Mary Sunshyn Says...

So Much Going On

2012-01-29T09:59:00.001-06:00

There's so much going on, and so much I should ramble on about... I really have to get my rear in gear and get blogging...

Sarah and I went to an exercise class at HIPE yesterday, and I LOVED it. I think it was exactly what I needed to kick my ass into gear. Yesterday morning (I think), Tosca Reno tweeted something about a plateau that lasts several months isn't a plateau - it's a "stall". And it's true. That "plateau" word is just an excuse so much of the time. So I'm looking at things differently, and kicking myself into high gear. And that HIPE class was definitely in a higher gear for me. I've been fooling myself thinking that I'm working lately. THAT was working. I was feeling some serious burn. And I'm oh-so-very happy to say that I'm not miserably sore today. I can feel it, but I'm not dying. ;) A year ago, I couldn't have made it through even half of that class. I'm gettin' there!

And today, well, I have high hopes for today. I'm feeling great, and it's a gorgeous sunny day for a change. I am making today clean! And I'm making today productive. Breakfast was an egg white scramble overflowing with spinach, steel-cut oats with cinnamon and flaxseed meal, and an apple (my current "usual"). I'll be headed to church in a bit, then back to fix pork steaks with broccoli and cauliflower for lunch. And then later this afternoon, the H.H. and I are going to seminars about our respective committees at church. Jack is kickin' a little bit of butt at his wrestling meet (I'm so proud of him!), and the girls are both still sleeping in and re-charging their batteries so they can be ready for the week ahead. All-in-all, it's shaping up to be a great day!

Project Life Update

2012-01-07T20:42:00.000-06:00

That's right - an update to my Project Life project. I have all but 3 of my pictures in the album. Yes... In. The. Album. There is hope that I can complete my 2011 album! I have LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of journaling to do, but there is hope!

I'm not sure I'm going to be getting much of that journaling done tonight, though. I walked into Kathryn's bathroom to help her fix her hair tonight, and I did so just after she'd sprayed hairspray. It set off an asthma attack that I'm still fighting to recover from, and I am exhausted from it. I coughed so much I was dizzy! I haven't needed my inhaler in months, but I dug it out tonight. Whew!

Asthma sucks.

Not Giving Up

2012-01-03T21:34:00.002-06:00

I've taken a picture nearly every day for at least the past couple of years. Last year, I bought the Project Life kit, and really got going on it at the beginning of the year. But then I realized a couple of things.... One, sometimes life gets busy, and I miss a day's picture. It shouldn't stress me out. Also, with five of us in the house, some days there are 5 things going on that all deserve a mention in the POTD club. So, I changed my thinking a bit. I take a picture of MOST days. And some days I take lots.

For 2012, I'm changing it up a little more... I think I'll blog the PO(most of)TD, and then at the end of the year create a blog book. At least, that's my plan for now. I may change my mind - I've been known to do that. Especially if the kids want the actual prints to pick up and pass around and look at as the year goes by.

Of course, whichever method of documenting I go with, I'm documenting memories, and that is what matters.

And I am NOT giving up on 2011... I have all the pictures, and I've journaled MOST of the days... and I WILL finish, and I WILL get them all posted to the POTD blog. I will.

Just not tonight. ;)

A Look Back

2012-01-01T21:39:00.000-06:00

A couple of days ago, I stumbled upon a list of reflection questions at simplemom.net. I'm not usually big on this sort of thing, but I've been thinking about it alot, and have decided to give it a go. Maybe looking back at the past year will help me understand where I am, and where I'm headed...   Granted, it helps ALOT that someone else came up with these refection questions... And I'm just going to be honest here.. There are 20 questions on the list on simplemom.net. I'm not going to be able to answer all of them. I'm just not. At least, not without really stressing about it. And I'm not going to stress about it. The past is the past. While I'm cool reflecting on it, and trying to learn from it, I'm not going to stress about it.

Here goes...

1. What was the single best thing that happened this past year? Wow. This is a tough one.
The single best. Single. That's ONE. Just one. Egad. I can't do it. No way. There wasn't a single best thing. My trip to South Dakota comes to mind as one OF the best things. But then our trip to Branson and my riding go-karts for the first time was great, too. (albeit for very different reasons!) Learning to eat clean tops the list, as well, because that taught me that eating the right combo of foods can make me feel great.    So... bottom line, I can't do it. I can't pick just one. Trying to do so would be one of those stress causing deals I'm trying to avoid. ;)

2. What was the single most challenging thing that happened? I'm going to have to go with the first thing that jumped into my mind for this one... Jack went to Jr. High. It's been tough. All I can say beyond that is that 6th grade math sucks.

3. What was an unexpected joy this past year?   There was lots of joy in 2011. I hate to single out just one.... I'll go with the first thing that comes to mind... go-karts. I had a great time riding go-karts in Branson, and I certainly hadn't expected to.

4. What was an unexpected obstacle? Anything and everything to do with peri-menopause. And I do mean EVERYthing to do with it. It's no fun.

5. Pick three words to describe 2011. Gone in a flash. Yes, I can count. Yes, I do know that's four words. I could have said some three words like "it flew by", but that didn't seem to do it for me.

6. What were the best books you read this year? The Hunger Games series. Hands down. I finished each one in about a day and a half. I would've finished each even faster, but I was reading them during vacation, and there WAS a pool that I just HAD to get into quite often.

7. With whom were your most valuable relationships? Without going into the ridiculous amount of detail that would be required to explain these, I'll just list them (in no particular order)... My Handsome Husband, my BFFs Conrad and Jennifer, my niece Rachel, and God.

8. What was your biggest personal change from January to December of this past year?   Diet. Food. How I look at and think about food. I lost almost 30 pounds during 2011. And that's because I started to see food differently, and I started to learn more about how nutrition creates so much of our physical make up.

9. In what way(s) did you grow in your relationships with others? I'm getting much better at being patient with others, and more accepting. At least, I think I am. ;)

10. What was your single biggest time waster in your life this past year? It's a toss-up between Words with Friends and Pinteresting

11. What was biggest thing you learned this past year? To quit taking things so personally. Especially when it comes to kids. 'Nuf said.

And there you have it. A little reflection. It took me an entire day to write about it, but there it is.

Happy New Year!

I have issues...

2011-12-27T06:53:00.000-06:00

Ah… the days immediately following Christmas. The darkest of days for me when that dreaded question “what did you get for Christmas?” comes up over and over, and over, again. I’ve always hated that question. Always. As a kid, I never got the “big haul” of super-cool presents. I come from a big family, and so there usually wasn’t a lot of extra money. We always had a big family Christmas, but we didn’t do big presents. And for all I know, everyone else in the family may have hated it – but I loved it. All six of us kids, along with spouses, and the grand kids, all came together for dinner and to exchange relatively small gifts on Christmas. We all sat at one HUGE table for dinner. And then we’d all sit around the living room together, in chairs and on the floor and on each others’ laps, and open gifts. We laughed, and talked, and played together all afternoon and into the evening. Those were good afternoons full of love.

But then the 26th came every year. Bleh. When I was a kid, that meant the phone calls from friends, anxious to tell me about the Atari console they got, and the cassette tape player, the new bike, the clothes, the candy, and all of the other stuff. And every year, with every one of those calls, I cringed. Because I knew it meant the question was coming. “what did YOU get?”

I hated it. I grew up on the edge of a cultural change in America. I was stuck right in the middle of a time when families were transitioning from being very minimal and very focused on family to being very gluttonous and focused on things. My parents were a little older, and lived most of their lives with a June & Ward Cleaver sort of thing going on, with just 3 television stations to watch, one car for the family, and a stay-at-home mom. My friends had parents who were a little younger, who were growing up very differently, with two working parents, and less kids, and bigger houses, and with more disposable income to spend on things like cable television and electronic “gadgets”. Their families all gave each other tons and tons of “stuff” every year. My family didn’t do that. We didn’t go crazy about “stuff”. I always got a few things that I really wanted and a few things that I really needed. I never got a big pile of “stuff”. It wasn’t about that.

As a kid, especially a kid in a changing society focused more and more on excess, it was easy to get caught up into thinking that getting more “stuff” meant you were somehow better than those who got less “stuff”. So a part of me never felt like I measured up to those other kids who got those big piles of “stuff”. I never felt like I was one of the cool kids.

“What did you get for Christmas?” I learned to effectively evade the question, not wanting to sound less cool than everyone else. I learned how to focus on maybe just one or two things about my Christmas, and then turn the conversation back to them. It was usually pretty easy to do – most people, especially kids, don’t have trouble talking about themselves. Thankfully, the school break provided a slight buffer. By the time we all went back to class in January, the excitement over all that “stuff” was usually waning, and evading got easier.

As an adult, you’d think it wouldn’t even be an issue. After all, as adults we’re all more in control of our emotions, right? We’re all more mature, and less materialistic, and able to focus on the real reason for the season, right?

Not.

In the dark days immediately following Christmas, we’re still all like a bunch of kids – excited about getting gifts, and anxious to share that excitement. It hasn’t changed. I still hate the question. “What did you get for Christmas?” I still don’t ever feel like I measure up. I still have friends who’s families go overboard. And even when I receive gifts that I LOVE, and that are very thoughtfully given, and that are REALLY cool, and sometimes even really expensive, it seems there’s always someone who gets a more “perfect” gift, and it just gets to me when they tell me about it. And while I am now a grownup who can rationally understand that the number of presents you get does not represent the measure of someone’s love for you, and I am now a grownup parent who truly wants to impart that wisdom to her kids, a part of me still wishes that I could be the one who has all the coolest stuff in a really huge pile of presents.

This all makes me sounds just awful, I know. Trust me, if I could get back just one of those family Christmases with all 25 or 30-ish of us crammed into my parents house, passing bowls of mashed potatoes around that huge table, I’d be the happiest girl on earth. I wish like crazy that I could somehow take Charlie and the kids to just one of those Matthews family Christmases so they could understand how great it was. And I dearly love the Christmases I have now! It’s wonderful to be able to give my family a fun Christmas full of love, albeit a different kind of Christmas than I had a kid. And I’m the first one to mean it when I say that all I really want for Christmas every year is to be with the people I love. I’m just sayin’… no matter how grown up I get, I still can’t get beyond that selfish, childish, silliness – part of me still wants a mountain of toys.

But I’m working on it.

I’m working on getting better. Bear with me.

(and, yes, I DO know that this is not what you’d expect from me after my long blogging absence this fall… I’m working on getting better at this, too!)

Such a Slacker!

2011-11-11T07:53:00.001-06:00

I really AM such a slacker about blogging sometimes. I think I could find more time, but... it never seems to really materialize. ANYway, I HAVE been thankful this week, even if I haven't kept up on my posts.

On Sunday the 6th, I said on fb that I was thankful for the friends I've made since I met and married the HH, moved to Sherman, and joined the church here.   And I really and truly am. On Sunday night, the church youth group, and their families, were invited to the Henrickson's house for a cookout. I am so often humbled by the generosity of the people I know! The Henricksons welcomed a small crowd to their home, where kids of all ages ran around like crazy, playing football and games, singing, eating, worshipping (it IS youth group!), and having a great time.   While the kids played, the adults talked and laughed.   Nights like that make me realize how very fortunate I am.

Monday the 7th was a slightly different sort of thankful. I overslept. While I DID set my alarm on Sunday night before going to bed, I did NOT set it correctly.  Somehow, I managed to set it for PM instead of AM.   UGH!   As usual, I didn't wake when the HH got up at 4:30 for the paper route, but thankfully, at 5:35 (ish) when he returned, I did hear the garage door opening.  Thankfully, that was still early enough that I could manage to rush and get out the door on time!

On Tuesday the 8th, I didn't manage to get anything posted, but I most certainly was thankful. Around 3:00 that afternoon, I started to get feeling back in my nail bed! I haven't had ANY feeling in my fingertip or nail bed since the surgery last month to remove a cyst. I was typing, and as I hit the keyboard, I FELT IT! I was so excited! I still don't have full feeling in that fingertip, but at least I know that it's coming back, albeit slowly. I finally managed to post about that on Wednesday. (talk about getting behind!)

Wednesday and Thursday, well... I was slackin'. Wednesday, I THOUGHT about what I was thankful for. Really, I did. I just never quite made it to the computer to post anything. And that was due to one the very things I was thankful for. I had choir practice at church, followed by a committee meeting, and so I was away from home for most of the night. I am thankful that I can be involved at our church. We have an active, growing church, and I'm glad to be a part of it.   On Wednesday, I was also very thankful to know a GREAT mechanic who takes care of us. The clutch on the car is going out, and our go-to guy, Steve, checked it out, tried to apply an interim fix, gave us some advice and options, and did not charge us for his time. What a guy!  I say it all time, and I'll say it again... we know some of THE BEST people!

I could probably have come up with a hundred ways to be Thankful for Thursday being my Friday yesterday. But more than that, I was consciously aware of being thankful that I am not miserable. It seems like there are way too many people in our world who are unhappy, and express it in a myriad of ways. I'm SO thankful to not be so unhappy that I have to end up "sharing" it with the world.

And now it's Friday the 11th. 11/11/11. Veteran's Day. I am thankful for everyone who is braver than I, for those who selfLESSly defend me and my fellow Americans and our way of life. I am especially thankful for my favorite veteran, my dad. He raised me and my brothers and sister to be appreciative, loving, hard-working, and humble. He taught us by example to be good citizens. He's a great guy who served his country to his best ability as a soldier in the Philippines in WWII, and then came home to serve all of us to his best ability as a man. I love him and respect him, and am thankful to have him in my life.

And now it's time to get off my slacker butt, and get something done! It's a beautiful fall day, and I've got about a thousand beautiful fall projects to work on around this house!

Festival Of Trees

2011-11-05T20:47:00.000-05:00

Today, I spent the day on the Illinois State Fairgrounds, in the Orr Building, at the Memorial Medical Foundation's Festival of Trees super set up day. This is (I think) the 9th time I've done something at the Festival of Trees. I am so very thankful that I am able to do this again this year. My family has always used Memorial, and they've always gone above and beyond - from the time I was born, to when my dad and brother had their open heart surgeries, to many other life events, and doing a tree for the Festival of Trees is a way I feel I can give something back. They take my tree, make it part of a great week-long event, and raise a large amount of money that they use to do a large amount of good.

Here's a picture of me and my tree. I'm not at my best in this one, but... by this time, I'd been on my feet all day, wiring ornaments one-by-one to the tree, and was covered in glitter, hot, thirsty, and ready for a break.

If it hadn't been for my very good friend, Jennifer, I'd probably STILL be there. She came out and helped me all day - with attaching wires, and hot gluing, and pretty much whatever I needed. She was a life-saver! Some people hot glue every ornament onto the trees they decorate, and I supposed that is probably a simple solution to the requirement that everything be firmly attached. I just can't do it, though. It takes longer to wire each ornament onto the branches, but taking that extra time means that the tree and the ornaments can all be disassembled and re-used. I know some businesses that sponsor the Festival, and get to take a tree at the Festival's end, do just that... they disassemble and re-use everything to raise additional funds for charity through sale and/or auction of the items.

I just have to go back tomorrow and put a few finishing touches on my tree, like place the tree skirt, and then I'll be done. The only thing left to do after that will be to enjoy the Festival of Trees Gala next weekend, and then the Festival itself the following week.

I can't wait!

A Little Off Track

2011-11-04T17:25:00.000-05:00

I got a little off track this morning, and ended up running late. Granted, I got off track because I was getting something accomplished (dinner is prepped, in the fridge, and ready to pop in the oven!), but I ended up running late nonetheless.

It’s OK.

The kids get themselves ready for school now. Once they’re awake, they’re pretty self-sufficient these days. So I was able to run around like crazy, haul some serious ass, and get out the door on time. Once I was in the van and on the road, I realized what a HUGE deal this is. It means they’re growing up, and behaving responsibly. It means they can take care of themselves just a little more than they used to be able to. It means (yikes!) that I have a house full of young… adults.

I posted to facebook today that I am thankful the kids are old enough to get themselves ready, but now that I've thought about it a little more, I think I have to alter that statement a little. I'm thankful today that the kids are becoming wonderful, and mostly responsible, young adults.

Thankful

2011-11-03T17:16:00.002-05:00

It’s November. An month of giving thanks in America. Since November is right smack dab in the middle of autumn, it’s also a month of giving thanks in a lot of other places, too – thanks for things like a bountiful harvest after a prosperous growing season. Last year, a friend of mine on facebook started November off by making a commitment to post daily one thing she was thankful for, and challenging her friends to do the same. I loved, Loved, LOVED the idea, and took the challenge. This year, I’m doing it again. And this morning, I decided I should do more than just a simple, few-word facebook post. I decided I should expand on each day’s post here on my blog. So…. Here goes nothin’.

Today, I posted that “I’m so thankful for music in my life… In all its forms.”

This little bit o’ thankful popped into my head when I got into the car, and my current favorite song was on the radio. Funny thing was, I had been consciously humming it as I was getting ready to head out the door just moments before. When I heard it on the radio, it put a smile on my face. And then I started to consider songs from throughout my life, and how they’ve offered a backdrop to events along the way – ranging from “Pomp and Circumstance” played during graduation ceremonies, to “Hey, Wife” played by my friend, Victor’s, band at my wedding celebration. Music plays a huge role in our lives. Songs can bring back memories, change our mood, calm our fears. Music can make or break a movie. It can nudge us to make a purchase. It can set the tone for a season (just think “Jingle Bells”).

Music does so much more, too. It gives kids an edge – it gets their minds working in a different, and creative, way that helps them become better learners. It lets all of us express ourselves in very personal and unique ways – whether through music we make ourselves, or through music we choose to listen to. Sometimes it unites us, and connects us to one another (think “Star Spangled Banner”, and tell me THAT doesn’t make you feel connected to your neighbor).

