Movin' to the country, I'm gonna eat a lot of peaches....

Ok, so I'm not moving to the country...

and I'm not the biggest fan of peaches....

but I love that song and it seemed somewhat appropriate. (Yeah I know, it's a stretch.)

Today is the day!

And looking around, there still seems to be a lot to do. I can't wait to get started at this point just because if I have to pack one more box I might scream and I'm also looking forward to being able to just SIT while I drive.

Of course there are so many mixed emotions about today. I'm excited and ready to get going. We've been getting ready for this for what seems like forever. But of course the reality is that this isn't a vacation and I won't be returning to Phoenix as 'home' anymore. Wow.

I'm looking forward to new things in Kentucky, but I'm kind of a rut girl. I like my routines, but I also like new adventures. Ugh, see? I'm excited about learning a new lifestyle with GRASS in the yard to play in, RAIN, learning a new city, finding new places..... (Steak and Shake, yum.)

Last night I took a break from anything move related. Michelle picked me up and we had dinner and desert at the Cheesecake Factory. (Which not only is there one in Kentucky, BUT one in Cincinnati - right across the bridge. So there!!) Where do you all think I'm moving to anyway? There are even paved roads and grocery stores! ;)

Last night was so much fun. I can't even describe it. This is such an awesome group of girls, and I love them all so much. (I refuse to get mushy here right now.) I was showered with the best presents. A straw bag full of road munchies and games (and the coolest brush, that you know if I didn't have to have my hands on the wheel I'd be playing with for 2000 miles. I bet the kids will be fighting over that!) and thankfully... a small box of Tylenol. Haha!

Also, they must know how much I have missed scrapping lately. They put together by far the coolest little kit (I'm still in total awe of the file folder itself! I love organization things!!) with a little album, transparencies, paper, and everything I need to make a little album of our trip. I absolutely CANNOT WAIT to start using this stuff!!! And the baby trimmer... that will be perfect.

Also, the coolest little punch. We had fun putting scalloped edges on just about any piece of paper we could find at the table. I'm looking forward to using that too!!

There is still a ton of things to do here, so I better go visit Eduardo one more time and then get busy. I will be blogging from the road.

Love you all!

k


I'm NOT going to say that I'm going to miss ANYBODY here in the usual kind of miss them way, because I'm going to pretend that I'm still here and emailing people like nothing ever changed.

WHOA!

Talk about perfect timing.

Yesterday we had a cool surprise when we went to pick up mike from the airport. I was going around the corner to go sit in the cell phone lot when there was the unmistakable tail of a 747 sticking up from behind the building at the executive terminal. I couldn't see what color it was or anything but got all excited to point out the huge plane to the kids.

Then me, "OH MY GOSH! IT'S AIR FORCE ONE!"

Beth will understand, she's the only other nerd I know who purposely drove down to Sky Harbor when British Airways would land. You don't have to be an airplane enthusiast to think a 747 is cool.

I had no idea the president was in Phoenix yesterday. So we find a spot up front by the board to watch the flight numbers, and people are getting out of their cars and lining up against the fence. The fence is just across a small street from the executive terminal. We went out to see what was going on. Our timing was incredible. About ten minutes later, a motorcade is coming down the street, and sure enough, there was the president waving at the few people who were against the fence. There were probably only 50 of us. The kids thought it was beyond cool to wave at the prez and have him wave back. I'm just in awe of Air Force One, so I was ecstatic!

I watched them pull the ladder back from the plane and it started to roll. I kind of forgot that Air Force One probably doesn't have to wait in line to taxi. haha. I was expecting a few minutes before being able to see it take off, but whoosh... what seemed like less than a minute later the plane was taking off. It is SO. COOL.

So we had quite a little treat yesterday. I had my camera in the car and got a few pictures, including the limousine where you can see a hand waving. I'm so bummed that my other computer is packed right now. I promise many many photos to be posted as soon as I get the chance.

One more day until the big move. The truck is here and takes up our whole yard. Dang, we have a lot of stuff. Anxiety level is still high.

counting down.... 4 more days.

Today I am feeling sick. Not like pukey, have the flu sick.... but my anxiety level is through the roof.

I've always felt like my heartrate was like a hummingbird. I'm pretty high strung when it comes to worrying about things. It doesn't even have to be worry, like something is bad worry, but just changes... you know.... change is good, but it also brings along its own little brand of anxiety.

I think it's excitement. I am excited, and this week is down to the wire about moving. In fact, it looks like we'll be pulling out on Thursday night. CRAZY.

I feel like I've been on a hamster wheel for months now. Since the decision was made, and then getting things ready for a garage sale, then packing, and getting loose ends tied up everywhere. It has been a constant routine of packing, working, staying up far too late packing, crashing and then getting up early to do it again the next day. I've even forgotten what day it is for the most part.

So... last night my inlaws took the kids overnight after dinner. I had some time to myself, which was nice and I finally did force myself to relax a bit. - and one more trip to Target. I forgot that last night was Sunday and everything was closed early, so that was the only place to go. Then this morning, it was far too quiet with the kids gone. I decided I was going to go out and find something for brunch since I got to sleep in. :)

I ended up going on a little nostalgia tour. I even had my camera in my car. I took pictures of so many things. It's funny, there is so much of my history here. Every time I pass a place, or go into a place that has always been part of my routine I can't help but wonder if it's the last time I'll be there. Like my favorite Target. I'm going to miss the low talking cashier - the one who I could never understand but she was always smiling and knew me pretty well. I know she's going on a vacation with her husband this summer. She was always telling me about that.

I'm going to miss Eduardo... my favorite of the twins who work the drive thru at McDonalds. He's always so nice to me.

Of course I'm going to miss my family, and my friends. I know I'm not going to be gone forever. But for some reason it is feeling very weird to me today. Maybe it's the curse of being a scrapper. You start to overthink every memory you have because you just want to remember it ALL.

It's time to go though. My house is packed, and looks nothing like a home anymore. We are living with paper plates, one bowl and paper cups.

Oh and real quick - a hamster update.

The loose one is living in the laundry room right now. I have seen her, but it is impossible to catch her. Of course she had to find a small room with a washing machine, dryer and refrigerator to hide out in. If I pull one appliance out, she runs under another. I even tried to use a thin pole to scoot her out, but in order to do that, I have to open the laundry room door. So I'm pretty much waiting until Mike gets home and we start pulling stuff out of there anyway. Until then, she's eating and has water and probably thinks she lives in the biggest hamster cage ever. There is nothing like a battle of wits with a hamster. :p

CSI: Gilbert

Today is bizarre.

First thing, after having a record heat day earlier in the week my kids started out for school freezing today. Before they got in the car they all went up to get jackets. Now it is raining and cold. You wouldn't know today was the first day of summer vacation. But hey, I'm not complaining about the weather AT ALL. I am loving this!

So we went to McDonald's to get breakfast since it was the last day of school. There was a cute little mini pinscher near a dumpster in the back, which is next to a big field. After trying to get the little thing, we had to give up. We were scaring it more than anything else. There is a vet building on the corner with kennels, and I'm hoping that this wasn't an escapee from there. I told them about it, so hopefully their dog chasing skills are better than mine.

Then I come home from an errand and notice that the hamster cage was on the floor. Bedding scattered everywhere, and no hammies to be found.

We have a crime scene here people.

I also notice the cat is acting suspicious and is sitting in the middle of the family room. I picked her up to put her out in our atrium. She knew she was busted because she clawed and bit the crap out of me. I may look like I lost and have a little pee smell, but she's outside so I WON. damn cat.

