What?!? 1018!! Your kidding me!!

Yup that’s right I found my old camera. The one I know that the girls ran off with but of course denied.

I know this for sure now because guess where I found it… Did you guess?

In their room, buried in the closet. Underneath all the “toys dat dey don’t wants no mores.” Yeah words from them after I convinced them we needed had to purge some of the blanket of crap toys they don’t play with let alone touch that was covering their floor. I’m proud to say they were happy to give up two whole garbage bags full of toys to get to pick an extra item each from our “wonder closet” or “closet o’ wonder” as we call it.

These girls are so spoiled rotten so of course when holidays and birthdays come around what we can snag and hide in there or things that at the time are to old for them we do. It may sound like we are mean however when we have four family Christmas parties and the expansive family we have for birthday’s they don’t seem to miss one, two, or a few more presents disappearing. I’m sure they will eventually notice but for now it works and makes days like this where it’s time to rid of the old and I can bribe convince them that they do this they get a new toy, it works wonders (hence the name.) Plus it’s a saver in so many ways. First I don’t have to go buy something new, or I don’t have to have them whining they have nothing to do. The best part of it though, if it’s been a rough day a visit to the toy aisle in our house generally makes that day have a brand new tune. I do buy some things if it’s a great deal that you just would be a fool not to get to put in there too. For example I found paint by number sets on clearance for a buck one time when a store was closing when the girls were barely two. These definitely came in handy the other day when of course since we live in the rainforest now.

Anyway onto the point (catching myself spewing crap once again.) So I pick up the camera and both girls have that deer in the headlight look.

“Not me!!” I hear in surround sound.

The battery door is busted off and no batteries to be found which wasn’t a surprise. However what was is that the card was still in it!!! So I get my other camera and hook it up to the puter and to my amazement 1018 PICTURES!! I’m like holy crap!! I know I couldn’t have taken that many… or could I have. I do tend to click, click, and click some more. But come on I know I didn’t take that many. So as we speak it’s loading…

and loading…

and loading…

crap this might take all night…

It’s been an hour and only 300+ is loaded. Will my computer take them all?

Hmmmm well what I’ve seen in the beginning is pictures from almost 4 years ago!! Yeah the first ever time we had the girls with us!! My family and Gary’s threw him a “Toddler Shower.” Best part was it was a total surprise for him. I managed to convince the girls mom to let us have them for a few hours. That his family was planning this to get him what we needed to have the girls in our home. It was early winter and we held it at what we call the Sportsman’s Club here in our little town. It’s a common building people can rent to use and has a range out back. Anyway the play was that my sis called me telling me that there was an indoor yard sale there to come check out, tons of girls stuff. So of course he bit hook, line, and sinker. We get there and we are heading in when he starts recognizing cars. Darn it but up till then he totally believed. SO instantly its “what on earth is going on!!” I just kept walking and in we went to a mountain of presents. Someone even bought us two toddler beds. He wasn’t the only one overwhelmed.

So now that the card has finished loading it gets to the end and… Only 323 pictures survived all the rest had errors, oh wait check that some had errors. With so many pictures the batteries died around 400 something.
This really will take all night. OK new batteries in and round two begins.

Oh well who knows what the error ones were but finding these pictures were a blessing anyway. I’ll have to share them with you soon.

Here is one for now… They were watching the doggies in the snow. Back when QueenB had Hair and Toughie didn’t. My oh my has that changed now. Toughie has a mound on her head and QueenB has just enough.

So with that I’m not staying up any longer I’ll have to show and tell you later what all I found.

Friday Flashback!! (again) Senior Trip! (Friday Follow too)

So after last weeks flashback was enjoyed by so many…… ahem right? I thought I would give you another. Seems to be when ya start to reminisce it doesn’t want to stop. This next one is a few bits of a couple day trip.

So this time we are heading back to June 2001, my senior trip. Imagine it about 40 seniors packed on a bus, and not a school one thank heavens. It was one of them fancy ones with those neat little closet toilets, or in our case we called the blue lagoon. So all jam packed in the rig heading from Northern Michigan to Florida. We had two drivers so we were able to go basically non-stop except for the bathroom and of course nourishment stops.

