Going, Going...Gone

WARNING: super long post! do what you need to do first....

Mike and Taryn left a bit ago on their way back to MS & T. It was so wonderful to see Taryn again! Despite the many care packages I have sent filled with sour patch and candy, Taryn has not gained a pound. We managed to fill her break with appointments to the dentist, the chiro, the hairstylist, a wellness/nutrition dr, and her Internist. That dr was surprised she hadn't gained any weight and said she could use a pound or two. Taryn replied that the food wasn't that good and you had to walk really far to get to it. I love her dry sense of humor. She got her flu shot too. She wasn't expecting that. Hah! I had to work a 2 pm to 11 pm closing shift last night and am coming down with a cold so I decided not to go on this drive and will instead pick Taryn up in December. I did get up to make sure she packed everything because you know how hard it is to replace a toothbrush. Taryn is looking forward to getting back to her friends and into the swing of things at college. She is changing her major. Taryn has decided the chemistry in Nuclear Engineering is more along the lines of what she likes. Glow, Taryn! Glow! Something about fusion, half-life, atoms... I can't remember this early what all she said. I just keep picturing my tiny human in a white radioactive suit. I'd know her anywhere - she'd be the little one! Or, perhaps with an explosives engineering minor she'll be working on weapons. She'd like that. You should have seen her firing at us with her nerf gun. She likes kill shots and injuries to vital areas. Oh wait, that was Mariah. All I can say is I never let them have guns for toys as children and still, see what happens?!

So Mariah and Taryn are trying the bazillion-million probiotics, food enzymes, and BioEssence the wellness guy recommends they try for the tummy problems they have. It will help with eczema, hay fever, ADD and stuff too. We'll see. We're on a 2 week trial. I also got some Zinc chewable stuff that supposed to help keep you from getting sick. I was already exposed by a coworker at preschool to this lovely cold so I am trying to shorten its effects. Plus, Gib is getting alot of canker sores and zinc is supposed to help prevent that. I sure hate canker sores. I used to get those from stress too.

Indy leaves today too. She had to spend the last couple days of her break working on assignments. She was none too pleased about that. At least she had the help of the brilliant and creative minds that live here. One assignment was to make a web page, and another from her Great Books class, was to make a mosaic. She wanted to put Mariah on that, but I guess Mariah was all postered out. When I got home from CWC, there was a nice rendition of the Young Women's torch done in red, purple, blue and gold sequins. Indy was trying to perfect the image of the facial profile. I tried to help by cutting some sequins rather than leaving them whole. After alot of work, we didn't like it, and went back to the way it was the first time. I suggested she make other people feel lame if they couldn't see the face. My advice was to say stuff like "what do you mean you don't see it?! A beak?! I don't know what you're talking about!" It was funny how she was patiently telling me in an irritated voice (you know the one that says "mom's such a ratard") that she wasn't going to be selling her piece and the only one seeing it was the professor. At least she got the chance to catch up with a couple of friends while she was here, and we enjoyed having both girls home again! I do believe Indy has decided to pursue a Masters degree. She also has been accepted to go on another study abroad trip this summer to Africa with the Mercer on Mission. The destination is Ethopia. They will be working on water again, but in a different way. Not sand filtration, but sounds more like wells to me. This will be followed by her Service Scholars trip to Armenia to build a house. She has alot of work in store for her in the next semester and summer!

We had a great long Thanksgiving weekend! We love having the house full. We watched some movies, played Killer Bunnies and the kids got started on Christmas. This year they are in charge of gifts. Santa will still deliver on Christmas Eve I'm sure, since most of them are more Nice than Naughty, but otherwise mom and dad are out of the gift buying. I thought that was a genius move on my part. The kids love the thrill of shopping with someone else's money... who doesn't?!?! They all have a budget to spend and buy gifts for their sibs & parents. Taryn even helped with a purchase that will be a gift for a certain someone from other certain someones in the family.

