Happy Birthday To My Awesome Husband


Today is my husband's Birthday. He is the big 40. I'm not sure he's all that happy about it, but hey what can you do. Time marches on. I hope he has the best birthday ever. He's the best. It's really hard in life to find the perfect match for yourself, one that complements you. Well I've been lucky enough to have found that someone that I can grow old together with very happily.

Now we don't have anything that exciting planned, but yesterday we went to one of our favorite restaurants Not Your Average Joe's and had a wonderful linner with no children. The girls are cute, but it's always nice to get away by ourselves. We then went and got him some new shoes which he desperately needed. Then came back and got to watch what we wanted to see on the TV. That in itself is a miracle.

Today I think we'll go out to lunch and get him his favorite cake which is a Carvel Ice Cream cake. Those are the best. Yum. Well I hope he has a great birthday and I love him very much.

Kennedy Space Center - Titusville, FL - Part 2

The last post I put up a bunch of pics from our trip to Kennedy Space Center.  Those pictures were all indoor shots.  I had a few shots that were outdoors as well, so I thought I should add these as well.

Once again ... this is just a cool place to visit.  There's so much to do and see.



 

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

 


It's cool to be here during the launch process.  Every single launch brings tons and tons of tourists pouring into the area hoping to see the lift off.  We talked with people from Europe and Canada.  And there were families from Japan as well.   Plus, all the weird, local Floridians hoping to catch the launch.  It's really a neat experience.  Almost like being part of the Super Bowl, or the Olympics, or something lots of people never get to experience. 

Finally, you'll notice some fuel cells in one of the pictures near the top.  There are two long white tanks on the sides of a large orange/brown tank.  This article talks about why those white shuttle launch fuels cells ended up being the size that they are.  (Thanks Rob for this interesting read!)

Crazy Winter Wind Storm

Well I guess you realized I had no post yesterday and I didn't do any drops. I'm sorry about that, but it was totally out of my control. We lost power and Internet on Thursday night around 11:00pm. That's when two very large trees decided to fall onto the power lined on the main street that my street is off of. We heard the crazy wind all night and honestly it was like nothing we had ever heard before. When we woke my husband wondered if the kids had school. Well the only access we had was with our cell phones so I called my mother and she said there is no school any where except the town where my kids go to school. It figured. I should mention that they go to school in a different town then we live in. The city we live in had no school with good reason.

I got the girls up and told them to get ready. We are very lucky to have a generator so some of our items were working. Our mailbox was in the middle of the road so my husband went out to fix it. That's when our neighbor across the street told us there was no way out. Our street was completely blocked in and there were power lines everywhere. It was a mess. One of the trees was a massive pine tree that got totally uprooted. So we were trapped. I called the kids school and told them we couldn't get there. They said no problem we weren't the only ones. My husband was trapped as well and he needs the Internet for his work so it was quite a problem. He needed to get to work. Well about 1:30 in the afternoon he was finally able to get out. There was no point taking the girls to school as the day was over so that was that.

They worked on those trees and power lines until they got them working around 11:30pm which really wasn't bad considering there are so many others who will be out of power for days. We were one of the lucky ones. They really weren't predicting this storm to be so devastating. It's just the winds became hurricane winds. It was scary. I'm glad it's over and we're up and running. I hope that they get others in the area up as quickly as possible. Many of my relatives are still without power and have had to relocate because they have kids. It's such a pain put luckily no one was hurt. That's the most important thing.

Kennedy Space Center Weekend

As you may have noticed, we reached the east coast for a great weekend with Chris' folks.  While we were there, we made it back to the Kennedy Space Center.

The last time we were there, was about 4-5 years ago.  The girls were much younger.  So young, in fact, that while we were there we didn't get to watch any of the IMAX movies.  Why?  Well, because Kaitlyn absolutely freaked out when we went into the first one.  So we had to leave without watching it.

Unfortunately, that meant we missed out on a couple of the coolest pieces of U.S. history.  Additionally, we were never able to take the bus tour around the complex last time we were there.

So ... finally, we got to experience the entire thing.  And man is it cool.  The other great thing about Kennedy Space Center is that they allow you to come back for a second day free, when you purchase your one day pass.  And it's a good thing.  In my opinion it takes about 2 days to see everything entirely.

Anyhow ...

I wanted to share some of the pics we took while we were there.    If you ever get the chance, this is a place you should definitely visit.  It's pretty cool.

These pictures are all of the inside photos.  I'll put up the outside shots in a day or two, when I've had a chance to go through them a bit.  You even get to see a picture of Chris' Dad - David. 

 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


One last note ...

About 5 pictures from the bottom, you'll see an international space station bathroom picture.  Take a look at the words listed in that picture.  Especially the bottom words.  Let me know what you think?


Al

10 Things I Hate About You on DVD


My daughter got 10 Things I Hate About You the TV series for her birthday from her best friend. Now my daughter really wanted this. She loves the show and it has been on hiatus for a few months now and she is dying for it to come back on. She has watched it through 3 times since she got it. My youngest likes it as well. It is a very funny and cute series.

