Live from Tormville!

A day of camera carrying

Yesterday I was gone from 8:30 am to 11 pm, only home for 45 minutes around suppertime - 20 minutes of which I tried to take a quick nap, equalling supper wasn't much and I forgot to eat altogether. 

The day started with the second grade walking tour field trip. We walked from the school to town, and proceeded to walk from building to building for the next five hours. 

At each tour, the kids opened their passports and got a stamp saying that they'd been there. 

The courthouse was the biggest letdown ever. I've been on this tour before, and my big kids had been telling Brian all week - oooh, just wait until you see inside the courthouse! It's SOOO cool!  And it is. Only they've eliminated it from the tour and nobody seems to know why. It's been condensed to a brisk waste of a walk in one door and out the other. I would have been more impressed with a walk of the exterior and a mention of the architecture and clock at that point. 

Does anyone know why it's been taken away?  None of the tour guides or teachers can get an answer as to why. 

From there we went to Peanut Row and learned some more history. The kids were sweltering by this time, so I'm not sure how much they took in - but they loved the peanuts that came at the end. 

With the courthouse no longer in the running, the Opera House is the favorite part of the tour by the landslide. (If you don't count Dairy Queen) 

Random fact: Melissa Gilbert stopped by and visited this very Opera House just last week. Having grown up on Little House on the Prairie, that would have been a kick to be walking downtown and have seen her, but alas - my timing is off as usual. 

Brian was a little creeped out though by the feeling of ghosts in the place. 

Field trip done, I ran home real quick - hopped in the van and scooted my sunburnt self over to my sister-in-laws for a quick visit and cup of coffee with my sister who is up from Raleigh for a couple days. 

I then ran home for my 45 power minutes - then took off with Wendy to volleyball....and to ballooning which was conveniently right next to volleyball. 

Last night Denny did an inspection of Jerry's balloon. By law the balloons have to be inspected once a year. 

Denny tried to (tease) tell them that there might be some problems, but he needs to work on his poker face. 

Rita was in town! 

There goes Wendy's ELA teacher - her first flight. 

And there goes Denny and Rita. 

I slept well last night. 

As for today - 

work
volleyball
catch up.

Happy Friday!  

yesterday was brutal, but there was ballooning

I won't sugarcoat it. 
I had a rough day yesterday. Unusual for me, and pretty much previously unheard of for a Monday.

It started normal enough. I tend to hit the ground running on Mondays. On this Monday I had plans to take care of the back end of my week. I was revved up to arrange the week, make lists, catch up on laundry - I was charged.

And then Greg emailed and said - uh - that Friday you wanted me to take off? It looks like they want me in Kentucky. sigh.  It's been like this for 20 years. I'm not sure why I thought this time would be different. (it was hope)

I canceled my plans and spent the day holding back tears. I'm emotionally due for a break, and not going this weekend means there won't be another chance available until August at the earliest. We're booked solid until then. 

The day progressed, nothing got done. At 4:15 I headed out with the teenager back to Novi for yet another (boring, draggy, tedious, brain-wracking) college visit. He took a test, I discussed money with the financial aid department, we agreed that we can take another day to decide on some key points (starting in July or September, the loan process, etc) and this meeting ended up being only an hour compared to last week's three hour. 

On our way home and discussing options - the kid says, "I might actually like to go to school for psychology"  They don't offer that at the Art Institute. I about wrung his neck. 

I happened to glance at the clock and realized that I'd be back on home turf in time for ballooning - something I'd said earlier in the day I wouldn't be able to help with. Dropped off the undecided senior and headed back out. 

Caught the launch just in time - 

highlight of my day. 

And worthy of a laugh:  We went out to eat afterwards (I hadn't yet eaten dinner) and sitting next to me, part of Jerry's balloon crew, was the teacher who went dumpster diving for Wendy's retainer on the sewage plant field trip last week. What are the chances?  

I probably didn't share here about Wendy's field trip to the sewage plant, did I. I should video tape her telling about it. It's a scream. She puked. 