I have known amazing people, and made lifelong friends because of music. Friends made during the days of Shekina tours, friends made at church choir rehearsals, friends made during high school musical performances, and friends found listening to folks play their instruments (and sometimes playing along with them!).

So, today, I acknowledge that music – in all its forms – is something to be immensely thankful for.

Music rocks! ;)

A Sad Night

2011-10-18T22:17:00.000-05:00

It's a sad night in our house tonight. Our Auggie Doggie is gone. When Charlie went to feed him dinner, and he didn't respond, Charlie found him laying in his dog house. He must have died in his sleep. He was a good little basset hound, and we loved him. We'll all miss him alot.

Patience

2011-10-17T21:30:00.001-05:00

I actually forgot all about taking this picture, even though I was really excited about it at the time. I guess I've been preoccupied with my surgery last Friday, and then a busy weekend full of activities that I muddled through with my bandaged hands.

I've been trying to take a picture of this little guy for weeks. Literally. OK, well... I've been trying to take a picture of this little guy, or one of the other 200 of his buddies that look just like him, for weeks. They live in the beautiful, massive knockout rose bushes at Grab-A-Java on Hedley Street. Every day, I pull in and take my place in line, patiently waiting for my turn to order coffee (which I never actually have to order because someone always has it ready for me when I pull up to the window because they are THAT good there). I usually sit next to the rose bushes for at least one car's order time ahead of me. And every day, I try to take a picture of the little birds.   I roll down my window about half a block before I turn in. I even started holding my camera up so the little guys wouldn't be scared by the movement of me lifting it. All to no avail. Half a second before every shot, they always fly away.

Until last Thursday. Last Thursday morning, after I had my coffee in hand, and was about to pull out onto the street, I looked over and saw this little guy perched so nicely, as if he was patiently waiting for me.   I rolled down my window. He didn't move. I lifted my camera. He didn't fly away. I took a picture. And another. And another. He stayed. Granted, it's not the best picture ever taken, but... it's a start.

If you know me much at all, you know I've taken hundreds of pictures of birds. And if you know me much at all, you know that only 3 or 4 of said pictures are any good. I guess I keep taking more (and more) pictures because maybe I'm just not ready to give up.   Maybe I just need to be more patient.

I'll work on that this week.

Post-Op Day 2

2011-10-15T14:26:00.000-05:00

I had a little ganglion cyst removed from my wrist, and also a tiny little cyst removed from the tip of my middle finger, early yesterday morning. Of course, as would be my luck, both hands were involved, so I was mostly useless yesterday, laying around with both hands iced, and propped on pillows. But today is a totally different story. I'm really surprised at how good I feel. I know the doctor told me it wouldn't be bad, and that I would be back to work on Monday with just band-aids, but I expected at least a little more pain than I've had. I'm thrilled at how I'm doing. Just a little tylenol, and I'm mostly fine. Granted, I can't lift anything very heavy, and I don't have full dexterity right now, but overall, I'm having a "normal" day. Especially with a little (OK, alot of) help from the H.H. and from Jack.

Tonight is our church's major fall fundraiser - a chicken dinner, and I didn't get any desserts made for it "pre-op" on Thursday night. I was feeling bad that I wasn't contributing this time, so Jack helped me out by whipping up some brownies. I love the fact that he likes to cook. And the fact that he's getting good at doing alot of it on his own.

With my "semi-down" time, I have been able to get a little bit caught up on my Picture Of The Day page. I may not be able to type very fast, but I can type, and thanks to spell check, it ends up alright. Hopefully, I can get completely caught up, and then keep up on it. I've had to manipulate the dates a little to keep the pictures in order, and I hope I'm keeping that all straight. Lots more updates until I'm finished, but I'm at least finally making headway!

The Pictures

2011-10-14T18:52:00.000-05:00

Bear with me over the next few days... I'm going to make a concerted effort to catch up my pictures of the day blog.

I use Project Life, and the kids seem to like being able to check it out as it progresses. (even though I'm always behind on updating that, too...) But there are so many others at a distance who are interested, so.... I think I'm going to take the approach of using the same pictures, and basically copying my journal card comments to the blog entry for the day.

Hopefully, I'll get myself in order in the coming days... stay tuned.

About That Card...

2011-10-13T20:06:00.003-05:00

Well, I wish I could add my little endorsement into the post WITH the card image, but that's not working out, so... I'll just tack on another post.

I gotta say "Hooray for Shutterfly"! If you aren't signed up to get their special offers, you really must sign up... I received an offer via email today for 10 free (yes, I said free) cards, so... I decided to take advantage of it.

I used my current fav flower pic - the sunflower on the Mustang preserve outside Eagle Butte, SD. I can't wait until they come! There's no replacing a real, live, hand-written note, and I've been slackin' about sending those. What timing! Shutterfly offer came just in time for me to turn over a new card-sending leaf.

Yay!

5x7 Folded Card

2011-10-13T19:54:00.001-05:00

Picture In Landscape 5x7 folded card

Click here to browse Shutterfly's modern graduation invitations.

View the entire collection of cards.

Homecoming Success!

2011-10-11T20:37:00.001-05:00

The girls both had a fabulous time at homecoming! I'll admit, I was a little worried for a while - what with all the fuss about fixing hair, and finding shoes, and all that junk. I was, indeed, a little worried that they wouldn't have a good time.

But they did.

They really did.

And they looked so beautiful! And so grown up.

I didn't get to take the pictures of Kathryn and her friends before they left for dinner. I was frantically curling Sarah's hair. It took longer than I'd anticipated to get her lovely locks transformed into loose, tousled, flowing curls. So... I sent the handsome husband, armed with the Canon, to snap some shots. And he did a fine job!

Both girls went with a group of friends - Kathryn with a smallish group...

And Sarah with a rather large one...

Sarah's group of friends met at one house for pictures and dinner. The girls, in particular, had fun with the pictures.

After lots and lots - and lots - of picture taking, the kids all had dinner together (served to them by us parental-type folks) and then rode together to the dance in one big RV. It was a great send off!

And Sunday was spent retelling story after story about what a great time they both had at the dance, which is EXACTLY how homecoming is supposed to go. Guess my little bit of worrying was for naught. :)

Homecoming!

2011-10-08T07:23:00.002-05:00

I should be slogging, not blogging... but here I am. Unable to motive to put on those running shoes, worried more about my zillion loads of laundry and pile of dishes that need done. (OK, well, not THAT worried, obviously, since I'm sitting at my little desk blogging away... but you know what I mean!)

It's homecoming weekend for us, and I'm SO excited about it. Yes, I do realize that it's silly for me to be excited. After all, I'm not going to get dressed up and go to a dance. It's a different kind of excited. It's a parent kind of excited...

Kathryn's a Junior this year, so it's a whole different kind of homecoming for her. She's almost all grown up. She's an upperclassman. Ah.... upperclassman. I remember those two years.... you're the "big kids", the ones who set the tone for just about everything in the high school. Juniors really do rule. Seniors are mostly coasting - just about over high school, ready to get out and start living life. And the underclassmen are still trying to find their niche, figure out the pecking order, and settle into high school. Yup. Juniors rule. So it's GREAT year for Kathryn. She's going to homecoming tonight knowing she'll make it a fun night with friends.

Sarah, on the other hand, is a Freshman. Everything's new to her this year. It's her first big "dress up" dance. She'll walk in there tonight, and be so excited just to be experiencing it all. I remember that feeling, too, and I remember it's such a great feeling! It's sort of a "I'm really in high school" feeling. She's finding her niche, and figuring things out. She's going to have such a great time at her first homecoming dance, learning so much about the fun part of high school life.

And they are both going to look fabulous! It's so fun for me to see them all dressed up, with hair and nails done, wearing heels, and beautiful dresses. I can't wait!

But, now, in the meantime, I really do have to get busy on the laundry and cleaning. I've procrastinated slogging completely out of my morning, but the chores just won't go away.

The REAL Rest of the Story

2011-10-07T14:43:00.001-05:00

I had no idea what to expect at the youth center, so when we pulled up the front door, and were greeted by volunteers coming out to help us, it was a very pleasant surprise. As with every task, having lots of helpers made unloading the shoes an easy task. We got everything moved from a piled high van to a nicely organized gymnasium in just a very short time.

With so much excellent help, and everything in place for the shoe drive in record time, we took a few minutes to take a tour of the youth center, talk to the director and to some of the volunteers, and learn a little about what they do there. And let me tell you... what they do there is great!

They give the community, especially the kids, a place to go where they can create opportunity for themselves. To me, one of the coolest things they do there is art. I grew up learning that art touches every part of society, and every part of life - through the radio, architecture, storefronts, photography, magazines, newspapers, television... EVERYwhere. Art is ingrained in us. So to see a place where kids can learn that, and express themselves, was a huge thing for me. I especially loved one project in particular that had been done. They'd used ceiling tiles as canvases, and so there was art above us. LOVE that idea!

That weird feeling that I had coming into Saturday kept going strong while we were at the shoe drive. I met a woman there who was volunteering who seemed particularly familiar. Turned out she was from a neighboring town, and had worked in Springfield for years before retirement. We even knew people in common. And being inside the youth center, meeting and talking with the volunteers and staff, I had that weird feeling that I belonged there. I was very much at ease there all day.

The families we met during the event were simply fantastic. The kids were all fun and full of energy and life, and the parents were some of the friendliest, most genuine people you could hope to talk to. One family, in particular, made a special impression on me. They are a blended family, with 10 kids. The mom works part time, takes classes, and manages that household. (And I think it's rough sometimes with just the 5 of us!) They, like all the families we met, were a joy to share time with.

At home, at too many of the charitable events I've been at, people are not grateful. In fact, all too often, those receiving help don't just not say "thanks", they sometimes say they are entitled to more, or that what they are receiving is not "good enough" (as in hamburger isn't as "good" as steak). It wasn't like that at this event. Every family, every adult, every child was grateful and appreciative. One grandmother talked to us about how her grandson had gone through "another" recent growth spurt, and didn't currently have any shoes that fit. It made me think of the weekend a couple of years ago when Jack grew seemingly overnight... He came to me on a Monday morning, as he was getting ready for school, and was very concerned about his pants and shoes. I couldn't do anything but gape in amazement at him. His new pants were suddenly two inches too short, and he couldn't even get his foot into his shoe! At the time, our budget was extremely tight, and I remember standing there, wondering how I was ever going to juggle things to buy new clothes. I knew exactly what the grandmother was talking about, and it broke my heart to hear her talk about struggling. I think she said "thank you" at least 30 times. Naturally, being in middle of my peri-menopausal hormonal mess, I cried.

I cried lots of times that day. I suppose I cried because it was all just overwhelming for me at the moment. I really had no business driving half way across the United States, even if it was for a good cause. My house needed a roof, my kids were about to start a new school year, my husband needed a new car, just to name a few of the reasons. But there I was, 100% confident that I belonged there, and 100% confident that everything would be OK, and that God would provide for us exactly as we need. And He has. My house still needs a roof. And the Handsome Husband still needs a car. But the kids got back to school with everything they needed plus some, we've taken care of several other unexpected "emergencies", and we're doing OK.

I also cried that day because I was so very, very grateful to be able to help people who truly needed it.

The day wasn't all seriousness and emotional breakdowns, though. It was alot of fun, too. The girls had a great time hanging out together, and a great time working with the young children that came in.

And at the end of the shoe drive, one of the student volunteers at the center gave us each either a streak of color in our hair, or a painted faux feather in our hair. It was a blast!

I think meeting the student volunteers hit a soft spot in my heart. I remember way back when, there was a time when I was much less reserved, and much more free-spirited, and would have signed up in a heartbeat to do what those kids were doing. I remember having a royal blue wash over my dark hair, and putting together some crazy outfits - all in the name of creative expression.

Then I "grew up".

Or did I really just "give up"? I read a post earlier this week about conformity versus conviction. It struck that same nerve... Tugged at that same spot in my heart... Made me stop and think. I think all too often, we equate "growing up" with conforming. We leave the comfort of high school or college, get a "real" job, and suddenly we become zombies in khaki pants, leaving our "wild ideas" of youth behind for the perceived security a new found conformity will bring to our future. Or we make new friends. and in our effort to fit in, we discount the importance of our convictions and go along with the crowd, thinking folks will be more likely to like us if we are more like them.

Phooey. I've been doing all that conforming stuff for a long, long time, and (thankfully!) I'm realizing that it's not really helping me out so much. So I'm going to make a concerted effort to stop conforming for the sake of, well... for the sake of blending in, I guess.  A new, more expressive, true to her convictions, Mary is coming BACK around.

I guess maybe the North Dakota trip was the beginning of that. Like I've said, I really had no business going, if you look at it from the conservative, conforming vantage point. But look at it from another viewpoint, and it looks quite different.   It looks like the action of someone with great faith, who knew that if she did what she felt was the right thing - the sort of thing that God was leading her to do so that she could learn and grow - that everything would fall into place.   And, indeed, it is doing just that.

Even during the last day of that trip, I had more reminders that I was exactly where I was supposed to be. Twice more as we drove across South Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois, I met individuals whom I am certain I've met before, though rationally I know that's not probable.   And the feeling of familiarity stayed with me. Every stop we made, every road we travelled along, every sight I saw, felt "right", and felt reassuring. It's the weirdest thing, and I know I can't fully explain it. All I can say about it is that I was comforted and energized by those signs of reassurance that were placed along the way.

And that brings me to the close of that story. I have a feeling, though, that it's really just the prelude to a much longer, terrifically epic story in my life.    I can't wait to find out about that one! :)

The Rest of My Story

2011-09-17T08:40:00.000-05:00

Really and truly, I do not know why this is so hard for me to write about... But, it seems it is, so here I am, finally finishing the story of South Dakota.

Friday the 5th of August, we didn't have to rush, so everyone slept in a bit. When we did get up and get ready, we had to laugh at ourselves. Some of us had put on our "blingy" sort of biker t-shirts, knowing we were headed to Sturgis. We loaded up after a late breakfast and got on the road well rested and ready to go. This part of the trip was on a two-lane highway instead of interstate, and I think it was a more scenic, pleasant drive.

I don't think the girls knew exactly what to expect from Sturgis. They knew it was the place where a huge bike rally was going to happen, and that's about it. Keep in mind, we were going there the morning before things got started, so it was totally calm. The first bike we saw, though, was a good one - pink, and decked out with pink feather boas!

We paused, of course, at the edge of town for a couple of pictures...

Still at the edge of town, it seemed like any other small town, but once we go a few blocks in, it was obviously not just any other place. We were literally in the middle of an ocean of motorcycles!

We went into the Harley-Davidson store, looked around, and bought t-shirts to take back home with us, and then we started talking to people. This is where the day got really strange for me...

We talked to a really nice guy named Gary, I think. He was from a town near Atlanta. Around our age, maybe a little older. He helped us find someone willing to let us sit on their Harley for a photo op. the weird part is that I swear - I mean I SWEAR - I know this guy. I can't tell you from where or how, but I will forever believe that I'd met him before. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind about it. From the way he looked to the sound of his voice, to the way he shook my hand. I know that I've met that guy before.

Anyway, moving on from the weird stuff... We each took a turn posing on a bike, which was sort of fun. Tonya even took a ride around the block with the bike's owner.

After spending a little bit of time in Sturgis, meeting and talking to some really nice people, and seeing lots and lots of really nice bikes, we got back on the road and headed for Eagle Butte.

Eagle Butte is, very literally, in the middle of nowhere. For real. It's a couple of hours from everywhere. The closest (and I think maybe only) town we went through was faith, which looked as though it consisted of the post office, the gas station, and little else. Well, little else besides a really cool sign.

I'm sure the name of the place had to have just about everything to do with the fact that it must have taken ALOT of faith to keep going across the countryside to get there safely, and to decide to stay there in the middle of nowhere and make a life.

Not far from Faith was our final destination, Eagle Butte. I'm pretty sure our girls were left speechless when they saw the town, and motel we'd be staying at. Not that we're spoiled, but, well... ok ok, ok... we're spoiled. And we probably spoil our kids a little. They've never seen lots of the things that we adults have, and we've worked pretty hard to achieve that. So staying at an older motel was not what the girls were used to.

We made the best of it, though. We brought a couple of chair outside, and sat around and talked for while until it was time to go to the wild mustang preserve.

Now, strangely, this mustang preserve was simply AMAZING to me. I've never really been "into" horses, and in fact, the last time I was on a horse was in 6th grade, with my friend, Stacey, and I ended up on the ground more than on the horse. But this was somehow different. I said earlier that everywhere we went on this trip felt like I belonged there. This was like that. When we were on the country road to the place, it seemed almost like I knew where we were going. And when we arrived, I was very comfortable there. (which is weird for me, if you know me and animals...) The horses there were some of the most beautiful creatures I've ever seen.

We learned quite a bit about how they live, and form families, and get along with each other. The best part was how we were able to interact with them.

We tried to drive out into the pasture land, so we could see more of the horses, but it started to rain, and we had to turn back. The ground in that area is so full of clay, that it gets extraordinarily slick when it rains, and we were afraid we'd get stuck out in the middle of a pasture. By the time we got back to the main house, the rain stopped (for a while) so we took advantage of the break before the coming storm, and spent time with the horses that were in that area. Because the short bit of rain had really cooled things off, the horses were very playful, and were showing off for us a little. We got to see some great interactions between them!

The rain did start up again, and it forced us all back onto the road to the motel, where we were able to sit outside again for while and watch the storm come in. It was a doozy.

