So she's now driving . . .

That's right.  That girl o' mine has . . . a driver's license.  It's real!  It didn't come out of a bubble gum machine or anything.  Since she is now a newly licensed driver of just one week, when people find out, they ask her about driving all over and her car and . . .

She does not have her own car.  You see even prior to the replacement of both adult vehicles in the house in all of 8 months, we discussed having her drive with us for a year before helping her to get her own car.  She understood and agreed.  We told her that we wanted to have her experience all of the seasons prior to setting her off all on her own in her own car.

It's not to say that she hasn't taken trips in my vehicle.  It's not to say that the reality and gravity of the responsibility freaked her out so badly that she decided that she did not like driving by herself.  Period.

The local library saw her three days in a row last week.  It was important to set her off on her own and not to let her continue to hang out and be stressed out.  I sent her a few miles away with Life360 powered up to monitor, she still checked in, took care of business and came back.  Our agreement (at her suggestion which seems completely reasonable) is to have Life360 running on trips out on her own, but to shut it down when she gets home because we know where she is and when she is at school, she is at school.  It's a freaky thing to run with a GPS continually monitoring your moves, so I get completely where she is at.

I phoned our lovely local insurance agency.  Goodbye good insurance rates.  Oh yes, they went up $1000 per year because my sweets is driving our fully insured vehicles rather than a mobile heap with liability only.  :insert stressed out mama face and budget crunching calculator:  As a good consumer (who hates to do it after how well they handled this past year) we will be just shopping around for some new insurance rates.

But . . . kiddo is driving.  She won't be driving friends around.  Before reality hit, she wanted to make a solo drive to Cleveland.  She's got it in her.  She could do it easily.  We did it with her several times.  Still . . . K needs to still hang a bit more local.  She's got it, but mama ain't good with letting go all the way just yet.

I just dropped my kiddo off for driver's ed.

Shy of 15 1/2 by a few days.  Temps coming up soon.  Just sayin'.

Rag Wreath: Winter and Summer Edition

I realized that I didn't have the specific instructions I needed in my other posts.  Here are the two wreaths that I made this week.  My husband told me that he figured that they were de-stress projects.  Kind of.  :)

To start:
4 different types of fabric.  1/2 yard each of three.  Maybe 2/3 yard of a filler color.

How do I choose a fabric?
I generally have an anchor fabric or some type of color theme to go with.  In the case of my winter wreath, I knew that I wanted to go with grays and gray/blue.

I pull patterns that I find interesting.  Sure, the patterns below look whackadoodle together, but when you look at the wreath, it makes sense.  I try to have a dark, two middle tone and one light.

What size is the wreath?
I found a 12" "box wreath frame" at Joann Fabrics.  Works well for our size of door.

Cutting fabric:
Trim off the labeled end. Then fold your fabric so that you can cut the strips in one run instead of three.  Just remember to cut the ends so that you have 7" strips and not 14" strips.
7" strips
1 1/2" wide (in my case, the width of the ruler)

How many strips per ring?
There are 4 rings per wreath with 6 sections per ring.  I always start from the inside and work out.  There was one wreath that I did not have enough fabric (I've since figured that out) and I cut off the outer ring.  It's best to fix the goof like that from the outside than the inside.

Inside: 
8 strips per section
First interior ring:
9 strips per section
Second interior ring:
12 strips per section
Outer ring:
14-15 strips per section

Important to note:
Make certain to count the strips you have left before doing your final ring.  No matter how uniform we would love things to be, sometimes we are down a few strips.  This way you can take the number you have and divide them out by the remaining sections you have.  On the winter wreath, I ended up taking the darker fabric and using it as a double strip filler on the last ring.  You can't tell.  It was a lighter fabric and I had a lot of strips left.  Also, I needed to fill in a lil heavier than I had originally planned.

How to attach:
Well now, just go here and that'll tell you what you need to know.  Rachael did a nice demo on her link found in my fall wreath post.  My 4th of July wreath (the one I had to remove a ring from because a shortage of fabric) can be found here.

How to store:
Hang them on a hanger in the coat closet.

The Winter Wreath: 

Presently hanging on our door. 

The Beachy Colored Summer Wreath: 

Now go forth, check out your fabric scraps, orphaned bits and pieces, the Joann's remnants bins and sale fabric.  No need to pay an arm and a leg for the fabric.

