It's The End Of The Year As We Know It

The Ball has fallen and 2007 is officially over. It's been a pretty good year, I must say. My family has been together and in good health, nothing tragic has befallen anyone I love, and we have been able to provide Kaylee with everything she needs and probably more than we should have of what she wants. Friendships have strengthened, learning envelopes have been pushed, interests have been kindled, and waistbands have expanded. Okay, so that last one isn't exactly a positive, unless I spin it that we had plenty of food to put on the table. :) All in all I'd have to count my blessings for 2007.

Today was another fun, relaxing day, at least for the guests (us). I'm sure feeding and doing dishes for 11 people three meals a day is no picnic for the hosts! We spent the day in a leisurely way, with Kaylee playing with her cousins on the Wii, jumping on the trampoline, and getting to ride two horses today. Bean, the smaller, gentle white horse, and Sir Henry, the bigger brown one. She was on Sir Henry bareback, with Morgan walking beside her and helping. Kaylee's comment was "He's BUMPY on my bum-bum! It's giving me a wedgie!" But she loved being up tall and high, and she was the third person to ever ride on him bareback, which is pretty neat. Next she went on Bean, and she got to trot him. Poor Alonna got a workout today as she jogged next to that trotting horse for however many laps around the riding arena before we called a halt to it out of mercy to the horse and the jogger! The girls are such good sports. :) At one point, Kaylee was almost bounced off of Bean, but she hung on, laughed, and said "I almost fell off the whole thing! If I land in poop, call my mother." lol She was cautious for the first few seconds, and then she was fearless, which is status quo for her. She also paid very close attention to the details of how to sit, how to hold the reins, how to handle the horses, and she did a fantastic job with them. I was proud of her! I've got lots of pictures of all this, naturally, which I look forward to getting up tomorrow or the next day.

Steve and Richard went for a walk, I worked on organizing a few thing (stop laughing, I do have areas in which I actually am good at organization!), Tanner and Lon played football for awhile while the girls rode horses, and it was just a nice way to spend New Year's Eve.

After a big dinner, we gathered in the TV room and watched "Elf" with Will Ferrell and ate popcorn. This whole time, Kaylee is jumping around like crazy, seemingly quite wide awake. We watched the ball fall here, but since this is in the Central Time Zone, it was really only 11 pm here when the ball fell. But I figured it was midnight at home, so that's close enough. :) Kaylee laid down on the floor shortly after that, and was passed out and snoring in no time flat. That's actually a testament to her activity level today, because she was up well past midnight in this time zone the first night we were here, not tired in the least. Now she's passing out after 11 pm on the floor in a room full of people with the TV on. It's good to wear your kids completely out, don't you think? ;)

One thing I can say--the TV shows on now for New Year's Eve Stink. At least they stink if you're trying to watch them with your kids. Chippendales, bikinis, condom commercials, rude stories, Kidd Rock... We had to keep switching to other channels in hopes of landing on something mildly appropriate for kids. Shouldn't they have at least one channel with a PG party for families sitting at home quietly bringing in the new year to watch without having to explain transvestites, group hot tub activities, and why that man is wearing nothing but black leather underwear in the middle of the winter? Seriously--maybe nobody has thought about it, but how many families out there like to watch the new year come in together with their kids, and how many of them appreciate the line-up of "entertainment" being provided for that event? I remember when Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve was at least clean.

And while I'm at it, if I never hear Kathy Griffin speak out loud again, it will be just fine with me. I told Steve we ought to use HER voice for the audio gear-up warning system on the 172RG. I'd do anything to avoid listening to her, including flying around with the gear hanging down.

Anyway. Back to the positives. :) We had another little recital today; Kaylee sang and did a dance, Alonna played the piano, as did Steve, as did I. Ann did a little dance and sang "You Ain't Nothin' But A Hound Dog", which we all enjoyed a great deal. Well, Steve claimed to be traumatized to see his mother shake it like that, but I know he secretly thought it was great. :) Steve and Cathy discussed their shenanigans as young siblings, and so did Alonna and Morgan. We just sat in the room and watched the sun set and talked and laughed. Is there anything better?

Happy New Year to my friends, my family, the SMA families, and the Glenndale/Sheridan folks. May 2008 bring about more good than bad, more happy than sad, and more rewards than "learning experiences" for us all!

I Wanna Be A CowGirl Bay-Bee...

Sorry, it's a song that's been stuck in my head since I saw Kaylee on a horse. Even though Kaylee was wearing a white helmet and not a cowboy hat.

We all got up a bit earlier this morning and went to church in town. This is a really big church, and has quite a few Nashville celebrities that attend. In fact, "Hannah Montana" Cyrus went there and was even Morgan's bunk mate at camp, which ought to impress Kaylee when we tell her tomorrow. lol When we walked in, I was still kind of waking up, but the music took care of that and woke me up in no time. :) We walked in and there was a full band up front with drums, electric guitar, keyboard and piano, back-up singers, and a young man with a mohawk and a fantastic voice as the lead singer. There was a laser light show happening, stage fog, background images, the whole works. I leaned over to Steve and shouted "I feel like I'm going to a rock concert!" He yelled back "What??" And I shouted "Exactly!" Personally, I enjoy visiting this church, and it also made me laugh a little today, in a good way. They played one song "Jesus Paid It All", which is one that many of you reading this blog probably know. But I'll bet you don't know the version where they come in with an electric guitar 'riff' halfway though. I kept picturing a lady named Maxine playing that on the piano very properly. :o) Anyway, the sermon was *really* good, and I enjoyed it, too. He's funny, very intelligent, slightly sarcastic, and puts things in a different way than you may have thought of them in the past. He's just an excellent speaker and it was a good message. And Kaylee did the time-honored tradition of doodling on her bulletin quietly during the sermon...though she did also take a few notes with her cousin Tanner's help on spelling, which I thought was sweet! (I also did find out that even more comfortable dress shoes aren't good on a damaged toe if they slant inwards at all, kind of squeezing said toes together too much. Ouch.)

For lunch we went to Jake's Deli, and everybody had giant baked potatoes with stuff on them except for Kaylee (mac & cheese of course!) and me (Chicken panini). Excellent food, as always!

We came home, and I kind of crashed for a little while, and I have no idea what anybody else was doing while I did that. ;) But what finally lured me out of bed was Kaylee going out to ride Bean the Horse. It was way too pretty of a day and way too rare of an opportunity for me to not go take photos. Alonna rode her horse nearby and Kaylee rode Bean. She started off being led by Morgan, and eventually she felt comfortable taking the reins herself and wandering around a bit. She wanted to try a cantor, was a little disturbed at it the first time, and then with Aunt Cathy running on one side and Morgan on the other, she decided that was pretty fun. "Bumpy", but fun. I have to admit, it was cute. And you couldn't ask for a better backdrop. The hills in the background, the blue skies, the sun getting low, the girls having fun, the parents and grandparents enjoying the view. It's an almost idyllic scenario, and one that left me feeling rather thankful again for family, for relaxation, and for the opportunities that Kaylee has yet no idea how lucky she is to have.

We came in for some hot chocolate, masterfully prepared by Mr. Tanner, watched a football game, ate, I worked on uploading Cathy's photos to my card, just did...stuff. Watched the Colts game, had snacks, worked on photos some more, gave Kaylee a much-needed bath, and then everyone headed off to bed except me, the Night Owl Who Had A Nap. It was fun! I suppose I'll try to go to sleep so I won't be the last woman up by TOO long tomorrow morning.

Oh, if you're happy that the background image is no longer off to the left but is back in the middle where it's supposed to be, you can thank Justin. Of course I may be the only Obsessive/Compulsive person out there who cared, but it Wasn't Right and it Was Bugging Me, so I'm glad it's fixed anyway! :)

Kaylee's going to be hard to live with when we get home in a few days. She absolutely thrives on human contact and interaction; she's a complete socialite who never tires of being around people and sometimes bossing them around. I've jokingly called her a "black hole" before (not said to her), because no matter how much attention you lavish on her, she can take it all and never be filled, even if it's midnight of the 6th day of straight playing with her all day long. :) She's had the undivided attention of her Grandma Chiles for days in a row first, and now the undivided attention of four cousins for days in a row. We're going to get home and she's going to really be missing the attention! Even so, I'm glad. She's a very lucky little girl. You only get to be an innocent child once, and every day that she can spend with a sparkle in her eye and the unconditional love of family is a day well spent in my opinion. She'll have plenty of time where the world doesn't revolve around her...like when vacation is over with...so let her have her joy. :)

Christmas Round II

We woke up this morning to a *beautiful* day! The kids played outside quite a bit, the men mostly relaxed, and most of the ladies worked on stuff. Everybody went out by the horses for awhile; Kaylee fed a couple of them, and Alonna and Morgan did some bareback riding. I was taking a photo of Kaylee feeding Bean a carrot, when suddenly a very large something bumped me, and when I turned around I was face to face with a very large horse-I jumped about a foot in the air. Thank you Sir Henry for nosing me over. ;)

We had a huge brunch of waffles, eggs, bacon, oranges, strawberries, and so on, and then the kids and Aunt Cathy and I wrapped all our presents and put them under the tree. A little more goofing around, and then about 4 pm we had our Christmas. It was a lot of fun, actually. We got to surprise a few people, and a good time was had by all. We got gifts in honor of Devon and Sidney too, which is sweet.

