Keep Calm and Cruise On

After entering our stateroom for the very first time, and being hit with a wave of.......a smell that should only belong in the bathroom,

  (the shower curtain was discovered as the culprit - it hung right next to the toilet, which apparently had caught a lot of "pee spray" from the previous occupants of the room!),  

we had a wonderful week on the Fowers Family cruise!

Here's a sampling of our "yearbook" (weekbook?):

Port 1: Puerto Vallarta

 {Note: Contrary to what this may look like....we are NOT drinking at the bar!  Well, kind of.}  

My brother, David, and us both got the "non-alcoholic drink card" (unlimited virgin pina coladas, strawberry daquiris, "Miami Vice's," "Bahama Mamas" etc. that we HAD to get from a bar).  Without giving you an exact daily number, let's just say we tried REALLY HARD to get our money's worth each day!!  ;)

Port 2: Mazatlan

Port 3:  Cabo San Lucas

The Crown Princess 

AND....interestingly enough, it was WAY easier to get my 10,000 Fitbit steps each day on the cruise...without really even trying!

It turns out, if you don't have to work your desk job for 6 hrs. a day, you get a lot more steps - and there's no last minute running around the block at 11:50 p.m!  :)

It also helped that you walk up 5 flights of stairs to get breakfast in the morning.

Then walk the same 5 flights back to your room to change into your swim suit.

Then walk to the middle of the ship and up 7 flights to the top deck to be by the pool and catch some rays.  

Then walk 2 flights down and over to the the drink machines to fill up your water bottle (and to the bars to get a "sunrise cooler" smoothie).

Then walk to the middle of the ship to watch a movie on the big outdoor screen.

Then you walk around the Buffet, the Pizzeria, and the Grill to judge who has the best lunch options, and then walk the whole outer edge of the ship trying to find a window table to eat at.

Then you go back to your room because you forgot your a) book, b) water bottle, c) sunscreen, d) pen

Then you go around to all the hang out rooms/areas around the ship, on 3 different decks, to see if there is an open table to play cards at.

And then you walk up 3 flights to your room to get ready for dinner.

Then down 4 flights to the dining room.

Then you walk in and out of the dining room a few times to go to the restroom during your 2 hr. dinner, from the constant water you drink.

Then walk to the very front of the ship for the evening entertainment in the theatre.

Then back to the middle of the ship and up one floor for the game shows.

Then down a couple decks to the lounge where you dance the night away.

And then, finally, walk back up 4 decks and to the back of the ship to your stateroom to retire for the evening!

Oh...It was fun while it lasted (which is never long enough!) but now it's back to reality.  boo hoo.

And we've decided (I think, but I'm not convinced) we'll have to try to be "responsible" and take a sabbatical from cruising for the a while......until the next great "opportunity" arises!  ;)

A Birthday Away From Home

HAPPY BIRTHDAY today to our favorite missionary!!! 

19 years old!

It is his very first birthday without us.  {So, I'm feeling kinda weird!}

To "celebrate" without him, here's a look back...

1 years old

2 years old

3 years old

4 years old

5 years old

6 years old

7 years old

8 years old

9 years old

10 years old

11 years old

12 years old

13 years old

14 years old

15 years old

16 years old

17 years old

18 years old

And TODAY......(the most recent photo I have of him)

He is serving as a full-time missionary for 

The Church of 

JESUS CHRIST 

of Latter-Day Saints 

in the West Virginia Charleston mission.

We have a lot of birthday traditions that I obviously won't be able to do for him this year, so I hope he doesn't mope about missing all of that.  (But, honestly, I don't even remember my own birthday out on my mission!  It might be because it was so long ago ;) OR it might be that it's really not a time when you focus on yourself!??)  

I'm sure he won't even have to worry, he has a WONDERFUL "second family" out there who take such good care of him and are so generous with their time, food, gifts, fun memories they GIVE to him!  

{I'll ALWAYS be so grateful for the Young's and the Heller's!!!} 

I trust he is in good hands! (theirs and Heavenly Father's both!)

Thank goodness for all these other great people who serve, because, there's a high likelihood that he will be transferred tomorrow, and he didn't want to deal with packing up an extra box of birthday stuff I'm sending, so he told me to just mail it to the Mission Home address and then they could forward it to him, whether he stays where he's at or if he gets sent to a new area.  Knowing the USPS, though, and not knowing how quickly mail gets attended to in the Mission Office.......I don't know if he'll get any birthday from home until WELL AFTER his birthday has past!  So anti-climatic. :(

Things I've Heard on the Job #10

Here's another installment of, "On the phones @ jetBlue."


