myself believe that I'm really a size 10, so I can't cut the pattern out and make myself the size 10 skirt that should be my perfect fit because something in my head is saying "I'M NOT REALLY A SIZE 10!!!! I'm a size 4, see I can prove it, look at these pants."
I know my once 24 inch waist is now a 27 inch. So how can I possibly be a size 4. But really a size 10??? I never imagined.
*sigh* off to sew my size 10. Maybe if it fits me wonderfully I'll be happy and not care.
I've been able to wear pretty much the same size for a very long time now. But it seems I've been dupped by clothing manufacturers. It seems that as I've been getting bigger so has the size of my clothing although it says it's still the same size.
Why do I get such a "high" when I go clothing shopping, spend tons of time in the dressing room with 5 different pair of the same jeans and cheer when I fit into the the smallest one? Especially since I know that if I pick up a different brand that I'll need a size or two "bigger."
Lately it seems that the stores are not ordering the size that fits me. I wear small sizes and sometimes that means a size 4...but the stores order a size 6 and bigger. I'm not paying full price for clothing to have to take it home and learn how to alter it. That's crazy.
So I bought a pattern to make my own clothes. I've been sewing costumes for years...regular clothes can't be that hard, right?
But then I take my measurements and it says I wear a *gulp!* size 10! WHAT THE? Since when did I get to be a size 10? What is going on here? And the sad part is that I can't make myself believe that I'm really a size 10, so I can't cut the pattern out and make myself the size 10 skirt that should be my perfect fit because something in my head is saying "I'M NOT REALLY A SIZE 10!!!! I'm a size 4, see I can prove it, look at these pants."
I know my once 24 inch waist is now a 27 inch. So how can I possibly be a size 4. But really a size 10??? I never imagined.
*sigh* off to sew my size 10. Maybe if it fits me wonderfully I'll be happy and not care.
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Happy Birthday Lilly!
Well yesterday our little Lilly turned 4. Other than tell her Happy Birthday and call her "The Birthday Girl" we really didn't do too much to celebrate. PetSmart sent her a birthday card with a coupon for a free toy so we'll probably go today and pick one out for her (right now she's giving me a really pouty look from her sofa.) She can't come to PetSmart with us though because she behaves like a lunatic around other dogs. She would do better if I could take her leash off, but they frown on that in the store.
Darly made her a dirt cake with stick candals in the back yard. Lilly was unimpressed by it though. Darly also left her a treat of unwanted party mix, but she put the bowl in the sink and it got all soggy so I threw it out.
After we had dinner, Lilly got to clean off the plates and there was some leftover steak on them. She did all of her best tricks first to get the plate.
Oh I should note here that Lilly is much better at cleaning off plates than MIL's friend's dog Flick. Flick is totally spoiled by his owner, he has no manners and he doesn't appreciate the good things in life...like licking off plates. We were at MIL's house on Sunday for dinner (friend & Flick had invited themselves over) and Flick was given a few plates to clean off before they went in the dishwasher. All Flick did was to clear off the food and then go to the dishwasher, putting his head in to look for more food. He left the stuck on food on the dish. Lilly would have had that plate so clean that you almost wouldn't need to put it in the dishwasher...well except for the dog slobber.
Anyway back to the Birthday Girl. She got lots of rubbing and some play time outside too...oh and she got to kill a very scary leaf that was moving "by itself" on our back porch.
I decided to cut out my pattern on the coffee table last night while watching TV so Lilly got to lay in my way, over and over because I kept moving to right where she was laying. She never did get it that she would have been better off not by the coffee table...but I guess she wanted to be near me.
Update: I remembered that I had a stash of soup bones from the grocery store in my freezer. We get these as a treat for Lilly (no one here would eat soup if I made it but me.) So I dug out a bone and Darly & I sang Happy Birthday to Lilly...she knew it was for her...I'm guessing she could tell by the look of it. When I first gave it to her she didn't take it right away (probably because it was frozen and it didn't smell) but after a few seconds she did take it and she stayed outside (I do not let her have bloody meaty bones in the house) with it until she had it entirely stripped of all meat & marrow. I have no idea how she gets the marrow out of these 3 inch bones. But then she left the bone on the back porch when she came in and it attracted every fly in the neighborhood and a few yellow jackets. She went to pick it up again and something buzzed. She shook it until the yellow jacket left. She's a happy girl with a new bone to tease the neighbor dogs with.
Saturday, September 02, 2006
More blog worthy stuff...
Yesterday on the way home one of my new favorite songs came on the radio..."Wherever We Go" by the Newsboys.
And DH says that in his head is what he thinks the video for this song should be. Click on the ***** for the rest of this because I think Darly's funny is better than this. Dh's idea is really stupid & childish.
Okay, first of all for those of you who do not already know this, the Newsboys are from Austrailia and Peter Fuller has a very heavy accent. He's the lead singer. So the word Party kinda sounds like Potty. (well at least to some people...DH)
So from the chorus:
hands up, holler back here
let's throw this party in gear
we brought the welcome mat
wherever we go, that's where the party's at
Dh thinks the video shows a guy holding a potty and he throws it into a gear. from the line "let's throw this party in gear.." And then from the line "wherever we go, that's where the party's at.." shows a guy going potty and the potty suddenly appears there because wherever he goes that's where the potty's at.
I guess for some people the world should just be a little too literal.
See, I told you this was stupid. Sorry if you feel you wasted your time. DH is not normally this way. I should find something good to post about him. Quick!
And DH says that in his head is what he thinks the video for this song should be. Click on the ***** for the rest of this because I think Darly's funny is better than this. Dh's idea is really stupid & childish.
Okay, first of all for those of you who do not already know this, the Newsboys are from Austrailia and Peter Fuller has a very heavy accent. He's the lead singer. So the word Party kinda sounds like Potty. (well at least to some people...DH)
So from the chorus:
hands up, holler back here
let's throw this party in gear
we brought the welcome mat
wherever we go, that's where the party's at
Dh thinks the video shows a guy holding a potty and he throws it into a gear. from the line "let's throw this party in gear.." And then from the line "wherever we go, that's where the party's at.." shows a guy going potty and the potty suddenly appears there because wherever he goes that's where the potty's at.
I guess for some people the world should just be a little too literal.
See, I told you this was stupid. Sorry if you feel you wasted your time. DH is not normally this way. I should find something good to post about him. Quick!
Thursday, August 31, 2006
tagged x3
I got triple tagged by Kailani.
If you would like to read the rest of my meme tag, click on the pink ****s below
BOOK TAG
One book that changed your life:
So that’s what they’re for! By Janet Tamaro
One book that you’ve read more than once:
recently…Harry Potter: Goblet of Fire (I reread it before seeing the movie.)
One book that you’d want on a desert island:
Probably the final Harry Potter book…I’m figuring it will be pretty big!
One book that made you laugh:
Dear Dumb Diary: My Pants are Haunted (I have to read some of Darly’s books first!)
One book that made you cry:
big crocodile tears for Harry Potter: The Half Blood Prince
One book that you wish had been written:
hummm… I’m not a writer
One book you couldn’t put down:
The Green Mile by Stephen King
One book you are currently reading:
Son of a Witch by Gregory McGuire
One book you’ve been meaning to read:
The Devil wears Prada (thanks Kailani!)
*******************************************************************************
Fives Meme
Five Things in my Freezer/Fridge
• Leftover spaghetti sauce.
• Caramel Caraboo Ice Cream!
• Rolls
• Bratwurst (don’t know if we’ll ever eat them either!)
• I just noticed that this could include the frig… left over chicken from last night for tonight’s dinner. I make all my meals double so they last two nights…too bad I haven’t figured out how to make the days line up so I’m covered on the busy days.
Five Things in my Closet
• A dresser full of sweaters
• My cowboy boots…stuffed with paper so they don’t flop over. I haven’t worn them since Darly was conceived.
• A bunch of really cute t-shirts that I got this year.
• All my jeans are folded and sitting on the floor, even though there’s room to hang them up.
• A bunch of formal dresses that don’t fit and are out of date now. We used to attend balls, BC (before child)
Five Things in my Purse
• My calendar!
• My Discover Card!
• Breathmints
• Museum & Zoo membership cards
• All those “members” cards for all the stores you go to for the “member prices.” I think the GNC card actually expired! The nerve!
Five Things in my Car (besides the obvious kid equipment)
• OLD VBS tapes that we never listen to.
• Neat Sheet
• Jackets for me & Darly…ya never know in CO!
• Hats & Sunglasses
• Sunscreen & Bug Spray
********************************************************************************
Pizza Meme
What was your favorite thing about being a kid? Spending the entire summer outside. We would wake up at dawn and not come home until dinner.
What was your favorite subject in school? In the first half of 3rd grade it was math but before and after that I hated school…because we had horrible schools where I lived…until we moved to FL then I loved school again and just loved everything.
Who was your best friend when you were 10?
I’m thinking it was Lydia on my street, but she was younger than me. At school I have no idea. I’ll stick with Lydia.
If you could be any animal what would you be?
Rabbit…a rabbit with attitude.
What would you change about your school, occupation, life right now?
I’m very happy with my job as a SAHM. We’ve got it really good here.
What is your favorite color?
Purple!
What is your favorite type of crust and topping on pizza?
I love thin crispy crusts with extra mushrooms, and everything else!
Now it’s your turn! Let me know if you do this so I can come and visit!
If you would like to read the rest of my meme tag, click on the pink ****s below
BOOK TAG
One book that changed your life:
So that’s what they’re for! By Janet Tamaro
One book that you’ve read more than once:
recently…Harry Potter: Goblet of Fire (I reread it before seeing the movie.)
One book that you’d want on a desert island:
Probably the final Harry Potter book…I’m figuring it will be pretty big!
One book that made you laugh:
Dear Dumb Diary: My Pants are Haunted (I have to read some of Darly’s books first!)
One book that made you cry:
big crocodile tears for Harry Potter: The Half Blood Prince
One book that you wish had been written:
hummm… I’m not a writer
One book you couldn’t put down:
The Green Mile by Stephen King
One book you are currently reading:
Son of a Witch by Gregory McGuire
One book you’ve been meaning to read:
The Devil wears Prada (thanks Kailani!)
************************************************************************
Fives Meme
Five Things in my Freezer/Fridge
• Leftover spaghetti sauce.
• Caramel Caraboo Ice Cream!
• Rolls
• Bratwurst (don’t know if we’ll ever eat them either!)
• I just noticed that this could include the frig… left over chicken from last night for tonight’s dinner. I make all my meals double so they last two nights…too bad I haven’t figured out how to make the days line up so I’m covered on the busy days.
Five Things in my Closet
• A dresser full of sweaters
• My cowboy boots…stuffed with paper so they don’t flop over. I haven’t worn them since Darly was conceived.
• A bunch of really cute t-shirts that I got this year.
• All my jeans are folded and sitting on the floor, even though there’s room to hang them up.
• A bunch of formal dresses that don’t fit and are out of date now. We used to attend balls, BC (before child)
Five Things in my Purse
• My calendar!
