Labor Day Weekend

I will roll this post into one so it may get kinda long...

Where is a good place to go camping around here? I love to camp and would love to take the kids on a weekend by the lake....before the weather gets too cold. I found a place online near Bemidji...it looks promising so maybe on a weekend when I do not wait until Sat morning to make inquiries...because they came back and said they had a cabin available...but since we spent the day out running around town didn't get the message. Oh well, maybe next time...

The morning started out cool (sweatshirt weather) I took care of winterizing my pots and planting tools while Scott worked on putting vinyl trim on the bottom of the house where there had been wood..and it was getting pretty rotten (yet another issue we have with this house)

I hitched up the Princess cart to my bike and took the J babes for a ride to the store. There was a really strong wind out of the south so we had it pretty easy on the way there but the last portion of the trip heading home was like peddling against a wall. Our street was like a wind tunnel with a steady 40mph wind.

After that we went browsing around Scheels. The kids played a little putt putt golf in the golf club section and then we hit Best Buy (they love us) after which we head off to the Pita Pit for gyros. The Jbabes don't do gyros so luckily there was a McDs next door...oh not again you say? Well this one blew the east side mcd's away hands down! I new from the minute I walked in the door...and didn't stick to the floor, to the fast friendly service and the CLEAN smell in the air that if we ever want to try the play center again this will be where we go.

It was getting late so we headed home and just chilled and watched movies for the remainder of the evening. Rush Hour 3 was really good. The other movie was a teen flick that is not worth mentioning or maybe I should so that no one would make the mistake of watching it...it was shockingly horrible and I can't believe that movie theaters actually allowed it to be shown in a public theater...it was really really bad. Its been a while since I've seen a movie in a theater, and I usually watch comedy or romance...this was an attempt to get inside the mind of my teenage son...ewwww - if that is any clue then every teen boys mind needs to be scrubbed with soap.

Friday pics

This shot is for Barb, some of my pottery is stashed in the cabinet so I snapped a shot of it to give a general idea of what patterns there are. Lots of blue..which doesn't quite mingle with the earthy tones but there are lots of golden yellows and reds too. I also have the Tuscany set of dishware from Walmart. Please excuse the messy cabinet...I know I need to organize it better.

Cody getting ready to leave for his last day at work and me sporting my new perm

JBabe at germs r us


Tonight was Cody's last day of work. He hopes to find a "busier" job somewhere because he had it so easy working at Home of Economy...for a first job it was a bit on the easy scale and yes he needs to learn about actually earning his dollar but he was there almost a year and has saved up enough to put a very large down payment on a vehicle...so we have been truck shopping. We had it narrowed down to two older Fords but hubs and I couldn't agree so we are giving it a break for a while until we find something that we both agree on.

After our truck search Jaiden asked in such a sweet voice, and in a complete sentence "Daddy may we go to McDonald's please?" How could we say no to that? So we hung out at Micky D's for a while and I have to say it is the nastiest place I've been to in a LONG LONG time. For one the floors when we walked in were sticky from the door to the counter and all the way into the kids zone. As I stood in line and then tried to move I felt like I was glued to the floor...GROSS! The service was slow as molasses in mid February...it took me half an hour to get a tea. The food is not all that special...especially after eating at Culvers for lunch today (the best burgers in America) The kids had a lot of fun playing in the germ magnet station which probably hasn't ever been cleaned since it was built...we washed and washed and washed again when we got home. Jaiden already has a nasty cold...guess all of the kids in town will have it now. Sorry! They need to disenfect that place hourly...it was totally nasty. There is not a great selection of places to take the kids in this town and that one has got to be one of the worst. So next time even if she asks in her sweetest of sweet voices, we have to be strong and stay away from that dump...ugh!

Meet the teacher night

Last night (Wednesday) was meet and greet with the teacher night at Jared's school. I'll call her Mrs. T...her name is Scandanavian and I know I would butcher it if I try to spell it...or pronounce it. She is very sweet, boy the teachers seem to be getting younger every year though...makes me feel REALLY old....I remember my 2nd grade teacher and I thought she was OLD but thinking back she was probably younger than I am now...YIKES I just hope that Mrs T. has lots and lots of patience because Jared is certainly going to need it. He is very active and has a difficult time focusing on one thing for long.

One of Jared's classmates happens to be a little boy that lives right across the street from us but they haven't had much opportunity to get to know each other well so I am hoping that they can strike up a friendship this year. It would be great if Jared had a friend close by to play with. They will ride the bus home together too, last year for some reason they were on different buses even though we live on the same street. They were on separate soccer teams too, and practiced on separate sides of town...so now finally they are going to be in the same dimension together. They could have been great friends all along (they both LOVE baseball) who knows why things are they way they are...

