Spring Break!

Spring Break was crazy early this year - the 3rd week in March! This is not really a good thing as we have nearly 3 long months of school left with only 2 days off - 1 teacher work day the 1st week of April and Memorial Day. The distinct advantage to an early break though is low pollen counts and this week anyway near perfect hiking weather! I got out 2 days over break!

On Mon I went out to SNP and hiked a 3 mile (6 miles round trip)section of the AT. The hike itself was not all that scenic and I didn't take any pictures, however the trip back up Skyline Drive presented many photo opportunities! The clouds had begun to build to the west (it had been crystal clear and sunny the whole hike!)and made for interesting light with the sun and the mountains! Many of my pictures are repetetive, but I think they all came out pretty cool! There was no traffic whatsoever on Skyline Drive since it was essentially still winter in the mountains all the lodges, campgrounds, and waysides in the park were closed, effectively keeping out the riff-raff! This lack of traffic made it very easy to stop in the middle of the road to snap pictures whenever I saw something interesting!

On Friday I drove north to Catotcin Mountain Park - another small National Park. It's a neat little park! And another stamp in my National Parks Passport! The park borders Camp David and frequently parts of the park are closed. On Friday the mid-section of the park was closed "by order of the secret service" so I was limited in my exploration a bit, however the main features of the park - Chimney Rock and Wolf Rocks were still accessible. The hike was relatively short but delightful! I'm looking forward to heading back and exploring the rest of the park!

Check out my pictures!

VENT

I have horrible allergies. Most of you know that. My allergies are so bad that I get allergy shots. 3 a week in fact. My allergist is about 30 miles from my house so I take my allergy serum and get my shots at another allergists office. My allergist is not really a very nice person, she's not someone I'd want for a friend, but it's not her job to be my friend, it's her job to fix my allergies and she's very good at that. Her office staff shares her lack of interpersonal skills. But again, my life is so much better after having started treatment with them that I was willing to put up with it.

The rule is that when you need new serum you have to fill out the order form that was given to you when you got your serum (they have blank forms on thier websit but I got yelled at for using them) and fax it in about 2 weeks before you need it. Then you have to call to get an appointment to come in for your 1st shots.

Being as the dr is in Reston getting there and getting home is an issue - always involves leaving school early and getting home almost after bedtime - so I was thrilled that my need for new serums and my spring break concinded and I could go to Reston mid-day and then I could even run the serums over to the place where I get my shots so it doesn't have to live in my fridge for a week and risk me forgetting it.

So today I met a friend for lunch at 11:30 and then my appointment was a 3:15. I ended up with about 2 hours to kill. I wandered Barnes and Noble and Wegeman's but neither was really where I needed to be today. Then made my way over to the dr.

They call me back and the gal (I "affectionatley" call her the shot Nazi...seriously she's just mean)says "you have your serums right?" Ummm....no, that's why I'm here. She then asks when I faxed the form in....ummm..2 weeks ago. Well, we didn't get it. She then searches the pile and low and behold there's my form. She then debates the date that is conviently stamped at the top by the fax machine - doubting that I could have possibly sent it that day. She then informs me that SHE was on vacation and she mixed all the serums she had before she went and mine obviously wasn't in there and I'd have to come back next week. WHAT???????

No I'm sorry.

I'm beyond pissed. You see I basically wasted a day of my vacation waiting for my appointment and then drove all the way to Reston and now I have to do it again next week. Next week when I have to leave school early and deal with traffic. And not only that this gal made it out like it was all my fault! grrrrrr.....

Dead Skunk

This morning I was driving to school and a very odd, catchy song came on the radio. It was about a dead skunk in the middle of the road. I instantly liked it. I'd never heard it before and figured I'd never hear it again but it made me laugh and that was enough. Then this afternoon I was driving to my allergy shots and channel surfing and what comes out of my speakers but the "Dead Skunk" song!!!! I was able to listen to it all this time and it cracked me up! At first I'd thought that it was new song (and that was going to take away some of the charm) but then I glanced down to see what station it was on....I was listening to my XM radio and it was on the 70s channel!!!! It was a funky, old, rare song! Even cooler! I googled it when I got home and of course it's on YouTube!
I also found the link with the words...and someone else's story about the song....http://www.cwu.edu/~raug/deadskunk.html

Movie Review

I actually went to the movies. In the theater. That alone is worthy of a post, considering that in the last 5 years the only movies I have seen in the theater are: Finding Nemo, The 40-Year Old Virgin, Happy Feet, and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. Needless to say I have been enormously disapointed by my choices in movies to see in the theater! This weekend I had some down time - had planned to go hiking but the weather had other plans - so I decided I'd catch a movie.

