The beginning...

My kids only have an hour and half of school today and then...

SUMMER BEGINS!!!!

How do we celebrate the beginning of Summer around here?

With this...

And these...

How do you welcome Summer?

Fun Run

The grade school has a "Fun Run" at the end of the year each year. To me this is a misnomer. The only thing that Fun and Run have in common is the "un" at the end of each of the words.

But I digress...

The kids love it. It was Jilli's first year. She's come down with me to watch the other kids in the past so she was pretty stoked about it. I always try to give the kids some advice, I wouldn't call it coaching, but advice on how to run these. I don't know why. They never really listen.

I'm posting pictures. So move along if you don't want to look.

And they're off!! Jilli rocked the 70's shorts and braids.

I love the look on her face in this one. They ran half a lap.
She was one of the last to come through but she finished hard.
Oh and she doesn't really go to school with faceless children.
(although that would make for a more interesting blog tidbit)
I've blurred their faces because I don't want some mom
coming after me for posting photos of her kid without permission.

I love this shot. At first I was mad because I missed her.
I missed MOST of her.
I captured her swiftness with the shot of
her braids flying and
her cute patootie.
Man that half a lap was HARD!
But she's all smiles.
George setting off. His class ran two laps. I tried to advise
him to start out fairly slow and then build up and sprint at the end.

Unfortunately he got a cramp about 3/4 of the way through the first lap.
But he finished! Way to go George!!
McKenna decided not to run this year. I fear that my attitude towards running has infected her. She and her friends cheered the runners on.
Go runners!

Blog Much?

Watch the video. It's pretty short. My son says "Put it on your blog!".

And tonight after getting home from Jona's 8th grade completion ceremony. (basically a graduation program from 8th to 9th grade) He then tells me I need to update my blog.

So yah.

Blog Much?

Here he is receiving his certificates from the Jr. High school principal.
Right now Jona is at a part and a dance to celebrate his accomplishments. A DANCE!!! With girls and everything. (He just came home and informed me that he did indeed dance with a girl. And that he also danced to Don't Stop Believing and Eye of Tiger. In his words "It was the best hour and a half of my life.")

Jona got five separate awards tonight. They didn't announce each award for each student they had a power point presentation that had the kids' names on them and what awards they were receiving.

He got an award for attendance. He had no unexcused absences, he did miss a couple of days but they were excused, he got an outstanding citizenship award and he received his 8th grade completion award. He passed all of his classes. Here he is showing off his Completion Award.

On top of those he got a Certificate of Outstanding Performance on the Iowa Tests. He was in the top 10 percent in Social Studies and in the Total Composite.

And he also received a special Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in History. He gave an oral report on the Battle of Normandy and the teacher was so impressed with his knowledge of the subject he got a 230 out of a possible 200. He LOVES History and wants to be the teacher's aide in that class next year. Here he is with his History certificate.


I am very grateful that my kids do well in school and enjoy it.

McKenna also got one of the Certificates of Outstanding Performance on the Iowa tests. She was in the top 10 percent for Science and the Total Composite.

And Jilli was on the honor roll this term.

And George makes a pretty darn good bouncing baby.

So I blogged about it. Now I can let my kids know.

They are such slave drivers.

Oh and as an aside, I am finding it hard to come up with the time to read and comment on all the blogs that I would like to. I'm reading here and and commenting there. And once the kitchen painting gets started in earnest. Which I'm hoping will be on Saturday then I will probably me MIA until it's finished. I'll try to pop in and out when I can. Sunday may be my "Catch up on reading blogs" day.

Can these guys make a bad song???

That would be a NO!

I need your help. Oh yes I do.

I was sustained in a new calling on Sunday.

After two years working in the Primary they decided to call me as Activities Committee Chairperson.

A position which excites and terrifies me at the same time.

For non-LDS/mormon readers this means that I will be in charge of organizing activities in my church congregation which is around 500 people I do believe.

What I need from you are your ideas. I want to pick your collective brains.

What are some activities that you have done in your ward or elsewhere that you have really enjoyed? What are ones that you detested? If you have a long list (which I do hope you have) feel free to email me if you don't want to comment. My email is on my profile page.

