Yes, Tigger Rocks

I've been missing out on "My husband Rocks" Fridays, just due to being busy.  He does, however, indeed rock.

Last week I was on the phone with him burning dinner and just as the kitchen filled with smoke and the fire alarm started blaring, the door bell rang.  Pizza delivery, courteous of the Tigger.  Good-bye black-on-the-outside-and-raw-in-the-middle-pork chops and hellllllloooooo warm, yummy pizza. 

And today, right as Tigger was telling me that he contemplated telling me (untruthfully!) that he had to go out to sea today and couldn't come home, (the fart), the DHL guy pulls up with absolutely beautiful white roses from Vera Wang.

Happy and Sad

I'm thrilled because the Hubby is flying in tonight!  ::bounces in her seat::

I'm sad because I just read that AOL Hometown is going away.  Which means I'll lose my Blog, right?  :(  I better start backing it up and saving it.  Remind me to ask the Hubby how. I clicked the link on AOL to find out, but of course the page was blank.

I forgot to update

Jacob is now a Decided Orange Belt!

No pictures, because I wasn't expecting them to get their belts on Friday.  Apparently no one else was either, because there were only four students there Friday. 

The school has changed their rules on sparring class.  It used to be you had to be a yellow belt to be in sparring class, but now you can go as an orange belt.  Jacob is super psyched.  One of the women there told me to remember to buy Jacob "special equipment."  I nodded and we left.  When we got outside, Jacob wanted to know what the "special" equipment was.  I whispered it in his ear and he turned bright red and said "NO WAY!  You are kidding, Mommy!" Hehe.  Nope, sorry kiddo.

Today

I couldn't take my camera because it was too big to worry about and because the batteries are dying. 

At any rate, we got up before daylight this morning so that we could drop the two youngest off at the Church nursery.  The two oldest and I drove 45 minutes north to an abandoned Kroger's where we spent two hours making bags of a rice and soy mixture for children in Haiti. 

I feel so absolutely blessed to have been a part of this operation.  My two kids had an absolute blast doing it.  Apparently our time slot (it was set up in 2 hours slots and large groups rotated to always keep the production going) put together the most bags of food so far.  The average is 4.5 pallets (I can't remember how much food that was, but it was a LOT), and we put together 6.5 pallets.  Go us!  The meals we made were in the millions, I do believe.  The statistic they gave us is that each person there could create enough meals for one child for an entire year.  I'd guess there were about 80 to 90 people in our group, so that would be enough food for a year for that many children.  They kept the groups going all day.  I was so excited to see so much interest in the program! 

If someone e-mails me some pictures, I'll post them.  A couple were taken here and there.  My children are so lucky that the were able to do something like this.  I hope it sunk in to them.  When we first got there, they passed around a "mud cookie."  These are cookies that are made in Haiti from yellow sand, vegetable oil, and sea salt.  They are mixed together, and left in the sun to dry.  And then these kids eat them.  The two ingredients not listed:  animal waste and parasites.  They eat these cookies to stop the hunger pains.  One of the men in charge who had just gotten back from dropping off food in Haiti bought some of the cookies from a woman hoping that she would use the money to find some real food.  He also wanted to give the children that go to that abandoned grocery store up north a hands-on look at what the children they are preparing food for are eating. 

Kudos to all of the hard work and funds and effort that have gone into this program.  I hope they can keep it going.

Testing for Orange Belt

Forms

One Steps.  He was really unsure of himself and kept looking at the panel for reassurance. 

 

 

Wind Storm

I have been away. Just a little wind hit here Sunday.

Enough wind to throw me around. And I'm not exactly small.

We had some damage in my neighborhood.

Before it broke off.

While the dude was climbing it to get into his house.

After a big gust combined with is weight.

Lots of lost shingles around here.

That blue thing is my neighbor's full size trampoline which was only kept contained by my other neighbor's fence.

It was a pretty windy day.

We lost power. It was technically only 27 hours for us, but it was two days of waking hours for the kids. Over 380,000 people are still missing power in my extended area. The pictures and videos I shared are just a few examples of the damage from my block alone. I tried to make it an adventure for the kids. We had a candle light dinner (compliments of an awesome neighbor), and we played games and read a story by candlelight/flashlight. The kids had fun. They were disappointed when the power came back on, lol. Our cable was out a day longer than our power. I am glad to have my Internet back. I used to wish I had lived in Laura Ingalls Wilder's days, but now I'm rethinking it. I need my instant access. :-)

We are blessed that we only lost some small branches and the gate to our inner fence. Our roof seems to be OK. I took my frozen meats over to a friend's house who got power back before us. I still need to pick it up. I was true blessed by those around us.

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Don't forget!

I have another Blog.  I still need to get better about posting there.  I haven't been keeping this one up very well, either.

Play my Trivia!  Link in the other Blog.  If you forgot your log in, just make a new one!

Welcome to the Loony Bin

The Weathermen

They played a rotten joke on me.  I looked at the forecast a few days ago and it called for rainy days in the 70's for the next ten days, so I opened the house up.  It promptly got up in the upper 80's and lower 90's and I roasted.  So I had to close the house back up.