Stuck in the motel for the night, with the wind and rain pounding at the door, we made the best of it, and I thank GOD for Tonya's sister, Karen. She kept the girls talking and sharing, and really got conversations going. And she brought facial masks to give the girls a little silly fun. (I'll spare them from posting THOSE pictures...) Even though we made it through the night, it wasn't one of our easiest - it seemed like it was a long one. None of us slept very well, and we were all thrilled to awake to a fresh, sunny day.

Thankfully, there was a gas station just across an empty lot next to the motel, and they had a plentiful supply of fresh, hot coffee, and convenience breakfast stuff. With super-sized coffee in hand, I was good to go. We packed up and traveled the few blocks to the youth center, where the shoe drive was going to be held.

I think the shoe drive itself deserves a post of it's own, and for that unknown crazy reason, I'm STILL feeling a challenge writing about this trip, so.... I'll continue with part 3 later.

We Headed Out For A Little Trip

2011-09-07T20:47:00.001-05:00

Wow. Talk about an experience. I'm not even sure where to begin, or how to convey everything that I experienced. It's taken me a month to collect my thoughts and start writing this, so I guess I'll just start at the beginning...

Tuesday night, the night before we left for South Dakota, I drove to Tonya's and we loaded shoes into my van. Boxes and boxes and boxes - and boxes - of shoes. The Caravan is CAVERNOUS, and the majority of the shoes fit into the back with no trouble. And rather than put down the back row of seats, we used the stow-n-go compartments, and had plenty of room in my vehicle, and left plenty of room in Tonya's vehicle.

Seeing my van FULL of shoes intended for kids really made everything about our trip seem more real - that we were going, why we were going, what it could mean to lots of families... For me it was energizing. Like I felt as though I had a purpose in going on this trip.

This trip.

I'm not sure how I really even ended up on this trip. I just sort of jumped right into it back in the spring.  Sarah and I were helping with a shoe drive here in town, and Tonya told us she was working with her sister-in-law, Karen, to plan a shoe drive in Eagle Butte, SD, right in the middle of the poorest county in the U.S. And before I knew it, I was saying that I'd go. Right there, right then, I said "definitely, Sarah and I will go". Thank God, Charlie was cool with the idea when I told him.   (Yes, thank God... Because I'm sure God did set me on this path.)

What amazes me most about this trip coming together with me going along is that I'd never spent any real time with Tonya or Heidi when I enthusiastically agreed to travel 2,000 miles with them. And even as hotel arrangements were being made, and we discussed who would be driving and riding with whom, it still never really occurred to me that I had no idea what I had gotten into. It didn't really start to hit me until we were well on our way.

Wednesday morning we were supposed to meet at 5:45 am. Sarah and I were late. (OK, OK, OK... I was late.) But we were all ready to hit the road, so we didn't really lose any time. By 6:00 we were on the highway, and headed for adventure. Because it was so early, we missed alot of commuter traffic and made great time, not really stopping except for quick bathroom breaks until the edge of Des Moines, where we hit up McDonald's for a quick lunch.   Nine-ish hours of driving does make for a long day, but the first day of a trip is a good day for a long drive... You're always excited to be going somewhere, and the drive is somehow easier because of that fact..

And, besides, something I can't explain happened that first day. About half way through the afternoon, I saw a sage brush. Of all the things along the side of the road, I spotted the sage brush. And the second I did, I felt relief. At first, I wasn't sure that was the feeling, but after LOTS AND LOTS of thinking, that's what it was. I felt comfortable, and relaxed, and almost like I was in a familiar place. I still can't explain why, but that is how I felt the entire time I was in South Dakota.

Our first real stop along the way was in Sioux Falls, SD.  We got there early enough that we had time to check into our hotel, get a little bit 'settled in' and drive around town to find the falls of Sioux Falls.

After our short trek to what I think was downtown Sioux Falls and the Falls (which were beautiful!), the girls wanted to go and walk around at the mall next to our hotel, so we sent them on their way to shopping glee, and we grabbed some cheese, crackers and wine for us to have back at the hotel. I think that is when the magnitude of the situation occurred to me.

I was 9 hours from home, traveling with two women I really only sort of know, and 5 of our combined daughters (well, "ours" plus one). I had nearly 100 pairs of shoes in my van, and we were headed to an Indian Reservation to distribute them in a community we'd never seen, and knew little about. The traveling with people part was remarkable in and of itself, considering how particular I am about what and where I eat and drink, and how often I like to stop when I'm driving, and all that sort of thing. But I was also rooming with those two women I really only sort of know, and that's even more remarkable for me. I'm weird about my "space", and usually do everything in my power to room alone. But there I was, realizing that I was right in the middle of it. And there was nothing to do about it but go with the flow, because I knowingly put myself there. So Tonya, Heidi, and I sat around talking for hours while the girls shopped at the mall, and by the time we we ready for bed, I had realized that the "magnitude" of things didn't really matter. I have no idea why, but I felt like I belonged there. Like I was somehow, for some reason, supposed to be exactly where I was.

And when I awoke the next day to a beautiful sunrise, I felt even more that way.

We got an early start to the day on Thursday, knowing that we had a long drive to get across South Dakota by evening. We had reservations in Rapid City, and wanted to get there in time to get our bearings,relax a little, have a decent meal, and make it to Mt. Rushmore in time to see the lighting ceremony that takes place at dusk. And, of course, we had to make a stop at the world-famous Wall Drug along the way, so we could find out for ourselves that it's really just a very, very, very large tourist gift shop.

When we got to the hotel in Rapid City, the girls were thrilled to learn there was a small water park attached to the hotel. They got their suits on, and played for a short while in there, while we three adults decompressed after a day of driving. We got an early dinner at the hotel restaurant, and then went to Mt. Rushmore.

I'm the only one who'd been to Mt. Rushmore in the past, and so it was kind of fun to see everyone's reaction when they saw the monument for the first time. As we walked onto the viewing terrace, everyone stopped to get their phones and cameras out to take pictures.

We didn't "have" to go to Mt. Rushmore. We could probably have shortened our trip by a day and skipped it, but I'm glad we didn't. I'm glad we took the time to give that experience to the girls. Our nation has some AMAZING monuments, parks, and attractions, and Mt. Rushmore is one of the cooler ones, in my opinion.

We were there with enough time to look around the gift shop, grab some ice cream, and take a few group pictures before the lighting ceremony started at dusk.

I wish I'd known about the lighting ceremony when I was at the monument a few years ago with my dad. I'm sure he would have enjoyed it. While it was much less eventful than I'd expected, it was still pretty awesome. Someone from the National Park staff came onto the stage at the base of the viewing terrace and told about the history of the monument, and gave some interesting facts. Then he invited any current and past members of the military who were present in the audience to come to the stage and be recognized, and a few of them helped with a flag folding presentation. It was a rather solemn presentation, and I was amazed that an audience of so many was so quiet throughout it. At the end of the presentation, when the skies were completely dark, the stage and viewing terrace lights dimmed, and the faces of stone were illuminated. It was beautiful!

While the lighting ceremony had been solemn and quiet, the trip from Mt. Rushmore back to the hotel in Rapid City was an adventure. We missed our turn to skirt around town to the highway, and ended up about 10 minutes into the middle of the town. Naturally, we turned back. And... you guessed it. We missed the turn again. Thanks to Google Maps and Mapquest, we finally made it back to the highway and back to the hotel, where we had a quick meeting of the minds to figure out the next day's schedule.

Rapid City is just about 30 minutes from Sturgis, and we just happened to be there on the weekend that kicked off the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. It didn't take much convincing for us to decide that we HAD to stop off in Sturgis on the way to Eagle Butte. We'd seen hundreds of motorcycles on the highway, and heard countless stories of the legendary Sturgis, and wanted to see it for ourselves. Plus, we figured the girls would get a kick out of it. With that decided, day two was done, and we hit the hay.

I'll stop part 1 of this story there. Friday and Saturday were emotional days for me, and it's hard to explain how and why. Besides, I'm sure I'm rambling and should probably collect my thoughts before I go on. Sooooo.... look for part 2 soon.

Shoes, Shoes, Shoes!

2011-07-26T21:26:00.023-05:00

Sarah and I met Tonya, Heidi, and several of the Jr. High/High School girls at Payless shoes tonight, and the girls picked out the shoes we will be taking with us for the South Dakota shoes drive.

It's starting to seem so much more "real" now that we have the shoes! I'm excited about going. I'm looking forward to meeting the families at the shoe drive, and to having some good times along the way.

Matt is in town this week. His great grandmother died, so he is here for the funeral. He's also setting up a new laptop for the H.H. and spending a little time with the fam. He called to invite Sarah and me to have lunch on Sunday, which was a pleasant surprise. We picked him up and went to the Corner Pub, and then brought him back to the house with us so he could work some computer geek "magic". Sunday night, we got another pleasant surprise when Doug Hefflin and his wife and mother-in-law came over and we all trekked to Riverton for dinner at France's.

I said a couple of days ago that this would be a busy week, and it is! Tomorrow night, Sarah and Charlie are going to St. Louis to see Journey. Then there are still dentist appointments, school physicals, piano lessons, karate, band, and much more to get through in the next few days. I'll be ready for a day off by the end of this week!

What a Week!

2011-07-24T10:36:00.030-05:00

We returned from vacation on Saturday, but it's still been a whirlwind of activity around here! On Sunday, the H.H. and I went to the Brewhaus to see our friend, Jan's, brother and his wife play a little bluegrass. While Jan couldn't make it there, her hubby, Mark, did, and we had some nice conversation while we listened to the band.

After a week of sleeping in and lounging, it was more than just a little rough to get up and get back into the routine on Monday morning. But, I survived. I think Jack was happy to get back to camp, so he got up without much complaining.

The H.H. and I met my friends, Kimmi and Russ at one of the lake clubs on Saturday night to see my high school friend, Rich's, band The Cherry Stoners play at one of the lake clubs. At the end of the night, we went to Lake Pointe Grille for a late dinner. Neither of us had ever been there, and I'm so glad we went! It was VERY good. I'll definitely be going back there. I wish we could go out with them more often. It's always fun!

Now that we're back home and getting into the swing of things, it's time for me to think about... the next trip! Sarah and I will be headed to South Dakota very soon with Tonya, Heidi, and their girls for a Share the Spirit shoe drive. We're going this week to buy the shoes that we'll be taking to Eagle Butte, SD. I'm really looking forward to that trip - I think it will be an amazing experience. First we just have to get through the next very busy week!

Home, Sweet, Home?

2011-07-16T20:54:00.002-05:00

Why does the drive home after vacation always seem soooooooo long? I'm sure it's because we're so tired. Of course, in our car, we're also still silly, and tend to get a little slap-happy on long drives.

Last Night

2011-07-15T21:17:00.013-05:00

Vacation always FLIES by, and this year's week of vaca has been no exception to that. On our last night in Branson, we went to a place called the "Rowdy Beaver". It was sort of a compromise - it looked more "chain-esque" so the kids were pretty sure they'd find something good on the menu, but it also looked independent enough that Charlie and I would find something more unique.

And it did offer both. It was a fun sort of pub/restaurant sort of place. The food was good, and plentiful, and everyone left there happy. (and I didn't get sick!)

Naturally, you can guess what we did for our last vacation hoorah... GO-KARTS. (yes, we are probably just a bunch of goofballs, but we have fun....)

Scuba Gear and a Fish Fry

2011-07-14T23:03:00.021-05:00

For me, vacation week with lots and lots of poolside time was perfect! The kids and I bought "scuba gear" (swim masks) so we could really play in the water, and I could swim around with my contacts in. We had a BLAST. We each had "scuba" names like Scuba Stan and Scuba Jim, and when the masks were on, we took on our scuba identity.

Some of Kathryn's pool time got cut short because of the sunburn she got when they all went fishing, and that was sad. Her arms ended up itchy and covered with an annoying sun poison rash if she was out in the sun too much. So her pool adventures had to come in shifts - pool for a while, then shade for a while. Still fun, but a little bit of a bummer for her.

After the scuba adventures of the day, we threw together our version of a fish fry.

When all was said and done, it was a pretty yummy dinner. Charlie made several pieces of fish and some potatoes for me without using wheat flour before he fried up the rest of the fish. So we all got to enjoy a great dinner.

And after dinner... more go-karts!

This time, we went to the four-story metal track.

It was MUCH faster than the wooden track! Everyone made fun of me because I used the break on the big ramp. Even using the break didn't really slow me down, though! In fact, on one pass around the track, Jack ended up sideways coming down two of the ramps!

It was definitely a good way to wrap up day 6 of vacation!

About Last Night...

2011-07-14T06:31:00.017-05:00

In addition to my go-kart initiation last night, we spent a little time away from the Branson strip. We went to the Bass Pro Shop, and did some window shopping. I popped into the Brighton store (of course) and got a Missouri charm. We also went on the hunt for a 100% local place to have dinner.   The H.H. and I both believe that the chain restaurants are good, and you know what to expect, but they don't always have the charm that a local place can have.

We ended up at an Italian place called Rocky's. We had a good meal, and enjoyed some lively conversation with the host. During that conversation, we discovered that our waitress was part of one of the local shows, and talked for a little while about Branson, and what life there was like.    It was a good time. And you know the go-karts were fun.   But then...

I got sick in the middle of the night. Ugh. I'm the only one who had chicken, and that's the only thing I ate last night,so I'm reasonably sure it was the thing that didn't "agree" with me. I don't know if I had a bug of some sort, or if it was just about the food, or what... but it was NOT the way to spend one of the nights on vacation. :(    Thankfully, it didn't last long, and I'm feeling OK now.

Go-Karts!!!

2011-07-13T22:19:00.001-05:00

Until this day, I had never been on a go-kart. Never. It's just never been one of those things that my friends and I did. The family found this to be ridiculously unacceptable, and since Branson is some sort of go-kart mecca with lots and lots of tracks, we headed out before dinner to find a good place to initiate me.

There is a chain of "family fun" places called "The Track" in Branson with several locations, and a couple of mulit-level go-kart tracks. That's where we ended up. We took our first ride on the basic, plain old, one level with a few turns, go-kart track. It was fun!

From there, we moved across the parking lot to a wooden multi-story track. It was LOTS of fun. Because it was a wooden track, it had a more "rickety" feeling to the ride. More bumps and such. Fun, fun fun! I can't' believe I was 44 before my first go-kart ride... why'd I wait so long?

More from Tuesday the 12th

2011-07-12T19:06:00.000-05:00

Charlie took the kids fishing somplace just over the border into Arkansas all day on Tuesday, and I lounged by my lonesome at the resort. I had time to kill, and I loved it1 I went to the work out facility at the resort, and logged a sweet 5k on the good ol' treadmill. And then I spent nearly the rest of the day poolside.

When the crew returned after a very long, hot day, they tried to tell me that they hadn't caught anything. I might have fallen for it, if Jack weren't such a terrible liar, and such an excited and anxious to share kind of kid. They opened the cooler, and pulled out a decent haul of fish. While the rest of us showered, and tried to sooth a nasty sunburn on Kathryn's back, Charlie cleaned and prepped 'em for a meal later in the week.

20110712-010, a photo by Mary Sunshyn on Flickr.

Resort Life

2011-07-12T08:47:00.002-05:00

Aaaaaaah.... Resort life pretty much rocks. This is the view from our balcony.

You can see the pool, and the fire pit, and the picnic area, the other villas, and the main activity building. All within just a minute's walk. And all at our leisure... and when I say leisure, I mean it. I didn't get out of bed until 11:00 am yesterday! Granted, I couldn't really sleep well the night before, but still - 11:00 am on a Monday morning!

The H.H. had to do some work yesterday, so the kids and I took in a couple of the local attractions. The girls anxiously took in the Ripley's Believe It Or Not museum.

And Jack and I checked out the Titanic museum.

Both were very interesting, and entertaining. We all had a good time, and afterward Jack went back to the resort for some pool time, while the girls and I hit up the outlet mall to find some bargains.

Overall, day 3 of vacation was pretty laid back. We just hung out, and enjoyed the "resort life".

Day Two

2011-07-10T23:28:00.004-05:00

There is nothin' like hanging out at the pool during vacation.

I spent part of the day on my own at the pool, soaking in some sun, lounging around, enjoying a lazy day, while the H.H. and the kids went fishing. Then later in the day, Sarah, Jack, and I checked out some of what the resort had to offer, while the H.H. and Kathryn went back out for fishing round two.

In the main building, there is a game room with lots to do... We played a couple of games of pool, tried out the Foosball, honed our ping pong skills, and even played a couple of rounds of connect four. The staff here host activities every day, and today was no exception. They built a fire, and we all made s'mores. Even though it was a little hot outside to be sitting around a fire, it was fun.

And, of course, we ended the day back in the pool!

My Husband Snores

2011-07-10T09:55:00.000-05:00

My husband snores. For real. I'm not talkin' about some silly little slumber land purring. I'm talkin' about rattle the rafters and wake the dog kind of stuff.   So I'm usually a little - and maybe even sometimes alot - tired in the morning. I hardly ever get a full night's sleep. And last night was no exception.   Even in a cushy resort king sized comfy bed, I couldn't sleep through the 2:00 am super snore. (Granted, I'm also a little bit menopausal and haven't really slept since that all began,either, but I'm not talkin' about that right now....) So, at about 2:15 this morning, I found out that the comfy-looking couch cushions really ARE pretty darn comfy. And now it's later on Sunday morning, on day 2 of the family vacation, and after several cups of ridiculously strong coffee, I'm on the balcony of our Branson condo, blogging away like a good little geeky girl.

