New Years Eve...

Well, these are the last few minutes of the year 2006. I can't say it was the best year in several regards, but it was pretty fun in other regards, and it certainly beats a few other years I've had, so I won't complain!

Today we headed to church, and we were going to the early service, but this week they didn't end up having an early service, so we hung out for a bit before the service! After church we hit a burrito place for lunch, and headed home where we relaxed the rest of the day, watching football (the Colts won, thankfully!), etc. Kaylee has spent the day forcing her cousins to play princesses and ballerinas. Poor Tanner either has to be a bad guy and get beaten up, or be a prince and be forced to marry his sisters or cousin. Which isn't that odd in Tennessee, but he'd rather be the bad guy. ;)

When Steve told Kaylee she needed to let THEM decide what to play once in awhile too, she agreed, and said "You can choose this time." But then when Alonna said "I'm not sure", Kaylee said "Well, I'm dressed like a ballerina, so what do you think we should play since we're dressed like ballerinas?" Hmmm, I wonder what she wanted to play?? Ha

Richard & Ann took off today and got all the way to the Florida border. They're excited about their new home down there, and we're excited for them!

Tonight we all played a board game called "Apples to Apples", which is a fun word association game. Kaylee & Alonna won, much to Kaylee's joy. It was pretty cute though, she went up to Steve afterwards and apologized to him for not picking his card...she really wanted to help him win. Sometimes she's got a sweet, sensitive heart, and I enjoy seeing that side of her.

Well, tomorrow (weather permitting) we head back to Indiana. Kaylee will be a mess not having someone at her beck and call all day long again! It was a busy but fun holiday and I'm glad we got to see everybody even if it was too short a time.

As for 2007, well...bring it on. Here we go, ready or not.

p.s.

When we were JUST finishing up with presents last night, Cathy had one more for Tanner. He opened it to find the Hermit Crab he was pet-sitting for that had disappeared. Cathy had found it behind the washing machine, peeking at her, so she wrapped it up and gave it to Tanner for his last present of the evening. You should have seen his face when he unwrapped that thing! We all broke into spontaneous applause that Smiley Joe (the crab) had been found and rescued.

lol

Vacation, Continued

Last night we did have Christmas Round Three! Kaylee has been such a lucky girl. She got fairies from the Chiles, ponies from the Shaffers, and mermaids from the Cherrys, among other things of course, and she's just in little kid heaven. Then everybody stayed up extra late, had junk food right before bed, and watched "Daddy Daycare" with Eddie Murphy. And she even stayed awake for the whole thing. It was like 1 a.m. our time before I got her in bed, and she passed RIGHT out. lol She had a wonderful day!

We all slept in this morning, even the kids! Plus I had trouble sleeping for some reason. I kept having nightmares (one was about a guy being executed by being eaten alive in a pit of rats...and weirdly enough he didn't seem that bothered by the whole deal) and I also kept getting up to go to the bathroom...I think I must need my prostate checked since I didn't even drink that much before I went to bed! (Yes, I'm kidding about the prostate).

Kaylee played with her cousins of course, plus a little neighbor girl her age. They played on a giant trampoline (with safety net walls) and in a tree house, etc. It was so warm outside today. She had a blast and played hard all day. This afternoon many of us took mini naps-except the kids-and then headed out to "The Factory", which is an old brick factory that has been taken over by high end shopping stores. They have lots of Christmas decorations and expensive stores, and we all wandered around and checked things out. I took several photos there and I think they're going to turn out pretty cute...can't wait to get them home and edited and online. :)

By this time Kaylee was fading fast, but still managed to hang in there. It started raining at this point, and it was dark, and I think it's supposed to rain right up to the point we're going to leave to head home. Kaylee started running, tripped over Aunt Cathy's foot, went down--but I had a hold of her hand, so I both stopped her fall for the most part, and almost landed on top of her myself. I'm dancing around to avoid landing on her and REALLY hurting her. So graceful am I. *sigh* lol

Next we hit a pizza place in downtown Franklin called "The Mellow Mushroom". It wasn't mellow, but it was fun. Poor Kaylee was a little noise overwhelmed at this point. She grabbed her head/ears, laid her head in my lap, and cried, saying it hurt her head and it was TOO LOUD in there. Poor girl, of all things to inherit from me... anyway, after we got our pizza and she got some food in her system, she perked right up and did much better. It was loud, but it was really good pizza and it was a fun evening. I had the waitress take our group photo in the big booth there, and hopefully it'll turn out okay.

On our way home we had the chance to stop at the Cocoa Tree, a chocolate store that looked VERY tasty, but it was dark, cool, rainy, and there are 11 of us to find a parking spot (two cars), get in, etc., and just for ME basically to get some yummy chocolate. So I passed for the good of the whole. ;)

On to some warm coffee and comfortable pants!

Day Two in Tennesee!

I haven't even taken a lot of photos here, and that's just unusual for me. Apparently I finally (temporarily of course) photoed out! *Gasp*

Today I went with Cathy and we hit Wal-Mart, Target and Barnes & Noble. (And yes, I totally behaved myself at B&N because I had Alonna and Cathy waiting for me so I just did my business and left! Steve says 'thank you', I know.) By the way, I haven't used a Target or Wal-Mart restroom in years, and now I remember why. Yuck. Anyway, I got the rest of the presents, came home and wrapped them all, then sat and read a little book called "WHY?", which is a spiritual book about us asking God why bad things happen. I have to admit I didn't find anything particularly useful in it. I've read a few books with that theme kind of out of curiosity, but I think that is a topic that is just not easily addressed in a way that will be meaningful to 'everybody'. I think it is something everybody needs to find their own answer to when "we just won't know all the answers" isn't good enough...even if that IS the answer.

Tanner is pet-sitting for a friend. The pet is a hermit crab-who is currently on the loose in the house. We've all searched high and low for this little bugger who really isn't even all that little, but wherever he is, he's found an excellent hiding spot!! I just hope 1) nobody steps on him and crunches him and 2) none of the cats eat him. It's never fun to lose someone else's pet. Kaylee is walking around strumming a guitar singing "Oh Mr. Crab, please come out. Please come out. Oh Mr. Crab, please come out..."

I think tonight we are doing Christmas with the Cherrys. If I'm still awake afterwards I may update. :)

Kaylee is having a blast, as she always does with her cousins. She's running around like the fifth Cherry Kid, with the undivided attention of her favorite cousins in the world! I can't believe Alonna is 16, Morgan 14, they are just all growing up so fast! Today Kaylee got her fingernails painted and Morgan fixed her hair with a lovely red matching hairbow for her dress. She's in girlie-girl heaven...

On to Tennessee!

Well, this really HAS been a difficult year for us getting where we need to go when we need to get there with what we need while there! We started off the morning with Steve and Kaylee getting some work done at the office, etc., while I stayed home and repacked all the bags, got Christmas presents ready, and then hit the mall to get some final presents. Except I struck out at the mall. Well, not totally, I got 1/3 of the presents I needed. The rest were a big fat zero. So I got what I could, then ran out and met Nathan and Chuch and Steve & Kaylee for a lunch at Applebees (we ran into Greg & Michaele and Grace as we were leaving too!). We finished up with lunch, then headed out to the airport, packed up the Bellanca with more things than I knew it could hold, and Finally departed Kokomo for Tennessee. That seemed like the longest flight in history to me for some reason! Maybe it's just that I'm used to going faster than 130 knots. ;) We finally landed at about dark, and Richard was waiting for us. We fueled up the plane (I say 'we' loosely since Kaylee and I sat in the car the whole time) and then headed back to Lon & Cathy's house. I ended up actually going to bed kind of early! I was pooped for some reason...

But we are here!

Home--for a Moment!

Well, we got up this morning and Gayle took us to the airport so we could head on home. The weather was gorgeous and the flight was uneventful and smooth, which is always nice. We stayed VFR and we stayed low to best help with Kaylee's ears. We lost an hour, so we got home around 12:30 pm our time. Steve had a flight right after we got our stuff unpacked at home, and then he got to head to Muncie with Nathan in the Cheyenne and a student of Steve's got to ride in the back. I'm sure everybody had fun. :)

Me, I stayed home and tried to get ready for Round Three coming up tomorrow. I've washed our dirty laundry, repacked my and Kaylee's bags, done a round of dishes, cleaned out the cat litterbox and the trash, gone through a HUGE stack of mail, did my photos from Christmas in Missouri (I can't believe how few photos I took this year!), etc. I still have Christmas presents to put away and a lot of mess still that will be waiting for us when we come back from Tennessee, but I think at least we'll make it to TN tomorrow!

However, whether or not Roadie survives me coming home again is another question. I was running errands today--post office, bank, etc., and I kept smelling poop. Finally I found it on my shoe, and got it scraped off in the grass at my next stop. When I got home, I thought it must have been in the grass, so I avoided the grass. But oh no. Roadie had pried open our coat closet and used it for her litterbox the entire time we were gone. I had stepped in a more fresh one when I reached in with the light off to grab a coat. I could have killed her. I briefly considered it. Something is going to change, she is NOT going to use our carpet for her litterbox. I got it all cleaned up, and sprayed some "go-away-cat" spray in there in case she wants to use it again. She's still trying to cuddle up to me and I'm still ticked off at her. If she wants to be a wild cat and poop wherever she wants, then she can go be a wild cat somewhere else.

I took some photos of Kaylee in front of our Christmas tree, but I'm going to make her pose again later while I aim for that photo that just stands out and says "wow, that's a great one!" :) Here's one of my cutie! I did get the Christmas photos I've taken of her so far up at Kaylee's site at http://www.kayleestants.com/christmas06.htm and http://www.kayleestants.com/christmas06b.htm.

