Finally gettin' around to commenting on my last poll ☺

In case you haven't already noticed I have put up a new poll. My latest questionnaire comes compliments of the Wii Poll channel. ☺ Can you believe that there is an entire channel devoted to polling questions? I have a difficult time thinking up one poll let alone many. I suppose it helps when you have literally millions of people contributing ideas. The channel's concept is simple: they present you with a question, you click your choice, then you get another question. That's it. And it's popular, too. ☺

My last poll was about sports. I asked how much of a sports participant were you. All-time gamer? Casual player? Just a fan? Here's how things laid out:

• uh....I just now noticed that my poll results have been deleted from my computer's desktop. Guess I'm wingin' it!
• I know how I voted, and I chose "casual player". I think about 5 others chose this option as well. I like to play volleyball, badminton, and table tennis, and David and I have fun tossing a baseball around to each other while we listen to the Twins game. But as for participating on a team? No way; too much pressure. Plus I'm just a mediocre player, and that's the truth.
• My sister-in-law told me AFTER my poll was complete that she would have voted that she "owned sports", even while pregnant. (She missed the poll.) She would have been the only person who felt that way, although I think that Leah--if she voted--should have picked this as well. She bats .400!
• One lone voter said they didn't play sports. I hear ya, Voter. If this was a poll about exercise I would be writing, "Do trips back and forth from the fridge count as exercise?" I can't stand exercising, and sports are exercise. I try not to think of that while I play. ;-)

Happy voting!

**** Editor's note: I found my poll results! There were right there on my desktop. ☺ Silly me!

While the storms raged outside...

...my girls were busy coloring and painting inside.

Last night we went to my mom's house for supper. Dave told me before we left that we were in a tornado watch. Pa-shaw I thought. Nothing will happen. We'll be fine. Well, much to my chagrin the storms DID come! The sky turned to black as night, and the clouds rumbled for an hour non-stop. The lightning was incredible, and it hailed, too. The girls were a little frightened, but I calmly reminded them that Grandma's brick house has stood for 130 years worth of storms, and it will probably make it through this one as well. (A fact that my husband had to gently remind ME of regarding OUR house. ☺)

I love how Abby holds a pencil/pen/marker. Right from the beginning she has gripped it like an adult would. It's so cute to me!

After the storm had mostly passed and the sun came back out Dave took me for a ride on the four wheeler so we could check out the flooding between my mom's house and her neighbors'. It rained 3.5 inches in an hour.

While were were riding we noticed that the sky looked lit up in an odd way. I snapped a couple of pictures. It seemed to be glowing off to the east. Then we noticed the DOUBLE rainbow that was surrounding the glowing sky. It was truly majestic!

8 year-old milestone

Paige has been asking me for a few years now if she could get her ears pierced. I told her that when she turned 8 she could do it. I wanted getting her ears pierced to be kind of a special milestone in her life. (Why I picked age 8 I don't know.) Now when Paige's birthday came around she and I had both forgotten about my promise for her to get her ears pierced. Paige reminded me a week later, and I told her we'd do it soon. Well Monday night we went to nearby Mankato to shop at the large mall, and while we were there we saw a jewelry shop with a sign in the window advertising free ear piercing. Daddy said "yes", so Paige got her ears pierced! She didn't cry or seem nervous, but I held her hands just in case. Her eyes got very wide after the first ear was done. After the piercing was complete the clerk gave Paige a bag with cleaning solution inside, and the bag said "just got my ears pierced". Paige carried that bag around happily with the words out so all could see. It was an exciting and special night for her. ☺

Paige's birthday 6-6-10

For Paige's 8th birthday she had a swimming party. She and 6 friends + Emma went to our local indoor pool and frolicked in the shallow end and the hot tub. My nephew and I braved the slides. It was very fun! After swimming we came back to our house to have cake and open gifts. I always let the girls choose the cake decor, and Paige choose a cake with a fake ipod on it. ☺ Paigey received lots of crafts for her birthday, and she has been steadily creating ever since. She also was given several chapter books, and I've been overjoyed to find her curled up in the living room reading at odd times during the day. I so hope she and Emma are bookworms like me. ☺

Which way do you thread your belt?

Thanks to all who voted on my last poll. Judging by the results I guess it doesn't matter if you're left-handed or not: most people who wear belts thread them to the left. Maybe I don't have to consciously insert Emma's belt to the right now.

