Summer Recap

Well, after a very exciting, adventuresome, and most of all relaxing summer, it's back to the "real world" today for me. Iz is heading back to school on Tuesday. Ahhh... I'll be back to regular postings and catching up on my blogger buddies this coming week.
So, to recap some of the highlights of the summer - what better way to do so in pictures!

Izzy wasn't keeping up with her chores, so ...

We had to put her in the stockade for a while.

Just kidding :) The above are from our trip to the state fair. Here are some more!

Since we got there so early (with great parking thanks to Chad) Izzy was one of the first people on the Giant Slide. I guess it's too much of a hassel to take down each year, so they just leave it up year round.

Chad, who was too chicken to ride the farris wheel!

View of the fairgrounds from the top of the ferris wheel.

The famous butter cow!

Seeing the bright cardinal next to the finch was a cool color combination.

In the butterfly exhibit, they were very active. I was able to get a few good pics before they fluttered away to find another flower.

Go Bobcats! Had to get a pic of this cute kitty for my alma mater.

Yum!

In one of the craft barns, the Ohio Statehouse made out of Legos. In the back you can see some of the downtown Columbus buildings, also made out of Legos. Lake Erie and a model of the fairgrounds was on hand as well.

And, in honor of the Convention that is going on this week....

Eeek! Is this summer going fast or what?

A few last vacation pics.... me an Axl chillin at the Hard Rock

And the beautiful beach at sunset!



We made it back OK - safe and sound, even if our GPS took us in a round-about way through Atlanta! It was such a long drive back home...

Since our vacation, we've just been chilling out. Izzy's been staying up really really late, and getting up really really early, which doesn't leave me much time to sleep, but it's still summer, so it's no biggie.

We took a trip down to our mother's for a day. It was so good to see her - we had a good time, and came home with more stuff then we brought down, including some amazing BBQ and slaw.

Next week, we are off to the state fair... I've heard they are doing Mashed potatoes on a stick this year... There is nothing like "fair food" and it's probably a good thing it only comes around once a year.

Other than that, not much going on... just enjoying the lazy days of summer with some fresh brewed sun tea!

Days 2, 3, and 4

Why is it that time just flies by you when you are on vacation! So far, so good. Only one trip to the ER; Izzy woke this morning (well before the Urgentcare places were open) with a bad pain in her ear. All I can say is that I am so thankful we have insurance! I can't imagine what we'd have to go through should our health care become socialized :) We were out of there in about 30 min from start to finish. But she is doing better and is cleared for swimming.

We didn't go swimming today -- I was a bit crispy. Yes, on my previous expeditions to the white sandy beaches I wore a big hat, shades, sat under an umbrella when possible, wore SPF 70, and still got burnt! I am not made for the sun, that's for sho'!

Dancing in the surf! I was amazed how clear the water was -- the blues and greens are not exaggerated in the photo! On Monday, I caught a fish with my bare hands (OK, it was only about 2 inches long, but still...) Tuesday, we saw a jelly fish in the water. I guess I should check to see how dangerous they are!

Below is the beach from Sandestin, looking to the East. Pretty crowded! The waves were very smooth on Monday when we went, but were a bit rough Tuesday. Izzy just loved using the boogie board and I was glad to see she was getting the hang of it! She really took to the waves :)

Izzy just loved the sand! We buried her... the tide was coming in, so we didn't get much of her covered before it washed away! I have never seen as much sand on one person as the amount that stuck to Izzy. She was still covered after we used the beach showers before the ride home. Sand sand everywhere!
Another cool thing we see almost every day -- jets flying overhead from Eglin AFB. I have absolutely no idea which kinds are flying overhead, but they are loud, fast and neat to look at.

On Wednesday we took a brief excursion to Jolee Island... not much but pines and Florida brush, but a few paths winding around. At one end, there was a pretty cool lookout over a small strip of beach looking towards the Choctawhatchee Bay. - My daughter the pirate!
This is the view of the Bay from the Pirate's roost.
Later today, we when to the Baytowne Village Wharf - some really cute speciality shops and restaurants! It wasn't too crowded during the day. As we were leaving, we wandered into a pottery place where you can paint your own pieces. I chose to do a tile with our name on it and Izzy chose a princess. Chad didn't do one of his own, but he did help Izzy. I think he was happy to be in the AC, though. (I thought Ohio could get humid at times, but it's nothing like here! Very hot and humid in the day.) After you paint your piece, they glaze and fire it overnight, so we'll see how it turnes out tomorrow! I think I found a new hobby -- the task of painting was so relaxing!

