MAC's "Cheerful" Halloween Party

What a busy day we had on Saturday! First we had to show up at the Dick Batchelor Run for the Children at Lake Eola. MAC had to cheer for the runners. It rained on them, so they didn't perform this year, just cheered as the runners started the race. Then we had to do Mass Band (see post below). We then went to MAC's Halloween party! Here are some pictures:

Carissa and Ariel

Shelby

Haunted House













Castle Decoration

Sue as an Old Lady

Mass Band

No, this is not a religious thing. The district did the marching band evaluations for the high schools and asked the middle school students in the district to come perform the National Anthem. Carissa is just to the left of the 40 yard line in the second row. We estimate there were about 350 kids there.

Another Cow Note

Just a funny side note to the blog entry about Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party . . .

When Carissa was about 2 or 3, we used to live near a bunch of cow fields. One day as we were driving past one, Carissa said, "Mommy, when I grow up . . . I wanna be a cow." I told my mom and my aunt, and my aunt told her if she wants to be a cow that she'll have to drink more milk!

Fast forward to present day. Steve wrote a note to Carissa Friday morning that said:

Congratulations, Carissa! Today your wish is going to come true. You are a cow!

Cute!

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

OR Adventures of the Chick-fil-a Cows . . .

I took Carissa and Kelsey to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party on October 20. Carissa and Kelsey were going to dress as Pooh and Tigger, but Carissa saw a Chick-fil-a cow on someone's car antenna and thought of the idea you see here. My friend Jenny and her husband Jeff came, too. The girls were the hit of the event by drawing MANY comments. Some people would say, "Eat More Chicken" to them, others would just say they were great costumes. By the end of the night, whenever someone would comment on their costumes, Carissa or Kelsey would say, "Eat More Chicken," and the other would then say, "Eat Less Cow!" It was funny. Even parade characters stopped during the parade to look at their costumes or comment on them! Other highlight of the night was getting all the candy. I still don't know who was more excited about the candy, the kids or Jenny!

Front and back of Kelsey and Carissa's costumes:


































Jeff and Jenny

















Chick-fil-a Twins and Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum Twins

Steve's Adventures

Steve came home very excited from the studio a few weeks ago. He said that one of the people from the studio, Wyn, is a heavy equipment operator and is going to take him out to drive some of the equipment. They went on Sunday, and here are some of the pictures.

This is the pit that was being excavated. The land owner sells the dirt to people that want it. He gets about $8 a truck load. They remove about 200 - 300 truck loads a day. Not bad income for someone that doesn't even need to do any of the work!



















Here is Steve in the excavator . . .






















And with the front-end loader . . .



















This is the view from inside the front-end loader . . .




















And, of course, we need to give credit to Wyn, Steve's tutor! Thanks for making Steve's day, Wyn!

Steve is a star!

While Tropical Depression Ernesto was limping through Florida yesterday, Steve decided to spend the day at the pottery studio. He came home explaining that he might be in the newspaper, as his picture was taken and he was interviewed. Sure enough, his picture is on the front page of the paper this morning, and is also online! Here is the picture.














The article was just explaining how some people were spending their "Hurricane Day." He was quoted, too:

Schoolteacher Steve Czerniejewski sculpted elaborate vases at Orlando Pottery Studio, where other storm refugees also exercised their creative urges during the quiet, gray day. He called it a "mental-health day."

But he wished he were working at Fern Creek Elementary, which had closed for the day. Missed classes are missed opportunities to learn, he said.

Back to Normal, I guess

Well, everyone has returned to their normal routines. Steve and Carissa are back in school. Carissa's teachers actually seem pretty good this year. I think she might actually read (and write) something in Language Arts this year! She is also in pre-algebra, gifted Sci. and Soc. St., and has jazz band and wind ensemble. She's doing well so far. Steve wasn't excited to go back this year, as he traveled a lot this summer and didn't get enough pottery time in. He'd much rather be a potter full time. Cheer is also back in mandatory practices. That is going well, too. And . . . yes, I'm still on the parent squad. We will really be stepping things up this year! It should be exciting.

Beach Week!