I will caution that after 2 years of a harsh summer sun shining on my 4th of July wreath (I leave it up all summer,) the fabrics have faded some.  I'll give you a hint.  Just turn your wreath upside down and display it bottom side up!  That way, the faded sections hang down, the brighter sections are up and you can pull a bit more mileage out of your wreath.

Breakfast Casserole: Veggie Egg Tater Tot Bake

Once a month, K and I go to the church to serve breakfast to those in need in our area.  It's important to say that these folks don't have to qualify.  If they show up, we provide them with toiletry items/cleaning items (toilet paper, paper towels, laundry detergent, soap, shampoo . . . ) that they might not be able to get otherwise.  We love this ministry.  For the first few times we came, we helped without bringing anything.  We really didn't know what to do.  After a few cracks at seeing what works, I have come up with a recipe that volunteers and visitors alike love.

Veggie Tater Tot Bake
Serves 12 or more (depending upon how you cut it)
NEEDS TO SIT OVERNIGHT.  (Don't say that I didn't warn you. ;) )
Preheat oven to 375 F.
Cooking time:  1 hour and a half

I have always made this in a standard sterno warmed foil pan.  (The kind that go into disposable catering trays.)  You could also put it together in a cake pan.

1 bag of frozen tater tots*
1 dozen eggs
A cup or so of milk
1 package of pepper jack cheese slices
Probably 1 cup of shredded cheese (I've used cheddar or colby jack)
2 1/2 - 3 cups diced veggies  (I use broccoli, carrots and sweet peppers)
Salt and pepper to taste.

I started creating this recipe by seeing what vegetables needed used in my crisper drawer.  Probably horrible to admit, but it is true.  Whatever you choose, chop up those veggies! 

Throw them into a bowl with the FROZEN tater tots.  My salt and pepper measurements are by pepper grinder and salt mill.  For me, it is 12 cranks of each one.  Toss in your shredded cheese.  Stir all of this together and place in a pan sprayed well with Pam.  

Into a 4 cup measuring cup, I crack 1 dozen eggs, top off to the 4 cup mark with milk then add 5 more cranks each of pepper and salt.  Scramble all this up in the measuring cup then pour evenly over the tater tot/veggie mixture.  

If I was thinking, I would have taken a picture but I didn't.  Here is where you place the slices of pepper jack cheese on top. 

If using a foil pan, place your pan on a cookie sheet, cover with foil SPRAYED WITH PAM on the side of foil closest to the food, fold the foil edges down over the sides and leave in the refrigerator overnight.  

Place your oven rack one step down from the middle.  (Meaning not the bottom rack.)  Bake at 375 F for an hour and a half.  You may want to double check baking times and adjust for your own oven.  

This is done when you can cut into the middle and see no liquid sloshing around. 

Enjoy!  

*Don't use hash brown potatoes.  You'll be tempted to.  They were bland and watery.  I've already made the mistake for you.  Trust me.  Avoid them, please.  

Happy 4th of July!

The Empowerment Plan Coat- Warmest Winter 2016

The Empowerment Plan Coat

- The EMPWR coat is a water-resistant and self-heating jacket, which can transform into a sleeping bag, or be worn as an over-the-shoulder bag when not in use. The coat is constructed of upcycled automotive insulation, fabric from Carhartt, and other materials provided by generous donors.

- The Empowerment Plan can produce 1,000 coats on a budget of $100,000. Our studies show that for each 1,000 coats distributed, we can save 14 lives. Each year approximately 7% of homeless individuals die from hypothermia. Our coat reduces this statistic by over 20%.

- It costs $100 to sponsor a coat, which covers the cost of labor, materials, and overhead expenses.

- While these coats will save lives this winter, our ultimate partnership goal is to bring an Empowerment Plan factory to Chicago.

Handing off those school uniforms.

I got a call on Monday that will most certainly change my child's life in some big capacity.  She was accepted for open enrollment to the school system in the city where my in-law's live.

This open enrollment opportunity dates back to the packets of information that I sent out on February 1.  I sent open enrollment packets out to three schools.  By the end of June, we received a denial from our first choice school.  They didn't have the room for K and I knew that.  It didn't hurt to try.  A few weeks ago, we got a denial from our 3rd choice school.  We weren't real jazzed about that school for a few different reasons.  They seemed a lil snarky about open enrollment and frankly, it is an area much, much further over our financial level and basically K would end up being the poor kid.  Since it was already August, I figured by this point that school #2 was toast because we hadn't heard anything and -- IT'S AUGUST!