My 1st thought was that I'd see "Fool's Gold" simply because it starred Matthew McConaughey and he's such a hunk. Even if the movie sucked, at least I'd have eye candy. As I read through the movie listing though, I saw that Juno was still playing. I'd heard a little about that one and really wanted to see it so I bought my tickets and off I went.

What a fabulous movie!!!!! I LOVED it! It's kooky and cheesy and totally sarcastic! It's also very real and deals with some controversial issues. I laughed so hard at many of the fab quotes! Unfortuently I can't find my favorite quote online - I'm going to have to buy it on DVD so I can get that quote. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it! If you liked "Little Miss Sunshine" you will love this one!

Allison Janeys - from West Wing - plays Juno's wiseass mother - she totally rocked!
The guy who plays Dwight on the Office played the part of a droll store clerk which got the movie off to a hysterical start!

It also starred Jason Bateman - you might remember him from Valerie's Family or was it Hogan Family? I think the show changed names a million times - it was a late 1980's sitcom about a family and the mom died and the dad was a pilot and there were 3 kids...you basic straighforward cheesy sitcom. Anyway, Jason Bateman starred in that show as the protective older brother and boy did I ever have a crush on him! Him and Michael J Fox were my dream boys!!!!! I was thrilled to see that he was in Juno - I had my eye candy after all!!!! It was good to see him again as he hasn't been around.

The Wall - Before and After

Over Christmas break I finally decided to paint the living room! I'm finally getting around to posting before and after pictures! Here is the living room wall and couch before I painted. Scroll down to see the after...




Here is the wall after I painted it with my pictures of Denali. The Alaska in the middle is made from old Alaska liscene plates! I bought it at the Bizare Bazzar - see more liscene plate art here

Cross Stitch Projects

I have a few projects I have recently finished - all were gifts so I was waiting to post until all have been given! :)

My friends Kris and Amanda had twins in July! I made these 2 samplers for the girls. I ended up having to paint the frames myself too as the ones I'd wanted had been discontinued! AGGHHH!!!!





My friend Rachel got married at the end of October. I bought her the breadmaker she wanted so decided to cross stitch her a breadcloth to go with it. This looked like an easy enough project, however the repetition proved to be very tedious and the whole project felt more like an endurance test than a creative venture! I was glad when this one was done!



One of my fellow 1st grade teachers at school got married in October also. I decided to make her some "Apples for the Teacher" kitchen towels similar to the ones that I have in my own kitchen.




I have 2 baby bibs that I have been working on. One for baby's 1st birthday and the other for a new baby due in May. I'll post those when I take a picture of them!

States I have Visited

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More on this later!

How Ridiculous is this????

This is beyond ridiculous - be sure to read the whole thing...the mind-boggling bit is at the end...

I'm starting my next grad class next Wed the 16th. Over break I ordered my books from Amazon.com. I ordered them on Thurs December 27. I chose "free shipping" since I wanted more books rather than paying for shipping. Basically this means "get them to me whenever you freakin' feel like it." Part of my order arrived on Saturday Dec 29 via US Postal Service. I was very pleased, however this portion of the order contained simply a few kids books I'd ordered "because I was ordering" not my books for class that I was thinking I'd get a head start on reading. I assumed that the rest of the order would soon be here. Wrong. Part of it did arrive on Wed the 3rd - again, not the part that included my books, well one of the books, but it's not the one I need to read 1st.

So when it didn't show up on Thurs or Fri I started wondering. Why did 2/3 show up but not the part I actually wanted? So I went to "track my package". Well, it's being shipped via DHL so I go to their site - it says "arrived in Alexandria, VA, out for delivery" on Fri evening. I was expecting it Saturday. no. I thought surely by today. no. WTF?

I got back on DHL's site. It appears that it is being taken to a post office for the USPS to deliver to me. Ok, good, they have their shit together and can actually deliver a package (as a side note I mailed a package to a friend in central PA after noon on Dec 31. She had the package before lunch on the 2nd of Jan. See what I'm talkin about...less than 48 hours, with a holiday and I didn't pay extra. But I digress). Well, the PO is closed for the night so DHL will try again tomorrow.