I remember when we moved to Missouri and Cody started 3rd grade he used to talk about the little boy that sat beside him in class, they struck up a great friendship and it turned out that the little boy lived just a quarter mile down the road from us! OMG now I really feel like time has spun completely out of whack...Cody started 3rd grade the year we moved...and got blessed with Jared...and now he's starting 2nd grade. In just a couple more weeks we celebrate our second year of having Jaiden in our lives... Wow, how time flies!

Thanks for every inspirational idea for the kitchen! I love everyones comments and while I don't have many collections of anything anymore...just some Breyer horses with broken legs and tails that are packed away...I have a hodge podge of Polish pottery that I may could use...I'll have to give it some thought and try various tactics...I'll keep you posted.

What would you do?

Hi

Welcome to my kitchen! At this counter is where I sit and blog :) It looks a little different today, there is dishes in the sink and clutter on the countertops or I would take a more recent pic to show you...I'll get around to that maybe tonight. This is the photo I snapped when we did our initial walkthru of the house back in Feb 2007...and the reason we bought the house. No other house in Grand Forks had a decent kitchen. I LOVE the maple cabinets. I also loved the "wood" flooring but since found out that its just a very inexpensive laminate that was used and it is not holding up well. We would like to replace it with real wood planks....still trying to decide on a color. The walls are now a dark chocolate and there is a new swanstone sink but other than that it is pretty much the same. What would you do to decorate this space? I am looking for some inexpensive ideas. I have about 12 inches of space above the cabinets and the ceiling to put something but I can't figure out what since there is a bit of a dip there...there is molding around the cabinets too. It needs "something" but I can't figure out just what....oh the lights are quite a hodgepodge too don't you think? 3 different types of lighting in one small area can't be good....my doityourself husband would love to take on a new project ;) All ideas are welcome!

The decor right now is a bit of a traditional hodgepodge...I love old world feeling furniture, antiques, worn and comfortable...easy to relax in but interesting to look at. The colors are dark chocolate (of course) red, golden yellow (butterscotch) and taupe (coffee w/cream) I prefer a look of comfortable welcome over modern elegance.

1st Solo Flight

My baby bird is on his first solo flight...May angels be with you

Cody got his license on Thursday and we let him take the car to work today ALL BY HIMSELF

True he will be 17 in another month but its so hard to see him growing up so fast.

He'll always be my baby boy. I still cry on the first day of school when I drop him off. School starts on Sept 2nd here and I know I will be in tears then too.

*Cody just texted me that he made it...and it was fun

oh my here we go!!!

Cars next door

This morning when I left for work there were two cars in the driveway next door. The house that has been for sale for a year has finally sold!

The weirdest part is that there was a moving van from....Albany, MN! Since that is Scott's home town and the town is VERY small this is especially interesting.

So we are very excited to meet our new neighbors. I joked to Scott this morning that since he wasn't going to reconnect to friends from his hometown that God decided to move them next door...so now there won't be any excuse!

I hope that they have children Jared and Jaidens ages, and Cody too....although making new friends at 17 is a lot harder than it is at 7 and 2.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Make a Smilebox greeting

My Mom's Birthday is tommorrow - Aug 21st

She is such an inspiration that I have to share her with the world and tell everyone just how special she is to me.

*She is a 5 year survivor of breast cancer
*She hasn't met a stranger in her 74 years of life
*She is the verb form of "Southern Hospitality"
*She has a big heart
*She loves to cook
*She loves to sew
*She loves to cook and sew and shares those gifts often
*She loves children
*She loves gardening
*Her favorite flower is an Iris
*She loves God with all her heart
*She listens well
*She gives great advice
*She has a wonderful memory and loves to share stories of her childhood as well as her childrens childhood. She can remember every vivid detail. Things we said, songs we sang...
*She is very special to me

I am so thankful that God has blessed me with such a wonderful Mom! If you would like to send her a birthday greeting I know she would be "tickled pink" her email address is dkmcagle7@aol.com

Did they read my thoughts???

Critics say it’s just a matter of time until a child gets hit on narrow EGF street

Tu-Uyen Tran Grand Forks HeraldPublished Wednesday, August 20, 2008


It’s just a matter of time before a child gets hit on 10th Street Southeast in East Grand Forks, residents and city leaders say.

The narrow residential street has no sidewalks, but it has grown into a major thoroughfare as commuters on the northeast side of Bygland Road use it to get to Bygland.

In the evenings, homeowner Joanne Otto said she’d see families ride their bikes down 10th. She’d also see drivers roar around the corner at James Avenue Southeast.

“It’s been very close many times,” she said.

Mayor Lynn Stauss lives on 10th, and he could attest to the dangers there. “It’s our responsibility to act on this quickly before something happens.”

City Council members Marc DeMers and Greg Leigh watched the street one evening and they agree the city needs to do something.

The immediate action, they say, is to figure out a way to slow drivers down, including using speed traps.

DeMers proposed at a council meeting Tuesday to form a task force that included residents.
The next step is to expand the street from its present width of 24 feet to as wide as 41 feet with sidewalks.