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Back at home after dinner, Greg informed me that he got a late evening email telling him that someone from the Louisville office would handle the Kentucky trip, so he's off the hook for the weekend. But it's too late.

I'm planning a getaway for 2019. I figure that's a safer bet. 

My Finnish-blooded balloon buddy would tell me to take a sauna and chillax. 

Here's to a better Tuesday. 

It's that season

The first flight of the season was Monday night - a month later than our first flight last year - and I was unable to make it as I was in Novi with Allan. I was able to go last night though. 

It as 50/50 if we'd be able to fly - the winds took awhile to die down - teasing us by going up for a bit instead. Denny decided to kick back and watch how Jerry fared with the winds before we began putting up his balloon. 

It's good to be back at it. 

Happy Wednesday! 

 

at the end of the day....

all these pictures look even BETTER if you click 'em & make 'em bigger. fact.

So. Hey. Haven't seen this view in awhile, right? I texted Denny a couple days ago and pleaded - Can We PLEEEEAAASE Go Balloooooning?   He texted back, It's cold.  I reminded him of my northern roots, and after he vay-kayed near there for a few days himself last weekend - we flew. ;)  I like the way these things work. 

While in the air I got a text from my oldest.  Hey mom, we can't reach you on the radio.  Oh. So then we turned it on. See how these things work? 

happy sigh. I needed this today. The colors are long gone, but I loved the wide open view that the bare trees provided. 

My walking route. I've walked along those streets many many many times. Fun to take pictures from above. Click - click - click. Meanwhile Denny was asking in range of my good ear - So, you want to learn to fly?  Click. Huh? 

I flew with my right hand and shot with my left. 1-2-3-4-5-6...Click. Oh hey - that's my subdivision! I've walked around that block probably several thousand times. It's a good sub. (Subdivision - a regional terminology, it blows my mind that they aren't called that everywhere) We've got awesome neighbors. 

I took this picture to share that I shot a deer on the second day of hunting season - but, hmph - looks like I missed him. He's hiding in the trees somewhere. The hunters were so happy that we were sending them skittering about. 

Looking for a landing spot. Not looking real promising here. But hey - what a lovely new salvage yard. 

I sent this picture to a friend who used to live in one of those houses on the right - said, boy, bet you're glad you don't live there anymore. 

These cars were all moved in here within the last couple days. I can see this spot when driving along the expressway and they weren't there last week. My OCD tendencies desperately want to arrange all the cars into pretty little color rows. It makes me twitch that they didn't think of that. Wouldn't a red row, white row and blue row be so cool? I suppose they've arranged them by make, model or year or some other silly such thing. 

Since they couldn't arrange them to suit me, I took liberty with my processing. Now I like it. 

And speaking of the expressway, sure was glad I didn't have to worry about that 96-shooter when we flew over. *insert bug eyes here* 

It was an awesome flight. 

Made possible because I dragged an inhouse capable body along with me. Thanks Al. I owe ya one. 

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Other stuffs...

• Today was my first day of work. I worked a two hour shift working the lunch room/recess hours. It suits me. I can hear the kids playing from my house, so it's not hard at all to just walk up the hill and put in a few. 
• Brian was so excited. He had shared this with me this morning: Mom, there's one rule you need to know for the lunch lady - you can't just pick your kid's line, you have to pick the quietest line, but that usually is my line.
• (It wasn't today)
• Mark is having a few frustrations in school recently. I'm again thankful that we sent him to preschool last year because he's come a long way. He's a smart kid, and I'm not sure what's triggering his frustrations (hearing? speech?), but it's how he's handling his frustrations that we have to work on. 
• Raising kids ain't easy
• And according to today's daily email of the grades, I've got to see what's going on with the middle schooler too. Yesterday she had all A's. Today she does not. 
• And since some of you email regarding my dad's status - I'll share here that it was decided at today's appointment that there will be a new team meeting next week or the week after (the holiday makes things tricky) to hopefully find a way to alleviate some of the symptoms that the newest pill is causing. 
• I really appreciated tonight's flight. 
• May your weekend be awesome. 
• be good. 