I looked around for awhile but hadn't found anything. No blood, except for my own wounds from the cat.... no hammie parts, no scene of the murder as far as I can tell.

I even looked up in the kid's rooms where the cat hides her polly pocket pieces that she hunts in the middle of the night. No body there.

Finally I get frustrated enough to pull out the entire tv and look under the entertainment center with my little flashlight. There is ONE hammie! Poor little thing. Now she's in her cage and running on the wheel.

We're still missing one though, and I have still been looking everywhere with my flashlight. Still, in this entire house and all of the cats favorite places I haven't found any signs of hammie demise.

Did they get out and run in different directions? Making it impossible for the cat to catch both of them? Did the cat eat one in one bite making it to where there wouldn't be any evidence? Wouldn't there be blood or fur or something? Is there one hammie still hiding somewhere in the house? Hmm....

One thing I know for sure... my labrador is NO help. She did find the tennis ball under the couch when I lifted it up to see if there was a hole in the bottom of the couch that the hamster could have crawled into. Thanks for the help there Piper.

So wish me luck in finding the missing hammie. If you were a hammie, where would you hide? I plan on letting the suspect back in later and watching her to see if she'll do the hunting for me and narrow the search down to one area at least. Damn cat.

what day is it? Because I really can't remember at this point!

Sorry Matt, but it's time to bump you down a post. ;)

Update: Still packing. My mom has come over twice and helped me. She is amazing. She can pack a box like a game of Tetris. Thank you mom!!

I was totally worn out one night and decided I'd check out that little tab on the top of blogger that said "new template." I have been bored with my old blog and thought I'd give it a try. Never make decisions at midnight when you are mentally worn out. I hate this new look and that it took off all of my links. So when the technical man gets home I'll have to see if he can clean up my little mess I made here, and make my blog look normal again.

Anyway....

One more day of school for all three of my kids. Tomorrow is a half day and I'm sure won't be productive at all. Actually this whole week has been nothing but parties, field trips and awards for them so this hasn't been a productive week at all really.

It hit me kind of hard in many ways this morning. First dropping off Matthew at his school. He announces as he's bouncing out of the car and dragging his backpack behind him that "This is my last week in kindergarten!!" Wait... is he for real? Yeah.... he's right. He will be in first grade next year. Oh my gosh.

Kindergarten is an amazing year when you think about it. Kindergarten teachers are amazing. You send this child in the first day of school, shy and not knowing what to expect. Most not even knowing how to spell their name much less write it. Then at the end of the year, here is Matthew, writing his own name, writing short sentences, doing basic math and even reading! What a change. It is so cool.

Trevor had a great year. He didn't get his math skills from me that is for sure, but the kid kicks butt in playing around the world. His teacher even said it is almost unfair to the other students because he's so good at it. He has one nemesis from another class... who he has gone toe to toe with several times and the teacher told me it has taken up to 15 math questions for them to finally have a winner. Go Trevor!

Megan. It has been an up and down year for her but thankfully it is ending on such a high note for her. The girl is growing up. She has had a crush on "password boy" for most of the year. His name was her password for Webkinz for a long time. This morning she asked if she could take a towel to sit on because they are walking to a park for a field trip today. I didn't have a towel that I wanted to chance losing, so I asked her if a sheet would be fine. She said, "Oh yeah! That would be perfect because then I can ask Colter if he wants to sit next to me!" No boy crazy stuff yet. Please. Just slow down. You aren't even TEN yet. Talk to your father.

That is about it for now. There will be a lot of changes for everyone in our family in the next few weeks. I'm looking forward to having the kids out of school (and sleeping in past 6:00!) and then heading east.

where I have been...

When you thought I was packing..... ;)

Sorry, I couldn't resist. There is absolutely nothing new going on here. Just more boxes, and errands, and boxes, and picking up kids, and boxes.....not enough time in one day and living off of a constant drip of caffeine.

Lisa and I try to outdo each other on the Sarah Silverman/Matt Damon thing, and you never know when we'll throw in THAT line. So since I have nothing to blog about, I thought I'd take this time and this little blog space to post this for her.

Beat that!

There is life beyond the sea of cardboard boxes!

Still packing...

and packing...

I can't believe that the kids have less than a week of school left. I know I say this every year, but again it is true. This year flew by.

some random stuff on this not so expletive Tuesday

I'm trying not to be a bad blogger. I have written a few posts, but blogger is not my friend and they always seemed to be doing maintenance at the time. So I have a few saved in drafts. Oh well.

So far so good on this expletive Tuesday. The weather is incredible. Yesterday was HOT. But today it is breezy, overcast and even....slightly cool! You can't help but be happy today.

So for the past several weeks we have had a caterpillar sitting on our counter top in a little bug cage. (I have to learn to say NO to some of these little animals coming home huh?) I'll admit the little caterpillar was cute. Not so cute once it crawled to the top and turned into the chrysalis. Don't dare call it a cocoon, because MOTHS live in a cocoon and butterflies live in a chrysalis. A little bit of knowledge brought to you by Trevor who just went through the caterpillar/butterfly science project in second grade. Becuase he will correct you if you get it wrong.

I went to check on my adorable little frogs who sit on the counter near the bug box. Aww, they are so cute and swimming around like, "Please feed us Kerry. We love you! We are so cute with our big webbed feet!"

Then... OH MY GOSH. You all know how I feel about butterflies. - and if you don't... they are pure evil creepy little things. They eat people when you aren't looking. Trust me.

ACK. The dang chrysalis has turned into a full fledged butterfly, staring at me with it's beady little eyes and fluttering its creepy wings. I about had a heart attack, and quite honestly I'm feeling more than a little creeped out knowing that it is sitting behind me about 4 feet away while I'm on the computer at the kitchen table. So gross. There are no words.

The kids will be releasing that mofo as soon as they get home from school today while I watch from the security of the upstairs window. In fact, we may just have to drive it back to school whence it came just so I know that it won't eat me when I take out the garbage later. This block isn't big enough for the both of us.

Ok, and one last totally random PSA for the day:

If you are going to put a political bumper sticker on your car (or any sticker for that matter) please put it on straight. It sends my OCD into overdrive when I get stuck behind you in traffic. The political ones especially because long after the election we'll be staring at that same now faded, crooked sticker and thinking, "Oh yeah, I forgot that person was running for president way back then."

Thank you!

Now back to my lunch break from packing. :)

Kentucky bound

I wish I could say this was mine, but I do get to see plenty of it from now on.

I have told some people, but haven't 'officially' broken the news yet. We are going to be moving to Kentucky in one more month. Mike and I have talked about it off and on for quite some time, but due to a lot of circumstances we have finally decided that this move will be the best thing for our family right now. We are planning on heading out the first part of June.

It hasn't been a secret that the commuting with Mike's job has been difficult on all of us. Since his domicile airport is Cincinnati (which is actually IN Kentucky across the river from the city of Cincinnati) he will be able to spend much more time at home. When he is on reserve, he'll be home. When he has been on a trip, he'll be home at the end of the day. This is mucho relief. I wish he could count the hours spent in an airplane flying back and forth to AZ and back as flight hours because I'm sure he's logged a lot just in coming home.

So that's the story. I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about this. I mean, I am a self proclaimed rut kind of girl, and the thought of moving across the country means A LOT of work. I mean I've been in this current house for 4 years now and I finally feel like everything has a home and unpacked! Here we go again!

