Blog challenge.....

From Sara: Ok, you guys know how this works.. I'll post it, if ya feel like taking it yourself, I hope to see it on your blog.

1. List 5 hobbies that sound fun, besides scrapbooking

• Oil and watercolor painting
• Treasure hunting
• Cave exploring
• SERIOUS Bird Watching
• Amateur archeaology

2. List 5 classes that sound fun

• Japanese for tourists
• Visual Basic Programming
• Ancient History of the World
• Wine making
• Travel Agent school
• Belly dancing!

3. List 5 things you personally would never do that sound fun

• Bungee jumping
• Sky diving
• Snow skiing
• Gun-less bank robbery
• Jumping off the high dive

4. List 5 skills that would be fun to have

• Translating many languages
• Sign language
• Natural musical talent for any instrument, especially drums!
• Psychic ability
• Auto Mechanic skills

5. List 5 things you used to enjoy doing

• You've stumped me. I can't think of anything I used to enjoy that I don't still enjoy. I can think of many things I like now, that I didn't like before, like broccoli and green peppers, but not the other way around.

6. List 5 silly things you'd like to try once

• Frog legs in France
• Jumping on the velcro wall thing
• Level IV white water rafting
• Painting some graffiti somewhere
• Standing on the corner with a weird sign (like "THE END IS NEAR") and see what happens

It's just for the BIRDS! (yeah, more bird pictures...)

Hey all. I took a birthday walk today and did a little bird hunting. I think I like this hobby because it is TOTALLY FREE! Also, it involves the outdoors which I want to get more of.



Well, today I saw a LOT of cardinals. Some some junkos, a small "herd" of birds chirping up a storm in a thicket, until I got too close, then all was quiet! I saw a hawk- probably a red tailed hawk but not certain, a male and female downy woodpecker, and something I had no idea what it was, a RUBY CROWNED KINGLET. That was cool! Just a pretty little greenish bird. I really had to look through the book awhile before I matched it, but it was an exact match.



Here are some pictures.



Ruby crowned kinglet....


Female Downy Woodpecker......


Male Downy Woodpecker.....


Hawk about to take off.....

Happy Birthday to Me!

What a nice relaxing birthday. I did some shopping with Jordan yesterday, got some free goodies (I had a $10 fashion bug and a $10 Macys) We also went to Gorman's and I picked up a couple of things with my 20% off coupon. All-in-all it has been a very relaxing holiday weekend.

Today - My birthday pictures!

Here are the kids doing their "gansta" thing. Whatever.....

EYES of a child.....

Actually eyes of a teen.

Why you ask? We were trying to PROVE whether Steven's eyes have different colors or not, once and for all, and well, the thing just kind of grew into a picture taking fest.

Steve:

Jordan:

Thanksgiving sadness and hopefulness

This is a long post with the upsetting parts at the beginning, happy parts saved for the end.

What an emotional Thanksgiving. Some background. My FIL has just recovered from prostate removal for cancer. While he was recovering, MIL tried to start the lawnmower, injured her shoulder and required surgery. As of Thanksgiving, they are both well on the way to complete recovery.

They have turned over the reins, so to speak, to the kids to have holiday events at their homes, and only Christmas dinner at their place. John "signed up" for this Thanksgiving, but not any of his siblings came. It was John's parents, my parents and us four. Well, I won't go into details about the family squabbles, but we choose to just stay out of all that and focus on our parents. The main thing that makes me mad, and this is the mother lioness in me, my kids feelings are hurt. I can't stand for them to hurt, but I know it's life and we have to hurt sometimes. Today we are all in a much better spirits after talking it out. I just remember the first few years of our marriage when all 8 of his sisters and brothers and their kids would be at the in-laws for everything. People just don't realize what they have, then it starts to fade away, and I just scream inside when they don't fight to keep hold of that something special. It's the same way I feel about friendships I guess. I just can't seem to let things go. I have to fight to hold on, even when it seems hopeless. The last few years I have just dreaded almost every holiday, because of the fractures in the family fabric. At some point you do have to throw in the towel though, and I think John and I have agreed we are now at that point. Time to give up, say "DONE" with that. Move on and truly, truly appreciate what we DO have. That is my Thanksgiving wish for myself, that I really can learn to stop begruding the missing elements for being missing. Stop wasting emotional energy, and stop feeling sorry for myself.

Another sorrow, my cousin Jesse died Wednesday night. He is about a year older than I am. My sister and I had cousin crushes on him! Anyway, as he grew older, with his troubled homelife he turned to drugs and crazy living. He ended up dying of liver disease but did have full blown AIDS the last several years. I will pray for his spirit to find peace.