The TRULY ridiculous part.....you aren't going to believe this one....seriously....it will blow your mind...I scanned the whole "tracking" page and my package of books that I have now been waiting over a week for was sent from CHANTILLY VA!!!!! That's 30 miles from my house. That's right folks. The return address on the DHL page says "Sterling, VA" My box of books has traveled from Sterling (30 miles from my house) to Wilmington, OH (DHL's hub - near Cincinnati), then to Allentown, PA then to Alexandria VA and now it's being delivered to some PO. WTF??????

Here's proof:
http://track.dhl-usa.com/TrackByNbr.asp?nav=Tracknbr

I'm just blown away. I could have seriously driven over the warehouse and picked it up myself. I guess then I would have had to pay for the gas to get me there. Somehow, I doubt that this is the cheapest way for Amazon to get me my books.

Are you a lesbian?

A good friend of mine bought me the coolest ABC poster for Christmas. It's called the Alternative Alphabet for Little and Big People. It's prouduced by group the specializes in cultivating peace and social justice. The poster features each letter with a word and a picture then each picture has several other words around it that start with the letter. The cool thing about this poster is that it brings big idea and important people (K is for King Jr as in Martin Luther)not usually mentioned. It's bright and colorful and I was egar to find a special spot for it in my room this afternoon (a big statement as most stuff that goes up on my walls is either county mandated or child created). As I was hanging it up I noticed that one of the small words on the L was lesbian.

Hmmmmmm....a general rule of the thumb is that if you don't want to explain it to a six year old don't bring it into the room. I wasn't sure I could explain what a lesbian was on 6 year old terms. I wasn't sure if I should explain it. Finally I decided: who cares. When (and if) a kid asked I'd figure it out. I was not going to be afraid of a word or an idea, even if it is controversial. L is for lesbian just like L is for library or lollipop or leaf. Children need to learn about these things. We have a 2nd grader in our school who has 2 mommies - they are both very active in the PTA and very well accepted in the community - so it's actually something my kids might encounter.

The poster came with a teachers guide that explains all the words. I looked up what they had for lesbian and the definition read:

"Women loving other women however they wish."

I liked it. Simple. Non-sexual. Easy for a child to understand.

My only question is, doesn't that make us all lesbians?

Paint the Town Purple

Well maybe just my living room! I moved into my house in August 2002. The day we put my early American hand-me-down couch with the ecru and pastel stripped slip cover against the "real estate" ecru wall I knew that painting was in my (or my dad's) future. Since purple is my favorite color and there's a purple stripe in the slip cover, I thought the wall should be purple. Then my mom hung some blue shelves and covered them with various knick-knacks - most with sentenmential value - and the task of painting seemed too daunting. The blue shelves would not look good on the purple wall so they'd have to be painted and the project snowballed.

Then inspiration hit! I'd taken some fantastic photographs in Alaska (see them here and here, as well as in the Tetons and here in SNP. I'd take down all the knick-knacks (they just collect dust and dander and other things that make me sick) and replace them with pictures! I'd order poster size prints fron Kodak.com and just cover the walls with my own art!

I'd never embarked on such a project before. Other "home improvement" projects have been performed by my parents. They are currently enjoying their "gypsy" life and have a long list of projects for their own house so I decided I'd try this one myself. Especially after Susan painted both her basement (I can't find the link to that one!) and her mom's dining room made it look so easy! I figured that I'd do my best, learn as I go and not expect perfection the first time out.

So I made this my winter break project! I went to Lowe's and collected all the purple paint chips I could find. I settled on American Traditions "Purple Hills". I ordered 7 poster size prints of pictures of Denali. I then broke out the paint!

Sunday I painted the wall with the couch, thinking I'd stop there. I then was in a holding pattern waiting for my pictures to arrive. Other things I have ordered friom Kodak.com came in record time, not the case with my poster prints.

After I'd painted the couch wall I had a little less than half the gallon of paint left and it was burning a hole in my pocket so I had to paint more. The wall with the sliding glass door had too many things that I needed to take down and then get back up so I opted for the TV wall.

It's quite "purple". A bit more purple than I had in mind but I like it! I'm sure it will look different once I get my pictures up on it. Here are few pictures.....









I'll post "before" and "after" pictures once my pictures arrive and I get them up.

