Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. It's National Bike Week...do you own a bicycle? When did you last ride a bike? 
I think the last time I rode a bike was Oct. '11, through Kensington Gardens.  I will be riding a bike (at least a couple of times!) in the next month in Germany (and maybe Copenhagen).

OMG!  After reading Sandy's comment, I realized I rode a bike when we were in the Keys over Christmas Break!  Not sure how I could've forgotten about that!

2. What's something you learned in school that wasn't part of the curriculum?
Oh my!  If we're talking college, there's so much that I learned that they can't teach you!

3. What's a food you've never tried, but want to try? What's a food you've tried and will never try again?

4. Have you been more demanding on yourself lately or less? Why? Do you think that's a good trend?
I've been trying to not be demanding on myself, especially since it just stresses me out!

5. Who is your favorite book, movie, or TV show villain? 
Rhett Butler.  Would he actually be considered a villain?

6. How concerned are you about identity theft? 
I try to be aware of security, but I don't let it run my life!

7. I saw this last question on Dawn's blog a couple of week's ago and asked if I could share. Everybody hop over and say hi, but first answer this...would you rather have an ordinary home in an extraordinary place or an extraordinary home in an ordinary place? 
Ordinary home in an extraordinary place.  An ordinary home would be more comfortable.  And, if it was in an extraordinary place, how much would I actually be in the home anyway?

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

A few days ago, YS came up to me and said, "12 more days!"  I looked at him and said, "until what?"  His response:  "Until we leave for Europe!"  I told him I just needed to get through the weekend, and then I would start thinking about it.  Sunday night, I got very little sleep.  First, it took me forever to get to sleep because I was thinking about what I needed to get for the trip.  And, I kept thinking, "I should've started a list before I came to bed, because I'm not going to remember this!"  Laika woke us up around 1:00 needing to go outside, so CH took her out.  Then, I was wide awake.  I got caught up with games on my phone, and laid there until around 4:00, then my alarm went off at 5:30.  

We had a 1/2 day on Monday (without kids since the buses don't run), followed by a staff luncheon.  Since Ms. Principal is retiring, I went to eat with my mountain school at a local restaurant.  We have the best luncheons, especially when they're off campus!

WHEW!!!

I'm so glad last weekend is OVER!  Last week was our last full week of school, so work was busy with finishing things up, getting progress reports ready and in teachers' mailboxes, and getting my rooms cleaned up.  Thursday was a late night:  flute choir practice in a town 45 minutes away.  We had our dress rehearsal in the church where our director is a member, which is also where we had our concert.  We had a long, hard practice.  We usually practice for 2 hours; Thursday's practice was right around 3 1/2 hours with no substantial breaks.  I didn't get home until around 11:00.

At school on Friday morning, my new school had Kindergarten Graduation.  One of my sister's (the one that gives me stuff!) grandsons was in the ceremony.  That was the first time anyone in my family has seen where I work, so it was really neat.  She took a couple of pictures while she was there:

Hmmm...it would appear that I have my mouth open a lot.  The ceremony was adorable:  they went through the months of the school year, and one of the teachers had a rhyme for what they focused on that month.  Then, the kids performed a song that went with what they had learned.

Friday was YS' high school graduation.  Luckily I had thought ahead and picked up the cake and other food for our little family reception on Thursday.  After already going through it 2 times, I learned how to not get stressed!  A few pictures from before the ceremony:

My parents & me

 CH, BIL, and their aunt

 CH, MS, and his girlfriend

 BIL, SIL, and me (with my mouth open yet again!)

Getting ready to get his diploma

 New graduate!

BIL, CH, and their uncle

 YS with his '13 sign, and BIL

 YS with great aunt & uncle, photobombed by SIL & BIL (kind of scary that they both had the same idea & the same face!)

 YS with my parents

 YS with his proud parents (photobombed by grandpa!)

 YS with his 4th grade teacher, who was his first teacher in the Small Town

 Display for his family reception

MS comparing senior pictures to see whose is better.  We think YS won.

