Need I say more?

April 15, 2011

Opening night.

Atlas Shrugged - part 1

Dinner and a movie w/ T.

Wooooohoooooo!

Until we meet again.....

So far so good.

I am two months into my goal of attending the temple 

once a month.

See, it's not so impossible.....

.....not at all.

It is not even hard,

 especially when I am lucky enough to be able to hook

up with a few choice spirits for the event.

Shelly, Kara, me and Lindsy (just met L - very nice)

(This might be a bit too jovial in front of the temple....) 
These ladies drove over from St. Cloud w/ Shelly and Kara's

mom, April.  We met for the 10:00 am session.

Our session was tiny, only 12 in attendance yesterday.

I had in my mind to really focus.

I was sitting up straight and tall....eyes open....thinking about

the sister I was going through for - Belle.

Really trying to connect and focus.

I am doing pretty good....

Shell leans over just as it is time to make a change....

"oh, by the way my mom is a speed dresser, it is always a 

competition.......".

what?

I was not intending on taking part....however, I have always

prided myself on the knowledge that I am quite speedy myself at 

dressing, curiously during our session I found my fingers to be bumbling 

and clumsy yesterday.

Somehow the pressure of just knowing there was a competition

going on got imbedded into my mind.

whatever.

Back to my original intent.

Focused in.... 

thinking, pondering, digging deep.....

Shell leans over, can you believe .......yada, yada....?
(edited....she basically just whispered some off the wall comment,
that was unrelated the the experience)

what?

I am going to miss that girl.

Shelly is moving,

has moved already really.  

She and her husband and two adorable little girls

will spend a few months working in Mississippi,

then on to Utah, for school at BYU.

She has been missing from our little "Sculpt Your ASSetts"

class for a few weeks.

Missing from our runs, and early morning adventures at "Our Club".

It is a huge loss.

We had lots of fun together.

I am very excited for her little family and their big adventure.

Their future looks bright!

Good luck Shell!

Love you.

We ate at an amazing Green diner afterwards (can't remember the name),

but I do recall the exceptional pile of hummus,

and my Greek Chicken Wrap very clearly.

Thank you Sister Munns!

This is a picture of the car fire I drove past on the way home

from the temple.

This is not the best picture.....but while driving

it was the best I dared get.

This car was ABLAZE!

Not the End.

Today was a full Saturday.

A run on the beach with V@ 6:20 - magnificent.

Our families turn at cleaning the church @ 8:00.

Ball games from 9:00 - 4:30.

Barbecue @ 6:00.  Tonight was extra delicious.

Kev wanted to spice things up a bit by throwing in some shrimp.

I am pretty sure this is a first for us.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

My skewer is the one with the zucchini.

Ryker is the official timer man for the chicken, as well as the sprayer 

of Kevin's "secret barbecue sauce".

After dinner the kids headed over to a friends.
K and I had an errand to run with one of our trucks.
We picked it up at the truck yard and I followed him to Palm Bay.
It needs some final work before our driver takes it to Ohio
to sell along with one of our trailers.
I can't believe how emotional I feel about this.
It breaks my heart a little bit.

As you will see in the truck tour the inside of the truck 

is made out to be "old school" which is pretty cool I guess.

We have had this truck for one year.

The acquiring of this Bad Boy was a pretty rough ride.

Kevin was out of the country in Afghanistan when all of the paper work

came together for it.

That left me in charge of getting the job done.

Working with the DMV and trying to communicate with Kevin

was excruciating.  I was back and forth at the DMV 

office no less than six times....

hours at a time on every visit. 

I remember I was in the throws of my yearly cough....it must have been

at its peak because I remember coughing my head off.

Miserable. 

I was in the process of having a miscarriage.  

Is that too much information?

Sorry, I debated about putting it in...but it was life at the time,

I want to remember.

It is just so amazing to me that one year has passed.

I have loved this year.

I am not in any way regretting, or distraught about that time in life.

So don't think twice about it.

Heavenly Father knows his business.

I am his business...you are to.

I am journalling really..... reminiscing, and thinking back.

That is all. 

Back to acquiring this truck.

The purchasing was horrendous....

but the planning of it was a super thrill for Kevin and the boys.

All of our sons are on the board of directors for our company.

They helped design the look.

I remember K spending hours coming up with this exact look.

How big the smokestacks should be, what shape, size, how tall?

The front bumper, how low, how wide?

The chrome visor, straight across and square, or should it 

come to a V in the middle?

The lights, placement and style, the tires, the bolts......

We have learned a great deal over this past year.

We will be better and stronger because of it.

The other night Kevin told me he was grateful for this experience.

