It was a busy Saturday. Steve flew most of the day, leaving pretty early, and Kaylee and I headed out to the airport around 8:45 am. We didn't get home until 9 something p.m. I only had one flight today with a student, in the 172. The rest of the day I entered flight time to send out the monthly bills for the airport as we do the end of every month. I had to go collect some more time sheets from the other planes at other airports, so I took the Citabria (and Kaylee) to Kokomo, picked those up, and then she was done flying around, so I dropped her back off at Glenndale and picked up Chuck to go to Sheridan and get the rest of the sheets there. It was a nice day to fly...cooler, not too humid, smooth air.
This evening we went to an ice cream place for dinner (hey, they have real food too), came home, and I tried to get Kaylee asleep, but she was a little wound up. Finally she passed out close to 10 pm (!). Shortly after that, there was a local fireworks display going off that I could see from our back yard, so I went to Kaylee's room to get her up, but she was soooo passed out and cute, and I'm sure we'll see more fireworks on the 4th, so I left her there. Waited a few minutes and mentioned it to Steve, who decided to go ahead and wake her up and take her out. She was pretty glad to see them after all, and was just in time for the grand finale. Of course now it's 11 pm and she's still awake again, and tomorrow's going to be another busy day with cousins and up super late doing our own fireworks, but hey, you only live once, it's summer time, and you might as well capture what fun you can when you're a child, right? She can sleep in or take a nap on Monday if she needs to. :)
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Friday, June 29, 2007
The Day
Last night, the Cherry family arrived around 1:20 a.m. or so, and I bundled Kaylee up in her Tinkerbell blanket and carted her next door, put her in her sleeping bag, and left her there to spend the night with her cousins. She was super sleepy when I left, but I hear she started waking up and talking for a little bit after that. I didn't see her again until this morning-I was sitting at my computer checking my email, and suddenly a door slams, a little pink dress goes flashing past me to her room, and right back out the door with a "Hi Mommy! Bye Mommy!"
I left her here to play, and I ran to Staples to pick up address labels, to the store to pick up chips for lunch, and back home to print the labels and drop off the chips. Back out the door to head to Glenndale for the lunch. We had home made chicken and noodles and it was so good I had two helpings. :) Back home to pick up Kaylee and say goodbye to the cousins for a day, and I took her to the pool to sign up for swim lessons Round Two, to the post office, and back out to Glenndale. I had a quick flight in the 172, hung around for a bit, hit dinner, came home and put Kaylee to bed.
I guess this afternoon Kaylee and her cousins did a dance routine. She switched clothes and everything so she could dress the right way for a "hip hop" routine. She showed it to me at the airport, and she's not half bad!
I took some photos of her by a bunch of pretty orange wildflowers by a cornfield on the way to the airport. There's one more area I want to take pictures near-there's a neat wooden fence there and some pretty wildflowers. We'll see if it works out, but there's really no good safe place to stop on that road.
The cousins will be back on Sunday, and we're probably going to do some fireworks. Should be a fun night. Expect photos! ;)
I left her here to play, and I ran to Staples to pick up address labels, to the store to pick up chips for lunch, and back home to print the labels and drop off the chips. Back out the door to head to Glenndale for the lunch. We had home made chicken and noodles and it was so good I had two helpings. :) Back home to pick up Kaylee and say goodbye to the cousins for a day, and I took her to the pool to sign up for swim lessons Round Two, to the post office, and back out to Glenndale. I had a quick flight in the 172, hung around for a bit, hit dinner, came home and put Kaylee to bed.
I guess this afternoon Kaylee and her cousins did a dance routine. She switched clothes and everything so she could dress the right way for a "hip hop" routine. She showed it to me at the airport, and she's not half bad!
I took some photos of her by a bunch of pretty orange wildflowers by a cornfield on the way to the airport. There's one more area I want to take pictures near-there's a neat wooden fence there and some pretty wildflowers. We'll see if it works out, but there's really no good safe place to stop on that road.
The cousins will be back on Sunday, and we're probably going to do some fireworks. Should be a fun night. Expect photos! ;)
QOTD (Quote of the Day)
"The worst days of those who enjoy what they do are better than the best days of those who don't."
-- Jim Rohn
-- Jim Rohn
Thursday, June 28, 2007
RFSM (Random Flight School Memories): First Flight Photo
This is the first picture I ever took out of the window of an airplane that I was piloting. I was in the school's trainer, an AG-5B Tiger, and I had rented it to fly myself and three friends to Bloomington, IN. I can't remember why we were going there right now, and I can't even 
remember the trip, except for a couple of things.
1. This was in the Fall, and you can see some of the beautiful colors of the trees below.
2. The friends I took with me had never been in a small plane before. They weren't even a little bit nervous. They probably should have been.
3. There were four of us in the plane. Myself, Tim, Mark and Matt. One girl, three guys. The "majors" or potential careers of the four people on board? Pilot, Nurse, Social Worker, and Police Officer. How many people would get THAT mix right? (The girl is the pilot, the guy is the nurse/social worker.)
4. It's the first time I remember landing at an unfamiliar FBO and getting out with passengers, and having the people inside and the line folks absolutely incapable of talking to me. The guys I was with were big and older, and to be fair, I was 19 or 20 years old and looked about 16 and as far as the airport folks were concerned, there was just no way that one of the guys wasn't the pilot. I'd tell the guy I needed fuel, and he'd look at Tim (the oldest). I'd kind of wave and say "topped off please" and he'd answer...Tim. He asked Tim how long we'd be here, and when I tried to get a courtesy car, you can guess whose info they kept trying to get. It became so funny to all four of us that we were laughing right there in the FBO, which I'm sure did not improve my apparent maturity level. But sometimes, you just have to laugh. :)
5. It was the first time I'd taken a group of people anywhere since I got my license. And as we were flying above the beautiful countryside, joking and laughing and relaxing, all I could think was "Ah, this is the life!"
It still is. ;)
remember the trip, except for a couple of things.1. This was in the Fall, and you can see some of the beautiful colors of the trees below.
2. The friends I took with me had never been in a small plane before. They weren't even a little bit nervous. They probably should have been.
3. There were four of us in the plane. Myself, Tim, Mark and Matt. One girl, three guys. The "majors" or potential careers of the four people on board? Pilot, Nurse, Social Worker, and Police Officer. How many people would get THAT mix right? (The girl is the pilot, the guy is the nurse/social worker.)
4. It's the first time I remember landing at an unfamiliar FBO and getting out with passengers, and having the people inside and the line folks absolutely incapable of talking to me. The guys I was with were big and older, and to be fair, I was 19 or 20 years old and looked about 16 and as far as the airport folks were concerned, there was just no way that one of the guys wasn't the pilot. I'd tell the guy I needed fuel, and he'd look at Tim (the oldest). I'd kind of wave and say "topped off please" and he'd answer...Tim. He asked Tim how long we'd be here, and when I tried to get a courtesy car, you can guess whose info they kept trying to get. It became so funny to all four of us that we were laughing right there in the FBO, which I'm sure did not improve my apparent maturity level. But sometimes, you just have to laugh. :)
5. It was the first time I'd taken a group of people anywhere since I got my license. And as we were flying above the beautiful countryside, joking and laughing and relaxing, all I could think was "Ah, this is the life!"
It still is. ;)
Rain
This morning I went to Kokomo to fly the RG, left there and made a run to Meijer to pick up some much-needed food and supplies (and a new book or two to read, shhhh). Went out to Glenndale to drop off the paper towels they needed, then ran back out to Kokomo to do a checkout in the Saratoga. Got done around 1:15 pm, and stopped at Steak & Shake for the first food I'd had all day-a taco salad with no meat. (Every time I order a taco salad with no meat, they always come back to me with "A beef taco salad...no beef??" like I'm a weirdo. What can I say, I like the salad, don't like their taco meat!) I came home, got Kaylee, and took her to the bank and the post office, in time to run home and change her clothes and run her to gymnastics. Left there and back to the post office to drop off some mail this time, and on home by 6 pm. Throw child (gently) in bath tub, clean up the little things that started to accumulate since I did a full house sweet clean yesterday (eesh!), fix supper, and finally try to catch up on email. Oh, and it rained most of today, too. No storms really, just lots and lots of rain. So there's my day in a nutshell.
Oh, today I read the new Stephen King book, "Blaze". (Which is actually kind of a depressing read, by the way). The book is MISSING pages 180 - 213! Now that's just WRONG. You can't miss 33 pages of a Stephen King novel and hope to catch everything. And it's driving me nuts. The pages aren't cut out, they aren't obviously missing, they just ARE missing like it was printed that way. And I have no idea what happened in there. The baby cut his head somehow, I know that, and there has to be a finishing tie-in to the story of the boy and the headmaster of the orphanage that is missing. How do you drive me crazy? Well, now you know! :O
Kaylee has been SO excited; her cousins are arriving sometime tonight, between midnight and 2 am. She gets to sleep over at Grandma & Grandpas for the first time ever, and with her cousins once they get here. So she couldn't hardly get to sleep tonight, poor thing. :)
Guess that's about it!
Oh, today I read the new Stephen King book, "Blaze". (Which is actually kind of a depressing read, by the way). The book is MISSING pages 180 - 213! Now that's just WRONG. You can't miss 33 pages of a Stephen King novel and hope to catch everything. And it's driving me nuts. The pages aren't cut out, they aren't obviously missing, they just ARE missing like it was printed that way. And I have no idea what happened in there. The baby cut his head somehow, I know that, and there has to be a finishing tie-in to the story of the boy and the headmaster of the orphanage that is missing. How do you drive me crazy? Well, now you know! :O
Kaylee has been SO excited; her cousins are arriving sometime tonight, between midnight and 2 am. She gets to sleep over at Grandma & Grandpas for the first time ever, and with her cousins once they get here. So she couldn't hardly get to sleep tonight, poor thing. :)
Guess that's about it!
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
I forgot to mention...
Last night, for some reason unknown to all of us, Kaylee decided to sleep in her closet. Yep. On the floor of her closet, with the closet doors shut. I tried to get a picture, but I couldn't get the angle right; she was behind the door. She was 
out cold, too; she didn't wake up even when Steve opened the closet doors and I took two flash photographs in there. She was asleep with her knees bent. We left the doors open, even though she'd wanted them closed, because we could too well picture her waking up at 3 am and freaking out not knowing where she was or what she was doing on the floor in the dark in an enclosed space. She was fine though, thankfully. She does like to sleep on her floor sometimes-for her it feels like camping. She puts down blankets, pillows, and surrounds herself with stuffed animals. I let her, I don't see a problem with her sleeping on her floor or her bed if it's something harmless and fun for her. But the closet was new, even for her. :) She's also pretty excited, because her cousins are coming to town and will be here for a couple of days. She always loves visiting with them!
Tonight I was catching up on my magazines, and I found an article I thought was pretty good, called "The Priorities of Parenting".
1. Your Relationship. You are the most powerful influence in your child's life. Without a connection to your child, none of the other priorities will be possible. Well-adjusted kids have strong, respect-based relationships with their parents. These parents tend not to be drill sergeants Or buddies. Instead, they consistently hold to fair limits for their child. These parents approach borders with calm, not rage, and teach values with love, not a fear of whether or not their child will make the right decisions.
2. Your Child's Heart. Integrity, compassion, courage, Godliness--these aspects of your child's character push the values in his mind into actions. Values without heart are useless. Encourage experiences where your child will interact with and see things firsthand. Better yet, model them. Focus on who you want your child to be at age 40, not 19. Your job is not to raise an Ivy-Leaguer, but to shape the parent of your grandchildren.
3. Your Child's Identity. Your job is not to control your child, but to help her learn to control herself. This requires that she develop values that are her own. The successful and safe teen doesn't say, "No thanks, I can't drink-my dad would kill me." She says, "No thanks, I don't drink." Building positive values comes from allowing kids to explore who they are and what they believe. Whenever possible, encourage your child to make age-appropriate decisions about their appearance, interests and ethics.
4. Your Child's Academic Success. Do what you can to use positive incentives for great grades, but know that tormenting your child for academic excellence can be detrimental. Insist on academic successes that are appropriate for your child. Remember that when the time comes, there are safety nets for older kids who haven't learned how to learn. Immediate excellence won't make or break your child.
5. Your Child's Activities. Sports, music and enrichment programs are wonderful things, but only in the dose that is correct for your child. Each kid is unique. As a rule of thumb, push for at least one activity. But be sure to remember that unstructured past times are great places to learn complex and critical life skills as well.
out cold, too; she didn't wake up even when Steve opened the closet doors and I took two flash photographs in there. She was asleep with her knees bent. We left the doors open, even though she'd wanted them closed, because we could too well picture her waking up at 3 am and freaking out not knowing where she was or what she was doing on the floor in the dark in an enclosed space. She was fine though, thankfully. She does like to sleep on her floor sometimes-for her it feels like camping. She puts down blankets, pillows, and surrounds herself with stuffed animals. I let her, I don't see a problem with her sleeping on her floor or her bed if it's something harmless and fun for her. But the closet was new, even for her. :) She's also pretty excited, because her cousins are coming to town and will be here for a couple of days. She always loves visiting with them!Tonight I was catching up on my magazines, and I found an article I thought was pretty good, called "The Priorities of Parenting".
1. Your Relationship. You are the most powerful influence in your child's life. Without a connection to your child, none of the other priorities will be possible. Well-adjusted kids have strong, respect-based relationships with their parents. These parents tend not to be drill sergeants Or buddies. Instead, they consistently hold to fair limits for their child. These parents approach borders with calm, not rage, and teach values with love, not a fear of whether or not their child will make the right decisions.
2. Your Child's Heart. Integrity, compassion, courage, Godliness--these aspects of your child's character push the values in his mind into actions. Values without heart are useless. Encourage experiences where your child will interact with and see things firsthand. Better yet, model them. Focus on who you want your child to be at age 40, not 19. Your job is not to raise an Ivy-Leaguer, but to shape the parent of your grandchildren.
3. Your Child's Identity. Your job is not to control your child, but to help her learn to control herself. This requires that she develop values that are her own. The successful and safe teen doesn't say, "No thanks, I can't drink-my dad would kill me." She says, "No thanks, I don't drink." Building positive values comes from allowing kids to explore who they are and what they believe. Whenever possible, encourage your child to make age-appropriate decisions about their appearance, interests and ethics.
4. Your Child's Academic Success. Do what you can to use positive incentives for great grades, but know that tormenting your child for academic excellence can be detrimental. Insist on academic successes that are appropriate for your child. Remember that when the time comes, there are safety nets for older kids who haven't learned how to learn. Immediate excellence won't make or break your child.
5. Your Child's Activities. Sports, music and enrichment programs are wonderful things, but only in the dose that is correct for your child. Each kid is unique. As a rule of thumb, push for at least one activity. But be sure to remember that unstructured past times are great places to learn complex and critical life skills as well.
Well, That Was Tiring!
My feet actually hurt right now because I've been on them all day. I should have worn supportive shoes instead of walking around barefoot the whole time, but I didn't realize that 1) I'd be at it all day and 2) that my feet would end up hurting.
It was a "Stay home, put your hair up, and get a bunch of stuff done" day. I have taken out five garbage bags full of clothes, shoes, toys, and trash. Kaylee worked a lot today too. She decluttered her toy shelves and her closet full of shoes, trying them all on and putting in a pile those that are too small or that she doesn't want to ever wear. She worked on putting away her games, her dolls, and last night I had her do all her stuffed animals. Last but not least I had her declutter her room, and she put what she didn't need/want any more in a bag. This works fairly well, though sometimes I wonder why she chooses to keep say the silly McDonald's 'Wilber the Pig' figure she's had for months and never plays with, but easily throws away the cheap but pretty necklace she bought out of a vending machine. *Shrug* She's her own person, so I let her choose within reason.
