Jodi Kuhn's Photography Cont...

This blog is just a few more pictures done last week by the wonderful Jodi Kuhn of Jodi Kuhn's Photography! Thanks Jodi!

Until next blog!

Love,

Jenn
**On the RIGHT hand side of this page ABOVE the OWL you will find older posts if you are interested in checking them out. They are listed by month. Just click on a month and the posts will expand and you can click on each post individually or if you double click the month they will all pop up. Also, you can bookmark this page to your favorites and check back often for updates without having to look up the blog address. When you click on a picture it opens larger. Just click the back button on your browser to return to the blog. If you get to a video in the blog, you must scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and pause or stop the playlist music player or the sounds will play at the same time. Feel free to post comments too!**

What's in your Closet???

Today at nap time, Bayleigh and her friend from school were upstairs in her bedroom playing. I was downstairs enjoying the quiet time and I heard this pound/stomping noise. I got up and headed up the stairs. The pounds grew louder and more intense and was accompanied by shrill screams yelling my name. When I got to the top of the stairs I heard one of the girls yell, "WE'RE GONNA BE STUCK IN HERE FOOOOOORRRRREEEEVVVVVVER!!!! MOM!!!!! and more screams.
By the time I got to the girls I was a laughing mess. The girls had locked themselves in Bayleigh's closet. It is an antique door with an old latch on the outside of the door, but not on the inside. When I opened that door I seen four fists in the air and tears streaming down faces filled with sheer terror! It was hilarious! I have never been hugged so tightly in my life! LOL! Bayleigh said, It's NOT funny! Loriann said, yeah it is kind of funny! LOL!
I know this HILARIOUS story might be one of those....Guess you had to be there moments to laugh, but I'm telling you. It was the funniest thing to happen in a very long time!
Hope you're well.
Love,
Jenn
**On the RIGHT hand side of this page ABOVE the OWL you will find older posts if you are interested in checking them out. They are listed by month. Just click on a month and the posts will expand and you can click on each post individually or if you double click the month they will all pop up. Also, you can bookmark this page to your favorites and check back often for updates without having to look up the blog address. When you click on a picture it opens larger. Just click the back button on your browser to return to the blog. If you get to a video in the blog, you must scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and pause or stop the playlist music player or the sounds will play at the same time. Feel free to post comments too!**

Dentist Check-Up! 2011

Can you guess what this blog is about....Oh, wait, the title gave it away! LOL!

Bayleigh had her first of two dentist appointments yesterday afternoon. I am happy to report that her teeth look great! No Cavities again! :) Her dentist is SUPER nice. Our insurance only pays for one flouride treatment a year so he said that he will just not bill for this one, but did it anyways. I thought that was generous. Still no loose teeth--she was super bummed about that. They wanted to do full X-Rays this time instead of just the back teeth, but she is too small for the chair and the machine. BUMMER, she will probably always be too small for that machine. LOL! Oh well, maybe next time. :) He also said that the spacing in her baby teeth look great so he is anticipating no problems out of the adult teeth. THANK YOU GOD!!!! I don't want her to have my ugly teeth. :) Hope this blog finds you well. Until next blog!

Love,
Jenn

**On the RIGHT hand side of this page ABOVE the OWL you will find older posts if you are interested in checking them out. They are listed by month. Just click on a month and the posts will expand and you can click on each post individually or if you double click the month they will all pop up. Also, you can bookmark this page to your favorites and check back often for updates without having to look up the blog address. When you click on a picture it opens larger. Just click the back button on your browser to return to the blog. If you get to a video in the blog, you must scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and pause or stop the playlist music player or the sounds will play at the same time. Feel free to post comments too!**