It's not a perfect paint job, but I did learn a lot about the process - I like using a brush for the edges better than the $6 ergonomic edger-tool I bought and I see why the pervious owner painted the ceilings the same color as the rest of the room!I'm already eyeing the other "real estate" ecru walls in my house (which is practically all of them!)....maybe a goldish yellow for the dining room, green for the bed room, a different green for the basement, maybe some blue in there somewhere, I also like red, I'm sure I can find something to paint red....hmmm....if I'm not careful the house will look like The Partridge Family Bus! Oh well, it's only paint, right?

Sam's Ridge & Hazel River - SNP

On Saturday I went out to SNP to hike! I'd again planned to hike on the AT to work toward finishing the central district, however I called ahead and Skyline Drive was closed due to ice storm damage. rats. Luckily I discovered this while still at home and could re-group. I decided to hike a smallish loop - 7 miles - in a region of the park that is typically called "Hazel Country".

Reaching the trail head involved winding back up into what West Virginiaians would call a "holler" - a single lane dirt road and the trail branched off from it. Finding parking would be a challenge as it seems that the majority of the people who own property that bumps up to SNP are crotchety rednecks who aren't fond of hikers. I'm sure there's good reason for this, but it's frustrating for one who truly wants to just park, hike, and leave. I'd love to buy some SNP boundry property someday and create a welcoming place for hikers to park and maybe offer snacks and stuff too...but I digress...

I ended up driving all the way down the road and turned around - I only located the trailhead because another car had parked there and the occupants were getting ready to hike. Luckily there was room for me too so I pulled in. I gave the other hikers a head start and I never saw them again until they arrived back at their car about 5 mins after I arrived back.

Part of the loop I was planning to hike went along the Hazel River - in fact the trail crossed the river 4 times. The guide book had warned hikers to be prepared to wade if the water was high. We've had a drought but it's also rained a lot lately so I had no idea what to expect. I opted to go up the ridge first and then hike along the river at the end, that way if I got wet I'd be almost back at the car!

I headed up the ridge and was glad that I'd did it first - it was quite steep and I would have hated to have to walk down it! Besides I enjoy the uphill much more than the downhill! (I know, I'm crazy). The trail had wonderful winter views of the surrounding mountains, not many that were photo worthy though. Hard to capture the mountains through the trees!





The area I was hiking through had burned in November 2003. It was the largest forest fire in SNP. It was actually 2 fires - one that started on Old Rag Mountain and the other started in a picnic area on Skyline Drive. The two fires converged and a huge section of the park burned. I saw the fire from Skyline Drive as it was coming down the mountain behind Panorama - it was awesome to see. While the area burned it is not dead - the picture above shows a burned out tree - it was only one of a few reminders of the huge fire!

The sun was forcast to make an appearance and it did, but only for a few minutes. I believe that this mountain is Mary's Rock on Skyline Drive, but I could be wrong.

The last mile and a half of the hike I walked along the beautiful and senic Hazel River. The Hazel River is your typical mountain river with big boulders, rushing water and lots of moss! I had to cross the river 4 times. The first time I stayed dry. The second time I got my right foot wet. The third time I got my left foot wet. The fourth time I got both feet soaked. My right foot was so squishy I felt certain that there was at leasy of cup of water in my boot and I considered taking my boot off to dump the water. At this point I was quite happy I was less than a mile from the car as I would not have wanted to hike 6 miles with soaking feet! It was about 50 degrees outside but I really wasn't cold....again though, I'm glad I was close to the car!

The picture above is one of the cascades in the river. My dad had been showing my how to change the sensitivity on my camera and change the sutter speed - I slowed it down for this picture and it mad ethe water blurry! Pretty cool!

Another shot of the Hazel River.

I returned to my car tired, but thrilled that it was only 4:00 - I thought I'd be able to get home and do something with my evening. I thought wrong. Very soon after I got in the car my typical post hike headache got going. This happens almost everytime I go hiking in SNP - it didn't happen in Alaska, Glacier, the Tetons, etc.... By the time I got to Warrenton, about halfway home, I took some Tylenol - it did nothing and by the time I got home I thought my head was going split open. I showered and crawled into bed before 8. I woke up at 3am and my head was still pounding so I took some Advil and when I woke up the next morning the headache was mostly gone.

