Break's over

We're home! We had an absolutely wonderful trip to the Oregon Coast. I uploaded my (188) pictures yesterday, so I'm hoping to take the time today to go through them and post some on this blog. We'll see if it happens today....

Hi-lights:

the girls boogie-boarding (the house we rented had kid sized wet suits)
tide pools
generally deserted beaches
the aquarium in Newport (and running into our neighbors there!! bizarre!)
no internet access & hardly any work calls for Justin
just finally getting to spend a lot of time all together as a family


Now I need to get ready to head to school, then grocery shop. We have no food! Audrey's wigging out without her milk! Then pick up the girls from school and take Emma to piano lessons. I might find enough time to post pictures..... But don't hold me to that!

Lists

We leave tomorrow!! So of course I have a big list next to me. The most satisfying aspect of a list is the crossing off of completed items and tasks. And since that crossing out is so pleasurable, I make sure to have lots of little things to cross off.

For example, instead of "change guest bed sheets" I wrote "wash guest bed sheets", then crossed it off when completed. And I had written "make guest bed"--so two crossed off items for essentially one task. Yee-haw! I've been known to write:
wash
dry
fold
put-away

for each load of laundry (listing whites, jeans, reds, etc). Yup. I'm a dork.

Of course my list isn't quite done. I still have:
laundry
pack
balance checkbook

Y'know. Just the little things. Luckily laundry is almost done and I can get packing later today.

Hay!

Sorry. Just saw a truck of hay go by. Justin likes saying that when he sees hay as we're driving. One day last summer he said it, we laughed, and Audrey said, "that just never gets old". Seriously! So that's why I say it and why I giggle a little.

Emma will attend the Math is Cool Competition in Wenatchee today. She's pretty nervous, but as a third grader her role is fairly small. This is more for them to see what it's like so they'll be ready for next year. I hope we aren't the only parents not going tonight. I can't see that there is much for us to watch. There is a Math Bowl or something, but it sounds like Emma is really only doing a written test. So of course I'll spend all evening stressed that I'm the horrible parent that didn't go. And Emma will be the only child riding the bus home. Oh yeah. I think that way.

There is a possibility that I could get called to the school to help Audrey with her Accelerated Reader test, so I should get showered and dressed. Audrey finished a Junie B. Jones book last night--her first true chapter book (82 pages). When she told her teacher she was reading it, Mrs. Jones said that I would probably have to come in and help with the computerized AR test. We'll see what she decides today. I need to run into town and get a spare key replaced anyway. I finally had spare house keys made for the girls, and one extra one for the neighbors or a hide-a-key kind of thing. The one I had made for Audrey (meaning the blue one rather than red or plain ol' silver) doesn't work. Bummer.

Off to start the day!

Oh, why can't we break away from all this, just you and I, and lodge with my fleas in the hills? I mean, flee to my lodge in the hills. ~S.J. Perelman, Will B. Johnstone, and Arthur Sheekman, Monkey Business

What shall I write about today?

Well, it hasn't been a whole month since I last wrote on this. And I know I should post some pictures on this blog. But I won't be doing that right now. First, I have to take them off the camera and put them on the computer. I'm so bad about doing that! But I do have some (hopefully) good pictures to post later.

Last Saturday we had our cat Smokey put to sleep. Last week she was vomiting like crazy, so I took her to the vet on Thursday--and again on Friday. Not sure why she was vomiting, but after I put her in her carrier she urinated. And it wasn't the usual smell! Believe it or not, this was worse..... So the vet took x-rays and found she had something in her bladder. Couldn't tell what exactly without an ultrasound. Poor kitty. The vet suggested that my family really talk about this before referring us to a vet with an ultrasound. We talked. That afternoon Smokey ate some food. That evening she threw it all up. And that night she vomited harder than ever---of course with nothing to come up. The vet said we made the right decision. She probably wasn't going to get better. Of course the girls are already asking when we are going to get a new kitten. Not for a long long long time.....

What else? I got a "new" car. That's been exciting. I think Justin heard me say too many times that if we didn't have renters in our other house the girls and I would move back. I guess this is his bribe to keep me here. I can accept that. My 2007 Tahoe has more bells and whistles than I could ever imagine. Justin drove it for only the third time last night and was trying to figure out all the buttons. He sounded a bit surprised when he turned off the ignition and his seat started moving back. I think he's looking forward to driving it when we go to the Oregon Coast for Spring Break!

