you have to check this out!

attention all potter-philes. there's pics!
go check it out. neville is actually looking kinda cute!

ummmmmmm, yeah

who needs a title, lol.

ok, several things.

i need some opinions, from you literate types. i'm listening to The Sun Also Rises by ernest hemmingway on book tape. do you think this is a book that is too advanced for liam to listen to? mind you, this is a child (ok, momma bragging warning!) who reads at college level, and comprehends at senior in high school level. i just looked at the school's AR (advanced reader) catalog, and it's not in there, so he wouldn't get credit for it through the AR program. however, it might impress his lit teacher into raising his grade above a C. yeah, i know, why is a kid with his reading ability getting a C? i dunno, and he won't tell me. i need to email his teacher (i keep telling people that.) hang on, i'll go do that right now.

ok, i'm back. we'll see what she has to say.

Liam's over all grades were actually pretty nifty. he's got 4 A's, 2 C's, a D and an F. while i'm not happy with the F, i will accept it, because he's brought his grade in that class up 21 points in 2 weeks. all he has to do now is keep handing in his assignments on time (that's what got him).

Sean isn't doing so well. he's not doing his assignments in the BD room, so he's failing most of his classes. the odd part is that in 2 classes he's only been in once, P. E. and Lifetime Sports (2 separate classes) he got A's. go figger.

he's also being moved to another foster home. i am sincerely convinced that we need to go to the next step, but i have to leave that up to the "professionals." like my caseworker (ugh). and i'm working on getting her replaced. which reminds me, i need to email her supervisor (again, sigh). be right back

ok, now that's done.

hmm, shall we discuss married life? someone recently asked me if it was any different. considering mark and I have lived together off and on for the last 3 years ( the off was state-mandated, they wanted me to prove i could provide a safe home environment for the kids on my own), the togetherness aspect hasn't really changed. what has changed is the level of tenderness between mark & myself, as well as a calming influence on the kids in general (well, as calm as sean can be at this point, sigh). that, and the tendency to giggle when we call each other husband and wife. and i still look over my shoulder for my MIL when someone calls me Mrs. Olson. lol.

knitting. yes, i have been knitting. right now, i'm working on a christmas present, and a lame teddy bear for teddy bears for tragedy ( they have ONE pattern, and you must not deviate. and it's lame, sigh), plus, i've joined the madness at knitty, after all this time, and i've got the clap. yes, i'm knitting a clapotis. granted, i don't have enough of edith (you know, the famous women's line by schaffer yarns?) (i've got about 480 yards) so i'm making a mini-clap. i know, i need to post a pic, but i'm on mark's puter, and considering we just recovered from a crash, i don't want to put too much on it at this time. hell, i can't even listen to limenviolet! feel sorry for me!

and since i've been pretty silent about my reading habits, lately, here we go:

The Son Also Rises by ernest Hemmingway (book tape in car)
The Dark Tower (VII) by Stephen King (book tape at my house)
Simarillion by JRR Tolkien
Shadow Dawn by George Lucas

yeah, i know, i'm looney for reading 4 books at a time, but hey, a girl's gotta keep entertained!

ok, ok

here ya go. i've been getting nagged about pics, and now that my batteries are recharged (both literally, and figuratively!), here ya go.
This is one of the views from Mt. Vernon Gardens. The park is based on a miniaturized version of George Washington's home. It's very close to the Missouri River, and very pretty.

Liam & Sean, looking very dapper in their tuxedos. Liam is a downright chick magnet, as mark put it. Sean refused to button the top button of his shirt, so his tie wouldn't tighten up all the way, but he still looked very good. where's my shotgun? i think i'm gonna need it to keep all the girls off, sigh.
This is Luke, Mark's nephew. He was our ringbearer, and i think he was a bit bored in this picture. Steph took these pictures, and she's got a brief video of Luke walking around his dad during the ceremony. i'll see if i can youtube it, and show it to y'all.

ok, i know, i know, where's the pictures of the bride? ok, here we go:
(cue music, you know what to listen for, lol)
Dum, dum, da dum. dum dum da dum. you know. it was a very bright, sunny day, and hot, so bob (my brother, who was giving me away, as my dad had passed away 5 years ago) insisted that he wear his sunglasses. Mark made me promise to leave mine in the car, so there they stayed until we left for the reception.

