Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Daughter Ann - BRAG BRAG BRAG

Sometimes I think my little Ann gets jealous. Her brother Vern has a blog and I write about him all the time and she gets NOTHING. I mean HOW unfair is that??? I like to treat my kids as individuals. Each one has unique strengths and should be treated differently. I don't care that they think this is SOOOO unfair. That is the way it is. They all get perks, just different ones depending on them.

I have to take a blog and brag about my daughter Ann. SHE IS AMAZING. She doesn't take praise well so this will be hard for her to read but I hope deep down she really does like her mama bragging her up. :-)

She is a great kid. She plays the flute and is learning guitar. She is very opinionated and beautiful and not afraid to speak her mind. Well last year when they were signing up for classes I talked her into a business class. She was hesitant but I thought she needed to try something different than her brother so she agreed.  In this class they had a project with a partner dealing with the stock market.  She and her partner (guy in purple shirt) bought stock (in this state wide program) with $100,000 play money. In the 12 weeks or so of the program they were competing with 100's of other teams in the state to see who could make the most money.


 
 
Well at the end of this time Ann and her partner ended up winning!!!!!!!!!! Not only did they win the spring 2013 competition, they won the entire year for the high school division.  They ended the program with $146,035!!!! That is almost a 50% return on their money. I should have given them real money to invest.
 
They had to give a small presentation for being the winning team in their division. The crowd loved it when they said they learned about price curves, rates of return, and dividends but what did they do? They threw all that out the window and picked stocks they liked! Something to be said for plain old common sense investing.
 
Here are a couple pictures during their presentation.




Just a cute picture of Ann leaving the podium.  She was so embarrassed her mom was there and taking pictures on top of it!!!



Here she is with her trophies...both the spring and overall.



The same week Ann was also confirmed. Here is a picture of her and me at her confirmation banquet which ended up being the same day as the other presentation.  She had a couple parties to celebrate her confirmation and choice to love God.


Finally to end on the most amazing note, I received her report card for the second semester today.  I have been told she gets her brains from her mother. :-)

Second Semester Report card:

English 9             A
PE 9                     A
Spanish I              A
Algebra                A
Phy Science         A
World History     A
Band 9                 A
Intro to Business A


GREAT JOB!!!!!! I am very proud to say you are my daughter. Keep up the good work and maybe I'll blog about you again. HEE HEEE

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Karma strikes quickly...

I shouldn’t laugh but damn...

The Irony! I mean really – you run over someone and within hours the same exact vehicle runs over you!



Karma really does kill.
 

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Tip-toe through the tulips

46 years.

That is how long it has been since we have had measureable snow in May. I am SO VERY TIRED of the cold and snowy weather.  I thought I would include a couple of photos. Even though I am completely sick of this weather the photos really have some beauty to them in a sad sort of way.

The tulips in our yard.





Monday, May 6, 2013

Piggies - to be more specific - Big Papa Piggy

I am MAD. I hunted.


And hunted.


And searched.


And hunted some more.

I could not find the BEFORE picture of this post. It was so long ago that I started this process I somehow lost how ugly and horrible my big toe was and now this post just won't quite be the same. I will do my best to tell you it was I-C-K-Y.

It was short, thick, multi layered, flaky mess. It had been this way for 30 year or so. Yes, you read that right. I lost my toenail twice as a child and it just never grew back correctly. I was doomed to ugly big toe. Yes, people made fun of it. I was self conscious. I hated it. I did not know what to do to change things. It was HORRIBLE.

Then I saw an add for Piggy Paste. Yes, that is what it is called. It promised grand things. I marched into Walgreen's to see for myself if this was worth purchasing.  I caved and spent $40 for the small tube of goo. I was so tired of my ugly toe.  I began applying as directed. I should have invested in the Band Aid company as it required the toe to be covered with a Band Aid every single day so the product could stay on my toenail. I went through boxes!



Time past. More time past. I wondered if there was any hope for my big ugly Papa toe?  Here is a photo I did find. I call this my in progress toe. The ugliness had cleared up a lot. Much of the flaking and discoloration had left by the time this photo was taken but you can still see some ugliness at the top of the nail. 




One side affect of using this medication regularly was the dryness of the skin around my nail. It would dry out and peel layers of skin off. I had to use lotion on the skin all the time to alleviate the itch. That, and I would also go a couple days without using the product to let my skin recover.

Now the tube is gone. Am I please with the results. Yes. Is it perfect No. I will never have a completely beautiful Papa Piggy but he is now manageable and I am definitely glad I purchased the product.  THANKS Piggy Paste.

After: