Carol's random babble

You scored as Simon, the Doctor . Simon Tam, a former well-to-do young surgeon and bachelor extraordinaire. You gave up everything to help your sister, which I respect. However, you are also pompous and talk too much, which I also respect. Simon, the Doctor 88% Inara, the "Companion" 75% First Mate Zoe 50% Kaylee, the Mechanic 38% RiVER 38% Shepherd Book 31% Captain Malcolm Reynolds 25% Wash, the Pilot 25% Jayne Cobb, resident bad-ass 13% FiREFLY QUIZ created with QuizFarm.com I am definitely looking forward to when the DVD comes out (Dec. 20).

What an awesome end to an awesome and tiring day. I started work around 9:30 a.m. and left work at 10 p.m. but there was a little more to it than that. Kent and I met with Amanda's teachers after school to discuss her lack of progress. She would do so much better if she would just do (and turn in) her homework. Then I went to see Serenity . I went by myself (no rewarding Amanda, who needs to catch up on homework). I might take her on Saturday, though. So, I went back to work after the movie, and went home around 10 p.m. I made myself something to eat, since I didn't eat supper (movie popcorn doesn't count). I played around on the computer for awhile, then checked my e-mail. There was an e-mail from Serenity Leader from the Browncoats site. I was a random winner of the trivia contest and I will get a Serenity Prize pack: bandanna, chopsticks, window cling, mug and patch. Shiny.

Well, I did it - again. I signed up for NaNoWriMo . From their Web site: Write like crazy for thirty days. If you write 50,000 words of fiction by midnight, local time, November 30th, you will be added to our hallowed Winner’s Page, and receive a handsome winner’s certificate and web icon. The adding of your name to the Honor Roll of Winners requires that you send in a version of your novel in text format (scrambled for security) to our site to be counted. I'm not the only insane one - last year about 42,000 people signed up and 6,000 actually achieved the 50,000 word count. So, I'll be in good company.

Hey, that's what this blog is all about, right? Okay, two Sundays ago (Sept. 18), we had some awesome talks in Sacrament meeting. First was Chad B., a young man getting ready to go on a mission. Then came Elder G., who talked about being comfortable sharing the Gospel. He pointed out that we are comfortable talking about movies and sports with people, but not so comfortable talking about the Gospel. Part of that is being familiar with the Gospel. Last talk was Elder E. He's from South Carolina, and when he got his mission call to Iowa, he wanted very strongly to come to Fort Dodge. He told us why at the end of his talk - his great-grandfather attends our ward! Brother T. sits in the front row of the chapel and was there that Sunday. It was truly awesome to hear that. I made a decision that Sunday to not read any fiction books until I've read the Book of Mormon all the way through. I'm currently up to Alma 2. I'm power reading this time, but will write down scripture...

I've been meaning to post that I made sort of a pledge - I won't read any novels until I've read the Book of Mormon all the way through. I made this decision on Sunday after some awesome talks by one young man who is ready to go on a mission and two missionaries. They talked about being comfortable talking about the gospel. I realized that I have no problems talking TV shows, movies, books and bargains with people, but I'm not comfortable talking about the gospel. Part of my problem is I've never read the Book of Mormon all the way through. So, I'm "power-reading" it. I try to get a surface understanding, but I'm not going for depth this time around. I'll read it quickly, then go back for more in-depth understanding. I'm up to Jacob 7 next. And ... this morning is a doozy already. Both girls missed the bus. Kent had a physical therapy appointment at 8:45 a.m., which would be a stretch with everything else - dropping the girls at school, pic...

I've been the Gospel Doctrine teacher in our ward since last October. I was called, but didn't get sustained for a couple of weeks (General Conference was the Sunday following my talk with the Bishop). So, I was recently called to be a Primary teacher and 3 weeks later I'm sustained. The Bishop was gone for a couple of weeks. And, it very nearly didn't happen last Sunday - my bit of ward business was at the end of sacrament meeting. ;-) I'm to be sustained next Sunday, but I'll be teaching my new class then. My 12-year-old daughter is in my class. I haven't taught Primary in more than 20 years (long period of mostly inactivity in that time period). I've got a lovely Primary manual in a binder with the pictures in page protectors. The manual looks untouched. That's going to change. I leave my mark on manuals with pen and highlighter. You should see what I turned in to the Sunday School president. I apologized to the new Gospel Doctrine teacher, but ho...

