Airport, Recital Rehearsal, Et All

Today was another hot muggy one. I went out to Glenndale with Kaylee and I entered billing/time sheets for accounting most of the morning. Answered phones, talked to customers, that kind of stuff. I also watched while they started breaking ground on our new addition at Glenndale! Our little airport is in need of some extra space, and as of today it is growing. Here's a picture of them breaking ground. I only had my camera phone with me at the office, so it's not the best, but you get the idea.

We (the crew) hit lunch at Half Moon today. I had a pulled pork sandwich with smokey sauce, and it was pretty good. I like their chips that they make right there. From there it was back to the airport, and I flew the Warrior over to Kokomo, with Chuck picking me up. It was an odd wind day. The numbers weren't that high, but it was turbulent as all get-out. After just a little flying today, both Chuck and I were done!

Kaylee and I came home, and started getting ready for her ballet recital rehearsal. I had a little trouble with the bun-but with the big hair thing that goes over the top of it in the back, nobody could tell. :) I put makeup on her, but I think for the recital I'll use my permanent lipstick, because this stuff wears off too fast, and they are in the back waiting for their turn for an hour and a half or more. (Yes, you 'heard' me.)

You know, if you've never been to that school before, you have no way of knowing where to go. I parked and we hiked through the whole school until we found other little girls, and we followed them to an auditorium. We were supposed to be there at 5:30pm. We were there by 5:15. We sat there until 6:30 while they got stuff organized. The only real problem I had at this point was the teenagers who were sitting in the row across from me in tap shoes. They tapped constantly on the hard floor, for an HOUR. Just 'tap tap tap tap tap tap taptaptaptaptaptap". By the end of the hour, I literally plugged my ears. I was ever so grateful when it was time for them to go backstage. :)

The kids were EVER so adorable. All those outfits, man that was cute. The kids lined up by group and went backstage, where each group had their own "helper moms" who go backstage with them all. If you don't sign up, you can't go backstage at all. I didn't sign up. Being in charge of the whole group of children during this event did not seem like a good plan for me. So I told my child to behave herself, and sent her off backstage with a smile. She did just fine without me. She took her little bag of clothes, comb and makeup and disappeared in a fluff of pink with her group. Another while later, they Finally started the rehearsal, which they ran like the real show. By 8 pm, Kaylee's group still hadn't come on. And then came intermission. They literally ran an intermission. Ugh. At least I didn't have tapping yapping teenagers next to me though. :) I learned that Kaylee's group is the 4th act in the 2nd half of the show. Sure enough, here they come. During the actual recital, no flash photography is allowed, but by george tonight was just a rehearsal, so I took some flash photography. I didn't use a flash for most of the photos I took, but then when Kaylee's group came out, I knew this would probably be my only shot at getting photos of her on stage up this close, so I did it anyway. I think they turned out pretty cute, but I can't put them up on her site yet as it is a FrontPage site and those are down and being worked on at the moment. So you'll have to wait! Well, here's a teaser. Kaylee's the one with her arms up, dead center, in the photo to the right.

The kids did a terrific job. Kaylee's group pulled theirs off really well, even though they had been backstage for over THREE HOURS before they went on stage. The setup for the recital is really neat too. They have a screen in the background, and they do various bold colors and neat lighting. They do a silhouette of the dancers before the lights come up, and THAT'S neat. I took some photos of that too. This place does a nice, professional recital. I am impressed. I hope the video/dvd they are doing turns out as professional looking-I look forward to seeing it.

There were a couple of groups of note. One was a group of teens who were doing hip hop and modern dance. Now they did real well on the modern dance. On the hip hop though, they had the moves but not the...feel. I don't know how to put it. Well, if you ever saw the movie "Bring It On" with cheerleaders, it was like the difference between the rich white girls and the inner city kids doing the same cheer. :) But there was this one little girl, she was a tiny little blond thing, younger than any other girl up there. And THAT girl could MOVE. She was really, really impressive. She had the hip hop nailed solid, looked like she was born to it. All the girls did fantastic on the modern dance and the ballet.

Then there was the "Adult Tappers" group. They are in poodle skirts and tap shoes, and it is a group of middle-aged to elderly ladies doing a tap routine. It was really kind of neat to see, and they did a great job! You couldn't pay me to do it, so I take my hat off to them. :)

The teeny-tiny tots were adorable. They hardly put one foot in front of the other at that age, but they are darn cute while they do it! There was one act I really liked. A teenage ballerina dressed all in white, with diamonds, was carried to a pedestal, and then wound up. She became a music box ballerina, dancing there, then around the stage, while these tiny little girls in purple sat on the stage and watched her. She wound down and ended up back on her pedestal, while the girls got up and did their little routine and bow. Way too cute.

And then there was one of the opening dance numbers, that simply cracked me up. Those girls wearing tap shoes next to me? Their number was "FootLoose". They were dressed as 80's girls, and their number was Foot Loose. You know, the movie my best friend and I secretly watched because she was a pastor's daughter too? To these girls, this was ancient history, and I thought, sheesh, I'm only 35, give me a break! The whole time they were tapping to that song, I was sitting in my seat cracking up. What can I say, I am easily amused, and that did it!

Last but not least, there was a mother-daughter dance done to the music "I Hope You Dance". The whole room got quiet and everyone fell under the spell. At the end of the routine, the mom reached in and spontaneously kissed her little girl on the cheek, and everybody burst into applause. It was so sweet I almost considered doing it with Kaylee. Stop laughing, I can hear you from here! Well, you know I'm kidding, because me in a tu-tu isn't happening, but this Really Was a neat act, and I loved it.

When Kaylee's group was done, we could go claim our children, and I took her into the bathroom to change her clothes. We got home around 9:20pm, ate a minimal supper, and she fell asleep almost right away. It was a busy day, a long night, and a very late bedtime for her!

A busy but good day! Tomorrow evening is her first recital, and Saturday evening is the last recital. Whew...

Masks

"Criminal Minds" Quote of the Day:

"What you pretend to be is what you really are. So be careful what you pretend to be."

It's a quote in a book written by Kurt Vonnegut (the same author of "Slaughterhouse Five".) I thought that was an excellent reminder. Be careful what you allow yourself to think, act, and be, or you will become it. Or maybe what you think you are pretending to be is really who you already actually are. Either way, it's food for thought.

Kind of like the Bible verse paraphrased "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he".

Actually, on a spin-off of that, you can act your way into changing. Something like that is even taught for business persons/salespersons. Act confident until you are. Actually smile when you answer the phone, because it shows in your voice. If you're feeling dumpy, act happy and more often than not you really will perk up. I'm not taking the time to hunt up references, but this is scientifically backed up. Well, and I use it to overcome that dreaded shyness that still grabs me sometimes, too. It works. So it makes sense that if you have the power to change your fortune and your mood by ACTING a different way, until it becomes real, that in similar fashion, what you dwell on and what mask you put on will eventually become...you. Or was really you all along. Like Vonnegut said. :)

I'm talking in circles now. I think I'll go to bed early tonight-I'm pooped!

A Wiped-Out Wednesday

Today was really "Shuffle Wednesday", and we didn't even get in all the shuffling we were supposed to. Again-I write this down more so I can go back later and update my logbook than because I think anybody cares! I came out to Glenndale and took Nathan in the 172 (32L) to Sheridan, to pick up the RG. I came back in 32L to Glenndale and Nate brought the RG into Glenndale. We then had to break for lunch. ;) Some more shuffling ensued. I took 32L back to Kokomo, Chuck picked me up in the Citabria and brought me back to 8I3, where I picked up the RG and took IT to Kokomo. Again Chuck picked me up and brought me back to 8I3. We put everything away; Steve wanted us to go to Frankfort to pick up another airplane too, but we shall do that tomorrow.

It was 4:00 pm by the time we were done. Chuck headed home, and I was on my way, when Steve & I decided to try out a new-ish restaurant in town. Since Chuck hasn't seen enough of us today, he and Miss Judy joined us for dinner. Actually, I saw more of Chuck than he did of me, since he was in the front of the Citabria most of the time. That poor fellow flew 2.5 hours today in errands and shuffling. It was hot, muggy...and good anyway. ;)

We tried out the "Half Moon", no it is not Chinese, but yes they do have good food. I had salmon, and it was quite tasty. The desserts leave a bit to be desired, but I think everyone else liked their food too. They had Mac & Cheese, milk, and chocolate ice cream, so Kaylee was good to go.

