Maine - Day 2, Part 2 - Silent Night

Scroll down and read the post from Friday 1st to get the whole story!

Last night after my computer battery died I began preparing for bed. I turned off the light and headed back to the bedroom (maybe later today I'll take some pics of the interior of the RV and give you all a "tour"!), I flipped on the little light above the bed and it was working but dim. I then noticed the refrigerator had a "C" in the display....hmmmm...that wasn't right. Using my flashlight I dug out the owners manual. The "C" was a fault code for "not enough electricity". Then I started worrying - the fridge runs on LP gas (propane) and if the fridge isn't working, is the LP gas leaking? There is an "LP gas alert" monitor, but what if it runs on the battery too? Which means if there was a leak it wouldn't go off? So since it was only 10:30 I decided to call mom and dad.

I have no coverage at the campground, and my phone only had a partial charge anyway so I didn't want to use it all up. There was a pay phone by the bus stop so I put on shoes and got my wallet and my phone and a flashlight and headed out there. I was able to put the call on my credit card and mom and dad hadn't quite gotten to bed yet. Dad assured me there was no safety issue (other than for my ice cream sandwiches which by that point were closer to "cream") but that the main battery was likely totally shot since it won't hold it's charge and I needed to call the rental people and they needed to fix it. This, right here, if why I don't have a MH of my own!!!!!

As I was walked away from the phone I tried to turn my flashlight on. It wouldn't come on. In keeping with what appeared to the be theme of the evening, the batteries were dead. Luckily I remembered a few landmarks to get me back to my RV and I knew exactly where I had extra AA batteries. It was quite dark in the campground but my eyes adjusted quickly. I was amazed by how quiet it was. Only the sound of the wind! I could faintly hear the ocean crashing, but that was it.

I got back and replaced the flashlight batteries (I walked to the bathhouse to use their light) and all was well.

I sleep with a sound machine for white noise. I'm not sure I have slept without it on for years. I brought it with me, but it is non-functional - the light comes on but no sound comes out. No big deal, I have an app for that! :-) Yeah, well when your phone only has a partial charge and it's your only clock you don't want to risk running it down using your sound machine. So I attempted to sleep in silence.

It was really a very pleasent evening. I had the windows open and the breeze was very pleasant. I did fall alseep, only to wake up to rain at 2:30 am. Amazing the different sounds rain can make on the roof of an RV. It rained the rest of the night and that helped - was like the sound machine! I woke up at 8 and got moving.

I got all packed up and headed back to the pay phone and called Rene and told him the problem, he's working on a solution.

I'm now hanging out at a lovely internet cafe! I'm charging the computer and the phone and blogging! I posted all the pics from the last 2 days. They have yummy crossiosants and strong coffee! I'll def be back here! :-)

Maine - Day 2 Camden Hills, Acadia, Cadillac Mt

I woke up at 4 am and looked out my window – the sky was getting light and I could tell the sun was coming up! I dozed a little until about 5 and by then the sun was up! It was pretty cool to watch the sun come up from my bed! Then I rolled over and went back to sleep for 2 more hours!

As I sat down to eat my cereal I clicked the phone on and there was a message from Diane at Leisure Maine, Rene wanted to know if I would stop by on my way to Bar Harbor because he wanted to check over my RV to be sure that I wasn’t going to have any more problems. I agreed that it would be a good idea for him to check things over so said I’d come through on my way. He told me a back way to get to their place since there was a Blues Festival in Rockland and traffic was going to be bad – every road around here is only 2 lanes! It worked out for the best since I was going to have to back through Rockland anyway, I could get out without dealing with all the traffic!

Rene looked things over and declared her Road Ready. We refilled the water tank and dumped – which was good because the directions I’d gotten for dumping were wrong – Rene ended up crawling under the RV to figure out how exactly to dump it.

By 10 am I was on my way to Acadia! I’d decided I was going to stop at Camden Hills State Park to drive up the road to Mt. Battie and check out the view. Very impressive on a nice day like today! Mt. Battie over looks Camden Harbor and Camden – check the pictures!

It was about 11:30 when I was back in the RV ready to head on, I had a quick snack and then started driving. It was a nice drive up Rt 1. The same Rt 1 that runs by my school, but a very different environment!

I got to Ellsworth about 1 and stopped in the Hannaford’s there to pickup the stuff I forgot yesterday.

From there it was 20 miles to Acadia! When I got here I went to the Visitor Center, but there wasn’t much there. Then I decided to drive up Cadillac Mt since it was so nice today and there is rain in the forecast!

Cadillac Mt is the tallest point on the entire Eastern Seaboard! I can’t remember exactly how tall it is – 1,500 something…so small by “Mountain” standards, but the tallest that is directly on the ocean. I took a whole bunches of pictures so be sure to check the album! It was very windy and chilly at the top!

After the mountain I made my way to the campground. I had made a reservation for 7 nights at the Blackwoods campground right in Acadia. I got a lovely pull through spot and got all “parked up”. Had a hard time getting it level, and had to use a club soda bottle as a level, but it’s pretty good. Not sure I’m going to be able to stay here though, more on that in a minute.

The campground is everything you expect from a NPS campground – clean, quiet, woodsy! It’s very nice!

After I got set up I went out to catch the bus. Acadia has an amazing bus system – similar to Denali’s but more complex (there’s only 1 road in Denali!) I think the bus system is fairly new. The busses run on propane and were made possible by LL Bean, a fact that is mentioned any chance they get! The busses all say LL Bean right on them, the drivers wear polo shirts that say LL Bean on the sleeve (wonder if they are actually LL Bean shirts?). All the literature about the busses has LL Bean in big letters. I’m surprised they don’t have a stack of catalogs for you to look at while you are riding! There is a bus that goes directly from Blackwoods to The Village Green in Bar Harbor which is really nice!

I went into Bar Harbor to find the internet café and to find something for dinner. Bar Harbor is like Gatlinburg TN meets Jackson WY – tourist trapy/t-shirt shop/junk stores, but a little bit classier (not much, but a bit). It was a chilly windy evening but I got a sandwich and took it out the little park the overlooks the harbor and enjoyed the view, and did all my “online” stuff since I had good coverage. I then wandered the shops a bit before making my way back to the bus stop.

I’d found an internet café so, I returned to the RV ready to upload pics and get my blog ready for tomorrow AM – I’ll bring my computer into town with me and get stuff posted!

