The Snowy Trip That Broke My Nose

It will be a trip to Colorado that I won't ever forget.

Waiting and hoping to get pregnant is not easy, so when I finally got pregnant with Alyssa after nearly ten years, "ecstatic" doesn't even begin to describe my emotions. It was a bumpy pregnancy and birth, followed by eighteen months of nursing and then gall bladder surgery. There was so many new opportunities, challenges and changes, that I desperately needed a vacation.

Destination: Colorado

Alyssa's father's sister lived in Colorado and I knew it would be fun to enjoy snow. So after much planning and loading everything into the van that I could imagine we might possibly need, the long trip from Texas to Colorado with Alyssa (under 2 years old) and Brittany (7 years old) started.

The whole trip up there was fun, but eventually we reached our destination.

In Colorado Springs, Colorado, we enjoyed the Garden of The Gods rock formations.

We also saw some amazing scrap metal art structures that decorated someone's home.





I remember Brittany kept saying, "This is so cool!" while she ran around in the snow. I thought the sculptures were rather cool too, but I wouldn't want them in my yard. I mean really, imagine a big chicken head and neck greeting you at the curb each day.

Okay....no.







I wanted to stay in a hotel so that I wouldn't have to worry about cleaning up after everyone since it was supposed to be my vacation too. Of course, everyone didn't understand my thinking, but in the end, we stayed in a hotel.

It is hard to believe that the tiny little girls in the photos are now 18 and 24 years old.







Brittany loved the snow and ate it throughout the whole trip. I kept having to warn her to make sure she didn't eat anything dirty because every time I turned around, her face was covered with snow.





Not only did Brittany eat the snow, she played with it and...





rolled around in it.

Maybe it is a redhead thing in our family, but she just couldn't get enough of the snow.





Alyssa, however, didn't really like it that much. The first time she stood in the snow, she lifted her arms for us to take her out of it. Thank goodness the good snow genes eventually matured in her and she does love snow now.







Every untouched spot covered with snow was the perfect place for yet another snow angel.





Of course, you can't take small children to snow country without providing an opportunity for slipping and sliding down a large hill.

Brittany loved tubing!











"One more time," must have been said a hundred times.





Breaks and resting between turns down the hill always included snow angels.









I was less adventurous and used the fact that I needed to hold Alyssa as an excuse.





Alyssa, however, was game and loved riding down the hill with her father.







With her big green eyes looking up at me, I couldn't resist Brittany's plea to ride with her and so the double redheads flew down the snowy hill on a little red sled.





I really preferred being pulled around. With my accident prone nature, it just seemed safer.





When snow covers everything and the sun shines, the reflecting light is blinding. I spent a whole lot of time squinting during our Colorado trip.

What was with those hideous boots?

No matter how careful I try to be, accidents find their way in my life.

My ex-in-laws home was a split level house which means that it had stairs and in this case, they were carpet covered.

One evening while happily speeding up the stairs, my foot slipped...

I was leaning forward...

I couldn't get my hands in front of me to catch my fall...

I landed nose first on the edge of the step...

The skin on my nose split...

Blood flew every direction...

My nose broke...

I felt pain beyond description...

And I passed out...

Laying face down on the stairs.

I ended up with two very black-blue-purple eyes and bright blue stitches on my nose. I was truly a beautiful sight to behold. (rolling eyes) Of course, I have never been able to live down the fact that I broke my nose going "up" a flight of stairs.

I learned a valuable lesson that day: Don't run up stairs and always use the handrail.

I love snow and since there has been no sign of it here in Virginia this year, (looking out the window at the rain falling) I can at least enjoy it through this journey back in time. Yeah, I remember that it feels so peaceful to be surrounded by the lovely whiteness and hear the crunch of snow underfoot.

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Posing in the Country

Maybe it is because my ancestors were farmers.

Perhaps I just enjoy a different pace of life.

Whatever the reason, I love the country.

I wouldn't have a problem wearing flannel shirts, jeans, boots and a hat every day. Then at meal time I would throw on an apron to make homemade biscuits, ham, green beans and peach cobbler for dessert.

Big sky, rustic fences, silos, horses, tractors, cows, rolls of hay, and miles of wide open spaces. Most of all, it is quiet.

The country is very quiet and peaceful.

I could hear animals and buzzing bees.

Smells of freshly tilled soil and hay wafted through the air.

Later in the day when the sun wasn't so bright overhead, there were big puffs of white clouds that floated slowly across a clear, blue sky.



On a seemingly endless rocky road, we started taking photos. Of course, my viewfinder loves my daughter whether she is posing or just walking around being herself.



I didn't really dig the masks on the horses, but it sure was a beautiful stable.



