I feel like I am living in a wind tunnel!

Today is a cloudy and overcast day, and since yesterday, has been one of the windiest I have ever experienced! As I sit here on the bed, with the window open about 10" all I hear is it howling as it races past, and the tumble of things like plastic bottles bumping the curb as the wind kicks it down the street... I's amazing to me how forceful it sounds, and yesterday afternoon I had the catalogue ripped right out of my hands as it blew past me! There was no way I was going to try stitching when it took all my concentration to just keep the pages in place in the magazine I was paging through! In some regards it makes me smile though. In MN it would howl like this sometimes at night as it raced up and down the river valley just a couple of blocks away. Sounds familiar, even if it is far stronger than I have previously experienced.


I went onto Liisa's facebook page and "stole" a few pictures from her that I could put on my blog. Jesse had taken her, fresh out of bed, outside to the beach to watch the sunrise. She got some amazing pictures of the beach at dawn, with the seagulls flying, so I wanted to include at least one of those shots; that's Liisa walking along the beach with the sunrise and seagulls behind her.
I love the way everything is reflected! Then there is the shot of her ring, and look how she glows! I am so thrilled!




















Lastly, I wanted to include a picture of the travellers who showed up for beds and breakfast at my house on Sunday morning: Liisa rode in the middle of the front bench seat between the two guys, and said it was a loooooooonnnnngggg ride back! They took about 12 hours to get back to Minnesota from here because they made a few stops along the way, just to get out and stretch, and they also got pulled over in Iowa City for going 5 mph over the speed limit, as well as having too dark a tint on the windows. The officer just gave them a warning rather than a ticket, but Liisa had to be a brat and call me and ask if I could "come bail them out of jail"! Eric was of the opinion the officer was just curious about the hearse. That made sense to me. Jesse is holding his certificate in the photo that went along with his prize money for making the trip.


It was nice that Jesse was here when he was. He checked out the CRX for us and verified that there are indeed issues with the brakes on it, and that it needs to be repaired yet again. We are not happy about this state of affairs, because it really means juggling of vehicles for us between everyone's work schedule and Eric's classes. I have to go in to work for an hour or so tonight to complete yet another training I hadn't gotten, so I will need to drive the kids to bowling (Brie and Cliff), and pick them up on my way home. Then I work tomorrow from 8-12 and Eric works overnight again tonight, and has class tomorrow morning after work (he is in class as I type this too, after working all last night, so he has not been home yet!). Brianne has to work tomorrow too, so my guess is Cliff will need to drive her to work, so I can have the van for my shift. then I will hang out at the mall or something, so I can bring Brie home after she gets off at 2. All this logistical planning makes my head hurt!


I need to call and get an appointment set up for Brianne at the clinic in a bit. She may have a UTI. She called in to work today, and is sleeping at the moment, but is showing classic symptoms. She was up most of the night. She is curled up in Aurora's bed at the moment, and Cliff is on the futon in the loft! I know he was in my room at 5 am getting the green machine, so I am not sure what got soiled in his room... Patrick and Rei continue to push limits a bit on homework and grades; the term ends Friday and I am getting nervous as to whether or not they are going to pass. I was disappointed to see Rei's science report only got 71 out of 100 on it; I thought he did a nice job on it, and I know the report itself looked good, because I typed if up for him while he sat beside me and we talked it through. He had all the components in it it was supposed to have, because we followed the outline on it completely (I typed it, but did NOT write it for him--he just gets really frustrated typing, and I don't mind doing it for any of the kids!). Still have not seen his grade for the "invention" he and Tony designed and made. I had really been pinning my hopes on those two items helping to significantly boost his grade. I know they need to fight their own battles, and that the grades are a reflection of them, and not us as parents, but still, it is so very frustrating, because they are both such bright young men! Aurora is doing fine scholastically, and she is enjoying track this year as well. She has a meet tonight and Thursday night after school, and she hopes Eric can at least make the Thursday one.


I am sending out prayers and big hugs to Vera (Eric's sister-in-law), because she is having surgery tommorow to repair her rotator cup. If you could also send out good thoughts, it would be appreciated! I think that is all I have had on my mind today! Have a good Tuesday!