Senior Portraits

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity, along with Taryn, to accompany Indy to her Senior Portrait sitting. I would suggest that Chrissie would have been there, but she was in the post operative medication haze at the time of the shoot. I hope I did well enough to be the eyes for Indy. I did miss one small detail that she has razzed me about. See if you can pick it out. Here are some of the ones that Indy liked. Keep in mind these are "poor" scans of the proofs.

Fishing Merit Badge

Gib had the opportunity to work on the fishing merit badge yesterday. I would have to say he did very well. He caught eight fish and released four of them. I was able to capture some good pictures of the whole event. I did a little fishing as well. I caught two and let both go.

Where's Waldo

Can you find someone familiar on this page?

Young Women Dress & Appearance Standards

The College Search

I think my eyes are going to pop out of my head! I've been on the computer for days looking over websites and setting up campus visits. We are now lined up to go to University Alabama Huntsville, Carson-Newman University and Virginia Intermont College, University of Tennessee Chattanooga (and a repeat visit to Vanderbilt in October). I've only got one other open Friday before school starts left in our schedule to squeeze in another campus if we want to try Auburn or something. I can't believe how little time is left to prepare! Taryn is coming with us on these trips, and the July visits are primarily for colleges with her major interests in mind. We'd love for our kids to stay in the state or within driving distance if they can find a college they like and get accepted into it. So we've pretty much targeted everything I can find within that radius and narrowed it down to a few to visit and then we'll work on a list to apply to.

Which means it's time to start combing through those websites and putting in the deadline for applications, FAFSA, scholarships, etc., on our college worksheet spreadsheet. Oh my eyes! My aching shoulder! The heartburn of my babies leaving the nest! I keep seeing them dancing in tutu's in the street in Utah while I am pouring over college residence hall photos and dining halls thinking about my girls living there instead of with me! Where's my kleenex?!

Anyways, while I am reminiscing and working on that, Indy will be enrolled in a 2 week ACT Prep class to see if we can get her scores in the 29-32 range in an attempt to get into Vanderbilt. Vandy superscores so the good news is that every time she takes the ACT the best score in each category is what they use. By the time she takes the test in September (and possibly in October) she'll have taken it so many times she'll probably gag hearing ACT mentioned. They say you max out at 3 times, so we hope that with one or two more tests, she will be done. She's taken it twice already and ranged from 24-31 without doing alot of prep, so we're confident she has it in her. I figure if the ACT is what gets your application to the top of the pile by the admissions and gets you some scholarship money, then it's worth the time and investment to earn the best score you can. And, by the way, Taryn is also enrolled in a less intensive, first-timer's ACT prep course for her first Junior year exam.

So, we're wondering, how did all you college grads/students go about the whole ACT, college search thing, and how happy were you with your college? What college did you attend? How was dorm life? How important was school spirit and campus involvement? What was the best/worst part about college? What do my girls need to know???

I Won - Super Donor!

Yesterday, Mike, Indy, my mom and I all donated at a Red Cross blood drive. Mike was bragging about how fast he finished (5:00 flat) because of his exemplary veins. Not that competition factors in every facet of our lives or anything, but I set out to bleed faster. Luckily for me, I got William, perhaps the best phlebotomist ever! I seriously didn't even feel the needle go in, and I finished in 4:41!!! Whooo-hooo! That was way cool. And just for the record, our 4 person-3 generation donation of healthy blood by super bleeders completely screwed up the timing because every time they got one of us hooked up, just as they were starting to begin on another donor, we'd be done! Mom and Indy finished around 6 and 7 minutes. Indy kind of drifted off and forgot to keep squeezing the thingey (the secret to success)...but it was only her second time donating blood. I'm sure she'll take the Gold someday. But then again, 4:41 is going to be hard to beat!

Afterwards, we all went out to lunch at Chick-Fila's. Isn't that everybody's idea of an excellent afternoon?!