Like

Most of you are familiar with the world of Facebook....for those of you that are not, let me give you a little smidge of what you can do on there. You have a status bar where you basically just type whatever is on your mind and then people can leave comments to respond or there is a little link called 'like', that you can click and it lets the author know that you read it and you "like" it. You can also do the same with photos that you upload as well. So, there you have a clue. ;)
Last night and today I have been in the BEST mood! I really think it is the 60 degree temps that we have been having--teasing us for Spring! I went to bed tired last night and then got to thinking about how today was supposed to be even better than yesterday and I was WIRED! SO, I busted out the Droid phone and endulged in some Facebook time--(like I don't do that enough as it is). I somehow stumbled on this page of "likes" and they made me literally laugh out loud. ((Yes, I drove Larry CRAZY))! (he did laugh too).
After talking to a friend today, she told me that she was having a rough night--rightfully so. She said that while she was up she too hopped on Facebook and was reading my likes and was getting a chuckle out of them. (I was so happy that she shared that because, I honestly do think I am hilarious and crack myself up--Larry, not so much. :)) I am also happy that in her sadness she was able to find a smile. :)
Now, I know I can't take credit for these likes, but I shared them on my page so I am taking some credit. ;D Not to mention, I can SOOOOOO hear myself saying these things and it makes me laugh even more!
I wanted to share them here too so that I can look back on them whenever I want and get a good laugh. AND, to share with my readers that don't have Facebook of course. :) Let's Begin....

*A student gave his teacher a blank piece of paper. Teacher: What's this? Student: It's a drawing of a cow eating grass. Teacher: (looked at the paper) Where's the grass? Student: The cow ate all of it. Teacher: (looks at the paper again) Then, where's the cow? Student: It left because there was no more grass. :)

*Mumbling the bits of songs that you don't know. THEN BELTING THE CHORUS WITH ALL OF YOUR HEART. ;)

*Meeting someone new and being able to talk to them like you've known them for years.

*'Man up'-a simple phrase to make your friends do stupid things.

*Talking to the same person everyday and never getting sick of them. :) ((Jenn))

*Would like to congratulate my parents for having such an amazing daughter.

*I had social networking when I was a kid too. I think back then it was called "outside".

AND MY FAVORITE!!!

*Someone told me I am immautre and need to grow up. Guess who's not allowed in my treehouse now!

Don't you just love them?! LOL! I was cracking up the whole time I was writing this post! Hope it brought a smile to your face too! Until next blog...

Love,

Jenn

**On the RIGHT hand side of this page ABOVE the OWL you will find older posts if you are interested in checking them out. They are listed by month. Just click on a month and the posts will expand and you can click on each post individually or if you double click the month they will all pop up. Also, you can bookmark this page to your favorites and check back often for updates without having to look up the blog address. When you click on a picture it opens larger. Just click the back button on your browser to return to the blog. If you get to a video in the blog, you must scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and pause or stop the playlist music player or the sounds will play at the same time. Feel free to post comments too!**

Jodi Kuhn's Photography

I cannot even begin to tell you how overly excited I am to write this blog!!!!!
My great friend Jodi Kuhn of Jodi Kuhn's Photography texted me and told me she wanted my kid to do pictures! ABSO-FREAKIN'-LUTELY! Jodi's style and vision for photography is very similar to my own. My problem--MY CHILD!!!! (That's right! Control your Gasps, I'm talking about MY BAYLEIGH)! She will NOT cooperate with me when it comes to phototgraphy. OK, OK, OK--I'll be fair and give her some credit, I have had a camera shoved in her face for that last 6 years and 3 months of her life. :) Whatev....we're not talking about me here. ;)
So, anyways--I was delighted at the impromptu photo shoot.
Jodi is a natural light photographer and her work just continues to get better and better and better and better....you get my point. I strongly suggest that if you are in the need of photos to give her a call. She has a Facebook Page as well. (If I knew how to do that whole linky thingy I'd link you right to her here). Wait, maybe I can figure it out....let's try, Click HERE. ((Hope it works)). Check it out and "like" her page. If you want her contact information just let me know. I think it's on her page too, but as I type this I am still not sure if the linky thingy is going to work. ;)

Jodi also does maternity, newborn, family, children--obviously, and pretty much anything you would want--not so much weddings, but maybe someday. :) ((in her defense, weddings are a TON of work)). Her prices are so affordable and I promise you will love her work. Thanks for checking in! Until next blog!

