Monday, September 29, 2008

Round about, traffic circle, call it what you will!

I will call it the "very close to death" circle. 

I mean seriously, why do they think they are a good idea.  Traffic coming from 4 different directions, all trying to fly around this circle where no one HAS to stop.  Yes you are supposed to yield to others who are already in the circle, but seriously, define in the circle. 

There are two death circles on the road our house is on. They are the solution to on and off ramps of the highway.  The speed limit is 45 on the road, but I think you are required to take the traffic circle, going 70.  I swear people fly around the darn things on two wheels.  

The kids are fascinated by them.  When they build their lego and lincoln log cities, they now have traffic circles.  If I take them to school and don't go through the traffic circle, they get a little ticked off.  

They have this fabulous biking/walking trail that happens to cross over the entrances and exits of both of the traffic circles.  They have signs on the ramps and in the circle, that say Yield for pedestrians, but that rarely happens.  In fact I am certain they are getting extra points for scaring the bejeezes out of me.  On the other hand, the people trying to run me over are very friendly.  They always wave and I am certain it is not a single finger wave.  

There is a positive side.  This means I am actually out exercising, but this could be very short lived if I am taken out by a mini cooper.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

It was a very good day!

We started out the day at a family fun walk at the kids new school.  They had a dedication and bunch of activities.  We couldn't stay long as we had a busy day, but B did go over to the YMCA camp and climb the wall.  

Then we started our 3 hour drive to a birthday party.  Not just any birthday party, but a 90th birthday party.  

Does this woman look fabulous or what.



Her name is Eva and she is my step grandmother.  We share the same birthday and have always sent each other cards on our birthdays and Christmas.  We haven't seen each other since my grandfather's funeral over 10 years ago.  She looks the same.  In fact she looks the same as she always did.  We didn't see them a lot growing up, but I'll take a grandparent anyway I can get one.

I also got to spend some time with my step uncles, I guess you would call them.  One I hadn't seen since I was a kid.  It was one of those weird things we didn't really talk about.  Well it turns out Tony lives just 5 miles from us.  We decided we should get together, have a couple of beers and figure out our family history and what we have done for the last 35 years or so. 

I am so glad I went.  The kids kept asking on our way down there, if there was only going to be old people there.  Mostly that was the case.  There were too young girls there, they were grandchildren of my uncles.  2nd cousins, once removed.  Or something like that.  

Next we headed up the road to visit with friends.  We had fabulous food and met new friends. The kids had a great time and managed to trash the Cs basement.  They really wanted us to hang out longer and have s'mores with them, but I just couldn't do it.

I mean seriously, look at this campfire.




Yes, that is a Weber grill on top of a piece of plywood, on top of two cinder blocks.  

And I thought I was a redneck.




Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Do whatever you like

Yes, I did say that to my hairdresser.  

Should I point out that I just met this hairdresser.  

Yes, she came recommended, but I didn't know her.

I did show her a couple of pictures, but said I was open to anything. 

It is only hair.

It will grow back.  In a matter of days as is the case with my hair.

So she cut and she cut and she thinned and she razored and the hair just kept falling to the floor.

Thankfully I didn't have my glasses on or I might have freaked.  

Then she dried and styled and it actually looked pretty good.  Short but kind of funky.  Goes with my funky glasses.

Then I got up this morning and tried desperately to do in 20 minutes what she did in 5.  On top of that I have the hugest "mosquito bite, as Gabby said" on my upper lip. 

How can you notice hair, when that thing is so distracting.  


Sunday, September 21, 2008

Up North

Going up north used to mean a 5 hour drive.  

Not so much anymore.  

Now it is a mere 2.5 hours, with the camper.

EB joked that they said it was going to snow on Sunday, when he called to make reservations.  Which by the way, we didn't need.  I guess not everyone wants to camp this time of year.

It almost wasn't a joke.  It was a might bit chilly.  It was actually pretty nice while we were hiking around the falls, but when the sun went down.  

Brrrrrrr.

No one  wanted to sit by the fire with me until I bribed them with Smore's

Do you really need 12 candy bars for 5 people to have Smore's.  Jeez I wonder who went to the grocery store for that.  Probably the same EB who will be taking them to work when I am not looking.





Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Connected again!

We have internet. 

Yippee!

Hooray!


We tried living without the internet, we couldn't survive.  Okay that is probably an exaggeration, but still it has been difficult.  We are still living without cable, which is fine by me but others are having serious ESPN withdrawal.  

How is this for bad housekeeping.  After we moved out of our former residence our refrigerator died.   The lovely repairman came today and it turns out it wasn't what we suspected happened. Nobody left the door open and then the compressor died.  No it wasn't that.  Turns out you are supposed to remove the front grill at the bottom, just occasionally, and clean out the dust.  If you don't then it will kill your relay switch and the refrigerator will die.  Thankfully, that is a relatively inexpensive fix.

It is amazing to me how blessed we have been through this whole transition. 

Most importantly the kids love their new school.  They are making new friends and they have wonderful before and after school teachers!  Young, with names like Hopper and such.