Grad Day

Inigo graduated from Kindergarten yesterday. It was a cute program and a perfect length --30 minutes. They sang a few songs and walked over a step to receive their "diploma" from the principal. (No video or photos of that since they used his real name... :(

Sorry about that woman's hand getting in the way!

Love

If you're having a bad day (and I hope you're not) then watch this. It will brighten even your darkest moment.

Enjoy.

(The information I have says this couple walked into the Mayo Clinic and spotted a piano. They've been married for 62 years and he'll be 90 this year.

Pictorial of Memorial

FINALLY!!! Inigo got to use the fishing pole Santa Clause brought him.

He's obviously very proud of the fish. Too bad it was only a chub.

Buttercup didn't know that Papa was going to chase her with the fish right after she took this picture. (hehehe) It was HILARIOUS!!

Target practice with the PELLET gun.

"Raindrops are falling in my mouth"
At least it didn't snow like it frequently does on Memorial Day!

I got to try out my new cooking camp stove

a.k.a. cache cooker. It's amazing!!

Experimenting for next month's Girl's Camp:

Baking cookies in a box oven

SUCCESS!!!

Buttercup HATES camping (to put it mildly) She is a good sport and came anyway.

Thanks, Buttercup!! We love you!

Inigo loves camping. As you can see.

Me and my Daddy. (Last day before going home.)

Red and Mom:

Mom is frequently perplexed by her daughters.

Us.

Those of us that live around Florin anyway.

OK. This is closer to the "real" us.

A Memorial Day to Remember

It's funny how certain things bring back memories from the past; whether it's a scent, a song, or something as simple as driving past a city park. Today, it was the latter situation that took me back a couple decades. This is the day as I remember it:

Memorial Day, 1985.
I was one month away from turning 17 years old.
I was finishing my Junior year in high school.
(Ironically, it's exactly the age my daughter is today....)
One of the worst days of my life -- up to that point.

Grandma Ruby was sick. She had cancer and was close to death. Usually we go to the mountains for Memorial Day, but due to Grandma's illness, we stayed home. Mom was at Grandma's house helping, spending time with her dad, her brothers and sisters. My dad was left at home with us... wondering what he could do to keep us entertained and keep our minds off the fact that our beloved grandmother was dying. We had the wonderful idea to prepare a picnic to take to the park. To be honest, I'm not sure what food was prepared for this picnic. All I remember is that Dad gave me the assignment of making potato salad.

I had never made potato salad before. It was always my job to make the cookies and treats. I didn't even like potato salad, but Dad wanted to give me a challenge, so I went ahead and made it... without a recipe!! Under Dad's direction, I threw in a little of this and a little of that and voila! That was the one high point of the day. That potato salad was delicious and the best potato salad I had ever had.

We put it in the fridge and got other food ready for our picnic.

Unfortunately, as the time to go to the park approached, so did the rain clouds. They opened their gates and rain poured down, cancelling our picnic and brought our spirits even lower. There was nothing else we could do: we didn't have cable TV or a VCR, so we were limited as to what we could watch; it was too wet to go outside and plant the garden (which was my father's second choice of activities, I'm sure); none of my friends were available to hang out with so when a family friend called and asked -- last minute -- if I could babysit for a couple hours that night, I said sure. They promised they'd be home by 10 pm.

So far, it's just a gloomy day, isn't it? I haven't written about anything that would make it the worst day in my 17 short years have I?

Just wait, it gets worse.

The evening progressed as well as possible. The three boys I was watching were good kids. I loved them and I think they were fond of me as well. Shortly after I got them into bed the phone rang. It was my dad. He wanted me to know that Grandma had just passed away.

I was so sad. I wanted to go home to be with my family and I couldn't. Crying, I sat down on the couch in the living room, watching the clock and watching TV, waiting for the kid's parents to come home.