Before we opened gifts, most of the 'kids' did something. Tanner and Rania played songs on the piano, Rania recited the Christmas story memorized from the Bible, Alonna read the other version, and Kaylee sang "Jingle Bells" for everybody.

Kaylee and Cousins were jumping on the trampoline for awhile too, and Kaylee and Alonna ended up butting heads pretty hard. Kaylee got a scrape, but was fine. Alonna however got a really bad knot on her head and a headache to go along with it. Several packages of frozen veggies and meat rolls on her head later, it looks better, but it had to hurt!

After dinner we played with gifts for awhile and then sat to watch the game and wish the Giants would beat the Patriots, ruining their "perfect" season. It was close for awhile there and I thought I might get my Christmas wish after all, but alas, it was not to be. Oh well...hopefully the Colts will take them out shortly.

I did my brain age thing today, and re-did the 'age' test, and I'd lost a year. I'm now all the way down to 43 years old. Wow. *eyeroll* Oh well. I've said for awhile now my mind isn't working anything like it used to! I may only be 35, but I really miss my 25 year old brain! :) I did have a lot of improvement in two areas though, now that I knew what to do.

Anyway, it was a fun, relaxing, beautiful day!

Tennessee Arrival

We tried to leave Kokomo around 4 p.m. Instead, we ran around in Kokomo until almost 5 p.m., when we finally got to drive out of town and head south. We thought it would still put us there at 11 p.m. our time, or 10 pm their time, which shouldn't be too bad. And then we hit Louisville, KY. They had narrowed four lanes of traffic going over the bridge down to ONE lane, and we were a parking lot for miles. It took us over 40 minutes to cross the bridge. It was absolutely ridiculous! As I was sitting there in a long line of traffic, thoughts of airplanes ran through my head. You know, that perhaps it would have been worth dealing with the fog rather than sitting still in traffic for an extra hour. Once I got past the blockage, I set my cruise control on a fairly high number and I let her rip, all the rest of the way to Franklin. I decided that nobody had to stop to use the restroom or eat, and according to the GPS, I made up 15-20 minutes time lost to the traffic jam. Steve didn't say much over there as I made my way south, which surprised me, but he made up for it after we arrived and his stories of fearing for his life as I weaved my way in and out of traffic started coming out. Kaylee played with her DS pretty much the entire trip, which worked out quite well for all of us. ;)

Kaylee was rather excited to see her cousins and their new beautiful house. Today she helped them with the four horses, slogging through the mud, feeding, watering, a little poo scooping action, etc. She was quite a funny sight in her borrowed boots and big jacket. :)

I woke up this morning to low-hanging fog, thunder, and rain, which left me thankful we'd driven yesterday after all. Even I wouldn't have cared to try to come into an airport in this terrain in this weather with the equipment we had. ;) It made me feel slightly better about the traffic jam, at least now that I wasn't in it any more.

We've spent the day hanging out, talking, eating. Kaylee's been playing non-stop and tormenting her cousins. They've played on the Wii, they've played hide and seek in the house with many rooms, they've just had some fun for the day. This evening, Steve, Cathy, Kaylee and I went shopping for some last-minute gifts, and then it was more play time before bed. Hopefully tomorrow the sun will shine and everybody will get to play outside! One shocking thing-I've been here about 24 hours, and I've only taken a couple of photos! Huh, I must not be feeling quite like myself. ;)

I played that "Brain Age" game for the first time today. I took their quiz to determine my existing Brain Age...and it came up with this: "Your Brain Age is 44 years. Your brain is a little tired, isn't it." Heeeey! Well, it's not like I didn't already know this. It says the optimal brain age is 20 years. Er, I have a ways to go. ;) I did well on the math, and well on the music/rhythm, but I did pretty lousy on the word unscramble. Worst of all for me was a funny kids' game. They put up a picture of a hand doing the rock, paper, or scissors symbols, and then it tells you to either win or lose, and say out loud what you need to do to win or lose. The only problem was, I'd see them put up a picture of say scissors, and it would say "lose", and I'm supposed to say "paper" because paper would lose to scissors. But I could NOT keep it straight. I'd think that *I* was the one on the screen, and I'd make it lose, and it ended up telling me I played that particular game like an 80 year old. Oops.

Mental Note: You know you're out of shape when waving around a remote control for two hours leaves your shoulder and arm muscles stiff and painful. I didn't say anything until Kaylee complained her arm hurt too, and then I figured it was safe. I was wrong. It wasn't safe to admit that at all. But you know what, like it or not, waving around a remote for two hours did indeed provide a fair amount of exercise to that arm and shoulder. It's my new exercise program. I'll let Brain Age work on my brain age, and I'll let the Wii work on my right arm/shoulder. Then at least one, maybe two parts of me will be in better shape. ;)

Off to get the Gamer Chick in bed. The other one, with the much younger brain. ;)

You and Mii make Wii!

Kaylee woke up this morning to this sight:

We turned it on for her (we had to play with it until 1:40 a.m. just to make sure it all worked, you know!), and she played that thing for over an hour and a half straight. Bowling, tennis, golf and baseball. We didn't have the remote for boxing hooked up yet. She played for so long she forgot to stop and eat breakfast-and this is the girl who is usually a little munster if she doesn't get her food first thing. :) We did up our Wii characters too, to look as much like us as we could pull off. They didn't have ball caps for Steve, so we just had to make him look cooler with sunglasses. He didn't like the lipstick and eyeshadow I gave his Wii for awhile, but Kaylee appreciated it. ;)

Anyway, that took up most of the morning when we should have been doing other productive things...like packing. After lunch I ran Kaylee to Wal-Mart, where she bought two Nintendo cartridges with her Christmas money, and I bought one too. I bought a memory aid game. Which is ironic because the other main reason I went to Wal-Mart was to get kitty litter. Which I forgot. *sigh*

I ran her home, and we started packing right away. The weather isn't looking great for tomorrow, and it would take about 4 hours to fly including the hour plus drive to the airport for those picking us up, all the double loading, etc., and it's only a six hour drive. So...we're going to head off to Tennessee in about an hour here, driving. *gasp!* :) Kaylee has a fully charged Nintendo to play, two new games to conquer, and a DVD player to watch. She'll be much better entertained than the rest of us. Oh yes, and ear buds to wear so she can enjoy it by herself. Have I ever mentioned...I LOVE technology! Muhaha!

Okay, I have to finish packing before Steve gets home so we can be ready to take off asap. Catch you later! Here's a photo of Pajama Kaylee Bowling this morning...

Post Christmas

Last night (and tonight), Kaylee has piled her blankets, stuffed animals and pillows in her Princess tent in the front living room, and that is where she is sleeping. The cats even joined her a couple of times, and it's been quite a hidey hole in there. Isn't that cute? :)

Kaylee hid Deenie behind her tent, meaning I had to do some flexible crawling around to get to the doll to re-hide her for the morning. I ended up hiding her in a harder spot just for paybacks. ;) She put her there again tonight-I just hope I can get the doll out of there without waking her up and getting caught.

We all went to lunch at Culvers today, family and friends, and then Mom & Ernie took off back home, Steve went to work, and Kaylee and I came home. Kaylee has spent a *lot* of time with her Nintendo DS, and is already 40% finished with her first game cartridge in just two days! She's pretty good, actually.

I spent a good amount of time catching up on some computer work, some snail mail, a little clean-up from Christmas. We were going to go to TN tomorrow, but it's just going to be too busy. I have a flight to Illinois in the morning, Steve has a flight tomorrow, we need to pack, I have to go to Wal-Mart (ack!) for a couple of things...so we're going to head out Friday morning instead. Hopefully that will make things a little more relaxed. Then it'll be Christmas in Tennessee. :)

Tonight we're going to hook up the Wii when Steve gets home from work, and give it a shot. Let the games begin! Mu-ha-ha!

Christmas Peace

Last night, Kaylee's prayer over dinner was "Bless this food, and I hope you have a great birthday, Jesus. Amen."

Kaylee set out a cookie, chocolate milk, and this letter she wrote to Santa, and put it all under the tree. After she finally went to bed, I got out the wrapping paper and finished up all the presents from "Santa", stuffed her stocking, arranged everything, moved Deenie out to the tree without getting caught, and generally was as prepared for Christmas morning as I could be.

I woke up early Christmas morning, and looked around, and nobody was stirring, not even a...cat. We don't have mice that I know of. :) So I went back to sleep gratefully. The next thing I knew, I was sensing a very close presence, so I opened one eye, and was eyeball to eyeball with one very large grinning six-year-old wearing a Santa Hat staring at me. She whispered in my ear "It's Christmas Mommy! Get up!"

(Of course the bad thing about Christmas morning pictures is that the adults, unless they are wise and get up early first, are unshowered and un-made-up. At least this adult was. Fortunately, not many photos were taken of yours truly!)

Kaylee waited very patiently, and as soon as everyone was up and ready to go, she attacked her stocking first, and then we moved on to presents. It was a really fun day. Kaylee was really excited about all of her presents, and she spent a lot of time jumping up and down, screeching, thanking, laughing, clapping, dancing, and otherwise having a very good day. The adults had a good Christmas too, actually. One funny thing...Mom and I ended up getting each other the same gift! Ernie picked it out for me, and almost got one for themselves too; Steve and I picked it out for Mom, and almost got one for me too! Neither of us did, and we ended up each giving the other person the same thing. Apparently we both had good taste and a good idea at the same time. ;)

After the Presents Bonanza, Steve fixed a brunch of eggs, pancakes, and bacon, and we ate ourselves silly for awhile.