Day one of this summer's family vacation got off to a rushed start. The week leading up to vacation was even worse. The Handsome Husband and I both had to be busy, busy, busy with the responsibilities of life during much of our would-be vacation prep time, so yesterday morning I did a last minute run to get the oil changed in the van.  Someone please remind me to NOT do that again. Murphy's law was in full force and so what I'd expected to be a quick stop took 4 times as long as it should have, and was about 99 times as frustrating as it needed to be. The worst part was that I had to virtually run through the grocery store on the way back to the house to get my "secret compartment surprise" for the kids. Our van has four drop down compartments for storage, and last year when we left for our first big family vacation together, I stashed Twinkies in the compartments. They loved it, and have referenced that off and on every since, so I couldn't skip doing something this time, too. The secret treat this year was Hostess mini donuts - every compartment got a pack of chocolate covered and a pack of powdered mini donuts. And, as expected, they loved it.   It sort of "kicked off" the road trip.

As for the road trip, well... it was blissfully short this time. We can road trip - don't think for a second we can't... We made it to Oregon and back with more van time than we could keep track of. And Florida isn't just a hop and skip away. I think that's what made yesterday's 6 hour drive so sweet.   The only major stop we had to make was for lunch at Mickey D's.

The shorter drive time meant much less "are we there yet" time, and more actual laying-by-the-pool and fishing-by-the-lake time! In fact, we were poolside by dinner time last night.

We're staying at a Marriott resort, and it is wonderful... There's a large pool area, and tons of activities in the common areas like horseshoe pits, basketball courts, pool tables, shuffleboard, and even a fire pit for cool nights, though I don't think we'll see any of those this week. Today is definitely a pool day for me, and the H.H. and the kids have gone to find a prime fishing spot. It is definitely summertime, and it is definitely vacation time. This was the scene this morning once everyone was up and moving, and out of their respective bedrooms. Jack's got the living room as his for the week, and so once the crew was out of their beds, his bed (a.k.a. the pullout) became the place to lounge.

The resort condo layout works great for us... The H.H. and I have our own room with a private bathroom, the girls have their own room, and each have their own bed, and share a large bathroom. And Jack is cool with the pullout. He's almost always the first one awake, so there's rarely any concern that the rest of us will need to use the living room before he's up. The condo has a nice kitchen, and a dining area, as well as this nifty balcony that I'm still lounging around on. And even though we are right on the strip in Branson, you'd never know it. The resort grounds are private, and quiet, and pretty self-contained. It's perfect.

And now, it's pool time for me!

HOW much pie?

2011-06-10T19:50:00.000-05:00

Today at lunch time, I went to the cafeteria at work to see about getting some fresh veggies. They don't always have veggies - it's a gamble, and the only way to find out is to make the trek down there.   Today, I was in luck. The had a broccoli/cauliflower mix that appeared to be steamed and didn't look too soggy or overcooked and was definitively not shiny with oil. I asked for a double order. Rather than fill a larger container with twice the regular amount of veggies, they gave me two small paper boats, each filled with one order. When I asked about this methodology for dispensing side dishes, I was told it was the only way the cashier would know that I had two orders, since they don't offer a "large" side of vegetables. (And silly me thought a large container would be the giveaway...)    An attempt at humor was made, with a comment to the effect of "wouldn't want you to get too many veggies". If you know me, you can now imagine the look I replied with.

ANYway, in line at the cash register counter, I saw the day's "featured" dessert. The cafeteria has been "featuring" very large portions of desserts for past few weeks, packaged and displayed at the cash register, tempting the impulse buyers as they stand in line to pay for their other selections. Today's "featured" dessert was pie. Each clear plastic box contained a very attractive, neatly cut, cleanly presented, FOURTH of a pie.

I couldn't take it.  I had to say something. And, being me, I said something that came out a little harshly. I said something along these lines... "Do you all think that the people here are all extremely fat with terrible eating habits?" I went on to point out what a standard pie serving size would be, asked who cut the pieces, and pretty clearly stated my view that the huge pieces of pie were just plain ridiculous, especially when compared to my challenge in getting a larger-than-standard serving of vegetables.

This is an example of what is seriously wrong with our society. You can turn on the television or radio, or browse CNN or msnbc online right now, and probably find some story about how unhealthy Americans are.  We want value for our dollar, and we've been convinced that there is value in cheap-ass, crappy food, so we buy those "featured specials" like crazy.  The reality is that there is little value in mass-produced, mostly flavorless, cheaply made junk food. Just because it comes in a big package, and you get a lot of it, doesn't mean it has any real value.

I'm no health nut, and I'm certainly not always the first in line to make the best food choices. But I'm in the "good choice line" more often than not. And I see what's in the "bad choice line" for what it really is.

Sadly, people are lazy. We all want convenience. I have nothing against convenience. But I make my own convenience and it only takes a few minutes about once a week. I plan meals, I mix spices and seasonings ahead of time,  I take our busy calendar into consideration and prep meals ahead of time if there won't be time to cook.    Meals cooked at home, from scratch, in eat-clean style, are flavorful. Some idiot somewhere along the way brainwashed Americans into believing that healthy food is bland and unappealing.  WRONG.  With a little effort, it's better than take out.

Back to my cafeteria experience, though, I'm sure my comments today won't change the world. Heck, everyone who saw me has probably already forgotten that I was even in the cafeteria today. Sadly (in my opinion, at least), they probably sold out of those huge pieces of pie. And tragically, I'll have to continue to get two small containers of veggies, because, after all, they "wouldn't want me to get too many veggies".

Ya-Hooo!

2011-05-30T21:07:00.000-05:00

It only took me a week, but I think I FINALLY got this whole tab thing, and second blog (POTD, or Picture Of The Day) thing worked out. Although, I'm pretty sure I should call it Picture of MOST Days. I don't usually manage to get a picture every day. The reason, well, that's explained on my POTD blog's "about" tab. :D

2011-05-25T21:38:00.002-05:00

On my way to work today, I drove past one of the city’s weekly rental converted-from-a-motel “residences”, and I saw a little boy emerge from a room. He was wearing what looked like pajamas, but I knew he was dressed for the day, because he had his backpack on his shoulder, and was headed in earnest toward the bus stop. Seeing him broke my heart a little. I know he didn’t wake up in his own room, and he doesn’t have a big backyard to play in, or a garage full of baseballs, skateboards, and bikes. He probably didn’t have to worry about which designer jeans to wear today, or if he’ll be able to get a new Wii game this week.

God has blessed me and my family in ways I can barely comprehend. We have everything we need, and most of what we want. We are so fortunate, and I am so very thankful.

I hope one day, when they are older, the kids can look back and appreciate what they had growing up… rooms of their own, bikes and balls, skateboards and scooters, a big backyard, pets, neighborhood friends, more clothes than they can possibly wear out or use up, dinner together as a family most nights, a warm and safe place to call home…

Memories

2011-05-20T21:23:00.000-05:00

We've all heard it... A smell, or a taste, can bring an age-old memory washing over you. It is SO true, and it just happened to me. I just had a few red raspberries, and as soon as that first berry hit my lips, and I got a slight whiff of it's sweetness, I was taken back to a time when I was young - 8, maybe younger. I closed my eyes for a minute, right there in my kitchen, and tasting and smelling those raspberries, I would have sworn I was a kid again, standing out in our yard with my dad, him handing me a few fresh red raspberries straight from our scraggly little raspberry vine. I felt like I was back there, in 1970-something, barefoot in the grass, wearing one of the sundresses my mom had made, feeling the warm sun on my cheeks, excited to taste the warm sweetness of the few raspberries we would get from that little vine. Excited and happy to be sharing them with my dad.

Those raspberries I ate tonight were the best thing I've had in a long, long time. I'm soooo glad I chose them!

The Updates

2011-05-15T07:23:00.000-05:00

Well, it's not "later today", but it's close!

I finished the fatass 5k, but miserably. The rainy mist paired up with me running set off my asthma and running was just awful. So my intervals were more walking than running, and my running was s-l-o-w. But I finished! My lungs were still screamin' about it when I went to bed last night, by I finished.

After the race, I met up with Jennifer and her girls, as well as her mom and sister. We formed a plan for the upcoming baby showers for the two girls. It's going to be fun having babies around! Lots of work, and a whole new world for the girls, but fun all the same.

For dinner, the fam went to The Creek in Chatham. The pipe band played there to promote next weekend's highland games, and the H.H. and I figured we might as well all go, and have dinner out. The Creek has EXCELLENT pub food. We might have had a long wait for a table - when we got there, the place was nearly packed. But, as luck would have it, Jennifer and Ryan were there, and sitting by themselves at a table for 6, and they called us over to join them. Yay for us!

All-in-all, a decent day. Now, let's hope I'll be able to say the same about today. :)

Moving Right Along

2011-05-14T07:31:00.000-05:00

Back to focusing on the positive!

It's fatass 5k day, and.... it's been raining. :( The upside of that is that the temperature is very pleasant. The downside of that is that there's alot of moisture hangin' around, and the asthma finds that very UNpleasant. Hopefully, though, with a little mucinex and my handy-dandy inhaler, I'll be good to go. I really just want to be across the finish line just a tad bit faster than I was last year. That would be enough to make me happy.

While the 5k can still go on, 5th grade baseball probably can't. I haven't heard anything official, but I'm supposing there was enough rain to soak the field. My fingers are crossed, though, because it does drain really well. I suppose we'll know for sure soon enough.

More updates later today...

Definitely Not On The Same Page

2011-05-01T10:24:00.000-05:00

So.... the H.H. and I have only seen eye-to-eye on about 4 things lately, and it's challenging, to say the least.   The latest things we do NOT seem to agree on is church attendance. I like it. I'm very thankful that my mom and my grandma took me to church as a child. I thoroughly enjoyed all of my bible school days, my silly Sunday school projects, and the fantastic youth group adventures that I was fortunate enough to have had.  While I didn't attend church regularly for a big portion of my adult life, I do believe that the foundation of faith that I was raised on made a difference in who I became. I think that was, in part, thanks to the friendships and peers that came out of those days. It's harder to make "bad" choices in life when you are surrounded by others who live with solid Christian foundations, and who trust and believe in you.

The H.H., on the other hand, doesn't think church attendance really matters so much. He hates getting up on Sunday morning. Hates it.  He doesn't see it as an important part of raising a family. And he often overrides my "vote" on whether or not we all go to church as a family. It's very disheartening on several levels. One, that he sees church as an inconvenience, or an obligation. Another, that I'm not an equal decision maker when it comes to raising my family. (You can't imagine how difficult it is to love your family as YOUR family, and then be reminded that "technically" they aren't "yours". All I can say about that is "grrrrrr....") And it makes me sad to know how wonderfully fun it can be to be a kid in an active, thriving, growing church, but then not be able to show that to my kids so they can experience it. :(

And so now I'm off to church on my own this morning, because I enjoy the feeling of community, and sharing, and fellowship with others who share my beliefs.

Status Updates

2011-04-14T22:45:00.002-05:00

I've been terribly remiss about blogging lately. But it seems I'm right on top of my facebook status updating... So I thought maybe if I review the last couple of weeks' worth of status updates, I'd get a picture of what's been going on.    Here goes, working from today back...

April 14 at 9:25 pm: In case you didn't know, asthma sucks. Plain and simple. And even worse is not being able to get away from things that make it worse... :(

April 10 at 6:22pm: That last breeze I felt through the window was cooler, and not so muggy... Could be time to batten down the hatches. The front may be starting to roll through soon.

April 10 at 4:10pm: Someone told me that their young 'un likes cars and toys from the movie Cars. Who is it?

April 10 at 4:08pm: We obviously have at least one wasp's nest somewhere around the house, and I'm NOT HAPPY ABOUT IT! I'll be sprayin' the heck out of it when I find it!

April 10 at 7:32am: Ah... A sunny Sunday, lots of claratin and aller-eyes drops, and many, many peeps just waitin' to have their picture taken. You'll see what I'm talkin' about later today... Hehe!

April 9 at 4:19pm: How very international that my Asian pear was grown in Chile...

April 9 at 10:56am: There are only a few people who could get distracted and end up in a 30 minute conversation about kilts and pipe bands with a total stranger. I am one of them. :D on the bright side, I guess the Irish guy at County Market isn't so much of a stranger anymore. Happy Saturday!

April 9 at 8:36am: This morning's life lesson... Short-ish hair lends itself to extreme bed head. :(

April 8 at 7:00am: Happy Disco Friday! Get up and get groovin', and have a GREAT day!

April 7 at 6:17pm:  I'm so sorry to inform y'all that today was my FRIDAY! I'm a busy little baker tomorrow for the Sherman Methodist Church chicken dinner on Saturday. Name your dessert... Of course, you have to come to the chicken dinner to get it, but, hey... I didn't say I'd just hand it to ya'. :D

April 6 at 12:50pm: Quick lunch for me, and then back to work. Spicy peppered tilapia and yellow squash. Yummmmmm!

April 6 at 12:49pm: Happy Tartan Day!

April 5 at 9:04pm: People! If you haven't already, now is the time to sign up for the fatass 5k. It's got to be filling up fast - don't miss out! You can run, walk, skip, stand along the side of the road and make fun of me, eat donuts, drink beer, and do it all for charity! Friends of ours founded this event, and they've done a FANTASTIC job making it great! Support a great day of local fun!!

April 3 at 7:32pm: By the way, if tomorrow I mention anything about yellow brick roads, munchkins, or flying green witches, you'll understand what I meant tonight when I said IT'S WINDY! I won't need a tornado to take me to Oz, the wind we've got right now will do it! It sounds like my roof is going to be moved to another house!

April 3 at 7:25pm: Yes, indeed. You have seen this one before. But I'm checking out how well this pushes through from flickr. :D Thank you for your patience. Go have dessert.

April 3 at 12:42pm: It's a PERFECT day for a ball game (especially with beer & lunch included!). Yay!

April 2 at 6:27pm: Soooo... what would y'all do if you caught a certain little boy destroying the tulips? I'm thinking a "work order" to plant about 100 more this fall might be in order. Ya' think?

April 1 at 2:30pm: Hey, my friends from way back... Mr. Nilhas' obituary is in today's SJ-R....

And that sums up the past couple of weeks.

Tomorrow, maybe I'll be a wee bit more original in my posting. Assuming, that is, that the asthma doesn't do me in tonight.... Ugh. Asthma sucks.

Resolution Update

2011-04-05T20:53:00.000-05:00

April is here. It's spring. Fully one-quarter of the year has passed by. I figure it's time to check in on myself and see how I'm doing on my resolutions.

Project Life is a partial fail as far as resolutions go. BUT, I am getting lots of pics regularly, and documenting our life. So maybe I should say Picture A Day is a partial fail, but Project Life's going OK. When it's all said and done, I'm sure we'll have a great photo album documenting a year in our lives.

Working out is right on track. I've been getting to the gym several times a week, much to the aggravation of the H. H., sometimes, I think. But I go anyway. I made a promise to myself, and promise to my mother, and I'm not backing down. I'm not going to let myself slip on my health. And, I firmly believe it should be OK for me to feel that way.

Blogging, well, let's not even go there. You can see how well I'm doing on that one. I have so much to write, but by the time I am able to sit and do it every evening, I'm too exhausted! I'll get better at that, though.... I will.

Meal planning is a breeze now. I've been finding one or two new recipes to try every week, and working them into my plan. I'd have to give myself a pat on the back for this one. Jack helps me cook, and pretty much everyone's willing to try new things. And if the new things don't turn out to be quite what we'd expected, we go with the flow. There's always grilled cheese.

And there you have it. My resolution update. Some positives, some not-so-positives, but all-in-all, it's all good.

My Dad

2011-04-03T19:29:00.001-05:00

My Dad, a photo by Mary Sunshyn on Flickr.

Not a new picture, by any means, but a favorite. I decided it would be great to use as a test of how well this pushes to blogger from flickr. :)

Thankful!

2011-04-01T13:30:00.002-05:00

I am so thankful for my health! I take it for granted much too much. I'm glad I've made such a conscious decision to live a more health-filled lifestyle. I am healthy, and so is everyone in my family (well, except for the H.H. who seems to always have a cold lately!), and I want us to stay that was for many long years.

So, I plan healthy meals, use less processed and more fresh veggies, fruits, and grains. I maintain a membership at the gym for all of us.

It's easy to get into a rut, and forget how lucky you are. And then you see someone who's ill, or unable to live the life that you do, because of poor health, or disease. And it makes you stop and assess your life, and realize what fortunes you have.

I have great fortunes!

Just Not Right

2011-03-17T18:38:00.000-05:00

I wish the media had even a tiny bit of respect for the feelings of those who are surviving through the worst series of tragedies in our time. The man who's just discovered his family didn't survive doesn't need an interview... He needs the cameras to be turned off, and the microphones set aside, and he needs a hug, and words of kindness. I'm quickly losing respect for a whole heck of a lot of reporters.

Those reporters are there with their crews and their equipment, and I'm sure they aren't spending every night in piles of rubble. They have their makeup on, and their hair done, and their clean and still pressed outfits when they go on the air. And then they stick their microphones and cameras into the faces - into the lives - of people who are totally and completely without. Without homes, without families, without food, shelter, or clothing. Without the most basic of all things, water. Without what they knew to be their lives.

Those reporters are taking advantage of those who are weak and weary, and that's just not right.

I cry at the drop of a hat again these days. I suppose that's mostly because of my ever-changing, messed up, pre-menopausal hormone levels. But I think it's also because I have a heart. Every time I turn on the television, there's another image of suffering in earthquake- and tsunami- ravaged Japan, and my heart breaks. I don't know how the major news network reporters have become so calloused that they can dig for their story, and just ignore the anguish in the eyes of those they interview. It's as if they've lost their humanity.

I hate how much some people can just, well... suck sometimes.

Thursday

2011-03-03T19:06:00.000-06:00

Ah… Thursday night. Thursday night is kids’ night at karate. If you don’t get there early, you don’t get a seat. Especially now that there are lots and LOTS of new, young kids in class. Naturally, we didn’t get there early enough, and I’m sittin’ in the hallway. Thankfully, the hallway is carpeted and clean. If I wasn’t sure it would mess up my sleeping pattern for the night, I’d probably move to the van for a short nap.