But, I'm a horse girl. So I will really enjoy that aspect of it. Rolling green hills with white fences, big red barns....

Weather.... I know, ask me again after the first real winter but right now I am so excited at the prospect of seeing FOUR real seasons. We don't get much of a spring or fall in Arizona, there are more like three levels of summer. Warm - bearable hot - and hotter than hell I want to jab a fork between my eyes and end it all HOT. - and a nice mild winter in between.

I know we are going to be such geeks when it comes to seeing our first snow. I have these romantic ideas of snow days with hot chocolate, making snowmen, and white Christmases. Realistically I know that this desert dweller is going to freeze her rear end off, that ice storms suck, shoveling snow sucks, brown/black dirty snow and wet feet suck, plus I have no idea where you keep an ice scraper. Mike called me one day from the airport parking lot during an ice storm and said that the car door was frozen shut. So if you keep the ice scraper IN the car, how do you get to it if your door is frozen shut? Do you keep one on your keychain? What does an ice scraper even look like?!?! This will all be new to me for sure.

No matter what, I really am looking forward to the adventure. I have lived here since I was small, so there are a lot of things I'm looking forward to that will be different. That area of the country has so much to offer, and I plan on taking advantage of free flight benefits to visit Washington D.C. to see the cherry blossoms, go to American Girl in Chicago with Megan, go to New York, and a million other places. I love history, and so much of what I've read about I can go see.

So this is where I have been and why I've probably seemed so quiet. This has been a stressful decision. I'm going to miss so much out here though. Of course my family and my friends. I'll be back though. I don't think they have real mexican food out there. I went to In & Out on the way to taking Mike to the airport today and realized that may be the last time for quite awhile I'll be there! Wow, that freaked me out a bit. I'm so spoiled! California won't always be one state away to just go over on a long weekend. Lots of things.

The kids are really excited! They are all young enough that they aren't worried about meeting new people there. Megan is just as excited as I am about the horsie-ness of it all. I mean, there are horses on the license plates!! And they are all excited about Mike being home more again. We'll be moving at a perfect time too. Right when they get out of school here. Then we'll have a big family road trip, which we are all excited about.

I'll keep in touch. There is always email and blogs. I promise! But there you have it. It feels like such a load off of my shoulders knowing that we've made the decision and things are starting to roll. :) Now... who's good at packing? ;)

saturday

I don't know why, but for some reason when I would see my blog up and that photo with the side mirror of the car I'd get a small anxiety attack. To the point where the picture actually ticked me off. Maybe because it looks hot, and knowing summer is on the way. Who knows, but it irritated me enough that I couldn't stand it anymore. So time to post something else. Please tell me somebody else gets this way once in awhile. Or maybe constantly seeing it was also a reminder of how I feel so incredibly behind on EVERYTHING right now. Details later. I seriously have a lot of catching up to do on so many levels.

SO... onto a photo that makes me happy. Saturday was another all day horse camp at the stable where Megan used to take riding lessons. She did this last year and had a blast. Due to circumstances, we stopped lessons for awhile, but when the instructor called last week and said she was doing another clinic, I knew Megan needed to go. Like last year, she had a great time. (I secretly wish I could have stayed all day too. I loved being around the horses again. Just touching them is good therapy.)

The poor girl did end up a little overheated yesterday, and very red from so much sun.

Then on the way home we stopped at a new Danny's Family Car Wash at the Tempe Marketplace. They were doing free carwashes for their grand opening. It wasn't busy when we went, and the timing was great since my car had a new layer of horse dust all over it. While we were waiting, I got this picture of Matthew:

Kind of Tara-esq don't you think? Haha. I can only wish. Truth is, he stood still for less than a second when I got that picture. Then when he saw the camera pointed towards him he went right into 'boy' mode. Dork.

But I do think if given the chance to actually compose a photo, it could have turned out pretty cool. I think now I'll be looking for painted stucco walls for backdrops. Only I'll bring a more willing subject. ;)

More soon.

Seeing the country at 75 MPH. Phoenix to Albuquerque -

leaving Phoenix. Road trip! Road trip!

Bear with me, these are long posts but I wanted to get this down somewhere before I forgot.

The plan was to take Mike's car back to Kentucky so he could get rid of our Chrysler that he originally drove out there. There was no sense in having the audi sitting in the garage here. Plus I'm always up for a road trip! As long as I get fed along the way. I have to say I like this trend of hotels having free breakfast, which each one we stayed in had a waffle maker. I had a waffle every single morning. Can you start the day any happier?

Holbrook is so kitschy. I love it. We needed to stop for gas (and a soda.) This whole town reminded me of Matthew and his obsession with the movie Cars. I know from watching the second disc of the movie that when the people from Pixar were doing research for the movie, they went to places like Holbrook and along the old Route 66. There was a version of the "Cozy Cone" with teepees. There were old cars parked out in front of the teepees like in the movie. I guess this was Mater:

There were also these huge dinosaurs everywhere. I'm not sure of the significance of dinosaurs and Holbrook, but apparently they like them there. Matthew liked this picture.

**** continue driving... forever....

New Mexico was windy. So windy that I had a hard time opening the door on the car trying to get out at a place we stopped at to get a snack. It kind of pushed you along when you were walking with it. Also, I don't know what it is about my hair. Mike and I laugh that even if I face the wind, my hair still comes back into my face. It's weird and squelches any dream of owning a convertible. ;) This photo is actually very tame. I'd get these funky swirling vortexes on top of my head that made my hair not only go in my face, but straight up. We were trying to get a picture for the kids, but alas... never got the perfect one. But since I'm hardly ever in pictures, I thought I'd add this. (Proof that I was there.)

New Mexico - Colorado Springs. And you thought expletive Tuesday didn't extend to road trips??

We left Albuquerque in the morning and headed towards Colorado Springs. Which we were planning on driving through until we got to Denver to stop for lunch.

The car clearly had other plans.

When we were just outside of Colorado Springs the car kept feeling strange. Like it was slipping out of gear or something. No. Please. What day is it?? ACK. Tuesday. If something can go wrong it will on Tuesday right?

While we were freaking out about this at first, it actually ended up being a good thing. There aren't that many Audi dealers, especially in some of the areas we were going through. Thakfully this didn't happen in a small town or worse, on the interstate somewhere. But the car finally did it's thing in Colorado Springs.... literally a mile or two in front of an Audi dealer.

So we rolled into the service department. Can I just say how much we LOVE Phil Long Audi of Colorado Springs??? They were friendly, helpful and got us in right away. Thankfully the problem was something with the fuel system and they were able to order a part that would be in first thing in the morning. They would fix it. We got a rental car, and 'stranded motorist' something or other from our warranty that allowed us some money to cover the rental car, a meal and hotel. I'm grateful for that. This little stopover ended up not costing us anything but time.

But it was a much needed time honestly. We got a chance to breathe. We went out for dinner, and then drove to a place called "Garden of the Gods." It is a beautiful green and hilly area with huge red rock mountains scattered around. There are hiking trails and scenic overlooks.

We also drove by where the cog railway leaves to climb Pike's Peak. When I graduated from high school, my dad and I took a trip to Colorado Springs. This was one of my favorite memories of going on this train. It takes you up Pike's Peak, and has the most gorgeous scenery.

Leaving Denver, Kansas - Kansas City Missouri

After leaving Colorado Springs we headed towards Denver, where we were going to have lunch. This time last year Mike had gone for some training in Denver and lived there for a month. I loved being able to see where he had lived, where the training center was and places he had been. It was neat to see these places other than pictures he had shown to me.

