"If I stick my tongue out and concentrate REAL hard on not tipping over........"
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Goodbye, Busa
Yesterday was a sad day around here. Our cat, Busa, passed away. Busa has been a part of our family for the past 17 years. Tom was 3 years old when he chose him from a litter of kittens at the humane society. It's very hard losing a pet that we have had so long. It is especially hard on the boys - for Tom because Busa was his cat, and for Andy because this is Andy's first experience losing a pet. What made matters even worse was that Jerry, Andy and I were in Delaware yesterday. Tom had stayed home to do schoolwork and went looking for Busa upstairs and found that he had passed away. Tom was very brave because he had to handle things until we got home. When we got home it was 11:30 at night but we gave Busa a proper burial anyway. Tom had wrapped him nicely and readied him for burial because he said he didn't want Andy to see him. Now that's a good big brother. I'm sorry that we weren't here when it happened, but I'm not sorry that Andy wasn't here at the time. Busa had been slowing down considerably over the last couple of weeks and over the past few days I noticed that he wasn't eating very well, so we figured it probably wouldn't be long. He was very old for a cat, and definitely lived a full life! We used to joke that he used up 8 of his 9 lives a long time ago. He was bitten in the leg by a bobcat when we lived in West Virginia and we were told by the vet that he might not make it. He was run over by a car and had half of his tail lopped off and his back legs crushed - again we were told he probably wouldn't make it. Something (we don't know what this time) got into a battle with him and tore part of one ear and put a massive wound on his head - we didn't think he would make it that time. Then when we were moving here from West Virginia, at the last minute he jumped out of the car and ran into the woods. We searched for him but couldn't find him. We had a caravan of people helping us move and we needed to get on the road. It broke my heart, but we had to leave. I knew that we would be returning in two weeks to tie up loose ends and I prayed that he would be there then. Well, he was - because that was 14 years ago! As soon as we pulled up I jumped out of the car and started calling for him whereupon he promptly came bounding out of the woods. He had survived two weeks by himself out there. This time when it was time to go, he didn't even try to get out of the car - in fact, he laid down and got quite comfortable! He was a guard cat around here and would actually chase dogs out of our yard. He even chased a pit bull to the fence line once. We definitely didn't think he would survive that - but he did - again. He was one tough cat, but he was also a real sweetheart and loved to be cuddled, purring so loudly that you could hardly hear anything else. Busa was a great pet, and we will miss him very much.
Saturday, May 13, 2006
It's Been Awhile!
I didn't go away - just took a hiatus! In the intervening month we haven't done a lot that was newsworthy. Tom is still in school (he got his midterm grades and is doing very well). Andy is still doing well with homeschooling (in spite of the MEAN TEACHER he has!). Jerry has been busy working and restoring a 1950 tractor for his uncle. His uncle bought the tractor a couple of months ago and wanted to convert it from a 6-volt system to a 12-volt, so now it is finished and running beautifully. Jerry wanted me to drive it when it was finished (and I wanted to drive it), but I was too afraid! If something happened to it, I didn't want to think about Jerry's uncle's reaction! If it belonged to us I would probably try it. Maybe I'll get my courage up before it leaves here next week - we'll see. I did finally get brave enough to drive Jerry's John Deere backhoe. He needed me to drive it and push a wrecked truck into the garage while he steered the truck. I actually enjoyed it so much that I took it for a spin down the driveway a few times! He had bartered with the guy who owns the wrecked truck - if Jerry would remove the engine from the wreck (which was still good and which the owner of the truck wanted), then Jerry could have the transmission for his truck. He got the engine out and the man took the wreck away, but the engine is still hanging on the engine stand in the garage because he hasn't picked that up yet. So, between Jerry's uncle's tractor and the engine, I didn't think there was room for our vehicles which made me a little nervous the other night when the weather forecast was for storms with possible hail. Jerry proved me wrong, though! He crammed the tractor and engine and grill off to one side, and managed to fit the Tahoe and his old brown truck in the other. The brown truck is the one that he used to drive and that the transmission is for - this is the one he had painted and it isn't tagged or insured yet, so we definitely didn't want hail damaging that! That truck means as much to him as one the boys, I think!
Well, I will try to post more consistently, but right now I need to go and do a few things and clean this awful house! Yuck!
Well, I will try to post more consistently, but right now I need to go and do a few things and clean this awful house! Yuck!
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Now for some catching up.......
Tom enjoyed his first day of college. The only problem was that there was a nasty thunderstorm following him all the way down the road and he was trying to get here before it did! There was a tornado watch also, so we were a little concerned about his journey home, too. He arrived at about the same time the thunderstorm did, so didn't get caught in it. Andy and I made him a cake to commemorate the occasion of his first day of college. Andy decorated it - and yes, he meant to use that grammar on the cake, incorrect as it may be!
Dinner around our house is usually at 6:00 (or thereabouts), except now on Mondays we have it at 8:00 so Tom can eat with us. The time change met with a few groans at first until I offered to make sandwiches for the offended persons at around 4:00 on Mondays to stave off their hunger until 8. Anyway, yesterday Tom called to let me know that he would probably be a little late. He said that the Metro stations and the surrounding areas were packed with immigration protestors and it was very slow going.
One of these days I am going to get back on the treadmill. One of these days. This spare tire around my middle is really bugging me now.
I was looking through some homeschooling materials I had used when we homeschooled Tom (I told you I am a packrat!) and came across a workbook on Life Skills for Middle Schoolers which included such things as budgeting, working, nutrition, cleaning, and other neat stuff. I was looking through the nutrition portion of the book because there were some pages I wanted to use with Andy and I started looking at the pages Tom had completed way back when and reminiscing. Evidently I must not have looked too closely at the work Tom had done because I found where he had drawn a food pyramid, complete with pictures and labels. He had everything in it's proper place - including a drawing of a pear labeled "Mom-shaped pear" under the fruit and vegetable category. Nice. Can't fault him for honesty though, can I?!
I have given Andy an interesting assignment. He has started a blog and is required to post on it at least once a week. This is part of his writing assignment. He seemed to not like the idea at first, but then asked if he could post more than once a week if he wanted to. So far he has only
posted his first post which was when he created his blog, but the posts are due on Thursdays so there should be another forthcoming. He hasn't given me permission yet to post a link here to his blog, but I will as soon as he lets me. Blog shyness, I guess!
Tom enjoyed his first day of college. The only problem was that there was a nasty thunderstorm following him all the way down the road and he was trying to get here before it did! There was a tornado watch also, so we were a little concerned about his journey home, too. He arrived at about the same time the thunderstorm did, so didn't get caught in it. Andy and I made him a cake to commemorate the occasion of his first day of college. Andy decorated it - and yes, he meant to use that grammar on the cake, incorrect as it may be!
Dinner around our house is usually at 6:00 (or thereabouts), except now on Mondays we have it at 8:00 so Tom can eat with us. The time change met with a few groans at first until I offered to make sandwiches for the offended persons at around 4:00 on Mondays to stave off their hunger until 8. Anyway, yesterday Tom called to let me know that he would probably be a little late. He said that the Metro stations and the surrounding areas were packed with immigration protestors and it was very slow going.
One of these days I am going to get back on the treadmill. One of these days. This spare tire around my middle is really bugging me now.
I was looking through some homeschooling materials I had used when we homeschooled Tom (I told you I am a packrat!) and came across a workbook on Life Skills for Middle Schoolers which included such things as budgeting, working, nutrition, cleaning, and other neat stuff. I was looking through the nutrition portion of the book because there were some pages I wanted to use with Andy and I started looking at the pages Tom had completed way back when and reminiscing. Evidently I must not have looked too closely at the work Tom had done because I found where he had drawn a food pyramid, complete with pictures and labels. He had everything in it's proper place - including a drawing of a pear labeled "Mom-shaped pear" under the fruit and vegetable category. Nice. Can't fault him for honesty though, can I?!
I have given Andy an interesting assignment. He has started a blog and is required to post on it at least once a week. This is part of his writing assignment. He seemed to not like the idea at first, but then asked if he could post more than once a week if he wanted to. So far he has only
posted his first post which was when he created his blog, but the posts are due on Thursdays so there should be another forthcoming. He hasn't given me permission yet to post a link here to his blog, but I will as soon as he lets me. Blog shyness, I guess!
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Spring is here!
