My tree.

Well, once upon a time, I planted a tree. A little pine tree. A pine tree so little that it looked something similar to this:
Then the little tree started to grow. It grew and it grew and it was so beautiful!! Then my brother ran over it with a riding lawnmower and it wasn't so beautiful anymore. In fact, it was something akin to a stick. But my dad worked with it and ended up nursing it back to life! Again, it began to grow. It grew and grew and it was so pretty again!! It was fun to watch the progressive growth...until my brother ran over it with a riding lawnmower again. No more growing going on with that little tree!! Turns out my dad labored over that tree (he helped me to plant it when I brought it home after starting it at school from a seed) and he worked and worked with that tree after Lawnmower Incident #2 and it turns out that the silly thing survived again!!! Here it is now, in all of it's lopsided glory:

Yeah, it is a little lopsided, but so much sweat and agony was put into that tree to save it after two lawnmower attacks that now there is something extra special about it. So, that's my little tree. :o)

**

I think, though, that my brother has a small issue with running over baby trees with lawnmowers. I'm not sure if he's daydreaming while driving the mower around or what, but this darling little tree in the back of the house was another tree that Luke so graciously plowed over with the mower:

It seems to have survived OK and hopefully the thing won't be as lopsided as mine, but only time will tell, I guess.

I've been tagged. :)

So...ages ago, I was tagged by BA Turtle to do a book meme. Here's how it works.

The rules: List five books that you have read in 2007 that you love. These do not have to be books that came out in 2007, but books that you (re)discovered/(re)read in 2007 that have become or are important to you. Link back to the person who tagged you. Tag five others.

Unfortunately, this was not the year of reading books for me! :( I just didn't read very many at all, so it was a stretch for me to find five books that I read this year. Sad, huh? Don't worry...I plan on changing that this next year. :)

Anyway, here are my five books:

1. The Twelve Gifts of Healing - This book is just wonderful. A dear friend gave it to me and I've often read it during my cancer testing and during any days that are just "down days". It's just a lovely book and I would recommend it to anyone.

2. Midwives - I really think that this book is a classic. I've enjoyed it every time I've read it! If you're up for a really good read, this book just may be the one for you!

3. Population: 485: Meeting your Neighbors One Siren at a Time - I enjoy reading this book because it's funny and because it reminds me of home. This author has a new book out, too, but I haven't had a chance to delve into it yet. However, I would highly recommend this book as another good read.

4. Prodigal Daughter - Okay, okay...so this is just a cheesy romance novel, but it was a relaxing read and I really enjoyed it! How was it important to me, though (see the rules of being tagged!)? Well, as I was reading it, I was reminded that, really, everyone has their own story and we really shouldn't judge their experience because we really just don't know what they're going through. I know...I got that from a cheesy romance novel? Ha! ;)

5. The Bible - I read this book often and every time I do, I learn something. I just felt that it was too important not to put here.

And with that, I will tag five other people. I've chosen Amy, Kristin, Leilani, MelBMarvis, and Cheri. Have fun with it, ladies!! :)

Oh, and by the way...we've gotten about nine more inches of snow since my last post so all in all, we've gotten about 15 inches since I've arrived! Yay! We've had such beautiful snowfalls and I wish that I could capture them on video or in pictures, but neither option really does it justice. :(

Snow.

Yes, it snowed here today. We got about six inches!! Boy, am I glad that I came home when I did!! I might be stuck somewhere if it would have been later! :{

Anyway, here are a few pictures of the day...

...Dad is plowing our driveway. Look at the snow piling up!!
...One of mom's winter decorations on the back porch.
...More of her decorations. The poor things were just covered with snow and they were even under a shelter! It was a wee bit windy here today.
A picture of one of our pine trees. I just thought that it looked pretty, but the camera, obviously, does not catch that. If I have time, I will get a picture of a tree in our yard that I planted myself years ago and of how much it's grown. Hmm...I wonder if I can find a picture of when we first planted it...I'll look into that!
I wondered if some of you would be interested in seeing what the area around my mom and dad's place looks like. This picture is looking down our driveway (kind of!) and you can see the tire tracks that curve around the drive and then the road that stretches through most of the picture. I hope it gives you an idea of how wooded this area is! Just imagine all these trees with leaves on them! And then imagine what they'd look like in the fall with orange, yellow, and red leaves...beautiful!! It's no wonder I miss this area in the fall! :o)

Lastly, here is a short video of dad plowing the drive with his favorite toy...his tractor! :)

Friday Fun...