One place he had talked about a lot was a mongollian grill place in downtown Denver. It was called BD's. He knows I love mongollian grill, so this place was the be all end all of them. Sorry YC's but this place made you look like chumps. I had steak mixed in with my noodles. And little potatoes, and just about everything else I could cram into the bowl. Yum. If I was a seafood person they had it ALL. I won't be forgetting this place, and I guarantee that the next time I'm in Denver I'm going to be craving that! - Can you tell I'm totally motivated by food?

We were only in the restaurant for about 30 minutes, but when we came out the sky was gray and it was getting colder. After we got back on the interstate, there were snow flurries, but I found out on the news later that day that we had stayed just ahead of a storm that had dumped 7 inches of snow on Denver! Talk about lucky. That would have slowed us down a lot.

Oh, and Denver officially has the longest dang airport in the world. I swear it went on for MILES.

So now picture fields of hay bales and red barns. Kansas - which I have to add a disclaimer that I enjoyed Kansas, it just seemed long. I've been through Texas... which is exactly why we chose this route. I wanted to avoid Texas at all costs. Sorry any Texans out there... but been there, done that and don't plan on driving through again. It's like that movie Groundhog Day. You keep waking up in hotels and you are STILL in Texas. Couldn't they have split that state up a bit??

Kansas was pretty. I was just ancy to get to Kentucky. I loved seeing the farms. I never got tired of seeing them. It was like God's playground of Fisher Price little people farms. Huge bright red barns, with silos and windmills and green tractors. Farms and animals. And those adorable hay bales.

(Picture more photos of hay bales and red barns because those photos are on a different camera.)

Why do states outside of the western US have these nice welcome centers, and we don't? I honestly remember stopping at them when we moved from Florida when I was a kid. These aren't your typical rest stops. Oh no... they are monuments to the state you are in. I started to notice signs that said "Tornado shelter." Um, what?? Kerry doesn't do tornados. I'm just glad I didn't have to rush into one of these places to wait one out. Holy cow that has to be scary. I do enjoy Arizona's lack of natural disaster type weather, earthquakes and volcanos. ;)

We stopped in Kansas City, Kansas for the night.

Missouri/Kentucky - almost there!

A giant bug splat right in the middle of the windshield. Great. But hey, you get the point. ;)

We got up the next morning (and had another waffle!!) and headed towards St. Louis. The trip from Kansas City to here was still just as gorgeous. Rolling green hills, dotted with little perfect farms.

I was talking with my dad on the phone right before seeing this. He's from St. Louis. Hi dad!

I love the first time you see a monument or landmark that you've seen on tv and movies forever. Kind of like the first time I went across the Golden Gate Bridge, or saw Times Square or the Empire State Building. You kind of forget that these things are real. Then when you actually see them, it is cool. It's hard to describe. I figured the St. Louis arch was big, but I didn't think it would be this big. Photos do it absolutely no justice. It is HUGE. Especially when you see it in contrast to the city that is on the right, with all of the big buildings.

We kept on driving... and driving....

through southern Illinois (I waved at Mandy up north!) and Indiana. I forget what state it was in, but we stopped at a place called Effingham. My fourth grade humor kept thinking that was funny. "Let's stop at the Effing McDonalds and get a Effing soda!" I'm so easily amused.

**** almost there.

It's hard to remember after living in Arizona forever, that there are cool bridges like this, with wide rolling rivers underneath. It is quite a contrast to our concrete bridges that usually go over dry rivers. This was the last one before arriving in Kentucky. Infact, right on the other side of it is the 'Welcome to Kentucky' sign.

taken while driving, which is why there is a speed limit sign in the way. Dang. But this is Mike's 'office.' - Where he hangs when he's not at home.
There are tulip beds all over the airport. To a desert dweller, trust me, that is impressive!! They were so pretty!!!

We got into Kentucky a little before dinner time. We drove around a little and I got a chance to see a bit more than I did on my last trip out there. We had dinner and then went across another bridge into Cincinnati. This area of Kentucky is right on the border (it's the little bump on the northern most part of the state) so basically you have a very short drive across another one of those cool bridges into downtown Cincinnati.

Then back to the hotel to get some sleep before I headed back home early the next morning. I never got used to the 3 hour time difference. I stayed up late, and of course had a hard time getting up the next morning! Blah.

I enjoyed the fact that Mike could go through security with me since he was in his uniform and was heading to work shortly after my plane left. So he was able to take me to the gate and see me off. (Like the old days!)

The plane ride home was great. It was a newer plane that had the screens built into the back of the seat in front of you. You can watch pay per view movies, HBO shows, and some free tv. I ended up watching E! channel. Nothing like mindless celebrity stuff on a 4 hour flight. I watched the top 30 celebrity fights, and then E! True Hollywood Story on Lindsay Lohan. I was home before I knew it! I'm spoiled now. I can't go on a plane that doesn't offer this. I even played trivia with about 10 other people on this screen, and programmed my own little playlist from the CD's that you could choose from.

It was great to get back and see the kids. I missed them. It was a fun trip.

Back home + some random stuff.

Today I met the cutest, and most interesting man.

I promised the kids I would take them out when I got back home. We had an errand to do. Trevor had to go to the bathroom, and there was a mcdonalds on the corner. Plus with cries from the backseat of being thirsty, (like it takes a lot of arm twisting for me to stop and get a soda anyway. haha!) We went inside, which is something I never do because I hate the play areas with a passion. My kids always get sick after being in one. But I set out rules that we weren't there to play, and nobody seemed to care. They were happy with the lunch that we ended up having instead.

Anyway... we were sitting up at this counter with barstools that are against a wall. This little old man walked by and commented on Matthew's stuffed animal sitting on one of the stools. He had a sundae that he had bought and looked like he was going to be spending some time there eating it and reading a couple of books that he brought in with him. He seemed lonely. It didn't take much to engage him in a conversation. He sat down next to us after I asked him if he wanted the seat where the stuffed animal was.

About an hour later I had learned that he had flown sea planes out of Miami, and he told me all about landing on water. He had been in an accident 30 some years ago that ended his flying career. - He was 19 when he was sent over to fight in WWII. He told me a story about how one day his troop (or whatever they were called) had been sat down and given a couple pieces of paper each. They were told to write down the names and addresses of family, and to write a letter home. When they asked why, they found out that they were leaving for Japan and were told that more than half of them wouldn't be coming back! Can you even imagine? He told me about some of the guys he remembered that didn't make it back with him.

He told me about the day somebody had told him that the war was over. He asked how this person knew and he said that he heard about a bomb being dropped in Japan, and that it was over. He said he remembered exactly where he was when he found out that it was for real. I just thought that was cool. I loved hearing a story from somebody's experience rather than reading it from a book or magazine. It was hard to look into his eyes and imagine him as a young guy who probably had seen more than anybody should. I was sad, but fascinated. Needless to say, he made it home. :) But I started to feel bad about the people he was just telling me about. Guys that were 19 years old, and died decades before I was even born, and here I was talking to somebody who was there and had lived a long life afterwards.

I felt so bad since his ice cream was melted so much by this time, but he seemed happy to have somebody listen to him. He said he lived near one of his sons, so I imagine his wife was gone.

I think I could have listened to his war stories forever, if my kids weren't starting to get restless. (we'd already been there 45 minutes) It was just so interesting. It made me realize even more that the generation that fought in that war are all starting to go away. It makes me sad to know that there are so many stories that are going with them. I love history, and WWII is one of my favorite things to learn about.

so I really don't know where I am going with this story other than I thought the man was really interesting. I'm glad he stopped to talk to me. I just wanted to write about him on my blog because he totally made my day.