As I mentioned before there are no electrical hook ups here so I’m running on battery power. This morning it crossed my mind to maybe switch to a private campground so I could have a plug – since I realized how much I used the electricity last night. When I got here however I decided I liked it and would stay. Now though, I may have to move to a different campground. I have a generator but you can only use that at certain times, and I have been told that the generator doesn’t do a good job of charging the batteries, it’s just good for running anything that you plug in. If you want to charge the batteries you need to run the engine – ie driving. The RV has interior lights that run on 12 volts (reg plugs are 110 something), it also has a 12 volt plug like cars do. I have a little inverter that will turn the 12 volt plug into 110 so you can plug something in. I use it in my car all the time and I used in Alaska to charge my computer almost every night. I never had any problems with the battery in Alaska – we would camp for a few days and I never needed the generator or anything, so I was assuming that would be the same here. Before I left for Bar Harbor I plugged my camera battery into the inverter to charge – it only takes about 20 mins to charge and it’s not a huge draw on the battery. When I returned I turned on some lights – had them on for about 30 mins – and traded my camera battery for my phone on the inverter. I checked the battery charge on the MH – and it said “recharge”!!!!!! YIKES!!!! I ran the MH, just let it idle, for a few mins, but didn’t want to fill the air with exhaust so turned it off. I turned off all the lights except for 1 and got my phone mostly charged – I hope it’s enough to power the white noise all night. I did realize that the slide out operates on the battery as does the “electric” bed which I decided to test out (not a smart move! I forgot about the battery thing…didn’t think about how it was getting it’s power.

My laptop is about to die too…I guess it’s time to go to bed with a book and a flashlight….I am camping after all! J

Maine Day 2 - Cadillac

Maine Day 1 - Travel

The alarm went off at 4am. It was early but I was ready to go! I got up and finished my last minute packing and was out the door by 5:15. I expected to encounter traffic since it was a weekday morning so I was very pleasantly surprised when there was none and I arrived at the airport at 6:00! I was unable to check in at the curb so had to drag my bag to long term parking and onto the bus and into the airport to wait in line. The good news was that I was pretty sure it weighed less than 50lbs which was the size limit for Cape Air. I zipped right through security and was at the gate at 7 am.

The flight to Boston was uneventful. Shorter than I anticipated. I was just getting settled in and the pilot announced that we’d begun out descent!

In Boston I ended up having to go to the ticket desk and then back through security – a minor frustration because I’d repacked things after clearing security.

I grabbed some lunch – despite it only being 10:30 – and enjoyed watching the airplanes land, then made my way over to the gate. I was able to get a front row view of them prepping the planes.

Cape Air flies small little Cessna 402s – they seat 9 people. It was fun watching the flight crew – many of whom were as tall or taller than the planes – stow baggage in the wings and front compartment. I watched them put my bag on the plane! (this is where is helps having a very large very purple bag!) Watching people getting off the planes was like watch a clown car – hard to believe they fit that many people in there!

There were only 6 of us on my flight. I was the 2^nd one on so I got to sit right behind the pilot! Practically in his lap! I’m sure I bumped his next with my bookmark a few times! There was barely any room! I had my book with me but that was all I could have carried on. I wish I’d been 1^st on though because then I could have sat in the “passenger seat” and had a better view of the flight operations.

The Cape Air planes share the same runway with the big guys! As we were taxiing for take off there was a giant American Airlines jet in front of us. We could have driving our plane under it!

Take off was really fun – I basically had a pilots eye view! It was a crystal clear day and you could see for miles! It was pretty amazing! The flight took about an hour and while you could see land the whole time we were mostly over the Atlantic. Flying over the coast of Maine is very cool! There are islands and boats and all kinds of stuff to look at!

The landing was almost as cool as the take off! We taxied to the “terminal” and then unloaded. We claimed our “wing” check luggage as we de-planed, but we were told that we had to get checked luggage by the curb. So we walked through the airport – basically a trailer – and outside there was a wooden window in the fence that the used to put our checked luggage on as she pulled it from the nose compartment! It seemed a little silly, why we could have just claimed it planeside but whatever!

I called for a taxi then sat in front of the terminal trailer to wait. It only took a few minutes. The taxi driver said that he is usually waiting whenever a plane arrives but we got in early. He was a great guy – we chatted it up the whole way to Leisure Maine.

When we pulled into Leisure Maine they had the welcoming party ready! Bruce, one of the 3 main employees greeted me by name and we put my luggage right into my motorhome.

We went inside the office – which I think used to be a house, it’s a family run business – and I got to meet Diane finally! She and I have been emailing since May and it was great to put a name with the emails! She was so nice, like my new best friend! Both Bruce and Diane were very anxious to do whatever I needed to make my trip good and Diane even gave me an extra special map that she doesn’t get too many of because it was the only one that had my campground on it!

Bruce and I did the paperwork and talked about the RV I was getting – he was just thrilled that I knew what I was doing, mostly, more than most folks anyway! They rent many different models of RV so they made their own training DVDs that are unique to the individual RV! I watched that in the RV which was perfect because for some of the stuff I could go look at it when they were telling me about it.

The RV is great! It’s a bit longer than the one I had in Alaska but it’s nicer. It’s got a little slide out and two twin beds in the back. It has a couch that folds out into a bed but it faces the door so when you sit at the couch you can see out.

Like all RVs it has quirks – we discovered that the grey tank (sink/shower water) has a pump to dump it, just press a button, but the black (toilet) does not. In order to start the generator I have to have the engine running because the battery wasn’t giving it enough umph.

Finally about 4:00 I’d finished all my “motor home school” stuff and paper work and I was set to go. My 1^st stop was Hannaford’s Supermarket. It had a nice big parking lot and I could park away from everyone – I take up 2 parking spaces! When I got in though I was so hungry and thirsty I just couldn’t think straight. I was also anxious to get to the campground so I wasn’t terribly productive. Spent $70, but still don’t really have “food”. Hard to figure out what I can get since many things involve buying large packages of things and using just a little. I got some “uncrustables” and “bagelfuls” – frozen thaw and eat sandwiches, and cereal and milk, and some snacks so I didn’t do too bad!

Next I had to navigate my way thought Rockland. This is practice for tomorrow because I’ll be driving up the coast and encountering many small towns. It wasn’t so bad. I’m glad I have driven an RV before! It was only a short way to my campground for the night – The Lobster Buoy.

The campground is right on the Atlantic so my 1^st item of business was to go for a swim. Well, it was low tide and the beach was mostly large seaweed covered rocks! I walked down the beach and back and then made my way down to the water and wadded it. I ultimately wadded in to about my waist – the bottom interestingly enough was sand/mud, the shore is all rocky! They said that it’s the Atlantic, but it’s very calm. Nothing at all like the surf that pounds the beaches in Ocean City or Virginia Beach.