YS stayed at his reception until people started leaving, then he and some friends went over to another friend's house for a bonfire.  

Saturday, I was gone almost all day for my flute choir concert.  It was also CH & my 29th Wedding Anniversary.  We usually go to a local restaurant and use the "complimentary dinner for 2" coupon that Ms. Principal gives us for Christmas, but we weren't hungry enough to use it, so we just went to a local brewery.

Sunday morning, the church had a Mass to honor the graduates.  YS didn't want to go to Baccalaureate, and (again, after sitting through 2, I learned not to fight it!) he said he would go to the Mass.  I thought that was a pretty good trade! During Mass, a couple of graduates from the Rival School read the readings, and one graduate from each school (there were 4 represented) took up the gifts.  Well, except for the Rival School; YS said that person forgot.  Since YS was the only one from Small Town, he got to participate in that.  (There was actually another boy who graduated from ST, but he plays guitar in the choir.)

After mass, there was a nice little brunch for them.  

Now I can start thinking about our trip!

Frantic Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. May is National Blood Pressure Month...what sends yours soaring, either literally or figuratively? What calms you down? When did you last have your bp checked?

Wow.  Joyce didn't waste any time getting right into it this week, did she?  Injustice, people not doing what they're suppose to be doing, people who want people to think they know what they're doing when they really don't (and succeeding)...those are just a few things.  Walking away from the situation usually helps, as well as breathing.  I keep a pretty close eye on my bp.

2. You just found $1-what do you spend it on? How about 10$ 100?
Usually any time I have money, the boys all of a sudden need cash.  So, it doesn't really matter how much I find, they get it in the end.

3. Mandatory labeling of genetically engineered (GE) food has been proposed, but not enacted in the US. How much attention do you give food labels before you buy? Are you in favor of labeling if it means an increase in food prices? Is this an issue you've been following and feel strongly about, or is this the first you've heard of the controversy?

I'm not much a label reader, unless it's to check & see where the sugar is listed on the ingredients.

4. May 15th marks the birthdate of Frank Baum, author of The Wizard of Oz. At this point in time, are you more in need of brains, courage, heart, or a trip back home? Explain.

Yesterday, it was definitely brains.  I said a couple of really dumb things, but it is the last week of school, so I guess I can use that as an excuse!

5. "There's no place like home" is an oft repeated line from Baum's book. When was the last time you felt the truth of that statement?

Every day.  After living away from the Small Town for 20 years, I believe that to be a true statement every day of the year!

6.  Steak...yes please or no thank you? What cut do you prefer and how do you like yours cooked? Sauce or no sauce? Besides your own kitchen, where's a place you like to go to get a great steak? 

I can take or leave steak, actually.  When I do get it, I like it medium rare.  No sauce...my daddy always said if you have to put sauce on it, it's not worth eating.  There's a local restaurant that makes excellent steaks.

7. When was the last time you were in a genuine hurry?

When I was younger, I was always 15 minutes early everywhere I went.  For some reason, I can't seem to get many places on time.  Therefore, I'm forever in a state of hurry!

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

The rest of the week is going to be absolutely bonkers.  Tomorrow is the flute choir's dress rehearsal, and it's in a town 45 minutes away.  Friday is YS' graduation, followed by a small family "reception" at the house.  Which means cleaning.  I took care of the floors on Monday, but the bathrooms and the dusting still has to be done.  

Saturday afternoon is the flute choir concert, followed by an anniversary dinner with my honey.  Sunday morning is the Graduation Mass that our church has every year.  YS opted out of Baccalaureate and decided to attend the Mass instead.  

Then I can breathe, at least for a day or two before I start getting ready for the big trip.  I'm trying not to even think about getting stuff together for that until after this weekend.

Did I mention it's the last week of school, too?  Breathe, Mary....BREATHE!