Part 1:

So we are about 12 hours into the trip (night time) and their are bodies sleeping everywhere. We were spread across the seats, the floor, wherever we happen to find a semi-comfortable spot. Now one of my class mates had brought a big cooler. It fit perfectly in the aisle and our group in the “cool club” in the back (next to the lagoon how that was cool was beyond me) were able to have nice cold refreshments.

Awesome idea right? WRONG!!

That was until one of the guys happen to hit the drain spout in his sleep. The Urkle type of guy, “oh did I-I-I doooo thaatt?” UGH!! Yeah not something you want to wake up to at 2 am, ice cold water soaking through your shirt and pants. It was a wave reaction in the back all of us jumping up off the floor screaming. Which didn’t make the peeps upfront very happy waking up to the never ending screams. The worst part was a few of us including I didn’t have extra clothes with us on the bus. They were all down under in the compartments. Plus even though we stopped soon after they (the parents/teachers) wouldn’t let us get into our suitcases. So here we were scrounging around what clothes the guys happened to have on the bus. It definitely made for a long night that we couldn’t sleep on the floor anymore.

Part 2:

After we arrived in Florida our group decided we wanted to go to Hooter’s to eat. Turned out there was one about 1/4 mile from our hotel. Awesome!! So we all set out walking down the road to the mall where it was. We are almost there when for some reason Florida must be like Michigan in the fact that the weather can change in a split second. Yup one minute sunshine…next down pour!! So our pleasant walk has now turned into a dead run. Now this mall was rather interesting. It was up several steps (I swear a mile of 'em ) and it was a bunch of stores side by side. Hello aren't malls suppose to be all under one roof? Oh yeah no snow in Florida they can have them backwards. We finally spot the sign and as we are running there, it was if the pavement turned to ice. I literally slid, fell down while still sliding, and stood back up!! I was like damn this should be an x-treme sport or something! I would win GOLD!! Bwah ha ha. We eventually got there, ate including a hot sauce contest, enjoyed, and many pictures later, drenched clothes and all made it back to the hotel.

Part 3:

After a couple days of seeing the “must see” sites, ya know DISNEY WORLD!! It was our last night at the hotel. Well being the rule breakers we were,( I was straight A’s and never in trouble, HEY stop laughing that's the truth! ) after lights out we had the “boys” I know GASP!! in our room. HA HA we were playing games, dancing, laughing, having a GRAND ‘ole time!! That was until about 3 am when there was a knock on the door…

OH $H&%!! HIDE!! We shove the boys in the back of the room in the bathroom. Four of them packed like sardines in that hotel bathroom was a sight to remember, these were no small boys. Remember I live in the meat and tater's with the occasional corn fed area which equals some BIG boys!

So the guys all packed and settled in the bathroom. I answer the door. There standing looking at me is Two cops!! WTF!! Why are the cops here?? They inform us that there have been several noise complaints and possible underage drinking (ha I wish) and after being told to quiet down we hadn’t.

OK so first we had never been called, no hotel staff came ah knocking, Therefore NO WARNINGS!! What were these cops talking about?? Rather than argue with them I mean come on what kind of hotel is this that can’t deal with their own complaints they have to call in the “big guns.” We apologized said we were just getting ready for bed, and hinted we were never told about the complaints, they eventually said good night/morning and left.

Whew *brow wipe* that was close. Open the bathroom door and out fall the boys. Gasping for breath, mumbling something about… OMG the stench!! Stupid boys I tell ya. Shortly after the boys snuck back to their room and we did go to bed. Only to climb back on the “ever loathed loved ” cruisin’ mobile to head back home. Only to have a comment made by our class “supervisor” saying “Now let’s have a pleasant ride home and hope for no more run-ins with the law.”

Shall we say OUCH!! We were never talked to and to this day never know if it was just a general comment to her or if our room number was given. One will never know.

Hope you enjoy!!

Oh and I'm participating in the fabulous



HUGS and Best Wishes!!

Friday Flashback -- That’s a HUGE hood ornament!!

