Thursday, September 27, 2007

In Limbo

Well, not much that is blog-worthy has gone on the last few days. Life has downshifted into the slow lane for me, mostly due to the fact that our landlord is renovating the master bathroom in the house we rent.

I'm actually very glad that this is happening - when we moved in, the nicest thing I could say about the shower was "gross." And that's putting it mildly. The tenants before us didn't seem to know what a hanger, closet, vacuum, dishwasher or sponge was for. I can say that with confidence, becuase when I first looked at the house as a possiblity for renting, they were still living here. I mean, I'm no fan of housework, but I just can't imagine not caring enough to not take care of my house for my family. Fast forward to our move-in date. The landlord did have the house surface cleaned, but I still felt compelled to deep clean certain things before we used them, the showers being one of them. In fact, I used an entire bottle of Tilex and scrubbed for a good long time - long enough that when I went to get my driver's licence the next day, they had trouble scanning my fingerprints - I had worn them smooth with my tilex and scouring pad. Still, the master shower left much to be desired, so when the landlord offered to redo it, I said "Sure, I can put up with a couple of weeks of inconvienience." Actually, I think it was three days I said I could put up with, but these things always take longer than they estimate. And then they decided that as long as they were replacing the shower, they might as well put tile flooring in and get rid of the carpet, so that adds a few more days. It's not like I have anything else to do, right?

I am trying to use this time that I am here at the house constructively. Last weekend I attended a scrapbooking crop with my sister and mom (and 950 other women) and had a great time, but got hardly any scrapbooking done - too busy visiting. I am using this time to try and catch up on my albums, and so far I've done pretty good. I'm enjoying having a dedicated craft room - Jerry never even peeks in there, so I can leave my stuff out and pick right back up when I get a chance! It's great.

Anyway, if anyone wants to chat - pick up the phone and call. Chances are, I'll be here!

Thursday, September 20, 2007

The Power of Words

The last few days I have been thinking about the power of words. When I was younger I had a good appreciation for the power of words. I learned pretty early on that when my sister and I had an argument, if I could keep my hands to myself and just use words to egg her on, eventually she'd get madder than a wet hornet and smack me. Then I could get her in trouble for hitting me. Now life has come full circle, and I find myself on the other side of the stinging words.

I have been having lots of battles with Gracie lately. We've had a lot of change in our lives lately, what with moving and starting a new school. We've all felt a bit out of control, but Gracie has taken to throwing temper tantrums when she doesn't get her way. They are usually directed at me, and almost include the statement that makes me crazy: "You don't love me!!!!" I'm not sure why it gets to me - I know I love her, and I know that whatever discipline or decision she's rebelling against is one that I made in love, yet when she says it, I just feel my head start to explode.

"Of course I love you, I'm your Mommy!" I'll snap.

"No you don't - you're mean to me all the time!" She'll sob back.

Sometimes she'll list my transgressions - I made her clean her room, I made her do her homework, I wouldn't let her have a chocolate bar five minutes before dinner and so on. Ah yes - I can see now how evil I am.

Sometimes, like Wednesday, I'll totally blow it and lose my cool. After listening to her tell me for eight blocks in rush hour traffic that I don't love her because we weren't stopping at McDonald's for dinner I hollered at her - "Gracie if you say that one more time before we get home I will wash your mouth out with soap when we get there!" She didn't say it again, but I listened to accusatory sniffles all the way home.

Other times I'll rise to the occasion and realize that it's just the rantings of a young child that is feeling so out of control of her environment that she's pulling some words out of her vocabulary that have a pretty reliable outcome. We get home, I scoop her out of her car seat and we go inside and snuggle. I give her mommy hugs, kisses and cuddles while I reassure her of my love and remind her of all the good things that happened - how after her room was clean we went to the park, and how she is learning to read her book all by herself, and how we had a dessert after our dinner was finished. At the end, she's calm again and runs off to play. Later that night as I'm tucking her in she looks at me and says, "Good night Mommy. I love you and you love me, right?"

Right.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

To Blog, or not to Blog. . .

Well, that's not exactly the question. I definitely want to blog, but how often is really the question. I thought once a week would be good, to not overwhelm folks, but generally, when I am waxing poetic in my head, it is not a good time to sit down and blog. By the time I actually sit down to type, the thoughts are gone. So, for now, I'll wing it, I guess.

