Happy Almost Halloween

Don't worry, this blog background will go away soon. I just had to be a little witch-y for a little while.

Hold on, man. We don't go anywhere with "scary," "spooky," "haunted," or "forbidden" in the title. ~From Scooby-Doo

The house moved!!

Here's the boom truck, ready for action. The truck was hooked to the house; the truck would stay in place with the boom winch pulling until the house was too close--then the truck was moved forward.

This is the foundation onto which the house will be pulled. The day after the big event, Allen and Justin spent most of the day under the house getting everything done.

Of course nothing was going to go wrong.... But just in case the house started to slide backwards this was in place.

Does Justin look official or what??

The house move/The moving house

I was hoping to just have a visual of this (video) instead of trying to write it out, but since it hasn't happened yet I guess I have some 'splainin' to do.

It's not our house. Our friend Allen Danskine built a house (well, he's built three; we're living in number two) next to the foundation on which it will rest. Why?? A few years ago Allen and Laura bought a house. A nasty, stinky, foreclosed mobile home on a beautiful spot. Allen pretty much gutted the mobile and made it livable--and quite nice. So does this mean he's built four houses? But I digress.... Instead of building the house somewhere else on the property, he decided he wanted the house right where the mobile is. That's fine and dandy, but where do you live while you're building? Hmmm.... They lived in the mobile, and built the house on stilts next to it. Do not try this at home! Allen is a professional engineer. And all-around great guy. So the idea is, using winches (wenches will be watching) and the boom truck, they will roll the house onto the foundation. Yeah, I know! That's why I'll be taping it. I mean, just the idea of it rolling like that is enough to want to save it for posterity! Everybody seems to think I'm going to tape it in case there's a big problem. Oh! I forgot to mention, Allen and Laura have been living in the new house for a while now. It's totally furnished, cabinets are in, stuff is hanging on the walls...

So does that clear things up? I'll be sure to take some pictures to post here. It's nice that the boom truck is being used for something more than our giant Christmas-light-Christmas-tree.

Today was the first time I had to have volunteers in place for something at school. It was individual pictures and I had four people in place to help. Um, one I got just this morning when I walked into the school. I was amazed at how stressed I felt about all of it! But of course everything went beautifully. And yes Mom, I did tell them about the snotty nose picture of me in second grade or so. Forget making sure the hair looks good--check the noses! I had my picture taken too for a volunteer badge. I. Am. A. Bimbo. I have a brown shirt that I wear over a turquoise tank top. For some reason I put on a plum colored tank top instead. I did not realize my mistake until I was leaving the school at 11:45! I hope I didn't look hideous..... Luckily the picture is mainly of my head.

Yikes! QuoteGarden won't open. Guess no quote today.

I have only myself to blame

I can't blame anyone else. It all comes back to me..... Let's start at current time:



Joy is obsessed with Facebook



Joy joins Facebook



Joy reads that Kimm is on Facebook



Joy finds Liberty High School Class of 1988 20 year reunion page



Joy Googles Beth



Joy reads a comment on her blog from Beth Anne



Beth reads about herself on Joy's blog



Beth Googles herself



Joy writes in her blog and mentions Beth Tensfeld







See? "Joy writes in her blog". Now I'm staying up late trying to locate old friends/acquaintances and respond to those who find me. I'm being labeled an "old hag". I'm becoming obsessed with people I used to know and trying to figure out how to locate them. And I'm really, really enjoying myself! I keep laughing....the phrase "oh my goodness" has become a part of my breathing.....I'm feeling bad about not keeping in touch with people after high school and college and work. And I'm having so much fun! It's like every reunion you've ever dreaded....but then enjoyed.


Every parting is a form of death, as every reunion is a type of heaven. ~Tryon Edwards

The house hasn't moved

Well, the house didn't get moved yesterday. They're going to do it next weekend instead. The girls had fun playing in the foundation though!

I'll give more information as the week goes on.....