Right now we have some "traditional" activities like Breakfast with Santa and Trunk or Treat. Last year we had a huge activity that was a ward wide Pioneer trek with kids and everything. We also have a "Dell day" which is a day up the canyon at some property owned by the church.

This year is also the year that our ward will celebrate it's 100th anniversary. Thankfully I've been informed that they don't want anything big to be done. We will celebrate it "quietly" in our ward and maybe put a notification in the paper. Sounds good to me.

Okay. Fire away. Pour out your knowledge of activities into my comment box. Help me be more excited than terrified. Please!!

Thanks! I appreciate ya s'much!

The Lunchbox

It made me cry. It was a present at Christmastime from a good friend of mine.

This is The Lunchbox.

Why would a lunchbox make me cry? Because it's just like the one that my dad carried to work with him all through my childhood years.

Dad was a construction worker.

Actually some would have called him a "ditch digger" but he was so much more than that. He could run a backhoe like nobody's business. That and a grader and a power shovel. He loved big equipment. And he ran them with a finesse that amazed most of those who worked with him.

He took on the big jobs. If you see the terracing that is on the mountains above Provo you've seen some of my dad's handiwork.

Every morning my dad would get up early. Usually before dawn. He had chores to do before he left for work. Milking the cow before my brothers got old enough to do it. Mom would get up make him a hot breakfast, fix him lunch and pack it up in a lunchbox that looked like the one pictured above.

Then dad would take that lunchbox and head off to work. He worked hard.

This lunchbox reminds me of the time when my dad was strong and capable. A time before the surgeries on his back. Heading off to work before dawn and then coming home from work and working out in garden and the yard until the sun went down. Often times taking dinner on a chair out in the yard so that he could just take a quick break and get back to work.

It takes me back to my childhood.

Today is Dad's birthday. The first one since he died in October. I've been keeping myself busy much of the day with walking and gardening and a little bit of shopping.

We're having a family party tonight. Memorial Day was usually the day that we would celebrate dad's birthday because his birthday so often fell around this weekend. After the party we will all head down to the cemetery for a balloon launch with Happy Birthday Balloons.

I miss dad. But I know that where he is he's taking on the big jobs and getting them done. Working with the big machinery, as it were. I hope he'll be able to look in on our family tonight and know that we are missing him.

I wonder if he has a lunchbox?

If not, dad, I've got one here for you.

Can you believe it?

She's a Kindergarten Graduate!


Today my baby graduated from from Kindergarten. Can you believe it. I was okay until they put on their caps and held up their certificates and the Principal announced,
"Mom's and Dad's I present to you the class of 2021!"

Ty turns to me and says do you realize how old we will be then? I looked at him and he says...
"50"
!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are Jilli and her papa. He'll be 50 when she graduates from high school.
I'll still be 49.

Jilli and my mom.

Jilli and her teacher Mrs. Austin. She was a great teacher.
So fun and warm and loving.

It was a great day. Until we took Jilli out for lunch with one of her buddies. We went to, of course, McDonald's. She felt so crappy. I felt so bad. She didn't want to eat or even stay to play. Poor thing. We came home and she went into her room to lay down. Thankfully she felt better after a while.

I hope she feels better in 2021 and is able to enjoy her graduation fully.

Love you Jilli!

Closer to Love

Since Tiburon totally snaked the post I was going to do about Her Diamonds.... (just kidding Tib! You were just quicker on the draw on that one.

At least I still have this one left to share. I'm enjoying Closer to Love from Mat Kearney.

My favorite line part? Right off the bat it grabbed me with these lyrics.

She got the call today
One out of the gray
And when the smoke cleared
It took her breath away
She said she didn't believe
It could happen to me
I guess we're all one phone call
from our knees

What do you think?

Thankful Thursday

Today I am Thankful....

• That my husband is happy. He has found his passion in yoga and you can tell. He will be visiting Florida in the next little while to work on his teaching certificate. I love how excited he is about this. He's worked hard to make this happen and it does my heart good to see him following his dreams. (Even if those dreams do lead him to a certain school that will remain un-named.)

• I am Thankful for this... Seriously. How did/do people live without this?
  

