Ice Ice Baby

Okay - I now offically hate Indiana. We don't get snow, we get ice - and lots of it.

Yesterday about 3pm the freezing rain started. At our house it let up about 7pm and turned over to rain which was good as the rain started to melt the ice. But in other areas the freezing rain didn't stop till alot later.

So yesterday it was in the low 30's with freezing rain. What do I wake up to this morning? Upper 40's and its just pouring out. I am sort of glad its not snowing but if it were cold enough to snow it probably would just be coming down as more freezing rain!!

This is the 3rd time we have had freezing rain in the last 2 weeks. The road that goes thru town and continues west to the next town was shut down last night - don't know what happened there. And they knew we were going to get this but until it started I never saw a salt truck nor did they put down the slurry mix they often use.

My neighbor up the hill had to park in my driveway last night. He made it up the hill to his house and parked the car. The car then proceeded to slide backwards down his driveway and out into the street. He was able to gain control and slide it back down the street and get it in my driveway.

As it is, when I parked in the driveway my car slide back a couple feet before the gravel took hold. This morning the asphalt protion of the driveway is free of ice but any where there is gravel its still frozen solid. Makes it so much fun getting the paper.

Update

Okay - I've set up my face book profile so come find me.

And I put the pictures I took from the festivle of lights up on my flick sight so check them out.

My decorating

This is about the extent of my decorating this year. I have my painted tree full of lights, my bell Santa's, all my bell hanging things, my card holder, our stockings, a couple candle holders and kitchen towels out on display. Instead of getting a tree and then figuring out where to put it I decorated my Jade plant with bows and a couple ornaments. If I would have gotten out the box of lights I might have put some on it but the painted tree gives me the light I want. Basically I've only put out about a box and a half of stuff out of the 7 boxes of xmas stuff I have.

I've decided I'm going to go with a blue snow man / ice cube motif (I have a kitchen towel set I'm using as my inspiration). As I was going thru the couple of boxes I got out I realized nothing matched - all different colors and styles and when everything was out it just looked cluttered. So I now have a pile of stuff to get rid of - right now its mostly xmas kitchen towels and such (as that was the box I was going thru)

I'm liking the minimalist approach. So much easier and alot less cluttered this way. And it only took me about an hour to decorate and will probably take even less to put away.

My decorating

This is about the extent of my decorating this year. I have my painted tree full of lights, my bell Santa's, all my bell hanging things, my card holder, our stockings, a couple candle holders and kitchen towels out on display. Instead of getting a tree and then figuring out where to put it I decorated my Jade plant with bows and a couple ornaments. If I would have gotten out the box of lights I might have put some on it but the painted tree gives me the light I want. Basically I've only put out about a box and a half of stuff out of the 7 boxes of xmas stuff I have.

I've decided I'm going to go with a blue snow man / ice cube motif (I have a kitchen towel set I'm using as my inspiration). As I was going thru the couple of boxes I got out I realized nothing matched - all different colors and styles and when everything was out it just looked cluttered. So I now have a pile of stuff to get rid of - right now its mostly xmas kitchen towels and such (as that was the box I was going thru)

I'm liking the minimalist approach. So much easier and alot less cluttered this way. And it only took me about an hour to decorate and will probably take even less to put away.

Snow

Well we offically got our first measurable snow fall yesterday. No snow was predicted so when you wake up and everything is white it does come as quite a shock. We probably have about 2 inches on the ground.

And because they didn't perdict it, they were not really prepared for it. It started snowing about 7am and really never let up all day - there were a couple breaks but when it wasn't actually snowing the wind picked up and blew it all around.

Lot of accidents and form what the neighbors said the grocery store was packed.

Glad I didn't have anywhere to go yesterday. Just stayed home and baked cookies.

Decorations

Well I got my xmas lights up today. Since I like to turn them on right after Tday and we won't be home that weekend and it was really nice today I got them up today. I had them on for a little bit this evening just to make sure the spacing was right and that I didn't have any burned out. Off they stay until we get back from the trip up north.

Chris helped me get the lights out of the attic and that was about it. He did help me get on the roof and got me a couple extra bulbs while I was up there - oh and he hung up the wreath at the peak of the garage after I put lights on it. Other than that - if I want lights up I put them up.

I had a couple neighbors ask if I would put thier lights up as well... nope I only do my house.

My things that are breaking

This weekend we lost both the dryer and the water heater. So that means nothing can get clean around here.

Never buy a Whirlpool Flame guard water heater. We are replacing the ignition element about ever 4 months at $22 a pop and the water heater is only 4 years old. We signed up to be part of the class action law suit against them and got a new heating unit assembly which was supposed to fix the problem and extend the life of the ingintion element. We put the new unit in and about 4 months later the thing breaks again. We are now to the point that we always have one on hand for times like this. We are ready to pitch this water heater and get a new one because of the agrivation. So Saturday after noon when the shower wouldn't heat up and I had been washing dishes with cold water I had chris look at the pilot light. It was out and would not re-light - so 1/2 and hour later he had the coil changed. Which made us late for an evening out with some friends.

As for the dryer the ingnition coil broke - burned clean thru so now its in 2 pieces. We bought the dryer used for $50 and its probably about 4 - 5 years old and I know the ignition coils don't last for ever due to the heat. Only problem is no one in town (who is reasonably close) has one so I'm going to need to order that online - should be here in a couple days. So no clean clothes until then unless I want to drag everything to the laundrymat (Chris might have to break down and do that as he is running out of work clothes).

So who else has had something break recently besides Zoe and I?

What my husband does for a living

Chris spent the better part of this last week in Erie PA taking a plane apart. Why was he taking a plane apart? Because the guy who owns it ran out of gas before he made it to the runway and crash landed. He walked away from the landing but did some serious damage to the plane. 1 wing is a total lose and the other has an interesting buldge to it so it may not be salvagable. The main body of the plane needs to have a complete inspection done to see if there is any damage to it. This a picture of one of the struts that has pierced a hole thru the bottom of the wing.

Since it was not flyable they had to put it on a trailer and tow it back to Indy. Its only about a 6 hour drive when you are not pulling a plane but more like 10 when you are.

