Baby Shower!

My good friends Susan and Michael are in the process of adopting a baby! I'm wildly excited about this! Adoption has always been something special to me and something that I hope to be able to do one day and Susan and Mike are the 1st folks I have known personally to go through the process! You can follow their progress also at Bramble River Baby

They started the process over the summer and on January 20th they got matched with a birthmom! The baby is due April 13, so preparations began in earnest! Susan sister, Judy, myself and two other friends, Elizabeth and Jacalyn began working on plans for the baby shower.

Yesterday was the big day and I must say that the 4 of us can throw a pretty good party (even more amazing is that we never met face to face to plan, all plans were taken care of via e-mail and some twittering and 1 "I'm-in-Babies-R-Us-help-me-not-buy-everything!" phone call)

Since the shower was planned for 3:00 in the afternoon we decided to have an "afternoon tea" party which turned out to be a perfect theme because yesterday was a cold dreary rainy March day and hot tea was lovely!

We'd all seen these "diaper cakes" and most are made with disposable diapers, however Susan is planning on using cloth diapers so rather than buy one, Jacayln volunteered to make one! It was pretty awesome! She included not only cloth diapers but also onsies, socks, a bottle, nipples, a teether, some pacifiers and other "baby bling" and I even got a hat to go on top so the cake can "clothe baby Jack from head to toe!" Jacayln had also gotten a coupon for formula at Walgreens and added that to the cake at the last minute! All your baby needs in one tasteful centerpiece! :-)

The finished cake right before it was placed on the table as the centerpiece!

Judy (Susan's sister) and Chris (one of Susan's co-workers) - enjoying some tea and eyeing the Wegmans pastries! Chris is pinning on a diaper pin for our "Baby Taboo" game. Throughout the shower anyone who said the word "baby" had to give up a pin to the 1st person who called them out on it - the person who had the most pins at the end won!

The whole spread! Judy made wonderful chicken salad (they are in the lower right hand corner!) - I need to get her recipe! Elizabeth made yummy homemade scones to go with the tea! The pregnant belly in the top left corner is Elizabeth, she is due in mid-May and is also having a boy.

And here's the Guest of Honor herself! All decked out with a tiara and giant button! Every mom-to-be needs a tiara! I was attempting to get Susan and the diaper cake in the pic - all I got was the top!

Jacalyn explaining the Baby Taboo game to Sara and Ciecly - 2 of Susan's book club pals.

Hanging out, getting to know each other - we all came from different parts of Susan's life and few of us had met each other.

The main event....PRESENTS for Little Jack!

Judy (a new mom herself and Susan's only sister) sharing some sisterly advice, gems such as "if you have a problem call my sister, she knows how to handle babies and things!" LOL!

Jacalyn explaining another game we played - thaw the frozen baby. We'd bought little plastic babies and then froze them into ice cubes, it person to melt their ice cube and get the baby out wins! This is where hot tea came in handy - Judy easily crushed us all by wrapping a hot tea bag around her ice cube and freeing the baby within minutes!

The other game we played was gift bingo. Before Susan began opening the gifts we all had a blank bingo board and we filled in each square with something that we thought Susan would receive and as she opened her gifts we crossed off what she got and the 1st person to get four in a row won!

For prizes we had gifts for Susan! Every time someone won a game they selected a gift from the basket and it had a note attached that they signed and then gave the gift to Susan - they were all toys for the baby. At the end, since all the prizes were won Susan got the "Grand Prize" - a Target gift card, that she can use to buy formula or other baby needs.

Enjoying getting to know each other and sharing motherly advice! Joe crashed the party, um I mean surprise Susan by showing up! Joe is fun to have around and one of Susan's lifelong friends so he was more than welcome to come!

Susan with the "Hello Kitty Rectal Thermometer" - a gift from none other than Joe.

Susan enjoying her gifts! This zebra goes well with a blanket that has a rainbow zebra on it that she received from another friend - Susan remarked that this zebra was a "serious zebra"!

Jacalyn showing off all the diaper pins used in the game, all of which were given to Susan to put to good use.

Susan got 2 hand-crocheted blankets - one from me (see previous blog entry for pics) and one from her sister! Judy even learned a new crochet stitch, just for Baby Jack! Like me, Judy also finished this about 11:30 yesterday morning! Nothing like the last minute huh?

It was a lovely afternoon and everyone enjoyed themselves! Now on to the main event...Little Jack's arrival! :-)

An Afghan for Baby Jack

I recently was inspired by the works of my great-grandmother Minnie to take up crocheting. I have been a cross stitcher for years but it was getting boring and I needed something different. I studied several afghans that Minnie had made (in her later years she had arthitis in her hands really bad and she would crochet all day just to keep the joints moving - as a result we all have tons of afghans!) to see how she did it and began recreating what she did. I mostly taught myself how to crochet, going off of what I had learned years ago making Granny Squares in Girl Scouts.

Over Christmas I bought a crocheting book at the Ben Franklin store in Newport News, VA and decided to learn for real! I started a my 1st "real afghan" in January and have been crusing along. I'm using a the same "pattern" that Minnie used which is basically a large center of solid color bordered by a contrasting color - simple yet effective.

With Susan and Mike's impending adoption I knew I had to do something crafty. I was going to cross stitch something but I'm still bored with cross stitch so, about 2 weeks before the shower I decided I'd tackle my 1st baby afghan! I went to Michael's and started optimistically at the books with awesome crochet patterns in them - some of these afghans were gorgeous and I wanted to make every one, but I was thwarted by my lack of ability of read a crochet pattern. So I went over the yarn section and picked out some soft, shimmery yarn - baby blue and white - and decided to use my simple, yet effective Minnie Pattern. When I got home I decided to use my giant afghan hook to make things go a bit faster.

When I did the white I did two double crochets in each "hole" to make it look fuller - I'd used that technique on an afghan I'd done over the summer - I was just messing around at that point - and it looked nice so I decided to try it again. Didn't seem to work so well with this yarn - either that or I need more work on my corners - because all four corners of the finished afghan curl up like little hoods or a fitted sheet. I noticed that was starting as I was in the home stretch for finishing it at 11:30 yesterday morning - the shower was at 3 and I was on the party planning committee so had a number of things to do before!

Below is the finished product - in the flat picture you can see the turned up corners.

