Halloween With The Bisbee's

I'm just a little late posting our Halloween pictures, but I had so many to sort through.

Here are our pumpkins all ready for carving.  They were picked out with great care!

Hattie wanted in on all the fun.  She inspected all the pumpkins and deemed them ready to be carved.

Bailey was a little put off by all the pumpkin "goop".  How can you maintain perfect cleanliness and carve pumpkins?  When someone has an answer could you please let us know?  By the way, she was Bella for Halloween.

Brenden wasn't able to carve pumpkins with us but he enjoyed all the pleasures of Halloween parties and trick or treating.  What a great Ninja!

Bryan thought he was a little too old for Halloween this year...you know, being 14 makes you practically and adult!  He did help carve a wicked, scary cat for us.

I think Caleb might have had the most fun carving this year.  Could it be because he only had to pick out the template and then cheer his Mom and Dad on while they carved his "Freak Spider"?  He was so proud of himself for picking out yummy cookies to enjoy while all the festivities were going on.  Don't you think he makes a good "Scary Skeleton"?

Kristen really enjoyed carving her pumpkin.  Nothing about it bothered her.  She is far too daring to use a template.  She just carved what she felt and it turned out great.  She enjoyed being Alice from the Twilight Series.

We were so happy to have Sarah home with us this year, Manhatten has had her for far too long!  She carved a great Edward profile from the Twilight Series.  Bailey was ready to fight for the template but Sarah won out.

Here are the finished products!  Aren't they great?  It's too bad that we didn't have a single trick or treater darken our doorstep this year.  I guess these guys were just a little too scary for them.

Nana enjoyed the warmth of the fire while everyone created.  Aunt Earline had just gotten home from the hospital earlier that day so we didn't want to stress her too much by taking pictures or moving the hooplah around her.  She enjoyed the nice fire all comfy in her special chair.

Cecil was kind enough to take the kids trick or treating this year since it was right in the middle of a great Razorback football game.  Lynne and I got to stay at my house and "Woo Pig Sooieee".  We then enjoyed the fruits/candy of the kids labor!

A Purpose And A Plan

     I was talking to a friend tonight and observed her crocheting a scarf.  I asked about the pattern and who she was making it for.  The answer gave me a new purpose! 
     This friend works with adults that suffer from mental illness. Tragically, most of the people she works with are also homeless.  She is making scarves and hats for them to protect them from the cold.

     I am an accomplished knitter, so I have decided to put my skills to work for those who are less fortunate than I.  Here is a scarf pattern I picked out.

     I want the scarves to be pretty and functional.  I think this pattern will work great.  I was also thinking I might use this pattern for a hat.

     And I think I want to make these mittens...

     Hopefully these will be functional (very warm) and pretty.

     I might even find some simple, beginner crochet patterns and get Kristen to help me make some things.  She loves to crochet.   I love to knit with a purpose!

It's Good To Be Me!

Today was a good day to be me! I woke up to a little girl snuggling me and anxious to be on our way to General Conference. This is a semi annual meeting where we are able to hear from the General Authorities of our church for two days. It was so wonderful to be able to listen to the two sessions today and come away feeling spiritually fed. There were so many wonderful things to take in but a few really caught my ear.

From Elder Richard G. Scott: The Lord will not force you to learn; you must exercise your free agency...

Sister Vicki F. Matsumori: One reason we are encouraged to read the scriptures and pray daily is to allow a time to invite the spirit into our lives.

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf: The first step in walking in righteousness is to try it.

I think this last one is my favorite of the day.

During the break, Kristen and I went to the local Wal Mart to buy some yarn for her. She is learning to crochet and wants to make an afghan for someone special to her. We picked out colors and tomorrow morning she will go through some patterns. I am letting her crochet during conference sessions. I was a little worried that she would not take in anything from conference because she was concentrating on practicing her stitches. I couldn't have been more wrong. Tonight while we were lying down she told me that she had listened to a talk from Elder David A. Bednar (she didn't mention his name, I'm just filling in for her) that really touched her. She wanted to make sure that I knew how much she loved me. My heart melted. She told me that she wanted to do as Elder Bednar counseled and tell me how much she loves me more often.

See? It's good to be me!