Unfortunately, our sink was still stopped up quite thoroughly. Now the water wasn't going down at all, in fact. This was not a good thing. Steve worked on it for quite awhile, using the plunger again, taking apart the pipes under the sink, and eventually getting a snake into the pipe. I ended up hearing the snake all the way in the bathroom, and still the water wasn't draining, and there really wasn't anywhere else to go. He put everything back together and used the plunger again, and finally, finally it went. Then he had to check under the house and make sure he hadn't blown something down there, and fortunately it was fine. Now we had a pretty good-sized mess left behind, but we were so grateful to have a working sink again without having to call in a plumber, that I didn't mind cleaning it up at all. Two loads of dishes, a load of nasty towels, and one scrubbed sink later, we were back in business.

When I took my shower, I untaped my toes, and the "bum" toe was a lovely mottled color and weird swollen shape. It hurt when the water hit my toe. I still don't know if it is broken, fractured, or just badly bruised, but either way, I'm not looking forward to having to wear shoes for the first time. :O

Kaylee (and Grandma) played all day long with her new Christmas goodies, and other than cleaning, I worked on getting up my pictures and my Christmas present stuff too. It was a Good Day filled with family, fun, food, and relaxation...once the sink was fixed anyway. ;)

Merry Christmas guys...

Christmas Eve

It's amazing how little it feels like Christmas Eve. Do you remember back to some undefined time when the days before Christmas just seemed a little bit like magic? How you could feel and smell and taste Christmas for weeks before it arrived? I remember being a kid and lying on the couch in the living room with all the lights off, and the tree lights lit (those giant multi-colored bulbs), and our Christmas records playing on the record player, and dozing off to sleep with a feeling of quiet peace. A few nights ago, Kaylee brought her blankets and pillow out to the front living room, and fell asleep on the floor watching the tree lights, and it made me smile.

Steve and Ernie went out and about on the town today, doing some last minute shopping, going out to the airport a bit, just "guy stuff" as they put it. Mom, Kaylee and I hung out at the house. They've spent the day playing, something Kaylee quite enjoys as you can imagine. An adult's undivided attention for entire days at a time? Child Bliss.

Today I was getting lunch for Kaylee, and I grabbed a large glass jar of pickles, and promptly dropped it. It landed at an angle on the bottom edge of the jar directly on my second toe on my right foot. The full weight of the drop/jar hit in one little spot no bigger than a half inch in the middle of the bone of that one toe, and I made a noise I've only heard come out of my mouth one other time-when I poured boiling water down my chest/stomach. Something between a yell and a scream and a nonsense word. It hurt enough I actually got nauseated for a minute, and when you touched my toe, you could feel the dent in it, no kidding. I have a witness. I couldn't bend it, and I assumed I broke it. Since they can't do anything but tape the little toes if they break, I decided to save a few hundred bucks and just tape it myself, sit an ice pack on it for awhile, and take some Tylenol. I'm still not sure if it's broken or not, but I'm not going to untape that thing and check right now, considering it doesn't feel so great to tape and untape it. Right now it's down to a low throb when I limp. Even if it's not broken, it certainly did some deep bruising. Watch out for those pickle jars...I think they're dangerous. ;)

We had ordered a Wii for Christmas, and Steve paid extra for it to be delivered by today. But they didn't leave it, and now we won't have it until Wednesday, and they have no phone number or way to contact them about it. So, when they do deliver it, they will be leaving without a package but with an extra piece of Steve's mind. Or perhaps with a chunk of their backside missing.

After dinner tonight, I managed to plug up our sink quite thoroughly. Well, not quite the sink. It made it down the sink, past the garbage disposal, past the trap, and is blocked somewhere behind that. We've plungered it (that may not be a word, but you know exactly what I mean!), poured caustic chemicals down it, plungered it some more, removed pipes that we can reach, and....nothing. So as of right now, no dish washer and no kitchen sink, plugged pipes, and a worry that a visit from a plumber would be necessary-but impossible to obtain-on Christmas Day. *sigh*

There are several people I know who are having a harder time this Christmas. The ladies from the Grief group, Andrea whose mother just passed away, several families whose SMA children are sick and/or in the hospital over the holidays struggling with pneumonia and RSV, and Michaele whose grandmother just passed away, among others. Life doesn't stop for the holidays, but it's always tough to deal with these things at all, let alone during what is supposed to be a happy-and is always a frantic-time.

Well, I didn't send out Christmas cards this year, but I hope each of you who knows me well enough to know this blog exists knows how much I enjoy and appreciate your friendship, company, and love. I am indeed blessed!

Blow-Out

MAN is it windy here. I don't know the final numbers because I wasn't really in front of a TV/computer most of the day, but I know it was supposed to be up around 45 mph gusts and that Indy got gusts upwards of 55 mph. I believe it. Walking outside required effort to stay upright, and sitting in my warm living room right now, I can hear it howling out there like something from a scary movie.

We had a slow start to the morning, sleeping in a little bit, and then we leisurely got ready and piled into the Jeep with our comfy lawn chairs. We stopped at Kroger where I picked up our relish plate and a cart load of drinks, and then headed out to Nathan's hangar. We arrived first, so we had time to get all the drinks we could fit in the refrigerator/freezer, and we set the rest outside to chill off just fine in the icy wind. The hangar was set up nicely with decorated tables, a small tree, fireplace, the 58" tv, and a smaller tv set up off to the side hooked up to a Wii for the kids. People started arriving, and soon we had 40 or more people milling around, eating, and just having a good time. The Colts game started at 1pm, but it was not exactly a challenge of a game, which is both good and bad. Good because we won by a landslide, and bad because it wasn't exactly an overly exciting game. ;) We spent the day eating, drinking and being merry, and it was a fun, relaxing day. Kaylee had a blast playing with Maggie and several other little friends, riding around on a scooter on the hangar floor, playing with the Wii for her first time ever, etc. She *really* liked that Wii; she got a few strikes and spares in bowling, and liked doing a girl make-over game too. She said she wished she'd asked for one for Christmas. He he.

Two nights ago I got all our Christmas presents wrapped, and after Kaylee went to bed, I put them all under the tree, and Steve put a new light-up star on top of our tree. Then I put Deenie the Elf in her sleeping bag by Kaylee's door. Deenie the Elf first visited Kaylee last year for Christmas. Every night after Kaylee is asleep, Deenie gets up and hides, makes a mess, does something fun. Kaylee was SO excited to wake up and see all the presents and Deenie. I had put a note with Deenie that said "Hi Kaylee! I've missed you! Love, Deenie." Kaylee shortly after that came out and accused me of writing the note, saying "I recognize that "y", Mommy, YOU wrote that! And that's MY purple pen, too!" Later she told Mom that I had written the note, but that Deenie had come to her door all on her own. Kaylee also correctly guessed one of her presents under the tree, though of course I wouldn't tell her she was right. So today, Kaylee decided to test Deenie. She sprinkled her with her "dots", and then said "we're all leaving. When we come back home, if Deenie has moved, I'll KNOW Mommy didn't move her because nobody will be here." So on our way out the door, Kaylee was in front of me, and I grabbed Deenie and moved her to a shelf without getting caught. When we came back from the hangar, the first thing Kaylee did was check Deenie...and she screamed and was quite excited to find Deenie had indeed moved while we were gone. Hey, it's the last year she's going to let herself believe. She asked me the other day if Deenie was real, and I actually told her that I'd answer her, but that sometimes it's more fun NOT to know all the answers, and that maybe she should wait to ask until she'd be okay with the answers. She then said she didn't want to know...

Well, it was a fun day. I put up some of the photos from today on my site, so you can check them out if you wish. :)

Saturday

Ah, what can I say about today? I cleaned! Mopped, dusted, vacuumed, scrubbed, bedding, yadda yadda yadda. I still don't have my projects all done, but I'm really close.

This afternoon I gave away all our baby clothes. I don't know how many bins they hauled off, but it filled a Suburban and then some. :) A lot of the clothes will be going to specific ladies a friend knows who don't have anything, a few others will be going to local friends. The ladies from the church are happy to have that many clothes to go through and give to those who need them, and Steve is dancing-the-jig-happy to have garage space again. Of all things, I only had a little trouble with baby blankets. I opened a little bin and it held all the baby blankets we used with Devon-he would lay on the floor and I'd put him on these blankets, and they still kind of smelled...the same. I kept some of those, but other than that, it was a fire sale. "Everything Must Go!"

Mom & Ernie arrived tonight, and Kaylee has disappeared with Grandma to go play. I'd say she's happy. ;) Tomorrow's a hangar party with some family and friends, for Christmas. There's a 58" tv screen in the hangar hooked up to cable so we can watch the Colts game, and there's a portable fireplace in there, a tree, lights, lots of food and drinks. It should be fun. :)

Achy Breaky Legs

Today was Kaylee's school Christmas party, so she wore a dress and gold shoes and had a fun day. She got a ton of candy and little goodies, and was quite pleased.

I worked all morning on Kaylee's room and a few other things, and then went out to Glenndale for our Friday Lunch. It was a true southern meal, with cheesy potatoes, sweet cornbread...stuff, rolls, ham, etc. It's nice to get together with friends and coworkers and just hang out. :)

When I picked up Kaylee, I brought her right back to Glenndale so Steve could watch her while I finished some last-minute Christmas and food shopping. I decided to go to Meijer in hopes of finding everything I needed in one place. It was (obviously) Packed Out, and I was there for quite a long time. I did find about 90% of what I needed, but at least one of the remaining items was rather important, so after I filled the car with my bags, I headed over to Target, where thankfully I finished finding everything I needed (for now). I started shopping at 4:30, and it was about 7:20 pm before I got home. It was...trying...but I think we're almost set up and ready to go for the holidays, and I plan on enjoying the time with family and friends.

