Dear Jewel Gas Station,

I am a big fan.   I’m especially fond of your gas rewards program, where I earn a tiny percent of my grocery spending back in the form of savings when I buy gas from you too.  Just the other day I filled up my tank and used the 44 cents off per gallon that I had accumulated.  Let me tell you, it was like stepping into a time machine.  Back to three weeks ago, when gas was actually 44 cents less a gallon.

But I do have just one question.  What is  up with the “random” quotation marks on your gas pumps?

Is it a warning or not?

“Warning” in quotation marks takes away some of the intensity.  If the person that made the sign didn’t take the warning seriously, why should I?  Also, who exactly are the rules quoting?  Is there a gas station Czar and if so shouldn’t he or she be properly credited?  Perhaps with the use of an asterisk and footnote at the bottom of the sign.

I’m don’t even want to get into the random lettering of the rules.  Shouldn’t the one labeled “A” be the title (bolded, if you like) and rule “B” be labeled as rule “A”? Did you people learn nothing about outlining in middle school English class? Nothing about this sign makes sense!

I think I’m done now.  Thank you for your “attention” to this “matter.”  See! Now you have me doing it!

Sincerely,

Tracey

Hello blog! I’ve missed you.

Summer vacation is finally here!

My goals:

1. Spend lots of time with the kids exploring.  Cheap is good, free is better!

2. Take more pictures.  I need to improve my skills and perhaps use them to help pay some bills.  If that fails, I go to back-up – beat poet.

3. Research going back to school and finishing my degree.  I would like to get all of my library certifications completed in a timely manner.  At least quicker than the 20 years I’ve taken so far to finish college.

4. Cook more, get take out less.  I want to restock my freezer with quick and healthy meals.  Do you have any favorite summer recipes?  I’d love to hear about them!

That’s all for now.  I would write more but it would take away from my busy schedule of repeatedly watching Bret Michaels get knocked over by the set piece at the Tony Awards.  I just hope that bad wig he’s hiding under the constant hat came out of it okay.

aka the first time I used a Neti Pot.

I’m very hip and modern.  Instead of just whining to family, friends and coworkers when I don’t feel well, I broadcast it to everyone on Twitter and Facebook. See? Very hip and modern.  Today I twittered about the beginnings of a sinus infection and Tracy over at IHMMB tweeted me back (at least that’s what I think she did) and recommended that I get myself a Neti Pot.  I had heard of these before but for some reason the thought of pouring hot liquid into my nostrils never appealed to me.  I thought about it and decided it couldn’t hurt and might even help if I gave one a try.  So I prepared to head off to my local CVS.

That didn’t go quite at smoothly as I had hoped.  Riley was dressed in her Halloween costume, which was a witch.  After some discussion on the issue, I realized that she was not going to change and it wasn’t a battle that I felt like fighting when I couldn’t breathe through my right nostril and I felt like my head might explode.  So, myself, Carson and a witch headed off to CVS in search of a Neti Pot.

After some searching in the cold, allergy and sinus aisle, I found what I was looking for.  CVS had a choice of four different neti pots.  I would like to say that I compared features and made a decision based on knowledge and a desire to be an informed consumer.  No, I picked the one that had a giant sign advertising that it was on sale for $3 off.  Did I mention I was shopping with a witch?  I picked up my neti pot and a box of Sudafed (just in case) and headed up to the counter to pay.

When I returned home I read the instructions and grew increasingly nervous.  If you’ve never used a neti pot before, this is how it works.  You fill the small plastic teapot device with lukewarm water and a powered saline powder (isn’t that salt?), mix the solution until dissolved and then the real fun begins.  You hold the spout up to your nostril, tip your head and pour the water into one nostril and it drains out the other clearing out your nose in the process.  Fun, huh?  Repeat the process for the other nostril and hopefully begin breathing freely.  There were several warnings: do not use water that is too cold or too hot, do not snort, do not swallow, etc.  A few of these warning seemed beyond my control but since I had never heard of a neti related death, I went for it.
I filled the pot and mixed up the solution. I held it up to my right nostril, tipped my head and began to pour.  Almost instantly water began to stream out of my left nostril.  It was fascinating, gross but fascinating.  I started to feel like I was going to drown, but decided it was my imagination and kept pouring.  It seemed like it took minutes but likely only took 30 seconds to empty the container.  Time seems to slow down when your pouring a pot of tea into your nose.  I blew my nose as instructed and I already felt clearer.  I repeated on the left side and that added to the drowning sensation. I had a burning in the back of my throat and wanted to sniff but I remembered the warning from the instruction.  Is sniffing the same as snorting, I wasn’t sure and I didn’t want to find out the hard way.

The good news is that I did not die and my sinuses did clear up a bit.  The instructions say I can repeat the process every two hours, I think I’ll wait a wee bit longer than that.  And yes, I did take the Sudafed and think maybe I should go take a nap now.

I’ve been so busy lately and I’ve completely ignored my little blog.  I’ve been working on my writing lately, but none of it has ended up here.  It’s all in random word files on my computer, half of which I end up deleting because I get frustrated by my own lack of talent and ambition.  I should probably be working on my self esteem issues too.

It’s been so cold here lately and I haven’t been taking any pictures at all.  We had an ice storm right before the holidays and I went out with Carson and Riley and while they slipped and slid around the front yard, I took pictures of the ice coated branches and remaining leaves.

A cold gnome and his special friend.

It's hard to make a snow angel when the snow is frozen solid.