At 10:00 the news came on. I felt disappointed because the parents said they'd be home by then and they weren't! I kept watching the news. When the weather came on at about 10:15 I wanted to look outside and see if it was still raining.

**Editor's note: (If you're still with me on this, CONGRATULATIONS!! I tend to write looong posts when I'm reminiscing.) At this point I need to describe the house I was at. The living room was at the back of the house. The backyard had a big privacy fence all around it. There was a large picture window that took up the length of the living room and the couch was in front of that window. The curtains were open. At the end of the window was the back door into the house. Even though it had been raining, it was warm and the door was open with the screen door closed but unlocked. Back to my story, and hold on... it gets a little more exciting:

As I said, I wanted to see if it was still raining, so I turned around and looked out the window. Instead of getting a view of the backyard I got a view of something else.... it was a naked man.

Yes, you read that right! There was a man, with no clothes on, pressed against that living room window, watching me. (Yes, I'm leaving some details out here. Remember, Rated G!)

It took me about three seconds to register what I was seeing and then I stood up and screamed and ran down the hallway to the parent's bedroom, where the oldest boy was sleeping. I slammed the door closed and got on the phone to call for help. I called the first and only person I knew that could help me... my daddy.

He had just crawled into bed. He told me to call 911, threw his clothes back on, called my uncle who was at Grandma's house -- which was a couple blocks away -- and drove 90 mph to get to the house as quickly as possible.

Call 911? DUH!! The thought hadn't even occurred to me! So I dialed quickly... forgetting that the door into the house was still completely open and unlocked.

"911... What's your emergency?"
"THERE'S A NAKED MAN IN THE BACKYARD!!"
"Where are you?"
"I'M BABYSITTING!!!!"
"What's your location, ma'am?"
"My location? I don't remember their address!"
"Is there anyway you can find out? Please stay on the line...."

I remembered the little boy that was asleep in the room. He was 8 or 9 years old (?) and should know his address....

"TYLER!!! TYLER!!! WHAT'S YOUR ADDRESS?!? WHERE DO YOU LIVE?!?!"
A groggy Tyler answers, "I live at home."
He was no good to me.

I jump back on the phone and say, "Sorry. He's asleep. He can't tell me the address."
The 911 operator kept telling me to stay on the line. I could hear people at the dispatch center trying to trace my phone call. Eventually I hear the name of the people I'm babysitting for.

"YES!!! That's the name of the family!"
Which finally led to the address of the home.
It all came rushing back to me. Of course I knew the name of the parents and of course I knew that they lived at that address.

By that time my Uncle (my hero) was at the door. He was pounding, ready to break the door down. I told the operator that someone was there. They let me go. Uncle K came bursting through the door and ran to the back yard. "IF I EVER CATCH YOU, YOU SON OF A B**CH I'LL KILL YOU!!!" (can you see why he's my hero?)

Naked Man was gone. I was very blessed. I shudder when I think what could have happened with that unlocked door. The police arrived and my daddy arrived. I started giving my statement to the police and was almost finished when the parents drove up. As a parent, I look back on that and wonder at the horror they must have felt when they turned on to their street and saw police cars (I think there were 2) as well as two other cars in their driveway?

The police kept asking me if I could identify this man. Seriously? Think about where I was sitting in proportion to where he was standing. Did they really think I could see his face? I was embarrassed about that for a long time, but in my old age, I realize that there are few people in my situation that would have seen a face.

After all this happened, a few facts came to light. The police found his underwear in the flowerbed in the backyard. Evidence. Too bad DNA wasn't as available as it is today because, there was a definite suspect in the case. The mom of these kids was being stalked by a crazy man. He had been calling her, watching her and harassing her for some time. Our hair was a similar length and style and since he could only see the back of me, he thought she was sitting on the couch watching the news. Again... knowing how he was obsessed with her, it is a real blessing that nothing happened with that open back door!

The reality is that he was probably as shocked as I was when I turned around and I was not the person he thought I was. Does that make sense?

