Organized??

                                                         

Those of you, who know me, are aware of the disorder I have......disorganization.  My brain just is not wired for organization.  It's a terrible thing, but I have to take ownership of it!  Step into my house, if I don't know you are coming over, and you will be greeted with clothes on the couch, shoes in various places, mail piled up on the dresser next to the door and dishes needing to be done.  I actually have a place for all of these things..I just don't take the time out of my day to put this stuff away.  Yep!! It is pure laziness and I am not proud of it. I try to change it and it is slowly getting better.  Once my place is cleaned I try harder.  But the minute something gets out of whack, my brain just stops processing orderliness.  So...call before you come, so I can tidy up a bit.
                                                   
                                                                 
Anyway, back to my purpose of writing this...I tried to get my 4H club papers turned in today.  BUT, I found, one application was not signed by a parent, one was the completely wrong application and one had to be completely filled out.  So, out of 7 kids and 3 adults, I got 6 apps turned in and have 4 left to be signed.  I hope my May 1 deadline for the rest of the paperwork has a better outcome than today.    Jayde told me to get better organized.  So, I sat down, and put things in files, folders and envelopes.  Labeled all of them and redid the calendar.  All the important dates are highlighted and the event written on the proper day.  I even made an outline of what the kids need to discuss at the next meeting.  Once we get this going, I will probably come up with 7 different other things I should have done.

As I told the kids and parents in the beginning; this is my first year heading up a 4H club, I am going to make mistakes, hopefully keeping them down to a minimum.  I pray they will be patient with me.  I am trying to make this a better year than we had last year.  The advisor meetings will help me with what I need to focus on.  I have to let the kids run their own meeting, but I can guide them along the way.
                                                                 
So, this was my organized mess vent session.

Spring break!!!!  Haven't had one of those since I was a kid.  What am I going to do with myself for all that time off?  CLEAN, CLEAN and CLEAN!!!!  I think I will start with the living quarters of the house and get that done.  Then, I have 2 attics stuffed full of stuff.  Who knows what treasures I may find????  Jonathan has given me a list of things to watch for when I start on one attic.


I would like to eventually get to the garage.  That is where the cool stuff is.  The attic is full of stuff out there.  I knew it would come to this one day.  Gotta get it cleaned out.  I would like to start keeping other stuff in there.  Crap!  I'm going to need one humongous dumpster!!!! haha

                                                  

You know, as a child, we used to take trips on spring break.  And on shut-down during summer break.  My family loved to travel.  It seemed that we went to Florida almost every year, maybe every other year. My grandparents lived in Crestview, Fl along with my aunt and uncle.  We would stop and visit my aunt and uncle in Tennessee on the way down.  Sometimes we would stop in Georgia and visit my other aunt and uncle.  Mom always said she hated Georgia, cause it was so stinkin' hot!  I remember mom would always be the one to tally the gas mileage when we would stop for gas.  And there would be a quick conversation about whether this tank would get them where they wanted to stop next for gas.  Silly memories....but good ones.

                                                               

Travel, this year, at spring break will cost an arm and a leg, with gas pushing $4 a gallon.  But, people keep on going.  It doesn't seem to deter people from driving.  Maybe they are consolidating their trips to include more things, instead of individual trips for each thing.  Who knows?  I just know that it is taking a bite out of my bank account, and I just don't like it.  I try to shop locally more.  Even though it is a higher price in my small town, I consider how much it cost to put gas in my tank to get to the bigger town.
         
                               
Well, I think this is going to be one of my rambling posts.  I had started out wanting to focus on spring break, but it kinda got away from me.  SORRY!  

                                                                   

OH, I just had a great idea for spring break!  One night, I will turn off the power and we will have a candle lit night with cards and board games.  We will grill out and hang out and talk.  Those are really great times.  Jayde loves it when we have a storm and the power goes out.  It's a thought...


              

Take your pick!


Have a beautiful Spring day!

Our Aussie

Puppies are amazing creatures.  The books and pamphlets all say keep certain things out of their reach.  They did not tell you that the dog will search these things out just because they are not allowed to have them.

Things I have found, chewed up, in his favorite chewing spot, under the dining room table:

1. a packet of batteries (which had been put in the headboard of the bed) twice!