Finally it was time to pack it up and head home. Now that it's 8:30 pm. :) I'll do a little computer work, do a little TV show watching, do a little laundry, a little decluttering of the drawer under the couch, and get ready for tomorrow.

Nate said today that their pool was open and ready for company. Kaylee's ready to go, I know that! We'll have to work out a good time for the kids to get together and swim. I guess I'd best break out my bikini. (*snort*, I am SO kidding.)

(Ouch, it looks like a fighter jet went down today in Indiana. Haven't heard the details yet, but I just saw a photo of a smoking hole...I'll go look that up next.)

Tuesday Top Ten: Ten Reasons I Read Books

Oh man, it's Tuesday! I forgot, I haven't even thought about this yet. It has to be something about books. Favorite 10 books? Favorite characters from books? Favorite bad guys? Favorite quotes? Wow, since books are one of my all-time favorite things, this is going to be a challenge. Um....okay.

Top Ten Reasons I Read Books:

1. Escape. I'm not sure I can come up with ten of these either, because this pretty much encompasses a large percentage of why I read. For awhile, I am not me, here. I am him or her (or it), there. Not that there's anything wrong with me, here, or anything special about him, her or it there. But every once in awhile it's nice to take your mind off of whatever is weighing on you. Reading for me is the cheapest Great Escape there is!

2. Education. It's amazing what you can learn in books. Of course Google.com has taken a lot of the thunder out of this aspect of reading, but the learning is just more subtle for me in books. For example, I can read murder mysteries and learn many interesting things that I'd never dare Google for fear of what I'd end up seeing. ;) Books are the second oldest form of learning, and still a very potent and interesting way.

3. Adventure. While I'm reading a novel, I travel to other countries, other lifestyles, sometimes other worlds. I visit people and nations and centuries I'd never otherwise get to see. Sometimes I'm fascinated, sometimes I'm bored, occasionally I'm shocked, but I love it when I can close a book after the last page is done, with a sigh, and say "Now THAT was incredible."

4. Stress Removal. Reading is my number one way to relieve stress. Flying is number two. Both require me to concentrate on what I'm doing, both get me 'lost' in something else, and both help me come away with a much better feeling about life. Some days when I've just had enough, and it's been too long, I will take a Saturday and stay in my pajamas, and I will sit in a room all alone with a drink and a snack and a book, and I will not want to be disturbed the entire day. By the time I'm done, I feel quiet, and anti-social, but centered again.

5. Silence. If I'm reading a book, I hear nothing. I can sit at McDonald's PlayLand with 20 screaming children for 2 hours and hear...Nothing. Unless Kaylee runs up and says "Mommy". I hear that. Otherwise, I tune out the world, and I like it that way!

6. Options. If you are watching TV, you are limited to what's on. If you are in a particular mood, there's not much you can do about it. If I'm reading, I can read something light and fluffy if I just need a break, I can read something deeply moving if I'm ready for it, I can read something scary if I'm in the mood, I can read something educational at my own pace if I need to know. The possibilities are limitless, and focused right in on the area of interest. Can't do that even with 900 satellite channels. Trust me.

7. More Options. If, for some awful reason, I can't finish a book the same day I start it, I can actually put it down. And when I come back, it will be right where I left it. I don't have to record it, don't have to rent it again in order to finish it. I just have to pick it up, whenever I want, and nothing will have changed. I can think of a few things I wish did that!

8. It's a good example. I'm reaching a bit here, but bear with me. I hooked my best friend on reading because she HAD to out of self-defense if she was around me for very long. lol I'm hoping my daughter will some day end up picking up the love of reading, and I hope that seeing it be something that I enjoy will be a positive influence.

9. Because I am trying to break the Guiness Book of World Records on number of books stuffed in one home? Because I'm trying to see if I can force Steve into building an addition on to the house? Because I'm obsessive/compulsive on buying books?

10. Because I can't help it. I will read cereal boxes, magazines, I have even been known to read ingredient lists. The internet is terrible. I can get lost in there if I let myself. But for me, I read, therefore I am. :)

Talkative Tuesday

I think I may have reached my social interaction limit today. :) I enjoyed every person I was with today, but all combined I think I talked out!

This morning Kaylee & I headed to Glenndale, then Chuck took me in the Citabria over to Kokomo. I was supposed to take the 172RG over to Sheridan, but I wasn't going to get back in time for an 11:30 lunch appointment I'd already made. So I flew it to Glenndale instead, waited a bit, and then Kaylee and I headed off to Culvers to meet with her former Kindergarten teacher. We were there talking about an hour and a half. Kaylee enjoyed seeing her again, and she got lots of hugs.

We left there and headed back to Glenndale. I was getting ready to take the RG to Sheridan finally, but the nose tire had gone flat again, and as we were waiting, it occurred to me that today was the day that the couch people were coming to my house to pick up part of our couch to fix the cushion. So...we race home to be here by 2 pm for them. They show up around 4 pm.

A friend stopped over for a few minutes to pick up some stuff; I talked on the phone for a couple of hours to another friend. A friend stopped over with his wife for a bit. A couple more phone calls, a few internet situations, it pretty much kept up all day so far. Now it's 8:20 pm, and Kaylee's had her little next-door-neighbor friend over at our house for the last 3 hours. A few more phone calls. I'm ready to shut my phone off, shut my computer off, put everybody to bed, and lie on the couch with a book and some SILENCE.

Now it's 9 pm, I'm starting to think about dinner for Steve (who just walked in) and myself, and finally it's a quiet-if just for a second-in the house...

I have no couch to sit on though, my seat is gone for repairs! Oh the horror of having to sit in an atypical seat, you know, one other than your favorite!

This was very disjointed, choppy, slightly annoying, and tedious...but you know what, that pretty much describes my day! :)

Flying Video

Here they are in good quality! Best used with a cable modem, they are large files, and QuickTime is the type of video file they are. :)

Flying, Videos, Photos, and Life

This morning Steve had a couple of flights, and I gave a checkout in the 172SP. Kaylee stayed with Grandma Chiles, and they had a lovely morning. :) I got home around 11 am, the boys headed off to Glenndale, and we ladies hung out for about an hour before meeting Steve, Chuck, and Ernie at Culvers. Mom & Ernie headed back to Missouri right after lunch, and the rest of us went to the airport and stayed there until about 7 pm.

While we were there, a serious rainstorm hit, trapping us on a golf cart in the barn. Chuck had to come rescue us in the Jeep. lol It was a serious little severe thunderstorm cell. After that, we lost our internet out there due to a lightening strike. I'm just glad that the cable wasn't killed at my house too.

Kaylee was past wiped out, so I threw her in the tub and then tried to get her in bed. Unfortunately, as of 10 pm, she was still so wound up she couldn't sleep, poor thing. She's going to be a mess tomorrow.

Today Scott gave me a cd of photos and video they took at the Poker Run, so I added a few more of the pictures on my site. I'm hoping to add some of the videos too. They got some neat footage, I enjoyed watching these, so I hope I can share them in good quality. In the meantime, here are a few on YouTube (not as good quality but at least you can see them) that Scott posted, with comments that made me laugh anyway:

My "go around" in the Saratoga: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3718950890841118589

My first landing in the Saratoga: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6663549339518187872

Flour drop from the Supercub: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7086937998049496995

Chuck's landing: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-234338306537368798

The Day After-Sunday Top Ten

Let's see...where is everybody today? Oh, you can guess can't you? Yes, the airport. :)

Actually, Kaylee & Grandma stayed home today to play. Steve, Ernie and myself came out to Glenndale with the rest of the crew. We grilled up some juicy burgers for lunch, had apple pie and ice cream for dessert...and we're getting ready to heat up the leftover steaks and potatoes from last night. We never run out of food out here.

I am dragging like crazy today-super tired for no good reason! I'll probably wake up around 10pm and be raring to go for the rest of the night.

Sunday Top Ten: Ten Life Lessons You Can Learn From Disney Movies

1. Life Isn't Fair, Don't Expect It To Be. I could pick ANY Disney movie to illustrate this point, because every single one has a person going through a hardship. Most Disney heroines do not have mothers. Some are total orphans. Most are treated poorly, and unfairly. Bambi lost his daddy, as did Simba. It's a basic life concept that people don't seem to get. Life Is Not Fair. You can't make it be fair. You can become bitter and angry and pessimistic dwelling on why and how it isn't fair. You can waste your life pouting about why it isn't fair. Or you can accept the *fact* that life isn't fair, don't expect it to be, get over it, stop whining, and move on and make the best of your life.

