Christopher and Nikki

I got to visit my nephew and niece today.  I haven't seen them in 5 years except for seeing Nikki at Great Escape last week.  They both look so good.  Chris works at a local paper mill and its a really good job.  Nikki is going to be a senior this year and has been working at the Great Escape for 3 years.  She is a costumed character this year.  She says its hot and she gets hit, groped and kicked all the time.  Nice huh?  She showed me her art portfolio.  She is a very good artist and also a photographer.  She likes black and white mostly.  I got a picture of Chris, Nikki doesn't like her pic taken.  Here is Chris

This is my last lily of the year and one of my dahlias:

What are these?

These mystery plants were allowed to grow in my garden.  I don't know what they are.  The Japanese beetles sure seem to like em tho.  They got these tiny orange flower on them and now its turning into a seed pod or fruit of some type?  Hmmmmmm. The last picture is a picture of a millet plant that grew itself in a pot of pansies I had. 

Bad girls

These two have been causing alot of trouble lately.  Yesterday, they picked all my jalepenos and chopped them up and buried them.  I could hear Isabelle (friend) out there laughing hysterically and every time I looked out, it just looked like they were playing in the dirt.  It wasn't until later that I found out they picked about 15 of my peppers, leaving only one left and destroyed them.  I think Isabelle is the ringleader and Sarah won't stand up and say no.  I told Sarah that Isabelle isn't going to be allowed to play in the front yard anymore. 

Sarah makes enough messes of her own.  "Cooking" in the kitchen and putting different foods together and then adding soap etc... Leaves a mess for me to clean up after. 

Now she was just in the bathroom spraying the cat with perfume.  She cut his hair earlier this week.  She is out of hand... Help me!

Veggies, store savings and a nice car...

After a pretty good day at work, I went to the grocery store.  They had coupons for 2x manufacter coupons so I got free Pantene shampoo, a big jug of it, two cans of Folgers for .99 cents each, 3 boxes of Friehofers chocolate chip cookies for 3.69.  I also got some Ajax dishsoap at .40 cents off.  So I got 27.43 dollars of stuff for (drumroll.........)  $7.99!  Then I came home and followed this type of car out of town.  Its a Lotus Elise. 

 I thought it was a great little car.  Only a two seater.  While I was waiting for Travis to get off the computer I picked greenbeans and peas.

 

So today I feel like a WINNER!  Linda

 

Dave's Birthday

Isn't this an adorable graphic?  I got it from Donna at D's Designs.  Her link is on the right.

I am itching intensly on my chest/shoulder area this morning from a sunburn healing.  I hate the itching phase.  Its an itch that won't go away! 

Dave's (good Dave) had his birthday on Thursday.  He turned 40!  He, He!  I'm going to be 40 again this year, because my real 40th birthday was spent in the shelter.  I think Dave's family may have a little party for me.  My own family wouldn't think of it.  My birthday will be followed quickly by Travis' birthday and then Sarah's.  Anyhow, we had a nice cookout with shish kabobs, rice, salad, and fresh corn on the cob from Vermont.  His sister, Laura, lives in Vermont and flys.  So she rented a plane and flew in for the occasion.  She used to be one of my best friends in elementary school.  I like Dave's sisters alot.  Jen and her husband were there.  They are the ones with the giant pigs.  Jen is the artist.  Her link is on the right also.  I brought the fixin's for strawberry shortcake so we had that.  I also added some fresh blueberries and it was all very good.  Dave has been sick.  He has an infection on his foot.  He has an open area from the diabetes.  The medicine they put him on has made him all wacky and a little grumpy.  That is one of the side-effects.  Anyhow.  Yesterday was a boring day.  I took Sarah to her last day of camp.  They had a big youth day at the town park.  They had 4 different bouncy houses, pony rides and a sprinkler set up.  Also free pizza and T-shirts.  I also got a free T-shirt in the mail the other day from Hills.  Thats the dog/cat food company.  I entered a contest where I wrote a story about my adopted cat, Tarzan.  Everyone who enters gets a T-shirt.  So if you want to write a story about an animal you adopted you will get one too maybe!  Ok time to go get ready for work.  Everyone have a great day! 

Fair photos

Here are some photos from the fair.  Pretty self-explanatory captions!  Enjoy!

