Curious Sensations

My minor procedures ended up taking most of the day. At least ... we were at the hospital most of the day. At least things progressed very nicely and it wasn't until the end of the day I felt like I was just waiting... which I was at that point, waiting to see my doctor. But I slept most of that time away, so I guess it doesn't matter.

Anesthesia is weird. Has anyone ever seen the episode of Buffy TVS where the "trio" place a time modulator on her and she keeps losing pieces of her day? She's kind of standing still while the world seems to be fast forwarding. That's how I felt after coming out of anesthesia. It seems like one moment I was talking with the anesthesiologist and the next the nurses were saying "Take two deep breaths, Mrs. Steele." LOL... it was kind of cool.

So Dr. Banach arrives at my room a little after 2pm and says "I have good news and bad news." He proceeds to hand me a bunch of pictures he took of my insides. The good news.. absolutely no evidence of cancer, the bad news... a humongous number and size of fibroids. He says this condition must have been building up for years. My uterus is the size of a 16 week fetus! Maybe that explains some of why I gain weight the way that I do (like a pregnant woman... all in the belly!). At any rate, I'm good to go for right now, but have an appointment with him when we get back from Phoenix to plan our next step.

Sunday Mac and I went to the gym to do our workout. I increased the weights I've been using in several of my exercises, but especially in my calf workout. I mention this because what hurt the most immediately after coming out of anesthesia were my calves. Like "charlie horses" were just waiting to grab the muscle. It took me a long while in that after fog to realize that it was probably due to the workout and not the surgery.

Today my throat hurts really bad because of the tube... imagine the worst sore throat and then notch it up just one more bit. As long as I don't swallow, I'm okay... but my mouth is all dry so I'm pushing fluids and that means swallowing.. ouch!

My calves are not as tender as yesterday, and my belly where the incision was made is kind of tender.. but otherwise I'm doing well. I've been told I can't drive the car for 24 hours, but tomorrow I guess it's back to all that I can tolerate.

Loading up the Truck...

 

And moving on over to another blog. You can find me here:  http://lasttime-atbat.blogspot.com/   The new paint is still a little wet and I haven't quite got the furniture set up, but the address should remain the same.

I don't care much for having to make this change, but I don't think I'm done blogging just yet, so I'm putting on the army face, sucking it up, and driving on.

I do hope I'll see more of you over there, once the dust has settled.

I will miss this old place, and I will miss those of you that have decided to take this opportunity to leave your blogging days behind.  But for those of you that are going to blog on, I hope you'll leave me links to your new homes.

Merry Meet, Merry Part and Merry Meet again!

Home Remedy!

When I was a child and I had a very bad headache, my mother would slice a potato and place the slices on my forehead then wrap a scarf and tie the potatoes to my head.  This remedy ALWAYS worked and I have continued to use it whenever I have a headache that OTC pain meds can't touch.

So, imagine my delight and surprise to discover that today this remedy is one of a few home remedies that are being featured on AOL "Health Tips".   LOL.. I somehow feel vindicated.

Potato Halves for Headaches

A health tip from South of the Border? Rubbing potato halves on foreheads to relieve headaches. Is there any truth to this treatment? "A potato has lipoic acid, an antioxidant that may help," says Jacob Teitelbaum, M.D., board-certified internist and medical director of the Fibromyalgia and Fatigue Centers. "Most likely rubbing anything wet, cool and firm over the muscles where the headache is coming from, while believing it will help, can work."

Tags: home remedies, headaches

The Nashville Stories

My sister flew in from Colorado to meet me in Nashville.  Her plane was delayed, so I spent an hour cooling my heels in the airport. The Nashville airport is not the airport to have to wait for someone.  The only shopping access available to you is a News stand and a flower stand.  All the good stuff is on the other side of the security point.

So she finally arrives about two hours after she was first expected. We hit the hotel long enough to check in and dump stuff and then we head out to downtown Nashville.  Our Ghost/ Tavern crawl starts at one of the downtown taverns.  We do a little sightseeing of the downtown (really, it was mostly shopping, but let's call it sightseeing).

 

This was our tour guide, Audrey.  This is the upstairs for the first stop on the tour.  This pub was at one time a carriage house.. with the downstairs being for the horses and carriages and the upstairs being where the family lived that managed/owned the carriage house.

