if I only wrote a blog entry about one topic, I would have a better chance of coming up with a clever title. But I can't call it "The Naked Truth" when I am discussing errands on top of the shower scare, or "Love Defined" when I am discussing the ambulance I followed as well as the song on the radio. And "The Naked Truth of Multiple Errands with Loving Thoughts Chasing an Ambulance" does not work at all. So where does that leave a blogger? It leaves them with subject titles such as "Monday", "Tuesday", "Today", or "Random" and "Miscellaneous". Now you know what I go through sitting there staring at my "Title" field.
So let's start with how I managed to scare myself today. I worked at home in silence doing stuff for awhile this morning, and then I got around to getting ready for the rest of the day. I stepped out of my shower and was toweling my head when I heard a noise. I paused thinking it was a cat or something, but the next thing I heard was a man's voice in a VERY unfriendly tone. I couldn't hear the exact word, but he said the same word a couple of times and it sounded like he was creepy and right on the other side of the changing room door, which was open. I could tell it wasn't Steve, and my heart rate ratcheted up a pretty decent amount as I was standing there a little...vulnerable...and the nearest route to any protection or phones was past the open doorway where the voice had come from. Worst of all, it was now dead quiet again. As I vewy vewy qwietly (and quickly) pondered my options, suddenly there was a loud burst of music as a commercial came on. I'd hit the TV remote button on my way in, and had forgotten I'd done it because the tv takes awhile to come on, so it was still off when I stepped in the bathroom. It had turned on to some scary movie that was playing, and had managed to be a time when there was no obvious noise like music, chatter, etc. that made it clear it was TV. It was just a creepy guy talking right outside my door. And that's The Naked Truth about how I scared myself by creating my own boogie man. I'll tell you what, I was awake after that though.
It was one of those days where you just keep moving from one place and project to the next. I made up and printed more business cards, went to Staples for more supplies, went to our jacket-printing guy, went to lunch (naturally!), went to the office, went to the post office, went to the Fed Ex office. I dropped off and picked up Kaylee, took her to ballet, took her to cheer. I went to the SMA Support Supply Closet for some stuff, I went to the ice cream place as a treat for Kaylee. I returned some phone calls, sent out some emails, and did a load of laundry. I got out two birthday cards (late, but better than never), and I cleaned up cat throw-up. You know, the glamorous lives of Two Pilots and a Princess. ;)
Today was the day to see Emergency Personnel. I was on my way to the office when an ambulance whipped around me (naturally I pulled over and stopped) and headed up the road. It wasn't really going that fast, or so it seemed since I kept fairly good pace behind it. I thought that passing him might not be good though. (I'm KIDDING. Mostly.) The ambulance took the same roads I did, headed right for Glenndale. I had the amusing thought I would have told them out there-that it made me nervous because there were a whole lot of old fogeys out there...and then as it kept getting closer I thought that might not be quite so funny. Luckily it passed those I knew by, but I did what I always do and said a little prayer for whoever that ambulance was going to help. I've had a ride in one of those (against my will) and I've had a son in one of those, and they don't race around with their lights on because someone is having a good day. I've always said a little prayer as far back as I can remember, and Kaylee started doing it too. :) I also saw two fire trucks and three police officers at a home in which I could see no smoke or flames, but Something was certainly happening...
On the news this morning, they were talking about how Indiana University was hoping to avoid spending millions more in money for building new facilities by trying to create more Friday and morning class times. See, they don't have Friday or morning classes currently, because they say the kids won't go to them. SO they want to spend a bunch of money building more facilities to host all the classes they are trying to cram into Mon-Thurs. at a "reasonable" hour. My jaw dropped when I read that. The kids DON'T WANT TO GO in the morning or on Fridays?? Who does?! They won't attend the classes? Then FLUNK them! It's called "personal responsibility". They're going to have to work in the mornings and on Fridays too, if they ever grow up and get a job after school. This has got to be in the list of John Whats-his-face's "Give Me A Break" stories.
I was also in my car (I was in my car a lot today) when the song "Perhaps Love" with Placido Domingo and John Denver came on. Laugh if you must, but I sang along. "Perhaps love is like a resting place, a shelter from the storm. It exists to give you comfort, it is there to keep you warm. And in those times of trouble, when you are most alone, the memory of love will bring you home. Perhaps love is like a window, perhaps an open door. It invites you to come closer, it wants to show you more. And even if you lose yourself and don't know what to do, the memory of love will see you through. Oh, love to some is like a cloud, to some as strong as steel. For some a way of living, for some a way to feel. And some say love is holding on and some say letting go. And some say love is everything, and some say they don't know. Perhaps love is like the ocean, full of conflict, full of pain. Like a fire when it's cold outside or thunder when it rains. If I should live forever, and all my dreams come true; my memories of love will be of you." I think it's sweet, and having all that time in the car to kill, it reminded me of a few other things about love, such as a letter I've had forever that a grandmother wrote to her granddaughter who then published it in a magazine. The letter was titled "How Do You Know When It's Love?" and the grandmother went on to put so much down-to-earth wisdom in her response. I have copied it and sent it out to people who have occasionally asked me that question. One of the lines I remember that I always appreciated was "Love means only one of you can be crazy at a time." You know what, that's more true than it might look at first glance. This (in the odd meandering way my mind works) led me to ask myself what I thought love was, and my initial reaction was "love is not destructive, but constructive. It builds up and supports, it doesn't tear down." And then I thought "DUH, it was only a month ago that I wrote out what love is in a blog post already!" Nobody needs to reinvent the wheel-that wheel was invented a long time ago in I Corinthians 13. I like it enough I'll even post it again, just a month and a half after the last time I posted it, only this time in full. ;) Hope you all enjoyed your Monday, may it have been a little less crazy than mine!
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to death, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.
As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Party On
Steve had some work to do late morning while Kaylee and I mostly hung out today. When I got up this morning, Kaylee had already put her friends' birthday present in the bag, put the tissue on top, written out the card and taped it to the bag. She had also written out two birthday cards and sealed them up for her cousin and grandma. She was feeling very productive this morning! I also found myself carefully explaining to her that when you have a pretty blue solid gift bag, that even though the solid blue tissue paper matches the color perfectly, it's more eye-catching to use the multi-colored striped paper, that it has the same blue but several other colors too to make it...here I paused, and she jumped in with "pop!" Well, yes, exactly! So she happily switched tissue, and I passed on my vast and unending knowledge of color coordination and How To Make Things Pop. ;)
She also called me her BFF. We were walking at the time holding hands, and I stopped in my tracks. She said "But don't call it BFFL because that sounds dumb. But you ARE my BFF you know Mommy." (For those of you scratching your heads, it is text-speak or email-speak or teenager-speak for "Best Friends Forever". BFFL would be "best friends for life".)
Kaylee is trying to make her case for getting her ears pierced. She has created a poll of how many girls at Awanas/church and in her school classroom her age have their ears pierced, and is using that as ammo as to why she should be able to have hers pierced as well. And so it begins. ;)
I took her to her bowling party this evening. She apparently came in second place out of 6 girls with a score of 78. Top score was 88. Bowling is still not 'her' sport, but hey, at least she's not the only one, and second out of six isn't bad! ;) Kaylee also said that her friend was excited at the present she gave her. Mom's nerves ease for the day. ;) Kaylee had a good time. She was bummed to go to bed tonight because she knew she'd have to get up tomorrow for school. She said "Don't you wish it could always be the weekend?" I told her that if it was always the weekend, it would get boring after awhile and it wouldn't be special any more. But mostly I was thinking "well, yeah, actually!"
I picked up KFC on my way home as I had a craving. Funny that they now offer Grilled chicken there too. I think I'll pass...
Today I watched "League of Their Own", and it brought back a lot of memories. After being unceremoniously "let go" by my fiance, my one experience as the dumpee, and not a very pleasant one, I kind of hid out in my room for awhile feeling sorry for myself. After about a week of that, a friend of mine named John came over and insisted I go out to the movies with him. I could not have been less interested, but he basically dragged me out. Being rather unfamiliar with how to handle Girls In Distress, he decided that he should take said girl to a "chick flick", poor guy. So he sat through "League of Their Own", which I'm sure was awful for him, and was frankly slightly traumatic for me at the time as well. Just what I needed-a drama/tearjerker. I suppose a romance movie would have been worse, or maybe "Beaches" or "Fried Green Tomatoes"... ;) Watching it today I have to admit I still like it though. There are a lot of things from that movie that could be discussed, from women's roles to what a sister gives up for another and her spouse out of love. I have to say though, Rosie O'Donnell is in that movie, and she plays what she is. A loud-mouthed, uncouth, strident, annoying "woman". I could do without her character-and Madonna who played herself as "All The Way May", too. But I enjoyed the movie. My how things have changed since I first saw this movie almost 16 years ago!
And Now Back to our regularly scheduled Monday Madness...
She also called me her BFF. We were walking at the time holding hands, and I stopped in my tracks. She said "But don't call it BFFL because that sounds dumb. But you ARE my BFF you know Mommy." (For those of you scratching your heads, it is text-speak or email-speak or teenager-speak for "Best Friends Forever". BFFL would be "best friends for life".)
Kaylee is trying to make her case for getting her ears pierced. She has created a poll of how many girls at Awanas/church and in her school classroom her age have their ears pierced, and is using that as ammo as to why she should be able to have hers pierced as well. And so it begins. ;)
I took her to her bowling party this evening. She apparently came in second place out of 6 girls with a score of 78. Top score was 88. Bowling is still not 'her' sport, but hey, at least she's not the only one, and second out of six isn't bad! ;) Kaylee also said that her friend was excited at the present she gave her. Mom's nerves ease for the day. ;) Kaylee had a good time. She was bummed to go to bed tonight because she knew she'd have to get up tomorrow for school. She said "Don't you wish it could always be the weekend?" I told her that if it was always the weekend, it would get boring after awhile and it wouldn't be special any more. But mostly I was thinking "well, yeah, actually!"
I picked up KFC on my way home as I had a craving. Funny that they now offer Grilled chicken there too. I think I'll pass...
Today I watched "League of Their Own", and it brought back a lot of memories. After being unceremoniously "let go" by my fiance, my one experience as the dumpee, and not a very pleasant one, I kind of hid out in my room for awhile feeling sorry for myself. After about a week of that, a friend of mine named John came over and insisted I go out to the movies with him. I could not have been less interested, but he basically dragged me out. Being rather unfamiliar with how to handle Girls In Distress, he decided that he should take said girl to a "chick flick", poor guy. So he sat through "League of Their Own", which I'm sure was awful for him, and was frankly slightly traumatic for me at the time as well. Just what I needed-a drama/tearjerker. I suppose a romance movie would have been worse, or maybe "Beaches" or "Fried Green Tomatoes"... ;) Watching it today I have to admit I still like it though. There are a lot of things from that movie that could be discussed, from women's roles to what a sister gives up for another and her spouse out of love. I have to say though, Rosie O'Donnell is in that movie, and she plays what she is. A loud-mouthed, uncouth, strident, annoying "woman". I could do without her character-and Madonna who played herself as "All The Way May", too. But I enjoyed the movie. My how things have changed since I first saw this movie almost 16 years ago!
And Now Back to our regularly scheduled Monday Madness...
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Girl Day-Sort Of
Kaylee and I slowly got ready on a lovely Saturday morning, then wandered our way to Target where we went shopping for two birthday presents, wrapping paper, cards, and okay, a dress I got her because Target sucked me in. Kaylee is always in her element at the store. It's hard to keep her focused as she walks past purses, jewelry, clothes and toys galore. ;) One thing I have to say about modern day gift wrapping, they make it super easy. Pretty Gift-Wrapping For Dummies 101. They put all the pretty bags and wrapping paper together with the appropriate accessorizing tissue papers and ribbons and bows. Color coordinated, with patterns and solids and you would have to be a real moron to goof it up. In other words, even I can make a present look spiffy!
Kaylee chose the presents for her friends. I only directed her one time. She picked up a doll that she thought her friend would like because you could adjust the hair and make the doll have long green and blond hair, curly or straight. Now she's right, I'm sure that would be cool for kids. But the doll was in a "Top Model" box, and on the back of the box were three of the dolls, and all were in thigh-high high heeled boots, fishnet stockings, tank tops that showed their midriffs and skirts that almost showed their midriffs too, from the bottom. One was in a swimsuit that looked like something out of Sports Illustrated Skimpy Edition. Kaylee didn't see all that, she just saw the pretty hair. I was, however, fairly sure that the parents would see all that, and I tried to find a way to tell my seven year old that these dolls looked like street walkers. I ended up saying they looked "too old" for her and her friends, and once I pointed it out a little she agreed and went on to find a nice Hannah Montana doll that sings when you push a button. Since the invitations were Hannah Montana invitations, I assumed the parents would be fine with that. :)
Kaylee had a blast at the store. She held clothes up to herself, tried to scope out the purses and shoes; I swear she has a serious case of the Girl Genes. :) Anyway, we got what we needed-she picked out everything herself, and we headed home. I did laugh though-as we were leaving we passed the book section, and when I halted, Kaylee rolled her eyes and said "Ohhh Mom, the BOOKS?!" in a voice of serious suffrage. Yes, Kaylee, the BOOKS. It doesn't take me long at all to look through the new releases and pick out either my favorite authors or something that "smells" good. ;)
We went through Burger King for lunch on our way home, and let me tell you, that was the slowest Burger King I have ever gone through. We were in the "Drive Thru" for 20+ minutes! Unreal.
I wrapped the present when we got home, Kaylee had a snack, and then I took her to her first birthday party of the weekend. I got there ten minutes early-and there was not a soul in sight, so I drove around the block for a few minutes. I can't believe ten minutes early is no-man's-land. :) Anyway, finally the party hosts arrived and we went in, and Kaylee was Quite excited as each of her school friends came in. She would shout out their names and run and give them a big hug. At one point there was a little group of girls all hugging. It was rather cute. And each time a girl would walk in, the birthday girl would politely and formally state "Thank you for attending, I am glad you could come!" My response was "Happy Birthday, C____, thank you for inviting Kaylee." It was...cute. All the other parents were leaving, but this invitation didn't specifically state whether parents stayed or went, so I asked the father if he would like me to stay and help, and he said "You are welcome to stay, but no, we'll be just fine." Okay, party ends at three, I guess I'll be back.
As I was taking Kaylee inside, I was listening to the airplanes flying overhead, and the gym was close to Hwy 31, so it wasn't too hard of a call for me to drive on out to Kokomo, where lots was going on. Trey was flying the Decathlon, the two 172s were busy flying, Nathan's hangar was emptied out and being worked on, Nathan and Chuck were working on a tug, Nathan's kids were inside playing, Steve was out flying, the Saratoga was on its way to Florida, and it was just an all around hopping aviation day, windy and all. I hung out until it was time to get Kaylee from the party. When I walked in, they were still opening presents. This is SO hard as a parent. All these girls are circled around the birthday girl watching her open stuff, and when she got to Kaylee's, my heart rate was definitely up. Kaylee had spent a lot of time picking this out, and she was so excited for her friend to open it. When she started opening it, someone said "oh, is it a Barbie?" and Kaylee said "No, it's not just ANY doll!" so eager. The girl didn't seem that excited when she opened it-I don't know if she already had one, or if in spite of her invitations she wasn't that excited by Hannah Montana stuff, but watching Kaylee's eager smile fade breaks my heart, and it's happened more than once. The girl said "thank you", and Kaylee never said a word to me, but I know she was hoping for an excited response, and didn't get it. That's one of those things that I suppose hurts me more than it does her, but I hate it. I am going to remember it later so I can remind her to be excited when she is given gifts, because everyone who takes the time to give a gift is hoping that the person they are giving it to appreciates and likes it.
Tomorrow Kaylee has another party with another girl and another gift to give, and I really wish she could get that "Oh, COOL!" response she was aiming for...
When I picked up Kaylee from the party, I took her out to Kokomo Airport, because her friends Jamie and Gwenie were there, and I wanted to give her some extra play time. I think they had a good time-they like to go to the other end of the room and be Very Quiet so the grown-ups have to come over there to see what is going on. For the most part it seemed as though they got along fine, and got in several hours of play, which is always fun for Miss Social Stants. I considered taking something (airplane) up briefly, but lacked the motivation or the need.
Afterwards, Chuck, Steve, Kaylee and I went to Steak and Shake where I ate too much. Nathan's wife had burgers on the grill or they'd have joined us too. It's always nice hanging out with friends. :)
All in all, that means I was home until about 11 a.m. and got back home around 7 p.m. for the day on a Saturday, which isn't overly relaxing, but at least it was a good day. Kaylee had fun which means that I had some fun, and I enjoyed the airport time too...