This was an e-mail that I received recently and I can relate to it so much!! What does this mean?!?!? ;)

Recently, I was diagnosed with A. A. A. D. D. - Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder.

This is how it manifests:

I decide to water my garden. As I turn on the hose in the driveway, I look over at my car and decide my car needs washing.

As I start toward the garage, I notice that there is mail on the porch table that I brought up from the mail box earlier.

I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.

I lay my car keys down on the table, put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table, and notice that the can is full.

So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the garbage first. But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take out the garbage anyway, I may as well pay the bills first.

I take my check book off the table, and see that there is only 1 check left. My extra checks are in my desk in the study, so I go inside the house to my desk where I find the can of Coke that I had been drinking.

I'm going to look for my checks, but first I need to push the Coke aside so that I don't accidentally knock it over. I see that the Coke is getting warm, and I decide I should put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.

As I head toward the kitchen with the Coke, a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye--they need to be watered. I set the Coke down on the counter, and I discover my reading glasses that I've been searching for all morning.

I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I'm going to water the flowers. I set the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container with water and suddenly I spot the TV remote. Someone left it on the kitchen table.

I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV, I will be looking for the remote, but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs, but first I'll water the flowers.

I pour some water in the flowers, but quite a bit of it spills on the floor. So, I set the remote back down on the table, get some towels and wipe up the spill.

Then, I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.

At the end of the day:
----the car isn't washed,
----the bills aren't paid,
----there is a warm can of Coke sitting on the counter,
----the flowers don't have enough water,
----there is still only 1 check in my check book,
----I can't find the remote,
----I can't find my glasses,
----and I don't remember what I did with the car keys.

Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all day long, and I'm really tired.

I realize this is a serious problem, and I'll try to get some help for it, but first I'll check my e-mail.

Do me a favor, will you? E-mail this message to everyone you know, because I don't remember to whom it has been sent.

GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY. GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL. LAUGHING AT YOURSELF IS THERAPEUTIC.

Whew. I made it.

Well, after a 45 minute delay on the first flight and a 35 minute delay on the second flight, I finally made it to Wisconsin. Ugh. I was not impressed with Northwest Airlines today!!

So, just that little update for now! I'm already having a good time and I have already eaten a lot of cheese, too! :) Yum!!

Oh, and if Sandy S. is reading this...I've already played two games of Scrabble (in my first evening here!!), too, so watch out! I'll be ready for a re-match with you!! :p

What I did last night.

So, I really enjoy the music of Lorie Line. She's just a fantastic piano player and she puts on the most amazing shows (we're talking costumes, dances, skits, etc., in addition to the piano playing!)!! Anyway, this year I wanted to go and I talked my good friend, Monique, into going with me. I wasn't disappointed! The lights, the costumes, the music...it was all fantastic!! Here's a picture of the stage before the show got going:
At one point, Lorie called all of the children up on stage and they helped her with the song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas". It was hilarious!!!! I'm not kidding!! Monique and I both laughed so hard that we had tears! Why? Well, these kids did a tremendous job, but there was one little swan that was not impressed to either ... a) be a swan, or b) be up there. We couldn't tell. But he just sat there with a frown on his little face and would barely do a thing!! It was a riot!!! The man playing Santa Claus really ribbed him about it, too, so that made it even funnier! Anyway, at the end of the song, the show took this picture of the kids up on the stage and we were allowed to download it for free today. So, here it is and it's another picture, too, where you can see the lights and set up of the show. Pretty neat!
Lastly, here is Monique and I! We asked a kind gentleman to take a picture of us together so that we can have another picture to remember the evening by and I, personally, think it turned out really nice! Notice the nice little christmas tree behind us? They had really pretty decorations at this concert hall! I just thought that it was tastefully done! (Sorry about the man over my left shoulder (to your right when you look at it! ;)...there were a lot of people around, so I don't think we could have avoided not having other people in the picture...unless we wanted to make a big spectacle...which we didn't!! :)

All in all, it was a very nice evening and we had great weather for traveling, so that was nice! I just wanted to share the evening with you, though, and to let you know that if you enjoy piano music, you should check out the work/show of Lorie Line!! She does a wonderful job!

Okay...off to good 'ol Wisco tomorrow!!! Yay!! I'm very excited to be going! I should be able to update my blog while I'm up there, so I will do my best to keep you all posted about my days! If anyone else out there is traveling, too, please be safe!

Woohoo, Koltyn!!!!