I already had some mechanical trouble! Before I went to the beach I turned the water pump on so I could use the water to flush the toilet and I noticed that the water pump was running even when I turned the water off. It’s supposed to be “on demand” and only run when water is running. I wasn’t sure if it was a difference between this RV and other RVs or what. I switched the pump off and continued settling in. It was very quiet and I heard water dripping. I went to investigate. There was a cascade of water flowing from a panel right by the door. I’d been told I didn’t need to worry about that panel so I wasn’t sure what was going on. It was right behind the sink so I investigated inside the RV, no water on the floor. I called the Leisure Maine people (they’d told me over and over that if there was any problem I should call day or night!) and talked to one of the owners. It took me a minute or two to explain what exactly was going on and at one point I was on my hands and knees crawling under the RV – of course I’m on a grassy site and it’s been raining the last 3 weeks and I was wearing my “good” pants! Turns out the hot water heater hadn’t been “un-winterized” because believe it or not I’m the first one to rent this RV this summer! Rene talked me though that and we got it all fixed up! While I was on the phone with him the man in the campsite next to me came to tell me water was flowing from my outdoor shower! It had been left in the “on” position (presumably when they blew out the lines to keep them from freezing”. So, 2/3 of my on-board fresh water flowed out of RV this afternoon. Into the already saturated ground. I’m hoping I can get out tomorrow AM! There are a lot of very helpful seasoned RVers in the campground so I’m sure I’ll manage! Luckily I have a water hookup here so I can fill up in the AM before I leave!

Blogger won't embed the album this morning...click here (you might have to paste it), or click on the album above and it should take you to my Picasa where you can look at both:

http://picasaweb.google.com/purpleplaytapus/MaineDay1?feat=directlink

The "Maine" Event!

Tomorrow is the big day! I'm going to Maine! For 2 weeks!

I have rented a small - 24 ft - RV and am spending 2 weeks camping, driving, hiking, biking, kayaking, and exploring in Maine!

When I made my plane reservations I picked the 8:25 flight from Dulles to Boston because I thought it would be nice to not have to get up before dawn to leave for the airport. Then I realized I was leaving on a weekday! Aghhh!!! The alarm is set for 4 am. The plan is to be out of the house between 5 and 5:30 am to make it to the airport by 7.

The adventure will truly begin in Boston. I'm picking up my motorhome in Rockland, Maine - it's on the coast about 1/2 way between Portland and Acadia NP. The best way to get to Rockland is to fly Cape Air. Anyone remember the 1980's/90's sitcom Wings? Cape Air is just like that! The plan I'll be flying on from Boston holds 9 passengers. That's right, 9! The gal I talked to this morning said that it's like a sightseeing trip on a clear day, which tomorrow promises to be! :-)

The first item of business will be to pick up my motorhome and after that I'll be traveling a few miles down the road to what sounds like a lovely campground - they have their own private swimming beach right on the Atlantic! I'll also need to go to the local grocery store to stock up on snacks, drinks and meals!

Saturday I'll be heading to Acadia NP! I'll be in Acadia the whole first week! I already have reservations for 2 days. One a Ranger lead boat trip to an uninhabited island where we will take a 2 mile hike before returning. The other a 4 hour kayak trip! One of the other days I'll rent a bike and ride around on the carriage trails. Acadia also has a "Senior Ranger" program - like the Junior Ranger stuff for kids, but for grown ups! I'll have to check that out. I also read something about an Earth Cache - it's like Geo Cache but you don't actually find an object. I hope my phone has enough coverage to use my google maps so I can try that out! There are also over 100 miles of trails, tide pools, ranger programs, and other stuff to explore!

After my time in Acadia I'm heading out to the Mountains! I found a campground near Andover that sounds like heaven. They have their own lake, they rent kayaks and canoes, they have a pontoon boat that they take people out on for sunset cruises to look for moose! I'm going to be taking some day trips to Grafton Notch State park to hike a few miles of the Appalachian Trail that goes through the park. I might even go into New Hampshire to see Mt. Washington.

At the end of the trip I'll head back to civilization and spend a couple days in the Freeport area! I have to visit the Original LL Bean store! Seems a bit silly to go to the outfitter at the end of a "play outside" vacation, but that's the way it worked out!

I'm planning to blog frequently, however I'm not traveling with my parents so I don't have the mobile "hot spot". Too bad AT&T doesn't support tethering my iPhone to my computer so I could use it's connection! Maybe I'll blog from my phone depending on the connection! I'm sure that I'll be able to find free wi-fi, might have to eat a lot of McDonald's! Even if I can't blog I'll be able to post to Facebook and Twitter as long as I have voice coverage on my phone!

Be sure to check out the video I posted below to get us all in the mood for a road trip! :-)

National Lampoon's Vacation Video

Let's get ready for a Road Trip! :-) YIPPEEE!!!!

A Near Perfect Day!

Yesterday I drove out to Shenandoah to test some new gear I'd gotten at REI last week and to gather "artifacts" for my Shenandoah National Park decoupage table I'm working on (more on that in another post, hopefully I'll have it done before my trip!).

It was a bright sunny morning, although a bit humid and icky when I left home. I left home about 10 am and arrived at Swift Run Gap (the closest entrance to the southern district of the park) at about Noon! I was very happy (and surprised) because I thought it was a solid 3 hours just to get to the southern part of the park!

When I was at the entrance station (buying my new National Parks Pass) I could feel the cool breeze of the mountain air! As I began driving down Skyline Drive I watched the temp drop - 72, 70, 68, 66....66 was as low as it went, but still! It was so nice up there! :-)

Once in the park my 1st stop was the Loft Mt. Wayside/Gift Shop, where I scouted anything that was flat that I could decoupage to a table. I found a few things, and a new T-shirt! After my brief stop I headed down to mile marker 90 to hike to Chimney Rocks.

The PATC has a new-ish guide with hikes to Peaks and Vistas. It's a small guide, about 10 hikes total and all the hikes are relatively short. The hike to Chimney Rocks is the longest in the book at 3.4 miles roundtrip. As I started down the trail I heard something big in the brush - I couldn't exactly tell what it was as it was moving away from me - I saw a long neck, it wasn't ugly enough to be a turkey, so I'm guessing it was grouse.