*  (This first one is not something I heard the customer say....it's what she didn't say, but I still heard!)
I answered a call, and I immediately heard this swishing-swooshing CONTINUOUS noise in the background.  It was really obvious and distracting to me.  I had to try hard to concentrate on what the customer was saying instead of wondering WHAT IN THE WORLD that noise was.  Was she sawing wood during the phone call?  The caller made no mention of the noise while we were talking.  Is she pumping breast milk while she talks to me about flights?  She didn't say, "Just a minute while I move to a quieter place." or anything else like that.  Is that her washing machine going in the same room?  She didn't excuse it and she didn't seem to strain to hear over the top of it.  Is it an oxygen machine?  A ventilator?   In fact, she didn't act like she even noticed the noise at all.  Oh my word, is she performing CPR on the dummy - or a real person - during our call?  I can't believe she acted like everything was completely normal; like nothing was happening whatsoever except for her phone call with me.  Because ALL I could think about was that noise!  Does this mystery noise rank right up there with that other unmentionable noise from a few years back?


* [Customers always feel free to carry on conversations with people in the background when they're on the phone with me...]
(Someone in the background started whining/crying)
Customer: "What happened?  Did you hurt your nuts?"
Boy in background:  "No, my knee!"
 

* Me:  "How many customer's will be traveling?"
Customer:  "One.  Just me.  I WISH I had Halle Barry to go with me!"
Later in the phone call.....
Me:  "What is your TrueBlue number?"
Customer:  "I don't know.  I'll have to ask my wife."
Hmmmm.....so he has a wife, but desires to travel with Halle Barry instead?  His wife is good for keeping track of all his pertinent information, but she's not good enough to go on vacation with?


* [A man was booking a flight for he and his wife]
Me:  "What is your wife's date of birth?"
Customer:  "Oh, I don't know.  Do we have to put that on the reservation?  Because she's going to kill me if I ask her!"
Me:  "Yes, it is required information to ticket the flight."
Customer:  "I think it's 1966, she's 47 years old."
Me:  "OK, if she's 47, that would be 1968."
Customer:  "Oh no!  Now she's really going to kill me, for making her older than she is!"


For past "Things I've heard on the job" posts, click HERE.

101 Things to Do with a Treadmill

Probably one of the most well known things to do with a treadmill is this: 

Hopefully, I will put my new one to GOOD USE - in the proper way it was meant to be used, that is!

I shouldn't have this problem because the treadmill's going to be in the "weight room" READ: unfinished room of our basement that currently houses our weight bench and other exercise equipment.  And that happens to be FAR AWAY from my clothes - it'd be a farther trip to the basement - and more effort - to leave my clothes on the treadmill than to just put them away in my closet!  Now, the boys who reside in the basement?.......I can't make any guarantees about where their clothes might end up!

But, here at the Brenchley household, we've found another thing to do with a treadmill.....
WEAR IT ON OUR BACK.
(we always have done things a little differently).
Allow me to explain:
A couple of days ago, when Matt was trying to move the treadmill from the front room down to the basement, he recruited Kyle to help him.
I was sitting at the computer desk minding my own business (actually I was emailing back & forth with Ryan, it was his P-Day) when all of a sudden, Kyle yells, "Mom!  HELP!"
I went down the stairs and found Matt was laying face down on the stairs with the big treadmill box on top of him!  Apparently, the distribution of strength was not equal?  Kyle was standing at the bottom of the stairs just watching, telling me his dad was crunched underneath it!  Kyle claimed he couldn't do much from his position....so, I had to go lift the box off of Matt!

Thinking of other uses for treadmills, THIS memory from two houses ago comes to mind:

{Ryan, circa 1997}
A CLIMB ON TOY FOR TODDLERS.

THIS treadmill didn't get used much because it was a manual one - as in non-electric!  (I KNOW!  What a silly invention, right?!?)  You had to push real hard with your feet to get the belt going, while moving the arm handles.....which meant your speed was never constant.  And sometimes it would stop.  And it was super hard to get it going again...yada, yada, yada!  It was simply too much of a hassle, so it sat ignored by the adults, but it was too irresistible for baby boys to leave alone!!  ;)

While someday I may complete my "treadmill uses book," similar to the idea of this one:

For now, I will share just one more thing to do with a treadmill.