See the little gal in the blue sweater in the middle of the picture? Yeah. She was able to sing "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" at the women's basketball game last night. In front of 3,297 fans. Wow. But she did SUCH a great job!!! And guess what....

...SHE WON!!!!!! She had the most fans screaming for her to win and so she beat out three other kiddos to win the grand prize!!!! Woohoo, Koltyn!!!!! I'm SO proud of you!!!

So, of course, I had to show a picture of her little family so that you'd know who she gets her sing-songy lungs from! :) Left to Right: Her sister, Katelyn; mom, Megan; Dad, Rich, and then, of course, Koltyn. :) I know this little family because I worked with Megan for about a year when I was at my other job on campus and she & I have remained friends even though we've both gone to other jobs.

It was a fun little competition and we were so proud of her!! Congratulations, Koltyn, for being SO awesome! :)

What a Wonderful World.

I was driving to work this morning and heard this song on the radio and it made me smile. I hope it does you, too. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtPF9M3nIHs&feature=related

Whew. What a day.

Well, we certainly whooped it up on my birthday! There were 16 of us, including myself, that gathered for a potluck lunch to celebrate my 27th birthday. We had such a grand time! After lunch, we sat around and visited and played some games and just enjoyed the day. It's just lovely, I think, to meet for Fellowship in the morning and for that fellowship to continue throughout the day. Nothing is better! :)

Here's a picture of my delicious cake! Seriously...it was absolutely delicious. And Taylor...he had to get in on the decorating of the cake! Look at how fancy the sides were! Whew!
Joe and Mark were enjoying some visiting. I think that they were talking about hunting stories when I took this picture. :)

And, someday, I hope to be as lovely as these two ladies...first off, Joe's mom, Miriam, whom we call "grandma". For the longest time I couldn't remember her first name, so I just started to call her Grandma. Well, it seems that everyone calls her Grandma now! It's cute! And she's cute! :)

...And then there's our lovely Wava. She just becomes more lovely and wonderful every day! She's very special to many of us!! :)
Pretty soon, though, lunch was ready and we were to get to the table. I wanted to take a picture of everyone sitting at the table, so when they were settled in, they looked at me and smiled and "snap!", I took the picture. When it came up, though, this was what greeted me on my viewer. *sigh* Oh, dear Crystal. ;)
So..."let's try this again," I said!! Yup...much nicer this time, Crystal!! :)
Lastly, our meal was finished up with...can you guess it!?! Homemade Ice Cream!!!!! Thanks to Warner & Crystal, we were able to feast on this and it was Y.U.M.M.Y.!!!! :o)
One last picture of the cake, only this time with the candles burning. I didn't bother to turn the cake around because I didn't think about it. Then, after the pictures were taken I thought, "Oh, I can just flip the picture around when I load it onto Snapfish!" Unfortunately, when I did that, it looked like there was nothing but cake falling from the sky!! Ha! So, this will have to do. But you get the idea. ;)
All in all, I had a fantastic birthday and THANK YOU to everyone for making it such a wonderful day! My one wish for the day was to just spend it with people that I love. I feel like I got that and, really, so much more!

Today.

Today is my birthday. And I'm 27. And that just makes me smile today. :)

Happy Birthday to me. :)

It's going to be a good day! :o)

I'm done. Thank goodness. :)

Well, I just finished my final exam about an hour ago, so I'm done with classes for the semester. I think that this spring semester I'm just going to take one class instead of two. I am so behind in things that I enjoy doing (writing letters, reading books/magazines, visiting friends...you know...the simple things. :), so I want to just relax. I'm going to take one online class, though..."Fundamentals of Counseling". I have heard good things about the class and I'm VERY excited about it, so I think that if I take just one class, I can really focus on it and give it my best, you know. It means that I might have to take a summer class, though, but if it eases the load so that I can do my best in each class, then so be it. :)

Anyway, just an update. NOW...it's time to get my Christmas shopping done. :) And it's time to get this stupid blog format figured out so that I can have my cute snowman picture back!! :) Little things for awhile...nothing major. I'll be leaving for Wisco in a little over a week and I'm very excited about it. And, thank goodness, my parents have entered a new era and purchased a computer, so I won't feel completely shut out from everyone when I'm visiting them. :)

Here's a little humor for your Monday. I have seen it before but it makes me laugh every time. My brother will be able to relate to this as it seems that our cats always did this to him. :)

Good days. :)

Whew. It has been a busy week. But, I've had good days at our Special Meetings so that's been wonderful. For those of you that don't know what Special Meetings are, it's just a day where my little church group listens to our traveling ministers. These ministers share what speaks to them from the Bible or from life...they just share whatever is laid on their heart. It truly is special days and I don't know that I've experienced anything like it. :) Now this week, the Special Meeting will be in the town where I live and I will get to enjoy two nights of having the workers (aka, the traveling ministers) come and stay with me as well as experiencing another day of Special Meetings on Sunday.

