Hometown Happenings

Most of my weekends have been spent lately with our respite boys but we actually have a weekend off and are going back to our hometown. I can't remember if I said it before but my husband and I are both from the same area we actually graduated high school together. We were high school sweet hearts if you want to call it that; we have been together since we were junior. I grew up in a town of about 780 people and he grew up in a town of 300-400 people so everyone knows everyone pretty much. Anyway back to what we are actually going back for this weekend. Every year their is a group called the Parish Players that do a different play every year. Sometimes its scary , sometimes its a love story but you can bank on it being extremely funny every year. Also just because they are called the Parish Players don't assume the play is only about God or really anything related to church. They are only called that because well most of the people go to church there and they have the play in the gym of the Catholic school. I think they have been doing the plays for at least 15-20 years I'm not exactly sure but it is a memory I have from every year I was in school. They do a practice play for the school kids from the public and Catholic schools on the Thursday before they actually do the play for the public; kind of like a dress rehearsal. Then they have the play on Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday morning after church. For the past 5-10 years my parents have been helping so I get a little behind the scenes look and its pretty fun! My dad was actually in the play for about 3-4 years I think it was. And if you would know my dad he love to have fun and joke around and everyone in our little town and then ones around us know my dad. So the first year he was in the play he was a mystery person and by person i mean OLD LADY! He was a verity of other characters in the plays after that. I think he was a lady a couple other years and i know he was a sheriff one year but since he started tour guiding he decided to take a more off stage job. Now he talks everyone into buying raffle tickets and man is he good at that! He talks to everyone that comes though the gym door and their isn't many that don't at least buy one ticket. Then there are those generous people that buy $10-$20 worth of tickets and that's when a couple of other ladies and I come into play. We get to fill out all of the tickets for the people that buy a large amount of tickets. And I thought taking notes in my classes are a lot of writing!:) The gym is packed every night and not many of the people only buy one ticket! It does go for a good cause though! Everything they raffle is donated so the money goes back to the school which is greatly needed! And no I didn't go to this school I went to the public school but I had a lot of friends that went to this school. We never even went to church their either my parents just like to help and have a lot of friends in the community so they get pulled into doing a little bit of everything. Now you might be wondering what my mom does with the play. Well she is a big part of the play but no one will really ever see her! She does the makeup for most of the performers. With out the makeup you wouldn't be able to see the expressions as easily and for some you wouldn't be able to tell they are old or pending on the play you may not be able to tell what their character is supposed to be. So even though no one will really see my mom she is a very vital part of the play. They have had a lot of people in and out of the play but their are a few of the original people left and most of them are the ones that really make the plays exciting! This year however one of the people that have been in the play for a few years and does a great job at making everyone laugh wont be able to be in the play. Just this past Monday he was changing a fuse and it exploded. They had to take him to Madison and he will have to stay in the burn unit while the play goes on. But as I said it is a very small community so I am sure everyone at the play will be thinking about him and hoping he gets well soon. He had burns to his hands and face. Anyway back to the play, I am very excited to be going back for it again this year not only do I just love seeing the plays but I also get to see a lot of old friends that I don't get to see a whole lot anymore. If nothing more the play for one weekend a year really brings our community together for some good somewhat clean:) fun! And also bring people back to the community if only for the weekend! I hope you liked hearing a little about our community and maybe next week in my blog I will tell you a little about the play I am going to see this weekend. Normally I know a little about it but this year it is a surprise to me where as I don't even know the name.

WASH AFTER YOU FLUSH

Well the past few weeks I have been noticing something a lot lately that just really grosses me out!!! The fact that there are some people out there that don't wash their hands after going to the bathroom! Especially when that person is supposed to be cooking food for others! I think I would just feel dirty if I didn't wash my hands. I mean really it doesn't take that long to put some soap on your hands and scrub them then rinse them off. I was at a bar/restaurant the other night and walked into the bathroom as this other lady walked out off her stall so I moved to the side a little so she could get to the sink but she didn't she just walked out the door. I kind of looked and was like really! I really thought that at least most girls washed their hands. But then when i got done WASHING MY HANDS and went back out I noticed the same lady sitting at the end of the bar and I commented to my husband that she didn't wash her hand and how gross it would be if she was cooking peoples food and little did I know she got up a couple minutes later and went behind the bar to take some french fries out. I was so glad I wasn't eating there and I will not eat there if she is cooking! I guess it's just such a simple thing that I can't believe it is really that hard to do especially if you are cooking other peoples food. Even the kids at the daycare I help out at know how to wash their hands. Even the ones that don't know how to use the pottie yet know how to wash their hands. Sometimes they need to be reminded but they are kids not adults. They know you flush, wash, dry and turn off the light. Another thing that bugs me about bathroom habits is when guys leave the toilet seat up. Really please just put it down. I do respite care and one boy just doesn't get it. We even have one of those seats that if you just start putting it down it will go by itself. And with our respite boy you would think he would realize its so much easier to put it down before you leave the bathroom instead of having to go back in to do it. I don't mean to sound mean about it but both things are really not that had to do and not washing your hands is just gross and can make you or others sick. So please WASH AFTER YOU FLUSH. :)

Warmer weather! I CAN'T WAIT!

I am so excited that the weather is changing! I am very ready for it to be nice out again and today I say my first robin of the year so that is giving me hope! I help my sister with daycare sometimes and it will be so nice to get the kids out side and actually do more exercising other then playing little games in the house and dancing. Sometimes we do an aerobic exercise tape for kids but with the ages we have its a little hard to do! I also think that they will all be in much better moods once we can get out almost everyday again and I know I will feel better and be much more awake. There is so much more to do out there for them and we can walk to the park. Not to mention they sleep better with the fresh air in them! Not only will it be nice for the daycare kids but it will be nice for our very hyper black lab! I feel bad for him in the winter because he really wants to run and play outside but he is a big baby when it gets cold and doesn't like to stay out in it for very long. So now that it is getting warmer we can start taking him to the park again to play with other dogs and to just run around and get that energy out! He will also be able to go swimming again which he loves to do and it is so much fun to watch him do! I am also looking forward to playing softball again this summer! Last year I played four nights a week and two games on Mondays so i was pretty busy. As of right now it looks like I will be pretty much just as busy which is totally ok with me but it kind of depends on if we get foster kids and how many we will have. My husband plays a lot too. Last year he played 5 nights a week twice on Mondays and Fridays sometimes and on some weekends. This year he might not play quit at much during the weekend but I think they are getting into more tournaments on weekends which is ok with me because I was raised at the ball park and love being at the park. It also works out because some of the parks we can take our dog which he loves the attention! It will also be nice for when we have respite kids we can walk to a park from our house or just go play in the back yard! We are also looking forward to maybe taking some of those kids camping which i haven't done in a long time! Oh and then there is swimming one of my favorite things to do! I can't wait to take my niece and nephew swimming a lot again this year. So if you can't tell I am really looking forward to the warm weather but I have a feeling it is going to go WAY to fast!