2. bras

3. shoes

4. sure-jell packet from the kitchen table

5. an array of stuffed animals with the stuffing left for mommy to pluck out of the carpet

6. Jayde's homework  ( yes the dog really did eat her homework)

7. did I mention my bras?  OH, yeah!

8. underwear from the laundry basket! HA!

9. the newspaper roll that is, or should I say, WAS used to correct him ...... hmmm, think he was trying to tell me something???

10. socks, ripped to shreds

11. Jayde's face make-up and nail polish

12. various food packages from the trash

13. books with the corners chewed up

14.  candles

15. squeakers from his stuffed animals

16. Tennis balls, stripped of their outer coating

17. tug-o-war ropes that have been shredded

18. cell phone charging cord

19. lamp cord

20. various pieces of wood bark from our woodburning room (one of his favorites)

I am sure there are more things, that I have found, unmentioned in this post, but I would probably be here all day listing them.

smile for the camera Aussie!!!

Hopefully, once he is past this, "I'm going to chew up everything I can pick up with my mouth" stage, we can get our house back to normal.

Yes, owning a 9 month old Australian Shepherd can be quite fulfilling, but it can be somewhat expensive, too.  

Covered Books

You think you have a good idea what a person or family is like and you are happy with your mental picture of them.  Then, BAM, one conversation with someone and that picture blows up in your mind.


I have had people tell me that they had a pre-conceived notion of what my family is like and were taken aback when they found out we are not the perfect family that they thought we were.  


Every family has their skeletons.  Some are just hidden better than others.  Some are flat-out obvious.  Then there are the ones that hide them so well, you would never guess what is really going on behind closed doors.  Those are the ones that end up in tragedy.  Somebody who out of the blue overdoses, commits suicide, or goes crazy on drugs, raises the red flag that something is amiss in the household.


Community support cannot help a family who holds on to a secret.  Only when a desperate person, who cannot contain the secret any longer, speaks up, can the help and healing begin.  


The thing that is hiding in their closet is not going to stay there forever.  Everyone has to clean their closets sometime, and when they do, it makes the whole place messy, but eventually everything gets put in it's place.


That is just what is on my mind tonight.  I had one of those BAM moments today.  It has really made me stop to think about lots of different people in my life.  More and more things have been revealed to me recently.  Mostly about people who sit just outside of my personal bubble, but are close enough to make me stop and say, "HUH!  Wow!  Never would have guessed that about them."  Not that I want to clear up the matter with them, because I don't feel it is my place, but still, to have that BAM moment.....it was kinda life altering.  

The birds are back!!!

My school bus route takes me through some very pretty local countryside.  Among the scenery, I happen to enjoy almost every day, is the kettle of Turkey Vultures that migrate to Kiser Lake each year.  I have watched them come and go as the seasons change, and can almost pinpoint the day they arrive and depart.  My first sighting of them, this year was 2 days ago, as they were prominently perched in their favorite tree, overlooking the lake.  I quickly counted approximately 15 of them.  As I wound my way through the park, I noticed 3 more trees filled with my feathered friends.  It is so nice to have them back.  They will be here until about the last week of October, when they will take flight to their winter habitat.

I have taken many photos of them over the years, but none turn out very well.  They are skiddish around human interaction.  I have read that they are quite gentle and non-aggressive birds.  They stick together in a community, like people do.  I think I realized these things when I saw them on the shoreline with the Canadian Geese.  The geese did not fear the ominous looking vulture.  They stood side by side  as if they were hanging out together!

So many times, I have driven my bus through there and the vultures would be in small groups as if they were making plans for the day, deciding who was going to fly where and who was going to be the one to stay home and keep an eye on the home-tree.   I have made up so many stories in my mind about their adventures and I thought about writing a book, but it has not come to fruition, yet.

I will keep my eyes on the road, but glance around to see my feathered friends soaring above me, here and there.  It is just nice to know they are back.  It also tells me that the signs of winter are past and we can look forward to spring, summer and fall.

New things....

Well, the 4-H meeting finally got started a little late.  We got officers nominated and went over the calendar of things to come.  The kids talked about the fundraising and the politics of the club got taken care of and out of the way.  The name has been changed to include the other projects that will be done, other than horses.  Equine Enterprises, Etc.  Next meeting will be held in 1 week.  Let's see if we can get a standard meeting process accomplished.