Love,

Jenn
**On the RIGHT hand side of this page ABOVE the OWL you will find older posts if you are interested in checking them out. They are listed by month. Just click on a month and the posts will expand and you can click on each post individually or if you double click the month they will all pop up. Also, you can bookmark this page to your favorites and check back often for updates without having to look up the blog address. When you click on a picture it opens larger. Just click the back button on your browser to return to the blog. If you get to a video in the blog, you must scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and pause or stop the playlist music player or the sounds will play at the same time. Feel free to post comments too!**

Valentine's Day 2011

Yesterday was Valentine's Day and how did we celebrate??? With a classroom party of course! :) I originally had not signed up to do the class Valentine's party. I did the Halloween Party with a couple of other moms. When I got the call asking to do it, I was happy that things worked out and I was able to help. Two other moms and I ended up doing it and it was fun!
To host a class party moms are supposed to bring in a game or craft and snacks and drinks. There were two other moms as well that didn't sign up that brought snacks in too so the children were far from short on sugar. :)
At the Halloween Party Mrs. Sheaffer brought the game Hot Potato. I originally purchased a craft to do for Valentine's Day and then Friday--after speaking with another room mom--I realized that craft was already being brought. So, I instead decided to borrow the idea of hot potato and they passed around a Valentine's Day Bear and the winner got to keep the bear. :) They loved it. I took my phone to use my Pandora Radio app and guess what.....Stupid Smart phone wouldn't work when I got there. And yes, I did test it before leaving the house! (Not a Droid fan this week). At first, all the children sang songs together and with my back turned to them I'd randomly yell stop and that's how they got out. Mrs. Dalley then came in and showed me how to use her radio and we went from there using it. :)
After games we went to the crafts. They were CUTE! One mom brought in foam flowers to assemble and the other mom brought in foam valentine's to assemble.
Right after crafts the children passed out their valentines. That was a little chaotic, but they loved doing that as well. :)

Here is the whole class playing hot potato!

Over all the party was a blast and I was thankful to get to be a part of it. Hope your Valentine's Day was great. Larry of course refuses to feed into the commercial of the day. The words I love you didn't even come out of his mouth. I'm not gonna lie, it hurt some, but I don't need a day to hear it. I know it already. :) Until next blog!

Love,

Jenn

**On the RIGHT hand side of this page ABOVE the OWL you will find older posts if you are interested in checking them out. They are listed by month. Just click on a month and the posts will expand and you can click on each post individually or if you double click the month they will all pop up. Also, you can bookmark this page to your favorites and check back often for updates without having to look up the blog address. When you click on a picture it opens larger. Just click the back button on your browser to return to the blog. If you get to a video in the blog, you must scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and pause or stop the playlist music player or the sounds will play at the same time. Feel free to post comments too!**

Bieber FEVER!

Today was the first true test of what being a mommy to a beautiful little girl is all about--The first, of probably many, boy band crushes!
Justin Bieber is THE "it" man at this point of all the young girlies lives. He is a boy that is 16 yrs old and was discovered on YouTube.com and almost instantly became a sensation.
I was really dreading going to the movie theaters to see him in a documentary type film--in 3D I might add. Of course, a mommy/daughter date came about because daddy said he was out! It ended up not being too bad. Justin Bieber really is a cute kid. He comes from a very loving mother. His father left when he was 10 months old, but he was even there and very supportive. His grandparents are amazing and it's safe to say that they are his #2 and #3 fans right behind his mother.
Bayleigh was SO cute. She sat in her seat next to me, head bobbing, shoulders bouncing up and down, hips shaking, and toes tapping. I am pretty sure that the smile never left her face! She kept looking up at me in her 3D glasses and just grinning from ear to ear. It made it worth it I must say.
She is now begging to go to his concert--might be a problem considering he sold Madison Square Gardens in 22 minutes! I am sure that an effort will be made to get her to the show. ;) (Providing he comes to Indiana)
I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend! Until next blog!
Love,
Jenn
**On the RIGHT hand side of this page ABOVE the OWL you will find older posts if you are interested in checking them out. They are listed by month. Just click on a month and the posts will expand and you can click on each post individually or if you double click the month they will all pop up. Also, you can bookmark this page to your favorites and check back often for updates without having to look up the blog address. When you click on a picture it opens larger. Just click the back button on your browser to return to the blog. If you get to a video in the blog, you must scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and pause or stop the playlist music player or the sounds will play at the same time. Feel free to post comments too!**

Workin' 9 to 5...