Tomorrow we hop in the Bellanca and head to Tennessee. Here's hoping for good weather, and a fun time to be had by all! I know Kaylee will just love being around her cousins for several days straight here...and then she will be a bear to get along with for awhile as she'll be used to her Grandma and her cousins giving her their undivided attention for so long! She's a lucky girl. :)

Christmas Continues

We got up this morning, and Kaylee briefly cried when she found Deenie gone and found a note in her place that said "Bye Kaylee, I love you and I will see you next year! Love, Deenie". Kaylee wants to keep the note forever and ever. :)

We went to the airplane to drop off some of our stuff, and then headed to Cape to spend the day with Dad & Gayle. Kaylee got to open even MORE Christmas presents, the lucky girl! She's been playing with ALL of her new things this whole time, and she swaps out what she hangs onto for awhile. We went to My Daddy's Cheesecake for dessert after dinner, and I had a Mocha and some eggnog cheesecake. Quite tasty--nice place, good ambiance. :) We were all kind of tired, but all of us except Kaylee probably stayed up too late talking. At least *I* didn't have to get up at 5:30 a.m.! Ick.

It was a fast trip unfortunately, but I certainly can't say I didn't eat enough excellent food these last few days! :)

Merry Christmas!

This morning I was woken up by a bouncing almost-six-year-old whispering in my ear "Get UP, Mommy, it's Christmas!" When I didn't immediately bound out of bed, she went and sicced her father on me. :)

It was a fun Christmas morning. Kaylee was very excited and thankful for everything she opened up, and she got to hand out the gifts to everybody. Her face really lit up when she saw her fairy set, and she started bouncing around again. She was a lot of fun to watch!

We did have one interesting problem though. She's changed her mind and decided to believe in Santa. So she was a little disturbed when she woke up and decided that Santa had eaten her cookies and drank her milk and not left her any other presents. She was a little put out because he didn't bring her anything, just WE did. Well, who'd have thought she'd think that through!? So while she was in our room, mom took one of her presents (Seven individual little fairies) and hid them throughout the Christmas tree as if they came from Santa. Kaylee loved it, loved hunting down the fairies and that Santa had known she wanted the fairies. Crisis averted!

However, tonight is Deenie's last night, and so far Kaylee's not giving her up very well!

Mom and Kaylee played all day long the last two days. Kaylee's pretty non-stop, but she's sure loving the attention and playmate. And today she had FAIRIES to play with. Life was good. :)

Mom made these beautiful hand-made Christmas ornaments, using pretty colored ribbons with the lace. They will look lovely on our tree next year! Along with chocolate and a gift certificate for books, what more could a girl like me ask for Christmas? :)

I took a big old nap this afternoon and I'm STILL sleepy. I'll probably head to bed after the football game ends. Tomorrow we head to Dad & Gayle's, and then we'll head home, unpack, do laundry, repack, and head the very next day to Tennessee for Christmas with the Cherrys. Whew!!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas! Prayers for the SMA kids, so many of whom are Very ill right now!! Hope that those people traveling do so safely and just that it was a peaceful Christmas for everyone. It has been a lovely Christmas for us, once we got here and settled down! :) I know there were some funny Kaylee quips if I can think of them tomorrow...

Night!

Christmas Eve...

Well, it most certainly does not feel like Christmas Eve. Not to anybody here, I don't think. Not in a BAD way or anything, it just DOESN'T! Maybe it's the warm-ish temperatures, or how rushed everything has been right up to Christmas not leaving us any time to really think about the holiday. I don't know what it is, but I'm not feeling very festive this year!

I spent today reading a book. A very good Greg Iles book called True Evil. An interesting premise. Long book though, it's over 500 pages, so it took me most of the day. I took a break during the afternoon however when Mom, Kaylee and I went to the theater and watched "Charlotte's Web". They did a very good job on the classic, and kept the movie very close to the book, which I think is important in a tale like this. I even remember some of the one-liners from the book. The people they picked to do the voices did a great job. Julia Roberts, Oprah, Reba MacIntyre, etc. And Dakota Fanning did a great job as Fern. I had only one problem. When I READ the book, I could pretend like Charlotte was a cute little delicate spider and not really actually picture her in my head. Watching the movie, I couldn't help but be creeped out. The spider was huge. She was bigger than the rat's head. She had a fat hairy body, and they kept zooming in on closeups to her weaving webs and stuff. It took away some of the mood of the movie for me, because I kept getting the shudders out of her big hairy fat spider body. Ick. Charlotte looked like a monster spider--with sweet brown eyes and Julia Robert's voice. Now tell me that's not creepy. It didn't stop a sniffle or fourteen I heard from the seat next to Kaylee's when Charlotte gracefully died. :) I looked at Kaylee to see if she got it, and she didn't seem all that bothered, so I said "Do you understand that Charlotte just died?" And Kaylee looks at me and whispers "She's not a REAL spider, right?" Oh man! Every little girl should cry over Charlotte even if she IS a darn fake spider! I thought, "we need to get you a little more engaged in fiction, child!"

Kaylee liked the part with the little baby spiders the best (That REALLY creeped me out. All I could picture was me walking through that barn yard while 583 baby spiders floated into my face and hair on webs being blown in the wind. Oh man, lock me up drooling right there...) She did later say it was sad that Charlotte died, but I think she just thought at that point that everybody thought she should be sad so she would be, not that she actually was. Make any sense? ;)

Prior to the movie starting, they kept having these previews for upcoming movies and such. None of them were R-rated or sexual or anything, but several had scenes that Kaylee was a little young for. Including a trailer for the movie "Eragon", with dragons and fire and people getting killed, etc. I had her close her eyes after it kept going on and on, because she already has a fire problem, and it kept showing this dragon spewing fire everywhere. So the next movie trailer? About a Firehouse Dog, and it showed a building exploding in fire. lol What are the odds? The movie looks cute by the way, but I'm surprised and glad that Kaylee didn't focus in on all the fire stuff again!

Tonight I'm going to make a mess for Deenie to be found in the middle of in the morning. The hard part is going to be sending Deenie away for the year. The elf is only supposed to be here for December, and then is supposed to go back to the North Pole to help Santa next year. Only problem is, Kaylee is already crying at the thought of Deenie leaving. But if Deenie stays, the "magic" dies off. If she leaves, then she can come back next year and start in on her mischief again for a Christmas tradition. But it's not going to be fun when she leaves!

Kaylee set out cookies for Santa, and we added a little bit of chocolate milk per her bedroom panic wishes. She wanted to stay awake and watch for him, but she's too tired to try, and that's good. If anything can make it feel like Christmas, it's Kaylee. :)

Yesterday when we made the airplane swap, I glanced back and saw the Seneca sitting on the ramp on a small country airport with the sunset and a windsock behind it, and it seemed kind of appropriate. My last look at an old friend. My first look at it was when I was 4 months pregnant. I had JUST found out that the baby I carried was a girl and that she did NOT have SMA, that we had the gift of a surviving child. I remember Alan coming to the office, and asking me questions about trip times in a Seneca, and me pulling up a flight calculator and talking to him about it. I remember being slightly surprised that they needed a pilot to fly their plane, that it happened to be the same type of multi-engine plane I actually had a lot of time in already, and that they were coming to me and asking if I was interested. I wasn't even looking at that point, it just kind of came to me, and I'm very glad it did. What a difference it has ended up making in my life, one simple thing, one decision to do it. I told them I'd love to fly for them, but that I was pregnant; that I'd be happy to fly right up to when I was due as long as the pregnancy went well, but that after she was born I'd be taking some time off, and that I'd find them a back-up pilot for me. And to their credit, even THAT didn't put them off. I remember flying to Kansas at I think 8 months pregnant with Kaylee, and what a big kick I got out of the people's stares when I'd get out of the plane. I often get glances or surprise anyway, but getting out largely pregnant is highly amusing, let me tell you. People are shocked, they aren't sure if you're supposed to be doing that, and it just doesn't compute in their heads. I truly had a great deal of fun with that, and back then Pizza Hut was busy with flights. To this day I can get a snicker out of remembering some of the looks on some faces of people when I'd crawl out of the plane and they'd realize I was the only one in the front of it, that I was actually the pilot. That may be some of the best entertainment I've ever had, in fact.

That plane has taken me all over the country, in every weather condition imaginable. Fog, ice, snow, thunderstorms, severe heat, severe cold (I hated going out and starting the engines every 2-3 hours in the sub-zero temps at night a few times on PH trips!), and of course the beautiful and desirable severe clear! Not just for Pizza Hut, but also for personal family trips. Kaylee grew up taking trips in the back of it, and she called it the "Zoom Plane". That came from when she was pretty little, and saw me do a low pass in it at Glenndale and then at Painton airports. She said it zoomed by, and from then until now it's forever been 'the zoom plane'. She cried when I told her it was going away for good. It has taken SMA kids up for their first and many times only ride in a small plane. It took a lady to to the Mayo clinic for treatment. It took up a couple who got engaged in the back of it this fall. It took up family and friends and strangers. It took political figures and business owners and children. It flew a family to their gravely injured son's hospital bedside in the middle of the night when no other transportation was available quickly. It took Alan to family medical emergencies, even to funerals. I could land at a small airport in about three different places, and the people there immediately knew who I was even though it had been a year or more since I'd been there, because "it's the Pizza Hut plane!" I very rarely went to any kind of airport without somebody making a crack about me delivering pizzas the fast way. Often times even towers would get in on the jokes. The Seneca was how I started to come to know Chuck and Nathan-my first memory of either of them is flying them to Oklahoma in it. And I'm very glad I was able to meet them and come to know two pretty great guys who I would like to think are becoming "old friends". There is a lot of history in those seats, there are a lot of stories. I've taken that thing into Washington, into Atlanta, into Minneapolis, Chicago, all sorts of places, and it has been a good, solid airplane. The plane didn't belong to me, but it was something that was just "mine" none-the-less. Losing it feels a bit like losing both a familiar friend and a means of independence, even if that is just perceived and not real. It's older now, but it served us well, I knew it better than anything, and I WILL miss having it around.

Now it's about 10 minutes to Christmas Day and I'd best get Deenie and everything else ready to go. I'm the last one up, so if I don't want to be pooped on Christmas Day, I guess I'd best get to bed!

Success!

We made it, Finally!

