Thursday Thirteen #97

13 Things I remember from September 11, 2001

1. I wasn't at work long and a co-worker got a call from her mother that a plane hit one of the towers in New York City. She thought her mother was crazy.

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2. I checked the internet and saw a one-sentance headline on my news site. It said something like "A passenger plane has flown into the World Trade Center.".

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3. As news came in, people were trying to find out more. I wasn't able to get a live TV feed from the main channels in the US, but I was able to get the BBC..

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4. People stood around my computer and watched, in horror, as the towers fell. Some people couldn't even watch. I was one of them. It just didn't seem real..

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5. A television was brought into the lunchroom so people could watch the coverage.I tried to keep busy that day. I think I had some kind of important deadline. It was important to someone else, but nothing seemed very important to me..

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6. My boss was on a business trip to LA. He was stuck there for a few days. I remember getting messages from him via his Blackberry..

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7. A salesman for the company was supposed to make a sales call to the Pentagon that day--for some reason, he did not..

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8. The president of the company contacted every company associate in New York and made sure everyone was okay. He then sent a message letting everyone else know..

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9. I remember wanting to do something for the victims--like give blood or donate blankets. But as news filtered in, we realized that it wasn't necessary..

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10. On my way to pick up my 1-year-old son, I was struck by the lack of airplanes in the sky. It was very strange. .

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11. The weather and the sky that day was very beautiful, a juxtaposition to what was happening in New York..

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12. We finally got into contact with our friends in New York to find out that they are okay. One, however, was in the mess in Manhattan, running away from the towers..

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13. We didn't feel like doing much and went out to eat. We were the only people in the restaurant. Streets were empty and the mood was very grim. .

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Thursday Thirteen #96

Oh my, I just realized I haven’t posted anything up where in a while! So much has happened; I don’t know where to begin. So I’ll just do a Thursday thirteen update on Creekistan!

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1. The chickens now have a permanent home. The wonderful Chicken Condo, built by my husband, is now occupied by 8 of the luckiest chickens in Creekistan. They don’t even know how good they’ve got it!

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2. No, the rooster hasn’t crowed yet, and there are no eggs yet. But I’ve been giving the rooster crowing lessons and he seems to pay attention. But the egg laying . . . I’ll have to just let them learn that on their own.

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3. We’ve been cleaning out the Bee House and making it a better place to store our stuff. Once we put sheets of plastic on the walls, pull out the carpet, and remove the drop-ceiling, it isn’t so bad! Except the fact that the whole house seems to lean to one side.

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4. We officially own a truck now. Woo Hoo! Along with the chickens, the truck makes us official farmers!

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5. My garden was a complete bust. Nothing has turned out except for a couple yellow squash and a couple cucumbers. Everything either got eaten by deer or just gave up. Oh, except for the turnips. They loved it there. But what exactly can I do with a bunch of turnips?

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6. Some of my container gardens did okay—with herbs and some tomatoes. We think it’s because they get more sun than my big garden.

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7. My living room hasn’t progressed for about a month. I need to work on it, but it’s too darn hot. I hope to have it done by Thanksgiving.

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8. My 3 ½ year-old daughter has started preschool. She was excited and seems to really enjoy it.

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9. My son started the 3rd grade. I’m always amazed by how much he has learned in 3-4 years of school. He’s already doing algebra, but he doesn’t know it!

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10. I’ve started back to college. I’m taking a few classes—because I can! After putting my husband through until he got his Doctorate, I think I deserve some lernin’.

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11. In the morning, we all hop into the car and drive to school. With both my kids in school, me in college, and my husband teaching, that means we are all in school.

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12. For those of you curious, I’m taking Art History, a drawing class, an upper-level Ethics class, and Pilates. Oh, and I’m going to play in the Early Music Ensemble.

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13. I’m loving every minute of it. Being away from home and learning (or re-learning) things has given me a wonderful opportunity a lot more “me” time.

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Summer in Creekistan

It’s been a very busy week or so. First, we’ve been trying to get the ever-growing chickens into their new home. As they have gotten older and bigger, it has been difficult to keep them in the temporary pen. But they seem to do okay as free-range chickens. However nice free-range sounds, it doesn’t provide them with the protection they need from predators. In fact, one morning we discovered the chickens scattered, hiding in buckets and under the house, and one missing. They’re not talking, but something scared them and took one away. We are down to eight.

My youngest niece and her friend decided at the last minute to go on a summer road trip to Ohio. Of course, they wanted to visit us in Creekistan and stayed for a few days. It was as lot of fun, even though no one had money to do anything. Who needs money when you can stay home and chase chickens around the yard and have huge campfires?