Today, I had the rare opportunity to take Bayleigh into town and pick her new glasses up that came in. I originally had called Larry and told him they were in if he'd get a chance to come home a little early to take her in, but then was able to call again and let him know I could do it.
After leaving the eye doctor's office I decided to drive across town and make my truck payment.
For some reason, I was very aware of my surroundings as I drove thru town. I noticed a man struggling to walk thru the icy mounds on the side of the road, the remains from the snow plow drivers efforts to clear the streets. In his hands were bags from the grocery store right down the street. I wondered if he had just cashed his paycheck and was heading home from the store, with bags full of things he needed to survive the weekend or even the next week, but maybe couldn't get them earlier because maybe he, like many, live paycheck to paycheck and it is now Friday so he could get them today. Maybe, he works a job where going to the grocery during the week just wasn't an option due to lack of time. We all know that there are not enough hours in the day....let's face it. I noticed a woman dressed in business casual attire park in the middle of a drive way approaching the front door of what I assume to be her daycare provider. I assume this because she was empty handed and had she been going home she'd at least have her purse I would assume. Now, putting it in writing, I suppose she very well could have been just going to visit a family member or friend, but that wasn't my first impression. Then, just down the road from this lady, across the street I seen a man clearly arriving home from work. In his arms was a gym bag, a lunch box, and a sweatshirt. He was fumbling with his keys as he was approaching his front door. I wondered to myself who would be on the other side to greet him. My guess is probably nobody considering he was fumbling with his keys to clearly unlock the door. How awesome for him if there was a wife and children to come home to.
It got me thinking...THIS IS LIFE. This is what it's all about. We get up, we go to work or school, and we come home and do the tasks that the evening has planned for us.
So, I then started reflecting on my life. I have a life where I get to stay home and see my daughter grow up--and very quickly she is. I have a husband that I get to greet at the door after his long day at work. Not saying that when he walks in I am all dolled up and waiting to wrap my arms around his neck and plant a kiss on his lips in excitement asking how his day was. However, that would be nice. :) All while thinking this over, that very same daughter I am watching grow up right before my eyes is yelling MOM! MOMMY! MOM! WHY ARE YOU IGNORING ME?! and I think to myself. This is my life....this is what it's all about and you know what? I would change one single bit of it! Just thinking about it again now brings that smile right back to my face. :)
I was just telling my wonderful friend how sometimes I feel like we are stuck in a rut and everything is just so routine. And then, she and I started talking about how we both know that if something were to change and we couldn't have what we have now....that would be very sad. So, tonight I sit here and blog while my daughter is sprawled out on the couch listening to her MP3 player and my husband is stretched out in the chair sleeping....what makes our routine a little different tonight is that we are not watching a show that we've waited all week to watch, but rather A Charlie Brown Valentine is on and we are listening to that run in the background of what we are focusing most of our attentions on. This my friends is my Friday night. :)
I know you are probably thinking...Who in the world does she think she is assuming such things of these perfect strangers she is passing on the streets. Well, I don't really think I am much of anybody. I was just driving and just thinking--that's all. AND, well, since I am a blogger and pretty much share most of my thoughts--this is what you get to read tonight. :)
Do you ever stop and notice the people around you and wonder what their life consists of? I can say that I now have and probably will be doing it more often.
That's it for now. Thanks for checking in. Until next blog.
Love,
Jenn
**On the RIGHT hand side of this page ABOVE the OWL you will find older posts if you are interested in checking them out. They are listed by month. Just click on a month and the posts will expand and you can click on each post individually or if you double click the month they will all pop up. Also, you can bookmark this page to your favorites and check back often for updates without having to look up the blog address. When you click on a picture it opens larger. Just click the back button on your browser to return to the blog. If you get to a video in the blog, you must scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and pause or stop the playlist music player or the sounds will play at the same time. Feel free to post comments too!**

Random Thoughts!

