This might be a long one. No tl;dr. Details are important, y'all.
Saturday, 10/12/19- K and I are two minutes from walking out the door for the funeral of a dear wonderful woman from our church. Poised to put my eyeliner on, my cellphone rings. It doesn't ring that often, so I look and notice it is my love. I answer.
"I am okay. I was just in an accident. The car is totaled."
I found out where M was, took 3 seconds, threw the eyeliner on, threw out a few texts to the parishioners who were expecting us and off and away we went.
Sweet love, the drive to California would have been shorter. I reach the hill where my love says he was hit and I don't see him. K spotted the Yaris first. She gasped. He neglected to tell me that it was off the road and had gone into the woods.
I parked in a woman's front yard, threatened K not to get out because I didn't need her all up in whatever was going on and I didn't want her hit by a car. I crossed the road, inspected my sweets for breakage and leakage. Both were negative. Once I found out I wouldn't injure him with a hug, I squeezed him tight for a long time. Then he dropped the bomb-- the guy who hit him was on his phone.
There were no skid marks. That is why initially I couldn't find the car.
It is now I will admit that I am not proud of the fact that indeed there were some hefty words that fell from my lips. Not at the guy. Not at Mark. At the situation. I was peeved. Dude seriously had total disregard for my husband by cresting a hill and probably driving the equivalent of a football field down a hill and only knew my husband was there when he struck his car with his vehicle. What was he doing? He was changing a podcast. He told M that as well as the troopers.
He launched M over the roadway. The Yaris touched down on the passenger side (turfed the lawn) went through a split rail fence, through the woods, over some saplings and one of the larger ones stopped his continuation forward.
The man hit him so hard that his glasses flew off his face.
Insurance information is passed on. Since his car is was an obvious total that had to be flat bedded out of the woods, I phoned our insurance -- Allstate -- to let them know of the situation. They were all over it. Phoning us daily to see if he was okay. Do they need to handle the claim? . . . Very attentive.
It gets to Tuesday, 10/15/19 and we have yet to hear from State Farm. Again, we have heard from our insurance several times. Since we purchased a new-to-him 2013 Subaru Forester (later referred to as F2 since I have one we purchased in February) I needed to formalize insurance for our new buy. I explained to our agent office that we have not heard from State Farm and the accident was several days prior.
"I don't think he phoned the claim in. Certainly they would have called at this point." She looked the claim phone number up for me, I passed it on to M so that he could phone. I thanked her profusely. We seriously love Allstate and our Allstate agency.
M phoned and they said they hadn't phoned us because they didn't have our contact information. We had the information from the guy who hit my husband. We had his name, insurance and policy number. We could have very easily done an internet search and picked it up. M ended up talking to 5 different people that day who all asked the VERY SAME QUESTIONS. My husband's stock question to State Farm has become, "DO YOU PEOPLE EVEN WRITE ANYTHING DOWN?" I ended up being involved in the last call. When I noticed M's head starting to smoke and he was looking like he was about to have a Sheldon Cooper lunch table explosion, I stepped in.
"How is it that you didn't have his contact information? Don't you have a crash report?"
The guy said no, but different people say something different every time we phone.
I explained that no one phoned to check to see how he was. I explained that no one offered a rental. I explained that there was no attempt to advance the claim on. He kept insisting that the car be brought closer. (It was 45 minutes away and in a tow yard.) After the third time with M telling him he gave the tow yard permission for it to be released to State Farm and that he got all belongings out of it, the guy wanted it closer so that it could be fixed. M blew a gasket. "IT CAN'T BE FIXED! IT IS TOTALED! DO YOU PEOPLE NOT WRITE ANYTHING DOWN?!"
I continued, "It was your guy who was on the phone, hit my husband probably driving 60 MPH, launched him over a roadway, through a fence, into the woods where he finally was stopped by some small trees. It's not okay. The car is totaled. It can't be fixed. We need to get this claim handled."
He told us and I quote, "You guys need to calm down."
Oh. no. he. didn't.
He told us that they needed to get the car moved because they were having to pay storage on it. Kind of not our fault because they never contacted us. So glad he was more concerned about storage fees than my husband's welfare. I believe that I told him that.
I told him that I was so very glad that I didn't have State Farm because the way this claim has been handled has been appalling. If he needed the title, let us know, we will get everything signed and dropped off or mailed.
The personal injury guy has not contacted M back. M's initial call was on 10/15. He has another appointment for adjustment this week. He has suffered from whiplash and it sure would be great to get payment to Cleveland Clinic rolling along.
We finally got a total loss amount back. M was so mad that he told the guy we were going through our insurance and hung up on them. Then I asked my sweets what Allstate said because they could offer us $2000 and not the $4400 State Farm did and then we would be royally screwed.
Silence.
He phoned back, apologized profusely and they are keeping the claim open. We are now waiting to speak to the Allstate rep so that we can have them review it for a total loss claim amount.
We received a copy of the crash report. The distraction coding seems to have been changed to "distraction outside of the vehicle" rather than the admitted "phone use." Yes, well, either he paid the OSHPatrol off or they ended up giving him a break for insurance purposes. We have phoned them to have that amended and, as with everything else, we have heard nothing.
Sunday, 10/20/19- After an enjoyable day to Cleveland where K drove up and around, she handed driving back over to her dad. I had forgotten my purse at home, didn't have either my license or my Epi Pen (yellow jacket allergy and they have been bad) so M drove. We got off the expressway and were waiting to yield just like the two giant yield signs asked us to and WHAM! Oh yes, F2 got rear ended. No, I am not kidding. The replacement car we just financed less than a week before was now damaged.
(She hit us at probably 10 MPH, so it is here that I tell you that we are all okay.)