2. Attitude Creates Opportunities. Better stated as "Be Nice Anyway" or "Do The Right Thing and In the End What Goes Around Will Come Around." Cinderella was treated like a slave. She was despised, neglected, abused, and treated most nastily. But never once do you hear her snapping at her step-mother or step-sisters. Never does she pout, or whine, or throw their dirty clothes on the ground and stomp on them. She sings, she smiles, and she treats them with respect even though they don't return the basic courtesy. And in the end, they are left cleaning their own house while she lives in a castle with a prince who saw what a kind, good heart she had. Nastiness may 'win' for awhile, but in the end, what goes around comes around, and the right attitude can pull you from slaves quarters to the prince's castle. Not because you "deserve it" or it is "owed you", but because good things happen to good people more often than not.

3. Love someone for who they are. Belle was trapped against her will in a castle with a monster. Soon she came to realize that even though his outside was pretty rough, he had a good heart, and she fell in love with him regardless of his outward appearance. She was 'rewarded' by having him turn into a handsome prince-but you never see the picture of them together as a 'pretty' couple-because it wouldn't have mattered. That wasn't the point. She loved him for who he was-hair and all. And they all lived Happily Ever After. :)

4. Don't accept the limits others try to put on you. Also known as "Courage Defined" and "Duty & Honor Accepted." Mulan couldn't make tea, she was clumsy, she didn't act the way a proper young lady was supposed to act. She was told she wouldn't make a good 'wife'. Her father was going to be forced to go to war, but he was old, and she knew he would die. Rather than watch that happen, even though impersonating him meant death and dishonor if caught, she chopped off her hair, became a 'man', joined the 'army', learned how to defend herself, and fought the enemy, to save her father and her nation. She didn't just throw her hands up and say "there's nothing I can do, I'm just a girl.", marry the first guy that would take her, and try to fit into the arena they tried to make her fit. She had the courage to step outside the box, at the risk of her own life, out of duty and love for her father.

5. Follow Your Dreams and Be Yourself. She knew all along that she belonged up in the sun, where people danced and ran and twirled. Her father forbade it, her friends thought she was nuts, but she was willing to risk her greatest asset and her father's wrath in order to follow her dream. She knew who she was inside, and she didn't let anyone tell her otherwise. Her journey was difficult, and she lost much too, but she found herself and her place in the world. And because it's Disney, she also found True Love. :)

6. One Jealous Witch Can Ruin Your Day. Vanity, self-centeredness and insecurity are just downright ugly. And annoying. You know, for a person to think the world should revolve around them, to repeatedly ask "the mirror", whatever that is a metaphor for in someone's life, if they are the 'fairest of the all' (smartest, most important, prettiest, most loved, etc.). The basic consequence of repeatedly needing reassurance MAKES them not be what they wish to be. In fact, it will often drive away the very thing they are hoping to capture. The witch became defined by her own insecurity and bitterness. Don't be the witch. And if you can help it, stay away from the 'witches' out there who will happily and sneakily hand you a poisoned apple, because by george, if they can't be the fairest of them all, they won't let anybody else escape their poison unscathed either. Part Two of the Story: Good friends can make the difference in life and death. Even if they are dopey. Or grumpy. Or painfully shy. The oddest cast of characters can make for the most interesting life memories-and can have your back like nobody else.

7. Tell the Truth and Be Responsible. It's all fun and games until you're left holding the bag all alone because you blew off your real friends, and you have to live with a giant nose to boot. Lying changes who you are. Maybe it won't be as physically noticeable, but instead of gaining something, you lose it, a bit at a time. Choose your friends wisely. Don't be led down the path of "destruction". Remember who really has your best interests at heart, whether they are "cool" and "fun" or not. Remember the ant and the grasshopper while we're at it. Or the Prodigal Son. We all have to do things in life we don't feel like doing. Get over it and get on with it. Be honorable. And ask for forgiveness when you need to-the people who truly love you will be there for you even if you acted like a donkey.

8. Be Proud of Who You Are. Bloom where you are planted. It's Okay to be Different. Here's one Disney movie that about made me cry every time I saw it. Poor sweet, gentle Dumbo, picked on mercilessly for being different. Called a freak, useless, an embarrassment, a joke, even cruelly nicknamed "Dumbo". But no matter what everyone else saw, what they said, what they did to him, he persevered, and found the greatness within himself. He turned his greatest problem into his biggest asset. He found his wings, and he triumphed.

9. Just Because Someone Has "Power", It Doesn't Make them Right. And sometimes the right thing to do might be against the rules. It takes a lot of courage to stand up for those who can't stand up for themselves. Robbing from the rich to give to the poor isn't right. But standing up against tyranny and evil is. Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world, as Margaret Mead once said. The biggest bullies in the world will fall, if the good people stand together, gain their courage, and fight back for what is right.

You'll notice that Disney has some recurring themes, and that many of these movies can all fit each other's themes as well. Most of these protagonists are alone in the world except for friends who don't matter to anyone in the world except for those who love them. Most are bullied by wicked or mean people for no reason other than that they are good and kind. All are good, moral, gentle, loving characters who win in the end. And by the way, most of these stories also have parallel biblical tie-ins as well. But for my last thought of the day...

10. Some People Never Grow Up. And flying is cool. And if you don't believe in fairies, you might kill them. And bad guys/bullies are often cowards at heart, fearful of silly things like clocks. See, you can tell I'm tired. So the moral of the story for now is just that some boys just never grow up.

Poker Run

Somehow or other, we managed to actually get a decent weather day out of a lousy forecast day. It was calling for a 70% chance of thunderstorms. It started off foggy and wet, but then it cleared off, and it stayed cleared off until 11 pm! It's a modern miracle, I think, to give us the entire day with storms to the south and north, but just not around our poker run airports circle. We had 13 pilots who did the full circuit. Last year Chuck, myself and Nathan all did it a few times too, but this year none of us did. It's okay, I stink at poker and I'd have just had another loser hand. :) But we had Chuck & Judy, Dawn & Charlie, and Nathan & Jamie who all camped out over the weekend, and a good amount of traffic in and out throughout the day. It's nice to just be able to sit, do nothing, relax, and occasionally go fly something.

Let's see. We had a bomb drop contest. Nathan flew the 172 and I was the bombardier, and we got within 21 feet of the target, which was the winning shot, until the very end when Mike Wild took his daughter up in the Cub, and tied our shot. :) The spot landing contest was won by Scott Post. Nate and I took KS (172) over to Kokomo, then he brought the 172RG into Glenndale and I brought in the Saratoga. He gave a ride or two in it, and our other airplanes gave a few rides too, and later Mike and I went up in the Saratoga. The end of the day we took everything back; Nate took the RG, I took the Saratoga home, and we came back in KS and did the bomb drop. Nathan nailed the spot landing too, but he didn't pay ahead of time and enter, so he didn't get to count it. ;)

We cooked up some steaks and baked potatoes, had a veggie plate and lots of dessert, then did the fun part of cleaning up. Chairs, tables, drinks, food, planes put away, etc. When we were all done, we grabbed some Mike's lemonade and some comfy chairs and sat around a campfire. Roasted some marshmallows, talked, chilled out, and watched the storm system move in. When it was about 15 minutes out, we disbanded the chairs, put the lid on the fire, and headed home.

It was a hot, sweaty evening before the storm rolled in. I commented that I was hot, sweaty, sticky, and had no makeup left on, but it was a great way to spend a day. Good friends, good food, and good flying. Works for me. :)

Meanwhile, Kaylee had a pretty good day too. She ran full tilt. Maggie was there for awhile, until I believe she crashed hard and went home. Jamie and the J. boys were out playing, and the W. kids too. By the time Kaylee got home, she was ready to just crawl in bed and not move. Funny-so was Grandma! And huh-Steve's passed out on the chair over here too. ;) I took some photos, which you can go visit here. Here's one of Kaylee and Maggie on Maggie's little golf cart (Before the battery died) in front of the Cub. They ran around in that golf cart until they were Pushing it around--and even that didn't stop them. Golf carts are Very popular with kids!

That's about it for today!

Catch-up

Well, I got behind, now didn't I.

Thursday I woke up and my back was better. I could move around better anyway. It was still pinched, but I was just grateful to be able to move.

I ended up needing to take a flight; I'd either have to do it Thursday or Friday, and Friday's weather looked a lot worse, so I went for Thursday. I took the Saratoga and went up to Ann Arbor, Michigan and back. It was hazy and turbulent, which didn't help my back any. It was also hot, but I can't claim that hurt my back, it just made me sweaty. :)

I cleaned the house a bit, doing some basic work on the computer for the Poker Run.