• Only seven more days until Summer break for the kids. And yes, right now, I am looking forward to it. My attitude may change seven days into Summer break but right now I am looking forward to spending more time with my four podlings.

• For a good walking buddy. Mindi is good company and that is just what I need right now.

• For this...yes even with the little clouds and lightning on it. I love thunder showers. LOVE them and it seems like the last few years I have been short changed in this department. We had a really nice thunder shower yesterday. That and this is more "Spring-like" weather that I enjoy.

• And of course for this...I'm still on the learning curve with it but I am loving it.

What are you Thankful for today?

The reason I ask

The reason I asked about how often you all eat out was because in chatting with McKenna the other day I found that she leads a deprived childhood.

Yes deprived.

She informed me that her friends all ask her what restaurants she has been to and sadly, she has to let them know that we don't go out to eat and therefore she hasn't been to any of the eating establishments that her friends are all raving about.

Honestly our family has gone out to eat at a sit down restaurant around 4 times in our 15 years. I can even tell you the names of the places except for one. I know we went somewhere with Ty's family once but I can't remember where exactly it was. Then we went to the Spaghetti Factory before Jilli was born, to Chuck-a-rama a couple of years ago at Christmastime when we went to see the lights at temple square and then to Mi Ranchito's just a few months ago when we went to the Draper Temple open house. Wait! I just remembered we've been to The Amber restaraunt a couple of times for lunch when the kids and I would drive up to see Ty at work.

So, like, SIX times in our 15 years!

We've gone to Wendy's or Arby's or to some small town drive-ins stuff like that and that happens usually when we are traveling somewhere. We rarely, and when I say rarely I mean never, just say "Hey let's go out to eat [ insert name of eating establishment here] tonight."

We do get pizza on a fairly regular basis. Little Ceaser's or Papa Murphy's and on a very rare occasion Pizza Hut. And Ty and I go out to lunch and sometimes dinner I would say once every other month or so. More in the Summer than the Winter. But we don't try new places very often. Our main place lately has been Thai Village in A.F. In fact one time we went up to pay our bill and the lady asked why we didn't order any Fresh Rolls because we usually always order Fresh Rolls! Yeah. And I always get the SAME thing, Sweet and Sour chicken non-breaded. Ty will at least order a different curry but not me. Fresh Rolls and Sweet and Sour chicken non-breaded all the way.

Anyway...

This morning I got a text from Amber asking me if I would like to join her at a lunch with Vanessa! Heck yeah! I got things arranged so Jilli would walk up to my mom's house after school, went walking for a half an hour and then got gussied up to meet with my blog buddies.

We went to Cafe Rio. My first time. Yep. It was delicious.

The food was good but the company was much better. It was fun to yak and chat with these ladies. And as much fun as it is to read thier blogs it's so much more fun to chat away with them.

Vanessa and I went to the same high school so we dished a bit on some stuff there. She is way fun! Amber is a hoot! I love her sense of humor and sarcasm. She just lives East of me so we'll have to hang out more. Vanessa had her two youngest kids and Amber had Harley. The kids were really great, much better behaved than mine would have been at that age.

But then my kids rarely got taken out to eat, as so stated above, so they wouldn't have known what to do;).

And I get to hang out with Amber again next week at our kids' dance festival! Bonus!

Inquiring Minds Want to Know

How often does your family go out to eat? I mean the scenario where you take your kids and go to the restaurant sit down and enjoy a meal? Not just you and your husband, although you can share that as well. I want to know how often does the whole fam-damily eat out?

My hands have been busy elsewhere

With this....We planted corn and green beans, tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, broccoli, spinach, cucumbers, watermelon and Rhubarb.

And keeping this guy out...
My hands have also been busy pulling these...
I'm about half way done with the pulling of the weeds. And it's amazing the things you find when you pull the huge tall grasses out of the way. If you want to see what I found check out my Photog Blog.

So I hope you will excuse me from blogging classes for the next little while.

There is no such thing as a problem

without a gift for you in its hands.
You seek problems because
you need their gifts.
----------Richard Bach - Illusions
(I think I need to head for my bookshelf and pickup this book.
It's time to re-read.)

