May 11th Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there! So, how will you be spending your day? Are you going visiting, or are kids coming to visit you?

I think I may have a combination of both today. I do know we are going over to my sister in law’s for dinner. We do it every Mother’s Day. My mom comes over there as well, and we throw steaks on the grill. We give both my mother and my mother in law, flowering hanging baskets for their back porches. Yes, it’s predictable, but it’s a nice, laid back, pretty much stress free holiday, which is nice.

The reason I said I “may have a combination of both” was, I’m not sure if PJ is coming over to our house today or just to his aunt’s tonight. You may recall, last year my Mother’s day gift was the frame work for a garden which never got quite finished. This year, we will be finishing it. At nine, I’ll be calling over to the Co-Op to have them drop a load of dirt near the garden.

While my husband, and possibly my son, fill the five troughs with dirt, Dani and I will be off plant and seed hunting. We’ll probably have to get the finishing items for the garden as well while we’re out – the screen for the roof, the fencing for the surround, and the netting for the vine plants to climb. (We made the center trough wider than the other four so we can center hang a climbing net for the peas, beans, and possibly cucumbers.)

I also want to pick up the wood for the boys to make me a potato bin, or spud box as some folks call it. It’s a really cool concept. Basically, it’s a two foot square box, which stands three feet high. Three sides are stationary, but the front has removable panels. There is not top or bottom, it goes right on the ground, and the plants come out the top.

You put a layer of dirt down first, then your potatoes, then you cover them with a layer of dirt. In a week or so, when the potatoes start sprouting, you cover the shoots with dirt. You keep doing this until you reach the last removable panel of your container – it will take several weeks. Then, you remove the bottom panel so you can harvest that layer’s potatoes. It’s pretty cool. Supposedly, you can yield around a hundred pounds of potatoes from this small box.

I am also going to pick up some cinder blocks so I can make a cinder block strawberry patch. I thought this was such a great idea. If you have ever planted strawberries before you know they can take over the world. By planting them in the holes in the cinder blocks, it helps keep them contained. Now the trick will be keeping the birds away from them. I had planned on lining either the front or the side of the garden with the cinder blocks, but I may just put a block between each of the troughs so the strawberries will be protected too.

My goodness, can you tell I’m excited about finishing my garden? I certainly had not planned on rambling on and on about it. I had planned on telling you about yesterday’s trip.

We did pretty good, Lys and I left around twenty after six. Dani sent me a text at five thirty, crying off from the trip. I had anticipated as much. Between the class trip and the sweet sixteen, I knew she was going to be exhausted.

Price Auditorium

Lock Haven University is only a handful of miles, and half a dozen turns, off of Route 80, so it was an easy trip; long, but easy. We arrived on campus at quarter to ten, managed to find a parking spot, and made our way to Price Auditorium with time to spare – mostly because Route 80 apparently is the US equivalent to the Autobahn. There was this one strip, where the speed limit is fifty-five. We were cruising, in traffic, at sixty-five in the slow lane (we were on our way home, so I wasn’t in a hurry). Cars were zipping by in the fast lane, at a safely estimated, seventy-five. One of the cars speeding past was a state trooper, no lights, no sirens, just tootling along with the rest of the pack.

Blurry :(

I digress. We were in Price Auditorium because only folks with tickets for the graduation we allowed in the stadium where the graduation was actually taking place. No big deal as far as I’m concerned. We got to watch from comfortable seats, in a climate controlled, weather threat free, environment. They broadcasted the commencement onto a screen, so we probably had a better view of the proceedings than the ticket holders in the stadium.

There were some technical issues at first. Initially the sound wasn’t the greatest, and at one point the screen did go black, but they got all the glitches out quickly, so we were able to see everything. The only thing I was bummed about was the photo I snapped of Lisa getting her diploma came out blurry. Lys got a great photo, but because she took it on SnapChat, I couldn’t get a copy.

Lisa & Lysa

We met up with Lisa and her family when everything was over. We took a few pictures, gave Lisa a card and some graduation cupcakes Lys had made for her, then we left for home. Lisa still had to finish packing up her apartment, so she still had a lot to do, and we didn’t want to get in her way. Yes, it was eight total hours of driving, and we only got to spend half an hour with her, but it was worth it. Now that she’s home, and finished with school, we’ll get to see her more often.