And the cap for the good day? The Razorbacks kicked butt tonight! Yeah!

Little Rock to New York to Madrid

I'm blogging just a little late but here are the adventures thus far.

In the security line at the Little Rock airport we are behind an elderly lady in a wheelchair begging the security personnel to let her keep her full can of hairspray. No can do. So she pulls off the cap, starts spraying almost the entire can on her hair and the rest of us poor souls in line behind her. She primps her hair and tosses the can in the trash. Meanwhile, the security guard and I are trying to find oxygen to breath and hold in laughter at the same time. I was not successful! Wouldn't you know it? She ended up on the same flight with us.

After a late start we make it to Atlanta, cause ya know, you can't get to NYC going northeast....apparently you must go southeast by northeast to sneak up on the city. They must have caught onto us because we had to circle New Jersey for an hour before we could set down in La Guardia's hallowed runways. As we are exiting the plane, my sister grabs her carryon from the baggage stowage and we proceed up the breezeway to the airport. We get almost all the way up the breezeway when we hear someone behind us trotting and yelling "Ma'am, Ma'am". He finally passes us and stops in front of us. He points to my sister's carryon and says "Ma'am, I think that's my bag. There is another on the plane that is probably yours." We laugh and mumble about how we are not theives, etc......and then we walk back onto the plane. The flight crew is looking at us a little funny but they let us go on, we retrieve the bag, and Voila! we are on our way to Manhatten to Sarah's apartment.

We spend a leisurely day shopping and running errands before it is time for us to get on the plane to Madrid. Have you ever traveled to JFK on a Friday afternoon? We made it to the airport just in time for them to tell us the flight is delayed due to weather. After sitting on the runway for an hour we are off to London. The flight is very uneventful but late. We, of course, miss our connecting flight to Madrid. This is not a problem for us. We are so used to things not going smoothly on our many trips. We finally get rebooked on another airline and head off to Spain without our luggage.

This is us looking sad because our luggage is not with us.

It is no problem. We grab a taxi to our hotel and set off on this marvelous journey in a country that speaks spanish.....did I mention that none of us speak spanish? We do very well. The wonderful Conceirge at the hotel helps us out.

For instance, he tells us to go to our room and when we are ready for dinner just come back and he will give us a good place to go. So, we go to our rooms to .clean up as best we can without our personal things. There is just one problem. We can't turn on the lights in our room. We hit all the light switches....I even found the main breaker and flip it a couple of times...no lights. Finally Sarah sticks our key into some contraption just inside the door and we have lights. Now, my brain is running on very little sleep and when the lights go off about 5 minutes later I want to cry. I cannot believe we are going to have to get up every five minutes just to turn the lights back on. Boy, am I glad Sarah had more sleep than me. She puts the key in the slot and leaves it there......and guess what? The lights stay on! After this trying ordeal we go back to our friend at the front desk to get directions for dinner. It is about 5:30 or 6:00 pm at this time. We ask him where to go for dinner and he says "Now?". We go through the whole thing about how tired we are and how hungry we are, etc. He tells us that the restaurants won't be serving dinner until 8:30pm but no one goes before 10 or 11 pm on a weekend. Sarah asks him what old people do because they eat dinner at 4:30 and go home and go to bed by 8:00. I think the majority of the sentence was lost to him because he told us "you are in Spain, now you get to think like the spanish and do like the spanish." He did find us a restaurant to go to and we managed to order dinner by pointing at pictures on the menu and doing a little miming action. All in all we do pretty good our first day. I even get my luggage delivered the next day around noon. Sarah's and Lynne's still haven't come. Lucky me!

4 Kids...Spring Break...Boredom

My kids have been on Spring Break this past week, and yes I am still alive, barely! We had a few rainy days that they had to really work at to pass the boredom. Their cousin, Boo Boo, was over for several days and the girls thought this would be the perfect opportunity to create. Unfortunately, they used Boo Boo as their canvas. Boo Boo is an adorable 4 year old boy. They thought it would be cute to create a buxom woman out of him. This is the result:

One day he is going to be big enough for payback. They need to be looking over their shoulders.