Anyway, while that is going on, I'm also trying to finish up this semester of school. Wow. I always think, "Oh, taking two classes won't be such a big deal." But it is. It's huge!! I still am working full time but trying to finish my degree quicker than if I were to just take one course at a time, but I think I need to slow it down again! It just wears me out and I find that I'm stretched too thin. I really don't know how people do it in addition to being married and having kids AND working. People that manage to pull off lifestyles like that have my respect. It's not an easy task. So, in addition to finishing up this semester, I'm in the BIG DEBATE about whether I should just take one class this spring or take two classes again. I feel a need to take BOTH classes that I'm currently registered for and get them done, but I just don't know if I want to be that busy again. Decisions, decisions. :)

So, things are busy and I'm lacking in sleep, but all in all, life is good. I will be traveling in two weeks for the holiday season, so that is an anticipated trip. It will be good to get up to good 'ol Wisco and enjoy some time up there. :o)

All for now! Just thought I'd pop in and let you know how things were going right now. Talk to you soon!!

Memorial Information

I'm going to steal this from Amy and post it here as well.

Many have heard of the recent tragic motorcycle accident that killed Gary Benjamin. He leaves his wife and 3 children, ages 17, 9, and 7. Just wanted to pass on some information in case there would be those who would like to assist the family. This can be done anonymously.

The Gary Benjamin Memorial in care of:
Addison Avenue Federal Credit Union
Attn: Ewa Rossbach
3400 E. Harmony Road
Bldg 1 MS 83
Fort Collins, CO 80528-9599

Ewa Rossbach, Member Service Rep., can be reached at 970-282-6308.
Checks can be made to the Gary Benjamin Memorial.

Please feel free to pass on to any you might know who would be interested.

Whatever.

It seems that blogger has changed the specs of the current layout that I have, so my lovely snowman picture is being cut off. Well, whatever. I'm not up for dealing with it today, so I'm going to continue eating my breakfast doughnut and not worry about it. I just want to apologize to you, the reader, for having to deal with half a snowman. Sometimes there are things in life that need to be dealt with but the current moment is just not the time to do so. :)

Ok, so I have a confession.

Well, folks, we did it. Another Thanksgiving has passed. I hope it was wonderful for you!! :) But now I have a little confession to make...I seriously love everything about the Christmas season and I'm thrilled that it's that time of year again! :) I love the music, the lights, the cold days, the egg nog, the family time, the Christmas concerts...*sigh*...I love it all! Well, except tacky Christmas music, but that's for another blog! ;) So, here I go! For the next 4 1/2 weeks, I will be soaking it all up. Care to join me?!? :)

Really, now that Thanksgiving is over, it seems, to me, like fall is really over and we are FULL swing into the Christmas season and into winter. Even the temperature outside is letting us know that winter is here!! We've been below zero every night and barely making it into the 20s in the day time. That's why I've changed the look of my blog. I want it to be more winter like. :)

It's crazy, though, to think of how quickly this year has gone! I think all of you know that I work at the UW here in town and our students only have TWO more weeks of classes before finals week and then their month-long Christmas break! WOW!! I just can't believe that it's that time of the semester again! So, the next two weeks will fly by and we'll all be scrambling to finish things up for the semester. Here we go!!! :o)

Here's your funny for the day. As I was looking on the web for different winter pictures, I came across this cartoon and it made me laugh out loud:
Sick, isn't it? But it made me laugh. :) Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Reflection...and a time for thankfulness.

Update (11.19.07): Seriously, everyone, have a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!!

I've been in a reflective mood for a few days now and I have been pondering a lot of things about life. Here's what has been my most recent line of thought...

Do you know those moments that you experience where everything in life is just perfect and you are blissfully happy? Are you remembering just how you feel in that moment? "Just content." Yeah. I long for more of that.

That particular longing, though, has got me to thinking about some lessons I've learned. Really, who wouldn't want to be perfectly content like that all the time?! But we all know that it's not reality. Life happens and nothing is perfect. But who says that things aren't good? It reminds me of a definition that I heard one time about contentment. It was said that, "Contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want, but the realization of how much you already have." Someday, I hope to be truly living out that definition on an hourly basis.