Random Comments

I have this blog set up so that when I get a new comment, I receive notification on my gmail address. What a shock yesterday when I had a comment on my "Things I Will Miss About Ephrata" post from Beth Tensfeld! When did I last see her? Eighteen years ago or so? Of course I Googled her.... And found the web page for her 1988 class reunion. I got to vicariously find out what some of her classmates are up to now. Fun fun! I really have to wonder if Liberty High School Class of 1989 will have a 20 year reunion next year. I won't be surprised if that one just slides right under the radar...

So after reading the comments on the Class of 1988 page, I decided to check out Facebook. Now I'm on that, but I'm not sure why yet. William had suggested a while ago that I join---but I hadn't looked into it yet. I'll keep playing around with it for a while. We'll see where it goes.

Now I just feel like Googling everybody I know. Yeah, it wouldn't be the first time...

Fall is officially here! I love this time of year. Yeah, I'm sure pretty soon I'll be missing the sun, but right now I love the cool fall weather. Of course right now Justin and Allen are likely hating this weather! Today is the day the house moves. Yep, the house will move. Physically! The girls and I are supposed to go there in a couple hours to watch this happen. My video camera is charged and ready! Hopefully nothing exciting will happen.

Bittersweet October. The mellow, messy, leaf-kicking, perfect pause between the opposing miseries of summer and winter. ~Carol Bishop Hipps

I've become one of them.....

Yes, it's official. I have started reading the Twilight saga by Stephenie Meyer. I really didn't know much about it other than the covers looked a little too mature for all the teenage girls reading them and it's about vampires. Justin read an article about the books and was shocked to hear I had not read them. (this was especially surprising in light of my recent genre of choice) So I borrowed the first two from a friend and I'm hooked. Sheesh! I read the first one Saturday and Sunday morning and finished the last bit of the second one when I got off work today. I'm dyin' for the next two!! I've already cursed Patti for getting me started..... But at least it will be over soon. Surprisingly, I even kind of want to see the movie! In the theater even!! I've never wanted to do that with Harry Potter. Wonder why this is different? Wonder if I'll actually go to the movie? Since I go to movies oh so often.....

We're going to Vegas baby!! And I'm determined to look good. Well, at least not as blubbery as I look now anyway. I started Weight Watchers last week (say it with me "again") and I've been staying on track pretty well. Hence the hunger pangs I'm currently experiencing. But I should show a loss on Thursday of around 3 pounds. A friend is joining too so we can support each other. And compete against each other too! Hopefully that will help me. I was stressed about a recipe I figured points on last night. I entered all the ingredients into the Recipe Builder on WW's site and it came up as 6 points per serving. Not too bad. After I ate I realized that it actually served more so it changed to 4 points. But then I remembered that it called for 9 1/4 ounces of tuna but I'd put in two 6 ounce cans instead. Suddenly it came to 14 points per serving!!! Whaaa??? Was I originally looking in the wrong place on the screen? I can't believe I just had a fairly small dinner for a total of 18 points. Yikes! I was honestly wondering if I shouldn't barf some of it up! Before I went to bed I looked again and noticed that when I was re-entering the information I didn't change cups into ounces. So 12 cups of tuna is a little more than 12 ounces I'd have to say. Heck, if I'd realized my mistake sooner I could have had a glass of wine!

The girls are doing great in school. Emma ran for ASB Representative for her class. Two are chosen, and she won the Alternate position. There were actually quite a few who ran. I'm so proud of Emma for actually trying this. It's not quite typical for her to do that. Audrey is a Student of the Month for October. This means we all get to go to the school Friday morning for a cinnamon roll breakfast and watch Audrey get a certificate. Will I have pictures to post of this? Who knows.... Audrey is going to start meeting with the school counselor and Speech Language Pathologist. For a couple years now Audrey has had kind of a stutter when she talks. It's happening more often now and becoming more apparent. I talked to the SLP and she went to the classroom to observe Audrey and noticed it right away. She thought she also appeared anxious, so we'll combine speech with working with the counselor on ways she can help her anxiety. Hopefully the combination will help to calm her down a bit and ease her speech. I'm excited for her to start.