• My Discover Card!
• Breathmints
• Museum & Zoo membership cards
• All those “members” cards for all the stores you go to for the “member prices.” I think the GNC card actually expired! The nerve!
Five Things in my Car (besides the obvious kid equipment)
• OLD VBS tapes that we never listen to.
• Neat Sheet
• Jackets for me & Darly…ya never know in CO!
• Hats & Sunglasses
• Sunscreen & Bug Spray
******************************************************************
Pizza Meme
What was your favorite thing about being a kid? Spending the entire summer outside. We would wake up at dawn and not come home until dinner.
What was your favorite subject in school? In the first half of 3rd grade it was math but before and after that I hated school…because we had horrible schools where I lived…until we moved to FL then I loved school again and just loved everything.
Who was your best friend when you were 10?
I’m thinking it was Lydia on my street, but she was younger than me. At school I have no idea. I’ll stick with Lydia.
If you could be any animal what would you be?
Rabbit…a rabbit with attitude.
What would you change about your school, occupation, life right now?
I’m very happy with my job as a SAHM. We’ve got it really good here.
What is your favorite color?
Purple!
What is your favorite type of crust and topping on pizza?
I love thin crispy crusts with extra mushrooms, and everything else!
Now it’s your turn! Let me know if you do this so I can come and visit!
Thursday 13: Double Whammy!
Okay, this was my original idea for a TT this week. But then I saw Denise's challenge and I did that cuz it was more upbeat. But now after visiting a bunch of blogs...I really wanna do this list. So here it goes...
13 calls I need to make
I HATE making phone calls. I don't know when the phone became such a dreadded machine. Don't get me wrong, I love to talk to people and I'll chat on the phone forever...but having to make calls (especially for appointments) can't stans it!
1…. My Mother. I need to call her because it's been forever. But I don't like to call for two reasons...she screans her calls and is never home. So I leave a lot of messages talking to her dogs. I also don't like to call her cuz she will kill 90 minutes complaining about her life but not take any suggestions on how to make it better...she just likes to hear herself complain. The sad part is she can't remember what's she's complained about and I'll hear the same story each time I call. sigh
2…. My husband's cousin. We found out from MIL that he has cancer and no insurance. And it's a very sad situation. But how do you start that call... "hey we heard your bad news..." DH did try to call once but they weren't home. We're hoping to do the pass off thing.
3…. I need to call and cancel an account at a bank. It's not my account, but I take care of it and we don't need it. But its the whole calling thing.
4…. I need to call and bugg some folks to send in the money they owe...that's always fun, huh?
5…. I need to call about our hotel for our vacation. I would much rather do this on the computer, but everyone says you get a better deal on the phone and I've found 3 different rates for this place and we want to get the best deal. UPDATE: I called the hotel this morning and was told that I needed to call their national booking because they're having a big storm right now and their systems are down. Wonder if it's the huricane? I haven't been paying attention to where that is. So instead of calling, I just booked the cheapest one online...so that's taken care of! Yay!
6…. I need to call about the tickets for our vacation to the places we wanna go to. There's this one ticket that sounds like it's the best...but it's very vague about what's all included. For the Jamestown & Yorktown it says everything that we wanna do, but for Williamsburg, it just says tour Williamsburg. It doesn't mention what buildings you get with that. GRRR! I'll mention that they should say that in their ad. UPDATE: I think the same storm is causing problems with these folks too. Will try online later
7…. I should call and confirm our airline reservation.
8…. and the car rental...especially since they didn't email me. Update: I'm gonna check my confirmation code online...hee hee
9…. I need to call up the Observatory to make sure they got my reservation for a tour in November...I did it online and didn't get confirmation.
10…. I need to call the zoo and see what's up with our reservation for a night program that they haven't updated me on...that was $30!
11…. I need to call up the Olympic training center and give them a final total of folks who will be going to that tour.
12…. I need to call up Michael's crafts and set up a field trip for November there with a Christmas craft for the kids. That will be fun. She said we could also tour some of the other businesses in that mall...cool.
13…. wow! Is that it already? Oh, I should probably call my brother too.
Leave your link with the Mr Linky in the other TT post...one stop linking today. You can comment here though.
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!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Thursday 13: What I like 'bout me...
I'm Recycling my TT from last week because I did this entire post one week too early. Sorry if you already read it. I'm going camping today and blogger is being funny anyway. I'm thinking that blogger just doesn't have the stuff to take care of us anymore. I hope I don't get into trouble for that. I'll be back on Saturday and visit everyone who leaves me a link on the linky. Thanks! Oh and if you decide to break into my house, please clean the bathrooms. Thanks!
I was torn about doing a TT this week, 'cuz I really need to be doing other stuff...but I couldn't help it...so here I am.
1…. I like that after all these years, I don't look my age.
2…. I like that after all these years, I don't act my age either.
3…. I like that I've matured enough to not care what others think about me.
4…. I like that I'm brave enough to not follow the crowd.
5…. I like that in this mess that is my home, I know where to find where I left my stuff.
6…. I like that my memory still for the most part works very well...yeah so what if I've got lists everywhere...I know where my lists are.
7…. I like that I have a green thumb and can grow stuff. I've figured out where pretty much all my plants want to live...that's important or they'll die.
8…. I like that I'm a helpful person. I help people even if they don't ask for help. Sometimes that backfires...but I don't take it personally.
9…. I like that I'm cheap and resourceful. I found that some stuff I want is going on clearance this Sat and while it was already a good deal, it will be an even better deal then...SCORE!
10…. I like that I can do so much myself. I'm mechanically inclinded and not afraid to dig into something to figure out how it works...especially when it's broken. Saved lots of $$ on my vacuume that way.
11…. I like that I'm crafty. I've made all of Darly's Halloween costumes until this year and she wants to be a cat because someone gave her a black catsuit leotard. So I'll be sewing a costume for myself instead. Usually I come up with a costume for me from my closet.
12…. I like that I know all the words to my favorite songs and can sing them. I'm not saying it sounds good...it's just accurate.
13…. And I like that I am loved by those who matter to me the most.
Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!
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!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants
 |
I was torn about doing a TT this week, 'cuz I really need to be doing other stuff...but I couldn't help it...so here I am.
1…. I like that after all these years, I don't look my age.
2…. I like that after all these years, I don't act my age either.
3…. I like that I've matured enough to not care what others think about me.
4…. I like that I'm brave enough to not follow the crowd.
5…. I like that in this mess that is my home, I know where to find where I left my stuff.
6…. I like that my memory still for the most part works very well...yeah so what if I've got lists everywhere...I know where my lists are.
7…. I like that I have a green thumb and can grow stuff. I've figured out where pretty much all my plants want to live...that's important or they'll die.
8…. I like that I'm a helpful person. I help people even if they don't ask for help. Sometimes that backfires...but I don't take it personally.
9…. I like that I'm cheap and resourceful. I found that some stuff I want is going on clearance this Sat and while it was already a good deal, it will be an even better deal then...SCORE!
10…. I like that I can do so much myself. I'm mechanically inclinded and not afraid to dig into something to figure out how it works...especially when it's broken. Saved lots of $$ on my vacuume that way.
11…. I like that I'm crafty. I've made all of Darly's Halloween costumes until this year and she wants to be a cat because someone gave her a black catsuit leotard. So I'll be sewing a costume for myself instead. Usually I come up with a costume for me from my closet.
12…. I like that I know all the words to my favorite songs and can sing them. I'm not saying it sounds good...it's just accurate.
13…. And I like that I am loved by those who matter to me the most.
Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
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!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants
Monday, August 28, 2006
Stuff I'm lookin at doing in Williamsburg
okay folks, if you've been, I need your honest review of this stuff. If you haven't been, keep checking for the info.
edited to ad Carmen's recommendations
edited again to add my friend Dana's picks (she doesn't blog :o ) they're marked by ** in front
Williamsburg
Governor’s Palace DEFINITELY
Wythe House GOOD BET
**Courthouse GOOD BET
Magazine
Peyton Randolph House
Public Gaol
Capitol Good to see, don't know if you need to tour it
Bassett Hall
Revolutionary City YES
Great Hopes Plantation As time allows
Palace Green
The Maze (@Governor’s Palace)
Bruton Parish Church (I don’t think there’s any tour) no tour. As time allows.
Geddy House
Colonial Garden
Benjamin Powell House
Mary Smith House
**Post Office
Releigh Tavern
Wren Building (William & Mary College)
Brickyard
Palace Kitchen
Fifes & Drums
Play Booth Theatre
**Blacksmith Shop
Wigmaker Goofy Girl says this one is good!
**Milliner & Tailor
Jamestown
**Historic Jamestown & Jamestown Settlement MOSTEST DEFINITELY
Yorktown Victory Center & Yorktown Nat’l Battlefield MOSTEST DEFINITELY
Thanks so much for your suggestions Carmen. I really do appreciate it. And if anyone else has comments on the other stuff listed, lemme know and I'll be happy to add your reviews too.
Oh this is gonna be fun!
UPDATE: I've booked the flight and car. So it's pretty much a done deal. I'll call up the hotel tomorrow as I keep getting mixed messages on the web...but it looks like we'll be getting a discount. And I also need to call about the tickets for all the tours.
edited to ad Carmen's recommendations
edited again to add my friend Dana's picks (she doesn't blog :o ) they're marked by ** in front
Williamsburg
Governor’s Palace DEFINITELY
Wythe House GOOD BET
**Courthouse GOOD BET
Magazine
Peyton Randolph House
Public Gaol
Capitol Good to see, don't know if you need to tour it
Bassett Hall
Revolutionary City YES
Great Hopes Plantation As time allows
Palace Green
The Maze (@Governor’s Palace)
Bruton Parish Church (I don’t think there’s any tour) no tour. As time allows.
Geddy House
Colonial Garden
Benjamin Powell House
Mary Smith House
**Post Office
Releigh Tavern
Wren Building (William & Mary College)
Brickyard
Palace Kitchen
Fifes & Drums
Play Booth Theatre
**Blacksmith Shop
Wigmaker Goofy Girl says this one is good!
**Milliner & Tailor
Jamestown
**Historic Jamestown & Jamestown Settlement MOSTEST DEFINITELY
Yorktown Victory Center & Yorktown Nat’l Battlefield MOSTEST DEFINITELY
Thanks so much for your suggestions Carmen. I really do appreciate it. And if anyone else has comments on the other stuff listed, lemme know and I'll be happy to add your reviews too.
Oh this is gonna be fun!
UPDATE: I've booked the flight and car. So it's pretty much a done deal. I'll call up the hotel tomorrow as I keep getting mixed messages on the web...but it looks like we'll be getting a discount. And I also need to call about the tickets for all the tours.
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Ideas, suggestions & help needed...
The Family is planning our vacation to take place Sept 21-25th. We are going to Williamsburg Virginia.
And like my title says, I need some feed back. Have you been or do you live close? Where should we stay, what should we do?
We already have Busch Gardens tickets...so that will "kill" out one day which has to be a weekend when the park is open. We won't be going to the water park because that's too cold and we wanna see the sites...not be trapped in another park all day.