But the summer is beginning to end. Our neighbor’s pool is now freezing cold and the frogs have moved on. My son will start school in a week, and everyone else will start school in two weeks.

I love the Fall and wish it would go on until Spring. I’m not such a fan of Winter.

Thursday Thirteen #95

13 Random Things

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1. My daughter got accepted into preschool this week, the one on the campus of the university that my husband teaches for, as well as where I will be taking classes starting this fall.

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2. Yes, you heard me right. I’m taking classes this fall. I’ll be a non-traditional student taking four classes this fall. I’m really excited about going back to school and getting out of the house during the day. So it’ll mean the whole family will be in school at the same time.

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3. I got nominated and voted into the local Arts Council. I’m excited about helping make an impact in the arts community and helping children enjoy the arts. This council has been too focused on plays for children, and needs to expand to other forms of fine art and music. I hope to help with that.

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4. The chicken house is nearly ready. It’s been taking my husband way too long, but he wants it to be nearly perfect and weatherproof. It’s practically blocking my front door, so I hope it can get moved soon.

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5. The chickens are doing fine. The temporary pen hasn’t kept them in—they sneak out and become free range for half the day.

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6. In the evening, they huddle together in a sideways Rubbermaid box under a plastic turtle shell-looking lid from an old sandbox. Works fine to keep them cool and protected from rain.

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7. The chickens know that first thing in the morning, I make coffee and will be in the kitchen. So if they want attention, they find their way to the porch right off the kitchen and look for me.

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8. So far it looks like we have 1 rooster and 8 hens. Not a bad ratio! We can’t have more than one rooster, so I’m happy that we won’t have to eliminate any chickens.

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9. The other county fair is this week. This is the county where my son belongs to 4H. He’s still a Cloverbud, so he can’t bring an animal, but I had him do a bird feeder. He got a wonderful participation award.

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10. We spent a few minutes at the fair talking to a rancher who has Alpacas. There are small, hairy camel-looking creatures. They actually are related to camels, and come from South America. They are beautiful! But I don’t think I’m ready for an alpaca yet.

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11. Alpacas can spit up to 16 feet away.

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12. My youngest niece from Omaha decided to go on a road trip with a friend and plans on visiting me this weekend. Looks like I’ll have to clean up!

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13. My children were punished for not putting videos and DVDs away—they were banned from watching videos for 10 days. They didn’t really care. There’s too much else to do.

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Thursday Thirteen #94

Just a little bit of fun for this last day of July.

13 Sawyer Nicknames (you know, Sawyer from the TV show LOST)

1. Amy the Black = Rinse ‘N’ Repeat

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2. My son = Avalanche

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3. My daughter = Picasso

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4. My husband = Professor

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5. Bandit, the Dog = Jethro

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6. Gracie the Cat = Ferdinand

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7. Sneaky Chicken = Blonde

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8. My Mother-In-Law = Spacebar

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9. My Father-In-Law = Wilbur

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10. My friend, Julie = Rumplestilskin

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11. My friend, Drew = Capt. Lou Albino

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12. John McCain = Munchkin

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13. Barack Obama = Betty

Try it yourself!

Thursday Thirteen #93

13 More Thursday Rants

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1. My living room painting is not yet done. I'm putting off the sanding because it will be horrible! So I'm finding anything else that needs to be done instead.

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2. My neighbor's big party to celebrate my husband finishing his doctorate was fun. Not as many people were able to attend as we had hoped, but those that did show up had a great time.

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3. I had been hoping to enter a lot more crafts to the county fair this year. But I wasn't able to. Just hours before I was to drop everything off, I was able to create a Halloween decoration and a flower arrangement. I already had a photograph ready to enter.

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4. I always complain how no one enters enough crafts at the fair. There were some categories that had no entries at all. I wish there was more competition--saying you won first prize on something may only mean you were the ONLY entry.

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5. With that in mind, I got first prize on my Halloween decoration. (I was the only entrant.) My flower arrangement was pathetic compared to the other entries--Good for them! And my photograph was able to get first place in spite of fierce competition!

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6. We went to the fair on the day of the Pig Scramble. It's a lot of fun--they put soap on the pig and the contestant's hands and arms. Contestants are supposed to not only catch a pig, but also put the into a specific pen. I feel sorry for the pigs, but they seem to be okay.

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7. My daughter loves inflatable rides. Sure enough, at the fair there was a giant inflatable slide. KIds are allowed to climb up it and slide down two times. My daughter didn't care about the rules. Get gets to the top and jumps around for a while, refusing to slide down. My son had to grab her legs and force her down the slide. She immediately went back up. Two more times! Eventually I had to grab her.