Once again, I was not at the height of humor or love for humanity. I jumped out of the car and started knocking on the woman's window with my pointer finger screaming at her about now this is twice in one week, a car we haven't owned for a week and what does she say? "You weren't supposed to stop. I looked back, you stopped and you shouldn't have stopped." At this point, my love was at my side. "There was traffic coming. I had to stop." She went on, "This is your fault."
Step back for two seconds. She rear ended us on an exit ramp as we were yielding to oncoming traffic at a yield. It was not continuous turn with caution. It said yield!
I phoned the police. They were all concerned about which direction I was pointed. Y'all, I don't know what direction I am pointed on any given day much less a day where my husband has encountered being hit twice in 8 days. After asking me for the 4th time, I believe she gave up. The police came. We were on a ramp. That was highway patrol territory. Highway Patrol came out. We explained to the trooper what went on. We explained that the woman insisted we were at fault.
He laughed.
He spoke with her. She insisted it was our fault. He explained that we could stop anywhere we wanted on the roadway and it didn't give her the right to hit us. He confirmed his decision by giving her a ticket. He gave us her insurance information. Who is it? You guessed it! State FREAKING Farm.
I tell my love that I can phone this one in since I was in the car with him. I do, I get Kevin from Washington State (he is an ex-cop, super guy and you need to give him a serious raise) who I explain the situation of now a second claim. He finds that the State Farm driver hadn't called the claim in yet, so he processes it with me as far as he can. He will phone her and if successful, they will back to me in about a half hour or so. In 45 minutes, Pam from Dallas TX (who is delightful and also deserves a big fat raise) gave me the claim number, rental car information and was a delight to speak with.
The State Farm delightfulness stopped there.
F2 went to the State Farm approved estimate shop that appears to be run by some nasticious troll who has an attitude worse than anything my husband has seen. (It is here that I remind the gentle readers that my husband is a very kind soul.) He phoned me during the estimate. "I don't feel good about this shop. I don't get a good feeling. This guy isn't nice. This is a production shop. He has no attention to detail and this is terrible."
"You don't have to go there. They told us that we can go to the shop of our choice. The shop that repaired for us before is wonderful and you spoke of going there."
M talked with the awful shop guy who was trying to hard sell to him and in the end, contacted State Farm with an appointment to get the car repaired that M never scheduled. Can I tell you how much fun that has been because State Farm was so insistent that we were going to Backyard Bully Bob's Collision Center that my husband just started chanting on repeat the name and address of the shop we will be having repair F2. He said that the woman lost her patience with him.
Oh, and fun to add that this State Farm representative is confusing the two claims and thinks she is fixing the Yaris. "IT IS TOTALED. DO YOU PEOPLE NOT WRITE ANYTHING DOWN?" was M's response.
BBBCCenter guy never sent the estimate as he said he would. M said he phoned the shop to tell him had never scheduled an appointment and has chosen to go to a different place. We believe the guy is withholding the estimate out of spite because, well, that is how this fine trip with State Farm has been.
So, State Farm-- you are the worst insurance company we have ever encountered. Never have we ever had to phone any insurance company to give our contact information. Just February, my vehicle was totaled at the shop by our mechanic and their insurance was on with me within hours. Everything was sorted within a week. Hooray for Erie Insurance!
Ohio State Waterproofing hit me and K, spun us through an intersection and totaled our vehicle about 12 years ago. Their insurance was all over it. Thank you, Cincinnati Insurance!
My vehicle was damaged at a friend's house by a husband, a strong weed eater and over zealous trimming before a party. Hooray for Westfield Insurance as they had it handled and easily taken care of!
We have already said, but just to confirm, thank you Allstate for your kindness and caring in regard to questions we have had and advice you have been able to give.
State Farm, Step up and redeem yourself! Get these two unfortunate claims sorted in a swift manner, please! You have been absolutely terrible to deal with!
Showing posts with label Me. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Me. Show all posts
Monday, October 21, 2019
Monday, July 17, 2017
Advocating for our kids: Let's allow them to use their own voice.
All too often, I've run into parents too concerned about speaking on behalf of their children. Just today, we had a woman in with her daughter and she was speaking for her.
The daughter had the ability to speak.
The daughter used that ability to speak.
The mother continued to speak for her, but when the daughter was speaking she did pause her interruption.
I believe that the daughter was mildly learning disabled. She spoke on her own behalf. She made her needs known in appropriate ways. She responded appropriately.
So why was mama speaking for her? I believe that she has probably protected and advocated for her all of her life but since this young lady is probably ball parking 16, she is going to have to have mama loosen those communicative apron strings a bit.
As parents, letting those strings out can feel uncomfortable. As parents, letting those strings out could also cause us more work. As parents, we need our children to learn to live outside of our protective or hovering presence.
There was another young woman who came into work to inquire about a job. As you can guess, mom was with her. Mom ran her over, ran to the counter, interrupted her and was completely overbearing. The child could not speak up for herself and she was 18 and going into college.
Parents, we can't do this to our kids.
We need to teach our children how to advocate for themselves. We need them to learn to speak their needs, themselves, and to learn to be (as my kiddo would call) problem solvers.
I was just talking with M this evening and said that it was a blessing for K to move to a school system that I have not been all involved in. At her elementary, every teacher knew me. I was the PTA president, was there all of the time and wrote the monthly newsletter. K was there with me all of the time schlepping tables for book fairs, decorating things, setting up different events and I think that in some small way, this earned her a bit of a communicative pass from some of her teachers. Now this isn't to say that K didn't communicate at all, but she was far more shy about making her needs known.
Fast forward to 6th grade.
M and I dropped K off to a strange school with a building full of kids she did not know, no one knew her mama and she had to make it on her own.
Honestly, at the end of her 6th grade year, she fell flat on her face. It was ugly. We knew that it was happening because of a series of poor choices, but she needed to learn. She was in big trouble. (Lying and not turning work in.) Her teacher allowed her to turn her work in late, but at a maximum of 50% score. It sucked, but we had to let it happen.