I have to load some pictures that I'll post later. I had fun on our little road trip, but it feels good to be home. :)

where in the world is Kerry you ask? Because I know you've been wondering. ;)

Hey, we're not in Kansas anymore!

Kansas is one long ass state. It isn't as boring as I expected though, because I like farms. I loved seeing all of the real barns with horses and cows along the way. And these adorable hay bales. But it is looooong. I even fell asleep for an hour and woke up STILL in Kansas.

Why am I passing through Kansas anyway?

Mike and I are on a quick road trip. We are driving the audi back to cincinnati. He had three days off to do it, so I went along for the ride. Kind of hoping for a chance to reconnect since this separate coast living is taking it's toll. I'm flying back on Friday.

later!

U2 and the real answer to peace on earth.

A little random U2 photo for me and Kaelene. ;)

And speaking of funky things Trevor has said... I was telling a friend today via email about something that we are both struggling with. I was trying to explain how one nice thing about getting older is realizing that you start to like yourself better, and learn more about who you are. We're both pretty big people pleasers, which is pretty much like running on a hamster wheel. No matter how fast you keep going, you still end up in the same place. You just end up out of breath.

So I was telling her about a little quote we use around our house a lot that pretty much translates into: "Whatever makes YOU happy." People pleasing is tiring. And doesn't always work.

A couple of years ago Matthew and Trevor were watching a bug crawl on a rock. Matthew being the typical boy wanted to lift up his foot and squash it. For no reason other than him just being a boy. (Ok, and I admit to some bug torture when I was a kid too. I coudn't read, I had NO toys and I walked uphill in the snow to school both ways...ok, maybe that is a little dramatic and untrue, but who hasn't smushed at least one bug in their life? I own it.)

So back to the rock.

Matthew is about to lift his foot up and says, "I want to squash it!!"

Trevor,"No don't squash him, he's just doing his buggay thang."

It's a good life theory huh? ;) There'd be peace in the world if we all just did our buggay thang.

So there you go people. Just keep on keeping on and doin' your buggay thang. It will keep you happy. I swear.

tsk tsk Trevor.

Chris Daughtry is on the radio while we are eating breakfast.

Trevor says to me:

"Hey mom, do you ever think that one of those U2 guys will ever try out for American Idol?"

*sigh* looks like I've been lacking in my parenting. ;)

and hey, another good opportunity to post a U2 picture. because THAT makes me happy!!

and the winner of the most boring blog of the year goes to......

ME.

Seriously, there is nothing going on right now. I'm not complaining, trust me. Having a lot going on is not exactly what it is cracked up to be. Infact, looking back at this time last year I was spending HOURS at hospitals because Mike had the kidney stone from hell that wouldn't go away. So yeah, nothing exciting going on is not such a bad thing.

But I have to comment about this. I'm watching the news. If you were doing a story about tap water, and you had a camera and had to do a close up of a faucet for a story, would you NOT try to find a NICE faucet?? Seriously, I think the one they used for the close up had to have been at a truck stop. It was totally rusted, circa 1970 and had that weird calcium deposit stuff on it. How gross! Ha, especially in HD!!!

MANDY!

No, I'm not talking Mandy from Barry Manilow....

and this picture of Geddy Lee is for HER! OH MY GOSH! Do you ever lose touch with somebody that you really don't mean to and somehow you keep finding each other?!?!? But then you lose each other again? I'm not letting it happen again.

My friend Mandy. BFF from high school. Who's better? Rush? U2? man we spent hours debating that but she knows in the back of her mind that it really is U2. ;)

This post is for her. We lost touch again for a few years and low and behold there are comments from her on my blog! How freaking COOL is the internet???? We're like two lost souls swimmin in a fishbowl... year after year....

I'm feeling all warm and fuzzy and nostalgic. Has it really been 20 years? No. Way!

April

Is it really April? How did this happen?

That means two more months of school before summer vacation. That means after summer vacation, I'll have three kids in the same school. One in 1st grade, one in 3rd grade, and holy cow one in 5th grade! Ack! Who will also be turning double digits this year. Oh my gosh.

Today was a good day. Megan and Trevor had a half day at school. Megan had planned on going over to a friend's house after school so I picked up Trevor and we had lunch together at Chili's. It was nice to have some one on one time with him. That is one thing that is so hard to do with Mike being gone so much. When he's home we're all together doing family stuff. But I can't forget how important the one on one time is. It's good for all of us.

random - expletive Tuesday.

For once, Tuesday doesn't suck! A few of my friends know how much I dreaded Tuesdays for a long time. It was the day I always had a couple of unpleasant things every week, and on top of it all it used to be the night every week that Mike was out of town. Seriously, if something was going to go wrong..... it ALWAYS did on a Tuesday.

They've gotten somewhat better now that two of those unpleasant things are out of my life, but every now and then something still manages to remind me that Tuesdays should just be banned.

Except today. The weather is perfect. I think Arizona is actually getting a spring this year, a U2 DVD is playing while I clean my house and get some other jobs done, the kids are all happily back in school and best of all Mike is on his way home from New York right now!

Nothing really exciting to report about. We had a nice spring break with the kids even though we didn't go anywhere this time. Mike was home most of the week, so it was nice just to be a family and go see movies, have lunch, go to the park and ride bikes. To me that was much better than anything else. We all got to connect again, which with this crazy year is something huge for all of us. Thank goodness though, this first year is almost over and life should get back to normal with Mike's schedule and we won't be living on separate coasts!

There are so many things that are reminding me right now of the changes in the past year. Piper (who is snoring at my feet) has been here a year, we were on a cruise this time last year, Mike has been with his airline for a year, and I'm still the same weight. Ha, even though I swore I wouldn't be by the time it was short weather again. At least I can count on that being a constant. ;) But hey, I'm even working on that now. In very teeny tiny baby steps.

Happy Easter!

Before. Poor little eggs. That is a big pot too, there are 3 dozen in there!


Waiting for the bath:


After.

Ah yes, I'd like to imagine a perfect Norman Rockwell holiday moment in my head when I originally buy the Paas coloring kit for Easter each year. And usually by the time we have finished coloring eggs and I get a chance to breathe a little, seeing them happily lined up back in the carton is a happy sight.

But sometimes my kids don't share my perfect vision. First, the OCD in me has a hard time when the dye starts flying. (Please no messes!! No spills!)

Then there are the inevitable screams of, "I called GREEN first!" like each egg is going to suck all of the color out of the glass and there will be no more GREEN left. *gasp!*

But then there is also the preparation that goes into this activity that ends up taking all of 15 minutes. Buy eggs and make sure you have a good carton with no broken ones, carefully get them home, boil water, forget the timer while they are on the stove until small child comes running in to say, "The eggs are on FIRE!" (They weren't, the water was boiling and popping the lid up while hissing and trying to put out the gas fire. Man, I really hate cooking.) Rinse eggs, watch color pellets dissolve in vinegar (my favorite part!) Measure water, drop in eggs. Wait.

Trevor even asked me, "So.... why do we color the eggs if we're just going to peel them soon so we can make deviled eggs for tomorrow?"

Good point there T. I don't know. Because it is FUN! Right? Aren't we all about having FUN?

I think we did. We have all stopped to admire their work every now and then. Besides, it gives me something to blog about. ;)

Happy Easter!

Meet at least three out of four. Zippy, Tilly, Lily and Ferb.

