What will they steal next?

This morning I stopped by Publix on my way to work. As I pulled into my parking space, I noticed one of those child's shopping carts parked in the middle of the handicapped space next to mine. You know the kind, it looks like a truck with the shopping basket on the back. Little kids can sit in the truck part and pretend they're driving. The truck cart had obviously been left there overnight because it was covered with dew. Anway, as I was pulling in, I thought to myself, "Wouldn't it be funny if it had been vandalized?"—the way you might expect a car left overnight in a strange parking lot could be.

Sure enough, as I got out of my car, I noticed that both the front wheels were missing their "hub cap" stickers!

For Sale?

Every day, on my way to and from work, I pass by a row of small, older houses across from Alumni Village. There's nothing especially noticable about these houses other than the occasional "For Sale" or "For Rent" sign and, anyway, I'm usually thinking about other things.

A couple of weeks ago, on my way home, I noticed some items placed near the curb of one of the houses: a mirror sitting on a chair, a pair of crutches, and few other items. In the split second it took me to pass by, I figured they must have been set out for the garbage truck. As I drove on, I began thinking about them. I wasn't sure they were garbage because they weren't in a pile and they weren't right next to the curb the way garbage would be. Rather, they were placed in a line.

The next morning the items were gone. "The garbage truck must have come," I thought as I passed by. That afternoon, the items were back, lined up in the same way. The next morning they were gone. I thought it was strange that the items kept appearing in the afternoon; they obviously weren't trash. I deduced that they must be for sale, but there wasn't a "For Sale" sign and nobody was sitting around as if it was a garage sale.

Days have gone by like this and each time I pass by, I notice something new has been added or taken away. Two days ago, there were clothes hanging from trees. Today, there were clothes hanging from street signs.

I still haven't seen anyone and I still haven't seen a sign. It's weird.

Crispy Sea Horse

This morning my bacon looked like a sea horse.

Hoppy Easter!

We've had a great Easter. Mom came over and brought the kids their Easter goodies. I got them each a big chocolate bunny and she did the rest. I think this is the first time she's been here for Easter festivities since the kids were toddlers.



Yesterday, we colored eggs. I had to do it in shifts because Jessica was going to a sleep over in the afternoon and Jason was refereeing in the morning. Jessica was more into the egg coloring than Jason was. I wonder if this is going to be the last Easter as far as egg coloring/hunting is concerned. The kids are getting older and more interested in other things. Anyway, mom and I hid the eggs for the kids this morning; then the kids hid them for us. There's hardly any eggs left now because they keep eating them!

Follow-up to the Goodwill incident

I was telling mom about what happened at Goodwill yesterday and she said she had read about it the paper (which she happened to have with her). I had already left by the time the reporter came.

The Day Goodwill Exploded

Today was turning out boring. Jessica was off playing at a friend's house and David and Jason were out getting haircuts. So when David and Jason got home I decided to go out by myself. I ended up at the Goodwill on Capital Circle NE.

I found some really cute shirts for Jessica and was looking through more shirts when I heard a loud BOOM, then a softer boom. I thought someone had overturned a shelf or something. I made my way toward the cash register to see what had happened. As I neared, I heard another boom and then saw flames. People began screaming and a man started yelling "Get out now! Everybody out!" Kids were screaming and crying as their parents dragged them toward the front of the store. I started to run also, still carrying the shirts. As I was running I noticed the woman in front of me running with clothing and wondered if she was going to run out the door with them. I was also wondering what to do with the ones I had, so I left them on a shelf as I exited the store. It's amazing how much can go through your mind in a few seconds. I guess there's something to the saying, "I saw my life flash before my eyes."

Anyway, it turned out that a car had crashed through the side of the building into the cash register area, apparently taking out the electrical box in the process. Outside the transformer was exploding and everyone was running. When the transformer calmed down I walked closer to look at the car sticking out of the building. The driver of the car must have really layed on the gas pedal to make it over the concrete parking barrier and through the wall (and uphill to boot).