Before too long the trail began heading down hill. Hmmm...this was a bit odd - I'm hiking to a peak and I'm going downhill? It was fine by me, I much prefer hiking uphill, so am happy to get the downhill out of the way 1st! Eventually the trail went back up and soon I walked out into a huge boulder field with some amazing views! I checked the guide and was surprised to see that this was not Chimney Rocks - rather it was Calvary Rocks. Chimney Rocks was another .2 miles down the trail. So I set off. I walked around some cool big rocks, then the trail opened back up to woods and I was headed steadily downhill. hmm....I was pretty sure I'd walked more that .2 miles so I turned around and headed back. The book was a big vague on where Chimney Rocks was exactly and I never did find it. I just went back and enjoyed Calvary Rocks.

I was sitting on a rock, on the top of this mountain, having a snack and my phone (which was buried in my pack, I'd forgotten I'd even had it!) went "bluurrppp" - the noise it makes when I get a text! I looked down and sure enough I had almost full coverage, voice and data! Better coverage than I have in my living room! LOL!

When I got back to the car it was only 3:30 and I decided that I could get in 1 more short hike to a peak - it was a perfect clear sunny day so def a day to take advantage of the views! I drove back to a picnic area to use the facilities - thought it was closer than it was. Then headed down to mile-marker 94 to hike up Turk Mt.

I realized that Skyline Drive is only 105 miles long and I was super close to the end. I decided to drive down to end before hiking, mostly for the bragging rights to be able to say that I'd driving every mile of Skyline Drive. I didn't make it all the way to the end, was about 2 miles shy when I turned around at the last overlook.

Turk Mt was a 2.2 mile roundtrip hike - the guidebook said it was a gradual uphill until the very end. I headed out. Oddly enough the 1st part of the trail was again, downhill. What was with these southern district summit hikes, going down to go up? I checked the book and sure enough you had to go down into the saddle of the mountain, then back up again. About 3/4 of the way down there was a view of what looked like a very large mountain, my 1st thought was, that's Turk Mt. Then I couldn't see how a "gradually uphill" trail could make it to the top of that in less than a mile - the summit is only a mile from the parking area and I'd already come prob a 1/4 mile. Well, it did! It was gradual, but the end was pretty steep. At the summit you have a climb out on the boulders to get to the view - I didn't go all the way out, but I got some good pics!

As I was crawling out onto the boulders, my phone again went "blurrpppp" - I'd gotten another text on a mountain top! This time I didn't dig it out to see how much coverage I had, I got a 3rd text as I was heading down. Amazing. Maybe I'll have as good luck with coverage in Maine? Although I was close to both Charlottesville and Waynesboro.

Back at the car I decided to drive up to Big Meadows to see if their gift shop had anything different in the way of "artifacts" for my table.

A few miles into my drive up Skyline Drive I encountered a bear. He (She?) was just walking down Skyline Drive like he belonged there (which of course he does!). I managed to get a pretty cool pic of him after he bounded into the woods.

It was 7:15 when I got to Big Meadows and the sun was sinking low in the sky and I thought that there might be a spectacular sunset. So I decided to continue north on Skyline drive to try and catch the sunset. It was looking like it was going to be pretty good there for awhile, but then right about 8:00 or so the clouds started building and by the time the sun set the horizon was ensconced in clouds and you could hardly see a thing. :-(

I did end up driving all the way to Front Royal on Skyline Drive - in an attempt to keep moving toward home while "stalking" the sunset. I saw three more bears from the car - 1 that ran in front of the car and two more in the woods that someone else saw and was stopped looking at them when I drove up so they pointed them out to me.

I finally left the park at 9:00 and headed home down 66. Took me about 3 hours to get from my house to the 1st hiking trail and 4.5 hours to get from the hike home! :-)

Be sure to check out my pictures in the album!

Shenandoah National Park 7-6-09

I <3 Janet Evanovich

I love Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum novels. In fact you could say that "heart" them! ;-)

My friend Susan got me started on Stephanie Plum a few years ago when she handed me One for the Money and commanded: "read it!" The 1st time Stephanie brought her new Bounty Hunter gun home for dinner and Grandma Mazur got ahold of it and blew the chicken right off the table I laughed out loud and I was hooked!

A few months ago Susan posted a blog about Janet's Finger-Lickin' Fifteen tour, they were only making 5 stops! What? A hugely popular author only making 5 stops? The closest one to us was in Cherry Hill, NJ so Susan was proposing a road trip. Since the date of the signing was the 1st week of Summer Vacation I quickly agreed and plans were in the works! Within a few days, Russell and Amy had decided to make the trip up to meet Leah and go to the signing with us! Let's get the party started!

We quickly decided that we needed costumes - Susan had a "Cutie-licous" onesie for Leah so it was quickly determined that she'd be Lula. Russell decided to go for Ranger, Susan decided on Connie, and Amy was going as Stephanie's Mom. I was undecided on a costume, and was thinking I'd just go as myself, but as I thought about it and realized I'd be the only one in our group not in costume, I decided to dress as Stephanie.

My plan was to wear "whatever clothes I caught as I rolled out of bed", and then fill my purse with "Bounty Hunter Gear" - a purple and clear water gun that looked more like something Marty Martian would use, 4 pairs of plastic handcuffs, and a can of Lysol that I'd covered with a print out that read "Pepper Spray" - it looked like generic food, which was appropriate because Stephanie can hardly pay her rent much less buy brand name pepper spray!

Yesterday was the big day! We met at the the commuter lot in Lake Ridge at 9 to load up and roll out. Leah, who has hated the car since birth actually slept the whole way there! We stopped once to feed/change her and she was good to go!

When we arrived in NJ I began consulting my Google Maps - or attempting to. It was hard to read while driving and I'd left it in a mode that it was hard for Russell or Susan to help with. We managed to miss an exit and so I got off the freeway at the next opportunity. We were squarely in the middle of the 'hood. It was NOT a good neighborhood. Regardless I had to pull over for a minute or two to check the map and get Russell so he could help me navigate. As I rolled to a stop I said "check your doors, make sure they are locked" and which point Susan informed us that "Locks don't stop bullets". Ok, duly noted. We hurried and figured out a plan and got moving.

As is typical in Urban areas we drove a few blocks and the neighborhood changed, for the better, a few more blocks and it was nicer still! In just a few miles we were squarely in the middle of what looked to a ritzy suburb! We quickly found the large shopping center that the Barnes and Noble was in and proceeded to drive around, and around, unable to find the Barnes and Noble. This search was complicated by the large Diet Mt. Dew I'd drunk that was now demanding to be "drained out". We finally found the Barnes and Noble and bolted to the restroom!

The next task was to purchase our books and get our wristbands with our numbers for the book signing. We were number 446-450. Not bad, considering that by the time the signing started they were over 800! It was about 12:30 and we had at least 6 hours to kill before the signing.