As you have noticed, if you are reading this, I have changed my blog name. "Why?" you ask? I changed the settings on my blog to be public so folks wouldn't have to get a google account to read it, and also to make it easier for you guys to comment, which I have heard has been a problem. Well, no more! Comment away!

This week has been full of high drama (as if we have any other kind of week around here.) One of the high points was meeting Gracie's girl scout troop - 22 first graders all running around like crazy at the local museum. They had a great time, and Gracie totally melted down when it was time to leave. We tried to placate her with the thought that she'd see them next week, but that wasn't soon enough for her!

This weekend we took advantage of our new closer location to grandparents - my mom and stepdad came up and we attended the Oklahoma State Fair and Disney Princess Wishes on Ice. The fair itself was very good - we spent some time looking at exhibits and things and it had a very large midway with lots of rides, and of course, the ice show itself was excellent. The only thing that was completely insane was the parking. Let me tell you, Oklahoma hospitality and friendliness went out the window when the last parking space filled. After a good 20 minutes or more of roaming around a field packed with cars blocking each other in we finally managed to find someone who was leaving and nabbed their space. The girls were pretty good sports about the exhibits, but they were glad when we finally made it to the rides. The first thing they went on was a carousel - Grandma got on with them, but I stayed by the side. I was glad she got on though - that was the fastest carousel I've ever seen. I couldn't even get a picture, it was going so fast. Each time they came around I either got a blur or half a person in the photo because they went by so quickly. Next the girls rode down one of the big slides on a burlap bag - a state fair must. Then it was time for the show. Jerry got the girls cotton candy with a Flounder hat, and then at intermission we got a couple of souvenirs. When the girls and I got back from the souvenir stand Jerry asked, "Where's the change?" I replied, "What change? This is Disney!" He was in sticker shock, so I suppose it's good that we are starting out slowly - a trip to Disney World right off the bat might have killed him!

Once we got out of the show we still had tickets to burn, so we rode the carousel and the ariel tramway before making the long trek back to our car and fighting our way back out of the parking lot. It still amazes me how clearly I can hear my father's voice hollering, "SHOW YOUR INTENTIONS!" every time I am in a car that is trying to exit a parking lot with 5000 other cars, even if I'm not driving. This is because the first weekend I had my learner's permit, my dad tossed me the keys after a Ranger's baseball game and let me drive home. Ah, the memories. . .

Monday, September 17, 2007

I've Been Tagged

Okay, my sister just tagged me, so here it goes.

The Rules:

1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.

2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.

3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules.

4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.

5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

My 8 random facts:

1) I'm about to be an aunt again!

2) I've just signed up for my 23rd year of Girl Scouts - two of those summers were spent as a camp counselor, living in a tent for an entire Texas summer. Living in the unairconditoned dorm in college was a breeze after that (no pun intended.)

3) I love to scrapbook. I was a Pampered Chef consultant for 4 years, but it cut into my scrapbooking time, so I switched to being a Creative Memories consultant for a total so far of 7 years as a direct sales representative.

4) I am a lousy housekeeper despite following FlyLady on a hit or miss basis. I do like to have the kitchen sink clean, and the bed made. Jerry doesn't like to make the bed - he says, "You're just going to unmake it to sleep in it again tonight," but he doesn't like it very much if I apply the same theory to all the rest of the housekeeping and laundry chores!

5) I love to read children's books. I am so glad that I have kids now so that I can check out kids books at the library. My all time favorites are: Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls, The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett and the entire Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I can hardly wait for the girls to be old enough that I can read these aloud to them.

6) One of my guilty pleasures when the girls are at school and Jerry is at work is to watch The Muppet Show on DVD.

7) I wanted to major in photography until I found out you had to do a semester of nude photography. (As the photographer.) I then changed my major to computers.

8) As I have aged, I have become afraid of heights. We went to the state fair, and I had a death grip on the seat of the carousel, to the point where the other riders noticed it and made fun of me.

I don't think I know eight people who blog, but I do know Julie, so I'll tag her! Gotcha!

Monday, September 10, 2007

It's Monday. . . Again!

Today is one of those gray, rainy days. It isn't actually raining anymore, but the trees are heavy with leftover rain, and when the breeze blows, the drops continue to pitter-patter down, sending the girls into a tizzy about needing to take their umbrellas to school. On days like this, I'd like nothing better than to stay curled in bed after Jerry leaves for work, but my motherly responsibilities call.