To conclude: The guy was eventually incarcerated for a terrible crime. The crime was not committed against this woman, but he continued to harass her from prison. I don't know if he has been released, and personally, I hope he hasn't.
Uncle K has always held a special place in my heart for the role he played that night. The fact that he came over to save me from a crazy person with no thought about his own safety means more to me than any other gift he could have given me.
That night I realized how much my dad really loved me and how much I needed him. Oh sure, I was growing independent and thought I was mostly grown-up, but when I came down to it, he was my knight, my protector and the only person in this whole world who could keep me safe from evil. I still smile when I think of him driving 90 mph through the darkness of the night. And I shudder when I think of what a horrific drive that must have been for him, not knowing what he would find once he reached his destination. Thanks, Dad, for being there for me!!

After effects of that night: DO NOT... I repeat DO NOT jump out at me from a dark window. I will most likely hit you, throw an object at you or otherwise injure your body. Twenty-four years later, I still hate dark windows.

Memorial Day 2009 was nothing like the one of 1985. Well, it rained. But the similarities end there.

FREEDOM!!!

You'd think by the title of this blog that I was a kid in school and today was the last day.

Nah.

It was Florin's High School graduation today, but (fortunately) I don't have to experience that with my child until next year. The rest of the school children still have a week left, so there's no big freedom there either. (However, I will shout HOORAY from the rooftops next Friday. I love summer and I love having the kids home.)

The freedom was ... vehicular.

Tonight I rode the Piglet to my pottery class. Just me. All alone.

I think it's the first time since I got the scooter that I have had that opportunity.

(No, I didn't wear a helmet and thankfully crochety old man was inside when I rode by.)

When class was over, I almost skipped to the parking lot. I turned the key, revved the engine ... but not before I heard snippets of a conversation between two college students, walking hand in hand down the side walk:

Girl student: "I always seem to break up with my boyfriends."

Boy student: mutters something I can't hear

Girl student: "Well, I just felt like it was something you should know."

(The room where I have my class is next door to a big gym where the university holds a weekly dance. The dance ended just as I was ready to go home and I think these two must have hooked up there. I'm still confused as to why they were holding hands already.)

As the two like-birds moved off into the darkness I started that Piglet up and headed for home. It was a beautiful night. Cool, but not cold (finally).

The wind ran through my non-helmeted hair and it felt good. Do you remember hanging your head out of the car window when you were a kid? Well, it was great like that.

I breathed deeply of the fragrant spring air and it made me smile.

Doesn't spring smell good?

And then I remembered.

June bugs.

This town is crawling with them this time of year.

They are a crazy, brainless and DISGUSTING orange beetle type of bug that loves light and will beat itself literally to death at a window trying to get at it.

They freak me out. If they are flying around the front door, I will walk from the front of the house to the back, just to avoid them. I will stand outside and wait 15 minutes for it to kill itself before I walk anywhere close to them.

Well, I got lucky. I closed my smiling mouth and no June bugs flew into me.

That was good.

I got lucky this time!

Finale Thoughts

LOVED the American Idol finale tonight! This is the first year I have been somewhat quiet regarding the competition... I don't think I've blogged about it once. I guess Facebook kind of took over for that. But now that it's over I have a few things to say:

Most Awkward Moment: Bikini girl and her brand new body parts. I want to know who her mother is and why in the world she lets her daughter parade around mostly nude in front of a gazillion people. Teaching your daughter self-respect is a good thing.

Most Surprising (for me): Keith Urban. I HATE country music. From the first twang of the electric slide guitar I feel nauseas and get dizzy. If the radio or CD is not turned off immediately, my ears start ringing and my vision goes blurry. Tonight I discovered the joy of watching country music. It was yummy. (Yes, Red, you win on the whole Keith Urban is babe-a-licious thing!!)

Most Reminiscent: David Cook. Took me back to the excitement of last year. LOVE HIM!! Not sure if I love his blond hair but was touched by the black arm band in honor of his brother who recently passed away.