It is based on the movie which starred the late Heath Ledger. I am a huge Heath Ledger fan and love that movie. My daughter has seen the movie as well and loves it so when the series was announced she couldn't wait and really neither could I. It is about sisters, Kat and Bianca. They live with their dad who is crazy over protective. He won't let Bianca date unless Kat does and that goes for dances as well. If Kate doesn't go neither does baby sister Bianca. Kat doesn't go for all that popular stuff where Bianca is obsessed with it. Kat fights falling for bad boy Patrick and Bianca has love sick Cameron after her while she is oblivious. There is also super popular Chastity who is just the epitome of the nasty popular girl. It's just so much fun to watch.

The DVD includes the first 10 episodes which leave you wanting more. I hear it will be back on March 29th. It's honestly hard to wait. As a bonus the disks also include the first episode of Make It or Break It. My daughter was excited to see that because she really loves that show as well.

Now she just has to be patient. So many of her favorite shows are on hiatus. It really is hard to tell a 13 year old to be patient about anything. I think they were wise to put out the DVDs because it gives people who haven't seen it a chance to catch up and I tell you if you haven't watch this show give it a try. I think you'll find it very entertaining.

More Great Savings!

Today is Thursday and I did my weekly shopping trip. There really was not much that I wanted to get. But I did manage to get some great deals! Sadly I used up the last of my Knoxx coupons,:( so I will not be getting all that wonderful overage anymore. Hopefully they put another out soon! I can hope anyway.Here are the numbers, total before sales and coupons, $102.68. Total after sales and coupons $8.92! 91%Savings!!
And a photo to show what I got...
 
And the list,
4- Boxes Knoxx gelatin
4-Boxes Golden Grahams Cereal
2- Bottles Juicy Juice
2- Boxes Lipton Teabags (for Al's Iced tea!)
4- blocks Kraft Extra Sharp Cheese
6- Cans Planters Nuts
4- Cans Hormel Chilli
2- Cans Pam non stick spray
8- Boxes Betty Crocker Supreme Brownie Mixes
1- Loaf Publix Itialian Sliced Bread

Not to bad for $8.92 if I do say so myself!
I will also be doing a bit of shopping at Albertsons this week as they have some great deals on fruit and a couple other things. The closesest Albertsons is a bit of a drive so I only go if they have great sales. With Al on his fast the sales that they have on fruit are too good too pass up. We are really going through a ton more produce it seems.

Anne Frank Collage

My daughter as you know had to read The Diary of Anne Frank for school and they were assigned a big project. They had to make a collage the size of a large poster board with images that reminded them of the story. They also had to do a summary and character descriptions.

She has been working on this feverishly. It seems like it should be an easy A, but you know what it was a lot of work. She had to search and search for different pictures. They couldn't be all of the same thing and there couldn't be one speck of white on the poster board. It had to be a huge collage.

There is a lot to work with, but the teacher really wanted some originality. She came up with all these ideas. There were pictures of Anne and her family and the others who stayed in the secret Annex. She got some pictures of the food they ate and there where pictures of the Annex on line. She used a picture of ballet slippers because she talked about dance and a monopoly board because they played that. She also got pictures of movie stars like the ones Anne hung in her own collage. She worked really hard and it looks great. I hope she gets an A. She deserves it. I think she really learned a lot from this project and she told me that she really liked the book. She told me many of the kids in her class hated it, but I really think she got it and she'll keep it with her. I know that it has always stayed with me.

School Book Fair


Once a year my daughter's school has a book fair for a fund raiser. The girls always get so excited. They love to buy books. I myself love to buy them as well. I sent money with my oldest to pick up a book. She wasn't as excited as usual because she has a stack of books in her room. They were putting out the summer reading list so I told her to buy at least one of the books she wanted to read.

Now with the 9 year old she wanted to know how many she could get. She just loves to read. I was allowed to come to the school at her designated time if I wanted so I told her I would buy her one book and if she wanted any others she would have to spend her own money. She was fine with this.

I got to the book fair area a few minutes before her class so I scoped out the books. She came running over to me as soon as she saw me ready to shop. We went to the summer book list first and she picked out Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great by Judy Blume. It looked like a fun book and she was happy with her choice. Now she moved onto the books just for fun. She scooped up The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. Now we just saw this movie and she loved it so she wants to read what happens next, but before she can do that she needs to read the book because I guess some of the story is different. I always find the books better myself. The final book she picked up was Fairy Godsister by Philippa Fisher. This book has the kind of story she loves. My daughter is a fairy freak. She loves anything to do with fairies. She has fairies all over her room. In the end she ended up with 3 books she could wait to sink her teeth into. I love that she loves books as much as I do.

Now my oldest came home with only one book, but this book holds a very special place in my heart. It's The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. I love this book. I remember reading it and falling in love with the characters. Not to mention the The Outsiders. I honestly don't remember how many times I've seen it. My friends and I used to watch it over and over again. Great memories. Now my daughter hasn't seen the movie and I'm not going to let her see it until she reads it. How awesome is it that this is one of the books she has to read over the summer? Of course she picked it because it was the shortest of her choices. As I've said before she isn't big into reading, but I bet she will enjoy this one.