She pulled through and in the end, open enrollment continued for her 7th grade year. (We have to re-apply every year, making this mama quite nervous.) K dusted herself off in middle school, found the book club, volunteered at the library, helped her Language Arts teacher during lunch (we didn't even know this until the end of the year) and was chosen to be Student of the Month for October.
She did this all on her own.
It's not to say that there weren't gaffs in 7th grade, but she really pulled herself up by her bootstraps and made her needs known. She discussed some inappropriate speak that was going on with one of the young men, asked me my opinion and I gave her both sides. The next morning she told me, "I've decided to go speak with Mr. L about it. I know what can happen, but what is going on isn't right and I need someone to know." Though retaliation was a definite possibility, she spoke with the Vice Principal about her concerns and throughout the remaining part of the year, he would check in on her and make sure that all was okay.
She did this all on her own.
Children's choices may not be our choices, but we need to allow them to make decisions. We need to allow them to learn to effectively speak for themselves, make appropriate choices and speak out when wrongs need righted. They need to know ramifications of poor decision making. (Clearly we need to make certain that they are safe and keeping others safe.)
We need to help them to model good behavior and good citizenship.
We need to be an example to them of:
The daughter had the ability to speak.
The daughter used that ability to speak.
The mother continued to speak for her, but when the daughter was speaking she did pause her interruption.
I believe that the daughter was mildly learning disabled. She spoke on her own behalf. She made her needs known in appropriate ways. She responded appropriately.
So why was mama speaking for her? I believe that she has probably protected and advocated for her all of her life but since this young lady is probably ball parking 16, she is going to have to have mama loosen those communicative apron strings a bit.
As parents, letting those strings out can feel uncomfortable. As parents, letting those strings out could also cause us more work. As parents, we need our children to learn to live outside of our protective or hovering presence.
There was another young woman who came into work to inquire about a job. As you can guess, mom was with her. Mom ran her over, ran to the counter, interrupted her and was completely overbearing. The child could not speak up for herself and she was 18 and going into college.
Parents, we can't do this to our kids.
We need to teach our children how to advocate for themselves. We need them to learn to speak their needs, themselves, and to learn to be (as my kiddo would call) problem solvers.
I was just talking with M this evening and said that it was a blessing for K to move to a school system that I have not been all involved in. At her elementary, every teacher knew me. I was the PTA president, was there all of the time and wrote the monthly newsletter. K was there with me all of the time schlepping tables for book fairs, decorating things, setting up different events and I think that in some small way, this earned her a bit of a communicative pass from some of her teachers. Now this isn't to say that K didn't communicate at all, but she was far more shy about making her needs known.
Fast forward to 6th grade.
M and I dropped K off to a strange school with a building full of kids she did not know, no one knew her mama and she had to make it on her own.
Honestly, at the end of her 6th grade year, she fell flat on her face. It was ugly. We knew that it was happening because of a series of poor choices, but she needed to learn. She was in big trouble. (Lying and not turning work in.) Her teacher allowed her to turn her work in late, but at a maximum of 50% score. It sucked, but we had to let it happen.
She pulled through and in the end, open enrollment continued for her 7th grade year. (We have to re-apply every year, making this mama quite nervous.) K dusted herself off in middle school, found the book club, volunteered at the library, helped her Language Arts teacher during lunch (we didn't even know this until the end of the year) and was chosen to be Student of the Month for October.
She did this all on her own.
It's not to say that there weren't gaffs in 7th grade, but she really pulled herself up by her bootstraps and made her needs known. She discussed some inappropriate speak that was going on with one of the young men, asked me my opinion and I gave her both sides. The next morning she told me, "I've decided to go speak with Mr. L about it. I know what can happen, but what is going on isn't right and I need someone to know." Though retaliation was a definite possibility, she spoke with the Vice Principal about her concerns and throughout the remaining part of the year, he would check in on her and make sure that all was okay.
She did this all on her own.
Children's choices may not be our choices, but we need to allow them to make decisions. We need to allow them to learn to effectively speak for themselves, make appropriate choices and speak out when wrongs need righted. They need to know ramifications of poor decision making. (Clearly we need to make certain that they are safe and keeping others safe.)
We need to help them to model good behavior and good citizenship.
We need to be an example to them of:
. . . love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Galations 5:22-23We need to allow them to use their voice. We needn't speak for them. We need to guide them. We need to be there to listen. We need to allow them to do it . . . on their own.
Thursday, July 23, 2015
I swear that we still exist!
It's been a few months. I promise we're still upright and all that.
We were all busy at the end of school just wrapping things up. K moved on up to :sigh: going to middle school soon. She ended 5th grade with perfect attendance for the year, honor roll and a President's Education Award. We're busy adjusting to what middle school is going to mean and the changes that come with that.
My girlie in middle school. Let's just sit on that for a second. Every parent sits and says, "Just yesterday . . . "
I had the church rummage sale that ate most of June.
K has been volunteering at the local library twice a week and she's gone a few weeks with M to work to help him as a program volunteer.
My sister got married. Wishing the union goes better than the felony charges that the two decided to rack up given their penchant for pot.
M and I have gone to a few more concerts. You see, people usually go out to eat. Since M can't eat a lot of what is out and about, we have just gone back to going to some occasional concerts. We went to J Roddy Walston and the Business at Musica. Oh, it was so good! M got me a spot in the center front of the stage. (Short girls up front!)
We were all busy at the end of school just wrapping things up. K moved on up to :sigh: going to middle school soon. She ended 5th grade with perfect attendance for the year, honor roll and a President's Education Award. We're busy adjusting to what middle school is going to mean and the changes that come with that.
My girlie in middle school. Let's just sit on that for a second. Every parent sits and says, "Just yesterday . . . "
I had the church rummage sale that ate most of June.
