Day 117

No matter how old my kids get, they still look so cute when they're asleep. Nick went downstairs to watch TV today. I called him a couple of times but he didn't answer. When I went down to check on him, I found him crashed out on the couch. Guess he needed some sleep??

Day 116

It's a sad day; I have to say goodbye to these wonderful people. SAP was just fabulous and I hate to go. I guess I have to go back to the real world :( Wait 'til next year!!

Day 115

On Saturday, we all got up & headed for the Stamp Store & Archivers. We had discount coupons for BOTH!! Chelsea, Angie, Kim, Sherri & I were on the Fast Track. Quick hits, lunch & back to the hotel to play! Jan, Cheryl, Cheryl, Amy & Nancy were also on the fast track but they seemed to want to look around alot more at the first store so we left 'em. Daylights burning!!!

We leave this store & head for Achivers. But, won't it save us time if we stop for lunch. We have lunch at chilis; it was Yummy!! Then, across the street to the mall & Archivers. But wait, what's that?? It's a cow limo! A Cow Limo??? Yes, it was!!! Scary! And too funny for words. We just about wet our pants (and laughed even when Chelsea got clotheslined by a tree branch).


So, we get to Archivers & miss Jan & Co by minutes but run into Robyn & her sister (who's name I have totally forgotten!). We do our Archiver's shopping & get ready to leave Ft. Wayne but Chels needs gas. On the way to the gas station, we see a Dairy Queen. We fill up w/gas & then got BACK to the DQ for ice cream for everyone (but Kim). We FINALLY make it back to the hotel 5 hours later??? How is that the fast track. And Jan & Co? They are back like 2 hours before us. But, I wouldn't trade ONE SECOND of the time we were gone. These girls are too much fun! And, how often will you EVER see a cow limo??????

(BTW, my camera battery died after the pic at the LSS. So no more pics for Suzi except for what her friends share with her :( The cow limo is from Chelesea's cell phone!)

Day 114

So, the first full day of 'palooza, I get up early to go jog the nature trails. It's so wonderful being out, one with nature. The morning sun, the birds, the gnats/mosquitoes, THE SNAKES???? ACK!! Oh, snakes are just one of joys of the outdoors & one of God's creatures.

Ok, those of you who know me can stop laughing now. No, I did not get up early to jog. I will NOT commune with nature if there are any other alternatives!!! I hate bugs & snakes!!! I got up, drove to McD's & had breakfast. Came back to the crop room & started playing!! Chelsea came in & said SHE had be jogging & saw this GIANT turtle on the path. She is going to go out & take a pic of it. I tell her to take my camera, I can say I was jogging & use it as my picture of the day. Well, the turtle is gone (I thought turtles moved slowly!!!) so she sees the snake & takes IT'S picture instead. LOL

Here is MY REAL pic! this is the crop room full of our stuff. Man, oh man! I have never seen so much stuff in one place. Maybe Archivers but they are better organized. LOL But, can you believe, with all this stuff, NO ONE had a AI tool??? Nancy was going to teach me about AI but no one had a tool. Poor Robyn went home & got hers & brought it back but I still never learned AI.

Day 113

8 hours in a car (I drive the whole way & don't fall asleep!! woohoo!) we make it to Pokagon State Park in Angola, IN and to the Potawatomi Inn. The inn is fabulous, like the on in Dirty Dancing but w/o Patrick Swayze! We have the cutest rooms and the grounds are FABULOUS!!! The crop room was the GREATEST!! Plenty of room for us all! And the goodies!! Chocolate & note pads & pencils & chocolate & placemats & bags & chocolate. YUMMM!!! And to put faces & personalities w/names!!! I have to say, I was totally overwhelmed and could not figure out who was who, even after they introduced themselves. But, it didn't take long before they were my best friends. This weekend's gonna ROCK!!

Day 112, pic 2

My bags are all packed, I'm just waiting for cheryl to get here. She's gonna spend the night & then we'll get up and head for Indiana!! Scott, being the nice guy he is, suggested instead of cooking or even fend for self (which would require someone to clean up after) we'd just do the fast food thing. Of course, I'll be eating fast food for the next four days but, that's ok!! LOL

Home Again

I'm home and oh so tired!!! What a fun weekend!! I took some pics but forgot my battery charger! I've been promised email pics so I'm hoping I'll have enough to do some 6x6 s/b pages for my CJ! I'll post some tomorrow!!!