But thinking of that got me to thinking about an experience of mine. About a year after I was diagnosed with cancer, I decided to go see a counselor. I was living in a world of fear and I was dealing with some severe anger and depression and the whole nine yards. During this counseling, one of my little projects was to create some positive thoughts so that I could work on positive reinforcement. I ended up coming up with the idea of creating an index card for each day of the month with one positive thought on it. Then, what I would do is carry one card around with me during the day and I would keep pulling it out and repeating the thought on that card to myself for the day. At the end of the day, I would put the card at the back of the pile and put a new one in my purse for the next day. It did wonders for me! Eventually, though, I put those cards away, knowing that I was doing much better.

However...every once in awhile I start to feel like I need to be reminded about what I should be thankful for. So, here's the deal...

In the spirit of the Thanksgiving holiday, let's start listing things that we are thankful for. Add to the list as many times as you'd like and then think about those things every day!! I will keep this post up for awhile and hopefully people will post comments to it and then if you need a lift for your day, just come here and read some comments. Maybe that will help you to take another step in your "blue" day. :)

Here is what I am thankful for:

* That my cancer didn't kill me...and that I feel like I've been given a second chance.
* That I feel like I have a good awareness of the brevity of life.
* That I can read (because there are a LOT of good books out there!!!). :o)
* Things or people that make me laugh. I love that. :)
* My family. Some days I am in awe over how spectacular (and special!) my family is.

So, there you go. I could go on and on, but I want YOU to keep adding to this list! Let your voices be heard! Tell us what YOU are thankful for!

It was a great night for a game, baby.

So, where was I, you ask?

Well, I spent my evening in a place where green and gold abounded...
...A place where the cheeseheads were large in number...
...A place where the people were full of love...
...Yes, I spent my evening watching the Pack take on the Broncos. It was a beautiful evening with perfect weather. It really made for an enjoyable game at Invesco Field at Mile High (trust me...they don't call it Mile High for nothin'! I think our seats were about a mile off of the ground! ;) Just kidding, of course...and I know that's not the real reason they refer to the area as Mile High.). And the crowd...wowsa...there were 76,642 fans there. Yeah. That's alotta people. :o)

It was a great game and the Pack led most of the time except for about 30 seconds in the first half (you can read the full story at Fox news: http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/7389456). After that, they took the lead and kept it the entire way until the last 20 seconds of the game when the Broncos kicked a field goal to tie the score and the game then went into sudden death overtime. Within...two minutes, maybe...our beloved Favre threw an 82-yard touchdown pass to win the game!!!!!! *sigh* Beautiful. Just beautiful.
Do you understand why Packer fans love them so much!?! How can you not love the Pack!? :o)

Go, Pack, Go!!!!!!

On a side note, here's a good picture of our halftime entertainment...The Marine Corp Silent Drill Team. It was awesome. In fact, if you want to see the same performance, go to this YouTube link and check them out! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y90UPLLo6nY (It gives me the chills to watch it again! We love our Marines!!!) :o)
Yes, indeed...it was a great night for a game. :)

I like it when...

I like it when...I'm having a bummer of a day and a friend unexpectedly drops in to see how life's going and we have a good chat.

That happened today and it just made my day! Really, it did! So it got me to wondering about the rest of you!! What do you like? Fill in the rest of the sentence and let us know!!

"I like it when..."

Some fun for your weekend! :)

I'm traveling this weekend so no posts until next week! Until then, enjoy this bit of fun...

What was the no.1 song on the day you were born? Not sure? Then check out this website!!! Happy Listening!! :o)

http://www.joshhosler.biz/NumberOneInHistory/SelectMonth.htm

Ugh.

Update: As you can see, I've re-loaded everything and played around with the look. Tell me what you think? Do you like it or is it pretty boring? I'm just interested in what you think. I really like it and I guess that's what counts the most. :)

In the midst of playing around with various templates for my blog (I found out that you can do REALLY cool things with it all!), I lost everything. Be warned. Ugh.

So, bear with me as I go through the process of setting it all up again. Stupid blogspot.

Nothing Much.