Justin is really enjoying his new job. It's still pretty slow for him so far, but as he learns more he'll get busier!

It's Bingo Night at school tonight and I'd better get ready to feed my family before we go. I'm not sure that we should subsist on popcorn and water only....

Widgets Went Awry

Oops. I changed my blog template and lost my widgets. Of course there's lots of info on Saving/Backing-Up your blog and widgets, but virtually nothing on actually restoring them! So I've started over again. And I also switched to a background designer with templates that will support widgets. Er, not support, since the other one did that too. But actually keep them instead of deleting. We'll see how this one works out.

Since I've been messing with this for a while now, I actually need to get off the computer and do other stuff. But I knew that if you showed up here and saw my book list dramatically reduced and other stuff quite likely missing you might get worried and demand to know what happened. Now you know. I'm impatient. :)

A bit of a week

Yeah, a little more than usual went on this week.

Let's see....

Monday I started my new job. I'm officially the Family Involvement Coordinator at Bay View Elementary. Most people seem to be happy about this. Including me! But of course the few who feel the need to justify this as a "job" seem to poke at me a bit more. I did not apply for this as a way to make money. I did not apply for this as a "job". I applied for this position because the school and PTA have this position set up to support the teachers, staff, PTA, etc and I want to help this. I want the PTA to be strong. I want the teachers to feel free to teach because somebody else is helping to make sure the grunt work is getting done. I want to be involved---feel involved. OK, and so the stipend is nice too..... But you know that whoever works as the Family Involvement Coordinator (can I just call it FIC?) will be working more than the three hours/school day. Whether it's at the school or at home you know more will be done. And not so much as "it's my duty as FIC" but more of "even if I wasn't in that position I'd still do it to help".

Tuesday Justin and I celebrated 13 years of marriage. Wow! I feel way too immature to have been married that long!

Emma and Audrey both had friends spend the night tonight. Whew. Just go them to bed around 11:00. I know, I should have done it sooner. But we needed to paint nails and watch Eight Below! OK, maybe not. But it was fun! Remind me in a month and a half when Emma is planning her birthday party to not suggest a slumber party. Same goes for Audrey's February birthday. Aww, I suppose it wasn't that bad. I mean, I had wine!

The top five acts in America's Got Talent have been decided. Alright, so maybe that's not a huge deal. But darn that Nancy for getting me hooked! I tell ya, if Nuttin' But Stringz wins, we may have to book a trip to Las Vegas and watch them perform!

I guess that's really it. Pretty pathetic that those items constitute "a bit of a week".

A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person. ~Mignon McLaughlin

Cows

Yes, I grew up on a farm.

Yes, we raised cattle.

But I swear ours were never as noisy as the ones down the road!

Between the moo-ing and cock-a-doodle-doo-ing my head is buzzing!

If happiness truly consisted in physical ease and freedom from care, then the happiest individual would not be either a man or a woman; it would be, I think, an American cow. ~William Lyon Phelps

Procrastination

I am just so darn good at procrastinating! Here it is 10:19am, I've been up and showered since 7:00am, and have done pretty much nothing. Still have boxes to unpack and cupboards to sort out. Floors to clean. Resume and cover letter to write. Bills to pay. And yet here I am, updating my blog with essentially nothing to say.

Yesterday I tried to add a new gadget onto my blog and the "Add a Gadget" box was missing. So I changed my template back to an official blogger one and was unable to change it back to a LeeLou template. So I have this one instead. Whaddya think? Does it look writer-y?