I do believe that spring has arrived. I had a lone clump of daffodils bloom in the dirt that once was my backyard, and the plum tree is flowering. Actually, this year for the first time our baby plum tree is flowering, too. Each year when the plums fall from the tree we try to pick up and use the good ones and rake the others up. A few years ago I noticed what looked like a very small plum tree starting to grow near the side fence where a plum had rolled down the slope and gone unnoticed. I watched the tree and once I was sure what it was, tried to guard it against lawn mowers and wayward weedwhackers. Jerry kept threatening to "accidentally" run over the little tree with the lawn mower because he didn't want to think about having even more plums to contend with. Well, he didn't, and it has really grown over the past couple of years and now is blooming for the first time. I hope that now with two plum trees that the plums we get will be bigger since there is another tree to pollinate now.
Tom just left a few minutes ago for orientation at his college, which starts Monday. He seemed a little nervous and when I asked him about it, he said that he's more nervous about getting to the Metro station and getting on the right train and making the right transfers to get to the school. There is a new Metro station at Branch Avenue which isn't really all that far from us, and so he'll be catching the Metro there and taking it to Rosslyn rather than trying to drive to Arlington, Virginia and find parking there. He'll need to transfer to a different train about halfway there because the Branch Avenue station is a Green Line and the Rosslyn station is Orange and Blue. I'm sure he'll be an old pro at it within a few days, though. Today for orientation he is able to bring Sam with him. She is somewhat familiar with the Metro since she and her family have used it before to go places, so surely between the two of them they will find their way to the school!
He'll only need to go to the school on Mondays and Wednesdays. He has four classes; two at the school and two online through the school. He's eager to start, but a little nervous at the same time.
I haven't written much lately because Andy and I have been busy. We've made yet another change to his lessons! One day last week as I was putting away his schoolbooks (the ones we used before the computer curriculum), he picked up his science book and looked longingly at it. I knew he had been growing bored with the computer curriculum, especially the science - where you watch a man do experiments on the screen and then write down what he found out - boring! At least we actually used to do experiments ourselves. Anyway, I didn't say anything but after several minutes he sheepishly asked if we could go back to the old way of doing things. Secretly I was glad because I missed the books we read together and the experiments we did, but I also didn't want him thinking that we would change the curriculum every time he got bored with something. We compromised and have kept the computer curriculum for Bible, Spanish and Math, and everything else (Language/Grammar, Geography, Science, and History), have gone back to the old way of doing things. We will probably be switching the Math over soon, too, but we will wait until he finishes the unit he is currently on.
One day a couple of weeks ago I was looking at his grades on the teacher portion of his computer curriculum (before we switched back). I noticed that I had been given notices that his math assignments were not up to date, and in fact were quite a few days behind. When I questioned him about this, he was very quiet for a long time. Then, shuffling his feet and not looking me in the eye, he informed that he liked Spanish so much that he had been working on that rather than his math for the past several days. Apparently he must have liked it a lot. He had done the Spanish assignments all the way into June. Now if only he could be as enthusiastic about Math!
I am waiting to see what will happen with my work. With one of the companies I work for, I do the transcription for John C. Lincoln Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona. I usually do the work for their Deer Valley Hospital, but sometimes switch over to North Mountain. With this company's transcription software you are given templates specific to each account that you do reports for. Usually you are given two sets of templates and so if work runs low on one account (hospital), you can switch to your other template and do work for another one. Since each hospital wants its reports done differently, the templates are created by the company to make it easier on us, so basically we can just choose the template and type the information and it will be formatted specifically for that hospital. Several months ago the company asked for transcriptionists who would be willing to do work just for John C. Lincoln. Personally, I think switching between templates is a pain and although the differences between accounts aren't that monumental, it is a pain to change because I lose time due to a learning curve when switching between accounts. Anyway, I was more than happy to volunteer for this, and had gotten to where I could do my day's work in about an hour and a half to two hours. Yesterday morning while I was working I finished the discharge summaries, so then moved on to consults. Hmm - got those finished too. I then went to the op reports - and there weren't any. This seemed kind of unusual as this account is usually very busy and it is rare to actually catch up on the work. Then later on in the day there was an email from the company informing us that the work was caught up for this account and to switch over to our other accounts to work on until they emailed us again. I don't have another account to work on, nor am I particularly keen on the idea of learning the format of a new one. Since my work was done for the day, I got busy with Andy and general stuff and didn't think about it anymore until this morning when I went to sign on and begin work. I dialed into the hospital just fine, but when it asked me to enter my passcode, I did and it told me it was invalid. I tried a couple more times thinking that I must have not dialed the code right in my pre-coffee state, but it wouldn't accept my passcode. All of the transcriptionists for this account have the same passcode, so evidently the hospital is doing something and we are not being allowed to access their system. This is reminscent of a couple of years ago when one hospital decided not to renew their contract with the company and "locked out" everyone and then informed the company that they weren't renewing. Oh, well. We'll see what happens. I'm not worried about actually having work - the company has several accounts and I know that I would just be put on another one, but I am not looking forward to the learning curve and the time lost . I have a doctor's appointment today so I'm not worried about it as I wouldn't have the time to devote to it today anyway. I hate going to the doctor's but it's one of those necessary annual female things. Yuck!
Tom just left a few minutes ago for orientation at his college, which starts Monday. He seemed a little nervous and when I asked him about it, he said that he's more nervous about getting to the Metro station and getting on the right train and making the right transfers to get to the school. There is a new Metro station at Branch Avenue which isn't really all that far from us, and so he'll be catching the Metro there and taking it to Rosslyn rather than trying to drive to Arlington, Virginia and find parking there. He'll need to transfer to a different train about halfway there because the Branch Avenue station is a Green Line and the Rosslyn station is Orange and Blue. I'm sure he'll be an old pro at it within a few days, though. Today for orientation he is able to bring Sam with him. She is somewhat familiar with the Metro since she and her family have used it before to go places, so surely between the two of them they will find their way to the school!
He'll only need to go to the school on Mondays and Wednesdays. He has four classes; two at the school and two online through the school. He's eager to start, but a little nervous at the same time.
I haven't written much lately because Andy and I have been busy. We've made yet another change to his lessons! One day last week as I was putting away his schoolbooks (the ones we used before the computer curriculum), he picked up his science book and looked longingly at it. I knew he had been growing bored with the computer curriculum, especially the science - where you watch a man do experiments on the screen and then write down what he found out - boring! At least we actually used to do experiments ourselves. Anyway, I didn't say anything but after several minutes he sheepishly asked if we could go back to the old way of doing things. Secretly I was glad because I missed the books we read together and the experiments we did, but I also didn't want him thinking that we would change the curriculum every time he got bored with something. We compromised and have kept the computer curriculum for Bible, Spanish and Math, and everything else (Language/Grammar, Geography, Science, and History), have gone back to the old way of doing things. We will probably be switching the Math over soon, too, but we will wait until he finishes the unit he is currently on.
One day a couple of weeks ago I was looking at his grades on the teacher portion of his computer curriculum (before we switched back). I noticed that I had been given notices that his math assignments were not up to date, and in fact were quite a few days behind. When I questioned him about this, he was very quiet for a long time. Then, shuffling his feet and not looking me in the eye, he informed that he liked Spanish so much that he had been working on that rather than his math for the past several days. Apparently he must have liked it a lot. He had done the Spanish assignments all the way into June. Now if only he could be as enthusiastic about Math!
I am waiting to see what will happen with my work. With one of the companies I work for, I do the transcription for John C. Lincoln Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona. I usually do the work for their Deer Valley Hospital, but sometimes switch over to North Mountain. With this company's transcription software you are given templates specific to each account that you do reports for. Usually you are given two sets of templates and so if work runs low on one account (hospital), you can switch to your other template and do work for another one. Since each hospital wants its reports done differently, the templates are created by the company to make it easier on us, so basically we can just choose the template and type the information and it will be formatted specifically for that hospital. Several months ago the company asked for transcriptionists who would be willing to do work just for John C. Lincoln. Personally, I think switching between templates is a pain and although the differences between accounts aren't that monumental, it is a pain to change because I lose time due to a learning curve when switching between accounts. Anyway, I was more than happy to volunteer for this, and had gotten to where I could do my day's work in about an hour and a half to two hours. Yesterday morning while I was working I finished the discharge summaries, so then moved on to consults. Hmm - got those finished too. I then went to the op reports - and there weren't any. This seemed kind of unusual as this account is usually very busy and it is rare to actually catch up on the work. Then later on in the day there was an email from the company informing us that the work was caught up for this account and to switch over to our other accounts to work on until they emailed us again. I don't have another account to work on, nor am I particularly keen on the idea of learning the format of a new one. Since my work was done for the day, I got busy with Andy and general stuff and didn't think about it anymore until this morning when I went to sign on and begin work. I dialed into the hospital just fine, but when it asked me to enter my passcode, I did and it told me it was invalid. I tried a couple more times thinking that I must have not dialed the code right in my pre-coffee state, but it wouldn't accept my passcode. All of the transcriptionists for this account have the same passcode, so evidently the hospital is doing something and we are not being allowed to access their system. This is reminscent of a couple of years ago when one hospital decided not to renew their contract with the company and "locked out" everyone and then informed the company that they weren't renewing. Oh, well. We'll see what happens. I'm not worried about actually having work - the company has several accounts and I know that I would just be put on another one, but I am not looking forward to the learning curve and the time lost . I have a doctor's appointment today so I'm not worried about it as I wouldn't have the time to devote to it today anyway. I hate going to the doctor's but it's one of those necessary annual female things. Yuck!