And in other daily things, the house is clean once again.  Thanks to the help of my husband and daughter.  We really put an effort into getting it tidy and it looks very nice.  I would still like to get the kitties out of the house.
Any takers????

I took Zumba to my next level.  I started pushing myself a little harder tonight.  Trying to get the leg lifts a little higher and the booty circle a little rounder.  It is a really good workout!

The New Me

I have decided to lose part of myself.  Weight, that is.  It is important to me that I reduce myself by 60 pounds.  I then have the task to tone up all the jiggly parts that will be left over, after I hit my goal weight. Exercising and toning right now is important, so I welcomed Zumba into my life.  I have lost 22 lbs so far.  So I have 40 more, give or take, and a bit more if it comes off.  150 is my goal weight.  I figured if I lost any more than that, I would not look right.

It is amazing that I have not given up on it yet.  I have been fighting to lose 2 more pounds for a couple of weeks now.  I don't think that I can cut back on the calories too much more.  I have increased my activity level each week.  I really don't know what will get me past this plateau.  Hmmmmmm....... any suggestions?

Taking the Lead

I have taken on a new title.  ADVISER.  Not just adviser, but HEAD ADVISER.  For the 4-H club, that is.  I have taken over as head adviser for our 4-H club, Equine Enterprises.  However, the club basically disbanned at fair last year.  So, I have to start from "step 1".  Recruiting new members to make a head count of 5.  


My home will be the site of the first meeting for the new club.  We may even vote to change the name, due to the fact that not everyone will be able to have a horse for their project.  Some of them don't own a horse, or have access to a horse.  Therefore, we will be opening the club up to other projects, as long as it is not another animal.  We would have to have an adviser trained in that field, and all the training is pretty much done for the year.  Go figure!!


I have 1 day to whip this place into shape and whip up some appetizers and come up with a nice speech and presentation to prospective new members.  So, if you don't mind, I will end this here and update you after the meeting is over and I have had a chance to breathe.




GO 4-H!!!!

School's in!

Back to school, back to work.  It's all the same for me.  I drive a school bus.  Pick kids up, drop kids off, pick kids up, drop kids off.  That is my job.  I drive A LOT!  Oh, there are regular school days and then there are field trips and let's not forget the sports events.    It is amazing how many muscles are on hiatus during the summer months.  When school starts, Oh, the aches and pains begin.  And the finger bruises.  Those are the worst.

But, when you see the nervous smiles of the first day step up on the first step of the bus, your heart melts and you smile and say "Welcome back!"   They just beam a smile back at you and you just know that it is going to be another good year.

Ok, maybe not a good whole school year, but mostly good.  The kids are getting younger every year.  Do you realize that I transport kids that have just turned 3 over the summer and barely potty trained?  Back in my day, you had to be at least 5 to go to school.  Now we offer preschool transportation.  Times are sure different now.

Fair Happenings

this is Buck

and this is Cisco

You know that summer is almost over, when the Champaign County fair is over.  Yes, Jayde has participated in the county fair for the last 4 years.  She leases a horse (or 2) from Traci Faulkner, a friend of ours from church, to show in 4-H.  The horse she loves, Buck, was not showable this year.  He had a sore hoof.  So, Traci decided that it would be a good idea to have her show one of her other horses, Cisco.  Now, you have to know that Jayde really doesn't like Cisco.  He is young and doesn't like to listen to anyone but Traci.

getting Cisco ready for the ride meeting.

Unfortunately, Jayde didn't show at all at fair for 4-H.  Buck was still not up to par and there was a mix up in what class she was to show in.  When she did get the opportunity to show in the open classes, Cisco didn't listen to her.  So, we borrowed another horse for barrels and the ball race.  The horse's name is Speedy.  He is a thoroughbred and he used to be a barrel horse after his racing career was over.  Anyway, they blew the barrels.  He never made it past the first one.  But, she got him under control on the ball race, but neglected to throw the ball in the barrel.  DQ.  She did, however, enjoy the ride!  I finally saw a smile on her face after 5 days of fair.

Traci showing Jayde that Cisco will go over the bridge

Since she had her time, it was time for me.  After spending all but 1 night at the fair, I decided to have a go at the fun stuff, myself.  I enrolled in the baby bottle competition and the ribbon race.