I have explored various theories on these headaches - dehydration, not eating enough, allergies, asthma. On Saturday's hike all those things were controlled for. My new theory is that when I hike I'm getting migraines triggered by leaf mold and other outdoor allergens. I'll check with the doctor next time I see her. I did buy some Advil Migriane today to try the next time I hike. We'll see. I hope it works because I love hiking and I can only enjoy it in winter as it is!

Drew's End of the Year Meme

My friend Drew posted this on his blog and asked anyone else who wanted to to participate....it's a random list of favorite from 2007....I added a few categories as well..

Best Album: that's a hard one as I don't listen to whole "albums" anymore....iPod killed the album star! I never really did before though either... I did really enjoy Dave Matthews Band's Crash this year.
Best Non-Fiction: Words Their Way by Marcia Invernizzi and others and Forever Lily: An Unexpected Mom's Journey to Adoption in China
Best TV Series: Deadliest Catch, The Office
Best Fiction: Water for Elephants and the Stephanie Plum novels
Best Kids’ Music: Free to be You and Me
Best Movie: I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry - prob not the best but likely the ONLY movie I saw in 2007
Best Sign of the Apocalypse: This website: Rapture Letters
Best Come Back of the Year: hmmm....not sure on this one...

Ok my categories:
Best Old TV show you are just getting into: Northern Exposure
Best Hike Anything in Denali National Park
Best grocery store: The New Harris Teeter
Best Summer Vacation: RVing in Alaska



Ok....I'm tagging everyone who reads this blog...you too Drew...add your own best of categories and share the events of the year!

Check out my Slide Show!

Straight No Chaser - 12 Days

Mr. Deity

Need some offbeat "Christian" humor in your day?
Go here click on "shows" then on Mr. Deity. Funny Stuff.
Enjoy!

Christmas Meme

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
I like a combination.

2. Real tree or artificial?
Artifical - we have always had a fake tree so that's just the way it's supposed to be. Also, I have serious allergies to all things outdoors so can't have a real tree.

3. When do you put up the tree? I usually don't. For the last 5 years I haven't put up a tree. I'm not home for the holiday and I just have to find time to take it down and put it away.

4. When do you take the tree down? Never b/c I don't put it up!

5. Do you like eggnog? I'm not a huge fan - a half a cup with some fruitcake or sherry cake is nice. Susan makes a great homemade egg nog.

6. Favorite gift received as a child?
hmmmm...so many....the year of the Cabbage Patch Kid rush my mom arranged for me to get a homemade Cabbage Patch Kid. It was also the year I stopped believing in Santa. She wanted to make things more fun so she hid all my gifts in the living room and tied string around each one I had to follow the string - rolling it up on a toilet paper tube as I went - to each gift. The Cabbage Patch Kid was last, along the way there were Cabbage Patch accessories and it was making me mad b/c I thought I'd never really have a Cabbage Patch doll for them and couldn't figure out why mom had gotten me all these things.

7. Do you have a nativity scene?
Yes, I have one that I cross stitched - it's 10 stand up figures that I cross stitched and had professionally finished. It stays out year round.

8. Hardest person to buy for?
My mom and Dad - they usually just go buy whatever they want so it's hard.

9. Easiest person to buy for?
The kids on my list - Alex, Evan, Brandon - they are little so prtty much anything works...or just wrapping paper and empty shipping envelopes.

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
Not that I recieved but last year my grandma was given a box set of Hee Haw DVDs. Guess what we did Christmas afternoon? That's right. 6 hours of Hee Haw. Funny at first, annoying 6 hours later.

11. Mail or email Christmas cards?
I haven't done any in recent years, but I do love recieving newsy letters with pictures and stuff!

12. Favorite Christmas movie?
Hands down A Christmas Story. Cracks me up every time. No I don't watch the entire 24 hour marathon on Christmas eve but I usual tune in to parts of it.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
I don't buy much, I start when I see the 1st present I like for someone - I don't buy "random stuff" I try to make sure the gift matches the person and if I can't find anything then they might not get a gift!

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Oh my gosh yes!

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Peanut butter candy, fudge, sherry cake, fruit cake, christmas cookies, crandberry layerd jello salad...everything.

16. Lights white or colored on the tree?
white lights - although Mom had a tree when we lived in Cincinnati covered in colored lights and it was pretty. colored lights get obnoxious fast.