On with the happiness.... Our dinner turned out very, very good. MIL made pumpkin pie which was very good. My mom brought special jello which was Yummy! She also made some deviled eggs for us which were also good. I have always liked hers the best. Tom brought Colette and Trinity over for some dessert later that evening. We had a really nice time. Trinity is such a hoot! She was playing hide and seek, well, not really, more of a chase thing, and just screaming with laughter nonstop. It really livened up the day. Hence, the hopeful attitude gets reinforced. Jordan was going to read her a book, but got her feelings hurt when Trinity turned one page and then decided that was plenty. We had to explain to Jordan, that is just par for the "two year old" course!

PICTURES:

The gals out on the patio

Mercedes, Annette, Jordan, LaVonne

Francis and John watching some football

Jim sleeping, per his usual and Steve wishing I didn't have a camera

John tossing Trinity up in the air.

Tom, Trinity and Colette

FOOTBALL! The Chiefs won of course.

Workin' in THE CAVES......

Here's the latest news about netty. I got what is known as a "detail". In layman's terms that means I have been assigned temporarily to another area to help out for a short term assignment. The secretary at NRC is ill, so I am filling in for a time. What is NRC you say? Well there are a LOT of boxes with files in them.

BIRD NERD, That's Me......

I love birds. I think they are very cool. I like to identify birds. Not too long ago I saw an unusual bird up at G&G T's and I couldn't figure out what the heck it was. The men were trying to tell me it was just some hawk, but I knew better. I thought vulture.... But I had seen a Turkey Vulture just this summer and knew they had a red head, this crazy bird didn't. Well, I FINALLY purchased my first Bird Field Guide and found out what the heck that bird was. A JUVENILE turkey vulture! They just have a brown head. Crazy! Here's a picture with a bunch of zoom on it.

To continue my bird nerd adventure story. I was driving home today and saw a couple of regular turkeys right next to the road, so nerd that I am, armed with a camera at all times, I made a U turn and got some turkey pictures. Here's the best one of the male.

SQUAW - my new acronym

So, I was feeling a little rambunctious the other day while Jordan and I were doing some bread baking. Okay, I was actually doing the baking, and Jordan was being forced to learn a bit about bread baking!

I started wondering what I was going to be like at 50, still spry and goofy? I began thinking up adjectives to describe me at 50. After writing them down, Jordan realized they could almost spell squaw. So we fixed that:

S: Spontaneous
Q: Quirky (or Queen of the House)
U: Ubiquitous (present everywhere at once) or Unforgettable
A: Adventurous
W: Weird

Here are some recent pictures.....

We really love Monopoly at our house.

I especially like it when I win....

There was a really foggy morning last week
and I had to drive to work
very, very slowly....


This is Rick and Karen in
front of their new home...


Here is Steve jamming on Rick's guitar....


Here's a shot from Bugsy Malone....


Chad and Steve with their silly string guns...


Jordan's official homecoming picture....

Blog challenge 11/13...

From Lisa: Since Thanksgiving is approaching rather quickly, this week's challenge is to blog about your favorite Thanksgiving tradition. Do you do something unusual that's become a tradition? A food you ALWAYS have to have? Share your favorite Thanksgiving memories with us....

Well, this is kind of strange as we are having Thanksgiving at our house for the first time. We have always gone to St. Joe in the past to my in-laws. Now we are beginning new traditions in our family as the in-laws are looking at downsizing their home and turning over some of the responsibilities of tradition to the kids. It is a tough transition. It means facing that day when they (my parents and his) are no longer with us and we are the OLD generation, the next in line. Maybe I will blog about how it goes afterwards, but it certainly won't be the same, as we already know not all the family can even come which will be weird in itself.

Blog challenge 11/07.....thankful

Shawn asked us to blog 10 things we are thankful for.....

1. Having the necessities that allow survival.
2. A free trip around the sun.
3. A happy family that likes to play Scrabble and Monopoly!
4. Freedom of religion.
5. Ability to have a say in my destiny (i.e. voting, basic human rights, etc..)
6. Scientists and priests who can converse with each other.
7. Music
8. Theater arts
9. Adventure opportunities
10. Bookshops

Highlights and The Technology Age.

Friday night Jordan and I went to see the high school performance of Brigadoon. Wow! It was great! They have some great singing and dancing talent at that school. Jordan didn't have a tournament this weekend so it was a bit more relaxing. It was nice to see Steve a bit more, since the junior high musical is over. Whew. That was a long haul.