I've been volunteering more at the library. They hosted a big meeting for all the local libraries to talk about the Summer Reading Program and wanted the library looking great. Poor Kay, the head librarian, was just in a panic over getting it done in time. So I came in more often and helped decorate. But now that that is over I can go in and play with my books! I'm trying to make the adult paperbacks look better. I'm separating the categories more and alphabetizing. A few of the people think I'm crazy and are convinced that it won't stay like that and that the library patrons will just stick the book back wherever they want, just like they always have. Well of course they did. It's not like there was any order to it! My hope is by opening it up more, people will notice that there is some sort of order. Hey, they said it couldn't be done with the juvenile paperbacks and it's stayed nice for months now! Granted, the adult paperbacks do get more use so might be tougher. But I'm sure I can make it work. I'll be going in again today to work on it. A lot.

When I looked at my blog today I was disappointed at how far back my Books I've Read list was. I figured there was no way I'd remember everything I've read since I last updated it. I came up with as many as I could but knew I was still missing a bunch. Then I realized that I had listed eight books and I last updated it just over two weeks ago. A book every couple of days? I still don't think my list is complete, but it's all I could think of. I think I'll take my copies of the Demon Hunting Soccer Mom books with me when we go to the Coast. So I'd better be quick and read all the other books I have checked out from the library!

The girls and I went to a Girl Scout event in Spokane a couple of weekends ago. It was Hina Matsuri. It's a Doll Festival/Girl's Day in Japan. The Girl Scouts got to dress in the yukata, try they hand at origami and calligraphy, and play with some Japanese toys and games. The Japanese students (all girls) were wonderful. I had a great time! Emma and Audrey enjoyed it too--their favorite part was playing with the toys. My mom got to come with us too and she had a good time as well. Hopefully I have some decent pictures on my camera that I can later post here.

Speaking of my camera....no, I'm still not completely happy with it. It's great for outdoor pictures, but indoor leaves something to be desired. I just don't understand the science of photography enough to figure out who I need to set everything. I do love the big viewing screen though!

Back to Spokane....Justin didn't go with us (he went back to Bow instead and brought the boat back here). The girls and I got to see everybody except Andrew and Grandma M. Andrew was at his dad's that weekend. After the long day on Saturday we decided not to travel to Colfax on top of it all. I need to go over sometime just to visit family---not when we have an event and then shopping all afternoon (I'd already planned on taking the girls shopping in Spokane and it worked out to combine it with the GS thing). Wes, Sara, Amelia, and Gus came for dinner Saturday night. As usual we didn't see much of Laura--too much working! But we did stop by Wal-Mart on our way home to say good-bye to her. Emma had so much fun taking care of Madelyn. She's two months old now. When we first saw her she was only a few days old and Audrey was the one who liked holding her. This time it was Emma who wanted to play with her. Audrey did too of course, but Emma just couldn't get enough! Heck, she even changed diapers. (with Kara's help of course) On Sunday we met Dad and Grandma S. for lunch. Dad didn't tell Grandma we were coming. She was pleasantly surprised!

I don't really think there's been much else of note lately. The girls are doing well in school. As usual. Audrey was getting a sticker at the office for Being a Good Friend (she volunteered to take another girl to the office) when I came to pick her up and yesterday she receive an Above and Beyond ticket for something. Can't remember what... She also has over 20 Accelerated Reader (AR) points for reading books and taking tests on them. Now she's reading a Junie B. Jones book. Sound like when she's finished and ready to take the test I'm supposed to go in and help her with it. Hmmm....Maybe I should read it first.....

Emma has completed her multiplication facts through 12s. They've been taking WASL practice tests lately. A bit stressful! Emma is used to getting top grades, but with something timed like this she isn't always able to finish. Her teacher had me grade the tests one day. I hated reading the tests and seeing that nobody did well. Only a couple people answered all the questions, and often they didn't answer them completely enough to get full credit. At least Emma is excited about getting "breakfast" on WASL days. I think they start in mid-April. Guess we should take a bunch of practice tests with us during Spring Break. ha ha ha ha

I've written enough and I'm sure you're tired of reading it. Time for me to shower and dress. And look up remedies for canker sores. I have one under my tongue. Those are awful! Makes it very difficult to talk.