Today I got up a bit earlier, and my back was even better than before. I can still feel it. Every once in awhile it will twinge, and I can't take a big deep breath, or sneeze without it seizing on me, but all in all it's MUCH better. Today was spent running around finishing things up for the Poker Run. I made up these fact sheets for some of the airplanes, signs, we were out at the airport most of the day with Kaylee. I flew with James to Sheridan in the 172 (KS) to drop off our 'cards' for the run tomorrow. We were supposed to go on to Noblesville afterwards, but looking ahead I saw dark skies through the haze, so we turned around and headed home instead. Got back on the ground and looked at the radar, and sure enough a whole line of storms was blowing up in our former path. I had to fly around with paper maps and no weather, no traffic, no GPS. It was so...primitive. *sigh* ;)

Kaylee had a blast today. Around 5 pm, Maggie and Jamie came out, and she ran around until 11 pm with the kids. We had pizza, and I ran out to the store to pick up pop for tomorrow. In hindsight it wasn't the best plan to send the chick with the bad back out to the store to pick up 12 cases of pop and 4 cases of water. I started hurting again after that, but still not as bad as it was. Chuck thumped me for not calling for help, but I really didn't think about it until I was standing in the drinks aisle looking at all those and thinking "huh, probably not the best thing for my back." Oh well...

Kaylee stayed up until about midnight tonight, waiting for Grandma & Grandpa Chiles to get here. She's going to be one pooped peanut tomorrow, and tomorrow is going to be a busy day! Well, maybe. We have a 70% chance of storms. In other words, it is going to rain all day, our Poker Run isn't going to get off the ground, and the whole event will be indoors. Again, oh well...we'll still have food and good company!

Oh ow ow ow

That's the pinched nerve in my back talking. I was sitting here minding my own business at the computer, when Kaylee came up to go pet Dulce on top of the desk. I reached up, lifted her down to the floor, and felt a twinge in my back. The next thing I know, my back is spasming and I can't breathe. I couldn't get up, couldn't lie down, couldn't just sit there. It was terrible, it really hurt. It took me 10 minutes to get out of my chair and it literally took my breath away. It has been several hours now and I still can't take a deep breath-it's like an electric cattle prod right behind my lung. I couldn't undo my pants, couldn't stand up or sit down. It took quite awhile before I could move at all, and it was bad enough I almost called someone to take me in to a doctor. If I could have gotten to a phone. That ought to say something since I haven't been to a doctor in several years. My pain tolerance is pretty high, but I was almost throwing up from pain and it wouldn't quit. For you ladies who have given birth, those end contractions give a decent metaphor. I had back labor with Kaylee that was truly agonizing. This was about one notch below that-I didn't actually throw up. Anyway, when I finally got up, I duck-walked into the kitchen and took three Tylenol to try to reduce swelling and definitely reduce pain. Finally it was a bit manageable. I had promised to take Kaylee to McDonald's PlayLand, so I did. Not the best plan. Getting in and out of the car...ow. Sitting in the restaurant was okay, I found a position and stayed there until it was time to leave. Didn't drink much so I wouldn't have to use the restroom. Unfortunately there was really nobody there the whole time we were there. Kaylee was disappointed as was I, since I'd wasted a trip to the PlayLand. ;) So I took her to see Shrek III, where at least I could sit for another 90 minutes or so.

Shrek III was okay. It's a little disturbing to me seeing Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty as doofuses, Snow White as a mean-tempered snot, and Rapunzel as a backstabbing gossiping traitor. Most of the movie is really aimed at entertaining adults, and I admit I snickered a couple of times, but several things I was just glad that they were over Kaylee's head. She liked going to the movie and seeing Shrek and Donkey and Fiona, and that was about it for her. She didn't get the basic lesson of the movie of "no matter how others treat you, you don't have to buy into their beliefs of you, you just be yourself". She just got that they had babies and adventures. I did talk to her about the Disney Princesses and how they were portrayed in this movie vs. their own movies, and she said that she thought the kind, gentle, giving princesses were the real ones. I tried to explain parody, and she seems to get that...

She was patient with me moving about as quickly as a glacier. She even tried to rub my back for me to make it better. Which was sweet, but scary. Driving was not good. Couldn't turn my head, or twist my body the right way to buckle or unbuckle a seatbelt. Even moving my arms far enough to turn a steering wheel to make a turn didn't work. I couldn't push the wheel around without a lot of problems. When we finally got home, I laid down on the floor, and didn't get back up for awhile. Even Dulce climbed up on my back when I was on the floor, despite my "hey, no, get off!" comments. :) I was trying to straighten out, loosen up, see if I could get that nerve back where it belongs. No luck, but after awhile I at least can move around now as long as I'm really careful. So now I've been at the computer for 30 minutes, and it's twinging again. Time to go lie back down I think.

Kaylee's doing fine, Uncle Hank & Aunt Ruth are here for a few days, and I have several things I need to work on for the weekend--as soon as I can manage sitting at the computer again.

Ow.

Tuesday Top Ten: Ten Things I Would Never EVER Own

I forgot today was Tuesday, and I even had time to do this earlier. Now I'm tired and not feeling very creative. Oh well. :) (I'm scared to put what I wouldn't ever own lest I end up jinxing myself on it.)

Ten Things I Would Never Ever Own:

1. A Citation Mustang. Okay, that's just a personal joke. Sorry, I needed something to get me going.

2. Bell-bottom jeans. I don't care if they were cool 'back then', I don't care if they were cool again recently. I think they look goofy, at least on me. I don't care if anybody else wants to wear them, but they are something I won't ever own.

3. A Dog. Call in the outrage, but I don't want one. I think they're too much work, and we can't leave them for a week like we can the cats. And two words: Poop Scooping. One more word: Yapping.

4. A Pet Spider. Yeah.

5. Tattoos. I mean no offense to anyone who has one, but they are not for me. I can't think of a single thing I'd like to have drawn on my skin permanently in ink.

6. A bikini. I stole that from Julie. Usually I post mine before I look at the others, but this time I changed an answer because this is more true. Unless a miracle occurs, I will not ever own a bikini again.

7. Clothing that costs more than a car. I saw a show on TV the other night where the wife spent $17,000 on clothing for herself and her husband. He was wearing a $500 shirt. A FIVE HUNDRED DOLLAR SHIRT. It had better be pressed gold with diamond-encrusted accents. Seventeen thousand dollars in one store on clothing. I will never own clothing that I'd feel the need to insure, or lock in a safe and never touch again.

8. A scarf. I can't wrap those around my neck. They (along with hats and helmets) leave me feeling trapped, unable to breathe, and extremely agitated. Unfortunately there are times in life one must wear a hat or a helmet, and I usually do so extremely rarely and only when forced. But nobody can make me wear a scarf. ;)

9. A C-150/C-152. I'm not kidding this time. Unless I had no other options in aviation for the rest of my life, I would not ever, ever own a C-150/152. I will not get started on why.

10. A Day Care Center. I'll tell you what, those ladies who can handle a large group of other people's kids on a daily basis, such as teachers or day care providers, they have my full respect. One hour in such a setting leaves me twitching and desperate for Advil and quiet.

Hot and Bumpy

The day, that is.

I like the 80's temperatures actually. It's a nice change from even last week when it was back to sweatshirts.

This morning when we got up, I made a bank and a post office run, then Kaylee and I hit my least favorite place. Wal-Mart. She wanted to get a different booster seat. She was still in the car seat I got for her as a baby. It transitions to a seat for her age/weight too, but she wanted something more "big girl" than a "baby seat". So she made her choice and was quite pleased with it. She has been showing it off as her new acquisition. She made sure to point out all its features to her daddy, including the color, softness of seat, and of course the two fold-out cup holders. We girls know what's important. ;)

We went to Applebees for lunch with the gentlemen from Glenndale, and then I ran two more errands, stopped at home and did about 20 minutes worth of work, and then I packed up Kaylee and headed out to Kokomo. She stayed in the hangar there (with a bathroom, a TV, a refrigerator, and toys, and Nathan was there as well) while I took the Baron up for a little while. It was really a lot bumpier than I expected. I had trouble adjusting the props/mixtures/throttles because my hand kept getting bumped around. I did a runway check of Glenndale, then came in and practiced a couple of approaches since Nathan got the WAAS upgrade. I love it. The GPS will tell you what to turn to, when to turn there, what hold entry you are making, how to make it; and it provides vertical guidance now for one of our approaches that didn't have that option before. I didn't get a chance to go do a WAAS approach at Marion since Kaylee was back at Kokomo, but I did get to do some playing around, and I was appropriately impressed. As long as you know what buttons to hit and when, it can make instrument flying a piece of cake. I like anything that makes my life easier. I also see that people who learn on those systems aren't going to have a CLUE if they ever have to go back to flying IFR with a VOR and a paper map. I'm actually kind of glad I have both experiences.

