A proud senior moment

Karl cracks me up- so today he says "Hey, you know the what's er-names- we saw them today. Her name is Natalie." I supplied the last name. "What's his name???" I was surprised. The other guy's name should have been easy as his name ... wait for it...is Karl. He was spared total humiliation today by not asking the guy his name. I however now have unlimited mocking rights

Day 3-6

I am grateful for the extra space in my garage which allows me to lay out all my cabinets and paint them.  I am less grateful that my car is in the shop,  hence the empty garage, but hopeful my wonderful husband will be able to get the repair bill for my transmission rebuild covered by the folks who offering us the wrong transmission fluid.


I am grateful for wonderful children, husband, and pets who make my life fun and interesting.  I am grateful for a comfy house in the face of bad weather.

Frustrating Homework

Sydney had a challenging homework assignment tonight that I felt I absolutely had to mock.  Let me preface my rant by saying that I am grateful my children now have actual textbooks that I can references for homework assignments, it is truly fantastic.

Tonight her homework had her reference a page in the book, and using the vocabulary words describe a picture on the page.  Normally I would be on board with that assignment and had it been tweaked to say, "Write a story using these vocab words, it would have been a dandy assignment."

Here is my response using all the vocab words. (Words are underlined as per homework instructions.)

I shivered in excitement when my daughter motioned me to look at her list of vocabulary words. I am not a gardener, but I was shocked that none of these words had anything to do with the flower in question. I slammed the book in sadness as I wondered how on Earth she was supposed to complete this assignment. Perhaps if it had asked for her to do something else with the word, like make up a story,  she wouldn't have struggled for so long with this assignment!

That said, the flower is a rose. “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” To bad I can't smell anything in the book. It is small, pink, velvety, with ruffled edges. The flower appears to be in bloom. The leaves look pointy and it is covered in dew.

I printed it out and plan to send it in to the teacher.  I hope he responds:)

Day 2

I'm grateful for my daughter Emily! Yesterday I realized at 3:15 E wasn't home yet, and called the school. She was staying after for an activity- I remembered as soon as they told me. so I went to get her after Sydney got home so we could get to flute lessons on time. (In hindsight- I should have relayed the need to get picked up to the secretary and saved myself some angst)

I was a bit late since the bus was layer than normal and we were not ready to go the second Syd got home. Got to the school, no Emily. The guard called the bus garage official, they replied she wasn't on the bus. I called a neighbor, no Emily at the house, no answer when I called home. It took us 25 minutes to verify with a different person that yes, she was on the late bus, and had been dropped off. Fortunately Karl was home just moments later and could tell me and the three school teachers helping he saw her coming down the street.

It was 25 minutes of near panic for me, and I was truly grateful to get home and give her a huge hug to try and calm my racing heart. I don't ever want to experience that heart racing terror of not knowing where your child is ever again. I am also grateful to her teacher who was with me and card enough to ask me to call as soon as I got home and let her know Emily was safe.

Trick or treat

Happy Halloween everyone! We had a great night in our new neighborhood! Baxter even got in the action with a banana split costume. He hated the hat, but tolerated the suit on his body.

Emily and Josh were characters from a video game- Mario Kart, and Sydney was a veterinarian. Didn't get a chance to make costumes this year as the sewing machine stuff is still boxed up.
Josh loved saying trick or treat- and he follows it up with I want some candy. Less cute. He did thank everyone and tell people they had cool costumes!!

We only did a quick circuit o the street as it was fairly cold! Thankfully no snow!

30 days of gratitude

Day 1 -
Saw this idea a few wars ago, so I think I will give it a shot!
I am grateful for safety and warmth in my home! I am grateful we were not affected by the storm and we are
More prepared should another stornm or power outage come our way!