So the call comes through.  I try to track K down.  Now, I can most normally catch that child at some point, but my MIL and K went swimming.  I tried K's cell.  No luck.  I tried MIL's cell.  No luck.  I tried my FIL's cell.  No luck.  I tried the house phone.  Finally, my FIL answered, but said that they were out swimming.

UGH!

K asked for a family meeting.  We needed to hash out some details about the transfer that would make her feel good.  We assured her that the same drop off/pick up schedule would still apply as before.  I would be able to take part in SOME PTA activities at this school, so she'd still see me around.  We also said that if she/we chose to make this switch-- this is it.  This will be her forever school and we will not transfer her out to another one.  After all of these things, she decided that she did want to go there.

A perk but not a deciding factor?  No uniforms!

We released her to make the information public.  She told some friends from elementary school.  She would have been moving on to the big, scary middle school with them.  We did discuss that though she is moving and it is joyous and there were many, many concerns we had about the middle school, these friends are still attending there and we want to be a lil low level so not to dog on their school.  She handled it well.

We mamas were talking last night and it hit me that the one could probably use the pants I had purchased for K.  I bought them secondhand, so there was no way I could return them and K assured me that there would be no way she would wear them.  (Can't blame her.)  I was running through the house last night at 10 PM gathering uniform pieces to give off.  M asked, "What are you doing?"  "GIVING UNIFORMS AWAY!"  I warned her that almost all was hanging on the basement lines and have a basement smell, but all are clean.  She can use them this year or next, but we were able to pass polos, pants, sweaters and shorts on to someone who could use them.

I don't believe K will ever wear khaki pants or polo shirts again.  Well, not unless a job requires them.

So that leads me to today's adventures.  I will, for the first time, be able to take my daughter school clothes shopping.  We're kind of excited.  We have a few stores to hit to return new shirts we bought and while we're there, we can look at fun clothes!

Aside from the clothes thing and that not being a factor into changing schools, we're taking K from a school system that is suffering into an excellent rated school system.  There are so many opportunities that will be made available to her.  She's going to try to get involved with orchestra and she's looking forward to getting details about swim team.  Academically they are so much stronger and we had major safety concerns about K at the other school.

We prayed.  We prayed that God would do his will.  We told K that this is how God answered our prayer.  I told her that we still need to pray.  She's concerned about being the new kid.  I told her I get it, but we'll get through it.

Changes.  My baby is growing up.

Letter Carrier Food Drive- Saturday, May 9, 2015

Don't forget to leave a bag of non-perishable food items for the Letter Carrier Food Drive this Saturday!

Pharmaceutical coupons.

I've hit a desperate state.  I sat with my doctor this morning, told him that once again, Nasonex and Allegra could only do so much.

"So, you want an allergy shot, huh?"  :insert smirk:

"Yes, please."

I explained that I've been blowing (literally) through boxes of Kleenex and frankly, I hadn't been sleeping other than the night previous, but that was the first in about 6 nights.

I've woken to my husband very quietly tip-toeing out of the bedroom with pillow in hand.  I'm such a sinus wreck that it's sending my husband to seek sleep elsewhere.  I should add that he needs complete silence when sleeping (or loud music) and I've not been completely silent nor have I been melodically snoring death metal to him.  Poor guy.

So I got the wondrous shot.  I swear that between the shot and a little shot of rain, I'm starting to feel like a new woman.  I'm excited to sleep AGAIN tonight and to be able to get rid of crusty red nose.  A few nights ago, I woke up with baby bubble booger nose.  That was gross.

So knowing I was going to Dr. W, I had to get my Epi Pen refilled (the other was outdated) and to get a new prescription of Nasonex, which surprisingly ran out just this morning.  I knew that I had a Nasonex coupon from online, but thought I'd give Epi Pen a try.

I found one.  $0 copay!  Hooray!

I went to the pharmacy with coupons in hand.  The pharmacy tech never gets mad about the coupons even though she has to back the script back out of the system and refill it and rebill it.  She came to me and said, "You know, I'm going home to find that Epi Pen coupon.  I have to pay $80 for mine and I've got an old one because I just can't afford it right now."

So sad!

I told her that she was probably glad to see me!  I told her that I've now learned that any brand name prescription I have, I will look to see if there is a savings card or coupon online.  I also have the Lipitor card.  I'm able to get brand name Lipitor for $4, when if I would get generic, it would cost me $25.

