Park

Gorgeous morning today.

Took the kids to the park. Snapped some pictures.

Why is it that both girls will pose beautifully for the camera individually, but together- not so much?

I kind of screwed this one up in photoshop elements. I still have not gotten to teach myself all the stuff on there. And I saved over the original file (but it's still on the camera). Oh well... just messing around anyways.

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Random Thoughts

I've been all over the place in my head today, working on different things, thinking different things, etc. Here's a little list of my random thoughts.

1. The whole heart-gadget-thingy in the first Iron Man movie (haven't seen the 2nd one) totally gives me the heebie jeebies.

2. Orange Leaf at 37th and Rock is now open, and I am rejoicing.

3. Tried a new church this evening. I hate looking for a new church. But I did like this one, and I'm very excited about their kids' programming. Looks like they really put some oomph into it!

4. My list of things to get done is overwhelming me. I have to get things tagged for Britches and Lace, I have a bunch of PTO stuff to do this week, and I'm doing a full-sheet cake for a 50th anniversary this week that I'm a little worried about! Lots and lots of scroll/vine work.

5. Sometimes I wonder why I care so much, and try so hard to be friends to, people who don't seem to care or don't seem interested in reciprocating. Why bother?

6. Sometimes I feel like a red-headed step child to a bunch of people. That feeling sucks. See number 5.

7. Iowa State got their butt handed to them by Iowa today. Very disappointing. When does basketball season start?

8. Louisiana tripled their offer to Hawker to try to entice them to move the company down there. I feel like we're all holding our breath waiting for the company to say what they plan to do, what the "new" contract offer may or not be, etc. I feel like life is in a little bit of limbo.

9. I'm glad that whatever the future does hold, God is already there. Tomorrow doesn't need to scare me, because God is already there. I know that to be true, I hold it close to my heart... and I think that's why, although I worry, I am always the one to say "it will be fine...!" Because I know it will be.

10. I am excited to have bus driver Greg on Monday, and am praying urgently that Brooke's teacher will not be gone so much going forward...or at least that they will find a consistent sub for the many days she is gone. It is taking a toll on Brooke, about 20 days of school and almost half of them have been subs. But at least we have Greg back.

11. See, I told you I am all over the place right now.... I think I need some TLC from people who love me.

That Day....

Got my flag out this morning.

Used to be really good about flying it all the time. I put it out just about every day that my brother was deployed to Iraq. Kinda been slacking on the flag lately. Shouldn't we fly it everyday?

I remember when I got my flag.

It was September 12, 2001.

September 11th, Matt and I were home in bed. We worked second shift then. Matt's dad called us and told us to turn on the news. We turned it on right about the time a second plane hit another tower. We watched live as the first tower fell, still in our bed. We were a little numb. It was all very strange. We watched it all day until it was time to go to work. I talked to my family in Iowa. Everyone was kind of numb.

Numb is a good way to describe it.

We went to work even though we weren't sure if we needed to. Planes weren't flying, everyone was tuned to the TV. I worked customer service for Beech at the time, taking orders for spare parts. Since all the planes in the US were grounded, no one really was worried about getting parts. I had a call or two in the days ensuing that said "we are AOG! We need that part!" My response was "every airplane in the country is AOG right now! I'd suggest you send that part UPS ground so it gets to you on a truck, because who knows how long it's going to take to get the packages sent via air up and running again."

We all spent most of the time at work watching clips on the internet. Especially since I worked second and it was just me and another guy. After the numbness wore off, there was anger. There was "Don't mess the USA!"

There was September 12th. I heard that Dillards had a few flags left in stock. I called them and had them hold two for me. One for us and one for the in-laws. It was a Tommy Hilfiger flag. First Tommy item I think I ever owned. Darn good quality fabric....9 years later that Flag still adorns our house quite often.

Do you remember the pictures of American neighborhoods where every house had a flag flying? Where did they all go? Are we only proud to be an American when we get messed with? Do we only unite in crisis?