They got up there Tuesday and started to take it apart. They continued the dismantle and building of the support structure for the trailer on Wed and loaded it on the trailer on Thurs. They took off this morning for the drive back.

You would think people had never seen a plane before based on the number of cars that drove by taking pictures of it. They almost had a pickup truck plow into the side of them because the driver was so busy taking pictures. Wonder how many pictures of it I'll find on the web later on this week?

Did you know?

That wet horses when its cold out sort of smell like a cross between wet dogs and cat pee? The combination of both smells can be pretty overwelhming.

And I had just been thinking she hadn't had a bath in a couple months unless she got rained on. Well now that its cold out she won't get a real bath until spring. As long as she stays dry she won't smell too bad till then.

Badgers won!!

We went to see the Badgers play the Hoosiers in football this weekend. Why couldn't it have been last weekend when it was still really nice and warm out? I think it maybe hit the low 40's, overcast and a breeze. I couldn't feel my toes by the end. I know, I know, it could have been raining, alot colder with alot more wind - if it was like that I would have watched back at the tail gaiting site and stayed inside where it was warm.

As for tail gaiting - Chris's cousin Paul (brother of Mary) knows everyone. So we ended up at Bob's garage right across from the stadium. And this is no ordinary garage - its only used for tail gaiting. They divided the garage in 2 - 1 half is the bar and food area, the other half is heated, with a bathroom, a couple couches and TV's so you can get warm. And they had 2 grills going. Lots of people and lots to eat. Only thing was they were wearing the wrong color red.....

The Pantry it in!!

This is part of what we have been working on this last week - getting the pantry completely in so it can be used.

The shell was installed a couple weeks ago and I thought great - I can start loading it. But due to the way the wheels were made, the weight of the food on them caused them to sag and rub thus being very very difficult to turn. So major re-construction needed to be done. We ended up using plate aluminum to support the shelves and a bit of creative construction and the lazy susans are back together, the doors are on and its loaded with food. Which means I can see the top of my dining room table again and most of the floor!!

There are still some things sitting on the floor that either have not found a new home or that need to go away (how many bread makers do we need??)

Because I now had a free shelf guess what got to come home from storage? My Grandma Seter's China. The box was packed in mid May of 1997, was opened once when I moved into the Lombard apartement and then has not been seen since.

I knew it had a silver rim but I could have sworn it was a blue patern - but thats okay - I really like it and Chris thinks its beautiful and is amazed no one else wanted it when we boxed it up.

The only casualty - 1 dinner plate cracked in half that was in the middle of the box. Other than that its all in 1 piece. So I officially have a setting for 11 now with some pieces that go to 16. Its got dinner plates, salad plates, bread plates and saucers for tiny tea cups (I have 16 of those). Large soup type bowls and then smaller bowls. A creamer and sugar holder, a gravey boat. A really large plater, a slightly smaller plater and 2 serving bowls.

I'm going to do a little bit of web surfing and see if I can find replacements for the missing pieces. I heard of a place a couple years ago (hope its still there) that collects odd pieces and china collections and you can search their inventory to replace pieces you have missing. If I find it I'll let everyone know about it (Good way to get rid of china you don't want or have too much of)

Long time no Blog / Halloween

Its been a very very busy last 2 weeks so I've not have much free time to do anything but work, sleep and orchestra (have I mentioned I hate concert weeks?).

So I have a closet Halloween lover living with me. He has been planning for weeks on what he wanted to do to scare the kid that come by and this is what he came up with.

Since I wasn't home for the night I had Mary, Amy and Von come over to keep him in line. But I guess he was still chasing the kids around the block.

From what I heard there were a couple kids not scared of him at all.

But then he did manage to scare Jeff (neighbor at the top of the street and who he works with) pretty bad.

I guess compared to last year we only got about 1/3 of the kids we did then. I'm thinking that because it was a Friday night they were all at partys and such they were throwing around town.

Give a man power tools and what does he do with them? Carve pumkins - he really wanted to go after one with a chain saw but the really big ones were way tooo expensive.

This one is mine - I was going for the evil orge look. I drew it out and Chris carved it for me (using his power tools of course).

More Interesting sites

http://woodgears.ca/eyeball/

The Eyeball game - how good are you at eyeballing things

http://upsidedowndogs.com/

Upside down dogs - exactly what the name says. Some of these are weird.

Worlds Largest Lazy Susan

Here is my new pantry cabinet. I was waiting to post about it so I could put up a picture with the doors on but we are waiting on hinges and we have a slight rotation problem with the actual lazy susan part that is in the process of being fixed. So I started to put everything in it but we have since had to take most of it back out.

But once it is all done it will free up 3 cabinets and provide homes for all the extra kitchen stuff that has sort of been laying around. I think I'm going to actually be able to pull out my Grandma's Seter's china that has been in a couple boxes for better than 10 years now and actually put it in a cabinet and use it.

It was brought into the house in pieces and assembled in the middle of the kitchen. It then took 4 guys to pick it up so I could slide the base under it. It just touches the ceiling. To give you an idea of how big it actually is Chris crawled into the bottom while securing it down.

If you notice the small gap between the existing cabinets and this one the plan is to get a small piece of counter top to fill in the gap and make a small cabinet that will fit in the space. It will be the perfect place for cookie sheets. The other side between the cabinet and the fridge is the new home for the garbage cans. I can't wait to get everything that has been living on the counter tops off and into the cabinet - even thou it fills in the empty space and sort of makes the kitchen look smaller, having the counter tops clear will help open it back up.

Blast from the Past

I got gas for $3.09 on Sunday - last time I got gas that cheap was July 6th 2006 based on this old blog entry.

"Deal of the week "

Don't you hate how right before the holiday weekend gas went back up. I didn't think anything of it as I still had a good 1/2 gallon and was pretty sure it would come back down after the holiday. Well yesterday it took a 19 cent hike up so the cheap stuff is now at $3.09.

Well I'm getting close to E and have to do a bit of driving tonight. I stop at the Speedway to put in like $10 to at least get me back above a 1/4 of a tank. I always check the price on the pump and notice the premium was marked at $2.28 Boy did I take advantage of that. Filled the tank completly back up. Got 18 gallons for like $42 - that has not happened in a long long time.

