WE GOT ROBBED!

30 million+ to go off and lick my wounds

See Baby Bears being born live

North American Bear Center | Lily Den Cam

Lily Den Cam The North American Bear Center is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit so donations are tax-deductible! Lily's den Lily in den Lily Learn...

bear.org/website/index.php?...&id=225&Itemid=100009 - Cached

She Actually Ran Over My Hair

I loved to roller skate as a kid. We started out in our basement and quickly graduated to roller derby status. (we didn't know how to play anyway but rough!) Skating rinks were fun to socialize in but no skating allowed there. Once my cousins and I turned 16 we discovered the joys of skating in the park. We had one mile long stretch that was great to skate on.

Of course just skating wasn't good enough for us. Getting pulled by a vehicle was the ultimate. We didn't just go along at a few miles per hour - we (especially me) liked to get pulled along at 30 or 40 miles per hour. One day my cousin Jane was driving my horizon. There was no way to hold on to the back, so we rolled down the back window and I was holding on to the side.

She was cruising along somewhere over 20 mph when all of a sudden she sees a couple of cute guys and slams on the breaks. I WENT DOWN. I was still holding the window frame but I was lying parallel with the car looking directly at the back wheel. I WATCHED IT RUN OVER MY HAIR!

Fortunately she realized what she had done and speeded back up instead of coming to a complete stop. Her presence of mind probably SAVED MY ASS! The motion of the car pulled me back up like nothing had happenned. At which point she proceeded to a leisurely stop. I never did get pulled by a car or truck again. If my hair would have gotten tangled in that wheel, my face would have been ground into hamburger. It was not a pleasant prospect.

Ski for Free Day in West Virginia - whoo hooo!

January 31

West Virginia Ski & Ride FREE Day

All WV residents are invited to ski and snowboard at Snowshoe and receive a complimentary Lift Ticket when presenting the Complimentary Ticket Voucher.

Each guest will need their own voucher and proof of WV residence. In addition to the Complimentary Lift Ticket, with a purchase of Rental Equipment, guests ages (13) and older may receive a Complimentary Beginner Group Lesson.

• Guests will go to any On Mountain Sales location to receive complimentary lift ticket and purchase any needed rentals. Both the filled out Voucher and proof of WV residence is required of each guest to participate.
  
  
• Each guest will need their own voucher, one ticket per person, ticket has no cash value and not for resale. Offer only valid for Sunday January 31st, 2010.
  
  
• Complimentary Beginner Group lessons are for guests ages (13) and older, subject to availability. Children's Ski School programs are not included in offer.

Click here

One Thank You Made It All Worthwhile

I ran into my exnephew yesterday. (exnephew is a strange enough expression in itself but I won't get into that) I had not seen him since he was 16 years old. He is 31 now. He was obviously glad to see me and before I could say anything he said, "first of all I want to apologize to you and second I want to thank you."

I won't get into the reason for the apology, as I told him I chalked up what happened between us to him being a teenager. I did however thank him for it because I did deserve it. I could tell the apology was heartfelt and something that he had wanted to tell me for years. (I have not seen any of my exhusband's family since I left him)

Then he started to thank me for all the things I had done for him as a child. Dwayne had a hard childhood filled with every kind of abuse that no child should have to endure. Bobby and I worked hard to give him a childhood.

oops, I'll finish later

Lost in the Woods

When I was a senior in high school, my friend Jessica and I decided to go hiking at our local park after school one day. The trails are clearly marked so we didn't see a problem. We met after school and started up the "backbone trail", which just happens to be the longest and most backbreaking (hence the name) trail in the park.

We were actually doing fine. It was hard, but we climbed up the mountain and over logs and whatever obstacles were in our way. We even saw a whole herd of deer running through the valley. Unfortunately it got dark - something we didn't factor in.

When dusk fell we realized we should get back. The problem was we didn't know which way was shorter - to finish the trail or to go back. We knew to go back that it would take at least an hour, so we decided to finish the trail. WRONG! It finally got so dark that we couldn't see the path in front of us - or behind us for that matter.

To make matters worse Jessica started whining and crying. So I had to take charge and lead the way out. We had to turn around and she kept saying she couldn't see the trail and we were going to die. I couldn't see it either but I wasn't about to let her know that. I kept telling her that I had really good eyesight and I could see just fine! She was panicked enough to believe me but that didn't shut her up. The whole way back down the path (and I really had no idea if we were on the path or not until we came to a massive tree that we had climbed over earlier) she was squalling like a two year old. I just kept walking and talking the whole way because I knew if I let her know that I didn't know what to do then she would be uncontrollable.