That day changed our country. That day had a huge influence on my brother deciding to go into the Marines. That day got my brother, my cousin, my cousin in law, and many others deployed to war zones. Thank God, in spite of That Day, my family members all came home. Not everyone was so lucky.

That Day made packing for airline trips difficult at best. It made me not be able to pack a snow globe souvenir in my carry on bag for my daughter. It made me have to take my shoes off to go through security. That Day started all of what we see now in the airplane security world. That Day made us eye fellow passengers hoping they were not a terrorist.

That Day made gas prices absolutely nuts. Do you remember the $1/gallon gas? I miss those days.

That Day needs to be always in our hearts, it needs to keep our flags flying Every Day. Because it's not just in honor and memory of That Day that we should be proud to be an American, that we should Unite. It is Every Day that we should be.

HalleLooo HalleLooo, halleLoo...Hallejuiah!!!!

What is this on my shoulders?

Nothing. A weight has been lifted off.

Hallelujiah!!!!

All weekend I fretted about the bus thing. The bus company had told me I had to take our problem to the school and they would have to file a complaint/investigation request. I worried that our school wouldn't do it. I was worried it wouldn't get anywhere. I prayed and prayed. Poor brooke kept praying that the bus situation would get better.

I emailed the principal yesterday (an inservice day). This morning the assistant principal emailed me back. She said that in the past they complaints of the parents always have gone directly to the bus company. The new bus company was telling me otherwise. She was going to find out what the procedure was and get back with me.

In the meantime, my neighbor drove the kids to school this morning. I met the bus to ask Mr. Crabby where Brooke's seating assignment was going to be. He didn't even have her on the seating chart! He said he'd put her up front with one of the neighbor kids. I told him that the kids were too upset to ride this morning. He was not very receptive.

Neighbor drove the kids. Tracked down Mr. Crabby and talked to him too. Went and spoke with the assistant principal.

AP called me this afternoon. Told me that it is indeed the bus company that I should be talking to, and gave me a contact person. She said she would call that person too, and let them know that is is not okay for our students to be in an environment that is so upsetting to them. I said I'd let her call first and I'd call soon. AP told me that she had SEVERAL parents calling her about this bus situation.

I kept thinking, "If we had Greg...I wouldn't have had to deal with any of this!"

Thirty minutes later, AP called me back. She said, "I've been trying to call the bus company. The lady just called me and told me she'd had three phone calls from upset parents already and that the bus driver would be removed from the route starting tomorrow morning. She was extremely apologetic that you've had such a rough go of it!"

Nothing against Mr. Crabby. I just don't think he's cut out for driving elementary kids around. Hopefully they'll put him on a junior high or high school route and all will be okay for him.

I decided to call the bus company anyways. The lady was all over getting it taken care of and apologizing that we had gone through a rough start like this. I told her that while they were making changes, it sure would be good if getting Greg back could be part of the change. She said she'd check on it.

I popped into the school office this afternoon, picking up PTO paperwork while picking up Brooke and the neighbor kids. I heard the AP talking to the secretary. She said "does she know yet?"... and then she said, "hey Angie...guess what...?!" ummmm.....? "You're getting Greg back! i don't know how you got them to do that, but they are seriously bending over backwards to make amends on this and get things right with this!".

I'm not going to believe it till I see it. We should have him on Monday. I'm not telling Brooke either.... But I'm secretly doing the happy dance!! For now, I'm just happy Mr. Crabby is not going to be driving our kids and yelling at them. If I do indeed see Greg on Monday, I'll be over the moon. :) Thank goodness! I'll let you know if the Greg thing actually happens, but for now....one prayer answered!

Godspeed Fred. I'm sure you are a nice person deep down... you just weren't cut out for a bus full of elementary kids.

Bus Driver VooDoo

I'm thinking about getting a scraggly scruffy old looking doll and turning it into a voodoo doll of our bus driver.