KISS IT.

Back in the day when I went to a real gym to workout, I liked to walk/run on their treadmills.

The only problem was:  so did everyone else, and the availability was a problem.  OPEN treadmills were few and far between at certain times of the day (the time I always happened to be at the gym!)  So, my strategy was to bide my time on the nearby stationary bikes while keeping an eye on the row of treadmills....

THEN, as soon as someone got off, I'd jump off the bike and sprint over to the treadmill to get on it.  And, I had to move fast because sometimes, other gym-goers were lurking in other corners, ready to pounce on an open treadmill, as well.

So, ONE DAY, when I saw a treadmill become open, I rushed over to it....yes! I was the first one there!  And, I hurriedly stepped right on....

And just as quickly, my feet flipped out from underneath me, and my face ended up just inches from the MOVING BELT.  And then I may or may not have let out a little scream!  Just a little one.....that everyone within 50 yards of me heard!

Did you get the picture from my description?  Here, does this help?

Apparently, the previous user had NOT turned the treadmill off, and I, in my haste to secure a rare open treadmill, stepped right on without bothering to check if the belt was still running.  WHO LEAVES THE TREADMILL GOING WHEN THEY'RE DONE WITH IT, ANYWAY?!?

Everyone else was much amused....at my expense.

BUT!  I DID finish my workout, I'm proud to say!

 

Good thing, because the rest of my pride was surely GONE!

Be Mine

We had a great Valentine's Day -- even though it was Friday the 13th that weekend, too!! 
And since it was on a weekend, we spread it out and celebrated dates on both days!  :)

The girls had their Valentine's parties at school on Friday.  I had purchased their valentine cards & treats for their classmates a while ago and they were on a shelf in our storage room.  Well......when I got them out for the girls to sign, one of the boxes had been opened - and 11 of the treats were missing!!!  It seems Brookelle helped herself to some treats whenever she felt like it over the last little while!  I told her I wasn't going to go out and buy more valentine treats since she's the one who caused the problem of not having enough for her whole class now.  She thought for a minute, then informed me she'd decided she would just be EXTRA NICE to some boys in her class as their "treat" from her, instead of giving them a candy to go along with her valentine card.  ;)  That girl is thinkin;! 
And, ya never know, maybe the boys would like that "treat" better anyway?!?

Matt & I went out to Sushi Monster on Friday night

Katelyn got creative with the Valentine's morning breakfast she made me!

Messages for Matt

Matt took me up to Taggart's Grill.  This has been on our "bucket list" but we've never made it happen, yet, because it's out of the way and there's always a wait - not exactly the type of place you can just drop by when you're passing through.  But, we planned to make the journey up there for V-day!  It was kinda weird going on that long drive up the canyon in FEBRUARY and having the sunroof open!  Instead of our surroundings being covered with snow, it was all brown & barren.  Taggart's is a popular place, I tell ya.  We thought we'd miss the crowds by going at 2:00p.m.  Nope!  Still an hour wait, so we went hiking in the hills behind the restaurant while we waited.  (I needed steps for my Fitbit!)  There's many more things on the menu that I want to try, so we'll definitely be back!

Matt surprised me with a new treadmill!

So I won't have trouble getting my steps in the snowy winter......WHAT WINTER this year?  ;)

He had put it in the front room, but I hadn't seen it.  Katelyn kept trying to get me over there.
She'd call me, telling me to "Come here."  Saying she had to show me something, and I told her to just bring it to me!

Then they finally got me to go up the stairs (that are by the front room) but I

didn't even look in that direction.

(They were trying - I was just oblivious!)

Eventually, Matt had to say, "Just go look in the front room!"  ;)

We finished it off with our traditional HEART pizza from Papa Murphy's and red drink with Valentine-y dishes and table (and Cherry Ju-Ju hearts!).  

Then we watched our traditional movie: "Sleepless in Seattle" (Empire State Building on V-Day!) together with the girls.

  (Kyle went to a didn't-go-to-the-school-Valentine-Dance-party instead of hangin' at home with us!)

#LOVEISINTHEAIR

This Weekend:

* Katelyn went to her Annual Valentine's Tea Party with her friends.

(Her friend's grandma, who lives about 50 miles away, has them over every year for this event.