When I was at Meijer tonight, I was at the Deli to get some sandwich material, when a man basically cut in front of me in line. I didn't say anything, and the next available person went to help me, and the man turned around in surprise and said "Oh! I'm sorry, I thought you were already being helped!" I waved a hand and said "It's no problem." He said "You're one of those girls who will let somebody step over them without saying anything, huh?" just joking. I started laughing at that, and said "Well, if I'm in the right mood, I guess so. Merry Christmas!"

Usually I end up shopping on Christmas Eve, and I noticed a big difference between today, 3 or 4 days early, and Christmas Eve. People are in much better moods. I was helped by two friendly and cheerful employees tonight, as opposed to the slightly hostile and frazzled ones I typically encounter. The stores were packed out and crowded, but the people were in more of a holiday cheerful mood than the Last-Minute Desperation and Anxiety Mode that I usually see. I noticed that in several different stores. There's an unscientific but circumstantial chain of 'evidence' suggesting that even 3 or 4 days ahead of time will leave you with friendlier folks to deal with. :) And no, I don't need the suggestion to start shopping in July and be done by November! :P

Tonight I'm going to do a lot of wrapping, and I was going to do some clothes hanging, but I am tired. My muscles are all really sore too. Who knew this shopping/cleaning stuff was such good exercise. ;) I'm not done yet, but I'm at least feeling pretty good about what IS done...

Veni, vidi, vici.

Sort of.

It was a busy, non-stop day. Went over Kaylee's verse with her before school, and after I dropped her off I just headed home and went to work. Several loads of laundry, dishes, and then I decluttered several areas that needed it. That took me up through lunch, where I decided to stop and take a break even though I was on a roll. We met up at Culvers, after which I stopped at the post office. You don't try to park in the post office's parking lot, or you'll be in a huge line. You park at the bank next door, and walk across the snow, and you're in right away. Well, in the DOOR anyway. Not so much in the building. I have a package I'm supposed to pick up, but the line was too long, so I'll wait for tomorrow morning when it isn't as busy. I went home, and...worked. I put my iPod in and went to town, and I worked straight for over two hours, until it was time to pick up Kaylee and take her to gymnastics. From gymnastics I brought her home, had her do her homework, fed her, had her clean up several areas in her room, and I...worked some more. I took a break for a little while in the evening, and then back to work, until past 11 p.m. Right now my muscles are already sore, and I'm tired, but I got a lot of stuff done. I have more to do. I'm doing a couple of big projects at once, but I'll be glad when they're done. Maybe I'll talk about them some other night, but for tonight I'm too tired and worn out.

One thing I realized; after Steve left is when I put in my iPod, and the door was locked, and I realized why I don't do that more often. I don't like the fact that should someone walk right up behind me, I'd never hear them coming. The treadmill gives me the same feeling, because I can't hear over it and the music. Same reason I lock the bathroom door when I take a shower, even if I'm alone in the house. I don't like to be sneaked up on, what can I say. ;)

The Journey to Kalamazoo

I've always liked the name of that city. "Kalamazoo" has a certain...flair to it. :) Anyway, the Baron needed to go up there today and stay to get its annual inspection done (yearly maintenance inspection), and I was the "chase" plane in the Saratoga. I hadn't been out to the airport since our freezing rain/snow, so I gave a little groan when I got there and saw how ice-covered all the taxiways and ramps and runways still were. It was COLD, too. We immediately ran into two problems: 1) Couldn't pull the Baron out of the hangar because the ramp was so icy that the wheels on the tug just spun and 2) Couldn't pull the Saratoga (pictured to the right) out of its hangar because the taxiway and "driveway" for lack of a better word was so icy, and Uphill, that there was no way the tug was going to get it out. This is where having a lot of helpful friends is very important. :) Steve and Steve C. tried to break up the ice in front of the hangar so that the tug could maybe get some traction, but that was a losing proposition. So Chuck got a tow strap out, hooked it to our Jeep, and Steve pulled out both planes with the Jeep. Of course it was a little more difficult than that, but that's the bottom line, and it worked. I'd never have gotten out of there by myself, that's for sure. Even most of the places that look clear had a thin veneer of ice over them. It took everybody a lot of time and effort to get us going, and I appreciated it! The weather hadn't sounded so great--in-flight icing, IFR, so this wasn't shaping up to be a nice relaxing flight. Nathan took off first, and I followed behind him, and the runway was just a sheet of ice with a little snow on it. As I was adding power (gently!) to take off, I said out loud to myself "Don't touch the brakes, whatever happens!" It never hurts to remind oneself of important things. ;) But the rest of the trip that had sounded questionable wasn't, and ended up just perfect. Got on top of the clouds and it was a be-au-ti-ful day up there, clear skies and bright sun. It was a quick flight over, got just a hint of ice on the windshield coming back down, and their runway in Michigan was just fine. We left the Baron there and all headed back together in the Saratoga. The only event of any "fun" there was the landing. One Airplane Sled, coming up! It's funny, we talked all the way down the ILS, but once it got down to the landing, that was one quiet airplane. Nathan was flying this leg, and he did a textbook job. Funnily enough, before we touched down, he said out loud to himself "Davis, don't touch the brakes, whatever happens." I laughed to myself, since I was fairly sure I'd heard that somewhere else that same day. :) We touched down straight and our momentum carried us straight, even with a bit of a crosswind (the one time a crosswind really is not a good thing) but it was still dead quiet in the airplane until we'd slowed down to almost a stop, at not too far away from the end of the runway. Then somebody said something, and Nathan joked "we're not back to the hangar, yet!" But by this time, while the runway was still ice, fortunately the sun had done some work on the taxiways and it was starting to melt a little there. We still didn't think we'd have an easy time getting the plane put away, so Nathan drove it right into the big hangar, which worked for all of us. :) And thus concludes our Journey to Kalamazoo.

But it doesn't conclude Steve's adventures. After he helped pull out our two planes, he had a lesson in another plane...and nobody really to help him pull it out because we were all gone to Kalamazoo now. He got it out, mostly, and it was icy enough he could just grab a wing and push and the whole plane swiveled around. But it wouldn't start. Dead battery. Last I heard, he was trying to hook up a battery charger to get it started for his student who was an hour late and with weather still a little low for VFR (normal) flying. So Steve's having a great day. ;)

Ken and Steve are out there instructing, too. Ah, winter flying in the heartland. I have to laugh-we at Glenndale are the Postman Equivalent of Aviation: Neither rain nor wind nor icy runway stays these pilots from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. ;)

(Sleet would though.)

When we got everything put away, we were *starving*, so Nathan, Chuck and I went to Ci-Ci's Pizza, where I wolfed down slightly too much food. Not too much else going on tonight. Kaylee is doing homework now and then I'll take her on to Awanas and head out to dinner with Steve and Chuck (who has probably seen way too much of me today) ;). I think I may actually go to bed early tonight; I'm kind of pooped today, and I didn't get anything done around here, either. Oh well, there's always tomorrow. *gulp*

The Good, the Bad and the Amusing

Yes, I know the image in my header is off to the left instead of centered. It's never been off to the left before. I went into the html and it says the header image is "centered". But it's not, and it's driving me crazy. I've asked eBlogger about it, with no response. So...for now, do your best to ignore it, and may you be more successful at it than I.

Last night, Kaylee had a lot of trouble breathing. (Through her nose, not in general.) The poor thing was miserable, and couldn't sleep, so she came into our room so we could all share in the joy of the sleepless night. I got up and got her some medicine, but it never really seemed to help. I then passed out off and on, when she wasn't kicking me, but it was not a restful night for any of us. I don't know what time she finally got to sleep, but I'm thinking it wasn't too far from the time I had to shake her awake for school. Kaylee woke up this morning groggy, of course, but she did better than the rest of us getting ready for the day. Fortunately, today is one of her days 'off' from extracurricular activities, so I had her take it a little easy at home and go to bed a little early.

I got a *lot* done towards Christmas today, which pleases me greatly! I got a good amount done around the house, with just a couple of areas left to tackle. I got my banking done, the post office, made it to Kroger to pick up a few Christmas things they had, made a run out to Glenndale to pick up Tolerex (man those roads are nasty out there still, just covered in ice, making a Chrysler 300 an excellent sled), took it over to Fed Ex, dropped off a bunch of stuff at home, and met up for lunch with the crew just in time to get the phone call that the funds transfer had successfully taken place and the ventilator should be on the way to the little boy.

