Thursday, November 27, 2008

Flarp In A Can


I feel I should be posting about all the things I'm thankful for - but well, thanks to a birthday party last week and a bingo prize - well, my kids seem to be very thankful and happy to have FLARP.


Yes, you read correctly, it's FLARP. Its marketed as a noisey silly putty, but for the kids in all of us, it's fart in a can. (sorry if i offend, but well, that is truly what it is) and my kids are delighted with it - over the moon, they think its absolutely hysterical. it's actually a crowd pleaser. I could just hear someone let it rip in the living room and .Oma (randy's mom) just asked if we needed to check Gabriel's pants. See, it's something the whole family can get involved with!




Gabriel has even introduced us to some new terminology that I think will catch on - Busted a grumpy. so next time you smell something, just ask "hey, who busted the grumpy?" and see what looks you get.

I hope to post more seasonal thankful items later. Right now I have to go air out my living room -

Saturday, November 22, 2008

What are those things?


Anyone out there remember what these are called?

You'd never in a million years guess that I have more than just a few pictures stored on my computer. Actually, I wonder if there is an exact number of pictures stored - a program that can figure it out for me. I've had this laptop for just a year now, and well, when someone like me can take 456 pictures in 2 hours at the barn, well, they start to add up. Randy keeps talking about getting me an external hard drive to free up some space. Hmmm, I think he's trying to tell me something. Our old desktop died last October, I think from picture overload. THe great thing is they got our data off and saved it onto two discs. I had some time to myself and transferred just a small portion of them before thinking better of it (or being threatened but hey, who remembers those sort of threats, I mean things).



I clicked on that PHOTOS FROM OLD COMPUTER file and found these. It's getting to be Thanksgiving and we'll be here, with my family up there, so these help me, or make me more homesick. This pic of my mom and the kids was taken, wow, a year exactly before my Grampa (aka Goonbody) passed away. Sigh, now I'm sad and homesick. We were visiting and it was COLD. (I know, surprise, cold in NY in June). and we hadn't packed any warm clothes, no jackets, no long sleeves, NOTHING. Yes, the kids have on long sleeves, but only after we hit every store we could think of (in Perry, there's nothing to choose from - Wal-Mart in the next town over, nothing, Letchworth gift shops, nothing - finally hit the Thrift shop and found two slightly two big shirts for the kids).



Anyone recognize it? One of my favorite places to visit. Letchworth State Park and the Trestle Bridge. I was very upset to find they actually FENCED off the tracks so you can't go out on the bridge. I have so very cool pictures of me on the bridge with a train going by. Not to mention, how in the world do I get to MY spot now? My spot is on the OTHER side of the bridge, down underneath the trestle. Let's hope that fence rusts away before someone has to scatter my ashes down there (dumping me off the top is not an option)




Middle falls, another favorite spot. Such a beautful place to have almost in our backyard while growing up.

I guess it's time to go rejoin the family and get everyone ready for bed. Cheers.







Monday, November 17, 2008

All that Hair


This is my girl - she has such a pretty smile and such pretty hair, when it's down for anyone to see. I always have it up, pony tails, braids, you name it, otherwise it becomes a snarled mess. It hangs down her back all the way to her butt. I've tried to talk her into a hair cut but it hasn't worked yet. (notice those pretty bangs???)


Yup, hair is flying and this assures me that I will have many tangles and snarls to remove when all is said and done.



she can be just so cute can't she? this is her christmas dress - it came with a matching dress for a doll to wear, and yes, the doll was in some pictures also? Look closely, do her bangs look any different? no? good! the day after we took pictures at the barn, my lovely girl got a hold of scissors and took a chunk out of the bottom layer of her bangs. THankfully it was the bottom layer and you could 'brush' the longer upper hairs over it. Of course, you can't tell that I also used some extra hair color of mine to give her some red highlight streaks down the back. (thanks mom!)

I can't help it, she really is a good looking girl. (minus her attitude, but lets just focus on those good looks for right now>)

Thursday, November 13, 2008

A Lot of Red Dirt and Big Machines



So today (and most of this week) was a quiet day on site - it rained overnight and was looking like rain, most of the morning. After lunch, it finally made good, and the site guys packed it in and went home. Then I went out on site to play.




Too bad Gabriel wasn't with me today - he could have climbed all over these bad boys.




We call this our redneck security.





What used to be a nice GREEN field is now very red, and muddy.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Just another day in Paradise


These are more pictures fom the barn on saturday. We spent a good hour just hanging out and talking out in the horse pasture. Of course, the kids had more fun climbing and jumping off of the horse jumps than sitting and talking. I lost track of how many times we told them to watch out for horse pies (doesn't have the same ring to it as cow pies or cow patties).


This is where I show how THANKFUL i am that Shadow is a GENTLE WONDERFUL horse. Do you see Delaney's fingers? I didn't think so, that's because they are up IN Shadow's mouth along with the apple or carrot she was feeding her. In the almost two years we've been seeing Shadow we have been so lucky that she is so careful, she seems to know it's the kids and to be gentle, even when they are up on her back. We haven't lost a finger yet....