Yes, in the opening paragraph I did mention writing a resume and cover letter. I can only imagine your reaction. Please, you may close your mouth now. That's it...pick your jaw up off your chest. Good. OK, are we ready? The PTA has an opening for a Parent Involvement Coordinator and I'm applying for it. The resume isn't required, but I have much more fun writing that than I do writing the cover letter. I guess maybe it's easier to mention what are possibly good things about myself in bullet form, but much harder to actually write sentences about it. I need to have the letter in by September 10th. Hopefully I'll have it all done enough for Justin to look at it tonight and give me his opinion. The position is Monday-Friday 8:30 to 11:30. Yes, it means I'll have to be up and showered (and dressed, duh) and have both girls ready all by 8:20ish. I know, it wouldn't be a bad idea to get up and ready early every morning. I'm doing good on that so far!

Hmm...have I put things off long enough?

Anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at that moment. ~Robert Benchley

First Day of School

Audrey started second grade on September 3rd. Think she has a funny smile? She's trying really hard to show off her newly missing tooth! Audrey's teacher (Mrs. Miller) asked her if she was scared. Aud replied that she was not and Mrs. Miller told her she should be. hee hee hee I met Mrs. Miller about 8 years ago at MOPS.

Is Emma really a 4th grader?? Yikes! She was a bit nervous. Sounds like the day went well though. She made a new friend named Tia. She was excited to meet another Tia since that is her cousin's name and I don't think she's met any other girls with that name. So now here's where it becomes weird.....Tia in Em's class has lived in Jakarta Indonesia! (for those of you wondering why this might be "weird"---that's where Cousin Tia lives right now)

Two happy girls on their way to school! The first day is always nice. Everyone has first day jitters and gets up really early. We were ready in plenty of time for me to drive them to school. Today the girls made it to the bus on time and I had even taken a shower! Of course I'm sure every day we'll wind up sleeping just a liiitttlle bit longer. No! No! Mustn't do that! Must awaken early! Oh who am I kidding?

I guess school is really the only big excitement right now. We're still slowly putting things away in the house. Justin worked on the garage quite a bit. He said he didn't put anything away yet, but has it all set up where things should go. It looks great in there! And yes, the Mustang looks lovely in there too. That heated garage will certainly make car work more pleasant this winter!

On Monday Justin and I tackled some of the excess growth in our landscaping. It's amazing how much changes in a year. I was so excited to see how big my hydrangeas had become! I'd wondered if they'd ever really do much. There's still so much to do---mostly inside the house. Many things are at the point of "OK, exactly where do we want this rather trivial item?" I have the most amazing kitchen! But I'm waaay too short to reach many of the cabinets. So I still have plenty of space in the upper cabinets---I just need to figure out which items I use so rarely that I won't mind climbing the big step stool to get to them.

I don't have anything else to do today, so in theory I should get a lot of our things put away. But in reality?? Ha!

You can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives. ~Clay P. Bedford

Hooooommmmeeeee!!!!!!

Yep, we're really here. Home! We're experiencing a bit of a weather shock though. Didn't we just come from temperatures in the 90s?? Now we have rain and temps around 60. Bizarre! Of course with my excessive weight gain over the past year, I have no long pants that fit. Luckily I went to Goodwill the other day while Audrey and Emma were with friends--now I have three pairs of jeans! Now if I could just convince myself not to eat....

We're getting unpacked. I just have one box of kitchen stuff to find homes for, and the junk drawer/phone stuff needs to get sorted out. Upstairs is massive chaos! All my craft supply bins are scattered about. The computer is set up, but all the things that need to go into the desk are still in boxes. We sold Audrey's huge dresser before we moved last year (obviously didn't expect to return so soon), so I'll figure out what to do with some of my things and give her my purple dresser for a while. Once we get that downstairs for her we can really work on the girls' rooms--putting away clothes, finding space for trinkets, etc. Next will be hanging things on the walls. One of these days it may look like we really belong here!

Lucy is loving living in a giant mud pit again. Happy Dog!