We recently took a trip to Milwaukee and while there we visited Holy Hill Basilica.  It’s a beautiful place that is situated on the highest point in that area of SW Wisconsin.  You can see the spires of the church from miles around and when up on top of the hill you are treated to beautiful views of the surrounding area and the shrine itself is breathtaking.  Unfortunately while we were there the spires were undergoing a renovation project and were completely covered with scaffolding.

I tend to get very angry when anyone tries to redo a Beatles song so I thought that I would hate “Across the Universe.”  I had heard that it was very original and well-done but I wasn’t so sure.  We watched it tonight and I loved it.  I thought the songs were incorporated beautifully into a powerful story about coming of age in the turbulant 1960s.  I was most impressed by Jim Sturgess who played Jude in the film. I haven’t seen him in anything else but I thought he was wonderful in the film.  He draws you in from the very first scene of the film

If you haven’t watched it yet, you really should. If you have, let me know what you think.

Riley, Future Historian

We went to the Arboretum today and on the way up there I hear from the back seat “That’s not true, Carson!” in a very dramatic voice.  I asked Riley about what was wrong and she says in a sad voice, “Carson said that George Washington is dead.”  I had to break the news that yes, he was indeed dead and had been for about 200 years.  I explained that he was our first president and lived back in history.  Trying to explain that span of time to a 5 year old is not easy.  She burst into tears and expressed she was very sad because she never got to meet him.  I tried my best to console her but she was pretty bummed until we got to the Arboretum at which point she became otherwise distracted.

I know what my readers want.  Clearly it’s more posts with towns/cities/counties/municipalities/monarchies with names that are fun to say.  In this case it’s not a new name, we’re back at the Sheboygan County Fair, which takes place in Plymouth, WI and not the county seat of Sheboygan.  Perhaps there is a story full of county politics and intrigue as to why that is, but quite frankly I don’t want to get involved.

The fair was everything you would expect from a county fair in Wisconsin. There was food, most of it fried or dairy related and in some cases both, fun in the form of impossible games and rides of questionable safety standards and cows.

When did fairs get to be so expensive?  We purchased over $20 in ride tickets and the kids were only able to ride 4 rides, and you can not find a game to play for under $2 these days.  I remember when you could hand a transient a dollar, they would hand you a few darts and you would pop a balloon in exchange for a Poison or Motley Crue mirror.  You know, the good old days.

Test driving the tractors.

I think they were trying to match their outfits, I've taught them well.

I thought this was so sweet.

What???

Bumper cars

Funnel cake, anyone?

What do pigs dream about?

Oh look, another cow.

Monday: Riley’s 1st day of kindergarten. I am now the parent of two school aged children. No more babies, no more toddlers, no more pre-schoolers. It’s bittersweet, but I am so proud of my big girl. She has been waiting for this all summer and was thrilled to get back to her Montessori school where she will be attending in the afternoons. Public school, all day for Carson and mornings for her, starts on Thursday.

Ready for her big day.

Superstar

Yesterday, I started my new job in the Elementary School library.  So far, I love it.  I’m just getting to meet the staff and teachers.  There are so many names to remember, but I’m sure I’ll get them all eventually.  You know, with the limited amount of brain cells that my children have left me with.

First, we learned that I had been given some false information on whether or not Dragonflies have legs. Then I become even more confused when bug sculptures and damselflies got thrown into the mix. Now I fear I’ve made some enemies in the dragonfly community and they will not rest until I pay for my ignorance. Well it’s either that or I’m incredibly clumsy. I will let you, my intelligent and good looking readers, decide.

My mom, Carson, and myself met my Aunt Nancy up in Geneva with plans to bike the path along the river. It was a beautiful day, not too hot with a nice breeze. We headed north from the Fabyan Forest Preserve. The bike path is curvy and it weaves in and out of the woods and runs right along the Fox River. About 2 miles up the path I hear a buzz near my ear and see a large dragonfly by my head. I feel it hit my hair and I assume fly away. About a minute later I hear an even louder buzz and realize that the damn bug is stuck in my hair. The logical thing to do would be to lightly apply my brakes, get of of the bike and remove the bug from my hair. I choose a different tactic. I freaked the hell out and started swatting at my head while still biking fairly quickly down the path. When I realized the swatting wasn’t helping I slammed on my brakes. This caused me to fly from the bike and land hard on the ground. No permanent damage to me, a few bruises, sore shoulder and a cut or two but I will be just fine. My bike did not fair as well. It’s alignment is wonky now and I broke some plastic near the gear shifter dial and I broke of a reflector.

After the crash we biked back to the car so that I could rest for a while. My mom and Aunt rode some more while Carson and I took a tour of the windmill at the forest preserve. We took the tour right as they were beginning operation of the mill for the day and it was really interesting to see how an old mill operates and all the work that goes into catching the wind properly. All of my life I thought a windmill turned or it didn’t, I didn’t know that they have brakes and could be turned to maximize the potential. Since we were planning on biking the whole day I didn’t bring my camera along. While I’m sorry that I missed some good photo ops, I am glad it wasn’t on me when I crashed the bike.

After the tour I was feeling stronger and we biked with my mom and Aunt 1.8 more miles down to an art fair in Batavia. They had a bike check where we were able to leave our bike in a secured area while we wandered around the fair. The art fair featured a lot of the same artists as the show went to in Genvea a few weeks ago. I enjoyed looking around, especially at the photographer’s works, but there wasn’t much in my price range at all. My price range is from very, very cheap to very cheap. When we finished walking around the fair we grabbed some lunch and took the path up the other side of the river back towards the car. About .5 a mile from the car it started to thunder a bit and rain. By the time we got the bikes loaded on the rack and into the car it started to pour. Our timing could not have been better.