I've been a busy little bee!!

Well. Since I last posted, my mental state has improved, although I'm still not sleeping well. Thank you, everyone, for all the well wishes. I really appreciate your thoughts.

Now, onto my busy-ness. I haven't really done anything that needed to be done, but I've at least been productive today. First, I want to thank an old friend named Chad, for saving me from the computer disaster that is me. My security system trial ran out a couple days ago (I wonder if I should say that...hackers, beware!! There's nothing on my computer of interest, and as you're about to read, I'm up and running again), so I emailed Chad and asked him what he recommended for a cheap wannabe computer guru like me. He had several suggestions, all of which I took, and everything is peachy keen right now! And it was all F.R.E.E. So thank you thank you, Chad!!

Secondly, I went to Hancock Fabrics today and bought some fabric to fix something that's been bothering me (and The Boys) for quite awhile now. I actually thought I was going to have to break out the sewing machine (gasp!), but I ended up not needing to, thank God...I'm still scared of it.

Let me show you what I was up against (and no one is allowed to comment about the primed but unpainted walls behind the bed...my children were budding artists, you know):



This is the bottom of Beanpole's part of the bunk bed. The lining that covers all the nonsense and mayhem up there has been coming off...for quite some time now.



This is the other end. I guess it hasn't helped the Little Linebacker (who sleeps underneath all this hangy-downy-crap) has pulled and tugged, and pulled and tugged some more.



The middle. The whole thing was just horrifying. And today was the day I finally fixed it. I went to the fabric store and started looking for something, anything, that would replace this laughable piece of muslin or plastic or whatever the heck it was. I ended up buying some dark grey fleece. No special reason, other than it was on sale, and it was all one color, and because it's fleece and fleece is cool.



So I measured. And then I measured again to make sure. Then I cried because I had nowhere better to cut my fabric except on the floor. Then I dried my eyes and cut my fleece anyway, and laid it out over the wooden frame.



It actually looked wonderful, and like I'd imagined it, which was a shocker to me. I also bought some huge thumb tacks (quilter's solid head thumb tacks, to be exact). Now I'll have you know that I'd planned on stapling this fleece into place, since most of the edge is covered anyway. I'll also have you know that I have NO CLUE what a quilter's thumb tack is supposed to be used for, and I'm probably horribly misusing them. But I don't care.

I measured again to find center, and started hammering away, placing a quilter's thumb tack approximately every 9 inches. I folded the exposed edge of fleece under and stretched it just a teensy bit to keep it tight.



I also did some funky foldy edge thing at the corners, but please don't ask me what, because I can't describe it. All I know is that no edges of fleece are exposed, and that's all that matters to me.



See how nice the thumb tacks look? Nice and finished and neat-looking.



Now here's a picture of the finished product, back in the bed frame, me laying on the bed and camera-ing into the upper left corner. Purty.



And there's me in the same spot, but looking down towards the end. Look!! No hangy downy thing!!

And I'm not going to show you a picture of my reward for being so darned Mrs. Fix It today...a hoho and a bottle of caffeine free root beer are calling my name!

Cars really are dangerous things.

I mean, we all know that, but I think many of us take it for granted most of the time. We wear seat belts, we drive the speed limit (cough mostofthetime cough), we don't run lights or stop signs, we look both ways before proceeding. But really, how often do you think of how truly dangerous your vehicle is, to you or to others around you?

I had first hand experience in that thought today:

I hit a girl with my minivan.

Yes, you read that right, I hit someone with my van. Now I don't mean I hit another car and had a "car accident"...that would be too easy for me. I literally HIT a girl crossing the street - her body to my van.

Now before everyone freaks out on me, we're all okay, including the girl (or at least she refused medical attention, at least until her mother, who picked her up from the parking lot we were pulled over in, realizes the pedestrian ALWAYS has the right of way). I had the boys with me, and they're fine too. Bottom line is, girl ran out in front of my van, thinking I had a red light at the intersection - I didn't. I slammed on the breaks, but was not able to stop before hitting her. She got right up and picked up her flip flop off the street, and started walking away. By the time I pulled over and got out, she was halfway down the street, ignoring my yells to her.