Then we tackled all of her room, which really was in a disgraceful state. Once again I find my own issues being magnified in front of my face in the form of a child, and when I tell her why she can't do something, it just reminds me of why *I* can't either, along with the power of example. I think everybody should have a child if for no other reason than to see the mirror of their own habits, behaviors, and beliefs put right back in their face. I don't like clutter and I don't like disorganization, but I fall into it for awhile, until it bugs me enough that I have to fix it. Then I go on a cleaning frenzy and clear it out, and feel much better about life. Then it sneaks up on me again. She, on the other hand, doesn't seem bothered at all by clutter. She argued with me the other day when I told her to put her dolls away when she was done playing with them by saying "But Mommy, I'm going to play with them again later! Why should I put them away when I'm just going to have to get them back out again!" Ugh. Because that's the way life works, that's why. I'm ashamed to admit this publicly, but her room had clothes and toys all over the floor, she was walking on them to get to her closet, and I let her get away with it because *I* didn't want to take the time to deal with it either. Well, today we dealt with it, and it looks good. Her spring/summer clothes are now on the closet bar that she can reach and her fall/winter clothes are on the higher one where she can't. The clothes, shoes and toys that are too small for her are out of here. Her furniture is polished, her carpet is vacuumed, and her room looks lovely again. In fact, she ran around her room and said "There's SO much SPACE!" However, it took us hours to do this. So we have a new rule. Every morning when I get up, I'm going to look in her room, and if she's gotten stuff out and hasn't put it back, she loses her morning cartoon privilege. She also does her own panties, socks, pajamas, ballet/gymnastics/swim put-away-job, and shoes. But she can't hang up dresses/pants/shirts very well, so that's my job. So anyway, for now, the girl's room is lovely, and she worked hard at it.
I also used the Scooba on the kitchen and bathroom to mop the floors while I was busy vacuuming, doing dishes, doing laundry, and otherwise staying busy. Now it's 8:20 pm, I've been going at it all day, and I'm ready to sit on my bum and put my feet up for the evening!
It was a "Stay home, put your hair up, and get a bunch of stuff done" day. I have taken out five garbage bags full of clothes, shoes, toys, and trash. Kaylee worked a lot today too. She decluttered her toy shelves and her closet full of shoes, trying them all on and putting in a pile those that are too small or that she doesn't want to ever wear. She worked on putting away her games, her dolls, and last night I had her do all her stuffed animals. Last but not least I had her declutter her room, and she put what she didn't need/want any more in a bag. This works fairly well, though sometimes I wonder why she chooses to keep say the silly McDonald's 'Wilber the Pig' figure she's had for months and never plays with, but easily throws away the cheap but pretty necklace she bought out of a vending machine. *Shrug* She's her own person, so I let her choose within reason.
Then we tackled all of her room, which really was in a disgraceful state. Once again I find my own issues being magnified in front of my face in the form of a child, and when I tell her why she can't do something, it just reminds me of why *I* can't either, along with the power of example. I think everybody should have a child if for no other reason than to see the mirror of their own habits, behaviors, and beliefs put right back in their face. I don't like clutter and I don't like disorganization, but I fall into it for awhile, until it bugs me enough that I have to fix it. Then I go on a cleaning frenzy and clear it out, and feel much better about life. Then it sneaks up on me again. She, on the other hand, doesn't seem bothered at all by clutter. She argued with me the other day when I told her to put her dolls away when she was done playing with them by saying "But Mommy, I'm going to play with them again later! Why should I put them away when I'm just going to have to get them back out again!" Ugh. Because that's the way life works, that's why. I'm ashamed to admit this publicly, but her room had clothes and toys all over the floor, she was walking on them to get to her closet, and I let her get away with it because *I* didn't want to take the time to deal with it either. Well, today we dealt with it, and it looks good. Her spring/summer clothes are now on the closet bar that she can reach and her fall/winter clothes are on the higher one where she can't. The clothes, shoes and toys that are too small for her are out of here. Her furniture is polished, her carpet is vacuumed, and her room looks lovely again. In fact, she ran around her room and said "There's SO much SPACE!" However, it took us hours to do this. So we have a new rule. Every morning when I get up, I'm going to look in her room, and if she's gotten stuff out and hasn't put it back, she loses her morning cartoon privilege. She also does her own panties, socks, pajamas, ballet/gymnastics/swim put-away-job, and shoes. But she can't hang up dresses/pants/shirts very well, so that's my job. So anyway, for now, the girl's room is lovely, and she worked hard at it.
I also used the Scooba on the kitchen and bathroom to mop the floors while I was busy vacuuming, doing dishes, doing laundry, and otherwise staying busy. Now it's 8:20 pm, I've been going at it all day, and I'm ready to sit on my bum and put my feet up for the evening!
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Tuesday Top Ten: Ten Things About Summer
Oops, I forgot yesterday was Tuesday!
Ten Things About Summer. Anything at all, as long as it's got something to do with summer. Things you love, things you hate, things you plan to accomplish, summer vacation plans.
I dislike:
1. Being hot, muggy and sweaty.
2. Shorts and swimsuit season.
I love:
3. Hot dogs and burgers on the grill.
4. Kaylee catching Fireflies and falling asleep with them lighting up a jar by her bed.
5. Visits with family and friends.
6. Kaylee proud of herself for not being afraid of the water any more. Running through sprinklers, dunking in friends' pools, swimming in the lake.
7. The coolness that often preceeds a strong summer thunderstorm with rumbling thunder and fierce wind and vivid lightening and drenching rain-followed by the sweet smell of clean air that usually follows.
8. Fireworks! Doing them, watching them, and watching my daughter do them and watch them.
9. The sunshine-how early it comes up and how late it stays up. Light is good!
10. Photo Ops-all the vacations, trips, visits, holidays, and fun stuff that make for fun photo opportunities for me to take way too many pictures. I do like summer. :)
Ten Things About Summer. Anything at all, as long as it's got something to do with summer. Things you love, things you hate, things you plan to accomplish, summer vacation plans.
I dislike:
1. Being hot, muggy and sweaty.
2. Shorts and swimsuit season.
I love:
3. Hot dogs and burgers on the grill.
4. Kaylee catching Fireflies and falling asleep with them lighting up a jar by her bed.
5. Visits with family and friends.
6. Kaylee proud of herself for not being afraid of the water any more. Running through sprinklers, dunking in friends' pools, swimming in the lake.
7. The coolness that often preceeds a strong summer thunderstorm with rumbling thunder and fierce wind and vivid lightening and drenching rain-followed by the sweet smell of clean air that usually follows.
8. Fireworks! Doing them, watching them, and watching my daughter do them and watch them.
9. The sunshine-how early it comes up and how late it stays up. Light is good!
10. Photo Ops-all the vacations, trips, visits, holidays, and fun stuff that make for fun photo opportunities for me to take way too many pictures. I do like summer. :)
Productive Mornings
One thing I have to say for the advocates of early risers; getting up and getting out of the house really does usually help you accomplish quite a bit.
This morning, Kaylee stayed with her Grandma & Grandpa while I ran to Glenndale, where Chuck flew me to Sheridan in the Citabria so I could take the 172RG back to Kokomo, fill it back up with fuel, and fly with Bryce for a bit doing CFI checkride prep. Back to Kokomo, put away the RG, and Chuck comes and picks me up in the Citabria to take me back to Glenndale where my car is. By the time we do all that and eat lunch, it's almost 2 pm. It was 90 degrees today (at least), and right now at 5 pm the heat index is 100, so I'm sure it was much worse earlier. Have I mentioned my dislike of hot, muggy, and sweaty??
One funny thing. The guy I was flying with, I don't remember what I said, but he said "No, no, it's too early for that." I said "Early? It's 10:30!" He said "I know, but technically that's still morning. I'm not much of a morning person." I almost clapped my hands-I was finally not the droopiest person in a room during the a.m. hours!
One more thing. The Random Flight School Memories; I don't have too many more to put up. After all, some memories should be kept to oneself. ;) Soon you won't have to wade through RFSM posts any more. Not today though. But I will do a short and sweet one just for you.
This morning, Kaylee stayed with her Grandma & Grandpa while I ran to Glenndale, where Chuck flew me to Sheridan in the Citabria so I could take the 172RG back to Kokomo, fill it back up with fuel, and fly with Bryce for a bit doing CFI checkride prep. Back to Kokomo, put away the RG, and Chuck comes and picks me up in the Citabria to take me back to Glenndale where my car is. By the time we do all that and eat lunch, it's almost 2 pm. It was 90 degrees today (at least), and right now at 5 pm the heat index is 100, so I'm sure it was much worse earlier. Have I mentioned my dislike of hot, muggy, and sweaty??
One funny thing. The guy I was flying with, I don't remember what I said, but he said "No, no, it's too early for that." I said "Early? It's 10:30!" He said "I know, but technically that's still morning. I'm not much of a morning person." I almost clapped my hands-I was finally not the droopiest person in a room during the a.m. hours!
One more thing. The Random Flight School Memories; I don't have too many more to put up. After all, some memories should be kept to oneself. ;) Soon you won't have to wade through RFSM posts any more. Not today though. But I will do a short and sweet one just for you.
RFSM: The Jacket
Ah, will you look at this? I have very few photos from flight school, which is funny considering my 
photo obsession. I think I was too busy to take pictures most of the time. But here I was at least smart enough to ask somebody to take my picture in my newly-awarded first-ever Flight Jacket. Alpha Eta Rho, the Flight Fraternity. Yes, I said "Fraternity". Ask me about that sometime. ;) My name is on the jacket and everything. I'll admit something here, just to the four people who read this blog. I felt kind of cool walking around campus in a flight jacket. Even though most people thought I must be borrowing it from a boyfriend (until they saw my name on the front). Even though I was rather uncomfortable at the AER 'meetings' I attended. The jacket had an airplane on the back of it, and said "Flight Team", and my name, all at the same time. How could I not feel just a little bit thrilled about that?? I was learning how to fly AIRPLANES and now I had something physical to prove it! :)
photo obsession. I think I was too busy to take pictures most of the time. But here I was at least smart enough to ask somebody to take my picture in my newly-awarded first-ever Flight Jacket. Alpha Eta Rho, the Flight Fraternity. Yes, I said "Fraternity". Ask me about that sometime. ;) My name is on the jacket and everything. I'll admit something here, just to the four people who read this blog. I felt kind of cool walking around campus in a flight jacket. Even though most people thought I must be borrowing it from a boyfriend (until they saw my name on the front). Even though I was rather uncomfortable at the AER 'meetings' I attended. The jacket had an airplane on the back of it, and said "Flight Team", and my name, all at the same time. How could I not feel just a little bit thrilled about that?? I was learning how to fly AIRPLANES and now I had something physical to prove it! :)
Monday, June 25, 2007
RFSM: My Greatest Humiliation
Random Flight School Memory: My Greatest Humiliation
I've told this story before, and now it can be written down for posterity. I'm sure some people, if they knew my blog existed and were to read this story, would get a kick out of it. It sure wasn't funny to me though! Thank heavens, I don't have any photos of this one. ;)
For awhile I was working on two licenses at the same time. I was finishing up one, while taking lessons on the next. So one day I was out burning up some flight time, and when I got back I was supposed to go do a "Phase Check" towards the other. It was a pretty day, and a little windy (well, for me at that time it was). I flew around, enjoyed the day, and finally came in to land. When I listened to the weather, I realized the winds had picked up a little more, and they were a crosswind. I was a little nervous, because I wasn't that good at crosswinds yet, but I felt like it would still be okay. I'd never really had too much trouble yet, so I figured I could handle it. I was coming down final, doing just fine, and I look at the end of the runway and see this weird black square/blob off the end and side of the runway. So I stare at it and try to figure out what on earth it is. I get closer and closer, and my concentration is more on what that black thing is than on my landing. Finally I'm on short final, and I realize that what I am seeing is a very large crowd of people standing off the side of the runway. I am looking out my side window in dismay at the crowd as I come over the numbers to land. And I made one of the top three worst landings of my flying 'career', to this day. I bounced, I porpoised, I skidded, I aimed for a runway light, I finally came to a halt on the edge of the runway. I taxied back to my parking space without doing or saying a thing, tied down the plane, walked upstairs to put the plane's keys back, and my instructor who was supposed to go up with me for a Phase Check asked what I was doing. I said "I'm going home." He said "No, we have a flight." I said "No, I'm going home." He said "No, you need to take this Phase Check and keep moving." I turned around, I looked him in the eye, and I said "NO. I. Am. Going. Home. Right. Now." and I turned around and walked off, leaving him with his mouth hanging open. Getting back out there and taking a mini checkride right then was just not going to be a good plan. I got in my car, and I did something I had never yet done and can't remember doing again in flight school-I bawled all the way home. I was so embarrassed and horrified.
You see, it was "Parents and Grandparents Day" at the university. They were doing spot landing contests, bomb drop contests, etc. I wasn't participating, and the crowd hadn't been there when I took off. My humiliation increased the next class I had with fellow student pilots. They were pleased to do two things: One, let me know that the radio frequency was up on loudspeakers, so everybody heard me calling in to land, knew who I was (since I was the only girl there at the time), and one guy (the nice guy, Ken) even said "Hey, this is Laurie, she usually does a nice job." And then of course I pronged it on in a most spectacular and public fashion. But Number Two, they were thrilled to let me know that one of the guys had been taping all the action for the day. So they brought the tape into class, and played that landing for everyone who may have missed it the first time. All I could do was laugh "with" them (and the instructor of that class, who disliked me quite a bit), and take it.
So, for all you student pilots who are not reading this blog--FLY THE AIRPLANE no matter what. Concentrate on what you're doing and worry about the rest later. Or reap the consequences.
If I'd ever had therapy, I would have needed it for that one. I never had done well being 'watched' doing anything anyway. Ever. Ask my poor mom, who used to half hide at my volleyball games, because as soon as I'd see she made it there, I'd start catching balls instead of hitting them, or doing other doofus things. Being watched made me rather nervous. And then when I went down in flames in front of a group of teachers, students, and everybody's mother (literally), that was just really bad.
I still dislike being observed or watched, and since I've been that way since I was a little kid, I don't see it changing anytime soon. The difference is, now I can usually just ignore how I'm feeling and get whatever I need to get done done no matter who is watching. Usually. The BBQ Bash was a challenge for me for awhile. Let's see...a large group of pilots and their family all standing by a runway watching the landings, what about that could make a person with my history nervous?! ;)
I've told this story before, and now it can be written down for posterity. I'm sure some people, if they knew my blog existed and were to read this story, would get a kick out of it. It sure wasn't funny to me though! Thank heavens, I don't have any photos of this one. ;)
For awhile I was working on two licenses at the same time. I was finishing up one, while taking lessons on the next. So one day I was out burning up some flight time, and when I got back I was supposed to go do a "Phase Check" towards the other. It was a pretty day, and a little windy (well, for me at that time it was). I flew around, enjoyed the day, and finally came in to land. When I listened to the weather, I realized the winds had picked up a little more, and they were a crosswind. I was a little nervous, because I wasn't that good at crosswinds yet, but I felt like it would still be okay. I'd never really had too much trouble yet, so I figured I could handle it. I was coming down final, doing just fine, and I look at the end of the runway and see this weird black square/blob off the end and side of the runway. So I stare at it and try to figure out what on earth it is. I get closer and closer, and my concentration is more on what that black thing is than on my landing. Finally I'm on short final, and I realize that what I am seeing is a very large crowd of people standing off the side of the runway. I am looking out my side window in dismay at the crowd as I come over the numbers to land. And I made one of the top three worst landings of my flying 'career', to this day. I bounced, I porpoised, I skidded, I aimed for a runway light, I finally came to a halt on the edge of the runway. I taxied back to my parking space without doing or saying a thing, tied down the plane, walked upstairs to put the plane's keys back, and my instructor who was supposed to go up with me for a Phase Check asked what I was doing. I said "I'm going home." He said "No, we have a flight." I said "No, I'm going home." He said "No, you need to take this Phase Check and keep moving." I turned around, I looked him in the eye, and I said "NO. I. Am. Going. Home. Right. Now." and I turned around and walked off, leaving him with his mouth hanging open. Getting back out there and taking a mini checkride right then was just not going to be a good plan. I got in my car, and I did something I had never yet done and can't remember doing again in flight school-I bawled all the way home. I was so embarrassed and horrified.
You see, it was "Parents and Grandparents Day" at the university. They were doing spot landing contests, bomb drop contests, etc. I wasn't participating, and the crowd hadn't been there when I took off. My humiliation increased the next class I had with fellow student pilots. They were pleased to do two things: One, let me know that the radio frequency was up on loudspeakers, so everybody heard me calling in to land, knew who I was (since I was the only girl there at the time), and one guy (the nice guy, Ken) even said "Hey, this is Laurie, she usually does a nice job." And then of course I pronged it on in a most spectacular and public fashion. But Number Two, they were thrilled to let me know that one of the guys had been taping all the action for the day. So they brought the tape into class, and played that landing for everyone who may have missed it the first time. All I could do was laugh "with" them (and the instructor of that class, who disliked me quite a bit), and take it.
So, for all you student pilots who are not reading this blog--FLY THE AIRPLANE no matter what. Concentrate on what you're doing and worry about the rest later. Or reap the consequences.