Anyway, I enjoyed my flight! I came back, wiped bugs off the Baron, cleaned the windshield, chatted a bit, and headed off to DQ with Kaylee. She was a very patient girl today! We headed home, and Kaylee spent most of the evening with her Grandma & Grandpa. She planted flowers for awhile with Grandma, as our gardens get a new make-over for the season. Then she had a bit of fun getting in a swimsuit and pouring water over her head. I put the photos up on her website, because it was pretty funny. :) She had a good day, as did I! Here she is kind of tired, a little wet, very dirty, and kind of cute, if I may say so myself.

Professional Ballet Photo

They're back! That was fairly quick for a professional photo, really. There was one personal photo and one group photo. You can see what the photographer did with the two poses-I put it up on her Webpage. I'm pleased, I think they're cute. I'm also glad that I didn't know to put the makeup on her, because I think Kaylee looks just beautiful the way she is, without the makeup for her personal one and with just (borrowed) lipstick for the group one. :) (If you click on the group photo (warning-this is a big photo) on her page, you can see what I mean). And, there WERE a couple of other girls there with bangs. Whew.

Well, I have 5x7, wallet, and 4x6 sizes of her personal photo, and wallets of the below image too. Let me know who would like what size, and I will get it to you!

Report Card

Well, we got Kaylee's last report card too, and she had all "E's" for the last quarter too. And no missed days. In fact, she didn't miss a single day for 3/4 of the year, and that 3rd quarter she missed 1.5 days thanks to the flu bug that went around her class. The only comments in that section were "Promoted To First Grade".

Today I'm decluttering, cleaning, doing laundry, paying bills, going through Kaylee's school stuff, organizing my photos, having Kaylee clean her room, and in general just staying plenty busy. I'm trying to use today as a "catch-up" day on house stuff. I'm caught up on my email inbox, caught up on my inbox paperwork, caught up on cleaning off my desk, caught up on doing laundry (just have to put it all away now). I still have a ton to do, but I like having progress at least. I took our "FLYER" out to the post office for our "Poker Run" fundraising aviation event, got and opened all my mail and took care of it right away, cleaned up the kitchen, got the trash ready, gone through a bunch of Kaylee's things and throw away stuff she'd never throw away but will never miss if *I* throw it away. You know, THAT kind of day. It would also be a beautiful flying day, but it makes it tougher with Kaylee out of school. I need to go back up in the Cub, and I need to go in the Decathlon, and I need to practice a few WAAS and regular approaches in the Baron too. In a couple of weeks here, there will be a summer camp that lasts for 5 days from 9am to noon for Kaylee. I think she'll enjoy doing it by then, and I'll use that time to get in some of the flying I need to do...

Okay, better not stall out here, I'll go keep moving so I can finish up some more stuff on my catch-up stay-home day. :)

Awanas and Fires

Today Kaylee and Steve spent most of the day outside, working in the sunshine. I spent most of the day inside doing laundry, a little picking up, and a lot of catch-up on computers. I got through a TON of stuff these last few days, and I'm really close to catching up on a lot. I like that, it makes me feel better. :)

This evening, Kaylee and I headed to church around 4:30 pm, and they had a practice for their Awanas closing ceremonies. It lasted until the service started at 6 pm. Steve, Richard & Ann came for the service too. They did the littlest kids first, and then Kaylee's "class", the Sparks, and then the older kids. Kaylee finished her book, so she got her "First Book" award, and her 'crown of jewels' on her vest was full. I could have had her work on her second book since she finished the first so early, but I didn't. That's twice in two days that Kaylee has been on stage singing songs. :) I took pictures which you can see here.

We headed out to dinner at the Windmill Grill with everyone next, and when we were stuffed, we headed home, where we lit a fire in our fire...pit...pot...can't think of the word. But we lit a fire anyway, and stayed out there for a long time while it burned down. Finally everybody was tired, the fire was about out, and it was time to head in.

It was a nice family day. :)

Saturday

I woke up early this morning with a pretty bad headache. I know better than to try to go back to sleep on these kinds of headaches, but I was sooo sleepy I just couldn't bring myself to get up to get medicine. And I paid for it. By 8:00 am it was a nasty headache, so I got up and took meds, but by then it was borderline too late and it turned into an "I'm going to throw up soon" migraine. I ended up having to take more potent stuff, and lie down on the couch for a few hours before it would go away, and I've felt 'off' ever since. Better now though! The only thing I've eaten is one bowl of cereal around noon, and I'm just not hungry either. Darn stinking headaches will get you! Kaylee was a patient girl while I was 'sick', just lying next to me and talking, or rubbing my arm, or bringing me water...

Really all I did today (so far anyway) was recover from a headache, play a little with Kaylee, and take a "Discovery Flight". I had never yet actually flown the 172SP, so I figured I ought to go do that before I 'taught' in it. Did one take off and landing, decided that yes, it was indeed a C-172, and parked it on the ramp to wait for my 'students'. It was fine, all went well and we have a new student. I even put away the plane by myself-not sure what all these guys are complaining about it being "hard" and needing help to push it uphill into the hangar. (Okay, so I huffed and puffed for a minute after I got it up the hill, but by george, I made it all by my lonesome.) lol

Tonight we had New York Strip steaks, baked potatoes and green beans, and Richard & Ann came over to eat with us. Kaylee left the table halfway through, to go lie down because her stomach hurt. Poor thing still doesn't feel right...

Graduation Day

After I dropped Kaylee off at school for her very last day of Kindergarten, I headed out to Glenndale. I needed to fly the J-3 Cub, and today looked like a pretty day to do it, so I asked Chuck to "prop me". It doesn't have a starter, so you have to hand-prop it to start it. Several other things are atypical on the cub. You fly it from the back seat, the fuel 'gauge' is a stick on the cowling that just floats however high depending on how much gas you have, and there is no mixture. Chuck hand propped me and got me started, and not too long after that, the engine died. This happened twice more before I even took off, but finally I got going. I took off, did some turns, some maneuvering in the air, and then I headed to Sheridan to practice some take offs and landings in private. Fortunately, my takeoffs and landings were fine. Unfortunately, they were a little TOO private. The Cut quit on me just after I touched down at Sheridan. Did I mention you have to hand prop it? Kinda hard to do by yourself, at least if you're me. I rotated the prop through backwards several times with the mags off, then went "hot", and tried to hand prop it from behind so I could hop right in the plane immediately if it fired. I tried about 10 times with no luck, stepped in front of it and considered for about 2 seconds trying it from the front, but just couldn't do it. I didn't have a chock, and I could too well picture the NTSB report on that one. So I ended up hiking up to the airport, across a field. I grabbed Jeff, who gave me a ride back to the plane, and after several tries, finally got the Cub started again. I was done after that-I just flew back to Glenndale and put it away. It's a very historic plane, a classic. But I have to admit, I like airplanes that have a starter, and I like flying from the front of an airplane where I can actually see where I'm going on the ground. It was more tiring and stressful than anything else. I'll need to go back up soon and get more proficient at it.

Chuck and I flew the Citabria over to Kokomo to let a couple guys in to a hangar; Chuck took up the Baron his first solo flight in it, and I took up the Citabria. When we were done, we headed back to Glenndale, and then Kaylee (whom I had picked up at 11:30) and I headed home. I threw her in the bathtub so she'd be clean for graduation tonight. She chose her outfit, and was all ready to go, and pretty excited too. She was also super tired, but hanging in there.

So tonight I'm really tired and having a hard time finishing this update! I may come back later and fill it in, I don't know. But the graduation went well. The kindergartners wore white gowns and caps, and they did a little program for the parents. I got some photos, but man, I detest the lighting conditions in that auditorium. It's terrible. You get red eyes, white eyes, white out spots and dark fuzzy photos. Ugh. But here are the pictures I took tonight of Kaylee graduating. She did a good job singing loudly and participating. :) Her teacher was in tears, very sad about the kids leaving. The school also donated Bibles to each of the graduating children, which was sweet. After the program, we went downstairs and had a cupcake and punch, and then headed home.

Kaylee was so tired, she crawled in bed, we did devotions, and then she said "I don't even want to play, I just want to go to sleep", and she DID. The girl who stays up for hours before passing out didn't hardly move in bed tonight. Sweet girl. :)

I think that's it for me for tonight-I'm going to head in to bed, I'm wiped!

