Once More With Feeling

January Reads

2012-02-03T17:45:00.000-05:00

Here are the books I read in January:

The Miracle at Speedy Motors (Book 9 of the 'No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency' series) - Alexander McCall Smith
First Among Sequels (Book 5 of the 'Thursday Next' series) - Jasper Fforde
Tea Time for the Traditionally Built (Book10 of the 'No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency' series) - Alexander McCall Smith
The Double Comfort Safari Club (Book 11 of the 'No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency' series) - Alexander McCall Smith
The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Down (Book 2 of the 'Yada Yada Prayer Group' series) - Neta Jackson
Storm Front (Book 1 of the Dresden Files) - Jim Butcher
The Big Over Easy (Book 1 of the Nursery Crimes series) - Jasper Fforde
Three to Get Deadly (Book 3 of the Stephanie Plum series) - Janet Evanovich

Wow, January was made up of "series" books.

I'm still loving the sweetness of the" No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" series. Mma Ramotswe is one smart lady who has old time values. Mma Makutsi cracks me up with her shoes. I love that in this world of Botswana, the good guys go through tough times, but goodness does prevail. Take that, Violet Sephotho!

Jasper Fforde is super intelligent. And insane. In a good way. The Thursday Next series is great. The puns, the literary asides, the random things (Temperance Brennan, footnoter phones, defeating oral tradition and its consequences) he comes up with are hysterical. Only one more to go, as far as what's already been published. But I am happy to note, I have recently received books 1 & 2 of his Nursey Rhymes mystery series, so I'll still have my Fforde-Fix for a bit.

"The Yada Yada Prayer Group" series is a contemporary Christian series. I picked up the first one for a quarter last year at the library and got the second one for free from the Paperback Swap web site. The series deals with a completely diverse group of women in Chicago who are put together as a prayer team for mornings before the weekend-long conference. They come from different backgrounds (school teacher, salon shop owner, real estate agent, house keeper, bagel shop worker, University professor, elementary school principal, etc.), have different histories (raised in a loving home in Ohio, in jail for stealing clothes for younger brothers, former crack addict, immigrants, etc.) as well as different races and nationalities (black & white; Hispanic, Jamaican, Jew, from Africa, etc.) They have nothing in common except for their love of God and the sacrifice He made for them through Jesus. This odd group of women decide to meet after the conference and stay in touch with bi-weekly meetings. The lead character, white school teacher Jodi, sometimes is annoying, mainly in her jealousy of another member. That bit bothers me, but the women's relationships with each other go through tests, but remain, and ring, true.

"Storm Front" (Dresden Files, book 1): I think I should have read this book some time way after reading "Yada Yada..." I do not care whether a book has supernatural elements in it or not (Hello? Buffy fan, Harry Potter fan here) but when the author's writing has this..... "I hate Christianity" undercurrent/feel to it (Harry Dresden does not believe in God. Wears T-shirts that says "Easter's Been Cancelled. They found the body,") it turns me off. I have the second book and will read it. Maybe I'll like it better after I've stepped away from the first one for a bit. It just bugged me and it's sad, because the Harry character is quirky (I love that he hates current technology and pretty much destroys anything electronic he touches or is near) and has a spirit trapped in a skull in his lab that helps him with his potions, named Bob.

"The Big Over Easy" is another Jasper Fforde insanity that made me laugh. MAN, he is good. Inspector Jack Spratt (he of the "could eat no fat" fame) is in charge for the NCD - Nursery Crime Division of the police department. Nursery rhyme puns and references galore in this book. Jack must solve the whodunnit - who pushed Humpty Dumpty off the wall and killed him. Super-fun, just like his 'Thursday Next' series.

Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum is so ridiculously trashy, I love her. I literally snort reading the stupid things this woman get herself into. How in the world she's still alive as a Bounty Hunter is beyond me. *snort* Aaaaaand there's a new movie out! I don't care what the Razzie's say, I'm watching it!

A Day with my Son

2012-01-31T17:28:00.000-05:00

Jacob and I went to visit his paternal grandfather. His grandfather is fighting stage 4 cancer (esophagus, liver, etc.) It's not good. We went to visit him because we're not sure how much longer we'll have him around. It tears my heart apart. Last time we saw him was in April. This man is one of the best men I have ever know. He was a single, young Italian Marine Sargent who met a pretty little gal from the country with 4 kids of her own. He married this lady and adopted all 4 kids. He raised them as his own. He's not politically correct AT ALL and cracks me up to no end. The Puerto-Rican vs. Italian jokes we swapped throughout the years are horrible. His wife passed away in 2006 from lung cancer and Jacob lost a fantastic Grandma. In 2011, Al goes and marries a Puerto Rican. Ha!

He's an awesome person and my heart breaks for Jacob and the entire family.

We went alone. Once our visit was over, Jacob asked if we could go to Downtown Disney, which was like a half hour away. Wanting to bring a little joy to a heavy day, I said yes. We drove on the HORRIBLE 192 in Kissimmee. Holy horrible traffic. Took us more line an hour to get there. Jacob drove; baptism by fire, I suppose.

We stopped in the Vinylmation store. So many cute little figurines, but I think I'll stick to collecting pins. Much smaller.

Mickey made up of other tiny Mickey's.

SO cute, but $850?!?!?

Yay! They are FINALLY doing something with the huge space left
empty after the Virgin Megastore closed! Bowling!! Yay!

Jacob used some Christmas and birthday money to buy himself some loose leaf tea (we're into teas right now) and a Mickey T-shirt.

One handsome kid.

I hope the trip to Downtown Disney helped make him feel a little happy on a sad day.

Harry Potter Legos Return

2012-01-29T14:31:00.000-05:00

Remember that post about Harry Potter Legos? For Christmas, David and I got Isabel a Lego set: The Burrow, the Weasley's home.

Whoops. I'm too lazy to rotate it.

(Holy expensive, Batman! For the size, this thing is WAY too expensive!)

Isabel LOVES IT. It has Ginny Weasley, which is what she wanted. This way, she has a girlfriend for Harry. Tee hee.

We spend a lot of time playing with this set. I end up being Mr. & Mrs. Weasley, while she gets to be Harry and Ginny.

The Burrow.

Mr. & Mrs. Weasley in the kitchen.

I love all the detail.

Ginny in her room and Harry in the room with
bunk beds that he shares with Ron. Hi Hedwig!

Oh, Mr. Weasley is late to work. He's going to use
the Floo Network. Just take a little Floo powder,
say the name of the location you wish to go to, slam down
the powder and...

"Wooosh!" you're taken to the fireplace of the location you named.
Bye Mr. Weasley, have a good day at work!

Oh Oh! The bad guys are just outside the Burrow!

The set is so cute, but was just so expensive. I would love to get her the Hogwarts castle but it'll have to wait.

Gals at the Zoo

2012-01-25T22:09:00.000-05:00

We've hit a rut recently with our weekends.

My husband works nights. He comes home very late/early and of course, does not go right to bed. Do you, when you come home from work? No. You have dinner, watch tv, surf the web, etc. Same with him. So he goes to sleep around 4 or 5 in the morning. A few hours later, Isabel's awake, and I drag myself up an hour or so after that.

But with the men of the house sleeping sometimes until noon or 1 p.m. (the teen because he's a teen), the day is gone. Gone. This is not a blame thing, it's a fact of our lives at the moment.

I work Monday through Friday. I commute, work, commute, come home, cook, clean, work out, watch tv/read, etc. etc. I want my weekends to have some kind of fun to them. Not both days, not every weekend, but at least one day out of every 2 or 3 weekend days, I want to do something as a family. Fun time.

Like I said, rut.

So Sunday morning, I was up with Isabel. I made pancakes, cleaned up and then told Isabel to get dressed - we were going to the zoo.

Please note that the pictures that do not have Isabel in them were taken by Miss Iz with her camera (thanks Titi Brenda.)

Eagles

Isabel proclaimed this her best shot.

We stopped at the new playground area. It was not there the last time we went.

"That's Wizard's Chess!"

Aaaah! She was really scared even though it was fake.

The day was cool, it was not too full and she and I took our sweet time walking about. We got a soda and a salty pretzel to snack on.

The Zoo also has an area called ZoomAir Treetop Adventures. It looks like so much fun! Isabel is very interested in trying out the two kids courses, climbing though trees and doing the zip line. The fees are separate from the zoo. I think one day we'll go just to try it out.

She and I had a fun Girl's Day at the Zoo.

More Christmas Singing!

2012-01-21T10:27:00.000-05:00

More of Jacob's Christmas Concert.

Sci-Fi Hoedown: Star Trek: Enterprise Season 1

2012-01-16T18:18:00.000-05:00

Oh My Word, did I love this show when it aired! We watched this show religiously.

The EYE candy. Geez. I loved Scott Bakula/Captain Archer. He has such an odd face (the nose) and yet I loved him here. Rawr! But not quite as much as Conner Trinneer/Trip Really, they were all good looking.

When we realized this series was on Netflix's streaming service, we squealed and starting singing "It's been a long road....", one of the most hokey (yet catchy) theme songs for a show EVER.

The blatant "see our show, we have half naked people in it!" is kind-of lame. FIRST episode and we have a "rub-down" fest in the decontamination room. Now, they do not play it sexual. Everyone in the room is being completely nonchalant about being half-naked and having to rub this medicine all over themselves and into each other's backs, but it's just so out-there.

Joleen Blalock as T'Pol needs to EAT A SANDWICH. It's disgusting how skinny she was and yet how large her chest was. That's not normal. You lose weight, you lose fat; you don't become a size zero and keep your size D's. Yuck. When your 40-something husband and your (then) 17 year-old son both say "Ewww" when they see her in her short-shorts and tank top, bra-less, in the decontamination room, you know she's too skinny to look good. And no, they're not afraid to say a woman is attractive in front of me.

I love seeing how the entire space program "started" before Captain Kirk. It was fun "meeting" Klingons for the first time. Watching T'Pol slowly shift from hard-nose Vulcan to slightly less hard-nosed was entertaining; for all my skinny-whining, Blalock is a good actress. I enjoyed the sets, the costumes and all the aliens. Not-so-much a fan of the Hoshi Sato character; she's in SPACE on an amazing adventure, and she spent the first half whining and scared. Dr. Phlox is such a great alien. The story lines are good, but sometimes they get lost (time war? Never really figured out who was behind all that this season. )

Although we watched these live, I have Swiss-cheese memory and can only remember bits & pieces, so it's like new! :)

5k Update

2012-01-14T17:41:00.001-05:00

The day after I registered for the 5k was a Saturday. The very next day. December 3, I think. I decided to try and test my running outside, rather than just on my treadmill.

David and Isabel volunteered to ride their bikes while I ran/walked. I had figured out how far 1.5 miles was one way, and decided to run there and back. A 5k is just a little over 3 miles; 3.1 miles. I was not concerned about the .1. I just wanted to make sure that I could complete 3 miles in under 50 minutes.

I ran, I walked, I ran, I walked. 1.5 miles to Isabel's school, 1.5 miles back. David would yell times and Isabel would yell "Go mom!"

I made it back in 44 minutes! I was stoked! I was red as a tomato. I was happy!

Then, my knees started to complain. They swelled up. I iced them. I elevated them. It was bad. My knees never hurt from the treadmill at all, but I guess concrete does not "give" like a treadmill. Who knew? LOL Sunday, December 4th, I was supposed to take the kids to Busch Gardens. That never happened. Sunday morning, and I could barely get out of bed.

Three weeks later, and my knees were still hurting. I was in a PANIC about the 5k. I was freaking out! I mean, I could barely walk. THREE WEEKS LATER.

I guess my shoes might have not been the best thing either. A Fairy God-Person at work bought me a pair of $120 shoes, plus $20 cushioned insoles for Christmas! Seriously!!!

They have this weird back thing and feel WONDERFUL. See the heel? It's open for shock-absorption. I've been waearing then and started to walk on the treadmill. I've been icing my knees, elevating my feet, taking it easy. And feeling better!! Not 100% but WAY better than before.

I have until February 25. I still don't have anyone running with me, which makes me sad and I am a little freaked that I have to leave my house at 3 a.m. to get there by 4 a.m. I almost want to stay on site, but that's $149 I really don't want to spend. Jacob will need to set me up with some running music on my teeny nano-fake ipod thingy.

Here's hoping I make it!