Finally we came out next to the ranger's cabin. We had to walk about 1/2 mile back to the car. It was dark but the road was paved, so it was alright. When we got back to the car the ranger had locked the gate right next to it - so we had to walk the 1/2 mile BACK to the ranger's house. We got him to go unlock the gate, but he made us walk back to it again. We finally made it back home and collapsed in our beds.

What sucks is that we were lost in the woods and the ranger locked our car in the park without making any effort to find us. We could have died. Oh well, we didn't.

My $83.00 Keyring

First of all why on earth do I need or even have a keyring that cost me $83.00? Because I am an idiot that's why. I keep it as a reminder not to do anything so stupid ever again.

I dearly love it - but not to the tune of $83.00. It is one of those Lavella Link keyrings which were more commonly sold as charm bracelets and were mega popular a couple of years ago. We sold them at Fruth for $2.95 per link. The keyring attachment cost an extra $5.00.

Now the truth. The value of my keyring is $83.00. I actually paid around $40.00 but that is still too much money. Most of my purchases were made with my megaChristmas discount of 40% off. I bought at least $10.00 worth when they discontinued them and sold them for 15 cents apiece. So now I have 3 bracelets and the keyring. Occasionally I'll hook all the bracelets together and make a nifty headband out of them. However my hair gets tangled in the links and it is a nightmare to take it off with out losing a substantial portion of my long tresses, so I rarely do that little trick.

Now Fruth is carrying these little rows of beads. They are knockoffs of "Troll beads" which are supremely popular right now. Each bead is $5.00 with some costing as much as $8.00 apiece. Everytime I get the urge to fondle one of those lovely little beads I just pull my keyring out and smile at it. Do I want to get addicted to those little purties like I did the links? I think not. I haven't bought one yet. Hopefully I have learned my lesson.

In Poor Taste

this happened a few years ago I have a regular customer and and a good friend named Clifton. He is black and extremely loud and objectionable. But so am I (objectionable that is). The day before MLK day he came into the store being his usual self and as usual customers were cringing all around him. While I was waiting on the other customers, Cliffy (as I affectionately call him) kept asking me if we were going to be closed for MLK day. I ignored him which is not how I usually treat him but I was waiting on other customers. When I finished with my other customers and Cliffy has forgotten about me I hollered at him and said, "Hey Cliffy, of course we are open tomorrow because everybody knows that it's not a real holiday anyway." For the first time in our years long relationship Clifton was speechless. He started to sputter. I couldn't contain myself any longer and burst out laughing. The expression on his face was priceless. He knew I had him. Cliffy has never been speechless in all the years I have known him but he was then. Unfortunately I looked up to see standing in front of me a young, African-American male whom I had never seen before. He was obviously enraged and rightly so. Walking up behind him was a middle aged black lady who said, "I can't believe she just said that!" I knew I was in deep trouble and the silence around me was palpable. The next thing I knew Cliffy was laughing uproariously! He said, "I can always count on you to say the craziest things! That was a good one!" This broke the ice. Everybody started laughing. It was then obvious to the other customers that I was playing a joke on a friend. Needless to say I learned my lesson. Clifton KNEW I was joking but the mistake I made was not making sure the room was empty of strangers before I said it. I learned my lesson.

I Love a Parade

When I was in high school my friends and I decided to build our own float for the homecoming parade instead of helping one of the clubs. We stayed up all night for about a week making those paper flowers out of tissues and covering the top of a Limosine with them. It looked pretty cool and we made signs for the side that said " A Touch of Class".

We took a vote and I won. I got to be the "Wildcat" who rode on top throwing candy to all the kids. Everybody else rode inside the limo during the parade. (there were 13 of us) We had to seal everbody in the limo at my house and then drive to the parade. (so the float would look good, of course) I rode on top of the limosine all the way from my house to Logan (about 5 miles).

Dummy me decided to play a joke on everybody. When we rounded a very sharp curve in West Logan, Delana was driving about 15 mph, I banged on the roof loud once and then a couple of little thumps and screamed like I fell off the top. She slammed on the brakes and I almost really DID fall off! Thankfully I held on.

We had a great time in that parade. The kids loved the candy and my friends loved riding in the limo and I loved riding on top. It was a great day!