So go forth!  See if you qualify!  Look for coupons, people!

Renewed appreciation.

My husband and I have been married for 18 years.  We've hung out for 21.  We been through ups and downs, but nothing that has had us ever consider parting ways.

Ever.

We're lucky that way and I know it.

Recently, stories keep tumbling in my door about family members and friends in dire straights with marriage.  There has been infidelity, verbal abuse, growing apart and cases of mutual disrespect.

M and I were having a heart-to-heart last night.  I was regaling him with stories that were told to me of loves lost, hearts broken and those just trying to scrape it together to make it work.

"Makes you appreciate me a little more, doesn't it?" my man said to me with a grin.

I truly have been fortunate.  Tacky to say, but a lot of men would have left me after being told that I couldn't have children or risk a 90% chance at death.

M would tell you that he has been fortunate because a lot of women would have left him for his undiagnosed digestive ills that he's been battling for 12 1/2 years.

Never once have either one of us considered it.

M and I have always had a mutual respect for each other.  A coworker was talking a few weeks ago and I mentioned something.  She told me that the relationship that M and I have together isn't that typical and that we really were made for each other.

I know it.  So does he.

How fortunate I am.  How fortunate we both are.

Tara and the amazing Deva Cut.

I have curly hair.  I have thick hair, meaning lots of it, but it is kind of on the fine end of actual individual hair thickness.

I had an appointment to see the Amazing Tara for a cut.  It is at this point that I admit that it's been probably 2 years.  I get into mama mode and frankly, I put my kid first.  Time or sometimes financial thoughts keep me away.

Back to the Deva Cut.  It's best explained here.

Deva cuts are for anyone with curly hair.  If you have curly hair, then you know that just because people know how to cut hair doesn't mean that everyone can cut curly hair.

Believe me, I've had my fair share of bad cuts.  Just yesterday, I was talking with my mom about Tara and her mad skills with some scissors.  "Well, Andrea could cut your hair!  She can do a great job because she does have curly hair."

"Mom, Andrea sucked."

"What do you mean?"

"I had to fire Andrea.  I gave her a good 4 tries.  Every time she cut my hair, she did a worse job.  Her hair is far curlier than mine, but the final straw was when she really didn't listen to me at all, decided to do what she wanted and gave me a lesbian haircut."  (No offense to my lesbian friends out there.)

"Oh."

"She was supposed to give me long bangs in the front and a wedge kind of thing up the back that would be funky and that I could spike up.  She got the back right, but the front was so short that M's hair was longer than mine and I couldn't even keep a bobby pin in it, because it was so short."

"Oh.  I understand."

So back to the Deva cut.  Y'all, I went in looking like the Lion King after a big fight in the most horrendous humidity known to man.  The hairs were all out.  They were all long.  They were-- unruly.  Oh, I apologized.  I said that I knew that I was coming to her and that I would just let her wrangle my hair into shape.  I had been losing bobbie pins in my hair, making my thin haired friend extremely jealous.  It was taking a few days to find them all.  My hair was getting sucked out of the car window.  My hair was catching on door handles getting into the house.  I was losing my iPod ear buds in there!

I sat in the chair, gave Tara an idea of what I was looking for.  Really, I wanted to keep my hair long, but I left it to her discretion on how much needed to come off.  She showed me, I told her to have at it and she did.  She cut it dry.  She washed it, she then went back in and trimmed up a little more.  She had a diffuser that looked like a bunch of green bananas in the shape of a hand.

I want one.

You can get to the roots, but not get to the hair a ton to make it all frizz out.

There is uber great shampoo and after much consideration, I decided that if M can buy Muscle Milk to work out, I should be able to buy some shampoo that isn't going to make me look like I haven't washed my hair in a month of Sundays.  Thanks to the wonders of Amazon Prime, it was $10 less for the combo pack I purchased and all hail the 2 day ship.  The shampoo will be here tomorrow.  I don't have to wash my hair every day and I don't.  It's still nice to have the proper stuff on hand to do it with.

So hooray!  When I leave my hair down, it doesn't look like it was cut that much.  When I pull it up in a pony tail, you can tell that she thinned the heck out of it.

Curly hair.  Someone who can cut it.  Tara walks on water.

Of course I don't have photos.  That would have taken forethought and obviously, all of the excessive hair got in the way.  Trust me.  It's all good.  :)

Little bits of 5th grade.