Technology - Steve's social studies teacher did an online MP3 study guide for his next test. You can download the MP3 to your device, or just listen at your computer. Is that cool or what?

Weekend update.....

Friday 11/10

John and were BOTH off on Friday for the federal holiday. That was nice. After the kids went to school we went up to our favorite coffee bar (Buy the Book). I had hot chocolate, bagel and cream cheese. He had his usual breve and a cinnamon roll. Ahhh. Then we headed up to St. Joe to visit the in-laws. That was a nice visit. Got a lot of pictures from mom. They are trying to slowly get rid of extras that they don’t want to take with them when they move in a couple of years. In the afternoon I worked on a couple of design team projects for TPP. I was not very pleased with the 12x12 layout, but I LOVE the Christmas card I made with Bohemia product. Steve's school musical was this weekend. We got in free Friday night by selling tickets, so we had to be there at 6. It was pretty cute. Then we dropped off Steve and went to some friends and played this new game "Dirty Minds". The clues are "off color" but the word you are guessing is clean. So, of course you can't figure it out because you are laughing too hard about the crazy clue! Jordan got home from debate tourney at midnight. She had to wake up at 4:45 am today, poor kid.

Sat 11/11

Not much going on today, just mopping the kitchen floor. John thinks one of the priests is coming for dinner, but forgot if that was a "for sure" thing. So, I guess we might have to cook some dinner! Steve's out raking leaves. John headed off to church meeting. The afternoon was quiet with both the kids gone. John and I went out to Longhorn for dinner. Got a call from Jordan to come pick her up at 7 so I drove out to Grandview HS. Quite the adventure.

Sun 11/12

Felt so rested today. I have been suffering lack of sleep for about 3 weeks now and finally feel all caught up.

We went to early mass. Jordan got coerced into cooking some biscuits and she made a new recipe with pecans, rolled up into little spiral log thingies. They were totally AWESOME. Steve made some bacon. I typed for the hospital for a couple of hours. Also managed to get the laundry completely done by 9pm. MIRACLE! Steve’s last day as stage manager for the musical at his school – Bugsy Malone. I think we are glad that is over. It’ll be nice to see him after school today for the first time in a couple of weeks!

The good old days.....(some really old pictures)

This picture is me and Bea in our bedroom in the trailer in Topeka (see post from a few days ago. See that kids roll top desk? I FINALLY convinced my dad to give it up. Steve and Jordan were almost to big for it by the time I got it. But Steve will be getting it for his kids when they arrive. It now has lots of new decor on it, some from me, some from Bea and some from my kids too! Oh, those telephones on the desk were the coolest Christmas present ever!!!!



This picture is from Christmas, either 1965 or 1966. Me in the foreground, Bea in the next. I can't remember where this was, or who the other kids are. I am the youngest cousin on both sides, so I can't figure out who the baby is.

This is ME! My baby picture. I was about 1 year old here.

This one is up on the farm in North Dakota. That is my mom. Probably about 1970 or so. We had so much fun that trip. The tie die is FRESH. Everybody was tie dying at the farm and mom let us too! There were about a dozen buckets out in the yard and all the aunts uncles and cousins were tie dyeing. What a blast! I still remember many happy times at that place.

Somebody came home.......

FRIDAY - John came home today for the weekend! Hooray!

SATURDAY - The weather is gorgeous!

Well, here is my recap... First woke up at 4:45 to get Jordan up for her debate tourney. Typed 1-1/2 hours for the hospital. Showered.

Picked up Joann and headed over to Corner Cafe, met Kathy there. We had breakfast. They were quite busy and the service wasn't the best, but she tried anyway. I ordered grits. Well, just a warning to you who like grits. They put some kind of chicken stuff in them. They are NASTY. I just like mine plain thank you (with butter and sugar of course).

Then we headed over to the Paperie Place garage sale. They also had the Hallmark Artists sale there. There was a lot of neat stuff. I did pick up a new 6x6 album for $5 (K&Co). I picked out PP for DD's homecoming dance pictures. Very pretty stuff.

Said goodbye to Kathy, took Joann home and went home and took a much needed NAP.

Watched some Star Trek, What not to Wear and occasionally clicked to the Mizzou game to see how bad it was getting!

John and I went up to the square and walked around. He got a breve and we each got a book at Buy The Book (our local european bookstore). I got a Bird Field Guide. We window shopped a bit. Went into the Coming Home Store for the wine tasting, and I bought two new bottles of wine after trying them out. Came back home and now we are just hanging around. Jordan will need picked up eventually, but we have no idea what time. It's crazy like that on debate weekends.