So give me your ideas. If we use your ideas and like them, I'll recognize you in a special after the trip post.
Thanks!
And like my title says, I need some feed back. Have you been or do you live close? Where should we stay, what should we do?
We already have Busch Gardens tickets...so that will "kill" out one day which has to be a weekend when the park is open. We won't be going to the water park because that's too cold and we wanna see the sites...not be trapped in another park all day.
So give me your ideas. If we use your ideas and like them, I'll recognize you in a special after the trip post.
Thanks!
Saturday, August 26, 2006
I'm torn...what should I do?
This is still the sunglasses issue.
I could...
A: Just buy the Tinkerbell sunglasses Cost $12
B: Borrow my friend's fishing net, drive 35 minutes across town, try to find the glasses in the unknown depth lake & the unknown floating away from the dock factor and/or wade into the water to search for the glasses (although there are signs posted to keep out of the water) and possibly not find the glasses at all. And there's the getting wet factor if I have to go in after them. Cost about $12- 15 in gas (figuring $3 per gallon and roughly 15 mpg round trip) and driving home wet.
C: Try plan B and if that doesn't work do plan A. Cost: at least $24
I know this all sounds pretty cut and dry...just go for plan A. But you have to take in the little girl factor too. She has said that she would prefer plan C. ARGH!
off to talk to DH & Darly about this...
I hope that you're having a great weekend.
UPDATE: It's raining cats & dogs here today. So I talked Darly into buying the Tinkerbell sunglasses with the promise that if next year we come across the Jasmine glasses we could get them too. They'll probably be cheaper anyway and she'll need a new pair too by then.
I could...
A: Just buy the Tinkerbell sunglasses Cost $12
B: Borrow my friend's fishing net, drive 35 minutes across town, try to find the glasses in the unknown depth lake & the unknown floating away from the dock factor and/or wade into the water to search for the glasses (although there are signs posted to keep out of the water) and possibly not find the glasses at all. And there's the getting wet factor if I have to go in after them. Cost about $12- 15 in gas (figuring $3 per gallon and roughly 15 mpg round trip) and driving home wet.
C: Try plan B and if that doesn't work do plan A. Cost: at least $24
I know this all sounds pretty cut and dry...just go for plan A. But you have to take in the little girl factor too. She has said that she would prefer plan C. ARGH!
off to talk to DH & Darly about this...
I hope that you're having a great weekend.
UPDATE: It's raining cats & dogs here today. So I talked Darly into buying the Tinkerbell sunglasses with the promise that if next year we come across the Jasmine glasses we could get them too. They'll probably be cheaper anyway and she'll need a new pair too by then.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Anybody got a fishing net I can borrow?
I'm in deep pooh!
Today at a field trip, we were standing out on the boardwalk over the water. Darly tried to hand me her FAVORITE sunglasses just as I was moving my hand backward. My hand hit the glasses and knocked them into the lake. I think the water is only about 3 feet deep there.
I told Darly that we would drive directly to the mall and buy her a new pair at the Disney store...guess what... NO GLASSES The lady there said try Wal-Mart... NO GLASSES
So I try online and no one carries the Purple Disney Princess Jasmine glasses. I did find purple Tinkerbell glasses though...
So my only hope is to fish her pair from the fishes.
So if anyone has a fishing net that I can borrow, I would sure appreciate it. Thanks!
Today at a field trip, we were standing out on the boardwalk over the water. Darly tried to hand me her FAVORITE sunglasses just as I was moving my hand backward. My hand hit the glasses and knocked them into the lake. I think the water is only about 3 feet deep there.
I told Darly that we would drive directly to the mall and buy her a new pair at the Disney store...guess what... NO GLASSES The lady there said try Wal-Mart... NO GLASSES
So I try online and no one carries the Purple Disney Princess Jasmine glasses. I did find purple Tinkerbell glasses though...
So my only hope is to fish her pair from the fishes.
So if anyone has a fishing net that I can borrow, I would sure appreciate it. Thanks!
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Anniversary update
Well...there isn't really much to tell you.
Dh arrived home from work shortly after 3pm and we all got ready to head for Steak & Ale. We got caught in some traffic, which is entirely normal for that time of day... I wonder why no one seems to work normal hours in this city. The only time that the roads are clear are from like 8:30am to 10ish and from 1:30pm to 2ish. Every other time you get stuck.
Anyway, after driving an hour we reach Steak & Ale and are seated immediately. We got sat in the bar and on the TV they had the local PBS station on with cartoons... Darly enjoyed it even without the volume as she had already seen these shows and could tell us what was happening.
We ended up with a rather loud and pushy waiter who talked Darly into trying her first Shirley Temple (she loved it!) and he talked us into having the kitchen split our order for us (usually DH & I share a dinner and cut it ourselves). Which turned out nice too...and we don't know why, but they gave us two full potatoes...we were expecting just one. I guess they're cheap enough.
During our meal the waiter tells us that he is being sent to the office supply store to pick up some copy paper. He says that someone else will be taking care of us...but then he procedes to bring our check, see if we need to go boxes and finish up our order... DH & I were wondering "when is this guy ever going to leave?"
So we had our nice dinner and drove home. Traffic was much better on the way home but along the same part of the road we got stuck again. This time it was a truck that had broken down. But the time we got up to it, the tow truck had it all loaded and was just about to take off. The drive home only took about 30 min total.
We got home and changed out of our nice "going out to dinner" clothes. And then we exchanged our gifts. Darly made me a coaster out of those beads you melt with the iron. She gave DH a new level that we got at Target. And DH gave me a frame. When he was in central America he had gotten me this painting on a feather and for our anniversary present, he had it framed for me. I gave him two dress shirts and he had lots of fun figuring out which of his ties would go with them.
And that's all folks. Seriously. I'm not kidding.
Oh I forgot to mention that DH got me a card that is supposed to be one you would send to someone else having an anniversary...not for your wife. I'm not sure what his deal is...he just doesn't seem to have it in him to pick out a decent card. I mentioned last time that he might try looking in the section that says WIFE, but when he does that he comes home with the cards that have cartoons on them and say I do all this bad stuff, but I sure love you. Hummm... we must fix this card buying problem.
Dh arrived home from work shortly after 3pm and we all got ready to head for Steak & Ale. We got caught in some traffic, which is entirely normal for that time of day... I wonder why no one seems to work normal hours in this city. The only time that the roads are clear are from like 8:30am to 10ish and from 1:30pm to 2ish. Every other time you get stuck.
Anyway, after driving an hour we reach Steak & Ale and are seated immediately. We got sat in the bar and on the TV they had the local PBS station on with cartoons... Darly enjoyed it even without the volume as she had already seen these shows and could tell us what was happening.
We ended up with a rather loud and pushy waiter who talked Darly into trying her first Shirley Temple (she loved it!) and he talked us into having the kitchen split our order for us (usually DH & I share a dinner and cut it ourselves). Which turned out nice too...and we don't know why, but they gave us two full potatoes...we were expecting just one. I guess they're cheap enough.
During our meal the waiter tells us that he is being sent to the office supply store to pick up some copy paper. He says that someone else will be taking care of us...but then he procedes to bring our check, see if we need to go boxes and finish up our order... DH & I were wondering "when is this guy ever going to leave?"
So we had our nice dinner and drove home. Traffic was much better on the way home but along the same part of the road we got stuck again. This time it was a truck that had broken down. But the time we got up to it, the tow truck had it all loaded and was just about to take off. The drive home only took about 30 min total.
We got home and changed out of our nice "going out to dinner" clothes. And then we exchanged our gifts. Darly made me a coaster out of those beads you melt with the iron. She gave DH a new level that we got at Target. And DH gave me a frame. When he was in central America he had gotten me this painting on a feather and for our anniversary present, he had it framed for me. I gave him two dress shirts and he had lots of fun figuring out which of his ties would go with them.
And that's all folks. Seriously. I'm not kidding.
Oh I forgot to mention that DH got me a card that is supposed to be one you would send to someone else having an anniversary...not for your wife. I'm not sure what his deal is...he just doesn't seem to have it in him to pick out a decent card. I mentioned last time that he might try looking in the section that says WIFE, but when he does that he comes home with the cards that have cartoons on them and say I do all this bad stuff, but I sure love you. Hummm... we must fix this card buying problem.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Wordless Wednesday
Okay, it's not wednesday and it's not wordless either. Any ideas what this is???
Need a hint? First hint, this happened 14 years ago today (not yesterday the 22nd).
Okay, okay. I'll tell you since I've looked it up and apparently it isn't as common as I thought that it was. I've only found two references to what this is and I know what it is. LOL
This is a "Sie Leben Hoch." Sie Leben Hoch is an old tradition at Frankenmuth, MI weddings! This is a toast to the newly married couple. Hoisted high on chairs with song and dance we toast with "honor & esteem" (Leben Hoch)!
Sie: You Leben: Life/Live Hoch: High so roughly translated its a wish that we live highly (or the good life). It's also kinda punny because they toast the bride & groom most highly (while lifting them up on chairs.)
The first part of the tradition has the bride & groom sit on the chairs and get lifted up while they chant the song...I've got the words downstairs in the basement, if you really really want, I'll go dig them up and even translate them for you.
The second part they take off the bride's veil and place the night caps on both heads. Then hoist them up again. This symbolizes the becoming Man & Wife..what you didn't see is that the night caps are covered in "man" and "woman" things...his had hammers & tools on it, mine had cooking and baby things on it and that the night caps are tied together with a ribbon. And the pacifiers are a fertility thing like thowing rice at a wedding.
The Sie Leben Hoch doesn't start until 12AM...not sure why that is, kinda counter productive if you know what I mean ZZZZZ... (or maybe that's to make you too tired to worry about birth control... hummm?)
After the bouncing on the chairs both the man & wife are carried over to the bar and have to chug a beer.
I don't like beer...at all! I was assured that my drink would be anything but beer, but when we got there it was beer. I shot DH a dirty look and he joked that I didn't have to drink it... but I tilted my head back and beat him in the drinking...which shows that I wear the pants in the family. I'm the best chugger there is! I then proceded to the ladies room to puke up the beer...but I didn't after my mom reasoned that I could ruin my dress or I could puke.
And now you know what I'm doing there.
Today's the day...
14 years ago today at about this time, I was running over to the hotel where we were having the reception to go and decorate the hall.
When we (Mom, MIL to be in a few hours, Maid of honor & her sister) got there we found that the carpet in the hall that we were promised would be brand new or at least shampooed...was FILTHY! Almost black. The tables were already set and the room was supposedly ready for our reception, as it was supposed to be.. The table clothes had not only stains on them but had actual remains of food on them. Glasses that were set at the tables had lip stick and or water rings on them. So seeing that the only thing that we could decorate was the gift table, Maid of honor & her sister stayed to decorate that while the rest of us headed over to the office.