This past Thursday was the school wide Literature and Arts Festival.  They have improved it quite a bit from when they first started it.  I believe that K was in the third grade and frankly, it was a bit of a snoozer.

This year it was Dr. Seuss themed.  It made for a bit of a tight night.  K had the Literature and Arts Festival where she was playing in a harp recital and in a shoe fashion show (more on that in a minute) then moving on to swimming lessons at the local university.

Harp recital:  6:45 PM
Shoe Fashion Show:  7:00 PM
Swimming Lessons:  7:45 AM (about a 10 minute drive, park and walk.  About a 20 minute total time investment.)

I painted K's face with a Lorax mustache with pink swirl cheeks and pink eyebrows.  I gave her three unevenly placed hair knobbins with bright pipe cleaners swirling around them.  Her principal was laughing and calling her Cindy Lou Who.  :)  You see, I talked with her art teacher and asked if there was any way we could bump K close to the front of the shoe show so that we could scoop and run if it ran too long.  Sure!

She put her up front.

My baby up front with her Lorax boots.  Those would be her boots on the screen.  I loved that her art teacher took photos of them and put them on the screen so that everyone could see.  

Blurry, but you could get a little idea of those knobbins that I'm talking about.  

You can also see the face paint.  

The kids are on two-handed play with the harp now.  What a wonderful opportunity for her to be able to learn harp this year.  

What was funny is that we raced to swimming with her still in costume.  The students at the university kind of dug it.  She wore her bathing suit underneath all of it, so we could have her ready with clothes, but that left me to pull pipe cleaners out and the more difficult task of removing the paint.  I had baby wipes and had to kind of scrub at the paint.  We got her all ready with 5 minutes to spare!  :)

It's been a rough year.  I credit harp for pulling K through.  What a wonderful blessing in the storm of 5th grade we've had this year.

Super Bowl of Shipping: Good works from small things.

On January 14th, Ames Bros. announced on the Pearl Jam site that they were selling a PJ X Amesbros VS Hunger t-shirt with all proceeds going to their local food bank.  

Official Pearl Jam Firehawk T-Shirt designed by Ames Bros for the Seattle Seahawks Kick Hunger Challenge™ 

We are proud to unveil the Official Pearl Jam Firehawk T-Shirt for the 2015 Seattle Seahawks Kick Hunger Challenge. Represent the Hawks, Pearl Jam and fight hunger in one fell swoop. This Ames Bros Classic 100% Cotton T-Shirt is super soft and lightweight for excellent fit and comfort. Look good, feel good and be the envy of every other Hawks fan on the planet. Meanwhile, you'll help kick hunger in Seattle with the profits from every shirt sold going straight to Food Lifeline.   

Remember, we're the returning champions (Super Bowl AND Kick Hunger Challenge), so be a part of history as we do it all again this season and order the shirt now. 
For more info on helping kick hunger, visit the official Seattle Seahawks Kick Hunger Challenge web page and the Food Lifeline website. Get it at Amesbros. 

I ordered it as soon as I saw it drop onto the site.  Now, I'm not usually one to do that, but I really liked the shirt and the money went to a cause near and dear to my heart-- helping the food bank in their local community.  (I've helped with the food drive at K's school for years.)

I ordered my shirt BEFORE the Seahawks went and won in the last minutes of the game.  :whew:  I would've worn it anyhow.

The shirts weren't printed until January 19th.  I knew we were cutting it close.  PJ also announced their own shirt to benefit the same cause.

Y'all, I had more faith in Ames getting my shirt to me than PJ.  Love my boys, but their shipping times are never really quite great.

In the shipping Super Bowl of Ames vs. PJ, Ames won!  My friend Dave is in Columbus.  He ordered both shirts.  His PJ 12th man shirt is sitting in shipping purgatory 10 miles from his house, but Ames came through.  Mind you, his PJ shirt mailed 3 days ahead of my Ames shirt and 6 days ahead of his Ames, and they are both in Seattle.

Here's what I got:

My shirt started the shipping process on Monday, having left Seattle on Tuesday evening.  Ames uses first class USPS and PJ uses Mail Innovations which is a joint venture between UPS and USPS.  

Mailing anything by Mail Innovations is the equivalent of putting something on a slow boat from Siberia.  That we've definitely found USPS first class wins hands down.

Go HAWKS!  :)

ETA:  At least money went to charity and it is a cool shirt! 

The tale of two scans.

I will begin by telling y'all that I'm fine.  Completely fine.