Response from the Great Escape

I wrote a letter to the managers at Great Escape regarding the water issue and bathing suit issue.  This is their reply...

Thank you for your comments regarding your visit to The Great Escape.  We value your opinion and recognize that receiving guest input is the best way to continually improve our park.


We understand your disappointment when you realized that we no longer allow food or beverage into the park. We felt it was important to institute this course of action because of increased security measures and to increase the flow of traffic coming into the park. The food and beverage policy only prohibits outside food and beverage inside park gates, where our guests are in a controlled and somewhat confined location.  Picnic baskets continue to be welcome on the park property.  For the convenience of our guests, we offer comfortable picnic areas outside of the park complete with picnic tables, trash receptacles, and our maintenance service. In addition, as always, Guests can come and go throughout the day, since the park has a very flexible re-entry policy.  You need only to have your hand stamped and you have the freedom to come and go all day long.  In addition, all of our Guests are welcome to bring in sealed water bottles or empty plastic water bottles to fill once they are in the park.  We offer complimentary water to our Guests at most food locations as well.  


In reference to our prices - In a recent pricing comparison, we found The Great Escape to be very competitive in value with other forms of entertainment such as sporting events, concerts, and movies in the Albany/Glens Falls area.  Your comments have been forwarded to our In-Park Services Director for review and consideration.


The reason we don't allow bathing suits outside of Splashwater Kingdom is because we implemented a new Guest Code of Conduct to support our goal of improving the family environment throughout all Six Flags parks and to encourage all Six Flags guests to be considerate of others.  The Six Flags Guest Code of Conduct requires our guests to comply with a set of rules and policies designed to make the park experience fun, safe, clean and appropriate for children and families.  


Thank you again for taking the time to comment.


From: Linda Wheeler
Phone: 518-XXX-XXXX
Email: geocachelinda66@aol.com
Reason for writing: Merchandise Questions
Park: The Great Escape, Lake George
Message: I visited today with my family and was once again discouraged and disgusted by the high prices of food and drink.  For people on a lower income level we can only afford to come to the Great Escape once a year.  When families are not even allowed to bring water in and stands charge close to $4.00 for a small bottle of water it is very upsetting.  I see there is plenty of cold water available for employees as each station has a large cooler of water but very little public water fountains.  I saw only one during our whole day.  
On a brighter note, the park was very clean and there were costumed characters everywhere we went, which the children enjoyed.  
I am also wondering about the policy about no swimsuits being worn in the park.  I wore my full bathing suit into the park with shorts over and was not notified at the gate of this policy.  I was stopped by an employee and told I had to put on a cover shirt and also barred from a ride.  There were people walking around wearing shirts with less coverage than what I had on.  The only difference was they were not swim suit tops.  I think as long as someone is not dripping wet and decently covered they should be allowed to wear the suits.  Thanks for your attention...

Celebrate good times!

The kids and I went to the Great Escape today.  Its a theme park owned by Six Flags.  We visited with Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, Tweety, Taz, Wily Coyote and Foghorn Leghorn.  We also saw Batman and the Flash!  We went on some rides including the new one above.  I like to call it the Giant Toilet Ride, or for you in England The Giant Loo ride.  Its really called The Tornado.  You have to carry this huge raft up the stairs and then you go down this chute.  I ended up going down an almost straight drop BACKWARDS into this thing.  I thought I was going to fall out.  Sarah had this look of horror on her face.  Then you go up the side and down and up the other side and down and then shot out the bottom into a pool.  All in 17 seconds.  Yup just like a toilet.  LOL!  It was pretty fun after the initial fright.  I had only two complaints about the park.  The prices of the food and drink and the dress policy. 

The food and drinks are very expensive and you are not allowed to bring in any of your own, even water.  Water is $4.00 for a small bottle!  Outrageous!  Very few public drinking fountains either.  Also, you cannot wear your swimsuit in the regular park area.  I wore mine into the park and no one said anything.  I had shorts on over it.  There were women in tops similar to mine and swimsuits.  I was approached by a guard who told me I had to have a cover up shirt.  Now mind you, my top is rather conservative, just swimsuit material.  Not allowed however.   I told him I came this way and had no cover top and he didn't press the issue.  This was after we were already there 4 hours.  I saw my sister's daughter N.  She acted like she didn't know me, but was distantly polite.  I gave her a little hug.  She is a Bugs Bunny costume character at the park.  She was just coming in to work when I saw her however.  My Mom saw her and her brother when she was up and N was rude to her.  I didn't put N's full name in her because my sister may not want it in here and I respect her privacy.  So I got a little sunburn and had fun and TODAY IS MY 1ST YEAR AWAY FROM DAVE!  Wooohooooo! 