The person that had set up our event was not there, her day off. So we had to deal with the manager who was at first shocked that we did not approve of the hall. But the rest of the staff had seen the mess and had already started taking care of things. The table cloths were removed and clean ones were rented at no charge (funny if we had chose to go with colored table cloths they would have had to be rented...but since we didn't want the extra expense we chose the hotel's white! I should have demanded they get me the colored cloths! But my brain wasn't working all that well because of the stress.) I still to this day wonder how in the world they thought they were going to get away with that. The manager promised me that his staff would help with the decorations since I couldn't stay to do it and instead of a regular room that we had reserved I would be staying in a suite that evening.
They began to clean the carpets but since there was an all day insurance class next door and they began to complain about the noise, the cleaning had to wait until lunch break...which meant the carpets were still very wet by the time our reception started.
Well since I couldn't decorate anything, we left the decorations with MIL & Maid of Honor & her sister. I had to trust that they would take care of everything and they did.
Mom & I headed to the hair dresser to get our hair done. And Mom decided to pay for it after I started writing out the check. LOL, she's like that.
We went back to our house and still frazzled, I took a bath. My mom offered to get me a valium from one of her friends. AS IF! I was not going to be drugged out on my wedding day with a drug that I've never taken before that wasn't prescribed for me. I know she was just trying to calm me down...but seriously!
After my bath I did my nails, having to apply a few fake nails because some had broken that week when my car's battery decided to short out when I gave my friend a jump and she didn't replace the cover on the terminals. I think I had 2 fakes on each hand. LOL
My friend came over to do my make up for me, she did Mom's too. Then I left for the Church. I got there before the guy with the key, but he showed up soon afterward and informed me that Lutherans are never on time. I laughed because I'm "chronically early." My therapist told me later that this was a problem because I stress out big time if I'm ever late.
I got to wait around for a long time in the bride's room as I got there early. My photographer got there early too. He was very sweet and got me a bottled water at the conveinence store next door. My attendants arrived and we started getting dressed. I found out that after my Mom had sabotaged my efforts to have all the attendants wearing their hair in the same style, two of them (the ones that Mom had talked to) had gone and had their hair done together anyway! I vowed to only do what my child askes me to for her wedding...nothing more.
We had to wait to start the wedding because... my grandmother who had asked me to invite my one uncle to the wedding so that he could drive her, needed my brother to come and get her because said uncle didn't show up. So brother goes to get her and we are waiting for them to arrive in traffic... Meanwhile I'm sweating in my gown...great.
Finally only 30 minutes late (remember my "chronic earliness"?) they arrive and we can begin the wedding.
I remember white knuckling my bouquet and that my tissue (in case I cried) was plastered into the handle of it. I remember the pastor starting with "The Peace of the Lord be with You." and the rest of the congregation says "and also with you" while I said "Amen." Luckily I wasn't wearing a mike. The rest of the ceremony, I don't remember much of... but my co-workers reported back to me that while I was saying my vows and I came to the part "...before God and these witnesses..." there was a very loud crack of thunder. It was also reported to me later that I was kinda spining on my knees...I didn't lock my knees 'cuz everyone said I would pass out if I did that. So I was from the knees up rotating in a circle. So glad the video camera's battery had died at that point...
Which brings up another thing. DF & I did NOT want our wedding video tapped. But Future FIL & Future MIL insisted on doing it anyway. And Future FIL knew that the battery was getting low in the camera, but he had forgotten to change it out. So due to the lateness of grandmother, the video that we have shows everyone of my guests arriving. I had only put the reserved ribbon on the very front pew for the parents. All the rest of my family were expected to sit in other pews. However, being the very smart people that they are, they had all tried to cramm into the first pew...a pew made to hold 4 people MAX. So in the video you get to see my family trying to figure out how they were going to fit both of my grandmothers, my uncle, my grandfather's cousin, my brother and then my mom and her boyfriend. I would have to look at the video again, but I believe that it ended up just being my grandmothers, the cousin, my mom & her boyfriend shoved into the pew. The rest of the family had not realized the boyfriend was supposed to sit there too and I don't know why in the world the cousin felt that she was entitled to sit in that front pew... none of them had received any of the cards that you're supposed to use to indicate they get to sit there. My mom reported that she had gone up to light the candal and was led to the pew and shocked to see them all sitting there. The video stops right after I get to the front of the Church, and you can't see that happen because everyone is standing. LOL.
We had a military wedding with the tunnel of swords. As DH & I were leaving I feel something that feels as if someone had lightly pulled on my dress. It took just moment to realize that was my sword slap, so the photographer caught me laughing about that.
It had started raining while we were waiting for the ceremony to begin. So we had a really hard time getting people to leave the Church. Instead of shaking hands and hugging our guests, DH & I were kinda shoving them out of the Church because we still had to get in to get our pictures done. We were taking our pictures and the photographer kept saying "Watch the birdie" while flipping the bird IN MY CHURCH! I was getting ticked off and it probably shows in the pictures. It also didn't help that the attendants kept walking off and chatting instead of being good little soldiers waiting to take their pictures in an orderly fashion so we could get out of there.
The limos that DH had hired were not happy that we were running late. And our driver was speeding to get us dumped at the hotel so he could make it to the next gig that he had. But our best man kept telling him the wrong directions to get a longer ride out of him. So imagine driving at 50 plus miles per hour through the hotel complex...it was a wild ride! About 4 minutes after we left the Church (okay, maybe it was 15 min, but it sure felt like only 4) we arrived at the hotel banquet hall. And one of my co-workers' husbands was holding the door for us to enter. I at first had thought that he was a hotel employee so my thanks to him wasn't all that nice. Poor guy. I explained it all to his wife and appologized later.
The reception went off pretty well except the hotel staff hadn't briefed us on how the food was to be served. So we got up to start the buffet line only to find out that no the salad would be served at the table. They had also provided dessert when we specifically had told them not to because we had our own cake...needless to say we had a ton of wedding cake to take home with us because no one ate it after having the hotel cakes.
Oh and remember the wet carpets? Well they stained my gown & shoes.
I don't remember how I had my car keys, but my brother went to the Church and got my bags out of my trunk and brought them back to the hotel. Then DH & I headed off for our room/suite. DH didn't get to hear about what all had happened earlier that day. His mom had decided that he had enough to worry about so she didn't tell him. So when we got to the suite he was suprised. I was suprised too because it was a smoking room...blech! and someone had spilled bleach on the carpet downstairs. But the rest of the room was fine. The hotel had left us a bottle of champaigne... but at that point I was too tired to enjoy that.
The sad part was that we had to get up early the next day because check out time was at 11am and we couldn't afford another night in that room. So we were up at 8am after getting to sleep at something like 3am. I was so bushed!
After breakfast at the hotel's dining room, blech! We headed over to a party held for us at the In-Law's friends' house. We opened all of our wedding gifts and had a very nice lunch with both families...including all of DH's aunts & uncles. It was incredible how many of DH's family traveled to FL for this wedding where my family who lived in FL couldn't be bothered to attend.
After lunch we headed off for our honeymoon at Walt Disney World. We had a very nice hotel room at Dixie Landings which I see has now changed it's name. Our room looked similar to the one in this picture, but we had a king bed.
The rest of our honeymoon was very relaxing, we even took the river boat "cruise" (it's actually part of the Disney resort transportation system). The "boat captain" decided to rename the trip the "honeymoon cruise" after he found out that we were newly weds. It was cute. We were also given a free mini-bottle of champaigne that I still have the empty bottle from...it's stored in a place of honor in my pantry.
So what's on for this evening? As far as I know DH is coming home early from work (he couldn't take off because of some big project that he's in charge of) and we are heading up to Steak & Ale for dinner. The rest is a suprise. I need to go wrap up DH's gift of a new dress shirt that he asked for.
Of course you'll be updated on what all (well almost all) happens.
When we (Mom, MIL to be in a few hours, Maid of honor & her sister) got there we found that the carpet in the hall that we were promised would be brand new or at least shampooed...was FILTHY! Almost black. The tables were already set and the room was supposedly ready for our reception, as it was supposed to be.. The table clothes had not only stains on them but had actual remains of food on them. Glasses that were set at the tables had lip stick and or water rings on them. So seeing that the only thing that we could decorate was the gift table, Maid of honor & her sister stayed to decorate that while the rest of us headed over to the office.
The person that had set up our event was not there, her day off. So we had to deal with the manager who was at first shocked that we did not approve of the hall. But the rest of the staff had seen the mess and had already started taking care of things. The table cloths were removed and clean ones were rented at no charge (funny if we had chose to go with colored table cloths they would have had to be rented...but since we didn't want the extra expense we chose the hotel's white! I should have demanded they get me the colored cloths! But my brain wasn't working all that well because of the stress.) I still to this day wonder how in the world they thought they were going to get away with that. The manager promised me that his staff would help with the decorations since I couldn't stay to do it and instead of a regular room that we had reserved I would be staying in a suite that evening.
They began to clean the carpets but since there was an all day insurance class next door and they began to complain about the noise, the cleaning had to wait until lunch break...which meant the carpets were still very wet by the time our reception started.
Well since I couldn't decorate anything, we left the decorations with MIL & Maid of Honor & her sister. I had to trust that they would take care of everything and they did.
Mom & I headed to the hair dresser to get our hair done. And Mom decided to pay for it after I started writing out the check. LOL, she's like that.
We went back to our house and still frazzled, I took a bath. My mom offered to get me a valium from one of her friends. AS IF! I was not going to be drugged out on my wedding day with a drug that I've never taken before that wasn't prescribed for me. I know she was just trying to calm me down...but seriously!
After my bath I did my nails, having to apply a few fake nails because some had broken that week when my car's battery decided to short out when I gave my friend a jump and she didn't replace the cover on the terminals. I think I had 2 fakes on each hand. LOL
My friend came over to do my make up for me, she did Mom's too. Then I left for the Church. I got there before the guy with the key, but he showed up soon afterward and informed me that Lutherans are never on time. I laughed because I'm "chronically early." My therapist told me later that this was a problem because I stress out big time if I'm ever late.
I got to wait around for a long time in the bride's room as I got there early. My photographer got there early too. He was very sweet and got me a bottled water at the conveinence store next door. My attendants arrived and we started getting dressed. I found out that after my Mom had sabotaged my efforts to have all the attendants wearing their hair in the same style, two of them (the ones that Mom had talked to) had gone and had their hair done together anyway! I vowed to only do what my child askes me to for her wedding...nothing more.
We had to wait to start the wedding because... my grandmother who had asked me to invite my one uncle to the wedding so that he could drive her, needed my brother to come and get her because said uncle didn't show up. So brother goes to get her and we are waiting for them to arrive in traffic... Meanwhile I'm sweating in my gown...great.
Finally only 30 minutes late (remember my "chronic earliness"?) they arrive and we can begin the wedding.
I remember white knuckling my bouquet and that my tissue (in case I cried) was plastered into the handle of it. I remember the pastor starting with "The Peace of the Lord be with You." and the rest of the congregation says "and also with you" while I said "Amen." Luckily I wasn't wearing a mike. The rest of the ceremony, I don't remember much of... but my co-workers reported back to me that while I was saying my vows and I came to the part "...before God and these witnesses..." there was a very loud crack of thunder. It was also reported to me later that I was kinda spining on my knees...I didn't lock my knees 'cuz everyone said I would pass out if I did that. So I was from the knees up rotating in a circle. So glad the video camera's battery had died at that point...
