EH

I had a great time this weekend with Roses Girl Scout Troop we volunteered for National Parks Day. Something we will defiantly do again next year. Our project was to help create a new trail in the Campbell Airstrip trail system. Our project was a new trail opposite the head of the Smoke Jumpers Trail. It was our job to haul the pre-cut trees away from the trail. Although, we did get a chance to do some shovel work, some girls had trouble focusing on one job for three hours. It was a nice clear morning and an eight am carpool time doesn’t work for 5^th graders all we heard was I am cold, I am hungry, I am tired...and the ever so popular "I AM BORED". Only four of the nine girls were prepared, not good…good thing GS doesn’t have a “no child left behind” policy. Not only were they not prepared, but they knew nothing about “Leave No Trace” one girls kept leaving a soda can laying around. Seeing how we were surrounded by 100’s of naturalist (not the nude kind) it was not a good thing. During the three hours I had to harass 6 of the 9 girls to get them to do anything, also a leaders failure…what about Considerate and caring, Respect Authority, and make the world a better place. Despite all the nagging I had a great time. I was proud of Rose what a worker bee. She and I make a good team and we really enjoy getting out there and physically help out the community. And some good hard work is a great way to get stuff off your mind. I can’t wait till clean up day….come on MAY….I am waiting for you!!!

PS ... I think I smelled snow today...

Butch falls off a chair, hit the floor screaming like someone had ripped off his arm. His mom jumps up to assess the injuries. Seeing no blood, scratches, or bruising she asks “What did you hit?” Sissy yells “THE FLOOR…MOM!”

Heath came home with a question, one if his ranger buddy’s asked of to him….Why are Marines always on Navy Ships?

I have worked on getting my workouts in. Started with just walking the kids to school and this weeks goal is to work out every other day.

We have been fitting a nasty bug in the house. As each kid goes through it so do I.

Another attempt to quit smoking…starting today!

The fight for the internet and phone has been on going. Leonardo is being stalked!!

Oh yeah I am not allowed to talk about Tays boobs, boy situations, or Junior High encounters any more!! But I did learn a very important Junior High rule…under no circumstances am I allowed to approach her if she is talking with friends.

AWANAS started last night. Sissy is excited about going and about becoming a Spark. Byrd is happy she is no longer a Spark and is excited about earning her new T-Shirt. Rose lead the first Bible Verse Practice last night and Butch seems to want to get involved. I think he is just in it for the Derby Car Race. Tay contributed nicely by changing the AWANA songs into morbid songs about brain washing kids. ACK!!!

My Uncle Bill’s got a blog…for the longest time my husband has been hearing stories about Uncle Bill. Amazing stories…stories of life that seem well…like my father (Bills Brother) made them up. The stories varied from Uncle Bills mysterious disappearing, too his romantic encounters in truck stop bathrooms, too his research trips to rodeos looking for a long lost brother. It didn’t help matters much when Bill was supposed to be in town we never saw him and his trips were always called short. JD would hear stories from my nephew Butch about how Uncle Bill was driving trucks in Iraq for the Salvation Army. It was little things that led to his doubt.

I never really believed my husbands disbelieve in Uncle Bill, until one night…. JD came home from work and I had a black lab… JD told me that we weren’t keeping it and my boyfriend was going to need another dog sitter. I told him that Uncle Bill was driving trucks from Alaska to Seattle and we were going to dog sit, while Uncle Bill did his ride along, and that we were really just watching it….the only thing he said was “I don’t believe in Uncle Bill and the dog has a week.” A week went by and lucky for me JD was home when Uncle Bill came to get his dog…the rest of the evening JD would simply state over and over ... “…I do believe in Uncle Bill.”

Well hello again…I know that this is beginning to be a problem…me not bloging on a regular basis…but I am trying. I could be like Bossco who never writes us anymore. With the new school schedule I can‘t play first thing in the morning and by the time the girls are gone I am out of my bloging mood. I am working on a schedule and hopefully it will include more bloging time and a JOB.

Girl Scouts has also started. I have been writing parent letters, calendars, and planning out our year…another thing to blame for lack of bloging time.

We have house guests…I am not sure I have told the internet yet. My brother and sister-in-law, niece, and nephew are staying with us. They are in the process of moving upto the big city and we are their transition home. They can also be to blame for the lack of bloging time.