17. Favorite Christmas song?
Anything that is a carol - I'm not a big fan of Christmas songs that don't mention Jesus.

18. Travel for Christmas or stay home?
Travel - I usually get my grandmother in Fredericksburg on Christmas eve or the day before and we go to my parents house in Williamsburg. No kids involved so it's usually very low key.

19. Can you name all of Santa's' reindeer? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, Rudolph!!!!!!!! I teach 1st grade - this is basic information!

20. Angel on the treetop or a star?
My mom made an Angel when I was young - I used to think she was the most beautiful thing ever. I saw it the other day in a box in the attic....she's looking abig ragged.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
Christmas Day - with no kids involved we usually sleep in, eata leisurly breakfast and then maybe around 11 or 12 mosy into the living room and open presents. We go 1 person at a time and show off what we got usually takes 2-3 hours but we chit chat and break for cofee and stuff...

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year?
That you couldn't go to the mall if you wanted to. Radio stations that play holiday music that isn't even religious. That EVERYONE, including the Muslim children at my school, celebrates Christmas - it seems to take the meaning out when it's a mass holiday that is celebrated irrespective of religon.

23. What do you love most about Christmas?
The songs, the lights, the cold weather - the snow (here's hoping for more!)

I have gotten this survey through e-mail several times but posted it back here and feel the need to tag people....if you are reading this and haven't posted this to your blog....you are it!!! :) Post away! :)

Thanksgiving with the Family

Dad's side of the family - Thanksgiving Day - Ditchley

On Saturday, we got together with Mom's side of the family to celebrate my Grandmother's and my Uncle's birthdays!

The Blind Doggie Cronicles: Part 1, Blind Doggie goes on a trip

A few weeks ago I discovered that my dog was blind. I debated leaving her in a kennel for my anual Thanksgiving pilgrimage to Williamsburg and Glouster VA, however decided that she'd rather stay with me, blind or not, and that she'd prob do fine. I'd decided that I'd keep her on her leash while were at the family gathering at Ditchley so she wouldn't wander off and get lost or otherwise get in touble.

My great Jessie (my dad's aunt) has a house on the Ware River near Glouster, VA - it's an old plantation house and there's lots of land. Every year at Thanksgiving the entire extended family gathers there for a potluck Thanksgiving dinner. We have anywhere from 10-50 people - this year I think we had 30 or so. It's just a dinner event - we all show up, eat ourseleves silly, and leave. Dogs are an integral part of the event - sometimes out numbering the humans! One year my great uncle George commented that he knew more dogs than people!

So anyway, Daisy and I left Woodbridge around 8:15 am on Thursday and zipped right down to Williamsburg, arriving by 10:30 am. Daisy Mae did just fine on the trip down and when we arrived at my parents house, she explored and sniffed, and checked the floor for any dropped food, finding none, she curled up and went to sleep.

When it was time to head to Ditchley, she let me pick her up and put her in the car and she did great on the trip out. When we got there, I decided to tie her to the tv table so hopefully she'd be out of the way and not get into trouble. We'll she didn't like that much and insited on pulling the leash as far as she could and was in everyone's way. Since it was so lovely outside (it was 75+ degrees) we all ate outside so I took her outside and tied her to my chair. This worked, except that I couldn't get up!

Late in the afternoon I decided to take a walk out the pier - I hadn't been out on the pier since before Hurrican Isabel destroyed part of it 5 years ago! It was sunset and the sky was really pretty. Daisy and I were strolling down the pier, I was taking pictures of the sunset, when all the sudden I felt a tug on the leash, then felt the leash slide out of my hand. I looked behind me and Daisy was gone! I looked down and there she was in the water! If you know my dog you know that's NOT a swimmer. She won't even go out in the rain! The good news is that she did know how to swim. The bad news, she started swimming the wrong direction! She was swimming AWAY from the shore and out into deeper water! Oh no! My dad and I were thinking we were going to need to go in after her. I was about to, but I knew I didn't have any extra clothes so was thinking I'd have to skinny dip. Not exactly the thing to do at the family thanksgiving gathering. Luckily when I started calling out to Daisy she turned around and swam toward my voice and she was able to follow my voice all the way to the shore! Pretty amazing!


When I got her out of the water we walked back to the house, I dried her off and put her in the car - she was safer there!