Which brings up another thing. DF & I did NOT want our wedding video tapped. But Future FIL & Future MIL insisted on doing it anyway. And Future FIL knew that the battery was getting low in the camera, but he had forgotten to change it out. So due to the lateness of grandmother, the video that we have shows everyone of my guests arriving. I had only put the reserved ribbon on the very front pew for the parents. All the rest of my family were expected to sit in other pews. However, being the very smart people that they are, they had all tried to cramm into the first pew...a pew made to hold 4 people MAX. So in the video you get to see my family trying to figure out how they were going to fit both of my grandmothers, my uncle, my grandfather's cousin, my brother and then my mom and her boyfriend. I would have to look at the video again, but I believe that it ended up just being my grandmothers, the cousin, my mom & her boyfriend shoved into the pew. The rest of the family had not realized the boyfriend was supposed to sit there too and I don't know why in the world the cousin felt that she was entitled to sit in that front pew... none of them had received any of the cards that you're supposed to use to indicate they get to sit there. My mom reported that she had gone up to light the candal and was led to the pew and shocked to see them all sitting there. The video stops right after I get to the front of the Church, and you can't see that happen because everyone is standing. LOL.
We had a military wedding with the tunnel of swords. As DH & I were leaving I feel something that feels as if someone had lightly pulled on my dress. It took just moment to realize that was my sword slap, so the photographer caught me laughing about that.
It had started raining while we were waiting for the ceremony to begin. So we had a really hard time getting people to leave the Church. Instead of shaking hands and hugging our guests, DH & I were kinda shoving them out of the Church because we still had to get in to get our pictures done. We were taking our pictures and the photographer kept saying "Watch the birdie" while flipping the bird IN MY CHURCH! I was getting ticked off and it probably shows in the pictures. It also didn't help that the attendants kept walking off and chatting instead of being good little soldiers waiting to take their pictures in an orderly fashion so we could get out of there.
The limos that DH had hired were not happy that we were running late. And our driver was speeding to get us dumped at the hotel so he could make it to the next gig that he had. But our best man kept telling him the wrong directions to get a longer ride out of him. So imagine driving at 50 plus miles per hour through the hotel complex...it was a wild ride! About 4 minutes after we left the Church (okay, maybe it was 15 min, but it sure felt like only 4) we arrived at the hotel banquet hall. And one of my co-workers' husbands was holding the door for us to enter. I at first had thought that he was a hotel employee so my thanks to him wasn't all that nice. Poor guy. I explained it all to his wife and appologized later.
The reception went off pretty well except the hotel staff hadn't briefed us on how the food was to be served. So we got up to start the buffet line only to find out that no the salad would be served at the table. They had also provided dessert when we specifically had told them not to because we had our own cake...needless to say we had a ton of wedding cake to take home with us because no one ate it after having the hotel cakes.
Oh and remember the wet carpets? Well they stained my gown & shoes.
I don't remember how I had my car keys, but my brother went to the Church and got my bags out of my trunk and brought them back to the hotel. Then DH & I headed off for our room/suite. DH didn't get to hear about what all had happened earlier that day. His mom had decided that he had enough to worry about so she didn't tell him. So when we got to the suite he was suprised. I was suprised too because it was a smoking room...blech! and someone had spilled bleach on the carpet downstairs. But the rest of the room was fine. The hotel had left us a bottle of champaigne... but at that point I was too tired to enjoy that.
The sad part was that we had to get up early the next day because check out time was at 11am and we couldn't afford another night in that room. So we were up at 8am after getting to sleep at something like 3am. I was so bushed!
After breakfast at the hotel's dining room, blech! We headed over to a party held for us at the In-Law's friends' house. We opened all of our wedding gifts and had a very nice lunch with both families...including all of DH's aunts & uncles. It was incredible how many of DH's family traveled to FL for this wedding where my family who lived in FL couldn't be bothered to attend.
After lunch we headed off for our honeymoon at Walt Disney World. We had a very nice hotel room at Dixie Landings which I see has now changed it's name. Our room looked similar to the one in this picture, but we had a king bed.
The rest of our honeymoon was very relaxing, we even took the river boat "cruise" (it's actually part of the Disney resort transportation system). The "boat captain" decided to rename the trip the "honeymoon cruise" after he found out that we were newly weds. It was cute. We were also given a free mini-bottle of champaigne that I still have the empty bottle from...it's stored in a place of honor in my pantry.
So what's on for this evening? As far as I know DH is coming home early from work (he couldn't take off because of some big project that he's in charge of) and we are heading up to Steak & Ale for dinner. The rest is a suprise. I need to go wrap up DH's gift of a new dress shirt that he asked for.
Of course you'll be updated on what all (well almost all) happens.
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Thursday 13: things growing in my garden part #1
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Well since blogger is being a pain (not letting me post all my pictures in one post)... I'll do this in parts.  Here is my garden! Isn't it pretty? (you don't have to comment on that) I grow the garden, just for me. My DH & DD don't eat the veggies in this garden...they are anti-vegetarians! I love veggies and have a great time growing and figuring out new ways to eat them. This year I planted a mix of squash and I don't quite know what all I got in there. I'll need your help if you've seen these before, let me know. tomatoes...so far just two red ones...yummy!  straightneck (front) & crookneck squash in the back. Note: since it posts the new post on top, I'm working backwards. Leave your comments & links at the last one. |
Thursday 13: things growing in my garden part #2
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Well since blogger is being a pain... I'll do this in parts.  Pumpkin I'm not sure if this is a pumpkin or a round zucchini...I'm hoping pumpkin because I'm not picking it! Patty Pan Squash Parsley (in the back) and Strawberries Green Beans I've no idea what this is... can anyone tell me??Leave your comments & links at the last one. |
Thursday 13: things growing in my garden part #3
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Well since blogger is being a pain... I'll do this in parts.  Cucumber Carrots Black Beauty Zucchini Another ZucchiniOkay, I couldn't get the words to go where I wanted them to...even if I put a ton of spaces between the pictures... bah blogger! Links to other Thursday Thirteens! |
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Tuesday, August 15, 2006
The Anniversary situation update...
I found out from Darly today that DH has been asking her what to get me for our Anniversary. Hummm... I thought that we had already discussed this and that I said that I just wanted a nice dinner. Apparently that wasn't good enough.
Maybe he wants to make up for the past few years? I don't know...this man barely talks at all much less says what's really on his mind.
So I told Darly to tell him that he could get me the Anniversary ring that I was supposed to get 4 years ago OR the bedroom furniture that we've both been wanting since we bought this house. OR he could just get me the dinner. :D
As for what I can get him... Well Darly informs me that he wants a shirt that was in the Kohls flyer. So I guess that's what I'll get him along with the other previously mentioned items...
I need more iced coffee.
Maybe he wants to make up for the past few years? I don't know...this man barely talks at all much less says what's really on his mind.
So I told Darly to tell him that he could get me the Anniversary ring that I was supposed to get 4 years ago OR the bedroom furniture that we've both been wanting since we bought this house. OR he could just get me the dinner. :D
As for what I can get him... Well Darly informs me that he wants a shirt that was in the Kohls flyer. So I guess that's what I'll get him along with the other previously mentioned items...
I need more iced coffee.
A Better Way
One of my current favorites. Click here for a link to hear it. You'll have to type A Better Way into the box there. And it will show up first.
Downhere - A Better Way
From the album Wide-Eyed and Mystified
I'm not alone, I really believe
You never go, You never leave
Here and now, You always stay
“I love you” could not be said a better way
It's everything You've promised
There's no greater love than this
From prophets until today
A man laying down His life for His friends
Your sacrifice has spoken, You gave everything
And “I love you” could not be said
A better way
I am forgiven, I clearly see
It's why You came to do all you did for me
Trading earth with heaven, You took my place
“I love you” could not be said
A better way
Because You redeem, I know what's to come
Everything I could lose here, You've already won
So You have my surrender, with passion obey
“I love you” could not be said
A better way
Lyrics may not be reproduced without permission from the publisher. (I hope I'm not in trouble.)
Downhere - A Better Way
From the album Wide-Eyed and Mystified
I'm not alone, I really believe
You never go, You never leave
Here and now, You always stay
“I love you” could not be said a better way
It's everything You've promised
There's no greater love than this
From prophets until today
A man laying down His life for His friends
Your sacrifice has spoken, You gave everything
And “I love you” could not be said
A better way
I am forgiven, I clearly see
It's why You came to do all you did for me
Trading earth with heaven, You took my place
“I love you” could not be said
A better way
Because You redeem, I know what's to come
Everything I could lose here, You've already won
So You have my surrender, with passion obey
“I love you” could not be said
A better way
Lyrics may not be reproduced without permission from the publisher. (I hope I'm not in trouble.)
Friday, August 11, 2006
WHY???
Okay, those of you who know me, know that I got a cell phone "kicking and screaming!" I didn't really want one, but got convinced that the pros outweighed the cons of having one.
So I've got this blasted thing and on my command, NO ONE that knows me calls me unless it's an emergency...which is the way I want it.
But I keep getting calls...
and I expect the calls from my cell phone company trying to get me to waste my units to sell me more features for my phone. I get that...everyone is out to make a buck. I don't answer them and I delete their messages.
The calls that are really ticking me off are the ones from Mortgage companies. I don't answer these calls. They leave a really long message on my voice mail. AND here's the Kicker... The say that I contacted them... "ummm... I DON'T THINK SO!" "Why on earth would I:
a) contact a mortgage company to refinance my home when intrest rates are going up???
b) give out my cell phone number when I have a perfectly good land line number?"
I have both my land line and my cell numbers on the Do Not Call list...but I think the "you contacted us" part of the message is there way of getting around that. (btw: I don't pick up my messages from my cell. I use my land line and that doesn't cost me anything.)
I need to find a way to report them... but I'm sure that since it's a different company each time that nothing will be done.
Sorry for the rant... back to your regularly scheduled programming.
A friend of mine says I need to freeze my credit reports...but these people have no idea who I am. They haven't done any credit check...they are just "cold calling" numbers and leaving messages...hoping that someone somewhere out there wants to refinance.
I don't answer, I won't answer unless your number pops up as one stored in my cell.
So I've got this blasted thing and on my command, NO ONE that knows me calls me unless it's an emergency...which is the way I want it.
But I keep getting calls...
and I expect the calls from my cell phone company trying to get me to waste my units to sell me more features for my phone. I get that...everyone is out to make a buck. I don't answer them and I delete their messages.
The calls that are really ticking me off are the ones from Mortgage companies. I don't answer these calls. They leave a really long message on my voice mail. AND here's the Kicker... The say that I contacted them... "ummm... I DON'T THINK SO!" "Why on earth would I:
a) contact a mortgage company to refinance my home when intrest rates are going up???
b) give out my cell phone number when I have a perfectly good land line number?"