I was so enjoying lying in bed at night and listening to the crickets sing lullabies to me while the light breeze whispered sweet nothings in my ear.

Now I'm back to listening to a machine blow artificial air into my house.  I am glad to have the AC, though.

What Michelle Means

You are confident, self assured, and capable. You are not easily intimidated. You master any and all skills easily. You don't have to work hard for what you want. You make your life out to be exactly how you want it. And you'll knock down anyone who gets in your way! You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing. You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long. You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start. You are very open. You communicate well, and you connect with other people easily. You are a naturally creative person. Ideas just flow from your mind. A true chameleon, you are many things at different points in your life. You are very adaptable. You are truly an original person. You have amazing ideas, and the power to carry them out. Success comes rather easily for you... especially in business and academia. Some people find you to be selfish and a bit overbearing. You're a strong person. You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together. You are relaxed, chill, and very likely to go with the flow. You are light hearted and accepting. You don't get worked up easily. Well adjusted and incredibly happy, many people wonder what your secret to life is.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

Preschool

So we are in our second week of Preschool.

It has been a little difficult on him. 

He's finding it hard to adjust.  He spends a lot of time crashing on the couch.

He's the sweetest little boy.  Poor baby, last night he fell asleep on the way home from TKD and I thought he would wake up, so I put him on the couch.  He ended up on the floor at some point.  He woke up at eleven when I was getting ready to carry him to bed telling me he was wet.  So I cleaned him up, and he went upstairs and crawled into my bed.  He ended up sleeping thirteen hours.  He even missed dinner.  Hopefully he will adjust quickly and things will get easier for him. 

I think his mind might be going, though...

Hey

I'm sorry I have been quiet.  I've just been a mess lately, and I'm trying to keep that mess to myself.

So, without getting into it, I'll just give a brief update.  I re-continued my quest for good dental health.  I went to the dentist a couple of days ago.  I took my five-year-old with me and he did such an awesome job.  He played so quietly and nicely.  My appointment was long, and the woman at the front desk kept an eye on Aidan for me.  How cool is that?  I was upset at first that they wouldn't let him come back with me, but in the end it was a good thing.  My Novocain (or whatever he uses) wore off halfway through my fillings.  I about came out of the chair.  He started drilling and oh my gosh my body jerked up and I tried so hard not to yell and didn't, but it was obvious I was in pain.  The dentist and his assistant both dropped everything.  The assistant walked away and the dentist shot my mouth up with more good stuff and walked away.  I am now bowing down at the feet of The Almighty Warrior Novocain.  You don't appreciate it properly until you experience dental work without it.  As a result of the drugs wearing off and one really deep cavity, the dentist only managed two or three fillings this week.  He fixed the next to last really bad tooth so I am happy!

My youngest has started Preschool.  Did I mention that?  He is one cranky pants today.  His week was way to exciting for him.  I'm really glad it was only a three day week for him instead of a four day week.  I ended up having to carry him kicking and screaming out of a store today.   He has no patience and is way over-stimulated and under-rested.  So we are chilling at home the rest of the day.  I don't know if TKD is back in session or not.  If it is, I'm skipping it.  There is no way I'm taking my youngest anywhere else today.  He'll have today and tomorrow to lounge at home.  It will do him, and the rest of us, a lot of good!

Rain has finally reached us!  Just light rain so far, but it's better than nothing!  Good-bye 90's, hello 70's!  Speaking of rain, I've been keeping a close eye on Hannah.  I know the Weather Service keeps saying she's going to turn North and hit the Carolina's, but I have never thought that.  I see her coming ashore along the Georgia coast.  Or at least coming very close and bouncing off the Georgia coast.  The Hubby is safe, but my Dad has taken zero precautions.  So please keep him in your thoughts.  He keeps saying Hannah will miss him completely.  I don't think he has seen the warnings that her winds and rains are lashing out hundreds of miles from her center and causing a lot of problems.  I'm worried about Ike and his house in Florida, too.  No visits to Florida any time soon, Dad.  OK?

At any rate, I've been busy reading the Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyers.  My Hubby rocks diamonds and sent me the rest of the series before he became wrapped up in the avoiding Hannah thing.  I've been a reading fool!

I'll come back with some updates when I'm in a better frame of mind.  I've just been mopey and not too much fun lately.  Take care!

 

"Bullying Policy"

"Bullying Policy

This year there is a "No Tolerance" policy for bullying.  Please encourage your children to let me know if there is a problem at school so that we can take care of it immediately.  The school is really cracking down on inappropriate behavior and all cases will be dealt with through the office, or if serious enough, through our school resource officer.  I do not anticipate having any problems with anyone in our class but help to remind your child that they need to make good choices while at school and on the bus."

The above are beautiful words.  My oldest child had informed me of the policy the first week of school, but I just now found it in writing.  I am so thrilled the school is taking this seriously.  The little girl that we had problems with last year is not in Jacob's class this year.  I do feel heartbroken for the child, because there are apparently many problems in her home, but the selfish side of me is glad that she will not be in my child's class this year. 

Kudos to the school.  I know from talking to the other parents that I am not the only parent that has children who had problems with bullying last year.