2011 Buffyfest Ornament Swap: Third Ornament Received

2012-01-11T20:21:00.000-05:00

The third ornament received was from Bri. She asked who our favorite "Whedon" couples were.

I chose Fred and Wesley. Tee hee!

She also sent a clay Buffy stake, like the one I received from her two years ago. (She was in my group 2 years ago.)

We're all missing one ornament. There are 5 in our group, therefore we are supposed to get 4. The person with the 4th ornament, who got all ours, said they would send theirs soon. So, hopefully I'll have one more to post.

2011 Book List

2012-01-07T22:15:00.002-05:00

Thank goodness for Shelfari.com. If I had not been keeping track of my books on this site, I would have lost the list. See, our computer died in August and I lost a lot of pictures and documents, including my list of books read up to that date.

In 2010, I read 56 books.

In 2011? 75!! (76 if you count the fact that I reread a book in November that I had read in March, cause I was bored and had my Nook with me at the time, so I re-read a book.)

I know there are people who read more, but for a working mom with a household to run, I am stoked! Also, I don't count audio books in my car, which I listen to every day to and from work. I don't count comics that I subscribe to. I also don't count the books I read with Isabel, especially now that she reads them to me. They're way too small for me to add.

Here's my list that I had to hand-type because unfortunately, Shelfari won't let me export my list unless my profile on their site is 85% complete. Absolute poppycock, if you ask me. What does that mean? Stupid things like "adding friends" or "editing book reviews" will make my profile be "more complete." It's at 70% right now. So, Shelfari is not being my friend right now.

Sh*t My Dad Says - Justin Halpern (yep, this is how I started 2011.)
The Likeness - Tana French
The Kalahari Typing School for Men - Alexander McCall Smith
Commencement - J. Courtney Sullivan
*A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
The Road - Cormac McCarthy
Girls Night In - various authors
*1984 - George Orwell
The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove - Christopher Moore
The Brambles - Eliza Minot
The Thief - Megan Whalen Turner
The Full Cupboard of Life -  Alexander McCall Smith
The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde
*Wives and Daughters - Elizabeth Gaskell
The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
Lost in a Good Book - Jasper Fforde
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - Stieg Larsson
*The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan
The Sea of Monsters - Rick Riordan
The Titan's Curse - Rick Riordan
*Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
Good in Bed - Jennifer Weiner
The Peach Keeper - Sarah Addison Allen
In the Company of Cheerful Ladies -  Alexander McCall Smith
InterWorld - Neil Gaiman
Florabama Ladies Auxiliary & Sewing Circle - Lois Battle
The Battle of the Labyrinth - Rick Riordan
Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas - James Patterson
Naked Heat - "Richard Castle"
The Last Olympian - Rick Riordan
A Jane Austen Education - William Deresiewicz
*Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
Undead & Unworthy - MaryJanice Davidson
13 Little Blue Envelopes - Maureen Johnson
Charming Billy - Alice McDermott
Diary of a Mad Fat Girl - Stephanie McAfee
The Time it Snowed in Puerto Rico: A Novel - Sarah McCoy
Hand-Me-Down - Lee Nichols
*Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
All the Names- Jose Saramago
The Angel Experiment - James Patterson
Knit Two - Kate Jacobs
School's Out Forever - James Patterson
The Well of Lost Plots - Jasper Fforde
Dead Reckoning - Charlaine Harris
Saving the World and Other Experiments - James Patterson
Blue Shoes and Happiness -  Alexander McCall Smith
Fablehaven - Brandon Mull
These Happy Golden Years - Laura Ingalls Wilder
Monster Island - Christopher Golden
The First Four Years - Laura Ingalls Wilder
Knit the Season - Kate Jacobs
The Weird Sisters - Eleanor Brown
Comfort Food - Kate Jacobs
Pendragon - D.J. McHale
The Merchant of Death - D.J. McHale
Mr. Chartwell - Rebecca Hunt
*Anne of Green Gables - L.M. Montgomery
Anne of Avonlea -  L.M. Montgomery
The Lost City of Faar - D.J. McHale
The Help - Kathryn Sockett
Anne of the Island - L.M. Montgomery
Anne of Windy Poplars - L.M. Montgomery
The Alchemist - Michael Scott (that's what she said)
Something Rotten - Jasper Fforde
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian
St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves - Karen Russell
One for the Money - Janet Evanovich
The Yada Yada Prayer Group - Neta Jackson
Anne's House of Dreams - L.M. Montgomery
A Game of Thrones - George R.R. Martin
The Good Husband of Zebra Drive - Alexander McCall Smith
Two for the Dough - Janet Evanovich
One Day in May - Catherine Alliot
Heat Rises - "Richard Castle"

* - Classics List

A few notes:

Notes on some Classics:

I really enjoyed "A Tale of Two Cities" by Dickens. Really well done.

"Madame Bovary" and "Jude the Obscure" were both written by different authors who got in trouble for being too progressive for their times. Both books deal with adultery and are actually quite similar.

Books I Want my Money Back For:

Diary of a Mad Fat Girl - Stephanie McAfee (paid .99 and I still want my money back.)
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian - Marina Lewycka
The Likeness - Tana French (It was free; I want my time back.)

Favorites of the Year:

The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde (and all the rest in the "Tuesday Next" series.)
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - Stieg Larsson
A Jane Austen Education - William Deresiewicz
*Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
Fablehaven - Brandon Mull
The Alchemist - Michael Scott
The Yada Yada Prayer Group - Neta Jackson (*this* is how I grew up getting my "praise" on.)

New Series I am enjoying
I just started Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. I was prepared to be haughty and look down my nose at it (book snob here) and yet I love it!

Continuing Series I Love
I still love Alexander McCall Smith's No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. I love its sweetness, kindness and slow pacing. As I get closer and closer to his newer releases, I am getting sad that eventually I will have to wait for more books to be published.

What did you read? Anything you think I should read? Let me know. Let's talk books!

Christmas Recap

2012-01-04T23:04:00.000-05:00

We spent Christmas on Lookout Mountain in Georgia. It's such a great place. My in-laws (all of them on David's side) live on or near the mountain, so David was with all his siblings, parents, nieces and nephews and his grandmother was there too.

Isabel and Grandpa

Isabel received a couple of things from Santa that were on her list.

Wuggle Pets and an American Girl doll

Our stockings

Jacob mainly got cash or gift cards from the family, plus some nice ties, a dress shirt and a fun T-shirt from us.

Opening his Giga Pudding shirt

She was completely over the moon about her doll

And then superdiduper excited that we got her Disney Universe.

The rest of the family arrived to exchange their gifts to each other.

Notice Isabel is wearing the same outfit as her doll. Gifts from my
sister Brenda and her husband Freddy.

Spoiled Ripley

We also celebrated David's birthday, which is on Christmas day

We played board games or watched tv the rest of the evening.

The next day we all went to the movies. David and 5 kids watched "Tin Tin" while the rest of us (8 adults - 2 could not come; they have babies) watched the American version of "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo." Then back to the house for dinner and more board games.

The drive down took about 9.5 hours. The drive back too us 12. UGH! Traffic was a mess.

We had a great Christmas though. Hope yours was good too.

I'm the Parent of an Adult!

2012-01-01T10:21:00.000-05:00

My son turned 18. Eighteen! Wow. Just...wow. Time flies, people.

His actual birthday was on a Wednesday, so I took my last vacation day off and we headed to Busch Gardens in Tampa. The kids were already on school Christmas break.

Isabel and Jacob are in the front seat.

We caught a show while eating lunch

Isabel loved her lunch tray and refused to part with it.

Awwww, Big Bird.

We did a lot of coasters, had a lot of fun and then drove home because we were expecting guests that night. We planned a party at our house after all the Christmas hubbub. It was held on Friday night, the 30th.

We had Noms.

We had cake that was not a lie.

(more on the cake on my Kake Blog)

We had friends.

We had "Just Dance 3."

They danced, ate pizza and snacks, played "Rock Band," "Scene It Trivia," ate cake and then watched "Raiders of the Lost Ark."

Jacob had a great night and thanked me profusely for it when everyone left at around 1:30 a.m.

Happy 18th, Jacob!

Christmas Singing

2011-12-30T19:54:00.001-05:00

I had a great Christmas & have sooo many things to post, but for now, let me post some Christmas concert music.

I missed Jacob's year-end concert, as I was in Panama. Luckily for me, Jacob has a good friend, Lauren, who not only video taped it for me, she watched Isabel that night too, since David had to work and we could not leave Isabel at home or in the audience by herself. So thank you Lauren!!

Jacob's in a bazillion choirs at school, so it's hard to keep up.

This first video is a mix of two choirs: The all girl "Bellisima" and the all boy "Teal Sound" groups. It's a mash-up of "Jingle Bell Rock" and "Sleigh Ride." And just so you know, Jacob and his teacher wrote the ending music to make it all go together. :) He's the handsome one wearing a green tie, second from the right, in case you don't know.

And here are a couple more songs.

Merry Christmas!!

2011 Buffyfest Ornament Swap: Second Ornament Received

2011-12-22T19:05:00.000-05:00

I received my second Buffyfest ornament. This one is from Danie.

It's a small wood box with the Firefly crew wearing Santa hats.

Inside we found a Shrinky Dink ornament.

Yay! Jayne's hat! Thanks Danie!

Epcot's Candlelight Processional 2011 and Admiral Adama!

2011-12-20T18:57:00.001-05:00

For the 3rd year in a row, Jacob's school was part of Disney's Candlelight Processional at Epcot Center.

Every year, stars from tv, movies, music, etc. read the Christmas story while selected auditioned high school choirs from all around the state sing alongside the Voices of Liberty and other professional choir members.

We've been there when Whoopie Goldberg read, Steven Curtis Chapman, and this year Edward James Olmos!!! Edward "Admiral Adama" Olmos!!! Jacob and I were PSYCHED!!! He and Neil Patrick Harris were our top choices.

Disney is very strict about backstage photos and videos, so I have none. We chaperones took turns since the kids were singing in two shows. Half of us stayed behind to watch the kids' stuff while the other half got to watch the show.

I watched the 8:15 performance. I got teary-eyed knowing this is it; the last year for Candlelight.

Here are a couple of videos for you to enjoy. I love Mr. Olmos' voice.

Panama in December

2011-12-19T19:51:00.000-05:00

I just got back in from a week in Panama. I flew down to train the new Admin. I made them all cookies as Christmas gifts. Only 3 of the 24 cookies got broken (My bag got tossed by TSA. The cookie tins might have confused their X-rays).

I arrived in Panama the same day as Noriega came back to the country after a 20-year absence. I had no clue. Luckily, I had arrived hours earlier and did not get the crush of reporters and traffic.

After checking in, I had lunch, took a nap, then met a co-worker for dinner at a local restaurant I could walk to. On the way back, I heard loud music. There was a Christmas parade in front of the hotel! FUN!

I took these two videos with my cheap camera. It was a fun parade.

Most nights I was on my own, but there's so much around. There is a mall within walking distance of the hotel. EVERYONE walks, so I felt really safe.

Walking back to the hotel from the mall.
This is a hotel that connects to the mall via this walkway.

I also happened to arrive during the two or 3 times a year when Panamanians get an extra paycheck. Everyone gets paid at the same time. Everyone. The 15th and the 30th. Two or 3 times a year they get a second paycheck. This is when I came. Traffic was a NIGHTMARE. People were out to spend their dough. A 3 minute drive from a certain corner to my hotel took 25 minutes. I kept telling my co-worker I would walk, but he would not let me, as I had caught a cold and it was raining. He refused to have me get wet. Poor guy still had to fight the traffic home.

From my hotel window. Jam-packed traffic stalled in this area for at least half an hour.

It was another eventful trip, but boy did I miss my family and am glad to be home.

Running a 5k at Disney

2011-12-14T18:05:00.001-05:00

I signed up for the 2012 Disney Royal Family 5k, part of the Disney Princess Half-Marathon Weekend in February!

As a non-runner, this is a big deal for me, so you marathon runners, no scoffing!

I walk on a treadmill at home. I try to use it at least 3 times a week, sometimes more, often less. :( The company I work for has health incentives that lower the cost of of insurance premiums; participating in 10 events/online courses/challenges/surveys/physicals, etc. By participating in the plan, I am paying almost half what my non-participating counterparts are paying. But we have to participate! If we don't, next year you cannot qualify for the discounted rates.