If I'd ever had therapy, I would have needed it for that one. I never had done well being 'watched' doing anything anyway. Ever. Ask my poor mom, who used to half hide at my volleyball games, because as soon as I'd see she made it there, I'd start catching balls instead of hitting them, or doing other doofus things. Being watched made me rather nervous. And then when I went down in flames in front of a group of teachers, students, and everybody's mother (literally), that was just really bad.
I still dislike being observed or watched, and since I've been that way since I was a little kid, I don't see it changing anytime soon. The difference is, now I can usually just ignore how I'm feeling and get whatever I need to get done done no matter who is watching. Usually. The BBQ Bash was a challenge for me for awhile. Let's see...a large group of pilots and their family all standing by a runway watching the landings, what about that could make a person with my history nervous?! ;)
Mondays aren't so bad.
I actually got quite a bit done today. I got some paperwork sent off to California, I got my CFI renewal stuff notarized and Fed Exd to Florida-and more than a month in advance might I add. I got to my bank, Glenndale's bank, and SMA Support's bank. Got to the post office, and got out to Glenndale. Also spent an hour at ballet. It doesn't sound like a lot, but add drive time and time to stand in lines and actually get stuff done, and it took several hours.
This evening, 16 of us went to Outback to celebrate a friends' success. I ate too much, as I always do at Outback, but man was it good. Our Outback has crab legs that they cut open so you can easily get to the meat. And they are Good. And a big Congratulations to my friend; I couldn't be more pleased...in fact, I think I need to add a "woo-Hoo!" in here. :)
This evening, 16 of us went to Outback to celebrate a friends' success. I ate too much, as I always do at Outback, but man was it good. Our Outback has crab legs that they cut open so you can easily get to the meat. And they are Good. And a big Congratulations to my friend; I couldn't be more pleased...in fact, I think I need to add a "woo-Hoo!" in here. :)
Sunday, June 24, 2007
RFSM: Hulman
My first year at flight school, my Primary flight instructor also became my fiance, to the chagrin of the flight department there. He was also in the Guard, and worked his weekends at the Terre Haute military base. Sometimes I was 
able to go too, and I got to hang out in the "Weapons and Loading" area. Once in awhile the pilots of the F-16s on base would come in and chat and mingle, and I admit, I was a little star struck. I even got to climb up on the bird and look around now and then. Those were some crazy guys, but they really didn't seem to mind a chick hanging out. :) I had some fun times there on base. I could just drive up, without any proof that I belonged there, and as long as I said authoritatively to the gate person, "I'm headed back to Weapons and Loading", they'd let me in. Something tells me it wouldn't work these days. I'd watch the fighters take off and land and just daydream and smile. It was especially gorgeous at night, when you could see the flames shooting out the back. Mmmmm.
However, if I Ever wear high-water white pants with brown loafers and a blue sweatshirt again, somebody has permission to smack me.
able to go too, and I got to hang out in the "Weapons and Loading" area. Once in awhile the pilots of the F-16s on base would come in and chat and mingle, and I admit, I was a little star struck. I even got to climb up on the bird and look around now and then. Those were some crazy guys, but they really didn't seem to mind a chick hanging out. :) I had some fun times there on base. I could just drive up, without any proof that I belonged there, and as long as I said authoritatively to the gate person, "I'm headed back to Weapons and Loading", they'd let me in. Something tells me it wouldn't work these days. I'd watch the fighters take off and land and just daydream and smile. It was especially gorgeous at night, when you could see the flames shooting out the back. Mmmmm.However, if I Ever wear high-water white pants with brown loafers and a blue sweatshirt again, somebody has permission to smack me.
Stuff
Quiet, cool, gray day. Laundry, picking up around the house, making Kaylee start in on her room again, dishes, adding a couple of pages of my logbook to an online logbook, reading "Reader's Digest", looking at my 'things to do' and promptly ignoring them for one more day. And apparently speaking/typing isn't in the repertoire for the day either. See, some days I'm chatty, other days I spare you. ;)
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Addendum
By 5 pm I had finished my entire CFI renewal process, including all the paperwork. The only thing I have left to do is get a notarized paper stating I am who I say I am, and Fed Ex it in all together with my "Certificate of Completion" and application and current CFI license, yadda yadda yadda. Really, I started this at 11 pm last night, did it for a couple of hours, and did it today from about 10:45 am through 5 pm off and on, taking time off for stuff like lunch, playing, shower, you know. And as of 5 pm I had every single thing done. That beats 16 hours all to pieces.
I also had to do a "Security Awareness Training" program, which is SO lame. It's so lame, that in the intro for it they tell you that you may think it's lame but it's for the betterment of our national security. In the words of my six-year-old, "What-EVER."
My flight lesson was cancelled, my paperwork is caught up, dinner and dishes are done, and I'm feeling rather productive today!
I also had to do a "Security Awareness Training" program, which is SO lame. It's so lame, that in the intro for it they tell you that you may think it's lame but it's for the betterment of our national security. In the words of my six-year-old, "What-EVER."
My flight lesson was cancelled, my paperwork is caught up, dinner and dishes are done, and I'm feeling rather productive today!
Nothing Interesting.
That's what I'm doing. As a CFI (Certified Flight Instructor), every two years I have to go through currency training in order to maintain my 'teaching' privileges. Steve and I are a year apart, so every year one of us is doing it. For the simplified version, you can either go take a checkride, go to a weekend seminar and take a test, have signed off enough students that you can just go to your local government place and have them sign you off, or do a home study.
Things are a LOT better in that regard than they used to be. I'm not a checkride kind of girl, so I don't do that. I'm also not a group weekend seminar kind of girl, and I haven't focused on instruction these last few years so I don't have a bunch of student signoffs either. So I do the home study. They used to be a big ordeal. A huge box of VHS tapes that you had to watch, and then you filled out this entire huge 3-ring-binder with your hand written answers to their essay questions on each topic. Now THAT was time consuming and painful. You have to complete 16 hours of study. Funnily enough, there is no flight training required to be a flight instructor-their focus is that you still remember what and how to teach, not be oober proficient at actually flying. (You have other things you are supposed to do to retain proficiency at actually flying.)
The last couple of years I had an online study course, and I loved it because I no longer had to hand write essay questions for days in a row, but they were pretty good at making you get your 16 hours in. They would time how long you were online, and you had to make keystrokes every 10 minutes or it would stop timing. In other words, you had to sit there online at a computer for 16 hours. This year I tried a new place, and I like it a lot better. Not only is it not quite as time consuming, but it's more user friendly on actually learning. It's been a good refresher for me on things I knew but had forgotten, and I even actually learned a couple things that have changed since I did my last CFI renewal two years ago. In just a couple hours last night and a couple hours this morning, I've completed 8 of the required 16 sections. It does not take me an hour to read the pages of material per section. I'm a fast reader with a high comprehension level on reading, and that has always driven me nuts to have to sit there for an hour and wait for a timer to expire before I can take a test. If I can read, understand, and take a test on a section and get 100% on almost all of them, then why should they care if it took me 20 minutes or 60? Anyway, I'm liking Gleim better than American Flyers for several reasons. They are better "teachers". I am picking up the material a lot easier with how they present it. And of course I am allowed to be a faster reader without being penalized. This is also, after all, my 14th year of being a CFI, meaning I've gone over most of this material just a few times. :)
And now I procrastinated enough, I need to finish the section I'm currently working on and grab some lunch now that it's 2 pm. I have a flight later this evening, weather permitting, and Kaylee is basically just hanging out and not doing anything interesting either. Steve's at work, the cats are sleeping, and I don't think there's anything else going on during this cool, rainy, uninteresting day.
Things are a LOT better in that regard than they used to be. I'm not a checkride kind of girl, so I don't do that. I'm also not a group weekend seminar kind of girl, and I haven't focused on instruction these last few years so I don't have a bunch of student signoffs either. So I do the home study. They used to be a big ordeal. A huge box of VHS tapes that you had to watch, and then you filled out this entire huge 3-ring-binder with your hand written answers to their essay questions on each topic. Now THAT was time consuming and painful. You have to complete 16 hours of study. Funnily enough, there is no flight training required to be a flight instructor-their focus is that you still remember what and how to teach, not be oober proficient at actually flying. (You have other things you are supposed to do to retain proficiency at actually flying.)
The last couple of years I had an online study course, and I loved it because I no longer had to hand write essay questions for days in a row, but they were pretty good at making you get your 16 hours in. They would time how long you were online, and you had to make keystrokes every 10 minutes or it would stop timing. In other words, you had to sit there online at a computer for 16 hours. This year I tried a new place, and I like it a lot better. Not only is it not quite as time consuming, but it's more user friendly on actually learning. It's been a good refresher for me on things I knew but had forgotten, and I even actually learned a couple things that have changed since I did my last CFI renewal two years ago. In just a couple hours last night and a couple hours this morning, I've completed 8 of the required 16 sections. It does not take me an hour to read the pages of material per section. I'm a fast reader with a high comprehension level on reading, and that has always driven me nuts to have to sit there for an hour and wait for a timer to expire before I can take a test. If I can read, understand, and take a test on a section and get 100% on almost all of them, then why should they care if it took me 20 minutes or 60? Anyway, I'm liking Gleim better than American Flyers for several reasons. They are better "teachers". I am picking up the material a lot easier with how they present it. And of course I am allowed to be a faster reader without being penalized. This is also, after all, my 14th year of being a CFI, meaning I've gone over most of this material just a few times. :)
And now I procrastinated enough, I need to finish the section I'm currently working on and grab some lunch now that it's 2 pm. I have a flight later this evening, weather permitting, and Kaylee is basically just hanging out and not doing anything interesting either. Steve's at work, the cats are sleeping, and I don't think there's anything else going on during this cool, rainy, uninteresting day.
RFSM: Hardees
This was how I earned money during flight school. Welcome to the inside of Hardees; Behind 
The Scenes. I have no idea who took the photo or why, but I have proof that for awhile, I was indeed the Drive Through Queen. I mean Drive-Thru Queen. Sorry. I was actually very good at the job. In fact, they always put me on drive-thru because I could move customers better than anybody but the managers. Speaking of managers, the blond without the hat is Lori. She was one rough lady. Everybody was scared of her. The hot pink tye-dye shirt and hat? That's my roommate Melissa, who worked with me very briefly. The tiny bright orange hat in the background? That's my head, at the Drive-Thru.
I'll even blow up the photo for you, so you can see the serious look on my face as I do my work.
I saw a lot of interesting things in that drive-thru. I saw a man wearing a camouflage hat with a gun in his lap. I leaned out to hand him his food, froze, looked at the gun, looked at his face, and then in a perfectly normal voice, I said "9mm? Nice piece." He looked back, nodded, smiled, and drove off. Okay. Gulp. I saw a man so inebriated that I called a manager over who called the police. We told this guy his chicken needed to cook, and he sat out there for 20 minutes waiting for his chicken (duh) until the police arrived. He didn't get a ticket because they didn't see him actually driving, but they did provide a ride home for him. I watched 4th of July fireworks out the drive-through window, feeling rather lonely. I saw people fighting, people...not fighting..., people in their pajamas (okay so that's a lot more common these days than it was back then), lots of interesting things. Mostly I liked drive-through because I'd get a breath of fresh air every time I opened the window, I had a view outside of the florescent lights of the restaurant, and it was fast-paced which kept me from getting bored. Plus I got to wear that cool little headset thing, which was almost like a flight headset.
It was Hardees where I worked a large number of hours each week, plus took a full load of classes, to help pay for silly stuff like food. I walked to work, and had one pair of black work shoes. They had a half-dollar sized hole in each heel, and a smaller hole under each toe. So I'd get gravel in my shoes on the walk to work, or wet feet from snow or rain. Plus twice a day they'd mop the floors, so about the time my feet would dry out, they'd mop the floors and my feet would get wet all over again. But since I often ate crackers for dinner, or left-over food from Hardees if a manager made extra on "accident", and told me to go ahead and finish it off rather than wasting it, a new pair of shoes wasn't high up on the priority list. As weird as it sounds, I actually enjoyed the job. I wouldn't care to do it again today, but at the time, I did enjoy it, and it certainly served its purpose. (I even got a (serious) marriage proposal from a fellow co-worker from there, after three dates. Whew, I may like fast things, but, um, no.)
Ah, Hardees...I still like their biscuits best. ;)
The Scenes. I have no idea who took the photo or why, but I have proof that for awhile, I was indeed the Drive Through Queen. I mean Drive-Thru Queen. Sorry. I was actually very good at the job. In fact, they always put me on drive-thru because I could move customers better than anybody but the managers. Speaking of managers, the blond without the hat is Lori. She was one rough lady. Everybody was scared of her. The hot pink tye-dye shirt and hat? That's my roommate Melissa, who worked with me very briefly. The tiny bright orange hat in the background? That's my head, at the Drive-Thru.
I'll even blow up the photo for you, so you can see the serious look on my face as I do my work.I saw a lot of interesting things in that drive-thru. I saw a man wearing a camouflage hat with a gun in his lap. I leaned out to hand him his food, froze, looked at the gun, looked at his face, and then in a perfectly normal voice, I said "9mm? Nice piece." He looked back, nodded, smiled, and drove off. Okay. Gulp. I saw a man so inebriated that I called a manager over who called the police. We told this guy his chicken needed to cook, and he sat out there for 20 minutes waiting for his chicken (duh) until the police arrived. He didn't get a ticket because they didn't see him actually driving, but they did provide a ride home for him. I watched 4th of July fireworks out the drive-through window, feeling rather lonely. I saw people fighting, people...not fighting..., people in their pajamas (okay so that's a lot more common these days than it was back then), lots of interesting things. Mostly I liked drive-through because I'd get a breath of fresh air every time I opened the window, I had a view outside of the florescent lights of the restaurant, and it was fast-paced which kept me from getting bored. Plus I got to wear that cool little headset thing, which was almost like a flight headset.
It was Hardees where I worked a large number of hours each week, plus took a full load of classes, to help pay for silly stuff like food. I walked to work, and had one pair of black work shoes. They had a half-dollar sized hole in each heel, and a smaller hole under each toe. So I'd get gravel in my shoes on the walk to work, or wet feet from snow or rain. Plus twice a day they'd mop the floors, so about the time my feet would dry out, they'd mop the floors and my feet would get wet all over again. But since I often ate crackers for dinner, or left-over food from Hardees if a manager made extra on "accident", and told me to go ahead and finish it off rather than wasting it, a new pair of shoes wasn't high up on the priority list. As weird as it sounds, I actually enjoyed the job. I wouldn't care to do it again today, but at the time, I did enjoy it, and it certainly served its purpose. (I even got a (serious) marriage proposal from a fellow co-worker from there, after three dates. Whew, I may like fast things, but, um, no.)
Ah, Hardees...I still like their biscuits best. ;)
Friday, June 22, 2007
Angel Day
I don't remember what I was working on, but I was getting ready to ask everybody in the SMA community for their child's birthday and death day for a project I was doing. I think the Calendar on our-sma-angels.com. But I didn't like the words "death day". And asking for their birthday and "the day your child passed away" didn't seem right either. So I came up with "Angel Day". I wondered if it would bother anybody or seem silly, but it has become the way everybody refers to the day their child died, as if the phrase has always existed. It may not BE any better than "death day", but it certainly sounds more...peaceful.
Today is Devon's "Angel Day", the 8th
anniversary of his death. As I write this, 8 years ago at this time, he was struggling on his bipap (breathing machine), and we were trying not to give him too much medication that might weaken his respiratory system and for sure end his life. We tried, and he tried. I was grateful to finally be able to hold him for the first time in about 2 weeks, and I'd like to think it comforted him too. It's a hard day to remember for us, even though for him it was the last time he had to deal with needles, pain, and struggles to breathe; the last time he tried to move something on his body that wouldn't work. I'd have him with me if I could, no matter how "strong" his body was or wasn't, but since I can't, I will be glad for him, and I will miss him and the future he should have had, in our lives. This was his special "suit" I got for his first birthday, and the suit he was buried in just a month after this picture was taken. Such a handsome little guy with his big, dark eyes.
And today the world keeps on turning, as it always does. Kaylee's last class was today, and she "graduated" from Level One in swim class, and is now eligible to attend Level Two classes. They start in early July and run for another two weeks. I THINK I'll sign her up for them and take her. Her instructor said she did a great job. Today was more about playing in the water and relaxing than anything else, since they pretty much finished up the other stuff yesterday. So they had the big water jets on, and let the kids just mess around in the pool with all the stuff. Kaylee loved it, and I took several photos.