One last thing before I go for now...

There was this cool invention on the Wharf where you can shrink your kids to pocket size. Of course, we jumped on the chance to shrink Izzy! :)

We're here!

We've been on the road for what seems like ages, and that was before we even got here. Our journey actually started last Thursday. We drove by this basket on the way up to our family reunion... it just amazes me each time I see this huge basket pop up out of the landscape outside of Newark OH.

The trip was LOOOOONG, but well worth it to see the view from our backyard. I really don't know much about the ol' Scottish game of golf, but I believe this is the 16th hole tee of some really nice course :) There is a placid pond / water hazard between two of the holes. Below, looking to the right off our back patio. Following, looking to the left. Just beyond the trees in the lower image, you can see the Choctawhatchee Bay.


So, how did we get here? Lots of driving in the car... We were up at the (some would say "butt") crack of dawn, loading up the cars. Turns out, Chad is quite chipper in the AM.


Izzy - not so much. This is how she spent much of the trip: Sometimes she coloured:

And sometimes she played the DS.


We saw many cool sites on the way down, drove through some pretty quaint Alabama towns and had a pretty good drive. Unfortunately, most of the pics I snapped from the car were either too blurry (Still trying to get the hang of the camera's settings) or were snapped when a car was passing by, blocking the view of what I was trying to capture. I did manage to get on of the "Basketbowl Lanes" -- Looks like a fun time!


More on what the house looks like and what there is to do (other than golf!) later. I leave you with a pic of our evening visitors. By the way there were walking, I'm guessing they'll stop by about the same time each night!

Vacation time!

Just a few hours to go...

we'll be on our way to the sunny beaches of the gulf coast for a week long trip.... will keep my peeps posted as internet is available...


Hope everyone had a great 4th of July! At least, enjoying time with family and friends... life is too short to do otherwise :-)

Summer's Here, officially!

First, the recap of my Spring Reading List:
* Enchanting Pleasures Eloisa James (419)
* The Naked Marquis Sally MacKenzie (349)
* Diary of a Wimpy Kid Jeff Kinney (217)
* I'm Ready for my Movie Contract: A Get Fuzzy Collection! (128)
* The Lost Duke of Wyndham Julia Quinn (371)
* Story Telling Tori Spelling (276)
* Miss Manner's Basic Training Miss Manners (174)
* McKettrick's Heart Linda Lael Miller (378)
* McKettrick's Pride Linda Lael Miller (378)
* McKettrick's Luck Linda Lael Miller (378)
* The McKettrick Way Linda Lael Miller (248)
* Vanished Karen Robards (396)
* Scent of Darkness Christina Dodd (400)
* An Inconvenient Book Glenn Beck (295)
* Mine Till Midnight Lisa Kleypas (360)
* Secret Societies ...and How They Affect Our LIves Today Sylvia Browne (225)

I'm really too tired to add right now - I don't have the page count. I've a few books I'm saving for our summer vacation, Twilight is one of them. It's killing me not starting that one now, but I know I need a good one for the beach.

We are heading off next month to the Gulf Coast of Florida (Fla-ri-da, as one of my roommates used to say) I'm very excited, although not looking forward to the gas bills on the way down. Good thing I'm not planning much other than sitting myself on the beach for the whole vacation. Of course, I'll be under an umbrella, wearing cover-ups, a BIG hat, and about 90 SPF sun block. I have yet to find 90, but I'm sure it's out there somewhere.

Since it's officially summer today, I guess that means that spring cleaning time is over (Yay!) Here's my last organizing of spring - my purse. We'll purses, actually. It got a little out of hand having 4, for different occasions, so I'm not down to ONE . Remember that scene in Breakfast Club where Allison dumps out her purse, it was kinda like that.

