06/04

She's Leavin', on a Jet Plane!

Ack!

In less than 24 hours, my baby will be off on another trip! This time for a whole month!

It's going to be awfully quiet around here without her.

I'm going to read more books. Do a lot more writing (because I've certainly let that little practice of mine fall by the wayside), and work on getting some of the out-of-control plants out of the gardens. What would you do if you suddenly had a month off from being a parent?

I decided to mow the lawn today. Dad had called yesterday morning, but Kel and I had a very late night the night before and I didn't have any allergy meds and was really feeling it so I begged off and we agreed that Friday would be the day since Thursday is a day of golf for him.

Well, today was pretty nice - chilly and low on bugs, plus I had replenished the claritin-D yesterday during my Target run - so I decided to get out there and spare Dad the gory dust and bumpy ride if I could.

I stuck my phone in the cup holder so I could call Kel at the house in case of emergency and off I rode, confident that the blades would start.

It was brilliant really.

Dad had disconnected one of the safety features that was really causing us some grief (if you got out of the seat the blades shut down, sometimes losing us the ability to ever get them started again, well for that mowing session anyway), so I knew that I had that one licked...

Early into the mow, I got stuck. Really stuck..

. in a low section of the yard. I called Kel and told her to get warm clothes on and come down and steer the tractor while I hooked up the car and pulled the thing out.

Just a couple of weeks ago, that wouldn't have been possible without shutting off the blades unless she could have slipped into the seat with me still in it and we could have tricked it into believing I'd never left...

Long story short, I managed to finish the WHOLE FIELD and along the driveway and EVERYWHERE without the blades shutting down, even though I bet I got stuck 7 times and had to disengage the transmission and push myself out of being stuck or hook the tractor up to the car three of those times. After a couple of hours, I was finished.

I got out the push mower and did the hand stuff.

I went in the house and got out the stuff for pancakes. Then Kel told me she wanted to go to a friend's house. So I went out to get the phone to send with her.

That's when I realized it was gone. :( AAAAAAARRRRGGGHHH!!

I spent the next hour wandering the fields, around the pines (especially around the pines figuring a pine branch had grabbed the phone and snapped it out of the cup holder), and along the edge of the long grass looking for the phone. We tried calling it. The first couple of times it picked up right away.

I got a little upset by this because I knew the phone was on. Did I run it over causing it to be smashed into a billion pieces? In the meantime, Kel left with her friend.

I came back inside and decided to look on top of the mower deck with the flashlight. Nothing but a lot of grass. That was a stupid idea.

I looked in the car. Not there, of course. I tried calling it from the phone in the garage.

I HEARD IT RINGING! AT THE MOWER! IT WAS ON THE MOWER DECK!

I took off the protective cover over the gears for the blades and as you can see, there it was...

And this is what the back of it looks like after having the wheel spin around on it for who knows how long. I've needed to replace this phone for a couple of years. The screen fades out completely on it on a regular basis so I can't see what I'm dialing or who is calling.

I have to hit it to get it to come back and sometimes what comes back is gobbledy gook. But I don't mind really.

I think it is official.

My daughter will probably never again be seen with my phone. :)

Oh - the best part??

? Even with the beating it took - It seems to be still working fine. Won't have to replace it yet!

Heh...

And now it's time for those pancakes...

I'm starving.

Slowly getting back into the groove of things.

Talked to my massage therapist this morning to verify the massage I have set up for later this week. Got some errands run yesterday. Caught up with some bloggers and read the stuff I had missed over the past several days.

Got the tent dried out and just need to get it rolled up and put away which will be done after I finish this entry, along with some other stuff put away. Looking up the hours of the DMV while I'm online so Kel can go get her permit this week. Figuring out arrangements for the dog so I can deliver Kel to Colorado sometime soon.

As soon as the rain returns to our area I'll do some house cleaning. Until then I can't be bothered. Tonight I'll get back to laundry.