We got up this morning, later than we intended, probably since we were up past 1:30 a.m. last night. I didn't have enough time to get ready for breakfast, so Steve and Kaylee ran out to the pancake breakfast at Dawn & Charlie's house, while I finished packing all the bags, watering the plants, turning off everything electrical, changing the cat little box thing, refilling their food and water, shutting doors, etc. etc. Then I called and got the weather for a trip from Kokomo to Cape Girardeau and on to Iowa, filed IFR flight plans, and threw my shoes on in time for Steve and Kaylee to get back from breakfast. Decided I'd best have breakfast since I didn't know the next time I'd be eating (good planning by the way!). We headed out to Kokomo, filled up the Seneca both with bags and fuel, and headed off to Cape. It was about a 2-hour flight. We took off and tried to do the flight VFR because of Kaylee's ear. We wanted to stay as low as possible, and because of the clouds we'd have needed to go up to 6000' to stay out of icing, etc. Ceilings were supposed to be 1500' to 2000' AGL, which isn't great, but not that bad either. We took off, I got up to about 1100' and realized this wasn't going to work. At 1800' I just turned back towards Kokomo and called Grissom to pick up the IFR clearance. It was too scuddy. I climbed up super slowly so as to protect Kaylee's ear as best I could. We picked up some icing from 4000-4600', but not enough to be exciting. Cycled the boots and they still worked. :) When we were about 50 miles out, I called up center and asked if we could have a long, slow descent due to a passenger with ear issues. They gave me the slow descent then asked me if I wanted to declare an emergency or just have priority handling. I wanted to say "LORD no, it's just a five-year-old girl with an ear infection!" I said "negative on the emergency, thanks for the descent." and we descended at 200 feet per minute for the next 50 miles. Long and slow, but it seemed to help. Kaylee's 'bad' ear popped, but her good ear didn't, and now her good ear is plugged! But at least she doesn't seem to be in any pain.

As soon as we landed, we got the bags out, filled up with fuel again, I grabbed some snacks from the vending machine, and headed back out in the Seneca to DNS, or Denisen, IA. I flew right over Creston and thought of my friend Angie. :) Unfortunately it took me almost 3 hours to get there, the headwinds were SO strong. My groundspeed in the Seneca was a whopping 143 knots. It was ridiculous!!

Finally I arrived, and immediately went up with the new owner of the Seneca and his instructor/maintenance man. I told the MEI that I thought he was a brave man to be willing to get in the back of an unfamiliar plane with an unfamiliar instructor up front and a student pilot not multi rated in the left seat. I'm not sure I would have done it! We flew around for about 20 minutes. We came back in and landed, and immediately hopped into our new Saratoga. I sat right seat while the previous owner flew us back into his grass strip. The sun had set and it was getting dark and he doesn't have lights on his 2000' grass strip, so we were in a bit of a rush. In other words, my checkout in the airplane consisted of "here's how you change frequencies, here's how you set a transponder code, and here's how you go direct on the GPS." Good 'nuff. We were coming in to land, and he looked over at me and asked if I would be comfortable flying out of his grass strip without lights, and I said yes. He said I must have a lot of experience, and asked how many hours I had. I said I had almost 5,000 hours, and he did a double-take and stared at me for a second before saying "How did someone in their mid-twenties end up with almost 5,000 hours?" I laughed and said I'd started flying at 19, but that I was almost 35 now. He responded with a surprised "Wow, I'd have sworn you were in your mid-twenties!" Thank you, thank you very much. ;)

Anyway, he landed on his runway, taxiied to the end, hopped out, I crawled into the left seat, turned the plane around, and on the getting-pretty-dark-no-lights-2000'-grass strip did my first takeoff in it. The runway is upsloped so that you can't see very far down it to start with, and at the end of the runway is a bunch of dirt/mud that you would not want to get into unless you plan on flipping over. No obstacles of any note though. Picked up my IFR back to Cape, and cruised home on a beautiful clear evening at 9000' with a groundspeed of 183 knots. Not. Bad. Once I figured out the basics on the GPS units, I put it on autopilot and finished reading my Dean Koontz book (Brother Odd), then popped in my iPod and enjoyed tunes the rest of the way home. St. Louis looked beautiful lit up at night, and it was a smooth, beautiful evening. Did my first landing in it back into Cape. It's a good plane. It flies well, it's well-equipped, everything seems to be working very well on it, it looks good, nice interior. I think it'll make a nice addition to the Glenndale/Kokomo Fleet. :)

So, after about 7 hours of flight time, I made it back to Cape, was picked up by Steve and Ernie, and made it back to mom & Ernie's in time for ham and mac & cheese and Diet Mt. Dew. I was wired, but now I'm getting pooped. Kaylee's been playing hard of course, and she's crashed too!

Not quite how I planned to spend my Saturday, but it works. The Seneca is gone. The Saratoga is here. Mission Accomplished...Success! Now, on to Christmas!

*sigh*

That about covers it, I think.

We were supposed to leave Thursday, but as I said, our cat, our kid, our cars, our time, our business, just about everything conspired against us. Which ends up pushing us back, but it's okay, because I don't know HOW we'd have actually made it out prior to now anyway.

Today I went to the mall (by myself this time) and got some final stuff. Then this evening, Kaylee and I wrapped presents. She had a BLAST, she was SO hyper about it all. She actually ended up doing a lot of the cutting, folding, and taping all herself. She chose the paper that went with the gift even. She was having quite the fun time, and we had quite a huge mess going! She was pretty cute.

Today at the office, Chuck and I were laughing, we thought Kaylee had said a classic. She was in Dale's office with Jamie (Nate's son), and they were playing on his ancient manual typewriter in there last I saw. She pokes her head out and says "Daddy, how do you make this thing print??" WE thought she meant the typewriter, and that just really cracked me up. Unfortunately she was actually talking about the calculator that prints on tape, so that's not nearly as funny. But I have nothing better to say, so my brief amusement seems worth writing down. ;)

Man, we were hopping today again. I'm so pooped. But now that the presents are all wrapped and ready to go, we also have to pack our bags. We're going to try to pack up and head to breakfast with the "Airport Crew" by 9 a.m. and go from there. I may (or may not) be delivering the Seneca to Iowa tomorrow. We don't know. Nothing has gone according to plan, so as of now there isn't really a plan. So much to do, so little time to get it done...

Here's hoping Kaylee's ear doesn't hurt her, that Roadie doesn't pop her stitches while we're gone, and that the Seneca can be delivered safely to its new owner, without incident or excitement. Now it's past midnight and I really better go finish up here or I'm going to be pooped tomorrow...

Well...

We didn't get out of town today. Kaylee's ear, Roadie's stitches, we are waiting. Kaylee isn't complaining as much about her ear, but still claims she can't hear well out of it. I'm hoping tomorrow it will pop and clear out once and for all for her!

Today we met up with Dale, Chuck, Steve, Nate & Gene for lunch at Applebees. For the first time ever, we had to sit and wait forever before we got a table. Kaylee's presence meant we couldn't get a bar seat, so that didn't help...after lunch, I took Kaylee to the mall. She made it about 20 minutes before she had a meltdown over the fact that I wasn't buying her what she saw that she so desperately wanted. Even though I'd discussed carefully with her ahead of time that this was a trip to buy presents for someone else. She flipped out over something Tinkerbelle she saw, and I had to haul her out of the mall wailing. She became one of "those" children you see in the mall that you want to shove a sock in their mouth and either shoot dirty looks or pity looks at the parent. And boy did *I* have fun. She came home and I put her to bed for an hour. When I got her back up, she hadn't slept, but she was in a much better mood, and very apologetic for her bad behavior.

I am pretty annoyed by Dulce. She walks by Roadie and is STILL hissing at her. I swear, the night before we took Roadie in to be fixed, Dulce was licking on Roadie, cuddling up next to her. Two days after Roadie is back, Dulce is still looking at her like she's a stranger. Now I thought that was stupid the first time it happened, but this time, every time Dulce hisses, I just want to call her an idiot. I suppose she feels the need to reassert her dominance--again--but I'm just annoyed by the whole thing. Get over it already, Dulch.

Last night Kaylee came out of her room kind of late at night, crawled up on my lap, and said "Mom, I saw on Oprah that you're not supposed to use Q-tips in your ears because you could push wax back down too deep." I shot an amused look at Steve, who was looking back at me. Now he has TWO females who occasionally start a sentence with "I saw on Oprah..." It was kind of funny. (It's also the reason that sometimes I have to watch in the other room, when the content isn't Kaylee-appropriate. She may not LOOK like she's paying attention, but man, that Q-tip one was MONTHS ago and she just now popped out with it!)

Kaylee is having bad dreams about fire STILL. She's told me about her last couple of dreams, and they are consistent each time. She won't let us leave her Christmas lights on in her room at night because they glow red and it makes her think of fire. She won't face her pretty pink butterfly nightlight because it glows pink and makes her think of fire. She won't play with or look at anything that glows pink or red or orange at night in her room. She told me tonight she keeps praying that Jesus will take away her scary dreams, but she keeps having them. One of them has to do with our house burning down, one of them has to do with Grandma Chile's house burning down. The thought that her room was on fire is also what caused her to have walking night terrors in the trailer twice over the years. I wish I knew what triggered this fear and how to avoid it, what to do about it. We've talked about it very carefully MANY times, I've tried to be honest and reassuring and up-front about things, and I don't know that it did anything. She's spoken to firemen twice at her school, she likes to roast marshmallows and doesn't mind candles and likes to post sticks into fire pits...doesn't think twice about it. But these nightmares about fire...I feel for her...

The Day That Isn't

Today is the day I'm supposed to be taking the Seneca to Iowa and bringing back the Saratoga. But it isn't happening. Freezing rain just doesn't do it for me on flying...and even if you can get above it, which would be in question in both the light twin with boots that could fail at any point and in an (unfamiliar) non-icing equipped single-engine, it's not exactly a stress-free trip. Honestly, I don't know if I could get in or not, it might have been possible, I haven't gotten the tops, but at this point it's too late and I truly don't feel like this kind of trip on this day. The guy can wait just a bit longer. Any time I start "reading" the NTSB report in my head, it just sounds like a stupid trip. ;) Besides, I have too much else to do here.

This morning I picked Roadie up from the vet, and she's looking very perky and bright-eyed. She's walking a little carefully, but all in all she looks good. I put down some snacks for her and Dulce both, and she snarfed hers just fine. Now the real test will be to see if she potties where she's supposed to or if she got so used to peeing wherever she wants, that we'll have a real problem. Dulce again hissed at her and stared at her like she'd never seen her before, stalked her, etc. I wouldn't let Dulce attack her, because Roadie is weak right now, but Dulce was again acting like this was a new cat. I don't know if it's the vet clinic smell that she hates (I know I do!) or if she's just a dim (but cute) cat who doesn't realize she's now lived with this same cat for months now.