Taryn went with me to work on Black Friday to do her shopping. She zigged and zagged her way through the crowds. I got to see her a couple times at CWC as she zipped in to show me what she found, drop off her jacket, stuff like that. Later on, all 3 of my girls showed up! That totally made my day to see all 3 of their smiling faces. What an awesome surprise!! It was a couple hours before my shift ended and they were taking me home when I got done. They helped Mariah with some of her gifts and we went home to a delicious Thanksgiving 2.0.

As you know, we do a Surf & Turf Thanksgiving. We've tried it all, fried turkey, honeybaked ham and turkey, the usual turkey... nobody ever feels like Thanksgiving is a hit unless we Surf & Turf it. So we had some yummy Ribeye and Alaskan King Crab. Indy's friend Kristy joined us. Afterwards we watched Letters to Juliet. We enjoyed the movie, especially the super cheesy ending. So fast forward to Friday... Grammy made turkey with all the fixin's!!! It was kind of weird, in a delicious sort of way, because it felt like we were eating it a day late. I did enjoy getting to have my mashed potatoes and turkey gravy though, and I didn't have to do any of the cooking, so I'm not complaining. The kids don't care much for turkey, and with it being just us, there's alot of leftovers, so that's why we don't usually do a big ol' Thanksgiving turkey in the first place. But hey, this year we got two thanksgiving dinners, and whaddya know, I didn't cook either of them, so it's all good!

As for BLACK FRIDAY at Coldwater Creek, we got some fantastic news on Saturday. We knew we were rocking it on Friday. The store was busy but we were handling the pace really well. With all hands on deck, our team was moving like a well oiled machine and the line never got super long, the fitting rooms moved along well, and we were pulling people in and making our store the happy safe harbor in the mall. Apparently it worked, because we were the #1 Coldwater Creek store in the NATION on Friday.

Other things we did this weekend: We worked on Taryn's new room in the College Suites part of the house. Haha. These are the tiny little rooms created out of the bonus room. The girls share the closet off the bonus room and are some distance to the nearest bathroom. However, they are way up high and just across from all the trees so it is like being up in the woods. Feels like it too! They have the DRAFTIEST windows ever. We will replace Taryn's curtains with some white ones we already have and hope they cut down on the draft but still let light in. Taryn doesn't like the room darkening ones that Mariah had. We also got Taryn a really cool beach scene canvas that is a long narrow rectangle and an awesome bedside table. Taryn chose a new paint color. I guess aquamarine turquoise blue is a 9 yr old thing. I will work on that and hope to have it done before she comes home for Christmas. We also bought Mariah a canvas print for her room because Taryn lifted one off the wall that was hers! Well, we knew she would, I was just putting off getting one for Mariah until we found one that was just right and until I absolutely had to replace empty spot. That would be now. Perfect timing because BB & B had the ultimate picture and we had a 20% coupon!

Grammy, Mariah and I unloaded the Christmas stuff from the Man Cave. I hoped to have the porch decorated Tuesday before Thanksgiving because it was a warm and balmy 60 something degrees. Then Taryn, Mariah and I went to BB & B instead. Maybe Wednesday? Nope, Taryn and I went to TJMaxx and found better, cheaper stuff for her beach theme room. Now it is cold and frosty here and I will shiver and freeze when I decorate outside. Mariah and I put the Christmas tree up yesterday. We still haven't found the lights yet, so my hopes that the tree would be decorated by little elves when I got home last night were crushed.

Mike and Gib worked the Scout Christmas tree lot the past two days. They always fill their 4 required shifts the two days after Thanksgiving, when the tree lots open up to customers. They sold alot of trees on Saturday. It's the source of all fundraising and financial support for a very large scout troop and takes many hands. There are 3 lots across town staffed by 3-4 scouts and 2-3 adults.

