The Time Math and I Were Friends, Not Foes

Anyone who knows me knows how I feel about math...

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I'm sure there is a story behind my math issues, but that is not this story.  This is a story about how for one brief period and time math and I were okay.

February Snow 2014

2014 has brought with it some really freaking strange weather.  We had snow in the middle of the week, it came down most of the day but it didn't stick.  Then Thursday more came down, but this time it started to stick.  I left work early, and it was a good thing because there were some cars sliding around and even I lost traction a few times which of course had me freaked out and shaking like crazy by the time I pulled in to the garage.  The snow continued Friday, I got a snow day so I didn't have to go out there.  And now here it is Saturday and it is still snowing.  In fact it started snowing harder after I took these pics.  David is out at the store right now getting some essentials (you know, bread, milk, beer).  I will be much happier when he's back home with me watching the olympics.  Here are some snow pics!  Maybe more to come later.  

Fat Robin-our local angry bird

Magic Carpet Ride

Growing up my parents owned and operated an herb store.  It was right off the main road through town, and the house I grew up in was on the same property.  It was a part of my world growing up because it was just right there in our front yard.  I saw the store as a place of wonder and adventure, so many different smells and things to look at.  There were shelves upon shelves of jars of herbs.  But there was also so much more. My dad like to mix and grind his own coffee.  At first I hated the sound of the coffee grinder, it was loud and it rattled something fierce, but I came to love the smell of the freshly ground coffee. My parents also sold tea, soaps, shampoos, books, magazines, candy, tobacco and tobacco paraphernalia.  I liked to hang out in the shop with mom, and smell all the things.

Love to our Feathered Friends

We have so many lovely little feathered friends...we've been enjoying feeding them over the last year. We have all kinds of parakeet/finches, starlings, chickadees, a coopers hawk, humming birds and crows that visit us.  We've added more suet cages and humming bird feeders, and I don't think we are close to done.  The newest thing we've been doing is feeding our crows peanuts (and yes, I do kind of feel like they are our crows-mostly David's-because they watch for us (him)).  The crows are L-O-V-I-N-G the peanuts.  I snapped some pictures of a couple in a tree in our yard, watching David toss out peanuts for them.  Just had to share!

(This one is my favorite, and if I didn't already have a tattoo on my back I'd have something like this on my whole back)

Early School Years, What Were They Thinking?

I am old enough that when I was growing up, Kindergarten didn't seem to be mandatory; at least I didn't go so I assume it wasn't required.  In fact, I didn't actually attend public school until third grade.  My parents had made the decision to home school me, so my first two years of school were in the family kitchen.  I remember the dark brown shiny table, and the red plastic chairs with the black paisley-like pattern.  I didn't know any different, public schools weren't part of my world.  Of course I saw school buses and the other kids riding them, and I would see the schools in town as we drove by and kids playing on the playground.  I wanted that.  I wanted to ride the yellow bus to school, I wanted to play with other kids.  I didn't understand why they got to go to school together, but I had to stay home.

First grade me

That Time I Was Invited to Join Swim Team...

I was reflecting on some things that had happened over a weekend and found myself remembering the time I was invited to join the local swim team.  Sounds weird but trust me, they are related.

For those of you who know me, you know I am horrible at making decisions.  For those of you who don't know me, trust me.  I know it's not an uncommon issue among human kind, but I'm REALLY bad about it.  I shut down and am even more frustrating to talk to than normal.  I was trying to figure out if I've always been that way, or if there was an event in my life that made me this way.  Short answer, I think I've always been this way.  As I grew up things I was told by the people around me became things I 'learned' and helped contribute to the indecisive, anxious, insecure person I am today.  Enter swim team memory.

Sisters!

I can't believe it's already 2014.  This year has already been crazy busy.  David has been busy out in his workshop getting that reorganized after the great disaster.  Work has been keeping us both busy but that's just yuck talk so I'm going to focus on happier things.  Like last weekend, when I got to go to the beach with my sisters!  

Me and Melanie!

Me and Sara! 

(I'm not so great at taking these selfie things)

We didn't actually get one of the three of us, guess we are going to have to go back and try again!  It was a really lovely weekend away, just the three of us.  I can't remember the last time the three of us got to hang out like this, it was really wonderful!  Over the years the distance and life kind of took it's toll on our relationships.  Thankfully, I have two wonderful sisters who have been willing to reconnect, and work on rebuilding our relationships.  David has been really wonderful and supportive of this, and sweetly put us up at the coast last weekend for some quality sister bonding time.  

We fixed a puzzle (that was seriously evil), we watched Anne of Green Gables and all the sequels, (and we decided that the only one worth watching is the first one, Anne of Green Gables, although the sequel was okay.  It was really the third part that was just unnecessary) and cooked dinner together.  It was all very laid back and mellow and there was lots of giggling and even some swearing (mostly at the evil puzzle).  Hopefully it won't be 4+ years before the three of us can hang out again!