Beat it, Bart Connor

And while we're at it:  move over, Kurt Thomas!  John Sam practiced and practiced his front flip on the bed until he learned to land on his feet.  These are just flippin' fun.  Pun hated but intended, lmao.

On deck

Down

Takeoff

Airborne

Wrapping It Up

Solid Landing

Time for the Next One!

I am so tickled for John Sam that he taught himself to do something he really wanted to learn.  He is proud of himself and we are proud of him.  :)

Still have 16 pages of Henry David Thoreau reading to do (yes, Walden) but when I started reading this past weekend, I had about 68 or so?  Thoreau is way better than Ralph Waldo Emerson . . . I fell ASLEEP not once, but twice while reading Nature.  I know what to grab when my next bout of insomnia hits, geez.  Thoreau is a rambler, which is how my brain works too, so I'm following that one better.  It's puzzling, though, how some of these American Literature Classics become designated as such, when people are falling asleep reading them.  

Memorials

It has been 25 years.  "Colonel Grandaddy" passed on this day in history--the same day as the Challenger explosion.  My mom said he was the most patient person she ever knew.  I sure do wish THAT had skipped a generation, hehe.  We remember him today with love.  :)

My boss's wife brought a small TV into the office the day of the launch. We planned on watching the liftoff on the screen, then going outside to see the shuttle when it was high enough in the sky.  For a few minutes we were confused and really couldn't believe our eyes.  It took quite a while to accept the grim reality that our eyes did see the shocking truth.

It seems unreal that these events happened at all, much less on the same day. Thinking of those who are no longer with us and sending support and love to family and friends who remain.

This cartoon by Dana Summers was published in the Orlando Sentinel on January 28, 1986 (give or take).  Did you know that the airplane is shedding a tear?  I have never noticed that until today.  It's a little blurry due to being a copy of a copy.  Still, another exceptional example of a picture being worth a thousand words.

Thursday Funnies

Caroline has a funny sense of humor.  Examples follow:

Recently I've been having a hard time getting her up in the morning.  I asked her to let me know if there was anything that might help her. She said, "Yes, you know when you come in and shove me?"  All I could say to keep from laughing is tell her I just shake her leg a little.  Anyway, it translates to her asking me not to make a lot of noise when I go into her room to say it's wakeup time. "And don't turn on the light," she said.  I asked her if it was okay if I still shoved her, and we both laughed.

Tonight she asked me to move her bed because her little owl box fell behind the headboard.  When I got it far away from the wall, she started climbing right over said headboard.  I told her I wasn't sure it would hold her.  She told me she was okay because she had bed smarts.

*haha*

P.S.

Got the Caddy back today, and it looks like nothing ever happened to it.  I still can't believe it looks so good.  They washed it and vacuumed it out, and it was very nice to drive a clean and repaired car. 

We all can't wait to ride in it now -

Bad Rain, Good Class

I came home in between work and class because I thought maybe class might be cancelled thanks to the monsoon that passed through here tonight.  In a way it was a good thing because I hadn't typed a response to one of the reading assignments.  I was going to take a zero on it. I started typing one anyway because I thought I could take it next week.

However, the class was not cancelled, so I took my completed homework and got in the car to drive through the monsoon up to college.  I left about 10 after 6, and at first I thought, I'll never make it.  Then I decided to concentrate on driving safely and not look at the clock.  I said out loud to myself, I'm going to make it on time with a few minutes to spare because I am going to get a primo parking spot right in front of the building where my class is.

Made it!  AND got the curbside spot!

ADDED BONUS:  The class was so worth the PITA weather.  :)

Eggrolls

I made my "famous" chicken and cheese eggrolls.  They could've used more chicken inside, I think.  Still, fairly tasty!!

Experiments

I was checking on Caroline today while she played in her room.  Her door was locked, and I asked her what she was doing. 

She:  "Experiments."

Me:  "Experiments?"

She:  "Yes."

Me:  "What kind of experiments?"

She:  "Dangerous ones."

Got Kleenex?

In my bedroom there is a mountainous pile of Kleenex.  One in the living room, AND one in the car.

I had taken a picture of the bedroom pile and was going to post it . . . but I could see so much dust on the mirror and headboard that I was to embarrassed to post it.  I will say it doesn't look like that in real life, but the camera flash reallllllllly hones in on dust and other dirt.

Ker-chooooo!

Six Word Story

A writing website has weekly challenges, and one of the challenges is writing a six word story.  Here is mine for this week.

Coughing
and
congestion
regretfully
predict
relapse.

Only air kisses to keep germs to a minimum.  Niles Crane would be very proud!!  :)

Sorosis Luncheon

My grandma (and the kids' great-grandma) invited me to a luncheon at her Sorosis Society.  It was only a few blocks away from where I work.  I met so many nice ladies and the food was good, especially the brownies, ha!

Grandma said the reason she invited me to today's luncheon was because the guest speaker was from Canine Companions for Independence.  She had a Labrador/Golden Retriever mix named Cosby.  She was only seven months old, and it startled me how much she looked like Beamer in the face!!  The handler told me when it would be an appropriate time for me to sneak in a few love pats on Cosby.  So I did--she was pretty obedient, but did try to lick my hand and the handler corrected her.  She mentioned they were still working on that.