This weekend we were busy, in a non-busy kind of way. That is to say, we reluctantly got quite a bit done. We went to the storage place and rented a space. We ended up with quite a large space, actually. We probably needed a 10 x 15 to comfortably move around and get stuff set up like we wanted, but the 10 x 20 was only $10 more a month, and the location was more convenient. The girls and I stayed at the shed arranging things most of the day while Jerry did the hard labor of going back and forth to the house, loading all the stuff in the van and delivering it to us. It took about eight or so van-loads (with all the seats removed) to get our stuff in there, and there is plenty of room left over. In fact, if Jerry continues to snore, I could go sleep in the leather recliner in the storage shed quite comfortably. I asked Jerry if it made his heart go pitter-pat when he pulled his car into the garage this evening (a feat that took over a year to accomplish in NM) and he said no, but he knew it made my heart go pitter-pat to not have all that stuff in the house anymore. It was true - it did. My man sure knows how to make my day!

It's amazing how quickly one can go from having nothing to do to being overwhelmed. Not that I have ever had NOTHING to do, but this weekend was a do-it or not proposition. I am extremely grateful to have all that stuff in storage and to be able to move around the house comfortably, but it wasn't something that had to be done. Then today started, and it has been run, run, run all day! My mind won't stop running, as you will be able to tell by the timestamp on this post. I attended my first PTO meeting, took care of getting the papers for our New Mexico closing signed by us, notarized, and off to the title company, went to the parents meeting for Maggie's scouts, filled out the papers for Gracie's scouts, et cetera and so on. I have now volunteered for a couple of things at the school, and my weekly schedule is quickly filling out. The newness of moving to a new place is wearing off quickly this time!

That's all for now - I've decided to try and post once each week, to not overwhelm me or you. I did turn on comments, so you can let me know if you are enjoying the blog. You can let me know if you don't as well, but I'll feel free to delete those! Good night!

Thursday, September 6, 2007

The Last Box

Well, I have officially unpacked the last box. Now, there are some caveats to that statement:

First, there are still four boxes that have not been unpacked in the craft room, but I know what is in them. In fact, one of them is the box that sat in the office in New Mexico for the entire two years we lived there and it never got unpacked. It has all the stuff for our family genealogy in it. I fully intend to put it all in the family tree, but it is one of those things that is a great black hole of free time. Now that we are unpacked though, I should have lots more free time, in theory. That is, if I ever manage to get rid of the stack of papers that has been piling up since we went to get our stuff from New Mexico. I've just been piling all of it -school info, bills, et cetera into a pile, and now it's out of control - a full fledged hot spot, in Flylady parlance. Only good things can happen from dealing with that pile - I know there's at least $1000 of checks I need to deposit in there, I'd have everything on the calendar and a clue as to what's going on, but still, I'm afraid. Fear or not, that's my duty for today. . . The Pile.

Second, we still have to deal with all the stuff that is in our garage. I can pull my van (carefully) into the garage, but Jerry's car is still out in the driveway. Why? Because this house is smaller than the last, and because we aren't unpacking all the tchotsky for this temporary home, we have a boatload (or garage load, as the case may be) of stuff that will be going into storage. Once all that is gone from the garage (and the craft room) We'll be fully settled into the new abode.

Our final problem with the rent house seems to have been solved - we slept an entire night last night without hearing one noise from our nocturnal squatter in the attic. Our possum is gone! The handyman came and removed a soffit vent the night before, and we heard him escape with a THUD. I guess being trapped for a week was more than he bargained for, because he didn't come back, and we closed up the vent. Thus ends the saga of the possum.

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Labor Day Weekend

Well, our summer is officially over. We spent the final weekend going through a lot of stuff in the office, weeding through files and such while the girls played away most of Saturday. We had hoped to go to the aquatic center as a family during this, the last weekend of the swim season, but Jerry had a cold, so the girls and I went without him.

Labor day we met up with some friends we know from college and from Farmington who work with Jerry and had a cookout - ribs and hot dogs! They had a beautiful pool in their back yard, so the girls got in another 3 and a half hours of swimming. Needless to say, they were a couple of tired little puppies by Monday evening. This morning when I tried to wake them for school they were still pretty tired, but we made it on the bus okay.

I got my OK driver's license today, as well as got my car registered - I'm an official Okie now, I guess! Not much else got done, except catching up on this blog! Well, that's it for now. Perhaps I'll make this blog a tab on my home page to remind me to update it more often. There's always hope!