This year, the plan changed, causing us to have to go "outside" to earn at least 3 of our 10 yearly points. Hence, my trying a 5k. A few coworkers in other cities that I communicate with have done 5k's (3.1 miles or so).

I have had friends run the Disney 1/2 Marathons and the 5k's so I thought, I can train up to 3.1 miles. There is a caveat; you have to keep a 16-minute-mile pace. On my treadmill, I have been averaging an 18-minute mile pace on average, but I figured with extra training tips from the health plan website, I could bump that up.

Finally, I signed up.

$50 gets you:

5k Tshirt
Finisher Medallion
Official Reace Program Guide
Goody Bag
Bib
On-course and Post-Course refreshments.

If you're not staying on-site (me) you have to get in Epcot by 4 a.m.! Here's a map I found online. Not sure if it changes every year.

Here's a picture of last year's medal.

(Not my picture/hand. Found online)

I'm going solo so far. I've invited some sisters and ex-sisters-in-laws to go, but still no takers. Anyone care to join me?

Another Day at the Estuary

2011-12-11T14:15:00.004-05:00

I chaperoned again for Jacob's AP Environmental Science class in November. We headed over to the same estuary as last time.

He was in my group this time, so we headed off to do some bird watching.

After that, we did some water testing.

My feetsies were COLD!

On the way back, I spotted a turtle. We named him lefty because he was missing his right claw. The people at the park were going to take him to an animal rescue site to see if they needed to help him along. He looked like he was doing alright to me.

Hi Lefty!

Then, it was time to get into the water. COLD WATER!! Holy cow, and it was higher than last time too.

Yep, I am in the water too, taking these pictures.

We were joined by another high school that was only there for 3 hours (we were there for like 6). Our school learned last time to not mess with the lady who ran the place. She did. not. play. After a few run-ins with her, Stoner learned his lesson last time. We all behaved. This new school had not met her before and incurred her wrath. The difference between that school and ours? Some of their male kids talked back to her. They were completely rude, especially one kid who thought he was the king of the park. *head shake* At least our kids complained quietly to each other the first time. Not these kids. One teacher had to tell the kid to let it go already because he was being a jerk. Ahhh, respect. We miss you so.

After changing and having lunch, and that other high school left, we worked on a CSI-style case. Our group was one person short, so I teamed up with a student to help solve the case (we did!)

It was another fun AP Environmental Science field trip.

More of Isabel's Art

2011-12-09T23:13:00.000-05:00

This blog has been All-Jacob All the Time lately.

Little Miss Isabel is still a wonderful, sweet amazing child. She's a top reader in her class, having recently been the first of 2 kids to reach the "100 Books Read" mark since school started, and getting a medal for it this past week. She loves Rock Band. She finally learned to ride her "big bike." She could ride bikes without training wheels for a couple of years but she'd been riding her baby bikes. She got a "big bike" with hand brakes in March and had been terrified to ride it. She finally got riding it down because I told her she could get a bike bell for the bike once she actually mastered riding it. *ring ring*

Here's some more of her computer-drawn art.

She called this one "Me Outside."

This one is called "Inky Mess." I love the perspective.

Glacier National Park

And lastly,

"Dudes Funny Thing"

She's pretty awesome. She's my Sugar Muffin Lumps.

Aaaaand, she decided to cut her bangs by herself; they were in her face. 0_o

2011 Buffyfest Ornament Swap: First Ornament Received

2011-12-06T17:46:00.000-05:00

Hooray! I have received my FIRST of 4 Buffyfest Swap ornaments! From Heidi, I received this adorable Angel/Angelus ornament. His face can be turned to go from "Grrrr" face....

to regular face.

So cute! Thanks Heidi!

2011 Deland Music Festival and Padlock's Performance

2011-12-03T11:29:00.000-05:00

If you recall, Jacob took part in the 2010 Deland Music Festival. He even got a mention in the newspaper! This year he signed up again.

After the ACDA concert and lunch, we headed home. Jacob and a friend headed off to the festival early. I was to meet them later with the 6 foot long table he was going to play on. Call me RoadieMom.

It started drizzling. Yikes! Not good for Jacob's equipment. We drag the table from the Jeep to his corner when he suddenly realizes there are no speakers set up. He asks the person "running" the corner where the speakers are, and was told that the owner of said speakers took them home because of the rain.

Jacob was near panic and MAD. While his friend watched our stuff, we walked over to the event staff tent to see what we could do. While the event coordinator placed some calls on his walkie-talkie, Jacob looks over to the corner he was on last year. We decide to head on over and see if the guy had any set cancellations and could he fit us in.

Thankfully, he could! He had one cancellation and another person who wanted to go on earlier than she was scheduled for, so we got a slot right around 8:00 p.m.

We owe the owner of the sound equipment, DJ Excite, a load of thanks!

Jacob, aka Padlock, played a 45 minute set. Here's a video of about 15 minutes worth of music.

2011 Buffyfest Ornament Swap!

2011-11-30T19:00:00.001-05:00

YAY! It's that time again for the Buffyfest 4th Annual Whedonverse Holiday Ornament Swap. This is my third year participating.

My first go-around I carved stamps. My second year, I played with Shrinky Dinks!

Click on the label "Buffy Ornament Swap" to see all the posts showing what ornaments I received in exchange for mine. They're great fun.

This year, I decided to get old-school on myself. I used to be an avid cross-stitcher. One of my many talents, yes. I went on Etsy and found some terrific patterns for sale from seller "Velvet Elvii," so I purchased some.

I started out doing a regular old stitch. When I was done, I looked at my work and realized it was ginormous! How was I going to make an ornament out of this huge thing?

I decided to try again, this time cutting the stitching area in half. And this is where I killed my eyes. I wear contacts to see far but don't need them to see close. If I was wearing my contacts, my eyes could not focus on the teeny tiny stitching I was doing. I would have to take my contacts out every time I decided to work on my projects. The deadline loomed closer and closer and I actually asked the Buffyfest peeps to put me in a small group, because I was afraid I could not get these done in time.

And what did I chose to stitch?

To give you a sense of the size, here's a picture of the first one I did in the standard size along side the small one I did. The quarter is for size reference.

teeeeeeeny stitches

Then it was time to mount them and at this, I fail. I did not space them apart enough. Derrr! Even with an Xacto knife, I am full o failure. It was ugly and there was a lot of pulling of hair and gnashing of teeth. In the end, though, I think I fared well.

I am also including some spare inch Artist Trading Cards I made with a stamp I carved, for a swap back in March.

I will be mailing these out tomorrow or Friday to the 4 other people in my group. If you're interested in really cool cross-stitch patterns, check out Velvet Elvii on Etsy.

2011 Florida ACDA Honor Choir

2011-11-28T19:37:00.001-05:00

Again, Jacob auditioned for and made the 2011 Florida ACDA Honors Choir. He made it last year too. Both years, he was the only one from his high school to go.

The 2011 Deland Music Festival? Remember it landed last year on the same day as ACDA? Yea. Same thing this year!! Last year I combined the day; this year I will do two separate posts.

Driving Jacob all over the place for rehearsals was soooo fun. Um hmm. They come from all over the state, including the Keys, so they can only rehearse the 2 days before. That Thursday's rehearsal was at night but he had to miss school on Friday because it was an 8-hour rehearsal day. Saturday, I dropped him off at 9 a.m. for more rehearsals, before we went back for the 12:45 p.m. performance.

I love seeing these kids be so excited about chamber music! Makes me have hope, you know?

After the performance, his new teacher (who we ended up sitting next to totally by chance; he's the only kid from their school there) and we all went outside for pictures and talks about Candlelight at Epcot. Yes, more singing! I know you are thrilled!

Jacob with Mrs. King, his new choral director

After the concert, we headed off to lunch at Don Pablo's, where Jacob got many looks due to his attire. :)

Here is one of the three songs performed at the 2011 Florida ACDA High School Honor Choir performance.

"Zadok the Priest" by Handel. (Wait for it. Scared the dickens out of Isabel when they started singing.)

Family Food & Fun

2011-11-25T22:49:00.002-05:00

It is not often you get the five sisters ALL together in one shot. Last time, it was 10/10/10, Brenda's wedding. Before that? I'm pretty sure it was my wedding; 09/15/2002. We're just never available at one time! This year, we were all together for Thanksgiving. We were only missing one adult nephew and one spouse.

There was WAY too much food; it was a little ridiculous. Tons of meats and tons of dessert. I made a quick cake too.

Guess who took some home? No one! It's all in my fridge! Anyone wanting a snack? Come on over.

Dad and Kaleb have a staring contest. Dad won.

Baby Giana eating her dinner.

Baby Ava snoozing away.

Lyric, the last one at the kiddie table.

Damian holding Sookie and Vixen.

We decided to go outside and take family pictures. As I set up the tripod, I started taking random test shots. This picture below was totally candid. They had no idea I was taking pictures. It looks like some men's ad.

Youngest sister Lissette & hubby John

Eldest sister Brenda & Hubby Freddy

Let's go people! Why's Isabel so cranky? I think Jake's yelling at her.

The "good" family pictures are on the previous post here.

We decided to take a shot of the five sisters. I went to the formal living room a.k.a. the piano room to set up. The lighting is minimal in the room so I decided to mess with the shutter speed.

Oooooooh, ghoooooost!

Booooo!

Brenda, Janelys, Kaaren, Vicky & Lissette

My step-mom Nellie with the girls

Dad & Nellie with the girls in age order

Two sisters and dad/Nellie left that evening, while two sisters spent the night with their kids and hubbies. It was a truly fun day. I am thankful we were together.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T07:41:00.000-05:00

from my family to yours!

All 5 sisters, their spouses (minus 1), my dad and step-mom
and all grandkids (minus 1)

Kaaren, David, Brenda, Freddy, Jacob, John, Lissette holding Gigi,
Nellie, Victor-Dad, Kaleb behind Janelys holding Ava, Jocelyn, Vicky
and Damian. Front girls are Isabel and Lyric.

Day Two of "District Three: The Thespians Strike Back"

2011-11-21T18:39:00.002-05:00

Technically, it's Day 3 of the Festival, we just did not have to be there on Friday.

Saturday and we're at our high school at 7:30 a.m. to pick up the kids riding in my car for the festival. It was going to be a LONG day. Closing ceremonies were not until 7-9:30 p.m. that night!! Ugh!

This day was filled with all the individual acts I mentioned in my previous post. Our Troupe had entries in Duet Acting, Publicity Design, Duet Musical, Ensemble Acting, Student Directed Act, Solo Song, Monologue, Costume Construction and Costume Design; in all we had 22 separate events. I made a spreadsheet for myself so I knew where each kid was during the day.

Two students put finishing touches to their costume
construction for "Chicago."

The chaperones had to man a room all day. Our Troupe chaperones got to be in the Duet Musical room. We had 4 ladies, but only needed to fill 3 positions, so every once in a while, once of us would skip out to see our kids in other areas. In our room, we needed a time keeper (5 minutes per performance), an outside door person (who would not let anyone in during the performances) and an indoor person (who would not let anyone out during the performances.) 75% of the time, I was time keeper.

It was SO much fun. SO much fun. I got to see duets perform songs from all kinds of musicals including "Spamalot," "Phantom," "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change," "Chicago," "Wicked," Tick Tick Boom," "Guys and Dolls," "Sweeney Todd," Spring Awakening," etc. etc. etc.

We were a finely tuned machine. Each act had a specific time to be on, with usually 3 minutes before to set up and turn in their evaluation sheets. Once they were done, I would walk to the judges (3) and show them the timer so they could log the time. I kept my own time log as well.

We got a break for lunch and headed out to the main area. The kids were stressed but having a ball.

Jacob, Ezequiel and John run lines

Jacob, Hunter and Ezequiel

To add the pin craziness, we had a new addition: balloon hats - Star Wars style.

The balloon artist, wearing his tauntaun creation.

Princess Lea balloon buns.

C3PO and R2D2

X-Wing Fighter

Darth Maul's Light Saber

TIE Fighter.

Boba Fett hat

Me and my Saber with a Storm Trooper
Chewbacca hat in the background.

I was able to leave my post to see Jacob, John, Bobby and Ezequiel perform an act from "Waiting for Godot."

And the Student-Directed performance of a scene from "Red."

Please note: There is cursing in this video below.