At one time there had been talk of going into Philadelphia for lunch and sightseeing, but our little incident in the 'hood as well as Leah's growing restlessness with the car, made me not want to attempt that. We decided that we'd head over to the Cheeburger Cheeburger we'd seen! I was very excited as my parents talk about Cheeburger Cheeburger all the time and I'd never been. The burgers were great, the fries and onion rings even better! Susan and I tag teamed Leah so she could eat and both of us could eat with 2 hands! After lunch we transformed Leah into Lula!

By now it was 3:00, we still had time to kill so we ventured over to the "Christmas Tree Shop" - which has NOTHING to do with Christmas, it's like a Big Lots/Dollar General store, but classier. A great way to kill an hour! We all found stuff we "couldn't live without". Next Susan, Leah and I headed over to Wegmans (that's right, found a Wegmans!), it was not nearly as nice as our Wegmans, definitely older and more dated. But the food was the same! Susan and I got snacks in the bakery and drinks, changed Leah and once again tag teamed the feeding so we both could enjoy! By now it was time to head over to Barnes and Noble!

We met back up with Amy and Russell and headed in! Leah, all decked out as Lula, was the center of attention! They had decorated the whole store with balloons and while Susan was chatting with someone to get one for Leah, she was told that because of Leah we could go to the front of the line - apparently they were allowing folks with "special needs" to cut! We were told to tell them that "Alex said" we could go first. Turns out the "Alex" in question was none other than Janet's daughter! WOW!

After brief wait we were in line for the big moment! Alex came by with I <3>

Janet signed my book and we posed for a picture. I told her that we'd driven up from Washington DC and she was amazed. I told her that we love her and Stephanie Plum! She was swooning over Leah, tried to get Susan to leave her with her! :-) We got a group shot and then it was time to head out!

We piled back into the car, books, babies, balloons and all! The balloons were quickly taking over the already crowded backseat so Amy and Susan used their "I <3>

We stopped at the Delaware Service Plaza to get Russell some Roy Rogers and the rest of us had some high-quality deep-fried food, got Leah fed and settled and headed down the road. We weren't on the road 5 mins when Leah began screaming like a banshee. When I say screaming, I mean SCREAMING. Holy smokes. She had had it with the car and she was letting us know.

We pulled over at Chesapeake House so Susan could walk her and try and settle her. The rest of us took this opportunity to go to the bathroom and satisfy any other needs knowing that once Leah settled we weren't stopping again.

Susan mentioned that at home she has a sound machine with a "heartbeat" setting that always seems to soothe Leah and asked if I had something like that on my iPhone. A quick search of the app store produced "Baby Soothe" - it was 99 cents and had a "heartbeat" setting. I quickly downloaded it, I'd thought we could stick my phone in the car seat with Leah so she could hear it. Well, for some reason you couldn't hear it through the speaker, so I decided to plug the phone into the car speakers. Instantly the car was filled with the "bump-bump-bump" sound a steady heartbeat. Susan quickly noted that it was like being stalked by the tell-tale-heart. We all busted out laughing. It occurred to me this must be what the womb sounds like and I quickly dubbed the car the "Womb-Mobile" or the "womb on wheels". By this point we were laughing so hard we were crying and Leah was strangely quiet! We buckled her into her car seat and headed down the road. She was amazingly calm the rest of the way. We didn't dare turn off the heartbeat.

Driving down the road, stuck in a womb-mobile, leads to much slap-happy-ness and many puns...first it was "name that tune" - how many "heart" songs can we come up with....Tiffany's "I Think We're Alone now" was stuck in my head...particularly the line "The beating of our hearts was the only sound" Yep, more hysterical laughter. After a few miles of silence, well other than the relentless bump-bump-bump-bump....Russell says "It's like Celine Dion always said.....My heart will go on....and on....and on....." Oh, we were laughing so hard we were crying.

By the time we reached the Wilson Bridge we'd run out of songs and resorted to other heart related puns....Susan informed us that this trip had not been "in vein"! Russell made sure to mention that she hadn't "missed a beat" - a pun that went over Susan and Amy's head for a second as I was literally laughing my butt off. We were stuck in some stopped traffic on the VA side of the Wilson Bridge - Russell suggested that we had a "blocked artery", I added that it's good thing Dr's can now "do bypass without stopping the beating heart". Luckily for us we were just waiting to merge so it was more a "clogged artery" and we were quickly on our way.

We arrived back at the commuter lot about 11:30 and finally "flat-lined" the beating heart.

It was a wonderful day with great friends! :-)

Janet Evanovich

Plant First Aide

As most of you know I have a giant split leaf plant in my living room that is a family heirloom. It was started at least 20 years ago, possibly more and got moved to my house about 6 years ago. You can see a picture of it here: http://melissaamory.blogspot.com/2008/07/take-your-houseplants-for-walk-day.html It is affectionately named Audrey, from Little Shop of Horrors, because it's so big!

Last summer my parents came up for a "fix it" weekend where they helped me with tasks that are difficult to accomplish by myself. One of the tasks was to re-pot the split leaf. We bought a ginormous pot at Home Depot - the largest one we could find, and we bought massive amounts of potting soil. It was a job for all three of us, but we managed to get Audrey out of her old pot and into her new pot without much hassle! We straightened her up a bit and tied her to a new stabilizing stick. She looked great! :-)

When we pulled the plant out of it's old pot we found a bit a "buried treasure" - in the form of about 30-40 medium sized "Barren River Rocks" - obviously placed there by my grandfather when he potted the plant 20+ years ago! This was such a surprise! We hadn't realized that Dr. Ben would have been the last one to pot the plant! He's been dead for almost 18 years now and we have pretty much uncovered all the "surprises" he left for us, except this one! Not only that but the rocks clearly came from my grandparents house on the Barren River Lake in KY - a special place for all of us that was sold a few years after my grandfather died, but that's a story for another post!

Oh and also there was the rubber part of a toilet plunger down in there. We aren't sure what he was thinking with that, but we pulled out it out too! Mom and I painstakingly washed the potting soil off the rocks and she took them to give as Christmas presents to family members! We put the toilet plunger head in the dishwasher to clean it up - royally confused (and grossed out) my cleaning lady a week later! LOL!). We haven't done anything interesting with the plunger yet!

Getting back to the today's point.....