Most Take-Me-Back: Cyndi Lauper, Rod Stewart, Kiss, Lionel Richie, QUEEN. Thanks for making it relevant to me!!

Most HUH? moment: Norman Gentle. Really. Did you make me laugh in the Top 24? No. Did you make me laugh now? NO! Please don't make me watch him any more!

Most co-ordinated outfit: Randy. His glasses matched his bowtie. Go figure.

Best Big Girl Moment: QUEEN LATIFAH IN A BODY SUIT!!! Oh yeah. She looked goood!

Best Get My Face On TV Moment: The top 13 finalist from Puerto Rico. What was his name again? I don't know, but there he is, cheesy grin on his face and right on the heels of Kris. Dude! Let him have his moment!

Best Moment on TV This Week: "Dim the lights, heeere we go.... after the nationwide vote of nearly 100 million... the winner... of American Idol...2009 .....is... KRIS ALLEN!"

**Editor's Note: Ultimately, I 'm a Danny Gokey fan. That's the album I will buy.

Beat It Billy Jean

Our Family Picture for May.

Taken after last week's dance recital.

The theme this year was

Michael Jackson.

Every dance was done to a

Michael Jackson song.

There were a couple Janet or Jackson 5 songs,

but Michael ruled the night.

Here are a couple pictures from the night:

Inigo's tap dance to Rockin' Robin.

Buttercup dances to Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation

Little Miss Doolittle also takes from the same studio.

Sadly, my kids have decided not to dance again next year. I'll still go to recital, to support

Little Miss Doolittle, but it will be sad not having my kids in there! I have been going to recital for 12 years and it's a hard thing to give up!

It was fun while it lasted, though!

Yup... One More!

Apparently we had a busy weekend! Here's my last post for the day. And I'm glad too because it's pretty late and I need to get some sleep!

Yesterday (Saturday) we went on our first hike of the season. My excuse for going was that I needed to check out a hike for Girl's Camp, which is in a month. Good excuse right?

It was a GORGEOUS day!! We couldn't have asked for any brighter sun or warmer air. It was PERFECT!!!

We went with our good friends, Shack, Stinky and Miss Doolittle.

It was also our last dance recital this weekend. But I will post about that another day. But for now,

"May tomorrow be a perfect day,

May you find love and laughter along the way

May God keep you in his tender care

'Til he brings us together again.

Good Night Everybody!!!"

(A good pat on the back for the person who can name where that comes from!)

Three Very Hungry Mouths To Feed

As I stated in my previous post, I finally found the tree where the baby owls are living. Ever since I knew there was a pair of owls living in the neighborhood, I guessed that they were nesting owls and that there had to be babies somewhere out there.

Saturday night, I was driving through the neighborhood and looked in the tree where I normally see one of the parent owls. It wasn't there but as I drove further into the neighborhood, I actually saw it perched on the top of a lamp post. I arrived home and dragged Buttercup back to the end of the street so she could see it up close and personal.

As we were watching this majestic animal, I heard an unusual bird sound close by. I thought it was odd because I know that owls eat other birds, and why would they be making noise when this one was obviously close, obviously awake and obviously getting ready for the hunt? I looked in the surrounding trees and sure enough... there was a big flutter of wings and I saw the soft downy white of the (rather large) baby owls.

The topmost owl in this photo is flapping its wings!

Tonight, after the big incident with an overly concerned stranger (next post) I went back to the tree with my camera and got these photos. I hope that you can click on them and make them bigger so you can see their little faces! Really, they are very cute. If they weren't carnivorous, I would LOVE to have them in the neighborhood!! But they are meat eaters and they are still growing and they are HUNGRY!!!