The discussions of the day today between the H.H. and myself were almost exclusively about vacation. We really need to make at least an initial decision about this year’s vacation destination. If we don’t decide soon, our first choice(s) will be booked. You’d think selecting a vacation spot would be easy, but it’s not. There are so many things to take into consideration, like whether or not any given vacation spot will have things for each of us to do. We also have to take some ridiculously high gas prices into consideration. As the price as the pump rises, our potential destinations get closer and closer to home.

Activities on vacation is a hot topic for us. The H.H. loves to go fishing. Kathryn enjoys it, too. Sarah and I could take it or leave it. But we both love to browse through little shops and boutiques. We all enjoy hiking, at least to some extent. Jack can handle doing just about anything – for a while. Everyone except me loves a good amusement park.

So... you can see where it's a topic that could consume a conversation. This weekend, we are definitely going to make a decision. Even if it is just an initial one. :)

New App

2011-02-28T22:15:00.000-06:00

Once again, I must admit I've been a slacker. I'm not living up to my blogging resolution. I'm ok with it. You'll just have to be ok with it, too.

On the other hand, I'm on top of my exercise resolution right now. I bought a new app called Couch to 5k from Felt Tip, Inc. I LOVE IT. It lets me turn on my music, and when it's time, it lightly beeps in my ear, and tells me it's time to run, or time to walk. It's great! It's keeping me on task. When I'm in charge of my own intervals, it's just too easy to cut my run time short. Definitely the best $3 I've spent in a long time!

Tuesday

2011-02-15T20:44:00.000-06:00

It's Tuesday. That's almost all I've got... not quite, but almost...

This past weekend, the Handsome Husband and I went out for a nice Valentine's Day dinner date, albeit a day early on Sunday... Talk about yummy! We both got terkiaki salmon, and enjoyed it thoroughly. We also shared appetizers of summer rolls and lobster rangoon. (Yes, my tummy did get a little mad at me over those, but it was worth it.)

Our Sunday night dinner out wound down an aggravating week of total grouchiness on the part of the H.H. After the kids and I got him a new phone for his birthday on the 8th, everything went downhill... the cellular provider sales rep messed up and switched over his data package before he should have. Then there were a few glitches with some of the apps we installed. The sound quality was horrible, and then, well, then... the crystal broke. Then we got the data package switched back to the old phone, but there were glitches with the texting. All-in-all, it was pretty much a disaster as far as birthday presents go. Now the phone's getting sent away for repair, and then maybe even replacement. I'm just hoping things go better when we get it back, and "start over".

I'm not really doing so fantastically well with my picture of the day lately. I've missed a few days. But, I'm looking at it like this - I'm still capturing memories from most every day, and that's alot. And it's going to make for a fantastic album to look back at.

The best news of my day was.... I lost another 1.4 pounds last week. Ya-hooooooo! My 2011 total is right around 7 pounds over the past 7 weeks (I didn't start on the first). Not bad at all. And, since I'm really just trying to eat clean, and exercise regularly, it's just proving to me that the very simplest changes really do make a difference.

Snowmageddon Survival

2011-02-06T08:44:00.000-06:00

Snowmageddon? Yes. Snowmageddon. That's just one of the names given to last week's storm. I've also heard Snowpocalypse and Snowapalooza. Being stuck in a blizzard makes you silly, I guess. And stuck is exactly what we were. Once I got home on Tuesday afternoon, that was it for a while. We got around 12 inches of snow - not as much as the forecast had predicted, but enough to bring life screeching to a halt here in Central Illinois.

When I left work on Tuesday, there was level 2 emergency in place in our county, and soon after I got home, that was changed to a level 3. A level 3 means all county roads are to be considered closed. Shortly after that, the state police closed the highways. The National Guard was stationed at the on/off ramps to turn people away. It was crazy!

I know lots and lots of people who lost power, and some were without it for more than a day. Thankfully, nobody suffered any collateral damage as a result. We never lost power here. When I went to bed on Tuesday night, listening to the tiny little pellets of ice as they continued to hit the windows, I figured we'd just wake up half frozen in the middle of the dark night if the power did go out, and we'd have to stumble around until we found our flashlights. We were ready for it, if it did go out - we had the sleeping bags lined up, the gas heater out, emergency bags packed, and hand warmers, hats, gloves, and scarves waiting for us. But we made it through the storm with the power on.

I stayed home on Wednesday. My office opened, though I'm not sure how they could really do that, since the state and county roads were still all under that level 3 emergency, but they did. I don't think many folks made the trek, but I guess enough made it to keep business going.

I couldn't have made it there if I'd tried. Drifts were everywhere.

At least not until well after noon. Alot of that snow whirled around and landed right in front of our garage door. It was like the snow was trying to hide from the wind. We had 3 feet of snow along half the length of our driveway, and then it tapered down to about a foot by the end . Of course, after that, there was a massive chunk of snow deposited by the snow plow to also dig through. Thank God for snow blowers is all I can say. Whoever invented those was a genius!

By the end of the day on Wednesday, we were pretty much all 110% bored. I was never so happy to go to work on Thursday. The kids were still out of school, though, and had to suffer through another snowbound day. There's only so much TV watching, video gaming, snowman building, and just plain laying around that you can do! Everybody was mostly happy to get out of the house and back to school on Friday, even if they did have to trudge through some snow to get to the bus stop.

And now, well... Now it's snowing again. I suppose maybe it IS snowmageddon.

SNOW!

2011-02-01T18:43:00.000-06:00

First of all, I'm not even going to TRY to defend my slacking off here. I haven't posted for days and days. It seems every time I try to make time, I get distracted, and don't get back to it. But today, I've got nothin' but time, because this is what it looked like outside just a couple of hours ago.

And since then, it's been snowing, sleeting, hailing (yes, hailing), or some mixture of them all, pretty steadily and pretty heavily. They expect us to get as much as 20 inches of total accumulation by the time this winter storm is over later tomorrow.

Being snowed in really doesn't bother me, as long as the power stays on. My biggest concern is keeping the heat on! I HATE not having power. The kids get so ridiculously bored, and so do I, for that matter. And in the winter, losing power can be so darned dangerous. (Not to mention the fact that I can't make coffee...) So I'm just sitting here, writing this, praying with all my might, that those little pellets of sleet I hear hitting against the window don't build up too much more on the power lines.

As long as the power stays on, I'm fine with it if the snow just keeps on coming. We only get a really big snow storm about once every 20 years, so THAT part of this storm is cool. I'm anxious for morning, to see the snow in the early morning's light. I'll have my camera ready to snap some pictures as soon as I get up tomorrow!

the "More"

2011-01-26T22:16:00.000-06:00

Naturally, I'm totally exhausted again today, but... I suppose that's just the way it is these days. I can't expect to get enough sleep AND do all the 'stuff' I want to do. But I said there'd be more today, so... here's the "more".

I figured out why I've not written anything this week. I've been trying to decide just how to put into words some memories of my mom, and that's oh-so-very hard for me. When I work on writing about her, I usually end up avoiding it. I still miss her every day, and writing makes me miss her even more. But I will, because it's important to remember. I'm just not going to do that today. Instead, for right now, I'm going to think more about my resolutions...

I've been doing so-so on the picture of the day thing. I'm sure the kids will wonder why some days there are pictures of snow, or of my running shoes, or of some other silly thing that's not so silly to me. Hopefully, my journaling cards will explain why I choose the pictures I choose.

Speaking of pictures, I'm trying to expand my photographic horizons by using various filters and effects in photoshop. Here's the photo I'm using as the blog background for the next couple of weeks until Valentine's Day.

And here's the original

I like both, but in different ways. I think I'm going to have alot of fun with photoshop!

FAIL!

2011-01-25T22:03:00.002-06:00

Ok, well... So... I said I was resolved to post at least every other day, and the last post I wrote was on the 17th. And today's the 25th. I gotta admit... that's an extreme FAIL.

Oh, well.... Back at it. I guess it's only real failure if I just give up. And I'm not doing that!

More on that tomorrow, though... I'm exhausted tonight, and it's off to bed for me!

Cupcakes, Take THREE

2011-01-17T16:28:00.001-06:00

Well, Jennifer asked me to make cupcakes for Jessica's birthday, and when I asked what theme she wanted, she said "underwater". Here's what I came up with...

and

Cupcakes Take Two

2011-01-16T20:13:00.001-06:00

OK, so... I was looking through pictures in a flickr group that I am a member of, and I found the most amazingly creative cupcake! It was a sunflower in another member's photo stream. (if you follow this link, you'll see how amazing those are!) I've been chompin' at the bit to try to make some myself, and today was my day.

I think they turned out pretty darned good. Next time, though, I'm definitley going to use the oreo mini cookies. The regular oreos are almost as big as a cupcake!

On my own...

2011-01-14T14:12:00.014-06:00

The Handsome Husband left for Florida this morning, along with the rest of the pipe band. He (and thus, I) was up at 3:45, and he was out the door at 4:25. I had every intention of going back to bed until it was time to get the kids up and at it for school, but.... I had a cup of coffee. Then I turned on the morning news. Then a little time passed. Then a little more. And then, well, it was too late. So... I'm a wee bit sleepy today. I didn't really HAVE to get up when he did. But I thought he'd need some coffee and he was in a rush to get everything together, so there I was, pouring a thermos full of dark roast for him at 4:00 am.

Once the kiddos were up and moving, I went to work out, and got the day started right. I would LOVE to be able to do that every day! It makes such a difference. I half expected to go back for a second work out this evening with the Jack man, but I just picked him up from school. He's got a migraine, and the nurse sent him home. :( Poor kid. So... it looks like it'll be a quiet night at home for us tonight!

Grrrr....

2011-01-13T21:35:00.000-06:00

Life in Illinois. Grrrrr...

The state's broke
They've raised our taxes
The state's still going to be broke
Illinois jobs are being filled by non-residents
Illinois residents are still unemployed

I could go on for days. But that's a sampling of why "grrrrrr..."

On a brighter note, I did lose 5 pounds last week. I guess cutting those snickers out of my diet really did make a difference! Ha! Of course, I'm sure the massive quantities of celery I've been ingesting hasn't hurt. Or the other fruits and veggies, the tons of water or the regular, small-ish, human-sized portions I've returned to having.

Whatever combo of things, I lost 5 pounds. Life is good. Even if I am living in Illinois.

Week 1

2011-01-11T20:16:00.002-06:00

OK, well.. I, uh, well... I tried really hard to not get carried away and get all "mom" and start posting pictures of my Project Life project, but... I can't take it. I gotta do it. On the oh-so-extremely remote chance that Matt (or anyone else, for that matter) actually occasionally checks the blog, I gotta make sure it shows what's goin' on here in my corner of the world.

Besides, I was scanning through about 50 different blogs tonight, lots of which have posts about various styles of picture-of-the-day projects, and I've gotten "the bug" to share.

The girls started the year off as karaoke rock stars, after spending the day re-organizing the video games and game systems.

On the 2nd, Jack realized that we were serious about getting ready to go back to school after the break. He was very pouty while he practiced spelling.

The 3rd took us to a J.V. Girls' Basketball game, where Kathryn played almost the entire game. She was totally AMAZING! (Even if my photographic efforts weren't!)

Since she got it, the shirt's been Sarah's favorite. 'Nuff said.

Jack got a new Bop It for Christmas, and by the 5th, he'd mastered the "master" level. He could perfectly follow the commands - even with the Bop It behind his back!

Just before the first of the year, Jack joined the Sherman-Williamsville Wrestling Club, and during his second week of practices, he really started to get into it.

We finished up the week with a little housework. A Jack in trouble = A very clean room!

And that sums up our first week. I have no idea if I'll post all of every week's entries, or if I'll end up posting occasional pics here and there, but I'm sure you'll see more of my POTD/Project Life project.

Bleh

2011-01-10T21:09:00.002-06:00

Uh-oh. I feel a little stomach bug comin' on. YUCK! This has been a bad year for the flu. It just won't go away!

Cupcake Update

2011-01-09T17:49:00.000-06:00

The cupcakes were a hit.

AND, they were DELICIOUS!

Cupcakes!

2011-01-08T21:09:00.003-06:00

I'm helping Jennifer help Jessica host a baby shower tomorrow. I'm in charge of the cake. Which, in this case, is taking the shape of cupcakes. I love making cupcakes. I really have no idea why - I just do. The mother-to-be particularly enjoys chocolate cake with white frosting, so... that's what I'm making. I'm also making some white cake with chocolate fudge frosting, and a few gluten-free with whatever frosting is left.

In between baking up the batches of baby cupcake batter, I'm watching Pink Panther 2 with Jack (and blogging, and playing words with friends). All-in-all, it's a pretty successful evening.

YUM

2011-01-06T21:29:00.000-06:00

Wow. I am having an AMAZING week when it comes to cooking! Tonight, I made Spinach & Goat Cheese Stuffed Flank Steak. It was YUMMY. I did change a couple of things, though. I didn't marinade for very long - only about 15 minutes. We don't like how salty meats get when they marinade in soy sauce for a long time. (Even in the reduced sodium soy sauce, it can get overwhelming if you're not careful.) Also, I prepared the mushrooms on the side, because we don't all enjoy them. And, finally, because it's January, and because it's 29 degrees outside, and because I'm a cold-weather wimp today, I seared in a large skillet, and then baked in a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes instead of breakin' out the grill.

I don't remember what's on the menu plan for tomorrow (and I'm not about to walk all the way to the kitchen to check the list right now...), but I think Saturday might be a gumbo day, and I'm excited for that. I am really getting into this cooking thing. I never thought I'd enjoy it so much, but I really do. And almost as much as the cooking, I enjoy the planning. It's kind of fun to look for new recipes.

In keeping with my new found love of all things kitchen, this weekend I get to do some baking, which, if you cook, or bake, you know is totally different from cooking. I can't really explain how or why... But it is. It just IS. ANYway, I'm helping with a baby shower on Sunday, and I'm in charge of the cake - or, in this case, the cupcakes. I love making cupcakes! I can't decide if I'll use straight frosting, or some fondant, or what. I'm sure I'll decide that as they are cooling. That's usually about the time I make decisions like that.

All-in-all, I should have a pretty decent weekend in the kitchen. ;)

Workin' Out

2011-01-04T20:50:00.001-06:00

Well, resolution #1 is coming along just fine. I walked yesterday (in the super-cool vibram five-fingers shoes), and today made it to fitClub for about 40 minutes on the eliptical. Ah.... I feel so much better. A short break of a few days would have been a good, but not working out at all for the past few weeks was just plain awful. You know you've made exercise a part of your life when you actually MISS it. Now if I can just figure out how to get a handle on eating, I'll be great!

I think resolution #2 is going to help with that. Knowing what we'll be having for our dinners makes it ALOT easier to make the day healthier. Tonight, I made shredded chicken enchiladas. Yum. So much yum that there was actually some discussion around who got the last one. AND - they thought I'd gotten carry out because they tasted so good. Although, I'm not sure that's a good thing. I'm hoping that eventually, homemade will win out over carry out. On tomorrow night's menu, I think, is a spinach-cheese stuffed steak. I can't wait!

Day 2

2011-01-02T21:16:00.000-06:00

Ya-Hooo! January 2nd, and all is well.

On the resolution front, I am sticking to the meal plan... today, I fixed homemade chili. As in homemade. From scratch. No spice mix. No canned "starter". All homemade. And it was pretty darned tasty. I used about double the ground beef, and it turned out to be a really meaty, hearty chili with a good warmth. At least, that's what I thought. And I think the fam agreed - they all said they liked it, anyway. Of course, it will be tweaked a bit until I get it more "perfect".

As far as Project Life goes, I'm not going to get silly with sharing my pictures of the day. I think I'll try to post some about once a week. The kids are totally into the POTD, and keep posing for me at every opportunity. Even Jack, in trouble and studying spelling, posed several times. So.... I've gotten my pictures for these first two days without any problems.

It's definitely starting out to be a pretty decent year. :)

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T08:32:00.000-06:00

Ah, January 1st. Its so funny, if you really think about it, the way our society acts as though life's reset button gets pressed every January 1st.   And it's even funnier, really, that it actually kind of works that way. We all make new beginnings based on the calendar. And I'm sure I'm not the only one who'll say that today just "feels" different somehow.    "Visualize, Believe, Realize" is so true. In our own ways, we each visualize January 1st as a new beginning, we do believe in it, and so it's just the way it is.

A big part of the "new beginning" thought is the concept of the new year's RESOLUTION. Because we get another chance to start over every January 1st, we make resolutions based on what we didn't quite get right in the past year.   Some of us, myself included, have made the same resolution over and over - and over - again. Like losing weight, or quitting smoking. I resolved about 10 times to quit smoking on January 1st, but ultimately my quitting had nothing to do with the calendar. When I threw out the smokes, it was on an August day.

New Year's Day resolutions seem to be for the fun of it, in alot of cases. People recite their resolutions with a chuckle, and often throw in a disclaimer about how long they think they'll last. Like "I'm going to exercise every day this year! Of course, by about February I'll be back on the couch, but I'm going to start off right."    It's like people are giving themselves an out... like if they say something about the possibility of failure, it'll make it OK.

I'm not taking my resolutions lightly this year. And failure is not going to be an option. And that is why I'm not making a super-duper long list of things I resolve to change. That just wouldn't work. I'm realistic. I do have a super-duper long list of things I intend to accomplish this year. But those aren't resolutions. Those are my "2011 To-Do's". I still have to figure out a place to post those to keep them in my sights all year. But... that's for later today. Right now, I'm thinkin' about the resolutions.