Today is a special day...

Today is the day I stood up and said enough for the last time.  Today is the day I made a decision.  Today is the day I spent my last moments in prison.  Today is the day I became strong.  Today is the day I realized that all of you were right.  One year ago today, I made the decision to leave.  I went to Domestic Violence and they told me I could stay in the shelter.  Tomorrow will be my One Year anniversary of freedom.  Freedom from verbal and mental abuse, for myself and my children.  The day I started my Life Over.... 

Sunflower

This is one of the surviving sunflowers in my yard.  One got knocked down by an unknown assailant.  If you look closely at the first picture, you can see that sunflowers are like zinnias, they have mini flowers on the main flower.  Isn't nature amazing?  The seeds are beginning to develop also.  The goldfinch and chickadees will find those soon!  Most of my pictures from the pageant and fair are on disposable cameras and I will get them developed soon.  There really isn't too much to report on.  I went out and visited my Dad today.  I mowed his lawn today on the rider.  It was fun!  He said I can come out and have fun anytime I want!  Did some geocaching over the weekend too.  I found 6 all together. 

I had some good news on the work front!  One of my old supervisors is coming back to work at Wesley.  It will be good to see her again.  I hope everyone has a nice week.  Linda

Foggy morning

We had more rain overnight and everything is nice and wet.  The sun is trying to peek out and we have some fog.  I had a nice visit with my cousin Barb yesterday.  I had invited her to go along with me on the NASCAR trip and she was thrilled.  Barb has had a very hard year beginning with the death of her brother John, then her niece Christy, John's daughter and then her boyfriend commited suicide.  She is carrying alot of guilt over that.  I want to be there for her and support her any way I can.  I didn't realize she was having such a hard time.  I still haven't heard from the Miller company about my prize however, so I think I will call Stewarts today and ask about it again.  Maybe it takes them a few days to get things in gear.  The prize winner is still Too be Announced on the Stewarts website so that makes me anxious as well.  I won't think its real until I have those tickets in my hands!  I'm thinking they changed their mind because I don't fit their profile of who they wanted for a winner.  I know thats silly however.  This will be a short entry, I need to get the kids up and ready for the day... 

The adventures of Little Red Newt Part 2

I found myself falling quite a distance when I reached the top of the box.  I quickly recovered however and set out to find my way home.  I crawled for a while on this clear, hard surface and then once again fell, even farther this time!  I landed luckily on something soft.  I scurried quickly to find cover, hoping to find damp leaves or a stone to hide under but I didn't.  I found dark soft places, but they were dry and not at all like my forest home.  I hid for quite a while and large feet kept walking by my hiding spot.  I hoped that they woulden't step on me and they didn't.  Occasionally a small pink nose with whiskers would poke about near my hiding spot, but leave again.  It became dark after a while and I ventured out from my hiding spot.  The terrain I covered was rough and dry, not at all like my lovely damp forest, but I was determined to get home and find help for Sally.  I crawled about for what seemed forever, occasionally dodging large feet and the nose with whiskers.  I rested when I could and then it became light again.  I found a smooth surface to crawl on and all of a sudden the nose and whiskers came back!  It gaped open and became a large mouth with sharp teeth!  I panicked and secreted a toxic, foul subtance!  I was taken up in the mouth and quickly spat back out.  The head above me shook about and gagged!  I bravely soldiered on and ran across the smooth surface.  I saw another large foot in front of me and then all of a sudden a large pale thing scooped me up again!  "Oh no!"  I thought, now I will never get home!  The large pale cave carried me for a short bit of time and I found myself outside being gently set down!  I was in the woods!  I could feel the damp forest floor!  I saw Sally!  "Sally, you are safe!"  I cried.  "Yes" she said, "The large pale cave brought me here last night, where were you?"  "I was looking for the way home, then I was going to come rescue you!"  I cried.  We snuggled together and set off to find a new home for ourselves in the forest. 