I walked back to the front of the store and noticed someone helping a frail old lady out of the store. She could barely walk and was clutching her chest. At first I thought she may have been "stampeded" by the escaping customers, but later found out she was the cashier. The car must have pushed her into the counter as it came through the wall. After a couple of minutes two fire trucks and two ambulances arrived and most of the people left. They placed the cashier on a stretcher and loaded her into the ambulance. I don't think she was seriously hurt. I hope not.

I stayed around for a few more minutes hoping I would be able to go back in to buy the shirts. I know they won't be there next time I go.

Tales from St. Augustine

Last Wednesday, Jessica’s class went to St. Augustine and I came along as a chaperone. We had a blast. We went to the Castillo de San Marcos (the fort), the Alligator Farm, and the Lighthouse, among other places. St. Augustine is America's oldest city and they say it's the most haunted.

We had to be at the school by 4:30 a.m. In the picture above, the girls (Jess in the middle) had red eyes from the flash, but my eyes looked like that from getting up so early!

Alligators
The Alligator Farm was a neat place. In addition to alligators, you can see beautiful birds, cranes, tortoises, and monkeys. We saw a "show" where the alligator guy was in a huge pen with at least 50 alligators (big alligators) and was walking around talking about them. The alligators KNEW THEIR NAMES as well as some other commands. When he called out an alligator's name, it would come to him. It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen!

Orbs
Have you noticed the orbs that sometimes show up in photographs? Some say these orbs are spirits or ghosts; others say they are dust particles reflecting off light. I don’t know what I believe. I’m not really a believer in ghosts, but I’m not a disbeliever either. Whatever they are, they can only be seen after the picture is taken (developed). Take a look at this picture I took of the Lighthouse. There is an orb near the top left side of the picture (incidentally, this is the first time I’ve had an orb in any picture I've taken). What is weird to me is that I took two other photos of the Lighthouse and there is an orb in the same location in each one. Is it dust? Well, it wasn’t dusty that I can remember, but it was slightly windy.

Right after I took this picture, we went to see where the Lighthouse keepers used to live (right across from the Lighthouse), which is now a museum. The tour guide was telling us that he was recently interviewed for a show that will be on the SciFi Channel on May 3. The name escapes me now—something with Haunted in it, I’m sure. Anyway, he couldn’t give us any details really, but he told us about his ghost encounter in the Lighthouse. You should have seen Jessica’s face while he was talking about this. She looked like she was either going to cry or to faint! Of course, after I got home and uploaded the pictures, I nearly fainted. Seeing the orbs was a little freaky!

Ever the dreamer

Blogthings.com has pronounced me a Dreaming Soul, and I am indeed. Here's what they said about me:

You Are a Dreaming Soul

Your vivid emotions and imagination takes you away from this world So much so that you tend to live in your head most of the time You have great dreams and ambitions that could be the envy of all... But for you, following through with your dreams is a bit difficult You are charming, endearing, and people tend to love you. Forgiving and tolerant, you see the world through rose colored glasses. Underneath it all, you have a ton of passion that you hide from others. Always hopeful, you tend to expect positive outcomes in your life.

This assessment is pretty on target as far as the type of person I am; however, I have to disagree with the statement that following through with my dreams is a bit difficult. In my 43 years on earth, I've achieved many of my goals and am working on more. I'm not afraid to take risks, either, which is not very dreamy.

Glasses, cleats, phones, oh my!

This past Saturday we went to Panama City for a soccer play date. Jason had two games, both of which his team won. After game one, we went to Taco Bell for lunch. As we are sitting there eating David said to me, "Did you get my glasses off the car?" I looked at him with disbelief (keep reading and you'll know why) and said, "Why would I do that?" We looked at each other realizing what probably had happened. David had laid his sunglasses on the hood of the car and driven off with them there. We knew that, even if we were able find them, they would probably be smashed beyond repair. After lunch, we drove back to the same area where we parked. As we approached the parking lot, we saw a small brown object on the gravel road. It looked too small to be his glasses case, but it was. He jumped out of the car and picked it up. It had definitely been run over. As he pried the case open, we looked at each other expecting to see pieces of glass and metal, but the glasses were unharmed. What a miracle!