School starts on Wednesday. The girls are both pretty excited. They can't wait to see their friends again! They both have some good friends in their classes. Tonight is the PTA Back to School Ice Cream Social. Hopefully by going to that I can figure out things like....what time school starts....you'd think I'd remember that after only a year. But I guess not! I'm wondering if there's a letter from the school spinning in the black hole of mail forwarding....

What do you think of the new blog template? I finally clicked on the ad for LeeLou Blogs on Alecia's blog. Guess what? It's a site filled with great free blog templates! Any bets as to how often I will change the template?? I'm not completely thrilled with the left alignment. It was set as centered for some reason (the designer wasn't sure why) and I used the directions on the site to change it to left alignment. Now it looks cut off. Maybe I'll just deal with the silly centeredness.

I suppose I should be working on setting up the house. We just finished playing a game of Skip-Bo. It takes a looong time to play a game with two easily distracted children! Holy cow! Justin and I might have to play it alone tonight just to be reminded of how easy and fun it can be.

Always strive to excel, but only on weekends. ~Richard Rorty

Things I Will Miss About Ephrata

1. Friends

Yes, I know, I've complained all year about my lack of friends here. But I did meet some great people through Justin's work, the school, and library and feel like if we'd stayed longer more of them would have become friends. Or maybe I just have this fantasy of having "book friends", or more likely "British book friends". Not like a Book Club, but having friendships like the ones I read about. Women getting together for coffee, lunch, plotting revenge, covering up crimes, shopping, etc. Oh wait! I did go to a movie with a friend this past year. Haven't done that since I went to Dead Poet's Society at The Garland Theater in about 1990 with Beth Tensfeld. I kind of felt like a real grown-up with a life. No children were involved in the screening of that movie night.



2. Grant Elementary School

How lucky were we to enroll the girls in this school last year? I mean really, a school as great as Bay View? (because yes, we are looking forward to returning to BV) The staff and teachers were phenomenal. Friendly, helpful, grateful, all sorts of great -ly and -ful words! Both girls did great. It'll be interesting to see how Audrey does with handwriting since they learned D'Nealian this year. Emma's doing cursive now so it shouldn't be a big change for her. But will they ask Audrey to now remove her "monkey tails"?



3. The library

Not only because I didn't have to pay to use it. (yes, I realize I still pay for it with my taxes, blah blah blah, but I'd rather do it that way) I had so much fun volunteering there and chatting with the staff. Yes, I know, chatting rather too much! The access to books was outstanding! I think 28 libraries are in the North Central Regional Library as well as the mail order book department. I've gotten pretty much every book I've wanted. There are a few series I've gotten hooked on (you can probably tell from my book list), and absolutely none of the authors I've been reading like that are available at the Burlington Library. None! No Kelley Armstrong, no Lori Avocato, no Kerrelyn Sparks, no Marilyn Pappano...



4. That certain smell

I have no idea what it is or quite how to describe it. It arrives in the late afternoon/early evening on the hot early summer nights. You know how you can smell rain? Well this is almost like you can smell plants growing. Not the flowers, but the actual stalks. It feels like I'm smelling a field of wheat mixed with wildflowers close in together. Did I smell this growing up in Spangle too? Is that why I notice and like it? The nostalgia?



5. The cute downtown

Downtown is home to lots of gift type shops. Jewelry, home decorations, Webkinz, lotions and soaps, books, and whimsy. Just cute enough to take friends and family to when they visit. And it's easy to park! Sure Burlington has a downtown, and maybe it's even cute, but all that angled parking freaks me out. It's bad enough that I'm often about to hit somebody coming out of a parking space, I really don't like being the one backing out!



6. The lack of rain

Can you imagine a summer where you could plan an outdoor activity pretty much any day and not worry about it raining on you? And in the fall and winter the sky can actually be clear and blue. I've thoroughly enjoyed the fact that I don't need to wipe Lucy's paws each time she comes in the house. However, this lack of rain does mean an overabundance of dust.