After the re-potting my split leaf just wasn't the same. It did nothing for weeks. I thought maybe I hadn't given it enough water after the re-potting so I gave it a ton of water. Then I decided it needed some miracle grow, and that involved more water. The plant still did nothing. Worse yet, it's bottom leaves started turning yellow. Every few weeks the leaf on the bottom would start turning yellow, then rapidly die. :-( The plant was growing new "viny"* things - so that was giving me hope that all was not lost. But it was still not doing anything. I'd pretty much stopped watering it because the soil on top was constantly wet, I figured when it dried out I'd give it a drink.

My mom has a big split leaf at her house and we had accidentally over watered it when they were out of town and my uncle siphoned off a bunch of water and that helped it so mom suggested I try that. Considering that it's been almost a year since we re-potted, and it's not gotten better, I decided it was worth a try.

Last Sunday I got a trowel and an extra pot from the deck to put the dirt in and dug a hole in the side of the pot, trying to get to the bottom to see what was down there. I stuck my hand down there and there was a HUGE puddle of water!

I decided I needed to siphon it out. The only thing I had that was a tube was the drinking tube of my platypus hydration system for hiking. Ok, I thought, I'll just buy myself a new one before my trip, the one I had was getting worn out anyway! So I went to get it, only it wasn't in the 6 places where it "might" be. A full house search began. About 30 minutes later I'd found the platypus and began siphoning.

The platypus tube, with the bite valve actually is great for siphoning. Easy to suck on and when the liquid gets close to your mouth you can let go and as long as your finger is over the other end the water stays in.

It was tedious, but I managed to siphon out about 24 oz of water! The dirt above the puddle was very and spongy so I left the hole open, much like a surgeon would! In order to get some air down there to get it to dry and to see if more water drained off. More water has drained off so I'm planning to suck some more out later today or tomorrow.

The bottom leaf had looked like it was about to start the death march - however it hasn't yet turned yellow - maybe I got to it in the nick of time? I hope that this has helped my plant! I'll keep you posted! :-)

*The split leaf grows "external roots" that help it stabilize itself.

Things That Made Me Happy This Weekend

☺Celebrating the adoption of Leah Katherine with friends old and new!

☺ Bowling a 124 on Friday night and for the 1st time ever, winning the game!  I also bowled 2 other games where I scored over 90!  

☺ Going to Wolftrap with friends and sitting on the lawn for Priates of Penzance.  (Even if it did get chilly and my neat sheet didn't exactly keep me warm!) 

☺Finishing a cross stitch project that I started a long time ago and then forgot about! 

☺ Star-gazing during intermission at Wolf Trap on Saturday night.  

☺2 cool thunderstorms!  Even if one was at  5 am when I really didn't want to be awake!

☺ Yummy spicy enchiladas I made for dinner tonight!

☺ Planning to go to bed early tonight to read my Nevada Barr book - I have almost read every one of her Anna Pigeon novels so it's bittersweet! 

Exclusion: Cliques and other Social Weapons

Everyone remembers middle school right? When you were either in the "cool" group and had a lot of friends or you weren't. If you weren't in the "cool" group chances are you were teased and made fun of by the "cool" group. In order to be accepted someone else had to excluded. In middle school, and even into high school to large degree, there was always the "cool" kids and the "not cool" kids. And it was always, always, in everyone's face. The cool kids always having to show off that they are a part of the "in crowd" and making the outsiders feel even more worthless than they already did. For us "non-cool" crowd there was the yearning that maybe just maybe we'd figure out the secret and get to be part of the "cool" group. No matter what though there was always that air of "we belong" and "you don't."

I thought I'd left this childishness behind. Apparently the need to accepted at the cost of someone else being excluded goes beyond middle school.

I face this issue on a daily basis at my school, which I have mostly learned to live with. I realized quickly that people who were doing the excluding weren't the people I wanted to be around anyway so I don't really even want to be included anymore. Frustrating that I still have to deal with it, but not something I lose sleep over anymore.

Recently though this "cliqueness" has seeped into my outside of school social life.

About 10 months ago I discovered a boardgames group on Meetup.com. Meetup.com is a great site to find groups of all interests and topics all over the country! It's a great way to meet people and make friends. In Decemember I started attending the board games meetups regularly, and was having a lot of fun!

Naturally, with a large group of people, friendships will form that go beyond the group. This is to be expected. I would also expect that as people get to know each other they would exchange contact info or friend each other on facebook or start twittering each other or whatever. It would also not be uncommon for several members of the group to get together on their own, and that those meetings would not be made public for the whole group. Totally understandable. Some people have created a deeper bond than others, this is OK. This is part of making friends and being social. Not everyone is going to like everyone else, it's a fact of life.

Imagine my surprise about a week ago when I discovered (not even sure how anymore) that there was a new meetup group that several folks who I consider my friends had joined. A private meetup group. Invite only. The name of the group: The Clique. From the public part of the profile:

From Wikipedia: A clique is an exclusive group of people who share interests, views, purposes. Cliques tend to form within the boundaries of a larger group where opportunities to interact are great.

I have no idea what this group is all about. I have no idea what they do. All I know is the name and that there are several folks who I believed to my friends who are a part.

Obviously I was not invited to be a part of this group.

But that is not what has me so worked up. Yes, I am feeling betrayed by people who I'm friends with. Yes, I'm questioning what is wrong with me and obsessing over every little thing I might have done "wrong". But, bottom line is that not everyone is going to like me, regardless of how much I like them. And like, I have discovered at school, if the people who are in this group feel that they need to exclude others then that's fine with me. I don't want to be a part of the group. I'm not sure I'd want to be in the group even if I'd been invited. I'm not into being accepted at the expense of someone being blatently excluded.

What has me so outraged is the publicness of this - there are tons of private ways of getting a group together, yet the organizer for this group chose to do it in a way that clearly alienates people. That's what irkes me. If you want to get together with a select group of people, fine! Send an evite, email, text, snail mail, whatever, but don't wave it around in the faces of the people who, for whatever reason, you don't want there.

I know I shouldn't let these things get to me. But they do.

PS: Don't have time tonight for the "other social weapons" - another post on another day!

Trillium! Trillium! Trillium!

For years now I have wanted to go see the Trillium out in the Thompson WMA - supposedly it's the largest concentration of Trillium in the Northern Hemisphere! Rumor has it that there are over 18 million trillium in this area. Every year all the hiking clubs have hikes out there. Supposedly it's a sight to see. I wanted to see it. The problem is that trillium peak in late April/early May. The same time that the tree pollen peaks. This year the pollen has been a lot better, not sure if it's because we have had a lot of well timed rain, or because I no longer live with an allergy producing dog, or if the allergy shots are finally helping. Whatever it is, I don't care, because it's May and I can go outside without feeling miserable! :-)

So today I decide to head out to see the trillium, or whats left of them. I was pretty sure that the trillium would be past their peak, but I remember seeing trillium in SNP last Memorial Day so I didn't think we'd be too far past the peak.