We left there, came home to change clothes, and then we ran to several grocery stores and a bank. I was looking for hot side items to go with our Friday lunch at the airport, but no store in town had the hot side items. I don't know what the deal was, but that was really annoying. Kaylee played with Maggie at the airport for about 5 hours straight, so she was a happy camper. Our lunch group topped out around 53 people, which is a record for our Friday lunches. The addition isn't closed in yet, but we had tables up, and we finally had enough room for everybody to hang out and relax and sit in the shade!
Chuck took me to Kokomo in the Citabria so I could pick up the 172RG and take it to Sheridan for Jeff (mechanic) to look at the left main tire, which had gone flat the other day. We got to Kokomo, and the tire was down again, so Chuck pumped more air in it for me, and away we went. I slowed down and we flew in a loose formation over to Sheridan. We were almost there, when we heard a guy in a twin Cessna calling over the radio for Jeff. His nose gear had not come up properly on take-off, had done a big "bang" to go with it, and he couldn't get his "wheels" up or down. His two main tires were down and locked, but his nose wheel was just dangling. He had his family on board, and they were on their way to a vacation. After awhile, for some reason he couldn't hear Jeff on the radio any more, so I passed on a couple of messages for him. He went to a nearby airport and made his emergency landing, and he did a nice job. Everybody walked away. Of course he made the news, which I'm sure will thrill him, and he's not having the best day, but I'm glad he's down and safe.
Well, I've got some photos to upload and a child to get in the bath tub, so I guess I'll start working on that...thank you for the kind thoughts from everybody today.
Today is Devon's "Angel Day", the 8th
anniversary of his death. As I write this, 8 years ago at this time, he was struggling on his bipap (breathing machine), and we were trying not to give him too much medication that might weaken his respiratory system and for sure end his life. We tried, and he tried. I was grateful to finally be able to hold him for the first time in about 2 weeks, and I'd like to think it comforted him too. It's a hard day to remember for us, even though for him it was the last time he had to deal with needles, pain, and struggles to breathe; the last time he tried to move something on his body that wouldn't work. I'd have him with me if I could, no matter how "strong" his body was or wasn't, but since I can't, I will be glad for him, and I will miss him and the future he should have had, in our lives. This was his special "suit" I got for his first birthday, and the suit he was buried in just a month after this picture was taken. Such a handsome little guy with his big, dark eyes.And today the world keeps on turning, as it always does. Kaylee's last class was today, and she "graduated" from Level One in swim class, and is now eligible to attend Level Two classes. They start in early July and run for another two weeks. I THINK I'll sign her up for them and take her. Her instructor said she did a great job. Today was more about playing in the water and relaxing than anything else, since they pretty much finished up the other stuff yesterday. So they had the big water jets on, and let the kids just mess around in the pool with all the stuff. Kaylee loved it, and I took several photos.
We left there, came home to change clothes, and then we ran to several grocery stores and a bank. I was looking for hot side items to go with our Friday lunch at the airport, but no store in town had the hot side items. I don't know what the deal was, but that was really annoying. Kaylee played with Maggie at the airport for about 5 hours straight, so she was a happy camper. Our lunch group topped out around 53 people, which is a record for our Friday lunches. The addition isn't closed in yet, but we had tables up, and we finally had enough room for everybody to hang out and relax and sit in the shade!
Chuck took me to Kokomo in the Citabria so I could pick up the 172RG and take it to Sheridan for Jeff (mechanic) to look at the left main tire, which had gone flat the other day. We got to Kokomo, and the tire was down again, so Chuck pumped more air in it for me, and away we went. I slowed down and we flew in a loose formation over to Sheridan. We were almost there, when we heard a guy in a twin Cessna calling over the radio for Jeff. His nose gear had not come up properly on take-off, had done a big "bang" to go with it, and he couldn't get his "wheels" up or down. His two main tires were down and locked, but his nose wheel was just dangling. He had his family on board, and they were on their way to a vacation. After awhile, for some reason he couldn't hear Jeff on the radio any more, so I passed on a couple of messages for him. He went to a nearby airport and made his emergency landing, and he did a nice job. Everybody walked away. Of course he made the news, which I'm sure will thrill him, and he's not having the best day, but I'm glad he's down and safe.
Well, I've got some photos to upload and a child to get in the bath tub, so I guess I'll start working on that...thank you for the kind thoughts from everybody today.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
The calm before the storm
A dramatic title with absolutely no meaning behind it other than there might be a thunderstorm later and it was a beautiful, calm evening. ;)
Swim lessons went great today! Kaylee went all out, dunking repeatedly, trying to float, splashing around, having a great time. She has one day left in this session, but whether or not she actually learned to "swim", she certainly learned to not be afraid any more, and put her whole body under water, and that is major progress for her. I think I'm going to sign her up for the next session too in a few weeks, so maybe she'll learn to actually propel herself forward in the water, too.
It was a run-around day for me. We came home, changed clothes, and headed to Glenndale. Hit lunch at Culvers, back to Glenndale, where I left Kaylee and drove to Kokomo airport to take care of some things, and then back to Glenndale to pick up Kaylee in time to take her home to change to then go right to gymnastics. We left gymnastics, headed home, picked up a dress and towel, and went to Chuck's so Kaylee could swim and play with Maggie. Left there around 8 pm and ran home in time to throw her pajamas on, brush teeth and go to bed. Whew!
Kaylee had a blast in Chuck/Judy's little pool/giant hot tub with Maggie. She was even "Cannonball"ing and trying to swim under water on purpose. The water is 4' deep, so it came up to her mouth on her tiptoes, but it has steps, so they can rest or sit or play in more shallow water too. They swam for about two hours, and Miss Judy was in the water with them for most of that. Then it was time to have some pizza and chocolate milk (or Mt. Dew in my case!) and head on home. I'd say Kaylee got lots of exercise today. ;) I took a couple of pictures, you can see them at the bottom of the page. Oh, when I told her after gymnastics that we were heading to swim with Maggie, Kaylee pumps her fist and says "My Life is SO AWESOME!" She was a little excited.
Today she got her feelings hurt from a couple of kids; it's really the first time that's happened to her since she was old enough to know the difference, and she was pretty upset for a little while. I felt my heart wrench holding her on my lap, her head buried on my shoulder, with real tears running down her face, no drama, just hurt feelings and little hitching sobs. I was feeling a little angry, and sad myself, until she said one thing that left me torn between upset and laughing. She sits up, looks at me, and crying, says "Mommy, I did something wrong too." I asked her what, and she said "They were just so MEAN, I couldn't control myself, and I Spit at them." I said "You SPIT at them??" and she replied with "I'm sorry! I know it is wrong, but they were just so mean, and I went pttttttth". She puts her hands on her hips, and blows a raspberry my way, and I instantly try to not start laughing. She's still crying, and it's not funny to her, so I tried not to be amused until later. I think she's over it now, she had a great rest of the day.
Cappuccino chip ice cream and kicking back my feet sounds like the plan for the next hour...
I am getting ready to put up a couple more addition photos on this page, so they should be there shortly.
Oh, and if you see this woman coming towards you at a pool, do yourself and/or your child a favor, and go the other direction. Meet Angry Pool Mom. This message coming your way as a Public Service.
Swim lessons went great today! Kaylee went all out, dunking repeatedly, trying to float, splashing around, having a great time. She has one day left in this session, but whether or not she actually learned to "swim", she certainly learned to not be afraid any more, and put her whole body under water, and that is major progress for her. I think I'm going to sign her up for the next session too in a few weeks, so maybe she'll learn to actually propel herself forward in the water, too.
It was a run-around day for me. We came home, changed clothes, and headed to Glenndale. Hit lunch at Culvers, back to Glenndale, where I left Kaylee and drove to Kokomo airport to take care of some things, and then back to Glenndale to pick up Kaylee in time to take her home to change to then go right to gymnastics. We left gymnastics, headed home, picked up a dress and towel, and went to Chuck's so Kaylee could swim and play with Maggie. Left there around 8 pm and ran home in time to throw her pajamas on, brush teeth and go to bed. Whew!
Kaylee had a blast in Chuck/Judy's little pool/giant hot tub with Maggie. She was even "Cannonball"ing and trying to swim under water on purpose. The water is 4' deep, so it came up to her mouth on her tiptoes, but it has steps, so they can rest or sit or play in more shallow water too. They swam for about two hours, and Miss Judy was in the water with them for most of that. Then it was time to have some pizza and chocolate milk (or Mt. Dew in my case!) and head on home. I'd say Kaylee got lots of exercise today. ;) I took a couple of pictures, you can see them at the bottom of the page. Oh, when I told her after gymnastics that we were heading to swim with Maggie, Kaylee pumps her fist and says "My Life is SO AWESOME!" She was a little excited.
Today she got her feelings hurt from a couple of kids; it's really the first time that's happened to her since she was old enough to know the difference, and she was pretty upset for a little while. I felt my heart wrench holding her on my lap, her head buried on my shoulder, with real tears running down her face, no drama, just hurt feelings and little hitching sobs. I was feeling a little angry, and sad myself, until she said one thing that left me torn between upset and laughing. She sits up, looks at me, and crying, says "Mommy, I did something wrong too." I asked her what, and she said "They were just so MEAN, I couldn't control myself, and I Spit at them." I said "You SPIT at them??" and she replied with "I'm sorry! I know it is wrong, but they were just so mean, and I went pttttttth". She puts her hands on her hips, and blows a raspberry my way, and I instantly try to not start laughing. She's still crying, and it's not funny to her, so I tried not to be amused until later. I think she's over it now, she had a great rest of the day.
Cappuccino chip ice cream and kicking back my feet sounds like the plan for the next hour...
I am getting ready to put up a couple more addition photos on this page, so they should be there shortly.
Oh, and if you see this woman coming towards you at a pool, do yourself and/or your child a favor, and go the other direction. Meet Angry Pool Mom. This message coming your way as a Public Service.
RFSM (Random Flight School Memories): The Plane
This is the airplane in which I learned to fly. The AG-5B (American General) Tiger. If you click on this picture, it will blow up bigger. It was a nice little airplane, and it did a great job. It was brand new the year I got there, right off the line, so even the instructors weren't highly familiar with it, though we peon students didn't know that at the time. ;) You can see my head and legs as I 
preflight and somebody else took my photo. The 172RG I did my Commercial and CFI training in is behind that, the red and white. The panel in the Tiger was nice too, brand new for the times as well. I think maybe Stephanie took these the time she went up with me out there. So here you go...the poor plane that survived my flight training. The plane I soloed in for the first time. You know, where you say to yourself "Full power, keep it straight, rotate, okay good...crosswind, perfect, downwind, okay, looking fine...HOLY COW I'M ALL ALONE UP HERE AND NOW I HAVE TO LAND THIS THING BY MYSELF!!!!!!!!! WHAT WAS HE THINKING SENDING ME UP HERE???" :) The plane I took my checkride(s) in, the plane I flew around for no good reason to console myself after a relationship went 'south', and the plane I humiliated myself in on a crosswind landing in front of a very large crowd. Also the plane where crosswind landings finally "clicked" so I'd never do that humiliation thing again. Hopefully. ;) My very first flight in the plane, my instructor said he was going to have me do the take off, and I looked at him in shock and said "ME?? But I don't know how!" He started laughing, and said "Well, that's why I'M here, to tell you how." He laughed about that for the rest of the year.
Thank you, Tiger. I always did like you, even if I did flare too high and thud you on for the first 20 hours of my flight time. ;)
preflight and somebody else took my photo. The 172RG I did my Commercial and CFI training in is behind that, the red and white. The panel in the Tiger was nice too, brand new for the times as well. I think maybe Stephanie took these the time she went up with me out there. So here you go...the poor plane that survived my flight training. The plane I soloed in for the first time. You know, where you say to yourself "Full power, keep it straight, rotate, okay good...crosswind, perfect, downwind, okay, looking fine...HOLY COW I'M ALL ALONE UP HERE AND NOW I HAVE TO LAND THIS THING BY MYSELF!!!!!!!!! WHAT WAS HE THINKING SENDING ME UP HERE???" :) The plane I took my checkride(s) in, the plane I flew around for no good reason to console myself after a relationship went 'south', and the plane I humiliated myself in on a crosswind landing in front of a very large crowd. Also the plane where crosswind landings finally "clicked" so I'd never do that humiliation thing again. Hopefully. ;) My very first flight in the plane, my instructor said he was going to have me do the take off, and I looked at him in shock and said "ME?? But I don't know how!" He started laughing, and said "Well, that's why I'M here, to tell you how." He laughed about that for the rest of the year.Thank you, Tiger. I always did like you, even if I did flare too high and thud you on for the first 20 hours of my flight time. ;)
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh
Some day, when I grow up, or if I believed in reincarnation and could specify where I would go and what I would do, this would be it.
You have got to take some time, a cup of tea (or something), some silence, and just enjoy these photos for awhile-make sure you go all the way to the end of the page. I tried to pick one to put here on my site as a reference, and I COULDN'T. I was immobilized by my options. So go to this blog, which will take awhile to load up because of all the photos on it, and enjoy the Alaskan scenery as seen by a guy who became a bush pilot in a Super Cub. He went with two other friends in Super Cubs; what an awesome thing to get to do with friends.
If you like good photography, nature, or airplanes, I think you'll find something to enjoy here. I feel for the first time a rather large jealous streak for another person's life. Just...wow.
(Of course I am really out of shape, really dislike being cold, and really do like flushing toilets and hot showers, so perhaps it's one of those things I'll have to pretend like I'd really do to save face. I sure wouldn't mind giving it the old college try sometime though.)
You have got to take some time, a cup of tea (or something), some silence, and just enjoy these photos for awhile-make sure you go all the way to the end of the page. I tried to pick one to put here on my site as a reference, and I COULDN'T. I was immobilized by my options. So go to this blog, which will take awhile to load up because of all the photos on it, and enjoy the Alaskan scenery as seen by a guy who became a bush pilot in a Super Cub. He went with two other friends in Super Cubs; what an awesome thing to get to do with friends.
If you like good photography, nature, or airplanes, I think you'll find something to enjoy here. I feel for the first time a rather large jealous streak for another person's life. Just...wow.
(Of course I am really out of shape, really dislike being cold, and really do like flushing toilets and hot showers, so perhaps it's one of those things I'll have to pretend like I'd really do to save face. I sure wouldn't mind giving it the old college try sometime though.)
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Random Flight School Memories (RFSM): Roommates
I'm going to do these now and then while I still remember them. Considering how fast my memory is fading, I'd better hurry.
Roommates:
I think it was my mom who gave me the advise to not put any utilities in my name. I was in an off-campus apartment shared by three other girls. I remember thinking at the time "Oh, surely these nice girls wouldn't rip me off!" But I followed the advice, and had no utilities in my name. Thank you, Mom. By the end of my first year at flight school, in the days before cellphones were common, we had no phone in our apartment, and much of the year was spent with no electricity. This meant no hot showers too by the way. I usually did homework by candle light. No computers either, but then again nobody had a laptop back then anyway either. I remember it was December, and we (again) had the electricity shut off, and it was freezing in there, and we had candles all over the place, no phone, no TV or radio or anything. Taking an ice cold shower in the dark or with a candle (because I MUST lock the bathroom door no matter what, thank you Anthony Perkins) was loads of fun. I'm glad the candles never caught anything on fire, since we didn't have a phone with which to call for help. ;)
The bottom line is that the other two girls ripped off the third girl on the phone bill for the short time we had a phone. I did not. And the girl who had the electricity in her name, well, she was a crook of the highest order. I'll tell the story of her boyfriend next. But she would take our money to pay the electric bill, and then keep the money and not pay the bill. We would be none the wiser until the electricity was shut off a few months later, and she no longer had the money to pay it. So we'd stay without electricity until she'd pay up a little. Of course she had a boyfriend, so she'd stay with him for awhile, leaving the rest of us in the dark and cold.
We never did get our deposit back on the apartment, thanks to all the melted candle wax that got onto carpets, furniture, etc.