Wow! It really has been a long time since I've posted! Carissa and I went to New Smyrna Beach with a group of friends in July. Jody and NiCole have a friend/client that owns a house right behind the dunes and let them use it for the week for free! Since that is in my price range, we went despite me HATING the beach. It was a great week. Here is a picture of the house and a picture of the view from the upper balcony:















During the week, we usually went out to the beach each morning. I tried not to be out too much because I don't like to burn. The kids would often go out with the adults in the evenings, and even for a few moonlight walks. Carissa didn't like the crabs much. They look like spiders to her, and I have to agree!


Christina, Kellie, Carissa and Connally
















One of the days we were there, the kids were boogie boarding with Jody and saw 2 sharks! They were black-tipped reef sharks and were very close to where the kids were playing. Jody had everyone get out of the water (which wasn't an issue for Carissa - she was out as soon as she heard the word "shark") and they built sand castles instead.

Jenny Got Married!

My friend Jenny at work has been talking about getting married for a while. She and her fiancee, Jeff, had been engaged for about 3 years. They decided to make it official on Thursday morning and went to the courthouse. We had a little shower at work for them!

Congratulations Jenny!

Stupid, Stupid, Stupid!

I have clearly done one of the most stupid things I've ever done. On Sunday I was doing some yardwork. Let me stop here and say that I know this is completely out of the ordinary for me. I hate sweating, I hate bugs, and I hate climbing in places where bugs and spiders might reside. Not to mention that I run from every buzzing sound I hear in my ear because I KNOW it's a bee after me. Anyway, I was pulling weeds and raking up some dead leaves in the backyard. I got really, really hot. The pool looked really inviting. I took off my shoes, socks, visor, and sunglasses and jumped in fully clothed. The water felt so cool and refreshing. As I started to float, it dawned on me that my cell phone was in the pocket of my shorts! Yes, it's ruined. I am now using my old phone (same number) until my contract runs out and I can get another phone for cheap. That will be in about 2 years. The phone I ruined was pretty new. At least my old one still works! I just can't take pictures anymore. RIP cool cell phone, RIP.

This is called a layout

Here is a video taken during Carissa's latest private tumbling lesson. She is doing really nice layouts lately!

Beta Club

Carissa was invited to join Beta Club for next school year. This is quite an honor. She accepted. The National Beta Club promotes character, develops leadership skills, encourages service involvement, recognizes achievement, and
provides technological advantages to students in grades 5 - 12. I'm not sure when she'll have time for it, but we're going to give it a try!

Straight Hair Mania

Carissa has said for a long time that she'd like to have straight hair. I remember her being 5 years old and saying she was jealous of her friends with straight hair because they were able to just take a brush and comb right through their hair. Not so with Carissa's hair. Well, with the "Chi" flat iron becoming more affordable, we have purchased one. Here is what they do to my curly-headed child . . .


It takes quite a while to straighten her hair, and she gets very nervous around her face and ears. I can't wait until she can do it herself! =)

Happy Birthday, Steve!!!

Steve informed me the other day that he was not aware that I had a blog! How is that possible that I would have told everyone else but him? I'm still dubious. Another comment that he made was that he doesn't feel he's mentioned in my blog enough. So this post will be devoted to my wonderful husband, Steve.

Steve's birthday is on Tuesday, and he'll be having his own "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." He'll be going to the Chicago Institute of Art, and a Cubs game at Wrigley Field (and they play the Pirates - his team). He's in Chicago for the International Reading Association's Reading Conference.

UPDATE! Steve made it back fine from Chicago, and he had a good trip. The best day was his birthday. He went to Wrigley field for a Cubs/Pirates game and caught a foul ball! He was very excited. To top it all off, the Pirates won, too! He didn't make it to the art museum, but he did go to Shedd's Aquarium. He said it was awesome.

Just an update:
Steve is teaching 5th grade this year at Fern Creek Elementary. He loves working for the principal that is there, and will stay there next year.

He hasn't had much time to play his guitar lately, but he'll be taking it with him this summer while he's working for Dr. Janet Allen again doing Literacy Institutes. I don't think they're calling them Literacy Institutes this year, though. He will still be training teachers.

Steve has still been finding time to do pottery, however. Here are some pictures of a pit-firing he participated in back in January. . .

These are his pots before firing:

















This is during the firing:














This is as the firing was ending:

And this is what they looked like after the firing:















So now you have an update on Steve. I'm sorry you felt slighted, Honey, and Happy Birthday! =) xoxo

Teri is AWESOME!