Kaylee chose the presents for her friends. I only directed her one time. She picked up a doll that she thought her friend would like because you could adjust the hair and make the doll have long green and blond hair, curly or straight. Now she's right, I'm sure that would be cool for kids. But the doll was in a "Top Model" box, and on the back of the box were three of the dolls, and all were in thigh-high high heeled boots, fishnet stockings, tank tops that showed their midriffs and skirts that almost showed their midriffs too, from the bottom. One was in a swimsuit that looked like something out of Sports Illustrated Skimpy Edition. Kaylee didn't see all that, she just saw the pretty hair. I was, however, fairly sure that the parents would see all that, and I tried to find a way to tell my seven year old that these dolls looked like street walkers. I ended up saying they looked "too old" for her and her friends, and once I pointed it out a little she agreed and went on to find a nice Hannah Montana doll that sings when you push a button. Since the invitations were Hannah Montana invitations, I assumed the parents would be fine with that. :)
Kaylee had a blast at the store. She held clothes up to herself, tried to scope out the purses and shoes; I swear she has a serious case of the Girl Genes. :) Anyway, we got what we needed-she picked out everything herself, and we headed home. I did laugh though-as we were leaving we passed the book section, and when I halted, Kaylee rolled her eyes and said "Ohhh Mom, the BOOKS?!" in a voice of serious suffrage. Yes, Kaylee, the BOOKS. It doesn't take me long at all to look through the new releases and pick out either my favorite authors or something that "smells" good. ;)
We went through Burger King for lunch on our way home, and let me tell you, that was the slowest Burger King I have ever gone through. We were in the "Drive Thru" for 20+ minutes! Unreal.
I wrapped the present when we got home, Kaylee had a snack, and then I took her to her first birthday party of the weekend. I got there ten minutes early-and there was not a soul in sight, so I drove around the block for a few minutes. I can't believe ten minutes early is no-man's-land. :) Anyway, finally the party hosts arrived and we went in, and Kaylee was Quite excited as each of her school friends came in. She would shout out their names and run and give them a big hug. At one point there was a little group of girls all hugging. It was rather cute. And each time a girl would walk in, the birthday girl would politely and formally state "Thank you for attending, I am glad you could come!" My response was "Happy Birthday, C____, thank you for inviting Kaylee." It was...cute. All the other parents were leaving, but this invitation didn't specifically state whether parents stayed or went, so I asked the father if he would like me to stay and help, and he said "You are welcome to stay, but no, we'll be just fine." Okay, party ends at three, I guess I'll be back.
As I was taking Kaylee inside, I was listening to the airplanes flying overhead, and the gym was close to Hwy 31, so it wasn't too hard of a call for me to drive on out to Kokomo, where lots was going on. Trey was flying the Decathlon, the two 172s were busy flying, Nathan's hangar was emptied out and being worked on, Nathan and Chuck were working on a tug, Nathan's kids were inside playing, Steve was out flying, the Saratoga was on its way to Florida, and it was just an all around hopping aviation day, windy and all. I hung out until it was time to get Kaylee from the party. When I walked in, they were still opening presents. This is SO hard as a parent. All these girls are circled around the birthday girl watching her open stuff, and when she got to Kaylee's, my heart rate was definitely up. Kaylee had spent a lot of time picking this out, and she was so excited for her friend to open it. When she started opening it, someone said "oh, is it a Barbie?" and Kaylee said "No, it's not just ANY doll!" so eager. The girl didn't seem that excited when she opened it-I don't know if she already had one, or if in spite of her invitations she wasn't that excited by Hannah Montana stuff, but watching Kaylee's eager smile fade breaks my heart, and it's happened more than once. The girl said "thank you", and Kaylee never said a word to me, but I know she was hoping for an excited response, and didn't get it. That's one of those things that I suppose hurts me more than it does her, but I hate it. I am going to remember it later so I can remind her to be excited when she is given gifts, because everyone who takes the time to give a gift is hoping that the person they are giving it to appreciates and likes it.
Tomorrow Kaylee has another party with another girl and another gift to give, and I really wish she could get that "Oh, COOL!" response she was aiming for...
When I picked up Kaylee from the party, I took her out to Kokomo Airport, because her friends Jamie and Gwenie were there, and I wanted to give her some extra play time. I think they had a good time-they like to go to the other end of the room and be Very Quiet so the grown-ups have to come over there to see what is going on. For the most part it seemed as though they got along fine, and got in several hours of play, which is always fun for Miss Social Stants. I considered taking something (airplane) up briefly, but lacked the motivation or the need.
Afterwards, Chuck, Steve, Kaylee and I went to Steak and Shake where I ate too much. Nathan's wife had burgers on the grill or they'd have joined us too. It's always nice hanging out with friends. :)
All in all, that means I was home until about 11 a.m. and got back home around 7 p.m. for the day on a Saturday, which isn't overly relaxing, but at least it was a good day. Kaylee had fun which means that I had some fun, and I enjoyed the airport time too...
Friday, March 28, 2008
TGIF
I left the house this morning in a state of disarray to an extent that even I usually don't do. Thankfully I was not in an accident on the way to or from school, or I would have had to move afterwards. I looked like one of those women on COPS.
I spent the morning cleaning and straightening, to make less work for the weekend. I got quite a bit done, mission accomplished, I can relax a bit tonight. Kaylee however has a lot of picking up to do again, particularly in her room!
Tonight was Kaylee's school's Talent Show. We left the house at 6:30, and she went off with her class while I found a seat in the gymnasium. The seats in there by the way are hard blue plastic 'boards' about a foot across, which makes them smaller than my rear end. ;) We were all on lunch tables there, and they had a spaghetti dinner with ice cream and drinks ahead of time. The Talent Show was actually pretty funny. The opening number was two boys dressed like the Blues Brothers doing a routine to that, and they did a great job-everybody was clapping and laughing. The pre-kindergartners did a song called the Tootie Tu Song, and they made the audience stand up and participate in the dance. I was at the back of the room, so I had quite the visual of a bunch of adults putting their thumbs up, elbows back, legs apart, knees together, bum in the air, turning around in circles with their tongues sticking out. I should have videotaped that, I really should have. ;) Two five year old girls did a routine to hula hoops that was Really quite good. They did it to the song "The Twist", and they didn't drop the hula hoop the entire time, even walking around on the stage, doing various things with their arms, and even dropping to their knees. At one point they had two hoops going each at the same time, and they ended with one girl doing it around her calves and the other around her neck. I was admittedly impressed. They are kindergartners. Another kindergartner played the violin very well, several dancers, several pianists, several singers. One of the girls in Kaylee's class got up and sang "Father, I Adore You" a capella. That was actually Kaylee's idea to do, but then she changed her mind and this other girl did instead. The whole place got very quiet, and the girl did very well. One young lady, 4th grader, got up and sang a song that also quieted down the place. See, there were 30 acts, and there was always a smattering of people talking (I can't stand that by the way, that is VERY rude.) This girl started singing, and she had the most pure, rich voice I've heard out of a little kid in a long time. She was DEAD on pitch, something none of the others achieved, even the older ones, but what was most amazing was that she was a true soprano. That girl hit a high "A", for you music-knowledgeable people. That is way higher than I ever care to try to hit, and she hit the note dead on even with a jump in between notes. (I suppose you're going to ask how I know what note she hit, huh? I kept the tune in my head until I got home-an octave lower where I could actually do it.) Kaylee's class did two songs. One was a counting song, and the other was "Boom a chicka boom", and it was funny. Because Kaylee is, as her teacher put it, a good and loud singer, she along with three others got to be the "lead" in the song, and whatever they would do, the rest of the class would copy. She did a great job, and she was by far the most dramatic one up there. They did an opera part to it, and she had her head thrown back and her arms thrown out dramatically. In the "rocker" part of it, she was HEADBANGING, with her hair flinging all around. I got a video of this, naturally. She was really getting into it, and the "stage" does not only not bother her, she seems to thrive off of it. Heaven help us all. ;) An hour and a half later, the show was still going on, and her teacher waved me over. Apparently Kaylee was falling asleep with her head on the teacher's lap. This worked for me, because my rear end had fallen asleep on that tiny plastic seat more than 40 minutes ago. In fact, my rear end still hurts! lol So I picked up my sleepy head and brought her home. She did a great job.
On the way home, Kaylee said "Look Mommy, all the houses are asleep." There was a brief pause, and then she says in this little grown-up voice "Well, I don't mean the houses are LITERALLY asleep, of course, because houses can not sleep. I didn't mean that literally. I meant that the People inside the houses are asleep." (I enjoyed her use of the word 'literally'.) And then the conversation went to tornadoes and tornado drills, to storms, to our crawl space and what was down there. She has quite the stream of consciousness most of the time. Just like her mother. ;)
Welcome to the weekend ladies and gents! I hope you enjoy!
I spent the morning cleaning and straightening, to make less work for the weekend. I got quite a bit done, mission accomplished, I can relax a bit tonight. Kaylee however has a lot of picking up to do again, particularly in her room!
Tonight was Kaylee's school's Talent Show. We left the house at 6:30, and she went off with her class while I found a seat in the gymnasium. The seats in there by the way are hard blue plastic 'boards' about a foot across, which makes them smaller than my rear end. ;) We were all on lunch tables there, and they had a spaghetti dinner with ice cream and drinks ahead of time. The Talent Show was actually pretty funny. The opening number was two boys dressed like the Blues Brothers doing a routine to that, and they did a great job-everybody was clapping and laughing. The pre-kindergartners did a song called the Tootie Tu Song, and they made the audience stand up and participate in the dance. I was at the back of the room, so I had quite the visual of a bunch of adults putting their thumbs up, elbows back, legs apart, knees together, bum in the air, turning around in circles with their tongues sticking out. I should have videotaped that, I really should have. ;) Two five year old girls did a routine to hula hoops that was Really quite good. They did it to the song "The Twist", and they didn't drop the hula hoop the entire time, even walking around on the stage, doing various things with their arms, and even dropping to their knees. At one point they had two hoops going each at the same time, and they ended with one girl doing it around her calves and the other around her neck. I was admittedly impressed. They are kindergartners. Another kindergartner played the violin very well, several dancers, several pianists, several singers. One of the girls in Kaylee's class got up and sang "Father, I Adore You" a capella. That was actually Kaylee's idea to do, but then she changed her mind and this other girl did instead. The whole place got very quiet, and the girl did very well. One young lady, 4th grader, got up and sang a song that also quieted down the place. See, there were 30 acts, and there was always a smattering of people talking (I can't stand that by the way, that is VERY rude.) This girl started singing, and she had the most pure, rich voice I've heard out of a little kid in a long time. She was DEAD on pitch, something none of the others achieved, even the older ones, but what was most amazing was that she was a true soprano. That girl hit a high "A", for you music-knowledgeable people. That is way higher than I ever care to try to hit, and she hit the note dead on even with a jump in between notes. (I suppose you're going to ask how I know what note she hit, huh? I kept the tune in my head until I got home-an octave lower where I could actually do it.) Kaylee's class did two songs. One was a counting song, and the other was "Boom a chicka boom", and it was funny. Because Kaylee is, as her teacher put it, a good and loud singer, she along with three others got to be the "lead" in the song, and whatever they would do, the rest of the class would copy. She did a great job, and she was by far the most dramatic one up there. They did an opera part to it, and she had her head thrown back and her arms thrown out dramatically. In the "rocker" part of it, she was HEADBANGING, with her hair flinging all around. I got a video of this, naturally. She was really getting into it, and the "stage" does not only not bother her, she seems to thrive off of it. Heaven help us all. ;) An hour and a half later, the show was still going on, and her teacher waved me over. Apparently Kaylee was falling asleep with her head on the teacher's lap. This worked for me, because my rear end had fallen asleep on that tiny plastic seat more than 40 minutes ago. In fact, my rear end still hurts! lol So I picked up my sleepy head and brought her home. She did a great job.
On the way home, Kaylee said "Look Mommy, all the houses are asleep." There was a brief pause, and then she says in this little grown-up voice "Well, I don't mean the houses are LITERALLY asleep, of course, because houses can not sleep. I didn't mean that literally. I meant that the People inside the houses are asleep." (I enjoyed her use of the word 'literally'.) And then the conversation went to tornadoes and tornado drills, to storms, to our crawl space and what was down there. She has quite the stream of consciousness most of the time. Just like her mother. ;)
Welcome to the weekend ladies and gents! I hope you enjoy!
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Ahhhhh
You know, for a cold, rainy day, it was an awfully good day!
For starters, once I took Kaylee to school, I came home and crawled right back in bed. I was up from 4 a.m. until I had to get up this morning--could NOT go back to sleep. It was the second night in a row I'd gotten under five hours of sleep, so I just turned on my fan and crawled right back in. When I finally got up about 90 minutes later, I just felt much better.
We had lunch out at the hangar today, because Nathan's been working on the Mustang and a few other projects, so I just took Subway out there and we hung out there for lunch.
I found out today that shortly after Sun-N-Fun, while they are finishing up the T-6, I will supposedly get to start flying a different T-6, this one a "racer", which is quite exciting. It's significantly faster and lighter than the regular T-6, and from what I understand, trickier to handle. This is to get me going so I'll be able to hopefully be ready to fly this summer and fall. I must admit, every time I think about it I get this little smirk on my face.
Kaylee went back to gymnastics today for the first time in a few weeks, and she enjoyed that. Afterwards she was doing her homework and grumbling because I was going to take her to Kokomo Airport with me. Instead, Steve came home early thanks to bad weather, and she was positively thrilled to see him and not have to go with me. She attacked him, kissed him, and said he was the best daddy ever. Ha. She is such a ham sometimes!
So I headed out to Kokomo in the rain. Originally I was going to take the Baron up flying a few trips around the pattern if it was nice, and thought about doing a couple of approaches if it was cloudy. It was. Unfortunately I ran a little late, and the guys who were there to do the oil change were already there and I didn't want to make them wait for the approaches. But I was getting 3 miles and 1900', so I decided to do a couple of quick take offs and landings, but as I was out on the ramp listening to the weather, it went from 3 miles to 2 miles to 1.75 miles to 1.5 miles. Now that won't do at all. So I basically ended up just pulling it out, firing it up, taxiing it around the airport (warming up the oil), then bringing it back to put away for the guys to do the oil change. As I pulled up to the hangar, the Nexrad lit up, showing a beautiful rainbow of greens, yellows and reds, too. (Lots of rain. Not where I was yet.) A little mini thrill for the day.
I do believe I will grab a nice chocolate beverage and relax for the evening, with my feet kicked up, the work station off, and a slight perma-smile for the day!
For starters, once I took Kaylee to school, I came home and crawled right back in bed. I was up from 4 a.m. until I had to get up this morning--could NOT go back to sleep. It was the second night in a row I'd gotten under five hours of sleep, so I just turned on my fan and crawled right back in. When I finally got up about 90 minutes later, I just felt much better.
We had lunch out at the hangar today, because Nathan's been working on the Mustang and a few other projects, so I just took Subway out there and we hung out there for lunch.
I found out today that shortly after Sun-N-Fun, while they are finishing up the T-6, I will supposedly get to start flying a different T-6, this one a "racer", which is quite exciting. It's significantly faster and lighter than the regular T-6, and from what I understand, trickier to handle. This is to get me going so I'll be able to hopefully be ready to fly this summer and fall. I must admit, every time I think about it I get this little smirk on my face.
Kaylee went back to gymnastics today for the first time in a few weeks, and she enjoyed that. Afterwards she was doing her homework and grumbling because I was going to take her to Kokomo Airport with me. Instead, Steve came home early thanks to bad weather, and she was positively thrilled to see him and not have to go with me. She attacked him, kissed him, and said he was the best daddy ever. Ha. She is such a ham sometimes!
So I headed out to Kokomo in the rain. Originally I was going to take the Baron up flying a few trips around the pattern if it was nice, and thought about doing a couple of approaches if it was cloudy. It was. Unfortunately I ran a little late, and the guys who were there to do the oil change were already there and I didn't want to make them wait for the approaches. But I was getting 3 miles and 1900', so I decided to do a couple of quick take offs and landings, but as I was out on the ramp listening to the weather, it went from 3 miles to 2 miles to 1.75 miles to 1.5 miles. Now that won't do at all. So I basically ended up just pulling it out, firing it up, taxiing it around the airport (warming up the oil), then bringing it back to put away for the guys to do the oil change. As I pulled up to the hangar, the Nexrad lit up, showing a beautiful rainbow of greens, yellows and reds, too. (Lots of rain. Not where I was yet.) A little mini thrill for the day.