I think I got the deal of the week. Waiting for traffic to calm down a bit and then will take the RX7 in as well.

Thursday July 6, 2006 - 05:25pm (EDT)

Lost and Found

Don't you hate when you loose something but you swear its got to still be in the house but can't find it for the life of you?

That was me and my black bra. Last time I wore it was my 4th of July concert under my black shirt for the concert. And since then its been MIA.

I kept asking myself where the heck could it have gone??? I probably had washed it but where did I put it? Not in the drawer where it belonged, not mixed in with the clothes Chris never puts away, not anywhere that I could think of. And I need the damn thing at the end of Oct for my next concert - as I'm not wearing a light colored bra under a black sheer shirt.

Guess what I found yesterday? My black bra! Where was it? In the drawer with my swim suits..... the only thing I can think of is we had gone swiming around that time and I probably washed the suits around the same time and since its black and sort of looks like it could be part of a swim suit it got put away with the others.

I guess I need to look thru my drawers more often and see what other treasures I've hidden. Actually since its getting cold out all the winter clothes will be coming out of storage - its like getting a brand new wardrobe twice a year doing a summer winter switch.

What we did this weekend

WE HAVE TRIM!!!!

We put trim up around the front door, the door to the garage and a couple walls. Really makes the house look less modern and more classic with the trim up. Also adds some color to the plain walls (which were painted that color on purpose - sells better if its neutral). We need to get more trim for around the back door and decide what to do about the rest of the bedroom doors in the house (change completely or re-finish) before we put any more trim down (since you need to put the door trim in first before the base boards).

Cats on Treadmills

How could I not share this....

Have time on your hands? Check these out..

Airline Spoons of the World - is it bad that we have a bunch of the Northwest and ATA ones in a drawer? http://www.flickr.com/photos/airlinespoons/

A Kitten playing with remote control mouse - definitely the awww moment of your day. http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=33917

How well do you perceive colors? Arrange the lines in order by color and see where you rate. I got a 7 our of 100 - I think thats good but I'm not sure. http://www.xrite.com/custom_page.aspx?PageID=77

I have a really addictive game but I need to find the link - will update this later with that one so keep coming back.

The Kool Aide Escapade

So tell me, if a fire truck was driving slowly down your street wouldn't you get up to see what was going on being curious neighbors and all?

Well I went to get up to see what was going on - but I forgot about the glass of Strawberry Kool Aide I had sitting on the floor in front of the couch (the coffee table is just too far away to work as a good beverage holder). So what did I do?

Knocked over a full glass of Strawberry Kool Aide all over the floor!!

So I spent the next hour on my hands and knees getting it out of the carpet. Used a whole bunch of dish towel before Chris got me some of the garage towels to sop up what I could. Then according to a couple web sites you take really cold water and re-wet the area and then sop that up with towels as well.

You can't tell today that I spilled on the carpet except the carpet is a bit stiffer than normal but I think that will come out as we walk on it and vacuum a couple times.

Venom Testing Information

Here are copies of the pamphlets I got from the Allergy Doctor about the Venom Allergy testing. They are really small print and didn't copy great but you can read them. Start with Pamphlet pg 1 all the way on the Right edge (which I numbered 1) and start with that column. Then go to pg 2 and read the whole thing then going back to pg 1 - its a double sided pamphlet that when folded the first part ends up on the back, I numbered the columns so hopefully you can figure out what goes where. If you go to print it you will need an 11X17 piece of paper to read it so I suggest you just try to read it online. If you really want a copy let me know and I'll make one at work and mail it to you.

The other document is a page copied out of the docotors book - it has some different information in it.

Allergy Testing

Chris and I got went and got venom tested yesterday.

Let me tell you - not a fun experience. I don't know how people go thru this and get 100 different things tested on them. I almost passed out after the first 5 "pricks". They were actually more like shots since they did them with needles.

So they start on the arms with the controls. A Histamine, a control, and then we were tested for Honey Bees, Yellow Jackets, Wasps, White Faced Hornets and Yellow Hornets. The controls were done using a plastic sticks and all the other were done using needles. I decided I didn't like the needles and proceeded to go white and then ended up laying down to keep from passing out.

Once I got over that we continued the testing this time on the arms, 5 more pricks at an increased concentration level with a 15 minute wait between groups of pricks. In total we got stuck better than 25 times over about 4 hours.

Chris - no reaction, not allergic. Get stung, drink another beer and continue on.

Me - did great until the final and highest concentration. And then I reacted - not bad but definitely considered allergic. So I'm allergic to Yellow Jackets, Wasps and White Faced Hornets. I have had a past reaction when I got stung in College (and we think it was a wasp) when my hand swelled up.

Because my reaction to the test was not severe and I've not had what is considered a severe reaction in the past, I'm not a candidate for allergy shots. I did get prescribed an epi pen and have a plan of what to do if I do get stung - 50mg of Benadryl, epi pen and to the hospital for observation.

And that is what I wanted. To know if either of us were allergic, how bad and what the plan of action needs to be if we got stung.

I did get a great pamphlet from the doctor about venom allergy shots and what the clinical studies are showing. I'll scan it and send it out if anyone wants to read it.

Visa Commercial

Kick ass stereo system in a Monte Carlo with sub woofer that takes up the whole trunk - $1000

Cool paint job on a Monte Carlo that makes it shimmer - $800

Security system on a Monte Carlo - $200

Not being able to get it started - Priceless

My poor car part 3

This last weekend the check engine light came on and stayed on. And then on Sunday it really didn't want to get above 40 mph (which made Peg miss her flight but that is another story) and really has a bad misfire. So we start a major tune up.

Start with plugs and wires (about $100) - which takes 2 days to do as one of the plugs was cracked.

Took it out for a test drive - still driving like crap - won't go above 40.

Head back to the auto parts store and pick up an ignition coil / module (another $100).

Drives much better - can get it above 40 but now misfires when you add the airconditioner to the mix.

Bucky and Chris fight to get the fuel filter off for about 4 hours (last time it was changed was like 2004) and it drives even better but its just not right.

Take it to the local shop to have them run the codes and figure out what is wrong.