Well, that's about it. What a strange year! It started out with me sure we'd hate it, suddenly realizing that I really really liked it, then going back to the "what on earth are we doing here" feeling, and finally thinking that it could be a good place to be for a few years. Of course that last one happened to coincide with Justin switching jobs.



That was certainly a good procrastination moment! I suppose now I should start filling some boxes. I hate moving. I hope the next time I move it's in a body bag.



The best things said come last. People will talk for hours saying nothing much and then linger at the door with words that come with a rush from the heart. ~Alan Alda

I think it's really happening

We're actually moving! I mean, I realize I've known about this for a few months. But still! Of course now I'm heading into panic mode. And believe it or not, my panic is not necessarily regarding the packing portion of the move. It's all the stuff I'm normally quite good at that has me freaked. Because I haven't done anything about it. What am I normally good at? Setting up/cancelling utilities and changing addresses. All those great things that I can do instead of actually packing!

Justin has started his new job and is liking it so far. Today is only Day 3, so it could change....

The girls are at Grandma Sugar's house until we get moved. Thanks Barbara and Del!! I've been able to pack up their bedroom completely. Well, OK, not completely. But I'm getting there. I talked to the girls last night and they are having a blast. Lots of time on the boats, playing in the fort, swinging, bike riding, sewing, and just plain having fun. Audrey stepped on a nail under the fort, but she's doing fine now. Grandma got it all cleaned up. And since she's only 7 her tetanus shots are up to date!

Last Saturday night we went to the Tom Petty concert at The Gorge with Dan and Nancy. It was very fun! The best part of course was seeing D & N. Before we left for the concert we had a few people over for clams and crab. The best part was serving those two yummies to people who'd never had them before. At least not like this! It all went over fairly well I'd say.

I have no idea why I'm awake right now. You know me, I can usually sleep in quite well. (hey, maybe I actually have two things I do "quite well". I wonder if there are any others) Despite going to bed late last night I was wide awake at 7am. I really do need to train myself to get up earlier---especially with school starting soon.

I think I've procrastinated long enough. Time to shower so I can make my zillions of phone calls and pack some boxes. I may actually have this house packed up by the weekend. I've never accomplished that with any of our moves. I sure hope this is the last move.....ever!

Anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at that moment. ~Robert Benchley

The End of an Era

Today is Justin's last day at Katana-Summit/T BAILEY. It would have been 13 years in September. That's a fair run I'd say! He's so looking forward to starting at Transpac Marinas in a couple weeks.

The house is still not sold. But we have a move-in time for our other house. Our renters will be able to move into their "mother-in-law apartment" just before August 23rd-ish. Unless of course they are lying to me and they'll actually be homeless until their house is done and I will see them lurking in the blackberry bushes behind our house. We're excited to have them as neighbors! At their house around the corner, not in our bushes.

Tonight our realtor has an Open House scheduled. I've known about this for a while, so obviously I've taken that time and cleaned house. Ha ha. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha ha ha haha. Whew. OK, any of you who actually know me realize that there is no way I would have done that so "early". I mean, I have 8 hours to completely clean the house today. Oh, and get my hair trimmed. And take Lucy to the groomers. And pack! Yep, pack for the weekend in Oregon. I suppose I should also do things like feeding and caring for my children.

So here I am writing in my blog instead. I've never claimed to be smart!

Unemployment diminishes people. Leisure enlarges them. ~Mason Cooley

We're considering the two weeks between his jobs leisure. When he's not packing up all his tools and stuff to move anyway.

Yearly Yak

Today was the Katana company bbq. All four of us attended, and I commented more than once on how nice it was to be there and not home with a barfing kid. Yup, jinxed myself! So once again Emma and Justin are at the post-company bbq gathering and I'm home with a sick Audrey. Poor kid. At first we thought it was just heat and whininess, but it doesn't seem to be going away. At the bbq she kept complaining of the heat and wanting to go home. Whine whine whine. Nothing but whining. So we headed out to the car when it was all over and she threw up a couple of times. Then we couldn't shut her up! All the way home, blah blah blah happy happy blah. Then again later, as soon as she's done getting sick we can't get her to be quiet! Hopefully nobody else in the house will get this. This time.....