I do believe I will grab a nice chocolate beverage and relax for the evening, with my feet kicked up, the work station off, and a slight perma-smile for the day!
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Meandering Mental Musing
My mind works best in a skipping from this to that type format. Usually I try to corral that to provide some order to my posts, but tonight I'm way too tired to actually think, so you get the Randomized Version. :)
I didn't get a lot of sleep last night, so I woke up a little on the cranky side, which was okay, because so did Kaylee. ;)
We had a mini-CFI (flight instructor) meeting over lunch today, going over some policies, procedures, training standards, etc., and then I went out to Kokomo to give a ride to a grandpa and his two grandsons. None of them had ever been in a small plane before. Grandma was a little apprehensive, and so was one of the boys (ages about 6 and 8). When I got in the air, the younger boy up front was a little unnerved. Only he and I could hear each other, so I asked him if he was okay, and told him that if he wanted me to go back and take him to the ground, that it would be just fine. He just shook his head 'no' to going back, so I kept telling him what did what, pointing out some things on the ground, and within about five minutes he was flying the plane himself. The Grandpa leaned up and yelled "Is he okay?" to which I lifted my hands up in the "look ma no hands" pose, to which Grandpa stared and then started snapping photos. After we landed the kids decided that was way cool and that's what they were going to do when they got older. Hey, don't laugh, that's what I said when I was their age. :)
As we were saying goodbye up at the terminal, I heard the very distinctive sound of a Merlin
engine. This caused me to make for the nearest window, where I saw the glorious sight of a Mustang being run up. Ahhhh, Happy Spring indeed. By the time I got over there, the run-up was done, but I snapped a photo of the plane before it was tugged back into the hangar. You can hear that thing from the other side of the airport, inside a building, over a television and eight people talking. Now that's an airplane. Woof.
I finished up at Kokomo and picked up Kaylee from school, where I learned that she had to sit outside on a bench for her entire morning recess, without being able to speak to anyone, during this beautiful day, because she had not remembered to tell me after Easter Break to bring her report card back to school. Nobody sent ME a note about it, the teacher expected a seven-year-old to remember to tell their parents over Spring Break to bring back the card, and when they didn't, she punished them (two of them) by making them sit out the entire recess in silence. I can not begin to tell you how things like this aggravate me. What a joyful, positive learning experience, eh?
I tried to nap this afternoon to make up for my sleep deficit, but I just couldn't pull it off, and after about 45 minutes I gave up and got up.
I had the TV on this morning before school, and it was the only thing that amused me that
morning. Have you seen that commercial where a man is at an interview, and the interviewer can't hear a word the man is saying because the stain on his shirt is yelling over the top of the interviewee's words? The interview on TV this morning was with the author of a book on marital relations...beyond that, I didn't hear a word she was saying, because her eyebrows took on a life of their own and I found myself watching them, at which point I heard the "Blah blah blah BLAH!" from the Tide Stain commercial, which made me smile. I'm sure it's a perfectly lovely book and that she is a smart, funny author and comedienne. The photo is one she uses for her own website banner. She is also a stand up comic, and her book certainly sounds like a common-sense approach to things, which I found out after I went to the site to see what it actually was about...
This evening I went to an Open House for "The Christian Children's Academy". It actually went very well; the open house was quite busy. The last two open houses I went to, in one Kaylee and I were the only ones there for an hour, and in the other we were one of three people there. Tonight the whole place was full for the full two hours of the open house, plus people came early. I took several photos throughout the night so I can put a few up on the website. The weird part for me was getting permission from the parents to use the photos on the internet. I hated saying "Hi, welcome to the school, I'm Laura, can I take your picture and hey, will you sign this release so I can put it on the internet?" Eek. Some of the teachers and other board members who came wore high heels. I wore dress slacks, a nice sweater, and FLAT shoes, considering I knew I'd be on my feet for two and a half hours. Good choice, Laura, 'cause my feet still hurt anyway. ;)
While I was there, I heard "Hey, are you Kaylee's mom??" I turned around and did not recognize the woman or the child standing there AT ALL, which left me that brief feeling of panic as she pointed to her son obviously expecting me to know. It ended up being one of the boys from Kaylee's class! The mom started asking me questions about their current school, and we talked for almost an hour straight...it ends up she and her son are having the exact same issues Kaylee and I are at the school. I have to admit, in a way it was reassuring to hear that I am not the only one who feels most of the things I do. I am not an unreasonable person, and I am certainly not one of "those" parents whose child can Do No Wrong. I expect a lot from Kaylee, I have no problems with rules or even strictness, but even I find myself unpleasantly amazed at some of the events from the last year. The other day she brought a spelling test home. She spelled the word "children" completely correctly, but it was marked wrong because she used a capital "c". So a correctly spelled word was counted wrong on a spelling test-not an English test-a spelling test. Stuff like that...seriously.
I also ran into a couple of moms I knew back in Kaylee's other school, and it was really good to see them. I was taking pictures of one of the kids, and I asked this four-year-old where she would like to pose in the room. She looks around, and this tiny little thing pipes up with "I think I prefer the shopping option." I Kid You Not! I cracked up. So she went over to the rack of clothing and went shopping while I took her picture. What a vocabulary. :)
Apparently a pilot accidentally fired his gun in the cockpit of an airliner. Well, that will help. *sigh*
Also apparently, the kid asking Chelsea Clinton about the Monica Lewinsky thing was asking her about her mother's handling of the situation. While I still think it's an annoying question, and should somebody have asked her (as I originally thought) what she "thought" about it, I would have appreciated her answer, I have to also say that has to be fair game. The woman is aiming for President of the U.S. and her daughter is choosing to throw her hat into the ring. Asking about how a Presidential candidate handled something in the past might be something they are tired of discussing, but hey, it's a common topic of interest and it's fair game. End of Laura's Revised Opinion. ;)
Guess that's about it, see you tomorrow!
I didn't get a lot of sleep last night, so I woke up a little on the cranky side, which was okay, because so did Kaylee. ;)
We had a mini-CFI (flight instructor) meeting over lunch today, going over some policies, procedures, training standards, etc., and then I went out to Kokomo to give a ride to a grandpa and his two grandsons. None of them had ever been in a small plane before. Grandma was a little apprehensive, and so was one of the boys (ages about 6 and 8). When I got in the air, the younger boy up front was a little unnerved. Only he and I could hear each other, so I asked him if he was okay, and told him that if he wanted me to go back and take him to the ground, that it would be just fine. He just shook his head 'no' to going back, so I kept telling him what did what, pointing out some things on the ground, and within about five minutes he was flying the plane himself. The Grandpa leaned up and yelled "Is he okay?" to which I lifted my hands up in the "look ma no hands" pose, to which Grandpa stared and then started snapping photos. After we landed the kids decided that was way cool and that's what they were going to do when they got older. Hey, don't laugh, that's what I said when I was their age. :)
As we were saying goodbye up at the terminal, I heard the very distinctive sound of a Merlin
engine. This caused me to make for the nearest window, where I saw the glorious sight of a Mustang being run up. Ahhhh, Happy Spring indeed. By the time I got over there, the run-up was done, but I snapped a photo of the plane before it was tugged back into the hangar. You can hear that thing from the other side of the airport, inside a building, over a television and eight people talking. Now that's an airplane. Woof.I finished up at Kokomo and picked up Kaylee from school, where I learned that she had to sit outside on a bench for her entire morning recess, without being able to speak to anyone, during this beautiful day, because she had not remembered to tell me after Easter Break to bring her report card back to school. Nobody sent ME a note about it, the teacher expected a seven-year-old to remember to tell their parents over Spring Break to bring back the card, and when they didn't, she punished them (two of them) by making them sit out the entire recess in silence. I can not begin to tell you how things like this aggravate me. What a joyful, positive learning experience, eh?
I tried to nap this afternoon to make up for my sleep deficit, but I just couldn't pull it off, and after about 45 minutes I gave up and got up.
I had the TV on this morning before school, and it was the only thing that amused me that
morning. Have you seen that commercial where a man is at an interview, and the interviewer can't hear a word the man is saying because the stain on his shirt is yelling over the top of the interviewee's words? The interview on TV this morning was with the author of a book on marital relations...beyond that, I didn't hear a word she was saying, because her eyebrows took on a life of their own and I found myself watching them, at which point I heard the "Blah blah blah BLAH!" from the Tide Stain commercial, which made me smile. I'm sure it's a perfectly lovely book and that she is a smart, funny author and comedienne. The photo is one she uses for her own website banner. She is also a stand up comic, and her book certainly sounds like a common-sense approach to things, which I found out after I went to the site to see what it actually was about...This evening I went to an Open House for "The Christian Children's Academy". It actually went very well; the open house was quite busy. The last two open houses I went to, in one Kaylee and I were the only ones there for an hour, and in the other we were one of three people there. Tonight the whole place was full for the full two hours of the open house, plus people came early. I took several photos throughout the night so I can put a few up on the website. The weird part for me was getting permission from the parents to use the photos on the internet. I hated saying "Hi, welcome to the school, I'm Laura, can I take your picture and hey, will you sign this release so I can put it on the internet?" Eek. Some of the teachers and other board members who came wore high heels. I wore dress slacks, a nice sweater, and FLAT shoes, considering I knew I'd be on my feet for two and a half hours. Good choice, Laura, 'cause my feet still hurt anyway. ;)
While I was there, I heard "Hey, are you Kaylee's mom??" I turned around and did not recognize the woman or the child standing there AT ALL, which left me that brief feeling of panic as she pointed to her son obviously expecting me to know. It ended up being one of the boys from Kaylee's class! The mom started asking me questions about their current school, and we talked for almost an hour straight...it ends up she and her son are having the exact same issues Kaylee and I are at the school. I have to admit, in a way it was reassuring to hear that I am not the only one who feels most of the things I do. I am not an unreasonable person, and I am certainly not one of "those" parents whose child can Do No Wrong. I expect a lot from Kaylee, I have no problems with rules or even strictness, but even I find myself unpleasantly amazed at some of the events from the last year. The other day she brought a spelling test home. She spelled the word "children" completely correctly, but it was marked wrong because she used a capital "c". So a correctly spelled word was counted wrong on a spelling test-not an English test-a spelling test. Stuff like that...seriously.
I also ran into a couple of moms I knew back in Kaylee's other school, and it was really good to see them. I was taking pictures of one of the kids, and I asked this four-year-old where she would like to pose in the room. She looks around, and this tiny little thing pipes up with "I think I prefer the shopping option." I Kid You Not! I cracked up. So she went over to the rack of clothing and went shopping while I took her picture. What a vocabulary. :)
Apparently a pilot accidentally fired his gun in the cockpit of an airliner. Well, that will help. *sigh*
Also apparently, the kid asking Chelsea Clinton about the Monica Lewinsky thing was asking her about her mother's handling of the situation. While I still think it's an annoying question, and should somebody have asked her (as I originally thought) what she "thought" about it, I would have appreciated her answer, I have to also say that has to be fair game. The woman is aiming for President of the U.S. and her daughter is choosing to throw her hat into the ring. Asking about how a Presidential candidate handled something in the past might be something they are tired of discussing, but hey, it's a common topic of interest and it's fair game. End of Laura's Revised Opinion. ;)
Guess that's about it, see you tomorrow!
The Killing Zone
I forgot to add this last night, but I thought some of you would 'enjoy' hearing it, so I'll write it now before I forget again. ;)
Apparently the mice at Glenndale decided to declare war yesterday, by running around in public in broad daylight. We frequently get mice out there, because it is an old airport building in the middle of a bunch of farm fields. Mice aren't a shock, but when one ran down an internet wire right by Chuck's desk, down the wall, that was the shot heard round the airport. The traps came out, the cheese came out, and by the time they had left for lunch, they had already grabbed 6 mice. We were all amazed at that number at the time. After lunch we all went back to Glenndale, and the traps were full again. If you opened one closet in particular, you would see live mice trying to eat the cheese out of sprung traps over the carcases of their compadres. It was nasty. The traps were being sprung faster than Steve could keep up with them, so an assembly line was started. Chuck would load the traps, Steve would place them. Within minutes the traps would be set off, and Steve would empty the trap outside and hand them to Chuck to be reset. I mean, they did this for a Long Time, and they were setting Four traps at once, all in the same area!
The job of dispatching the mice was offered to me, but my proposed solution of simply throwing out the traps with the mice and purchasing more traps was met with disapproval. :)
Steve came home and said by the end of the day that the death count, or The Final Score was:
Steve/Chuck: 20
Mice: 0
Mice don't bother me, but that's still kind of gross. Well, I have a feeling the stray cat population is going to increase at least briefly, considering there is now a Mouse Buffet sitting there ready and waiting outside, already dispatched and ready to be a snack...
Apparently the mice at Glenndale decided to declare war yesterday, by running around in public in broad daylight. We frequently get mice out there, because it is an old airport building in the middle of a bunch of farm fields. Mice aren't a shock, but when one ran down an internet wire right by Chuck's desk, down the wall, that was the shot heard round the airport. The traps came out, the cheese came out, and by the time they had left for lunch, they had already grabbed 6 mice. We were all amazed at that number at the time. After lunch we all went back to Glenndale, and the traps were full again. If you opened one closet in particular, you would see live mice trying to eat the cheese out of sprung traps over the carcases of their compadres. It was nasty. The traps were being sprung faster than Steve could keep up with them, so an assembly line was started. Chuck would load the traps, Steve would place them. Within minutes the traps would be set off, and Steve would empty the trap outside and hand them to Chuck to be reset. I mean, they did this for a Long Time, and they were setting Four traps at once, all in the same area!
The job of dispatching the mice was offered to me, but my proposed solution of simply throwing out the traps with the mice and purchasing more traps was met with disapproval. :)
Steve came home and said by the end of the day that the death count, or The Final Score was:
Steve/Chuck: 20
Mice: 0
Mice don't bother me, but that's still kind of gross. Well, I have a feeling the stray cat population is going to increase at least briefly, considering there is now a Mouse Buffet sitting there ready and waiting outside, already dispatched and ready to be a snack...
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Tuesday Again
Well, one of the Top Tens for today was how to travel with five children on a long trip and have fun. I couldn't possibly follow that one, since not only do I not travel with five children, my long trips are usually at max 3 hours in an airplane. ;) Plus it's 12:30 in the morning and I need to not try to come up with anything too creative at this hour so I can go to bed and get my beauty rest, which everyone will readily admit I need, I'm sure!
Let's see. Kaylee had a good day, brought home all excellent grades and was invited to two birthday parties this coming weekend.
As for me, I got a *lot* done today. I got through a ton of paperwork. I've gotten a very large pile down to two small piles; one personal, one SMA. Tomorrow I'm attacking the SMA pile, and the next day hopefully the personal one. I then have 160 emails in my inbox to attack after that. But I threw away a LOT of stuff, I got a ton done, and I'm feeling pretty good about all this. Progress and organization always feel better.
Let's see. I saw something on TV that made me actually agree with a Clinton, which has got to be the first time that has ever happened. I don't even like Chelsea, but she is in Indiana right now along with her parents, on a political tour. Somebody in the audience asked her about her dad's affair with Monica Lewinsky. Her response was "I really don't think that's ANY of your business." You know what, she's right, whether I like her and her parents or not. What a gross, rude question to ask a daughter of her father.
I returned several phone calls, RSVPd to two birthday parties for this weekend, got about 8 things ready for the US Post Office including letters to my grandparents, got billing entered at the office and done at home as well, and all in all had myself a VERY productive day. I am feeling only somewhat behind today as opposed to terribly, embarrassingly behind. This is good.
This morning the Today Show had a segment on whether or not chocolate was actually good for you. The expert for the day said that dark chocolate in particular had some good benefits, but the fat, sugar and calories far outweighed the benefits of chocolate. Then they introduced "Super Chocolates", which are chocolates, chocolate drinks and chocolate bars ramped up with the good-for-you stuff with the fat and calories removed. Also known as "Not Really Chocolate", thank you very much. After watching a story about chocolate for 15 minutes, I had to go crack open my Dove bar and have a couple of squares for breakfast. What can I say, I do my part to work on healthy eating...
Well, I'm not sure what I'm missing from today, but I'll catch up to you tomorrow. :)
Let's see. Kaylee had a good day, brought home all excellent grades and was invited to two birthday parties this coming weekend.
As for me, I got a *lot* done today. I got through a ton of paperwork. I've gotten a very large pile down to two small piles; one personal, one SMA. Tomorrow I'm attacking the SMA pile, and the next day hopefully the personal one. I then have 160 emails in my inbox to attack after that. But I threw away a LOT of stuff, I got a ton done, and I'm feeling pretty good about all this. Progress and organization always feel better.