 Baby bottle is where 2 people ride 1 horse.  The one that is "driving" the horse holds a baby bottle, filled with 2 inches of water, behind their shoulder and "feeds" it to the person sitting behind them.  That person cannot use their hands to guide the bottle and has to empty the bottle as fast as possible. (that was me!)  We did not win, nor did we finish in any placement.  But we had a blast!

  I borrowed this picture from Google images. example of baby bottle

Ribbon race is 2 people on seperate horses, each person holding opposite ends of an 18" ribbon as tight as possible.  The judges make you walk, trot, canter, turn, turn nose to nose and back your  horse across the show ring.  My partner dropped it at canter.  But it was fun.

  I borrowed this picture from Google images.  example of ribbon race.

Our end of the barn, 3 days into fair.

So, after a week of RV living, it was time to pack it in.  I did not stay for the demolition derby or the cattle sorting.  Both events draw a huge crowd and I just didn't have the strength to handle the crush of human bodies.  So, I got my end of fair food, cleaned up the RV and said goodbye for another year.  It was fun, but it was time to go home.

  borrowed image from google images




  Cattle sorting...borrowed from google images.

Wish I had taken more photos than I did, most of which were of the club decorating the barn.  Since Jayde didn't really "show" I really didn't take out my camera much.

Now that fair is over, it is time to get down to the business of getting ready for work and school.  Oh, yeah, that kinda goes hand in hand in the business that I am in.  lol

I really hope everyone has had a great summer and enjoy the beauty of the coming fall.

Road-trip part II

To finish my road-trip story, I will try to make it a little less in depth than the last blog.  Here goes....

So, Jayde and I arrived at mom and dad's after dark.  I cut the lights and pulled into the driveway and parked.  Observing that the back porch light and the television were on, we got out of the van, closed the doors very quietly and, in "007 style", slid in the back door for the big surprise.

I thought Bruce was going to have a heart attack, litterally!  The look on his face was priceless.  Of course, if someone just snuck up on me like that and started waiving at me, I would be in shock too..  So, the next surprise was for mom.  Bruce went in first and I don't know what he said to her, but when she stood up and turned around, she was almost kinda peeved that someone was here.  However, when it hit her that it was her daughter,  she was overwhelmed with glee.....:))  Hugs then proceeded to be given and then the ritual of carrying in of the luggage.  Dad confessed to knowing about the plan the whole time.

 

We talked, ate, laughed and ate some more.  Jayde had to make hobo hash for everyone.  (her favorite) Jayde and I went swimming with the manatees.  Then Beth came over for a visit and she and I went swimming with the manatees.  I could have stayed in that water for the whole day if permitted.  But that was not the case.  I took lots of pictures.

Oh, I have to tell you about the night that I stayed up worrying about the mass murderer in my head.....Beth and I stayed in the RV, so as not to keep people up while we stayed up talking.  Anyway, I got to the RV before Beth and the subject got on how my sister-in-law died.  So, that was probably what got my whole brain rattled. Beth fell asleep and I was left with my own thoughts rolling around in my head.  I started thinking that if something happened to us, we were not connected with the house, nobody would hear it.  Then I kept hearing noises. (being in a camper, you hear noises).  Anyway, I convinced myself that it was nothing, and got up to show myself that I was right.  Crazy, huh.?  Well, when I did, I found that the door to the RV was hanging wide open.  OMG!!!!!  So I close the door and LOCK it.  then I turn on the light and check the camper from front to back.  Turn off the light and got back into bed.  Still hearing things outside, waiting for the camper to shift it's weight and staring into the darkness for any shadow that moved.  I finally heard a group of kids walking down the street laughing and talking.  Somehow, that calmed me down and I was able to get some sleep.  That was my mostly sleepless night in the RV.

Jayde and I got to spend our last day in Florida together on the beach, making our sand turtle, chasing dolphins and taking lots of pictures, mostly of Jayde.  We were going to go canoeing, but the weather didn't cooperate with us.  So we just had a most relaxing day on the beach before the big drive home.

Mom, Dad and Bruce were sad to see us go, but we had to return to our "real" life back in Ohio.  I was kinda excited to be going home, because Richard told me he had a big surprise for me when we got home.