Kaylee woke up already tired, and still complaining that her ear hurt. She mentioned that it keeps popping and it doesn't feel better, so I asked her if she could feel it crackling down inside her ear, and she said yes. Ear Infection. Dr. Mike called in some antibiotics for her, and we'll go pick them up shortly. After lunch, where she ate very little and spent a good portion of it lying down on the seat, we headed to the bank, then the post office, then home, and she was SO tired, I laid her down in bed. Last night she'd walked in the door and said "Can I please go to bed Mommy? I'm so tired." I almost asked her to say that again for the video camera this time, since I'm fairly sure I've never heard those words come out of her mouth before. Today I put her down for a nap, and she said "No, I don't want to." seconds before she grabbed her Sherbet Bear, rolled over, and passed out. She's been asleep for 2 hours now. I went in and tried to wake her up so we could go get her meds, and she's just so exhausted, I am making the mistake of letting her sleep. This means she won't be going to sleep at any reasonable hour tonight, but man, she hurts and she's exhausted and she's cute all cuddled up and I can't bring myself to wake her up. So shoot me. :)

I have PILES of laundry. I am trying to get all the laundry caught up so we can pack. We're supposed to leave tomorrow. Kaylee's got an ear infection, Roadie just came back from "emergency" surgery and is supposed to be watched for the next several days for infection and not allowed to chew on her sutures, I'm supposed to be getting this plane that doesn't belong to "us" any more to Iowa, I haven't gotten all our Christmas presents yet, our first stop is recovering from the flu, we don't know when we're going to go to our third stop yet, we may not have the Seneca to fly down in, the Baron is in the shop for the right engine so we may not get to borrow that either, the Bellanca may be an option, but it's smaller and not as well equipped which limits our capabilities in weather, etc., Kaylee's ear infection doesn't help with flying by any means, and oh yeah, if we drove, my car has a bashed in side panel with wind noise like a hurricane and probably isn't road-worthy for a 14 hour round trip drive, and the Jeep has an unknown shimmy so that Steve doesn't want to take IT on a road trip either. That leaves the Corvette and the motorcycle. Yeah, that'll work. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas... :P

We're playing all this by ear at this point. Don't know what will be ready, what won't, who won't, what's going to happen when to what or whom. All I know is that I get twitchy thinking about what I don't have done yet! At least I got some stuff done--house bills, laundry is being worked on as I speak, got a little picking up done so we won't come back to Hurricane Alley, the cats are doing okay, Kaylee is resting, and I'm doing my darndest to catch up here!

Whew

I'm writing this Wednesday which means I've probably forgotten half of what I was going to say for Tuesday. But hey. Here goes.

Kaylee didn't have school today, so we slept in until about 8 a.m. and then slowly got ready, ran some errands, etc. We ended up at Glenndale for awhile, and then headed to Kokomo. Nathan and Steve took the Baron over to Muncie to get the right engine fixed, and Chuck, Kaylee and I took the Seneca over there to pick everybody up. We had lunch while we were there, and then I took the plane load over to Sheridan, dropped off Chuck so he could bring the Decathalon home, then headed to Kokomo to drop off the Seneca and the rest of the guys. Took Kaylee and ran some more errands, and got home just in time to get an email from Steve to check on what time the EAA Christmas party started--which was in 30 minutes. So we threw on some clean clothes (which are greatly in the minority right now since about everything I own is dirty!) and met Steve at Glenndale and headed to the Christmas party. It was a nice evening! Charlie and Dawn are the most dedicated Christmas people I know...I think they ought to open up their own year-round Christmas store. Except I don't think they'd want to sell anything! I saw Christmas toilet paper a few months ago and almost bought it for them...

Kaylee briefly fell asleep in a rocker out front, and then fell asleep again on me sitting in a folding chair at a table. Poor girl. She was such a good girl yesterday. She was around nothing but grown-ups all day long who were busy talking, flying, eating, and not playing with her, she went non-stop all day long until way past her bedtime, and she didn't complain, whine, gripe, or do anything but sit quietly and happily. I must have told her four times how proud of her I was. We got home fairly late and Kaylee was exhausted, and her ear has been hurting her all day. I tried warm compresses, massage, even putting a vibrating shaver on her ear to try to loosen up whatever might be blocking her. She said her ear hurts and she can't hear out of it. She went to bed and I hoped that would cure it.

It was a very busy day!

The Last Day

Today was Kaylee's last day of school until 2007. She got to wear her Tinkerbelle pajamas and her Tinkerbelle slippers and bring her princess fuzzy blanket and princess pillow. She was feeling quite queenly. In fact, her little friend Jordan was upset because SHE wanted to wear her Tinkerbelle pajamas but her mom said no because they were short-sleeved. I let Kaylee wear hers, though they are short-sleeved. Oops. But hey, who cares, it's warm in there and not that chilly outside either. It's not often you get to wear pjs to school, she ought to wear the ones she wants. ;) They had a party today, and I brought in nicely arranged fruit and yogurt. They got gifts, and I was even prepared enough to bring a Christmas gift for her teacher. They also had a book exchange today. I got a nice "Angelina's First Christmas" book for Kaylee to take for the exchange. When she got home, she had gotten a Princess "hunt for the picture" book without words. She told me that Jordan (who apparently was not having a good day) got her (Kaylee's) book, and cried, because she wanted the Princess book that Kaylee got from Abby instead. Then Kaylee looked at me and said all sad "She didn't even like the book I gave her, Mommy." I told her that Jordan loved princesses too, but that I bet when she got home and looked through the Angelina book, she's love it too, because Angelina does ballet and so does Jordan. Kaylee just kept looking sad and said "But she CRIED Mommy. She CRIED when she got my book." I am such a wuss on this kind of stuff, it made ME sad that Kaylee was sad that Jordan didn't like her book! *sigh* I hate this childhood social interaction stuff!!

Kaylee had ballet today at 4:30 pm, and she wore her Tinkerbelle ballet slippers there too. I have to admit, it was pretty funny looking, all the little pink and black slippers, and here's Kaylee in a purple outfit with pink tights and neon green Tink shoes with puffy balls on the top. She was on top of the world! My vivid girl! We have a new video camera--digital--and I took about 10 minutes of footage of her at dance today. I'm going to see if I can figure out how to put some on the website one of these days. I was watching her, and all of a sudden I hear her voice say "Oh no!!" I look for her, and she's standing there looking at me, her arms down by her sides, her head down, her face totally bereft looking, tears running down her cheeks. Her pom-pom on her right Tink shoe had broken loose and was dangling. She was about to have a breakdown right there! I called her over and hugged her and promised her we'd fix it! She asked me how, and I said "we'll sew it." She said (loudly) "YOU don't sew!" Okay, okay, keep it down! I told her "I can too! Besides, if I can't, we'll let one of your Grandmas help us out!" She believed THAT, and went off to finish dancing a bit happier. Tonight was also the last ballet class until 2007, and she'll start up gymnastics then too. But tonight her ballet class had a little Christmas party. I thought it was funny to see a group of little ballerinas sitting on the floor eating giant frosted cookies. It was cute though. :)

Steve today submitted a proposal to the aviation board to run a flight school out of Kokomo as well. We'll see if it's accepted in what, a month or so I think.

Me? Let's see. Today I took Kaylee stuff to her class and helped out for a few minutes. Then I came home, did a tiny bit of work, then headed out to Glenndale. We (Ty, Chuck, Nate, Steve, me) hit lunch at Applebees. When I left Glenndale, I realized I was cutting it close, and I raced home, grabbed Roadie, took her to the vet for what I assumed was a drop-off at 2:45 p.m., which should give me 15 minutes to get back to pick up Kaylee right at 3 p.m. Except the vet place couldn't get their act together. They decided I shouldn't drop her off, I should stay for an appointment. Finally I was still standing there at 3 pm and I said "Listen, I'm sorry, but either I need to leave and take Roadie with me and come back later, or I need to leave Roadie here for her spaying, but either way, I have to leave! I have to pick up my daughter, I'm already late." They got a litle uptight about it, I obviously annoyed them, but I was polite and I apologized, but I'd set this appointment up to DROP HER OFF at 2:45 pm so I could have time to get Kaylee. I ended up leaving Roadie, and got to Kaylee at 3:05 pm. Poor Roadie. She's going under the knife tomorrow...man I hope that fixes her peeing problem. Tonight I went to dinner with Ellen, Andrea, Michaele and myself, and Andrea said her two cats just started peeing all over the house after they moved to a new house--they were fixed and had no other problems, and they wouldn't stop...so the cats are now outside only cats. I'd Hate that because Roadie has no claws and we have a lot of wild cats around here, and it gets bloody cold up here. She'd be dead meat. She HAS to stop peeing in inappropriate places once we fix her!!

At 6:30 pm, I went to dinner with the above ladies as a birthday celebration for Ellen. Ellen wore a pink princess crown, and we had a toast with sparkling grape water in Princess Martini-looking glasses, and we each got a little princess compact. Who says you can't have a Princess Party when you are 47 years old? :) We stayed there until 9 pm, and it was nice to get out and about with some friends!

I got home, caught up on email, got into comfy pants for the first time all day, and sat down to watch the Colts game (much better than last week so far!), write up some bills, and panic over what I don't have done yet that I need to do before we leave for Christmas on Thursday. Somewhere in here I may have to take a flight to Iowa and Steve may have a flight to Florida. As in within the next two days. :O

Okay...I think that's it for today!

Holy Cow...

I was fortified this morning by sleeping in late. I slowly got up and ready, and then I had to go to the mall to pick up a book for Kaylee's book exchange at school tomorrow, and for a gift for her teacher, etc. Man, it's a good thing I wore comfortable shoes and brought my iPod. First, I had to pretty much park on the highway. The closest parking spot to the mall was literally by the road. So I hiked to the mall and listened to tunes while I got my exercise. But that was the good part. Walking in, I actually turned my music UP, not down, because the people chaos was just...unreal. I got in, got what I needed, got out many days later and a few pounds lighter, and was thankful to be alive. I do NOT get people who enjoy that. BAH HUMBUG and get out of my way. One lady behind the counter said "Happy Holidays!" to me to which I replied "And a Merry Christmas to you as well." Very unenlightened and politically incorrect of me, I know. I'm not sure how I dared to say the "Christmas" word in public. She smiled in an amused way back at me, if that matters.