This wasn't so funny when it happened, but in hind sight it is because David has a history of leaving objects on the car and driving off with them. Last year, he left his office cell phone on top of the Jeep at a play date in Thomasville. We were almost out of town before he realized he didn't have it. We turned around and headed back for the fields positive that the phone was lost forever or, at very best, smashed to pieces. When we got back to the fields we couldn't find the phone anywhere and it wasn't in the lost and found, so we headed back for home looking along the street as we drove. Ironically we found the phone in the middle of the road right were we had turned around. It had been run over several times and was unusable but David took it with him anyway to give to his boss.

At another soccer tournament, he put Jason's cleats on top of the Jeep and I actually drove to and from Walmart (at least 2 miles) before realizing they were up there. Thank God they didn't fall off because we were inbetween games and there wouldn't have been time to get replacement cleats.

The funniest time for me was when we were at a game in Thomasville and David put Jason's socks on the Jeep roof to dry out. I drove to get lunch and, as I was sitting a traffic light, the man behind me got out of his car and came up to my window and said, "Excuse me, miss but did you know you have socks on your roof?" I was embarrassed, but thankful they hadn't blown away.

And there have been other instances that I won't mention. If I could only cure him of this!

What a leaf can teach you about life

Walking to my office this morning, I noticed that the bushes are beginning to sprout new leaves in anticipation of spring. They are really green—almost a yellow green—and shiny. And, they are springing up over the older leaves—which now look dull and dark by comparison.

I got to thinking that this is such a metaphor for life. The new leaves represent how we are at birth—green (innocent) and shiny. As we grow older and gain life experience, we lose our innocence. Our shiny exterior darkens and grows duller. Finally, we reach old age and settle down allowing the next generation to spring forward.

Pollen, Grass, Trees—by Jessica

When Jessica got home from school today, she went out into the front yard with a pad and pencil and wrote the following observations*. She offered to let me use them for my blog entry since I've been "under the weather" and don't feel like writing.

Pollen
Pollen grows on pine trees and falls on the ground. Pollen can even make some people sick.

Grass
Grass's color is green. Grass is a nice thing to have. It is good for little insects that live in it.

Trees
Tree colors are green, red, and orange. Trees are the most important thing on our planet. They provide oxygen to help us stay alive. They also bring shade on warm days.

___________________
*I edited for spelling.

Bring back the humans

Have you ever used one of those self-service checkouts? I absolutely hate them. Every time I try to use one, it messes up and I have to end up getting a human to come fix it for me.

Today Jessica and I were in Home Depot and when we got to the checkout area, I noticed a change. Home Depot has done away with human cashiers and installed four self-service checkouts. Well, there was one human cashier, but the line waiting to get to her was a mile long.

I didn't want to stand in line for an hour, so I reluctantly scanned my first item. The computer voice told us to place the item in the "bagging" area. Jessica placed the item in the bag. The computer voice told us to remove the item from the "bagging" area, so she did—even though we had other items to place in the bag. Then I tried to scan the second item. It wouldn't scan. The computer voice told us to place the first item BACK in the "bagging" area.

This happened a few more times and, just as I was about to lose my temper, the human troubleshooter standing nearby came running over to help. He said, all you have to do is remove the item; so he did. The computer again told us to place the item back in the "bagging" area. He looked as puzzled as I felt. I asked him why they did away with human cashiers and he mumbled something to the effect that they're trying to keep up with Walmart.

I was eventually able to complete the transaction, but instead of saving time, it actually took longer AND ended up involving a human. Is it me? I think I'm pretty techno-savvy, but I just can't deal with this stuff.

Bring back the humans.