In the few minutes that we were there watching them, we saw the parent owls get in a BIG fight with some crows and... well.... sadly, one of the crows lost. And later, we saw Big Mama come back with a squirrel. Inigo and I sat down on the grass, just watching the parent with the babies when I saw the other parent go soaring overhead. "Look Inigo!! Look at him go!" and we watched him fly over.... TOWARD OUR HOUSE!!

I knew that the cat escaped out the door when we left and I knew the dog was outside as well. I hoped that the owl would just keep flying by, but panic set in when I saw him perch on the biggest tree in my yard.

HOLY FREAKIN' COW!!!

Inigo and I ran home as fast as we could. I called Buttercup from my cell phone and screamed at her to get outside, find Dave and Lola and GET THEM IN THE HOUSE!!! Thankfully, both animals were close by and didn't run when we approached. We picked them both up and put them in the house, under the watchful eye of Papa Owl. After we closed the door to the house, we went back outside to look for the owl again and it was gone.

Lucky Dave was saved again from a hunting owl. That's twice this owl has hunted him. How many more close saves can he have? Dave is just going to have to figure out that if he wants to go outside, he is going to have to go in daylight, when it's safe. No more night time escapades for him! Not if he wants to live, anyway.

Can you see my friend in this picture?

Say What?!?!

I thought Sundays were supposed to be quiet!

Not today!

Okay, ours was a very nice, quiet day until about 8:00 pm. I had taken Inigo on a drive over to my friend's house on the scooter, and on our way back we noticed a little crowd around the tree where we found the baby owls. (I finally found the tree last night! We were excited to find three baby owls in the tree. They are getting their feathers, but still have lots of soft downy feathers, so they aren't flying yet.)

Inigo hadn't seen the babies yet, so I pulled the scooter over so he could watch them for a minute. I was in the process of parking it when a car with out-of-state plates drove by, rolled down the window and said to me, "You're not driving that thing, are you?" I have tendencies to be a smidge sarcastic, so I said, "No. I'm parking it!" I smiled, was friendly and pointed out the owls to them. They, in turn, parked their own vehicle and the driver -- an elderly gentleman in a sports coat -- walked up to me and said, "Seriously, you're not driving that thing without a helmet, are you? Because it's illegal and you will be arrested."

I still can't believe that this man is talking to me like this -- and is serious. I don't know him, have never met him in my life, he's not local and why is he telling me I will be arrested? He has to be joking... right?

So I make some casual remark (I don't remember exactly what I said) and he said to me as he walked toward the owl tree..."If I see you driving that scooter without a helmet I will arrest you!"

I finally realized he was in earnest, and I was stunned -- to say the least. I'm pretty sure it wasn't me, Valerie, that made the next comment because it's completely out of character for me, but I said, "And what authority do you have to arrest me?"

His reply was that it is illegal in our town to ride motorcycles without a helmet and again he reiterated that he will arrest me.

And I asked him again if he had the correct authority to do that.

He didn't answer and went off toward the tree to look at the owls and I stood there, seething. Okay, that's pretty mild. I was more than seething, but in order to keep this rated-G, I won't put down exactly how I was feeling. For my father's sake, I'll say I was "extremely irritated."

The man wouldn't leave me alone. A minute later he walked toward me again and said, "I don't mean to offend you. Have I?" And I looked him square in the eye and said, "Yes, as a matter of fact, you have." Again, that is quite out of character for me. I would normally say something like, "Oh, no. That's okay." But I have watched my daughter get bullied at school and I wasn't going to stand there and be bullied as well. If I want her to stand up for herself, by gum I have to set the example and stand up for myself!!!!

He went off about how he knows he's from out of state but... blah.... blah....blah....about people he knows that have crashed on their bikes and were injured.