Sorry about the bad photo.

Here are my frogs. I say my frogs because I actually adore these things. Yeah, they live in Megan's room and she feeds them. She doesn't want anything to do with touching them, so we came up with a fair trade with chores. But I check on them at night right after checking on the kids before I go to bed.

After I cleaned their little habitat, I fed them and watched them for about 30 minutes. (Yeah, time went by that fast or I'm that bored.) But watching our little habitat is a lot like watching people. It's sometimes better than cable. I think we have three males and one female. The females are light, and the males are dark and spotted. Now that they are bigger you can tell the difference between them better. That, and that the female still seems to have a bigger tummy than the rest. So either she's just fat (isn't that just like regular life?) or she's still pregnant. I need to go find out the gestation for african dwarf frogs apparently.

Anyway... so as the flakes of food are floating at the top or sinking at the bottom, she's trying to get herself a piece. They eat really slow, not like fish, they float up to it and 'freeze' so they don't look like prey themselves. Then they snatch it really fast. But the boys won't let her get a piece. They float up underneath her and bite her little webbed feet!! Then she darts out of the way and the males eat the food. Typical males. Steal food from the maybe pregnant female. She just keeps going to another corner hoping to find her own piece. She did get some eventually. But it was interesting to watch.

Now I don't mean this to sound like a man hater post, but it did remind me of one time when I was pregnant. I mean I was literally close to divorce after saving one last piece of bacon on the side of my plate to eat after I ate all of the sweet pancake stuff at a breakfast out. I had already eaten a few other pieces first, but I wanted to save this last piece. It was the perfect piece too. The filet mignon of bacon.

Mike reached over and ate it!! I was so mad! You stole bacon from a pregnant woman? WTH is wrong with you!??!?! He thought I wasn't going to eat it since it was on the corner of my plate. In his defense he did get me some more bacon, and he never deprived me of any craving. I'm sure some pregnant hormones had a little something to do with the whole thing too. ;)

We still joke around about the bacon. But I've come to the conclusion that male humans aren't that much different than male frogs.

spring break begins!

It is officially spring break! I'm excited about having the kids home this next week. Mike will even be here for most of it, so I have pretty high hopes for the week.

Today was gorgeous, and we got a new frisbee for the dog. She's such a doof, and not the most agile of retrievers, but hey, she brings it back at some point.

I'm noticing a trend here too. There are a lot of dog pictures. I'm not favoring and Megan and Piper right now, but for some reason both of my boys are done with the camera. I sense I'm going to have to start bribing them soon.

We really do have exciting lives. I always love when somebody says to me, "Your husband is a pilot, that must mean you get to travel a lot!" Not so much.

I used to. And trust me, I'm craving to get away right now. Of course now that I can fly just about anywhere I want to for free. But... there's the whole thing of kind of wanting the other spouse there too. This period with the airline he is at is difficult, but hopefully when it is over we can go somewhere. Until then... my favorite place is still:

Target. I love this little sign. I don't know why, but I had to take a picture of it this morning just for the heck of it.

I'm looking forward to a whole week of sleeping in past 6:00 in the morning, not worrying about homework, and getting lunches and backpacks ready every night. :)

:(

Last Wednesday my grandma had a stroke that left her with quite a bit of damage to her brain. I found out that due to her wishes of not wanting to be resuscitated, that she wouldn't be recovering.

Today is a sad day, as she is the last of my grandparents. She passed early this morning. I'm happy that she's been reunited with her husband who I know she missed so much. She always talked about him and how much she missed him. So I find a lot of comfort in that.

Since it had almost been a week since the stroke until today, I have been thinking so much about her. I know there were always big occasions (Christmas, birthdays, etc.) but it is all of the little moments that have been flooding my mind the past week.

My grandparents had the best house in the world to play at when I was little. I remember the huge backyard with St. Augustine grass that felt so good on bare feet. I spent hours in that yard hunting and catching lizards, smushing tiny snails, and playing on some huge wooden spool that was the size they use for cable. We'd flip it over sideways and run in the middle of it so that it would roll across the yard like lumberjacks.

There was a canal across the street where I would take a wheelbarrow and a shovel, fill it up with the hermit crabs that lived on the banks of the canal, take it back across the street and play with them all day making amusement parks for them. Then at the end of the day I'd wheel them back and toss them back in the water again. I caught my first fish in the canal.

I also remember taking baths there and thinking how incredibly great my grandma was for always having bath crystals that turned the water blue. I can still remember exactly what that box looked like, because one time I dumped the entire box into the tub. But even after that, she still always had them for me. And Mr. Bubble. After a day of playing with Florida wildlife, I probably really did need a bath.

They had a lava lamp that I would stare at for hours on a piano that my grandpa played. He used to love to play it, and loved more than anything to make up silly songs. He's the one who came up with K, E, double R, Y... Kerry Lynn Reddingaling. And even though my sister will probably kill me, her song was "down by the river where the green grass grows, there sits Kimberly picking her nose." These were always always followed by my grandpa's unique laugh. I can still hear it. Today my sister talked to me and said that she knows that my grandpa had spent the last 5 years up in heaven just waiting for my grandma with some silly song to sing to her when she got there. If there is a piano in heaven, that's where they are at right now.

Lots of good memories in that house. My aunt and uncle were by far the coolest in the whole wide world too.

My last memory of that house was when we were getting in the car to move out west. My grandma made me a butter and jelly sandwich and a glass of orange juice. I honestly can remember trying to drink out of that little juice glass with a huge lump in my throat.

Of course there are a million memories of them coming out to Arizona to visit, after we moved out here too.

So these little thoughts are zooming around in my head. Some make me laugh (quiche me Kerr! My mom will know that one!) and some make me cry. This photo was taken the last time I saw her when she came out to visit. It didn't seem that long ago until I realized how small my kids look in that photo. Although I talked to her on the phone often I still can't believe that was the last time I saw her. She really took a liking to Matthew. He sat with her the entire time she was at my house.




So tonight, I had to go outside and wait for the moon. Every now and then when I'd be talking to her at night on the phone (and I do this with my mom sometimes) I say, "Look up at the moon." Then when I'd know she was looking too, I'd say, "Now we both are looking at it at the same time." It was a fun way to connect across the country. I don't think it was any accident that while I was waiting for the moon to come up, that we had one of the most amazing Arizona sunsets. I watched the sun go down on this crappy day, and without trying to sound sappy I really hope that she's in heaven looking at that same moon with me tonight.

I miss you grandma. Love always.

And mom, dad, Kim and everybody in Florida, I love you and miss you very much. I wish I could be there.

A Piper post for the dog inclined....

Piper is one cool dog. - and actually officially one year old right about now. We got her in April last year, and she was 6 weeks old.

I was thinking the other day how labs are often used in search and rescue, leading the blind or like our neighbor lab who is a bomb sniffing dog. (He even has a badge on his collar, it's so cute!) but why is it that my lab doesn't seem like the type cut out for that kind of work? Maybe it's the training that we've given her, which is pretty much family dog stuff. Sit, stay, get off the couch, don't eat off the counter.... she's pretty, and she's sweet, so she was obviously cut out just to be a great family dog.

She's smart at times, but there have been a lot of times I imagine if she could ever be a search and rescue dog. Yeah, only if the missing had tennis balls in their pockets. She lives for tennis balls.