We can both see much clearer how quickly things can change....
 What a difference one month can make, 

one week, one day, one decision.
We can have everything, and then not so much in a snap.
It is humbling to experience,
but also invaluable.
We are lucky to know this early in life.

We know we are excessively blessed in every way.

Is the sun setting on Universal Exports....?
No way.
Looking forward to the future.

SUPERSTAR....

                              

Ryker front and center on the Beach Side Little League Page.

I clicked on the link today for a friend and lookie who I saw on the little

league website!  

I was like Lawson, is that Ryker?

yep.

The crossing guard called me over yesterday on my way to 

pick the kids up,

(She is the nicest lady on the face of the planet...

she knows every child and mother by name and uses it ever time she 

sees you.  She is a little grandmother.  She makes everyone 

feel very special.  Her name is Joan, her husband Bob

does the block next to hers, the one right in front of the school.

They are so kind.

I remember there used to be a mean crossing guard when Ethan first 

went to kindergarten.  What a difference, beging and ending your day 

with a little bit of sweetness.)

She had a newspaper clipping in her hand,

She said is this your Ryker?

Indeed it was, he was attempting to get a kid out on third,

reaching for the ball.

If I can find that link to I will post it also.

Talk about big news around here.

: )

Sweet Curb Find....

A few days ago some neighbors across the street curbed this 

sweet chair.

I saw it over there and liked what I saw,

but didn't really have a way to get it back to the house by

myself at the time.

I assumed there was something bad wrong with it anyway -

maybe it smelled, or had an ugly stain on the seat, 

likely the back was broken out or something else.

I decided I wouldn't think about it, even though it 

was almost exactly what I have had in mind for our bedroom.

I kept seeing it throughout the day, being tempted,

but finally it was gone like I knew it would be.

The next day I noticed the chair in Charlie's garage.

Huh.  Lucky.

Anyway, keeping a short story short.  

He could not use the chair in their place, 

and none of his kids had a need for it.

So he asked if I wanted it.

After a quick inspection of circling the chair, 

smelling it, sitting on it, and lifting the pad and seeing that it was

an Ethan Allen with clean tags still intact.

(my other favorite chair in the front room is E.A. also)

I was like, you bet I will take it off your hands.

Isn't it sweet?

It has not one problem with it that I can find.

I wiped it down thoroughly, and purchased two pillows to the tune of $18.

The color is not perfect....but it will do for now.

It is in our bed room.

Kev is a little bummed that I gave our clothes hamper 

to the boys to make room for it.

(The people got rid of it because they just needed the extra space)

Update on Herbie:

After two days of Charlie being a dog owner, I guess he

could not stand having to come over to our place and try and 

wrestle our broken gate, move the semi tire and force his way into

our yard to get his dog.

(first time I have been grateful for the broken gate)

because the next thing I knew,

 Herbie does not come back to sleep for two days straight.  

I did not loose any sleep over it.

Then I see Charlie out working hard on a new project and

scavenging for wood scraps.

I asked him what was up.....he was making a dog house for his dog.

Herbie has not been back since.

Say Hallelujah!

All is well that ends well.

Scotties Weekly Special....

On January 18th I went to my first DPO 

(DeLaura Parent Organization) meeting.

I had been feeling guilty for not being involved at Ethan's
school up to that point, so I decided to dive in and see what was what.

That night I met Ms. Shirley, their new principle.

I really like her.

(I love that I can take silent pictures with my camera 

while I pretend to text)

I like that I came in right when she did.

You can see DeLaura's mascot - a Scotty Dog.

Below that is this years new t-shirt design winner.

While at this meeting an opening came up that needed to be filled.
  One of the ladies was going back to work,

the lady that was the chair person over the school store.

They needed to find someone to take over for her.

ME.

I will do it.

Whooohooo!

Sweet job.

This is the school store -
"SCOTTIES SURF SHACK"

I loved it at first sight.  

Right away I saw some hidden potential that was going untapped.

I added the beef jerky the first week, we double our money 

back on those bad boys.  Raised the price on tic-tacs .25, we were barely breaking even.

We also sell PE uniforms at the store.

This is just a small sampling of our goods.

 This is the view in front of the store, the cute beach scene.
After waiting patiently for some time

I finally found an amazing sale on Altoids - .69/ reg. 1.99

I bought out our local Walgreens, we sell them for 1.50 per pack.
(most things are extremely cheap and an exceptional bargain for
the kids....the hot sellers (mints) can be a bit more)

You can see the drawing gift basket, all donated items from my couponing.