Wow! Where do the days go? I feel like I should be updating this blog a lot more than I do, but life certainly keeps me quite busy!! I decided to be "super-woman" this semester at school and sign up for two classes. Ugh. Now, not only am I working 40 hours a week but I'm taking one online course (Introduction to Human Communication) and one course on campus (Introduction to Mass Media) for a total of six hours of coursework. Yeah. It keeps me busy. Then when you throw in Bible Study, two weekly meetings for different groups, and other social activities, I keep extremely busy. Granted, I could probably cut out some of those committments, but I'm a firm believer in down time, too, so I try and relax at least one night a week. With everything going on, my life has pretty much looked like this since the end of August:

(Image courtesy of http://www.reflexstock.com/)

Yup, that's me either coming or going with the crowds! No time to slow down! :o) However, if I'm not running around, then I'm probably doing this:

What is that? Why, it's called SLEEPING!!! A girl has got to get a good amount of sleep to function properly and to be happy with the world, so I try and do a lot of sleeping to keep up with the fast-paced days that are going on right now.

And that's my life in a nutshell!! Some days are good and some days are not so good, but life goes on whether I like it or not, so I guess I'd better learn to balance it all! (And to balance it happily!! :) And, really, the reality is that "This, too, shall pass." Some things might go on longer than other things, but nevertheless, it will pass and things will calm down again. I can only hope, anyway. :)

Hope you are all having good days in your busy schedules, too!! Oh, and if you ever want to meet for a cup of coffee, just give me a ring!! A person isn't SO busy that they can't meet a friend for a good cup of java. :)

An Update

Do you remember Shane (the boy that had cancer and just wanted cards from around the world for his birthday?) Well, I am a member of a local gym in town, Curves, and each quarter they put out a new magazine. Well, they had an update on Shane and here's what they said:

"Thanks to all the wonderful Curves clubs that sent well wishes to Shane. Our latest count had Shane receiving 5.6 million cards. He was thrilled with the response, including the celbrity cards from John Travolta, Dr. Phil, Marcia Wallace, prime minister Stephen Harper, and many more. His favorite cards were one with the Canadian flag signed from the troops in Iraq and also a Spiderman card. Shane received cards from all over the world, including Fiji and Australia. According to Chris, manager of the Alexandria, Ontario, Cuves, Shane has finished his radiation although his chemoterapy will continue into 2008."

So, there you have it. Can you imagine!? Wow. Anyway, when I went back to the family's website it pops up a message saying that the family has requested that people stop sending cards but that they are thankful for the tremendous support.

5.6 million cards. Wowsa.

Because I have nothing better to post...

That last post was a fun one, wasn't it?! If you still have something you'd like to add to it, go ahead! I always enjoy quotes, so the more the merrier.

Well, there hasn't been much going on in life right now. I'm "just being" as my Twitter box says and I'm doing just fine. I'm busy, but who isn't!! :o)

This weekend I couldn't help capturing some pictures of my house. Have I mentioned that I love fall!? :) Well, I do. It's such a cool change of seasons!

This first picture is the side of my house. It's a gorgeous vine that wraps itself around this side of the house, to the back side and partially on the other side of the house. It's gorgeous!!! And it's one of the few things that turns RED and that what I love about it! But since it crosses over my bathroom and bedroom windows, I get to look at it every day! And then when all the leaves fall off of it, I just keep my blinds closed! Ha! Just kidding, of course! Don't you think it's pretty, though? :) Here's another picture of the side of the house. The two windows at the top of this little roof are the two windows you see on the far left of the building in the first picture. So, the vine travels down the wall and around this area, too.
These next two pictures are of two bushes on either side of the door that enters the apartment building and they are SO pretty! Right now, in the transition, there are so many colors! There's green, red, orange and yellow and also some type of berry adorns it, too. How often do we PAY for a wreath of such colors and decorations!?! :) Here are a couple of close-ups!

I hope you've enjoyed this little bit of fall!!! We had some snow on Saturday night, but I'm not ready to post snow pictures yet. Besides, it wasn't anything that really stuck around. But I'm going to keep my fall blog theme at least through October, so I hope you don't get sick of it! :)

It's October!! And time to hear your thoughts! :)

Well, I've been pondering this post for a few days now so I guess it's time to actually post it! I think that I've left my hot air balloon post up for a decent amount of time now and it's time for something new.

I love fall. That's all there is to it...I love it! (The only bummer of it is that I get quite homesick, but I usually am able to manage. :) But being all happy these days because of the crisp, fall air and the beautiful leaves got me to thinking about inspirational stuff.