• A 10 Commandments coloring page
• Receipt from June 2006
  
• An 8 in Wrench
  
• pencils, sharpened, unsharpened and mechanical
  
• A Subway gift card
• A Sally Beauty Card (expired)
  
• In the health department:
  
• 6 tampons
• Deodorant (it fell apart when I opened the lid)
  
• 2 bottles of hand sanitizer
• about 9 Ricola cough drops
• a big tin of salve
• band aid (unused)
  
• various wet naps from BW3
• an ipod
• pens
  
• old calendar from 2007
• animal print notebook
  
• Rosary and prayer book
• assorted change
  
• keys
  
• and many other receipts that were too faded to read
  

I guess you could say I'm a pack rat. I'd reply that I'm well prepared.


Hope everyone has a good summer!

What Skii Chad and Izzy have been doing...

Chad:
Golf
Poker
A bit more golf

Izzy:
Playing
Losing teeth
Reading
Playing

Skii:
Grading
Knitting
More Grading
Facebook
Cleaning house
and Grading


More updates once this month is over...

SpringSpringSpring

OK - I've been working on a project for work and enjoying the lovely spring weather. So until things calm down a bit, I probably won't be posting much. I love this time of year... the mornings have been very cool - perfect for snuggling under the covers. Anywho, I came across the strangest show the other night - Secret talents of the stars. Dude, give me Circus of the Stars any day - this show was just weird. Here's the clip I tuned to. Man, this is just weird.

I'm not a fool, are you?

Yes - April Fool's with a 6 year old is just funny (I had chocolate for breakfast before you got up (1.5 second pause) APRIL FOOL'S!)

And speaking of fools - I honestly don't know how this guy did this with a straight face for this long.... Enjoy!

Hello and welcome to Politics 2008

Well ladies and gentlemen it's just about been settled now. We have our choice of McCain the Liberal or Barack Hussein Obama. The choice between these two is SO VERY DIFFICULT! I mean do I take the liberal baby killer or the liberal war guy? Neither is a fiscal conservative and both will SPEND this wonderful country of ours into oblivion. I'm so glad there are only 8 more months until the election of one of these two WONDERFUL candidates.
So democrat, republican, repubocrat, or demolican? Take your pick cause it's all the same in the end. However I'll tell you my money is on you know who...

OK I'm so very tired of writing this shite that I require repose. Hope everyone has a wonderful day and remember November is right around the corner...

what's up?

Uh, not much here...our baby is with her Nona for the week (Spring Break - which I don't get this year) Pretty quiet around the house...

What's up with American Idol? Tonight's show is just not doing it for me... still catching up on the DVR as I write this... Part of it may be that I feel incredibly OLD hearing the songs they choose (their birth year.) Back in 1987 I was playing atari and learning how to use our new-fangled VCR, and these kids were just born. Ugh! I can't believe that some of the contestants are still in the game. They have the Beatles, I think they should do some Zeppelin one week - that would be pretty cool.

OK - that's about it for now... Happy Tuesday!

Update: What kind of song did David A choose? I don't get it.

Update II: just saw David Cook... AWESOME! He's got my vote.

Easter Sunday

Hope everyone had a good Easter!
If you don't happen to celebrate the day, I hope your Sunday was warm and relaxing!

Housekeeping....

Yeah! Happy Spring!

More spring cleaning... last night, I spent about 4 hours organizing my office. I thought it was going to take me only about 90 min. or so, but I got a little distracted looking at the books and reorganizing them. All 592 of them. That doesn't really seem like a lot -- but those were just the ones in the office. There are more stashed here and there throughout the house.

When I unpacked the boxes, I just put them on the shelves because I wanted to get it done... now I'm happy to say they are organized! The Christie's are all cozy in one spot...my romances are all happy in love together...my classic lit books are pondering away in their own shelf...my dictionaries and grammar books (I have a tendency to acquire old dictionaries and old skool grammar books - New word for the 1930's: atomic)... my children's lit section is growing... Such a relief to have them all organized!

While I was organizing, I did miss American Idol... heard it was quite an upset! Apparently, the DVR taped Survivor over AI - so I didn't get to see the results. O well. Life goes on.

Our Baby Cat kept hanging around the office -- never knew he was a book worm. Here he is checking out the shelf before I add the beat poets and autographed books.


And here he is deciding which of the fiction to peruse.

Baby Cat is dismayed by the mess... honestly, they started out all stacked up nice and neat, but you know how rowdy the romance books can get! They just didn't want to stay in line.