Okay. Here's the deal. I know that it's dangerous to ride a motorized scooter without a helmet. I am working on getting one. I am aware of the fact that every time I get on it and drive it, I put myself at risk. I AM AWARE!!!! Okay? I am also reading the motorcycle handbook so I can get my endorsement for my license and I'm pretty sure I haven't read anywhere in that book that it says our state has a helmet license. And I'm pretty sure the state where he's from doesn't have one either... Heck! It's even legal to drive in his state with an open can of beer in the car!! WHO IS HE TO WALK UP TO ME, A STRANGER, AND THREATEN ME IN FRONT OF MY CHILD?!?! (It turns out he's my neighbor's father.)

Lucky for me, there just happened to be a sherriff looking at the owls too. The man went and conversed with him for a minute and then came back, apologized (kind of) and gave me permission (a-hem) to drive without a helmet. That it is actually not illegal in our town to drive without them.

"Gee thanks, Mister! You're swell!"

Editor's Note: Please good reader, do not use this post as a means to chastize me for not wearing a helmet. I have already stated that I am working on finding a helmet that will work for me. :-)
thank you.

Tilt Shift What?

As you all know I peruse a few blogs. Okay. I'll be honest. More than a few. I have found myself up late, late at night, still clicking from one blog to the next, oblivious to the fact that it's turned tomorrow, happily reading about other people's lives. I guess that makes me kind of a voyeur. But I figure it's the same as people who don't close their curtains or blinds at night. They are just begging me to drive by and look in their windows!

I digress.

I was checking out a blog I'd never read before and I found a link to this great photo program. It's called TiltShiftMaker.com. Seriously, I wouldn't say it too fast. There is a lot of room for errors in pronunciation. And if you mispronounce it in front of the children, there could be serious repercussions!

Possible bad words aside, I had to check it out.

IT IS A BLAST!!!

Check out some of the photos I created:

I put them on in the order that I liked them. If it wasn't already late, late at night... yup it's tomorrow!... I would have spent more time looking for the right photos and seeing what I could come up with. But for now, I learned something new.

And you did too!!

Happy Motors Day!

WOW! What a great Mother's Day it was today. Even though I had to speak in Sac. Mtg. (It was only a 5 min talk, and not full of doctrinal discourses, so it was fairly easy... I was able to get it completely ready in about 2.5 hours.)


Actually, Mother's Day started for me the day before, on Saturday. Max was home all week so I felt like it was okay to leave him and Inigo together so I could spend the day with my mom, my seester and Buttercup. (If he's gone the week before the weekend, I try to stay home. That time we get to spend together is too precious!)


Buttercup and I drove to Guilder and we went on a home tour. Now, this is not a tour of ostentatious homes recently completed that are for sale.... these are homes that are being lived in -- that are mostly ostentatious -- and we get to walk through them to 1) see some cute decorating ideas and 2) see how the "other half" lives. (My house would NEVER even be considered for the Home Tour!) The music federation of Guilder sponsors this every spring and uses the money to provide musical scholarships to deserving kids in the region. Waaay back when.... many years ago.... when I was still living at home, this was a springtime tradition with my mom and sisters. And now that my mom has moved back to Guilder, my sister Red thought it would be fun if we went again.


It was a blast. We saw some cool color mixtures (turquoise and red), and I even found a blue wall that I liked! (Blue is my least fave color and I usually avoid it like the plague.) We saw a few houses that I didn't like and there was even one that made me think.... "Ummm... if this house is on the home tour, maybe there's a chance that mine could be!" Red and I giggled throughout the house. It was owned by a single guy and I think he forgot to dust all the crochet dolls and silk flowers in all the window sills. (The house was picked because it was built in 1895 and he is in the process of refurbishing. However, I thought it would have been more interesting to see after all the work is completed. But that's just me!)


I came home and didn't hate my house as much as I thought I would, but it made me even more determined to get rid of the yellow kitchen/dining room. I still haven't decided on a color to paint it, but I'll let you know when I do. (Any suggestions? The living room wall, is brown and they shouldn't clash.)


Sunday brought me my Mother's Day surprise.



