Day 293

Wet highway to the kids' school. Another day of rain. Another day of a wet office...

Day 292

This is a house I drive by daily on my way to pick up the kids. I don't know how I got this shot. I was just taking random shots thru the sunroof. I like it. I don't like the fence tho, it's covered in moldy, mossy stuff.

Another random shot here. I know it's totally out of focus but I thought it was funny. Looks like my Cubbie antennae ball is looking at the speed limit. Yes, I know I've got a twisted sense of humor & NO ONE else will find anything funny about it.

Day 291

Buy one get one free coupon for a Blizzard. Expires today. Guess where I went???

Day 290

Weird day today. I did a little laundry but, spent most of the day asleep!! I was sooooo tired. at about 3 or so, Scott decided he wanted to go to Target & I had to go with him. He had a coupon for the movie "the proposal" that expires TODAY. Well, the Target in Alton didn't have the movie on Blu Ray. He suggested we drive to Edwardsville & try the Target and Best Buy there. I explained that I had to get home to make dinner. If he wanted to go, we'd have to eat out. Even tho the kids & I had eaten every meal out since Wednesday, he agreed.

These are cheese curds from Culvers. Becca gets curds w/her meal & Nick & I get fries. We dump them in the middle of the table (Scott doesn't share w/us as he hates curds!) and we all share. I prefer the cheddar, Becca doesn't care as long as they are small and I really don't think Nick eats the curds at all, he just likes to share. LOL

We did finally get the movie at Best Buy. Target had it but would not accept the Internet coupon. Best Buy took it w/o a problem. I also found Risky Business on BD for $10!

Day 289

It's official! I want to move to Sycamore, IL. It's the cutest town!! It seems like every house we passed had pumpkins and/or halloween decorations. The heart of town is old but out where we stayed, there are lots of shops & resturants. I didn't see a mall but, there was no shortage of shopping opportunities. Next week, they are holding a pumpkin festival. Wish I could be here for that. Maybe next year, the tournament will fall on the SAME weekend???

The girls won their game! And, they presented the trophy right after the game so Becca made the pics & we STILL got an early start. The trip home wasn't so bad (probably 'cause I got more than 4 hours sleep the night before!)

I will say I'm glad I got to experience a championship season & a championship game. But, the down is WAY DOWN!!! It was hard to take such a tough loss but, wait 'til next year!!!

Day 288

Last VB pic, I promise!! Unfortunately, that means I'm going to have inundate you w/pics of Jack again. LOL

The girls won 2 games yesterday. A win today would put them in the Championship game. Unfortunately, the other team was TOUGH!! They killed us in the first game. We made dumb mistakes & they were flawless! We hung in there for the 2nd game but, in the end, they were just a better team. All the Bethelites were very sad. I guess we thought we were better than we really were. We do have another game tomorrow for 3rd place. We're going to leave town as soon as that game is over. We'll miss the trophy ceremony but, we gotta get home!

Day 287

We stayed in a different hotel than the rest of the girls. Scott had points & we got all 3 days FREE!! Anyway, 3 other school participating in the tournament were also staying at the Holiday Inn Express. Becca thought she should let them know that Bethel was staying there too so she put this sign on our door. She expected the the Soccer boys that were there for their tournament too, would rip it off. But they didn't. Even tho there were ALOT of teens in the hotel, they were very respectful, and after 9:30, quiet.

Day 286

Leaving today for Sycamore, IL for the VB tournament. If we win, we're state champs & get a banner for the gym. I only got 4 hours sleep last night and I'm not the best at staying awake behind the wheel. We'll see how it goes. We leave at 12:30 from the school. Scott's out of town so it'll just be me, Becs & Nick. Poor Jack will be home alone until Friday when Scott gets home from Iowa.

Day 285

The last regular season game. Becca started for the JV & played the whole game (Trish making it up to her that she forgot to play her AT ALL in the last 2 games!) JV still lost both games but they played better than they had all year. I'm sure that's 'cause Becca was in! LOL Varsity won both their games handily & Becca got to play in both too. I'm sure going to miss VB practices and games. NOT!!! Glad to have our evenings to ourselves. At least until BB starts the first week of November.