I'll toot my own horn for a minute here and say that it came out really nice - it's soft and lightweight yet warm! I can see Susan tucking it around Jack in his car seat or stroller! I'll have to work on perfecting my crocheting techniques!

Public Service Announcement: What NOT to Twitter

I have shamelessly heisted this list from my cuz' Liz over at Not Always about Monkeys*, just yesterday I was discussing with folks things that should never be posted on Twitter/FB and then I saw Liz's blog post...consider this a Public Service Announcement:

Here are some situations where I think that it would be best to NOT update your status:

1. Joe is poisoning his neighbor's Pomeranian. With arsenic. Right now.
2. Mary is getting paid to take her clothes off.
3. Joe has explosive diarrhea.
4. Mary just ate an entire quart of Ben & Jerry's and quickly regurgitated it.
5. Joe just emailed naked pictures of his ex-fiance to her parents.
6. Mary is going to fake symptoms to get pain medicine at a Patient First.
7. Joe is laundering money.
8. Mary is telling her children that Santa Claus died because they were bad.
9. Joe is shouting at his girlfriend while putting his fist through the wall.
10. Mary just slept with her sister's husband.

And I'll add my own personal rule: If you must use the word "mounted" in a tweet or FB status, you MUST attach a picture! :0 If it's too dirty to post a picture, it's too dirty for twitter! :-)

Hmmm...What not to Twitter...sounds like a new TV show!

*See orginal post here: Failed Facebook Status Updates

When Blog Friends Meet!

A little background: A few years ago my friend Michael met a gal named Annette on the internet somewhere (he can’t remember – which is surprising!), a little while after that Annette met Russell (no idea how that went down!) and then after that sometime Russell met, and married, Amy. Somewhere along the line Susan got to know Russell, Amy, and Annette though their blogs, and about a year ago, I also got to know everyone too. Up until now we have communicated with each other and shared events of our lives through our blogs, however recently it was decided that we would all get together for a weekend in West Virginia!

The adventure began at 1:30 on Friday when Susan and Michael arrived at my house! We headed out and arrived at the cabin at 4:30 pm! I was very excited to see that the cabin was about a ¼ mile from the road to Dolly Sods that I’d discovered when I went to Canaan Valley at Christmas! Since we had about 45 mins of daylight left we decided to drive up as far as we could – if you recall the road is dirt and does not get plowed or anything and when there is snow on the ground the road becomes impassable. We were about a mile in (it’s about 10 miles from “paved road to paved road on the other side) when we encountered a Jeep Grand Cherokee coming the other direction – the driver was clearly flagging us down so I put the window down to see what he needed. They said that they were headed to Washington and that they were lost, their GPS had lead them here but they didn’t know where “here” was. I said “Washington DC?” and the man nodded – I said “WOW, you are really lost!” He didn’t find it funny! Good thing I knew exactly how to get to Washington – so I told him and he drove off. I have no idea how they got all the way through Dolly Sods! This was one of a few times this weekend that we heard about how GPS had lead people astray in WV – I guess John Denver was right when he said “Life is old here” – a paper map is the only way to go!  A few miles later I decided that the snow was too deep and it was time to go back – there was no where to turn around so I ended up making a 15 point (or more) turn to avoid the ditch and steep drop off! After we got back to the paved road we headed into Petersburg to the hoppingest Pizza Hut this side of the Mississippi!

When we returned to the cabin, Russell and Amy were there! Soon after Annette pulled in! It was so great to meet everyone and put faces with blogs! We spent the evening talking, hanging out, and getting to know each other in reality! The cabin was equipped with a hot tub and Susan and Michael and I wasted no time getting in – prompting Russell and Amy to share with us Eddie Murphy’s Celebrity Hot Tub skit from SNL in the 70s! I attempted to post the You Tube video of it, but it won’t work! Google it and watch it, it’s funny! We were up until well after midnight enjoying each other’s company!

The plan for Saturday was to travel to Helvetia, WV for their Fachnat celebration! Helevtia is a Swiss town in the heart of WV and every year on the Saturday before Ash Wednesday they celebrate Fachnat where they burn old man winter and dance the night away! We were very interested in what this was all about!

To get to Helvetia you need to drive to the middle of nowhere, turn right, and drive another hour or so! 

When I looked at the map I was skeptical that we’d make it out there – it looked like a really long way! I was interested to see how close it was to Kumbrabow – a state park where my family has been going “turkey hunting” for many years!

It took about 2 hours of driving to get there – the scenery was magnificent and it was a stunningly beautiful day! We stopped for lunch at the Bob Evans in Elkins and continued driving! The road into Helvetia was very windy and twisty and fun to drive!

We arrived at 3:30, the festivities had begun at 3:00 so we thought we’d had good timing! The town was quite small – there were three stores, 2 of which were closed!?!? There didn’t appear to be much going on. We went into the arts and crafts store and I had a nice chat with the owner – she was interested in my family history of Kumbrabow, my mom’s upbringing in Dunbar, and my Godparents connection to WV Wesleyan and the NEA (or at least she pretended to be!). We poked around the town and enjoyed some browsing in the General Store/Post Office and then it was time to hit the buffet dinner at the Hutte Restaurant. The restaurant opened at 5 pm and we were waiting outside, there was one other couple waiting with us. At the stroke of 5 the door opened a lady clad in a feather boa and Mardi Gras mask opened the door to begin seating. She asked us if we had a reservation. We did not. She himed and hawed and finally told us that we could eat, but we only had 1 hour, at 6 pm we’d have to get up and leave. We agreed and she escorted us to a secluded room way in the back. We had just gotten settled when we heard the hostess in the room next door saying “You all can sit out here with these other people who didn’t have reservations either!” and then she escorted in a retired couple from Buchannan. Their table was set up facing ours so we ended up chatting with them and making some new friends!

After dinner the town was starting to pick up! Folks were tricking in and the restaurant was hopping! There was a parade at 8:00 followed by a square dance, both of which sounded like fun, but we had 2 hours to drive back to the cabin so we headed out! It was nice to drive part of the twisty, turny, windy, 1 lane road in the daylight!

It was a neat treat to get to see the town and enjoy just being with good friends in the mountains!

When we got back to the cabin Susan, Michael, Amy and I hit the hot tub, then we snacked on popcorn and watched Robot Chicken before heading to bed early!