Thursday, March 16, 2006
I can't believe that it is almost St. Patrick's Day. Wasn't it just Christmas yesterday?! Tom will be starting school on 04/03. During his admissions interview he had given them his high school transcript and his college transcript from when he attended the community college here during his senior year of high school. He was very pleased when they called him a couple of weeks ago to tell him that they had reviewed his college record and decided that they would accept those classes in transfer, so he will be starting the Art Institute already having credit for the first year of English and Drawing. That's two classes he doesn't have to take now.
When Jerry came back from Ohio he accidentally left his glasses in his brother's truck. Tired of squinting, he finally went and picked them up the other night. While he was there he took pictures of our beef. This is the cow that we bought several months ago that his brother is feeding and housing for us. He's just about ready for the big hay bale in the sky (the cow - not Jerry's brother!)
More blogging later if I get a chance - right now it's lunch break and then back to work!
When Jerry came back from Ohio he accidentally left his glasses in his brother's truck. Tired of squinting, he finally went and picked them up the other night. While he was there he took pictures of our beef. This is the cow that we bought several months ago that his brother is feeding and housing for us. He's just about ready for the big hay bale in the sky (the cow - not Jerry's brother!)
More blogging later if I get a chance - right now it's lunch break and then back to work!
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Look out, yard!
We had a great time at the auction yesterday. Well, except for the mud, the unexpected high temperatures, the walking........! This auction place is very large (something like 26 acres) and they had every piece of equipment you could possibly think of. I always enjoy people-watching and this was certainly a day for that! There were what looked like farmers with overalls, bikers with ponytails (many of them gray!) and more tattoos than someone on Miami Ink, lots of Amish men in bright colored shirts and straw hats, contractor-looking types with tape measures, cell phones and work boots, and one annoying man wearing too much gold jewelry and riding around on a golf cart that had a sign on the back that read "On The Spot Financing! Credit In 15 Minutes!".
The ground was very muddy and I don't think the rain the night before was entirely to blame. The spitting going on there would rival a busy dentist's office! I was beginning to think that spitting on the ground was a prerequisite for attending an auction like this, and I asked Jerry about it. He laughed and said that if I looked closely, I would notice that just about every man there had a cheek full of chewing tobacco. EWWWW!!! I was careful to look where I walked after that. With the number of auctions they have, that land doesn't stand a chance of EVER drying out.
Jerry went there mainly because they had two of the tractors that he has been interested in for a while. He has been looking on the internet, in classified ads and at dealerships, and pricing them. They are actually kind of hard to find. John Deere has only been making them since 2002 and so there aren't many used ones out there, which was why he was surprised to find two of them at this auction.
The auctioneer was in a little booth on the back of a pickup truck that had loudspeakers on it (and I mean LOUD!), and it would ride through, stopping at each item and auctioning it off. It took a couple of hours before the little cart made it to the tractor Jerry was interested in. When the bidding finally started on it, there were only three bidders including Jerry. The bids went around around three times, then one man shook his head and was out of the bidding, so it was just down to Jerry and one other man. Jerry had told me earlier what his limit was and as the bids began to reach it, I found myself getting nervous. I knew he really liked this machine, but I also knew that he meant exactly what he said and that he wouldn't go a dime over his limit. Finally the bidding got to $2000.00 under his limit. All eyes turned to the other bidder. The man hesitated a moment then nodded. Uh oh - the bidding was now up another $500.00. Then the auctioneer turned to Jerry who seemed to be thinking long and hard about it, and then finally nodded. It was back to the other man now. He thought a little longer this time and finally after what seemed like hours, he shook his head. The auctioneer shouted "SOLD to number 2508!" I was so happy to see Jerry get this, and at less than we ever dreamed he would get it for. I was grinning like an idiot and I knew he really wanted to also, but it was a pretty manly kind of auction, and that didn't seem to be the thing to do right then!
He is going tomorrow to pick it up. We didn't take his truck and trailer to the auction and so we knew that if he won that he would have to make another trip to get it. It's really not a bad trip. It only took us about two and a half hours to get there and the scenery is beautiful.
After the auctioneer had moved on to other items, Jerry went inside to pay and I was standing next to his tractor waiting for him. Out of the corner of my eye I caught movement. Heading straight for me was Golf Cart Man. He brought his golf cart up to a halt and jumped out. He stuck out his hand and introduced himself. Not wanting to appear rude, but being blinded by the sun glinting off his gold jewelry, I shook his hand. He motioned toward the tractor. "HECK OF A DEAL YA GOT THERE!" he shouted at me. I had to resist the urge to spit and shout back "HE**, YEAH!". Then he gave his true purpose for being there. He wanted to know if we would like a loan to pay for the tractor. Now, I may be a newbie when it comes to auctions, but surely people don't go to auctions and bid on stuff without knowing how they're going to pay for it, do they?! I told him politely that we weren't interested in a loan and he continued to tell me of all the wonderful financing options he could offer. Just then, Jerry came back out. Then it was his turn to listen to Golf Cart Man's sales pitch. Jerry's a little more to-the-point than I am, and soon Golf Cart Man was zooming on to his next victim - er, customer. All in all, it was a very good day - and after tomorrow no yard will be safe!
The ground was very muddy and I don't think the rain the night before was entirely to blame. The spitting going on there would rival a busy dentist's office! I was beginning to think that spitting on the ground was a prerequisite for attending an auction like this, and I asked Jerry about it. He laughed and said that if I looked closely, I would notice that just about every man there had a cheek full of chewing tobacco. EWWWW!!! I was careful to look where I walked after that. With the number of auctions they have, that land doesn't stand a chance of EVER drying out.
Jerry went there mainly because they had two of the tractors that he has been interested in for a while. He has been looking on the internet, in classified ads and at dealerships, and pricing them. They are actually kind of hard to find. John Deere has only been making them since 2002 and so there aren't many used ones out there, which was why he was surprised to find two of them at this auction.
The auctioneer was in a little booth on the back of a pickup truck that had loudspeakers on it (and I mean LOUD!), and it would ride through, stopping at each item and auctioning it off. It took a couple of hours before the little cart made it to the tractor Jerry was interested in. When the bidding finally started on it, there were only three bidders including Jerry. The bids went around around three times, then one man shook his head and was out of the bidding, so it was just down to Jerry and one other man. Jerry had told me earlier what his limit was and as the bids began to reach it, I found myself getting nervous. I knew he really liked this machine, but I also knew that he meant exactly what he said and that he wouldn't go a dime over his limit. Finally the bidding got to $2000.00 under his limit. All eyes turned to the other bidder. The man hesitated a moment then nodded. Uh oh - the bidding was now up another $500.00. Then the auctioneer turned to Jerry who seemed to be thinking long and hard about it, and then finally nodded. It was back to the other man now. He thought a little longer this time and finally after what seemed like hours, he shook his head. The auctioneer shouted "SOLD to number 2508!" I was so happy to see Jerry get this, and at less than we ever dreamed he would get it for. I was grinning like an idiot and I knew he really wanted to also, but it was a pretty manly kind of auction, and that didn't seem to be the thing to do right then!
He is going tomorrow to pick it up. We didn't take his truck and trailer to the auction and so we knew that if he won that he would have to make another trip to get it. It's really not a bad trip. It only took us about two and a half hours to get there and the scenery is beautiful.
