Halloween already???

I don't know parents with multiple children do Halloween. I swear these costumes get more expensive every year. I am not talented with a needle and thread so there's no way I could make a costume and I have no creative talents in that sphere to come up with something on my own. Not to mention, At least it's done and it's not even October yet. YIPPY!! I have had Star Wars action figures running all over my house lately shooting nerf guns. I hate those guns. Why Chris? Why, did you have to buy those guns????

Skating Party

Okay, I know it looks like we "forced" him to go to the skating party but I promise you. He really did want to go. He was kind of nervous about two things.
1. Falling Down
2. Not knowing anyone.

It was a fund raiser for the school that wasn't attended that well. Chris had a lighter week so he got to play chauffer and take Nathan to this particular activity. I sure wasn't going to skate. I'd kill myself.







Most of the really good pics were too dark to see much so these will have to do. As you can see things haven't changed much since we were kids. Still corny lights and while the music is more recent it's still too loud. (That must be my sensitive ears getting older though).

Not bad for a GIRL

So like I said in a previous post the weather has been gorgeous. It's about time we can get outside and play. You don't do much outside in LA from May to Sept. or October. Just too stinkin' hot. Hurricane Ike blew all the humidity out of the area so even though it's still 85 degrees it feels fabulous. Nathan had money burning a hole in his pocket after working so hard in the backyard he made me take him to Target. Just to see what he could spend it on. He settled on the New Orleans Saints football. (I did not encourage this as I am NOT a Saints fan.) When we got home we had to play ball. This means Mom is honorary QB. After a few practice throws and almost taking his head off I was getting some pretty sweet spirals if I do say so myself. At dinner Nathan was telling Chris about our football game. He informed Chris that for a girl I was pretty good. I couldn't get mad at him because I do throw like a girl. I can only throw about 10-15 yards otherwise my arm/should hurts. Oh well. I must have done pretty good cause he asked me to play again the next day.

Clean up after Ike

It's hard to tell with the picture but you can see that the tree too a beating through Hurricane Ike.
Okay, so we cheat during the clean up. We don't have anything but woods behind our fence so...we paid Nathan to pick up all the branches and throw them over the fence. This was much better than having to drag them to the front curb for pick up. Ha, Ha, Ha....we beat the system.
You know these pics just aren't doing it justice. I guess cause everything blends in so well. Anyway, there was quite a mess in the backyard but the weather had finally cooled down. Nathan was so excited he could go outside and not sweat he offered to do yard work. For a price of course. Every 15 minutes he'd come in the house and ask how much MORE money he'd earned. I figure for the $5.00 we paid we made out like bandits because Chris and I didn't have to do it.

Who is that???

So the USAF in it infinite wisdom has decreed that on Monday's everyone will wear their blue uniform. Now you may think so what's the big deal? As a pilot, I think I could count on two hands the number of times Chris has worn his "blues" . He is not happy about this. The guys were told on Friday around lunch time to make sure they were "properly" dressed come Monday morning. As you can imagine there was a flurry of activity at the military clothing and sells and oops...there weren't enough uniforms or rank to meet the demand. Lucky (or unlucky as the case may be) Chris had actually bought major rank right after he'd pinned on so he was good to go. I think he's going to try to make sure he flies every Monday so he can wear his flight suit.

HOLY FREAKIN' COW(S)!!!! LITERALLY

I am going to try to set the scene but thinking about what could have happened still leaves me feeling sick to my stomach and quite shaken. I travel I-220 25 miles each way to and from work. It's not so bad cause there rarely is a lot of traffic to have to content with. Now that Hurricane Ike is coming in there are more people are the roads, therefore, more congestion. Here's the scene as best as I can describe in words. I'm not sure I'm still function right yet.

I am traveling down the road at 70 mph. Speed limit is 60 but no one goes that slow. I am passed by a semi transporting cows like I'm standing still. That guy must have been going at least 75-80mph. There is a sharp curve coming up and the highway signs say SLOW DOWN 45mph and have a picture of a semi truck on it tipping over. Semi is in left lane. I am in left lane and approximately 2 car lengths behind him. Semi doesn't slow down for curve (IDIOT! Didn't you see the sign), veres over to the right lane, over-corrects comes back into the left lane, then flips on its side and slides into barrier. Meanwhile, backend flips out to the left lane and almost takes me out too.

You know how people say time slows down during something like this. Let me assure you it's true. Each movement was like a camera picture slowly passing you by. The only reason I didn't get hit is because just seconds the truck flipped I felt prompted to slow down immediately. I knew something bad was going to happen. Otherwise, I would have either been (1) smashed between the semi and the cement barrier (Yuck, I'm in the civic) or (2) thrown over the overpass (not sure that's a good option either).

Now as to the Title heading. Yes, cows are either dead on the side of the road or running around. Either one is not a pleasant option as this is an interestate. I called 911 and was trying to give them directions to where we were located but I have having a hard time getting my brain to work. I could see the highway signs telling us exactly where we were but I just couldn't spit it out. That poor operator but have been so annoyed with me. I finally did get them the information but geez, adrenaline was pumping through my body at such a high rate of speed and I had tingling in the fingers and arms, let alone trying to get my brain and mouth to function too.

So that's the excitement on our end. Lets just say I am glad to be alive and hate semis even more now then ever. Now we just have to get past Hurrican Ike. How inconvenient right?! :)

WE"RE ALIVE!!!!!

Okay so Hurricane Gustav really didn't disrupt our lives very much. They cancelled school for 3 days and work for Chris for 1.5 days. I on the other hand worked every day. Fitness facilites do not close for anything. I had stocked our fridge with extra water and food. We had propane to cook with and cash on hand. But aside from some rain and wind nothing really happened.

We were eyeing Ike but it looks like it'll miss us too. The biggest problem and I realize this isn't "PC" but the evacuees are a royal pain in the butt. They complain a lot and take my food out of the stores. You'd have to read some of the newspaper stories to get a good idea of what I'm talking about. My work is about a mile from one of the shelters and the way they trashed the area was extreme to say the least. I realize I'm not being very nice but I never said I was nice mostly just selfish. Most have headed home.

Nathan is back in school and Chris is back to work. We are enjoying a cooler day today. It was gorgeous. I was actually cold this morning on our bike ride. By the way 90 degrees is cool here in LA in September. Though this morning it was in the 60s. Sweet!!!