Trouble - Update

George just came home from school. With an apology letter. A very nicely written letter that apologized for getting in his personal space and said that she shouldn't have kissed him. It also said that she will not bother him any longer. No more phone calls. She won't try to hang out with him unless he initiates it. And she said that she probably ruined their friendship by doing what she did.

The principal called George into the office and the girl read the letter to him. The principal wrote at the bottom that George was very kind and accepted her apology very gracefully. George is a very kind soul and doesn't like to see anyone hurt or upset.

McKenna also said that the girl didn't come back to class after lunch so she must have had to either spend the rest of the day in the office or she was sent home.

I think that it was handled well. I just really hope that the girl will get the help that she needs.

In the Principals Office

I did take Jen's advice and went down for a face to face with the principal and I'm so glad I did. She had not received my voice mail. I had left her a voice mail yesterday just saying that I had a concern about something that had happened I didn't state what it was.

It's a good thing I went this morning too because she was getting ready to head out on a field trip with the 6th graders.

She took this very seriously even before I informed her who the girl was that had done the kissing. Once I had given her the name she just kind of made a small groan that basically said "Oh no."

I told her pretty much exactly what I blogged about in my previous post. Except I had asked George again what had happened and found that this girl had covered his eyes. He wasn't just closing them...she covered them with her hands.

They know this girl well there and she did say that there are issues with her. I let her know what McKenna had told me about the suspension and what it was for. Up until I spoke to the principal it was just something that McKenna had heard (granted from one of the boys that she flashed) but she, the principal, confirmed that the flashing and suspension had occurred.

She told me that this little 5th grader basically acts like she 18 or even 30 and she's seen things. I don't know what. I feel really bad for this girl but I will not allow her to cause problems for my kids. Especially for George.

The principal told me she would take care of this today. She didn't say what would happen and I didn't ask. She did say that if the "attitude" kept up or if anything else happened to let her know immediately and they would step in again.

I hope that this girl can get some help one way or another so she can learn that her behavior is not appropriate.

Oh and we will be having "the talk" with George today. We haven't yet and we should have. Now we are.

Trouble, oh we got trouble!

Right here in River City!
With a capital "T"

(Look at me. My last post had a Depeche Mode reference and now one from the Music Man. I'm nothing if not well rounded.)

Yes I've got trouble. With capital "T".

In the form of a girl.

A girl with a crush on George.

An older girl.

And a not so nice one at that.

She is actually in McKenna's class at school. I've met her. She came to her birthday party last year. I was not impressed with this girl. She was out. of. control. And when I spoke to her about it she was not phased. I told McKenna as nicely as I could that I did not want that girl in my house again.

I knew that she'd been crushing on George and she's called here a couple of times but I didn't do anything about it because George wasn't home to take her call. Then I was having a chat with McKenna just about school and life in general where McKenna informs me that this girl had been suspended from school....for flashing some boys.

Uh wait. What?????

Yep you read that right. This girl is in 5th grade people! 5th!!

I then told McKenna to nicely inform this "friend" to stay away from my son. Either McKenna didn't tell her or this girl ignored that little piece of advice.

Today George came home to tell me that this older girl had taken him to a part of a field away from other kids and told him to cover his eyes because she had something for him. So he did. And she leaned in and gave him a kiss on the lips! George was stunned, to say the least.

I know this happened because afterwards she then went and told McKenna what she had done. McKenna then told her not so politely to "Back off!" To which the girl responded with what McKenna called "attitude." Lovely.

If it had been any other girl than this girl, who seems to be exceptionally aggressive when it comes to boys, I might have left it alone. But I can't. I won't. I called the principal. She was in a meeting so I left her a voicemail to have her call me. This isn't something that I want to leave a message about or email. I want to talk to her.

She didn't get back to me. I'm hoping that she didn't have time to check her voicemail and I'll hear from her in the morning. I don't necessarily want anything to "happen" to this girl per say. I would just like her spoken to. To let her know that this behavior is unacceptable.

I really didn't think that this was something I was going to have to deal with while George was in 4th grade. I mean, come. on. It scares the helk (thanks for that word Crash) out of me. If crap like this is going down in 4th grade I don't know if I will survive the teen years. I survived my own, but my kids' may be the death of me yet.