Catching Up. . . August 2007

As I look at the big "SEPTEMBER" across the top of the calendar, I wonder, did August really happen? Each day in August seemed to happen at a snail's pace - but somehow when you put them all together, they are a blur. Luckily, I kept a scribbled piece of paper with highlights, so I can prove they happened!

Here's the highlights:

  • Gracie got a tadpole
  • The girls tried pot stickers and egg rolls
  • We went to the OKC Zoo
  • We went to Pump-it-up
  • We got our stuff from New Mexico
  • We moved into the rent house

I was beginning to despair that we would ever get our things from New Mexico, as getting the movers to give me a date to load our stuff was harder than nailing Jell-o to a tree. Each time I'd call, they would say - give us a couple more days, we'll know. For two weeks, every other day, I'd get told, "a couple more days." I was ready to scream. Finally, on the 9th, they said they could promise the 15th. Glory be! The same day, we also got an offer on our house - will the fun never end!

A couple of days later, we left for Farmington. We got there and picked up some packing boxes, met our realtor to send off another counteroffer, and got home to find that half of the electricity was out. This house is such a headache! I packed a few boxes by candlelight (not nearly as romantic as it sounds) and the electricity came back on. We went to bed late, but because of the time difference it wasn't too hard to get up for church the next morning.

Our church group met for lunch after Sunday School, and then helped us get all our extra stuff out of our storage shed so it would be there when the movers showed up. One friend stayed to help me pack, and just as we were finishing up for the afternoon, the electricity went out again. We called the city, and found that the problem was with the cable buried in the front yard between our breaker box and the transformer. Yea.

Monday morning we were lucky to find an electrician that would do our work first thing because they knew one of our church friends. We had electricity again by 2:30, but Jerry spent most of the day with the electricians, not packing, so we were not as far as I had hoped. Then the movers called, and they had a cancellation, so guess what - they showed up the 14th! This meant they packed more stuff than I had planned, but it all worked out okay. That night everything was on the moving van except our bed. The next morning they came and picked it up, and they were on the way. We headed to Albuquerque for the evening, where we joined up with some friends who were on their way to Texas. The next morning I rode with her and her kids to Amarillo, with Jerry leading the way. After that we split up, and Jerry and I got into Oklahoma about 6:30.

Move in day! I got to the rent house this morning to find the moving van already there, but the unload crew was late. When they finally got there, they said they were independent contractors, and they wanted more money. Eventually the driver and they got it all worked out, and my stuff got unloaded. We still stayed in the apartment for two more days, until we got the basics out of boxes, but we didn't get our refrigerator until after our first night. We used ice chests the first night - like camping out in our own house!

The first day of school was the 20th. The bus came and picked up the girls at our driveway, and then Jerry and I hopped in the van and went to school to make sure they got where they needed to be. We went back home and I took a birthday nap until the refrigerator was delivered. Jerry switched the handle to open the opposite direction, and then it was time to pick the girls up at the bus stop. We had been told that it was around the block, so we went there. When the bus finally did show up, 20 minutes late, the girls weren't on it. I was not too happy, especially when the driver couldn't tell me where to find them! We headed back around the block and they were at our house - they recognized the house and our van and got off the bus. I'm glad their stop is closer, but I didn't care for it much that day!

The remainder of our month has been unpacking boxes and getting settled. We are going slow, but steady. We have a whole bunch of stuff marked for storage - we seem to have an abundance of chairs and occasional tables, among other stuff. We've also been reporting the small stuff wrong with the house to the landlord, but they've been real good to fix most of it really quickly. The only lingering problems seem to be trimming the trees, and evicting the possum that has taken up residence in the attic. If he isn't paying rent, he needs to go! On the New Mexico front, the inspections have taken place and issues resolved, so with any luck we will no longer be homeowners! What a relief!

Catching Up. . . July 2007

We started off July with a fun party - Gracie's birthday party! She really wanted to have a party with her friends in New Mexico, so we put on a water party in the backyard. It was a bit early, but at least it's in the same month as her birthday! Most of the kids that came were from the neighborhood, but Josh from her kindergarten class came too. She did wonder why a bunch of the kids weren't there. Ah, the dreaded summer birthday party woes. We had hot dogs and chips and other picnic fare, and I pulled out back issues of Family Fun magazine and found every water game I could for fun. All in all, we had a good time.
We were hoping that we would make it to Oklahoma for the Fourth of July, but my drywall repair guy didn't show up, so that put us a week behind schedule. We spent the third (when Farmington has it's fireworks) at a neighbor's pool party and picnic, and then did sparklers and watched the fireworks with all our neighbors. We went to the parade on the Fourth, and the girls got some cotton candy.