I have not done a random post in a while so how about that today?!!! As you know, my randoms are basically just thoughts I think often, but have NOTHING to do with one another. Do you ever do that? Here we go...
*I think the price of toilet paper is ridiculous, but I insist on using Charmin because, well to be honest I am too sensitive to use any other. (TMI, I know).
*I am in love with my Kindle.
*I am so excited Verizon offers the iPhone now, but I am holding out for the creation of iPhone5!
*I've been reading the bible....I easily get confused and sometimes wonder just exactly what it means in certain parts. I may explain this in a much later post for now, I am hoping to figure it out on my own.
*I can't believe how cruel the world can be.
*I can't believe how great this world can be!
*I don't have a good day everyday and sometimes I know that my day should be better, but CHOOSE to have a bad day. AND, I am OK with choosing that because it doesn't happen often and I feel better afterwards.
*I've come to the conclusion a clean house here probably isn't going to happen. Let me explain....Once it is cleaned good and we are proud to enjoy the fruits of our labor we are prompted to have an improv party brought on by an ice storm and power outage! LOL! (I am thankful the house was clean when hosting though).
*I love my dog....he is the biggest baby ever, but I can't stand the drool.
*Our clock ticks SO loudly in the family room!
*I am not excited about Bayleigh going to school all day next year, but she is stoked.
*I am not ready for Bayleigh's baby teeth to fall out because my biggest fear is that she will have skank crooked teeth like me.
*As unexcited as I am about the above random....she is equally as excited for that to happen. She was the tooth fairy for Halloween. She wants to be a dentist, and she has me check to see if her teeth are loose on a weekly basis.
*I'm cold.
*I never thought I'd be so excited to see 40 degrees in a forecast. That's 1/2 way to 80! YEAH!!!
*Tough love is hard to accept and dish out.
*EWWWW! I just remembered my dream and it was about shaving my arm pits and not being about to shave it all off for various reasons. ODD!
*Valentines Day is SO overrated, but I still love it!
*My life is, like everyone's, far from perfect, but I am constantly trying to find the positive in most situations. I think we are so quick to point out what's wrong and voice that that we easily over look all that is right. I fail miserably at this sometimes though....I'm human.
*I bought Bayleigh a Punky Brewster DVD for Christmas and we've yet to watch it....what's wrong with us?!!!!
*I remember bawling my eyes out when Cherrie locked herself in the freezer. (see above random).
*Our next vacation will ONLY be me, Larry, and Bayleigh. It WILL happen this summer.....Wonder where we will go???? Larry wants a STAYcation.....that could be fun too and he doesn't ask for much so we will probably go that route. Not to mention, my idea would be the beach--Larry hates the beach.

OK, that's enough for now! Hope this blog finds you well. Until next blog!
Love,
Jenn
**On the RIGHT hand side of this page ABOVE the OWL you will find older posts if you are interested in checking them out. They are listed by month. Just click on a month and the posts will expand and you can click on each post individually or if you double click the month they will all pop up. Also, you can bookmark this page to your favorites and check back often for updates without having to look up the blog address. When you click on a picture it opens larger. Just click the back button on your browser to return to the blog. If you get to a video in the blog, you must scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and pause or stop the playlist music player or the sounds will play at the same time. Feel free to post comments too!**

It's A Boy!

Larry: Jeeeeeeeennnnnnnnnnniferrrr! You have a text!!!!

Me: Who is it?

Larry: It's Kim! They're headed to the hospital!

Me: WHAT?! (flooded with excitement!)

So, let me fill you in on what that is about! Larry's cousin Kim has a (step, to be technical)daughter named Whitney and Whitney just had a baby!!!! It was around 7 p.m., Friday, February 4th, 2011, and we sent Bayleigh over to moms and we headed up to the hospital. Whitney had just gotten settled in to her bed and hooked up to the monitors and was happy to see us. Immediately talks of when he would actually get here started. I predicted the 5th at 2:05 am because how cool would it be to be born 2/5/11 at 2:05 am?! I know, cool right?!

Whitney did great and I could tell she was getting tired. She was very nervous, but handled the pain well until her epidural. After that, time flew. Her doctor was due to come in at 3 and I told Kim it wouldn't be long after that. AND BOY WAS I RIGHT! He came in right at 3 and said, "she's ready"! YEAH! Larry had left about 30-45 mins prior to this. Kim was going to take me home, but the rest of us stepped into the waiting room with the exception of Jeff, Whitney's boyfriend and Kim.

At 3:20 a.m. the world was blessed with Mason Riley Michael! Weighing in at 6 lbs, 5.7 ozs, and 18.5 inches long. He has a head full of dark hair, but it's not thick if that makes sense. The cord was wrapped around his neck, so the doctor cut it, but everything was fine. :)

Jeff came to the waiting room and got me, Steve (Whitney's dad), Dee (Jeff's mom), and Tim (Jeff's brother). We all got in there while little Mason was still being cleaned up and getting his body temperature up. I was happy to be there when Whitney got to hold him for the first time. I was so proud of her.