So I know there will be a request for pictures. Been a little busy but I am off today. I know Mike put up a couple on his fb of Thanksgiving, and I put one of us playing Killer Bunnies on mine. I don't think any others were taken of people. Sorry! When I finish T's room, I will take a picture of it because I know she will want to see how that turns out. I will have Mariah take one of her cool canvas. Other than that, you know we live the quiet life here and there just isn't much to photograph! However, that said.... Christmas break isn't that far off and Taryn will be coming home with MS & T shirts for everyone and I feel a new family photo coming on.

Model U.N.

Gib left this morning for the Model U.N. Conference. It is being held at a hotel for 3 days and they got out of school today. I'm pretty sure that is why everyone joined. Anyways, they have done alot of hard work. Here is his group. They are representing the country of South Africa. They compete against other high schools in getting their resolutions passed.

Haha - I told the kid I wasn't going to show his feet in this photo where I told him to stand on the curb. Trust is such a delicate issue. The other three boys know me so much better. I did not send his mother this shot.

The sanctioned shot.

The Dude.

Y'all heard about our funny evening last night? Well, here's the long story. First it was the conversation about how Gib was getting there Friday morning at 9. Funnily enough, Mike and I both attended the parent meeting last week together. We volleyed back and forth who could go. I said I could but I would have to move my neuro appt. I just needed to know. We thought it likely Gib might go with one of the guys. Mike mentioned he might work something out. Did anyone do anything afterwards. Noooo. Thursday evening rolls around and Mike goes, "are you taking him?" I'm all, "no, I thought you were. I would have had to move my dr's appt. I could have done that, but now it's too late". Then I get to thinking that if I take the dude up early enough I can get back into town in time for my 9 am appt. And I am seriously regretting agreeing to pick up a shift at Coldwater Friday afternoon.

The carpool comes through. I think Gib probably ran upstairs in desperation and begged. But all 4 boys went together so maybe not. Then I wonder if anyone ever got Gib new black socks? We wrote it down on the paper at the parents meeting that I thought it would be good to get him some. Nope. So Mike figures he'll just run to Costco and the bank and take care of the dude's cash needs and get him new socks too. Super. I made dinner meanwhile and while we were eating, I remember Gib's feet had grown quite a bit and we had been making do for Sunday's with his better looking shoes and he didn't have a more recent pair of suit shoes. I asked him if he had any that fit. He said he could wear them but they were tight. I doubted it, since I remember the last time I bought those shoes and it was a couple sizes ago. Sure enough, they were 9's and the dude's wearing an 11 these days. Off to the shoe store then. He can't go around for 3 days in a pair of size 9 suit shoes with a size 11 foot stuffed in them. He'd be crippled. While there I remembered he might need a belt. He's kinda skinny still and we had to buy a men's suit.

On the way home, Mike called us and said we might as well run through Subway and get Gib a lunch since he was now carpooling and all. Gib was very happy to make a round-about turn and go the back route to Subway to take care of another last minute detail for Model U.N.

We get home and I'm helping the dude pack. I got to steam out some pants and stuff and I cannot believe my eyes. Gib has tried on the pants - 2 weeks ago - just to make sure I didn't need to get them hemmed or anything. Did he say anything about the security tag still attached to the ankle of them?!?! Noooooo. He says he didn't even notice it.

I tagged Mike as IT and he went back to the mall to get it removed. Luckily it was still open, and we are fortunate to live a mile away from everything. Still.... it was all getting to be a bit much!!!

All's well that ends well. The dude is off, and now I must be too. I don't know what I was thinking when I agreed to take this 12-6 shift. I've got a million things to do and 8 minutes to spare.

Taryn comes home today though!!! Unfortuantely, I can't get much done for her welcome home in the next 8 minutes. All I can hope for now is that I am not so wiped out that I can be productive from 6 pm to midnight! I think she will be arriving in the wee hours. I can't wait to see her!!!! It's been since August.