Thursday's Stuff

Today at school Kaylee "didn't do ANY work Mommy!" They did some practice for their graduation, and they played. So she had a fun day. When Chuck and I picked her up, we headed to Applebees for lunch, ran back to Glenndale for a few minutes, then came home in time to relax for a few minutes before heading off to gymnastics. We were a little early, but decided to go anyway. We got there 20 minutes early, and the doors were all locked and the lights were off. More and more cars came, but the doors stayed locked. Eventually it was past time for the class to start, and all the players were there, including the coaches, but nobody was home until somebody apparently called Fergus, who was there in 3 minutes flat to let the crowd in. :) Kaylee had another abdominal attack while at gymnastics, which is a very poor place to have a stomach issue. She's been fine ever since though. I wish I knew what was causing her problem, poor thing.

This morning I was woken up by my motion sensor going off constantly, and much pounding outside my window. The Car Port guys were here. They erected our new car port in record time-in fact I've never seen something go up so fast. It's a good way to protect our two cars sitting out anyway. They were almost done by the time I left my house at 8:20 to take Kaylee to school.

Tomorrow is Kaylee's last day of Kindergarten. It's a half day for her, and we go back at 6:30 pm for her graduation ceremony. My camera battery is charging right now as I type this, and I'm sure you can expect to see a few pages of photos up on the internet tomorrow sometime.

This afternoon I watched a movie called "Facing the Giants". I thought it was just a regular football movie, an underdog feel-good story. It was, but it was also a Christian movie. The acting wasn't the best and the storyline was predictable, but it was still a sweet movie. A high school football coach loses his 6th season in a row, his car is broken down, he and his wife can't conceive, and the fathers in the school come together to get him replaced as coach. He re-evaluates his life, his faith, his attitude, and good things happen, of course. It's simplistic but sweet. One of the students the story circles around is a little guy named "David" who is out of his league on the football field, and he has a father in a wheelchair. The nemesis is the team "The Giants", who have won the state championship 3 years running and have 3 times the players, the size, and the speed that the Shiloh team has. Does anyone out there need me to hit you with the obvious stick? :) One part that made my eyes water was when David was out there, and to win the big game he had to make a 51 yard field goal. He'd never made one longer than 39 yards. His father wheeled his chair right behind the field goal, and holding/leaning on to the fence, stood up and lifted his arms up in a "goal" sign to tell his son he believed in him. In the end, the underdogs won state championship, the coach got a raise and a new truck, and his wife conceived after doctors had told him he was unable, and after 4 years. Sometimes a little "Everybody lives happily ever after" is needed, sometimes it just makes me sad for the families for whom "everybody lives happily ever after" doesn't exist. Enough maudlin though. It's also nice to see a movie hit the scene that is good and wholesome and positive and that you can actually watch with a young child and not be afraid of what they will hear and see in it. A good influence, not a neutral or negative one.

Well, I'm going to go eat crab cakes and watch the Season Finale of Grey's Anatomy. Have a good night, and come back tomorrow for Graduation Photos! *sniff*

Today

Today was Kaylee's last full day of Kindergarten. Apparently she had a rough day. Mrs. R told me that Kaylee was not cooperating, was arguing and pouting, and being so difficult that she finally pulled her aside from the rest of the class to ask her what the problem was. I guess Kaylee burst into tears, hugged Mrs. R, and said she didn't WANT to graduate on Friday and she didn't WANT to leave. Mrs. R told me that she about started crying too. But that after some hugging and reassuring, Kaylee was fine the rest of the day.

Me? I got a lot of stuff done. I worked on the computer at the office quite a bit, and at home as well. I got some of the airport billing done, and I got a big SMA Support deposit made. Got my inbox cleaned almost entirely out (not my computer things to do yet though), and got several important things in the mail. All in all, it's been a very productive couple of days here, which is good.

I'm trying to copy the Mail Call dvd and running into snags. I think after tonight I'll give it to Chuck to take to his friend to try. I've got a copy of the show on two computer hard drives, and can NOT get them to burn onto a dvd for anything. Frustrating.

After I picked Kaylee up from school, we went to the store and picked up three birthday balloons for Devon. We wrote notes and attached them to the balloons, and then later in the afternoon when Steve got home, we sang Happy Birthday and let them go. You can see the photos Here, on the bottom half of the page.

Here's a photo of Kaylee and myself with most of the Mother's Day things she gave me. The only thing I didn't think to grab was the jewelry box-I wish I'd remembered. I mostly was thinking about the flowers-I wanted a photo of them before they died.

We were driving to the grocery store when the song "I Can Only Imagine" came on. I haven't heard that in a long time, but of course it's the song I used to create Devon's presentation. Yesterday I saw for the first time this season two red cardinals flitting around the back yard too. Birds and boys...

Kaylee is a little ill tonight-she has her first case of..."Montezuma's Revenge". Poor thing's stomach really hurts and she's afraid she's going to throw up too. If she's still having trouble in the morning, I won't take her to school, but I know that will upset her since it's the 2nd to last day of class ever.

I guess that's it for today. Thank you to everyone for the happy birthday wishes here, on the angels blog, on the guestbook, on my email. It means a lot, and I really do appreciate them all.

Happy Birthday Devon

Today you would be 9 years old. As you get older, it becomes harder for me to reconcile the one-year-old baby I knew with the young man you should be...

Happy Birthday, honey. I love you...

Someday

Someday
by Alison McGhee and Peter H. Reynolds

One day I counted your fingers and kissed each one.

One day the first snowflakes fell, and I held you up and watched them melt on your baby skin.

One day we crossed the street, and you held my hand tight.

Then, you were my baby, and now you are my child.

Sometimes, when you sleep, I watch you dream, and I dream too…

That someday you will dive into the cool clear water of a lake.

Someday you will walk into a deep wood.

Someday your eyes will be filled with a joy so deep that they shine.

Someday you will run so fast and so far your heart will feel like fire.

Someday you will swing high–so high, higher than you ever dared to swing.

Someday you will hear something so sad that you will fold up with sorrow.

Someday you will call a song to the wind and the wind will carry your song away.

Someday I will stand on this porch and watch your arms waving to me until I no longer see you.

Someday you will look at this house and wonder how something that feels so big can look so small.

Someday you will feel a small weight against your strong back.

Someday I will watch you brushing your child’s hair.

Someday, a long time from now, your own hair will glow silver in the sun.

And when that day comes, love, you will remember me.

Tuesday Top Ten: Ten Things In My Grocery Cart

I spend enough time at the Grocery Store, I ought to have stock in it. Anyway...

Ten Things (usually) Found in my Grocery Cart:

1). Organic Milk. I've started getting it for Kaylee. She drinks so much milk, it's nice to have some without the hormones and antibiotics in it. It's a little bit liquid gold at those prices, but Steve and I still stick with the old unhealthy milk to balance it out a little. :)

2). Bread. She eats it like it's going out of style. I try to get healthier versions most of the time-whole grains.

3). Frozen...whatever. If it's frozen and a meal, I've probably bought it. Right now I have frozen crab cakes from Sam's Club in the freezer and I am quite looking forward to eating them. I can cook frozen things. They are already there ready to go and just need heated. I can do that. I can also cook...

4). Boxed...whatever. You know, meals in a box. Potatoes Au Gratin, Rice, Hamburger Helper. If it comes in a box with directions and all the ingredients already pre-packaged and ready to go, I am SO there.

5). The latest novel. I may be at a grocery store, but they sell books there too, and I always look for the latest releases, and often as not I end up with one. Or two.

6). Cat Food. With two cats now, we go through the cat food even faster than before. Seems like I'm always buying cat litter or food.

7). Cheese. We like cheese in this family. I melt some Provolone in a flour tortilla wrap for a snack sometimes. Yum.

8). Diet Coke & Diet Mt. Dew. We go through a LOT of soft drinks. I like the Black Raspberry Vanilla Diet Coke, myself. Running out is grounds for an immediate emergency run to the store!

9). Junk Food. Whether that be a candy bar, a donut, Edy's Double Churned Ice Cream, or something else bad for us, there is almost always something high fat, high calorie and high taste in my cart.