My friend, Buck, got a scooter like this one last weekend and when she came over to show it off I ranted and raved about it enough that Max got me one!! No, I didn't need it. But sometimes it's okay to be a little frivolous. Actually, I'm hoping that if we drive it enough that we'll really cut back on the gas usage of our other vehicles and save ourselves some $$. (He bought it on clearance, so if we drive it enough over the next couple years it might actually pay for itself!)

(Keep talking, Valerie, and you will convince someone that it's okay that he bought it!)



Red and my parents came to Florin for dinner. It was nice having them here. I think the food tasted pretty decent and the company was fun and enjoyable. Papa got assaulted by the marshmallow gun and thought it was so cool, he wrote down the directions of how to make it so he could go home and make one for himself! And can we talk about dessert.... well, let's say I'll have to do an extra day or two at Curves to make up for it!! (Cherry cheesecake... Yummmm!)



After they left, Max said he'd wash dishes (what a guy!!!), so Buttercup and I decided to break in the scooter. We decided to name it The Piglet because it's just not big enough to be a Hog. We had a blast. We drove from stem to stern here in Florin. Okay... we only put about 8 miles on it, but in Florin that is stem to stern... :) We drove enough that I became comfortable with the stops and starts and my balance seems pretty good. But I still need to work on my right hand turns. Sometimes it's so wide that I hit the sidewalk in the left lane... But here in Florin, when you drive on a Sunday, you have the road mostly to yourself, so there were no close-calls with oncoming traffic when I made those turns.



Tomorrow I get to get it registered, insured and find out if I have to have a motorcycle endorsement on my driver's licence! Who would have ever thought that me, Valerie, would need a motorcycle endorsement? Weird.



I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day and especially hope that Kristi (my first Beehive) has her baby tomorrow!!!

Whoooo's Watching You?

The other day, Inigo came up with a "great idea!" We were driving home from grocery shopping in Guilder and he said, "Mom! I know what we can do!" (He's always looking for something fun and exciting to shake up his day.) "We can go next door and toilet paper Jillwanna and Maddlefaddle... right before dinner!"

Max and I had a good laugh. Obviously he has a teenager sister and obviously he knows we have been toilet papered before. But what he failed to notice was the t.p.ing happened under the cover of darkness. He apparently thinks all you need is to be secret and quiet and you can do it.

He was so enthusiastic and I knew Jillwanna is a good sport, so I agreed that he could go over while they were eating dinner and cover one of their bushes. And since he's a novice, I had to help him. WOW!! That was a blast from the past. I haven't gone t.p.ing since my two friends and I went on New Year's Eve to t.p. the house of our Stake President's son.... probably 1985. (Toilet papering a house in January in Guilder... what were we thinking?!?!?)

We grabbed 1/2 a roll out of the bathroom and snuck next door (yes, I used the word snuck....) We picked a bush to "decorate" and I handed him the roll. Back and forth we threw it -- okay only about 3 times -- and just as we were about to run back home, Inigo said, "How about if I ring the doorbell and run?"

Okay. So add doorbell ditching to your list of crimes!

Inigo was so hilarious! He thought he was the sneakiest kid EVER!!

Later that evening I talked to Jillwanna and I confessed our crime. She thought it was funny and decided to play along with the whole prank. The next day, she called Inigo and told him that she had been toiled papered and she needed his help to watch her house to catch the culprit. Then she made a pair of "binoculars" out of empty toilet paper rolls. Inigo sat underneath some trees in our front yard, watching her house. He thinks he's so funny and that he has completely pulled the wool over her eyes.

******************

Are you sick and tired of hearing about my owl?

This morning I was on my way to exercise at Curves and when I drove past a tree in the park I looked up in the top branches and this is what I saw

Need a closer look?

(I wish I had a good lens to get a better pic up close....)

Gah!! Kind of scary! At least now I know which tree s/he's roosting at!

Morning = UGH!