Everyone had stopped by then, most being at red lights anyway, and they were yelling to me that "she kept saying she was fine, don't worry about it...she ran right out in front of you!". I had no idea what to do. I'm not sure I was even thinking at that point. I turned to walk back to my van and just started bawling. I was sure I was going to throw up, but it never came. I sat down and dialed Big Boss Man's cell number (he was at work and I'd just seen him about 15 minutes earlier), and through sobs and gulps, told him what happened. While we were talking, a woman walked up to my window. She'd been on the bus that had been behind me when driving, but had stopped at the bus stop up ahead of where I pulled over. She said she'd seen the whole thing, and I should probably call the police just in case. So BBM agreed and said he'd call them, and I should just sit and take a couple deep breaths.

As I waited, a couple police cars pulled up, one in each direction - I think they just happened to be passing by, since this was only about a minute after I got off the phone with BBM. One stopped in front of me and asked if I was okay. I told him (also through gulps and sobs) what happened, and he described a girl and asked if that was her. I said yes (odd, the things you remember as someone's hitting your windshield), and he motioned for the other cop (who was sitting in the turn lane at a red light) to go around and pick her up. By the time, the witness was back too (she'd gone to get ice cream from 31 Flavors), and the girl and the witness told exactly the same story...she'd run out right in front of me as I drove through the intersection.

The cops took names, insurance info, etc...all the good stuff. She had a scratch on her hip, blood on her foot from "a blister completely unrelated to this incident", and no other injuries. There is, however, damage to the van, so he still filed a report. They girl left with her mother and godfather, before getting the report number or anything, and she was laughing with a friend (I guess who'd been across the street? I didn't see where she came from) and talking on her cell phone while the police spoke with me and got my info.

I was instructed by BBM to come home and lay down for awhile, which I did. Except I first called the police station to give them my insurance policy number (couldn't find my card in the van), and then insurance to let them know what happened. I'm still shaken, and my stomach is churning. But I don't think any serious damage was done. I will call my OB tomorrow morning and let him know what happened, just in case he needs to do anything. However, if anything changes tonight, I will just go in to the ER. But I figure if it doesn't warrant an ER trip, then I'm okay until tomorrow morning. Here's hoping the scene doesn't keep replaying in my head for too long...I've seen it over and over since I left the accident.

So, the moral of the story is please, PLEASE realize on a daily basis that cars are ginormous weapons, and that accidents can and WILL happen, no matter how proactive of a driver you are. This actually turned out okay, but it could have been so very much worse. I'm thankful that the Lord was with everyone involved today.

Happy Memorial Day!

In honor of the men and women who serve and have served this great country, let me share the following video with you. Creme de la creme, right here ladies and gentlemen.

Must. Sleep. Now.

Well what an exhausting coupla weeks!

Let me start off the update by bragging telling you that I got to meet up with Ness and her husband Roger for dinner across the river!! I had to go get some shoes for work (boy do my dogs bark by the end of each day!), and we met up for dinner at one of my favorite places to eat, Olga's. They have the BEST cream of broccoli soup ever. The Boys enjoyed meeting some new faces, and Roger had a couple of tricks up his sleeve for them (and they'll never look at a 3-D shape the same way again!). After dinner, they left to go to a baseball game, and we went Croc hunting. And of course, the Croc place doesn't have my black Crocs in my size!! So I left Crocless, but with a full tummy and a great memory of a first time meeting. Ness and Roger are just as sweet as can be, and I look forward to getting together with them in the future. Hopefully gas prices will accomodate those plans!

We also got our new pharmacist and new pharmacy manager at work. I think this had actually happened before my last post, but it takes a few days to get in the swing of things. So far everything's working out splendidly! The new manager is great...not at all the tight-lipped, sourpuss he was made out to be by others...he gets along just fine and is really looking for insight as to how things work the best. Our new pharmacist is, get this, pregnant (that makes 5 pregnant chicks now), and she's been very ill, the poor thing. She's about 100 pounds soaking wet anyway, and she's been puking left and right lately.

So having the new guy here means that I actually get to do the things I'm supposed to do as Senior Tech. Before, there was another Senior Tech there and she took care of most of it. Since taking over her shift, my list of daily things to do has doubled, and now I'm the one people come to with questions. It's challenging, but it's neat to finally be able to earn the title that I went to classes to get.

Little Miss Junior Mint is just wonderful. Big Boss Man got to feel her kick just last night for the first time. Anytime anything touches my belly, she stops...doesn't matter who or what it is, she stops. Little Linebacker is getting awfully frustrated, although we tell him it's not just him...he really wants to feel her kick. My next appointment is a week from tomorrow, where I get to do the dreaded glucose test. Blech. They did warn me to have someone with me for it. Apparently my hypoglycemic reaction from a couple weeks ago means that I could take this sugar drink thing really badly and get a little woozy/fainty/pukey with it. So I've asked BBM to keep that day open in his schedule so he can accompany me, just in case.