Today is the first day of school. Amanda is in 7th grade now, beginning at a new middle school. She's just that much closer to high school (where's the "EEK" smiley when I need it?)! Cayla is in 4th grade - her last year in elementary school. EEK again. I made cake mix cookies for breakfast and told each of them my customary goodbye, "goodbye, have fun, be good." Although I've been waiting for this, I'm still not ready. But, I'll go right back into my routine: stay up late, up at 6 a.m., go on the computer until the kids are out the door, then back to bed for my morning nap, get up, have lunch, get ready to go to work. It's naptime. ;-)

Read the third and fifth posts. Now, that's a cool mother-child relationship. This thread has been picked up and commented on by many others. ;-)

Warning: the above link is not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach. It is something that Serenity / Firefly fans will appreciate, however. I don't go to movies very often - I usually wait for them to come out on DVD. I'm cheap, okay? But Serenity is something I want to see on the big screen. It deserves it. I'm a latecomer to the Firefly phenomenon. I work nights, so I never got to see the show while it was on TV. My niece bought the DVD set and loaned it to me. I watched every episode (in order, even!). I'm hooked. So, I'll be going to see the movie when it comes out. I might even see it twice. I don't recall going to see a movie on 2 separate occasions. But it's worth the money.

It's just past midnight. I'll be going to bed in a few minutes. But, first, let me tell you why I left work late tonight (around 11:15 p.m. instead of 10:30 p.m.). That would be because I got a phone call from a person I shall not name who wanted to know if there would be a story in tomorrow's paper about an accident that happened in a completely different part of the state. At least one victim is supposed to be from this area. Well, no, we didn't have anything. And, we didn't have anybody currently in the newsroom who was qualified to do anything about it. So, I called the person who had been "on desk" that evening. I was advised to try to get information and leave info for the person on desk and reporter who would be working tomorrow. I called my informant back, and got a possible name of the victim. With that information, I tried calling the hospital where the victim was supposed to be. They had no information for me. I don't know if that means I ha...

Okay, Kent is in Reno, visiting friends of his from the Internet. They paid his way, because we can't afford it. He returns Monday. I took the girls to Dolliver Monday. When we were leaving, I stubbed the middle toes of my right foot on cement, making the middle toe bleed. It's still sore. When I got home, I checked Ogame and found that someone had attacked my main planet and smashed my fleet. I messaged him and complained. He apologized. I'm not sure I trust him, but my alliance is alerted and if there's a next time, he will be getting more than complaints. Really. I also built a new colony as a place to build a shipyard and I'm building it up. I've got to go in to work and get a refresher course in laying out Farm News because Randy is gone next week, and Bob will be gone on Wednesday, when FN is being finished. The really joyful part of this is that the paper's size changes on Aug. 1, so not only will I be laying out a publication I haven't touched i...

It was a mostly lazy day. Donna, Mom, Jessica and Suzanna were coming over around 8 for supper. We provided most of the food, so Donna cooked the meat. Suzanna brought a friend, but there was plenty of food for everyone. Donna even took home some steak for Alex. Cayla played with a homemade hula hoop made of some kind of plumbing piping held together with duct tape. I'm planning to get her a hoop at the dollar store. Her homemade one kept coming apart. ;-) I made potato salad in the middle of the day and was very good at keeping out of it until it was time to eat with everybody. I love potato salad - I'm even having it for breakfast! The parade seemed shorter than last year, and I suffered a major disappointment when for the first time since I moved to this town, State Sen. Daryl Beall didn't come over to say "hi" to me. I've known Daryl for about 4 years, since I started working at The Messenger and he worked there at the time. Every year that I've lived ...

That's a finale.

Fireworks

A firework makes a happy face

Cayla plays with a homemade hula hoop while waiting for the July 4th parade to begin.

Amanda and Cayla check out the fast-moving water.

I've never seen the water so high on the Des Moines River. This is a view of the Kalo bridge.

I was enjoying my perfect record of not mowing for the past 24 years. For most of the time we've been married, we didn't live anywhere that we had to do the mowing. We've lived here for 3 years, but Kent did the mowing. However, he had knee surgery last week and shouldn't be mowing, so I had to do it. He did a few rows, but I did most of it. Cayla took a picture (see below) for proof. ;) It was a perfect record, though.