Lisa & Me

Okay, this blog has gone on long enough, and I still have the challenge to do, so I am going to end it here. Facebook folks, there are a bunch of photos, so if you want to see them, you’ll have to visit my blog.

I hope you have a wonderful day, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

Write a FIRST person experience from the viewpoint of a dollar bill.

Ooo, I wonder what I’ll be traded for today. Not that it really matters, I’m just glad to be out of Tommy’s pocket. Ugh, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get the wrinkles out, but I really shouldn’t complain. Tommy’s pocket was a step up from that parking lot puddle Mr. Simms dropped me in.

I really don’t know much about Mr. Simms, since I was only with him for a few minutes. He had stopped at the convenience store, that was my latest home, to pick up some orange juice and some cold medicine. He looked so tired and so frazzled. I heard him tell the store clerk that his wife and both of their small children were all home sick in bed, so I guess I can forgive him for not noticing that he dropped me.

Before I came to live at the convenience store, Sally found me folded up in one of her Easter

eggs. I will never forget how excited she was when she found me. She was such a sweet girl, and do you know what she did? She brought me, and a few of my brothers to the convenience store, and she didn’t buy candy or gum, like I thought she would. Nope, Sally traded me for one of the wrapped pink roses they have on the counter. She wanted to have something pretty to give to her mommy.

Before the Easter Bunny put me into Sally’s egg, I have pretty much traveled the country. I have lived in toll booths, vending machines, and too many wallets to count. I have survived a Minnesota winter and a Texas summer. I’ve been traded for hurricanes in New Orleans, deep dish in Chicago, and lobster rolls in Maine.

Your Next Challenge is:

This probably should have been yesterday’s challenge, but since I didn’t have time for a challenge yesterday, you’re getting it today. Write about either your mom, being a mom, or what it means to be a mom.

You have ten minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count, and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.

May 9th

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning! You made it to Friday! Was it only me, or was this a really long week for you too?

There’s not going to be a writing challenge today, and probably not tomorrow either. Heck, there might not even be a blog post tomorrow, we’ll see.

Today I’m going with Dani, and her science class, on a class trip to Duke’s Estate. For the morning session, we will be on an ecological scavenger hunt in the North side of the estate. They have to use a map to find a dozen or so things and then snap a photo of it with their phone or digital camera. Is it just me, or do you think it’s a little presumptuous to assume every child has a phone or a digital camera?

What if some kids cannot afford a phone, or the family only has one camera and they cannot use it, or what if their phone is broken? Does the kid fail the test then? This has been a major pet peeve of mine – if something is required, then the entity requiring said item, should provide said item. (ie: insurance…but we won’t go there again.)

Then in the afternoon, after a forty five minute

lunch, we will be around the welcome center, answering eleven questions. The teacher showed us the questions yesterday, and I remember one was about the bathrooms at the center, and how they were different than most public bathrooms, and how the waste removal system was different. There was one more part to the question, but I can’t remember what it asked. I flipped through, and it appeared all the questions had three parts to them.

Both the scavenger hunt and the eleven questions count as test grades, and the kids have an hour and forty five minutes to finish each section. I’ll admit, science was not my strongest subject (except for physics, but that class rocked, so I didn’t consider it science), so I don’t know how much help I’d be able to give these kids if they needed it. Hopefully they won’t need much help, and the teacher basically told us, we are there to keep them out of trouble or report them if they do get into trouble.

Supposedly last year, some kid stripped down to his skivvies and jumped into a lake on the estate. He probably would have gotten away with it, but the dingy posted it on Facebook, and the teacher found out. I’m going to tell the kids right from the get go, that unless I think they are in physical danger or are about to cause someone else to be in danger, they are not going to hear boo from me. They are allowed to be kids, have fun, be silly, as long as they are respectful to the property and to each other…and don’t post anything stupid.

The reason there may not even be a blog post tomorrow, is the girls and I are leaving at six tomorrow morning and driving out to Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. A family friend is graduating college, and we are going out there to see her commencement ceremony. It’s a three and a half hour drive, graduation is at ten, should last between an hour and a half and two hours, hopefully we’ll grab some lunch with Lisa and her family, and then we’re turning around and coming home. It’s going to be a long day, but so worth it. She is the sweetest girl, and I am so proud of her.

Okay, I got to boogie. Please do me a favor, say a little prayer the weather holds out, because if we need to do this during a downpour, we’ll all be miserable. I hope you have a fabulous day, and happy writing!