In Fellowship of the Ring, Rivendell was such a peaceful place. I'm striving to make my home that kind of place also, a haven from the world's chaos. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Rivendell/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Tue, 17 Mar 2009 07:23:00 -0500 Tue, 17 Mar 2009 07:23:00 -0500 Congrats to Condor Composite Squadron! Finger Lakes Group Squadron of the Year 2009! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Rivendell/669509/ Tue, 17 Mar 2009 07:23:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Rivendell/669509/ So I have this one patron that comes into the library that always brings a smile. She'll come in to pick up books that she ordered, and is just so very excited that they've arrived! She cheers, she kind of bounces, and she acts like I just handed her a million dollars. To her, I am a hero, and all I did was call and tell her the book arrived! I've decided that everyone needs someone cheering for them. Even when it's something so simple, people need to know that you appreciate what they do. Some of the patrons will get annoyed when I call. They ordered the book, and there's no way for them to know it's arrived unless I call. Yet they act like I've ruined their day by calling. Well then, stop ordering books! Or put a note on your account that you don't want to be called. How hard is that. I'm just saying, a smile and a thank you cost you nothing, but are very valuable to the person you give them to. Throwing in a little "yeay!" doesn't hurt, either. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Rivendell/669508/ Tue, 17 Mar 2009 07:21:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Rivendell/669508/ OK, so they didn't actually kill my Christmas spirit, but they certainly did try. Sit back and enjoy the tale of the Bag Nazi... I was doing some very last minute shopping for the Church's Christmas program, which included 18 bottles of soda. In the interest of time and not making the cashier's head explode, I told her that I could just leave all the soda in the cart, and bag it at the van, saving the unloading onto the belt, and loading back into the cart again. She thanked me and we chatted about Christmas plans, etc while she finished ringing up my purchases. She puts some bags in my cart, letting me know that she put enough for me to double-bag them, so there wouldn't be any disasters. How sweet of her! I'm thinking to myself, "Life is so much nicer at the holidays when people are just kind and helpful to each other." At that moment, one of the long-time employees (who was later dubbed a Nazi by another customer) comes running up and yells at the cashier. The dialog follows: Nazi: You can't do that! Cashier: Do what? Nazi: Give her those bags Me: Oh, I'm just going to bag them at the car. Nazi: NO! You can't do that, it's a security risk. Cashier: *blank stare* Me: Are you serious? Nazi: *glare* It's a security risk. A BIG security risk. Cashier: I was just trying to be helpful. Nazi: Well you weren't, and you CAN'T do that, it's a security risk! I should note that at this point, the Nazi has ripped the bags out of the Cashier's hands, and is putting them all back on the rack, all the while muttering about security risks. She has drawn quite a crowd of onlookers, as they all want to know what great security risk is going on... Also, the cashier has already signed out for her lunch break, and someone else is at the register, processing another customer. Cashier: Well, I guess we'll have to bag them here. Nazi: Yes, you will. It's a big, BIG security risk. Me: You caught me. I was going to make bombs, but now you've foiled my plot. Nazi: *glare, sputter something more about security risks* At this point, Nazi goes away and the cashier and I team up to bag all of this soda, while the family behind us (with a whopping 4 items) looks on in horror. While this is going on, I hear the Nazi's voice again, "WAIT!!!! I need to verify that signature!" She is talking to the man standing at the next cash register, and this is how THAT conversation went: Man: What? Why do you need to verify it? Who are you? Nazi: I need to verify it, you can't leave until I verify it. Cashier 2: *dumbfounded look* Man: Boy, you are right on the ball, you caught the bag thief, and now you've stopped me from paying for my item. Nice work. Nazi: I am going to verify this signature. Man: You must not have had enough fun ruining her day (pointing at me.) And hey, the staff was having WAY too much fun doing their jobs. You're a good little bag Nazi. When we finally finished bagging the soda, I passed the man who was STILL being verified. He looked at me and just kind of shook his head and laughed. I told him if he needed something to pass the time, find out what the great security risk was with me taking the bags. I'm telling you, even the other employees were aghast at her behavior. If I wasn't so pressed for time, I would have gone directly to the manager. Probably better that I didn't, because I was in a very sarcastic mood by that point. Wouldn't have ended well. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Rivendell/632386/ Mon, 15 Dec 2008 11:37:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Rivendell/632386/ I have some general pics from the Awards Night, but first I have to brag on my kids. For Moriah: 2 year service ribbon Mitchell Award Squadron Cadet of the Year For Seth: Wright Brothers Award Most Improved Cadet of the Year Honestly, the whole squadron did so great. The kids worked themselves really hard this year and earned an amazing amount of awards, and surpassed personal goals. This officially launches us into awards season, where we start competing with other squadrons. Wheee!!! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Rivendell/627459/ Wed, 3 Dec 2008 10:47:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Rivendell/627459/ So I ordered my new camera from Amazon.com. I really agonized over spending extra to have it shipped faster, so I could have it for Awards Night on Tuesday. Finally the miser in me won out. I would just have to have someone else send me pics, because it wasn't a good use of money to spend $20 extra to get it here by Monday. I got the UPS tracking info, and it was due to arrive on Wednesday, the day after the ceremony. Oh well. Not 30 min later, UPS arrived with the camera!! Woohoo!!! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Rivendell/626606/ Mon, 1 Dec 2008 16:06:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Rivendell/626606/ If you are unfamiliar with the Great Thanksgiving Catastrophe of '07, you can read about it here: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Rivendell/465943/. Meanwhile, let me give you the latest and greatest, because really, what is a holiday without a story of chaos and mayhem from LeniLand? I spent the week preparing for the family to invade. I paced myself, so as to not burn out or cause a huge flare. I planned the cooking, the cleaning, the arranging...it was perfect. It was beautiful. Everything was going according to plan, and we were down to 15 minutes to arrival. The food in the oven was perfectly warmed, the last minute things on the stove were set out, and about to be finished, the rolls were perfectly risen, awaiting their turn in the oven. I stepped away from the stove, and as I did, realized I left a cupboard open. I swung it shut, and as it was closing, I heard an unfamiliar sound. With that, my world, exploded, literally. The cupboard in question held all of my glass and ceramic bakeware. And a shelf had just given way. As the items came crashing out of the cupboard, some of them collided with others in midair, causing explosions of glass to go flying in every direction. Others hit the floor, only to have heavier dishes land on top of them. Some dishes were really sturdy and did not break, but did bounce, right into my ankles. Others flew into the next room. I admit it, there was screaming. I had breaking glass all around me, and it just kept coming and coming, I was screaming for it to stop! I was also waiting to see how bad the bleeding would be. (Can you believe I did not get one single cut???) When everything came to a stand-still, there was broken glass covering the entire kitchen floor. The WHOLE THING. In retrospect, it was actually quite a beautiful array of colors. "This artwork brought to you by Pyrex and Corelle." If only I had taken a picture. I was too busy getting my heart rate back to normal. Of course, that's when I notice the broken bits in the rolls and the pans on the stove. Thankfully, the gravy was covered and safe. All in all, not too bad. I had not yet removed the food from the oven, so it could have been SO much worse! The clean up took forever.  Sweeping, then vacuuming, followed by mopping.  And we're still finding glass. Finally, we were able to back track, wash out the dishes, and start again. So here are the real blessings in all of this. * I stepped to the right, just as this happened. This all would have come down on my head, otherwise. * There were no children in the room. They had all vacated moments before. * The puppy was not at my feet. She is almost always at my feet when I am cooking, and I really shudder to think what would have happened to her if she had been. * Only one tray of rolls were ruined. * This happened when my husband was home to help me with it. He really is my hero. He always swoops in and rescues me. * Company had not already arrived. I'm thinking especially of my 6 yo nephew. * The cut-crystal dish my mom got me for Christmas last year was sitting on the edge of the counter, and I really don't know how it survived, but it didn't get hit! It's just stuff, but I would have been bummed if it had broken. * We found the shard of glass in the dog's water bowl (which was across the room) before one of them drank out of it. I'm sure there's more, but that's a good list there, so I'll be happy with that. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Hope your day was amazingly uneventful! ;o) http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Rivendell/625212/ Thu, 27 Nov 2008 19:28:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Rivendell/625212/ Here's a pretty good sign that you are in a horomonally-driven emotional meltdown.   When you burst into tears upon hearing a news report from the local grocery store, declaring that the store will be open at 7 am on Thanksgiving morning, "in case you've forgotten that one special ingredient that makes your holiday tradition."   What's truly sad, is that I have NOT forgotten any ingredients.  I've been crying all day.  I lost it when I read Michael's update on his cancer treatment.   On that note, you can keep up on Michael's treatment here.  Please keep praying for this young man as he heads down the chemo road.   Happy Thanksgiving, all.  I hope your day is blessed. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Rivendell/624771/ Wed, 26 Nov 2008 16:36:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Rivendell/624771/ My daughter has been HARASSING me about my lack of blogging lately. She seems to forget that life has been more than a little chaotic around here! Last week was dh's birthday week. My sweet baboo turned 40! We had a nice evening out with friends, while all of our kids stayed back at our house, baking cake, making pizza and decorating for our return. It was great! I won't bore you with the details of recent weeks, until I can remember the significant things I was going to share. Maybe the harassing daughter will remind me what I should have written about. Ooh, I am trying a new brine for the Turkey this week, I'll update on how it turns out. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Rivendell/623783/ Mon, 24 Nov 2008 20:16:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Rivendell/623783/ I think I've finally found a routine that works for me. The biggest problem with fibro and day to day life is that I can't get up and get going in the morning, and then I can't fall asleep at night. When I first wake I am very foggy, stiff and sore. It takes me hours just to be able to move around well, and that's on a good day. I really start hitting my stride around 2 pm. Interestingly, on the days that I work, I start at 2. Great for work, not so great for home. I've been working all this week, and it actually helped me set up a pattern that seems to be working well for me. I do my normal stuff in the morning, and try to do the kid's corrections right after lunch. I go to work at 2, and am usually home by 5:15. Then I serve dinner that either dd put in the oven or I left in a crock pot, and after dinner I start preparing the next night's meal. By that hour of the night, I'm at my prime, and enjoy puttering around the kitchen while I'm watching tv. Dh is usually at school or studying, so I'm not disrupting our time together either. Can't believe I didn't think of this years ago! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Rivendell/615434/ Thu, 6 Nov 2008 09:29:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Rivendell/615434/ We had some promotions this week at Civil Air Patrol. I'd post pictures, but some lovely cadet of mine broke my camera. Which is why he's selling his playstation, but that's a different story. Seth promoted to Cadet Staff Sergeant, his first milestone award! He earned his Wright Brother's Award, which he'll receive next month at the award ceremony. Moriah promoted to Cadet 1st Lieutenant! I am now the Squadron Activities Officer. Woohoo! If JT emails me the pics I took on his phone, I'll add them in. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Rivendell/615433/ Thu, 6 Nov 2008 09:28:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Rivendell/615433/