This morning I decided I wanted to hike up to “Top of the Rocks” so after my shower I headed out. It was very chilly and windy! I hiked up, enjoyed the view and hiked back down. It was about a 1.5 miles round trip with maybe 500 ft of elevation gain. I hadn’t brought my hiking sticks because the trail description said that it started steep and then leveled out, well, it leveled out by WV standards! I headed back to the cabin ready for the fondue that Amy and Susan were preparing for lunch! When I got back however, Russell decided that he wanted to go to the top of the rocks so we headed back out and went back up! Russell has recently lost 60 lbs (Go Russell!) and climbing this mountain was a huge victory for him! We decided to get a rock and have all of us write our names on it and Russell would leave it at the top!

When Russell and I returned, it was fondue time! The guys weren’t interested in fondue so they took off for the McDonald’s in Petersburg while we ladies enjoyed a fabulous lunch of cheese fondue – made from a recipe in a cookbook that Susan bought in Helvetia! For dessert Amy made chocolate fondue! Amy and Susan were trying to come up with “Swiss” food and fondue was all we could think of – swiss cheese and chocolate! 

After lunch Susan Michael and I headed home! It only took 2 ½ hours and we were home before dark!

It was a wonderful weekend and I can’t wait to get together with my blog friends again! I also discovered Harman’s North Fork Cabins and am making plans to return there another weekend in the near future!

Doggie Funeral

As most of you know I had to put my dog, Daisy Mae, to sleep at the beginning of December. Today I went out to Shenandoah National Park to have a proper funeral for her and lay her to rest. I have been wanting to blog about this, but I really had no idea what to say. Of course the death of the a dog is a sad occasion, however, in my case this was one of the best things that happened to me in 2008. Allow me to explain.

I have allergies. Horrible, awful, life altering allergies. About 2 years ago I underwent allergy testing and learned that my dog allergy is off the charts. My doctor strongly urged me to get rid of the dog. I adamantly refused. Daisy Mae was a "senior citizen" dog and my relationship with her was "till death do us part". When I adopted Daisy in 2004 she was 6 years old and underwent an enormous adjustment period and some severe separation anxiety. She would howl for hours on end when I went to work or if I left her with unfamiliar people. She'd bonded with me and was comfortable with our arrangement and I couldn't bear to subject her to a huge change again.

So the dog stayed, and I suffered. I followed every suggestion from the doctor regarding environmental changes to reduce allergy exposure including replacing carpeting with laminate flooring, encasing the mattress, getting an air cleaner, banishing the dog from the bed room, etc. however my allergy symptoms didn't improve much. I finally decided that what I was experiencing was likely a mild form of anaphalxis - I know when most of us hear anaphalxis we think epi-pens and 911, I did too at 1st but have since learned that there are mild forms. I considered testing the theory one evening when I feeling particularly miserable - my doctor insists that everyone carry an epi-pen in the event of a severe reaction to allergy shots so I had one here and I thought if this is anaphalxis then that would help. The problem was that using the epi-pen involved 2 things I wasn't keen on: a self inflicted intramuscular injection with a big a** needle and a trip to the ER. I decided not to test the theory. Anyway, I'm digressing. The point is that despite a ton of medication, environmental changes, and allergy shots I was still miserable and I couldn't make it better. I was sure that the dog was responsible.

And I was right! I have been dog free for three months and have never felt better! I noticed a change in how I felt within days of the dogs death. I have energy to go out and have fun, all the symptoms I was having that I couldn't explain are gone, and I'm off almost all my meds (down to just 1 from 10!)! :-) I did have one allergy attack since, but it was the 2nd night at Canaan Valley and I know the room I was staying in was infested with dust mites. It feels so amazing to feel so good!

So you can see the mixed feelings here. I want to be sad, but my life is so much improved! She was a wonderful dog and was a wonderful addition to my life! The final piece of my job as "doggie momma" was to sprinkle her ashes somewhere that she would enjoy.

The night before Daisy died I decided that I wanted to have her ashes returned to me and I was going to take them out to one of our favorite trails in Shenandoah National Park and allow her to have her final resting place somewhere she loved.

Our 1st New Years Eve together it was "unseasonably" warm (funny how nearly every winter it just gets warmer and warmer...that's another blog for another time!) and I decided that Daisy and I would go for a hike. When we got to Shenandoah though I discovered that Skyline Drive was closed because despite the warm weather it was snow covered. Daisy and I went around to the Old Rag parking area and hiked up the Nicholson Hollow trail. The trail ran parallel to the Hughes River which is a really cool mountain stream with big boulders and waterfalls. I fell in love the trail and wanted to hike it again. Daisy was also loving it! I let her off the leash and she loved sniffing and exploring.

Remembering that day I knew exactly where I wanted to sprinkle her ashes, along the banks of the Hughes River. I'd planned on doing this on New Years Eve this year - just to keep with tradition, however I decided to go to Canaan Valley and take care of myself which was a needed thing! I'd stashed Daisy's ashes in the basement, behind a box a fabric because the idea of having her remains hanging out on the hutch kinda weirded me out so I'd actually forgot all about having her funeral, until today. I was supposed to go to Susan's to help set up Baby's Jack's nursery, however she Twittered about 11:30 that she didn't really need the help and suddenly I thought, today's the day!

It was ultimately very anti-climatic. It wasn't sad or difficult like I'd thought it would be, it's didn't weird me out at all like I'd expected, it was just what needed to be done! It was a lovely afternoon and I had a nice drive out to the park. I was totally alone on the trail, which is how I like it! There were occasional snow flakes falling which made it fun! Daisy always loved the snow! I found a good spot and sprinkled "her" all over the ground (I have no idea about the legality of this, so let's keep this as our little secret! I'm pretty sure it's ok to sprinkle human remains in a NP, so I'm guessing canine are OK too. I googled it but couldn't find an answer!). I then hiked back, enjoying the chilly air and the sunshine.

Daisy Mae was a good dog. She loved food, sleeping and having her hip/backside scratched!
Good bye doggie!

