Hail!!

About 10:30 last night, a nice little thunderstorm rolled through bringing this hail with it; it was around pea-sized but it came down pretty hard for about 2 minutes. This morning there was still some left in a little pile in our flower garden. The temperature had dropped from 70 degrees to around 40 degrees in just about an hour or so earlier in the evening. Today's highs were only around 50. Springtime in the Ozarks...gotta love it!!

2 more weeks of 'semi-sanity' at work before we officially begin our new computer system in my office. Workers from the State Courts office in Jefferson City have been down here all week getting our employees set up to make the transition a little smoother on the 14th. It's like going from a tricycle to a semi-truck. Well..maybe not THAT bad, but when you've been on the same system for over 18yrs, it's just a little harder to let go!!

I am wore out. I knew this week back at work would be busy, but had no idea just HOW busy. We decided on Monday to move some more of the employees around to different desks, so today was the day. I think it will be worth in the long run, but my poor feet couldn't keep up!!

Billy is currently in Van Buren, MO with some students helping fix up a girls camp in that area. So far they are all doing well and will be traveling back tomorrow evening.

Right now I am in my house, all by myself, hearing only the refrigerator running (I know..better go catch it!!) and a clock ticking upstairs. Occasionally I hear a bird from the outside. But otherwise it is very quiet. Ahh.......

Well, we made it back safe and sound, and did not have to take any detours like we thought we were going to. Here are some pictures as we crossed the Mississippi; I think this was around Cairo, IL:



You can kind of see just how close it was getting to the road at that point, and it hadn't crested yet. A news report I saw read:
"The Mississippi at Cairo, Ill., was expected to crest at 54 feet Tuesday morning, 14 feet above flood stage." So at least we made it back before that happened.

Then when we got to Rogersville, this is what we saw:


They had blocked off the westbound lanes, and made the eastbound lanes 2-way so traffic could still get through.

All in all it was a good trip. I got to see things I had never seen, and even rode a horse! (which I had done before...but like over 10yrs ago!) It's a miracle I can still walk straight.

As with any high school trip, we had our 'issues', but I had a wonderful roommate that was also a teacher in the school system and she helped me out a lot with those issues. And after all was said and done, and we were tucked in our beds on Friday night after a LONG day outside in the wind playing horsehoes and going horseback riding, some MORON decided to set off the hotel fire alarm at FOUR in the morning. My roommate open our door, saw there was no chaos, nobody running around like crazy people, no firetrucks, and we went back to sleep. (yeah, I know....that probably wasn't the BRIGHTEST thing to do) But I was pretty sure it was a false alarm since a group of college students had apparently checked in that day, and returned around 11:30 VERY noisily in our hallway. My roommate finally went next door and politely asked them to pipe down since we had to get up early the next morning. They pretty much did, but occasionally I could hear them start to get loud, then you would hear a bunch of them go "SHHHH" (which was louder than them actually talking...)

So when it went off, I was pretty sure one of THEM actually did it. And the next morning at breakfast, I actually heard them brag about it. GEESH!!

This trip will be my last with the school since Chris is a senior, and although I'm glad I went, I'm glad it will be my first AND last!!

Day 4 - Nashville

We made it through our last day....here is the link to the pictures:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2000720&l=546ea&id=1304340063

We leave for home tomorrow, but because of the floods, we will have to detour through St Louis. Hopefully that will be the only one!!

More Pictures...

Okay, rather than try to post ALL my pictures here, I posted them on my Facebook page, and you can view them here:

Day 1:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2000715&l=5ecbc&id=1304340063

Day 2:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2000716&l=89d9b&id=1304340063

Day 3:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2000717&l=8f2ef&id=1304340063


Enjoy!!

We Made It....Day 1

Well, we made it 'through the rain'...(isn't that a Barry Manilow song???) and pulled into Jonesboro, AR for lunch at CiCi's pizza. Here are the kids back on the bus ready to head to Graceland; we actually took 2 tour buses so we have plenty of room!!

Then it was off to Graceland; here we are waiting to go inside (that's Chris in the white pants)

Although I'm not a big Elvis fan, I can at least say "been there, done that". Here are some pictures: (and I'll try to remember what I was taking a picture of.)

I think this was a carpeted CEILING in one of the rooms; or a carpeted wall - can't remember, but there was a LOT of 70s style carpet around!

This was a kitchen - Mom, didn't you have a coffee pot like that but in harvest ORANGE???

Here is the house from across the street.Here is the front room with the '15-foot couch'. Yep...that's a LONG couch!!

And last, but not least, Elvis' grave. It was quite windy yesterday, so one of the flowers blew over. We made it to the hotel around 10:00 after stopping for dinner. I will have day 2 up soon!!

Spring Break

Well, the public school's Spring Break officially starts tomorrow. The trip I am going on with the high school band doesn't leave until Tuesday morning, so like a dummy, I am going into work tomorrow.

However, I am seriously thinking about leaving early so I can actually get my packing done BEFORE midnight. Yes, I am a 'last-minute-packer'. I might actually get some clothes ready tonight, but won't do any major packing until tomorrow.

And I always make a list of things to take so I don't forget anything. (I once forgot to take my eyeglasses with me on a weekend trip so once I had my contacts out, I had to just stay in bed!!)

I will be bringing my laptop and camera, so HOPEFULLY there will be pictures posted daily as long as the wireless works at the hotel. Here's our agenda:

Tuesday: Leave for Nashville and tour Graceland; get to Nashville and our hotel around 10PM.