K has been volunteering at the local library twice a week and she's gone a few weeks with M to work to help him as a program volunteer.
My sister got married. Wishing the union goes better than the felony charges that the two decided to rack up given their penchant for pot.
M and I have gone to a few more concerts. You see, people usually go out to eat. Since M can't eat a lot of what is out and about, we have just gone back to going to some occasional concerts. We went to J Roddy Walston and the Business at Musica. Oh, it was so good! M got me a spot in the center front of the stage. (Short girls up front!)
We stood in this line at Mayhem Fest for M to meet . . .
. . . The band members of Hellyeah.
He's always wanted to meet Vinnie Paul and this opportunity made his day.
We've been a little bit of everywhere, and everywhere has been busy. We still have one more month to chip away before the rigors of school kick back in.
No school uniforms.
Flip-flops.
Lightning bug and butterfly catching.
Mosquito bite itching.
Candy tossers in a parade.
Birthday parties.
Family walks at night.
Talks by the campfire.
Cool nights.
Hot days.
Swimming.
Goodies from the garden.
Time together.
:sigh:
Thursday, April 23, 2015
Walking side-by-side in marriage.
I had a customer in yesterday who really got under my skin. He came in, I happily told him to let us know if he needs help with anything. Truly. That's what we're there for and we are happy to help.
He comes to me. He starts talking. It's a bit incoherent.
He speaks of a girl who asked him to marry her. Of course he had to say yes.
He's married.
He's not married.
How could he marry?
He talks on about artists and art. I engage in the conversation. He talks about my boss. I discuss certain aspects of the work.
He speaks of attending college. I say something in regard to that and he tells me that he's illiterate.
:tip of the head with the attending college comment:
He continues to talk. And talk. And talk. I can't fully understand him, but I give a bit of a grunt and nod from time to time. (I can understand the idea he speaks of, but not details.)
Toni comes up. She had been setting a jewelry case in the back. He turns. I kick her in the shin so she knows not to leave. (I apologized later in case I bruised her.) He rambles some more, then goes to look around next door. Later, she told me that she had been keeping an eye on the situation and came to be with me on purpose.
I called next door just to have him followed a bit. I didn't think he would steal anything, but I had no idea what he would do or what customer or coworker he would corner. Matt was sent to hang with him. He later told me, "I didn't know what you had against 'Duck Dynasty' until he opened his mouth. Then I knew."
About 10 minutes later, the guy comes back through. He talks of marriage. He talks of marriage "Being a man and a woman, whites with whites, blacks with blacks and Muslims with Muslims." :chewing on the inside of my cheek:
"Well, I think it's most important that people marry whoever makes them happy."
His response? "I think that obedience is most important. Obedience is more important that happiness, don't you think?"
I may have closed my eyes.
I may have taken a deep breath.
I picked up the phone and called a male coworker over. He was over faster than I ever thought he could move.
He left almost immediately after Dan arrived.
Here's the thing, I don't pull that trigger all that often. I'm not the girl to always have a man come to our rescue. He seemed a little unhinged and I just didn't know which way things would go with him.
What do I think of obedience? Well, it's great when you are a kid or an animal. My thoughts and how we are structured in our marriage is that we're equal in this marriage. My friend will say that she and her husband walk side-by-side. She said that she doesn't walk behind, but doesn't walk in front, either. M and I are that way. There are times one takes the lead a bit more than the other, but we both take care of each other.
Happiness IS most important to both of us.
M's specification before marriage is that we had to enjoy our jobs. If we didn't enjoy them, we had to move on. Neither one of us have changed jobs that often in our 18+ years of marriage. M moved from one permanent park position to another because of continual displeasure with his job. I moved from the wedding boutique partially out of complete unhappiness and partly because I was trying to find a job art related.
We have a small house that we can manage because that brings happiness to us. We love our neighborhood. We love our little plot of earth.
We have basic vehicles that we take care of and own until they die because that brings happiness to us. Shopping for cars stresses us out.
Neither one of us makes demands of the other. Instead, we work together-- as a team. There is no submissive wife. (He knew that long before marriage.) There is no submissive husband. (I wouldn't want that.) We are helpful mates to each other and I would want nothing more.
He comes to me. He starts talking. It's a bit incoherent.
He speaks of a girl who asked him to marry her. Of course he had to say yes.
He's married.
He's not married.
How could he marry?
He talks on about artists and art. I engage in the conversation. He talks about my boss. I discuss certain aspects of the work.
He speaks of attending college. I say something in regard to that and he tells me that he's illiterate.
:tip of the head with the attending college comment:
He continues to talk. And talk. And talk. I can't fully understand him, but I give a bit of a grunt and nod from time to time. (I can understand the idea he speaks of, but not details.)
Toni comes up. She had been setting a jewelry case in the back. He turns. I kick her in the shin so she knows not to leave. (I apologized later in case I bruised her.) He rambles some more, then goes to look around next door. Later, she told me that she had been keeping an eye on the situation and came to be with me on purpose.
I called next door just to have him followed a bit. I didn't think he would steal anything, but I had no idea what he would do or what customer or coworker he would corner. Matt was sent to hang with him. He later told me, "I didn't know what you had against 'Duck Dynasty' until he opened his mouth. Then I knew."
About 10 minutes later, the guy comes back through. He talks of marriage. He talks of marriage "Being a man and a woman, whites with whites, blacks with blacks and Muslims with Muslims." :chewing on the inside of my cheek:
"Well, I think it's most important that people marry whoever makes them happy."
His response? "I think that obedience is most important. Obedience is more important that happiness, don't you think?"
I may have closed my eyes.
I may have taken a deep breath.
I picked up the phone and called a male coworker over. He was over faster than I ever thought he could move.
He left almost immediately after Dan arrived.