Movie Reviews: Frozen River, Kung Fu Panda, The Visitor

I had a paper to write this afternoon for my Human Development class, this is one of those assignments that you do to get it done, it's BS101, so I thought that it might be a good time to rent a movie and watch it while I got the paper done. I'd been planning to go over to Blockbuster to get Juno, I'd seen it in the theater last year and LOVED it and wanted to see it again, when I got an e-mail from my friend Doug. Every year he and his wife Kristen throw an Oscar party and Doug was writing us all to tell us what Oscar nominated movies were out on DVD. Even though I'm probably not going to make it to the party next weekend since I'll be driving back from West Virginia I decided that I'd check out some of this years contenders.

When I got to Blockbuster I pulled Doug's e-mail up on my iphone and attempted to located the movies in the store. I wonder what beef Blockbuster has with the alphabet and why they can't simply put the movies in ABC order, that would make life a lot easier! From the list I found three that I thought I'd like: Frozen River, Kung Fu Panda, and The Visitor. Here they are in the order I watched them:

Frozen River: I did not enjoy this movie, it reminded me of Thelma and Louise meets Fargo - it was weird, maybe I just didn't get it.

Kung Fu Panda: This movie surprised me! I didn't think I'd like this movie. While I do enjoy animated movies, especially the Disney and Pixar movies, a Kung Fu fighting Panda just wasn't going to do it for me. I was really surprised by this movie! It was about this cute and cuddly Panda who has to find his true destiny! It's all about perseverance and finding your way even when it's hard - and realizing your true potential even when others don't see it! It has a large amount of fighting scenes but it's nothing over the top. I'm really bummed that this one is rated PG - it's a movie I would willingly show in my classroom!

The Visitor: This was an interesting movie. Wayne is a college professor who lives in Connecticut and has an apartment in NYC, he goes to NYC for a conference and discovers that there is someone living in his apartment! There are two people who are from Africa living there and making their living in the US. As the movie progresses Wayne develops a deep friendship with the couple and fights to keep them here after it's discovered that they are illegal. This is a deeply touching movie about finding friendship and healing in unexpected places! I really enjoyed this one as well and am hoping to see it win next week!

Now I'm watching Juno and cracking up!
4 movies in one afternoon/evening has got to be some kind of record for me!
Oh and the paper - only half done, about 1/4 of the way through Kung Fu Panda I was too into the movie and I got out my crocheting and the paper didn't happen!

2008 Reading Review

In 2007 Susan read 100 books and was featured in her local newspaper and that inspired me to keep track of how many books I read in a year, I didn’t think I’d get anywhere near 100 but I didn’t have a goal of any kind, I just wanted to see. I did realize that I read 2 sometimes 3 or 4 books to my first graders every day, which equals at least 200 some books a year (180 school days a year), they are picture books, but they are still books. When I first started keeping track I counted new books that I’d read to my class for the first time, however late in the year I decided that the picture books were getting in the way from my “true” reading numbers so I created another shelf on good reads for “adult” books (meaning novels and non-picture books) and stopped entering children’s books. If you count the new picture books I read this year I read a total of 122 books! Impressive!
74 of those books were novel length non-picture books! I’m impressed with myself!

Below are all the books I’m counting in my year end total. In some cases I have grouped by author, you can tell that when I get on to an author I tend to plow through everything they wrote! :)

One Book Wonders – these books are the only ones by that Author that I read:
1. One Thousand White Women: The Journals of Molly Dodd - Jim Fergus
I really enjoyed this one! It’s about the Cheyenne attempting to assimilate into White culture by requesting 1000 white women to be wives to their warriors.

2. Last Days of Summer – Steve Kluger
Another really good one – this one told in a scrapbook format – very interesting!

3. Body Surfing – Anita Shreve

4. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan – Lisa See
I LOVED this book – it’s all about a deep and true friendship between women! I have heard that her other books aren’t very good.

5. Anybody Out There? – Marion Keyes
I enjoyed this one too – and guess what? Marion Keyes has written lots of other books! I can’t wait to read some more of her work.

6. The Other Boleyn Girl – Philippa Gregory
This book was recommended to me by a friend and I loved it! I know nothing about medieval England, but this book got me interested. It was an intriguing story that kept me interested! I can't wait to read some more Philippa Gregory novels!

7. The Lake of Dead Languages – Carol Goodman

8. The Godmother – Carrie Adams
This is probably my favorite book of the year! Tessa King is a single woman who years for a family and through a number of twists and turns finds happiness.

9. A Redbird Christmas – Fannie Flagg

10. Ida B…and Her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and (Possibly) Save The World – Katherine Hannigan

11. Soldier’s Heart: Being the Story of Enlistment and Service of the Boy Charley Goddard in the First Minnesota Volunteers – Gary Paulsen

Non-Fiction
I don’t read much non-fiction, you’ll note they are mostly humor non-fiction

12. In Cold Blood - Truman Capote
Book club book….never would have read it otherwise. Interesting though.

13. Persian Girls – Nahid Rachlin
Wonderful memoir about an Iranian girl who had to fight against amazing odds.

14. When you are Engulfed in Flames – David Sedaris
Not the best David Sedaris, but I had to read it!

15. If you Lived Here I’d know your Name: News From Small Town Alaska – Heather Lende
Heather Lende is an obituary writer in Haines Alaska – this book is filled with stories of what life is like in a remote small “frontier” town. If you like Northern Exposure you’ll LOVE this book!

16. Camp Camp: Where Fantasy Island Meets Lord of the Flies – Roger Bennett
A walk down memory lane! Pictures and stories from various Summer Camps around the country from the mid-80s!

17. An Idiot Girls Christmas: Tales from the top of the Naughty List – Laurie Notaro
My 1st Laurie Notaro, but definitely not my last! She is hysterical! I loved the story about her taking her 80 year old Nana shopping!

Fiction – grouped by author, not sorted

18. The Third Angel – Alice Hoffman
I love Alice Hoffman, but this will not be my favorite.

19. Blackbird House – Alice Hoffman (a re-read)
My favorite Alice Hoffman – the house is the “main character”!

20. When Madeline Was Young: A Novel – Jane Hamilton

21. The Book of Ruth – Jane Hamilton
I LOVED this book! I had a very deep connection with Ruth!

22. A Patchwork Planet – Anne Tyler

23. Digging to America – Anne Tyler
One of my favorite Anne Tyler’s so far – this one is about 2 girls adopted from Korea and the connection between the familes.

24. Breathing Lessons – Anne Tyler
Pulitzer Prize Winning….I didn’t “get it” why it won, not my favorite!

25. Back When we were Grown-Ups – Anne Tyler
Everyone in this book had a strange nickname….not sure about it, kinda strange book.