Before I go any further, I'm sure many of you are wondering, What's a trillium? Contrary to what folks might have posted on my Facebook page, they are not large game, and they are not eaten, rather they are wildflowers! They are pretty cool flowers, they have three petals and three leaves (hence the TRI). I have seen a few in SNP - usually one or two at a time, and they are a special sighting. I was anxious to see what millions of them look like! Here's a pic of the best one that I found:

The weather forecast or today called for thunderstorms, but it was mostly for the evening, and while it was cloudy and dreary earlier in the day the sun had come out and I thought it would be a great afternoon to make the trek to Linden and see what's left, or at the very least scout out where to go next year!

I left here at 1:30 and drove the hour out to the WMA in sunshine! I was about 3 miles from the exit off 66 when I saw the dark clouds off to the west. It was still sunny where I was so I pressed on. I found the parking area very easily, everything was very well marked!

I found the parking area I wanted - luckily the Appalachian Trail runs right through the WMA and have a wonderful PATC topo map for the area! As soon as I stepped out of the car I saw about 10 trillium! WOW! All were turning pink, indicating that they were past their peak, but there they were!

Trillium are usually white, however the white color comes from a pigment similar to chlorophyll and when the season is over the chlorophyll drains away and the flower turns pink - much like how the leaves change color in the fall.

As I walked down the old road that was going to link me to the AT I saw hundreds of trillium in the woods - all in various stages of "past peak". I did find many that were still white, however the petals were damaged and they weren't very "photo friendly".

I'd been walking, well out of the car, I was taking pictures so I hadn't gotten far at all, about 5 mins when I heard a distant rumble of thunder. It was still sunny where I was, in fact there was a lovely breeze and the temperature was perfect! The humidity had strangely vanished also, so it was very pleasant out, I had no intention of going back to the car! I pressed on, bushwhacking in places to get good pics of the trillium.

I was hearing thunder about every minute, and while it was clearly a distance from me I wasn't sure if it was headed my way or not. I pulled out my iPhone. Sure enough, I had enough coverage to pull up my Weather Channel App and check the radar! (Who says technology has no place in the wilderness?) There was a huge storm but it was over by Front Royal and extended south - SNP was going to get it bad! Again, it was sunny where I was and it looked like the storm was not headed my way. I continued on.

I reached the AT and headed north. Here there were more trillium, however they were even further past their peak. I couldn't even imagine what it would have looked like a week or two ago! The rumor of 18 million trillium could be true! I wasn't even at the spot where the map had indicated there were trillium! WOW! I'm going to have to come back next year for sure!

By now, the thunder was getting louder and closer and the sky had gotten dark, I decided it was time to turn back. I had only gone less than 1/2 a mile so it didn't take long to get back to the car. By the time I was close to the car it had begun to rain. It wasn't long before it was pouring!

As I was driving back down the road I caught some glimpses of the view to the east and the clouds were pretty awesome! Big puffy clouds with blue sky and sun peaking out, right next to dark storm clouds! I could see the back edge of the storm - it looked like I could wait it out, however it was already getting late in the day and I'd accomplished the goal which was to see if the trillium were still at their peak, and to scout out where to go next year, so I headed home.

I was driving just ahead of the storm and got to watch the clouds shift and change the whole way! I set the cruise for 70mph and enjoyed the sights! Just inside of Prince William County I spotted a VA State Trooper in the median, facing me - I taped the brakes, but I knew I wasn't speeding. I nearly wet my pants when he pulled out behind me! I quickly moved over to the right lane, and he was on the shoulder - he was moving kinda slow so I didn't think he was after me. Then he moved in the right lane and on came the lights! shit!!!! I slowed way down and as soon as I hit the brakes he jumped into the left lane and zoomed past me. phew. I had no idea what I'd been doing so I didn't think he needed me! The car in front of me must have know what they were doing because they pulled over when they saw the lights!

The storm followed me home! When I got home the sky was dark grey and the clouds were were really cool! The breeze was cool and pleasant. I decided to sit on the front step and watch! My next door neighbor stepped out and he agreed that it was a lovely moment so he sat down on his step and we both watched the brewing storm! There was tons of lighting, right over the house across the street! Mike's wife and children returned home, and another neighbor stepped out to watch the storm with us. It was at that point that Mike's 8 year old said "I'm going to watch the storm from a safe place!" That's right, do as we say, not as we do! :-)

I can't wait to go back next year and see the trillium in full bloom! Until then, check out my pics in my Picasa album!

Trillium

I'm Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover!

Yesterday Andy and I went to Sky Meadows State Park for Astronomy Night 4 leaf-clover hunt.  The Northern VA Astronomy club was having a public star viewing and we were hoping to see some stars and use some cool telescopes, but the weather wasn't cooperating.  There was a thick layer of clouds over the sky, but no rain, so it was actually very nice! We were hopeful that the clouds would lift and we could enjoy the night sky, but that was not to be.  

When we arrived the 1st thing Andy did was reach down and pick a 4 leaf clover! Then as we walked over to where the Astronomy Club had set up we discovered an enormous field of clovers and of course Andy started hunting for clovers!  I joined in too and discovered that it's very addictive!  We stood in that field for over an hour and found at least 30 4 leaf clovers!  Luckily Andy had brought a small notebook with him so we carefully put the 4 leaf clovers in the book - we have plans to make bookmarks or something in the near future! 

It was pretty clear that there was nothing happening at Astronomy Day.  It was cloudy and there weren't many people there.  We finally decided that we were tired of looking down (and for me crawling on my hands and knees...all the better to see the leaves!) so we thought we'd hike up the hill to a viewpoint and enjoy the the nice afternoon!

We started hiking, but neither of us could take our eyes off the clovers!  We found a number of 4-leaf clovers on the trail!  We hiked up the hill to the bench and sat and enjoyed the view for awhile, until Andy discovered a tick crawling on him!  ewwww!!!!!  Time to head down!  

When we got back to the car we broke out the pink neat sheet and had a picnic!  Of course we were surrounded by 4-leaf clovers so,  guess what we looked for more clovers! In addition to finding 4-leaf clovers Andy also found a bunch of 5 leaf clovers! He even found a 6-leaf clover!  I took a picture of that one, but it's on my phone!  By this point the notebook was nearly full, but try as we might we could not stop looking for, and finding clovers! 