The #1 fuel injector has gone bad and there is a gasket leak. Okay - that we were not going to even try to do ourselves. So that set me back about $500 to have them do it (took about 5 hours).

Today it drives almost like new. There is still a slight hesitation and at stops it sputters like it wants to stall but there is no misfire. I'll drive it more this week and see if the problem goes away. If not back to the shop it goes for more money.

Oh and I need to replace the exhaust - got a really good no exhaust rumble - sounds cool. But that can wait awhile.

I've spent probably close to a grand on the car this year alone but this was going to be the year of the big tune up anyway so I had saved for it. Now I"m going to have to drive the car a couple more years to re-coop my money. Right now putting a grand into it every couple years along with regular oil changes is still cheaper than buying a new car - let me get the other one paid off first please before I even think about getting a new car.

My poor car part 2

I knew this was going to be a money year on the car (what do you expect when its 9 years old) but this is getting ridiculous.

One of the tires randomly goes flat. Fill it up, it lasts about 2 weeks just sitting in the driveway. Move it around and its flat the next day (really slow leak).

So Chris pulled it off tonight to find the leak and potentially take it in to be fixed. Turns out its not the tire but the rim has rusted out on the inside. And the spare does not look much better. We ended up putting the spare one since we sort of need to use it this weekend and I didn't want to be the only house in the neighborhood with a car up on blocks.

So now we are off next week to find all new rims for the car. And we still haven't done the major tune up it needs (plugs and wires) nor put on the new exhaust (its really loud right now).

Boy do i have a ghetto car going. Just need to add a primered door or hood and it will fit right in.

I have Air!!!

We got a new furnace and air conditioning unit about 2 weeks ago now and finally for the first time turned it on. I really don't know how I've lived with out for so long. If you didn't know the story the A-coil in the old furnace was installed wrong and was not draining right. Thus when we started the work on the house the furnace was on the verge of falling thru to the crawl space because the condensation had rotten out the floor. Well the A-coil got damaged upon removal and with as old as the furnace was we couldn't find a replacement so we have been with out air for awhile now.

We were going to replace the whole thing eventually but with gas prices going up now was as good a time as any - its alot smaller and more efficient so I should have a lower gas bill - and I have air now.

Its in the 80's today with really high humidity - its supposed to storm and it would really cool things off if it did but so far not a drop of water has fallen from the sky. So the air is on. I keep it set around 77 when at home and 80 when not and use the ceiling fans to make it feel cooler than that. And that is only when its going to be really humid outside. Which is why this is the first time we have had it on - its been too cool.

Normally I have a cat that is listless and lying on the floor all hot and complaining but today with the air on she has parked her butt on my lap top computer - while the lid was open - thus creating all sort of havoc that I had to shut it down. Stupid Cat.

I really hate to complain but....

Why do people have family reunions in hospitals?

We are sitting in the ICU and there must be this family of about 15 that have descended on the waiting room today including 4 or 5 children that are running loose. This is on top of the 4 or 5 familys that have been living here the last couple of days. So you have some people that have been living here and are trying to sleep when they can and then what sounds like a family reunion going on complete with fried chicken with no consideration with what the others in the arear are trying to do.

Most of the large family have finally left since we have most of the chairs and won't let them turn up the TV any louder. But now they are sitting in the hallway by the elevator and are still just as noisy.

But still people its the ICU - only a couple people can visit at one point in time. I know you all want to see the person but can't you spread out your visiting time over the day - or go sit downstairs where it is a much bigger area to chit chat and eat your chicken. Or go all hang out at the closest persons house and eat your fried chicken.

Needed to vent here about people. As Christopher likes to say "You Can't Fix Stupid"

Fun in the Hospital

I have never really liked hospitals. Ever since spending many years in the hospital over holidays with my dad or Grandma Seter I've come to have an adversion to the place.

But I will have to say I've never been in the intensive care unit before. It is definetly different. The waiting room is nice and they have free coffee and hot chocolate all day. If you can get the good chairs they are really comfy. But other than that it is not a place I would want to spend alot of time.

You get kicked out of the paitents room often but you can spend time there when they are not doing things. But they don't have a chair to sit in as they don't want you really to linger and you do get tired of standing.

It is interesting to watch all the monitors and things that beep - they seem to have a different monitor for different things - now why can't they put that all on one machine?? They all take up so much space and all make different noises and when they start going off its like the 4th of July with all the lights and noises. We are getting good at medical terms thou. But don't ask me as I won't remember them for long.

Not fun places to be.

Looking for the Culprit

Okay - I want to know who left my sock drawer in this condition...... I know it wasn't me as the socks I wore yesterday I did not get out of the sock drawer (they were in the pile off the top of the dresser), and I can't tell you when I wore socks before that.

I also know that when I got up this morning it was not in this condition. But when I come home from an early morning trip to the grocery store this is what I find.

Right now its either Chris or the cat - and i'm leaning towards the cat. What is her fascination with my sock drawer!!! Any time I leave it open like this she has to "nest" in it. But I never catch her actually in the drawer. I'm going to have to see if maybe she is burying her mice in there as I can't find half of them again.

Sort of reminds me of Stormy living in Quay's under-ware drawer - you could close the drawer on her because she wouldn't get out.

Crop Dusting

You know I have never in my life seen an actual crop duster in action. I've seen them in the movies (Independence Day is the most recent one I can think off).

But in a span of 2 hours on the drive north to Wisconsin on Friday evening we saw 4. All dusting bean crops along the sides of I65 in Indiana.

And today after a trip to the store, we saw another one.

Boy do those guys get low. The would be coming out of a field next to the express way and we were certain they were going to hit a semi but they pulled up, did a sharp turn and headed right back into the field dodging power lines and houses the whole way. We ever saw one that was a bi-plane. Chris says he has seen them could out of fields with corn stalks in the wheels - that is how low they get.

As Chris was driving he couldn't get a good look at them otherwise I would be able to tell you the make and model of the planes.

Best Husband Ever

Chris got sent to Peoria yesterday to fix a broken plane there (actually what he said is the owner didn't want to waste gas flying it to Indy to be fixed). Because of a softball tournament they had to drive back to Bloomington Monday night just to find a hotel room!!