Me holding Baby Mason for the first time. Yes, it says Auntie when I technically am just a cousin, but we are all so close that we are aunts and uncles to each others children. :)

Mason, just minutes after birth!

And another one!

Here is Whitney holding her son for the very first time! Yes, he is a bundle of blankets. His body temp at this point was only 1/10th of a degree above where they are comfortable. In his defense, poor Whitney had that room at a very chilly 60 degrees. It was like a meat locker! LOL!

Papa Steve, Grandma Kimmie, and Mason! (Kim is making Mason a blanket just like this hat. The hospital gave him the hat, so I thought that was cool)

So, I say, Little Mason Riley--Welcome to this world! We've been waiting to see your handsome face! Miss Whitney, Congrats on your handsome son! I am very excited to watch him grow up into a wonderful young man! :) We love you both VERY much! xoxoxoxo!

Thanks for checking in! Until next blog!

Love,

Jennifer
**On the RIGHT hand side of this page ABOVE the OWL you will find older posts if you are interested in checking them out. They are listed by month. Just click on a month and the posts will expand and you can click on each post individually or if you double click the month they will all pop up. Also, you can bookmark this page to your favorites and check back often for updates without having to look up the blog address. When you click on a picture it opens larger. Just click the back button on your browser to return to the blog. If you get to a video in the blog, you must scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and pause or stop the playlist music player or the sounds will play at the same time. Feel free to post comments too!**

Fantasy Friday....Enough Said! :)

**On the RIGHT hand side of this page ABOVE the OWL you will find older posts if you are interested in checking them out. They are listed by month. Just click on a month and the posts will expand and you can click on each post individually or if you double click the month they will all pop up. Also, you can bookmark this page to your favorites and check back often for updates without having to look up the blog address. When you click on a picture it opens larger. Just click the back button on your browser to return to the blog. If you get to a video in the blog, you must scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and pause or stop the playlist music player or the sounds will play at the same time. Feel free to post comments too!**

New Glasses for Bayleigh!

Today, Thursday, February 3rd, 2011 Bayleigh had her annual eye exam. We've waited so long for this appointment because her current glasses are JUNK! They literally fall apart all the time. The lady at the eye doctors office said she finally told her Rep not to bring those frames back in because they were so bad for everyone. Bayleigh could literally be standing here talking to us and her lens would pop out of her frames.
Bayleigh's vision has changed from last year. Last year she was R: 20/30 L: 20/40. This year, with her glasses she is R: 20/25 -2 L: 20/30 +2, plus she has developed an Astigmatism. The -2 means she got two letters wrong in the row, mostly C's became O's and N's became H's. The +2 means she picked them up in the next row. (I think I explained that right) Orignally, when we took her in for the Episcleritis the little bit of an exam they did then showed her eyes had gotten worse. We were pleased, and even Dr. Robbins was impressed that they had not gotten worse. Now onto the pictures of her new glasses that she should get back in a week....

Here is Chauffer Larry. I REFUSE to drive when the roads are bad. What a great daddy taking care of his girls!
Here's what her new frames look like on her.

Here's a close up of the sides. They are Juicy Couture so that is why they say Juicy. We found a pair of Guess frames that were super cute, but they were HEAVY! Then we found two other pairs but they were Pink and Brown and Teal and Brown and they were cute, but I didn't want to have to worry about them matching her clothes.

Here's a view of the arm.

This is a close up her the cherries on the ear piece.

Super cute!!!

Hope you are doing well and keeping warm! Drive safe if you must be out on the slick roads. Until next blog!