Me, Three, and History

It is on days like this that I am so grateful for the simple teachings of my grandmother, Lessie. Throughout my life I listened to her tell me that in God's eyes there is no color. She taught me to be colorblind and status blind when viewing people. It has served me well in this life.

Today I was able to share a marvelous day with my children and pass these same teachings to them. We now have a new President and I am happy to say that the only issue I have about his appointment is that we belong to different political parties. I, along with my children, will do all we can to support this man and will keep him in our prayers.

It was a glorious day to snuggle up with my kiddos on our couch and watch the inauguration of President Obama. It was wonderful for them to see history in the making and another testament that their really are no limits to what they can do in this life. His presidency will show that the barriers are down and, yes, it is possible! I am glad I had this day, and I am glad I shared it with my children. So, world, embrace the change and support this man!

The Esteemed One

I don't have a lot of time this morning but I just wanted to let you know that my baby, LiLi, made the esteemed list at school. This means she made all A's the first grading quarter. I am so proud of her! She has actually made all A's on all of her report cards since she started school. I love that she is like a sponge and soaks up anything and everything she can while learning about a subject. I love that her teachers love having her in their classes. It makes for great Teacher/Parent conferences. But most of all I just love her for her! Way to go LiLi!

What???!!!

Yesterday, after picking up my kids from school, I dropped by the library to return a few books. As I was driving down the road a car started to pull out of a bank drive and almost hit the side of my beloved Sherman the Tank. I was startled by the near miss and looked at the driver of the BMW, an older lady, and could not figure out why she was glaring at me. After all she was the one who almost hit me! Some people. Well, the kids and I laughed it off and went on about our way.
This morning as I was driving the kids to school YaYa started talking about the "almost accident". I again reflected on the glare the lady gave me and said something to the kids about how you shouldn't glare at people that you almost hit with your BMW. LiLi quickly piped up that the lady was glaring at her, not me. I then told her that the lady wouldn't be glaring at her, she wasn't driving the car. She then responded that she was the one who raised both arms and with a disgusted look on her face mouthed "What??!!!" to the lady.
Now I understand the glare!

Just Do It!

It has been so long since I last posted anything.....It is hard to start back because I feel like I have to catch up on everything that has happened in the past month or so. Well, this morning I decided I don't. I am going to take a page out of my dear mother's book of "Putting Your Head In the Sand; Life really will go on around you but you don't have to deal with it!" It's a great book! I recommend it to anyone who wants to check out of reality for a while. You know....if you ignore it it will go away!
So, now that that is out of the way. I had a few minutes before I left for church and just thought I would take care of the big elephant in the room, or rather, on the blog. Now when I sign in to blogger I don't have to feel guilty for not updating:

• my latest thoughts
• goings on
• going
• crazy
• fun things the kids have done
• not so fun things the kids have done

Now I can go off to church secure in the knowledge that I did my small part today.

Until the next time!

On a Trolley to Treasure Island

Isn't this the neatest way to travel to a field trip destination? I went with LiLi's class to see Treasure Island last week. Because their school is located in the downtown area it is much easier to hire a trolley to take the kids to the Children's Theater. We sure looked smarter than any of the other schools as we climbed off our cute trolley and they clambered out of the big yellow bus.

Unfortunately, this might have been the highlight of the trip for me. The play was Treasure Island. I am not a fan of pirates, swashbuckling, treasure hunting, ships, did I mention pirates? I really just endured the play. The kids enjoyed it. That is good enough for me.

After the play we walked next door to the park and ate a picnic lunch. The weather was great! There was a slight breeze and the temps were about 70. Just perfect for some fun in the park. The kids were able to run around and chase geese after they ate. They loved it!
The geese........not so much! I love this school and I love the teachers. We are so fortunate
to attend this school. I am having so much fun being the room parent and doing all these fun things.

Emotional Tsunami vs Hot Flashes

Last night I was reminded of how horrible those pre-puberty days were. YaYa is falling head first into puberty with all the grace of a Tsunami. I feel so bad for her. One minute she is perfectly fine, dancing around and happy-the next she is sobbing like her world ended and running around slamming doors and screaming into a pillow. Yes, my little YaYa can make some noise! I sat with her in my lap last night talking to her about what was happening in her little body (it is not the first talk, it just helps to keep reassuring her that she is not going crazy!) and telling her that it will get better one day. I'm not so sure she believed me. Which brings me to my title: Emotional Tsunami vs Hot Flashes. Which is worse?