After the auctioneer had moved on to other items, Jerry went inside to pay and I was standing next to his tractor waiting for him. Out of the corner of my eye I caught movement. Heading straight for me was Golf Cart Man. He brought his golf cart up to a halt and jumped out. He stuck out his hand and introduced himself. Not wanting to appear rude, but being blinded by the sun glinting off his gold jewelry, I shook his hand. He motioned toward the tractor. "HECK OF A DEAL YA GOT THERE!" he shouted at me. I had to resist the urge to spit and shout back "HE**, YEAH!". Then he gave his true purpose for being there. He wanted to know if we would like a loan to pay for the tractor. Now, I may be a newbie when it comes to auctions, but surely people don't go to auctions and bid on stuff without knowing how they're going to pay for it, do they?! I told him politely that we weren't interested in a loan and he continued to tell me of all the wonderful financing options he could offer. Just then, Jerry came back out. Then it was his turn to listen to Golf Cart Man's sales pitch. Jerry's a little more to-the-point than I am, and soon Golf Cart Man was zooming on to his next victim - er, customer. All in all, it was a very good day - and after tomorrow no yard will be safe!
Sunday, March 12, 2006
Uh oh- Jerry's caught the auction bug! I knew he spent too long in Ohio! Okay, that's not entirely true. For a few weeks now he has been talking about going to an auction in Pennsylvania tomorrow, but a few days ago when he called me from Ohio, he said he didn't think we'd be going. Well, he's been home two days now and he's decided he wants to go after all. So that means we'll be leaving at around 5:00 tomorrow morning to go to Seven Valleys, Pennsylvania. His uncle wants to go too, so we'll be picking him up on the way. I've never been to a "for really" auction before - just the little ones around here where you can actually understand the auctioneer!
In looking online for the information about the auction we're going to tomorrow, I discovered that eBay also has live auctions and it turns out that the auction we're going to tomorrow is also going to be simultaneously on eBay. We could stay home and watch the auction and bid from here, but Jerry says he would rather go and see the stuff before he considers bidding on any of it. Here's the link to eBay live auctions. They are very interesting to watch. Here is the link for the particular auction we will be attending tomorrow. When you are viewing the auctions on eBay, it isn't like having a camera there watching the auction; as each item comes up it shows the item and then shows the bidding progressing, and that's all you see. I decided to try my hand at one of the live auctions the other day and bid on a pair of gold and diamond earrings. I really just wanted to see how the auction process worked (yeah, right) - so I bid $10.00. They ended up going for $91.00. I wasn't too sad - you can't really expect to get a pair of gold and diamond earrings for $10.00, now can you?!
In looking online for the information about the auction we're going to tomorrow, I discovered that eBay also has live auctions and it turns out that the auction we're going to tomorrow is also going to be simultaneously on eBay. We could stay home and watch the auction and bid from here, but Jerry says he would rather go and see the stuff before he considers bidding on any of it. Here's the link to eBay live auctions. They are very interesting to watch. Here is the link for the particular auction we will be attending tomorrow. When you are viewing the auctions on eBay, it isn't like having a camera there watching the auction; as each item comes up it shows the item and then shows the bidding progressing, and that's all you see. I decided to try my hand at one of the live auctions the other day and bid on a pair of gold and diamond earrings. I really just wanted to see how the auction process worked (yeah, right) - so I bid $10.00. They ended up going for $91.00. I wasn't too sad - you can't really expect to get a pair of gold and diamond earrings for $10.00, now can you?!
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Whew! Time to take a break. I am very tired! Believe it or not, the boys and I have actually been making headway on this pile of mess we call a household. Jerry has been in Ohio all this week and is due back tomorrow, and the boys and I decided that we would surprise him by having as much decluttered, cleaned out, taken down, or otherwise packed away as possible. I have come to a startling conclusion. We have WAY too much stuff.
There is a huge auction and sale in Mt. Hope, Ohio every year, and it's mostly horses and horse equipment. Jerry's brother goes every year and Jerry's mom said she was going this year and asked Jerry to come with them. They have had a great time this week, but Jerry said he's ready to come home now! He called me today from a different auction where he had gone with his brother and brother-in-law and asked me to look something up on the computer about the size of a John Deere engine before his brother-in-law bid on it. I got the information for him and then listened to the auctioneer over the phone. How anyone can understand them is beyond me! All I heard him say was jumbled sounds occasionally punctuated with a loud, "ONE THOUSAND dollars", then the mumbo-jumbo again, then, "one thousand FIVE HUNDRED dollars", and so on until the gibberish finally ended with "SOLD!". The auctioneer was talking so fast and the numbers were rising so quickly that I told Jerry I hoped he was keeping his hands away from his face and close to his body, so as not to accidentally bid on something!
It has been a nice visit for all of them. They are staying with Jerry's sister and brother-in-law in Dayton, Ohio. This gave Jerry's mom a week with her only daughter and two of her three sons, and they all seem to be enjoying themselves.
Now I am going to put on my jammies - yes, I call them jammies - and read for a while. I have been reading a book that some people feel is controversial, called "Created To Be His Help Meet". Personally, it kind of reflects what I have felt for the last several years. The book doesn't offend me at all. It is based on the belief that God made a woman to be a "help meet" to her husband, as it states in the Bible - not his boss, his conscience, his resident nagger, or his competitor. We are living in a very ill society right now, and I just wonder how much of it is because women insist on being equal to men, when that just wasn't the way things were supposed to be. We are made differently, so why the struggle to be the same? Okay, stepping off my soapbox now!
On to jammies, some reading, maybe a cup of tea, and Zzzzzzz............going once, going twice, "GOOD NIGHT!" (Toldja I was tired!)
There is a huge auction and sale in Mt. Hope, Ohio every year, and it's mostly horses and horse equipment. Jerry's brother goes every year and Jerry's mom said she was going this year and asked Jerry to come with them. They have had a great time this week, but Jerry said he's ready to come home now! He called me today from a different auction where he had gone with his brother and brother-in-law and asked me to look something up on the computer about the size of a John Deere engine before his brother-in-law bid on it. I got the information for him and then listened to the auctioneer over the phone. How anyone can understand them is beyond me! All I heard him say was jumbled sounds occasionally punctuated with a loud, "ONE THOUSAND dollars", then the mumbo-jumbo again, then, "one thousand FIVE HUNDRED dollars", and so on until the gibberish finally ended with "SOLD!". The auctioneer was talking so fast and the numbers were rising so quickly that I told Jerry I hoped he was keeping his hands away from his face and close to his body, so as not to accidentally bid on something!
It has been a nice visit for all of them. They are staying with Jerry's sister and brother-in-law in Dayton, Ohio. This gave Jerry's mom a week with her only daughter and two of her three sons, and they all seem to be enjoying themselves.
Now I am going to put on my jammies - yes, I call them jammies - and read for a while. I have been reading a book that some people feel is controversial, called "Created To Be His Help Meet". Personally, it kind of reflects what I have felt for the last several years. The book doesn't offend me at all. It is based on the belief that God made a woman to be a "help meet" to her husband, as it states in the Bible - not his boss, his conscience, his resident nagger, or his competitor. We are living in a very ill society right now, and I just wonder how much of it is because women insist on being equal to men, when that just wasn't the way things were supposed to be. We are made differently, so why the struggle to be the same? Okay, stepping off my soapbox now!
On to jammies, some reading, maybe a cup of tea, and Zzzzzzz............going once, going twice, "GOOD NIGHT!" (Toldja I was tired!)
Saturday, March 04, 2006
Mrs. Goodwrench
Move over, Mr. Goodwrench - Mrs. Goodwrench is on the scene. Yesterday I was helping Jerry work on his truck brakes. It has been an interesting experience, to say the least. My job was to sit in the truck and push on the brake pedal while he bled the brake lines. We had a sort of automotive Lamaze going - push, push, push, h-o-l-d. The pedal would sink to the floor and we would begin again - push, push, push, h-o-l-d. At one point he emerged from under the truck and said he needed to let the ABS hydraulic valve soak a little to loosen it, or he was afraid it might break off. We spent the time talking about many things, him leaning against the workbench and me still in the driver's seat of the truck. After a good while he knelt back down on the creeper and disappeared under the truck. I could hear tapping noises coming from underneath, then an ominous-sounding snap. After about three seconds there was the simultaneous explosion of an expletive from under the truck and a wrench thrown out at high velocity, skittering across the floor. I was glad for my position in the truck, above the action. After a moment he wheeled himself out from under the truck and calmly announced that he would need to order a part. I didn't need to ask which one.
That was yesterday. Today he picked up the part and put it on. We did vehicular Lamaze once more, and then took the truck for a test spin. The brakes did just fine, as attested to by the punctuation Jerry kept putting into our conversation. About every three words or so he would stomp on the brake pedal - SCREECH - pause in the conversation, readjust the seatbelt which had locked, and do it all over again.
I don't think I'm ready for the mechanical big leagues yet, but I'll do as a brake-pedal-pusher and test-rider, anyway!
