Mole-inator, inator

This is Kit Kat, yep Kate named her. We have discovered that she is a cat of many talents. As of today her head count is at 16 moles, 5 mice, and one rabbit. She's been sneaking out of the house when the kids leave the door open. Her favorite time to escape late afternoon and early evening. She sure stays busy at night. Her nickname comes from a cartoon character, Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz on the Disney channel cartoon series Phineaus and Ferb. I promise if you watch it you will laugh. As to Kit, my yard is looking better all the time.

What did you say? Examples of things overheard at the Rapps...

While buying cushions at Hobby Lobby. The girls were bouncing from 1 inch, 2inch, and 3 inch cushions..."Mom I think this one is the softest for my butt." ~Sydney

"Paige don't eat that crayon."

"Paige stop eating that glue stick right now."

"Paige do NOT eat the cat's tail. I said don't. Get it out of your mouth right now young lady."

"No Paige! No! NOT the eggs!" We went through two dozen that day and bought a lock for the refrigerator.

"Mom I pretty." Paige with half a pound of butter all over her. Three shampoos and she was still greasy. Finally back to normal four days later with our bath time for church.

"Mom I can see your buttocks." ~Sydney

"Kate put your shirt on...nice try by the way. Go put on your shoes and don't forget your Liahona." ~After a primary activity...Kate was trying to sneak into wearing her favorite sleeveless shirt at church.

"Mom are you actually reading a book about tomatoes?" ~Kate

More Kateable quotes will be forthcoming....she requires me to properly word all of her quotes you know.

Something old into something new...

Another year older...

I turned 35 on Friday. I remember in fifth grade when I thought that 25 was so old! While talking with my dad today on the couch at church, telling him about how the girls are doing. Kate was elected to student council and is over the moon with excitement. Sydney finally practicing writing, e is her favorite letter right now, never mind that last weeks letter was f. She practiced through sacrament meeting at church like this, she draws a straight line and then the circle while making the circle she says, " and now around the bases." Like an announcer at a sporting event. Paige and her continual talk...her favorite, "I hep you. I hep you, mommy."
While pondering the last couple of years, which haven't been easy, I discovered that I am very happy with my life. No I don't have a lot of money, or sleep, or quiet, or enough time...but who does. I do have amazing friends to help me through all of those rough spots. Including a great husband who has a lot of sass in his pants. I don't think I should call him a smart ass on my blog, oops I think I just did. He helps me see the sillier side of life and encourages me to complete all of my many projects. My girls fill my life with tons of frustrations, a lot of distractions, an amazing amount of love and most importantly a bunch of hilarious stories. I love the spiritual space that I'm in now. I talk with God on a frequent basis. I do ask him a lot of times what is He thinking, has he lost his mind etc, etc, etc. I enjoy studying my scriptures. I enjoy learning, living in a time when information is so easily accessible is amazing. In junior high we had to use encyclopedias and now I can find anything I want on the web. It's like having thousands of books to look through at a moments notice. I love having the ability create things... a garden, a scrapbook, refinish a piece of furniture, sew blinds, canning foods, baking. Whatever I need I've been given the talents or spiritual strength to see myself and my little family through. So on this birthday I am thankful and blessed. I have heard it on good authority that there is a lot of life to live between 35 and 40. Bring it on!

Hurricane watching

This is one of the buildings that news personalities have been filming storm surge of all day, pre-storm surge.

I love the weather. So the Weather Channel is on in my home frequently. You probably have already seen coverage of Hurricane Ike approaching Galveston, Texas. They have had a mandatory evacuation order... and today the National Hurrican Center stated, "Persons not heeding evacuation orders in single family, one- or two-story homes will face certain death." Warning residents of massive waves that would rapidly engulf such structures. I always find the presence of media "personalities" a little crazy. I know we all want to see the storm. Duh, remember I love the weather channel. John and I were watching the coverage on Fox News Channel, because Geraldo was on and he drives us crazy. So why were we watching? John and I were awaiting the moment when Geraldo would be knocked off his feet by the storm surge. When it happened(I was on the phone, sorry for your ears Leslie), there was much cheering and clapping, or maybe jeering or clapping. I went for a high five but John was to busy clapping and left me hanging. I hate when that happens. I hope you enjoy this link...mind you Geraldo had already fallen very early in the day but we missed it. He did state that his boots had water in them and he would be squishing around for the next twelve hours. I always thought hurricanes involved wind and a lot of water. Geraldo must not have gotten that memo and forgotten to pack extra socks.