I found them a hotel room on the west side of Bloomington right off the express way and was then trying to come up with places to eat. They ended up going to Red Lobster. This morning on their way back to Peoria to finish up the plane I told him if they had the time to find an Avantis for lunch or diner.

When he asked the guys at the hanger where the closest Avantis was he was asked how he knew about that restaurant.... They ended up going to the one up by the mall for a late lunch.

When I picked him up this evening after they drove back from Peoria what did he have for me? A meatball sandwich and a loaf of bread. Awesome - best food ever, even when reheated in the microwave!! And how did he know to get that for me. Because I was reminiscing this morning on what we would get from the restaurant just off Bradley's campus (its on the opposite side of the street). And then I told him the story of Zoe and my trips from Bloomington to Chicago and bringing her sandwiches and bread.

I have the best husband ever.

And he may get sent back to Peoria next week once the parts they were missing come in. More sandwiches coming this way. Why we didn't stop there the last couple of times I was in the area I don't know.

Hot....

Ugh. Its way to hot and sticky out. It needs to rain and cool this place down. This is probably the longest we have gone with out rain yet this summer.

We had a storm last night that just popped up and caused some good damage in our area. I had a patio chair on the other side of the driveway. There were some good size trees down as well.

They were predicting more rain for earlier today but those didn't happen so its gotten really hot and icky again. I'm hoping it rains tonight or tomorrow and brings the temps back down.

I don't want to do anything in this heat.

Saftey Tatoos

http://safetytat.com/

Read about this on one of the many blogs I follow. I know most of us don't need this yet but it is something I will book mark for later.

SafetyTat is a fun and colorful kids temporary safety tattoo that’s uniquely personalized with your cell phone number. When applied to the arm of your child or loved one, SafetyTat provides an immediate, highly visible form of identification that stays in place even when wet and lasts for 1-5 days.

2 1/2 inches

That is how much rain we got yesterday. And explains why the humidity was sooo high the day before.

This morning is just beautiful - nice and cool in the 70's, crystal clear skies and a great light breeze blowing thru. I've been sitting outside on the deck reading the paper drinking some pink lemondae.

I wish all summer days were like today.

Ball Sticker

That is Chris's most favorite phrase for a day like today. It is so hot your .... stick to you. And he's making .... soup. He hadn't come up with a version for women .... yet.

These are the days I wish we had central air. But they are so few and far between and I find that we spend a lot more time outside and less inside where it is cool. And we do have a window unit in the bed room that we only run at night so its easier to sleep but still.

I'm sitting here at the computer with the sweat just running down my back that I'm afraid I won't be able to type much longer as the keyboard will be covered in sweat.

Okay need to go sit in the cool bed room

more later

Hello...... hello????

So where is everyone?

There was a lot of good posting going on for awhile and then all of a sudden it all stopped.

Is everyone having an incredibly busy summer doing fun and adventures things that they are not at home? If you so you have no excuse not to post and rub it in that you are having more fun than the rest of us. If you are not having more fun than me you need to come visit us and then you can have loads of fun.

Me - I'm looking forward to the destruction of our back yard (note the great amount of sarcasm here). We are going to scrape it clean and re-level it. With all the rain we have been getting its constantly wet (ie never dries) and it slops to the house so all the rain ends up in the crawl space. The cool piece thou is going to be the dry stream bed I'm going to put in along the fence line - basically a trench dug about a foot deep filled with decorative stone. This will give the water a natural path to follow thus keeping the crawl space dry.

Along with the back yard remodel is the widening of the driveway project. They will both probably take place at the same time as the extra mud and stone in the back yard will work nicely as part of the expanded driveway. This way we will be able to get all the cars in the driveway with no more driving in the grass. And our house will look less ghetto (I hope).

Hello...... hello????

So where is everyone?

There was a lot of good posting going on for awhile and then all of a sudden it all stopped.

Is everyone having an incredibly busy summer doing fun and adventours things that they are not at home? If you so you have no excuse not to post and rub it in that you are having more fun than the rest of us. If you are not having more fun than me you need to come visit us and then you can have loads of fun.

Me - I'm looking forward to the destruction of our back yard (note the great amount of sarcasam here). We are going to scrape it clean and re-level it. With all the rain we have been getting its constantly wet (ie never dries) and it slops to the house so all the rain ends up in the crawl space. The cool piece thou is going to be the dry stream bed I'm going to put in along the fence line - basically a trench dug about a foot deep filled with decorative stone. This will give the water a natural path to follow thus keeping the crawl space dry.

Along with the back yard remodel is the widening of the driveway project. They will both probably take place at the same time as the extra mud and stone in the back yard will work nicely as part of the expanded driveway. This way we will be able to get all the cars in the driveway with no more driving in the grass. And our house will look less ghetto (I hope).

I hate concerts

This is the whole reason why I don't want to play in orchestra. The week of the concert.

This week we had Tuesday rehearsal at the school we normally practice at. Then we loaded up the trailer with all the equipment and stands we are borrowing to head off to the site of the dress rehearsal on Thursday at the band shell in the park in Plainfeild. We then set up for dress rehearsal at about 5:30 on Thursday (with a sound shell, choral risers and all my stuff), have rehearsal and then take it all down and put it away as the concert is in the middle of the park so the likely hood of something walking away is high.

Then on Friday we set everything back up about 5pm. Start the concert at 8pm. They start the fireworks at 9:55 during the 1812 overture, we play a couple more pieces and hopefully end before the end of the fireworks so we can see some of them. Then we tear everything down and put it back in the trailer.

At 10am on Saturday morning we meet at the school we rehearse at to unload everything.

My life this week seems to be non stop orchestra - I love rehearsals - hate, hate, hate the week of the concert. At least its just one concert and not 2 like normal.

Wanted: Ice Cream Recipie

I got the Ice Cream maker attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer for my Bday so I'm looking for good Ice Cream or Sorbet or Sherbert recipies to try out.

Any one got a good one?

I bet you will go do this yourself....

You know when you are in the middle of doing something and you try to pull some foil out of the box with one hand and the whole roll comes out of the box. Then you have to put the roll back in the box and start over. And if you are like my husband the roll has gotten away from you so you have to roll it all back up and its no longer smooth but all bumpy. The darn roll always comes out at the wrong time.

