Recommendation

Yesterday I tried Scrubbing Bubbles Mega Shower Foamer for the first time. I wasn't sure if this would work or not, but I had a deal with a coupon and a previous Walgreens sale so I thought I would try. I have to say that this does work as it says. The spray took off quite a bit and what did not come off was extremely easy to wipe off afterwards. Definitely try this product if you hate scrubbing the shower.

Silent Thunder

Silent Thunder by Iris Johansen

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
At the start of the book, I was not sure if I would like it. But I decided to gove it a chance and it ended up being so much better than I thought it would be. The mystery was unlike any I have ever read because it deals with submarines and Russia. There is a little bit of romance, but it is not the main focus. I would definitely recommend this as a good read.


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What is With My Girls?

For some reason both girls have decided that they want to be goalie this season. I about fell over when Melodye said this considering she is afraid of the ball and that it might give her a bloody nose. Brooke says that she wants to be goalie so that she doesn't have to run.

Brooke is really enjoying her new coach this season. She has really taken to him as evidenced in this picture. I have a much better picture of the two of them, but I do not know if he wants his face broadcast all over the internet.


Brooke did pretty good as goalie. She was not afraid of the ball, but she did make me stand near her the whole time she was goalie.
The only problem we had was when a goal did get in she became quite angry. To quote her "The next time they git a ball in I am going to hit them." When I let her know that was not going to happen, this was the look I received.
Melodye did quite well for her first time as goalie. She wasn't as afraid as I thought she would be. But I do have to say that it is more stressful as a parent having your child be goalie than any other position.
Mel took this position quite seriously, blocked some shots, and missed some. At one point one of her teammates yelled that she needs to start blocking the ball. Melodye yelled back that she's doing the best that she can. I was proud that she stood up for herself, but did not go overboard with it. She was angry about it afterwards. Melodye said " Your teammates are supposed to help you and support you, not be mean to you." And I completely agree with her.
At practice tonight, her coach had her and two other girls practice as goalie. This was needed since none of the girls have had experience as goalie. We will see what will happen this weekend. Tomorrow Melodye goes to the doctor to find out about her sprained ankle and whether the brace can come off or not.

Sidenot: Please if you are the praying type, send my dad some prayers. Five months ago my dad had angioplasty and 3 stents put in his heart. He has been having pains so the doctor completed an angiogram today. The three stents had a 50% blockage and just below those there was a blockage of 99%. So they were cleaned out and a new stent put in besides the three already there. He is recovering now, but this was a scary moment to find the blockages like that. Thank you for your prayers.

Death Angel

Death Angel: A Novel by Linda Howard

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
The description on the book left me wondering as I read it whether it was correct or not. It ended up being correct, but part of the description was really only a minor part of the story and isn't even in the book until the end. Other than that this was a good read. Some parts were thought provoking, but not in an "in your fave this is what you need to believe" kind of way.


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Flooding Update

We were lucky and did not get water in our house. The girls did not have school for two days. Melodye will be going back tomorrow. Brooke will be going back when she is done with her fever. She has strep fever.

This first picture is of a bridge that we normally take to go just about everywhere including work. This bridge was redone when I was a kid to make it higher and not flood like it did before.


Here is the same bridge but up closer.

This is the left side of the same shot. The building in the back rents boats and paddleboats. This is the second story that you can see. To the right of the house is a dark rectangular object. That object is a military jeep that got stuck.
This is the road that leads to the Scout cabin that leads along the lake.
Standing on the road leading to the scout table this is looking at the bridge from before.

This is a sink hole on the bridge to downtown which is another way out of town. Here is a gazebo in the downtown by the library.
This is the bridge over the dam in the downtown.
This a view of the bank that had the windows blown out by the force of the water. I loved this picture since the flag is still standing proud.
Here we have the community center.
I don't think this "Hall Entrance" will be used any time soon.

This is a house across from the community center. The poor man is stranded because his house is surrounded by the water.
The girls have gotten many drinks from this water fountain, but they will not be for quite awhile.
This is not the announcement for the Lakefront Festical that they wanted to use.
This is the other bridge out of the downtown that is below the dam.

It is amazing how lucky the residents of our town have been. The flooding was mainly just in the streets, but not that many houses were deeply affected. It was amazing going downtown and seeing that many people there at a time.

Flooding

Waiting right now to find out whether we will be working tomorrow. Our neighborhood is not flooded, but just about every way out of town is flooded. We drove around and there is only one way for either of us to get to work. But once we leave the city we don't know how far we will be able to go. The girls are staying at my parents house tonight because we don't know if we are working or not. All of the cities around us have their schools closed, but us at this time.