No amount of time can erase the memory of a good cat, and no amount of masking tape can ever totally remove his fur from your couch. ~Leo Dworken

I really need to keep my list of books I've read updated. I know I'm missing a couple.... I've wished many times that the library system or Library Elf would keep track of books I've checked out. Yesterday I was helping out at the library and finding even more books to check out! Dangerous.....

I stayed up way too late the night before last. I decided to take a bath, so instead of reading the hardback I was borrowing from the library I took with me the mass market paperback of The Undead Next Door by Kerrelyn Sparks that I had just received from half.com. That was at 9. Eventually I got into bed. And at 2:30 I finished the book and went to sleep. Aaarrrgghhh! Not easy to wake up later that morning! But I so enjoy the Love at Stake series. Too bad I have to wait so long for the next one. At least I bought the first four so I can read them again. However, I also need to read the Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom books by Julie Kenner. I've read the first one, Carpe Demon, and recently bought it and the next two. Maybe after I finish the four library books I currenly have I can start on those. But first I need to finish another Kasey Michaels book in her Maggie Kelly series.

Ack! I need to get moving. I still have to shower and I'm supposed to be helping in Emma's class in half an hour. Plus I took home some cutting and pasting from the library so I could have it all done before I get there today. And as we all know, I didn't do it. Such is the life of Joy.

bleah

The Bunny Vampire

She no longer looks like a mutant bunny rabbit! Now she's a bit more like a vampire. Audrey is way cute with those missing teeth!

Justin was one of many children who went sledding down the roof of the shed next to the house our group rented. Let's see....that's Emma with the pink hat. And it looks like Chad is getting ready to toss Audrey and her sled across the gap between the snow bank and the roof.

The snowmobilers! And look, nobody is pushing anyone else in the snow....no snowballs being hurled....a rare photo op!


So what has been happening lately? Well, I'm convinced that Ephrata is cursed. Two big bouts of stomach bug, a round of pinkeye for each girl, lice lice and more lice, and colds that don't ever stop. All that since we moved here in July. The girls brought home their report cards a couple weeks ago (excellent grades of course) and they had 4 or 5 absences each. Emma has a cough and a headache today. Gave her some Tylenol and sent her whining butt to school! Oh I hope she feels better! You know how you always feel worse first thing in the morning. By the time I get out of bed it's about 30 minutes before the bus comes. So by the time I get the girls out of bed they have about 20 minutes to do everything. Including whine about how I'm the worst mother in the world becasue I won't drive them to school. I can live with that.

Audrey will be seven years old in only one week! Wow. Hmm...guess I should maybe plan her party. Justin's mom is coming over this weekend and so is Nancy. So we'll have Audrey's party the Saturday after her birthday. Just a little party at the house.

There's really not much else to say. Guess now is a good time to stop.

Politics

Justin's dad threw his hat in the Idaho ring! Uh-oh, I hope that doesn't mean I have to pay attention to politics.....

Rawls for Idaho



The politicians were talking themselves red, white and blue in the face. ~Clare Boothe Luce

Short, sweet, and long overdue

I don't have much time this morning, but I figured I should at least write a line or two. (yes, we all know how that is going to turn out!) This way, if you are someone who peeks at my blog every once in a while to see what we are up to you can see that I'm still around.

What's new?

Audrey looks like a mutant bunny. Her top two teeth are loose and one is loose enough that it hasn't been aligned with the rest of her teeth in quite a while, and it kind of sticks out at an angle. Of course I'm completely and utterly grossed out by the protuberance and it's wiggly-ness.

A couple weekends ago we went to a "cabin" in Plain (near Leavenworth) for two nights with a bunch of people Justin works with. There were a total of 12 of us (including the four kids). We kept saying the word "cabin", but it was really a big house. I have some pictures of the kids (and yes, that does include those male children over the age of 30) sledding down the shed roof. Also a couple pictures of the group during our snowmobile ride. The weekend was a lot of fun. The only downside was the dinner. Holy cow!! $160 for the four of us to have below average buffet, two hot chocolates, a glass of wine, and a beer. So if you are ever in Plain, don't have dinner at Mountain Springs Lodge. Yikes!!

