HAPPY HALLOWEEN

I didn't get any trick-or-treaters. :( I didn't expect to being in the apartments even so, I was hoping I would. I miss having the house at Halloween time.

Jordan and I stayed home. Devan went trick-or-treating with his friends. There was a group of about 7 that went. He dressed up as Slash. For those of you who don't know who Slash is, he was in Guns N Roses, he is the one that wears the really tall Abe Lincolnish hat. Devan got a lot of loot and had a great time. He covered a lot of ground so his feet are sore and he willingly went to bed early.

Hope you all had a great safe night.

I forgot to update during the week

After the party and playing tour guide last weekend this week seems boring.

We got the replacement piece for Jordan's bed so we put that together and then we made a couple stops at the bookstores.

I just finished reading In An Instant the Lee and Bob Woodruff story. It was interesting and informative. I would have liked it to address more of the medical processes and what sort of things he had to do in therapy. I'm also curious how he's doing now and what sort of limitations he still has.

Oh, I did find the website to buy Snoqualmie Falls products online so my mom doesn't have to be my personal shopper anymore.

Since this is so lame and there isn't much to say I'll leave you with a couple of my favorite websites.

http://www.foundmagazine.com/

http://www.postsecret.blogspot.com/

http://www.theonion.com

It's All About the Country Music

We ate lunch at a place called Monell's. It's family style southern food. They have tables that seat 12 and they just seat everyone at one table until it's full then they move on to the next table. You don't know who your going to be seated with except those in your group. We were with a couple ladies who had come from west Nashville to visit the farmers market and the restaurant and a group of four women who go there often because they work nearby. The salads are already on the table as well as the drinks and biscuits/cornbread. They bring the hot food out once everyone is seated and then you get your serving and pass it to the left. It's totally fun and the traditional southern food was great. Oh, except the corn pudding, I really don't like that stuff.

Next stop, the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum. It was pretty interesting. It's got some great history of country music and a few cool pieces of memorabilia. There was Elvis' gold Cadillac and Webb Pierce's (?) silver dollar car. One of the displays had Trisha Yearwood's applications because she worked part time then moved to full time at the Country Music Hall of Fame. It's funny because she wrote on her application that her ultimate goal was to be an "entertainer." We also got to see Loretta Lynn's dress that she wore to someones birthday. She wrote a note to accompany the dress that explained that she fell up the stairs instead of down them while wearing the dress.

Walk through the rain a block and half to the Ryman Auditorium. This is where they used to have the Grand Ol Opry. It wasn't as exciting as the current Opry but it was still cool to see. The whole auditorium was restored - everything but the five 50 gallon cans of gum they scraped off the bottom of the seats.

Oh, and it has been raining most of the day. Yay! We really need the rain. It is supposed to rain most of the week so hopefully we'll get a little more in our reserves.

Birthday Bash

This weekend my great Aunt who lives here in Brentwood turned 90. They had a big party for her. Her sisters from Washington and California flew in as well as a few nephews from the west coast. It was a very fun party and Aunt Garnet had a great time. They had old fashioned hats for everyone to wear and Aunt Garnet wore a black feather boa all evening. Her son from Ireland was there so she had people coming from all over to celebrate with her.

My Aunt and Uncle from Texas are also here. Her sister lives in Kentucky, so yesterday we drove to Bowling Green and visited the Corvette Museum. The factory is closed on Sunday which I think would have been more interesting. They have some really pretty cars in there. Most of them are on loan from private owners. One thing I found interesting was that although they have been around since the 50's they didn't make their 1 millionth car until something like 2002. Well, after being around "America's sports car" for the afternoon the kids were feeling fast and furious so we went over to a nearby go kart track and got our race on. My Uncle and I went with the kids. It was my first go kart experience. It was extremely uncomfortable in those cars but it was fun. I liked trying to skid out going around the corners.

Today mom and I are meeting up with my mom's cousin and her husband and my Aunt and Uncle to go check out the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Ryman Theatre as well as the Ernest Tubb Record Shop.

It has been a really fun weekend. My kids got to meet and visit (and actually have fun) with some of our distant relatives.

Have a great day. Gotta get Jordan to school now. Bye.

Fall Draught

We are still having a draught. There is a good chance of rain tonight and tomorrow. We are having tremendous winds so far tonight. It will probably be really stormy tomorrow night since that is when my mom's flight arrives. Last time she came to visit she landed in the middle of a fabulous lightning storm.
















Pictures from our hike as promised. This is the icky millipede. Some of the hike goes down onto a road and Jordan was just walking along not paying attention and walked right by this thing. It was probably as big as her size 5 shoe. It was black, really long, with little red eyes. Here are a couple pictures of some of the deer we came across. The photo with the two deer in it is not zoomed at all. Jordan and I were walking along the trail, Jordan a few steps ahead of me, talking when all the sudden I looked up and nearly ran into her. She had stopped abruptly and quit talking. I looked up and realized we were about 4 feet away from one of the deer. We weren't being overly quiet but the deer didn't seem scared of us. It was crazy because we nearly walked right into them. We passed by them slowly and at one point it seemed as if one of them was going to walk right up to us. Jordan was in awe. That was definitely the highlight of our hike.

Fall break fun

Jordan and I went hiking today. Devan didn't want to go. It was a nice hike. We walked almost 5 miles around Lake Radnor in Nashville. We took some great pictures but the blogsite can't upload them right now. We saw 7 Whitetail deer, tons of squirrels, lots of chipmunks, and a creepy looking millipede? I'm glad we didn't see any snakes although secretly I wanted to just for the drama and excitement it would have added to the story. I'll upload the pictures tomorrow.

