Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday (Orange Leaf Style)

Third Grade

Yesterday was Madelyn's first day of 3rd grade in the brand new Lincoln Elementary! She was super excited to be starting in a new school. The night before she had a specific request that I curl her hair before school. Since I had not used a curling iron since the 90s I was a bit concerned how that would go, but it turned out suprisingly cute (although you can't tell in the above pic). Once we arrived at the school I requested the annual back to school pic in front of the school which she did with only a bit of grumbling. Then as we walked in I noticed that she didn't hold my hand. :( I'm not digging this growing up stuff one bit.

I'm hoping she has a fantastic year and I'm looking forward to watching her learn and discover new things.

Fifteen

Happy 15th Birthday to my beautiful niece, Kaitlyn Elizabeth!

I can't believe this precious baby is now 15.

I Survived.....

And have a t-shirt to prove it!

Last Saturday I completed the Warrior Dash in Kansas City, MO. It was a 5k (3.1 mile) race with 12 obstacles. I was excited about this race and was mostly looking forward to crawling through the mud at the very end. However I knew starting a race at 2:30pm in the afternoon in July would be a challenge because of the heat. The course was very hilly through pastures and wooded areas. The hills in the wooded areas were muddy and slick so to prevent a face plant in the mud I walked a few of the downhills. If you know me, you know how very uncoordinated I am so of course the obstacles were quite the challenge for me. The very first one I basically fell over. That was pretty comical for all to see I'm sure. I just laughed, got up, dusted myself off and went on my way. Each obstacle was more challenging than I had expected and the ones that required climbing up fairly high made me nervous. I'm obviously not a fan of heights. Running through the creeks was a nice relief from the heat. I did however see some fellow that had not faired well on the course and was being held in the creek to be cooled off. He ended up being carted off the course because of over heating. As I neared the end I felt like I had completed a 10 mile race and was looking forward to seeing the mud puddle at the end. I crawled through the mud and as I crawled out and tried to get my footing fell flat on my back. I had someone ask if I needed help and I just laughed at how stupid I must have looked and got up and crossed the finish line. As I meandered through the mud soaked people a guy came up to me and told me it was quicker to clean off in the creek than the trucks that were spraying water so I went to the creek and washed off what I could.

It was a great time, great race, and I'm looking forward to doing it again next year. But next year I will try to sign up at an earlier time so I don't have to deal with the summer heat.

And this was me right after the race before I jumped in the creek. It took me a while to get all the mud off. :)

Sorry this picture is sideways no matter what I did I couldn't get it to stay up right. 

The Big 4-O!!!

Happy Birthday to my OLDER sister!! Hope it is a fantastic 40th! Sorry I couldn't be with you to celebrate.
Love you!

Kansas Summer

Dear Diary,

Just moved to Kansas ! Now this is a state that knows how to live!! Beautiful sunny days and warm balmy evenings. It is beautiful. I've finally found my home. I love it here.

*June 14th:**

*Really heating up. Got to 100 today. Not a problem. Live in an air-conditioned home, drive an air-conditioned car. What a pleasure to see the sun everyday like this. I'm turning into a sun worshipper.


*June 30th:**

*Had the backyard landscaped with western plants today. Lots of cactus and rocks. What a breeze to maintain. No more mowing the lawn for me. Another scorcher today, but I love it here.


*July 10th:**

*The temperature hasn't been below 100 all week. How do people get used to this kind of heat? At least, it's kind of windy though. But getting used to the heat is taking longer than I expected.


*July 15th:**

*Fell asleep by the community pool. Got 3rd degree burns over 60% of my body. Missed 3 days of work. What a dumb thing to do. I learned my lesson though. Got to respect the ol' sun in a climate like this.


*July 20th:**

*I missed Lomita (my cat) sneaking into the car when I left this morning. By the time I got to the hot car at noon, Lomita had died and swollen up to the size of a shopping bag, then popped like a water balloon.

The car now smells like Kibbles and cat poop. I learned my lesson though. No more pets in this heat. Good ol' Mr. Sun strikes again.


*July 25th:**

*The wind sucks. It feels like a giant freaking blow dryer!! And it's hot as hell. The home air-conditioner is on the fritz and the AC repairman charged $200 just to drive by and tell me he needed to order parts.


*July 30th:**

*Been sleeping outside on the patio for 3 nights now, $225,000 house and I can't even go inside. Lomita is the lucky one. Why did I ever come here?


*Aug. 4th:**

*Its 110 degrees. Finally got the air-conditioner fixed today. It cost $500 and gets the temperature down to 85. I hate this stupid state.


*Aug. 8th:**

*If another wise ass cracks, 'Hot enough for you today?' I'm going to strangle him. Dang heat. By the time I get to work, the radiator is boiling over, my clothes are soaking wet, and I smell like baked cat!!


*Aug. 9th:**

*Tried to run some errands after work. Wore shorts, and when I sat on the seats in the car, I thought my rear was on fire. My skin melted to the seat. I lost 2 layers of flesh and all the hair on the back of my legs and my rear. Now my car smells like burnt hair, fried butt, and baked cat.


*Aug 10th:**

*The weather report might as well be a damn recording. Hot and sunny. Hot and sunny. Hot and sunny. It's been too hot to do anything for 2 dang months and the weatherman says it might really warm up next week. Doesn't it ever rain in this state? Water rationing will be next, so my $1700 worth of cactus will just dry up and blow over. Even the cactus can't live in this heat.


*Aug. 14th:**

*Welcome to HELL! Temperature got to 115 today. Cactus are dead. Forgot to crack the window and blew the damn windshield out of the car. The installer came to fix it and guess what he asked me??? "Hot enough for you today?" My sister had to spend $1,500 to bail me out of jail. Freaking Kansas!

What kind of a sick demented idiot would want to live here?? Will write later to let you know how the trial goes.