After everyone was done, we met back out for dinner from the various vendors in the courtyard. The results slowly started coming in. You need a "Superior" to move on to State (Superior, Excellent, Good, Fair, Poor.) The troupe was receiving "Excellents" and "Goods." Our One-Act Play that Jacob stage-managed got "Excellent," but we were waiting and waiting for the results of two. The Student-Directed play Melissa (director), John, Bobby and Julian called "Lend Me a Tenor," and the Student-Directed play by John (director), Jacob and DJ, video above. What was taking so long?

Suddenly, one of the girls yells out! She got a Tweet (yep, she subscribed to the districts Twitter feed because they were tweeting the results.) Both of our student-directed plays got SUPERIOR! We're heading to State in 2012 and Jacob's included!!

The kids react to the news.

The evening ended with the closing ceremonies.

Awards were handed out. Us parents/teachers were EXHAUSTED. Fifteen hours later, and we could finally head home!

Oh, and how did we fare with our pin hunt, Jacob and I?

Wampa, Akbar, Fett, Vader, Maul, Frozen Han, Imperial Guard,
Ewok, Jabba, Palpatine and Lando!

Jacob's Favorite

My Favorite

Isabel's Favorite

Baddies!

We had a BLAST! We're going to State! Woo Hoo!

Day One of "District Three: The Thespians Strike Back"

2011-11-20T11:14:00.004-05:00

We (Jacob and I) have just survived an intense, yet gratifying 2 of 3 days at the 2011 District Three Thespian Festival.

This was a long, long weekend and yet, it was so much fun. SO well done! With 32 schools in 4 counties signed up, and over 1,000 participants in 29 one-act plays and 490 individual evens in 18 categories (Costume Construction, Costume Design, Duet Acting, Duet Musical, Ensemble Acting, Large Group Musicals, Monologues, Pantomime, Playwriting, Publicity Design, Scene Design, Small Group Musical, Solo Musical, Student Directed Scenes and Senior Scholarship performance.) It was A LOT to take in and so very well organized by the District Chair and the high school and its troupe that hosted the event. Kudos!!

The theme for this year's Drama Festival?

Yes!!

Everything from our T-Shirts

to our badges were Star Wars themed.

We arrived at the host school around 11 a.m. Days 1 and 2 were for the schools' One-Act performances; one-act plays lasting exactly 40 minutes or less. Ours was set for Day 1, Thursday at 6:15 p.m., so we had the entire day, pretty much, to watch other One-Acts, eat lunch and mingle.

The kids get a talking to by their drama teacher.

We ate lunch, watched a few performances (and got completely blown away by one show called "Emotional Baggage." (The last 8 pictures on the bottom right of this link are from the school that performed the play but not actual players that performed that night. Might be a previous years' cast, but you can see the masks.) No talking, all done with beautiful/horrible face masks and body language. Fantastic! I'm getting goose bumps just thinking on it!)

Yet, the number one activity for the kids on day one, beside their one-act?

Pins.

As in these.

The District 3 Mascot is a Penguin (in Florida. I know.) To raise money for "Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids" Joe Norton of said organization, along with illustrator Dawn Schreiner and tons of other sponsors came up with the memorabilia for the festival, including these $1 pins. Every dollar went to "Broadway Cares."

The kids. went. nuts.

NUTS for these pins. Some you could outright buy, others you have to take a chance in the "Mystery Bucket," and yet others you had to know the "secret" to getting them. (Jacob and I never got the illusive District 3 one.)

Kids were spending their lunch money on these! They were trading, bartering, begging for these pins.

Ewok penguin and Admiral Akbar penguin.

I got Han Penguin frozen in carbonite and the Imperial Royal Guard penguin

SO CUTE!

Five forty and the kids had to start getting set up to go on at 6:15 p.m. We chaperones/teachers headed into the 900-seat capacity auditorium to get ready for the show. It's 40 minutes long so I won't post it here, but eventually I will upload it to my YouTube account.

Jacob was the stage manager and nervous as all get-out. He had an assistant stage manager, a sound guy and a lighting guy. Our show, "Shoes Along the Highway" is a very slow, sweet story, not a high energy one like "Godspell Junior," "Iliad, Iliad, Iliad" or not to the level of the amazing "Emotional Baggage," and we had some technical difficulties along the way with equipment and cues. Jacob was upset. Some of the kids were very distraught, others mad, others just took it as "oh well, we'll get them next year." They were heroes in my book.

We could not load out until the last performance was done; 8:45 p.m. Isabel had arrived on site at around 5 p.m. so she got to see her brother on stage after the performance getting critiqued. She also ate with us. I ended up getting 5 pizzas for the kids - well discounted at $5 each because I know some people at the store (*grin*) because half these crazy kids either did not bring lunch money or spent it on the pins. We ate outside in the courtyard and all the kids helped load up and home we went. I think I got to bed at 11:30 p.m. Ouch! Long day!

Day 2: Friday was the second day of One-Acts, and so we did not have to be there for it. Saturday was the day for the 490 individual evens in 18 categories. Jacob was to be in an Ensemble Act (Waiting for Godot) and a Student Directed Duet (Red.) So excited for it!

The IT Crowd

2011-11-18T22:15:00.000-05:00

Jacob introduced me to a British comedy show, "The IT Crowd." It's I.T. (Information Technology), not "it."

It's a half hour show (19 minutes because of no commercials) about the I.T. department in a random conglomerate. It's RIDICULOUS and fun. It shows the stereotype of all people who work in I.T. departments being geeky socially inept guys. It's not for the kiddies; we have to watch when Isabel is not around. British humor is a little different but fantastic.

Half the time, we're just watching the set design, yelling out things like "Look! They have a 'Boards of Canada' poster!" or "The Flying Spaghetti Monster! or "HOLY COW! A Dr. Horrible Poster!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

We're on Season 2 of 4, and they're very small seasons.

"IT Department, have you tried turning it off & on?"

Buffy Season 9: No 2, Free Fall Pt. 2

2011-11-14T18:00:00.002-05:00

SPOILERS AFTER THE PICTURE!! You've been warned.

We're back with dead people with no discernible damage being found by the police. Buffy's being followed by a demon, who wants to collect on a past-due college loan. *snort* Buffy needs to deal with and understand how destroying the seed of magic has altered everything. I got my answer from last review to my question (Also, I'm not sure if all the magic is gone. I mean, what's up with the green-ball-force-field thingy and the demons with the lighty spears?) from Willow: "All the Slayers, the vampires, even the demons with magical mojo, you all got to keep your power because it was inside you.) 10-4 Question answered, thanks!

The green-ball-force-field demon is hunting Buffy, not sure why.

The dead people? There's are missing persons reports...from like the 1940's, 50's, etc. But they're all young.

Buffy sees a young man being chased by a vamp. The young man tells Buffy he can help. She ignores him and stakes the vamp. The police catch Buffy staking it and take her in for questioning on the deaths of these other people. They're probably vamps too - being so old and all. It's odd to see that the police now acknowledge vampires, due to the events of Season 8. The female cop's kind-of annoying. They just don't understand the "poof" factor. Buffy bails on the police; not good.

As she goes on patrol again, same young guy being chased by a vamp again. The vamp and several others get a jump on Buffy and right as one is going to bite, his face goes slack, "un-vamps" itself and he's down. The young man's hands are.....glowing/steaming. His touch has caused the vamp demon to vacate the body, leaving the body intact. Hmmmm. What's this?

So far, so good Season 9.

(Side note: Notice how the artist takes the time to detail the young man's beaded necklace and bracelet. I found that to be a hard detail to have to draw over and over, and it caught my eye. I think they mean something, and we'll find out about that necklace and bracelets later.)

All County Choir 2011-2012

2011-11-12T18:58:00.002-05:00

I forgot to post about Jacob's performance and the 2011-2012 Volusia All County Choir. Remember the rehearsal? Right.

The performance was on October 15, 2011. Kids who auditioned and made it in from the entire county were there to perform. I was ready to record! And then....the camera died. I thought I had plugged it in, but we have these specific outlets that only work if the overhead light is on. That is where I plugged the video camera in like a complete doofus. :( Fail.

Luckily for me, another mom filmed the performance. It's not as clear as mine would have been, but beggars can't be choosers.

The high school conductor was Mr. Tesfa Wondemagegnehu, former Director of Choral activities at FSU and current Director of Choral Activities at Freedom High School. Jacob said the kids all loved this smiling man. You can see Jacob behind and then to the right of Mr. Wondemagegnehu is these videos. It's fun, like "Where's Waldo."

"Halleluia, Amen"

"I Dream a World"

"Sing a Mighty Song"

"Way Over in Beulah Lan"

What's on the Bookshelf?

2011-11-10T17:57:00.001-05:00

Are you looking for a sweet Chic Lit Read?

Pick up Kate Jacob's "The Friday Night Knitting Club" and its sequels, "Knit Two" and "Knit the Season." The story of a tightly-knit (parum-pum) group of diverse women who hold each other up held my attention and made me cry. Hard.

I also read Kate Jacob's "Comfort Food" which deals with different characters, but was still good fun.

"Mr. Chartwell" by Rebecca Hunt was a bizarre story about a seven foot+ tall talking dog who is seen by two different people, a housewife who's lost her husband and another guy. This guy named Winston Churchill. Uh huh. Mr. Chartwell really ends up being the personification (person? Animafication?) of depression and how these two people, as different as different can be, deal with this depression. Will it be your lifetime friend, or will you eventually let him go? Actually a good read once you understand what it's all about.

Everyone's read "The Help," right? If not, what are you waiting for? The movie? Tee hee.

1962 Mississippi is a hotbed of racism. White Ms. Skeeter wants to know what it's really like, so she secretly, slowly cajoles "the help" to talk about their experiences. Funny, sad, tense, this book was a great read.

"A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian." I picked this up for a quarter at the library book store. The cover quotes told me it was hysterical and extremely funny.

I read and waited. Waited and read. I did not find it funny. I was annoyed by most of the characters and actually put the book down for 3 weeks because they bugged me. I finished it to finish it. The ending was better than I thought it would be, but I won't read it again.

I've read some more of Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series. I read "The Eyre Affair" earlier this year and had to read more. I really love these books! If you're a literary nerd, read these!!

Reading "Something Rotten" while Jacob was studying to play "Hamlet" was an extra treat.

Got any good books to recommend to me? Let me know!

Sci-Fi Hoedown: Dr. Who Season 2

2011-11-08T17:59:00.000-05:00

Well, as you know, I loved Christopher Eccleston as dorky-hot Dr. Who from Season 1. How would I feel about this new incarnation?

Season 2 doesn't technically start with "The Christmas Invasion." It's its own 2-hour special to introduce everyone to David Tennant as the new Doctor. He's quirky and so much fun. I love watching his facial expressions.

"New Earth" was a creepy episode with sick, infected humans, the "skin" Lady Cassandra and those cat-nuns. Yes, cat nuns.

"Tooth and Claw" has us time traveling to meet Queen Victoria 1879 who is being hunted by werewolves. With all the fighting and craziness, Queen Victoria creates the Torchwood Institute, to fight all other alien and supernatural threats.

"School Reunion" was kind of silly BUT it had Tony Head!!! Giles! Yay, Giles! Oh, and we do get to see one of the Doctor's previous companions, Sarah Jane Smith and K-9, so that was cool.

"The Girl in the Fireplace" was really well done. I loved the mini-love story, even if there were robots after the girl's brain. The time travelling was fun but sad at the end, when he misses a chance to see the girl once more. Don't want to spoil it. It was good.

"Rise of the Cybermen" and "The Age of Steel" take us into alternate Earths where Rose can see her dead-dad alive again, even though in this reality, she was never born. There are Cybermen about to take over the world and the plot must be stopped! Mickey, Rose's boyfriend, stays behind in this reality, to fight the fight.

"The Idiot's Lantern" shows us how tv really does suck the life out of us.

"Impossible Planet" and "The Satan Pit" were ok. The Ood were creepy but the beast at the end was kind of silly.

"Love & Monsters" was good fun! I saw "Linda" (Shirley Henderson) & squealed "It's Moaning Myrtle!! I know her voice anywhere!"

"Fear Her" was a little creepy too. Anything dealing with kids creeps me out and the angry thing that was affecting this child was really scary.

The last two episodes have the Daleks and Cybermen fighting it out over who gets to take over the Earth. We lose Rose. I was never a fan of Rose, if you recall. Her accent grated, her gloopy mascara was horrid and her leading Mickey on while she was really in love with the Doctor was not nice. Even with all that, she gave a great performance in the end. I felt sad for them both.