The ghost that haunts this pub is the wife of the carriagehouse owner.  She fell down the stairs and broke her neck and died.  Rumors flew for years that she didn't trip and fall as was thought to be the case by the police, but  rather that the husband had pushed her down.

This pub is said to have two types of "haunts" going on.. the first is a re-enactment of the scene (the husband pushing the wife down the stairs).  Several of the folks that have worked there have claimed to see this scene being acted out at the end of the night (there is a kitchen on the second floor from which the snacks, etc are served.. so typically there is a clean up crew up there.)

The second haunt seems to just be the wife hanging out "visiting".  Our tourguide has a pretty cool picture that someone took of her during one of the tours.  In the pic she seems to have a ghostly third arm and  hand hanging down to her side, while her real arms are up and gesticulating as she tells the tale. 

The guide also mentioned that recently someone who claimed to be "sensitive" picked up a name that they believe to be the name of the ghost.. "Sarah".  Someone had written on a small chalkboard "Sarah is a nice person." The night of our tour, the writing was still there and it was below that blackboard that the first ghostly picture was taken.

You can see the blackboard there behind my sister. The other all female group in our tour took pictures towards that wall.  In one of those pictures, you can see the folds of a skirt, draped just so.... it is a long skirt, such as what might have been worn at the turn of the century.  They passed their digital camera around so that we could all see what they got.   It was there... kind of see through-y but definitely there... and as you can see by this picture... nothing draping behind my sister towards that wall that could have made such an image.

These are the ladies that caught the "ghost" on their camera. Behind the girl on the far left is the staircase down which the woman was pushed.

This is when we departed the first pub (going down the infamous steps).  See the mirror to the right of the tour guide's head?  They used to have that mirror on the wall facing the tour guide, but too many patrons claimed to have seen someone standing behind them as they prepared to go downstairs (but when they turned around no one was there). They moved the mirror to avoid further scares of that nature.

We walked to our next pub, with Audrey telling us bits of history and folklore. Unfortunately I can't remember much of anything she said that night.. guess I shouldn't wait so long to write, huh?  Sorry.

This is Susan and me at the second pub.  The girls from San Diego got a few shots of orbs floating behind us, on their camera, but of course nothing with ours.  (Beginning to wonder if they weren't "plants" to add to the tour scariness) At any rate, the vodka sours were first rate at this pub...

Another long shot at the dance floor in pub two.  Dancing orbs were the object but again, I found none on my pic.  I did manage a pic of what i thought was one orb, but the tour guide quickly debunked it as the red light from the security camera.

This was the last pub we stopped at that night.  This pub has a bit of a poltergeist thing going on.  The ghosts here like to hang out in the bathrooms (both male and female) and turn on the taps when no one is using the sink.  Once again our San Diego girls had the chance to experience this haunting first hand.  The only male in our group used the restroom, but didn't experience anything out of the ordinary.  On the second floor of this tavern, there are occasionally shadows with no explanations.  And orbs are caught floating down the staircase.

Usually after I've been on a ghosthunt I like to buy a book with the local ghost stories.  But I didn't find one in Nashville, so I couldn't refresh my memories of what Audrey shared with us.

Second day in Nashville we did a city tour that included Ryman Auditorium (the original "Grand Ol Opry") and the Country Music Hall of Fame.  Both worth seeing, but we didn't get enough time in the CMHF.  I will have to go back sometime and really sit and read all the cool stuff in there.  I didn't even get to the gift shop, that's how crammed full of things to see it was.

 

Nashville Parthenon

 looking from the Parthenon towards downtown Nashville.

The Bruce Springsteen concert was awesome.  I was not a big fan of his in my younger days, but he really does put on a good show.  Susan was the big fan and this was one of my b-day gifts to her, so as long as she enjoyed it (which she did) then it's all good.  We left out of Nashville and headed to Atlanta.  Stories from Atlanta to follow :)

Tags: ghost hunt, Nashville

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Will it go around in circles?

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We have been using AT & T for our cell phone service since Cingular merged with them.  Our experience has been good for the most part.