Nevada Barr’s Anna Pigeon Novels:

Anna Pigeon is a kick ass National Park Service Ranger who gets sent to different parks and always lands in the middle of some scam or murder. They are mysteries (which I tend to not like), however they aren’t all “whodoneit” murder mysteries, and all are set in different National Parks.

26. Blind Descent - Carlsbad Caverns NP – it was this book that made me realize I should have read the Anna Pigeon books in order!
27. Hunting Season – Natchez Trace NP
28. Endangered Species – Cumberland Island NP
29. Firestorm – Lassen Volcanoes NP
30. Winter Study – Isle Royale National Park – Set in the winter on the remote island in northern Michigan where Anna and the others were snowed in, this was the perfect book for my recent trip! I finished it sitting in my room watching the wind howl and the snow blow!

Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum Novels

Susan got me started on these and I LOVE them! I read all but 3 of the Stephanie Plum novels this year! :) Stephanie Plum is a bounty hunter who is rather inept – she gets herself into the funniest situations!

31. Four to Score
32. High Five
33. Hot Six
34. Seven Up
35. Hard Eight
36. To the Nines
37. Ten Big Ones
38. Eleven on Top
39.Twelve Sharp
40. Lean Mean Thirteen
41. Fearless Fourteen
42. Visions of Sugar Plums - Between the Numbers: Christmas
43. Plum Lovin’ – Between the Numbers: Valentines Day
44. Plum Lucky – Between the Numbers: St. Patrick’s Day

Carl Hiaasen’s book are usually really funny and bizarre! Unfortuently the three I read this year weren’t as good as the other’s I’d read of his! I’m hooked on him though so in 2009 I’ll finish off his body of work! All of his books are set in Florida and all involve some sort of environmental agenda.

45. Stormy Weather - good story but too many characters and they never came together.
46. Basket Case
47. Native Tongue - same characters from Stormy Weather! Better story!


Adriana Trigiani
A bunch of years back Big Stone Gap was an Oprah book and I have wanted to read it ever since so I picked it up at the library and loved it! I proceeded to read everything Adriana Trigiani has written! The Big Stone Gap books are a bit like Mitford only without any religion. Her other books are all about Italian Americans and their struggles. While the books are all similar they are also all unique.
48. Big Stone Gap
49. Big Cherry Holler
50. Milk Glass Moon
51. Home to Big Stone Gap
52. Lucia, Lucia
53. Queen of the Big Time
54. Rococo

Philip Gulley’s Harmony Series
Harmony is a lot like Mitford only they are a bit lighter – quick reads!
55. Home to Harmony – a re-read.
56. Just Shy of Harmony
57. Signs and Wonders: A Harmony Novel
58. Life Goes On: A Harmony Novel
59. Christmas in Harmony
60. A Change of Heart
61. Almost Friends
62. The Christmas Scrapbook – my favorite!

63. Run – Ann Patchett
The gal who gives me my allergy shots recommended this and I really liked it.

64. Bel Canto – Ann Patchett
This one was supposedly “better than Run” but I enjoyed Run more.

Books Read for Grad School
65. Howard Street Tutoring Manual – Darryl Morris
66. Supporting Struggling Readers and Writers: Strategies for Classroom Intervention, 3-6 – Dorothy Strickland
67. Literature Based Reading Activities – Ruth Yopp Edwards
68. Goodbye Round-Robin: 25 Effective Oral Reading Strategies – Michael Optiz
69. Assessing and Correcting Reading and Writing Difficulties – Thomas Gunning
70. Understanding Dyslexia and the Reading Process: A Guide for Parents and Educators – Marion Sanders
71. Reading Instruction that Works: The Case for Balanced Teaching (Solving Problems in Teaching Literacy) – Michael Pressley
72. Creating Literacy Rich Schools for Adolescents – Gay Ivey
73. The Literacy Coaching Challenge: Models and Methods for Grades K-8 (Solving Problems in Teaching Literacy) – Michael McKenna
74. Book Buddies: Guidelines for Volunteer Tutors of Emergent and Early Readers - Francine Johnston

Overall I’m very pleased with how much reading I did this year! In 2009 I hope to simply read more books than in 2008 – maybe 100, or maybe not. I have a number of “to be read” books here that I want to finally read – I’m tired of looking at them!
If you want to follow along with my reading adventures find me over on Good Reads! Happy Reading! 

Thermostat

So I'm sitting here watching Tech beat Cincinnati (didn't even know The University of Cincinnati had a football team until today...sad b/c I lived in Cincy from 1987 (age 12) until I went to college and my parents were there another 8 or so years beyond that!) and I'm chilly. Really chilly. Chillier here than I was at Canaan Valley with the snow blowing through the door.

So I go upstairs to investigate. The thermostat is set ay 69. No wonder it's cold. I realized that I have been messing with the thermostat more this winter than ever before. I suspected that there was a problem with programable settings or something.

I touch the "increase temp" button and the thermostat goes into a strange mode - it's got the temp displayed "69" and it says "off" and it's blinking. It has never blinked. The fan and the heat pump are still running. I begin investigating. Of course it's midnight. Why do these things happen at midnight?

Of course I can't find the owners manual. Google to the rescue! I find the owners manual.

Both on the thermostat and in the owners manual I see info on how to replace the batteries. Batteries? This thing works on batteries? Who knew.

It says to replace the batteries yearly. hmmmm...I have had this thermostat since 2005 - March 2005 so almost 4 years - and up until tonight had no idea that it used batteries. Could explain why it hasn't been holding the temp lately.

So I begin to figure out how to replace the batteries. I finally get all the buttons in the right place and pry the cover off. Next task find batteries. I have lots of batteries. Lots of AA batteries, which is what I need. I grab 2 and note that they are dated 2009. uh-oh. It's NOW 2009, these batteries are prob 5 years old, at least.

Oh well I pop them in. Nothing. The thermostat is blank now. Within about a minute the heat pump cuts out and the fan goes off. oh crap. It's 19 degrees outside and already chilly in here. yikes.

I try 2 new batteries. The thermostat comes to life! But the heat pump is still off. Oh no.

Dope slap! I turned it off when I replaced the batteries! It turned it back on it sprang to life!

