Day 55

Jack is OBSESSED w/this basket.  It's wear we put the newspapers & various other paper products before Nick takes them down for recycling.  If there are only a few things in the basket, he'll knock it over, pull the things out & lay down in there.  Today is 'garbage day' (which is weird since the garbage man doesn't come until tomorrow.  LOL  They come VERY early in the morn so Nick takes the trash out the day before) so Jack got to jump in the empty basket.  Silly Kitty!!

Day 54

It's getting late & I have no picture for the day.  Nick begs me to take a pic of his Little Big Planet game.  I have NO IDEA what all this means!  It's a bunch of Santas & Sack Boy wearing a disco suit!  Alrighty then.

Day 53

It's only February.  Is it normal for trees to start budding this early?  Or is it cause of that warm weather last week?  If so, we're in TROUBLE 'cause the warm is done!  They are even talking snow flurries for the end of the week!!

Day 52

The kids & I were hanging in the living room when Nick noticed a squirrel on the deck.  I told them by the time I got my camera & opened the door, I was sure he'd be gone.  But, he stayed & even turned so I wasn't stuck w/a pic of his butt!!!  You can even see he has a nut in his mouth.  I love my camera!!!!

Day 51

Ok, I'm cheating here.  I didn't take a pic today.  Guess nothing happened today???  Anyway, I took this pic last week during the (nearly??) full moon.  I used Becca's tripod & the no flash mode.  I think I could get a better pic once I know how to use the settings.  Still turned out fairly cool.......

Back to "real time pics" tomorrow???

Day 50

I don't want to say that the Mills mall is in the sticks but.....this tractor was parked in the lot outside the mall.  LOL  There IS a Cabellas in that mall.  LOL

Took the kids to the Mall in St Peters, MO tonite.  (Scott went to play cards w/his Mom, Aunt & Uncle!)  The Borders at that mall is closing and Becca wanted to go get books at 20% off plus an extra 10%!!!  She got 4 books, Nick & I got one & I picked up 3 baseball magazines for Scott at 40% off!!  Then we walked (we had such an AWESOME parking place and planned on coming back to the mall later) to the Chilis that just happened to be on the other side of the parking lot!  After a YUMMY dinner (out waitress had the kitchen make special Chicken Bites for the kids!) we went back & did more shopping.  Becca got clothes from American Eagle & Nick got some from Hollister.  I got ROCKS!!! 

We left the mall at 8:25.  I called the Archivers about 15 minutes away & they confirmed they closed at 9!  Dang, I even had a coupon!!!  We decided to drive past the Mills on the way, just to see what time we could make it by.  We got to the mall at 8:45.  I RAN to Archivers w/Becs while Nick stopped at the book store there.  Was able to pick up a new TH Die & check out before 9pm!! 

Hit a McDs on the way home for sodas!!  GOOD Saturday Night!!!

Day 49

It's been so warm that we have the sliding glass doors & a few windows open.  Somehow, Jack knocked the screen from the downstairs slider out & ESCAPED!!!  (I guess we should be happy that no one else came IN thru the open door!!!)  Scott went out & looked & Nick went out & searched the neighborhood but we couldn't find the little weasel!!  He's gotten out before & he usually comes back about 10am the next day.  We leave the garage door cracked & he can get in  & get to his food/water/litter.  Well, since the doors were open, Becca heard him crying to get in about 10:30pm!!!  Scott brought him in & locked him in the laundry room (and closed the garage door!) 'cause he has to have a bath before he can rejoin the "family".

We bathed him this morning.  Poor little drowned rat.  You'd think, as he HATES baths soooo much, he'd stop going out, knowing he'll get another one when he gets back.  I guess he's not that smart?  Silly Kitty!

Day 48

Taken while waiting in the drive thru line at sonic.  I've gotta say, I'm LOVING this camera.  Even on auto, the background is blured & the subject is so focused!!!  LOVE IT!!!

Day 47

Yes, it's 62 degrees here.  In FEBRUARY!!  After the sun went down.  It's supposed to be even WARMER tomorrow!!!  WOW!!!  How will mother nature pay us back for this??

Day 46

After the joy that was yesterday, I was hoping for a decent day.  No such luck.  I had a dental appt that did NOT go well.  After about 5-6 shots, I still didn't feel numb.  So they had to stop what they were doing & will see me back in MAY after I've taken an anti-anxiety drug.  I'm NOT looking forward to this.

So, I told Scott I NEEDED dinner OUT at Culvers!!!  We stopped by Best Buy & then the Verizon store to replace my phone.  Got the same kind of phone but now I can text SHERRI!!!  Couldn't do that before; weird phone!!!  While I was at Verizon, Scott took the kids to Borders.  This is the snow pile outside.  I wonder how long it'll last....

