The roof is on fire!!!!

When I was young (in the 1980's) there was a popular song sung by some one-hit-wonder or something that had the lyrics: "the roof, the roof, the roof is on fire, we don't need no water let the mother --- burn, burn mother----! burn!!!" Anyways, we chanted this walking down the isle during graduation (you guessed it, I started it, but didn't get caught and thusly didn't get in trouble). Well, we always referred to our school burning down when we chanted the lyrics and it seemed to be a totally bogus fantasy!

I got the call at work last week from the Haviland Elementary School Fan-out. "There has been a fire," states the unknown woman, "everyone has been evacuated to the middle school". I ask "any known injuries?" "We don't have that information" says the voice on the other end. Naturally, my God-given gift of jumping to the worst possible scenario kicks into full gear and I rapidly race to the middle school, prayers being stated aloud to ensure they are heard clearly. I call my husband who points out my knack for thinking the absolute worst and that I am demonstrating my other gift of drama queen. OK, got it, but I want to see my kid!!! Every student and person in the school were alive and well and accounted for, Thank God! They did a great job keeping these kids safe. My daughter was among a handful of students actually in the building when the fire alarm went off (before school had started). She is currently writing an "Eyewitness Report" on the fire as she passed the fire on her way out and therefore is a bonafide "witness". Talk about excitement and drama. Fortunately, there was minimal damage and though the kids missed that day, they were back to school on Monday.

Hummmm...would the phrase "be careful what you wish for" be appropriately pasted here?? Jenna laughs as I re-ignite my fire for home-schooling.....(not that I am really qualified, just a little paranoid when it comes to my chldren).

Great find! Now the OTHER 64% of women can get there too! Whoo Hoo!!! 

PET CEMETARY

For those of you with mortality issues or a shallow sense of humor, I redirect you to the lovely photos of my buddy Sven......

For my friends with a sick sense of humor and appreciation of all things morbid, read-on!

My past death-of-a-pet experiences have been many. I have had to chime the bell, and bellow "bring out your dead" to watch the procession of two ferrets, a guinea pig, and a hampster meet the cold hard earth and go back to the dust from whence they came. Jenna would solomnly bring each one out in a shoe box or other proper coffin.....ready for burial. All of which, was very sad at the time...(please note, not all of our pets died on the same day....) This time, I was smarter.....I brought out the "almost" dead. Yes, as sad as it sounds, I tried to trick death and all the ickyness that occurs by encouraging the animal to actually die outside. Pretty sneeky eh??? Flopsy, I'm sure appreciated it. She got to hop around, enjoy the sun and the fresh air and the grass before she took her last hops on our lawn and thus, her last breath. Yes, it was sad to see her pass on, but my morbid humor has taken over just a few days later--proving that I can find humor in just about anything! So here is my tribute to a lovely, funny, sweet, lop-eared bunny that graced our family for 4 years. She is already missed, but will always be loved by all, especially Jenna. (ok, I cried like a baby for 3 days...but I am better now!)

SVEN! 

Note to the Ken Gola Fan Club

Hey KEN fans..... Here is the offical "MONEY SHOT" from Ken's competition. I know most of you have already received it personally from Ken, but you might want to ask him to autograph it for you so you can say "I knew him when...."

The Vigil

I'll bet ya'll thought this blog would be about the Pope eh? Wrong-o! (although my family has been touched by those events and I am not insensitive to the impact on the world) Our vigil started with Luna. The evening we were watching the news all night to hear about the Popes worsening condition, we were lighting a candle for our beloved (but STUPID) cat-Luna. She decided to go play in an unauthorized area by sneaking into a closed but mistakenly opened bathroom door, jumping into the tub and playing in the foot spa I had soaking with BLEACH! Ok, from all my non-medical training, I somehow know that bleach can burn and KILL if taken internally (all you have to do is read the label, Einstein) So Luna saunters out of the bathroom, and my husband yells to me "what do you have in the foot spa?" I respond "oh my gosh, LUNA!!! It's bleach!!! Did she drink any????" Of course, there were no eye witnesses, so using the same "breathalyzer" system my mom used to use on me when I came home from parties, I sniffed her breath REALLY close up. Yep, she smells of bleach. We immediately began to cry (ok, my husband didn't, but Jenna and I did) and tried to figure out how to live without her.....
I put the girls to bed and had them say a last goodbye to our Luna (who seemed to be having difficulty with balance and vision) and I tearfully watched the news rehashing the Popes life of greatness, would we get another cat? Can our hearts handle such a loss so close to the one-year anniversary of my fathers' passing?
Well, miracle of miracles, Luna is still among the living and seems to be just fine, don't know how but I won't question it at this point. Now, just two days later, we are holding a vigil for our other pet -Flopsy, who most surely needs a miracle, but she may be without a prayer at this point. Why is she seemingly dying? I don't know. She is very old and the basement is very damp. But I hate to see her suffering so much. I am sitting vigil with her tonight in the damp basement again....after staying up this morning until 4am. I came to the perfect solution at dinner tonight, and announced "we just have to NEVER, EVER get another pet again, then we won't ever lose another pet"....simple but no one was buying it. So, as the world looks to mourn and replace the Pope John Paul II, we look to mourn and replace our pet bunny with floppy ears.