Let's see. I saw something on TV that made me actually agree with a Clinton, which has got to be the first time that has ever happened. I don't even like Chelsea, but she is in Indiana right now along with her parents, on a political tour. Somebody in the audience asked her about her dad's affair with Monica Lewinsky. Her response was "I really don't think that's ANY of your business." You know what, she's right, whether I like her and her parents or not. What a gross, rude question to ask a daughter of her father.
I returned several phone calls, RSVPd to two birthday parties for this weekend, got about 8 things ready for the US Post Office including letters to my grandparents, got billing entered at the office and done at home as well, and all in all had myself a VERY productive day. I am feeling only somewhat behind today as opposed to terribly, embarrassingly behind. This is good.
This morning the Today Show had a segment on whether or not chocolate was actually good for you. The expert for the day said that dark chocolate in particular had some good benefits, but the fat, sugar and calories far outweighed the benefits of chocolate. Then they introduced "Super Chocolates", which are chocolates, chocolate drinks and chocolate bars ramped up with the good-for-you stuff with the fat and calories removed. Also known as "Not Really Chocolate", thank you very much. After watching a story about chocolate for 15 minutes, I had to go crack open my Dove bar and have a couple of squares for breakfast. What can I say, I do my part to work on healthy eating...
Well, I'm not sure what I'm missing from today, but I'll catch up to you tomorrow. :)
Monday, March 24, 2008
Running Around...
Unfortunately I created some of my own running around. It's okay if you laugh, because everybody else I've told this to has laughed, and I'm still married to them, er friends with them. ;)
Monday mornings are always kind of hard. Nobody wants to get up. Kaylee and I were doing okay on time, and we arrived about 15 minutes early, but as I pulled into her school, I noted a glaring problem--there were only three cars in the whole parking lot. If there are crickets in the Spring, you would have heard them as I pulled into the lot. Kaylee, the Queen of Obvious as are all small children, says "Boy, it sure is empty here. We must be early." My response of "We're not THAT early" funnily enough didn't get a response from her. So, we went back home, where I checked the school calendar and found that today is the last day of Kaylee's Easter Break. We woke up early and got ready on our last available day to sleep in. *sigh* She was pleased to have the day off anyway though. :)
Kaylee played with her Disney Fairies on line while I did some work, and then it was time to get some other work done. I ran to Glenndale to pick up an approach plate that needed taken to Kokomo, and drove on out to Kokomo. It was a hopping day at Kokomo. I took one of the airplanes up with Kaylee in the front seat and tested out a couple things. As I was coming in to land, Kaylee pipes up with "I know how to land an airplane." "Oh you do, huh? Tell me about it." She says "Well, you go down down down left left right right and then up up." Well, kinda. :) She did just fine in the plane, because she was up front with me. Put her in the back, and she doesn't want much to do with it.
After I got the 172 put away, I grabbed a quickie bite and then Nathan and I went up in the 180. We flew up on top of the cloud deck, doing a little canyon flying up and back down, and it was actually quite a lovely flight. It's quite enjoyable wandering among-but not in-the clouds. The area was quite busy, too. The 172 was up flying with one of our instructors, Steve was up flying with a student (all day in fact!), Nathan and I were up in the 180, Chuck was up in the Citabria, and several other planes were wandering around too. Spring Fling. :)
Today was Kaylee's first day back to ballet and Cheer in over two weeks, and she was happy to be there. We celebrated by going to the ice cream shop next door, where she chose her current favorite of mint chocolate chip and I got a hot chocolate.
This was an easier Monday than most, because Kaylee wasn't tired from school and didn't have to fit in homework in between school, after-school activities, and a reasonable bed time. It wasn't a typical kid break day for her by any means, but she did great!
(Since I washed my car today, I am assuming it is going to rain within the next two days.)
One last thing from the weekend. We watched "I Am Legend" with Will Smith. A movie going back to the premise that you don't have to SEE everything to "get" it. It is rated PG-13, which surprises everyone. Anyway, the premise is that a woman cures cancer by putting the cure in a vaccine which uses a virus to take the cure through the body's system. Unfortunately this also unleashes a mutation which causes a disease that wipes out most of the planet. In real life, they actually are using viruses in their attempts to transmit a cure through the human body. While I highly doubt it will kill off the planet, it can give a person pause when one is messing with Mother Nature. Many a vaccine has been altered or removed after it hits the general public and unexpected problems occur...
This evening I spent a good amount of time cleaning up from being gone. Putting away clothes and suitcases, dishes, toys, etc. Catching up on some billing, going through paperwork, you know, Stuff. I still have more to do, but I think I'll call it a night on the work thing for now. :)
Monday mornings are always kind of hard. Nobody wants to get up. Kaylee and I were doing okay on time, and we arrived about 15 minutes early, but as I pulled into her school, I noted a glaring problem--there were only three cars in the whole parking lot. If there are crickets in the Spring, you would have heard them as I pulled into the lot. Kaylee, the Queen of Obvious as are all small children, says "Boy, it sure is empty here. We must be early." My response of "We're not THAT early" funnily enough didn't get a response from her. So, we went back home, where I checked the school calendar and found that today is the last day of Kaylee's Easter Break. We woke up early and got ready on our last available day to sleep in. *sigh* She was pleased to have the day off anyway though. :)
Kaylee played with her Disney Fairies on line while I did some work, and then it was time to get some other work done. I ran to Glenndale to pick up an approach plate that needed taken to Kokomo, and drove on out to Kokomo. It was a hopping day at Kokomo. I took one of the airplanes up with Kaylee in the front seat and tested out a couple things. As I was coming in to land, Kaylee pipes up with "I know how to land an airplane." "Oh you do, huh? Tell me about it." She says "Well, you go down down down left left right right and then up up." Well, kinda. :) She did just fine in the plane, because she was up front with me. Put her in the back, and she doesn't want much to do with it.
After I got the 172 put away, I grabbed a quickie bite and then Nathan and I went up in the 180. We flew up on top of the cloud deck, doing a little canyon flying up and back down, and it was actually quite a lovely flight. It's quite enjoyable wandering among-but not in-the clouds. The area was quite busy, too. The 172 was up flying with one of our instructors, Steve was up flying with a student (all day in fact!), Nathan and I were up in the 180, Chuck was up in the Citabria, and several other planes were wandering around too. Spring Fling. :)
Today was Kaylee's first day back to ballet and Cheer in over two weeks, and she was happy to be there. We celebrated by going to the ice cream shop next door, where she chose her current favorite of mint chocolate chip and I got a hot chocolate.
This was an easier Monday than most, because Kaylee wasn't tired from school and didn't have to fit in homework in between school, after-school activities, and a reasonable bed time. It wasn't a typical kid break day for her by any means, but she did great!
(Since I washed my car today, I am assuming it is going to rain within the next two days.)
One last thing from the weekend. We watched "I Am Legend" with Will Smith. A movie going back to the premise that you don't have to SEE everything to "get" it. It is rated PG-13, which surprises everyone. Anyway, the premise is that a woman cures cancer by putting the cure in a vaccine which uses a virus to take the cure through the body's system. Unfortunately this also unleashes a mutation which causes a disease that wipes out most of the planet. In real life, they actually are using viruses in their attempts to transmit a cure through the human body. While I highly doubt it will kill off the planet, it can give a person pause when one is messing with Mother Nature. Many a vaccine has been altered or removed after it hits the general public and unexpected problems occur...
This evening I spent a good amount of time cleaning up from being gone. Putting away clothes and suitcases, dishes, toys, etc. Catching up on some billing, going through paperwork, you know, Stuff. I still have more to do, but I think I'll call it a night on the work thing for now. :)
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Various Thoughts/Occurrences from Today
Easter is the promise of life, of love, of sacrifice, of hope, and of triumph. A Happy, Blessed Easter to you all...
For my birthday, Mom baked a batch of ooey gooey brownies and under-baked them by five minutes just for me. Kaylee got to them a little early, and took a chunk out of the middle of the pan, leaving behind a few sprinkles and a couple of Nerd candies to give her away. Bugger. ;)
I forgot, when we unloaded the plane, Mom grabbed my purse, and then she paused with purse hanging in mid-air, and said "It this a purse? Is my daughter carrying an actual, real purse? What is the world coming to?!" It was kind of a real purse-just a tan one that Ann had given Kaylee for a play purse, and Kaylee had given to me because she said I needed a new one. ;)
The flooding in Missouri is really bad. Perhaps you've seen it on the news. It's really impressive to see in person, too. You can see where the Mississippi River is halted by a levy. On the other side of that levy is an airport and a lot of towns/people. One break in that levy, and it's going under, all of it. There have been National Guard out, and today on my flight home from Missouri I got a TFR (Temporary Flight Restriction) near that area, saying I couldn't fly over due to Flood Rescue Work being undertaken in that area. It's a mess; it's the worst flooding that area has ever seen...and it's seen a lot of flooding.
For those who missed the point of my "Picture that Didn't Speak 1000 Words After All", it wasn't what I was watching on TV (which happened to be Eric Clapton at that moment for you curious folks), but rather that I was watching TV. The bulb was replaced and I had live television for the first time in 4-5 days. See, a picture does not always work, does it. ;)
Today Kaylee got to go on an Easter Egg Hunt of her own. She did pretty well, and she had a fun time doing it, too. She's already eaten two of her eggs. She likes hard-boiled eggs, which is good, since they're pretty good for a growing kid. I took a few photos of that which are up on Kaylee's Site. That's got to be one of the least-photo-taking-weekends I've ever had though. Not sure what my deal was!
Kaylee has been re-creating "Enchanted" and play acting out the parts since the movie ended. The adults were more enamored with the humor in "The Bee Movie", and the little life lessons that it included too. Kaylee liked it, but she just likes princesses better. Plus for the last 3 years she has had an impressive fear of bees anyway, so she probably regarded them with a little suspicion. For a minute I had a brief hope that a cute movie about bees would make her like them better in her gardens in the back yard. Then I remembered that I may have cried my eyes out as a kid when Charlotte died, but I still have a deep-rooted hatred of all things spider. And when I saw "Charlotte's Web" on the big screen, I did not find the computer animated spider cute or endearing at all. I found her large and creepy. Oh. That was my favorite line in "The Bee Movie". The bees were discussing dating different species, and one of them said "I know that spiders are the cool ones to date with their 8 legs and everything, but I just can't get past that face." and then he made a definite ugly spider face. YEAH, what he said! "Enchanted" also made me laugh and grossed me out. At one point, the princess did what Cinderella and Snow White could both do-she would sing, and cute little cuddly animals would come help. Little fuzzy mice, sweet birds, cute chipmunks, rabbits, etc. When the princess was dropped into New York City, she called upon her animal friends to help her clean an apartment, and she ended up with pigeons, large rats, and cockroaches. Her comment was "Oh dear. Well, it's always good to make NEW friends." Then a rat stuck his long tail down the drain of the bathtub and pulled out a HUGE hairball, which another critter pulled off to throw away, and I almost threw up right there. I had involuntary heebie geebie twitching for a good 60 seconds after seeing that. Mom's favorite part was when the cockroaches came swarming out of the bathtub drain to clean the scummy tub. That was in fact a close second for me. *Nasty*. One other amusing thing-instead of the Prince rescuing the Princess, they ended up having the Princess with a sword rescuing her Prince from a dragon. Welcome to 2008 and equal opportunity heroism, ladies and gentlemen. ;)
Well, today we flew home. I was surprised to find out that we were looking at clouds and icing. It actually ended up being just what the doctor ordered, so to speak. When I first entered the clouds, I actually had to concentrate to keep up with the plane. It had been SO long since I actually have taken a trip in the clouds for any length of time that this was much-needed practice. I flew until it clicked in, then I passed it off to Steve to get some practice in, and we swapped back and forth like that hand-flying it all the way home. Even when we weren't IN the clouds, we might as well have been from all we could see. It was funny because we could both see the other fighting it a little bit in the beginning, and then you could see it settle down and become routine. Towards the end I knew I was 'back' because I was thinking about other things too while I was flying. ;) We had tunes going the whole way home again, which were nice. I was enjoying a little classical too as I descended through the cloud layers to come in for a landing at Kokomo. It was pretty and relaxing. When we landed, I knocked off a chunk of ice from the wing and gave it to Kaylee along with the necessary directive not to Eat it. It wasn't bad at all on the icing though. I need to go shoot some approaches in actual (clouds) now, which I plan on doing one of these upcoming days when the weather cooperates with some clouds.
We made it home early afternoon, took a nap, unpacked some things, got the cats taken care of, and my Easter Supper consisted of Steak and Shake that I picked up on my way home from the airport. Kind of an Odd Easter Sunday I admit, but it worked for us. One of my favorite poems about flying has the line "reached out my hand and touched the face of God", and sometimes that is exactly how I feel, skimming on the top of a layer of clouds, looking at the deep blue above, feeling the sun on my face...
Well, I think that covers all the random thoughts I had from the last day or two. I hope you all had a peaceful, joyful Easter as well. :)
For my birthday, Mom baked a batch of ooey gooey brownies and under-baked them by five minutes just for me. Kaylee got to them a little early, and took a chunk out of the middle of the pan, leaving behind a few sprinkles and a couple of Nerd candies to give her away. Bugger. ;)
I forgot, when we unloaded the plane, Mom grabbed my purse, and then she paused with purse hanging in mid-air, and said "It this a purse? Is my daughter carrying an actual, real purse? What is the world coming to?!" It was kind of a real purse-just a tan one that Ann had given Kaylee for a play purse, and Kaylee had given to me because she said I needed a new one. ;)
The flooding in Missouri is really bad. Perhaps you've seen it on the news. It's really impressive to see in person, too. You can see where the Mississippi River is halted by a levy. On the other side of that levy is an airport and a lot of towns/people. One break in that levy, and it's going under, all of it. There have been National Guard out, and today on my flight home from Missouri I got a TFR (Temporary Flight Restriction) near that area, saying I couldn't fly over due to Flood Rescue Work being undertaken in that area. It's a mess; it's the worst flooding that area has ever seen...and it's seen a lot of flooding.
For those who missed the point of my "Picture that Didn't Speak 1000 Words After All", it wasn't what I was watching on TV (which happened to be Eric Clapton at that moment for you curious folks), but rather that I was watching TV. The bulb was replaced and I had live television for the first time in 4-5 days. See, a picture does not always work, does it. ;)
Today Kaylee got to go on an Easter Egg Hunt of her own. She did pretty well, and she had a fun time doing it, too. She's already eaten two of her eggs. She likes hard-boiled eggs, which is good, since they're pretty good for a growing kid. I took a few photos of that which are up on Kaylee's Site. That's got to be one of the least-photo-taking-weekends I've ever had though. Not sure what my deal was!Kaylee has been re-creating "Enchanted" and play acting out the parts since the movie ended. The adults were more enamored with the humor in "The Bee Movie", and the little life lessons that it included too. Kaylee liked it, but she just likes princesses better. Plus for the last 3 years she has had an impressive fear of bees anyway, so she probably regarded them with a little suspicion. For a minute I had a brief hope that a cute movie about bees would make her like them better in her gardens in the back yard. Then I remembered that I may have cried my eyes out as a kid when Charlotte died, but I still have a deep-rooted hatred of all things spider. And when I saw "Charlotte's Web" on the big screen, I did not find the computer animated spider cute or endearing at all. I found her large and creepy. Oh. That was my favorite line in "The Bee Movie". The bees were discussing dating different species, and one of them said "I know that spiders are the cool ones to date with their 8 legs and everything, but I just can't get past that face." and then he made a definite ugly spider face. YEAH, what he said! "Enchanted" also made me laugh and grossed me out. At one point, the princess did what Cinderella and Snow White could both do-she would sing, and cute little cuddly animals would come help. Little fuzzy mice, sweet birds, cute chipmunks, rabbits, etc. When the princess was dropped into New York City, she called upon her animal friends to help her clean an apartment, and she ended up with pigeons, large rats, and cockroaches. Her comment was "Oh dear. Well, it's always good to make NEW friends." Then a rat stuck his long tail down the drain of the bathtub and pulled out a HUGE hairball, which another critter pulled off to throw away, and I almost threw up right there. I had involuntary heebie geebie twitching for a good 60 seconds after seeing that. Mom's favorite part was when the cockroaches came swarming out of the bathtub drain to clean the scummy tub. That was in fact a close second for me. *Nasty*. One other amusing thing-instead of the Prince rescuing the Princess, they ended up having the Princess with a sword rescuing her Prince from a dragon. Welcome to 2008 and equal opportunity heroism, ladies and gentlemen. ;)
Well, today we flew home. I was surprised to find out that we were looking at clouds and icing. It actually ended up being just what the doctor ordered, so to speak. When I first entered the clouds, I actually had to concentrate to keep up with the plane. It had been SO long since I actually have taken a trip in the clouds for any length of time that this was much-needed practice. I flew until it clicked in, then I passed it off to Steve to get some practice in, and we swapped back and forth like that hand-flying it all the way home. Even when we weren't IN the clouds, we might as well have been from all we could see. It was funny because we could both see the other fighting it a little bit in the beginning, and then you could see it settle down and become routine. Towards the end I knew I was 'back' because I was thinking about other things too while I was flying. ;) We had tunes going the whole way home again, which were nice. I was enjoying a little classical too as I descended through the cloud layers to come in for a landing at Kokomo. It was pretty and relaxing. When we landed, I knocked off a chunk of ice from the wing and gave it to Kaylee along with the necessary directive not to Eat it. It wasn't bad at all on the icing though. I need to go shoot some approaches in actual (clouds) now, which I plan on doing one of these upcoming days when the weather cooperates with some clouds.