 

That was a full day

Yesterday was a full busy day. 

After I buzzed through some morning chores, I headed to the dentist (not my favorite place) where they had to give me three shots before I was numb. (I've since heard by way of my facebook status that caffiene drinkers generally need more numbing. There were a whole lot of us coffee drinking Finns that needed more than the normal shots to become numb)  The third shot he called the 'big one' and shot it straight down where the work needed to be done. 

I was numb for five hours after that. And starving. Even my left eye was numb. 

• Ran to my dad's since I was on that side of town 
• did his grocery shopping 
• got insulted as per yesterday's post 
• ran back to the dentist (on my way home) to have them scrape off a piece of bonding agent that was bothering my tongue 
• headed back home. 
• Saw my husband - he made it back from Chicago and as of this moment - Canada is canceled. 
• Ate lunch at 3:00. Starving. Finally got my feeling back. 
• The bigs came home
• Wendy was crying - couldn't do her homework because her history book went missing 
• Went with her up to the school to see what we could do about it (she never took that book home - and she's sure she put it in her locker. It's been missing for two weeks) 
• There are no extra books. 
• The teacher was much nicer about it once I went up there to figure out our options then when Wendy was trying to talk to her about it after class. 
• While I was at the school - another teacher just happened to call seconds after I had seen the back of his head in his class. 
• Turned around and chatted with him for a bit. Wendy does well during math class - answers questions, participates, knows the answers - but doesn't test well. We'll pull in a tutor for another year. 
• Dug through the lost and found, peeked in the locker, then inquired in the office about what to do about the missing book. Did everything we could possibly do right now. 
• At the office they asked Wendy - are you in the 8th grade?  Wendy shook her head no.  7th grade? Wendy shook her head no.  You're in 6th??  Wendy nodded. Wendy does not look 11. 
• Made it home in time to change, check the little boy's backpacks, fold the laundry off the line, grab my camera and then back out the door
• Ballooning. I hate to miss any of these last few flying days. 
• Slowest.Flight.Ever.  Seriously. We could have walked chasing it. 
• In fact, I walked back to my van after we packed it up. 
• Hey Dave/Barb - met your neighbor Angie. She's nice. And helpful. 
• Van gotten, ran back home and changed. 
• Headed to Mr. B's for a salad. 
• Home again. 
• Went to bed. 

I'm participating in a few photo challenges this month - I'll dig those pics up in a bit. My computer is bogged down lately so I need to run some clean up on it. It's been very jumpy and tempermental. Once I get it up to snuff, I'll post more balloon pictures on the Kaleidoscope's facebook page. 

Today I get to enjoy staying at home - knock on wood. Planning to catch up on some paperwork, figure out dinner, and do some creating.  Weather doesn't look good for ballooning these next two nights. 

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From this morning:

Me: Wendy, don't forget that you have to check in the media center about that book. 

Wendy: I won't - I wrote myself a note on a piece of duct tape and stuck it to my backpack. 

We're so classy. 

Threes

I went crewing both Thursday and Friday - I thought I'd pick just a few faves from each night....

Three for Thursday.

We launched from Denny's place...

And we landed just over a mile away off of Latson. We LOVE when we land somewhere where people are so willing to lend a hand.  Lots of helpers Thursday night. 

Three for Friday

Last night we launched from the high school along with three other balloons....

I'm petitioning for a new map. A ballooners map is different from a map that you'd buy in the store in that it's marked with no landing zones. The navigator (shotgun) keeps the map handy and folded to the flight route so they can readily share any upcoming problem spots. We do fine, as long as Denny avoids flying along the map cracks. 

It's also getting more difficult to fold this map while in the passengar seat, so I've taken to folding it out of the vehicle before the balloon launches. 

But last night I drove chase vehicle. I'm determined to learn how to back up a trailer. I didn't learn last night. 

Denny, Dennis and Jerry. The fourth balloon had ducked behind the trees at this point. 