Back to my lovely crook of a roommate. She was nice to start with. Her name was Nicki, and the first semester we all got along great, including her. And then she found this boyfriend of hers, and joined a group of kids who were all "into" Malcolm X. Over the next few months, she became angry, distant, and slowly criminal. One day I got a call from my bank, who wanted me to come to their office right away, where they wanted to know why I'd written bad checks, and informed me of the serious consequences of bad check-writing. I most certainly had not written bad checks, and was in fact stunned. Fortunately, they still had copies of these checks, and I could prove that the writing was not mine-nor was the name used on them. They believed me. Someone had cleaned out my account and over-written it by $500.00 using the blank starter checks I had hidden in my underwear drawer. I went to the police, who told me it would take too much effort to find who did it and that they weren't really going to pursue it, but if I found out anything to let them know. *Ack* Well, I was a little angry at being ripped off. I remembered that one of the checks was to a local pizza place, and I happened to know that this pizza place required a student ID to accept checks. I remembered the name used on the starter check, and I went to the school and asked if they would look up the name on the student ID, which came with a photo of the person. They said no, that it was too much work, that they'd have to look through all the IDs by hand (they made two copies, one for the student, one for them). So I asked them for permission to look through all the IDs myself. They said yes. (Can you imagine this happening today?? For one thing, surely it's computerized by now, and for another, I hear the privacy violations piling up!) I took one friend I had there with me, and we went through every ID by hand, looking for that name. A few hours later, my friend found it--I looked at the photo, and it was my roommate's Boyfriend, using a fake name. I got permission to take the ID (again, :O), and I took it right to the police station, told them who he was, his real name, and the proof of what he'd done. I told them I wanted to press charges and I wanted him arrested. Last I knew, not a thing ever happened to him. Gotta love small town college justice. You do the work for them and they still won't do anything about it.
I confronted Nicki about it, and didn't really see her or him again for the rest of the year. But worst of all was the realization later on that in order to get to my checks, James was rifling through my underwear drawer. Ick. :(
So, my first year of flight school was memorable for many reasons. My first 'serious' boyfriend, my first time flying airplanes, my first experience outside of the Christian world, my first almost full-time job, my first time at feeling really truly disliked by a fairly group of people all at once, my first off-campus college experience period, and of course my first roommates. Before I go, let me describe them to you. There was Nicki, who was a pretty black young lady, who went bad, hung up Malcolm X posters, insisted that the "black race" didn't just want equality, they wanted to rule over the rest of us, who brought over her Malcolm X crew to the apartment, leaving the rest of us huddling out of the way in our rooms, who stole our electricity money, and whose boyfriend ripped me off and got away with it. Then there was Kimber. Kimber was a tiny, freckled, braided, tye-died hippy. She smoked clove cigarettes and pot constantly, and had an $80 a month allowance which she spent on those habits among others. She frequently had 'gentlemen' visitors that we'd wake up in the morning and find all over the living room asleep. She dug all the candles, man. *cough* Third, there was Melissa. She was a 6' something" tall very heavy bright red-headed girl who wanted to be a social worker. She opened and read my mail sometimes. At least she did until I took care of that problem too. But that's a story for another day. She wanted to be in a sorority very badly, and the one time I felt very sorry for her was the day they walked past our door at midnight, accepting all the little cute popular girls in the sorority, and not her. *sigh* And last but not least, there was me. Laurie Shaffer. Mid-sized brunette/redhead with freckles who wanted to do nothing but fly airplanes. No sororities. No clove cigarettes and "deep" conversations about the meaning of life. No angry mobs and dastardly plots against humanity. Just airplanes. And somebody put the four of us together in one apartment. Is that a sitcom in the works or what?? They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here you go, taken while we all still spoke to each other.
*Yawn*
I can not wake up today. I couldn't go to sleep last night and I woke up early this morning. I tried to pretend like I was still sleeping, but I was unfortunately awake. Thank you, mind, for spinning around and thinking about stuff instead of letting me get some sleep! :O Now I'm dragging.
Swim lessons resumed today. Mean Momma was there with her little boy, who today got in the water without causing any more ruckus. Kaylee did better on her dog paddling attempts today. On our way to swim lesson, Kaylee said "Did you see that little boy who wouldn't get in the water last time?" I said yes. She said "Did you see how his mommy was talking and acting?" I said yes, and asked what she thought about it. She was quiet for a second, and then said "I don't think his mommy had a very good heart when she did that." She also said she didn't like watching what happened, that it made her feel really bad, and that if the lady did it again, she was going to dunk under water so she couldn't hear her, and cry for the little boy. I had already decided that if we had the beginnings of a repeat of the other day, that rather than confront the woman myself, I would go to the pool management and have them deal with her. I'm not usually the 'snitch to authorities' type person, but I'm sure they don't want her behaving that way in their pool, either. Anyway, she didn't, so hopefully it was just one (very) bad day.
Kaylee and I ate lunch with the boys, ran out to Kokomo to pick up a GPS from Nathan, on to Glenndale to check out the addition and drop off the GPS to a pilot there, and home to play dress-up and eat snacks. Well, that's what Kaylee did anyway. ;)
I was "indisposed" and Kaylee had her princess gown on backwards. I told her she'd have to take care of it herself, and she ran crying across the house sobbing "FINE! FORGET about my DREAMS! Just FORGET it!" I couldn't choose between laughing at the drama and annoyance at the attitude for a second there.
It was a beautiful day to fly; unfortunately I was too out of it to appropriately do so. Maybe tomorrow...tonight if I can wake UP, I need to do some website work for Cscape and a few SMA things as well. Now aren't you interested in knowing that?
*Yawn*
Swim lessons resumed today. Mean Momma was there with her little boy, who today got in the water without causing any more ruckus. Kaylee did better on her dog paddling attempts today. On our way to swim lesson, Kaylee said "Did you see that little boy who wouldn't get in the water last time?" I said yes. She said "Did you see how his mommy was talking and acting?" I said yes, and asked what she thought about it. She was quiet for a second, and then said "I don't think his mommy had a very good heart when she did that." She also said she didn't like watching what happened, that it made her feel really bad, and that if the lady did it again, she was going to dunk under water so she couldn't hear her, and cry for the little boy. I had already decided that if we had the beginnings of a repeat of the other day, that rather than confront the woman myself, I would go to the pool management and have them deal with her. I'm not usually the 'snitch to authorities' type person, but I'm sure they don't want her behaving that way in their pool, either. Anyway, she didn't, so hopefully it was just one (very) bad day.
Kaylee and I ate lunch with the boys, ran out to Kokomo to pick up a GPS from Nathan, on to Glenndale to check out the addition and drop off the GPS to a pilot there, and home to play dress-up and eat snacks. Well, that's what Kaylee did anyway. ;)
I was "indisposed" and Kaylee had her princess gown on backwards. I told her she'd have to take care of it herself, and she ran crying across the house sobbing "FINE! FORGET about my DREAMS! Just FORGET it!" I couldn't choose between laughing at the drama and annoyance at the attitude for a second there.
It was a beautiful day to fly; unfortunately I was too out of it to appropriately do so. Maybe tomorrow...tonight if I can wake UP, I need to do some website work for Cscape and a few SMA things as well. Now aren't you interested in knowing that?
*Yawn*
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Tuesday Top Ten: A Day In The Life
"Post ten things that you did today. They don't have to be exciting, or even particularly interesting if you had that kind of day. The idea is to get a peek into your daily life."
Tuesday Top Ten: A Day In The Life
(Ten things I did today? Hmmmm...)
Tuesday Top Ten: A Day In The Life
(Ten things I did today? Hmmmm...)
1. Cancelled Kaylee's Swim Lesson Due to Rain.
2. Postponed a flight lesson due to storms/rain.
3. Postponed the same flight lesson some more due to low ceilings.
4. Ate lunch at Ruby Tuesdays with family & friends.
5. Had a violent and immediate stomach problem, possibly from lunch.
6. Flew the Baron to Muncie to pick up Nathan.
7. Enjoyed the view of the Cheyenne out the left window as it went by.
8. Finally cancelled the flight lesson thanks to a flat tire on the RG.
9. Sang a song at the top of my lungs in the car with Kaylee.
10. Ate mocha/chocolate chunk ice cream for supper.
It's good they didn't have to be interesting, isn't it? :) Kaylee has the sweetest voice sometimes, I love listening to her sing. And yes, I ate ice cream for supper. It was "slow churned light" ice cream, so calorie for calorie, it was less than a steak dinner. What can I say-the perk of being a grown-up. Or at least as old as one. And our addition at the airport has a roof! They got a decent amount done on it today. Michaele & Greg were getting the roof on their barn done too, so there were men crawling all over high buildings in the hot sun today at the airport...
Monday, June 18, 2007
Water and Sand
What did I do last night? Hmm. I came home, changed clothes, had a small bowl of dinner, made a quick post here, stretched out on the couch, and woke up in time to go to bed. Apparently Kaylee wasn't the only pooped person in our home last night. :)
This morning she had swim lessons again. We got there a couple minutes late this morning, so we were rushing in. The other kids in her class had already dunked, and Kaylee doesn't like to be rushed on doing anything. And she had a new instructor today to replace the one instructor she'd really liked last week (oh well). But she hopped in, the instructor said "Would you like to do a dunk?" and she looked at him for a second and then just went for it. She ended up dunking herself 3 times, which is a record for her in class. They were trying to teach dog paddling, which she couldn't do for anything and it was painfully funny to watch. But she tried. :)
But one thing at the pool today wasn't painfully funny to watch, it was just painful. There was a little boy in there, he was probably about 3-4 or so, and he would *not* get in the water. His mother was a very loud, very angry woman, who was unfortunately sitting right behind me. Not that they couldn't hear her across the whole pool some of the time anyway. Her son didn't want to get in the water, and when she finally got around to asking him why, it was because there was a new instructor and he wasn't comfortable with that. She said (in a really nasty voice) things to him like "Get away from me. I don't want you. Get in the water. No, I don't even want to look at you, get away from me!" Because he kept trying to get in her lap. Finally she picks him up and Drops him into the pool in the middle of the on-going swim class. Where he freaks out and jumps out of the water. Class is now disrupted as we watch her drop him in the water in the middle of the kids and him climb out over and over. At this point she puts her hand on his forehead and shoves him into the water and holds his head down (not under water) so he can't climb out. The instructors (young 20 year old guys) are like "uhhhh" and have no idea what to do. I assess the situation and decide that 1) She's very angry and unreasonable at the moment, 2) She's got me on size and temper both by a very large amount, would 3) not take kindly to any suggestions from anyone else at that moment, and 4) her parenting skills would have to be her responsibility, not mine, this time. The little boy gets out from under her hand, climbs out again, and she KICKS HIM with her foot while she's screaming at him to get away from her and in the ____ water. Granted it wasn't a football punt kick, but man. Eventually (of course) he won that one, and stayed out of the pool, but she made sure he paid for it by moving every time he tried to come sit by her. So he's standing there alone crying in the middle of the pool area until it was time to leave. I avoided all eye contact with her as she came back to sit behind me, as eye contact can be seen as a challenge or sign of aggression, at least in the animal kingdom. The swim instructor tried a couple times to get him to come in the water amongst the chaos, but he just wouldn't do it, poor little guy.
You know, a parent doesn't exist who has never made a mistake, who has never gotten cranky or fed up. I really dislike it if I hear my voice getting that impatient/annoyed tone, and I try to stop it as soon as I catch myself doing it. I expect to be spoken to in a respectful tone and I need to show her the same respect, as a person. But watching this little boy sucking his thumb and hiding his eyes while he tried to walk up to her, thinking if he couldn't see her she couldn't see him coming and maybe she wouldn't move away from him this time, listening to her scream at him and watching him get dropped, pushed, shoved, kicked, and held down, well, it just hurt. I'm glad they quit after a few minutes and just sat apart, because I was going to either have to go up to her to talk, which would have resulted in an unpleasant conflict no matter how delicately or politely I tried to phrase it, or I'd have had to leave and come back after class was over...I couldn't handle much more. Yes, holding your child in the water by force, THAT'LL make him happy, like water, and want to learn to swim. *sigh*
Anyway, the day improved greatly after that, because we went
to the post office, and Kaylee's Moon Sand was in! She was so excited about that, she was jumping up and down in the back seat all the way home. It is pretty neat stuff. Super light-weight, with all the advantages of play dough and none of the disadvantages. It never dries out, it never gets goopy, and you can shape and mold it into anything you want. It doesn't stick, or stain like play dough, and doesn't crumble into powder like sand. She got a "castle" mold set, and six colors of sand plus white, so she's been in sand heaven all afternoon. I even played with it for awhile. Hey, it's a very educational tool. ;)
Lunch with the 'crew', ballet class, laundry, dishes, computer work, errands, life as usual!
Tonight I fixed up the honey salmon and baby carrots that we did at "Meal Thyme". Very good! I liked the sauce, the fish was good, and you can't really mess up carrots very easily, even if you are me. But we enjoyed the "real" food for a night, and everybody gave it a thumbs-up on taste. :) After dinner we had a little "dance party" with Kaylee in our living room, with microphones and music. She choreographed the whole thing (Steve was guitar, I was piano, she was singing). Bed time for the girl, another round of dishes and laundry for me, and maybe time to work on SMA stuff and a few emails. Night!
This morning she had swim lessons again. We got there a couple minutes late this morning, so we were rushing in. The other kids in her class had already dunked, and Kaylee doesn't like to be rushed on doing anything. And she had a new instructor today to replace the one instructor she'd really liked last week (oh well). But she hopped in, the instructor said "Would you like to do a dunk?" and she looked at him for a second and then just went for it. She ended up dunking herself 3 times, which is a record for her in class. They were trying to teach dog paddling, which she couldn't do for anything and it was painfully funny to watch. But she tried. :)
But one thing at the pool today wasn't painfully funny to watch, it was just painful. There was a little boy in there, he was probably about 3-4 or so, and he would *not* get in the water. His mother was a very loud, very angry woman, who was unfortunately sitting right behind me. Not that they couldn't hear her across the whole pool some of the time anyway. Her son didn't want to get in the water, and when she finally got around to asking him why, it was because there was a new instructor and he wasn't comfortable with that. She said (in a really nasty voice) things to him like "Get away from me. I don't want you. Get in the water. No, I don't even want to look at you, get away from me!" Because he kept trying to get in her lap. Finally she picks him up and Drops him into the pool in the middle of the on-going swim class. Where he freaks out and jumps out of the water. Class is now disrupted as we watch her drop him in the water in the middle of the kids and him climb out over and over. At this point she puts her hand on his forehead and shoves him into the water and holds his head down (not under water) so he can't climb out. The instructors (young 20 year old guys) are like "uhhhh" and have no idea what to do. I assess the situation and decide that 1) She's very angry and unreasonable at the moment, 2) She's got me on size and temper both by a very large amount, would 3) not take kindly to any suggestions from anyone else at that moment, and 4) her parenting skills would have to be her responsibility, not mine, this time. The little boy gets out from under her hand, climbs out again, and she KICKS HIM with her foot while she's screaming at him to get away from her and in the ____ water. Granted it wasn't a football punt kick, but man. Eventually (of course) he won that one, and stayed out of the pool, but she made sure he paid for it by moving every time he tried to come sit by her. So he's standing there alone crying in the middle of the pool area until it was time to leave. I avoided all eye contact with her as she came back to sit behind me, as eye contact can be seen as a challenge or sign of aggression, at least in the animal kingdom. The swim instructor tried a couple times to get him to come in the water amongst the chaos, but he just wouldn't do it, poor little guy.
You know, a parent doesn't exist who has never made a mistake, who has never gotten cranky or fed up. I really dislike it if I hear my voice getting that impatient/annoyed tone, and I try to stop it as soon as I catch myself doing it. I expect to be spoken to in a respectful tone and I need to show her the same respect, as a person. But watching this little boy sucking his thumb and hiding his eyes while he tried to walk up to her, thinking if he couldn't see her she couldn't see him coming and maybe she wouldn't move away from him this time, listening to her scream at him and watching him get dropped, pushed, shoved, kicked, and held down, well, it just hurt. I'm glad they quit after a few minutes and just sat apart, because I was going to either have to go up to her to talk, which would have resulted in an unpleasant conflict no matter how delicately or politely I tried to phrase it, or I'd have had to leave and come back after class was over...I couldn't handle much more. Yes, holding your child in the water by force, THAT'LL make him happy, like water, and want to learn to swim. *sigh*
Anyway, the day improved greatly after that, because we went
to the post office, and Kaylee's Moon Sand was in! She was so excited about that, she was jumping up and down in the back seat all the way home. It is pretty neat stuff. Super light-weight, with all the advantages of play dough and none of the disadvantages. It never dries out, it never gets goopy, and you can shape and mold it into anything you want. It doesn't stick, or stain like play dough, and doesn't crumble into powder like sand. She got a "castle" mold set, and six colors of sand plus white, so she's been in sand heaven all afternoon. I even played with it for awhile. Hey, it's a very educational tool. ;)Lunch with the 'crew', ballet class, laundry, dishes, computer work, errands, life as usual!