That was yesterday. Today he picked up the part and put it on. We did vehicular Lamaze once more, and then took the truck for a test spin. The brakes did just fine, as attested to by the punctuation Jerry kept putting into our conversation. About every three words or so he would stomp on the brake pedal - SCREECH - pause in the conversation, readjust the seatbelt which had locked, and do it all over again.
I don't think I'm ready for the mechanical big leagues yet, but I'll do as a brake-pedal-pusher and test-rider, anyway!
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Big Brother is Watching!
Technology is wonderful - and kind of creepy, too! Yesterday I went out to the new truck to get the OnStar phone set up. The vehicle comes with a phone built in that is activated through OnStar and you can either get prepaid minutes through them, or if you already have Verizon Wireless as your cell phone carrier (which we do), then you can just have the truck's phone number added to your current Verizon Wireless setup as an additional phone and share the minutes with your existing phones. Anyway, that's what I climbed in the truck to take care of yesterday. I got out the OnStar instruction book and began to read. First I needed to push the OnStar button to retrieve the truck's phone number. Simple enough. I pushed the button and a voice told me that all OnStar representatives were busy but that someone would be right with me. Almost before that sentence was finished, a perky voice came on and said, "Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Bowen! Congratulations on your new 2007 red Tahoe! What can I do for you this morning?" Whoa. I felt a little prickle of strangeness and it was a moment before I regained my composure to tell her what I wanted to do with the phone. Well, we got that taken care of and then she asked me for my email address. I gave that to her and she said that my first vehicle diagnostic checkup would be emailed to me within the next 48 hours. What? I asked what this was and she said, "Oh, we just run a diagnostic check on your vehicle every 30 days - you know, check the fluid levels, the brakes, airbags, engine and transmission just to let you know if there's anything that may be needing attention soon". Oh my. This was getting weirder. After finishing my call with the perky-voiced lady from OnStar, Andy and I set up the calling commands for the phone. That's where we said the number, said "home", "Karen", or whatever name corresponded with that phone number, and it was stored by that name. Now we can push the little phone button either on the steering wheel or the mirror and you just say "Call", and then the name and it will call that number. After Andy and I had finished entering in all the names and numbers, we decided to try it out. He pushed the button and said, "Karen". Almost as soon as we heard the phone start to ring, one of the gauges on the dash changed and now read "Calling.....410-474-......", and stayed that way until the call ended, and then went back to it's normal digital readout. We are still figuring out what this vehicle can do! Jerry has it mostly figured out, but I haven't spent too much time in it (this past week was the end of the pay period for both jobs, so I was mostly in front of the computer all week). Jerry discovered a button on the dash that gives you a readout of the tire pressure in each tire. Now if only it could drive itself.........
We went to Jerry's mom's house last Sunday and decided to try the navigation system. There is a screen on the console that either shows the radio information, a map when you use the navigation system, or when you are backing up it shows you a view of what is in back of you which then changes back when you put it back into Drive. We entered Jerry's mom's address and then left the driveway. Almost immediately a disembodied voice said, "Turn left in 2/10 of a mile". Then a little gauge showed up on the map that was going to show us when we had reached 2/10 of a mile. But we didn't need the gauge, because when we got to the end of the street when we needed to turn left, a little bell sounded twice and the disembodied voice commanded us to turn left. Things were going along just fine until we got about halfway to Jerry's mom's when the voice told us that we would be making the next left off of the main route. Huh? That didn't seem right . That would be taking us off of Route 2 to head in a different direction. We weren't sure where it planned on taking us, but we weren't going to find out. We ignored the voice and continued on our normal route, like stubborn children. Apparently the system behind the disembodied voice figured this out too, because it did a rapid recalculation and then adjusted itself to the route that the stubborn children had insisted on taking. We were half expecting to hear at the next turn, "Turn left - if you feel like it", but the voice maintained it's composure despite our ignoring it's earlier command.
Today I received an email with our first diagnostic check. It told me how many miles the truck had on it, the amount of miles the oil had left before it would need a change, the condition of the engine and transmission, the condition of the brakes and airbags, the information about our OnStar service, our telephone number and information about our Verizon Wireless plan, the status of our satellite radio subscription and when that expired (along with a link that you could click for "one-click renewal" - how convenient), the VIN number of our truck, and a little picture of a truck. But alas, even though the little picture of the truck beside our diagnostic report was indeed a 2007 Chevy Tahoe, the one in the picture was gold - not red. I guess there are some things that it can't do!
We went to Jerry's mom's house last Sunday and decided to try the navigation system. There is a screen on the console that either shows the radio information, a map when you use the navigation system, or when you are backing up it shows you a view of what is in back of you which then changes back when you put it back into Drive. We entered Jerry's mom's address and then left the driveway. Almost immediately a disembodied voice said, "Turn left in 2/10 of a mile". Then a little gauge showed up on the map that was going to show us when we had reached 2/10 of a mile. But we didn't need the gauge, because when we got to the end of the street when we needed to turn left, a little bell sounded twice and the disembodied voice commanded us to turn left. Things were going along just fine until we got about halfway to Jerry's mom's when the voice told us that we would be making the next left off of the main route. Huh? That didn't seem right . That would be taking us off of Route 2 to head in a different direction. We weren't sure where it planned on taking us, but we weren't going to find out. We ignored the voice and continued on our normal route, like stubborn children. Apparently the system behind the disembodied voice figured this out too, because it did a rapid recalculation and then adjusted itself to the route that the stubborn children had insisted on taking. We were half expecting to hear at the next turn, "Turn left - if you feel like it", but the voice maintained it's composure despite our ignoring it's earlier command.
Today I received an email with our first diagnostic check. It told me how many miles the truck had on it, the amount of miles the oil had left before it would need a change, the condition of the engine and transmission, the condition of the brakes and airbags, the information about our OnStar service, our telephone number and information about our Verizon Wireless plan, the status of our satellite radio subscription and when that expired (along with a link that you could click for "one-click renewal" - how convenient), the VIN number of our truck, and a little picture of a truck. But alas, even though the little picture of the truck beside our diagnostic report was indeed a 2007 Chevy Tahoe, the one in the picture was gold - not red. I guess there are some things that it can't do!
Monday, February 20, 2006
The Art of the Deal
We have been very busy and I haven't blogged in a while. We spent a lot of time looking online and comparing prices on vehicles before we made the decision whether to get another one or not. I mentioned in a previous post that it was a want-versus-need thing - well, the "want" won out! We did a lot of internet shopping - getting quotes from dealerships all around, and once we got the best price we could find, Jerry bargained with them for three more days before finalizing the deal. He's a shrewd shopper! He and the salesman went back and forth with figures and deals and on the last day they were dealing back and forth over the telephone with calls going back and forth with offers and counteroffers! The good part about it was that we weren't desperate for the new vehicle, and so we had already decided that, good as the price might have been, we would walk away and keep our old Tahoe if we didn't get what we felt was fair for our trade. That's why the dealing took so long. Anyway, we were happy with the way things turned out. Now watching Jerry deal with the real estate people when we're ready to buy in WV should definitely be interesting!
We have also been busy getting Tom's stuff in order. There is a LOT of paperwork that needs to be done for college, and we aren't finished yet.
Andy's school work is going well, but it's a little difficult. This particular curriculum is a little advanced and we find ourselves having to go back to pick up on things that we missed with the previous curriculum in order to make sense of what we're doing now!
Today is our 24th anniversary, but we're really not doing anything noteworthy. Jerry worked on the basement (finishing drywall and painting), Andy did schoolwork, Tom worked on the website he's doing, and I worked (what else?!) Maybe next year for our 25th we'll do something special, but the simple things we did today with everyone here, then sharing a big lunch together, was just fine with me .
I'll try to blog a little more consistently as it seems like things are slowing down a little around here!
We have also been busy getting Tom's stuff in order. There is a LOT of paperwork that needs to be done for college, and we aren't finished yet.
Andy's school work is going well, but it's a little difficult. This particular curriculum is a little advanced and we find ourselves having to go back to pick up on things that we missed with the previous curriculum in order to make sense of what we're doing now!
Today is our 24th anniversary, but we're really not doing anything noteworthy. Jerry worked on the basement (finishing drywall and painting), Andy did schoolwork, Tom worked on the website he's doing, and I worked (what else?!) Maybe next year for our 25th we'll do something special, but the simple things we did today with everyone here, then sharing a big lunch together, was just fine with me .
I'll try to blog a little more consistently as it seems like things are slowing down a little around here!
Sunday, February 12, 2006
More Snow!