With her Tsunami she just needs a few doors to slam. I will need to buy stock in Kleenex and keep a few dozen boxes on hand at all times. It would probably be a good idea to invest in some extra pillows. If she screams into 3 stacked on top of each other do you think it will mute the screams?

With my hot flashes I just need to have someone invent a portable air conditioner that I can strap to me at all times. I could move to the North Pole. I just need to keep a snow bank in my back yard that I could run to in tshirts and shorts whenever I need it. I could invest in an ice company and keep tubs of it on hand always. Why, oh why did my great great grandparents have to sell the ice house business? Didn't they know it would come in handy one day. Who said ice houses would be passe with the invention of the electric refrigerator? I have become immune to my kids calling me "Ice Queen" because I keep our house nice and cool all the time. Can I help it if my kids like to wear coats and quilts around the house all the time? The temp seems just fine to me.

I guess it is a debate that will go on for eternity. I can't say that I enjoy either state. For now I will just have to keep pamprin and ice on hand.

It's Gil Stovall, Ya'll!

A few weeks ago Gil Stovall visited my childrens' school. Who is Gil Stovall you ask? He swam the butterfly on the 2008 USA swim team along with Michael Phelps. What's he doing down here in the south, you ask? He was doing a favor for his mom. Isn't that sweet? He actually goes to school one state over from us but he came to our great school as a favor to his mom.

This is his mom giving him (no she is not giving him the "finger") directions to get back home. She is the economics teacher for the elementary children. LiLi has been learning about China and their economic system since school began. Mrs. Stovall even brought each of them a small gift when she returned from China. For those non Olympic enthusiasts (I, so , do not connect with you....I was glued to my tv night and day!) the 2008 Summer Olympics were held in Beijing. China (for those non geographic enthusiasts).

Sorry about the blurriness of the pictures. The batteries in my camera were a little low. He was a big hit at the school. He spoke to everyone in the school first, then he went to every class and answered specific questions and gave autographs. Can you guess what types of questions he got to answer? This is what I heard about. BB's 7th grade class a young lady raised her hand.
Gil Stovall: Yes, what is your question?
Girl: You are hot!
Gil Stovall: Ummm, thank you. Anyone else have a question?

In the 5th grade he got a lot of giggles and whispering mixed in with adoring, worshipful looks. I think the elementary kids were a little more interested in his training.

Building on yesterdays blog about Miss YaYa getting boys to do things for her.....The whole week we were preparing for him to come to our school, she was not the least bit interested.
After he came to the school she took on a whole new attitude.
Suddenly she was very interested in the Men's Olympic Swim Team. She suddenly wanted to go to the University of Tennessee, now. Isn't it great that she is only in 5th grade and wants to jump right into college courses. Her enthusiasm was dampened just a little when I told her that Stalking Gil Stovall 101 had been dropped from the curriculum this year. My girl is no quitter, though. She decorated her notebook with his personal, signed autograph (She got LiLi to ask him to write a personal autograph with her name and a message. Apparently she was struck dumb by his hotness and could not speak for herself). She even wrote his name about 100 times in different styles and colors. Isn't she creative? Anyway, we were impressed by the sincerity of this young man and his dedication to his sport. And, just for the record...he has beaten Michael Phelps a couple of times in the Butterfly..just not at a major meet. He beat him during training. How many of us can say that?
Go Stovall!

Why do it myself when I can just get a boy to do it?

Yesterday before school, Ya Ya and I were talking and the strangest things came up. I asked her to turn in a PTA form to the school secretary for me and she said "Okay, I'll get one of the boys to do it." I was a little confused. She passes the secretary every morning on her way to classes. Why can't she just hand it to her? I questioned her on this and her response was, " Well, whenever I want something done I just ask a boy to do it and they do it for me. It's great! I can even get the ugly boys to do it too."
This concept is just a little foreign to me. I did not grow up in a family of flirts. None of us flirted. We were all very serious, goal oriented, "I can do it myself" type of people. It would never have occurred to me to ask a boy to do something. When I was in High School I was placed in an experimental co-ed PE class. There were only 4 girls in the class. I competed with them and beat them in various games. I doubt they would have done anything for me if I had asked them to.
LiLi then piped up saying "I don't ask boys to do anything. If I want them to do something for me I pay them with 4th grade bucks." Now that is something I can relate to.
I think I am in big trouble. YaYa is not old enough to be flirting is she? The teen years just might do me in!