We made it home early afternoon, took a nap, unpacked some things, got the cats taken care of, and my Easter Supper consisted of Steak and Shake that I picked up on my way home from the airport. Kind of an Odd Easter Sunday I admit, but it worked for us. One of my favorite poems about flying has the line "reached out my hand and touched the face of God", and sometimes that is exactly how I feel, skimming on the top of a layer of clouds, looking at the deep blue above, feeling the sun on my face...
Well, I think that covers all the random thoughts I had from the last day or two. I hope you all had a peaceful, joyful Easter as well. :)
High Flight
by John G. Magee, Jr.
Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunwards I’ve climbed and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds – and done a thousand things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hovering there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air,
Up, up the long delirious burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace,
Where never lark, or even eagle, flew;
And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunwards I’ve climbed and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds – and done a thousand things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hovering there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air,
Up, up the long delirious burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace,
Where never lark, or even eagle, flew;
And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Weekend Warriors
It's hard work being on vacation. Sleeping in, having nowhere you have to go and nothing you have to do for several days in a row, hanging out in a t-shirt in Spring weather...yes, it's definitely tough. By the way, it is Officially Spring! YAY!!!!!!!!
Going from Kokomo to Cape, I lost an hour in time and a modern internet connection. ;) So when I hit the dial-up, and it made that almost-forgotten modem noise, Kaylee pauses, looks at the computer, looks at me and says "WHAT is THAT?" She'd never heard a modem before. Cracked me up.
Kaylee and Grandma have spent the last two days playing and having a ball. Playing with a neighbor's puppy, with chalk on the sidewalk, with dolls, with her DS, with their imagination, with whatever. This morning we watched "Enchanted", and this afternoon we're watching the "Bee Movie". Cute movies. :)
I haven't been in much of a photograph-taking mood for some reason, but maybe tomorrow. Mom & Kaylee dyed Easter eggs, and this morning they hid them around the house. Steve and I raced through the house trying to get more eggs than the other. Who knew Easter Egg hunting was a full-contact sport?
Going from Kokomo to Cape, I lost an hour in time and a modern internet connection. ;) So when I hit the dial-up, and it made that almost-forgotten modem noise, Kaylee pauses, looks at the computer, looks at me and says "WHAT is THAT?" She'd never heard a modem before. Cracked me up.
Kaylee and Grandma have spent the last two days playing and having a ball. Playing with a neighbor's puppy, with chalk on the sidewalk, with dolls, with her DS, with their imagination, with whatever. This morning we watched "Enchanted", and this afternoon we're watching the "Bee Movie". Cute movies. :)
I haven't been in much of a photograph-taking mood for some reason, but maybe tomorrow. Mom & Kaylee dyed Easter eggs, and this morning they hid them around the house. Steve and I raced through the house trying to get more eggs than the other. Who knew Easter Egg hunting was a full-contact sport?
Thursday, March 20, 2008
'Show Me' A Flood
Hello from Flooded Missouri! The airport is close to a river, but you can't see the river because of the amount of water everywhere. It's a mess down here, with more to come. Fortunately not this weekend, though. :)
I feel like the weather channel sometimes because I often talk about what kind of day it was. But in our line of work, the weather is a rather important part of what we do. Today was just gorgeous. I started off the day with a call from someone who needed a ride to Muncie. Steve called Chuck for me and set that flight up, so I could stay home and pack and get stuff ready for our trip. I ran a few errands, packed, got the house and cat stuff ready, and then met Nathan, Chuck and Steve C. for lunch up by the airport. Kaylee got out of school early today, so after lunch I picked her up, ran her out for a couple more errands, then came home to finish packing. As we were getting close to leaving, I got another phone call-someone needed picked up at Fort Wayne. So another call to Chuck, and he and I flew up there together to pick these guys up and bring them back to Kokomo. We get back home, fill up the Baron with gas again, and hang out for a little while at the terminal while I wait for Steve and Kaylee to arrive so we can head to Missouri.
It was a beautiful day for flying. We had a lovely flight to Missouri. I plugged in my iPod and we listened to tunes all the way down. I even learned something new, although I do have a vague recollection of having known that at one time in the past and had forgotten. The iPod tunes kept cutting out every time somebody spoke on the radio or in the plane. I knew it didn't used to do that, and it was driving me bonkers. But there's a super duper secret handy trick to select in order to let it run continuously, which Steve found. No more Tune Interruptus. :)
Memphis Center always drops me on top of Cape Girardeau airport at way too high of an altitude. Today was worse than usual, as I was only a few miles out and still at 6,000' up when the tower cleared me for a straight-in final for the runway right in front of me. So I dropped all the drag I could and made it down...unfortunately as I was on short final, I am startled by shrieking in the back seat. I'd come down so fast that Kaylee's ears couldn't equalize, and she was screaming in pain. (No, that wasn't distracting at all.) So after all that, I had to abort the landing, climb back up to altitude to equalize her ears, then come back down at a slower descent rate. That worked, tragedy averted, and we arrived safely.
Once we arrived here, we headed to Red Lobster, after which it's time to kick back and relax. Sorry this is choppy, I'm listening to a couple of conversations while I'm typing. ;) Anyway, that's the basic gist of it. I'm in Missouri, it is badly flooded, it was a nice flight, and we're all doing just fine!
I feel like the weather channel sometimes because I often talk about what kind of day it was. But in our line of work, the weather is a rather important part of what we do. Today was just gorgeous. I started off the day with a call from someone who needed a ride to Muncie. Steve called Chuck for me and set that flight up, so I could stay home and pack and get stuff ready for our trip. I ran a few errands, packed, got the house and cat stuff ready, and then met Nathan, Chuck and Steve C. for lunch up by the airport. Kaylee got out of school early today, so after lunch I picked her up, ran her out for a couple more errands, then came home to finish packing. As we were getting close to leaving, I got another phone call-someone needed picked up at Fort Wayne. So another call to Chuck, and he and I flew up there together to pick these guys up and bring them back to Kokomo. We get back home, fill up the Baron with gas again, and hang out for a little while at the terminal while I wait for Steve and Kaylee to arrive so we can head to Missouri.
It was a beautiful day for flying. We had a lovely flight to Missouri. I plugged in my iPod and we listened to tunes all the way down. I even learned something new, although I do have a vague recollection of having known that at one time in the past and had forgotten. The iPod tunes kept cutting out every time somebody spoke on the radio or in the plane. I knew it didn't used to do that, and it was driving me bonkers. But there's a super duper secret handy trick to select in order to let it run continuously, which Steve found. No more Tune Interruptus. :)
Memphis Center always drops me on top of Cape Girardeau airport at way too high of an altitude. Today was worse than usual, as I was only a few miles out and still at 6,000' up when the tower cleared me for a straight-in final for the runway right in front of me. So I dropped all the drag I could and made it down...unfortunately as I was on short final, I am startled by shrieking in the back seat. I'd come down so fast that Kaylee's ears couldn't equalize, and she was screaming in pain. (No, that wasn't distracting at all.) So after all that, I had to abort the landing, climb back up to altitude to equalize her ears, then come back down at a slower descent rate. That worked, tragedy averted, and we arrived safely.
Once we arrived here, we headed to Red Lobster, after which it's time to kick back and relax. Sorry this is choppy, I'm listening to a couple of conversations while I'm typing. ;) Anyway, that's the basic gist of it. I'm in Missouri, it is badly flooded, it was a nice flight, and we're all doing just fine!
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Wordy Wednesday
My internet friend Cat often does a terrific "Wordless Wednesday", where a picture speaks a thousand words. She's also quite talented at saying a whole lot with very few words. Unfortunately, I am not so capable, and while I've entertained the thought of doing a Wordless Wednesday as well, I can't seem to pull it off. For my universe to be in line, I have to say something about the picture or about what was going on or why or how or What We Did Today. Alas, I am just an overly wordy person. It's one reason a nickname of mine as a kid was Mariah-from a song with lyrics that said "And they called the wind Mariah." Get it? Windy? ;)
Today was another rainy, cold, gray day, but at least it was Wednesday. Wait...
I worked on business cards this morning, and went to the store to stock up on emergency rations. Lunch was Mexican, after which I ran to the airport to drop off business cards and talk to a couple of people, then on to Glenndale to do a little bit more work prior to going to get Kaylee. Kaylee had a good day at school today, thankfully-her teacher gave me a thumbs-up when I picked her up. This afternoon when we got home, she had to do her Book In A Bag, where you read four books (all along the same theme), complete three activities and fill out a journal. They do this every other week, and this week it was about "Moms". One of the books she read was called "What Moms Can't Do", and it was a concept rather over the head of a seven year old. One of the examples was "Moms can't make a basket all by themselves" and showed a mom holding up her son to the basket for him to make it. Kaylee reads about three pages of things like that, then stops and looks at me with this puzzled look on her face, and says "That doesn't make sense. Why couldn't a mom do this stuff? YOU can." I tried to explain that it was a little tongue-in-cheek but finally I just had to give up. :) One of her activities was to draw three pictures of me. One of me at home, one of me at work, and one of me at play. For the picture of me at play, she drew us playing a game together. For the picture of me at home, she was torn between drawing a picture of me reading a book or me on the computer. Computer won. And for me at work, she drew me in an airplane. (She's actually not a bad little artist, something she definitely did not get from me.) I was amused and not surprised that for the "home" drawing she didn't draw me vacuuming or dusting...
Oh, Kaylee also informed us today at the office that she knows where babies come from, and from the content she whispered in our ear, she's gotten a little bit of info from somewhere. Supposedly a girl at school-probably one with an older sibling would be my guess. Steve passed that buck off to me in record speed. ;)
Well, I may not be capable of a wordless Wednesday, but I can have one paragraph which can be conveyed by a photo. Enjoy! (I am!)
Today was another rainy, cold, gray day, but at least it was Wednesday. Wait...
I worked on business cards this morning, and went to the store to stock up on emergency rations. Lunch was Mexican, after which I ran to the airport to drop off business cards and talk to a couple of people, then on to Glenndale to do a little bit more work prior to going to get Kaylee. Kaylee had a good day at school today, thankfully-her teacher gave me a thumbs-up when I picked her up. This afternoon when we got home, she had to do her Book In A Bag, where you read four books (all along the same theme), complete three activities and fill out a journal. They do this every other week, and this week it was about "Moms". One of the books she read was called "What Moms Can't Do", and it was a concept rather over the head of a seven year old. One of the examples was "Moms can't make a basket all by themselves" and showed a mom holding up her son to the basket for him to make it. Kaylee reads about three pages of things like that, then stops and looks at me with this puzzled look on her face, and says "That doesn't make sense. Why couldn't a mom do this stuff? YOU can." I tried to explain that it was a little tongue-in-cheek but finally I just had to give up. :) One of her activities was to draw three pictures of me. One of me at home, one of me at work, and one of me at play. For the picture of me at play, she drew us playing a game together. For the picture of me at home, she was torn between drawing a picture of me reading a book or me on the computer. Computer won. And for me at work, she drew me in an airplane. (She's actually not a bad little artist, something she definitely did not get from me.) I was amused and not surprised that for the "home" drawing she didn't draw me vacuuming or dusting...
Oh, Kaylee also informed us today at the office that she knows where babies come from, and from the content she whispered in our ear, she's gotten a little bit of info from somewhere. Supposedly a girl at school-probably one with an older sibling would be my guess. Steve passed that buck off to me in record speed. ;)
Well, I may not be capable of a wordless Wednesday, but I can have one paragraph which can be conveyed by a photo. Enjoy! (I am!)
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Tuesday Top Ten: Ten Random Thoughts for Today
1. Godiva really does rule in the land of hot chocolate. Particularly if you spiff it up a little bit.
2. I saw a Duke Energy truck drive by today, belching white smoke. It was so bad, it fogged out the area for several minutes after he drove by. There is some kind of irony in that, I just can't put my finger on it.
3. When I grow up, I don't want to be in school any more.
4. It has been four days since my television was last on. I think the quiet is starting to get to me.
5. Something is wrong with me. I have had four days of no television, and two novels that I haven't read yet, and I just can not get into them. That is worthy of note.
6. My car was clean for two whole days prior to the rain we got today, splashing dirt and mud back on it.
7. I Want My Camera Back. I am officially obsessing over it.
8. I have got to go up and do some instrument work. And update my logbook. And about 500 other things while I'm at it. Let's skip this line of thinking right now.
9. I saw a woman today in the post office with a newborn baby in a carrier and a two-year-old hanging by his arm, screaming his head off while lying on the floor and refusing to move. She let us know that he was just very independent, and then made the comment that she should have just had one. Ouch. :( I am not sure if I'm more bothered by her attitude, or at the fact that she said that in front of her children, no matter how young they are. I wish people had a clue sometimes.
10. I can not get Kaylee to sleep at night. It is 10 pm and she is wide awake. I put her in bed at 7 pm these days and she lies in there wide awake for hours and hours, and then is exhausted the next day. Ideas from anyone that don't involve drugs (I've already thought of that), warm milk, low lights, music, bedtime routines, reading books, or earlier bed times? *sigh*
2. I saw a Duke Energy truck drive by today, belching white smoke. It was so bad, it fogged out the area for several minutes after he drove by. There is some kind of irony in that, I just can't put my finger on it.
3. When I grow up, I don't want to be in school any more.
4. It has been four days since my television was last on. I think the quiet is starting to get to me.
5. Something is wrong with me. I have had four days of no television, and two novels that I haven't read yet, and I just can not get into them. That is worthy of note.
6. My car was clean for two whole days prior to the rain we got today, splashing dirt and mud back on it.
7. I Want My Camera Back. I am officially obsessing over it.
8. I have got to go up and do some instrument work. And update my logbook. And about 500 other things while I'm at it. Let's skip this line of thinking right now.
9. I saw a woman today in the post office with a newborn baby in a carrier and a two-year-old hanging by his arm, screaming his head off while lying on the floor and refusing to move. She let us know that he was just very independent, and then made the comment that she should have just had one. Ouch. :( I am not sure if I'm more bothered by her attitude, or at the fact that she said that in front of her children, no matter how young they are. I wish people had a clue sometimes.
10. I can not get Kaylee to sleep at night. It is 10 pm and she is wide awake. I put her in bed at 7 pm these days and she lies in there wide awake for hours and hours, and then is exhausted the next day. Ideas from anyone that don't involve drugs (I've already thought of that), warm milk, low lights, music, bedtime routines, reading books, or earlier bed times? *sigh*
Tuesday
It's a Tuesday, and I considered a Top Ten, but by the time I got ready to get online and do it, I was too tired to be even marginally creative. Maybe I will perk up later, but for now, you get: "This Was My Day!"
Hmm. Even that doesn't sound very stimulating to me. Bank, post office (twice), office, lunch at Ruby Tuesday's, office, school, home. I should have gone to the store but didn't feel like it. As Chuck said this morning, "I had trouble getting a bed off my back this morning." Yes, precisely! We woke up to dark and drear, and we all had trouble waking up. Kaylee wore an outfit that should have woken everyone up though. A multi-colored striped shirt, a faded short blue jean skirt, and under that a pair of (differently colored) multi-colored huge-flowered pants. Topped off by brown and pink boots. Wow. That's all I could say to that combination. Wow. I almost can't believe even I let her go in public dressed that way.
Once I got her home, we spent the next four hours on homework. Yes, four hours. This is why I am now tired and cranky and considering pouting or even grumping around. Funnily enough, Kaylee is cheerful and she's the one that had to do all the work. She's a good girl. We all sang Happy Birthday to Tanner on speakerphone tonight, and she chatted with him for a bit too.