We starting to plan our Spring Break trip. Of course the girls were begging for Disneyland, until we explained that Daddy just needs a relaxing time, and spending hours in line with thousands of people just to ride a ride is not his idea of relaxing. The girls have taken this very well. We are currently considering the Oregon Coast. I wanted to go back to Jerome, Arizona but I looked at flights and they were around $700 each. We could drive, but it is just far enough, that with kids the travel time would eat into our "vacation" time a lot. So I guess we'll have to forget about a warm vacation spot and go for pretty and closer to home. We'll see where this takes us. We're thinking that Spring Break 2009 will be somewhere like Jamaica. That gives us a year to save, plan, and diet.

I discovered yesterday that the people who used to have our phone number not only didn't change their number with the school, credit card companies, emergency contacts, but they are also using it to order stuff online. I looked at my phone bill yesterday and it was double the normal amount. There were two charges on it for third party companies. I finally got through to one of them. I told her I had a charge I was unsure about and so she told me that their company provided Internet voicemail, etc etc. I had already been wondering if this was some scam to either get people to blindly pay or to sell them services when they call to dispute it. I said something like that to this woman but she told me that it had been ordered. She told me the name and I came unglued. So that one is cancelled and I'll deal with the other one today---I'm sure it's the same kind of deal. Every once in a while I read through the Ephrata High School bulletin online (I started doing that after the big Orange E Carnival---one of those fun things that doesn't get advertised because it's a tradition that has survived for eons and therefore everybody knows about it) and noticed that in the announcement that if any parents want to help plan the Senior Trip they should contact a certain person via email. Guess who? Yep, the same woman I keep getting phone calls for. I may just have to send her a little email. If only I had just gone ahead and picked up her check at H&R Block after they called.....maybe then she'd figure out what needed to be done.

Speaking of Ephrata High School.....Emma and Audrey performed at half-time of the boys' basketball game last Saturday. They had attended a Cheer Camp that morning and learned a dance and two cheers. So all 50 or so kids performed that night. They split the kids into K-2 and 3-6 to learn different dances, but they all did the two cheers together. They had props for the dances and got to keep them. They had a good time and Justin and I enjoyed watching them. Of course, halfway there I realized my camera was still in the house. Not that I could have gotten very good pictures anyway.

Ohhhkaaayyy....there goes "short and sweet"! But we all knew that would happen, right? Time to shower and head to the school.

If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting? ~Stephen Levine

Look out---you may not have their updated number!

Nancy!! Avoid this movie!!!!

Zoom: Academy for Superheroes

It was a decent movie, but it made Audrey barf. Not in the "ewww it makes me want to barf" way but in the "Mommy, I threw up" way.

In the movie "the powers that be" (Rip Torn among them so y'know it's gotta be good) are trying to get together a Superhero Team. Of course there has to be auditions (even though we've already been "introduced" to those who will make it onto the team). One of the kids blows a booger out of one nostril and it explodes onto the scientist's (Chevy Chase) face. Completely and utterly gross. I'm surprised I didn't barf. Not at all surprised Audrey did. But oh so glad we didn't ever see it in the theater!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not exactly enough to get me to write my first epinions.com review in well over a year. But enough to write in my blog late(-ish) at night. Blech.

On to my photomosaic puzzle!!! Maybe that will be epinion.com-able.

Finally getting around to posting pix

Santa put a Google in Audrey's stocking. This was a good thing. Can't you tell???


Christmas afternoon chaos.......

The Singing Vegetable Heads! Justin's mom and stepdad gave us a karaoke machine for Christmas. It's been a hit! Especially since they included a karaoke CD--High School Musical 2. I'm not sure which song the girls are singing right now, but they were having fun. Despite the fact that they had vegetable oil smothering the remaining lice on their heads.

It looks like we are done with lice. For now...... Damn things. It's so hard to get rid of them, I just feel like they are going to try and come back another time. But to help matters I'll often be doing my now-nearly-perfected imitation of a mother gorilla. Except I don't eat the nits and lice!