When we arrived here in Alabama with less than a year left on our service contract, we began comparing services so that when the time came to change, we could do so with confidence that we were getting the best deal possible.

Well... in August we decided to stay with A T & T, but we upgraded our phones, changed to Alabama numbers and added a few services.  We also received a military discount for our billing.  For our needs, we are getting a really good deal staying with A T& T.

I have always paid online and used paperless service.. no need to get a bill in the mail when I can see it all on the computer.  Doing my part for the environment. 

I figured our change would be relatively painfree... just add the new numbers to our account and drop the old numbers.. .right?   Apparently.. NO. 

Worse of course is that as soon as they created a new account, I could no longer access the old account.  And.. oh by the way.. apparently I never updated our mailing address once we moved from Maryland.. OOPS.

I received two bills from A T & T this past week.  The first was for the new account and it all makes sense.. I'm not thrilled that they couldn't have it posted on the internet on time (when I typically pay my bills), but at least it all makes sense to me.   The second bill was for the old account... which we "closed" two days into the new billing cycle... (which I had paid in advance at the end of July).  That bill was insane.  I couldn't for the life of me figure out how we could owe so much on what should have essentially been a two day bill. Even with four phones, it was nuts.

I called A T & T this morning to find out what gives.  I spoke with one rep for about 20 minutes going around in circles... First she's telling me that this is a LATE bill (late from when.. I have paid on time or early for two years... LATE FROM WHEN???).. Then she starts going into an explanation of how it's for the services we received from 8/4 to 9/4.. but this account was closed on 8/7.... I shouldn't owe anything.. or certainly at least not this much... then we start matching bills to payments... then suddenly she says.. let me get someone else to try and explain this to you.  Enter Aaron... nice guy.. friendly voice... he makes it really easy to stay calm and controlled.  But 30 minutes later, he still can't make me understand how I can owe so much for two days of service.

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"Tell you what Mrs. Steele... you've been a good customer, you've paid all your statements on time... I can write this amount off for you.. It's a legitimate bill, but I can understand how our billing explanations can be confusing.  I can hear your frustration, so I'm going to just take care of this for you."

Now..  I think I'm a pretty smart girl.. and frankly.. I'm still not understanding how my final bill can be so much if we pay to the future with A T & T... but since Aaron was so helpful, I now feel kind of bad that I'm not paying anything for that old service... But I really don't understand how we owe anything... I think someone was just tired of talking circles with me.

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Accident Homework Help

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Mac needs help!  As part of his requirements in Drivers Education class he must submit 30 articles involving vehicle accidents.  It is incredibly difficult to do a generic web search for auto accidents and not end up inundated with "Need a Lawyer" type sites.

Here's how you can help us.  If you could be so very kind as to leave a link and/or the web address to your local newspaper, we can search that way to find accidents in your local news.

I've found accidents from the Arizona Republic, Toledo Blade and Cleveland Metro News, as well as the local paper, Dothan Eagle... but we still need 24 more articles!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for any assistance (web addresses/links) that you can throw our way.

For Better or For Worse

Paul's first assignment after flight school took us to Finthen Germany.  It was 1985 and that flight to Germany was only the fifth flight I had ever taken.  Germany seemed so very strange and exciting to me.  Getting by with a smattering of German (I had studied French in H.S. and been exposed to Spanish at home) that I learned during the first two weeks in Germany was a bit daunting at the time. 

One of the first things I discovered was the local Stars and Stripes Bookstore.  Here I could buy english language books.  What a blessing! I love to read and email ordering didn't exist (or at least not to my knowledge) at that time.

It was at the Stars and Stripes that I discovered the comic collections of "For Better or For Worse". If you are not familiar with this strip, it's drawn by Lynn Johnston and available for viewing at www.fborfw.com .  Since I was only 25 and had no children yet, I related more to the children and the situations they would get themselves into.  Later, when I was pregnant with Kendra, Annie (the next door neighbor) was pregnant with her third child and I enjoyed going through her pregnancy with her.  A bit prophetic when her daughter was born with a birth defect, just as Kendra had been.

Later when Elly (the main character) was pregnant with a late in life baby, I was pregnant with Kim.  The comic strip baby, April, had the same adventerous spirit as my Kimmy.  It was great fun (in hindsight) to see that mischevious behavior caught in the strip.