I was feeling pretty motivated and getting a lot done, but I took on a challenge destined to suck all available motivation out of any red-blooded American: I Went To Wal-Mart One Week Before Christmas. I did a little preparation; I had a fully charged iPod that I wore into the store, which helped put more soothing sounds in my ears. I couldn't do much about the crush of people, so I managed that by just not getting a cart. What I was getting could be carried easily in my two hands, which gave me more maneuverability. There were a few dark moments. One of the gifts I was buying, they wouldn't let me touch or carry, they insisted on taking it up to "register 17" to wait for me there when I was done shopping. Fine. I go to the electronics department and what I buy there I have to wait in a huge line to pay for there, because they won't let me touch or carry what I'm getting there, either. Fine. I finish my Christmas shopping for the day and gratefully head to register 17, which is backed up. All I have left unpaid is two items, but rather than going through the self-checkout lanes and being done in no time, I have to wait in Mega Line. Fine. Until I get up there, and the lady there has No Idea What I'm Talking About with regards to my first gift that I wasn't allowed to touch that should be waiting for me there. She looks at me and I look at the line of people behind me, and I feel a little throb in my head. I say "Can I just pay for it now and go get another one with the receipt?" She replies "I don't know how much it costs." And looks at me. I say "They had them back in such and such department too, I'd bet they know how much they are." She says "Would you like to go back to that department and get one now?" And looks at me. My response was a slightly strained "NO, I would not like to go back there and get one now. I was thinking perhaps you could call back there and find out how much they are so I can pay now and get out of everyone's way...and then go get one or have one brought up here perhaps." She looks at me, and nothing happens as her wheels spin very slowly towards no one particular solution. Finally another woman comes up, and immediately finds the Amazing Untouchable Object back behind the counter after all, and I am on my way out the door, intact. But Missions Accomplished! I got what I needed to get there with one exception, and on my hike back out to the boonies where my car was parked, I felt rather pleased with myself. Exhausted, but pleased. I Survived Wal-Mart! Plus, this may be the earliest I've ever been almost ready for Christmas. ;)

A couple of Kaylee stories for you.

Awhile ago, Kaylee told me that she had asked her friend M at school to help her be good in school, because M never got in trouble, so she thought M would be a good person to help her learn how to not get in trouble. I asked her if someone suggested that, and she said no, she just thought it was a good idea. I told her I thought it was a very wise thing for her to think of. Anyway, so today on the way home from school, she told me that she hadn't gotten in trouble at school in a long time, and that M reminded and helped her usually every day. I'm a little amazed that Kaylee asked someone to help her stay on the straight and narrow, and that she doesn't get annoyed at M whenever she says something. I'm amazed that she came up with that idea, and even more amazed that it's apparently working. Huh. I'm kind of proud of her for that.

Later we were snuggling on the couch talking, and I reached up and picked at my eyelashes as I do occasionally when I get sleepy. Kaylee knocks my hand away from my eye, and in a very mothering tone of voice says "Don't pick at your eye. You'll get an eye infection." I look at her and smile and in a teasing voice say "Hey, it's my eye and I'm a grown-up and I can pick at it if I want to; don't worry about it, I'll be fine." She looks at me and says in this-I swear-adult voice "Fine. But if your eye gets infected, don't come crying to me about it." :O

In school, Kaylee was supposed to write a paper about a pet, so she chose Dulce. She claims she ran out of things to say, so she finished the paper with "And when Dulce poops, it smells really really bad." *sigh* The teacher erased the line, saying "Well, that's unnecessary to talk about." Thank you, Kaylee...I guess M didn't get to her fast enough that time. ;)

Guess that's about it. I've gotten some more work done, but I think I'm finished now that it's 11 pm. It's going to be a very busy next couple of days!

Tales of a Pre-Tween

For those of you unfamiliar with the term, a tween is a child who is in between childhood and teenager. The definition says usually between ages 8 to 12, but I beg to differ. Kaylee is still officially six years old, but I'd like to show you the two posters she has chosen to hang on her door. One on the inside of her room, the other on the outside of her room. The poster she hung on the outside of her door is one that I used to have hanging up. A little known fact about me (other than by about everybody who reads this blog, that is), is that I always used to have posters of funny or inspirational or beautiful sayings all over. I had a big bulletin board I'd put them on when I was a kid in my room; I had them taped to the walls at Cedarville and at flight school. I just liked being reminded of important things before I'd get up in the morning or when I'd lay down at night. I'd saved several of my posters, Kaylee found them in the closet, and on going through them, she begged to keep one of them, the one goofy one, naturally.

But I think her poster choices define "tween" better than any words ever could. In between child and teen, indeed.

Zero to Hero and Back Again

I saw last night that there was a 2-hour school delay this morning for Kaylee, which pleased me. I think school should always start at 10:30, personally. ;) So I stayed up a little later and enjoyed a bit more of a relaxed start to Monday. Right up to the part where I went to take Kaylee to school, and as I passed the snowman she had built in the middle of our driveway, I realized that there was no way I was going to be able to get out of the garage without running over that snowman. I told her, to warn her, and reminded her that we had taken photos of the snow man to remember him by. I told her I'd do my best to miss him, but that I didn't think there was any way. Sure enough, I backed up as best I could, then stopped before I got to him, and pointed out that I couldn't get out the driveway without backing up more. As we were driving down the driveway, she looks out the back window wailing "You squished him! He's squished! I loved him, he was my favorite friend!" I told her that maybe he wasn't *really* squished, and that I'd look when I came home and see if he was okay. That brought about a bit of peace, anyway.

After running some errands and having lunch at Half Moon with the Glenndale crew, most of whom had all worn the same green Glenndale Sweatshirt, I went home and found Mr. Snowman most definitely squished. His orange buttons (candy pumpkins from Halloween) had melted in the snow, and there was orange snow smeared everywhere. I got a shovel and moved the remains over to the yard next to the sidewalk, and then picked through the orange snow to find the remains of the buttons and sticks, and I rebuilt Mr. Snowman, which was no little task. He looked a little different, and a bit like he'd been shot, with a spray of orange snow behind him, but he was whole. I picked Kaylee up from school and told her he'd been wounded but not killed, and when she saw him she looked him over and decided that I was a hero. *bows* It's a good thing, since I froze my fingers off sifting through orange snow to find tiny little orange buttons. ;)

I stopped at my bank today to do a wire transfer of money, and whomever typed up my info needs to take a refresher course. I had to correct four spelling errors she made on the documentation, including a big mistake by using the wrong account number. This is for a lot of money, and all those errors were not cool. Anyway, I spotted them, fixed them, signed all the papers and left. Oh, while we were waiting, Kaylee watches the lady typing on the typewriter, and asks what that is. I explain that it's an electric typewrite, and that it's what people used before computers to type documents. She looks at me in surprise and says "Wow, that must be REALLY old!" I admittedly felt a little old having to explain what a typewriter was. Anyway, I ran home, grabbed Kaylee's ballet and cheer stuff, and am sitting in ballet when the bank calls, because they'd forgotten to write down the city name I'd given them of where the money is going. An account number, routing number, name, and all the other info isn't good enough to identify a bank?? Nothing I could do about it now, so the transfer won't go through until tomorrow, which does not please me. But...what are you going to do.

Ballet is winding down, and the teacher has a little Christmas party for all the girls. She hands out little candy canes, puts a video of the Rockettes on a tv, and passes out cookies too. Then she opens all the presents that all the kids had brought her today. Well, not all the kids. Then there was a knock on the door, and in walks a very large Santa. Jaws drop, and one little girl spins around and runs full tilt towards her mother, bawling. Mark one child terrified of a big guy in a red suit. :) He let them all tell him what they wanted for Christmas, took a picture with the whole class in front of the tree, then handed more candy on his way out. Kaylee came up to me and said "I know who that was." I said "Oh, who?" She said "It's Austin, Carrie's husband. I know it is, otherwise Austin would be in his normal seat over there." I asked her if that made her sad or if she liked knowing who it was, and she said "It makes me sad. All the Santas I've ever seen are just guys dressed up in a costume." She's so hard to know which way to handle, because on one hand she's almost obsessive about knowing the truth on stuff, and she will sniff it out and not be satisfied until she finds it. On the other hand, she wants so hard to believe in magical stuff, and it's so disappointing to her to have things like that shot down. She's a tough audience! :)

Snow-In Sunday

Well, church was cancelled for today. We only got about 6" of snow, but it was enough to cause problems, particularly with the higher winds. So, no church and no school Christmas program today either. I'm guessing they'll reschedule the Christmas program as opposed to just cancelling it.

So, today was "stay home" day. Steve broke out the Snow Blower, and it Worked! He got our driveway plowed in no time flat, and was indeed grateful to have taken the advice to "bring the snow blower home this time!" :) Kaylee went out and played in the snow through several rounds of clothing, and even made a little snow man in the middle of the driveway. Steve didn't plow him under, but he's standing alone out there right now and will probably bite the dust the first time somebody takes a car out of here. So I took photos of him so she could have something to remember him by. ;) There was a snowball fight, snow angel making, playing on the swing set covered in snow, and other snow-related fun activities today. Later, the sun even broke through and it was a really pretty...cold, but pretty...day.

Last night, on a whim we tried the VHS tape to DVD conversion on our player, and it not only worked, it worked like a charm and was as easy as pie. Just copy here, record there, and bam. So I now I have a DVD of the skydiving incident, which I took and broke into a bunch of snapshots which I put up on my webpage. The quality is bad on the snapshots, but you get the general idea anyway. ;) I also put a few pictures of Kaylee and her snow man and Steve plowing the driveway up on her site. So, a few new pictures for you to enjoy. I have a couple other VHS tapes I need to convert to DVD too before they bite the dust. Mom & Ernie already did our wedding I believe, so I have a few things from Purdue I need to do, and the plane crash news video, and me working at a soup kitchen, and a couple others. I guess I won't know if the DVDs will play on any other player, but it worked on my computer too, so that's a good sign...

Kaylee said what she wants for Christmas more than anything is her driver's license. *cough* Well, at least I have another 10 years before I have to worry about her out on the roads.