So have you ever looked at the end of your Aluminum foil or plastic wrap box?

Go look at it, I'l wait......

Written on the end it said, Press here to lock end. Right there on the end of the box is a tab to lock the roll in place. How long has this little locking tab been there?

Now I didn't find this out myself but it was sent as an email. Once I finished reading the email I went and checked it out for myself and proceeded to press in all the tabs on the end of the boxes.

Did any one know about this trick and not share it with the rest of us?????

The 10 Most Annoying Songs Ever

Rolling Stone polled readers and asked them to I.D. the most irritating songs to get stuck in the crevices of your cranium. Here they are.

The 10 Most Annoying Songs Ever

1. My Humps, Black Eyed Peas
2. Macarena, Los Del Rio
3. Who Let The Dogs Out, Baja Men.
4. My Heart Will Go On, Celine Dion
5. Photograph, Nickelback
6. Mambo No. 5, Lou Bega
7. You’re Beautiful, James Blunt.
8. Wannabe, Spice Girls.
9. The Thong Song, Sisqo
10. Believe, Cher

What do you think should make the list?

My new Baby

My mother in-law raises chickens for the eggs. Every year she gets a couple more as laying chickens only produce eggs for about 2 years. This year she got another 10 by mail when they were only a couple days old.

Because they are babies you need to baby them. Thus you need to create a very warm spot for them to spend the first couple weeks while they get bigger. Once they are bigger they can be moved to an outside cage in the hen house. Once they are big enough that they will not escape thru the fence around the coop they can be let out with the other girls.

Thus there are baby chicks living in the bath tub at her house. So taking a shower is an event in itself. Move the chicks out making sure the cat doesn't get to them and that they don't get out of their container. Then you need to clean the poop out of the bottom of the tub. Then you can take your shower then put them back in with all their accessories.

It is really funny to be going potty listening to them just cheeping away.

I claimed one - its a little black one with white wing tips with black feet and 1 white toe. That chicken will now be called Beth

When was the last time you...

Played kickball?

Burned the back of your knees? and the top of your feet?

Played with tadpoles?

Held baby chicks?

Took a shower under the stars?

Was serenaded by a tree frog in the shower?

Had fresh cheese curds?

Petted a baby cow?

Remember when it was 68 deg in the middle of June?

Chased geese?

Picked strawberries?

Its amazing what you find

So tonight I started going thru all the floppy discs I have laying around looking for my song book and what do I run across but some really good pictures. That makes me want to go thru some old CD's full of pictures I have here as well. Hmmm now that I have a new computer with a DVD burner I might just have to put them all on DVD - hmmm I'm think xmas presents here for you all.

What else did I find? A disc of Zoe's that has old english papers on it and what looks like her song book. The game Asteroids and Wheel of fortune. A picture of my sister and I holding a stingray from our first cruise. And a bunch of pictures of Chris taking down the worlds biggest tree down here in Indy.

Oh and my problem has been solved - I found the electronic copy of my song book on a CD (of all things) labeled back up 4/2004 - shows you how old that thing is. I could have sworn it was on a disc but I'll take a CD over a disc any day. Now to make sure I don't misplace it again and put it in the file box labeled games (were I found it not in the back up box where it should have been). I'm probably going to also put it in my online storage space so I can't loose it again unless that web server goes down or I forget my password. Maybe my lock box or a safety deposit box.....hmmmmm

I think I've lost it...

Do you remember how during college most of us spent alot of time typing out our girl scout song books. I remember using the time I was monitoring the computer lab to get everything typed up and printed out from the hand written versions I had up until then. Plus paper at school was free...

Well as of today I can not find both my hard copy nor my electronic version of my song book and I was looking. I think I know where the hard copy is - I can visualize the box its in. I just have not seen that box in awhile (that is what 2 moves in 2 years will do to you). As for the electronic copy - I know it was saved on a computer at one point in time. Which computer is anyone's question. And if it survived various hard drive crashes is the question. I also had a copy on a floppy disc - finding that disc is going to be challenge. The lucky thing is I still have a computer with a floppy disc drive - if that drive works is a questions.

Well cleaning the office today I did find my old computer box with a small box full of discs - none of them labeled. I also found an old lap top from where Patty worked a couple jobs ago, a bunch of dos information and a ream of paper. So I think I know what I'm going to be doing for the next couple of days - going thru discs. Why do I hang onto junk?

So tell me - can you lay your hands on your song book?

The Flood

If you haven't heard Indiana has had masive amounts of rain this week. Today alone we got better than 2 inches from about 9am to noon. South of us near Bloomington got about 6 inches in the same time frame. And this is on top of the rain earlier this week.

Flash Flood warnings abound. I65 south of Indy is closed.

The rain was coming down so fast the storm sewer at the bottom of our yard was overflowing and the man hole cover in the middle of the street was spewing water thru the holes in the cover.

Our back yard, which is a funnel for the water for the neighbors yards, was a river - you could not see the grass.

Well the rain has stopped for now but more rain is in the forecast.

The plus side is that my garden is doing awsome. The roses are blooming. My tomatos which went in the ground just a couple weeks ago are already flowering. And I have volunteers abound. I need to get them out of the ground before they get too much bigger and take over my roses. Down side is Chris is cutting the grass when ever he can as it is growing fast - but its very nice and green.

Feeling much better

Well the cough is gone - well I'm only coughing occasionally now and not as hard. I can breath thru the nose more often and am only getting stuffed up once in awhile now. And my voice is coming back. I'm still a bit snotty but its getting better and better.

So I'm well on my way to a full recovery.

What really helped in my mind was having my feet rubbed. It was weird but the night of the coughing fit where I was coughing so hard Chris thought I was going to throw up (Tuesday), I had Chris massage the bottoms of my feet. I know there is some science behind it and that certain areas of you feet are linked to vital organs - reflexology I think its called. But I can tell you this that my coughing subsided and my head cleared up right after he finished rubbing my feet.

I am so going to have to try that again when I get sick next time and see if it cuts the duration and symptoms down.

Plus having your feet rubbed feels oh so nice.