My next stop was Best Buy. I should have just walked from my parking spot on the highway border, it would probably have been closer than where I ended up. If you think the mall is bad, go into an electronics store 8 days before Christmas. Stereos blaring, tvs blaring, video games blaring, people shouting to be heard over the blaring blaring. Salespeople swarming. I decided the song "Pain" was appropriate for this journey, and selected it on my iPod and pretended I was elsewhere. It only took me about 20 minutes in there to get what I needed (it should have been shorter, but I found two presents for Kaylee while I was there). I left the store practically running. When I went out the door at full clip, the "theft alarm" went off. I stopped, spun around with my bag in the air and apparently a not-so-pleasant look on my face, because the guy who was standing there put up HIS hand in a peace gesture then waved me through the doors without ado. Poor guy. I made it back to my car, and ate some junk food. Hey, at least I know what's helping me keep my girlish figure.

Next stop was the grocery store to get the snacks needed for Kaylee's class party tomorrow, and that was pretty easy! In and out in no time! Stopping at McDonald's for a late (healthy) lunch for the family waiting at home, and that was it! I came in and got comfy pants on and eventually stopped twitching nervously.

I read Kaylee the book I picked out for her book exchange tomorrow, then wrapped it up. She didn't want me to use her princess paper because she wanted all of that for herself! Bugger. :) I wrapped up the teacher's gift with a little note, got Kaylee's lunch stuff ready for tomorrow, and will get her grapes, bananas and yogurt snack for tomorrow ready before I head to bed. (Hey, you wash and de-stem the grapes and cut the bananas in half and find a nice platter and arrange everything, that's what! For all you "oh yeah, it's so hard to prepare FRUIT" sarcastic people out there.) ;)

Well, we have a Roadie problem. She's been peeing all OVER the place. She'll use her litterbox too, but I'll find her peeing on bathroom rugs or towels, on the deck, on the carpet in the middle of the floor, it's just UNREAL. We've shut all our doors, but that still leaves a very large open area where she can pee. I've rubbed her face in it and yelled at her, I've pointed out her litterbox, I even locked her in with it once until she used it. And then yesterday we think we got our answer. She was walking around just meowing and crying, and it was the weirdest thing. It hit me that it sounded like she was in heat or something, and then it hit me we never DID end up fixing her, because they don't do that at the same time they do claws around here. He told me no hurry on it since she's an indoor cat, and I just kind of forgot about it. So...first thing tomorrow morning, after I drop Kaylee off at school, I am calling them and setting up the fastest darn "fixing" I can. I don't want to leave her here for a week while we're gone for Christmas and come home to a cat-pee-smelling-house. *sigh* I just wish we could know and find where all she did it, so we could clean it up appropriately. Maybe we'll have to get our carpets cleaned professionally after we fix her and/or get her hormones (from what Steve read) and know she's stopped peeing everywhere. She's almost a dead little gray cat at this point, and fixing her better fix the problem, or she won't be able to stay in our house. The deck or the yard, or somebody else's house, but not in our house.

On that note, I'm going to go watch some football and maybe pay some bills while I'm at it...

Deenie the Elf and Flying

Last night before I went to bed, I took Kaylee's elf (Deenie) and put her in a ballet slipper and stuck her on a lamp, and surrounded her by papers that had snowflakes stamped all over them. Just a little mischief. Kaylee found it in the morning and was highly amused. She's carried around Deenie pretty much everywhere since she "showed up", even to school. She really wants Deenie to make a BIG mess, so I may try that tonight, if I can think of what to use that won't give us ants. ;)

This morning, I took Kaylee out to Glenndale. Steve had to fly, and I had to go out to send out a Discovery Flight Certificate and take photos of some pilot supplies for sale. So I stayed and answered the phone, hung out, etc. Kaylee and I took up the Citabria today, and she did most of the flying the whole time. It was kind of funny--she wanted to sit up front but I ix-nayed that, but I did let her fly once I got about 50 feet above the ground. She did all the climbs, turns, etc. She can't reach the rudders, so I told her I would do the rudders for her and made sure she knew where they are back there, etc. I'd turn around and see this little kid with a purple headset, a focused look on her face and two hands wrapped around the stick, making the turns. She ended up even getting to the point where she'd know to pull back on the stick to keep from descending and even kept her altitude pretty well when she was doing a 30-45 degree bank turn. Of course I kept it coordinated with rudder, but she did pretty well! We flew over Indian Hills (which SHE spotted first by the way and asked if we could fly over). Finally we came in to land as we were getting low on gas. (Not THAT low, don't worry!) She said she wanted to do the landing. It was a little windy today and I wasn't sure that was the best plan in the Citabria, but I decided to let her try with me doing the rudder and power and giving her voice directions (left, left, back, up, right, hold it, etc.) I got her to line us up on the runway, and then she held it so steady I didn't have to give hardly any directions to her. We did a wheel landing, touched down and I didn't do much of it until the wheels hit (pretty softly by the way), at which point I actively took over so as to not push it, of course. And she was ANNOYED that I didn't have her do more "up up up! Left! Right! Back back back!" stuff! I told her she hadn't Needed to do more, she held it very steady all the way down, enough that I didn't have to have her correct much at all. She got super lucky, she's not THAT skilled, but she really did do a good job. I'd turn around and watch her, and she'd be looking out the window, banking around, etc. She once piped up and said "Mommy, you know how I know if I'm level?" I said "How?" She replied with "Well, when I look outside, if the left wing is straight across and the right wing is straight across at the same place, I'm level." Yep! She also would say things like "I'm going to lower the left wing now." It seems like a couple of things clicked with her, even if they are just definitions and basics. It was a fun afternoon! Oh, she also said "Well, I guess until I'm big enough to reach car pedals I won't be big enough to reach airplane pedals either!" Not those anyway, *I* barely reach them from back there. She was annoyed when I told her we needed to land. She asked if we could get more gas and go back up, but by then I was wanting to leave her wanting more. ;) Usually lately she hasn't wanted to go, but it's the same old thing-if SHE can do it, control it, she's IN. If not, she gets a headache, gets motion sick, gets bored. Today we were up for quite awhile, and she was very not-bored. My little control freak. I don't know WHERE she gets it... lol She was cute.

If you haven't seen this yet, check it out. It's Kaylee as an elf, and it cracks me up. http://www.elfyourself.com/?userid=5e968d5eca50438fe3f7fd6G06121612 I won't post the ones I did of family/friends. ;)

Days Where Nothing Goes Right...

Yep, they sure do happen, do they not?? Today was NOT my day. The good thing that happened was that I flew the Seneca without incident. ;)

After dropping Kaylee off, I headed to Kokomo Airport and flew the Seneca to Muncie to get a quote on some possible repairs. I was there for several hours, and in the end what they gave me and said was 1) not completely accurate and 2) not what Steve needed, so that was a waste of an entire morning. Plus I was an hour late for lunch, but Chuck fixed me up a burger and there was still some potatoes left and a bit of dessert, so I was in good shape there. ;)

It was a little gusty today, nothing too bad, certainly not for the Seneca, but it was COLD. So when I landed at Kokomo, I called Kokomo Unicom three times trying to get somebody to come out and tug the plane back into the hangar, because it's no longer in the same hangar as the Baron and Nathan's tug, and the tug we used to use for the Seneca is now set up to only work on a Lance. And you can't push the Seneca back by yourself without any steering. Nobody answers me at Kokomo. So I call on my cellphone twice. Nothing. Nobody answers. So I sit out in the cold and just keep calling. Finally I see a fuel truck headed my way, and the gentleman (nice guy!) asks if I need gas. No, I don't need gas, I reply, but I need a tug back into the hanger. About 10 minutes later he found a tug to try on the Seneca, and it was in. Meanwhile I had walked to Nathan's hanger to pick up the Seneca manuals. When I get back, the Seneca is in the middle of the hangar, not off to a side, but his control over the tug wasn't real good. If anything else needs to come in, they'll just have to push it straight back to get it out of the way. What a PAIN.

I got back to Glenndale, where I proceeded to trip on, step on, push over, knock off, spill, or drop about everything I touched. Steve gave me a simple task of printing out time sheets for the airplanes. Holy Moly, it took me a couple of Hours! I couldn't find them. Then I couldn't open them. Then I couldn't get the program installed. Then I couldn't find the paper puncher. Sheesh... Somebody microwaved two blueberry muffins encased in plastic) until they melted, fried, and smoked badly...leaving the office and everybody's clothing in it smelling like burnt plastic/muffin. It was gross.

Finally when I left Glenndale, my day started turning around. I got Kaylee, came home, and managed not to drop anything else.

From the moment I got up this morning I had trouble. Kaylee has a little elf named "Deena" who came to provide fun and entertainment for her until Christmas is here. She's a trouble-making elf who likes to mess things up and hide. So last night I put Deena on our ceiling fan with some "North Pole Snow" and shut the fan off. In the morning I was going to turn it on when Kaylee was searching for her elf and let her see Deena fly through the air with while "snow" everywhere. (An idea from my friend Kim N.) But Steve had turned on the fan when he got up (tied to a light and I hadn't warned him because he was asleep already when I did it), and the doll was just sitting on the floor having done nothing interesting when Kaylee got up. So even that went bust on me today! :P So tonight I'm going to set up something messy with the doll sitting in the middle of it.

Last night I got Kaylee to bed around 8 pm, did a little work, laid down on the couch, and didn't wake up until 12:30 a.m. Whoops. Because then I couldn't sleep well last night at all. But man I was pooped yesterday evening...obviously!

Kaylee has new Tinkerbell slippers from Grandma and she is wearing them every time she's home. She's also excited because on Monday they get to wear pajamas to school and meet up with Santa, and she's wearing Tinkerbell pajamas and wants to wear her Tinkerbell ballet shoes to go with it...so I'm going to let her. Now she can't wait for school Monday...her last day of school until the New Year!