Tonight I fixed up the honey salmon and baby carrots that we did at "Meal Thyme". Very good! I liked the sauce, the fish was good, and you can't really mess up carrots very easily, even if you are me. But we enjoyed the "real" food for a night, and everybody gave it a thumbs-up on taste. :) After dinner we had a little "dance party" with Kaylee in our living room, with microphones and music. She choreographed the whole thing (Steve was guitar, I was piano, she was singing). Bed time for the girl, another round of dishes and laundry for me, and maybe time to work on SMA stuff and a few emails. Night!
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Father's Day
Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there!
This afternoon we headed to Nathan's house, and Kaylee was in the pool with Jamie, Gwenie, and three neighbor friends for about five hours straight, with only a break to eat dinner. She did pretty well, going in without her tube or a vest, and even by the end jumping in with a "Cannonball" yell now and then. For her, she did great. :) We snacked, drank, sat and chatted, and watched the kids swim around a bit. It was a warm one, but not too bad as long as you had a cold drink, a soft seat, and didn't move around too much. We had that covered. ;)
Kaylee wore herself out but good. You have to love summertime outdoor play time...especially for your kids. :)
This afternoon we headed to Nathan's house, and Kaylee was in the pool with Jamie, Gwenie, and three neighbor friends for about five hours straight, with only a break to eat dinner. She did pretty well, going in without her tube or a vest, and even by the end jumping in with a "Cannonball" yell now and then. For her, she did great. :) We snacked, drank, sat and chatted, and watched the kids swim around a bit. It was a warm one, but not too bad as long as you had a cold drink, a soft seat, and didn't move around too much. We had that covered. ;)
Kaylee wore herself out but good. You have to love summertime outdoor play time...especially for your kids. :)
QOTD (Quote of the Day)
"You will become as small as your controlling desire; as great as your dominant aspiration."
~James Allen (1864-1912)
And for Cirrus...
"You can't make anything idiot proof because idiots are so ingenious."
~Ron Burns
~James Allen (1864-1912)
And for Cirrus...
"You can't make anything idiot proof because idiots are so ingenious."
~Ron Burns
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Man It's Hot.
Well, here comes summer, at full blast. Our green runway is more brown than green, and the heat is just oppressive. Particularly in small airplanes with plastic windows and no air conditioning. We need rain, and I'm about ready for Fall already. But that's just me, because I intensely dislike being hot and muggy and sticky and sweaty. Tomorrow's high is 93 degrees. Wheeeee!
Today I flew twice in the 172. Once with a young lady who is a Private Pilot already, but hasn't flown in quite awhile and wants to get current again, build up a few hours before Fall, get comfy with a short grass strip. The second is a doctor who is going for the Private Pilot license, and she's brand new. She's from another country, and had to jump through a LOT of hoops to be allowed to train in the States, but finally she was approved as a non-terrorist, and today was her first official flight. She's very quiet and a little difficult to understand, but very nice, and she's very excited about flying. That reminds me, I need to renew my CFI by the end of July. There goes a weekend. *sigh*
After the flights, Kaylee and I took Chuck's four-wheeler up and down the runway for awhile. It just got back from repairs, and the repair shop said it needed to run at varying speeds below half throttle for the full tank of gas. So we ran it around for awhile. Kaylee didn't want to stop even when we'd been going for a long time. I also have to admit it was rather hard for me to keep it around or below half throttle. ;) (But I did!)
We left there and ran to Kmart, where I picked up some new tennis shoes. I was going to order them online, but I kept procrastinating, and half of my foot was sticking out of the hole in the side of my shoe. So, I just sucked it up and went to the nearest store. I suppose most women love going shoe shopping. I just look around for something close to what I had last time and get out as fast as my six year old shopping nut will let me. :)
Oh, and my foot grew again! I used to be a 6 1/2. After Devon I became a 7. After Kaylee I became a 7 1/2. Now my foot still fits in a 7 1/2, but I'm closer to an 8 than I ever was. How weird. Apparently my feet are getting fat. *sigh* again.
A bath for the girl, comfy clothes for the mom, dad is still off flying and working in the heat, and the next step is dinner, cleaning out the shoe closet, and then we shall see.
Today I flew twice in the 172. Once with a young lady who is a Private Pilot already, but hasn't flown in quite awhile and wants to get current again, build up a few hours before Fall, get comfy with a short grass strip. The second is a doctor who is going for the Private Pilot license, and she's brand new. She's from another country, and had to jump through a LOT of hoops to be allowed to train in the States, but finally she was approved as a non-terrorist, and today was her first official flight. She's very quiet and a little difficult to understand, but very nice, and she's very excited about flying. That reminds me, I need to renew my CFI by the end of July. There goes a weekend. *sigh*
After the flights, Kaylee and I took Chuck's four-wheeler up and down the runway for awhile. It just got back from repairs, and the repair shop said it needed to run at varying speeds below half throttle for the full tank of gas. So we ran it around for awhile. Kaylee didn't want to stop even when we'd been going for a long time. I also have to admit it was rather hard for me to keep it around or below half throttle. ;) (But I did!)
We left there and ran to Kmart, where I picked up some new tennis shoes. I was going to order them online, but I kept procrastinating, and half of my foot was sticking out of the hole in the side of my shoe. So, I just sucked it up and went to the nearest store. I suppose most women love going shoe shopping. I just look around for something close to what I had last time and get out as fast as my six year old shopping nut will let me. :)
Oh, and my foot grew again! I used to be a 6 1/2. After Devon I became a 7. After Kaylee I became a 7 1/2. Now my foot still fits in a 7 1/2, but I'm closer to an 8 than I ever was. How weird. Apparently my feet are getting fat. *sigh* again.
A bath for the girl, comfy clothes for the mom, dad is still off flying and working in the heat, and the next step is dinner, cleaning out the shoe closet, and then we shall see.
This actually got to me...
I must be getting soft in my old age. ;) This little girl is only six years old, and I almost got goosebumps listening to her sing a cappella. Acapella? Without accompaniment. ;) And she's just adorable. The audience is dead quiet, and at age six she got everybody's full attention. She even got a standing ovation. I've fast forwarded through everything but her song through to the end twice now. She is just dead-on with pitch. Okay okay okay, my eyes may have even watered a bit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4bb0EzC9yE&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fnews%2Ewenxuecity%2Ecom%2Fmessages%2F200706%2Fnews%2Dgb2312%2D416996%2Ehtml
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4bb0EzC9yE&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fnews%2Ewenxuecity%2Ecom%2Fmessages%2F200706%2Fnews%2Dgb2312%2D416996%2Ehtml
Friday, June 15, 2007
Miscellanious Flying Ramblings & Food
Sometimes I'll come out with a sentence or topic of conversation and Steve will say "What on earth made you think of that??" I'll tell him, and it's usually so circuitous and confusing that he blinks and says "oookay". In fact, I think he's quit asking me these days. ;) Anyway, this morning was one of those.
I was reading a story online about a kid riding his bike to flight lessons, and his bike was stolen. He'd sold his car to pay for flying lessons, so he didn't have transportation other than his now stolen bike. The people online chipped in and PayPal'd him some money so he could get another bike. He didn't ask for money, a few people just did it because they were being kind and generous. Some other people complained, claimed it was "not aviation related", and the whole story was shut down. So while I was getting ready this morning I was thinking about why anybody would complain about it. I thought about how there are probably lots of people with "it was tough learning to fly for me because..." stories, and maybe some of those people are bummed/jealous because nobody came along and helped Them out. That made me think about part of my own "it was tough learning to fly because" thing, which led me to walking with holes in my shoes and taking the little taxi van out to the airport since I couldn't drive/walk it, which led me to a guy who shared the van with me occasionally for awhile. This guy was a piece of work-he kept hitting on me (for awhile), and getting turned down didn't improve his mood towards me. He was a jerk named Cole who claimed that he was related to an air show pilot, and delighted in making loud, public comments about me. This guy was a Neanderthal, seriously. Big and beefy and rude and obnoxious and loud and, well, dumb. He was repeating his primary training for another semester because he couldn't pass his checkride, and this was his second go-around at all of it. So one of my more pleasant memories of flight school was one day after he'd been ramping up his efforts to bother me-in every way. I was walking out to the airplane with my instructor, and Cole made some typical loud comment in front of a bunch of people along the lines of "oooh, there goes that girl. She shouldn't even be here! Go home! I'll bet she can't..." whatever. I'm doing my usual ignoring him, though now my face is all red and I'm feeling weird again. Suddenly, my instructor pipes up, and says loudly enough for everyone to hear; "Oh Shut Up, Cole. This 'girl' can fly circles around you." Cole didn't have a response to that, and just left. I didn't say anything for a few minutes, mostly out of shock I think, then after we got ready to go, I just said "thanks" and my instructor just nodded. I'd never had anybody there stick up for me before. I always have appreciated that. And like a typical bully/Neanderthal, Cole didn't really bother me much after that. (In fact, he washed out of the program.) A memory from those days that leaves me warm and fuzzy and smiling. Thank you, Mr. G. :)
One more memory from those days that leaves me smiling. His name was Ken. He was married, he was older than the rest of us, and he was commuting from over an hour away every day to be there. Our Private Pilot ground school class, the first class I was ever in, there weren't individual seats, there were just tables and chairs. So you sat 2-3 people per table. I got there early (as I am apt to do), and the tables around me filled up, until pretty soon every table was full-except mine. They were even squeezing chairs in to other tables to fit more people per table, but nobody sat at the two empty chairs at my table. I just kept my eyes on my book, and I remember thinking to myself "What on earth am I doing here?? I don't fit in here, I don't belong here, What Am I Doing Here??" I was painfully shy at the time, had never really been around guys at all anyway, I was super uncomfortable with the looks and stares and whispers and laughs, and I just was way out of my comfort zone to say the least. Class was about to start, and suddenly a guy gets up from his table, picks up his books, and comes and sits next to me at my table. I looked over at him, and he gave me this warm smile, and said "Hi, my name is Ken." He chatted with me about his wife, about how hard it was to be married, work a job, and commute two hours round trip every day to college (which I would later find out for myself). He didn't stay in the program for long either, but as someone else who didn't fit into the 18-year-old testosterone festival, for a while there was someone else there who, while not exactly a friend, was...kind. I will always remember how I felt in that moment when he picked up his stuff and sat down next to me, making a quiet statement of his own. So thank you, Ken R. Your kindness is remembered even 16 years later. :)
THAT is how my circuitous thinking works, and how I go from a story about a kid with a bicycle stolen to Ken and Mr. G showing a very fish-out-of-water girl an instant of compassion that left a lifetime impression. Okay, enough memory lane. :)
Today, Kaylee in the car said "I know how to spell 'squeeze' Mommy. It's S Q U E E Z." I said "You're close, it's actually S Q U E E Z E." She said "But this tube has "Squeez" on it. See?" I told her that sometimes people misspell words on purpose to be cute or clever. She responded with "That's not cute, that's dumb! They ought to spell it right. Plus, some people might not know what they mean to say if they don't spell it right!" I couldn't agree more, Kaylee! :D
Kaylee didn't have swim lessons today, so we worked around the house, went to the post office, hit the grocery store, and then headed out to Glenndale for Friday Lunch. It was busy today. One person thought there was over 40 people there, another thought it was in the 30's. Either way, it was a busy week. Our airport addition has concrete now, and they are starting to work on the framework.
Nathan blew by in the Mustang today; its first flight in over half a year! Ahhhhhh, that always gets my heart pumping.
This evening, Chuck & Judy and Steve, Kaylee and myself went to a local place called "Meal Thyme Solutions". It's a small local business where you call (or in my case use the internet) to let them know what meals you would like to make. They prep all the food for you, have all the ingredients there, etc. You walk in, put it all together, take it home and freeze it. Wa-la. Instant good, home-made meals ready when you want them. No shopping for groceries, no mess to clean up afterwards, no nightly prep work. But it's real food made with real ingredients. They have a monthly menu of what's available. For example, this month they had among other things Honey Grilled Salmon, Lemon Chicken Pasta, Peach & Mustard Pork Loin, Sausage/Egg/Cheese breakfast casserole, all sorts of stuff. This month they had a special, if you buy 6 meals, you get one meal free. So I emailed them the 7 meals I wanted. We show up, and there are 14 meal "stations" set up. 7 for us, 7 for Chuck & Judy. All your ingredients, measuring cups, utensils, everything you need for each meal is at each station. The directions are right there on the top of the work station. For example I mixed up a sauce for BBQ Beef Roast. Put it into a ziploc baggie, put the baggie in with a frozen pot roast. There's a label under the table that has the meal description and cooking instructions on it-you stick the label on the bag, and you're done. You can go home and fix it, or you can freeze it for later. When you're done putting the food together, you put the dirty utensils in a plastic bin under the table and you go to the next station and fix the next meal. With Steve, Chuck, Judy and myself all working, it took us one hour to create 14 meals. Really it's 28 meals, because we divided each meal in half, making each menu item two meals for two people. (Each meal feeds 4-6 people). So for $109, my family got 14 two-person meals, ready in an hour. Side dishes come with each meal. Brown rice, vegetables, etc. When you're done, you pick up all your prepared food, and a bag full of all the side dishes already put together for you, along with a list of which side items go best with which meals. Like I said, no grocery shopping, no lists, no clean-up afterwards, but home-cooked meals, basically, and the price is Very reasonable, especially compared to eating out. They also have an option where you can call or email them and they will fix it for you too, and you can come pick it up. Or they'll fix it AND deliver it to your home, but that's an additional $50 charge on top of the meals. The food looks good...we haven't had it yet, but tomorrow night we'll try one of them out.
We had fun making the meals. Everyone wore a
plastic apron, and I got photos of everyone fixing their food. It's more fun to do it with a group than to go by yourself. Besides, there's some high entertainment value in watching Steve and Chuck in their hats working on meals. There just is. :) Here's one Chuck took of Steve and I. Proof that I mixed something up. ;) You can see on the table all the measuring bowls and spoons and ingredients. It's all right there, you just have to put it together. You can see the photos from Meal Thyme, and I also took some photos at Glenndale today too that maybe you may enjoy...
I was reading a story online about a kid riding his bike to flight lessons, and his bike was stolen. He'd sold his car to pay for flying lessons, so he didn't have transportation other than his now stolen bike. The people online chipped in and PayPal'd him some money so he could get another bike. He didn't ask for money, a few people just did it because they were being kind and generous. Some other people complained, claimed it was "not aviation related", and the whole story was shut down. So while I was getting ready this morning I was thinking about why anybody would complain about it. I thought about how there are probably lots of people with "it was tough learning to fly for me because..." stories, and maybe some of those people are bummed/jealous because nobody came along and helped Them out. That made me think about part of my own "it was tough learning to fly because" thing, which led me to walking with holes in my shoes and taking the little taxi van out to the airport since I couldn't drive/walk it, which led me to a guy who shared the van with me occasionally for awhile. This guy was a piece of work-he kept hitting on me (for awhile), and getting turned down didn't improve his mood towards me. He was a jerk named Cole who claimed that he was related to an air show pilot, and delighted in making loud, public comments about me. This guy was a Neanderthal, seriously. Big and beefy and rude and obnoxious and loud and, well, dumb. He was repeating his primary training for another semester because he couldn't pass his checkride, and this was his second go-around at all of it. So one of my more pleasant memories of flight school was one day after he'd been ramping up his efforts to bother me-in every way. I was walking out to the airplane with my instructor, and Cole made some typical loud comment in front of a bunch of people along the lines of "oooh, there goes that girl. She shouldn't even be here! Go home! I'll bet she can't..." whatever. I'm doing my usual ignoring him, though now my face is all red and I'm feeling weird again. Suddenly, my instructor pipes up, and says loudly enough for everyone to hear; "Oh Shut Up, Cole. This 'girl' can fly circles around you." Cole didn't have a response to that, and just left. I didn't say anything for a few minutes, mostly out of shock I think, then after we got ready to go, I just said "thanks" and my instructor just nodded. I'd never had anybody there stick up for me before. I always have appreciated that. And like a typical bully/Neanderthal, Cole didn't really bother me much after that. (In fact, he washed out of the program.) A memory from those days that leaves me warm and fuzzy and smiling. Thank you, Mr. G. :)
One more memory from those days that leaves me smiling. His name was Ken. He was married, he was older than the rest of us, and he was commuting from over an hour away every day to be there. Our Private Pilot ground school class, the first class I was ever in, there weren't individual seats, there were just tables and chairs. So you sat 2-3 people per table. I got there early (as I am apt to do), and the tables around me filled up, until pretty soon every table was full-except mine. They were even squeezing chairs in to other tables to fit more people per table, but nobody sat at the two empty chairs at my table. I just kept my eyes on my book, and I remember thinking to myself "What on earth am I doing here?? I don't fit in here, I don't belong here, What Am I Doing Here??" I was painfully shy at the time, had never really been around guys at all anyway, I was super uncomfortable with the looks and stares and whispers and laughs, and I just was way out of my comfort zone to say the least. Class was about to start, and suddenly a guy gets up from his table, picks up his books, and comes and sits next to me at my table. I looked over at him, and he gave me this warm smile, and said "Hi, my name is Ken." He chatted with me about his wife, about how hard it was to be married, work a job, and commute two hours round trip every day to college (which I would later find out for myself). He didn't stay in the program for long either, but as someone else who didn't fit into the 18-year-old testosterone festival, for a while there was someone else there who, while not exactly a friend, was...kind. I will always remember how I felt in that moment when he picked up his stuff and sat down next to me, making a quiet statement of his own. So thank you, Ken R. Your kindness is remembered even 16 years later. :)
THAT is how my circuitous thinking works, and how I go from a story about a kid with a bicycle stolen to Ken and Mr. G showing a very fish-out-of-water girl an instant of compassion that left a lifetime impression. Okay, enough memory lane. :)
Today, Kaylee in the car said "I know how to spell 'squeeze' Mommy. It's S Q U E E Z." I said "You're close, it's actually S Q U E E Z E." She said "But this tube has "Squeez" on it. See?" I told her that sometimes people misspell words on purpose to be cute or clever. She responded with "That's not cute, that's dumb! They ought to spell it right. Plus, some people might not know what they mean to say if they don't spell it right!" I couldn't agree more, Kaylee! :D
Kaylee didn't have swim lessons today, so we worked around the house, went to the post office, hit the grocery store, and then headed out to Glenndale for Friday Lunch. It was busy today. One person thought there was over 40 people there, another thought it was in the 30's. Either way, it was a busy week. Our airport addition has concrete now, and they are starting to work on the framework.