I do believe I will work on some of that 20 pounds of chocolate from my basket (did I mention I actually weighed it?) Maybe I'll come back with a Top Ten later. Or not. I'm sure you'll all be holding your breath waiting. ;)
Hmm. Even that doesn't sound very stimulating to me. Bank, post office (twice), office, lunch at Ruby Tuesday's, office, school, home. I should have gone to the store but didn't feel like it. As Chuck said this morning, "I had trouble getting a bed off my back this morning." Yes, precisely! We woke up to dark and drear, and we all had trouble waking up. Kaylee wore an outfit that should have woken everyone up though. A multi-colored striped shirt, a faded short blue jean skirt, and under that a pair of (differently colored) multi-colored huge-flowered pants. Topped off by brown and pink boots. Wow. That's all I could say to that combination. Wow. I almost can't believe even I let her go in public dressed that way.
Once I got her home, we spent the next four hours on homework. Yes, four hours. This is why I am now tired and cranky and considering pouting or even grumping around. Funnily enough, Kaylee is cheerful and she's the one that had to do all the work. She's a good girl. We all sang Happy Birthday to Tanner on speakerphone tonight, and she chatted with him for a bit too.
I do believe I will work on some of that 20 pounds of chocolate from my basket (did I mention I actually weighed it?) Maybe I'll come back with a Top Ten later. Or not. I'm sure you'll all be holding your breath waiting. ;)
Monday, March 17, 2008
Flying and Fighting
This morning Steve and I went out to Kokomo and decided to fly the Baron around for a little bit. He needed to do some from the right seat, and I wanted to do one from the left seat, so that worked out just fine. (And no, the subject title is not from that activity. Ha.) It was a little turbulent, but not too bad. I was also putting out a few more brochures at the airport's main terminal building, and while I was there I found out a senator was doing a press briefing out of the airport that morning on Federal Debt. They had a little podium set up with two flags and everything. I decided not to stick around. ;)
We finished flying just in time to meet Nathan for lunch in town, and while we were eating, Steve got the call that one of our airplanes was done and ready to be picked up from maintenance. So we left there and Nathan flew me to Muncie to pick up the 172. There was weather moving in at this point, but it was still far enough away that we could get this part done, just not far enough away that we could move around planes to where they are supposed to be. Oh well, that's what tomorrow is for...if the weather will allow that is. Not-funnily-enough, on my way home, my DG (the instrument that tells you what direction you are headed) failed. On the plane just coming out of maintenance. On the good news front, the "autopilot" wing-leveler worked just fine. I know, that's only amusing to about two of us, but that's okay...
It was a busy day at the airport; there were lots of planes flying around, which is always good to see.
I debated on saying anything or not saying anything, because it's hard to tell what is Too Much Information sometimes. Neither do I want to perpetuate a notion that everything is always perfect, because we all know life isn't like that. :) But last Monday Kaylee had a bit of a struggle at school. This last week she's done much better, until today. Unfortunately today she had a difficult day at school, though in a different area, and a difficult day at home too. Before bed tonight she asked me why I was crying. I looked at her funny and said "I'm not crying, Kaylee." She said "No, but your eyes are." I told her I was just sad, and I explained (again) why. I just thought that was quite the way to describe it on her part. Seeing that my eyes looked sad seemed to bother her a lot more than getting in trouble did. Nobody likes to disappoint those they love. As I was typing this, she came out with a handwritten note that says "To: Mom Love: K.S. We used to have fun and play and not aregue and fite and cry. I'm sorry I made you sad and you made me cry. Really mom I love you." On a side note, her notes are getting much longer and more easy to read.
Kaylee is also fighting off something I believe. Her head is stuffy, and she has had trouble breathing at night again. We put the humidifier on and the air purifier to try to help, but sometimes she still has had trouble these last few nights.
Still no TV, but I've only missed it occasionally. Mostly the quiet is kind of nice and I've been kind of busy anyway.
Happy St. Patrick's Day for those of you who care. I wore a green sweatshirt to preclude anyone I knew or didn't know from pinching me, and that was the extent of my celebration today. :)
We finished flying just in time to meet Nathan for lunch in town, and while we were eating, Steve got the call that one of our airplanes was done and ready to be picked up from maintenance. So we left there and Nathan flew me to Muncie to pick up the 172. There was weather moving in at this point, but it was still far enough away that we could get this part done, just not far enough away that we could move around planes to where they are supposed to be. Oh well, that's what tomorrow is for...if the weather will allow that is. Not-funnily-enough, on my way home, my DG (the instrument that tells you what direction you are headed) failed. On the plane just coming out of maintenance. On the good news front, the "autopilot" wing-leveler worked just fine. I know, that's only amusing to about two of us, but that's okay...
It was a busy day at the airport; there were lots of planes flying around, which is always good to see.
I debated on saying anything or not saying anything, because it's hard to tell what is Too Much Information sometimes. Neither do I want to perpetuate a notion that everything is always perfect, because we all know life isn't like that. :) But last Monday Kaylee had a bit of a struggle at school. This last week she's done much better, until today. Unfortunately today she had a difficult day at school, though in a different area, and a difficult day at home too. Before bed tonight she asked me why I was crying. I looked at her funny and said "I'm not crying, Kaylee." She said "No, but your eyes are." I told her I was just sad, and I explained (again) why. I just thought that was quite the way to describe it on her part. Seeing that my eyes looked sad seemed to bother her a lot more than getting in trouble did. Nobody likes to disappoint those they love. As I was typing this, she came out with a handwritten note that says "To: Mom Love: K.S. We used to have fun and play and not aregue and fite and cry. I'm sorry I made you sad and you made me cry. Really mom I love you." On a side note, her notes are getting much longer and more easy to read.
Kaylee is also fighting off something I believe. Her head is stuffy, and she has had trouble breathing at night again. We put the humidifier on and the air purifier to try to help, but sometimes she still has had trouble these last few nights.
Still no TV, but I've only missed it occasionally. Mostly the quiet is kind of nice and I've been kind of busy anyway.
Happy St. Patrick's Day for those of you who care. I wore a green sweatshirt to preclude anyone I knew or didn't know from pinching me, and that was the extent of my celebration today. :)
Winds of Sympathy
Some of you may have seen the video that made the rounds which featured an airliner doing a very bad crosswind landing with a planeload full of passengers, scraping a wing on the ground, and going around (for a successful landing not shown on the video.) Here's a link in case you somehow missed it. ;) I found out a couple of days ago that it was actually a 24-year-old female copilot who was attempting to make that landing, and that the more experienced pilot took over and added power and got them out of there when it went bad, and came around and made the landing. From the beginning I thought that some pilot went home and changed his shorts. Now I know it was two pilots. He changed his shorts because he let an inexperienced copilot attempt to make a landing with a planeload of passengers in those kinds of conditions, and she changed her shorts because she basically blew it, big time.
And yet, she has my sympathy. See, I was just a couple of years younger than she is when I had the Most Embarrassing Public Landing of my life to date. There are many similarities-enough that I can feel for her. If you go read that story, you will note that mine was a crosswind landing in front of a fairly large crowd of people, which I botched spectacularly, and then found out it was caught on tape when it was brought in to class for everyone's viewing pleasure the next day. Just think, had this happened today, the guy saying "Oh, that's Laurie, she usually does a pretty good job" followed by a boinging, springing, screeching landing, and laughter, would have ended up on YouTube for the viewing pleasure of a lot more than the 24 other folks in my class, for decades to come. Of course I was just a student pilot in front of a local crowd, not an airline copilot with a plane full of people behind me, and I didn't actually ding the plane, so I wouldn't have warranted the same kind of...attention...she got. But for some reason, I get quite a vivid mental picture of her, oh, let's say for example hiding behind her sunglasses as she made her way to her car, then pulling into her apartment, kicking off her shoes (maybe), crawling in bed, and pulling the covers over her head for an hour or so while she contemplated the utter humiliation she'll be looking at for quite awhile to come. Yep, I can see that quite clearly for some reason...
Don't worry young lady, some day this will just be a funny story on your blog. Maybe. Unless you get fired and your entire career is over or something. Nah, they need pilots too badly these days-they'll just probably give you a little more training. Don't panic, passengers everywhere. ;)
(To be fair, those were some seriously bad winds.)
And yet, she has my sympathy. See, I was just a couple of years younger than she is when I had the Most Embarrassing Public Landing of my life to date. There are many similarities-enough that I can feel for her. If you go read that story, you will note that mine was a crosswind landing in front of a fairly large crowd of people, which I botched spectacularly, and then found out it was caught on tape when it was brought in to class for everyone's viewing pleasure the next day. Just think, had this happened today, the guy saying "Oh, that's Laurie, she usually does a pretty good job" followed by a boinging, springing, screeching landing, and laughter, would have ended up on YouTube for the viewing pleasure of a lot more than the 24 other folks in my class, for decades to come. Of course I was just a student pilot in front of a local crowd, not an airline copilot with a plane full of people behind me, and I didn't actually ding the plane, so I wouldn't have warranted the same kind of...attention...she got. But for some reason, I get quite a vivid mental picture of her, oh, let's say for example hiding behind her sunglasses as she made her way to her car, then pulling into her apartment, kicking off her shoes (maybe), crawling in bed, and pulling the covers over her head for an hour or so while she contemplated the utter humiliation she'll be looking at for quite awhile to come. Yep, I can see that quite clearly for some reason...
Don't worry young lady, some day this will just be a funny story on your blog. Maybe. Unless you get fired and your entire career is over or something. Nah, they need pilots too badly these days-they'll just probably give you a little more training. Don't panic, passengers everywhere. ;)
(To be fair, those were some seriously bad winds.)
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Progress?
I woke up this morning to the view of my computer being upgraded to Office 2007. Now that it's 2008, I guess it's time to move past Office 2003. ;) However, I tend to be of the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" mindset on things like this, so I haven't been in a big hurry. Once it was up and running, I played with the settings on Outlook for awhile, and I like several of the features there. I have a few more things to set up the way I like them, but in general I'm pleased with it. I especially like the RSS feed into Outlook, so I can see blog updates right in my email. Handy!
I only have one complaint (so far). The business cards Sarah and I spent a good amount of time on are done in Publisher 2003. So today I go to print out several more sheets of business cards, only to find that my option to print one card or a sheet of them isn't there any more, and that when I select multiple cards in the printing page, it isn't printing right. After I spent a good while trying to figure out what I'm missing, I realize that I'm now using Publisher 2007, and that obviously that option/setting has changed. I get desperate enough that I even go into the "Help" function, where it helpfully tells me to choose my type of paper *before* creating my document, or otherwise I'll have to make a "custom page". Well, thank you. So I go to custom page and spend a very long time trying to tweak in all the margins for top, bottom, left, right, horizontal spacing and vertical spacing between cards, before giving up in frustration at the wasted ink and paper as I try to guess correctly on the numbers to use. Why would an upgrade in software make it incredibly difficult to simply print a sheet of business cards?? In 2003 it was one button: one card, or a sheet, hit print, done. Now it seems to be something you need a drafting degree or something to do. I suppose I'll be spending another hour at this tonight, since I really need to print the business cards for tomorrow. A case where "if it wasn't broke I shouldn't have fixed it", but I'm sure I'll get used to it like everything else.
Kaylee dressed up in the fairy outfit she b
ought at Cracker Barrel yesterday, and added a long-sleeved blue butterfly shirt because it was a little chilly out. She had me double-braid her hair, and then she topped off the ensemble with a pair of brown and pink Hello Kitty boots. It was funny and cute enough that I took a few pictures of her today, and decided while I was at it, I'd get her with her vampire teeth in too. What a combination. ;) For a few poses of the somehow-angel-somehow-biker-chick-somewhat-vampire appearance, feel free to visit her site where I've posted the pictures from today.
We did some cleaning up today, I did mega loads of laundry, bedding, etc., and I did some computer piddling too. Then this evening Kaylee's little friend from next door came over, and they played for about an hour and a half, after which Steve spent time scrubbing BBQ sauce out of a dish and I scrubbed it out of the carpeting, while Kaylee picked up everything that got strung out in 90 minutes flat. Impressive! :)
I thought I'd leave you with some silly "Quotable Quotes" from "Reader's Digest".
-------------------------------------------------------
"An intellectual snob is someone who can listen to the 'William Tell Overture' and not think of the Lone Ranger."
~Dan Rather
"The three words every woman really longs to hear: I'll Clean Up."
~Molly Shannon
"Dogs have masters. Cats have staff."
~Rush Limbaugh
"I haven't got the slightest idea how to change people, but I keep a long list of prospective candidates just in case I should ever figure it out."
~David Sedaris
"People say that money isn't the key to happiness, but I always figured if you have enough money, you can have a key made."
~Joan Rivers
I only have one complaint (so far). The business cards Sarah and I spent a good amount of time on are done in Publisher 2003. So today I go to print out several more sheets of business cards, only to find that my option to print one card or a sheet of them isn't there any more, and that when I select multiple cards in the printing page, it isn't printing right. After I spent a good while trying to figure out what I'm missing, I realize that I'm now using Publisher 2007, and that obviously that option/setting has changed. I get desperate enough that I even go into the "Help" function, where it helpfully tells me to choose my type of paper *before* creating my document, or otherwise I'll have to make a "custom page". Well, thank you. So I go to custom page and spend a very long time trying to tweak in all the margins for top, bottom, left, right, horizontal spacing and vertical spacing between cards, before giving up in frustration at the wasted ink and paper as I try to guess correctly on the numbers to use. Why would an upgrade in software make it incredibly difficult to simply print a sheet of business cards?? In 2003 it was one button: one card, or a sheet, hit print, done. Now it seems to be something you need a drafting degree or something to do. I suppose I'll be spending another hour at this tonight, since I really need to print the business cards for tomorrow. A case where "if it wasn't broke I shouldn't have fixed it", but I'm sure I'll get used to it like everything else.
Kaylee dressed up in the fairy outfit she b
ought at Cracker Barrel yesterday, and added a long-sleeved blue butterfly shirt because it was a little chilly out. She had me double-braid her hair, and then she topped off the ensemble with a pair of brown and pink Hello Kitty boots. It was funny and cute enough that I took a few pictures of her today, and decided while I was at it, I'd get her with her vampire teeth in too. What a combination. ;) For a few poses of the somehow-angel-somehow-biker-chick-somewhat-vampire appearance, feel free to visit her site where I've posted the pictures from today.
We did some cleaning up today, I did mega loads of laundry, bedding, etc., and I did some computer piddling too. Then this evening Kaylee's little friend from next door came over, and they played for about an hour and a half, after which Steve spent time scrubbing BBQ sauce out of a dish and I scrubbed it out of the carpeting, while Kaylee picked up everything that got strung out in 90 minutes flat. Impressive! :)
I thought I'd leave you with some silly "Quotable Quotes" from "Reader's Digest".
-------------------------------------------------------
"An intellectual snob is someone who can listen to the 'William Tell Overture' and not think of the Lone Ranger."
~Dan Rather
"The three words every woman really longs to hear: I'll Clean Up."
~Molly Shannon
"Dogs have masters. Cats have staff."
~Rush Limbaugh
"I haven't got the slightest idea how to change people, but I keep a long list of prospective candidates just in case I should ever figure it out."
~David Sedaris
"People say that money isn't the key to happiness, but I always figured if you have enough money, you can have a key made."
~Joan Rivers
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Woe Is Me
My camera is gone. Not my good Canon, thankfully, but my little Panasonic Lumix. The one I bought the day before I was leaving to go to the Gathering of Mustangs and Legends because I needed a little one I could slip in a pocket in the back of the Mustang. One that had video clip capability so I could try to capture the view a little too while I was at it. I didn't think I was getting anything great at the time I got it, but it fit the bill perfectly at a reasonable price, and I've really enjoyed using it for those impromptu moments when you don't want to carry the Big Gun Camera or when you might want to take a little video clip but not haul around the video camera either. I remember deciding not to take it, but take my Canon somewhere instead, and I've never seen it since. *Sniff* I've half ignored it being gone, assuming that it would suddenly jump out and say "Gotcha!" But today I instituted a house-wide body cavity search, all to no avail. I've looked in places I haven't looked in for a very long time, out of desperation. No camera. I don't have a clue where else to look. Today we were at Best Buy anyway, and I went to the camera department, and they don't even carry my camera any more. They do carry the next best model for more than $120 more than I paid for mine. *Sniff* Steve said if Kaylee lost her camera, we'd teach her a lesson and not let her get another. I said that no, we'd make her save up her money and buy it herself. ;) But I don't want to buy another one, I want to find MINE. I detest the thought of having one camera for the price of two. Ugh. If you have any magic powers, please wave your wand over my house and make my camera appear! *One last sniff*
Last night at 9:33 pm, while Steve was on the deck with friends and I was sitting comfortably on the couch watching a TV show while playing on the laptop, my television made a loud "pop" noise, and faded to black. Blown lamp. That's okay, I didn't need to know how that show ended anyway. ;) It is a nightly routine around here after Kaylee is in bed to turn on the TV, relax, talk, eat, drink, watch whatever is on that looks decent for the night. This has been a very quiet 24 hours without any television at all. The local stores don't carry our "bulb" in stock, but we didn't want to go that way anyway as they charge too much. We can get it online for half the price of what the local stores charge, so that's what we've done. It'll just be a quiet couple of days here. Ah, who needs television anyway, right? Hello? Anyone out there? No? Watching TV, aren't ya!