Tomorrow Steve works all day, and I think Kaylee and I are going to Glenndale too to take some photos of pilot supplies, etc.

Argh

This morning I took Kaylee to school, then headed out to Kokomo Airport to get things ready for the buyer coming in for the Seneca this morning. I tugged out the plane, got some gas in it, considered flying it around once to make sure all was well, but didn't want to mess with a more difficult start when they did arrive. A hot start in it is easy, and a cold start is easy, but in between hot and cold it's a little less intuitive, it depends on the day and how the plane feels at the time apparently. Not that it's a problem by any means, but for a buyer you want the engine to start the right way the first time. Anyway, so shortly after that Chuck arrived, and I tugged the plane back into the hangar, and since it was kind of chilly, shut the door and waited.

Steve came in shortly after that, then Nathan, and Ty. Finally the buyers flew in with their Saratoga, right at 10:30 as they'd claimed, and they went and looked over the plane. I sat in it with the buyer for awhile and gave him a little ground time on the systems, the avionics, etc. It was supposed to be a done deal, but the pilot the buyer brought with him to help him get the plane home is also a mechanic, and a super picky one, and he found two things he decided he didn't like, and he told the buyer to 'pass' on the plane. They weren't major. So now everybody took a break, and the deal is in limbo, and the plane did not fly off into the sunset today. Instead, tomorrow I'm probably flying the Seneca somewhere to get a quote on one of the things they said they didn't like. And the drama continues.

We all hit lunch afterwards at Applebees, then I took Kaylee home for a little while before turning around and taking her out to Chuck & Judy's house where Maggie was, to go to "Kids' Corner", a church activity that she did last Thursday too. Kaylee enjoys it. :) This was the last one until mid-January, and by then she'll be in gymnastics at that time frame, so I'm glad she got to do the two weeks and have fun. After that tonight, we all met up at Culvers and I had a quite tasty Egg Nog Shake. ;)

This morning when Kaylee got up, she had a little surprise elf girl sitting at her breakfast place, and a pair of beautiful Tinkerbelle ballet slippers! She was SO mad at me for not letting her wear them to school today. I finally let her wear them to visit Maggie, and as soon as we got home tonight she put on her Tink outfit and the shoes match PERFECTLY. Like they were made for it. Too funny. I'll have to take a photo tomorrow, when I know she'll be wearing the outfit again after school. And before I got to bed, I'll have to get the elf to do something messy for Kaylee to find tomorrow. ;)

Busy day!

The Tale of Two Twins

Not people-planes. :)

Today while at lunch, we got the call that the pilot and hopeful new owner of the Seneca will be arriving tomorrow morning. So I'm supposed to go to the airport tomorrow, give a demo flight, maybe fly with the new pilot for a checkout, and hopefully the Seneca will go on its way safe and sound.

Also today at lunch, Nathan got the call that the Baron was Finally finished! Woo-hoo! So he and Chuck and I went over in the Cheyenne to Kalamazoo to pick up the Baron. It was a pretty day for a flight! A little gusty and hazy down low, but beautiful up around 18,000 feet. Of course on the way home, Chuck and I came home at a more modest 8,000 feet in the Baron. :) She flew great and it's so good to have it back in the hangar where it belongs!

And those are the tales of the two twins. Short and sweet tonight for once. ;)

Actually that was three twins, wasn't it...but I digress.

We got back late enough that I couldn't get Kaylee to Awanas in time, so for the first time ever, she missed it, which was okay, because I think she's fighting off something anyway. She's tired, and cranky, and I didn't think it was a good idea to take her back out tonight. She'd been in school until 3, with a friend until 5:40 or so, and then I'd have had to run her right over to Awanas from there until 8 pm. Too much. So tonight we came home, cuddled, read, had some pizza, played around, and then she went to bed. Hopefully she'll wake up after a good nights' sleep. Lately her nose has been stuffing up again...and I've started coughing again. *sigh*

This morning I actually got a pretty good number of things done. I got groceries, got the post office, the bank, got my car into a place for a quote to fix it from the big bang, got Kaylee's videos returned on time for once, got gas in my car, got some bills folded up and mailed out, got some phone calls made, got a few other things done at home, and oh yeah, flew to Michigan and back. :)

Steve flew like crazy today, almost 7 hours I think, and then ran out of town to do a computer job, and didn't get home until sometime around 10 pm again. He's a tired boy...

Yesterday Kaylee and I were going to make snowmen fruity pebble treats. You know, like rice crispy treats only in the shape of snowmen and out of fruity pebbles. I tried to make one ball...ended up with a handful of fruity pebbles stuck all over my hand in the shape of my hand, not a ball, no matter what I did. So, we now have fruity pebble treats in the shape of a nice square pan. Hey, they taste good anyway, even if you have to pretend you didn't care if they weren't actually snowmen.

Well, it was a busy, productive, and for me at least, a fun day. I think I'm going to try to go to sleep earlier than I have the last few days, I'm not getting up so well in the mornings! *yawn*

Kaylee Quip

I hear these throughout the day, and by the time I sit down at 11 pm to write my update for the day, I've forgotten them. SO here's a small, insignificant one that still made me smile today.

Me, pouring a bowl of Grapenuts cereal into a bowl, Kaylee watching and saying "Can I try a bite?" I say "Sure, but you won't like it." She reaches in, takes a nugget (no milk added yet), pops it in her mouth, chews it, and says politely "mmm, that's pretty good mommy." I look at her and say "It's okay if you don't like it, Kaylee. You DON'T, do you." She looks at me and says "No. It tastes like dirt mixed with rocks."

I laughed, added sugar and milk, and let it soak up for awhile, and asked if she wanted another bite. She said okay, and I said "So does it still taste like dirt to you?" She replied with "No, but it feels like it in my mouth and teeth."

I think that's a pretty apt description of Grapenuts, actually, even though I DO like them! :)

Dance Day

This morning I ran some errands, worked a bit at home, then headed out to Glenndale. Folded and stuffed the billing for the month, which is SO much easier now that Justin got us the updated version of software we needed for the flight school. You can email bills to clients, and you don't have to collate invoices to statements. Thank HEAVENS. What used to take me hours to do only took me about 20 minutes. Now THAT'S a time-saver and greatly appreciated!

We went to a late lunch at Applebees with Chuck & Nathan, and then I went and picked up Kaylee, went to Fed Ex and shipped several SMA Support items, and then headed home. Her ballet was today, and she dressed in a frilly pink thing that she'd worn to gymnastics in the past. Very fru-fru, so she felt like a princess of course! She did well as always, even though she was pretty tired. We got home and I read books with Kaylee, fixed supper, etc. When she went to bed, I worked on the computer until Steve got home from flying, right about 10 p.m.

And whatever creative thing I might have had to say when I started this update 2 hours ago, I no longer have available to my brain cells, so I will sign off! :)

Sunday

Today Steve and Kaylee whipped up some bacon, eggs and toast for breakfast, and went to work on the Christmas trees. Steve and Kaylee did the deck, and we now have a little tree with colored lights on the deck corner and the white lights around the ceiling line there. And then we all worked on finishing up the tree in the front. Now everything looks very Christmassy and bright and beautiful. :)

I just did some laundry, a couple loads of dishes, swept the floors, helped with the front tree, and piddled around. I've spent a lot of time the last few days doing some reading and trying to re-educate myself on a few things I've forgotten regarding aviation/instruction. MAN there's a lot to remember and stay current on, you know it?! So many details in so many different areas. Not that I don't like it. ;)

I also found some amazingly...different...stuff, including an entire website dedicated to "Hot FBO Babes" where pilots across the country sent in photos of pretty women office workers they snapped at various airport FBOs around the country. They'd stick these women's photos up on the website and pilots voted as to who was the 'hottest FBO babe of the month'. (Someone commented "how about a section for Hot Pilot Babes", and the response was "There's practically no such thing.") Reading all the comments on there, I was so...proud...to be a "professional pilot", let me tell you! So I went back to looking up info on a few GPS and instructional things where I belonged. And now some of you reading this want the address to this website, don't ya. Forgetaboutit! ;)

I don't even want to discuss the Colts today. So I'm not going to. Bah Humbug.

Steve flew almost 8 hours straight yesterday, and his schedule up through Christmas is Nuts!

Can't think of anything else today--our house looks good and ready for Christmas, mission for the day accomplished!! On to tomorrow!

Oh, and we got a gift card for Applebees for an early Christmas gift from my grandpa who I'm pretty sure has no idea how much we go to Applebees, so guys, lunch is on me! :)

I'll end on a quote; "An exceptional pilot is one who uses his exceptional decision-making skills to prevent having to actually use his exceptional piloting skills." Tongue in cheek. I like it.

The Blues into The Woo-hoos

Okay, that was lame, but I'm in a good mood, what can I say.

The temps are in the high 30's, which after the last few days feels almost like Spring. And we don't have the gray skies of winter going yet, so that's a bonus. I lazed around a bit this morning, then got Kaylee and myself ready and headed to Glenndale for some left-over lasagna and orange jello stuff and coconut cream pie with Chuck. A lovely way to spend a morning! :)

My antibiotics end today, my stuffy head is gone, and the cough, well, the cough is still there, but it's sure nothing like it was. So that's reason for celebration as well.

I also got to have a great laugh on the phone today about something that I now can't get out of my head. Mood-lifter #3 (or so).

The airport was fairly quiet today for a nice-looking Saturday, though I guess the temps might have something to do with it. Chuck was kind enough to come out on his day off and hook up the battery in the Citabria and even test it out, and after lunch Kaylee stayed in the building with him and hopefully behaved herself and played on a kids' website and her little Leapster toy while I went flying for a bit by myself.

It's kind of funny, I'm so used to not worrying about the winds in tricycle gear planes that I didn't even think to check them until somebody said something, but luckily they weren't too bad. Since I'd starting getting current in taildraggers again, I haven't yet pushed it much in the winds department on the Citabria. It's not mine and I can't afford many repairs. ;) So today made for a nice compromise. The winds were gusting into the lower/mid 20's, and they were only 30 degrees off the runway. I wasn't searching for a real challenge today, which is good, because I didn't find one. lol It was fun.