So, season 2. Did I like it? Sure. It's fun, campy stuff! David Tennant? Hellloooooo, Nurse!

Ringer

2011-11-06T10:00:00.000-05:00

"Ringer" is a new series on the CW network starring our very own Whedon Alum...the Whedon alum...Sarah Michelle Gellar. She plays twin sisters, dead ringers, and all their nefarious dealings. (Jacob said he didn't understand why it was called "Ringer." He'd never heard the expression "dead ringer" before! What are they teaching kids nowadays?)

Aaaaannd....It's a soap. I do not like soaps, not even night-time soaps. Didn't like "One Tree Hill," the new "90210," "Desperate Housewives," etc. etc. I don't like soaps.

Sarah looks great. Older, but great. She plays the sisters well.

IT'S A SOAP! Gah!

How long can one watch something just to watch a favorite actor? The story line is a little stretched, almost cliche'. I know what's coming a lot of the times. (Psssst. That teacher, the hottie from "Veronica Mars" Jason Dohring? Hundred dollar bet he and Siobahn's annoying teen step-daughter have an affair. Betcha!)

One sister thinks the other sister is dead, so she takes dead-sister's place, but wait! Dead sister is not dead, she's hiding in Paris. And Dead-Paris sister might possible be trying to kill pretend-her sister!

There's the obligatory blond-brunette-redhead. (Sarah's 2 characters are the blonds, the cloying female business partner of Siobahn's husband is the brunette, and Siobahn's best friend caught-in-a-horrible-marriage-but-by-gum-she-loves-him-even-though-she thinks-he's-having-an-affair (he is, with Siobahn), Gemma, is the redhead.

I'll keep watching. Maybe. IT'S A SOAP!

Pie!

2011-11-04T18:34:00.000-04:00

With all the pumpkin carving going on, I had a lot of pumpkin "innards." Can you believe I have never, ever done anything with them?? Shame on me, I know!

I decided to try my hand at pumpkin pie. I checked the pantry. Beside the graham cracker crust, I had everything in stock. Crazy how loving to bake keeps you stocked.

The carving kits we purchased have a simple pumpkin pie recipe. I set to removing seeds and skin from the pumpkin guts. It was messy! Then it was time to boil the pumpkin "meat."

I'd never done this - how weird!

While I was boiling this, I got my blender and added eggs, sweetened condensed milk, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, etc. etc. to it. I finally added the cooked pumpkin goop and hit "blend."

It came out as a very liquid puree and I was a bit worried, but I poured it into the graham cracker crust and popped it into the oven.

The house smelled amazing.

What was more amazing? The taste. This pie was AWESOME! Not pretty, but so much better tasting than store-bought. It was gone in less than 24 hours!

Thankfully, I still have more pumpkin left to make pie # 2. Yahoo!

Pumpkin Carving Time!

2011-11-02T18:19:00.000-04:00

When Halloween comes, we get all excited. Not for the candy, noooo. For the pumpkin carving!

Every year, we choose our favorite designs and have a go at it. Here's what we did in 2009. And our 2010 carves.

This time, Isabel and I worked on our pumpkins on Saturday. Daddy was hacking up a lung so he was napping.

Pulling out the pumpkin "guts."

Isabel chose an owl to carve. She did really good. I'd say 50-60% was all her doing.

What would go good with an owl?

Jacob decided to carve his on Sunday. David was still sick, so I carved my second pumpkin. Jacob had a design chosen, so I chose one that would go with his.

Our 2011 Pumpkins!

Isabel's Owl

My Harry Potter! aka Jacob.

Jacob's Sweeney Todd carve and my Mrs. Lovett from the movie "Sweeney Todd."

Argh!

That's right. Harriet Potter.

Abuelito

2011-10-31T21:25:00.001-04:00

This is my abuelito. He is my father's father.

He is 89 years old and lives in Puerto Rico. He came for a visit this month and was staying at his sister's house in the Kissimmee area. She's his younger sister; all of 83. Due to some crazy changes, what was supposed to be his staying at my house for 4 days, turned into him leaving the day after I had arranged it for him to spend those 4 days with us.

Scrambling on a Thursday after work, David brought the kids to me at work. We then spent an hour and a half.....an HOUR and a HALF, stuck in ridiculous Orlando rush-hour traffic! Poor abuelo actually thought we were not coming. It was a stressful ride (and I left straight from work, hence my looking like a lump) but we made it to see him. We arrived some time after 6:30 p.m. and we still had to drive back home on this school night.

I wished he could have stayed. Yes, he's old & persnickety sometimes, but he's my grandpa and my elder. I definitely can handle persnickety with respect. I really wanted my kids to see him. This is their great-grandfather after all. They have two great-grandmothers, but only one great grandpa, and I really want my kids to say they remember him. I mean, he's 89. He loved that Jacob is a musician. My abuelo loves music; he sings and plays guitar. He even makes guitars in his garage.

I gave him a careful hug; he's all angles and bones, and we talked while he ate at the house of a neighbor of his sister.

Sadly, by this time the kids were STARVING and whining about it. We ended up only spending about an hour with him before we had to turn and make the 1.5 hr ride back home.

Here's my abuelito.

Part 3 of Play is Not up!

2011-10-22T12:19:00.004-04:00

UPDATE: Jacob's teacher asked us to take down the play. Something about legal bladdy bladdy.

Booooooo!

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead - a High School Production

2011-10-18T23:02:00.001-04:00

As I stated earlier, Jacob was in a production of "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead," by Tom Stoppard. A seriously funny play dealing with the back story of two minor characters in Shakespeare's "Hamlet." The play intertwines small scenes, word for word, from "Hamlet" within it, so there are some scenes you might be familiar with if you've read the bard's tome.

After weeks of nights and weekend rehearsals, the kids performed on Wednesday through Friday, October 12-14, 2011.

Jacob played Hamlet, a man falling deeper and deeper into madness. When the play starts, Jacob's hair is pretty normal. We came up with the idea of Jacob's hair getting messier and messier as the scenes progressed, to show Hamlet's descent into madness.

Nice hair

The play is so darned witty and the language so fast-paced, that sometimes things get lost in the telling. I had several people, young and old, as me "Do you know what the heck is going on?" Yep. Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are bumbling idiots who have no idea why they're in Denmark, why they were summoned or what they're supposed to be doing. It's wicked fun.

Jacob as Hamlet and The Player, played by Leon D.

Alfred the Tragedian, played hysterically by Richard R.

The group worked hard and are hoping for high scores; they were being judged one evening in hopes of moving the production to a state-level competition.

The Week That Would Not End...

2011-10-16T20:36:00.001-04:00

......has thankfully ended.

WHAT A WEEK.

It started well enough. Jacob had rehearsals all weekend and the beginning of the week for the play he was in, "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead," so he was pretty much at school 24/7.

Monday Isabel started another round of swimming lessons. I sometimes wish we had a pool, or had access to one that did not require a monthly membership fee. If we had access, I'm sure David would have taught her by now.

Then came Tuesday. I was home, after working all day, making cookie batter. I was going to make gift cookies for all the kids in the high school play. The phone rings around 6 p.m. It's David telling me he had gotten into a car accident in his Honda. This is Tuesday. The previous Saturday, we had just paid almost $1500 to get repairs done to the Honda from two previous incidents, neither one his fault. One was a dent caused by someone coming out of our own driveway and hitting his car and the other was in the parking lot at Disney, where someone scratched the paint off the side of his car while we were inside. Fifteen hundred dollars, and two days later.......

Leaving Isabel with her brother, who had gotten home from rehearsals, and leaving all the baking things as-is, I ride the 35 minute trip to where he is.

With about 2 miles to go, I'm at a traffic light at a busy intersection, and I can't get the Jeep into gear. I drive a stick and I cannot get the danged thing in gear. I put my hazards on and, my voice in near-hysteria levels, I cry to David over the phone that I can't get the car in gear!!! Cars whiz by by me and finally, I grind the thing into third gear and pray I don't get any red lights, as I head to where David is.

I make it to where David is and stop. We decide to call a tow truck to get David's car to the local garage I use, near my office. When David tries the Jeep (he must think I'm being ridiculous about getting the car into gear), he can't get it into gear either. Duh!!

We call the tow truck and I weepily call a co-worker who lives WAY far away and who had just gotten home from a 4+ hour drive from a job site. He scarfs his meal and comes to where we are. He is a co-worker and friend of 14 years. I owe him big time.

Both cars get taken to the garage and we get taken home. Thankfully, we have the car that my sister gave to Jacob. It needs new brakes and a new rear suspension & shocks ($1200 quote) but it works.

The next morning, Wednesday, David takes care of the insurance claim on the Honda while I take care of the Jeep. The Honda needs to go to a collision shop 300 feet from the garage where we had it towed. Great luck. My main garage quote me $1200 to get the clutch fixed, and when I balk, he recommends we take the Jeep to a place that only works on transmissions. My co-worker and I are able to get the Jeep in gear and he follows me the 2 miles to the transmission place. They say they'll look at it.

That evening, I take Isabel to swimming lessons in a co-worker's borrowed car (I work with truly amazing, selfless people) while David drives the Ford for work. He text-messages me to tell me the Ford is sputtering at stop lights. I try not to cry, say a little prayer to God for help, try to focus on Isabel's lessons, and head home to finish the cookies I tried starting the night before.

Thursday, and still no Jeep. They're "looking into it." I'm at work and the new sales guy comes in. He's been with us 4 weeks. I tell him my tales of woe, and he comes back from his office and hands me his car keys. His personal car has been sitting outside the office, unused, for 4 weeks. He has a company vehicle and has not moved his personal car since he started with us. "Keep it as long as you need it." I just stare, disbelieving. "Are you sure?!" He replies "Yea, absolutely." Prayer answered. Thanks!

Thursday night, my nephew and his girlfriend arrive to stay the weekend. I continue decorating cookies and then we all head towards the high school, my nephew and his gf driving, to watch Jacob in his play (more posts on that later). I came back home to finish decorating the cookies and got to bed at 1 a.m.

Friday, no Jeep but they're making progress, no news on the Honda, and another night of the play. The Ford is giving David more problems, but for now, it's running. The play is fantastic and the kids love the cookies.

Saturday, Jacob has a choir performance (more posts on that later) and the garage finally calls me back to say the Jeep is fixed; $680. *sigh* I take Jacob to Daytona Beach (40 minutes one way) for singing rehearsals....in the middle of Biketober Fest. Back home (40 minutes). Head back 2 hours later to pick him up (took me 50 minutes this time) and an hour to get back home because the biker traffic had really ramped up.

Then BACK to Daytona Beach for the night's performance.

Sunday was spent catching up on my sleep and going grocery shopping, which I had to neglect all week long.

I....am tired. I am glad this week is over.

Buffy Season 9: No 1, Free Fall pt 1

2011-10-10T22:14:00.002-04:00

Buffy Season 9 has begun!

Steve Morris' cover is great.

I was 50/50 with Season 8. The whole Angel/Twilight/whatever thing just.....*sigh* It made my head hurt. The last time a comic made my head hurt, I canceled my subscription *coughAngelcough*

I decided to just suck it up and continue with Season 9.

So here we are with Free Fall part 1.

I love looking at the individual cells to find miscellaneous items (Mr. Gordo! Who's the Japanese race fan? Did Vans sponsor this one? Yay, a Wicked poster! Huh. That monster looks like Giles.)

Overall, it's a good start. Buffy's trying to deal with what she's done; how she's made magic go bye-bye and all the guilt she feels over it. What better way to get over guilt than to drown it is booze! Yea! Cause that always helps.

There's the "Jane Doe" murders stating to unfurl in the background, the pink haired slayer is back and someone's put a hit out on our girl, but what else is new? (Also, I'm not sure if all the magic is gone. I mean, what's up with the green-ball-force-field thingy and the demons with the lighty spears?)

Mostly, though, it's Buffy not knowing how to deal, in an adult way, with what she's done, hence the boozing and not remembering.

I'll be looking out for #2.

Side note from grammar mama here:

THIS IS DRIVING ME CRAZY! Right there, the top panel. Where Willow says "or You're being projecting-y."

I know that there's a huge problem with Your vs. You're. I, for one, get it, but is the above the sign of someone trying too hard?