Six Flags and Thunderstorms

This past weekend I took a trip to St. Louis, MO with my three kiddos. They were so excited to go to Six Flags. We were really in need of some bonding. It was great just having fun with the kids, not prodding them to clean their rooms, do their homework, work in the yard, etc. Instead, we had lots of kid friendly music in the car, laughter, snacks, and fun topics to talk about. I think I may have hit "Cool" on the mom meter!

We stopped in Sikeston, MO for a late lunch/early dinner at the famous Lambert's Cafe (home of the thrown rolls). I enjoyed the meal;the kids enjoyed catching the dinner rolls. Who cares that we had more rolls at our table than we could eat?

LiLi had fun playing on the wooden train outside of the restaurant. She thought they had cool grilled cheese sandwiches, too. YaYa and BB were way too hip to go anywhere near this train.

We got to our hotel room in St. Louis with plenty of time for more fun. The kids were all set to go swimming. Alas, the pool had closed on Labor Day. The kids were not happy. It was said that their mini vacation was ruined! Oh the drama of pre teens.

BB had a few milestones on this trip. As many of you know, BB struggles with Aspergers. He is responsiblity challenged....is that a term? He has issues with being responsible? Oh well, those that know him realize that he doesn't take the lead on things without lots of prompting. Well, my sweet little guy (he is now taller than I am) ordered a pizza for us almost all by himself. This is a big step for him. He had a little help from me finding the address of the hotel, but he looked up the number for the pizza place on his own, he ordered the pizza with just a smidgen of help from me, and he paid for the pizza when it was delivered. He was so proud of himself! We then ate some pizza and watched the dreaded Disney channel until it was time to go to bed.

The next morning the kids were eager to get started on their Six Flags adventure. We stopped at the local Denny's (right next door to our hotel) and fortified ourselves with some breakfast. Just as our food was delivered the sky opened up and down came the rains.

I think YaYa's face says it all. We hung around Denny's until the downpour became a nice misting and headed off for Six Flags. The kids were so excited to finally be there. They impatiently waited while I bought the tickets and we were scanned into the park. It then became a race to see which ride they could get to the quickest. The Batman ride won top honors. The nice thing about going this past weekend was hitting the park during the off season. Yep, you guessed it. NO LINES! It was still overcast and a balmy 60 degrees. I loved it. Back to Batman....We stood in line for just a few minutes before we were able to board the ride. The few minutes turned out to be just enough time for LiLi to figure out that she did not want any part of this ride. We were already there, so being the perfect mom that I am, I grabbed her kicking and screaming and plopped her onto the ride. I buckled her in amidst a volley of cries about not liking rides that go upside down, not liking Six Flags, being scared, I can't remember the rest. I felt a little bad because she cried the entire ride! I thought the ride was fun. I'll have to keep a close eye on her for a while to see if there is any permanent damage.

Luckily we were able to find rides that LiLi enjoyed. She built up her confidence and got on some of the wilder rides after first making sure that they did not go upside down. During the late afternoon we were deluged with rain again. By this time the kids had been able to ride all the rides and were ready to head back to warmth and dryness. We were absolutely soaked by the time we got to the car. We made it to the hotel and got out of our dripping clothes, grabbed something to eat, and settled in to watch some movies. This gave us plenty of time for snuggling, laughter, and much needed bonding and relaxing. Later, I had a milestone of my own. I let BB and LiLi go across the parking lot, at night, while it was dark, to the sonic to pick up some treats. They were so excited. I was in agony. YaYa kept laughing at me and telling me to chill out. You could see the Sonic from our hotel window so I made her stay at the window and keep tabs for me. You know, just to make sure a booger man did not grab my babies. I couldn't look out the window because I had promised them I would be adult about this. That is why YaYa was forced to do it. They made it back okay and BB was glowing. I guess he thinks it is a little easier to breathe without the apron strings being so tight! Anyway, we had a ton of fun regardless of the rain! BB now wants to go back for Fright Fest. Not this year, buddy!