What would you do if you were in my shoes? Am I over reacting by calling the principal? I don't know the girl's parents at all so I don't really feel comfortable calling them. And this did happen at school.

I've told George to stay away from her from here on out.

But I tell you what if stuff like this keeps up there will be MORE Trouble right here in River City with a HUGE capital "T".

In the largest font size you can imagine.

It's Question of Dust

(Props to those who can tell me what song title I am playing off of for my title)

How often do you dust in your house? Or maybe more appropriately, how often SHOULD you dust in your house?

Our house is dust central. We are very dusty here. So dusty in fact that my laptop keeps shutting down due to the fact that it's over heating because of dust...so says my husband.

I know I don't dust as often as I should. There is a sickening layer of the gray/brown stuff gently covering our entertainment center as I type.

It seems to me that we have an innordinate amount of dust and I'm wondering why that is. Our home is an older home and I don't know that the vents have ever been cleaned. Do you think that would help with the dust problem? Has anyone ever had their ducts cleaned? Do you think it's worth it?

You can leave your comments with your finger in the dust. I've got enough.

My Photog Blog

I decided I didn't want this blog to become only pictures so I made another blog.

My Photog Blog.

There is a link over on my sidebar
<-------------------------------------------

It's really basic right now but I've already posted a few pictures from the new camera if you would like to check it out.

Nime haters move along

This is my Jilli doing her imitation of a mime or Nime, as she puts it...

It's HERE!!

My Nikon Coolpix L100. I'm devouring the manual as we speak. Ty also got me this....
So I feel like I can clickity click away and not have to constantly worry that my card is going to be full up.

I may be otherwise occupied the next few days....

Only ONE more sleep!!!!

Only one more sleep until my new camera arrives.

I don't know if I'll get much sleep tonight....

A NEW CAMERA!!!

I had a great Mother's Day yesterday as this video will testify.

2009 Mother of the Year

I like the baby the best.

Happy Mother's Day!

I put this video together for my mom. It's set to the song You Raise Me Up sung by Josh Groban.

The words of this song ring true to me. My mom has raised me up to be more than I ever could have been without her.

I have stood on her shoulders many times. And I am sure there will be more to come.

She has held me up and comforted me, loved me and given me and example to strive to pattern my life after. If I can become even a little bit of the mother that she is, I will be happy.

I love you Mom. Happy Mother's Day.

The Cat's out of the Bag

My husband told me that he had ordered my Mother's Day present online but that some thing happened so that it wasn't going to be delivered on time to arrive before Sunday and he just wanted to let me know so that I wouldn't be disappointed when there wasn't something there for him to give me.

I'm fine with that. I asked if he was going to tell me what it was that he got me. I wanted him to tell me right then but he said no, I had to wait for Sunday and he would then inform me what my gift to be was.

I was okay with that. I'm not the kind to give pressure. I can bide my time to find out what I my gift will be. I wasn't one of those kids who snooped around for presents at Christmas or whenever. I'll wait until Sunday.

Now let me give you a little bit of background on Ty's gift giving. He loves to give me things but has a devil of a time not telling me what he's giving me. He can't keep a secret to save his life. Especially if he is excited about it. It drives him nuts that I don't ask more about the presents. In fact he will ask me if I have any idea of what he's gotten me. It's actually quite endearing.

Unfortunately for Ty I am quite intuitive and I usually end up guessing what he's gotten for me. So I try not to guess so I don't ruin the surprise.

I wasn't bugging Ty about my present. Although I had an idea of what he was getting me when he asked me what size of memory card I had been looking at the other day that was on sale.

My idea was confirmed today when I answered a phone call right around noon. It was a company calling to confirm his purchase of a new camera online. Tyran wasn't home at the time to take the call. If he had been then I never would have known.

Did you read that right? YES!

A NEW CAMERA!!!!!!!!!

I was going to try and make like I didn't know about it but I couldn't. I am way, way excited! I don't know what model it is but I know it's a Nikon.

So thanks honey! You are awesome!! I'm sorry I answered the phone and ruined your surprise for Mother's Day but I can't even begin to say how happy I am with this present! Thank you. You're the best.