So...don't surprised if I don't post anything until next week.  Then I can get you caught up on what's been going on around here, along with posting pictures of one of the newest Small Town High alumni!

A Party!

I'm still trying to catch up with events that happened in April!  A few weekends ago, we had a lil' party in S. Alabama for my in-laws' 50th Wedding Anniversary.  It was quite the affair.  My SIL & I started preparing for it in in August.  She took the brunt of the planning, and also had a lot more stress from it than I did.  (It pays not to be the favorite!)
Everything turned out marvelous.  My MIL has very good taste, and knew when to put her foot down when something tried to be done that she didn't like.  Needless to say, my MIL is one classy lady.
My in-laws were married in Copenhagen; my FIL was an Army Helicopter Pilot stationed in Germany at the time.

After they married, they lived in an apartment owned by this woman's parents:

 The man in the middle is her brother, and to the left is her husband.  It was such an honor to meet them, finally.  She babysat CH when he was a baby.

We got to my in-laws' house Friday night to find OS fast asleep on the couch.  He works nights, and we flew him in Friday.  It was quite the adventure for him:  it was his first airplane ride, and he had to switch planes in Atlanta.  I made sure he had plenty of time between flights, but he missed his flight anyway.  He thought you could show up 10 minutes before the flight left and be able to board.  I guess that was the 1 thing I forgot to tell him about.  The important thing was that he got there, and was able to attend the dinner at the VFW Friday night.  We missed it because MS had to go to a class to do a group project, so we didn't get to leave as early as we wanted to.

We stayed in a cabin on the Army Post.  The view was really nice:

My SIL, husband's cousin's wife, her daughter, and MS' girlfriend, and I went over to the country club to help set up and to make sure the set-up was as we (and our MIL) wanted it.   The room was absolutely gorgeous:

I think my MIL was completely pleased with how it turned out.  It was quite the party.  There were people there that I hadn't seen in a long time:

These are the parents of CH's best friend from high school.  MS was named after their son, which also happens to be this man's name.  And, he was present when we got married.  This couple holds a very special place in my heart!  We always make sure we stop by their house when we're down that way.

The evening started out with a "cocktail hour" on the veranda.  There was a lot of mingling and people taking pictures.  I managed to get in a couple of pictures, too.

 My 2 oldest boys with one of my FIL's friends.  He's quite the character!

My handsome boys.

The food was great.  My MIL didn't want a cake, so we had a cupcake table as well as an ice cream bar for dessert:

There was a traditional Danish toast with Gammel Dansk, which is quite the nasty drink!  It is a "bitters liquor".

Yep, that's all I could stand!  It made cough syrup taste good!  I wish I had taken a picture of my SIL's face when she downed hers...not a pretty sight!

Let me back up just a minute.  We had a photographer take a few pictures throughout the night.  (Unfortunately, I don't know her name to give her credit for the next 2 pictures!)

This was my BIL's idea:

 For some reason, CH, YS, & I were the only ones ready for this picture:

My SIL took this picture during the cocktail hour:

 As soon as the guests came through the door, this greeted them:

 My MIL's original wedding dress, along with the "Thank You Bags" my SIL & I prepared.  We put chocolate, peanuts, mints that my SIL made, and my heart cookies with edible gold heart glitter in the bags.  Here's a close-up of the bags:

 We ended up putting the guest book right in front of the picture:

After dinner, there was plenty of merriment and mingling.  

Me, CH, and MS

 My MIL and her grandsons

 CH & his mommy!

 This is the original napkin design, recreated for the occasion

MS had a chance to show off his German skills with the German guests.  (This is the couple from the second picture)  It was so weird to watch him talk and hear German come out of his mouth!

It was a wonderful night, and it was so great that so many people came to share such a special night for my in-laws.

The next morning, we had to leave early so MS could get to work.  And, OS had a plane to catch, which, by the way, he caught!

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. When the children of today grow up, what do you think they'll say about this period in time? What do you most hope they remember?
They will probably say that it was the best time of their lives.  Only because they don't know how it was before 9/11, or before social media.