I made frequent shopper cards - for every 5 purchases of at least 1 dollar,

they get entered into the drawing.  For every 20 cards we will have 

another drawing.  We are at 10 cards right now.

I made prepaid cards as well, which are not selling - 

(for kids that don't like to carry cash)

they could purchase them in 

either $5 0r $10 dollar increments.

Here are some of the items I made up at Vista Print.

I was so excited with how it all turned out.

We have a weekly special that is a super hot deal every other week.

Sales are up by leaps and bounds.

I need to get the actual numbers to really prove it though.

I am working on that.

After I went to the school store and made my observations the first time I 

came up with a few recommendations and ideas.

They follow just for fun -

it is long......skip it if you want.....go to the end, which was the

catalyst for me writing about the store today in the first place.

Delaura School Store Improvement Ideas

I would like to propose a few ideas for our school store.  If I understand correctly the store is to used to help raise funds for the DPO....right now that does not seem to be very effective.  It looks to be almost pointless....$2 here, a whooping $6 another day...and that is not even all profit.  I really enjoyed getting trained and brought up to speed w/ Kristen Barry.  We got to brain storming and I think came up with some good ideas.  (I wish I was in person w/ you ladies.....this is certainly not as effective as a live presentation....oh well).  

1. I was really surprised that it was so dark in the room where the store was.  I asked about this, and why there was not a single kid hanging out on all those fun beach chairs, etc.  I was told the lights are never on, to save cost, and that the kids are not allowed to hang out in there, that it is for the faculty.  Really???  Really ridiculous.  Could we get permission to have the kids feel welcome for 45 minutes each day - 8:45 - 9:30?  and have the over head lights on?

2. Can we get permission to sell other items? - such as a wider assortment of mints....Altoids, Breath Savers, etc.? I know gum is not allowed.  What about other fun/cool/helpful items, such as mini hand sanitizers (like you can get at Bath and Body), w/ the little back pack holders, maybe mini mirrors to keep in your back pack for a quick teeth check after lunch, chap stick, nail files, lip gloss?  These are just ideas.  I love to bargain shop and am a huge couponer...I see steels and deals all the time I could snatch up for us.

3. There are several water bottles in there....are these to sell?

4. Last years Delaura t-shirts....what is the deal with these?  Can we sell them off at a steep discount just to move them out.....a buck a shirt???  What ever....Just something to move em out.

5. Could we take kid requests of what they would like to see in the store??  I know we cannot compete w/ the cafeteria....which means no snacks, beverage, food of any kind...correct?

6. My son is an 8th grader at the school, he had no idea there even was a school store until I became involved last week.  He made his first Mentos purchase today!  I propose we hook into the morning announcements.  Lets pump the kids up on the fact that there actually is a school store.  I can't tell you how many times my son asked me to get him graph paper.  THERE IS SOME IN THE SCHOOL STORE!!! Would have been great to know that for both of us.  I think it would be fun to run weekly specials....the deal of the week, first come first served basis.  We need to liquidate a bunch of yellow paper.....lets move it out.  We can stock up again when the back to school sales start up again for .10 cents a pack.  Some of that stuff looks like it has been in there forever.  

7. It seems like the signage around the store is pretty outdated....can we encourage the clubs and ourselves to update these so they are meaningful to even look at?  I would like to make a bigger, bolder poster w/ what the store has to offer to hang up....is that alright?  I will have it printed at vista print....what else could we use?  Maybe frequent shopper cards????  I think that could be really fun.  Could we do that??

8. My son suggested a raffle once a month....I hear that "raffles" are not allowed.....what about a Drawing of Chance????  for a suggested donation of $1 per ticket..or 10 for $5??  I could come up with the bulk of the basket....and add in some items from the store.  What do you think??

9. This is not an idea, rather a question - Who takes out the garbage....and keeps up the place?  is that me?

I hope I am not going over board, but I really feel that there is some untapped potential for that little store and we could be doing much more with it.  I would love to be present when you meet with the principle if you would like.

10.  One more idea I just thought of....what if we had students as "guest" clerks??....one of us would still be present to over see at all times, but heck yes friends would come shop from friends!!!  I think they would love that.  We could have interested parties put their name in at the school store, we would draw a name once a week and have it announced on the morning announcements. I love it! I would want to do it if I was a kid!

I am enjoying my little assignment.

I keep the store stocked.

Make the deposits when needed, and keep track of the cash 

sheets and different logs.

I do the calendar of volunteers each month, we are only open 

from 8:45 - 9:30 each day.

I fill in when needed when my clerks are sick or need a morning off

for any reason.

I am in charge of specials, pricing, and announcements.

