The blogs going to be a changin'

As I read Deb and Jen's blogs I begin to wish that this site was around when my kids were growing up.  So many stories and adventures are forgotten as the children get older.  To be able to write them down and have them available for years to come is wonderful.

The past year has revolved mostly around me and Ken at the camper with some stories of the kids mixed in.  Jon and Ann have their own lives now and I don't get to experience their stories as much as I used to.  But when I do, I love being able to write it down so I have the memory forever. Now a new chapter is being written.  A new life to write about.  And I can't be more excited.  As shocked as I was to hear Ann was going to be a mom, I quickly became excited.  A baby.  More stories and memories to write down.  I can't wait to record all the "firsts" and the happy times and trying times of my grandbaby.

So stay tuned.  The story is just getting exciting!!!

An emotional rollercoaster

Never in my life have my emotions been on such a roller coaster ride as they have been this past month.  We received word from our renter, Nell, that she was moving out the end of November.  This put Ken and I in quite a bind.  Do we rent out the duplex again or sell our house and move in?  Both plans had positives and negatives.  So we started putting feelers out to see what would come up.  

You could say we were lucky because we had someone interested in the duplex and someone interested in the house.  If I had my way, we would have sold our house and moved to the duplex.  And for awhile it was looking that way.  We found someone who was interested in our house, so we started making plans to fix up the duplex and move in.  But just when I started making all these plans, the buyer fell thru.  To say I was devastated would be an understatement.  

The worst part is is that we have to fix up the duplex anyway so we can rent it out.  I have never ever ever ever ever seen such an ugly house before.  Where in the world this woman got her decorating ideas from I will never know.  My eyes almost exploded the first time I walked in.  She had the entire place painted pink or purple, except the bathroom, which had the ugliest wallpaper and 8 different colored blue tiles. We have replaced all the flooring, painted every room, and pulled down the hideous wallpaper.  It has been alot of work and has taken alot of money but it is looking very very nice.  Ken has done a wonderful job and I hope he is proud of the work he has done.

 This would have been Ann's room  if we moved to the duplex.  I had already started painting the walls when I realized I better take pictures because NOBODY would believe me about how ugly this place was.

 Dining room.  Amoxicillin pink.  Pepto Bismol pink.  Why do they even make this color???  The worst part, and yes it gets worse, is that the curtain over that window was MAUVE.  What was wrong with this woman???

 Not only was the kitchen painted pink, but before the pink it was pastel purple.  And apparently when she painted it pink she never bothered to paint the top so the purple still showed.  I am calling Sherwin Williams to make sure she never is allowed in there again.

 The bathroom.  I can't wait to peel this horrible wallpaper off these poor walls.  What did they walls do to her?  Why is she so cruel???

 Absolutely NO comment

 Another beautiful curtain.  Ken said he is going to save it and make Ann's wedding dress out of it.

We ended up laying a wood floor down here.  Cody is actually pulling tacks out of wood and not really laying around on the job.  Even though that was my first thought too  : )

 Nothing better than a man in overalls.  Or at least I keep telling myself that.

If this would have been my house, we would have painted the dining room and kitchen wall brown and have one wall be burgundy.  But since it's not now, it's all going to be brown.

I do feel blessed that we have a renter.  There is a duplex down that street that has been looking for renters for awhile.  Alex Flynn and his girlfriend and baby are moving in.  This will be perfect because it will give us time to fix up our house and sell it when, hopefully, the market is good.

Rotary Student of the Month

A couple of months ago Jon called me to tell me he was nominated for the Rotary Student of the Month.  I was very proud of him, but being the awesome mom that I am, I told him not to get his hopes up to high about being selected.  Now, to defend myself, it is because I have seen who has been selected before.  The class president, valedictorian, straight A, involved in every club imaginable student.  While Jon is smart and a great kid, I felt his lack of gpa and club activities would count him out.

This is one time I was glad I was wrong.  He called me, again, and said, HA! I was selected.  So there!!  I can't begin to explain how proud I was of him.  There are only 8 girls and 8 boys selected every year, and this is from the entire 11th and 12th grade classes.  He was honored during one of their weekly meetings and Ken and I were able to go.

However, my original thought was justified.  At the Rotary meeting they call the students up (this time it was the Nov. and Dec. SOM) and Mr. Harris reads their application entry.  He also announces their gpa and the groups they are involved with.

The first girls went something like this:  Her gpa is 5.2, and she wants to be a surgeon.  She is a member of the spirit club, the hockey club, the science club, FCA, NHS.  She runs track, volunteers at her church, reads to the blind, , helps Santa make his toys.   Her dream is to feed the hungry, help the blind to see, the deaf to hear, cure cancer and find life on Mars. I may have made the last couple up, but you get my drift. And each one of the students applications read like that.