Mary Sunshyn's New Year's Resolution #1 - Consistently exercise at least 4 times a week. The key there is "consistently".   Since I re-joined fitClub last year, I've exercised, but not very consistently. Some months, I worked out almost every day. Others, though, I worked out for 10 days in a row, but then skipped 10. And THAT is why I haven't achieved my goals yet, and I know it. So.... this year, I'm committing to being consistent.

Mary Sunshyn's New Year's Resolution #2 - Plan our meals a week at a time, and STICK TO THE PLAN. I've noticed that I get lazy way too often, and stray from the plans I make for our meals. Which is not a big deal, on one hand. But on the other hand, when I stray from the plans, I end up at the grocery store WAY too often. I also end up feeding the fam less-than-stellar meals. And, I'm sure I spend more, since I go to the store based on an idea for the week's meals, and then go back for MORE. :) I know I'm not alone - lots of us do it.   But this year, I'm sticking to the plan. This business of going to the store all the time cuts into my days way more than I like... which, in turn, leaves me less time to go work out, sit down and write, and lots of other things. So, that's enough of that!

Mary Sunshyn's New Year's Resolution #3 - Project Life. Picture of the Day. 'Nuff said.

and, kinda-sorta going hand-in-hand with #3...

Mary Sunshyn's New Year's Resolution #4 - Blog, blog, blog. I'm resolving to blog at least every other day.

Now, in the world of resolutions, I know that the only way to succeed is to have a plan. I'm one of those weirdo people who really and truly believes that saying "Failing to plan is planning to fail."   So... I've got the plans. But I won't blabber on and on about them right now.

There you have it. January 1st. Resolutions. Thoughts. Plans. Now, it's time to get busy!

Birthday Sad Stuff

2010-12-28T08:58:00.000-06:00

I’ll say it here, and I’ll say it only once… I don’t want to be a whiner, I’m not into being sad, and I don’t mean to seem needy, or anything like that. But I feel like I need to say it, so the blog gets to be the place.

I miss my mom. I miss her a lot. And tonight at 7:30, I’ll miss her even more. She used to call me at 7:30 in the evening on my birthday every year. Why 7:30? Because that’s when I was born, and she would say she couldn’t wish me a happy birthday until it was really my birthday - and birth time. It was a silly little thing jut between us, and it always made my day. I miss that LOTS.

There. It's out. It's done. And now, on to a great birthday.

Christmas

2010-12-26T08:11:00.001-06:00

I could go on about Christmas for days. I'm not sure where to even start. I guess I'll start with Christmas Eve.

On Christmas Eve - Friday - it started to snow mid-morning. And when I say snow, I mean big, wet, sticking to everything and accumulating, snow. By the time I left work at 3:00, the roads were a slippery mess of slush that was quickly turning to ice in some places. YUCK.  The snow did sort of taper off by mid-evening, and the roads were passable, though still messy. Rachel and Ted had planned to come to church with us at 11:00, and by that time, driving wasn't too terribly bad. We met them at the church without incident... that is, until we got inside.

At church, the heating/cooling system for the sanctuary was totally messed up. The blower was going full blast, trying the heat up the place, but... the heat wasn't working. The blower was going SO full blast that the flames for the candles were flickering like crazy, and I wasn't sure Jack was going to make it down the aisle as acolyte without losing his flame. And all that blowing mean it was FREEZING in the sanctuary. Everyone toughed it out, though, wearing coats and gloves during the entire service.  We survived, and I guess it gives us something to look back at and laugh about.

Getting out of church at midnight makes for a bunch of sleepy people, and we went straight home, enjoyed a reading of "The Night Before Christmas", and hit the hay.   The paper route means that morning comes quickly! And on top of that, the H.H. told the grandparents to come over at 8:00 am. The kids living in this house haven't seen 8:00 am on a day off in years. Ugh. So... we had to wake them up to open presents. HA! You know the kids are not little anymore when you have to wake them up to open presents, and they just move from their beds to the couch. : )

Granted, once they were up and opening, and the momentum built, they woke up and got excited about the day. It was just gettin' them started that took a little doin'. And for next year, we've decided to shoot for a much later start to the day.

Early start aside, I think the present opening frenzy went pretty well...

There were some excited surprises...

And some calmer gift-opening moments (who knew the calm moment would be from one of the kids!)...

After the presents were opened, and all the new clothes and shoes had been tried on, and the new video game was going, I got dinner started, and we just sort of chilled for a while. Christmas is always sort of weird like that - you're so excited for the craziness of it, but you're also so excited for the relaxing part of it.

We had a pretty yummy dinner with just about the most delicious, fatty, wonderful au gratin potatoes I could possibly make. And after dinner, naps were in order until evening. Charlie and Kathryn had both been fighting a HORRIBLE cold for days and days and days, so taking time for a nap was a must.

In the evening, Sarah and Jack went to visit with their grandpa for a short while, Kathryn went BACK to bed again, and eventually, Charlie, Jack and I went to my brother, Dale's, where we visited with him and Patty, Rachel and Ted, Amber and Steve, and, of course, Oscar...

Oscar's growing exponentially. He's so much bigger that he was the last time I saw him! And even as he grows bigger, I think he grows cuter. He's started giggling now - It's great to hear his own little personality coming out in his voice. He's totally a joy!

We ended the night with a rousing (yes, I said rousing) game of Apples to Apples, where we each ended up with WAY more of the green cards than the official rules say are needed to win, and WAY more silliness going on than the makers of that game ever expected anyone to have, I'm sure.

Overall, Christmas was definitely a good day.

The Saga Known as Kathryn's Life

2010-12-21T19:02:00.001-06:00

Well, about two weeks ago, Kathryn bought a car (with a teeny bit of help). A '99 Hyundai Elantra. Black. Cute. She got seat covers, and floor mats, and cool "stuff" for it. Even before her 16th birthday, she was set.

We celebrated her coming milestone birthday with dinner out, with Jacob, at Wings, etc. She had the largest chili dog ever. It was even big enough to share with Sarah.

And then, on the 13th, she got up early and we went to the Secretary of State's office so she could get her license.

It was a "snow day" for our school district because of some crazy-cold temperatures. By 9:00 am, she was officially off school, licensed, and a car owner... She was a very happy girl.

The happy lasted for just about 4 days.

On Thursday afternoon, on her way back from Jacob's house, someone pulled out in front of her, resulting in a pretty bad accident involving the two of them. Kathryn was - and is - OK. But her cute little car was not so lucky. No pictures for now, but it was pretty mangled in the front, and most certainly totaled. And just to be on the safe side, she spent several hours at the E.R. that night getting double- and triple- checked over. And, thankfully, they confirmed that she didn't sustain any serious injuries.

Well, except that she's really, really, really mad and frustrated about the whole situation, but that won't leave a mark.

Yummies

2010-12-19T22:41:00.001-06:00

Yesterday, for some reason, I woke up wanting to bake, or make candy, or something of the sort. So, after a little shopping, I stopped in at County Market and got a few extra ingredients like milk chocolate, bittersweet chocolate, and cocoa. Ha!

After dinner, I got busy, and made some chocolate chip cookies, and some chocolate, nutella & sea salt fudge - a recipe I found on Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen site (of course).

Let me just say it is THE BEST FUDGE EVER. It's a dark chocolate fudge, and it is amazing. Everyone loves it, and it was super-easy to make. Which is a bonus, since I'll have to be making it often to satisfy my newfound craving for the stuff.

Tonight, I continued with my baking "blitz", and made some peanut butter blossom cookies, at Sarah's request.

And they turned out pretty good. At least that's what I was told. I won't eat any of them, of course, since I made them using a traditional recipe with wheat flour, and that's a no-no for me.

I'm not sure why I'm on a baking "kick" this weekend, but I suppose it probably has something to do with the fact that Christmas is coming up next weekend. Christmas is always a good time to make some goodies, and share them.

Anyway, when I decided to make those Peanut Butter Blossoms, I also decided to take a few pics of the whole process. I always say I'm going to do that, but never follow through with pics of the entire process.

First, of course, I gathered all of my ingredients...

Then I got started with my favorite part of baking - creaming the butter and sugar.

I can't explain it, but that's been my favorite part of baking since I was a little girl. Probably something to do with the way the grainy sugars combine with the butter and get smooth and creamy. (duh - it's called "creaming")

After the dough was mixed, I dropped small balls of it into sugar, and got them ready for baking.

Once they came out of the oven, the tricky part started. Once they come out of the oven, you've got mere seconds to get the kisses placed before the cookies start to cool. Thankfully, I think I've got the hang of it.

I also cranked out a pretty good batch of snickerdoodles tonight, and got a sampling of everything I've made this weekend boxed up to deliver to a few people for the holidays.

I think my baking urge is passing, but you never know. There may still be some candy in my future...

Being Sick Sucks

2010-12-07T18:57:00.000-06:00

Plain and simple, being sick sucks. I took Jack to karate class last night, and about 10 minutes after we got there, I developed THE WORST stomach cramps. My tummy just plain HURT. And even worse, I realized getting sick was inevitable. Thank heavens for our friend, Scott, who is a black belt at the dojo, and a close neighbor. When I said I was going to have to leave, he offered to give Jack a ride home. And, wow, was I thankful for that offer! I made it home with no time to spare. I was sick, sick, sick. I know it's not "technically" the flu, but if you say "flu", everyone knows what you mean, so I'll say it... I had the flu. And it was a flu of the worst kind. I don't remember ever having such pains in my stomach. Ugh. I was sick. And I was just about totally out of it until mid-afternoon today.

I'm feeling pretty much back to normal now, and we're back at the karate dojo for class again tonight. So far, so good!

The Rest Reviewed

2010-12-06T18:51:00.000-06:00

Yes, I know this isn't very timely... Oh, well. I'm mostly writing for myself, anyway, so it doesn't matter so much, now does it? :)

I've reviewed the turkey brine/roast process, and the perfectly perfect pumpkin cheesecake, but there was much more. When I said I did almost everything from scratch, I meant it. The only thing that I purchased already prepared were the rolls. And those, while pre-made, were not mass produced. I got those at Great Harvest Bakery, and they were freshly made there in the bakery on Wednesday. As for the rest, lets start with the potatoes.

Potatoes.. Mashed. Boring. Regular. Plain. That's about it for the potatoes. The only thing noteworthy about them was that I made them on Wednesday night, and just heated them up in the crock pot on Thursday. Dull. So.... on to something more exciting, like stuffing.

Charlie's mom makes oyster dressing every year. The kids and I are not huge fans of oysters, and in the past I've thrown together some stove top. In this year of "homemade Thanksgiving", though, I tried a recipe for "Apple Sage Walnut" stuffing, using a really tasty whole grain gluten free bread as the base.

While it WAS pretty tasty, the whole grain bread made it a little heavier than I think we'd have preferred. Next time, I'll go with a white rice bread as the base - it's much more neutral and has a flavor more like "regular" white bread, and a density more akin to sourdough (in my opinion, anyway).

My gravy was basic gravy made with cornstarch and a combo of chicken and turkey broth. I will say, though, that it was yummy. I managed to make it pretty thick, but not lumpy. As you know, that, in and of itself, can be quite an accomplishment.

The cranberry sauce was probably the easiest thing to make - just cranberries, sugar, and pomegranate juice cooked together. I'm the only one who likes cranberries (I'm not sure how I managed to find a whole family that doesn't eat the best part of Thanksgiving, but I did....). I'm still not sure how I feel about the pomegranate element. I think I may have preferred a cranberry/apple combo instead, and I might try that next year.

The last thing on our menu was green beans. I'm not sure that needs much of a review. I just made our basic, usual, steamed green beans. Why? Because we all like them, that's why. Sometimes, simple is all you really need.

Recipe Review #2 (This is so Cheesy!)

2010-12-04T07:32:00.000-06:00

Well, as I said, I watched that Bobby Flay Thanksgiving dinner throwdown and became sure that Ree Drummond was my cooking hero. My Thanksgiving dinner was completed, in large part, thanks to her blog. That's where I found the recipe for Perfectly Perfect Pumpkin Cheesecake. I don't remember which page it was initially on, (heck, it might even have been in a tweet!) but I ultimately found it through her blog site at the Tasty Kitchen, and thank goodness I did! It... Is... Amazing!

I hadn't made a cheesecake in YEARS, so I decided a trial run before turkey day was in order. The Saturday before Thanksgiving, I made one of these bad boys, and was pleasantly surprised at 1) how easy it was, and 2) how DELICIOUS it was. I was especially surprised that it turned out well because I made a couple of changes to get rid of the wheat gluten... I used gluten-free ginger cookies to make the crust, and I used brown rice flower instead of wheat flour in the main recipe. Apparently, it didn't hurt a thing. That trial cheesecake had a major portion gone on Sunday within hours of cutting into it. I took what was left to Jenn and Rad on Monday, and Sarah was greatly disappointed when she found out I'd removed it from the house. :)

The Thanksgiving edition of this one was a hit, as well. A little whipped cream on top of a slice of this, and we were good to go! And this one stayed right here at home... well, for a couple of days, anyway.

Thanksgiving Recipes Reviewed - The Bird

2010-12-01T21:51:00.001-06:00

I made almost everything for last week's Thanksgiving dinner from scratch, and I used almost all new recipes. I figure that means I should sit down and think about those recipes - give them a good review.
The whole idea of "cooking it all" started the week before Thanksgiving, when I was watching the Bobby Flay Throwdown with Ree Drummond Thanksgiving show. It all looked so good. They were making everything from scratch, with fresh ingredients, and everything looked delicious. And I always prefer "from scratch" anyway, so that I can know exactly what's in the food I'm eating.   That's partly because I don't do gluten so I kinda need to know what's in it, and it's partly because I really do believe natural is better, and healthier. And you can't have natural if you're buying processed stuff and don't really know what's in it...

ANY way... back to the recipes.  The one thing that seemed furthest from my "norm" for Thanksgiving dinner was the brine for my turkey. I've never used a brine. For anything. I've never known anyone who has. But I kept reading all sorts of rave reviews about how it could make all the difference in the world. So... I decided to go for the brine.

According to everything I read, the key to a good brined turkey was to use a fresh - not frozen - turkey. So Tuesday after work I hightailed it over to Country Market and picked up a good lookin' fresh 15-pound bird. I'd decided to go with Ree Drummond's recipe for a brine. I don't know why, exactly. I suppose just because I really enjoy reading her blog, and because everything she made on the Throwdown episode looked amazing.

I got up early Wednesday morning, and got to the business of brine. I had to get it done super-duper early so it could cool, and I could get the bird, affectionately named "Bob" by the H.H., into his bath before I left for work. I'll admit it was pretty simple to prepare, and it smelled darned good when it was heating up.

Once the brine was cooked and then cooled, I transferred it to a HUGE stock pot, and submerged Bob. I put the lid on, heaved it all into the refrigerator (a couple gallons of brine over a 15-pound turkey in a huge stock pot is not exactly light), and forgot about it. I didn't even think about Bob, or the brine, until 8:30 am on Thanksgiving day, when I thoroughly rinsed him and got him ready for the oven.

For roasting, I mostly stuck to the basics - put him in a roasting pan, tightly covered him with a foil tent, so forth and so on. The one NOT so basic thing I tried this year was this - I covered the breast with a length of cheesecloth that had been soaked in butter, and at the end of the roasting time, I basted solely with butter.

All-in-all, the turkey turned out to be quite good, in my own humble opinion. Much moister than any turkey I've ever made before. I'll definitely brine again. And baste with butter. I guess it's true - everything really is better with butter. ; )

Oh, well...

2010-11-27T13:08:00.000-06:00

So... today's gone to hell. 'Nuff said. No writing from me today.

Ah... Success!

2010-11-25T21:29:00.000-06:00

Thanksgiving was a success. At least I think it was. We all got plenty to eat...

And it seemed like we had a pretty good time.

Sarah particularly enjoyed her turkey leg...

Oh, and the pumpkin cheesecake was a hit.

(I know this because it's now 1/2 gone.)

We did have a few cranky moments, but they were few and far between. I still wish we'd had lots of family with us all day, but I don't know that I'll ever get my only-child husband used to the idea of a houseful for Thanksgiving. I'll keep working on it, though. In the meantime, I'll keep cookin' for just us.

Gobble! Gobble!

2010-11-24T22:25:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow's turkey day, and I'm cooking everything, and I'm doing it pretty much from scratch. I love it! I've got a 15-pound turkey soaking in a brine, mashed potatoes ready for the crock pot, breadcrumbs drying, cranberry pomegranate sauce chilling, and a pumpkin cheesecake in the over. I can't wait to pull it all together tomorrow!

The only thing that would make it better would be having more of my family around me to enjoy the day with us. I miss spending Thanksgiving with Dale and Patty, and Patty's parents, my parents, Johnny and his family, Amber and Steve, and Rachel and Ted. We used to have a nice, cozy, little crowd every Thanksgiving. Having that crowd around would make for an amazing Thanksgiving.

Well, that, and having a little less tension. I don't know why, but Thanksgiving always seems a little tense in our house. It should be about relaxing, and eating good food, and visiting with family and good friends. But instead our day often ends up with everyone cranky and stressed out. I've got my fingers crossed for this year, though... I think it CAN be a good day!

Incidentally...

2010-11-22T22:13:00.000-06:00

Just to be totally clear about this... I will not get Christmas-crazy until AFTER Thanksgiving. As I've oft said, I believe Thanksgiving gets a bad deal every year.

That being said, Thanksgiving is over in three more days, and then it's ALL CHRISTMAS!

Karate And Such

2010-11-22T21:56:00.000-06:00

First of all, let me own up to being a slacker. I don't post nearly as often as I should. I know that. It's rough, though, sometimes.... Between working, and doing house "stuff", and getting in a work out here and there, and driving everyone to where they need to be, and anything else that comes up, it can be rough to find time to focus my thoughts and write anything even remotely coherent. With that out of the way, and off my chest, it's on to discussions of karate... and such.