Justin bought me a new camera for Christmas. The first picture was taken with my old camera and the other with my new one. The new pictures seem very grainy. (I've learned that that is called "noise" in photography.) I read online that other people have the same problem and one suggestion was to lower the ISO. Really, that should be a task left to people who actually know what the heck ISO is! I was experimenting yesterday with different ISO settings and other various settings. But it may have to go back (if they'll take it back that is). I'm not much into taking pictures to begin with, I definitely don't need a camera that makes me have to think before taking a picture!

This is my first day sans kids in a while. Woo-hoo! I'd better get moving. Library and grocery store. I have a big day ahead!

Is it over yet???

Today is December 28 and my Christmas tree is still up. That's kind of a long time for us! As you all know, I am in no way a clean freak or at all organized (unless it's totally unnecessary things like Polly Pocket shoes) and my house always looks messy (uh, 'cause it is?!?) it just seems like the Christmas tree makes the house look even more cluttered. Maybe because as long as the tree is up the gifts will stay scattered under it instead of put away. "Put away"? Like anything around me ever gets put away. I actually asked Justin if he'd hidden one of my shopping bags to teach me a lesson about putting things away instead of letting them sit out. (Actually, I accidentally left that bag at Wal-Mart.)

You wanna know what I'm really, really, really ready to be done with?? Lice!! No clue where they actually came from, but Audrey's head was infested!!! Emma had them too, but not to the extent Audrey did. Dang it, now my head is itching. Ha! I'll bet yours is too now!! It's been nine days since we discovered them (a real Bad Mommy moment for me, I won't go into it) and they've been treated with Nix twice. I look forward to not washing sheets every single day. Oh what am I saying? Justin's done most of the work the past few days.

My fingernails are too long to comfortably type on the laptop. And anyway, Christmas pictures are on the other computer. So I'll post again later. With pictures!!

I can understand people simply fleeing the mountainous effort Christmas has become... but there are always a few saving graces and finally they make up for all the bother and distress. ~May Sarton

A child is born!

No, this isn't some big theological posting regarding Jesus and the Christmas season. It's just announcing that my sister Kara had a baby this morning!

December 21st is:
Forefathers Day
Humbug Day
Phileas Fogg Win a Wager Day
Underdog Day

and now....Madelyn's birthday!

I'm feeling very......done

I...uh....bluh....erk......eep.....gah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just...

I can't....

Oh geez.....

What else can be piled on top!!??!!??

Two-legged creatures we are supposed to love as we love ourselves. The four-legged, also, can come to seem pretty important. But six legs are too many from the human standpoint. ~Joseph W. Krutch

Just an ordinary day

Our Christmas tree is up and decorated! The only other decorations are the saltshaker angels (they'd been stored in the kitchen and not with all the other Christmas stuff), little snowmen that the babysitter made with the girls, and my nativity snow globe. (can you call it a globe if it's rectangular?) I found my Christmas cds. But when Justin had the Christmas boxes down I forgot to look for my Christmas jewelry. Darn it! So all I have is my snowflake earrings. Cute, but I'd like to have some of my other things as well.

I started painting the snowman pavers yesterday. I think they need another coat of white this morning and then maybe this afternoon I can paint the faces. I do have one major problem: I cannot find the Wal-Mart bag containing the fleece and glitter paint. Where would I have put it?? I need to hunt for it this morning so I know if I need to go buy more. I did find my old cans of glitter spray paint yesterday (I knew they were around, just didn't look in the right spot before buying the new ones). I at least need two done by tomorrow for Emma and Audrey's teachers.

Speaking of Audrey....she's sick! A little ear infection, swollen glands, an eye infection (uh, make that two eyes as of last night), stuffy nose and cough. She hasn't gone to school yet this week. And since tomorrow is the last day, she probably won't go at all until January 3rd. Poor kid is missing the Christmas Program today (well, she'll come with Justin and I to the 1:00 performance) and Thursday afternoon the students are watching The Polar Express in their jammies. I told Audrey that we would do the same thing at home. And it's even better for her---she doesn't like popcorn, so she picked out her favorite chips to have instead.