The man is just plain crabby.
The kids all say he is mean.
Everyday he yells at them to be quiet.
He stops the bus and yells. He threatens to go back to the school.
He yelled a lot today. Said he was going to make assigned seats.
Said he was going to figure out who the trouble makers are and get them off the bus.

Four kids get off at our stop, including my child. Today, four kids got off in tears. Three of the four were pretty much hysterical. They don't want to get on the bus again! This just at the end of the third week of school.

I didn't get anywhere on my crusade to get Greg back, but after today I've got a renewed mission. I called the bus company and pitched a huge fit. I said that my tax dollars are not to pay for my kid to come home in tears. I said that my child, who had a great bus experience last year, was not going to be scared/upset every day because of some jerk bus driver. Thatis not the way it is meant to be.

Apparently this guy is too crabby to handle elementary kids. And if there are naughty, rowdy kids, deal with them. Don't scare-tactic the entire bus. It traumatizes the good kids.

My neighbor got ahold of the principal today and gave her an earful on it. I plan on making a visit to the school soon myself. And if they are going to assign seats? My kiddo better not end up at the back, or with a big kid, or a mean kid. She's a good girl.

Don't mess with my kid, Fred. I can throw a big fit.

Corelle, anyone/

I have an old friend from high school that has a blog. (Probably more than one). Her name is Jamie and she's super sweet. Her blog started back when she prematurely gave birth to triplets. One went to heaven after just hours with us, and Lindy and Will are about 3 now.... her blog is fun to keep an eye on!

Anyways, she's giving away $35 to CSN. One of the many products they carry is Corelle dinnerware. I think we're about due for a new set of dishes. Go on over to Jamie's blog by clicking here and enter for your chance to win!

Mountain, I am staring you down

I am standing at the cusp of my least favorite duty as a mommy.

The changing of the seasons. And I ain't talking the weather, because I am rejoicing the coming of Fall. (Tis my favorite!).

I am getting ready to stare down a mountain of clothing. A big, huge, overwhelming, hard to work through, mountain.

We purposely planned for our girls to be about 4 years apart, and for most things it works out good. But that is 4 years of clothing storage going on too. And of course they don't run quite the same in sizing...Brooke is tall and Hannah is short for their ages.

ANYWAYS. It's that time of year when....I have to get the fall clothes ready and organized into drawers and closets. That means digging out the appropriate bin of clothing for Hannah, cutting tags off new purchases, and getting it all ready to wear. Not so bad. Except then you are faced with the stuff that needs to be put away for the winter. "Will this fit in the spring? Where should I put it so I remember it? NO? Well then time to start a new storage bin. Oh, this needs to go in the "sell it" pile."

There's stuff that should fit that doesn't. Like the winter items that should fit Hannah "sometime" this winter but not yet since she's a shorty.

Then there's the stuff that Hannah is done with that needs to be sold at the big consignment sale. Except that the upcoming sale is only for fall and winter clothes. So I have to sort out last year's fall/winter stuff, get it ready to sell, and find a place to store the spring/summer stuff that doesn't fit so I can put it in the spring sale.

Seriously, this is a mountainous project. My least favorite mommy-responsibility. Give me a poopy diaper or potty training duty any day. Keeping the clothing inventoried, organized, stored, and sold overwhelms me. It takes days. It takes large piles. It is not fun.

The task coming up is bigger than usual...because before I can even start, I've got to be able to GET INTO the spare bedroom. It is nicely furnished with a spare bed, a desk for scrapbook, some shelves. And in between the nicely furnished stuff, is Brooke's old bedroom set. We can't figure out where to store it until Hannah is ready for it. I literally can't get into the spare bedroom. Guess where some of the totes and stored clothing is? On the other side of the spare room in the closet.

Guess what part of my weekend is going to entail? Yeah. I'm like, so excited dude.

If you wish to impart sympathy on me and help me climb this mountain, you may a)buy some clothes from me, b) deliver me a large diet dr pepper, c) bring me ice cream, d)make dinner for us one evening so I don't have to mess with that. Really, any such assistance is welcome.

Have a great weekend!