I went over to Kokomo to do a couple TOLS on pavement and Steve was sitting there at the end of the runway in the C-172 with a student, commenting. You know "I didn't know you could fly something so underpowered and with one of those little wheels in the back!" to which I (on final for my first landing of the day and now forced to have it be scrutinized) responded "Hey, don't know that I can yet!" So we had this discussion on frequency, kind of a bantering thing. After he took off, I came in for one more there at Kokomo, and did just a pretty one. So I hit the radio again and commented to him that I was sorry he'd missed that one. More bantering ensued, with Kokomo Unicom getting on and telling Steve "This is Kokomo Unicom, and there are eyewitnesses here who will verify that it was a nice one!" Totally cracked me up--but right after that somebody came on frequency and said "Hey, guys, take it off frequency please, it's congested enough." (Which it wasn't at the time by the way, but said pilot was still correct in his admonition. That IS annoying if you're flying around listening to somebody else's conversation on air.) So I accepted my scolding and didn't say another word but instead took my toy and went to play somewhere else. It was a little turbulent today, but not out of line. I put in some music (iPod) and flew around and practiced some Dutch rolls and some about 70 degree bank turns, just playing around a little. I even had the song "One Vision" (by Queen) from the 80's movie Iron Eagle playing for awhile for a nice blast from the past; then finally decided I'd best get back to Kaylee. So...another reason to be in a good mood. A little flying, a few tunes, a little banter with spouse. :)

Jim W. (as if I have to specify which Jim for anyone from this area) was quoting quite a bit of poetry to Scott P and his wife today (who were innocently there to go on their first family Cub flight); so in honor of Jim's unquenchable poetry and my undeniable good and cheesy mood, here's a poorly-done limerick for you:

I've loved flying since I was a child
and though my manner is mild,
Set me up in something fast,
something I think is a blast,
and watch my eyes go wild.

Okay, it's weak, but what can I say...I can do weaker! (Like that mom, "weaker"?) Because it's not Just fast that I think is a blast. Hmmmm...here's a little ditty a Lot weaker for ya, coming at you a 10 on the "cheese" and Dr. Seuss scale!

I like it fast, I like it slow
I like it high, I like it low
I like it straight, I like it wicked
I just like to use my ticket.

(I like Green Eggs and Ham, Sam I am!) Ha, I'm probably going to have to go back and delete this some day out of my own embarassment. LOLOL

Now, back to straight and level. ;) We came home and Kaylee and I are hanging out, playing, snacking, she's dressed as Tinkerbell. A bit of hot chocolate, comfy pants, and life is good!

Flying Bum Blues

What can I say, I've got the Flying Bum Blues. I can't play with the Seneca any more, and once it's gone, the high card will be the Bellanca. Not that there's anything wrong with it! It just has one prop on it and I like two. And a panel-mount Garmin. And radar. And air conditioning. And boots for icing. I'm not a snob, I just like it, and there's nothing wrong with having good taste, right? (Is that what snobs say??) :) Besides, I'll MISS the thing, having it here. And get over it, because you're going to read my sob story when it's finally flown off into the sunset. The Baron should be back soon, but it's not back Now. Besides, that's Chuck's plane. ;)

I feel the need, the need... If you don't know, don't ask, it won't matter!

I brought lasagna to the office today, and it was pretty good lasagna. Not as good as mom makes, but still pretty good. After I got Kaylee from school, we ran a few errands, including the video store. She's dying to watch Peter Pan, but it's not out on DVD yet, and they don't have the 'old' VHS tape of it there. So she'll have to wait awhile I guess! She wants to see the movie that has Tinkerbelle in it.

I may head out to the airport with Kaylee tomorrow, depends...hopefully it'll be warmer than it has been! Steve has to fly all day...

Duh duh duh duh "I have the flying bum blues..."

Angles

I was thinking about angles today, for some reason. For example, when my car was hit, even while it was happening, because I saw her, I was looking at trajectories and closure rates and options and angles. Unfortunately for me, her trajectory was aimed right at me, opposing traffic meant I couldn't swerve away from her, and swerving towards her would have left me with no chance. Stopping wouldn't have worked thanks to her acceleration/angle/closure rate, so my last option was to swerve as far as I could away from her and gun it. It's funny how all that goes through your head in a split second, a flash. Unfortunately, the car didn't quite have the get-up-and-go or immediate reaction time needed to shoot in front of her, and we met in the street with a bit of a bang. I was close to escaping, but not close enough. The angles were not in my favor.

I was thinking about angles (and closure rates) when I flew over Glenndale yesterday and saw the Warrior (with Steve aboard) do a pass down final and considered intercepting it when it got back on downwind and having some fun. I maturely decided not to, but I had the angle ready to go.

I was even thinking about angles when I was hearing somebody's version of a 'story' the other day, when that 'angle' seemed pretty obvious to me too. Apparently I'm better at angles than I thought I was back when I took-and was bored spitless-by Geometry. Mrs. Brandt, if you were reading this, I would tell you that you were right, you really DO use geometry (and Physics) in real life. :)

Today after I picked Kaylee up at school, we met Chuck and Steve at Wendy's for lunch, then I headed home and put Kaylee down for a little rest. A bit later, I took her over to Chuck & Judy's house, where Miss Maggie was there to play! I left Kaylee there, and Judy took her and Maggie to...the name is escaping me again, but a kid's activity night at their church, where Judy is in charge of the crafts, etc. Kaylee said she had a blast, and hopefully she behaved! But she enjoyed going out and doing something fun and different with a little friend. If it all works out okay, she would like to go back next Thursday too. I don't know how long it lasts, but in January she'll start gymnastics on Thursday afternoons, so she just has a couple of weeks where she can probably do it. I'm glad she got to go, she talked a lot about it. :)

Remember when I said Kaylee didn't want to drive the car because she thought her friends wouldn't like her if her car had a 'bump' in it? Well, she's done very well. Every time I pull up to her school, our big bump showing to the front door of the school, she looks at it as she goes by to get in the other side, but she never says a word. Okay, so it IS kind of embarassing to drive around like that, but I'm not telling Kaylee that! :P

Tomorrow I may go up while Kaylee's in school, weather permitting. Maybe after lunch. That reminds me, I can't forget that I'm bringing lasagna for the lunch at Glenndale. No, I'm not cooking it myself, come on...:) Oh, and speaking of "going up", the Seneca buyers didn't make it in today, but the plane did get washed. I guess we wait and see when they can make it, at this point. *Sigh*

Ah...

It was a good day! It was at least in the low 40's today, with blue skies, and winds only around the 20's, so it wasn't so bad. I headed to the office, where after having a chocolate muffin and Diet Coke breakfast (again), I ended up checking my shoes, as a friend calls it. I was So Sleepy that I couldn't even focus my eyes on the magazine I was reading, so I put my head down on the magazine. I thought I was still awake and thinking about stuff, and when my phone rang I answered it as soon as I could get it out of the holder, but apparently Chuck came in and saw me there and later said I was snoring. I claimed that I don't usually snore, and he revised it to "purring." I'm not sure that's good either, but at least it's quieter. Do you know how tired I would have to be to fall asleep in an office chair with my head on a magazine, all the lights on, and other people in the building?? I can't even fall asleep in the dark and quiet in my room easily usually. So we'll chalk that one up to exhaustion and maybe still not over whatever bug I contracted.

I gave Chuck and Dale a chorus of choking fits this morning before I passed out. I was a true joy to be around this morning! :)

Chuck and I were going to hit lunch at Muncie with Nathan in the Cheyenne, but I had to get the Seneca from Sheridan to Kokomo, and had to be back at Kokomo by 2:30 so I could pick up Kaylee because Steve was flying too. So I had to miss it, and Chuck missed it because he drove me to Sheridan. But Ty got some fun because of it, so that's good. :) I did take off out of Sheridan in the Seneca, flew around for awhile, said a 'hello' to a quiet and deserted Glenndale, did a couple take offs and landings, and then parked it in Nathan's hanger so it could be washed and hopefully viewed and sold tomorrow. (Now, the weather isn't showing the best scenario, so I don't know if they're coming tomorrow or not, and the plane didn't get washed tonight either!)

Call me sentimental, but I'm still going to miss it! I've flown it since I was 5 months pregnant with Kaylee...I know it very well, and I've had a lot of fun with it, good trips, lots of memories. I know there are other toys to play with now, but this was kind of just "mine". But I know it's good that it's gone for everybody's sake...even mine, indirectly, whether I like it or not. ;)

This afternoon, Kaylee put the ornaments on the Christmas tree. I didn't even look, I didn't touch them or help her, and finally when I went in to see how she'd done, I was totally amazed. They were evenly spaced, covered all sides of the tree, and it looked totally beautiful! She did an amazing job, completely by herself, standing on the piano bench to get to the top! When Steve got home, HE was totally impressed too. She seriously did a fantastic job, I'm still impressed!

Tonight Kaylee learned the first half/two thirds of the books in the New Testament. We learned it in 10 minutes before heading to Awanas. Next week she'll say them all. She almost could now, but gets stuck a bit around Philemon. So she knows from Matthew through Titus so far. The rest will be easy when we have more than 10 minutes. :) Her team won again at Awanas, and she won one of the races tonight. She was pretty excited about that. And by the way, she won the race wearing a dress. I used to do that as a kid too-win running races even against the boys, wearing a dress and dress shoes. lol

Mom said Grandma's intestines are twisted up and it's causing her problems...any prayers for Grandma would be appreciated!

While Kaylee was at Awanas, Steve, Nathan, and Dale went to a fundraiser for our city mayor, and then met me at Applebees. I had this pretty good seafood platter. The Tilapia was delicious, the crab cake kind of bland, the grilled shrimp pretty good and the rice great. It was fun, and I left just shy of 8 pm to go pick Kaylee up at Awanas. It was a busy day, a fun day. Tomorrow on the other hand is supposed to be downright nasty cold. We're looking at 11 degrees early tomorrow morning. *sigh* I don't know if the Seneca buyers will be here tomorrow or not, but if so, the winds are supposed to be blowing up to around 35 knots too, so it's going to be SUPER chilly. A day not fit for mouse or man...or woman.