Let me explain. when you say something like "It's your love of pizza that gives you heartburn" we understand "your love" is giving you problems. So when Willow says it's not about blame or Buffy's being projecting-y, shouldn't it be "your being projecting-y?" Her "projecting-y-ness" (possessive 'your') is what it is not about. Yes, "You're being projecting-y" makes sense in grammar. You are being projecting-y. But in the context of Willow's earlier statement, "Buffy it's not about blame," doesn't it make more sense to say "Buffy it's also not about your being projecting-y" You would not say "Buffy it's not about you are being projecting-y." Am I making sense? Am I right here? Grrr, Argh!

More Computer-Drawn Pictures by Isabel

2011-10-09T14:15:00.000-04:00

All art and titles by Isabel. Enjoy.

Our House

Chipmunk Love

Cosette Grace M. (Isabel's newest cousin)

Hanging Out in an Estuary

2011-10-07T19:58:00.000-04:00

Estuary. Gesundheit.

An Estuary is a place where fresh water and salt water meet. Check it out.

Jacob's in an AP Environmental Science class. A.P. E.S. aka APES. They had a field trip to Rose Bay, which is an estuary in Spruce Creek Park. They needed chaperones, so I volunteered. Turns out, I was the only volunteer needed. There were only 15 kids going.

We headed on the bus, driven by the class teacher, which was pretty darned funny and impressive; she'd just gotten her license to drive school buses and this was her first trip! She did great.

We arrived and were split up into 3 groups; one for me, one for the teacher and one for the teacher's intern from a local college. Jacob ended up not even being in my group.

Each group had to go through 3 small tours; birds, plants & manatees. My group of 4 girls and one boy were off to birds.

The kids were really fun and were interested in what the local park educator had to say.

Next up, Plants. We walked around and were shown different plants, what to eat what not to eat, etc.

Studying plants

Stoner tries a numbing plant. Yes, his last name is Stoner. No, I am not joking.

Jacob's group heads off to the plants tour.

After plants, we headed over to the manatee lesson where the kids played a game that showed how overpopulation hurts the animals in an environment.

After this, we all headed on a small hike, maybe 1/2-3/4 of a mile. Our group headed to an activity where we mapped out the crab population using these meter.....things. See below.

The other two groups? They were in the water with a 70 foot net, trying to catch things!!

Jacob & classmates lug the net

Once we were done with our crab-mapping, we switched off with a group in the water and we waded right on in.

Jacob on the right. On the left is an exchange student from Germany.

I was in the water with them, taking all the pictures. We got muddy and smelly. We didn't catch much; just some tiny fish, shrimp and little non-stinging jelly thingies.

A fun time was had by all.

Painting with Paint

2011-09-25T11:33:00.000-04:00

Isabel's been working with MS Paint program to create some really fun pictures. Here are just 3 of the ones she has created.

This is Isabel's new cousin Ava, my sister Vicky's daughter born in July.

This is Kaitlyn Rose. Isabel's cousin on her dad's side.

Tyra, my mom's Chihuahua.

Happy Birthday to ME!

2011-09-24T20:21:00.000-04:00

Thanks for all the birthday wishes!

42!

Yikes, where does the time go?

David and Isabel made & brought me breakfast in bed. I spent most of the morning in P.J.'s. and then went o get my "hair did." I really can't go to the beauty parlor often for hair coloring. I go maybe once or twice a year. All other times, I do it myself at home, but nothing looks as good as a professional color.

My new hair color. We had to go darker because I had too many different
shades in my hair. That's what happens when you home color. :)

After the hair do, we headed off to The Melting Pot. I love this place, but geezum Pete, they are expensive!! Thank goodness for a $100 birthday gift card from one of my bosses, or else we would not have gone there. We have not been in 5 years, and probably won't go back for another 5. Ha! It's great fun, truly, but it just breaks the bank.

Tonight we're playing Rock Band and Rock Band 2. David got them for me used, along with a microphone so I can do the singing while they do the guitar playing.

Kelli-Kelli got me HP & the Deathly Hallows pt. 1 on Blu-Ray for my birthday, so I might pop that in tonight too.

Off to eat some carrot cake! Nope, I did not make my own birthday cake.

Remember New York?

2011-09-22T18:33:00.001-04:00

Remember how Jacob went to sing in New York with a choir of kids and adults from all around Florida?

Read here.

Also here. Here and here too. I'll wait for you to catch up.

Since I did not get to go, we've been waiting and waiting since June for someone, anyone, to post videos.

Finally they have! Yay! Jacob can be found in the front row, right near the piano, with his longish, shaggy hair. Jacob just told me that, looking back through the program, Jacob was only one of two high school basses; of all the high school students, only two were bass singers, and Jacob was one of them. The rest were adult or professional singers; 13 in all, only 2 from high school.

Yes, there are a lot of videos. I am a mom. I want to see them all. But take your time. :) Jacob's favorite is the 6th one down, "All Works of Love," by Joan Szymko, with lyrics by Mother Teresa.

Also check out the 9th, and final, one: "Musical Risotto." Cracks me up!

Of this this one below., "Johnny-O & Sally Anne," Jacob said "Psssshh. This one was hard!"

This one is a favorite of mine.

The closing number makes me laugh. But oh! They did not film the tv screens, so you can't see why it's funny. BUMMER! There are tv screens off to the side "Musical Risotto," by Jonathan Willcocks.

If you want to see why people are chuckling, you can see their May practice performance I posted on this post here: Practice for New York. The first video shows the tv screens.

2011-2012 All-County Choir

2011-09-20T18:22:00.000-04:00

Some time in September (I am pretty much lost on dates with all the traveling for work I've been doing), I took Jacob on a Saturday to audition again for the 2011-2012 All County Choir. Kids from choirs in all the high schools audition to try to get in to this choir. There's also a middle school/Jr. High choir as well.

As you know, Jacob made it for the 2009-2010 choir, as well as the 2010-2011 one. He was pretty positive (i.e. a bit cocky, tee hee) that he would get in.

Jacob on the right, singing bass.

Sure enough, he made it again this year. Go Jacob!!

(P.S. He can't shave. He's playing Hamlet in a production of "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" and was asked to grow a beard by the director.)

So Busy

2011-09-20T18:09:00.000-04:00

Argh! Two trips to Panama in September. Two! One of them on my 9th Anniversary no less!

Sorry for the non-"postage." I'll get some in soon!

Lego Harry Potter

2011-09-02T15:38:00.000-04:00

So, I've been playing Lego Harry Potter, years 1-4. If you know me, you know I am not a fan of video games, and yet I live in a house with two video game nuts (Isabel and David) and one video gamer who isn't quite as obsessed as the other 2 (Jacob.)

I can't play them. I don't have the hand-eye thing going, and I also cannot for the life of me remember what button does what, but this game is SO darned cute and so well-made, I had to try.

Congratulate me as I have finished Year 1! Of course, I had help (usually Isabel doing things for me without my asking, and David telling her to get off already) but it was fun.

Isabel also is a fan of real Legos, having received some hand-me-downs from Jacob. She's been asking for Harry Potter Legos, so I got her a $10 set. The big ones run from $60-$100; Yikes! Her set came with Dobby, Harry and Lucius Malfoy.

Isabel will ask me to play Lego Harry Potter, and when I tell her I don't want to play video games, she'll reply "Noooo, real Lego Harry Potter." We'll recreate scenes from the books/movies with the new & old Lego pieces we own. Recently, we recreated a scene from "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets."

Hermione's been petrified! What is petrifying the students? Was it the monster in the Chamber of Secrets?

We don't have a Hermione doll, so we're using Lucius Malfoy's hair,
and a faceless Lego person created by Isabel.

Hiding under the invisibility cloak, Harry & Ron hear Hagrid say to "follow the spiders." Isabel speaks for Ron: "Why couldn't it have been 'follow the butterflies?'"

Yea, no Ron Lego either.
That's Ron behind Harry, with a red brick for hair.

The Spider trail leads to...Aragog! The giant Spider-friend of Hagrid.

"My sons and daughters do not harm Hagrid, on my command.
But I cannot deny them fresh meat, when it wanders so willingly into our midst.
Good-bye, friend of Hagrid."

After much screaming and wand waving (with many "pew pew" sounds too), Ron's Ford Anglia comes to the rescue!

:)

Last night we reenacted HP & The Goblet of Fire. I *wish* I had taken pictures; it was so funny!! We recreated the first two challenges (a butterfly from her room was the dragon) and the Yule ball. You should have seen Cedric and Cho. Maybe we'll reenact it again for your viewing pleasure.

For now, though, I leave you with......

Hagrid.

Day 8 & Day 9: Heading to Salt Lake City

2011-08-30T15:00:00.000-04:00

Tuesday Day 8:

The day was LONG. All we did was drive, and drive and drive. We were staying in Salt Lake City, right by the airport. We decided to drive to an In & Out burger in the city and then head downtown.

We were impressed by how pretty Salt Lake City is.

The Mormon Temple

The city is the headquarters of the Mormon church and they had some seriously beautiful buildings.

We headed back to our hotel and the kids took a swim in the indoor pool at 9 p.m. before heading to bed.

Wednesday was all about the flying. No pictures of Day 9. I will show you the patches we purchased for our patch blanket.

And that's our 9-day vacation tour de force! Hope you weren't too bored. :) We had a blast!

Day 7: Glacier National Park and the City of East Glacier too

2011-08-28T20:33:00.001-04:00

Day 7, Monday.

We woke up and got ready for a new day at Glacier National Park.

Coming back from the bathroom, behind us.

Our lovely cabin.

We ate breakfast at the main house and checked out. We only stayed at the Aspenwood Resort one night.

The lobby of the B&B, with the restaurant in the background

I made an origami fox out of the paper napkin rings.

Outside the restaurant.

We headed out to Glacier to walk some trails and see some amazing sites, including the well-known view of Goose Island, below.

We then headed towards the visitor's center we saw snow and the big-horned sheep yesterday. The place was PACKED. It took us several minutes of driving around and around and around the parking lot in order to find a parking spot. We walked through the visitor's center and out the back towards a trail. As we round a corner, we spot

A UNICORN!

Ok, not really. It's just a blurry picture. It's a mountain goat and she (someone said it was a she) was just sitting there, munching on the flowers an grass, ignoring the mass of people taking pictures of her.

We passed another of the many continental divides we passed on our trip.

Some of the trails were just to snowy and slushy for us to go on, so we headed back the way we came from. We drove out of another Glacier exit towards our next night's lodging. It was some random motel in the small city of East Glacier Park.

This little town was actually pretty darned cute. We decided to drive around town. We went into Glacier Park Resort, this beautiful resort that we a) could not get booked into and b) could not afford anyway, and walked around.

What is this? This was the second time I saw this.
It's hand-made and not stuck with glue or anything.
Someone built this in front of the lodge.

After walking the resort that we were not staying in, we went through one area of East Glacier that made us laugh.

We HAD to stop here.

In honor of Prince and my sister's love of Prince.

The store was owned by an older couple who loved wood working. The store was pretty full.

Towards the back of the shop, we encountered this sign.

Besides making spoons, they make their own wands and are Harry Potter fans. As I walked through this area, the shop owner was writing up an ownership card for an excited 10-ish year old boy. The owner, Mrs. Wagner, was saying things like "Ash wand" and "double loop" something-something and was being very official in her filling out of the card for this boy. Too cute.

Back to the motel we went. The motel was kind-of loud and no where near my favorite for the week, but thankfully it was only one night.

Since we had made the trip heading north bit by bit every day, our last day, Tuesday day 8, before flying out on Wednesday day 9, was to be spent driving and driving from Montana to Salt Lake City, Utah.

Day 6 continued: The Beaverlodge (oh, and Glacier too)

2011-08-27T12:14:00.001-04:00

....and enter into this.

A ginormous cabin. Two beds, a couch that pulls out into a bed, a little kitchen area with fridge and microwave, a dining room table, a fake working fireplace, an exercise bike, a tv, stereo, etc. etc.

We were pleasantly surprised! Of course, again, no AC, but they provided us with two fans, which were at opposite ends of the cabin, providing a cross breeze, and we also opened windows.

We unpacked the vehicle and decided we were hungry. The main house, with the 3 rooms to let, also has a restaurant, open to the public. The owners do all their own cooking. We locked up and walked over to the main house to have ourselves some dinner at 5 p.m.