But this thing she does with Megan gives me warm fuzzies. Not long after school, or on the weekends they go up and down the street with Piper pulling Megan on her scooter. Sometimes I ride along side on my bike, and it is cool how Megan doesn't even need to move both of her feet off of the scooter. (Only for stopping.) She'll keep them going at a pretty fast pace all the way. This is what I tried to accomplish with my dog when I was Megan's age... only he was a daschund. We never made it that far. ;)

Happy birthday Piper!

Wow. American Idol tonight dawg.....

(A little Randy Jackson there)

I always watch this show with the kids. Tonight was 80's night. What's his name (He bores me, so I can't even remember his name.) sings a Wham song and Megan asks me, "MOM! Do you remember that song from when you were a little kid?"

Yeah sweetheart I remember that song. I was in high school. Not so much a little kid. I'm officially ancient to my kids. Wonderful.

David Cook. OK I'm officially in love with him after that version of Lionel Ritchie's Hello. I actually even rewound it to watch it a few times. Blew me over.

Most of the guys are great. I'm not loving any of the girls. Tonight was an exceptionally great episode.

Yeah, the 80's rock.

And speaking of the 80's, yesterday I almost wrote about this but it seemed way too random for a blog post. Remember back when you’d occasionally see a strung out wad of cassette tape that had been pulled out of the plastic cassette, flapping in the wind (and usually stuck on a tumbleweed) You used to see that all the time.

Thanks dad.

My dad sent me this in an email this morning. It was funny, so I thought I would share.


Airline cabin announcements All too rarely, airline attendants make an effort to make the in- flight "safety lecture" and announcements a bit more entertaining. Here are some real examples that have been heard or reported:

1. On a Southwest flight 245 (SW has no assigned seating, you just sit where you want) passengers were apparently having a hard time choosing, when a flight attendant announced, "People, people we're not picking out furniture here, find a seat and get in it!"

2. On a Continental Flight with a very "senior" flight attendant crew, the pilot said, "Ladies and gentlemen, we've reached cruising altitude and will be turning down the cabin lights. This is for your comfort and to enhance the appearance of your flight attendants."

3. On landing, the stewardess said, "Please be sure to take all of your belongings. If you're going to leave anything, please make sure it's something we'd like to have.

4. "There may be 50 ways to leave your lover, but there are only 4 ways out of this airplane"

5. "Thank you for flying Delta Business Express. We hope you enjoyed giving us the business as much as we enjoyed taking you for a ride."

6. As the plane landed and was coming to a stop at Ronald Reagan, a lone voice came over the loudspeaker: "Whoa, big fella. WHOA!"

7. After a particularly rough landing during thunderstorms in Memphis, a flight attendant on a Northwest flight announced, "Please take care when opening the overhead compartments because, after a landing like that , sure as hell everything has shifted."

8. From a Southwest Airlines employee: "Welcome aboard Southwest Flight 245 to Tampa . To operate your seat belt, insert the metal tab into the buckle, and pull tight. It works just like every other seat belt; and, if you don't know how to operate one, you probably shouldn't be out in public unsupervised."

9. "In the event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, masks will descend from the ceiling. Stop screaming, grab the mask, and pull it over your face. If you have a small child traveling with you, secure your mask before assisting with theirs. If you are traveling with more than one small child, pick your favorite."

10. "Weather at our destination is 50 degrees with some broken clouds, but we'll try to have them fixed before we arrive. Thank you, and remember, nobody loves you, or your money, more than Southwest Airlines."

11. "Your seat cushions can be used for flotation; and, in the event of an emergency water landing, please paddle to shore and take them with our compliments."

12. "As you exit the plane, make sure to gather all of your belongings. Anything left behind will be distributed evenly among the flight attendants. Please do not leave children or spouses."

13. And from the pilot during his welcome message: "Delta Airlines is pleased to have some of the best flight attendants in the industry. Unfortunately, none of them are on this flight!"

14. Heard on Southwest Airlines just after a very hard landing in Salt Lake City. The flight attendant came on the intercom and said, "That was quite a bump, and I know what y'all are thinking. I'm here to tell you it wasn't the airline's fault, it wasn't the pilot's fault, it wasn't the flight attendant's fault, it was the asphalt."

15. Overheard on an American Airlines flight into Amarillo, Texas, on a particularly windy and bumpy day: During the final approach, the Captain was really having to fight it. After an extremely hard landing, the Flight Attendant said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Amarillo . Please remain in your seats with your seat belts fastened while the Captain taxis what's left of our airplane to the gate!"

16. Another flight attendant's comment on a less than perfect landing: "We ask you to please remain seated as Captain Kangaroo bounces us to the terminal."

17. An airline pilot wrote that on this particular flight he had hammered his ship into the runway really hard. The airline had a policy which required the first officer to stand at the door while the Passengers exited, smile, and give them a "Thanks for flying our airline." He said that, in light of his bad landing, he had a hard time looking the passengers in the eye, thinking that someone would have a smart comment. Finally everyone had gotten off except for a little old lady walking with a cane. She said, "Sir, do you mind if I ask you a question?" "Why, no, Ma'am," said the pilot. "What is it?" The little old lady said, "Did we land, or were we shot down?"

(This next one is my favorite!!)
18. After a real crusher of a landing in Phoenix, the attendant came on with, "Ladies and Gentlemen, please remain in your seats until Capt. Crash and the Crew have brought the aircraft to a screeching halt against the gate. And, once the tire smoke has cleared and the warning bells are silenced, we'll open the door and you can pick your way through the wreckage to the terminal."

19. Part of a flight attendant's arrival announcement: "We'd like to thank you folks for flying with us today. And, the next time you get the insane urge to go blasting through the skies in a pressurized metal tube, we hope you'll think of US Airway s"

20. Heard on a Southwest Airline flight. "Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to smoke, the smoking section on this airplane is on the wing and if you can light 'em, you can smoke 'em."

21. A plane was taking off from JFK after it reached a comfortable cruising altitude, the captain made an announcement over the intercom, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Welcome to Flight Number 293, nonstop from New York to Los Angeles The weather ahead is good and, therefore, we should have a smooth and uneventful flight Now sit back and relax.. OH, MY GOD!" Silence followed, and after a few minutes, the captain came back on the intercom and said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I am so sorry if I scared you earlier. While I was talking to you, the flight attendant accidentally spilled a cup of hot coffee in my lap You should see the front of my pants!" A passenger in Coach yelled, "That's nothing. You should see the back of mine."

frogs

One small habitat $10.00

bag of aquarium rocks $6.00

water conditioner $3.00

frog food $3.00

net $2.00

glow in the dark plant for frog to hide in $5.00





4th grade science project African dwarf frogs adopted by Megan.... Free. hahahahaa, the 'free' is what cracks me up. These little frogs have cost me quite a bit so far, for being free.



The past month or so the 4th graders have had different little critters on their desks to observe for science. The first ones were millipedes, then these frogs, then next week are crabs. I told Megan she could 'adopt' something when one of the chapters was over. Personally I'm glad she ended up with the frogs. They are so cute compared to the millipedes! *shudder*



I'll post a photo of our newest additions tomorrow after school.

YO Maddy. I'm calling you out girlfriend....

I don't remember what it is you are supposed to do when you challenge somebody. Don't you slap them with a glove or something like that?

Let it be known, on this day, if she takes this challenge....

I know some of you watch Monk. After the season finale the other day, I was talking to her about it. I think at some point Natalie and him will end up together. Maddy thinks this is wrong and that there are no romantic feelings between the two.

I don't think that it would be ideal, because he still loves Trudy, but I've noticed that Natalie seems different than she used to in the earlier episodes. She's just a little too quick with a wet wipe, don't you think? ;) - and she's lonely since her husband died.