Speaking of Dr's

Mariah has undergone every test known to man... and her pediatrician has come up blank as to why she is still suffering stomach issues after her surgery. That appendicitis ruined her intestinal tract. It's been 6 months, and that's a long time for what she has been going through. But we now know it isn't a virus, parasite, or bacteria that she picked up before, during or after surgery. The next step is to go see a wellness doctor who will diagnose her differently, knowing that we aren't dealing with a medical problem. Then Mariah will take a bazillion million Chinese herbal pills and stuff to detox and after that she will take a half-bazillion million herbal pills and vitamins on a daily regimen... unless she gets lucky and can go the "grape shot" route and chug-a-lug her daily dose. A side bennie: her eczema will also become a thing of the past... if she takes ALL her pills. The downside: it's not covered by insurance. I think, going by what Indie tells me, I need to time detox to coincide with winter break. Bathroom breaks are essential. Nice.

Other things that have annoyed Mariah recently: 3 huge poster assignments due within a day of each other! She works long hours completing her posters. She finished one where she had to create a world of her own. She asked for some ideas on creating Laws of the Land, with the criteria being they couldn't be common or boring. She didn't want to go with ones that were "too obvious" and she could only have 5. Most of my suggestions were met with eye rolling, but I think my daughter listened to some wise advice in the end. Considering she wanted to be original.

1. Commit No Offenses Against Anyone. (I thought that she was rather clever with that)
2. Do not litter. All trash must be recycled.
3. The government gives you a new laptop every year on your birthday. (hint-hint)
4. You must have a 3 day weekend to every work week.
5. Everyone must volunteer to a good cause once a year.

Parental Rule #1: Make your dad happy by carrying the finished poster to the bus!

Another Day

Another Doctor....

Ready for another M.D. lesson? Today we get to learn about melanomas. Because I apparently had one... right smack dab on the middle of my forehead. Kind of makes me laugh that it was put there to get my attention. Pretty much that is what it takes these days to make it to my radar and the top of my To Do list. After a couple months of being annoyed by the black spot that had suddenly appeared and freaked me out every time I saw it in the mirror, I grabbed my cell at a red light and called the dermi. They booked me that afternoon. We scraped that sucker off pretty much for vanity's sake; lo & behold, it came back suspicious. It got sent back for another diagnostic and I was called in for the official sit down discussion today. The Dr. said it's a "melanoma that isn't really a melanoma" OK.......

Junctional Melanocytic Proliferation, within a Solar Lentigo (forehead)
(a melanoma in situ arising in a solar lentigo and a junctional nevus associated with one).
Whatever that means.

This represents one of the earliest stages of melanoma with the atypical melanocytes limited to the dermal-epidermal junction and with no evidence of dermal involvement. Depending upon the morphology, some dermatopathologists subclassify these melanoma in situs as:

Lentigo maligna
Melanoma in situ, superficial spreading type
Melanoma in situ, acral lentiginous type

A melanoma in situ stage does not exist for a nodular melanoma, which by definition, is in the vertical invasive growth phase. Desmoplastic melanomas, likewise, do not have a recognized precursor in situ lesion. However, lentigo malignas may give rise to this type of melanomas. Because this melanoma is a precursor lesion to a later invasive lesion, complete excision is curative.

So, basically, if I understand this correctly, I don't need to freak out, but I do need to count "freckles" yes, I know they're NOT FRECKLES and anything that suddenly pops up on my skin is going to be cut out. All this I gleamed when I asked, "didn't y'all count those at my skin check?" I mean, I don't pay attention to this stuff and I know I heard a bunch of weird names and numbers rattled off! She looked at me like I was addled. "Honey..." she goes, "we aren't counting, we are looking for certain things, and they're not freckles-they're MOLES. You're over 45, so ANYTHING that 'pops' up you need to tell me about because it's not bad unless you don't follow up. We're gonna be girlfriends now, and see each other every 3 months. Don't worry, it'll be OK!!" Then she went on to draw all over my forehead debating the best way to not disfigure me for life when she carves out a 5mm margin of where the previous "freckle" used to be to so they can look at the surrounding tissue to see what was around it and if it spread. If I'm lucky I get a forehead lift or botox or something. December 6th... I can hardly wait. December 13th the stitches come out and I get the new & improved Body Scan. Oh yeah, and a new girlfriend.

