February Ends

Princess turns 18 today, but she is still small in my mind! Then, again, I forget how old Princess's mom is and think of her as a kid, too! :o)
Well, to see what the house looks like, refer to the snow pix from Jan. It has been snowing, hailing, snowing, raining, snowing, and so on all day. The roads might be clear, but most likely they aren't. The radio announcer today suggested that if kids didn't finish their homework because they hoped for a delay or school closure, they had better hurry and get it done! It is very pretty and the daffodills are trying to bloom anyway!
Most of us have been sick off and on and I have had a chance to do some subbing in the schools. Our BBall teams have made it through to the playoffs and a couple more games will show us whether or not we get to play at state. I keep hoping we lose so we don't have to send kids all over the place, but it appears no one is listening. At least it is fun. Our speech districts are next weekend at THS and that should be fun, too. A bit of tension due to the fact that state BBall is that weekend also, but fun all the same.
T is the Lion in Oz. He really wanted the scarecrow, but as usual, someone came out of nowhere and was the best choice. He would rather have been Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady, but that is the way the coookie crumbles! At least it looks like it might be a chocolate chip cookie.
OK, have to dash to town and pick up kids. J is staying late to do homework (he dinked around and is failing a class or two..which is funny as he was on the honor roll last trimester) and I need to get his bari sax.

President's Day

Well, it is President's Day. It is pouring outside and blowing. I am hoping the power does not go out. If it does, I will have to finish this later.
S and I have been married 18 years now. In that time we have had at least 4 homes, 13 cats, 2 dogs, 2 kids, and way too many cars. At least the kids are the same. :o)
THS is going to do The Wizard of Oz for sure. Auditions are this week. We'll know by Friday who is what.
I made a peppermint cake yesterday for our anniversary. I wanted to use those cute little heart peppermint patties that are pink inside..but I forgot to tell anyone I wanted to use them and by the time I made the cake there were only 6 left. So, I just chopped them up instead of having the hearts on as decoration. They taste just as good and go lots further! They kind of melted on the frosting. But, it sure smells good!
Have lots of crocus bulbs left and just had the idea that I should plant them in my rose bed. I have a bed with 4 rose bushes in it and in one far corner there is a clemantis. I figure I can plant the crocus at the back of the rose bed. I will need to put them in wire cages to keep out the moles, but it should work.
I have been wanting to add picutures, but it hasn't worked lately. Will try it again when it is less stormy. Think I will go and read The White Dragon it is a good Feb book. Romantic and fun!! Many of Anne's books are in that category. I need to finish this one so I can get to some of my Alcott stuff before Feb is over. Although, Alcott is good to read in March, too, as that is the name of the family.

Almost Valentine's Day

OK, it is almost Valentine's Day and it has been a busy few days! Last weekend T went with his speech team to Silverton and the team won 3rd place over 12 0r 13 schools. Then, T also won 2nd out of 41 entries in his prose competition!!! We are so excited about that! It was a very long day, we got up at 4 to get to the school by 5 and then finally got home about 1am, but it was a great deal of fun. One of our debate teams got 1st out of 30 teams. It was a great day.
I got to sub a bit, but now I am sick. The person I subbed for was ill and then Saturday there were several kids on the bus who were sick, so I suppose that I am just getting what's going around.
The guys went on a hike this Sunday. At first it was a 10 mile hike, but it shrunk to 5 and then when they got home they said it was only about 1 and 1/2 miles. But, they had a great deal of fun.
It rained on them, but as T said, whenever they do an activity that he goes on...it rains! I think he is optimistic, it usually rains here.
It is still raining off and on. Lots of stuff is up, lots of it isn't, and lots of it is still waiting to be planted. I hope to do that on Saturday. S and J are going to a train show and T to a birthday party. So, that will be fine.
Well, I guess that is it for now. Have made lots of cookies for Tomorrow and need to get them bagged for delivery!

Alto versus Bari???

As I start this, JJ is practicing his alto. Teddy, the dog, is not impressed and is howling. I am not sure which is harder on everyone's ears..the bari or the alto. His ultimate goal is to be in Jazz band in HS. Hope he makes it and I hope we survive another year of jr hi band!
I spent the Super Bowl doing yard work. (why on earth would I want to watch Prince????) My neighbor gave me flowers and a birdhouse for my birthday (and a few other things) on Sunday, too! Sunday, I planted a bunch of Spanish Bluebells and did some weeding. I have surrounded several gardens with twine and white plastic bag strips..in the hopes they will keep the chickens and the elk out. It is not very pretty, but no flowers are worse! Today I did more gardening. I planted more bulbs (still have lots left, too!) and carted some composted leaf stuff from the ditch by the road to the yard. (buying premixed soil in bags is much easier and they have less rocks) I put it all in the garden that the chickens ruined the most. I only hope the perennials in it will come back. I also moved a box from one garden to next to my rock bench. Then, I filled it with soil and my trumpet vine so it will maybe grow over the trellis over the bench. (odd note, both the bench S made with cement and my great rock flower container are falling apart!! S thinks it might be that we didn't use scrubbed rocks and the mortar isn't sticking well to the stones. Go figure!)
JJ has been having a great time with his truck. He uses it to chase chickens..that is the goal of our house, chasing chickens out of the yard! Moses thought the truck was pretty neat and he chased it for a long time, then JJ turned the tables and started after Moses. I thought Moses was going to have kittens (which would be very odd as he is a fixed male!). He doesn't like the truck anymore. JJ used it one morning before school and accidentally ran into himself and knocked himself over. I told him he can't watch America's Funniest Videos anymore.
TAMuseum called today. I told them I would work for 2 days a week at most. I really need to find another part time job, but until then I will stay there. Subbing is not enough so far. I think I have been working maybe twice a month or so. I do have other commitments and I don't want to infringe on those.
I tried to add a picture last week and it didn't work, so I will have to see what to do again. Pretend this has a photo of spring in this blog. I saw my first hummingbird this week!

Thirteen on the 4th!

Happy Birthday to my baby! OK, J is 13 today (or really tomorrow, Sunday the 4th). We are sending a chocolate Texas cake to church and we have another chocolate one for home. We are having pizza and salad and the chocolatey-est (how does one spell that???) ice cream we can find. It may be a chocolate overkill, if that is possible! He is getting a battery for his remote control ford pick up that he got for Christmas (we couldn't afford the battery at Christmas!!!) and a desk lamp. I bought him some black pants today for band and choir concerts.
T went to his honor choir thing and it was splendid. Short, but splendid. We went to it also. Most of the audience seemed to be from Tillamook. One of T's old friends was there, but they didn't see each other. Several of the songs gave me goose bumps. And we found out the reason behind Loch Lommond which is kinda sad. It was about a guy who was on trial, well there were two and one was being executed. The guy who was being executed wrote the song and the other was set free. The high road is supposed to be to heaven and the low road is earth. It would be a fun one to look up.
We also picked up some stuff for the edge of the roof so it won't rain on my porch..it commenced raining today for the first time in ages. Kinda nice! And we got some wooden tv trays that need refurbished. Those were 10 dollars, so even if we spend 10 to fix them up, they are still pretty cheap! S put the roof thing on in the dark, I was startled when I found out he was up there in the dark in the rain! (hmmm, those last few words sound like something from Dr. Suess!)
OH, we saw a great saying outside a church today on their announcement board. It said, "Saints always win here."