Day 45

Ever have one of those days when EVERYTHING goes wrong?  Today was one of those days.  Took becca to the Dr but there's nothing he can really do for her.  She's already on antibiotics so it doesn't matter if she has strep, ear infection of whooping cough as they would all be treated the same way anyway.  Scott's still not feeling well (he has the same funk, just not as bad) On top of all the running around & all the sickies, we returned Scott's rental car today & left my index box full of coupons in the car.  The good news is they found them & were holding them for me! 

As if my day wasn't "fun" enough, I have this basket full of stuff that goes downstairs.  Whenever I find or use something that needs to go back downstairs, instead of running it right then, I put it in this basket.  Well, the basekt made it halfway down the stairs & then got knocked down the REST of the stairs.  I guess it's not THAT bad, it did finally get DOWNSTAIRS but this wasn't the way I planned it.  Do you think that cat had ANYTHING to do with it??

Oh, and Happy Valentines day.

Day 44

Driving to Missouri today I noticed these jet-trails.  I thought they looked very cool.   I didn't remember seeing so many at one time. 

(The next day on the TV, pics similar to mine were shown.  Apparently there was something about the atmospheric conditions that caused them to show up.  COOL!!!)

Day 43

Poor Becca.  She's been sick for two weeks.  I took her to the doctor on Monday.  She's got nothing but a cold.  But, she's just miserable.  I called & they sent her an antibiotic on Thursday.  3 days on it & she's STILL feeling bad!!  I'm taking her back tomorrow.  There is a case of whooping cough at school.  I'm a little scared now!!

Day 42

We're a house full of sickies and the humidifiers are out in force.  And, where there is a box, no matter the size, Jack is IN THE BOX!!!  Silly kitty!!  He's also knocked over the empty recycling basket about 12 times so he can crawl into it.

Day 41

More Birds!  Even on my craft blog!

Yeah, I know.  Compared to yesteday's shot, these kinda suck.  I was walking out to the car & saw the hawk flying overhead.  By the time I got my camera out, he was kinda far away.  Best I could do.  LOL

I sent the eagle pic to Walgreen & printed out an 8x10 to submit to the contest.  I'll let you know what happens!

Day 40

Please bear with me & read thru this long post.  Or at least look at the pics.  It will be worth it in the end, I PROMISE!!!!

I drove across the river to get (cheaper) gas today.  Since I had a few minutes to kill before picking up the kids, I decided to see if I could get some Eagle pics with my fancy pants new camera!  I pulled over to where the eagles usually hang & got this pic.  Not so exciting although you can tell the one one right is a bald eagle.  I don't know if the one on the left is a golden eagle or maybe just a hawk.  Probably not as eagles don't hang w/other birds.

So, I drive to the dam to see if I can get something better.  Well, apparently, they don't clear bird watching roads!  It's all icy & I turn around to come back.  But, I get this cool shot of the cool Alton bridge!!



I pick the kids up from school & the route I take home takes me back by the river again.  OOOO, there are FOUR eagles in the trees on the side of the road.  MUCH CLOSER!!!  I take the pic.  OOOO, I guess this is where I need to learn about depth of field & that stuff.  BUMMER!!!!  But, you can tell it is a bald eagle, right??

Here are 3 of the four.  What, you can only see two???  Well #3 is the blur next to the 2 in my watermark.  LOL

But, since I am so close & other people are now stopping to get pics, I try again from a better angle.  SUCCESS!!!  Now, when Scott asks me again what I want for Valentine's Day, I can tell him, a LONGER LENS!!!  LOL

I seriously LOVE this pic.  I might even print it & enter it into the local Eagle photo contest!!!

Day 39

Tonite is Senior Night.  The graduating basketball players are celebrated and give speeches about their year(s) at Bethel.  I was VERY excited for tonite as these are the seniors I "know".  Caleb started at Bethel the same year Becca started and I got to work with Jeremy last year when I was filling in for Rhonda.  Matt is new this year but I've gotten to see him play all year. 

As luck would have it Becca's sick.  We went to the game but she was just miserable.  I had to take her back home before any of the festivities started.   I did get this pic of the boys but didn't get to hear their speeches or, more importantly GET ANY CAKE!!!  LOL

Scary thought: in a year & a half, it will be Becca having her Senior night in volleyball.  YIKES!!!

Day 38

This is the "hole" in the snow in my front yard.  I don't know if the birds are doing it or the squirrels but SOMEONE is looking for the acorns that fell in the fall.  I guess I need to get a bird/squirrel feeder?

BTW, "squirrel" is a very funny looking word.  I SWEAR it's misspelled but spell check says it's right.  LOL

Day 37

File this under something that SOUNDS better than it turns out!  Oreo stuffed choc chip cookies.  Got this idea from Becky Higgins.  Too big, too rich, too much!!!  Maybe w/mini oreos???  But, I probably will NOT try it again.  Nick named them the Hiroshima cookies.  They didn't agree w/him at all!!!