Busy days.....

What a day! Nonstop doesn't even begin to describe it. I think I did okay though. Of course every time I turned on the radio in the car there was something about John Kerry's dumbass remark. What a dork.

Anyway, back to my non-stop day today. Keep in mind, this is FAR from a typical day. So that's why I am moaning about it.

5am - alarm / shower

5:25 - woke up Steve for shower

5:30 - woke up Jordan

continued with hair drying (fun with my new hair dryer!)

6am - kissed the kids, and out the door

6:32 - timed in (usual day at work, started working on upgrading an existing spreadsheet to add more functionality - after 2-1/2 weeks I already have an Excel rep)

3:02 - timed out

3:25 - arrived at St. James for Girl scout meeting, bought all the girls a soda (pat, pat)

5:00 - drove through Wendys for dinner

5:15 - stopped at bank for haircut money

5:30 - haircuts, me first, then Jordan. While Jordan was in the chair, ran home and picked up Steve, took him back to his haircut.

6:50 pm - raced back home, Jordan grabbed clothes for Sun-Do

7:00 pm - got Jordan to Sun-Do

7:10 pm - stopped back by Sandra's to get my coat which I left there (what a ditz)

7:20 pm - home. Filled up the bathtub halfway with hot water.

7:30 pm - internet time for a couple of minutes

7:50 pm - picked up Jordan

8:00 pm - finished filling the tub and took a nice WHIRLPOOL bath. Ahhhhhhh.

8:54 pm - thinking about heading off to bed.

So, that's about it folks.

Happy Halloween! Hair dryer story included.

Well it's been a fun day, if you call working all day fun. I guess it was kinda fun.

After doing the timekeeping I worked on these things called SSI cards. They are undeliverables that are coming back. I pick a state, sort them out, then look up to see which referral code they get for a district office, write it on, and ship it out. Sounds fun doesn't it!?

After coming home from SSA, Jordy and I traveled to TarJay boutique in search of hair dryers. We found very nice ones. Hers has a super diffuser and is chrome. Mine is "special amethyst" and it's soooo pretty. Ahhhhh. (you will understand my enthisiasm when I share the story below. We got our trick or treat candy also. I think it's already half gone at 6:15pm.

I logged on to type some for the hospital. 4:18 to 6:06pm. Typed over 600 lines in that time. Very awesome *kaching*.

HAIR DRYER STORY

Last Wednesday my hair dryer, while being used, suddenly started emitting sparks and a smell like burning electrical wire. After calming down from my freak out episode, I unplugged it and threw it in the trash. I borrowed Jordan's hair dryer from that day forward although she did tell me that the low setting didn't work and the high setting was like the low setting. No biggie, as I figured I would get a new one over the weekend. That never happened, just too busy with everything else. Last night before bed, Jordan explained that her dryer was no longer working either! She saw a blue sparking light inside and it then wouldn't work anymore. Now, why she waited until 9:30 to tell me? Oh well. So, this morning was an adventure. We put the space heater up on the counter in our respective bathrooms to dry our hair today. I had a TOTALLY bad hair day. Yuck. It just looks stupid. It doesn't help that I need a hair cut either (already scheduled for tomorrow night).

Introducing:

Jordan's new hair dryer



Annette's new hair dryer



The End

A Story from the Topeka years (age 2-4)

We lived in a trailer just north of the Forbes Field Air Force Base. It was just a little two bedroom trailer. Bea and I had bunk beds in a tiny bedroom. I was sleeping on the top bunk which had a rail. Sometime in the night I slipped through the rail but my head got stuck. So, my body was dangling but my head was stuck! I was screaming bloody murder for what seemed like forever. I wanted a rescue. Finally I must have turned my head a bit and slipped through. I landed smack on the floor, right on my back. As soon as I hit the floor, my mom came through the door. I think I was mad at her for not getting there sooner.

just an update from the past few days

I am going to post some things that have been happening in reverse order.

Today Oct 30th..... Got a call from the V.A. wanting to interview me for a secretary job. Same grade as the SSA job, not as many flexible hour options, and not sure if they would adjust my pay up or not. I think I will just stick with SSA. Will know more tomorrow though. Jordan had piano practice after school. Steve had musical practice until 6:30 (he is on the stage crew), and I had a meeting tonight for design team Paperie Place. Turned in my board book project. Our next project is due the 10th of November. We are to make a 12x12 layout, one card and one ornament. Should be fun. Today at work was Payroll closeout. That was a new experience. But it wasn't as hard as I imagined.! Oh, I finally picked up all the drycleaning tonight.