Something old: my grandmother's engagement ring.
Something new: A mother's neclace i've never worn, with all the kids' birthstones & mark's.
Something borrowed: My SIL sherril's pearls (real!) and bracelet.
Something blue: lessee, lol. my engagement ring has sapphires. My grandmother's ring has sapphires. and mark's birthstone is aquamarine.

no sixpences, sorry, those damned shoes were so tight i don't think i could have squeaked a fart in them!and then of course there's this:you may notice that the minister has a sling on his arm. I think i'm the only bride in omaha who has a harley-riding minister, at the age of 75!

he was hit by a car about 2 weeks before this, and broke his arm. what you can't see, is that he's also got his right foot in a cam-walker, like mark had to wear, and a knee brace as well. talk about a tough cookie! well, i'm whipped, so you'll have to live with this for now. happy? i know i am, lol.

meme me!

you'll get wedding stuff later, i'm gonna take a nap after this!

i got this from deb

My 10 Names Meme
1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: ( pet and current street name) Jimi Martin

2. YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME: (grandfather/grandmother on your moms side, your favorite candy) Ethel Chocolate

3. YOUR "FLY Guy/Girl" NAME: (first initial of last name, first three letters of your middle name)O. Rut

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Blue Dragon

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) Ruth Blair

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name, first 2 letters of mom's maiden name and first 3 letters of the town you grew up in.)Olsmiscbla

7. SUPERHERO NAME: ("The", your favorite color, favorite drink) The Blue Milk

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first name of both your grandfathers) Kelsa Henry

9. FUTURISTIC NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne and the name of your favorite shoes) Green Tea Birkenstock

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother/father's middle name ) Alyse Junior (my dad didn't have a real last name, his name was Kelsa McKain, Jr.)

blah blah blah

i'm tired. and damned nigh on broke. if i have to write one more check, i'm going to scream. ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH. yup, you guessed it.

and we don't have a limo. i've been after mark for months to call, and he waited until yesterday. guess what. one is booked, one wants $550 for a half hour trip, and one we haven't heard back from yet. growl.

and we're having big horn bbq for the rehearsal dinner, so i have to go pay for that.

and pay the caterer on friday.

and go buy more beer, because not everybody likes miller (mark's fav, lol, not that he's going to be drinking much of it!)

we bought the majority of the booze sunday, and that was a pinch. thank god i can return anything we don't open.

pictures later today, i've found my camera, and my batteries are charged up! that hasn't happened at the same time in a long time, lol. now, i just need to be at my house, instead of mark's.

TTFN

a day that will live in infamy

ok, i know, wrong day. however, since most of you know what i'm talking about (9/11), think on it. Pearl Harbor was an act of war, during a declared war, and most of the casualties were military. I know, people still lost husbands & wives & sons & daughters, but they were soldiers. Soldiers die.

This, however, was different. These were 3000 innocent people, just doing an honest day's work, in their place of work. On a typical monday. 3000. and what's truly frightening? There were supposed to be many, many more people there. I've heard countless stories of "my train was late" "i was sick" "i decided to take a day off." divine intervention? dunno. i used to read a website called "witch's vox" that stated that they had a cat who always stayed in a doorway when the "energies" were off. that cat was in the doorway when they arrived, and refused to leave it. i think the energies were off that day.

5 years. have we changed? are we stronger? more unified? more caring/loving/compassionate? i wonder. i saw a headline in our local paper that said the effects of 9/11 were waning. I don't see as many flags out. I know where mine is, and it WILL be out, even if i have to jury-rig something.

what were you doing?

I worked at a nuclear power plant in the kitchen in the administraiton building. My boss had the only radio that would function in that location (a deep valley near the river), and he came out and told us a plane had hit the world trade center. like many, i thought it was just a piper cub, or some such small, pleasure aircraft. until he came out again, and said another plane had hit. and that they were 747's. i called my friend who didn't ahve to be to work until later, and she told me she'd watched the second plane hit, on a morning show. everyone was stunned. and on that day, the radio we kept in the kitchen for playing cd's got crystal clear reception. It was like listening to the world end, and wondering if i would make it home to see my kids again.

being a nuclear power plant, as soon as the second plane hit, security went into overdrive. one of our vending guys had shown up to refill the machines in the protected area (where the actual reactor is), and security called to verify he was supposed to be there that day. they NEVER did that, until that point. while i was used to seeing side arms on the security guys (and gals), they were popping up all over hte place with AR15's and shotguns, and they closed the campus. no one allowed in without an ID, and a company based one at that. we were hammered for lunch, because no one had their id's with them. who knew.

and because we had the only working radio in the admin building, people were coming to me (the cashier) for updates. when the pentagon was hit, i was almost in tears. then the rumors that the white house was on fire. who is doing this, i kept wondering. why are they doing this. this is worse than the oklahoma city bombing by a long shot. i'd been told that the reactor could withstand a direct hit by a commercial jet, but with the airport being a scant 20 miles south, i feared the worst. yeah, the reactor would survive, but would hte rest of us? and then they downed all the planes.