They go in their "Sunday Best,", use REAL porcelain tea cups/dishes to eat/drink from, 

make big hats to wear, do a craft, pamper & primp, 

and come home with a "goodie bag" of sorts!)

Katelyn feels so lucky to always be invited since it is limited to just the # of friends who can fit into their car!

This year, her friend's grandma had made them all CUTE pillow cases!

Do you like how Katelyn was "Valentine-ing it Up" with her heart night gown & heart jammie pants that match so well?  ;)

* We went to the big "RIVALRY GAME" for Kyle's [rec] basketball team.

It was the "Bearcats" vs. the "Rejects" (kids all from the same High School, but on different teams).

It was very serious.  The Bearcats (Kyle's team) put in an extra practice during the week PLUS a "team bonding" hanging out session to get ready for the game.

The Sophomore class was divided; picking sides, either for the Bearcats or for the Rejects

The Bearcats called for a "blackout" game - all their fans were suppose to wear black.

(which was easy enough for me, I have lots of black in my wardrobe!)

 In addition to us parents, their following of "Bearkittens" (girls their age) and the "Bearcubs" (boys their age) turned out in droves to support the Bearcats in the big game.

We're talking posters, painted faces, standing for the whole game, Bearcat "growls," and lots of cheering!

In the end, I think the Bearcats expending all their energy get psyched up (or psyched out?) for the game, and 

didn't have enough left to actually play the game.

The "Rejects" crashed the boards like crazy, and were able to score from their third & fourth chance shots.

The Bearcats lost.

But, they went out together to celebrate - or commiserate - afterwards anyway!

* Matt & I went out to Ruby River Steakhouse afterwards. (we had a coupon!)

There was a wait, but it was OK.  I still needed to get some Fitbit steps in for the day,

so we went walking around the parking lot and neighboring businesses in the meantime.

We were at the restaurant for a while......I ate veeeerrry slowly.  You see, I may or may not 

have been eating cinnamon lips candy lately, and there's an ingredient in 

cinnamon candy/gum that makes my tongue swell, which in turn makes me talk funny and it's hard to move it/eat. ;)

* My sister-in-law invited me to her stake's Women's Conference, so I went.

The guest speaker was Wendy Watson Nelson, wife of Elder Russell M. Nelson.

There were a few things that were impressionable to me that I have already shared many times with others.

She is the author of a book, What Would a Holy Woman Do?

(I'm going to check out the "book on CD" from the library!)

She also had us all stand up and recite, out loud, a portion from Elder Holland's General Conference talk he gave in October 2012.  She had us insert our own name instead of the name, “Peter,” who Christ was responding to, in Elder Holland’s nonscriptural elaboration.)

“What I need, Peter (your name), are disciples—and I need them forever. I need someone to feed my sheep and save my lambs. I need someone to preach my gospel and defend my faith. I need someone who loves me, truly, truly loves me, and loves what our Father in Heaven has commissioned me to do. Ours is not a feeble message. It is not a fleeting task. It is not hapless; it is not hopeless; it is not to be consigned to the ash heap of history. It is the work of Almighty God, and it is to change the world. So, Peter (your name), for the second and presumably the last time, I am asking you to leave all this and to go teach and testify, labor and serve loyally...”

It really was impactful to me.  And it was inspiration for a Relief Society presentation that I am currently preparing for.  I have been asked to speak on the topic of "Hastening the Work of the Lord" in an upcoming meeting, and I just think I might use this little bit!!  ;)

* Matt & I had a "date" at the plasma donation center.  Matt & I ended up on the same row, but a few beds down from each other, and the phlebotomis saw me wave & talk to him a bit.  

He asked me if I knew him, and I replied, "Ya, and I kinda LIKE him, too!"  ;)  

Then we went out to lunch at Nielsen's Frozen Custard. (we had a coupon!)

* After a break (3 months) due to the holidays of not doing private dates with our children,

we finally started up again and it was Haylee's turn.

She chose her favorite Gluten Free pizza - David's Pizza.

But, there's no seating there (it's just pick up & delivery), so we got hers from there,

and then went down a few doors to Big Daddy's Pizza (where they do have seating AND we had a coupon!) and

ordered mine & Matt's pizza, so we'd be able to eat at their tables.

Then she wanted to go shopping at the D.I.  - don't be jealous!  ;)

 She LOVES finding $0.50 treasures!

AND we found some brand new, with-the-store-tags-still-on clothes for all of us!

We finished off by going to Menchies. (we had a coupon!)

* Churchy-Church on Sunday.

We had a Missionary Homecoming, which was great.  The returned missionary

was someone who was in Young Men's when I was serving in Young Women's.

He's gone and come home already?  Wasn't that just the other day? 

Time flies......when it's someone else's child!  :)  haha.

*  We had our New Beginnings in the evening for Haylee & all the Young Women.

They did such a good job!  It's so different (& nice!) to just be part of the audience and not

be in charge of it.  I thought it was way better and cuter than the ones we did....probably because I could really sit back and enjoy it - unlike the last three years when I was IN YW!  ;)

Look how adorable our "cruise ticket" (program for the evening) was:

 {front}

{back}

The mutual theme for this year is D & C 4:2, "Oh, ye that EMBARK in the service of God...."

so they pretended we were aboard a "ship" for the evening.

That video presentation can be viewed HERE.

There are GREAT YW leaders now, it's good for everyone to change it up!  

* Finished the weekend (like I always do these days) by writing my letter to Ryan on his mission,

while "Talkin' Sports" was on T.V. in the next room.

Combatting the Winter BLUES

The Missionary Care Package I did for January was BLUE.

He likes to open them on his "click date" (the 27th) and I thought I still had several days, but then I realized the few days before his "click date" was a weekend when mail isn't delivered, so I had to do it really fast all in one morning.  I literally bought the stuff at the store, took the picture in the parking lot, filled the box, then drove it to the post office.
So you get really nice backgrounds this time for these photos!!

{The contents}

Why the 2,000 Flushes? (well, it is "BLUE plus bleach!")  And because I REALLY AM afraid of those Elders' bathroom conditions!!

Disney's Frozen cereal?  (well, it BLUE, as well!)  Also, "Frozen" was the last movie his 1st companion had seen before leaving out on his mission in Jan. '14, so that is the movie that got quoted by the two of them together, so that makes it a bit fun.

{The packed and ready-to-ship box}

The four flaps say:

"You are a BLUE ribbon missionary!"

"Our life would be BLUE without you!!"

"You're the 'BLUE-eyed boy' of the Brenchley family! (and our Heavenly Father's)"

"Keep teaching the Gospel 'til you're BLUE in the face!"  :)

Ryan, actually guessed that it would be WHITE this month, probably because of Winter and the snow......but, NO! That wasn't on my mind.

The SNOW is where he is in West Virginia, NOT here in Utah (see the grass showing in my great photo background, at the side of the parking lot?)  A WHITEOUT is not something I have seen for a month!  (Very UNUSUAL for Utah this time of year!)

Links to past care packages:

December

November

October

September

It Owns Me

Ever since I started wearing my new Fitbit (first full day was Dec. 26) I HAVE to get my 10,000 steps a day.
 
If it is 11:00 p.m. and I haven't yet achieved my steps, I will "sneak out" to go walking around the neighborhood to get them.  Apparently, the first time I did this, someone at home "needed" me (WHEN don't they need me?) and they couldn't find me, and no one knew where I was, and mayhem broke loose.  When I returned, Matt requested I please inform them in the future if I am going out.....ya know, in case something happens to me.  Like what?!?  Get abducted by aliens up the street?!?
If the day is almost over, and I don't have my steps AND we're experiencing inclement weather, I will pace back & forth on our covered porch.  Or run up & down the stairs.  Or do laps in our garage.
If I'm thirsty and need a drink of water, I STOP myself from asking someone else to get it for me......because if I get up and get it myself, that tacks on several extra steps.
If I need something while I'm making dinner from the cold storage room in the basement,  I don't call for Kyle anymore like I always used to......I want the steps myself!
It's no longer one of my kid's jobs to go and get the mail.....because if I get it, I know that's another 250 steps!

I'm telling you - I'm a SLAVE to this Fitbit.
I WILL NOT let myself NOT get my 10,000 steps a day.
EVERY day.
EVEN on the weekend.
If I let myself go just one day without getting my steps, then it'll just be easier to go another day, and then another, and another.....and I DON'T want that to happen!

 (BTW, it says 0 on the water because I would have to manually enter it in....and I don't.  I just like the Fitbit to crunch all the numbers for me.)  

I mostly wanted to start doing it for health & fitness, but ya know what's ALSO happened?  That was a pleasant surprise? 