Other than that, we're just waiting on our stimulus check so we can get started on the office/baby room switch. I keep checking, but they still "have no specific information on our payment". I'll keep checking though, in the hopes that we'll soon know a mail date.

School ends for The Boys in just a week...hard to believe I'll be the proud mama bear of a 4th grader and a 2nd grader. That's just not right. Beanpole is playing the trumpet starting next year (hey, it's better than his second choice, the DRUMS...I don't think my ears could take that). He will hopefully excel at it, since he's so artistic and musically inclined. As long as he enjoys it, that's all that matters.

Well then...I'm off to bed. I can barely keep my eyes open, and I think the kids' movie is just about over. Maybe they'll be nice to mama bear and sleep in a little tomorrow morning. Thank God for 3 days weekends!!!

How about some excitement?

Oh...I've had enough of that already, you say? Hhmmm, I'd believe you, but I actually experienced today, and you're only getting to read about it. So neener neener neener!!

This morning I woke up as normal, albeit a bit late (by maybe 20 minutes), but I'd set my alarm extra early just in case. I took a shower, got the boys ready for school, drove them there, then came home and sat down to my usual breakfast of toast and a glass of milk. I'll even admit to having 2 glasses of milk...I know...I'm a rebel like that. When I'm done I spend a few more minutes responding to email, then mentally prepare myself for another day at work.

Maybe 15 minutes before I leave for work, I get a really racey heart kind of feeling, and I blame it on my excitement for Hump Day...because you know that means the week is half over and it's all downhill, right? Sounds good. Off to work I go. I arrive on time and start my morning duties, and the feeling gets worse. I also start to get sort of fluttery/nauseous, a bit shakey, and feel as though I can't catch my breath...kind of like I just walked up maybe 4 flights of stairs (yeah, I'm that out of shape...shaddup!!).

Couple hours into the day, and I'm on the phone with my OB's office, 'splaining what's going on. The nurse asks me to check my pulse, which I do, and it's high, but not extraordinarily high...108 bpm. She really wants me to check my blood pressure, but we don't have a sit-down machine at The Greens, so I can't. She finds out that all I ate was toast for breaky, and tells me to go get something to eat that has protein...lots and lots of protein.

So it's, what...maybe 10:30a.m. and I'm supposed to go find myself a nice steak or pork chop or something. yeah, that's gonna happen, especially at Walgreens (this isn't Perfect, you know). But I manage to go find a protein bar and a cheese stick and have a seat while I'm choking those down (I don't care what flavor you say a protein bar is...none of them are tasty). I sit for as long as I can manage (I am at work), then call her back with my new pulse rate and how I'm feeling. And get this: pulse rate is UP to 116 bpm!!! And I'd been sitting down! She says she really wants to get me in to do some tests and at least get things documented, even though I have no history of any kind of issues with my prior pregnancies. I tell her I'm going to have to call back, because I don't have a vehicle at work and I need to find someone to cover my shift.

2 hours later, no one has called back, but I at least get to use my lunch hour to drive BBM to work so I can have the van in case I do get to go. After speaking with the nurse again, and still having the shortness of breath and racing heart, she practically orders me to go back to work, tell my supervisor that I need to go be monitored, and leave. Plain and simple. So, I did just that!

Okay, so I actually called one more guy to see if he could at least come in early, which he gladly does (thanks Chase!!), and then I leave. When I get to the office, I'm ushered into a room I've always seen, but never gotten to be in before. It's got lots of machines, just like the rest of them do, but it also has a huge (HUGE) leather recliner...miracle of miracles, I get to sit in that?!?! Sweet Mother, it was the most comfortable chair I've ever blessed with my posterior! Then she tells me I have to lean back...way back, and she pushes the chair for me. I feel as though I'm melting into oblivion, and she sticks a monitor with cold goo on it right onto my bare belly...woke me up right quick!! Then she laughed. Then I glared.

Anywho...Little Miss Junior Mint did NOT like that monitor. She transformed into a tiny jumping bean and wouldn't hold still. So I'm informed that I've got to push against the monitor as hard as I can stand it, to "pin her down"! Bwahahahaaa! Then with the other hand, I've got this little thing that looks like the buzzers on Jeopardy, and I'm to push the button every time I have an answ....I mean every time I feel her move. She failed to mention, however, that the fingers on my left hand would get so tired and numb that they wouldn't function anymore. I had to figure that one out by myself. Oh yeah, and if I ever lost her heartbeat and could get it back within a few minutes, I have my very own bell. A true bell, with a handle and everything, that I get to ring whenever I want. With all those extra hands I have.