Way back when I was only 17. (ok so that’s not even ten years ago but hey I feel old these days) It was a fabulous Friday night and I had just picked up my “best-y” from her house to head to the social event of the month. Well not really we were heading to the boys basketball game at the school. I know what your thinking, “what a basketball game is an event?” Around here it is!! If it’s not football season then it’s basketball. Up here in the northern woods we are nuts about school spirit. (that goes for girls sports too) So the other disadvantage of living in nowhere land is that paved roads are a luxury not a necessity. So rather than drive 20 miles out of my way I take dirt roads. I mean I’m 17 so my classic tricked out muscle car fabulous Ford Taurus was supposed to be white, but for some reason it was rather tan. Plus gas is very valuable!! My parents did give me everything. So down the road we head and we are coming up to the S curve and guess what…

NOPE we weren’t going to fast… Try again… Ok OK I’ll tell ya!!

We did sort of crash. Well no not really, I'll explain. We came around the first curve and standing right there was YOGI!!

Yeah a BEAR!!

Pic-i-nic basket and all. (Boy did that fly when he saw me)

Well no, but like I could see I was hitting the brakes, busting out my mad “dirt track racing skills”, trying to figure out where that high pitch squeal (oh that was my best-y) was coming from. In other words trying to save our LIVES!! We start sliding sideways, and this bear must have learned from the stupid deer up here that when headlights are coming at you, just stand where you are. How that is going to save them who knows but they all do it. So we are sliding and I manage to get the car back heading straight… or so I thought… yup you guessed it I mean come on I was 17 I started spinning the other way. So now out of my window, the side one that is, I see this bear getting closer and closer and Oh we are going to HIT HIM!!! Then all of sudden poof, last second, something makes him run, thank heavens. We soon slide to a stop which was nice, or so I thought, that was until we look out the front and see nothing!! YUP NADA!! Well a few trees but tops of them not middle or bottom nope. Then the front end of the car just DROPS!!! HUGE bang right under our feet. Front wheels are no longer on the ground they are hanging over a cliff. Mean while my lovely co-pilot has not stopped screaming, I’m like GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF!!! So we sit there and I’m trying to remember how far this drop is… 30, 40, 50 ft???

Ok no that would require a guardrail. Still it was about 8 which had me puzzled why there wasn’t a rail there. Wait back to the situation FOCUS ok so I decide to slowly try to open my door. That’s a negative, when we dropped front doors were wedged into the sand. GREAT So climb over the seat it is.

So my buddy says “What you mean get out with YOGI?!?!”

I’m like “Uhhh yeah! Or we could just fall of the cliff… hmmmm tuff decision, Don’t worry we will stay right by the car.”

So I get her tiny little butt to climb over and out, simple as pie. She is still freaking like crazy as I’m trying to climb over too. (Hey I’m no mini now and I wasn’t then either. My buddy on the other hand had some very blessed gene’s and I don’t mean blue.) I’m struggling reaching for her to help me, yeah nothing she is worthless. So as I finally wedge my panicked big butt out of the car. I look around us. I’m in total amazement that we didn’t go over. We came to the conclusion we did hit the bear. I claim this because my drivers mirror was laying where he was standing, which I’m sure is what made him run.

So now I’m searching my pockets for my cell. (yes I was spoiled with that, something about “your young, you might need help blah blah blah” Parent’s how did they know?!?) Well yup can’t find it. Ugh so I very carefully get close to the car to see it laying in the seat. Dang it!!

So I ask “Hey do you have your phone?”

“No where’s yours?”

“Uhhh, In there”

“WHAT?!?!?!?!?”

She fly’s back into the backseat and slides her skinny little butt back between the seats snatches the phone and fly’s back out. I’m like what the heck just happened. Probably the sanest moment I had seen of her yet, or that could have been the most insane getting back in there. Either way we had a phone now. So to make a long story short I called my Super Dad you know the one the puppy eyes works on to come rescue us. He pulled back the car and off we went to the game. Well the last quarter at least. Yes the car still drove. Hey I was only missing a mirror and besides it was magically fixed the next day. (gotta love Duct Tape!! Ok no my Dad did something to it with like Super Super Super Glue or something)