A Skating Story

We went ice skating again this weekend. We had a great time! Katie is whizzing around feeling pretty comfortable on her skates. Her quote was, "I'm not into doing tricks. It's all about the SPEED!" Look out! Allison prefers to skate with Ed holding her under her arms. She's not so into trying to do it by herself. And Becky is making steady progress. Funny thing happened while she was skating. A boy from school was there and he is a really good skater. He said hi to Beck a few times and sometimes he'd skate up next to us, just look at her, and then skate away. That, in itself, was funny enough. BUT, Rebecca was very self conscious about her lack of ability and was all embarrassed. To make matters worse, I was taking a break with Allison and Rebecca was a little ways ahead trying to skate on her own. She fell. The boy from school came over and asked if she needed help. She said no and kept trying to get up on her own! He stood there for a few seconds, I think trying to decide whether or not to just help her anyway. She kept trying to get up, but by now she was CRAWLING over to the wall! Her face was all red and she kept looking at me and laughing! He finally gave up and skated away. You see, the thing about Becky is that while she was embarrassed and feeling ridiculous, she totally saw the humor in it! I was close enough to hear all of this and I could've probably gotten over to help her but she was handling it. Didn't we laugh afterwards - actually we laughed while it was all happening too!!

I'm totally into this show on the Discovery channel called Man vs. Wild. If you haven't watched it yet you HAVE to! It's SO cool! I won't even try to describe it to you, I won't do it justice. Check out the link - then WATCH!

LOST is supposed to be on this Wednesday! It's about time! Although, with this lack of good TV I have read some good books! I just finished Freefall by Kristen Heitzman. Excellent. Now I'm reading The Time Traveler's Wife. That one comes highly recommended. I'm only about 30 pages in and am not really into it yet. I know it'll grab me here pretty soon!

We finally have snow covering the ground! We got about 4 inches Friday night. It's just so pretty! After ice skating yesterday we got our bundles on and went out to play! Our backyard has a nice slope to it that is great for sledding. The snow wasn't the snowman kind but we still played and had fun and when we were all done we came inside and had, you guessed it, hot chocolate! No snow in the forecast but it's supposed to be bitter cold with even colder wind chills, BRRRRR!

What We Did This Weekend

This weekend we got a project done that has been eating at both Ed and I since we moved into our house. The downstairs half bath somehow got left out of the interior painting we did last spring so it has been that awful pale yellow and had the UGLIEST GOLD light fixtures you've ever seen and an ugly mirror to match!! Let me just say that the builders of this house used gold fixtures in the kitchen, master bath, and half bath. I'm not a big gold fixture fan but the ones in the master bath are tolerable, the faucet in the half bath is fine, but the gold stuff in the kitchen was gone pretty much immediately when we moved in!! It was a challenge to come up with stuff for the bathroom that incorporated the gold faucet. I think it turned out a-okay.

So here's what the bathroom looked like when we came to look at the house before we bought it.

And this is what it looks like now.

I think it's much better. Ed and I are a good team when it come to these projects. I come up with the plan and he does the work! Works for me! I DO NOT have the patience to paint! I attribute that fact to my first job! I was a painter for several weeks one summer while we were in the Azores. We painted everything from playground equipment to traffic lines at the airport. We even painted cement stop signs. They had to be cement on an island where they called off school because of high winds! I literally got blown off my feet one time in a storm, but that's another story! Anyway, I didn't enjoy my painting job and try to avoid a paintbrush at all costs! Thankfully Ed is a great painter!

The other thing we did was to spruce up Becky's room. I haven't known what to do to make it cozier. Ed actually came up with the plan for this one! So here's Becky's room (scroll down to the picture from this link) when we first moved in.

And this is what we did. Just taking the bunkbeds apart and rearranging the room made such a difference. We also had an easier time deciding what to put on the walls and where to put it. She likes it better too.

That takes care of a couple of things, now there's only a gazillion more to do! It always seems that way, doesn't it? I think our next room will be the dining room. It really needs some furniture and wall stuff but I did get curtains which I love. I'll post pictures when that's done.

