Woohoo!

So I took my test for the Census Bureau job today...I got 100%! How cool is that?! My mom was testing for the Admin Assistant job and scored a 97%. I thought that was funny, since we took the same test--the questions were just in a different order. : ) Anyhow, the ladies giving the test said that they very rarely saw scores that good, and that they would be seeing us. Sounds promising, I think! And I think that I'll be hearing from them pretty soon, because they're opening the local office around the first of October, and whoever they hire has to have 40 hours of training before they start. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Oh, and you know how kids say the funniest stuff sometimes? Here is a conversation between Dave and Heather on our way up to the mountains this past Saturday:

Heather: Oh, horses! I want the black one!

Dave: I want the green one.

H: There is no green horse, Dad. (sounding very exasperated)

D: Well, wouldn't it be cool to genetically engineer colored horses? Then you could have blue or green or whatever color you like.

H: Everyone wishes that, Dad, but it's just not possible. (sounding like she's explaining to someone much younger than her 10 years) So I'm just going to spray-paint them, and then I can have lots of colors!

D: But, you know, spray-paint isn't very good for their skin.

H: Yes, that's why I'm going to spray it from far away, so it doesn't get to their skin.

Me: giggling silently while taking notes so I can post that conversation on here...

I feel like crap...

I've developed some sort of nasty bug. I have a sore throat, a fever, and a stuffy nose. Normally I don't take cold medicine, but I have been the last two days. Turns out I've been taking double what I'm supposed to, which would explain the upset stomach it's been giving me. *sigh* On top of that, it's "that time" so of course I feel all icky from that, too.

Okay, on to better stuff. Last Saturday was my daughter Heather's birthday. I can't believe she's 10 already! Dave and I bought her a new bike, and we've had a hard time getting her off of it! : ) My mom gave her a copy of Mary Poppins, which she's watched about half a dozen times already. A lady I work with gave her a couple of porcelain dolls--Heather just loves them!

I should probably post some pics, but right now I just don't feel like it. I'll probably get to it this afternoon sometime.

Also, I'm applying for a job with the Census Bureau. The position is Recruiting Assistant, and I would be responsible for making sure that there are enough people to do the census, setting appointments, making sure there are testing facilities available, and handing out flyers at job fairs, etc. There are a couple of other things, too, but that's the bulk of it. I take the test and turn in my application on the 2nd of Sept., and after that, they'll either schedule me for an interview, or not. There's only one of those positions available, and I'm sure there will be a lot of people applying for it, so wish me luck! The nice thing about it is that it pays about $12.50 an hour, and I think I can do some of it from home!

We're getting ready to start the new school year with Heather, and we're trying to think of ways to make book reports more enjoyable for her. She's never had to do an actual report, just sheets every week asking about the characters, settings, stuff like that, which was a lead-in to book reports. She hated doing those, and I can't say that I really blamed her, because it was the same questions every week, although it involved only a little writing every day.

Anyway, the issue isn't reading--she LOVES to read! The issue is getting her to tell someone about the book. I was talking to Dave, and I thought it would be a neat idea for her to start a book review blog. She could do a little bit every day about what she's reading, or just do a review/report when she finished a book. Then, hopefully, she could get responses with constructive criticism on the report. Just an idea I had.

Okay, that's about all I've got for now. I'm going to be helping Dave with the trailer later today so he can go camping with our middle son and Heather this week. I'll be going up next Friday evening. I'll also try to get back on here later today to post some pics, and maybe write the next chapter in my story.

Have a great day!

R.I.P. Tim...

My brother-in-law Tim died today. He went in for gastric bypass surgery last week and there were problems following it. He had a clot get to his lungs, which gave him pneumonia. He was put in ICU so they could monitor him. The docs put in screens to block any other clots, but the screens kept failing and had to be replaced. They couldn't give Tim any blood thinners to break up the clots because it was so soon after the surgery. However, they had started him on Coumadin (a blood thinner) yesterday (enough time had passed) and it seemed to be working really well. They were going to move him out of ICU tomorrow. But something went wrong. A clot got past the screen and they think it went to his brain. They haven't done an autopsy yet, though Dave is pretty sure they will. Papa (Dave's dad) said he died almost instantly, which is good, I guess.

Tim's son Mick was there this afternoon, as was Jim, the third of Dave's siblings. Jim was actually driving back home to NC when he got the call, so he turned around and headed back to PA.