All in all it was fun to see my youngest's excitement with books and many of her friends as well. They had so much fun picking out the books they wanted to buy. This is such a great fundraiser.

The Daniel Fast

Hello there again ...

I just got to day 7 of a 21 day cycle of what people call the Daniel Fast.  It has been an interesting experience.  Not nearly as bad as I was expecting.

According to the Daniel fast you basically lean towards a vegetarian diet.

- No sugar
- No meat
- No dairy
etc. etc.

I wasn't sure how I was going to do, or what I could possibly eat for 21 days.  But actually finding food hasn't been that bad at all.  Lots of fruits, veggies, and organic, whole grained foods.

Here's the greatest part of it all!  Now, instead of being just a good pooper ... I'm an Optimal pooper.   HA!  Love it!


Anyhow, all of that background to say this ...

I am sharing this to seek your assistance in backing me up with prayer support.  We are beginning to feel very unsettled and unsupported in our current situation.  I am looking for some sort of indication of direction and leading for our family.  Thus the reason for my personal fast.

I would appreciate any thoughts and prayers you could send our way to help move us in God's direction for us.  There are LOTS of factors that all have to come together to make these types of decisions work ... and I want to be aware of what I feel is our calling.   I believe and expect big things to happen on our behalf.

Thanks again for all your love and support.
I appreciate you sharing a few moments with me. 
Talk soon!
Al

My Daughters and the Remote

The one who holds the remote rules the world. That's at least what my girls think. My youngest daughter makes it her mission in life to wake up before her sister no matter what so she has control of the remote. All she wants is to watch at least one episode of Sponge Bob. Now my oldest is convinced that she owns the remote so as soon as her sister moves from the couch she grabs it and doesn't let go of it for the rest of the day. When she goes to eat at the table she takes it with her. If she goes up to her room for a minute she hides it. Of course if the little one is really into the show she hides it too. Now the problem with hiding it is that when they go to school and I want to shut off Nickelodeon I can't find it. So I end up having to listen to Dora sing the Map song. I'm so over Dora.

The hiding of the remote is nothing compared to the all out wrestling matches that occur to regain possession. It's funny for about half a second before one of them gets hurt. Then I have to yell. I hate yelling. One or both end up crying and I send them to their rooms. Then guess who has the remote. Me. I guess I rule the world or at least the TV till my husband gets home.

Yearly Mammogram

Yesterday my mom and I went into the Faulkner Hospital in Boston for our yearly mammograms. Now I'm not over 40 yet, but because my father's mother died from breast cancer I've been going for a few years now. I'm not very good at the self breast check because I have very lumpy breasts so it does make me feel better to go for the mammogram.

Of course it always makes me crazy that my mother insists we go into Boston for this. She just keeps telling me that the Faulkner is the best so we go. She drives so I really can't complain. I do feel terrible that she always tells me how painful the test is for her. I don't suffer from the same experience. It is uncomfortable for me, but not painful. I am slightly larger than my mother though I don't know if that has anything to do with it. I just go in the room and they push my breasts between the machine to get the picture and then it's over. No big deal. My poor mom has anxiety all the way there.

Afterward we went out to lunch. The most entertaining part of the trip was when my parents argued over where we were going to eat. We even drove around for awhile. I felt like a little kid in the back seat. Thinking about it all I can do is laugh. We ended up going to LTK (Legal Test Kitchen). It was very yummy.

When I arrived home the my girls were aggravated because I was off having fun with my parents all day. Yeah right. It's so much fun to have a mammogram.

Ice Castles Redone


I was checking my queue at Netflix and they had a few recommendations for me. One of the movies was Ice Castles, but it wasn't the old Ice Castles with Robbie Benson that I know and love from the 70s. It was a remake that just came out. I heard nothing about this so I hit the rent button and was very excited when it arrived in the mail today. I loved the original movie. In fact it holds a very special place in my heart because I did a dance to the theme song "Through the Eyes of Love." I can still remember it. It always brings tears to my eyes and to be honest Ice Castles always made me cry too.

Well tonight after dinner my girls and I set up the movie. My husband quickly evacuated to the computer upstairs. This is definitely a chick flick. Anyway the girls were really into it. They kept asking me questions about what was going to happen. It was very similar to the old movie, but there were some differences. Basically it's about a small town girl who gets swept up in the world of figure skating. On her way to the top she finds herself loosing who she truly is then an accident happens. She goes back to her home and rediscovers herself. Now the still had the theme song that I love. I was really happy about that. Her coach in the new movie is male instead of female and he ends up being a love interest. The recovery for Lexi is much shorter in the newer movie. I really think it was rushed.

Overall it was a good movie and my girls really liked it. I found it entertaining, but to be completely honest I prefer the original. The original seemed to have more heart and really pulled at your heart strings. This movie moved very quickly and I didn't love the characters as much. My daughters did they wanted more. They wanted to know what happened to Lexi after her last skate. I told them it looks like she lived happily ever after. They like those kinds of endings. I think I'm going to rent the original now just to let them see that. This movie is worth watching just not as good as the original. That's my opinion. If you check it out let me know what you think.

Popular Posts

Popular Posts

Followers

Search This Blog

Blog Archive