I have both my land line and my cell numbers on the Do Not Call list...but I think the "you contacted us" part of the message is there way of getting around that. (btw: I don't pick up my messages from my cell. I use my land line and that doesn't cost me anything.)
I need to find a way to report them... but I'm sure that since it's a different company each time that nothing will be done.
Sorry for the rant... back to your regularly scheduled programming.
A friend of mine says I need to freeze my credit reports...but these people have no idea who I am. They haven't done any credit check...they are just "cold calling" numbers and leaving messages...hoping that someone somewhere out there wants to refinance.
I don't answer, I won't answer unless your number pops up as one stored in my cell.
There's a Partay goin on...
Carmen over at Gone to Plaid is hosting a fab blog warming party.
Hop on over and tell her how fab her new blog design by Goofy Girl looks ...oh and bring her some gifts too.
Hop on over and tell her how fab her new blog design by Goofy Girl looks ...oh and bring her some gifts too.
HELP Need Anniversary ideas
My 14th annivresary is coming up on the 22nd. And I haven't got a clue what to get for DH. I know that if I ask he'll tell me that he doesn't want anything. He never wants anything and if you get him something anyway that he doesn't like, he'll return it or not use it.
There's still a laser level in the basement in it's packaging that I got him for his birthday two years ago and a computer game that I bought him before 2001, still in the box unopened! I should ebay that sucker or something.
He'll be taking me out to dinner and I've got a coupon for that...I'm on that place's email list for coupons. The restaurant is where we went on our first real date, well a franchise of it. We went on our first real date at one that is now closed in FL.
And I've got the lingerie bought for later...just in case I don't eat too much and we aren't too tired, or mad at each other.
I suppose I should get him a card.
Traditional 14th wedding anniversary gifts have a theme of Ivory.
A contemporary or modern 14th anniversary gift has a theme of Gold Jewellery.
The flowers associated with the 14th anniversary are Dahlia
Well, he won't want ANY of those! Shoot! I don't want any of those either!
hummm.... Any ideas? It would be really nice to get him something that he really likes this year as last year... well it blew chunks! We were both pretty ticked off at each other and barely acknowledged the day at all.
Maybe I should get a second to talk to him about this and talk him into considering our recent trip a gift to each other and we just do the dinner and call it a day? He would probably go for that as he's very practical.
Although, he did ask me what I wanted and I asked if I could get the bedroom furniture that we've been wanting forever... probably not this year though. hummm...
There's still a laser level in the basement in it's packaging that I got him for his birthday two years ago and a computer game that I bought him before 2001, still in the box unopened! I should ebay that sucker or something.
He'll be taking me out to dinner and I've got a coupon for that...I'm on that place's email list for coupons. The restaurant is where we went on our first real date, well a franchise of it. We went on our first real date at one that is now closed in FL.
And I've got the lingerie bought for later...just in case I don't eat too much and we aren't too tired, or mad at each other.
I suppose I should get him a card.
Traditional 14th wedding anniversary gifts have a theme of Ivory.
A contemporary or modern 14th anniversary gift has a theme of Gold Jewellery.
The flowers associated with the 14th anniversary are Dahlia
Well, he won't want ANY of those! Shoot! I don't want any of those either!
hummm.... Any ideas? It would be really nice to get him something that he really likes this year as last year... well it blew chunks! We were both pretty ticked off at each other and barely acknowledged the day at all.
Maybe I should get a second to talk to him about this and talk him into considering our recent trip a gift to each other and we just do the dinner and call it a day? He would probably go for that as he's very practical.
Although, he did ask me what I wanted and I asked if I could get the bedroom furniture that we've been wanting forever... probably not this year though. hummm...
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
New Tent - Set up requires 2 Adults?
We went tent shopping...
First I went to Big Lots - not for tents though. I wanted to see if they had any propane cook stoves left and what screen rooms they had left. All they had were the screen rooms that look like my old one, only different color...same price too...probably same problems. hee hee I passed.
Second we went to WalMart. They were sold out of most of their stuff. The propane cook stoves that were listed online for $30...long gone, of course! And they didn't have the tent that I was looking at either. The nice salesperson (quite unusual at WalMart!) there told me that the bigger & better tents aren't kept in stores like Parker. You either order them or go to Texas. After I explained my situation and what I was looking for, he suggested that I try Gander Mountain...so we did
At Gander Mountain...they are having a HUGE summer clearance sale! And they have most all of their tents set up on display so you can go in and see what you're looking at. nice! We chose the Wenzel - Sundance tent on sale for $99.99. I think that this tent must be discontinued as I can't find a picture online for you... This one looks kinda like it, but ours has a screened room on the front like this one. The first one gives you the layout of the tent though.
It says it's a 5 man, but I think you could easily get more folks in there...so it's a comfortable 5 man...not a super friendly 5 man.
We also picked up a propane cook stove for $25!
I'm a happy gal. While the "screen room" on the tent is pretty small, it does gives us space to get out of the tent without getting water dumped on our head.
~~~~~ Tuesday ~~~~~~~~~~
I decided to set up my new tent today. So I pulled it out of the box and located the instructions. I get about half-way threw and notice that they think it takes two ADULTS to put up the tent!
Most of my camping trips do not have two adults...just me and Darly. So I look over what is required and the biggest thing is that an adult needs to support the tent from the inside while the polls are connected.
Well, I figured that Darly needs to learn sometime soon how to set up a tent...now's a good of time as any!
So over breakfast, I explain the situation and what she will be required to do. She thinks she's up for the task.
We go out and begin setting up the tent and she's doing just great. Then comes the supporting the tent part. My job is to hold up the tent from the inside, her's is to attach the polls to the metal pegs. She managed to get 4 out of 5 polls attached...the last one needed the most convincing. So I had her come inside and push against the side opposite the missing poll and I put the last poll in. Yay!
There were still a few more polls to put up, but all she had to do was hold them until I got the other side done. We had the entire tent up in about 20 minutes...and that was reading the directions. Next times should go much faster.
Lilly came out and inspected our new tent. This dog is so smart! She first went around to the front of the tent to try to enter it there. (there are 3 doors!) Then she went to the side door and waited until we said it was okay to go in. She seemed to enjoy all the extra space as we will too.
First I went to Big Lots - not for tents though. I wanted to see if they had any propane cook stoves left and what screen rooms they had left. All they had were the screen rooms that look like my old one, only different color...same price too...probably same problems. hee hee I passed.
Second we went to WalMart. They were sold out of most of their stuff. The propane cook stoves that were listed online for $30...long gone, of course! And they didn't have the tent that I was looking at either. The nice salesperson (quite unusual at WalMart!) there told me that the bigger & better tents aren't kept in stores like Parker. You either order them or go to Texas. After I explained my situation and what I was looking for, he suggested that I try Gander Mountain...so we did
At Gander Mountain...they are having a HUGE summer clearance sale! And they have most all of their tents set up on display so you can go in and see what you're looking at. nice! We chose the Wenzel - Sundance tent on sale for $99.99. I think that this tent must be discontinued as I can't find a picture online for you... This one looks kinda like it, but ours has a screened room on the front like this one. The first one gives you the layout of the tent though.
It says it's a 5 man, but I think you could easily get more folks in there...so it's a comfortable 5 man...not a super friendly 5 man.
We also picked up a propane cook stove for $25!
I'm a happy gal. While the "screen room" on the tent is pretty small, it does gives us space to get out of the tent without getting water dumped on our head.
~~~~~ Tuesday ~~~~~~~~~~
I decided to set up my new tent today. So I pulled it out of the box and located the instructions. I get about half-way threw and notice that they think it takes two ADULTS to put up the tent!
Most of my camping trips do not have two adults...just me and Darly. So I look over what is required and the biggest thing is that an adult needs to support the tent from the inside while the polls are connected.
Well, I figured that Darly needs to learn sometime soon how to set up a tent...now's a good of time as any!
So over breakfast, I explain the situation and what she will be required to do. She thinks she's up for the task.
We go out and begin setting up the tent and she's doing just great. Then comes the supporting the tent part. My job is to hold up the tent from the inside, her's is to attach the polls to the metal pegs. She managed to get 4 out of 5 polls attached...the last one needed the most convincing. So I had her come inside and push against the side opposite the missing poll and I put the last poll in. Yay!
There were still a few more polls to put up, but all she had to do was hold them until I got the other side done. We had the entire tent up in about 20 minutes...and that was reading the directions. Next times should go much faster.
Lilly came out and inspected our new tent. This dog is so smart! She first went around to the front of the tent to try to enter it there. (there are 3 doors!) Then she went to the side door and waited until we said it was okay to go in. She seemed to enjoy all the extra space as we will too.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
We're back... early
as alluded in my previous post... Darly, Lilly & I went camping this weekend. We were supposed to return home today...but we ended up coming home last night instead...more on that later.
We went to a beautiful spot Guanella Pass. Our spot was right next to the first photo...and I suppose that's what it looks like when the sun is out.
When we first arrived it was overcast but not too cold or humid. I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt which were comfortable. After looking at all the available tent sites, I chose site 13. I picked this because it was close to the bathrooms and close to most of the rest of us. And all the other dogs were back in sites 10-12 far enough away from us that I could have some peace from Lilly's "anti-social with other dog behaviors."
I was able to get our tent set up and our air mattresses filled before it started to rain. I had Darly set up the beds with Lilly in the tent too...to keep her out of the way. I hadn't intended on using the cheapo sun shade, it was in the car...just in case. But after opening the tent to have all the water on the door flap land inside I wanted to set it up to have some place dry to step out into.
So my friend and camping neighbor helped me to get the sun shade set up...it's not an one person operation. We got it upright in fairly short order...it took some rigging with duct tape. And I then realized that there was a gap between the sun shade & the tent. I wracked my brain on how to fix this...trying my neat sheet at first, but then realizing that I could just move the tent. My tent is a small 4 man (yeah, as if you could really get 4 men who are straight in that thing!) so all I had to do was pull up the stakes and drag it over...yeah, the tent polls left gouges in the dirt, but those were easily filled in....mind you, it's sprinkling the entire time. There! All set up and beautiful! I moved our camping chairs into the sun shade along with a few other items and we were all set...to watch it rain and rain and rain.
We went camping up there with some friends and we had almost the entire side of the campground reserved...we didn't get in there early enough to get site 17 too. And we ended up selling site 16 to a very nice couple in an RV who were gone most of the time hiking. Unfortunately some of our group were not able to come and even though we had reserved the spots and paid for them...the camp host told us that we needed to set up a tent on the open spots or he would have to sell them...we could get our money back on them though. We seriously considered letting the spots go, but after seeing some of the folks who wanted the spots come threw (we hadn't told the host to sell them yet) we decided to set up tents. One guy had two dogs and when he came to look at the spots he allowed his dogs to run off leash...which would have driven our dogs nuts.