Tonight Justin and I are taking the "upper management" from work out to dinner. This was supposed to be darts at the Moose Lodge night, but this will be fine too. I ate at the restaurant (Michael's by the Lake in Moses Lake) for the first time Saturday evening. We had a gigantahuge plate of appetizers. Then Justin, Emma, and I each had a salad. Audrey knew she wanted mac and cheese, so she stopped eating appetizers so she'd have room. I look forward to trying an entree tonight!

I haven't heard anything from/about my sister Kara. Her baby was due on Monday.

I started working on my Christmas-or-maybe-Groundhog-Day letter yesterday. We'll see if I ever get it done and mailed. So let's add that to the list!
1. Laundry
2. Snowmen
3. Christmas letter
4. Parent gifts
5. Cat diapers
6. Start packing for weekend
7. Buy gifts for family in need
8. Put more Christmas music on mp3
9. Pop popcorn and put in baggies for third graders tomorrow

That should be enough! Any bets on how many of those things get done?

If you want to make an easy job seem mighty hard, just keep putting off doing it. ~Olin Miller

You weren't here when you were gone

But I was gone! Sort of. I mean, I'm here. But just not posting. But now I am. I'll keep it short though. (yeah right)

I elfed my family.

You know it just wouldn't be my blog unless I was bragging, so here's today's. A note from Audrey's teacher:

Dear Audrey,
Thank you for showing so much kindness to "M". The note you wrote to her was incredibly wonderful. You are a good friend and we are so fortunate to have you in our class. "M" really loved the note and it made her feel so good. It was above and beyond what I expect of of 1st grade friends.
Mrs. Jones

I guess "M" can be a bit difficult, and mean. Audrey wanted her to have friends, so wrote her a note saying that they are Best Friends. And yes, Mrs. Jones and I both were nearly in tears. The teacher told me that "M"'s overall behaviour has been much improved since this happened. Audrey must have gotten this from her dad!

Huh. It's snowing. Of course it is....the girls didn't take their boots to school!

My Christmas spirit is pretty much nonexistent this year. The girls have a little tree (thanks David and Hazel) set up on a table. I told them that it could be our Christmas tree. I explained that with a tree so small, any presents will look huge and like there's a lot of them. So Audrey wrote a note: Santa put our presents here. And propped it up against the little tree. I just really don't feel like putting up decorations and then taking them down again in two weeks. Maybe if we'd started earlier. Or maybe if I was interested in leaving the house decorated longer....(remember, we're the family that has been known to take down the tree the day after Christmas)

I guess it's not just Christmas. I don't have any spirit right now. I know, I know. "But Joy, you've always been lazy." I agree! But this feels different. Not good. Oh well!

Let's see. I bragged about Audrey. What can I tell you about Emma? She's in the Math Club. Obviously I will be of no help to her! She's still doing just as well in school as usual. I still don't have a piano teacher for her. Maybe in the new year.

Almost 10 and I haven't showered. I was planning on wrapping a bunch of presents today. I decided to make more paver snowmen this year for the girls to give to their teachers and our neighbors. The pavers are in my car. The paint is in the garage and the fleece is waiting to be cut and glued. That's as far as I've gotten. Last day of school is Thursday---I really should start working on those! Maybe they won't need me at the library today and I can stay home.....

It's the perfect weekend!
December 15 is Cat Herders Day
December 16 is both Barbie and Barney Backlash Day
and
Chocolate-covered Anything Day

Catching up with pictures

Here we are at the Wild Horses Monument overlooking the Columbia River at Vantage. Wow. I'd never been up there before. Audrey's favorite part was "rock boarding" down the hill. I guess that would be careening and sliding over dirt and rocks. Perhaps my Crocs were not the best choice of footwear that day.

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth? I've got a tiger by the tail? I've got a horse by the mouth? I'm sure we can think of something! These horses are incredible. The downside? All the vandalism!! Why do people feel that can write on something like this? One person has come up there three years. She signed her name and then puts the year. It's disgusting.

You can tell Audrey is a bunny. But what's Emma supposed to be? Why, she's "the one and only Olivia Vertigo" from the Charlie Bone books! The girls stayed warm while we scoured the neighborhood for candy.