I woke up this morning with a scratchy throat and a few extra sneezes. Hopefully this is Warmer Weather Reaction and not a cold or virus. I'm not in the mood to be sick right now, thank you.
So to recap, my camera is gone, my television is gone, and I am NOT getting sick. Okay, I believe that's the end of my Woe Is Me list now. ;)
I was right about waking up at 8 pm even though I hadn't slept well the night before. In fact, Steve and I were up until about 3 a.m., so it was nice to sleep in a little bit this morning. Saturdays are good for that! We went out and went to Best Buy and a place nearby called Partyopolis, which has a bunch of gag gifts and things. Steve thought Kaylee would get a kick out of the place, and he was right. This is the kind of girl Kaylee is. Inside was a wall of Webkinz, a latest and greatest kid trend of cute little stuffed animals you can create worlds for online too. She spent a few minutes on the Webkinz aisle, but the majority of her time was spent in the aisle with fake vomit, fart machines, fake body parts, fake huge bugs, itching powder, and what she ended up buying, a set of six fake gross teeth. Bubba teeth, vampire teeth, goat teeth, all sorts of fake teeth. She loves those things, and out of everything in the store, she had to have the gross teeth. At Cracker Barrel she spent most of her money on a set of pink wings, skirt and wand. So...a princess walking around with gross teeth. Yep. :)
We went to Cracker Barrel with Chuck for lunch, which is always enjoyable. And we went out to Glenndale where I went through my SMA supplies and removed some stuff that needed to go. Meanwhile, Steve worked on throwing out all the old office stuff we had in the front room, opening the room up a bit more so we can actually use it once we finish getting it cleaned out. This afternoon I made chocolate chip cookies with a little bit of help from Kaylee. My oven still works--good to know. lol
Guess that's it for today! I'm off to have a very quiet evening!
Last night at 9:33 pm, while Steve was on the deck with friends and I was sitting comfortably on the couch watching a TV show while playing on the laptop, my television made a loud "pop" noise, and faded to black. Blown lamp. That's okay, I didn't need to know how that show ended anyway. ;) It is a nightly routine around here after Kaylee is in bed to turn on the TV, relax, talk, eat, drink, watch whatever is on that looks decent for the night. This has been a very quiet 24 hours without any television at all. The local stores don't carry our "bulb" in stock, but we didn't want to go that way anyway as they charge too much. We can get it online for half the price of what the local stores charge, so that's what we've done. It'll just be a quiet couple of days here. Ah, who needs television anyway, right? Hello? Anyone out there? No? Watching TV, aren't ya!
I woke up this morning with a scratchy throat and a few extra sneezes. Hopefully this is Warmer Weather Reaction and not a cold or virus. I'm not in the mood to be sick right now, thank you.
So to recap, my camera is gone, my television is gone, and I am NOT getting sick. Okay, I believe that's the end of my Woe Is Me list now. ;)
I was right about waking up at 8 pm even though I hadn't slept well the night before. In fact, Steve and I were up until about 3 a.m., so it was nice to sleep in a little bit this morning. Saturdays are good for that! We went out and went to Best Buy and a place nearby called Partyopolis, which has a bunch of gag gifts and things. Steve thought Kaylee would get a kick out of the place, and he was right. This is the kind of girl Kaylee is. Inside was a wall of Webkinz, a latest and greatest kid trend of cute little stuffed animals you can create worlds for online too. She spent a few minutes on the Webkinz aisle, but the majority of her time was spent in the aisle with fake vomit, fart machines, fake body parts, fake huge bugs, itching powder, and what she ended up buying, a set of six fake gross teeth. Bubba teeth, vampire teeth, goat teeth, all sorts of fake teeth. She loves those things, and out of everything in the store, she had to have the gross teeth. At Cracker Barrel she spent most of her money on a set of pink wings, skirt and wand. So...a princess walking around with gross teeth. Yep. :)
We went to Cracker Barrel with Chuck for lunch, which is always enjoyable. And we went out to Glenndale where I went through my SMA supplies and removed some stuff that needed to go. Meanwhile, Steve worked on throwing out all the old office stuff we had in the front room, opening the room up a bit more so we can actually use it once we finish getting it cleaned out. This afternoon I made chocolate chip cookies with a little bit of help from Kaylee. My oven still works--good to know. lol
Guess that's it for today! I'm off to have a very quiet evening!
Friday, March 14, 2008
*Yawn*
I couldn't really sleep last night, and I'm not sure why. I wasn't the only one, however. Kaylee was wide awake in her room until almost 11 pm, then at some point came into our room because she couldn't breathe, and Steve couldn't sleep either. I then woke up around 6 a.m. and couldn't go back to sleep, either. I guess it was an insomnia night all around. I tried to take a nap this afternoon, but my phone kept ringing right about when I got sleepy, then a little friend from next door showed up inside my house unexpectedly, then Kaylee kept calling me for something, then... So, oh well. Now that it's 8 pm I'll probably start waking back up anyway, 'cause that's the way my wacky self works. :)
There's a show out called "Amnesia", and while I've never watched it, the premise makes me laugh. They ask you questions about your own life, and the more you remember the more money you earn. I don't know when the switch was flipped, but at some point I could have cleaned out the bank on remembering stuff from my life. At this point, they could ask my mother's maiden name and I might have to think about it. Well, not literally, but it's almost that bad. I have tried for a few months now to remember the last name of someone I dated for several months and Can't Think of It. And no, Mom, it isn't "Smith" that I can't remember. ;) Stuff like that really bugs me. Not because I need to know, but simply because I can't think of it.
Well, it was just a typical Friday, a good day. We had Sloppy Joes for lunch at the airport today with friends and good weather...
There's a show out called "Amnesia", and while I've never watched it, the premise makes me laugh. They ask you questions about your own life, and the more you remember the more money you earn. I don't know when the switch was flipped, but at some point I could have cleaned out the bank on remembering stuff from my life. At this point, they could ask my mother's maiden name and I might have to think about it. Well, not literally, but it's almost that bad. I have tried for a few months now to remember the last name of someone I dated for several months and Can't Think of It. And no, Mom, it isn't "Smith" that I can't remember. ;) Stuff like that really bugs me. Not because I need to know, but simply because I can't think of it.
Well, it was just a typical Friday, a good day. We had Sloppy Joes for lunch at the airport today with friends and good weather...
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Fun in Formation
Today I felt it-the first real stirring of Spring, the awakening of something in my bloodstream. I believe it could be called "excitement". Or maybe "adrenaline". Or perhaps "joyfulness". Once the temperatures exceeded 50 degrees and the sky lost that Gunmetal Gray look it has had most of the winter, it stirred up the avgas in my system and started the Spring Motor running. ;)
This morning, I asked Steve if he wanted to go fly the Baron today, as he hadn't for a long time. But he decided he had a better idea, and he
texted the "boys" and said to meet us at Kokomo at 11 for a little adventure. He printed out maps and frequencies, we got out there, I pulled two planes out of the hangar, and away we went to Greencastle, IN where they have lots of fun things. A Diamond dealer (those are airplanes, not glittery jewels), a Helicopter operation, and a restaurant/hotel. The restaurant was really good by the way-an option for any of you local pilots who may read this. The prices were reasonable and the food and service was excellent. We even got a tour of the facilities; the chopper built by Orange County Choppers, the hotel rooms on field (Nice!), the big hangar with the party on the ceiling waiting to be winched down to the floor; all sorts of cool stuff. On the way over we had a little fun, as you can see.
Life is good.
This morning, I asked Steve if he wanted to go fly the Baron today, as he hadn't for a long time. But he decided he had a better idea, and he
texted the "boys" and said to meet us at Kokomo at 11 for a little adventure. He printed out maps and frequencies, we got out there, I pulled two planes out of the hangar, and away we went to Greencastle, IN where they have lots of fun things. A Diamond dealer (those are airplanes, not glittery jewels), a Helicopter operation, and a restaurant/hotel. The restaurant was really good by the way-an option for any of you local pilots who may read this. The prices were reasonable and the food and service was excellent. We even got a tour of the facilities; the chopper built by Orange County Choppers, the hotel rooms on field (Nice!), the big hangar with the party on the ceiling waiting to be winched down to the floor; all sorts of cool stuff. On the way over we had a little fun, as you can see.Life is good.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
The Birthday Continues. :)
Oh, it was pretty today. It was in the mid-fifties and the sun was shining. I walked around in a t-shirt and soaked up the Vitamin D.
This morning I made a run out to Kokomo to get some things done regarding the new operation coming soon (mission accomplished), went to Glenndale until we got to eat a late lunch, went from lunch to two errands, back out to Glenndale for an hour or so before turning around picking up Kaylee, took Kaylee right out to Kokomo airport again until about 5:45, ran home with Kaylee to pick up her Awanas stuff and turned around and drove right to Awanas, dropped her off, went Back home and changed my shirt and combed my hair and then went to Texas Roadhouse for a birthday celebration with three ladies. I walked in the house just before 11 p.m. Now wasn't that fascinating?? Aren't you glad I wrote it all out for you step by step? ;)
At Texas Roadhouse, Michaele (it's her birthday too, at 364 days older than I ;)) and I arrived at the same time, so we walked in together. As we were going to our table, we realized that a waitress was pushing the birthday saddle towards our table. Now for those of you unfortunate enough to not have a Texas Roadhouse nearby, it's one of those steakhouses where you throw peanut shells on the floor, and for birthdays people sit on a saddle, wear a cowboy hat, and get a very loud song and a "Yeeeeee-Haw!" For those of you fortunate or unfortunate enough to know me, you know that this is Not Happening. I am not sitting on that saddle in a restaurant while the attention of the whole place is put on me and everyone yells "yeee haaa". Fortunately the saddle was for a boy at the table next to ours. As we walked up to our table, the other two ladies were waiting, and Michaele said "Good thing that wasn't for us." while I said "THAT is NOT happening. Seriously." Our friend Andrea piped up with "No, no, I like to keep the friends I have." Yes, I know, now that I'm 36 and old, I just have no sense of humor and no sense of fun, right? (Sorry, but I wouldn't have done it at 26 or 16 either. You might have had me at 6, but I kinda doubt it.) ;) Later the waitress asked if it was our birthdays, and we hemmed and hawed for a moment before admitting that was the case, immediately followed up by "no saddle, no singing." Our waitress just said "Don't worry-I don't sing." That's two of them in a row, thank heavens!
Well, I need to not eat for the next week or so in order to compensate for the food I've had in the last few days. But I've really enjoyed it. I enjoyed the cards, the calls, the emails, the food. Thanks--it was a good birthday. :)
This morning I made a run out to Kokomo to get some things done regarding the new operation coming soon (mission accomplished), went to Glenndale until we got to eat a late lunch, went from lunch to two errands, back out to Glenndale for an hour or so before turning around picking up Kaylee, took Kaylee right out to Kokomo airport again until about 5:45, ran home with Kaylee to pick up her Awanas stuff and turned around and drove right to Awanas, dropped her off, went Back home and changed my shirt and combed my hair and then went to Texas Roadhouse for a birthday celebration with three ladies. I walked in the house just before 11 p.m. Now wasn't that fascinating?? Aren't you glad I wrote it all out for you step by step? ;)
At Texas Roadhouse, Michaele (it's her birthday too, at 364 days older than I ;)) and I arrived at the same time, so we walked in together. As we were going to our table, we realized that a waitress was pushing the birthday saddle towards our table. Now for those of you unfortunate enough to not have a Texas Roadhouse nearby, it's one of those steakhouses where you throw peanut shells on the floor, and for birthdays people sit on a saddle, wear a cowboy hat, and get a very loud song and a "Yeeeeee-Haw!" For those of you fortunate or unfortunate enough to know me, you know that this is Not Happening. I am not sitting on that saddle in a restaurant while the attention of the whole place is put on me and everyone yells "yeee haaa". Fortunately the saddle was for a boy at the table next to ours. As we walked up to our table, the other two ladies were waiting, and Michaele said "Good thing that wasn't for us." while I said "THAT is NOT happening. Seriously." Our friend Andrea piped up with "No, no, I like to keep the friends I have." Yes, I know, now that I'm 36 and old, I just have no sense of humor and no sense of fun, right? (Sorry, but I wouldn't have done it at 26 or 16 either. You might have had me at 6, but I kinda doubt it.) ;) Later the waitress asked if it was our birthdays, and we hemmed and hawed for a moment before admitting that was the case, immediately followed up by "no saddle, no singing." Our waitress just said "Don't worry-I don't sing." That's two of them in a row, thank heavens!
Well, I need to not eat for the next week or so in order to compensate for the food I've had in the last few days. But I've really enjoyed it. I enjoyed the cards, the calls, the emails, the food. Thanks--it was a good birthday. :)
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Hints of Spring
I heard birds today! It's just a little thing, but it pleased me, and the cats rather enjoyed it too. Today we broke the 40s, and tomorrow we just may break the 50 degree mark too! Woo hoo!
I started to write out what I worked on today, but completely lost interest in my own day. Since that seems to be pretty sad, I decided not to force it on anyone else, either. Suffice it to say I did stuff, went a few places, and got a few things done. :)
Tonight we had an early dinner at Outback for a birthday celebration with the Rider and Davis families. If you go there at 5 pm instead of 8 pm, you can actually get in without a wait. Really, we went early because it was a family thing and we wanted to be done early for the kids. But the no waiting thing is an added bonus. ;) I had something new there for once, a really good Tilapia with lump crab meat and asparagus. Yum. And naturally I had a Chocolate Thunder from Down Under for dessert. I haven't had one of those in Forever, and man was it nice to come back to an old friend. They make them smaller than they used to, which is actually good. Steve ate the ice cream off and I got the brownie, which is the only part I care about anyway. Even skipping the bread, skipping the Bloomin' Onion, skipping a salad, and eating only half my dinner, I STILL came away stuffed into a coma. And I liked it. ;)
Nathan arrived with a very large basket loaded with...chocolate. Pounds and pounds and pounds of chocolate. I mean, that thing is huge, and it's heavy. Tre saw it and said it had my name all over it and got it for me. I do believe I may have finally met my match on the chocolate front. In fact, I may not need to purchase chocolate again for a Very Long Time. I've never seen such a thing. Naturally I'm rather impressed! It has hot chocolate, chocolate bars, chocolate cookies, anything you can imagine with chocolate in it, it's in there. The Holy Grail of chocolate. LOL Thanks, guys. I enjoyed the company, the food, and I'll be enjoying the dessert for a long, long time. ;)
I started to write out what I worked on today, but completely lost interest in my own day. Since that seems to be pretty sad, I decided not to force it on anyone else, either. Suffice it to say I did stuff, went a few places, and got a few things done. :)
Tonight we had an early dinner at Outback for a birthday celebration with the Rider and Davis families. If you go there at 5 pm instead of 8 pm, you can actually get in without a wait. Really, we went early because it was a family thing and we wanted to be done early for the kids. But the no waiting thing is an added bonus. ;) I had something new there for once, a really good Tilapia with lump crab meat and asparagus. Yum. And naturally I had a Chocolate Thunder from Down Under for dessert. I haven't had one of those in Forever, and man was it nice to come back to an old friend. They make them smaller than they used to, which is actually good. Steve ate the ice cream off and I got the brownie, which is the only part I care about anyway. Even skipping the bread, skipping the Bloomin' Onion, skipping a salad, and eating only half my dinner, I STILL came away stuffed into a coma. And I liked it. ;)
Nathan arrived with a very large basket loaded with...chocolate. Pounds and pounds and pounds of chocolate. I mean, that thing is huge, and it's heavy. Tre saw it and said it had my name all over it and got it for me. I do believe I may have finally met my match on the chocolate front. In fact, I may not need to purchase chocolate again for a Very Long Time. I've never seen such a thing. Naturally I'm rather impressed! It has hot chocolate, chocolate bars, chocolate cookies, anything you can imagine with chocolate in it, it's in there. The Holy Grail of chocolate. LOL Thanks, guys. I enjoyed the company, the food, and I'll be enjoying the dessert for a long, long time. ;)
Monday, March 10, 2008
Older but not Wiser
This wasn't what I would call a typical birthday, but then again I'm not sure what is a typical birthday any more, so hey! :)
This morning I worked on some things at home until it was time for lunch. Steve ended up flying over lunch, so Nathan, Chuck and I went to Applebees. After lunch was over, the waitress appeared with a big Brownie Dessert and two balloons, leaned in and said "But I don't sing." Thank you Lord for small favors! ;)
The three of us became a caravan to Kokomo Airport, and I took a 172 over to Muncie to get its windshield replaced while Nathan came over in the Baron to get me. The visibilities weren't the best, but it still felt good to get out and about in the air today.