Yessss!! More snow! I was convinced that we had seen the last of the snow this winter, but what a nice surprise! As usual, Andy and I had a snowball fight, and had a nice walk through the woods. After we were soaked and half frozen, we came inside and made homemade hot chocolate and molasses snow candy. The hot chocolate was delicious. The candy was, well, sticky! We have been making the candy for a couple of years now, and you'd think we'd get the hang of it! To make it, you boil molasses and brown sugar until it gets to the hard ball candy stage. Then you fill a cake pan with snow and pour the candy syrup in ribbons on top of the snow. It hardens almost immediately. Then you just lift it off of the snow and it's hard candy. I think we should have boiled it a bit longer, though. Oh, well. We had fun!
This has been a busy week - busy physically and mentally. Jerry and I visited a car dealership this week. And fell in love with a vehicle. Now the whole want-versus-need thing is rearing it's ugly head! Also knowing that we need to definitely finish the house so we can list it, and find a place in WV.......I've had a lot on my mind this past week. Sometimes it seems overwhelming. It's one thing to have a plan in mind, and quite another to actually start implementing it.
I just finished a book trilogy that is very good. The books are by Lynn Austin and are the Refiner's Fire series. They are set in Civil War times. One book is written from the perspective of a woman who lives in the south, yet has relatives in the north, and personally opposes slavery. She eventually becomes a spy for the north. The second book is written from the north's perspective, about a woman who gets involved in nursing against her family's wishes and a woman who disguises herself as a man so she can fight like her brothers. Eventually the two women cross paths and impact each other's lives. The third book is written from the perspective of two slaves. One is a girl who is seriously mistreated at the hands of her mistress, but doesn't see it as such and doesn't believe her life can be any different. One is a boy who was sold at the age of 9 and was bought by an abusive slave trader. He had a horrible life, but knew it and was angry. Eventually these two also cross paths. These three books seriously cut into my blogging time! But they are very, very good books.
Well, now I'd better go do something constructive - so many things to do and I truly don't feel like doing any of them..........!
This has been a busy week - busy physically and mentally. Jerry and I visited a car dealership this week. And fell in love with a vehicle. Now the whole want-versus-need thing is rearing it's ugly head! Also knowing that we need to definitely finish the house so we can list it, and find a place in WV.......I've had a lot on my mind this past week. Sometimes it seems overwhelming. It's one thing to have a plan in mind, and quite another to actually start implementing it.
I just finished a book trilogy that is very good. The books are by Lynn Austin and are the Refiner's Fire series. They are set in Civil War times. One book is written from the perspective of a woman who lives in the south, yet has relatives in the north, and personally opposes slavery. She eventually becomes a spy for the north. The second book is written from the north's perspective, about a woman who gets involved in nursing against her family's wishes and a woman who disguises herself as a man so she can fight like her brothers. Eventually the two women cross paths and impact each other's lives. The third book is written from the perspective of two slaves. One is a girl who is seriously mistreated at the hands of her mistress, but doesn't see it as such and doesn't believe her life can be any different. One is a boy who was sold at the age of 9 and was bought by an abusive slave trader. He had a horrible life, but knew it and was angry. Eventually these two also cross paths. These three books seriously cut into my blogging time! But they are very, very good books.
Well, now I'd better go do something constructive - so many things to do and I truly don't feel like doing any of them..........!
Saturday, February 04, 2006
Nothing New Here!
I haven't posted in a while but there's really nothing new going on around here. Andy got his new curriculum for the computer and has been using it this week. So far he seems to like it. I really like it! It let us choose the dates for the school year and then broke his assignments up accordingly for the year on a lesson planner. Each day when Andy signs on, his lessons for that day are in front of him. The teacher portion is on my computer and the student portion on his. When I sign on, I see a list of all his subjects and a running grade average beside each. He has switched to Spanish for his foreign language. At the beginning of the year when he chose Japanese, I showed him that the language course he chose was a high school course - it said "for grade 9 through 12" on it! He said that he wanted to try it anyway, and I thought he did very well with it. It started getting a little hairy of late, though. When he needed to choose a language to go with his computer curriculum, he chose Spanish because they didn't offer Japanese. Well, he can speak a little Japanese, anyway, and now I guess he'll speak Spanish too.
Well, not much more is happening around here, so there's not much to type for today. Oh, I'm sure I'll make up for it and write a novel in the near future!
Well, not much more is happening around here, so there's not much to type for today. Oh, I'm sure I'll make up for it and write a novel in the near future!
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Busy Day!
Today we had to go back to Tom's school for him to take his placement exam. The test started at 10:00 AM and we were told that it would take about two hours. We also had an appointment to meet with the finance office at 1:00. Since we figured we had some time while Tom was taking his test, we decided to take the Metro and explore until it was time for our appointment at 1:00. Jerry, Tom and Andy have never ridden the Metro before and I thought it would be fun to see what we could see! The Rosslyn station is right across the street from Tom's school so it was very convenient.
The Smithsonian was pretty close so we thought we would go there. Andy did not like the escalator ride down to the track level at all. We had just gotten off the Metro at the Smithsonian station, reached street level again and were deciding which direction to go in first when my phone rang. It was Tom - he was finished his test. It was exactly 10:40. I had already bought him a Metro pass because when we first arrived we were a little early for his test so I thought we could get the farecard-buying out of the way. We had planned to do a little riding and sightseeing after our appointment, so we all had a pass. Anyway, we told Tom to ride the Metro to the Smithsonian stop and we would meet him there. There are two exits out of the Smithsonian station. We had taken the Independence Avenue exit and told him we would wait for him there. After a few minutes Jerry's phone rang. Tom said, "I'm at the Smithsonian stop. I'm looking at the monument. Where are you guys?" We looked around - we couldn't see the monument from where we were standing - it turns out he took the Mall exit - not the Independence Avenue exit. We told him to stay put and we would meet him. We finally met him on the Mall, so we got a great view of the capitol and the monument.
We didn't have too much time so we decided to head toward the Natural History museum. We were all getting hungry so we had decided that we were going to try to find something to eat in the vicinity. We saw that the museum had a food court so we decided to have lunch there. What a HUGE mistake. It's a buffet-type food court, so we walked around and picked out what we wanted and met back up at the checkout line to pay. Here's what we got - Jerry and I each got a slice of pizza and a Coke. Tom got a sub - not a whole sub, mind you, but a slice of a sub. He also got a small paper cup full of french fries and a Coke. Andy got two chicken tenders, a small paper cup of french fries and a Coke. Not much food, right? The lady rang it up and calmly said, "$42.50, please". I immediately gave away our tourist/Southern Maryland/not-citified-in-any-way status when I exclaimed "OHMYGOODNESS!!" rather loudly. I was embarrassed afterwards, but I truly was shocked at that price! I told everyone not to eat their food, but to frame it as a souvenir. Well, by the time we ate we didn't have hardly any time left, so we decided we'd better head back to the Metro station. So - we went to the Museum of Natural History - to eat. We decided that we definitely want to go back, though, on a day when we don't have any other appointments and just explore, but we'll brown-bag it!
Shortly after we arrived this morning and were waiting in the school lobby for Tom to be called for his test, Jerry's phone rang. It was his brother, Johnny, informing Jerry that their mom had been in a car accident. She and two friends were traveling together when they had the accident. Jerry's mom and one of the ladies was okay but the paramedics decided that they were going to take the third lady to the hospital to be checked out because her chest was hurting her. It turned out that they released her and that everyone was okay except for some bumps and bruises. Jerry's mom had been driving but not in her car. She was driving the car of one of the friends. She told Jerry later this afternoon that she has a small cut on the bridge of her nose where her glasses hit her when the airbag deployed and some small burns on her arm from that. She said she was a little shaken but okay. She said she's not sure that she wants to drive anytime soon, though! Apparently it was the opinion of the police that both cars involved were totaled. There were two people in the other vehicle. The man driving wasn't hurt at all and his female passenger just had a broken finger. Everyone was very fortunate.
Well, I am very tired and have stuff to do, so enough of this novel for today!
The Smithsonian was pretty close so we thought we would go there. Andy did not like the escalator ride down to the track level at all. We had just gotten off the Metro at the Smithsonian station, reached street level again and were deciding which direction to go in first when my phone rang. It was Tom - he was finished his test. It was exactly 10:40. I had already bought him a Metro pass because when we first arrived we were a little early for his test so I thought we could get the farecard-buying out of the way. We had planned to do a little riding and sightseeing after our appointment, so we all had a pass. Anyway, we told Tom to ride the Metro to the Smithsonian stop and we would meet him there. There are two exits out of the Smithsonian station. We had taken the Independence Avenue exit and told him we would wait for him there. After a few minutes Jerry's phone rang. Tom said, "I'm at the Smithsonian stop. I'm looking at the monument. Where are you guys?" We looked around - we couldn't see the monument from where we were standing - it turns out he took the Mall exit - not the Independence Avenue exit. We told him to stay put and we would meet him. We finally met him on the Mall, so we got a great view of the capitol and the monument.