Jack. Is. A. Brown Belt! Ya-hooooooooooo! He worked hard, and practiced lots for it. And he endured the most thorough testing he's gone through yet. And he earned his brown belt. I'm so proud of him! And, he's so proud of himself, too. You could really tell that when he was posing for a picture with the black belts.

Karate has been great for Jack. It's allowed him to really learn about discipline, and about setting goals, and about respect, and hard work.

Last week, everyone from all of our Yoshukai dojos got together in Lincoln for a breaking clinic. It was a good clinic. The younger kids got opportunities to break, and got some extra instruction in technique. It was good for everyone who participated.

Jack broke a few times, and learned alot about his breaking technique. Of all the "cool" things about karate, I'm pretty sure breaking is probably Jack's favorite.

I've taken - literally - hundreds of pictures of Jack and his friends in karate class. (OK, OK, OK... they are mostly of Jack, but there ARE alot of his friends, too!) I'm going to have to go through them this week, and get them onto a flash drive to share with the others at the dojo, for newsletters, bulletin boards, or whatever. At least my camera habit might finally prove useful!

Thankful

2010-11-17T21:38:00.001-06:00

Back on November 1, one of my facebook friends said she was going to post something she's thankful for every day until Thanksgiving. I decided to do the same thing. It seemed like a challenge, and I though it would be amazing if lots and lots of facebook friends spent a month expressing gratitude. (An attitude of grattitude is POWERful!) I'm a little surprised to have realized that I have so much to be thankful for that I really do have to really think to pick just one! I need to remember that on those "not so good" days. And believe me, there ARE some not so good ones! In fact, even since I started this exercise, there have been a few. But even on a bad day, when there was lots and lots to bitch about, I still found lots and lots to be thankful for when I really gave it some thought. To preserve my list for posterity, and maybe give me a reference for those "bad" days, here's the 1st half of the month -

November 17
Just over three years ago, I moved to Sherman and married the H.H. Everyone here - the friends, the neighbors, the teachers, everyone - welcomed me with open arms, and made me feel like part of the community. Today, I'm thankful for all of them. :)

November 16
Today, I am thankful for Prompt Care, and for cell phones, and for new talent at BJ Grand, and for a sensei who's great with kids (thanks, Clay Roberts), and for a couple of good friends ( Jennifer Crawford and Conrad Kohlmann), and I'm es...pecially thankful for my Handsome Husband, Charlie Waugh.

November 15
Today, I am quite thankful for ibuprofen. ;)

November 14
Today I am thankful that Charlie can sleep through virtually anything I decide to watch on TV in the morning. ;)

November 13
Today, I am thankful that I could again contribute a tree for Memorial Medical Foundation's Festival of Trees.

November 12
I am so thankful that I have a hard time picking just one thing to say I'm thankful for each day!

November 11
Today, I am thankful for my freedoms, and those who have so selflessly fought to earn them for me. ;)

November 10
I am thankful for so many days of beautiful weather this week.

November 9
Today I am thankful for great friends who make me laugh out loud sometimes!

November 8
Today, I am most certainly thankful for Grab-A-Java and everyone who works there. They are the best!

November 7
Today I am thankful to live in a country where we can travel freely, and find safe, clean lodging along the way. :)

November 6
I'm thankful this morning for the great dinner tip we got last night from Jessica Lynn Spence - we enjoyed dinner at Kobe, and wouldn't have known to go there if she hadn't told me about it.

November 5
I'm thankful for a chance to see the shuttle lift off today... I just hope the winds hold off and they really get to go! ;)

November 4
yay, news guys... boo, no shuttle today)

November 3
Though it seems pretty trivial, today I am thankful for youtube. Check out the giggling quadruplets - their laughter is infectious and just perked up a tired, kinda grumpy me. Thanks to the friend of a friend who made me aware of their cuteness!

November 2
Today, I'm thankful that I was able to vote! :)

November 1
I'm going to accept Lora's challenge - each day in November I am going to post one thing I am thankful for. I'll start off by today saying I am thankful to be able to be in Florida this week!

Date Night

2010-11-16T19:41:00.000-06:00

Ya-hooooo!

Saturday night was date night for Handsome Husband and me, and we had a great time out. We dressed up and went to the Memorial Medical Foundation's Festival of Trees Gala. I can't even remember how many years I've decorated a tree for the Festival, but it's been several. Designers get to attend the gala, and that's my favorite part of doing a tree every year.

The Festival of Trees is held in a building at our state fairgrounds. It's a builidng that used to house livestock, I believe, but it's been converted to a multi-purpose building that can be used for a varity of events. The Festival of Trees folks spend a solid week there before the Gala kick-off, and transform the concrete-floored, cavernous, empty space into a Christmas wonderland. The trees are lit all with white mini-lights. There is fluffy, white "snow" covering the floor around each tree.  A gingerbread village sprawls out across the middle of the room.  The lights are dimmed, and a twinkling glow takes over.

The Gala kicks off the Festival of Trees, and is an all-around holiday season kick-off for alot of folks in our community. It is very well organized and executed. It's a fundraiser - tickets can be purchased individually.  It's also a celebration and a "thank you" to everyone who works hard to make the Festival of Trees a huge success each year. It's the time when the event sponsors are recognized, and they select their trees, and when the community gets a sneak peek at the beauty of the season. For the Gala, which is a black tie event, there are elements added to the evening - There is a silent auction with several unique, and often exclusive, items for bid.  They open the Holiday Market area, where a variety of seasonal decorations, clothing items, and even Holiday jewelry are available for purchase, and there is food and drink... lots of food and drink. The Gala is expertly catered each year, and with a wide variety of food selections. This year, there were four "stations" for food. Each featured main items like scallops, shrimp, crab, prime rib, and roast turkey. Each also featured a great variety of things like roasted asparagus, pickled eggplant, cheese and crackers, and veggie kabobs. And the dessert station featured a chocolate fountain - how can you go wrong with a chocolate fountain? And, of course, there is plenty of beer, wine, soda, and water to go around.

This year, we ran into several people we know at the event, and got to share some great conversations, and I think my friend, Tonya, and I rather enjoyed checking out what everyone else was wearing. People watching can be half the fun of going! The band that played was one I am not familiar with.   They sounded good, but I have to admit I was a little dissappointed that Ed Clark's band didn't play. He always gets the audience to participate playing maracas and tambourine, and the Handsome Husband was ready to grab those maracas if they'd been playing.   By the time we made it around to the dance floor, my feet were killing me from walking on the concrete floor in sexy strappy sandals, so we didn't do much movin' and shakin', but I'm sure we'll make up for it next year!

We ended up the night at a local haunt back home in Sherman, where we found several more folks we know.   Of course, the Handsome Husband and I were still in our formal wear, which gave everyone something to talk about for a bit. All in all, it was a wonderful night out, and I can't wait until our next date night!

Putt-Putt

2010-11-13T06:57:00.000-06:00

OK. I swear this is the last continuation of the Florida vacation story... for now.

We went to a fun looking miniature golf place called "Pirate's Cove" while were were in Orlando. It was cute pirate-themed place with skull and crossbones flags, lots of iron bars on the doors, wooden barrels, and other good piratey "stuff". We were feeling pretty good about the prospect of a good round of putt-putt as we selected our colorful balls and putters and headed to the first hole.

Putt-putt. It's all putting, right? Pretty low-key. Lots of light tapping on the balls, eh? Jack apparently didn't really understand the real concept of putting. Though he was using a putter to hit his cute little colored golf ball, he drove that sucker 100% off the course. God alone knows where that ball went. It flew past the end of "hole 1", completely over the next hole, and I think into a little flowing creek that carried it away. We patiently waited there at that first hole while Jack went back to get another ball.

For the full 18 holes, there was alot of going out of turn, and moved balls, and water hazards. It was a great putt-putt course - lots of silly challenges and fun "props" along the way.

Afterward, the Handsome Husband challenged Sarah to a little math contest to see who could add up the scores the fastest..

Sarah won.

Now, as for the winner of the 18-hole putting challenge... Well, the obvious winner was me. ;)

Actually, I have no idea how that happened. I guess it was my lucky day. Anyway, Sarah and I will be joining the tour soon. We'll sign autographs by appointment only, please.

When I showed Jack the photo prints from that day, he said something like "Ah... the day I was in trouble all day. That was a fun day." And then he laughed. That's Jack.

But he was right - it WAS a fun day.

Hibachi Time

2010-11-11T09:08:00.000-06:00

What the heck? I didn't even blog a tiny little bit about going to Kobe on vacation! Sarah's been talking about going to a hibachi grill for a long time. And there were probably half a dozen hibachi grill places along International Drive in Orlando, so.... I thought it might be fun to give it a try on our last night there. Jennifer's daughter, Jessica, had recommended Kobe as her favorite restaurant in Orlando, so we decided to go there on Friday night.

If you've ever been to a hibachi grill restaurant, you know that you are seated around a pretty large cooking surface. We got super-lucky, and the kids were seated on the side against the wall, so they could easily see not only our grill, but also everything else in the room.

There's a pretty long wait between the time you arrive, and the time they start cooking, and Sarah and Jack did get a little bored, so Jack tried to provide a bit of comic relief to help pass the time.

The "helper" chopsticks were the greatest thing I've ever seen. I've been trying to teach Jack how to use chopsticks for the past couple of months, and it's been a challenge for him, to say the least. The last time we had Pad Thai, he refused to give up on the chopsticks, and ate his noodles one at a time. It took nearly forever for him to finish! So these "helper" ones were perfect for him. I'm not sure about him using them for the nose pinch, but at least he was entertained for a bit until the real show started.

It was a fun night. There were a few flaming grill moments, and the onion volcano was a big hit with Jack. Sarah loved the way the chef flipped the shrimp tails around, and she loved, Loved, LOVED that she got to have some seafood again.

We all got a little kick out of the chicken fried rice heart that the chef made. There was a woman at our table celebrating a birthday, so he made a heart for her. Then the restaurant staff came over, clanging a gong, and everyone sang happy birthday.

And I HAVE TO mention the yum-yum sauce. It was FABULOUS. I could have put it on everything!

Kobe was definitely a good choice. The food was good. The chef was entertaining. We had fun. And, all things considered, it wasn't overly expensive. I'd certainly go back anytime.

Festival of Trees

2010-11-09T20:00:00.000-06:00

Well, a couple of weeks ago, I was feeling kind of "blah" about this year's Festival of Trees because I was not going to be able to design a tree this year. But... the girls at the Festival needed another tree, so they let me decorate one today. (yay!) Most people will think this is totally silly, but doing a tree every year is a big deal to me. I'm not some world-famous designer, and I'll never get any award for what I do, but I enjoy it, and it's something I can do to help the Memorial Medical Foundation. Again, I know it sounds silly to most, but I wouldn't even be here, and neither would lots of people I love, if it weren't for the doctors and staff at Memorial, and I like to sort of give something back. They can take my donation of ornaments, some creative ideas, and a bit of time, and turn it around into hundreds of dollars.

ANYway, I did some last-minute scrambling, came up with an idea, and decorated a tree today. Thankfully, my BFF (yes, I know it's juvenile, but I used it anyway), Jennifer, was able to help me. Without her helping, I'd probably still be there, attaching little wires onto ornaments to secure them to the tree! With her help, though, we got everything finished in just a couple of hours. As I said, it's not going to win an award, but I rather like it.

And, best of all, Jennifer and I started throwing around some really cool ideas for next year. I love doing things that inspire me to think and do even more! It really makes for a good day. :)

COFFEE!!!

2010-11-07T10:18:00.000-06:00

I MISS GRAB-A-JAVA!!! I'm not even kinda-sorta kidding. In the week we've been gone, I've had one good cup of coffee. Even the Starbucks at the resort didn't make a good coffee. Granted, I am a little particular. I like two extra shots of espresso in my daily cup of joe - it gives me my caffeine, but most importantly, it is really more flavorful that way. And no place we've been has gotten it quite right. I can't wait to get back home and get a REAL cup of coffee!

Florida Citrus Stand

2010-11-07T09:36:00.001-06:00

Yesterday's stop at a Florida Citrus Stand = Best Stop Ever. Talk about nice people! These were the nicest! They even let me take a couple of pictures with our gnome, which was great. And, as it turned out, the guy there was from Illinois. What a small world!

That small world phenomenon was even more obvious last night at the Acoustic Cafe restaurant where we ate dinner. As we were getting out of the car, a man spoke to us, asking what part of Illinois we are from. He, too, was from Illinois. And... better yet, we'd parked right next to him and hadn't even noticed his license plates. This in and of itself would be enough to merit a "what a small world" comment, but there's more.

He knows our friend, Bill. In fact, he worked with him for a while.

What.. the... heck? Now THAT's a small world!

Anyway, the Acoustic Cafe was neither acoustic, nor was it a cafe. It was a tavern with a really loud 80's cover band using WAY too many speakers that were WAY too big. But they had decent burgers, and really good sweet potato fries. (It's hard to find a good sweet potato fry - especially in Illinois!) Those fries were more like dessert than a side dish. They were seasoned with just the right amount of brown sugar, and I loved 'em!

The band was warming up while we ate our dinner, and they were LOUD. I don't think they were really taking the size of the tavern into consideration the way they probably should have been. We hung around for a while to see them play, but they didn't start on time, and we had to leave to go back to the hotel while they were still getting changed and putting their makeup on. Before we left, though, we did get a chance to snap a picture of our gnome trying to steal the spotlight.

Trees

2010-11-06T14:15:00.008-05:00

Palm trees and evergreens are OK, but I miss my deciduous jungle. In case you can't tell from that little hint, I've been listening to 56 Hope Road. Very appropriately, "deciduous jungle" was playing just about the time we started seeing those lovely deciduous trees in all their fall glory.

Don't misunderstand. The palm trees were pretty cool. I was pleasantly surprised to realize there are several varieties of palm trees in Florida that really offered some interesting landscapes. But for me, they just can't compare to the many, many colors and shapes of the deciduous trees we have in the Midwest. Maybe it's because they are just familiar to me, or maybe it's because I've just grown up with them, or maybe it's something else. Whatever it is, I love them.

Our Last Day (for now!)

2010-11-05T08:05:00.001-05:00

Well, today's our last day in Florida, and it's CHILLY! Right now, it's only around 50 degrees, which is quite a bit cooler than the 70 degrees it's been on previous mornings. A cold front pushed through yesterday with the rain, I guess. Chilly or not, we are going to make it a great day!

I had really hoped we'd get to see the space shuttle launch while we were here, but it seems it's just not meant to be. There've been mechanical delays, weather delays, and now a fueling system leak is causing yet another delay. So... Instead of watching history, we're going to have to make our own history. I'm thinking there is an historic round of putt-putt in our future. There are several super-cool putt-putt/adventure game places here, and I think everyone can enjoy that today.

Yesterday was a mostly lazy day for us. It rained most of the day, so we couldn't really swim, or do anything else outside. Sarah and I went for much-needed pedicures and a little shopping while the H.H. and Jack stayed at the condo and hit the pool and hot tub in between rain showers. Jack would swim in just about any weather conditions. He's in LOVE with the water. The rest of us, though, prefer to go inside when the raindrops start falling, so the H.H. got a nap in, as well, which made him quite happy.

While Sarah and I were shopping, I found the Brighton store. I am so glad I did! I have charms and/or charm bracelets from almost every state I've been to. My mom started that collection for me before I even knew what a collection was, and I'm oh-so-glad she did! Brighton has several unique state-themed charm bracelets, that the salesclerk explained are only sold by Brighton locations within the states they represent. Naturally, I got the Florida one.

Back at the condo, I found this guy hanging out just outside our window.

The condo is on a golf course, so I'm pretty sure the wildlife here is quite accustomed to human interaction, which made it easy for me to open the sliding window and take this picture without scaring him away. Yes, I am a little bit of a geek - I love birds.

Anyway... Thursday night at the condo ended with pizza and a couple of movies. Not too exciting, but very relaxing. And I'm confident that today will be nice and relaxing, too, though filled with a bit more activity. Stand by for an update!

Vacation Mid Week Update

2010-11-04T07:57:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was Wednesday, the middle of the week, the half-way point of our time in Florida. We spent most of it the way we should have - at the ocean.

Note I said, "most of it". We headed out toward Cocoa Beach's little piece of the ocean via NASA. Talk about cool - there's a retired shuttle "parked" outside the Astronaut Hall of Fame. (Yes, that's our unnamed gnome stickin' his head into the picture.)

The H.H. really and truly LOVES anything and everything about our country's space program, so he was pretty much in heaven. We didn't tour the Hall of Fame, but did look around the gift shop,and around the area. And, of course, we went the wrong way out of the visitor center parking lot, and had to stop at a heavily guarded security checkpoint, where we were afforded the opportunity to turn around. Security is pretty heavy in the NASA neighborhood right now because of the scheduled shuttle launch this week. Sooo... We turned around, and found the highway leading on down the coast to Cocoa Beach.

By the time we'd been to see the NASA cool-ness, and made our way to Cocoa Beach, it was almost time for lunch, so we drove along "the strip" and found - you guessed it - a kinda sorta Celtic place. :) We found an English pub called "The Pig and Whistle". They had traditional specials on the menu like shepherd's pie, and fish & chips. It was fun little place, and we enjoyed our time there.

After lunch, we hit the beach! Wednesday's Atlantic-side beach was alot different from Monday's Gulf-side one. The water was cooler, the sand was hotter, and the waves were bigger and rougher. Different, for sure. But every bit as much fun!

In fact, even I got out there and played in the waves.