The Night At Thai

So last night we went out for the family birthday dinner. Taryn chose a Thai restaurant. Originally she chose a place where the Fried Pickles are a MUST. Then I opened my big mouth because I thought she might like to try Thai food, and everything else at the pickle place isn't so great. If only Mike hadn't ix-nayed the great Restaurant-Hopping Idea. Everyone except him liked that one. Appetizers at the pickle place. Then Dinner somewhere, followed by a favorite Dessert place. But Noooooo........

Well, at least Taryn and Mike were happy. The rest of us, not so much. I think Mike felt deprived that I gave him the eyebrow when he said he was ordering Native so he went with Hot and it wasn't hot enough. But then the waiter brought him a bunch of hot sauces. He asked which was hottest and promptly put it on. Indy egged him on to put on more. Mike ignored my warning to taste it first. He puts on another spoonful. Indy goes "More! More!". I go, "Mike?!". Mike goes with one more. I guess his ego demanded that of him. He claims he loved it. At least he didn't break out in a sweat, although there was some serious sinus sniffing. And Taryn, as you probably have figured out by now, thoroughly enjoys trying out new food. Mariah and Gib, who like peanuts, do not like Pad Thai. T and I both got the Garlic Sauce Beef dish. Indy refused to trade plates with me when I could clearly tell she hated her soy sauce noodles with chicken. Mariah decided that was a really good trade, until she tried mine. I got it back. I didn't mind, because I really don't like Pad Thai either, I was just willing to sacrifice for my children.

But hey, the good news?! We had room for ice cream when we got home!!! Or leftover cheesecake from Taryn's birthday. Now that was yummy!

Mariah's Quilts

Here's Mariah with her very first quilt

she made in just 2 weeks for Mother's Day!And here she is at the end of the

3 day quilting class

(she is the girl standing at the far right)

No quilting projects going on right now,

but she says she really likes it

so I'd say she discovered a hidden talent

and should explore this as a hobby

in the years to come!

Scout Camp

Here's a couple photos of Gib at Scout Camp last week taken by one of the Scout leaders. Gib brought a disposable camera but only took 7 photos while there, so I guess we'll have to wait until after his Level I trip to St. Louis to see his summer of scouting adventures en masse. Disposable cameras are great for kids, but it's amazing how quickly we forget the drag of waiting to use up the film the old fashioned way!

Gib had a great time, except he couldn't figure out how to cast his fishing pole so he borrowed other guys'. You'd think some of the scouts there teaching the merit badge could have figured it out as it was a simple fix, but no, they just left him to his own devices. Mike fixed it in 5 seconds flat. How frustrating! Note to father of future Boy Scouters: Make sure your son's fishing pole can cast before you leave it with him at scout camp!! Gib said the fish weren't biting anyways and he enjoyed the downtime. Gotta love those laidback kids. Otherwise, Gib enjoyed the week and took two merit badge classes with a Scout who works there every summer who is in our ward, and a friend of the family same age as Taryn. Gib said that was fun and Max felt free to say "Shut up Gib" alot and he liked that. Weird kid! Gib is working on some merit badges this summer and is one merit badge away from earning his Star rank.

Sweet 16

Today was Taryn's Birthday!

She got donuts & a bucket filled with 16 different kinds of candy!

And that's a Sweet 16!

FYI: Taryn has a little problem
with whipped cream....
This is about half the usual amount!

She had a great 16th b-day! A friend came over and helped her out with all the candy and they did their hair and nails. Taryn has a past history of coloring her hair with Sharpies, so Indy and Joe gave her red, turquoise, and violet temporary hair coloring gel. She was thrilled! The girls spent the whole afternoon applying streaks...too bad this photo doesn't show them off.

Taryn also received a gift from our family tradition of bestowing a piece of jewelry in their birthstone on their 16th bday that their mother received when they were born. In Taryn's case, we never did find any pearls I liked, and the argument of alexandrite vs pearls was never settled between Mike and I, so, nothing was purchased in 1992. At one time we had a couple loose pearls to be set in a ring but they got lost. As the years went by, every now and then we'd look, but never found the right jewelry that said "Taryn" to us. That is, until last year...the clock was ticking and we were so happy to find a really nice mother of pearl medallion in Cancun. Taryn loves it and was happy she didn't get a string of pearls. Like mother like daughter!