Mmmmmmm, burger with a big ole onion ring on top

After dinner, we headed back to the cabin. Two of the owners' five dogs followed us back. Isabel was in love. They were all amazingly sweet.

Since it gets dark so late here, almost near 10 p.m., we hopped in the car after dinner and headed towards Glacier National Park, only a few miles away.

We stopped at the first Visitor's Center for a bit.

"Carry me, daddy!"

We only stopped in for a few minutes because the centers were all about to close, and we'd be back tomorrow anyway. We decided to drive around the park.

There was a second Visitor's Center, closed at this late time in the day, but still with snow. Isabel was very excited to see it, so we took a little walk around the center's grounds.

This empty parking lot is only because the center is closed.
Tomorrow? COMPLETELY packed and crazy.

As we headed towards the parking lot, there was a flurry of excitement from everyone in the area. Some big-horned sheep had decided to walk into the parking lot and slurp on a rivulet of melting snow that was heading down the sloped parking lot.

They pretty much ignored everyone taking pictures and video of them. It was pretty neat!

We continued driving around, taking pictures and admiring the scenery and then decided to head back to the cabin.

At the cabin, we walked through a small wooded area to use the locked restroom that belonged just to our cabin. It was clean, well lit and nicely decorated. We went to bed with the windows open and the fans going (again to wake up in the wee hours of the morning to close windows because it was freezing in the room).

Day 6: Leaving Yellowstone for Glacier

2011-08-26T10:00:00.001-04:00

Day 6: Sunday

Time to leave our cabin in Yellowstone. We left super-early, already on the road at 6:30 a.m. What did that early travel time get us?

A glimpse of our first (and only) grizzly bear

You should have seen the excitement as cars and tour buses pulled over to get a look at him. He ambled across the road, 4 cars ahead of us, without a care in the world.

This guy was just strutting his stuff. He was literally prancing across the road, all "howdy do?"

We were leaving Yellowstone but still stopped at a few scenic spots to take a look.

Chilly morning!

The early morning lighting was gorgeous.

Looks like snow, but it's not. It's calcified rocks.

Goodbye Yellowstone

We drove and drove. We were heading for the east entrance of Glacier, near Browning, Montana, which is in the Blackfoot Indian Reservation. Now, we've seen other towns located right outside state parks. Beautiful bustling towns like Jackson, WY and other small towns outside various exits of Yellowstone, so we're expecting a really nice town. Browning...was not. It was so very very sad. The place was like a ghost town, with few buildings even open. I was so sad. They have all this potential, the reservation Indians, and they do nothing with it. Could you imagine the amount of money they could bring in, to revitalize their town and make it gorgeous?? And yet the town was sad, abandoned and a bit scary. After seeing a male resident strike his companion outside a Subway restaurant (I kid you not) Jacob asked "Please, tell me we're not staying here?!?" We were not. We were staying a few miles outside this city.

We're driving out of the city on this empty road and we eventually find where we are staying. And I'm like "What...has David done?"

We're in the middle of nowhere. The house above? It's the main bed and breakfast, with 3 rooms and a restaurant. This shot was taken while standing in front of the detached cabin that the owners own. They own the B & B with the 3 rooms and the restaurant, our cabin, plus about 8 spots for people with RV's to hook up and camp. They also have their personal home at the end of their property, by a pond.

I'm trying not to freak. The door doesn't have a lock; or rather, it does. A padlock. We get handed the keys to the padlock, plus a stand-alone bathroom for our use only, in a separate building. There are 3 shower/bathroom stalls for use by the RV people, and one bathroom with a key that belongs to people renting the stand-alone cabin. That would be us, the Beaverlodge residents.

We open the door........

Vacation Day 5: More Yellowstone

2011-08-25T18:03:00.000-04:00

Day 5: Saturday

We woke up in our now-chilly cabin, got dressed and headed out to get breakfast and explore more Yellowstone.

Here's a plethora o' pictures. (I can't really remember what everything was. David would roll his eyes at me.)

I photobombed Jacob's picture of this bus.

New shirt and hat combo. :)

At one point, we went on Uncle Tom's Trail. About a mile walking and then you get to this;

..over 300 steps down. What were we going there for?

This

and this.

Then, of course, there were the over 300 steps back up. IT WAS HARD WORK! Wow. We'd stop every flight or so to catch our breath. The altitude!

Then we went to "the stinky area." Mud Volcano Basin. Stinky stinkiness.

Sulphur Cauldron

We drove around some more of the park and then headed back to the cabin.

Vacation Day 4: Yellowstone National Park

2011-08-23T19:58:00.000-04:00

Day 4: Friday. We woke at beautiful Old Faithful Inn, had breakfast inside and then headed off to the visitor's center next door.

It was chilly. Isabel had her hood up.

All around the Inn there were boardwalks leading to the many geysers around the area. We decided to take a walk around the boardwalks before checking out.

Castle Geyser

After checking out, eating lunch and buying me a shirt and hat combo, we drove through Yellowstone, stopping at various points along the way to our new lodging location for the next 2 nights.

Morning Glory Pool

New hat! I'll wear the shirt tomorrow.

We headed next to the Canyon Lodge & Cabins to check into our cabin for two nights.

The cabin was HOT when we got there. They had all the windows closed and it was over 100 degrees inside when we entered. Oh, and no A.C. We opened windows but could only keep the door open for a little bit due to mosquitos.

Isabel loved the bear-shaped soap. She took it with
her in the car. Hee hee.

We left the cabin and went to the main lodge area to check out the gift shops, stores and restaurants. We chose a 50's style diner inside tone of the gift shops for dinner.

Since it got dark so late, we hopped in the car after dinner and headed over to Artists Point and also to the Upper Falls viewpoint.

Beautiful views and yellow stones

On our way back to the cabin, we saw some wildlife and lovely sunset views.

Back at the cabin, we had the one desk fan blowing, all the windows opened (they were screened) and we were still a bit hot. By 2 a.m., we were freezing! I had to get up, shut the windows and turn on the propane heater. :)

We Interrupt the Boring Vacation Posts....

2011-08-23T19:33:00.000-04:00

Because it's BACK TO SCHOOL TIME!

Little Miss Fancy Pants started Second Grade! Don't ask me what's up with her pose there. No idea.

Big Mister Fancy Pants.....is a Senior. Holy guacamole. A Senior. AAAAAAAKKKKK!

Here's to a great new year!

Vacation Day 3 Continued: Yellowstone and Old Faithful Inn

2011-08-21T12:00:00.000-04:00

Day 3, Thursday evening.

We left Grand Teton NP and drove up to Yellowstone National Park, where we would be spending the night at the Old Faithful Inn. To say we were excited is an understatement. We were staying at the Inn....right next to Old Faithful. FOR. REALS.

We left Teton so late, I was in a grumpy mood. I wanted to spend as much time as possible at this Inn (it was expensive and we were only staying in it one night), and we did not get there until after 7 p.m. When you book a room, you get less than 24 hours in it. Usually check-in is around 3-4 p.m. and check-out around 11 a.m. Getting there at 7 seemed like a waste of very short time we had at the Inn.

Driving up to the Inn

The Ranger at the gate gave us this note. Made for some serious laughs.

I'm sitting in the car, waiting for David to check in, and there is Old Faithful. Right there!

We got our room keys and went in. Guess what? No AC. To Floridians, this is crazy troll-logic. Huh? What? Huh? The room was warm and they had a small desk fan for us to use.

The Inn

Several different geysers next to the Inn

We ate dinner at the cafeteria and went back to the Inn. Isabel and David wanted to sleep. Jacob and I wanted to explore the hotel, since we had gotten there so late in the day.

The clock on the fireplace inside the inn's lobby

We got some coffee from the Inn's coffee shop and explored the inn.

Unfortunately, by this late hour, the gift shop, several restaurants and snack shops were closed. We walked up to the second and third levels of the inn, drinking our coffee and admiring all the woodworking.

Later on, the night turned cool and the room with no AC was nice and chilly for a good night's sleep.

Photo from KenRockwell.com, not me.

Vacation Day 3: Jackson, WY & Grand Teton National Park

2011-08-19T17:58:00.004-04:00

Thursday: Day 3

We woke up early in our little cabin, got dressed and headed out to (an expensive) breakfast. Seems that everything is pricey out here because they know we really don't have much choice. *sigh* It was good food, just WAY more than we normally spend on breakfast. It was more along the lines of what we spend for dinner.

We walked through Jackson and went in to several of the stores there. Jacob forgot a sweater/sweatshirt. We told him to pack one but he forgot, so we needed to go get him something.

Isabel gets a Hi-5 from a local

Walking through Jackson. Notice the hills behind us.

I just liked the fence around this property. :)

After checking out of the cabin, we drove in to Grand Teton National Park where we decided we would hit the visitor's center and then take a hike.

Jacob's new sweatshirt. I want it.

Hello.

At the entrance to one of the visitor's centers at Grand Teton.

They like their moose.

Jacob takes a shot of his sister inside the center.

After the visitor's center, we drove through the park, stopping at a location that had some structures still standing from when Mormans built a little community together.

Normally, settlers liked living apart from each other. Not the Mormans. They built communities, helping each other build homes, raise crops, take care of the children, etc.

A few of the remaining structures of what once was a Morman settlement of over 60 buildings

We jumped back in the car and got to the main trailhead area, where we lunched on sandwiches purchased at a small grocery store, purchased bottled water and got ready for our 4-mile roundtrip hike.

The scenery was gorgeous!

It was a cool day, the weather was perfect, the hike was fun and then...."I have to go potty." "Hold it." "Nooo, I have to poop!"

We'd been walking for just a little over 25-30 minutes and little Miss has to go. *sigh* We were probably 3/4 of a mile out. I decided to head back with Isabel while David and Jacob went forward. They actually went even further than planned.

Here's what us gals missed.

"insert angelic music here"

"The hills are aliiiiiive, with the sound of muuuuusic."

Us girls? We waited in line for a toilet, spent another 5 minutes in it with Isabel, then went to the gift shop to get some ice cream to eat while we waited. It's all good. :) We went into a smaller visitor's center, looked at books, played with antlers and waited for the boys to return.

After the boys got back and filled up on water, we headed back to the car. We have to drive further north to stay at our next location this evening: Old Faithful Inn inside Yellowstone National Park!! SO excited to get there! See ya later tonight!

Vacation Day 2 Continued: Jackson, WY

2011-08-17T17:39:00.005-04:00

Still Wednesday. After leaving Golden Spike, we headed towards Jackson, WY because were were going to Grand Teton National Park. We took Logan Canyon Scenic Byway in Utah and stopped at a lookout point to look at Bear Lake.

The kids looking at Bear Lake.

She's trying to grow out her bangs. :)

After the pitstop, we continued in to Idaho just for a spell

and quickly made our way into Wyoming.

I'm pretty much in love with Jackson, WY. aka Jackson Hole. I'm not sure I'd live there, mind you. The COLD! But for a tourist town, it is beautiful!

This night, Wednesday night, was the only night we did not have any lodgings prearranged. I relaxed immediately upon entering the outskirts of Jackson, because there were plenty of vacacy signs. David wanted to see what was closer to the beautiful downtown, so we drove in.

We drove by a little place called the Kundar Motel and thought, "what the hey...let's try there." The man at the front desk had a vacancy; a room in one of the converted houses near the back, not one of the log cabins. I was not really impressed with it and David went back with the key to let the man know we would keep looking. David them came back with another key to a cabin. A couple that had been there before us had the cabin key to look at it, but when they realized it was available only for one night, they declined, so the cabin was available for one night. It was adorable and we took it!

Cabin 16

Hello Ya'll!

The second bedroom. The bathroom is behind David's back there.

After bringing in the luggage, we decided to walk down to the town center to see what was around. Apparently there was going to be a shoot-out at the center park of the town.

There were two of these arches in the center square of town.

We saw lots of restaurants, shops, coffee houses, a few play-theatres and one movie theatre. What were they playing?

Good Choice, Jackson.

David was is a tizzy to go see if we could spot any wildlife at dusk in Teton. We wanted to walk around the town some more. David promised that we would walk around some more early in the morning, since check-out wasn't until 11 a.m., so we drove into the National Park, but we did not see any wildlife. We did stop for a sunset view of the Teton Glacier.

That's the Glacier in the middle there.

After looking around a bit, we hopped back in the car and headed back to town where we had an outdoor pizza dinner at Mountain High Pizza.