OK, my pictures made it on her out of order. Before we went to the Wild Horses Monument, we went to Puget Sound Energy's Wild Horse Wind Farm. Wow! Those things are huge!! No, Justin's company did not make any of these towers. I believe they came from Korea....but don't quote me on that. There's a beautiful Visitor's Center at the top of a winding road. It's amazing to see these towers looming up from around the bend. If the sky is clear enough we can see the wind farm from our house. I think there are 126 towers up there. They will have the grand opening for the Visitor's Center next spring. Right now they are just open weekends and only through the end of the month. I think. There are some videos showing how the towers are made and erected. My favorite was a slide show of still photos--some taken during construction of the Visitor's Center and the towers, turbines being attached, elk grazing at the foot of a tower, etc etc. I'd read somewhere that people are concerned about the noise the wind towers make. I liken it to the sound of the surf. Yes, you can hear it, but it's not overpowering at all and we were standing in the middle of it all!

Fun time waster!

I had a little too much fun with this

Luke Wilson is my UPS Man

I swear!! Looked just like him!!! Gotta order more stuff.........

If I can find my camera I'll post some pictures of the girls on Halloween and of our Sunday trip to Puget Sound Energy's Wild Horse Wind Farm and a trek up to the Wild Horses Monument.

Halloween: Audrey was a white bunny and Emma was Olivia Vertigo from the Charlie Bone book series. Of course nobody knew who the heck Olivia Vertigo was. The girls and I have about 50 pages left to read in Midnight for Charlie Bone. My highlight came the other evening when I read the last sentence in the chapter and Audrey gasped and opened her eyes wide. Yes!! She is sucked in! I'd better put a hold on the next book in the series.

We have more furniture! We went to Spokane on Saturday (yes, Saturday---Justin didn't go to work) and came home with the bed of the truck full of furniture. Dining room table and six chairs, pub table and four stools (in a box), two nightstands (in boxes), and a red microfiber sofa. Yea! I'm loving having my clock and lamp at a decent height by my bed. And the sofa is soooo much more comfortable than that other one I bought. Of course none of these items would be considered heirloom quality by any stretch of the imagination, but that meant we could get a few pieces of furniture instead of one.

I went to the Wenatchee Valley Mall yesterday. Trying to get presents for Emma's birthday and start on Christmas too. I didn't make it to Target and JC Penney like I wanted, and when I got into town I saw Fred Meyer but didn't get there either. I'm debating about going today. I suppose if I'm going to I should leave soon. Even if I don't go, I should still take a shower and get dressed, huh.

The only really good place to buy lumber is at a store where the lumber has already been cut and attached together in the form of furniture, finished and put inside boxes. ~Dave Barry

Everything is blurry.....

Actually, it's much better now. I went to the eye doctor earlier today. He put some drops in my eyes, but at least it wasn't as bad as last time when I couldn't read or even see myself in a mirror to try on frames! Today I could see myself in the mirror, but couldn't quite read the price tags..... I got to bring home six frames to try on and get Justin's opinion. One pair looked really fun, but when I put it on, I didn't like it for every day. But I would love it for sunglasses! I'll have to see what the girls think of them.

Emma can stay in school. We went to the doctor yesterday and she had her MMR shot. I also had her in to ask the doctor about some white spots on her skin. She has a large white spot on her leg---it showed up all of a sudden this summer. I wasn't terribly worried, but it hasn't gone away, and of course now I'm noticing a few other small, lighter spots. The doctor couldn't say if it was vitiligo or not. I'm used to vitiligo spots that start small and grow, so I didn't think that first one was vitiligo since it showed up fairly good-sized. We'll see if any of the other spots grow, or if she gets more. The doctor is right though, there really isn't anything we can do about it. So why worry too much? I was really hoping this would skip a few generations!!

Justin and Audrey went to the school last night to carve a pumpkin. I guess there were only six kids (and their dad's) in her class who made it. The time did get changed to 5:30 so they could be done in time for the PTO meeting and performances by Grant Singers and Grant Ringers. I'm glad Justin was able to leave early to go!

Emma is in Grant Singers. The group is made up of third and fourth graders. They practice before school two days a week. Initially she didn't want to do it, but the other day she said she was really glad that she did! Grant Ringers is fourth graders playing bells. They all did a great job.