Then comes Jon's turn. Mr. Harris starts reading: Jon's gpa is somewhere between 4 and 5.  He is on the hockey and volleyball team.  He volunteers at the Old Six Mile Museum and likes video games and his friends and family.  He may go into the Coast Guard.  The end.

I assume the selection team knew what an awesome kid Jon is and realized their would be nobody better to give the honor to!

 Grandpa and Grandma are members of Rotary so they were really proud of Jon!  Gpa showed him off to everyone.

Congratulations Jon.  Dad and I are very proud of you!

Tombstone Tour

A few weeks ago me and Amy decided to head up to Chicago to check out some cemeteries.  I know that sounds odd, even for me, but there was a reason behind the madness.  Amy is really big into genealogy and wanted to get some pictures of her great great grandfathers grave and some other relatives.  She asked me to go along, and since I love cemeteries, I said sure.  BUT, there were a few graves I wanted to check out also.  So with names and birth dates in hand, we headed north.

I knew it was going to be a long day when we were pulling out of QT and neither one of us had a clue what highway we needed to take to get to Chicago.  Luckily I had been there a few weeks earlier and knew we went through Springfield.  So out comes the atlas, and alas, our route is found.

On this trip I learned there is a website called findagrave.com.  WHAT???  Sweet!!!  If you type in what graveyard you are at, it tells you who all is buried there, with a section that tells you if anyone famous is buried there.  This made the trip so much better.

That is how I found John Belushi's grave.  I did find it a little weird that when we found Amy's great great whatever I started yelling and doing a little dance in the graveyard.  I don't think anyone was around  to see me.  I am sure few people actually do dances in cemeteries. But if you knew how hard it was to drive into a cemetery with nothing but a name and a small clue as to where they are buried you would understand the elation at finding grandpa.  At first we couldn't find John because it was in a big graveyard.  An old Greek graveyard.  Which was cool unto itself. But before Amy was going to make me ask some poor woman leaving flowers on her loved ones grave where we could find him we saw it.  Another little dance and a few pictures later we were headed to the next cemetery.

Next up, the Circus Cemetery.  Here is buried circus performers.  Why would I care you ask?  Well it seems back on June 22, 1918 a circus train was sitting on some tracks when another train plowed into the back of it killing over 86 people (approx).  Because of the seriousness of the wreck most of the dead where unable to be identified.  So they buried most of them in this cemetery and it then became home to many circus performers.  Don't ask questions, just go along....

Next stop, Mt. Carmel to go see my friend Al Capone.  I LOVE 1920ish Chicago mobster history.  And this graveyard is the holy grail of dead gangsters.  It was an old Catholic cemetery with old huge tombstones with amazing history.  On a sidebar here, I hate the new cemeteries where they only allow those little ground stones.  How boring.   I always said I want a fountain, spotlights, and a huge tombstone on my plot.  Of course there is a 1 in 19393848239439483 chance of that happening, but I can at least say I made my wish known.  I also want to be buried in a size 2 low cut red dress so people will walk past and say "wow, she looks awesome".  The mortician has my permission to make necessary cuts to get me into the dress  :)

Sorry, back to the story.

 You would think Al Capone would have a bigger stone.  However, since he didn't die during the gang wars, but actually died from syphillis after the gangster boom had ended, his death wasn't as big of a deal.  And this is the second cemetery he was buried in.  They moved him from somewhere else a few years after his death so he could be buried with his family.

Hermie Weiss was an American Polish mob boss who was a main rival of Al Capone.  Believe it or not, he was gunned down but a member of a rival gang.

Finding all my favorite gangsters was like walking thru the pages of a history book. Dean O'Banion was the local florist, and leader of the North Side Gang.  He was actually killed in his flower shop while working on the flower arrangements of another dead gangster.  Apparantly back then, when one of them was killed, a huge funeral took place and tens of thousands of dollars were spent by their rivals (and probably the person who orchestrated the hit) on floral arrangements.  See, those killers had class.

No idea who's grave this is but it is super spooky and cool.  Movie spooky.  Movie cool.

I have no doubt my parents will read this and wonder where they went wrong with me.  But hey, we all have our quirks.

I'm still here

Yes, I am still here.  However, I have been so busy I haven't had time to download my pics from my camera so I haven't posted anything.  However, I do have some interesting stories to tell so watch for them  : D

I will let you know that we are moving.  At least I am 95% sure we are moving.  Something could always go wrong but we found someone to buy our house and all he is waiting for is to get approved for a home loan.  I am  sure this is going to be a crazy process so there will probably be alot of ranting posts where I am clearly frustrated out of my mind.  So stay, tuned.  This could be a crazy ride!

North to Carolina we go!

Ann finally got her wish and made the National Championship for a team she played on.  For the past month she has been so excited and ready to play.  And because the championship was going to be held in North Carolina I was just as excited.

For the past couple of months Ken and I have been putting money aside so I can go to Disneyworld in January.  We were not planning on taking this trip but because Ken squirreled away some money we were able to.  And yes, I sacrificed my Disney trip to watch my daughter play soccer.