I am Giddy!!!!!! I tell you Giddy!!!!!!

Hope of America

Those of you who live in my county who have kids (or have had kids) in the fifth grade you know what this is all about. It's a huge program that is actually, supposedly, part of the 4th of July celebration in Provo. I know right?

Anyway this was our first year with a child participating. Actually it was supposed to be two kids but George neglected to remember or bring home any information on what time he was supposed to be there or where he was supposed to meet his group so that he could perform in the "pre-show."

The traffic getting over there was a nightmare, we barely got McKenna there at the time she was supposed to get there. Ty dropped McKenna, George and I off and then went to park the car. Mckenna then went to where she was supposed to be and George and I went in search of his group. Since we had no idea where we he was supposed to meet them we were unable to find them and he missed out. Which bummed both him and me out but there wasn't much I could do about it. Hopefully he'll learn from this the importance of bringing home notes and/or remembering what instructions he is given.

The program is a showcase of the youth and is all about freedom and our country. It is taped and broadcast to the troops who are over seas. Good program....what am I saying? Excellent program!

This year they had two nights because they had so many kids that wanted to participate. (They said somewhere in the 8,000 range!)

Amazingly enough I was able to pick out my girl from where we were sitting in the nose bleed section. Does that make me awesome or what?
George was very observant and said "Mom!! They make up a huge flag!" Yes George is on top of things. He wasn't sure about the yellow and I explained that the yellow was supposed to be a fringe....because some flags have a yellow fringe.

This picture was taken with no flash as kids performed a song called 50 states. They were whirling around in a circle. I thought it turned out cool so I'm going to post it.And they had this dance group that performed called "The Golden girls" It was a group of ladies from 50 - 92. They rocked the house!!! And the 92 year old? She did a solo at the end where she ended up in the splits. Crazy! I wish I had had enough memory on my card to do a video of her but I knew that I didn't so you'll just have to use your imagination.

Here are three videos from the night. My camera isn't that great but you can get the idea.
This first one is "America Rocks." You can't tell in the video but the kids are all wearing sunglasses.



This is a really short one of the kids in the flag doing the wave....a waving flag! HA!




And this is the last song of the program "We can be a Light" the kids sing it in the dark and then use flashlights. It's a very moving song. And of course I didn't have enough memory on my card to get the whole song...*sigh*




The thing I loved most about this song was how it touched my 14 year old. The lights came up and the applause had ended. I looked over to him and he had tears streaming down his face. He was so moved by the message and the presentation. He's an amazing kid. Very soft hearted and loving. He loves his country and I love him.

McKenna and all of the kids did an amazing job. They sang wonderfully and performed beautifully. I'm glad she got to go and participate in this. Hopefully next year will be George's turn.

*And this was actually posted at 1:00 a.m. on May the 7th. (although for some weird reason blooger(yes I know it's misspelled I did it intentionally because this time thing is ticking me off) says that I posted it at 11:40 p.m. on May 6th! Stoopid blooger.) I took some Excedrin at the program because I could feel a headache coming on. I've been off of caffeine now for a couple of weeks so taking those pills at 8:00 p.m. was not a wise decision. I should have just dealt with the headache.

A Love/Hate relationship

I have a Love/Hate relationship.

With these...
Oh how I love the delicious taste.
The creamy, yummy, chewiness of them all.
Oh and put chocolate on top of it???
Heaven.

How then, oh how, could I have any hate for these
pieces of mouth joy?

Because they cause this....This happened just before my walk at around 10:30a.m.
I called my dentist immediately.
The soonest they could get me in?
11:00 a.m. Thursday.

Great.

I just got another phone call.
They had a cancellation.
I'm heading to the dentist today.
To get my cap fixed.
And to hang my head in shame as I tell him
what I was eating when it happened.

This is the second time I have lost a cap to caramel.
The first time I was out camping.

Ahhhh Caramel!!
You are such a temptress and tooth breaker.

I love/hate you.

Inquiring Minds Want to Know

If one of your kids comes to you in the morning and says that they don't feel well and don't want to go to school....BUT you can tell that they feel just fine and just don't want to go to school what do you do?