Veterans Day Tribute

Veterans Day Tribute - watch the photo slides, you'll see Mariah with the choir in a white tee, and Mom, Grandpa and I in a photo taken prior to the program.

Yesterday was a wonderful Veteran's Day for Grandpa. He said it was the best tribute program he's ever been to. He was one of a handful of World War II Veterans, and represented his branch of the Army well. All the branches of the military were in fact represented - Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and U.S. Coast Guard. The Marine Corps and Air Force had by far the largest showing of family presence in attendance. Several teachers and staff members of the school have served in the military. One of the more recent additions to the teaching staff served in Iraq and Afganistan and now teaches history. He looks like he just graduated college. I was amazed.

The speaker, when announcing those present at the program, mentioned the areas Grandpa fought in as an Private 1st Class infantry soldier - France and Germany 1943-1946 - as "no picnic, that's for sure" and that he saw tough combat. What really struck him though was that in 1950 he signed up to serve his country again; this time as a Sergeant in the Army National Guard, and was called into active duty back to the infantry in Korea where he received 2 bronze stars. Turning 91 on December 1st, and great-grandfather to Mariah - all that contributed to a special round of applause. It was awesome.

Here is the list of medals/commendations Grandpa provided for us:

World War II
Combat Infantry Badge

Good Conduct Medal

World War Victory Medal

European African Middle Eastern Campaign Medal (the speaker mentioned this told him Grandpa served under General George Patton)

Korean War
Army of Occupation, Japan
Korean Service Medal, 2 bronze stars
United Nations Service medal
Federal Service Ribbon

Divergent vs. Disintergration

So, I saw the eye specialist at Vanderbilt. He said I was the 3rd person that day with this problem and that's really unusual. It's an old person thing. I'm too young for it of course. But, Kay, and all you other wimps driving around in terror, his exact words, "you've been managing your condition beautifully... up til now". At least I was proactive and took care of this before there was an accident!

Everyone should take note however, that those MONOCULAR vision correction glasses or contact lenses can trigger the problem. I tried those briefly. I doubt it triggered my problem, since I have not had coordinated fusion since I was a kid, but was able to get away with it... how, I don't know. The Dr thinks I probably had a lazy eye that went undiagnosed.

I got a temporary prism thingy stuck to my glasses to fix my immediate visual problem. After a few days, if I'm good to go, I am to get new glasses with prism. Right now, it looks stupid, but it works! Hallelujah! The drive home in the dark, rush hour traffic, proved that beyond a shadow of doubt. It does mean, however, no more contacts... ever. If the prism solution doesn't work out, then there is a surgery route we can pursue. If I did that, I would guess at some point I could be a contact lens wearer again. Too bad when they fix the eye muscles they can't fix the vision all at the same time! Geez, I'm a busy woman! I don't have time to do these things twice!!

So, the two possible diagnosis are: Divergent Esotropia something or Cerebellum Disintergration. Y'all know I'm just going with Divergence and laughing at the Disintergration, knowing that with my luck I'm about to implode here. Our lesson of the day:

esotropia
[es′ətrō′pē·ə] Etymology: Gk, eso + tropos, turning
a medial deviation of one eye relative to the other fixating eye such that fusion is not maintained. Also called convergent squint, convergent strabismus, internal strabismus. Compare esophoria, exotropia. See also strabismus. esotropic, adj.

I rather like the #3, but #2 is probably my problem:

di·ver·gence (d-vûrjns, d-)1.
a. The act of diverging.
b. The state of being divergent.
c. The degree by which things diverge.
2. Physiology A turning of both eyes outward from a common point or of one eye when the other is fixed.
3. Departure from a norm; deviation.