Day 284

Columbus day, no school. Back during the summer, Becca won a $25 gift card to AMC theaters. There is not an AMC in town but there's one in Creve Couer, MO about 40 minutes away. Becca wanted to see Toy Story on the "big screen" so we went to the 1pm show today.

The movie came out when Becca was just a baby so the first time we saw it, it was on video. It was so different to see it at the theater. It's still completely amazing!! So realistic. The 3D was not that great and honestly, gave me a headache. Hope when it comes out on Blu Ray, it'll be "normal"! I'm not sure that these movies have come out on DVD. Even if they are, we hoping that when TS3 comes out next year, BD of 1 & 2 will come out then! Pixar ROCKS!!!!

Day 283

Haven't been out to my brother's property in a while. Dad wanted to know where they were & I was curious too. They have the footings in & the forms are ready & waiting for the concrete walls. Gave me a little better idea of how the house was going to look. While I will envy the completed house, I do NOT envy the work it will take to get there. He's hoping to have the outside mostly "done" by December so he can work on the inside stuff as time permits during the cold, winter months. He's hoping to be in the house by Easter. Good Luck!

More pics are coming

I really do have pics taken everyday. I just haven't downloaded the ones from last week nor have I cropped & resized the ones that are already ON my computer!!!

Day 282

Birthday celebration dinner tonite at Chillis. These are berries on a tree outside the restaurant. I thought they looked cool!

Day 281

HAPPY 13TH BIRTHDAY NICK!!!

Nick had 5 boys over for his birthday. They ate pizza & chips & M&Ms, played video games, watched movies, ate pancakes & cold pizza for breakfast. I think they all had a good time & I KNOW Nick had a good time. Glad they only turn 13 once. LOL

Day 280

This looked much better in real life. This is the view from my front porch at about 7am.

Day 279

"fake" pumpkin on my front porch. Spooky!?!?

Day 278

More volleyball pics. I sure wish I could get better pics. Becca got to play ALOT during this game. The other team was NOT that good. Becca did very well. I wish she could play this much in ALL the games.

Day 277

Today is my Mother-in-law's Birthday. We took her out to Pasta House. The kids & I got our usual toasted ravioli but the were BURNED and very hard to eat. We tried to get them re-done but the manager told us their fryer was broke & had been for a month. She could redo the order but they probably wouldn't be any better than what we got :( Bummer. My MIL loved her dinner tho & that was the whole point, right?

Day 276

We needed some more Halloween lights. Scott doesn't like how only the orange lights show up. So, when we found purple LED lights at Target, we bought them (they were pricey but I don't think they are supposed ever burn out!) They are BRIGHT!! But, they are a nice touch to our outside Halloween decor!

Here's me being stupid, playing w/my camera. Cool!!!

More promises!

I'm leaving today the Girls State VB tournament. If I find a free minute, I've take all my pics and will get y'all updated. Sorry for the LONG delays (sometimes, life sucks. Even when you're not working all day!) Thanks for sticking with me (that is if anyone HAS stuck with me. LOL)

Day 275

We WON!!!! We won our first 2 games yesterday pretty easily (Becca only got to play in one game :( ) but the 3rd game against the Pekin Warriors was a KILLER. First game, we lost 23-25. Second game we scratched our way to a 25-22 victory. The way the tourney was set up, if you split the series, points counted to see who won. We won by one point!!!

First game today was against Twin Cities (Festus/Crystal City, MO) and I believe this is their first year to field a VB team. They are a decent team but we had more experience. Becca should have been able to play in this game but, for whatever reason, the coach didn't put her in.