Volvo vs Escalade

The Escalade won.

The Escalade was at fault as well, but it is still

traumatic for poor Indy!

Basically, Indy was going thru an intersection and the Escalade turned left in front of her, violating Indy's right of way and subsequently, the front end of the new Volvo. The police came. At first Indy believed she had been hit and run because the other car seemed to just keep going and she could no longer see the car. When the police arrived, we found out she was pulled over but completely out of sight. There was an accident report filed, the lady said she just didn't see Indy. Indy was not cited. The Volvo was towed away. The eye witnesses say the Escalade driver panicked, and if she would've just punched it, Indy could have missed her. We were glad there was a witness willing to stop and gave her their names and number to give to the police. It was annoying to look at a little bashed in fender on the Escalade and then look at our car. We hope we hear back that it is all repairable.

And we all were having such a good day too, with Taryn carting us around. Then Indy was going downtown to help a bunch of people from work film a band performance for a You Tube promo and because parking the truck is harder, I suggested she take the Volvo. To top off the run of bad luck, she had a blow out on the back tire of the Volvo last week and we had just gotten it back the day before this accident. Indy says she's pretty much done driving now. Well, if bad car stuff comes in three's, she's over the worst. Let's all hope and pray to be done!! We feel so bad for Indy that when I half-teasingly said to Mike that if she had a kitten to hold right now it wouldn't be so bad for her, he replied that he didn't actually say NO to a kitten. Wow, he must feel really sad for Indy. We all do. Poor Indy!

This Just IN!

Taryn - DONE with Driver's Ed! Will be on the roads with a license once her hours have been logged. This also means she is just days away from her SWEET SIXTEEN!!! Hint-Hint: you still have a chance to send a card or email her some fond bday wishes!!

Gib - HOME from Boy Scout Camp safe and sound (Taryn drove!)....and he's TALLER! He has overtaken his first older sister in height! YAHOO!!! It is a stellar day in the Household as Gib hits 5' & 1 3/4". Taryn at 5' & 1 1/2" vows to grow and Indy at 5' 3" (on a stretch) is resigned to be the shortest.

Mariah - A milestone in the life of a girl - SHAVED her legs today! The older girls both pointed out they had to wait until the 6th grade and Mariah's only going into the 5th, and how unfair that was. I was just waiting for the day when Mariah would realize she was a Gorilla Girl and when she asked, she was ready. I hear the youngest is apparently very spoiled and totally reaps the rewards of having been broken in by older siblings.

Indy - Her SENIOR PHOTOS are here! They turned out great. We'll post some soon. She just called and was on her way to sending me a photo from her phone to go with the pitiful begging for a stray kitten. Then I guess the people who found it decided if someone might take it, they kind of liked it after all. Whew! That was a close one.

Weird Time Warp

Well, I've been up for an amazing 3 hours straight without watching HGTV from my comfy couch where I've been hibernating for the past week. I pretty much had HGTV on all week whether or not I was conscious. It's the perfect channel when your attention span is limited.

And yesterday I pulled an ALL-DAYER and had to stay awake the whole day and go from one dr appt to another back to back. That was killer. It is really weird because I look at the calendar and realize an entire week and then some has passed, but it actually only feels like I took a couple naps and everything happened just a couple days ago. Weird Time Warp.

Went to the post-op appointment yesterday and passed the 1 hr waiting room endurance test and then went on to impress the doc with my recuperative powers. Amazing what a week of sleeping 18 hrs a day can do for you. So I guess those days are gone now. Bummer. So now the physical therapy has begun....work, work, work. Ugh.

Gib returns home from Boy Scout Camp this weekend. I'm sure he had a great week. He had merit badge classes in fishing, forestry, geology, camping, and space exploration. Mike said his troop had 70 scouts go - I think that must be a record both for the troop and the camp! I can't wait to hear if he liked the frog jokes, the bug jokes and the dumb blonde jokes. I wrote him a nice long letter too. It can't be as good as a box of candy a day in the mail I used to send, but they said NO CANDY this year due to insects. Man, what kind of scouts are you if you can't battle off a few ants, and shouldn't all that Deet help out in the first place?!

