Double Dipping

We went out to my in-laws for a few days this week to hang out and trick or treat.  I thought I was being really smart by heading to Ashland for trick or treating (which was Thur in Ashland) because I thought I would miss trick or treat here on Friday.  Wrong!  Trick or treat in Lexington is on Sunday (I know, I know, I'm surprised too.) which means that I have two choices.  I can A) make the kids stay in the house while I answer the door and hand out candy, or B) let them go again.  I guess I could C) turn off the lights and not answer the door but that seems so wrong; especially since my kids have already been once this year.  So I guess we'll go again.  Maddie is actually spending a couple of days in Ashland with Nana and Gramps so the big girls are excited about covering some major ground on Sunday night.  I, however, am making sure I have enough freezer bags to bag up all this candy coming into my house.  We'll be eating Halloween candy until Easter.

Wanna Be Smarter?

Then read something!  Why not start with my homeschool blog?  Check it out at http://thehallsgettingschooled.blogspot.com.  I promise I will post the link for "Getting Schooled" on this blog over to the side as soon as I get smart enough to figure it out.

A True Southern Lady

We've been in Lexington about 2 weeks now and we're finally showing signs of settling into a routine.  The kids and I made it through one day (and yes, it was just one day) last week without anyone losing control and having a meltdown, including myself.  This is a rarity at any time, but especially after moving into a new environment.  I had a little rite of passage this weekend because I went down to the Kroger and got my Kroger card.  Now Kroger in the south is like Hy-vee is in the Mid-west.  There's one on every corner.  In fact, there is a Kroger .25 miles from our house.  I'd already been in there a few times and when I checked out they would always ask me for my Kroger card.  I would have to whisper to the checkout girl that I didn't have one and then see the look of shock on her face.  See, no self respecting southern woman of my age or older would walk around without having their Kroger card attached to their key ring or in their purse.  Even when I would visit KY and go to Kroger they would ask me for my mother's phone number so they could use her Kroger card for my purchases.  I even got one for Byron so he can run up to Krogers and not have to suffer the humiliation of not having a Kroger card.  So now that I've got that out of the way maybe I can tackle more important things like finalizing my renter's insurance and getting a new driver's license.  Actually, I can probably get that done at Krogers too.  

Note:  You might have noticed that I wrote "Krogers" in the story instead of the store's given name, "Kroger".  This is because I've never hear anyone called it "Kroger".  Since I could talk everyone has called it "Krogers" or "the Kroger".  Except for Byron who calls it K-Roger.  You can't really go by him because the whole time we lived in Iowa he called Hy-vee "the hive".  Sigh....

Go Upward Go!

Well, this post is a long time coming.  Kendall started cheerleading in August and I'm just now posting about it.  Good grief!  I wanted to post pictures but I had packed up all the USB cables and just now found one.  We must have 30 USB cables so I don't know why it was so hard to find.  Okay, on with Kendall.  We joined a sporting group this year called Upward Sports.  If you don't know about Upward Sports check it out here www.upward.org.  Kendall decided to do cheerleading for the football teams.  Well the first game it was so windy!!  The girls were freezing.  The second game was windy and raining and we were sent home.  The third game was rainy and the girls stayed to cheer but not picture weather.  Finally, her last game was sunny enough that I could take pictures.  So here she is with the squad.  So stinkin' cute.

Ale-8-One

I wasn't in Kentucky for 2 hours before I had my first Ale-8-One.  Some of you just went "huh?"  Ale-8-One is a soft drink made and sold in KY and usually only in KY.  Some of it might find it's way into TN on another neighboring state, but it's home belongs right here.  Ale-8-One or "a late one" is bottled in Winchester, KY (I didn't know that, I had to look it up.) and it is so yummy.  It tastes like a mix of ginger ale and mountain dew.  It comes in cans but it usually still sold in a bottle.  I love to drink one and drop salted peanuts into the bottom of the bottle.  Then you can suck the peanuts out of the bottle after they've soaked up all that soda goodness.  It turns out they even have a website with recipes on it!  Guess what will be heavily featured in the Hall menu the next couple of weeks?

