Science Fair

SCS science fair is Thursday.  Due date for everything is Wednesday, except for Joshua who had a due date last week for his log book and paper.  I am so thankful that we finished on Saturday.  Three poster boards, three log books and three papers is enough to make this mom very tired!!  What a burden lifted to have this done, even though they do most of it, a lot of the burden falls on me.  So Joshua did "Does Aspirin Help Plants Grow?", Jacob did "Which battery lasts the longest?" and Jenna did "Does Nail Polish Slow the Growth of Nails.
  And on a side note, we are doing Dr. Suess week this week in honor of his birthday on Sunday.  Here is what we did today.

Catching up

Seems like a long time since my last post.  We were "snowed in " last week and then on top of that Jake woke up Tuesday morning throwing up.  By noon he was better and by dinner he was eating Moe's with the rest of us.  He told me he thought it was all the pizza and junk food he ate from the night before at church.  I thought so too as quickly as he was over it, but low and behold Josh started about 8 pm on Wednesday and Jenna started about 30 minutes after him.  So thankful we were out of school so they didn't miss any additional work.  I woke up Thursday sick, but not throwing up, and then about 8 am I did throw up.  I was out all day Thursday sleeping.  I slept so much I thought it was impossible for me to sleep the entire night, but I did until 4 am when Jack started.  He never threw up but he was sick.  Hope that is the last of that bug!!  Seems to be the one bug we catch!!
   We are working on science fair projects and hope to have pictures for you in a few days.  All that is left is the display boards.
    I snapped these pictures of Josh today...hoping to remind him that just as he looks at the big kids in youth group, the little ones are watching him!!  And little Jack was sick today but Kara and I made a Micah 6;8 craft.

Childhood Memories

I grew up in Illinois.  Yes, Jack did not marry a southern girl:).  I remember all the winters we had while I was growing up.  We lived in a very rural community.  Our country road was probably about two-three miles long and we knew everyone that lived on the road.  Winters there were nothing.  My brother would go to the church parking lot and do donuts on the snow in his car.  Canceling school did not happen often.  I remember my dad putting chains on his car tires until he could get up to the highway.  I remember times when it snowed so hard and drifted so much, that we would have to wait until the snow plow would come to clear our road.....and amazed at how big the piles of snow were once the roads were plowed.  I remember that even though my dad was in complete control I would worry about meeting another car on the road....I mean how on early could two cars get through this narrow road.  I remember all the fun times on the farm.  Sledding down the huge hills we had (and wearing so many layers).  I remember how much fun when the neighbor would call me and ask me to come over.  We would tie sleds behind her snow mobile and her dad would take us for crazy rides through all the corn fields!!  I remember my dad tying a car hood to the back of his tractor taking us up and down the roads behind him.  Sometimes I really wish my kids could experience all of this.....
      But one thing I never did was drive in the snow.  Yep...that's right.  I took drivers ed the summer after I turned 16.  In September I got my license and less than one week later, my parents moved me down to NC. (a whole different story there).  So in my old age I've grown "soft".  I do not drive on snow or ice.  I tried it during that bad storm that shut down Raleigh and won't do it again.  I hate snow storms here.  I hate feeling locked in.  Even though it only usually lasts a few days, it feels like months to me.  I get cabin fever.  I eat more, I get depressed more.  Two weeks ago I felt such freedom when I left the house on a Friday afternoon.  I'm getting ready to feel that way again with round 2 of snow and ice coming in.  I so wish I could enjoy it more like when I was young and carefree, but for now....winter....will you please go away and bring on the spring (although I don't think we will have a spring break this year).

Identity Fraud/Goals

There is nothing like ending a nice fun filled Saturday by having your husband come in and say "since when did we open a Sears Citi card"?  Um, say what??  Yep.  We had a bill for a Sears purchase of ladies apparel on 12/27 for 47.00 (why they didn't go to town on the card is beyond me).  I remember that a card came in the mail and I had put it on the shredder (one that we DID NOT order).  It matched numbers.  When we called, the ss number and dob, matched their records.  Needless to say the card was cancelled immediately.  I spent 30 long minutes on the phone yesterday since someone stole my identity.  I have a 7 year fraud alert put on me so that if any credit is applied for they have to do some serious investigating before allowing the credit.  How scary!!  I felt physically sick for two days over this!!  I finally have some relief over it now that I know they will be monitoring my credit closely.  This is what happens when you share your ss number on line or so something like that, not to someone who minds their own business and doesn't use credit cards much.  I thought it might be a Target linked thing since I shopped Target.com over those dates, but she assured me that was not it.

On the brighter side, I stuck to my running goal for January....it was hard with snow days and life in general, but I got it done.  I think I will stick to two days a week for February, but maybe now up it to 1.5 miles.  I got up today at 4:45 to go to the gym to run only to find my calf was in pain again so I knew I needed to give it rest.  I've had a lot of pain lately in the back of my calf  lately (my fat calves that I can't wear boots) .  It had gotten much better, but I think it has come back after yesterday.  I am hoping this doesn't slow me down any.  I'm giving it much ibuprofen and heat/ice today and hope that I can get back at it this weekend.