2. National Teacher's Day is celebrated in the US of A on the first Tuesday in May, this year May 7th...share how a particular teacher positively impacted you. 
Mrs. Hammack was my sophomore English teacher, as well as my Spanish Teacher.  She was beautiful, funny, and such a nice person.

3. What's a dish your mama made, that if set in front of you today would whisk you right back to childhood?                                                                         
Oh, gosh.  Maybe Tuna Casserole, but not really in a good way?

4. Mother May I was a game we played when I was growing up...no pieces, parts, or plugs required. What games from childhood do you remember loving that were also pieces, parts, and plug-free?
When I was growing up, kick the can was a very popular game with the kids in the neighborhood.  We'd also play hide and seek and fruit basket turn-over.  I can't forget Rolly Bats, either!
After reading April's question, I thought I should probably explain the rules of Rolly Bats:
Rolly bats:  someone pitches a ball to the batter.  The batter hits the ball, and everybody runs to get it (except the batter).  The person that gets it runs toward the batter until he/she puts the bat down.  At that point, the one with the ball has to stop running.  The batter lays the bat on the ground and the ball person tries to roll the ball over the bat.  If the ball goes over the bat, that person gets to be the batter.  If the ball misses, you go another round with the same batter.  PERFECT game when you have a sloping front yard!

5. Besides your own mother, tell us about a woman who influenced you as a child?
My Aunt Catherine.  Even though I only saw her every other year, she was such an influence.  Here's an excerpt of what I had written about her in earlier posts:

When we went to Tx., we always stayed with my mom's  sister, C.  This woman was a saint.  I loved her with all my heart.  She took Grandma into her house and cared for her when Grandma could no longer live by herself.  (Grandma made her kids promise that they would never put her in a nursing home.)  My grandmother was bedridden for many, many years.  Aunt C. fed her, changed her, and kept her company.  When her son died at the age of 19, my grandma said that it should've been her; she was ready to go.  About 3 years later, my grandma passed away.  Then, if that wasn't enough, a few years later Aunt C.'s husband  was diagnosed with cancer.  She nursed him until his death.  In my eyes, Aunt C. is a saint.

 Aunt Catherine passed away a few years ago, but I know that she's definitely in heaven still looking out for us!

6. Mamma Mia! What's the best play or musical you've ever seen? 
I've only seen 1 Broadway Musical, and it was "Cats".  No way would I say that was the best musical I've ever seen! I have seen some pretty good local plays.  The last one I saw was Anne of Green Gables.  They did a pretty good job.

7. What are three smells that make you feel nostalgic?
Pickles (they make me think of Aunt Catherine's house...she would often put up pickles when we were there!)

Taffy (it reminds me the Ole Smoky Candy Kitchen in Gatlinburg and how we used to stand and watch the taffy making machine for what seemed like hours)

Bus fumes (they remind me of high school band trips)

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

I saw the saddest thing this morning.  I drove by the duck pond, and saw something in the road.  I was paying attention to it, deciding if I should straddle it or go around it, and then I had to put my brakes on in a hurry.  It turns out it was a Mallard, and another goose (I would assume its mate) appeared to have gone out in the road to it, and was walking back to the grass.  I just about cried, thinking about how the one had been hit by a car, and its mate not knowing what happened.  When I drove back by after school, the Mallard was still in the road.  

Weekend Wrap Up

This past weekend was kind of boring.  I didn't do much except for laundry and catching up on some blog reading from bloggers who participated in the A to Z Challenge last month.  We also went to Gander Mountain and bought a new EZ Up, along with a couple of camping towels for YS & I to use on our big trip, which, by the way, is in 3 weeks & 1 day!

So, I thought I'd talk about last weekend.  We went camping!  (Surprise, surprise!)  We went to a campground not far from Nashville, and met a group of people from the "Tear Jerkers" group.  This is a group of people who own teardrop and small campers.