1/2 day today

Yesterday afternoon my sinus issue started to turn into a bronchial issue - I started that really deep heavy cough like you hear with bronchitis. Chris thought I was going to heave as I was coughing that hard. As I don't feel the gurgling in the lungs like you get with bronchitis and Chris didn't hear anything when he listened to my lungs with his stethoscope (that's another story) I'm pretty sure I don't have it but I'm probably right on the edge - I'm also not coughing anything up (its a nice dry hack) and I'm also not running a fever. I think my cough is more related to the sinus drainage I've got going on and the major irritation my trachea has right now. Oh and I started loosing my voice.

I do have to say that being a life long cougher I've got pretty good control over the cough reflex. To the point that my body is telling me to cough but I can ignore it so I'm coughing much less.

But the real reason I'm taking a 1/2 day is because of the 200 storms that came thru last night (okay minor exaggeration but it never stopped raining between about 9 pm and 7 am this morning). The lightning shows were awesome and it felt like they were going off every hour but they are really hard to sleep thru. We did get hail at one point in time as I was listening to it ping off the window. I got up to check the house during one of the early hard rain falls closing a couple windows. Chris got up while it was hailing to make sure the storm wasn't getting worse and to close the rest of the windows. As it was they are reporting this morning that 4 tornadoes touched down south of the city more by Bloomington. Add that to the one that touched down in the north east corner of the city on Friday and its been a busy week.

Because of the rough night I was so tired this morning I never heard the alarms go off. Chris finally got me up. I stood up but was so dizzy I had to sit right back down. I laid back down and fell right back asleep. And didn't wake up until Chris called me at 9 to see how I was doing. And talk about weird dreams I was having.

So except for a really sore throat, almost no voice and continuing cough I feel alot better than 6am. And since I'm already late for work I might as well turn it into a 1/2 day and get some stuff done around here.

I really hate sinus issues.

Katie Reider’s 365-Day Benefit

The goal of this project is to link 500,000 people within 365 days to www.500Kin365.org, a website being developed to connect or re-connect people to singer song-writer Katie Reider as she continues to face an ongoing battle with a rare myofibroblastic inflammation tumor.

The action is to then give your $1.00 gift to the cause in exchange for Katie’s gift. We are only asking for a $1 contribution that will grant the user access to download a collection of 9 original songs Katie’s performed over the last 10 years. This is not a purchase, but an exchange. When you give, you receive!

Katie Reider’s 365-Day Benefit
ATTN: Lauren Fernandes
P.O. Box 480722
Bicentennial Station
Los Angeles, CA 90048

My Poor Old Car

Did you know my Mountaineer is now offically 9 years old. And boy is it starting to show its age. It also have 130K miles - it would have more but I didn't drive it much while I had the convertible and these last couple months we have been car pooling so it doesn't get out as much any more.

Because of gas prices and because Chris was out of town I've been driving the Jetta for the last 5 weeks. My car only got out once in those 5 weeks and that was to go pick up some mulch just down the road. Well today was one of the days where after work Chris and I head in different directions so we can't car pool. So he takes the Jetta (since he is going farther) and I take the Mountaineer.

I was quite pleased it started this morning and except for the brakes being stiff (from sitting) there were no problems.

Until I got near the airport.

I noticed the ABS light had come on - okay, no big deal, just be careful - it could just be from sitting. Then the airbag light came on. Then the radio died. Then the check engine light came on. Then all the gages dropped to zero. Then the car died. In the left lane, right by the airport. I was able to coast into the turn lane by the gas station before I came to a halt.

While the car was in the process of dieing I called Chris who had just arrived at work (about 3 blocks from where the car stopped). So he gets back in his car to come push me out of traffic and into the parking lot - My hero!!!

With the symptoms it was showing we were pretty sure the alternator gave up the boat but since neither of us could fix it right there as we both had to get to work we left it in the parking lot.

Chris went back at lunch to see if it would start - well it did so he moved it to the work lot where it wouldn't get towed (being that I died right at the airport I wasn't sure how long it would be before it got towed). After work I picked him and the bad alternator up (he pulled it out on break) to go get a new one (and a serpentine belt since the belt was off and need to be changed anyways). And hour later and I was on the road and the car drives like new!!

This was going to be the year of money spent on my car any way - it needs plugs, wires, and exhaust, shocks, front supports and probably a starter (since those also seem to go about about 100K miles). And since its paid for and I couldn't sell it becuase of its gas milage and I really don't want another car payment we will do the upkeep needed and get another 5 years out of it.

I think I have the oldest car right now.

What we did today

And their off.

We got tickets to see the Indy 500 today. Chris has lived here 11 years and has never gone and I've been here 2 and have never been inside the track - flown over and driven past many times thou.

Since we were given tickets (Misty, a friend of Chris got tickets thru work and didn't want to go) and have a friend (Von) who lives about 3 blocks away and she let us park in her driveway we thought - what the heck, lets go.

And I've been once and once is enough for me. Think Taste of Chicago on the 3rd of July but with every one drunk.

It is a huge drunk fest. You can bring in alcohol and food so there is no need to buy their over priced beer. So fill a cooler with beer and you are set for 3 hours of sitting in the sun watching the cars go around the track.

According to the reports this was the biggest turnout in 12 years (since the league split).

We were sitting on the north stretch between turns 3 and 4. The crash between Kannan and Fischer late in the race was just to our right.

Oh and more women need to be race car drivers - if you didn't watch the race Danica Patrick got hit coming out of pit row late in the race. Her car got spun and her back wheel broke. Once they got her out of the car she was on a mission to find the guy who hit her (who was also damaged and had been pushed back into pit row). She marched thru pit row towards him and track security ended up stopping her before she got to him. Word on the radio was the guy who hit her was told to stay in the car and not get out. I'm pretty sure she was going to read him the riot act and bitch him out but we will never find out now. Up until that point she had been pretty much running in the top 10 and would have had a chance at a win. That was the best part of the race.

How does your garden grow

Look what is growing in my yard. This is a bed of Oriental Poppies.

Last year I had this weird plant growing that had what looked like a flower head on it. Well instead of letting Chris cut it down I let it flower so I could figure out if it was a weed or not.

This year that one flower has turned into a whole bunch of flowers. Aren't they pretty.