♥♥ I was exhausted yesterday and went to bed at the unheard of hour (for me) of 11:00 pm. Seriously, I don't remember the last time I went to bed that early. But (and this is the problem) when I go to bed that early, that means I get up early the next day. We're talking I was awake and moving by *gasp* 7:00 am!!! ON A SATURDAY!!!! The birds were barely awake and only just beginning to sing and there I was -- laying in bed -- saying to myself, "GO BACK TO SLEEP.... GO BACK TO SLEEP...."


Alas, I couldn't. Once I was awake my brain turned on to high gear and I had a gazillion things running through it. I fought the fight and lost. And I'm up.


*heavy sigh*


♥♥ Max made it home and he had a very productive trip. He was actually offered another interim job at a hospital in another state and we are trying to decide if this is something he should do. NO we are not going to move. At least not yet. This is only an interim position and not worth packing up and moving -- especially when our daughter only has one year of high school left. He had some meetings with other hospital administrators in our state and many are looking for help in his area of expertise so he will visit with them next week and see if he can get any contracts.


♥♥ Remember when I told you about the owl that was living in my backyard? I have news: It is a Great Horned Owl. I still haven't seen it, but a lady in my ward did. She said it was like a great big cat sitting in the top of the tree.... the owl's "horns" looked like cat ears. After talking to this lady, we came home and Googled to see what we could find out about them. Click on this link to see what we read. Also, half way down the page is a sound clip. It's almost exactly what we hear when the owl is outside (there are no crickets chirping yet).

If you expand the facts on the profile of the owl, at the bottom of the 4th paragraph, you will read; "Owls have even been known to prey upon unlucky cats and dogs." After reading this, and a few other pages on owls, I was on high alert for a week or so. Every time I let our pets out in the evening, I'd stand at the door and watch and I wouldn't let them linger outside. But, I hadn't heard our owl for about a week and I thought he had moved on to more productive neighborhoods.


Until last night...


I put Dave the cat outside and forgot about him. At 10:00, I was so tired, I decided to start getting ready for bed. As I walked past the back door I could hear him meowing and remembered he was out. I had this urgent feeling that I needed to open the door quickly and let him in. So I ran to the door and he jumped in as quickly as he could, followed just as quickly by the dog (I didn't even know she was out!!). That's when I heard the owl. It was closer to the house than it has ever been before. It had to have been in one of the trees just beyond the deck. I was in our yard!! I freaked out for like 1.5 minutes and then cracked opened the door about an inch or so to see if I could spot it, or hear it again. It was gone. And then it dawned on me:


THE OWL WAS HUNTING MY PETS!!! And when I opened the door to let them in, I spoiled his game.


Scary, huh?!?!? (And Dave is one lucky cat!!)


♥♥ Next week is Teacher Appreciation Week. The elementary schools in our district celebrate in many different ways. The PTO gives the teachers a nice luncheon and several different gifts and they have moms from each room decorate the classroom door. I was asked to decorate Inigo's teacher's door. It was a little stressful for me. I haven't done anything like this before and I wasn't feeling especially creative. But luck smiled upon me and I ended up with a pretty decent idea.

Inigo's kindergarten teacher is exactly what a kindergarten teacher should be. She is soft and gentle and very kind. She fills the kids' school day with songs and activities. Seriously, every half hour or so, the kids stand up next to their chair and sing a clever song. Most are learning songs, with lyrics that help remember the names of the letters and their sounds or math facts, but some are just fun and silly. Some of the songs have active movements to keep their hearts beating and their heads cleared. The kids love it and Inigo has thrived in this environment.

When I was asked to decorate the door, I decided I wanted to celebrate the teacher's influence with music. This is what I came up with:

Each little music note is a heart and on notes on the music staff, I put each child's picture. The big music note in the middle is crinkled up paper... I wanted something on the door to "pop." I'm pleased with how the door turned out, but it seriously took a verrrry loooong time to finish.

And that is why I was so tired yesterday. And why I went to bed so early. And why I ended up getting up so early today.