As most of you know, I LOVE self-help books. Not to say that I ever do anything with them, but I love to read them and see what they suggest! As I read these books, I often jot down thoughts or paragraphs or phrases that appeal to me and I store them up to read on days when I feel kind of blue. Two of them are already posted on my blog. But thinking of what I write down and save has made me wonder...

Do you have a quote or a phrase or a reading that just trips your trigger? Something that makes you smile or lifts your spirit or makes you just stop and breathe and feel thankful? I want to hear them! I think that we ALL love different quotes, so please share!!

In addition to the two that are already on my blog (which I won't repeat in this post!), I'll add two more that I've really appreciated in the last week or so. Both come from a co-worker of mine and, honestly, I don't know if he realized how much I needed to hear those comments in the moments he said them! I look forward to what you have to add to this post!! :)

Quotes from co-worker

~ No one ever went blind looking at the bright side of life!!

~ Remember...every day is a once in a lifetime opportunity!!

The "Almost-a-lost-cause" Hot Air Balloon Post!!!

Here's how it goes. I was told this past May that I was cancer free and to celebrate that, I wanted to go on a hot air balloon ride. The only friend that I could convince to go with me was my good friend, Keith. It turned out to be an awesome day and I think that we both were glad for the opportunity. However...I have 132 pictures from the day. Realisitically, I can't put them all in this blog post. I will try my best, though, so I hope you're up for viewing!!! :) Let's begin...

So, here it was...the butt-crack of dawn and we were trying to find a hot-air balloon take off field. When we saw this pick up truck, we knew we'd found the spot!! :)



We parked the car, got out and headed over to this team. It wasn't long before they were having us help set up! Wait...I guess I wasn't helping too much...I was taking pictures! :) The process is they set up the basket and then attach the burner to the basket. Good logic, if you ask me.




After awhile, the pilot starts testing the burners...looks good!! (notice the flame in the air!)


Now it's time to set up the balloon. And it is H.E.A.V.Y. (remember how big it is?) Enough said.



So, the balloon is pulled out and ready to go. At this point they attach the "strings" of the basket to the balloon and then they set up a big 'ol fan (like the one you see in the picture) that starts pumping the air into the balloon to blow it up.



During this time, we were handed some helmets to try on for the landing. Here's Keith doing a wonderful job of demonstrating!

Notice in the second picture, the pilot is INSIDE the balloon? He's doing last minute checks on the material and ties and whatever else he's checking on. In the meantime, the fan just keeps on blowing up the balloon!!

Now, though, it's time to put those burners into action! Here goes!

And wallah....a hot air balloon that is ready to go!!

And we're ready!! Yahoo!!

However...it was at the point of this picture...

...that I thought, "Oh, what have I done!?" But, soon after thinking that, the pilot said, "You can go ahead and sit on the bench if you'd like!" Yup...this is the point of when I about pushed Keith and the pilot out of the basket to get to that bench. After that, everything was FINE! It was awesome!! Also, notice the white building that's behind the crew. We parked our cars next to that building and after landing, the crew would bring us back to this point. This next picture is a comparison of our height in the air just several minutes later. See the white building in the upper and almost-center of the picture? Yup...that's the same white building! Crazy, eh?

Shortly after take off...one of the main roads (which is next to the building where we parked) and then a view of someone's backyard.

This is the other team that was flying that day. Our company had our balloon and another balloon -- this one -- flying that day. However, there was also another company that flew this day, too. You can see the other company in another picture coming up. But since the other team with our company took off first, they were much higher than us by this point. Get that all straight? ;)

Scenery of the surrounding area...

Keith enjoying the view...

...or maybe he's looking at our shadow! :)

Here's another comparison picture for you...it's of backyards and in the first one, we were at a high height. The second one is a bit closer to the ground, but still pretty high. I really like the basket in these pictures...it's just kind of cool to me. :)

More scenery and another picture of our shadow!! :)

This is the picture that shows two things...first, you can see the other company flying. Their balloon is off to the left. Second, our company's other balloon is in the center of the picture, but what I was pointing out was that we were FINALLY up higher than them! Wahoo! :)

Look closely at the water on this one. Do you see our shadow on the right side of the lake? We tried to get closer but the heat that was rising from the roads was acting like a brick wall and we didn't get any closer than this. Bummer, eh?

A lady mowing the greens at the golf course...

A courtyard picture and a picture of our balloon's shadow in a pond...