Taryn is finishing up her week of Drivers Ed. She learned to fill the tank and drove on the interstate her first day. She kinda went 80 mph, but her instructor got her back down to speed. And yesterday she was the first student of the summer to not fall for his trick. They were driving in downtown and he told her to turn the wrong way on a one way street. She said, "but that's the wrong way" and he was so glad to finally have a student get it! And the scoop of the day...she called with the news that she passed the road test! I told her that after yesterday, I couldn't see him not passing her, but she said there have been a few "moments" behind the wheel involving right and left (darn spacial dyslexia!) and she still had to parallel park and learn to make U'ies today. But she did it! She won't go in to the DMV for the actual license until sometime after July when she's met the minimum number of hours behind the wheel and night time driving requirements. As long as she passes the written at the end of the week, she's got everything in place to start her engine!!

Indy has been doing her volunteering this week. She is quickly working her way through piles of paperwork, getting tons of files organized and astounding people with her efficiency, organizational skills, and amazing personality! Hey, she is just that great! They keep teasing the teacher she's assisting that they should just hire her she gets so much done in a few hours! No good news on a new job though. She's been out looking, but hates it. It would be nice for something to come through soon. She's been filling in on open shifts at her previous job even though she's technically no longer employed there. Everyone was bummed that upper management didn't come through, but they won't pay her more so she is moving on.

Poor Mariah. She has been one bored cookie this week. Everyone is gone and there's nobody to play with. Indy took her to the pool one day. But she was pretty much stuck at home on Mommy Duty the rest of the time, and I was only good for a couple games of SkipBo. She played all my cards for me since I only could do so much with my right hand. Mariah was an awesome Gopher Girl though. I would call her on the cell phone and she'd "go for" whatever I needed at the time. Ice bag, water bottle, etc. She watched Mike and I play Cribbage once. I started to teach her and Mike finished the instruction. She finally beat him and there was alot of fist pumping and hootin' & hollerin to celebrate! He had almost skunked her the day before and she was out for vengeance. Last night, I mentioned my idea of a fun project to paint and tile the top of our outdoor bistro table to match our new chairs and Mariah jumped in the conversation with the following comment: "I think you should go with sea glass. It's much prettier and stronger, and the neutral colors will accent the patio better". OK. Mariah is now in charge! All that HGTV going on in the back room must have subliminally sunk in Mariah's brain!

A Timely Occurrence

I thought this comic strip was very timely in its publication with respect to our recent beach/seagull experience.

In the Zone

Yup, that's me. I'm floating around my computer desk right now in the final few minutes I have before the pain pills kick in all the way and I'm out. We had to get a new rx because I was itching alot. Nobody knows if it was from the anesthesia, the iv antibiotic, or the percostat, but whatever. I'm on Lortab now. The bummer about Lortab is that if I get awakened one time too many I can't get back to sleep but I'm still too groggy to deal with life. And I've yet to sleep thru a hr uninterrupted on the Lortab, so I am starting to go cranky. However, the good news is that I am healing alot faster on this shoulder than the left one I think. I am taking Homeopathic for nerve injury (especially for after surgery) and I wonder if that is what is making such a big difference. Tomorrow I go in for my first physical therapy. Then we'll really know.

Today Mike, Indy and Taryn are out at some medieval castle where this photographer guy lives and takes photos for Senior Class pictures. It's a long drive out there, but supposedly a fun location. I didn't want Indy to go alone and I wasn't exactly up for it. So Mike and Taryn went with her. She has like 8 clothing changes - formal, drape, cap & gown, and 3 casual indoor, 2 casual outdoor. She is bringing her guitar for one of her casual prop photos.