What's up with the electrical in our practically new house? Both our dishwasher and our hot tub trip their breakers. This makes no sense to me.

And now, we've completely shut down the hot tub electrical stuff outside at the tub itself and the breaker still can't be turned back on. Ideas? Guess we need to get someone in here to have a look.

I think our electrician wasn't the greatest or something.

Going out for a run in just a bit.

It's another gorgeous day.

Go contribute to Relay for Life team! She has the instructions on her . She was on of the supporters who helped me become one of the top donors at my Relay for Life!

It's her first year out there with her own team. Go help her make it a success!

A Little Bit of Relay Stuff...

There will be much more to come.

We had perfectly beautiful weather. Friday was a little chilly and windy for setting up, but when the sun came out, it felt good.

The breeze kept the mosquitoes at bay again this year, and we didn't need any bug repellent. That was nice. We were happy to have a campsite where a campfire was allowed because the temperature got down to 40 degrees farenheit around 4:30 am just before dawn, so the fire felt really great during the night and we were all saying that we couldn't believe it was mid-June.

But better that than really hot.

Walking/running/dancing around the track was terrific. Many miles were accumulated and laughter and merriment was had by all.

Our "Dude Looks Like a Lady" was fantastic and we owe him/her a huge debt of gratitude for stepping up to the plate at the last minute when our other Dude had plans that couldn't be changed interfere with his commitment. Ours was the ONLY Dude who actually fit the Disco theme of the Relay. He should have taken first prize for THAT alone!

You were AWESOME Dude. And your seamstress was the BOMB.

Some of the things that had been announced to be happening, never happened.

I don't know why. Things just fall apart and don't come together I guess. For example, karaoke and disco late-night were supposed to happen at the dj's tent.

That was a no-go. The morning stretch infield was another no-go this year. The medals that were supposed to be handed out to teams collecting a certain dollar amount didn't happen.

Our team ROCKED accumulating a total of over $5000 in only our second year as a team! Way to go Brain Trusters!

Relay miles: 18
Total so far: 95.

7
Still to go for goal: 404.3

Okay. Have to take the kiddo on some errands.

Back later. Hoping to get some miles under my belt for the day now that I've recovered my sleep, etc.

Another thing - our local Relay has now collected over a Million dollars for the American Cancer Society in its five years running.

I'm proud to be a part of that. And just because it is over for this year? Doesn't mean you can't still contribute.

Because I'm now working on Relay 2005!

Yep. You heard me.

I'm working on fund raising ideas and a whole new campaign to get things in motion for the next one. My neices were already hitting me with themes for next year, too. I hope I have comments and e-mails filling my box from them soon because they have a whole list of theme ideas they want me submitting to the committee for the next one.

So they're all psyched for next year already, too. Wanna contribute? You know where the button is.

Feel free!

What Movie is Keri Watching?

What movie is Keri watching? Sorry for the dark and grainy quality. Hope you can still sort of figure it out.

It was such a gloomy day outside that it made for a really gloomy day inside and bad picture taking qualities!

Summertime.
.. and the living is.
.. easy?

Breezy for sure. And warm. Last day of school around here.

A silly one, though. This is one of those forced make-up days because they took too many snow days. But it makes for a ridiculous day at school because it will be a worthless day in the eyes of education.

I got outside for my run today. And as Bob Seeger would say, I was running against the wind.

Today's miles: 4.

0
Total so far: 59.59
Still to go for goal: 440.41

What a great weekend we had for the hot dog stand.

We were so fortunate! With all of the lousy weekend weather we have had for the past many months, we really have to be thankful for the three days we were blessed with to sell those brats and dogs. And the people really responded.

We ordered more food for the following day each evening, and each day we were still running out and having to go on shopping trips multiple times to buy more food. It was great. Better than our garage sales of last year?

Definitely. Less work to begin with and more profit overall, I believe.

Will we do it again next year?