When Kim turned 16, one of her gifts was an autographed strip of April's 16th birthday.

I have read this strip for over 20 years now.  I have laughed and cried and been awed by the way real life situations were handled by the characters.  I was amazed when Lynn could share the pain of having her husband leave her for a younger woman with a dream by Elly in which she thought John had left her.  It was so touching.

The strip has finished its "real time" run over this weekend.  Starting today, Lynn is going to be restarting the story with added dialogue and updating some things she has wished she could change.

I will miss seeing April continue to hit milestones with Kim, but I can understand how it may be time for Lynn to move on to other challenges. 

Thank you, Lynn Johnston, for a fabulous comic strip!

Tags: For Better or For Worse, Lynn Johnston, Comic strips

Nashville Pictures

I promised pictures and stories...  But I leave at 5 AM for Atlanta tomorrow (Dragoncon convention).  So here's the backwards (I didn't realize my pictures would load down to up instead of up to down)

 

Bruce Springsteen concert on Thursday night... Yeup, we were THAT close. This was the first end of the concert...  2 hours of straight playing.. then they came back for a 45 minute encore!

Start of the concert (or closer to the beginning anyway)

Downtown Nashville, outside the Legends bar, earlier on Thursday. This is where the folks that hope to make it into the business play for their supper. I'm on the left and Susan is on the right.

These gals were from San Diego, part of our ghost group on Wednesday night. They had all the luck that night, catching a lot of interesting things on film and actually experiencing a ghostly encounter at our last stop of the night.

My sister, Susan listening to the stories

Our ghost hostess for Wednesday night.

Sorry this is brief.  I'll be back on Monday and I'll share with you the stories from the tour and tell you about the really cool pictures the SD gals captured.

Tags: Nashville, Bruce Springsteen, ghost hunting

ABC break

Saw this at Linda's place and it did look like fun... so here is the ABC's of me.

 

A is for age:  48

B is for beer of choice: Miller Lite

C is for career right now:  Homemaker

D is for your dog's name:  No dog at this house : (

E is for essential item you use every day: Computer

F is for favorite TV show at the moment: The Secret Life of the American Teenager, Army Wives

G is for favorite game: Clue

H is for hometown: Phoenix, AZ

I is for instruments you play: Saxophone

J is for favorite juice:  Peach Nectar

K is for whose butt you'd like to kick: Management @ Kendra's Apt.

L is for last restaurant you ate at:  Cracker Barrel

M is for marriage: 26 years and going strong

N is for Number of Piercing's:  None anymore

 

O is for overnight hospital stay: Three, one for each birth

P is for people you were with today: Kim, Mac and Kendra

 

<FONTCOLOR=#000099>Q is for what you do with your quiet time: Hatch plots to take over the world... I think starting in Maryland is the way to go.

R is for biggest regret: Not getting college done before marriage

S is for status:  Content :)

T is for time you woke up today: 5:30 A.M.

U is for what makes you unique: That people approach me even when I feel closed off.

V is for vegetable you love:  tomatoes

W is for worst habit: leaving my socks all over the house.

X is for x-rays you've had: one of my leg and one of my lungs (years ago)

Y is for yummy food you ate today: Fresh peach

Z is for zodiac sign: Gemini

I'm home and already knee-deep in nonsense

I arrived home about 8:50 pm.  Kids were all jammied up and ready for bed.  Paul had already left for his newest TDY adventure.  The house looked great, kudos to Paul (and the kids) for letting me come home to a clean home.

Today I've been tackling some issues I have with Kendra's housing situation. She's in an off campus apartment complex.  We've had some confusion understanding the contract.  Also, Paul had huge issues with the fact that these folks allowed the students moving in to have to clean up after the workmen that had been in the apartments (these are newly built apartments).  No cleaning crew came through before the students moved in.  There was plaster and dust and mud and all kinds of muck through out the place.  The stairs and hallways were cluttered with building material litter  while all these students were trying to move into their respective apartments.

So I just spent about an hour of my time being shuttled (telephonically) from one person to another while trying to get some clarity in this situation.  It doesn't help that the managers have been fired and new ones hired since we first started this process back in March. UGH... frustrating all the way around. 