I didn't find much on the disintergration the dr. mentioned. He said we could do a MRI to investigate further (and I will be talking to my neuro, be sure of that!) but he didn't feel it was warranted since I am not having problems with depth perception, per se, or with balance, dizziness, etc. Memory yes, falling down? No. However, I took a quick look on the internet just to see what a disintergrating future might look like for me. I haven't found much yet, but I did diverge in an interesting direction and found an article about autism and "the dance" with reference to Temple Grandin. A quick read, and interesting perspective.

http://www.autcom.org/articles/Cerebellum.html

The Week Ahead

Forecast: Craziness with a brief episode of calm before the weekend

• Today was just pure craziness.
• So was yesterday.
• Tomorrow calls for additional scheduling woes.
• Thursday and Friday look promising with the right combination of plans & hours in the day to people ratio.
• A weekend of scattered activities

So today I subbed at preschool. Last week I subbed at preschool. Lots of craziness to be had there. Gib and I had dentist appointments today to take care of some yucky cavities. I don't know how that happened. We think the dentist bought new fangled equipment and now we all have cavities. That's our story anyway. She has a new office too. SWANKY town U.S.A. Whoowee, that place is nice. I wonder how many more cavities and crowns we will need to pay for that place.

Yesterday I ran around like an idiot trying to be everywhere at once with about 5 minutes to spare. It didn't help that I kept looking at this one clock in the kitchen that was still an hour ahead and it was freaking me out that I was so far behind and needed to leave so soon and had accomplished so little. When I finally figured out what my problem was, I had to sit down and de-stress on facebook for 15 minutes! Whew!!

Tomorrow I have to hurry out of preschool for an appt with a new Dr at Vanderbilt about my eyes. I switched eye dr's and he is trying to get me in better prescription and has also referred me to a surgeon to see if I might need to have corrective surgery for some weird depth perception/fusion problem. I am having serious issues is all I can say. I'm starting to worry. Basically, my eyes have never operated together which is why 3D glasses don't work on me turns out. I always look out of one or the other, and switch which one is dominant. But now, whenever I am getting tired, like at the end of the day or at night when I'm driving and there is different visual input, my brain is tired of it and has decided to just shut it all down - . Like I said, weird. Runs in the family these weird eyes, thank you mom, very much.

Speaking of family, Grandpa is here to visit us now, during Veterans Day week, instead of Thanksgiving this year. I am taking Thursday off from preschool and we are going to Mariah's middle school Chorus program on Veterans Day. Grandpa will be amongst the honored attendees for his military service, especially as he is a World War II veteran, and also fought in the Korean war, and will be 91 in a just a couple weeks. He sure looks great. There aren't too many of these special men around any more who fought in that war. Last year Grandpa came for Thanksgiving and watched the video of the program we taped for him and decided that this year he would attend in person. We are so glad to have him here for this and Mariah is especially excited to share in her great-grandpa's honor on this day.

On Friday, my mom, Grandpa and I will be spending the day together. I don't have to work at Coldwater that day, so it was a nice bonus for us to have another free day. We've decided to go shopping for gaslamps for the patio and then head up to see how the Opry Hotel repaired everything from the May floods, see the Christmas lights, and have a yummy lunch together. The Opry Mall is still not even open. Except for Bass Pro Shops, which cracks me up, because you know they are Outdoorsmen and what's a flood to them. Just put on yer waders, fire up the fishin' boat John Boy and let 'er rip!!! Anyways, the entire Opry Mills Mall had to be gutted; I saw it on TV the other night and it's just open space, and steel beams - no stores or walls. Bizarre. And it sits empty and might stay that way for a long time. I can't even imagine that.

As a matter of fact, I can't even imagine sitting still anymore.....