My thoughts and prayers are going out to the people dealing with evacuations and flooding. They are saying that we have received record rainfalls; the highest since records have been kept. It's really scary to think about because the weather people are calling for possible lake effect rainfall tomorrow for our area.

I will try to take pictures tomorrow. We didn't realize how bad it was while we were in our house. My parents invited us to dinner and then we discovered how high the waters really are. A bank in our downtown had the water from the lake rush in and break the windows so it is full of water with police protecting it. Scary!

Computers

Computers drive me crazy. I don't know what happened, but the laptop would not print. The firewall on the desktop was blocking it. Ok easy enough to fix, but due to an identified problem we could not open the firewall. And that is a direct quote. So tried a restore point, but we could not go back any further than Sept. 1. Finally ended up trying to restore back to factory settings, except some of the stuff is still on there but only part way. Which means that I have to go through each thing, see if it works, and uninstall and then reinstall it. Frustrating and time consuming, especially since I can't do more than one program at a time.

Earlier today while I was backing up Itunes, I read this:

Duke Most Wanted by Celeste Bradley

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is the third book in the Heiress Bride series. I really enjoyed this one. I was cheering both characters on expecially since I had become attached to them from reading the other two books. This was a light but extremely enjoyable read.


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Both girls had soccer games this weekend, but they were cancelled. The only way they could play is if they switched to water polo o had their boats out there. Which was nice because it did free up some time.

Went to Walgreens today and got some great deals. I forgot to take a picture before I put it away. But the lowdown is that the total came to $91.81 before coupons. After coupons I paid $38, recieved $5 register rewards and will receive $16 in rebates. Go me. Now this was a learning trip also concerning the register rewards. If you pay with register rewards, then the new register rewards will not print out. Which means that you should do multiple transactions. I asked so the manager said he would give them to me this time, but only this time which was nice of him. The only problem was that I did remember the one for $5, but not the one for $4.50. But as I said, I am using this as a learning experience.

Smoke Screen: A Review

Smoke Screen: A Novel by Sandra Brown

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
I did not want to put this book down. There was a real twist that had me gasping in shock out loud. I just could not believe what had happened. This is a definite must read.


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Weekend Wows

This weekend Melodye had a soccer game. This was her first game playing with her brace for her sprained ankle. You definitely could tell that she was not able to play like usual, but she gave it her all. I am so proud that she kept going. The girls never gave up even when they were down by 5 in the first half. They ended losing 5 -2, but they tried their hardest and that is what matters.

After the game we dropped the girls off at my parents and went to Schaumburg with Jeff and Kelly. We went to Weber Grill for dinner. It was delightful and the garlic mashed potatoes were heavenly. I ordered my own side and they came in a freaking cauldron. We could not finish them at all. Tommy and Jeff kept saying they have never been that full from Prime Rib before. So it must have been the potatoes filling them up.

After leaving Weber Grill, we went to the Improv to see Lynne Koplitz. We were quite surprised at how much of an intimate setting it was. We were close. There ended up being three comics for our $17 a person. Well worth the money. Lynne was hilarious. We would definitely go see her again.

I was so tired afterwards, I went to sleep about 9:15. So much for a late night without the kids. I think it was my thyroid still causing problems.

The next morning I was up at 6:30. So I read the paper and knitted on the Moderne Baby Blanket for my brother. I really need to put some more time in on it. Then we went to breakfast at The Corner Bakery. I had the Cinnamon Raison French Toast. This was awesome. It wasn't toast; it was a mini loaf. Moist and yummy. I would definitely go there again.

After The Corner Bakery we went to Ikea. I cannot go to Schaumburg without going to Ikea. We ended up buying something to use for storing the winter hats, gloves, scarves, mittens, and soccer shinguards.

After Ikea, we ate at California Pizza Kitchen. I never get tired of that place. Of course I had my usual a Tostada Pizza without the dressing and with Chicken. Delicious as always. I am eating the leftovers for lunch this week.

It really was nice to take time for the two of us and do somehting as a couple. We definitely will need to do this again.

What Happened?!?

I don't know how time flies away from me so fast. I have been thinking about posting, but other things keep getting in the way. Things like soccer has started and the girls have different practice days, which means that we are going to practices four days a week. School has started and I just feel like I am constantly behind, but it is getting better. Melodye sprained her ankle last weekend, but for a while we didn't know if it was broken. So we have been to the ER, regular doctor, and the specialist in the last week.

So I am making a goal for myself that I will try to post at least three times a week even if it is a short post.