The best part is interacting with the students and faculty.

I am getting my foot in the door, 

and seeing what is what at that school.

There are many regulars that stop by the store....

where in the world do they get their cash???

Today as I was signing out in the front office, I was filling out 

a note for our treasurer.  A few kids were checking in for being late.

The last girl I recognized.  

I have seen her around the neighborhood

many times.  She plays the drums, same as Ethan.

When I turned around to look at her I was shocked.

She looked horrendous.

She had a low scoop neck top on, her entire chest, neck, and arms 

looked like they had been beaten badly,

no wait, she has been in an accident,

no, her eyes, her mascarra, her makeup she was a wreck.

I was so flabbergasted trying to put it together.

 She did not look as I remembered her

bright and shiny, happy.

I kind of gasped, and said, oh my gosh,

I am so sorry, are you ok?

Oh my gosh, how horrible, wow....

Then I stopped.

The other moms in the room were quite.

She kind of pulled her shirt up a little and signed her late slip and went out.

Joan, the office manager said, um, you know those were all hickeys 

don't you?

It had dawned on me when I stopped and let the impossible 

take form in my mind.

It broke my heart so bad.

Who did this to her?

Was it just a funny game to them both?

Was she showing off today?

What mom would let her daughter set foot out of the house in such shape?

Does her mom even know?

Is she hurt?

Is her innocence gone forever?

Will she get her shiny brightness back?

There are so many questions in my mind.

She is no more than 14 years old.

Post Script - I asked Ethan if he saw this girl today in band.  He said yes,  I think she
was there why?  How did she look?  Did she have all of these red marks all over her?
No why?  You mean a rash?
No, like big blotches.....ok Hickies.
What are hickies?  What are you talking about?
Love you guy.
He said this girl I was talking about in his class looked perfectly fine.
So......I am trying to say this is not the girl from his band class after all.

Once Upon a Time.....

There was a family who had a small leak in their playroom roof.

This family did not panic, 

they hired a handyman friend they knew to come and fix it.

The first time he fixed it they paid him, but it still leaked.

The second time he fixed it, they paid him, but it still leaked.

It was getting way to expensive to keep fixing this little leak,

so the family let it go and just set out a bowl when it rained.

This went on for many months.

They upgraded to a bucket when the time came,

but soon the wood began to bulge, buckle, and 

STINK!!

It began to grow mold and fester and pus.

The mom of the family became very self conscious and embarrassed.

She could smell the smell every time she walked into 

their home.

She felt scared about her family inhaling mold spores every

day of their lives.  

She wondered about the consequences, and health risks.

The dad could give a rats A**.

He truly had no time to give it, and the mom was too cheap 

to push through on her own and pay a new handyman

to come and take on the major task.

So the leak just continued,

until one day last week.

The dad came home early....

the mom got very happy and said,

Wow....maybe you have time to work on that project that we

have been putting off.

The one that is now code red and urgent.

The dad looked bewildered, what project??

 After a short burst of bad language and some

angry vibes.

The dad stepped up.

Way up onto the roof with the ladder.

The mom was thrilled. 

The day was Saturday, April 2nd

 Conference had started, and Spring Break was in 

full swing.

Mom and Dad both had different ideas on how the project would

play out.

Mom kept hers to herself....dad got right on his.

All the kids and dad were up on the roof,

it was a huge adventure, and one of the thrilling highlights of

the entire spring break vacation.

Soon mom heard loud banging and smashing 

coming from the play room.

What she saw was the roof being smashed in with a hammer.

Splinters and shards of wood and mold were

being blown to bits all over the playroom.

Mom, lost a little enthusiasm....

but was not deflated.

Dad did not wear gloves, mask, or goggles to protect himself in anyway.

Below is a tiny snippet of the tear down of the roof.

Time went on.

The smell was strong.

The mom was very agitated about all the mold and the 

unknown fear of what kind it was.

The family did end up getting some powerful mold killer from

a friend in the know.

The smell is under control, the mold is dying.

They hung out on the roof for big chunks of time.

You can see Charlie's back yard, and then his front....see Herbie 

sleeping out on the driveway?

See the families new flag. 

The dad worked hard and got a major sunburn because he 

does not believe in sunscreen.
When the dad was finished, 

the job was not.....

the dad said we have 10 days before it will rain.
So lets take a break for a while.

The mom suggested finishing the job....

the dad did not appreciate that suggestion.

Today is April 5th, 8 days ahead of schedule on the rain.

This is where the family is now.

(you will want to mute the music and turn up the sound for full effect)

The job has grown incalculably in the moms mind,

and in reality.

Now, the mom is deflated.