Nathan blew by in the Mustang today; its first flight in over half a year! Ahhhhhh, that always gets my heart pumping.
This evening, Chuck & Judy and Steve, Kaylee and myself went to a local place called "Meal Thyme Solutions". It's a small local business where you call (or in my case use the internet) to let them know what meals you would like to make. They prep all the food for you, have all the ingredients there, etc. You walk in, put it all together, take it home and freeze it. Wa-la. Instant good, home-made meals ready when you want them. No shopping for groceries, no mess to clean up afterwards, no nightly prep work. But it's real food made with real ingredients. They have a monthly menu of what's available. For example, this month they had among other things Honey Grilled Salmon, Lemon Chicken Pasta, Peach & Mustard Pork Loin, Sausage/Egg/Cheese breakfast casserole, all sorts of stuff. This month they had a special, if you buy 6 meals, you get one meal free. So I emailed them the 7 meals I wanted. We show up, and there are 14 meal "stations" set up. 7 for us, 7 for Chuck & Judy. All your ingredients, measuring cups, utensils, everything you need for each meal is at each station. The directions are right there on the top of the work station. For example I mixed up a sauce for BBQ Beef Roast. Put it into a ziploc baggie, put the baggie in with a frozen pot roast. There's a label under the table that has the meal description and cooking instructions on it-you stick the label on the bag, and you're done. You can go home and fix it, or you can freeze it for later. When you're done putting the food together, you put the dirty utensils in a plastic bin under the table and you go to the next station and fix the next meal. With Steve, Chuck, Judy and myself all working, it took us one hour to create 14 meals. Really it's 28 meals, because we divided each meal in half, making each menu item two meals for two people. (Each meal feeds 4-6 people). So for $109, my family got 14 two-person meals, ready in an hour. Side dishes come with each meal. Brown rice, vegetables, etc. When you're done, you pick up all your prepared food, and a bag full of all the side dishes already put together for you, along with a list of which side items go best with which meals. Like I said, no grocery shopping, no lists, no clean-up afterwards, but home-cooked meals, basically, and the price is Very reasonable, especially compared to eating out. They also have an option where you can call or email them and they will fix it for you too, and you can come pick it up. Or they'll fix it AND deliver it to your home, but that's an additional $50 charge on top of the meals. The food looks good...we haven't had it yet, but tomorrow night we'll try one of them out.
We had fun making the meals. Everyone wore a
plastic apron, and I got photos of everyone fixing their food. It's more fun to do it with a group than to go by yourself. Besides, there's some high entertainment value in watching Steve and Chuck in their hats working on meals. There just is. :) Here's one Chuck took of Steve and I. Proof that I mixed something up. ;) You can see on the table all the measuring bowls and spoons and ingredients. It's all right there, you just have to put it together. You can see the photos from Meal Thyme, and I also took some photos at Glenndale today too that maybe you may enjoy...
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Run run run
This morning Kaylee did great swimming. She dunked her head twice; she didn't like it either time, but she did it. :) She got to do Marco Polo and more floats, she got to hang on to the side and kick her feat, and all in all she had a good time. She even gave me a thumbs-up after one of her dunks. I took some photos today, and you can take a look at a couple of photos on the bottom of this page.
We came home from the pool, changed her clothes, and headed out to Glenndale. Lunch was Applebees today, and then everybody went their separate ways. I took Kaylee back to Glenndale and took her up with me in the Decathlon for half an hour. I did some take offs and landings, and then took her up and let her fly for awhile. She did pretty well with me doing the rudders.
We packed it up, went home, got ready, and headed to gymnastics. She said she passed three "things", sections, whatever you call them. Moves. She's in "Level One", and to move on to Level Two you have to perform so many moves. Anyway, so today she passed three of them. I have no idea how many are left, but I know it's a lot since you're supposedly in Level One for about a year and she's been in it for a whole couple of months.
Anyway, we left gymnastics, ran home and she changed clothes again, and I headed right out to Kokomo. I flew Chuck over to Muncie in the RG, where he picked up the Baron. It was a pretty nice evening to fly. Even though the winds were still a little variable, it was smoother and more...normal...than the other day. While we were at Muncie, I was walking back to the RG and these two guys were walking to another 172 down the ramp. They watched me the whole way down the ramp, watched me get in, looked at me sitting in the plane (I was waiting for the Baron to fire up). I pretended like I didn't see them watching me--I must have looked nicer than I thought in my army green t-shirt and ripped tennis shoes. Yeah, that's it! :D The Baron sounded great firing up over there. Ahhh, I enjoy that plane. Chuck and I spent the whole flight home trying to spot each other in the air, and never did until I was on final at Kokomo and he was on downwind. (He slowed down to my cruise speed).
We put the Baron and RG away, wiped off the bugs, closed up the hangars, and then headed to Cracker Barrel with Chuck and Judy. We finally made it home after 9 pm. Threw Kaylee in bed, threw in a load of laundry, and tried to catch up on emails. I think we were home a whole 20 minutes from 8:30 am through 9 pm. I'm tired!
Oh, today in the car, we turned a corner, and Kaylee asked me why when the car turned left, her body wanted to turn right, and vice versa. I tried to explain force, physics, bodies in motion, etc. But come on. Help me out here! She didn't get it and I couldn't think of any other way to say it. Boy this girl keeps me on my toes sometimes. :)
We came home from the pool, changed her clothes, and headed out to Glenndale. Lunch was Applebees today, and then everybody went their separate ways. I took Kaylee back to Glenndale and took her up with me in the Decathlon for half an hour. I did some take offs and landings, and then took her up and let her fly for awhile. She did pretty well with me doing the rudders.
We packed it up, went home, got ready, and headed to gymnastics. She said she passed three "things", sections, whatever you call them. Moves. She's in "Level One", and to move on to Level Two you have to perform so many moves. Anyway, so today she passed three of them. I have no idea how many are left, but I know it's a lot since you're supposedly in Level One for about a year and she's been in it for a whole couple of months.
Anyway, we left gymnastics, ran home and she changed clothes again, and I headed right out to Kokomo. I flew Chuck over to Muncie in the RG, where he picked up the Baron. It was a pretty nice evening to fly. Even though the winds were still a little variable, it was smoother and more...normal...than the other day. While we were at Muncie, I was walking back to the RG and these two guys were walking to another 172 down the ramp. They watched me the whole way down the ramp, watched me get in, looked at me sitting in the plane (I was waiting for the Baron to fire up). I pretended like I didn't see them watching me--I must have looked nicer than I thought in my army green t-shirt and ripped tennis shoes. Yeah, that's it! :D The Baron sounded great firing up over there. Ahhh, I enjoy that plane. Chuck and I spent the whole flight home trying to spot each other in the air, and never did until I was on final at Kokomo and he was on downwind. (He slowed down to my cruise speed).
We put the Baron and RG away, wiped off the bugs, closed up the hangars, and then headed to Cracker Barrel with Chuck and Judy. We finally made it home after 9 pm. Threw Kaylee in bed, threw in a load of laundry, and tried to catch up on emails. I think we were home a whole 20 minutes from 8:30 am through 9 pm. I'm tired!
Oh, today in the car, we turned a corner, and Kaylee asked me why when the car turned left, her body wanted to turn right, and vice versa. I tried to explain force, physics, bodies in motion, etc. But come on. Help me out here! She didn't get it and I couldn't think of any other way to say it. Boy this girl keeps me on my toes sometimes. :)
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
And so it goes...
Today's swim lesson went fine. She didn't dunk her head until the end of the lesson, but she did it. They did back floats and front floats too. I was looking around today, and every teacher for every swim class is a 20-something year old boy. When you first arrive, everyone waits at the entrance and all the tan life guards stand there in their red shorts, waiting to divide up the kids. It's Bay Watch for women, Kokomo style. No running in slow motion allowed at this beach though. I'm definitely getting old though, because they just looks like kids-cute kids, but still kids-to me.
I took Kaylee out to Glenndale and did a little bug-removal therapy. After lunch at Mike's, Chuck and I left in the Citabria to head over to Kokomo so I could take the Baron to Muncie. (Got that?) It was a high density altitude day, and the winds were weird. Mostly light, but widely variable. The windsocks were saying that the winds were light, East to NorthEast, (and Kokomo's AWOS confirmed that), but when we took off, it felt like a complete tailwind. It felt as though we were pushed quickly down the runway, but we just could not get any lift to climb. It didn't feel like a typical, familiar high density altitude fully loaded airplane thing, where you know it is slugging along. It was more a surprise, to feel fine, look good, rotate, and go...nowhere. Anyway, Chuck asked if we were going to make it, I said 'no', and we went under the wires instead of trying to get over them. A first for both of us. Our excitement for the day. I grabbed the Baron, and got beaten all the way to Muncie with turbulence. When I left out of Kokomo, the AWOS was reporting winds 050 at 16 gusting to 21, with winds variable from 050 to 110. That's a pretty big variance. It's also odd because most of the day the winds weren't that high. Muncie was busy, it felt like I was coming into Chicago or something. I had a guy in front of me, one behind me, a jet landing on a cross runway, and two planes on a downwind on the other side. Tower had to have me go around so the jet could get down first, and finally I got in. When Chuck came motoring in a few minutes later, all the traffic had cleared, so I say there are definite advantages to a slower airplane. ;) I just hopped in the back of the Citabria and we got beaten all the way back into Glenndale. We landed at Glenndale to the north, since again that's what all the reported winds from Muncie to Kokomo to our own wind socks said. And again, it felt like we were pushed down the runway in a big old tailwind. We landed in the last half of the runway. You could just feel the plane settle, and then just pick up and float along for awhile, even with airspeed nailed. We went inside, Ty was in there, and Chuck said something about the landing, and Ty replied with "Oh good, so I'm not the only one that happened to!" If I would have had to do another take off and landing out there, I'd have given the other direction runway a try. Obviously that one wasn't working well no matter what the winds were reported to be. Steve said it's been like that for a couple days, he's been using the other runway, we should have, and I have no room to complain because he's been flying in it a lot. But since this is My blog, I just did complain. ;)
I brought Kaylee home, and she watered her plants and had a snack while I set up reservations at Cinderella's Castle! We are having lunch in Cinderella's Castle, at her Royal Table, and she will make an appearance at lunch. We're doing this in November. So, we're going to Disney World! :) The biggest holdup was getting into the castle-you have to make reservations basically 6 months in advance of when you want to go as the slots fill up fast. Well, I have the confirmation number in my grubby paws, and I told Kaylee tonight that she was going to the castle, and she lit up. Then she said "Will it be the real Cinderella, or someone dressed up like Cinderella?" I paused, and then she interrupted and said "No, it'll be the REAL Cinderella." Then Kaylee wanted to know if Cinderella would talk to her, if she'd talk to everybody, and if "Cindi" would show Kaylee around the castle, and especially her bedroom while she was there. He he. I said no, that there are too many kids who want to meet Cinderella, that she couldn't take them all on a tour of the whole castle, but that she'd get to meet her at lunch. So Kaylee was pretty excited about that, to say the least!
Kaylee asked tonight if her little friend from next door could come over. I said no, and asked why she didn't play over There any more. She said because they couldn't play in the back yard because of the dogs, and that it was too cluttery to play inside. Considering the state of KAYLEE'S room, it does make me wonder what she considers too cluttery to play.
Okay, this is long enough (!) so I'll go get some stuff done...
I took Kaylee out to Glenndale and did a little bug-removal therapy. After lunch at Mike's, Chuck and I left in the Citabria to head over to Kokomo so I could take the Baron to Muncie. (Got that?) It was a high density altitude day, and the winds were weird. Mostly light, but widely variable. The windsocks were saying that the winds were light, East to NorthEast, (and Kokomo's AWOS confirmed that), but when we took off, it felt like a complete tailwind. It felt as though we were pushed quickly down the runway, but we just could not get any lift to climb. It didn't feel like a typical, familiar high density altitude fully loaded airplane thing, where you know it is slugging along. It was more a surprise, to feel fine, look good, rotate, and go...nowhere. Anyway, Chuck asked if we were going to make it, I said 'no', and we went under the wires instead of trying to get over them. A first for both of us. Our excitement for the day. I grabbed the Baron, and got beaten all the way to Muncie with turbulence. When I left out of Kokomo, the AWOS was reporting winds 050 at 16 gusting to 21, with winds variable from 050 to 110. That's a pretty big variance. It's also odd because most of the day the winds weren't that high. Muncie was busy, it felt like I was coming into Chicago or something. I had a guy in front of me, one behind me, a jet landing on a cross runway, and two planes on a downwind on the other side. Tower had to have me go around so the jet could get down first, and finally I got in. When Chuck came motoring in a few minutes later, all the traffic had cleared, so I say there are definite advantages to a slower airplane. ;) I just hopped in the back of the Citabria and we got beaten all the way back into Glenndale. We landed at Glenndale to the north, since again that's what all the reported winds from Muncie to Kokomo to our own wind socks said. And again, it felt like we were pushed down the runway in a big old tailwind. We landed in the last half of the runway. You could just feel the plane settle, and then just pick up and float along for awhile, even with airspeed nailed. We went inside, Ty was in there, and Chuck said something about the landing, and Ty replied with "Oh good, so I'm not the only one that happened to!" If I would have had to do another take off and landing out there, I'd have given the other direction runway a try. Obviously that one wasn't working well no matter what the winds were reported to be. Steve said it's been like that for a couple days, he's been using the other runway, we should have, and I have no room to complain because he's been flying in it a lot. But since this is My blog, I just did complain. ;)
I brought Kaylee home, and she watered her plants and had a snack while I set up reservations at Cinderella's Castle! We are having lunch in Cinderella's Castle, at her Royal Table, and she will make an appearance at lunch. We're doing this in November. So, we're going to Disney World! :) The biggest holdup was getting into the castle-you have to make reservations basically 6 months in advance of when you want to go as the slots fill up fast. Well, I have the confirmation number in my grubby paws, and I told Kaylee tonight that she was going to the castle, and she lit up. Then she said "Will it be the real Cinderella, or someone dressed up like Cinderella?" I paused, and then she interrupted and said "No, it'll be the REAL Cinderella." Then Kaylee wanted to know if Cinderella would talk to her, if she'd talk to everybody, and if "Cindi" would show Kaylee around the castle, and especially her bedroom while she was there. He he. I said no, that there are too many kids who want to meet Cinderella, that she couldn't take them all on a tour of the whole castle, but that she'd get to meet her at lunch. So Kaylee was pretty excited about that, to say the least!
Kaylee asked tonight if her little friend from next door could come over. I said no, and asked why she didn't play over There any more. She said because they couldn't play in the back yard because of the dogs, and that it was too cluttery to play inside. Considering the state of KAYLEE'S room, it does make me wonder what she considers too cluttery to play.