It was a wonderful lunch and the presentation was so much fun. :)

I may have already linked this, but if not, have a look if you'd like: Canine Companions for Independence  

Another site you might enjoy:  Guiding Eyes Service Dogs for Children tith Autism

Flashing back

This looks like Miss Tokyo, doesn't it?  But it is an old picture of Dixie in 1993!!  It's a little weird how much they resemble each other.  When I showed it to the kids, Caroline was like, Where's THAT? I think she was looking at the ugly carpet, lol. 

Superbig

Not Superbad, lol.

I know I'm milking the rose thing, but I had to brag about how big it's gotten.  Every day I cut a little bit of the stem off and give it fresh water.  It still looks like it hasn't even opened all the way. 

This one shows the size of it compared to my hand.

Told ya!!

xo xo

Plant Pets

I think that is what the kids call these cute little plants :)  This one is doing great, and the other one is too wet and presently, drying out. *ha!*

P.S.  I loved the class tonight.  Four classmates from other classes are in with me, and it will be a lot of reading of classic American writing that I should be reading anyway.  As promised, the final paper WILL be started this weekend.  :)

1-11-2001 The Bee and a Resilient Rosebush

This is a rose from the rosebush that has survived the two recent history-making freezes.  It's huge IRL.  Look at the dew on the side view.  Tough yet delicate.  Its unusual color is so lovely!!

Then there was a small bee flitting around, and I tried to get closeups of him (her?).  I think the zoom lens would work better for bee photos, but since it takes me about 10 minutes reading page 8 of my manual to change the regular lens to the zoom one, I will have to sneak up on Mr./Ms. Bee another day.  The first one is my favorite because the wings are clear enough that you can see both of them.  On the next two, the bee is on the right side of the photo--in front of the brown plant in one, and by the dirt in the planter of the other one.  In the last one, it's on the left in front of a green leaf.

 

 

Today I am full of gratitude for the beauty of nature.

Yawnnnnnnn

Excuse me but I can't stop the yawns tonight.  So nighty-night and will try to post tomorrow after class :)

Ten Years of Ornaments

I have 10 years' worth of family photo Christmas ornaments.  I can't believe I'm really saying TEN years!  Year 2000 through year 2010.

PS - Pardon the slime on the towel.  It doesn't stick to much of anything, except we discovered it's practically a permanent seal when it comes to fabric.

More School Projects

From John Sam, a writing sample with freehand drawing:

From Caroline, a short quiz featuring adjectives and colored pencils:

I cracked up about the LEATHER shoes.  I think the only real leather shoes she's had were Mary Janes, and it's been quite a while since she wore them.  ;-p

Naturally, I really love both of these!

x o x o x o x o

Jan 6, 2011

Not much to report.  I'm getting some scrap stuff together with some new pictures so that I can have some creative time while I don't have homework right now.  :)  I've been wanting to make some ATC cards to hang on the cool pewter wheel I have specifically for them - lol.  I'm going to put tiny pictures that I like, paper & ribbon scraps, and quotes that I need to remember.  I'll post pictures of everything I make.  I know that the blog has been light on photos, and scrapbooking has been on the back burner for a while.  Instead of making every single page a complex work of art, I'll wing it and see how they turn out if I don't try to make them perfect.  I need practice with winging it!  Ha!

Skippin'

Yesterday's blog post should have read:  Happy B'day Papa! 

I was skippin' out on posting.  But I wasn't skippin' out on school - I found out class doesn't start until next Tuesday.  Hello?  I got to go to Publix, whoohoooooo.  Feels good to have that over with, though.

It took me almost 2 hours to enter receipts and balance checkbook.  Whew.  At one point, it looks like I have a little, and bam, it's obvious I have VERY little.  lmao

Good night!  Thursday is almost here. This week has tired me out so far.

Snags on Monday

Or, business as usual--sometimes.  ;-p

Strange snags at work kinda limited our productivity today.  Wonky all the way around.  People had stuff to do and were getting antsy.  I think tomorrow will be better.

I'm happy to say that the kids and I started the day well!  We were on time, forgot nothing, and everybody had breakfast.  Tonight, their homework is done and packed, and I have some mathematics of my own to handle.  Does that sound important? It translates to balance the checkbook . . . LOL!

The new class starts tomorrow night.  (Sidenote: I got the textbooks from amazon.com and saved some $, and I realized I can probably sell a few of my used texts that aren't too beat up.)  I've heard positive comments from fellow students who have had the professor before.  Regarding this class, I know one thing for sure:  If there is a paper for the final, I am starting it this weekend.  heeeeeee!

P.S.  I decided that I'm not going to do "labels" or "tagging" this year, unless I mention a name or website or anything else that needs crediting.  Just sayin--

Current Photos

I didn't take that many pictures at Christmas, so I wanted to get a few casual ones.  Always the unexpected ones that make my heart *smile*

Gracious Greetings to 2011

Happy January 1, 2011.  Welcome, New Year!  :)

xo xo xo