I put fresh batteries in our scale in the bathroom, and found out two things: One, Kaylee weighs more than I thought she did, and it seems to be mostly muscle (she's around 50 pounds), and Two...who needs a scale anyway??

Kaylee and Steve were wrestling in the living room, and she was actually beating him a couple of times. She'd get her arms wrapped around his neck and her legs wrapped around his body and he could NOT get her off prior to being about choked out. She's a strong little thing, seriously.

Well, tomorrow may be a school snow delay or cancellation, so we're a little in limbo, but I have plenty to do this week prior to Christmas!

Why Magic Rocks Are Harder To Grow Than You Think

At least for me.

The box is for kids ages 10 and up, which by default should make me capable of doing it properly. Of course if I'd done it properly, I wouldn't be writing this, now would I.

I followed the directions. Really, I did! Warm water, mixed with the solution. Divide the rocks. Put in the chemicals with warm water and add rocks. Don't let the rocks touch each other or the plastic sides of the 'tank'. Rocks grow big and tall in cool colors and shapes. No sweat, right? My first clue that something needed re-thought was when the directions told me to divide the rocks into four equal piles, two for each tank. Only one tank came in my box. No problem. I can actually divide four by two and come up with the right answer. Two piles it is. It says not to use your fingers to move the rocks around, and not to get the chemicals on your skin, clothing, or anything else. By the way, this also means you shouldn't use a pencil to try to separate the rocks in the bottom of the little tank. The eraser turns a funny color and grows a white fuzz. Don't ask me how I know that. Plastic paintbrush handles work much better. It says to add two cups water to the chemical bag stuff and stir, then pour into the tank. Huh, I have way more chemical/water mixture than I have room in the tank. Oh dear, I'll bet that was for two tanks too. *sigh* The water is supposed to be warm, and be kept warm. Too hot and the crystals grow too fast, too cold and their growth is stunted. And you're supposed to grow them for six hours. It says the first batch of rocks won't grow that well, but the second batch you put in six hours later will. No sweat! As the hours pass, I note that the water is cold now and how are you supposed to keep water warm when you can't exactly sit it outside in the summer sun or nuke it? I put a candle by it. Didn't work, but that's okay, it was "growing". Except...a lot of it was growing up the side of the tank. Er, that's why they didn't want you to let them get too close to the sides. They just grow straight up the wall, blocking the view inside the tank and not being cool crystal/rock formation growths at all. No problem, it's time to put the last set of rocks in the tank, and these should take off! Here is what it looked like at six hours:

I added the second set of rocks, and even got the bright idea to put it on the stove, under a warm light, to help keep the water temperature right. I scraped off some of the side growth, which was brilliant since I then couldn't get it out of the tank, meaning it floated down and crushed what growth there was down there, and blanketed the bottom of the tank. And regrew up the side anyway. It has now officially been another six hours later, and I am looking at a pink blob of fuzz on the bottom of the tank and a fake treasure chest in the middle of it. I'm supposed to tape a blue water background on the back of the tank, but somehow I can't hardly bring myself to do it. Kaylee is underwhelmed with "magic rocks", and I'm thrilled to have spent 12 hours cultivating...This. *sigh*

In case you were wondering, there are green, yellow, purple, orange and blue rocks in there too, somewhere under the pink and white undergrowth. Also in case you were wondering, THIS is how it's supposed to look (plus a fake treasure chest.)

"Watch this magic garden grow". Oh....bite me! :P

Slow Saturday

Well, the huge amounts of snow they were predicting for us seem to have about halved. We might get an inch today, and a grand total of 6-8" by the end of Sunday. There's still supposed to be heavily blowing snow, so I'm sure it will still be enough of a mess. It's been lightly snowing these tiny little flakes for several hours, and Kaylee went outside to catch snow on her tongue and just mess around like any kid should. :) Steve got the snow blower working, so we're ready just in case it does dump.

We were watching a "Mythbusters" show on skydiving myths, and Kaylee was asking questions about skydiving, and she was amazed when we said we'd done it once. So we broke out the VHS tape to prove it. She thought that was pretty interesting, and Steve and I agree it's fairly embarrassing. 1). Nobody looks good in a puffy orange jump suit tightened around the thighs and arms. 2). I giggled. More than once. 3). My wrists flopped around limply, looking very...well, dumb. 4). Steve's landing left him turtle-walking for a few seconds. But we jumped close to sunset, and it really is beautiful to watch and remember. You can hear a little awe in my voice at the end. Oh yeah, and 5). I have a mic strapped to me which picks up on every noise I make and broadcasts it to tape. Yuck. :) Kaylee said "Boy, you guys look young! Were you even married back then?" I said "No, but we were dating." Kaylee rolls over and puts her hands over her ears and says "Oh, Eeeeeeew!" lol I noted with a laugh that during the practice run on the ground, the guy I'm strapped to is telling me to let go of the strut and grab onto my straps and basically just hang off of him, holding on to nothing. In other words, if he slips, I'm face planting on the strut. I let go with one hand, then the other, but both hands wouldn't let go at the same time. He says "Trust me!" and I laughed-then and now. Finally I did, and the scrawny dude did not indeed let me face plant, fortunately for both of us. ;) I'm thinking of figuring out how to turn the VHS tape into a DVD just for future (private) embarrassment in later years should the tape bite the dust one of these days. ;)

Well, I don't think anything too exciting will happen the rest of the day, we're just hanging out, doing some laundry, a little straightening up, watching the snow fall and waiting to see what the weather does...

Hunker Down

Well, here comes one of the first big Winter Storm Warnings of the season. They're calling for anywhere from 6-12" of snow by Sunday, depending on who you believe, with winds gusting up to 40 mph, meaning it will be one piled-up mess. So today I went to the store to stock up on the all-important items you need In Case You Are Snowed In For Days. You know, things like toilet paper, milk, cough medicine, hot chocolate, ice cream, frozen pizza...oh yeah, fresh fruit, you know, stuff. ;) Chuck brought our snow blower home for us so we could have it to clear the driveway after the snow is done falling. Of course we haven't used it in years so have no clue if it will even start, but hey, at least it's here instead of trapped at Glenndale like last year. You know, where you can't get out of your driveway to go get your snow blower because you don't have a snow blower to clear your driveway first? :)

It was actually a busy day minus a several-hour break at the airport today. I went to bed around midnight, then woke up every few hours all night long. I saw 2, 4, 6, 7, and finally I got up at 7:15 a.m. I should have been exhausted, but I was amazingly...alert. After I took Kaylee to school, I came home to get some stuff, then went to the bank to make a deposit and headed to Glenndale to take the 172 out of there and into Kokomo. The runway was a bit soggy in the middle, but nothing too exciting-though I wouldn't have wanted any more weight in the plane. As it was, I made it off the runway just as it was getting to the soggy part, and I could feel the drag increasing. I put it away at Kokomo, and Chuck came and picked me up and took me back to Glenndale. By this time it was past 10 a.m., so I figured I might as well stay out there instead of go home and do some work. Fortunately I can remote desktop in from the office to my home computer, so I got some work done anyway for a couple of hours, until it was time to break for lunch...

After I picked Kaylee up from school, it was Crazy Errand Hours. I didn't get home for over two hours. I stopped by the post office again, went to Fed Ex and shipped off two things for SMA Support (which took awhile), went out to Glenndale to put some boxes in storage, followed Chuck, who had the snow blower, to my house, and went to the grocery store to stock up for the snow storm. I was not the only one with that idea. The store was packed out, with lines all the way back into the aisles. That's always fun. *coughs* Once we got home, it was now dark and even colder, and I hauled everything in and put it away, fixed a nice stir-fry dinner with rice and chicken and veggies, cleaned up, etc.

Steve's supposed to fly tomorrow morning, though the odds aren't currently in his favor. And Kaylee's supposed to have a school Christmas program Sunday, and the odds aren't currently in favor of That happening either. It may be a very quiet weekend around here!

Brrrr

Well, it's Thursday again. Kaylee and I had a little fight this morning. Two stubborn non-early-riser girls butting heads at 7:30 in the morning does not usually end well for either, but fortunately we'd kissed and made up by the time I got her to school. ;)

It was another dreary day, another day of no flying. I did some work from the house until lunchtime, and then met up with the guys at Applebees. I've been eating like food is going out of style lately, and today finally I wasn't hungry. I had some soup and part of a salad for lunch and I was still full until dinner time. I left there and ran an errand for Ann, then went home to pick up Kaylee's gymnastics stuff, then off to school to pick her up. She was in a decidedly good mood, and quite hyper. I asked her what she'd eaten, and she said "Cupcakes!" Greeeat. ;)

She did gymnastics, then I brought her home, fed her dinner, etc., and she said "My tooth is ready to come out, will you please pull it with the pliers?" I wiggled it, and sure enough, that thing was loose! So I get out the pliers, and Kaylee waffles. She asks me if I PROMISE her it won't hurt. I tell her I can not promise her that, but that none of the others hurt, right? She agrees and opens her mouth, then changes her mind. I tell her no way am I going to force her to pull this tooth, and I'm leaving. (I don't like pulling them anyway, it skeeves me out!) So I suggest she grab a hold of that thing and pull it, without hesitation, like she's going to throw it across the room. No little pulls, just one big hard one. She messes with it a little, then calls me back in the room with a "Mommy, we have a problem here." I walk in, and she said "I twisted it around and now I can't get it back in place! We have no choice but to pull it!" While I laughed at her word choices, I got the pliers back out (washed, of course), and barely touched the tooth, certainly didn't have a grip on it, and it falls into my hand. Kaylee laughs, I told her I didn't do it, she did, I just caught it. She says "Let's do it that way EVERY time! That didn't hurt a BIT!" Now I have to try to sneak money in there while she's gripping her tooth pillow. :)

After I played Dentist, I headed out to Red Lobster for Mom's Night Out with three other ladies from town. We sat and ate and drank and talked for three hours, just catching up. We usually only do this a few times a year, for birthdays. We all have kids the same age, and used to be in a playgroup together for the kids...it was a nice evening!