The next few days flew by as we returned library books, emptied out the safe deposit box and did all the other miscellaneous things that must be done when you are moving. Finally on 07/07/07 I got the kids, computer and cat loaded up in the van and we headed to Oklahoma. We got on the road at 8:00, and after stops in Cuba, Santa Rosa, a rest stop in Texas and Elk City, Oklahoma, we made it to the apartment at 10:30 PM. We were back together again!

Since this was the big goal that I had been working towards, I hadn't thought much farther than getting to Oklahoma and unloading the car. I have to admit that I felt very overwhelmed once I was there and started thinking about all the things that were next. We pretty much tackled them one at a time, and also did lots of family activities. We took advantage of the apartment's pool, hit Chuck E. Cheese and saw Ratatouille the first week we were there. The second week the girls spent at Nana and Granddaddy's house.

Terri was in OKC visiting her aunt, so she volunteered to take the girls back home with here for the week. They were all ready for that, so I met her in south OKC and handed over the kiddos. I was not prepared for the lost feeling I felt as they drove away. It's been two years since they've gone for more than a night at a time, and I really didn't know what to do with myself. Of course, the huge list of things back at the apartment got me back on track!

That night that the girls left Jerry and I went on a walk. As we approached our apartment we could hear a bell ringing, and hear sirens going off - turns out it was the fire alarm on our apartment building! The apartment above us had the automatic sprinkler malfunction, and her apartment was flooding, and the water was coming down into our apartment! We got all our stuff off the floor before it was damaged, and the fire fighters came in with their water extraction equipment and spent about and hour and a half getting the water out. Thank you station #2!

Amy and I met for our scrapbooking weekend the next weekend - she had called to tell me she is expecting again, and I got to be there when she told Terri and Dad. We had a good time, and I got a bit done in the girl's school albums. I like to have the prior year completed before the current one starts!

After much looking at houses, Jerry and I decided it was time to cut bait on the 25th. We had to have a place to live to register the girls for school next week! I found a rental - the only rental I could find, and signed the lease - without Jerry even seeing it. It's a place to live, but I can't say much nice about it. The people that are in there now are slobs, so it was kind of hard to make the decision, but it had to be done. At least now we know where the girls will go to school. With the way Jerry talks about work sometimes, it may be better that we are renting for a year!

For Gracie's birthday Jerry took off the day and I tried to put everything else aside for the day. We did all the things she wanted for her birthday - Chick-fil-a for lunch, the Noble Museum to see the dinosaur bones, top-your-own pizza for dinner and a cake for dessert.

The girls spent the next weekend at Mimi and Pepaws. Being in Oklahoma has it's advantages!

For all those who think my kids are so well behaved: I took them with me to get my hair cut - halfway through my haircut, the receptionist walked up and said, "I hate to disturb you, but the little girls are wrestling on the couch, and one of them has the other in a headlock." So much for well-behaved!

Catching Up. . . June 2007

Summer vacation is here - 80 more days until school starts! We started off with an exciting moment for the girls - we went to Kidfest and they got to meet Ronald McDonald! They were thrilled to meet him and see his magic show.

Thankfully, Jerry was able to take off time for Gracie's surgery. He arrived that Thursday, which allowed him to also see the girls dance recital. They did a great job, and were very excited to get flowers afterwards.

Friday morning we got up early and I took a sleepy Maggie over to a friend's house for the morning. We got Gracie in her car seat, still in her pajamas, and headed to the hospital. She was in a good mood, and not nervous at all. She got into her special nightgown (hospital gown) and put on her special hat and watched Dora until they came to wheel her to the OR. After about an hour Dr. Eberhart came out and told us she did fine. Her adenoids were huge, so she should sleep much better now. We got to recovery, and she was still sleeping. We had quite a difficult time waking her up, and when she finally did wake up, she did not want to go home. She wanted to stay in her special pajamas and watch Dora! We finally bribed her with a wagon ride to the car and the promise of a new Dora video she could watch at home, and we were on our way. We had one scary moment during her recovery that almost had me calling 911 - she had all this excess mucus that her body was attempting to get rid of by vomiting, but it was so thick, she couldn't get it up. It seemed to lodge in her airway, and she couldn't breathe and was starting to panic and get a bit blue. Just as I was ready to pick up the phone to call, she got it up and we were okay. It scared us both pretty good though. To top off this day, Maggie's ear started hurting. Her tubes fell out around her birthday, and this is the third ear infection since then! ARGH!