For the record this happened to me just this morning. I told the child that she would have to stay in her room in bed if she really wasn't feeling well and she said "Fine" and that she really didn't feel well. I let her stay home. Now she is upstairs throwing a fit because I won't let her go outside and play basketball or watch tv or get on the computer. Good times.

For Reals

That is what the ladies are that I had lunch with today. (I'll explain later on in my post.)

Thanks to Danielle for hosting this blunch in honor of her blog's birthday. We totally forgot to sing Happy Birthday to her blog though. :(

I drove an hour in the pouring rain just to get there. And I showed up a half hour early, didn't realize it, drove around lost for that half hour, showed up on time thinking I was a half an hour late. Good start.

Kristina was there first and she and Danielle and I had a little bit of a chance to chat. Then Amber came in followed by Jillene and her friend Tina, who Jillene is trying to woo over to the dark side...or more so. She has a blog but I guess doesn't blog much and Jillene was trying to remedy this by introducing her to other lovely bloggers.(I hope her name is Tina...that's what my allergy befuddled brain is remembering...if it's not I'm very, very sorry.) Then in comes Motherboard and Sher. And last but certainly not least came Jo.

It was all types of exciting.

We chatted and ordered food by phone and harassed the workers, over the phone, and laughed at the workers as they tried to answer our phone but couldn't. Good times. Good Times.

Then we discussed everything from SuperDell, to Obama, to the blogosphere and bloglifting (my cool new phrase for plagarism of blogs. I'm probably not the first to use it. So does that make me a bloglifter?) To evil primary presidents, to drills to run if someone breaks into your house, to how the closer your house is to the mountains the more righteous you are, to Chacon.

It all comes back to Chacon somehow.

It was a well rounded conversation. I mostly listened and asked "Now who is that?" because I obviously do not read as many blogs as I should, and was entertained.

The title of this post comes from the conversation. The phrase "for reals" was said off and on throughout the lunch. And I loved it.

It is also a description of those ladies. In a round about sort of way. They were all very real. Every one so much like they are on their blogs. Some a bit more talkative or a bit quieter but all very real.

I learned some things from them today. Good things. Just as I learn from them each time I visit their blogs. And this, my friends, is one of the reasons why I love blogging.

For reals.

It's a conspiracy I tell you

See these tiny little suckas?
They are conspiring against me. Against me I tell you!!
I have the blog lunch this afternoon
to celebrate the birthday of An Eagles View
and they are doing everything in their
power to keep me from attending.

My nose is stuffy and sore from so much wiping.
I wore a Breathe Right Strip to bed last night on top of my nose,
with Mentholatum slicked under my nostrils,
just so I could breathe.

But they shall not win!
I have modern medicine on my side!
I shall prevail!
*pass the Puffs Plus and the Dayquil Sinus please*

Welcome Spring

Over at Pedaling Fast and Trying to Keep Up a challenge was issued. To take pictures of Spring and post them on May first.

I'm posting mine but a little late in the day....but better late then never right? I hope you don't mind two picture posts in one day.

By the way you might notice that I'm all about the close up, the macro if you will. This is because I do not have one of those great cameras where I can change the field of depth and so I don't like the way my photos look when it's a wide shot. *sigh*

So...get up close and personal with Spring.

And it was all Yellow

April's photography challenge was yellow.

Again I came up a little short so I've dipped into my archived photos to fill things out a little. Some of these are on high on my favorite photo's list. Oh and even though the "double yellow" lines and the school buses looked orange to me out walking I can see how they fit in with the yellows when they are in the mosaic. So without further ado. And you can click on it to enlarge if you would like.
1. yellowflame, 2. yellowflower2, 3. schoolbus, 4. tulips3, 5. peoplecrossing, 6. deadend, 7. double yellow, 8. leaves2, 9. laugh, 10. butter, 11. S5300435, 12. yellowflower3, 13. notrespassing, 14. tulips2, 15. egg, 16. sun, 17. duck, 18. insideyellowballoon, 19. daffodill, 20. closeup, 21. slowcap, 22. sunflower, 23. egg2, 24. yellowflower, 25. swallowtail, 26. tulips2, 27. pacific, 28. leaves, 29. tulip, 30. daffodills