It's All In The Name.....

Who knew they would have my name? What Marnita Means

You are confident, self assured, and capable. You are not easily intimidated. You master any and all skills easily. You don't have to work hard for what you want. You make your life out to be exactly how you want it. And you'll knock down anyone who gets in your way! You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality. You are wild, crazy, and a huge rebel. You're always up to something. You have a ton of energy, and most people can't handle you. You're very intense. You definitely are a handful, and you're likely to get in trouble. But your kind of trouble is a lot of fun. You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people. You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts. You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals. You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing. You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long. You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start. You are a seeker. You often find yourself restless - and you have a lot of questions about life. You tend to travel often, to fairly random locations. You're most comfortable when you're far away from home. You are quite passionate and easily tempted. Your impulses sometimes get you into trouble.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

An Elephant Safari

Well, not really....But we did go the the Riddles Elephant Sanctuary today. What an adventure.

I have been told by many, and I admit to it myself, that I cannot find my way out of a paper bag. A little harsh, but true. I hate to drive because I am so directionally challenged. On every vacation that we drove around on, I managed to land us smack dab in the middle of the slum/ghetto of each city we visited. Not so bad if you are driving around in Podunk, USA: how dangerous can their slums be? Ooooooh! A rabid rooster and a drunk skunk!!!!! But when you are in Boston, NYC, Philadelphia or even DC it can get a little creepy. And its not like I got us lost in broad daylight....nooooo....I had to get us lost at 2 or 3 in the morning. Anyway, you now understand my severe handicap.

Well, I decided to take my kids to see the Elephant Sanctuary since it is relatively close to us. I got on line and printed out step by step instructions and realized that it was going to be a breeze to get there.

This morning I get everyone up and around so we can be some of the first to arrive when the Sanctuary opens at 11:00 am. NanaMama even decided to go with us. (Oh how I should have waited for Suzie Q or Dr. Mom to mapigate for me!) We hit the road at 9:30 so we could take our time getting there. We made the obligatory stop at Sonics to fortify ourselves with the big Route 44 Diet Cokes (it helps me stay alert and function) and fueled up Sherman the Tank (cough, cough $135 at Sams) and headed to the Elephants. Things were going great. YaYa was ecstatic because she had Disney Radio to listen to. BB was just happy not to be grounded for the day. LiLi was in heaven. She is my animal lover. She had her notebook and pen ready to take notes and learn about elephants.

Before we made it out of the Rock, LiLi spotted a cool looking motorcycle with a couple on it. She went "Oooooooh.....Eeeeeeew, yuck.....They have wrinkles!"

I guess that sums up our day; We had a few wrinkles.

We reached the exchange of the route point in great time. I saw a sign for Hwy 64 and got off the interstate. We traveled through towns I have heard of but never been to. The only problem was not seeing a sign for the town of our destination. Did I mention that in all the hustling out of the house I forgot to pick up my step by step instructions? Well, after driving about 30 miles NanaMama and I look at each other and realize that we got off on Hwy 64 when we should have exited at Hwy 65. Now this is a pet peeve of mine. Why do Hwys have to sound so much alike? You can see how easily I could get confused between 64 and 65. They sound too much alike. Maybe I can write to our congressmen to do something about this. It should be covered under some protection of idiot's rights. (I am referring to myself as the idiot so don't get all bent out of shape).