I think I finally have a handle on the rent agreement and while I hate to admit they were correct... well, they were correct...

But Paul is still waging war over the safety of the hallways and stairwells.  I passed along the names and phone numbers to him because that mother bear instinct is not going to win points with these people. I think they will appreciate the more calm discussion they will have with Paul.  he he he.  But I guess we will see.

Stories to come about the trip. It was a lot of fun and some truly spooky things happened on our ghost pub crawl.  I'll share soon.

Getting excited about the Sister Trip

I mentioned a while back that my sister and I were doing a road trip this year for our sister trip.  This year it was also my turn to plan and coordinate the events.  I'm getting pretty excited because I think I lined up some fun things to do while we explore Nashville, Atlanta, and Savannah. 

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We start off in Nashville. I'm picking up my sister from the airport mid afternoon. Our first night there we are taking a Haunted Tavern Tour.  According to the information, we will visit between 3 and 5 taverns, each stop will feature ghost stories of the tavern and/or surrounding area (and of course there will be time and opportunity to grab a drink).

On our second day, we are taking the "Discover Nashville" tour which includes entrance into the Ryman Auditorium and museum and entrance into the Country Music Hall of Fame.  Plus aguided tour around Nashville by bus.

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To celebrate my sister's birthday (8/17), I snagged us some really great seats for the Bruce Springsteen concert 8/21.  This is a surprise for her.

Our Atlanta leg of the trip includes the trolley tour (on and off opportunities through out the day) and World of Coca Cola, plus lots of shopping chances.

Down in Savannah, we're staying at a haunted bed and breakfast.  We also start our first night there with a haunted walking tour of "historic" Savannah. 

We are doing a "foodie" tour of the Savannah area, stops at several restaurants known for their southern cuisine and unique takes on traditional dishes (The Lady and her Sons is one of the stops)

Finally, we close out our time in Savannah with a Dinner Cruise on a River Showboat. I've arranged for a "Happy Birthday" treat for my sister during our dinner. 

Our last two days we will leisurely drive back to Nashville, taking in whatever extra sights we feel will complete our vacation (or just shop!).

 

Kimberly's Art

Kimberly took an Anime art class last summer while we were living in Maryland. She has been working with this art form since then and has come up with some very interesting pieces.  This one here is for an online project she has participated in with some of her online friends.  I was so impressed with it's beauty, that I wanted to share this with all of you.

 

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Happy Birthday Paul!

 

 

 

 

 

All the family is gathered in our house this weekend to celebrate Paul's birthday.  Paul got back from his trip this afternoon and Kendra came home after classes.  I am amazingly content at the moment.

 

 

 

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It took me years to get these pictures from Paul's mom, so I like to use them when I can.

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I have pictures! and stories!.. well.. okay, one story

Mood: Lighthearted

Here are some of the pics that we took over the weekend, moving Kendra.. I realize now that I didn't really take enough, but we were kind of busy unpacking.

My van packed up with the "essentials."

Kendra, sitting in the back because mom made her pose.. doesn't she look happy? LOL

Kendra and Kim unpacking boxes and sorting through stuff.

Her bed, all set up with the new linens.

At her doorway,

Kendra, wondering why I needed to take a picture at the phone store...behind that display in the back is Kim against the wall reading a book. We were there for more than two hours!

Okay.. now the story.. :)   My doorbell rings this afternoon about 1 pm. I go to the side door, but no one is there. Rather than run through the house to the other door, I step outside and walk to the edge of the house to check the front door.  Out of habit, I pull the side door close behind me.  INSTANT REALIZATION that the door is not unlocked. 

At my front door is a delivery guy with flowers.  Very pretty flowers, but all I can focus on is the fact that I am now locked out.  Nice delivery man offers me his phone to call someone... but.. I have no one to call.. Paul is in Florida, Kendra is in Troy.. Kim and Mac can't drive!!!  LMAO... instead I ask if he can drive me to the neighborhood office.  I figure if they can't let me into my house, at the very least I can hang out there until the kids get home from school around 4 PM.

Folks at the Office were very nice... Drove me right home and opened up my door for me.  Then I took some time to admire my flowers and the card.

Just another day in Paradise!