This evening I had our first School Board meeting for the Children's Christian Academy school opening in town in the Fall. There are 12 board members, most of us meeting each other for the first time. I think it is a good solid group of men and women with varying skills and strengths, and that it will be an interesting experience. I ended up being on a Finance Sub-Committee as well. I wasn't really looking to be on a sub-committee, but that is the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. ;) We were there for about two hours, and have to meet next week for an upcoming open house we're planning for a registration drive, and then regular meetings every month (always on a Monday, my crazy day as it is). I don't mind though, I think it's a worthwhile endeavor.
Thank you all for the birthday wishes, even you sarcastic oh so FUNNY people. I personally don't think 36 is all that old yet, but those of you trying to make me feel old can keep it up if you wish. :P We're kind of celebrating tomorrow with local friends and then over Easter we're heading to Missouri.
I'm kind of tired, sorry this is choppy. It was a busy day, even for a birthday. :)
This morning I worked on some things at home until it was time for lunch. Steve ended up flying over lunch, so Nathan, Chuck and I went to Applebees. After lunch was over, the waitress appeared with a big Brownie Dessert and two balloons, leaned in and said "But I don't sing." Thank you Lord for small favors! ;)
The three of us became a caravan to Kokomo Airport, and I took a 172 over to Muncie to get its windshield replaced while Nathan came over in the Baron to get me. The visibilities weren't the best, but it still felt good to get out and about in the air today.
This evening I had our first School Board meeting for the Children's Christian Academy school opening in town in the Fall. There are 12 board members, most of us meeting each other for the first time. I think it is a good solid group of men and women with varying skills and strengths, and that it will be an interesting experience. I ended up being on a Finance Sub-Committee as well. I wasn't really looking to be on a sub-committee, but that is the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. ;) We were there for about two hours, and have to meet next week for an upcoming open house we're planning for a registration drive, and then regular meetings every month (always on a Monday, my crazy day as it is). I don't mind though, I think it's a worthwhile endeavor.
Thank you all for the birthday wishes, even you sarcastic oh so FUNNY people. I personally don't think 36 is all that old yet, but those of you trying to make me feel old can keep it up if you wish. :P We're kind of celebrating tomorrow with local friends and then over Easter we're heading to Missouri.
I'm kind of tired, sorry this is choppy. It was a busy day, even for a birthday. :)
Sunday, March 09, 2008
"What I Want To Be When I Grow Up"
Kaylee will occasionally out of the blue tell me what she wants to be when she grows up. It has certainly widely varied. She's mentioned being a Mermaid Fairy, pilot, doctor, fireman, nurse, teacher, singer, veterinarian, and rescue worker to name a few off the top of my head. Yesterday she asked me "What will I be when I grow up, Mommy?" All I could do was shrug and smile and say "You can be whatever you want, whatever you are meant to be." She wanted to be a nurse until she found out that nurses have to deal with more blood than most doctors do. She wanted to be a veterinarian until she found out she would have to operate on them too, not just pet on and love them. She is not a big fan of blood and guts, in case you haven't noticed. ;) One thing that keeps coming up with her though, it makes me blink, because I said this Exact Same Thing as a kid. She wants to live on a big farm, and she wants to take in all the stray cats and dogs that are running around alone, and she wants to make a home for them where they will be safe and fed and won't have to live in a cage or get hurt. She wants to feed and love on them all. She keeps asking for another pet, and when I say "no way", she says "When I grow up I'm going to have a whole house full of pets!" I always say "When you grow up and are in your own house, you may do that if you wish!" Then I remind her of how much feeding and poo-scooping she would be doing, and she always frowns and says she'll have to come up with someone else to do that part. lol
Anyway, that reminded me of what I remember saying I wanted to be when I grew up, and remembering these things is a mental note to self that whatever Kaylee says will probably not end up anywhere close to what she will actually do or be! So for a Sunday Top Ten:
Ten Things I Said I Wanted To Be
1. Teacher. I barely remember this one, but Mom says I used to say I wanted to be a teacher, a lot. Now I can't imagine something I do NOT wish to do more than being a teacher-well, not in a classroom anyway. :)
2. Farmer. Now this I remember. I used to actually cry and wish and pray that we could go live on a farm with lots of animals and lots of kids. I wanted that SO much as a kid.
3. Pilot. But I didn't really think it was an option, so I didn't really dwell on it as a real choice.
4. Astronaut. This one lasted until I got an application from NASA and saw the vision requirements and learned that I'd work my whole life and never get a chance to actually go into space. I was truly disappointed.
5. Veterinarian. I really figured this is what I would do. I loved animals and wanted to help them, I seemed to even have a good...rapport...with them. I was drawn to animals and knew that I would be good at the job. As a subset of this, I was going to have land and build a place for every stray pet in the country I could get my hands on to live safely there.
6. Pharmacist. I took this aptitude test and it said I would be good at dispensing drugs. I found that kind of stuff relatively interesting, so I briefly considered it before dismissing it as too boring to do forever.
7. Military. Yes, I almost signed up for the military once. In a recruiter's office. Oh how life would be different right now had I signed that paperwork.
8. Scientist. I didn't know what kind for sure, but science fascinated me. Bugs, environmental science, even geology, astronomy, chemistry. I took a college course my junior year of high school during the summer on Environmental Biology and we did field trips, worked with ecosystems, and I loved it. Every science class I ever took had me at 'hello'. For awhile I was quite sure this was the direction I was going to go.
9. Stay-at-home-mom. For a brief period of time, that is what I figured I would do. I even pre-named the four kids I would have (none of them were Devon, Sidney or Kaylee by the way). I believed (and still do) that it was the most important job a person could hold-to shape the lives of the next generation.
10. Airline Pilot. This came later, was a more well-defined version of the earlier dream which mostly consisted of just being up in the sky. I 'knew' it would be hard to have a family and a career as an airline pilot, but I figured that there probably wasn't a guy out there for weird ole me anyway, so I'd just go for it. It was the coolest job I could ever imagine at the time. :)
For a number 11, I also considered law.
What I did NOT expect to be when I grew up, but am, is a whole other Top Ten, now isn't it. ;)
Anyway. Today is a good day of rest. We played Xbox for quite awhile; Steve and Kaylee played Shrek 2 while I napped, then I woke up and tried to beat Puss-in-Boots because they were stuck. I got farther than they did, but I still couldn't do it yet. There's supposedly a cheat you can do to be invincible, but we are not doing it right or something because I could NOT get it to work. Kaylee dressed up and I 'painted' her hair with hot pink, light pink, silver and bright blue streaks. She wants to wear it to school that way, but we'll have to see. She cleaned out her closet of shoes that she is outgrowing and I ordered her a couple pairs of shoes for summer. She has been begging for high heels for a long time now; I won't let her get super high heels, (thankfully if they make them for that size shoe, I haven't seen them anyway!), but I did let her get slight heels like wedges. A little cleaning up, not much, and a little hanging out, and a good day of rest before tomorrow starts up again with its usual mania.
I could put my usual rant about Daylight Savings Time on here since we just mysteriously "lost" an hour this morning, but I think I'll spare everyone. Besides, this pretending to adjust time actually benefits our business, so Steve keeps telling me to stop complaining about it. :)
Tomorrow is Kaylee's school, ballet, and cheer practice. It's also my birthday and my first school board meeting with the new start-up Christian school in Kokomo. And so it goes!
Anyway, that reminded me of what I remember saying I wanted to be when I grew up, and remembering these things is a mental note to self that whatever Kaylee says will probably not end up anywhere close to what she will actually do or be! So for a Sunday Top Ten:
Ten Things I Said I Wanted To Be
1. Teacher. I barely remember this one, but Mom says I used to say I wanted to be a teacher, a lot. Now I can't imagine something I do NOT wish to do more than being a teacher-well, not in a classroom anyway. :)
2. Farmer. Now this I remember. I used to actually cry and wish and pray that we could go live on a farm with lots of animals and lots of kids. I wanted that SO much as a kid.
3. Pilot. But I didn't really think it was an option, so I didn't really dwell on it as a real choice.
4. Astronaut. This one lasted until I got an application from NASA and saw the vision requirements and learned that I'd work my whole life and never get a chance to actually go into space. I was truly disappointed.
5. Veterinarian. I really figured this is what I would do. I loved animals and wanted to help them, I seemed to even have a good...rapport...with them. I was drawn to animals and knew that I would be good at the job. As a subset of this, I was going to have land and build a place for every stray pet in the country I could get my hands on to live safely there.
6. Pharmacist. I took this aptitude test and it said I would be good at dispensing drugs. I found that kind of stuff relatively interesting, so I briefly considered it before dismissing it as too boring to do forever.
7. Military. Yes, I almost signed up for the military once. In a recruiter's office. Oh how life would be different right now had I signed that paperwork.
8. Scientist. I didn't know what kind for sure, but science fascinated me. Bugs, environmental science, even geology, astronomy, chemistry. I took a college course my junior year of high school during the summer on Environmental Biology and we did field trips, worked with ecosystems, and I loved it. Every science class I ever took had me at 'hello'. For awhile I was quite sure this was the direction I was going to go.
9. Stay-at-home-mom. For a brief period of time, that is what I figured I would do. I even pre-named the four kids I would have (none of them were Devon, Sidney or Kaylee by the way). I believed (and still do) that it was the most important job a person could hold-to shape the lives of the next generation.
10. Airline Pilot. This came later, was a more well-defined version of the earlier dream which mostly consisted of just being up in the sky. I 'knew' it would be hard to have a family and a career as an airline pilot, but I figured that there probably wasn't a guy out there for weird ole me anyway, so I'd just go for it. It was the coolest job I could ever imagine at the time. :)
For a number 11, I also considered law.
What I did NOT expect to be when I grew up, but am, is a whole other Top Ten, now isn't it. ;)
Anyway. Today is a good day of rest. We played Xbox for quite awhile; Steve and Kaylee played Shrek 2 while I napped, then I woke up and tried to beat Puss-in-Boots because they were stuck. I got farther than they did, but I still couldn't do it yet. There's supposedly a cheat you can do to be invincible, but we are not doing it right or something because I could NOT get it to work. Kaylee dressed up and I 'painted' her hair with hot pink, light pink, silver and bright blue streaks. She wants to wear it to school that way, but we'll have to see. She cleaned out her closet of shoes that she is outgrowing and I ordered her a couple pairs of shoes for summer. She has been begging for high heels for a long time now; I won't let her get super high heels, (thankfully if they make them for that size shoe, I haven't seen them anyway!), but I did let her get slight heels like wedges. A little cleaning up, not much, and a little hanging out, and a good day of rest before tomorrow starts up again with its usual mania.
I could put my usual rant about Daylight Savings Time on here since we just mysteriously "lost" an hour this morning, but I think I'll spare everyone. Besides, this pretending to adjust time actually benefits our business, so Steve keeps telling me to stop complaining about it. :)
Tomorrow is Kaylee's school, ballet, and cheer practice. It's also my birthday and my first school board meeting with the new start-up Christian school in Kokomo. And so it goes!
My Friends' Children
There is just something extra special about my friends' children. Of course I have some pretty special friends too, so it shouldn't be too big of a shock. (Well, in some cases it might be...) ;) For example, today I was reading Hannah's blog. Hannah doesn't really know me, and I can't say that I know her either, but it feels like I do anyway. I only spent about 9 months of my life with her mother Kim as a college dorm-mate when we were 18 years old, but we had our share of adventures, talks, fun, and worries. Kim is one of the most beautiful women I know, inside and out, and she has a way of making other people feel the same way. Hannah was the first child of a friend that I ever met and held-she was four months old and it made a permanent impression even on my bad memory. I just felt awe holding this little person who was a part of my friend. Since then I've mostly just seen her and her two brothers grow from afar in photos, though I did get to try to soothe her middle brother as a tiny infant with colic when Kim was brave (crazy?) enough to have all of us down to her place right after she gave birth for the what-we-try-to-but-usually-fail-to-have-as-an-annual-get-together. Today Hannah was putting down entries from "God's Blog", and I enjoyed reading it. Last month she wrote about a nightmare she had. This was a pretty bad nightmare, with a bad guy with a gun shooting her at school, but it didn't kill her. Instead of being afraid of her dream, she came away with a sense of peace about going to her new school with God's protection. I just look at her pictures and see so much of her mom, and it's just a little amazing to me.
It's by no means just Hannah. I watched Karissa who looked like a mini-Anita race across the house like the fireball of energy that she is; Anita's kids are reading 4th grade level before most kids are speaking in full sentences yet. Angie's kids, hard-working, kind, Heather's boys (and 'delicate' girl) smart, energetic and full of life and love, Stephanie's little Gabe just learning to walk, even my friends Camille and Thile (yes, twins), with their children. I played puzzles with Stephanie as a 3-year-old and sat on a swing set with her as a 10-year-old and tried to figure out who I was with her as a 16-year-old. Camille, Thile and I did what kids can't do any more-we played on a farm, in and near a pond, unsupervised for hours with no cellphone and no adult within screaming distance. We got muddy, we had adventures, we scared ourselves a few times, and we rarely got in trouble for it because that's what kids on a farm were expected to do. And now they are the moms. I am the mom. You can see your friends in their children's faces and actions and it's just...really odd in a good way. I suppose if I had a sibling that's what it must be like to see them have children. Anyway, I enjoy watching the kids grow, even if from a distance by necessity, and I look forward to seeing the adults they will become. Some of them are almost there already, and will soon be proving the adage wrong that says every teenager must go through a time of horrible rebellion and acting-out. In fact, I can already name three who are making their way through the teen years with grace, modesty, honesty and respect. They give me hope. ;)
Anyway, before you start emailing me, no I don't think any of my friends are perfect (yeah, I've lived with most of you at one point or another, remember??), and I'm sure that their children are not perfect little angels at all times (I have one of my own too-I know how deceptively sweet they can look to others.) ;) But I'm proud of you guys and how much of yourselves you put into rearing your children to be the best people they can be; I know how much prayer and heart and soul goes into the decisions you make, how you question your choices and worry for their hearts and futures. I know the journey is not over by any means, but the road you and your kids are on is one I hope to follow down myself. :)
It's by no means just Hannah. I watched Karissa who looked like a mini-Anita race across the house like the fireball of energy that she is; Anita's kids are reading 4th grade level before most kids are speaking in full sentences yet. Angie's kids, hard-working, kind, Heather's boys (and 'delicate' girl) smart, energetic and full of life and love, Stephanie's little Gabe just learning to walk, even my friends Camille and Thile (yes, twins), with their children. I played puzzles with Stephanie as a 3-year-old and sat on a swing set with her as a 10-year-old and tried to figure out who I was with her as a 16-year-old. Camille, Thile and I did what kids can't do any more-we played on a farm, in and near a pond, unsupervised for hours with no cellphone and no adult within screaming distance. We got muddy, we had adventures, we scared ourselves a few times, and we rarely got in trouble for it because that's what kids on a farm were expected to do. And now they are the moms. I am the mom. You can see your friends in their children's faces and actions and it's just...really odd in a good way. I suppose if I had a sibling that's what it must be like to see them have children. Anyway, I enjoy watching the kids grow, even if from a distance by necessity, and I look forward to seeing the adults they will become. Some of them are almost there already, and will soon be proving the adage wrong that says every teenager must go through a time of horrible rebellion and acting-out. In fact, I can already name three who are making their way through the teen years with grace, modesty, honesty and respect. They give me hope. ;)
Anyway, before you start emailing me, no I don't think any of my friends are perfect (yeah, I've lived with most of you at one point or another, remember??), and I'm sure that their children are not perfect little angels at all times (I have one of my own too-I know how deceptively sweet they can look to others.) ;) But I'm proud of you guys and how much of yourselves you put into rearing your children to be the best people they can be; I know how much prayer and heart and soul goes into the decisions you make, how you question your choices and worry for their hearts and futures. I know the journey is not over by any means, but the road you and your kids are on is one I hope to follow down myself. :)
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