• 9 votes to the left
• 1 to right
• 1 person doesn't wear a belt

I have come to a crossroads with my polls. I feel like my ideas have been exhausted. So in an effort to vamp up my blog I am asking you for ideas. If you have any thoughts for good poll questions leave me a comment. ☺ Until then, "enjoy" my latest poll about athleticism.

As seen around New Ulm

I've seen some odd things around our town; things that, as my old History teacher used to say, "make you go 'Hmmm...'".
Seen around town while it was raining:

• A boat being washed at the car wash
• Sprinklers watering the soccer fields
• A garden being watered with a sprinkler
• Me carrying a pathetic-looking broken umbrella ☺
• Clothes on my neighbor's clothesline. This happens so often that I felt compelled to write about it. Does the rainwater help their clothing? I guess they think so because if it starts to rain they won't take their clothes off the line; they leave them out to get soaked.

Seen around town when it was 75° at 10 in the morning:

• A lady mowing her lawn wearing denim jeans and tennis shoes. Okay, not so odd. But she was also wearing 2 shirts -- a sweatshirt over a turtleneck. (The daytime high was going to be over 80°.)

Seen around town when it was only 40° (and it wasn't going to get any warmer):

• Clothes on both my neighbors' clotheslines. I think my two neighbors have a competition going to see who can be the first person to hang their clothes outside in the Spring. Why does this bother me? Because then I feel like I too ought to be hanging out MY clothes. *snarl* I want to be lazy and use my dryer! ☺

More Memorial Day pictures

Memorial Day and other business ☺

I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day. The cemetery was decorated very nicely. The city always puts up a very large wreath on top of the "Dough boy" (the statute of the WWI soldier), and there were flags everywhere. The girls were asking me why Lukey didn't get a flag. They are very sweet. 

We went to my mom's for the afternoon. Before we left I snapped a few pictures of the girls with my phone. Emma was being quite patriotic in the first picture. Her shirt said "U.S.A.", and even her sandals were red, white, and blue.

This is a picture of the yummy snack spread that my mom and brother had prepared for us. I sat around eating for quite awhile. ☺

After I snacked too much my brothers, David, and I spent hours playing baseball. We didn't actually have a game; we just took turns batting, pitching, and fielding. It was so much fun! Except I nailed my brother not once but twice in the stomach while I was batting. :-/ Whoops!

After batting practice we enjoyed a delicious supper of steaks on the grill and a fruit bowl. And mom made banana bread for dessert.

*****

In other news we finished school for the year. Yay! Our last day of actual lessons was last Friday. On Thursday Paige's yearly test arrived. I decided we'd do that yesterday. Now, this is the first year that we have had to do annual testing, and I admit I was a little leery. But after I glanced through the test itself I thought to myself This is going to be breeze. It'll only take us, like, 2 hours. Those of you who have done these yearly tests before will think me a real dunce head right about now. ☺ We started that test yesterday at 12:30, and we didn't finish until 7:30. Admittedly we took several breaks, but the test itself took for sure 4 hours. Afterwards I received an email from a friend, and it said, "Did you get all the testing done in one day? I always spread it out over a week." *laughing to myself* Live and learn, right? Next year I will know that we will need to set aside at least 2 days for testing.

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I have a big complaint lately, and it's one word, one syllable, and it rhymes with that, fat, mat, cat, bat, sat...you get the picture: GNATS! Oh man, have they been awful this year. I remember last summer that the bugs didn't seem to be too bad. But now this year they have been mauling us whenever we go outside. I am reminded of a scene from Lord of the Rings when the Hobbits are traveling with Stryder, and they have to go through marshland. The bugs are bothering them all so terribly that Merry quips, "What do they eat when they don't get Hobbit?" I feel your pain, Merry. I really do.

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I have posted a new poll for those who are interested. The results of my last poll were that 4 people put their pants on with their left leg first, and 10 put their right leg first. After I had posted my poll and people had voted a friend pointed out that I didn't leave any room for people who jumped in both feet at the same time. ☺ Funny! No, I had forgotten about that. I didn't even think that someone would do that. So, if you were a two-feet-at-a-time person I apologize for not accommodating you. =)

My next poll is related to my last. I have noticed that when I thread my belt I always thread it through the left. Since my daughter Emma is left-handed I try to remember to thread hers through the right. I assumed that was how things were done -- you thread a belt based upon which hand you use. But in the interest of being sure I am conducting a poll.

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That is all from bug-central, I mean my house. Have a great week!