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It has been brought to my attention that I didn't mention my flower giver.  :)  LOL.. sorry about that.   They were from Paul along with a nice note that said: Thank you for your support and understanding. You are a wonderful wife and mother. I love you, Paul.

Foolishness and Mayhem

This weekend we spent getting Kendra settled into her new place. What really should have only taken half a day on Saturday lasted through Sunday noon.

One of the things we needed to accomplish was new cell phone service for the whole family.  Great guy helped us out and I am really pleased with the deal we got.... but even so.. that ordeal took almost three hours on Saturday afternoon!

And then on Sunday I called Kendra in the evening (we'd left her around noon) to just check in and I find out she's in the ER up at Troy.  She had pain and nausea shortly after we left her.  Her roommate took her to the ER (very nice of her).  Kendra had been there for over three hours with an IV running to try and combat the pain while they figured out what was wrong with her.  I drove back up at her request and by the time I arrived, they had released her.  She was sitting on the curb waiting for me.  Poor thing. They diagnosed a UTI. Antibiotics and anti-nausea meds to go, please.

I brought her home and she stayed with me here until noon today.  Classes begin for her tomorrow, so she wanted to get back up there today to get things ready for classes. She is doing fine.  We think her defenses ended up a little low this weekend with all the change and chaos.  She hadn't been taking care of herself the way she is supposed to do. Hopefully, we won't have a repeat of the ER incident for a while.

So now the house is back down to just Kim, Mac and I.  How is it that with just two people gone, this house echoes with silence?

 

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Facing Changes

This has been a week where I have been constantly reminded that my little ones aren't so little anymore.

Kim and Mac received their driving permits this week and yesterday they went off to school.  Both of them are in high school now.  I am just three short years away from having "adult" children.

Tomorrow (Saturday) Kendra moves away from home. She is ready to take up residence at the college. Paul, Kim and I will help her with the move. Kendra and I have been buying and gathering up her supplies all summer for this new living arrangement.

I am so excited for her. This is that next big step towards adulthood. Things are going exactly as I hoped they would for her.

But all of a sudden, it's hitting me that my baby is going to be leaving home. This house is going to seem so empty to me without her presence. 

I am not going to rain on her excitement, though.  I'm keeping all this inside and showing the strong mom face to her and her siblings. I know she's going to be aching to be here too.  For all that she is ready for this new independence, it can be a scary thing. We will get through this too.  After all, she's just 60  miles down the road and one text message away.

(How mom sees Kendra leaving)

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Driving Permits ..part deux

So, today we had to go to the Dothan office for Mac to retake his permit test. Ozark, the closest office, is closed the rest of the week.

We arrived and placed his name on the list. We waited.  I read 4 chapters in my book. He studied his booklet. We waited. The lunch hour came and went... finally they called him back.  But not before he confided in me that he was worried he wasn't going to pass the test again. I'm trying to be supportive... but there is this part of me thinking "should I be wasting another $5.00 today?"   He tells me he thinks it's just test anxiety.

20 minutes later, he comes out with his new temporary permit. He's very excited.. "Can I drive?"... ummmmm.. NO. LOL.. traffic is pretty heavy at this time of day. I'd rather he get his first chances on the post where there is less traffic.

We celebrated with pizza.

 

One down, one to go (Driving Permits)

Mood note: I thought of two different moods for this entry..."resigned" and then "disgruntled"... neither mood exists on this list. sheesh!

 

 

Back at the ADL office this morning. Had the birth certs and SS cards in hand. Discovered I needed an "enrollment" form from the school because of their ages. Drove out to Enterprise then back out to Ozark. Waited.... scary part is... they hadn't gotten to our names from when we arrived earlier in the day, plus side... we didn't lose our place in line.

Kim passed her test. Mac did not. I have to take him back out again tomorrow to test again. He has driver's ed at school first quarter so it's kind of important that he have his learner's permit.

Oh yeah.. on a subnote.. the examiner assumed that Mac and Kim were twins (probably because they are testing at the same time). When I said "No".. she said.. but they look alike... so I had to say "Well, they are siblings. "... LOL....  when Kendra and Kim were small people thought they were twins.  Guess we have that cloning system down pat.  

 

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