Day 112

Scott's been on vacation all this week. Since Cheryl from the Shack is staying here tonite, Scott decided to use today to clean Nick's room so she won't have to stay in squallor. Then, he vacuumed the whole upstairs, did the dusting & mirrors. Gotta love a man who cleans!!!

Day 111

Today's pic is courtesy of Nick. We were at Walmart & he brought over the Axe body spray. He said he should get it as it "matched" his deodorant. Anything to make teen boys smell good has to be embraced!! When we got home, he took my camera & took this pic. He told me to use it as my pic of the day. So, here it is!

I don't know if I will get my blog updated

I'm heading tomorrow to Shack-a-Palooza!! I can't wait!!!! Since I'm going to be having so much fun, I may neglect my little blog. I promise, as soon as I get back, I'll update w/all the pics of the day I took while stamping w/my buddies!!! I'll try to get the last 2-3 days caught up before I leave. NO PROMISES as I am not packed yet!!!

Day 110

C is for cookie!! I love iced sugar cookies. So I made some spring sugar cookies. Yum!

day 109

Sunday morning breakfast means one of two things: Donuts from Sunshine Bakery or Waffles from Suzi's Kitchen. Scott doesn't like any other breakfast food (he claims to like cream of wheat but he's never eaten in since I've known him!) So, if there is bacon in the house, I make waffles. I used to have a round waffle iron but it broke. The only other one I could find was square. Why do they make square waffle irons when the corners never get cooked. So I make round waffles in a square iron. (I think I just never fill the iron enough so it only makes the circle but I say it's 'cause I'm talented!!)

Day 108

Anyway, Sue had her monthly stamp camp today. I love driving thru Elsah any time of year. It's such a cute little town. Get used to seeing more pics of the town each month. Hmmm, I see an album in my future: Elsah, all thru the year.

Day 107

Yesterday, my youngest brother Kevin came into town with his kids. We all got together last night we my other 2 brothers and looked at the property Steve has bought to build a house. I'm not sure the last time the 4 of us have all been in the same place at the same time.

Day 106

Today we had lots of bright sunshine & 60 degree temps. I spent most of the day freezing in the basement but, when I went up to make dinner, I got hot! I opened the sliding glass door & let in some breeze. Jack came to enjoy the sites, sounds & scents of the great outdoors. When he had his filll, he lay down & enjoyed the sunshine. Such a pretty kitty when he's asleep!!

Day 105

This is a bush we bought a few years ago. It has no flowers but it does provide a nice red/purple color to our front walk. I have no idea if it's ok to trim it. It does have thorns!!! I'm going to have to trim it back some, it's getting pretty wild.

Here it is a few months ago. It dies back to nothing but sticks. Blucky!

My hand is MUCH better today. Today, my elbow hurts where I slammed it into the wall. And I have a really pretty bruise on my leg where I hit the laundry basket (that hit the chair & wouldn't move, causing a bruise. I'm not THAT delicate!)

Day 104

Jack has been chasing Scott around all afternoon. He is trying to catch Scott's untied laces. Finally, Scott gave up & gave Jack the shoe. Jack promptly lost all interest.

My hand is MUCH better today. Still a little sore & there are things that it hurts to do (not typing thank goodness!) I'm definately on the mend!

Day 103

Today was a day full of pictures of the day: Jack acting cute (or stupid depending on your POV) playing in my basket, home-made rolls, golden brown from the oven and yummy Choc Chip Cookies. But this ended up being the pic of the day!

Scott was at PT for his ankle, Nick was on the phone, Becca was in her room & Jack was on the dinning room table. I go to get Jack OFF the table, run into the laundry basket, lose my balance & slam down on the floor, bending my fingers all the way back & slamming my elbow into the corner of the wall. OUCH!!! I lay on the floor trying to decide if I was alive or dead while the kids argue over who's going to call 911. I get up & explain that NO ONE is calling 911. I continue making dinner (instructing Becca what spices to put in the sauce). When Scott gets home, I let him & the kids eat and THEN he takes me to the ER.