Love,

Jenn
**On the RIGHT hand side of this page ABOVE the OWL you will find older posts if you are interested in checking them out. They are listed by month. Just click on a month and the posts will expand and you can click on each post individually or if you double click the month they will all pop up. Also, you can bookmark this page to your favorites and check back often for updates without having to look up the blog address. When you click on a picture it opens larger. Just click the back button on your browser to return to the blog. If you get to a video in the blog, you must scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and pause or stop the playlist music player or the sounds will play at the same time. Feel free to post comments too!**

Ice Storm 2011

I have learned a couple of things in the last two days. Well, I have always known them, but now I can say I know them from experience. 1. Ice + Powerlines + Trees= Power Outages and Destroyed Landscaping. and 2. The saying is true, "There is comfort in numbers".
To be honest with you, I am not really that confident in our forecasters ability to predict weather. It seems that the last few times they have hyped up a storm it has ended up only causing a fury of panic and chaos in the grocery stores and gas stations. I knew that this predicted ice storm was going to be serious business when I seen Randy Ollis on the noon news on Ch. 8 put his hands on his head while expressing the sheer magnitude of what was to come. I guess you could say, rather than panic I instead just made sure we were prepared. I wasn't ever nervous or anything. I know that we, 99% of the time have Culligan water. I know that we have a gas stove for cooking on, and if that goes out we have our little cook stove that we set on the picnic table when camping, and we also have the gas grill in the back yard. Cooking would not be a problem. I am a candle LOVER and so the supply of those are always stocked in case the lights go out, so we are covered there too. AND, we have a wood stove in the garage so heat is covered that way. And we also have kerosene heaters to bring in to sleep in the house with. (I wouldn't want to burn them for more than sleeping because I don't want the smell or mess in my house). Now, we'd have to sit in the garage to stay warm around the candles, but hey--it's there if we need it. Beggers can't be choosers.
SO, Monday night, as predicted this storm rolls in. From my previous post you know that Larry was off of work Tuesday, as was I, and we were waiting on round two to roll in and mom to get off of work. Luckily she did! (Thank you God).
As the evening wore on, tensions started to rise. Not for me, but rather for my neighbor. Naomi is one of the SWEETEST, and I mean SWEETEST women you will ever meet! EVER! I began to think about her and how we could get her over here to stay warm and be taken care of. She is probably pushing 90 if she is not already that or over. SHHHHHH! Don't tell her I said that. :) I knew that if we got her to the garage that if she needed to come into the house to use the bathroom that our backsteps were out of the question. However, we have an additional door a few feet away that leads right into our laundry room and from there the daycare bathroom could be easily accessed. SO, I went thru and made sure that the daycare bathroom was scrubbed down with Lysol, (Colin had been sick on Monday with a stomach bug and it needed to be done regardless), then, I needed to make sure that candles were placed safely in spots around the house that wouldn't catch anything on fire. The dc bathroom has a pedestal sink and setting one there was out of the question. Whoever would be coming in would be carrying a flashlight so it was just a matter of getting to that room. SO, after all of this preparing here's what happened....
Around around 7ish I noticed that the next door neighbors Kim and Dave were out of power. (I started to get nervous some, OK maybe not nervous, but anxious wondering what time we would lose ours). Around 8 Mom, Naomi, Lydia, and everyone in between, (all across the street from us), lost power. Our phones started blowing up. Naomi needed her kerosene heater lit. Mom needed me to watch her cross the street in case she fell. And Lydia called to tell us she was out. I told her to load up the kiddios and come on over. I called one of my best friends in town and she had lost power as well. She had just gotten her children to bed and finally started to calm her fears knowing they were tucked in bed. Larry said that he would go get her and the kids and take them to her moms if her parents couldn't get to her. I assumed that they made it over because she said they were on the way. (Thank God for that as well).
I left out the fact that Larry made us laugh because prior to the lights going out, he was cooking bacon and our power kept flashing and he was yelling "Pleeeeease, I just need 3 more minutes"! Anyone that knows Larry, knows he is such a quiet person so for him to yell out like that was quite comical.
Luckily, all night our power stayed on. Naomi stayed home with her kerosene heater. Mom, Lydia and the kids spent the night. Larry kept getting up in the night and going out to the garage to stoke the fire. The wind was howling all night.
This morning, Dave from next door came over and he had a propane heater. He took it over to moms house and Lydia's house to reheat their homes so that their pipes wouldn't burst. Dave and Kim have a handicap daughter Tara and I told him last night that if they needed to come over they were more than welcome to come. I wondered how we'd get Tara in the house--our porch was pretty much a skating rink so carrying her in--which would be the only option would be very dangerous. Then, Dave and Larry ended up running an extention cord from our house to theirs and that was enough to run the blower on their gas furnace to heat their home. (Thank you God for that too). We spent the day playing cards, playing games dice games, playing games on the TV, and basically just waiting this out. Lydia kept calling Duke Energy and at one point in the afternoon the recording told her that power would be restored no later than SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5th! WHOA! Actions needed to be taken now! Sherry, another neighbor on the other side of Dave and Kim, was here charging her cell phone when Lydia made that call and we were all like OH MY GOSH! Larry suited up and got ready to drive into town to buy kerosene for our tanks and Naomi's because clearly our plan of action would not get us through the next 3 days with subzero temps. without pipes bursting. Mom went home to get her food out of her refrigerator and freezer to bring over here and came back not longer with cheers of "I HAVE LIGHTS"! Yeah!!!! That meant so did Naomi and Lydia, and everyone in between. :) Saturday came pretty early. LOL!
When I said, at the beginning of this blog, that comfort comes in numbers I mean that. Our little block of neighbors pulled together and took care of each other just as every community should do. I'll admit, Larry and I miss living in our quaint country home surrounded by acres of farmland, but I've never been so thankful to be surrounded by such wonderful people. It is truly a blessing. We are exactly where we are meant to be in our lives at this time. We live in a great community. We have wonderful family and friends. Our daughter attends an excellent school and all of our needs are met. And for all of that I am beyond thankful.
I hope that everyone was able to deal with this past storm without too much trouble. I am so thankful to the employees of the power companies, fire departments, police departments, doctors and nurses, snow plow drivers, and absolutely every single person in between that kept our local businesses up and running during these critical times. I am thankful to them everyday, but especially now. Thanks for checking in. Until next blog...
Love,
Jenn
**On the RIGHT hand side of this page ABOVE the OWL you will find older posts if you are interested in checking them out. They are listed by month. Just click on a month and the posts will expand and you can click on each post individually or if you double click the month they will all pop up. Also, you can bookmark this page to your favorites and check back often for updates without having to look up the blog address. If you get to a video in the blog, you must scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and pause or stop the playlist music player or the sounds will play at the same time. Feel free to post comments too!**