Tomorrow we have to get up early. Blah. After I get Kaylee off to school, I have a few errands I need to run, and then I have to try to get one of the airplanes out of Glenndale. It's been a little flooded, and is probably still going to be soggy, but it's supposed to get below freezing tonight, so if I get out there early enough maybe the ground will be hard enough to be...uninteresting. :)

Wednesday's Progress

I'm feeling pretty good here! I've gotten a LOT done these last two days. Today I took care of several things for SMA Support, and my email inbox is down from 115 to 45. My Things To Do folder is still rather daunting, but hey, progress is progress, right? I also made about 6 phone calls today to every place from a funeral home to an avionics shop to a milk bank, so I'm on a roll there too. On the other hand, I do believe I've used up my phone usage for the next six months...

I have to try to get a lot of money to a foreign country asap for a 5-year-old who needs a ventilator in order to try to make it home from a hospital by Christmas. I'm going to stop by my bank and see if they can wire it directly into an account or something. And as I was catching up, I stop at the post office and have another 2" stack of things to do. Yep, that's the way it works. :) Pretty soon I'll have to be in full panic mode for Christmas. That reminds me, Morgan, if you are reading this, I can't email you guys! My emails to your family are all bouncing as rejected. (I feel so...rejected! *sniff*). I will scan in Kaylee's current Christmas list and stick it up so you can see it tomorrow. :)

Steve and I had a nice dinner at Red Lobster tonight; King and Snow Crab leg dinner. Yuuuuuum. On that note, I'm going to go do a few things before bed, before tomorrow starts. :)

Tuesday's Thoughts

Well, it was a pretty productive day at least! I did get a lot done of what I wanted to, and still have a lot more to go. I ate lunch with Steve, Steve C. and Chuck at a place that's new to town called Ce-Ce's. It's a pizza buffet place. Their pizza is okay, but their cinnamon thingies are *delicious*. Best of all, it's all you can eat/drink for $4.99 plus a buck fifty if you want a drink. As Steve said "Oh good, now we can get even more overweight for only $5 a day!" (They do have soup and salad too by the way.)

Steve saw a particularly nasty accident today. I'm kind of hoping to hear more on the news about it in hopes the driver made it, but Steve said a guy came blasting through his stop sign at a t-intersection (which Steve was coming up to go through) and this guy never even touched his brakes before he blew off the road, hit a log, and flipped his car multiple times. I wonder if he had a medical issue, since he didn't even touch the brakes on his wild off-road ride. It doesn't sound like the survivability was very good, I'm afraid. Steve called 911 and a group of people and the sirens converged all very quickly. A very sobering sight to be sure, and I'm thankful Steve didn't show up at that intersection just a few seconds later-in the middle of it.

**Note: This paragraph may not be suitable for all audiences.
The topic is domestic abuse, so skip if you'd rather.**

I had to shut this one off. It was a re-run anyway, and though I haven't watched Oprah in a long, long time, I *had* seen this one, and once was more than enough. This was during her "change the world" phase I guess you'd call it, putting a spotlight on various difficulties that women and children face and trying to show people where to get help. Today's topic was domestic abuse, and they had several videos, taped phone conversations, etc. of a couple of women whose husbands had bullied/hit/threatened them. In one case, the man had gotten enraged when she asked if she could make him a sandwich, and had decided he wanted to tape his almost hour-long verbal and physical assault on her; he had his 13-year-old-son hold up a video camera in a room, had his 8-year-old son sit and watch, and...taped it. That provokes such a visceral reaction in me that due to some of the audience on this blog, I will keep it to myself. Watching that "big strong man" three times her size strut around on camera terrorizing her made me sick. He was so...pleased...with himself, felt so powerful and mighty in cowing, hurting and humiliating her. I looked again at her bruised face and helpless eyes and I just had to shut it off, even though I know in the end she got out and got help and is today doing okay and trying to help others. The statistics say that 1 out of 4 women will go through spousal/significant other physical abuse, and that the numbers are much higher in teenage girls today, but they don't know how high since much of it goes unreported. This leaves me with several thoughts. 1). Horror and dismay at what indelible imprint he has had on those two boys and the third child he also used to have participate. 2). Horror and dismay at what indelible imprint he has had on her spirit. 3). Gratitude for the men out there in the world who by their very example teach their sons how to be real men. 4). Gratitude that my daughter is being raised in a home where she is learning not to accept less in a future spouse than the respect and love with which her daddy treats her and her mother. The good news is that, unusually enough, the "man" in this story ended up in prison with no chance of parole until 2022. And I'm washing my hands of that topic, as it's already a gloomy day and it doesn't need any help being gloomier! In fact, I think I'll go daydream about a few fun and pleasant things for a minute. I know something that cracks me up. I am picturing Steve reading this blog entry and going "Oh great, thanks a LOT Oprah for getting her going on THIS topic! On behalf of all mankind, now I must apologize again!" *grins*

**End of Serious Paragraph, it's Safe to Read Again.**

My cellphone officially no longer has the caller ID blocker on it, so now people will know who is calling when I call. You know, there are good things and bad things about that. The good thing is that since I dislike talking on the phone, many times when I'd call someone, since I would come up "restricted", they wouldn't answer, not knowing who it was, and I could just leave a message. That worked for me. ;) Oh well. Oh, speaking of phones, got some more info on the phone Verizon has out that is like the iPhone. I'd love the ability to be on the internet/email through my phone, and have music with me so I can leave my iPod for car/airplane travel, and I think the touch screen stuff is neat; but unfortunately the phones are mega expensive right now. However, they will come down eventually as all technology does.

Guess that's more than enough for one day. Nathan's on his way home from New York, Steve's on his way home from work, Kaylee's done with her homework, and I've got lots to do to keep me busy too!

Here are some quotes for the day:

"Sooner or later you’ve heard all your best friends have to say. Then comes the tolerance of real love."
~Ned Rorem

"Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing."
~Albert Schweitzer

"Make no little plans! They have no magic to stir men's blood."
~Daniel Burnham, 19th-century Chicago architect

"Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which, in prosperous circumstances, would have lain dormant."
~Horace

"Children are likely to live up to what you believe of them."
~Lady Bird Johnson

"There are two ways of meeting difficulties: You alter the difficulties, or you alter yourself to meet them."
~Phyllis Bottome

"We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects."
~Herman Melville

"A man, after he has brushed off the dust and chips of his life, will have left only the hard, clean question: Was it good or was it evil? Have I done well - or ill?"
~John Steinbeck

"Many of our fears are tissue paper thin, and a single courageous step would carry us clear through them."
~Brendan Francis

"Not a single person has ever accomplished anything of significance without first feeling scared to death!"
~Rick Beneteau

"Fearlessness is not the absence of fear. It's the mastery of fear. It's about getting up one more time than we fall down."
~Arianna Huffington

"There is in this world no such force as the force of a man determined to rise."
~W. E. B. DuBois

"If you take too long in deciding what to do with your life, you'll find you've done it."
~Pam Shaw

Tuesday Top Ten: Ten Random Thoughts on a Tuesday Morning

I've heard from a few people who miss the Tuesday Top Tens, so this morning I thought I'd leave one for you. The only problem with that is that typical of the last few months, without having it be a homework assignment handed to me for me to complete, I can't seem to generate a topic. Everything I came up with to do left me about five short of a Top Ten. I thought about doing a Top Ten about the Holidays, but frankly I'm not in the mood, and the Top Ten Reasons I'm Not In The Mood To Do A Top Ten On The Holidays doesn't seem very festive. So, out of a pure lack of creativity, coming at you on a cold, rainy day, here are:

Top Ten Random Thoughts on a Tuesday Morning:

1. It's only early December and I'm already sick of gray. I was driving Kaylee to school today, and everywhere I looked it was gray. Even the grass, which is supposed to be green, looks like the saturation level of the color was completely removed until it was just a darker shade of gray. It's depressing.

2. I've been staying up way too late. For as early as I have to get up and keep going, I can't stay up that late. It makes me cranky in the mornings which isn't fair to Kaylee who doesn't need any help in the crank department herself first thing in the morning. ;)

3. I'd like the world to pause while I get ready for Christmas. I need a time-out. Instead, every time I blink, I'm another week closer to Christmas, and still not prepared.

4. Kaylee has a great smile. She said something in the car on the way to school, and I turned and looked at her askance, and she gave me the sweetest little smile with her eyes all sparkling, and I couldn't help but grin back at her. She has the best smile.

5. I missed the garbage men today. I think it's in their contract that they will come at varying hours each week. Usually they come mid-morning some time. This week they decided to come way early, right after I got back from school, meaning I had no time to pull the trash bins out to the alley. I considered running out there dragging them behind me and seeing if they'd come back, but decided that would be undignified, and the trash will wait for one more week.