Update on Gas Compnay and Funny Story

THE GAS MAN CAME!!!!  Then he left without finishing  :-(   Then he came back and finished!!!  Something about a gas emergency is why he left.  Maybe a kid fell down a well or something.  I don't care because we're going to have hot water in an hour or so.  Shower, shower, shower!!!  He also found the furnace which I could not find.  Guess where it was?  In a trap door in the ceiling of the upstairs master bedroom closet.  Didn't see that one coming did ya? 
On to the funny story.  Although we are in a quiet neighborhood, we live within a mile to some very busy places.  There's lots of traffic and lanes etc. I was driving yesterday and accidently pulled over into a lane and cut someone off.  Completely my fault.  So I said out loud, "I'm sorry!  I'm not used to it here."  What I meant was I was not used to the area.  Kendall thought I meant I wasn't used to traffic so she shouted out.  "Give my mom a break!  We're from Iowa and it's small there!  She's not used to so many people living in one place in KY.  Why can't some of you people go home?!  She's trying her best so back off!!".  Dang!!  Road rage anyone?

Making Friends Already

Well we made it to Lexington and into our new place.  I'm currently sitting in an empty dining room in a lawn chair writing this blog post.  Our truck will be here early tomorrow morning and we will be SO glad to have our stuff back.  We got here Saturday evening and Byron flew out to New York for work Sunday morning.  He's doing his training for IBM and getting all his equipment (toys).  I just saw that he posted on facebook that he is officially an IBMer.  I'm not sure what that means but I hope he didn't have to get branded or a tattoo or something.
With Byron gone that leaves yours truly to hold down the fort for a few days.  It should be easy because how hard is it to take care of an empty house?  I've certainly had my bumps in the road the past couple of days but almost everything is going good.  The major problem was that when we got here we realized the water heater was gas.  I was TOLD by my cocky property manager that everything was electric so I didn't turn on the gas.  So we haven't had hot water since we've moved it.  I've been boiling water on the stove and hauling it up the stairs in a bucket a la "The Money Pit" style.  Not a big deal though.  I was going to call Monday and get the gas turned on.  I called.  They took my info and said I need to sign some paperwork and pay a deposit.  Hmm....weird but whatever.  She said if I come down to the office and fill out the paperwork she can have someone come out in 3 days.  Groan!!!!  But what can I do?  I go down to fill out the paperwork and the guy tells me I need to have my license verified by a notary, etc, etc and all this other bull dung.  I say "This is crazy.  I have good credit. (I do, really!).  I didn't have to do this with the other utilities.  What's going on?"  Well, turns out they have me listed as Alyssa Paul.  Not surprisingly, that name did not match up with my social.  Back to the customer service phone.  I explain the whole situation to the lady.  She asks if I have an acct. number.  I give it to her.  Then I kid you not she says, "How can I help you?"  Did you not hear anything I said before the acct number???  I re-explain.  She changes my name.  She says it still shows I have bad credit.  I said, "Spell my name"  A-L-I-C-I-A  H-U-L-L.  I correct it for her again.  She runs it again and I says it's still coming up bad.  I said, "Your system is wrong.  I just rented a home and set up other utilities.  I could not have done that with bad credit."  I'm practically sobbing into the phone of the lobby of the gas company.  I'm sure I looked like a crazy person with my dirty hair and dirty kids in our dirty clothes and crying to the lady to please turn on the gas.  All I needed were rollers in my hair and fuzzy slippers!  We'll I know I should have stayed on that phone and fought that lady to the death about turning on the gas but I was just too tired.  I just told her my husband would set it up under his name and hung up on her.  That's right!  Alyssa Paul hung up on someone.  Not in anger, just in exhaustion.  Then I came home and took a cold shower that woke up every pore in my body.  Yowey-Zowey!!  I wasn't tired after that.