10). Fruit. I usually pick out two fresh fruits for Kaylee for the week, and get some canned fruits for those days the fresh runs out or doesn't sound good. This week I got her a giant slice of watermelon and green grapes. She ate the watermelon in one sitting, and it was huge! :O Good thing it's mostly water. :)

Here's Cristy's Cart

Dawn's Cart

Cat's Cart

Sarah's Cart

Chanie's Cart

Maufi's Cart

Quotes in my inbox today

"Adversity is the stuff that shows whether you are what you thought you were."
-- American Proverb

"I will prepare and some day my chance will come."
-- Abraham Lincoln

Whew

Well, Monday is over. You know that old Army commercial, "We do more by 9 am than most people do all day"? Yeah! Only make it 11 a.m. And no actual physical labor. :)

I don't feel like listing all my errands and most people won't care anyway. But I ran around until lunch time pretty much non-stop, including to Sam's Club and Staples and so on. This morning I dropped Kaylee off at school at 8:30, and then at 10:30 I had to pick her back up and take her to the local park. Her school was having a picnic today at the park. I stayed to help until about 11:20 pm, and then I ran a few more errands and hit Applebees for lunch with the usual suspects. When I left there, I ran home to put away some stuff, and then went back to the park to help out a bit for one last hour with the kids. At 2:30 we all cleaned up, packed up and went home. Shortly after that, it was time to clean up Kaylee and take her to ballet. Ballet was over at 5:30, so it was time to come home, change clothes, fix dinner, and so on. I got her to bed around 7:30 pm. I did some housecleaning stuff and some laundry, and now it's 11:30 and I'm ready for bed!

How's that for a fascinating day? ;)

Oh! Last night we watched the "Mail Call" dvd that featured the Mustang, and that turned out really well! I loved it. Excellent footage! It's really neat having seen the whole day's filming and what they were doing and then seeing it all condensed into a 10 minute long segment. I'm not sure how they decide what to use or not use, but they certainly did a great job with it. I've been trying to burn off copies for everybody ever since, and it's giving me fits. So for tonight, I Quit! Will try again another day...

Mother's Day by Laura

Well, I finally fell asleep around 3 a.m. this morning. I don't know if I was waiting for a call from the slumber party, or just in a typical insomnia mode, or maybe a bit of both, but I couldn't get to sleep! We were supposed to pick Kaylee up at 8 a.m. I woke up out of a dead sleep with the word "Kaylee!" ringing in my head. I rolled over and saw 7:40 a.m. on the clock. I poked Steve, and we hopped out of bed and got to the car asap. Originally I was going to have him go pick her up himself so I could sleep in, but I ended up not wanting to do that I guess. :) So I walked into the gymnastics place in sweat pants and a slept-in t-shirt, uncombed hair, no make-up, and sunglasses. The funny thing is, I wasn't the messiest one there. Curly hair is a blessing-you really can't tell half the time that it doesn't look 'that way' on purpose!

I couldn't see Kaylee at first, but finally I spotted her sitting on a pad in her Tinkerbell pajamas, staring into space, her 1980-style side ponytail all ragged. She looked exhausted! She finally spotted me, and without a word just threw her arms around my neck, buried her face on my shoulder, and just hugged me. I carried her into the house that way too, wrapped in her blanket, and put her in my bed, and we all laid down and passed right back out. I woke up again at 10:30, Steve woke up a bit later, and Kaylee finally got up at 11:50! She told me later that they played games, and she got wrapped up in toilet paper as a hula girl. They got to jump on the trampolines (her favorite part), and they did some dance/music games too. I asked her if she liked it, and she claims that she had fun and wants to do it again sometime, and she sure didn't seem to be nervous after she got there. All in all, I'd call it a successful first-time sleep over. Whew! :)

This afternoon, Steve got my motorcycle (Suzuki 500E) started and run a bit, and then we pulled it out into the street, and I rode it for the first time in years. After an initial wobbly start, it came back pretty quickly. I went to get gas first, and all was well, though the bike seemed sluggish. Then I decided to hit some back roads with less traffic and get some practice in. I got up to 50 mph for the first time, and suddenly the bike just got slower and slower until I was coasting off to the side and waving traffic around me. It died. I sat there a moment, got it going again, and rode around for awhile. It wasn't as zippy as it used to be, it felt sluggish, and it kept popping and backfiring, and pretty soon it started surging. I wasn't that far away from Glenndale, so I went in there to get a drink and sit for second, but right as I turned into the driveway, it went up to about 6000 RPM (and climbing), even with the throttle closed. So I shut it down and pushed it up to the building, went in, had a coke, (nobody was there), and relaxed for about 5 minutes. Came back out, and decided to push it down the loose gravel driveway and be ready to just go on the pavement. It did the same thing the rest of the way home-I'd be going down the road in a low gear with the throttle closed, going faster and faster and faster. It made it a tricky first ride for me, but I made it. :) I'd have to brake and mess with the clutch just to slow down. Got it in my driveway, and again, shut it down when the RPMs wound up to about 8000 with the throttle closed. Safe and sound. Basically, when Steve first started it up, it wouldn't idle, so he turned up the idle to get it to run. When I ran it out harder, I apparently cleaned the bugger out, at which time it didn't need the idle cranked up that much any more. So here I am, screaming down the road. I'd come up to a stop sign or stop light and groan, because I'd be in neutral with my RPMs screaming and I know everybody around me had to be looking at the chick who apparently didn't know how to handle her bike. lol It was fun though! Now that Steve dialed back down the idle, and I apparently blew out the problem, it's running great, back to its usual zippy self. I don't even know how many years have gone by since I last rode it, so it felt good to get back on. I'm going to try to take it out more often now.

For my Mom, yes, I wore my stinking helmet. I look like a doofus and I feel claustrophobic, but at least I won't have a Traumatic Brain Injury to go with my Road Rash should I wipe out. Hmmm, maybe I shouldn't talk about wiping out. I'd rather you just worry about me in airplanes. No wait, that's not right either... See, I can still be a brat at 35. ;o)

Miscellaneous Ramblings: 1). We have a family of baby bunnies in our back yard. They are terribly cute, and I'm a tad worried about them with all the wild cats that live around here. Dulce always stalks them from the deck, from window to window. She's definitely still got the most "wild" in her, even more so than Roadie. 2). I somehow managed to get a "blemish" on my face. I am not 15, I am 35, but even at age 15 I didn't get a lot of these things. How nice for me now. Kaylee was sitting on my lap, and she kept poking at it. "What's that?" "It's a zit." poke poke "It's purple". "I know, thank you. Stop poking me!" *sigh*

So, today was Mother's Day. Kaylee wanted me to open her gift, but she said "You won't be very excited about it." in kind of a sad voice. I reassure her that of course I'll love it if it came from her; it is a little jewelry box that she had painted at school at a ceramics shop field trip for that purpose. She'd used purple paint because purple is my favorite color. She was worried I wouldn't like it because it's the same jewelry box she gave me last year, only last year it was painted pink. Of course I love it, she painted it and she put her initials and the year on the bottom. What mom wouldn't like that? She also gave me a card she made, and she wrote out her own note in it. Her spelling and reading are getting pretty good! It was a good Mother's Day. Flowers, chocolate, hand-made ceramics, a motorcycle ride, blue skies, and a nap. Oh, and makeup. This afternoon, Kaylee got out my makeup, lotion, body sprays, etc. and while I sat in the living room, she did me up with the full works to make me look and smell beautiful. What more could a mother ask for? :)

I'd like to wish a Happy Mother's Day to... 1) My mom, who was more patient with me than I feel with mini me sometimes. 2) My mother-in-law and sister-in-law who are also wonderful examples. 3) My friends who are all really fantastic and Very Busy moms. and 4) My SMA family, some of whom are missing their children today. You don't become less of a mother when your child dies, but you sure feel the empty space in your life even more. I'll always remember the first Mother's Day after Devon & Sidney were gone; Steve brought me flowers and a pretty angel box along with a butterfly figurine, and wrote a note to me from the boys. It really hit me, not just because I missed them, but because it validated what I'd felt inside but tried to bypass for that day...that I was still and always a mother.

Anyway, Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful ladies out there!