Monday morning I attended a workshop for teaching school aides and para pros how to teach kids to read and help them with reading comprehension. (Emma's teacher asked me to attend because he'd like me to help some of his students with reading comprehension when I help in the class.) Yet another one of those times when I feel totally out of my element. Well, not totally. We learned about phonemes, and that was something I studied when I was majoring in Speech and Hearing Sciences. But still, I had to keep reminding myself that I am not an idiot, that I really even have a university degree! I'm afraid next week will be even worse. Uh-oh. Just remembered that I haven't done my homework yet!

What else? I went to Spokane for a day last week to shop for a table at antique stores. Mom drove me around and helped me look. I must admit that we maybe looked at a little too much not-table stuff at first. At the end I was "speed antiquing". I had to get home by 6:00pm so the babysitter could get to a 4-H meeting. I made it! Didn't find a table though. I found one on Craigslist in Spokane. We'll see what comes of that.

Justin made a terrible, horrible, awful discovery on Sunday. (you have to promise you won't tell Emma and Audrey, especially Audrey) Black Widow spiders. Say it with me now, "eeeeeeeek!!!!!" OK, my toes are curling now just thinking about it.

The girls should be home soon. I'd better get ready for them. We're going to go to Justin's office so they can sell candy and nuts for Girl Scouts. yee-haw Can't wait for cookie sales.....

If you want to live and thrive, let the spider run alive. ~American Quaker Saying

Unh-uh. I don't think so.

Getting out of the house

The words "bored and lonely" formed in my head last week. I realized that it is time I got out more! So today I'll be in Emma's class at 8:30 (only if I don't take too long blogging) and Audrey's 1:45 to 2:45. I certainly don't want to work full time, or even part time for that matter (read the profile, see the word lazy?) but I am enjoying doing a little volunteering.

OK, looking at the layer of dust on my desk, maybe I should stay home and clean. ha ha! ha ha ha ha ha! HA HA HA HA! Whew. I about wet myself with that one.

Last night was the open house for the recently remodeled and updated metal shop at the high school. It was kind of fun. Justin got up to speak for a bit about Katana and what they do and what it takes to get hired there. People asked some good questions. I had a lot of fun talking with the shop teacher's wife. Remember back before school started and I mentioned that the intern principal was someone I'd gone to high school with? Well he's also the shop teacher, and I hadn't necessarily known his wife when we were all in high school, but as often is the case in small communities, I knew who she was. (OK, how many commas did I just use?) We talked for quite a while--she's a lot of fun! A weird thing about last night.....there were some Ag teachers from the area there, and the one from Wilson Creek recognized me. Yeah, from nearly 20 years ago! He made a comment about my hair being longer now.

Did you know that there is a roller rink in Soap Lake?? Emma went to a birthday party there Saturday night. Not exactly a state of the art facility, but a fun place to go. We might have to check it out some other time.

Emma has just over a week left of school before she is expelled. Actually, what I need to do is find a doctor around here and have her get another MMR vaccination. I'm afraid that I may accidentally forget to tell her that I think this is the one Audrey refers to as "the burning shot".

Writing Audrey's name (and as usual having my fingers hit the /e/ and /y/ keys backwards) reminded me of the girls' name "changes". Emma was starting to use the name Emmy. Know why? She likes to write the letter /y/. And now for some reason Audrey started spelling her name with an /ee/ at the end instead of /ey/. But she was also using a /b/ in place of the /d/ too. She wasn't writing backwards---she knew she was writing the name Aubree. I remember in first grade trying to go by Ellen (my middle name) because I didn't like my name. And who can forget my freshman year in high school when I changed the spelling to Joi? And not just an /i/ with a boring ol' dot, or even a heart or smiley face. Oh no, I put a slash mark in place of the dot. What a rebel!!

I'm sure the third graders would appreciate it if I came to their class showered and wearing clothes (as opposed to jammies, not nekkid!), so I should end this and get ready.

Leisure tends to corrupt, and absolute leisure corrupts absolutely. ~Edgar A. Shoaff

Pumpkin fun!

Here are some pumpkins I just finished decorating. I found the ideas in a Better Homes and Gardens Halloween book. The black sequin stripes didn't work as well as I would have liked. Now I'm glad I didn't find the perfect big pumpkin for it!