The interview Friday was a bust. The company is a 35-40 minute drive away (without traffic although that route doesn't get too much traffic), they use a mainframe system so I wouldn't be learning or expanding any marketable skills computer wise (in house systems won't help me advance later), and they don't pay as much as I want. I told my recruiter I wasn't interested and she told me she was hoping I would take it to get experience here. Of course she wants me to take the job, she earns money if she places someone there. It really is easier to find a job when you are already employed but this place didn't even have internet access for everyone. I answered the questions well and asked some good questions so I'm happy about that. I typically don't interview well. I've found a few jobs I'll be sending my resume to and am going to sign up with another agency here in town.

Mom is coming out Thurs. Her Aunt Garnet who lives near here is turning 90 this weekend and they are having a big party for her. Since the weather is so nice I'm planning outdoor activities. :) There will be no getting out of them this time by blaming it on the weather.

Hum Drum - Short and Sweet

Things are settling into a good schedule here. Soccer is basically over, Fall Break is coming up, and I have a job interview Friday morning. The interview is to basically let the company sell themselves to me because from the preliminary information I have about the position I don't think I want it. The hours vary depending on what week it is and it's a little farther out than I would like. Plus, they still have business dress. I got very used to business casual.

Since the kids have a long weekend this weekend (Fall Break) we are going to do a couple day trips or activities around town. Hopefully the weather will be in the lower 90's again so we can hang by the pool some more. I'm losing my tan. :)

This is short because I have to get to part of the soccer game. It's really Varsity, but they wanted all the girls there since it's their last home game/last game. Nite.

I'm going to cost them a lot of money in therapy

They have Fall Break here. It's a great idea. The kids get a Thurs, Fri, and Mon off. I told them I would try to send them to Oregon for their break. By the time I got ready to buy tickets they were nearly $500! Plus I have to add in extra for the stupid unaccompanied minor fee. No way! Sorry Oregon, we love you, but not that much... :)- I've disappointed the kids and it seems their friends were planning some sort of "we missed you and are like totally excited you came back to visit us" party.

Schools in Oregon get a lot of days off and many of them are planned for a Monday or a Friday. That is not the case here. They get only major Holidays off as well as Fall Break and Spring Break. When they do get a day off for grading or something like that, it's in the middle of the week. I guess they have less kids turning a long weekend into an even longer weekend.

On the upside, my recruiter has been working her tushy off. There is a bookkeeper job in Brentwood that she thinks I would be great for and is sending them my resume. Yeah.

gotta love it here

As I dropped Jordan off at school I looked around to make sure there weren't any kids crossing in front of me. Of course, being my nosey nature, I took a quick scan of the kids walking into the school. There was Jordan, a couple kids dressed up for Rock Star day (homecoming week) and a guy wearing a cowboy hat. I love it. They can't wear hats in class but are allowed to wear them in the hall and I guess this guy couldn't go the morning without his stetson.

Homecoming week is really, REALLY big here. They have dress up days and different activities, like how many kids from each class can they cram into a vehicle, each class decorates a hall, and they have a parade. Each class has a float plus each sport has a float as well. They have two classes on Friday then the rest of the day is devoted to Homecoming. Yeah, they are major football fans here too. Our school parking lot (overflow as well) fills up before the game begins. They have around 1000 fans in attendance on a regular Friday night game. Yeah, I really don't get it. Jordan is excited to be getting out of classes on Friday and she will be riding on the soccer float.

Devan said his school isn't doing anything to celebrate homecoming or any sort of spirit week. Probably because the kids will split up into at least two different high schools.

Jordan had her last regulation game tonight. She was a beast. She played great. She had a rough start but has remained determined to get on Varsity next year. She averaged at least two shots on goal per game and her playing time increased to the point that she was getting tired and was thankful to be taken out. ;)

I am still unemployed. I will follow up with my recruiter tomorrow.

Well, I haven't been able to get my computer to communicate with my printer so I have to go to Kinkos to type a paper for Jordan. I type much faster than her.

the boring and mundane

Life is getting into a pretty good routine. Soccer for Jordan, nothing for me, skating with friends for Devan. It's almost like we are in Oregon. Except, oh yeah, I'm unemployed. My recruiter at Robert Half is working very hard to find me a job. She totally likes me which is a huge plus.

As much as we like it here, Jordan is having a hard time making friends. I expected this but she and I were both hoping that soccer would give her an in and some friendships. It hasn't really happened. The soccer team doesn't hang out together much. She is having fun on the team and she is improving but she is disappointed in how it has turned out. Her coach doesn't pay much attention to the JV players and although her coach is fun and really nice, she doesn't have good control over the team and the girls like her but don't respect her. The amount of talent on this team should make them unbeatable. Jordan would like to see more reward for working hard at practice as well as in the game. If you don't work hard in practice, you shouldn't see unlimited playing time and if you aren't working hard all throughout the game, you should be taken out. There are a few players who will decide they are tired and will basically give up but yet they stay on the field. This frustrates Jordan! The coach doesn't want to get the girls mad at her so the girls end up doing whatever they want knowing there isn't going to be any punishment. With how important soccer is to Jordan, and if school doesn't improve by the end of the year, we are considering moving to another district here in Franklin. The school is bigger but is still an amazing school. Devan is okay with this idea because many of his friends from middle school will be going there next year. It's a wait and see sort of situation.

Well, whatever we do for a home, we want to make sure we get something with a fence to keep the cats in and safe. If no fence, we'll get a cat door. I know Einstein will have lots of fun chasing the critters - grasshoppers, cicadas, squirrels, possibly even the rabbits.