Council members agreed Tuesday to use state aid to do that on James Avenue, 10th Street, 19th Avenue Southeast, 13th Street Southeast, Greenway Boulevard and Rhinehart Drive, all considered major corridors in The Point area.

They’ll discuss the matter in more depth at their meeting at 5 p.m. Aug. 26.
Otto said she’s not too keen on the expansion of 10th though, because it would only bring more traffic. She’d prefer the city turn 10th into a one-way street.

City engineer Greg Boppre said times have changed and drivers are used to using 10th. He said he thinks once they discover the newly opened 13th Street Southeast connection on the northeast side of Bygland, the number of drivers on 10th will drop.

Mom on a mission

What do you have to do to get sidewalks installed?

Yesterday I ventured outside the house for one of the rare occasions that I ever leave my shell. I wanted to show Jared a safe route to ride his bike to his friends house...less than a mile away.

I am walking Jared and Jaiden are on their bikes and we set off...I thought our street was dangerous with crazy teen drivers but now I know otherwise...our street is a calm oasis.

As soon as we turn onto the side street...mind you there is only 3 streets between point A to point B so this shouldn't be all that difficult but there are NO sidewalks. So as soon as we turn onto the "main drag" of our inter neighborhood street we get a taste of whats to come as two cars pass us going separate directions...this gets tricky because they have to finagle around us pedestrian speed bumps. At the intersector road comes a teen driver zooming up the hill, he does a U turn, drops off his friend and screaches off again....yes all the while I am standing beside the road holding back my two young children from his path...I got a little miffed so I yelled out a choice word that I should not have in front of my children...it started with an I...and ended with a T Oh, also there are NO POSTED SPEED SIGNS...does this mean you can drive any speed? Obviously to a teen driver it does. The one sign that says SLOW CHILDREN is pushed over into a tree so it is totally obscured from view from the road...I wanted to pull on it to see if I could set it up straight again but I feared letting go of Jaidens bike in case she veered off into the street while I wasn't looking.

So we work our way down the hill, over the coulee bridge up another hill, around parked cars on the street and to another intersection. All the while traffic is zipping by us and staring at us like we have 4 heads..is it a crime to be outside in summer? I was wondering that this weekend as we drove around town and there were no children at the park or riding their bikes (even in the neighborhoods with sidewalks)

At the intersection we cross over and go the next few feet to our destination. Friends parents are not home so we turn back home, get to the corner, friends parents return...another attempt to work our way through the traffic...visit for a while and reminisce about the days when we could ride our bikes without fear all the while seeing our children playing nearby and nearly getting taken out a few times by the traffic. This is INSIDE of a residential neighborhood, we do not live on a main street....shouldn't our children be able to ride their bikes to their friends houses to play? It was an attempt to get Jared outside and away from the tv and computer but after our experience last night I think maybe it would be better to keep him indoors. He is missing out on so much of his childhood and the restless abandon of being a boy. Whatever happend to adventure, tree climbing, bike races, dirt pies? Now summer is all about 24/7 cartoon network and video games. What can we do to change this mentality and make our world safe again for our children to be children?

Heritage Days

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Saturday we rode our bikes to town and watched the Heritage Days Parade. It was a gorgeous day to be outside! Then we rode to the farmers market where I bought giant onions, bell pepper and an enormous cabbage for 75 c each. I made onion rings with the onions in my brand new fryer...that was an adventure! Its been years since I tried frying any sort of food so it took a few tries to figure out how to work the batter...yes I am spoiled to such things as BK and Mickey Ds. I haven't decided what to do with the bell pepper or cabbage yet....the fryer is also a steamer, boiler, multicooker...its pretty cool. I really like appliances that multitask.

I've discovered...or rather am discover-ing that I have a lot of personality...loads of it. After taking a personality test at work last week I found out a lot about myself and my coworkers. It was the PACE Palette test and I found out that I am a BLUE...but also I am closely matched on the three other colors too; GREEN, YELLOW and RED. Could this mean I have multi personalities? I've often wondered if this were possible...I have so many moods swings that I can barely keep up....its exhausting to be me. When the voices are silent it is a very lonely feeling...I am usually ok being alone but sometimes I just feel alone in a crowd...I know I am a weirdo. Just trying to figure out what makes me tick...so I can get the voices to sing in harmony... instead of babbling about a dozen topics at once. This must drive everyone around me nuts...

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

I apologize for not being "around" lately. It has been a difficult summer. Being in transition mode of putting our house on the market only to not, getting ready to move only to stay...its been very emotionally trying. I thought about deleting this blog...it sometimes is my only window to let the real me out...but sometimes I feel I put so much of myself here that I don't give enough to my family right here. So I may take a bit of a break but will return because I love to reconnect with ya'll and love to reconnect with my friends. Thank you for visiting and posting comments. I'll see you around!