But after the last episode when she found him at the car wash after thinking he was dead had me thinking. You know how TV shows like to ruin everything and hook up the characters. Even if you want them too, the show always sucks after the characters hook up. (Daphne and Niles, Rachel and Ross, Pam and Jim...) but I can see it happening with those two when the show is over, for a series finale. I will bet Maddy RIGHT NOW that happens. What do you want to wager? I would like a case of coke. Mexican coke from Costco! What do you want if you win?

I know Maddy thinks I'm nuts. (But I bet I'm right. Haha!)

Game on sista!

little blog album

Still more random....

I need to get back to blogging at least, everyday. I'm all caught up on my little blog album I'm working on for this year so I need new stuff to print out and put in there!

It's an idea that started from Maddy. She is doing one in a different format, but the idea was pretty cool. It's basically like the Week In The Life class that we took at CKU, but for an entire year. It's great because little stories and some photos that wouldn't otherwise be scrapped get put into an album. And it is fast to work on too. Plus it houses my photo of the day that I have still been doing but have been horrible about posting!

I'm using a kolo album for mine. I have been using 4x6 prints that can slide in, but I'm thinking about getting 5x7s next so I just have a little bit of trimming to do. Either one works really, but the OCD in me doesn't like that tiny bit of manilla paper showing from the edges of the smaller photos.

I just haven't had time to do big pages like I used to. I'm not forgetting them, but this at least makes me feel like I've done something.

It has already been fun to go back to the earliest part of January to remember little things I had already forgotten. Ha, like being "fired!" - Or photos I had taken just because I was bored and had a camera with me. Like the obligatory photo of myself in the car side mirror that most scrappers have done. I was waiting in the pick up line at school for Matthew. But hey, it gets ME in the album, and the camera covers up most of my face. You can see the cool zig zag part on my fabulous hair though. (Thinking of June here) ;)

Trevor is home with me today. Fever and general yuckiness. Not that I'm trying to be negative, but you know how it goes when ONE gets sick. It means it's bound to hit somebody else, then possibly one more, and then usually ME. Aw, and it's the beginning of the week.

Oh and when I find a new favorite thing to eat I tend to eat it so much and pound it into the ground. Right now my current addiction is a grilled pepperjack cheese sandwich and a small V8. Mmmm.

random

Nothing really exciting to blog about, but I have some random things I’ve been thinking about.

I wish I had an English accent. I could listen to a person with a British accent read the phone book for hours. I would like to sound that cool.

I wish U2 and Green Day would do an entire album together.

The weather is perfect, and the trees are starting to get new leaves.

While waiting at the doctor today I realized I had rubber lettuce and bologna in my purse. A pair of socks, a box of raisins and a small collection of cars. Why am I carrying this stuff around with me?

All three of my kids must be in a growth spurt right now. They are seriously eating… A LOT.

And speaking of U2, right now I’m sitting here, taking a break from the daily stuff and watching one of my U2 concert DVDs. Man, I love these guys. I swear they are like a drug. If I’m ever tired or bummed nothing can bring me up again like them. It seems so weird that it’s been like this for sooooo long. 1983. War album. Ever since then, I feel like I have had a soundtrack to my life. Certain songs from different eras can put me back in a time and place so quickly and bring back memories. Like musical scrapbooking.

I’m always so glad that I fell in love with a band that is still going. I STILL have stuff to look forward to. I don’t know if Mike ever thinks about it, but thank goodness he liked U2 girl of Corona del Sol, and I wasn’t given the nickname of Dexys Midnight Runners girl (who??? My point exactly.) instead because the poor guy still has to listen to U2 every. Single. Day. (Or maybe that’s why he took a job where he has to fly back east for weeks at a time. Hmmm.)

One love. Peace out ya'll.

SCORE!!

Hey, have I ever mentioned how much I love Target?

I have to give credit where credit is due here. I 'like' valentines day. I'm usually not crazy about it enough to decorate or anything like that. So the thought of hitting Target for valentine clearance hadn't even occured to me.

Until Maddy called me on Friday morning to ask me to do some personal shopping. She needed more of these treat boxes for Ellie's birthday. Sure, twist my arm I wasn't planning on going that day, but for a friend I'll go to Target. ;)

I found her boxes and then found some other stuff I thought I needed. A red velvet cupcake kit and pink sugar cookie kit, complete with cookie cutter and sprinkles. Plus some melting chocolate, and a couple of silicon baking pans with heart shapes to make muffins or heart shaped brownies or something. All of this was 50% off and super cheap. I figured one of the kits would be a good weekend project for the kids and I to do.

Then as I'm in bed last night I'm starting to obsess with, "Why didn't I get that? Or this?" Sure enough first thing today we end up at Target again. Only today stuff was 75% off. OK, so here is where Maddy comes in. The girl is brilliant. You all know her party making abilities and how Ellie has had the most cool and incredible parties right down to the perfect invitations.

Megan's birthday is in October, but maybe I should get some treat boxes for goodie bags. They'd be cool to have around anyway. They don't say valentine anything on them. Hmm, oh! I need paper plates! 40 cents for 10 paper dinner plates, desert plates, treat boxes... oh, pencils for treat boxes, little pads of paper, drink stirrers, cups.... I went a little crazy. Even the metal tree for birthday cards. Yeah, Megan's party this year is going to be themed around the cupcake and heart designs on the valentines stuff. We're both pretty excited about this. - and the best is it was all under $20.

Plus I got enough treat bags for next year for all three of the kids school parties, and adorable Lego valentines for Matthew. Bring it on. I'm ready for next year.

I love Target. I do. I reeeeally do.

Whew, now that little milestone is over.

First it started with lots of tears and reluctance, along with screams of, "But I can't do this!!!"

Then the same with this one who pleaded and promised that he'd learn to ride his bike when he turned 12 years old. "I promise I'll do it if we can just wait awhile!!!"

So after our history with Megan and Trevor and the trail of tears, I expected Matthew to be the same and wasn't too excited about the idea of teaching another one how to ride a bike. After the track record with the other two, I honestly thought that potty training was easier! Matthew was still cautious, but seemed more excited about learning how to ride his bike without the training wheels.

Surprisingly he met the bike riding challenge a little better than the other two. There were a couple of tears, but it was only because he fell off once, but he shook it off pretty quick.

Could it really be this easy this time around? (Of course it was for me since I was just the one taking pictures and Mike was the one running back and forth.) But after a couple of times down the street we had a new bike riding pro!! Not only was he so happy about staying upright, but he’d see how fast he could go, and how quickly he could stop so he could admire the skid mark behind him. Even the one time he forgot to use the brakes and ended up in a bush didn’t seem to extinguish his determination to go faster next time! Yessss. The last one out of the three!

Bike riding freedom!

OHMYGOSH.

Hello hello......

Happy early valentines day. Normally I'm not that mushy about valentines day anymore. I mean Mike and I have had 20 of them together now. 20!! Holy cow. But being that he was home this week, and my mom willing to watch the kids for an evening, we had a date night.

We went out for dinner and then to see: U2 3D at IMAX.

Oh my gosh. Chills, goosebumps and happy watery eyes. I mean I got to see the sweat on Edge's forehead. (Yes, that is a very good thing.) This is pretty much what I invision heaven to be like. Front row seats at a U2 show. Complete with digital sound. Mmm mmmmm. I still ADORE these guys. :)

Look, I gotta go, yeah I'm running out of change....