Here's the thing, I don't pull that trigger all that often. I'm not the girl to always have a man come to our rescue. He seemed a little unhinged and I just didn't know which way things would go with him.
What do I think of obedience? Well, it's great when you are a kid or an animal. My thoughts and how we are structured in our marriage is that we're equal in this marriage. My friend will say that she and her husband walk side-by-side. She said that she doesn't walk behind, but doesn't walk in front, either. M and I are that way. There are times one takes the lead a bit more than the other, but we both take care of each other.
Happiness IS most important to both of us.
M's specification before marriage is that we had to enjoy our jobs. If we didn't enjoy them, we had to move on. Neither one of us have changed jobs that often in our 18+ years of marriage. M moved from one permanent park position to another because of continual displeasure with his job. I moved from the wedding boutique partially out of complete unhappiness and partly because I was trying to find a job art related.
We have a small house that we can manage because that brings happiness to us. We love our neighborhood. We love our little plot of earth.
We have basic vehicles that we take care of and own until they die because that brings happiness to us. Shopping for cars stresses us out.
Neither one of us makes demands of the other. Instead, we work together-- as a team. There is no submissive wife. (He knew that long before marriage.) There is no submissive husband. (I wouldn't want that.) We are helpful mates to each other and I would want nothing more.
Friday, April 3, 2015
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.
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.
Friday, March 13, 2015
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. :)
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. :)
Sunday, January 18, 2015
The school district science fair. AKA, what was I thinking?
K came home months ago talking about how Mr. H was talking about the science fair. A kiddo who loves science, she was excited to participate. We encouraged her. She heard nothing.
And nothing.
Oh wait.
And nothing more.
When we had a teacher conference in December, I asked about it.
"None of the kids seemed interested."
"I know that K and C were both interested."
He hunted for the paperwork, which took him a week to find. When he finally gave the paperwork, he told the kids that they had to come in the NEXT day to let him know what project they'd be doing. Since we had no time to research more creative projects involving the parameters set before her and her original chosen project of earthquakes, we settled on growing beans in different light, with different growing medium and at a lower temperature than normal.
They registered her bean project and she was off.
She planted the beans on Christmas Eve. She wanted to do them on the 21st, but she was ill with the viral respiratory thing that gave her a fever and general unwellness, so we delayed. But! She's been growing and logging in about these beans since 12/24.
She's been working on the district assigned science fair workbook. It's for 5th - 12th grade. I want you to know, there is nothing 5th grade about it unless she is Sheldon Cooper and I assure you that in smarts, my kiddo is just a good average kiddo. I'm college educated with a degree, consulted with my equally degreed spouse and we had to look things up to explain them to her. My husband's degree is in science.
Nice.
K and I spent 8 hours in front of the computer today. We researched together and I acted as her scribe. We worked through the workbook together for the research paper requirements, my typing her very words and explaining things as we went along.
8 hours, y'all. It is 15 pages double spaced and we still have an abstract to create and a reference page with a minimum of 5 references-- ALL FOR GROWING SOME BEANS!
Long gone are the days when you simply busted out a project overnight with a poster. Nosiree.
And nothing.
Oh wait.
And nothing more.
When we had a teacher conference in December, I asked about it.
"None of the kids seemed interested."
"I know that K and C were both interested."
He hunted for the paperwork, which took him a week to find. When he finally gave the paperwork, he told the kids that they had to come in the NEXT day to let him know what project they'd be doing. Since we had no time to research more creative projects involving the parameters set before her and her original chosen project of earthquakes, we settled on growing beans in different light, with different growing medium and at a lower temperature than normal.
They registered her bean project and she was off.
She planted the beans on Christmas Eve. She wanted to do them on the 21st, but she was ill with the viral respiratory thing that gave her a fever and general unwellness, so we delayed. But! She's been growing and logging in about these beans since 12/24.
She's been working on the district assigned science fair workbook. It's for 5th - 12th grade. I want you to know, there is nothing 5th grade about it unless she is Sheldon Cooper and I assure you that in smarts, my kiddo is just a good average kiddo. I'm college educated with a degree, consulted with my equally degreed spouse and we had to look things up to explain them to her. My husband's degree is in science.
Nice.
K and I spent 8 hours in front of the computer today. We researched together and I acted as her scribe. We worked through the workbook together for the research paper requirements, my typing her very words and explaining things as we went along.
8 hours, y'all. It is 15 pages double spaced and we still have an abstract to create and a reference page with a minimum of 5 references-- ALL FOR GROWING SOME BEANS!
Long gone are the days when you simply busted out a project overnight with a poster. Nosiree.
Planting her seeds.
The box that she drilled the holes in. She had a lot of fun with the drill.
The box for the red light.
Plunking them up into the window.
A nice sunny day.
The best plant we have is the bean planted in the sterilized play sand.
She has one decent plant in the red box. The others are tiny.
One decent plant in the cardboard "shade mimicking" box, but she's tall and spindly.
Soon, my window will be mine again.
I look at it like this. This is an experience that I can give my kiddo. She will not be getting graded on it, but she will also not be getting extra credit. This is all on her own and she is one of four 5th graders who elected to work on the science fair projects. The other three are working together in a group. Their chosen project is biofuels and they have not created said fuel yet, nor tested it, nor written a word for a research paper. Methinks that they are a hair behind. My thought with K? Give her something age appropriately more simple. Give her a project that she can reasonably monitor and have the specific parameters met. We were able to do that. She'll be able to log this in as experience that she got in advance for a science fair in the future that will most definitely be for credit.
Until then, this mama is tired. But! I can tell you the details of water crystals and their carcinogenic nature, the down falls of growing plants in sand and some further background on chemical plant foods found in bagged soil.
Friday, October 10, 2014
Pearl Jam 10/1/14: Tales of rail and wine.
My man and I went to see my favorite band. I've never had the opportunity to see the boys live. I was so excited.