The END

 

This is based on a true story!  Sarah and I found two newts in the woods.  When it came time to release them, we only had one and couldn't find the other.  When I got up this morning, I saw Tarzan gaggin in the kitchen and the other little red newt bravely trying to get across the floor.  He walked thru the night all the way from my son's room into the kitchen, probably a distance of 50ft.  A long way for such a little guy!  I hope you enjoyed my story of our little red newts!  Newts will if frightened or in danger will secrete a "toxic" substance that can irritate mouths and eyes!  Otherwise they are harmless and can be handled safely, just wash hands after! 

The Adventures of the little Eft Newt

Hello, my name is Spiro and I'm a Red-spotted newt.  I am currently in my Eft stage.  I live in the woods where it is dark and damp.  I hide under leaf litter and come out when it rains.  I love it when its damp as I was born in the water and will return to water when I grow up!  But for now I am happy to forage about on the floor looking for little insects and worms to eat! 

Let me tell you what happened to me yesterday!  I was walking along minding my own business when all of a sudden, these large, pale things came down and scooped me up.  I was held captive inside them and occasionally a large eye would peer in at me.  A high pitched sound kept babbling saying, "Oh look Mommy, I found a salamander!".  A deeper voice said "Its a newt.  You can take him home, but we need to let it go later".  Soon I found myself going along quite quickly still held in the cool pale cage.  Soon I was deposited inside a box along side my cousin, Sally.  Long pale things kept poking at me and moving me about gently.  Soon wet leaves and sticks were placed in the box with us and a plate of water with leaves for dampness.  We explored our new home and tried to find a way out.  After a while the big faces went away and I soon found a way up and out of the box.  I left Sally behind and promised to send reinforcements!  

To be continued.....

The final tally and some awesome news!

First things First, Sarah did not win at the pageant.  I think she was too squirmy.  She was ok with it and so and am.  Dissapointed but ok.  She did however win a blue ribbon on her wildflower boquet and I got red.  I got blue on my foliage boquet.  I got two reds on my vegetables.  So all together I got 4 second place and one blue!  All together I won $16 in cash prize.  Its fun and I will probably try again next year.  So on to the exciting news.  I got a call from Stewarts, the local icecream and conveniece shop.  I won a trip to Louden Speedway in NH for the Nextel cup races!  I get 2 tickets for the races, hotel accomodations, gas and meal vouchers and pit passes!  Also Miller logo gear as it is sponsored by Miller.  I hope we get race jackets!  I asked David if he will go with me and he said yes.  I just hope he isn't annoying.  He already annoyed me today by saying ok over and over again.  Now if he is being annoying I just ask him very politely to stop.  He said he liked to be annoying.  Sigh.... 

If you're reading this...

I won a red ribbon!

 

I won a red ribbon (2nd) on one of my photos.  I'm glad I won something.  I hope some of my flowers or the cornbread wins.  Sarah is getting ready for her pageant.  She just had a shower and hairwash and I braided it.  It will be wavy for tomorrow!  I got her some silver sparkly sandals which are very pageant like. 

I feel so sorry for my Mom, she can't be out for more than a couple hours and her back is in alot of pain.  She can't do much that way.  All she can do is rest and take pain pills.  She is only 62.  She has bad osteoporosis, moderate to severe.  I hope she never falls.  Well, gotta go polish some toenails. 

 

Fair preparations...

I have been so incredibly busy the last couple days.  Yesterday I got my photographs ready for fair.  I put in a waterscape photo, county photo, and two flower photos.  Mom and I found a great thrift/consignment shop.  It was having fill a bag for $5.  I got two bags of great clothes, some like new and one Old Navy sweater with the tags still on it!  Today, Sarah had pageant rehearsal.  I need to do something with her hair.  It still looked scraggly the way I had it.  I think I will pull it back more.  There are a 6 other girls competing against her.  I hope she has fun, greater if she wins!  She needs to remember to SMILE and not wiggle around.  Anyhow, it will be something fun to do even if she doesn't win.  I have a competitive streak and I can't let that get the best of me.  I got my arrangements ready for the fair too and my veggies.  So I drop everything off tomorrow and fair starts Tuesday!  Have a good week everyone! 