My girls, nephew and niece are all settled in school and getting back to the school schedule….sometimes I feel like a nag…but when the schedule is in place life is so much simpler. The kids now get up eat, pack lunches, and get dress with hardly any fight. Butch even takes baths. After school it’s straight to snack, homework, play time, dinner, playtime, and then bed. Even the dishes are getting done. The schedule is working out and we are learning to live as a 9 member household. I am not to sure the neighbors enjoy the extra dogs….but we are working on that.

Butch (my nephew) has a habit of picking on my girls. He follows Tay around saying “DR. phttp *insert raspberry here*” ...this is creating a huge problem for her. With Rose he sits n the couch and kicks at her, not hard, just enough to annoy her. I ask them casually “Now you sure you want a brother?” they both reply “NO…at least not one like him.” I just giggle and tell them that is the only model available, Model #005 annoying little brother.

Poor Sissy (my niece), my children think she is a baby, yet she is only 10 months younger then my youngest. Finally Sissy called Byrd on it, she really told her off. Hopefully my girls will pick up on the fact that Butch and Sissy have parents.

I found a great deal so I picked up an extra bike the other day. I was hoping Sissy would see everyone else doing it and just start. It didn’t work but she loves Tays adult sized tricycle, so if it works for her it works for me.

Butch has been riding his bike to school everyday. The first few days of school that was the main motivation to for going to school. Hopefully once winter hits we can get him to give up his bike. This morning while walking to school, the first fall leaves are starting to pile up in the gutters along the road, the nice fresh kind the ones not quite crunchy. Butch was riding his bike and was a few houses ahead of us. He stops lays his bike in a neighbors yard. The next thing we know is rolling in the piles of fallen leaves. After seeing his enjoyment we all could not resist stopping to play.

You bitch about no one replying to your post…but your setting will only allow “Team Members” to reply. I guess I am not good enough to be a team member.

Your loving Daughter,

Heidi

As soon as we bought our home I have saved every receipt so that I may get every tax deduction owned to me. Paying mortgage interest allows us to take the itemized deduction on our federal tax returns. Along with deducting my mortgage interest and property taxes, I deduct the cost of donations. I write off any Girl Scout supplies or school snacks that I pay for. I keep track of how much money I spend on fund rising items (like Boy Scout popcorn, Ends brook wrapping paper, football candy bars, and of course Girl Scout cookies); you can deduct the percent to the purchase price that goes to the charity. My uniform costs, leader books, and even mileage I use for fieldtrips. I deduct the used items I donate to the charity.

Medical deductions are pretty much worthless for my family we never meet the minimum requirements. So I really don’t bother.

Any state tax is deductible on a federal tax return. Most Alaskan thinks nope I don’t pay no state tax…but you do… stud tax you on new winter tires and what about that portion of your vehicle registration that goes to taxes. Do you pay into unemployment? It is a state tax.

I know you are thinking …Why is she thinking taxes? Well, what about the taxes that show up on my phone bills? They call it Telephone Cooperative Tax? Or what about Electric Cooperative Tax? Or the Alcoholic Beverage Tax? Motor Fuel Tax (8 cents/gallon)? A percent of the purchase price of my cigarettes ($1.60/pack of 20) are going to the state….so I was thinking I am gonna write shit off. $1.60 in taxes daily equals $569.60 deduction …times two because John smokes also…another $1139.20….

I ran to the local print shop tonight, because my trusty Cannon printer that uses really cheap ink died and I have failed to use the $50.00 needed for the Epson printer ink that will run out as soon as it is installed, oh anyway, I ran to the print shop tonight because Tay has a paper due tomorrow and it had to be typed.

As I entered the print shop there were two suspicious characters hanging around just outside the door. I went straight to the front counter for help; this is all a very new experience for me. We head over to my work area and pop my disk into the computer and start my task of printing. The young lady helping me knew nothing and could not get the proper document to open. I take over and open my document and hit print … then I hear it, squeals, I am not sure what to think so I turn and as I do I see two guns. The two suspicious kids out front had pulled their weapons and shots were going to be fired over a small barrier they were hiding behind. A manager that looked like she could be as young as a few of my nephews or even a niece was stationed herself by the door to await the authorities. But the seven of us were stuck, there was no way out without getting hit by any crossfire.

As we tried to sit and wait it out the situation got pretty scary there was a lot shots being fired and screaming, but you could not make out what they wanted. And then everything gets quiet, it appears that the punks ran out of ammo. As we approach the door to see if they have fled or if police had things under control, that’s when we notice the other kid had hid behind a corner and more shots were fired, at us. As we all took cover again in the back far corners of the print shop more screams could be heard but not screams of pain but ones of laughter. We knew if we did not do something soon the younger punk would surly reload.