So it turns out, I was having some sort of hypoglycemic reaction and just needed some proteins in me. Then she lectured about my stress levels too, which I politely let go in one ear and out the other. I know she's right, but aside from chanting "ohm" at work and home constantly, there's not a whole lot I can change about anything that's going on right now, at work or at home. I'm just glad I wasn't this pregnant during cold and flu season.

So, sent home I was, with a note to return to work with no restrictions tomorrow. And tomorrow's my late shift, so at least I'll get to come back and lay down for awhile after I drop The Boys off at school. But wait, I have an appointment with the water company to relocate a meter to the outside of our home (apparently we're not home emough and they haven't read our meter in months). Then the insurance adjuster is coming between 11 and noon to take a gander at our bathroom damage. Okay, so I won't be able to sleep. But I'll still get to lay down, right?

You'll never believe this.

Well, if you've read my blog for any amount of time, maybe you will. It's raining cats and dogs outside. Tomorrow is Mother's Day, but since we know everything will be busy, we're doing it tonight. We ate Bandana's BBQ and are having movie night. So we put in the movie and before it starts, BBM goes downstairs to finish his cigar. I follow him to tell him something (exactly what escapes my mind now), and I find him with the flashlight, looking up at what I thought was the window next to our washing machine.

But oh no. It wasn't the window. It was water, pouring from our bathroom upstairs. Now, does everyone remember the little deal we had with our master bathroom? It made a great story, and it was the inaugural Whirlwind Lodge post. Well, we haven't used that bathroom since. I mean, the sink still works, and I still keep my contact stuff and hair stuff in there...but we never really used that bathroom. So what on earth would make it start leaking NOW?!?!

Well, I still don't have an answer to that question, other than God has a sense of humor. The tube running from our hot water supply to the hot water side of the faucet had completely busted loose. Just decided to break. It was time, and it had had enough abuse, and needed to let loose. And let loose it did, all over the floor, walls, two drawers full of nailpolish, hair ties, leg wax, tooth whiteners, etc. You name it, it was wet. And still is.

I go running back downstairs, talking excitedly about turning off the water supply, except that we don't know where the water supply is (they really should require classes before owning your own home). Turns out, there is no water shut-off valve to each sink in our home...just the main water supply. We found it and turned that off, which shortly stopped the spraying of water all over the contents of that corner of the basement. Now what?

We breathe.

For about 30 seconds.

When we go back upstairs, we find that the hot water line is still dripping...and not just your average, annoying "Drip.......drip.......drip......." but a steady I'm-going-to-flood-your-whole-house-if-you-don't-stop-me kind of drip. And we have no idea why. However, it's obvious that the water line will need replaced, so we unhook that from the hot water supply, and try to unhook it from the hot water faucet. However, we have children. Correction: we have Boys. And Boys like tools. And Boys like using tools without putting them back. So we couldn't find a wrench that was the right size to remove the hot water line from the faucet.

Cue Home Depot music.

Now I'll say I called first, because it's Saturday, and about 8:40pm and I have no idea what Home Depot's hours are...automated system says they're open 8am to 10pm Monday through Saturday...brilliant!! 'Splain this to me then...why is it when I finally get out the door, drive there (in the torrential downpour, let's not forget), run as fast as my little pregnant legs will get me from the door of our van to the door of the store, shake off like a wet dog, actually find the plumbing repair stuff, and all I hear is the customer service announcement: "Attention Home Depot customers: the time is now 9pm, and our store has closed. Please bring your selections to the registers and get the heck up outta here". (They didn't really say that, but they may as well have).

FortheloveofPete.

I scurry to find the right replacement tubing, and of course there are two sizes. And of course I have no idea which one is right, so I grab one of each, and run off to find an adjustable wrench. They are turning the lights off when I grab the cheapest wrench I can find. I finally check out, then walk the distance of the store to the other door (because I ain't walking my pregnant butt out in the rain from one door to where my van is parked, about 3 freaking miles away). On my way out the door, I corner the woman at the customer service desk and say "I just thought I'd let you know that your automated phone system says you're open until 10pm".

Blank stare.

Her: "Okay."

Me: "And it's 9pm, and you're closed already."

Her: "I thought that was taken care of. I'll let my manager know."

Sigh.