There goes my perfect record of not mowing - for about 24 years!

it just seems like it, I guess. It's easy to post a picture and come up with a caption and make it seem like I'm really blogging. But this isn't the Chronicles of Gerbil-land. So, anyway ... I got new glasses last Friday. I hate them already. The actual size of the lenses is smaller than my old glasses, but it was necessary because my prescription is so strong. Also, my "insurance" covers a small number of styles and this was about the least sucky of what was available. They seem heavier than my old glasses and the left lens seems to be out of focus. I was told it could take 10 days to adjust to the new prescription. Yippee. Amanda will be going to summer school. Also yippee. I can hardly wait - after all, sleeping in on summer mornings is overrated, right?

Our first good glimpse of the pups born May 17. This picture was taken May 22. Looks like three are black patch and two are probably golden agouti (I think that's what the other adult males are, anyway). No idea what the genders are - that can wait.

We knew that Mama was pregnant, but we were still surprised Tuesday morning (May 17) with the appearance of five pups.

Pups are getting bigger every day.

The boys have a lot more room now ... notice one is sleeping in the exercise ball at the top left.

I didn't think I would enjoy watching the gerbils, but I do. They are getting to be a little more expensive that I anticipated, though. We got them the CritterTrail X cage, but since one of them turned out to be a girl, with babies, the person bringing them to me bought another cage. I need to pay her back. Now, we find that the boys (in the CritterTrail X cage) are using the wheel, which is outside and on top of the cage, as their bathroom. So, I'm thinking of getting this container system that is supposed to be helpful in training them to potty in one place. That's going to be interesting. (I need a rolling eyes smiley here). Now I have to get ready for work, 'cause I gotta. I would like to sleep more, but I must not. And Cayla has parent-teacher conferences today. Kent won't be going because he has an online spades tournament. (more rolling eyes smileys)

He's not really trying to escape - honest.

Who are you? Who, who, who, who? Who are you? Who, who, who, who? Who are you? Who, who, who, who? Who are you? Who, who, who, who?

One of the "brown boys" - it could be the same one as in the last picture, I can't tell those two apart yet.

The mama gerbil, Angel, in her cage. She's a black-patched gerbil, according to Gerbils (First Pets) , a book my mom checked out from the library.

Shadow takes a peek outside. He's a black-patched gerbil (according to this library book).

One of the "brown boys" on the slide. I'm not sure the exact breed - I'll have to do more checking.

So far, so good, I guess. The mama gerbil (named "Angel" by Cayla) hasn't eaten her babies yet. Nobody has escaped, although there were a couple of attempts when I was playing with them after work. I think the three gerbils that are together in the cage are all boys. I've got pictures, which I will attempt to upload shortly. Of course, they will be above this post if they work and not showing up at all if they don't. :-/ After work I stopped at Target and Wal-Mart. At Target, I got a box of Rosemary and Olive Oil Triscuits - they are so yummy! At Wal-Mart, I got salt wheels and sesame-peanut treats for the gerbils. I don't know if they think the treats are yummy. I do know they love to chew things. I gave the boys each a toilet-paper roll in the afternoon after they arrived and before Cayla got home from school. There was hardly anything left of the toilet-paper rolls. They love chewing up newspaper, too. I cut up an old sock of Kent's and gave them some p...

Cayla has been wanting a pet of her own for some time. We decided to look into hamsters and gerbils because my niece Jessica has a hamster. I was advised to go with gerbils because hamsters are nocturnal. A co-worker has gerbils and said that they need to have a companion or they will get sick and die. So, we decided that Cayla could have 2 gerbils - of the same gender, so they won't breed. Gerbils can breed about every 24 days. (Eek!) Another co-worker, Andrea, who spends her days off in Iowa City and belongs to the Iowa City Freecycle group (which allows listings for pets), said someone on the Iowa City Freecycle needed to find a home for four gerbils. I said we could take them, thinking how much harder could it be? Yeah, great thinking. Andrea called tonight. She's bringing the gerbils to me tomorrow (well, Tuesday, since it's nearly midnight now). She was uncomfortable calling me but had to let me know. The former owner had told her that the gerbils were all boys. They ...