While we are on the subject of books, here is the fall/winter recap list, so I can start anew for spring:

• Where Is He Now? Jennifer Green (357)
• Desperate Duchessess Eloisa James (384)
• Big Boned Meg Cabot (280)
• Size 14 Is Not Fat, Either Meg Cabot (344)
• Talk Nerdy to Me Vicki Lewis Thompson (357)
• An Affair Before ChristmasEloisa James (388)
• The Devil Who Tamed Her Johanna Lindsey (354p)
• The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression Amity Shlaes (464)
• Tangled Up In You Rachel Gibson (384)
• Queen Of Babble Meg Cabot (307)
• Consent to Kill - Vince Flynn (465)
• Then Came You Lisa Kleypas (371)
• The Nanny Diaries - Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus (368)
• Suddenly You - Lisa Kleypas (375)
• Ready or Not- Meg Cabot (238p)

If my math is right that's about 5156 pages... man, working during the day really cuts out of my reading time!

Why am I obsessed with books, I have no idea -- I just love 'em! The tactile experience, the smells of old books, the crisp pages - all just add to the joy of reading.

Happy Reading!

Chuck Norris

Normally I don't listen to morning radio shows, just because, well, they are usually boring. Until I found Dave and Jimmy. These guys are hysterical! Here is one of their songs - I heard it in the car the other day, and had to pull over I was laughing so hard. It's up on their web site, and youtube.

Enjoy Chuck Norris!

What's all that white stuff?

Remember that keyboard problem I was having with the letter C? Well, apparently that wasn't the only computer issue we were having. The power supply went kaput on our main computer, and instead of replacing the proprietary power part from Sony and pay for labor, it was actually cheaper to by a new tower. SO, now I am working with Vista (say it with me - OSX wannabe) for the first time, and trying to get programs and gear to work.

With that said, I now present our few images from the "Blizzard of 08" Last weekend, Columbus got a record 20.4 inches of snow. I think most of that ended up drifting in our yard. Here is what's outside our back door: (that's a 22 in drift - for the close-ups click HERE.)

And this is what I saw when I opened the Garage to shovel. Mind you, this was about 5 hours after Chad left for work, it was maybe 2-3 inches at 6 am.

That's about 8 inches of snow to shovel, and it was still coming down! I started to do half the garage so Chad could pull the car back in. See, I'm a good wife who was thinking about her man. Thinking that if he could get in the garage, he could shovel behind my car in case I had to leave the next day. Well, he ended up staying over at work since "no one" could come in to cover his shift. Not only did he have to stay late, but he had to go in earlier due to the time change. What this means -- Skii shoveled the whole drive! Whoopee! See, I told you I was a good wife!

I wanted burgers for dinner, but could barely see the Grill for the cool pyramids stacking up.

Oh, and remember the aforementioned new computer? I made a little movie on how Izzy and I made some snow ice cream. Apologies in advance for the lack of sound and the quality - I made it in about 5 minutes.

Let me tell you, that was the first time I can recall making homemade ice cream from snow. One taste, though, brought back so many good memories of the days I worked at TropicalSno (shaved ice with flavors) Our vanilla ice cream made my taste buds pop from the sweet texture... yum!

Enjoy!

Hurray for Spring!

OK - so Spring isn't for another 17 days or so, but we just had to take advantage of the nice breezy weather today. At one point it was 66 lovely degrees. But this won't last long -- cold weather is right ahead of us. So, what did we do on this fine day? Cornhole! My dad made this awesome set for us (Thanks, Dad!) and we finally got a chance to set it up! Here are some shots:



And just so you don't think the entire household is a fan of the Steelers, here is a shot of the other board (my personal favorite!)



It's going to be a fun summer!

Rhyme and Reason have left the building... (or; stuff that's been happening lately.)

OK - there really is no one topic for this post... I guess I ould just give lots of excuses for why I haven't posted lately, but I don't want to waste your time. (By the way, the "see" button on my laptop is not working at 100% so for missed letters - my sinere apologies!)