Wes, Sara, Amelia, and Gus were here last night and this morning. Gus hates me. And Wes loves it!! One of these days.......

Justin only has nine more working days left at Katana. He plans on taking a week or two off before starting his new job. Our big stress right now is this house in Ephrata not selling. Of course our other housing stress revolves around just when we get to move back into our other house!

Audrey asked me to sleep with her in the guest room tonight. I think it's time to get myself ready for bed. Of course once I go into my bathroom to do that, she'll wake up and be sick again. That's how it works, right?

If I had my way I'd make health catching instead of disease. ~Robert Ingersoll

Possible Reasons Our House is Not Selling

Some possible reasons why people are not clamoring to buy our house:

Beezely Hill is actually an active volcano, the likes of which has not been seen since Pompeii. People do not want to move to a town that is about to be decimated.

Cross B Estates was built on an old Indian Burial Ground. Film crews for Poltergeist Ephrata: Sage, Sun, and Spirits are requesting the area be untouched during this time. Unfortunately, this is an independent film and funds are not available to purchase the "for sale" homes in the area.

Unbeknownst to us, we are currently starring in a reality tv show. The premise: a family thinks their house is for sale, but nobody is coming to see it. How long will it take before they crack?!?

Also unbeknownst to us, Lucy is a vicious guard dog and will not let anyone near the house or the flyers. Realtors fear for their lives.

Wednesday is Snake Day

Last Wednesday Lucy caught a bull snake in our yard. And here it is, Wednesday again and there's another half-dead bull snake in our yard. Lucy certainly had fun whippin' that puppy around like a chew toy! Of course the poor thing (snake) isn't completely dead but I can't quite convince myself to throw it out of the yard. I can get within a couple feet of it (toes curled into my heels) but that's about it. Justin had better come soon!

I have bangs now. Most of you know I've been letting my hair grow. My last haircut was in the middle of November. My hair is about to my collar (if I wore shirts with collars) and curly. Weird, huh. I've been putting the front back with clips, but was getting tired of that and thought it looked too young with my grey temples. So now I'm trying bangs. What I really should do is just cut it all super short again!!!

We had a great Fourth of July weekend in Coeur d'Alene with Justin's dad, et al. Emma learned how to water ski! I have some video of it that I'll put on the blog later. And yes, also the video of Emma's piano trio.

The girls want to go swimming, so I'd better get out there. Luckily the snake is off in the grass and if I look toward the pool I may not see it very well. eek

I like to keep a bottle of stimulant handy in case I see a snake, which I also keep handy. ~W.C. Fields

Emma's Recital

Emma had her piano recital Friday evening. She did a great job!! All the students did well, but of course we're partial to Emma's performance. I convinced Justin that we needed a new camcorder so that I could email videos and upload them to my blog. This is my first try--I hope it works!

I know it's hard to hear her (but she was so much louder during the performance than she was at the rehearsal); her songs are Theme From Symphony No. 5 by Peter Tschaikowsky and Music Box Rock by Willard A. Palmer. My mom and Justin's dad were both able to attend. Yay! Emma's other guest was "Nanny" Kay from the library. She's the reason Emma spoke as "loudly" as she did. I'd told her how darn quiet Emma was and she threatened to shout "What did you say Little Girl?!?!" if Emma wasn't loud enough. Scared Emma enough that she made sure she was audible.

Justin and I (yes, even I) worked on the Mustang this weekend. Justin pulled out the engine while I was at a candle party. My "work" consisted of pulling off the bumper, trying (and failing) to remove a few bolts, and handing Justin tools. But I got dirty!! Not as dirty as Justin of course. Most of the exterior hardware is off in preparation for painting. The interior looks different! We removed the seats and carpet. Wow. This is all going to look great when it's done.

Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without. ~Confucius