Pekin came in 2nd in our pool & played the other #1 team and beat them! So, a rematch of last nights squeaker for the championship. We won the first game but lost the 2nd. That forced a game three. We assumed that it was to 15 as is the norm. We got to 14-13 and we tipped the ball over the net & they missed; yea, we win 15-13. Well, depth perception (& hope) makes you see things different. When we tipped, it went down on OUR side & the score was 14-14. A few minutes later, it was 17-15, we won! Uh, no. Since it was the championship, the game apparently it goes to 25. We finally won it, 25-20!!! Happiness ensues!

Dinner at Outback (celebration of the win & my b'day!) rounded out a perfect day!! We have 3 more games and then the state championship!!! Can't wait!!!

Here's the whole team & the "cheer boys" who came along to cheer the girls on to victory! (Notice, Nick's not there. He only came to the 2 games he was FORCED to. But, he wants to go to State 'cause he thinks he'll get to sit in the hotel all day playing video games. Won't be happening!!!)

Day 274

Today starts the Mississippi Valley Tournament. MVCS is our closest rival. Last year, they were REALLY good but most of their team graduated. They are still good, don't get me wrong, but we are BETTER. LOL Today, we play the 3 teams in our "pool"; there are 4 teams playing against each other in the other pool. Tomorrow, we play the best of the other pool (assuming we win all our games today!) and then play for the championship. GO LADY KNIGHTS!!!

Day 273

Today is my birthday. Scott is out of town so we're not going to "celebrate" until the weekend. Scott told me I could open my presents but I thought it better to wait (although that big box is my Ott Lite & I want it NOW!!!!)

Being alone all day, I decided no housework, no laundry, only crafting! Well, I did finish the last 1/3 of a set of ATCs and came up w/a plan for Sherri's C'mas CJ but not much else. The kids & I went to DQ for dinner & then to Walmart for groceries. Not a bad day and I have 2 more "celebrations" to follow.

Day 272

I have always LOVED magazines!! I'll read just about anything if it's in mag form. I'll even read "NEWS"!!! I especially love craft & decorating mags!! Well, over the summer, I was reading books from the library. My mags got kinda ignored. I just set them in a basket & figured I'd read them when I finished a book. Well, I didn't. They just piled up & piled up. So, I've decided not to get anymore books until I get a handle on these mags. We'll see how long it takes......

Day 271

My brother broke ground on his house today! They've owned this property for about 6 months but have had to do all sorts of dancing around the bank to finally get a construction loan. Hard to picture what the house is going to look like by a hole in the ground. Gonna be pretty awesome!!

Day 270

My parents are in town for a few days. Mom's heading to Bangladesh and they had to come to StL to fly out of Lambert. Dad's going to stay here for a few days to take care of my "honey-dos" (although, nothing my dad did was too hard; either Scott or I could have done them!)

Anyway, they got here a day early so they could see Becca play volleyball. Unfortunately, she never made it into either of the first 3 games (2 JV, 1 V). They had to leave before the 4th game. Yes, Becca played in the 4th game. Oh well, the girls are still undefeated!!! Go Lady Knights!!!!

Day 269

The leaves are falling. This is the tree in my neighbors yard. Much more impressive looking than mine. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE fall????

Day 268

Three months til Christmas & I'm putting my fall decorations up. I usually wait until 10/1 to put up my Halloween decor & fall stuff but it's been so cool out that it just felt like time. I love fall and LOVE my decorations.

Day 267

Dental check up day. Oh the joy. I have not been as diligent as I should about flossing. After today, I will NEVER make that mistake again. Oh, the agony!!! She used some sort of aquasonic cleaner that was supposed to work "better" on my gums. It hurt SOOOOO bad!!! I will remember this pain & remember to floss daily!! On another note, Becca has her first cavity! By the time I was her age, I'd had 2 permanent teeth removed. She's depressed!

Day 266

The disadvantage of not posting these things daily. I can't remember WHY I took this pic. I think just 'cause the clouds looked so cool. This is on the way to pick up the kids. The water tower is the turn off to Hartford and the route to South Roxana. Exciting info. I have to keep this kind of excitement up for another 100 days??