{Wednesday Hodgepodge} Let Freedom Ring

1. When and where were the best fireworks you've ever seen? Speaking of fireworks...do you know your hot buttons? The things people can say and/do to set you off? When was the last time someone pushed one of your hot buttons?

The National Mall. Any fireworks after seeing that is just "eh".

I absolutely know my hot buttons. My buttons are being continuously pushed right now with this kitchen remodel. Want to know what's happening now? Come back tomorrow for another installment of "State of the Kitchen"!

2. Have you hosted any outdoor summer parties this year? Attended any? What makes for a great outdoor party?
I never host any outdoor parties. My brother & his wife always have a 4th of July swim party at their house. Just being with family, hanging out, and eating makes for a fabulous outdoor party!

3. What does freedom mean to you?
The freedom for any of us to be able to say what's on our mind without the fear of persecution from the government. (Notice I said "the government"; our "friends" may be persecuting us, though.) Tolerance is a whole different issue!
Also, the freedom of religion. We have the freedom to worship (or not) as we want without fear of persecution.

4. July is National Cell Phone Courtesy month...what annoys you most about people's cell phone habits?
That they won't put them down.

5. What's your current summer anthem?

With this kitchen disaster remodel going on, I have to trust, which is so very hard!

6.  Insert your own random thought here.
I ran across this on FB this morning. Fr. Tansi is a Franciscan Friar, and this is his debut song from his debut album. All proceeds for the first year are donated to Mary's Meals, which provides a meal in children's educational setting all over the world. See how you can donate to Mary's Meals by following this link.

You can purchase his album through iTunes, Google Play, or Amazon. Listen to samples of his other songs...his voice reminds me a bit of Dave Matthews.


Linking with Joyce at From This Side of the Pond.

Foto Friday {5}

Not so many pictures this week. Hope you enjoy, anyway!

I had just gone to bed Sat. night when I heard some fireworks going off. I had no idea the Small Town's "Freedom Fest" was going on that day. If someone can figure out why they have to a week before the 4th, let me know. I still haven't figured that out. I took these pictures from my back porch.

One day, Laika was barking (which she doesn't do very often) at the back door. When I looked out, I saw why she was barking:

Here's Laika looking very intently at the bunnies:

Just because I was bored while I waited for a hummingbird (who never came):

I caught this little guy foraging for a snack:

Lastly, I spent an hour of my week washing our trailer:

The back of the trailer with stickers from places we've been so far (along with a few other stickers that CH felt compelled to put on):

I can't believe it's already July...that means summer is halfway over for me. Every year it gets harder & harder to go back. Yep, summer will be over before you know it!

Weekend Wrap-Up

BIG news: IT RAINED!!!  Not just little sprinkles, but a big, soaking, honest-to-goodness RAIN! The downspout got a much needed workout:

Friday, I met a friend for lunch. It's so sad, but we both live in the Small Town and hadn't seen each other in a few years! Her oldest son played soccer for the high school when MS was playing, and since MS graduated, I've only run into her a couple of times. So sad that we get caught up on our lives that we don't have time to see friends! We ended up with an almost 2 1/2 hour lunch, but I think we got caught up on everything.

Saturday, CH & I  took everything (except the easy-up) out of the camper so CH could bomb it  before our trip to the Outer Banks. We don't want a repeat of the ant day that we had over Christmas Break during our Key trip. We spent some time re-organizing our cooking totes. YS & his girlfriend ate dinner with us, and we just took it easy the rest of the day. Since FreedomFest was going on, there were fireworks that night. We were able to see some from our back porch.

I played around with my camera before the fireworks. When I first went out, I caught this picture:

But then the sky changed & I got this one:

Sunday, after Mass, I vacuumed out the camper and CH put everything back in. CH played around with his new "toy".

According to him, it's a 100 watt solar panel with built in charge controller. My BIL was quick to point out that it's a "tool", not a "toy"! We're staying at a campground in the OBX that has electricity, but it will be a good time to try it out to see just how it works. That way, when we're in a campground that doesn't have electricity, we'll still be able to charge up our battery. It will give us more options when we go on a bigger trip. We hope to go out west in the next couple of summers. We're getting excited about our trip...sharks & all! :)
How was your weekend?

WHEW!

What a week, what a week!  Here's my week in review:

Monday morning we had registration at school.   We had quite a few new students to register, and then we had students who came in to meet their teacher and pick up their packets.  At first I wasn't sure about why the school system does this, but I think I finally get it.  It saves a lot of time the first day with teachers handing out forms that have to be filled out, for one thing.  This way, the students should come in this Monday morning, ready to hand the completed forms to their teacher.  We got to work in our rooms Monday afternoon.  I went to my other school because we had a meeting at 1:00.  I was 10 minutes late, and the meeting was over.  Oh well!  It turns out it was just a brief meeting with the teachers to find out how many students they had come by for registration.

Tuesday was the big Special Ed. Inservice.  This was the first year that we've done our own inservice, using our own teachers and staff (since they're free).  There could've been a better choice of presenters, in my opinion, but y'all have heard all about that already!

Wednesday was a great day!  The Speech Paths had our own meeting/inservice.  We have a really fun group of SLPs, and we always get so many fresh ideas when we get together.  By that night I was so worn out that I was in bed at 9:00.  It's going to be really rough when I start having to see students! 