We didn't have too much time so we decided to head toward the Natural History museum. We were all getting hungry so we had decided that we were going to try to find something to eat in the vicinity. We saw that the museum had a food court so we decided to have lunch there. What a HUGE mistake. It's a buffet-type food court, so we walked around and picked out what we wanted and met back up at the checkout line to pay. Here's what we got - Jerry and I each got a slice of pizza and a Coke. Tom got a sub - not a whole sub, mind you, but a slice of a sub. He also got a small paper cup full of french fries and a Coke. Andy got two chicken tenders, a small paper cup of french fries and a Coke. Not much food, right? The lady rang it up and calmly said, "$42.50, please". I immediately gave away our tourist/Southern Maryland/not-citified-in-any-way status when I exclaimed "OHMYGOODNESS!!" rather loudly. I was embarrassed afterwards, but I truly was shocked at that price! I told everyone not to eat their food, but to frame it as a souvenir. Well, by the time we ate we didn't have hardly any time left, so we decided we'd better head back to the Metro station. So - we went to the Museum of Natural History - to eat. We decided that we definitely want to go back, though, on a day when we don't have any other appointments and just explore, but we'll brown-bag it!
Shortly after we arrived this morning and were waiting in the school lobby for Tom to be called for his test, Jerry's phone rang. It was his brother, Johnny, informing Jerry that their mom had been in a car accident. She and two friends were traveling together when they had the accident. Jerry's mom and one of the ladies was okay but the paramedics decided that they were going to take the third lady to the hospital to be checked out because her chest was hurting her. It turned out that they released her and that everyone was okay except for some bumps and bruises. Jerry's mom had been driving but not in her car. She was driving the car of one of the friends. She told Jerry later this afternoon that she has a small cut on the bridge of her nose where her glasses hit her when the airbag deployed and some small burns on her arm from that. She said she was a little shaken but okay. She said she's not sure that she wants to drive anytime soon, though! Apparently it was the opinion of the police that both cars involved were totaled. There were two people in the other vehicle. The man driving wasn't hurt at all and his female passenger just had a broken finger. Everyone was very fortunate.
Well, I am very tired and have stuff to do, so enough of this novel for today!
Monday, January 23, 2006
The power is out at the main office for one of the companies I do work for, so I'll take this opportunity to update briefly. Yes, I could do work for the other company - no power outage there - and I will - soon! I am in the usual end-of-the-pay-period rush, although this time is a little more rushed than usual because both companies have their pay periods ending today. I can't remember the last time that happened. Anyway, what that means is that I'm trying to get in as much work as humanly possible so that my paycheck can be as large as humanly possible!
Andy and I had his homeschooling review at the board of education on Friday. Twice a year they review what we are doing and approve (or disapprove) of the education our children are getting. I was really shocked at the number of homeschooling families in this county. They had two separate conference rooms set up, one for elementary grades and the other for middle and high school grades. I saw that the elementary room was packed when I walked by and when I went into our room there were parents with every reviewer there, too. We had an appointment time of 9:30 but we were a little late being seen. I got a glimpse of our the reviewers' main schedule and saw that for a period of about five days, six reviewers had appointments from morning until evening. That's just for middle and high school. That's a lot of homeschoolers! When I registered Andy to homeschool back in August the lady there told me that this was a record year for homeschooling and that they couldn't keep up. Hmm....you'd think the county would wonder why!
Anyway, we are doing just fine. The reviewer said she was very impressed with my choices for his curriculum and that she really liked the education Andy was getting. The only thing she suggested was that we try to incorporate more writing into his work. I explained to her that Andy was an oral learner, as was Tom, and that he learns best by being read to, or reading independently and then narrating back to me what he's read. A lot of times I give him oral exams instead of making him write it out. The reviewer said that it was great that I had figured out the best way for Andy to learn (oral or written), but that's kind of the whole purpose of homeschooling - you know your child better than anyone! She suggested then just to have Andy start a journal and write in that each day, but she said that other than that to just continue with what we're doing. Then I threw a wrench in the works! Lately Andy has been asking about a computer curriculum, and I'll admit that I would like to have done that at the start, but trying to juggle his school work and my work on my computer wouldn't have worked too well. Now that he got a computer for Christmas, he asked if we could try the computer curriculum. I told him we could and so I'll be ordering that this week. When I told the reviewer that we intended to make this change, she said that she had LOTS of families that used this particular curriculum and that she couldn't say enough good things about it. She said that both Andy and I would really like using it, and the best part is that all of his grades and work are kept in a portfolio in the program which eliminates grading and paperwork for me. There is an option for lessons and tests in the program where you can choose whether to have the student read the lessons or the tests or you can click a button and a voice reads the lesson and/or the tests to the student - for those oral learners, you know! There's still a lot of parental involvement, which I like (Andy doesn't always, though!).
Well, enough for now. Guess I'd better get busy doing whatever work I can do. By the way, where did winter go?! I want SNOW - not rain!
Andy and I had his homeschooling review at the board of education on Friday. Twice a year they review what we are doing and approve (or disapprove) of the education our children are getting. I was really shocked at the number of homeschooling families in this county. They had two separate conference rooms set up, one for elementary grades and the other for middle and high school grades. I saw that the elementary room was packed when I walked by and when I went into our room there were parents with every reviewer there, too. We had an appointment time of 9:30 but we were a little late being seen. I got a glimpse of our the reviewers' main schedule and saw that for a period of about five days, six reviewers had appointments from morning until evening. That's just for middle and high school. That's a lot of homeschoolers! When I registered Andy to homeschool back in August the lady there told me that this was a record year for homeschooling and that they couldn't keep up. Hmm....you'd think the county would wonder why!
Anyway, we are doing just fine. The reviewer said she was very impressed with my choices for his curriculum and that she really liked the education Andy was getting. The only thing she suggested was that we try to incorporate more writing into his work. I explained to her that Andy was an oral learner, as was Tom, and that he learns best by being read to, or reading independently and then narrating back to me what he's read. A lot of times I give him oral exams instead of making him write it out. The reviewer said that it was great that I had figured out the best way for Andy to learn (oral or written), but that's kind of the whole purpose of homeschooling - you know your child better than anyone! She suggested then just to have Andy start a journal and write in that each day, but she said that other than that to just continue with what we're doing. Then I threw a wrench in the works! Lately Andy has been asking about a computer curriculum, and I'll admit that I would like to have done that at the start, but trying to juggle his school work and my work on my computer wouldn't have worked too well. Now that he got a computer for Christmas, he asked if we could try the computer curriculum. I told him we could and so I'll be ordering that this week. When I told the reviewer that we intended to make this change, she said that she had LOTS of families that used this particular curriculum and that she couldn't say enough good things about it. She said that both Andy and I would really like using it, and the best part is that all of his grades and work are kept in a portfolio in the program which eliminates grading and paperwork for me. There is an option for lessons and tests in the program where you can choose whether to have the student read the lessons or the tests or you can click a button and a voice reads the lesson and/or the tests to the student - for those oral learners, you know! There's still a lot of parental involvement, which I like (Andy doesn't always, though!).
Well, enough for now. Guess I'd better get busy doing whatever work I can do. By the way, where did winter go?! I want SNOW - not rain!
Monday, January 16, 2006
It's That Time Again!
Yes, it was finally tree-tossing time here. As you can see from the pictures, it was a little different this year with everyone wanting a turn. If the neighbors questioned our mental stability, this event should have definitely confirmed their suspicions. With each toss and then subsequent drag up the steps to toss it yet again, the tree lost more and more of it's branches, growing smaller by the toss. Then the toss disintegrated into a brotherly battle with the tree as the weapon. No brothers were harmed during the making of this spectacle. Can't say the same for the tree, though.