The rain finally let up and I was able to get a fire going to cook our dinner. Darly had a hotdog and some leftover candied yams. I had a hamburger patty with potatoes, zuchinni, onion, tomatoe, mushrooms & green beans - all cooked in a foil packet. (I find this a really yummy dinner that doesn't take too long to prepare & cook.) While I was waiting on dinner to cook, I went to the pump to get some water for washing the dishes. After I figured out how to use the pump...no directions and it's a two person operation if you don't want to be there forever, I had my water that I put on the fire after dinner. We had barely gotten our dinner eaten when our camping friends invited us to come over to camp #9 for a bon fire and byo smore roast. So I sent Darly over while I finished eating and cleaned up a little.
The bon fire was good but Lilly wasn't. She has very poor social skills with other dogs. If I could have taken her off-leash and just allowed her to meet the other dogs it probably would have gone better...but the other owner didn't trust her (and who can blame them when my dog is barking like crazy and nipping at her dog!) So instead I stood on Lilly's leash and had to keep telling her "no" the entire time. Darly & I decided to retire early. She got two smores and I had just one.
When we returned to our campsite the dishwashing water was nice and warm so I did the dishes. I have NEVER been so happy to wash dishes in my entire life! The water helped to warm me up...I even had Darly put her hands around our dishpan to warm up.
We each had on a t-shirt, long sleeved shirt, sweat shirt and our fleece coats; a hat, sweat pants and two pair of socks. Darly's bed had two fleece blankets and her sleeping bag; my bed had two fleece blankets, a quilt and the sleeping bag. Lilly's bed had a quilt on the floor and a towel on her back...Lilly really wanted to sleep on an air mattress too.
I didn't sleep well that night... It took me forever to get my legs warm. I awoke to the sun shining, but I wanted to sleep some more...so by the time I got up the sun was behind the clouds.
I started a fire and got our pancakes going. I put too much water in the mix so they were too thin, but they tasted okay. I had made my coffee at home, but was planning on iced coffee...which given the weather...was not a good plan. But it at least tasted good.
Again as we were just about finished, the kids came by and said that beading was going on at camp #9. So I sent Darly with the kids and cleaned up. I set the water on the fire to get heated and went over to camp #9 to check out the beading. Darly had made me a nice bracelet.
We did mostly just talking and beading for quite a long time and then a bunch of the group decided that they wanted to go fishing. The non-fishers just hung around and talked. Darly played in various tents with her bestest buddy.
I made us some sandwiches for lunch and soon after lunch it begain to rain. Darly was in the tent with her friend and I was at another campsite talking while it rained for a pretty long time. I think I went to the tent to lay down at about 4pm. After laying there until almost 6, my friend comes over to let me know that her tent is taking on water and they've decided to head on home. She came over later to return the wood she had bought from me (I brought extra because it's $3 in town and $7 from the camp host.) So I hopped out of the tent to return her money (which she wouldn't take) to see how much water was pooling up around my tent!
My sun shade instead of diverting water off the door was now pouring water on both sides of the door and that water was then going under my tent. There was also some slight leaking at the top of the tent. Probably a combination of the non-stop rain and all the extra water coming off the sun shade. I decided that we would leave too. I first went to talk with our other friends who were all questioning whether they should be staying too. Bestest friend's family decided to pack it in as well as they were standing in water and were the closest to the creek. I had lots of offers to help me tear things down, but I refused thinking that I got most of it up myself...down should be pretty easy. I planned to pack the soaking wet tent & sunshade in trash bags instead of their normal bags.
I got all torn down and packed into the car (not all that neatly) in about an hour. It probably would have gone faster if I had the girls actually listening to my instructions...instead of packing up the duffle bag, rolling up the blankets, rolling up the sleeping bags and then letting the air out of the mattresses...they decided to do the air mattresses first by jumping on them instead of slowly rolling the mattresses AND holding the valves open...great! So I ended up packing most of the inside of the tent myself as well. Lilly went happily into her crate in the nice warm car during the tear down time.
As I was rolling up the soaking wet tent the rain had subsided...but that's also when I noticed that our ground cover was entirely soaked with water. For you non-campers...this is a VERY BAD THING! Everyone agreed that it was a very good that we decided to pack it in. I knew that even if the sun had come out (which wasn't going to happen in a valley at 7:15pm) I would never get everything warm and dry enough for us to be able to sleep that night.
So we headed for home and I decided that we should stop to get something to eat on the way...because dinner at 9pm wasn't a good idea. It took me forever to find a McDonalds but we were soon on our way again. Lilly was a trooper and never complained...Darly was very good too.
We got home at 9:30 and DH was still up (abnormal as he usually goes to bed at 9). So after getting the most important items in the house...I stripped off all my wet clothes in the laundry room (which is right beside the garage door) and went directly to take a hot shower...ahhhh so much better. DH suggested that since I had so much wet stuff in the car that it would be a good idea for me to open the windows. I decided to do that and unpack the car. All the wet stuff is in the garage...right now. I'll get to it when I get dressed.
Lessons learned from this trip...
Don't make camping reservations in May for an August camping trip.
10,900 feet above sea level is wayyyyyyyyy to high to be camping.
Bring more tarps.
And check the weather reports...if it's supposed to rain, skip the trip.
I'll be looking for campgrounds that are much closer to sea level for our next trip...and I might just have to get a bigger tent. Maybe one that comes with a front porch kinda thing.
We went to a beautiful spot Guanella Pass. Our spot was right next to the first photo...and I suppose that's what it looks like when the sun is out.
When we first arrived it was overcast but not too cold or humid. I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt which were comfortable. After looking at all the available tent sites, I chose site 13. I picked this because it was close to the bathrooms and close to most of the rest of us. And all the other dogs were back in sites 10-12 far enough away from us that I could have some peace from Lilly's "anti-social with other dog behaviors."
I was able to get our tent set up and our air mattresses filled before it started to rain. I had Darly set up the beds with Lilly in the tent too...to keep her out of the way. I hadn't intended on using the cheapo sun shade, it was in the car...just in case. But after opening the tent to have all the water on the door flap land inside I wanted to set it up to have some place dry to step out into.
So my friend and camping neighbor helped me to get the sun shade set up...it's not an one person operation. We got it upright in fairly short order...it took some rigging with duct tape. And I then realized that there was a gap between the sun shade & the tent. I wracked my brain on how to fix this...trying my neat sheet at first, but then realizing that I could just move the tent. My tent is a small 4 man (yeah, as if you could really get 4 men who are straight in that thing!) so all I had to do was pull up the stakes and drag it over...yeah, the tent polls left gouges in the dirt, but those were easily filled in....mind you, it's sprinkling the entire time. There! All set up and beautiful! I moved our camping chairs into the sun shade along with a few other items and we were all set...to watch it rain and rain and rain.
We went camping up there with some friends and we had almost the entire side of the campground reserved...we didn't get in there early enough to get site 17 too. And we ended up selling site 16 to a very nice couple in an RV who were gone most of the time hiking. Unfortunately some of our group were not able to come and even though we had reserved the spots and paid for them...the camp host told us that we needed to set up a tent on the open spots or he would have to sell them...we could get our money back on them though. We seriously considered letting the spots go, but after seeing some of the folks who wanted the spots come threw (we hadn't told the host to sell them yet) we decided to set up tents. One guy had two dogs and when he came to look at the spots he allowed his dogs to run off leash...which would have driven our dogs nuts.
The rain finally let up and I was able to get a fire going to cook our dinner. Darly had a hotdog and some leftover candied yams. I had a hamburger patty with potatoes, zuchinni, onion, tomatoe, mushrooms & green beans - all cooked in a foil packet. (I find this a really yummy dinner that doesn't take too long to prepare & cook.) While I was waiting on dinner to cook, I went to the pump to get some water for washing the dishes. After I figured out how to use the pump...no directions and it's a two person operation if you don't want to be there forever, I had my water that I put on the fire after dinner. We had barely gotten our dinner eaten when our camping friends invited us to come over to camp #9 for a bon fire and byo smore roast. So I sent Darly over while I finished eating and cleaned up a little.
The bon fire was good but Lilly wasn't. She has very poor social skills with other dogs. If I could have taken her off-leash and just allowed her to meet the other dogs it probably would have gone better...but the other owner didn't trust her (and who can blame them when my dog is barking like crazy and nipping at her dog!) So instead I stood on Lilly's leash and had to keep telling her "no" the entire time. Darly & I decided to retire early. She got two smores and I had just one.
When we returned to our campsite the dishwashing water was nice and warm so I did the dishes. I have NEVER been so happy to wash dishes in my entire life! The water helped to warm me up...I even had Darly put her hands around our dishpan to warm up.
We each had on a t-shirt, long sleeved shirt, sweat shirt and our fleece coats; a hat, sweat pants and two pair of socks. Darly's bed had two fleece blankets and her sleeping bag; my bed had two fleece blankets, a quilt and the sleeping bag. Lilly's bed had a quilt on the floor and a towel on her back...Lilly really wanted to sleep on an air mattress too.
I didn't sleep well that night... It took me forever to get my legs warm. I awoke to the sun shining, but I wanted to sleep some more...so by the time I got up the sun was behind the clouds.
I started a fire and got our pancakes going. I put too much water in the mix so they were too thin, but they tasted okay. I had made my coffee at home, but was planning on iced coffee...which given the weather...was not a good plan. But it at least tasted good.
Again as we were just about finished, the kids came by and said that beading was going on at camp #9. So I sent Darly with the kids and cleaned up. I set the water on the fire to get heated and went over to camp #9 to check out the beading. Darly had made me a nice bracelet.
We did mostly just talking and beading for quite a long time and then a bunch of the group decided that they wanted to go fishing. The non-fishers just hung around and talked. Darly played in various tents with her bestest buddy.
I made us some sandwiches for lunch and soon after lunch it begain to rain. Darly was in the tent with her friend and I was at another campsite talking while it rained for a pretty long time. I think I went to the tent to lay down at about 4pm. After laying there until almost 6, my friend comes over to let me know that her tent is taking on water and they've decided to head on home. She came over later to return the wood she had bought from me (I brought extra because it's $3 in town and $7 from the camp host.) So I hopped out of the tent to return her money (which she wouldn't take) to see how much water was pooling up around my tent!
My sun shade instead of diverting water off the door was now pouring water on both sides of the door and that water was then going under my tent. There was also some slight leaking at the top of the tent. Probably a combination of the non-stop rain and all the extra water coming off the sun shade. I decided that we would leave too. I first went to talk with our other friends who were all questioning whether they should be staying too. Bestest friend's family decided to pack it in as well as they were standing in water and were the closest to the creek. I had lots of offers to help me tear things down, but I refused thinking that I got most of it up myself...down should be pretty easy. I planned to pack the soaking wet tent & sunshade in trash bags instead of their normal bags.
I got all torn down and packed into the car (not all that neatly) in about an hour. It probably would have gone faster if I had the girls actually listening to my instructions...instead of packing up the duffle bag, rolling up the blankets, rolling up the sleeping bags and then letting the air out of the mattresses...they decided to do the air mattresses first by jumping on them instead of slowly rolling the mattresses AND holding the valves open...great! So I ended up packing most of the inside of the tent myself as well. Lilly went happily into her crate in the nice warm car during the tear down time.