 

Soo , the ride home was great until I fueled up just outside of Chattanooga.  Apparently, I put some bad gas in the van, because it started acting strange and I started stressing......Badly.  So much so, that I started making plans in my head as to who to call if I got stranded on I-75 on the Jellico mountain pass.  I called mom and dad and started crying, (Jayde was asleep)  I called Richard and was crying.  They called each other worried about what was going on.  And it was all for naught.  I made it over the pass just fine, and stopped and got gas again in KY.  I felt like such a fool.  BUT, just to let you know, I was praying the whole way over that awful mountain pass.  I had God's protection over our travels.  Anyway, we stopped at Jonathan's and dropped off his 13 fresh herb plants that I got for him.  It was an aromatic drive home to say the least.  Basil, thyme, mint, aloe, etc.  We got home around 930pm.

Oh, and my big surprise from Richard????  A new wood floor in the kitchen.  He spent a week tearing out the nastiest carpet and rubber kickboard you have ever seen in your life, and putting down a beautiful new wood floor.  I have to say that he can be pretty thoughtful when he wants to be.

So there you have it....a synopsis of my trip to Florida, summer 2011.  Hope you enjoyed the journey.  

First leg of Road Trip 2011

Jayde and I decided to take a trip to Florida this summer.  However, the vehicle we were to drive, my van, decided to take a different trip - to the transmission shop.  Soooo, we waited.  And waited.  We were supposed to be there over the 4th of July.  By the time the van was done, my schedule was starting to become busy again with fair preparations and home duties.  Yes, we had to cancel our trip.  


Or so it seemed.


We devised a plan to sneak attack mom and dad and Bruce.  Seemed pretty simple.  Get up at 330am drive almost 1000 miles and show up on their doorstep without advance notice.  Good plan, huh?  One hitch, though.  What if they decide to just go somewhere and they are not home.    Hmmmm, kind of a dilemma.  So, I let dad in on the plan and he gave me the go-ahead.  


Since Jayde had to work the day before we left, she was totally unprepared.  Doing laundry at 10pm and not packed.  I, on the other hand, had been packed for 2 weeks.  I had refused to unpack because I knew I would eventually get to go.  So, the time had come and I had all my stuff in the van.  I told Jayde to make sure her stuff was in it before she went to bed.  She agreed.  Staying up until about midnight/1am watching Netflix, and keeping me awake was not the best thing to do for her.  She didn't pack anything in the car the night before, except what she was going to sleep on.  Needless to say, we didn't get gone until 417am.  


We had to make a stop before getting into Dayton, to get ice and other things, but the interstate welcomed us at approximately 5am.  I always dread the Cincinnati traffic, but this morning it was a very smooth drive into KY.  It seemed that as soon as we got through the state line area, the fog set in.  And it didn't lift until we were almost in TN.  


I saw a sign that said that I-75 had a detour ahead and to take 25W.  There was a hazardous spill on the Jellico mountain pass, and all 4 lanes of I-75 were shut down.  Northbound traffic was being diverted onto 25E and Southbound traffic onto 25W.  I decided to take 25E because I am familiar with that area.  So, there was the first slowdown.  Jayde had finally woken up and decided to play co-pilot, which was a great help to me.  So, we started off going "round the mountain".  I felt totally at ease and was enjoying the comfort of knowing where I was and not feeling disoriented at all.  It was great!   The Eastbound lane on 63 was bumper to bumper, while Westbound was free flowing and easy driving, until we got to Lafollette, TN.  Halfway through town, we came to a stand still.  There were traffic cops directing the diverted Northbound I-75 traffic in the middle of town.  It was backed up for about a mile going that direction.  We, however, were going the other way.  It was about a 15 minuted wait for us to get through and we were on our way.  


While we were sitting there, we happened to be parked in front of a local radio station.  So we tuned in to see what was playing and see if there were any updates on the traffic conditions.  There was a song playing on the radio that was singing about Speedwell, TN.  Jayde thought it was cool road trip music, fitting the situation we were in and where we were at.  It was a really cool time, being in that traffic jam.  I'm really glad we went that way.  


More about our road trip in future blogs.

test blog

I am starting this blog today.  Just testing this to see how it looks and to get it started.