My friend Teri, who is more like my sister than my friend (we've known each other since 10th grade), made this for me. These are pictures that we had taken last year, but we all still look the same. Except Carissa has braces now. You can make the picture bigger by clicking on it.

Cool picture

It's been forever since I've posted anything, and I've received a ration of grief about it. I just haven't had any pictures to add to my blog. I think it makes for much more exciting posts to have a picture to go with my blog. I did find a cool picture of myself online during a cheerleading competition. Check out my mad skills.I'm in the first picture on page 4, and the last picture on page 6.

https://www.universaleventphoto.com/ShoppingCart/SelectThumbs.aspx

That's me doing a pike jump (I think it's a pike jump) at TD Waterhouse on page 4. I'm in the back on the right. Haha!

The exciting news is that the parent team is continuing to practice over the summer. I went to a very small practice tonight with about 7 or 8 other people. I GOT TO BE A FLYER! They got me up in a stunt to chin level, which is as far as I'd let them take me. Truth be told, I was afraid they wouldn't be able to lift me higher than that and didn't want to be embarrassed! So now I'll be dieting so I can be a flyer next year. It was soooo much fun.

So what is Carissa doing? She has been going to tryout clinic this week. We don't know what squad she'll be on yet. I know they'll keep her on Youth because of her age, but the coach from the next squad up, Juniors, has been watching her very closely. They could ask her to do both squads. She wasn't interested in that before, but is entertaining the idea now.

She's been working on her standing tuck and her full. I'll try to figure out how to get my digital camera to take video of her doing it and upload it. That is my project for this weekend. In the meantime, you can view these skills on the Cheerleader Nation website. Click on the link below, click "skip intro," click on "Cheerleading 101" and then click on "standing tuck" and "full." If you want to see what I did tonight as a flyer, click on "Elevator."

http://www.lifetimetv.com/shows/cheerleader/index.html

How to be Kim . . .

My friend Jenny at work always comes up with fun little games that require a lot of thought. Her latest was for us to come up with instructions on how to be each of us. You'll understand when you see the ones they wrote for me . . .

How to be Kim (by Jenny)
1. Cry when you laugh (Love it! Love it!).
2. Understand the healing power of cookies (be they from Moe's, Einstein's or Nature's Table).
3. Never leave the house without your makeup.
4. Be bubbly and enthusiastic like Smurfette. You are a cheerleader after all!
5. Refer to your child as "The Kid." Before you know it, Steve will be "The Husband."

How to be Kim (by Brad)
1. Pick fights with other cheer moms.
2. Imitate obscure celebrities (Tyra Banks).
3. Be generous.
4. Never order anything "as is."
5. Work for every business in your hometown.

The ones that might need explaining are as follows:
-I almost always buy a chocolate chip cookie at lunch, wherever we go.
-I put makeup on just to run to the grocery store on Sunday morning. You never know who you'll run into!
-For those of you that don't know, yes, I'm a cheerleader. I am on the parent squad at Carissa's cheer gym. GREAT fun . . . really!
-The cheer mom reference is because I almost got in a fight with a cheer mom in Jacksonville back in January. Hey . . . she stole my seat and was REALLY rude!
-I recently found out that I do a "fierce" Tyra impersonation. Didn't know I could.
-I hardly ever order something "as is" at a restaurant. There is usually something on it or with it that I don't like. I can't help it that I'm picky. It's probably my mom's fault. (Just kidding, Mom!)
-As a teenager, I think I had about 400 jobs.

SURPRISE!