Wednesday: Go on a Nashville city tour featuring historic Nashville, the Parthenon, Music Row 'and much more'. (whatever that means) AND....we get to eat dinner at the "Wild Horse Saloon" which includes line-dancing lessons!! (Do they still do "The Electric Slide" because that's the only 'line dance' I know!!)

Thursday: Tour Ryman Auditorium, and Grand Ole Opry House. Play at "Grand Old Golf"; then off to Opry Mills to enjoy the Imax Theater (I get nauseous watching movies in those theaters) and then Dave & Busters for dinner and fun.

Friday: Visit Belle Meade Plantation; then off to Cowboy Town that afternoon for hay rides (ACHOO!!), saloon games, hiking (yippee), horseshoes (that's more like it!) and a campfire supper with a live bluegrass music and cowboy comedy show.

Saturday: Leave for home.

SO....it's gonna be a busy week, and I hope that I survive it all. This is my FIRST school trip as a chaperone, and my last since this is Chris' senior year. But I haven't been anywhere on Spring Break for a while, and this was cheap, so I thought "why not!". (In other words....PLEASE pray for me!!!)

Our First Apartment

Every year when our wedding anniversary rolls around (March 14), I always think back to our first apartment.

Billy had moved to Oklahoma City the December before we married, to find a better job than he had here. So he found a 1-bedroom furnished apartment. I did not get to see it until we were married, but thought it was very cute. What I now regret is that I took NO pictures of that very first place we chose to start our life together. That was 26yrs ago. The only "pictures" I have are what I can remember. A few days ago, I did a search on the internet using the address, and came across this picture:Okay...I remember there was a carpet shop downstairs, and there were 4 apartments in the upstairs. Ours was in the back of the building, and there were stairs leading up from the outside. I remember having a front door, but only went out that way maybe once or twice.

The information I found out about the building indicates there are still 4 apartment units on the second floor, so I've always wondered if I will ever get the chance to see the inside again. I would hope the furniture had changed, (if it's even still a furnished apt) but it would still be neat to see the inside and maybe take some pictures. I have pictures of most of our other 'living accommodations' over the years, except maybe for one. But for some reason that first one holds a dear place in my heart. Maybe someday I will get another chance.

Oh, and our anniversary date is also Billy's birthday...he will be 47 this year!!

I made it through the first week of work with our new boss, and I think it's going to be okay. Sure, there are still some 'quirks' to get used to (like him turning out his office light even if he's just going to be gone for an hour or so...) but otherwise I think he'll be an okay boss. (of course, he still has to make it through the August primary, otherwise I may have a DIFFERENT boss come January!!)

Tonight we turn our clocks forward one hour...which I am NOT looking forward to. (ha...no "pun" intended...) Everytime I look at the clock, I think.."Man.....it's only 8:20 but it's really already 9:20". I think it hits you when you go to bed and realize you've already lost an hour of sleep before your head even hits the pillow.

Tomorrow morning the children's choir is singing "We Believe" with the adult choir. They also learned some sign language to go along with the song, so I hope it goes well. They actually have known the song for over a year, just have never had the chance to sing it in church until now. And this is my first time leading them, so I hope I don't forget the signs or the song!!

Spring break is just around the corner for the public schools here, and I am going as a chaperone on a trip the band is taking to Nashville - this will be my first 'school trip'. We are going to see several of the 'sites' around town, and was told last night by another parent that we are stopping at Graceland on the way. Woo hoo!! Now where did I put those blue suede shoes???!!

Got Snow?

Well, we got our snow; probably the first and last of the season. The top 2 pictures are from this morning; the sun came out by noon and helped melt the snow from the streets. The 3rd picture is a map showing just how 'localized' the snow was; here in Springfield we got anywhere from 6-8 inches, while just about 15 miles south (where our daughter lives), they only got around an inch or two. Isn't it amazing how God can do that??

Well, I made it through my first day of my new 'job'. My office is 95% set up; just have a few other items to put (or throw!) away.

And yes, our new boss was there - pretty much all day. The only 'quirk' I noticed was that when he would leave his office, he would turn out the light. 4 times today I thought he had gone home only to see him return about an hour later.

We are still waiting on our big 'snow'; they are still forecasting 3-6 inches, so we'll either get nothing, or a foot. Guess we'll see in the morning who was right.

I've also noticed that when they forecast a big storm, people flock to the stores, OR, they call our office to let us know they won't be making it to their court date tomorrow....way before a single snowflake starts to fall......geesh.

One lady told me she heard that the snow they were forecasting in her area was going to be "the worse storm since 1912". So she was SURE she wouldn't be able to make it in. And they all want us to 'let the Judge know' thinking they will feel sorry for them and just set another court date. NOT. Our motto is "If WE Are Here, You Should Be Too!!"

Well, tomorrow I begin a new era at work; new position, new office, even a new boss. It's amazing what kind of 'stuff' you can collect in 11yrs, which is just about how long I've been in the office I'm moving from. And the office I'm moving in to isn't completely 'empty', so I will have some more stuff to go through and either toss or keep.

Billy & I had a nice weekend away in Columbia for a college leadership conference. The place we stayed at was called Stoneycreek Inn, and it was very quaint! No, I didn't get any pictures but it reminded me of a lodge that would be in the middle of Colorado somewhere. The furnishings were so neat. Here are a couple of pics from their website to give you an idea:


The weather was beautiful and it was good to get away for just a little bit. Speaking of weather (you know I can't go very long without mentioning our crazy weather...), today it was in the 70s, we will have storms overnight and by this time tomorrow evening, we are supposed to be having snow. But this is really typical of March, so why am I so surprised???