SNOW DAY!

What we've got here is a SNOW DAY! Yeah! Indiana was covered in a sheet of ice last night and this morning. It is so beautiful! BUT! It is so scary too. Family members and friends had to endure the dangers to get to work including my momma! We are due to have even more snow, ice, and rain starting this afternoon so I am especially concerned about her ride home from work. Larry even got the day off because the roads are so bad. This is only the second time they have closed since he has worked there. They even went the year we had 22 inches of snow! I too have the day off which is very nice. Shelby County is officially under a snow emergency and only emergency vehicles are allowed on the roads.
We have gone thru and made sure that in the event of a power outage we are covered and even informed the neighbors and family and friends here in Waldron to come over here if the town goes out. We have a wood burning stove in the garage that will keep us warm. We have a gas stove we can cook with. AND we have a Culligan water dispenser to drink from. For sleeping conditions, if need be, we have kerosene heaters and we will happily open our home and section off a room or two so that our loved ones will be taken care of. :)
I have been in rare form this morning and to be honest, I'm driving Larry crazy. HAHAHAHA! I've busted out in free concert performing Vanilla Ice's Ice, Ice Baby. I've become a comedian out of nowhere that seems to only crack me up! LOL! It's safe to say he's wishing he went to work. :)
My prayers are for you if you must be out in these terrible conditions. Please remember, Firefighters, Police Officers, Doctors, Nurses, Plow Drivers, Power Company Employees, and others do not get to take days such as these off. Please pray for their safety as they are out taking care of us and our loved ones. Please pray for their families as they are home without them. Their families are heros as well giving up their loved ones for the day(s), just so they can continue their heroic jobs.

I've included a couple of pictures of Papa's Maple tree covered from this first round of ice. Isn't it pretty?! I hope this blog finds you all doing well. Thanks for checking in!

Love,

Jenn
**On the RIGHT hand side of this page ABOVE the OWL you will find older posts if you are interested in checking them out. They are listed by month. Just click on a month and the posts will expand and you can click on each post individually or if you double click the month they will all pop up. Also, you can bookmark this page to your favorites and check back often for updates without having to look up the blog address. If you get to a video in the blog, you must scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and pause or stop the playlist music player or the sounds will play at the same time. Feel free to post comments too!**