We have experienced a monthly low rain average. It was a wonderful night seeing this moon. Notice the ring around the moon? The ring is an Old Wives’ Tale. The old wives’ tale about a ring around the moon is that it signifies rain is coming soon. Kevin’s father had said this many times throughout Kevin’s childhood. After searching the internet, the ring, called a lunar halo, is usually caused by high cirrus clouds which often precede a storm system. The next day we did get much needed rain!
Have you ever seen such a ring?
Have a wonderful week!
Take Care. Best wishes, Debra
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Pictures can produce so many different emotions and feelings. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words! Share your fun and interesting image from the past week.
Hi! This just happened about 15 minutes ago, a revelation. You know you are a redneck when you use a Shopvac to vacuum your living room. Do you know what a Shopvac is? It’s typically used commercially. Kevin uses these on his construction jobs. We are hosting our family Thanksgiving tomorrow (Saturday). Of course I wait until the very last to do my final cleaning. The weather has been just cold enough at night, we have started using the wood stove. If you burn wood, you probably know just how dirty it can get. Kevin brought the Shopvac in for me to use. It did a fabulous job. Even worked great on collecting the dust from the drapes!
Pulling out the arsenal!
Here’s to a Thanksgiving full of family, friends and many blessings!
Hi, welcome to Gma’sPhoto ge•ner•ic Linkup Party #54!
This Party’s Theme is Generic.
Each Friday a new ge•ner•ic Linkup Party will open and end the following Thursday. Link up anyfamily friendly post, health, diy, recipes, home decor, parenting, wordless, crafts, sewing, you get the idea.
Important things to know:
-You may add up to three family friendly blog post links, linked to specific blog posts.
-Please say hi & add your link post number when commenting below.
-Those leaving post entry numbers are eligible to be featured at the next party!
-Be sure to visit other links and leave a kind comment for each link you post.
-Party opens Friday and ends Thursday.
-Thank you for participating. Have fun!
By linking to Gma’sPhoto Party LinkUp, you give permission to share your post and images on Gma’sPhoto blog and social media. Proper credit with a photo and link back will be provided.
Let’s begin the fun at Gma’sPhoto ge•ner•ic Linkup Party #54!
Hello. Yes, it’s official; I am a certifiedStudent Delivery Specialist! I am thrilled to be able to pick up and deliver students to and from school 🙂 Today’s post will be rather lengthy, bear with me.
The past 10 weeks has been a bit fearful and wonderful. That’s right. You may wonder how it can be both at the same time. Let me explain.
I honestly thought career wise I was working where I would retire. My husband plans on retiring a second time in 3 years and I would like to retire as well. I, on the other hand, will need to wait 5 years. Insurance is a huge consideration. Sixty five is the magic number for me to be able to receive/qualify for Medicare. Working from home for a company that contracted with the state for childcare is not an easy job, very stressful. I kept saying I wish I could work part time. One day while driving past the school there was this huge sign posted, bus drivers needed.
That’s all it took. I called and inquired. Benefits included: Part-time; Major medical premiums paid; Holidays and Summer off; a Pay raise and a Company vehicle. I applied and got the job. All I needed to do was a Dept of Transportation physical and of course get a CDL. If you are interested, here is the online handbook I needed to study and then pass a written test.
First was the physical. One of the questions asked was about sleep. Of course I admitted to having a CPAP machine. Keep in mind I had not been using it. During my exam, the practitioner stated I would need to provide at least a three month report of CPAP usage. From the appointment date, three months would be middle November. A blow to my plans. So I asked the director of transportation (my boss) if I could do something while I worked on the required report. Her answer was absolutely. I actually began working for the school district as a para for the special ed buses. With this information, I provided my two week notice to the childcare employment. This is when the ‘fear’ factor presented itself.
Instead of being paid every other week, it would be once monthly. My first check would only be two weeks. That’s spooky in itself! My husband was very supportive and we worked that through. Then I had to study for the test. At this time I was studying on my own for the permit. The written text consisted of a general test, passenger test and then school bus test. Each test could be taken for a total of 4 times. If you could not pass, then you would need to wait six months to take the test again. It took me four times to pass the general test. The first three was taken at the Lawrence drivers license office. My trainer helped me study and instructed me to go to the Topeka office, requesting a written test. The other times it was done on a computer and I thought if I skipped a question it was an automatic wrong mark. The test was 50 questions and could not miss more than 10. Each time the test was different and I had missed 11. The day came for me to take the test for the fourth time. I was very anxious. Took the general test and passed, only missing two questions. Took the next two and passed them the first time.
The next few weeks I was preparing for the skills test. This included knowing the vehicle under the hood and the inside and outside of the bus, motor parts and light functions. After mastering backing the bus, pulling forward, parallel parking and demonstrating what to do when picking/dropping students off at bus stops, when approaching train tracks and a few other situations, it was time to go for the skills test. Luckily the lady who assisted me the day of my written tests was the one who was my skills examiner.
The day I became an official student delivery specialist!
The wonderful. I work part time. This has been so amazing! I actually felt a bit guilty for not working more. There will be times when I will drive field trips, like the one coming up on Dec 7th. It’s a Saturday, I will be taking the wrestling team to a meet. It will be a full day and the whole day I will get paid 🙂 My boss said end of February, March and April there will be many field trips for all three schools, grade, middle and high school. For now I am wanting to take the extra trips. When Kevin does retire, then I will go back to just the 20 hours. I am a social butterfly and the human interactions is important to me.
This week there is no school Nov 24-29. I have never had this much time off for Thanksgiving! The downside, students have had the cold and pneumonia and I now have the cold. It’s been nice hanging out at home, eating chicken noodle soup and watching movies. Our Thanksgiving with the family will be Saturday. I should be over my cold by then.
After driving the students for the past two weeks, I can tell you stories of what happens on the bus routes. Parents beware, your kid may be a little angel at home but……… 👼
I absolutely love being a Student Delivery Specialist. The kids are angels. Just keep in mind if they come home and tell you a story about the bus driver doing a break check, it’s not a break check! They do not see everything the driver sees. I drive many country gravel roads and it’s deer rutting season. 🙂
What to Wear will feature different palettes providing ideas when you plan the wardrobe for individual pictures or your family images during the holiday gatherings.
What to Wear | November 2 features ideas for all family members: mom; dad; big brother; big sister and little brother and little sister. Have fun preparing your stylish look for family pictures!
It is not necessary to purchase new clothing for better images. When planning the wardrobe, do wash and dry the clothing. Immediately after drying, hang the clothes on a hanger. Or iron, if you like. The main goal is wrinkle free clothing.
Shoes do not need to be new either. New shoe laces is an inexpensive purchase to spruce up the look. Polishing leather or washing canvas shoes is another solution to brighten their appearance.
Have the socks match either the pants or shoes. This is important for anyone who may be sitting or squatting in the group. Imagine if the pants are navy blue, shoes white and you see bright green socks. Very distracting. Your eyes will go straight to the green socks and not the person’s face! However, if the socks were either white (matching shoes) or navy blue (matching pants), your eyes will flow over the person and land on the face/eyes of the person in the picture.
Each Friday a new ge•ner•ic Linkup Party will open and end the following Thursday. Link up any family friendly post, health, diy, recipes, home decor, parenting, wordless, crafts, sewing, you get the idea. 