I went on a Thursday for a mammogram.  Now, when I visited my family doctor in December, he kindly reminded me that it had been a while since I had a mammogram.  I didn't realize I had been so remiss.  I knew that I got an order for one back in April and honestly, I forgot all about it.

"Unforget," was the word that my dear doctor departed with.  He takes precautionary stuff like this very seriously.  I appreciate him doing that.  I went straight home and scheduled one.

On again to Thursday, January 22.  I was scheduled at 10 AM.  I went to the office that I had been to before.  I recalled it not being the most pleasant experience in the world, but it is what it is.  That very morning, K saw me go out the door with a stick of deodorant in hand.

"Um, Mom?  Why are you going with deodorant and not just putting it on?"

"You can't wear it when you have a mammogram."

"What's that?"

"Well, you go to have an x-ray taken of your breasts to make certain that they are healthy.  They have to use a machine that clamps your breast in it and squeezes it down real hard to make sure that they get a good view."

"Does it hurt?"

"Yes, it does."

"I don't ever want to have that done to me."

"A little pain from a mammogram sure beats breast cancer."

"Oh.  Okay, then."

I took K to school, volunteered for a bit, then ran down to have the mammogram done.  I was the only one at the office.  They took their time.  The machine, however, slammed down on my breast harder than anything that I could ever imagine.

"Wow."

The tech asked me if I was okay or if I wanted her to stop.

"No, I want you to do whatever it is that you need to do."

She did.  All was well and I went on my way.  I was certain, however, that bruising would crop up.  I seriously thought that she was trying to remove my sternum from my chest.  That pain lasted for a good solid 24 hours.

Fast forward to Monday.  I was brushing my teeth and trying to get out the door to work.  The phone rang.  It looked like it was some robocall so I didn't answer.  It was my gynecologist's office.

"Hi, Amy?"

"Yes," I say with a mouthful of toothpaste.  "Hold on.  Sorry!"

I got back on and she told me that I needed to go for a rescreen and a possible ultrasound because they saw some dense tissue in my scan.

"Should I be worried?"

"No!  This happens to me every single time I go.  Don't worry.  It's fine.  It's probably just some tissue layered over top of each other."

"Okay."

She told me that they'd call me that day to let me know of my appointment.  They did.  It was Wednesday morning at 9 AM.

Can I tell you that we were a bit concerned.  I know that the appearance of what looked like dense tissue could be nothing.  I also know that dense tissue could be VERY bad.

I should also add that this also crossed over what we consider the "dark days of January."  Our first kiddo, Bailey, died January 27 and was born January 29.  Those days kind of really suck.  We tend to be a bit more emotionally vulnerable at the surface and this didn't help.  :S

Fast forward to Wednesday.  They scheduled me at the local hospital.  I told work that I would most likely be late, despite being 5 minutes or so down the road and having a 9 AM appointment.  By the way, I was late by about 5 minutes or so.

I never realized how incredibly disturbing morning programming was until I heard Kelly Ripa yammer on and on.  I was seriously a nervous wreck and I didn't find her morning banter as a good distraction.  Thankfully, I brought my iPod.  The Talking Heads and Pearl Jam's Cincinnati concert bootleg from this fall were very helpful.

I did finally get called in, a half hour late, but I'd rather them take their time caring for people one at a time.  The woman did what she needed to do but I noticed something and spoke to her about it.  She let the machine down slowly with the peddle and hand cranked it the rest of the way.  The other lady let it down fast and it slammed.

It is here that I tell you that there was a HUGE difference between the two.  One hurt and one did not.  Let us guess which one was a bit better received.

"I've noticed that you hand crank it the rest of the way and not to have it slam down all of a sudden."

"I've found that it works out so much better."

"My guess is that you've had a scan or two."

"Yes, I have."  :smirk added:

I texted M that I was back out and was just waiting.  And waiting.  And waiting.  It wasn't really long but it did feel like an entire day of sitting there.

The world's best mammogram tech came out and said, "Good news!  It doesn't appear in any other scans.  You are good!  Keep up with your annual exams."

The sweetest words of my month.

I have a theory.  The instantaneous slamming of my breast in the machine didn't give it time to settle. It slammed tissue and as they said, could have superimposed tissue on top of the other causing the appearance of dense tissue.  When you roll the machine down slower, it allows flesh and tissue to more gradually compact and thus allowing a better image.  That and I might add that slow and steady doesn't hurt.  Slamming does.