The rest of the trip went well. Daisy did a great job of learning a new enviornment! Took a lot of trust on her part since she really had to rely on me to guide her and trust that I wasn't going to let her get hurt. The biggest challenge at my parents house are the steps going up stairs. They are hardwood with a runner up the middle. If her feet aren't on the runner she slides all over. She uses the wall to guide her down the stairs at home, however at mom and dad's she can't get to the wall because there is no carpeting there. Going up she does ok, going down is a big challenge.

We got home a few hours ago and she's been sleeping it all off! I can tell she's much happier being home where she knows where everything is!

What doesn't the Warranty Cover?

Everything that was actually wrong with my car. Car rental - free, getting the car repaired - crazy expensive.

The verdict: After a mere 36,000 miles the brakes on my car were gone. Nothing left. All parts that could get worn were worn. Needed the front brakes entirely replaced. Of course this is a wear issue, not covered by the warranty. The reason they wore out so quick? Likely overuse. Welcome to DC traffic hell.

There were a number of other things that needed fixing so I just had them fix it all. Ws considering keeping the free rental car! It was cheaper! HA!

The good news? They got it all fixed today and I picked it up this evening! The pick-up was much easier - I was able to return the rental to the Saturn place and the cashier was there until 7:00 so I didn't have to rush!

I was super efficent and stopped at Thomas's Pizza (the best pizza in the area, right by the Saturn place) and ordered a pizza on my way to the dealer and it was ready when I came back though! :)

Praises to the Extended Warranty

When I was on my way home from SNP on Saturday I noticed my car making a strange grinding noise when I applied the brakes. It kinda reminded me of the noise the car made when the I had a flat tire (which incidently had happened in the exact same place!), but stopped when I wasn't pressing on the brakes. I kinda ignored it b/c when I turned the radio up I couldn't hear it and I didn't have time to deal with it.

Well the problem quickly escalated. Last night I went out to dinner with a friend and I drove and had the radio off - man it was a loud, awful, grinding, screching sound. Sounded like something was caught in the brakes and dying or something. The car still stopped and all but it would shake a little and make SOOOO much noise.

The bigger problem was that I didn't have to deal with this - I'd had a thing after school on Mon, then Tues was our family literacy program, Partners in Print, that I'm in charge of and that took all my planning time so I didn't have a spare moment Mon or Tues to even call to get an appointment. I almost called in sick this morning to stay home and deal with this, but my classroom was a disaster because we just tossed all our materials from Partners in Print in my room - I didn't even know where my attendance was, couldn't have a sub in that. So then I thought I'd leave early - um no, I had a parent coming at 4:00 for a conference that I'd already rescheduled once.

So this AM I call the Saturn place to see what the latest time I can come is. Well, if I want it looked at today I had to be there by 4:00 - not going to happen. If I wanted to drop it off and get a rental I had to have it there by 5:30. Probably not going to happen.

So now I'm thinking I'd just wait till tomorrow. Well, tomorrow is just as crazy - it's our Thanksgiving Lunch which is just pure chaos, can't leave the kids with a sub for that so I thought I'd take the afternoon off - I tried to call it in to the sub computer and my cell phone battery was dead and I couldn't get my pin number out. aghhhhh. Maybe I would just come in late - call in and say I was having car trouble and come an hour or so late.

Oh and as a complicating factor, I HAVE to go get my allergy shots tomorrow - I already missed a week and can't go any other day. AGHHHH. So getting a friend to drive me to school was out - and depending on when it's ready (if it's ready tomorrow) I'll have to double back or leave early or something...

After school the parents I was meeting with showed up on time and we talked for about 20 mins then I hightailed it out of there. Left school at 4:30 and rolled into the Saturn dealer at 5:30 on the nose! WOW! The service guy checked me in and called the Enterprise people to "pick me up".

The best part....I have an extended warranty on my car so the car rental is "On Saturn"!!!!! YEAH! I hope the repair falls under the warranty also - I can't remember what it covers, if something broke it's covered, if it was damaged I don't think it's covered.

So by 6:30 I was crusin' in a Merlot Ford Tarus boat - I think the 80's left this car behind - it has a tape deck! I think they stopped making tape decks in cars in the 90s! The "cigarrette lighter" doesn't power my iPod (b/c this thing was built before iPods were invented I bet)so tonight I dug through my shoebox of cassette tapes - like a trip down retro lane! I'd thought about pulling all my tapes out to see if there were songs that I wanted to download from iTunes so now's my chance!