Next thing we know they leap over the barrier and are at the door, what could we do we were trapped. Then our young store manager came to the rescue, she got the doors locked just in time. She then leaped behind a workstation just as they start shooting the door, it was only a mater of time before they were getting inside, then what? These rebels were going to just keep coming and nothing was going to calm them down. There seemed to be no reason for them to target any of us, they seemed to be doing it just for fun for amusement. And I have to admit it was a pretty exciting being on the middle of such a conflict and in no way did that help my judgment.

With the perpetrators locked outside it was the perfect time to make my way to the door to have a look at what was going on outside. As I approach the door I can hear the authorities’ rustlings about. I peer out the small opening by the door I can see one of the two gunmen; he had retreated back to the barrier. He was banging his gun against the barrier real mean like. Not knowing much about guns, I was thinking his gun must be jammed or that he was out of his mind and was throwing a temper tantrum about being out of ammo. I saw no others, no patrol man, no rubber-neckers, and no second gunman. I had to get a closer look so I eased the door open, just a bit, just to take a peek, I no sooner had enough room to get a look with one eye ….I was shot…I watched the shot coming directly at my left eye.

I stumble back not feeling any pain; I was more so shocked that the gunman had tricked us again by hiding in the shadows. And the fact that the second gunman shot me, with great skill, through a ¼ inch opening and hit her target precisely where she intended. I knew this was now serious, other lives were at stake, and the realization that help was not on the way hit me hard. So without thinking I regained my balance and charged out the door.

I tried to take out both suspects at once but just as the door slams behind me the young lady with the loaded weapon steps aside and lays her finger hard onto the trigger with a howl of laughter. As I hear and feel the shots hitting me and the walls behind me, I make contact with the other gunman. We roll to the ground, a tackle that and ball player would be proud of. With myself on top, I reach for the gun that is held tightly in this young mans hands. Hoping with all my soul that his gun was just jammed earlier and the tackle may have helped jar something loose. I get the gun and turn towards the young lady gunman. I shoot….Nothing…the guns jammed. I start to feel wetness running down the right side of may face and soaking into my clothes. I turn to see the second gun not two feet from my face. I hear laughter as I see the trigger finger twitch. As she pulls the trigger she steps forward and I am able to grab her gun and pull her towards me avoiding a direct hit. I wrap my hands around her upper arm and pull her on top of the tangle of bodies already on the ground. Then I remember my secret weapons…my ticklers. I aim straight for the ribs no messing around here I was going for the immobilizing my attackers.

As I get my fingers close to them they cringe in fear and laugh with great amusement. Buddy bellows and Nat is giggling with tears down her face. They knew that water guns were not going to hold their hostages any longer and that bedtime was inevitable.

PS- Sister thanks for the use of your printer...

As I dropped off Tay at school today…. We followed two marked police cars into the parking lot. They were joining four other officers (two unmarked police cars and two marked cars) six officers total….not something I want to see…now I need $20,000 for a private catholic school. Yeah I’ll be catholic if it means I don’t have to see cops at a middle school.

The first day of school went great. The JR high gets out 45 minutes earlier then the elementary school so it gave Tay and I some time to chat before the others got home. She had some locker problems but a cute boy helped her out with that, you should have seen her grin as she told me. Her school terrorist retired which is great news for me, and her new therapist has worked with her before and we love him!! Her science teacher is going to get her out of her study skills class and put her in another science program. She loves the staff and the school. She had an issue with some girls she grew up with, something about going to JR high changes girls…snobs!!!

Rose and Byrd spent the day catching up with their friends. Byrd ended up bringing home most of her class work to finish up. She said she couldn’t do it in class because everyone kept talking and annoying her. I hope this is not going to be a pattern, her teacher this year is pretty strict and I don’t want to be called in all the time. Rose was a little disappointed in her teachers this year, not because of the teacher but because she has been separated from her fiends. Her teachers (her two teachers job share, one comes in the morning the other afternoon) is the same one Tay had for the last two years and I am worried that their teaching style isn’t right for Rose, we will see how that goes. I hope they don’t expect Rose to be a Tay because she is not a brown nosing child she is more of a class clown.

I enjoyed a day of relaxation. I spent the day in bed reading the third book in the “Dark Towers” series (Stephen King)…boy am I hooked. Today I think I will go have coffee with my sister and wait for my brother to call…they were supposed to be here last night but never showed. I should be getting started on Girl Scouts but the motivation is just not there. Tomorrow we are having a planning meeting maybe that will motivate me.