Stay Warm!!

A Cute Story

I got this story in an e-mail and thought it was just so cute. Enjoy!

Did you hear about the Texas teacher who was helping one of her kindergarten students put on his cowboy boots? He asked for help and she could see why. Even with her pulling and him pushing, the little boots still didn't want to go on. By the time they got the second boot on, she had worked up a sweat.She almost cried when the little boy said, "Teacher, they're on the wrong feet." She looked, and sure enough, they were. It wasn't any easier pulling the boots off than it was putting them on. She managed to keep her cool as together they worked to get the boots back on, this time on the right feet.He then announced, "These aren't my boots." She bit her tongue rather than get right in his face and scream, "Why didn't you say so?", like she wanted to. Once again, she struggled to help him pull the ill-fitting boots off his little feet.No sooner had they gotten the boots off when he said, "They're my brother's boots. My Mom made me wear 'em. " Now she didn't know if she should laugh or cry, but she mustered up what grace and courage she had left to wrestle the boots on his feet again. Helping him into his coat, she asked, "Now, where are your mittens?"He said, "I stuffed 'em in the toes of my boots."She will be eligible for parole in three years.

Points to Ponder

* Why do commercials aimed at men include toys from our childhood? (I saw the red and blue boxing robots during a recent football game!)

* Why does the water in the toilet bowl go down during a very windy day? (Don't believe it's true? Pay attention next time it's really windy outside)

* How long does it take a goldfish to die when you flush him down the toilet? (Said goldfish was on his last fin!) How much of the journey does he experience before he's rendered unconscious? This is a weird one, I know.

* How come when it's snowing and the sun is shining at the same time there isn't a SNOWBOW anywhere?

* How do drivers ACCELERATE while their brakes are ON? (This one is especially mysterious to me!)

* Why are active duty military legally allowed to participate in an anti Iraq demonstration!? That's a kicker isn't it? Did they or did they not sign up to serve our country? It seems a little traitorous to me! Here's my disclaimer again...I don't hold strong politcal views or have any strong opinions about the Iraq war, I do however find it unfortunate that some active duty military would disrespect their 'commander in cheif' with a public demonstration of defiance.

* When my dog is done eating, why does she immediately head for the rug in the family room and proceed to rub her face all over it and roll on her back and rub some more? Maybe if I offered her a napkin...

* Why do children like to eat snow?

* Why do smokers smoke right outside of the entrance to stores? This is a HUGE pet peeve of mine! I especially wonder why employers let their employees smoke directly in front of the entrance! I am not likely to want to shop someplace where one minute this person is blowing smoke in my face and the next asking if I need any help with something in the store! And one more thing!...at any given time there are AT LEAST 10 Wal Mart employees at the picnic table outside the entrance smoking! DO THESE PEOPLE EVER WORK!? Do non smokers get as many breaks as smokers do??

* Why are pennies a different color than nickles, dimes, and quarters?

* Why do our fingernails look longer after a long bath or a swim in the pool? ( Have you ever noticed that? Rebecca pointed it out to me.)

* What's the difference between a snow thrower and a snow blower?

I think that's about all I can come up with for now. I'm sure I'll have more!

Allison had the creepy crud the other day. Poor baby started throwing up around 1:30 in the afternoon and was still throwing up at 10:00 p.m. Even the next day she was totally wiped out! Wouldn't eat, very lathargic, took a little nap even. If this creepy crud knocked Allie down this bad then the rest of us don't stand a chance if we get it! It seems to take A LOT to knock Allie out. She'll run around, literally, with a 104 fever! She seems much better today but still a bit whiny and sensitive.

Here's Allison playing with her leapster. She pretty much never got off the couch for 2 days!!

We watched Jump In on the Disney Channel. It was very good! It's about a double dutch team who enlists the help of a boxer. It has Corbin Bleu in it. I just love his hair! Check it out.