Now...I'm on my way home with what I think will completely fix our problem. I realize that I really have to pee, and we have no water in our home, so I stop at the Burger King on the way. I run inside and into the bathroom, fully intending to at least go buy a soda on my way out so I don't look like a complete dolt. So I'm in one of the bathroom stalls, and I hear lots of yelling and goofing around outside (I was the only customer in the restaurant), and suddenly someone comes into the bathroom. It's a public bathroom and there are employees there, so you know, whatever. Then someone else comes in, except this is a GUY, and he says "What the ____ is your problem?" Now I can't even repeat on this family blog the words he used. I guess the girl that had just come in gave him the look of death, because he shut the door faster than he opened it. I finish peeing and walk out into the restaurant where they are whooping and hollering and carrying on, cussing like there's no tomorrow. I glared at every single employee I could see and started walking out. One of the girls actually made a hissing sound at me, and when I made it through the first door, one of them yelled "Have a nice night, _____!"

I was, and still am, aghast. I've since looked up the corporate number for Burger King and will be writing a scathing letter to them come tomorrow.

Anyway, fast forward to when I get home. We take the wrench and unhook the other end of the water supply, only to discover that each end is a different size! Now I got one with 3/8" ends, and I got another with 1/2" ends, because I couldn't remember which was right. But I didn't get one with both! So now, we have no water to any location in the house, and no supplies with which to fix the problem. And to top it all off, the hot water fixture coming from the wall is still dripping like crazy, and we're having to empty out the bowl about every 5 minutes. How are we supposed to sleep like this???

Off to google again, and I read a woman's story that mirrors ours except it's her cold water line, not hot. Someone advises her to open the higest valve in her home and the lowest, because she needs air to displace the water. This makes complete sense, and I open our kitchen faucet. Then I grab my already-soaked shoes, run outside into the rain, and open the garden spigot.

Miracle of miracles - it worked!! No more dripping!!

So...we're off to bed now, with no water. When I wake tomorrow, I will trek back to Home Depot and purchse the correct size of supply line (and I'm going to take my own sweet time doing it too!). Hopefully, we will have full water function in the Lodge by tomorrow mid-morning.

Spring has Sprung!!

...and yes, so has my belly! I'm 22 weeks pregnant now, and showing like a freaking bowling ball (or at least I feel like there's a bowling ball in there!) So so much has happened since I last blogged, I can't even fathom where to begin.

First, let me share with you the mother...MOTHER, I tell you, of all things chocolate chip. I found this website whilst Stumbling (imagine your surprise), and I think I've visited the site at least once a day since then, just to gaze upon this mound of chocolately, chippy, cookie-y goodness. And although you can order them for shipment, you can also feel free to pay a hefty price tag (uhm, like $65 worth of hefty), and my hips really don't need them that badly. So...as long as I don't absorb any calories from licking my screen (I'm sorry), then I'll be fine. And this website will have a daily visitor from now on.

The NY Levain Cookie

After viewing that website, I felt the need to make a cake (didn't have cookie stuff on hand). But I did, by God, have a cake mix and a couple cans of frosting in my pantry (hey, I'm not completely all natural and homemade...not yet anyway). So I prepare mentally for the task of mixing oil, water, and cake mix, and I open the frosting to help it achieve room tempurature status. Lo and behold, Big Boss Man has struck again. How one man could possibly eat as much frosting as mine does, I'll never know. (Although truth be told, I seem to remember sneaking frosting from my fridge when I was younger...ahem). Anyhoo.

So...now I have less chocolate icing than I originally thought I had, and the only other kind I've got is a white cream cheese frosting (oh, to die for!). BBM, however, doesn't like cream cheese frosting, and threatened to never take the trash out again if I used it on this cake. But I really didn't think we had enough chocolate left over from his frosting OD to ice the cake. So I convinced him to let me sprinkle chocolate chips into the top of the cake batter before baking it, then using the chocolate frosting on top of that. He agreed, although it turns out that I had plenty of chocolate frosting for the cake anyway. That cake has since been eaten.

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And now, on to the baby. Since discovering that our little Junior Mint has girlie parts instead of boy parts, there's been a whirlwind of clothes-cleaning mahem and foolishness going on around here. I first discovered a couple boxes of The Boys' older, smaller clothes, which I promptly washed and have taken to our local resale shop. I've not gotten the results of that outing yet, but I figure it'll give us a little cash, and what they don't take for resale I can either A) yard sale at my mom's ucoming sale, or B) use for beginning sewing expeditions. God only know what will become of those things, but if it comes down to it, I'll practice sewing a straight line on them!