So to NC we went.  I let it be known quite clearly that if I was giving up my trip I am going to make sure this one is awesome!  And it was.  The weather was gorgeous and because all Ann's games were at 12:00 we had the morning and afternoon/evening to do stuff.  Love it!!  AND because she didn't make the championship (boo for her....KINDA boo for me).... I was able to spend all of Saturday in the Smokey Mountain National Park.  I had one of the best days I have had in a long time.  I came back so relaxed and ready to take on the world.

In the park where Ann played there was an Animal Park.  Or a real little zoo.  Whatever you want to call it.  It cost $8.00 per person and there was about 20 different animals.  Makes me appreciate my zoo.  However, because the zoo was small, the animals were really close and the setting was wonderful.

 I LOVE River Otters.  And this one loves me!

Team Jacob!!!

 This is the field where Ann played.  My favorite soccer field ever!

 Ann may have had a rough game.  I was really proud of how hard she played.  She left everything she had out on the field.  And after the game it showed.  Her knee was bloody, her leg wrapped in ice, and she had a really bad attitude. Ken's best friend Todd showed up at the game with his wife so we all took Ann to dinner at 12 Bones Barbecue.  Yes, I would recommend this place to anyone.  The smoked potato salad was delish!

This is the butt of Nora.  The sweeper for Lindenwood.  Why is she standing on the sidelines during the second game?  Because she got into a fight in the first game and had to sit out Fridays game.  Crazy girl.  And I was busy talking and totally missed it!!!  

After Ann's game Friday, when we knew they weren't making the championship game, Ken and I headed to Tennessee.  We took the scenic route and stayed in a town called Townsend right outside the park.  They call their town the "quiet side of the Smokies".   We stayed in a little motel Ken found on the Internet.  For being built in the style of motels of the 60's, it turned out to be really nice.  We could hear the river that was across the street and the room was super clean.

Ken sitting outside our room waiting for me to pick where we were going to go for dinner.  We (I) picked this little restaurant across the street.  It was very quaint with good food and a fiddle and guitar player providing our dinner entertainment.   Nothing like eating dinner and listening to "May the circle be unbroken, by and by Lord by and by"  Of course, for a split second, the music to Deliverance came to mind.

 Driving thru the park, these are the scenes you will encounter.  We would pull to the side of the road and soak the beauty in

 Does this scream Thomas Kincaid to anyone else?

 Look close.  See the black figure inside the trees.  ITS A BEAR!!!  I love bears.  Love love love them.  Last time we came here we didn't see any so I was convinced that the park was just teasing me about having any.  But this time, sure enough, there they were.  Yay me!!  I was so excited.  It was actually a mother bear and 2 cubs.  Which is why I didn't get great pictures.  Call me crazy, but I really didn't want to tick off mamma. So I stood back and loved my life.

 I think I take a picture of this every time I see it  : )

 Trying out the timer on my camera.

 Cades Cove is a area in the park the until a few decades ago was inhabited by the families of the founders of the area.  The gov't bought the land and added it to the park.  You can drive through the area and see some of original houses and churches.  It is a beautiful drive and well worth the visit.

 Wild Turkeys

 In Cades Cove is a working grist mill.  They corn they grind there is just for show but I found it very interesting how cornmeal was originally made.

 There was  a demonstration going on on how to make molasses.  The horse walked in circles powering a machine that stripped the sugar cane (??) out of its husk.  Then they would boil it and do whatever it is they do.   I have never seen this done before so I found it very interesting.

 Mule deer

This waterfall was on the side of the road. Ken wanted to get closes, but since there was a river separating us from it, I told Ken it would probably be a good idea just to look at it from where we were.

Another road side attraction.  While we were standing there some kayakers came floating down.  I was really hoping to see them try and take these rocks but the big wimps got out of the kayaks and walked past this area.  Big babies.  What is a couple of broken ribs.  Seriously...

1.3 miles.  Not bad for a hike to see a waterfall.  And the brochure listed the trail as easy.  So let's go....Wait..why is this trail going straight up?  This isn't easy.  What do you mean easy means the trail is paved, not necessarily flat.  How far up do I have to walk??  What is going on here????  False advertising..who do I sue???  I can't breathe.  My legs hurt.  Are we there yet?  What is happening!!!!!!!!

I walked so high I think I touched the sun.  

 Remember when we were at the bottom of the mountain??

 The walk was worth it!

For someone who hates ledges (me) this sign scared me more than anything!

We had a wonderful trip and I am really hoping Ann makes it to Nationals next year also!  I am excited to report that the boys team won Nationals this year.  Ann was really glad she got to be there cheering on their team!

And in case you were stressing out about me missing my Disney trip, don't worry.  I was able to come up with some money so it is back on!!!  I am seriously loving my  life right now!