I put the caption "PURE JOY" on this one, as that's just how it comes across. She's a happy camper. Nice day, pictures are over, she's out with horses and she can run, jump and just be Delaney.




I just had to take a picture of Quinn biting the fence and oh what a picture. This is one that makes me laugh out loud. the TEETH. Gotta love those horses.

Sunday, November 9, 2008


So yesterday was our day to take pictures for the upcoming holiday. We dressed, we posed, and 456 pictures later (and the first time i've filled my memory card) we were tired and ready to head home. So, if you want to see the other 452, let me know. I've loaded about 156 onto snapfish. I figured that was enough to make some eyes glaze over.


Not a bad family photo - and yes, Susan and Shadow are an integral part - if Kavik had ever met a horse before we might have tried him out also - maybe next time.



Susan was bribing Shadow with a carrot while my hubby took pics - I think I make him nervous as he was just clicking away. am impressed though. Susan dropped the carrot and was laughing about it and I said, I KNOW you dropped it, it's on my neck. (see it there on the left side?) thankfully she got it before Shadow tried to get it! (there's a pic of that too!)





The kids - just chilling out in the pasture.

Now let me tell you the best, or worst part of the story. We get home, and have an hour before we meet for dinner. I put the memory card in, hit transfer and away we go. A long while later (well, there were 456 pictures) picasa "is not responding" so I wait and wait and wait and then get desperate, it says 291 pictures done so far and I'm thinking, well, it's not 456 but i can live with 291. It closes, I open it again and there are THREE, yes three not great pictures of Shadow. No family, no Susan, no kids, nothing. I click out, back in, open and yup, still three. At this point i'm not sure if i want to scream or cry. I vote to slam my hands onto the desk as hard as possible. It doesn't work, the pictures are still not there. Put memory card back in camera - and there are no images. (see, i forget to delete so I have it set up to delele after it transfers, not so smart at this point in time). Randy tries searching, and comes up with nothing. I call Susan with frustration in my voice and we talk about doing it again on Sunday (which we did not feel like doing, while it was a good time, who wants to do all those pictures again? and some were not replaceable) I got back on the computer, hit a couple more buttons and the file was there. THe most beautiful file -with all 456 pictures. I was afraid to close it. Afraid to blink for fear it would disappear. Thankfully, none of the above happened and the pictures were saved in a place easy to find. note to self, change setting so pictures do NOT automatically delete. It took a long time for the panic that I felt to competely go away.

Friday, November 7, 2008

Anyone Out there??


Okay, so I just learned I should add pictures and then type, unless i want all my writing at the bottom! Random picture number 1, love my hair don't you? College Graduation Pic, friends Mike Rivera and Kelli Cavo



Random picture of a horse smiling at me!



My Goonbodies. I love them and miss my Gramp a lot. Hang in there Gram.

The last random thought for the day - Going back to highschool here - love the hats don't you? My friend Dave Howden, whom I would LOVE to get back in touch with and my friend Ray. ah, those good ole high school days. makes me want to go home and find my journal (and many more bad pictures.)



Do you ever wonder if you are truly just talking (okay, typing) to yourself? Well, I am wondering that, so I'll just have to ask- is there anyone out there who is reading this? Do you ever want to post a comment? My favorite blog that I follow is Confessions of a Pioneer Woman, and while granted I am no where near as witty or have half as much energy as she has, she can have HUNDREDs of comments within an hour of posting. I know, jealousy isn't pretty, but boy, am I jealous that people READ and COMMENT on her blog. Maybe I just need to include more pictures of my dog and cowboy butts, maybe that will grab some attention (you'll have to go to her blog to understand.)








I figure, just for fun, I'll attach some Random pictures to this post, so even if you don't read, maybe you can look at some pretty pictures.....

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Safety First







Election Day is also a Teacher Work day - so no school for Gabriel means he gets to go to work with Mom. He was a great kid during the day - very quiet - you would have never known there was a six year old, excuse me, six and a half year old, wait, six and three quarter year old, in the office with us (kids are so picky about age- gotta get it exactly right). Towards the end of the day we went out on site in one of the Mules (turbo golf cart for a construction site) and checked out the earth movers, excavators, bull dozers and skid pans do their thing. Gabriel had a good time watching all that red earth move from one spot to another......

Monday, November 3, 2008

Family Resemblance?







Is it just me or is there a family resemblance?

Saturday, November 1, 2008

The amazing Transformation
















Well, after getting off to a slow start thanks to slow traffic - We all made it home to start getting ready for Halloween. Almost immediately upon seeing the costume SHE PICKED OUT, Delaney started telling me she didn't want to be Tinkerbell. I persevered, and got her into the outfit, and as you can see, she was NOT to happy about it all. Thank goodness for hand-me-down outfits from big brother. The transformation into happy race car driver was almost instantaneous! All were happy and we were out the door. We met up with Purple boy and Hannah Montana and we were off (I'll have to compare Hannah to her famous dad Billy Ray later.) We went to a Halloween Carnival up in Statesville, where the kids could get candy, ride rides and have all sorts of fun! And well, she was a cute Tinkerbell but I think she handled being a race car driver too!