Another thing Little Miss Junior Mint has done is made Mama Bear extraordinarily tired. T.I.R.E.D. I can't seem to sleep enough, and instead of being sort of sleepy at the end of the work day, I'm completely exhausted. I feel like doing nothing but falling into my bed when I walk in the door. I have a doctor's appointment this Thursday, and I'm going to ask them to do some bloodwork, just to make sure levels are as they should be. My mom, God love her, likes to tell me that "I'm not as young as I used to be" (raspberries to you, Mom!!!), and I understand that I'm supposed to be tired. But exhaustion is another animal completely. It's all I can do to cook dinner every night without having to take a break after operating the can opener. And that just ain't right!

Little Miss Junior Mint has decided that she likes to wake up early in the morning, just like The Boys do, and that my bladder makes for the best punching bag of all her surrounding choices. She likes orange juice and milk (thankfully, not mixed together), LaChoy chicken chow mein, and Twix bars. Luckily, she does enjoy other things too, and nothing that I don't usually like. I have had a few of those late night "Oooooooh, does that sound good" cravings, but I've either been shot down by a sleeping Big Boss Man, or kept them to myself to keep from being shot down by a sleeping Big Boss Man.

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Finally, my youngest son surprised us the other day when he came into the house, after a hard day's worth of playing, running around, digging, and other such boy stuff. He walked in, like nobody's business, and proudly held up a bone. Now this was no t-bone from last night's dinner, oh no. And it was no remnant of doggie bone that we sell at The Greens, 2 for $3. This was a huge, very real, very femur-looking BONE. Lookie, I've got pictures to prove it.


See? Ew.


Can I get another "Ew"?


Sorry about the blurriness.




In case you can't tell, that's a normal-sized paper towel that the bone is sitting on, corner to corner...that's how big this bone was. It was real enough to warrant a call to the non-emergency St. Louis County police line. The woman taking my phone call politely listened to the beginning of my story (because, you know, I can't tell someone something without leading up to it with a story), and when I got to the words "dug up bone", she interrupted and asked for my name and address. Let me tell you. A few days prior to this incident, a woman got hit by a car on my street, and I think the officer may have shown up quicker to our house than to that incident. He was a nice guy hailing from Hanover, Mass. He rather quickly decided (after chatting with Little Linebacker for a few minutes about where he'd found the bone, if there were any dug up or "fresh" looking areas near it, or any other bones that he'd left there for later) that this was probably a leg bone of a deer. We spent the rest of his time here small talking about his time in the Marines and where it took him around the world (many places where Big Boss Man had lived as well, so they had plenty to talk about), and how cops are distributed around this area, since we never seem to see any in Pleasant Ghetto unless they're called (and then it takes awhile to get them there). He then got called just around the corner for some unknown reason (dispatcher-speak, I suppose), and left, although he took his time and didn't use sirens when pulling out, so I guess it was muy importante. Methinks he'd much rather have stuck around and reminisced with BBM for awhile.

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And last, but definitely not least, we have the maiden voyage of Artorius Surveillance Drone. We've waited a long time for that moment, as the plane arrived way before our Florida Escape. BBM assembled it, and we finally took it out last night to watch it soar. Of course, we had an audience, albeit a small one consisting of a couple neighbor kids. God knows we couldn't do this with the comfort of just our family members there.



And that's about how that went. Now we didn't just leave it at that though...we obviously had to try it again. So we thought maybe we didn't have enough runway, and made a minor adjustment in takeoff direction, giving us approximately 25 more feet of play room.



And that was that. Obviously we hadn't notice some structural damage suffered in the first attempt, which caused the drone to taxi in one direction only...to the left. After Part Dos of our surveillance drone's flight, or lack thereof, we decided to give up the ghost for the time being. Of course, this had nothing to do with the fact that 2 of the props had been sheared off and 2 of the cowlings had detached. And let's not talk about the fuselage. Let's just thank the sweet Lord above that this was not a manned flight. The drone made its way back to the Hangar, however, and repairs are being made as I type this out. Rest assured, you'll see more of that thing.

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And now...I think I've touched upon all the things, important things, at least, that have happened in the past two weeks. I realize fully that I haven't posted pictures of our Florida Escape. You can sleep easy tonight, knowing that I still have plans for those. They were deleted, however, from the camera before I could get them onto my computer. And sending them from one computer to another proves much more difficult than just uploading them from the camera. Wait patiently, dears, they will come.