We went back to the cabin to take showers and get ready for an early night in.

Vacation Day 2: Golden Spike National Historic Site

2011-08-15T17:57:00.004-04:00

Wednesday morning, we woke up at the La Quinta in Salt Lake City, ate their free breakfast and loaded the car back up. We're heading North, Miss Tessmacher!

Oooh, mountains. Looks just like Florida.

David's plan was to take a slight detour once passed Brigham City. We headed west to the Golden Spike National Historic Site.

This is the location where the two companies working to complete the transcontinental railroad met on May 10, 1869; one of the greatest achievements of the 19th century.

The Jupiter

What a cool steam engine train.

After spending some time here, we headed back to the car and were on our way northeast. Jackson, Wyoming...here we come!

Vacation Day 1: Flying to Salt Lake City, UT

2011-08-13T17:39:00.003-04:00

Our first day of vacation was spent flying. Orlando to Denver, CO first. We flew Frontier and were impressed with the airline EXCEPT for the baggage fee. $20 a piece?? No free check-in of even one per person?? For shame. We hadn't even left Orlando and were already out $40! *grumble grumble*

We flew to Denver and had over a 2 hour layover. After eating, we waited for our next flight; Denver to Salt Lake City. By this time, Isabel was pretty much pooped. It was already her bedtime, even though we were 2 hours behind now.

Tired in Denver

We flew to Salt Lake City and arrived after 11 p.m. their time. It was after 1 a.m. for us. We got our luggage, picked up our rental car (a 2012 Kia Sportage) and headed to the La Quinta hotel 2 miles from the airport, just to crash for the night. Let the fun begin in the morning!

Panama in July

2011-08-12T17:34:00.000-04:00

Panama....Panama ah ah ah ah ah. I always sing Van Halen when I think the word Panama.

I was off to Panama in July to help the branch for a week. As always, I enjoyed this city and all its people, but this time, I was really lonely for my family. It was a looooooong week of eating meals alone and walking around the blocks near the hotel after work (it stayed light out very late). I even walked to a mall nearby to get gifts for the kids and some magnets for friends.

View from my hotel window

My room

Little snack left at my bedside.

I flew home on Saturday and was whisked away....to go see the last Harry Potter movie. Luggage still in the car, we drove to the theater. I was exhausted but with our crazy schedule, this was the only time we could see it before vacation. Why not Sunday? Because David wanted to go to Busch Gardens 2 hours away. LOL Yes, long week and weekend.

Crazy Busy Summer

2011-08-12T17:24:00.001-04:00

Well, our computer hard drive has gone kaput. I am currently borrowing a laptop to update all the crazy.

Now remember, I had David's family at our home at the beginning of July.

Then my sister had her baby...but I had to go to Panama a few days later. So we drove down to West Palm on a Saturday to meet wonderful Miss Ava, only to turn around the same night. The next day, Sunday, I had to fly to Panama.

I was in Panama Sunday through Saturday. Saturday, right from the airport, they take me to see Harry Potter. I was exhausted. Sunday? They wanted to go to Busch Gardens before vacation, so off we drove 2 hours to Tampa. Went to work on Monday and then...flew out on our 9 day vacation extravaganza on Tuesday.

Vacation was from Tuesday through the following Wednesday (9 days). Home on Thursday (computer is now dead), work on Friday, drive back to West Palm because my mom was leaving back to Puerto Rico on Sunday and I had only visited with her that one Saturday before I went to Panama 3 weekends prior.

POOPED!

We have HUNDREDS of pictures and several videos. Not sure when we'll get to work on the various video clips and edit them now, but I'll be posting some pictures on this laptop.

Laters!

No Computer

2011-08-04T11:35:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone! I am posting this from my Nook Color. We've been traveling together, I've been traveling for work, and now when I go to post, our computer has died. It is not recognizing that we have a hard drive. Booo! I am still here, just can't post or browse easily.

So, What'll We Do Now?

2011-07-25T21:37:00.000-04:00

We finally watched "Happy Potter & the Deathly Hallows, Pt. 2."

*sniff* *sniff*

I seriously need a hug.

The movie was great fun. Several things were changed (the kiss and where/how it happened,) some things were added (the Luna/Neville thing, which I liked; the extended battle scene) but all in all, I loved it.

I am glad they added the "19 years later" and I personally think they did a great job aging them. They looked great. Malfoy was over-done, but the rest looked like the aged gracefully and I don't think they under-did it at all.

Seeing Severus' death scene was rough. I remember reading book 6 and then telling friends online "Severus is not bad. I bet you he did what he did because Dumbledore asked him to." His flashback scenes with Lily etc. in the pensieve were some of my favorite scenes.

I also got weepy when McGonagall called forth the men to protect Hogwarts and the following scenes with all the teachers casting protection spells. I was SO excited to see that they did not cut Molly's "Stay away from my daughter, you B*&%h!" (or something like that) quote when fighting Bellatrix. That...was awesome.

As we're walking out of the theater, the woman in front of us says to her date/husband/male companion "So, what'll we do now? No more Harry Potter movies." David turned around to see if I had heard and I said "I know!"

Hello Ava!

2011-07-12T20:50:00.000-04:00

We're all SO GLAD you're here!!

My sister Vicky and her daughter Ava

Ava, Vicky and happy dad Damian

Family Fun

2011-07-10T09:48:00.001-04:00

David's sister and family are still here. They spent a a week down at a hotel in Orlando for the gymnastics competition and then for their vacation. Then they moved over to our house for four more days in the area. The first night they arrived, we made Harry Potter cupcakes.

Saturday, we headed over to Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure to do some of the shows and playgrounds they did not get to do during their week here already.

As always, click the pictures to make them bigger.

Back left: Ethan in blue, Jacob, Emily, Jennifer,
David (pushing Juliette in a stroller, but you can't see her), Leif.
Front: Ellianna and Isabel.

Emily loves pink.

Ellianna & Isabel

Juliette

Jennifer & Juliette come down the water slide in Fievel's Playground.

Isabel & Juliette's turn down the slide.

Isabel and Ellianna play inside a car at "Curious George Goes to Town" playground.

We take a break to watch the "Animal Actors" show.

After the show, we headed over to "Disaster: A Major Motion Picture Ride." It's an interactive ride where the audience becomes part of the movie. They asked for several volunteers, including three evil henchmen. Behold evil henchman Jacob.

Act EVIL!

After all the different scenes and actors are shot, you head into a subway tunnel and sit in a train to film a major disaster in the subway station. After everything is done, they play back a movie trailer that includes Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson and all the volunteer actors edited in the scenes. It was a lot of fun.

It was a HOT day. David, Isabel & I left around 5-ish. Jacob stayed with everyone else and they headed over to Wet N Wild to end their day with cool water rides.

Just Keep Swimming

2011-07-05T18:11:00.001-04:00

Little Miss Isabel is taking swimming lessons at the YMCA. Little Miss can't even stand water on her face from the shower, imagine her dismay at taking swimming classes! But living in this state, with many people owning pools, she must learn, whether or not she likes it.

I sent a quick text message to 3 of my 4 sisters asking them to send an encouraging text each to David's phone for Isabel. (I was at work; he is taking her to classes.) All three did. One of them, who teaches at a school sent this quick video.

SO sweet, I got teary-eyed. It's her class telling Isabel she can do it!

She is one of 6 kids in her group and the only girl.

After the 1st session, she's actually excited to be going back tomorrow.

Gymnastics at Disney's Wide World of Sports

2011-07-03T11:27:00.000-04:00

David's sister is a gymnastics coach. She owns her own studio in Chattanoga, TN and this weekend was the AAU Gymnastics Age Group National Championships 2011 at Disney's Wide World of Sports. We decided to head down for the day on Saturday and check out what was going on. A lot of events that David's sister's team had to compete in had already happened on Friday, but with work and all, we could not make it until Saturday. The day pass was $15 for us, $10 for kids 3-9. Not bad. Jacob stayed home to go attend a party at 3 p.m. at a friend's house.

Welcome to the Thunderdome. :)

Isabel (center) learns how to make sports Avatars with her cousins Ellianna & Emily.

Here's one she made. Cute!

Ellianna, Juliette and Isabel. Cousins. I wish we lived closer. Isabel LOVES her cousins

Ellianna had already competed by the time we arrived, but Emily still had to go up. Juliette does not compete, and neither does their big brother Ethan (4 siblings).

We ate $4 pretzels and watched all these talented girls compete.

Emily on the uneven bars

Emily on the beam, her favorite event.

We were there for about 5 hours or so. Jennifer and family were there for way more; at least 10, but smart mom & dad Leif packed a TON of food, snacks and supplies so the kids wouldn't have meltdowns. They were very good.

After awards ceremonies for that day, and a little annoying 30 minute delay that I will post about later, we headed over to their hotel to eat dinner by the pool and go swimming.

(Side note: At dinner, Jennifer asked how I enjoyed the meat. I said "It was ok" and then after two seconds passed, "click." She meant the Meet, not the Meat I had eaten. I burst out laughing and, pointing to my plate, said "Ohhh, the gymnastics meet, not my hamburger meat!" )

They had poolside karaoke and David got up to sing. I have video from my cell phone, but I have been warned to delete it. Heh heh. Isabel had a blast, but I can't wait until her swimming lessons at the Y next week so she can no longer be afraid of the water.

And that was our fun day with David's family. No pictures of the boys though (David, Jennifer's husband Leif and son Ethan. Jacob was not there) Bad photographer!

All The Names

2011-07-01T20:19:00.001-04:00

While working my volunteer job at the library's book store, I was picking up some books. Twenty five cents each for paperbacks, or 5 for $1. Needing to get one more, I picked up this book by Nobel Prize Winner Jose Saramago.

The author, Mr. Saramago, wrote the book with no chapter numbers, no heading, no quotations when people were talking. When two characters are having a conversation, the only way you knew someone else was talking was the commas in the run-on sentences. It was a bit distracting, but it also gave me a sense of urgency in the reading. People love Mr. Saramago's prose. This is my first time reading him, and I was a little overwhelmed with all the descriptions of every minute detail of everything around the main character, Senhor Jose. It felt like too much. (Maybe because I am reading a translation; I think it was written in Portuguese.)

"All The Names" is set in an unknown town in an unknown time (possibly the 1950's, I'm not sure) where the protagonist, Senhor Jose lives. Sr. Jose is a 50 year old low-grade clerk in the Central Registry, the government agency that records "all the names" of those who have been born, get married/divorced and die. All work performed with cards, inkwells and pens, all by hand, the Central Registry is an archaic bastion of documentation; very strict, very precise; no one...no one breaks rank or rules. Except Sr. Jose. He is bored, lonely and slightly insane.

He quietly collects random facts of famous people on his off time; newspaper clipping, notes, articles, etc. One day, deciding to break into the Central Registry to borrow the files of these famous people, Senhor Jose accidentally picks up the card of a random woman; someone he doesn't know, who is not famous. Just a nobody. This slip leads his mind to want to follow a path to find out who this woman is. Senhor Jose breaks rules, lies to people to get information, breaks in places, imagines horrible fates, has panic attacks, talks to the ceiling (that talks back to him) and leads the reader on an odd journey through his mind and actions.

Jose's a nutter. A sweet one, but a nut nonetheless. He's lonely. His life has no purpose. He wants this because he wants to have something in his life of meaning. He wants a connection with someone, even if it's this unknown woman on paper. Can we blame him this craving? He wants to know her, because he wants her to feel she is known, just as he wishes he were known by someone, anyone, on a personal level.

Point Park (and Cake)

2011-06-26T20:49:00.000-04:00

Saturday of our visit to Lookout Mountain took us driving around the mountain and led us to Point Park, part of the Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park. Lookout Mountain is REPLETE with Civil War history. The North & South fought many battles to control this gateway to the South.

We'd been to Point Park before, but not with Isabel, so we decided to take a small hike on one of its many trails.

After the park, we drove around the mountain, drooling at the gorgeous homes, and then went to eat lunch at Mojo Burrito in St. Elmo (at the base of the mountain).

Dinner was a family affair at my in-laws. ALL the kids were there. Since Sunday was Father's Day and we all could not be together then, I baked a cake that afternoon after coming home from the park and lunch, and dedicated it to all the SUPER dads in the house.

We also spent a lot of time in the back yard, looking at their beautiful butterfly garden, and waiting for the baby blue birds to hatch! (They hatched....the afternoon after we left, of course.)