Phew!

Now I'm going to bed in my hopefully toasty warm house!

Blackwater Falls and Home

This morning dawned sunny and cold - it was 9 degrees when I got in my car at about 9:30 am!
The 1st picture below is the view from my room this morning - very different from yesterday view! The picture below it is the view from behind the lodge looking out over the valley - same place I took a picture each day - again a very different view today!

After I checked out I thought I'd go back to Blackwater Falls - there were some trails I wanted to hike. The road was snow covered but it was packed down and the sun was melting it in places so I decided to go for it. I found a short hike - 3 miles round trip - to a view of The Canyon of the Blackwater River. It was 10 degrees when I set out. Again I'd put on all my clothes! So I was warm - all but my face! I saw 2 people out walking in the nature center parking lot where I picked up the trail, but other than that I didn't see anyone. I was the 1st human to walk the trail since it had snowed!

This is the very beginning of the trail.

At one point the trail went right through a tunnel of rhododendron - would be awesome when it's in bloom! In the middle of the rhododendron I startled a bird who in turn almost made me wet my pants when it took off and flew away!

The first view of the canyon through the trees.

The canyon from the view point. I actually like the other picture better with the trees in front, makes it interesting. You could hear the river and fall rushing at the bottom of the canyon, but I couldn't see any water.

Another shot from the view point - I like it because of the rock and rhododendron in the corner - adds a little interest.

The trail was mostly flat and I was walking at a pretty good pace and despite the frigid temps I began to sweat! I ended up having to slow my pace down - I'd shed layers and unzipped everything I could but was still hot! I figured that the temp had gone up. When I got back to the car I decided that I was really hot and I didn't want to deal with taking off layers in a restroom stall again (I had to do that 2x yesterday!) since it's such a pain to keep track of layers, keep stuff from falling in the toilet etc... So I decide that since there's no one around I can just change right by my car. It took some planning ahead to get the pants off - take off boots but keep them handy, take all layers of pants off, put jeans on but don't pull them up, put shoes back on, but don't tie, stand up pull up pants, then tie shoes. At the last minute I decided it was way too cold to take off all layers and left my bottom layer of long johns on under my pants. The top was easier - I only had 2 layers on top to remove as a unit (the other layers were fleece jacket/vest) so I quickly pulled them off and dove into my sweatshirt/T-neck - for about 10 secs I was standing in the parking lot in only my bra and jeans. The whole operation wasn't as bone chilling as I expected so I was truly convinced that the temps had risen, I was very surprised when I started the car and saw that it was only 14 degrees! 14 degrees and I changed my clothes nearly entirely out in the open!

After I was dressed I headed over to the lodge to use the restroom - changing behind the car is one thing, peeing behind a tree when it's 14 degrees is something else entirely! HA! I also wanted to check out the lodge because I was thinking I might want to stay there next time.

The Blackwater Falls Lodge is interesting - lots of things that are better than Canaan Valley, but it's also an older building (I think) and seems lower on the state park food chain (not that Canaan Valley is very high!). Blackwater Falls is smaller, but it's all one building so once you are in you don't have to go outside again. They have a large common area with a view that looks like a living room with couches and tables and chairs, a large plasma screen TV in one corner, a fireplace in the other. On some of the tables there were jigsaw puzzles and there was a shelf with other puzzles on it. They also have an indoor pool and hot tub with a view!

On the main door there is this sign:

(That's my reflection in the window - not sure what the red and white thing is)

So you can't have a picnic lunch, what about dinner? Or breakfast? What if you bring breakfast food but eat it at noon, is it still a lunch picnic? Isn't WV in the "south"? I mean it's south of the Mason-Dixon line, it was a slave state, and judging from the flags being flown the confederacy is alive and well. Correct me if I'm wrong but "lunch" isn't a meal in the south is it? You have breakfast in the morning, dinner mid-day, followed by supper in the evening. So I wonder exactly what is being prohibited?

What made the sign even funnier is that I saw some folks picnicking in the lodge. Well actually it was on the lanai, ok maybe we aren't that far south, the sun room then. There were a few people sitting at the table with a soft-sided cooler on it surrounded by food on paper plates, looked like a picnic to me!

Picnic rules aside, I think I will stay at Blackwater next time I come out here.

By now it was lunch time so, since I failed to bring a picnic, I headed back down the road to a pizza joint I'd found - Big John's Family Fixin's - it's right by the Canaan Valley Resort and I'm not sure why I hadn't gone over there before now....it was damn good and it had a fun atmosphere, reminded me of Fuddruckers, but they serve mostly pizza - I highly recommend it if you are in the area!

After lunch it was time to head home. As I was heading south on 32 I decided that I'd round out my West Virginia experience by stopping at the DQ in Petersburg. I decided that a blizzard was definitely in order and began thinking about what flavor I might want - Butterfinger? Oreo? cherry? They'd had a banana pudding one once - bananas and Nilla wafers. Or maybe cookie dough?

I continued pondering the blizzard choices as I made my south east. The snow had mostly melted, but there were places where the sun doesn't shine that were still covered in snow or slush. It seems that WVDOT doesn't actually remove snow from the roads - they just sprinkle rocks on it to improve traction. One of the places still covered with snow & slush was the backside (eastern facing side) of Allegheny Mt, the top of which is the Eastern Continental Divide. The road down the backside of this mountain is steep - 10% grade - with a number of hairpin turns! There are dire warnings to truckers about testing their brakes. I would not have liked to be on that part of the road yesterday. Makes me wonder just how bad the road that goes through Dolly Sods must get if this is the "preferred" and "safer" route!

I stand corrected about the name of the tourist trap in central WV - I'd called it "Smoke Hole Cabins", it's really "Smoke Hole Caverns" - I stopped to check out the gift shop and use the facilities - I did not go for a tour.

Smoke Hole Caverns is about 15 miles from Petersburg so when I got back in the car I began thinking in earnest about what flavor blizzard I would get. When I arrived in Petersburg and saw the giant, and I mean ginormous, DQ sign - the sign is probably larger than the DQ - I was ready. I pulled in and immediately noticed that there were no cars in the parking lot. Then I noted that the chairs were stacked on the tables. Then I noticed that the drive thru menu had plywood covering it. OH. NO. The DQ was closed. I was denied. I guess it is January after all, I forget that in some places DQ is "seasonal". :( Not that it's a huge big deal, there's a DQ within walking distance from my house and about 4 others close by as well, they just aren't WV DQs.