Amazingly, while we were there, someone brought a small shark that had been caught, and that she was going to throw out for nature to take care of. Jack was thrilled! He, and the other kids on the beach, got to touch it. And, in fact, Jack got to carry it out and throw it into the ocean. He says it was much heavier than it's size would lead you to believe.

We stayed at the beach for most of the day. We stayed for two whole cans of spray on sunscreen. I have been sort of crazy with the sunscreen on this trip. I don't want any one of us to get terribly burned, and end up miserable and missing out on anything. So we've been applying, re-applying, and then re-re-applying sunscreen like crazy. Every time one of us came back out of the water, we got sprayed. And it worked! So far, the only sunburns have been the tops of H.H.'s feet, a thin strip along the edge of my back, and Sarah's cheeks and nose. Not bad, considering.

When we finally left the beach for our home-away-from-home called Sabal Palms, we were all pretty "beached out". (Jack was, literally, in the waves for all but about 30 minutes of the day!) We made one quick stop at the Ron Jon Surf Shop, and then hit the highway. We'd all reached that point where we wanted a shower more than just about anything else in the world.

As just about everyone agrees, that shower after a day at the beach is an amazing thing. You can be feeling drained after a day of sun and fun on the beach, but as soon as you get into that shower, you are revived and ready to go again! And that's just what happened to us. We all freshened up, got dressed, and headed out for a dinner adventure.

We didn't miss our turn this time, and we knew exactly what we were looking for (for a change). We were in search of some seafood. I mean, really... we're on the coast. You have to have seafood when you're on the coast, right? :) Besides, Sarah loves, Loves, LOVES seafood. So we made a bee-line for a place we'd seen along International Drive called "Boston Lobster Feast". We had no idea what to expect, but were tickled by the lobster car they had parked outside the front door. This pic was taken with my iPhone, so it's not the greatest, but I just HAD to get a picture. (And unnamed gnome just HAD to get in it!)

Turns out the place is an all-you-can eat lobster and crab buffet. They had other things, too, of course - like oysters, clams, scallops, shrimp, various kinds of fish, sushi, and even prime rib for those who weren't interested in all the seafood. It was a blast - definitely a dinner adventure.

All-in-all, a pretty good vacation day 5.

Day 4

2010-11-03T06:17:00.052-05:00

Yesterday (Tuesday) was Vacation Day 4. Sarah and I went to an outlet mall and shopped our little hearts out for much of the day. We found a few really good deals, but we also got a fair share of "sticker shock" at some stores. I mean, really... how can a pair of jeans truly be worth $249????    High prices aside, we had a pretty successful shopping excursion. We each found a few cute things, and were happy with the day.

While we shopped, the H.H. and Jack-man went to the "big" pool for a little swimming and splashing. When I say "big" pool, I'm being literal. The pool at the main resort hotel here on the complex holds 1,000,000 gallons of water. Yes, that's ONE MILLION gallons. It's HUGE.

After a relaxing day of swimming, shopping, and then napping (H.H.), we headed out to find a place for dinner.  Naturally, it couldn't just be a simple thing for us to do. That just wouldn't be "us". Just about 90 seconds out of the resort, Charlie missed the turn for International Drive, and ended up on the toll road section of the highway. And, as you know, once you're on the toll road, you can't just get off and turn around - it's just not designed that way. We ended up sort of circling around and coming back down International Drive from the other end. We got where we were going, and it was only a few extra minutes out of our way, but it was a little frustrating for the H.H.

Anyway, back to dinner... If you know us, you know we often search out restaurants with a Celtic theme.   Well, we'd driven past a place called "Tilted Kilt" several times, so we decided to go and check it out.   Jack, it turns out, was quite happy with our choice... I didn't know it at the time, but apparently the "Tilted Kilt" is a chain, and the waitresses wear uniforms that, while cute, are a akin to a hooters uniform. Jack especially liked the place.

Beach Time

2010-11-01T12:36:00.003-05:00

I'm at the beach watching a gray egret sitting in a pier. He hasn't moved anything but his head in the past hour. Cool.

Hello, FLORIDA!

2010-10-31T12:27:00.002-05:00

We made it! After two pretty darned long days of driving, we are IN FLORIDA! Ya-hooooo!

Naming the Gnome

2010-10-30T20:50:00.000-05:00

We have a gnome. He is our traveling gnome, along for the ride on our Florida trip. He's a cute little gnome, but... well... he's a mooning gnome. Here he is at the World's Largest Bottle of Ketchup in Collinsville, IL.

He's sticking his butt in (literally) our pictures along the way. Heck, he even tried to stick his butt into our bed. :)

We have one problem with our mooning gnome. He doesn't have a name. I like "Gunther" or "Emong" (gnome backwards, don't ya' know), Sarah likes "Garth". Jennifer threw in a "Jose" from back home. And Charlie thought "Norman". Hopefully, we'll be able to give the little guy a name tomorrow.

In the meantime, I gotta go get him out of my bed!

What's in that trailer???

2010-10-30T14:24:00.002-05:00

We just passed a trailer carrying a... camel. What the???

Hello, Kentucky!

2010-10-30T11:18:00.002-05:00

Hello, Kentucky! Yup. Kentucky. We're on the move!

Tooth Update

2010-10-16T08:07:00.039-05:00

Very simply put, it's gone.

I went to the oral surgeon on Thursday morning, he used IV sedation to knock me out, and about 30 minutes later, I woke up (sort of) without "the tooth".

OK, OK, OK... so there's a little more to it than that. I just thought I'd start out with the simple, short story.

Wednesday night pretty much sucked. The H.H. tried to give me a kiss, and just about threw me into a tizzy of pain when the pressure against my lips moved my head and made my teeth touch. I couldn't really eat much of anything because I just plain couldn't close my mouth all the way. Biting and/or chewing = teeth touching = pain. I didn't sleep much because every move I made somehow caused some sort of tooth pain. I couldn't eat or drink anything after midnight, but didn't care... and for me to not care about missing my morning coffee, you know it was bad.

We got to the dentist's office a few minutes early, which was OK, because I had to fill out quite a bit of paperwork.

After I went to the procedure room (I don't know what else to call it, since it wasn't really an exam room...) I remember about 4 things. 1- the dentist was quite pleasant. 2 - He started the IV 100% painlessly (didn't even feel the prick). 3 - they tied the oxygen thingy under my nose and around my ears, but I never did feel anything blowing into my nose. And 4 - I thought I was so tired I could have almost fallen asleep without the anesthesia. :)

Aaaaaaaand................. that's about it for Thursday.

I vaguely recall going over some post-procedure instructions, and then I sort of remember seeing Spongebob on the television at some point. I think I talked to the H.H. on the phone in the late afternoon, but I couldn't possibly tell you anything about that conversation. I was out - like a light - most of the day and night. The only thing I remember clearly was that I got sick sometime during the evening as the anesthesia was wearing off (ugh) and that it caused the bleeding to start up again. Yuck.  Thankfully, that didn't last too long.

On Friday, I woke up expecting to be in alot of pain, and was surprised when I wasn't. In fact, though I felt alot of soreness, it was actually not as painful - in a bad way - as it had been for the past several days.  I'm guessing that is a good thing, and means the tooth really did need to go.

And that's my story.  The long - and long - of it.

Schedule Change

2010-10-13T20:30:00.000-05:00

Wow! I woke up in the middle of the night with the most horrendous tooth pain that radiated to most of the left side of my face. Ugh.

I haven't been taking any pain relievers since Sunday because of the scheduled video taping of the inside of my tummy... also known more harshly as the ERD scope procedure thing. My patient instructions specifically said no NSAID pain relievers, such as Motrin, aspirin, blah, blah, blah, so forth, and so on. And, being a stellar patient (stop laughing), I have been following instructions. It was fine. No big deal. Maybe a little uncomfortable now and again, but totally bearable. Until last night. Actually, until this morning. I managed to get back to sleep last night. But then... morning arrived. Getting up was a real challenge. My tooth, my face, hurt. Even my forehead and head were starting to hurt. It took REAL effort to drag myself out of bed and go to the kitchen for coffee.

(HA! Coffee! That was an entirely OTHER disaster, with an overflowed new coffee carafe and a huge, 12-cup mess to clean up!)

Anyway, the point is, I was in pain. So.... when I got to work, after being near tears on the way there, I called the dentist, and the person who answered the phone mercifully said "can you be here in 20 minutes?"

You bet your butt I was there in 20 minutes. As it turns out, the filling and the tooth had cracked, thus causing the resurgence of pain. Brandon tilted the chair back, and got out the needle loaded up with Novocaine. The plan was to numb the area, and try to pull the tooth. After a couple of shots, my face was getting numb, so he tried to push on the tooth to see if IT was getting numb. It was not. So, out came the needle again, and I got a few more shots, and he tried to push on it again. Again with no success. While my FACE got really numb, the tooth got a little numb. Eventually, we thought it was numb enough to give it a try, so.... he tried to give it a tug. I felt it. OUCH!

Long story longer, he stopped, and called an oral surgeon who will use IV sedation and will extract the tooth more painlessly for me tomorrow morning at 8:00. Now I just have 12 more hours or so to freak out about it.

Thankfully, I have prescription pain medication to help me get through those 12 hours.

Teeth, Hormones, and Other Random Stuff...

2010-10-12T21:35:00.000-05:00

Well, I'll start with teeth. I'm going to have to lose a tooth, and it's really freaking me out. I didn't realize it until now, but I have a "thing" about my teeth. I don't know why. It's not like they're all that fantastic... they're a little crooked, and my jaw is misaligned. But I guess I have a hangup about teeth. For some irrational reason, I seem to value keeping all of them perfectly in tact, even though they aren't perfectly that way now. I have more silver in my mouth than in my jewelry box. OK, OK, OK.... it might not be quite THAT bad, but I sure don't have the greatest, most cosmetically perfect, choppers. But suddenly I feel like they're each more valuable than gold. I'm going to have to do some SERIOUS work on this... I'm having the "bad" tooth pulled next Tuesday. I expect I'll cry. Alot.

Which leads me to talk about hormones. Hormones. Those little chemical thingies in my body that cause so much upheaval so very often. And also those little extra thingies in the little extra pills I'm taking now that are saving my sanity, I do believe. It's been almost 30 days since I started taking the hormones, and I have started SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT! Ya-HOOOOOO! I haven't consistently slept well in nearly three years, so this is a truly amazing thing.

As for the other random stuff, well, I don't know. It's easy for me to ramble, so I make efforts to not do so. I miss my mom fiercely these last few weeks. I can't wait to meet my new great-nephew, Oscar. I am glad to be busy at work because it makes the days go by quickly. (Especially since Jennifer is out on vacation all week!) And I'm constantly amazed by both the kindness of people in this world, and the harsh cruelty of those same people.

I could go on. But I think that's enough from me for now.

10-10-10

2010-10-10T20:55:00.033-05:00

The H.H. and I went for a drive today and ended up in Dixon Mounds. I hadn't been to Dixon Mounds since I was too young to remember being there.

It's a nice museum, but not as captivating as I'd expected. Don't get me wrong. It was very nice. There were three floors of displays, and quite a lot of artifacts. I think I just expected something with more "pop". I've heard about the place my whole life. My mom really liked it, I think. But she was there when "the mounds" were still there on display. Now it's merely a monument to something that once was. Maybe that knowledge somewhat diminished it for me.

The best part of the museum were these small posters that were hanging all over the womens' restroom. They cracked me up. Definitely not the usual "employees must wash their hands" sort of signs.

Visiting Dixon Mounds was not our goal for the day. We left home thinking we'd find some great fresh fruit stands, and see some colorful fall foliage. Last year, we found some fantastic apples and blackberry preserves at an orchard just around the corner from Dixon Mounds, so I suppose we were headed back there all along, and I shouldn't be surprised to have ended up at the museum.

After our successful apple quest, we came back to town for "the Big Birthday Bonanza" - a birthday party for Beth, Lauren, Kaleigh, and Jodi. It was one of the biggest private parties the Mist has had, I think. The birthday girls had a good time, that's for sure. And so did everyone there. It cannot be denied that my friends know how to throw a party. ;) The birthday girls even had matching, customized shirts made for the party and each had a sparkly tiara. There were birthday princesses!

Of course, just my luck, I felt yucky all evening. I don't know if that was a result of eating "off limits" things Saturday evening, or if my dinner disagreed with me, or if it was hormones, or what. But I was, and still am, nauseous. I still had a good time, but it was a little guarded.

I actually can't wait for the esophagus scope thing on Thursday. I have high hopes that they'll discover something about my tummy troubles, and they'll be able to send them packing... I guess we'll find out soon enough.

Photography and Stuff

2010-10-08T21:17:00.000-05:00

I've been practicing with the camera. I *think* I'm getting better. It's tricky. I want to know what I'm doing - at least sort of, anyway. So I keep practicing. I've taken hundreds of really, really, really BAD pictures. Thank God they're digital, so I don't feel like I'm wasting any resources taking them.

I think I'm getting the hang of the lighting thing. It's not always so easy to tell what I need, but... once in a while I get it right... I'm also getting better at composition again - at being aware of what's in my frame, and how it's going to look in the picture. Like this hanging lantern and it's shadow. I like the way I caught it.

I'm also getting better at figuring out the depth of field stuff... making the background more blurred, so it seems less "there", and so the subject image seems to pop more. (I'm still working on it, but I'm getting there.)

I suppose I should consider myself lucky that Jack continues to allow me to use him as my main guinea pig. He's pretty patient when I say "don't move".

We have a super-busy weekend coming up, so I should get plenty of opportunities for more practice!

Random is, well... Random

2010-10-08T20:46:00.000-05:00

So, you know how there's that little "next blog" link at the top of the page, and how it takes you to another, random, blog? The random part is what's getting to me right now. Random is OK. Random can be good. But randomly, I just clicked through about 12 other-language blogs. Odd, since I'm reasonably certain all of my settings say I'm all American English, all the time.

Some looked pretty interesting, by the way, but the languages also looked pretty "interesting". To add another layer of odd, none of the randomly selected blogs presented to me were in Spanish. No English. No Spanish. No hope I could read any of them.

Ah, well... that's random for you.

Fall

2010-10-02T07:34:00.001-05:00

Fall gets the short end of the stick. The stores display Halloween costumes and decorations as soon as school starts in this neck of the woods, and now, on the first weekend in October, it's all on clearance to make room for.... Christmas! If you're hosting a Thanksgiving gala, and need some of those cute little pilgrim salt and pepper shakers, or a festive turkey tureen, you'll need to get your accessories soon, because poor Thanksgiving starts to get pushed out of the way before it even gets on the shelf!

I'm not much of a fan of the fall season, but I do enjoy the changing colors of the trees, and the crisp, cool mornings. As a serious allergy sufferer, though, I do NOT enjoy the harvesting and the ensuing junk that blows around in the air, and those burning leaves in every back yard almost kill me. I also despise - DESPISE - the shortening days. I love sunshine. I love long days filled with sunshine. In fall, every day gets shorter and shorter, and the dark of night just takes over by the end of the season. We'll all be leaving for, as well as coming home from, work in the dark every day. I hate that. : (

This year, I'm oh-so-very Thankful to be going to Florida for a week. I'll get a good dose of sunshine to carry me through the following months of blah-dom until spring.

Besides being the season of sneezing and coughing and uh, um, oh.... I mean the season of harvest, and raking leaves, and wiener roasts (I'll be hitting up three of those this month!), fall is also the season of cleaning and organizing. Whether it's just been pounded into our heads to clean in the fall, or it's an instinct, or some other sort of other-worldly phenomenon, I must admit it sort of feels natural to get things in order this time of year.

I cleaned and re-organized my bedroom closet last night. It took hours. (It was previously recognized as a natural disaster in there.... ) I cleared out lots and lots (and lots) of clothes that I don't wear. I threw away a big, black garbage bag full of stuff. I even got rid of shoes! I moved the shelves around and changed the entire configuration of the thing. It felt good. Anyone who's known me for a long time, knows that I used to have a bit of a "hang up" about being organized. I like a tidy closet. I keep my clothes sorted by color, then by style (long sleeve, short sleeve, tanks). I like to have everything facing the same direction. Having things in order makes it much easier to find what you're looking for. The addition to my life a few years ago of husband, step-children, lessons, practices, and last-minute changes to every routine even imagined has wreaked havoc on my organizational methods. So the closet re-org really did my soul good.

I wonder if I can keep the cleaning momentum going today.... I guess I'll give it a try. I have a few hours before all that leaf burning, fire building, hot dog roasting stuff begins.

Shuffle

2010-09-29T19:04:00.002-05:00

Ah, little iPod shuffle... So tiny and cute and convenient and... Useless without the correct headphones. Hmph!

Current Favorite

2010-09-28T21:56:00.000-05:00

My current favorite site is http://thepioneerwoman.com/. She's funny and fun, and pretty "normal" as far as normal goes. I enjoy reading what she has to write.

She takes pictures, too. Lots and lots of pictures.   Of lots and lots of things. I love that. And even more, I love - and truly appreciate - the photography tips she posts. It's been several eternities since I had any formal photography classes, and even then, it was certainly not pertinent for a digital SLR camera.  Things certainly have changed since I bought my very first Canon back in 1980. (Yes, 1980... I really AM that old.) Digital is much different from film shooting.

I was a hold out traditionalist until about a year ago. I stuck with my good ol' film. I stood firm that there was more art to shooting with film, because I had to consider composition, lighting, shadows, etc. I didn't "photoshop" MY pictures to perfection.... I set up my shots to perfection.

Yeah, well... then I realized that I could still set up a great shot that wouldn't need to be adjusted later. And I could know INSTANTLY if it was really good. So... I caved.   Almost the moment I closed on the sale of my house, I bought a new digital SLR Canon.

And it - and I think I - take some pretty decent pictures.

I think...