So, we drive back to the exchange point, get back on the interstate and head for Hwy 65. Still a little behind schedule but not too bad. We travel up 65 until we get to Hwy 25 and we veer onto our new road. See how easy that transition was? I can clearly discern between 65 and 25 without any confusion. We drive along to the little town, and I do mean little, that the Sanctuary is supposed to be in. We cannot find a sign anywhere. I have all my kiddos in the back seats reading every street sign, speed limit sign, and attraction sign to me. As if this wasn't enough chaos, I have my legally blind NanaMama trying to read signs as well. Is it any wonder we missed the sign? Well, instead of driving about 10 miles down the road we drove about 40 miles and several small towns more. Again, we visited places I had heard of but had never been to. At this point I am a little bit frustrated so I pick up my cell phone, shout hallelujah when I see that I have service and call Dr. Mom to get me out of this mess. Dr. Mom has rudely left her phone in her car while she sits at a friends house merrily scrapbooking. Curses to her!!! After our 40 mile jaunt I pull in to one of those service station/convenience store/restaurant. I ask the clerk if she could give me directions to the Elephant Sanctuary. Now I understand why men do not ask for directions. She looked at me like I had just asked her to explain Newton's laws of gravity. She points down the road in the opposite direction that we have been going and says, "Maybe it is back thataway somewhere." I'm on it! With directions as clear as mud, I head back in the opposite direction. It is getting later and later and I am hoping we can find this blasted place before it closes. Finally, after driving about 30 miles we see the sign. Guess what? It was blocked by a bigger sign when we first came through. We head down this road looking for elephant signs when we come to the end of our road and are confronted with a new road. Which way do we go? We couldn't find a sign. I pick right. We drive along for about 5 miles and reach the end of the road without any trace of an elephant. Don't worry. I wasn't the least bit surprised that I chose the wrong direction, again. We turn around, head back the other way and finally come to the gates of the Sanctuary. Yeah! It is still open. We pay our admission fee, get out of the car, with the camera I remembered to bring and head off to see the Elephants. After walking about 15 yards I come to a Kodak moment. I pull out the camera, turn it on......wait....and wait....to see that it is never coming on....the batteries are dead! Way to go, me!

Even without the camera, we manage to have a great time. LiLi is furiously taking notes on everything the handlers are telling us. We are watching the antics of a little (about 800 lbs) 9 month old elephant and enjoying ourselves. All the wrinkles of getting there are forgotten.

We leave the Sanctuary, head back to a larger town, find a restaurant, and have some lunch. We managed to get home without any problems. I hate to even say what time it was when we got home. Let's just say it was an all day adventure!

I do recommend it to all. It was neat to learn about the elephants, and wonderful to know that there is a place for these poor creatures to go rather than face death.

If you ever want to go....Just give me a ring and I'll give you the directions!

It's A Love/Hate Thang!

I have this love/hate relationship with hurricanes. On the one hand, I hate the destruction they bring. I do not wish calamity or sorrow on anyone. On the other hand.......I love the weather it pushes up to our neck of the woods! We live in the best place for good hurricane weather. We started getting the rains last night from our little friend, Gustav. We were able to enjoy a nice cool Labor Day cookout thanks to this little guy. It was even cool today. Are you ready for this? I turned the air conditioner off today! I never turn the air conditioner off (well, almost never). It was wonderful.

The wind has been blowing. I mean really blowing. Whenever I look outside the trees do a little curtsy for me. I can hear a "whoooooooosh" whipping around the corners of the house. It's kind of freaking Ya Ya out a little. She keeps thinking someone is lurking around outside, popping her window with branches. I tried to tell her that if someone were outside they wouldn't announce themselves by hitting on the window first. She hasn't grasped the concept of stealth yet.....kids.....ya gotta love the way their minds work.

It has been raining all day. Not the wimpy drip drip kind. The hard gusts that turn the rain sideways with the force of the wind. When you are at home it is great. I did, however, encounter two auto accidents on the way to school this afternoon. That's the hate part of the relationship. Two different cars hydroplaned. One ended up against a tree upside down. The other accident happened on the freeway. Let's just say it is not a good idea to swerve to avoid a little thing when the roads are that wet. Sometimes it is easier to just run over the little thing and risk a flat tire instead of doing pirouettes in a suburban and find you are suddenly going in a northerly direction on a southbound lane. It's not the pirouettes that cause all the damage, it is that silly little car that insists on going in a southerly direction in direct opposition of your notherly direction. Let us just say that fenders and front ends are a lot harder to fix than flats.