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8. I cannot even look at the "go around in a circle" rides, let alone actually ride them.

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9. A black stray has come our way. She seemed okay, and we actually considered keeping her, until The Chicken Incident.

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10. The Chicken Incident: Because the chickens are getting too big for their boxes but we don't have a pen yet, I made a makeshift pen for them. It is pretty safe and allows them to get out and about and scratch on the ground. They love it.

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11. Moxy, the name I gave to the black stray, waited until our backs were turned and got into the pen. She was very fast. I was only able to find 5 dead chickens. But we were down to 10 from the original 24. We buried the found victims.

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12. We called the Dog Warden to come pick up Moxy. As usual, the Dog Warden seems to be ignoring us, even when he says he'll be right out. "I'll be there in two hours." Two days later, nothing.

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13. My husband found three more of the chicks' bodies. Seems our cat took advantage of the Chicken Incident and found and carried three of the small chicks up to our second-floor porch. How she managed, I don't know.

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Two-Dozen Chicks: Cheep Cheep Cheep!

The chickens just arrived. A friend's father brought them down from Columbus. Twenty-four of them! They are chicks about 1 - 3 weeks old. They certainly are cute. I love the little chirp noises they make!

For now, they are on our back porch in cages. Eventually, we'll have to build a chicken house and run for them. We have the perfect spot. We just have to find the time to build what they need.

But there is nothing like fresh chicken or fresh eggs!

Thursday Thirteen #92

Thursday Thirteen Rant

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1. Okay, it's been a while. I've been really busy with vacations, parties, and finally fixing the walls in the living room.

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2. The living room walls are a wreck. First, there was wallpaper, but no ordinary wallpaper--it seemed like it really was just paper. Secondly, in some spots, the wallpaper was applied directly to the wallboard. When trying to remove the wallpaper, I also seem to remove some wallboard.

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3. Yes, I do have to remove the wallpaper. I tried to paint over it, but the primer made it bubble!

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4. The county fair starts this Sunday, but I don't have any projects completed. The only thing I can enter right now is a photograph. I would love to complete a Halloween decoration, but my kitchen is torn up.

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5. You heard me right, the kitchen is torn up. My husband is trying to apply a back splash. But as everything seems to be going lately, it's not as easy as it looks.

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6. On top of everything, my husband has quit smoking. He's popping nicotine candy, but he's still really grumpy. Not very good when you're trying to do construction projects!

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7. There is a party on Saturday to celebrate my husband getting his Doctorate. It's at our neighbors house (thank goodness!).

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8. I've started new medications that usually have unpleasant side-effects. But so far, so good!

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9. All the scraping of the wallpaper has made my right arm sore. I try to use my left, but it's never as good.

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10. My garden is not doing so well. Rabbits and deer are eating some things. Other things just didn't want to grow. And my daughter pulled up the id markers, so I don't know what's growing!

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11. Spiders are upset because we're kicking them out of the living room. I don't care--it's not like they don't have an entire forest to live in. They've gotten spoiled.

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12. Yesterday, I got to flip off the "Straight Talk Express." Yep, McCain was within 30 miles of Creekistan!

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13. I hope that by the end of the summer, I'll have the living room done--complete with wall- and floor-boards. And I'll be able to sit down and enjoy it.

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Wordless Wednesday #8

Smeagel, the Hairless Cat

Between the Storms: Our Trip to Omaha

I was watching the weather updates and the road conditions before we left on our roadtrip to Omaha. Our drive takes us through Iowa, which has been hit hard by rains, tornadoes, and flooding. We mapped out two routes, just in case route "A" was still flooded. But route "B" was flooded, too. Fortunately, by the time we left, route "A" was okay.

Omaha and the surrounding areas has been pounded by Mother Nature during the past month. A tornado hit an Omaha community during the night of June 8th. On June 11th, a tornado hit a Boy Scout camp about 45 minutes from Omaha, killing 4 boys and injuring many more. Rain caused severe, post-Katrina-like flooding of several Iowa cities.

And, two days after we left Omaha, a wall of wind and rain, called "straight-line winds," blowing at 115 mph--hurricane levels--downed hundreds of trees, power lines, and caused severe damage, especially near where we were staying with my Mother. (By the way, my Mother and her home were undamaged.)

But between the storms, we had a good time. Only short bouts of rain appeared while we were there.

Our time in Omaha was so very brief, we could only visit a few of the most important places. First, we enjoyed a fabulous dinner at The French Cafe. I went shopping at the Mall of my Youth: Westroads. I enjoyed grocery shopping at Whole Foods. We took the kids to the best Zoo in the world: the Henry Doorly Zoo. I went with friends to Shakespeare in the Park to see Much Ado about Nothing. We visited the cemeteries where family are buried, especially my Father, placing flowers on every one. We even spent an hour or two, in the rain, looking for my Great-Grandparents' graves.