I sometimes hide Kent's cigarettes. Well, not all the time, just when I get a carton and don't want him to know I got a carton. I let him think I only got a couple of packs. Today, he asked me to hide them. So I did. Two packs in a huge water mug that we don't use. Two packs in a recipe box that I started to decoupage. One pack in a Santa tin, one in the drawer I keep my printer paper in. One pack in the bottom drawer of this spice rack thing that we don't use and one pack in the top drawer of a plastic dresser. I was afraid that I would forget where they are, so I'm logging it here. ;)

rivka, Jamie, Nathan

Jamie and Nathan after Bob and Dana's wedding.

The happy couple

The dinosaur couple at Bob and Dana's reception.

I finally got to meet a bunch of people from Hatrack! Bob Scopatz and Dana Williams got married (seems like today but technically yesterday - April 2, 2005). I was able to attend, through the help of Farmgirl picking me up and ElJay returning me home. I couldn't have done it without you two. I had a great time. The wedding was beautiful, the reception was wonderful, and the people were terrific. I got to meet: BannaOJ, Bob_Scopatz, dkw, ElJay, Farmgirl, IvyGirl, Frisco, Fugu, Icarus, Cor, Kat/Lady Jane, Krabby Patty, Posable Nurse, mack, T_Smith, Papa Moose, Mama Squirrel, Mooselet, Superstation, Plaid, Punwit, rivka, Ryuko, Shigosei, Stray, Tom, Christy and Sophie, Val and Xavier, Vana and Lime. I think that's the entire list of Hatrackers attending (plus me, of course - aka CaySedai). I will attempt to add a picture here: ... Or not. I can't remember how to use the simple program, and my brain is fried right now - I'm sooo tired. So, I'm off to bed. I will try to ...

Well, I got the $253 car repair paid for, only to turn around and have to replace the brakes. With rotor, pads and caliper, plus labor, it was about $270. Yikes! I've spent more on that car (that my sister gave me!) to keep it running than I would have spent to get the clutch repaired on Kent's car. Which is sitting at the mechanic's, waiting its turn to be fixed. That's going to be about $490, more or less. On the plus side, I haven't had a flat on the bald tires - yet. I'm hoping they'll hold out another few weeks, because I'm trying to get caught up on other bills, and to be honest, I never checked to see if there is even a spare tire for this thing. I just had a random thought (don't worry, I'm used to them). When my niece Suzanna was little, she had a favorite doll. The doll got worn out a bit - it had a cloth body and plastic head, arms and legs. Then the cloth part got worn, an arm or leg would fall off and that part of the cloth would hav...

Yesterday had its ups and downs. I got paid, but not as much as I expected. Money was taken out due to a wage attachment by the Iowa Department of Revenue for back taxes. The thing is, we don't owe what they say they owe. We're going to get a chance to get our proof, though, and they graciously allowed me to get back the money that was taken out of my check. I had to get a money order for $39 to send to the IRS requesting our tax return information from 1996 and sent that off. I had an unhappy day, though. I had to pay $253 for car repairs, and when we got home after picking up my check, we found out that the water had been turned off. I couldn't pay the bill by Feb. 23 because I didn't get my check until Feb. 24, so I got to pay an extra $20 on top of the $62 that was due. On the subject of car repairs, I'm driving on bald tires, and the passenger side rear brakes are grinding ... so I can expect to repair that next. I just hope it can wait until my next check ... ...

Okay, I stopped at the mechanic's at the way to work. He thinks that my car needs a new computer, which will be around $150. That I can deal with, but it wouldn't be delivered until Friday. That's a problem. I'm driving Kent's car, which has a clutch on the way out. If the clutch burns out, the car won't go. We live outside town, about 6 miles from Fort Dodge, which is not, in my opinion, a walking distance to work. So, I'm going to check to see if this model car has been part of a recall for any reason - if so, maybe I can get help paying for the repairs. Of course, I need to find this out before he actually does the work, as they probably will only pay for it if the work is done at a dealership. Need to check into that.