After 2 hours in an exam room, nothings broken, just strained. They wrap me in an ace bandage & I'm on my way home. It still hurts but, I can type w/o the bandage and I think I can still stamp. (Gotta have your priorities!)

day 102

Happy Easter Everybody!! This is a sound activated bunny. Whenever there is a loud noise, she goes off & starts singing.

We're not doing anything special today. We're going to grill today (if the grill has gas, Scott never "got around to" checking. The house needs cleaning & the kids need to get their heads around the fact they have to go back to school tomorrow!

Day 101

Finally!! I started on my ironing. When I worked, we sent the shirts to the dry cleaners. Now, I feel I should be saving the $1.15 or whatever and do them myself. Well, I'm not sure I've ironed SINCE I quit work. 12 shirts! I got half done tonight. The rest can/will WAIT. I hope to finish them tomorrow while Scott watches baseball.

Day 100

Scott was cleaning out our "dining out" coupons this morning and found an expired coupon for Laser Tag. Instead of just throwing it out and moving on, he suggested we take the kids to play for the day and they could each bring a friend. Nick called Alex; still asleep. Becca called Crystal; still asleep. Apparently, my kids are the only ones in the country that actually get up BEFORE noon. Nick finally got ahold of Alex but Becs never got Crystal.

So, we piled in the van, picked Alex up & headed for The Edge in Belleville. Since it was a holiday (Good Friday), they had unlimited tagging for $12, as opposed to 2 games for $14. The kids only ended up playing 3 games 'cause they make you wait a game in between (how else are you supposed to spend 100s of $$$ on video games?) but the boys had a great time. Becca, not so much as she had to play w/the boys! We promised her we'd come back during the summer with a girl friend so she can have fun too. Only 17 more days of school!?!?!

Day 99

This is gonna be a long story!

I have a leak in upstairs bathroom faucet. It's just a little drip. My dad has tried to fix it twice and both times, it starts right back up again. I think the next thing to be done is replace the internal workings. Calling a plumber out would cost ALOT more than the water that's dripping. Someday, my dad will be up here for long enough to fix it. I will wait until then. In the mean time, we have a Tupperware tub that collects the water so I reuse it (for watering plants and stuff) so I don't feel so guilty about "wasting" water.

Enter Jack the cat. He is fascinated by water! When anyone goes into the bathroom, he wants to come & hang. He jumps on the sink and waits until you turn the faucet on & then he plays in the dripping water. He's so goofy (he also likes to watch the toilet flush. I'm wondering if he was kept in the bathroom when he was a kitten or something. ODD CAT!)

So, Jack has jumped in the tub & played w/the bucket of water before. He'll move it all over the bottom of the tub, try to get inside it and has dumped it over into the tub before. No big deal.

I woke up this morning to the oddest sound. Scared me for a minute or two until I realized it was Jack, in the tub, playing w/the bucket again. Back to sleep. I got up an hour or so later & went into the bathroom. This goofy cat had gotten the bucket OUT of the tub & dumped the water all over the floor. The kids never put the bathmat up so I assumed that the majority of the water was absorbed into the mat. I cleaned up the water that remained & tried to figure out HOW he to got a 5" square, 8" tall tub out of the bathtub w/o an opposable thumb!!! I guess where there's a will (and an intense curiosity) there's a way.

Last night, I was on the computer & Nick came down to bother, er, I mean TALK to me. He was staring at the ceiling over my scrap table. He asked what happened. I turned to look & there was this horrid stain on the ceiling. I guess all the water was NOT absorbed by the bath mat and some (alot!) of it dripped THRU the register upstairs and onto the ceiling tiles. I guess we'll be trying to find a matching tile at Lowe's this weekend!

Day 98

Zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo! We love the zoo! We are sooooo lucky to have such a fabulous zoo in St. Louis. And the greatest part, it's FREE!!! No admission, we could go everyday if we wanted. We were talking to an employee yesterday to see how long the zoo had been there. It was "chartered" in 1910, 6 years after the World's Fair where the Flight Cage came from (now it's home to a "swamp" of some sort; we didn't got there yesterday). She was saying that the guys who created the charter were VERY SMART COOKIES!! They drafted it in such a way that there are NO LOOPHOLES to ever allow them to charge admission. She said that a couple of years ago they had lawyers go over the charter w/a fine tooth comb and they could find no way around the "free for life" clause! Yea Zoo Founders!!