Day 36

Remember last week when we were supposed to get snow???  Well we didn't.  Today, we were supposed to get a dusting; we got 3".  Got up to head for the final(?) basketball game (if we win, we play another but, we haven't won yet so......) and discovered lots o'snow!!  This is some of the snow that clung to the ice on OUR basketball net.  Looks cool, huh??  We DID end up losing the game :(   Only one more game this season.  Unless we make up the 2-3 that got snowed out!

Kevin, Missy & the kids are in town this weekend.  We met up at Texas Roadhouse for dinner (yes, we each drove 45 minutes for dinner.  There are no good places in Alton so, what ya gonna do???)   Matthew was at Olivia's house and Marissa brought her friend Brittney (but the pic of them didn't turn out so good)

(I HATE that I can't manipulate the picture placement since Blogger changed.  ARGH!!!!)

Day 35

35 days before I have to bore you with basketball pics!!  School today but the boys have a tournament and will only be going for 2 hours.  On top of that, Becca's not feeling well & I had to take her to see the dr this morning, so SHE missed a half day of school too.  She's ok, not contagious so we headed for the BB game. 

Bethel got creamed but, the good news is, that means Nick & the rest of the JV boys got to play.  We have another game tonite &, based on that, at least one tomorrow. 

Day 34

We ventured out & about for a bit today.  Everything's covered in crystal!!  The sun is shining & it all looks so pretty & glittery.  The pics don't do justice to just how sparkly everything is.  Schools are still closed but, as tonite's basketball tournament hasn't been cancelled, I'm guessing we'll have school tomorrow. 

Day 33

Nope, no more snow.  Which, all in all is good.  Unfortunately, we still have to deal with what IS out there, ice & frozen sleet!!  Scott enlisted the help of Nick in trying to get to some concrete!  They finally managed to get a path for the van and the sidewalk & porch done.  It was VERY hard work!!!!  Snow would have been MUCH better than ice!!!

Day 32

Well, it's kinda disappointing to be threatened w/20" of snow and get NOTHING!!!!  We got about an inch & a half of sleet & maybe an inch of snow.  Nothing like what they were predicting.  I know it's better for everyone involved if we didn't get a bunch of snow but, I was sad when I looked out the window today & saw the same thing as when I went to bed!!!  The winter weather watch isn't quite over yet, maybe we'll get something more???

Day 31

It started raining about 10am today.  Even tho they were going to get out at 11:45 'cause of the weather, I picked the kids up at 10:45!  Got everyone home & snug in the house.  It rained off & on all afternoon.  We ended up with ice but not as much as they thought we might get.  Now, we wait for the snow......Might get up to 2 feet of snow.  YIKES!!!!

Day 30

We're expecting an UGLY winter storm starting tomorrow sometime.  We could loose power as we're expecting maybe in INCH of ICE!!!  Scott went to the library today & I asked Becca to go & pic me up a book so I'd have something to read if I lost my computer & TV.  She decided I was going to be snowed in for a LONG TIME.  She got me 6 magazines & a book that contained two books.  Oh well, at least I'm ready!! 

Day 29

Doesn't Jack seem to be saying "Help me!!"  There is a love/hate relationship between Jack & Nick.  Nick LOVES Jack but I really don't think the feeling is mutual.  In this pic, Nick is taking Jack into his room.  Most likely, Jack will fall asleep once he gets there but, he doesn't seem to want to go.

Day 28

I'm sitting at the basketball game, taking pics.  Becca's sitting at the basketball game, taking pics.  Yes, she took SOME pics of the players.  I think this pic of her pic is too funny!!  The brown crocs are mine, the blue; hers.  LOL

Day 27

Back to McDs today.  Since I've been sick, the only thing that EVER sounds any good is ICE CREAM!!!  The carmel sundae sure hit the spot!!!

Day 26

I took no pictures today :(  But, here's a pic taken a few days ago of Jack.  Sleeping in Scott's office.  On top of his baseball cards.  Silly Kitty!

More pics are COMING!!

I've spent all day today getting pics ready.  I took over 1000 pics at our BB tournament over the weekend.  Took a LONG time to go thru those.  And, I have ICE pics (get it, ice pick???) to show from last week's storm.  I'm working on them but everything is moving SO SLOW!!  I think my computer might need some cleaning!!! 

Day 25

Basketball game tonite.  Still trying not to inundate you w/pics of my kid.  After the game, we stopped at McDs where Nick decided he was REAL hungry!!!  He wanted the 20 piece McNugget.  Somehow, a 20 piece nugget meal sound much more impressive than what it was; 2 10 piece nuggets.  <sigh>  He did eat the whole thing, including a large fry!!

Sorry about the REALLY crappy pic.  I didn't realize that at some point, I switched my camera to Manual Focus instead of Auto.  Half of my game pics were blurry too.  :(

Day 24

What causes an icicle?  I was driving thru South Roxana today & noticed LOTS of house with HUGE icicles dripping from their eaves.  What causes them??  Why don't I have any??  Is it bad insulation causing heat loss??  Is it the position of the house in relation to the sun??  I think they look cool.