Thursday was "work in your room day" all day long.  I managed to hand all of the IEPs out at one of my schools, and get teacher  signatures on them.  Yes, it took me almost all day long  because I had to figure out whose classroom each student is in, walk around to the classroom, and then talk to each teacher about that child (okay, some chit-chatting with the teacher was involved!).

A couple of years ago, I volunteered my services to the band director to help the guard instructor with the "clean up" phase of their routines.  Due to budget constraints this year, he asked me, along with another mom (who just happened to be in the guard with me for a couple of years in college) if we would help the guard instructor out by being at practices when she wasn't able to be there.  My first day to help out was Thursday after school.  It took me a few minutes to reacquaint myself with reading charts (along with the guard captain's help), but we got through it.  It was hotter than hades, especially since sports come first at the school, so the band gets to practice in the parking lot at the baseball/softball fields.

After practice, the band boosters executive committee had a meeting to discuss fundraising and concessions.  This is the second year I have been the secretary, and, seriously, I'm considering resigning.  I haven't had the best attitude so far this year for work-I'm pretty sure I know what's contributing to it- and this is not helping.  It's very important for me to be around positive people:  if I can't do that, then I don't need to be around them.  There are some things going on with the executive board that I just can't handle right now.  I'm more than happy to help with concessions and do what I can with the fundraising, but the thing that's going on is really a downer.  We have a new president this year, but that's not the problem.  How do you deal with negative people?  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Okay, on to Friday!  The morning was spent in the school, then we had a meeting with all special education teachers.  It was a good day, and I managed to stay positive all day long!

A friend posted this on FB today...I think I need to play this should be my daily mantra:

Friday night YS, a friend of his, and I went to a AA professional baseball game since my favorite baseball player's (who just happens to be my nephew!) team was in town playing.  He's been on the DL this summer, and is working himself back into the rotation, so he's a relief pitcher right now.  And, being a relief pitcher, we weren't real sure he was going to play last night.  I thought there was a chance when the home team brought in 3 runs in one inning, but the pitcher got himself together.  The closer came on during the last 2 innings, and it wasn't my nephew.  BOOOOO!  I wanted to run down and tell their manager that we wanted to see my nephew, but I didn't think that would go over too well!  I have to tell y'all this:  I actually made it through the whole game without yelling!  MIRACLE!

After the game we saw this:

And, we did manage to see my nephew for just a couple of minutes.  Let me just say:  I have some really handsome nephews!  My siblings can make some pretty babies! 

I did something very, very bad.  I knew better than to do it, because I knew what would happen:  I would fall in love.  And that's exactly what happened.

Yes, that's an empty bag, and no, I didn't eat all of them myself.  Although I could have.  The first few I had I thought maybe it could use more chocolate.  Just a little more.  By the end of the bag (as evidenced by the crumbs) I thought they were just perfect.

This afternoon MS came in with this very sweet surprise:

That boy loves his mama and knows what his mama loves!

Hope everybody had a good week.  I'm going to be playing "catchup" on reading blogs for a while!

Reminiscing the 4th

Believe it or not, I did not watch fireworks last night.  In fact, I haven't really seen any since we went to DC and saw fireworks while we sat at the National Mall.  Nothing can compare to this sight:

That 4th of July stands out in my mind for obvious reasons.  Another 4th that stands out in my mind is one that we spent with my in-laws.  OS must have been 2, and we went down to their house to spend some time at the beach.  We went to the Army Post where my FIL was stationed for the fireworks.  There was just something really emotional to be surrounded by men and women who love this country so much that they would be willing to give their life so that we can continue to enjoy the freedoms we have.

Our small town used to have "Freedomfest" (but it wasn't held on the 4th...it was held the weekend before), and it actually grew to be fairly large.  It became more of a festival feel (thus the "fest"!) with a lot of different booths around the park, and the swimming pool in the middle of the activities.  A radio station from the big city would come and give stuff away.  Streets around the schools & swimming pool were blocked off.  (Fortunately we live close  enough that we could walk down and enjoy the festivities.)  The night ended with the fireworks being shot over the duck pond.  This was  the biggest 4th festival in our county, so there were thousands of people who came.  Some people  even came from other counties to celebrate with us.  But, due to the economy, Freedomfest was put on hold last year.   This year:  no Freedomfest either.  There are just too many other things that need the money more...like the schools. 

One of my brothers and his wife usually invite the family over for swimming and a day of talking, laughing,  and  enjoying each other.  Last year they went to see their oldest son & his wife instead, so the 4th was extremely quiet around here.  This year, the celebration was revived!  What a great day we had!  It was hot, but a little overcast.  It was so much fun being in the pool with nephews, nieces, siblings, and their grandchildren.  There may have been one or two squirt gun fights.  And, somebody may have been squirted by somebody's grandson (at Grams urging) when all she had was a little bitty squirt toy.  You use what you've got, right?  

I took some pictures, but, since I don't know if my siblings want their picture to be on my blog, I'm not going to post those.  Well, except for this one:

I'm posting this one because my sister, Tina, also has a blog.  If you haven't checked it out, take a minute and go visit her.

I have to show you this video from yesterday.  My brother has 2 dogs, Joey & Chandler (from Friends, get it?) who are hoots!  If you squirt Joey with the water gun, he'll try to eat the water and growl.  Here's a clip of one of my nephews squirting him:

 Those kids stayed in the pool all day, except to eat.  We had some really good food, but have you ever heard anybody say they went to a get-together  and had bad food?    Just something for you to think about!


Hope everyone had a safe and happy 4th!