Still thinking about that one. But I really don't know what else we would do for our team money makers unless we get someone on the team who is a great fundraiser with other fantastic ideas. Personally, I've tapped all of my friends and family with this running idea this year, and I'm not sure of the response I'd get doing it again next year, short of doing the run backwards or walking on my hands or something crazy, so I'm already trying to get creative and think ahead - what can I sell or do that will be different or that can reach out to the public and strangers?

This is such an important cause to me, and to many others I know.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by. I wish I'd handed out my cards with the blog address on them.

I didn't think about that. Thanks to Hutch for coming by and bringing the boys and her sister. I haven't seen her for so many years.

She gave me two fabulous things - first an incredible donation for which I cannot say thank you enough, and second, a really great compliment...

she said I still look the same. She and Hutch are the ones who haven't changed a bit. Seriously.

I blew your cover though, Hutch. Now my brother knows that Hutch=you. When my dad got back I said, "Dad, you missed Hutch!

" And the bro then asked who Hutch was. I had no idea he didn't know. Dad was really bummed he'd missed you.

So now you have to come to the Relay. :)

I also saw an old neighbor that I hadn't seen in many years. That was fun.

She also said I looked exactly the same. I now take this to be a nice thing to say to someone when you have nothing else to say because you haven't seen them for so many years that you don't know them any more. *sigh* But it is still a nice thing to hear.

And I spoke with several survivors and a few people who were related to someone currently going through treatment. One was the uncle of an eight-year-old boy with an inoperable brain tumor. One was the husband of a woman who'd found out a couple months prior that she had breast cancer.

One was a woman who lost her husband a few years back to a brain tumor (glioblastoma). It was a powerful weekend, driving home the fact that we've gotta keep it up. They cannot do too much research in this field.

.. they've gotta find a cure.

Is it really Wednesday already?

Man.

I can't believe how this cold/virus/allergy thing is kicking me in the butt. The weekend was a hectic mess. My ex was in town and so my daughter was gone all weekend spending the time visiting with him, his wife and their little baby, her little sister that she is so in love with and proud of.

Which meant if I wanted to see Kel at all and keep a watch on how she was doing emotionally, I needed to be keeping in touch by phone and staying in touch with all the ex-in-laws to make sure they got her where she needed to be all weekend. She had the high school graduation to play for with the wind ensemble and the Memorial Day Parade to march in.

There were wild storms passing through with sirens going off and basements to seek shelter in.

There were handmade purses from my mother-in-law to sell with all proceeds going to the Relay (have we got some awesome people working on our team or what???

). I've sold seven of the ten made!

There was an impromptu dinner at the folks' house with part of the extended family where we did a little discussing of the Relay and hot dog stand stuff, and celebrating of the fact that we have a "Dude Looks Like a Lady" for the contest (w00t!

).

I guess by the time all of that was over and the ex had left town and Kel had decompressed (I almost said decomposed - eek! - it wasn't that bad, trust me) and I had sent her off to school on Tuesday morning, I was wiped.

I spent all day yesterday in bed. Seriously. All.

day.

I'm sleeping in the basement. Have been for about five nights.

To get away from the rest of the occupants in the house and give them peace and quiet for their sleep. I cough a lot. My daughter has so much sympathy.

She tells me to ~~shut up~~ please stop that everytime I cough now.

I think I feel a little better today. I might even go walk on Lurch tonight.

Not run, though. That really would kick off a coughing fit to beat the band. I've been doing quiet activities today like working on the luminaria designs for the Relay.

Guess I'll grab something to eat now and see how I feel about walking after that.

The hot dog stand is coming quick! I wanted to kick butt in June with the miles, not be kicked instead!

Keywords: Looks Like, Mower Deck, Keri Watching, Dude Looks, Dude Looks Like

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She's Leavin', on a Jet Plane!

A Little Bit of Relay Stuff...

What Movie is Keri Watching?

Summertime... and the living is... easy?

Is it really Wednesday already?

Summertime.
.. and the living is.
.. easy?