This is a picture of the lake that we were trying to get to. Notice how far away we are? Not only were we stopped by the road (the one in this picture) but we ended up on a level of air that took us back the direction that we were actually coming from! We'll go with it, I guess! :)

This is the beginning of our attempts to land. Our first attempt was in a field next to a parking lot. This first picture with the blue buildings was taken because of the direction of the flags. With our flight this day, I learned that there are different levels of air and with each level, the direction of the wind changes. So, we could be floating along going North and as we start to rise, we will all of a sudden get to a level where our balloon would kind of stop in the air and then it would change directions. It's because the wind changed with our altitude and since our balloon went where the wind went, we'd change directions. Pretty cool, huh? Well, this picture shows that the flags were actually blowing on the ground the opposite way that we were going in our balloon! It was crazy!! (I hope you can click on the picture and see! I've moved these pictures around so much, I'm not sure if you'll be able to click on them and enlarge them. I hope so!)

Yup...our first landing was NOT successful. Here's the chase crew as they realize that we won't be landing near them any time soon! :(

Back up we go! I love these shadow pictures! Oh, and notice how close we were to the building? We varied incredibly with our distance up in the air. It was quite amazing, actually. :)

More shadow pictures in the lake! In the second one, I'm waving at you all! ;)

After two attempts, we finally were successful in landing. However, we had to come down so fast that I was more concerned about bracing myself and surviving! So, no pictures of that! In fact, I think that the pilot wanted to take the opportunity to land when he saw it and he brought us down fast. At one point I said, "Do we need to put the helmets on?" The response? "No! We don't have time! Bend your knees and hang on tight!" And we hit hard. It's kind of a weird thing to explain. You, obviously, can look over the basket and see the ground coming, so you're trying to prepare yourself for the impact. At one point I thought, "Oh, that wasn't so bad!" And then we hit. And boy, oh, boy did I bruise my knee when we landed! It slammed into the side of the basket and scraped the skin off and bruised it. Trust me...those baskets are sturdy! :) Keith tells me that the look on my face at this point was absolute fear. I think he was delusional from the lack of air because we were up so high. Ha! But at this point, the balloon pulls the basket back up into the air and we come back down again. I can't remember for sure if it did it again, but it might have. When you think about it, it's no surprise that happens because there's still so much force in that balloon that it will just suck that basket right back up into the air. Finally, though, one of the crew members said, "One of you needs to get out," so I willingly volunteered myself. This is the point of when I started taking pictures again.

So, what happens now is that the entire crew throws themself on the basket to create some drag...notice Keith in the middle of it all? After he got out, he helped a bit. At the same time, the pilot is doing everything that he can to open up the pockets in that balloon. It's amazing how many holes that he can open up! He's just letting the outside air into that balloon to deflate it. You can see in the process of taking the balloon down, some of the pictures show the entire top of the balloon opened up. It's pretty cool!

Up to this point, I've just been taking pictures like a mad-woman. However, it was time for me to help put the balloon back into it's carrier. This is the point where I really learned just how heavy that balloon was! But everyone would get in line -- like you see in the pictures -- and two other people would carry the bag. As the bag was coming to you, you'd heft your portion into the bag and then turn around and go to the end of the line, picking up another part of the balloon. It was kind of fun! But these pictures are actually of the prep-work to be able to put the balloon away, but it gives you an idea of the process.

After the balloon is put away, they bring a rolly-thing over and hoist the basket on it and push it over to the trailer where they disassemble it and put it away.


When everything is packed up and put away, the crew drives us back to the take off site. At this point, every gathers around for a toast. Now, our pilot explained the symbolism of toasting, but I wasn't really listening. You see, when we were putting the balloon away earlier, the crew played a trick on us. So, while he was telling us this story (notice how he pulled us away from the group?), I was trying to figure out what the next trick would be! Turns out there wasn't one. My loss! I think I was convincing enough, though, to let him think that I was listening. I just laughed when Keith laughed. Think it worked? ;)

The end.

Now, here are some miscellaneous shots that I took...Enjoy!

These three pictures are of the dash inside the balloon that measures the temperature and the distance in the air. You can see how it varied! I wasn't thinking about it at the time, but I should have taken a picture of what it was when we were still sitting on the ground!! Errg. Oh well! I didn't get the highest temp, either. I still wasn't thinking about it at that point. But I know that our pilot tried to stay below a certain temperature because if he didn't, he'd have to get the balloon officially checked out more often to make sure it met code. By keeping it under that certain temp, he doesn't have to have the "officials" inspect the balloon as often. I'm not sure what officials have to come and inspect it for safety, but our pilot checks it after every flight anyway. I trusted him. No worries, mom & dad. :)