We went to Arlington on Saturday and toured the Art Institute. What a cool place! We were very impressed with it and Tom is eager to start. We will be going back in two weeks to finalize the paperwork and for Tom to take his placement tests. They said there is a possibility that he may be able to test out of a few of the beginning courses since he already took a few college courses during his senior year of high school but they are looking into transferring his college credits first, but not all colleges accept credits in transfer. We have to wait for their decision on this. I brought my camera but Andy wanted to use it on the way to snap some pictures and of course, it got left behind in the truck which was parked four stories underground in the Hyatt down the road. I will remember to have it with me next time. Finding parking was not an easy task, and it was Saturday! They informed Tom that when he attends he should probably ride the Metro or something because parking will definitely be an adventure. Many of his beginning courses are offered online also, so he thinks he will take them this way and save the commute for the classes that aren't online. Actually, they told us that the online courses are more stringent and strict than the courses on campus. If you take an online course you are required to be logged in and actually participating for 5 hours on the days the online class is in session. The classes on campus are 4 hours each. The college goes in quarters, not in semesters, and it goes year-round without summers off. Tom will be completing his degree in 3 years - possibly sooner if he can get credit or test out of some of his courses. The entire top floor is their culinary school and they told Tom that honor students get served 12-course meals from there. I guess that's a good thing - assuming the students can cook well. In any case, it's probably better than anything he's used to around here!
Now I'd better get busy. Andy has assignments to do and it's been difficult getting back into the old routine around here again. Oh, well - back to the grind.
We went to Arlington on Saturday and toured the Art Institute. What a cool place! We were very impressed with it and Tom is eager to start. We will be going back in two weeks to finalize the paperwork and for Tom to take his placement tests. They said there is a possibility that he may be able to test out of a few of the beginning courses since he already took a few college courses during his senior year of high school but they are looking into transferring his college credits first, but not all colleges accept credits in transfer. We have to wait for their decision on this. I brought my camera but Andy wanted to use it on the way to snap some pictures and of course, it got left behind in the truck which was parked four stories underground in the Hyatt down the road. I will remember to have it with me next time. Finding parking was not an easy task, and it was Saturday! They informed Tom that when he attends he should probably ride the Metro or something because parking will definitely be an adventure. Many of his beginning courses are offered online also, so he thinks he will take them this way and save the commute for the classes that aren't online. Actually, they told us that the online courses are more stringent and strict than the courses on campus. If you take an online course you are required to be logged in and actually participating for 5 hours on the days the online class is in session. The classes on campus are 4 hours each. The college goes in quarters, not in semesters, and it goes year-round without summers off. Tom will be completing his degree in 3 years - possibly sooner if he can get credit or test out of some of his courses. The entire top floor is their culinary school and they told Tom that honor students get served 12-course meals from there. I guess that's a good thing - assuming the students can cook well. In any case, it's probably better than anything he's used to around here!
Now I'd better get busy. Andy has assignments to do and it's been difficult getting back into the old routine around here again. Oh, well - back to the grind.
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Happy New Year!
We now return you to our regularly scheduled posting. I was going to post earlier about Tom's career change before the whole stolen-credit-card-makes-us-temporarily-destitute thing happened. Now then - Tom has decided that he does not want to be a steamfitter and could not picture himself doing what he has been doing for the next 40 years or so. He said he knew he should have done this about two years ago, but he decided that he wants to go to college. He said he is afraid that it's kind of now or never - and we agree with him. All too soon he will be 20, and then the years go by quickly. When he was looking into colleges a couple of years ago he was interested in an arts college, and so now has found one that he wants to attend. He did all the necessary paperwork already for the Art Institute of Washington, which is actually located in Arlington, Virginia........! We have an appointment to go this Saturday to tour the campus and meet with the admissions advisor. He is trying to get housing on-campus, but we'll have to see how that works out. There are three apartment buildings nearby where the college houses students but they are VERY expensive - $2200 a month. The college puts four students in each apartment and the rent is split, but that's still a lot. He intends to major in graphic design. We'll see what all the options are this Saturday. Looking into the apartments available to the students brought back memories of visiting Grandma at Crystal Towers, because the student apartments are in Crystal City. I saw a web site with pictures of inside and outside of Crystal Towers and it sure brought back memories of her apartment. A couple of years ago Tom was looking at the Art Institute's campus in Canada, but I'm glad he decided to stick closer to home!
The bank situation is just about taken care of now. All of the money except for one charge has been returned to the account. Whew!
We had a very nice time at Mike and Linda's house. It was great to see everyone. All the children are growing up SO FAST!
I made a few New Year's resolutions this year, and along with sharing them, I would like to issue a challenge to any family members and friends who read this. My first resolution was what it always is - to lose weight! The second was to stop being so self-conscious about everything and stop worrying about what others will think of me. The third was to try to remember that each day is a gift, and live accordingly. Now for the challenge I mentioned. Frankly, I bore myself and would like to read about YOUR lives. Starting a blog is easy, free, fun and actually kind of therapeutic. I would like to keep up with what my family members and friends (that means you, Anita!) are up to. Ten minutes a couple of times a week is all it would take. Please?! Anyone?! Just think - you could have a forum to post all your kids' pictures and brag about them! Okay, I think I've gotten the point across.
Happy New Year! Kind of late, but the sentiment is genuine nonetheless.
The bank situation is just about taken care of now. All of the money except for one charge has been returned to the account. Whew!
We had a very nice time at Mike and Linda's house. It was great to see everyone. All the children are growing up SO FAST!
I made a few New Year's resolutions this year, and along with sharing them, I would like to issue a challenge to any family members and friends who read this. My first resolution was what it always is - to lose weight! The second was to stop being so self-conscious about everything and stop worrying about what others will think of me. The third was to try to remember that each day is a gift, and live accordingly. Now for the challenge I mentioned. Frankly, I bore myself and would like to read about YOUR lives. Starting a blog is easy, free, fun and actually kind of therapeutic. I would like to keep up with what my family members and friends (that means you, Anita!) are up to. Ten minutes a couple of times a week is all it would take. Please?! Anyone?! Just think - you could have a forum to post all your kids' pictures and brag about them! Okay, I think I've gotten the point across.
Happy New Year! Kind of late, but the sentiment is genuine nonetheless.
Friday, January 06, 2006
Never A Dull Moment!
I was going to write about the holidays and what a wonderful Christmas and New Year's we had. I was also going to write about Tom's change in career plans. But those will wait until later.
Last night I was on the computer and signed onto the bank to look at our accounts. I was very surprised when I noticed Jerry's business account had it's balance in red. Uh, oh. I opened the account information screen and discovered that someone had stolen his business check card number and had been on a two-day online shopping spree, not only wiping out the entire account but overdrawing $4,000.00 on top of that. There were a few thousand dollars of charges for electronics from different places and even a charge for Victoria's Secret! I guess even felons need lingerie. We immediately called the bank who immediately cancelled the card and reassured us that they would handle everything. Our money is expected to be restored to the account within a few days and then the bank will be pursuing whoever did this. While Jerry was on the phone talking to the bank, I got on another line and called one of the places where some of the shopping had been done and let them know what was going on. The lady at this place said that there was an additional $567.00 order getting ready to be shipped. I told her again that this was not anything that we ordered and that the card was now cancelled. Out of curiosity I asked what that order was and she said it was a camera and a printer. I asked her to tell me the name and address that it was supposed to be shipped to, and she said she couldn't tell me that for security reasons! Security reasons?! I told Jerry this while he was still on the phone with the bank which he relayed to them and they told him not to worry about it - they would get all of that information. I am thankful that Jerry filled his truck up the day before this happened. Now if only I could get somebody to do something about the electric bill I received yesterday. It was $304.00 - that's for one month. Sure seems like theft to me!
Last night I was on the computer and signed onto the bank to look at our accounts. I was very surprised when I noticed Jerry's business account had it's balance in red. Uh, oh. I opened the account information screen and discovered that someone had stolen his business check card number and had been on a two-day online shopping spree, not only wiping out the entire account but overdrawing $4,000.00 on top of that. There were a few thousand dollars of charges for electronics from different places and even a charge for Victoria's Secret! I guess even felons need lingerie. We immediately called the bank who immediately cancelled the card and reassured us that they would handle everything. Our money is expected to be restored to the account within a few days and then the bank will be pursuing whoever did this. While Jerry was on the phone talking to the bank, I got on another line and called one of the places where some of the shopping had been done and let them know what was going on. The lady at this place said that there was an additional $567.00 order getting ready to be shipped. I told her again that this was not anything that we ordered and that the card was now cancelled. Out of curiosity I asked what that order was and she said it was a camera and a printer. I asked her to tell me the name and address that it was supposed to be shipped to, and she said she couldn't tell me that for security reasons! Security reasons?! I told Jerry this while he was still on the phone with the bank which he relayed to them and they told him not to worry about it - they would get all of that information. I am thankful that Jerry filled his truck up the day before this happened. Now if only I could get somebody to do something about the electric bill I received yesterday. It was $304.00 - that's for one month. Sure seems like theft to me!
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