This adventure started a while ago. A long while ago, Hubs and I kind of discontinued going out on dates because, well, we did the kiddo thing. I know, I know. We didn't need to stop living life. We didn't, but we were ignoring being able to go out and have a fun time together as a two-piece instead of a three-piece.
Lightning Bolt came out last fall and the tour ran right when my busy season at work does. There would be no way.
Christmas came and it was a very PJ Christmas. Hubs bought me some merch from the band website and set me up with a bunch of stuff that I didn't have. (Lightning Bolt-- I was waiting because I knew I'd get it as a gift. PJ20 DVD and CDs among other things.)
Rumors were afoot about PJ doing another tour. I signed on to the fan club. I should have done it a long time prior, but life happens. The tour was announced. A pre sale lottery would be held at the end of May for any of the Ten Club members. Plunk in the venue you wish for, the type of seating that you'd want (1st & 2nd choice) and you sit to wait for the lottery magic to happen. Magic happened!
Hooray! I won! What did I win? GA tickets. For those not in the know, GA = General Admission, AKA the pit. :insert anxiety attack: "Holy crap! We just won PIT!" Hubs wanted pit. He said that the reserved seats on the floor would be bad for me. We couldn't see. :deep breath: I came to a conclusion, I'm going in.
Over the next few months, I prepared. I read. I asked questions. I wanted know what to do when the day arrived.
We dropped our kiddo off to school and made arrangements for her to be picked up and cared for that evening. We arrived in Cincinnati at noon. We made a beeline for the General Admission (GA/pit) line. I hung out for a few with Hubs and headed on upstairs to stand in line for merch. They were supposed to have a merch trailer on the street in front of our line and a tent upstairs. We didn't get the trailer, but the tent was a 20x10 Easy Up. The line was long. It took an hour and a half, but we were standing in lines anyhow. Hubs and I texted each other back and forth.
I got my merch (a poster/tube, a shirt, 2 buttons and three stickers) cruised back down and showed it to Hubs. (Thanks to my in-law's for the birthday money.) About 15 minutes later, I got a text from a PJ forum friend that the will call lines were starting and that they were getting long. I dashed back up there to hang out in will call. That took about another 1/2 hour. I texted Hubs that I got the tickets and wrist bands, but was on the hunt for the loo. I handled all that, then sent him for a scenic tour. He needed to get out of line and stretch his legs a bit. He did that twice and on the second time-- all hail the last bathroom stop, the line starts moving. "RUN!" I had no idea. Crap. What would we do if I end up getting sucked inside before him. I could stand out of line, but that trashes standing in line all day. Turns out that people collapsed their chairs, took their coolers to their cars and that's why the line moved in. Hubs got back in time. :whew:
We had to go through a security check point. The band requested that everyone be wanded and patted down before going in. Eddie made a few people mad earlier this summer with comments he made about the fighting around Israel. A few of us think that may be why they had heightened security. It didn't take long. We had to show our wristbands several times, but then voila! We were in.
I had done a lot of reading. I knew what I wanted, where I wanted and how this was going to play out. (At least in my mind.) People were clotted on Mike, Jeff & Ed's part of the stage. Poor Stone. He is the last place to fill up. There was a hunk of rail (the barrier between the people and the band) open and WE GOT RAIL! For someone short, this is far more important than most people would know. We were near the end. There was a stairway that led up and out. We weren't corralled into a giant play yard like I thought! Claustrophobia subsided. It would be good!
Again. We'll go again. We had a great time. We keep talking about it. Hubs, good with PJ but definitely not the intense PJ fan I am, seems to have turned a corner. He is becoming a bit more and more PJ interested. :) Not a bad thing. And yes, we will be purchasing the Cincy bootleg the day that PJ releases it. I have a bootleg credit with my fan club membership & that will come in handy!
ETA: The Cincinnati bootleg will be available 10/28!
This adventure started a while ago. A long while ago, Hubs and I kind of discontinued going out on dates because, well, we did the kiddo thing. I know, I know. We didn't need to stop living life. We didn't, but we were ignoring being able to go out and have a fun time together as a two-piece instead of a three-piece.
Lightning Bolt came out last fall and the tour ran right when my busy season at work does. There would be no way.
Christmas came and it was a very PJ Christmas. Hubs bought me some merch from the band website and set me up with a bunch of stuff that I didn't have. (Lightning Bolt-- I was waiting because I knew I'd get it as a gift. PJ20 DVD and CDs among other things.)
Rumors were afoot about PJ doing another tour. I signed on to the fan club. I should have done it a long time prior, but life happens. The tour was announced. A pre sale lottery would be held at the end of May for any of the Ten Club members. Plunk in the venue you wish for, the type of seating that you'd want (1st & 2nd choice) and you sit to wait for the lottery magic to happen. Magic happened!
Thank you, Discover Cash Back, for helping to offset the cost of our date.
Hooray! I won! What did I win? GA tickets. For those not in the know, GA = General Admission, AKA the pit. :insert anxiety attack: "Holy crap! We just won PIT!" Hubs wanted pit. He said that the reserved seats on the floor would be bad for me. We couldn't see. :deep breath: I came to a conclusion, I'm going in.
Over the next few months, I prepared. I read. I asked questions. I wanted know what to do when the day arrived.
We dropped our kiddo off to school and made arrangements for her to be picked up and cared for that evening. We arrived in Cincinnati at noon. We made a beeline for the General Admission (GA/pit) line. I hung out for a few with Hubs and headed on upstairs to stand in line for merch. They were supposed to have a merch trailer on the street in front of our line and a tent upstairs. We didn't get the trailer, but the tent was a 20x10 Easy Up. The line was long. It took an hour and a half, but we were standing in lines anyhow. Hubs and I texted each other back and forth.