Okay, this is long enough (!) so I'll go get some stuff done...
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Tuesday Top Ten: Ten Things That Make Me Me
Eeek! I ought to pay Cat by the hour for this one! :D
Okay, "Ten things that have made you the unique and quirky person you are today. They can be as profound as deep thoughts from a loved one or as silly as the real reason you have a toe phobia to this day."
1. My vivid imagination. Most people who know me today probably don't know that about me, but I'll bet at least some people are smiling. I've had dreams so vivid I woke up thinking they were real. I use imagination to help me think through scenarios. My imagination is sometimes very helpful to me, and sometimes a hindrance to me. Either way, my imagination has always been a large part of who I am. If nothing else, it helps me come up with descriptive words to gross out my spouse or drag out a story to my mom and make it sound better than it was. ;)
2. My Bathtub Trauma. I've said it before, I'm saying it again, which should tell you how much of an impact this had on my life. My gross roommate who refused to clean our shared apartment, so I quit cleaning too. Eventually things grew on her dishes in the sink, and our shower curtain and bathtub was brown slime on the bottom with her Foot Prints in the slime where she'd walk around in it and take a shower. I showered elsewhere. To this day I get the heebie jeebies with bath tubs. It's not fair, it ruined my ability to sit in a bathtub and soak with any comfort.
3. Speed. I like to go fast. I like to drive fast, I like to fly fast. When I was a kid, I liked to ride my bicycle fast down hills, no hands; I liked to roller skate fast. I didn't usually do things unsafely, just quickly. Back when I actually used to run, I even did that faster than most. I have always loved speed from as early as I can remember. I like to feel the wind in my hair and I just love the feeling of fast. As a pick-me-up, it works great-puts a smile on my face every time. It may be something I 'like', but it's also obviously something that makes me 'me'.
4. Heights. I love heights too. I loved to climb trees, loved to swing as high as I could get myself to swing, loved to hang out in my (high to me) play house. When I got older I spent time studying on the roof of an apartment building with a friend, climbed towers, and eyeballed others that were fenced off. The Sears Tower mesmerized me, and I spent a lot of time looking up at the sky, at clouds, at birds, at airplanes. I still love the highest vantage point. I love the mountains, and most of all I love flying. Something about the vantage point of 'way up there' has always just been a part of who I am.
5. Tomboy. I guess all the years dad used me as his helper for various definitely non-girly things ended up fashioning the way I saw myself. We moved-a lot-and I was just another box hauler. I remember helping build a garage, helping move pianos, he tried to teach me to woodwork (I didn't have the patience for sanding by hand), had me rock hunting in the "Bad Lands" and polishing rocks. He had me sharpening knives with a stone and oil, had me polish my own shoes with a cloth and a brush and polish. I remember playing catch with mom, and our family did a lot of camping in tents in sometimes somewhat hostile areas. My job was usually water hauler. That job stank by the way. ;) I wore dresses every day, going to a private school, and my room was a lovely shade of pink, and I played with Barbies/stuffed animals...but my Barbies always had scary adventures. They never went shopping. The only time they changed their clothes was if they got ripped falling off a cliff. I just never really did girly stuff and I'm just not a girly girl.
6. Just the facts, ma'am. I'd also say this came from my parents, at least in part. I remember the day dad came home and told me that the husband of the family who babysat me for a couple of summers had gone "stark raving crazy" and was "locked up". I instantly had a vivid mental image of this guy staring in my window with big huge bugged-out white eyes and spiky hair. Or the time I was out riding my bike and dad pulled up in the truck, threw my bike in the back, told me to get in because a child molester was out here. I've got a few from mom, too. :) I remember as a kid it was a little shocking at first, but I just rather got used to a no-nonsense form of delivery. Which is probably why when Steve called me and said (and I quote) "I crashed a plane in a bean field", I didn't need a Valium or burst into hysterics. I still don't really like hemming and hawing and games and what-not. Just spit it out and let's deal with it.
7. Independence. I was given a lot of independence at a pretty early age, in some areas, and I was taught that you do for yourself. When you need something done, you do it yourself. You don't ask for help, you don't accept help unless you have to, and if you can't do it, then you don't do it, and you get over it and move on. I'm 35 years old and I still can't stand asking for help. I can't stand the thought of being a mooch, or incapable. I have to say, I do think both of my parents did a good job of helping me become independent and take care of myself no matter what. It's a valuable skill in this world. Any excess that I may have taken this to I'd have to say would be my own responsibility.
8. Wait and See. I remember being told over and over "Open your eyes/ears and shut your mouth and you'll learn the answers to your questions." It used to annoy me to death, being told that. I'd ask "Where are we going?" and that would be my answer. But the reality is, half the time if you do just be quiet and make some observations, your questions will be answered soon enough. Now it's kind of a part of me-when I get in a situation in which I'm uncomfortable or uncertain or unfamiliar, I usually shut my mouth and open my ears/eyes until I get a feel for what's happening. I notice Kaylee does the same thing, and I haven't said that particular quote to her, so perhaps it's genetic, too. From both her maternal and paternal side. ;)
9. Perfectionism. "If you can't do it right, don't do it at all". Nobody told me that, it's just what runs through my own mind. I don't start projects sometimes because they're too daunting to be done "right". I just don't like not doing something, well, perfectly, particularly if it's in public. Most people don't, but I'll bet most people didn't get so locked up about it they turned into literal fumble fingers over it. And those of you who know me well, just imagine, I'm so much better about it now than I was 20 years ago. ;) Better or not though, perfectionism is definitely something that is 'me'.
10. The Head Scratch. Steve caught me on this one. When I'm embarrassed or being evasive, I scratch my head. I don't know why. I am trying to stop that if I catch myself. But there ya go...a silly little quirk that makes me me.
Whew. I think I made it without exploring too deeply any minefields. ;)
Okay, "Ten things that have made you the unique and quirky person you are today. They can be as profound as deep thoughts from a loved one or as silly as the real reason you have a toe phobia to this day."
1. My vivid imagination. Most people who know me today probably don't know that about me, but I'll bet at least some people are smiling. I've had dreams so vivid I woke up thinking they were real. I use imagination to help me think through scenarios. My imagination is sometimes very helpful to me, and sometimes a hindrance to me. Either way, my imagination has always been a large part of who I am. If nothing else, it helps me come up with descriptive words to gross out my spouse or drag out a story to my mom and make it sound better than it was. ;)
2. My Bathtub Trauma. I've said it before, I'm saying it again, which should tell you how much of an impact this had on my life. My gross roommate who refused to clean our shared apartment, so I quit cleaning too. Eventually things grew on her dishes in the sink, and our shower curtain and bathtub was brown slime on the bottom with her Foot Prints in the slime where she'd walk around in it and take a shower. I showered elsewhere. To this day I get the heebie jeebies with bath tubs. It's not fair, it ruined my ability to sit in a bathtub and soak with any comfort.
3. Speed. I like to go fast. I like to drive fast, I like to fly fast. When I was a kid, I liked to ride my bicycle fast down hills, no hands; I liked to roller skate fast. I didn't usually do things unsafely, just quickly. Back when I actually used to run, I even did that faster than most. I have always loved speed from as early as I can remember. I like to feel the wind in my hair and I just love the feeling of fast. As a pick-me-up, it works great-puts a smile on my face every time. It may be something I 'like', but it's also obviously something that makes me 'me'.
4. Heights. I love heights too. I loved to climb trees, loved to swing as high as I could get myself to swing, loved to hang out in my (high to me) play house. When I got older I spent time studying on the roof of an apartment building with a friend, climbed towers, and eyeballed others that were fenced off. The Sears Tower mesmerized me, and I spent a lot of time looking up at the sky, at clouds, at birds, at airplanes. I still love the highest vantage point. I love the mountains, and most of all I love flying. Something about the vantage point of 'way up there' has always just been a part of who I am.
5. Tomboy. I guess all the years dad used me as his helper for various definitely non-girly things ended up fashioning the way I saw myself. We moved-a lot-and I was just another box hauler. I remember helping build a garage, helping move pianos, he tried to teach me to woodwork (I didn't have the patience for sanding by hand), had me rock hunting in the "Bad Lands" and polishing rocks. He had me sharpening knives with a stone and oil, had me polish my own shoes with a cloth and a brush and polish. I remember playing catch with mom, and our family did a lot of camping in tents in sometimes somewhat hostile areas. My job was usually water hauler. That job stank by the way. ;) I wore dresses every day, going to a private school, and my room was a lovely shade of pink, and I played with Barbies/stuffed animals...but my Barbies always had scary adventures. They never went shopping. The only time they changed their clothes was if they got ripped falling off a cliff. I just never really did girly stuff and I'm just not a girly girl.
6. Just the facts, ma'am. I'd also say this came from my parents, at least in part. I remember the day dad came home and told me that the husband of the family who babysat me for a couple of summers had gone "stark raving crazy" and was "locked up". I instantly had a vivid mental image of this guy staring in my window with big huge bugged-out white eyes and spiky hair. Or the time I was out riding my bike and dad pulled up in the truck, threw my bike in the back, told me to get in because a child molester was out here. I've got a few from mom, too. :) I remember as a kid it was a little shocking at first, but I just rather got used to a no-nonsense form of delivery. Which is probably why when Steve called me and said (and I quote) "I crashed a plane in a bean field", I didn't need a Valium or burst into hysterics. I still don't really like hemming and hawing and games and what-not. Just spit it out and let's deal with it.
7. Independence. I was given a lot of independence at a pretty early age, in some areas, and I was taught that you do for yourself. When you need something done, you do it yourself. You don't ask for help, you don't accept help unless you have to, and if you can't do it, then you don't do it, and you get over it and move on. I'm 35 years old and I still can't stand asking for help. I can't stand the thought of being a mooch, or incapable. I have to say, I do think both of my parents did a good job of helping me become independent and take care of myself no matter what. It's a valuable skill in this world. Any excess that I may have taken this to I'd have to say would be my own responsibility.
8. Wait and See. I remember being told over and over "Open your eyes/ears and shut your mouth and you'll learn the answers to your questions." It used to annoy me to death, being told that. I'd ask "Where are we going?" and that would be my answer. But the reality is, half the time if you do just be quiet and make some observations, your questions will be answered soon enough. Now it's kind of a part of me-when I get in a situation in which I'm uncomfortable or uncertain or unfamiliar, I usually shut my mouth and open my ears/eyes until I get a feel for what's happening. I notice Kaylee does the same thing, and I haven't said that particular quote to her, so perhaps it's genetic, too. From both her maternal and paternal side. ;)
9. Perfectionism. "If you can't do it right, don't do it at all". Nobody told me that, it's just what runs through my own mind. I don't start projects sometimes because they're too daunting to be done "right". I just don't like not doing something, well, perfectly, particularly if it's in public. Most people don't, but I'll bet most people didn't get so locked up about it they turned into literal fumble fingers over it. And those of you who know me well, just imagine, I'm so much better about it now than I was 20 years ago. ;) Better or not though, perfectionism is definitely something that is 'me'.
10. The Head Scratch. Steve caught me on this one. When I'm embarrassed or being evasive, I scratch my head. I don't know why. I am trying to stop that if I catch myself. But there ya go...a silly little quirk that makes me me.
Whew. I think I made it without exploring too deeply any minefields. ;)
Swimming, Scooba, Etc.
Kaylee's swim lessons went better today! She put her whole body under water and counted to "two" before coming back up, did a little back and front float (while the instructor had an arm under her), and generally did what she was asked to do. She still hates water on her face, and I heard her complaining that she wanted a towel to wipe off her face after she dunked, but she got over it. So, I'd call today "swim progress". One of the boys in her swim class kept splashing her and others, and not listening well, and I found out today the dad was begging them to let him stay in the swim class. I guess he had been asked to take his son out until he would listen to the instructors. The dad said his son was hyperactive, had a disorder (ADHD maybe) and couldn't listen to anybody for long but asked them to please let him stay and learn as long as the instructors would agree and could handle him. They agreed to give it another try. The dad was sitting next to me, and the manager came over and said "I only observed for a few minutes, but I knew right away which one was xxxxx. I informed the instructors, and they're willing to try now that they know." Actually, the boy seemed to be pretty good at swimming, from what I saw!
This morning I ran the Scooba. Success! I really like this thing, it wins in my book. I took out the kitchen chairs, filled up the tank with warm water and cleaning solution, hit the "clean" button, and away it went for an hour. It picked up the cat hair and food crumbles, it mopped and scrubbed, and then it went up and sucked up the remaining water on the floor. When it was done it stopped about where I started it, and beeped a couple times at me. I emptied the 'dirty tank', rinsed out the filter, and decided to run it again. The dirty water never re-touches the floor, only the clean water. It does a really thorough job of hitting every square foot in the room. It bounces well off of walls or furniture, and it does get sticky spots and everything. Best of all, I have to do no big buckets, I don't have to sweep the floor and then scrub it with a mop. No wringing or germy mop heads or dirty water being recycled on the floor. I just have to pour water in and out of a tank, move some chairs, and go do something else for an hour while my iRobot Scooba does all the work. I liked it so much I did Kaylee's bathroom next, where it did a beautiful job, and then on to my bathroom where the battery died mid-scrub. So I have it charging up again in there, and shortly I'll have it go finish that small space. I'm impressed, my kitchen and guest bathroom floors look terrific, and I had the entire effort of picking up the machine, putting it down, hitting a button, and emptying/filling water. I even left kitty crunchies on the floor, and it got them. So, as long as it continues to work without issues, I give the thing a thumbs-up! Some technology, I love. ;)
The crew had lunch at Culvers today. I really like their pecan blue-cheese avocado salad. And their turtle sundaes don't hurt. ;) Then Nathan went off to fly the Mustang for awhile, Steve went off to fly a 172, Chuck went off to help, and I went home to let Kaylee have a little friend over for playtime for a few hours. *sigh*
Nicole was over until 8:30 pm, and then I sent her home, put Kaylee in bed, and now I'm going to get some work done. It was a beautiful flying day, and is supposed to be a beautiful flying week. I wish Kaylee had a place to go for several hours, as I've got some things I need to do with planes. Get the Baron to Muncie. Fly the Decathlon a bit more, and the Cub too, to get current and ready to instruct in those. I still need to do more WAAS approaches in the Baron as well, so that the next time I take a trip and need to do it for real, I'll be comfortable. Well, we'll see what tomorrow brings...
This morning I ran the Scooba. Success! I really like this thing, it wins in my book. I took out the kitchen chairs, filled up the tank with warm water and cleaning solution, hit the "clean" button, and away it went for an hour. It picked up the cat hair and food crumbles, it mopped and scrubbed, and then it went up and sucked up the remaining water on the floor. When it was done it stopped about where I started it, and beeped a couple times at me. I emptied the 'dirty tank', rinsed out the filter, and decided to run it again. The dirty water never re-touches the floor, only the clean water. It does a really thorough job of hitting every square foot in the room. It bounces well off of walls or furniture, and it does get sticky spots and everything. Best of all, I have to do no big buckets, I don't have to sweep the floor and then scrub it with a mop. No wringing or germy mop heads or dirty water being recycled on the floor. I just have to pour water in and out of a tank, move some chairs, and go do something else for an hour while my iRobot Scooba does all the work. I liked it so much I did Kaylee's bathroom next, where it did a beautiful job, and then on to my bathroom where the battery died mid-scrub. So I have it charging up again in there, and shortly I'll have it go finish that small space. I'm impressed, my kitchen and guest bathroom floors look terrific, and I had the entire effort of picking up the machine, putting it down, hitting a button, and emptying/filling water. I even left kitty crunchies on the floor, and it got them. So, as long as it continues to work without issues, I give the thing a thumbs-up! Some technology, I love. ;)
The crew had lunch at Culvers today. I really like their pecan blue-cheese avocado salad. And their turtle sundaes don't hurt. ;) Then Nathan went off to fly the Mustang for awhile, Steve went off to fly a 172, Chuck went off to help, and I went home to let Kaylee have a little friend over for playtime for a few hours. *sigh*
Nicole was over until 8:30 pm, and then I sent her home, put Kaylee in bed, and now I'm going to get some work done. It was a beautiful flying day, and is supposed to be a beautiful flying week. I wish Kaylee had a place to go for several hours, as I've got some things I need to do with planes. Get the Baron to Muncie. Fly the Decathlon a bit more, and the Cub too, to get current and ready to instruct in those. I still need to do more WAAS approaches in the Baron as well, so that the next time I take a trip and need to do it for real, I'll be comfortable. Well, we'll see what tomorrow brings...
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