Great visit so far!

My Mom and I have been having a great time visiting.  We have been pretty busy visiting people and catching up!  On Thursday, we went down to the Salvation Army store to shop around but even there it was expensive.  I saw a shirt that looked like it used to be Sarah's and it even had stains on it and they wanted $2.49 for it!  I'm not paying even that for someone elses dirty clothes.  Now I do understand that there are people that can only afford to shop there and I'm not looking down, but I think Salvation Army should price these clothes in the cents range not dollars!  They had racks and racks of clothes and they would sell alot more if they lowered the prices. 

Yesterday we went out to see Lindsay and the babies.  We ended up over at Kate's house and Greg (Travis' father who is living with my sister in law) was there as well as Logan's other grandmother.  We had lunch and visited and then I brought Mom home to rest.  Later that evening we went down to the Legion Hall in Ballston Spa to celebrate my Uncle Jack's birthday.  I will have photos from that later.  I saw my cousins and 2nd cousins.  The one I was most thrilled to see was Josh.  He is 27 now and handsome as hell.  Too bad I'm 40 and his cousin!  LOL!  He served in the Army for 2 years and was in Iraq for a while.  He is in the Guard now and wants to go back over there.  Good Lord, I hope he doesn't.  He is such a sweet young man and even took the time to talk to this fat old lady and act like it was the reason he came there to begin with!  I will be seeing everyone again Sunday.  Today, we are going up to hopefully see my sister's kids.  I need to get my things ready for the fair tomorrow too.  I have Sarah's pageant rehearsal and then also need to drop off my entries.  So I will be busy!  I think I may skip the carrot cake even though I signed up for it.  Too expensive to make and I don't have the time. 

It's Mom day!

My Mom is flying in tonight.  I am not picking her up, her sister is.  I will see her in the morning!  I am so excited that she is coming for a week.  I have been very busy getting ready for her visit.  Everything is cleaned, sort of....  Its not perfect but I doubt she is expecting that!  I can finish up tomorrow morning.  Just a couple pots to wash and put some things away.  The three main rooms are clean, so I am gonna just keep the bedroom doors closed! 

One of my co-workers yesterday was going on about how online journals are stupid, idiotic, etc...  She says anyone that keeps one is stupid.  Well, I guess I'm stupid!  What brought it up is because my boss' daughter has a Myspace blog and was swearing in it and making drug references.  Well, I'm gonna get ready for bed.  I didn't get much sleep last night, we had lost power and it didn't come back on until about 10:15 pm.  Then Sarah was very restless all night.  Tossing and turning rather violently.  Kept me awake alot.   Linda

Two more days until Mom!

I awoke this morning to a thunderstorm coming in from the west.  We are having them for a while this morning it looks like.  I need to hurry up and get off here.  I've been really busy the last few days with work and getting ready for my Mom to visit.  Kids and I did a thorough cleaning of the living room.  Now this entails more than just picking up.  The floor is littered with toys, papers, popcorn, pens, garbage etc...  These kids are slobs and when I get home I'm usually exhausted and let things slide.  It looks really good now.  Just need some touch up work like glass cleaning and another vacuum session with carpet fresh.  I went to a few garage sales this weekend, primarily looking for something unusual to turn into a flower planter.  I signed up for that for the fair, unusual planter.  I was thinking of using my planter that has rabbits on it, but I realized thats not really unusually and I think they are looking for something different.  I saw a couple construction helmets but they were too rolley.  I may look in Dave's garage, they have alot of things just sitting on shelfs.  I was also thinking about maybe a tackle box.  Have to look at one and see what I can do.  One of the rules is that the plants must be grown in the container.  I don't know if they mean grown from seed or grown for a while or just planted in the container and not in another pot and set in the container.  Sigh...  oh well, how are they gonna tell the difference?  I also realized I signed up to make a carrot cake too.  So I have to buy the ingrediants for that.  Luckily its just for a single layer cake.  Well time to go.  Have a nice week everyone!  Linda

Thanks Sugar for the pretty graphic!