A lovely abandoned, dilapidated house was a great backdrop. We both would have loved to go inside and explore, but our fear of spiders and snakes was too great.



You know you're in the country when the caution sign has a tractor on it.



A beautiful girl set against a view that lets the mind relax in the simplistic setting.



Corn. The staple for the first settlers in America. Today, the bright green leaves stretched for miles.



We happened upon a little stream that trickled over the rocks.



The little wooden bridge over the stream was the perfect backdrop or so we thought. A truck went over the bridge while we were on it and the whole thing shook. It scared us both and we hurried to get back on solid ground!



Silos. Nothing says farm like a large silo against the sky.



Baa-a-a-a-a-a.



Llama...not the typical farm animal.



Trips like these make me never want to return to the city and I long to have a stay at home career.

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Magical Tongue in the Mirror

Do you have a magical tongue? Do you show off the magic tricks or are you too shy? Do you even know what I'm talking about?

Let me start by telling you that a tongue is a muscle. Remember these two facts:

1. The intrinsic muscles lie entirely within the tongue, while the extrinsic muscles attach the tongue to other structures.
2. The extrinsic muscles reposition the tongue, while the intrinsic muscles alter the shape of the tongue for talking and swallowing.

Another important fact is:

1. The average length of the tongue from the oropharynx to the tip is 10 cm or 4 inches.
   

I'm not going to ask you how long your tongue is because that sets me up for you to ask me the length of mine.

Hello! Let's continue on so I can tell you what happened.

There are three crazy things that people try to do with their tongues. Some studies say that it is genetic, some say it isn't genetic and some say that it is a mixture of both. All I know is that I can do all three...


Several years ago, Alyssa and I went on vacation and one of the places we stopped was Ripley's Believe It Or Not. Almost at the very beginning of our walk through the place we spied a large...I mean LARGE...mirror set back into a wall. In front of the mirror was a book opened to a page about the tongue and the facts that I mentioned. Then it encouraged us to try these funny tongue tricks while looking in the mirror. I knew I could do them without even trying hard, so why I did it is beyond me.

No one was paying any attention to us, so we both stood looking in the mirror and contorting our tongues into the shapes that not many people can do. We were feeling "special" with our secret skill.

When people started to approach us from behind, we immediately quit and moved so that they could try it, but mostly so that they would not see us looking crazy. Our tongues are shy.

After enjoying ourselves for quite a long time in the Ripley's Believe It Or Not - I would guess a couple hours - we finally approached the end.

What is that?

A television?

A BIG television.

Is that a tongue on the television?

We approached to watch the unsuspecting people who had just entered Ripley's and were now standing in front of the tongue mirror. They were really close to the mirror (just like we had been) and they were contorting their tongues all over trying to make them match the picture in the book that was open in front of them.

Alyssa and I looked at each other.

We were mortified!

Other people had watched us do the same thing just as we were watching now!

Obviously, we both wanted to hide!

Embarrassment!

Then we laughed our heads off.

Mom always told me not to stick out my tongue. I guess I should have listened.

So have you already tried doing all three things yet? If not, get to a mirror and try, then let us all know which you can do.

I promise I'm a grown woman.

I also promise those pictures with the tongues sticking out are not me.

I'm not showing you my tongue, so don't even ask me.

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The 11th Commandment

This morning ended my very long vacation and also school was back in session. Stepping outside to take Alyssa to school, we were hit with an icy cold wind. I don't know how people live in below zero temperatures! I had on pants, shirt, sweats jacket with hood, mid-calf length down coat with hood, mittens and a scarf wrapped around my face. I looked like the abominable snowman and the cold wind still took my breath away.

In the car we were both quiet. Our body clocks are not set to be up early in the morning. We do best staying up until 3:00 a.m. and sleeping until 9:00 a.m., but since money doesn't grow on trees and neither does an education, we both have to get up. It wouldn't have been so bad this morning except that for two weeks we have been on "our" schedule which meant that last night we did not get our beauty sleep. I actually had several people comment on my bloodshot eye today. Oh yeah, I was gorgeous.

So imagine us both totally bundled yet still cold, donned with our makeup, sitting in a cold vehicle, traveling to school very quietly. Then we both see it at the same time...the moon.

The moon was shining very bright and white directly in front of us.

How can that be? We are expected to be performing at top speed now...with the moon shining...after 2 1/2 hours sleep?

That's when I decided that there should be an 11th Commandment.

"Thou shalt not get up before the moon has completely disappeared from sight."

Alyssa agrees with me.

We think it should be against the law to leave your house that early to go to work or school when the moon is still hanging in the sky.

Don't you think that is a great idea?

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