Most importantly, we visited with family. Some who have never met my daughter, since the last time I visited I was only two months pregnant with her.

We had fun during our whirlwind visit, and we didn't cause any damage.

Vacation!

We're on vacation for a while. But I'll be back. Don't worry, the dog and the cat will be fed! I just hope the garden is okay.

Oh, and someone needs to take care of the tadpoles living in a bucket on the back porch.

And don't let the . . . . . . Oh, forget it! We need to get away for a while.

See ya!

Thursday Thirteen #91

13 Random Things in Creekistan

1. A brood of cicadas has emerged. These are the loud bugs that emerge every 17 years or so. This isn't the big brood like the one in 2004, but they're still very loud. It sounds like an aerosol can that won't stop spraying, or Star Trek phasers on stun.Info.

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2. My neighbor has a pesky bird that pecks at their kitchen window. In order to discourage this, they have set up a cross-dressing Mr. Potatohead in the window. It really works!

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3. I hurt my back doing yard work. The yard doesn't seem to care and has just kept growing. But when I'm on muscle relaxers, I don't care very much.

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4. My Wii Fit arrived and is a lot of fun. But you can't take it personally. My Wii Fit tells me that I'm obese and unbalanced. I'm hoping it means mentally unbalanced.

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5. The Memorial Day parade near Creekistan started at 9am. We weren't even out of bed at that time! Forget it. Who needs to have fire engines throwing candy at you anyway?

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6. While we were cleaning off the front porch, Mr. Toad snuck into the house and scared the crap out of my daughter, who was sitting time out. Mr. Toad was promptly let back outside. By the way, Mr. Toad is a toad who lives on our porch and isn't afraid of the dog.

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7. We're all done with school, so everyone is home for the summer. No driving to town twice a day. With current gas prices, that's about $8 a day in savings!

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8. Speaking of gas, on the Thursday before Memorial Day, I made the decision to wait to fill up the tank. I was shocked that gas was $4 a gallon. Then, on Friday, when I needed to fill up, prices were $4.20 a gallon. It's a conspiracy!

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9. I went to a high school graduation party for a nephew. We didn't see him and his friends for a while until we found him and his friends in the basement playing on an Xbox and large-screen flat panel TV that a friend snuck into the basement.

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10. As a graduation gift, I took that nephew and two friends to see Rocky Horror Picture Show. They were unsuspecting virgins that had no idea what was about to happen to them. On the way to the midnight showing, they asked me, "So, is this a musical?" Yep! "Is it a movie or a play?" Yep!

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11. My husband has gotten addicted to Ancestry.com and has tracked a lot of our relatives into the 1700's. Seems I have both and Lewis and a Clark in my history. And my stubbornness comes from my German and Irish relatives. That's also why I like beer so much.

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12. I got my hair done again--the highlights are gone and now I'm all over deep red/brown. I miss the highlights.

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13. Storms all day yesterday caused a lot of downed trees, flooding, and power outages in our area. But I noticed that since moving to Creekistan, hearing reports of something happening to an area of town isn't just an area of town, but a person that I know and get worried about.

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Wordless Wednesday #6

Wordless Wednesday #5

Wii Fit Delivers Reality Check

My Wii Fit tells me that I'm obese and unbalanced. Well, it wasn't a surprise. Part of the reason I got a Wii Fit was to help me get more exercise. But the machine was a little harsh.

The Wii Fit is an ingenious game that uses a balance board as it's controller. The board can be used to control fun games and exercises. But before you start playing, you first need to get measured--your Body Mass Index (BMI). I entered in my hight, birthday, and stepped on the board. It measured my weight versus my hight and determined, with a loud and accusing voice that "You're obese."

I had heard about the 10 year old that got her feelings hurt when the machine told her she was fat. [Article here].

I was ready for the insult. The Reality Check. The truth that I knew deep down--that I was overweight and need to address this health issue. When the machine loudly announced in it's cute little computer voice "Your Obese" and, to bring insult to injury, it made my Mii fat, I was a little hurt.

But the game is a lot of fun, and I can see myself using this to exercise on a daily basis. Even if it tells me I'm unbalanced and my fat Mii hangs her head down and looks very sad. I know I'm obese and unbalanced. You don't have to keep reminding me!

I should take heart. According to the Wii Fit, I'm also a Yoga Expert when it comes to some of the yoga poses. Even though I'm not what you think of when you hear of someone doing yoga, I have done a lot and have good control of my balance.

So, right now, I'm an Obese, unbalanced Yoga Expert. I should be on Oprah. Thanks Wii Fit!

Funny Baby Videos

I made these videos when my son was just a few months old. I'm finally releasing them to the public on YouTube. Please be sure to watch and rate them!

Thursday Thirteen #90

13 Things That My Coma Clinic Can Do For You! (results may vary)

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1. Our Coma Clinic can help you become more fit--We'll hook your muscles up to our state-of-the-art stimulator system that simulate extra-hard workouts. You'll wake from your coma with that fit muscular body you've always dreamed about.

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2. Lose weight--You'll be in a coma so you won't have to worry about your food intake. In fact, you'll get exactly the right amount of calories through your feeding tube. No more. No less.

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3. Help you train to run a marathon--Just like our muscle-stimulator program, this program will specifically get your body ready for that marathon you've always dreamed about running. You might even wake up with runner's high but not the foot pain usually associated with running.

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4. Get the sleep you so desperately want. In fact, you'll get to sleep for weeks, awaking refreshed and ready to rebuild your life.

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5. Help that anxious father-to-be survive the last couple months of his wife's pregnancy, and perhaps the birth of a baby. Enter a coma when the stress gets to be too much and awake a new Father! Or try our special Father-In-Law To Be wedding package. Awake a new Father-In-Law, once the wedding bills are paid.

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6. Quit smoking the Coma way! Have your last smoke just minutes before you go to sleep. Awake, take a deep breath, and don't worry about the withdrawal symptoms. *Can also be used for other addictive substances.

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7. Can't stand waiting those long months between TV seasons? Watch your favorite program's season finale, go into a coma over the summer, and awake in time to see the next season's premier. It'll be like you were never gone!

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8. Want to look great for the summer? Why not try our ComaTan! Our special rotisserie will give you a nice, even tan while you sleep.

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9. Need to learn a foreign language? We can subliminally teach you a language with our immersive language tapes and programs. (Warning: can't guarantee that you'll be able to speak or read the language, but you should be able to understand it when spoken to you.)

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10. Need cosmetic surgery but don't like the pain and discomfort? Let us take care of everything while you're in a coma. Awake to a new you!

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11. Hate winter and the snow and can't afford to travel a long distance just to get away from it all? Try a coma for the winter. You'll "thaw out" at the same time as much of the ice and snow.

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12. Can't stand all those political ads? Go into a coma! Skip all those long months with boring debates and mudslinging commercials. Wake up just days before election, ready to vote.

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13. Better yet, send in your absentee ballot early, go into a coma, and avoid the whole up-all-night-watching-the-news-as-more-results-come-in game. Awake two days after election day, when results are final, or by January 15th, whatever comes first.

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Wordless Wednesday #4

Dad & Grad

Inspired by my husband's upcoming Doctoral Hooding (w00t!) I have created a CafePress T-Shirt called "Dad & Grad." I'm sure that there are Fathers out there that will be graduating this year. This is a perfect way to celebrate both those achievements.

If you are interested, my shirts are available at HolidayBizarre.

My other shirts are also available Here, and my Nebraska Cornhuskers shirts are available Here.

Summer Movies 2008

I finally got to see Iron Man this past weekend. It was very good, and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes either superhero movies or shoot-um-ups. It also had me and my husband wanting to know if most superheros prefer redheads? Perhaps I need to further lighten and redden my hair.

During the previews, I got to review some movies that are coming out this summer and later in the year, and I decided to look into all the movies coming out soon. Here is a list of movies I'm excited about:

• The Dark Knight (I love Batman. This looks like a very noir film, made even more dark by the death of Heath, the actor who played the Joker. Reminds me of Brandon Lee and the movie The Crow.)
  
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
• Wall-E
• The Happening
• The X-Files: I Want to Believe (Perhaps it's time to introduce my son to The X-Files. He loves UFOs and investigations.)
  
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars (The cartoons were great-I'm sure the CG version will be great too!)
  
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (November 2008)
  
• Star Trek (coming out in a year, May 2009) - Perhaps I'll get to see a longer trailer this summer!

I also want everyone to be aware that I can be weary about the big summer blockbusters. There are some notable movies off my list, including Caspian, Hulk, and Speed Racer. Even those on my list can be skipped--it's getting too expensive to go out to movies and I may just have to wait until they are out on DVD.

Also note that I don't like chick-flicks. I think that the best movies in the genre were filmed in the 40's and 50's, and they are becoming boring and predictable now.

Do you have any recommendations? Let me know in the comments. It does look like and exciting movie season!