Black raspberries

I had a lovely hummingbird go after my red, white and blue shirt yesterday!  I think he thought I was a flower!  I found a big patch of black raspberries near my job and picked a coffee mug full.  I am going back Saturday with a big ziploc to get more!  My garden is really coming along.  My jalepeno's are really producing and I have a few habenero's.  Also the bush beans have baby beans on it (only 2 plants survived the squirrels) and my peas are almost as tall as me and flowering.  I have one peapod starting.  Tomatoes are doing good.  Lots of cherries and regulars.  I will have enough to show for the fair at least.  Next weekend, the 15th is pageant rehearsal and also the day I turn in my entries.  I have been keeping a good eye on the wild flowers this year.  I am doing a wildflower boquet.  I think I will make it large and put it in a decorative pitcher that I have.  I am also doing on of just foliage and one in a teacup!  Also entered a dahlia which are just getting ready to bloom.  Hopefully one will cooperate and be perfect for fair day.  Ok got to get ready for work.  Graphic is from Sugar, she just started a new graphic journal!

Worth showing again

After reading this on AOL news, I just sat and wondered what this world is coming to.  Murder, rape, child abuse, war, drugs etc...  Unspeakable acts of violence against each other.  I hate to say this but if there really is a God, how can He allow this to continue?  How can he allow children to be stolen in the night and sexually abused and tortured and killed?  How can he allow women with unborn babies to be murdered.  If anyone out there has the answer please let me know.  I hate to feel my faith being weakened like it is.  I want to believe in a strong loving God.  Maybe we are all just highly evolved apes after all.  Just a few thousand years from the cave and club....

Happy 4th of July

This video is one of many from Youtube with this song, God Bless the USA.  Please remember our troops today.  The only reason this country is FREE is due to the blood of thousands of Americans spilled.  That is the one and only reason.  God Bless our Troops!

Monday morning photo shoot

Something interesting in your yard.  Well, let me see what I can do here:

How about some reproducing bugs?  Hmmmmm....

Go here to see the other entries, or try your own:  John Scalzi

An Award for Me???

I was awarded this by NightmareMom.  She is an awesome blogger and has great graphics and tags too!  She has also been a great friend and supporter of me.  So to pass this on, who do I want to nominate?

Carlene - A recent widow who has shown me what strength is.

Lori - A woman struggling to save her daughter

Jeannette - a Breast cancer survivor

Jeannette - Welcome to my travels

Susan - Another strong woman who inspires me with her love of the Lord

So these are my people that I nominate! 

 

Remembering Hell

Dec 16th, 2006

Drunk several days.  Verbal abuse-keep your F*cking hands off me, (claiming I hit him), Go ahead and try it again, I'll knock out all your teeth F*ing Ahole.  Smashed Christmas tree and broke several ornaments.  Denied it.  Came to bed at 11PM more verbal abuse.

Feb 22, 06

Heavy drinking, D verbally abusive about me to Sarah on phone.  Whore, fat pig, slut.  Called Sarah and told her I was mean and moving out with another man.

Feb 23rd

Dave drunk again.  Took Travis tv away after bursting into his room.  Called T a dickwad.

March 13th

Dave cooking drunk, cut finger and it wouldn't stop bleeding.  Wouldn't go to hospital.  1 am decided to go and verbally abused me because I couldn't drive him.  I had taken cold medicine.  Very drunk.

Mar 20th

A man IM'd me and D was in a drunken rage all weekend.

June 12th

Dave drinking and driving, wrecked truck with property damage left scene of accident. 

June 25th

Dave drunk Friday and Sat night.  We were supposed to go to the zoo with kids and he wouldn't get up.  I said I guess I'm the only one that wants to go.  When he did get up and we left, he stopped and got himself food but no one else and when I said something about it because Sarah was crying in the backseat, he became verbally abusive.  Started screaming at me to shut up.Also said that he wasn't charged with DWI for accident because he wasn't drunk.  And it never happened.  Claimed I ruined everyones day.  Called me a fat ass. 

This goes on and on until I finally left July 25th 2006.  Hard to believe I am gone and its been almost a year.  Funny how even in court, he tried to blame it all on me and make me look like I was the crazy one.  Even managed to fool the drug/alcohol tester.  It will all catch up to him someday, or will it?