started out okay. Well, sort of. Amanda isn't well, so I kept her home from school for the second day this week. Our phone was disconnected yesterday (but we still have Internet access), so I couldn't call the school. I emailed the principal. This afternoon, I was going into town to check our mail, pick up the title for the car my sister is giving me, pick up Cayla at her art class, drop her off at Mom's and meet Jim Reed at the YMCA. After that I was going to pick up Cayla, take her home, take a shower and come back into town to pick up Mom and go to Relief Society. The car has been stalling and is hard to get started again. Today, it didn't start, and the battery was failing. So, I had it towed. I called my niece Suzanna and she took me to the post office, the mechanic's and dropped me off at the Blanden. The photographer from The Messenger picked us up and dropped Cayla off at Mom's, then took me to the YMCA. I was supposed to meet Jim Reed at 5 p.m. so he co...

because I'll forget everything when I try to catch up. I'm participating in a weight-loss challenge at the Fort Dodge YMCA. I'm blogging about it. I've lost about 11 pounds so far. I'm also writing about it for The Messenger . That is scary, but I've gotten positive comments so far. I'm still teaching the Gospel Doctrine class in my ward, which is also scary. I need to study more. I tried downloading the scriptures on MP3 to burn to CD and then copy to cassette, but Kent's stereo isn't reading the CD, so I can't record. There is a brother in my class who is mostly deaf - he can hear a little. I wanted to make the cassettes so I could listen in the car, and so he could listen at home.

While I was in the midst of a work crisis yesterday, I got a phone call from my niece, Jessica. My sister, Donna, was experiencing vertigo again and needed medicine. She shouldn't drive when she's having that problem. The pharmacy at Wal-Mart closes at 7 p.m. and the phone call was around 6:15 p.m. So, I rushed what I was doing, asked someone else to help and rushed over to pick up Jessica. On the way to Wal-Mart, she told me that her sister, Suzanna, was supposed to pick up the medicine before her drill team practice from 6 to 8 p.m. Suzanna blew it off, saying she would go after practice. I don't know if she was planning to break into the pharmacy (joke) or what. Donna is supposed to tell her doctor today if the medicine is working. It's kind of hard to do that if she doesn't have the medicine. Now, considering all the times I picked Suzanna up from work before she got her car, even a couple of times that Kent drove into Fort Dodge from Otho to pick her up b...

Well, actually, my birthday was Monday, but since Kent hasn't yet baked the promised cake, it's not over yet. ;) Sunday night, Amanda stepped on a toothpick (probably left by one of Cayla's crafty projects) and it broke off in her foot. I called the managed health care office to see if we can change doctors, the doctor's office listed on her medical card and our doctor's office. I was told a) I missed a deadline but they would see what they can do, b) call our doctor's office, and c) take her to the emergency room because they don't have the equipment to remove the object. So, I took her to the ER. A podiatrist removed the splinter, which was just a teeny, tiny thing. I'll be taking her to his office today so he can check for infection. After the ER, we went to Kum & Go and used a bunch of the coupons that were part of the company Christmas gift at my work. Then I went to the post office and took her home. She hasn't been back to school bec...

Shovel, shovel, shovel, pant, pant, pant, pant, pant, pant, pant, pant, pant. That was me when I got home from work and couldn't get the car into the driveway until I had shoveled it. There were three people at home and one was an adult, but nobody could shovel the driveway. Too bad all their arms are broken. What's that you say? Their arms aren't broken? Well, maybe we should do something about that. Reportedly, Fort Dodge got 7-9 inches of snow and it hasn't stopped yet. Parts of Hwy 169 were just fine to drive on, while other parts were really bad. It took me at least 20 minutes to make the short drive from Fort Dodge to Otho, about the same time I spent shoveling an area about 10 feet wide by 25 feet long and 8 inches deep. Somebody else can figure the volume or cubic footage or whatever out for me - I'm too tired.

We (a great deal of Iowa) were treated to freezing rain for much of yesterday. So, apparently (based on a phone call from Mom) we're only having Sacrament meeting today. I have some business with the bishop, so I'll be there. I don't feel prepared for my Sunday School lesson, so I feel a mixture of relief and disappointment. Relief because I was concerned about giving the lesson and disappointment because in a strange way, I was looking forward to the lesson. Updates: On Dec. 19, my car decided that "Drive" wasn't going to work, so I ended up driving home from church in second gear. From Fort Dodge to Otho, on P59. I would pull over and let long strings of cars go by, then start driving again. Got home safely, if a bit scared. It wasn't until the following Thursday that we were able to add transmission fluid, so I drove Kent's car - the 1993 Ford Escort wagon. (Manual transmission - ugh) So, Kent put transmission fluid in the car and tried it out...