I tried to take a pi ture with my new camera of the Eclipse Wednesday night. Yeah, apparently, my camera must not like the ombination of cold and low batteries, becasue this is what I got:

(Insert jokes here about what it looks like)
When I realized the zoom wasn't big enough on my camera, I tried for the video amera that takes stills, but the battery was dead. Anyway, it was very kool to see the eklipse - red moon and all. The night was krystal klear - very beautiful with a dusting of snow on the ground.

Quite different from last night, when it was icy and snowy mix... I peeked out after American Idol was on (why didn't they put Josiah through! He was so much better than the other ones they put in the top 24!) It was strange, being out so late and it being so bright, because of the dim streetlights boun ing off the snow! Hang on a minute....

ccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc

Yeah! I got the C key fixed!! Good ol' duct tape!

OK, where was I?

Oh, our house -- here is a lovely pic of the finished home!







I do want to get some better pictures, but I think I'll wait till the weather gets a bit nicer. Here is one of our kitchen -- I LOVE my kitchen and all of the beautiful cabinet spaces (maple - toffee stain)









And what the heck... here is one of our living room... I need some ideas for the back wall -- I don't want to paint or to change too much with the walls until we have our 1 year inspection, but at least it gives me ideas for what I could do. Step into my living room:

I'm so nosy -- wouldn't it be cool to have a site where you could just peek into people's houses? I'm one of those people who will look into open windows as we are driving by (so leave your curtains closed if you don't want anybody to see!) Ohh - love google image search: http://tinyurl.com/2zjlgr



Oh, and here's one of our BabyCat in my favorite chair:






Just finished the book The Forgotton Man: A New History of the Great Depression. Worth reading! I'm going to start reading more on FDR... yeah, apparently, he wasn't the nice guy that they taught us about back in grade school! It's a good read and very informative! Kind of spooky how history is repeating itself.

TV: What I'm watching now... I've gotten back into Days. If I can't watch it, I listen to it on my radio when I work.. it's one of those Weather Band / AM/FM/ TV 2-13 ones, so it picks up NBC quite well. I've been watching that show for EVER, and it amazes me how many character have SORAS. Let 's hope the writing gets better now that the strike is over.


American Idol: Not seeing a definite favorite this year, hard to get totally into just now - Once the top 12 or 10 is named, it will get much better. I do like Alexandrea, Brooke, Amanda and Syesha. Wasn't that just aweful how they voted Garrett off --just "hey how ya doing? It's nice to be here, but you have to go home now" Could you be any more abrubt, Ryan? Garrett wasn't one of my faves, even if he was from Ohio, but still... give the kid a break!

Jane Austen: Yeah! PBS is showing her stories on Sunday Masterpiece for the next few weeks. I have a bunch saved up to watch.


Survivor is getting better... was sad to see Yao-man go, but this should be an interesting season.

Now that Psych and Monk are over, guess I'll just have to watch the re-runs until the summer! Love Psych -- have I mentioned before how hot Shawn and Gus are?


And if you haven't seen this post on Castro by DG, it's a tear-jerker. And yes, we really did see him at Hometown Buffet tonight! Castro must like the American food buffet experience!


OK -- that's enough rambling for now...

L8r G8r!

The Day Izzy Almost Got a Butt Whoopin'

Last night, as I was putting Izzy to bed, she made a startling statement. So startling, I was just floored to hear my daughter has a potty mouth.

Here's what happened... I get Izzy tucked in, with her stuffed animals and sleeping bag. She has her "fresh water," the closet is shut and bedtime story read. Now, it never fails that by the time I make it to the bottom of the steps, she has "one more thing" she wants to get to sleep. Trying to be proactive last night, I asked her if she needed anything else.

As her little head nodded, I asked "What, sweetie?"

She said, in the calmest voice, "kiss my ass."

My mouth dropped! I couldn't believe she would say such a thing for she usually refers to it as "the bad A word."

Izzy got a panicked look on her face and as I tried to explain that that kind of language is not acceptable, she started pointing to her forehead.

Then it hit me... she wanted me to "kiss my ash!"

The ashes left on her forehead from Ash Wednesday.

I guess kids to say the craziest things when they are missing two teeth!

Um, Change

Yeah, I know it's been a while since the last post, but came across this vid this AM and thought I'd share.



Don't know who has more time on their hands, the politicians saying "change" or the guy who put this together!

In Memoriam

I'll miss you Katt!

In his own words...