Above is a computer image of Galveston taken back in the late nineties. Below is a computer simulation of what a 19 foot storm surge will do to Galveston Island. They are predicting a storm surge of up to 24 feet.

I can't imagine the powerful sense of helplessness these people are feeling. I'm thankful that they have evacuated almost everyone. There will always be the people who won't leave, or think that it won't be bad. I just hope they find a way to survive.

I don't want to go to school.....

Today Miss Kate didn't want to go to school.
Why you wonder? After missing two days of school with an amazingly awful cough,(caused by allergies...I promise she's not dying). I couldn't figure out what the problem was. She loves her home room teacher Mrs. Garrison, and all of the other teachers for her other classes.
Was today gym? That would make me not want to go to school. Yes mom, (include eye roll here) today's gym but that's okay can you just write me a note.
Okay so what's your problem?
Yep, I'm a super sensitive mom. She was running late and I was already running out of patience. That's when the tears started. She didn't want to go to recess.
Recess? Who doesn't want to go to recess!
Well a little girl who's three best friends moved last year. Yes, she has other friends but they have other friends too. Three girls is not always the easiest. Not to mention that Kate has inherited a few of her mom's bossy, rule making genes. I gave her some tips on how to let other people make the rules. One of the most important being, play the game that they are already playing. She came home this afternoon to tell me how great a day she had. She played with her friends and all is right with the world.
I was thinking about friends. I am blessed to have a lot of amazing friends. When John and I were talking about Kate. He reminded me that I have a lot of friends for all of the different sides of me. I've never been the most "popular". I just didn't care. I'm glad that my mom reinforced that it was good to be different, because boy am I. I am amazed that I have church friends, crafty friends, garden friends, book reading friends, friends with kids, artsy friends. I hope that my girls will be able to have a lot of friends. It's hard sometimes, we girls get hurt our feelings hurt so easily. But I have to say having a bunch of girlfriends is way better than just one.

Sylvania Ohio Images of America

This book was written by Gaye E. Gindy, Trini L. Wenninger

Trini is a friend I made through Skrappaper. She told me that she coauthored a book on Sylvania History but at the time I didn't have time to search it out, I still owned a store. Well I loved it. I love history. I love seeing what was here before I was. I was raised by a dad who would take us to visit cemeteries, all over Indiana and some in Ohio if I remember correctly, to find long lost ancestors. I loved to make rubbings on the tombstones to get all of the information if it wasn't easily read.

This book is a treasure trove of photos and information. I love that we now know that the barn by the library in Sylvania was part of a farm. Remember Carolyn Keene author of my favorite Nancy Drew mysteries. She was actually originally ghostwritten by Mildred Wirt Benson who lived here and was buried in Toledo Memorial Gardens off of Monroe Street. Sylvania sparked a lot of contention when we were considered part of Michigan and Ohio. Lots of fun stuff and the best part are that there are pictures for each tidbit of information. I can only imagine the ammount of work it took to sort through historical photos, while also finding the stories that go with them. Way to go Trini!

Aprons everywhere

I love the US Postal Service, especially when they stop at my door. I will post more information later but this is the apron and potholder I received in the mail Thursday from the fall apron swap I participated in. I love it!!!!
Below is the apron and potholders I sent. Found the pattern on the web at Susan Branch's website. I did an apple theme for fall, the box has apple candles, apple recipes(on apples of course), apple tree cards I made, an apron, two apple potholders(with my first applique projects), some cute gingham ribbons I have, and last but not least a few caramels for a sweet treat.