I only got to meet Tim a few times because he lived so far away, but I liked him a lot. He was a lot like Dave, which stands to reason, doesn't it? : ) He was a good man with a ready smile and a great sense of humor. And he made a killer cheesecake! He would have been 52 this Christmas Eve. He had a son named Michael (known as Mick, who has a son named Gannon), and a daughter named Ashley. Tim was the oldest of Dave's brothers, followed by John (who lives next door to us), Jim (lives in NC), Bill (lives in Sweden), and finally, Dave.

I wish I could have known Tim better. I'll miss him, though.

Home again...

I got home yesterday evening. I so wanted to stay up in the mountains! It's so peaceful up there, away from everything. I had a great relaxing nine days, but would have gladly stayed at least nine more... : )

I didn't go and do a whole lot, but I did take a lot of pictures. Somewhere between 800 and 1000, according to Dave. I promise I won't post all of them, and I won't put too many in any one post. This one has pictures of a hiking trip that Heather and I took on Thursday last week. It was just a short hike (1/2 mile or so), but there was a great little waterfall at the end of the trail.


This is Heather during the hike, about two-thirds of the way up the trail. She was pretty worn out, but decided to keep going. Good thing, too, because I wasn't going back until I found the waterfall! : )








This is one of the first glimpses of the stream that comes from the waterfall. Heather had said "For all we know, the waterfall might have dried up!" I told her that, no, if the waterfall had dried up, then the stream would have dried up, too. When we saw this stream, I said "See? That proves it's not dried up!" lol




And here's the waterfall! That's the first time I'd ever been up close to a fall. It was so beautiful! The mist from the fall felt really good after the hike. I can't describe adequately how neat I thought it was.





This is Heather pointing out the fall and saying how cool it looked. She was glad we didn't turn around and go back before we made it here. : )



And this is me. I thought Dave would like a picture of me up there, so I let Heather take a few. This was the best one, I thought.







This is a picture I took of the moss and other greenery growing on the rock wall to the left of the waterfall. If you look closely at roughly the center of the picture, you'll see what almost looks like an alien face in the stone. I thought it was really neat!

Anyhow, that's a few of my favorite pictures of that hike. There are quite a few more, but I may share them another time. I'll see what other fun things I can find for my next post. Have a good one, and I'll catch you later!

Camping, camping, camping!

So, um, as you may have guessed, I am going camping! Yay! If I could, I would live there...except that I really do enjoy having people around most of the time. Not that I go visit anyone, but I like seeing that there are people there, if you get what I mean.

Anyhow, I will be going first thing in the morning, and will return on the 27th, as late as I can possibly make it, and still have time for a shower when I get in...lol

Wanted to let y'all know I'll be thinking of ya (well, at least sometimes!), and I'll post pictures when I come back. I'm sure Dave will on his blog, as well.

Y'all take care! Try to stay out of trouble while I'm gone, huh? :)

Hurt...

Isn't it amazing how the people that say they love you are often the ones who hurt you the most?

My mom's birthday was last Friday, and I bought her a copy of October Sky (the novel, not the movie, about the farmer who wanted to build his own spacecraft about the time that Sputnik was going up). Her reaction then was "What in the world made you think I would like that?" She hadn't seen the movie, or any of the ads for it, but vaguely knew about it once I gave her a brief description. She said she would read it, but sounded pretty doubtful that she would enjoy it. I bought it for her because I thought she might like something a little different than what she's been reading (romance novels, because they're cheap and throwaways) and I don't know what books by her favorite authors she has or hasn't read anymore.

Apparently I screwed up, though, because a week later she still hasn't started to read the book and asked me again tonight why I thought she would like it.

So now I am sitting here, in tears, feeling like I've somehow disappointed her yet again (won't go into other stuff right now), and wondering if I'll ever be able to please the woman.

Sorry about the pity party. I'll try not to let it happen again.

Hope y'all have a better day.

New pictures!

Okay, I have to post some pics of Keagan 2.0--he's sans oxygen cords now! Ain't he cute?
Oh, that's my youngest son Matt holding the baby--I don't have any real good pictures of him lately, so I'll have to get some.

And did I mention that we got a new camera? Better than half-price at Kmart, on clearance! (Man, I love sales!) Anyhow, we've been playing with it for the last couple of days. Got some pictures of our critters (the cat is Patches, the dog is Tex), plus some flowers that I saw while walking on Sunday. The two pictures of the rose are actually the same flower in different light.

And this is a picture of the end of a sunset. Didn't get all the awesome colors because I was out too late, but this was still pretty. I was standing on one corner and zoomed in towards the park across the street. I'm going to be trying to get some other sunsets pretty soon, plus fireworks this Friday should be cool too!

I can't wait to be able to take the camera camping! There's some really great views up there! Not to mention all the critters! :)

Anyhow, I'm off for today. Hope y'all have a good one!