6. I'm going to shut email down today and work on some things around here. I've got paperwork to fill out, checks to print and get in the mail for SMA stuff, phone calls to make for SMA Support, bills to pay, photos to put up on a few people's websites for them, Kaylee's room to work on, the errands to run, Christmas to get organized in my head, and many other things to do. Tuesdays are good for that as it's one of Kaylee's Days Off after school so there's no other running around.

7. I really need to get my wedding ring cleaned and inspected. It's been a long time, and it looks like one of the prongs is worn down a little. It needs a good cleaning and I need to get it checked out before I lose the diamond out of it. :O

8. I'm in the "reading phase". While I'm always a bookworm, I'll go for weeks, maybe a month, without really reading anything, and then I'll get the urge and my favorite authors will all start publishing in a row, and I'll hit the 'reading phase'. I might read five or six books in a row, sometimes more. It's good because I enjoy it. It's bad because my book piles around the house grow, and I don't exactly have the time to sit and read novel after novel to the exclusion of other more important stuff. The good news is I can read one in an afternoon, so it doesn't take me days or something. The bad news is, I don't have an afternoon in which to do that when I have 100 emails waiting for my attention in my inbox and 224 Things To Do waiting in my Work List. Right now I'm trying to ignore the new James Patterson novel sitting on my end table in the living room, but once you crack it open during times you have nothing else to do like gymnastics, well, I don't do well at putting books down until I finish them.

9. I wish my iPod retained a charge in the cold. After I dropped Kaylee off from school, I turn on my music, only to have it die right away, even though it was fully charged yesterday and not used hardly at all. The cold really zaps the battery, even if it's in the heated garage. So I have to remember to take it in and out of my car every time I get in or out of it in the winter, which is kind of annoying. Or I could leave it plugged into the car I guess, but that leaves cords hanging out.

10. Travels. Nathan is out in New York, and Ty is down in Florida. Both are I believe going to be flying home-or trying-soon, but the weather certainly hasn't been cooperative. Nathan has a much better shot in the Cheyenne than Ty does in the Viking, but he's not much more fond of heavy icing than I am. The RG is done at Muncie and needs to come home, but the weather isn't working for that, either. Maybe tomorrow we'll catch enough of a break to not make it a hard IFR flight just to do that.

Now wasn't that just fascinating, the things I think about on a random Tuesday morning? Yeah, sorry. ;)

Monday Stuff

I woke up this morning and saw ice crystals hanging on the trees outside and a white-out fog hanging in the air. I half figured it would be a delayed school day, but a look at the computer told me otherwise, so I got Kaylee up and going. Once we got in the car and on our way to school, I was relieved to note that while the ice was still hanging from wires, trees and signs, it was completely melted off the roads.

Today was "Get Things Done" day, at least during the morning. I ran around and did some stuff for SMA Support, and then met up at the office for lunch with the Glenndale folks. Afterwards the lazies hit, and we sat around and just talked about the "old" days with Jim I., who was around when I first came to this area to instruct. He was joking about how he remembered the "Googly Eyes" when Steve and I first started moving from friends and coworkers and into 'dating', and we reminisced about the Seneca that tried to kill me a few times (looked it up on the internet and it's still around and has an awesome new paint job and interior, but it DID have a gear failure landing in 2001), we talked about me first learning how to really instruct, people that used to be around and prevalent back then, etc. I hadn't thought about a lot of that in a long time, or talked to anyone but Steve who knew me/us back then, so it was actually kind of interesting, at least to me. Probably bored Chuck out of his skull though. ;)

Monday is always Rat Race Day, so once I snagged Kaylee from school it was time to come home, throw a snack in front of her, put her homework there, and then run and get ready for ballet and cheer.

Tonight at cheer we got all our gymnastics and cheer Professional photos back! I put them up on Kaylee's site, though here's one for you. I almost like the one Michaele took against the wall better, because she got a real smile out of Kaylee for those, but I do think they turned out fine. :)

Ho Ho Ho!

It was Christmas Prep Day in the Stants family today. Steve dragged in 15 boxes worth of Christmas tree and ornaments and decorations from the garage, and we all worked on putting up our tree and all the goodies along with it. Steve put lights around Kaylee's room window, and we got up a Nativity scene and got out our Christmas glasses and candles and just all that Christmassy stuff. We also have an agreement this year: to burn all the beautiful Christmas Candles. Usually I won't let anybody burn them because they're so pretty. But this year, we're going to let it rip. It took us most of the day to do this, but other than our angel for the tree top not lighting up like she's supposed to, we are DONE, and even the boxes are back in the garage until it's time to take everything down sometime in February. ;) We've had this tree for a long time now; the original tree stand broke so now we've rigged it into a real one, a big iron one, and it's not overly stable. And they make trees now with the lights already on it. Now that's an attractive thought! For a few years we did real trees, because I LOVE the smell of pine. Once in awhile we might have to do that again, but once we decide this tree financially has met its burden enough that we can get another one, I'm thinking I like the concept of pre-lit trees myself. ;)

I also did all of our laundry today, cleaned up the kitchen and dining room, Steve rearranged furniture in the front living room so we could put up our tree, I put a lot of clothes away, did some vacuuming and sweeping, taped up Christmas cards on our door, and all in all had a busy, productive day. But more importantly, It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas around here!

It felt good to accomplish all that from noon on, actually. Now, on to buying presents to put under that tree! :O

Here's another quote from the Jan Karon book that cracked me up. Usually I'm not a big fan of women stereotype jokes, but I thought this one was amusing enough to repeat. ;)

"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea."

~Robert Heinlein

Yep, I still think that's funny. Not a serious commentary on relationships or theology, just funny. And definitely true--when it comes to cats. ;)

We're watching the Colts game right now, and they are spanking the Ravens 30 to 0 right now, which, unless something awful happens in the last half, will guarantee their playoffs position. It's about time for them to come out with a bang!

My flights for today were cancelled due to a little ice storm that came through. Accumulation of about 1/2" of freezing rain that turned to ice on everything today was actually rather pretty, but made us wish we'd double-checked the generator and made sure it would run should we lose power. Fortunately, it never got that bad, and we are powered up and just fine. However, I do kind of wonder about school, ballet and cheer tomorrow.

Well, I took a couple of photos today, though not as many as I usually do when the tree goes up. I'll take more later. For now, here's Kaylee checking out the lights to make sure they work, and in front of the tree after we get it done...

Quiet Day

I woke up before even Steve or Kaylee today, which is highly unusual on a Saturday when I don't have to get up. They did get up first, but I was awake first, which Steve will say doesn't count, but I say it does. ;)

Kaylee made pancakes with a little daddy direction, and they spent a lot of time together today, playing with little pets and playing Shrek II on the Xbox. Right now they are cuddled on the couch watching "The Grinch".

I read a book today, the new Jan Karon, and snacked on cherry yogurt covered pretzels and melted colby jack cheese on town house crackers. And Diet Coke, of course. ;)

It was a nice, quiet, family day.

The Karon book had a Latin phrase that made me smile. The pastor was using this phrase to define his wife, and I rather liked it myself. :)

Alis volat propiis

I tried to use an online translator, but it came up with a whacked out translation, so I'll save you non-Latin speakers (like me) the effort; the basic premise was 'She flies with her own wings'.

Friday Follies

Nothing truly folly-like actually happened today, at least not to me, but who's counting. :)

We ended up with another inch or two of snow, but not enough to delay the schools any, much to my dismay. I've made the mistake of staying up too late two nights in a row, and I never was good with low amounts of sleep. This morning I rather dragged myself out of bed, got Kaylee to school, came home, and went right back to bed. I don't think I've ever done that, except for maybe a time or two when I had a bad headache. I slept for another hour and a half and when I woke up I was still a little tired, but at least felt ready to get going.

I did some paperwork for a few hours before heading over to Glenndale for Friday lunch. Judy made chili for our crowd, which is about half or less its normal size due to the cold and snow. That's okay, more for the rest of us. ;)

After I picked up Kaylee from school, I made a stop at UPS, then took her to Target. She got all A's, so I let her pick out a reward, and she chose a "Littlest PetShop" thing. When I first pulled into the store, I could not believe how packed out the parking lot was. I thought "good grief!" for a second, until I realized that it's now 2 or 3 weeks prior to Christmas (GULP), and that I've now officially reached my all-time Least Favorite Time of the Year. The post office has lines backed out the door, and you can't go to any store without making it a massive ordeal. I don't like stores under normal circumstances, but stores where you are wall to wall people, huge lines, hikes to get to a parking spot, and everything is rushed and often cranky, well, Bah Humbug again.

No, I'm not getting Christmas cards out this year (no matter how much Kim harasses me about it!) but you all know I love ya. ;)

Anybody who reads this to whom I owe an email or job, thank you for being patient...

Kaylee story: On the way home from Target today, Kaylee told me that from now on she was going to tell on herself when she did something wrong. I asked her why, and she responded with "Because I'm trying to be a good person. And if you do something wrong, and you tell on yourself, you'll get punished, and that will help you learn how to be a good person." I asked her if that had been a conversation at school, and she said no, that was just what she thought. So we had a little conversation about it for the rest of the trip home to fine-tune a few areas of her thought process there. She's something else. :o)

I was supposed to fly with a student in the Cub for several hours very early tomorrow morning, and it actually looked like the weather would cooperate...but the flight is now cancelled, which is bad for the pocketbook and good for the sleep schedule. Unfortunately, I have two lessons scheduled for Sunday that probably will have to be cancelled for weather. We're supposed to get sleet/ice/rain. It will probably end up being a good weekend to camp indoors with warm beverages and fuzzy socks!