Sunday Oct 29th.... Church at 7:30, and 5th sunday breakfast afterwards. It was nice to relax and talk to everybody. Sometimes John wants to leave sooner that I do, and I feel rushed. I need my SOCIAL time! hehe. I had to cook my Bill's Dip and head to the forum baby shower at TPP at 11. Kerry was there early and helped me with tables and chairs. Dana arrived and made things pretty. Funny - we got a call from Kristin. She was in a parking lot just 5 blocks away, lost, and panicked as people were flipping her off and such! (as she tried to find the store!). Poor thing. It was a good time. My mom and dad came over from Topeka and brought Missy with them. They took Jordan to her piano recital at 2pm where she played Send in the Clowns. I left the crop at 4pm and headed home to find them on their 2nd game of Scrabble. Mom and dad finished off the Bill's dip. We watched Coming to America. That is a funny movie. Went to bed early, all of us, at 8:30.

Saturday Oct 28th. Jordan was at her debate tourney (Oak Park HS). I typed 3 hours in the morning on Op reports for LH. Steve had set building day at his school. I just hung out, went to the store, watch Star Trek, and took a nap. Sara and I went out to the Blue Springs scrapbook store, forgot the name already. Oh well. Jordan got a ride home from Jarrett Muck. He has a car and a license, and i have known him since he was in Kindergarten. Wild. Took Jordan to Kari's party at 7 and Steve and I just hung out. Picked Jordan up at 11pm. I hear Corey was at the party too, so I'm sure that has something to do with why Jordan had a good time. :-)

Friday Oct 27th. End of my first two weeks at the SSA. I think it's going to work out fine. Had to stay up late to pick up Jordan at 11pm. John went to see Flags of our Fathers tonight in Austin TX. I will be glad when next friday rolls around and he is home for the weekend.

Thursday Oct 26th. Joann and I were supposed to have a SD class. Since they closed down we took our calendars up to TPP and I signed up for a couple of crops. Then we met Jean at The Dish and had the house special for Thursday - Margaritas - top shelf! Ohhhh. They were good. I had to order some nachos though so I could drive.

Wednesday Oct 25th. I didn't win the contest. Oh well. Kids had TKD tonight and Jordan had sundo afterwards. The co-workers in Mod 19 really liked that I brought some to share with everybody.

Tue Oct 24th. AFter work Jordan and I did some cooking. I was making coconut chews for the CFC cookie contest. There was a huge spill. My batter went all over the place on the island. I just kept dropping things. It was crazy. I think I had too much caffeine or something. But, alls well that ends well I guess. Jordan got her homecoming pictures back today. They are gorgeous.

Monday Oct 23rd. Craziness in the house. John leaving for Austin. Much sadness and frantic scurrying. Boring evening without him. I was on the computer all day about the scrapbook events described below.

Saturday Oct 21st. The day I found out Scrapbookers Dream was closing the ISD and NSD locations. I was in total disbelief for an entire day. As it sunk in I panicked. Luckily all my forum friends were able to reconnect via a new forum. But it was quite a shocker. Called TPP and they agreed to let us have our baby shower crop there on the 29th. Very nice of them to do so.

Saturdays are supposed to be fun!

Saturday dawned bright and early at 5am. Okay, the sun wasn't really up at all, but three of us were. Jordan was off to her first debate and forensic tourney of the year yesterday. She broke to semi-finals for storytelling and still has some rounds of debate to go. She had to be loading on the bus at 6am, after not getting back until 11pm. We've learned that is just part and parcel to the whole NFL (National Forensic League) participation. She really seems to love it though and we are really proud of all she has accomplished.

I am typing this weekend. Since I was up at 5am anyway I started typing, so will get off work at 1:30, still some time in the day to have a little fun.

John has headed off to his Just Faith group. When he returns, he and Steve are off to watch Cody K test for his black belt out in Blue Springs (that is where Jordy is today too!).

I hope that I can make it to the store this afternoon. I did good making a lunch a few days last week, but forgot Friday. The food at the cafeteria in the Federal bldg is very pricey. Not any price breaks. I want to cook up a bunch of chicken breast and rice for freezing that I can pull out quickly for lunches. I might try some of those little tuna packs with crackers that don't need to be refrigerated too. I could keep a couple of those at work in case I forget to bring something. Breakfast is a problem. I have just been getting up at my regular time of 5:20 and trying to get out of the door at 6am. I only worked out twice last week though, so I am considering either working later or getting up early to work out and eat breakfast.

I am listening to my favorite movie songs right now. I absolutely love the Forest Gump theme.