Mariah is at Quilting class again. Gib just finished making cookies. He's stuck at home on Mommy Duty. I just finished writing and taking out to the mailbox the first letter he'll get at Scout Camp on Monday. Whew! That was a really long loopy walk there and back. And, can you believe he wouldn't let me address it to Giblet or anything fun like that?! To get even, I think I will copy a bunch of baby photos for the next letter. We send a letter a day until 6/18. We used to send candy in each one, but this year they said NO FOOD. So I, in my altered state, came up with Frog Jokes instead. I don't know why. Seemed like a good idea at the time! I found a whole bunch of them, and some were actually chuckle worthy too. We'll see what I come up with next time. Any ideas, send 'em my way!

Time to zone....

Mariah's Quilting Class

I am recuperating from my shoulder surgery yesterday, and am pleasantly surprised to find out that when you're interrupted from being zonked out on painkillers like 9 times in a hour, it becomes possible to get up and blog!! I didn't think I'd have the use of both hands to type, but I do - it hurts just a little, so for a change, I'll be short & sweet!

My mom taught Mariah how to make a quilt - and she gave it to me for Mother's Day. I've been sleeping with it today and it is nice & cozy! She worked on it feverishly for 2 weeks and it is beautiful! I need to take a photo of it. She was such a natural at it, and enjoyed sewing so much, that Grammy signed Mariah up for a one week summer Quilting class.

Today was the first day of class.

Here she is busy sewing away!

Everyone got to choose 36 squares and choose their own border.

This was what she accomplished today.

The instructor couldn't believe this was only the 2nd time

Mariah had ever sewn.

Stock Market

Bought TGT @ 53.40
Bought ITW @ 50.77
Bought BUCY @ 76.86

Why do I post stock trades?

Seagull Sand Castle Photos

Here are the photos to go with

the seagull story of Vacation Day 7

(I wanted to title it Seagull Syrup, but resisted...sort of)

In The Beginning....

With nothing but a frisbee, a sand bucket and a 2" shovel.....

And alot of drive.....

Attention to Detail....

Endurance....

Patience....

You will find.....

If you build it....

And put bbq chips in it...

They will come....

And drink water....

And then fly home leaving your sand castle
of junk food standing undisturbed
so soggy pretzels, chips & crackers
greet the beachgoers of tomorrow.

A Gardening Gal

I'm playing catch up on my blogs today. I've got a To Do list of items that require 2 Hands and not alot of time left to do them all before my right shoulder surgery on Monday. Blogging is one of those things. Finishing painting Taryn's room in Bedford Blue comes next as soon as I finish this. We did the primer yesterday. I'll take photos of the finished room.

This morning I finished the LAST plant of the 7 I had to do today. Yesterday, I had just one big hole to dig and plan a Yaupon for mom, and then we were going to be done. But no, we went back to Home Depot and they had the crape myrtles we've been waiting on. So NOW, the planting is done. Done I tell you! Done! Do you hear me Mom?!

So, I couldn't stand wondering just how many plants have we added to the yard this year anyway? And once the thought crossed my mind (when we for about the 10th time finished planting and promptly got in the car and drove to the nursery and bought another carload of plants) I just couldn't let it go. So, yeah, I counted 'em. 204.

And that's just the trees, shrubs, and perennials. There are 32 varieties of annuals in pots on the deck/patio and front porch, and countless bulbs and other annuals that come and go seasonally. But can you believe over 200 holes have been dug, I'm claiming at least half of them by the sweat of my own brow. And that's not taking into consideration that at least half a dozen were transplanted, which means I actually planted those suckers TWICE!!! Now the landscaping guys did the big trees (17 of those) and a row of shrubs (10 of those), but the rest...me and my mom!!! Mike might have helped once or twice, I can't remember. I'm really good at digging holes now. I can pick up a worm and put it back in with the plant. I don't shudder (much) when I accidentally create two worms where there used to be one. And when a bug lands on me I just blow it off or flick it off. I even spotted a Wolf Spider carrying her egg sac and (brace yourself) took photos of it!! It's official....I'm now a Gardening Gal.

Stock Market

Sold CLF (B 080421 @ 80.32 S 080602 @ 109.93) apr= 320% **

"Bulls make money, Bears make money, Hogs get slaughtered", Jim Cramer

** Buy price has been split adjusted

Why do I post stock trades?

And Still More Pictures

And still more of my favorites...