i was eternally grateful to be out of work that afternoon. i got home, and found my then 15 year old with the tv on. i made her turn it off, because liam & sean would be home soon, and i wanted to shield them from it as much as i could. we'd lost my dad & grandma eariler that year, and all i wanted to do was protect the little guys from more trauma. while they knew what had happened, the pictures were just too traumatic for me, and i was 35 years old. can you imagine the devastating images' effect on 9 & 7 year olds?

and then the amazing stories of hope, and survival, and rescue. and the fact that there weren't as many dead as they had thought. and the men & women of the NYPD & NYFD, and the Port Authority police, who gave their lives to help others. and some of them are still giving.

all i could think is how my dad would have reacted. i could hear it, and still can. "those lousy sons of bitches."

i lit a candle that friday, as they had asked.

a friend of mine, who had lived in maryland at the time, said that there had been all kinds of black vans driving around in her area before the attack. her son was so traumatized by it all, that they moved back here. she had a friend whose husband had been on the 108th floor of tower 2, i believe, and was on the phone with him when he died. she was so traumatized by it, she tried to commit suicide by drinking drain cleaner. she survied, at great emotional and physical cost.

everybody knows someone who either lost someone, or actually lost someone in the world trade center. we are not excepted from this.

this tragedy must not happen again. although it may. somewhere, someone has decided that we in the western world are evil, & corupt, and thinks that Allah wants us all dead (read the Quran, bozo, you'd learn a few things). but we need to hang on, and not let them beat us.

which is why, while i may not agree with what is going on across seas, i support the soldiers who are fighting for us. those of you who don't live in the area, don't know that a local meteorologist from a local tv station signed up for the national guard right after 9/11. he shipped out last week. and he's doing it for us.

i know, i know

i promised pictures, and i do have my camera, but i'm at mark's house, and my software & cord are at my house. i'll post pics later, i swear

ok, here goes.

flowers are actually progressing. i've got all 4 corsages, and all 7 boutineers done, plus my throwing bouquet. yes, i am having a throwing bouquet. no way in hell am i going to throw something that i put that much work into. that, and i think i might just brain someone with it. it's, um, a bit big? as far as i've gotten with it so far, lol.

we have a hair dresser, i have a dress that has been hemmed, and will be taking it to the cleaners today. i was going to use max i walker, but would you believe they send their freaking wedding dresses to kansas city to be cleaned, and it takes 3 1/2 weeks! i haven't even had the dress 3 1/2 weeks! so i'm going with armstrong cleaners. believe it or not, the lady at max i walker told me to go there. she said she hated sending business elsewhere, but she understood my need. we're meeting with the caterer this afternoon for final numbers. the annoying part is so many of the invitations i've sent out haven't rsvp'ed yet. oy. i think i'm going to cushion it by about 25, and if we run out, oh well, not my freaking fault. i'm hunting for a tiara/crown, but haven't seen anything that i like, so far. so one of the other things i'm going to be doing today is going to mangelson's & hancock fabrics and seeing what they have. if not, i guess we'll just have to fake it.

i just realized that i didn't fill you in on the shoes. sherril had to order more. she called me last week,and told me they were in, and i told her to just bring them with her. then i know the only way they'll get lost is if her luggage gets lost. while this is a possibility, it's better than mailing hte frigging things again.

and that needle i lost? i found it. i'd forgotten i'd combed my hair out before the doctor's appointment, and laid it on the end table. so it was there! yippee skippiee! i'm to the foot portion of her sock, so it continues apace. i had erin try it on, because while her feet are longer than steph's, her ankles are similar, and it fit! woot! now, i'm just gonna make them longer than i would need, and i should be ok. unfortunately, there's no one around here with size 91/2 wide feet. erin & carin both wear a size 11. damn.

and y'all need to go check out limenviolet and see the lovely yarn they've contracted with lisa souza to dye for them. yes, i said lisa souza. and in case you've just crawled out from under a rock, she has the most amazing sock yarn & spinnable fiber on the planet. there's a link on their blog, so go check it out. i ended up spending way too much money, lol. not to mention the other big announcement. go on. i'll wait.

see, wasn't that worth the trip!

i had a craptastic day last thursday, so engaged in some retail therapy at SoP, and ended up buying some schafer yarn. their famous women series? i got edith piaf. yes, there will be yarn p0rn on here, as soon as i can get to my house, lol. and robin ended up getting in trekking yarn, so while i lusted, she said she wouldn't get it barcoded that night. would youbelieve it was still there when i got there last night? so now i'm the proud owner of TWO balls of trekking. mmmmmmm, tasty.

well, imust flee. i have to do the dishes and vacuum, before i take off, so this place is in decent shape for when the caterer gets here.

TTFN!