I got my merch (a poster/tube, a shirt, 2 buttons and three stickers) cruised back down and showed it to Hubs. (Thanks to my in-law's for the birthday money.) About 15 minutes later, I got a text from a PJ forum friend that the will call lines were starting and that they were getting long. I dashed back up there to hang out in will call. That took about another 1/2 hour. I texted Hubs that I got the tickets and wrist bands, but was on the hunt for the loo. I handled all that, then sent him for a scenic tour. He needed to get out of line and stretch his legs a bit. He did that twice and on the second time-- all hail the last bathroom stop, the line starts moving. "RUN!" I had no idea. Crap. What would we do if I end up getting sucked inside before him. I could stand out of line, but that trashes standing in line all day. Turns out that people collapsed their chairs, took their coolers to their cars and that's why the line moved in. Hubs got back in time. :whew:
We had to go through a security check point. The band requested that everyone be wanded and patted down before going in. Eddie made a few people mad earlier this summer with comments he made about the fighting around Israel. A few of us think that may be why they had heightened security. It didn't take long. We had to show our wristbands several times, but then voila! We were in.
I had done a lot of reading. I knew what I wanted, where I wanted and how this was going to play out. (At least in my mind.) People were clotted on Mike, Jeff & Ed's part of the stage. Poor Stone. He is the last place to fill up. There was a hunk of rail (the barrier between the people and the band) open and WE GOT RAIL! For someone short, this is far more important than most people would know. We were near the end. There was a stairway that led up and out. We weren't corralled into a giant play yard like I thought! Claustrophobia subsided. It would be good!
Our rail spot before the show. The security guards behind us? The coolest security guards ever! (And for whatever it is worth, my husband was crouched down a little when they took the picture. I guess he didn't want me to look that short.)
My man told me to turn around. He wanted to get a picture with the boys and me. :) You can't see Boom, but you can see everyone else! Since we were in front of the speaker stack, we did wear ear plugs. Hubs wore two. He said that wearing one had him off balance. I wore just on in the right-- the ear that was 7' from the speakers. My left was fine.
During the concert, Eddie went to the side stage and started pouring wine out into people's cups. Security went running with a sleeve of cups. One security guard came around the corner and was standing in front of me with 4 cups of wine. I reached my hand out. He looked at me for a minute and said, "But you have to pass it." I shook my head in agreement, glad that I had the cup before 100 lips were on it, then he said again, "But you have to pass it." I took a big gulp to prove I wasn't hoarding it (dribbled some down my chin, too) and passed it to Hubs. He had no idea what was going on, so he passed it on. It was tasty. A red wine and I have no idea what I was drinking. I was the first one at it and it came from Eddie, so it was all good.
The big guy beside me? That would be Sean. He and his girl, Elizabeth, were getting married that weekend. Sean had been a security guard at US Bank Arena. I was, at that point, the shortest one in a line of much taller people. He sandwiched Elizabeth between him and Jay, her rail mate. He sandwiched me between him and Hubs. He told me that they would keep us girls safe. They did!
Hubs watched out for me the whole time. That's the kind of man he is. :) The next day, he asked, "Did you realize that the woman behind you was playing with your hair the whole time?" Weird. She was doodling with my backpack, too. It was a stiff string backpack, so if she tried to get into it, I would have felt it. Her friend weedled her way in next to Hubs and was smooshed up next to him the whole time. Welcome to the GA pit!
The big guy beside me? That would be Sean. He and his girl, Elizabeth, were getting married that weekend. Sean had been a security guard at US Bank Arena. I was, at that point, the shortest one in a line of much taller people. He sandwiched Elizabeth between him and Jay, her rail mate. He sandwiched me between him and Hubs. He told me that they would keep us girls safe. They did!
Hubs watched out for me the whole time. That's the kind of man he is. :) The next day, he asked, "Did you realize that the woman behind you was playing with your hair the whole time?" Weird. She was doodling with my backpack, too. It was a stiff string backpack, so if she tried to get into it, I would have felt it. Her friend weedled her way in next to Hubs and was smooshed up next to him the whole time. Welcome to the GA pit!
The concert was 14 ways of magical. Truly. The best. concert. ever. (Trumps Pink Floyd at Cleveland Browns Stadium in 1994.) The set list as posted by Sea, our fearless PJ Forum Moderator:
Pearl JamFor 3 hours and 15 minutes, I danced, sang, bounced and jumped. I left knowing that I gave PJ everything I had to give. I was exhausted.
US Bank Arena
Cincinnati, OH
Set List
October 01, 2014
01. Pendulum
02. Nothingman
03. Of The Girl
04. Mind Your Manners
05. Lightning Bolt
(Notes how long since they last played Cincinnati and is glad to be back)
06. Corduroy
07. Spin The Black Circle
(“that goes out to the fine folks at WKRP”)
08. Got Some
09. Even Flow
10. Sirens
11. Love Boat Captain/Jumpin’ Jack Flash-(Jagger/Richards) {with new intro-similar to outro jam}. Jumpin’ Jack Flash was one verse during the outro jam section
12. Present Tense
13. Daughter/Keep It In Motion-(Pollard)/Another Brick In The Wall Part 2-(Waters)
(Ed discusses the band rooming situation in the early days and playing at a local club called “Bogart’s” where the guy Ed was sharing a joint with “bogarted” it.)
14. State Of Love And Trust
(a story about Keith Richards’ knife)
15. Waiting On A Friend-(Jagger/Richards)
16. Jeremy
17. Comatose
(Ed introduces the next song and talks about the great band Guided By Voices)
18. Setting Forth
19. Porch (Ed stands on the barricade and sings)
Encore Break 1
20. Sleeping By Myself
(Ed talks about certain truth’s that the band are in agreement on like Climate Change and some sort of gun control. There are many injustices in the world and while not as important as some, not having Pete Rose in the hall of fame is an injustice. The next song is for Pete’s son as well as Pete)
21. Man Of The Hour
22. Parachutes
23. All Those Yesterdays
24. Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town-(played to the people behind the stage)
Ed asks for the lights to brought up so he can find and thank Gerry. She is a nurse that works with patients suffering from Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB).