On to the pic. I took 355 pics at the zoo yesterday but I'm only going to post one. This statue has been at the zoo at least since Becca was born. I have pics of her first zoo trip in front of this statue/foutain & EVERY TIME we go, we take another pic. Some day, I'll have to do a collage-y thing of the kids at the zoo thru the years.

Something interesting: Scott was out of town this week so the kids & I went alone (yes, I got lost in Forest Park since highway 40 is shut down & I couldn't figure out the "back way" into the zoo!). Apparently, we are much more leisurely and don't quite care if we see EVERY STINKIN' animal in the zoo. We went to see what we wanted & didn't go to the ones we didn't. Scott wants to see everything & heaven forbid we stop to rest or take pics. We had alot of fun!!! And got ColdStone Creamery after. YUM!!!

Day 97

Bad Suzi!! I didn't take any pics yesterday. I spent the day shopping w/Becca and didn't find anything picture worthy. Well, I actually did want to take pics of the tulips planted between the driveways at the mall but I couldn't stop to take the pic for fear of being killed by the drivers behind me. I did get stopped for the light leaving the mall but, as luck would have it, I wasn't far enough back to be able to take the pic :(

Anyway, to make sure I had an entry, I found a random pic in my stash. This is Nick on Jan. 20, 2007 at the Science Fair. I really loved this project! I hate science and Scott's no good at it either so we were really panicked when we found out Nick had to have a project. This idea hit Scott & I ran it past the teacher & she said that yes, it was science. Nick rolled 3 different weight balls w/the same velocity down the lane center of the lane to see which ball would knock over more pins. It was the middle weight one.

Nick's favorite part? Having his grandpa cut a bowling ball in half to see what was inside it. COOL!!!

I promise cool pics for tomorrow. We're going to the zoo!!

Day 96

We had LOTS of flurries today. Luckily, none of it stuck. The trees & flowers look fine. But, it's supposed to get down to 28 tonite. We'll see what tomorrow holds.....

Huh??

Ok, I just figured out that I goofed up on day 34 & called it day 35. Do I go thru & edit every pic since then or just start numbering them right now or do I just ignor it & move on. I'm anal rentetive (how else would I have gone back thru & figured out the mistake???) so it's gonna drive me crazy until it's fixed. It's already driving me crazy that another 365er out there is alread on day 100 and something. How can that be????

Nevermind. I missed Feb 1st & so the days are right.

Day 95

Last night, I was trying to get around the plant & the stinking useless treadmill (which isn't even in a spot that I can hang clothes on) and I decided to push the plant out of my way w/my foot. Needless to say, the plant tumped over instead of moving. Dirt & drity water all over the place. BLUCK. I hate this plant. It's fine during the summer when it's outside but there is NO PLACE inside or a giant hibiscus. It's Scott's plant!!!

Day 94

Now this is an interesting juxtaposition. Yesterday, we had Nick's stuffed animal. Today, we have Nick's new razor. How can you need to shave & still have a Steve?? Whatever you do, DON'T SHAVE STEVE!!!

Nick has a tiny bit of a mustache. It makes him uncomfortable so Scott decided it's time to learn to shave. Scott doesn't use a blade so he decided Nick needed to learn on an electric razor. I figure he'll use it once & probably won't need it again for almost a year. We'll see.

I guess I have to post some Becca themed pics since Nick's been in the spotlight for 2 days!

Day 93

This is Steve. Steve is somekind of monkey type animal. Steve is BIG. Steve creates a stir wherever he goes. He's been to the hospital twice for Nick's surgeries. He's gone to school with me (even a stuffed monkey could do my job) and he's gone on every vacation since Nick got him. I'm pretty sure this was Nick's first stuffed monkey. He now has about 15 or so. While Nick is too "old" or stuffed animals, Steve still sleeps on his bed. I really think he's more of a pillow now. LOL

Day 92

I worked at the kids' school today. Thought it was a good time to update the "little tree". Click to make it bigger and you can see the leaves sprouting.

Day 91

Finally, I got the Easter decorations out.

Day 90

I've been hungry for choc chip cookies. They are YUMMY!!!