We got there Friday evening, and set up our campsite.

By the time we were ready to join everybody, some people were ready to call it a night and go back to their campers.  We sat around for a little bit and listened in to some music.  A few of the men are excellent guitar players/storytellers, so it was enjoyable.

Saturday morning started out a little rainy.  Just some drizzle, nothing really major.  I posted this picture on Instagram with the caption:  A rainy day camping is better than a sunny day at home doing laundry!  Little did I know what was coming.

We spent a good part of the day in the camper, reading, napping, and snacking.

Laika was a perfect camping dog, again.  She was content to stay in the camper and sleep.  We were able to get her out during a break in the rain and let her meet a new friend, a Mountain Cur.  Luckily, she liked to chase, because Laika likes to be chased.

Even though we had the Easy Up and the awning, our chairs still got soaked.  Lesson learned:  put the chairs in the construction-sized plastic bags we have.

I really was okay with the rain.  There were breaks when we were able to get out and walk around & do some visiting.  The bad thing was that my pant legs got wet, and my feet, so I was cold.  That's no thanks to the shower I took that morning.  I bypassed the old bathhouse to go to the new one, thinking that was the better choice.  I'm convinced a man designed the showers!  When you walk into the stall, there's a bench.  So far, so good.  Then, there's a little partition where the shower is.  Still good.  Now for the shower:  to turn it on, you push a button.  There's no regulating the temperature, which I understand because it's a government campground, and the water was okay.  Not hot, but bearable.  The shower head was positioned so that the water flowed straight down.  Great water pressure, but to wash my hair, I had to squat down.  Then, there was the problem of the water not turning off when you want it to.  I went ahead and walked back to the section that had a bench, but the water was still going full blast and there was no way I could get completely dry, much less put my pants on without the bottoms getting wet.  I suppose I could've stood on the bench, but my bag was on there, so it would've been kind of hard to do.  Plus, there would've been the danger of me slipping when I got down.  If the partition would've been just a little bit farther out, I think it would have been okay.

I did get a kick out of the posters on the bathroom stalls.  Since the campground is run by the Army  Corps of Engineers, there were plenty of reminders to be safe:

Saturday night, we had a pot-luck dinner at the pavilion.  I think the original plan was to have it at a campsite, but since it had been raining we opted for a shelter.  These people know how to cook!

Before the party broke up, there was more pickin' & grinnin'.

The above pictures are not mine.  Some of the group that we were with took them and shared them!

That night, we had some storms.  It stormed so badly that Laika got into her bed (at the foot of our bed) and put her head under the bed.  I woke up a couple of times, but went right back to sleep.  In the morning, the only casualty we had was our Easy Up, which was okay because we had only paid $50 for it, and we used it on a couple of camping trips, plus the week long trip in the Keys.  So, we had gotten our money's worth out of it.  And, it gave CH a good excuse for buying this:

When I said "the only casualty", I meant for us.  Around 8:00 Sunday morning, I saw a couple of people from our group leaving.  And then I saw them come back.  I went down and asked one of them what was going on, and she said that the bridge washed out.  That bridge is the only way in and out of the campground.  When we rolled in on Friday, we had to go across a 1-lane bridge that was mostly dirt.  They did an excellent job of getting the bridge travel-ready in just a couple of hours.  

(Not my picture!)

We took our time packing up, and then got to go down and see this unique camper (which was a part of our group):

(Still not my picture!)

We dubbed it "The Brown Bullet".  The owners said that the company that makes it only has about 4 people making the campers; their camper is something like #148.  I told CH that if we didn't have our camper, that's the one I would want.  If you want to see what it looks like inside, you can go here.  One downside:  it costs almost twice as much as our little camper, but it does come with a bathroom and some cabinet space.

Even with the rain, we had a good time.  This seems like a great group of people to run with.  There are people from all walks of life in this group, and it's pretty fun to sit around and talk to people.  Next time, though, I'm going to make sure I have rain boots!