I'm working towards posting more photos on Kaleidoscope's facebook page.

 

Three for Mark

I've often remarked that he's my most difficult of the four to photograph and suddenly I got three pictures that I like in one week. This is unheard of. Unprecedented. A small miracle! 

happy sigh. 

Other threes:

Three for today:

• Brian's first soccer game
• An afternoon wedding
• Overnight company tonight

Three for animals

• The boys are currently cleaning all the spilled guinea pig food out of the Duplo bucket
• The dog peed in the upstairs hallway early this morning (she NEVER goes upstairs and she has NEVER peed in the house before) 
• Every night at 9:00 there is a skunk in our front yard. Be wary. That's an active coming and going hour at our house. I am not pleased and would welcome tips on how to get the skunk to change his path. 

Three for my dad

• Fifth (it was the fifth, right?) and last round of chemo yesterday 
• psa is still going up according to yesterday's blood test results (292)
• switching to something else (instead of chemo) on the next visit

Three randoms

• I got a call yesterday from the company I ordered our hinges from (for our kitchen cupboards) and they oopsed. They accidentally sent one instead of 18. One came yesterday - the other 17 will be sent out on Monday. hrmph. 
• I've been buying coffee beans again ever since I was in Minnesota - Darrel and Greg H spoiled me. It's good to stay with coffee snobs. 
• I woke up so early this morning, but already I feel like today is running away from me - time to fly....

 

The Day's End

(click the photo for a better view) 

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Today was a very long day. 
I was grateful to be able to end it with a bit of balloon chasing,
followed by a late dinner at Olive Garden with my sister-in-laws, niece and friend 

Tonight I will sleep well. 

summer is flying and so are the balloons

Yesterday we had our (fourth?) annual water balloon war with friends, and the balloons were flying. The boys were filling theirs up in the front yard and the girls were filling theirs up in my laundry room since we couldn't get the backyard hose dislodged from the carwash. 

I just sat in the background and gnawed on my licorice while trying to sneak a few pictures without getting wet. 

Brian was a scream. I should have taped his antics. 

"They have good aim, I just have better dodging skills"
"I'm just walking around, jingling the change in my pocket, not even a bit wet" 
"It's because I'm so skinny, I'm a tricky target"

It didn't take long for him to become the biggest target.  

They finally trapped him in the tree, but even there it took quite some time before they got him wet - he swings on that rope like he was raised in the jungle. 

Fun was had. No matter what Markie has to say about it. 

It was a pretty windy day - I managed to dry three loads on the line while visiting and I really wasn't sure the wind was going to die down enough for hot air ballooning. At 4:00 there was a 50% chance. 

We were short on crew last night - Denny was really hoping to get both Greg and I last night - but that wasn't going to happen. As it happens - I know lots of people. My friend Julie had just dropped off a kid at the high school and then texted me....is that you?  

I confirmed and told her we needed her help. Ideally it takes four people (counting Denny) to launch the balloon. One on crown and two to hold the balloon open. A fifth person gets someone to hold the fan so it doesn't shift. 

Oh hey! It's my new friend from the other night! We bumped into each other in the middle of the afternoon the other day too - we both happened to be at the school during the same five minute window. What are the chances?  We're like bff's. Only bff's can get away with taking a photo only because it looks like the balloon behind her is some weird ballooning hat on her head. ha! 

Within minutes I was up in the air looking at the third balloon about to launch. (Jerry took off ahead of us)

What a great day and what a beautiful evening! 

There is Jerry way out there on the horizon. I'm not sure where he landed last night - there were a whole lotta trees and farm animals in this direction. 

We flew alongside Ken Myer and the Ralphie 2. He landed one house over from where we landed. 

happy sigh. 