25. Given To Fly
26. Unthought Known
27. Do The Evolution
(Ed dedicates the next song to his friend Sean (sp) and his wife Mandy. “It doesn’t apply but I wanted to dedicate a song to them.”)
28. Better Man/Save It For Later-(Charley, Cox, Morton, Steele, Wakeling)
(Ed smashes his white Gibson SG at the end of the song)
Encore Break 2
29. Black
Dedicated to The Who and the families that had to live on with the terrible tragedy that happened in this building 35 years ago. Ed acknowledges that they have some experience with a tragedy like that and the guys from The Who reached out Pearl Jam after Roskilde. Ed comments that is great to see so much positive energy here tonight. “This is the last song they played that night.”
30. The Real Me-(Townshend)
32. Alive (Mike goes into the audience during the solo)
33. Rockin’ In The Free World-(Young)
34. Yellow Ledbetter/Star Spangled Banner
Again. We'll go again. We had a great time. We keep talking about it. Hubs, good with PJ but definitely not the intense PJ fan I am, seems to have turned a corner. He is becoming a bit more and more PJ interested. :) Not a bad thing. And yes, we will be purchasing the Cincy bootleg the day that PJ releases it. I have a bootleg credit with my fan club membership & that will come in handy!
ETA: The Cincinnati bootleg will be available 10/28!
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
The Camping Weekend: Lake Hope and Hocking Hills
We went on a weekend camping trip. We were delayed by a day because of predicted severe weather. We got out on Friday morning and started our adventure.
We went to feed hummingbirds at the Lake Hope Nature Center. I was the only one who got any action. Hubs tried. K had the magic behind the camera.
The longest campsite we can find there. Our favorite site!
My people fished and I was taking pictures-- surprise, surprise.
I added a year. My girlie made me a banana bread birthday cake. They even remembered the candles!
The two tents and the tarps.
The sleeping quarters. Now, it says it is a 5 man tent. As you can see, one queen sized air mattress and one cot fills it.
We started our hiking at Ash Cave.
We moved on to Cedar Falls. Unfortunately, a number of trails and the main trailhead were closed permanently because of three deaths this spring. People die in Hocking Hills every year. Three people died at Cedar Falls because they tried to get too close and fell 100 feet. If you follow the trails and stay on them, it isn't an issue. Every single death was from people leaving the trail. I might add, Ohio State Parks has a lot of signage and always has.
We previously hiked this trail. :(
Out of focus, but you can see that the trails aren't always very wide and the steps are covered in sand. Sometimes the steps are steep. Keep in mind that most people we saw were hiking in flip flops. I don't know how they did it.
On the quest for Old Man's Cave . . .
I just read that this bridge is slated for replacement this month. Um, she was a bit bouncy and the deck definitely needs some love.
Dinosaur Scale, if memory serves. At least that's what Hubs called it.
Old Man's Cave.
Drat it all. Humans. I was selfish and didn't want to share the view. I wanted the joint to myself. Is that too much to ask?
The cable and post system that they have in some places is new. It is because of the spring deaths.
Watch your head, Hubs!
At Conkle's Hollow Nature Preserve, they had a field full of native wildflowers. K got the butterfly net out.
'
She caught herself a monarch.
A trail that those with disabilities can enjoy.
The American Ninja Warrior challenge. :) She did end up with a wet foot after one of the passes.
The ferns growing on the rock I thought was very interesting.
Rock House. This is where we took our Christmas picture.
A summer azure.
Hubs was on the hunt.
Got an azure.
The sunset.
I swear that they hose the wood down before they sell it to us. Hubs was struggling to get the fire going. He was using a tote lid as billows.
Dinner to the left, bathing water to the right. I ended up throwing the corn on the cob into the fire. It was wonderful! We also had green beans in there and potatoes. I picked them up from a farm market stand at a gas station.
A young bull frog.
My birthday prize. It's a little guy that holds about 1000 songs and PJ took up 624 of those. (Hubs preloaded it for me.) I've since taken all of the 2000 PJ bootlegs out but one (Las Vegas), took the singles out and added Jack White, The Dead Weather, Raconteurs, The Afghan Whigs, The Misfits, CAKE, Fugazi, Talking Heads, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Chris Cornell, Temple of the Dog and The Pixies. :) I needed me some more music than just PJ. Love PJ, but needed variety.
Playing cards after dark.
I won!
The net that held my many phone parts. Phone parts you ask? Why yes, Hubs ended up gutting my phone down as far as he could because my phone dropped out and into the bathing kettle of hot water. He stripped it down (thank you Leatherman!) and left it to dry overnight. It did work after the dunk. We had dried it out the best we could. About an hour later, the keyboard locked up. The next morning, Hubs put it back together and it now works as good as ever. Hooray! :) Hubs is my hero.
The morning view out of the foot window. That would be our tent light hanging there.
The blind photo camera picture out of the window above my head.
My friend, Aimee, teases me about all of the bug spray and sunscreen in the back door. Okay, we have four mostly used sunscreen containers, but we have 5 different versions of mosquito spray. Different deet. No deet. Outside, deep woods, sportsman. We have it all. After all of the teasing, Aimee admitted a need while attending a picnic. I reminded her of all of the teasing.
Yes. Yes, we are. My lil iPod came to me loaded with all of my PJ CDs. We even listened to the Mansfield, MA 2003 boot all the way home.
We had a great time. We even stopped by Sonic for the first time. Never mind that I shut three of my child's ten digits in the door. (She's okay.) We all got slushies and got on our way. Yumola! :)
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