Campus Reports

Mike and I returned from Macon yesterday. We spent a long weekend with Indie on the occasion of her sorority's Feast of Roses, a dinner to cap off the new pledges initiation. Since Indie and her friend officially pledged last April, they aren't exactly new but they didn't go through this last year. So we took advantage of this opportunity to do so now. It was great to spend the time one on one with Indie and just chill. We hung out, ran some errands, and watched movies (2 at the theater: Red and Hereafter, and 1 at our hotel room: Knight and Day). We enjoyed them all. It was also nice to eat out so many times in a row. I think we were all quite full by the time the weekend was over. Indie has lots of plans and she will be busy next semester and hopefully if everything works out the way she hopes, and like why wouldn't the universe cooperate?!, she will have many service and leadership opportunities on campus and abroad.

As we were pulling away and watching Indie drive toward her college while we headed north, I commented that it was a great visit and now we needed to do the same with Taryn!

Speaking of whom.....

Meanwhile, Taryn was doing all she could just to survive on her campus during the brutal week long Humans vs. Zombie. We are not sure she survived the final encounter as she is seen here in a green bandana and I kind of thought that meant you were a zombie. Mike was reading me the stats today but the page isn't current as of the final battle on Sunday: 159 dead - that means they started the game as humans, became zombies and then died, so they are out. 21 zombies, 69 Humans. I'm starting to wonder if the game will ever end... I think they like it too much! Taryn's boyfriend Tim writes the best logs about it too. At any rate, the fact that Taryn made it as far as she did as a human is definitely something to blog about!!!

Off to the Feast

I am ready 10 minutes before Mike's deadline to leave for Macon! Amazing, huh? We are spending the weekend with Indie to join her for the Feast of Roses - an annual event with her sorority for the new sisters and their parents to welcome them to Alpha Gamma Delta. Unfortunately Gib and Mariah couldn't join us as they would have to miss too much school. Luckily though, Grammy is here to oversee the rest of their candy consumption... or as the case may be for Mariah, the candy clean up.

I think Taryn's college friends should have a celebration dinner for their Humans vs. Zombies war. They could invite their relatives for a Family Feast....question is, who/what would be the main dish?! I wonder if Taryn is still human as of this writing? She is having the time of her life there at MS & T, that's for sure.

Yesterday, the demo crew tore out the old deck. I thought for sure they would find bones and such from the carcasses of rabbits, squirrels or other little rodents from the cats or raccoons or even skunks that have probably resided under there. Or even better, a really cool long snake skin. No such luck. Or, Grammy just didn't see it and the crew removed it. Bummer. I wish I could have been there watching or ask them in my broken Spanish if there had been any dead animals under there. Sure, they would have thought I was crazy, but it's not like they're the only ones who do, right?!

Ok, two minutes until we hit the road! Pictures and updates to follow...

Day Before Demo

Today is Election Day. YAY! No school for any of us! So Grammy elected to put us to work. Tomorrow is her birthday, and for her birthday.... The backyard will be DEMO'D! And the backyard project will begin! Sounds good to us.

Today Gib, Grammy and I cleared off the deck of all the potted plants and stuff. This is what it looked like after HOURS of work, work, work.....

I definitely wanted to save my Patio Pot Plant and found a nice spot for it!

The rest we pitched by the sidewalk

Let the transplanting begin... anything in the way of demolition had to be moved

This Hearts A-Burstin' was most important to Grammy

Psst.... scroll down and see how tenderly we treated it. She'll never know.

The Rose of Sharon - A Big Q of whether or not it makes it.

Gib and I didn't put too much effort into its rootball... we were having too much fun.

Looks good though. Today.

Grammy heading inside after a long morning's work

Here's some of the things SHE DIDN'T SEE.....

They are both Zoom Worthy.

Me & Gib still goofing around at that Rose of Sharon rootball

we liked watching the dirt fly more than we should have. We think you will too.

Gib's bustin a gut tossing that Heart's a Burstin' around before we planted it. Too bad you couldn't hear him going "nwaaaaaaa"