Droopy Tuesday

Today after dropping Kaylee off, I ran out to the office to get a package ready for Fed Ex for Steve. While I was there, I started updating my logbook. I only got through October 25th before I had to go pick her back up at school! Man, if you don't keep up on that, it runs away from you fast, if you do much of any flying at all!

When we got home, Kaylee and I worked on her school project (coloring a nativity scene), and we put up our Christmas tree! We got all the branches set up and ready to go. A bit of supper, and Daddy came home to play Shrek with her, and then got the lights up on the tree for us and the Christmas decorations up in Kaylee's room. Big glowing candy canes and a big glowing wreath on her window. She loves it. :)

I spent the evening some on the computer and some adding up the numbers in my logbook. I'm up to the end of October, but I don't think I flew much in November (and least not compared to Sept. and Oct.) and I haven't flown at all in December yet. So the rest should go fairly quickly.

I'm really tired tonight, I didn't sleep well last night and I woke up coughing a few times too. It's better, but it's not gone. I hope to fall asleep quickly tonight for once! Tomorrow will be busy, as Wednesdays always are!

Kaylee...

Today was a typical Monday, at least in our family. One of those days that are "nothing special", and that's a good thing.

After I dropped Kaylee off at school, I went to the post office, the grocery store, the bank, home to unload, then I went out to the office, until about 2 pm. When I left there, I came home and worked on the computer for a little while, then went to pick up Kaylee. She relaxed for awhile at home, and then very excitedly got ready for ballet. She just LOVES picking out her outfit, getting ready, and wearing her ballet clothes. Today we chose a long-sleeved pink outfit, because it is FREEZING here. You know, one year ago, coming home from Morgan's funeral, it was a bad blizzard here. My plane had to circle awhile (airliner) because they had to clear off the runway. While we were still circling the runway, we got word that an airliner had gone off the runway in Chicago due to ice/snow. Looking out the window from my seat back there, all I could see in the dark night was blowing snow. THAT was not a reassuring feeling for a pilot. I wondered who was up there and how new they were and if they were really current and had had much practice landing on slick surfaces. It was the only thing to distract me from the funeral I had just attended. I don't like being in the back. Not like *I* could have done anything with that airplane, but I still don't like being in the back. Logic? No. None-the-less... after we landed (safely, obviously), I had to drive home in white-out conditions with very deep snow. Luckily I was in the Jeep, and I ended up needing that 4-wheel drive. Cars were off the road all over the place, I lost count. Trucks, semis, everybody. It was a long, slow drive home, and I didn't get in until wee hours of the morning. I was exhausted, drained physically and emotionally, and it just seemed...fitting. We haven't had that kind of snow here yet, but the temps are certainly right.

Anyway, I digress. Kaylee looked lovely as always in her ballet outfit, and we headed out. I got to sit right in front of her today (I got a good seat this time!) and I took more photos which I'll go put up on her site. She told me she wants to dance every day except Saturday and Sunday because she LOVES dancing so much. :) She's a lot more graceful than I, and she certainly concentrates on it! Afterwards we came home and celebrated with ice cream. She wore her ballet outfit and a Santa Hat. It was pretty cute, actually. I've also signed her back up for gymnastics classes, on Thursdays. She's been bugging me about it for awhile, and she hasn't given up, so I will give it a go as long as she can listen and pay attention and not be too busy or tired.

Today Kaylee was roller skating on the kitchen floor, and she wiped out and landed on her tush. Now we've all done that (okay, at least I'VE done that), and it hurts. She just sat there for a second, and then she spun around and started pounding the floor and yelling at the "stupid floor!" And we had to have another conversation about the word 'stupid' and about not yelling at things when she gets hurt or scared. That the floor didn't do anything to HER, but rather she landed on IT. She started crying and said "I'm TRYING, Mommy, I don't MEAN to get mad." You know, I can relate to how she feels. I feel really angry and need to be left alone and untouched when I get hurt too, and so does Steve. (I don't believe either of us have modeled that to her, though I can't be sure.) It's just a reaction, and it IS hard to temper those reactions, particularly when you're five. That doesn't mean you don't TRY to learn to do better. Anger isn't an appropriate reaction for most things. Ah, human nature.

On to uploading her dance photos from today on her site. She got to be the "watering can" today, where she got to dance around and tickle the girls' backs, which was her watering the flowers, and they got to grow after she watered them. She was excited about her duties. :)

Princess Morgan

Today I want to remember a special little girl, Miss Morgan Saville. One year ago today, her mom and dad had to decide that while her body was still here, her spirit had gone home, and they had to choose to take her off of life support. One year ago today, Morgan left behind her Mommy, Daddy, two brothers, and a host of people whose lives she touched. She was a special little girl. I can't forget flying to Virginia to be at her funeral, a driving feeling I still can't explain well, but something that I knew I had to do. If you've never attended the funeral of a three year old princess, be thankful, because nothing tears out the heart and soul of a parent like burying their child. The photo is Morgan on her 3rd birthday. SMA dictated that the time with her family was way too short, and nothing will make that okay. The positives, the things you have to remember and end with, are that she was SO greatly loved, and cared for, and she had a wonderful life with a wonderful family for the time they did get to have her with them. It's not ever going to be a happy day for them, but for her, maybe it is. Happy Angel Day, Morgan...the one year anniversary of the first time you could finally kick up your princess heels and run through the heavens....

Quotes and Quotables

I'm not going to have to explain why I think this tattoo on Kaylee's arm is funny to most people who know me and grew up in similar circumstances to mine. To anyone who doesn't get why this is funny to me, that's okay, because explaining it still wouldn't make it funny.

This is a fake tattoo, given to Kaylee by her Quaker school, which states "Happy Birthday Jesus!" over a manger scene.

Either a tattoo of Jesus given to a Kindergartner by a Christian school is just funny, or it's not. :)

Today Steve had a flight, and I spent pretty much the whole day picking up, decluttering, throwing away, and cleaning out piles. Did some work on my Things To Do file at home, made some changes to business cards, went through all my mail, went through my stack of catalogs, finished up all the laundry, AND unpacked a few of our Christmas Decoration boxes. Steve pounded out the dent in my car door enough for me to be able to drive it safely and take Kaylee to school, etc. He also brought in all the Christmas stuff, and got the tree stand ready for me and Kaylee to start putting together tomorrow. A load of dishes, reading four books to Kaylee, a bit of snack, and that was our day! It's only 8 pm, so I'm sure I'll be doing some more work on putting away laundry and cleaning out magazines, but I'm done with the tree for today.

Kaylee wore a Santa hat much of the afternoon, and she looked adorable, might I add. She came up and gave me a big hug and said "I just LOVE Christmas Mommy, don't YOU??" And looking at her face, I could honestly say "Yes I do, honey!" Christmas IS for children, and for older people to remember what it was like to be a child at Christmas. It is MUCH harder for me to sustain my "Bah Humbug" looking into her excited face. :)

To finish on something having nothing to do with anything, below are some quotes I was reading today that I enjoyed...

I am old enough to know that victory is often a thing deferred, and rarely at the summit of courage. What is at the summit of courage, I think, is freedom. The freedom that comes with the knowledge that no earthly thing can break you - Paula Giddings

Courage, sacrifice, determination, commitment, toughness, heart, talent, guts. That's what little girls are made of; the heck with sugar and spice. - Unknown

You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do. -Eleanor Roosevelt

Kaylee's Thankful List

Below is the list Kaylee wrote up by herself on what makes her Thankful. I thought it was neat to see it in her writing. Hopefully you can read it...

Princesses

Well, I'm on 48 full hours of antibiotics, and so far the cough is still the same, but at least the sinus issues are clearing up. Progress!

This morning we got up and headed to Indianapolis to watch Disney Princesses on Ice! Kaylee was pretty hyped up, as you can imagine. :) When we got there, of course you have to wander through the minefield of "Buy This! Buy That!" I already knew I'd be buying a light-up thing for her; she ended up with a program that came with a rose, a light-up Cinderella ball/wand thing, and a plastic figure of Cinderella. A bit of chocolate ice cream in hand, and we met up with Chuck, Judy and Maggie in our seats. I couldn't really get many good pictures because I was in the seat next to Kaylee and she was too close to me to take photos. I did snap a couple of the girls together, and you can see them on Kaylee's site at http://www.kayleestants.com/photosdec06.htm. Here's one I made Steve take for me from his seat. :) Kaylee was pretty entranced by the whole thing. Every time Tinkerbelle would come out on the ice, and a narrator would start talking about the next "wish" that was going to come true, Kaylee would know which storyline it was within about 3 words or less ("I can name that tune in THREE notes!") and would start yelling "It's Ariel!!" or "It's Belle!" The look on her face was just priceless to me. One minute she'd be serious and focused on what's happening, another minute she'd be lit up and grinning, another moment she was just quiet and in awe, then she'd be laughing and clapping. Her little mind went a mile a minute, and even before bed tonight she wouldn't stop asking me "Were they REAL fairies and princesses or not??" She'd say "I don't think they're real", but then she'd get this sad and disappointed look on her face at the thought! So I just kept telling her she'd have to decide on her own. She WANTS to believe, but the logical part of her just keeps fighting it. I remember being young and reading the Chronicles of Narnia and feeling SO frustrated that I couldn't just walk through a wardrobe and have an adventure like that, that magic wasn't real. It's fun to believe in magical things for awhile...

Steve and Chuck felt surrounded by Estrogen, but in fact there were quite a few other Dads there on Princess Duty too, so they weren't alone. Their favorite part was in "Sleeping Beauty" when Prince Eric had to fight the dragon to rescue Princess Aurora. There was a neat dragon out on the ice, and they actually lit the ice on fire when he "breathed" once. It was pretty neat, just a touch of testosterone for the men in the audience. ;) Otherwise, everywhere you looked, it was a sea of little girls, Princesses every one! Several of them were dressed up as princesses too, something Kaylee had wanted to do but I didn't let her because she'd have frozen and her dresses wouldn't be comfortable for that long of a time. It was good I didn't, because Maggie didn't come dressed as a princess and that wouldn't have been nice for one girl to get to dress up and the other not. But it was definitely a sea of tiarras and gowns and bright and excited faces.

Afterwards we went to Max & Ermas and had a big juicy burger, then headed home, where I crashed for most of the afternoon...

It was a good day!