The rest of the trip home was uneventful. It's a nice drive and a quick drive, even with all my stopping I was able to get home in under 4 hours. I didn't have to sit at one traffic light until I got back to Prince William County. I didn't have to sit in bumper to bumper traffic until I got to Prince William County. I didn't see any Wal-Marts or Starbucks until I got to Front Royal. Which lead me to a new "You Might be a Redneck if...":

You might be a redneck if the nearest Wal-mart requires an overnight stay. In your pop-up trailer. In the Wal-mart parking lot.

Overall it was a great little trip! I can't wait to go back and check out things I missed - always good to leave wanting more! :)

Thanks for reading along and enjoying it with me!

Warm?

Right after I made my reservations to come to Canaan Valley I was talking with a friend of mine at school about it - she was saying that she and her husband had come out here a few years ago, so I asked "is it a nice place?" Without stopping to think she says "no". But then she qualified her answer explaining that it's like a National Park lodge - a room that is functional - you sleep in it and it's biggest plus is that it's warm.

I was sitting by the door reading my book today (the only place to just sit) and when the wind would gust snowflakes came in through the crack between the door and the door frame.

hmmmm...so much for the one plus of the room! :) *

*The rooms aren't that bad - they are definitly dated, and worn, and small and not reflective of a "resort", but they are definitly what one would expect at a West Virginia State Park - even the snow blowing in through a closed door is very West Virginia!

Snow!

The NWS was right on with today's forecast. Snow and wind and lots of it. It started snowing about 8 this morning and kept on all day. There are about 5-6 inches I think - it's blowing all around so it's hard to know how much. The wind was the real issue today though, gusting up to 50 mph - and they were big gusts, more like 3-5 min sustained winds. The temps started in the low 30s and fell to 19 through the day, with wind chill values between 10 and 0.

Here's the view from my room this morning:


The lodge is built "motel" style with each room having a door to the outside. This is very poor design on a day like today. You can't go anywhere in the lodge without going outside. Also the rest of the lodge is very poorly designed. There are no common areas where one can go to read or hang out and see outside. The main dining room does offer a view, however they were closed for lunch today in prep for the big New Years Eve bash tonight.


The picture above was taken at the same place where I took the sunset picture last night. It looked this way most of the day. It would clear up a bit as the snow showers moved through, but just as quickly it would look like this again. The building on the left is the ice skating pavilion - it's basically a pole barn.

Just beyond where I took the picture is a trail head - I'd looked at a trail map and saw that there were a number of shortish trails in this area and decided the plan for today was to explore all these trails, after all there's no such thing as bad weather, only insufficient gear right? I had all that one needed for winter hiking - pink Helly Hansen polypropylene long underwear, mismatched REI synthetic long underwear, fleece pants, fleece vest, fleece jacket, gore-tex outer wear, synthetic sock lines, synthetic sock and gore-tex lined boots, polypropylene glove liners, thick fleece lined waterproof ski gloves - I was more than prepared!

I hiked out the Deer Run Trail and came back the Abe Run Trail - it took about 2 hours and when I got back I was wiped - my cheeks were windburned, I was hot (I'd even had to unzip a few layers to cool off), and hungry. I figured I'd walked at least 4 miles. Turns out it was only maybe 3 - I think the snow/cold adds a mile! :) The wind was bearable in the woods - I hardly felt it, however once I got out in the open the wind was brutal!

Here are few pictures from my walk.....

I think the mountain in the distance, the one on the right, is where the ski area is. Apparently there were folks skiing today - the shuttle bus was going and there were people walking around in ski boots - I can't imagine! In this picture you can also see the road - there were lots of cars going in and out - the road was covered with packed snow.

There were lots of deer in the woods - most barely noticed me or cared that I was there. I did not use any zoom to take this picture - the deer even posed for me. Last night there were a lot of deer in the woods by my room and some people a few rooms down were feeding them cereal! I wonder what part of "don't feed wildlife" is confusing?

This is what most of the trail looked like - walking it in the snow was fun, probably wouldn't have been as fun without the snow!

I got back to the lodge about 12:00 and was headed to have lunch but as soon as I got into the lodge I started sweating and I ended up going back to my room to take off some layers. When I got back I discovered the dining room was closed so I had to eat lunch in the "snack bar". I was planning on going to the snack bar for dinner since dinner in the dining room was part of the New Years Eve Bash and cost $50! I knew the food would be mediocre at best so I didn't want to pay that much for it! The dining options leave a lot to be desired around here.

After lunch I decided I'd hang out and finish my book - Winter Study by Nevada Barr, the perfect book for a snowy day! I ended up going back to my room because there was no place to sit and read and watch it snow.

When I finished my book I thought I'd go ice skating so I loaded up all my layers and headed out. I'd also decided that while I was over at the lodge I'd go for a swim at the indoor pool so I put my bathing suit in my backpack.

It was entirely too cold to ice skate. The wind was whipping something fierce and the temps had dropped considerably from this morning. I headed in and hit the "Beech Club". I sat in the hot tub for about 15 mins - there wasn't much else to do, the "lap pool" really wasn't (it was about 15 yards too short to really swim laps) and there were a lot of kids playing around. So I headed back to my room for a shower. I'd tried to be careful not to get my hair wet because I knew I had to go outside to get back to my room, however the bottom got wet and it was frozen by the time I got back to my room.

About 5:30 I headed over to the snack bar to get dinner - I got a personal pizza - it was ok, but it had no sauce! Onions, green papers, cheese, and decent crust but no sauce! Did I mention that the food leaves a lot to be desired? I'm so glad I brought snacks!

I'd hoped to go snow tubing again, but it's way to cold and windy to even consider going down a hill at 30mph! So I'm hanging out in my room watching TV and maybe getting in another book read for 2008!

Hopefully the weather forecast is correct for tomorrow also and things will clear up! It's still going to be cold - highs in the 20s - but if the wind goes away and the sun comes out it will be bearable! I'm hoping to go back over to Blackwater Falls and I found a local pizza joint that looks good for lunch then after lunch I'll head back home!