Maybe a month or so ago, Carissa and I came home from cheerleading practice, and since all of the lights are off, I turned on the kitchen light. I then proceeded into my bedroom, where the kitchen light was now projecting a faint amount of light. Just enough light for me to see that the cats were both very occupied with something! I chased them away from whatever it was (I still couldn't see it), and stepped over the unknown object to turn on the light in the bedroom. As I was in midstep it dawned on me that it was a snake! Now, I'm not generally afraid of snakes as Steve has 3 of them. But a wild snake of unknown poisonousness makes me nervous. After the light was on and I confirmed that it was, in fact, a very pissed-off snake, I ushered the cats out of the room. I yelled for Carissa to bring me a tupperware thing to put over it. What does my child bring me? A sandwich sized one! After yelling and possibly throwing the container, she brought me one that was much bigger. I contained the baby snake, that by now was striking at the tupperware container. Of course, this makes me think it's a rattler. I called Steve, who was at the pottery studio. I told him I had it contained, and he said he'd be home soon. Then I needed to watch the little guy and wonder what type of snake he was. Steve had some experience with pygmy rattlers, and he would know if it was one. I also thought it might be a harmless corn snake, as we had found one on the patio the year before. This one was much less colorful than that one, however. And the internet was down. But then I started to worry that the snake would sufficate under the tupperware. So I kept tilting the container up so air could come in. I did this as carefully as possible, so as not to let said snake out! Then I decided it would be much easier to release the snake if there was something hard under the snake. So I slid a metal cookie sheet under the container. The cold surface made the snake sluggish, and I again felt bad for him. So I got the hair dryer and would keep warming up the tray for him. However, the warmth reminded him that he was mad and he would start striking again. So I decided to leave him alone until Steve got home. When Steve finally arrived home, he wasn't sure if it was a corn snake or a pygmy rattler either. After noting that he was impressed with my decision to put the cookie sheet under the snake, he took the snake outside and threw him into our neighbor's yard (they keep a VERY bright light on all night that shines in our bedroom). Problem solved. The next day at work I looked him up online. I really think he was just a corn snake. =)

Spring Cleaning

Wow! We've been busy around the house lately! Steve and Carissa have been on spring break, and I took a few days off earlier in the week. I did the inside cleaning, and Steve did the outside. He trimmed everything the yard guy won't do, and he also pressure washed. The house looks great!


I have this obsession with tababeuia (sp?) trees. They are absolutely beautiful. My friend, Lisa, gave me a sapling that I'm trying to grow in a pot. It hasn't gotten much bigger, I'm guessing because it's still in the pot. I would like to wait until we move to plant it. But I sure was surprised this week to look in the backyard and notice that my neighbors had 2 of them in full bloom! They must not have been old enough last year to bloom, because I think I would have noticed it! Isn't it beautiful!?

Flat-Tire People Unite!

I had mentioned in my first blog entry that a friend of mine encouraged me to start my own blog. Well, it's actually the sister of a friend of mine that I work with. But she's given me permission to bookmark her blog, so I consider her my friend too, even though I've only met her once. Anyway, I was reading Bonnie's blog today and I read the funniest story! As you probably know, I have an uncanny knack for getting flat tires. So much so that I ALWAYS check my tires before I get in my car. And whenever I hear funny noises I turn down the radio to make sure my tire isn't flat. Well, Bonnie recently had a flat tire. Here is her story. It will make you laugh . . .

A hitchhiker's guide to Fort Knox
I was running late this morning, on my way to Annabelle's parent-teacher conference. As I was driving down our street, I thought the car sounded a bit funny, but I was a woman with a mission, and I wasn't about to be stopped by some stupid sound. Until I saw the mailman jumping up and down, waving at me. This seemed a little more vigorous than his usual greeting, so I rolled down the window. "You have a flat tire," he informed me. A flat tire? You mean like this?




I stuck the car back into its parking space behind the house and rang my next-door neighbor's doorbell. Unfortunately, she wasn't there, and it was starting to look like I was going to have to walk. That wouldn't have been such a bad thing (nice and warm here today), but it's a good 20-minute walk, and I had 5 minutes to make it to the meeting. So as I trotted down the street, I decided to flag down the first car I saw and throw myself on the driver's mercy. I wound up catching a soldier in a pickup truck. I asked him if he would mind driving me to my daughter's school without raping me and leaving me for dead in a gutter somewhere. He was agreeable to my terms, so off we went. I made it to my meeting, unraped and undead (but not in a zombie way), with seconds to spare.

The meeting was pretty much what I had expected: "Wow, what a great kid! So smart and so polite! Truly a pleasure to have in class! A testament to your superior parenting." OK, maybe not that last part, but the rest is all verbatim.

I left the school and began my trudge towards home when . . . you guessed it . . . it started to rain. Lo and behold, a car pulled up beside me, and the driver (this time a woman a little younger than me) rolled down her window and offered me a ride. Today seems to be my day to depend on the kindness of strangers, so I gratefully accepted and arrived home just before the sky truly opened up.

This was my first time hitchhiking . . . since 1987.