I'm spending MORE TIME with my family and children!  The kind of TIME where I'm really WITH them.

Because I'll ask if anyone wants to go out and walk with me - and someone usually does.  Katelyn & I just walk & talk about her favorite subject - The Pioneer Woman (she's the one who "introduced" me to the Fitbit in the first place).....and then Katelyn asks when we can do that again!  ;)

Matt has decided he has to protect me against those "aliens," so he'll come out walking with me at night and we walk & talk.

One day, I needed a bunch of steps, so Brookelle, Katelyn, & I went up to our church.  I thought we'd just do laps around the church, but, NO, they had a grand idea to play "Tag."  So I obliged.  We were up there all night.....or at least an hour!  And I was "It" the majority of the time! (Because I kept getting caught!)  They LOVED it and didn't want to quit, even though I kept "suggesting" we did. (my bladder can only take so much "Tag!")  Again, Katelyn repeatedly asks when we can do that again! 

I ask her, "WHY?" 

And she tells me, "It was so fun." 

And I say, "Really?!?  'Cause I totally stunk at it."  

And she says, "No, you didn't.  You were really good.  You can run fast.....for a Mom your age!" 

And I say, "No......you always tagged me, and I couldn't catch you very much."

And she said, "THAT'S why it was so fun!"

Instead of driving my child to her friend's house to play, I walk her over there......and then I walk back when it's time to come home.  And Brookelle talks my ear off the whole way.

Same goes for getting Katelyn to Activity Days.

I'm also walking to the school after school to meet my girls and walk home with them (& their friends - gotta take advantage of that while it's still happening).  I heard Katelyn explaining to one of her friends, "Ya know how some moms pick their kids up from school and give them a ride home?  Well, our mom picks us up from school and then makes us walk home!"



I'm liking this "by-product" of my Fitbit (more time spent together with my fam) that I didn't realize would be one of the results.  My family is all on board with the idea.  They will frequently ask where I'm at for the day - and WANT me to accomplish my 10,000 every day.  Good thing, because my obsession dedication would exist with or without their support. ;)  I love it!

I ALSO overheard Katelyn tell one of her friends, "My mom has a Fitbit, and she HAS to get 10,000 steps a day.  She's going to do that EVERY day until my brother gets home from his mission, and then she's going to be SKINNY!"

Oh, WOW!  The pressure's ON!

They're Barking Up the Wrong Tree

WHY did we receive this magazine in the mail this week?

And WHY have we previously received two other issues of this same magazine before this one, too?
At first I thought it was a one-time sample that we sometimes get of various magazines, but, NO, it looks like it's now a regular delivery.

We have no interest in "How to enjoy wine."

We don't order wine when we dine out.

You won't find any wine in our home.

We don't pair wine with our chocolate.

We aren't even wine drinkers.

In fact, we decidedly abstain from alcohol of any kind.

That's why I just shake my head in confusion when these arrive in the mail....and ask, "WHY?!?"

Someone sure got their "customer profiling" wrong.  Dead wrong.

A real case of misdirected "marketing."

They need to study our "shopping trends" a bit more carefully next time.
Now, magazines about Ranch, Hershey's products, or Cherry Ju Ju hearts would be much more productive/enticing with us!  ;)

Gone With the Wind

Here is a conversation that went on in our neighbor's house when they looked out their window towards our yard the other morning and saw this:

Wife:  "Why do the Brenchley's have a clump of stuff all arranged in that one spot of their yard?"
Husband:  "There used to be a shed there!"

Shortly afterwards, I got a text from our her.
Neighbor:  "What happened to your shed?"
Me:  "It was obliterated!"

The crazy thing was, we only found two [broken] pieces of it in our yard.  Did it disappear?  So where did it all go?

Well, another neighbor (who live two houses over in our cul-de-sac) will tell you it all went in their back yard (at least four bigger-ish pieces).

But, THAT wasn't all of it......

And as I've been doing my walks (for my Fitbit steps) around the neighborhood, I have found several other pieces in various sizes, small to large, all over the place!

Now we've had to move everything into our garage (boo hoo!) which also sustained terrible damage to it's door from the wind, as well.  (It's nonfunctional!)

Is it possible to have P.T.S.D. just from hearing the wind?  After what happened three years ago to our old home, too!

 The basketball standard [even with water in it's base to weigh it down] couldn't remain upright through it all, either!

#weliveinawindtunnel