So y'all, remember to go get your annual exam if you are 40 or more.  For some reason, I thought annual mammograms started at 50.  Oops.  I promise.  Every year.  Back to the hospital and back to the best mammogram tech EVER!

:wipes to the forehead:

Go, K, GO!

Today was the Science Expo.  Dang.  It was a long day.  It started last evening, though.  K had to go last night to set up her science fair project.  We got a gander of those around her.  She followed the strict guidelines in the workbook that was given.  Most others did not.  We walked away and I said, "K, did you take a look at what was around you?"  "I did."  "I'm feeling pretty good about your project!"  "Me, too!"

K had her interview at 9:45 AM this morning.  Poor kiddo was so nervous.  All of our girls were.  She went, they talked with her a few and she was done.  She was out in less than 10 minutes.  She was given a participation ribbon and she was pleased as punch.  Not exactly knowing all of the in's and out's of this science shin-dig, we opted to stay on for the awards.  K's teacher said that all of the children get awards, but I found that the awards were on a "rating" type system.  Their rating system was:  Superior, Excellent, Good and Satisfactory.  

My baby got a superior!  :)  

Sorry that it's blurry.  It is the best that I could do.

I had an idea of what a superior meant, but when she came out with sheets in hand, it was like American Idol.  "Oh my gosh, M, she's going on."  And she is!  My baby is going on to the next step of the Science Expo.  That is a larger Science Day held at the local university where K takes swimming lessons.  What day is it?  Oh, it happens to be on the EXACT weekend every year that I have to go out as a buyer for work.  

Drat it all.  Hubs is trying to get the day off work.  He promises that he will take lots of photos.  :sigh:  It makes me feel bad that I will have to hand the baton off and have Hubs handle this one, but as K so politely said, "There are a lot of things that Dad hasn't made it to that he wanted to.  This one is okay, Mom.  Dad can do it with me.  I promise I'm okay with it."  And she is.  I know that she is.  IF he can't get off, I'll arrange it through work that I'll drive to Columbus for Friday, drive back that evening, go to her Science Day on Saturday, drive back to Columbus that evening, go to buy with them on Sunday, then drive back maybe Sunday night or Monday night.  (Hubs is off Monday, so he could cover me on that one, too.)  It's doable.  The people I work for are great and completely family friendly.  Bless their hearts, they'll be pulling for her! 

The project that my baby worked on.  So many hours.

Proud of her!  Onward we go!

5th Grade Harps

Today is a new day in our house.

"Mom, it was so great!  I got to touch the strings and everything!"

K was accepted into the 5th Grade Harps program.  It is the only elementary school harps program between Cleveland and Canton.  She had to apply.  She had to have good grades and fairly impeccable attendance.  Then she had to wait.

And wait.

And wait.

A few weeks seemed like an eternity.  Last Friday was THE day.  She got the long letter.  She got mornings.  What does this all mean to you?

Well, K gets 25 minute harp lessons before school starts 4 times a week for the cost of-- wait for it . . .

. . .  $30 for the ENTIRE school year.

Practically a steal.  We've spoken about harps ever since we heard about them.  I do admit presenting it to her when was much younger as, "It is certainly up to you.  I'd love to see you try.  When in your life will you ever have the opportunity to learn how to play a harp?"

She talked to the music teacher in 3rd grade.  "Nope.  Too young.  Come back at 5th grade."

4th grade was waiting.

5th grade started with waiting.  She needed the application.  She needed to wait to hear.  She DOES want to learn how to play harp and not because her mama really wanted her to.

I love it when we accidentally land on the same page!

So, we have a child studying the harp.  :shakes of the head:  What a cool thing.  How I would have loved that opportunity at her age!

Skip the AC, the air is just fine.

We have had a cool summer.  The bedroom windows are open and my bedroom is a bit chilly.  I have a coat on.  The highs have only been in the late 70's to lower 80's.  My electric bill is loving it.  Frankly, we are too.  We've certainly walked a lot more than we have in any summer past.  There has been enough rain to keep the rain barrels humming.  I haven't had to use municipal water once in my quest to keep the plants alive.

But we do have to wear coats in the mornings during what is normally the dog days of summer.  Makes me wonder if a similar winter will repeat itself.

I hope not.

Here's to hoping the air is chilled and the hum of the AC can be turned off in your neighborhood.  Have a great weekend!

The gift of two bowls.

