Extreme Home Makeover

Extreme Home Makeover is building a home for a family 15 minutes from here. The kids and I like watching the show so had to go look at the building site. The road where the house is situated is closed off for 8-10 blocks. In order to see the home, you need to park and walk. There is a spectator shuttle site where you can ride the shuttle for a donation of canned goods that will be donated to area food banks. It has been nasty weather-wise this week. We have had rain half of it. Cold all of it. The wind is really bad today making it feel colder. It has been miserable for the makeover workers, I bet.

On demolition day the kids and I drove by and could see the large equipment cleaning up the lot. Cement footers were poured later that night. Just tonight I conned hubby into driving by the house. We parked and walked to take a look. It was neat to see all the people. There is a lot of behind the scenes stuff going on to that doesn't make it to television. We passed by an area food business that had a food station open to feed the volunteers/workers. There are the law enforcement workers that direct both vehicle and people flow.

When hubby and I looked at the house this evening, the landscaping was being installed. As we were leaving we saw the flooring being brought in for the new home (carpeting, tile & hardwod flooring) to some cheers of the workers. It is amazing to see it all come together so fast.

The community has been coming together too. There are collections and fundraisers to raise money to help pay off the selected family's mortgage (for old home). There is the can drive as well as a blood drive tomorrow. The family is to come home tomorrow. Watching when the episode airs later will be a must watch for us. We might see people we know!

Charissa

I gotta brag about my oldest. Charissa is 15 (16 in 4 months) and a pretty good kid. She is helpful. She does have the ocassional mouthy attitude, but overall she is a keeper.

Charissa is talented musically and plays the piano well. She plays at church when asked. She is a voracious reader and loves to write. She is a good student (much better than I ever was) which I knew. She surprised me with how good of a student last night.

She brought home her Honors English grade for the quarter yesterday. She showed me the grade. I couldn't believe it. I gave her the parental spill about trying harder and improving next quarter. It was all tongue-in-cheek though. She had a 99 for her grade. That is so awesome!

She also showed us her practice ACT she took in preparation for next year when she is a junior and takes the real thing. She had a score of 22 for the practice run. She will do well. She has a good head on her shoulders and a great mind in that head.

I am so proud of her!

Cara's Paper

This is the paper Cara read at the school board meeting (see previous post). Cara's teacher is just wonderful. She is always praising Cara which has really helped Cara blossom and have more confidence. In case you can't read the paper above, here it is typed out with original spelling still intact.

We learned Lots of thing about the desert. The Australan desert home to the bandicoot. The Gila monster is the only poionous lizard in the American desert. The dromdary is a one humped camel found in the sandy Arabian desert. It sure was fun reading about the desert.

She Has It Covered

Last night we went to a school board meeting. As part of a new tradition, a few elementary students are asked to share some of their work at the beginning of the board meeting. Cara along with two of her classmates were given the honor of being the first ones to kick this off. They also led everyone in the Pledge of Allegience.

As we started the pledge, I looked over at Joanna. She switched her hands a couple of times trying to remember which one went to her chest. I watched her shrug to herself before putting both hands on her chest. I guess she figured one had to be correct.

He had a dream ...

so now I have a bruised calf muscle. Hubby had a dream last night so he kicked me ... hard ... twice. He was apologetic when he realized it was me he kicked. He kept telling me it wasn't me he was trying to kick. I asked him what it was then. His response? An evil, porcelain doll. Yeah. It had been a coyote but turned into the doll so he was kicking it to kill it. He missed the first time so kicked again. Well, he didn't miss me the first time or the second either.

So what do I do? I faked being asleep when Eric woke up at 4 a.m. I guess hubby was still feeling guilty, because he got up without even trying to wake me. He took care of Eric even though I usually do during the week. I sure didn't feel guilty as my leg was throbbing and tender by then.

That was worse than the falling Christmas tree dream. Early in our marriage hubby dreamed a Christmas tree fell on him. He jumped sky high which scared me awake since I was in that semi-conscious state right before fully asleep. I frantically asked, "What?!" "A tree fell on me ... zzzzzz" UGH!

Another funny thing about dh is that he talks in his sleep if he is stressed at work. He did it all the time when he was in the military. He would bark out orders at me (or who he was dreaming I was), but I just laughed at him which translated to insubordination from his men in his dream. He blew someone up too once (in his dream that is).

Dh usually doesn't act out his dreams. I can count on one hand in almost 15 years that he has. Maybe I shouldn't have given him that chocolate caramel bar to eat before bed. That stuff is dangerous for more than your hips.

Things Gone Bad ...

A field trip gone bad ...

A driving lesson in parking gone bad ...

A home repair project gone bad ...