Almost Heaven

A few weeks ago I decided to take a quick vacation over winter break and I decided to head West to Canaan Valley Resort in West Virginia - I was surprised that they had availability, come to find out the lodge is only about half full! Such a relief after all the traffic of DC!

I left this morning about 10 am - it was a stunning day, mild temps, not a cloud in the sky! Before I left I double checked the weather forecast - the rest of the week was slated to be clear and mildish (highs in the upper 30s/40s) both at home and in Canaan Valley.

I headed out 66 to 81 and on to Rt 55 - a nice road mostly - 2 lane but in places 4 - passing through mountains and small towns in WV. Canaan Valley's website directed me to take Rt 55 west to Harmon, WV and then go north on 32. I'd looked at the map and saw that there was another road - 72 it appeared, although the section I wanted to go on wasn't numbered - that seemed to cut off a significant chunk of the road and passed through the Dolly Sods Wilderness area - I have read a lot about this area, it's a BIG backpacker destination and I have heard that it's magnificent. I wasn't sure why that wasn't the preferred route, but I thought I'd check it out.

The turn off to the road through Dolly Sods was just past "Smoke Hole Cabins" - you know you are West Virginia! Turns out Smoke Hole Cabins is "the" tourist attraction of the area - more signs for it than South of the Border!



I quickly see why this road isn't the preferred route, and why it's not numbered on my map.....it's not WV 72 the whole way, part of the road is actually:

That would be "Forest Road 19". Unpaved. Rocky. Narrow. Hairpin turns. No guardrail. And it came complete with dire warnings:

We all know that the beginning of an adventure includes turning off the paved road so off I went! It was sunny and mild and there was no sign of snow whatsoever! Since I was "car hiking" I opened the sun roof and put the windows down - it was a bit chilly, temps in the high 30s, but I cranked the heater up!

This is the road - I was actually heading down at this point.

The scenery on the road did not disappoint! There were some spectacular views! I didn't capture as many as I would have liked - driving required my full attention and I was anxious about stopping and encountering another car, also I has no idea how long this little excursion was going to take and I didn't want to end up trying to find the resort in the dark.

The dirt on the back of my newly washed car!
After the FR ended the road improved....well by WV standards. It was paved and had a guardrail.

That is looking back on what I think was the ridge I'd been driving on.

This little guy was sitting in the middle of the road - Quail? He let me stop the car and take his picture but when I tried to get a little closer he flew off.

It wasn't far down the "improved" road when I got to rt 32 and turned off to go to the resort. It was only 2:00 so I decided it was too early to check in and headed out to Blackwater Falls SP. I could help but noticed that there wasn't any snow. Anywhere. This was going to put a damper on my plans to go snowshoeing tomorrow! I explored Blackwater Falls for a little while - there are a lot of little trails there that I was wanting to hike, but I thought that with snowshoeing out for tomorrow I'd come back and explore then. I'd also found another FR that cut off driving through Davis to get to Blackwater that I wanted to explore.

I couldn't really get a good veiw of the falls. They close the main view point for the falls in the winter - there are 216 steps down there and they get icy and dangerous - so I wasn't able to get very close. This is the best shot I could get - I went around and took the "gentle trail"!

About 3:00 I headed out from Blackwater Falls and back up 32 toward Canaan Valley. I stopped at the Canaan Valley Wildlife refuge to get a map of more little trails I could walk tomorrow, and found one that was just a 1/4 mile so explored it.....

You can really see how flat the valley is!

After exploring the little trail I headed over to the ski area to see what what was going on there. I knew I wanted to try snow tubing so I wanted to get tickets and stuff. They had 2 sessions left for tubing - 4:30-6:30 and 7-9 - I took the 7-9 so I could get checked in at the lodge and get some dinner and stuff.

I ended up having a lot time to kill! I wandered around the lodge and got some pictures of the valley from the backside of the lodge. Again, I'm amazed by how flat it is! I guess it is the "valley".

I then went over to the ski area. I found a little bar & grill and had a ridiculously over priced chicken sandwich and read my book until it was time for tubing!

Snow tubing is a lot of fun! It's like sledding on steroids.

On the left of the picture you can see the tow rope - you get your tube and it had a "leash" on it with a ring, the tow operator hooks your ring on to a little bar and you sit down on the tube (lazy river style) and ride up the hill. At the top they have carved out a little hill so the tube slides right down off the tow rope and you get to go for a little ride. You then pick your run - there are 4 and each have their own personality - and lay down on your tube and go flying head first down the hill. That's right, head first. The guy in charge said! I can't believe that it's safer that way! You go fast. Really really really fast.

"Luckily" at the end there's a "run away tube ramp" with a "padded" mat.


When you get going really fast you slam into the mat at a very high rate of speed, such as the person in the picture below.....(he's on the right, the tube is upside down...). This does not feel good.
On my 2nd run down the hill I went careening into the mat and after that quickly learned how to better control my tube. If I drug my feet I went a little slower. If I slid off the tub just as it was going up the run away ramp I slowed down a bit. If I raised my head up on my elbows it was even better. I'm not sure this is an entirely "adult" sport. The ironic thing is that it's all about weight - the heavier you are the faster you go. I was actively trying to avoid slamming into the mat, yet there were a number of lightweight kids who would have done anything to get that far, they just weren't heavy enough. There were a number of guys who were slamming in every time, on purpose - they were all entirely too old for that and I bet they won't be able to move in the morning!

Once I learned to to control the tube a bit more it was really fun! I stayed until almost the bitter end! I'm considering going back tomorrow night (not much night life at Canaan Valley, despite there being very few people everywhere, the night snow tubing session was packed!).

Tomorrow will get interesting. When I got online the 1st thing I checked was the weather. It's going to snow. 90% chance. 2-4 or 3-5 inches, they aren't sure....then after it snows it's going to be windy and blow all over! It's supposed to clear up by Thurs so I should be able to head home (obviously not through Dolly Sods again), but I might be stuck at the resort tomorrow! So much for walking at Blackwater Falls! There are lots of trails here as well as ice skating and a pool. If the roads aren't too bad I can get to the ski area pretty easy for more snow tubing!

Pictures from Christmas

Got these up in the wrong order - always forget that blogger puts them in reverse order so you have to upload the last pic 1st! Then I accidentally deleted a few.... Aggghhh....

This picture reminds me of the one with Maggi (my great-grandmother - my grandma's (pictured) mother) and the split leaf!