Photo from Amazon.com.

My husband's Aunt Arlene died probably 4-5 years ago.  Before she passed away, she moved in with her daughter, Jackie.  As she was getting rid of her house and belongings, she gave something to my mother-in-law to give to me-- two Kitchenaid mixing bowls.

You see, Aunt Arlene was a baker.  She made my sister-in-law's wedding cake.  She probably would have made ours, too but my aunt was already making it.  I'll never forget the gift she gave to me for our shower-- baking dishes and utensils.  She gave me two pyrex pie plates, a sifter, the crust rocker thing that I can't recall the name of right at this moment and some lovely kitchen towels.

I still have everything she gave to me and I still use them.

If you own a Kitchenaid mixer, you know how wonderful the bowls are.  I purchased my Kichenaid mixer at Target on Black Friday years ago when the sales started at 6 AM.  I got the last mixer on the shelf.  I paid $169 for it, but saved $90.  I proceeded to the parking lot where I called Hubs and started crying that I couldn't keep it.

"I swear that you better not return that mixer.  It's not like you don't use mixers and you've gone through 2 already.  You'll have this one forever and I'll be mad if you return it."

You should know that my husband never tells me no, but probably because he knows that I don't purchase such things for myself.  He was right.  I had mixed my way through two stand mixers already and maybe a third, better branded one would be better.  It has been and I regret the regret.

Aunt Arlene knew that I bought myself one.  I don't know if we chatted about it or if she asked.  At any rate, she gifted me those two additional bowls.  I have used them for everything.

I use them as the mixing bowl they are labeled as.

I soaked my blood-stained shirt in one after I got home from having my little niece stitched back together.

They are the go-to bowl for garden harvesting.

They were just used this afternoon to hold the bottles of dye for tie dying.

Aunt Arlene was a wonderful woman.  I know that Janeen and Aunt Patti would agree.  Before she passed away, she made all of us afghans.  We have ours on the couch.  It's nice and toasty in the winter.

How thoughtful it was of her to pass the bowls along.  They will continue to be used-- for everything.    And yes, I think of her every single time I pull one out.

The wonderful sniffiness of line dried laundry.

I haven't been able to line dry as often this year as I usually do.  We are about 3 weeks behind on the growing season, which left us full of pollen for far longer than we usually have it floating about.  (As evidenced by my need to smile at my doctor and nearly jump for joy when he gave me my first ever allergy shot.)  I just can't hang the laundry out in that.

Then you have storms, or the chance of storms.  Now, a little sprinkle every now and then never hurt anyone's laundry.  However, if I have to bring laundry in that is wetter than it was when it went out, it may make me cranky.  The chance of storms has been high lately, so I've had to use the indoor lines in the basement.

Today, the weather smiles and I smiled with it.

It is 84 F or so. The sun is bright.  There is a nice breeze.  Humidity is tolerable.  With those things in mind, I jumped out of bed and started pulling sheets off.  I decided that today would be the day to wash the bedspread, too.  I always wash the blankets in the summer and leave them on the line.  However, I have a short run on my laundry line, so it usually takes a few weeks for me to get all of it done.

It is delightful.  I never sleep as well as I do on freshly laundered and line dried sheets.  They are sniffy and just scratchy enough, but not so much to be like sandpaper.  (We can't use softener due to skin irritations.)

I had enough sunlight time to put some other things on the line.  :sigh:  The season is back and we are happy.  :)

Christmas in July- Pearl Jam style.

K and I stopped by work today to pick up my paycheck.  We were talking to the gallery director and the floor manager when my co-worker, Matt, came by.  "Hold on!  Don't leave!"  He went running.  He came back and handed me a wrapped package.  

Should I open it now?  Is that okay?

This is what was inside.  An insane stack o' PJ boots.  

At first, I thought that they were singles.  "Did you get a huge stack of singles in?"  (He also works at an indie record store in town.)  "They are concerts!"  "Oh, my gosh!  They are!"  Because it could be slightly Sheldon-like, I asked if I could hug him.  It was an incredibly thoughtful gift.  He used to work at Border's. He said that he bought them when they were going out.  He listened to them.  He enjoyed them.  He said that he won't listen to them probably again, but knew that I was looking forward to the fall concert.  How sweet was that?  

As I was loading the PJ bootlegs into iTunes, lookie loo what came up on 10c Radio as I was loading Jones Beach?  

Such an incredibly thoughtful thing to do!  :)