As I was rolling up the soaking wet tent the rain had subsided...but that's also when I noticed that our ground cover was entirely soaked with water. For you non-campers...this is a VERY BAD THING! Everyone agreed that it was a very good that we decided to pack it in. I knew that even if the sun had come out (which wasn't going to happen in a valley at 7:15pm) I would never get everything warm and dry enough for us to be able to sleep that night.
So we headed for home and I decided that we should stop to get something to eat on the way...because dinner at 9pm wasn't a good idea. It took me forever to find a McDonalds but we were soon on our way again. Lilly was a trooper and never complained...Darly was very good too.
We got home at 9:30 and DH was still up (abnormal as he usually goes to bed at 9). So after getting the most important items in the house...I stripped off all my wet clothes in the laundry room (which is right beside the garage door) and went directly to take a hot shower...ahhhh so much better. DH suggested that since I had so much wet stuff in the car that it would be a good idea for me to open the windows. I decided to do that and unpack the car. All the wet stuff is in the garage...right now. I'll get to it when I get dressed.
Lessons learned from this trip...
Don't make camping reservations in May for an August camping trip.
10,900 feet above sea level is wayyyyyyyyy to high to be camping.
Bring more tarps.
And check the weather reports...if it's supposed to rain, skip the trip.
I'll be looking for campgrounds that are much closer to sea level for our next trip...and I might just have to get a bigger tent. Maybe one that comes with a front porch kinda thing.
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Happy Birthday Thursday Thirteen - I'm too busy to send a card!
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1. I knew I had so much to do today, so I woke up early. This disturbed DH. 2. DONE Laundry - DH informed me that he only had enough t-shirts to last him until Sunday. I informed DH that I would be doing the laundry today to get ready for our camping trip. 3. DONE Clean house - well straighten up a bit - I had Darly do it. 4. DONE locate camping checklist and print it out - hold on...okay, I've got the list and copied it over to a word doc...I should just save it to my 'puter. I'll edit out the stuff we don't need for this trip and print it later. 5. pack for camping trip...which is why I needed the check list. ha! - partly done 6. shop for all the stuff I forgot to buy for the trip. I should get DH something special to eat while we are gone and he's fending for himself. Of course, he'll just eat out each night and leave his special meal to go bad. LOL Partly done. Darly informs me that DH plans to pick up a pizza on his way home from work tomorrow...so that takes care of him and then I'll get the oopses after dinner tonight 7. I wanted to get all my LLL treasury stuff done...so I started off by balancing two checkbooks. I've been really bad lately and let them slide for 2 months. And guess what? They both balanced just fine...I'm sooooooooo good! 8. Checkbook #3, the bain of my existance. See, I don't actually have this checkbook. I should say checkbooks as two different people have checks for this account and neither is very good at actually writing down what checks they have written. I spent a good 3 hours entering all the transactions from the bank statements into my quickbooks software. A few checks were recorded back to me from the sources as different amounts than the bank or the copy of the check showed...great! One rather large wire transfer was not noted at all. I wonder how in the world anyone expected to be giving final income figures with all this missinformation? and I feel so sorry for their personal accounts. DONE 9. Printed off a copy of all my hard work on the account. DONE 10. Printed off a copy of the profit & loss report for 2005-2006. DONE Printed off a copy of the profit & loss report for 2006 year to date DONE 11. For those of you who came earlier, no you aren't crazy...I moved the previous #11 to #10 and added this one. I wrote and entered the checks that were sitting in my to do file. Note to person in #8..."see how that works?" But I forgot that the person who normally cosigns the checks on this account is on vacation. So I called and go ahold of our back up person who will sign the checks for me...yay! Darly ran them to the mailbox.DONE 12. Will have to get a copy of last year's budget and enter the actuals (from the profit & loss report) on it. I decided that I don't have to get this all finished in one day and I don't need it until the 19th. SO I'll do it when I get back. I've got lots of time next week. 13. Will have to adjust this years budget and enter this year's acutals from the profit & loss report to present at a meeting on August 19th...and here's the kicker... NO ONE WILL EVER READ THIS REPORT! They don't understand it and they don't read it. putting off til next week 14. oh boy extra! I have to send in a financial report for last year 05-06 to my support person along with a budget for 2006 based on all this work. This was all Due in APRIL! but hey, I only just got the reports that I needed to do all of this a few weeks ago and I didn't want to do it before my Vegas trip...so I put it off. I suppose I could have entered all the stuff that took me 3 hours this morning as I received the bank statements...but to tell you the truth, I was getting rather angry at the lousy accounting job that I mentioned above...so I just ignored it. At least it kept me from making her look like a fool at our previous meetings. No one cared that I didn't have the numbers yet and they didn't ask why. putting off as long as I can get away with it. ;o) Sorry, I've got a lot more gritching to do. And I'm so busy. Taking a well deserved break! Links to other Thursday Thirteens! |
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Wednesday, August 02, 2006
A little something for non-fish eaters
Here's a dish that I used to woo DH.
Chicken breast
flour
milk
Italian flavored bread crumbs
can of cream of chicken soup
spray oil
preheat the oven to 425. rinse off the chicken, season with salt & pepper and dredge it in flour. Dip chicken in milk and then dredge in the breadcrumbs. Arrange chicken in baking dish that the sides come up at least an inch.
bake the chicken 10 minutes, turn and bake for another 10 minutes. Then cover the chicken with the soup and bake just a few more minutes to warm up the soup.
This is good with rice or noodles and just about any veggie.
Enjoy!
Chicken breast
flour
milk
Italian flavored bread crumbs
can of cream of chicken soup
spray oil
preheat the oven to 425. rinse off the chicken, season with salt & pepper and dredge it in flour. Dip chicken in milk and then dredge in the breadcrumbs. Arrange chicken in baking dish that the sides come up at least an inch.
bake the chicken 10 minutes, turn and bake for another 10 minutes. Then cover the chicken with the soup and bake just a few more minutes to warm up the soup.
This is good with rice or noodles and just about any veggie.
Enjoy!
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Jonesing for the good stuff
Over at If You Read Only One Blog This Year my good buddy Bone was talking about Bachelor eating and questionable food. It seems that Bone had wanted to have fish sticks, mac & cheese and green beans for his meal. But since he didn't have enough clean pots, he had to settle for a sandwich and a coke. Poor guy.
But that got me hungry for the fish meal. And while fish sticks would be a staple item in most homes with children, it isn't in the fefyfomanna household as I'm the only one around here who likes fish (other than canned tuna). So I found this wonderful flash frozen Flounder Fillets and I keep them on hand for lunch for just me. But I have to improvise when it comes to preparing them because let's face it, who has 4-6 hours to wait around for the fish to thaw in the frig... If I were thinking about it, I would have to wake up at like 6am to put the fish in the frig to thaw...blech! Not gonna happen here.
So I take the fish and thaw it under warm running water in my sink (the package specifically says that I should have been using cool water...oh well). It thaws in less than 10 minutes...SCORE!
Then the package recommends that I make the fish using Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs...but while they used to be a staple in the fefyfomanna household, no more as Darly has declaired them as totally unedible! So some more improvising... Let's try Roasted Vegetable Ritz crackers with Italian seasoning...smells yummy!
So here's the recipe:
Flounder Fillet - thawed
5 Roasted Vegetable Ritz crackers - pounded with rolling pin
handfull of shreaded parmesan cheese
dash of Italian seasoning
spray of butterflavored cooking spray oil
mix the cracker crumbs with the cheese & seasoning. Coat the fish in the mixture and place on a foil lined cookiesheet that has been sprayed with the oil. Give the top of the fish a good spray and place in a 425 oven for 10-12 minutes, turning once.
Now that the fish is cooking, let's tackle the green beans & "mac & cheese." I grabbed a handful of green beans from my garden, chopped them up and popped them in the microwave with a little water & a dash of salt for 3 minutes. As for the mac & cheese, well I'm not a huge fan and I didn't really want to cook up a whole box for just me...and I had some tasty safron rice in the frig from last night...so I nuked that for a minute to reheat it.
Done and Yummy! I'm eating it while I post here. Dont'cha wish we had smell-o-vision?
Note that recipe was for one... for those of you with more, you'll want to do that for each person's serving. Enjoy!
But that got me hungry for the fish meal. And while fish sticks would be a staple item in most homes with children, it isn't in the fefyfomanna household as I'm the only one around here who likes fish (other than canned tuna). So I found this wonderful flash frozen Flounder Fillets and I keep them on hand for lunch for just me. But I have to improvise when it comes to preparing them because let's face it, who has 4-6 hours to wait around for the fish to thaw in the frig... If I were thinking about it, I would have to wake up at like 6am to put the fish in the frig to thaw...blech! Not gonna happen here.
So I take the fish and thaw it under warm running water in my sink (the package specifically says that I should have been using cool water...oh well). It thaws in less than 10 minutes...SCORE!
Then the package recommends that I make the fish using Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs...but while they used to be a staple in the fefyfomanna household, no more as Darly has declaired them as totally unedible! So some more improvising... Let's try Roasted Vegetable Ritz crackers with Italian seasoning...smells yummy!
So here's the recipe:
Flounder Fillet - thawed
5 Roasted Vegetable Ritz crackers - pounded with rolling pin
handfull of shreaded parmesan cheese
dash of Italian seasoning
spray of butterflavored cooking spray oil
mix the cracker crumbs with the cheese & seasoning. Coat the fish in the mixture and place on a foil lined cookiesheet that has been sprayed with the oil. Give the top of the fish a good spray and place in a 425 oven for 10-12 minutes, turning once.
Now that the fish is cooking, let's tackle the green beans & "mac & cheese." I grabbed a handful of green beans from my garden, chopped them up and popped them in the microwave with a little water & a dash of salt for 3 minutes. As for the mac & cheese, well I'm not a huge fan and I didn't really want to cook up a whole box for just me...and I had some tasty safron rice in the frig from last night...so I nuked that for a minute to reheat it.
Done and Yummy! I'm eating it while I post here. Dont'cha wish we had smell-o-vision?
Note that recipe was for one... for those of you with more, you'll want to do that for each person's serving. Enjoy!
I WON! *happy dance*
Ladies and Gentlemen, your's truely has done something unbelievable.
I won the caption contest over at Denise's Blog! I'm so thrilled 'cuz I hardly ever win anything.
Now I have to admit that I'm not entirely proud of my submission for the caption contest and it's really mean. But if you go look at the picture, you'll see that the caption fits. And apparently, I'm not the only person with a twisted sense of humor.
I would like to thank first Denise for her contest, without which I wouldn't have entered and won, and second I would like to thank the public who voted for me.
I won the caption contest over at Denise's Blog! I'm so thrilled 'cuz I hardly ever win anything.
Now I have to admit that I'm not entirely proud of my submission for the caption contest and it's really mean. But if you go look at the picture, you'll see that the caption fits. And apparently, I'm not the only person with a twisted sense of humor.
I would like to thank first Denise for her contest, without which I wouldn't have entered and won, and second I would like to thank the public who voted for me.
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