Scouts, Sleepovers and Stuff

Right now, at 10:51 pm, Kaylee is at her Gymnastics Slumber Party. It was very organized. When I took her in, they had a check-in process, and then in the gym there were 10 leaders in different areas with a sign with their name on it. Each child was assigned a specific leader. I got Kaylee settled in. She was sitting with me on the sidelines for a few minutes, and she said "I'm kind of nervous Mommy, but I know I can do it." Then we saw some kids starting to goof around together, and she gave me a big hug, and then said "Can I go now?" I said "Sure honey, have a great time", and just like that she was running across the gym in her pink fluffy gymnastics/ballet outfit, and she never really looked back. I waited a few minutes around the corner, but she was off and running. So far I've gotten no phone calls for me to come get her, either. I hope she's having more fun than I am with this. ;)

This was a really busy day, that's for sure. We got up this morning, and I headed to Kokomo while Steve & Kaylee headed to Glenndale. I was running late; we were doing a Girl Scout thing; a talk and airplane rides towards an aviation badge for the girls. I'm on my way out to Kokomo when I realize my car is almost out of gas. Eyeballing it, I decide I can't risk it, because it's in the "red" (last quarter of the tank) and the airport is kind of far out there in the back roads. So I'm late but I have to stop for gas anyway. I get to the airport, and I hook up the tow bar to pull out the plane from Nathan's hangar. I'm rushing, because I'm late, so I'm moving at a quick pace. I jump up from hooking up the tow bar, and am knocked backwards--I'd slammed my head right into the spinner of the plane. I hopped around rubbing my head for a good 30 seconds. It may have wasted more time, but I almost saw stars with that one-it really hurt-and in fact it still hurts and I have a lump on my head. Part of the preflight then included "Spinner not cracked? Check." Ow. I made it to Glenndale about 15 minutes before the Girl Scouts showed up, shortly after 10 am. We waited until they were all there, and then Steve gave a welcome speech and handed it over to Michaele, who did a nice job talking about aviation and women/girls in aviation. Then we started rides. TJ and myself gave rides in C-172s. I ended up with 10 girls total, and TJ probably had something close to that too. No thrower-uppers, and no criers, at least in my girls. The first girl I had in the front seat with me was all over the controls from start-up to shut down, and kept trying to dive and make aggressive moves. The second girl I had in the front seat held it perfectly straight and was completely focused. The third wouldn't touch the controls, but she enjoyed the ride. I think it went well, and I know at least 2/3rds of 'my' girls were loving it. Two others held hands and didn't say a word in the back seat, but once they got on the ground, they decided it was pretty cool. :)

After that was done, Chuck cooked burgers for us and we all snarfed some food, then headed out for Round Two. Steve, Kaylee and I flew the 172 to Sheridan, and left the plane and Steve there. Kaylee and I hopped in the 172RG there and flew it back to Kokomo. Got it put away (without hitting my head again), and ran to Kroger to pick up a graduation card, a birthday card, and snacks for Kaylee for tonight (along with food). We get home, I unpack groceries and throw Kaylee in the tub, and I work on several things that all needed done Right Now. I packed Kaylee's bag for tonight, got her snacks ready, her sleeping bag, etc. and then I needed to run back out to the Post Office to mail off some stuff that needed in the mail Today. The new $.41 stamp is in effect as of tomorow, but as of today the machine no longer sold $.39 stamps. *sigh*. I ran back home, then changed clothes. Kaylee decided to wear her gymnastics outfit under her dress, and it showed through and was all puffy looking, but I wasn't going to pick that battle this time. :) We all finished getting ready, and headed right out to Pastarrific for a celebration dinner. Nathan's son James graduated from Purdue today, and they had a family/friend dinner. The food was great, the company is always great. :) We got there at 6 pm. I had just finished my meal by 7:45 pm and it was time to take Kaylee to her slumber party. So I ran her over there, watched her for awhile, and headed back just in time for dessert. Now that I am STILL STUFFED from all the food I ate, and it's 11:30 pm, I will try to head off to bed soon so I can not be wiped out tomorrow. Congratulations to "Tall James"!

Oh, the brief moment we were home this afternoon, Kaylee came up to me holding a beautiful little bouquet of flowers and some pretty chocolates, for Mother's Day. Then she asked me if she could help me eat the chocolates. I said 'sure', and she paused for a minute and then said "I won't eat too many, I'll let you eat most of them. I mean, I DID get them for YOU." Thank you dear. :)

And now I'm spacing out sleepy. It's taken me like an hour to write this. So Good Night!

Friday

Today was "Beach Day" at school for Kaylee. She was dressed in a little pink beach outfit, with pink flip flops, brought a pink beach towel with her name embroidered on it, sunglasses, and had her hair in pigtails. It was quite cute, actually, and she had a blast for the day. She's looking so big and grown-up to me, even in pigtails...

Meanwhile, I did work at the house until about 10-ish, and then headed out to Glenndale. A friend came in with his airplane and let me go up with him and fly it for awhile. It was enjoyable because I'd never flown one of those before, and it's a fun little zippy airplane. I like zippy. :) I did four takeoffs and landings at Kokomo, then came in and did two at Glenndale. Being Friday I probably had an audience, but hopefully they enjoyed the show. lol

Lunch was burgers today, and I also worked on a few things. On my way home, I stopped at Kaylee's gymnastics place to ask questions about a sleep-over they are having for the gymnastics girls. They answered all my questions and concerns. Well, except for the concern where I'm just concerned. :D So, Kaylee is officially signed up for her first slumber party. *sigh* I would have SWORN I'd never let my 6-year-old do a slumber party. I thought this was at least 2 years away. But this is locked, protected, very thoroughly supervised, etc. and she is wetting her pants eager to do it, so we're going to let her try. If we get a call at 3 am, I can tell you that Steve will be the one to get up and go get her. I don't do getting up in the middle of the night with any kind of non-grumpiness. :)

I'm not over this yet. I'm already nervous and it isn't happening until tomorrow night. I'm not sure why I'm nervous or what exactly I think could happen, but logic and fears rarely go together. So, there goes an apron string and a little bit of my nerves.

Steak dinner for the night, and time to do a little catch-up. Oh, don't let me forget my camera tomorrow for the Girl Scouts thing. :)

Thursday

Do you like the highly clever subject titles of my daily posts? Yes, me too.

Let's see. I have two cousins shipping off to Iraq right now. Another cousin was a doofus enough to mention to the mothers and aunts that he'd just lost his best friend in Iraq, sending said family into tears. Brilliant, B, just brilliant. I can't hardly believe they are actually old enough to be in the military and go anywhere, but I guess that just goes to show my own advancing age!

I got some work done around the house, some paperwork, some bills, some school stuff for Kaylee, yadda yadda. When I picked up Kaylee from school, we ran errands for awhile, then stopped at the video store where we picked up movies for her and for me, and a pizza from the place in the video store. They make it there in front of you and you bring it home to bake it. It was actually very good. Next we hit the BMV. Or, I tried. I got all my paperwork together, and drove to the BMV. Except it was an empty building. Oh yeah, somebody had told me they moved, but I couldn't remember where for anything. That's okay, I have a phone book in my car! I look up BMV. Nothing. Bureau. Nothing. Kokomo Bureau. Nothing. Government offices. Nada. Yellow pages, business listings, NOTHING. So I sit and think for a minute, and finally call my car insurance company, because I know the lady behind the desk and I'm betting they know the answer. I ask her where it is, and she tells me. I mention that I can't find it in the phone book, and she says "Oh, it's listed under 'License Branch'." Oh brother...the legal name is Bureau of Motor Vehicles! Killing me here... I head off and find the "new and improved" BMV, and it was really much easier than I thought. Nice new facilities, very organized, and I was in and out in 10 minutes flat--with my mission accomplished. I had my choice of regular plates or plates with 'In God We Trust' on them for the same price, so I went with the 'In God We Trust' plates. These are a dark blue, so they look nice too. I've got my registration signed, I screwed my plate onto my car, and I am officially legal three days before my dealer plates expired. Which would have been Sunday, which means I got them the last day I could do something about it. Which, while par for the course for me, I also don't regret, because registering and plating my 2007 Chrysler 300 cost me $385.00. Aaaack. (That's a hairball, right there.)

Not only is it done, I'm not telling Steve it's done, so that he'll have to notice the new plate on his own, and I'm sure he's been waiting for me to forget and expire, rubbing his hands in glee. Mu-ha-ha, foiled again. ;)

Kaylee had gymnastics today, then her friend Nicole came over, and they are still playing outside. I should watch my movie that's due back tomorrow, but I feel guilty when I have other stuff I should really do first. Well, I already printed up 30 brochures for the pilot's club, and a few other things, and got a lot done today, but I really need to get a deposit ready for SMA Support, and send out some receipts, and do some house bills, and laundry, and the Poker Run flyer, and a couple of other things that really need done like NOW.

Saturday we're doing a Girl Scouts thing at the airport. They'll be earning an aviation badge. I'll be giving rides that morning, and Michaele will be talking, I think about women in aviation, or aviation in general, or both.

Okay, enough-time for some caffeine to get motivated, and start cranking out some more work.