We walked back over to the Astronomy Club's set up to see what was happening and found that there was still nothing going on and the clouds were not showing signs of lifting so we headed out!  There is another stargazing night in a few weeks, we have plans to go back then, and hopefully see some stars! :-)  

Andy with a nut that looked like a pig's nose!
The Clovers!!!!  Can you find a 4-leaf one in here? 
Interspersed in with the clovers were these pretty purple flowers!  We picked a few of them too to add to our bookmarks! 
The view from where the Astronomy Club had set up.  

View from the trail. 

The dogwoods were all in bloom and they were very pretty! 
Also part of the view from the trail - the blob at the top of the picture is a gnat - they were out in force swarming around our eyes and ears! 

Dogwood!
View from the parking lot near where we had our picnic! 
Another dogwood on the trail. 
View from the bench we were sitting on. 
The bench and the tree that the ticks were falling out of! 
Andy looking for 4-leaf clovers on the walk up the hill - I think he found 6 or 7 right in this spot! 
Weeds.  

Purple Wall!

Over Spring Break I finally painted the 4th wall in my living room purple like the other three walls! I have been waiting to post before/after pictures until it was done and it took Kodak 3 weeks to get me my photo enlargments so this post has been a long time coming! 

I was nervous about painting the line that seperates the living room and the dining room because I'm not very good at the detail work.  I got out the tape and taped a line and it came out great!  While I was at it with the tape I taped the other "trim" areas and that greatly reduced the amount of paint that I got on the woodwork, the celing, and the electrical outlet! 

Similar to the other purple wall I covered this wall with photos I'd taken from other trips, including Alaska!  I really like how it came out!  

Today's Rant Brought to you in part by UVA*

*Yet another instance where Facebook was incredibly useful.

As most of you know I have been working on a Master's Degree in Reading Instruction at The University of Virginia. I have been working on this for about 4 years now and have thoroughly enjoyed my classes and learning and talking about teaching reading. Not only did I enjoy my classes, I did very well - earned all As. In every class I not only learned a whole bunch but I also knew a whole bunch - I felt like one of those kids I hated in high school, those kids who were always right and always got good grades no matter how hard they tried or didn't try.

One of the many things we learned about in the program is Word Study. I LOVE Word Study. It's basically good old fashioned phonics, but with a developmental approach - rather than the whole class learning the same thing at the same time like it was when we were in school you divide the kids into groups and teach them only what they need to know and are ready to understand. Not earth shattering, but a shift from the whole language (read to them and they will learn to read) approach of the 80s/90s. Anyway, Word Study is my "thing" - I quickly adopted the approach for my own classroom and took the initiative to learn everything I could about it!

Over the summer I tutored a 6th grade student as a part of my graduate program - he was working at a much higher level of word study than I was accustomed to working with. He was ready to learn about meaning units of the words and cool stuff like that. I didn't really know what I was doing, but like a good teacher/student I figured it out. I read up, I asked questions, I did research, I tested techniques and tweaked things to make it work. I didn't know what I needed, but I knew where to find out and how to learn it.

In December I took the Comprehensive Exam of everything I learned in the program. The test is 4 questions - each about a different area that we had learned about. You must answer each question in 3 double spaced pages or less, over 3 pages and it doesn't get read. The test is a closed book take home test, you pledge it with UVA's Honor Code and UVA takes their honor very seriously, you get caught cheating and you get kicked out.

One of the questions is about word study. I read over the question, confident that I knew the answer and saved it for the end, Word Study after all is my strong subject. I did the best I could with the question, it was a big question - I could have gone on for 10 pages and still left stuff out - so I didn't worry too much about the 1, the only thing that I'm not so strong on with word study - I knew the other points in my answer were good and I did the best I could on my own without going upstairs and getting the book (no one ever would have known, I'm too honest!) and looking up the parts I didn't know.

You can imagine my surprise a few weeks later when my advisor called to inform me that I had failed the word study question. That's right failed the question that I thought was the strongest. WTF????? That one little thing I didn't know, turns out that was the piece they were looking for. Never mind that in real life I could look it up. Never mind that I got the "meat and potatoes" of Word Study. Never mind that it was proof that I hadn't cheated (I'm sure there are folks who did look that part up, they are home free, while I'm stuck failing because I was honest).

It was not a huge big deal, I can retake just the Word Study question in the Spring. I'm pissed as all get out, but whatever, I'll read up and try again.

I realized last week that I knew the comps were coming up soon but I hadn't heard from my advisor - I'd ran into her back in Feb and she'd asked me to e-mail her, which I did, but I never heard back. So I fire off an e-mail to her last week, she responded and just needed my UVA e-mail to put me into a Blackboard site - didn't answer my question or anything! I gave her my UVA e-mail, but explained that it wasn't working for some reason (that's another rant) so could she please use my aol address to get in touch with me, because I really didn't want to have to deal with fixing it just for this (I'm done after I do the comps which I'm already steamed about having to do). In my last e-mail I asked directly: When are the comps? I never heard anything else from her.

This afternoon I logged into Facebook and one of my friends who is a semester behind me in the program had posted as her status: Comps are this Sat. WHAT????????

When I got home I placed an angry phone call to my advisor and sent her an angry e-mail both demanding she call me ASAP and explain why I hadn't heard that comps were this Sat.

She called me, baffled as to why I was so pissed off, and explained that she'd sent a whole bunch of e-mails - none of which I'd received. She blamed my e-mail for being "messed up". I have now explained that she must use my aol or fcps addresses - she is supposed to e-mail me the test Fri night, here's hoping it comes.

So, this Saturday I will be taking the Word Study portion of the comps 1 more time. Here's hoping I get it right this time!

A Very Special Easter

In my previous post I told you all about my friends Susan and Michael and their adoption, well, in the last month much has happened! First of all, about two weeks ago we learned that the baby was in fact not a boy!!!!! That's right George Henry is actually Leah Katherine!

Leah Katherine was born on Wednesday April 8 at 3:53 AM! Susan and Michael have to stay in MD until the courts process the adoption and today I got to go up and visit them and meet "The Cupcake" or "The Angel" as she has been nicknamed!

This was truly an extra special way to spend Easter - with my dear friends who are now parents thanks to a truly unselfish act! Adoption is just plain amazing and "B" as we have come to know the birthmom as is a true hero in my book! Thank you B for making the choice that you did and bringing this wonderful family together! :-)

I know you all want to see pictures - I took close to 30 today of Leah and her cousin Dottie, but am only posting 5, and right now it's the "Leah Show"!

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! :-)