Only problem is they are in the way of where we are going to move the driveway to (along with my lilac tree and peonies which are getting moved as soon as I get their new home ready). So once they are done flowering they are getting cut down so gravel can go in.

I am going to make sure to save seeds and try to get the bed established on the other side of the house where the new flower garden is going to be.

Well depending on how you look at it they could be weeds.....

Road Trip Any one?

Well the Hendricks Symphony orchestra (of which I'm a member) is playing at the 4th of July celebration in Plainfeild Indiana (down here on the west side of Indy).

Not only are we playing before the fire works - we are playing with the fire works.

So we are currently practicing firework music. Which includes all your favorites, Sound of Music, Music from Star Wars, various Sousa marches, Battle Hymn, 1812 and the William Tell Overature (the good part).

How come I remember last playing these pieces and they were really hard? Or at least the percussion parts were alot different and much more involved... Maybe it could be that the last time I played the 1812 I was in highschool. Damn memory.

We only have a handful of rehersals to go and we still have music coming in. But this group can do it - well as long as the parts don't get any harder.

So does anyone want to come down and see a free concert with fireworks? Let me know and we will find a place for you to stay.

Oh yeah - does anyone know where we can borrow a cannon from?

Life just got better

Chris came home on Sunday!!! yeah my husband is home again.

What is the first thing he did when we got to the house (after stopping at my sisters to see the deck, picking up a keg of beer and getting a load of mulch)???

Cut the grass. Seems that I didn't do a good job of it when I cut it about a week ago and it was looking too out of control for him. I mean it wasn't 8 inches tall and going to seed or anything like that (well it was when I cut it last). It could have gone another week in my mind.

So he spends his first evening home doing yard work.

You should see the Oriental Poppies that are growing in the grass. Since Chris wasn't around to cut them down I've let them get big and tall and now they are flowering. So pretty. Chris says once they are done flowering he is mowing them down. At least he hasn't cut them down yet.

Oh well, he's a man

Okay changing again

Did you know Blogger.com and Multiply have sharing capabilities. So I can post on either site and have my blogg show up in both!!

So depending on where and what you want to book mark you can find me at either place. I'll try to put a cross link between the 2 as I'm not sure yet which I'm going to keep up to date with pics and other stuff yet.

Here is the link to each of them so you can check them out as you wish.

http://cedarchip.multiply.com

http://cedarc.blogspot.com/

Ramblings from DFW

So I'm now sitting in the DFW (Dallas - Fort Worth) Airport killing time. I have about 5 more hours to kill.

The flight from Monterry Mexico to DFW was on time and had no problems. We make it thru customs and check our baggage in, turn to check the monitors to find our gate and what is next to the 10:30 Indianapolis flight but the big word Cancelled.

So after spend about 20 mintues trying to find a gate agent we finally head back out to ticketing to see what needs to be done.

I was scheduled on the 12:45 out into St. Louis with an arrival into Indy at 5:30 - but the flight from St. Louis to Indy would be on a really really little plane which I really don't like. So I opted to take the 3:45 direct flight (on a bigger plane) into Indy instead and not have to deal with the potential of missing the final flight into Indy. So I will finally get to Indy at 6:55 and home by probably 8pm.

So I have a bunch of hours to kill. Finally to get to all those web sites I've been meaning to check and balance my check book and read the news and a bunch of other stuff. I would much rather be at home doing nothing but I guess this is okay, comfy chair, nice and bright windows and not alot of people around me now (Oh I'm sitting in the International Terminal which is alot newer than the rest of the airport and has better restaurants)

7.138 Pesos

Now what exactly costs 7.138 Pesos as of May 15th?

A liter of gas.

You heard me.

A liter of gas.

So that works out to about 27 Pesos a Gallon and the going rate is 10 Pesos to the Dollar.

So gas in Saltillo Mexico is $2.70 a gallon.

And we are at $4 - tell me why that is.

Can you ship Gas? I wonder if it would be any savings.

No wonder all the old US cars go to Mexico to die (you see alot of 70's and 80's cars still there and the big SUV's)

Back from Wichita

I spent this last weekend visiting my husband in Wichita KS. Because you really never hear about Wichita (except that their college basketball team liked to beat my college basketball team) I wasn't really sure what to expect.

First thing.....
Its really really really windy there - like all the time. To the point that this morning when I left it was about 50 out with about 50 mph winds which brought the temp down to the 30's. The wind really makes it hard to spend any time outside.

I know Chicago is windy but really thats just because of how the wind funnels thru the buildings. This wind just cuts thru you.

Second....
I'm not sure if this is true but they have more aeorspce companines out there than I've ever seen. For a really small town they have 5 - 6 airports. 1 is the commercial airport. HawkerBeechcraft (who Chris and Matt work for) has their own air field. Boeing, Cesna and Spirit have assembly plants out there with associated run ways. There is a Military base with a run way and a small private airport as well. As we were driving around I saw alot of aerospace companies had manufacturing facilites as well. So it seems like Wichita is a hot bed of the aerospace industry.

Third.....
The town has a really nice downtown area thats very tourist friendly with a bunch of museums and lots of things to do. Its probably about the same size as downtown Indy but with not as many tall buildings. Once you get aways from downtown things are really spread out (at least on the East side). I'm used to development upon development and everything being really packed in. Out there you drive down a city road that all of a sudden turns into a mud road. A mud road is a road that consists of mud and gravel and when it rains really hard it becomes almost impassible. I saw alot of national chain restaurants and stores. Oh and the main Colmen factory is out there and they have tours and an outlet store (that I'm disappointed we didn't get to)

So all in all its really not a bad little town. Probably smaller than indy but still has alot to offer.

This is PavonII he is a full blood Andalusion stallion that Ellin (the owner of the barn I'm at) owns. For a full stallion he is very gentle. He doesn't get pushy and loves to be around people. Just look at him move.

Here I am

Well I've finally abandoned Yahoo360 - I hate to do it as I've been there for a couple years but as they are not supporting the program any more and Yahoo seems to be changing directions I needed to move.

So this is where you will find me.

More to come

OH and someone else already took the cedarchip.blogger.com so I had to settle for cedarc - not too much different. If you try cedarchip you get a blank blog, wonder who that is....