Jerry left that Sunday to go back to work, and we really miss him. It was different when I left him in Oklahoma - I had to go back and do lots of stuff for the end of school, but this time when he left, it left a huge void! My other half is gone, and I'm missing him!

The girls and I did VBS the next week. They had a good time, and I helped in the kitchen and got to spend some time with other adults, which was nice.

Maggie lost her first tooth, but she doesn't want to leave it for the tooth fairy - she wants to keep it forever!

We had another visit to the hospital - this one unscheduled. We had had a long day where the girls were determined to get on my nerves. I was talking to a friend and she suggested that I needed a break. She was working on her scrapbook, so I should grab my stuff and join her for a couple of hours and relax. We headed over, and when we got there I noticed that there was a ceiling fan in the room that her girls shared that was over the foot of the bunk beds. I told the girls not to play on that bed, because the fan could hit them and hurt them. Then I asked, "Do you understand me?" and they said "Yes." Apparently, they forgot sometime in the next couple of hours, because two hours later, as I was getting my stuff packed up, Gracie comes flying into the room yelling, "Maggie got hit hard!" followed by blood-curdling screams from the bedroom. Sure enough, Maggie had climbed up on the bed and got clocked by the fan. Blood was everywhere! We got the bleeding stopped, and my friend, who has five children, thought she'd be okay, but I wanted to be sure. We headed to the emergency room and eventually got two stitches. Boy, was that not the relaxing evening I'd been hoping for!

I finally did get a bit of relaxing done - I hired the girls favorite babysitter to watch the girls for a day and I got out and did some shopping for myself and got a pedicure. It definitely makes me a more relaxed mommy when I get some time away from the girls.

On the home front, we did finally get the retaining wall completed, so we got the house listed. Unfortunately, it's one of 62 houses available in the same price range. We'll just hope for the best!

Catching Up. . . May 2007

Okay - this was supposed to mean more frequent updates, but as you can see, it doesn't. Life has been exceptionally busy, so I'll try to bring you up to date.

The four of us spent all day Tuesday in the car driving to Texas for Suzanne's visitation (Wednesday) and funeral (Thursday). About the time we got to Tucumcari Gracie asked, "WHEN are we getting to the AIRPORT???" She wasn't to thrilled with all the driving. We then spent all day Friday driving back to New Mexico. Definitely not how we had planned to spend our 11th wedding anniversary, but what are you going to do?

The next few days we did as much as possible to get the house ready to sell, especially Jerry doing all the things that only he could do. Terri made the drive from Texas over a couple of days and on Tuesday, May 15, Jerry and I loaded up the Honda with more stuff than I thought was possible and headed to Oklahoma City. We got him settled into his corporate apartment and started looking at schools. We found one we thought was exceptional, so we looked at houses in that area the next day, but didn't find anything outstanding.

I flew back to Farmington on the smallest plane I have ever been on that Friday. It was a little Mesa Airline flight - 17 people counting the pilots. It was delayed forever, and then when we got on, the pilot gave us a brief rundown of what to expect, pulled up the stairs, and started the safety recording. About 1/2 way through what to do in an emergency, he powered up the engines, which drowned out the recording. "I hope we don't need that information!" I said to the lady across the aisle. (There was only one seat on either side of the aisle - seat A and F.) The co-pilot got out a thick binder of papers and started going down a checklist - the lady in front of me said, "Dear God, he has to get out the instructions!" She was looking pretty pale, and I hoped we would have a smooth flight, because I have heard many stories about this flight. A short 45 minutes later, we touched down in Farmington, with an uneventful flight, and I got to see my girls again.

Terri left with a fully loaded suburban on Saturday, and then things got busy. Gracie got another ear infection, Western Day and Field Days were back to back as well as Girl Scouts - Gracie bridged to brownies, and Maggie had an end-of-year award ceremony. Both girls also got reading and citizenship awards at school. When I wasn't up at the school for all their activities I was busy getting the house staged for listing, having the concrete repairs made and trying to line up drywall repairs for the house, and taking care of my last big crop, Memoranza.

May 29 was a big day - the first grade picnic, where the fire department brought the ladder truck and used a water cannon to spray the kids, and an ENT appointment for Miss Gracie, where we found out that her tonsils and adenoids needed to come out. I called Jerry and told him he was going to have to come home for that one! There's no way he can miss all the fun stuff!