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Other stuffs

• Greg left for Cleveland at 5am this morning. He *should* be home in time to sleep in his own bed tonight. 
• Tonight we have kindergarten open house
• looks to be another gorgeous day
• the teenager is learning all about irrigation this week - working long hours. 
• as for me, more laundry on the line and a few lists to make. I like lists. 
• life is good

Happy Wednesday! 

edited to add one more photo. We flew over these cows in the pasture last night and I instantly remembered this award winning photo that I had bumped into recently and was inspired. Mine doesn't quite do the inspiration justice, but it was fun.  ;)  (click the image for a larger/better view)

meanwhile, back at the ranch.....

It's just been one big party. 

Wendy and the neighbor girl hosted an end of summer party for all the girls from the block a few days ago. It went well. I didn't do a thing. 

Allan worked six days this week, and squeezed in some time to get his senior photo taken for the yearbook. I, however, didn't take a single picture of him. New goal for next week. 

The little boys found out their teachers this week and we went up the hill to check out their classes and meet Mark's teacher. The little boys have been doing a lot of scrapping lately and school will provide a much needed break from each other. 

They did well balloon crewing last night though. They came too much last year and had become bored with it, so they've only come maybe twice this year - last night being the second. It was fun to see the renewed interest and excitement, not shown here. 

My husband had his first balloon ride. He was excited. Shown here. (Any Finn will get this one) 

He missed flying over the new church build by about a quarter of a mile. I was hoping we could provide an aerial shot. 

He also got a new order of wood in the mail and has been busy carving. There is rarely a day that he doesn't carve. 

And we got some new additions to the household. 

So often in my life things happen during the day that I never would have predicted would happen.  For instance on Friday I had no idea I was going to wake up and apply for a job at the schools. Who knew? 

And yesterday morning, I had no idea we'd be listening to guinea pigs squeal from Wendy's room before we went to bed at night. Who knew?

I know a few of you are jealous of my email response speed. (These guys were offered up free on an email yesterday) Feel free to come and visit. 

Ha. 

I'm going to have 'sucker' tattooed on my forehead. 

It's been a good week. 

As for today - as soon as I kick the guinea pigs out of the bathroom I'm taking a shower and getting ready for church. 

Uncle George is coming over for lunch - shishkabobs on the grill. 

Hot - already turned on the air, and a thunderstorm this evening. 

Summer is awesome. 

a bounce in my step

Today is great.

It's a beautiful day, all six of us are home, nothing major on the to do list although I have a goal of going to buy milk before the teenager wakes up.....

....and I went ballooning last night. I did offer it up to Greg if he wanted to go last night and I'd stay home - but he got stuck in traffic on 696 on his way home from Canada. Alas and all that. So I went. Woe is me. *wink* 

Jerry could have learned a few pie ball release techniques last night - but he didn't launch with Denny last night. His loss. 

It never gets old. 

Last night we launched from Denny's house. 

George and I both took Thursday night off. I'm probably the most frequent crew member, with George and Sonja right behind me.  (If my tally is correct - I've attended 24 launches this year (that's counting balloonfest, and not counting the times we tried and couldn't).

I made another new friend last night. Turns out she goes to the same school as my own kids so I warned her that she might be seeing a whole lot of me as I - totally unexpectedly - applied for a job at the school yesterday as a playground monitor.  Who knew?  

I couldn't get in for a meeting until October 3rd, and it would be strictly on a sub basis for the first year just because of other things we have going on right now - but it's a perfect fit for me. I can hear the kids playing on the playground from my house and I love being with the kids. A couple hours a day here and there would be nice for the debt-free living goal. 

Anyway - my new friend and I bonded over teacher and other student talk while chasing last night. 

Denny keeps trying to find someone that I can't connect with, but he's not having much luck. When Paul and I caught up to him here, I hopped out of the Jeep and shouted - "Hey Phil!  Hey Koren!"  Denny turns to Phil and asks, "You know Sharyn?" Phil nodded. Denny shook his head and laughed. 

Keep trying, Denny. 

 

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As for today...

• Studio AE sneak peek post coming up later today
• The music is cranked up loud
• heading out for a walk
• can be easily convinced that today would be a great day for kayaking
• enjoying a day with all six of us home
• life is good

peace!