The best part of today was dinner. It has been so hot lately that I just hate cooking. Why heat up an already hot kitchen? Isn't that why General Mills created cold cereal? It is the dinner of choice during the hot summer months! Right? Well, tonight I surprised the family with steaming, fragrant chili. It is a favorite of ours on a cold day. Of course, if you were to ask my kids they would tell you that any day in my house is a cold day. I gave up trying to explain that hot flashes make people hot.....it is easier to cover up than it is to have me walk around our house uncovered! Ewwwwww!!! I digress. The chili was delicious. The fragrance was heavenly. It is just what we needed. A good semi home cooked meal with all of us eating at the same time and practicing Spanish in between bites. BB and Ya Ya have a big test in Spanish class tomorrow.

Life doesn't get much better than this. Nice, edgy weather outside; Cozy, cuddly family safe inside. Who wouldn't love this? Don't spoil this by asking the people of Cuba and Louisiana how they fell about Gustav. Let a girl have her moments!

I Can Sell That!

My little LiLi is always thinking. (What am I going to do if she wants to be a philosophy major one day?) She ponders life's little secrets, ways to help others, ways to get back at others, and ways to increase her money stash.

She was discussing one of her entrepreneurial ideas today. Her economics teacher (isn't it great that her school teaches economics in elementary school?) recently went to Beijing to see her son swim the Butterfly in the Olympics for Team USA. (Gil Stovall;did not medal) She came back from China with all kinds of goodies that she used to teach her classes about Chinese culture. LiLi brought home a set of chopsticks and talked about the eating customs of the Chinese.

She was most interested in the silk that Mrs. Stovall brought back. She loved the feel of it and loved that it was created by silkworms. She went on to explain how expensive it was because you have to import it from China. I think her words were "It costs so much because we have to trade things to China to get the silk". She wanted me to find her a pair of "fake" silk pajamas to wear since it was so soft. She then wanted me to get her some silk worms so she could start making her own silk. She wondered where we would be able to put that "machine thingy that turns it into silk fabric". She then goes on to explain how she can charge so much money for plain silk, and could get even more for colored silk!

You go girl! I love her enthusiasm about everything. She is like a little sponge taking in everything she hears, putting her own spin on it after she ponders it a while, and spouting out her views about it.

I can't wait to see her as an adult...she's gonna be quite the woman!

I'm Cool......Aren't I?

Since my kids have started school again (they are now starting their 4th week) I've made a deal with them to help get them out the door on time. If they make it to the car by the specified time they get to take turns choosing the music we listen to. If not.....then I get to pick the music. Apparently this is a big deal since their school is downtown and takes about 20 minutes to get there.

I generally pick Country Music to listen to just to give them a reason to hurry a little more in the mornings. However, I have been known to listen to all types of music. I have learned that no matter what songs I listen to and like, I am still not cool and my music is not cool.

I still monitor the television shows and the music my kids listen to so we don't get a lot of inappropriate exposure. I decided to pull one over on my 13 year old. I had his cousin, SuzyQ, make a cd with a mixture of music on it. I happen to like the music on it and would have suggested these things for BB to listen to, but it is much cooler to get the cd from his "too cool" cousin than from his "uncool" mom.
So....I still get to listen to music I like and I get to secretly be cool!

Training for the Olympics

During this past week I have come to realize just how hard the training is to participate in the Olympics. The participant has basically devoted his/her life to the pursuit of earning a medal. There is no social life. Your routine during the two weeks can be grueling, especially if you are going to participate in more than one event. It hurts me right now as I am thinking of the grueling schedule and the toll it can take on your body. It takes great dedication, concentration, and self discipline to stick with it. No wonder only the elite can make it! I'm glad that the end result is worth all the sacrifice. Just think of all the family time and personal time that is forfeited during the training and the actual events. I'm am getting tired just thinking about all the hard work.

Well, the good news is that one week is almost over and there is only one more week of the grueling schedule to go. I am patting myself on the back for the extra hours of training I put in. Yep! I practiced endless hours in front of a television, staying up late, late, late. I knew that when the Olympics appeared my kids would already be in school. Not everyone can stay up till 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning cheering the USA to victory and then getting up at 6:00 am to get the kids ready for school. I rush back home to hear all the early morning interviews of the athletes and settle in for all the prelims. I go pick up my kids, rush through a "fend for yourself" dinner to hit the prime time events. I've gotta tell ya.... I've been hanging in there! Yeah, Me!!!


In fact I have to go right now to catch the prime time events!